0
SPEAKER_02
This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.
0
SPEAKER_02
But look at how fast, we re almost halfway through the year.
0
SPEAKER_01
Crazy.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Are you proud of what you ve done in 2024 so far?
0
SPEAKER_01
I know.
0
SPEAKER_01
I mean, you always want to do more, right?
0
SPEAKER_01
Life goes so fast, David.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s important to take a moment to celebrate your wins, make adjustments for the rest of the year.
0
SPEAKER_01
Therapy can help you take stock of your progress and set achievable goals for the next six months.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Listen, therapy is the way to go.
0
SPEAKER_02
I did it for a while.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I think the thing that slowed me down was what they, is driving to Santa Monica in traffic once or twice a week.
0
SPEAKER_02
This is online.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s a great idea.
0
SPEAKER_02
Very convenient.
0
SPEAKER_02
It helps you.
0
SPEAKER_02
You ve got coping skills, how to set boundaries.
0
SPEAKER_02
I mean, there s so many things you can do here to be a better version of yourself.
0
SPEAKER_02
You can probably always sharpen it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I mean, I had a therapist in Portland and I would commute and that was a pain.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s a long drive.
0
SPEAKER_01
I know it was 1300 miles one way, but you know, it s good therapist.
0
SPEAKER_01
But yeah, this one you can mix and match and your thoughts kind of control you and you want to master them.
0
SPEAKER_01
And when you talk to someone else, they re able to kind of discern it out.
0
SPEAKER_01
So if you re thinking of starting to give therapy a try, give BetterHelp a try.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it s entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, suited to your schedule.
0
SPEAKER_02
You fill out a questionnaire, get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapist if you want to for any reason, no charge.
0
SPEAKER_02
Take a moment, visit betterhelp.com slash FOTW.
0
SPEAKER_02
Today, get 10% off your first month.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash F-O-T-W.
0
SPEAKER_01
Justin Theroux.
0
SPEAKER_01
He looks a little like James Bond.
0
SPEAKER_01
He could pull that off.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s like a cool slick dude.
0
SPEAKER_01
He has a really cool fashion sense.
0
SPEAKER_01
He just has a, he s just cool.
0
SPEAKER_01
He is a,
0
SPEAKER_01
Unintentionally enigmatic.
0
SPEAKER_01
Like he s just been around all these great things, but he doesn t, he s not at every premiere, you know, or anything.
0
SPEAKER_01
He just keeps kind of a low profile.
0
SPEAKER_02
Low thirst level.
0
SPEAKER_02
He s not out there.
0
SPEAKER_02
He has cool friends.
0
SPEAKER_02
I think when I was out there about two summers ago, we went for a walk in Washington Park to see everyone on drugs in the summer.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I think Gigi had a birthday party that night he was going to.
0
SPEAKER_02
He s like, oh, you wouldn t wanna go, but there s this big birthday party.
0
SPEAKER_02
I go, yeah, that would be horrible.
0
SPEAKER_02
I think I ll just go to Chili s with my friends.
0
SPEAKER_02
Did you go?
0
SPEAKER_02
Dana, I don t jump when you say frog.
0
SPEAKER_02
Do you understand?
0
SPEAKER_02
I m very unpredictable.
0
SPEAKER_01
Well, Gigi Hadid called me.
0
SPEAKER_01
So what s up with space?
0
SPEAKER_01
Why, were you there?
0
SPEAKER_01
No, I don t go anywhere.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m a shut-in, you know that.
0
SPEAKER_02
Anyway, I cornrowed my hair for no reason, and I didn t go.
0
SPEAKER_02
I just went to Outback.
0
SPEAKER_01
Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller told me, because we re friends, that he s kind of the man behind the scenes that s influenced a lot of comedy in the last 25 years.
0
SPEAKER_01
And especially Tropic Thunder, which to me is probably the most brilliant, along with Hangover and Will Ferrell, Anchorman.
0
SPEAKER_01
Those are the meat of three temples for the last 20 years.
0
SPEAKER_01
And since the knots into the teens.
0
SPEAKER_01
Those are the ones, so we break down Tropic Thunder and talk about how it s problematic in 2023 and whether it should be or not, and Mel Brooks and movies, and that was really interesting.
0
SPEAKER_02
I wanted to ask about, you know, I met him, we didn t talk about this, I think I met him at Jennifer s and we were watching, we d watch The Bachelor and do goofy stuff like that, but I think he was there, and I think they were just about to get married, and I wanted to take him off guard at the beginning and go, okay, here we go, Justin Theroux, first question.
0
SPEAKER_02
What are your thoughts on Jennifer Aniston, you have one hour.
0
SPEAKER_02
What a great beginning to make a movie.
0
SPEAKER_02
Wait, this isn t gonna be about that.
0
SPEAKER_02
But he did get popped broadside, that s a hassle.
0
SPEAKER_02
We didn t even get an L, that s just my thoughts on it.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s always hard to be in a situation like that.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then they re always up Jennifer s ass and she s very good about it, but man, she gets hounded out there.
0
SPEAKER_01
Well, the line in the sand for me is like, say you go out and you re a celebrity and maybe it s at the restaurant, this and there, but at your house, they re outside the gate or wherever it is, 24-7.
0
SPEAKER_02
Wherever you go, they just follow.
0
SPEAKER_01
That is a gilded cage.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s a tough one.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I fought through them to get over to your place today.
0
SPEAKER_02
I dream about having it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Anyway, this is Justin.
0
SPEAKER_01
Justin Theroux.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s at White House Plumbers.
0
SPEAKER_01
White House Plumbers with Woody Harrelson.
0
SPEAKER_01
We talk about their friendship and that movie and him playing G. Gordon Liddy.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s out now.
0
SPEAKER_01
Well, here he is, Justin, and you ll get to know him.
0
SPEAKER_02
I just joked and almost died.
0
SPEAKER_02
Nobody cares.
0
SPEAKER_02
No one rushed me to save me.
0
SPEAKER_02
Fuckin  people.
0
SPEAKER_01
You re off the charts with energy today.
0
SPEAKER_02
I am?
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s because I had chia pudding.
0
SPEAKER_02
Popeye.
0
SPEAKER_02
And some, uh, Vicodin.
0
SPEAKER_01
You know my first stand-up bit was Popeye getting kicked in the groin.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s Popeye getting kicked in the nuts?
0
SPEAKER_01
Did you say groin or nuts?
0
SPEAKER_01
Groin, no, in the crotch, I think.
0
SPEAKER_01
This is me in college.
0
SPEAKER_02
Here s my, I ll do one of mine.
0
SPEAKER_02
Here s my first joke.
0
SPEAKER_02
I got a new car.
0
SPEAKER_02
Well, it s not really new, it s an old UPS truck.
0
SPEAKER_02
I got it so I can park wherever I want.
0
SPEAKER_02
Park wherever I want to.
0
SPEAKER_02
Because UPS trucks used to just park anywhere.
0
SPEAKER_02
Like Amazon now.
0
SPEAKER_02
I can t walk you through all of them, guys.
0
SPEAKER_02
That was a 10 out of 10.
0
SPEAKER_02
That is not in your current set, is it?
0
SPEAKER_02
No, it might come back.
0
SPEAKER_02
Best of.
0
SPEAKER_01
Welcome.
0
SPEAKER_01
Welcome to the podcast.
0
SPEAKER_02
Ladies and gentlemen, our guest today, you are, uh, he s a real, let me tell you something.
0
SPEAKER_02
First of all, Dana, to get, get off on the right foot.
0
SPEAKER_02
Uh, this is, this is not some sort of puff piece like smartless.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Your precious, precious.
0
SPEAKER_00
Once a week and just tear me to shreds.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it, and I saw,
0
SPEAKER_00
Jason Bateman a couple of nights ago, and I said, it s a really terrible feeling, because I can t punch back.
0
SPEAKER_00
They re on the air.
0
SPEAKER_00
They got the fucking bandwidth.
0
SPEAKER_00
Three against one.
0
SPEAKER_01
Jason wasn t even at dinner.
0
SPEAKER_01
I don t know what happened.
0
SPEAKER_01
Hey, I was there very early.
0
SPEAKER_01
I could have gone, hey, come on, you guys.
0
SPEAKER_01
That was a horrible Sean Hayes.
0
SPEAKER_01
No, they re very nice.
0
SPEAKER_01
They re great.
0
SPEAKER_02
Justin, remember when I was on?
0
SPEAKER_02
Remember, I m sure you watched it a hundred times.
0
SPEAKER_02
He said, I saw a spade.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then he doesn t say where, he goes, we were at both at a seafood restaurant.
0
SPEAKER_02
And he talks about, and I go, do you mean Koi?
0
SPEAKER_02
And he goes, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I go, isn t that a sushi?
0
SPEAKER_02
Who the fuck calls it a seafood restaurant?
0
SPEAKER_00
We had a big laugh.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s one of my favorite.
0
SPEAKER_00
I laughed so hard at that.
0
SPEAKER_00
It is a seafood.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m sort of stalled on the bed now whenever people are like, what should we get?
0
SPEAKER_00
I m like, let s go get seafood, Japanese seafood.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s hard to, you got to identify what the restaurant is.
0
SPEAKER_01
So how, what s up today, man?
0
SPEAKER_01
How are you?
0
SPEAKER_00
I m good.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m in New York City.
0
SPEAKER_00
I speak with Sean, I just saw his play the other night, which was fabulous.
0
SPEAKER_00
Goodnight, Oscar.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s so good.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m plugging him now.
0
SPEAKER_00
Who s in it?
0
SPEAKER_01
Who s in Goodnight, Oscar?
0
SPEAKER_01
What s the storyline?
0
SPEAKER_00
It s a, oh God, it s about Oscar Levant, a sort of famous pianist, humorist, and raconteur.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it sort of takes place on the evening that he has to appear on a Jack Parr show.
0
SPEAKER_00
The best play I ever saw.
0
SPEAKER_00
On a Jack Parr show?
0
SPEAKER_01
I m not a theater-ite, but my wife, I mentioned her twice now, fall in love with the theater in recent times, now that we re old.
0
SPEAKER_01
But we saw The Freeman in London, and it blew my mind as a play.
0
SPEAKER_00
Theater s one of those things, there s nothing better when you see a good play, and there s also nothing worse than when you re watching a bad one.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so it always makes you feel like there s,
0
SPEAKER_00
you re spinning a gun with two bullets in the chamber, you d think, oh God.
0
SPEAKER_02
Now, when you go last night or whenever to see Sean and you know ahead, it s probably gonna be horrible.
0
SPEAKER_02
Do you do any prep work?
0
SPEAKER_00
No.
0
SPEAKER_00
I know i was a big group going you know like the smart list guys all when i was opening night a big fanfare and you know it was like a real who s who of people and of funny people to i did see that i just saw you and i was looking and i m.
0
SPEAKER_02
I know that Smartless has a, Dana, they redid a Hummer and they put Smartless all over it and they drive that around the country.
0
SPEAKER_02
So to let them know, they go, it s the three guys.
0
SPEAKER_02
And they pop out like the tank out of the top.
0
SPEAKER_01
They are the cool kids.
0
SPEAKER_01
And if it was high school, if life is high school, they are definitely the cool kids at Chimney Corners.
0
SPEAKER_00
They re great though.
0
SPEAKER_00
They re all like whatever that chemistry is, is very funny, which I would also argue you guys have as well, um, on your podcast.
0
SPEAKER_01
They re very, very likable.
0
SPEAKER_01
Um, and smart.
0
SPEAKER_02
I just watched Justin in, um, the Watergate.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s called what, Justin?
1
SPEAKER_01
It s called the White House Plumbers.
1
SPEAKER_01
White House Plumbers, yep, close enough.
1
SPEAKER_01
And he s on that and it s going to be on what?
1
SPEAKER_01
HBO.
1
SPEAKER_01
May 1st.
1
SPEAKER_00
We re just getting right to the plot.
1
SPEAKER_01
No, I m just gonna say this because I just saw it and you look a lot like the guy in it that plays G. Gordon Letty.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I watched one last night and I started one this morning.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I got a feel, I don t know where it goes, but I would say it looked like, A, a lot of fun, B, it looks super fucking cool.
1
SPEAKER_01
It looks shot cool.
1
SPEAKER_01
And who was the director on that?
1
SPEAKER_01
Is it Dave Mandel?
1
SPEAKER_00
Dave Mandel from Veep fame.
1
SPEAKER_00
SNL writer.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, old SNL writer.
1
SPEAKER_01
That Dave Mandel?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that Dave Mandel.
1
SPEAKER_00
Dave Mandel from Veep?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And SNL?
1
SPEAKER_00
Holy shit, Dave, you know him.
1
SPEAKER_00
Did you spot the cameo within the first two minutes of White House Plumbers?
1
SPEAKER_00
Was he coming to your office or Woody s office?
1
SPEAKER_00
He comes into the office.
1
SPEAKER_00
He comes into Woody s office, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Which is PS, Jim Downey is who we re talking about.
1
SPEAKER_00
He does a, he was sweet enough to come in and do a cameo.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we all got to bend his ear about early SNL days.
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, he is the greatest talker ever.
1
SPEAKER_00
So much fun.
1
SPEAKER_00
You could just sit there and listen to him.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, I mean, I m sure to you guys, he was sort of, I guess, more intimidating, but, you know, when some, you know, like the thing when someone s, I guess, kind of your, was he your boss or no?
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, he s a writer.
1
SPEAKER_02
No, he was head writer when I first got there.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s our boss.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh, that s not really Dana s boss.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s my boss.
1
SPEAKER_02
Wasn t, but,
1
SPEAKER_02
I was, I was more, I was scared of Lauren in a way like most people are.
1
SPEAKER_02
Jim was pretty, he was, he was pretty approachable, but I d be more nervous around him now.
1
SPEAKER_02
But yeah, he, when he came on our podcast, he called me the day before and I was driving.
1
SPEAKER_02
We talked for an hour and a half and I said, you ve just done the podcast.
1
SPEAKER_02
Now we have to do it tomorrow because he, no one could talk like him.
1
SPEAKER_02
But, um,
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I just wanted to, overall, just researching you, you re like, you kind of do everything.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re very light on your feet.
1
SPEAKER_02
You do a lot of voices, you do a lot of characters, you do a lot of comedy, you do a lot of drama.
1
SPEAKER_02
Uh, I don t even, I just want you to comment on that.
1
SPEAKER_02
I don t want to go like, was this your career plan?
1
SPEAKER_02
But you do do a lot of stuff, Jason, you do a lot of stuff.
1
SPEAKER_00
Tripping upstairs.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, obviously lucky, uh, uh, to a large extent, but I, I kind of,
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t know, I owe a lot of it to sort of just having a short attention span and that I can t, when I do one thing for too long, I get kind of bored and I think, oh, I don t want to do that again, or I don t want to do this again.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then I just sort of, and I m, I guess, patient enough that I can go without doing something if I don t, if there s nothing I really, that s perking my interest, you know?
1
SPEAKER_00
So I m not one of those people that feels like, oh, I have to be working all the time just to be doing something.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I ll go for stretches without work, but sometimes cooking something up in the lab, writing something, or I ll do just sort of an animated thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t know.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s weird.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s not
1
SPEAKER_00
It s been a very bizarre kind of like, you know, I guess career, but it sort of just, it sort of has.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, it s a little bit, if the word gets out, kind of like, what can t he do?
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, could he write our script?
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Could he direct?
1
SPEAKER_02
Sure.
1
SPEAKER_02
Will he produce?
1
SPEAKER_02
Maybe.
1
SPEAKER_02
Can he play an Irishman with a good accent?
1
SPEAKER_02
Can he, you know,
1
SPEAKER_02
Can he write Tropic Thunder and then write, you know, being a Mulholland drive or whatever that David Lynch film.
1
SPEAKER_02
So it is like, it s hard to pin you down.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s great not to be pinned down.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think it s the best kind of career ever.
1
SPEAKER_00
I consider it a virtue and it leads to some more interesting choices sometimes to kind of not be able to be typecast in certain or just seen in certain ways, you know, in certain lights, I guess.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s a gift though, because there s very, like, even in the comedy world, some people go, oh, why didn t you do that comedy movie?
1
SPEAKER_01
I go, first of all, if they want a comedian, they start with these top five, no matter if they re right for the script or not.
1
SPEAKER_01
They just go out to them.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then after that, if they want this kind of comedy, they go to me.
1
SPEAKER_01
If they want this 2% different from that kind, they go, because people go, oh, you should do stuff like Sandler.
1
SPEAKER_01
But that s a gift.
1
SPEAKER_01
You re doing a lot of different things and that s,
1
SPEAKER_01
not always up to the actor.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it s gotten better.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, as we all know, like, you know, when you first start out, you re, you ll take anything, you know, it s like, you just need to, you need to be seeing how things are made.
1
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, so I started out, I mean, I did like, I was an extra on like maybe the worst soap opera in New York s history, you know, like, and a lot of people do that, you know, you get, you do extra work.
1
SPEAKER_00
No, it was a half hour soap called Loving.
1
SPEAKER_00
Good call.
1
SPEAKER_00
I remember Loving.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was kind of like a younger soap.
1
SPEAKER_00
It wasn t like, you know, sort of old.
1
SPEAKER_00
But it was, and I was an extra on it.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then they gave me, I played a drug dealer and they gave me a couple of lines.
1
SPEAKER_00
But it was really, you know, that was more just, and it s also, I mean, hilarious because, you know, those soaps are usually written by, you know, guys who are much older and, you know, they re trying to write like cool drug lingo.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I had like lines that were like, you know, like, oh, let s get, let s give him this stuff.
1
SPEAKER_00
He ll get a really good buzz on.
1
SPEAKER_00
You got the scratch and the lettuce.
1
SPEAKER_00
A kite, whatever.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s like no drug dealer in the world.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was funny.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was actually doing it with this other actor.
1
SPEAKER_00
I learned a big lesson.
1
SPEAKER_00
We thought, oh, this is so terrible.
1
SPEAKER_00
Let s send it up and make it.
1
SPEAKER_00
fun you know like let s just so that when we watch it you know a week later when it airs you know we can all have a giggle and so we sort of did it sort of bad you know like like hey this stuff s gonna get you higher than a kite like this stuff s really good you know blah blah blah blah then we went and we watched it like a week later and
1
SPEAKER_00
We were mortified because the writing didn t look bad.
1
SPEAKER_00
The other actors didn t look bad.
1
SPEAKER_00
We looked fucking terrible.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it was because we weren t understanding the medium of it.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s like, if you re going to try and be funny, do it in the medium that you re supposed to be funny in, not on a daytime soap opera.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know what I mean?
1
SPEAKER_00
No one s going to think that it s a sketch show.
1
SPEAKER_02
You never know what they re gonna like, though, sometimes.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like, oh, you guys are awesome, or get out.
1
SPEAKER_02
Were you ever fired summarily from a show?
1
SPEAKER_02
Like, get out.
1
SPEAKER_02
I likely have not been fired.
1
SPEAKER_02
Just immediately after showing up.
1
SPEAKER_01
How many times have you been fired is the real question.
1
SPEAKER_01
I ve never been fired.
1
SPEAKER_02
I ve been fired, you know, really fired.
1
SPEAKER_02
In full, get out.
1
SPEAKER_02
Dana s always getting fired.
1
SPEAKER_02
What does that look like?
1
SPEAKER_00
There s a lot of firings going on.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, I was surprised they let me get in the costume and go in the fake helicopter with James Ferrantino.
1
SPEAKER_02
And then they said, hey, come down here and a hundred crew.
1
SPEAKER_02
And this is in the eighties.
1
SPEAKER_02
And they said, yeah, we re going to let you go.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I had to walk in front of everyone like the old TV show.
1
SPEAKER_00
Shame.
1
SPEAKER_00
Shame.
1
SPEAKER_00
Shame.
1
SPEAKER_00
I ve been on shows that are things that people have been fired off of.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it s always kind of like to call them afterwards and be like, hey, that was fucking not cool, man.
1
SPEAKER_00
That was fucked up.
1
SPEAKER_00
You always have to take their side, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
What the fuck was that?
1
SPEAKER_00
It was nuts.
1
SPEAKER_00
Even though you were the one lobbying to get them off.
1
SPEAKER_01
Horrible, you fucking goddamn.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, James Farentino was high as a kite, literally coked up in straight vodka, and we were up in the fake chopper, and he got a smile when they started approaching the chopper.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I kind of felt like, I think Jimmy kind of said, I think the kid s gotta go.
1
SPEAKER_02
But I sucked, I sucked, and I was so happy to get out of there.
1
SPEAKER_02
I did it to make money, and that s never a good reason.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s always the worst decision when you think like, this is smart for my career, or this ll be good money.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like it s, every time I ve done that, I d make
1
SPEAKER_00
terrible, I usually ruin the show.
1
SPEAKER_02
Can you share when you might have done that?
1
SPEAKER_02
No.
1
SPEAKER_00
No, I mean, it s, because you don t want to appear ungrateful, you know, because you re also happy to be working sometimes, you know, but it usually doesn t pan out.
1
SPEAKER_00
I have learned that lesson, which is, you know, it has to have some, I have to be wanting to lean into it creatively, you know, and
1
SPEAKER_00
Find it enjoyable.
1
SPEAKER_02
It seems like if you have you been through a period or is this sort of so-called the most offers you re getting right now?
1
SPEAKER_02
Or is there periods hotter?
1
SPEAKER_00
It seems like you just have this very even trajectory It s kind of have I just kind of bump along, you know, like I don t it s I don t in a good way I don t think I ve ever had that like
1
SPEAKER_00
overnight anything, you know, like there s, there s no been like, there s no moment where I ve ever been like hotter than ever.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s just kind of like, I ve just been sort of slow and steady trying to win the race.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, I ve been, obviously a lot of friends of mine and, you know, have had that thing where all of a sudden Hollywood s wand taps them on the head and the next day they re fucking everywhere.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you think, holy shit.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I can t even, I don t think my, my nervous system would be able to handle that kind of a thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
I see you have a trophy.
1
SPEAKER_01
Look at Danny, he s got a trophy behind him.
1
SPEAKER_01
What do you think that s for?
1
SPEAKER_02
What?
1
SPEAKER_02
Boxing?
1
SPEAKER_01
I don t see what... Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
That s boxing?
1
SPEAKER_02
I can t see.
1
SPEAKER_02
Cheerleading.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh, cheerleading.
1
SPEAKER_01
Pretty close, David.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh, last place.
1
SPEAKER_01
Last place.
1
SPEAKER_01
No way.
1
SPEAKER_01
I won t say you re a hoarder, but you have a lot of stuff going on.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s just in my office.
1
SPEAKER_00
If I was able to flip the camera around, it wouldn t look this terrible.
1
SPEAKER_02
I m a complete mess.
1
SPEAKER_02
I m just at a room somewhere that s nice and tidy.
1
SPEAKER_02
Can I ask you just for a second, because one thing is about your physicality,
2
SPEAKER_02
Like you can really look good.
2
SPEAKER_02
You and David have that in common.
2
SPEAKER_02
You can look good with your shirt off.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then I heard you were a break dancer and my son was a break dancer.
2
SPEAKER_02
So he had a few questions for you.
2
SPEAKER_02
So when you were 10, how many years did you do it?
2
SPEAKER_02
Like a couple years or?
2
SPEAKER_03
I did it.
2
SPEAKER_03
I was really young and I did it.
2
SPEAKER_03
I really loved hip hop and I really loved breakdancing and I did it.
2
SPEAKER_03
I want to say for, I mean, you never stop really, do you?
2
SPEAKER_03
But I was probably hardcore into it for like
2
SPEAKER_03
two or three years, maybe.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
I have such an appreciation for it.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it really is floor gymnastics, power moves.
2
SPEAKER_02
It teaches you how to use your whole body.
2
SPEAKER_02
He asked, were you more of a top rock or a footwork guy?
2
SPEAKER_03
I was a pretty decent popper, so sort of popping and locking.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then I was good at floor work.
2
SPEAKER_03
I could definitely backspin, headspin, headspins a little, and then I could windmill.
2
SPEAKER_03
I attempted a windmill.
2
SPEAKER_03
Ugh, like a year ago, and boy did that not go well.
2
SPEAKER_03
It s, and you know, even to just do a little floor work is really exhausting.
2
SPEAKER_02
What s a freeze?
2
SPEAKER_03
What was your best freeze?
2
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_03
Oh, I can do a freeze up, you know, on, you know, sort of up on my, you know, with legs up, you know, sort of.
2
SPEAKER_02
Legs up, you hold it, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_03
Is that what it is?
2
SPEAKER_03
You spin and stop?
2
SPEAKER_03
It s hard to describe breakdancing on a podcast.
2
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I would freeze in a position where my cheek was on the floor, my arms were sort of up like this, and then my legs were sort of bent.
2
SPEAKER_02
You re just holding a pose on the floor that takes a lot of strength.
2
SPEAKER_02
And did you have a crew name?
2
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, Sergeant Pop and the Bionic Breakers.
2
SPEAKER_03
Sergeant Pop and the Bionic Breakers.
2
SPEAKER_02
Bionic Breakers.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think I read for that.
2
SPEAKER_02
I thought that was a sitcom.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s all I got.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I do think that physicality stays with you.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, I was a runner in high school, distance runner, and I still like to get that feeling of working really hard cardiovascularly.
2
SPEAKER_03
Have you tried sprinting recently?
2
SPEAKER_03
Because that s hard.
2
SPEAKER_03
Recently?
2
SPEAKER_02
I still could make a case, I don t know if they do it with CGI, but I would say Tom Cruise sprinting in Mission Impossible in his mid-50s, that s a lot of good stuff going on.
2
SPEAKER_02
Take after take.
2
SPEAKER_02
If that s real, his hip flexors, a lot of stuff has to be working to sprint after 50.
2
SPEAKER_03
I had this sort of delusional, and still kind of do, although I m snapping out of it a little bit, this sort of delusional, when I d watch like sports, like the Olympics, for example, like someone on like those rings, what are they called?
2
SPEAKER_03
The, you know, or the pommel horse.
2
SPEAKER_03
I would sort of always watch and go like, I could do that.
2
SPEAKER_03
I mean, like if I was like set up in an ideal situation, training camp, diet, all the rest of it, I could do that.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then, you know, like, or like swimming, I d be like, I could do that.
2
SPEAKER_03
You know what I mean?
2
SPEAKER_03
Or football or baseball, you know, I just, I had this like in my head, like, I know that I bet I could do that, you know.
2
SPEAKER_01
I did gymnastics in high school and I did the horse, I did the rings and I did the floor.
2
SPEAKER_01
Really?
2
SPEAKER_01
I didn t know.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I did...
2
SPEAKER_01
The parallel bars, oh yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Why do you think I m such a fucking piece of machinery?
2
SPEAKER_01
Could you do the iron cross?
2
SPEAKER_02
Could you do the iron cross on the rings?
2
SPEAKER_01
Well Dana, that s a fake thing they do with CGI.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, I needed to get context.
2
SPEAKER_01
I could do where I m on my, like an L sit on the ground, not a V, but an L, you know, you re on your fingertips, stick your legs out.
2
SPEAKER_01
I could do a,
2
SPEAKER_01
I do.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was best on the parallel bars and then pommel horse was tougher.
2
SPEAKER_01
Could you do that thing on the pommel horse where you know you sort of go like dead bump it legs?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah because I was all obviously upper body strength but my
2
SPEAKER_01
legs were puny and weak.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then I also did, what was it?
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, the parallel bars I did the best on.
2
SPEAKER_01
The rings are very hard, because you have to sort of dislocate when you flip around.
2
SPEAKER_01
And it s very hard to do the first one.
2
SPEAKER_01
You gotta trust that you re gonna ruin your shoulders for life.
2
SPEAKER_01
and then dated my coach.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, I have a quick question about your break dancing, which I m just going to the phones.
2
SPEAKER_01
The question is, do you carry a slab of cardboard?
2
SPEAKER_03
We did, yeah, we did.
2
SPEAKER_03
That s a must.
2
SPEAKER_03
Here s what I remember of my break dancing days.
2
SPEAKER_03
We always had a slab of cardboard with sort of duct tape together, because you have to try and find something like a refrigerator cardboard thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
Big, big, big, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then I remember walking around endlessly with a huge radio and the enormous amount of money it would cost to buy those fucking D batteries.
2
SPEAKER_03
You needed like 80 of them, you know, that went in the back.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah, they take like 40, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
And you gotta go get a pack and it s like so much money.
2
SPEAKER_03
And then you play it for like two hours and all of a sudden the tape starts slowing down and the batteries go like.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m sitting here popping.
2
SPEAKER_01
Jumpstart, you don t stop.
2
SPEAKER_01
I know that whole song.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, so anyway- Can we talk for a few minutes about how you became who you are?
2
SPEAKER_02
Like your childhood, just a little bit, because I don t know where you came from.
2
SPEAKER_03
I know your mom- Breakdancing was actually- A big part of it?
2
SPEAKER_03
Well, no, it wasn t a big part of it.
2
SPEAKER_03
I got arrested when I was a real kid for vandalizing cars and part of my sentence, because I obviously can t send a 12-year-old or 13-year-old to the slammer.
2
SPEAKER_03
My sentence was that I had to do this summer program in Washington DC, which was breakdancing.
2
SPEAKER_03
You were sentenced to break dance, I love it.
2
SPEAKER_03
Sentenced to a lifetime of dance.
2
SPEAKER_03
This is like a movie.
2
SPEAKER_03
But no, it was like a weird thing.
2
SPEAKER_03
I did these like summer programs.
2
SPEAKER_03
I mean, I felt like I was always in like some summer program for summer school or summer.
2
SPEAKER_02
Were you in trouble more, was that a one-off or were you kind of in trouble with the law a little bit?
2
SPEAKER_02
I was a juvenile delinquent too for a while, but not.
2
SPEAKER_03
I wasn t like a juvenile delinquent, like any high criminal activity.
2
SPEAKER_03
It was more just kind of,
2
SPEAKER_03
I was extremely hyperactive and unfocused, so that would always inevitably lead to trouble.
2
SPEAKER_03
I would just do things impulsively like a lot of young boys do, where you just do something stupid.
2
SPEAKER_03
I remember I threw a rock through a cab window once.
2
SPEAKER_03
But it wasn t like I was like, I m going to fucking throw this rock through a cab.
2
SPEAKER_03
Oh, there s a rock.
2
SPEAKER_03
Now I m holding the rock.
2
SPEAKER_03
What would happen if I threw this? 
2
SPEAKER_03
And before that thought had finished, it was already through a window.
2
SPEAKER_03
You know what I mean?
2
SPEAKER_03
It was that kind of hyperactivity, I guess.
2
SPEAKER_02
Impulse control.
2
SPEAKER_01
I guess boys  brains don t really... ADD used to be called ants in your pants.
2
SPEAKER_01
Ants in your pants.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
That was the diagnosis back then.
2
SPEAKER_00
Knowing how to speak and understand a new language can be an invaluable tool when traveling, meeting new friends, or just even to master a new skill.
2
SPEAKER_00
But it s not always simple when you re bogged down by textbooks and structure classes.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s why so many people trust Rosetta Stone.
2
SPEAKER_00
Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app.
2
SPEAKER_00
It truly immerses you in the language you want to learn, like Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, and more.
2
SPEAKER_00
You won t just be studying English translations.
2
SPEAKER_00
The Rosetta Stone intuitive process
2
SPEAKER_00
helps you pick up a language naturally, first with words, then phrases, then sentences.
2
SPEAKER_00
Don t put off learning that language.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s no better time than right now to get started.
2
SPEAKER_00
For a very limited time, listeners can get Rosetta Stone s lifetime membership for 50% off.
2
SPEAKER_00
Visit rosettastone.com slash rs10.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life.
2
SPEAKER_00
Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash rs10 today.
2
SPEAKER_03
My mom was a writer, he was a lawyer, he was a Vietnam veteran, and then went into law when he got back.
2
SPEAKER_03
And my mom was a writer for the Washington Post, a columnist or an essayist, I should say, for both the Washington Post and the New York Times.
2
SPEAKER_03
Was she writing during Watergate?
2
SPEAKER_03
She wasn t, she started writing sort of in the 80s, but she did use to take me into that big sort of,
2
SPEAKER_03
enormous, you know, that was famous from all the presidents men, that big war room.
2
SPEAKER_03
She was in one of those floors.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, those are cool.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_03
This is when I was really little.
2
SPEAKER_03
She would, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_03
She like stuffed me under the desk and it was 6 trillion ball typewriters and, you know, that endless amounts of cigarette smoking.
2
SPEAKER_02
So another thing that Flynn Filler told me, I can t remember his real name, that you re a great illustrator, and I know you studied visual arts and stuff, just another kind of thing you can do.
2
SPEAKER_02
So when did that start?
2
SPEAKER_03
That started when I was really little.
2
SPEAKER_03
I loved drawing.
2
SPEAKER_03
So I ended up going to college for both visual art and drama.
2
SPEAKER_03
So I graduated as a double major.
2
SPEAKER_03
And when I got to New York, I actually was doing better with the visual arts stuff.
2
SPEAKER_03
I wasn t like a painter and I wasn t doing landscapes or anything.
2
SPEAKER_03
I would do big sort of murals, graffiti type stuff.
2
SPEAKER_03
I worked in a bunch of clubs and I would do graffiti on a wall.
3
SPEAKER_01
Did you ever, yeah, are you like Basquiat then?
3
SPEAKER_00
Sort of like, yeah, it was more sort of like an anime sort of graffiti style, sort of a hip hop, blah, blah, blah, you know, like.
3
SPEAKER_01
Phil Hartman had that gift.
3
SPEAKER_00
I know, I ve read that.
3
SPEAKER_00
And he designed album covers and stuff, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s weird.
3
SPEAKER_00
Good company.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I know.
3
SPEAKER_01
Phil Hartman, one of my all-time faves.
3
SPEAKER_01
Logo.
3
SPEAKER_01
What s that?
3
SPEAKER_01
Ben Stiller s production company designed his logo.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah, I did, it s right over there, yeah, at one point.
3
SPEAKER_02
I just jump in with some nonsense and everyone s like.
3
SPEAKER_01
I know, it s so cool.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, do you still, they would call it in the old days, doodle, just when you re talking or trying to come up with something, do you just do little drawings and stuff?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I ll do little sketches in the margins or something, or of something if I m reading, but I also just sort of keep a loose sketchbook.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I don t do it that much.
3
SPEAKER_00
I do like to occasionally, when I remind myself if I m not working, I ll just be like, oh yeah, let s draw something.
3
SPEAKER_02
Do you still own a 64 pack of Crayola, that big cinder block with a balcony in it?
3
SPEAKER_00
No, I hate that.
3
SPEAKER_02
And every goddamn color in the rainbow.
3
SPEAKER_00
I hate crayons so much because you can t get a solid line out of them.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, they re just not a medium I like.
3
SPEAKER_00
They just
3
SPEAKER_00
Even when I was little, they frustrated me.
3
SPEAKER_00
I wanted like a black pen or I wanted a really fresh magic marker.
3
SPEAKER_00
I did not want a fucking crushed one.
3
SPEAKER_01
Fresh one.
3
SPEAKER_01
Fresh right out of the box before the ink starts to run out.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
You don t want a dry magic marker.
3
SPEAKER_00
God, listen to this guy.
3
SPEAKER_02
I had crayons with a sharpener on the back, so.
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh, wait, do you think, you know, Watergate, you re just saying, someone said it.
3
SPEAKER_02
I did.
3
SPEAKER_02
You know, do you think kids today know that if something bad happens, like if there s a scandal at Disney and they call it Disneygate, like, you know, they say gate about everything, that do you think they know it comes from Watergate?
3
SPEAKER_02
I don t think so.
3
SPEAKER_00
They probably think it comes from, you know,
3
SPEAKER_00
It s just a thing people say, they don t know what the gate part is, they don t know what it means.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s a weird thing to actually catch on something gate.
3
SPEAKER_02
Because Watergate was one word, wasn t it?
3
SPEAKER_02
Was it a building?
3
SPEAKER_02
Watergate Hotel, I believe.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, the Watergate Hotel and Offices.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like it was just a building, it s a condo.
3
SPEAKER_02
That shitty little building never knew how famous it was gonna get.
3
SPEAKER_00
Never, if it had only known.
3
SPEAKER_00
It shouldn t.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was famous though.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it is a sort of a landmark in Washington.
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh, I don t know anything, I m just talking out of my chest.
3
SPEAKER_01
So then again, I mean, as far as your own ambition and stuff, so then you re going to become a Broadway actor, but you did study in college a bit, but you re an illustrator and then you, you just auditioned and started getting work or did you struggle?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we all struggled just like everybody else.
3
SPEAKER_00
I, you know, it s a good, it s,
3
SPEAKER_00
It s fun to reminisce about because I came up with a great, there were other actors that are now we all know and we were all in that group and we all started to happen or things started going well at different times.
3
SPEAKER_00
New York was, I think, different than LA.
3
SPEAKER_00
LA, I feel like, and I could be wrong, but LA, the couple of times I did go to audition out there, it felt really competitive and not good.
3
SPEAKER_00
Everyone didn t want everyone to do well in New York.
3
SPEAKER_00
because a lot of times we re auditioning for theater, it felt supportive.
3
SPEAKER_00
You could see a friend at an audition and be like, hey, great job, or I hope you do well.
3
SPEAKER_00
It felt like it didn t feel competitive.
3
SPEAKER_01
LA was oppressive and is dark and weird.
3
SPEAKER_01
Auditioning there, it just was not fun.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you re driving, you go park in the structure.
3
SPEAKER_00
Just the amount of effort that it took to go to an audition in Los Angeles, it was an all-day affair sometimes.
3
SPEAKER_02
Do you remember you had to go pick up the script like in the valley the day before and then bring the whole script home, read it, and then go back to audition for three lines in the script?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, terrible.
3
SPEAKER_00
Or they wouldn t even give you that.
3
SPEAKER_00
They just give you some pages.
3
SPEAKER_00
How am I supposed to do this?
3
SPEAKER_01
And this is pre-cell phones, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
Because I would get lost and I d start crying.
3
SPEAKER_01
I d just pull over and go, I m fucked.
3
SPEAKER_01
My appointment is in 10 minutes.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m in Culver City.
3
SPEAKER_02
Thomas Guide, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
And you d look for a pay phone.
3
SPEAKER_01
It was a nightmare.
3
SPEAKER_00
For you youngsters listening.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it was terrible.
3
SPEAKER_00
Whereas in New York, when you do it, it was like, it felt like, you know, you re dropping off something at the dry cleaners, then you hit your audition, then you go to the grocery store.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, like it felt like an end more than a,
3
SPEAKER_00
And in a weird way, you can kind of get more of them done here in New York.
3
SPEAKER_00
But it always felt weird, because they d always be like, yeah, they want to put you on tape for everyone in LA.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I just always envisioned this enormous plane that just had tapes dumping off the back of it, just into nothing.
3
SPEAKER_00
You would never hear back from anything.
3
SPEAKER_00
Never.
3
SPEAKER_02
That was so humiliating.
3
SPEAKER_02
I even, they said, you d be good for a commercial, because I wasn t like clicking in any other area.
3
SPEAKER_02
So they go, you ve got a great look for a commercial.
3
SPEAKER_02
You ve got blonde hair.
3
SPEAKER_02
I was like, I ve got a pretty sweet body, you know.
3
SPEAKER_02
So they were like, and I look young.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I go, still my gymnast stuff was going on a little bit at that point.
3
SPEAKER_02
And then I get this SBV, Sutton Barth and Venereal Disease, we called it.
3
SPEAKER_02
And it was a commercial agent.
3
SPEAKER_02
And they would send me out.
3
SPEAKER_02
You know, God love them twice a day.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I d go to the valley when it s 100 degrees wearing a suit, then go in the trunk and get shorts, drive over and you re in college in this one.
3
SPEAKER_02
And I went up for one year and I did not get one nothing.
3
SPEAKER_02
So humiliated.
3
It s...
3
SPEAKER_02
How did I fucking ever make it out of that?
3
SPEAKER_02
It was like maddening.
3
SPEAKER_02
Talk about anxiety and sadness.
3
SPEAKER_02
We had to do a podcast just on this.
3
SPEAKER_00
Luckily there were no names for it back then.
3
SPEAKER_02
I had it.
3
SPEAKER_02
I was like fucking walking around.
3
SPEAKER_00
Do you remember those auditions that you d go on where it would be for a commercial and you d...
3
SPEAKER_00
and they wouldn t want to tell you what the product was, or they wouldn t want to tell you what the concept was.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then you d go into a room and there d be like a beach ball, a pool noodle, you know, a funny pair of glasses.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they d be like, just do something.
3
SPEAKER_02
And you d be like, what?
3
SPEAKER_02
Ugh, yuck.
3
SPEAKER_02
No.
3
SPEAKER_02
Clown, get a room, jump around clown.
3
SPEAKER_02
They go, we re not going to tell you what it is.
3
SPEAKER_02
I go, go fuck yourself.
3
SPEAKER_02
No, I didn t.
3
SPEAKER_02
I said, okay, what is it?
3
SPEAKER_02
I jump on the beach ball.
3
SPEAKER_02
Ew.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yep.
3
SPEAKER_00
The worst one I ever went on was actually for Thin Red Line.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it was, although I didn t know who it wasn t, but it was, and I knew it was a Terrence Malick movie and it was awarded.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it was the worst audition I ve ever had in my life because they,
3
SPEAKER_00
They didn t, of course there was no script, of course there was no character, there was no whatever.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I go to this office building on 68th Street or something, wherever it was.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it wasn t with him, obviously, it was like with some, you know, the second assistant to the casting director.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then they sort of flick on the camera and they were like, okay, just pretend you re in war.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, what?
3
SPEAKER_00
And they were like, you can dump over the chairs or pretend you re in a foxhole or whatever.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, what the hell am I supposed?
3
SPEAKER_00
So then I kind of got on the ground and I m pretending I m shooting, but I don t have any lines.
3
SPEAKER_00
There s nothing I can say.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I m not gonna improvise.
3
SPEAKER_00
I just basically kind of rolled around on the floor for about three minutes and then went, I don t think I can do this.
3
SPEAKER_00
But that s one of those ones you re like, you really just feel like a monkey on a string.
3
SPEAKER_00
You re like, you have to at least give me something.
3
SPEAKER_00
Tell me what I m supposed to do in this.
3
SPEAKER_00
All right, just give me an angle.
3
SPEAKER_02
You re scared of war.
3
SPEAKER_00
These people are coming and you ve got to tell your friends.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, exactly.
3
SPEAKER_00
You can t get to them.
3
SPEAKER_01
I know, but I mean, the setup, you know, it s like- David would have done it.
3
SPEAKER_01
He would have hauled out his microchip box.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m sure you guys would have been great at it.
3
SPEAKER_01
Hey, Sarge.
3
SPEAKER_01
No, I would have.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t know about these missiles, Sarge.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t like missiles.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t like missiles.
3
SPEAKER_01
My glasses are broken.
3
SPEAKER_02
No, it was Sean Penn stomping around with one of the prostitutes in the movie and he s like, we re gonna hook up with this girl and we re gonna pass her around and Michael J. Fox is like, you gotta give me a minute on this here.
3
SPEAKER_02
Like he was the nice guy in the movie and they were all- Casualties of war, of course.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, great movie.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s so funny that I would even remember that movie, let alone base my whole standup routine on it.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s always a winner.
3
SPEAKER_01
So did you, I mean, when did you know you had an ear, like you could do accents and voices?
3
SPEAKER_01
Were you asked and then just learned, I can learn it?
3
SPEAKER_01
Or, because it seems like you d have a,
3
SPEAKER_00
I have some English family, so I can kind of do a couple English accents.
3
SPEAKER_00
Which ones?
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, there s sort of the clipped sort of upper-class English, then there s sort of the, me and Barnett are always doing bits on
3
SPEAKER_00
on the sort of the guy Richie accent, you know, just like, do the job.
3
SPEAKER_00
All right, let s do the job.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, are you going to do the job or are we going to do the job?
3
SPEAKER_00
From like Snatch.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, the super working class Brit.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I got one.
3
SPEAKER_02
The tuppence in me suppence.
3
SPEAKER_02
Exactly.
3
SPEAKER_02
Come on, let s just get to the publishing.
3
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, Tommy.
3
SPEAKER_02
I like in your audition for The War, you re rolling around like an idiot and then you just go, yeah, I m not good.
3
SPEAKER_02
You cut them off from firing you.
3
SPEAKER_02
You go, I m not into it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Listen, tell Terrence, I m not gonna do this.
4
SPEAKER_01
Tell him it s a no-go, but hit me on the next one.
4
SPEAKER_00
So the next time they asked you to do something like that, you just tapped out.
4
SPEAKER_02
No, then you learn to just go, well, I need some pages or something.
4
SPEAKER_02
You can t, it s kind of like handing someone a crayon and saying, hey, can you paint the Sistine Chapel?
4
SPEAKER_02
And you re like, no, I only have a crayon.
4
SPEAKER_01
No, it s actually easier because they go, just paint something.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, here s a wave.
4
SPEAKER_01
At least you can make up something.
4
SPEAKER_01
But if it s just a random war, you re like, am I happy for the war or am I sad, am I scared?
4
SPEAKER_01
The Korean War?
4
SPEAKER_01
Vietnam War?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that matters.
4
SPEAKER_01
War of 1812?
4
SPEAKER_01
No, it doesn t.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, to me.
4
SPEAKER_01
Ooh, and when do you see, oh yeah, go ahead.
4
SPEAKER_00
I just wonder when you first wrote a film.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was Tropic Thunder, it was with Ben.
4
SPEAKER_00
What, get out of town.
4
SPEAKER_01
God, where s the applause button?
4
SPEAKER_02
Well, I mean, it was a long road, but it was, you know, Ben used to,
4
SPEAKER_02
Me and Ben became friends, I was doing a play on Broadway with his then girlfriend, and I was a huge Ben Stiller show fan.
4
SPEAKER_01
Sure.
4
SPEAKER_02
Just thought it was hilarious, blah, blah, blah.
4
SPEAKER_02
He came to the show, or opening night, or he was hanging around the theater a couple of times, and I was quoting his show back to him.
4
SPEAKER_02
We ended up becoming friends and found out that we had a very similar sense of humor.
4
SPEAKER_02
Um, and he would, and he was just sort of blowing up at the time doing, you know, with like something about Mary and, and, uh, you know.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh fuck.
4
SPEAKER_02
He s right in the pocket.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
That was the moment that he was like really exploding and people were yelling at him on the street.
4
SPEAKER_02
Um, but when he would come to do to New York to do like, you know, Letterman or,
4
SPEAKER_02
Conan or whatever, he would do these like really elaborate bits, you know, like he d really work on these, you know, sort of segments.
4
SPEAKER_01
Talk show bits, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, and so I would sort of like help, we d sort of sit around and come up with bits for him to do, you know, or he would say something, he would go on Letterman, I remember one he did where he
4
SPEAKER_02
He said, yeah, I don t really want to talk about the movie I m promoting.
4
SPEAKER_02
I just, you know, I had to take a break and I ve been in France and I ve been painting.
4
SPEAKER_02
And Letterman s like, oh, you ve been painting?
4
SPEAKER_02
He s like, yeah, it s just a little sort of ramshackle place in the South of France.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I d, hey, this prostitute, I d paint her and, you know, every night, blah, blah, blah.
4
SPEAKER_02
And Letterman s like, oh, okay.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then the reveal was that he would hold up these, this artwork that was just done in pasta with watercolors and like glue, like a prostitute.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like made out of fusilli.
4
SPEAKER_02
So we d work on stupid bits like that.
4
SPEAKER_02
When you talked about doing TT.
4
SPEAKER_02
What s that?
4
SPEAKER_01
TT tropics under.
4
SPEAKER_02
Then he had the original sort of idea for it, which was
4
SPEAKER_02
It was, it was, let me talk about Thin Red Line.
4
SPEAKER_02
It was that period of time when it felt like everyone was going to do a war movie.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like, you know, like Oliver Stone was doing a war movie and Stanley Kubrick was doing a war movie.
4
SPEAKER_02
There were so many Vietnam movies in a row.
4
SPEAKER_02
And the press at the time for them was very sort of serious, you know, and all the actors when they would get interviewed would be like, it was intense.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like, you know, they said, you know, when we shot,
4
SPEAKER_02
Oliver wanted us to be in war.
4
SPEAKER_02
Let me tell you, it was war.
4
SPEAKER_02
It made us giggle.
4
SPEAKER_02
The original joke, if it was the one-line pitch to me was, let s do a movie about a bunch of actors that come back to LA after making a war movie and they all have PTSD from the movie.
4
SPEAKER_02
That was the original idea.
4
SPEAKER_02
Um, and then I said, it was like, well, what if we just, and also Blair Witch was really popular at the time.
4
SPEAKER_02
I said, what if it s like that they go to do a war movie, but then they get caught up in a real war.
4
SPEAKER_02
And that was sort of, that was the sort of the kernel that sort of moment.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s great.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then everything, and then you get good people because, uh,
4
SPEAKER_01
By the way, yeah, okay.
4
SPEAKER_01
So you get good people because, you know, he s doing well, it s a funny idea.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, with a script, it took a long, it was years of writing that script, because I was working at that point and doing, I think I was doing Six Feet Under or something, and he was obviously like on fuego.
4
SPEAKER_02
So we would sort of pass the script back and forth.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like I d write some, we d write like a funny scene that had no place to go.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like it was a funny, here s an idea that s funny.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like the first scene in the movie where he s got his hands blown off and it s the guy going like, come on, you can make it.
4
SPEAKER_02
And he s like, I can t feel my legs.
4
SPEAKER_02
And he s like, stop it.
4
SPEAKER_02
So I wrote that scene and that just made us laugh.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I don t know, we just sort of tossed it around.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then gradually the script started.
4
SPEAKER_02
formulate, take shape.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was Monty Python-esque, that first scene, because you have real violence or, you know, the two knights and he starts cutting the arms off and the legs off.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
But in terms of Ben playing that so serious, no, man, you know.
4
SPEAKER_02
I mean, we had like a million old lines for that, you know.
4
SPEAKER_02
And the seed, the joke in that scene is that he s an action star, obviously, and that he can t cry.
4
SPEAKER_02
And he s working across from, you know, Laurence Olivier, essentially.
4
SPEAKER_02
And it frustrates the other actor, like, you can t even squirt, you can t even get the tears going.
4
SPEAKER_02
What the fuck s up with my man?
4
SPEAKER_02
You know, like, Robert Downey.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
You know, so that s when we sort of pan out to reveal that this is the shooting of a movie, etc.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it s obviously, as you know, just such a huge comedy.
4
SPEAKER_00
There s never been anything quite like it, I don t think.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve never seen a comedy like that.
4
SPEAKER_02
It s also like a huge, I mean, without any jokes, it was a huge movie, meaning just as far as like,
4
SPEAKER_02
visual, I mean, effects.
4
SPEAKER_01
To shoot.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah, you had explosives.
4
SPEAKER_02
It was as big as any war movie.
4
SPEAKER_02
I mean, as far as the look, I mean, Ben s such, I mean, he s obviously, you know, does get the credit, you know, but he s often not credited enough, I think, with how great a director he is.
4
SPEAKER_02
You know, he is like a real camera mover, knows how to.
4
SPEAKER_01
Where was it?
4
SPEAKER_01
Where d you shoot it?
4
SPEAKER_02
Hawaii.
4
SPEAKER_02
Was that in Vietnam?
4
SPEAKER_01
No, we didn t do Vietnam.
4
SPEAKER_02
We didn t need the authentic background.
4
SPEAKER_02
Why?
4
SPEAKER_02
We just need a couple of trees.
4
SPEAKER_02
Rainforest, we had to make the cast happy.
4
SPEAKER_00
There s a thing about a movie and comedies, probably dramas too, is just these, whatever you call them, word packages that just are transcendent, that are funnier as time goes on, you know?
4
SPEAKER_00
And I think one of them,
4
SPEAKER_00
that s less controversial would be the Tom Cruise, Les Grossman, I want you to take one step back and literally fuck your face or your own face.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Which one was it?
4
SPEAKER_00
I m not sure.
4
SPEAKER_00
Fuck your own face.
4
SPEAKER_00
But that s the kind of thing.
4
SPEAKER_00
And again, like Monty Python-y, I don t know where that influence came from, but those type of lines, that nonsensical thing, I assume it wasn t a guy alone in a room.
4
SPEAKER_00
Were you together at that point where you re kind of riffing what that character say or?
4
SPEAKER_02
character came out of, you know, we, you know, we wanted Tom to be in the movie very badly.
4
SPEAKER_02
And it was kind of, he was like, well, I read the script and there s, he s like, there s no, like, studio presence.
4
SPEAKER_02
Like, why don t we create, like, a studio character, you know?
4
SPEAKER_02
And I just had a really bad experience working for Harvey Weinstein.
4
SPEAKER_02
And so, on a movie that I had directed.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I, I thought- Shocker.
4
SPEAKER_00
What ever happened to that guy?
4
SPEAKER_02
Go ahead.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I just wanted to somehow memorialize that bad experience.
4
SPEAKER_02
And so that s how I got that character.
4
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_01
And it s even funnier.
4
SPEAKER_02
I remember Joel Silver one time came up to me and he goes, hey, was that character based on me?
4
SPEAKER_02
And I go, no.
4
SPEAKER_02
And he goes, damn it.
4
SPEAKER_02
He wanted it to be based on that.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh, funny.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, the Popeye forearms and the hands and then Tom Cruise, which, you know, everyone loved the new Top Gun.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, he gets shinier and brighter.
4
SPEAKER_00
When I look back and I see him now, and I look at him in that movie, when he s doing the dance slapping the ass at the end, it s like, the guy is really funny.
4
SPEAKER_02
He s so funny and he s so committed, you know?
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I remember kind of,
4
SPEAKER_02
because he has some really hard charging lines in that movie.
4
SPEAKER_02
Some really out of control shit.
4
SPEAKER_02
Do you feel at all odd giving him these lines?
4
SPEAKER_02
He s going to say, Tom Cruise is going to say this?
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
This is before we had seen him in any of the tests and hair and makeup and stuff like that.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, without saying the line, which were the ones that were the most scary or you really couldn t use?
4
SPEAKER_00
It was too far.
4
SPEAKER_02
No, you know, we had sort of like Ben s a really smart director.
4
SPEAKER_02
We, you know, if we were to sort of pile the script up in all the pages that were written, it would probably look like a phone book or three phone books stacked on top of each other.
4
SPEAKER_02
Ben is really good at, um, we would always sort of shoot like
4
SPEAKER_02
sort of an A, B, and C category of jokes within the scene, and then alternates, alternates, alternates.
4
SPEAKER_02
We had sort of these alternate scripts that we would go, okay, now we re going to do one where you say this.
4
SPEAKER_02
And so in the edit, when Ben was
5
SPEAKER_01
was sort of testing the movie, he was able to see, you know, oh, this, this, you know, went a little too far.
5
SPEAKER_01
Let s dial it back.
5
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, it could be something simple, just like too many F-bombs in a row or something.
5
SPEAKER_01
And so he could ride the edit, ride the cut of the movie to sort of find the sweet spot because we would have shot all different, very slight variations of every scene, you know?
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, and I think that, you know, obviously a lot of movies have a lot of people involved and it s nice to have one,
5
SPEAKER_02
you know, creative vision with other people with almost exact same sensibilities.
5
SPEAKER_02
That s how a great movie has to get made.
5
SPEAKER_02
It has to be just everyone s on the same page.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, someone, me and Ben, I think we re the real guardians of that.
5
SPEAKER_01
We, you know, we, I think we both, and by the time we shot that, we were both so, we had been with it for so long that we intuitively knew exactly what anything would want it to be if it had to change on the day.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was a real kind of like, you know,
5
SPEAKER_01
great collaboration.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was sort of a real sort of mini Lennon-McCartney thing that was happening on the making of that, you know?
5
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, the way everything got in.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s great.
5
SPEAKER_00
The way everything got in and there s no one blocking your shit.
5
SPEAKER_00
Like the studio, Downey, everyone s saying, we re all in on this.
5
SPEAKER_00
We re all going to do everything.
5
SPEAKER_00
I don t care if it s offensive.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it s so funny.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then even Tom Cruise, to his credit,
5
SPEAKER_00
finding a spot to be in, not getting out of it, saying, no, we ll find something and then doing it.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then I m sure if you throw him lines, he laughs and just does another take and says, oh yeah, that s funny, let s try that.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then when it all comes together and everyone s shocked to see him, especially in a movie that s already good.
5
SPEAKER_00
And was Woody playing his assistant?
5
SPEAKER_00
Was Woody in that?
5
SPEAKER_00
What s that?
5
SPEAKER_00
Was Woody Harrelson?
5
SPEAKER_02
No, by the name of McConaughey?
5
SPEAKER_00
No, McConaughey.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, McConaughey.
5
SPEAKER_00
McConaughey was played the agent.
5
SPEAKER_00
McConaughey.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, heck.
5
SPEAKER_00
Are those two different people?
5
SPEAKER_00
I know for sure they re the same fucking person.
5
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s unbelievable.
5
SPEAKER_02
Did you guys, did Cruz break a lot when he said lines like, go fuck your own face or something?
5
SPEAKER_01
He did.
5
SPEAKER_01
Was there a lot of breaking?
5
SPEAKER_01
He enjoyed himself.
5
SPEAKER_01
I remember, and then I remember, you know,
5
SPEAKER_01
First, then you give him these outrageous lines.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then Tom Cruise knows how to sell a fucking line.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know what I mean?
5
SPEAKER_01
That guy is super, now he s playing it like it s a straight up drama.
5
SPEAKER_01
I mean, he s not really winking or leaning in or doing anything.
5
SPEAKER_01
He s just playing it like as if he was in, you know, one of his other movies.
5
SPEAKER_01
Whenever Tropic Thunder comes up, you know, I get a lot of, you know, why you couldn t make that movie today.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I kind of, it bums me out because I m like, I think you can make that movie today.
5
SPEAKER_01
It wouldn t look exactly like that movie, but, you know, I remember kind of taking it hard when, you know, as you would, when people are, you know, trying to boycott something that you think is actually on your side or on their side.
5
SPEAKER_01
And,
5
SPEAKER_01
I remember I lucked out a couple of years later after the fact, having a drink with Mel Brooks and kind of moaning about it a little bit.
5
SPEAKER_01
And he just, he sort of stopped me and he just went, nope, look, you have to just make sure the joke is aimed perfectly at the person who s the idiot.
5
SPEAKER_01
you know, and that s your job is to, you know, obviously we re not trying to make jokes about anybody except for Hollywood actors in that movie, you know, and egos and studios and that kind of stuff.
5
SPEAKER_01
So the minute you re sort of,
5
SPEAKER_01
He was basically, he gave me some comfort around, you know, cause his movies are so brilliant.
5
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, you could equally say that, well, you can t make those movies today, but yes, you can, you know, you can make, you know, his, his jokes.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s weird.
5
SPEAKER_01
Everyone, I think when you see a Mel Brooks movie, you don t think, oh, well, you know, uh, that s really uncool that he would write that you like, you know, what a horrible team he s batting for, you know what I mean?
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
Right.
5
SPEAKER_02
And obviously you re talking about Blazing Saddles, which, you know, Richard Pryor wrote a lot of, a lot of it with, with him.
5
SPEAKER_02
And, um, obviously all the racist people in the movie are idiots and Cleavon Little is the smartest guy in town.
5
SPEAKER_01
And there s some very, very naughty words in that movie and crazy things are said in that movie.
5
SPEAKER_01
But, um, but you know,
5
SPEAKER_01
Again, I don t know.
5
SPEAKER_02
Well, we talked to bill burr about his stand-up because he ll go Right outside the line sometimes and he says for himself Intention matters like absolutely.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
Are you going after a disenfranchised section of the population or you satirizing more privileged people if you want or wherever the target is, so I think
5
SPEAKER_02
I m still recovering that you got to hang out with Mel Brooks and talk to him for an hour.
5
SPEAKER_01
Just for a minute, it s not like we had a salon going in the West Village and we re lounging around, smoking jackets.
5
SPEAKER_00
I like that Steve Spielberg, Steve, said he wishes he didn t take the guns out of E.T.
5
SPEAKER_00
I just read that too, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I thought that was interesting that he would say that.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it s a weird thing.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s just censorship is a weird thing, and people are genuinely, I think, afraid to write things and perform things and do things because no one wants to get their head chopped off.
5
SPEAKER_00
Sure.
5
SPEAKER_00
You don t want comedy to turn into the same five jokes that everyone s allowed to use.
5
SPEAKER_00
So when you go outside and try to break some ground,
5
SPEAKER_00
I guess there will be more pushback than normal, but as long as it doesn t ruin your life, but the intention, again, you re trying to be funny, you re trying to be this, and no one s out to get someone.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Actually, I was watching this Oscar Levant play with Sean Hayes that I was watching the other day, that I saw the other day.
5
SPEAKER_01
He has some great lines.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oscar Levant has some great lines where he says things like, there s no such thing as a sincere joke.
5
SPEAKER_01
You can t bring the house down with a wholesome gag.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know what I mean?
5
SPEAKER_01
Something has to be dangerous about it.
5
SPEAKER_00
And catch people off guard and the element of surprise, and it s not what you think they re going to say.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it s just funny.
5
SPEAKER_01
I mean, we re all in the same... But nature is not respectful.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know what I mean?
5
SPEAKER_01
Nor should it be.
5
SPEAKER_00
What about Zoolander?
5
SPEAKER_00
You did Zoolander?
5
SPEAKER_00
You worked on that with Ben?
5
SPEAKER_00
I worked on two with Ben.
5
SPEAKER_00
Evil DJ.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I was the evil DJ.
5
SPEAKER_02
Full makeup.
5
SPEAKER_02
That s that look like fun.
5
SPEAKER_02
And that guy was breakdancing.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s actually, I was breakdancing.
5
SPEAKER_01
Did you breakdance?
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I had the breakdance fight with Owen Wilson, with Hansel.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s the big act three fight scene between me and Hansel.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, it s always great.
5
SPEAKER_00
Did you go when Woody is in your new show?
5
SPEAKER_00
Did you go when he did Silent Live?
5
SPEAKER_00
I did.
5
SPEAKER_00
I went there and saw that.
5
SPEAKER_00
It was hilarious.
5
SPEAKER_00
I know you did.
5
SPEAKER_00
It was good.
5
SPEAKER_00
It was fun.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it was.
5
SPEAKER_02
He and Owen Wilson, the people I ve met, there s such a cool kind of, I don t know, Texas frequency to them.
5
SPEAKER_01
There s something about- It s so funny when you do, I would actually like to hear your take on this, Dana.
5
SPEAKER_01
There is a version where you can impersonate Woody, Owen, and McConaughey probably all at the same time.
5
SPEAKER_02
You know, but yeah, there s something they should all hang out together.
5
SPEAKER_01
I think they do.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
5
SPEAKER_02
And yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
No, you were fine.
5
SPEAKER_02
I don t care.
5
SPEAKER_02
She s not even mad at you.
5
SPEAKER_01
Then they re like, I mean, you sort of slip into more of a stoner kind of like, that s what I don t like about.
5
SPEAKER_02
I don t do impersonation.
5
SPEAKER_02
Woody is like, he s really cute.
5
SPEAKER_02
I was looking at him on the show.
5
SPEAKER_02
He still has those dimples and there s something just incredibly likable about him.
5
SPEAKER_02
I think you two are great in that.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s just this foils for each other.
5
SPEAKER_01
We re kind of like, you know, it s, you know, we in life and in this show, you know, we re very much it s a very sort of odd couple relationship, you know, you know, feel it s gonna answer, you know, like, and it s just tease.
5
SPEAKER_01
He is a very kind of, I mean, in the show he s more sort of uptight, gruff, whatever, but on set.
5
SPEAKER_01
Howard Hunt from the CIA.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, we just laughed a lot.
5
SPEAKER_01
He s a very fun guy to work with.
5
SPEAKER_01
He s very sort of infectious and he s very, very, very laid back in a way that I wish
5
SPEAKER_01
I could be, you know, he s so, he s one of those guys that can jump to set like 12 minutes late and 15 minutes late and be like, oh, hey, oh, why is everyone, oh, okay.
5
SPEAKER_01
There s no judgment about it.
5
SPEAKER_01
He s like, oh, we re already here, okay, cool.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, he was like that even on SNL back in the 90s.
5
SPEAKER_02
There was almost like he, what am I supposed to do?
5
SPEAKER_02
It s all kind of thrown away and then he just lands it perfectly and he s great.
5
SPEAKER_01
Exactly, he doesn t have, I feel like he has no cortisol in his system whatsoever.
5
SPEAKER_02
And it s just great for... We had a running gag when he hosted, when I was a cast member, and I was just kidding with him, because I liked him immediately.
5
SPEAKER_02
And the running gag was, you could never be depressed, Woody, the rest of your life, because you know me, you actually know me.
5
SPEAKER_02
And so that became a running thing.
5
SPEAKER_02
He sent me a framed photo with that phrase on it.
5
SPEAKER_02
You know me.
5
SPEAKER_02
You know me, how could you ever be sad?
6
SPEAKER_01
Just think of it, just all that guy, but he s so great.
6
SPEAKER_01
So- I know that Justin has a favorite.
6
SPEAKER_01
We ll let you go in a second, Justin.
6
SPEAKER_01
Do you have a favorite?
6
SPEAKER_01
Do you love After Hours?
6
SPEAKER_01
Dane, do you remember After Hours?
6
SPEAKER_01
After Hours, oh, mm-hmm.
6
SPEAKER_01
Is it Griffin Dunn?
6
SPEAKER_01
Griffin Dunn, the best.
6
SPEAKER_01
Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Pfeiffer, Am I Crazy?
6
SPEAKER_01
No, not Jeff Goldblum, he s not in that.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s him, Catherine O Hara.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh God, it s such a great cast.
6
SPEAKER_00
Scorsese s one sort of comedy, I guess, or second- Who s Michelle Pfeiffer in?
6
SPEAKER_00
What are you talking about?
6
SPEAKER_00
She was in Scarface.
6
SPEAKER_01
We re talking about Scarface or After Hours?
6
SPEAKER_00
After Hours.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m talking about After Hours, but I think I m talking about... Michelle Pfeiffer was amazing in that.
6
SPEAKER_01
Don t gang up on me.
6
SPEAKER_01
Whoa, we love you.
6
SPEAKER_01
I started knowing what it was, because I knew... What s the one with Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer, where they go out all night, isn t it?
6
SPEAKER_01
What s the one with Michelle?
6
SPEAKER_01
Do you know him from, is that even a movie?
6
SPEAKER_01
Are those people?
6
SPEAKER_01
Dangerous liaisons?
6
SPEAKER_02
No, that was John Malkovich.
6
SPEAKER_02
I m just guessing.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m mad at both of you.
6
SPEAKER_02
I wanted to know what s on Justin s favorite film list, you know, or, you know, I always hate that bet, your favorite or whatever, films you revisit or films that stayed with you.
6
SPEAKER_00
Young Frankenstein, if we re talking about Mel Brooks, is definitely on my top pick.
6
SPEAKER_00
Fuck, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
I stole a big bit from Young Frankenstein for Tropic Thunder, actually.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean, that s- You did, but it was your influence.
6
SPEAKER_00
The Beatles were influenced.
6
SPEAKER_00
Influenced, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s the scene where Jack Black gets tied to the tree to kick drugs.
6
SPEAKER_00
He says, no matter what, don t let me off that tree.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m cunning, I m baffling, but don t let me, blah, blah, blah.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s kind of a lift from young Frankenstein when he goes into the room.
6
SPEAKER_00
And he goes, don t let me out.
6
SPEAKER_00
The monster, he said, don t let me out of this room.
6
SPEAKER_00
No matter what I say.
6
SPEAKER_00
No matter what I say, I m gonna go in.
6
SPEAKER_00
So it s in the same universe, that joke.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then of course he goes in there and he s immediately pleading.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s like, that s so hilarious.
6
SPEAKER_02
It s all in vaudeville.
6
SPEAKER_02
It s all in vaudeville.
6
SPEAKER_02
At some points, everything has been done.
6
SPEAKER_02
Cape Fear.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
Cape Fear.
6
SPEAKER_02
A recent guest, that was a movie.
6
SPEAKER_02
Sarah Sherman from SNL said she watches that all the time to cheer up.
6
SPEAKER_02
The second one, I think, was the second one she met.
6
SPEAKER_02
Not the Mitchum one.
6
SPEAKER_00
That movie is so good.
6
SPEAKER_00
It really is.
6
SPEAKER_00
Do you remember in the Ben Stiller show, he did that sort of fake, I guess, fake trailer where it s Eddie Munster in Cape Fear?
6
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
He is the Eddie Munster of all time.
6
SPEAKER_02
That s why that show, because he had left SNL, he talked about it here, and then he suddenly, I was at that Emmy Awards, and then he was so shocked that he won best show, but it was, it s another show that stands the test of time.
6
SPEAKER_02
I know.
6
SPEAKER_02
Some of those sketches, I can t believe it.
6
SPEAKER_00
That group of writers, performers, Bob Odenkirk, I mean, Jesus, his Manson, he did that Charles Manson, it s so hilarious.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s so funny, come on.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m Bob Odenkirk, I m Bob.
6
SPEAKER_01
So good, oh, you re so good.
6
SPEAKER_02
So as far as SNL, should we cover that for a second?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, let s cover SNL.
6
SPEAKER_00
I was texting with David yesterday, I was like, I ve never been on SNL, so I don t know what to, you know, cause I love listening to podcasts, but I, you know, massive, massive, you know, I haven t said it at the top, Dana, David already knows I m a huge fan of him, but also likewise you.
6
SPEAKER_02
Well, that was we heard that you liked our podcast.
6
SPEAKER_02
At least I threw David or something like week three.
6
SPEAKER_02
So I immediately.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you were early.
6
SPEAKER_02
I was really happy as being a super fan of yours.
6
SPEAKER_02
And then like he likes our podcast.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it s I mean, it is like SNL.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it must be a curse to be an SNL cast member because I m sure you get, you know,
6
SPEAKER_00
bombarded with questions about every aspect of it.
6
SPEAKER_00
What s it like working live?
6
SPEAKER_00
What s the thing?
6
SPEAKER_00
What s the most scary thing?
6
SPEAKER_00
And then, of course, probably the worst thing, which is like, you know what you should do?
6
SPEAKER_00
You know what would make a great SNL bit?
6
SPEAKER_00
You know what would be great on SNL?
6
SPEAKER_01
You know, Dana, I have one funny sketch idea, and I want to go host and just do one sketch and leave.
6
SPEAKER_01
I could handle that.
6
SPEAKER_01
Hosting is so fucking hard.
6
SPEAKER_01
Well, just do a guest spot.
6
SPEAKER_01
Just do a guest spot.
6
SPEAKER_01
I know, but it wouldn t make any sense because it s not topical.
6
SPEAKER_00
No, I said just do a guest spot.
6
SPEAKER_00
Just do a walk-on.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s a lot of those walk-ons now where it s like, oh, look, there s Fred Armisen.
6
SPEAKER_00
He s not a member of the cast.
6
SPEAKER_00
He s not hosting.
6
SPEAKER_00
He s just walking around.
6
SPEAKER_01
Matt Damon is playing this character.
6
SPEAKER_01
I ll be Christopher Walk-on.
6
SPEAKER_01
I saw a great walk-in sketch where he s watering plants.
6
SPEAKER_01
He s a gardener.
6
SPEAKER_00
And talking to the plants.
6
SPEAKER_01
I might be lying again.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and he goes, they re cactuses.
6
SPEAKER_01
And he goes, cactuses.
6
SPEAKER_01
are intimidating, so I put googly eyes on him.
6
SPEAKER_01
He s a skinny guy, he puts googly eyes on him, then he keeps saying googly eyes, and it s hysterical.
6
SPEAKER_01
Perfect, googly eyes.
6
SPEAKER_01
Perfect for a walk.
6
SPEAKER_02
You were on SNL with Kyle Mooney, he was doing some strippers.
6
SPEAKER_00
I did a little, he just called me out of the blue and said, hey, can you just do a, it was a walk, it was technically a walk on, it was nothing.
6
SPEAKER_01
meaningful, but- This is the only thing we re going to air of the whole podcast, so that s it.
6
SPEAKER_02
Hi, Dana, what s on your mind?
6
SPEAKER_02
I think Justin Theroux really wants to host this show.
6
SPEAKER_02
That d be terrific.
6
SPEAKER_02
I ll reach out to his people.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s the last show.
6
SPEAKER_00
I definitely don t want to host SNL.
6
SPEAKER_00
That to me is absolutely- Really?
6
SPEAKER_00
Are you too scared?
6
SPEAKER_00
I get so scared by that.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean- I don t blame you.
6
SPEAKER_00
Amy Poehler used to always be like, come to UCB when she was doing it here in New York.
6
SPEAKER_00
It would make me anxious.
6
SPEAKER_00
I loved it, but it felt like watching trapeze work with no net, and it just made me so anxious.
6
SPEAKER_00
I much prefer being able to go away, learn lines, really rehearse, and then just come out.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s so CD your pants.
6
SPEAKER_00
On a Monday, you re like, hey, what s the idea?
6
SPEAKER_00
Then by Tuesday, you re fleshing it out.
6
SPEAKER_00
Wednesday, let s read it.
6
SPEAKER_00
by Saturday.
6
SPEAKER_02
No, it s crazy.
6
SPEAKER_02
It shouldn t exist in some ways.
6
SPEAKER_01
Did you ask Woody, did he need any help with writing any punch ups on monologue or anything?
6
SPEAKER_00
No, I saw him on Wednesday and he s like, it s going to go well, but he was like out partying.
6
SPEAKER_00
He was like, it s going to be good.
6
SPEAKER_00
I did a little punch up when he went on, sort of did a walk on a Zoolander, but yeah, I don t know.
6
SPEAKER_00
To me it s like, and then when you see people who are genuinely relaxed doing it, because you can kind of tell people who are not relaxed doing it, not that their hands are shaking or anything like that.
6
SPEAKER_00
But it s normal.
6
SPEAKER_00
But like Phil Hartman, when you d see him, you d go,
6
SPEAKER_00
he had this kind of, you know, plant your leg, say the line beautifully confidence that was so just like, nice to like, great to watch.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then obviously you guys, you know, like your delivery on, you know, Hollywood minutes.
6
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, there was just a kind of like when you can tell people are a having fun and be at least appear like they re not nervous.
6
SPEAKER_02
Phil was like, he was like we hear Dan Aykroyd was.
6
SPEAKER_02
Like he almost was, well, he obviously was a pro and he was in so many things and he had this binder and he was, he could memorize, he could read the cards really well.
6
SPEAKER_02
But then in between scenes, he d be reading a book about Evan Rood outboard motor schematics.
6
SPEAKER_00
I don t know how that happens.
6
SPEAKER_00
Like how can you, I don t know.
6
SPEAKER_00
I would just be in such a state of distress, I think that.
6
I don t know.
6
SPEAKER_02
You don t have to do it.
6
SPEAKER_02
I totally get you.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it s hard to host it.
6
SPEAKER_02
If I host it and there s a sketch somewhere, you could do an Irish guy or British guy.
6
SPEAKER_02
I ll try to bring you in just for one scene.
6
SPEAKER_00
Just for one scene.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
If we need a guy to lay on the floor and act like he s in the army.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, exactly.
6
SPEAKER_00
We re gonna do a whole sketch about that.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s my worst nightmare is improvising.
6
SPEAKER_01
We go, we re not gonna tell you what the sketch is.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m not gonna tell you what the sketch is.
6
SPEAKER_00
Just give me a beach ball, a pool noodle, and just send me out there, you know?
6
SPEAKER_01
Well, aside from his new show, he also owns Ray s Bar, and I wanna thank you for coming down today and talking to us, Justin.
6
SPEAKER_01
Thank you for having me.
6
SPEAKER_01
And I will see you on my next trip.
6
SPEAKER_01
When are you coming to New York, David?
6
SPEAKER_01
It s all pretty top secret, but you know, I ll call you on some other channels.
6
SPEAKER_01
Can you send me the file?
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it s in like three weeks.
6
SPEAKER_02
There s only one other thing besides leftovers, which I think is a brilliant show.
6
SPEAKER_02
Mosquito Coast, all the stuff you ve done.
6
SPEAKER_02
You have such a cool career.
6
SPEAKER_02
And then you did this thing with Norman Lear, where you did those lives.
6
SPEAKER_02
It was all in the family and stuff.
6
SPEAKER_02
That I thought was going to be a train wreck, but it really landed beautifully.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it was great.
6
SPEAKER_00
And it actually, you know, it s become sort of an annual thing.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean, talk about a, I mean, I really can t take credit for that show.
6
SPEAKER_00
That was an idea that I had where, that I imparted to Amy Kimmel, who then turned it into this sort of, you know, Super Bowl winning football team of talent, you know.
6
SPEAKER_01
You got a lot to pick from if you keep doing, you can keep doing Partridge Family, Happy Days, whatever you want.
6
SPEAKER_01
Well, I mean, we can, yeah, you can go, you can keep going, but I mean- Can I play Fonzie?
6
SPEAKER_01
Everyone s like, everyone every day is like, why aren t you playing Fonzie?
6
SPEAKER_00
Chachi, chach.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m already down as Chachi.
6
SPEAKER_01
That was quick.
6
SPEAKER_01
Chachi was cool.
6
SPEAKER_01
Quick casting.
7
SPEAKER_01
Shachi loves Joanie or what was their show?
7
SPEAKER_02
What about Ralph Mouth?
7
SPEAKER_00
Ralph Malfe, do you remember the beginning of Happy Days?
7
SPEAKER_00
And then I ll let you go.
7
SPEAKER_00
He takes the salt off.
7
SPEAKER_00
No, he has the salt.
7
SPEAKER_00
They put the salt shaker top back on, but they put it really loose and he pours it on his fries and it all goes over it.
7
SPEAKER_00
And he just looks back to camera, keeps chewing his gum.
7
SPEAKER_00
I m like, he didn t even give a reaction I thought was genius.
7
SPEAKER_02
He didn t, you know what I mean?
7
SPEAKER_00
He didn t go, whoa.
7
SPEAKER_02
I love that that s like your brand out like, and it s like, and he doesn t even react to the salt anymore.
7
SPEAKER_02
I can do that.
7
SPEAKER_00
He s my guy.
7
SPEAKER_02
That s my Uta Hagen.
7
SPEAKER_02
That was your moment that you realized, like, I can do this.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I go, oh, do nothing, I can do that.
7
SPEAKER_02
What was your early comedy, not to prolong this, but since we re here.
7
SPEAKER_01
I m having a great time.
7
SPEAKER_02
Your early influence besides me.
7
SPEAKER_02
My earliest comedy memories are Mel Brooks, but also my dad making me stay up to watch SNL with him, you know, Belushi Ackroyd, Gilda Radden.
7
SPEAKER_00
100%, same thing, Life of Brian, early on Animal House.
7
SPEAKER_00
Holy Grail.
7
SPEAKER_00
Holy Grail, all those are unreal and then getting into Eddie Murphy, Trading Places, those kind of things, all those old movies that were just funny, Caddyshack, all Bill Murray.
7
SPEAKER_00
And then into Ghostbusters, all the things, just all my guys I liked, I d follow them to whatever movie they were in.
7
SPEAKER_00
Cracked me up, made me laugh.
7
SPEAKER_00
Steve Martin albums.
7
SPEAKER_00
Steve Martin, huge fan.
7
SPEAKER_02
He apparently takes his comedy very seriously.
7
SPEAKER_02
Say again?
7
SPEAKER_02
Steve Martin apparently takes his, I ve met him once, but not in any meaningful way, but takes his comedy very seriously.
7
SPEAKER_02
He s a master of, he s sort of a student of the science of the comedy and the bit, which I admire.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
When he came out and deconstructed the idea of a comedian with this guy in the white suit, I m a wild and crazy guy.
7
SPEAKER_01
I m sure somehow it influenced me humbly saying that because he didn t really have jokes.
7
SPEAKER_01
He did two minutes on just his character asking for a blue spot.
7
SPEAKER_01
Gotta get a blue spot.
7
SPEAKER_01
And the commitment of it, you know, that was sort of this brilliant new move.
7
SPEAKER_01
And then Rob Williams was around, Richard Pryor was around, obviously George Carlin, and then it kept going to Kennison and on and on.
7
SPEAKER_01
I love comedians.
7
SPEAKER_02
I do too.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s terrifying.
7
SPEAKER_02
I mean, Dave, so I always, when I ve seen you perform live or on Netflix or whatever, it s like you have that ease that s just so, I guess, dry, but it s also so fucking funny the way it s this, there s a musicality to it, like where you sort of drop in these little, and then, you know, you sort of like go into sort of, I don t know how you do it.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s a magic trick to me.
7
SPEAKER_02
So I don t really want to know how you do it, but.
7
SPEAKER_02
very much.
7
SPEAKER_00
I appreciate it.
7
SPEAKER_00
We just found a little extra time.
7
SPEAKER_00
What s that?
7
SPEAKER_01
We just found a little extra time to talk to you.
7
SPEAKER_01
No, David does have an incredible, like, throwaway, casual thing.
7
SPEAKER_00
I like throwaway jokes.
7
SPEAKER_00
Love that.
7
SPEAKER_01
And little phrases, and I see Nealon in him and Dennis Miller, but he s his own man.
7
SPEAKER_01
They were really influential.
7
SPEAKER_01
He s kind of pretty special, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
I have to go out there and scream and dance around and make
7
SPEAKER_01
Two voices, and David s so lo-fi, and it s very cool.
7
SPEAKER_01
I admire that, too, because I just like... Richard Pryor says, if you re bombing, just start pushing energy.
7
SPEAKER_01
I was doing it last night.
7
SPEAKER_01
He s throwing out the... I was having a slow patch, so I started talking a lot louder and moving a lot more.
7
SPEAKER_02
I go full John Bonnet.
7
SPEAKER_02
You slow them down, there s not even any jokes in there.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s just all energy.
7
SPEAKER_01
Just energy, because if their energy is going down and you reflect it, then the souffle just collapses, but you just push back.
7
SPEAKER_00
Well, they used to say, Dana, Don Rickles used to go, look at Ed over there, he s like, I want a cookie.
7
SPEAKER_00
And you go, these aren t really jokes, but if they re said in the form of a delivery and... Oh, no, Rickles was the greatest because he just sounds like a joke.
7
SPEAKER_01
Ed doesn t know the show started.
7
SPEAKER_01
Put him in the corner and give him a cookie.
7
SPEAKER_00
Just all rhythm.
7
SPEAKER_00
And you go, I think that was a joke.
7
SPEAKER_00
And Dennis Miller used to, one time he said, I sometimes will throw in a word, even I don t know what it means.
7
SPEAKER_00
I just make it up.
7
SPEAKER_00
And just because it sounds like with the rhythm, that s the funny part.
7
SPEAKER_00
And everyone laughs and then they go.
7
SPEAKER_00
I didn t even get that one.
7
SPEAKER_00
I don t even, but it just, you know, it sounds funny.
7
SPEAKER_00
All right, Justin, I m going to go.
7
SPEAKER_00
So you guys stay on for another 10 minutes while I drive off.
7
SPEAKER_01
We re going to talk about you, David.
7
SPEAKER_01
Thank you, Justin.
7
SPEAKER_01
You re a good dude.
7
SPEAKER_01
Justin, it s so great to meet you and love to see you in New York.
7
SPEAKER_01
David and I will come out together.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, please come when the White House plumbers, it s on- White House plumbers, May 1st.
7
SPEAKER_01
Monday, May 1st.
7
SPEAKER_01
HBO.
7
SPEAKER_01
Or on Max or whatever.
7
SPEAKER_01
Or HBO Max.
7
SPEAKER_01
Woody Harrelson as Howard Hunt.
7
SPEAKER_01
And of course, Justin Theroux as Gordon Liddy, a very gentle kind of boring character.
7
SPEAKER_01
I mean, that must ve been his, he lit himself on fire.
7
SPEAKER_01
He ate a rat.
7
SPEAKER_01
I mean, this guy is something.
7
SPEAKER_01
So that s gonna be awesome for you.
7
SPEAKER_01
So anyway, anybody got anything else?
7
SPEAKER_00
Anything else?
7
SPEAKER_01
Miss him already.
7
SPEAKER_01
Greg, Annette, Heather S.
7
SPEAKER_00
Don t read who else is on the Zoom.
7
SPEAKER_01
I m just saying all the producers that are on the Zoom.
7
SPEAKER_00
This has been a podcast presentation of Cadence 13.
7
SPEAKER_00
Please listen, then rate, review, and follow all episodes.
7
SPEAKER_00
Available now for free wherever you get your podcasts.
7
SPEAKER_00
No joke, folks.
7
SPEAKER_01
Fly on the Wall has been a presentation of Cadence 13, executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Chris Corcoran of Cadence 13, and Charlie Finan of Brillstein Entertainment.
7
SPEAKER_00
The show s lead producer is Greg Holtzman with production and engineering support from Serena Regan and Chris Basil of Cadence 13.