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Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak. I love it Bubble and Squeak on

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Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeaker cooking at every moment left over from

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Speaker 1: the night before. Hi everybody, and welcome back to the

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Speaker 1: final episode of two for Off the Beat. This is

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Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner wishing all of you a happy New Year. Today,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be continuing on last week's theme of best

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Speaker 1: of bringing you more of my favorite moments from almost

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Speaker 1: a whole year of going Off the Beat. It's been

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Speaker 1: quite a ride. I'm so glad that you have been

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Speaker 1: with me every step of the way. And if you're

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Speaker 1: new listeners, if you like what you're hearing last week

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Speaker 1: and this week, please check us out subscribe in the

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Speaker 1: new year. To kick us off, I'm going to start

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Speaker 1: with a woman you may know as Nelly Bertram, but

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Speaker 1: I know as my hilarious friend Katherine Tate. Here she

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Speaker 1: is making the very surprising claim that she wasn't always

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Speaker 1: quite this outgoing. I was an incredibly shy child, really

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Speaker 1: really shy. So I mean talk about you know, least

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Speaker 1: expected to do anything, let alone get up and make

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Speaker 1: people laugh. That was That would have been me, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I you know, I mean, I was painfully shy,

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Speaker 1: So potentially, I suppose, if I was thinking about it,

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Speaker 1: maybe I did find a route in with sort of

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Speaker 1: making characters and and doing sort of voices and becoming

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Speaker 1: other than myself. But I definitely identified quite early on

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Speaker 1: a really good way of deterring bullies was to be

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Speaker 1: able to make me laugh. And and that really emboldened me,

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Speaker 1: really because I'd had a really unhappy stint at school

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Speaker 1: at one of the Catholic school one of the conventations,

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Speaker 1: had a really unhappy stint there, and I realized one

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Speaker 1: day that actually, if you can make them laugh, they

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Speaker 1: will leave you alone. And and that's I think that's

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Speaker 1: kind of where I definitely honed it as a defense mechanism. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: so hiding in a way, still being shy, hiding in

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Speaker 1: a way behind the characters that you created early on,

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Speaker 1: I guess, although I although I all, I didn't do

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Speaker 1: characters or anything when I was a kid, but I

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Speaker 1: I learned a way of making people laugh, you know,

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Speaker 1: I learned to I suppose to create the character of

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Speaker 1: the of the of the of the comedian, of the

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Speaker 1: class clown, you know, all of the of the funny

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Speaker 1: one and and protected me. I felt right. So I

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Speaker 1: I came from theater myself. I never thought I would,

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Speaker 1: you know, do film and television. For me, it was

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Speaker 1: all about theater and live performance and creating characters on stage.

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Speaker 1: You early on very prestigious in in Britain, in London.

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Speaker 1: You became a member of the National Youth Theater. And

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Speaker 1: I heard you auditioned four times for Drama School. I

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Speaker 1: auditioned for four times, yeah, but no National Youth Theater.

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Speaker 1: I yeah. I was there with Daniel Craig. He was

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Speaker 1: the shining light when I was when I was at

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Speaker 1: Youth Theater, and I was I was when he was

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Speaker 1: playing Leonardo, the lead in Blood Wedding. I was playing

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Speaker 1: Girl One, so uh yeah, and things things blossomed from there. Well,

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Speaker 1: you must have had experiences though on on stage other

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Speaker 1: than Girl One through your How long were you there? Well,

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Speaker 1: the thing is I was there for quite a few years.

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Speaker 1: But we kept, we kept doing, we kept turning out

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Speaker 1: this same the same play. Because I guess it has

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Speaker 1: got a little bit of success. But I know, we

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Speaker 1: took it to Spain, we took it to the West End.

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Speaker 1: We did it again in the West End, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I think at some point so I wasn't in

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Speaker 1: this particular cast, but I think it then went we

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Speaker 1: went to Russia or something, you know, I mean, we

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Speaker 1: really flogged to this one and I just had a

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Speaker 1: great time. I had a fantastic time, but I had

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Speaker 1: also some running concurrently with that, I joined another youth

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Speaker 1: theater in the East End of London, where I did

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Speaker 1: get the chance to do lots of fun parts and

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Speaker 1: you know, had a little bit more to Student Girl one. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and then by the time I got to Central, which

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Speaker 1: was college essentially we all got our chance at doing

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Speaker 1: leads and great parts. Yeah. Did you think that theater

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Speaker 1: was what you were going to do or did you

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Speaker 1: always have an idea of something else? No, I absolutely

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Speaker 1: loved theater. And my my first job out of college

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Speaker 1: actually was in the National Theater. So I having graduated

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Speaker 1: from the youth the after, I went to the actual

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Speaker 1: National Theater and stayed there about a year, I guess,

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Speaker 1: And did you know touring shows, you know, like cam

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Speaker 1: around the theaters doing My first job was off Miller

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Speaker 1: was all my sons? Where did you playing all my sons?

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Speaker 1: The girl? The girl in it? You know, the yes

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Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah, it was. It was a long time ago.

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Speaker 1: I did Joe Keller twice, by the way, Sorry it's

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Speaker 1: about me. I did Joe Keller twice as a much

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Speaker 1: much too young man. Yes, I did Joe Keller, right right, Yes,

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Speaker 1: I would say so, uh so, yeah, I just didn't

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Speaker 1: didn't occur to me. Even when we were at school,

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Speaker 1: you know, drama school. It was theater that we were

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Speaker 1: trained in. We you had a couple of a tiny

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Speaker 1: smattering of film and television, I mean as a novelty. Really,

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Speaker 1: I mean, this is like or something. It was still

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Speaker 1: theater was the thing that the school wanted to churn

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Speaker 1: out theater actors, you know, And I absolutely thought that

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Speaker 1: would be what what I did, what I wanted to do.

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Speaker 1: But by the time I graduated, the idea of repertory

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Speaker 1: theater just wasn't in the country anymore. It died out.

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Speaker 1: All the all the regional theaters. All they did was

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Speaker 1: received the big touring production on a weekly basis basically,

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Speaker 1: you know. I mean that that was all I want

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Speaker 1: to do. And just thought, oh my god, I'll just

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Speaker 1: go around doing plays all the time. And and it

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Speaker 1: didn't really didn't really pan out like that, right, So

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Speaker 1: what did you so, what did you do? You graduate?

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Speaker 1: And you're like, well that life that I thought that

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Speaker 1: I had, well, I graduated and it all started off

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Speaker 1: okay because I got I was I was at the

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Speaker 1: Nashville for a year only doing like small parts and

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Speaker 1: un studying that you know, what do you care? You

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Speaker 1: know five who cares? You know, that's what you should

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Speaker 1: be doing. And then my contract stopped and and I realized,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I've got a feeling. I just had

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Speaker 1: this inkling that I needed to do stand up because

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Speaker 1: I needed to separate myself from the pack, as it were.

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Speaker 1: If you're if you've just left rama college, there's plenty

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Speaker 1: of young twenty somethings you know who have who have

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Speaker 1: just graduated when you have, you know, I had to

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Speaker 1: do something that's sort of put put me in a

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Speaker 1: different environment. And and so I I just held my

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Speaker 1: breasting jumps in and started doing stand up. And that

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Speaker 1: was the best thing I've ever done, because that from there,

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Speaker 1: that was it. It was the difference between waiting for

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Speaker 1: the fun to ring from your agent going oh, there's

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Speaker 1: this this audition and picking up the phone and booking

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Speaker 1: your own spots, you know, And I had a day job.

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Speaker 1: I was working in an office ironically, and then and

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Speaker 1: then after a few years, I was able to stop

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Speaker 1: the day job and do do stand up full time.

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Speaker 1: But it was having that power. It's taking back that

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Speaker 1: power and feeling you've got some agency over your career

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Speaker 1: where you know, as many actors they don't you know,

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Speaker 1: they don't you are you are at the mercy of

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Speaker 1: of the of the casting calls, aren't you? Yes? How

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Speaker 1: how was that experience for you? Terrifying? Was it exhilarating?

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Speaker 1: Obviously it's still in front of a live audience, so

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Speaker 1: you have experience with that, but now they have to laugh, right,

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Speaker 1: How was that experience for you? It was? It was

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Speaker 1: all of those things. It was terrifying, exhilarating. It was

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Speaker 1: like an ouse of body experience. I mean, if you

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Speaker 1: analyze it, the act of doing stand up, it's a

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Speaker 1: preposterous idea and you'd never you'd never suggest any one

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Speaker 1: does it, and you certainly wouldn't do it for yourself,

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Speaker 1: you know, the idea of yes. I definitely had a

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Speaker 1: bit of stagecraft. So when I when I went out

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Speaker 1: and did my first open spot, what would you call

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Speaker 1: them open spots? Yeah? Yeah, sure, yeah, open micer whatever, Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: open mike exactly. It wasn't the first time I've been

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Speaker 1: in front of an audience, so I had that going

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Speaker 1: for me. But even little simple things like I've never

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Speaker 1: held a microphone in my hand? Why how? Why would

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Speaker 1: I worked in theater. You didn't need you didn't use

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Speaker 1: the microphone. It was just like what you do with this?

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, what's this? You know? And it was

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Speaker 1: but it dawned on me, I think halfway through my

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Speaker 1: sort of my little five minute opens but was this

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Speaker 1: is ridiculous because not only am I asking people, not

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Speaker 1: only are you expecting people to be quiet, you're asking

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Speaker 1: them to listen and then laugh at what you say.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's that the notion is ridiculous, if you

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Speaker 1: if you, if you analyze it. But I loved it.

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Speaker 1: We love it too, Katherine. So there you go. That's

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Speaker 1: my office connection for this episode. But my next guest

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Speaker 1: has his own very strange office connection because I kid

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Speaker 1: you not, he was once Ellie Kemper's high school teacher.

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Speaker 1: It's just really hard to imagine him being a teacher

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Speaker 1: or Ellie being being his student, being a student at all.

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Speaker 1: I guess literally any part of this scenario happening in

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Speaker 1: real life is shocking to me, but delightful now that

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Speaker 1: I know that it's true. Here he is Ellie Kemper's

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Speaker 1: high school teacher. Oh and Don Draper John Ham, I

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Speaker 1: have to go back on that for a second. You

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Speaker 1: remember Ellie like you remember her as a student. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and her sister carry too. Yeah, of course I remember

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Speaker 1: all my kids like for for the most part. But yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: I definitely remember Ellie. She was She was just a

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Speaker 1: really hard working, diligent, achievement oriented student. It was very

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Speaker 1: it was great. Like honestly, as a teacher, you're like,

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Speaker 1: those are the kids that you only want, right, So

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Speaker 1: when did you reconnect with her? Do you remember seeing

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Speaker 1: her again? Or yes? I do. She she went to college.

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Speaker 1: That was five years later. I was out here in

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Speaker 1: l A. I had probably been working. I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if I was on Madman by that point, but she,

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Speaker 1: I remember emailed me and said, I'm coming out. I

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Speaker 1: went to this and I did this, and I've been

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Speaker 1: doing this U c B and blah blah blah, and

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Speaker 1: I'm coming out and I'm doing my one person show

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Speaker 1: at U c B Theater and I was like, Oh

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Speaker 1: my god, that's awesome. That's like five minutes away from

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Speaker 1: my house. I'd love to come see it. That sounds great,

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Speaker 1: And so I did, and I came backstage after the

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Speaker 1: show and I was like, you were really great. That

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Speaker 1: was awesome, you know it was there were twenty people

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Speaker 1: in the audience, and She's like, Oh, I'm so excited.

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Speaker 1: I got it. I have an audition tomorrow for the Office.

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Speaker 1: And I said, well, I think you're going to get

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Speaker 1: it because you are perfect for that show and this

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Speaker 1: is like a perfect showcase for you. And the rest

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Speaker 1: is history. That is crazy. Suffice to say, I do

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Speaker 1: remember when I saw her. You do remember her? I

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Speaker 1: I assume you were asked. I don't know if by her.

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Speaker 1: How did it come to be that? Well, you play

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Speaker 1: her captor then on Kimi Schmid years later and keep

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Speaker 1: in touch before then? Well, yeah, actually we had done

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Speaker 1: Bridesmaids together, right, so we had that sort of meeting again.

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Speaker 1: And I remember being on the red carpet for that

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Speaker 1: movie and looking over at Ellie and she caught my

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Speaker 1: eye and I was like, this is so weird, and

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Speaker 1: we both kind of laughed, and I think we gave

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Speaker 1: each other hug, and I was just like, I can't

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Speaker 1: believe you're I'm like standing next to you on a

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Speaker 1: red carpet at a major motion picture that we're both in.

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Speaker 1: That's going to be a huge hit, we didn't know

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Speaker 1: at the time, but going to be sort of a

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Speaker 1: cultural touch point for many people. But it was nice,

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Speaker 1: to say the least. But yes, I had kept up

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Speaker 1: with her, and obviously because I knew a lot of

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Speaker 1: you guys on the Office too, So like people maybe

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Speaker 1: don't know this, but like you know, the the Awards

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Speaker 1: Show kind of swirl, you know, had us in it

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Speaker 1: for quite a few years, us being Madman, and then

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Speaker 1: also the Office and Dirty Rock, and so we would

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Speaker 1: see each other at a couple of occasions every every

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Speaker 1: year for quite a few years. So I would run

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Speaker 1: into her at those things, as well as you and

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Speaker 1: b J and Mindy and Tina and Robert Carlock and

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Speaker 1: all the thirty Rock gang. And and that's when I

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Speaker 1: did the stretch I did on Dirty Rock after thirty Rock,

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Speaker 1: And that's when Tina and Robert said, Hey, we're kicking

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Speaker 1: around this idea. We really wanted to develop this thing

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Speaker 1: for Ellie. Would you take a look at it, would

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Speaker 1: you consider it? And I was like, I don't know

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Speaker 1: if I really want to be a go back right

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Speaker 1: into serious television. They're like, no, no, no, you're in

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Speaker 1: like one episode a year. I was like, oh, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's first of all, how dare you. Second of all,

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Speaker 1: let's say, let's take a look at it. And they

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Speaker 1: were like, well, let's let us come pitch it to you.

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Speaker 1: And I was like, okay. At that stage of it,

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Speaker 1: it was a pilot and the pilot was called Tooken

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Speaker 1: t o o kay En. I was like, okay, what

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Speaker 1: what and they're like, okay, you play a guy who

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Speaker 1: kidnapped for women and kept them in an underground bunker.

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Speaker 1: And it was literally like, let me finish. But it's funny.

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Speaker 1: It's like so I was like, I mean, I trust

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Speaker 1: you guys, but I mean really like a lot of

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Speaker 1: weird stuff had just come out about people, and I

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Speaker 1: was like, I don't know, man, I'm not sure I

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Speaker 1: find the funny in this. But then I read it

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Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, it's really funny. And it's

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Speaker 1: about the only way you get away with that is

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Speaker 1: by playing this person as a complete and utter buffoon

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Speaker 1: and totally out of the realm of believability and it

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Speaker 1: was really fun. I mean, playing that guy was so

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Speaker 1: silly and so dumb, but so fun because it was

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Speaker 1: so like Robert Carlock, who wrote the majority of the

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Speaker 1: Reverend stuff, just got that dumb energy of like it's

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Speaker 1: it's not even toxic masculinity, it's just stupid masculinity. It

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Speaker 1: was really fun to do. And yeah, I mean it

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Speaker 1: went for forever and we got to do that really

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Speaker 1: fun Netflix choose your own Adventure kind of thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was really I was really really pleased with how

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Speaker 1: it grew and how it ended and how it developed

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Speaker 1: Titus's character and Carol Kane's character. Like it was just

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Speaker 1: like the best of shows, like your show. It became

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Speaker 1: like watching a family grow and like you watched the

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Speaker 1: characters kind of go through their own stuff and you

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Speaker 1: watch them figure their own stuff out and by the

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Speaker 1: end of it there better. Yeah. Well fat, So let's

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Speaker 1: go back your teaching that, John Burrows, When did you

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Speaker 1: make the decision that you needed to go to l A.

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Speaker 1: I remember they had asked me to consider doing another

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Speaker 1: year at school, um, and I was like, well, I

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Speaker 1: don't know, guys, like I think I wanna try to

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Speaker 1: see what can happen with this, And I just remember

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Speaker 1: having this thought of like, well, I'm getting kind of old. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm like I'm getting a little long in the tooth, which,

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Speaker 1: by the way, nowadays is actually true. Like if you're

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Speaker 1: not famous by fourteen on TikTok, give it up, I'm kidding.

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Speaker 1: I'm kidding. Don't, please don't, And also don't get famous

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Speaker 1: on TikTok. But I was I just had a sense

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Speaker 1: of like, well, if not now, when And I could

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Speaker 1: definitely see inertia settling in if I didn't at least try.

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Speaker 1: And I remember one of my acting teachers a long

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Speaker 1: time ago, even actually the guy went and taught underneath

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Speaker 1: at Burrows. I said, like, what's the worst thing that

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Speaker 1: can happen? If you try? You fail, so then fail

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Speaker 1: again and fail better. I was like, Okay, that's it's

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Speaker 1: like pretty good advice. And it is like it really is,

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Speaker 1: like I really think, especially nowadays, and especially how uncertain

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Speaker 1: everything seems with the pandemic, with the complete devastation of

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Speaker 1: social norms as it seems over the last few years,

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Speaker 1: I think the idea of failing is so terrifying to

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Speaker 1: people and and in reality you're kind of like and

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Speaker 1: then you know what will happen, Like you'll fail at something,

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Speaker 1: and then the sound is gonna rise and you're gonna

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Speaker 1: get up and go get another job or not, or

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Speaker 1: you know you're gonna make it work. It's not climbing

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Speaker 1: Mount Everest every time. Sometimes it's just walking up a

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Speaker 1: hill and you just have to put one ft in

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Speaker 1: front of another and then all of a sudden you

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Speaker 1: look back and you're like, look, how far upcome? This

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Speaker 1: is actually impressive. I'm impressed with myself, right, it is?

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Speaker 1: You deserve credit, though, what do they say a bird

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Speaker 1: in a hand? Like leaving something, especially when you're in

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Speaker 1: this business where it's so hard to get work, it's

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Speaker 1: difficult to I mean you were twenty four, I I

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Speaker 1: mean I was working in the theater and I was like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I want to go to l A. I want to

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Speaker 1: go to l OH but I have this job. It's

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Speaker 1: really hard to say no, this is what I'm gonna do.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to l A. And leaving opportunities that

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Speaker 1: you have is it's difficult. Well, I think there are

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Speaker 1: there are inflection points, right obviously, and we all have them.

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Speaker 1: Some of them happened earlier for us, and some of

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Speaker 1: them happened later. And I think the idea is in

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Speaker 1: the best case scenario, and I think you can probably

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Speaker 1: attest to this as well, having the ability to identify them. Right,

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Speaker 1: so when you get an opportunity, you say, Okay, this

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Speaker 1: is an opportunity, like, I really want to take advantage

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Speaker 1: of this. And I remember, God, I mean when I

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Speaker 1: came out here, I auditioned for everything and I got nothing.

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Speaker 1: I was an extra in the pilot of the TV

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Speaker 1: show The Practice, you know, I was up for Deep Impact.

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Speaker 1: I didn't get it. John Favreau got it. And it

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Speaker 1: was just one of those things of like coming so

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Speaker 1: close to something and not getting it's coming so close

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Speaker 1: to something and not getting it. And that happened over

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Speaker 1: and over and over and over again. And I had success,

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Speaker 1: and I had a couple of things that I got,

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Speaker 1: and it was kind of climbing up that hill of

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Speaker 1: loose gravel and sliding down and climbing back up and

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Speaker 1: sliding down. But then I remember when Madman came around.

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Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, this is like an inflection point.

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Speaker 1: This is an actual thing that I could really do

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Speaker 1: and really do well, and I think that I need

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Speaker 1: to id I have to like call it out and

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Speaker 1: I have to be I have to get this. I

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Speaker 1: just have to. I'm not a big like believer in

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Speaker 1: the secret or you know, manifesting your destiny or whatever that,

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Speaker 1: but I was very much aware that I really did

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Speaker 1: in a way that I hadn't identified any of these

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Speaker 1: other opportunities or options that I really thought this was

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Speaker 1: right for me, all right, folks. Next up is the

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Speaker 1: first of the pens that you'll hear from today on

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Speaker 1: why he almost didn't take a role that would change

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Speaker 1: his life trajectory, which if you listen to this full episode,

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Speaker 1: would not be the last time that he would begrudgingly

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Speaker 1: take on an amazing role. Here he is to tell

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Speaker 1: you all about it, the incredible my new bestie, Pen Badgeley.

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Speaker 1: I'm not kidding. I was ready to hang it up

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Speaker 1: before I took Crossip girl. I've been doing television for

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Speaker 1: so long, really, it was already so disillusioned with the process.

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Speaker 1: I had done so many shows, series leads, series that

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Speaker 1: had all gone to series, not just pilots that had

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Speaker 1: then failed and been canceled. We try to get that

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Speaker 1: back nine you know what I mean. You know the

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Speaker 1: first season in the office, you know, you know how

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Speaker 1: was it a strug that combatus to get a show

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Speaker 1: to make it? And I was just like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I can't do TV anymore. I just can't. And that's

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Speaker 1: why when Gossip Girl came along, I initially did say no,

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Speaker 1: but anyway, sorry, you can know so you you so no.

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Speaker 1: So you you have the opportunity for gossip Girl comes

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Speaker 1: and you say no, Yeah, I mean so so the

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Speaker 1: so the co creator, Stephanie Savage, she actually asked me.

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Speaker 1: She emailed me the script and she said, you know,

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Speaker 1: I feel like you will have already She her words

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Speaker 1: in my memory are I think that you will feel

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Speaker 1: like you've already done this, which is play the flappy haired,

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Speaker 1: awkward kid. Okay, because that's what I had done on

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Speaker 1: the show we'd worked together on like two or three

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Speaker 1: years previous. When I was seventeen years old, I lived

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Speaker 1: in Vancouver for the best six months on a show

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Speaker 1: called The Mountain where I was playing this young professional

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Speaker 1: snowboarder and a show that was basically like the pitch was.

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Speaker 1: It was Dynasty on a Mountain, Okay, And she co

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Speaker 1: created that show with mcg at the time was huge

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Speaker 1: with the OC and all this stuff. So then she

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Speaker 1: and Josh Schwartz got together to to make Gossip Girl,

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Speaker 1: and Um, she emails me the concept the script and

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Speaker 1: was like, I would really love you to look at it, Dan,

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Speaker 1: even though I feel like you you'll probably not want

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Speaker 1: to do it. And I read it and I said

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Speaker 1: thank you, and you're right, you know, thank you for

388
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Speaker 1: thinking of me, but respectfully, like, yeah, this is just

389
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Speaker 1: not what I'm interested in doing right now. And the

390
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Speaker 1: opportunity went away and they cast everybody else. I couldn't

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Speaker 1: find who they thought was Dan. Um, she comes back

392
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Speaker 1: and sort of gives me a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: a plea, I mean plea maybe sounds not. It wasn't

394
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Speaker 1: like desperate, it was more like it. She she pitched

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Speaker 1: me on the idea that I was Dan, and Um,

396
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Speaker 1: I ultimately was sold on it and and said, yes,

397
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Speaker 1: why what made you change your mind? Um, honestly something

398
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Speaker 1: that did not even pan out, Like, I don't feel

399
00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 1: like she was she she meant what she said, but

400
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,399
Speaker 1: what she said was that she was interested in the

401
00:22:57,440 --> 00:22:59,679
Speaker 1: fact that he was like the sort of moral center

402
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Speaker 1: of the show, like a sort of male lead of

403
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Speaker 1: the show I think at its outset, and she was

404
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,560
Speaker 1: sort of pitching me on, like this idea that three

405
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 1: years prior, I had done our show where I started

406
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Speaker 1: out in a in a in a recurring role, and

407
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Speaker 1: then that role became slowly kind of the heart of

408
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Speaker 1: how she saw the show that I was in every

409
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Speaker 1: episode I think in the end and by the end,

410
00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,119
Speaker 1: I was like a really a main character. And she

411
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Speaker 1: was like, you know, think about that's that was the

412
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Speaker 1: arc with your last guy, you know, And I've done

413
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Speaker 1: another series of Warner Brothers since then, and actually he

414
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Speaker 1: was in college, so I was taking a step back

415
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Speaker 1: into high school. And at twenty years old, I was like,

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Speaker 1: high school, are you kidding me? Like, like like my

417
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 1: sideburns are down to my jaw. I don't, I don't,

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Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not, like you know all, I've never

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Speaker 1: even been to high school. And I honestly was just

420
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Speaker 1: I just so wanted to play other things and other

421
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Speaker 1: people and and and other ideas. But she kind of

422
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Speaker 1: had this idea. She was like, you know, this time,

423
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Speaker 1: you'll be starting out as a sort of heart of

424
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Speaker 1: the show, and you know, just think of where it

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00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,119
Speaker 1: can go from there. And And what's interesting about Gossip

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Speaker 1: Girl And I say this as a witness, not as

427
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 1: like a I think I took it personally initially and

428
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 1: I am I complained as a young and but what

429
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,440
Speaker 1: I see it now and just just purely with detachment

430
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 1: and like you know, distance and time. The whole point

431
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:24,679
Speaker 1: of Gossip Girl was that Dan was not meant to

432
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,000
Speaker 1: He was not the heart. Like the show wasn't so

433
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:31,280
Speaker 1: concerned with having a heart. It was concerned with this aspirational,

434
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 1: as we say, this sort of fantasy of of the

435
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:38,680
Speaker 1: of the elite, you know, of the of the glamorous,

436
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,800
Speaker 1: of which basically doesn't exist, you know, but but yeah,

437
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,720
Speaker 1: it's this like fantasy life of youth. And and actually

438
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 1: in Chuck and Blair, who I think very quickly became

439
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,119
Speaker 1: the clear heart or hearts of the show or the

440
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: bivalve heart of the show, the whole point was that

441
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: they were not moral. The whole point was that they were.

442
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:01,800
Speaker 1: They were an immoral but they were a moral They

443
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,720
Speaker 1: were sort of like, they did what served them. And

444
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, because they were portrayed

445
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 1: by two talented actors, those characters had such depth and

446
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:12,440
Speaker 1: such range, because actually, when you play people who are

447
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 1: who are not sure about what's right, you ultimately get

448
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 1: a more compelling story. And I mean that's why, you know,

449
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 1: years later, I'm playing a serial killer and people haven't

450
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 1: ever responded more positively, you know. And I think it's

451
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:29,880
Speaker 1: a sign of like the sort of stories that were

452
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 1: interested in what we get from stories. It's actually very

453
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,400
Speaker 1: hard to tell a story about a moral center. It's

454
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: it's I'm not saying that it's not a good story.

455
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,240
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's not worth trying, but I'm saying

456
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: that it's Currently we live in an age where it's

457
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,360
Speaker 1: it's more compelling off the bat to tell a story

458
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,679
Speaker 1: about a bad person who's trying, who's trying, because I

459
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,880
Speaker 1: think we can identify more readily with that visceral level

460
00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:01,200
Speaker 1: of struggle. And people also don't want to be told

461
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:05,520
Speaker 1: what's yeah exactly, what is right? Yeah? Actually that's never

462
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,199
Speaker 1: worked with anybody, so any right, yeah, then it becomes

463
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,880
Speaker 1: preaching well exactly, And I think in some sense, Dan,

464
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:16,199
Speaker 1: coupled with the way that I unconsciously played him, became

465
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 1: righteous and annoying, you know. And and that's and that

466
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:24,120
Speaker 1: makes sense at least I'll say this, I think true

467
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: stands of Gossip Girl usually seem to align with the

468
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,760
Speaker 1: Chuck and Blair kind of like thing. And that's that.

469
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,679
Speaker 1: I do think it's really seems to me, like I

470
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:37,920
Speaker 1: remember when it happened the first season was episode six.

471
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:40,840
Speaker 1: They were the kind of unexpected relationship that then just

472
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 1: worked and then it became the heart of the show,

473
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:48,560
Speaker 1: really and and I think that no one anticipated that,

474
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 1: but it was a sign of the times. It was like, ah,

475
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: and a sign of what you just said, which is like,

476
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,199
Speaker 1: you can't start out with somebody who's who's like always

477
00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,359
Speaker 1: right or something or who and who always thinks that

478
00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 1: they're good and then just complain about how no one

479
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,639
Speaker 1: else is as good as then that's not that's not

480
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: as interesting. It's not and it's not it's actually not

481
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: humble in the end, Did you view yourself as the

482
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 1: outsider on the ship? In life, on the show? On

483
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,760
Speaker 1: the show, did I view Dan as the outsider? As

484
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 1: Dan as the outsider? I mean, that's who he's identified as.

485
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,439
Speaker 1: But to me, the joke is always like, bro, how

486
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 1: much more on the inside could you be? You're just

487
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,360
Speaker 1: not in the deepest of the inner circle. But you're

488
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,120
Speaker 1: in the same school. You're you're you're a white boy.

489
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 1: You know, you're you know, your dad was a rock star,

490
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 1: and you live in a three million dollar apartment rather

491
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,639
Speaker 1: than a thirty million dollar mansion. So like, if you

492
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,879
Speaker 1: think you're on the outside, Dan Humphrey, I'm sorry, but

493
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,959
Speaker 1: you have a lot of learning to do. You just

494
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,440
Speaker 1: aren't literally inside the inside of the inside. You're just

495
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 1: on the outspirit of the inside, you know. So okay,

496
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,200
Speaker 1: all right, it's true. I'm sure many of us would

497
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,400
Speaker 1: be a okay with the three million dollar apartment in Brooklyn.

498
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 1: My next guest also played a very memorable character, although

499
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 1: he was not as on the inside of the inside

500
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: or the outskirt of the inside. I'm I'm getting complicated

501
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:12,679
Speaker 1: either way. Here's Lamore and Morris on his experience playing

502
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 1: Winston on New Girl. I gotta say writers on a

503
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,119
Speaker 1: New Girl geniuses because they would look at the bits

504
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,480
Speaker 1: in between stuff and figure out what was funny. They

505
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:25,680
Speaker 1: impro improvised stuff, and they would go, let's tailor it

506
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 1: towards that, and they would write the most ridiculous stuff

507
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:32,239
Speaker 1: from my character and it worked and I loved it.

508
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: Every every episode felt like a sketch comedy show to me,

509
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 1: because I didn't know what character trait I had that week.

510
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 1: And you know, one week, my character is a professional

511
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 1: former professional basketball player. The next week he has thin

512
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 1: fingers and he can't carry anything. Next week he constantly

513
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 1: has directions for some reason. It's like, what, So it

514
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,520
Speaker 1: was funny? It was fun. It was a fun, fun

515
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: show to do for sure. After this, I can see

516
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,080
Speaker 1: when you felt like they figured out who you were

517
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 1: and we're able to play into what you felt like

518
00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: your strength was. Yeah, And once I knew I wasn't

519
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 1: gonna get fired, I was just more comfortable going to

520
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 1: work every day. It's like, Okay, why don't you think

521
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: you were going to be fired? Was there anything specifically

522
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 1: that happened? I thought I was under performing, To be

523
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 1: quite honest with you, I knew what I was capable

524
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: of doing, but I would leave fit every day going

525
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,520
Speaker 1: I didn't do what I wanted to do. And they

526
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: don't know that I have this weird energy that I

527
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 1: could perform at this level that I could perform at

528
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 1: I don't think they I don't think I've done it yet.

529
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 1: And I would watch the episodes back and sometimes that

530
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: cringe at him, and I don't know if that's that's

531
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,840
Speaker 1: any good. It's very insecure. I was extremely insecure, and

532
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,360
Speaker 1: you know, my cast mates, obviously in the producers would

533
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 1: kind of reassure me, like you're not going anywhere, but

534
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 1: you know, I know how this business is, you know,

535
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:54,640
Speaker 1: and and they were very gracious to give me a

536
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 1: lot of room to grow. I think we're all glad

537
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 1: it happened that way because it was just another piece too.

538
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 1: I think otherwise perfect Gast. Everybody on the show is

539
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 1: clicking on all cylinders from day one, and I was

540
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:11,719
Speaker 1: trying to find my footing. Yeah, I feel like there's

541
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:15,480
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways a similarity between The Office

542
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 1: a New Girl in terms of this sort of disparate

543
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 1: collection of characters that are that find themselves together and

544
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: form this sort of pseudo family in a way. Right,

545
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 1: is that is that a stretch? Not a stretch at all?

546
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 1: Not a stretch at all. It's like, no matter what

547
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:37,800
Speaker 1: office you go into to them in that office there

548
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: this you have a story about a guy who acts

549
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:42,719
Speaker 1: this where oh I know this woman she behaves this

550
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 1: way and you wouldn't believe it until you saw it,

551
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 1: you know, and then the office is a heightened version

552
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,160
Speaker 1: of what people can identify with all the characters on

553
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 1: the show. And I think that's the same way with

554
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,240
Speaker 1: New Girls. That people they have these people who live together,

555
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: and everyone has a story about my roommate does this,

556
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 1: or he wears a kimono at night and you don't know,

557
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 1: no he doesn't. And then you watch New Girl and

558
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 1: you people go, yeah, look that's about me. You know,

559
00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: you know, it's a weird group of people that have

560
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 1: a common bond, and you know, and they and they

561
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:16,960
Speaker 1: stick it out and they stick together. And I think

562
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 1: the reason why our shows resignated is because and lasted

563
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 1: for so long, is because people at home felt connected

564
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:28,280
Speaker 1: to the characters. Right. No, for sure, when did you

565
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: realize that the show was taking off it was gonna

566
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 1: you know, after you after you found your own personal

567
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 1: security in terms of your job security, when did you

568
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, we're gonna we're gonna be around

569
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: for a while. Do you remember was there a moment?

570
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,360
Speaker 1: There were a few. I gotta say, once people started

571
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 1: knowing my name on the street because people people always

572
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: they still to this day, called me Winston from New

573
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 1: Winston's It's constant, but the moment people would go Mr

574
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 1: Morris Lamour and Lauren getting get a photo, and I thought,

575
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 1: my god, they looked up my name like they you know,

576
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 1: people are invested in It's like sometimes you watch a

577
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 1: TV show and then you'll just go onto the next.

578
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 1: Some of my favorite shows, I couldn't tell you the

579
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:14,720
Speaker 1: actor's real names, you know, And now I can't be

580
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: you know, because we're in the business now. But like

581
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,240
Speaker 1: it's one of those things where you're walking on the street,

582
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: somebody says your name and it hits you like, my goodness,

583
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 1: that's what they know me from. It must it must

584
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 1: be working. And when you would read I'm not supposed

585
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,640
Speaker 1: to read comments, but I read them. And when you

586
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,480
Speaker 1: see so many, whether they're good or bad, I go,

587
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 1: there's a conversation around an episode that we did. There,

588
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,720
Speaker 1: you go, oh, people care. People are actually invested. Then

589
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 1: you see fan fiction you know about about your show,

590
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 1: and you're like, whoa, people are disgusting but also invested. Yes, um,

591
00:32:54,320 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 1: have you ever played true American? I have American? Yeah,

592
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:02,960
Speaker 1: but on the accident kind of I was. It was

593
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: a party going on in Hollywood and we walked past

594
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 1: it and you know, people recognize me, and they were like,

595
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 1: you'll never believe what we're doing over here. We're playing

596
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,760
Speaker 1: True American. And I reached out to the guy. We

597
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,560
Speaker 1: exchanged Instagrams afterwards, and I've been I've been talking to

598
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:18,200
Speaker 1: him lately, like where are the photos that I'm in.

599
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:19,840
Speaker 1: He's like, I was trying to keep you out of

600
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 1: him because I didn't want to be that guy would

601
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 1: be a paparazzi guy while your party. But I even

602
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 1: posted some photos of my instagram back then. They were

603
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: literally having a full on true American party in their

604
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 1: front yard. That's amazing, like standing on chairs, doing bits

605
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: and you know, screaming JF carry after. It was a

606
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 1: whole thing, which also blew my mind till this day.

607
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,240
Speaker 1: It still blows my mind. A drinking game with no rules,

608
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 1: you know, yes, went in prepera. This is not a joke.

609
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yeah, that True American and I

610
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:53,960
Speaker 1: got online to try to ascertain and figure out what

611
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: the rules were. Reading the description of True American, by

612
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 1: the way, a drinking game from New Girl left me

613
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,360
Speaker 1: more confused, and I thought that I was to start with,

614
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:06,720
Speaker 1: So I don't know if that's a good thing or

615
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,879
Speaker 1: about that. But that's that's the point. That's the point,

616
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,320
Speaker 1: because if they're all those beers, you're gonna be confused

617
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:17,120
Speaker 1: and in the night you're gonna why did I do this? Why?

618
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 1: Why I One of the things that happened on the office,

619
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,879
Speaker 1: it was intentional. Greg Daniels, our show runner, had come

620
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 1: from Saturday Night Live, and from the very beginning he

621
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:33,320
Speaker 1: felt like the ensemble experience was incredibly important. But the

622
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:37,239
Speaker 1: ensemble experience not just amongst the actors, amongst everyone. And

623
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,799
Speaker 1: so he had writers who were actors and actors who

624
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,319
Speaker 1: were writers, and I know a new girl. You guys

625
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,760
Speaker 1: had a similar experience. You wrote an episode, you directed

626
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 1: an episode. Was that you or was that a part

627
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: of the culture you you feel like that that was

628
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 1: created on the show a little, a little of both.

629
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 1: Liz Mayweather is very She asked a lot of questions

630
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 1: and loves hearing story. He's about personal life and incorporating

631
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:04,359
Speaker 1: things that you may have done. And you know, that's

632
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 1: testament to all the writers as well. They just, you know,

633
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 1: they want to know and they all know they knew

634
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,600
Speaker 1: that I had aspirations to direct and to write. You know,

635
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:15,920
Speaker 1: I would always have ideas on set, as actors were

636
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,920
Speaker 1: always pitching ideas, character storylines, My whole, the whole Winston

637
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,520
Speaker 1: being a police officer was my idea, and then writing

638
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 1: the episode came because of that. The episode that I

639
00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:32,400
Speaker 1: wrote was about my character being being new to the

640
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:36,359
Speaker 1: force but then meeting this woman that he really liked

641
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 1: and was vibing with, and then he finds out that

642
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:42,320
Speaker 1: she's protesting the police, and so he's like, oh, so

643
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,960
Speaker 1: he's now doesn't know if he's ashamed to be a

644
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 1: cop or if he's proud to be a guy. He

645
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,840
Speaker 1: doesn't know. And so because because he's a black police officer,

646
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,880
Speaker 1: you know, so he's like, uh wait, you know. And

647
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,319
Speaker 1: that came from Twitter. So on the show, my character

648
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 1: is named Ferguson. At the time, there was a lot

649
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,920
Speaker 1: of civil unrest based on what happened in Ferguson, and

650
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 1: people started tweeting me. They were like, oh, how does

651
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:06,839
Speaker 1: it feel to play a black cop with a cat

652
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 1: named Ferguson in these times? And I was like, God,

653
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:13,320
Speaker 1: damn it if I get one more tweet about this,

654
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,759
Speaker 1: And people started really asking me questions went from being

655
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:20,839
Speaker 1: funny two serious, like, na, brother, you gotta speak up,

656
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 1: what do you think about this? And it's like, I'm

657
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 1: just an actor, but okay. Uh. So I went to

658
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 1: Liz Maryweather because I genuinely started feeling uncomfortable. I asked

659
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:30,640
Speaker 1: her if I could address it on the show, and

660
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 1: so she said, why don't you write an episode? So

661
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 1: she paired me with Rob rose L, one of our

662
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,800
Speaker 1: fantastic writer producers, and we came up with an episode

663
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,920
Speaker 1: and we addressed it in in a way, you know,

664
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,200
Speaker 1: a very Network TV funny kind of way, but we

665
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,880
Speaker 1: still put some light on it and what could possibly

666
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,840
Speaker 1: go through the police officer's head in that moment. He

667
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 1: doesn't meet someone like that, you know, in these times

668
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:55,919
Speaker 1: that we're living in. So that was the reason why

669
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: I wrote that one. But it was to her it

670
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,360
Speaker 1: was like, please do it. And then directing, they just asked,

671
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 1: how do you want to direct? Damn? Right? I do?

672
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,320
Speaker 1: You know? Yeah? And that was easy. I was. I

673
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 1: want to say, it's easy. The process was a lot

674
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 1: more difficult than I thought it would be. But on

675
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 1: set everyone was so everyone except for Max Greenfield. Everyone

676
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: besides Max Screenfield was so kind. Max Max is intentionally

677
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:24,919
Speaker 1: a dick. Yeah, yeah, I had that too, Rain Wilson. Yeah,

678
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,520
Speaker 1: and it makes it just it just to make it,

679
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 1: she has to make a diymmical. Yeah, just take that

680
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 1: whatever the little, maybe the teeniest amount of insecurity you

681
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 1: might have, and just just twisted in. Yep it oh it.

682
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 1: Even though you know they love you and the message

683
00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:47,640
Speaker 1: with you, it's still it works. What they're doing is working.

684
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,279
Speaker 1: I'm getting more and more insecure as the day goes on.

685
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:56,880
Speaker 1: I'm like my in over my head. You brought up

686
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,640
Speaker 1: Ferguson Are you a cat guy? Um? And disappointed a

687
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:06,040
Speaker 1: lot of people. No. In fact, hell no, God, you

688
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,760
Speaker 1: know I I don't mind I don't mind cats anymore.

689
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,360
Speaker 1: When I was younger, my buddy used to have a

690
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 1: bunch of cats, and one of them, when it was

691
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 1: a kitten, he said, oh, it's buttercut. Hold Buttercup. I said, oh, hey,

692
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:18,759
Speaker 1: Buttercup is so adorable. And we just got through playing basketball,

693
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 1: so I had no shirt on. Buttercup goes and attaches

694
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 1: to my chest and slides down and cuts up my

695
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 1: chest on its way down. Because it was too fast,

696
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,120
Speaker 1: you didn't see it coming. You couldn't stop this attack

697
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,680
Speaker 1: if you tried. Cats are super quick and sneaky. I

698
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,759
Speaker 1: don't trust them, at least with dogs. They're loud and

699
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,440
Speaker 1: you know they're coming. You know they're coming. This one.

700
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,640
Speaker 1: My next guest is an actor I have admired now

701
00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 1: for quite sometime. He has truly mastered the art of

702
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:16,320
Speaker 1: transforming into his characters by using entirely different voices, entirely

703
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:23,000
Speaker 1: different physicalities. He's played fictional characters, yes, but also real

704
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,480
Speaker 1: life people that we all know, yet he has managed

705
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 1: to convince us that he has become them. When he

706
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 1: stopped by, he gave us a little insight into just

707
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 1: how he does it. Here he is Paul Walter Houser.

708
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: I I knew that there were good people in Hollywood.

709
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:44,719
Speaker 1: That was the vibe I got, because you know, when

710
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:49,040
Speaker 1: you grow up in a ultra conservative setting and you're

711
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 1: highly religious, it's it's easy to fall into this thing

712
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 1: of believing that Hollywood is uh is this really an

713
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:58,840
Speaker 1: awful place with all these awful people, And it's like,

714
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,200
Speaker 1: I think it's a place full of a bunch of

715
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:05,880
Speaker 1: real regular people. But it just so happens that egos

716
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,880
Speaker 1: and greed and things play in a little bit more

717
00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:12,440
Speaker 1: aggressively in our business. Then say people that work for

718
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 1: Turbo Tax. You know, it's it just happens to be

719
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 1: an environment that plays on the the generational, you know,

720
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,480
Speaker 1: cyclical sins we as humans all incur and then sometimes

721
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,040
Speaker 1: rewards them or doesn't slap risks for some of them,

722
00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 1: and and that's its own thing. But yeah, no, I

723
00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:33,719
Speaker 1: I would say that I learned that you can work

724
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:37,759
Speaker 1: with wonderful people in Hollywood. I learned to not be

725
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,359
Speaker 1: afraid to improvise. My whole thing was I'm not gonna

726
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,120
Speaker 1: ask permission, I'm gonna ask forgiveness. At that time, especially,

727
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:47,880
Speaker 1: I was obsessed with the Christopher Guests mockumentaries like Waiting

728
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 1: for Government, And my whole thing was, I'm gonna be

729
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:52,680
Speaker 1: one of those actors. I'm not gonna try to be

730
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,080
Speaker 1: Robert de Niro. I'll never be DeNiro. I can't be DeNiro,

731
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:00,760
Speaker 1: but you bet your ass. I can be at Begley Jr.

732
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: You bet your ass. I can be Fred Willard. And

733
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:05,760
Speaker 1: I went into it like that and I was rewarded

734
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 1: for it. Lance Black, who had an Oscar for writing,

735
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:12,320
Speaker 1: is telling me he loves my improv So like that

736
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:14,480
Speaker 1: gave me a lot of confidence and let me know

737
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: my my true North as a performer will always be

738
00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: to go with my gut instincts. I mean, you talked

739
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:28,320
Speaker 1: early on about standing up and doing impressions of family

740
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 1: members or big movie stars of the day, Jack, etcetera.

741
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:36,320
Speaker 1: Do you feel like that influenced you in terms of

742
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:41,600
Speaker 1: creating characters, making vocal and physical choices. Is that something

743
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:45,560
Speaker 1: that was always interesting to you? Yeah, I I was.

744
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,680
Speaker 1: I was sitting at brunch today with our buddies. My

745
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 1: wife and I were sitting with Ray and deb Jiratana.

746
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 1: They're they're like a power couple of of They do

747
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: everything from visual effects to directing to their daughters and

748
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:01,640
Speaker 1: actress like wonderful people. And we're talking and they said,

749
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:06,360
Speaker 1: how did you pick up on all these weird characteristics

750
00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 1: and choices to make for playing Larry Hall and Blackbird?

751
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:12,360
Speaker 1: And you know, the answer I gave him was just

752
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:15,759
Speaker 1: I love watching people. If I'm in an airport and

753
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:19,320
Speaker 1: I have forty five minutes to wait around for my flight,

754
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 1: I'm not really begrudging or bemoaning it. It's an opportunity

755
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,839
Speaker 1: for me to pause and watch total strangers. This guy

756
00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:31,319
Speaker 1: pulls out his sandwich from Arby's and he starts eating oh,

757
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,800
Speaker 1: I noticed he's eating with the rapper half on the

758
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 1: sandwich because he doesn't want to get his hands dirty.

759
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:39,600
Speaker 1: But then he gets arb sauce on his fingers, licks

760
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,160
Speaker 1: his fingers and wipes him on his pants, So clearly

761
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,640
Speaker 1: being sanitary doesn't matter to him, you know. It's it's

762
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,919
Speaker 1: about finding all the little things and all the little

763
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:52,600
Speaker 1: people and making up stories in your head of that

764
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: old improv rule. If this is true, what else is true?

765
00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:00,000
Speaker 1: And and those characteristic speak the greater things, both about humanity,

766
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:03,959
Speaker 1: the or the person in particular. So I, once again,

767
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:07,160
Speaker 1: that's me, that's me kind of ranting, but also saying

768
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:11,120
Speaker 1: that being analytical about the pieces that make up people.

769
00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:13,839
Speaker 1: You know, it's just being a journalist. If you could

770
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:17,320
Speaker 1: be a journalist of humanity and then trying to emulate

771
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:20,399
Speaker 1: those things, you're a great actor. It doesn't mean you're

772
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:22,840
Speaker 1: Daniel day Lewis or Violet Davis. It means that you

773
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,080
Speaker 1: pay attention and any of us have that ability. It's

774
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:30,040
Speaker 1: not like it's a messing. It's it's a human thing. Yeah,

775
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:33,440
Speaker 1: that's what I feel like a huge part of my

776
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 1: job is understanding and observing human behavior, and that being

777
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:44,879
Speaker 1: able to unlock that behavior can very often unlock the physicality,

778
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:48,879
Speaker 1: the voice, that everything of a character. There's something really

779
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:53,160
Speaker 1: communal about the experience of watching film and TV. You know.

780
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:55,960
Speaker 1: People sometimes want to compliment me and say, wow, you,

781
00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:59,200
Speaker 1: how did you do that character? And I'm like, I

782
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,320
Speaker 1: was doing you your How I did that character? You know,

783
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:06,959
Speaker 1: it's it's not as crazy or complex as people would think.

784
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:11,239
Speaker 1: If you can have the fearlessness and specificity to to

785
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:15,239
Speaker 1: dive into those things that you've experienced. That role Tom

786
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 1: Cruise played in Tropic Thunder. People are obsessed with that,

787
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 1: you know. They're like, man, Tom Cruise, and it's like

788
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,480
Speaker 1: he's really he's doing what Dwayne Johnson did in the

789
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:29,399
Speaker 1: w w E, where he's taking some piece of him

790
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,680
Speaker 1: and then amplifying it to a psychotic degree that makes

791
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:36,719
Speaker 1: it entertaining. Tom Cruise, like many humans, has any ego.

792
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 1: What if you took that anger and ego and amplified

793
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:42,160
Speaker 1: it to a billion you have less grossman. You know,

794
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:44,360
Speaker 1: doesn't mean times a bad guy. It means that we

795
00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:47,600
Speaker 1: all have some ugly in, some sin, and some truth

796
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,279
Speaker 1: and reality to us. And if we choose to go

797
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:55,040
Speaker 1: ninety on a detour, that's what less Grossman looks like. Well, Paul,

798
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:59,240
Speaker 1: it's hard not to compliment you on your character development.

799
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:01,359
Speaker 1: The work that you have been doing the last few

800
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:07,279
Speaker 1: years is well, it's awesome, and hey, I'd love to

801
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:10,320
Speaker 1: see how you would maybe take on the role of

802
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:14,279
Speaker 1: one of the world's most famous magicians, like, Oh, I

803
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:19,800
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe my next guest Pen Gillette of Penn

804
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:22,880
Speaker 1: and Teller. I mean to say that this man has

805
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:26,880
Speaker 1: lived a thousand lives would be an understatement. Our conversation

806
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:34,240
Speaker 1: was indeed one of the most surprising yet fascinating conversations

807
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,480
Speaker 1: that I have had this year. Here's just a small

808
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:40,879
Speaker 1: taste when he tells the story of how a fever

809
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:46,279
Speaker 1: dream turned into a creative opportunity. I was touring with

810
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:50,279
Speaker 1: an avant garde band called The Residents out of San Francisco.

811
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:56,120
Speaker 1: I was touring their opera in as the Narrator and

812
00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:03,120
Speaker 1: in Barcelona, Spain. I got wicked sick and taken to

813
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:11,440
Speaker 1: a Barcelona hospital, which we're not the best hospitals in

814
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:16,160
Speaker 1: the world, where nobody knew where where I was because

815
00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:19,239
Speaker 1: I had been taking an ambulance when no one from

816
00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:23,200
Speaker 1: the crew was watching right, I spoke at the time,

817
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:29,360
Speaker 1: no Spanish, the doctors spoke no English. I had a

818
00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:34,080
Speaker 1: fever that I only saw in centigrade, but was wicked high.

819
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:39,600
Speaker 1: I was hallucinating out of my mind, and all I

820
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,480
Speaker 1: thought about was if one of these doctors could just

821
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:47,759
Speaker 1: feel the pain without me having to talk, they could

822
00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:52,240
Speaker 1: diagnose it and fix me. M in a fever dream,

823
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:58,200
Speaker 1: an actual fever dream. I imagined the whole story of

824
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:02,040
Speaker 1: the Pain Addict, which is my original short story that

825
00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:06,680
Speaker 1: I published, and I uh. I was taken out of

826
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,680
Speaker 1: that hospital by one of the band members who was

827
00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:12,520
Speaker 1: a tough American who just said, get your fucking hands

828
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:16,480
Speaker 1: off them. We're Americans, get your fucking hands off them,

829
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,720
Speaker 1: come on, pat and carried me out of the hospital

830
00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:24,000
Speaker 1: and left me in the hotel room in Barcelona for

831
00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:26,960
Speaker 1: three days with a dancer who was left to take

832
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:31,000
Speaker 1: care of me until I got better and joined rejoined

833
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:34,960
Speaker 1: the troop. Then, many many years later, I got to

834
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:38,560
Speaker 1: meet Charlie to a mutual friend in England. We've been

835
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,520
Speaker 1: out for lunch and we are having a wonderful time,

836
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: and I said to him, you know, I don't want

837
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:48,280
Speaker 1: to turn this into a business meeting. I'm sure everybody pitches,

838
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:50,840
Speaker 1: you said, Bob, I have been out of ideas for

839
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:57,480
Speaker 1: two years. Tell me anything. And I told him the

840
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:01,680
Speaker 1: story idea and he went, jeezus, that that'd be really good.

841
00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:04,759
Speaker 1: And then he said to me, listen, let me tell

842
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:08,320
Speaker 1: you about me as a collaborator. I don't answer the phone.

843
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:13,000
Speaker 1: I don't answer text I don't answer emails. I will

844
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:16,280
Speaker 1: tell you we're doing something, then you will hear nothing

845
00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:19,560
Speaker 1: about it for three months that I'll call you and

846
00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:22,640
Speaker 1: talk for two hours. I will leave you out of

847
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:26,400
Speaker 1: the process. I'll throw things on your shoulders. I am

848
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:29,719
Speaker 1: the worst person to work with in the world, but

849
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:34,439
Speaker 1: I'd like to do this. I said, good. I called them, stead,

850
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:40,360
Speaker 1: we're gonna work on this. Nothing. Six weeks later he

851
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:44,799
Speaker 1: called me, talked for three hours and said, I'll send

852
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:46,960
Speaker 1: you a script and you can make notes on it.

853
00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:50,280
Speaker 1: I said, great, I have some other notes on stuff

854
00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:52,399
Speaker 1: we've been talking about. This will be great. I'll send

855
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:59,840
Speaker 1: you my notes. Nothing. Nothing. Uh. Then he sent me

856
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:05,520
Speaker 1: the script. Eight months later, he sent me the script.

857
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:09,640
Speaker 1: I called him up. He answered and said, we're shooting

858
00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:13,319
Speaker 1: next week. I said, I have some thoughts. He said,

859
00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:17,239
Speaker 1: I'm sure you do. We're shooting next week, I said,

860
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:19,840
Speaker 1: you know, I really wanted to audition for one of

861
00:49:19,880 --> 00:49:22,800
Speaker 1: the roles. He said, I'm sure you did. It's cast.

862
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:28,799
Speaker 1: I said, what what is the credit? And they said,

863
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:34,320
Speaker 1: you'll be happy. He then gave me a fabulous credit

864
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:38,960
Speaker 1: and overpaid me. And my agent said, we're gonna call

865
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:42,960
Speaker 1: him and negotiate the fee. We're sure we can get

866
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:46,640
Speaker 1: him up from here. And I said, listen, for one

867
00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 1: time in show business someone has paid me more than fairly.

868
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:57,120
Speaker 1: I think we should reward this behavior and say thank you.

869
00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: And it came out and people gave me all this

870
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:04,080
Speaker 1: credit and said, oh, was your original story and I

871
00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:08,719
Speaker 1: said yes, but a lot of what makes it good

872
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:13,719
Speaker 1: was not done by me. But thank you. That's amazing.

873
00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:18,800
Speaker 1: He's I will now say, he's the best person to

874
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:22,680
Speaker 1: work with you could ever work with, makes you work

875
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:25,319
Speaker 1: not at all, gives you more credit, pays you well,

876
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:30,400
Speaker 1: goes away and no no email or call saying that

877
00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:33,320
Speaker 1: kime out okay or I did a good job, didn't

878
00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:38,480
Speaker 1: I nothing. We went out to dinner afterwards when I

879
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:40,719
Speaker 1: was in Britain and he said, yeah, that went well,

880
00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:43,279
Speaker 1: and that was the entire about we talked about it.

881
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:50,879
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, pen thank you so much for joining us. Hilarious, insightful,

882
00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:54,120
Speaker 1: and I cannot wait to come to Vegas and see

883
00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:59,399
Speaker 1: your show with Teller in the new year. Listeners, we're

884
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:04,359
Speaker 1: closing out the year with the wonderful Danica mckeller, who

885
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:08,000
Speaker 1: of course played Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years. The

886
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:14,680
Speaker 1: conversation absolutely heartwarming. So as a little inspiration for the

887
00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:17,640
Speaker 1: new year, I'll let her tell you all about how

888
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:22,640
Speaker 1: her family managed to balance work and play so well.

889
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:27,080
Speaker 1: I read that both you and your sister were up

890
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:29,520
Speaker 1: for the role of Wennie Cooper. Now was this? Did

891
00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:31,960
Speaker 1: this cause issues when you got cast with the family

892
00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:34,160
Speaker 1: at home and it was just a one time role.

893
00:51:34,239 --> 00:51:36,080
Speaker 1: It wasn't like a big deal role that I got,

894
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,439
Speaker 1: you know, it was a one off. But they loved

895
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:40,839
Speaker 1: her so much they said they were going to write

896
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:43,240
Speaker 1: a role for her, and they did. She played Becky Slater.

897
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:46,120
Speaker 1: She did I think nine or ten episodes. That's awesome.

898
00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:50,120
Speaker 1: So because you weren't auditioning for serious roles, this ends

899
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:52,239
Speaker 1: up becoming a really big deal for you. Do you

900
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:56,400
Speaker 1: remember anything about the audition? Yes, I remember, I remember

901
00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:00,560
Speaker 1: we auditioned on a Thursday, callbacks for that Friday, and

902
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 1: I remember there's like a group of girls all reading

903
00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:06,200
Speaker 1: for the part of Winning Cooper, including me and my sister,

904
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 1: and the room got small and small, and I kept

905
00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:10,160
Speaker 1: having us come in and read again, and then said, Hey,

906
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:12,080
Speaker 1: we're taking a dinner break. You come back and you're

907
00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 1: gonna read with Fred Savage, the the boy who's playing

908
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:18,160
Speaker 1: the lead after dinner. I was like, okay, So we

909
00:52:18,239 --> 00:52:20,520
Speaker 1: all went to dinner and there's a restaurant down blows

910
00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:23,759
Speaker 1: the studio city and uh. I remember seeing Fred and

911
00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:27,000
Speaker 1: wondering if that was the kid, and I was like, oh,

912
00:52:27,080 --> 00:52:28,839
Speaker 1: he's cute. I wonder if she's the guy who I'll

913
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:30,640
Speaker 1: be reading with it. It was I'm not sure I've

914
00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:32,520
Speaker 1: ever said in this in an interview, but it came

915
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:34,560
Speaker 1: down to the three of us, Me and my sister

916
00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:36,640
Speaker 1: and this actress. I don't know her name, but she

917
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:38,719
Speaker 1: ended up with like a couple of lines in the

918
00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:41,279
Speaker 1: pilot episode. She's the girl for people who are super

919
00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 1: fans of The Wonder Years. Kevin is talking about love,

920
00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:47,839
Speaker 1: you know, Junior High, and there's this couple who's holding

921
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:51,120
Speaker 1: hands across his desk saying I love you, I love

922
00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:53,719
Speaker 1: you too, and she was one of she was one

923
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:56,920
Speaker 1: of the three of us who were the final contenders

924
00:52:57,160 --> 00:52:59,200
Speaker 1: or Windy Cooper. So of the three of us who

925
00:52:59,239 --> 00:53:01,680
Speaker 1: were sitting there reading with Fred after dinner, we all

926
00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:03,800
Speaker 1: ended up with Roles on the show. With Roles on

927
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:08,000
Speaker 1: the show, that's awesome that I love. That's a BTS everybody.

928
00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:12,160
Speaker 1: That's a behind the scenes nugget. Um. I did talk

929
00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 1: for a while to to Daniel Fishel about what I

930
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:18,520
Speaker 1: understand is the same with you, that you're your first

931
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:23,839
Speaker 1: kiss was on camera with Fred in the pilot. How

932
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:28,080
Speaker 1: did that bring some extra nerves? Oh for you, especially

933
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:29,600
Speaker 1: because at the time I had a huge crush on

934
00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:32,400
Speaker 1: him and I was just so excited and so nervous.

935
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:35,920
Speaker 1: And I still remember after the first take when they

936
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:39,919
Speaker 1: said cut, the whole crew started plotting, and I don't

937
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:42,400
Speaker 1: know who started that, but it was mortifying. I mean,

938
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 1: you can only imagine all the nerves, anticipation. You know,

939
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:46,759
Speaker 1: you're about to have your first kiss, You've got a

940
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:49,160
Speaker 1: crush on the guy, you know, and then it finally happens.

941
00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:52,799
Speaker 1: It's the most amazing moment ever. And it's like, wait,

942
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:57,640
Speaker 1: that wasn't a private That wasn't real, okay, right? Did you?

943
00:53:57,920 --> 00:54:00,160
Speaker 1: Did you think for the rest of your life free

944
00:54:00,239 --> 00:54:02,480
Speaker 1: time you kissed someone that would it would break out

945
00:54:02,560 --> 00:54:05,120
Speaker 1: an applause all around you. I remember when I had

946
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:08,520
Speaker 1: my first real kiss at least two years, no year

947
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:11,359
Speaker 1: and a half later, with Jeremy Miller, by the way,

948
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:14,880
Speaker 1: who was the little boy on Growing Pains. That was

949
00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:17,160
Speaker 1: my first kids. He was my first little boyfriend. I

950
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:21,120
Speaker 1: was fourteen and he was thirteen, and and uh, it

951
00:54:21,239 --> 00:54:24,160
Speaker 1: was actually at my dad's house in Lahoya, Okay, were

952
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:26,400
Speaker 1: they were down there for some reason, and so we

953
00:54:26,560 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 1: all hung out and then we're my dad's house and

954
00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:33,040
Speaker 1: we had a moment alone and and I remember thinking, wait,

955
00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:34,920
Speaker 1: is is gonna be my first kiss? And it was like, oh,

956
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:39,120
Speaker 1: this is so different because I don't know, you know,

957
00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:43,920
Speaker 1: but not scripted, it may or may not happen. So

958
00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:47,640
Speaker 1: that so no, I didn't think You're gonna be cameras.

959
00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:49,600
Speaker 1: But I was like stunned at how odd it felt

960
00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:50,880
Speaker 1: to not actually know how I was going to go

961
00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:55,520
Speaker 1: now it was going to go down? Yes, um, you

962
00:54:55,880 --> 00:55:00,520
Speaker 1: are on the Wonder years basically your entire teenage, right

963
00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:04,480
Speaker 1: twelve to eighteen. What was it like for you growing

964
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:07,719
Speaker 1: up and and this is a huge show at this time,

965
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:10,440
Speaker 1: and everybody is talking about it, and everybody is talking

966
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:14,840
Speaker 1: about you and about Fred at the time. What was

967
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:16,920
Speaker 1: it like for you growing up in the spotlight with

968
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:20,040
Speaker 1: all of that attention during what for most is awkward

969
00:55:20,120 --> 00:55:23,759
Speaker 1: teenage years. I was not in touch with it. And

970
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:25,880
Speaker 1: that's the truth. I was not in touch with it

971
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:27,600
Speaker 1: at all. At some point, some point, I think it

972
00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:30,000
Speaker 1: was probably sixteen, and someone on set referred to me

973
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:33,000
Speaker 1: as America's sweetheart, and I was like, what we're talking like,

974
00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: I just I was very busy with school and work

975
00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:39,960
Speaker 1: and family life, and my mom, both my parents always

976
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:45,960
Speaker 1: emphasize the importance of basically everything over show biz. So health, family, school,

977
00:55:46,480 --> 00:55:50,000
Speaker 1: and then sure showbiz. But that's that was the priortiest game.

978
00:55:50,040 --> 00:55:52,680
Speaker 1: In fact, when The Wonder Years got nominated for the

979
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:55,359
Speaker 1: first time for an Emmy, in fact, we won that year.

980
00:55:55,840 --> 00:55:58,120
Speaker 1: I wasn't there because there was a river chip, like

981
00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:00,080
Speaker 1: a river rafting chip scheduled with my dad and my

982
00:56:00,160 --> 00:56:02,120
Speaker 1: sister that and he had a really busy work schedule

983
00:56:02,160 --> 00:56:03,640
Speaker 1: and we couldn't move it, and so we went on

984
00:56:03,719 --> 00:56:05,920
Speaker 1: the trip, I mean, and it was kind of like, well,

985
00:56:06,239 --> 00:56:08,040
Speaker 1: we have this invitation we could go to the Emmys,

986
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:10,160
Speaker 1: where we could go in this rafting trip, and my

987
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:12,520
Speaker 1: parents decided together, know the trip is more important. And

988
00:56:12,640 --> 00:56:15,080
Speaker 1: I remember being in this tiny, little more Tell room

989
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:17,719
Speaker 1: in Oregon. We're gonna get in the Rogue River the

990
00:56:17,840 --> 00:56:19,960
Speaker 1: next day, and it was like a TV from the

991
00:56:20,040 --> 00:56:22,239
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies. I don't know where, it's tiny little screen

992
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:25,120
Speaker 1: and we watched The Wonder Years win the Endy. We

993
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:26,839
Speaker 1: jump up and down the bed and like the one

994
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:28,160
Speaker 1: and we went to sleep guy but like five in

995
00:56:28,200 --> 00:56:29,759
Speaker 1: the morning and hit the river and had the trip

996
00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:32,160
Speaker 1: of our lives. I mean, I remember picking black berries

997
00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:33,680
Speaker 1: on the side of the river with my dad and

998
00:56:33,760 --> 00:56:36,200
Speaker 1: my sister, and it's some of the most precious memories.

999
00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:38,719
Speaker 1: So that kind of thing, you know, that's that was

1000
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:54,960
Speaker 1: my life. Well, folks, there you have it. As evidenced

1001
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:57,480
Speaker 1: by this week's episode. There's not much I like more

1002
00:56:57,560 --> 00:57:00,920
Speaker 1: than some precious memories. So thank you all for this

1003
00:57:01,239 --> 00:57:03,759
Speaker 1: incredible year. I cannot wait for you to see what

1004
00:57:03,880 --> 00:57:07,719
Speaker 1: we have in store for To put it lightly, well,

1005
00:57:07,800 --> 00:57:11,239
Speaker 1: it's gonna be freaking awesome. I hope you round out

1006
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:15,400
Speaker 1: your year with some love, some laughs and whatever it

1007
00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:19,080
Speaker 1: is you like doing the most. I'll see you next

1008
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:22,600
Speaker 1: year with well with another pretty cool guest, if I

1009
00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:25,800
Speaker 1: do say so myself. So get ready to make some

1010
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:42,120
Speaker 1: brand new memories. Happy New Year, everyone. Off the Beat

1011
00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:46,720
Speaker 1: is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside

1012
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:51,200
Speaker 1: our executive producer Langley. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia.

1013
00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:55,000
Speaker 1: Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr.

1014
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:59,200
Speaker 1: Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern

1015
00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:03,640
Speaker 1: is Sam Cats. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed

1016
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:06,200
Speaker 1: by the one and only Creed Bratton