Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you in iHeart three D
Speaker 1: audio For maximum effect and fun, headphones are recommended. If
Speaker 1: we had a theme song for our fantasy football league,
Speaker 1: what would it be? Wow, you're putting me on the spot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't go breaking maha. I don't know. That's the first
Speaker 1: thing that popped into my head. Welcome to the Jungle
Speaker 1: was mine. But I don't even know that that makes
Speaker 1: any sense. Hi. There, it's me Rain Wilson. I played
Speaker 1: Dwight K. Shrewts on the Office on NBC, but more importantly,
Speaker 1: on The Office Fantasy Football League. I am the manager
Speaker 1: of Satan's Ballerinas. Hi, guys, welcome to a very special
Speaker 1: edition of The Office Deep Dive. I. Well, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Brian Baumgardner. But I may sound a little different. You
Speaker 1: might notice things a little different, right, Well, that's because
Speaker 1: we're not in a studio. No, we're at one of
Speaker 1: my well favorite establishments here in San Diego, California, getting
Speaker 1: ready to cheer on the Green Bay Packers. That's right,
Speaker 1: football is back, baby. But before we get to hid
Speaker 1: join the game, I hope I told you before I
Speaker 1: was going to bring back some of the other managers
Speaker 1: of our fantasy football league, and that's what I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do today. Today's guest is none other than mister Seahawk,
Speaker 1: mister Rain Wilson himself. Now, Rain has been a part
Speaker 1: of our league since the very beginning, like myself. Some
Speaker 1: might say he's oldest time. Okay, nobody says that, but
Speaker 1: he does have a certain reputation, if you will, in
Speaker 1: the league for being how do I put this heat?
Speaker 1: He's a trash talker. Okay, he likes to stir the pot,
Speaker 1: but hey, that's what makes us loved, right or at
Speaker 1: least tolerated. Now, Rain and I we're gonna go deep.
Speaker 1: This is a deep dive, after all. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk everything from the kickoff of the football season to
Speaker 1: some of his big blue projects, his adventures, and the
Speaker 1: meaning of the universe. So that's right, this this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a big one. That's what she said. So
Speaker 1: settle in, grab a cold one if you want no pressure.
Speaker 1: I definitely will, and get ready for the incredible, the
Speaker 1: unmistakable Rain Wolson. Bubble and Squeak, I love it, Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cook at every month.
Speaker 1: Left over from the Nattyfore I was gonna say I
Speaker 1: have absolutely the worst fantasy football team in our league.
Speaker 1: But then I looked at yours. But I don't understand
Speaker 1: how with the team that I have, I don't understand
Speaker 1: how I got seventy six points. All right, So we're
Speaker 1: gonna get into well discussing some of life's big questions
Speaker 1: and Dwight shrewt. But we're here for some football ragin
Speaker 1: seventeenth year of the Office Fantasy Football League. First off,
Speaker 1: let's let's talk about the draft a little bit. Now.
Speaker 1: We did the draft. We did a zoom draft, yes,
Speaker 1: and a snake draft, not an auction draft, a snake
Speaker 1: a snake draft, not an auction draft. And we were
Speaker 1: on zoom most of us, most almost all of us. Now,
Speaker 1: I do have to say this, I thought that the
Speaker 1: zoom idea is great, but nobody talked and everyone was
Speaker 1: looking at their sheets and the thing. So every time
Speaker 1: I would look at the zoom, all you see are
Speaker 1: people looking down or looking straight ahead, but not looking
Speaker 1: at the camera. They're looking at their things. That's true,
Speaker 1: it's kind of ridiculous. I feel it's true that it
Speaker 1: was kind of still it was not it was kind
Speaker 1: of a letdown socially, and it wasn't. It wasn't the
Speaker 1: rip roaring fun I thought it would be. I was
Speaker 1: the one who pushed for a zoom, although you had
Speaker 1: done it last year. But I couldn't do it last year,
Speaker 1: and last year was more fun. I don't know why. Yeah,
Speaker 1: people are taking take it seriously. People, Well they should, Yes,
Speaker 1: they do take it now, you, I would say, you
Speaker 1: take it as seriously as anyone. Sure, yeah, I take
Speaker 1: it very seriously. Now. You you played David Wallace, Yes,
Speaker 1: you played David Wallace and son and and it's mostly
Speaker 1: his son. Yeah. Then they smoked me and Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: thirty two points, Kelsey twenty three points, Jamar Chase from
Speaker 1: Cincinnati nineteen points, Robbie Gould from San Francisco got fourteen.
Speaker 1: Give me a break. That's more than Austin Ekeler, my
Speaker 1: first pick in the kicker from San Francisco. So, but
Speaker 1: what about all the office fans listening right now, going,
Speaker 1: I don't play fantasy football. I don't understand what the
Speaker 1: hell you're talking about. Well I don't. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: not that concerned about that right now, because here's the
Speaker 1: thing we do. And so I want I want to
Speaker 1: I want to talk about about about me for a
Speaker 1: second and our friend John Krasinski. We had our draft
Speaker 1: at a at a normal time in the United States.
Speaker 1: He was in Romania. The point about bringing him up
Speaker 1: is that I played him and because he was traveling
Speaker 1: in Romania, he was auto drafting, and he destroyed me.
Speaker 1: I mean that's particularly frustrating. Like he got Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 1: who scored I don't know, seventy two points. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: got thirty thirty five points from Jalen Hurts, who would
Speaker 1: have thunkt Aaron Rodgers one point three two, Your good buddy,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, MVP Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, it was, it was.
Speaker 1: It was not the best week for the Packers and
Speaker 1: certainly for me. It's very What's what's the name of
Speaker 1: your team? Satan's Ballerinas. That's my old school names. Times
Speaker 1: I mix it up when I have a good pun.
Speaker 1: I have another league where I drafted as an auction league.
Speaker 1: I drafted Russell Wilson, and I call it let Russ
Speaker 1: cook meth. Why is he cooking meth? I don't know,
Speaker 1: because everyone says let Russ cook. That's kind of the
Speaker 1: Seattle chant because they want him to get unleashed so
Speaker 1: he can just kind of do his thing, which they're
Speaker 1: finally starting to let him do. And he threw for
Speaker 1: four touchdowns and he's kind of unstoppable. But I like
Speaker 1: let Russ cook meth because it makes me laugh. You
Speaker 1: you have, well, you have Jason Myers, you have the kicker.
Speaker 1: You have Oh, I have you? You have no other?
Speaker 1: Was that disappointing? I'm gonna get I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: trade for someone. I'm gonna get someone going here. How
Speaker 1: do you feel about Seattle this year? I feel really
Speaker 1: good about Seattle, But there are some other teams out
Speaker 1: there that are really you know, the Rams are going
Speaker 1: to be tough to beat this year. The NFC West
Speaker 1: is going to be tough across the board. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: Arizona as well. And I think there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: few others that pop out there. And Tampa Bay was
Speaker 1: looking surprisingly stout after their Super Bowl win on Game
Speaker 1: one against a tough Dallas team. Listen to us, we
Speaker 1: should have our own ESPN show. I mean, really shouldn't
Speaker 1: we should? I mean we want to talk about the
Speaker 1: office at all. I feel bad for the people going,
Speaker 1: I'm want to talk about us, Well, we will, we will,
Speaker 1: we will talk about the office. But I talked to
Speaker 1: Stephen Socks recently, our commissioner of the Fantasy Football League. Yea,
Speaker 1: he told us that you offer the worst trades to
Speaker 1: anyone in the way. Yeah, now is this true? Now?
Speaker 1: Is this? Do you when you're when you're proposing that trade,
Speaker 1: are you just hoping that the other person is not
Speaker 1: paying attention? No? I When you offer a trade, it's
Speaker 1: like it's like you go to a market in Morocco
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, that's a nice rug. How much
Speaker 1: is it ninety dollars? You know what, I'll give you
Speaker 1: thirty Oh you are you're crazy, Okay, sixty, I'll give
Speaker 1: you thirty seven. Okay, and you meet and you you
Speaker 1: buy it at fifty dollars. What I mean like, that's
Speaker 1: how you're supposed to do the draft or a trading.
Speaker 1: That's what you do a trade too. So it's like
Speaker 1: when I say, like, oh, I'll trade you, you know,
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill for Russell Wilson, that means like you we're
Speaker 1: gonna meet in the middle, We're gonna find something like
Speaker 1: like work with me here, work with me. That's my
Speaker 1: idea is that you kind of work it along. But
Speaker 1: some people are like they get insulted and like no,
Speaker 1: and then it's done. What about what if I what
Speaker 1: if I offered you Ezekiel Elliott for Austin Ekeler, I
Speaker 1: would seriously consider that. Do you want to trade? Do
Speaker 1: you want to consummate that right now? Yes? Okay, let's
Speaker 1: do it. Okay, let's do it Ezekiel Elliott for Austin Ekeler. Yep,
Speaker 1: we're done. And now we have a trade done, consummated publicly,
Speaker 1: so we'll see what happens. So what else is going
Speaker 1: on with you? Besides fantasy? What are you? Are there
Speaker 1: any work projects that are happening right now? Yeah? Thanks
Speaker 1: for asking, Brian. I just did a movie with Brian
Speaker 1: Cranston and Annette Benning called Jerry and Marge Go Large,
Speaker 1: and it was a very funny and interesting film. I'm
Speaker 1: really excited for people to see it. It's based on
Speaker 1: a true story about this couple in Michigan that figured
Speaker 1: out that this certain lottery game, if they played it
Speaker 1: the right way, they could be guaranteed winners. So they
Speaker 1: got all the people in their small town in Michigan
Speaker 1: to over the years to be playing this lottery game
Speaker 1: and made dozens and dozens of people, I won't say
Speaker 1: like millionaires, but kind of saved their town a sense. Actually,
Speaker 1: wait a second, this is this is a true this
Speaker 1: is based on true story. True story. I've heard this story. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's an amazing story. And the name of the article,
Speaker 1: if you want to google it is Jerry and Marge
Speaker 1: go large. And I play a supporting role of the
Speaker 1: guy who runs the liquor store where they buy all
Speaker 1: their thousands of lottery tickets. Okay, I kind of come
Speaker 1: along for the ride, So that's it was. It was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun working with Brian again and people
Speaker 1: who know that he directed the work Bus episode of
Speaker 1: The Office terrific director, multi talented human being, great human being.
Speaker 1: And I shot in Atlanta, your hometown, which I have
Speaker 1: to say was the first time I've shot there. I've
Speaker 1: been through a bunch of times. I loved it. Atlanta
Speaker 1: as an amazing town, great food, culture, diversity, vibrant, traffic sucks,
Speaker 1: but it was really a phenomenal where and then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go, I'm gonna go do a part on this
Speaker 1: new AMC Limited series called Dark Winds, which I know
Speaker 1: sounds a lot like farts. Warm Winds would be more so,
Speaker 1: but Dark Winds, Okay, go ahead, It sounds like farts.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna go do that for a few days.
Speaker 1: And then I got a bunch of other thing. I'm
Speaker 1: always cooking up stuff, Brian, I got a lot of stuff. No,
Speaker 1: I know, you're always cooking up stuff. Now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna for one moment, I want to go back
Speaker 1: to your other movie I did. Hey, let's see if
Speaker 1: I can reconstruct the plot of this. The first movie
Speaker 1: I ever did was called Herman Usa Okay, and it
Speaker 1: was about a small town that, oh gosh, I don't
Speaker 1: want to mess this up, that had too many men
Speaker 1: in it and not enough women and the town was dying,
Speaker 1: and so they similarly put out an ad basically like
Speaker 1: we're looking for women to come to town, basically to
Speaker 1: try to get the ratio up. And it worked and
Speaker 1: that town was saved as well. Herman Usa Available. I
Speaker 1: have no idea where from somewhere circa late nineties, ish,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Okay, So I did, I did. I
Speaker 1: did a movie like that where not your address, But
Speaker 1: where were you? What area were you staying in Atlanta?
Speaker 1: I stayed at eighty four Willoughby Street. Why I just
Speaker 1: literally said, don't give the address. Now, that's why I stayed.
Speaker 1: It's an airbnb. You can go, oh my god, you
Speaker 1: can go rent the airbnb that I stayed in and
Speaker 1: then think about you in that airbnb yep, and the
Speaker 1: things that you did there. I didn't do anything to fire,
Speaker 1: as I promise you. I hear you. Also, you have
Speaker 1: a new pet. We have a My wife is insane,
Speaker 1: which I love, right, she's it's very funny. There is
Speaker 1: a picture of her that she has framed on her
Speaker 1: desk of her feeding these geese that are on her
Speaker 1: port or her deck, like in the seventies when she's
Speaker 1: a child. She's a little girl in a white dress
Speaker 1: like just just with eyes filled with wonder feeding these geese.
Speaker 1: And she loves animal I mean, she's animal gaga crazy.
Speaker 1: And she has horses at a nearby stables. And this
Speaker 1: is a true story. Her horse died, which was very sad,
Speaker 1: but it was old. It was about twenty six years
Speaker 1: old and it had some health problem. Her white horse
Speaker 1: named Gust died and then they cleared it out. They
Speaker 1: left the stall empty, and then moved into the stall
Speaker 1: a week two weeks later was a white peacock. It
Speaker 1: really was a phn a white pea hen, female peacock,
Speaker 1: and we just moved in on its own. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: no one knows where it came from. They'd never seen
Speaker 1: it before, they'd never seen any p hens in the area.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, it was just living in this stall.
Speaker 1: Why no joke, a white peacock. It couldn't stay in
Speaker 1: that in the stables because it was flapping around and
Speaker 1: spooking the horses. So and we learned by the way
Speaker 1: that peacocks are the largest flying birds. I always thought
Speaker 1: like a condor was bigger, but I guess a peacock's
Speaker 1: heavier than a condor. So she trained it to go
Speaker 1: get bird feed in a big pen and then closed
Speaker 1: the pen, and we brought it and brought this peacock
Speaker 1: Almah which means soul in Spanish, Almah to our house.
Speaker 1: So now we have in fact, I'm looking at Almah
Speaker 1: right now, right outside my window. She likes to sit
Speaker 1: in this olive tree and groom herself and look in
Speaker 1: at me in the window. That is c and it won't.
Speaker 1: It doesn't fly away. It likes it's home. It like
Speaker 1: because we feed it. We'd give it some bird seed
Speaker 1: and berries and stuff like that. So, so you have horses,
Speaker 1: you also have my favorite of your animals. And what
Speaker 1: I didn't know that it existed before a zonkey. We
Speaker 1: have a zonkey. Yeah, yes, we have a zebra donkey
Speaker 1: hybrid named Derek. But now do you have the zonkey
Speaker 1: because you like the word zonkey, because that's why I
Speaker 1: would have it. I do love the word zonkey. But
Speaker 1: this is my wife again. I think this is what
Speaker 1: happens when you marry a minor television celebrity and you
Speaker 1: have too much time on your hands. She saw a
Speaker 1: zonkey and she was like, oh my god, it's so beautiful.
Speaker 1: It has zebra stripes but looks like a donkey. And
Speaker 1: then she googled zonkies and the first thing that came
Speaker 1: up was zebra Zaras dot com. Okay, she went to
Speaker 1: zebra Zaras dot com, which used to be located in Riverside, California.
Speaker 1: She called them, She's like, do you sell zonkies? And
Speaker 1: they said, well, as a matter of fact, we just
Speaker 1: had a new zonkey that was born yesterday named it
Speaker 1: didn't have a name, And for thirty five hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: when he's six weeks old and can be weaned from
Speaker 1: his mother, we will have him delivered to your house.
Speaker 1: And we had a horse corral behind our house, and
Speaker 1: my wife was like, okay, here's my credit card number.
Speaker 1: It was six weeks later there was a zonkey at
Speaker 1: our house. Oh, and this is why people hate the
Speaker 1: elites of Hollywood. You have old You have a white,
Speaker 1: semi albino peaca. Yes, okay, a zonkey. We also have
Speaker 1: a donkey named chili Beans. And by the way, chili
Speaker 1: Beans is adorable. And donkeys are the best animals in
Speaker 1: the world. I love donkeys. They're just sweet, they're cuddly,
Speaker 1: they're loyal, they're just wonderful. Highly recommend And then in
Speaker 1: our backyard we have two pigs, Snortington and Amy. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then we have two pit bulls rescues, Poe and Diamond. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So you're so your dogs, you rescue, You're you're more
Speaker 1: exotic rescue to pay Chili Beans a rescue. Derek is
Speaker 1: not a rescue. Derek is a genetic monstrosity. Z Yes,
Speaker 1: because they put the spermatozoa of the go ahead, oh,
Speaker 1: go ahead. Problem with spermatozoa, you can't say that on
Speaker 1: your show, No go ahead. You can say spermatozoa, spermatozoa, potato, pato,
Speaker 1: go ahead. You put in, you put the spermatozoa into
Speaker 1: to fertilize the female donkey, the zebra. Spermatozoa into the
Speaker 1: way into the vagina right of the donkey. Okay, that's
Speaker 1: how thereby creating Derek the zonky. Okay. So now this
Speaker 1: is a perfect transition because for those of you listening,
Speaker 1: are we going to talk about The Office? For Christ's sake, Brian,
Speaker 1: this is here an abomination on the set of The Office.
Speaker 1: This is this is what I'm going at now. I've
Speaker 1: talked to several people about this, right, and about certain actors' personalities,
Speaker 1: and for me, and I think for most, you are
Speaker 1: a crazy dichotomy, right, because you are spiritual, which I
Speaker 1: want to talk about in a minute, incredibly spiritual, thoughtful,
Speaker 1: lover of people and the world. And you are the crudest,
Speaker 1: most inappropriate. Because now if we were on the set
Speaker 1: of the I don't I mean you talk about people
Speaker 1: talk about you couldn't do the office today. You couldn't
Speaker 1: do the office today. The reason you couldn't do the
Speaker 1: office today is because you on set and the description
Speaker 1: and I was baiting you a little. The description that
Speaker 1: you would have given publicly to everyone on set, cast
Speaker 1: and crew about how exactly the zonkey was created would
Speaker 1: have been way more triple X rated than what you
Speaker 1: just did. And you happened to you you were trying
Speaker 1: to use scientific terms. But yes, go ahead, go ahead now.
Speaker 1: And this is interesting because I wouldn't say that I'm
Speaker 1: necessarily a spiritual person. I aspire to be a spiritual person,
Speaker 1: which is a person who's thoughtful and of service and
Speaker 1: connected to you know, the reality of God and the
Speaker 1: beauty and harmony of the universe. And I seek to
Speaker 1: kind of let that joy seep through what I who
Speaker 1: I am as a human being. But at the same time, yes,
Speaker 1: I am an inappropriate, raunchy, little thirteen year old at heart,
Speaker 1: and that's just part of who I am. So and
Speaker 1: I also play these weird characters on television comedies, so
Speaker 1: people it's kind of weird when people see me talking
Speaker 1: about the high faith or you know, spiritual concepts or
Speaker 1: conversations and they're like, wait, this is the guy who
Speaker 1: played Dwighten was always taking his shirt off and was
Speaker 1: telling fart jokes on the side of the office fart jokes. Well, worse, worse, yea, yeah,
Speaker 1: So there's some dichotomy there, but it's all it's all
Speaker 1: in good fun and it's all to uplift the spirits. Brian,
Speaker 1: it's all to uplift the spirit. I want to go
Speaker 1: into this with you a little bit because people ask
Speaker 1: what you're most thankful for about, you know, working on
Speaker 1: the office or things that I've gotten from it, And
Speaker 1: I think, in truth, the tremendously powerful messages that I
Speaker 1: hear from people that the show has given some comfort
Speaker 1: in very difficult times that for me, that gift that
Speaker 1: people give back to me or to us is the
Speaker 1: greatest gift that we have. I mean, you know, service
Speaker 1: members overseas or someone who's gone through, you know, having
Speaker 1: a medical issue or a medical procedure, or watching the
Speaker 1: show in the hospital, that it gives great comfort. And
Speaker 1: my point is, I don't feel like that was ever
Speaker 1: something we talked about. I felt like we were just
Speaker 1: kind of being idiots and trying to create this funny
Speaker 1: show and that sort of underlying comfort or nostalgia. Some
Speaker 1: people have said that wasn't something that we were trying for, right,
Speaker 1: you know, you said that perfectly, and I one hundred
Speaker 1: percent agree with everything that you said. And it was
Speaker 1: literally the most surprising thing about doing The Office for me.
Speaker 1: And it started relatively soon. Where you know, people early
Speaker 1: on in season two they started saying, oh, I love
Speaker 1: the show, and then you know, season three, you know,
Speaker 1: oh I watched the show. We watch it together as
Speaker 1: a family, and then all of a sudden, I started
Speaker 1: hearing these like, you know, our parents were getting a divorce,
Speaker 1: and the siblings we would all gather and watch The
Speaker 1: Office and it was a time when we could just
Speaker 1: laugh together. My sister had cancer and we would watch
Speaker 1: it in the in the hospital, and then the stories
Speaker 1: just go on and on and on of how much
Speaker 1: the laughter, camaraderie, bonhomie, uplifting kind of spirit of what
Speaker 1: we created. And by we, I don't just mean the actors.
Speaker 1: I mean Greg Daniels being our leader, really set the
Speaker 1: tone and the great writers room that we had and
Speaker 1: directors and the whole crew. It carried through, you know,
Speaker 1: the love that we had on the set, carried through
Speaker 1: into the characters and into that world, and it has
Speaker 1: brought a lot of joy to two people and solace
Speaker 1: and especially during this pandemic. And I You're absolutely right, Brian.
Speaker 1: While we were shooting it, that was not what I
Speaker 1: was thinking about. None of us were there kind of going, Wow,
Speaker 1: this the laughter that we generate will bring so much
Speaker 1: peace to people's aching hearts in the world. We just
Speaker 1: were like, you know, maybe Dwight could take a shirt
Speaker 1: off in this scene. Known, what if Kevin bumped into
Speaker 1: the furniture or something, you know, but what a wonderful bounty.
Speaker 1: And you're right, it's it's the thing I am the
Speaker 1: most grateful for. If I have to look in my
Speaker 1: whole life, you know, if I'm going to set aside
Speaker 1: gratitude for my wife and son and you know, wonderful
Speaker 1: things in my family professionally, when I'm I most grateful
Speaker 1: for the fact that I've got to be a part
Speaker 1: of the office and that it has uplifted people's lives. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: you actually just said something had not occurred to me
Speaker 1: that I think is really interesting. We did truly care
Speaker 1: about each other, and that that that there may be
Speaker 1: something there that on screen people can appreciate and observe
Speaker 1: as truth. Yeah, I think that carries through. You know,
Speaker 1: I think the the warm, supportive, loving environment that we
Speaker 1: created on the set kind of seeped into dunder Mifflin
Speaker 1: as kind of like the whole idea is that it's
Speaker 1: a it's a cold place and a weird place in
Speaker 1: an alienated place, and where in these cubicles and we
Speaker 1: have this terrible boss and whatnot, But there there was
Speaker 1: a family that we created. I couldn't I can't believe
Speaker 1: and I couldn't believe the number of teenagers who said, like,
Speaker 1: I want to work at a place like dunder Mifflin.
Speaker 1: No you don't. I have worked and soul sucking offices before.
Speaker 1: You do not want to do it, And they don't
Speaker 1: have that same camaraderie. And yeah, but you know what's crazy.
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to talk to a television critic, actually,
Speaker 1: Emily Vanderwirth, and she said something about that point right there,
Speaker 1: that is fascinating working in a dying industry in as
Speaker 1: drab a place as possible, that there is now a
Speaker 1: nostalgia for that because now it's become way more corporate
Speaker 1: and commercial. You know, it's like the difference between dunder
Speaker 1: Mifflin and Staples or whatever, like we talk about it
Speaker 1: in the show. But the transition to today and you're
Speaker 1: graduating college and you're looking for a job, that there
Speaker 1: is sort of a weird nostalgia. Yeah, for a small,
Speaker 1: old fashioned office building, people getting together and selling things,
Speaker 1: good old fashioned madmen capitalism. I was just reading an
Speaker 1: article to about how the auto industry is dying, like
Speaker 1: auto dealerships, that whole model is dying, you know, with
Speaker 1: like Carvana and online sales and stuff like that. And
Speaker 1: I do think like ten years from now, there's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot less auto dealerships. So maybe there's
Speaker 1: a time when we're like we long for like a
Speaker 1: good old fashioned car dealership where you get to walk
Speaker 1: in and look at the cars. Never like a car museum. Never.
Speaker 1: Although no and no, I can't stand car dealerships. But
Speaker 1: I don't know, is it age? Is it just like
Speaker 1: my personality, I need to feel and touch something. That's
Speaker 1: what he said. I need what they said, thank you. No,
Speaker 1: But the online stuff is really difficult for me, like
Speaker 1: shopping fully online. I mean, you know, toilet paper or whatever.
Speaker 1: If you don't like the car dealerships and you don't
Speaker 1: like to shop online, yeah, cars are different. What are
Speaker 1: you gonna do? Well? I think the issue with the
Speaker 1: car dealerships is I feel like intentionally the car industry.
Speaker 1: Here we go, we're talking about the car industry. The
Speaker 1: price of car has always been a mystery, and now
Speaker 1: you can find out more and more and like that
Speaker 1: whole idea, like, well, let me go talk to my manager. Now.
Speaker 1: It's like you go online and some of these sites
Speaker 1: and you're like, no, this is what the car costs.
Speaker 1: This is what you can get it for me. Like that,
Speaker 1: I think the whole thing is a scam. We should
Speaker 1: just go to the assembly line and they come off
Speaker 1: and they say, here's how much the car is. Like
Speaker 1: here you go and drive it away. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I'm with you. All right. We're gonna fix capitalism, Brian,
Speaker 1: You and I two characters on a comedy television show.
Speaker 1: We're gonna fix We're gonna fix capitalism. Speaking of I
Speaker 1: want you to tell people about the amazing organization you
Speaker 1: and your wife founded, Leada Haiti. I know you've been
Speaker 1: there a number of times. There was just another earthquake
Speaker 1: in the region. Tell me about how that is going
Speaker 1: and how are you How are your people there doing well?
Speaker 1: Thanks for asking. Yeah, So my wife and I went
Speaker 1: to Haiti before the big earthquake. So we were there
Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine and we visited all over.
Speaker 1: We stayed there for like nine or ten days. We
Speaker 1: really fell in love with the country. And then the
Speaker 1: giant earthquake hit in twenty ten and you know, three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand people lost their lives, one of the biggest
Speaker 1: natural disasters in human history, and we knew we needed
Speaker 1: to do something. We both volunteered for this un sponsored
Speaker 1: arts workshop with adolescent girls that we're all living on
Speaker 1: a The one golf course in Haiti got turned into
Speaker 1: a refugee camp, so we were teaching there and we
Speaker 1: saw the power of teaching the arts and literacy to
Speaker 1: adolescent girls and learn more about kind of girls education.
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama, her whole thing is girls education is the
Speaker 1: very It's one of the most effective means of creating
Speaker 1: social change and real economic change in a country is
Speaker 1: through girls education. So we along with our good friend
Speaker 1: doctor Katherine Adams who recently passed away, we started leade
Speaker 1: Haiti in rural Haiti teaching girls. We're known about eleven
Speaker 1: locations teaching about working with about eight hundred girls. We
Speaker 1: do scholarships, we have a computer lab, we do tutoring
Speaker 1: and a lot of health work because you can't disregard health.
Speaker 1: There's a food program that's connected as well. But I
Speaker 1: haven't been able to go down to Haiti in about
Speaker 1: two or three years because there's been a great political
Speaker 1: unrest down there. We just hired a new I I said,
Speaker 1: Katherine passed away earlier this year of cancer, was very sad.
Speaker 1: We were able to hire a new in country director
Speaker 1: who's wonderful and she's Haitian. Her name's Regine, and we'll
Speaker 1: be going down soon. And we did have programs in
Speaker 1: the south right where the recent earthquake hit, so we
Speaker 1: just took a camera crew down there and documented kind
Speaker 1: of what was happening and fortunately our girls all right.
Speaker 1: Many lost family members, however, and we're trying to kind
Speaker 1: of shore up that that program. And it's been great
Speaker 1: because basically what I do, Brian is every year. In fact,
Speaker 1: very soon I'm going to be launching a prizeo campaign
Speaker 1: to raise money and I whore myself out as dwite
Speaker 1: and I take all that money and I put it
Speaker 1: all into Le Da Haiti and I'm able to raise
Speaker 1: you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars a year just
Speaker 1: from doing that, and it's great. It's worked out great.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's a wonderful organization and it's really
Speaker 1: challenging and also really fun to be working on it
Speaker 1: with my wife as well. And we have an amazing
Speaker 1: Haitian staff, incredible Haitian staff, twenty five Haitian employees that
Speaker 1: are good friends of ours that we collaborate with. That's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 1: If people who are listening they want to get involved,
Speaker 1: where where should they go? Leade Haiti dot org l
Speaker 1: I d E d l I d E Haiti dot org. Yeah, okay, great,
Speaker 1: and follow us on social on Instagram lead a Haiti
Speaker 1: on Instagram. And I know, even when we were working
Speaker 1: together on the office, I mean, this is something you've
Speaker 1: been doing for a decade now and I know made
Speaker 1: huge impact. They're in Haiti. We try well. So you've
Speaker 1: got fantasy football. That's basically enough for me. You're also
Speaker 1: just shot a movie, gonna shoot this other show, you're
Speaker 1: working with Leada Haiti and you also have a new
Speaker 1: new podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake. How did that come about? So
Speaker 1: a long time ago, while I was doing the office,
Speaker 1: some friends of mine and I started a digital media
Speaker 1: company called Soul Pancake, and some of you may know
Speaker 1: some of the videos. We had a very successful YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: We did shows like Kid President and My Last Days
Speaker 1: and a lot of viral video hits. Yeah, music video.
Speaker 1: Did do a music video. Yeah, that was really fun.
Speaker 1: You were great and Pajamas wonderful. Yes. I did a
Speaker 1: little show on that called Metaphysical Milkshake because I love
Speaker 1: deep philosophical conversations. I just love to kind of dig
Speaker 1: into the biggest possible, big ideas, and that's something I've
Speaker 1: always loved to do ever since I was a preteen.
Speaker 1: So along with my friend doctor Reza Aslan, who was
Speaker 1: a fantastic historian, writer, commentator, we started this podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake,
Speaker 1: which is exploring life's big questions with some of the
Speaker 1: biggest authors and thinkers and movers and shakers out there.
Speaker 1: We've had Malcolm Gladwell on the show and Naomi Kleine,
Speaker 1: so many great thinkers and the topics are all over
Speaker 1: the place. You know, it's it can be. This week
Speaker 1: we're interviewing. I'm so excited this guy, Ave Loebe, who's
Speaker 1: a astrophysicist from Harvard who has this new book, Extraterrestrial.
Speaker 1: It's all about the search for alien life. It's a great,
Speaker 1: great book. And so sometimes it's science, sometimes philosophy, sometimes spirituality.
Speaker 1: We're unafraid to talk about, you know, God and life
Speaker 1: and death and the soul. And so that's been really fun.
Speaker 1: We've been doing this for cast Media and there's you know,
Speaker 1: there's about twenty episodes out. They come out about every
Speaker 1: week or so. You can subscribe wherever you get your
Speaker 1: fine podcasts. You're talking to great thinkers. I haven't been
Speaker 1: on yet. Oh god, how did we let that happen?
Speaker 1: I mean, great thinkers of our day. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think that when we think about some life's big
Speaker 1: questions that might be involved with topics like golf and
Speaker 1: fantasy football. Yes, you know, I don't know why I'm
Speaker 1: even I know I'm setting myself up here even beginning
Speaker 1: this subject, but I have to tell you that for me,
Speaker 1: golf does bring me to a place of spirituality and
Speaker 1: This is not a This is not a joke. I
Speaker 1: know I'm opening myself up, but I know it's not
Speaker 1: a joke. For me, I believe it's the It's the
Speaker 1: equivalent of you know, I don't specifically meditate. I will
Speaker 1: at times try to take moments of quiet, but for me,
Speaker 1: on the golf course, it is the only time where
Speaker 1: everything else falls away from me, which I feel like
Speaker 1: is a form of meditating. And for me it is
Speaker 1: strictly about accomplishing this one task and finding focus on
Speaker 1: that one thing allows everything else to go away. Any
Speaker 1: other anxieties or work or family stresses or anything else
Speaker 1: goes away, and it's simply me attempting to accomplish one goal,
Speaker 1: which is to get the ball in the hole. Is
Speaker 1: that weird? Does that count? No? I relate to that completely. Now.
Speaker 1: I do have a meditation practice, but as you know,
Speaker 1: I play a lot of tennis. We used to play
Speaker 1: tennis together, and you are a pretty damn good tennis player,
Speaker 1: and you used to kick my butt sometimes not all
Speaker 1: the time, well most of the time. But I've gotten
Speaker 1: a lot better since then. Yeah that was like twelve
Speaker 1: years ago. But I feel the same way about tennis.
Speaker 1: Because I think there's something beautiful about sport because it
Speaker 1: forces you to be the moment. So when I'm on
Speaker 1: the tennis court, the only thing that exists is that green,
Speaker 1: yellow ball and where is it? And how am I
Speaker 1: going to address it? So all of my natural I'm
Speaker 1: a very anxious person, my anxiety lifts away and I'm
Speaker 1: simply in my body, breathing, moving and witnessing this ball
Speaker 1: and it's exhilarating. And all of a sudden, you're done
Speaker 1: playing tennis an hour and a half two hours later,
Speaker 1: and you're like, you just feel so refreshed and uplifted
Speaker 1: because I've been looking at your phone and you haven't
Speaker 1: been pondering things and obsessing over things, and you've just
Speaker 1: been in the moment and been outside. It's glorious. So
Speaker 1: I relate. Yes, you see, here's what we did. We
Speaker 1: just talked about a life speak question just like this, irreverently,
Speaker 1: with fun and in a relatable way. And that's what
Speaker 1: we try and do on Metaphysical Milkshake. Oh well, that
Speaker 1: doesn't seem so hard. Yeah, so I think I could
Speaker 1: be a guest then, Yeah, I think so that's if
Speaker 1: it's as easy as that. Well, there you have it.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite big question to ponder or
Speaker 1: one that you're currently pondering. Well, I think all of
Speaker 1: the life's big questions that are the most meaningful to
Speaker 1: me are we are living in really difficult times and
Speaker 1: with climate change, with political divisions, with racism, with fears
Speaker 1: of international divisions, and saber rattling going on, economic insecurity.
Speaker 1: It's a really difficult time to be alive. And I
Speaker 1: have you have kids, and I have a teenage son,
Speaker 1: and for so many young people, as mental health epidemic
Speaker 1: is really extreme anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, it's a very
Speaker 1: difficult time. So anytime that you have a question about
Speaker 1: like what is my life's purpose? Like why are we here?
Speaker 1: And what can we do? On two levels, one make
Speaker 1: the world a better place, but also to give our
Speaker 1: lives kind of a deep satisfying rich wellness and wholeness.
Speaker 1: So those two things go hand in hand. I believe
Speaker 1: like we feel more rich and fulfilled and more well
Speaker 1: the more we're giving to others, and the more we
Speaker 1: give to others, the more rich and whole and fulfilled
Speaker 1: we feel. So I think that's what young people need
Speaker 1: to think about. There's so many young folk just to
Speaker 1: have given up. You know, it's just like, why should
Speaker 1: I care? It's all the world's going to hell and
Speaker 1: everything's falling apart anyway, But you know, we can make
Speaker 1: a difference. We need to make a difference, and in
Speaker 1: making a difference you will find your fulfillment and eventually
Speaker 1: your enlightenment. Excellent. On a recent episode of the podcast,
Speaker 1: you mentioned that you were raised by aliens, not wolves. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, what does that What does that mean
Speaker 1: to you? So you know, this goes back to Dwight.
Speaker 1: So my parents were world class weird and I had
Speaker 1: a very fractured family and it was a difficult place
Speaker 1: and way to get raised. I did not have a wholesome,
Speaker 1: loving familial unit. My mom, who was just a crazy hippie,
Speaker 1: took off when I was two, and this in the
Speaker 1: late sixties. My dad raised me. He had been traumatized
Speaker 1: with a really horrific childhood. Then he married my stepmom.
Speaker 1: They didn't love each other, they were she was a
Speaker 1: very odd duck herself. So we had on the surface
Speaker 1: what looked like a normal human family. I mean, we
Speaker 1: had meat loaf and we'd watch episodes of mash or
Speaker 1: cheers or whatever what is on the television, and it
Speaker 1: would seem, you know, they would drive me to soccer
Speaker 1: practice or what have you. But it seemed like a family,
Speaker 1: but it really wasn't a family. So they were so
Speaker 1: kind of odd and disconnected and awkward that I didn't
Speaker 1: know how to fit in. So I felt like I
Speaker 1: was being raised literally like third rock from the Sun,
Speaker 1: like in an alien family where I was My goal
Speaker 1: was to like, how do normal people act in the world,
Speaker 1: because I don't I'm sure not getting it from my parents.
Speaker 1: So and I do think that that ultimately, that awkwardness
Speaker 1: has helped me play roles like d White, because I'm
Speaker 1: good at playing misfits and outsiders and loaners and weirdos,
Speaker 1: and I've played a lot of I'm not just Dwight,
Speaker 1: I've played a couple dozen of those along my path
Speaker 1: as an actor. But I think it all comes from
Speaker 1: my childhood. It all stems from that really weird Petrie
Speaker 1: dish that I grew up in. Yeah, well it's so
Speaker 1: much occurs to me about that, but mostly I mean,
Speaker 1: you are you know, for people who haven't seen rain
Speaker 1: either on the stage, I've said this before. This is
Speaker 1: public or in other movies. I mean, Rain is truly
Speaker 1: one of the great actors, and he, like I, are
Speaker 1: very interested in human behavior and creating a character physically, emotionally,
Speaker 1: you know, creating a character by using all aspects of
Speaker 1: a person to create that character. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: that helped you? I mean you're having to you're having
Speaker 1: to observe others to figure out how you should behave
Speaker 1: when you're a kid. Do you feel like that helped
Speaker 1: you as an actor or made you want to become
Speaker 1: an actor at that point? Like that study of human behavior, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it. I hadn't the thought of it in those terms.
Speaker 1: That's a great question, you know. Yes, I mean I
Speaker 1: was always because I was such an outsider and I
Speaker 1: didn't really know how to act, and I'm naturally just
Speaker 1: kind of weird. The study of people and learning from
Speaker 1: them and kind of watching how humans work and what
Speaker 1: makes humans tick is definitely a same set of skills
Speaker 1: that one needs as an actor. So I'm sure there's
Speaker 1: a correlation there. Yeah. Absolutely, And you know, no need
Speaker 1: even to respond unless you have one, But you know,
Speaker 1: this speaks to you know, he just talked. Rain just
Speaker 1: talked about some deep stuff very candidly about his family.
Speaker 1: Yet I know you and you have a relationship with
Speaker 1: your mom and had a very close relationship with your dad,
Speaker 1: and your your ability to not judge people, obviously including
Speaker 1: your family, is well, it's a very special thing about you. Well, Brian,
Speaker 1: you're so kind, and thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I do judge people way too much and I need
Speaker 1: to work on that on my spiritual journey. But I
Speaker 1: think you know, listen, we're all just We're very flawed,
Speaker 1: all of us, God bless us all. Just like the
Speaker 1: characters in the Office, We're just we're flawed people and
Speaker 1: we want to be loved and we're we struggle and
Speaker 1: we make mistakes, big, big mistakes. So we have to
Speaker 1: forgive everyone, you know, our parents, ourselves, the characters like
Speaker 1: you know, Michael Scott and Dwight Shrewd and Kevin Malone
Speaker 1: that are just doing their best. And I think that
Speaker 1: that human that basic human spark of humanity that drove
Speaker 1: the Office. You know, these are people wanting to conduct
Speaker 1: and wanting to be loved and wanting to have meaning
Speaker 1: and wanting to fit in and be and that everyone
Speaker 1: has character flaws, even Pam and Jim have character flaws
Speaker 1: and they're working them out over the course of the show.
Speaker 1: We never really get much. We get a little better.
Speaker 1: Dwight is at the end of the show has a
Speaker 1: little bit, a little bit more wisdom than when he began.
Speaker 1: So that was cool to be a part of that
Speaker 1: very slow You can't have a One of the problems
Speaker 1: with TV comedies is that everyone gets very wise, very quickly,
Speaker 1: and then after two seasons there it's a different character
Speaker 1: than when they started. You've got to have these deeply
Speaker 1: flawed characters striving to be human, and you've got to
Speaker 1: have them continue to be flawed or maybe even more
Speaker 1: flawed season seven, eight nine, so that it's still interesting
Speaker 1: and funny to watch. You can't have a you can't
Speaker 1: have the Office with a Michael Scott who's self aware
Speaker 1: you know so well. And maybe that, maybe maybe that
Speaker 1: is how The Office helps to answer, or at least pose,
Speaker 1: one of life's big questions, that that flawed individuals, there's
Speaker 1: a humanity, there's a love that exists even amongst flawed individuals,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, maybe gives all of us a
Speaker 1: little more tolerance. Is that too much? I think that's
Speaker 1: maybe right, No, I think I think that's what art does.
Speaker 1: You know you and I did worked on that Chekhov
Speaker 1: play together way back on the day. You know, we
Speaker 1: love Anton Chekhov and we both come from a theater background.
Speaker 1: And you tell these stories and you're hoping that people
Speaker 1: go into a dark theater and watch characters try and
Speaker 1: live their lives and try and fail and try and
Speaker 1: succeed occasionally, and they do the same thing on a
Speaker 1: television show, and it hopes that it just increases the humanity,
Speaker 1: that we have a bigger heart and more compassion one
Speaker 1: for another. It's it's incremental, it's by degrees, but hopefully
Speaker 1: the office has made a little bit of difference in
Speaker 1: that respect. Up Rain, thank you so much for talking
Speaker 1: to me. I love you. I appreciate our friendship so much.
Speaker 1: And and good luck, Brian. You're such a kind and
Speaker 1: good person. And congrats on the success of this wonderful show.
Speaker 1: And it's been an honor being on it. I miss
Speaker 1: you living way down in extreme southern California that you live.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say any town names, but I
Speaker 1: hope that when you're up here too, we can actually
Speaker 1: see each other and have a nice big hug and
Speaker 1: a big slobbery kiss because you know I'll go for it. No,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt you'll go for it. Well, I have
Speaker 1: to come because I have That's what I said. There
Speaker 1: you go, No, I have to see them, the white Peacock.
Speaker 1: I gotta go see. You've got to meet Almah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and bring the kids up to see Almah and the
Speaker 1: feed the pigs. Okay, done. It's a promise. We'll get
Speaker 1: Oscar and Ursula and we'll make a day of it.
Speaker 1: All right. I love it. Thanks Rain, love you, Brian,
Speaker 1: Thank you. Well, folks, there you go with Rain Wilson.
Speaker 1: It is always gonna get really deep. There you have it,
Speaker 1: a brief glimpse into the many facets, the many, the
Speaker 1: many sides of Rain Wilson and well a taste of
Speaker 1: what you're gonna get if you tune into Metaphysical Milkshake
Speaker 1: with Rain and Rezza on Apple Podcasts or wherever else
Speaker 1: you listen to podcast. It's everywhere again. If you want
Speaker 1: to find out more about lea day Haiti l I
Speaker 1: d e Haiti dot org. Rain, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: When you talk to Rain, You're going to cover a
Speaker 1: variety of topics. Next week, we're going to hear from
Speaker 1: the incredible, the hilarious Ellie Kemper, of course, who played
Speaker 1: Aaron Hannon on the show The Office. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for stopping by. I hope that you have a
Speaker 1: fantastic week. We'll see you next time. The Office. Deep
Speaker 1: Dive is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Bumgartner,
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers for this episode
Speaker 1: are Liz Hayes and Diego Tapia. My main man in
Speaker 1: the booth is Alec Moore. Our theme song Bubble and
Speaker 1: Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton, and the
Speaker 1: episode was mixed by seth Olansky. This episode was brought
Speaker 1: to you in iHeart three D Audio. To experience more
Speaker 1: podcasts like this, search for iHeart three D Audio in
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app.