WEBVTT - Best of 2022 - Pt. 2 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.880 Bubble and Squeak. I love it Bubble and Squeak on 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.480 Bubble and Squeaker cooking at every moment left over from 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:33.720 the night before. Hi everybody, and welcome back to the 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:38.280 final episode of two for Off the Beat. This is 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:43.960 Brian Baumgartner wishing all of you a happy New Year. Today, 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.440 I'm gonna be continuing on last week's theme of best 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:52.199 of bringing you more of my favorite moments from almost 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.400 a whole year of going Off the Beat. It's been 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.760 quite a ride. I'm so glad that you have been 0:00:57.800 --> 0:00:59.880 with me every step of the way. And if you're 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:04.000 new listeners, if you like what you're hearing last week 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:07.840 and this week, please check us out subscribe in the 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.600 new year. To kick us off, I'm going to start 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.360 with a woman you may know as Nelly Bertram, but 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.840 I know as my hilarious friend Katherine Tate. Here she 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.760 is making the very surprising claim that she wasn't always 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:28.279 quite this outgoing. I was an incredibly shy child, really 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.280 really shy. So I mean talk about you know, least 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.920 expected to do anything, let alone get up and make 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.600 people laugh. That was That would have been me, you know, 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:42.720 I mean, I you know, I mean, I was painfully shy, 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.880 So potentially, I suppose, if I was thinking about it, 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:48.960 maybe I did find a route in with sort of 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:54.720 making characters and and doing sort of voices and becoming 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:59.360 other than myself. But I definitely identified quite early on 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.920 a really good way of deterring bullies was to be 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:09.480 able to make me laugh. And and that really emboldened me, 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.000 really because I'd had a really unhappy stint at school 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.399 at one of the Catholic school one of the conventations, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:20.960 had a really unhappy stint there, and I realized one 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.960 day that actually, if you can make them laugh, they 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.920 will leave you alone. And and that's I think that's 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:34.280 kind of where I definitely honed it as a defense mechanism. Yeah. So, 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.720 so hiding in a way, still being shy, hiding in 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.639 a way behind the characters that you created early on, 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.480 I guess, although I although I all, I didn't do 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.040 characters or anything when I was a kid, but I 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:50.360 I learned a way of making people laugh, you know, 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.440 I learned to I suppose to create the character of 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.840 the of the of the of the comedian, of the 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.919 class clown, you know, all of the of the funny 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:04.320 one and and protected me. I felt right. So I 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.760 I came from theater myself. I never thought I would, 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.520 you know, do film and television. For me, it was 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:17.200 all about theater and live performance and creating characters on stage. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:23.440 You early on very prestigious in in Britain, in London. 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.560 You became a member of the National Youth Theater. And 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.760 I heard you auditioned four times for Drama School. I 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:34.160 auditioned for four times, yeah, but no National Youth Theater. 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.160 I yeah. I was there with Daniel Craig. He was 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.400 the shining light when I was when I was at 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:45.960 Youth Theater, and I was I was when he was 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:51.040 playing Leonardo, the lead in Blood Wedding. I was playing 0:03:51.520 --> 0:04:06.040 Girl One, so uh yeah, and things things blossomed from there. Well, 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:10.720 you must have had experiences though on on stage other 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.920 than Girl One through your How long were you there? Well, 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.840 the thing is I was there for quite a few years. 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.560 But we kept, we kept doing, we kept turning out 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.760 this same the same play. Because I guess it has 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.800 got a little bit of success. But I know, we 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.760 took it to Spain, we took it to the West End. 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.000 We did it again in the West End, you know, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.240 and I think at some point so I wasn't in 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.760 this particular cast, but I think it then went we 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:36.920 went to Russia or something, you know, I mean, we 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.880 really flogged to this one and I just had a 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.440 great time. I had a fantastic time, but I had 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.600 also some running concurrently with that, I joined another youth 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.560 theater in the East End of London, where I did 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.240 get the chance to do lots of fun parts and 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.200 you know, had a little bit more to Student Girl one. Yeah, 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.320 and then by the time I got to Central, which 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:02.280 was college essentially we all got our chance at doing 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.760 leads and great parts. Yeah. Did you think that theater 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.200 was what you were going to do or did you 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.840 always have an idea of something else? No, I absolutely 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.359 loved theater. And my my first job out of college 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.880 actually was in the National Theater. So I having graduated 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.719 from the youth the after, I went to the actual 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.000 National Theater and stayed there about a year, I guess, 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:27.360 And did you know touring shows, you know, like cam 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:31.320 around the theaters doing My first job was off Miller 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.680 was all my sons? Where did you playing all my sons? 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.400 The girl? The girl in it? You know, the yes 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:43.080 and yeah, yeah, it was. It was a long time ago. 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.160 I did Joe Keller twice, by the way, Sorry it's 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.400 about me. I did Joe Keller twice as a much 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:55.040 much too young man. Yes, I did Joe Keller, right right, Yes, 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:59.960 I would say so, uh so, yeah, I just didn't 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.239 didn't occur to me. Even when we were at school, 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.280 you know, drama school. It was theater that we were 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.680 trained in. We you had a couple of a tiny 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:12.960 smattering of film and television, I mean as a novelty. Really, 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.240 I mean, this is like or something. It was still 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.160 theater was the thing that the school wanted to churn 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:24.720 out theater actors, you know, And I absolutely thought that 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.120 would be what what I did, what I wanted to do. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.440 But by the time I graduated, the idea of repertory 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.840 theater just wasn't in the country anymore. It died out. 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:37.520 All the all the regional theaters. All they did was 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:42.760 received the big touring production on a weekly basis basically, 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.080 you know. I mean that that was all I want 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:46.599 to do. And just thought, oh my god, I'll just 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.840 go around doing plays all the time. And and it 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.600 didn't really didn't really pan out like that, right, So 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.360 what did you so, what did you do? You graduate? 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.039 And you're like, well that life that I thought that 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.400 I had, well, I graduated and it all started off 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:03.599 okay because I got I was I was at the 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.080 Nashville for a year only doing like small parts and 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.960 un studying that you know, what do you care? You 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.000 know five who cares? You know, that's what you should 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:17.080 be doing. And then my contract stopped and and I realized, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:20.040 you know what, I've got a feeling. I just had 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.280 this inkling that I needed to do stand up because 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:28.240 I needed to separate myself from the pack, as it were. 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.360 If you're if you've just left rama college, there's plenty 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.680 of young twenty somethings you know who have who have 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.840 just graduated when you have, you know, I had to 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:41.880 do something that's sort of put put me in a 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:46.440 different environment. And and so I I just held my 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.400 breasting jumps in and started doing stand up. And that 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.239 was the best thing I've ever done, because that from there, 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.280 that was it. It was the difference between waiting for 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.600 the fun to ring from your agent going oh, there's 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:02.160 this this audition and picking up the phone and booking 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.320 your own spots, you know, And I had a day job. 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.760 I was working in an office ironically, and then and 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.240 then after a few years, I was able to stop 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.960 the day job and do do stand up full time. 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.880 But it was having that power. It's taking back that 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.640 power and feeling you've got some agency over your career 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.360 where you know, as many actors they don't you know, 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.480 they don't you are you are at the mercy of 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.040 of the of the casting calls, aren't you? Yes? How 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:36.839 how was that experience for you? Terrifying? Was it exhilarating? 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.160 Obviously it's still in front of a live audience, so 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:44.480 you have experience with that, but now they have to laugh, right, 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.320 How was that experience for you? It was? It was 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.800 all of those things. It was terrifying, exhilarating. It was 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.080 like an ouse of body experience. I mean, if you 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.040 analyze it, the act of doing stand up, it's a 0:08:56.080 --> 0:09:00.240 preposterous idea and you'd never you'd never suggest any one 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:02.800 does it, and you certainly wouldn't do it for yourself, 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.440 you know, the idea of yes. I definitely had a 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.360 bit of stagecraft. So when I when I went out 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.160 and did my first open spot, what would you call 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:15.559 them open spots? Yeah? Yeah, sure, yeah, open micer whatever, Yeah, yeah, 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.320 open mike exactly. It wasn't the first time I've been 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.959 in front of an audience, so I had that going 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:24.040 for me. But even little simple things like I've never 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.320 held a microphone in my hand? Why how? Why would 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.800 I worked in theater. You didn't need you didn't use 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.880 the microphone. It was just like what you do with this? 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.840 Oh my god, what's this? You know? And it was 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.320 but it dawned on me, I think halfway through my 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.400 sort of my little five minute opens but was this 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:46.360 is ridiculous because not only am I asking people, not 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:51.000 only are you expecting people to be quiet, you're asking 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.320 them to listen and then laugh at what you say. 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.960 I mean, it's that the notion is ridiculous, if you 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.600 if you, if you analyze it. But I loved it. 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.000 We love it too, Katherine. So there you go. That's 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:10.120 my office connection for this episode. But my next guest 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:15.560 has his own very strange office connection because I kid 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:20.040 you not, he was once Ellie Kemper's high school teacher. 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.040 It's just really hard to imagine him being a teacher 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.640 or Ellie being being his student, being a student at all. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.440 I guess literally any part of this scenario happening in 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:37.600 real life is shocking to me, but delightful now that 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:41.200 I know that it's true. Here he is Ellie Kemper's 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.960 high school teacher. Oh and Don Draper John Ham, I 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:47.640 have to go back on that for a second. You 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.880 remember Ellie like you remember her as a student. Yeah, 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.560 and her sister carry too. Yeah, of course I remember 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.120 all my kids like for for the most part. But yeah, no, 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.120 I definitely remember Ellie. She was She was just a 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:02.559 really hard working, diligent, achievement oriented student. It was very 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.080 it was great. Like honestly, as a teacher, you're like, 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.720 those are the kids that you only want, right, So 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.320 when did you reconnect with her? Do you remember seeing 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.720 her again? Or yes? I do. She she went to college. 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.240 That was five years later. I was out here in 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.320 l A. I had probably been working. I'm not sure 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.400 if I was on Madman by that point, but she, 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:29.880 I remember emailed me and said, I'm coming out. I 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.000 went to this and I did this, and I've been 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.280 doing this U c B and blah blah blah, and 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.920 I'm coming out and I'm doing my one person show 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.360 at U c B Theater and I was like, Oh 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.080 my god, that's awesome. That's like five minutes away from 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.160 my house. I'd love to come see it. That sounds great, 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.360 And so I did, and I came backstage after the 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:52.880 show and I was like, you were really great. That 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.480 was awesome, you know it was there were twenty people 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.200 in the audience, and She's like, Oh, I'm so excited. 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.480 I got it. I have an audition tomorrow for the Office. 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.320 And I said, well, I think you're going to get 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.040 it because you are perfect for that show and this 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.960 is like a perfect showcase for you. And the rest 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.679 is history. That is crazy. Suffice to say, I do 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.760 remember when I saw her. You do remember her? I 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.199 I assume you were asked. I don't know if by her. 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.040 How did it come to be that? Well, you play 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.040 her captor then on Kimi Schmid years later and keep 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.520 in touch before then? Well, yeah, actually we had done 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:36.920 Bridesmaids together, right, so we had that sort of meeting again. 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:39.720 And I remember being on the red carpet for that 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.840 movie and looking over at Ellie and she caught my 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.520 eye and I was like, this is so weird, and 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.480 we both kind of laughed, and I think we gave 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.200 each other hug, and I was just like, I can't 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:50.920 believe you're I'm like standing next to you on a 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.920 red carpet at a major motion picture that we're both in. 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.720 That's going to be a huge hit, we didn't know 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:57.960 at the time, but going to be sort of a 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.800 cultural touch point for many people. But it was nice, 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.560 to say the least. But yes, I had kept up 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.679 with her, and obviously because I knew a lot of 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.640 you guys on the Office too, So like people maybe 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:11.760 don't know this, but like you know, the the Awards 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.600 Show kind of swirl, you know, had us in it 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:17.960 for quite a few years, us being Madman, and then 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.760 also the Office and Dirty Rock, and so we would 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:24.600 see each other at a couple of occasions every every 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:26.880 year for quite a few years. So I would run 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:28.800 into her at those things, as well as you and 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.240 b J and Mindy and Tina and Robert Carlock and 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.080 all the thirty Rock gang. And and that's when I 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:39.120 did the stretch I did on Dirty Rock after thirty Rock, 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.040 And that's when Tina and Robert said, Hey, we're kicking 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.200 around this idea. We really wanted to develop this thing 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.840 for Ellie. Would you take a look at it, would 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:48.360 you consider it? And I was like, I don't know 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:50.880 if I really want to be a go back right 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.400 into serious television. They're like, no, no, no, you're in 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:57.040 like one episode a year. I was like, oh, okay, 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.720 that's first of all, how dare you. Second of all, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.439 let's say, let's take a look at it. And they 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:07.720 were like, well, let's let us come pitch it to you. 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.920 And I was like, okay. At that stage of it, 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.600 it was a pilot and the pilot was called Tooken 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.719 t o o kay En. I was like, okay, what 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:21.280 what and they're like, okay, you play a guy who 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.080 kidnapped for women and kept them in an underground bunker. 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.360 And it was literally like, let me finish. But it's funny. 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:33.000 It's like so I was like, I mean, I trust 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.000 you guys, but I mean really like a lot of 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.200 weird stuff had just come out about people, and I 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.440 was like, I don't know, man, I'm not sure I 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:40.960 find the funny in this. But then I read it 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:42.960 and I was like, oh, it's really funny. And it's 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.040 about the only way you get away with that is 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.440 by playing this person as a complete and utter buffoon 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:55.520 and totally out of the realm of believability and it 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:57.960 was really fun. I mean, playing that guy was so 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:02.320 silly and so dumb, but so fun because it was 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.480 so like Robert Carlock, who wrote the majority of the 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.960 Reverend stuff, just got that dumb energy of like it's 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:14.320 it's not even toxic masculinity, it's just stupid masculinity. It 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.520 was really fun to do. And yeah, I mean it 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.640 went for forever and we got to do that really 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:22.040 fun Netflix choose your own Adventure kind of thing. Yeah, 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.360 it was really I was really really pleased with how 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:28.200 it grew and how it ended and how it developed 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.440 Titus's character and Carol Kane's character. Like it was just 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.080 like the best of shows, like your show. It became 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.040 like watching a family grow and like you watched the 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.240 characters kind of go through their own stuff and you 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.080 watch them figure their own stuff out and by the 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.480 end of it there better. Yeah. Well fat, So let's 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.840 go back your teaching that, John Burrows, When did you 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.080 make the decision that you needed to go to l A. 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:59.680 I remember they had asked me to consider doing another 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:03.480 year at school, um, and I was like, well, I 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:05.840 don't know, guys, like I think I wanna try to 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:10.040 see what can happen with this, And I just remember 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:17.760 having this thought of like, well, I'm getting kind of old. Yeah, 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:22.120 I'm like I'm getting a little long in the tooth, which, 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.840 by the way, nowadays is actually true. Like if you're 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:29.240 not famous by fourteen on TikTok, give it up, I'm kidding. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:32.320 I'm kidding. Don't, please don't, And also don't get famous 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.760 on TikTok. But I was I just had a sense 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.360 of like, well, if not now, when And I could 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:42.720 definitely see inertia settling in if I didn't at least try. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.760 And I remember one of my acting teachers a long 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.920 time ago, even actually the guy went and taught underneath 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.360 at Burrows. I said, like, what's the worst thing that 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.040 can happen? If you try? You fail, so then fail 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:00.200 again and fail better. I was like, Okay, that's it's 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.240 like pretty good advice. And it is like it really is, 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:08.440 like I really think, especially nowadays, and especially how uncertain 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:14.639 everything seems with the pandemic, with the complete devastation of 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.800 social norms as it seems over the last few years, 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.320 I think the idea of failing is so terrifying to 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:24.760 people and and in reality you're kind of like and 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.480 then you know what will happen, Like you'll fail at something, 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.640 and then the sound is gonna rise and you're gonna 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.439 get up and go get another job or not, or 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:35.640 you know you're gonna make it work. It's not climbing 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.280 Mount Everest every time. Sometimes it's just walking up a 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:39.760 hill and you just have to put one ft in 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:41.119 front of another and then all of a sudden you 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.680 look back and you're like, look, how far upcome? This 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:49.000 is actually impressive. I'm impressed with myself, right, it is? 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.720 You deserve credit, though, what do they say a bird 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.280 in a hand? Like leaving something, especially when you're in 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.200 this business where it's so hard to get work, it's 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.280 difficult to I mean you were twenty four, I I 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:06.600 mean I was working in the theater and I was like, yeah, 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:07.800 I want to go to l A. I want to 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.040 go to l OH but I have this job. It's 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.040 really hard to say no, this is what I'm gonna do. 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:16.040 I'm gonna go to l A. And leaving opportunities that 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.160 you have is it's difficult. Well, I think there are 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.840 there are inflection points, right obviously, and we all have them. 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.159 Some of them happened earlier for us, and some of 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.320 them happened later. And I think the idea is in 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:32.560 the best case scenario, and I think you can probably 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:36.600 attest to this as well, having the ability to identify them. Right, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.239 so when you get an opportunity, you say, Okay, this 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.240 is an opportunity, like, I really want to take advantage 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.600 of this. And I remember, God, I mean when I 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.800 came out here, I auditioned for everything and I got nothing. 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:52.880 I was an extra in the pilot of the TV 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:58.040 show The Practice, you know, I was up for Deep Impact. 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.840 I didn't get it. John Favreau got it. And it 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.640 was just one of those things of like coming so 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.280 close to something and not getting it's coming so close 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.200 to something and not getting it. And that happened over 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.480 and over and over and over again. And I had success, 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:12.639 and I had a couple of things that I got, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:14.959 and it was kind of climbing up that hill of 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.960 loose gravel and sliding down and climbing back up and 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.520 sliding down. But then I remember when Madman came around. 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:23.840 I was like, Oh, this is like an inflection point. 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.960 This is an actual thing that I could really do 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:30.240 and really do well, and I think that I need 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:34.080 to id I have to like call it out and 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:36.720 I have to be I have to get this. I 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.479 just have to. I'm not a big like believer in 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:45.159 the secret or you know, manifesting your destiny or whatever that, 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:50.880 but I was very much aware that I really did 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:53.840 in a way that I hadn't identified any of these 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:57.040 other opportunities or options that I really thought this was 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:18.520 right for me, all right, folks. Next up is the 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.560 first of the pens that you'll hear from today on 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.320 why he almost didn't take a role that would change 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:29.040 his life trajectory, which if you listen to this full episode, 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.919 would not be the last time that he would begrudgingly 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.560 take on an amazing role. Here he is to tell 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:40.400 you all about it, the incredible my new bestie, Pen Badgeley. 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:42.080 I'm not kidding. I was ready to hang it up 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:44.439 before I took Crossip girl. I've been doing television for 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:48.720 so long, really, it was already so disillusioned with the process. 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.359 I had done so many shows, series leads, series that 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:54.280 had all gone to series, not just pilots that had 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:56.520 then failed and been canceled. We try to get that 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:57.960 back nine you know what I mean. You know the 0:20:57.960 --> 0:20:59.399 first season in the office, you know, you know how 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:01.920 was it a strug that combatus to get a show 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:03.760 to make it? And I was just like, you know, 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.000 I can't do TV anymore. I just can't. And that's 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.520 why when Gossip Girl came along, I initially did say no, 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:12.000 but anyway, sorry, you can know so you you so no. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.560 So you you have the opportunity for gossip Girl comes 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:18.679 and you say no, Yeah, I mean so so the 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:21.639 so the co creator, Stephanie Savage, she actually asked me. 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:23.919 She emailed me the script and she said, you know, 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:26.480 I feel like you will have already She her words 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.040 in my memory are I think that you will feel 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.040 like you've already done this, which is play the flappy haired, 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:35.679 awkward kid. Okay, because that's what I had done on 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:37.399 the show we'd worked together on like two or three 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.640 years previous. When I was seventeen years old, I lived 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:41.320 in Vancouver for the best six months on a show 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:44.520 called The Mountain where I was playing this young professional 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:47.040 snowboarder and a show that was basically like the pitch was. 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.159 It was Dynasty on a Mountain, Okay, And she co 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:52.480 created that show with mcg at the time was huge 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:55.040 with the OC and all this stuff. So then she 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:57.800 and Josh Schwartz got together to to make Gossip Girl, 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.800 and Um, she emails me the concept the script and 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:03.480 was like, I would really love you to look at it, Dan, 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.679 even though I feel like you you'll probably not want 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.240 to do it. And I read it and I said 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:15.199 thank you, and you're right, you know, thank you for 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:17.560 thinking of me, but respectfully, like, yeah, this is just 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:19.800 not what I'm interested in doing right now. And the 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:24.080 opportunity went away and they cast everybody else. I couldn't 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:27.720 find who they thought was Dan. Um, she comes back 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:29.480 and sort of gives me a little bit of a 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.359 a plea, I mean plea maybe sounds not. It wasn't 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:35.359 like desperate, it was more like it. She she pitched 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:38.439 me on the idea that I was Dan, and Um, 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:41.880 I ultimately was sold on it and and said, yes, 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:49.080 why what made you change your mind? Um, honestly something 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:52.359 that did not even pan out, Like, I don't feel 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:54.520 like she was she she meant what she said, but 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.399 what she said was that she was interested in the 0:22:57.440 --> 0:22:59.679