Stephen On The Regis and Kathie Lee Show
--1990--From Disneyland
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Regis: Here he is one of the most popular soap stars of them all, he plays Patch on the Days of our Lives, started in 1985, it was about a 5 1/2 year run, and he's about to leave that show now for other challenges
Kathie Lee: Good for him
Regis: And...but he really was one of the most popular and mysterious guys on daytime tv. Of course he's the one with the patch, he was called Patch
Kathie Lee: Henceforth his name
Regis: Will be Patch
Regis: But he was of course Stephen Nichols
Kathie Lee: He still is
Cheers from the audience as Stephen walks out, microphone in hand, smiling
Waves at the audience
Regis: Hi Stephen
Stephen: How are you doing Regis?
Kathie Lee: Nice to see you again
Stephen: Nice to see you
Regis: Have a seat, welcome to the show. Nice to see you out here in LA.
Stephen sits down.
Regis: Look at the psychic effect you have on the audience.
Camera pans the audience, everyone wearing patches.
Stephen: Oh God...
Regis: As soon as he walks out, all of a sudden people start wearing patches.
Stephen: Thats very scary
Regis: And more patches over here
Stephen: Oh my God
Regis: Everybody's a Patch in the audience
Stephen: Wait that little guy doesn't have one on, he knows better, I taught him not to do that
Camera goes to Stephen's son, Aaron, in the audience. Aaron covers his eye with his hand
Regis: So you're leaving the show
Stephen: Ya I'm leaving, I'm leaving at the end of this week actually
Regis: You wanted to leave, right?
Stephen: Yes, yes it was my decision. 5 years, for me, on a soap, was enough. That's basically it. I really feel that I have to move on.
Kathie Lee: The character had been explored as far as he could go?
Stephen: Ya you know the kind of character that I played...I came on as a day player and they gave me a patch, and they said this guy, he's a bad guy, here just say the lines and he's probably going to be killed off in a couple of months...Well, you know I was taught when you have a character, you develop it...you find out where you come from and who you are, and that's what I did. So they kind of picked up on that and they offered me a contract. But that character was so unique because he was developed sort of in a backdoor fashion, that you can't plug that character into a formula, which is what happened...I got married, had the baby and now I'm plugged into a soap formula and in the last 2 years the writing, for me,
Kathie Lee: ... challenging
Stephen: ...has not been that good...Not challenging
Regis: So you asked to get off...what's going to happen, are they going to kill you off,or are you going to fade into the distance? What's going to happen to Patch?
Stephen: Let's see, it's going to air near the end of October...I guess I can say I'm getting killed...But you know how those things are...they bring people back from the dead, they do that all the time...so don't be worried...it's a soap opera
Kathie Lee: Just take a shower, you can come back anytime
(laughs)
Stephen: Or go upstairs...
Regis: So what's going to happen to your love interest then, Mary ....
Kathie Lee: Poor Kayla
Stephen: Mary Beth Evans, my sweet Kayla, ya...she has some more time left in her contract. I threatened to ...
Kathie Lee (laughs): So she gets to live a little longer...
Stephen: Ya she can live longer... and I threatened that if they get her a new love interest, I'm going to come on the set one day, during taping and drag her off and they'll never see her again...so that's a gag
Regis: You're married to an actress aren't you Stephen?
Stephen: Yes and a writer, Lisa Nichols
Regis: She's...I was going to say two people he's married to? She's an actress slash writer...
Stephen (laughs): Actress slash writer
Regis: Very talented lady. First time you saw her was up on stage?
Stephen: Ya I was on stage playing a really flipped out kind of character, Jerry in the Zoo Story, and she fell in love with that sociopath you know, and we met backstage
Kathie Lee: Love at first sight though, for her
Stephen: Ya pretty much...except I had to chase her for about 3 months, she wouldn't have anything to do with me... so if you call that love at first sight...
Regis: Fascination it sounds like
Stephen: It was in a way
Regis: Now when you're out in the crowds like this, and there's so many soap fans today, is there much of a reaction, or response to when they see you walking in the park or in the street
Stephen: In Los Angeles, people recognize you and they sort of acknowledge but they don't really come up to you...when you come to an amusement park like this, you have to come in disguise pretty much, because if you're with your family there's a lot of pictures and can I have your autograph..and what are you here for
Regis: In LA itself they're very cool
Stephen: They're cool ya, everybody' s too cool to come up and say can I have your autograph
Regis: New York's a little more boisterous isn't it
Kathie Lee: Yo Patch!
Stephen: New York ...I was just in New York over the weekend as a matter of fact, and man they're just...I had a guy come up to me who said, "You know you are the coolest Caucasian on television."
(laughs)
Kathie Lee: That's a tremendous compliment
Stephen: That's one of the most beautiful things anybody ever said to me, I loved that
Regis: Now before you leave The Days of our Lives, your son is going to portray you as a young man...
Kathie Lee: In flashbacks
Stephen: He's going to reprise his role as little Steve
Regis: Come on up here Aarn
Stephen: Aaron, come here buddy
Regis: Here's Stephen's son, Aaron
Kathie Lee: His daughter also plays his daughter
Regis: Oh is that right?
Kathie Lee: Ya
Aaron comes up to the stage, stands next to Stephen and smiles
Stephen: This is my boy
Kathie Lee: Hi Aaron
Aaron: Hello
Regis: He's going to play a young patch?
Stephen: That's right, he started that role when he was about 6 years old, when Patch was having flashbacks of his childhood and his family, dysfunctional family and the orphanage and all that, now he's come back as 10 year old Patch in a flashback with Patch's best friend Marcus, they were in the orphanage together
Regis: Oh thats going to be fun
Stephen: My daughter is working as well tomorrow, she's playing my daughter at the age of 16, Stephanie at the age of 16
Kathie Lee: So tomorrow you're going to be taping your last episode...
Stephen: No not quite, but it's close
Regis: Did you want to say goodbye to your sick pal, who you spent so much time with over the years
Stephen: Yes I wanted to say to Daniel (name edited out), hello, and to anybody out there who will please go into your local Red Cross and be tested to be a donor for Leukemia patients, please do that because a lot of people out there are dying because there aren't enough donors.
Regis: Alright Stephen, thanks so much, good luck to you, and to Days of our Lives, for your final Days, your final week, good luck in the future too
Regis shakes Stephen's hand
Regis: Thanks Aaron!
Kathie Lee and Stephen shake hands
Kathie Lee and Regis say goodbye to Aaron, and wave
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