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Speaker 1: We're back. We're together. Look at this.

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Speaker 2: I love it.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for coming out from San Diego. Hey, it's really

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Speaker 1: good to be in person. I'm excited about that to

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Speaker 1: see you.

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Speaker 3: Come on, come on, are we rolling? Both of them?

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Speaker 3: And this too is rolling? Everything's rolling. Oh my god,

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Speaker 3: it's happening.

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Speaker 1: It's totally happening. Hi everybody, and welcome back to another

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Speaker 1: episode of Off the Beat. As always, this is your

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Speaker 1: host Brian Baumgartner today. Yeah, very special, live in person.

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Speaker 1: The Man, the myth, the legend. He's a New York

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Speaker 1: Times best selling author. He is the host of his

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Speaker 1: new show, Geography of Bliss, and I'm sure you have

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Speaker 1: all of his other credits memorized. That's right. Rain Wilson

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Speaker 1: aka Dwight Shrut is joining me today.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Brian, Off the Beat, get it Off the Beat.

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Speaker 3: Today's episode is Off the Beat.

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Speaker 4: Farm Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeakna

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Speaker 4: Bubble and Squeak. I could get every mole left over

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Speaker 4: from the nine before.

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Speaker 1: Hi Brian, Hi buddy, this is cool.

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Speaker 3: What what's happened?

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Speaker 1: Well? You know, I mean we hadn't seen each other

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Speaker 1: in so long and now twice in a few weeks.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy. I love it. Yeah, I need more. I

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Speaker 1: need to come to your farm for sure. I really

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Speaker 1: want to come to your farm.

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Speaker 3: You need to bring the kids out to my little.

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Speaker 1: Farm, to your farm. Yeah, it's like a petting zoo.

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Speaker 3: Bring the children out to the farm and there's a

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Speaker 3: it's like a little petting zoo, and there's fruits.

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Speaker 1: Do you let any children come to your petting zoo?

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Speaker 3: All the children?

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Speaker 1: You don't invite the children? Yes, I really.

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Speaker 3: I walk down the streets of Oxnard, California playing the

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Speaker 3: flute and the children follow, and there's magical animals and yeah.

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Speaker 1: You're the pied Piper of ox and ard of Oxnard, California.

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Speaker 1: Was that a dream early on to be the pied

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Speaker 1: piper of Oxnard, California?

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Speaker 3: That that was out of my wheelhouse? It was out

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Speaker 3: of my imaginary field of being.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was great to see you.

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Speaker 3: Nice to see you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, like really, I started watching your show, which we're

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Speaker 1: going to talk about later. Obviously you are very this

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Speaker 1: is going to be a running theme of this conversation. Okay,

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Speaker 1: that you're very open. I have been very open about

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Speaker 1: your history, your personal history. Uh huh. You grew up

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Speaker 1: in Washington and like in almost the first line of

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Speaker 1: the show said you had an unhappy childhood. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: first off, why was it unhappy?

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Speaker 3: You're going right to it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going right to it. No, I'm going right

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Speaker 1: to it because it's fascinating that you are so open

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Speaker 1: in all of your work. I mean, you're open as

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Speaker 1: an artist, as an actor.

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Speaker 3: I don't understand why more people aren't as open to me.

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Speaker 3: It makes total sense to be open. I guess maybe

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Speaker 3: I've been in therapy for twenty years, so I'm just

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Speaker 3: really used to kind of excavating this stuff. And I've

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Speaker 3: done a lot of therapeutic work in lots of different ways.

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Speaker 3: So listen in a lot of senses. You know, my

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Speaker 3: childhood was normal and happy. You know, I wasn't starved,

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Speaker 3: but I was love starved. And I think it has

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Speaker 3: to do with, you know, my dad, God rest his soul.

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Speaker 3: He died a couple of years back. He was really

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Speaker 3: traumatized as a kid. I mean he had like a

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Speaker 3: like a Charles Dickens childhood. He was beaten, tortured, like

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Speaker 3: his dad would take off for weeks at a time,

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Speaker 3: leaving him to raise his younger sister when he was

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Speaker 3: like thirteen, and he had to like borrow food from neighbors.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it was really bad shit, and so that'll

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Speaker 3: mess with you, right, So he wasn't so good at

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Speaker 3: the whole intimacy thing. He was a very sweet man.

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Speaker 3: He was a soft natured man. He wasn't like hard

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Speaker 3: scrabble abusive, but he was very cut off. And when

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Speaker 3: my mom left him and me when I was about

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Speaker 3: a year and a half or two years old, I

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Speaker 3: didn't really see her again until I was about fifteen,

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Speaker 3: and then I was kind of raised by my step

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Speaker 3: mom and they just had a terrible marriage. And you know,

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Speaker 3: just to cut to the chase. When I was writing

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Speaker 3: my autobiography, The Bassoon King a couple of years back,

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Speaker 3: I asked him, I said, when did you know that

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Speaker 3: your marriage was bad and that you shouldn't have gotten married?

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Speaker 3: And they both said, like, oh, within about six months

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Speaker 3: of being married. And they stayed together for fourteen fifteen

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Speaker 3: more years. And then you know, I grew up a

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Speaker 3: member of the Bahai faith, which you know I've spoken

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Speaker 3: about a lot here and there, but one of the

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Speaker 3: things that has been most difficult for me to kind

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Speaker 3: of understand and rectify is that in the Bahih faith,

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Speaker 3: everything is about love. It's about peace, it's about unity,

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Speaker 3: it's about serving others and being open and serving humanity,

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Speaker 3: et cetera. And so we had a lot of talk

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Speaker 3: about love. We talked about love all the time, right,

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Speaker 3: but there was zero love in the room, right. It

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Speaker 3: was a really fractured So it's for a child, it's

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Speaker 3: incredibly gaslighting to kind of be like, we should all

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Speaker 3: love each other and serve each other and be kind

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Speaker 3: to one another. And then my parents weren't loving or

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Speaker 3: kind to each other. And I was kind of stuck

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Speaker 3: in the middle.

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Speaker 1: Were you Were you aware of that in the moment?

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Speaker 1: Like were you aware?

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Speaker 3: Okay, No, I was, And this is you know, and

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Speaker 3: this created in me a big a sense of anxiety, loneliness, alienation.

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Speaker 3: I didn't know what the hell was going on. It

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Speaker 3: didn't make any sense to me. Like I remember several

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Speaker 3: times my parents would be fighting and then we would

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Speaker 3: have a Bahai spiritual gathering at our house. So it

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Speaker 3: involved like saying prayers or singing or meditating or studying

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Speaker 3: you know, mystical works of various religious faiths or of

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Speaker 3: the Bahaigh writings themselves and like my stepmom like breaking

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Speaker 3: dishes in the sink and there's guests over, and then

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Speaker 3: her stomping through our tiny little living room about the

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Speaker 3: size of this podcast, both because we didn't have any money,

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Speaker 3: and going to the door and like slamming the door,

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Speaker 3: and sometimes you'd even hear screams from the other and

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Speaker 3: then my dad going okay, well shall we say some prayers?

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Speaker 3: And you know, I'm nine years old, and I'm like,

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Speaker 3: this is I know this isn't right right, but everyone's

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Speaker 3: pretending it's normal. Maybe this is normal. Is this how

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Speaker 3: other people act?

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: So all of this is, you know, it's Christ for

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Speaker 3: the mill. And I've said it before and I'll say

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Speaker 3: it again. I don't think I play kind of weirdo

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Speaker 3: alienated characters as well. If I don't have that Petrie

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Speaker 3: dish of an experience growing up. It did give me

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Speaker 3: some mental health issues that I've kind of dealt with

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Speaker 3: through my adulthood. And that's been part of the journey too,

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Speaker 3: So you know, I see it all interwoven. I have

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Speaker 3: a psychological personal journey through therapy and recovery. I have

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Speaker 3: a journey a spiritual journey as a behigh and seeking

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Speaker 3: kind of spiritual meaning and purpose in my life. And

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Speaker 3: I'm an artist too, and I transform and I play characters,

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Speaker 3: and I draw on all of this complexity in history

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Speaker 3: and the playing of those characters, and all three of

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Speaker 3: those journeys are intricately intertwined.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you, like,

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Speaker 1: do you feel like your work as an artist, even young,

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Speaker 1: that you used that, even if you couldn't articulate that

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Speaker 1: things were maybe not quite right at home, as you said,

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Speaker 1: or that you weren't fully happy, do you feel like

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Speaker 1: you used the arts and creating characters and beginning your

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Speaker 1: sort of passionate journey along those lines you used that,

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Speaker 1: I think, so I think you use it.

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Speaker 3: You don't, you're not even aware you're using it right

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Speaker 3: when you're starting out in acting.

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Speaker 1: But I always played misfits better.

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Speaker 3: I always played odd balls better, people that didn't fit in,

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Speaker 3: people that were kind of tortured, And so I definitely

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Speaker 3: drew on that. When I was in acting school, I

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Speaker 3: swiftly realized, like, oh, I'm incapable of playing someone well

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Speaker 3: balanced and popular, and you know, but the more twisted

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Speaker 3: the character the better I would do.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, so you know, in a lot of ways,

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Speaker 1: I'm grateful.

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't have I wouldn't have played quite true had

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Speaker 3: I had a you know, normal balanced childhood. It's all,

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Speaker 3: it's all part of the beauty and complexity of being

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Speaker 3: a human being.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I just had a conversation with Garrett Dilla Hunt.

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Speaker 1: Yes you're old Powell, Yeah, who described you as a

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Speaker 1: legend at you dub He was slightly younger, just behind you.

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Speaker 3: Legend yuh, but yes.

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Speaker 1: A legend kind of a legend in the theater department there.

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Speaker 1: I mean, did you were you having success? Did you

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Speaker 1: feel that in yourself when you were in college?

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Speaker 3: Not at all. So I started acting later in high

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Speaker 3: school when I went to this kind of very wealthy,

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Speaker 3: artsy high school called New Trier north of Chicago. And

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Speaker 3: I was really grateful because I had some amazing theater

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Speaker 3: teachers there. I got to be a part of some

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Speaker 3: incredible productions very early on, very young. And then I

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Speaker 3: went to Tufts University in Boston. I did a year.

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Speaker 3: I did a bunch of theater there and that was good,

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Speaker 3: and I did some plays and then my parents were

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Speaker 3: getting a divorce my dad and my stepmom and I,

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Speaker 3: you know, as messed up as their marriage was, I

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Speaker 3: was still very connected to them, right and I was

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Speaker 3: kind of having a breakdown as they were having a breakdown.

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Speaker 3: So I went back to Seattle. Then I ended up

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Speaker 3: at University of Washington, where I met my now wonderful wife,

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Speaker 3: Holiday Rhynhorn, and met Garrett, Dilla Hunt, Matt Ross, Lynn Shelton.

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Speaker 3: A lot of great artists were there at that time

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Speaker 3: and started doing plays, and I don't remember at all

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Speaker 3: being a legend Universon of Washington. I played, you know,

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Speaker 3: a couple of leads, but a couple of smaller parts

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Speaker 3: and some different plays, and I think Garrett was I

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Speaker 3: had been acting for a while and Garrett was literally

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Speaker 3: just starting. So I saw Garrett in his very first play,

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Speaker 3: and he was so talented, but he was so tense

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Speaker 3: I thought, I just thought, oh my god, he's going

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Speaker 3: to explode. The veins on his face are so tight,

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Speaker 3: you know. But he was just kind of ruggedly handsome,

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Speaker 3: other worldly, like kind of ethereal David Bowie cowboy from Yakima,

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Speaker 3: Washington and doing these experimental plays. But he was just terrific.

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Speaker 3: And then I went to n YU and then two

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Speaker 3: years later he went to the NYU Graduate Acting Program.

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Speaker 3: So we kind of followed each other and have both

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Speaker 3: had pretty nice careers. He's he's an outrageously talented actor.

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Speaker 3: I love his stuff. But I will say I just

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Speaker 3: wanted to tell this little story. So I had had

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Speaker 3: because your question was about the success that I had.

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Speaker 3: I had success in high school and in two colleges,

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Speaker 3: and I kind of thought, oh, maybe I'm really good

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Speaker 3: at this. Okay, I should go be a professional actor.

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Speaker 3: I should go audition. So I was in Seattle University

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Speaker 3: of Washington, and I like went down the university avenue

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Speaker 3: to the photography studio and I got I still have

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Speaker 3: some of these really cheesy headshots from nineteen eighty six,

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Speaker 3: and I'm like, you know, and and I typed up

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Speaker 3: a resume. I had my dad helped me type up

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Speaker 3: like the high school and college plays that I had done,

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Speaker 3: and I just started submitting myself for I looked in

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Speaker 3: the newspapers and you know, on the ads and stuff

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Speaker 3: like that, and I started submitting myself and I started

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Speaker 3: getting some auditions, and I auditioned around at a lot

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Speaker 3: of little, not community theaters, A semi professional and professional

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Speaker 3: theaters there, and after about four or five auditions, and

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Speaker 3: then I auditioned for the Orgon Shakespeare Festival and the

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Speaker 3: guy there was like, listen, you need to either come

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Speaker 3: to the organ Shakespeare Festival and like carry a spear

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Speaker 3: and understudy roles and do that for five or six years,

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Speaker 3: or you need to go to like New York and

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Speaker 3: get acting training. You should do one of those two things.

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Speaker 3: But it became really clear, like, oh shit, I am

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Speaker 3: the tiniest fish in a very big pond now, and

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Speaker 3: I'm really not good enough and I don't have the

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Speaker 3: skill set to be good enough to act professionally at

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Speaker 3: that point. And that was twenty nineteen or twenty at

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Speaker 3: that point, and I'm really grateful that I had the

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Speaker 3: wherewithal to kind of have that ability to kind of

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Speaker 3: see myself to kind of go like, oh, you're not

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Speaker 3: good enough yet, because some actors never have that right.

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Speaker 3: I kind of think that they're ready for Broadway and

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Speaker 3: there and there, they just they don't have it right.

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Speaker 3: So I was like, I need to train, And that's

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Speaker 3: when I went to NYU for actor training.

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Speaker 1: When did you decide, I mean, this is slightly different

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Speaker 1: a different question. When did you decide it's what you

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Speaker 1: wanted to do. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So my best friend at the time, John Valades, and

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Speaker 3: we had grown up together since third grade and we

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Speaker 3: ended up going to NYU together. We went to University

250
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Speaker 3: of Washington together. We were like really good friends through

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Speaker 3: our youth. He was going to India for a year.

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Speaker 3: He decided to take a year off and just go

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Speaker 3: to India and he was going to do some service

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Speaker 3: projects and travel and he's like, come on, man, come

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Speaker 3: to India, let's do it.

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Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't know.

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Speaker 3: And I was doing these plays and I was really

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Speaker 3: thinking about acting and whether or not to make it

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Speaker 3: a career. My parents were supportive but wary. You know,

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Speaker 3: how am I going to pay the bills?

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Speaker 1: Sure?

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Speaker 3: And I had a spiritual, transformative experience that made me

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Speaker 3: decide to commit one hundred percent. And that was I

264
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Speaker 3: was visiting my birth mother, who I was just getting

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Speaker 3: to know at the time in Boston. I think it

266
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Speaker 3: was over Christmas break, sophomore year of college, and the

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Speaker 3: movie version of A chorus Line was playing in a

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Speaker 3: little theater in Boston and I just walked in by myself.

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Speaker 3: I don't know I was wondering in Boston. I saw

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Speaker 3: it and I just went in. I watched it by myself. Now,

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Speaker 3: this is a legendarily bad movie version of a musical.

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Speaker 3: It's really and I knew even when I was watching it.

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Speaker 3: I was like, oh, this is terrible, but it's all

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Speaker 3: about acting and actors and it's how much I love

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Speaker 3: the theater and I really need this job, please God,

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Speaker 3: who am I? Anyway? Am I my resume? You know

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Speaker 3: those kind of songs. And I was there and I

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Speaker 3: just started sobbing and just tears were pouring down my

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Speaker 3: face and I was like heaving, supplet.

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Speaker 1: That.

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Speaker 3: And then the theater was empty because the movie was terrible.

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Speaker 3: And I went outside and it was sunset because i'd

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Speaker 3: seen a matinee and it was a red sunset. Snow

284
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,160
Speaker 3: was falling through kind of a red sunset, and I

285
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Speaker 3: had like tears on my face and I was like,

286
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Speaker 3: that's it. I'm going for this. I'm all in.

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Speaker 1: Wow, I'm all in.

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Speaker 3: I know this is going to be a ten year commitment,

289
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Speaker 3: but the only way to do it is to just

290
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Speaker 3: completely fully commit. I want to be an actor in

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Speaker 3: the theater. And that's when I auditioned for these UH

292
00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,200
Speaker 3: training programs and I was lucky enough to get into

293
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,200
Speaker 3: nWay NYU.

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Speaker 1: For you, it was about theater. Yeah, and that's what

295
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:53,680
Speaker 1: you wanted to do? Is that where? Because that was

296
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Speaker 1: for me, that's where I saw my life. That's what

297
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,160
Speaker 1: I thought I was going to do forever and ever. Yeah. Amen?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

299
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Speaker 1: When did that start to change for you? Because your

300
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:07,119
Speaker 1: career was successful, You're traveling around at major regional theaters

301
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Speaker 1: and working in New York. What for you made you

302
00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:14,840
Speaker 1: transition and decide to move to Los Angeles? And did

303
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:18,440
Speaker 1: you view it as a career change? Because I did?

304
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,880
Speaker 1: You did? I did? I didn't think about it until

305
00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:29,399
Speaker 1: I decided to fully change, which was say no to

306
00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,080
Speaker 1: any acting roles in the theater. I'm not doing that.

307
00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:35,840
Speaker 1: I'm going to move to Los Angeles and really recommit

308
00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,760
Speaker 1: myself to what I viewed as a career change. Was

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Speaker 1: it the same for you or no? It wasn't the

310
00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:45,960
Speaker 1: same for me. I mean I was so in love

311
00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:48,679
Speaker 1: with the theater and devoted to the theater, and I

312
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,200
Speaker 1: had done you know, after three years of theater training

313
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,280
Speaker 1: at NYU, I did nine or ten years of NonStop

314
00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:59,040
Speaker 1: theater in New York and regionals. I did a company

315
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Speaker 1: called the Acting Commpany, which was a tour bus and

316
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,400
Speaker 1: truck touring company of Shakespeare. When I first got out

317
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Speaker 1: of college and I was on the road with Jeffrey Wright,

318
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Speaker 1: you know who's in West World and has been War

319
00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,680
Speaker 1: nominated and the French Dispatch Angels in America.

320
00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,639
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's an incredible actor. I was Demetrius, he was

321
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:22,000
Speaker 3: Puck in The Midsummer Night's Dream. And we got back

322
00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,639
Speaker 3: at the end of a six month theater tour, just

323
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:28,359
Speaker 3: exhausted but draggled. We go and pick up our mail

324
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,520
Speaker 3: at the headquarters of the theater company and I opened

325
00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,560
Speaker 3: up my bank statement and I have like twenty three

326
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,440
Speaker 3: hundred dollars in the bank after six months of work

327
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Speaker 3: on the road.

328
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Speaker 1: And I was like, oh fuck.

329
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Speaker 3: And then Jeffrey Wright's opening his mail and he's like, yeah, whoa.

330
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Speaker 1: I'm like, jeff, what's going on. He's like, check it out.

331
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Speaker 3: I got a residual check and he had this check

332
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,000
Speaker 3: and it was for thirty five hundred dollars and he

333
00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:57,119
Speaker 3: had done two days on a Harrison Ford movie and

334
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:02,680
Speaker 3: he got more money in rezials for those two days

335
00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,040
Speaker 3: that I had for six months of working and right

336
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,440
Speaker 3: then and there is like in my head. I remember

337
00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:10,840
Speaker 3: it was like, Okay, this is.

338
00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:14,120
Speaker 1: I got it. This is ridiculous.

339
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,040
Speaker 3: You know, if I am ever going to pay off,

340
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:18,640
Speaker 3: forget buying a house, if I'm ever going to pay

341
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:21,560
Speaker 3: off my student loans, I have to do TV and film.

342
00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,880
Speaker 3: See actors in New York. And I do think there's

343
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,520
Speaker 3: a you know, a handful of David Costable's when we

344
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,399
Speaker 3: both know that do it all. And I love that

345
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,679
Speaker 3: about New York and actors in London that they can

346
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:34,320
Speaker 3: do a play here and a TV show here, and

347
00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:36,480
Speaker 3: a movie here and a commercial.

348
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,520
Speaker 1: Here and you get to do it all. You know,

349
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:40,399
Speaker 1: LA doesn't really work like that.

350
00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,120
Speaker 3: There's a very few theaters, they're far away, they don't

351
00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,480
Speaker 3: pay very well, etc. And it's hard to do that

352
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,280
Speaker 3: anywhere else. A little bit in Chicago, maybe DC, a

353
00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,640
Speaker 3: couple places like that, but it's very hard to kind

354
00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:54,959
Speaker 3: of balance all of it. But I really was like,

355
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,080
Speaker 3: I want to do enough television and films so that

356
00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:00,960
Speaker 3: I can come back to New York and get cast

357
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,360
Speaker 3: in leeds in plays, right, because that's what was happening

358
00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:08,560
Speaker 3: all the time. You'd have like James Vanderbeek just did

359
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,959
Speaker 3: Dawson's Creek and he got offered Hamlet, you know, because

360
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,719
Speaker 3: he's been on Dawson's.

361
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,480
Speaker 1: Creek, you know. And that's the reality of the theater.

362
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,560
Speaker 3: They got to sell tickets, right, So I was like,

363
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,560
Speaker 3: I want a TV show so I can come back

364
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 3: and play Hamlet in New York. It hasn't really worked

365
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:25,800
Speaker 3: out that way. I've been here in LA for over

366
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:27,120
Speaker 3: twenty some years now.

367
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,320
Speaker 1: But now my son is going off to college.

368
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:31,480
Speaker 3: Can you believe it?

369
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:31,959
Speaker 1: Now?

370
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:36,080
Speaker 3: Walter was born. Walter was born during the Hot Girl,

371
00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:39,000
Speaker 3: Perse Girl episode of season one. That's right in a

372
00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:40,240
Speaker 3: really traumatic berth.

373
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Speaker 1: Yes, you ran from set to go to the hospital

374
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,719
Speaker 1: because there was a medical issue. Yes, I know.

375
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,879
Speaker 3: And now he's going off to college, so I'm going

376
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:52,440
Speaker 3: to have more time to do theater.

377
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:58,439
Speaker 1: He's the physical embodiment of how long we all were together.

378
00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:01,680
Speaker 1: Just as he grow Oh, it was like, oh wow,

379
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:04,640
Speaker 1: we've been together a long time. And now he's going

380
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 1: off to college, which is nuts.

381
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,640
Speaker 3: Nuts yeah, just not nuts. Yeah. But once he's gone,

382
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,640
Speaker 3: he's our only kid, and then I've got a little

383
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,360
Speaker 3: more freedom, so I can go do theater for very

384
00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:19,480
Speaker 3: little money, for six months here or five months there.

385
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,080
Speaker 3: So I'm very excited about about doing that because for me,

386
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,480
Speaker 3: you know, I always have a little bit of the mystical,

387
00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 3: spiritual nature in me, and for me, acting is about

388
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:34,399
Speaker 3: there is a magic about transforming into characters. Yes, and

389
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,200
Speaker 3: people always are like you know, Dwight gets so much

390
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,040
Speaker 3: attention and focus about who I am as an actor

391
00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,040
Speaker 3: and as a person, and that's great. I'm so grateful.

392
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,679
Speaker 3: Those nine years were magical, amazing, what a great character.

393
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:49,720
Speaker 1: The writing, the cast.

394
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,920
Speaker 3: The thought, the you know, the producers, everything like that,

395
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:58,800
Speaker 3: the fans, the support, it's it's it's been incredible. But

396
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,480
Speaker 3: people don't realize this, and a lot of people aren't

397
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,640
Speaker 3: in the acting world. Like I played dozens of characters

398
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:11,280
Speaker 3: before I played Dwight, and since I've finished Dwight, I've

399
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:15,080
Speaker 3: played another couple dozen characters. So for me, it's about

400
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:20,119
Speaker 3: transforming into characters and telling stories. I played Hamlet in school.

401
00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:22,720
Speaker 3: I did Eugene O'Neil at the Arena stage. I did

402
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:24,359
Speaker 3: Philadelphia Here I come at the Guthrie.

403
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:25,479
Speaker 1: I did you know?

404
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 3: I did Shakespeare tours. I've done lots of little I

405
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:33,399
Speaker 3: played the creepy guy in Supermarket and CSI.

406
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:35,200
Speaker 1: But they're all characters.

407
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,880
Speaker 3: They're just like you know, I hope that when I die,

408
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:41,879
Speaker 3: people will Yes, I look at Dwight, but be like, wow, look.

409
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,400
Speaker 1: At all crazy different characters.

410
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 3: This guy played like this was a panopoly of a

411
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,359
Speaker 3: very different characters, dozens and dozens and dozens over his life.

412
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:57,480
Speaker 3: And I love that act of transformation. It's so satisfying

413
00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,560
Speaker 3: to me to just to build and develop and play

414
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:04,800
Speaker 3: a character and then play a completely different character, you know,

415
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:06,080
Speaker 3: than the month after.

416
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:10,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel I really feel this way that for

417
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:15,360
Speaker 1: you and I, I think we have a unique bond

418
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 1: and excitement about what you just talked about, like actually

419
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:27,960
Speaker 1: creating the physicality, the inner life, the external differences from

420
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,320
Speaker 1: ourselves and melding that with who we are. That that

421
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 1: for me as well, that is really my favorite thing

422
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,120
Speaker 1: in the world. Yeah, Like just it's I keep using

423
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:40,240
Speaker 1: the word transformation.

424
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 3: Yes, you walk different, you speak different, you think different,

425
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 3: you see the world different, you have a different kind

426
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,480
Speaker 3: of energy. All of these things need to transform to

427
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,879
Speaker 3: create a character. Now, of course I'm it's the basic

428
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 3: building blocks of Rain Wilson. So I'm going to be

429
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 3: using this big, weird ungainly body, and I'm going to

430
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,920
Speaker 3: always see things through a certain lie, so you're always

431
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 3: going to see Rain Wilson in those characters. And that's

432
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 3: also a magical thing. But that's that's what I love

433
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:13,560
Speaker 3: about the theater. And I think why, you know, people

434
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,600
Speaker 3: have always loved the theater and they love to see

435
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 3: their favorite actors transform.

436
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 1: Do you resent that people only want to see you

437
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:24,600
Speaker 1: be Dwight?

438
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,439
Speaker 3: Sometimes I do to be really honest, you know, to

439
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:32,400
Speaker 3: be perfectly frank. It's just like I'll do an independent

440
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 3: film that I worked my ass off on and play

441
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,879
Speaker 3: a villain or you know, played something completely different than me,

442
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:44,679
Speaker 3: you know, unhinged person or something you know, really funny

443
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 3: or whatever, and I'll promote it on like social media.

444
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 3: They'll be like, hey, Dwight, Yeah, yeah, Dwight and exactly

445
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,439
Speaker 3: and it's and it's it's like, guys, I get it,

446
00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 3: I got it. You love the show.

447
00:24:58,880 --> 00:24:59,440
Speaker 1: I do too.

448
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,119
Speaker 3: It's beautiful, But also can you respect me as an

449
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,680
Speaker 3: artist and that I'm trying to do some other things

450
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 3: here too. But at the end of the day, I've

451
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 3: been really lucky because I even think, like the last

452
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 3: ten years since I got out of the Office. I've

453
00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 3: done a lot of really cool stuff. I did this

454
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,920
Speaker 3: show Backstrom, No one really watched it. I did the

455
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 3: show Utopia.

456
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,560
Speaker 1: Backstrom is the role you stole from me. That is God.

457
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:27,720
Speaker 1: I wanted to play that role so bad, and they

458
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,959
Speaker 1: just really wanted you. I wanted to play that role.

459
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 1: I mean we've discussed this. It's not in a long time. Yeah,

460
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,200
Speaker 1: but literally, when I look at your at your at

461
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,199
Speaker 1: your when I looked at your sheet and I see Backstrom,

462
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 1: I'm like, motherfucker that one. That one's still yeah. Yeah,

463
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,160
Speaker 1: there's another version of Backstrom. There's another.

464
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,359
Speaker 3: A lot of maybe it would have worked and been

465
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 3: better and stayed on the air with you as the h.

466
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 1: No I as the cop.

467
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,440
Speaker 3: That's true. Well, but the point I'm making is that

468
00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,119
Speaker 3: you know this show Utopia and Amazon. I did Harry

469
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 3: Mudd on Star Trek and a bunch of independent films

470
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:10,360
Speaker 3: and some theater, and like, I really love the actor's

471
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:13,440
Speaker 3: life that I've had post office. Yeah, people haven't given

472
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:15,400
Speaker 3: a shit about any of it.

473
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,440
Speaker 1: Like, no one is like what, But.

474
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,119
Speaker 3: It's been really Uh, it's been fun for me. And

475
00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 3: these have been some really great, satisfying characters. And then

476
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 3: part of me has thought recently, like, oh, this is

477
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,400
Speaker 3: the life I always wanted. Like, I'm living the life

478
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 3: I always wanted. I'm getting to play all of these

479
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 3: cool roles.

480
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 1: People haven't really vibed with them.

481
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 2: That's okay.

482
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 1: I just started watching Launched today. I know this is

483
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: not going to come out today, but Geography of Bliss, Yeah,

484
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 1: is there a part of you? Is there a conscious

485
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: thought within you to show yourself? We're all performing all

486
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 1: the time. We're performing with our family, with our friends,

487
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: with our coworkers, depending on what the relationship is, right,

488
00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:27,479
Speaker 1: I mean, like everyone, not actors. Everyone is performing in

489
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,439
Speaker 1: one way or the other. Is there a part of

490
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:34,199
Speaker 1: you that wanted to show yourself really in Rain Wilson,

491
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 1: I mean you are Rain Wilson in Geography of Bliss.

492
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 1: Was there a part of you that wanted that? You know?

493
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 3: It just it was not something that I wanted. It's

494
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 3: just this kind of world of like people want to

495
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,119
Speaker 3: know about the guy who played Dwight, and so I

496
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 3: talk about my life story and people really resonated with

497
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,480
Speaker 3: me talking about mental health issues and that was really

498
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 3: people like oh wow, and they that because it's such

499
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 3: a big deal right now, for young people, this mental

500
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,439
Speaker 3: health epidemic that young people are going through, it's just

501
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 3: it's staggering. It's preposterous, it's deadly. It's so any kind

502
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,239
Speaker 3: of celeb says, hey, I have struggled, people are like,

503
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:18,480
Speaker 3: tell me more, because it really can help people. So

504
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 3: when I saw like, oh, me sharing my story is

505
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,679
Speaker 3: helping people, and so I started sharing it more. And

506
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 3: your first question is like, Wow, you're so upfront about

507
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 3: sharing this stuff. And you know, maybe it's because I said, like,

508
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:33,840
Speaker 3: I've been in therapy, so I talk about it every week.

509
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 3: It's not that big of a deal to me. It's

510
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 3: just stuff that I work on, right, And I'm very

511
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,920
Speaker 3: blessed with some kind of character trait in me that

512
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 3: I never just kind of settle. I'm always trying to

513
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 3: dig deeper. I want to get to know myself better.

514
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 3: I want to get to know the universe better. I

515
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 3: want to figure out why we're alive deeper. I just

516
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,680
Speaker 3: have an insatiable curiosity around that stuff I'm not able to.

517
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,760
Speaker 3: I wish I kind of could just be like, hey, bro, like, yeah,

518
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 3: a mellow whatever. Maybe it's maybe it's being wired with

519
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 3: that anxiety that I talked about as a kid. So

520
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 3: just more and more over the years, talking about myself,

521
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 3: telling my stories, people being interested writing about myself and

522
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 3: the bassoon King, and now in this new book Soul Boom,

523
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 3: and then people knowing me as Dwight. It's and part

524
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 3: of me is kind of like, I guess I'm a

525
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 3: celebrity now. I'm like Suzanne Summers doing her diet books

526
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,280
Speaker 3: and her aerobus eyes or something like that. It's like, right,

527
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 3: So this is the first time I've done a big

528
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 3: hosting thing, kind of being myself yourself on a TV show.

529
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 3: So it's hopefully I can do it all. I'll hopefully

530
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 3: still keep acting and also get to be myself. I

531
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 3: don't know, we'll see what happens well.

532
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 1: Geography of Bliss on the Peacock. You were nice enough

533
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: to give me some episodes. I didn't wake up at

534
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 1: two o'clock this morning and start binging them. I love

535
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 1: it because you were embracing the office in the show.

536
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 1: I mean several times I almost like like I almost

537
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: like drew my breath in because it's not you. This

538
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 1: is not something that you do. Is talk about Dwight,

539
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: and I feel like they exchange the exchange with the

540
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 1: Bulgarian cab driver where you start hummaking the theme song,

541
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: like trying to plug him into like who you know who?

542
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 2: Right?

543
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 3: You know?

544
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,920
Speaker 1: There was something so refreshing about that and an openness

545
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 1: to your journey of trying to find happiness. How did

546
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 1: you choose where you were going to go? Yeah, so

547
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 1: it was a crazy story.

548
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 3: My manager at the time just got an email from

549
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 3: this young producer who said, Hey, I got the rights

550
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 3: to this book called The Geography of Bliss that was

551
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 3: a bestseller about this journalist going around the world trying

552
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 3: to figure out what made people happy in various cultures.

553
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 3: And he said, I think this would be a great

554
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 3: travel documentary series, and I think Rain would be perfect

555
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 3: for it. I had spoken a little bit about some

556
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,480
Speaker 3: mental health stuff with me and my search for well

557
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 3: being and meaning in my life, and you know, nine

558
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 3: times out of ten, I'm not going to respond to

559
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 3: anything that comes in just cold call like that. But

560
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 3: I was like, he's kind of riot.

561
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:10,840
Speaker 1: This is interesting.

562
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 3: So I sat down with him and this other young

563
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 3: producer they're both like twenty eight years old, Casey and Evan,

564
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 3: and just totally vibed with them. I read the book.

565
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 3: It was great. It's just just one of those things

566
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 3: that fell together in such a beautiful way. And then

567
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 3: we brought on Radical Media, which is a really top

568
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 3: production house and great showrunner Melissa Wood and great director

569
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 3: in Niharika Desai, and we pitched it around and Peacock

570
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 3: bought it, and then it was like where are we

571
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 3: going to go? At first we were going to go

572
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 3: to Finland and Moldova, and then a little thing happened,

573
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:51,880
Speaker 3: which is the invasion of the Ukraine. So Finland borders Russia, okay,

574
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 3: and Moldova borders Ukraine, and they were like, jeez, we

575
00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 3: can't because what if we go shoot there and then

576
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,680
Speaker 3: six months later they've been invaded.

577
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 1: And we can't use the footage because it would just

578
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: be weird. So like eugh.

579
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 3: So our Finland alternative was Iceland. Our Moldova alternative was Bulgaria.

580
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 3: We could tell a similar kind of story about those

581
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,920
Speaker 3: because Moldova is the unhappiest place in Finland is the

582
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 3: happiest place, so we went to like the second happiest place,

583
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:23,040
Speaker 3: Iceland and the second unhappiest place, Bulgaria. And then we

584
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 3: really wanted to showcase Africa of course, and Ghana has

585
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 3: some amazing statistics about it's optimism. It's one of the

586
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 3: most optimistic places on the planet where people really do

587
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 3: believe that in ten or twenty years their children are

588
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:37,840
Speaker 3: going to have it way better and that they're going

589
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 3: to build a better and better life there. And in

590
00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:42,160
Speaker 3: a lot of ways they have. Ghana has been one

591
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 3: of the great success stories of the world, you know,

592
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 3: economically and educationally. It's a beautiful culture, English speaking, which

593
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 3: is very helpful. I highly recommend anyone go to Ghana.

594
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 3: It's so much fun, food's great, people are wonderful. And

595
00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 3: then Thailand has a spiritual compone it with its Buddhism

596
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 3: that will be very intriguing to us. And then here's

597
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 3: a funny story. We were gonna go we were gonna

598
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 3: shoot in Ghana, and then we were going to go

599
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 3: to Dubai and do an episode called like Can Money

600
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,080
Speaker 3: by You Happiness, And the day before we flew to

601
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 3: Dubai Real Housewives of Dubai. It's a show aired in Dubai,

602
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 3: and Dubai has a royal family, and the royal family

603
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 3: saw Real Housewives of Dubai and they were flabbergasted and

604
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:38,680
Speaker 3: incensed at all the drunken bacchanalia, backstabbing shenanigans of those

605
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 3: real housewives of Dubai.

606
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:42,000
Speaker 1: And so they shut down all productions.

607
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 3: We literally showed up in Dubai with our camera.

608
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 1: Bags and our producers.

609
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 3: And they're like, sorry, your permit's been pulled. So we

610
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 3: had to like shift. So our final episode we did

611
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 3: back in Los Angeles, which I really like. And the

612
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 3: final episode is about you know, Ken rain else and

613
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 3: find happiness back in La. Can he come back to

614
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 3: La and you know, put into practice what he.

615
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,839
Speaker 1: Learned out in the world. So would you do more? Oh?

616
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh my god, I've said it before, I'll say

617
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:15,879
Speaker 3: it again, Like I never thought i'd have a better

618
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 3: job than the office, but getting paid to travel the

619
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 3: world and talk to people about happiness and wellbeing and

620
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 3: meaning is just, oh my god, it's so awesome.

621
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 1: It's so great. Do you feel like you were changed?

622
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:37,839
Speaker 1: Were you able to forget the cameras and you're an

623
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:44,479
Speaker 1: intensely interesting and interested person. Were you able to open

624
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,399
Speaker 1: your be open enough while shooting the show to really

625
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:49,839
Speaker 1: change and have discoveries?

626
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. It's a weird thing to

627
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 3: have a camera pointed at you and like, hey, go

628
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,120
Speaker 3: have a discussion with this taxi driver about happiness. And

629
00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 3: you're like, okay, it's it's an interesting challenge. And I

630
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 3: got self conscious a lot, and like, am I saying

631
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 3: the right thing?

632
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 1: Is?

633
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 3: This? Is this right? But I would say over the

634
00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 3: course of the show, I definitely loosened up and had

635
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 3: a good time and was really able. And remember I

636
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:17,839
Speaker 3: was connecting with the people even when the cameras weren't

637
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:22,400
Speaker 3: rolling too so. But I do feel like I was changed.

638
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 3: And the takeaway that I have from Geography of Bliss

639
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,440
Speaker 3: is really pretty simple. When I was writing my book,

640
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,360
Speaker 3: I came across this very famous study called the Grant

641
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,720
Speaker 3: Study out of Harvard University, and it followed three hundred

642
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:40,240
Speaker 3: men over eighty years from like nineteen thirties on about

643
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,879
Speaker 3: happiness and well being and what it means to live

644
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:48,440
Speaker 3: like a good life. And they studied every aspect of

645
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:56,000
Speaker 3: you know, family life, divorces, health, mental health, spirituality, exercise, travel, income,

646
00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 3: et cetera, on and on, and they boil it down

647
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,799
Speaker 3: to one thing, and one thing only to which is

648
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:08,360
Speaker 3: a good life, and that is community and connection. That's

649
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 3: all that It's about and I think we've learned this

650
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,800
Speaker 3: in COVID. We need to stay connected, We need community.

651
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:19,520
Speaker 3: We thrive in relation to one another. We don't thrive

652
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 3: kind of on our own in our bubble steering at

653
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 3: our phones.

654
00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 1: Right.

655
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,280
Speaker 3: We thrive and this is part of the mental health epidemic.

656
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:30,879
Speaker 3: We thrive in community and connection. And that's what they

657
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:34,439
Speaker 3: that's what eighty years of study of hard data by

658
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:38,080
Speaker 3: the top scientists, you know, social psychologists in the world

659
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 3: arrived at. And that's what I arrived at. It's pretty simple,

660
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 3: it's pretty obvious. But seeing these incredible thriving communities, whether

661
00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 3: it's a tribe or a family, or a work collective

662
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 3: or people that love to do polar plunges together or

663
00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:02,799
Speaker 3: you know, have a band together, but humans thrive in connectivity.

664
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:04,840
Speaker 3: And so that really is like, oh, I need to

665
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 3: lean into that more in my life because you know,

666
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 3: I have groups of friends here, here, and there, but

667
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,759
Speaker 3: it's time for me to lean into lean into that

668
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:18,240
Speaker 3: because that's where the greatest and deepest satisfaction lies.

669
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 1: Isn't that so interesting? Because connection and community and how

670
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 1: much joy and happiness people find in the office. Yeah,

671
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 1: because at its core, we were a community, and we

672
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: were connected as characters but also as people. Yeah, and

673
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 1: that palpable energy I believe because I'm told goes out

674
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 1: into the world and makes people happy. I mean, that's

675
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 1: what I've said many times. The greatest gift for me

676
00:37:54,640 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 1: that the show gave me is thats Asuals. The second

677
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:06,040
Speaker 1: greatest thing that the show gave me, no, is when

678
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 1: someone comes up and I always describe it this way.

679
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,320
Speaker 1: It's not that they're they want their tell they're telling

680
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:15,799
Speaker 1: me how much the show means. It's that they have

681
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 1: an overwhelming feeling of need to communicate to me how

682
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,560
Speaker 1: much the show means, right, like they are.

683
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,239
Speaker 3: Sometimes that can be a bit much though, right, Sometimes

684
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,520
Speaker 3: when you're at an event, it's settings, it's setting, it's

685
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,760
Speaker 3: all settings. The twelfth the twenty seventh person like grabbed

686
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:36,960
Speaker 3: your arm and been like, no.

687
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:42,480
Speaker 1: You understands there is settings, but that but that's but

688
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 1: that's what you're talking about, Like that is that is

689
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:51,120
Speaker 1: them wanting this connection and community that they found from

690
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 1: the show. But you're absolutely right to bring that up.

691
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,560
Speaker 3: And I just want to say that what you're talking about, like,

692
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:03,719
Speaker 3: so you me, John Jenna, Bjy Angela, the whole Gang, Oscar.

693
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:05,400
Speaker 1: The list goes on and on, like.

694
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:10,800
Speaker 3: We loved each other. Yeah, and there was a joy

695
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 3: that Greg Daniels helped create the environment for that and

696
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 3: the casting and then that that joy and that love

697
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,960
Speaker 3: may not have been between Dwight and Kevin and Angela

698
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 3: and Ryan and whatnot, but you can it bleeds in,

699
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:32,120
Speaker 3: you feel it, and people can tell. And then that

700
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,480
Speaker 3: is what people are responding to at the end of

701
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 3: the day. And you know, Pam says to end the series,

702
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 3: you know, there's beauty in the small things. Isn't that

703
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:42,000
Speaker 3: what it's really all about? And I think that's what people.

704
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,319
Speaker 3: People aren't watching thirty Rock over and over again. Yeah,

705
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 3: you know, they're not watching a lot of different shows

706
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,160
Speaker 3: over and over again, but they come back to the

707
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:53,120
Speaker 3: office for that. And do you remember there was a

708
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 3: director I have to look up his name. I can't

709
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:55,279
Speaker 3: remember his name.

710
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,759
Speaker 1: We were in season like seven, and we would come

711
00:39:58,760 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: in in the morning.

712
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:04,760
Speaker 3: Laughing, hugging, high fiving, kissing each other, you know, tickling

713
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:08,279
Speaker 3: each other. We and he's like, what the fuck is

714
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 3: going on?

715
00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:11,160
Speaker 1: You've been seven years and you guys are acting this

716
00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:12,120
Speaker 1: way with each other?

717
00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 3: Like he goes you don't understand. I just came off

718
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,720
Speaker 3: the set of Desperate Housewives and half of the cast

719
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:20,759
Speaker 3: won't talk to the other half of the cast, and

720
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,840
Speaker 3: they won't come out of their trailers until this person

721
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 3: is like on the set and they don't want to

722
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:29,240
Speaker 3: cross that person, and they this person won't do scenes

723
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,840
Speaker 3: with this other person, and it's like and there's so

724
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:34,320
Speaker 3: you hear that about so many different TV shows.

725
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:40,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, do you think travel brings happiness experiencing places,

726
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 1: whether there are happy places or unhappy places.

727
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:45,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think travel is one of my favorite things,

728
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 3: and I think it's uh, it's beautiful. It works on

729
00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 3: a lot of different levels. Like you you're interacting with

730
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,279
Speaker 3: a different physical environment, right, it's an advent. You're out

731
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,799
Speaker 3: of your comfort zone, so you're your your senses and

732
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,200
Speaker 3: your brain is kind of firing in a whole different

733
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:01,879
Speaker 3: way because you're you know, you're in Greece, or you're

734
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:04,480
Speaker 3: in a mountain range, or you're in London or a

735
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 3: different city or a different language or whatever. So that's

736
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:10,800
Speaker 3: all really exciting. I think the important thing about travel

737
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 3: is a lot of Americans, not just Americans, people from

738
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,480
Speaker 3: all of the Western world kind of want to travel

739
00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:20,320
Speaker 3: and have an experience that's very similar to their home life.

740
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 3: So they travel and they go to a resort that

741
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 3: has a buffet and has the same foods you know

742
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 3: that they eat at home, and they sit by a pool,

743
00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:31,440
Speaker 3: and then they watch HBO on their iPads and then

744
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:33,879
Speaker 3: they go back and that's their vacation. Now, there's nothing

745
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 3: wrong with having a relaxing vacation for hardworking folks, But

746
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,759
Speaker 3: if you're traveling to different cultures, it's so important to

747
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 3: embed with the culture. Whenever you can do to take

748
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 3: a tour, go with guides, visit with a family, you know,

749
00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 3: go on an adventure, like try and speak the language

750
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:57,720
Speaker 3: and respect a culture. And that's when travel really comes alive.

751
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:01,719
Speaker 1: That is such a great point because I travel quite

752
00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 1: a bit, and there was a period of time that,

753
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:13,080
Speaker 1: like my first question when going to my hotel was

754
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:18,800
Speaker 1: where's the nearest Starbucks? Like where, because in the morning,

755
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:22,319
Speaker 1: I'm gonna want coffee, yeah, and I'm gonna want And

756
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,600
Speaker 1: by the way, folks, I'm surprised this is a small one.

757
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:29,880
Speaker 3: Brian walks around with a big like ice car and

758
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:30,680
Speaker 3: he will nurse.

759
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,960
Speaker 1: He will nurse something like this, Like I don't know

760
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:36,880
Speaker 1: how he does, like six hours. Yeah, it'll take him

761
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:37,480
Speaker 1: some ice in.

762
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,480
Speaker 3: There, and he's just all day. You just see Brian

763
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:45,120
Speaker 3: like swirling his little ice. It's a little that's for

764
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:46,600
Speaker 3: the people listening in the audio.

765
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:51,880
Speaker 1: But it's not a Starbucks. It's not it's not a Starbucks.

766
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:54,439
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I don't go to Starbucks. And Starbucks please,

767
00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:57,520
Speaker 1: if you need to spend your AD dollars anywhere, please

768
00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:00,800
Speaker 1: off the beat is available to you. But my point

769
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:04,920
Speaker 1: is because I wanted the same, right it was. It

770
00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:08,280
Speaker 1: wasn't about Starbucks, but it was about well, Starbucks are everywhere,

771
00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 1: and I know what that tastes like. Sure, and I

772
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:16,800
Speaker 1: want the same to your point, and now I try

773
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,080
Speaker 1: to do the opposite, like what is the what is

774
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:24,920
Speaker 1: a local coffee shop? And sometimes it's awful and sometimes

775
00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:30,319
Speaker 1: it's mind blowingly amazing because coffee shops are like they

776
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:33,680
Speaker 1: they reflect in a lot of ways, especially independent coffee

777
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:37,560
Speaker 1: shops like a community. It's different the food, the way

778
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,919
Speaker 1: the coffee is and anyway, I think what you say

779
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:45,200
Speaker 1: is really important because you're right, and through your experiences

780
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:47,719
Speaker 1: on geography Bliss, we see you do that over and

781
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:51,920
Speaker 1: over and over immersing yourself into the culture and to

782
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:52,400
Speaker 1: the people.

783
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I'm so blessed. It's I'm so fortunate to

784
00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 3: be able to travel in that way because they they

785
00:43:58,239 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 3: hook up families for me to stay with, and people

786
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 3: for me to spend the day with and have and

787
00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:07,200
Speaker 3: eat meals with and walk through the woods with, and

788
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:10,680
Speaker 3: so I get to go much deeper and have made

789
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:13,320
Speaker 3: some really delightful friends and connections.

790
00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:18,040
Speaker 1: There's another part that though, that I really liked, which

791
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:23,920
Speaker 1: was you connecting in these different places with at times

792
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:28,839
Speaker 1: people that you knew already. The actor in Iceland, iked

793
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:34,840
Speaker 1: Sarria Olifson. Yes, it's fun to see you relax in

794
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:38,600
Speaker 1: a way with people you have a familiarity. Obviously, the

795
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:41,879
Speaker 1: people you don't know, that's amazing too. But seeing you

796
00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:45,760
Speaker 1: with these people that you have met over your life

797
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:50,719
Speaker 1: and now spending time with them in their homeland or

798
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,040
Speaker 1: the place that they live now, that was really fun

799
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:56,719
Speaker 1: for me. M Yeah, that was great. It was a

800
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:59,800
Speaker 1: great addition. Did that just happen or was that planned?

801
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,560
Speaker 1: Were you like, oh, I know someone here in Bulgaria.

802
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:10,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, I knew this psychologist in Bulgaria through the Bahaigh faith. Community,

803
00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:14,320
Speaker 3: which was really interesting and the producers were very resistant,

804
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:15,560
Speaker 3: and I was like, we got to talk to her

805
00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 3: because she's been living in America for thirty years, but

806
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,919
Speaker 3: she's Bulgarian, so she really knows and she's a psychologist,

807
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:25,200
Speaker 3: she really knows the Bulgarian psyche Like, well, trust me,

808
00:45:25,239 --> 00:45:26,560
Speaker 3: we're going to want to talk to her. And it

809
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:30,120
Speaker 3: was a key interview there to really understand the Bulgarians.

810
00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:34,360
Speaker 3: And then dari It does the same thing. They become translators.

811
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:38,320
Speaker 3: Anthony Bourdain did it so beautifully. God rest his soul,

812
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:40,880
Speaker 3: like the people that he would meet and the chefs

813
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 3: and the guides and stuff. And you'd go back to

814
00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 3: Vietnam and meet the guy that had been there twenty

815
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:49,719
Speaker 3: years earlier when he had been to Vietnam, and it's

816
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:54,320
Speaker 3: such a great entree into culture and food and connection.

817
00:45:55,000 --> 00:46:01,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, you go deeper, though, and I feel I feel

818
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:07,799
Speaker 1: you searching for the answers to these questions. I mean,

819
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:11,320
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, you've written books about life, life's

820
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:15,040
Speaker 1: big questions that there truly is no answer, but that

821
00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:21,440
Speaker 1: searching that to me is really compelling, Like the searching

822
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:27,480
Speaker 1: for something as opposed to an experience, which there are

823
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:30,879
Speaker 1: two different things, and Anthony god Rest his soul Yes

824
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:35,799
Speaker 1: was brilliant. I felt like that was more having an

825
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:41,480
Speaker 1: experience this. I feel you searching for something, which to

826
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:42,440
Speaker 1: me is more interesting.

827
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:44,160
Speaker 3: Oh good, thanks.

828
00:46:44,280 --> 00:47:07,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, you founded soul Pancake and now you have your

829
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 1: new book, soul Boom. How have you? How is the

830
00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:16,400
Speaker 1: questions that you're looking to answer changed from your time

831
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:18,480
Speaker 1: with soul Pancake. Yeah.

832
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 3: So soul Pancake was a digital media company, mostly a

833
00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:24,840
Speaker 3: YouTube channel. We worked and created a lot of short

834
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:28,240
Speaker 3: form video content and a lot of social media content

835
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:31,920
Speaker 3: about life's big questions. But it was always with an

836
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:35,719
Speaker 3: aim to inspire and uplift and bring people together. That

837
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,879
Speaker 3: was kind of the focus of the platform itself. We

838
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:43,160
Speaker 3: ended up selling the company to Participant Media, so it's

839
00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:45,560
Speaker 3: kind of been folded into what they do as a

840
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:50,680
Speaker 3: media company and a film production studio. So sol Boom

841
00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:54,160
Speaker 3: is a little bit different because this is me kind

842
00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:59,480
Speaker 3: of writing a book on big spiritual ideas about the

843
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:02,080
Speaker 3: meaning of life. As I say in the book, I'm

844
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:04,440
Speaker 3: throwing a bunch of spiritual spaghetti at the wall and

845
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:08,120
Speaker 3: we'll see what sticks. And I talk about life and death.

846
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:13,720
Speaker 3: I talk about consciousness, the journey of the soul, sacredness God.

847
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:16,360
Speaker 3: I have a chapter on God called the Notorious Good,

848
00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:20,400
Speaker 3: and then I talk about can we use spiritual tools

849
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:25,960
Speaker 3: for social transformation? How can we use these big, deep,

850
00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:28,640
Speaker 3: rich spiritual ideas that have been in every faith tradition

851
00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:31,719
Speaker 3: on the planet from the dawn of time? Can we

852
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:36,120
Speaker 3: use those ideas to help us transform collectively? Because we're

853
00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:39,759
Speaker 3: hurting so much right now, there's so much disunity, there's

854
00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:45,520
Speaker 3: so much venom, toxic social media and partisanship. How can

855
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:48,239
Speaker 3: we learn from the Bible, How can we learn from

856
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:51,320
Speaker 3: the baghavad Gita, from the Torah, you know, from the

857
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:55,200
Speaker 3: damapatas of the Buddha, And can we use those tools

858
00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:58,040
Speaker 3: for a kind of We think a lot about spirituality

859
00:48:58,080 --> 00:49:00,799
Speaker 3: as personal transformation, like, Oh, I'm going to I'm gonna pray,

860
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:03,160
Speaker 3: I'm gonna meditate, I'm gonna read holy words, I'm gonna

861
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:06,279
Speaker 3: try and be a better person. That's that's part of

862
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:08,400
Speaker 3: our spiritual path. But can we also use them for

863
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:11,760
Speaker 3: social transformation? So it's a it's a big idea book,

864
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:14,759
Speaker 3: and at the same time it's I try and make

865
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,799
Speaker 3: it funny and light and readable at the same time.

866
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:19,799
Speaker 3: It's not a dissertation or.

867
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:23,400
Speaker 1: Anything like that. No, it's beautiful and I feel like

868
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 1: with Soul Pancake you are searching for the answers to

869
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:34,439
Speaker 1: life's big questions. This to me feels deeply personal, much

870
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:40,279
Speaker 1: more personal to me in this book and exploring the

871
00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:44,680
Speaker 1: questions that are in the world today through your own

872
00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:47,640
Speaker 1: specific lens, which is always the case, but being so

873
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:52,920
Speaker 1: open again and sharing your past experience gives it just

874
00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:56,279
Speaker 1: a real power. Wow.

875
00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:59,160
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. That's that's very kind. I appreciate that.

876
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:01,960
Speaker 3: I I tried to share my experience whenever I could.

877
00:50:02,200 --> 00:50:05,320
Speaker 3: I just find that people are more receptive to ideas

878
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:07,600
Speaker 3: when you share it personally, you know, when you make

879
00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:10,960
Speaker 3: it say here's what I went through. You know, my

880
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:13,839
Speaker 3: chapter on death, which is called Death and How to Live,

881
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:17,960
Speaker 3: it is framed by the death of my father, which happened,

882
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:20,200
Speaker 3: you know, six months into COVID and he died of

883
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:23,960
Speaker 3: heart disease at age seventy nine. And it was, you know,

884
00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:25,839
Speaker 3: like I said, my mom took off when I was,

885
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:30,000
Speaker 3: you know, a toddler, so my main parental bond was

886
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 3: with my dad, and I'm you know, most bonded to

887
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:37,799
Speaker 3: someone who was really really bad at intimacy because he

888
00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:42,279
Speaker 3: had been so traumatized. So that was a conundrum but

889
00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:46,120
Speaker 3: heartbreaking nonetheless, So I wanted to really share deeply, like

890
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:48,600
Speaker 3: what I was going through, what I was feeling. I

891
00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:52,160
Speaker 3: tell a very comedic story in it about we were

892
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,640
Speaker 3: preparing the body for burial in a Bahigh tradition, which

893
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,080
Speaker 3: is very similar to a Jewish tradition, where you wash

894
00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:00,560
Speaker 3: the body and wrap the body in preparation for burial,

895
00:51:01,239 --> 00:51:05,440
Speaker 3: and the funeral home didn't have any nice bowls. It

896
00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:08,920
Speaker 3: had like some tupperware containers or a teapot, and that

897
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:11,560
Speaker 3: we were up against it because the funeral was starting soon,

898
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:14,000
Speaker 3: and I had to run to a target to buy

899
00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:16,160
Speaker 3: glass bowls. It was the middle of a heat wave,

900
00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:19,640
Speaker 3: and I'm pouring sweat and it's COVID and I'm sobbing

901
00:51:20,239 --> 00:51:22,640
Speaker 3: snots running down my nose, and I'm trying to find

902
00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:28,080
Speaker 3: glass bowls to wash my dead father's body. So we

903
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:28,640
Speaker 3: have a good.

904
00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:33,280
Speaker 1: Time along the way. You talk about your behigh faith,

905
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:37,520
Speaker 1: You have always been very open about that you left

906
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:43,160
Speaker 1: in your twenties and then returned to it later on.

907
00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:48,200
Speaker 1: How important was that for you? The leaving and the

908
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:51,680
Speaker 1: coming back and what brought you back.

909
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:55,279
Speaker 3: Well, it's a key story for me. It's maybe the

910
00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 3: most important story of my life. Was that kind of

911
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:02,520
Speaker 3: twelve year journey where I left the ba High Faith

912
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:06,359
Speaker 3: to go to New York to be an actor. I

913
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:08,319
Speaker 3: just wanted to do theater. I didn't want to think

914
00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:12,759
Speaker 3: about religion, spirituality, God certainly not morality. I wanted to

915
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:15,080
Speaker 3: kind of party and do what I wanted to do

916
00:52:15,160 --> 00:52:17,920
Speaker 3: when I wanted to do it. And a lot of

917
00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:20,640
Speaker 3: kids do this, you know, this is a very common things.

918
00:52:20,719 --> 00:52:23,719
Speaker 3: Probably probably eighty percent of kids who grew up in

919
00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:26,600
Speaker 3: some spiritual tradition, when they go off to college or

920
00:52:26,640 --> 00:52:29,640
Speaker 3: go off to live in the city and have a life,

921
00:52:29,719 --> 00:52:32,880
Speaker 3: they jettison their faith, the faith of their childhood. So

922
00:52:33,239 --> 00:52:36,480
Speaker 3: I'm not special in this regard. I think what happened

923
00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:41,000
Speaker 3: for me, however, is I started really coming up against

924
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,480
Speaker 3: some of these mental health issues that I've been talking about.

925
00:52:43,560 --> 00:52:45,680
Speaker 3: That's when my anxiety kicked in. I used to have

926
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:48,799
Speaker 3: I mean, I can't even tell you how crippling these

927
00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:50,280
Speaker 3: anxiety attacks were.

928
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:50,719
Speaker 1: That I would have.

929
00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:54,760
Speaker 3: I mean I would fall on the floor, shaking and sweating,

930
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,759
Speaker 3: and I was like I'm having a heart attack. I'm

931
00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:02,200
Speaker 3: going to die. I'm literally dying. Came so close on

932
00:53:02,239 --> 00:53:05,680
Speaker 3: a half a dozen occasions of calling nine one one.

933
00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:10,720
Speaker 3: I mean, I was just and then all the many

934
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:15,400
Speaker 3: anxiety attacks I was having, and then depression, addiction issues,

935
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:23,000
Speaker 3: and and this forced me to reinvestigate spirituality. Okay, it's

936
00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:26,680
Speaker 3: interesting because I had a conversation with BJ and and

937
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 3: BJ was very frank. He's like, that was great that

938
00:53:29,640 --> 00:53:32,160
Speaker 3: you had that it forced you go on a spiritual path.

939
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:34,360
Speaker 3: But what would you say someone like me, Like, I'm

940
00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:37,520
Speaker 3: interested in spirituality and I'm struggling, and I want to

941
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:40,120
Speaker 3: get to know it more and I want to figure

942
00:53:40,120 --> 00:53:42,840
Speaker 3: out my life a in a But my life is

943
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:47,120
Speaker 3: fine right now. You know, I'm I'm fine, I'm functioning,

944
00:53:47,239 --> 00:53:51,200
Speaker 3: I'm pretty happy, I'm doing great projects. So how do

945
00:53:51,239 --> 00:53:53,640
Speaker 3: you how do you do that? And you know, I

946
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:55,840
Speaker 3: don't know what the answer is. I mean, I think

947
00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:59,719
Speaker 3: it's to just get more curious and to read a

948
00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 3: little bit, which will fuel that curiosity. But I was

949
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:06,600
Speaker 3: really fortunate in a way, like I kind of hit

950
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:10,400
Speaker 3: bottom so bad in a number of ways in my twenties,

951
00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:13,759
Speaker 3: and I was really dissatisfied that it forced me to

952
00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:17,120
Speaker 3: look at spirituality again, and I read a lot of

953
00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:20,320
Speaker 3: the holy books of the world, and I studied and

954
00:54:20,520 --> 00:54:23,800
Speaker 3: journeyed and read and journaled and did some therapy. And

955
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:28,759
Speaker 3: because I felt in my bones like I think that

956
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:32,480
Speaker 3: there's probably a spiritual solution to this misery that I'm in,

957
00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:37,040
Speaker 3: and that by jettisoning my religion and my spirituality, I

958
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:41,799
Speaker 3: have done myself a disservice. And I bet this will

959
00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:44,960
Speaker 3: lead to greater happiness and fulfillment if I re explore

960
00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:48,840
Speaker 3: that dimension. It was a very long time coming. I

961
00:54:48,840 --> 00:54:52,080
Speaker 3: mean I was still exploring early on in the office,

962
00:54:53,719 --> 00:54:55,640
Speaker 3: but came back to the faith, the bhy faith from

963
00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:58,799
Speaker 3: my childhood, which has brought me and my wife a

964
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:00,880
Speaker 3: lot of solace and connection.

965
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:05,359
Speaker 1: Yeah. The themes that you explore in the book, they

966
00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:09,120
Speaker 1: seem to have a lot in common with geography of bliss,

967
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:15,120
Speaker 1: self awareness, self improvement, self acceptance. What do you see

968
00:55:15,160 --> 00:55:19,520
Speaker 1: as a relationship between soul Boom and geography of Bliss

969
00:55:19,560 --> 00:55:23,920
Speaker 1: And is there an is there an overall message or

970
00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:29,040
Speaker 1: are you trying to just put people on their own journey? Yeah?

971
00:55:29,120 --> 00:55:32,680
Speaker 3: Great, great, great question. So I knew the book was

972
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:35,840
Speaker 3: coming out. What month is this May April, so it

973
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:39,520
Speaker 3: was coming out in late April. And then Peacock was like, Hey,

974
00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:42,080
Speaker 3: good news, We're gonna we're going to release Geography of

975
00:55:42,120 --> 00:55:44,879
Speaker 3: Bliss in September. And I was like, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa,

976
00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:47,439
Speaker 3: whoa what? No, no, No, I have a book coming

977
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:49,279
Speaker 3: out in April that's about this theme and I'm going

978
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:50,759
Speaker 3: to be promoting it. I'm going to be out there

979
00:55:50,760 --> 00:55:52,560
Speaker 3: on the road. I'd love to talk about Geography of

980
00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:54,960
Speaker 3: Bliss as well. And they were great about it. And

981
00:55:55,040 --> 00:55:57,279
Speaker 3: I also said, and also think about it, like, think

982
00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 3: about releasing the show right before people are trying traveling

983
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:04,040
Speaker 3: over the summer. It's a post COVID show. It's kind

984
00:56:04,040 --> 00:56:06,719
Speaker 3: of launching into the summer traveling the world. People are

985
00:56:06,719 --> 00:56:10,719
Speaker 3: going on vacations, like, and they're thinking about being more expansive.

986
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:13,960
Speaker 3: Maybe they've traveled traveling for the first time, like it all.

987
00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:16,279
Speaker 1: And they were great about it, and Peacock was like,

988
00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:19,359
Speaker 1: you know what, you're right, then Snell, there you go.

989
00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:20,879
Speaker 3: They shifted the release date.

990
00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:23,200
Speaker 1: They said that, they said, you're right.

991
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:26,920
Speaker 3: I have to say they've been an amazing partner and

992
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:31,200
Speaker 3: team on this and it's funny Brian Sidebar. There was

993
00:56:31,239 --> 00:56:34,960
Speaker 3: this article in the Onion Avy Department and it was

994
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:40,480
Speaker 3: like Peacock is using its former sitcom stars to have

995
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:47,280
Speaker 3: documentary series and they they they mentioned some other actors

996
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:48,920
Speaker 3: that had been on like Parks and Rec and some

997
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:52,000
Speaker 3: other shows that were doing some kind of documentary series

998
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:55,400
Speaker 3: on Peacock and they it was like the article was

999
00:56:55,480 --> 00:56:58,680
Speaker 3: like this scandalous article, like we've exposed this.

1000
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:03,600
Speaker 1: It's like, duh, what do you think? Like they're trying

1001
00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:06,279
Speaker 1: to get people, They're trying to get people to watch

1002
00:57:06,320 --> 00:57:06,720
Speaker 1: the Peacock.

1003
00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:10,480
Speaker 3: But not only that, Like there are office fans turning

1004
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:13,279
Speaker 3: to Peacock and they like Rain. They tend to like

1005
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:15,359
Speaker 3: Rain Wilson and then they turn it on and then

1006
00:57:15,400 --> 00:57:17,560
Speaker 3: they see that I've got this show, and it's it's

1007
00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:20,720
Speaker 3: win win, Like it's that's how television works.

1008
00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:23,560
Speaker 1: It's how it's always worked, you know what I mean?

1009
00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:27,560
Speaker 3: Like, you know, uh, TV stars of CBS or TV

1010
00:57:27,640 --> 00:57:32,560
Speaker 3: stars of HBO do other shows on that. You know, Uh,

1011
00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:36,440
Speaker 3: Patricia Arcat is doing a new show on Apple after

1012
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:39,960
Speaker 3: severance because they have a nice relationship and people that

1013
00:57:40,040 --> 00:57:42,960
Speaker 3: go to Apple like Patricia Arcat. It's oh my god,

1014
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:45,760
Speaker 3: give me a break. So, so what is it about it?

1015
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:48,320
Speaker 3: To me, It's all about you. You you brought it

1016
00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:51,480
Speaker 3: up before. It's all about asking questions. I'm not a guru.

1017
00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:56,320
Speaker 3: I don't have any answers. I'm a schlubby, chubby, weird guy.

1018
00:57:56,520 --> 00:57:59,680
Speaker 3: I still struggle. I've learned a few things, but I'm

1019
00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:03,240
Speaker 3: not presenting myself as like some kind of guru, know

1020
00:58:03,400 --> 00:58:05,960
Speaker 3: it all self help guy, like a lot of folks

1021
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:10,800
Speaker 3: do on social media and whatnot. I'm just I'm a

1022
00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:15,960
Speaker 3: fellow journeer. And let's dig into these big ideas. Let's

1023
00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:19,960
Speaker 3: look at what makes us happy. Let's examine cultures around

1024
00:58:20,000 --> 00:58:22,760
Speaker 3: the world and where we can find great well being

1025
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:25,480
Speaker 3: from them and have a blast along the way. And

1026
00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:27,919
Speaker 3: in the book, like, let's dig into what it means

1027
00:58:27,960 --> 00:58:29,720
Speaker 3: to be alive? And is there a God? And do

1028
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:31,880
Speaker 3: we have a soul? And how do we find what

1029
00:58:32,040 --> 00:58:34,680
Speaker 3: is sacred and holy in our lives? And what is

1030
00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:39,440
Speaker 3: the miracle of consciousness? And how do science and spirituality intersect?

1031
00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:42,320
Speaker 3: And where do we you know, where do we go

1032
00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:45,880
Speaker 3: from here as a society. I don't have the exact

1033
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:49,680
Speaker 3: answers for it, but it all dovetails. So the universe

1034
00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:51,920
Speaker 3: seems to be pushing me in this direction to be

1035
00:58:52,040 --> 00:58:55,440
Speaker 3: telling these kind of stories. Who knows what's next the book.

1036
00:58:55,560 --> 00:58:59,680
Speaker 1: If you haven't gotten it, get it read it. I've

1037
00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:06,800
Speaker 1: known Rain twenty twenty plus. I mean, you know, I

1038
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:09,320
Speaker 1: was at least aware of you for much longer, but

1039
00:59:10,120 --> 00:59:12,040
Speaker 1: known each other twenty plus years.

1040
00:59:12,080 --> 00:59:13,640
Speaker 3: We have to talk about three sisters a little bit.

1041
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:18,400
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, three sisters. Well, let me finish this legitimate

1042
00:59:18,680 --> 00:59:23,160
Speaker 1: pitch for the book. I learned about Rain by reading

1043
00:59:23,160 --> 00:59:27,439
Speaker 1: this book, and Rain is a very open person. Rain

1044
00:59:27,600 --> 00:59:29,640
Speaker 1: is I've said this before, I'll say it again. I'll

1045
00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:33,440
Speaker 1: say it till the day I die. He is the lewdest,

1046
00:59:33,680 --> 00:59:39,480
Speaker 1: most inappropriate, most If there was a Dundee Award for

1047
00:59:39,680 --> 00:59:44,360
Speaker 1: most likely to be sent to HR in today's culture,

1048
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:48,560
Speaker 1: it is Rain Wilson, no question. But at the same time,

1049
00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:55,360
Speaker 1: the kindest, the person that everyone would go to if

1050
00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:59,760
Speaker 1: something were really happening in their lives that they needed

1051
01:00:00,120 --> 01:00:06,280
Speaker 1: vice and input in. Thoughtful, always curious, and the book

1052
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:08,320
Speaker 1: reflects that amazingly.

1053
01:00:08,440 --> 01:00:09,080
Speaker 3: You're so kind.

1054
01:00:09,120 --> 01:00:11,600
Speaker 1: Thank you. That's very nice to see. Yes, well, I

1055
01:00:11,720 --> 01:00:16,800
Speaker 1: mean it. And as for geography of Bliss, it's funny,

1056
01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:21,400
Speaker 1: it's funny and will make you think about your own life.

1057
01:00:21,640 --> 01:00:25,080
Speaker 1: And it's beautifully shot, by the way, which you had

1058
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:29,440
Speaker 1: nothing to do with. So you But it's my parents

1059
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:31,440
Speaker 1: went to Ice. I've been to. I have been to

1060
01:00:31,520 --> 01:00:36,120
Speaker 1: the Reikievik airport on a layover, so I spent you know,

1061
01:00:36,240 --> 01:00:39,000
Speaker 1: three hours in the middle of the night. Never thought

1062
01:00:39,320 --> 01:00:43,720
Speaker 1: of ever leaving the airport or going there again seeing it.

1063
01:00:44,320 --> 01:00:49,080
Speaker 1: Even just the shots of you guys driving around, the's incredible,

1064
01:00:49,880 --> 01:00:52,680
Speaker 1: is unbelievably beautiful.

1065
01:00:52,760 --> 01:00:56,640
Speaker 3: It's I've been five times. That's one thing that was

1066
01:00:56,680 --> 01:00:58,240
Speaker 3: a lie we told in the show. It made it

1067
01:00:58,240 --> 01:00:59,840
Speaker 3: seem like I was going there for the first time.

1068
01:01:00,160 --> 01:01:03,120
Speaker 1: I had been four times before. Oh, just as a person,

1069
01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:04,800
Speaker 1: just as a as a traveler.

1070
01:01:05,120 --> 01:01:09,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, liars, and I love that play.

1071
01:01:09,240 --> 01:01:09,600
Speaker 1: I would.

1072
01:01:09,720 --> 01:01:11,800
Speaker 3: I was very seriously talking to my wife about, like

1073
01:01:11,800 --> 01:01:12,959
Speaker 3: what would it take for us to go.

1074
01:01:12,920 --> 01:01:16,160
Speaker 1: Live here because it is recently or years ago?

1075
01:01:16,840 --> 01:01:18,000
Speaker 3: Two? Three years ago?

1076
01:01:18,320 --> 01:01:20,040
Speaker 1: Yeah no, but not when you were just there for

1077
01:01:20,080 --> 01:01:20,440
Speaker 1: the show.

1078
01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:26,920
Speaker 3: No, okay, But it's the black sand beaches, glaciers, volcanoes.

1079
01:01:27,480 --> 01:01:31,760
Speaker 3: It's I say, like our last trip there as a family,

1080
01:01:32,680 --> 01:01:37,040
Speaker 3: we went and like parked under like a five hundred

1081
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:40,600
Speaker 3: foot waterfall in our camper van and like we're cooking

1082
01:01:40,600 --> 01:01:44,480
Speaker 3: dinner and looking out, like it's pretty nice, pretty nice waterfalls.

1083
01:01:44,520 --> 01:01:48,360
Speaker 3: Like we've seen way bigger. We've seen the three thousand

1084
01:01:48,400 --> 01:01:51,280
Speaker 3: foot waterfalls and like coming off of the side of

1085
01:01:51,280 --> 01:01:55,560
Speaker 3: a glacier and the you know, Onyx Cliffs and this one,

1086
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:58,040
Speaker 3: and it was like, wait a minute, I'm parked under

1087
01:01:58,080 --> 01:02:00,600
Speaker 3: a five hundred foot waterfall and I'm like it's like

1088
01:02:00,680 --> 01:02:04,400
Speaker 3: ho hum, you know, it's it's incredible, super fun.

1089
01:02:04,600 --> 01:02:08,600
Speaker 1: Yeah. Three Sisters, Three Sisters.

1090
01:02:08,680 --> 01:02:11,280
Speaker 3: So before the Office and in the early days of

1091
01:02:11,280 --> 01:02:14,919
Speaker 3: the Office, I was directing one of my very favorite plays,

1092
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:19,800
Speaker 3: Checkov's Three Sisters, and I met Brian through some mutual friends.

1093
01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:22,680
Speaker 3: I had seen you in a play, although in a

1094
01:02:22,720 --> 01:02:27,680
Speaker 3: small role in Minneapolis, and I was like, oh, this

1095
01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:30,640
Speaker 3: guy's perfect for Andre and three Sisters. And we did

1096
01:02:30,680 --> 01:02:33,440
Speaker 3: this kind of ongoing workshop production that we were The

1097
01:02:33,480 --> 01:02:35,240
Speaker 3: plan was we were going to perform the whole play

1098
01:02:35,240 --> 01:02:38,160
Speaker 3: in people's living rooms. We got to perform the first

1099
01:02:38,200 --> 01:02:40,680
Speaker 3: couple acts a couple of times. You were so great

1100
01:02:40,800 --> 01:02:45,560
Speaker 3: in the role, just perfect combination of heartbreak and comedy,

1101
01:02:46,160 --> 01:02:50,320
Speaker 3: and it was really fun and arduous because we would

1102
01:02:50,360 --> 01:02:52,560
Speaker 3: just meet on Sunday mornings and like rehearse for three

1103
01:02:52,560 --> 01:02:56,160
Speaker 3: hours every single week and do little chunks of it.

1104
01:02:56,240 --> 01:02:58,720
Speaker 3: And we all had to like pitch in some money, like, hey,

1105
01:02:58,720 --> 01:03:00,680
Speaker 3: everyone put in twenty bucks to go at the rehearsal

1106
01:03:00,680 --> 01:03:03,560
Speaker 3: space and stuff. But you were you were great and

1107
01:03:03,640 --> 01:03:06,200
Speaker 3: sad and beautiful and I hope you'll do more theater.

1108
01:03:06,400 --> 01:03:11,880
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, thank you. Those were really fun times. Yeah.

1109
01:03:11,920 --> 01:03:14,680
Speaker 1: I was trying to think. I couldn't put the time

1110
01:03:14,880 --> 01:03:19,520
Speaker 1: table together, so it was literally before the office. Yeah,

1111
01:03:19,600 --> 01:03:21,840
Speaker 1: and then and then.

1112
01:03:21,640 --> 01:03:23,400
Speaker 3: And then early on, like when we had shot the

1113
01:03:23,480 --> 01:03:26,000
Speaker 3: pilot we had started it. Yeah, and then we shot

1114
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:28,000
Speaker 3: the five more episodes of the first season and we

1115
01:03:28,520 --> 01:03:30,960
Speaker 3: kept going. By the time we were into like the

1116
01:03:31,080 --> 01:03:35,240
Speaker 3: second season, other people moved from LA to New York

1117
01:03:35,280 --> 01:03:37,520
Speaker 3: and we were kind of losing the cast and stuff,

1118
01:03:37,560 --> 01:03:39,680
Speaker 3: and then we got really busy and it it kind

1119
01:03:39,720 --> 01:03:40,480
Speaker 3: of petered away.

1120
01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:42,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, you should produce it.

1121
01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:46,480
Speaker 3: Should should. You're a little old f andre now, sorry,

1122
01:03:48,440 --> 01:03:48,720
Speaker 3: am I.

1123
01:03:48,920 --> 01:03:51,400
Speaker 1: It depends on how old everyone else is. Really.

1124
01:03:52,240 --> 01:03:55,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, you've got to feel sorry.

1125
01:03:56,480 --> 01:03:59,919
Speaker 1: Sorry twenty years ago. It was twenty years ago. Yeah, Wow,

1126
01:04:01,520 --> 01:04:03,600
Speaker 1: it's always great to see you. I'm gonna come by

1127
01:04:03,640 --> 01:04:04,960
Speaker 1: the farm, Come.

1128
01:04:04,760 --> 01:04:07,480
Speaker 3: By the farm. We've got pigs to pat and a

1129
01:04:07,520 --> 01:04:08,320
Speaker 3: pea hen.

1130
01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:10,760
Speaker 1: Pigs, a pea hen, a donkey.

1131
01:04:11,160 --> 01:04:14,439
Speaker 3: Still, yeah, the donkeys that is at my wife's where

1132
01:04:14,480 --> 01:04:15,760
Speaker 3: she has her horses.

1133
01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:16,280
Speaker 1: Okay.

1134
01:04:16,360 --> 01:04:18,880
Speaker 3: And then we have a donkey named Chili Beans, a

1135
01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:23,480
Speaker 3: rescue donkey. He's adorable, chili beans. Oh, he's so huggable.

1136
01:04:23,520 --> 01:04:26,240
Speaker 3: He's got fuzzy, big ears. It's like if you've ever

1137
01:04:26,360 --> 01:04:30,720
Speaker 3: nuzzled a donkey. And that's not a dirty euphemism, but

1138
01:04:30,840 --> 01:04:32,680
Speaker 3: I would love for you to nuzzle my donkey.

1139
01:04:33,240 --> 01:04:36,800
Speaker 1: I'm n even bushes chili beans. Chili beans, you can

1140
01:04:36,840 --> 01:04:40,040
Speaker 1: make chili out of him. Oh, that's see. Dark, It

1141
01:04:40,080 --> 01:04:44,360
Speaker 1: all comes around, that's all dark. It sure does, Rain.

1142
01:04:45,600 --> 01:04:50,320
Speaker 3: Wilson, everybody, bomb Gardner, everybody bringing it week after week.

1143
01:04:50,560 --> 01:04:54,880
Speaker 1: Like we just looked. I'm gonna look into the camera.

1144
01:04:55,480 --> 01:04:58,360
Speaker 1: Oh we didn't do any takes to the camera. A

1145
01:04:58,600 --> 01:05:02,320
Speaker 1: hundred and four thirty one of these puppies you are,

1146
01:05:02,440 --> 01:05:05,240
Speaker 1: this is number one forty one, which is anyone, which

1147
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:07,200
Speaker 1: is a significant number, not at all?

1148
01:05:07,360 --> 01:05:09,480
Speaker 3: Could you have called me like it's not in the

1149
01:05:09,520 --> 01:05:12,320
Speaker 3: first like thirty or forty, because.

1150
01:05:12,160 --> 01:05:14,680
Speaker 1: Hello, well, no. I mean. The funny thing is is

1151
01:05:14,720 --> 01:05:18,600
Speaker 1: the very first time I ever sat down for a

1152
01:05:18,680 --> 01:05:22,280
Speaker 1: podcast interview with me was with you at the old

1153
01:05:22,320 --> 01:05:25,400
Speaker 1: iHeart studios in Hollywood. And I called you and I

1154
01:05:25,440 --> 01:05:27,720
Speaker 1: was like, hey, I'm thinking about putting this thing in

1155
01:05:27,880 --> 01:05:31,720
Speaker 1: oral history of the Office together. And you were, as

1156
01:05:31,800 --> 01:05:40,280
Speaker 1: always like very accommodating with restrictions. You said, absolutely, I

1157
01:05:40,320 --> 01:05:44,040
Speaker 1: have to do it next week because I'm gonna maybe

1158
01:05:44,080 --> 01:05:46,440
Speaker 1: shoot this movie and the show and I'm gonna be busy,

1159
01:05:46,720 --> 01:05:49,040
Speaker 1: so next week, so you don't even know any of

1160
01:05:49,120 --> 01:05:54,080
Speaker 1: this scrambling started, no what we the team hadn't done

1161
01:05:54,080 --> 01:05:55,920
Speaker 1: a brief at that point. We didn't know what the

1162
01:05:55,920 --> 01:05:58,600
Speaker 1: hell we were doing. And I was like, oh my god,

1163
01:05:58,760 --> 01:06:01,440
Speaker 1: we have to have rain. So we scramble. So we

1164
01:06:01,520 --> 01:06:03,760
Speaker 1: go to IHEARTA, we go to iHeart.

1165
01:06:03,800 --> 01:06:05,240
Speaker 3: I thought you were like in production.

1166
01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:09,959
Speaker 1: No, this was like no, this was like I'm making calls, Hey,

1167
01:06:10,040 --> 01:06:12,160
Speaker 1: this is what I'm thinking about doing, and yeah, you

1168
01:06:12,200 --> 01:06:16,280
Speaker 1: were just very clearly like, aps, whatever you need, but

1169
01:06:16,480 --> 01:06:21,360
Speaker 1: next week only. It was sent. And we sat down

1170
01:06:21,400 --> 01:06:24,560
Speaker 1: that day over two hours and I left the room

1171
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:26,720
Speaker 1: and you left and you said hello, nice to everybody.

1172
01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:29,640
Speaker 1: You left and everyone was like, we have a show,

1173
01:06:30,160 --> 01:06:33,840
Speaker 1: we have one. You didn't suck, meaning me, like, you

1174
01:06:33,880 --> 01:06:34,880
Speaker 1: didn't suck, guys.

1175
01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:37,040
Speaker 3: You guys did it. You did it right, I mean

1176
01:06:37,080 --> 01:06:40,800
Speaker 3: you did. You interviewed everybody, every and you spent hours

1177
01:06:40,920 --> 01:06:45,160
Speaker 3: and you you got into the minutia and the seasons

1178
01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:47,960
Speaker 3: and the and the pre the office. How'd you sell?

1179
01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:50,880
Speaker 3: I mean it was it was an incredible accomplishment. It

1180
01:06:51,000 --> 01:06:54,320
Speaker 3: became like a cultural document and it was awesome. You

1181
01:06:54,320 --> 01:06:56,160
Speaker 3: guys just kicked ass with that thing.

1182
01:06:56,200 --> 01:06:58,800
Speaker 1: Man, it was. It was beautiful. Thank you, well, thank you.

1183
01:06:58,880 --> 01:07:03,000
Speaker 1: And now we sit back together. Oh and let's we

1184
01:07:03,040 --> 01:07:05,440
Speaker 1: won't it won't be, bestie, it won't be.

1185
01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:07,760
Speaker 3: We used to play tennis together. And then you just

1186
01:07:07,840 --> 01:07:10,360
Speaker 3: went that's a dark side and just went completely over

1187
01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:11,240
Speaker 3: into golf.

1188
01:07:11,400 --> 01:07:15,440
Speaker 1: Horrible, horrible man. Yeah, thanks Rayin, Thanks Brian, talk to

1189
01:07:15,440 --> 01:07:30,640
Speaker 1: you later, Hie, everybody bye. Off The Beat is hosted

1190
01:07:30,680 --> 01:07:35,160
Speaker 1: and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive

1191
01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:39,280
Speaker 1: producer Ling Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our

1192
01:07:39,320 --> 01:07:43,240
Speaker 1: producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our

1193
01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:47,280
Speaker 1: talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary and our intern is

1194
01:07:47,360 --> 01:07:51,600
Speaker 1: Sammy Katz. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by

1195
01:07:51,920 --> 01:08:00,280
Speaker 1: the one and only Creed Bratton and