WEBVTT - Paul Feig 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:09.479 Hey everyone, it's Bruce. Thanks for joining us for another 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:13.040 episode of Table for Two. Today we're back at the 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.720 Tower Bar in Hollywood for another amazing lunch. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:18.880 I always get turkey chilly. That's the only thing I 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.959 ever got in. But I think I will do the 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.400 classic club. But now I'm now I'm gonna be the 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:26.720 guy that takes a bunch of stuff off. 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.280 He always have exactly. 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.040 We're sitting down today with an incredible director. He's made 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:36.440 some of the funniest films I've ever seen, including Bride'smaids. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.640 His new movie Jackpot just came out on Prime video. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:44.320 This water is yours if you want. I'm having a 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.839 new brew right now, lovely, which is just a whole 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:48.919 other conversation. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:52.720 See the only thing I can't do I can't have caffeine. 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:54.880 That's right. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.440 We're having lunch with Paul Figue. We're going to talk 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:03.640 about things that we both love. Cocktails, movies, and fashion. 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.080 I mean every project that he directs, he wears a 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:08.440 suit on set. 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:09.640 How cool is that? 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:12.759 So pull up a chair, grab a glass of rose, 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.759 and I hope you enjoy. I'm Bruce Bosi and this 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:18.960 is my podcast Table for two. 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:28.600 Welcome to table for two. 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.120 I love it. It's a thrilling to be here with you, Bruce. 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.960 I think you're the greatest. Thank you, and you know, 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:36.720 it's an honor to be here. 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:38.679 What does your day look like like? What did today 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:39.080 look like? 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:41.880 I'm very much a creature of habit so much of 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:43.679 My wife makes fun of me all the time because 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.160 I'm a very much a three meal guy. So get 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.040 up and do my walk, and do like a four 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.520 mile walk most days, like a speed walk kind of thing. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.240 Starting your day with movement you have to do so 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:54.960 very important. 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.320 Yeah, I've owed my whole life kind of been plagued 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:02.280 with bouts of depression. And read years and years ago 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.800 an article about Charles Dickens then about how he fought 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:08.919 depression too and he would just walk. He would just 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:10.800 walk from one side of London to the other and 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.079 so way back when it's like, I can do that too, 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.400 and it is amazing how much it cures. You know. 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.359 It's just I think if your brain just sits and 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:19.239 your chemicals don't move around. 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.119 Yeah, no, I think, you know. And I find one 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.160 of the great things about New York is because I'm 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.160 a walker. Yeah, is when you are really processing something 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:27.680 in your head. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.399 Yeah, and you just walk and walk and walk. 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.520 Down those cities that you know, you forget you're walking 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.400 because you're so you're looking in store windows, you're seeing people, 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:38.840 You're looking at fashion. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.280 You know, so true, so true. Yeah, you know, and 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:43.400 I live in London a lot too, so you know 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.320 the same thing. You're just walking constantly. 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:49.000 That's why you're so full of style too, very style. 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.240 You know it is nice. I mean, you know, we know, La, 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.880 we kind of battle the charity of the casual here, right, 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:55.799 but I'll tell. 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.120 You, Paul, very similar to you, And how don't I 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.320 describe to the list and our support. You have a 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:06.440 double brusted suit, that is it's how about the pattern 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:07.400 would be considered? 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.120 This is like almost like a a checkerboard. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.880 Yeah, it's beautiful, it's blue, it's gray, right, and you 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.880 have a beautiful pocket square which I watched you on 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.000 YouTube teach how to part. 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:21.600 Your pocket square? 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:21.919 Right? 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.320 They fair sort of and it's really the fig fold 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.320 is hey, yes, well you should understand that well, being. 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.560 A manifest you know, like men are so put off 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.720 by pocket squares because there is this whole cult of 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.400 like folding them and it's so finnicky that I hate 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:45.160 anything that looks like so, you know, kind of just 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:46.680 obsessed over. 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.800 Do you when you dress? Are you dressing for you? 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:51.840 Like, when let's say you're in New York, you're dressing 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.680 for people on the street, Like, what's the motivation? 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:56.680 I turned you on about it? 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.800 I think I dressed for myself. Hilariously, when I used 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:01.760 to be in New York a lot, there was the 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:03.160 days when I kind of felt like I didn't want 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:05.600 to dress up. It was the Bill Cunningham day and 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.040 I was like, what did Bill hunting I happen to 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.360 be walking past? I don't want to miss my one opportunity, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.520 I mean sweatpants. There's many reasons why I dress this way, 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.279 but one of them is it's a calling card that 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.160 tells the world who you are. You know, and not 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.000 that people know me, but people know that I do 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.960 this now. But you know, in general, if somebody's walking around, 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.360 if you show up like a slob, you're saying I'm 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:35.160 a slob. And I find it to be very egotistical 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.480 in a way of you're saying that people you better 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.279 get to know me before you can judge me. I agree, 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.360 you know, what I mean, yes, and so, but I'm like, 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.000 there's so much people you meet and stuff, why not 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.280 help them out? This is who I am? 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.400 Yeah, which I also love because you know, when you're 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:51.720 directing a film. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.279 You dress, oh yeah, always super time and. 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.760 So you why do you dress? Because those are long 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:59.919 days and they're not you know, you're on a set. 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:01.240 You're seeing me up and down. 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.599 What what's the it's to me? 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:06.599 I'm the captain of the ship. Yeah, And I always 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.240 say if the captain. If I've gone into a ship 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.320 and the captain is wearing sweatpants, I get off the ship. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.000 It just I just kind of started because I love 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.320 old Hollywood and you know, coming up and I wanted 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.600 to be a director, and all I would see these 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.600 pictures of Hitchcock and john Ford and all these people 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.200 on the set in these suits and ties, and the 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.839 crew wearing ties and you know, kind of their sleeves 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:31.000 arerolled up but like dress pants and all that. Yeah, 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.440 it looks So I was like that I want when 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.360 I see a movie, I want to think that's who's right, 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.080 that's what the people who made it look like. And 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.240 it's also just a show of respect to the crews. 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.800 And to my my cast. But I I do it 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.159 across the board. I mean I do it anytime I 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.000 have business. I mean when I'm in pre production, when 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:49.560 I'm in the editing room. Every day, I'm always in 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.279 a suit and tie. I mean everyonce in blue Moons, 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:54.360 I won't wear a tie or whatever, just because I'm like, Okay, 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.080 I'm not going to see anything today. But yeah, it's 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.719 just kind of it feels professional of me. I feel 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.000 like a grown up, and it just focuses me. Like 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.960 you say, like during the pandemic, I was always saying 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.400 my little Instagram cocktails are like just change because if 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.560 you go through the day and the thing you slept 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.040 in there's it's depressed. I mean it's there's no delineation 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.839 between night and day, and you just lose track of everything, 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:21.919 including yourself. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.080 Yeah, now it's very true. 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.560 Is there a period of time style wise that you 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:28.520 really relate to that you say, Okay, this. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.960 Was Yeah, that's a great that's a great question. Actually 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:35.279 the thirties and forties. 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:36.480 I thought you'd say that. 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.800 Yeah, I love that, you know, I mean my mind 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.479 was just blown when I was in college and the 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.960 first time I saw his girl Friday, Okay, you know, 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.840 bring a baby, those things just that you know, carry 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:51.960 Grant and those those double breasted suits and the way 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.120 he would like, especially in his Girl Friday, but he 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.000 kind of uses it to make a point and he 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.840 snaps it clothes and buttons it up, and I would 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:02.880 just like, that's so fantastic. Things so much, you know. 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.800 But then I also really love the men's suiting of 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:10.600 the fifties into the early sixties, kind of the thin 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:15.080 tie thing. Funny when I did when I directed an 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.600 episode of mad Men in the first season. I came 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:19.400 in and that was a period when I was wearing 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.200 vintage suits from that era too, and I came into 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.200 the office to you know, to meet with Matt Winer 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.120 for the first time, and the receptionist is like, oh, oh, 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.720 castings down the hall. It's like, no, I'm not here 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.040 in costume. This is actually how I dress. And then 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.480 in the intervening years when mad Men took off, I 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:39.560 would wear that. People go like, oh, you're a Madman fan, 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.360 and it's like, no, I'm not doing cosplay. And so 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.480 finally I had a jettison that look because thanks Matt Winer, 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.160 my whole my whole closet. 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.000 I loved Mad Men for the style. 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.680 It's so important to get all those like details correct 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.400 and it's so fascinating. How does that play into when 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.760 you're doing a movie, you're doing a piece and you're like, oh, okay, 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:03.080 this is the time we're doing. 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.240 How do you kind of go down the list of Well, it's. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:11.240 Really important to not cherry pick the most over the 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:16.760 top versions of style at that period. Case in point, 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.120 when I did my show Freaks and Geeks, which I created, 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:21.320 you know, I I love, Oh, thank you, So. 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.160 I mean really, but I do want to talk about that, 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.000 and I want to talk cast about I mean, it 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.679 just was also like what where that came from? Inside 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:29.520 of each Yeah? 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.600 Well no, but it was, you know, because it took 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:36.160 place in nineteen eighty and that seventy show was on 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:37.600 and stuff. There was this whole thing of like, well 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:39.600 the seventies all that it's all leisure suits and bell 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.439 bottoms and you know, in platform shoes. I was like, no, 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.040 I so I made this point. I brought it all 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.600 my old yearbooks from that were from seventy six to 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.720 eighty and highlight all this stuff like this was how 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.240 we dressed yes, there were some disco kids. There were 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:54.720 some kids did that. I kind of did that. I 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.439 went through a period in high school where I was 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.320 wearing like angels flight pants, you know, and the collar 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.000 out on your on your jacket and stuff. But we 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:04.080 weren't cartoons. 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:05.600 Right, that's a good point. 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.600 So you're saying you don't get so like bogged down 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:13.120 in the details, but sort of really understand the essence 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.400 of Yeah, because the clothes, you were right on with 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.480 the clothes. Like when I was, you know, one of 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.800 the things in sort of preparation of having lunch with you, 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:21.720 I was like, oh, let me like rewatch this, let 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:22.920 me see it. 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:23.960 And it's really spot on. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.360 No thanks, I mean it's literally just pulled from those 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:29.800 from those yearbooks, and like this is what we wore, 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:31.880 you know. I mean, you know the reason that Lindsay 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.320 We're you know, Linda Carlini's character wears an army field 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:36.880 jacket all the time is because my dad owned an 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:40.040 army surplus store and uh, and so we've sold to 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.160 all a lot of kids in our school who weren't 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.360 the stylish one. 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.840 We always this funny like why did like I mean, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:56.680 I mean, I can use and many people have. There's 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:58.880 a number of them with bridesmaids. For example, you talked 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.560 about I mean literally fall out of your seat at 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:05.880 the moments that were created. And I've watched some of 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.120 your interviews in regard to like a lot of sort 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.160 of the improv piece of it, and also how you 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:11.200 shot it. 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.760 Were you always as funny and what do you look 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.000 for with when you're making a movie or choosing to 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:17.640 make a movie. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.880 Well, thank you, first of all. But I've always loved comedy. 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.079 Comedies is in my DNA. It's all I've ever wanted 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.880 to do. I mean since I was little. I just 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.679 love it. I love making people laugh, making them happy, 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:32.960 trying to but in an honest way. Like I've always 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:40.680 been very sensitive to and against over the top dishonest 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:42.880 comedy because I can enjoy it really broadcast. 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.040 Let's give me an example of dishonest comedy. 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.440 It's a lot of comedies that have been made over 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.640 the last you know, thirty years or whatever. I particularly 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.560 felt like the nineties were kind of not my style 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.960 of comedy because it was all performative. It was very like, 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.760 look how crazy I am, and you know I'm not 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:03.920 this crazy, and I know I'm not, so let's just 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:05.760 kind of make fun of this character, have like a 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.480 crazy character. And I was like, I don't buy. I'd 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.120 rather watch I want to watch a person who if 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.439 they're crazy, they don't know it, you know, And there's 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.160 an honesty to that and it's hard to put down, 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:18.720 but you know when you see it and you just 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:20.920 go like, I don't know, it just doesn't there's no 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:22.719 honesty to it. That's why I was always I was 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.680 very happy when I was involved with the Office because 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:31.040 that brought in this this docu style, right, so natural, 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:35.240 so because then you can you can be broad, but 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:37.440 it's in a context of like, oh that person just 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.360 is just kind of weird, you know. And then that 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.439 that I love. So it's a real high bar for that. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.520 And yeah, then just I think I just love trying 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.920 to get the best out of funny people because I 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.640 I think one of my good skills is seeing what's 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.680 funny about somebody, whether they know it or not. And 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:57.880 a lot of times they don't, you know, and that's 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.679 what's really fun. That's why a lot of times I 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.000 don't of an audition, like you know, it's kind of 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.840 a name person you have them read the part. I 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:06.360 just want to have drinks with them or have a 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:08.840 meal to see. Yeah, I can go like, what's funny 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.040 about this person? And then you oh, man, especially when 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.400 you discover something about somebody that nobody else knows. 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:17.840 I think I think some people, like people were surprised 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.200 that John Ham was so funny, you know, because you 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.199 kind of look at the package that John comes in. 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.920 Well, a funny story about that. When I because that 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.000 same day when I went into you know, to meet 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:30.800 to direct an episode because it was it was it 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:32.920 was just in the first season, so nobody had seen anything. 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:34.679 I just seen the pilot, and I remember when I 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:35.880 watched the pilot, I was kind of like, do I 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.840 want to do the show because there's it seems like 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:42.160 such a humorless show to me when I watched the pilot, 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.240 and I especially went like that lead guy. I mean, 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.240 he's really good, but he seems like he doesn't have 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.680 a funny bone in his body like it was because 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.000 he's such a stoic character. Yeah, and so I kind 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:52.160 of go to the set and I'm like, oh boy, 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:53.800 what am I gonna do with this guy? So I'm 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:55.599 talking to Matt and he takes me down on the 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:57.120 set talking and stuff, and all of a sudden, this 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.760 like shaggy haired kind of surfer comes up, like joking around. 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:02.880 He's making these voices and he's hilarious and he goes 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.720 away and go like, who's that. He goes, that's John, 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.240 the star of the show. That's John, And then I 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:09.600 was like, oh my god. Then I find out he's 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.920 a huge comedy nerd and one of the funniest people. 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.160 I know, completely so funny, and that's like you would 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.440 never say like that's Don Draper and then be like, 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:18.040 oh my god. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.600 Okay, oh no, I mean completely they that's when you 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:23.800 go out. He's a really good actor because he's nothing 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:24.520 like that guy. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.400 Did you have because you know when John we have 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:29.640 lunch and he had like a plan for himself. So 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.719 like you went to sc you gave towards at Universal, 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.400 which is fine. I gave towards at NBC. That was 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.160 Abe in New York and those were some of the 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:40.760 most fun experiences. 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:42.920 What were you like as a tour guy? 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.360 Were you and then you know you did stand up 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:49.040 so you were you kind of yeah, well, developing all this. 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.200 Yeah, I mean I started doing stand up when I 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.480 was fifteen years old in Detroit. Yeah wow, yeah, and 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:56.800 you know I'd have to take my parents at the 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:58.959 comedy club to do it and all that stuff. So 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:06.080 but when I was a tour guide, I i it 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.280 was the greatest lesson ever of how to be yourself 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:10.400 in front of people. And I don't like because when 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.160 I first started, I just went in to total DJ mode. Hey, everybody, 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.200 welcome to the tour olds. I was just talking like 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.200 that the whole time. And like I remember one driver 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.200 kind of after a few like a month, and he's 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:21.680 just like, why do you talk like that? I said, 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:23.960 I don't know, am I supposed to? He goes, just 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.600 be yourselves, like okay, and then I get so I 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:28.680 finally kind of figured out just how to talk to 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.160 people and be natural in front of them. So it 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.920 was a great learning curve. But yeah, I was insufferable 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:34.440 at the beginning. 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.480 I mean I would find that giving those tours of NBC, 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:40.480 like you sort of you know, you'd go from floor 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.960 three to sevens. You know, you were in the The 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.080 Today Show studio or let them, and you were all 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:47.760 these places, but you had, like you know, you had 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:50.520 to hit your points and the more comfortable you became 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.720 with any of your points, the more you sort of 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.280 would then be able to joke or people are like staring, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.400 and in New York you would do it. The elevators 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.080 at NBC's like, so you have fifteen people and yourself 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.360 and your jam packed, like you're facing them, right, they're 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:07.840 facing you. 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.240 The elevator doesn't break, Okay, it doesn't. 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.320 And I can remember one day and it was the nineties. 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.560 I mean I just had hair that was bigger than curly, bigger. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:17.840 I want to say, pictures, Bruce. 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:18.760 You have to see pictures. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:20.600 And I said, so, you know, as we're about to 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.760 end the tour, does anyone have any final questions about 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:24.160 the Torrents? 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.920 When I was like, yeah, is that a wig? I 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.600 was like, no, that's not yah. 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.560 We're not here to roast me. That's all. 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:55.520 Welcome back to Table for two. 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.360 Paul Fiek's first big project was nineteen ninety nine s 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:04.360 beloved TV show Freaks and Geeks. Since then, he's found 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.240 massive success as a director on both the small and 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.960 big screen. Looking back, does he think it would be 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.480 harder or easier to. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:14.520 Break through now. 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.760 Those early years which are probably very different now? For 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.480 people who are trying to, oh do write? You know 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:23.400 it was was. 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:25.640 It harder than and how how did you kind of 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.040 drill your path? 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.720 Well, there was more opportunity and less opportunity at the 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.080 same time. And I only mean that by you know, 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:38.640 I wanted to make movies, and back then to make 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.920 anything you had to buy film and you had to 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.720 rent cameras and you had it was expensive. You couldn't 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:46.200 do you know. The first movie I made is a 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.480 thing called Life Sohoul separately that has never been released 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:52.200 in my house, a feature film that I wrote and 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.320 directed and started and produced and all this stuff and 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.560 paid for myself. And it literally said, what's the cheapest 0:16:57.560 --> 0:16:59.760 movie I can make? And it's like four people in 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:03.320 a one day waiting for UFO. Okay, So that's what 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.080 it was. I wrote this kind of piece, but I 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:07.440 was really proud of it. But it cost me thirty 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.919 five thousand dollars, you know, and that was all the 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.960 savings I had at the time. I could today make 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.600 that movie on my iPhone for free. Basically, I just 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.880 did whatever costume that I bought for the people, get 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.399 it edited on my laptop and be done, and then 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:22.520 put it out of the internet. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:23.439 That's amazing, you know. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.960 But this thing I walked around with it, finished this movie, 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.399 walked around with it for a year trying to get 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.600 a festivals, couldn't get a festivals, couldn't it. And it's 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.920 just like this disaster that I couldn't get anybody to see. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.399 So in that way, I say, anytime I lectured to 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:40.439 film students or any any young young people, I like, 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:42.480 you have no excuse not to If you want to 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.320 make stuff, you have no excuse not to do it. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.600 If you go back to freaking geeks, you know, you 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:48.719 had this incredible cast that all went on. 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:50.760 So I have this these illustrious careers. 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:52.560 Nobody got arrested. 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.840 That's why I like, all right, nobody got arrested, and 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.600 the chemistry was so good. How does that work? You're casting? 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.199 I mean your chemistry with like I mean, you know, 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.200 like looking at Christian Way with Melissa McCarthy, I mean, 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.280 how do you know how to put people together? 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.119 Well, it's I mean you see a lot of people 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.119 and you see what their vibe is and then you 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.879 kind of go, this would mix well with this just 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.919 like not so much visually, although visually sometimes, but just 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.720 kind of attitude wise, like these would be fun together. 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.720 But then you'll usually, like for Bridesmaids, we took like 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.040 our top twelve candidates and then mix and match them 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.960