Speaker 1: Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric and this is next question.
Speaker 1: You know, when I was getting ready to interview the
Speaker 1: actor Adam Scott, I wasn't sure what I was in for.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that much about him. Of course I
Speaker 1: recognized him from a lot of different roles, but I
Speaker 1: really didn't know what to expect, and I have to
Speaker 1: admit I ended up really really liking Adam Scott. Hello, Adam, Hi. Hi,
Speaker 1: it's Katie. Hi. I learned a lot about him during
Speaker 1: the course of our conversation. That I would have loved
Speaker 1: his mom, That he lives close to the house we've
Speaker 1: been riding in l A for the past couple of months.
Speaker 1: That he loves building forts. You're going to think it's
Speaker 1: really weird, but I'm doing this under a blanket because
Speaker 1: this room is super echoy. I don't mind. Let's just
Speaker 1: pretend like we're in a fort that we made as kids.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love forts, and I love coziness,
Speaker 1: and it's cozy, And and that nothing was going to
Speaker 1: stop him from becoming an actor, even though he may
Speaker 1: do with bit parts scraping a living together for fifteen years. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: he persisted, you look back and you're like, oh, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I was nowhere. Ironically, after wanting to break
Speaker 1: into Hollywood for so long, the first big acting gig
Speaker 1: he got was playing a hollywould want to be stuck
Speaker 1: in a dead end catering job and the now cult
Speaker 1: favorite show Party Down. Were you were? You that guy?
Speaker 1: You were? You were totally that guy that is bananas?
Speaker 1: I remember that. I remember you? What are you doing
Speaker 1: working here? Will you remember me from anything else? Spoiler alert?
Speaker 1: It works out for our dear Adam. He has start
Speaker 1: in some truly vengebile TV, from Parks and Wreck to
Speaker 1: Big Little Lies to now front and center in a
Speaker 1: new series called Severance. Hello, my name is Mark S
Speaker 1: and I have of my own free accord, elected to
Speaker 1: undergo the procedure known as Severance. We get into the
Speaker 1: show Adams scrappy beginnings, that magnificent quoth, and much more.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to talk about Severance because when I first
Speaker 1: saw billboards advertising your new show on Apple TV, I thought, Wow,
Speaker 1: that is really extraordinary timing. Here we are on the
Speaker 1: heels of the pandemic that has left so many people
Speaker 1: of all ages, rethinking the workplace, rethinking you know, what
Speaker 1: we want to do with our lives. There's the Great Resignation,
Speaker 1: which other people have called the Great Reset. But it
Speaker 1: seems almost uncanny that this show is coming out at
Speaker 1: this moment. Was it complete serendipity or was it Um
Speaker 1: did you foresee something happening in the culture. It was
Speaker 1: complete serendipity. I mean the show was written pre pandemic,
Speaker 1: and we were going to start shooting April of and
Speaker 1: had to delay, you know, obviously for seven months and
Speaker 1: started that. We started shooting the day after the election
Speaker 1: in November. Um, so we were shooting right in the
Speaker 1: heart of pre vaccine New York pandemic. It was, uh,
Speaker 1: as everyone knows, it was a crazy time. And so no,
Speaker 1: I think it was complete serendipity. But um, you know
Speaker 1: Dan Ericson the creator and writer, and Ben Stiller the
Speaker 1: director and executive producer, you know, kind of the creative
Speaker 1: forces really behind the show. Um, you know, serendipitous, But
Speaker 1: I think also the the kind of everything we're feeling
Speaker 1: right now and kind of the result of of everything
Speaker 1: that's happened the past couple of years. You know, you
Speaker 1: have to think that the seeds of this have been
Speaker 1: planted for some time. It's just we were accelerating for
Speaker 1: the past couple of years. That's so interesting. I think
Speaker 1: you're so right. I think millennials and now Gen Z
Speaker 1: of people I don't know, gen z ears Um. I
Speaker 1: think this sort of restlessness and this questioning of career
Speaker 1: tracks and the idea. Remember giving a commencement address and
Speaker 1: saying most millennials will change jobs and average of fourteen
Speaker 1: times in their lifetime, you know. And I think we've
Speaker 1: seen this slow shift from people who work for one
Speaker 1: company their entire lives, retire with the know of old
Speaker 1: watch a lunch and a pension, and this this very
Speaker 1: different view of work and priorities. So I think you're right.
Speaker 1: Everything accelerated. I think all these pre existing trends accelerated
Speaker 1: during the pandemic. But while you were shooting it, did
Speaker 1: you sort of feel like this feels very of the moment.
Speaker 1: We've kind of captured lightning in a bottle in terms
Speaker 1: of some of the themes that this show presents. You know,
Speaker 1: it was tough to see the forest for the trees
Speaker 1: while we were shooting, because, um, it was such a
Speaker 1: gargantuan task in front of us, in front of you.
Speaker 1: I remember Amy Poehler used to call it being at
Speaker 1: the bottom of show mountain when you're just starting a
Speaker 1: new show, that that that no one knows what it is,
Speaker 1: so there's no definition to it, and you're at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the mountain. H when you know, when you're
Speaker 1: at episode one of hopefully as many as possible, but
Speaker 1: you have to shoot the show, but you also have
Speaker 1: to construct and define it, find the tone, all of
Speaker 1: those things that make a show work. Um Uh, you
Speaker 1: have to sort of figure it out as you're doing it,
Speaker 1: because there's no really really knowing what it's going to be,
Speaker 1: what it's going to feel like until those cameras are rolling,
Speaker 1: when you have everyone in the room doing it, and
Speaker 1: so it is like being at the bottom of a mountain.
Speaker 1: And and that's that's how it felt. And um for me,
Speaker 1: never having been at the center of something quite so
Speaker 1: big and challenging, um, I just was you know, day too,
Speaker 1: going trying to just jump from one lily pad to
Speaker 1: the next, keeping up with the work and and under
Speaker 1: these extraordinary circumstances in the middle of COVID where you guys,
Speaker 1: we're probably being tested on a regular basis and having
Speaker 1: to keep your distance and we're masks when you're not,
Speaker 1: you know, when they don't say action. I mean that
Speaker 1: that must have been really tough. It was really interesting.
Speaker 1: And the isolation of it what you just said, they
Speaker 1: you know, the moment they called cut, putting a mask
Speaker 1: and a shield up in front of your face. We
Speaker 1: never even saw the cruise faces for the ten months
Speaker 1: we're working on the show. And then also you go
Speaker 1: home and I was away from my family. I was
Speaker 1: in New York, so I live in Los Angeles, so
Speaker 1: I was by myself in an apartment in in New York.
Speaker 1: And pre vaccine, New York was, especially in the fall
Speaker 1: of was pretty locked down. It was pretty and it
Speaker 1: was pretty very As somebody who lives in the city too,
Speaker 1: you know, you would walk out on Park Avenue and
Speaker 1: in the middle of the day and there it was empty,
Speaker 1: no cars. I mean, honestly, it was like a movie.
Speaker 1: I know, it was crazy. It was like a mid
Speaker 1: nineties like Wolfgang Peterson movie or something. So um. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I I would shoot the show for twelve hours or whatever,
Speaker 1: get in a van, go back to the apartment, eat, sleep,
Speaker 1: wake up, get in a van go to the show,
Speaker 1: and the show was this kind of stark uh isolated, um,
Speaker 1: strange environment and so it was very severance, like my
Speaker 1: kind of existence parallel to the show. It was. It
Speaker 1: was very uh, very strange, and I was, you know,
Speaker 1: grappling with a loss in my life and alone for
Speaker 1: the first time in six months after this intent time
Speaker 1: with family. You know, we're like we all did we
Speaker 1: really buckled down. I buckled down with my two kids
Speaker 1: and my wife for six months and had this extraordinary
Speaker 1: time together. Um and then to suddenly just be boom,
Speaker 1: You're by yourself uh in uh in a in a
Speaker 1: in the city and and and working, and you know,
Speaker 1: it was a it was like slamming the brakes on
Speaker 1: and then getting into a car you've never driven before
Speaker 1: and trying to figure it out. That's a metaphor that
Speaker 1: I'm not going to keep following. I was so excited
Speaker 1: to see your your mug on the billboard and that
Speaker 1: pretty serious head of hair of yours, although it was
Speaker 1: kind of slicked down in the billboard. I'm not obsessed
Speaker 1: with hair. Your hair just happens to look lovely today
Speaker 1: and very much, very fresh and maybe just washed, but anyway, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, tell me about the plot, a little bit
Speaker 1: about your character m in the show and and how
Speaker 1: this whole idea was turned into I guess what I
Speaker 1: would describe as a psychological thriller of sorts. Yeah, I think, Um,
Speaker 1: I think, I think that's right. I think it's a
Speaker 1: bunch of different things kind of there's a few balls
Speaker 1: that are in the air with with the show. And
Speaker 1: I think that's what really kind of got Ben really
Speaker 1: Ben still are really interested in and it is that
Speaker 1: it has this sort of this the entry into the
Speaker 1: story sort of feels uh workplace, like a fun workplace
Speaker 1: comedy in a way like office space or or the
Speaker 1: Officer parks and wreck even this sort of light, fun
Speaker 1: bantery um way in and then that you sort of
Speaker 1: sense that there's something a little more sinister maybe lurking underneath.
Speaker 1: And then you kind of realized that this is this
Speaker 1: fun office vibe that involves people who have no idea
Speaker 1: what they're doing there or who they are. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the conceit of the show is that we
Speaker 1: live in a time where there's this technology where you
Speaker 1: can get a chip inserted into your brain that bifurcates
Speaker 1: your memories. So when you go to work, once you
Speaker 1: cross the threshold of your workplace, you lose all of
Speaker 1: your memory of who you are in the outside world,
Speaker 1: and your entire life and perspective on your life is
Speaker 1: there at work, and so that is who you are.
Speaker 1: And then when you leave at the end of the
Speaker 1: day and cross that threshold once again, something is triggered
Speaker 1: in the chip in your brain and you have no
Speaker 1: access to the memories of what just happened at work,
Speaker 1: and you have no idea actually what your job even is.
Speaker 1: You just live in the outside world. So the the
Speaker 1: idea is, um, you can completely focus on your personal
Speaker 1: life and then you can completely focus on your job
Speaker 1: and never the twain shall meet. And so the work
Speaker 1: life balance is finally solved. Um. There there there is
Speaker 1: a complete balance in in in the work life conundrum.
Speaker 1: So I'll never leave here, You'll leave it five well,
Speaker 1: actually they stagger exit, so but it won't feel like
Speaker 1: it not to this version of you anyway. Do you
Speaker 1: have a family? You never know? I have no choice. Well,
Speaker 1: every time you find yourself here, it's because you chose
Speaker 1: to come back and tell us about the character you play.
Speaker 1: By the way, it sounds like Office Space meets Black Mirror. Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Twilight Zone and Black Mirror are certainly touchstones.
Speaker 1: Um uh, it's a certain as a fan. When I
Speaker 1: first read the scripts, that's the stuff that I love
Speaker 1: watching and have since. Twilight Zone was a huge thing
Speaker 1: for me as a kid, and so reading it, I
Speaker 1: you know, it was something that that I would want
Speaker 1: to watch as a as an audience member. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: my character Mark is in the outside world. A couple
Speaker 1: of years ago he lost his wife and you know too,
Speaker 1: and it's been two and a half years and he
Speaker 1: is not doing well. He's not moving on UM and
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago decided to get severed because
Speaker 1: he just didn't want to feel this Paine twenty four
Speaker 1: hours a day so he can wake up in the morning,
Speaker 1: have breakfast, drive to work, and then boom, he's leaving
Speaker 1: work and getting his car, driving home, eating and going
Speaker 1: to sleep. That's his life. He doesn't have to feel
Speaker 1: anything for eight to ten hours a day. And I
Speaker 1: think also part of his reasoning for this UM is
Speaker 1: that this grief and this pain is in a way
Speaker 1: all he has left of his of his wife, and
Speaker 1: he's that's you know, whether consciously or not, why he's
Speaker 1: grasping onto this and holding onto it, why he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to move on, is because this is this is
Speaker 1: what he has, and and being able to check out
Speaker 1: for most of most of the day is a way
Speaker 1: of holding onto it while not having to necessarily deal
Speaker 1: with or feel it. Interesting and do you think it's
Speaker 1: a metaphor for how sort of unhealthily entwined our personal
Speaker 1: lives have become with our work lives. In other words,
Speaker 1: the constant connectivity thanks to technology has made it really
Speaker 1: difficult for us to have what was for so long
Speaker 1: considered our two separate lives. You know, even for me,
Speaker 1: when I started out in television news, I would go
Speaker 1: to work, I would come home and that was time
Speaker 1: with my family. Now I had to do homework, you know,
Speaker 1: the night before, which was delivered. It sounds so quaint
Speaker 1: in an envelope with with actual you know, uh, papers
Speaker 1: and zeros and articles, yeah, and Manila folders and all
Speaker 1: that jazz. But I still felt that when I was
Speaker 1: not physically at work, I wasn't thinking about work seven
Speaker 1: and now the lines have been so blurred, So it
Speaker 1: is sort of this part of the solution for that,
Speaker 1: um all encompassing professional side that we now have. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess so, I guess that's the that's the idea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I know that. It's it sounds great to
Speaker 1: be able to sever the two things because I I
Speaker 1: always pictured that as well. I always pictured once my
Speaker 1: professional life, god anywhere, and I had any traction or
Speaker 1: any stability it, especially once I started we started a
Speaker 1: family that I would work and then come home and honey,
Speaker 1: I'm home and the martini in your bedroom, slippers and
Speaker 1: exactly like Madman or something. You know, that's sort of
Speaker 1: what you always picture. But by the time it happened
Speaker 1: for me, there was no you know, you walk through
Speaker 1: the door and there's a buzzing in your pocket and
Speaker 1: you know it's seven. There really is no stopping no
Speaker 1: matter what you're doing for a living. Um, you have
Speaker 1: to really draw the line for yourself and and if
Speaker 1: you want that separation, you have to put it in
Speaker 1: a drawer. But then, um, you know, if you're not
Speaker 1: reachable for two hours, uh, you know, people think there's
Speaker 1: something going on, there's something wrong, and um, it's it's
Speaker 1: now unusual to just be unresponsive for a certain amount
Speaker 1: of time. It is a strange a strange uh strange time.
Speaker 1: And certainly, um, you know, like you were saying earlier,
Speaker 1: how it almost feels like the pandemic or lockdown or
Speaker 1: whatever sort of accelerated what what what was already happening
Speaker 1: with the gig economy and and uh and and all
Speaker 1: of that. Yeah, it's uh strange. I mean what you
Speaker 1: were talking about with I would assume with the Today
Speaker 1: Show when you would come home and get to be
Speaker 1: with your family and then get that that big packet
Speaker 1: of homework that must have been you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: sounds like it sounds exhausting, but there is something really
Speaker 1: comforting about it now and sort of straightforward about this
Speaker 1: is what you have to do for tomorrow and that's
Speaker 1: what it is, and and and you're not going to
Speaker 1: be bothered and this is this isn't all going to
Speaker 1: be turned upside down and changed and changed. I mean,
Speaker 1: unless there's some big words, there's a big news story.
Speaker 1: But it's funny because you know, I always remind myself
Speaker 1: that iPhones didn't come out till two eight and so
Speaker 1: all through the nineties, in the early two thousand's, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I could be with my kids at the
Speaker 1: park without an eruption. I wasn't looking at my phone.
Speaker 1: Uh uh, you know, flip bones were just kind of
Speaker 1: coming out then, and I could be so much more present.
Speaker 1: And I remember reading that Susan Surrandon and Tim Robbins,
Speaker 1: when they were married, had a house rule that they
Speaker 1: wouldn't answer the phone between five and eight, which is
Speaker 1: so funny now when you think about it, because people
Speaker 1: don't even have landlines anymore, and now we're all addicted
Speaker 1: to our phones, and to be able to be away
Speaker 1: from it for three hours, it's almost a herculean feet
Speaker 1: So it's just crazy how it's it's almost um, how
Speaker 1: much this new way of living has slowly, and I
Speaker 1: would say malevolently, seeped into our our very beans, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: And I don't think for the better coming up Adam's
Speaker 1: Aha moment, done dunune done done dunda. Oh that sounded bad.
Speaker 1: Right after this, I wanted to take a moment because
Speaker 1: I know you're from Santa Cruz, Adam, and I'm just curious.
Speaker 1: I always love to hear people's origin stories, and I'm
Speaker 1: curious how you got bitten by the acting bug in
Speaker 1: the first place, and and and how you found yourself
Speaker 1: on on this Thespian road if you will, Yeah, the
Speaker 1: the Thespian Avenue actor Lane. Um. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it was really pretty simple and maybe shallow, but
Speaker 1: or not shallow, but I think it was pretty simple,
Speaker 1: which was I was always sort of interested. But then, um,
Speaker 1: I saw Raiders of the Lost Art and I think
Speaker 1: it was right at the age because it came out
Speaker 1: in what eighty one eighty two, and so I was
Speaker 1: eight nine years old. I remember seeing that movie. I
Speaker 1: remember getting back to my friend's house and rushing to
Speaker 1: a phone, to a landline and calling my mom because
Speaker 1: I had to unload all these feelings because I had
Speaker 1: just seemed something and nothing would ever be the same again.
Speaker 1: This movie didn't stop. It was just fun all the
Speaker 1: way through. And it was hilarious. And you know, you
Speaker 1: watch that movie now and there are jokes, not just
Speaker 1: like funny asides, there are jokes and good ones. Um
Speaker 1: uh and uh, and I just it just blew my mind.
Speaker 1: And you know something, you know back then, you know,
Speaker 1: I went to see that movie so so many times. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I still love it and have to watch it
Speaker 1: a couple of times a year. But I think that
Speaker 1: was the beginning of I say simple because it was
Speaker 1: as simple as I want to do that. That looks like,
Speaker 1: there's what else would you could you possibly want to
Speaker 1: do the other than that than the Harrison Ford. Jesus,
Speaker 1: that looks great. I mean, talk about getting the girls
Speaker 1: yet getting the girls getting to Jesus dirty. You're jumping
Speaker 1: from one thing to the other, smarter than everyone else,
Speaker 1: making mistakes but then making up for it. He's a
Speaker 1: flawed guy. He also was a professor. My dad was
Speaker 1: a professor, so there was a lot of that too.
Speaker 1: Like I saw my dad and him, I still do
Speaker 1: when I watch any Harrison Ford thing, I feel I
Speaker 1: feel my kind of see my dad in that. But
Speaker 1: the professor, the college professor, which is what my my
Speaker 1: dad was before he retired, and so uh so it
Speaker 1: was just the perfect recipe for me and millions of others.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it was this phenomenon and and then
Speaker 1: Temple of Doom. Maybe I may even like that more.
Speaker 1: I just of that too, So that was kind of
Speaker 1: the start of it. And it was just like the
Speaker 1: secret I harbored for years and years that this is
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do, but I was embarrassed by it,
Speaker 1: so I never really told anyone that this is what
Speaker 1: I planned on doing, um until years and years later.
Speaker 1: But that was the Uh, that was kind of the
Speaker 1: start of it. It was Raiders. It's amazing, isn't it
Speaker 1: how one film can be so transformative? And which is
Speaker 1: I think the beauty of all different kinds of art forms,
Speaker 1: whether it's a book or a movie or a piece
Speaker 1: of art anyway. But so when did you start for
Speaker 1: real pursuing this career? Um? Did you do dinner theater? Adam? No,
Speaker 1: but I I've been to the dinner theater, and uh,
Speaker 1: that's an experience, uh, actually getting like, you know, baked
Speaker 1: Alaska while you're watching Dames at Sea? Like what else?
Speaker 1: What else could you ask for? Um? I I did
Speaker 1: the you know, theater in high school and and all
Speaker 1: of that, and then um, and then uh went to
Speaker 1: acting school after that. You know, when I was like
Speaker 1: a junior in high school, I finally kind of said
Speaker 1: I think I can do this and and and there
Speaker 1: was sort of a social stigma of being a theater
Speaker 1: person at my high school, so I didn't really want
Speaker 1: to commit fully. But but then uh, did and and
Speaker 1: and and sort of let it out there that this
Speaker 1: is something I want to pursue. And and went to
Speaker 1: acting school after high school and in Pasadena, California's where
Speaker 1: the acting school was, and I was in nine one.
Speaker 1: I came down here and I went to the school
Speaker 1: for a couple of years, and then came here to
Speaker 1: Hollywood and nine fall of ninety three and just started,
Speaker 1: you know, doing extra work and our background and uh,
Speaker 1: scrounging around for auditions, just doing anything I could, you know. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I've been in l A for a couple
Speaker 1: of months and it's made me think of, you know,
Speaker 1: the entertainment industry a lot, and being an actor must
Speaker 1: prey on every insecurity you have. And it no wonder
Speaker 1: so many of the kids who who have fame early
Speaker 1: on in their lives are so screwed up later. I
Speaker 1: mean it is. It is really destabilizing. How do you
Speaker 1: handle kind of the uncertainty and the really I guess capriciousness. I'm,
Speaker 1: by the way, very impressed by my vocabulary during this podcast,
Speaker 1: too excellent. Thank you. I wouldn't expect anything less. I'm
Speaker 1: pulling out all the I'm pulling out all the safety
Speaker 1: words today for some reason. But you know, how do
Speaker 1: you handle the uncertainty of being an actor? And you know,
Speaker 1: always kind of now that I've made you probably start
Speaker 1: getting pitted out by even discussing this, But the uncertainty
Speaker 1: of where your next role is going to come from. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing never goes away. I mean, I
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think back to starting out,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of hustling for roles and stuff, trying
Speaker 1: to piece something together and Fall of ninety three, so
Speaker 1: I was, I was, um, you know, I auditioned for
Speaker 1: Scream and Scream too, and I know what you did
Speaker 1: last summer and all of that. I was around for
Speaker 1: all of that stuff and didn't get any of it.
Speaker 1: And uh, like I was, you know, went on thousands
Speaker 1: of auditions and was rejected thousands of times, and uh
Speaker 1: made my living doing like guest spots and stuff and
Speaker 1: cobbling something together. But it wasn't until fifteen years in
Speaker 1: that I even started to get real traction. But had
Speaker 1: kind of deluded myself into thinking that I was getting
Speaker 1: traction all the way, just keep going, and but then
Speaker 1: once you actually get traction, you look back and you're like, oh, oh,
Speaker 1: my god, I was nowhere and the people that loved
Speaker 1: me were so generous by kind of being, you know,
Speaker 1: helping keep me afloat with that delusion all along, or
Speaker 1: you know, so anyway, Um, so you just kind of
Speaker 1: delude That's how you kept going because I imagine there
Speaker 1: are many of people who come to Hollywood, you know,
Speaker 1: hoping to be discovered at the soda fountain, you know,
Speaker 1: or you know, just having one perceptive soul and a
Speaker 1: casting in an audition see something into you or kind
Speaker 1: of give you your first big break. But so many
Speaker 1: people just never get that. And you know, um, and
Speaker 1: so it sounds like you deluded yourself initially. But is that?
Speaker 1: Is that how you kept going? You kept you kept
Speaker 1: just saying, well, I'm I'm kind of all that right now,
Speaker 1: and I'm just going to kind of build on this.
Speaker 1: Or what other things kept you from saying, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to business school or I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm going to get the business side of the industry,
Speaker 1: because this this is for the birds. There was something, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there there was something that I always sort
Speaker 1: of felt I I had that and doubted over and
Speaker 1: over and over again and gave up on over and
Speaker 1: over again. But something I felt like I still kind
Speaker 1: of had to offer no matter what. And um and
Speaker 1: I don't know how I kept believing in that because
Speaker 1: there were so many times where any logical person would
Speaker 1: have abandoned it. But I think there was a lack
Speaker 1: of other options because I, like I said from Raiders
Speaker 1: and Pulls Dark, never wanted to do or even thought
Speaker 1: about doing anything else. So I had hadn't nurtured any
Speaker 1: other real interests or skills and uh. And so if
Speaker 1: you didn't make it as an actor, you were kind
Speaker 1: of hosed at him. I think I think you're right.
Speaker 1: I think that's you're hitting the nail on the head,
Speaker 1: which is why it's been terrifying and still is terrifying.
Speaker 1: You know, you never know. Um uh. You know. Also
Speaker 1: as I was, you know, going through the nineties and stuff,
Speaker 1: and and I did see a lot of people get
Speaker 1: discovered at the Soda Fountain and get this big flush
Speaker 1: of fame and attention or get that plumb role in
Speaker 1: this or that, and then you see them disappear. I've
Speaker 1: seen so you know, I've been here almost thirty years.
Speaker 1: I've seen so many people come and go. I've seen
Speaker 1: people come and stick the landing and know what to
Speaker 1: do with it. Like you see Matt Damon, Uh what
Speaker 1: he would He's you know, he's someone that I used
Speaker 1: to see on auditions and and then you see him
Speaker 1: no exactly what to do and how to do it.
Speaker 1: But then that for every one of him, there's a
Speaker 1: hundred others that, um just kind of come and go.
Speaker 1: And I'm so glad I didn't get scream or I
Speaker 1: know what you did last summer because I would have
Speaker 1: sucked or I would have not been ready and not
Speaker 1: known what to do with the opportunity and made stupid decisions.
Speaker 1: So uh, you know, UM, it's a it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of a puzzle. I wanted to ask you real quick
Speaker 1: about some of your favorite roles because it seems that
Speaker 1: you've done, you know, a real variety at them. Tell
Speaker 1: me about some of the highlights that when you look back,
Speaker 1: you're like, wow, that was just that was just perfect.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, Um, I've been super lucky and that
Speaker 1: I I do have a uh several of those. I
Speaker 1: can look back on it with so fondly. Um for
Speaker 1: such a tough business. Sometimes, Um, I've landed in several
Speaker 1: spots where it's just been terrific and and so much fun.
Speaker 1: And I certainly attribute that to luck more than anything. Um,
Speaker 1: like you were saying, luck plays a huge part, and
Speaker 1: I've certainly been lucky. Uh. Um. You know, I think
Speaker 1: that something that really turned it around for me just
Speaker 1: internally was uh, Party Down, which was a show I
Speaker 1: just did with my friends. Right. It wasn't for career reasons.
Speaker 1: I don't think my representatives were particularly interested in me
Speaker 1: doing this. Um. It didn't seem to have any advantages
Speaker 1: at the time, and it was simply because I wasn't
Speaker 1: able to get anything else. And my friends We're like, hey,
Speaker 1: how about we just do this and it seemed fun
Speaker 1: and uh, and so so I did it and it
Speaker 1: was fun. It was the most fun. Uh. And that
Speaker 1: really makes a difference in what you push then push
Speaker 1: out into the world that you're all enjoying yourselves, you know,
Speaker 1: and um and sort of discovering this fun thing together
Speaker 1: which is what we were all doing on on that show,
Speaker 1: and feeling like, probably no one will ever see this,
Speaker 1: so let's just do it for us and each other
Speaker 1: and have a blast. And that's what we did, and
Speaker 1: then got to do twenty of them two seasons, and
Speaker 1: then eventually years later people did catch onto it and
Speaker 1: and and I found this this audience and uh and
Speaker 1: so that was sort of the reason I say it
Speaker 1: was sort of uh uh. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: said it was a game changer, but it sort of
Speaker 1: was just internally because I felt like, oh, this can
Speaker 1: be super enjoyable and that makes a big difference in
Speaker 1: what I put out there in my work. Um, when
Speaker 1: I watched it, I can tell that's better because I'm
Speaker 1: having a lot of fun and just sort of letting
Speaker 1: myself have a lot of fun. Um. So that and
Speaker 1: and then Parks sort of came out of that Parks
Speaker 1: and Wreck, and that was another example of this is
Speaker 1: a terrific lovely group of people. Um. And we became
Speaker 1: fast friends. And that was five years I was doing that,
Speaker 1: and it was you know, driving to work every day
Speaker 1: with your friends and doing silly things, um and heartfelt
Speaker 1: lovely things as well. That was a really beautifully written
Speaker 1: show and character and everything. And so I think with
Speaker 1: those experiences it kind of set a new blueprint for
Speaker 1: me as far as what what I what I should do.
Speaker 1: And it was a good lesson, like do something that
Speaker 1: is fun and that you would want to watch, and
Speaker 1: and that has never really failed me. Not that I've
Speaker 1: always done that. I've certainly done things for other reasons,
Speaker 1: but it usually works out for me when when those
Speaker 1: are the components. I see, not everybody gets along, Nathan,
Speaker 1: I mean, can't we just be comfortable not liking each other?
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be a reason. Of course. You also,
Speaker 1: I know Adam played uh the Slightly Losers husband of
Speaker 1: Reese Witherspoon and Big Little Lies, which, um, must have
Speaker 1: been an interesting experience working with all those strong women, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was incredible. Uh, And that was something I Parks
Speaker 1: and Record just ended, and I wanted to try and
Speaker 1: do something a little more dramatic or or or whatever,
Speaker 1: and um, and really sought that out and went and
Speaker 1: and auditioned a few times. I really wanted to do that,
Speaker 1: and really had wanted to do anything with Reese for
Speaker 1: years and years, and um, I was so excited to
Speaker 1: uh to to land at and get and get to
Speaker 1: do that. And it took place in Monterey, which is
Speaker 1: right next to Santa Cruz, and so I kind of
Speaker 1: felt a little connected to to a geographically and um,
Speaker 1: uh yeah, and getting to work with those incredible women
Speaker 1: was was was an experience as well. They're also um
Speaker 1: so talented and uh and smart, so smart and cool.
Speaker 1: It was really it was really a great experience speaking
Speaker 1: of strong women. When we come back, Adam talks about
Speaker 1: his incredible mom and the weight of losing a parent
Speaker 1: before we go, I wanna want to talk about your
Speaker 1: mom first of all, I know you lost your mom.
Speaker 1: I believe ad him in it. Yeah, right before luck.
Speaker 1: It was March five, so it was right before everything
Speaker 1: sort of turned upside down. But that was, I know,
Speaker 1: just a devastating loss. You know. I'm I've done um
Speaker 1: a lot some fundraising or contributed to Project a l
Speaker 1: S because I became very friendly with Jennifer Estes, who
Speaker 1: started Naked Angels, a theater company in New York City,
Speaker 1: who was diagnosed with a l S UM when she
Speaker 1: was very young. And uh, it is such a cruel,
Speaker 1: heartbreaking disease. I mean, you know it firsthand. And what
Speaker 1: was your mom sick for a long time or was
Speaker 1: it relatively fast? It it really tore through her quickly,
Speaker 1: it was you know, it's a particularly cruel disease. It's
Speaker 1: it's just devastating. And uh it it was just a
Speaker 1: couple of years. Uh it you know, she was in
Speaker 1: her early seventies and and yeah, it moved quickly. I
Speaker 1: know sometimes it moved slower, but with her, it was
Speaker 1: just a couple of years sort of end to end,
Speaker 1: and um, yeah it was it was. It was devastating.
Speaker 1: It's a sort of disease where you just don't want
Speaker 1: to think about the nightmare being trapped in your body, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, and mentally most in most cases, I'm not
Speaker 1: a doctor, so I probably shouldn't make this proclamation, but
Speaker 1: I think mentally most people are pretty uh sharp, and
Speaker 1: their bodies just betraying them slowly but surely. And let
Speaker 1: you know that you and your mom were extremely close,
Speaker 1: and uh, tell me a little bit about her, because
Speaker 1: sometimes I think we focus on the way people died
Speaker 1: instead of the way they lived. Thank you. That's really
Speaker 1: uh sweet. Um she was a really uh incredible person
Speaker 1: and uh uh a person who kind of lived you know,
Speaker 1: turned it up to eleven. She was you know, out outdoor,
Speaker 1: it was always out running or walking or you know,
Speaker 1: grew up in Santa CRUs so we had you know,
Speaker 1: I grew up with a little bit of a hippie
Speaker 1: ish vibe to everything. Not that she had time to
Speaker 1: be a hippie because she had was raising three kids
Speaker 1: and she was a public school teacher. Um, but being
Speaker 1: kind of outdoorsy and granola was something I always uh
Speaker 1: teased her about and always have fun fun with. Like
Speaker 1: we didn't really have a TV in the house. It
Speaker 1: was that sort of thing, um, And she probably had
Speaker 1: what what was it when we were kids. You're, as
Speaker 1: I said, you're probably ten or fifteen years younger than
Speaker 1: I am, Adam, But what was it? What like the
Speaker 1: precursor to granola was like gorp or something or gorp.
Speaker 1: Oh I as I grew up with gore. I was
Speaker 1: going to say, it sounds like it sounds like a
Speaker 1: very gorpy household. One dent a lot of spiro leina.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, you know. Whole Foods is like I grew
Speaker 1: up going to the Staff of Life, which was the
Speaker 1: health food store in Santa Cruz and and I just
Speaker 1: you know it was making jokes about it by the
Speaker 1: time I was like six years old. Um. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: she was an incredibly unique person. I was allowed to
Speaker 1: cuss as much as I wanted as a as we
Speaker 1: were in our home, and so were my friends when
Speaker 1: they came over. So when we were in elementary school,
Speaker 1: they would come over and immediately walk in the house
Speaker 1: and be like f you and and she'd be and
Speaker 1: she'd just be like, hey, f you you little shit. Uh.
Speaker 1: And they I mean loved it. And these are like
Speaker 1: twelve year old kids. They get to come over and cuss. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was very And once I had kids, I had
Speaker 1: mixed feelings about her doing this with my you know it,
Speaker 1: you know, really put it to the test. Um, But
Speaker 1: it was it was great. And so she was the
Speaker 1: ultimate cool mom from from day one. And um, like
Speaker 1: I said, she was a public school the special teacher
Speaker 1: at at the high school I actually went to, and uh,
Speaker 1: it was just an extraordinary person. And so and we
Speaker 1: were very close. And she was the first person I shared, um,
Speaker 1: my ambition to be a professional actor when I was
Speaker 1: fifteen or sixteen, And her reaction is what kind of
Speaker 1: gave me the confidence to then share it with with others.
Speaker 1: You know what her reaction her it was, Um, I
Speaker 1: was watching the Academy Awards whatever the year was, when
Speaker 1: River Phoenix was nominated for Running on Empty I don't
Speaker 1: remember him and stand by me. Oh sure. Running on
Speaker 1: Empty is a Sidney Lumette movie. He was nominated for
Speaker 1: for Best Supporting Actor. But it was the Oscars were
Speaker 1: on and she came into my room and I pointed
Speaker 1: to the TV and I said, hey, you know, I
Speaker 1: think I think I can do that, and I think
Speaker 1: I can do it, uh better than than some people.
Speaker 1: And she just said, yeah, I know, you can't go
Speaker 1: to bed and close the door. It was just she
Speaker 1: didn't even think about it for a second. She just
Speaker 1: and that was. Um, you know, there was no condescension
Speaker 1: in her approval of my idea. It was just logical
Speaker 1: to her. And uh, you know, it was always beyond,
Speaker 1: you know, supportive to the point of of of like
Speaker 1: any son with their mom being overly supportive get annoyed
Speaker 1: by it. But um, just you know, I was properly
Speaker 1: loved growing up and that's that's really what you can
Speaker 1: ask for with with a mother. And so you know, um,
Speaker 1: it was a particularly devastating loss, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: for anyone losing their their mom and stuff. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: I think you just there's no if if you're lucky
Speaker 1: enough to be the product of good parenting, you know,
Speaker 1: and I realized as I get older, we are very
Speaker 1: fortunate because so many people, for whatever reasons, don't receive
Speaker 1: that kind of unconditional love from their parents. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, we're so so fortunate. And I in my book,
Speaker 1: I wrote, my minister told me after my mom died,
Speaker 1: I was just devastated. I can't remember it was after
Speaker 1: my dad or my mom died. I was just just
Speaker 1: I mean, I was just so lost and so so upset.
Speaker 1: And he said, those who love deeply grieved deeply. And
Speaker 1: that always made me feel It always made me turn
Speaker 1: the loss into a gain, if that makes sense. It
Speaker 1: always made me really appreciate my good fortune and having
Speaker 1: really wonderful parents. And also, you know, I lost my
Speaker 1: husband and my sister, so I've had a loss and
Speaker 1: a lot of loss in my life. And um, but
Speaker 1: I think for I think for especially for parents, you
Speaker 1: think that really profound, deep deep loss. Um is because
Speaker 1: I think you feel I feel even more when you
Speaker 1: have you know, you've been the recipient of unconditional love.
Speaker 1: So yeah, but your mom was too young. Your mom
Speaker 1: was too young for sure. Yeah, It's something I didn't anticipate,
Speaker 1: you know, because she was sick. For a while, we
Speaker 1: knew what was coming, but then the moment it happens,
Speaker 1: there's a shift in It's a your your world does
Speaker 1: change the moment it happens, no matter how much you
Speaker 1: are expecting it. And what I realized was, you know,
Speaker 1: with parents, you're you realize that you part of what
Speaker 1: you're doing throughout your life is for them for them
Speaker 1: to see and for them to be able to tell
Speaker 1: them about something or let them kind of see what
Speaker 1: you're doing out in the world or with your family
Speaker 1: or whether kind of everything. It's sort of a uh,
Speaker 1: this watchful eye that's suddenly gone, that uh that is
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's something that it's it's it's more
Speaker 1: of a feeling than trying to intellectualize it like that
Speaker 1: is tough. It's tough to put put into words, but
Speaker 1: it's an emotional thing that that it's almost hard to
Speaker 1: explain unless someone has lost a parent, um and a
Speaker 1: good parent especially Yes, exactly exactly. I would imagine it's
Speaker 1: different if if it was a different situation, Well, I
Speaker 1: I'll have to think about if I ever have grandkids,
Speaker 1: if my my domicile will be a you know, cuss
Speaker 1: what do you call it a cuss zone? Like you
Speaker 1: can say whatever you want kids my care you would
Speaker 1: totally not approve. I have to be honest with you, Adam,
Speaker 1: My my dad would would give, would never really let
Speaker 1: me cuss as a kid. But um, you know, now
Speaker 1: everybody drops the F bomb so much you're walking down
Speaker 1: the street. It's just like every other word. But I
Speaker 1: sound like a you know, prudish year old lady. But
Speaker 1: um no, I agree it it needs to be artfully
Speaker 1: done in order for it to land properly. And by
Speaker 1: the way, if I ever did it disrespectfully or did
Speaker 1: it with anger or disrespect, you told your mother to
Speaker 1: go at herself. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. It had to be certainly in a in
Speaker 1: a joking manner. Otherwise I was in huge, deep trouble
Speaker 1: to be sure. Well, I'm so happy that we got
Speaker 1: a chance to to talk. Please forget my blanket. It's
Speaker 1: so cool, are you kidding? I mean, I've never done
Speaker 1: this before and it is kind of hilarious. So maybe
Speaker 1: we'll have to run a clip of this podcast to
Speaker 1: show how you can start that Katie Couric podcast hood
Speaker 1: that you wear it for recording and that's ane, that's
Speaker 1: an idea. Well, thanks again. I really enjoyed. I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed getting to know you and talking to you, and
Speaker 1: uh I hope our paths cross again someday. Same. Thank you, Katie,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. That was the ever charming Adam Scott.
Speaker 1: I know it's weird, but I kind of want to
Speaker 1: be his friend. His new show is called Severance and
Speaker 1: it's streaming now on Apple TV. Next Question with Katie
Speaker 1: Kurik is a production of My Heart Media and Katie
Speaker 1: Kurk Media. The executive producers Army, Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz.
Speaker 1: The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clements
Speaker 1: and Adriana Fasio. The show is edited and mixed by
Speaker 1: Derrek Clements. For more information about today's episode, or to
Speaker 1: sign up for my morning newsletter, Wake Up Paul, go
Speaker 1: to Katie Rick dot com. You can also find me
Speaker 1: at Katie Curic on Instagram and all my social media channels.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.