Paul Rudd

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Speaker 1 Hi, everyone. This is Amy Poehler.
Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. We're going to talk to the great Paul Rudd today.
I've known Paul for a million years and I love him. You love him.

Speaker 1 America loves him. The world loves him.
We're going to talk about some cool stuff today. We're going to talk about how he almost lost the part in Clueless because he had...
a bad haircut.

Speaker 1 We're going to talk about how dumb comedy is our favorite kind of comedy and maybe it's not as dumb as you think. And we're gonna get into the absurdity of existence because that's what we do here.

Speaker 1 We go deep and then we get really shallow. And we're also gonna talk about his film Friendship with the great Tim Robinson, which is coming out soon.
So, check it out.

Speaker 1 And we're gonna start this episode the way we always like to, which is a fan or a friend or someone who knows our guest so they can tell me what they think I should ask.

Speaker 1 We have a very special guest, another member of the Handsome Man Club, and that is John Ham,

Speaker 1 who has known Paul Rudd forever and I believe is calling in from from the set of a film right now where he is about to get on a hot air balloon.

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Toyota, let's go places.

Speaker 2 Polarito. Cam.

Speaker 2 Wait. Please explain.

Speaker 1 Explain to me what we're seeing right now.

Speaker 2 You know, it's a typical day in Hollywood.

Speaker 3 I'm in a tuxedo at seven o'clock in the morning

Speaker 3 with a hot air balloon in the background. I just got off that hot air balloon.

Speaker 1 So you're telling me you got off a hot air balloon and you got on the phone so you could talk to us on Good Hang.

Speaker 3 And a tuxedo.

Speaker 1 Well, I assume you're always wearing a tuxedo.

Speaker 3 I mean, it kind of feels that way, right?

Speaker 1 How many tuxedos do you own?

Speaker 3 You know, when I moved into the house that I live in now, I think I sold or got rid of or donated or something, probably 15 tuxedos. And I probably still have a double-digit amount of tuxedos.

Speaker 3 None of them fit.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 None of them fit. I was shocked that this one fit.
This is, this is one of mine. They said, do you have a tuxedo? The costume designer came over last night.
I was like, yeah, I got it.

Speaker 3 Come on, just come over to the house and take a look and see whatever tuxedo you want to have.

Speaker 1 You're like, let's go to my white tuxedo closet.

Speaker 2 I did that too.

Speaker 1 So you're wearing your own personal tuxedo.

Speaker 3 Yes, personal tux.

Speaker 1 Well, thank you because I would expect nothing less. How much time do you have? Five minutes?

Speaker 2 I have some time.

Speaker 3 We're turning around. So yeah, we have time.

Speaker 1 For those that don't know, turning around is a movie term that means.

Speaker 3 You're shooting the way other way from what you just shot. So you have to move all the equipment and everything.
And everything has to move. That's why all the trucks are moving and all the.

Speaker 3 Let's see if that kind of difference.

Speaker 1 there's a hot air balloon

Speaker 1 there's a hot air balloon listeners if you're listening let me just describe that um john handison

Speaker 1 beautiful there is there is a video component and there's he's in a beautiful white tuxedo and behind him is a hot air balloon that he just got off of doesn't the stream look like i'm thinking about a hot air balloon

Speaker 1 okay we're talking to Paul Rudd today. Yes.

Speaker 2 We do this thing. I'm a friend of many, many years.

Speaker 1 We do this thing where we kind of talk behind their back before we talk about them. We talk to people that know them.
Can you tell me where you first met Paul?

Speaker 3 I first met Paul in St. Louis, Missouri.
Paul

Speaker 3 was roommates and friends with my high school girlfriend's older brother.

Speaker 3 So this...

Speaker 3 And then this family was dear friends of mine too, and still remain. They were all at my wedding.
Like it was a whole, it's a whole thing, the Clark family.

Speaker 3 So Paul came back with Preston, the older brother, for Thanksgiving or something one weekend.

Speaker 3 And he looked like Michael Hodgins. He had like long curly hair.

Speaker 3 He had, it was, it was probably 1990,

Speaker 3 89, maybe.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 he couldn't have looked any cooler. He had a denim jacket that he had painted or had had painted, someone painted on the back the cover of Duran Duran's Rio.

Speaker 2 Wow. The

Speaker 3 Donald Magel painting, that

Speaker 3 very 80s thing. So he was operating at a much higher level than anybody we had really ever run into at that point in our lives.

Speaker 2 Was he older than you at that point?

Speaker 3 He's two years older than me. So he was a a freshman in college when I was a junior in high school.
And yeah, that's when I first met Paul.

Speaker 3 And it was like, he was funny and cool and interesting and, and

Speaker 3 and you know a college kid and did you become friends instantly like you really connected fast we definitely connected i would say that you know paul that was when they when paul and preston were going to ku kansas university and then when i

Speaker 3 ended up going to the university missouri

Speaker 3 i went to visit Paul, who had by this point gone transferred out of KU and moved to LA and was going to the Academy of dramatic arts and he lived in in north hollywood with preston and our friend bo

Speaker 3 and i came out for spring break to hang out with them that's when i really became friends with them because we were hanging out in in uh in la

Speaker 3 thanks in la uh

Speaker 3 really just making a scene in 1991 92

Speaker 3 so we would go down to like the third street

Speaker 1 just in jean jackets and like a bunch of cool guys Yeah.

Speaker 3 It was, there was a place called Yankee Doodles that was like a bar that had pool tables. That was where we went.

Speaker 1 And you were all like auditioning at that point?

Speaker 3 I was still in college. They, Paul had just booked a big Nintendo ad, so he was just riding high.

Speaker 3 And then by the next time I came out, when I came out, when I moved out here after college in 95, he had done. Clueless and he was on the way to go do Romeo and Juliet.

Speaker 3 And he was on the way to the, to the stars. so it was crazy that's that's uh i watched it all happen you know he was he was

Speaker 1 he was uh he was the first one of us that really got famous it was very very cool that what was that like to have a like i i know i remember my first friend who was famous like when i moved to new york janine garofalo was my first famous friend and it was a trip what was it like they're operating again they're just operating in different circles and you're like oh right those are the people that i read about because you read about them back then.

Speaker 3 It was like Premier Magazine had a feature on Paul or Entertainment Weekly or something.

Speaker 1 He was like a big brother.

Speaker 3 Big brother, for sure, for sure. Even though he stands about a foot shorter than me, let's be honest.

Speaker 1 Nobody's taller than you, Ham. Look at you.
You literally look like you own this town. John is now walking through the fake town in his tuxedo, getting ready to get back on the hot air balloon.

Speaker 3 Yes, yes, here.

Speaker 3 Wow.

Speaker 1 You look like a billionaire who's just having a good day out.

Speaker 3 This is literally, if I was a billionaire, I would take my hot air balloon to work.

Speaker 1 Okay, so what question do you think I should ask Paul? We're asking people what I should ask him.

Speaker 3 You know, I was, because I listened to your guys' thing

Speaker 3 with the one you guys did with Tina, which I thought was so good. And you guys had such a great report.
I texted you guys.

Speaker 2 John's getting in the hot air balloon right now.

Speaker 3 And we,

Speaker 3 I loved it, I loved

Speaker 3 you and Seth and Drachi and everybody

Speaker 3 coming at it. I think the question I think you should ask Paul is at what point or

Speaker 3 I was asking this to Billy Krudip on the set the other day.

Speaker 3 What point

Speaker 3 or has it happened yet in his career or in his life?

Speaker 3 Did he

Speaker 3 has he lost

Speaker 3 freaking out about

Speaker 3 being good all the time from an active standpoint? You know what I mean? I don't have that. I don't have that stress anymore.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 2 I love what I do and I love doing it.

Speaker 3 And I know if I don't do a great job, I'll do it again and it'll be good on the second take or whatever.

Speaker 2 Oh my God, this is so exciting.

Speaker 1 Guys, listeners, John is about, he's rolling, I think.

Speaker 2 Are you rolling?

Speaker 3 Going up, going up. Yeah, we're about to roll.
Okay. So that's, that's what I would ask him.

Speaker 1 Okay, when did he stop freaking out about doing a good job? Like, is he settled in?

Speaker 3 Maybe he, maybe he still hasn't.

Speaker 1 Maybe he still hasn't. And I want to know

Speaker 2 when did that nickel drop?

Speaker 1 When you come on, I want to ask you that question. Can you keep your phone on while you go up in the balloon?

Speaker 3 I can't because I'm on camera.

Speaker 2 Damn it.

Speaker 1 Oh, I hate Hollywood. I hate Abby.

Speaker 2 It's so dumb.

Speaker 1 Okay. I love you so much.
Thank you so much for this.

Speaker 2 Love you, Polar. Can't wait to see you, buddy.
All right, buddy. Okay.

Speaker 1 Talk to you soon. Bye.

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Speaker 1 I don't even know where to start. Paul Rudd is here.
So exciting. Rudd, you

Speaker 1 and I have known each other a very long time. I would say over 25 years now, maybe, right?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Do you remember the first time we met?

Speaker 2 Was it maybe at,

Speaker 2 I don't know, is this a test?

Speaker 1 It is a test. Not only is it not a test, but I can't remember anything.

Speaker 2 Good, good. Okay.
Perfect. Okay, we're right there.

Speaker 2 I want to say, was it maybe

Speaker 2 it might have been at a ucb show early on or there was another time i think i was at 10th street lounge

Speaker 2 with janine garofalo maybe my first famous friend yeah it's around that i was because i we kind of both moved to new york somewhat around the same time when did you move like 95 so yeah 95.

Speaker 2 right from kansas you moved no i was in california right gone to an acting school for a couple of years what's what kind of school? The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Speaker 1 It sounds like. What do they call it? What's the shortened version of it?

Speaker 2 Adda. Adda.
Or Adda. Adda.
I don't know. There's Ada, Lambda, Rada, Bada.
I went to Bada, too. I went to Bada.
I went to Ada and Bada. Ada, Bada.
Yeah, I couldn't get into Cada. That was the next one.

Speaker 1 And what did you do there? Did you do like constant play?

Speaker 2 So much theater, Amy.

Speaker 2 So much talking about it.

Speaker 1 Let's have our tea before we talk about it.

Speaker 2 Listen to the joyous thip.

Speaker 1 You know, the thing about theater is,

Speaker 2 the thing is, you know, Pinter said once, you know, I remember

Speaker 2 Godot.

Speaker 2 Oh, I remember we were doing Malfi

Speaker 2 at the Round Wharf,

Speaker 2 Bobby and I, and we were in between

Speaker 2 Guillaume. We were in between matinee and evening performance.

Speaker 1 When I was understudying for Danny in the Deep Blue Sea,

Speaker 2 I remember thinking, thinking, if we could have done crimes this way of the heart. Yes, yes, no, absolutely.

Speaker 2 It's funny you should say that because when Renee Abergenois and I were doing Mattress

Speaker 2 Once Upon A,

Speaker 2 we had this exact same conversation about, you know, mattress

Speaker 2 and Once Upon a Mattress. Tis Pity She's a whore.

Speaker 1 I was in Once Upon a Matt.

Speaker 2 By the way, I just buried Tis Pity She's a whore, which is a real play.

Speaker 1 What was your high school musical or play?

Speaker 2 High school musical at South Pacific.

Speaker 1 And you played?

Speaker 2 Buzz.

Speaker 1 Buzz was just created.

Speaker 2 Is Buzz in the show? I think he's in the show. He's a pilot.
I think he maybe had a couple of lines. But I loved dramatic films and dramatic actors.
And I thought, oh,

Speaker 2 this is what you're supposed to do. And so.

Speaker 2 And then I got to college and it was like, oh, I'm studying Shakespeare, which I'd never done before and found that I really liked it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And what were you doing to make a living during that time? What was your jobs? So many jobs.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I was going to school.

Speaker 2 I would DJ and MC bar mitzvahs and bot mitzvahs. That's right.

Speaker 2 I did that for a while because I could work on weekends.

Speaker 1 Right. What was your goat? What was the party pumping song? What was the song that would get people on the floor?

Speaker 1 Well, CNC Music Factory. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, sure.

Speaker 2 I mean, big. That was big.
Yeah. There was also just the real fun of just a straight up Moni Moni that Billie Idol would do.

Speaker 2 Because

Speaker 1 come on, that part.

Speaker 2 Here she comes now, saying Moni, Moni.

Speaker 2 Hey, now get

Speaker 2 fucked.

Speaker 2 And that was like, that was.

Speaker 2 I forgot about that. Get laid, get laid.
And you would always find like 13-year-olds going. They were like, finally.
Are you going to say this?

Speaker 2 And then I'd look around and see kind of like the grandparents. I'm like, what?

Speaker 1 So then you go to school, you come to New York.

Speaker 2 I went to this acting school in California,

Speaker 2 which is where I met Adam, by the way. That's how we became friends.
Tell us more how you met Adam.

Speaker 1 You're cute.

Speaker 2 So it was, I was probably. Adam Scott.
Adam Scott. I was probably 21, and Adam was maybe 17 or 18 years old.
Maybe I was 22 and he was 18.

Speaker 2 And there was like a party. The school's is only like two, a couple years.
It wasn't big, but

Speaker 2 this is, I do remember the first time I met Adam. And it was

Speaker 2 somebody was having a party. And

Speaker 2 we hit it off right away. We talked.
And I want to say we talked about REM.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 then

Speaker 2 we became pretty tight, pretty good friends not that long after that.

Speaker 2 He went there after I did.

Speaker 2 And then we did a, and then we did a a play together.

Speaker 2 Because I graduated from that school and I stayed in California for a few years and then tried to get a play going that one of the teachers, a woman named Diana Stevenson at that school, she had said, let's do this play about Byron and Shelley called Bloody Poetry.

Speaker 2 And so it was a small little cast and Adam and I did it together. You did?

Speaker 1 Do you have any recording of that or anything?

Speaker 2 I have a recording. You do.

Speaker 1 And it's the two of you playing Byron and Shelley?

Speaker 2 He played Polidori.

Speaker 1 He played Buzz.

Speaker 2 He played Buzz.

Speaker 2 He was the Buzz in

Speaker 2 Bloody Poetry.

Speaker 1 Did you audition for any John Hughes stuff?

Speaker 2 No, that was

Speaker 2 before my time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I loved it. I did too.
But I auditioned for different things, and I didn't really get them. And then

Speaker 2 I did audition for Clueless, which was like the John Hughes things. And I went in, I didn't really get it.
I was reading that script. I'm like,

Speaker 2 oh, this is

Speaker 2 like,

Speaker 2 oh, a bunch of kids, huh? This reminds me a little bit of those movies I used to, I grew up watching. And then,

Speaker 2 and then I got this audition to go in. And I remember there were other characters.
I'm like, oh, that's a

Speaker 2 cool character. I hadn't seen the character like Christian before like this.
I liked it. There was a gay character that was not being made fun of, but it's like kind of the coolest character.

Speaker 1 The bar was so low then. It was like, hey, he's gay and nice.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And it was just like, oh, wow, this is like, I haven't seen this movie really before.

Speaker 2 And anyway, so I went in and I asked to audition for all the different parts. And then they said, well, what about read for the part that I wound up playing, which is the Josh character? And so I did.

Speaker 2 I didn't really hear anything afterward. And I remember I had really, I had long hair.
And then a couple of weeks later, I wasn't even thinking about her.

Speaker 2 I just went to a, I was walking past a,

Speaker 2 barber shop and I just went in. I said, just buzz my head.
I mean, her hair was down about there. Wow.
And they went, and they just

Speaker 2 went with the clippers, everything. I was just like, I just want to cut it all off.
And then a week later, I went into a restaurant and Amy Heckerling, who directed the movie, was

Speaker 2 eating there.

Speaker 1 And she looked at me and she was like, wait a minute.

Speaker 2 She froze. And she goes, what did you do?

Speaker 2 What did you do to your hair? I was like, I select shape.

Speaker 2 She was like, just get into your hair. She goes, you were in, you audition this part.

Speaker 2 We were going to, you were going to, maybe, going to get this part, but you can't cut your hair. I was like, and I was so, I'm like, ah, well, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

Speaker 2 Like, I wasn't, I was so stupidly kind of cavalier about it. Yeah.
But then I had to do a screen test for clueless, and they put me in a wig to try and match

Speaker 2 what my hair is.

Speaker 1 And there is nothing that feels more manly

Speaker 2 than when

Speaker 2 you're trying to get chemistry

Speaker 2 to get like, sweetheart.

Speaker 1 don't pull my hair too much.

Speaker 2 Eventually, like enough time had gone by that

Speaker 2 anyway, they're like, yeah,

Speaker 2 this is not going to work.

Speaker 2 Just grow your hair out. And so they skipped the wig.
And by the time it got to filming, my hair had grown enough that

Speaker 2 it worked okay.

Speaker 1 That's an amazing story because what it says to me too, though, and I find this about you as a person, is like, you do not have a grasping energy when it comes to work. Like you

Speaker 1 care about it very much. It's really important.
You choose things wisely. You work really hard when you're there.
But I don't get a sense from you that you are,

Speaker 1 I don't know, there's a way,

Speaker 1 there's a vibe with you and work that feels like a healthy attachment. It doesn't feel like you're,

Speaker 1 what the kids would say, very thirsty. And therefore, I think people really lean into that and like that.
Would you think that, would you say that's true?

Speaker 2 In some regard, yeah. I don't think, like, I don't feel uh competitive with other actors.
I'm a real big fan of a lot of other actors. I get really excited by people who I

Speaker 2 like are talented. Yeah.
And

Speaker 2 I don't think this should be torturous. I know this is something you and I both really share, which is

Speaker 2 this should be fun. It's a really fun job.

Speaker 2 You respond to comedy in the same way I do, and that it

Speaker 2 should be a fun experience.

Speaker 2 Like, have you had the experience where you're working on something and it's like might be funny? And people say, oh, if you find it funny, it's not going to be funny. And

Speaker 2 it's supposed to be torturous. Otherwise, it won't work.
If it looks like you're having, if you think it's a blast, it's not going to translate. And I think I

Speaker 2 couldn't disagree with that more.

Speaker 1 Agree. What do you do when you're on a project and you are, and you, someone's either missed, like, what's your conflict style? Because, like, do you get quiet when you're mad? Do you yell?

Speaker 1 I certainly have yelled.

Speaker 2 My God.

Speaker 2 No, stop.

Speaker 2 Okay, you yelled.

Speaker 2 And don't you dare say anything like that to me. Okay.
Ever again. Okay.

Speaker 2 Ever. Okay.

Speaker 2 Are we

Speaker 2 done with this?

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 my conflict style is probably different depending on who I have a conflict with. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 more often than not,

Speaker 2 I'll check out.

Speaker 2 That's what I was going to say.

Speaker 1 I was going to say, go to sleep. Maybe.

Speaker 2 I'll just be like, I'm so tired. This is going to be over soon.

Speaker 2 If I just get in this bed and just go to sleep. I'm just going to, I mean, I'm just just going to try and, I got to ride this out.
I can't go anywhere. I've got to do this.

Speaker 2 I can't get in one of those pods and just deep freeze myself until this gets fixed. That's exactly right.

Speaker 2 Deprivation, sensory deprivation tank.

Speaker 1 Okay, I do want to ask you about our working together because we did it quite a bit. We worked together quite a bit.
We've been so lucky to work together on so many things.

Speaker 1 And we worked on the most, one of the most fun movies, Wet Hot American Summer. And I think it was fun for a million reasons.
It was fun because we were all in our 30s and we were at a summer camp.

Speaker 1 It was fun because a lot of us were, myself included, were like in the beginnings of things.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we were all kind of starting off.

Speaker 1 We were. And we had great leaders in Michael Showalter and David Wayne who were kind of like goofing around and

Speaker 1 setting the tone, but also serious. writers and filmmakers.
We also met a bunch of lifelong friends on that movie. And it felt very, you know, pre-9-11, frankly.
It was like before

Speaker 1 those times. It just felt like of another era.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And, um, it's like pre, like, I don't even remember having cell phones.

Speaker 1 There were no cell phones. There was a, remember there was a payphone? Yes.
And everybody would call

Speaker 2 up front. Yeah, yeah.
To their

Speaker 1 significant others and be like, yeah, I guess I'm up here for another three weeks.

Speaker 1 I know they changed the schedule.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.
Do you remember we had to leave for a week in the middle of shooting?

Speaker 1 Because there was an actual camp?

Speaker 2 No, because somebody rented it out for a bar mitzvah.

Speaker 2 And we all left for a week and they had to come back.

Speaker 2 That's afraid. I forgot about that.

Speaker 1 Now it's kind of legendary. People know that it rained

Speaker 1 25 of the 28 days or whatever the shoot was.

Speaker 1 And we had to pretend it was sunny. Yeah.
And it was freezing cold. Freezing.
What do you remember about staying warm or the weather when we were shooting wet hot?

Speaker 2 I remember in those brief moments when it was sunny, we all were like, oh my God. It was like, what can we film? What can we do?

Speaker 2 But,

Speaker 2 you know, I remember the opening scene that we did when we were all around the campfire

Speaker 2 when they were playing Jane. Yeah.
That it had been pouring and it was like we're sitting

Speaker 2 soaking wet everywhere and freezing. It was all freezing.
It was freezing all the time.

Speaker 2 I remember the, I remember the kind of the clothes we were wearing at the time.

Speaker 1 I remember being really grateful, and this isn't the first time that I'm grateful that like I didn't have to wear, you know, like Liz Banks was kind of playing like

Speaker 1 the girl who was a little bit more free, let's put it that way. And she had to wear like bikini tops and stuff.

Speaker 1 And I remember many times in my life, I had this feeling where I'd be like, I'm so happy that I get to wear like a member's only jacket. I'm so cold.

Speaker 2 Whereas now I run very hot.

Speaker 1 But back then, I was so cold. I mean, and I remember being really grateful that she, I remember her having a dance and it being really cold.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I remember going to Salvation Army. Do you remember that?

Speaker 1 We would all head out to Salvation Army. Yeah.
Because the thing that people didn't know is we worked very little.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And whoever wasn't filming,

Speaker 2 because we were, there was a 30-minute drive to Target in the main.

Speaker 1 I don't even think it was Target.

Speaker 2 I think it it was

Speaker 2 Walmart. It was Walmart.
Yeah, yeah. It might have been pre-Target.
And whoever wasn't filming had to go buy the beer.

Speaker 1 Yes, for the night.

Speaker 2 And we were all wearing like kind of, you know, Wellingtons and

Speaker 2 then we would all just hang out and

Speaker 2 drink beer. And drink beer.
Craig Woodrow played guitar. They have guitars and

Speaker 2 play music really loud, really late.

Speaker 1 Do you remember David Hyde Pierce? Yes. Coming out to tell us to can you be a little quieter yeah it was his first he showed up

Speaker 2 no one we were all like dumb kids yeah just wanted to have a blast but a reminder we were not kids we were in our 30s or

Speaker 2 you were late 20s i think i was 30 yeah you were late 20s i was 30. and then um

Speaker 2 and david hyde pierce showed up he was coming in later but he was also the except for janine the only one that anyone would really know totally he was famous and we didn't

Speaker 2 we We were all like, what is this guy going to think?

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 we all slept in those kinds of like in the infirmary. Everyone had these little kind of, their own little rooms and cots or whatever it is.

Speaker 2 And then the main infirmary where we would hang out as a group every night till like one or two in the morning, playing music really loud

Speaker 2 was the main part.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 I remember it was his first night. None of us knew him.
And it was like one in the morning and it's so loud. He's filming the next morning, and he's been in his room.

Speaker 1 And he probably is rehearsing his

Speaker 2 lines. He's a professional.
He's a professional. And I remember he came out and then

Speaker 2 stopped in the doorway. And we all, it was like,

Speaker 2 the needle on the record stopped. Everyone got quiet.
And we all looked. And Ken Marino just goes, Oh, great, it's Frazier.

Speaker 2 Do you remember that?

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 David Hyde Pierce is like, what are you guys doing? Like, he was

Speaker 1 so fun.

Speaker 2 So fun and cool.

Speaker 2 And it was just like, oh, thank God.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he was the nicest, most loveliest guy. He was the best.
But he definitely was like, what's happening here? Yeah. What's going on? And we were like, oh, none of us are working.

Speaker 2 None of us are.

Speaker 1 We don't have anything to shoot tomorrow. Nope.
We're here. There's no telephones.

Speaker 2 And then whoever did have to shoot, we'd all just go watch their scenes. Just go watch it.
We'd just go watch it. It was like, it was was being a camp.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was. It really was.
I'm having a Ken Marino memory. He was watching the, he was, he was watching ER

Speaker 1 on a little, like, there used to be these TVs you could hang around your neck.

Speaker 2 Do you remember these?

Speaker 1 That was almost like a portable TV, but it almost looked like a monitor, like what like Flava Flav would wear, like a big giant clock, but it's a TV and you have the strap around your neck.

Speaker 1 That is my memory. And again, I don't remember things well, but he was watching on a small TV and he came running through the hallway saying, She went back to Clooney.

Speaker 1 It was the big moment where, do you remember this? Where

Speaker 1 Julianne Margolis,

Speaker 1 Nurse Hathaway, Carol Hathaway, went back to Clooney, like, you know,

Speaker 1 met him on at his boat. Spoiler alert, met him at his boat in Seattle.
And

Speaker 1 he came running with like tears streaming down his face saying, She went back to Clooney. And we were all like, like,

Speaker 1 we really did live together for many weeks it probably was only like three weeks I think it might have been more like five or six

Speaker 2 I mean it's ridiculous I mean with the week that we had off for the bar mitzvah included

Speaker 1 I think that's yeah yeah and that was Bradley Cooper's first movie

Speaker 2 I think was it banks might have been bangs maybe yeah

Speaker 2 and that was just so there was so many great people but I don't remember like filming scenes and everyone's like kind of watching you were the one that I would go to and I'm like, was that funny?

Speaker 2 Was that kind of,

Speaker 2 you know, I really valued your opinion on everything.

Speaker 1 And I would go,

Speaker 1 I'd say, go back out there, do it again.

Speaker 2 Do it again. I'd say, I didn't feel like it.
Ask for another one. I'd say, yeah.
Paul, you want to ask for another one?

Speaker 2 You want to ask.

Speaker 2 You want to answer.

Speaker 1 Okay. Then we made a movie called They Came Together.

Speaker 1 Such a fun movie. So fun.
For people that haven't seen it, which is probably a lot of people, because it was kind of a small movie. It was like a fake rom-com.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 it was taking all the tropes, a David Wayne special, taking all the tropes of like what is funny about those movies. And

Speaker 1 I would say we, we just screened it again. And we just had like an anniversary.
It was so fun. Oh, man.
I wish I was fun. I'm watching it again.
It was like, you are perfectly cast.

Speaker 1 I would probably not cast, I would not be cast in a rom-com in that part. I would be the friend in the rom-com.
I don't think I would be able to pull off the rom-com. I don't have the symmetry for it.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 what is so- I disagree, but go-okay, thank you.

Speaker 1 But I'm a little slow on that.

Speaker 2 Well, I didn't want to interrupt you.

Speaker 1 Okay, thanks. But

Speaker 1 what is so fun about it is it is so stupid.

Speaker 2 This

Speaker 2 most stupid,

Speaker 2 stupidest movie ever.

Speaker 1 And don't forget, in the middle of that movie, there's a it stops to have a music video with Nora Jones yeah who sang the song from that movie that Adam Scott and John Stamos show up and do cameos in because they come to the studio yeah the video for the video the video for the song that's the song that the on the soundtrack of the movie is in the middle

Speaker 1 of the movie and then it's all red and Amy Polar the actors show up to be like what's happening here

Speaker 2 and we're wearing sunglasses yeah and a soul patch you had a soul patch at a soul patch patch. But it's like, yeah, us in our street clothes.

Speaker 1 In our street clothes. And then our buddies also come to like play with some of the buttons.
Yeah, they're in this

Speaker 2 mixing boards. And we're just like hanging out, goofing around with Nora Jones.

Speaker 2 Professional. Professional.
Incredible musician. Yeah.
And then after the video ends, it just goes right back to the movie. Yes.

Speaker 2 How did this movie get made?

Speaker 2 It's so dumb. It is so fun to watch again.

Speaker 1 It is so dumb. I mean, and I know we share that, like that feeling of of dumb,

Speaker 1 it's so, it's like, I can't, it's hard to explain that feeling of, I mean, well, I guess everyone understands it, that feeling that you have with your friends when something is so stupid

Speaker 1 and so funny.

Speaker 1 I think it is truly like the

Speaker 1 opposite of your own mortality. Like it feels like you'll live forever when you're laughing at dumb.
Does that make sense?

Speaker 2 It makes total sense. It's the greatest.
It's

Speaker 2 and that endorphin. Yes.
everything. It just kicks in and you're like, oh, oh,

Speaker 2 this entire

Speaker 2 life is absurd. Yes.

Speaker 2 All of this. That's right.
Everything. The absurdity of existence.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 What are you listening to, watching?

Speaker 1 What makes you laugh right now?

Speaker 2 All kinds of different things. I suppose.

Speaker 2 When people talk about like comedy specials and stuff, I always say, oh, have you seen Patrice O'Neill Elephant in the Room? That's one of of my favorites.

Speaker 1 So funny.

Speaker 2 It's like the fact that Patrice O'Neill, that we lost Patrice O'Neill when we did, where I feel like he was on the verge of just being the guy,

Speaker 2 is just heartbreaking.

Speaker 2 I think he was just so funny.

Speaker 1 It's all that way about Bernie Mac, too. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Really, really, really funny.

Speaker 1 Gone too soon.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 that's one of my favorites.

Speaker 2 One of the things I just kind of, I always seem to watch, I mean, I like little memes and things that get passed around, like the guy jumping into the pool that it's frozen over and he doesn't know it he just like wipes out and it's like that kind of stuff is people falling forget it i love it um but i uh i love uh

Speaker 2 i always go back to um

Speaker 2 news bloopers

Speaker 1 oh god let's just watch hold on let's just watch a few great do you have any that you remember that like i can google

Speaker 2 well you know there are these there's just something so beautiful and great about people that

Speaker 2 it's the news, it's serious. And when something goes wrong.
You know, the gay, blind one.

Speaker 1 That one is.

Speaker 2 That is

Speaker 2 the most important thing.

Speaker 2 I've watched that so many times. It's what, four seconds.

Speaker 2 Okay. The blind.
It is mountain climber.

Speaker 4 Right after the break, we're going to interview Eric Wyhenmayer, who climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. But he's gay.
I mean, he's gay, excuse me, he's blind.

Speaker 1 So we'll hear about that coming up.

Speaker 2 Okay, as we head to the break, a little bit of a campaign. Okay.
Okay. And as we head to the break,

Speaker 2 and you know,

Speaker 2 wait a minute, because

Speaker 2 you know in

Speaker 2 her, like, oh boy, I just messed up.

Speaker 2 And he is like, I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen. Okay.
Okay.

Speaker 2 So, oh, my God. I'm sorry.
Gay. I'm sorry.
Blind. He's blind.

Speaker 2 So I.

Speaker 1 I love bloopers.

Speaker 2 Bloopers? I feel like you grew up with bloopers.

Speaker 2 Nothing. When I see people really laughing and really like, there's in those news bloopers, there's one, there's one, it's these two guys.
They're speaking a language I don't understand. Okay.

Speaker 2 It's like, I don't know what. By the way, some of the ones in that like news in other countries.

Speaker 1 Ooh, I don't even think to look for that. I'm going to.

Speaker 2 I'll go in. I'm going to go like best news bloopers of 2023 or 22.
I've seen them all.

Speaker 1 Like global news bloopers. That's what I'm finding right now.

Speaker 2 I will watch those over and over again.

Speaker 2 But there's like one where these two guys, and somebody says something, and I don't know what he's saying, but the other guy says it, and he starts laughing, and they both start laughing.

Speaker 2 And they are crying. Oh, okay.
And they're on the ground crying. And I don't know what the hell they're talking about.
And I'm tears

Speaker 2 because there's, there's. God, I do love it.

Speaker 1 God, I love that.

Speaker 1 Why do we love it?

Speaker 2 I mean, I mean, because there's something, it's the opposite of pretension.

Speaker 2 It's pure joy.

Speaker 2 It's,

Speaker 2 It's defenseless.

Speaker 2 It's the purest,

Speaker 2 it's celebratory. My wife has said before, and this is such a good idea.
She goes, they should have, like in hospitals when people are getting,

Speaker 2 going for like chemotherapy or whatever, and they're sitting in the chair for hours, they should have on screens all around just bloopers from people laughing.

Speaker 2 That is a great idea, Jimmy Red. Great idea.
It's a great idea.

Speaker 2 And I agree. Like, if I see people laughing really, really hard,

Speaker 2 I'm done. I love it.

Speaker 1 I love it so much. It's great.
Me too.

Speaker 1 Speaking of laughing really hard, and speaking, I think, of a show that did help a lot of people during hard times, you were on Parks and Rec.

Speaker 1 You only did five episodes. Do you know that?

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 1 But you played a character that stood the test of time.

Speaker 1 I mean, if only, if only we had Bobby Newport, just a guy who wants to be liked. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And who I know, if only, right?

Speaker 1 I mean, Bobby at the time means well, just doesn't quite grasp any of it. He wants to go to the after party.
Yeah. Bobby Newport, played by you, was the, like the rich son of the

Speaker 1 Sweedhams family, the family, the Newports that owned the big factory in the fictional town of Pawnee. That Parks and Wreck took place.
And Bobby Newport ran against Leslie. And

Speaker 1 it was like what Bobby had that Leslie could never get was that

Speaker 1 gee whiz, like, I can't believe I fell into this.

Speaker 1 Like, I just want to have a good time, you guys.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think that's even a line

Speaker 2 that asks how Bobby feels about abortion. Oh, yeah, right.
What did he say about abortion? What's my thoughts on abortion or just like, want everybody to have a good time?

Speaker 1 Just want everybody to have a good time.

Speaker 2 I mean, come on, guys. What?

Speaker 1 And Bobby kept getting flustered by leslie wanting it because he wants it like there's that great scene where he's like can you just drop out of the race because i want it yeah yeah because i want it i want it come on please you could do it just do it come on

Speaker 1 and people are like i don't know i love the guy he's great and he doesn't seem to want it yeah and he doesn't know anything but that neither do i That's, you know, you're Leslie is capable and great for that job.

Speaker 2 Bobby Newport is not.

Speaker 1 No, and Bobby was, I think, was thinking, like, maybe I'll just get it. And then Leslie, you can do it.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 How about that? That's a good compromise.

Speaker 1 What are your memories of doing that character? It was such a funny character. You were so great.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Amy. My memories of that were, I can't believe I get to work with my favorite people in the world, you and Adam and Catherine and Rashida.
And like,

Speaker 2 it was like, this is the dream. I mean, this is

Speaker 2 the, you know, I remember when you were talking to Tina on the very first episode you did where you were saying you feel like the how

Speaker 2 the great thing that can happen if you are able to sustain enough of a career that you can get to a point where you work with your friends or you get to work with people you really like because it's not work it's just it's it's just the best.

Speaker 2 And I mean, it was such a fun character, obviously. And the show is so great and you're so great in it.

Speaker 2 It was just,

Speaker 2 it was a dream.

Speaker 2 It was a dream. And, you know, I was,

Speaker 2 I loved it. I loved every second of it.
I loved hanging out with all you guys. It was so fun.
It was really fun.

Speaker 1 It was. And that, and it was, those scenes were so funny.
Like, he got, you got to do the stupidest, talk about fun, stupid. It's the stupidest stuff.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, there's nothing, um,

Speaker 2 there's nothing funnier to me than unearned confidence yeah like just

Speaker 2 just somebody feels like they've you know it's like i've got it figured out and it's like no you don't yeah um but but if it's and if it's

Speaker 2 if it's like nice unearned like if it's fun it's really funny if it's not nice unearned confidence but uh

Speaker 2 that was the thing of like

Speaker 2 he had a lot of kind of unearned confidence but he had he was just dumb yeah he wanted to have a good sweet though but he's a nice he's just he was sweet.

Speaker 1 He was sweet.

Speaker 2 And that, and that was,

Speaker 2 and that was a fun, that was kind of, that's a fun thing to get to play. It's a fun kind of character to get to play.

Speaker 1 Would we describe him as like guileless? Is that the word?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think that's a good way to do it. Yeah, there's, yeah.

Speaker 1 I know that word. So just want to do that.

Speaker 2 That's a really good, by the way. Of course you do.
Fucking great word.

Speaker 2 He's a fucking great word.

Speaker 1 Fucking great word.

Speaker 1 Damn. You know,

Speaker 1 it also was really cool to watch you and Adam in a scene in scenes together because you, have you been in a lot of stuff together?

Speaker 2 Not a ton of stuff.

Speaker 2 It's weird. He's like my,

Speaker 2 kind of like my closest, oldest friend. And

Speaker 2 we have, but we haven't done a ton of stuff together.

Speaker 1 Like, would you ever do a movie together?

Speaker 2 I'd love it. You should.
He's such a good actor. He is.
He's a really, I mean, clearly everyone's. obviously he's such a good recognizing this.
And they've known this before.

Speaker 1 I'd say that to him in real time when he was acting, I'd be like, you're acting so good. And he'd be like, shut up.
We're in the middle of the scene. But I'd be like, you're acting so good.

Speaker 2 well he's like he's one of you know he's so good and he really can

Speaker 2 play very complex emotional scenes yeah um and you really kind of know what that character is thinking and then but then he also has a way of being able to kind of remove this have this kind of emotionless uh removal of what he whatever he's doing that's really interesting which plays into severance i think very well you can you can do that too to be a movie star you have to be able to make your face still.

Speaker 1 You have to be able to just like get the machine on like neutral, like

Speaker 2 for everyone to project. And he's very good.
It's like a Greek mask kind of thing. And so Adam is great at that.
And the one thing that I always thought with Adam,

Speaker 2 like when I met him, is

Speaker 2 he's the funniest. He's got the driest, kind of most irreverent

Speaker 2 sense of humor. I mean, it was, that's how we became friends because of just, we liked a lot of the same kind of jokes and things like that.

Speaker 1 I just watched the severance finale and I texted him. I was like, you are so good at acting.

Speaker 1 And then he was like, oh, thanks. I'm glad you watch it.
And I was like, there was so much running.

Speaker 2 I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen the, I haven't seen it.
I've seen the finale. No.
So

Speaker 1 it hasn't been spoiled?

Speaker 2 No. I'm staying away from everything.
I don't look at my phone. I don't do it.

Speaker 1 That's why you can't be on TikTok. If you're in TikTok, you got about an hour.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And then it's like

Speaker 1 there's audios made of what you're doing.

Speaker 2 I know. I know.

Speaker 2 So, yeah, I've been able to avoid all that. And I've told him, I'm like,

Speaker 2 I haven't reached out to you yet. Because

Speaker 2 I haven't seen it yet.

Speaker 1 And you're just edging.

Speaker 1 You're not going to watch the finale.

Speaker 2 By the way, I'm not going to really watch season two.

Speaker 2 You're like, oh, we'll see. I'll tell him he was great in it.

Speaker 2 Anyway,

Speaker 2 but

Speaker 2 he really is terrific, and you know that better than anybody.

Speaker 1 Well, this is a perfect segue to male friendship.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 you have so

Speaker 1 let's chug. Hold on, let's chug our tea.

Speaker 2 Chug it.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 this was, that is such a good thing. Sing him out.
Let's get some, let's get six more teeth.

Speaker 2 I got to cover this. So you're, so for sponsorship, no one knows what I'm drinking.
You can't see any label. You can't know.

Speaker 1 The inside of my mug is filled with labels.

Speaker 2 I'll lose that cap in case someone figures out.

Speaker 1 And then, by the way, this is some, I should say, this is my.

Speaker 1 Oh my God, Paul's peeing under the desk.

Speaker 2 Look, this is a long podcast, and I don't want to walk away and interrupt the flow, so to speak.

Speaker 1 Have you ever done that, like on a trip, peed in a bottle? Never.

Speaker 1 I have, really? That's great to hear. Because, you know, you are, I mean, you're, there's not a lot of straight men.

Speaker 1 Like, they have, you're the first.

Speaker 1 Well, I guess I, I guess there's a few.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 you are a straight white male.

Speaker 1 I mean, so

Speaker 2 I feel seen.

Speaker 1 So, how's that going for you?

Speaker 2 Because it's, you know, it's not easy.

Speaker 1 I mean, by the way, straight white male in his 50s.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 2 now's our time.

Speaker 1 But you guys get to pee in bottles

Speaker 2 on the road. That is true.
It is one of the good things. You do.

Speaker 1 You get to pee in bottles. You get to do a lot of like, you know, pee in a bottle.
Straight white men get to pee in bottles. Or, like, and up until just five minutes ago, that was okay.

Speaker 1 And now people are like, maybe don't throw your pee bottles out on the street. And straight white males were like, fine.

Speaker 2 Whatever. Whatever.
Howard Hughes did it.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 straight, you have a movie about two men and the friendship between them with the great Tim Robinson. And it's called Friendship.
Yeah. And it is, I got to watch it.

Speaker 2 You did?

Speaker 1 Yes, I watched a screener. I'm trying to do my homework as a podcast person.

Speaker 2 God, you're good.

Speaker 1 And it's so tiring.

Speaker 2 Oh, movies are so long.

Speaker 1 They're like two hours.

Speaker 2 Yeah. By the way, everything's long and having to do, it's even if it's like something you're interested in with people you know, or like it's all work.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 But I did really want to watch the movie, I have to say, because I love you. I love Tim.
I loved Tim is.

Speaker 1 And Andy DeYoung is awesome. Isn't he great? He's great.
And the director and writer. And

Speaker 1 it is a movie. It is such a good movie about the loneliness epidemic of men and the attempt at making a friend.
And then, like, what goes wrong.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 Like, how

Speaker 1 I mean, it's about missing. I mean, it's Tim, Tim at his Timest, which is like he's missing the clues and he's getting them wrong.
I know. And you play this really,

Speaker 1 really funny,

Speaker 1 like, he's kind of a

Speaker 1 tender-hearted nerd. He's not as cool as you think he is as you learn.

Speaker 2 No,

Speaker 2 not at all. Okay, friendship, though.

Speaker 1 You've done a couple movies about that.

Speaker 2 Yeah. One thing that I feel like

Speaker 2 I've always had, like I've

Speaker 2 been good at in my life is picking friends.

Speaker 2 It's the one thing that even like when I was in grade school, and I didn't, I was not like the, oh, I'm friends with everybody, like I was not that kid at all,

Speaker 2 but

Speaker 2 I, I could, I think I had, I could recognize like nice people.

Speaker 2 And so my whole life, my, all my friends were, they were kind of funny and nerdy in all the ways you want your friends to be nerdy and uh

Speaker 2 and decent. And, um,

Speaker 2 and so

Speaker 2 I just want to like, you know, it's like you want to hold on to the people you care about. And

Speaker 2 the other thing, too, is, you know, you and I were talking about this.

Speaker 2 I think,

Speaker 2 in a way,

Speaker 2 we live weird lives because they're public lives and it can be a little overwhelming. And, you know,

Speaker 2 with the noise of the world and the noise of this job and everything else, is you kind of want your world to be smaller. Each year that goes by, I just kind of want it smaller.
And I want

Speaker 2 the important stuff to count.

Speaker 2 And to me, the most important stuff that I've learned, probably because I'm now 55 years old, is that,

Speaker 2 oh, the pinnacle, the height of it is just being with the people that I love and really laughing with like a bunch of friends. It's the greatest.
It's the best thing there is. And so that is,

Speaker 2 I just always try and cultivate that.

Speaker 1 Well, we tried to cultivate it by talking to your friend John Hamm today.

Speaker 2 So we have another longtime friend. I know.
I've known John longer than I've known Adam.

Speaker 1 And it sounds like you were a big brother to both. Like you were, you're a couple years older than both, right?

Speaker 1 So we do this thing where we talk, we kind of talk well behind somebody's back.

Speaker 1 and try to figure out stuff that they think I should ask you. So we talked to Ham before you came in today and John Hamm from

Speaker 1 Mad Men. And for those five people that don't know who I'm talking about.
And let me just explain what he was doing when we spoke to him. He was wearing a white tuxedo, his own.

Speaker 1 He was on the set of a movie, which I think you might also have a part in at some point, or

Speaker 2 maybe we'll see.

Speaker 1 He was working on a film,

Speaker 1 and he was... getting off of a hot air balloon that he had just been on.
And he spoke to us in the 10 minutes before he had to go do another take.

Speaker 1 And so he spoke to us as he got on the hot air balloon about you.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God. That's amazing.
That's incredible. Incredible.

Speaker 1 And he was really sweetly talking about the first time you met. Long hair.
You had your long hair.

Speaker 1 You had your jean jacket. And you remember what was painted on it?

Speaker 2 Yeah, that I had painted on the back of it. Patrick Nagel.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 You had painted it.

Speaker 2 I painted it. Okay.
I'm like, I need this.

Speaker 2 I want to get a good acid wash jean jacket, but it it needs a Patrick Nagel print on the back, and I'm just going to have to paint it myself.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Beautiful. He remembers that.
He was like, he was the coolest guy ever.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 he was talking about how you guys met. And it was very sweet because it made me think about both Adam and John and you have known each other a really long time.

Speaker 2 I've known John since he was,

Speaker 2 I want to say maybe about 16 years old.

Speaker 1 What was a 16-year-old little ham? Although was he ever short?

Speaker 2 No, he was all, he might have been 17, 16, 17, around there.

Speaker 2 He was,

Speaker 2 we'll talk about the coolest guy in the room. It was not me.
I recognized that in him right away. He was really handsome.
He was smart. He was

Speaker 2 athletic. He was all of these things.
And I know all of this because he was friends with the girl that I liked.

Speaker 2 That he was, and that was how I was.

Speaker 1 Was he with the girl?

Speaker 2 Yeah, they were. They used to go out.
And then they

Speaker 2 were. Yeah.
But they knew each other for years and years,

Speaker 2 way before me.

Speaker 2 But I was always a little bit like,

Speaker 2 okay, this guy.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh, how do I compete with that guy? You're like, I'm going to grow my hair.
Yeah. And I'm going to get her away from that shock.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I'm going to grow my hair.
Like, she's going to look at my hair and go, wait a minute. Do you know Michael Hutchins?

Speaker 1 It's funny that you say that because Ham described you as Michael Hutchins.

Speaker 2 Michael Hutchins. Well, that's

Speaker 2 high praise.

Speaker 1 But I like what you're doing. You're like, I'm going to go the other way.
I'm going to go, I'm going to be the art, art guy.

Speaker 2 Well, I was, you know, I was certainly drawn to that. And I think that was probably because I didn't have the ability to be the other guy.

Speaker 1 Because Ham was the sports guy?

Speaker 2 Ham was like, Ham was sports and he was just, you know, I remember we were, we, I have such a

Speaker 2 vivid memory of all of us playing Trivial Pursuit. And

Speaker 2 I'm just meeting John, the girl that he was friends with, that I was dating at the time, we're all playing. We're playing in teams.
And he would roll and immediately go like, oh, sweet.

Speaker 2 I'm going to go to history. I'll go to yellow.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. That's a power move.

Speaker 2 And then it's.

Speaker 1 It's not arts, not pink.

Speaker 2 Not pink. I'm going to entertainment every time.
Of course. Of course.
And he's like,

Speaker 2 this guy is going to yellow. Yeah.
And then all of a sudden, it's like he gets a question, what's the biggest lake in Africa? He's like, Victoria.

Speaker 2 Yep. That's a pie.
That's a pie piece. And I'm sitting there going,

Speaker 1 Then he goes over to green like a real asshole.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. You're going to be science and nature.
Are you? Are you going to be that guy? And so

Speaker 2 I was so kind of,

Speaker 2 here's what I do remember afterward, after that game, I'm like, I should probably like read, read some atlases. I thought I read an atlas.

Speaker 1 To know about the world, to know where countries are. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Because this younger guy

Speaker 2 who is clearly superior.

Speaker 1 And was, I probably, did he, was he, you were dating that?

Speaker 2 Yeah, but they were friends. So I was a little threatened.

Speaker 1 Wow, that's so, and, and I want to get this girl on.

Speaker 2 Well, we eventually became like, you know, obviously, uh, after a while, and it's a longer story, but we did become really, really tight and really good friends. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And, uh, and it's great. And we've been really great friends since I know you all are.

Speaker 2 One of the things that really makes me laugh, you're like, what makes me laugh, and it is, and I have told this story, and I have nothing to do with this story, but it's when you got the news about your doctor and he was hosting SNL.

Speaker 1 The best.

Speaker 2 It's so smart. And do you, you tell it?

Speaker 1 Yes, I, I mean, I, I think he has also told it a lot too. So I, you know, but

Speaker 1 John Hamm was the host and you hosted like two weeks after, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah, so not that long after. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 That was 2008. I was pregnant with my son, Archie.

Speaker 1 Ham was the host. I was supposed to deliver the baby on Sunday.
So I thought I was going to do the show on Saturday and then deliver the baby the next day. Like, wow.
True, psycho.

Speaker 1 Like, I just thought, like, well, this makes sense. And I'll have the baby on Sunday.

Speaker 1 And I learned my first of many lessons of like your kids are on their own schedule and they don't work with you.

Speaker 1 But we rehearsed all day on Friday. I was in nine sketches or something that week.

Speaker 1 Six days before I had done the palin wrap, I was still feeling pretty good. John was the host for the first time.
Friday,

Speaker 1 we're shooting like a madman pre-tape.

Speaker 1 I get a call that my OBGYN has passed away, a wonderful doctor who was in his 80s, who was this incredible doctor.

Speaker 1 He passed away, and I burst out. crying on the phone.
And when you see a very, very pregnant person hysterically crying, it's very scary.

Speaker 1 And the whole crew gets really quiet, and I go behind a partition to talk. And I find out the news, and I come out, and everyone's like, are you okay? And I said, oh my God, my OBGYN just died.

Speaker 1 He just passed away of a heart attack last night. And it gets really quiet.
And Ham leans in and says to me,

Speaker 1 This is a really big deal. And I need you to get your shit together.
This is the first time I'm hosting. And I need you to fucking.

Speaker 2 It's a big week for me, if you're a fan of it. It's a big week for me.
You gotta pull it together. You gotta pull it together.

Speaker 1 And I go go from crying to laughing so hard that you know like like squirts like like squirt tears come out and I start laughing like clapping and laughing and it was and it was so fun and funny and um

Speaker 1 and again a great example of like life is like life is what you say it is right yeah yeah it's it's life is what you make it and what you say it is and he made me laugh so hard and I went into labor that night and I think a lot of it was that because of the the emotional role of course the release of that and I think that's it's also not just a testimony to him, to you, that

Speaker 2 he knew

Speaker 2 that it's like, you're going to find this funny. Yeah.
And it's because that's, that's, because that's you.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, he was so great in that episode.
And in fact, um, uh, Seth Meyers and Lonely Island have a great podcast about, you should check that out, about that ham episode. It's really good.

Speaker 1 And they talk about all that stuff happening and how everyone had to fill in and Seth had to do update alone and it was like this incredible

Speaker 2 and he did the

Speaker 1 incredible night.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 and yeah, and kind of a big day for me too.

Speaker 1 Um, because I delivered a baby.

Speaker 2 Wait, what?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Not to brag.

Speaker 1 Not to brag.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 Ham wanted me to ask you this before we go. Do you still worry about doing a good job every time you're acting?

Speaker 1 Like, you know, and I think the deeper question there was like when you get to a point where you can approach a job without that worry about whether or not it's going to go well or you're going to do well, are you there?

Speaker 1 And if so, how did, how and when did you get there? Yeah, no, no.

Speaker 2 I, uh, I still worry.

Speaker 2 Um,

Speaker 2 I sometimes think, like, I think I'm getting worse at this.

Speaker 2 Um,

Speaker 2 if you can get worse at this.

Speaker 1 Um, directors, listen up.

Speaker 2 Yeah, no, uh, there, there are times when, you know, it's such a, it's a strange thing where it's like sometimes on one day or something, you're like, oh,

Speaker 2 this is,

Speaker 2 I got it. I know how to do this.
I feel like I've really kind of figured some things out. Just I've, I've got my,

Speaker 2 at this point, way more than 10,000 hours in. And

Speaker 2 then other times you're like,

Speaker 2 wow, I'm not, I don't, I can't do that. I don't know how to do this.
And I don't, and it's the, the mystery of it is

Speaker 2 a little

Speaker 2 frustrating and, and bewildering. And, um, so I do feel

Speaker 2 like I don't have a handle on it all the time, but I do feel

Speaker 2 also more relaxed about aspects of it. Um, I know how some of this stuff kind of just the the technical sides of things, how they work.
I understand editing. I understand

Speaker 2 how like I can,

Speaker 2 like I can do a scene. It's like I'm picturing it as how the editor will see it or a director and where you would do a cut point.
And these kind of certain things you just learn over time.

Speaker 2 But I don't, but I don't ever feel 100%

Speaker 2 comfortable. I don't, I don't think.

Speaker 1 Do you ever watch a scene and think, I wish I did that differently?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Certainly. And you have that thing on the drive home.
You're like, like, oh, why didn't I, you know, say that? Or

Speaker 1 I have a scene in Wet Hot that makes me think of that is when the scene where we're like out in the town.

Speaker 1 I remember like

Speaker 1 we're all supposed to be like, you know, it's that joke that we go out in the town for the day for the hour. That's right.

Speaker 1 We go out for the hour and then we all turn into, you know, drug addicts, basically.

Speaker 2 By the end, we're in a you're sitting next to the crackhead.

Speaker 1 Yep. And we're smoking crack at the end of the hour.

Speaker 1 And I, I,

Speaker 1 I I sometimes, especially early on, and maybe still, there's just times when I went pretty big.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 you know, I think, I think back and I just think like, I wish I just like dialed things down a little bit. I just, I made some choices.

Speaker 1 Sometimes they worked, but sometimes they just, I, it would have been maybe

Speaker 1 that's one scene that I look at. I'm like, I wish I had just gone a little smaller and I think it would have been funnier.

Speaker 1 Is there anything that comes to mind that you yes, here's what I'll say that, though.

Speaker 2 I think you're wrong.

Speaker 1 What are you going to say? I'm right. What are you going to say?

Speaker 2 I think you're hilarious in that scene. Thank you.
But

Speaker 2 it's a little big.

Speaker 1 It's a little big.

Speaker 2 I

Speaker 2 sometimes think, you know, people say less is more. Sometimes more is more.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 it's... It doesn't, you go big if it's like coming from a real place.
I think that was, you were hilarious. Please stop yelling at me.
And don't you ever look at me. Okay.
Amy,

Speaker 2 look at me.

Speaker 1 I am.

Speaker 2 I don't want to. I'm looking at you.
Okay. You're not looking at me.
You're looking at the table.

Speaker 2 I'm looking at you.

Speaker 2 You're not. This eye is kind of looking at me and that eye is looking at the

Speaker 2 times I think I go too big. I'm worried.
I'm worried about it. That is such a, that is such a good.

Speaker 2 God, you still surprise me. I don't think I've seen you do that.
It's like that, just, just the weird thing.

Speaker 1 Or you just look right over this.

Speaker 2 It's like doing that weird thing. It's like, there's no real,

Speaker 2 there's no, there's nothing particularly like specific about it. It's like something's off, but you don't really know.
I don't know what you're talking about.

Speaker 2 You know, it's like you, yeah, like that is. That is, you've clearly, like, you need corrective lenses, but you're not wearing them.

Speaker 1 Just my, when I get tired, my eye gets a little

Speaker 2 wonky eye.

Speaker 1 And you look like

Speaker 2 I just have a thing with my lips.

Speaker 1 You got a little surgery? You just got a little.

Speaker 2 It's not that I got a little surgery. It's maybe that I need a little surgery.

Speaker 2 I love you, Paul. Thank you for doing this so much.

Speaker 1 It means so much. Thank you for doing it.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God. I'm so happy

Speaker 2 to do it.

Speaker 2 You're great at it.

Speaker 1 Check out friendship coming out in theaters?

Speaker 2 No. There's no theaters.
No theaters.

Speaker 2 Theaters. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 They still exist. I don't know if people go.
No. They don't go.
I'll tell you, though. No.
They should go for

Speaker 2 you. You look, you know, nature.
Why do I want to go in my living room and my couch? I don't promote anything.

Speaker 2 It's the lamest thing ever. I don't ever want to talk about it.
We didn't even talk about this, but I will say, Tim Robinson is. freaking hilarious.

Speaker 2 He really is kind of the guy. Hilarious.
I got to see this movie in a theater with people, and I was like, oh my God,

Speaker 2 I forgot what it's like to see something that like everyone is laughing at, like

Speaker 2 having that kind of shared experience. And it was really, it was,

Speaker 2 it made me so happy and also kind of like nostalgic. Yeah.
And like almost sad. Yeah.
It's like, oh yeah, this used to exist.

Speaker 1 Remember, like, well, I still love this too when you watch previews and there's always some joker that's like, no, thanks.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I was like,

Speaker 2 you know, like, God, I love that.

Speaker 1 Even just someone going like, woo.

Speaker 2 I remember as a teenager seeing Footloose.

Speaker 1 Oh, I saw that in the theater

Speaker 1 seven or eight times.

Speaker 2 I saw it in the theater. It was so good.
I went back and watched it the next night. I went twice.
Yeah. Yeah.
So many times that movie in the theater.

Speaker 1 I got to get Kevin Bacon on here. Oh, you got.

Speaker 2 You got to.

Speaker 2 Footloose is Ren McCormick in the back.

Speaker 2 So I remember this scene where

Speaker 2 John Lithgow

Speaker 2 hits

Speaker 2 his daughter.

Speaker 1 Oh, Lori Singer.

Speaker 2 Lori Singer and hits her. And then it's shocking.
And it cuts to the next scene, and he feels terrible. And he's saying to his wife, Diane Weist,

Speaker 2 I've never had anyone in my entire life. And somebody in the back row goes, liar.

Speaker 2 And the entire theater

Speaker 2 lost their shit. And I was crying.
Like, that's the funniest thing.

Speaker 2 Liar. Liar.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 to this day, I still think of it. Yeah.
And it's like I was 14 years old, whatever, however old I was, maybe older than that, but like,

Speaker 2 you don't get that at home on your couch. You don't get it at home.
You don't get it.

Speaker 1 That's what, Paul and I want to encourage people to shout out at the movie theater. That's right.

Speaker 2 That's what I say whatever you want.

Speaker 1 You know what?

Speaker 1 You know, the fabric of society is fraying, just say, do it.

Speaker 2 Say whatever you want. And look, if you can't look, if you're in the movie theater with people and you can't think of something to say, just get on your phone, Google some things.

Speaker 2 Scroll.

Speaker 1 Or shine up or take your, put your flashlight on and try to find somebody else who's enjoying that.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go like, hey, what should we yell out?

Speaker 1 Yes. Or, you know, if you're like, if you really like something, run up to the front.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 1 And stand in front of the screen and go, I really like this.

Speaker 2 How about this? What do you guys think?

Speaker 1 Anything to get you there.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh my God.

Speaker 1 Okay. I can't wait to go to the movies.
All right. Love you, Paul.
You're the best. Thank you for doing this.

Speaker 1 You know, I realize with both John Hamm and Paul Rudd, I mentioned Janine Garofflo, who was one of my first friends in New York.

Speaker 1 And like I said, kind of the first person that I met who I had seen on TV first.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 you know, I just want to remind everybody to take a listen and a watch.

Speaker 1 Janine has done so much great comedy and remains such a sharp and funny,

Speaker 1 deeply

Speaker 1 interesting, curious person who is, you know, still performing and still,

Speaker 1 you know, she's just like a Gen X legend, Janine.

Speaker 1 We used to care about selling out and she never did. And

Speaker 1 Janine was always so kind and so helpful to a lot of young comedians and actors and people, myself included.

Speaker 1 She was instrumental for a lot of us in, you know, I don't know, feeling cool and feeling like we were part of a club. So watch Truth About Cats and Dogs, watch Rome and Michelle,

Speaker 1 you know, Reality Bites,

Speaker 1 watch the Larry Sanders show. Janine is just consistently good and such a good actor and so funny.
And

Speaker 1 I just

Speaker 1 feel nostalgic for our times together and maybe hope she wants to come here and talk to me. So thank you for listening to another episode and we will see you soon.

Speaker 1 You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler.
The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite.

Speaker 1 For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spilane, Kaya McMullen, and Aalaya Zanieris. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss Burman.
Original music by Amy Miles.

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