Joel McHale

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See terms at discover.com credit card. David, I don't know if you know this about me, but I've always been a fan of exploring new places, not like you kind of, you know, no, no offense.
And one of my best trips, listen up, is when I stayed at an Airbnb. Felt like I was living like a local with all the space, comfort of home.
You know, hotels can be a hassle. Room service and then the housekeeper.
It's a hassle. So then you go to Airbnb and you can get whatever you want, a little cottage, this and that.
It's fantastic. You have your own separate separate space so it's a great product for people who travel david yes i have friends doing one of these right now if you have a home you can airbnb it it's fantastic i mean um to to monetize your home when you're not there seems like a good idea i mean look i'm on the road a lot.
I could probably do it. It's something that people can do when they travel.
They have extra space. Or you're at a place not full time.
You come in the winter. You leave in the summer.
That's something you should think about. It's a way to get some extra money.
And it's a cool experience. Your home might be worth more than you'd think.

Yep.

Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host.

Okay.

So we've got Joel McHale.

Joel McHale,

nice chat with Joel.

Joel McHale.

I did a pilot once a little while back and Joel McHale was in it with Ken, Ken Young,

who are really good friends, like best friends. I just think for best friends forever.
Um, I know John. Sure.
We've all, we all know Joel. We all know Ken.
Joel's, uh, a great standup. We see him at the comedy store.
We talk about community, this show community. He did forever.
He did. Uh, we talk, of course, I'm asking about Chevy chase because that ties in us a little bit and uh yeah good stories guys got good stories um and he also likes international scouts do you know that dana because where i get my land cruiser done right he buys up a lot of scouts and they're all old ones and very cool ones and he was one of the first he did a show where you um make fun of

videos oh toxic and uh talk soup yeah it's great and um what's kind of interesting without giving it away i'll talk about he had a little bit of dyslexia and he was reading teleprompters and the struggle and the challenge of that but that show is huge it went on for years and he now has a new show

Animal Control

and I think it's just started third season and it's uh i just read a really nice thing about it in the paper so animal control uh you know him for sure when you see him and we had a nice chat so let's uh listen up enough about us Very exciting.

That beard is rocking, man. Look at his fucking cool hair, too.
I hate this guy already. Look at all the transplants, guys.
This can be yours, literally. No, it cannot.
That's too good. You got to have some donors if you're going to go.
No, that is fucking Trini Lopez, early Tom Jones. Who are your hair donors? Charo? When the Russian Olympic doping thing hit, I was able to reap the benefits because they had all this extra tranquilizer sitting around, guys.
But Parso Bohebe, he's in Sherman Oaks. He's a wizard.
This a wizard This is my great grandfather That's what would have been me He's showing a picture of a goddamn Cube ball Might as well be George Costanza And you're like, well, who has the greatest hair In Hollywood I think it was Rob Lowe said Richard Gere, I think. The history of Hollywood.
I think it's Jeff Bridges. Yeah.
I mean, if... Keanu's...
Keanu's... Not Joe Bridges.
Yeah. Can I make my face redder? That's just the Cheetos wearing off.
Everyone says on the YouTube comments, hey, Spade, rough nightade rough night i'm like no this is just it guys they're like geez what a disaster what's northern european you get a little rosacea i don't think i'm red heather am i in real life my fucking dad was kind of red but he was such a goddamn drunk yeah but you're still you you're still, at this age, if we all went back to our high school reunions, just an impromptu high school reunion, we'd all be like, oh, we're doing great. Yeah, yeah, you're right.
Me and my buddies from high school don't look so fucking tragic. So we see, by the way, when I was back in Arizona, Sir Joel, and these two old dudes walked up to us.
And I'm like, oh, look at these broken down motherfuckers. And they go, hey, we were a year under you guys in high school at Saguaro.
I'm like, shut the fuck up. Wait, we're all around the same? Oh, my God.
Well, they also were sitting in the Arizona sun, sun right they were everyone lays out every day yeah we're no sunscreen that's for girly men i talked to a guy at an event in the recent past about 20 minutes and had no idea who he was he's in show business but he quietly quietly put on 50 and um he became i don't know why it's always quiet but it was unrecognizable and then someone told me later and you you kids out there can guess who it was but it was not joel or ken his best friend ken yong who was it let me guess no yeah i like What if she was? Let's do it. We'll save it.
No, I can't because it would be mean to the person. I saw a guy that loudly put on 60 points.
But I think Martin Sheen got over it in a second. No, it was not Martin Sheen.
It wasn't Ken Jeong. He was born on Ozempic.
That guy's fit. He can still high jump over six feet yeah no there do you guys know

who nathan fillion is yeah very extremely handsome man from edmonton and he continues to look great but he like when starting around like late 30s 40s he did put on 50 pounds easily still look great Oh, really?

And then he lost it all.

I don't know how he did it, but he lost it all.

And everyone's like you look great and he literally was like if you just carry an extra 50 for a decade then and you lose it then you get this new blank check to look great uh because everyone's like hey and i was like oh you could just in there for that 10 years. That guy pulls wool even when he's 50 plus over.
No, you come in a boozed up alcoholic at the 40th anniversary. And then for the 50th, you just go clean for a decade.
Yeah. And you got all the- Nate Pregazzi says he just tells people, even though he's kind of fat, he goes, I just tell people I lost 300 pounds.
And they go, holy holy shit you look great i think they forgot he's not fat but he says to that to people so they go oh wow well now this is pretty good for you he's like that's i saw def leopard play yes so did we thank you uh this is 10 they opened for kiss at the forum. Open for? I know.
I felt. Whoa.
I was like. I feel like.
That's a story. That's a pick them.
We got to interview Joe Elliott for an hour. What a kick in the pants that guy.
What were you saying? No, one of them. Someone was like, well, definitely.
They're on this comeback because one of them had cancer. And then you get up there and then you start watching them i was like which one has cancer and it there was like all the three of them were bloated and bad hair died they're all like they're just like blah and then the guy with cancer just skinny and short head just like full of energy they're like he's doing great now and i was like oh wow that really shows you i think it's it's sad when there's like a quartet of singers or whatever and then they eventually one by one pass away i was in vegas once and they ladies and gentlemen the platter and was like such a bring down i saw i saw that's an old joke wood mac when it was down to Stevie Nicks, two guys from Los Lobos in a contest.
And the name is The Beach Boy. Just Josie.
Josie Ann. And some friends.
I remember in Seattle it said Steppenwolf. No original members.
And I thought, what happened? What's going on? What is the point? Well, then it's a, what do you call it? A tribute band. It's that point, right? It's really just a cover band, which is kind of good.
I saw Led Zepp again, or one of these, you know, in the cover bands where I didn't even, well, I didn't think it was related to Led Zeppelin, but I said, okay, at least I'll just go hear the Led Zeppelin songs. I can move on to a cover band, right? And they were like, here's one that no one knows.
I don't even think Robert Plant remembers. I'm like, no, no, no.
Guys, here's the deal. I want to know every motherfucker.
And then they weren't doing hits. They go, we're not here to do the Ze to the Zeppelin hits I go okay and I think you don't understand what's going on I paid three dollars and what I want three dollars at the Vaseline room in Reno or something I think it was at Sharky's that plays I like a tribute band that's like we're not playing we're not playing the hits yeah what is What is your only job, guys? And you're not playing to a crowd.
We're going to play a new song. No, it was at Canyon Club, Joel.
Do you know what Canyon Club is? Oh, yes. Oh, God.
Not a great gig. Actually, I played Canyon Club, so I can't...
I played it. That's why I'm saying...
I saw Forner there. I bet great It was actually three in her because one guy didn't show up My friend My friend Boyd saw Rick Springfield there and he said Rick Springfield walked out and said fuck you, I'm 75 and then just went right intoesse's girl that's the best opening ever let me do a quick dennis miller this is 20 seconds per this topic playing a casino in san bernardino and you know in the casinos they're all in the bar for the longest time then they come in so we came out like two months before we go on it's thousand seats not one person sitting there sitting there.
And Dennis goes, Christ sakes, Carvey. Did we just turn into three dog night over here? Sorry.
I just want to share that with Joel because I knew he would chuck that. You actually taught me a day.
Years ago, you were like, yeah, you ever go to those gigs where you haven't done stand up in a while. And you just go into your act and you're barely holding on to the roller coaster as it's going?

And I was like, oh, I'm so glad you said that.

Someone else has done it.

The more famous you get, your standup gets shitty for a while.

Like probably when you're full time on community, you're doing less reps, less get and then your price is going up and up.

Right. Yeah.
They get a lot of it's a lot of talk about greatest hits yeah well you know we we know the old days joe where you're not that old but yeah i'm old when dana was headlining you could still get carded if you do a little aggression right there I was out there with some guys that were just doing the same 45, not even an hour, just the same 45 on the dot. Then I'd see them a year later, same 45, three years later.
Because they just had mailing lists and stuff. There was no TikTok or YouTube or not that many specials at all, right? There's only a couple.
Do you ever get like, as you said, like the bands come out, they play all their hits and that's what everyone wants to hear and i'm like yeah but i don't think comics can do that i know i do a mixture usually because some people go oh you didn't do the one joke of yours i like yeah i am very close to doing a one-man show where i do quick change church lady hon oh yeah, you know, Barth. You kill it.
I do that when Ed Sullivan, the person goes behind the panel and then comes out as a totally new character in like one second. Well, you've reached the, well, you both have reached that legend status.
So you can. Yeah, bring me in there.
Thank you. But you should then like do three characters that everybody knows and then throw in a character that you'd be like and this one was from snl 1986 special and then just be a character that you've never done before and be like deep cuts and it's like this got to read through and that was it Someone I know just got engaged in and it's a big one.

It's a big one.

It's the next step in a relationship. And that's why they have, you know, a thing called an engagement ring.
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Every week, I sit down with the biggest rule breakers in sports, entertainment, and beyond to talk about the wildest moments, toughest lessons, and why breaking the rules might just be the key to success. Follow and listen to Rule Breakers with Soraya, an Odyssey podcast available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
He's got that animal control thing in the back corner. control.
Shows don't get third seasons anymore. Yeah, what the fuck? This is a fucking hit in 2024.
A third season. I always say, well, we've done 30 total episodes, which, you know, in the old days.
That's a new world, yeah. In the old days, that's one season season.
So, hey, divide up the pie however you like. That's great.
Let's call it five, six seasons. when we did Rules of Engagement, Dana, at the end, it was always 22 episodes and the way we whined about it was because you can always find a way to grouse in the set is first season of Rules of Engagement, we did 22 and we, we debuted huge and then there was a fucking strike and we came back and we never got the momentum our fault i guess those workers there was only 13 pickups and so i did 13 and your whole year is over because you can't do anything you can't book anything else you can't get a new show and you just wait and on may they go we might bring you back and if we do it'll be for a measly 13 we do less if we could and i'm like god dang the second we got to 100 episodes they fired us that day they're like that's all we need bye joel who are you following who wants to show what is this magic who am i following, I thought you meant like in my political life.
The Proud Boys. No.
Yeah. You had me.
I was like, thank you. They have a great TikTok.
Who are you on? What night are you on and what time coming up? I think we're on. It's January 2nd.
As hangovers are just being cured. A perfect day.
Yeah. I think that's a Thursday after Hell's Kitchen or Next Level Chef with Gordon Ramsey, who's always rating Skull.
And then Dennis Leary has a new comedy that is on after us. I know all about it.
Really? Yeah. They're pairing.
Oh, what is his show? Because what was it? It's called. What's the one? It's called.
Nope. I'm getting there.
Really great. Not getting me.
I'm telling you, Going Dutch. Going Dutch.
Yes. It's about an army base in Europe that is only for supplies.
And so they're like the great distributor to all the bases.

So they have there's no action at all.

And Danny Pudi is in it from Community.

That's what it says, yeah.

And so the family is slowly coming back.

So, yeah, that's we were very lucky because Fox is hung in.

You know, you hear all these stuff, but they hung in there with the show and uh not i'm compared to community but like on community but we were always we were always on the bubble and uh and fox like they like the show they're like we're hanging in there and now it's slowly built up on hulu and they've taken their time so they've they did the thing that you that old comedies used to do where they would take care of it and nurture it and water it and uh so it's gotten better and uh i i it's really enjoyable it's nice they do what they say because not all these networks they can tell you it's great until the day they chop your head off and you go oh but that's it's just a biz but i think they add in hulu there's some reason you're doing well you know they they calculate everything together some metric something means it's working ai it is it's interesting that the i mean not to get nuts but they like how netflix like friends and the office those are and suits of all you know like they're all and same thing with community we didn't become a hit until after streamers came out and they're they were and these shows have 100 or 150 episodes and uh people see them like comfort food and you were nbc and how many episodes we were nbc we were canceled after our fourth season and then brought back on yahoo. What's that? What's that? It was a short live streaming service that Yahoo.
That's a calculator. Yeah, that it was, it went from the biggest.
Your calculator app. Biggest website to, yeah, to a, to weather and to just a little weather app after, after, but they literally blamed us for the downfall of Yahoo screen, which I'm like, I brought down a streamer.
And then that was it after six seasons. So we did like 130.
So you had 130 to sell. It kind of, I don't know the word cult, but it has legs.
I mean, because I don't think anything kind of like community. It was,, you know? Yeah.
Just its vibe and the way it was written and the people in it. So it's kind of cool that it lives on.
Yeah, Dan Harmon is a freaking true genius. I think, David, you probably know him.
I know him. I know him a little bit.
I know him. I did a thing with him for, I think, National Geographic Channel wherefk or something i can't remember it was shot all over at that studio sounds awesome yeah he's he's he's very very smart joel are these chevy stories we had him on the show is he is it more rumor or is it was he a bit of a pickle and how i put it this way too i want to think how How did you think about Chevy during the show? And now, how do you think about Chevy now?

Oh. a bit of a pickle and how i put it this way too i want to think how did you think about chevy

during the show and now how do you think about chevy now oh well you know i've never answered any questions about him so this is uh i like it this is uh well this is snl related so it's a little bit i can start with my theory because i we had we had him on and i kind of figured him out right before we came on. And then it kind of made sense to me that he has an impulse to say the thing you're not supposed to say, even if it goes territory that you cannot even comprehend he's going there.
But he has an impulse to do that. So right before he came on our show, he was at David's house.

I just sort of went with it.

And he would do all this shock stuff.

And I just started finding it so funny because I saw what he was doing.

If you're not ready.

If you don't get defensive, it's like a swing and a miss.

If someone just laughs.

Yeah.

All that.

I would agree with everything on that plane.

Okay. But you worked with him a lot more than I did.
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I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, you worked with him a lot more than I have. At six in the morning, as we're all stumbling in there, hoping to make our 15-hour day, I guess this is a separate thing, but he didn't want to be there for that long.
It was those hours and those that that work was it was too much for the man he didn't want to be there and so we would have to find a way to shoot him out uh and and i'm not chevy if you're listening or watching i don't think you would disagree with any of this and uh and he had he was yeah the man had a lot going on all the time and he would he could definitely as like be disruptive and uh he he he definitely didn't like it when some people were funnier and uh he kind of lose his mind a little bit and then And, you know, he was fired from the show famously.

Okay. And he kind of loses his mind a little bit.
And then, you know, he was fired from the show famously. And, yeah, like we, everyone was like, ah, I feel like he's, he's everything.
Like when he was good, it was magic. And he's so good.
And he's, we watched those first few seasons. He's so funny.
but know, the guy the guy was his own self-sabotager all the time and would be. Yeah, he would always be disruptive and all that stuff.
So I think in doses like you're saying, like if he's throwing out, he he also has he also always had to find if things were going well, he would find a way to slow that down. Right.
He would throw some wrench in. And so, yeah, I mean, the guy, you know, his reputation precedes him.
And I haven't spoke to him since the show ended, but I did play him in a movie. And I guess I called him to tell him that.
But, yeah, I sure about that yeah there's that yeah that's weird you played chevy in a movie after community very strange just someone who does a lot of arms workouts uh so uh yeah it's an it's he's always been yeah he was always the focus of attention whenever he was in the room. All those picadillos or ticks, whatever you want to call them, we've worked with people in show business where it can be cute and funny, but then if it's actually part of a job, it's a completely different idea.
Forget Chevy, just if anybody is actively just being difficult. Well, if you don't love coming love coming to work that's hard if you get nervous at work you're going someone's coming in today and it's going to be tough and you're like these these days are so hard anyway and no one believes it but if you're in it and you know you're up at six and leaving at 8 30 at night you're like we have no life just get your single camera a half hour i mean that's a yeah and we shot those shows like they were movies they weren't shot in a documentary style sync so none of it was none of it was that the loose it was all it was all cinematic and we shot those like like paintball things and all those all those kind of epic look looking things for half hour and You know, we we knew Chevy had obviously dealt with things like that before because he was a gigantic movie star all through the 80s.
But, yeah. And then, you know, there were other times when we'd physically push each other around.
So that also happened. And, well, I don't know.
I know i mean you're i wouldn't want to try to fight you i mean i think you're probably what i thought don't you don't want one of the strongest guys in hollywood i don't know don't don't yeah it was all it all when we look back at it i'm like what that was just mayhem as we were trying to you know get this shit made just made. Just do a cute show.
Yeah. And, uh, and then, then I have that thing of like, people like, oh, there's that thing.
Cause during the time it was pre, it was, it was during the times when you didn't say anything where it was like, just keep doing what you're doing because every, because it's working and you, we didn't want to rock the boat and uh sure so that so we kind of i remember multiple people above us going yeah and he's all ours and uh you know and the show was working so i yeah it was it was uh it was you don't want them to say let's get rid of the show the stress is coming over there i was I don't know what, I don't know. If I talk to him again, I'm sure he'd be like, fuck you.
So I'm like, all right, great. But he'd probably say that anyway, even if he was in love.
He might surprise you. I don't know.
But yeah, that's, I've had experiences like that, Mickey Rooney. But anyway, it doesn't really matter, Mickey Rooney.
But God rest his soul. But yeah, he was- Well, putting it in the Mickey Rooney sort of analogy.
I love any podcast that mentions Mickey Rooney. Go ahead.
He's so happy right now that his name got mentioned. Mickey Rooney, number one star in the world, right? Legitimately.
Yeah. Chevy, Time Magazine, funniest man in America, and then movie after movie after movie.
Tall, great looking. Goldie Hawn said it.
When I saw him, I was like, this is a formidable person. He comes in and at some point, he's got to feel like I'm on a sitcom or I'm on whatever.
And everyone's getting laughs around him. And usually, they would write that out.
They would just be like, I'm the guy that scores. And then here's the movie around me.
Everyone can be okay. And so there's something to that.
I remember George Segal. I would think that with George Segal when I was on Just Shoot Me because he's so great.
And one time he goes, you little fuck. I used to work with Elizabeth Taylor.
I go, I know, dude. He was huge.
We would laugh about it because, and he would yell it to the audience he'd point to me and go i used to work with elizabeth taylor now i work with this fucking asshole but we we had a great time but don't you think that like you he was happy about it he was happy right is that they didn't realize that when everybody's funny that makes everything funny and that makes the whole thing better and rarely like on a show i don't i'm trying to think of some i don't know some example of some super funny show eight is enough let's say no um where they go oh everyone was funny on that show except for that one guy it's like no no no the whole because everyone was scoring, everyone was. You need a straight man for this man.
Everyone's valuable. And George said, you know, we had all done, just shoot me.
It wasn't a magnanimous hit, but it stayed on for seven years. We would all, I think what happened, we all had had downtime where it wasn't working for a little bit.
So we all were like, Hey, we're all lucky to be here. So it was a lot less fighting.
I can't remember any because we thought we know what it's like when it doesn't work. It's not all given.
You know, if you're on Friends and it's your first show you get and you're a superstar, worldwide star, you can't even imagine what if I did a show that didn't work. You can't imagine what it's like to just get pilots canceled.
So when you've had ups and downs and something works, you go, oh, we are lucky.

Let's do not mess this up.

Yeah.

That's probably what you're doing.

But it sounds like there was nobody on Just Shoot Me that was disruptive.

Right.

I'm saying is that you had that.

And so you don't want to mess the show up.

You're probably not telling everybody like, hey, we got to get rid of this.

What can we do?

Because they might say, this all shows a problem.

Let's just get rid of it.

And you're like,

Thank you. had that and so you don't want to mess the show up you're probably not telling everybody like hey we got to get rid of this what can we do because they might say yeah this whole show is a problem let's just get rid of it and you're like no i like it i want to be here do you think that when chevy came through with community like how how much has changed now with live streaming shows because you'll just see full-blown movie stars except tom cruise who's one of my favorites doing a live streaming series and there's no it's there's no it's completely accepted it's not like oh what happened to his movie career no more of those than watching live yeah yeah i mean that's also why like when snoop and jamie fox and dwayne johnson and ellen all did game shows and that blew away the oh you You don't have to, there's not a tie, you know, like you're in that lane now.
It's just all the lanes blurred. And then the streamers had all the money.
And like Squid Game, or Squid Game, if like no one cares, they're like, oh, it's just great. And I was like like if you told an executive five years ago that a foreign language murder game show drama and kevin costner would be the biggest things on tv they'd be like kevin costner in a western i don't think so that's not going to be a hit that westerns are dead it's all science fiction oh and people are not going to read subtitles, it and then the biggest things on the planet that's part of the fun is that no one knows can't figure out showbiz that's part of the it's part of the crazy lottery it's like you go i could make it overnight you just don't know it could be in a show well there's there's five billion bits of digital information to watch right now globally between youtube and then all the rest.
So it it's 5 billion. So I'm just saying it's different.
That's my point. My thesis is that show business changed.
You can do commercials. You can talk about your brand and being in the marketplace with your brand.
Everyone can do commercials. Everyone can do anything.
Everyone can do Masked Singer. It's a huge hit.
Who would have thought you know which you've been on yes well yeah ken uh caught you know once again like they those guys caught lightning in a bottle and if you get it which i when i was first on that show i was like i don't really understand what the rules are we guessing who they are or are we telling you are they good at singing is it which one is it and they were like absolutely and uh and i was saying good costume what are we saying by the way i like the guesses it's like uh is it lady gaga is it adele i think it's uh president obama and they're like nope it's uh cory feldman and they're like oh i knew it oh it's a kid from eight is enough that's when uh yeah i well they twice they they had yeah but no it was from uh they they always throw out those you know they throw out those crazy guesses big names and then i when i and yeah i would like it just one time to be like oh it is prince harry holy shit they got him and and megan markle they play like a horse character and she's the front he's the back and that they pop out that would be great that would be really good for ratings but as my mom would say they should do that they should do that ken is so like he's that he's like the secret weapon on that show where he's so freaking funny on it and like without i mean everyone's really great and like and robin like robin uh thix his great they had to throw uh his his ear is so good that they have to throw static at him and nicole sure when she was there or he'll they'll they can just listen to a

person's voice and they will point out some obscure singer from like oh that guy's from northern italy he's a big pop star in austria and he can both he and nicole could decipher that and uh so they had to throw anyway but and then ken would just say the funniest thing when I talked to

Robin Fett backstage

he said

I can tell

you can't sing

just by talking to you because I hear your voice. I was like, wow.
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You want a fun fact, David Spade? Yeah.

Bruce Lee went to the University of Washington, my alma mater.

Where you did. Oh my God.
Don't make me... Really? Yeah.
Research. Bruce Lee, was he nice? I watched Inner the Dragon last week.
Oh, did you really? Yeah. Do you have any classes with him? No, he was much older than me.
How dare you? Oh, I would... Yeah, but when everybody says, like, ooh, you went to Harvard? Yeah, like, how many presidents? And and i was like nobody has a better yeah i was like bruce lee name somebody better get somebody cooler uh i'm gonna jump around here you you were once quoted as saying which is a great beginning now when we talk about snl sometimes in the show you you say uh i think you say because you're the only one that wouldn't love the cue cards i love the cue cards oh no bad i would uh the the anxiety that i'm feeling right now of hearing about it uh i don't know how like i think well i was talking to uh who's a hater bill hater about like i was like i don't know how you do it man.
He goes, like, I think, well, I was talking to, who's a hater, Bill Hater about, like, I was like, I don't know how you do it, man.

He goes, oh, I'm super dyslexic. And if they change a single word, I flip out.
And Stefan, you know, like, obviously that was improvised, which was pretty incredible. But no, you got like I still to this when I see like when I see like people doing the weekend update or those things that I've gotten so much better at it because of the soup for so many years.
But that live audience with cue cards flying with multiple people, I would be like, oh, boy, here we go. Well, there are a lot of cuts between dress and air and you don't get a chance.
You're just going to see it on the card and pretend they yell on the way out it'll be on the cards and you're like on the card and we're skipping that and you just go from here to here so it is crazy but just for a second as it leads into this discussion how many years did you do the soup because that's another part of your resume oh yeah 12 years soup's great and did that break some that also is kind fresh. Did it ever not do well? I always thought talk soup in the soup would always.
You could always just. Oh, yeah.
It did not well. Really? I always thought I loved it.
I thought everyone liked that one. I thought it was extremely entertaining.
No matter whenever you flip through and you saw it. Because it's pop culture culture and quips and yeah no we had a good time but then i think then in 2015 i he was at that point not the most well-organized uh uh network on the planet this is now almost 10 years ago but uh they signed me to a new two-year contract in August and then canceled the show in late October.
And that was great. And they didn't realize my contract was guaranteed.
No joke. No joke.
I'm not kidding around here. Oh, no.
And they had to pay your house. You should have just done i and but was that time when the waterfall of streaming was just butting into linear television and no one know you know television viewing was falling off streaming was coming on uh slowly but surely and they didn't know they were like, what's the problem? Maybe it's the show's fault.
And that was the, you would always blend. And that kind of brought it into the barn.
Also, they all, they had moved our night and increased the number of repeats. And they were always telling us, oh, no, no, there's so many people watching.
There's even more people watching it now and then they canceled like i was like why why say i was like you're don't try to make me feel better just tell me what's going on and uh that yeah so that that would that was on for 12 freaking years and uh i couldn't believe it and i that was one of those cases where i was like, well, this is what happens. You get a television show and it, you know, it's on, it works.
This is how it works. Right.
And then, you know. What's so hard? Nobody gets 12 years.
Nobody gets 12 years. Does that exist out there? Is that on Hulu or Netflix? It was soup.
The soup. No, because all those clips were news clips that uh so we just we do you could use them for free for one week and then you had to pay for them all and uh so there's i was told some like there's a couple of people that saved you know like 400 episodes i was like i don't know what those people are but i haven't seen them it is weird to go back and look at it my kids look at me and go what is what is what are you doing is that you and i'm like yeah your dad used to do before he had hair and uh did you stick with the crew laughing and not an audience we would have we put out folding chairs for about 20 people because we wanted it to be we wanted to keep it low and then they at one point he wanted to do it daily and i was like we shouldn't do that because uh what if it doesn't work and uh then it was going to become more of a talk show and i was like keep it let's keep it to just clip way it is slightly dirty jokes yeah and uh yeah and then they were like then daniel tosh came on and he was such a monster hit and uh the e was always like what at one point there was the president who ended up uh canceling the show she had this big meeting with me and she, and she was like,

have you thought about putting clips on from the internet?

And then she,

and I go like we do every week for the last five years.

And she was like,

oh,

you do.

Okay.

Thank you.

Good.

All right.

End of meeting.

And I was like,

she's not even watching the show.

She doesn't. Wow.
That's a perfect executive yeah don't read you should be like the show don't listen just have an opinion is doing your show you're like yeah we're trying to be like the new show that's really our show yeah they're all very blurry i mean it's a format that works and you guys do it tossed it then just then they just go, oh, we'll watch the new one, new version. And yeah, he's funny.
Rob Diedrich has been doing it on MTV for forever. For sure.
Same thing. So let me ask you, I'm just curious.
You were reading a teleprompter, right? I was, but it was for the first year, nobody watched.

And because we were on a 10 o'clock on Fridays, it was a desert.

And this is you kids listening or watching this.

There was a time when you could only tune in for your show and you missed it if that didn't.

Yeah.

And we began to beat like a rerun of sex in the city and they were over the moon and this show was so cheap at that point that they kept us on um but it would take me for 22 minutes of jokes and clips put together it would take me four and a half hours to finally kind of do it oh horrible oh there was a crew guy that quit he was just like i can't this guy can't read and uh that's how we talk we should be in and out in real time this kid can't read what's happening wall well of course we hire somebody who can't read uh to read and so uh that with that lowered my anxiety lowered as I got better at it and then I began to not care uh and we would do the show live and I was I would advertise that I had dyslexia and I'd be like I don't know what's gonna happen I can't really read but we're doing it live and uh so that i mean of course the best therapy for my dyslexia was doing a live show on television so uh it was an odd but but it um anyway but that's yeah so to this day like i'm not the greatest reader but i'm so much more relaxed at it and uh and i just kind of go you're it's just gonna be a thing and that's how it is and it's not gonna it's you're you'll just have to you know these are it all worked out thank god but uh yeah when you guys just even i know going back to it but when like reading like if i were to see a cue card with like to see all the like to see two jokes on a card at once and be like, here comes that one. Here comes that one.
And I know what's coming. So that means I'm ready to talk to whatever that I would be like, whoo, I would need.
Yeah, that's always. It was a bit much.
I on SNL and it was, it was a lot. There's a lot of notes in your head.
You've got guests and moving and introducing and landing jokes. And yeah, a lot of times there's three jokes in one paragraph and they're not like delineated.
It's just, but I do think what's great is like, I have two older brothers that are, had dyslexia, but it wasn't diagnosed back then. No then.
No, you just called you an idiot. You're dumb.
Yeah, they were in the red book or the yellow book rather than the blue or green, whatever, you know, and kind of felt sorry for them. But it was just nothing to do with their intellect at all.
So it's great that they can go, no, no, this is how your brain works. It doesn't mean you're Einstein.
You know, so it's yeah, I don't I don't know. And then the pressure of, oh, so this is a lot.
This is the most you're on the most popular live show of all time. You audition to get on this thing.
And then it's like, here's we'll see how you do. If you if you score in this next 15 seconds, you'll probably get another season or you're just completely off the show and i bet oh that's like the nfl yeah that's right that i mean uh like i i to this like there are cast members i'm like i can't yeah i mean you know you know but like cast members that got fired like what how did but they're school so uh but they were school.
So, yeah, it's a long, you know, you've been all over this for a long, many times. There's all kinds of reasons why things happen.
And some of it is just whimsy and luck. And, and then people can last two or three years.
And then something, I don't know the, how it all really goes. I was on Kevin Nealon's podcast.
Hey.

Hiking?

It was starting just second.

Anyway.

I'm trying to do a little Kevin Nealon.

Hey, Joe.

What are you doing today?

Hiking with Kevin.

Let's give him a plug.

Hiking with Kevin.

He's.

Yeah.

You.

But he was saying that right before.

Because he had that character, Mr. Subliminal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mr. Subliminal.

Yeah. It was like the first time he was doing it.
he was just about to and Lauren got behind him like they're it's counting down from the commercial and Lauren just goes are you sure this is what you want and I was like what and he had a revolver in his on top of everything the creator of the show just kind of fucks with you a little bit. And you have to laugh and go, was he serious? Part of his sense of humor.
I mean, his running catchphrase, you walk past in the hallway, still with the show. He just likes to break the tension.
And between dress and air, he still gives a speech to everyone and kind of we're going on the air show and it wasn't a really good dress. It'd be like really, like really good if the show was like funny rather than not funny.
We have a two week break and you're going to meet a lot of your relatives and all the remembers this show. I'll go.
But that makes me laugh. Yeah, or you say

we had a two-week break, you're back, and

it shows.

You took too much time off.

We gotta get back.

Great, thanks, coach. Yeah.

Anyway, let's do a great show. Get him.

Well, he's like, I don't know, I mean,

you were an athlete and stuff.

You could have a coach who was, you

should all the time. I went

to state school.

And then ones who just

I'm just going to... you're you were an athlete and stuff yeah you could have a coach who was you you should all the time so i went to state school uh and then ones who just in a rare blue moon would give you a compliment or give you a little nudge and it meant a lot more you know oh yeah no joke yes so what was the sport you were best at i know you played football and you also uh yeah well i walked on to the university of watch and in football team so i that was i was way out of my league um talk about being i could not have been worse uh but they kept me on uh because i was i was really good at skit night and uh they loved me on skit night so they i became like a mascot but they that was the most that was most terrifying i'd ever been a part of but at the same time most fun uh but if i had to pick if uh i was I was a good basketball player and uh yeah i i there was i was a pitcher my freshman year of high school and i quit that uh but i guess triple threat oh no yeah i played i played darts i mean i played every i might yeah i like to blame my adhd but i just wanted to chase a ball or throw something as that's all i wanted to do as a child uh but right now like now all i do is play tennis if uh good um i remember playing freshman year of football in high school and the coach was like see those guys playing tennis they're all training to be old men and it was like and we can we can play football.
And everyone's like, yeah. And now I'm like, hey, probably should have stuck with tennis.
That would have been a little bit better. But I, if I don't exercise, I get, ask my wife, I get very agitated.
And it's, I think it's my best form of therapy. That and red uh so uh yeah no i i i i now have this relationship with the university of washington where they it's been because of it like being in in hollywood they've uh not because of the records i set i get to kind of do sometimes.
And now I'm still friends with a lot of the players,

but from the,

the old guys.

So I,

now I'm like,

I can't believe my good fortune.

Like they,

they were,

they didn't kill me.

But that car coach,

Don James, who was not a yeller in any way,

he would be,

he was always quiet.

And he,

even in practice,

he kind of stood in this booth and directed things like like a conductor very quietly and when he would say something like that was he would be literally just go that was good i'd be like coach james thought i was good and uh but yeah we are also yeah so he was, uh, continues to be one of the most legendary coaches of all college football. And, uh, yeah, yeah.
And then when I saw him years later, I was like, Hey coach. And he was like, Oh, Hey.
And I was like, you remember? And cause it's the walk-on programs at these colleges where we were cannon fodder to make the, to make the scholarship players,

you know,

look better.

Yes.

Basically keep them,

keep them in shape.

That's my long.

Yeah.

Winded.

We got a clip.

Explanation.

I love hearing about that.

I was,

uh,

tracking,

you know,

distance running in high school and we do intervals.

You sprint a lap around the track,

rest for a minute,

sprint a lap. And, but the eighth one, which lap around the track, rest for a minute, sprint a lap.

And,

but the eighth one,

which was the last one,

the coach would always say,

gentlemen,

blood,

gut,

and hair.

And we never knew what the hair part,

you know,

we used to thought blood and guts,

but blood,

gut,

and hair.

Did your hair fall out?

Did you feel stressed?

No,

I don't know what it meant to this day.

I,

I'm asking,

and you guys don't know.

So clearly still haven't figured it out. Lauren lansbury was his name he was a brilliant coach trained the shit out of us uh i remember blair witch project when they just found the teeth in the hair and that was more terrifying than finding a hand yeah i think that's a good connection yeah it worked i mean we just got scared when we heard that.
But anyway. Dane, anything left for Joel? He's been a great guy.
Wait, David, did you play sports? Joel, listen. I'm not on trial here.
No, I was a skateboarder. I did play baseball.
I did play all of them, baseball, basketball, and football, until it got too rough like i think i was good enough in baseball until sophomore year in high school got cut and everyone back football i tried out sophomore year got annihilated and the coach treated me like i was lucas and said maybe this isn't for you and then uh basketball yeah you could figure that one out it was fun to play like intramural stuff and then i did i wasn't bad it just at a certain point you're not going to do anything did you uh i was probably as good as brawny uh wait oh i root for brawny come on man no take the other side anybody wait who's brawny lebron lebron james son i see yes uh i'm in for david did you see that it came out like five years ago they studied skateboarders and about how it teaches independence because you're teaching yourself something a lot of the time and it's not really a team but you're it teaches true independence and uh and um to to be out on your own and to be aware of your surroundings and well it's a good game to do on your own like when i you just get your skateboard in arizona i'd skate around you don't need to find a football game you don't need to find someone to play basketball with you just go hey i'm gonna go skate and then you go to a pool or somewhere and and there's other dirt balls there and you just skate around so it's kind of fun and my parents are gone in the day so i would just skate and uh try to get better but i did really like it there was definitely a skater mentality a bunch of dudes that were doing that and uh some were burnouts and stuff but we weren't gonna be in the football team so there's different factions you know yeah i was a skater but uh i'm glad you brought that up because it's good on the quads that's the reason i have good quads that's why i don't show them a lot because people go fucking nuts you're still maintaining them then somehow if we ever do this again we're gonna have to talk about truck restoration david, David. Oh, yeah.
That's right. That's right.
Dana, we have a mutual truck restorer, Brian Corsetti, who... You're into...
I'm into Land Cruisers, and you're into Scouts? Well, Scout, I have Land Cruisers as well. Oh, you fucking rich motherfucker.
Yeah. So...
Thank you. Truck specific or SUVs or suvs scouts look cool dude i have an international scout and a 1970 land cruiser and a 1990 land cruiser cool all the way i like all all look cool i'm looking at 70s trucks now that's all my instagram feed that's me too come on are you guys gonna get a tesla truck Come on, man.
Oh, no, they're so cool looking. They don't look like they're from that video game Dig Dug at all.
You going to get a Dig Dug truck? I love Elon. I think they're working out the bugs, though.
I'm not ready for a Tesla truck. Plus, I'm too punsy.
They're fucking magnanimous.

I saw one the other day.

I walked by it.

It's like a tank.

Well, the Lank...

Go ahead.

Yeah, Lank was just great.

I would valet in one of those and just...

They'd say, name on them for the car, and I'd say, I'm Batman, and go right into Koi.

You're not going to get in the Beverly Center with that face.

It doesn't seem like it's a Batman vehicle.

I mean, it's pretty cool.

I've seen them blacked out.

I would worry the valet would accidentally impale himself on one of the corners and sue you because they're like what happened i bled out from i know they got you got they come with backteen thank god backteen is back all right thanks joel thank you for having me and i held back on um saying how giddy I was to talk to you guys because you're my hero.

So that's it.

Okay, I'm leaving.

Thank you, buddy.

We worked on things.

We've seen you around.

You got no idea how excited I was to do this.

And my wife was like, well, that's a good one.

And I was like, wait, it's not like the other ones are bad.

And she was like, oh, that's...

Yeah, they are.

She said, please say hi.

That's nice.

And she's never met you.

Say hello.

And thanks, buddy.

I'll see you next time. And my wife was like, well, that's a good one.
And I was like, wait, it's not like the other ones are bad. And she was like, oh, yeah, they are.

She said, please say hi.

And she's never married.

Say hello. And thanks, buddy.

I'll see you around.

Thanks, Joel.

Animal Control.

Animal Control.

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Fly on the wall is executive

produced by dana carvey and david spade jenna weiss berman of odyssey and heather santoro

the show's lead producer is greg holtzman