Jennifer Aniston

2h 10m

Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show, Cook with Clydeo, Friends) is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor. Jennifer joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the hidden messages in children’s literature, why doing podcasts can be like waking up from anesthesia, and the bait and switch of her actor dad deciding to train as a doctor in Greece. Jennifer and Dax talk about her apocryphal encounter with producer Warren Littlefield at a gas station, the cultural significance of why the show would never hurt a Friend, and whether she’s ever disguised herself to be anonymous to the outside world. Jennifer explains her contribution as a dog mother to the kids book universe, the balance she strikes in her character within the world of Morning Show, and why making people laugh becomes the salve that gets us through the world.

Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Press play and read along

Runtime: 2h 10m

Transcript

Speaker 1 Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dak Shepard, and I'm joined by Monica Lily Padman.

Speaker 2 Hi.

Speaker 1 Congratulations to my little friend from down in Duluth, Georgia, comes around the bend. Oh, nice.
She loved this show show called Me and My Friends. Her number one pals come down, Jennifer Aniston.

Speaker 1 Wow, that was kind of good. That was kind of not great.
I really liked that, actually.

Speaker 1 Congratulations, Richard.

Speaker 2 This was a big deal.

Speaker 2 Huge deal. Big full circle.

Speaker 1 Humongous deal. Jennifer Aniston's here.

Speaker 1 And all because of you.

Speaker 1 You wrote a beautiful letter to her. Our good friend Melly McNearney passed it on to Jen.
And God bless her. She read it and she said, yeah, I'm going to come meet this girl.

Speaker 2 I know. So nice.
It was so, so nice. They say, Never meet your heroes, but so far it's worked out pretty well for me.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Okay, friends, just go with it.
We're the Millers, horrible bosses. And of course, season four out now on Apple TV Plus, The Morning Show.

Speaker 1 She also has the cutest book out now. Cook with Clydeo, a cookbook for kids.
Clydio is her dog Clyde's foreign cousin dog, Clydeo.

Speaker 2 So cute.

Speaker 1 It's so cute. And then on top of that, please, Madame, will you demonstrate? Do your best Vanna White right now.

Speaker 2 Okay, so we didn't really get to talk that much about Lola V

Speaker 2 in the pod. So I wanted to give it a little time right now.

Speaker 2 She sent all of this incredible Lola V hair products, and they're

Speaker 2 really good.

Speaker 2 They're top-notch. They're really good, as you can imagine.

Speaker 1 Did you spray some in your hair right now to demonstrate?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'll spray

Speaker 2 the peptide plumping volume spray because

Speaker 2 I need a little volume up top.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Plumping volume spray. I hope that doesn't attract the wrong customer base.

Speaker 2 It smells so good.

Speaker 1 I bet.

Speaker 2 And you want your hair to smell good because that's where the pheromones come from. Sure.

Speaker 1 That's where men are nuzzling their noses. Yeah, exactly.
Getting their nose right in there.

Speaker 2 Does it look nice and volume?

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, it really does. It really picked up the volume.

Speaker 2 It's really nice. I mean, there's there's so much.
She has shampoo, she has so many products, and they're all great.

Speaker 1 Well, you want to hear something embarrassing. She sent a box.
I went through it and I saw there was doggy shampoo. Oh, she makes doggy shampoo.

Speaker 1 Went to put it away where our doggy shampoo is. Guess what? We already buy this product.
Our dogs already love this product.

Speaker 3 Of course, you do.

Speaker 1 God, I wish you would make some teeth brushing solvent for our dogs.

Speaker 1 Ah, Lola V.

Speaker 3 Lola V.

Speaker 2 Lola V.

Speaker 1 Get some Lola V. Read, Cook with Clyde O and watch the morning show.
And please enjoy Jennifer Aniston. This episode of Armchair Expert is presented by Apple Pay.

Speaker 1 You know, holiday shopping can be a hassle, but Apple Pay makes it so much easier. Whether you're shopping online or in-store, look for the Apple Pay button or contactless symbol at checkout.

Speaker 1 No more digging for your wallet or filling out long online checkout forms. It works at millions of places, including stores, websites, and apps.

Speaker 1 This means you can spend less time at checkout and more time finding the perfect gifts. Pay the apple way.
Terms apply.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Addy.

Speaker 2 I know about Addy, the little pink pill, right?

Speaker 1 Yes, that's right. Addy is the FDA-approved pink pill clinically proven to boost desire in certain premenopausal women who are bothered by a low libido.

Speaker 2 I love this. It's really nice that there's an option out there for women who are dealing with low desire.
And I like that Addy's non-hormonal and created by a woman for women.

Speaker 2 Addy is helping women feel like themselves again, and that's really important.

Speaker 1 It really is. So, Arm Cherries, if your libido could use a little jumpstart, Addy's got you covered.

Speaker 2 Learn more at Addie.com.

Speaker 1 That's A-D-D-Y-I.com. Use code DAX for a $10 telemed appointment at Addie.com.

Speaker 1 Addy, or Flabanserin, is for premenopausal women with acquired, generalized, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, HSDD, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, who have low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation, or the sexual partner.

Speaker 1 This low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship, or medicine or other drug use.

Speaker 1 Addy is not for use in children, men, or to enhance sexual performance.

Speaker 1 Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcohol drinks close in time to your Addi dose.

Speaker 1 Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addy at bedtime.

Speaker 1 This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC, or herbal medications or have liver problems, and can happen when you take Addy without alcohol or other medicines.

Speaker 1 Do not take if you are allergic to any of Addi's ingredients. Allergic reactions may include hives, itching, or troubled breathing.
Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur.

Speaker 1 Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep, and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide, including box warning, at Addy.com/slash PI.

Speaker 1 Addy. Use code DAX for a $10 telemed appointment at Addy.com.
That's A-D-D-Y-I.com.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Credelio Quattro. Every dog deserves to enjoy the outdoors and be protected from dog parasites.

Speaker 1 Credelio Quattro offers the broadest parasite protection of its kind by covering six types of parasites in one monthly flavored chewable tablet, fighting ticks, fleas, heartworm disease, roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms.

Speaker 1 Woof. Other products say they're all in one, but Credelio Quattro is the only monthly chewable tablet of its kind that covers three species of tapeworms.

Speaker 1 And it's flavored, which means your dog might actually like it. Whether you're going on a hike or just in the backyard, you can help protect your best buddy.

Speaker 1 Talk to your vet if your dog has a history of seizures or neurological disorders. Visit quattrodog.com for more info.
Ask your vet about Credelio Quattro. That's quattrodog.com to learn more.

Speaker 1 For full safety information, side effects, and warnings, visit CredelioQuatrolabel.com. Consult your vet or call 1-888-545-5973.

Speaker 1 He's an object. object.

Speaker 1 He's an object.

Speaker 1 He's an object.

Speaker 1 He's an object.

Speaker 1 I love you guys so much. This is so fun.
I love a huge beer. What's happening?

Speaker 2 Well, this is an offering for you. If you want.

Speaker 1 We both dressed for you. If you want.

Speaker 1 Well, you know.

Speaker 3 Tuesday.

Speaker 1 It's Taco Tuesday, so I think that allows for a lot of funny business. And technically, happy hour in Atlanta.
That's right.

Speaker 3 This is in your garage.

Speaker 1 This is in the garage.

Speaker 1 Yeah. The old thing is upstairs.
So we used to be upstairs and now we're in the garage.

Speaker 3 I've seen this setup because you were in a different chair.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you were in the store. Yes, I used to be in the upstairs.
Oh, Lazy Boy. We were both in Lazy Boys.
Yeah. I wore this for you, but I can't go much further now.
I'm a little hot.

Speaker 1 Yeah, can I take this off now?

Speaker 1 I'll put it back on for picture time. But do you want to take a quick pic now? Look at your friends are on the screensaver.
Oh,

Speaker 1 Claude, Clyde.

Speaker 3 And Lord Chesterfield. Come on.

Speaker 1 Okay, let me.

Speaker 2 Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1 Okay, great.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 Do you like Babar?

Speaker 3 Do I like Babar?

Speaker 1 She likes Babar. She might not know she does Babar.
That's children. She likes Babar.
That was like my childhood books.

Speaker 2 I know. It's about Dr.

Speaker 3 Seuss and the Babars of the World.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Remember when? Yeah.
I saw you say that you like Babar, and I like Babar, but then I started thinking, why do I like Babar? Like, when I think of Shadows.

Speaker 3 You don't know the stories of Babar, do you?

Speaker 1 Nor do I. I just love the image of the elephant, but I'm not sure what he did or what he was up to.

Speaker 2 I think he was a king.

Speaker 1 Because he has a big crown on.

Speaker 3 Could you imagine if we go back and we just read...

Speaker 1 He was a predator.

Speaker 3 Yeah, like it represented all of this awful shit.

Speaker 1 I didn't know what that's what it meant it's sort of like when you realize that wizard of oz had all these hidden messages yes yeah especially if you smoke grass and put on dark side of the moon is when you play it backwards i think you do a little backwards

Speaker 1 i wanted to do that okay so one of my questions was going to be what's your nervous level out of 10 my nerve level right now is so nothing because i'm just talking with you guys okay good good good have you been rolling the whole time is that how you guys do it well we always are rolling we have seven years that's awesome Always be recording.

Speaker 3 Actually, you know what you say? Right after the hour, just say, okay, let's start rolling.

Speaker 1 Exactly. Exactly.
And action.

Speaker 3 And then the nerves will get up. And then I'll be like, oh, and then you'll say, joke, it was done.
We did it.

Speaker 3 You actually, it's like coming out of anesthesia. No, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 It's over.

Speaker 2 Or like when a kid gets a shot, you like distract them. It's like, we did it.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 Yes, yes. That's right.

Speaker 3 I had a director actually once. Oh, I don't know if I can remember his name.

Speaker 1 That's hard. We don't need to.
Nope. We'll keep it vague.

Speaker 3 We would be talking and rehearsing, and then he'd go, Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 1 And did you like that?

Speaker 2 Took us a minute to know what he meant.

Speaker 1 Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Go ahead. Oh, actually, go ahead.
Oh, so start acting.

Speaker 1 Yeah, go ahead and do that.

Speaker 3 But he would do it not like it wasn't a big deal. He's like, okay, go ahead.

Speaker 1 And then walk away.

Speaker 3 And then we just go ahead.

Speaker 2 I like that because no pressure.

Speaker 1 No pressure. Was this person's name, Clint Eastwood? Is that the name you can't think of?

Speaker 1 Marty Scorsese.

Speaker 1 Well, I do think I've heard that Hitchcock would say, have you heard this one? No. Entertain me.

Speaker 1 Oh, wait, yes, I have heard that.

Speaker 1 Which is like giving your personality. Like, I would dig it.

Speaker 1 But I could also, people be like, I'm not a monkey here to entertain you. You know,

Speaker 1 oh my God.

Speaker 3 I am not here to entertain you.

Speaker 1 But I was thinking if you were nervous, I was thinking we could do some transcendental meditation together.

Speaker 1 And then I was curious, how do you sit when you do your TM? And is this it?

Speaker 3 This is pretty much it. Or if I'm in a chair or if I'm in the back of a car or if I'm on an airplane or wherever it is, the many, many, many locations that I will go into a little if I need to sort of

Speaker 1 chill it. Yeah.
And I was wondering, because I have a couple different friends that do TM as well. And one of my friends.
Do you?

Speaker 3 I do. Amazing.

Speaker 1 I think you and I differ a bit on, it's hard for me to embrace something like that. It's a little out there for me.

Speaker 3 Which part?

Speaker 1 It's religion adjacent, even though it's not, as I learned, but there's something metaphysical happening a little bit.

Speaker 1 There's like spirituality, but just the notion of spirituality scares me a little bit. Only because I'm afraid I'm not going to experience what everyone else is experiencing.

Speaker 3 Which is actually all that's happening right now as we sit here and speak.

Speaker 1 Absolutely.

Speaker 1 But TM, I went into a little apprehensive, and it fucking worked the first time.

Speaker 3 I was shocked. Can I ask you specifically what worked? Was it the first time you meditated it worked? Or the first period that you were doing it for a while is when it worked.

Speaker 1 The first time Lynn came over. Maybe, do you know Lynn? I had Penny.
You had Penny. Okay.
But all from the David Lynch thing. Yes.
Yes. So Lynn came over.

Speaker 1 And again, the scary stuff is like we've got some brass trays. There's some smoke happening.

Speaker 3 That's the stuff where I'm a little bit like when all of those pictures, the photo frame came out.

Speaker 1 We're paying homage to some deities, maybe. She gave me my mantra and I did it.
20 minutes later, I was like, oh, Lord, I like just. experienced a level of calmness and lack of racket.

Speaker 1 I didn't think I was capable of. Holy shit, it works.
Yeah. This mantra thing is real.
They tell you not to tell anyone your mantra.

Speaker 2 I know. I was going to ask this.
If it goes well, will you tell us your mantra?

Speaker 1 Do you know?

Speaker 3 It's really funny how they instilled it. And no one's holding a gun to my head.
Penny's not outside. No.
She's not going to come in again.

Speaker 1 No, did you just. But I have a friend who told me his mantra.

Speaker 3 Oh, no. And it's he did.

Speaker 2 It's my test of friendship. So Dax has never shared his, so we're not quite there yet, but maybe we'll get there.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It scared me.

Speaker 3 And i was like normally i am so i guess maybe punk rock but i wouldn't tell him mine and i'm wondering what would be the price tag for you to tell someone your mantra would you am i rule follower not always but in this case i have chosen to commit to this practice and if that is the one rule around it i have no problem i don't think anyone would pay me enough money that it actually would take for me to tell them my mantra yeah i don't think they'd give a shit that much to to pay me a billion dollars because that's how much it'll cost okay that's the number write that down i do think there's something magic going on that i really am afraid to ever say it and i think it's funny that i feel that way i do too because you don't come across that way to me the truth is we're all here this is kind of wild that we're all here.

Speaker 1 I agree.

Speaker 3 We're all these bodies or we're all made of what atoms? This is all energy. Yeah.
Believe it or not. And then there's something that's bigger than us.

Speaker 3 And the other thing that is also so crazy to me is that we are all, every human being on this entire planet made up of the exact same

Speaker 1 shit. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 And yet we have figured out a way with these wonderful brains that we've been gifted by, I don't know, whatever that is.

Speaker 2 Gifted and cursed.

Speaker 3 To do what we have done. And I was driving over here and I was thinking to myself, I just get sad.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, me.

Speaker 2 Yeah, of course. Right.

Speaker 3 I get sad that there's so much

Speaker 1 fake and arbitrary difference. Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 And where does it come from and who creates it? It's like, hey, man, believe whatever you want to believe. And you do you.
But at the end of the day, you do think we're all the same. Yes.

Speaker 3 Even if our skin is a shade darker, darker, lighter, lighter hair, we are all made up of the exact same wonderful stuff.

Speaker 1 And we're embarrassingly predictable given where we come from. So it's like we think we have this really well-sorted identity.

Speaker 1 And then you go like, well, but if you give me your zip code, I can tell you with like 90% likelihood exactly what your opinions that you've thought of really well will be.

Speaker 1 I've been trying to read between the lines as I've watched a lot of interviews with you. And maybe rightly or wrongly, I have felt like we agree on that.

Speaker 1 My biggest thing that bothers me isn't any one of my issues that I also care about. It's just like, how the fuck do we get out of this? This is like madness and it's getting worse every day.

Speaker 1 And everyone's yelling louder and louder. And how do we get out?

Speaker 3 Everything seems very Pollyanna, any kind of thought you have, but it is, how do we get out of it? You say about the spirituality.

Speaker 3 I think the reason I lean more towards TM or that world of whatever faith is to me personally is because, you know, I'm Greek Orthodox.

Speaker 3 I was raised and I went to the Greek church on Sundays and my yeah, yeah, had all of the pictures of the women in black that terrified me and gave me nightmares and her beads and she would talk to the wall of all these people.

Speaker 1 It's a little morbid. It seems it, isn't it? But for her, it kept her going.

Speaker 3 And she died in 98. Greeks are doing something right.
Yeah. I was christened at St.
Sophia's and they drink the holy water, which is basically vine.

Speaker 3 And I vomited and she's like scooping up the vomit because it's sacred and the body of Christ is in there and that's the blood of Christ.

Speaker 3 She's like old at that point already.

Speaker 1 And so I was in the car and I had just had wine and bread at like one

Speaker 1 or whatever I would have thought there might be a poltergeist in you if you rejected it you might be

Speaker 1 evil

Speaker 2 or a vamp hey who knows who knows TBD all up for grabs that's right life ain't over just yet but I want to say something really quick because I think that is the answer because we talk a lot about status here and DAX was the anthropology major so in-group out group comes up a lot too much you could argue i won't say that wait which comes up say again In-group, out-group.

Speaker 3 What is in-group, out-group?

Speaker 1 Because we're very social primates and we're kind of designed to live in a group of 100. That was our in-group.

Speaker 1 And the out-group, whatever group arrived, needed to be taken very seriously and with a lot of skepticism. It's not like you could just trust a stranger.

Speaker 1 So we have a lot of evolutionary things built in. We're really immediately good at identifying who the out-group is and identifying who the in-group is.
So we have all this wiring.

Speaker 1 When you hear tribalism, tribalism is really in-group, out-group thinking. So like this political thing.
It's like, this is my group and that's your group.

Speaker 1 And we're just stuck with this terrible vestigial evolution that we somehow got to figure out how to get out of in-group, out-group because we don't live that way anymore.

Speaker 2 But if we remember that in-group is exactly what you said, we are all one.

Speaker 1 We're all the group. Is that just not in group?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Is that just not as interesting? Exactly.

Speaker 3 So that's what I think this sort of spirituality or these new age or whatever you call it, super agers. What does that say up there? Trying to read that.

Speaker 1 I'd rather maybe get rid of it.

Speaker 1 Because they're very distracting to people. A lot of people in the middle are like, well, that's when he pulled out the firearm.
Kings surrender cultures. No, no, hold on.

Speaker 1 You were about to say someone shot you. Yeah, but what is this book I'm seeing?

Speaker 3 But religions, they all had the judgments about who you were with. And it just felt like if religion is something that divides people based on absolutely nothing factual

Speaker 3 about the human being being and their heart.

Speaker 1 The lottery of what house you were brought home to as a baby?

Speaker 3 Yeah, because you grew up in this home and it represented that and that's what you learned.

Speaker 3 And so that's what you then go out and you believe and critical thinking, free thinking isn't sort of allowed or it's condemned or fear of God that you're going to go to hell for something.

Speaker 1 So don't do it. Not for me.
Not for me. Also, you were in New York City.
What age did you, you were brought home from the hospital to Sherman Oaks. Yes.

Speaker 3 Right around this corner from Casa Vega.

Speaker 1 Ooh, I love it. Very fun place.

Speaker 3 I have early memories of crawling. Mine was enchiladas with cheese.

Speaker 1 And for folks who are not from here, crawling on that floor, it's not like you're on the floor of the four seasons. It's a very active, heavily drinking salsa on the floor, chips, sitch.

Speaker 3 It's like Times Square.

Speaker 1 Crawling around on Times Square.

Speaker 2 Probably good for your microbiome.

Speaker 1 You got some germs in there.

Speaker 3 Strong immunity.

Speaker 1 That's right. What age did you go to New York?

Speaker 3 I went to New York at six years old. We went to Sherman Oaks, Pennsylvania, Greece for a year, then to New York City.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow. And so you land in New York City at six.
So you probably left Sherman Oaks four-ish.

Speaker 3 Like four-ish, four and a half.

Speaker 1 And do you have any memories?

Speaker 3 In Sherman Oaks? Yeah. Besides crawling on the floor of Costa Vanilla.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah. I remember the backyard.
I remember my dad built a pool with his own two hands with his buddy.

Speaker 1 An above-ground, I'm imaginary. No, what? A real in-ground.

Speaker 3 Well, there was someone that, Doug, he was doing a lot of the work. They were just back there, these guys.
And that was also when my dad was an out-of-work actor.

Speaker 3 Yeah, he had a little time on his hobby, which leads to why we went to Greece of it all. And he was a door-to-door sales.
He kind of was doing that stuff. I drove a tricycle into that pool.

Speaker 3 My brother had to save me because I didn't have to do it.

Speaker 1 It was full of water or

Speaker 3 water.

Speaker 1 And we almost walked out.

Speaker 3 I have a fear of water for that reason.

Speaker 3 Maybe that makes sense.

Speaker 1 What happened in Pennsylvania? He wasn't chasing an acting role there.

Speaker 3 No, but that's where my grandmother lived and my cousins and my aunt, my dad's sister, he left us there so he could go set us up in Athens with my Aunt Mary and my cousins.

Speaker 1 Was he going to work there?

Speaker 3 He was going to go to medical school in Greece because he could get into medical school in Greece.

Speaker 1 Oh, boy, there's a lot there.

Speaker 1 Yikes.

Speaker 3 Now, listen, he's dead. So

Speaker 1 he kind of told me all of these stories. You and I have the unique freedom to talk quite honestly about our fathers at this point.

Speaker 1 I think there's a lot there. Oh, there's a lot.
That feels so out of the blue to say, okay, I've been pursuing acting for 30 years.

Speaker 1 Well, not 30 years, but if he was 30, I've been pursuing acting for 12 years. I'm going to go to Athens and become a doctor feels borderline insane.
Yeah. Was he the type

Speaker 1 dude that would get something in his head and just chase it?

Speaker 3 I wouldn't know. Because once he really became a person that I was able to sort of take in, he was an actor and he was barely there.
He was like, where's John?

Speaker 1 A little bit.

Speaker 3 But when we were in Athens, he was going to school.

Speaker 1 Okay. How far did he get in his medical training?

Speaker 3 Not far. We were only there a year.

Speaker 1 Did he come home and take your temperature?

Speaker 3 No, but we would watch all those shows. I remember watching a lot of medical stuff while eating dinner.
That's why I love watching some weird shit.

Speaker 1 I'm watching pretty much anything.

Speaker 3 I love a good surgery. I love to scrub up if they let me in.

Speaker 1 Mom was getting drunk along as well. And mom also was an actor.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 She was. She wasn't very good.
She'd be the first person to say it. She was on Beverly Hill Billies, the Red Skeleton Show, all those fun things that people will be like, what?

Speaker 3 And she was a model and then she became a mom.

Speaker 1 Okay. And so when she had gotten drugged to Greece for her husband's medical pursuits, how was she processing that? Was she resentful at him?

Speaker 1 I would be pretty pissed, I think, if I met another actor and we're going to do this acting thing. And then I wake up in Athens and you're becoming a doctor.

Speaker 1 I might feel like a little false advertising.

Speaker 3 I don't think they had that sort of, let's go do this together. They met when she was modeling.
My dad was the roommate of the photographer at the time, and he just thought she was beautiful.

Speaker 3 She was dating the guy who owned the chain El Toritos.

Speaker 1 Ooh, she should have stuck with him, maybe. Don't you think? Yeah.

Speaker 3 She says that.

Speaker 1 Said she has a talent all the time.

Speaker 3 Nothing I love hearing more than that.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, God. That's so good.
If I had stayed with Mike from El Toritos, we would be on a yacht right now. But no, I followed your stupid dad to Athens so he could be an optometrist.

Speaker 3 And look at me now. These are all stories.
I'm just remembering.

Speaker 3 And then she told the story i mean my dad tells the story about how he just walked into the el toritos one day or wherever they were on a date and kind of like slammed his hand down on the table and he claimed her i don't know if he clubbed him and then dragged her out by the hair or what actually happened but it all sounded very romantic well yes that's right that was the version of romance back then

Speaker 1 claiming correct i'd pay slightly more than i'd pay for your mantra to be sitting in a booth by myself at el torito and watch some greek man walk in dragging his girlfriend to confront the proprietor.

Speaker 1 Don't even think about it. She's with me now.
She's mine.

Speaker 2 It's so deep because that is

Speaker 2 the paradox, right? Like it is romantic at first when someone's like, I love you so much. I need you.
You're mine. And then that's actually the problem.

Speaker 2 That ends up being the problem that they feel ownership.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 3 I think they call that narcissism.

Speaker 1 That is correct, right?

Speaker 3 If I don't have it, I have to have it. Now I have it.
What do I do with it? Yeah. Do with this toy because that thrill is gone.
You're not thrilling anymore. Yes.

Speaker 1 You don't validate me in the way you once did.

Speaker 1 Now, they go to New York. This is pretty mind-blowing and impressive.
He was recurring on Days of Our Lives for 37 years.

Speaker 3 He was on that show forever. In fact.
The last episode he shot aired like a week after he died. Whoa.

Speaker 3 So he worked right up until that was it.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 3 That was literally a wrap on on John.

Speaker 1 And when you guys got to New York, they made it another three years before they got divorced?

Speaker 3 Yes. I was nine, so we got to New York six.

Speaker 1 And you went to live with mom, which was very customary.

Speaker 3 So he found us an apartment, 92nd in Columbus, and

Speaker 3 $800 a month, rent control, three bedrooms. She gave it up.
Anyway.

Speaker 1 Oh, no.

Speaker 3 21st floor. Oh, it was like you could see the Hudson River all of downtown.
It was like Cher's Dollhouse. I'm saying way too many references and people won't know anything about it.

Speaker 1 Are you kidding? I was just playing with share's dollhouse you were at the share dollar

Speaker 3 that you could take the view in and out for daytime or slide in the nighttime view and it was just twinkling lights of the empire state building and the east river and the hudson river and that was our view anyway she let that go where were we uh he set you up in the apartment yeah and then he just opened up a restaurant while he was shooting he was doing love of life at the time he hadn't been on days it was love of life at cbs and then he moved uptown to be on a show called search for tomorrow but before that he met his co-star co-star on Love of Life.

Speaker 1 Oh, it was that

Speaker 3 scenario. A little one of those oopsie moments.

Speaker 2 And was your mom outwardly saying, I hate him? What were you getting implanted with?

Speaker 3 Parents weren't taught what I think parents are taught today, which is you be kind, you lead with kindness.

Speaker 3 Your partner, you can talk bad about them behind closed doors, not in front of your children, because that is abuse.

Speaker 2 Abuse.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Unfortunately, I do have some today that do that, but they almost just can't help themselves. Yeah.
It's some very strange.

Speaker 1 You have to remember: I'm talking about someone's parent at the end of the day, even though they're my ex, this is someone's parent. They only get one.

Speaker 1 And they get one.

Speaker 3 And let them have their experience with them. And when they grow up and leave the house and then can create their own opinion from what they've experienced personally, let them have that.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 3 But up until that point, don't plant negativity because I'm a little impressionable brain.

Speaker 1 But you, it sounds like, sadly, I've read a few times, you did want his his attention. Yeah.

Speaker 3 I would have given anything. I'm not going to cry.

Speaker 1 I actually just need to take water. You're allowed.

Speaker 1 You're not allowed to cry. I'm over it.
Okay. I'm so over it, guys.
No, I truly am.

Speaker 1 But don't you think there are many things I'm like, oh, I'm totally over that. I tell that story all the time.
And then I tell it to a therapist.

Speaker 1 And then all of a sudden. I feel, I guess, safe enough to allow the emotions to come in.
And I go, oh, wow, this is confusing. I was certain this had no power.

Speaker 1 And here I am quite emotional about this and this is a shocker and it lived right there

Speaker 3 even far the question is asked and then you're like what um

Speaker 3 and literally like when they talk about those spies that can walk up to somebody and just go like that to the neck and then the person collapses

Speaker 3 isn't it exhausting there are some things we'll just never it is exhausting but it shows you we're a constant work in progress. Yes.

Speaker 3 We are constantly, no matter what was imprinted into our neural pathways as children, they're there and we can think we've worked on them.

Speaker 3 But just as we experience life, new moments here and there and new people here and there, someone is going to come in and hit a little something

Speaker 3 somewhere that you go, whoa, that just made me think of that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's here now.

Speaker 3 And that, I guess, is still to be looked at.

Speaker 3 And how wonderful that we have therapy and that we have people that we talk to, a friendship group, that we can bounce that stuff off so that we don't flip out.

Speaker 3 I don't know about your parents or your parents.

Speaker 2 How old are your parents? My parents are 49 and 48.

Speaker 3 Nope. They are not.

Speaker 2 They are 63 and 70.

Speaker 3 63 and 70. So different generations.

Speaker 1 I'll let you guess who's what.

Speaker 2 Oh, wouldn't it be cool if it was reversed? No, it's the normal, normal.

Speaker 3 They weren't taught how to process emotions.

Speaker 1 They're also from India. Oh, yeah.
Mine are also immigrants. So that's another layer on top of zero.

Speaker 2 Both born in India. Yes, both born in India.

Speaker 3 Where were you born in India?

Speaker 2 No, I was born here. I was born in Georgia.

Speaker 3 No, in this garage.

Speaker 2 I was born right here. This is where I came to be.

Speaker 1 This is kind of where I came to be. She's never left.
Look at Chanel.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 They're Indian, and emotions are not to be touched.

Speaker 1 Ever.

Speaker 3 Ever. And how do they feel now?

Speaker 2 No, emotions has really cost them some stuff. And so I think they've come around, but it's still like we've talked about it a lot.
Dax will be like, you need to tell your dad you love him.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, I can't. He'll freak out.
He'll think I'm dying.

Speaker 1 He will freak out. I don't want to kill him.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 2 and i called them this weekend about something kind of emotional and i can see the panic starting to happen and i was like dad this is why i can't tell you things yeah because now i'm trying to protect you from your emotions and that can't be what's happening here i have totally surrendered it is true i'll go like your dad wants to hear you love him everyone wants to hear that i'm wrong she's right Are you witnessing?

Speaker 1 You are right. I'm right.
I surprised her one time.

Speaker 1 We were doing a live show in Chicago and I secretly called them and I said, can can i please bring you to this live show so you can see your little girl and how much people love her see now that's gonna make me cry like i didn't even say that like

Speaker 1 i think of me getting to go see my little girl

Speaker 1 so i'm like um it's a surprise and then i'm like i can't tell her if she finds out they're there she'll recognize how much is happening and she'll start getting very worried about them just witnessing her

Speaker 1 be loved on that level

Speaker 2 they did say they were proud of me that's the first time I've ever heard it.

Speaker 1 It was so cute. Her dad was like, everyone knows her.
He just really thought it was so funny. People wanted to get her picture and stuff.
It was pretty crazy.

Speaker 3 He hadn't even seen that before.

Speaker 1 That was probably overwhelming. They were overwhelmed.
For them.

Speaker 2 They were very overwhelmed in a good way because all they want is safety for me. They don't care about any of this stuff.

Speaker 2 I'm sure we'll get to that with you. But all you want is your kid to be safe.
And then all this other stuff, it's proof that I am. I'm good on my own.

Speaker 1 These 5,000 people agree she's safe. Yeah.

Speaker 2 They were relieved for the first time. That was a gift.

Speaker 1 That's a huge gift. Yeah.
How long ago was that?

Speaker 1 Five years ago, probably.

Speaker 2 And they said, your mom and I are proud of you.

Speaker 1 Do not take offense to this. No.

Speaker 1 When I've met you, I don't go like child of New York City. How immersed were you in the quite eclectic and colorful world that was Manhattan in the late 70s and 80s? Were you partaking in the...

Speaker 1 Like we just interviewed Mark Ronson. Yes.

Speaker 3 He feels very New York.

Speaker 1 Yes. Or even the incredible director, Jordan

Speaker 3 Peel. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeeks. Love him.
You know, he's on a block that's quite scary. He's got to walk to school.
And it informs then the rest of the ride.

Speaker 3 That's where I was.

Speaker 1 What was your childhood like being in New York City?

Speaker 3 Well, we lived in this building on 92nd and Columbus, but the block between Columbus and Amsterdam. And then Amsterdam, Broadway, that was all abandoned buildings.
I was on a bus by myself at 11.

Speaker 1 Yeah, exactly. Can you imagine?

Speaker 3 By yourself.

Speaker 3 throw your key in your sneaker and see a mom.

Speaker 1 In a much different New York, much different New York, especially up there.

Speaker 3 It started to become Preppyville and Upper West Side and all that stuff. But no, not when I lived there at all.
Oh, you'd have to go around the block.

Speaker 3 There's a sniper in one of the buildings, one of the abandoned buildings. So it was all just normal.

Speaker 1 As I got older, I was mugged.

Speaker 3 I was mugged a couple times.

Speaker 1 Ross.

Speaker 1 What did you say? I said, like Ross. Like Ross.

Speaker 2 He was mugged by Phoebe.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 never forgetting. Never terrifying Phoebe.

Speaker 1 And did you have a lot of fear or did you quickly kind of acclimate?

Speaker 3 I oddly didn't feel fear. I worked at Jackson Hole at 85th and Columbus, and then I'd walk home at midnight.

Speaker 3 You know, it's not a lot, but it's still from 85th and Columbus to 92nd and Columbus at midnight.

Speaker 1 And what was your niche? You loved her and Duranne. Were you in a new wave? Did you dance?

Speaker 3 I danced. Me and Dre, my best friend, who also has a podcast called Circle This.

Speaker 1 Shout out, Circle This. Go listen to it now.
Pause this, listen to that, come back.

Speaker 2 Is she still your best friend?

Speaker 3 Still my best friend to this day.

Speaker 3 14 and 15 when we met. We would go to Dansetyria.
We'd go to the limelight. The palladium was where we really liked to go.

Speaker 2 And not a lot.

Speaker 3 We didn't drink. We didn't smoke.
I mean, mine smoked the ground.

Speaker 3 No drugs or anything. We just would get dressed up and the amount of Aquanette in our hair.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Extra firm hold.
Oh, extra.

Speaker 1 The blue, pink. It was like, you throw it all in.
I get like the 26-ouncer, like the big boy, where you'd be wrestling that fucker. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 And your eyelashes would have to be like

Speaker 3 dance on those boxes that were surrounding the dance floor. Oh, good.

Speaker 1 So you were devouring the city as much as you can at that age.

Speaker 3 And we could.

Speaker 1 Stay tuned for more armchair expert.

Speaker 1 If you dare. This message is brought to you by Apple Pay.

Speaker 2 Dax, can you believe it's already fall? This year's flown by.

Speaker 1 I know, right? But fall is my jam. Remember that farmer's market we hit up last weekend?

Speaker 2 Yes, all those vendors with their yummy apple ciders and the big pumpkins. I love big pumpkins.

Speaker 1 Artisanal apple cider, don't forget. And the smell of fresh-baked goods, heaven.
But here's what blew my mind. So many vendors accepted Apple Pay.

Speaker 2 It was so convenient. I love Apple Pay.

Speaker 2 Everywhere I saw the contactless symbol, I just double-clicked the side button on my phone to bring up my card and then just a quick little face ID scan, tap, boom.

Speaker 1 So easy. Apple Pay has been my MVP this season to buy festive fall treats and drinks.

Speaker 2 And you know I'm on a mission to find the best fall themed latte in town.

Speaker 1 You know this. I do know that.
How's it going? That Maple one you were telling me about sounded pretty insane.

Speaker 2 It was so good. And get this.
You can also use Apple Pay at lots of cafes. No fumbling for your wallet.
Just double click, tap, and sip.

Speaker 1 It works at millions of places anywhere you see the contactless symbol in stores or see the Apple Pay button online and in apps.

Speaker 2 Exactly, making it easier to enjoy all the fall goodness.

Speaker 1 Speaking of which, I'm totally set for Halloween. Apple Pay made it a breeze to purchase the perfect decorations online right from my iPhone.

Speaker 1 I just tap the Apple Pay button at checkout, double-click to authenticate, and boom, payment complete. No long checkout forms, no fuss.

Speaker 2 Fall festivities have never been more fun or easy.

Speaker 1 Pay the Apple Way. Terms Apply.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Primal Kitchen. Here's something I've learned about cooking.

Speaker 1 I'm not claiming to be some master chef here, but the little choices you make can actually have a big impact, like the oil you cook with.

Speaker 1 Primal Kitchen Pure Avocado Oil is literally the one oil you can use for everything. And I mean everything grilling, sautéing, baking, air frying, marinating, you name it.
This oil can handle it.

Speaker 1 It's got this light, neutral flavor that just lets your actual cooking shine through. Plus, it has a high smoke point so it can stand up to whatever heat you're throwing at it.

Speaker 1 What I love about Primal Kitchen is they're all about making real food exciting and delicious. This avocado oil is pure, quality tested, never blended with other oils.

Speaker 1 It's got those healthy fats from avocados so you can feel good about what you're cooking with. Whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you never have to worry about what oil to use.

Speaker 1 It's easier than ever to find Primal Kitchen pure avocado oil because it's now available at Walmart. You can find Primal Kitchen in Walmart stores or online at walmart.com and primalkitchen.com.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Empower.

Speaker 1 See, you've always wanted to take that bucket list safari trip where you hop in a jeep at sunrise and cruise the Serengeti. Here's the thing.
If you invest well, you could do things like that.

Speaker 1 With Empower, you can get your money working for you so you can go out and live a little. Isn't that why we work so hard to splurge at certain moments?

Speaker 1 Maybe it's those concert seats that don't require binoculars or taking that trip to Athens in Greece, not Georgia, no disrespect, money.

Speaker 1 So use Empower to help you get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 19 million customers today at Empower.com.
Not an Empower client paid or sponsored.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Hill's Pet Nutrition. Something we celebrate here on Armchair Expert is that we all have juggles, struggles, faults, and flaws because we're human.

Speaker 1 Those of us with pets know this all too well. We are their whole world, and that can be a lot of pressure.
Things are just going to go wrong sometimes, and we can only plan for so much.

Speaker 1 Pet parent guilt is unavoidable.

Speaker 2 Yeah, like when you left one of your dogs when you went traveling, you probably had guilt.

Speaker 1 I did. Whiskey wasn't fit to make the trip, but I was relieved that he's having such a great time with Peggy at home.
But yeah, because you're only human, there's hills. Science does more.

Speaker 1 Find the right food at hillspet.com/slash stacks.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Allstate. You know what's smart? Checking All State First for a quote that could save you hundreds on car insurance.
You know what's not smart?

Speaker 1 Not checking your phone's volume before blasting your morning pump-up playlist in the office break room. Or not checking that your laptop camera's off before joining the meeting in your robe.

Speaker 1 Or something I'm a little too familiar with, not checking your grocery list before heading to the store and realizing you bought everything except what you needed. Yeah, checking first is smart.

Speaker 1 So check all State First for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate.
Potential savings vary subject to terms, condition, and availability.

Speaker 1 Allstate North American Insurance Co. and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

Speaker 3 Oh, God, I just watched the Charlie Sheen dock last night.

Speaker 1 You do, I love it.

Speaker 3 Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 It's so fun.

Speaker 3 And you just go, well, wow.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
All of them. George Clooney.
Yes. He's in those little videos.

Speaker 1 Those videos. And Penn and Nicholas Cage.
Yes, to find out they were best friends was a real revelation.

Speaker 3 And that little friend group and Laura Dern, who was in everything then, and she's in everything now.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 It's just wild.

Speaker 1 It kind of feels impossible that they were all this little ragtag group. It's sweet.
When Sean Penn says, I can't believe he said this on camera. It's my favorite thing I've heard.

Speaker 3 God, which one? I'm trying to know it.

Speaker 1 He goes, when people do, men do cocaine, copious amounts, they have heightened sexual desires

Speaker 1 while diminished sexual competency.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, wow, you said coke dick in the most elegant way I've ever heard someone describe coke dick.

Speaker 3 That's so interesting and makes so much sense.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 No desire while you have no competency. What a purgatory.
Wow.

Speaker 2 And yet they keep doing it

Speaker 1 over and over.

Speaker 1 In all sincerity, the moment that I realized, oh, we have a real problem was I was at a bar and I was talking to a very attractive girl and things were going very well.

Speaker 1 And I was like, I'm going to get an eight ball. And I was like, if I get an eight ball, I'm not going to be pursuing this anymore.
I'm going to get an eight ball.

Speaker 3 Oh, so did you weigh it out for a second?

Speaker 1 I had this snap moment of clarity of like, wow, you're choosing this thing over a girl, which for me, girl was everything.

Speaker 3 You really liked this particular girl. You really did.

Speaker 1 She's very attractive. It was very fun.
It was going very well. This is going to be so fun.
Normally, that's the funnest thing in the world. Right.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, wow, we've elevated something above this thing that I previously thought was the most attractive thing we could do.

Speaker 3 But that was more attractive and prettier.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you were choosing between two drugs. Yeah.
Yes, my first drug.

Speaker 2 Between two lovers. That's right.

Speaker 1 Okay. So then you went to LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, which is the fame school.
Yeah. And fame was on TV when we were kids.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Well, I saw the movie when I was a kid. I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 Was it a movie?

Speaker 3 And then it became a TV show. Okay.
Oh, you have to see the movie. Am I right?

Speaker 1 Alan Parker was the director.

Speaker 3 It is so magnificent. All due respect to the television show.
You'll go, what?

Speaker 1 Yeah. What was that?

Speaker 3 I mean, the cinematography, the characters, the acting.

Speaker 2 What'd I do? I know. I wondered too, but it was also looking cute.

Speaker 3 It's very cute.

Speaker 1 I'm very known for your photos.

Speaker 1 I know. Yeah.
Her hair is good but yeah she's known for her hair

Speaker 3 you know what i had a whole bag of lola v for you both and i walked out of the house without it so this will be coming to you i have hair paste for you a champagne conditioner for kristen too and then shampoos everything i can't wait and i have a bottle of aquanet for you bro what aquanet for me

Speaker 1 super extra firm hold okay

Speaker 1 not animal tested no no no exclusively animal tested

Speaker 1 i think even orphan tested maybe

Speaker 1 I think they were in a book. They might have just said, screw it.
Let's hit the kids.

Speaker 1 Okay, so was it hard to get into that school?

Speaker 3 I was a very last minute get into that school because, oh, God, I was such a bad student. I'm going to say things.
It really embarrassed me forever. I was a terrible student.

Speaker 1 We have this in common. You're dyslexic, right? Yes.
Me too. Frustrating.
I thought I was the dumbest person alive.

Speaker 3 If only someone thought. to take this young kid who struggles to take him to get tested.

Speaker 1 They didn't have it then, I don't think.

Speaker 1 What I immediately thought when I learned you were dyslexic is you don't have the same chip on your shoulder I do. I've observed you don't have the same chip on your shoulder.
What does it look like?

Speaker 1 My chip is like, I'm a know-it-all. Everyone thinks I'm dumb.
I got to prove I'm smart all the time. And it's exhausting for you.

Speaker 1 I think that's interesting.

Speaker 3 I kind of just know what I know and I know what I don't know. There was a period, though, where I was mortified to walk into a room or be at a party.
I would just think, I don't know.

Speaker 3 I don't know how to carry on a conversation. And the truth is, the best thing to do is just ask questions.
Yes.

Speaker 1 What does that mean?

Speaker 3 Yeah, explain that to me.

Speaker 2 Knowing what you don't know is the smartest person in the room, the person who knows what they don't know.

Speaker 3 Listen, textbook smart, street smart. I could say I'm expert street smart.
My EQ versus my IQ. Exactly.
So we're doing pretty good.

Speaker 1 But when they start writing on the chalkboard, and you knew there would be questions that would follow that, if it wasn't auditory, if they weren't telling me something, they were just writing on that chalkboard.

Speaker 1 I was like, oh man, I hope to God they don't ask me what just happened. I don't know what the fuck is happening on that chalkboard.
It's like hieroglyphics.

Speaker 3 I was doodling. I was writing little scenes, sketches that we were going to act out at recess.

Speaker 3 Or I'd write a note to somebody.

Speaker 3 And then I would just get real good laughs.

Speaker 1 And I'd be like, awesome. And then I'd be like, what? Oh, I'm sorry.
In the hall. Oh, shoot, bummer.

Speaker 3 Yes, in the hallway. And I'd stand there for the rest of the class.
I was just constantly maneuvering my way. So I went to performing arts.
This sounds terrible.

Speaker 3 I wanted to be an actor, obviously, because that's all I thought I could do. This could sound awful, but between grade nine and 10, and we were given four books to read.

Speaker 3 And I was like, I'm never going to read these books.

Speaker 3 I got to go to another school.

Speaker 1 Oh.

Speaker 2 This is not going to happen. I got to change locations.

Speaker 1 Like, you saw those four books. It's like, I've just been kicked out of this school.
I was like, all right, so where are we going? Because that's not going to happen.

Speaker 1 This is absolutely not going to happen.

Speaker 3 These books are not going to get read. and I don't have any way to figure out a way around that.
Can't go stand in the hallway around that.

Speaker 2 There's no audiobooks back then. So yeah.

Speaker 1 Do you love audiobooks?

Speaker 3 I do love audiobooks, but I used to drift and I'd have to rewind.

Speaker 3 That's part of my dyslexia though, too, whereas you'd be reading and then I'd go, oh, I just read a whole page and I don't know what I read because I'm not comprehending anything.

Speaker 3 And then my mind would wander.

Speaker 1 Do you think you might have a little ADHD? I think I might. Yeah.
I don't think that about you, but I know my wife is really coming to terms with the fact.

Speaker 1 Once I hear those symptoms and how they express in women.

Speaker 3 Especially today, we have so many things that can distract us.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yeah.
At once. Look at this room.

Speaker 1 I mean, just look at.

Speaker 3 I don't know if you can see what's behind you guys.

Speaker 1 They're just taunting you.

Speaker 3 There's like some weird word I can't see clearly up there.

Speaker 1 So I have to read it. It looks like it is.
I'm out of here.

Speaker 3 No, you're going to tell me that the only way that we can be on this podcast is to read these books.

Speaker 1 You also look like Chris Cornell in that weedy spots for some reason from where I'm sitting. I'm feeling a little intimidated as well about the books now.
They always look

Speaker 1 nice. Do you audition to get into some of these?

Speaker 3 So yes, it was like late auditions for last minute. I don't know why.

Speaker 1 I can't honestly remember.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 1 You just kind of woke up there one day.

Speaker 3 I just woke up one day. I learned two monologues.
I auditioned and then I came back. And the next thing you know, I was accepted.

Speaker 1 Did it live up to your... I'm sure you had concocted a pretty good fantasy and expectations about what the experience was going to be like.
And did it live up to that? No. Okay.
Great.

Speaker 1 Well, it moved buildings.

Speaker 3 So it wasn't in the old building on 46th Street, which was half of the charm.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 It was this big block building.

Speaker 1 A soulless building.

Speaker 3 It was just thousands of kids.

Speaker 1 Oh, it was huge.

Speaker 3 Sort of the charm was in there, but the theater teachers were still there. They were also in the movie.
Oh, that's cool. A couple of them, Mrs.
Shine, Mr. Moody.

Speaker 1 Did they appreciate you? Because the previous teachers were putting you in the hallway. Did it feel like at least you were kind of appreciated there?

Speaker 3 I was appreciated, except from one teacher, Murat Yusim, who was one of our acting teachers, who said I was a disgrace to the theater. Okay.

Speaker 1 Okay. All right.
A little early to make that. Were you? I probably was.
I think I might have been pretty disgraceful.

Speaker 3 I was doing checkoff, and people were laughing.

Speaker 1 Trying to look for the laughs.

Speaker 1 Always.

Speaker 1 Always. Okay.
So you make it out of there. You come to L.A.
You're probably 18.

Speaker 3 To LA, 19.

Speaker 1 19, 19, 19. No, I'm 20.
You're 20 years old.

Speaker 3 Because I do three years of waitressing college.

Speaker 1 And you telemarketed, which is great.

Speaker 3 I telemarketed. When I first moved here, I worked at Jackson Hole.
It was run by the wonderful Greek family. So I got an off-Broadway show for two months.
They'd let me do it. Then I'd come back.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's nice. You arrived here.

Speaker 1 You had a couple of pilots really quick. You guest starred a few times.
Quantum's Leap. That's exciting.
That's not the name. Quantum Leap.
It's not plural. Burke's Law.
Burke's Law.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, you did that.
There's a third one in there.

Speaker 3 There's a couple. I did Molloy.
I did Barris Bueller's Day Off.

Speaker 1 The spin-off TV show.

Speaker 3 Television show version.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaking of fame and the spin-off.

Speaker 3 So we're keeping a theme.

Speaker 1 Now, my question there was, when I came here and I got on TV,

Speaker 1 no matter what it was, it was so exciting because I was the first Shepard to ever be on TV.

Speaker 1 And I wondered, how does having two parents that had pursued it, one of them's on TV, how did it impact your excitement about getting on these shows?

Speaker 3 There, having been in the business.

Speaker 1 Were you thinking, oh, this isn't good enough, or it should be better? Or was there already a bar?

Speaker 3 Well, the bar was just work. My dad was telling me, please don't do this.
You're just going to suffer rejection.

Speaker 1 You're going to be learning science in Athens.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you're going to end up in Greece anyway.

Speaker 3 Just go get a real job. All the cliche things.

Speaker 1 That's so shitty. You would think at least two actors would be supportive, but no.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Although, I mean, I think some actors today are like, oh, please don't. I hate that.
Whatever drives you, if you find passion in something and you love it, go do it.

Speaker 2 Back to safety, though. Your parents generally want safety for the children, and it's not safe.
It is not a safe profession as far as like

Speaker 1 consistent.

Speaker 2 It's a high risk.

Speaker 1 It's a high risk. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mentally.

Speaker 2 So I get it. Yeah.
Emotionally.

Speaker 3 That means let's talk about Charlie Sheen.

Speaker 1 Exactly. Oh, no.

Speaker 3 He wasn't a kid actor.

Speaker 1 How old was he? Well, he wasn't young.

Speaker 1 He was 20 when Platoon won Best Picture. Right.

Speaker 3 But it wasn't like Bateman on Little House.

Speaker 1 That's true. But he had made, that was surprising to me, and I kind of admired it.
They had made a quatrillion movies, these kids. Yes.
Charlie Sheen and his buddies. They really did.
Special movies.

Speaker 1 And yeah. You could go like, oh, Nepo Baby, blah, blah, blah.
But it's like, no, these people have been practicing and were passionate about this since they were little kids.

Speaker 3 That Nepo baby thing.

Speaker 1 It's kind of annoying.

Speaker 3 Well, you know why? Because here's the deal.

Speaker 3 Simon, I mean, look at all the law firms, blanky blank, blanky and blanky blank. I mean, all right, isn't that a a version of it?

Speaker 1 It's all the family.

Speaker 3 Okay, so maybe you got into a door because you're so-and-so's kid, but if you suck, guess what? Exactly. You're not going to continue to do it.

Speaker 1 They don't give a fuck after one or two. No.
No, you might get one or two. My point is like, what you're underestimating is you're only focusing on that you've inherited someone else's status.

Speaker 1 I get it. I would object to that.
That's not fair to everyone else. But what they're not thinking about is like, our children have been to sets many times.
My kids understand about lenses.

Speaker 1 I was walking with my daughter when she was six. She made a joke.
I laughed. A minute later, she made the same joke.
I didn't laugh.

Speaker 1 And she said out loud at six years old, I went back to the well too much. Whoa.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, yeah, that's the house she grows up in. She has a knowledge of this industry that I had about the automotive industry with automotive parents.

Speaker 1 She knows a lot fucking more and she'll show up knowing a lot more when she's competing with other kids. Now, is that because the door was open for her? Just she has the skill set already.

Speaker 3 She was privy to having the education.

Speaker 1 Growing up in Detroit, the the commercial was on non-stop was father and son we build them all no one's mad that yeah that kid was probably 10 carrying bricks and helping the dad build houses and now they got father and son construction company yeah okay i'm only gonna ask you a single question

Speaker 1 about friends that's it

Speaker 2 I can't guarantee that.

Speaker 1 Yes, I make no promises and nor would I want to because this is her sopranos. Oh, my thing I found really interesting when I was reading about all this, and I just have such a crush on them.

Speaker 1 I want to bring them up. But you were kind of

Speaker 1 feeling like you might want to throw in the towel. You were doing pilot after pilot and they weren't working.
And then you ran into Warren Littlefield at a gas station. Is this apocryphal or real?

Speaker 3 Oh, God, that is true. Yes, because I had gone to the final stage, go to network, and then I think I definitely said something to him at a gas station.

Speaker 3 It was on Crescent and Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 And what did you say?

Speaker 3 I might have given him a headshot or I said something like, please cast me, please. I don't don't love it.
At another time, I said, Will you please give me a washer dryer?

Speaker 3 And he wrote that down on a napkin.

Speaker 1 As part of your negotiation?

Speaker 3 I just kept hearing that all these actors were getting cars and getting these things once they got hired. And friends had happened.
And we were, I don't know, at the upfronts for something.

Speaker 1 And I said, you wanted a congratulatory watcher. He's like, why?

Speaker 3 What are all these actors? Why do they get these treats for shows and stuff?

Speaker 1 And I said, treats.

Speaker 1 Actor treats. Actor treats.

Speaker 1 These elaborate, these very expensive gifts.

Speaker 3 And he was like, well, what do you want? And I was like, really? And he's like, yeah. And I couldn't think of anything.
And I was like, I need a washer and a dryer.

Speaker 1 No kidding. And did he deliver? Yeah.
Oh, really?

Speaker 1 I lied. There were actually two I wrote down.
The other one was, I had no idea until yesterday that you had been offered SNL.

Speaker 1 That would have been impossible for me to turn down.

Speaker 3 Well, you know, I was was thought I was such hot shit. The story of that is all very confusing.
Honestly, today,

Speaker 3 I'd have to ask Lauren because I remember I was in New York City and I had a meeting with Lauren Michaels and I ran into Sandler and Spade in the room right outside. And I knew Sandler forever.

Speaker 1 You knew him pre-friends. Yes.
Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 Because he was very good friends with Charlie Schlaughter, who played Ferris Bueller in the television version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Speaker 1 Wow, you guys go so far.

Speaker 3 So we met at Jerry's Deli in like 1912.

Speaker 1 Just before the Spanish Wars. Just before.

Speaker 1 Right before.

Speaker 3 So I don't know why I had this self-righteous attitude of like, I don't know if women are treated the way they should be treated on this show.

Speaker 3 It's a very male-dominated, I would love to be here if it was in the Gilda Radner day. I mean, this is the brain that semi-remembers things that are back that far.
Yes. Something like that.

Speaker 3 I can't remember, but I just remember friends then happened. And then that's where I went.

Speaker 1 You really fucked up. You chose wrong.

Speaker 3 You think so? Oh my God.

Speaker 1 Yes. Well,

Speaker 3 people say regrets.

Speaker 1 I could be interviewing you and I could be going, so you turned down friends for SNL. And people would be like, that would be the saddest story of all time.

Speaker 3 It all works out.

Speaker 1 It clearly works out.

Speaker 3 Everything is sort of meant to be.

Speaker 2 Do you think that in the middle, when something is bad currently, are you like, it's going to work out? Are you positive that way? Well, you you have to be.

Speaker 3 It's hard. It's hard, but you have to then consciously turn towards

Speaker 3 what's positive. I mean, I feel like a broken record.
We're not designed to take in this much information.

Speaker 3 It's our brain.

Speaker 3 We're not designed that way. There's way too much information from all over the world within a blip of a second.
Every single bit of information.

Speaker 3 No wonder mental illness is through the roof and anxiety. This is a different time.

Speaker 1 I totally agree. Back to the, when we lived with 100 other people our entire life.
Sure.

Speaker 1 You probably would never even hear about a murder your whole existence.

Speaker 1 Or maybe there'd be one. And you can hear about hundreds of murders a day.
There might be one natural disaster in your lifetime. Here, you'll hear about all of them.
You're so right.

Speaker 1 We don't have the capacity for it.

Speaker 3 We don't. No, we think we do.

Speaker 1 We have this arrogance. Like, oh, I can handle all this.
I can watch news all fucking day long and not be affected.

Speaker 1 I don't think that's true.

Speaker 3 I would rather live in the ignorance as bliss.

Speaker 2 I understand that.

Speaker 3 I need moments of that.

Speaker 1 Okay. I know you have friends' thoughts.

Speaker 2 So I actually, I don't have friends' questions, really. I'm just grateful for it.
That's it.

Speaker 1 Here's what I wanted to connect the dots on. Yeah.
So you didn't have a VCR

Speaker 1 and you were obsessed with Laverne and Shirley, and you used to record audio tapes on cassette tape of the episodes and then listen to just the audio.

Speaker 1 And I was like, if I've ever heard a Monica Padman thing in my fucking life.

Speaker 2 Oh, we have some real crossover. I VHS taped every episode of Friends.
This is before the DVDs. And I had a whole color-coded system.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Where like each season was a color and I would write the episode on the tape in the right color.
Then there was these pictures with the number of the tape. And I had 32 tapes.

Speaker 2 And, you know, the finale was the day before an AP exam. And fuck the AP exam.
Why did you do?

Speaker 1 Horrible.

Speaker 2 I had to watch. You guys were on something after Leno, maybe, and then Oprah the next day.

Speaker 1 I don't remember that.

Speaker 2 I had to tape it all, and I didn't study. Why would I study? The most important thing.

Speaker 1 You had enough in a lifetime. Exactly.
Exactly. So I probably failed that test.

Speaker 3 I feel like owe you an apology. No.
You know what?

Speaker 1 It all worked out.

Speaker 1 You're welcome. Exactly.
Oh, my God. That's the highlight of her.

Speaker 2 It was everything

Speaker 2 to me. That's so.
It was such an escape. I was thinking about it recently.
Because I was like, what? I have so many reasons why. But one is we don't have comedies like that anymore.

Speaker 2 We don't have shows like that where you do kind of know it's going to work out. Even though, you know, there's stakes.
I'm not saying there's not, but it is going to work out.

Speaker 2 And it makes you feel safe and it brings hope. My favorite shows now don't have hope.
I love them, but they're scary and you don't know if it's going to work out.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the best shows are the ones where like they might kill the lead character. And you're like, fuck, I'm on pins and needles.

Speaker 2 Yes, the anxiety is at a different point.

Speaker 1 It's the game of thrones of it all.

Speaker 3 So true.

Speaker 2 It's the opposite of what that was, which is just reassurance.

Speaker 3 They can't hurt a friend.

Speaker 1 They would never hurt one of the friends. They won't kill one of the friends.
They won't kill one of the friends.

Speaker 1 They're not going to get hit by it.

Speaker 2 And when you're like a teenager, you don't know what's going to happen. Everything's scary.

Speaker 2 People are going to make fun of you, but this is a constant. I can't really explain how important it is with words, but I'm grateful.

Speaker 3 I can feel that. I love that.
I wish you could have come to a taping.

Speaker 2 I had a recurring dream that you guys got back together and then I went to a taping. And and so for a while i was like i think i went to i think i saw i think and then it was

Speaker 2 there crazy dream

Speaker 1 that was here right here i was here it was perfect i didn't need to do that and here we are we just were with somebody chris and i and we were discussing this exact thing obsessed with her show by the way oh what a kiss have you ever seen a better kiss uh no on television no maybe you had some but i know i might have missed it no none of us i don't think anyone on the planet earth I also like, was it the putting down of the cups and all of the things?

Speaker 3 Like, it was the hand just on the side.

Speaker 1 It's so beautiful.

Speaker 3 It was just this foreplay.

Speaker 1 It was a set piece. Yeah, it was.
Like, it was a kiss that was actually, they took the time. They made it like a set piece.
It built, built, built, built. I'm going to fucking die if they don't kiss.

Speaker 1 They fucking kiss it and it's great. Yeah.
Yeah, it was so good. I guess that's the show.

Speaker 2 That's the closest to that feeling right now. Just like, it's not going to be good.
It's probably going to be good.

Speaker 1 It felt good.

Speaker 3 We needed that. I binged it.
I don't binge things. Yeah.
And I could not get. I'm also so happy for my friend Aaron, Sarah, as well.
It's great. Happy for everybody.

Speaker 1 Yeah. They created a cultural phenomenon their first time at bat.
It's incredible.

Speaker 3 Thank her for that.

Speaker 1 I only had one single question about your movie career, which is

Speaker 1 Bruce Almighty. Oh, mega hit of a lifetime.
Yeah. What is it like acting on the other side of Jim Carrey? Does it rattle your own sense of reality? And like, what is the experience?

Speaker 1 Because he is pulling off something that is the most heightened we've ever seen. And he is landing it.
I just can't really imagine what it's like being opposite of that.

Speaker 3 He's a big kid at that point. It's quite enjoyable.
You would think it's going to be, you're like, what do I do? How do I keep up? We just had fun.

Speaker 3 We just volleyed.

Speaker 1 And you never had the sense you were leaving your own tone.

Speaker 3 No, because I was the grounding.

Speaker 1 He's sort of the whirling.

Speaker 3 That guy. I can't remember his name.
It wasn't Bruce.

Speaker 1 Was it Bruce? It should be. I think it was.

Speaker 1 You would hope. Bruce Almighty.
I hope so. I'm really hoping.
I don't know either, but I'm doing reverse engineering.

Speaker 3 Not like God's name was Bruce.

Speaker 1 Oh, God. Yeah, I think it was Bruce.

Speaker 1 Bruce. Yeah.

Speaker 3 When you say Bruce right now, it's like, why would you name a character Bruce?

Speaker 1 He does not read as a Bruce.

Speaker 3 No, he doesn't read in my memory as a Bruce.

Speaker 1 No, he was Jim Broad the whole time.

Speaker 2 And then there was Evan Almighty and the British. Evan Almighty Morale, so he must have been Evan if we're putting the pieces together.

Speaker 1 Yes, it's even more proof of that.

Speaker 1 Sorry, Jim.

Speaker 1 I did the math on this, and I want people to think about this for one second. So I was reading this article that you were in, and they had done the research.
This is not my research.

Speaker 1 And they had said,

Speaker 1 cumulatively, 2,000 tabloid covers. Like, that's the total number of tabloid covers.
And I did the math.

Speaker 2 He loves math. I do.
I love math.

Speaker 1 See, I failed. Terrible.
Let me hold your hand and want you to just math. I'm going to have to help me.
And I'd be like, gosh, can you just figure this out?

Speaker 1 I just asked for a washer and dryer. Was that financially?

Speaker 1 Am I winning on this?

Speaker 1 He got a Ferrari. I don't know what model number are they calling it? I got a GE washer and dryer.

Speaker 1 2,000 tabloid covers

Speaker 1 is a tabloid cover every single day for the next 5.47 years. I'm sorry.
So sorry.

Speaker 1 I just want people to think about what that experience would be, that there's a tabloid cover of you every day until 2030.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's so out of this world, bonkers.
Yeah. And you said to that when they hit you with that number, you said, yeah, I took it all very personally.

Speaker 3 Of course, I did. I don't know why.
I mean, of course I know why, because I was a kid growing up.

Speaker 1 I'd look at those covers and I'd be like, really? Is that true? Yeah. An alien and a hairboy.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 What? An alien? A hellian and a hairboy. Wasn't there always like a hairy boy on those?

Speaker 3 Yes, like, oh, he's like a cass watch kind of a thing. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Maybe he's a monkey boy.

Speaker 3 Yeah, something.

Speaker 3 That's so funny.

Speaker 2 I think there's a generation now that doesn't understand tabloids. It's Instagram now.

Speaker 3 Or is it? I guess it's the internet. Way more people allowed access to participate in it.

Speaker 1 Not only is the cover there, but then we get to hear what everyone's takeaway from the cover was.

Speaker 3 It used to be that there would be a week or two weeks later that you'd open the first two pages and it would be letters from readers. Uh-huh.
Five little letters of what they thought.

Speaker 3 Someone would be like, meh, snark. And then there was one that was like, loved it, loved it.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, dude, I hated it.

Speaker 3 But it would only be like a couple.

Speaker 1 It went through some filter. Sure.
But they're not going to let something insanely misogynistic land in that letters to the editor.

Speaker 2 Right. And in some ways it was worse because that's the only way people were getting this salacious information was the tablets.
Now there's a new thing every 45 seconds.

Speaker 2 So like you could be in a article, but then tomorrow you're not going to be in an article. Something else is going to wash it away.

Speaker 3 The AI is going to come in and then it's not even you saying things.

Speaker 1 Exactly. Like there was a tabloid story about Chris and I that we were swingers and I don't think people even remember that we were swingers.

Speaker 3 That's not true.

Speaker 1 It's not true. We could perhaps under the right circumstance,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 you could send a letter and they can have a very open dialogue about that if the right participants presented themselves.

Speaker 3 But see, that's such a headline that you go, that's so ridiculous.

Speaker 1 But yours were too. Oh, yeah.
No, it's true. It's very true.
I thought yours were more ridiculous. Did you ever consider?

Speaker 1 Because you have the leverage. I want to say we are both so fucking grateful you're doing this.
I think it's nothing but high risk for you. You don't need any press and we both really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 It's such an honor.

Speaker 1 But did you ever consider? I'm just never going to do press again. I'm going to go act in things and they can pay me whatever reduced amount for not promoting it.

Speaker 1 Have you had those debates with yourself?

Speaker 1 You have. Right?

Speaker 1 Ask it.

Speaker 1 All the time.

Speaker 1 All the time. It says, don't fucking bring this up.

Speaker 3 Because I actually love to go into a conversation with people.

Speaker 1 That's the sad part, right? Yeah. I love it.

Speaker 3 I love this. I love watching you.
I love listening to you. I enjoy it.
I find it interesting. This is safe.
Do I get nervous? Obviously, that's just because I do.

Speaker 1 Well, and you've been fucking brawny. Exactly.

Speaker 1 2,000 times.

Speaker 1 There's little things.

Speaker 3 There's things that get, even recently, something came out referring to a question that was asked about the Met Ball. Why haven't you been to the Met Ball?

Speaker 3 The answer was simply, I don't know, it intimidates me.

Speaker 1 You're not my thing. Period.

Speaker 3 That was all. But then an elaborate answer was created out of it.
Things will always get misconstrued. But I always go into a conversation really happy to have the conversation.

Speaker 3 And it used to be even more so because I hadn't been burned. And when we say burned, it just means the writer's doing their job to make it more interesting.

Speaker 3 I don't think they're intentionally trying to do something.

Speaker 1 That's generous of you. Yeah, that's generous.

Speaker 1 Because they are.

Speaker 2 They're trying to get clicks. I mean, it is their job.
It is how they get paid.

Speaker 3 Also, to make me sound a little more interesting than, no, I like it.

Speaker 1 I mean, you're like, that's the answer.

Speaker 2 But what's the gossipy part of this?

Speaker 1 Like, that's what they want. Did you ever go in disguise places?

Speaker 3 No. You haven't? No.

Speaker 1 Have you ever considered that?

Speaker 3 Hat, Hat, glasses, scarves.

Speaker 1 That doesn't cut it, though.

Speaker 3 No. You mean like when they put an actual mask on?

Speaker 1 Well, Zamila and Ashton told me they bought a piece of shit car. Yes.
Like a $1,200 car. Yes.
And they had masks. And they'd send their real car out with a friend.
They'd drive in the pop resident.

Speaker 1 And then they'd get in this fucking clunker and drive on. I was like, this is incredible.

Speaker 3 And would they go out into the night or have their past?

Speaker 1 I think they just needed to leave their neighborhood and not get followed. And then I assumed the masks.
I doubt they went to El Chorito and ate the whole meal with masks on.

Speaker 3 I've done all sorts of things. I remember wanting to write a book called Stories from the Floorboard where

Speaker 3 getting in the backseat of cars and just sort of maneuvering through and then switching out and getting to a different car. I've done that.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay, I have a pitch for you. Would you like to go to Burning Man with me? No.
Yep.

Speaker 1 Correct answer. That is the correct answer.
I didn't hear the rest of the question. Sorry, go on.
Finish your question. I don't think it's worthwhile.
Wait, I want to die.

Speaker 1 I didn't hear the rest of it. Because you can go to Burning Man in Feathers.
You could be an ostrich and I could be a donkey. Right.
We could mill about and we could see all the art.

Speaker 1 You could be completely anonymous. Yeah.

Speaker 3 And everybody else is just like on all sorts of drugs, so they won't even know what's happening.

Speaker 1 You get those street smarts, the walking home from Jackson Hole, all that would come up.

Speaker 1 That comes back. I don't know.
Do you go to Burning Man? No, but I want to. I think it's going to be my New Year's Resolution for 2026.
Really? Yeah.

Speaker 1 I have a lot of friends who I trust deeply and I value their

Speaker 3 opinion.

Speaker 1 And they love it. My friend Joy Bryant in particular.
She's like, you can't miss it. If you're on planet Earth, you must go see this.
She's like, the art is insane.

Speaker 1 The things that are happening are wild. You can kind of pick what experience you want.
There's a lot of different camps you can be in and they vary in extremeness.

Speaker 1 So that's a thing I would love to see.

Speaker 3 Why haven't you done it yet?

Speaker 1 I don't think I had been pitched so fullheartedly by this very trusted source.

Speaker 3 I got you.

Speaker 1 And now I'm like, yeah, you're damn right. I don't want to leave this planet without having seen that spectacle.
Have I intrigued you at all?

Speaker 3 No. No.
Only because my friend group, my girls and their husbands have gone many times. They went 12, 15 years straight.
So I've seen the photos. I've seen the videos.
I've heard the stories.

Speaker 3 And I just go.

Speaker 3 I just don't think I could.

Speaker 2 Not for me. That's fair.

Speaker 1 I also don't love crowds.

Speaker 2 Yes. Understandable.

Speaker 3 But since I was a kid, I don't like crowds. That's just, I don't know what that is.

Speaker 2 Are you the type that can be peer-pressured or are you like, I made my decision?

Speaker 3 I'm pretty, no, cut and and dry. I can think about it, but no, I would never be peer-pressured.

Speaker 2 Okay, about the tabloids.

Speaker 2 Because of all this, and because everyone knew your business, and there was a lot of public information, how do you feel about being pitied? Hate it.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 There's been so much pity towards you over the years and it feels so unfair. It's like, she seems good.

Speaker 3 I really dislike it a lot. Hate is such a strong word.
It's exhausting.

Speaker 1 That's my most hated. So you know, like if someone pities me, like, so you think I'm weak, that's my number one being labeled the poor anything.

Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No point in even trying to rewrite it because that's just stuck.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's the role they assigned you and that's what it is.

Speaker 3 Probably not much to really undo that. And that's okay.
Yeah

Speaker 1 Stay tuned for more armchair expert

Speaker 1 if you dare

Speaker 1 We are supported by Quince. Winter in LA is weird.
It'll be 75 degrees one day, then suddenly you need an actual coat.

Speaker 1 I've been rotating through the same three jackets for years, and honestly, they're looking rough. So I finally upgraded my winter wardrobe with Quince, and the difference is wild.

Speaker 1 Their Mongolian cashmere sweaters are ridiculously soft. Like I didn't know cashmere could feel this good without costing a mortgage payment.

Speaker 1 And their wool coats and Italian leather outerwear, they're the kind of pieces that actually last.

Speaker 2 They also have amazing homewear. Do not sleep on the homewear.
And if someone's moving and you want to get them like a little housewarming gift, it's the perfect place. I got a friend some curtains.

Speaker 1 Oh, you did? Yeah. Quince curtains.
QCs.

Speaker 2 Quince curtains. Do it.

Speaker 1 What I love about Quince is they cut out the middleman. Bye-bye.
They work directly with factories and have ethical production standards. So you're getting luxury quality without the luxury markup.

Speaker 1 We're talking premium materials, thoughtful design, stuff that'll last you multiple winters, not just one. Refresh your winner wardrobe with Quince.

Speaker 1 Go to quince.com slash DAX for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.
That's q-u-in-ce-e.com/slash dax. Free shipping and 365-day returns, quince.com/slash dax.

Speaker 1 We are supported by T-Mobile 5G home internet. Like everyone, home internet is our life, and there's nothing worse than when it slows down.

Speaker 2 Oh, I know, especially when you're doing something important like editing this show.

Speaker 1 Well, actually, there's one worse thing, waiting around all day for the cable guy to show up to install it.

Speaker 2 I want those five hours back.

Speaker 1 Fortunately, T-Mobile's got home internet. They have fast speeds, and it sets up easily in 15 minutes with just one cord.
Anyone can do it.

Speaker 2 Even me.

Speaker 1 Hey, we were first in on T-Mobile's home internet. We were using it up in the attic.
Yeah. If you recall.

Speaker 2 It powers this very show.

Speaker 1 Yes, it's so reliable. And when you've got a podcast full of valuable insights about human nature and poop jokes, you need that.

Speaker 2 We all all need that.

Speaker 1 Oh, and the low price is guaranteed for five years.

Speaker 2 Five years? Gotta respect the LTR.

Speaker 1 Guarantees monthly price of fixed wireless 5G internet data. Exclusions like taxes and fees applies.
Service delivered via 5G network. Speeds vary due to factor affecting cellular networks.

Speaker 1 Check availability and guarantee exclusions and details at t-mobile.com/slash home internet.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Walden University.

Speaker 1 You know, a lot of people hit this point where they're doing well at work, but there's this nagging thought about taking that next step, maybe going after something they're really passionate about or finding ways to make a bigger impact.

Speaker 1 Walden University has been helping working adults figure that out for over 50 years.

Speaker 1 They help people get what they call the W, those wins that actually move you forward and create real change in your life, career, and community. What's cool about their approach is tempo learning.

Speaker 1 You're in control of your timeline. No weekly deadlines breathing down your neck, just the flexibility to progress at whatever pace works for your life.

Speaker 1 And their faculty aren't just academics, they're people who've actually done the work. They teach practical skills through real scenarios so you're learning how to make a genuine impact.

Speaker 1 If you've been waiting for the right moment, this is it. Head to WaldenU.edu and take that first step.
Walden University, set a course for change. Certified to operate by Chev.

Speaker 1 We are supported by Audible. You know, I spend a lot of time listening.
It's literally my job. But when I'm not recording the show, I'm constantly consuming audio content.

Speaker 1 And honestly, I can get pretty overwhelmed by all the choices out there. That's why I love when Audible drops their best of the year collection.

Speaker 1 Audible's most anticipated collection, the best of 2025, is here. And let me tell you, these editors know what they're doing.

Speaker 1 They've spent countless hours listening, having heated debates, probably way more heated than Monica and I get, although that's hard to imagine. And they have handpicked this year's must listens.

Speaker 1 What I really appreciate is that they don't just go for the obvious picks, they found hidden gems alongside the buzziest new releases.

Speaker 1 Whether you're into true crime like Monica, historical biographies like me, or something completely different, this collection has your back.

Speaker 1 I've already started diving into their selection, and honestly, it's like having a really smart friend curate your entire listening experience. Want to finish the year with a sure thing?

Speaker 1 Check out Audible's best of 2025 and discover why there's more to imagine when you listen. Listen now.
Go to audible.com/slash best of the year.

Speaker 1 So over the years, you took it really personal. Do you think you have transcended that? Or is still a little bit? Like, let's say at its height, it was a 10.
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 I was just so upset. I mean, I would always take, how did this happen? Or how do we write it? Because if they give you the heads up, you're like, that's just not true.

Speaker 3 At this point, I just don't pay attention. And I realize it doesn't matter.
We're still here. I love my work.
I do my job. I have a gorgeous, stunning group of friends that know who I am.

Speaker 3 And that's all that really matters.

Speaker 1 I like your group of friends. I was learning about your group of friends in my research.

Speaker 3 A lot of crossovers.

Speaker 1 We do have a lot of crossovers with the Batemans, Amanda, Jason, Jimmy Molly. Jimmy Molly.
But the two I liked that I learned about was I admire Gwyneth Paltrow so much. I think she's such a badass.

Speaker 1 I just think she's so cool.

Speaker 3 She's the epitome of I don't care. Yes,

Speaker 3 so much. Take a page out of her book.
She's a really good person to to look to for that sort of who said it? Who cares? Yeah. Ask yourself, is that true?

Speaker 1 Right, right.

Speaker 3 Or even before they would say it, is it true? First thing I would say, is that actual fact?

Speaker 1 Right. No.

Speaker 3 So then what's the problem? The problem is this other part of my brain that so wants to be the get off.

Speaker 2 I know, I know.

Speaker 1 Those little two voices. I have the thing that'll trap me is I'm stubborn.
To the point where I like, even the going to the Burning Man thing.

Speaker 1 It's like, I refuse to not be able to do the things I want to do.

Speaker 3 Has that increased as you've gotten gotten older?

Speaker 1 I think it came out. It came out that way.

Speaker 3 Has that lessened at all? Have you sort of relaxed out of it in terms of I should not be so stubborn. I should be a little more flexible.

Speaker 1 I've had to because I am in a family and I have these two little girls who have an opinion. They're stubborn as fuck.
There's not enough room for another one of us to be stubborn.

Speaker 1 Chris is very stubborn. I'm very stubborn.

Speaker 1 And now we've got two other stubborn people in the house. Yeah.
And so, Chris, I think both were like, okay, well, one of the variables has to change in this equation.

Speaker 1 It's certainly not going to be these little kids. So I think that has definitely helped me get over some of it.

Speaker 3 What's your sign?

Speaker 1 Could you guess?

Speaker 3 I would say Taurus.

Speaker 1 Okay. Or Virgo.
I'm Capricorn.

Speaker 3 Or Capricorn.

Speaker 2 Okay. He's very, very Capricorn.

Speaker 1 Too Capricorn, Monica might argue.

Speaker 2 I didn't say that. Stop putting things on me.

Speaker 1 What are you? What do you think?

Speaker 3 I feel like you're like a Pisces or a Gemini.

Speaker 2 No, I am not water. I'm a Virgo.

Speaker 1 Virgo.

Speaker 2 I'm a double Virgo.

Speaker 1 Double Virgo.

Speaker 3 In particular, do you see things out of the corner of your eye and you just want to move it? I love it.

Speaker 2 Definitely. What are you? Oh, February.

Speaker 3 I'm an Aquarian.

Speaker 1 Aquarius.

Speaker 2 I think that's what my dad is.

Speaker 2 We're talking about kids and this might be a no-no, but I'm curious.

Speaker 3 Hit it. You can ask me anything.
Okay.

Speaker 2 I froze my eggs twice. It went very badly.
I did a podcast about it. It was part of the journey.
It was a whole thing. And I'm 38

Speaker 2 and I am single and I'm feeling like time to start making some big decisions. It kind of feels like now or never-ish to even try with some of those eggs.

Speaker 2 And I'm starting to just feel like I think it's never.

Speaker 1 And why?

Speaker 2 Because.

Speaker 3 Can I ask you a bigger question?

Speaker 2 Yes, please.

Speaker 3 Are you doing that? The freezing? Yeah. Have you always wanted children?

Speaker 2 I've always not known.

Speaker 3 If you wanted them.

Speaker 2 Yes. So it's not like we had Chelsea on that podcast, Chelsea Handler, who I know we both love.
And she's kind of always been like, No, I don't.

Speaker 3 It's very cut and dry. No, it's not my thing.

Speaker 2 I respect it and I wish I had that because it's not that. It's very much like, oh, I'm very close with their kids.
And it's like, oh my God, to have one of these that's mine.

Speaker 2 You know, you get kind of wrapped up in it. But also, my life is also very full.
What you just said about all your friends and your life, I have the same thing.

Speaker 2 So it kind of feels like maybe it's okay that I don't. You've said you're on the other side of that.
And I wonder if there's peace there oh it's so peaceful but i will say

Speaker 3 there's a point where it's like it's out of my control there's literally nothing i can do about it when people say but you can adopt i don't want to adopt yeah i want my own dna in a little person yes that's the only why i'm selfish or not whatever that is i wanted it but is there the moments of

Speaker 3 well this goes around into it's probably a topic i don't really want to discuss but when you meet someone and you go God, we would have made some good kids.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 3 So that might come up and then that'll pass within three seconds. Right.

Speaker 1 Right, right. And you're like, but guess what? You'll plan a trip to Mexico.
Yeah. You'll be on that trip.
Just take a look at that vacation for five minutes and you're like, oh, good night.

Speaker 3 Bye. See you later.

Speaker 1 What are we going to watch? Yes.

Speaker 3 It's a romanticizing, but once you are on the other side of it, because it's out of your control. Yeah.
Just wasn't in the plan. Whatever the plan was.

Speaker 2 Exactly.

Speaker 3 I do think some people, though, can't let it go let it go i worry i guess that would be me come over and i'll help you let it go okay i'll take that invite yes it's a lot it is a lot and by the way it's very emotional especially in the moment when they say that's it because there is a weird moment when that happens yeah it's getting too dark for this podcast no no but it's like there's a moment when it's actually oh yeah this is not even viable exactly so time is up oh that's probably a blessing and a curse it probably hurts really bad and then probably you move into acceptance acceptance mode and it probably is liberating on the other side.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Last personal question, and then we're going to end the morning show.
How many dogs do you have? Two. Okay, that's nothing.

Speaker 3 I had three. Well, I've had three at a time, and I have two.
And then there might, you know, there's. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And Claudio takes a bite out of life. Yeah, Claudio is a very cute book.
Yes. Yes.
And it's about finding your passion and your fear. That's right.

Speaker 3 It's my contribution as a dog mom and a mother, whether dog to human, but to the children's book world.

Speaker 1 I know you don't read anything, but I do hope you can read it.

Speaker 3 That book I can read.

Speaker 1 No, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 That book. Do you want me to read it to you? And there is an I can read book that's also coming out.
Sure, sure, shoot, shoot.

Speaker 3 That's really good about a neighborhood cat.

Speaker 1 Wait, is it a forthcoming book?

Speaker 3 It'll be the third. Yeah, super cute.

Speaker 1 I know you're not consuming what's out there in the world, but I kind of do hope the comments Bateman has made recently about your contribution to his kids' lives. I hope that that filtered through.

Speaker 1 She's so sweet. She said you were like a coma.
I know. Really beautiful.

Speaker 3 It's the sweetest thing. And those kids were since that like, yeah.

Speaker 3 And now she's in my bikinis,

Speaker 1 like really working them.

Speaker 1 And you're just like, oh my God.

Speaker 1 Why am I having an issue with this?

Speaker 3 Yes. Her first vacation, she was going on a trip to Italy with all these kids by themselves.
And I was like, they packed condoms.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 But they both looked at me like, why?

Speaker 1 I'm like, are you kidding? Yeah, pull your head out of the sand, Italy.

Speaker 1 Have you seen?

Speaker 1 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 It's because the kids are such an active reminder of time. It's so wild.
Like, it's easy as adults to forget that it's moving, but they don't let you forget. No.

Speaker 3 And they can just chill out.

Speaker 2 I know. We'd love if they'd take it.

Speaker 3 The breakdown a little bit. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Pump the brakes.

Speaker 3 How old are yours?

Speaker 1 10 and 12. Yeah.
Okay, morning show.

Speaker 1 Oh. Okay, season four of Morning show.

Speaker 1 I'm caught up. I'm waiting tomorrow.
I'll get another installment. You're dealing with a tough one.
You go to interview this athlete.

Speaker 3 You're in the first episode. Yes.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And then the father puts in your hand this piece of paper that says, we want to defect.
They're in town for the Olympics. And you're like, I got to help.
How would you not?

Speaker 1 But you don't know that really he wants to defect because he's a nuclear engineer in Iran. So now this is a very big geopolitical.
That was a little bit switched.

Speaker 1 It was. He a little bit misled you.

Speaker 3 A little bit of a mislead there.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 Just goes to show you, pause and think about things

Speaker 1 before you just pump the brakes. Pump it.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Well, now wait till you see what happens.

Speaker 1 Oh, boy. I can't wait.
Oh, boy.

Speaker 2 This show's scary. It keeps predicting things that happen that are very bad.

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 1 Tell me.

Speaker 2 All of it. Also, the space ladies predicted.

Speaker 3 Oh, well, that was.

Speaker 2 That wasn't very bad.

Speaker 3 That was the billionaire and their rocket ships. And then there was the cruise with a mysterious virus.
That was the end of the first season. I mean, there's also

Speaker 2 others. I'm blanking.

Speaker 1 Well, it rides this line of like, it's very much tackling the issues that are happening in pop culture.

Speaker 1 And yet it's also fiction. And then so people are trying to connect dots that don't connect.
Right. Which would kind of drive me nuts if I were you.

Speaker 1 Like you were dating John Hamm, and he was a billionaire who went to rugs. So people are like, oh, that's Elon Musk.
And you're like, my character wouldn't fucking date. It's still, it's not.

Speaker 1 You've gone too far.

Speaker 3 That's John Hamm playing a billionaire.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 But your character, I mean, it's not hard at all to draw the parallel between you and the character in that you're an incredibly powerful woman and you are navigating still what is still a very male world.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 3 The challenges being a woman in the very male-dominated world and dealing with public perception, the private world that's going on behind the scenes. The price that you

Speaker 1 can't help but pay.

Speaker 3 The drive to get what it is you know you have the ability that you you can do.

Speaker 3 I am capable of this. Women are capable of this.

Speaker 1 Yes. So when you've seen these scripts come in, are you so excited in that, like, yeah, I can't wait to shine a light on this? Or are you like, this is a little too close? I don't want it to be so me.

Speaker 1 What's that balance?

Speaker 3 I don't look at it that way, actually. I do look at it in a way of women need to know that they are able to be in positions of power.
It has happened and it will keep happening.

Speaker 3 And this is a version of that happening. Yeah.
And I love to represent that as an idea that you can strive for.

Speaker 1 I guess a better question would be: where are they parallel and where do they diverge?

Speaker 3 I'm not as angry. I'm not as cutthroat.

Speaker 1 Fearless.

Speaker 2 Interesting.

Speaker 3 I don't think I am as cutthroat. There's a very alive and well-people pleaser inside of me that would love to make more swings at some things than I do.

Speaker 1 The other fun real life parallel is it's a show about two women. It's about two women who are both sharing power in a very finite vacuum of power that's available.

Speaker 1 And the show itself is a breakthrough in that you have you and Reese, who conventionally would only have your own show and probably be pitted against each other, deciding to come together and be like, no, no, there's room for both of us here and the pot's big enough for both of us.

Speaker 1 How did that come about?

Speaker 3 We both believe that, that there's room for all of us.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 3 Actresses should not be pitted against each other because there's opportunity and it's only increasing.

Speaker 1 Forgive the example, but it's like Ocean's 11. No one said, like, well, there's no way we can do it.
They're all too big. How will we pay them all? Right.
Right. Right.
Exactly. That was fine.

Speaker 1 We're like, oh, we'll figure it out because we want to see this.

Speaker 3 And they did figure it out. They figured it out.
I was trying to remember what they did.

Speaker 1 They might have done it a couple times.

Speaker 1 Just wanted to do it three times.

Speaker 3 I think there was only one female version of that. Exactly.
We haven't seen that again.

Speaker 1 Who approached who?

Speaker 3 Michael Ellenberg. approached us both with the book.

Speaker 1 Were you friends prior to that? You're

Speaker 1 friends. Oh, I I don't.
Oh, no, I do know that because you guys interviewed each other. Yeah.
It was a battle of the blue eyes. I was like, whose eyes are bluer in this interview?

Speaker 1 My fucking depending on who got the better light.

Speaker 3 Hers are really beautiful blue balls.

Speaker 1 No one was suffering in the blue eyes department. And that it was like, test your friendship.
This is very talented. Oh, well, that's the other thing.

Speaker 3 We're friends. We know each other, but we don't wake up together.

Speaker 1 Right, right, right, right.

Speaker 3 She's not bringing her coffee in bed. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I felt terrible. She doesn't even live here.

Speaker 3 No, she really left all of us.

Speaker 2 Yeah, she

Speaker 3 abandoned us.

Speaker 1 She's our neighbor now, actually. She is.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 See? But she's a special gal, right? I love her.

Speaker 3 She is a Spitfire. She works harder than anyone.
She's Tracy Flick to some degree. So Tracy Flick.

Speaker 1 She'll be the first one to say that.

Speaker 3 She is fearless. She will speak her mind.
She's the sponge for sure.

Speaker 1 Yeah. How are you guys yin and yangi?

Speaker 3 She loves to read and learn and probably face tests and work, work, work, work, work.

Speaker 3 And I want to go outside and lay in the sun and listen to a podcast, talk to a group of girlfriends, group of friends, have a barbecue, talk about what's going on, listen to another podcast,

Speaker 3 and then go to work on Monday. I don't know if I could say I'm a little more laid back.

Speaker 2 But we'll ask her. We'll see how

Speaker 1 they compare. It'll be interesting.
I'll tell you how to start in a couple weeks. Oh, God.
We'll ask her. We'll see if this matches up.
She agrees.

Speaker 2 You said that you know your value at work, though. You said, I know my value when it comes to career.
Do you feel that about the other places in your life at this point? I do.

Speaker 1 That's I do. Did you hear? She's like, I'm not going to fucking Burning Man with you.
Did you hear how easily that was? She's like, fuck you.

Speaker 1 Maybe this hurts your feelings. I don't know what fantasy you've cooked up where we're going to.

Speaker 3 By the way, I'm psyched for you because you are going to have a good time since you are dying to go.

Speaker 1 I'm built for chaos. It arouses me.

Speaker 3 Okay, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, did I say bring a medical kit?

Speaker 1 Someone will have one.

Speaker 1 No, but they won't.

Speaker 1 They're all on drugs. I'm not I'm kidding.
Please bring a medical app. Yeah, but they won't be able to find it.

Speaker 3 And a phone that you will know you can use. What do they call them?

Speaker 1 Yeah, satellite phone. Thank you.
Satellite. Okay, I'll bring a sat phone.
If that makes you feel much better. That will make me feel much better.
Okay.

Speaker 3 Because I won't tell you the other stories of other friends.

Speaker 1 Sure, a lot of things go down.

Speaker 2 But I think it can be tricky, though, because if you have such a big career, you can say, well, maybe that's why some of these other things haven't worked out for me the way I went.

Speaker 2 I think that all the time. I'm like, well, I have this.
So I won the lottery in this area. So maybe I don't get these other things.
I don't think that's the smart way of thinking.

Speaker 2 But yeah, I wonder if you've experienced that.

Speaker 1 Oh, sure.

Speaker 3 Knowing your value, it's kind of like you know what you know and you know what you don't know, right? I know where I excel.

Speaker 3 Are there parts of me that wish and want to be in some of these other areas of this business? Absolutely. Doing other kinds of movies? Absolutely.
Working with certain other directors? Absolutely.

Speaker 3 Yeah. But I also find that to be the fun of still being excited about like, I'm going to go make that happen.
You know, we're not done. Yeah.
We're not like, and this is where we coast.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 We had Jeanette McCurdy on to talk about, I'm glad my mom's dead.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Glad my mom died.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I'm glad my mom died. I think that's a brave role to sign up for is what I wanted to say.
Oh, yes.

Speaker 3 First of all, Jeanette is so lovely.

Speaker 1 We fell so in love with her.

Speaker 3 Isn't she just so funny and clever and smart?

Speaker 1 She's unbelievably smart.

Speaker 3 And the way she channeled that life into that book. So action.

Speaker 3 And with that humor and sort of the wink in the midst of a lot of pain and suffering. So she's remarkable.
And I can't wait to start playing that part.

Speaker 3 It's been almost two years now that we've had it. And I started prep end of the summer.
So that's a character that gets me nervous.

Speaker 1 Oh, yes. That's why I'm so excited about it.
Like I said, it's a very good thing.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
It's out of the comfort zone.

Speaker 3 If a job is making me nervous, it means it's something obviously that I know will challenge me. Not that the others aren't challenging.

Speaker 3 I mean, certain comedy is super fun and I've done that for so long.

Speaker 1 But it's okay that that's easier.

Speaker 3 It becomes easier.

Speaker 1 I've been practicing being a clown from the get-go. Yeah.

Speaker 3 It was our salve. It's what helped us grow up without dying inside.
Yes.

Speaker 1 Right?

Speaker 3 Yes, yes. Make people laugh.
Then you're like, oh, bring joy. That's a good way to ease it, regulate, be happy.
So playing that woman, because Jeanette's mom and my mom had some odd.

Speaker 1 parallels.

Speaker 3 So it'll be cathartic in many, many ways. And we just couldn't believe the amount of stories that we had in common.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 It's an important story to tell, and it'll help a lot of young kids, just parents, adults, process life that they've lived.

Speaker 1 Okay, I save this as the last thing I want to say to you because I don't think you're going to take it well. I have to imagine you two have found yourself in these conversations.
They're very fun.

Speaker 1 It's like you're sitting around with a bunch of other actors and cumulatively, we've met nearly everybody in the business. And you kind of go like, who's magic on screen that in real life is magic?

Speaker 1 Like you're working with the perfect example, which is Billy Crudeau. Oh, I'm like, oh, this motherfucker off screen, there's only one adjective for that guy.
It's magic.

Speaker 3 He is pure magic and committed because he really lives up to it. Like if you looked up thespian in the dictionary, you'd see Billy's face.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 There's nothing that matters more to him than the work.

Speaker 1 For 10 years now, every time this conversation comes up, I always, always say the person that just completely blew my mind is I thought Jennifer Aniston was hot on screen. Oh my God.

Speaker 1 And then I saw her in real life and I was like, oh my gosh, she's like the most beautiful person I've ever seen. I've said this 150 times.
I think I've said it on here before. That's so sweet.

Speaker 1 I just think you're so overwhelmingly beautiful in real life. You're my example.
I always give 100% of the time. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 I don't even know what to say. I'm so blushy.
My Mac to the couch. You're blushy.

Speaker 2 I'm so impressed. You're so humble because how many people have said that you are the most beautiful person?

Speaker 3 I mean, everyone said, I I don't think we all look at ourselves and feel that way.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 That's interesting, though. I think that'd be interesting for people.
You are still blushing hearing that.

Speaker 3 Still blushing hearing that. You said, friends, you had a color coordinated thing, and I'm like, I want to cry.
And I'm still going, what?

Speaker 2 That means your ego is so

Speaker 1 correct.

Speaker 2 And it did not have to be. You could be so off on another planet.
And I think most people in your position probably. You could have been like, no shit, dude.

Speaker 1 Get in line. Yeah, you're like, yeah,

Speaker 1 everybody.

Speaker 3 I agree.

Speaker 2 I've been told before.

Speaker 1 There's something I've agreed with you about today.

Speaker 3 I thought you were going to say to me, who is the person?

Speaker 1 And I was like going, oh my God. No, but you and I have dinner.

Speaker 1 We know. We know.

Speaker 3 I can't wait to have dinner with you again to tell you more.

Speaker 1 We know. We know.
Yeah. And you'll forever be my example.
Like, well, I'll tell you who can blow your fucking doors. I adore you.
I'm so, so grateful you came.

Speaker 1 And I want to, of course, Monica. There's

Speaker 3 Your letter moved me so much. I really did.

Speaker 2 For the listener, I did send a love letter via Molly McNearney. Big shout out, Molly.

Speaker 3 Yay, malls.

Speaker 2 Love her so much. And she did send it to you.
And then I got an email from Steven the next day. And it was right before my birthday.

Speaker 2 And I was like, happy birthday to me. What a special.

Speaker 3 I'm so glad that timing happened.

Speaker 2 I know. It was perfect.

Speaker 1 Yeah, very fucking cool of you for reading Monnie's letter and then coming. I think that's so sweet.

Speaker 3 And, you know, these are not my, I don't, you don't do it. This isn't your.
Well, I go, what do I have to talk about

Speaker 3 i don't have nothing to say but this was so fun we had so much fun

Speaker 1 i felt like i had a really great conversation with two people i adore this was so wonderful everyone watch morning show is out currently it's on apple tv plus it goes to november 19th so if you're not caught up binge and i adore you thanks for coming adore you too thank you so fun

Speaker 1 I sure hope there weren't any mistakes in that episode, but we'll find out when my mom, Mrs. Monica, comes in and tells us what was wrong

Speaker 1 new merch coming well you're already in it yeah

Speaker 1 limited dish when i really so we're working with the new like company and it's really good quality you're liking the quality a lot yeah i can't wait to pop some on yeah uh is that the only color it comes in this one yeah but we have other stuff too great and you got some enormous stonewash jeans on with patchwork.

Speaker 1 Yep. I think those are new.
I haven't seen those yet.

Speaker 1 What? I've worn them. To this show.
I mean, you worn them in real life.

Speaker 2 I think I've worn them to this show.

Speaker 2 I have to replace. I sometimes have to wear the same clothes twice, you know.

Speaker 1 Sometimes. Yeah.
Yeah. We're on different trajectories.
Like,

Speaker 1 I put on a pair of pants and I wear them for about eight days. Yeah, sure.
And then I switch pants.

Speaker 2 Now, do they start to smell? No.

Speaker 1 You sure? To smell them.

Speaker 1 Okay. All right.

Speaker 2 How many days have you worn those?

Speaker 1 Well, to be fair, I watched these when we got back to Nashville after our motorcycle trip because I was about to say these have a thousand miles of open-air road on them. Right.

Speaker 1 But I did wash them a few days ago.

Speaker 2 And did you travel in them yesterday?

Speaker 1 Yeah. All right.
All right.

Speaker 1 Pee you. Oh, come on now.
I'm just kidding. There's no way.

Speaker 2 They don't smell. They don't smell.

Speaker 1 I did have my prostate examined this morning.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 What happened?

Speaker 1 Well, I wasn't expecting this, but I had a follow-up appointment with my primary caregiver.

Speaker 2 Internist.

Speaker 1 My internist. That's right.
And I thought I was just going to chat. And then I gave some more blood and some more yan.

Speaker 1 And then he said, okay, why don't you drop your slacks and turn on your side? Yeah. I want to feel your prostate.

Speaker 2 And did you say, I know you want to, but do you need to?

Speaker 1 No, I just comply.

Speaker 3 Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 You never do that. Well, at the doctor, I tend to.
Wow. Although that's not true.
No, because he wanted me to get a flu vaccine. I said, no, thanks.

Speaker 1 But then he said, what about the pneumonomococcomoma, pannonia vax? And I said, sure, I'll take that one. Pneumonia, yeah.
The pneumococcal.

Speaker 2 Pneumococcal pneumonia.

Speaker 2 Pneumococcal. Pneumococcal.

Speaker 1 Guys, why?

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 2 Not everyone has a hard time with it, though.

Speaker 1 But Healy and I were just lamenting about this.

Speaker 1 Why do all these prescriptions have to have an X, a J, a Z? It's like they're going out of their way to make it difficult. In pneumococcal pneumonia, I think it's fun.

Speaker 2 It's like alliteration.

Speaker 1 Okay. Okay.
It seems excessively hard for no reason. It is a lot.
What's the goal? To let people know what it is, or to like flex with how many letters you can put in?

Speaker 2 I don't think it has to be about letting people know what it is. So maybe it's Latin and stuff.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Anyway, medical.

Speaker 1 Anyways, okay. So, yeah, so I did P, I did give blood.
Then he went in there. And

Speaker 1 I mean, I had anxiety, but not for the reason you might think. What do you think my anxiety was?

Speaker 2 During the exam?

Speaker 1 Him putting his finger up there.

Speaker 1 Yes, like I had gone this morning, but it was not what I wanted because I had.

Speaker 2 So he puts his finger up there?

Speaker 1 Of course. What else? How is he going to feel my process? I don't know.
But he didn't even ask me, like, have you had a movement or anything? He just, I guess, assumed I had.

Speaker 2 You shouldn't assume some people don't have regular movement.

Speaker 1 No. And again, I didn't have like what I would call a completely satisfactory movement this morning.
Anyways, he went in there. I guess there was no obstructions.

Speaker 1 And he said that my prostate felt tiny and healthy.

Speaker 2 Oh, great. Tiny.

Speaker 1 Generally, that's not a good descriptor, but in this case, it is. Okay.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

Speaker 2 I just feel like there should be a way to do that without having to stick your finger in there.

Speaker 1 Hmm.

Speaker 2 Like in 2025.

Speaker 1 Although some part of me is like, I love how old school it is. Sometimes it's as old-fashioned as that.
His finger, my prostate. Yep, that's the right size.
Wow. Which I trust more than a gizmo.

Speaker 2 What's a gizmo?

Speaker 1 Oh, like an ultrasound that looks like a music. Oh, I trust that.

Speaker 2 Then you have the actual image and it can probably be measured.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Just based off his little finger.
What if his finger?

Speaker 1 What if his finger was enlarged and my prostate just

Speaker 3 felt small?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Relative to his.

Speaker 2 Wow. Do you feel violated today?

Speaker 1 No, it was, it was fine. Okay.
It was really fine. And then they, he gives you some tissues to wipe your butt with afterwards because there's a lot of jelly.
Oh, jelly. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Not just like a random butt wipe. But it's some, it's an emasculating or something experience to wipe your butt on the side of the table.
Like,

Speaker 1 you know, it's,

Speaker 1 it's very vulnerable.

Speaker 3 That image is rough.

Speaker 1 Yeah, wiping on my side. I felt like a prostitute who had just like, you know, I was like, I was gathering myself up.
Sex worker. No, I felt like a prostitute.

Speaker 1 I'm not calling other sex workers sex worker.

Speaker 2 Sex workers have respect.

Speaker 1 I felt like a prostitute from the 80s.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 Back when they were prostitutes. Did you look at the tissues? It was clean as hell, thank you.
But you were worried. Yeah, just you're wiping your paw in front of a doctor.
Oh.

Speaker 1 I know. I'm glad you're having the same reaction

Speaker 1 he should leave so that you can wipe i'll let you i'm gonna step out while you wipe yeah that's crazy too no it's not it's here you can wipe i'm gonna go do some no one should be wiping inside out away from a toilet is what the issue for me is i know wiping happens on a toilet

Speaker 1 you're right not like i'm gonna bring you to the lobby wipe or i'm gonna bring you to this closet wipe lobby no he goes to do some quote paperwork while you click while i do paperwork well

Speaker 1 So, anyways, I think that's all good. That's positive.
Okay. The prostate was the normal size.

Speaker 2 Well, actually, I think it's kind of nice that they give you the tissue because when you get like a pap smear,

Speaker 2 they, or when like I got my eggs frozen, they like you a lot of ultra internal ultra.

Speaker 1 And they lube the hell out of that? Yes.

Speaker 2 And then you don't get tissue. And so it's all like gooey.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's a jelly, too.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 It feels so weird in your underwear.

Speaker 1 It does. Your underwear.

Speaker 2 It does.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Wow.
Wowzers.

Speaker 2 Oh, my. Okay.
You've had quite a morning.

Speaker 1 I've had quite a couple weeks, but today is my last day of antibiotics, which

Speaker 2 I'm delighted about that.

Speaker 2 Speaking of fingers,

Speaker 2 I had another hand injury.

Speaker 1 Oh, no. What happened?

Speaker 2 It's not as exciting as my other ones.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 But weirdly. Okay, so I get a flower delivery every two weeks.
It's like the highlight of my month.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's so exciting. Twice a month.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I have two highlights. And it's really exciting.
Yeah. And they came.

Speaker 1 How long do they last? So it depends on the flower.

Speaker 2 Normally a week, but I think these are going to get me a little longer.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 Because the stem is like wood.

Speaker 1 Okay. It's a branch.

Speaker 2 Yeah. It's more branch-like.

Speaker 2 And that's good, but also, so you're supposed to cut the ends of all the stems, you know, before you put them in water.

Speaker 1 So that they'll leach up the water. Yes.

Speaker 2 And cutting the branches is harder than cutting regular flowers.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 And I have special scissors.

Speaker 2 Well, I probably should have because I was using my scissors and like, you know, it was like really hard to cut.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you need pruning shears. I have, I have

Speaker 2 flower ones that are sharper than regular scissors, but they're not for wood. I don't know.
Yeah, right. Anyway, and I was like squeezing really hard.

Speaker 2 And then all of a sudden I was like, oh, my finger hurts. And I looked and I had this huge hole in my finger and it had a bunch of wood in it.

Speaker 1 Oh, you

Speaker 1 poked yourself with the wooden brain.

Speaker 2 I guess, but it was so deep.

Speaker 1 Yeah, puncture. My mother always said punctures are the worst.

Speaker 2 Oh, she's right.

Speaker 1 She would know.

Speaker 2 Because she's right, because I, you know,

Speaker 2 yesterday I realized there's still some wood in there. So I got some out, some more out.
But you can see, it looks better today.

Speaker 1 Oh, up top. Yeah, here.
Oh, yeah. That's legit.
That's a puncture. My mother would agree.
That's the worst.

Speaker 2 I hate the way it looks.

Speaker 1 And then you're liable to get an infection with a puncture.

Speaker 2 I know. So I put neosporin and stuff on it.

Speaker 1 That's great.

Speaker 2 But I didn't do a great job getting. I didn't know what happened.
I didn't know if I like. punctured with the scissors or I punctured with the wood or both or something.

Speaker 2 I still don't know.

Speaker 1 Let me ask you, did your

Speaker 1 grandfather, did he, would he just start bleeding out of his hands all the time? Did you notice that?

Speaker 2 No, he wasn't like, what do they call those demons?

Speaker 1 No, no.

Speaker 1 Stigmata? Stigmata.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, not that. Rob, did your grandpa's hands bleed a lot? I mean, I guess a little bit.

Speaker 1 What am I talking about? I'll tell you what I'm talking about. When you're a man and you get old, your skin gets thin.

Speaker 2 Oh, you mean dry?

Speaker 1 No, and you just like, you bump nothing. Like my papa Bob was always driving with a paper towel wrapped around his hand because he had like scuffed it on nothing and then it's just gushing blood.

Speaker 1 That's how my dad is now. Your dad's currently that way.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, Aaron and I have been, we've both been noticing that we're heading in that direction where it's just like, I always have six or seven cuts on my hands. And it's not like I'm not a machinist.

Speaker 1 I'm not well.

Speaker 2 Are you using lotion?

Speaker 2 I think part of it is dry because then it cracks.

Speaker 1 It's not dry. It's not not the issue.

Speaker 2 Oh, I can't wait for a dermatologist to weigh in.

Speaker 1 Well, yeah, and I encourage them to. I invite them to.
But what Aaron and I were theorizing, also I have a tremendous blister from riding a motorcycle. Stephanie Thunder.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 I am the one with the finger issue.

Speaker 1 Okay, okay. Okay, go on.
Well, no, I can just leave it.

Speaker 2 No, I want to hear about that. I just don't want to hear about the blister.

Speaker 1 Okay, well, the blister is what's hurting right now, currently, which reminded me. Okay.

Speaker 2 Anyways, I guess it's okay that you talk about the blister because as we learned, it's not as bad as a puncture.

Speaker 1 The punctures are the worst. Okay, because it's your mom.

Speaker 1 But we were theorizing, like, let's say that all this

Speaker 1 medical technology is heading where we think it's heading and that we're going to live to 165, right? Peptides and stuff. Yeah.
How thin is the skin going to be?

Speaker 1 Like, sure, your organs might be good and you might be living, but we were just imagining us at 120 just kind of be like a sieve of leaky blood everywhere.

Speaker 1 Just because your skin, what if they figure everything out except for that your skin's getting thinner and that you're just, you're, you can jog and climb a hit mountain, but

Speaker 1 you're going to bleed a lot. You're going to be wrapped in a lot of gauze.
Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So that's like people aren't predicting that outcome, but I'm, I'm, I'm theorizing that could be where we're headed.

Speaker 2 I feel like they already have, you know, skin-firming serums and moisturizers and things.

Speaker 2 Women have been dealing with thin skin for a long time on their neck and yes, your hands and your face and fine lines. So I feel.

Speaker 1 But is there a skin thickener, a pachydermer?

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 2 like

Speaker 2 they'll sell you on that.

Speaker 1 We need to splice in just a little bit of elephant DNA because they're a pachyderm. Sure.
Pussy pachydermis.

Speaker 2 And a hippopotamus.

Speaker 1 And a hippopotamus and a rhinoceros. Yes.

Speaker 2 Pachoderms. Yeah.

Speaker 1 We just need a little bit of their DNA. An infusion of their DNA when you hit 130.
And that'll really thicken up the skin.

Speaker 2 I mean, as long as it doesn't hurt them, I think it's fine.

Speaker 1 I mean, well, they're dumping DNA all over the spot, right? They're just walking it, shedding off. Just gather that.

Speaker 2 Yeah, gather that. Because, um, I mean, we're already doing salmon sperm facials and stuff.
So it feels like this is soon.

Speaker 1 This, yeah, is around the corner.

Speaker 2 But it's just, you know, elephants have such good memories that

Speaker 2 I don't want, what if it has like a reverse, what if it has a side effect that like now our memories are even better, yeah, but in a bad way, like you only remember the bad stuff.

Speaker 1 Isn't that already what you already exactly?

Speaker 2 So I feel like I don't want more.

Speaker 2 Actually, that's not true. I remember the good stuff.

Speaker 1 I do too. But I was having a moment, I think, because we were riding in North Carolina.
And the whole reason I even know about Asheville

Speaker 1 is because I had a stepdad whose parents had retired there. And we went there for a few days on our way to somewhere else.
And I fell in love with it.

Speaker 1 I went to the Piggy's ice cream place, all you can eat. You know, I had the shirt.

Speaker 1 And I just fell in love and went to Biltmore, set off the alarms. But it's all stemming from Looking Glass False, Lightning Rock.
It's all from that trip.

Speaker 1 So, of course, while I'm writing through there, I'm thinking. How ironic that I really have him to thank for my

Speaker 1 love for. And then I was like, because I'm currently writing about him.

Speaker 1 I was also thinking like, how completely unfair your memory is, my memory at least is to people who I don't like. Okay.

Speaker 1 Because all I've held on to is like the 40 things, the 40 events

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 made me come to that decision that I don't like that person.

Speaker 1 And even if I added up the length of all 40 of those events, I don't know what we'd be talking about, three days or four days out of several years with this person who for sure the majority of time was uh innocuous at worst just like present but nothing's wrong and then probably more often they were really nice and to me and maybe even funny do you remember that i don't so are you sure it's real though well it has to be right because we i don't think so you don't think i mean I don't know which one you're talking about.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 But well, you kind of do because the controlling one. Well, just, I can't, I don't want to get sued, but the dead ones I can talk.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, we love, one of the dead ones is wonderful.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Love Barton.
Yeah. Three of my

Speaker 1 four

Speaker 1 dads are dad. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, I hated that sentence.

Speaker 1 Horrible.

Speaker 2 I have a lot of dads myself, as you know.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 They're all

Speaker 1 alive.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Let's just put it this. Like, no one's one note.
No one's good or they're they're not bad he's not evil or good

Speaker 1 there were all these things that made me go i don't like this person yeah

Speaker 1 i tell you the side note to that as i've written about him and i read it back yeah because i read this section to my kids and then my mom

Speaker 1 i mean it's a description of me it's insane what a description like i don't no wonder now you're like he was so funny no no no no no no it's not any self-preservation in fact i'm just owning the the fact that like i'm reading this and it's like yeah oh my that's me too i mean this could easily be a description of me which is really interesting to synthesize interesting now when you do that when you have that realization which i think that's a great realization um and and

Speaker 2 good self-awareness uh-huh um do you think like oh fuck like i then need to try not to do that because that was pretty that was pretty unbearable.

Speaker 1 Well, I've already had that reaction and I've even shared about it on here. Years ago, I've, I've gone like, I got to shut up about the sink.
It's like living with so-and-so.

Speaker 1 Like, I've already had that awareness. Right.
But when I just go through the actual, like, the description of like, he was so type A. He was so routine.

Speaker 1 He was like, ran marathons, psychotically fitness, raced motorcycles, drove too aggressively, got in front of people everywhere he went.

Speaker 1 It's really funny. And then, of course, in my mind, there's some difference because I think my spirit is kinder and more loving.
Right.

Speaker 1 But just on paper, again, and that's what helped me look at like, well, I've listed some qualities about him, and then you could list those about me.

Speaker 1 But also, my kids might choose to list that I'm really. patient and generous or whatever, you know, a whole other suite of behaviors.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Don't you think also, though, I've been thinking about this a lot, like people,

Speaker 2 I think especially actually people like him. I mean, I don't, I never met him.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I probably won't. You wouldn't have liked him.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 I have a sense of- He wasn't playful and fun. He was rigid.

Speaker 2 And mean.

Speaker 1 Like being mean.

Speaker 2 Like it's, I think it's nice of what you're doing. You're trying to lend some generosity and compassion and understanding.
And like, yes, no one is one thing.

Speaker 1 And acknowledging the subjectivity of my memory. Yeah.
Which is like, I've held on to the things that reinforce this opinion I have of this person. And I've really let go.

Speaker 1 I'm sure he bought me ice cream a million times that I don't remember once.

Speaker 2 No, but like buying ice cream doesn't make up for horrible stuff. I guess that's sort of, it's like, okay, yeah, there are good moments.
Great.

Speaker 2 But like, cause obviously your mom wouldn't have married him if it was all bad moments. That's how all of this happens, right?

Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 And then, but it doesn't justify beating her up or being so controlling everyone's walking on eggshells and wants to die. Yes.
Like,

Speaker 2 you know?

Speaker 1 And I guess my other layer of compassion in writing about him is like, he suffered the most from this personality type.

Speaker 1 Again, how mad can I be at someone when they're like, he was paying the price of this intensity?

Speaker 2 Yeah. You don't have to, you don't have to hold anger.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 But you can still have understanding that like, it was good you guys weren't around that for much longer because like that was not a tenable environment yeah and it does suck for him it sucks that he has to live in that brain like that's really really hard yeah that's the thing i guess if he was like if he was loving life and we were the victims of that i think i'd have one opinion of it yeah but i think i'm old enough now to go like he's a pretty unhappy person that couldn't

Speaker 1 figure out how to be in jive with the world around him. Yeah.
And then he paid the price and we paid the price. And

Speaker 1 everyone. Yeah, and that's kind of of like

Speaker 2 human-ness. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1 Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert.

Speaker 1 If you dare.

Speaker 1 We are supported by AG-1. So I've been taking AG-1 for a while now.
And honestly, it's become one of those things I don't even think about anymore. It's just part of my routine.

Speaker 1 AG-1 is this daily health drink that combines your multivitamin, pre- and probiotic, superfoods, and antioxidants in one simple green scoop.

Speaker 1 It's genuinely one of the easiest things I do to support my body every day.

Speaker 1 Let's be honest, my diet during the holidays is not exactly balanced, but AG1 Next Gen has more vitamins and minerals than ever before, and it's clinically shown to fill those nutrition gaps.

Speaker 1 Plus, the probiotics help with digestion, which is clutch when you're eating like it's Thanksgiving every day. I swear by AG1, I drink it in the morning and it puts a real pep in my step.

Speaker 1 AG1 has their best offer ever right now. If you head to drinkag1.com/slash DAX, you'll get the welcome kit, a morning person hat, a year's supply of vitamin D3 plus K2, and AG1 flavor sampler.

Speaker 1 And you'll get to try their new sleep supplement, AGZ, for free. That's $126 in free gifts for new subscribers.
Drink AG1.com/slash DAX.

Speaker 2 Speaking of this, a great transition. Oh, great.

Speaker 2 Without, I hope it's not a spoiler.

Speaker 2 So, Beth's Dead's coming on October 30th.

Speaker 1 How is there a billboard?

Speaker 2 Yeah, New York. Patreon put up a billboard.

Speaker 1 Oh, Patreon did that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Did Monica buy a billboard?

Speaker 1 Patreon did.

Speaker 2 It was so cool.

Speaker 1 Oh, embarrassing.

Speaker 2 Okay, so a week from today, which I guess will be

Speaker 2 the 27th. Yeah.
October 27th. Elizabeth, Andy, and I are going to do a live stream on Patreon.
Nope. I'm sorry.
On the 26th. Sunday.

Speaker 1 Forget the day. I know.

Speaker 1 Sunday. It's a live stream.

Speaker 2 Sunday.

Speaker 1 Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. We'll sell you the whole seat.
You only need the edge.

Speaker 2 Exactly.

Speaker 2 Sunday, the 26th at 3 p.m. PST.
That's 6 p.m. East Coast, 5 p.m.
Nashville.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And that's.

Speaker 1 4 p.m. Mountain.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 If you're in Mountain, don't listen. I'm just kidding.
Come. Please come.
Please come to the live stream.

Speaker 1 But listen to it at 3 p.m. Pacific, not 4 p.m.
Mountain.

Speaker 2 Just get the day. We'll put some stuff up.
You can find it. But

Speaker 2 on our Patreon, Bethstead Patreon, we're going to do a live stream so you can chat with us, ask us questions. And I've never done a live stream, so I'm excited about it.

Speaker 1 I haven't either. I think we're contractually obligated.
Oh, then I'll practice for us. We learn how to do it so we can fulfill that.

Speaker 2 Anyway, so I'm really excited. And then that is leading up to the launch on the 30th, which is very exciting.
And that's a complicated story as well. That's what just reminded me of it.

Speaker 1 I'm so excited for you guys. I hope everyone listens.

Speaker 2 Anyway, so come to the live stream. Check it out.

Speaker 1 That's that. Give it a checkout.
Give it a checkout. Okay, I have updates from my.
Well, why don't you tell me what happened while I was on this trip? Okay. Because I was gone for six days.

Speaker 1 Oh, you saw a great movie that I've seen too.

Speaker 2 I did. I saw one battle after another.

Speaker 1 That is the hardest title for me to remember.

Speaker 2 As hard as pneumococcal pneumonia?

Speaker 1 Not because I can't remember that one. Okay.
Okay. One battle after another.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So,

Speaker 2 so good. I loved it so much.
I saw it at the Vista as it was intended to be seen, Vista Vision.

Speaker 2 And do we think that's a real thing?

Speaker 1 Yeah. I know it says Vista Vision.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 1 But do you think they just invented that name because it's the Vista Theater?

Speaker 2 No, it's called the Vista Theater because of Vista Vision. Are you sure?

Speaker 1 Yes. Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 They installed a special screen for it there and everything.

Speaker 2 It's the way it's filmed. It's a specific.

Speaker 1 Well, I know it was filmed in a larger format, and I saw it at IMAX for that reason. And I do think they have a 70-millimeter projector there at Vista.

Speaker 1 I'm just wondering if Vista Vision was proprietary before

Speaker 1 the Vista. Yeah.
And I don't want to offend anyone. I'm just saying.

Speaker 2 Mystivision refers to a high-resolution widescreen film format developed by Paramount Pictures in 1954.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 It works by running 35 millimeter film horizontally through the camera, which uses a larger negative area to capture a higher quality image with less grain than traditional vertical 35 millimeter film.

Speaker 2 While its use in full-length features has declined since the 1960s, the format is still occasionally used for visual effects and has seen recent high-profile feature film applications.

Speaker 2 There's only four or five

Speaker 2 Vista theaters in the world.

Speaker 1 Really?

Speaker 2 And we have one right down the street.

Speaker 1 I love that theater. The seats are so comfortable and the spacing so that's what I like is you get a couple feet in front of yourself.

Speaker 2 Yes, you can stretch your whole legs out. Okay, so I saw with Jess.
Now, there was a hiccup. So we,

Speaker 2 there was a, it's sold out. Like you can't, those Vista ones are sold out, but there was availability at the 2 p.m

Speaker 2 great timing actually because then you have time for dinner yeah so um we're driving up and i had plans to get coffee from pam's coffee the coffee shop that's next to it that's also owned by quintin that's after pam coffee pam greer

Speaker 1 uh

Speaker 2 And this is notoriously the coffee shop that I thought was owned by a black woman and it was a black owned business. And I thought I was supporting, supporting, but really, I wasn't.
Right.

Speaker 2 Um, anywho, so it's a white-owned business, as it turns out.

Speaker 1 It's a white male business.

Speaker 2 So,

Speaker 2 anyway, I was like, planning on getting a coffee, and we're driving up the line.

Speaker 2 So, at the Vista, there's no, you don't buy your seat, you just buy tickets.

Speaker 2 Okay, so the line is wrapped around three

Speaker 2 blocks. Like, it is so fucking long.
And I was like, What is is that for?

Speaker 2 And then he was like, It better not be for the movie. And I was like, It can't be.
It won't fit all these people. This is insane.
And he was like, Oh, no. If it is, like, we can't go.

Speaker 2 And I was like,

Speaker 2 Yeah, I know. Like, I don't think we can stand in this line.
I don't sit in the front row.

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 2 So then he was like, Well, you can't sit in the front row. And I was like, Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 Well, here's our plan. We'll go into Pam's coffee.

Speaker 1 We'll kill time. Well, that line dies.

Speaker 2 Yeah, the whole line will go in, and then we'll see. Like, if

Speaker 2 there's only seats in the very front, we won't watch it. We'll go to Bucatini, the store down the street that I'm really excited about that I love.
Okay. And Armshire works there.

Speaker 2 And I was getting kind of excited about going to Bucatini.

Speaker 1 You were now like actually more excited to go to Batati.

Speaker 2 I moved on. Yeah.
I moved on and I was like, oh, Bucatini. Like, I'm going to buy this cute little dish there and maybe some pasta.

Speaker 2 And then we get the coffee and we do have to end up getting in line. It's moving at at this point, but we do get in line.
And

Speaker 1 Jess keeps asking,

Speaker 2 he asked like eight people, have you guys been here? Do you think we'll all fit? He's like, so he's very worried. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And he's getting verbal about it. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And this poor guy behind us was seeing White Lady or some other movie.

Speaker 1 Oh, there's a second cinema there.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 There's two screens. Oh.

Speaker 2 Oh, he said, oh, I'm actually seeing White Lady or whatever. And Jess said, said no one.

Speaker 2 So anyway, we get in and it's packed. There's like some random one seats, but it's it's hard.
And so we do, we go to the front

Speaker 2 and

Speaker 2 there are some seats like four rows back. And we were like, all right, let's try it and we'll leave if this is bad.

Speaker 2 Shout out to an armchairy Chris who sat next to us. He introduced himself and he was so lovely and sweet and loves the show.
And it was really nice. Was he single?

Speaker 2 No, but that's funny because Jess was like, he's cute. This is one of those times you gotta like, and I was like,

Speaker 1 no, I don't know.

Speaker 2 And then Jess started talking to him. Sure, sure.

Speaker 1 And then they went on a date.

Speaker 2 No. And then he was like, we just moved here.
And he was like, we, who's we?

Speaker 2 He did. He was winging very well.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, he's very good at this kind of thing.

Speaker 2 And he was like, my wife and I.

Speaker 1 Open, open relationship or close? No, we didn't get that. We didn't get that far.

Speaker 2 Anyway,

Speaker 2 so

Speaker 2 then the movie starts and we're in immediately. We're not leaving.
We love it. Yeah, yeah.
It's such a thrill. True, it doesn't take its foot off the gas the whole three hours.
I know.

Speaker 1 And the woman.

Speaker 2 Which one?

Speaker 1 I mean, the beginning, his, his Kiana Taylor. Tiana.

Speaker 2 She's amazing.

Speaker 1 What a monster.

Speaker 2 I know. And then they're like kissing and licking each other.

Speaker 1 She's so horny. Every time she gets in the car, she's trying to fuck at all the crime scenes.

Speaker 2 She's the fuck everywhere. She's so hot, and he's so hot.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's incredible. It's incredible.
The acting's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 Leo's impossibly good. He's just the greatest actor.

Speaker 1 Sean Penn is

Speaker 1 absolutely unhappy. I mean, what a fucking performance.

Speaker 2 It's incredible.

Speaker 1 The only thing I can think of that is on the same level is D'Onofrio in

Speaker 1 Men in Black as the monster who has a monster inside of his body. That's me.
I mean, the physicality in the, I mean, that walk he's so bizarre.

Speaker 2 It's, it's really, it's

Speaker 1 so good. I was just crying at the end uncontrollably.
Yeah. Father-daughter.

Speaker 2 It's interesting to me because I'm, I am a, a big sucker for father-daughter.

Speaker 2 As a daughter as we talked about I have many dads yeah um and the daughter of many yeah and I I'm a sucker for that I mean interstellar oh my god what a oh my god um I did expect to be slightly more moved by that storyline but I think it's because there's just so much going on and and it's and it's funny and it's but it's like hectic it's hectic and you're on pins and needles but um i mean it's still it still got me but i i was expecting a

Speaker 2 little bit more from from that also like it's just so annoying that he still looks like that he still looks so good and that made me annoy you were annoyed by that and and horny and horny i was both so i think what you're describing is agitated i was agitated you were agitated in your groin i mean i did spend like four or five minutes after the movie thinking about

Speaker 2 if it really would be a possibility to get some of his sperm to impregnate my egg.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 Cause they have, so

Speaker 2 the baby in the movie is so cute.

Speaker 1 Oh

Speaker 1 my God.

Speaker 2 And it's a mixed baby, not Indian. Actually, there's a hilarious line about Mick.

Speaker 2 So a lot of the movie is, is like calling out/slash parodying these like very extreme

Speaker 2 white supremacy groups.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 And there's some, it's like, it's wild, and there's some hysterical lines in there.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I just thought he nailed it. And I also was like, oh, yeah, he can do this.
He is married to a black woman and has mixed race children. Like he understands this.

Speaker 2 That's also, I was like, I can't believe he's married to Maya. And they just like are out in the world.

Speaker 2 Like, he seems so, he seems like such an enigma, like Quentin, that it's like you went to Ola's with him is that what it's called Olga's Olga's

Speaker 2 where he thought he was dead yeah you went to Olga's with him at a Greek restaurant in in Michigan no no in Austin Thousand Oaks oh and thousand oaks yeah and weirder than actual either of those states for us yeah and that's just like so weird to me that he's a real person yeah he's a normal dude yeah that's so cool yeah it made me it made me feel very grateful for creative brains.

Speaker 1 Sure.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's such a unique, singular kind of take on all this.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it was great.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was great.
It was great.

Speaker 2 Do you think Maya ever just like looks at him and like he farts in the bed and she's like, how are you him?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 I bet she's not. I bet she doesn't feel about his art the way you do.
Yeah. Really? Yeah.

Speaker 1 I bet she thinks he's good, but I don't think, like, you're, you've infused a little bit of magic. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Like the world has. I mean, the world puts him in this, like, you know, legendary.

Speaker 2 That's just hard. That'd be so interesting for me.
I'll try it. If Leonardo, you know, it's a similar situation if I date him and he gives me a sperm.

Speaker 1 Uh-huh. That you'll be.

Speaker 2 And he farts in the bed.

Speaker 1 I don't. Yeah.
I don't think people can be in relationships if they're enamored with one another.

Speaker 2 Oh, I agree.

Speaker 1 I think they can respect each other, but I don't think they can be enamored. So, no, I doubt she's ever in bed thinking like, God, he's so good at filmmaking.
I bet she never, ever thinks that.

Speaker 2 Well, no, I guess I mean more like, like, I agree with you. And actually, I think I'm someone who, like, from afar is enamored.
And then 40 seconds into meeting someone, it is gone.

Speaker 1 Because by the way, who gives a fuck if someone's good at their job? Well,

Speaker 2 there's a respect there.

Speaker 1 Their job has nothing to do with your life is what I'm saying. Like, if they're great at their job, that's away from the house.
It's not with your kids or you. And then you suck when you get home.

Speaker 1 Well, yeah. No, like no one cares about the work because you're not even involved.

Speaker 2 Well, no one's preferring it.

Speaker 1 By the way, I'm not saying Paul sucks at any of those positions, but it's just like you don't care if someone's good at their job.

Speaker 1 What you care about is if are they a good partner in your household with your family?

Speaker 2 Yeah, but you still like you, you respect when someone is good at something.

Speaker 2 And you do you talk about kristen constantly being like an the one of the best actresses which she is yeah and and you can see that and respect it and be proud of it that doesn't this is a direct one-to-one so i'm never in bed ever ever ever thinking god she's such a great actor

Speaker 1 when you're watching if i see her in a show yeah i think god she's so fucking great yeah and then additionally i'm happy for her right I'm like, I'm so happy for her.

Speaker 1 I'm sure Maya's so happy Paul got the thing in his brain onto the screen so successfully. Yeah.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But I guarantee she just never, ever thinks in bed.

Speaker 1 I'm so glad he's good at his job. Because you just don't care.

Speaker 2 You don't care about I know what you mean, but like when you're watching Kristen together, if you guys are watching Good Blaze, like I've been there.

Speaker 1 And hit and run. We just did, we watched it.
Okay, hit and run.

Speaker 2 Yeah. So, so you're like

Speaker 2 I do this when I'm watching her on stuff I'm just like gosh she's so good yeah yeah me too and

Speaker 2 and yes when I am around her as a person she's my friend she's a person you're never thinking about how good she is no I don't I don't but I mean actually I would I guess maybe

Speaker 2 maybe sometimes even if I'm watching her she's doing something incredible and I'm like gosh she's so good

Speaker 2 I do think sometimes I'm like, it's crazy. That's the person I know.
Like, it's definitely, it's like they're separate. They're kind of, and I can see it.

Speaker 2 So I guess what I'm saying is I wonder if she's watching, she's at the premiere. She's watching this movie.
And she's like, holy shit, my husband made this. Like this person.
Yeah, this person.

Speaker 2 No, this person I procreated with, like, made this.

Speaker 1 Yes, for sure when she's watching the movie.

Speaker 2 Again, the guy farts in the bed, I assume.

Speaker 1 He does. He's a human and all humans fart in.

Speaker 1 You even told me you fart in your bed.

Speaker 2 No, like run time.

Speaker 1 I already know that you have to break it. Okay.
I got one time.

Speaker 1 But again,

Speaker 1 let's say your husband is the greatest accountant in the world. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You're never laying in bed being like, oh, he's so good at work. Because, again, you're not.

Speaker 1 That's something he does completely separate from you and your family. So him being good at that job has no impact on you other than financially.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it does.

Speaker 1 But if he comes home and he didn't take the trash out and then he leaves his dishes on the thing, it's like how good of an accountant he is has no one gives a fuck.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't know. I hear what you mean.
And I think you're right. But I still think there's a respect that happens when someone is

Speaker 2 good at what they do. And my parents have it for each other.
I see it.

Speaker 1 And they're right. They respect each other and admire each other.
But the things that are annoying your mom about your dad, she never goes, but he's a great engineer.

Speaker 2 No, I know that.

Speaker 1 But the problem is, is a lot of actors and directors and writers act like in their house, they should be being revered as an auteur.

Speaker 2 Right. That's bad.

Speaker 1 And they find people who are fans and allow them to act

Speaker 1 completely lazy in all departments because they're a genius in this one domain.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's why I don't want to date an armchair.

Speaker 1 And it's bad.

Speaker 2 No, it's bad. Yeah.

Speaker 1 It's bad for a partner to care that the person's good at the job.

Speaker 1 And it's bad for the person who's good at the job to think that being good at the job has anything to do with your real life and in your interpersonal relationship.

Speaker 2 I think you're meshing it a little bit. I think it's, I think it's, I don't think it's bad to be like, my husband or my wife is impressive.

Speaker 1 So so talented.

Speaker 2 And so talented and not and just

Speaker 1 a hard work. Good.

Speaker 2 They're, they're good at that. Yeah.
And I'm impressed by it. Yeah.
That's one thing. That doesn't mean that you're just in full, like, oh my God, I just, I can't, I can't believe how amazing he is.

Speaker 2 And I just want to like, I'll do anything to keep him.

Speaker 1 But most specifically, it doesn't get you out of a single thing.

Speaker 2 It shouldn't get you out of anything. No.

Speaker 1 I think people fall in love with rock stars because they see them on stage. And on stage, they're absolutely magnetic in once in a lifetime.

Speaker 1 And then they get out to dinner with them and they're just, they're a normal normal people.

Speaker 2 No, I am so, I mean, I could not be in more agreement. You're actually saying the thing I say constantly, which is like, no one should be like afraid of anyone's status.

Speaker 1 Like everyone should,

Speaker 2 but those are often combined.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 And so, like, for me, no, that's one thing they do, but you're in a group of people. You're a person.
You're a regular person. Everyone's the same.
And this reverence is dangerous. Yeah.

Speaker 1 If Kristen slaps one of our daughters on the same day she wins an Emmy.

Speaker 2 Well, she deserves that because she is full of emotion.

Speaker 1 Like, it's a lot. I just would, yeah.
I just, I wouldn't give a shit about. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Anyway. Anywho, want to do some facts.

Speaker 2 Now, I want to begin by saying that we had a bunch of alcohol on the table. During this interview,

Speaker 2 people might be confused by that.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Where'd it all go?

Speaker 2 Robin made me take it. Okay, great.
And

Speaker 2 that is because you thought she would be nervous and that it might be fun to have some libation. Is that what it's called?

Speaker 1 Yeah, libation. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 Libations. Yeah.
To like, you know, loosen her up. But when she arrived,

Speaker 2 you offered it to her and she was like, what is going on here?

Speaker 1 I didn't, I don't even think I got to offering it for you. She's like, what is who's going to drink it? Like, she made it really clear that that was sounding crazy.
So I was just like, oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. We can't.
We just walked over from a party we had last night in the studio

Speaker 1 in the cloudy.

Speaker 2 So no one partook just FYI.

Speaker 1 But it was a nice arrangement. I don't mind it as like a table piece.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's like they need to pay us for that.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay. What if we took the labels off? I just like the idea of some cocktails and lime sitting out for guests.
Like if I was willing to offer it to her,

Speaker 1 this is where it's not fair. I should offer it to everybody.

Speaker 2 Well, we have a lot of sober people in here.

Speaker 1 Offer to them. Test their sobriety.
It's a test.

Speaker 2 Anyway, that was that. That was booze.

Speaker 1 Oh, by the way, someone got it.

Speaker 1 Like, I had said vodka and limes and a lot of limes because I had asked our friend, our mutual friend Amanda, what's what's her cocktail? And it was vodka with a lot of limes.

Speaker 1 Yes, this was on a previous fact check where you it was on a fact check and someone wrote in the comments, vodka limes is Jennifer Anison.

Speaker 1 And I was like, Yeah, people are, they know everything about her. Wowie, wow.

Speaker 1 Wowie, wow. Yeah.

Speaker 1 That's cool. It's not like they pitched anyone else.
Surely other people drink vodka and live.

Speaker 1 I didn't see another name in the comments, but it was like, bingo, it's Aniston. Wow.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Good job, that person.
I didn't know. So I feel dumb.

Speaker 1 I'm shocked you didn't know.

Speaker 2 What is Taylor? She likes wine. Taylor likes wine.
People know that.

Speaker 1 She likes sourdough bread.

Speaker 2 And she likes sourdough bread.

Speaker 1 I put a hot loaf of sourdough bread in front of her.

Speaker 2 Well, some people did that while she was on this tour selling. Oh, they did.
Yeah, someone gave her sourdough.

Speaker 1 Is she liking it or not?

Speaker 2 She liked it.

Speaker 1 Okay, so but it worked, but it has already been done.

Speaker 2 It's already been done.

Speaker 1 I will give you a bad thing. What about sourdough saturated in wine?

Speaker 2 That sounds gross.

Speaker 1 It sounds good to me. It does.
You do with a fork and knife. It's kind of like jello shots.

Speaker 2 It's also, it's very biblical.

Speaker 1 It is. You eat the bread.
Bread and the wine.

Speaker 1 The body and blood of Christ.

Speaker 2 Ding, ding, ding. Jen Franison.

Speaker 2 Okay, Babar.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 I learned all about Babar, and also I was right, he is a king.

Speaker 2 The book is based on a tale, an elephant character named Babar, who first appeared in 1931 in the French children's book

Speaker 2 History of Babar. Okay, it's influencing.

Speaker 1 That's like the most appealing title for a kid's book.

Speaker 2 It's Histore or whatever.

Speaker 1 De la Babar.

Speaker 2 Yes, exactly. The book is based on a tale that Brunhoff's wife, Cecile, had invented for their children.

Speaker 2 It tells the story of a young African elephant elephant named Babar, whose mother is killed by a big game hunter. I know, it's sad.

Speaker 2 Babar the elephant escapes and in the process leaves the jungle in exile.

Speaker 1 This is Lion King.

Speaker 2 I know. Visits a big city and returns to bring the benefits of civilization to his fellow elephants.

Speaker 2 Just as he returns to his community of elephants, their king tragically dies from eating a poisonous mushroom.

Speaker 2 Because of his travels in civilization, Babar is chosen king of the elephant kingdom. Uh-oh, he marries his cousin Celeste, and they subsequently have children and teach them valuable lessons.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's lovely.

Speaker 1 It does remind me of my favorite book of that nature, which is Lefkado the Lion by Shel Silverstein. Have you ever speaking of

Speaker 1 giving tree, Shel Silverstein?

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 Lefkado the Lion, no? No. There are some hunters out on the...

Speaker 1 He's a lion. Yeah.
And

Speaker 1 somehow they scare off these hunters and they leave one of their rifles behind. Okay.
And Lefkado starts learning to shoot the rifle and he's like incredible at it and he spins it on his tail.

Speaker 1 Lefcadio.

Speaker 1 Lefkado the lion. Lefkadio the lion, huh? We always in my house said Lefkado.
Oh, but

Speaker 1 yeah, that's unfortunate. Anyways, so he becomes a real, what do they call it, a crack shot.
Oh, and then he gets famous. And then someone sees him.

Speaker 1 Then they bring him to the big city and then he gets rich. It's kind of like Sid Arthur.
What? He goes to the big city. He loves marshmallows.

Speaker 1 That's his favorite thing he's discovered of the human world: marshmallows. He's eating way too many marshmallows.

Speaker 2 Because he's rich and he just gets to be.

Speaker 1 Yes, he wears furs now and he likes spends a thing, but he's lazy about it and he barely cares when he's putting on a show. And then he's got to return home eventually.
It is, it's Sid Arthur.

Speaker 1 I don't know if Shell. This is your whole story.

Speaker 2 Your Lucadio. You think so?

Speaker 1 Levcadio?

Speaker 2 Levcadio.

Speaker 2 La Lion is shot back. Levcatio.
He's like taking a little dump. Yeah.

Speaker 2 that is you

Speaker 1 he's got a catherine he might have his catherine

Speaker 1 shell silverstein is full of of like yes tales and he's got a perverted book i used to love it there's this huge tall book that was in our thing and i remember removing it i was like i was being naughty when i looked through that one we forgot to ask her about 11-11 that was a huge mistake yeah we fucked up i know i'm upset about that i didn't even see on her wrist if that was there Exactly.

Speaker 2 I didn't either.

Speaker 1 I wonder if that was like a temp for a movie.

Speaker 2 Maybe.

Speaker 2 We don't, we'll never know until she comes back.

Speaker 1 We could know, but I don't know.

Speaker 2 No, we have to wait till she comes back. I'll send her another letter.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 I wonder if it will work the second time.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 Share's dollhouse.

Speaker 1 Share the pop star or...

Speaker 2 That's what... Yeah.
I think. I'm also kind of confused by this.

Speaker 2 You fill your little shared dressing room with many little pink hangers of many little shared doll fits.

Speaker 2 They were designed either from Bob Mackey.

Speaker 1 Or maybe like in her sunny and shared days, she had a line of toys or something.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think so. Also, ding, ding, ding, Bob Mackey designed a lot of the outfits that Taylor is wearing in Life of a Showgirl.

Speaker 1 Oh my goodness. I know.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 1 Wow, wow, wow.

Speaker 2 Alan Parker did direct fame. She was right about that.

Speaker 2 Bruce Almighty, his name is Bruce.

Speaker 1 Yeah, thank God.

Speaker 2 The big mystery.

Speaker 2 Jim Carrey's name was Bruce.

Speaker 1 That shouldn't have been so hard for us to accept immediately.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 2 He just doesn't look like a Bruce. But look, we don't always match our names.

Speaker 1 No. Although very few people don't.
Well, I'll tell you one that's not, they have the right name, but someone was using an iteration of it. Uh-huh.
That was insane to me. Okay.

Speaker 1 I was talking to somebody who knew.

Speaker 1 You rascally with the monitor.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I was running. I was talking to someone yesterday who knows Eric.

Speaker 1 Our good friend Eric. Yes.
And he was like, yeah, E's crazy. And I was like, oh, no, that's not.
That doesn't sound right. For Eric, that doesn't work at all.
You can't.

Speaker 1 He's not like a B-boy where you can be like, oh, fucking E to C-E.

Speaker 2 Well, maybe to that guy, he was. He used to do a lot of drugs.

Speaker 1 No, but he's never had a B-boy vibe.

Speaker 2 He's never a B-boy.

Speaker 2 Basketball boy?

Speaker 1 Like a boy who's into hip-hop and he's got the hat.

Speaker 1 Like, like, fucking entourage. All those guys.
Mark, Mark Wahlberg's whole world.

Speaker 2 His name was E on.

Speaker 2 There you go.

Speaker 1 There it is.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 But for Eric, I was like, no, we can't. We can't assign him E.

Speaker 2 That's right.

Speaker 1 Gosh, this is a good question, though.

Speaker 1 I can't think of anyone we know that has a really the wrong name i guess you're right i'll i'll report back i'm gonna think on this yeah the problem is we knew jim

Speaker 1 carry before we knew the word bruce now if he had always been bruce carry

Speaker 1 if we had met him as bruce carry it might have been fine bruce carry

Speaker 1 yeah what were we watching last night we were oh we were watching um jim bond

Speaker 1 007 i introduced the kids to 007 and they like it, which I'm so excited because there's 35 007s. Great.
Six different actors that play him. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But I kept calling him Jim Bond the whole time, which sounds insane, right? Right. Jim Bond.
Jim Bond.

Speaker 1 Huh.

Speaker 2 Because now even like Tom Cruise, like Tom Thomas, Thomas is.

Speaker 1 Thomas Cruz sounds crazy.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 People, yeah.

Speaker 1 We kept going,

Speaker 1 me and the girls were like, who wins in a fight fight between Jim Bond, specifically Daniel Craig, because he's such a beast. Yeah.
So he's got the body on Ethan Hunt, Mission Impossible.

Speaker 1 But the girls decided Ethan had more moves, and I think I agree. I think in a battle to the death between Jim Bond and Ethan Hunt

Speaker 1 that Ethan wins that fight. Okay.

Speaker 1 But Jim looks way better doing it. Okay.

Speaker 2 If people call him Dan, that doesn't work.

Speaker 1 Danny Craig.

Speaker 1 I don't like that.

Speaker 1 Now we're getting close to Danny. Jenny Craig.
Then it's the discount food or not discount. I don't think it's discounted calories.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 Oh, some of the things the morning show predicted or like was kind of like right ahead of. Yeah, Billionaire Space Race.
Me too.

Speaker 2 It wasn't really.

Speaker 3 They didn't predict it, but it came after Matt Lauer.

Speaker 1 The whole thing is like people thought was about Matt Lauer. Right.

Speaker 1 So I predicts that

Speaker 1 we're fast and loose with predictive.

Speaker 2 Well, no, the first season of the show, which premiered in 2019,

Speaker 2 focused on the immediate fallout after co-anchor Mitch Kessler was fired for sexual misconduct. But was it me to 2020? Or was it not? Was it not? It was earlier.
Okay.

Speaker 1 And Matt Lauer was probably

Speaker 1 18.

Speaker 2 Maybe. Okay.

Speaker 2 But they filmed this in 2013. So it predicted.

Speaker 1 Oh. And they delayed it for six years? Yeah.
Oh. What year is Matt Lauer?

Speaker 1 Rascal? 2017. Oh.
17. Okay.
So they predicted it had happened two years before.

Speaker 1 Okay. COVID.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 And some other stuff. Oh, war in Ukraine and catastrophic floods in Eastern Australia.

Speaker 1 And we're sure that, again, that those

Speaker 1 happened. Yeah, those before.

Speaker 2 They wrote it before. Okay.

Speaker 1 Sorry, my memory is spray malfunction.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's on your lip.

Speaker 1 You have spray on your lip.

Speaker 2 All right.

Speaker 1 Well, that's it for one of the loves of my life. All right.
Love you. Love you.

Speaker 1 Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert Early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

Speaker 1 Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondry.com/slash survey.

Speaker 4 Hey, basketball fans, Steve Nash here. Ready to elevate your basketball IQ?

Speaker 4 I'm teaming up with LeBron James to bring you the latest season of Mind the Game. And we're about to take you deeper into basketball than you've ever gone before.

Speaker 4 We're breaking down the real game, the X's and O's that actually matter.

Speaker 4 And every episode, we'll share elite level strategy, dive into career-defining moments, and explain the why behind plays that change a game, a team, or a championship.

Speaker 4 LeBron and I have lived this game at the highest level for decades.

Speaker 4 We've been in those pressure moments and made those game-changing decisions and learned from the greatest basketball minds in in history.

Speaker 4 Now we're pulling back the curtain and sharing that knowledge with you. Time to go beyond the highlights and get into the real heart of basketball.

Speaker 4 Watch Mind the Game Now on YouTube, Prime Video, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.