How Long Gone · Chris Black & Jason Stewart / Talkhouse

922. - Adam Goldberg

March 25, 2026·1 hr 21 min·8 clips

Adam Goldberg describes being run over by his neighbor on a motorcycle, questioning if his armor made it worse.

Flea opens the room. Before Adam arrives, the hosts get stuck on a late-night Frank Ocean cover, where bass, trumpet, and a 30-piece orchestra sound less like a performance than a man doing whatever he wants. It is ridiculous in the best way. The bit keeps spreading until Flea's childhood trumpet life, Jay Leno machinery, and pepper-head lore are all sharing space. Then Adam slides in. His kids are Bud and Sonny, his dog is Brownie, and everyone treats the names like perfect plain English. The driveway story has bite. Adam wrote a neighbor a letter, still feels the daily annoyance, and the no-sidewalk setup makes the whole thing feel tighter and dumber. Los Angeles starts glowing in the background. He is heading there tomorrow for two months, renting in Silver Lake, and admits he might just stay. Beacon, meanwhile, looks suspiciously L.A. From New York, the hosts clock the room, the sunshine, the Hudson River, and the odd mood of semi-retirement. Adam says five seasons on The Equalizer left him partly out of the race: going into Brooklyn, sitting at a computer, letting the kids move around nearby. Nice life, but with a catch. Being away from Los Angeles for so long has made the return feel like a test. The old life is still there. When the hosts ask about his prime Los Angeles years, it lands as gossip and self-check at the same time. Melrose gets the tag. A Paul Smith podcast party becomes the exit ramp, with installation logistics, rejected black spray-paint ideas, and Adam's strange friends still circling. Nobody ties it up. That is the fun: Flea flexes, family names, neighbor letters, Silver Lake temptation, and one actor wondering whether leaving L.A. really stuck.

As heard by us

Adam Goldberg turns Beacon, LA, family life, and old scenes into a funny, slightly anxious map of midlife drift.

Adam Goldberg's How Long Gone appearance works best when it lets the mess stay visible. Chris and Jason open with Flea covering Frank Ocean on late night, turning a trumpet-and-orchestra bit into a riff on fame, money, and the strange freedom of doing whatever your younger self…

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Why you'd press play

Play this for the Flea tangent that opens the door to L.A. memories and semi-retired life.

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