Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard XX
[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert.
[1] I'm Dan Pepperd, and I'm joined by Pladman Lillies.
[2] Oh, my gosh.
[3] Wow.
[4] Hi.
[5] I thought maybe I was going to be salty.
[6] Our names are so boring compared to our guest's name today.
[7] Yeah.
[8] Jalenhall.
[9] It's a good name.
[10] It's a big name.
[11] There's so many letters.
[12] I'm going to count them for you.
[13] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
[14] That's a whopper.
[15] You have seven on yours.
[16] S -H -E -P -E -E -E.
[17] A, R .D, you're right.
[18] I guess it's not preposterously long.
[19] Six, Padman.
[20] Easy.
[21] Monica, though, a little too long.
[22] Six.
[23] Twelve total.
[24] Twelve total.
[25] Twelve all in.
[26] A dozen.
[27] Jake Gyllenhaal.
[28] He's an Academy Award nominated actor, Brokeback Mountain Nightcrawler, Southpaw, Prisoners, Donnie Darko.
[29] It started it all.
[30] He has a new movie out this Friday, April 21st, Guy Ritchie's The Covenant.
[31] This is a gritty, awesome thriller set in Afghanistan about a very sad and important topic of all these incredible interpreters that were used and then abandoned.
[32] It's kind of rough.
[33] Yeah.
[34] Great movie though, despite that.
[35] And Jake Gyllenhaal, a couple things right out of the gates.
[36] You're not going to be able to tell this by listening.
[37] Very tall.
[38] So tall.
[39] Yeah.
[40] He left and you and I both took a minute.
[41] We took a knee.
[42] We took a knee and we were like, what do we learn?
[43] Yeah, what do we learn today?
[44] Jake is tall.
[45] It was surprising.
[46] Yeah.
[47] Really tall.
[48] Very handsome.
[49] Very, very, very friendly.
[50] Movie star quality.
[51] But nice boy.
[52] It's a nice boy.
[53] Yeah.
[54] They're real nicey.
[55] Very.
[56] Very.
[57] Please enjoy Jake Jillenhall.
[58] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to armchair expert early and add free right now.
[59] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
[60] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.
[61] Oh, those are nice chairs.
[62] Oh, wow.
[63] You stumbled into a really interesting conversation.
[64] This is a huge playhouse.
[65] Yours feels like sort of Damien Hersey and yours feels more like dad.
[66] Well, yeah.
[67] Remember when the wolf dressed up as a grandma?
[68] Yes.
[69] I feel like that.
[70] Is that what it is?
[71] Yeah.
[72] Is that what I'm about the experience?
[73] But I really actually like the pattern.
[74] Wow.
[75] Thank you.
[76] You're the first.
[77] You're the first.
[78] we're going to get along really well.
[79] And also, like, your velvet suit with it is pretty.
[80] I don't mean to take away from your chair, which I think is actually really great, too.
[81] And your legs don't touch your ground at all.
[82] It's not even close.
[83] They don't even come to the end of the seat.
[84] Can you imagine me in that chair?
[85] Should we do it just to see?
[86] I think so.
[87] I haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to photograph it for sure.
[88] That's amazing.
[89] Okay, if I sit all the way back.
[90] Come on now, guys.
[91] Have you never sat in that chair?
[92] Okay, this chair is new.
[93] It just happened, and it's been a point of contention.
[94] I don't think I'm like a stylist or anything, but I think I have some style.
[95] And I would spend too much money on that.
[96] Really?
[97] Absolutely.
[98] I've got great news for you.
[99] This was only $1 ,500.
[100] I'm out there.
[101] I'm getting it.
[102] Lazyboy .com, and it'll be there in four weeks.
[103] Oh, yeah, I hate it.
[104] Wait, where did you find it?
[105] Lazyboy.
[106] Oh, not lazy boy.
[107] And they've got like a thousand fabrics.
[108] can pick from online, and I pick this fabric.
[109] It's a fantastic fabric.
[110] Sorry, I'm done saying that, because it really is.
[111] Have you seen a nicer blue?
[112] Like, it's the most inviting blue.
[113] It's kind of the blue that the ocean in Hawaii is.
[114] And the pinks and the greens are like a gray green.
[115] It's not even like, it's very sophisticated, actually.
[116] Wow.
[117] It really is.
[118] I feel.
[119] Gamed up on.
[120] And in a way, not to say leather isn't sophisticated.
[121] It is, but.
[122] I didn't pick this either.
[123] Oh, really?
[124] You have no choice in your chair pickage?
[125] that's her chair.
[126] That's the chair she picked.
[127] Oh.
[128] Yes.
[129] Oh, you're Danish.
[130] You're Danish book.
[131] I get it.
[132] See, look how stylish that is.
[133] But this was Dax's chair for the past five years.
[134] And too much behind the curtain.
[135] But me on leather, it makes my back sweat like crazy.
[136] And then when you and I go out and take pictures in a minute and you touch my back and like, oh, fuck, that was disgusting.
[137] Gross, dude.
[138] So the whole walk, I'm like, oh, my God, I got to put a towel over my back.
[139] I cannot be on leather anymore.
[140] I got to get some upholstery.
[141] And that's where this came in.
[142] And now Monica's moved over to this one.
[143] Well, I have anxiety that if we get rid of this, the show will collapse.
[144] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[145] And we have to keep it.
[146] But you got a hammy down.
[147] You didn't even get a choice.
[148] Well, I didn't really get a choice for that one because that was a sponsor.
[149] But you did pick it, right?
[150] You picked the colors and the silhouette.
[151] Nothing's cheaper than free.
[152] That's right.
[153] Although if you want to get metaphorical, sometimes nothing costs more than free.
[154] That's absolutely true.
[155] Wow.
[156] There is a cost to everything.
[157] There is a cost.
[158] There's a hidden cost.
[159] You pay for everything.
[160] Absolutely.
[161] You learn that slowly when you become recognizable.
[162] You go along with the assumption that, well, this person just being really nice to me. That's nice.
[163] They've offered me these whatever they gave me. And then you realize, no, they want you to go to a birthday party in three months.
[164] Yes.
[165] And you're going to be an asshole if you didn't because they gave you sunglasses.
[166] Yes.
[167] And then you learn free is not free.
[168] In fact, it's probably the most expensive thing out there.
[169] I do think truly you do pay for everything.
[170] So, you know, you better start realizing.
[171] Do you recall when we connected?
[172] I do.
[173] You do?
[174] Okay, I was wondering this morning.
[175] Was it the Toronto Film Festival?
[176] At the downstairs at the Shangri -La Hotel?
[177] Well, that's even better memory than I have.
[178] Yes, it was a nice hotel that had water running through the lobby.
[179] And it had little plexiglass bridge you could walk over.
[180] Yes.
[181] And my little girl at the time was like six months.
[182] And there was like a corner.
[183] I saw you.
[184] And I don't exactly remember, but I can tell you that I was drawn to you.
[185] I don't know who said hello first.
[186] I think I did because I had just seen Enda Watch and I had hired Pena because I thought he and the movie and you were so great.
[187] He's amazing.
[188] I wanted to tell you how much I loved that movie.
[189] And then from my perspective, it was like someone shot a starter pistol.
[190] And we like skipped about seven hours of casual chat.
[191] And then like, did it see each other until now?
[192] Yeah.
[193] Yeah, that was almost 10 years ago, nine and a half years ago or something.
[194] Yeah, maybe around that.
[195] You have such a really warm presence.
[196] I felt this Empatico kind of like, oh, I can.
[197] open up to you like I'm like oh hey what's up I'm somebody who will go up and be geeky to somebody and tell them how much I love what they do that felt like you did the same and then I was like oh cool I think you're great too like yeah yeah this is so name droppery but it just happened my wife and I saw cocaine bear last weekend yeah like we were in Atlanta we had nothing to do we walked into an I pick what's showing was watch this we loved it so much it's a 10 out 10 fucking pop -out horror hysterical.
[198] It's perfect.
[199] So we get back to the hotel and we just can't stop talking to how great this movie is.
[200] And I'm like, hey, we have Elizabeth Banks phone number.
[201] Let's leave her a voice message, right?
[202] So we leave this very long, almost as long as the movie, voice message of how much we love it.
[203] And then we bumped into her on Friday night and she said, I got to tell you something.
[204] Receiving that message made me think, why aren't I doing this to my friends?
[205] And I go, I think it's because we think the person's going to be annoyed by it.
[206] But then you remember, who doesn't want to hear that you saw the thing they put two years of their life to and loved it?
[207] Oh, my God.
[208] Yeah.
[209] I mean, the number of times I've stopped myself from doing that.
[210] Also, I just love writing handwritten notes because I've gotten handwritten notes and been like, oh.
[211] Yes.
[212] They wrote it by hand.
[213] Do you know what I mean?
[214] I do.
[215] Oh, my God.
[216] And I think actually now phone messages are the same thing as a handwritten note because we so rarely do that.
[217] Well, getting someone's address is its own hurdle.
[218] And it's also, it can be weird.
[219] Yeah.
[220] Yeah.
[221] Yeah.
[222] But you're right.
[223] It's so nice to hear, particularly a fellow actor, where there's like all this kind of bullshit competition that's generated by the business that we work in that I don't think actually exists.
[224] I actually think there's more of an admiration than that.
[225] And it creates this thing.
[226] And our own insecurity, right?
[227] Totally.
[228] It's like, I might come tell you, I like end of watch.
[229] But in my head walking up to you, I'm like, if he knows who I am, which he probably doesn't.
[230] He knows that I'm a comedian, so this compliment will mean nothing coming from me because it's not a comedy.
[231] You know, like I go through this list of insecurities while you're not going to want to hear this from me. Yeah, I remember when I was really young doing a movie with Husserand, Holly Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, Dapney Coleman, Moonlight Mile.
[232] Moonlight Mile, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[233] Street Miracle Mile, movie Moonlight Mile, I think.
[234] Anyway, I remember being sort of not as in awe as I should have been because I was younger.
[235] And there were so many of them.
[236] Like, just legend after legend.
[237] I think experience does bring humility.
[238] You know, I've seen like point break a million times.
[239] And if I had seen Keanu Reeves or Patrick Swayze, I would have been like, oh, yeah.
[240] But like those people I didn't have the same.
[241] Yeah, doesn't happen.
[242] Maybe you would have seen Tutsi?
[243] Like, what would you have even seen him in?
[244] Yeah, I guess like outbreak?
[245] Okay.
[246] Sure.
[247] Yeah, but you haven't, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[248] At the time, you know, at the time.
[249] You haven't seen the things that made him a legend.
[250] Exactly.
[251] And then you do.
[252] And you're like, why wasn't I quater?
[253] in my boots.
[254] But don't you think that made you more real?
[255] No. I don't think so.
[256] Maybe.
[257] Yeah, I think there's that thing to youth in that way.
[258] Also, maybe a little bit of a blessing, because if you revere them too much, you'd be so like, you'd be nervous.
[259] Like, I heard your guy's Letterman interview, and you were like, he's my God.
[260] He's your God.
[261] Sort of like, were you okay doing that?
[262] Hardly.
[263] It was so sweet.
[264] Yeah.
[265] It was.
[266] He was the first.
[267] He's the one guy that said...
[268] Talk show I ever was on, and I was 15.
[269] Oh, my God.
[270] Or 16, yeah.
[271] What was that for?
[272] October sky.
[273] October sky.
[274] I remember basically nothing because I was panicked, you know?
[275] Right.
[276] Did you like him going in, like, more than Dustin Hoffman.
[277] Did you revere him?
[278] Of course.
[279] I revered him.
[280] And it was also that studio was like freezing cold, too.
[281] Oh, yes.
[282] Like, notoriously freezing cold.
[283] 58 degrees, probably.
[284] Yeah, like terrible.
[285] You walked in the door open.
[286] It was like you were going into the winter.
[287] Magic Johnson was on before me. Oh, my.
[288] And he was like a hundred feet tall.
[289] And you're from L .A. And I'm from L .A. I remember Magic Johnson shaking my hand, but me having to get on my tiptoes to basically like shake his hand and use every piece of my hand to shake his hand.
[290] Yes.
[291] And then I just don't remember any of it.
[292] The reason I was on it, this was so cool about him, Dave's scuba diving instructor was the guy that I played in the movie.
[293] Oh.
[294] Which is so weird.
[295] Yeah.
[296] Because he worked at NASA.
[297] I did all this stuff.
[298] He was also a scuba diving structure.
[299] So he had taught Dave how to scuba dive.
[300] And so because Dave knew that there was a movie made about his scuba diving instructor, he had me on.
[301] Yeah, to almost pump up his scuba instructor.
[302] It was crazy.
[303] Yeah.
[304] He's weird like that.
[305] So the first time I was on, get a call.
[306] I've just been on punked.
[307] It's kind of popular.
[308] You've been invited to go on David Letterman.
[309] That's it.
[310] That's the dream.
[311] Jesus.
[312] Fly to New York to my whole family.
[313] On my way to the theater.
[314] I'm talking to my agent.
[315] You're freaking out?
[316] I'm elated.
[317] I'm so excited.
[318] Because for me, it's like, even if I blow it, I'm going to sit next to him.
[319] On the way there, who are the other guests?
[320] Oh, Cristana Loca.
[321] who's starring in like T3 or whatever, Jimmy Phelan and you.
[322] And I was like, that's one too many guests.
[323] Someone's going to get bumped and it's going to be me of those three.
[324] And it turns out Jimmy was guest hosting.
[325] He wasn't even.
[326] Oh, no. Yes, yes, yes.
[327] Oh, no. And Jimmy and I talked about it.
[328] It's great.
[329] What an experience.
[330] But then I got called back.
[331] But it wasn't for punked or the movie I was in.
[332] Bunnihon had a show.
[333] I did two episodes over the course of three weeks.
[334] I played two different characters.
[335] He saw that because he loved Bonnie Hunt.
[336] And he was like, who's this guy who played a doctor and one and a director and another?
[337] Seriously?
[338] I want that guy on.
[339] Not from anything I had been that anyone saw me. Did he know that you had been on the show?
[340] No, he obviously.
[341] He was like, no clue.
[342] He just thought it was so funny that I played a face surgeon on January 9th.
[343] And then January 27th, I played a film director, similar to your scuba thing.
[344] And never saw him again.
[345] And that was 19 years ago, something like that.
[346] I also was doing a movie I met your mother.
[347] Oh.
[348] Oh.
[349] She came to the set, in fact, of a movie, Kristen and I were both in.
[350] When in Rome, fantastic picture.
[351] You should definitely own it.
[352] Wait, really?
[353] Yeah, and your mother is friends with the director, Mark Stephen Johnson.
[354] Were you in Rome?
[355] Only for two weeks.
[356] The rest of it was in New York.
[357] And your mother stopped by set.
[358] So I met your mother weirdly.
[359] So again, I know that you went to Columbia.
[360] I've met your mother in New York.
[361] You're definitely from New York.
[362] I'm from L .A. I know.
[363] This is what I learned.
[364] Hancock Park, no West.
[365] Big time.
[366] My parents moved kind of westward.
[367] My sister was born New York.
[368] My mom.
[369] Mom was writing for the children's television workshop on Sesame Street.
[370] She was producing.
[371] And then my dad really wanted to direct.
[372] And so they came out to L .A. to kind of try and start stuff.
[373] And they bought this house with the little money they had on Westmoreland.
[374] And my dad fixed it up.
[375] He's a Swede, right?
[376] Yeah, he's a sweet.
[377] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[378] He's like a good carpenter and, like, in a painter.
[379] He painted houses for many years, like, as he was going through college.
[380] So he fixed up the house.
[381] They then sold that house.
[382] With the money they made there, they moved west to Norton, maybe five blocks west, incremental.
[383] And then again, 10 years later, after my dad fixed that up and did all work on that, then they moved to Irving, which is in Hancock Park.
[384] Okay.
[385] How old were you at that point?
[386] Maybe at 10, we moved to Irving.
[387] Okay.
[388] You'll be so helpful to me right now.
[389] You can't even imagine.
[390] So I have two little girls that are in the same position really you were in growing up, which is randomly wild.
[391] old folks came over to the house.
[392] Like Billy Crystal's at supper.
[393] Paul Newman is in the mix.
[394] Oh, wow.
[395] So my mom had written a movie that was based on, speaking of New York, she was friends with people in and around the kind of weather underground, you know, at the time.
[396] Oh, no kidding.
[397] Yeah.
[398] Oh, wow.
[399] She was previously married to this professor at Columbia.
[400] Who was a radical?
[401] Well, I mean, yeah.
[402] My mom would say, I wasn't a hippie.
[403] I was a radical.
[404] Yeah, oh, good for her.
[405] So, so.
[406] So she is married to this professor's amazing Eric Foner, who's actually like a really prolific Pulitzer Prize winning.
[407] Wow, yeah, yeah.
[408] Like he just recently retired from Columbia.
[409] They split up because they got married pretty young.
[410] Also 60s.
[411] Yeah, yeah, it was just like a different, yeah, I guess a different time.
[412] It's not radical enough to be married.
[413] Yeah, by the way, true.
[414] Totally true.
[415] And then my mom wrote this script called Running on Empty.
[416] Eventually became a movie that was directed by Sidney Lumet with River Phoenix, Martha Plimpton, Judd, Hersh, Christine Lottie.
[417] She won a Golden Globe for it.
[418] She got nominated for Academy Award for it.
[419] It's an amazing movie.
[420] Can I ask how old she was at that time?
[421] I think she was probably 40.
[422] Yeah, wow, huh?
[423] Two years younger than you?
[424] Yes.
[425] I remember watching the Golden Globes and like holding a pillow and then she like won.
[426] And I remember like drooling all over the pillow with like excitement.
[427] I like my love on this thing.
[428] In a male driven world.
[429] Yeah.
[430] Yeah.
[431] She's pretty amazing.
[432] She then sort of obviously got all this attention.
[433] and then Paul Newman was developing something and asked her to write something.
[434] So they became friends.
[435] My mom is pretty brilliant, and he just took a real liking to her.
[436] Side note, you're probably not comfortable answering.
[437] But is dad super chill about mom becoming best friends with Paul Newman?
[438] I mean, he's literally the sexiest man alive at that point.
[439] I mean, the only comparison would be bread.
[440] My dad's pretty hot.
[441] Really?
[442] I don't doubt it.
[443] That's the headline of this whole.
[444] But you can be hot and also leave your mom.
[445] If your wife's hanging with Paul a lot, just be like, God damn, motherfucker is gorgeous.
[446] I mean, there's that.
[447] But then there's also the thing about Paul Newman, which is just like everybody loved him.
[448] And also, you know, Joe and Woodward's kind of a tough one to see.
[449] You know, so there's a little bit.
[450] Did you watch that doc about those two?
[451] Yes.
[452] Oh, my God.
[453] Is that beautiful?
[454] Absolutely amazing.
[455] Every single step, all the details.
[456] I just couldn't believe how fucking honest those two were in interviews the whole ride.
[457] Yep.
[458] And in their work, just like looking for spaces to play.
[459] out things going on in their marriage and all that stuff is so beautiful and brave.
[460] I've watched those legends get to points where you as an actor shape yourself to a role and then you get to a point where you start shaping the role to yourself.
[461] Sure.
[462] This came up in the Letterman interview.
[463] You recognize how great this went and you now become afraid to lose it.
[464] And so you start being safer.
[465] You perpetuate what you think is the perception of you.
[466] The people like.
[467] Right.
[468] And And then you start to live in that, which ends up being death, kind of.
[469] Yes.
[470] And I think Paul and Joanne always were trying to live.
[471] And so they were like, we're fucked up.
[472] This is complicated.
[473] Like, let's put it in a movie.
[474] Paul's been living in the driveway for three weeks because he's a drunk.
[475] Yep.
[476] To me, that's where you want to get to.
[477] And that's what art should do.
[478] It should give you the space to go into those places because the fictional is a safe space to express the non -fictional.
[479] Right?
[480] And like that is the power of it.
[481] It should be that.
[482] And they were always doing that.
[483] That's why it felt true, even when they were living the kind of like movie star thing and perpetuating the sort of shiny and he's beautiful and she's beautiful.
[484] He still was like, I'm a mess.
[485] Yeah.
[486] Yes.
[487] And I'm not a great dad.
[488] All of his children, even in those interviews like 50 years later, love him so much.
[489] They adore him.
[490] Yeah.
[491] They don't seem to be super resentful.
[492] Yeah.
[493] There's a bit in the verse divorce where.
[494] his children in that space.
[495] Oh yes.
[496] Yes.
[497] They're not delighted.
[498] Struggle with that.
[499] That's fair.
[500] Yeah.
[501] Yeah.
[502] Yeah.
[503] Yeah.
[504] Yeah.
[505] Yeah.
[506] But then they recognize the truth, which I think they shared, which is also brave.
[507] But did it shock you watching that to hear how candid they were?
[508] Even she would be on a popular late night show and she'd go like, having kids is hard.
[509] I don't know that I should have done it.
[510] It's so time consuming and I've given up everything and I'm not even sure I was really built to do it, but I'm doing it.
[511] In like 50s, Housewife America for her to say that is like 45 years ahead of schedule.
[512] Hard enough now.
[513] Do you think it's easy now?
[514] Yeah, I was like, I don't think it's...
[515] No, but you have some people acknowledging it now.
[516] Trying to, yes.
[517] But she was like decades ahead.
[518] She never denied, except in that period of time, they say, at least in the documentary, where she sort of like pushed her career back for the family.
[519] And he all of a sudden became this, like, huge star.
[520] She had won like two Academy Awards or whatever, and now he was this thing, right?
[521] Yeah.
[522] But it looked like it was going to just be, okay, well, it's your turn.
[523] Yes.
[524] But then his turn lasted 20 years.
[525] Yeah.
[526] I think that's when I was.
[527] 20, like 50.
[528] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[529] I mean, it's like the length of the raising the kids.
[530] Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[531] From my experience of being around them, which I did have, which I loved in your interview with Dave, where he was just like, oh, yeah, we were best friends.
[532] Oh, my God.
[533] And I was like, oh, wow, really?
[534] Where was he?
[535] I felt, I fell for it, too.
[536] I totally love for it.
[537] He was a trickster.
[538] I know.
[539] He fooled you a couple times.
[540] Yeah, big time.
[541] Very gullible.
[542] His delivery was great.
[543] He's like, now that he's passed, I can say he was one of my best friends.
[544] I was like on the road to tears.
[545] I was like, no one knew that.
[546] Wow, meaty.
[547] Yeah, I mean, they were really special together.
[548] There's Cafe Desartiste in New York where they would go.
[549] And like, I remember we went to dinner there with them.
[550] And, you know, when I was a kid and I heard that that was happening, I was like, the guy from the salad dressings, like, I didn't have any again, right?
[551] Speaking of.
[552] Yeah.
[553] But then, then it was like, holy shit.
[554] And this is the thing with him.
[555] It wasn't that I read or saw or anything.
[556] It was just him.
[557] Sure.
[558] It was just his presence.
[559] Tell me about the eyes in real life.
[560] Like the most beautiful man I've ever seen.
[561] Like, truly, he would just, like, show up at people's houses.
[562] There wasn't a lot of pomp or anything.
[563] It was just like, he would be like cooking steak at your house.
[564] He would just show up.
[565] I remember he wrote the ingredients to the actual.
[566] salad dressing on a piece of paper.
[567] The proprietary formula.
[568] Yeah, that's worth like $40 million.
[569] Oh, it's fucking framed.
[570] And it's like, my parents are divorced.
[571] And like, in the divorce, it was like the only thing.
[572] Speaking of any contention, it was like, I bought over.
[573] I want the fucking handwritten salad is.
[574] It's like, everyone knows it's in this.
[575] I don't fucking care.
[576] You got the house in the cars and everything.
[577] Exactly.
[578] Oh, my God.
[579] I actually remember very specifically on the street in New York City watching them walk out of a restaurant and him putting his arm over her.
[580] and them just like being behind from the perspective of the age that I was and like watching them walk down the street.
[581] You're shooting a nice low angle backlit.
[582] Beautiful.
[583] New York City fall.
[584] Yeah.
[585] It was just like that thing does have an effect.
[586] That was real.
[587] So what happens psychologically?
[588] Because you have to understand for me, I grew up in Michigan on a dirt road.
[589] This world was so foreign to me. My children now live in a house with a swimming pool.
[590] And then when we drive to school, most of the billboards, that are up, they know those people.
[591] Yeah.
[592] I guess my conclusion is like, it doesn't mean anything.
[593] It's just whatever's normal is normal.
[594] I was thinking about you guys when I was coming over here because I was thinking like, why didn't we connect after that?
[595] Because I really like you.
[596] Yeah, me too.
[597] And I was like, what the fuck.
[598] So what I've noticed is that people move to try and make it here.
[599] And it's so hard to do it.
[600] It's just such a grind and it's constant failure.
[601] And I think even when you have made it, quote unquote, it's still failure after failure.
[602] Well, the jobs themselves can fail.
[603] So first you just get the job, and then it's like, oh, yeah, P .S. 10 % of these things work.
[604] Every time.
[605] And also, like, for producers, you've produced 100 things and two of them get made, right?
[606] Yeah.
[607] So I think there's that.
[608] And then I think that people come here to reinvent or become the idea of what they want to be in a lot of ways, which is the common story, right?
[609] But when you're born here in a space, even if you're not involved in the entertainment business or industry of any kind, when you're born in this city, it's around.
[610] And you are just who you are.
[611] Your kids were just born.
[612] This is where they are.
[613] This is who they are.
[614] There's no reinvention.
[615] No, there's no ability to do that.
[616] You have to go to Columbia.
[617] Right.
[618] Yeah.
[619] I go back to where my family began.
[620] Like, I moved back to New York for that reason.
[621] Who am I?
[622] Where am I from?
[623] Like, my grandfather was a surgeon.
[624] His father, who was an immigrant from Poland, my mom's dad.
[625] He was a tailor.
[626] And then his son became a surgeon at 17.
[627] He was in residency.
[628] Oh, my God.
[629] Yeah.
[630] Like the standards were like.
[631] Imagine looking up on a gurney.
[632] 17 -year -olds.
[633] Don't worry, sir.
[634] Yeah, Douglas Islander.
[635] By the way, if I had seen Neil Patrick Harris, fuck any of those people I worked with, I would have geeked out, right?
[636] Go crazy.
[637] Cut me out.
[638] Big time.
[639] Do some transplants while you're in there.
[640] Big time.
[641] I trust you.
[642] Doogie was like, raised me. Yeah.
[643] I was like, you know.
[644] But I think that for your kids, it's weird when the experience is normalized because it's hard to say this.
[645] But what I love about what you guys do on this is like, a human being is a human being.
[646] And when you come in the space, they do amazing things, and there are special ones like Paul Newman who are just one of a kind, inexplicable constellations, you know what I mean?
[647] Yeah.
[648] And then there's like the rest of us.
[649] And we're, you know what I mean?
[650] Yeah, just people.
[651] We're aspiring to be that thing, hopefully, but I think there's a strange normalcy.
[652] In L .A. Which is abnormal, right?
[653] Yes.
[654] Yeah, I think you just have to be like, well, do you know what that person does?
[655] That person is on this show, whatever, and his best friends with Daddy.
[656] but he's just daddy's friends.
[657] He's trying to lose eight pounds.
[658] He can't seem to do it.
[659] You know what I'm saying?
[660] It doesn't really matter.
[661] Whoa, just like he's really struggling too.
[662] Yeah, whatever it is, right?
[663] But it's definitely different standard in terms of financially and all that.
[664] Yeah, funny enough, I'm on an AA meeting, and a lot of the people on the Zoom are people who worked in the industry in L .A. forever and now have retired to North Carolina.
[665] There's a big contingent of them that have gone to North Carolina.
[666] I'm talking like set designers and, you know, people in all the, trades aspects.
[667] To hear them talk about the kind of deprogramming that's going on in their lives, I can relate even in the tiniest, like having stepped away from acting and directing, this being my only toehold in it, even just that, I realize like, oh yeah, I don't know what movies do what anymore.
[668] I don't know who's gotten what job.
[669] I really don't know shit.
[670] I'm back to being kind of a civilian about movies.
[671] I really just don't know.
[672] Why are you directing?
[673] Too time consuming.
[674] And I really just want to be with my two little kids and this is so fulfilling I don't really want for anything but just I imagine you moving to New York something must feel very good about that was I mean it was a while ago you know my sister was born there she feels like a New Yorker to me yeah she totally reads New York yeah right and she needed to go back she's three years older than me so I was kind of like left in the house when she was gone she actually left even earlier she went to like a program before that.
[675] So for me, also in a weird way, I, like, kind of followed her lead in a certain respects.
[676] Everything she's done has always been so cool to me. Anyone who's a younger sibling, you know that feeling.
[677] Never goes away.
[678] Yeah, they're the coolest.
[679] Yeah, the coolest.
[680] Yeah, you're never going to be cool.
[681] And, like, when you fucking move back to New York and move to Brooklyn, you know what I mean?
[682] It's just like, fuck, she's just so cool, you know what I mean?
[683] Walking everywhere.
[684] Any move you make.
[685] Like, oh, I'm going to Brooklyn.
[686] It's like, ugh, you know what I mean?
[687] Anything you, right?
[688] And my mom moved back to New York when my parents got divorced, and my nieces were born, and it was like more of the family was there.
[689] I just needed to gravitate towards them.
[690] Even more so than New York, I needed a family.
[691] One of the things that I think we've been able to maintain in the messiness of the professional part of what we do is so weird that we all do it, I find.
[692] Yeah.
[693] I really do find my brother and also great.
[694] It's fantastic.
[695] I have people in my family who are some artists that I respect more than artists I respect in any form.
[696] Right.
[697] Yeah.
[698] And they're like in my family.
[699] Amazing that we can rely on each other and we can talk to each other.
[700] You can check each other's egos.
[701] Well, that happens constantly.
[702] Right.
[703] Like, that's why I'm so grateful that I'm married someone that's more successful than me. It's like, anytime I'm feeling myself, I'm like, oh, yeah.
[704] Why does everything she touch turn to gold?
[705] Your wife.
[706] What is that about?
[707] Some people are more the horseshoe up their ass.
[708] What the fuck is that about?
[709] We can't really talk.
[710] We're sitting here and doing pretty well.
[711] By the way, that's true, but I just mean like, this is one consistent thing and it's a huge thing.
[712] Yeah.
[713] But like everything.
[714] She's just sort of like, I'm going to do this little, and it's just boom.
[715] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[716] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.
[717] What's up, guys?
[718] It's your girl Kiki, and my podcast is back with a new season, and let me tell you, it's too good.
[719] And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest, okay?
[720] Every episode, I bring on a friend and have a real conversation.
[721] And I don't mean just friends.
[722] I mean the likes of Amy Polar, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox, the list goes on.
[723] So follow, watch, and listen to Baby.
[724] This is Kiki Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.
[725] We've all been there.
[726] Turning to the internet to self -diagnose our inexplicable pains, debilitating body aches, sudden fevers, and strange rashes.
[727] Though our minds tend to spiral to worst -case scenarios, it's usually nothing.
[728] But for an unlucky few, these unsuspecting symptoms can start the clock ticking on a terrifying medical mystery.
[729] Like the unexplainable death of a retired firefighter, whose body was found at home by his son, except it looked like he had been cremated, or the time when an entire town started jumping from buildings and seeing tigers on their ceilings.
[730] Hey listeners, it's Mr. Ballin here, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast.
[731] It's called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.
[732] Each terrifying true story will be sure to keep you up at night.
[733] Follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your Podcasts.
[734] Prime members can listen early and ad free on Amazon Music.
[735] Wait, can I say something really quick?
[736] Because it's just reminded me. I totally forgot.
[737] My best friend, Callie, worked for your mom.
[738] No way.
[739] She did.
[740] Just now losing this together for just a very short stint in New York.
[741] She was her assistant for a sec. Yeah, I remember Callie.
[742] Callie.
[743] No way.
[744] Just had a birthday.
[745] She's my best friend.
[746] She's now a hot shot at Netflix.
[747] Yes, of course.
[748] I know.
[749] She's the very best.
[750] But it's funny that you brought up the family unit because she did say, like, they're also.
[751] so close in a really beautiful way, which I thought was really nice.
[752] Yeah, my mom's always been devoted to us as a mom, but it more means, and I don't want to paint it like a perfect picture because it's definitely not.
[753] But on a professional level, too, I learned story.
[754] Speaking of Callie, she got that job probably out of school or something to like learn from somebody.
[755] And that's how it was for me. It was like, I learned about script, story beats.
[756] Story is king.
[757] You respect this.
[758] These are the things you need to follow.
[759] If you don't have the answers, dig deeper.
[760] You know, doesn't just walk into a room because the writer needs them to.
[761] They need a reason.
[762] If they're going to go from there to there, there are obstacles in the way.
[763] And some people just say, oh, just get them there to there.
[764] Put the obstacles.
[765] What are they?
[766] Look around the room.
[767] Describe it.
[768] I mean, it's just like everything.
[769] All that stuff is from my mom.
[770] Yeah.
[771] What an education.
[772] Yeah.
[773] The other thing is you get to talk shop.
[774] Like, I grew up in an automotive world.
[775] So my dad's old cars, my mom worked for General Motors.
[776] I know everything about the automotive industry.
[777] We all around the dinner table have something to all talk about that we know a lot about.
[778] And it's fun.
[779] That's like a mystery to me. Like, I watched F -1 stuff and I'm like, how does this work?
[780] Are you interested in F -1 now?
[781] Beyond F -1 -F -N -F -1.
[782] Jake?
[783] Beyond.
[784] It's my religion now.
[785] Well, see, I need to know these things.
[786] Because it's like - You just started an F -1 podcast, by the while.
[787] Oh, you did?
[788] Yeah, it's called EFF -W -O -N with D -R -S -1.
[789] That's great.
[790] Yes, so please check it out.
[791] We're explaining everything coming up to races and everything happened at the race.
[792] Oh, great.
[793] Okay, cool.
[794] Yes, and we'll have fun people on that you've been watching.
[795] Okay, cool.
[796] We interviewed Ricardo twice, by the way.
[797] out he's the greatest yes those guys all seem pretty great most of them yeah yeah it's like 20 a list movie stars that's what it feels like yeah it's like every one of them is like young tom cruise it's so true yes driving at 300 miles an hour yes and overpaid and everyone loves him it's so ruthless it's so ruthless just trading each it's just so like it's a soap opera it's the best soap opera ever truly my girlfriend is really into it too actually just yesterday we watched the shoe market documentary which i had not watched which is crazy of me but she like sat me down and was like you have to watch it isn't it great it's amazing yeah it really what a monster of a driver incredible you know he was in go carts at such a young age with no expectation of the future of it and because of that he was just focused on his car how it moved on that track yeah and he just started to use stuff instinctually without any pressure of the idea of a goal.
[798] And then, yeah.
[799] And so then you watch him race and he's a three -year -old in there.
[800] He's a six -year -old in there.
[801] He's a nine -year -old.
[802] That just's in his DNA.
[803] And you can't do that when you go, that guy is talent.
[804] Now we're going to cultivate that.
[805] It's a different thing.
[806] Well, he's back to the he's the Paul Newman.
[807] He's the Michael Jordan.
[808] He's this once in a generation type of phenom.
[809] But back to the family thing.
[810] I think it's probably quite fun when you all get together and you've all been on sets.
[811] Like, what are you going to talk about?
[812] Well, here's my life how great is it that everyone there knows what life on a set's like so true it's funnier everyone gets it that seems like a lovely bonding element in a family it's a family business like any other family business it is it is a family business i think my parents loved movies so much right so they came out like you came out oh my god this like exotic world yes and so i think they taught us the love of it I have this weird knowledge of film.
[813] I have fucking no idea where it came from.
[814] Well, do you think would you sit with your parents while they watch movies?
[815] Yeah, it was just raised.
[816] That's what was on.
[817] Osmosis.
[818] Everywhere all the time, nonstop.
[819] And they probably came out here at the height of the golden era of late 70s film.
[820] Yes.
[821] I was born in 1980s.
[822] It's an autos playground late 70s.
[823] Yes.
[824] All these incredible directors doing incredible things.
[825] Yeah, my dad, his story always tells us, like, he saw Lestrade.
[826] and he didn't get up from his seat for like two and a half hours.
[827] He just wept and then he knew what he wanted to do.
[828] And I was like, I wish I had that moment.
[829] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[830] I was just like at school playing the scarecrow and the Wizard of Oz.
[831] And everyone was like, oh, this guy knows how to do it pretty well.
[832] Maybe we should sign him because I was in L .A. Is that how it happened?
[833] Because I was curious who instigated you starting to act so young.
[834] Because 91, you're in city slickers as Billy Chrysson.
[835] Yeah, I'm 11.
[836] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[837] How did that come about?
[838] There was a dinner at our house and Billy Crystal was there.
[839] There's this now sort of weird story where I just was a clown.
[840] And I generally am.
[841] For many years, I've taken myself super fucking seriously as an actor.
[842] But actually, I'm realized now I'm just a fucking clown.
[843] Yeah, in the last four years, right, even to hear your sister talk about you as like, he has somehow found a new perspective and he's so much more joyous to be around.
[844] That's great.
[845] It's true.
[846] I feel better.
[847] I mean, that has a lot to do with finding someone.
[848] your life, I think, that goes, I know who you actually are, and I'm with you all the time, and that's enough.
[849] And other people might like that, too.
[850] You know, like in your work.
[851] I was at the dinner, and I remember my brain was kind of in improv mode.
[852] They were all funny and, like, kind of joking at the table.
[853] It's Billy Crystal.
[854] Yeah, it's fucking Billy Crystal.
[855] And I just picked up a chair and I was like, here's your party favor or something.
[856] I said to him.
[857] I was like, parting gift or something me. He gave a chair.
[858] Yeah, I gave him a chair.
[859] Yeah.
[860] And he fucking loved it.
[861] And when it came time to do City City's like, that kid who gave me a chair.
[862] That chairboy.
[863] Okay, so you gotta get him in the midst.
[864] Where's chair boy?
[865] Someone find me chairboy.
[866] That will be the first movie I direct.
[867] It will be called chairboy.
[868] By the way, speaking of chairboy.
[869] Oh, my goodness.
[870] Maybe it's a biopic.
[871] Chairboy and girl.
[872] This reminds me of, you know, BDDW?
[873] Do you know that design?
[874] BDDW.
[875] It's like very high -end beautiful stuff.
[876] I don't know this.
[877] Go check out.
[878] I think there's something...
[879] We're one click away.
[880] You're one click away.
[881] By the way, that chair would be your entire house.
[882] You know, if you scroll through Instagram of like design things, like that's like, whoa, what's that?
[883] And it's like...
[884] 120 grand for it.
[885] That's the pattern.
[886] See, that's the thing.
[887] If it came from there, Monica would be like, God damn.
[888] That's a piece.
[889] That's exactly.
[890] You know you would.
[891] That's so true.
[892] If the row made this chair...
[893] Yeah, I would lie.
[894] Oh, forget about it.
[895] Oh, my God.
[896] The words you'd be using, like, timeless.
[897] Tradition.
[898] Elegance.
[899] Classy.
[900] The row looks like you could make that chair.
[901] And I'd be like, ooh, like, it's oversized, but, like, and it's in the puffy world, right?
[902] Oh, my God.
[903] But it looks so, it, like, makes your body look right.
[904] You know what I mean?
[905] In that way, so we've always wanted to make it look right.
[906] Do you love the row?
[907] I love the row.
[908] The row's amazing.
[909] The row is amazing.
[910] And very expensive.
[911] So expensive.
[912] They're taking half my paycheck.
[913] It's so soft.
[914] You know what I mean?
[915] It is.
[916] Everything is so soft.
[917] You want to talk about fashion, I'm down.
[918] Not this kind of soft.
[919] This is timeless.
[920] I think from afar, this chair looks different than maybe up close, but from a far, this chair is a priceless antique.
[921] If we send this picture to Mary Kate and Ashley and say, we think this feels like the row, they'll kill themselves.
[922] It feels a little bit more Isabel Morant to me, the chair, do you know what I mean?
[923] But, you know, like, you want to talk about movies, but I want to talk about fashion.
[924] Yes, me too, all day long, all day long.
[925] So you do city slickers.
[926] Then your parents are pretty protective.
[927] Like, you have some options.
[928] Things are coming your way.
[929] Apparently you want to audition.
[930] They allow you, but even when you get stuff, you're not really allowed to do it.
[931] You're allowed to be in your dad's movies, which makes sense.
[932] I can imagine making that policy at home.
[933] I don't care if my kids want to act, but I don't want them to do it professionally until they're adults.
[934] I want them to be normal people to have something to draw on.
[935] Absolutely.
[936] Case and point is sitting across from you.
[937] Conscious tail.
[938] This is where I want to hypothesize about the aforementioned work ethic Because there has to be an engine As you pull out the toilet paper Because I can't afford Kleenex I'm gonna...
[939] No, I know that.
[940] I know that feeling.
[941] What are Kleenex except toilet paper or paper towel?
[942] I don't know.
[943] It's a different shape.
[944] You're not full on either of us.
[945] I prefer paper towel.
[946] No. Yes, you get a lot of work done with the paper towel.
[947] It's also quicker.
[948] It's always there.
[949] People need it for other things.
[950] You don't need Kleenex for anything else besides sneezing.
[951] And you can work your way through the thing.
[952] It's so true.
[953] It's all afternoon.
[954] So true.
[955] In the pocket.
[956] There's ways to fold it where everything's dry.
[957] Yeah.
[958] Whereas the tissue, it's like one and done.
[959] Okay.
[960] I could at least imagine a hypothetical of why you had the kind of singular focus, psychotic work ethic towards the work would be A, I don't want people to think nepotism's at play.
[961] I was like, I'm going to prove that I didn't get here through the back door.
[962] I fucking worked for this.
[963] B, you're really cute.
[964] I think that's another reason people work harder.
[965] Ah, thank you, by the way.
[966] No, you are.
[967] You mean he doesn't want to, like, float on his looks?
[968] Well, I think you saw this with Brad Pitt.
[969] He gets really famous because he's so fucking gorgeous.
[970] And the moment he has an opportunity to choose what he's going to do, it's, I'm taking my tooth out.
[971] I'm fucking in snatch where I look like I just woke up in an outhouse.
[972] Like, he's doing everything he can to look bad to give himself some grit, to fight against that.
[973] Do you know what the fuel was?
[974] Oh, it's a number of things.
[975] Maybe that was unconscious.
[976] I grew up with a grandfather who was, like I said, very disciplined.
[977] Like he was up at 4 a .m. every day, sometimes earlier, pretty much on call.
[978] He was a surgeon for 50 years.
[979] He was an immigrant who came in and was like, I have to define this for my family.
[980] And he put a work ethic into my mother, I think, which she then responded against.
[981] She became a writer.
[982] She said, I can write whatever I want.
[983] Ultimate self -discipline.
[984] Very disciplined when she had to be, but like, pushed to that extent, right?
[985] she kind of responded against it, and she'll say the same herself.
[986] And then my dad was actually very disciplined, too.
[987] You know, he came from a much more religious background.
[988] He was interested in a very interesting sect of Christianity called Sweden.
[989] Swedenborgism.
[990] Swedenborgism.
[991] So he grew up in his town called Bernathen, and he left at a young age and he went to school, he found movies.
[992] He always says he saved him.
[993] He understood what he wanted to do with his life.
[994] But I think he was also very disciplined in my dad.
[995] When I was a kid, my dad would wake both my sister and I up in the morning.
[996] he would do yoga in front of my bed.
[997] I remember this.
[998] He was doing Jane Fonda's workout before anyone else.
[999] He was the first guy I knew drinking soy milk.
[1000] He was like, what the fuck is that?
[1001] Milk made out of soybeans, right?
[1002] That was the time when it was, you know, new.
[1003] Yes.
[1004] And he would wake me up.
[1005] He was very disciplined physically and we would go for runs in the morning.
[1006] Like he would take me on and run around our neighborhood and later on in my life, the physical part of everything has saved my life many times, actually.
[1007] So there was a certain type of discipline, right?
[1008] And then also a reaction against it.
[1009] And certain things did come easy.
[1010] I would get up on a stage when I was a kid and I'd be like, oh, I don't have to memorize these lines.
[1011] And people were like, oh, man, you're good at that.
[1012] And I was like, oh, cool, I'm good at that.
[1013] I don't have to put as much into it.
[1014] And things happened very quickly.
[1015] Early on, I didn't recognize the craft that was needed.
[1016] In fact, going back to Joanne Woodward, I remember when I did October Sky and I had a really hard time when I came back from that movie.
[1017] You had missed your senior year of high school.
[1018] I missed my senior year of high school.
[1019] But I think also I didn't recognize what it meant.
[1020] to do that kind of work.
[1021] I just worked with Connor McGregor, and Connor is arguably probably one of the toughest people we could probably say around one of that.
[1022] Minimally, I don't want to fight him.
[1023] Yeah, okay.
[1024] And he was just like, what you guys do is hard.
[1025] Really quick.
[1026] What on earth were you guys working on me?
[1027] Did you build a sailboat together?
[1028] I knew he's got a big yacht now.
[1029] He has a new baking show.
[1030] No, I, he...
[1031] By the way, I would believe it.
[1032] I would fucking watch that.
[1033] Oh, my God.
[1034] Yeah, it would be tenderized, sides of loin.
[1035] He and I are in the new reimagining of the movie Roadhouse.
[1036] Oh, my God.
[1037] Listen, we have three hours ahead of us about Roadhouse, but just earmark that.
[1038] Okay, so Connor's involved in that?
[1039] Yeah, he's in it.
[1040] Oh, wow.
[1041] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1042] And, like, really involved.
[1043] I mean, he's in, like, a lot of it.
[1044] Oh.
[1045] Dude, it's like.
[1046] I had no idea that was kind.
[1047] Yeah.
[1048] That's my favorite movie.
[1049] I have.
[1050] Oh, really?
[1051] Really?
[1052] Well, yeah, we'll get it.
[1053] I know every single line of the movie.
[1054] Oh, dude.
[1055] I have an obsession about one of the day players in the movie, John Doe.
[1056] I don't know if you know who he is.
[1057] I've done two hours on John Doe and stand up.
[1058] We do have to earmark it.
[1059] Let's see your market.
[1060] Let's hear market.
[1061] Okay, so.
[1062] But he said to me, he was just like, I come from a tough game.
[1063] This is fucking hard work.
[1064] And I was like, what?
[1065] Yeah.
[1066] But I don't think it's understood what the process is.
[1067] And when you are 15, you come in, you're like, oh, it's going to be trailers and this and And it's like glamorous.
[1068] Yeah, you're focused on the cash and prizes.
[1069] Yeah.
[1070] And then you're in it and you're like, whoa, right?
[1071] It's all adult.
[1072] There's fun sometimes, but it's very technical.
[1073] There's a lot of things you have to get, right?
[1074] And so I think I just came back going like, whoa, what is this at a very young age?
[1075] Meaning you weren't sure if you wanted to do it?
[1076] Like, it hadn't been fun as you imagined.
[1077] I was absolutely sure at the time that I wanted to do it.
[1078] There was nothing I loved more than being in front of an audience or being inside of something.
[1079] It was so fun.
[1080] Like, I am full of joy when I'm in it.
[1081] Going to work on Monday.
[1082] I'm thinking about it now.
[1083] I can't wait.
[1084] Really quick.
[1085] And this is personal.
[1086] And this is just spidey vibes.
[1087] But even when I met you in Toronto, I thought, this kid definitely has to battle some depression, has to battle some darkness.
[1088] That's my hunch about you.
[1089] Good hunch.
[1090] Okay.
[1091] Minimally the thing that is unique about the job is it does require insane focus.
[1092] And focus, not on you, which is the most important element, right?
[1093] That's on this imaginary person you're exploring.
[1094] And there's a freedom now from me because I'm worried about that guy I'm playing.
[1095] Yes.
[1096] And someone's also saying you wake up at this time, you come to this place.
[1097] You have time to sit in bed and think about everything that's going to go wrong today.
[1098] Exactly.
[1099] I was struggling with a lot of things at an age.
[1100] I was struggling with like serious anxiety.
[1101] I was struggling with depression at times.
[1102] And it came to be while I was pushed out of the safe world of being and then into a professional world, right?
[1103] And then I was like, whoa, what do I do?
[1104] And then I recognize at some point, what I do is I use that and all those feelings and I express them in these spaces.
[1105] In a controllable fashion.
[1106] Yeah.
[1107] Even something like Donnie Darko is very interesting to me to hear people say like, Donny Darko is a schizophrenic.
[1108] I'm like, those are all feelings, a manifestation of them in strange ways.
[1109] There's a physical representation of anxiety in front of us.
[1110] Big time.
[1111] Right.
[1112] In the monster.
[1113] Yep.
[1114] It is interesting.
[1115] You've been brilliant so many times.
[1116] you're so fucking talented, but certainly Donnie Darko, you're kind of born to be in that role, to me. In a great way.
[1117] I know all the steps.
[1118] You've picked up great techniques and tools from a lot of people you respect along the way.
[1119] But that was pretty early in.
[1120] So you don't even have all those tricks and tools yet.
[1121] I'm sure you have plenty of them.
[1122] You were brilliant in it.
[1123] But I do think your shadow's been invited into that performance.
[1124] And it's incredibly authentic.
[1125] I think it was like a perfect role for you.
[1126] Thanks.
[1127] In a lot of ways, it gave me the opportunity to express all those feelings that I wasn't able to in other forms.
[1128] And so in that way, it was very true to me. I think that movie, and I've said this many times, but I think it's all about the unconscious.
[1129] It's all about our motivations and what we don't know or we do know.
[1130] I mean, to try and answer the question about why I was so, became so disciplined, was because I think I was just simply very undisciplined.
[1131] And I recognize that in order to do this professionally, an order to do this professionally, an order, order to continue to do it professionally, something that is a huge, huge blessing.
[1132] You better dig in, get the fuck to work.
[1133] Yeah.
[1134] If you want to be in here for the long haul.
[1135] And there are a lot of people out there who are more talented than you, right behind you, ready to take that spot.
[1136] It's part of what I love about F1.
[1137] The ones who go, I'm going to spend the time understanding the car, telling them what's really going on.
[1138] Those are the ones who tend to win.
[1139] But I don't know if it's that I wanted to win.
[1140] I do think there is something that I wanted to prove, which was, I'm supposed to be here.
[1141] I don't know if that plays into the fact that I was here.
[1142] We can internalize stuff, though, even if it's not from outside forces.
[1143] You can have that feeling.
[1144] I've had that feeling like, oh, man, I feel like I took a shortcut here.
[1145] I have integrity, so I need to fucking prove, you know, it could be totally internally motivated.
[1146] I also loved pushing myself to lengths.
[1147] I do too.
[1148] Yeah.
[1149] And for me, it's just control.
[1150] I'm a control free.
[1151] Yeah, definitely.
[1152] I didn't have, I wouldn't say anxiety and depression, but I grew up in a very traumatic household and saw a lot of crazy stuff and was molested and all these different things.
[1153] And so any element that I could control, I liked in, when people say, oh, anorexia and bulimia, that's a disease of control as well.
[1154] Like, people think it's just they want to be skinny, but it's like, no, the sense of controlling something is very comforting.
[1155] That idea of control, which I completely empathize with.
[1156] I think it ended up making the performances I'm doing less interesting.
[1157] kind of grinding out the same place.
[1158] And then it just dawned on me that there were other things besides this.
[1159] There's a point where I realized, like, I just lost all fun and imagination.
[1160] And I think there's a thing perpetuated to with actors that I think I agree with less now, which is you have to do all the stuff to yourself to turn something over.
[1161] Yes.
[1162] Now I'm at a place where I realize the only thing I want is to be vulnerable.
[1163] I struggle with that a lot.
[1164] lot.
[1165] And I know that when I have that with the person I'm working with or with a director or whatever it might be, I am my best self.
[1166] And that is about just letting that control go.
[1167] But also, if you grew up with your dad doing yoga at the end of your bed and taking you on and drinking soy milk, I mean.
[1168] And wearing the row.
[1169] Yeah.
[1170] And wearing the row.
[1171] Before anyone was wearing the row.
[1172] Wow.
[1173] He invented the world.
[1174] You're keeping up with that.
[1175] It's the definition of masculinity.
[1176] Yeah.
[1177] Right.
[1178] Right.
[1179] Well, but it's also interesting, too, that the physical stuff in my life is the stuff that has pushed me through really hard times.
[1180] It can be both.
[1181] Yeah.
[1182] But then now I realize more and more that those lessons that I had learned and used have kind of ground out.
[1183] And my relationship with my dad and my relationship with my mom has much more to do with our vulnerabilities than it does with using the techniques they used to get through hard times.
[1184] We're all a mess.
[1185] When we get there, there's no better time I have.
[1186] have with my parents.
[1187] But at the same time, the other day, I did, like, cold lunch with my dad, and my dad was, like, swearing at me the whole time.
[1188] He's the guy who's like, go in the ocean, bro, go for it, you know?
[1189] And then he's in there and he's like, fuck you, fuck you.
[1190] You're a fucking asshole, fuck you!
[1191] And I was like, you tell me this.
[1192] It's like, yeah, it is a paradox.
[1193] This is super fun to talk about this.
[1194] Yeah.
[1195] There's a paradigm by which an actor is celebrated for physically transforming him or herself there's prosthetics all these different things the moments for me there's a handful or i just can't believe what i saw it the wrestler micky rourke one could argue like he's got the body of the wrestler he's got he's not all that shit but the moment in that movie for me that's aspirational as an actor is like he trashes his workplace he comes out to his van he gets in the seat he's about to start the car he sees himself in the rearview mirror, and I know how 99 .9 % actors would play that.
[1196] They would play shame, embarrassment, whatever.
[1197] He looked at himself in the mirror, and he started laughing uncontrollably, and it fucking zapped my mirror neurons.
[1198] I'm like, oh my God, that's what I do when I'm embarrassed, especially because I've done this before.
[1199] That, to me, is the performance.
[1200] Fuck all the other bells and whistles.
[1201] Yes.
[1202] The fact that he remembered you laugh at yourself, you don't hang your head down to yourself.
[1203] Well, or he was with someone saying to him, who you are is enough.
[1204] I'm working with a really wonderful director on this thing I'm doing right now.
[1205] She and I just connect.
[1206] And so because of it, I'm able to be open in a way I've never been.
[1207] And it doesn't matter to me whether it works or it doesn't work anymore.
[1208] Yeah.
[1209] The process.
[1210] I leave work and I go like, I just let something go.
[1211] Yeah.
[1212] I had some real feelings in that scene back there.
[1213] Yes.
[1214] Yeah.
[1215] Because I do think there's a lot of like you make the plan.
[1216] I don't want to speak for Mickey Rourke, but he's probably just like, it's a real feeling.
[1217] I felt embarrassed.
[1218] And then the director not going like, maybe this is the cliche idea of what we think embarrassed.
[1219] Maybe you want to give a little more of that.
[1220] Instead, he was like, thank you for giving me that.
[1221] Let's move on.
[1222] And as younger anybody, whatever we do, we aspire to be, I think, the idea of what something is.
[1223] And then hopefully you get to a place where you go, well, this is what I am.
[1224] And you're cool of it or you're not.
[1225] There are going to be people who are and there are going to be people who are not.
[1226] And fuck it.
[1227] Yeah.
[1228] When my sister says, that's who you are, I know you to be that.
[1229] and you're being more of that.
[1230] I think I'm on the right track.
[1231] Right.
[1232] You can trust her.
[1233] She's been observing the whole ride for you.
[1234] And me, her, too.
[1235] Yeah, yeah.
[1236] You know, she just started directing, and a lot of it was many discussions about, this is bullshit to me, this is true to me. That feels right.
[1237] What are you doing there?
[1238] And then giving her an idea and her having the ability to say, oh, wow, I'm going to take that idea.
[1239] Right.
[1240] I'm not going to shit on it.
[1241] I'm going to take it.
[1242] That's a better idea than I had.
[1243] And knowing you love her more than anyone could love her.
[1244] Yes.
[1245] And you couldn't you have an ulterior motive other than I want you to succeed.
[1246] That's been a lot of work to get to that place.
[1247] Yeah.
[1248] Because I think speaking of conscious and unconscious, you have to recognize that there are other things at work.
[1249] And we remind each other that all the time.
[1250] We say to each other, we are competitive.
[1251] We don't know where that came from.
[1252] Yeah, yeah.
[1253] Right.
[1254] I love you so fucking much.
[1255] Go out and win.
[1256] I'm going to try to beat you and I'm going to be excited if you beat me for you.
[1257] She was on this race last year of winning all of these awards is so fucking awesome.
[1258] And then there are those moments who are like, oh, she's awesome.
[1259] I'm sitting here.
[1260] You know what I mean?
[1261] And then when you say it to each other, I was sitting there going like, I suck.
[1262] And she's like, I love you.
[1263] And I'm like, go win it!
[1264] You know what I mean?
[1265] And then you do that.
[1266] Yes.
[1267] Because that's family.
[1268] We're still kids.
[1269] We're kids in grown up clothes.
[1270] She's never going to go away.
[1271] I know, in the row.
[1272] Especially you.
[1273] In the row.
[1274] Backer.
[1275] Let's keep bringing it back.
[1276] Also, if anyone ever looked like a kid saying this.
[1277] Yeah, exactly.
[1278] I didn't wear it too, but you have a thing on the bottom of your shoe.
[1279] Is it a sticker?
[1280] Yeah, it's a sticker.
[1281] They're rentals.
[1282] Do you have outfits that you buy and you never wear?
[1283] I'm pretty good about wearing the clothes.
[1284] Then I get sick of them.
[1285] I do give them away, though, so that's part of the sustainability chain.
[1286] Rob's wearing her outfit from last week.
[1287] That's a beautiful.
[1288] You're looking good.
[1289] You're really rocking it.
[1290] It's a beautiful dress.
[1291] It's a beautiful dress.
[1292] He said it's really comfortable.
[1293] I wish I could fit in her stuff.
[1294] I, yeah, everyone does.
[1295] Okay, so one fun thing I read about you is the shit you picked up along the way from different people.
[1296] I think it's really fascinating.
[1297] First and foremost, right after Moonlight Mile, Dustin gave you a copy of an actor prepares Stanislavski.
[1298] Classic.
[1299] Textbook.
[1300] Legit textbook.
[1301] It is textbook.
[1302] That's the first book they make you buy.
[1303] He wrote in it, you're really good, but you need to get better.
[1304] there's so much there, especially at that age he gave it to you.
[1305] That could retire me as an actor.
[1306] Really?
[1307] Yes.
[1308] Because I'm so self -flagellating and dislike myself so much that I would be like...
[1309] I keep wanting to go to your really good part of the sentence for you, though.
[1310] No, but my brain would go, that was obligatory so he could tell me this thing.
[1311] I wouldn't even believe the first part.
[1312] I just bet you need to get way better.
[1313] Because it didn't come to me, and I can look at it objectively, it's like the greatest thing you could write someone.
[1314] Everyone needs to get better, period.
[1315] How did you receive that?
[1316] I laughed because he was funny.
[1317] In a lot of ways, it was meant as a joke.
[1318] Cheeky.
[1319] Yeah, because he also gave you a walker to do dips on.
[1320] Well, that was another thing.
[1321] That, I think, was an even more important lesson.
[1322] Because all this stuff about you have to do all this preparation, you have to be disciplined and all stuff.
[1323] And the truth is, it just comes down to having energy in a scene.
[1324] It just comes down to, like, doing a couple squats and push -ups and being like, my blood is pumping.
[1325] There's so much of a...
[1326] sprint aspect to movie making and movie acting in particular, you have a very short period time to deliver.
[1327] And so you're like sort of sitting there and you're kind of getting tired.
[1328] And it's like, you're on the bench all the 12 of the 14 hours a day.
[1329] Yeah.
[1330] Yeah.
[1331] And so he would just do these dips on this walker and that would get his energy up and he would be able to fit it in places.
[1332] So it was like practical.
[1333] And that's why he gave me one because he was like, take one of these.
[1334] It will like make your career.
[1335] Oh my God.
[1336] So great.
[1337] It's such a practical solution.
[1338] Yeah.
[1339] Yeah.
[1340] I mean, it's a practical solution.
[1341] Like, in many ways, you can do the physical stuff.
[1342] You can do the cleaning out your house.
[1343] But then you got to go work on your mind, too.
[1344] So you got to organize things before you get into the deep shit.
[1345] I have a friend who's a therapist who is like, he tells patients two weeks before they start their first session to start doing exercise twice a week and then to organize their, go and try and organize their house first before they come for their first session.
[1346] I think there is just the practical stuff.
[1347] There's just sort of get your energy up.
[1348] Yes.
[1349] And then there's the, you're good.
[1350] And what I think we have lost sometimes is the idea of a progression of learning from people, seeing someone has the potential and allowing them to grow it, as opposed to you're in the big leagues, you've hit the majors, and you better be delivering now every single night as opposed to there's potential here.
[1351] And we're going to nurture it and slowly you can actually maybe be one of the best.
[1352] And that was what it felt like to me. It felt like an old school kind of way in which I felt when I was in the theater in the West End.
[1353] I felt that there was something very different in the British theater.
[1354] People said that to me. They're like, you're good.
[1355] And they had no problem saying that.
[1356] Keep going.
[1357] Keep learning.
[1358] You're never there.
[1359] You're never really.
[1360] It's really the cool metaphorical statement there is you don't ever arrive.
[1361] You keep trying.
[1362] There's a standard for these young actors I see now, right, where they come out and it's like everything they do has to deliver, right?
[1363] Or else they're out.
[1364] And that standard happens to all.
[1365] of us.
[1366] And I don't believe in that.
[1367] We need to take the time to know what somebody can be great at.
[1368] And that's what he was saying to me. I remember him saying to me, too, you don't have to do as much.
[1369] Over time, you'll start to realize that you carry your history with you.
[1370] And I was like, what?
[1371] My brother -in -law said to me on stage once, he had come to see a preview, and he gives the best notes of anybody I know.
[1372] He's also a brilliant fucking actor.
[1373] He's a brilliant actor.
[1374] So it's easy to take his notes.
[1375] Yeah, yeah.
[1376] It's not like your brother -in -law who owns a tow truck.
[1377] company.
[1378] But don't discount that person.
[1379] You know that fourth couplet in the eight scene?
[1380] I wasn't feeling there.
[1381] He said, because it was a two -hander, it was me and this wonderful actress Ruth Wilson.
[1382] And he was like, don't let her upstage you.
[1383] And stop moving.
[1384] There's power and stillness.
[1385] And I was like, what?
[1386] And then I got back on stage next night and I was like, oh, my God, she's amazing.
[1387] What do I do?
[1388] Yeah.
[1389] I was like, what do I do?
[1390] Oh, my God.
[1391] I didn't even realize how amazing she was.
[1392] And then I was like, oh, shit, I'm moving around a lot.
[1393] And those two things were sort of the same kind of advice that I was given.
[1394] Is this the one you got nominated for a Tony for?
[1395] No. Oh, no. But she did.
[1396] Oh, good.
[1397] Sounds like she deserved it.
[1398] She was amazing.
[1399] Yeah.
[1400] Peter was like, no notes for her.
[1401] Yeah.
[1402] Zero notes for her.
[1403] Just keep on keeping.
[1404] Don't break.
[1405] Don't break this.
[1406] He's like just let her keep doing what she's doing.
[1407] Stay out of her way.
[1408] Stay out of her way.
[1409] She's doing something very important.
[1410] You cannot fuck that up.
[1411] That's my note for you.
[1412] Stop moving so we can look at her.
[1413] Now I realize that was the note.
[1414] Just move a little bit more downstage, okay?
[1415] And just, if you could just shut the fuck up.
[1416] It was a blocking note.
[1417] Like, stay down stage.
[1418] You know that great breakup scene?
[1419] I think it might be played better if you're offstage and she's just having that breakup scene in her mind.
[1420] Is there any way we could not see your face in that?
[1421] Just like, no, but I think I later did.
[1422] Yeah, they really are.
[1423] Life lessons for anyone, not just anyone in acting.
[1424] You're good, but you could be better is literally.
[1425] every person on earth.
[1426] But that can be taken very negatively, like you said.
[1427] We should all want to be better.
[1428] And we all can be better.
[1429] Yes, I agree.
[1430] And just knowing that we're good first.
[1431] What it triggers is all of our greatest fears, which is, we're not enough.
[1432] So the fact that you need to get better confirms I'm not enough as is.
[1433] But of course, you have to separate those things.
[1434] But it's easy to conflate those two in your mind and just everything you hear is confirmation that, you know, you're not enough.
[1435] But it's funny you say that because now all I just want to do is be good.
[1436] I feel so lucky to do this.
[1437] Yes.
[1438] I don't know if it's the same for you because you maybe felt more innately included.
[1439] But for me, because I was from a different place, because I didn't act in high school, I never went to drama school.
[1440] I was so busy trying to act like I belong there that I robbed myself of a lot of the awe and wonder.
[1441] I did the same thing.
[1442] This weird thing can happen to you is like for me at the 20 year marker, just now I can recognize how fun and special it is.
[1443] way later I can get giddy about this thing now that no one kicked me out and go oh my god I'm actually here wow this is fucking so lucky yes there's so much energy around the entrance into the space even now I look at younger people doing it and getting in and I'm like what I realized was at their time in my career where I was like this would be fine this is going to go on forever I'll be at these Academy Awards every other year yeah yeah yeah and then you lose some people you see people make other choices you see the whole gamut you know you see people rise who you never would expect i was making a movie with robert downy junior when he wasn't insurable yeah right right that's bizarre and within two years he was the biggest star in the world yes there are things in this life and then there are things in all of our businesses where it's like you just can't count anybody out I have this theory that, like, if you are in this business for more than five years and doing it, everybody in it deserves respect.
[1444] Like, you're saying, it's a fun community if you let it be.
[1445] I had an acting coach who passed away, who happened to be his acting coach, too, who happened to be my sisters and my brother -in -law's.
[1446] And when she was dying, all of her students came.
[1447] Some of whom I had seen going to her house, you know, like when I'd go for a session with her.
[1448] That weird thing in a psychiatrist.
[1449] Exactly.
[1450] So I'd be like, hey, man. But they were all really good.
[1451] So I was like, oh, okay, cool, like, I guess I'm in cool company, you know?
[1452] Yeah.
[1453] But when I went to her, for her birthday, and she died only a month or so later after that, but we all lined up to wish her happy birthday, the fucking line of actors there was insane.
[1454] And you just were like, oh, my God, I've been a part of a community I didn't even realize it was a part of.
[1455] Yeah.
[1456] Don't miss it, right?
[1457] You could miss the whole thing.
[1458] And I can talk to them.
[1459] You're a peer.
[1460] Yeah.
[1461] I feel like I'm, like, violating some actor co. there was Marty Sheen and you were just like oh my god I'm behind Martin Sheet like these things and now to think about Newman and all those people's less of like this sort of awe that oh my god they're this thing but oh my god they've devoted their lives to the work that we do in that room with her which is like digging into shit and trying to pull something out to give an audience something like you're saying the choice that is the Mickey Roark choice yes yes yes yes and all the them down the line.
[1462] I've done it.
[1463] And you're like, fuck.
[1464] I'm part of this.
[1465] That's the way you want to go.
[1466] A line of people and you can see.
[1467] You've changed all their lives.
[1468] I've impacted all these people's lives.
[1469] It's so cool.
[1470] Yeah.
[1471] So we're all going to line up when you die.
[1472] All of us, both of you.
[1473] And we are going down the block and we're going to come and wish you off.
[1474] I just want to know that.
[1475] Actually, I feel like if that word happened, I would.
[1476] Just if just everybody, I know you won't come to mine, but I will definitely come to yours.
[1477] I won't come to yours.
[1478] I won't come to you.
[1479] Just because I'll be dead.
[1480] I'm five years older than you and have lived a worse life.
[1481] But listen, I want a little ramp.
[1482] It doesn't have to be big.
[1483] No one's got to be a hero.
[1484] What I'd like to do is sit in my hospital bed.
[1485] You wheel it out into my driveway.
[1486] I have a little ramp and everyone's got to jump a motorcycle just one time in their life for my amusement.
[1487] And then like 20 more deaths of her.
[1488] It would be the greatest funeral of all the time.
[1489] How big is the ramp?
[1490] When you say a little, really little.
[1491] If you fall, you'll be fine.
[1492] Oh, no. And it's to get to see everyone have their first experience catching air on something.
[1493] And then I'll die with a smile like this.
[1494] stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare i do have a quick question about heath i got to know him a little bit through sobriety when he was sober and my conclusion about him right when i met him was well first of all he's so attractive yep like a paul newman thing where it's like the second year around him you're like i could stare at you and i want to listen to you and you're so appealing i don't know what weird alchemy's happening with your molecules second thought is the weight of the world for him is much heavier than it is for me. I can feel it and it's why he can act the way he can act.
[1495] It's like heartbreaking because he's so attractive and appealing.
[1496] And I don't mean attractive just like physically good looking.
[1497] He's so lovable.
[1498] You want to nurture him and to think a guy with that gift is suffering was really uniquely heartbreaking.
[1499] I really adored him.
[1500] He was so fucking special.
[1501] And I wonder, you guys both come into that movie.
[1502] You're both straight.
[1503] The thing you're going to anchor this performance and isn't going to be physical attraction.
[1504] But I have to imagine there must have been an ICU secret.
[1505] Like, we do have a secret you and me. And we're going to nurture each other through that secret.
[1506] He and I knew each other for a number of years before that experience.
[1507] We were friends.
[1508] And we sort of came up in a set of similar time, both getting representation at the same place, both auditioning for things.
[1509] You know, it's that group.
[1510] Yeah.
[1511] We all have our groups of, like, the people that we came up with, that we were competing with.
[1512] You're clocking, yeah.
[1513] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1514] You hear the name.
[1515] What's that name, you know?
[1516] You see them for the first time in an audition.
[1517] You're like, who is that guy?
[1518] Like, he's clearly, yeah, exactly.
[1519] And then you're like, oh, that was Heath Ledger.
[1520] You know what I mean?
[1521] Oh, now I know why it's like, well, it's Heath and it's this and there up against you.
[1522] You know, and it's like, you got a call back, you know, all that stuff.
[1523] yeah so we knew each other for a long time before and I was definitely in a space where I didn't know if I wanted to act I didn't know if I could do it you know I just didn't know how much I could give to it and he I could only guess but since he's different right he was a transplant from Australia he's sort out in L .A and he was always so cool you know I'm like so cool he's so cool he drove a Ducati sport 1000 so cool there was no change that was the way it always was Intrinsically cool.
[1524] Very River Phoenix, very downy.
[1525] And also just such a sweet guy.
[1526] I think when we made that film, one of the things that was really very important for him was that someone very close to him at the time who raised him or took care of him was gay and that he really wanted to tell the story for him.
[1527] Right.
[1528] And he had this strength about it in the storytelling part because it became sort of bigger than we could have ever imagined.
[1529] They asked us to make jokes or do funny sketch sure, do whatever.
[1530] And he was always like, no. Yeah, yeah.
[1531] It was always very clear for him.
[1532] For me, I think I took it for granted because I was raised my basically godparents be a gay couple.
[1533] So I didn't have the same.
[1534] I was like, this is how it, you know.
[1535] Yeah, you're from L .A. I'm from L .A. You have to really imagine the experience where you are Scarlet Letter if you're that person because you didn't observe it growing up here.
[1536] Right.
[1537] I mean, I did.
[1538] But in different ways, even in high school, there's.
[1539] like all the terrible things, you know.
[1540] But we connected, because I just had such great admiration, I was in awe of him.
[1541] They can suck you along too, right?
[1542] I've been lucky enough to be in scenes with a few people who pulled me into their bubble.
[1543] We have totally different acting styles.
[1544] You and Heath did.
[1545] Yeah.
[1546] As friends, we became very close and were more in contact post that process because I think we were both like, what was this?
[1547] What is this?
[1548] It's a very surreal ride you guys all took.
[1549] Yeah, a beautiful one.
[1550] It's funny.
[1551] People don't think about this because they think about him as this incredible actor.
[1552] But before he did that movie, people kind of were like, was he a good actor.
[1553] And then he did this thing.
[1554] And everyone was like, oh, my God.
[1555] There's been a few great cases of this.
[1556] Philip Seymour Hoffman was in Twister.
[1557] You're like, I don't know.
[1558] And then he's in happiness.
[1559] Wait, this guy can do this.
[1560] Johnny Depp, he's coming off of 21 Jump Street.
[1561] And Heath had been in like a knight's tale or something.
[1562] Night's cool.
[1563] And he was great.
[1564] He was great in them, actually.
[1565] Yeah, it just didn't have the.
[1566] You don't know.
[1567] Exactly.
[1568] Yeah, yeah.
[1569] That was, I think, a lot.
[1570] All of a sudden, he was this mega talent.
[1571] And so we always had each other for that.
[1572] Imposter syndrome's already so appealing and right there.
[1573] And then to get that kind of love and attention and appreciation, and then ultimately I might feel like I'm getting the love and the apology that the world wants to make to gay people.
[1574] And I'm not gay.
[1575] I don't really deserve this.
[1576] It's a fraudulent.
[1577] Yes.
[1578] I can imagine feeling like this is a little bit too much.
[1579] kindness towards me. I don't deserve it.
[1580] Oh, that's interesting.
[1581] I don't know about that.
[1582] I think I experienced both things.
[1583] There's inevitably imposter syndrome in anything that you do, because as an actor, you know that what you're doing is not who you are.
[1584] You didn't write the words.
[1585] You didn't make the choices and cuts.
[1586] You weren't in a tragic love story in your real life.
[1587] You know, it's pretend.
[1588] Yeah.
[1589] When it's done so well, I do imbue you with that.
[1590] You have lived that for me. I was so fucking honored to be even included in that discussion.
[1591] That's the best way I could put it.
[1592] There's a moment that I will never forget, many moments actually in that.
[1593] Heath and I, we were at a Q &A for the movie, right?
[1594] As it had come out like two weeks before.
[1595] And we always joked around and like talk shit.
[1596] You know, you go to a Q &A at a theater and you introduce the movie and then we all went to dinner.
[1597] And then we all came back for the interview with a moderator and then the audience.
[1598] and we were doing tons of them because the movie was sort of on an awards campaign and Heath and I, we were at dinner, we were always joking and fucking around so by the time we got backstage we were just like laughing and we didn't really read the room which happened a lot of times when we were on that thing.
[1599] This happened to Jared Leto and McConaughey.
[1600] Yeah, you're just enjoying each other.
[1601] You've got to really remind yourself of the movie everyone just associated like second by second.
[1602] Yes.
[1603] Also, for us, the experience of the movie movie is so different from an audience experience.
[1604] Because I remember both of us looking at each other when we first saw the movie going like, was it good?
[1605] You're looking at yourself.
[1606] Like how weird is that?
[1607] It's like listening to your voice on it.
[1608] It's terrible.
[1609] It's like if I listen back to this interview, like, oh, your voice.
[1610] I mean, like, you know what I mean?
[1611] You're going to love it, actually.
[1612] To mark my words.
[1613] So we get out there like a little bit jittery and joky.
[1614] Yes.
[1615] An audience is like somber.
[1616] Yeah, you can't live in that relationship for the whole cycle of the awards promotion.
[1617] And also like, I think it was our second or third one.
[1618] And they open it up to the audience at first.
[1619] And someone stands up.
[1620] Mind you, the movie has been out for like a week and a half, two weeks.
[1621] The guy goes, this is my 22nd time seeing this film.
[1622] Oh my goodness.
[1623] Oh, my God.
[1624] Wow.
[1625] And I remember this like emotional.
[1626] No, I just got chills.
[1627] We just went like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[1628] The power of fiction, the power of pretend.
[1629] And Ang Lee says that.
[1630] He's like, we pretend so we can tell the truth.
[1631] Right, right, right.
[1632] And it's like for us, we were in this thing.
[1633] We shared something very special.
[1634] It was there.
[1635] It was real.
[1636] It was true.
[1637] But the pretend translated to something else, which then we felt that we had to get and understand.
[1638] We both looked each other kind of like, this is so much bigger than anything we are.
[1639] We made a small movie we never would.
[1640] would have thought, given the times, would have had the effect that it did.
[1641] Yeah.
[1642] And then it became bigger than anything we could have imagined.
[1643] Okay.
[1644] It's time to talk about the covenant.
[1645] I mean, there's so many other things I could talk.
[1646] Of course, I could talk about Endo Watch forever.
[1647] I just loved you in Endo Watch.
[1648] You're so fucking good in that movie.
[1649] That movie is fucking real.
[1650] It's like pretty close to us.
[1651] When you two walk into that fucking house, for the first time you actually recognize, oh yeah, when cops show up because someone called for domestic disturbance.
[1652] who knows what's on the other side of that door?
[1653] It could be fucking anything.
[1654] And you really felt that.
[1655] Like when you guys go in there and it's just a fist fight immediately like, oh yeah, that's the call you get.
[1656] You don't know.
[1657] No. You know on the other side of this door, violence exists?
[1658] Yes.
[1659] And I'm going to enter it.
[1660] Or maybe not at all.
[1661] Maybe nothing.
[1662] Maybe nothing.
[1663] It's a game show.
[1664] It's like, let's spin the wheel open this door and see what's on the other.
[1665] I mean, it was really visceral.
[1666] I love that, but we don't have to talk much about that.
[1667] I loved making it.
[1668] I have Michael Bay questions, but I'm not going to ask him.
[1669] Okay.
[1670] I watched The Covenant Friday night.
[1671] I really, really liked it.
[1672] It's not your first movie over there.
[1673] We did Jarheads way back.
[1674] Yes.
[1675] Yeah.
[1676] So we're revisiting this space.
[1677] You shot in Spain?
[1678] Shahn Spain.
[1679] So really quickly, the premise is throughout the Afghanistan war, there were thousands of interpreters put under the employ of the U .S. military.
[1680] And there was a promise made, I don't know, in writing or verbally, that these people would obviously be granted visas.
[1681] at the end of this campaign to come in America where they'd be safe because obviously the Taliban wants to kill any of these interpreters that worked with the military.
[1682] So that's what the movie's exploring, which is fucking heavy.
[1683] So I went over twice in 07 and 09.
[1684] I went to Afghanistan on U .S .O tours.
[1685] Flew run on Blackhawks, landed everywhere, met a lot of those people.
[1686] I just found it to be incredibly authentic for at least minimally what I went over and saw.
[1687] And I guess I'm curious what first made you want to.
[1688] You already did your movie about this, right?
[1689] I have no plan, FYI.
[1690] Meaning, like, there's no, well, I did my Army movie, so now I want to do the other.
[1691] I don't have that.
[1692] I think, firstly, it was Guy, Richie.
[1693] And Guy and I have known each other for a while.
[1694] We've always had a connection.
[1695] There's just something about him where we just vibe.
[1696] You should have him on the show.
[1697] I would love to.
[1698] There's something about him where he's down to get in it.
[1699] And so when he came to me with this, I was like, okay, what is this?
[1700] Came me with a 50 -page script.
[1701] Is that all it was?
[1702] Well, that's how he works.
[1703] generally, not always, because he's kind of all over the place.
[1704] Like, he'll go do Aladdin, and then he'll go do all the movies we know him for.
[1705] He kind of searches for things.
[1706] The last few movies he's done for maybe the past eight, ten years, that's how he does it.
[1707] 50 -page script.
[1708] And then he starts to write as you go.
[1709] As he's discovering things?
[1710] Yes.
[1711] So you come to set and he says to you, don't memorize your lines for the next day.
[1712] Because some of the scenes are written out, and some of them are just like the two characters are named like John and Ahmed.
[1713] And he's like, John and Ahmed Mead, and they have an exchange where he tells that he doesn't like him for this thing.
[1714] It's got like a plot point in it.
[1715] It feels improvised in some ways.
[1716] Like, it felt very natural.
[1717] Eventually, it gets written and it gets written on that day.
[1718] But there are moments where, like, there's a speech in it where I talk about having a hook in me and all this stuff written 20 minutes before.
[1719] We're rolling.
[1720] Like, it came from a conversation we had that morning where I had some idea I wanted to say he had an idea he needed to put in that we step out.
[1721] They work.
[1722] Comes back.
[1723] We run it.
[1724] more ideas go out and shoot it oh i love that so the movie was made like that process wise also guy has his barbecue he's designed like his amazing barbecue i think it's called like like he has a patent on it yeah yeah it's called like the cashmere caveman i think it's called or something it's amazing barbecue and it sits sort of like near set it gets like brought out and he fucking barbecues oh my gosh so you eat and stuff and like talk about the scene and then you go and you shoot the scene it sort of has this amazing kind of...
[1725] You're at a barbecue.
[1726] And instead of playing volleyball every few hours...
[1727] You go shoot a movie.
[1728] You shoot a war movie.
[1729] Like, could it get any better?
[1730] No, that sounds so heavenly.
[1731] Also, sounds like this came along in a perfect time for you where you've said goodbye a little bit to the obsessive preparation and the obsessive everything because this would have driven you fucking nuts 10 years ago, right?
[1732] Oh, yeah.
[1733] Like, what do you mean 50 pages?
[1734] I got to work for 100 hours.
[1735] I have a question about that.
[1736] I have a question about this.
[1737] I have a question about that.
[1738] You know, it's just like, shut the fuck up.
[1739] Do you know?
[1740] Like, I have a question.
[1741] Where's your fucking mute button?
[1742] Exactly.
[1743] You're talking about questions.
[1744] I did some research that I, uh, like, don't get your tuxedo kid, you know?
[1745] Fucking say the lines.
[1746] Eat this fucking baby back rib I just prepared while I was writing this scene.
[1747] But like, really.
[1748] Like legitimately.
[1749] Oh, wow.
[1750] So like, there was that spirit because he came to me. He's like, Jike, you want to have fun?
[1751] I'm here to fucking.
[1752] something great, some great fucking art, and have a good time.
[1753] Because again, it's a form of vulnerability too, right?
[1754] Because when you're enjoying yourself with somebody and you're having fun, then all of a sudden your heart goes like, oh, I'm open.
[1755] Yeah, heart opener.
[1756] I've heard many and read a number of scripts about this same sort of story.
[1757] And as we withdrew from Afghanistan, there are all these stories.
[1758] And to me, what I thought was interesting about this was that it was really a parable about the sort of stuff that we need to do even if it's begrudging.
[1759] It's without sentimentality, the relationship between these two guys.
[1760] Like, one guy saves another guy's life.
[1761] Let me paint the picture a little bit.
[1762] You're the leader of some platoon, and you need a new interpreter.
[1763] Yours was killed.
[1764] And you're pretty much told there's a lineup of interpreters to choose from, and the guy that you're trusting says, people don't get along with this guy, but I would nab him.
[1765] He's really smart.
[1766] He joined your team in one.
[1767] after another, he disobeys you.
[1768] And the motherfucker's right every time.
[1769] So it's this really great contentious setup where you'd love to fucking dress him down, but the guy who's been right every time.
[1770] Yeah.
[1771] He's also superb.
[1772] Dar Salon.
[1773] Oh, my God.
[1774] He's so good.
[1775] Dar Salim.
[1776] Darcelim is like this great slow burn the whole movie, he's just building and building and building.
[1777] I'm like, oh, this guy's a motherfucker.
[1778] This guy's acting his ass off.
[1779] He's so subtle.
[1780] and real.
[1781] He's wonderful.
[1782] So it's great.
[1783] You fall in love with this dude and you're recognizing, oh, these two would be best served to be partners.
[1784] This dude needs to be the leader of a platoon.
[1785] Yes.
[1786] Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
[1787] He's the smartest guy in the room.
[1788] He knows the area.
[1789] He knows everything.
[1790] So it's this great dynamic.
[1791] And then, of course, you guys get completely stuck together.
[1792] Virtually everyone's killed and it's you two.
[1793] And then he, I don't think I've seen a movie in 10 years where a guy went through more to save another guy.
[1794] So I'm just like, get out of here.
[1795] I would fucking dump this guy.
[1796] Like, you'd be gone if you and I were together.
[1797] I would have ran for the hills.
[1798] I'm saying.
[1799] Like, as much as I loved our conversation today and 10 years ago, I'd fucking be on our own.
[1800] No, I would just start doing the Madlands like, we're not both going to make it.
[1801] This is impossible.
[1802] So at least I should make it.
[1803] I don't even feel that bad about that.
[1804] But he goes through fucking hell and high water to save you and then come to find out he doesn't get protected and so now you got to make a decision to be good and pay him back so yeah what you're saying about and it's in the title of the covenant it's like the responsibilities that if we don't do good on are gonna decay us for the rest of our lives you know the speech that I give which was a line that was in guy's head for a long time was there's a hook in me it's like you're a fish and you're fucking hooked you can fight but I got to get out.
[1805] I don't know if these guys who caught me are going to let me free again, but at a certain point I just got to stop because I can't swim free without.
[1806] I got a fucking hook in me. You might lose your life, but you have no life without.
[1807] No life without it.
[1808] And goodness doesn't come from a sentimental place always, a place that we tend to portray it from.
[1809] Saccharine and kind of like, that person is the good guy and that person is the bad guy.
[1810] Actually, on a human level, we do good things despite ourselves.
[1811] And to me, that's what I loved about the story.
[1812] And what it says about particularly as an American, which is an ideal that I think we all have, it reinstates in you to say we have responsibilities and we are good people.
[1813] Well, it's also the military edict of you don't leave a man behind, period.
[1814] And there's also that aspect that's like in the oath.
[1815] What do you do when you're in that space and someone's left behind?
[1816] You can't go live the life that you did.
[1817] That's why I believe in the organizations that I work with, because I believe really deeply in mental health and the ability to express themselves.
[1818] It's why I feel grateful to have the job I have.
[1819] When I'm a kid and I'm having those feelings, I can go play Donnie Darko.
[1820] It's allowed a safe space to express those feelings, right?
[1821] It's what art fucking does.
[1822] But these guys don't have that same space.
[1823] No, there's no outlet.
[1824] No. A lot of things came together in wanting to tell the story, also because it's not political, doesn't take a side.
[1825] What it says is 300 Afghan interpreters have been killed since we left and their families.
[1826] So that's many, many thousands of people.
[1827] And there are still waiting for visas.
[1828] Do we know how many are still there?
[1829] I'm not sure the number.
[1830] There's pictures at the very end of real interpreters.
[1831] Relationships.
[1832] It's so heartbreaking.
[1833] I found that part.
[1834] Like, really tough.
[1835] The funny part about the movie is like, the movie's the same.
[1836] like action movie.
[1837] It is.
[1838] When I watched it the first time, I was like, fuck.
[1839] Like, I'm tense the whole time.
[1840] Like, I'm like, what the fuck?
[1841] Like, what did we shoot?
[1842] Because I was, like, eating barbecue back there.
[1843] Yes.
[1844] You know why it's really extra heartbreaking?
[1845] And back to the kind of the American ideal we have is, if you're one of those interpreters, the Americans come.
[1846] Like, we have this storied history thing and they believed it.
[1847] Yeah, they're going to protect us.
[1848] They're going to protect us.
[1849] They're going to protect us.
[1850] Like, we know.
[1851] these Americans.
[1852] I'm going to roll the dice and do something very dangerous for me and my family, but I believe in these guys.
[1853] That's the heartbreaking.
[1854] Also, the brilliance.
[1855] Ahmed, the character in it, he's smarter in a lot of ways than John.
[1856] Right.
[1857] Yeah.
[1858] And there's a line in it where he's like, you're here to translate.
[1859] And he's like, no, I'm here to interpret.
[1860] It's so good.
[1861] And it's like, fucking right.
[1862] That's the whole movie.
[1863] Like, I see everything around me. And yet, for some reason, I'm considered a translator.
[1864] Like, this is my home.
[1865] I'm the only one that knows what's going on.
[1866] And I know you, too.
[1867] There are a number of moments that I love, too, where he breaks rank to do that, to save people despite what he's told to do, right?
[1868] And it's not, again, in some cheesy movie way, I think.
[1869] It's just like a very simple way, which is what I love about it.
[1870] And on that point, what's curious is this does not have Guy Ritchie's fingerprint on it.
[1871] The two elements, I think, that are quintessential to Guy are the ensemble.
[1872] So he's like a master of having 65 characters that are all intertwined and paying off.
[1873] That's fun.
[1874] And then Jason Statham.
[1875] And Jason Statham.
[1876] I kept waiting for him and at least being a stretcher or something with his shirt off, hopefully.
[1877] And then also the visual set pieces that he's so famous for with the super slow mo and the phantom cam, all these things that are happening.
[1878] None of that's there.
[1879] He does a couple of them.
[1880] So you get a taste, but it's really used for the narrative as opposed to declaring it's his movie.
[1881] Right.
[1882] What I liked about it is it doesn't have the frills of a normal guy movie.
[1883] Yet, the first really intense shootout set piece, my wife said, as we were watching, and she goes, wow, I understand this set piece better than I really generally ever understand these kind of shootouty things.
[1884] And I'm like, yeah, because he took the time, everything's tied together.
[1885] They didn't hose down a bunch of guys firing in one direction, then hose down the other guys, right, and then just stitch it together.
[1886] I was emotional.
[1887] When I saw it the first time, When I saw that first scene where they go and they get ambushed, I knew all those people, and I cared.
[1888] And to watch it happen, made me go, whoa.
[1889] When I read it in the script, I didn't even feel that.
[1890] Well, it sounds like it just said probably gun battle, save some pages.
[1891] For real.
[1892] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1893] You know?
[1894] And I was like, well, it's guys, so it's going to be cool.
[1895] So without the frills or the style, he still was crazy methodical the way he's obviously crazy methodical.
[1896] But just in this very subdued fashion.
[1897] but it made for really connected, immersive set pieces that sometimes you get fatigued, I guess.
[1898] But they all worked and they were incredible.
[1899] It's awesome.
[1900] You're fantastic in it.
[1901] You, too, as a partnership, was fantastic.
[1902] I'm just so proud of the movie when you love the people you make a movie with, but legitimately do.
[1903] Yes.
[1904] And you're like, no, I fucking love them all.
[1905] And you actually want it for them.
[1906] Yeah.
[1907] Yeah.
[1908] Which is a beautiful, rare feeling.
[1909] Yeah.
[1910] Yeah.
[1911] And I mean, that's what I feel about this movie.
[1912] There's something about the movie, circling back to what you said, growing up, in L .A. and you're kind of like, I didn't make any choices.
[1913] This is the circumstance I was born into.
[1914] When I finished the movie, that's sort of what I was left with was, we have no control over our circumstances.
[1915] Like when you meet that guy, it's like he's born into this.
[1916] When you see the pictures at the end, everyone's a victim of their circumstance, not to make it political, but there is this piece that's like, there aren't good guys and bad guys because they're born into it.
[1917] People are born in.
[1918] Yeah.
[1919] It's just heavy.
[1920] That was the kind of clearing the fog for me of just going there twice, which is like, I go there as a liberal who's anti -war.
[1921] Now, was that an idea that you've always felt were you raised like that?
[1922] Or was that something that you've come to?
[1923] My mother is on the hippier side of growing up in the 60s, and they hated Vietnam, and they thought it was a pointless endeavor.
[1924] So I think I grew up with my dad having been and then got relieved because of my brother.
[1925] Yeah, that's what war represented, probably my house.
[1926] household was that war, misguided, what's the point, a bunch of young kids.
[1927] So I've never been raw, raw, you know.
[1928] Yeah, yeah.
[1929] I'm just interested because in terms of like, what I love about the work that we do is that it always changes your perspective.
[1930] You come in and you're like, definitely, I believe it this way.
[1931] And then you watch something.
[1932] You go, whoa, shit.
[1933] Yeah.
[1934] And then you go there and you recognize really quickly there aren't politics there.
[1935] They literally have a job.
[1936] Someone tells them at 5 a .m. we're going out on patrol.
[1937] It's that simple.
[1938] We have to find IDs because they're blowing everyone up.
[1939] Very simple.
[1940] The politics are irrelevant.
[1941] It's all pragmatism.
[1942] It's almost a luxury for us to like sit here and like chat about like almost the luxury.
[1943] I mean like up on our high horses fighting with each other.
[1944] That in itself is ridiculous really.
[1945] We're not even in it.
[1946] These well -intentioned 60s protesters that would be at the airport with sign saying baby killer when these 19 year olds would get off of a plane they were in a jungle that morning the lack of fucking compassion and awareness of that kid was at home at one point the government said get on this fucking plane or you go to jail and now he's come home after this horrific experience and you're there to tell me this piece of shit I mean yeah guys guys guys guys let's be mad at the politicians it'd be a nice place to have that kind of empathy from all over It's a super complex situation.
[1947] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1948] I mean, but there are simple things.
[1949] We can always go to what do we know to be the good thing to do.
[1950] Or the lesser bad thing.
[1951] Right, the lesser bad thing.
[1952] Yeah, totally.
[1953] And I think that's the part.
[1954] We're all mired in all the other shit.
[1955] Thank you.
[1956] That's exactly, it's like, we're stuck on what the perfect thing to do would be when other people, that's not what they're evaluating.
[1957] Everything is messy anyway.
[1958] If you approach it that way, I think there is forgiveness in places.
[1959] I do think that there are dangerous places and there are sides to be chosen but I do think that there is room for understanding and listening there has to be that room or else I just don't think it's good for anyone's health no well it's terrific now we have to I've had you for so long but just really quick fucking roadhouse yes yes yes I come back for roadhouse yeah you have to we can just talk about roadhouse the whole time It can just be a road house, maybe 30 minutes.
[1960] We'll just do a roadhouse special.
[1961] It'd be a master class on Roadhouse.
[1962] Let's fucking do it.
[1963] Yes.
[1964] Let's try and get McGregor here.
[1965] Oh, my God, yes, yes, yes, yes.
[1966] And we'll do a 30 minute, no, we'll do a 30 second because that's, that's all we know.
[1967] We'll do three minute rounds.
[1968] No, we'll do five minute rounds.
[1969] Okay.
[1970] And we'll just fucking go.
[1971] Five, five minute rounds.
[1972] So first of all, Doug Lyman directed it, right?
[1973] Yeah.
[1974] Okay, so it's like a fucking brilliant great director.
[1975] You must have known him from Martha's Vineyard as a kid.
[1976] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1977] I've known over 20 years, yeah.
[1978] Okay.
[1979] So just a gangster fucking director has done so many epic movies.
[1980] We won't even get into it.
[1981] But had you seen Roadhouse as a kid and did you like it?
[1982] I'd seen One House twice.
[1983] It actually really registered for me, but I didn't get obsessed with it.
[1984] The poster is something I will never fucking ever forget.
[1985] Right?
[1986] And then there are clips and scenes in that movie.
[1987] They are burned into my soul.
[1988] Sure, the throat scene.
[1989] But the movie, I don't understand it.
[1990] Oh, sure, sure.
[1991] fair you know what i mean i get the intentions but we came back to clear some things up basically you know what i mean great great like yeah so i not to tread on brilliant brilliant water or space yes listen it is hollowed ground it is i think a lot of it is you were probably nine when it came out and i was 14 sign me to fuck up bar fights yeah yeah yeah yeah kidding with swayze my favorite dude to watch kick ass yes sam elli the greatest tough guy of all time yes yes a couple things i got to know We're going to do a full master class on it.
[1992] But one element I want people to know about is that at that point, Swayze had all the power.
[1993] He went to some studio and said, it's me beaten ass in a bar.
[1994] They didn't need to hear more.
[1995] They sent everyone away to make that movie.
[1996] But it was during a writer's strike, apparently.
[1997] Oh, that shows.
[1998] That's not a shocker.
[1999] The WGA is like a point in hour winner.
[2000] Thank you.
[2001] This is why we have a union.
[2002] Okay.
[2003] So knowing that.
[2004] that Swayzey's in total control of that movie is really important the whole time you're watching.
[2005] The director never talked to him into one thing at this point in his career.
[2006] And there's a scene where he gets out of bed in the morning.
[2007] He's been sleeping nude, which fuck yes, he was.
[2008] And if you know anything about movie making, he gets out, we're in a wide.
[2009] We go into a close -up of his butt cheeks.
[2010] He squeezes them.
[2011] They're incredible.
[2012] It's the most beautiful butt cheeks I'd ever seen on screen.
[2013] fucking that dude yeah he is a gymnast like he looked it dancer dancer everything's a football player yeah yeah yeah there's a great thing rob blow wrote about the experience of getting cast and outsiders then going to do the movie and how when suasy showed up it was like somehow this guy was 45 he'd already been a firefighter and a dancer and a football star and everything right yeah okay so you just got to know he got out of bed in the wide naked they did the scene then they put a different lens on the camera and you're saying he had a choice in this he knew Oh, yeah.
[2014] I would even argue he probably instigated that lens swap.
[2015] Potentially, potentially, potentially, potentially.
[2016] Potentially.
[2017] He was also probably soft early cut, which is FYI, right?
[2018] Yes, yes.
[2019] There's no part that he didn't have his, okay.
[2020] So the fact that there's a close -up of butt cheeks clenching, that puts it at Goodfellas level for me. Right on the gays.
[2021] Are we reenacting that scene?
[2022] Well, that's exactly why.
[2023] Do we see your butt cheeks?
[2024] Again, we are reinterpretation.
[2025] Because you got in great shape, right?
[2026] I saw you recently with you had your shirt.
[2027] shirt off and you looked fucking gorgeous.
[2028] You are fucking shredding.
[2029] Thank you, bro.
[2030] We did not do that same button.
[2031] You didn't give me any butt cheeks.
[2032] You didn't give me any butt cheeks.
[2033] We do.
[2034] Let's be honest, you don't make roadhouse if it's not body body, you know what I mean?
[2035] That's why we're making it and watching it.
[2036] There are staples to the classic and there are things you do not change, but there are close -ups, certain ones, clenching ones that sometimes you reinterpret.
[2037] Okay, okay.
[2038] If that gives you any hint in terms of where we went.
[2039] But we did not show.
[2040] shy away.
[2041] I'm a little heartbroken.
[2042] I have nothing to do with this movie.
[2043] I just want you to know.
[2044] We were trying to get people to the UFC when we shot at the last UFC event.
[2045] And I wish I had known because I would have been like, we need to fly Dax out here.
[2046] Yes, I would have been there in a second.
[2047] You're going to rewatch the original roadhouse.
[2048] Yeah.
[2049] Okay.
[2050] You're going to have to because my best friend Nate Tuck and I, when we live together, we watch the movie.
[2051] I'd say once every three weeks.
[2052] No way.
[2053] Yeah.
[2054] We love it so much.
[2055] We particularly love it.
[2056] because of John Doe.
[2057] Now, you have to first know that we've watched the movie 25 times.
[2058] I don't know how we missed all this, but there's a great scene at the end of the original where there's a monster truck again on 14.
[2059] Of course put a monster truck in there.
[2060] Of course.
[2061] The bad guys are storming the compound.
[2062] One of the bad guys, he's firing a shotgun, and I have to stand up and do it for you, Jake.
[2063] I don't know how we miss this.
[2064] But Nate goes, pause it.
[2065] He goes, we're going back.
[2066] Look at this choice.
[2067] Okay, this is what I have.
[2068] happen.
[2069] John Doe's firing the shotgun like this.
[2070] He's kicking his leg up like a horse.
[2071] And we go, what the fuck is that choice?
[2072] So he goes, oh, fuck.
[2073] This guy's a genius.
[2074] Let's go back to his previous scene.
[2075] Well, we go back.
[2076] We had missed this too.
[2077] He's scratching his back with his shotgun.
[2078] Everyone else is acting real.
[2079] He's scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch.
[2080] Now we're going backwards through the whole movie on high alert for this actor.
[2081] Sure enough, he's in a scene at the bar.
[2082] He's got a straw in his mouth.
[2083] He's just going, wham!
[2084] Like, what the fuck is he?
[2085] And they pitches a wet rag at somebody.
[2086] We're like, he's unhinged.
[2087] We go, who is this guy?
[2088] We got to watch every movie he's ever been in.
[2089] We go to the end credits in the final fucking couty gras.
[2090] His name is John Doe.
[2091] No way.
[2092] His name is John fucking Doe.
[2093] We're like, oh my God, this guy even in the credits gets a laugh.
[2094] Then we discover he's the lead singer of this band X. John Doe.
[2095] He's already a famous singer.
[2096] He's actually John Doe.
[2097] Clearly the director loved that band.
[2098] and put John Doe in this movie.
[2099] Unreal.
[2100] And he had a field day.
[2101] Jake, he did whatever the flying fuck he wanted to do.
[2102] Our movie is very similar to that.
[2103] I just want you to know that, like, actually, there's shit in there.
[2104] You're going to be like, whoa, what?
[2105] Okay.
[2106] Like, we have characters everywhere.
[2107] Okay.
[2108] So, you know, there's Easter eggs all over the motherfucker.
[2109] I am going to watch the shit out of this movie.
[2110] I can't wait.
[2111] Now the standard, I have to text Doug and be like, we got to make it really good now.
[2112] We've got to do research.
[2113] We need a close -up of my ass -chutes.
[2114] Really good also because we're doing a 30 -minute special on Roadhouse.
[2115] Yeah, here.
[2116] Here.
[2117] Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
[2118] Oh, we are?
[2119] I got so excited.
[2120] We should get the real John Doe in here for that.
[2121] Fuck, yeah.
[2122] We've thought about it.
[2123] Can I add one thing about John Doe?
[2124] We go back and we look at his credits.
[2125] The guy's been in 25 movies.
[2126] What the fuck?
[2127] Yes, I then do this show, Parenthood.
[2128] Craig T. Nelson is my father.
[2129] By the way, this is the thing that I may have said to you when we met that show I love so much.
[2130] Oh, thank you.
[2131] And I love you in that show.
[2132] I was obsessed with that show.
[2133] In fact, it got me through some hard times.
[2134] It did.
[2135] So thank you.
[2136] Oh, thank you.
[2137] It is such a good show.
[2138] It's such a good show.
[2139] I asked Craig T. Nelson, because I saw one of John Doe's credits was Poltergeist.
[2140] Whoa, he's in classics.
[2141] Yes.
[2142] So we go back, Nate and I watch Poltergeist solely for John Doe.
[2143] Sure enough, Let me just tell you about one scene.
[2144] There's workmen in the backyard digging the pool.
[2145] You'll remember.
[2146] It's like a D plot.
[2147] Like here.
[2148] That's just something they're contending with.
[2149] There's workers in the backyard.
[2150] Well, clearly they didn't tell the workers what to do.
[2151] Just be busy.
[2152] John Doe is one of the workers.
[2153] And what he has done is he's found the plans and he's rolled them up into like a stick.
[2154] And he's dressing someone down in the background.
[2155] He's shaking.
[2156] And I realize like this choice is so brilliant because it means he's the foreman.
[2157] Right?
[2158] He's in charge.
[2159] He made him.
[2160] Motherfuckers in charge.
[2161] No one planned this out.
[2162] There's no lines.
[2163] It's just a fucking background.
[2164] What I didn't tell you is that John Doe was in the line of my acting coach on that night.
[2165] It wouldn't fucking surprise me at all.
[2166] Okay.
[2167] That's it.
[2168] John Doe.
[2169] I hope everyone runs out and sees John Doe.
[2170] That's what I hope everyone takes it out.
[2171] Now I'm going to do it.
[2172] It's a really fun journey to take the John Doe journey.
[2173] He's everywhere in the 80s and 90s movies.
[2174] Now when I rewatch.
[2175] roadhouse again after we, because you watch it before, I'll keep an eye of.
[2176] Look, I don't give a fuck if it's my daughter's birthday right now.
[2177] If you want to walk directly down in the movie theater downstairs and put roadhouse, I will do it.
[2178] If you don't mind hearing me say every line of the entire movie.
[2179] See, I also feel that way about point break.
[2180] That's your roadhouse.
[2181] I mean, it's Swayze.
[2182] By the way, Swayze was in Donnie Darko.
[2183] He was?
[2184] He plays the teacher in Donnie Darko.
[2185] Oh, wow.
[2186] Yes.
[2187] It's been a minute since I saw it.
[2188] That was amazing.
[2189] And he was the sweetest man nice for years to me afterwards and his wife are so lovely yeah all right well that's not here yet but what is here on april 21st is the covenant which is a great movie you're absolutely fantastic in it guy richie i want everyone to check it out on april 21st it's a great great movie and such a fucking pleasure it is preposterous like if that lobby in Toronto was a meet cute in a movie you're like all these two are going to be together yeah yeah absolutely that's what we've gotten to in the end.
[2190] And I think that's where we are now.
[2191] So the question is, do we do it again in 10 years?
[2192] No, but like for real, I think given the conversation, I would love to be able to stay connected.
[2193] Same.
[2194] Well, Jake, this was such a blast.
[2195] Thanks so much for giving us so much time.
[2196] Thank you for having me. I hope everyone checks out the covenant on April 21st.
[2197] And then you'll be back for our 30 -minute, you know, flash lightning round.
[2198] You're never going to find an interviewer when you're promoting that movie.
[2199] It's going to be harder as a rock than me for that.
[2200] I just can't.
[2201] Patrick Swayze's butt cheeks.
[2202] I would rival.
[2203] Yes, I'd put my boner up against those butt cheeks any day.
[2204] All right, I adore you.
[2205] Same.
[2206] Thank you, you guys.
[2207] Thank you.
[2208] And by the way, I'll talk fashion anytime you want to talk fashion.
[2209] And now my favorite part of the show, the fact check with my soulmate Monica Padman.
[2210] Jackie Roar.
[2211] What's that mean?
[2212] Jackie Roar is Bacon's name.
[2213] Kevin Bacon's name on City on a Hill.
[2214] Copy.
[2215] Can't recommend the show enough.
[2216] Well, if you liked The Wire, which you're not a wire devotee, are you?
[2217] I really liked the Wire.
[2218] You did love it.
[2219] Okay.
[2220] Do you long for it?
[2221] No. No. Yes.
[2222] So City on the Hill, which is confusing to me, because I think it's a Showtime show, yet I don't think it's on Showtime streaming platform.
[2223] I've been purchasing it.
[2224] Okay.
[2225] But first season, sensational.
[2226] Very Wire -esque.
[2227] But Kevin Bacon plays Jay.
[2228] Becky Roar, a Boston FBI agent with a fucking mustache in a fucking crazy walk with his fucking shoulders banging and he's a prick.
[2229] Okay.
[2230] He's smoking darts.
[2231] He's blowing heaters the whole time and I'm obsessed with him.
[2232] Sounds good.
[2233] You're not going to watch it?
[2234] No. No. Not based on that ad campaign I just came up with.
[2235] I hate to say that because I like him.
[2236] Yeah.
[2237] But there's just so much to watch.
[2238] I have to be...
[2239] Scrutinizing?
[2240] Discerning.
[2241] Descerning, that's the word.
[2242] Well, we've talked about this before.
[2243] It's relevant, I think, right now.
[2244] Watching a show with a person is much different than watching it by yourself.
[2245] So certain shows are good for watching with people, I think, versus watching by yourself.
[2246] Say Game of Thrones or something?
[2247] Give us some hard examples.
[2248] I think Game of Thrones could go either way.
[2249] Okay.
[2250] But like Yellowstone.
[2251] I tried watching Yellowstone by myself and I am not doing that.
[2252] You couldn't do it, yeah.
[2253] But I could see that if I was watching with like a buddy, that that would be fun.
[2254] Yeah, you need to commiserate about some of the stuff.
[2255] Yeah, that's a good example.
[2256] I got to tell you, though, I watch not as much, but nearly as much solo as I do with Kristen.
[2257] because I'm consuming when she goes to sleep I'm switching to different shows when I work out I watch a show sometimes So I've got a whole But you're watching different stuff That's what I'm saying You're watching City on a Hill with her Yes, that's true I just I'm not positive where I would file that one I do think I would also watch it solo Oh, okay Because I also like I watch that one alone Okay yeah I like darker stuff It's hard to get Kristen interested In darker stuff I'd say So, yeah, if there's something that I want to watch that has to do with, like, drugs and murder and all that stuff, that's usually a solo endeavor.
[2258] But this one could definitely, I could watch by myself, as did Robbie, Wabi Wabi, aka The Rascal.
[2259] Little Rascal.
[2260] Yes.
[2261] Okay, well, something I have consumed that I can't speak high enough about.
[2262] God, did I, quicker than I think I did Dr. Death, to be honest.
[2263] I don't know that I've listened to a podcast series this quickly, but The Witch Trials J .K. Rowling.
[2264] The Witch Trials of J .K. Rowling?
[2265] The Witch Trials of J .K. Rowling?
[2266] Yes.
[2267] By Megan Phelps Roper.
[2268] She's married to Michael.
[2269] Is she?
[2270] I thought that girl naturally crossed my mind.
[2271] It did?
[2272] Well, yeah.
[2273] It would be Roper Phelps.
[2274] It would.
[2275] I don't know how the hyphenating works.
[2276] I think, yeah, you'd, I guess you could go, maybe people do both.
[2277] People are fucking picking whatever.
[2278] they want, you know.
[2279] Nassiness of being human.
[2280] But at any rate, the witch trials of J .K. Rowling.
[2281] Do you say rolling or rolling?
[2282] Rolling.
[2283] It's rolling.
[2284] But is it R -O -W -L -I -N -G?
[2285] Yeah.
[2286] Yeah.
[2287] Okay.
[2288] But they say rhymes with bowling.
[2289] Oh, rhymes with bowling.
[2290] And her name is Joanne or Joe.
[2291] No K. Totally made up.
[2292] Totally made up so she'd sound like a man. Yep.
[2293] At any rate, incredible podcast.
[2294] Made me very interested in Joanne Rowling.
[2295] Big time.
[2296] I'm on episode five, I think.
[2297] Five?
[2298] Yeah.
[2299] Okay.
[2300] So the books already come out.
[2301] Has she sent the tweet yet?
[2302] Yeah.
[2303] She has.
[2304] Okay.
[2305] Just the first one or the second one as well?
[2306] I think.
[2307] I bet just the first because I think you'd remember the second.
[2308] So maybe not, yeah.
[2309] Okay.
[2310] She has a harrowing life story.
[2311] Yeah.
[2312] I know.
[2313] Which I think, like, what's known.
[2314] what's been known what's like lore i guess is like she was super poor and she wrote it on this train and you know everyone knows like it got rejected by so many publishers 12 11 or 12 and i think everyone and it's also known that she was in an abusive relationship but you hear details and i didn't know that i didn't know any to be honest i didn't know one thing about her other than i heard people hated her guts over some tweets that's literally i mean she wrote those books yeah And that people hate it are over these tweets.
[2315] And I didn't really know anything beyond that.
[2316] Yeah, but you're not really a potterhead.
[2317] Oh, no, no, I'm not.
[2318] But I've talked to now that I'm obsessed with it and I've encouraged like, I don't know, probably seven other people to listen to it already.
[2319] I have found that the people I talked to had almost no knowledge of her personal life like I did.
[2320] Really?
[2321] Yeah.
[2322] They're not potterheads.
[2323] Yeah.
[2324] I know, but I don't.
[2325] Are they older?
[2326] Oh, fuck.
[2327] I'd have to go through the age of everyone.
[2328] I don't know if it seemed to age.
[2329] Yeah, I'm just curious.
[2330] I know that everyone has read the books.
[2331] That I get.
[2332] Sure.
[2333] But a lot of, no one knows anything about S .E. Hinton.
[2334] S .E. Hinton wrote all the most popular books when I was a kid.
[2335] She wrote, other than we all knew she wrote outsiders while she was still in high school, which is insane.
[2336] Yeah.
[2337] But that's it.
[2338] Right.
[2339] It's uncommon to know a lot about an author.
[2340] We live in a different world now.
[2341] Digital world?
[2342] We live in a digital world, a global economy.
[2343] We also live in a material world.
[2344] We do, Madonna.
[2345] And I know it there, I do think, especially the level of fandom that people do.
[2346] You start deep dive.
[2347] It's like it becomes its own, she became her own celebrity.
[2348] For sure.
[2349] And she talks about it, like having a very elevated position.
[2350] Yes.
[2351] And people started treating her kind of as like the mother of a universe and kind of like a deity, which she didn't feel crazy comfortable with.
[2352] Yeah, as no one can.
[2353] Although some people can and might tip my hand to them.
[2354] Feel like Mother Teresa.
[2355] Comfortable in when elevated the deity status.
[2356] Some people seem to take that on.
[2357] I don't know.
[2358] Oprah seems to take it in stride.
[2359] I don't know.
[2360] There are people that seem to have that feel comfortable in that role.
[2361] And again, that's a judgment -free observation.
[2362] Of course.
[2363] think it's right or wrong to either do I own that deity status.
[2364] I just think some people seem to reject it.
[2365] Right.
[2366] Or are uncomfortable with it and some people seem quite natural in the role.
[2367] Yeah.
[2368] I wonder what that is.
[2369] I feel like people who are who can handle it, I think have some separation from it or something.
[2370] Like they can see, oh, that's the way people feel about me, but I'm not that.
[2371] Like having some real recognition of it maybe?
[2372] I don't know.
[2373] I think that's definitely.
[2374] part of it.
[2375] But then I also think there's a tenant of your ethos, which can or cannot be, humans shouldn't be elevated.
[2376] Not everyone thinks that.
[2377] That's not a big trigger for people.
[2378] That's a huge trigger for me. I know a lot of people that don't think that.
[2379] The Dalai Lama doesn't trigger them.
[2380] They don't care.
[2381] Right.
[2382] But for me, in some group of people, she being one of them, now that I've got to hear her speak over the course of 10 hours, she's very much not.
[2383] in favor of that elevating humans to any kind of crazy status.
[2384] So I don't know.
[2385] I think it just it can bump up against your own values more.
[2386] Yeah, that makes sense.
[2387] Depending on what your worldview is.
[2388] I see inherently dangerous for someone to have a kind of cult of personality effect on people.
[2389] Yeah.
[2390] I think there's a lot of evidence to it being a problem.
[2391] Maybe more than it not being a problem.
[2392] Right.
[2393] So then there's like people I imagine, I don't know.
[2394] I know nothing.
[2395] Literally, who knows what his personality was like, but like Abraham Lincoln.
[2396] Now, I can see him being a guy that would say, my purpose has caused this elation.
[2397] Uh -huh.
[2398] And my purpose is grand and virtuous.
[2399] But I'm not.
[2400] I'm just the bearer of this virtuous message.
[2401] And I can live with what's happening really is people are idealizing and the principle that I'm just kind of delivering.
[2402] It's really not me. Yeah.
[2403] That makes sense?
[2404] Yeah.
[2405] I can see where some people who've held that position can really distinguish what's going on.
[2406] It's like, oh, it's the work.
[2407] It's not me. I don't know.
[2408] Right.
[2409] Or in a rabbit hole.
[2410] Anyways, I love it.
[2411] Yes.
[2412] I really think people should listen to it.
[2413] It's really incredible.
[2414] It's interesting.
[2415] Yeah, it's very interesting.
[2416] It's a good.
[2417] Oh, one little fun caveat.
[2418] I think this would have brought me an even quicker to it was I think it's really cool and probably the magic of the podcast is Megan Phelps Roper grew up, was raised in Westboro Baptist Church.
[2419] It was picketing funerals of servicemen and women on Tyra Banks defending it as a 20 -year -old.
[2420] She, like, full conviction, lived it, and then got pulled out of it, and then had this crazy reset and this crazy dedication to herself.
[2421] Like, I've got to have a system in place to check my own conviction and my beliefs.
[2422] So I think it's a really, really cool person to be diving into this incredibly polarizing explosive topic.
[2423] Right.
[2424] I find that so impressive.
[2425] If you can grow up with a worldview, especially one that is as dogmatic as the one she grew up in, and you can find your way out of that.
[2426] It's incredible, yeah.
[2427] It seems almost impossible.
[2428] I think we underestimate how much we are a product of our upbringing, how hard it is to erase everything you've believed in.
[2429] Well, do we know that's true that she has erased everything she's believed in?
[2430] She's against everything she was preaching.
[2431] She doesn't believe in the book anymore.
[2432] She does it, yeah.
[2433] So, no, all of the, the whole platform of Westboro, she now rejects wholeheartedly.
[2434] For sure.
[2435] But I think the practice of that level of devotion to a thing, I don't, I don't know if you could ever drop that.
[2436] You can pivot it.
[2437] It's kind of like addiction.
[2438] Yeah.
[2439] And you'll find.
[2440] You can channel it.
[2441] Yep.
[2442] Totally agree.
[2443] I think she's a personality type.
[2444] As you would hear, she's 20 years old on the Tyra Bank show, arguing for her family's point of view, quite articulately.
[2445] I don't agree with anything she's saying, but she's a bright 20 -year -old gal.
[2446] And then you learn you're not there yet, but her, both of her parents were lawyers.
[2447] Her grandfather was an ACLU attorney.
[2448] Yeah.
[2449] And was a member of Westboro.
[2450] So it would appear that they have demonstrated critical thinking at the highest level.
[2451] It's so misleading.
[2452] ACLU is so interesting, though, right?
[2453] Oh, I know.
[2454] I don't think a lot of liberals really know what the ACLU is all about, interestingly.
[2455] Well, yeah, I don't know what people think.
[2456] You think ACLU, you think liberty.
[2457] You're mostly thinking of them defending disenfranchised people in the country, which they have a great record of doing.
[2458] Yeah.
[2459] But they also defend the KKK.
[2460] It's a free speech organization.
[2461] Yeah.
[2462] It's a liberties.
[2463] All your liberties they're there to defend.
[2464] Right.
[2465] And so that's, I think, a part of the ACLU that like your average liberal doesn't.
[2466] Maybe.
[2467] I don't know.
[2468] Young person.
[2469] I don't care.
[2470] Yeah, I don't know.
[2471] I don't want to make any sweep.
[2472] people might know and who knows.
[2473] But I think this podcast, this conversation is a very ACLU conversation.
[2474] It's very much in favor of, I mean, I'm for it, but for free speech.
[2475] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[2476] It's definitely the 80s ACLU.
[2477] I'll dig up for you.
[2478] There's a 60 minutes that takes an hour to go through the changing tides at the ACLU.
[2479] It's a little more, well, we're going to defend the people.
[2480] that we agree with politically.
[2481] No one at the ACLU agrees with the Klu Klux Klan.
[2482] Right.
[2483] No one.
[2484] But they believe in the Klu Klan's right to protest and do have a rally and to have free speech.
[2485] Yeah.
[2486] So increasingly so, that's not the kind of case that they've been taking on, according to this 60 Minutes profile.
[2487] But I guess what I was saying, since the grandfather working for the ACLU and being in that church, to me is not actually.
[2488] That makes sense to me. Because he wants the right and the ability to be able to be a part of that group and to be able to say these things and to be able to go to the funerals and to be able.
[2489] To me, that's very in keeping.
[2490] It's like if it's a free speech organization, he wants the ability to have free speech and be a part of this association.
[2491] I want to give my two cents on it too really quick since we're here.
[2492] I really urge people to think of free speech in the exact same way we.
[2493] think of our jurisprudence system.
[2494] And our jurisprudence system is based on a fundamental tenant, which is it would be better to let guilty people go free than it would be to incarcerate an innocent person.
[2495] I agree.
[2496] Yeah.
[2497] So the system itself is biased to protect the latter from happening.
[2498] We've all decided that's a better option.
[2499] I believe in that.
[2500] But there's nothing could be worse than innocent human rotting in a jail.
[2501] We're going to have to live with the fact that some people get out and go free for crimes they've committed.
[2502] That's the bargain.
[2503] So the bargain isn't clean.
[2504] It's never going to be clean.
[2505] You enter it going.
[2506] We're going to let guilty people go in protection of innocent people.
[2507] Similarly, with free speech, the notion that you're going to have free speech, but that it's never going to cause a ruckus or that you're not going to like hearing it or that people aren't going to be hurt by it, all that's going to happen.
[2508] That is going to be the ugly price you pay, ultimately to be able to challenge an authoritarian government and authoritarian company, any oppressor.
[2509] Yeah.
[2510] But people have a pie in the sky, I think, fantasy of that we can have perfect free speech that doesn't hurt anyone, doesn't cause any damage, yet still have free speech when it's necessary.
[2511] And I'm just saying it's an all -in proposition like the presumed innocent.
[2512] There are going to be people that totally misuse it, and we're going to just have to live with that collateral damage because the thing we're protecting is so fucking sacred and important.
[2513] It needs to be protected.
[2514] I agree.
[2515] I agree.
[2516] There are stipulations that I do think are important.
[2517] You can't be calling people to get violent.
[2518] You can't incite violence.
[2519] Yeah, you can't incite violence.
[2520] And then there's protected hate speech, which, for the record, I think what the Westboro Baptist Church does is fucking vile.
[2521] It's disgusting.
[2522] If I personally could stop it, I personally would want to.
[2523] But I don't want to state agency deciding what's vile and what's not and stopping things.
[2524] Because what will be vile to them is dissent.
[2525] Right.
[2526] There is a really interesting part in it with the lawyer who was on the prosecution side of banning her books.
[2527] And who has now turned a corner and said they should be allowed.
[2528] I was so moved by that whole section.
[2529] I missed, I had a vague memory that there were a ton of Christian organizations calling for her imprisonment and burning her books.
[2530] There's a guy on there that says like, yeah, go ahead.
[2531] You let your kids read this book.
[2532] They're going to commit suicide and I'm going to say, I told you so.
[2533] And I'm like, oh, it's so ridiculous.
[2534] My God, you think you're representing a lord, a spiritual creature with that statement?
[2535] You think you're a soldier of Christ by saying you're going to give someone and I told you so if their kid kills them?
[2536] Like, what could be?
[2537] It's disgusting.
[2538] Okay.
[2539] So this is for Jake John Hall.
[2540] J .G. J .G. is a cute name.
[2541] J .G?
[2542] You left your shoes outside.
[2543] Yeah, that's cute.
[2544] Okay.
[2545] So the character he plays in October Sky is named, and who is Dave Letterman, Scoobins, Oh.
[2546] His name is Homer Hadley Hickham Jr. Nope.
[2547] Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
[2548] Say it again.
[2549] Homer Hadley, Hickham Jr. Holden Hadley, Hickham Jr. No. Homer.
[2550] Homer Hadley, Home Hinker Jr.?
[2551] Yeah, it's a tongue twisting.
[2552] Oh, I love it.
[2553] He was a former NASA engineer.
[2554] Uh -huh.
[2555] His 1998 memoir, Rocket Boys, also published as October Sky, is a New York Times bestseller.
[2556] Wait, so he's the author.
[2557] of this great book, a NASA scientist and Dave Letterman's Scoob instructor?
[2558] Yeah, because he taught astronauts to dive.
[2559] Oh, okay.
[2560] And so, I guess These aren't tangentially Link.
[2561] In a hotel pool, he taught David Letterman.
[2562] Oh, God, like at a Best Western or a...
[2563] Probably.
[2564] Holiday Inn Express?
[2565] Can't say.
[2566] Dave should do a line of those commercials, the Holiday and Express, because you know the premise is, no, I just slept that they're doing something spectacular.
[2567] And they go, oh, how long you've been a surgeon?
[2568] Oh, I'm not a surgeon.
[2569] I just slept at a holiday.
[2570] Oh, that's funny.
[2571] You know those that campaign?
[2572] That's funny.
[2573] So they should have Letterman in like full scuba gear, underwater looking at a, I don't know, the big shark.
[2574] Ooh, scary.
[2575] The one that just skims, the whale shark.
[2576] Oh, okay.
[2577] And then the scientist next to him says, oh, how long have you been studying marine biology?
[2578] And then Dave Letterman goes, oh, I don't.
[2579] I just slept at a holiday express and went in and learned to school.
[2580] Scoob in the pool.
[2581] That would work.
[2582] Pre -concept, guys.
[2583] Paul Newman's salad dressing.
[2584] Yes.
[2585] Okay.
[2586] Let me read the ingredients.
[2587] Oh, okay.
[2588] How do we get here?
[2589] Because his mom was friends with Paul Newman, and he wrote the salad dressing down for them, and they have it framed.
[2590] Oh, right, right.
[2591] But I don't have that list, but I have the ingredients list on the bottle.
[2592] Okay.
[2593] That's fair.
[2594] So I'm going to do a reading.
[2595] Okay.
[2596] Vegetable oil, parentheses, soybean and or canola oil.
[2597] Okay.
[2598] Red wine vinegar.
[2599] Yes, love it.
[2600] Olive oil.
[2601] Dejean mustard, in parentheses, vinegar, water, mustard seeds, salt, white wine, acidity regulator, citric acid, tartaric acid, close parentheses.
[2602] Spices.
[2603] Onion puree.
[2604] Ooh.
[2605] Sugar.
[2606] Lemon juice concentrate, salt, mustard flour, pepper, garlic powder, distilled vinegar, natural flavor.
[2607] That could be beaver anus.
[2608] Yeah, one can only hope.
[2609] Amulsifier.
[2610] Amulsification.
[2611] That's it.
[2612] Wow.
[2613] It's a tasty dressing.
[2614] I've had it numerous times.
[2615] The classic vinaigrette.
[2616] Yeah.
[2617] And you know, he was approached to do that.
[2618] And he's like, I don't want to.
[2619] And then he agreed.
[2620] to do it so that the money could go to the hole in the wall gang his his camp for kids and it's raised hundreds of millions of dollars for i forget how much 160 million 50060 million bucks oh yeah it says that here 100 % profits for charity uh -huh that's a nice little thing that is yeah should i have a line of ketchup or something that comes out to give to charity yeah you don't want to fuck with ketchup because you can't beat Heinz.
[2621] Exactly.
[2622] Those 57 flavors, they did it somehow.
[2623] What could I sell?
[2624] Like a man, I love mayonnaise.
[2625] Mayonase.
[2626] Another tricky one.
[2627] There's a lot of good options.
[2628] Yeah, you need to find a niche of something that's like, just not good enough yet.
[2629] Does that exist in 2023?
[2630] There's got to be something.
[2631] Well, every time you think that there's no way something could be improved on every now and then something crazy.
[2632] Well, you are coming out with a brand of something.
[2633] Oh, I am, yeah.
[2634] Yeah, yeah, but that's kind of easy because the N .A. beer market is in its infancy.
[2635] Right.
[2636] Yeah.
[2637] And there's only one I really love other than Ted Seagers.
[2638] Yeah.
[2639] Yeah.
[2640] So for me, yeah, there wasn't a bunch that I was like wanted to drink nine of.
[2641] Exactly.
[2642] So you did the right thing.
[2643] I guess I did it, but it's not going to charity.
[2644] If you're going to do a new one, everything should go to charity.
[2645] It should be.
[2646] Or two childhood friends?
[2647] No, no, not that one.
[2648] Oh, okay, now we're doing one that's just for charity.
[2649] Yeah, we established that one's not for charity.
[2650] That's for profit.
[2651] So your charity.
[2652] Oh.
[2653] What should it be?
[2654] Maybe non -narcotic cocaine.
[2655] No. Remember, I always thought it'd be nice to pair to pair for people who are sober in Miss blowing lines while drinking beer.
[2656] If they had a nice drug -free cocaine they could snort, you know, wouldn't that make it all?
[2657] And then maybe some non -toxic cigarettes.
[2658] I have an idea for.
[2659] charity, but I really might do it, so I'm probably not going to say it.
[2660] Also, I'm going to tell all my stuff, and then you're going to keep yours.
[2661] Well, I don't think you're really going to make a non -narcotic cocaine.
[2662] So I'm not that worried about it.
[2663] And this would be, oh, let me repackage it for you.
[2664] Okay.
[2665] It's kind of like the nasal equivalent of athletic greens.
[2666] So in this Coke that you're snorting it's got all kinds of vitamins probiotics adaptogens but it makes you high no no nor does any beer make you drunk it's just about the ritual of drinking beers is what you're trying to so what's the point what's the point of an n a beer well you're you like the taste of beer right absolutely is snorting anything good if you like snorting stuff i certainly liked it you like snorting it for the high i like the whole ritual of it oh god Well, try not to puke.
[2667] Well, I think it's, I'm allowed.
[2668] You're talking about snorting cocaine.
[2669] Yeah.
[2670] Yep, I am.
[2671] Yeah.
[2672] But there's a whole ritual to it.
[2673] You've got the bag of it.
[2674] It says rocked up a bit.
[2675] You're crushing it.
[2676] You cut a little piece off.
[2677] You're flattening.
[2678] Then you're chopping it with a credit card.
[2679] You're making it real fine.
[2680] Then you're making your perfect line.
[2681] There's a lot of pageantry and ritual to it, which people do miss and crave.
[2682] I'm not really suggesting we have a fake cocaine.
[2683] Right.
[2684] But the same exact way that any beer, accomplishes no buzz, but it accomplishes cracking the thing open, the smell, you're having it not with your meal per se.
[2685] You're taking time to enjoy this thing.
[2686] It's just the ritual.
[2687] Yeah, I get that.
[2688] And you can do it in front of your kids because it would be athletic greens, basically.
[2689] Well, I think that would be a bad influence.
[2690] But also, don't you think what's happening psychologically during the ritual is the anticipation of the high?
[2691] Of course.
[2692] But again, we have a hard example.
[2693] It works with NAB.
[2694] beer yeah you don't ever get the high and so the anticipation goes away it's no longer linked to that reward yet the ritual's still enjoyable for sure when erin and i are on the motor home trip and like we arrive somewhere and i've put all the pop outs out we threw our lawn chairs out and we're in texas yeah next thing is like you want a ted seagers it's like oh my god yeah and then we sit out there and we take the time to drink the ted seagers intentionally yeah yeah it's not like mindlessly swilling a Diet Coke while you're going about your business.
[2695] It's like, we're going to take this moment and bang a Seeger's back.
[2696] Right.
[2697] That makes sense.
[2698] Yeah.
[2699] Okay.
[2700] So he introduced us to BDDW a store because he's very fashionable.
[2701] That went over my head.
[2702] So you heard that for sure.
[2703] BDDW.
[2704] Yeah.
[2705] And I like it.
[2706] Oh, you went and perused a little bit?
[2707] Yeah.
[2708] Oh, okay.
[2709] There's some cool stuff.
[2710] And you were unaware of it?
[2711] I didn't know about it.
[2712] Oh, my God.
[2713] Monica, how'd you let this happen?
[2714] I know.
[2715] I'm being vulnerable in saying that.
[2716] Okay.
[2717] But not to tell me your charity.
[2718] No. And they have ceramics.
[2719] You love ceramics.
[2720] I do.
[2721] I love mugs.
[2722] Whereas I want a shoe closet that's like a thousand square feet.
[2723] Yeah.
[2724] You ultimately need a pantry with like a thousand linear feet to house your mugs.
[2725] I do.
[2726] I need, I'd like both, but yeah.
[2727] Yeah, but you would love to collect a thousand or more mugs.
[2728] Mugs, adults only mugs from that website.
[2729] Oh my God.
[2730] Should I click it?
[2731] Oh, yes.
[2732] Pair nicely with my non -narcotic cocaine.
[2733] There's a box that says click below for secret sexy section.
[2734] Oh, also, Monica, in the sex ritual, the cocaine, the non -narcotic cocaine could be sprinkled on breasts or butt cheeks and lines could be done off the human.
[2735] Also part of the ritual.
[2736] If, yeah, I would not like that.
[2737] If anyone is interested in having sex with me and purchasing that.
[2738] The non -narcotic.
[2739] The non -narcotic cocaine, they can keep that away from me. What if Ben Affleck wants to do a little line of vitamins off your breasts?
[2740] I'm not comfortable with that.
[2741] Okay.
[2742] All right.
[2743] Good.
[2744] We have boundaries.
[2745] I do.
[2746] Do we think this is?
[2747] The same website anymore?
[2748] Yeah, I'm scared.
[2749] I think you've been, I think you're on a Russian.
[2750] What's it saying?
[2751] 18.
[2752] Oh, my gosh.
[2753] It's black.
[2754] I'm casting 18 and over.
[2755] But it still says, B, I am, because what if I get hacked?
[2756] I went through.
[2757] It's safe.
[2758] He went through on my computer.
[2759] Yes, I'm over.
[2760] So he feels confident on the computer with all my writing on him.
[2761] Oh, but it is like sexual.
[2762] It's one of Rudolph looking Santa's butt.
[2763] Oh, really?
[2764] These are sexual love.
[2765] Rudolph's giving Santa a rim job.
[2766] Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, Rudolph with your tongue so damp, won't you rim my job tonight?
[2767] Ew.
[2768] You are.
[2769] I don't like.
[2770] No, fun.
[2771] You don't want to do non -narcotic?
[2772] Yeah, I'm going to stick.
[2773] You don't want a rim job from Rudolph.
[2774] I don't.
[2775] But this is $360, this rated X mug.
[2776] What's going on there?
[2777] I think I see penises and sombreros.
[2778] It's kind of like ball sack cowboys sort of.
[2779] Do you think I should do a collab with them?
[2780] Oh, my God.
[2781] Licensed ball set cowboys You could charge 360 Maybe this could be a charity And I'll donate it all too Charity Um Wow okay This is cool I want these They're all sold out Oh my god Now you really want If the year listening to this BDDW I would not mind a set Of these months Okay Okay What played did Jake Get nominated for a Tony it was as an actor he was nominated for a play called seawall slash a life and then as a producer one called slave play he was nominated twice as a producer oh my goodness and once as an actor wow in his award section is long too long it's quite long cumbersome yeah that's why i'm so grateful i don't have any awards yeah because Is that section?
[2782] No, I don't want to take up all that real estate.
[2783] Sure.
[2784] A bunch of awards.
[2785] Okay.
[2786] Oh, oh my God.
[2787] Okay.
[2788] Guy Ritchie's barbecue.
[2789] Ah, yeah.
[2790] Okay.
[2791] Gentleman's barbecue.
[2792] Is that what it called?
[2793] Let me read some stuff.
[2794] Okay.
[2795] The outdoor grilled table and marquee -like tent, which featured in Richie's action movie The Gentleman, caused quite a stir when the film hit our screens in 2019.
[2796] We kindled a great deal of interest with an article we published when rumors were afoot.
[2797] The luxury barbecue.
[2798] could become commercially available.
[2799] It turns out there really is no smoke without fire and we're now able to share some good news with you.
[2800] The fire table film prop prototype, which featured in the film, has now been developed and is now available for your own garden.
[2801] Now called the Wild Table.
[2802] Richie and his team at the Kashmir Caveman Company, Wild Kitchens, have been hard at work behind the scenes perfecting the outdoor grill and accompanying wild tent design since our cameos in The Gentleman.
[2803] It has come to light that, Richie has an obsession with outdoor cooking and has personally owned over 30 different barbecues.
[2804] He originally designed this deluxe beast of a Barbie to keep warm.
[2805] Really quick.
[2806] You know, that number that's in this bit of literature here, most certainly came out of like some interview where they said like, so you're into barbecue?
[2807] He's like, yeah, I've been barbecuing since I was in grade school.
[2808] Oh my God.
[2809] How many barbecues you think you've owned over the year?
[2810] Oh, my God.
[2811] I don't know.
[2812] Like 30?
[2813] Yeah.
[2814] I bet it was that throwaway.
[2815] Probably.
[2816] He doesn't know how many barbecues he's owned.
[2817] That would be crazy.
[2818] I guess if he has that many.
[2819] Sorry, I'm doing that thing with the list of animals.
[2820] It's fine.
[2821] Yeah, yeah.
[2822] It's also not something that's impressive to own a bunch of barbecues.
[2823] No, no, no, no. My father -in -law, Tom, currently owns 30 barbecues.
[2824] Great.
[2825] His whole backyard is barbecue.
[2826] He does not have 30, does he?
[2827] I think the real number on the patio is six.
[2828] Wow.
[2829] Yeah.
[2830] Wow.
[2831] Because does he have an edge?
[2832] He's got like an old -fashioned Weber Cole.
[2833] He's got two different eggs.
[2834] Okay, yeah.
[2835] The big green egg.
[2836] I'm getting an egg.
[2837] You are?
[2838] Uh -huh.
[2839] Oh, okay.
[2840] Really?
[2841] Why did you decide this?
[2842] Oh, it's part of my plan.
[2843] Oh, okay.
[2844] And it's been a part of some of the instructions you've wanted to follow in online cooking or?
[2845] Oh, I mean, I like grilling if I have the ability.
[2846] Okay.
[2847] We have one in college and we grilled a lot.
[2848] Oh, okay, great.
[2849] But I don't have one now.
[2850] I don't have the ability.
[2851] Right.
[2852] Yeah, cooking videos.
[2853] There is a whole fish one I want to do and some wings.
[2854] And, yeah, so there's some stuff.
[2855] And you want to do them on the green egg?
[2856] I'm going to have two.
[2857] I'm going to have a green egg and an outdoor grill.
[2858] Okay, right.
[2859] And so then he's got a normal gas one as the only grill I'd ever use.
[2860] I don't have a, I can't go out there and build a coal.
[2861] Right.
[2862] I'll do all that.
[2863] That's hard.
[2864] Yeah.
[2865] And then he's got some other far flung one.
[2866] Wow.
[2867] He's got a full -fledged pizza oven.
[2868] Ooh, that's fun.
[2869] Yeah.
[2870] It's really funny.
[2871] Humans are just really funny.
[2872] It's like we lived outside.
[2873] We cooked over a fire.
[2874] Yeah.
[2875] And they were like, oh my God, thank God we've moved this in our house.
[2876] We can like do all of our cooking inside.
[2877] We don't go outside at night to cook.
[2878] And then we were like, we should also then go back outside.
[2879] Yep.
[2880] And then we should have everything out there.
[2881] We should have ovens.
[2882] We should have pizza.
[2883] Yes.
[2884] It's just funny.
[2885] It is.
[2886] The aliens like it.
[2887] Yeah, it's funny in the way that my car collection is ridiculous.
[2888] This guy thinks these are all different.
[2889] I guess what else are you going to do while you're on this planet for 80 years?
[2890] Yeah.
[2891] We're all trying to stay busy.
[2892] I know.
[2893] John Doe.
[2894] Oh, John Doe.
[2895] Oh, my God.
[2896] Oh, my God.
[2897] Oh, my God.
[2898] An ad popped up for the Continental because my tires.
[2899] It heard.
[2900] Oh, wow.
[2901] They're bugging our microphones.
[2902] Duck, duck, goose.
[2903] They hear us.
[2904] They do hear us.
[2905] Okay.
[2906] His credits are extensive.
[2907] I mean, it says as an actor 99.
[2908] Exactly.
[2909] That's crazy.
[2910] That can't be right.
[2911] That cannot.
[2912] He has an illustrious career.
[2913] Can that be right?
[2914] It is right.
[2915] What if he was in everything.
[2916] Go through the 80s.
[2917] He was in everything.
[2918] But what if that's just everyone named John Doe?
[2919] Are we sure?
[2920] Can we be certain?
[2921] There can only be one John Doe in SAG.
[2922] Oh, you're right.
[2923] Yeah.
[2924] But what a move to rename yourself John Doe.
[2925] It's incredible.
[2926] He's been married to G .G. Gonzalez since 1987.
[2927] And I think she's in the band X with him.
[2928] Oh, she is?
[2929] I think they're bandmates.
[2930] I could be wrong.
[2931] Oh.
[2932] I don't know as much about X as I should, considering I'm such a John Doe fan.
[2933] His name in Roadhouse is Pat McGurn.
[2934] His character name.
[2935] Yeah.
[2936] Yeah, yeah.
[2937] Imagine, though, looking in the credits for Pat McGern and you see John Doe.
[2938] Wait, I'm confused because it has, it has under his credits the bodyguard for soundtrack.
[2939] Well, probably X. Is it that big?
[2940] His band was big, yeah.
[2941] I think that's why people liked putting him in stuff.
[2942] I think there's all these fans of the band around town and they're like, oh, yeah, we should put John Doe in this.
[2943] Oh, my God.
[2944] Yeah, like, you know, if Dave Grohl wanted to be in scenes, he could do it endlessly.
[2945] Everyone would want Dave Grohl in a small role in their...
[2946] Oh, for sure.
[2947] Yeah, I think it's 90s, 80s and 90s L .A. Punk.
[2948] He's in...
[2949] Seven studio albums between 1980 and 1993.
[2950] X does, yeah.
[2951] There you go, 13 years.
[2952] Wow, good for him.
[2953] Yeah.
[2954] And is his wife part of X?
[2955] G .G. Gonzalez.
[2956] G .G. Gonzalez.
[2957] I don't see a G .G. Gonzalez in the band.
[2958] Oh, okay.
[2959] He was married to the singer of X. Oh, he was.
[2960] Okay.
[2961] I don't know how to say this.
[2962] name X, E -X -E -N -E.
[2963] Oh, his ex -wife was?
[2964] E -X -E -N -E.
[2965] X -E.
[2966] C -E -E -S -Venka.
[2967] Wow.
[2968] X -E -N -C -E, this is cool.
[2969] 80 to 93.
[2970] For me, five to 18, formative years.
[2971] Big time.
[2972] The soundtrack of my childhood, I guess you could say, even though I wasn't listening to it.
[2973] It was right there for the taking.
[2974] X -Ean.
[2975] I bet they were doing non -narcotic Coke bumps off each other's privates.
[2976] Okay.
[2977] The amount of interpreters estimated that are still waiting for visas is 50 ,000.
[2978] Over 60 ,000.
[2979] Yeah.
[2980] That's a lot of people in hiding.
[2981] Oh, kind of related.
[2982] I didn't even ding, ding, ding this when it was happening.
[2983] But again, as we started this, things I watch on my own.
[2984] Yeah.
[2985] Frontline.
[2986] I love front line.
[2987] There's one.
[2988] It's a four -parter.
[2989] I'm just through the first one.
[2990] Okay.
[2991] It's the full history of the Taliban in the U .S. Oh.
[2992] And it is incredibly fascinating.
[2993] Wow.
[2994] And there was a very, very specific error made that really probably caused the ensuing 18 -year war.
[2995] Really?
[2996] Which was after the Taliban was overthrown and they were assembling a new government.
[2997] There were many people that said, we should invite the Taliban leaders to join the government.
[2998] Okay.
[2999] And prevailing thought at that time was, well, no, they work with al -Qaeda.
[3000] We can't be, having just overthrown them, them invite them back into the government.
[3001] That doesn't make any sense.
[3002] You can see we're at the time that was a hard sell.
[3003] Yep.
[3004] But then with hindsight being what it is, what that did is it exiled an entire military and government.
[3005] could have been incorporated in.
[3006] Right.
[3007] Yeah, huge blunder.
[3008] And, you know, a lot of these main Taliban leaders, it's kind of similar to this situation.
[3009] The Taliban was formed 100 % with CIA funding to defeat the Russians.
[3010] So these folks were our allies eight years before, and we had an opportunity to incorporate them and to make them part of the new thing.
[3011] And we didn't, and that's really kind of, these, they had nowhere to go.
[3012] But they just fought for 18 years.
[3013] They just stayed out as exiles.
[3014] Yeah, really, really interesting.
[3015] Doc, can't wait to watch the other three.
[3016] Yeah, that sounds good.
[3017] It's good.
[3018] I'll watch it.
[3019] Okay.
[3020] No, that one I'll watch way more than the city on the hill.
[3021] Okay.
[3022] All right.
[3023] That sounds like something I'd watch about myself.
[3024] Okay.
[3025] It's great.
[3026] Okay.
[3027] Let's see if there's anything left.
[3028] I got some new shoes.
[3029] Oh, yes, your new Jordy.
[3030] Yeah, I'm not wearing them today.
[3031] Sadly.
[3032] They're so fun.
[3033] They make your feet look even tiny, which is funny.
[3034] I do make my feet look really small.
[3035] Yeah, like if a pony wore shoes.
[3036] Which I wonder why, because the other Jordans I have are the same size, I think.
[3037] Yeah, there must have something going on with the color.
[3038] It's a purple.
[3039] Yeah, it's a beautiful.
[3040] The deep mauve.
[3041] Yeah, violet.
[3042] Violet, but deep.
[3043] Deep, put your ass to sleep.
[3044] That's another great thing about non -narcotic coke.
[3045] Right to sleep if you want.
[3046] Do a line go right to sleep.
[3047] Just whatever, and thus the vitamins keep you awake.
[3048] Yeah, they are energy boosting.
[3049] They are.
[3050] And those probiotics are getting going.
[3051] But they're adorable.
[3052] And you were encouraged to get them because you have just seen air.
[3053] Why don't you just snort the athletic, oh, we're probably not allowed to say that.
[3054] Well, we're not telling anyone else to do it.
[3055] You're just telling me to.
[3056] I'm just saying, you just have to say nobody do this but you, Dax.
[3057] Nobody, no, I don't even want you to do it.
[3058] I'm just saying.
[3059] Probably would work really good.
[3060] Instead of inventing a new.
[3061] Yeah, because, but athletic greens has a taste.
[3062] Right.
[3063] You have to replicate the taste of beer when you do N .A. Yeah.
[3064] You can't make it V8.
[3065] But cocaine.
[3066] You can't just go like, well, just drink V8.
[3067] It's non -narcotic.
[3068] Right.
[3069] It's non -alcoholic.
[3070] Of course.
[3071] But no, it's got to taste just like beer.
[3072] So the cocaine has to taste like cocaine.
[3073] Oh, but I thought you were snorting it.
[3074] Yeah.
[3075] You still taste it?
[3076] Oh, you do.
[3077] Sure, because you're sniffing.
[3078] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[3079] Oh, God, what does it taste like?
[3080] Chemicals.
[3081] But you grow to love those chemicals.
[3082] Ew, God.
[3083] You're going to love those chemicals.
[3084] Okay, that actually makes way more sense that there's...
[3085] A taste.
[3086] Yes.
[3087] Because that's what I was saying.
[3088] The beer makes sense to me because there is a taste.
[3089] Have we ever been together when I've smelled crack?
[3090] No, not that I know.
[3091] Well, it happens more than you might think.
[3092] Oh, like on this.
[3093] The street.
[3094] Like, Kristen and I have been walking through New York a few different times or L .A. And I'll stop and I'll be like, someone's smoking crack.
[3095] It has the most specific smell imaginable if you know it.
[3096] Right.
[3097] And you might be shocked to know that, yeah, a couple times a year I smell crack out in the street.
[3098] Do you think it's getting in your nose particles when you sniff it?
[3099] Well, obviously it is if I can smell it.
[3100] But I don't think any of the chemical compounds that make you high.
[3101] I should start a moral panic around this.
[3102] You should.
[3103] Do you remember when we were in England and we went out to eat at a restaurant?
[3104] And I went into the bathroom.
[3105] And the second I shut the door, I was like, oh, my God, this whole bathroom smells like cocaine.
[3106] Like really strong.
[3107] Yeah.
[3108] Then you had an Eric go.
[3109] And I didn't lead him at all.
[3110] I just said, use that bathroom and tell me if you smell anything specific.
[3111] And he walked down and he goes, oh, my God, the place smells like Coke.
[3112] And so I don't think you would have walked to.
[3113] in there and pick that up.
[3114] I'm sure not.
[3115] But it was like, it was so present.
[3116] It was crazy.
[3117] And there was nothing visually out.
[3118] There wasn't a line of cocaine on the back of a toilet.
[3119] But clearly people were blowing so many lines in there.
[3120] The whole thing smell like Coke.
[3121] But what I walk in and be like, something smells a little funny, but I wouldn't know what it is.
[3122] I wonder.
[3123] Yeah, I wonder.
[3124] Well, yeah, you would have to detect it if I can detect it.
[3125] Like this morning, I woke up and I was like it smells like you poop poop no god okay what's that smell what's that smell what's that in bed with me oh monica oh i don't talk to my so you know you need to give yourself a pep talk at that moment monica it's okay monica you know what you got a great job your beautiful home you're educated you have your health.
[3126] You're a good person despite this.
[3127] Oh, God.
[3128] What did you smell?
[3129] I smell what I, what smelled like the heater.
[3130] Oh, uh -huh.
[3131] And your apartment will get that smell in it pretty, I know when Aaron and I live there.
[3132] It reminded me so much of when I lived in Santa Monica, those kinds of heaters.
[3133] Yeah.
[3134] Like, but it wasn't on.
[3135] You know, I don't have it on.
[3136] So I didn't understand where it was coming from.
[3137] And then I thought, it's not a, it couldn't be a gas leak because that has a different smell.
[3138] Right.
[3139] The smell of yours and the smell of mine, in my opinion, is dust heating up.
[3140] It's like the unit in your case, which is like subterranean, it's under your floor.
[3141] Yeah.
[3142] There's dust all over it.
[3143] It heats up and it emits kind of this hot dust smell, as did mine in Santa Monica.
[3144] Yeah, because there's all these old apartments.
[3145] Yeah.
[3146] But it was, I think, coming from outside, it must have been.
[3147] And then I, you know, for a second, wondered if I was having a stroke.
[3148] I had to check in on that.
[3149] Okay.
[3150] I wouldn't have guessed that.
[3151] But, all right.
[3152] That's burnt toast.
[3153] Well, yeah, but it's like burnty smelling a little bit.
[3154] All right.
[3155] And then you felt your left arm.
[3156] I had to talk.
[3157] You know, I talked.
[3158] Okay, right.
[3159] So, okay.
[3160] You're a good girl.
[3161] Yep.
[3162] And anyway, I never figured it.
[3163] I opened the window just in case it was a gas leak.
[3164] Okay.
[3165] And I was going to email my landlord, but I forgot.
[3166] Here's a tidbit of.
[3167] of useless anecdotal information.
[3168] Do you know gas, natural gas.
[3169] Yeah, has an added smell.
[3170] Yeah, you know that.
[3171] Propane.
[3172] Yeah, because I want you to be able to detect it.
[3173] That's right.
[3174] And I do.
[3175] But I thought that that's what propane smelled like growing up.
[3176] Right.
[3177] Didn't occur to me that they add that smell.
[3178] Yeah, odorless gas.
[3179] Also weird to me, you can add a smell to something.
[3180] I know.
[3181] Think about that when I workshop my non -narcotic.
[3182] Oh, you're going to add a smell?
[3183] Well, all the chemicals.
[3184] Well, I think that will just have a natural.
[3185] smell right especially if it's if it's uh greens it's not well that's the whole point monica back circling all the way back it's white and smells like cocaine but there are vitamins and minerals essential to your overall health okay but they're non -detectable all you're detecting is that weird gasoline coke smell good luck getting broccoli smell out of the broccoli in there that is the challenge of broccoli it's spicy it's strong it always smells like you're cooking a fart i know but it's so good for you I know.
[3186] Something's, there's some wires crossed there in nature.
[3187] Yeah.
[3188] Because bad smells generally.
[3189] You shouldn't want that.
[3190] You're supposed to stay away.
[3191] Yeah.
[3192] But that thing smells like a big wet hot fart.
[3193] When you like got a lid over it and you pop it off, someone walks into the kitchen like, oh, oh, oh, you're cooking broccoli.
[3194] That's like generally what happens.
[3195] But sometimes I think that's because you're overdoing, like cooking badly.
[3196] I don't, like burning it a little bit in the pan.
[3197] It's like when it's burnt, roasted, something.
[3198] sometimes has a stink.
[3199] But if you're steaming it, it doesn't really smell.
[3200] Yeah, okay.
[3201] Yeah.
[3202] And that's the best way to eat it.
[3203] If you have the lid on it, though, and you're steaming, and then you lift the lid and that hot broccoli steam comes up, it smells like a fart.
[3204] Yeah.
[3205] The other food item that's suspicious that way is if you're in the car and you didn't hear the person opened the bag of chips, but someone opens like a big bag of lays in the car.
[3206] Oh.
[3207] All of a sudden you're like, hey, did someone?
[3208] And then it's, oh, it's just me. I'm eating chips.
[3209] And you're like, oh, thank God.
[3210] I've never had that.
[3211] You got to pull the big bag open and whiff it.
[3212] I mean, I like that smell, I think.
[3213] Fart smell.
[3214] Yeah, you like a fart smell.
[3215] No, don't do that.
[3216] I don't think it's a fart smell.
[3217] Okay.
[3218] Do you know what I'm talking about rubber now?
[3219] No, okay.
[3220] In our family, it's kind of well known.
[3221] Just regular lays.
[3222] Yeah, regular Teta chips.
[3223] You open that bag.
[3224] Not ruffles.
[3225] Roughies might do it, too.
[3226] I'll get two bags.
[3227] Will and we do a test?
[3228] It definitely sounds like a farting.
[3229] You're going to secretly.
[3230] You have to do it secret.
[3231] Yeah, because otherwise I'll know.
[3232] Am I allowed to also go?
[3233] Because what I'll do is I'll get behind you.
[3234] Okay.
[3235] I'll quietly open the bag.
[3236] And then I'll push the bag, but I'll go, can I mislead you with a noise?
[3237] That sounds not fair at all.
[3238] I think it's not possible to do that secretly.
[3239] No, I want you to do it in here, but how are you going to do it secret?
[3240] Maybe Rob can do it secret over there.
[3241] I think we need to be a little closer.
[3242] We need to get in the car.
[3243] I wonder if other people are relating to this.
[3244] I wonder.
[3245] We'll find out.
[3246] But not Doritos, right?
[3247] No, not Doritos.
[3248] Not pringies.
[3249] Cheddar.
[3250] Sour cream and cheddar?
[3251] Sour cream and cheddar, I don't think.
[3252] I think you're overwhelmed with that specific smell.
[3253] And not fully.
[3254] Salt and vinegar.
[3255] All dressed up.
[3256] All dressed.
[3257] It's not all dressed up.
[3258] It's all dressed up.
[3259] I like it.
[3260] better all dressed up.
[3261] It should have been all dressed up.
[3262] Yeah, that's cute.
[3263] In fact, it should be all dressed up in a Canadian tux because they're from Canada.
[3264] Oh, wow.
[3265] Is that a phrase?
[3266] Canadian tux.
[3267] You know what a Canadian tux is.
[3268] Denim on denim.
[3269] Oh, right.
[3270] Yeah, yeah.
[3271] Jay Leno wore the Canadian tucks for years.
[3272] Still wearing it.
[3273] Wow.
[3274] Oh, man. Okay.
[3275] Well, I think that's that.
[3276] That covers J .G. J .G. For the record.
[3277] Yeah, G's a sweet boy.
[3278] Very.
[3279] Good boy, Jake G. He's buried.
[3280] Still got to bring your shoes in from outside, but good boy.
[3281] Real good boy.
[3282] Why does it?
[3283] Why what?
[3284] Why does he keep his shoes outside?
[3285] He just left him outside and his girlfriend said, J .G., I think your shoes are outside.
[3286] Oh.
[3287] And then you thought it meant she was supposed to pick them up.
[3288] But that's not even what she was saying.
[3289] She was just like, in case you're looking for him.
[3290] Oh, it's like, because he's like, where are my shoes?
[3291] Yeah, Jay, they're on the porch.
[3292] Okay.
[3293] Remember you had stepped in potato chips and thought you.
[3294] A fart is.
[3295] So you took it off.
[3296] It was just chips.
[3297] Oh, wow.
[3298] What a life they have.
[3299] Sounds good.
[3300] All right.
[3301] All right.
[3302] Love you.
[3303] Love you.
[3304] Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
[3305] 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 Podcasts.
[3306] Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondry .com survey.