Ed Helms

[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert, Day 600 of Quarantine.

[1] I'm Dan Shepard.

[2] I'm joined by Manika Pladman.

[3] Hi there.

[4] How you doing?

[5] I'm doing great.

[6] Oh, good.

[7] Well, today we have a very, very fun guest.

[8] We're both just huge fans.

[9] Huge.

[10] Ed Helms, he's an actor, a comedian, and most importantly, a banjo player.

[11] He started as a correspondent on the Daily Show.

[12] He was brilliant there.

[13] He was on the office for years in the Hangover Trilogy.

[14] and he is a new movie called Coffee and Cream now on Netflix.

[15] So y 'all have nothing but time.

[16] Check out Coffee and Cream.

[17] And please enjoy Edward Helms.

[18] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.

[19] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

[20] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

[21] He's an armchair.

[22] Ed Helms, how are you?

[23] How is quarantining going?

[24] Man, it's a little intense.

[25] But I got to tell you, all things considered, I think I'm doing quite well.

[26] And I feel insanely lucky to be able to say that.

[27] I just want to immediately notice, you look really presentable.

[28] Are you doing like a lot of press today?

[29] Because you really have gotten dressed to the nine.

[30] You look put together.

[31] Yeah, your hair looks great.

[32] Thank you.

[33] I took a shower and I shaved this morning.

[34] I looked like a caveman staggering out of a car accident when I got out of bed this morning.

[35] And I literally took my first shower in a number of days, which was partly because I am doing some press today.

[36] And also because my wife was just not tolerating my vibe anymore.

[37] To her credit.

[38] So you and I met, as I recall, sometimes I'm wrong about this, but my first memory of meeting you was in Thailand.

[39] Yeah, I think that's my memory as well.

[40] We're my Thailand friend.

[41] That's right.

[42] We exclusively hang out in Thailand.

[43] Pretty much.

[44] But I got there and you guys were shooting the hangover two and it was in a place, was it called Krabi?

[45] Krabi, Thailand, yeah, in a crazy resort.

[46] That place was so kind of expansive and weird it's like it's all designed to kind of keep everybody separate yeah like every room or i'm assuming every room had its own little pool like a mini pool or a hot tub or something so yeah you could have just stayed secluded in your little palace yeah yeah it was incredible yeah that was a ridiculous resort where we shot that thing and i think the only people that go to that are like russian oligarchs like i don't know i don't even know who would go there like it's it's kind of borderline not fun because it's so like you're you're so isolated i mean it's incredibly opulent and if that's what you're into then yeah sure it's fun but like it's designed to keep you apart so you don't really have a vibe of like oh this is fun people are like having fun here yeah you're right but the best part was for me because again i didn't have to work you guys had to work but just 20 feet off of the coast there you had those incredible little mountains juddy up from the ocean and the caves and stuff and we went swimming in there.

[47] Yeah.

[48] It was incredible.

[49] I couldn't believe that.

[50] Part of what was so exciting about making that movie was also being a tourist in Thailand and just drinking up things about Thailand, the culture, the scenery.

[51] And because we all, you know, we were in Bangkok for like eight weeks.

[52] And that place is nuts.

[53] I'm not sure they have the same regulations there.

[54] Yeah, it didn't feel like it.

[55] We jumped a car over a canal.

[56] I remember that was like a big night.

[57] And then like the next night we're doing a car chase through a market.

[58] And they've, you know, it's all set up to be wrecked in the chase.

[59] But we're still just like drifting through these like tight little streets in Bangkok.

[60] Oh, yeah.

[61] And I got one of my most memorable stories out of that because you guys had to work early in the morning.

[62] Because we went from Kirby to Bangkok and you guys had to work.

[63] And I was this on my own.

[64] So Zach's then -girlfriend and your then -girlfriend said, well, we'll take you out.

[65] Do you remember this at all?

[66] No, I don't.

[67] The sights.

[68] Okay, this is amazing.

[69] So they took me to first the, I'm going to use the term lady boy.

[70] It was a lady boy bar.

[71] And I experienced that with them for about a half hour or something.

[72] And then they took me to another strip club.

[73] And it's quite a production.

[74] I mean, there was lights.

[75] It was huge.

[76] It somehow felt life -affirming.

[77] There were hundreds of people there.

[78] and at some point the woman who ran the place came over and said to me come with me you're going on stage and i said oh i don't know and she said no no you're coming with me and then i stood up to go to follow her out of codependency and your then girlfriend intervened and said no no no he's gonna stay with us and then so i sat back down and i was like oh my gosh thank you so much for saving me from that she grabbed another guy she took that guy on stage he sat in a chair and then a stripper came out and while he was like taking a picture with his friends mind you everyone's taking pictures of the guy on the stage the stripper came out walked aggressively towards him then put her leg behind him on a pole and then smashed her vagina in his mouth ed in his mouth and there were tons of cameras going off and i literally felt like someone had pulled me out from getting hit by a bus i was like oh my god i was seconds away from being in a photo in Thailand with a vagina in my mouth wow Yeah, that sounds nuts.

[79] Yeah, the Red Light District, it's this crazy tourist attraction.

[80] Like, you see families visiting just to, like, see what it is.

[81] It's a kind of curiosity as much as it's any kind of, like, titillating experience.

[82] Yeah, it's almost asexual.

[83] What is all this?

[84] Yeah, people are just observing in an asexual way as if they're looking at the Eiffel Tower or something.

[85] Well, we shot in Soy Cowboy, which is a well -known Red Light District of Bangkok.

[86] and I had had street food like a week prior and I had the worst food poisoning that I've ever had in my life.

[87] I mean, it's the kind of food poisoning where you're like delirious and like not sure you're going to make it, probably just because you're not thinking straight.

[88] But like I remember thinking I could die in Thailand like away from my family and loved ones like what is going on basically like in my hotel room a mess.

[89] and I remember calling the first AD, J .P., who I adore, and I said, look, I don't know if I can even move tomorrow.

[90] I'm so sick.

[91] I don't even know what to do.

[92] Should I go to the doctor or whatever?

[93] He was like, so your pickup's going to be 6 a .m. and we'll see you on set.

[94] And it was yet another reminder that the show stops for no one.

[95] And so I was able to like get to set.

[96] But it's actually in the movie, it's iPhone footage where we're kind of like stirring up a riot in the streets.

[97] Yeah.

[98] And I'm shirtless shouting like, half the police and just like going nuts.

[99] And there's fires around us and like crowds chanting.

[100] And in between every single take, I was curled up on the sidewalk of soy cowboy in fetal position.

[101] And Bradley and Zach, God bless them, were like nursing me and giving me. Sprite and trying to like bring me back to life.

[102] And then every take, I would just get this adrenaline rush and get out.

[103] We got screaming, yell, do it, everything.

[104] And then just go and like collapse.

[105] And somehow we got through it.

[106] And the DP, Larry, gave me a great compliment a week later when we were kind of laughing about it.

[107] And Larry was like, you were sick?

[108] I didn't even know you were sick.

[109] I was able to sell it on camera.

[110] But did you at any point feel like, oh, I'm in apocalypse now and I'm Martin Sheen?

[111] Like, I'm having a heart attack.

[112] This has gotten out of hand.

[113] A little bit.

[114] There was a moment where the toilets were in like a little closet in the bathroom.

[115] And because both ends were going off.

[116] Sure, sure, sure.

[117] I had to spin around really fast at one point.

[118] And I put my head on the door jam.

[119] Oh, God.

[120] And that was the low point.

[121] That's where I thought, yeah, this could be it.

[122] Now, this will excite Monica greatly.

[123] Do you know where Ed's from?

[124] Atlanta GA.

[125] Oh, twins.

[126] Heck yeah.

[127] Monica's from Duluth.

[128] Duluth.

[129] Were you in a northern suburb or right downtown or east or west?

[130] Well, I grew up like between midtown and Buckhead, which is very much in the city.

[131] But Atlanta is more like Los Angeles, and that there are like kind of neighborhoody areas within the city, right?

[132] So I grew up in a neighborhood off of Peach Street, you know, the main kind of artery, north -south artery, but it didn't have any through streets.

[133] So it wasn't like a lot of traffic moved through the neighborhood.

[134] So it actually, even though it was very central, it was kind of this bucolic little quiet nook.

[135] Yeah, it's a pretty, it's an amazing place.

[136] I really love the city.

[137] but there was something about my teenage years there that was also a bit of a catapult for me to get out.

[138] I just wanted something different.

[139] I don't know how you felt, Monica.

[140] Did you have a...

[141] Totally.

[142] Yeah.

[143] Well, she's, if you haven't noticed, she's brown, so...

[144] I know you're colorblind, but I am brown.

[145] So I did also want to...

[146] I mean, I grew up in suburbs, so not in the city, and it was very white.

[147] But I loved it.

[148] I had a great childhood and a great experience.

[149] but I was my sites were set for a different place for sure yeah what high school did you go to westminster oh yeah and what did mom and dad do so mom was an administrator at another school and dad was a lawyer like corporate council kind of lawyer for coca cola no no damn it damn it good guess good guess thank you thank you I saw you went to interlocking did you go to interlocking in the summer or something?

[150] I did, yeah.

[151] So I'm from Michigan, and this excited me so much that you had spent some time as a kid in the best time to be there, right?

[152] Summer?

[153] Yeah.

[154] So I went there the summers between my junior and senior years of high school, and I loved it.

[155] And I think it was one of the experiences that opened my eyes about, you know, because interlocking is just so artsy and it's very arts forward.

[156] And where I went to high school is not that.

[157] It's a lot of things and it's a lot of great things, but it's not that.

[158] And I think that's a little bit of why I always felt like a little bit of a fish out of water at high school.

[159] And then going to interlock and I was like, oh, this is my ocean.

[160] Like these are the people who I just sort of automatically get and they get me and I'm inspired by them.

[161] and my new buddy is a jazz saxophone player and this guy is like a ceramicist and we're all just hanging out and doing things that inspire us and also like being psyched about what other people are doing.

[162] And that was a real turning point for me and just kind of what I wanted to do next and resetting my compass and how I wanted to prioritize things.

[163] Yeah, they were valuing the things about you that probably people weren't valuing.

[164] I don't know anything about Westminster, but was it like an alpha winner takes all type of preparatory?

[165] It's a prep school, and it's a very academically rigorous.

[166] I'll put it this way.

[167] I have no hard feelings towards my school.

[168] I have a lot to be grateful for, but the movie Dead Poets Society really resonated for me. And that idea of, like, creative people or people who are a little different, just being kind of this unspoken force that kind of nudges you back into line, which is sort of the story of dead poet society.

[169] And I think that kind of opened my eyes to some other possibilities.

[170] But I mean, the education that I got at that school is incredible.

[171] I think it's also culturally evolved a lot.

[172] I mean, I haven't been there in a lot of years.

[173] Monica, where did you go to high school?

[174] Duluth High School.

[175] And what was the display?

[176] position towards my high school.

[177] So yours was private.

[178] There was no real disposition.

[179] I think we were kind of just in our own public school world rivaling the other public schools.

[180] But there was this idea that like there were some private schools that were just these elite private schools that were far away.

[181] But there was no animosity or malice or anything.

[182] Because I thought we might have to fight after this or something.

[183] Okay.

[184] Well, we don't.

[185] I'm good.

[186] That's good.

[187] I mean, we could.

[188] We could.

[189] it on the table.

[190] I notice you've given a lot of graduation commencement speeches, but I didn't see that on the list.

[191] No, I was actually invited to speak there at one point, and I couldn't do it for some, you know, work reason or something.

[192] Yeah.

[193] But I would relish the opportunity.

[194] I think any chance that we get to speak to young people, especially at big turning points in their lives, is such a privilege.

[195] And I really, I loved giving those commencement speeches.

[196] And I took it really, really seriously.

[197] I did one.

[198] I did one at UCLA where I went to school.

[199] And the weird feeling I had, I wonder what your experience is, is that when I was there, I guess this is true for most things I arrive at in life.

[200] I feel some percentage of fraudulent, you know, like I was at UCLA thinking I got in out of community college.

[201] So maybe I didn't, you know, I didn't have the high school grades.

[202] Other people did.

[203] Maybe that was it or the dyslexia thing, whatever.

[204] And I was pursuing comedy so I wasn't super immersed in the student body and then I went there and they were excited to have me and it was weirdly this time where I felt like oh my god I belong here it took me 20 you know however many years it's been to that 20 years or something where I'm like oh they're proud that I went to the school that's crazy I thought maybe I didn't belong here I started crying during the speech which I almost never cry and I couldn't get the words out I'm so proud to have gone here.

[205] I just was like so emotional.

[206] There was something crazy cathartic about going, wait, I'm the kind of person you might want to add some words for young kids.

[207] I don't know.

[208] I love it.

[209] That's awesome.

[210] That's awesome.

[211] And it's another reminder of just how harmful that fraud complex can be.

[212] And also just how that complex that everyone struggles with, especially I think people who are actors for a living.

[213] it's kind of something that like we're good at being frauds right because it's what we do it's like yeah so in being better at being frauds we're probably more susceptible to the fraud complex and yet that complex is one of the greatest frauds that our brains play on us right it's just such bullshit it's like a it's a way that we just continue to undermine ourselves and i think it's a little bit of a nature's way to kind of keep us in check but some people are a little too burdened by it or struggle with it at different points.

[214] And then there are some people who you wish had a little bit more of it.

[215] Oh, totally.

[216] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[217] Well, I got to say even when I first met you, like, if I had to put you on some spectrum, right, and I'm just going to arbitrarily say, like, on one end of the spectrum is Matthew McConaughey, who I've gotten to me, and I truly, truly admire this about him.

[218] It seems like he was born to be a movie star.

[219] It's is such a good fit for him right yeah it's so natural for him and i see that he enjoys it which again i think is the best way you could do it is to to enjoy it and then i don't know who's on the zero on that spectrum but the opposite him when i met you i was like ed is a a nice thoughtful humble human being and he's in a business which almost favors or rewards the other side of the spectrum and it makes me happy that you're as thoughtful and subtle and all these things that you are and yet are a star.

[220] I just always like when I see someone that's like, oh no, there's no way to do it.

[221] There's whatever way you do it.

[222] And here's Ed doing it this way and there's other people doing it this way.

[223] And I had a chance to tell you, I think it was probably at the premiere of the second one.

[224] But like, I just thought you were acting in those movies was so sensational.

[225] Like you're, you're hysterical.

[226] That's obvious.

[227] And you wouldn't have been in that movie without it.

[228] But I just thought like you just carried so much of the emotional ride the reality ride like you just were so phenomenal as an actor in that i think it just kind of doesn't surprise me because you're just you're a very thoughtful measured person in all the best ways so take that compliment i'm sure you're great at taking compliments please go on uh that is incredibly gracious thank you so when did banjo start in music so there's kind of two answers to that one is i think the banjo was imprinted on me at a very early stage because I grew up going to summer camp in the mountains of North Carolina making that trip every summer and spending time up there and just really loving that part of the world and it feeling very different from you know I obviously I grew up in the south but I grew up in the city and that was like being in the mountains and and you know we'd pull off at truck stops and buy little cassette tapes to play on the on the drive and I just remember having a some old string band cassette tapes that my dad liked and we would listen to those and so i think that's where the seed was planted and then i kind of went through this thing in junior high early high school where i think that a lot of kids go through there's kind of a book about it catcher in the rye which is where you're like olden cofield is like obsessed with authenticity right and and kind of finding like the original truth of things and And so as much as you two and R .E .M. and all these bands were blowing up and were great, I was always that nerd who was like, yeah, but what came before that?

[229] Like, yeah, but what was the real deal?

[230] And so that kind of took me on this journey into like blues and folk music.

[231] And then that kind of led into bluegrass.

[232] And for some reason, the banjo just hooked my imagination.

[233] And I think it's a technically difficult instrument.

[234] And yet it's something that, that we associate with, like, hillbilly culture.

[235] And I kind of love that it subverts that expectation.

[236] You know, we tend to not think of hillbillies as a very sophisticated bunch.

[237] And yet, here they are playing this incredibly sophisticated style of music.

[238] Can I ask what year it was invented in, do you know?

[239] When did people start playing the banjo?

[240] Well, it has an incredible history.

[241] It's based on instruments that came across the ocean with slaves from Africa.

[242] And so there were stringed instruments.

[243] being played over a drumhead, which is what a banjo is, you know, going back millennia, probably.

[244] And the first kind of versions in America were derivations of African instruments.

[245] And then it kind of evolved from there.

[246] And it's, yeah, it's a really remarkable history.

[247] And then, of course, a lot of the Scots, Irish settlers in the mountains of what's now North Carolina and Virginia and Kentucky.

[248] Those isolated communities were kind of steeped in Scottish and Irish fiddle music and traditional folk tunes and those things morphed over time and kind of became this distinctly American music form.

[249] Anyway, it's a really layered and rich, complex, not always good history.

[250] But for me, I just loved that's the sound and the energy of it.

[251] It felt happy.

[252] It felt there's a little bit of aggression to it.

[253] it's the most frenetic instrument you can play practically right i mean you're you don't strum it mostly right it's picking so your your hands are so busy on both ends yeah i mean there's even a variety of ways to play it but the style that i play it's called scrub style and it's the three finger kind of fast picking style i started playing guitar when i was 13 i got my first guitar and i started taking lessons from this guy who was just the most wonderful incredible inspirational guy.

[254] I mean, I feel so lucky to have had that connection at that time because I was so curious about music and kind of roots music, and he was so steeped and all that stuff and started teaching me a lot of great guitar stuff.

[255] But he also was a banjo teacher, and I loved seeing his banjos around.

[256] I'd always ask him about it.

[257] But owning a banjo, because they're actually kind of expensive, especially then, and owning a banjo just seemed like this far -off impossible.

[258] thing.

[259] But then my high school did a musical called The Cotton Patch Gospel, which is a bluegrass musical written by Harry Chapin.

[260] And they wanted the students to be the band.

[261] So I offered to learn banjo to be part of the band.

[262] So then someone like loaned a banjo to the school.

[263] I went and took lessons from my teacher.

[264] And I basically just learned the songs that are in the musical.

[265] And they're not really bluegrass songs.

[266] They're more musical songs, but they're close enough.

[267] And that was the first time that I actually became a little bit of a student of the instrument and had access to one and got some proficiency.

[268] And then it wasn't until college that I actually finally scraped enough money together to buy one and started taking lessons from a friend in college, who was really great.

[269] And it's been a love affair ever since.

[270] Have you worked with Steve Martin?

[271] Have you met him?

[272] Yeah, I met him a bunch of times.

[273] I played music with him a bunch of times.

[274] Oh, wow.

[275] If I had to draw a parallel, interestingly, I grew up loving him.

[276] I saw the jerk.

[277] I had some expectation of what he would be like in person.

[278] And this is not negative.

[279] It's just different than I worked with him.

[280] And I was like, oh, he's a very serious, thoughtful person.

[281] I would say you guys have very similar personalities in that you're both comedians and can be enormous when called for.

[282] But then just the real you is pretty understated and subtle.

[283] And I just think it's kind of curious.

[284] If I had to say any two comedians have ever met had such similar personalities, it's you two.

[285] And then on top of it, you guys both play the fucking banjo, which nobody plays.

[286] I just find that kind of curious.

[287] Well, that's a huge compliment because I'm such an admirer of his both personally and professionally.

[288] I mean, he was a god to me for so long.

[289] And yeah, we both have that same screw loose.

[290] I don't know what it is.

[291] I actually think that loving the banjo is more of a curse than a blessing.

[292] It's a very antisocial instrument because it's very loud.

[293] It's hard to practice and not annoy people.

[294] It's usually if you show up to a jam session with a banjo, there's a lot of eye rolls.

[295] It's going to dominate whatever situation you're in.

[296] The thing that I love about it, and I always go back to this, you know, kids react, to music in all kinds of ways.

[297] But when they hear a banjo, they always, always start dancing.

[298] It is like this incredibly primal thing that it hits in little kids.

[299] And my daughter loves it.

[300] When I had a band in New York, we'd just sit around and play outside Central Park sometimes or whatever.

[301] Little kids just would always just start bouncing around.

[302] And it's, I don't know, something intangible and magical there.

[303] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[304] What's up, guys?

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[321] Well, now, hearing you describe the banjo, I would have not known that about it, that when it arrives at a jam session, everyone's like, great, that's all we're going to hear is the banjo.

[322] So I guess we could use the word obnoxious to describe it.

[323] Like on the spectrum, it's one of the more obnoxious instruments.

[324] So, again, if I can psychoanalyze you for a second, it's kind of amusing, too, because you're the opposite of obnoxious, and yet you chose a career where you get to act obnoxious for punctuated periods of time.

[325] And then you have this instrument that's kind of, I wouldn't say it perfectly expresses you as a human.

[326] It's kind of obnoxious.

[327] I mean, that's just kind of funny.

[328] What you're observing in a really hilarious way is that I'm a deeply repressed person.

[329] And that's part of, I think, my Southern upbringing.

[330] And it's part of why, like, I do carry myself in a kind of contained way.

[331] But I am so grateful that I have these avenues, banjo being one of them, crazy R -rated comedies being another one, where I get just be nuts and kind of act out and take on these ridiculous personas.

[332] And it's really funny because it seemed kind of arbitrary at the time, but I do feel like Todd Phillips, when he casted us in The Hangover, he really tapped into something almost misty.

[333] about our personalities in those parts because there are just extreme versions of who we are.

[334] Each one of us, you know, Zach isn't like Alan, but he's a little like Alan.

[335] Sure, he's enough like Alan.

[336] And Bradley is such a more wonderful human being than Phil ever was.

[337] But there's a little bit of Phil and Bradley, and there's certainly some Stu in me. And that hilarious runner of Stu being kind of the most debauchery.

[338] one during the night of insanity.

[339] The repressed part of me connects to that.

[340] You think it was driven mainly by just the society you grew up in or was mom or dad also like making sure you were dotting your eyes and crossing your teas?

[341] I think it's partly a cultural thing.

[342] Yeah.

[343] A kind of white southern, you know, your feelings are are okay as long as they don't get in the way.

[344] Yeah.

[345] Yeah.

[346] And a sense that, I mean, there's so much great literature about this, Tennessee Williams and movies like Steel Magnolias that just speak to that.

[347] Is it that it's improper or it's a weakness to be emotional?

[348] Culturally, like, do you think it's...

[349] Here's what's ironic.

[350] That's a great question because I think it's actually just improper and that it actually is also an incredible strength to be emotional.

[351] And that's why you have people who are very expressive and strident and where their hearts on their sleeves, they're actually some of the more powerful figures in Southern culture because I think people look to them with fear and awe.

[352] It's like, how do you be that way?

[353] How can you be so, like, free with your stuff?

[354] And it's almost from a place of envy.

[355] Also, I'm not sure this all applies still, especially in a place like Atlanta that's so cosmopolitan and so progressive in a lot of ways.

[356] But I guess I'm speaking to kind of that older ethos that.

[357] certainly my parents grew up with, and it was starting to kind of like rub off on us.

[358] Don't you think a little bit might be in the south there is this element and in suburbia, there is this element of kind of keeping up with the Joneses and not stepping out of line.

[359] The more artistic or wackier you are, the more attention can be drawn to you.

[360] And I think there's sort of this idea in the south of like, don't look here.

[361] Yeah, I think that's spot on.

[362] And it's funny, I don't think it's just a Southern thing, by the way.

[363] I think that there are versions of this in a lot of certainly Midwestern pockets.

[364] And when you get into kind of the refined pockets of New England and the Northeast, like there are aspects of repression that I think penetrate almost every kind of socioeconomic and geographic distribution.

[365] But it's a fascinating thing.

[366] Do you know, where I grew up, we had it too, but it was really, really delineated socioeconomically.

[367] So the richer people really couldn't express anything.

[368] And I was always, I only hung out with all the poorest kids in town because their moms were yelling on the front porch and the dad was fistfighting someone in the front yard.

[369] Like, it was just an explosion of emotions and, you know, resources were limited and people didn't have time to fucking worry about this or that.

[370] And I just was always very drawn to that.

[371] There was no pretense there.

[372] Like, it couldn't be hidden.

[373] I guess, on that level.

[374] So everyone was like, oh, great, we're all a piece of shit.

[375] So I'm just going to tell you, fuck you and this and that.

[376] There's nothing to protect.

[377] Yeah, there's nothing to protect.

[378] And I kind of, I was always drawn to that.

[379] Hey, can I ask, I didn't know this about you, but that you had open heart surgery at 13.

[380] I feel like that would have made me feel pretty vulnerable at a time where you're just building confidence.

[381] It seems to be the age for me where I was like getting slices of autonomy and exploring.

[382] And then I just imagine at that moment of exploration.

[383] being kind of reminded of my vulnerability would have been dicey for me. Well, I think it was at the time in your life, you know, for me, I think I was 13 when I had open heart surgery.

[384] And there's probably no time that you feel more superhuman or invulnerable.

[385] I mean, certainly there's their insecurities, social insecurities that I was grappling with all through junior high and high school.

[386] But, you know, it's why young people are soldiers like there's and there is this irrational invincibility feeling that you have when you're a kid and i never felt like i was vulnerable i knew i was getting open heart surgery but i wasn't like i could die i was just like yeah i'll be back in school in two weeks and so my parents were mortified obviously sure i've learned more about that as i got older but i mean it was a very complicated surgery, but it wasn't an emergency.

[387] It was something that had been like brewing for a long time and it had been planned for.

[388] And so there was a sense of like, okay, this is something that we're all sort of prepared for.

[389] We're going to knock it out.

[390] And then we're just going to get over it and keep going.

[391] And thank God, it was a perfect success.

[392] The surgery went flawlessly and I've since had no issues.

[393] It didn't begin a like preoccupation that there would be more of those.

[394] Like that would be my, OCD kind of.

[395] Well, there was the warning right afterwards that depending on my growth patterns after the surgery, I might need it again in 10, 20 years or something.

[396] But I don't know.

[397] I think maybe partly out of naivete, I just was like not freaking out about it.

[398] Yeah, yeah.

[399] And then I was back on the swim team in high school and I was back at swim practice like probably three months later.

[400] Wow.

[401] Yeah, I was back at school two weeks later.

[402] Oh my God.

[403] It was spring break.

[404] We did it on like the Monday of spring break.

[405] So I was home for a week and then I missed a week of school and then I started going back for like a couple hours a day, I think, for another week.

[406] And then I was just back and I was like, I was riding my skateboard and my mom was like, what are you doing?

[407] Like my shit, my sternum had been sawed in half and like cranked open.

[408] and yeah I was just an idiot I don't know again this is a 13 year old this would not apply to like me now I would be laid out for months but the best thing about that whole thing was that it gave me this like killer college essay because I could be like oh I went through this live changing experience yeah I was definitely milking what you're talking about all the all the sort of associations with heart surgery like this It was like, I'm so eager to bite off as much as I can chew from life because I'm so lucky to have it.

[409] It was almost taken from me. Carpe diem.

[410] While other kids learn character on the soccer field.

[411] I learned it under the knife.

[412] Okay, so I'm going to fast forward.

[413] You leave Georgia.

[414] You go to school at Oberlin and college.

[415] I love that you majored in geology.

[416] And we interview a lot of professors.

[417] and still, you're the first geology major we've spoken with.

[418] I know you changed.

[419] Yeah, okay, okay.

[420] Yeah, yeah, I know that your degree is actually in film theory, but God bless you for going there with the passion for rocks.

[421] That was the duality of Ed, is that I, there's a part of me that just wanted to, like, go collect rock samples on glaciers and camp out for months on end and, like, not deal with a lot.

[422] lot of people and then there's the other part of me that wanted to like hang out in comedy clubs every single night for years and hear people clap for you yeah and only be around people and just yeah and like seek affirmation every which way I could how'd you discover UCB was that the first in road to doing comedy well no I moved to New York City to to do comedy and film like I thought maybe I'd go sort of the indie film route that was also kind of thriving in New York at the time.

[423] But I started doing comedy immediately.

[424] I was just doing like open mic nights and taking classes at some different comedy places.

[425] Then after a couple of years, UCB started up.

[426] It was just instantly clear that this was an exciting thing.

[427] And so I just jumped into that with two feet and I was still doing a lot of stand -up but that was the really cool thing about UCB was that early on like so many people were just doing so many different things it wasn't just improv there were people into all different types of stuff sketch and stand -up and whatever and the shows every night they were just wildly different there was something about that world that really you know I like that feeling I got I was describing about interlocking where I felt like a fish out of water that finally, like, found my water.

[428] Yeah.

[429] There was something about that world that felt like that.

[430] I have this very vivid memory of, I used to host Monday nights at the Boston Comedy Club, which was this really divey comedy club in Greenwich Village.

[431] And it was just this divey place, and it smelled, like, spilled whiskey and stale beer and like mop buckets.

[432] It just had that kind of like divey bar smell to it.

[433] And it was not a place that should elicit like a lot of endorphins.

[434] I remember I was just getting money to do the door.

[435] I was running up the back stairwell and it was this, everything felt really grimy and gross, but there was this feeling of like, this is where I'm supposed to be.

[436] I love this so much.

[437] I'm going to do stand up tonight and I'm going to see my friends who I'm think are funny.

[438] This is it.

[439] This is where I'm supposed to be.

[440] I feel lucky to have ever felt that way about anything.

[441] I mean, that's like a rare feeling.

[442] Yeah.

[443] I feel like you're in the right place doing the thing you're supposed to do.

[444] Well, I would also suggest that thing you liked about bluegrass, the authenticity, that like even the smell was probably a unique and original and authentic smell.

[445] I bet the whole scene felt very authentic.

[446] I think you're right.

[447] And it's funny, it's not a place that would elicit that for a lot of people.

[448] Right.

[449] And I think that's also what felt empowering and strange and cool.

[450] Yeah.

[451] So you know what's interesting is I grew up, and when I got into comedy in 95, I guess when I moved to L .A., there was Saturday Night Live.

[452] That was it.

[453] That was the singular goal, and you could choose to go to Second City, or you could go to ground lanes.

[454] I went to groundlings.

[455] And I've now got to interview a bunch of the younger generation comedians.

[456] And they grew up in an era where there were two routes.

[457] There was The Daily Show and there was S &L.

[458] And I don't think I would have recognized that had I not talked to some of these guys who were like, no, no, I knew I couldn't do what they did on Sarant Live, but I knew I had something to give.

[459] And I knew that the Daily Show was that thing.

[460] And it's just interesting because of that, you're one of the first guys in the door, right?

[461] You were a part of something that became a second channel and an institution.

[462] It was very early on, right?

[463] You're right at the beginning?

[464] Well, not quite at the beginning of the Daily Show, but very early in the life of the Daily Show, for sure.

[465] Craig Kilbourne started on the Daily Show in, I want to say, like, 94 or 5.

[466] I was in college at the time.

[467] And I remember just loving it and thinking it was hilarious.

[468] And then when John Stewart started, it's funny that you put it that way about Saturday Night Live and the Daily Show kind of being these avenues because that's exactly how I saw it too.

[469] When I came out of college, I moved to New York City and I didn't tell anybody this.

[470] But there was a part of me that was like, I'm going to be on Saturday Night Live.

[471] Of course.

[472] Like every choice I make is to get there, right?

[473] And that doesn't set me apart.

[474] That's a lot of comedians, I think, feel that way.

[475] But I was really driven and I don't know why.

[476] But for some reason, loved Saturday Night Live so much.

[477] Eddie Murphy, to me, when I was a kid, was just a superhuman.

[478] He was a God to me. I can't overstate my obsession with him when I was a little kid.

[479] And I just, his energy, and I'm sure I didn't even get most of what he was doing, but he looked like he was having so much fun.

[480] Like, he was having more fun than anybody has ever had in the world.

[481] At least that's how I sort of saw it.

[482] And I just remember feeling like, I want to do that.

[483] And And so moving to New York City, it was about Saturday Night Live, but there was a moment, to your point, there was a moment where I saw the Daily Show as like, okay, I'm going to do Saturday Night Live or the Daily Show.

[484] Like, I also love the Daily Show.

[485] This thing is awesome.

[486] And I feel like I get it and I understand it.

[487] So now there's two things I would love to be a part of.

[488] And coming up through UCB, I was getting to a point in my late 20s where it was becoming plausible that I would get an audition at some point, right, for either one of these shows.

[489] Because my friends were getting them and, you know, I was suddenly one degree of separation away from these like institutions that I was so enamored with and I watched the daily show every single night.

[490] I obviously watched Saturday Night Live every weekend, but but I became this sort of de facto expert on the daily show.

[491] So when I did get the audition, they handed me a script and they were like, okay, this is a cold read.

[492] Just do it however you think.

[493] And I saw the script and I was like, oh, Stephen Colbert did this on the show two weeks ago.

[494] I know exactly how to do this.

[495] And so I knew the show well enough to recognize the script.

[496] Every Daily Show correspondent ever will tell you this.

[497] Like, you start out just imitating Stephen Colbert.

[498] That's like every correspondent is like that's your sort of like first phase.

[499] You're just trying to kind of like find your voice.

[500] And so I did.

[501] I just imitated Stephen Colbert shamelessly.

[502] And that's what got me to the call back.

[503] And then I guess somewhere in John.

[504] John's mind.

[505] He was like, oh, this kid's enough like Stephen Colbert.

[506] We'll rope him in, too.

[507] How long were you on the show?

[508] Almost five years, I think, four and a half years.

[509] Yeah.

[510] And do you remember a moment where you were like, oh, I'm not imitating Colbert anymore.

[511] I'm doing Ed Helms.

[512] Like, Ed Helms has figured out what his version of this is.

[513] I mean, Colbert was a good friend and a sort of almost like a mentor that whole time I was there.

[514] And so I think there was never a moment where he wasn't influencing me just by his presence and his comedic genius and his warmth.

[515] He was always willing to give advice or feedback or whatever.

[516] But there was a point maybe after probably a year or more after which I remember somebody, basically it took someone external to say to me, I like the role that you play on that show or something like you're kind of feeling a good niche on that show.

[517] that made me realize like, oh, I guess I do have my own rhythms and impulses and I had my own bag of tricks on field pieces that I kind of went to and that if you were a fan of the show, you'd be like, oh yeah, Helms always does this or whatever.

[518] Yeah.

[519] But it took a long time, I think, you know, just full circle to the earlier part of the conversation.

[520] There were only fleeting moments where the fraud complex was not like beating at my door.

[521] Yeah.

[522] I mean, there were times where I'd be on a field piece and it was going really, really well, and I'd be kind of feel the flow and just be feeling really confident.

[523] But then I'd have a segment go poorly and I'd be like, ah, who am I to have this job?

[524] I can't do this.

[525] I mean, show business is a roller coaster.

[526] Oh, yeah.

[527] Not just like the jobs, but the emotions of it, right?

[528] And I think anyone is going to feel that confidence kind of ebb and flow.

[529] So when you went to the office, I would assume you could have stayed at the Daily Show, but you had to decide to leave and go to the office.

[530] Is that what happened?

[531] Yeah.

[532] And it was kind of a really dynamic time for the Daily Show because Colbert was just building the Colbert rapport.

[533] And so there was a sense of with Colbert leaving that I would be like kind of in pole position as like a senior correspondent or top dog as it were.

[534] And that was very exciting, but it still was not different from what I'd been doing on the show.

[535] And it just meant maybe more choice assignments on things, but I'd still be the same character.

[536] And I was feeling this very antsy need to demonstrate to the world and to show business that I could do more than I was doing on the daily show.

[537] That I could act.

[538] Yeah.

[539] So when the office came up, I wouldn't say it was a no -brainer, but I made the decision fairly quickly.

[540] quickly.

[541] This is my next move.

[542] And did you feel like, oh, I got to go talk to John and tell how happy I am to have been here and all that?

[543] Was it like breaking up with someone you love?

[544] Yeah, for sure.

[545] Because you're basically saying, I found a hotter girl, too.

[546] It's like it's the worst kind of breakup because they already know you found another girlfriend.

[547] I remember feeling guilty.

[548] And like, why you shouldn't feel guilty about actualizing your dreams and, you know, building your career.

[549] But for some reason, I was like, I did feel so much gratitude for the platform that The Daily Show gave me and the faith that John had had in me all those years and the experience and the credibility that it gave me. I mean, I wouldn't have gotten in the office without the Daily show.

[550] And so there was an enormous gratitude, but I think part of that was a little bit of maybe some guilt mixed in that was not as healthy.

[551] John was so gracious.

[552] He made that departure really smooth, and I sort of forgot, oh, yeah, I've given a lot to this show, too.

[553] Yes, yes, it was a good exchange.

[554] Yeah, so when John, like, was expressing gratitude to me, also I remember feeling, like, really overwhelmed, like, oh, yeah, this is cool.

[555] We appreciate each other.

[556] Here's the part where a little bit of jealousy kicks in for me, because you go from being with Stewart and Colbert, who are not only some of the funniest guys ever lived, the smartest guys ever live, But as you say, just damn nice guys, like totally nice, generous guys.

[557] And then you go saddle up with Steve Carell for like another eight years or whatever the hell it is.

[558] I'm a little envious of the, you know, the work partners you've had.

[559] You kind of had a sweet ride there, didn't you?

[560] Because Corel is just the sweetest human being as well.

[561] I'm always kind of looking for role models, I guess.

[562] Maybe not in the sort of grandiose sense, but just in like, who around me is like, navigating the business or life in a way that I admire and what can I learn from them.

[563] And you're so right.

[564] I mean, to have been in the, especially early in my career, to have been around Colbert and John Stewart and everyone on that show.

[565] And then to jump over to Corel, who he's a real anomaly.

[566] Because of his role on that show, he worked harder than anyone else on that show, right?

[567] He has more lines than anybody else.

[568] he carries more stories than anybody else and as the boss of Dunder Mifflin he's kind of the de facto boss of the cast I mean it's not an official thing but it's a little bit of like like we all sort of take our cues from him because he was such an incredible professional he was never ever ever late he always knew his lines and he never ever complained when sort of the top guy is doing that no one else can do anything less.

[569] And that's why I think that show worked so well for so long is because Steve was like this linchpin of professionalism.

[570] And if he had had any other kind of personality, that show could have gone in lots of different directions.

[571] As you're saying all this, I'm getting overwhelmed with guilt that I can be seen in that role on the show.

[572] And I could be doing a much better job.

[573] I could be passing on much better.

[574] Better things.

[575] Listen, he's superhuman that way.

[576] Well, maybe he was complaining a lot, like behind the scenes.

[577] Oh, I hope so.

[578] He never knew it.

[579] Yeah, it's really, it's awesome.

[580] Okay, now the next step is really happens to like a handful of actors every 10 years.

[581] So the next step is hangover, and that's just a full -blown fucking rocket ship to the three biggest R -rated comedies ever.

[582] I mean, it's bonkers.

[583] were you ready for that level of recognizability and general you seem more private than say again back to the McConaughey scale you seem a little more on the private end of that I probably was not as prepared for it I don't think there is no way to prepare for that like I remember telling me agent at one point you guys should set up mentorships like you should be pairing me with like a huge movie star just to have like a brunch once a month where I can ask questions because I'm terrified and confused.

[584] I don't know how to navigate these things.

[585] And he just laughed.

[586] There's this weird thing in the business where they just assume you either have it or you don't.

[587] Like you're either able to deal with this stuff or you're not.

[588] And I remember a couple of times feeling like I was flailing a little bit, just like, am I handling this right?

[589] And not feeling like I had anywhere to turn.

[590] And of course, Bradley and Zach, We're going through the same thing, and we commiserated.

[591] But we're different people, and we navigated all of our situations differently.

[592] And so sometimes our insights for each other weren't as useful to each other.

[593] So it was super exciting and thrilling.

[594] And then there are just moments of like sheer panic and terror.

[595] And here's the worst part.

[596] I honestly just wish I'd enjoyed it more.

[597] I wish I could have like just ridden it out with a little more.

[598] a little bit steadier hand on the tiller and just kind of like this is so cool and I did enjoy a lot of it.

[599] I didn't be clear like it was super fun and cool, but there were just little ways that I think I kind of like allowed my own anxiety or my own kind of insecurity to just mess with me and not roll with it as easily as I could have.

[600] But I did the best I could.

[601] They're not synonymous.

[602] You have the skill set to act in any level of movie.

[603] is.

[604] And you could be a movie star on the filming of it.

[605] But walking through life is someone who everyone is looking at and you have this kind of huge elevated status.

[606] Like those two things are just vastly different things.

[607] They're not related.

[608] Another way that I was lucky is that my fame emerged kind of gradually.

[609] You know, through the daily show was like that was like basic cable fame, right?

[610] Where maybe I'd get like a free donut at the airport or something.

[611] That's, by the way, kind of the perfect level of fame is cable TV fame.

[612] Yeah.

[613] And then the office was like network TV fame, which was a much higher level of fame.

[614] But then the hangover was just a, yeah, like you said, a rocket ship.

[615] And I still don't know if I'm handling any of that stuff right but i i i'm able to i think just laugh at it more and if something like that were to happen again i would try very hard to just kind of take it easy on myself yeah enjoy it did you happen to see the um comedians in cars getting coffee with galfanacus oh i i haven't seen it yet there was the greatest moment in it where some people are filming them on their phones just people in the coffee shop, and it's driving Zach insane, as it has often driven me insane, because I like control.

[616] I hate a lack of control, and I am powerless in that situation, and it's just what it is, and I hate it, right?

[617] That's exactly what it is.

[618] It is a loss of control.

[619] Go on.

[620] Yes, so Zach's getting more and more agitated, and he finally says to Seinfeld, like, doesn't that drive you crazy?

[621] And Jerry's like no who cares you leave your house they film you it takes five seconds and then it's over and i was like oh my god i i want to pump that into my veins like clearly he's right like get the fuck over it who gives a shit yeah i need to watch that i i heard a lot about it but also you hit on something that is exactly what is so terrifying about that transition from even like a middle level of fame to a astronomical level of fame, which is that you take it for granted your entire life that you're able to control your environment to some extent.

[622] No one can control it completely.

[623] But like if say a fight breaks out at a bar next to you, you can leave.

[624] Like you can just leave, right?

[625] Or if some weirdo is like bothering you for any reason or hitting on you or whatever, like you can leave or you can have words with that person.

[626] When you hit a certain level of fame, you can no longer just go to a baggage claim.

[627] Right.

[628] Because that's an event for the people around you.

[629] Yeah.

[630] And so suddenly your environment, no matter how you're behaving, your environment is so different because people around you are behaving so differently than anything that you ever thought was normal.

[631] They're coming up to you.

[632] They're asking pictures.

[633] They want to hug.

[634] They want to shake your hand.

[635] They want you to FaceTime with their sick grandmother.

[636] Everything is out of control.

[637] And you can't talk your way out of it.

[638] You can't just walk away.

[639] I mean, you can run, jump in a car, maybe.

[640] But those ways that we take for granted that we do control our environment that just disappear, they evaporate.

[641] And that is terrifying.

[642] yeah i've thought i've even spent time i've wasted hours of my life thinking like because i'm fine with it when it's just me but when i'm with my kids i don't like it and i've even thought oh i'm gonna wear a shirt that says family time thank you that'll solve everything and then just thinking what a big dick people think i am by wearing a shirt that says family time and then at a certain point when my kids can read i can't wear that i mean hours thinking of how i can regain control of the situation when I'm with my kids.

[643] And in AA, we have this thing, which is like acceptance is the answer to all of our problems.

[644] And I'm trying to get at peace with the fact that, like, yeah, guess what, Dax?

[645] Every time you go to the baggage claim, you're going to have 10 or 12 conversations.

[646] Yeah, that's a super insightful way to look at it.

[647] Todd Phillips has also one of my favorite points of view on this stuff, which is nobody cares.

[648] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[649] Like, you can get yourself all in a tizzy and be like, we're stressed out about it.

[650] But it's kind of the Seinfeld thing.

[651] Seinfeld is saying, like, who cares?

[652] But, like, Todd's thing is like, nobody cares.

[653] And it's kind of the same thing.

[654] That was like a mantra.

[655] Like, if we got, you know, if we were worried about some bit of bad press on one of the hangovers or, like, suddenly he'd just be like, nobody cares.

[656] Uh -huh.

[657] And it was, it was like, it's a little bit nihilistic, but it's also reassuring in a nice way.

[658] And it's like one of, I think, Todd's, like, great leadership skills is this ability to kind of, like, decide what's worth caring about.

[659] But it is a bit paradoxical because I think actors do need a lot of approval.

[660] I mean, that's sort of what a lot of it's based in is wanting other people's approval.

[661] So when you go to the baggage claim, it's hard to say, I'm just going to walk away or I'm going to say no to these people because you innately still want everyone's approval.

[662] So it's this bizarre balance.

[663] of, it's hard to say nobody cares because you also want people to care because you want people's approval.

[664] All of these things only apply in certain situations.

[665] There's, there's no fix -all.

[666] There's no like one, I mean, except unless maybe it's acceptance is the solution to all your problems.

[667] Is that what you said?

[668] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[669] Maybe that's the one thing that applies to everything.

[670] But it's also the hardest one to internalize.

[671] All right, we're not going to get bogged down in it, but I just wanted to say Cedar Rapids is one of my favorite movies ever.

[672] What a fucking movie.

[673] Oh, my God.

[674] I loved it so much.

[675] Thank you, thank you.

[676] So you have a new movie that's coming out on Netflix.

[677] When's this going to be on?

[678] June 2026.

[679] We'll still be on the platform.

[680] Okay, great.

[681] Yeah, it should still be on there.

[682] It'll be in the cloud.

[683] Coffee and Kareem is my new movie on Netflix.

[684] And it's amazing.

[685] And it opens Friday, April 3rd.

[686] Who directed it?

[687] Michael Douse.

[688] He's very well known and loved in Canada for these really bizarre movies that are absolute genius called Fubar.

[689] Those are some of the funniest movies of all time.

[690] I feel like the real authentic niche Canadian thing is getting exposed finally in the most pleasing way.

[691] Because Letter Kinney, I don't know if you've watched this show.

[692] Yeah, I love that show.

[693] They've got their own lexicon revolving around hockey that I find so amusing.

[694] I can't get enough of it.

[695] Yeah, he's Canadian.

[696] We shot the movie in Vancouver, although it takes place in Detroit.

[697] I saw that.

[698] Yeah, you'll be picking out little things that we got wrong.

[699] So coffee and cream.

[700] Well, it's more in the lethal weapon, Beverly Hills cop, even diehard or maybe not quite as gritty as 48 hours.

[701] It really, I think, is a nod to those.

[702] 80s action comedies.

[703] Yes.

[704] Cop action comedies.

[705] And it's a blast.

[706] It moves like a bullet.

[707] We did some serious stunt work in this movie that I'm insanely proud of having sat on the sidelines and watched stunt people do.

[708] Right.

[709] But no, it has great action.

[710] And this kid, my co -star, Terrence Little Garden High is his name.

[711] And he is unbelievable.

[712] He's like this discovery.

[713] I can't wait for him to blow up.

[714] He's like the McConaughey example.

[715] Like he is just a smooth dude.

[716] Like he...

[717] He's ready for it.

[718] I feel like he's built for it.

[719] Yeah, he's going to be great.

[720] I'll probably be calling him up, you know, in a couple of years.

[721] He's your mentor for brunch.

[722] Yeah.

[723] Will you be the mentor I never had?

[724] Yeah.

[725] Who should I talk to?

[726] Who should I avoid?

[727] But he is such a natural actor.

[728] There's a lot of different ways to approach.

[729] And then there are some people who just don't seem to have an approach.

[730] It's just like this intrinsic natural thing, right?

[731] Yeah.

[732] They just do it.

[733] Yeah, your asset can just be you're not self -conscious.

[734] That's one way.

[735] That's Terrence.

[736] And then Taraji Hinson is, yeah, she's just a force of nature.

[737] So the concept really quick is you're dating a woman, right?

[738] And her son wants to break you guys up.

[739] Is that it?

[740] Yes.

[741] So I'm a cop and I'm dating Taraji Henson.

[742] and it's a fairly new relationship, but it's going very well.

[743] But her son hates me, and I don't really even know him.

[744] We don't know each other very well.

[745] He just, I think, wants to get rid of this guy, a cop dating his mom.

[746] So he tries to pay these bad guys to, like, beat me up.

[747] But it backfires and kind of winds up getting him and me caught up in this.

[748] larger organized crime situation and me and the kid basically have this all night caper it's one of those 24 hour caper movies that just yeah it's like foot on the gas the whole time that's awesome april third i can't wait to watch it maybe i've already watched it by the time this comes out my last question did you or do you still have someone's career who you're like that's kind of the one i want I would say I've always, I mean, this is a cliche to even say, because I think it's true for so many actors, but Tom Hanks has always been this kind of like beacon on a hill for me as like a guy who did some of the funniest stuff I've ever seen and also has moved me to tears on numerous occasions.

[749] and has also maintained a dignity and the appearance of self -possession that that is awesome.

[750] And there are moments where I literally think, like, how would Tom Hanks handle this situation?

[751] Or I think, like, would Tom Hanks do this movie?

[752] I don't know.

[753] But that's not to compare myself to Tom Hanks in any way.

[754] That's a lovely North Star.

[755] Yeah, that's what he is.

[756] He's been for a long time for me. is like a little bit of just a way to kind of trim my sales.

[757] And I don't even think I've ever met Tom Hanks.

[758] Oh, does he deliver.

[759] He will deliver for you.

[760] He will.

[761] He'll know all your shit.

[762] He will know a story about you somehow.

[763] He delivers.

[764] All right.

[765] I look forward to it.

[766] I see that all day because you have the acting shops and you have just this kindness that is very obvious, I think, at all times, which makes you very compelling.

[767] Ed Helms, you're a nice guy.

[768] I mean, I'm not married to you, so who really knows?

[769] but on our trip to Thailand, I concluded you were a very nice guy.

[770] That's very nice of you to say, and I appreciate it.

[771] I'm glad that you were not there in Thailand during my food poisoning, because I probably wasn't as nice on those days.

[772] Well, listen, Ed, I adore you, and I'm going to watch coffee and cream.

[773] Everyone's going to watch coffee and cream.

[774] Well, Ed, we love you, and we hope you'll talk to us again the next time you do something.

[775] guys too, and I look forward to it.

[776] All right.

[777] All right.

[778] Take care, guys.

[779] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[780] And now my favorite part of the show, the fact check with my soulmate Monica Padman.

[781] Ah, Facts at Monicas.

[782] That's what this new segment's called, because we are indeed at my home.

[783] Due to some internet issues at the attic.

[784] Now, I mean, what a scatty wampus experience this whole thing is.

[785] Because now we're at your house.

[786] Exactly.

[787] It's kind of nice.

[788] It is nice.

[789] Changing things up a bit.

[790] Well, have we talked about it on here that Aaron and I were staying here while we were self -quarined?

[791] Yep.

[792] And that you looked at all my stuff.

[793] We looked at all your stuff.

[794] We read your journal.

[795] But we had like a lover's retreat here.

[796] Yes, you did.

[797] We just felt like we were on vacation in Maui or something.

[798] We were so tickled to be in this one -bedroom apartment together.

[799] Yeah.

[800] And you made hello fresh for each other.

[801] Well, he made it for me. Yeah.

[802] And then we watched from beginning to end Patriots season one and two.

[803] Yeah.

[804] First time for him.

[805] Second time for me. What a fun time it was.

[806] I know.

[807] And now forever when I come to your apartment, I'm going to have warm fuzzies from our special time here.

[808] I know.

[809] You have a Pavlovian response.

[810] Mm -hmm.

[811] How are you feeling?

[812] Who is this?

[813] I'm conflicted.

[814] Can I voice it out loud here?

[815] We're getting access to really amazing people.

[816] Yeah.

[817] Because of the quarantine.

[818] which I feel very lucky about.

[819] Right.

[820] And then I'm panicking, no one's commuting to work and no one's listening to our show.

[821] I know, I understand.

[822] And I could just find out if that's the case or not, but I don't because I'm protecting myself from being right.

[823] I know.

[824] I really understand.

[825] I really do.

[826] And I don't want to waste all these great people.

[827] No one's listening on their commute.

[828] But you know what will happen?

[829] Because this is temporary.

[830] So even if nobody's listening right now, which I think they are.

[831] Okay.

[832] Well, certainly the people right now that are listening are listening.

[833] If you're listening right now, you're listening.

[834] And if you're not, I bet once this is all over, which there will be a point that it is.

[835] Yeah, in the not too distant future.

[836] They'll go back.

[837] Okay.

[838] And they'll listen to these episodes because we do.

[839] We've had some incredible people.

[840] Yes.

[841] Today's included.

[842] Yeah.

[843] Everyone has really been great.

[844] And I know, I understand your concern.

[845] I feel it too, but I also know that you do a really good job and that people like.

[846] like the show.

[847] So we have different proclivities, you and I, our OCD, our obsessive -compulsive minds are different.

[848] They focus on different things.

[849] Yeah.

[850] Well, I'll just, I can own mine.

[851] That's the kind of thing I'll be obsessing about for no real reason.

[852] I don't even have the information.

[853] I've just decided that that's the case.

[854] Yep.

[855] Because I read three people go, oh, I'm not commuting, so I'm not listening.

[856] And I got sad.

[857] Also, why did they write that?

[858] Why?

[859] Well, just to be, I don't know why.

[860] There's no reason to write that.

[861] It didn't make me mad.

[862] I just thought, oh, they're being honest.

[863] Also, I'm experiencing it myself.

[864] I would have thought in this quarantine that I would have been able to consume like 10 different podcasts I wanted to consume all this different.

[865] Now, we have been watching a ton of TV.

[866] Yeah.

[867] I think TV's ticked up for us for sure, but I'm not listening to as much stuff.

[868] A, I can't listen to it around my kids and then B, what am I going to put headphones on around the, and then I'm going to take them out every two seconds because they're yelling?

[869] I think, yeah.

[870] I think it depends.

[871] You're also not working out because you hurt your arm.

[872] Yeah, at hand surgery.

[873] Yes.

[874] I said, you know, shocker today.

[875] Oh, my God.

[876] Yeah.

[877] It was quite a shocker.

[878] You did a follow -up appointment.

[879] And everyone's probably worried because you're going in and out of the doctor's office.

[880] But I'm not going to a public doctor just so everyone knows.

[881] I haven't gone to the hospital.

[882] I haven't gone to anywhere public.

[883] I went to a little hand clinic.

[884] Yeah.

[885] And they appreciate the business.

[886] I'm not overwhelming the medical system.

[887] Yeah.

[888] And you're doing that you're wearing mask, gloves.

[889] You're doing all the protocols.

[890] Purelling nonstop.

[891] Yeah.

[892] But it happens.

[893] Sometimes it happens.

[894] And you had to go.

[895] And they took the cast off and all kinds of metal stuff hanging out of the top of the hand, which I knew they were putting pins in, but I guess I didn't envision it looking like that.

[896] Yeah, like the pins are sticking out of the skin.

[897] Yeah, it doesn't seem like you should be able to have protrusions.

[898] Protrubrances coming out of the top of the hand.

[899] It does not.

[900] And how come it doesn't bleed around those holes?

[901] I know.

[902] Isn't that curious?

[903] You're a medical marvel.

[904] Anyways, it's a good pop -out value.

[905] Oh, so you're not working out because your hand is hurt.

[906] So workouts would be a good time to listen.

[907] That's true.

[908] That's true.

[909] But I did start listening on the toilet today.

[910] I started listening to the Esther Perel, Monica and Jess Love Boys.

[911] And I just got overwhelmed once again with her brilliance.

[912] It's weird.

[913] I want to call her a computer, but that's the antithesis of being a computer.

[914] She's so dialed in emotionally.

[915] But yet she has a clarity about emotional relationship stuff that seems otherworldly or not human.

[916] It really does.

[917] Like you can throw her anything.

[918] thing and she has an answer that's profound.

[919] Profound, each one.

[920] Yeah.

[921] Yeah, she's very special.

[922] We were very lucky.

[923] I bet she's a hellcat in the sack, too.

[924] I bet so.

[925] Yeah, she seems pretty dialed in with herself, like, emotionally.

[926] Yeah, she knows her body and her mind.

[927] How are you feeling emotionally?

[928] Me?

[929] Besides your fear of this podcast.

[930] Really good.

[931] I think probably everyone's feeling it.

[932] There's, like, there's ebbs and flows all day long.

[933] I think ours has upsides and downsides.

[934] There's a lot of us all.

[935] doing this together, which is a huge upside because we're social.

[936] Yeah.

[937] And then also we all have emotions.

[938] Of course.

[939] And so, you know, at any given time, someone's probably not feeling awesome.

[940] I know.

[941] Yeah.

[942] It's rare that all of us are feeling.

[943] Good.

[944] Perfect.

[945] Yeah.

[946] It's hard.

[947] It is so unifying.

[948] Every person I talk to has said, yeah, just the ups and doubt.

[949] Like, you feel manic.

[950] Uh -huh.

[951] Because you have one day or four hours that you feel great and you feel like, I can do this for however long, it's okay.

[952] And then just the tiniest.

[953] I have some big off swings too.

[954] Yeah, that's what I mean.

[955] I'm praying around the house going like, oh my God, I'm so glad we're all together.

[956] Oh my God.

[957] Food is so good.

[958] Yeah.

[959] I get so revved up.

[960] Yeah, that's the mania.

[961] I'm letting myself become untethered at times.

[962] And then there'll just be one very small hiccup that throws, just throws you way off, not you, me. Well, both of us, we had that we were like just having a fun conversation watching social network.

[963] And then all of a sudden we.

[964] It just got dramatic, yeah, yeah, talking about pronunciations of names and whether you had a second consonant to make keep vowels short.

[965] It was, you want to talk about a useless conversation.

[966] And then all of a sudden we just had to like unpack it and deal with it.

[967] I know, I know.

[968] And your daughter was like, now you're fighting about that.

[969] Oh, my God, that was the best part as Delta at five was aware of how preposterous the whole thing.

[970] She's like, wait a minute, you guys are talking about words.

[971] Yeah.

[972] It was silly.

[973] But you know, that conversation, it's funny.

[974] It's just like a good indicator of what so many fights are about.

[975] We were obviously not fighting about words.

[976] Nope.

[977] And how you spell words and how do you pronounce things.

[978] We, well, I was fighting, not fighting, but I was upset because I felt that, how do we even say it?

[979] Because it's such a stupid conversation to rehash.

[980] It's almost embarrassing.

[981] It is.

[982] But I will.

[983] There was a lady in the credits.

[984] Her name I happen to know is Lori.

[985] And it's spelled L -A -R -A -Y, which is different for sure.

[986] And I said simply no. You can't spell your name D -X -7 -9 P and say it's pronounced Michael.

[987] Yep.

[988] And I said, I think you can, but I understand that it's weird.

[989] And then we get into the long, A, short A, it was a whole thing.

[990] And it was me and your sister and you.

[991] Yeah, it became a three -way thing.

[992] Yep.

[993] Everyone's feelings were hurt.

[994] Well, no, because at some point you said, do you guys really not know that?

[995] And that's for me when it turned.

[996] Yeah.

[997] Well, I started feeling insane, you know?

[998] Mm -hmm.

[999] Like sad and sadder or saddest.

[1000] I thought you were saying you felt sad and then sadder.

[1001] No, no, no, no. I was just pointing out that you've got to add another D to sadder.

[1002] Yeah.

[1003] Or it makes the A long.

[1004] Well, if you add an E, it makes it long.

[1005] Mm -hmm.

[1006] Unless you add that second consonant.

[1007] And then you guys were just, I don't know why.

[1008] It seemed like you guys were saying that's not the case.

[1009] And then I started feeling crazy.

[1010] And then I was like, hold on, is it possible you guys don't realize that's what's going on, that that's why you add the second.

[1011] Then I really thought maybe you guys did what you guys.

[1012] I don't know how you would, I would know something about grammar that you guys didn't, because I'm the worst.

[1013] But then I was legitimately like, do they not know that?

[1014] I know, but what if we didn't know that?

[1015] Do you think that would have been the best way to approach it by saying, do you guys really not know that?

[1016] No, that would not be the right way.

[1017] Right.

[1018] So even if we didn't know it, we're not going to want it to know it.

[1019] Like, I found it impossible to believe that you guys could have not known something I knew about spelling because I'm so bad at it, that I thought in that moment, oh, they're just fucking with me. Or like they're deciding to throw out.

[1020] No, just like deny that that's a case to perpetuate your own argument.

[1021] Right.

[1022] Oh, boy, I'm embarrassed to even disagree.

[1023] It's not even, you know.

[1024] But the reason I think it's fine to talk about it is because I think these types of things are happening across the globe right now.

[1025] Tiny, tiny conversations like how to pronounce Lori get blown up yeah laray get really blown out of proportion quick well and i think it was a fractal of what's going on in general and i do wonder if this is a me and you guys thing or there's a male female thing i'd be curious how it's playing out in people's homes across america but my own point of view is just different from you and christians in general about this pandemic and um we're always on opposite sides of the thoughts you know yep yep and so then than any, I guess, argument that's not even related to that, somehow is related to that, because that's the undercurrent of what's going on.

[1026] Yeah.

[1027] Yeah, because then a few minutes after that, we got in another mini fight because...

[1028] I'm so embarrassed for us.

[1029] I know.

[1030] Because the actor, you said, oh, that's an actor from Handmaid's Tale.

[1031] And I said, oh, really?

[1032] Huh.

[1033] And you said, yeah, it is.

[1034] And I was like, okay.

[1035] Oh, I don't have the same memory of this.

[1036] Oh, okay.

[1037] I think you said, is it?

[1038] And I said, yeah.

[1039] And you said, is it?

[1040] Right.

[1041] I'm sure that's fine.

[1042] I stand by that something that could have happened.

[1043] I felt like, well, now you don't even believe me that that's the same.

[1044] Well, I know, but why?

[1045] Okay, yes, you're right.

[1046] And you made a good point.

[1047] Do you want me to disagree with you, which I don't?

[1048] Yeah.

[1049] And I said, no, but I would like some, what I say, benefit of the doubt.

[1050] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1051] Which I get.

[1052] But I think the benefit of the doubt, I think that's connected to the other fights.

[1053] I think that's the through.

[1054] line yeah well and i already said it on here so we can just be honest about it i'm of the opinion that california already had it and a lot of the country already had it again i'm doing all the right stuff i'm doing all the stuff yeah but but i think that and now there's been a couple different articles that have come out that some people are at least exploring that uh -huh certainly not conclusive yet but like stanford's looking into that anywho that's kind of an ongoing debate in the house and i'm leaning towards it everyone already had it and you guys are not leaning that way which is fine also who cares even as i say it out loud but i i do wonder if that i wonder if there's a male -female thing going on how males and females process this type of situation yeah but you even said in your meeting you felt like a lot of the men were pretty freaked out yeah yeah that's true yeah in my a meeting but it didn't last long i will say yeah and we just also have such different opinions on what's considered freaking out.

[1055] Like, I don't think Kristen and I are freaking out at all.

[1056] I think we are being stringent.

[1057] Yeah, you're not hysterical or anything.

[1058] Yeah.

[1059] That word's tricky, hysterical, to use it in reference to women.

[1060] Oh, yeah.

[1061] That was a bad history.

[1062] It does.

[1063] Yeah, I think Seinfeld.

[1064] Sigmund Seinfeld, Freud, explored hysteria in women a lot as very misogynistic.

[1065] So, anywho, I don't think either of you are.

[1066] being crazy no no no I just think there seems to be a slight difference yeah I think you're right I think you're right okay Edward Helms Ed Helms I mean the fact that he was dressed the way he was and then it was revealed throughout the thing that he is Southern in that way it was all very cute because I was like wow he is really dressed nicely for this I know it is funny he was talking about how he's repressed and then he plays an obnoxious instrument yeah and how his internal he then finds its way out but I am so impressed with him as an actor I think he's so great I liked him so much he was so sweet and nice and thoughtful and not maybe not what anyone would expect not what I expected at all right expected like a more comedian type yeah except the more more like the more I know comedians the less I think of them as that so many comedians I know are quiet and yeah Thoughtful and sad.

[1067] You know, like there's a darkness sometimes.

[1068] But Ed didn't have a darkness in my opinion.

[1069] He just had a seriousness.

[1070] And I liked it.

[1071] I like when people are enigmas.

[1072] Yeah.

[1073] It must make dating tricky for him in the past, though, because...

[1074] Oh, they're expecting one thing?

[1075] Yeah, yeah.

[1076] Yeah, certainly they would know who he was.

[1077] It'd be hard not to know who he was on planet Earth at this point.

[1078] Yeah.

[1079] And then so either you would have thought he was a comedian and wouldn't have even tried to get to know him, you know, like, oh, he's a comedian.

[1080] Or you thought he was a comedian, so you decided to get to know him and you're like, oh, but he's more sincere and serious.

[1081] Yeah.

[1082] I don't know.

[1083] It feels like that could make it tricky.

[1084] I agree.

[1085] Like, you see me on TV and I'm a buffoon, and then you meet me in real life, and oh, he's a buffoon.

[1086] You're as advertised, yeah.

[1087] I compare this to, I've always theorized on what it's like to date a rock star.

[1088] Because talk about interesting advertisement.

[1089] Like, you see them at a show.

[1090] They're a god, basically.

[1091] They look otherworldly.

[1092] They have superpowers.

[1093] Beyonce, you watch your dance and open that fucking mouth and it just shakes the foundation of the room you're in.

[1094] Yeah.

[1095] No human being acts like that in real life.

[1096] There's no way to act like that in real life.

[1097] Yeah.

[1098] So I was wondering of like women who fall for rock stars find themselves a little more bored than they were expecting.

[1099] Yes, expectation is everything.

[1100] We've talked about that even on here when we have people.

[1101] We have really high expectations.

[1102] It's almost impossible for people to meet that.

[1103] and they're wonderful.

[1104] Uh -huh.

[1105] Just because you yourself have set them.

[1106] We even had this, yesterday we watched a date line.

[1107] Oh, we watched a great date line.

[1108] But this was the fucking two -hour Saturday night, big one with Keith at the helm.

[1109] One of the craziest episodes we've ever seen.

[1110] Lots of twists and turns.

[1111] Oh, Liz.

[1112] Okay, there's a woman in it named Liz.

[1113] And after we watched it, I was scared.

[1114] You really thought that Liz.

[1115] You really thought that Liz.

[1116] might be at the house in a real way and I kept going explain this to me like how I want to be in on it are you pretending she broke out of prison how does she know who we are rational it's not rational it's just you got the spooks I got spooked out yeah and then everything was spooky then it was like even getting like a vitamin out I felt like she was behind or something was behind me It wasn't necessarily Liz specific, but it was.

[1117] And our dog, our dog we've had for six months, Frank, he was in this episode of the Dateline.

[1118] They showed a picture, and by God, that was Frank.

[1119] And we have no idea where Frank came from.

[1120] He's a fucking rescue.

[1121] So it was plausible that Frank was a part of this murder triangle, found his way to our house, and now Liz would come looking for Frank.

[1122] Yes, see, it's all possible.

[1123] It took a lot of willpower.

[1124] on my end to not stoke the fire because there was so many little things for me to amp up your fear yes and i wanted you so bad it was kind of like good punch lines were just sitting on the table that i had to not say out loud i was really scared and then i heard you heard some tapping i heard some tapping and i texted you was that you and then i texted anna who's living with us and then everyone came out into the living room at one in the morning No, no, no, no, no, to be fair.

[1125] It wasn't, it wasn't that everyone went to sleep and this was an hour later.

[1126] This was still, we were all like this is minutes after.

[1127] But everyone did rush to the living room like Liz was in the house.

[1128] But I got a little derailed.

[1129] So the point is in watching Dateline, there was one woman who for a while we were being fed to believe that she was bad.

[1130] Right, that she was the culprit.

[1131] And they were showing this picture of her over and over again.

[1132] And every time I saw it, I was like, oh, oh.

[1133] Like, I was just getting so angry staring at her picture.

[1134] At how evil she was.

[1135] And I couldn't believe it.

[1136] And then turns out there's a big twist.

[1137] Sure.

[1138] Well, it was a couple.

[1139] Yeah, there's a few.

[1140] And one of the twists is that woman is not a bad guy.

[1141] Yeah.

[1142] And when they showed that picture after we found out, then I see the picture.

[1143] And I think, oh, it's totally benign.

[1144] The sweet lady.

[1145] Mm -hmm.

[1146] I mean, it's that fast.

[1147] Well, there's this famous, I wish I could remember the name of it, but you know, there's a 70s kind of film experiment.

[1148] They might even show it in film school, but they show a man walking down the street and they show his face, right?

[1149] And they cut to different things.

[1150] And it's kind of an experiment.

[1151] So they cut to a woman like holding her purse maybe.

[1152] She's clearly just been robbed.

[1153] And then they cut to this guy's face and you're convinced him.

[1154] But then they show it a different way.

[1155] You know, and the dude is just neutral.

[1156] And it's kind of a, it's to illustrate, How you fill in the emotions on the actor's face, yeah.

[1157] Okay, so, Ed, so Martin Sheen Apocalypse Now, you asked if the food poisoning was like Martin Sheen having a heart attack on Apocalypse Now.

[1158] I'll just, I'll add before you get into this, anyone who's not watched the documentary, Hearts of Darkness, it's as good as Apocalypse Now as, as a movie.

[1159] Have you ever watched it?

[1160] No, and when I was doing some research on this today, I mean, I always knew that those two go hand -in -hand and if you should watch both.

[1161] But I haven't seen apocalypse now, so I never felt the need to see hearts of darkness.

[1162] But then I was doing some research to find Martin Sheen's heart attack, and I was reading about all the insanity that shoot was.

[1163] There's probably never been a crazier production.

[1164] And had he not just directed the godfathers, they would have pulled the plug a million times.

[1165] They would have had to.

[1166] There were dead bodies they brought on set.

[1167] The typhoons.

[1168] They shut it down for a long time.

[1169] They just all went home for a long time.

[1170] Martin Sheen had a heart attack.

[1171] Also, they put the shoot on hold because when Brando got there, he didn't know any lines.

[1172] He didn't know anything.

[1173] Hadn't read the book.

[1174] Yeah.

[1175] Coppola had to teach him his lines, so they just shut down production for a while while he did that.

[1176] This is this weird Ian and Yang of Brando, who I was obsessed with for a while and read a couple different biographies on.

[1177] You know, he's intermittently this super irresponsible guy.

[1178] Yeah.

[1179] A glutton.

[1180] And then he is a genius on top of it.

[1181] Yeah.

[1182] I don't think those two are at odds.

[1183] I think a lot of geniuses have a lot of other issues.

[1184] Well, we're going to watch it.

[1185] We're going to watch Hearts of Darkness because there's a point when you see how frustrating is for Coppola to work with him.

[1186] Yeah.

[1187] He just won't commit to even working.

[1188] And at that point, you're like, this guy's just an asshole.

[1189] Yeah.

[1190] Why aren't you firing this guy?

[1191] But then when you see what he does, you're like, well, I guess that's that guy's process.

[1192] and only three, four people can do what he does, and I guess you've got to deal with if that's someone's process to get that thing he wants.

[1193] So it's all, I don't think it's cut and dry.

[1194] I feel conflicted about that.

[1195] I know two, three people can do what he does, but four through four thousand people can do the next step.

[1196] And I personally, this is just my obsession with justice, feel like I don't need that one through three if he's an asshole and he's evil.

[1197] I'll take the 4 through 4 ,000 who are really, really, really good.

[1198] Maybe they're not genius level, but they're still fantastic.

[1199] I'd prefer that.

[1200] I don't know.

[1201] It's tough because they are the Picasso's of...

[1202] I know, but like, that's what I'm saying.

[1203] And I know this is going to rub people some...

[1204] I have to sneeze.

[1205] Bless you.

[1206] I wanted to try to do gazoon height with Corona in there.

[1207] Couldn't make it happen.

[1208] Oh, that would have been hard, yeah.

[1209] But, you know, when we were in Vienna, Also so crazy to think Like weeks before we were shut down Kristen and I were in another country We were flying internationally It was happening Yeah We were flying internationally We were in New York on the subway Eating Emily Burger Having seizures God I miss having seizures But we were in Vienna And we went to this really cool museum And it had a lot of like really fine art There was Picasso's there There was all kinds of cool stuff And I was looking at it and they were amazing and I didn't I could feel like the history but I also then I looked at the next painting of a person I didn't know and I was like this is the same thing we decided this person was the one and we put a lot of clow into and I'm not saying he's not a genius I do think he is but I guess I know what you're saying I've had that thought a lot about art I mean Art specifically is hard.

[1210] Like, you look at Pollock, and you're like, I don't really, it's paint drips, blah, blah.

[1211] What sold me on Picasso, and again, look, we're aware of the, the dicey history of Picasso.

[1212] And with all, with the women's stuff, so with all that said, I was just exposed to Picasso in his cubist works.

[1213] So I was like, I don't know, a kid could draw that.

[1214] I don't know.

[1215] I never was all that sold.

[1216] But then I went to the museum in Barcelona.

[1217] And it showed, there's a very famous painting, like a kind of, medievaly painting of this it was huge uh like probably eight feet wide and it was like all these people in a parlor hanging out there's a dog and so he did a copy of that painting which was a famous painting and he did it it looks like a photograph yeah and then the next one he like puts it through the Picasso filter a little bit and in this one room it's on all the walls and then it ends with one of his paintings and you can see everything is in that painting that the original one had and you see all the steps and at that point I was like no this guy's a one in a billion for sure I and I am not challenging that I think he is but I guess my point is when I'm at that museum if there were no Picasso's in it would I have left and been like that museum sucked I wouldn't right I would have still been like oh that was amazing and that one was awesome and that one was awesome like I mean look by the way everyone in that museum was probably also a one in a they were in a museum Yeah, so in a museum.

[1218] But, yeah, but I just, I don't know, I just kind of balk up against this idea that, like, if you're a genius, you can get away with all of this murder.

[1219] And look, I don't think people should get away with murder.

[1220] But I think it's plausible that some people's process involves a lot of insanity.

[1221] I think the thing is with art, okay, like, that's fine.

[1222] Because it's them, them in a room.

[1223] But with an actor, it affects so many people.

[1224] When it starts affecting other people is where I draw the line.

[1225] Yeah, but the one I will defend I have before, and I'll do it again, is like Christian Baal, that tape that leaked of him.

[1226] Like the character he's playing and the mindset he has to be in, he has to be a misanthrope and an angry motherfucker to be doing that.

[1227] And he's kind of like living in that space and then someone's walking in and out of his eye line.

[1228] Totally.

[1229] And he's already in the character.

[1230] Yeah.

[1231] So.

[1232] No, I know.

[1233] It's true.

[1234] Yeah.

[1235] I get it.

[1236] I get it.

[1237] You can't want all things.

[1238] You can't like want an actor to be able to convey heartbreak and then expect them to be heartbroken and acting as if they're not and having the, you know, because when people are that devastated and they're heartbroken, they're in these fights where they're getting divorced, they're saying insane stuff.

[1239] And we're asking the people to be in that space.

[1240] Yeah.

[1241] But then pain in the lines and not be.

[1242] So it's kind of like, you know, I don't know.

[1243] Now, I don't know if that's Brando's case and not having read a fucking book.

[1244] Yeah, not being prepared coming.

[1245] that to shut down production.

[1246] He wouldn't do scenes with the scene partner, so they had to shoot every other day each person.

[1247] Like insanity.

[1248] Yeah.

[1249] Insanity.

[1250] Anyway, but he did have a hard attack.

[1251] And he also had an epileptic seizure.

[1252] So twins.

[1253] Martin Sheen did.

[1254] Okay.

[1255] And then what year was the banjo invented?

[1256] Ed gave like a nice little history of banjos, so I don't need to go really into it.

[1257] But Joel Sweeney was the first star performer on the banjo in the 1800.

[1258] It's often said that he invented the modern banjo by adding frets to the neck and also introducing the fifth string.

[1259] However, many people question these claims nowadays because he was saying it goes way, way back.

[1260] Right.

[1261] And that's all the facts.

[1262] There's only two facts, unfortunately.

[1263] Well, fortunate for us, because we had to reenact an entire episode of Dateline for people.

[1264] So I don't know where we would find the time.

[1265] I hope we didn't spoil it because I want people to watch that episode.

[1266] It was so good.

[1267] Yeah, what was the name of that one?

[1268] I don't know.

[1269] Oh, a little housekeeping thing.

[1270] One, someone pointed out, and they did it in the best way because I don't always take criticism well, but this was done in a way that my ears were open to it and I was appreciative of it.

[1271] And several episodes, I guess, I will refer to people as bipolar, as opposed to saying they have bipolar disorder, which is a valid complaint.

[1272] And I was embarrassed that I've been doing that because one of the things I did learn in an anthro class is how we talk about mental health in this country versus how they do in other parts of the world, where it's just like you have a cold.

[1273] It's a temporary thing or it's a condition.

[1274] You're not a schizophrenic where say you have schizophrenia.

[1275] So I've been doing that and I apologize for that.

[1276] And then also when I interviewed Sanjay, I said B -52s were being spit out like every 68 seconds.

[1277] That's not what airplane it was.

[1278] That's not the bomber.

[1279] There was a bomber, but I had the call letters wrong.

[1280] So embarrassing to me. Embarrassing for me. I didn't catch it.

[1281] Oh, we didn't do a fact check on that one.

[1282] Well, also.

[1283] So I would have found it.

[1284] Anything you're assuming I'm getting right?

[1285] out it's mechanical stuff that's true i would i would not have looked that's all all right well i love you love you this is kind of one thing that's making us feel sane isn't it it is it is so thanks armcherry's the ones that are still listening we love you we love you follow armchair expert on the wondery app amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts you can listen to every episode of armchair expert early and ad free right now by joining wondry plus in the wondry app or on apple podcast Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondry .com slash survey.