"Rashida Jones"

While Hilton is always expected to have top-notch service, you'd be surprised at the unexpected places they're offering it now. They've partnered with AutoCamp, which offers insanely cool airstreams in iconic outdoor destinations.
Hilton also has an exclusive partnership with small luxury hotels of the world, providing Hilton Honors members access to luxury boutique hotels across the

globe.

And they've added romantic and refined nomad hotels and graduate hotels in your favorite

college towns to their portfolio.

Explore all the new ways to stay with those Hilton Honors points you've been saving at

Hilton.com.

Hilton, for the stay.

Guys, who doesn't love Easter? Easter's the best. Baskets, candy, I'm in.
Macy's has everything you need for Easter. Clothes, hosting essentials, entertaining looks, gifting baskets, and more.
Macy's has all the Easter trends you love in apparel like florals, tweed, men's suits and casual dressing, and kids' dressy clothes from brands like Levi's and Calvin Klein.

Accessories with sandals, handbags, jewelry, and watches from brands like Mark Fisher and Coach, plus home essentials from decorations, candy, and toys to KitchenAid and Le Crusade. Shop in-store and online at Macy's.com from now until Easter on April 20th.
Lowe's knows that taking on more projects should be rewarding. That's why loyalty members get more every day with rewards for every home or business purchase.
Plus, shop weekly member deals and get access to free standard shipping. So what are you waiting for? Join for free today.
Lowe's, we help you save. Loyalty program subject to terms and conditions.
Details at lowes.com slash terms subject to change. So welcome to SmartList, everybody.
I hope you have a full charge on your iPod. Do people still use iPods? No.
I don't think so. I think they just use...
Is that what they listen to us on? Their phones. Okay, boomer.
What is boomer? What ages are boomers? 1946 to 64.

I just looked it up today.

Truly?

Truly.

Wow.

What's a Z-er?

Us.

That's us.

No, we're Gen X, man.

Oh, we're X.

Sorry.

What are the ages of X?

Gen X is like 19... Well, sorry.

We keeping you up?

You know we're rolling, bro.

1960.

Are we rolling right now?

Yeah.

We're cold opening the shit out of this right now. Is this an all new Smartless? All right, welcome to Smartless.
Smart. Less.
Smart. Less.
Smart. Less.
Oh, yeah. Will.
Yes. Well, Will.
Today's Will's guest. It is.
Yeah. It is.
How are you feeling about your guest today, Will? I'm feeling very good about my guest. Yeah.
Well, because, I mean, I don't want to get into it too quickly, but because it's somebody that we all know, so. You'd think I would have a preference as to, you know, either your guests or Sean's guests by now.
Like, who ends up hosting better guests? Do you guys have a preference? Like, I think it's pretty random, right? Like, who we... A lot of times we bring people on that we all know.

And then sometimes it's a lot of times it's people,

none of us know, and sometimes we...

Sometimes it's in the middle.

And sometimes it's right in the middle.

It's fascinating.

And sometimes we reach out to guests, and then sometimes guests reach out to us.

And it's just a great blend, you guys. I got to listen to this show.
Thank you for pointing it out. This show seems great.
Jason, it was good to see you last night. We all had dinner last night and we haven't seen you in so long.
Yeah, I know. It was so nice to see you and the dinner was super fun and everybody was funny.
All giddy all night. Yeah, I know.
I laughed real hard last night. And then I told you.
You know, I'm real sweet on that Tig Dataro. She's great.
She's so funny. I just love her.
Hysterical. Hysterical.
I told Will this a couple weeks ago, Jason, I finally saw The Godfather. Oh, boy.
Yeah. Sean says to me the other day.
And it was really good. He goes, hey.
Was it good, Sean? Scotty, you know what? We watched The Godfather the other night. It's really good.
And I said, oh, did you think everybody was lying? And then I just watched that part two like two days ago, three days ago. Now they say that part two is better than the first.
I don't remember having a feeling either way. Yeah.
They're different. They're both excellent.
Part two, The Godfather 2 is excellent as well. Yeah, I kind of had to pause every 10 minutes and be like, Scotty, who's that? Who's that? Who's that? There's so many characters.
Oh, you're one of those. It reminded me never to watch a movie with you.
Okay, never watch a movie. Hey, and then number three gets a bad rap, but I don't remember like watching number three and going, this is terrible.
I think he got a bad rap at the time and and then now people, as they look back, they go, like, they've had a different, yeah. I just, Scotty just said, Coppola went back in and recut it recently, like in the last five years or so.
Oh, really? Oh, really? Yeah. I don't know if that's true.
Yeah, three and a half. Yeah.
Anyway, check it out if you haven't seen it. Hey, if you haven't seen any of the Godfather films.
Welcome to Smartless Hot Takes on new films. It's like the time Jason came up to me and said, hey, you know what I was? Blues Brothers is a really good movie.
Yeah. I remember that.
The 1980 film? I know. Oh, there's so much.
A band was humming the Flashdance song the other day, and I go, you know, I've never seen it. She goes, oh, you're such a loser.
I really am. There's so many.
Remember last night we were talking about At Close Range, which is a good movie. I want to go back once.
I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it.
I need to see it. Who's in that? Sean Penn and Chris Walken.
Oh, yeah. I want to see that.
Yeah, let's see. I never saw Flashdance.
You didn't? No. Now that surprises me.
What about Ghost? I love Ghost. Sean, i'm surprised you haven't seen flash dance i know me too because i dance because you like dancing and you're flashy all right this is enough of the fucking regis kathy lee chatter let's what are you talking about this is the fun part and so is the guest part but this is fun too i know but i always feel bad for the guests.
I got to sit there and listen to the patter. All right, fine.
Well, everybody's got busy lives too. They're probably, you know, sending emails and texts and stuff.
You think your guest is sending emails and stuff? Well, I know that our, I'll put it this way. Okay.
This is a great segue. Our guest is a very, very busy person.

Huh.

Yeah, because in addition to being

a very sought-after actress,

she's also a very sought-after

writer and producer.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

She has written

and produced

Emmy-nominated stuff.

She's produced and written

big, huge animated films. like, I don't know, Toy Story 4.
Sean. You know, she's acted in, and she's written a new series that she's got coming out.
Her new series is called, I think it's called Sunny. Yeah.
It's the worst fucking intro I've ever heard. No, because I'm trying to...
Just take a little time to write something down when you write something down. No, because I'm trying to disguise who it is.
You wrote it. You're doing a great job.
Because as soon as I say what you know her from, you're going to know who it is. Let's have it.
Because you know her really well. Because you know her also very well from things like The Office and Parks and Rec.
Huh? And Boston Public. It's Amy Poehler? No, it's Rashida Jones.
Rashida! Rashida, did you know you were coming on when I saw you last week, two weeks ago? I did. And I don't listen to your show, so I didn't know it was a surprise.
I'm really glad I didn't say anything. Wow.
It's happened so many times. I don't even know why we continue the whole structure.
Charade. Yeah.
Look at your cute pink headphones. I know.
She's got some real headphones on. My dad's JBL.
Really? He rocks a pink headphone? No, this is like his design. Oh, his line.
Oh, really? What's it called? Yeah. It's JBL, but it's like the Q.
We're happy to do some personal experience if you want to send some of those our way. You got it.
By the way, for my sister, for my sister Tracy, your dad is Quincy Jones. Please continue.
Okay. Okay.
Please continue. Yes, Tracy.
That's also, if you're not a listener of the... I heard about that.
Okay, so we referenced Tracy. Sort of a catch-all for those less informed.

But there's no shot

at Tracy herself.

No.

She's a very bright,

sharp Wisconsin.

She's representing the people.

That's right.

Yeah.

She's happy to do it.

Rashida,

welcome to SmartList.

Where are we finding you

in this great booth of yours?

Thank you.

I'm in my husband's studio.

That's a question mark. What does husband do? He's a musician.
He has a radio show, not a podcast, a radio show. Oh.
But also a musician. Wait, Jason, do you honestly not know who her husband is? I don't.
You know how old I am. I barely know what day it is.
I've embarrassed myself hourly. You're kidding.
On my kid's life, I have no idea who her husband is. Her husband, Ezra, is singer, songwriter, extraordinary.
Have you ever heard of a band called Vampire Weekend? Oh, no way. Yes.
I didn't know that either. We both met him.
Oh, that's right. Okay, but he didn't announce his job.
He didn't give you his bio. No.
He didn't lead with that. It's like when people come up to you and they go, oh, you're an actor.
What are you in? Yeah. Do you want me to start listening? Well, by the way, still to this day, I assume nobody knows who I am.
Nobody knows what I'm, people look at me funny and I'm like, yeah, I know. I look like that guy you went to school with.

At this point, really?

Come on. Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.

Well, you know why? Because I spent so many years

assuming everybody knew who I was

and I had a very uncomfortable adjustment.

You peaked early. I get it.

I will never make that mistake again.

Everybody knows you're Justin Bateman.

That's exactly right. I get that once a day.
Justin Bateman, a big fan. Not that big.
Not that big. Yeah, that's tough.
Rashida. You guys.
It's so good to see you. Rashida.
Tell me what you're doing like today and what's going on. You know how much I love you.
I love you. I love you.
What am I doing today? This, I'm doing this. I'm, I don't, what am I doing today? I'm like prepping for the summer.
How does one prep for the summer? Cleaning the pool? Just like a lot of reps. Got to cut a lot of vegetables.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Crouches. No, just like packing.
Tanning booth. A tanning booth, of course.
Where are you going? Well, I'm doing some press for the show. Oh, yeah.
That will mention Sonny. I didn't write it.
I'm in it. I'm in it.
But I produced it. Oh, I thought you wrote it.
But you produced it. Yeah.
And you produced it. Which is a really cool, the premise is your character moves to Japan, lives in Japan, and her husband dies.
Missing. But they're on a plane crash.
They're missing. Yeah.
And the company sends, his company sends you a new personal robot. Yes.
Called Sunny. In the future.
Yeah, it's in the future. I had three callbacks for that robot.
Did you? Yeah. They said, you know what they said? You know what the note was? Too robotic.
Too robotic. It's the only way I tee it up for you willie um well wait hang on now rashida you wrote yourself something that you that puts you in japan a little bit i didn't write it you guys let's be very good i didn't write it i produced it but yes i put myself in japan yes i lived in japan how great was that it was really great i know It was really great.
Have you been before? Japan is the best. It's the best.
I had been there like three or four times for a couple weeks, but I was there for six months. Wow.
Wow. Well, now, Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka.
Kyoto and Tokyo. We filmed in both.
Yeah. Wow.
That's so cool. Because I hear if you go over there, you've got to have it wired.
Like it's a place you need to like have a chaperone or like very good notes or tips or you can get lost there. Yeah, you can.
But even getting lost is fun there. It doesn't really matter.
There's no bad version of it. But yes, I was like dialed in because I had like the most amazing PA and like people who really knew the cities.
And so like I just went to the best, coolest restaurants, gardens, temples, onsen. Yeah.
So Rashida, you know, I loved Silo so much. I told you when I saw you and I was like, oh my God, Rashida's in this show that I heard so much about that I love so much and then you died in the first fucking episode.
I was like, wait. That's how I do it.
I was like, wait, what? Did that bum you out? No, that's why I took the job. Okay, okay.
It's fun to make people like you and then die. If you guys haven't seen Silo, it's so good.
It's like James Dean. Damn, dude.
Wow. It's not even 11.
Hang on a second. By the way, not too soon, by the way.
There's no fucking way that's too soon. Willie, guess how old he was when he died? 23? Yeah.
Was he? That's so crazy. Isn't that amazing that he was never older than 23? I would look to him and I always tell you he was like you know like that's a man.
I just watched The Giant with him and Rock Hudson and Liz Taylor. Just Giant.
Just Giant. Just Giant.
More hot takes from John. Tracy it's just Giant.
Yeah. Shut up.
How was that? Was that part of the Hey you know what's a great movie? Gone with the Wind. You guys seen that? It's pretty good.
Nothing's really gone. Nothing leaves.
It's got legs. I mean, there's a fire, but, you know.
It's got legs. There's a fire.
Yeah, I know it was really long, but it was good. I didn't know it was based on...
Dallas was based on it. The show Dallas was based on Giant.
Oh, yeah? Anyway, let's continue.

Yeah, James Dean, I think this is one of his last movies,

or his last movie.

Wait a second.

Hang on a second.

This is like, you're like a one-man Reddit thread.

You're like a fucking, and you're like, what am I doing?

Why am I clicking?

But is that a known fact, or is that a weird Reddit thing

that Dallas was based on Giant?

No, the guy's name is JR.

I mean, his initials are JR. And Giant, he's an oil king and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You're sure? 100% positive. Okay.
And then what Knotts Landing was based on? I'd love it if Scotty just slid in on a rolling stool. Well, that was based on...
Just for what it's worth, A Place in the Sun with Montgomery Clift is an amazing movie. All right.
Sorry, I just thought we were doing random. All right, Rashida, let's get to the guests.
Will, you have any questions for your guests? Yeah, yeah. Would you back off? Come on.
Your attitude is so shit. Go eat something for fuck's sake and then come back at me.
I had too much oatmeal. No, listen.
Sorry, Rashida. Jason pulled up his shirt last night and I saw his abs, crazy abs.
Really? Oh my God. Like summer abs? But not by choice, just from diet.
No. There's no sugar, dairy? There's no food.
There's no dinner. There's no food.
There's no sugar, no dinner. Intermittent fasting? That's what you do? It's unintentional, but it's...
Intermittent eating. Yeah, that's it.
Wow. Are you hungry all the time? Are you hungry and grumpy all the time? No, you get past it.
You just got, you know, you got to race to bed. You're going to say discipline.
You have to get to sleep. You got to get to bed.
You got to get to sleep. He thinks it's discipline.
Oh, it is definitely discipline. It's mental illness, bro, at this point.
People have different words for different things. So, wait.
So, Rashida, I want to talk to you a little bit about, so, your experience. Everybody knows you from The Office and from Parks and Rec.
And then, but everybody knew you as this actress and you were kind of working in comedy and TV. And then you started, you and, I want to say that you, I don't know how long you knew Will McCormick for, but you guys teamed up.
You started writing and you just started writing all your own stuff. Like you kind of made this shift at a certain point.
Was that like a conscious decision? You're like, I've always had all these ideas and I'm sick of doing other people's stuff. I just want to do my own shit.
Yeah. I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn't feel like I was good enough or anointed to be that kind of person.
I think probably because I went to school with a lot of people who ended up writing for television. Harvard.
Harvard. Did you really go to Harvard? And they were all in the lampoon, and they were funny, and the guys who were going to get the jobs and stuff.
So I never felt like that. So I didn't feel worthy pursuing that.

And then a strike happened.

Did you know Mike Schur at Harvard?

Yeah.

Mike Schur is the one who created Parks and Rec?

We met freshman year.

Wow.

We did a play together freshman year called Love, Sex, and the IRS.

Love, Sex, and the IRS.

It opened with us making out.

Was he acting?

Yeah.

How was he?

Yeah.

Funny. I bet he's great.
Yeah, he was funny. He was great.
Yeah, I bet he is funny. Really good.
Mike Schur, yeah, for Tracy, Mike Schur started SNL and he was head writer of Weekend Update and then he went to The Office and then he went with Greg Daniels and they created Parks and Rec and then he went on to do Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place and tons of other stuff. He's a brilliant writer.
And you guys have a long relationship. I feel like I kind of know sure through SNL, but also kind of through you because you guys were friends.
Yeah, since we were 18. Yeah, that's amazing.
We wrote a paper together in college, by the way. How stupid is that? We convinced our teacher that we should write a paper together for the class, the Warren Court.

What is that?

About the Warren Commission?

About the Supreme Court Justice Warren.

Aha.

Wow. I'd love to read your paper.

It sounds hilarious.

It sounds really funny.

So bad.

And we will be right back. Have you met All Modern? All Modern thinks making your space modern with fresh furniture and decor should be easy.
That's why All Modern's team of modern-obsessed experts hand vets each design for quality. And not to mention they offer fast and free shipping.
Yep, that means you can upgrade your home in days, not weeks. So whether you're updating your living room with a plush new sofa, setting up an alfresco dining area with a modern table and chairs, or designing a cozy fireside retreat, All Modern has everything for your modern outdoor escape all in one place.
That's modern made for real life. Shop now at allmodern.com or visit them in store in Linfield and Dedda, Massachusetts, or in Austin, Texas.
Guys, we all need to drink water every day. I mean, we have to drink water to stay alive, right? So why should it be boring? I like sparkling water because it didn't have all the sugar and the added chemicals and everything like that that soda has.
So sparkling water gives you the bite that you're looking for. But with Waterloo sparkling water, you get a little flavor in it, like a fruit flavor, and it's so delicious.
With authentic flavors and lively carbonation, Waterloo sparkling water brings full flavor artistry. What's flavor artistry, you ask? It's all about custom-crafting multi-sensorial flavor experiences of aroma, taste, and mouthfeel that make you say, wow! Waterloo waters are crafted, not formulated or off the shelf, just purified sparkling water and non-GMO project verified natural flavors with zero calories, sugar, or sweeteners.
I love it because guess what? I've been open about this. I've gotten kidney stones, so I have to stay hydrated all the time.
I constantly drink water all day long. And it does get boring until Waterloo.
The flavors are so delicious. The black cherry is delicious.
I had it. It's so yummy and it feels so good going down.
Give Waterloo Sparkling Water a try. Look for Waterloo Sparkling Water next time you shop.
Learn more about the flavors from Waterloo Sparkling Water at drinkwaterloo.com. Hey guys, you want to know an easy genius hack to improve your life? Eat more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
Sure, there are countless life coaches, gurus, and thought leaders out there, but none of them are sharing this simple secret. Eating a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup brings a burst of joy to your day.
They've got the perfect

ratio of sweet chocolate to salty peanut butter that's sure to satisfy, and there's no wrong way

to eat one. It's all about whatever makes you happy.
I should speak, right? I love them. Shop

Reese's peanut butter cups now at a store near you. Found wherever candy is sold.

And now back to the show. Now wait, so get me back to the writing part of it.
What gave you kind of the fuel to like say, well, you know what? Maybe I can or maybe I should. Did it come from just getting more and more proud of your writing or were you reading more and more things that were not great that were getting produced and you were like, I can do at least that.
I think it was that. I think you just read so much when you're auditioning and even if you're not getting jobs you just see the kind of landscape of what people are writing and obviously there was good stuff but I was kind of inspired by that moment in time that like the peak Judd Apatow where like all those dudes were just like just writing themselves, you know.
And I thought I could at least do that, right? Even if it's not as good or as funny, I could find some audience. And I also had this feeling that like nobody would ever cast me as a certain kind of thing.
And if I'm going to get that part, I probably have to write it for myself. You know what? It's so funny.
When I was living in Chicago, I would watch certain channels that no longer exist. And on those channels were shows that no longer exist and they weren't really great.
And I was really young and I was like, I know I can be at least that bad. Like if that's all that's required, there's got to be some job for me somewhere.
Right, right. Because they're not fantastic.
Right. Anyway, that was one.
I wasn't saying that about, no, I'm not saying that about. But you know what I mean? Like I saw the entire spectrum and I thought, there's somewhere I can land.
And of course, I had lofty dreams because I grew up on Jim Brooks and Nora Ephron. And those were the kinds of movies I wanted to be in and I wanted to write.
And I think having Bill holding each other's hands through the process, like we literally sat side and wrote our first script together and I feel like that. How did that relationship start? How did you guys? We were set up.
We were set up by his sister, Mary McCormick. You must know Mary McCormick.
Yes, we love Mary. Of course, the best.
I did a movie in the 90s, indie movie with Mary, and I was obsessed with her. She was like the coolest, funniest person I'd ever met.
She was like, you should go out with my brother. You guys are soulmates.
And she's not wrong. It didn't work out.
We did date for three weeks. It didn't work out.
But he kind of is my work soulmate. We still work together.
So you guys still work together, you and Will? Yeah. We produce and we write together.
That's awesome. I love Will.
He's such a good dude and Mary is so amazing. So you guys start, so you guys kind of have this, you realize, you date, but it's not working out, but you realize that there is something else there on another maybe potentially even deeper level.
Yeah Yeah. Creatively.
That you connect on. And what was the first thing that you guys were like, hey, we need to write this.
Like, how did that happen? We started writing oh, it's so weird. No, we started writing a show in New York.
I mean, we were just drunk. It's not even worth mentioning.
The only thing we completed was Celeste and Jesse Forever. It was the first movie that we wrote in its entirety and went out with.
Were you tempted to write about your relationship? Well, we kind of, yeah. It kind of was that a little bit of it.
It was like an amalgam of the first kind of love that we had, our own separate loves, plus our dynamic as like a kind of somewhere in the middle of romantic and best friend ship.

Yeah.

You just made me think of, sorry to bounce around, one of my favorite movies is Social

Network.

Was there any, your participation in that and having gone to Harvard, was there any,

was any of that happening while you were there you were there at that time no bro no i'm old no so it was after you left yeah it was like 2004 we had we had the facebook which was the freshman facebook yeah which is what the name is based on and so like you'd get to school and you'd have, everybody would pick their headshots, you know.

Like a yearbook.

Yeah, like a yearbook, but you submit your picture.

Yeah, that's pretty good.

Was it digital or was it a hard copy?

Hard copy.

Digital, we had Ethernet my senior year.

There was no internet.

Right, yeah, we're about the same age.

No, you're younger than we are.

I'm younger than you. Come on.
Look at her. Jason um you're the oldest one here by the way how old are you 55 look at his face wow you're 55 that's amazing yeah so some gray in my beard you it somewhere under that beard you do look great it's just a lot of beard i'm.
It's a hell of a back-end account. I'm playing a loser.
Oh, you are? Yeah. Oh, in the movie.
In real life. My wife and I like role-playing, so this month she's got me as a loser.
This month. Hey, growing up around so much music, I'm sure, there's constantly music in your house, I'm sure, right? Yeah.
When you were a kid? Yeah. And were you ever inspired to do that? Was your whole family like, wait, don't you want to come over here and do what we're doing? We're playing instruments, we're singing songs, we're producing records.
I love it so much and I kind of like sing for fun. I've written for fun.
And I've sung backup on some albums and things like that. Yeah, I sang backup on the first two Maroon 5s.
No way. And I sang for them live, yeah.
That's so cool. That's so good.
Wait, can you read music? Can you write music? I can write. My reading is limited.
But my dad's a musical genius. That's like like, the last thing I want to do is, like, try my hand at that.
Okay, okay. You know, but I love it.
Like, I have a deep ache for music, and I just don't ever feel like I'm good enough to do it. Like, I'll never be good enough to do it.
Again, like, I want to remind people, like, your dad produced Thriller. Yeah.
Right? So, like, that's so...

I remember one time, Rashida,

going over to your dad's house with you

and being blown away,

going downstairs and seeing...

You know when you go into somebody's office, guys,

and you see, like,

they've got, like, a record, right?

Like, a platinum record or whatever,

like, some whatever.

And you go into Quincy's house...

A museum.

And, well, it is...

A, it's a museum.

And B, the framed thing for Thriller

has, like, 40 platinum records in the frame.

Thank you. Yes, that was so good.
Yeah, so I was going to talk about it. So let's get to the documentary about your dad.
Yeah. I mean, what a great thing to do for your, I mean, for your parents.
It's just like, I don't know. Well, I was going to say, so, I mean, obviously, you know, yeah, like Jason said, it's a great thing to do and to be able to do with your dad.
But also, like, what was, do you remember the moment where you're like, how that, the sort of the genesis of that? What was the moment? I'm not going to take any credit. My dad is so well-documented.
Yeah. Like, he had it.
There was a doc series on BBC. There was a documentary about him in the 80s.
And I was with Jane Rosenthal. You know Jane? Yeah.
The great Jane Rosenthal. Who's a legend.
And she worked for my dad years ago, like 30 years ago. Oh, wow.
And she said to me, you have to make a documentary about your dad. And I was like, oh, fuck, I do.
I do, don't I? I didn't want to, but she was right. Because the truth is, he's so well-documented, he's so accomplished, that it's almost impossible to spend any time storytelling about who he is as a person to cover so much ground with just what he's like like contributed to the world and culture i wanted to do something that felt like it captured his personality because nothing ever has and so that was kind of the goal and then al hicks who i love by the way have you if you've never seen, he made a documentary called Keep On, Keepin' On, which is about Clark Terry, who's my dad's mentor, and his last mentee, who's this incredible jazz pianist.
He's blind. Justin Coughlin, it's about their relationship.
It's like, if you're ready to cry, that's what you turn on. It's like waterworks.
It's it's keep on keeping on keep on keeping on so hicks he directed that we met on my first day of filming in montreal and switzerland the jazz festival i had like a 5d camera i was like trying to figure out what to do how to do it and we met that day and then i asked him to co-direct with me. Wow.
That's great. Yeah, and I mean, just the accent.

So yeah, all that archival footage that people have already seen about your dad,

no one's seen you just walking around with a camera in the house and talking to your dad.

Right, that was really cool.

That was just like this access.

It just felt so privileged watching it.

It was really, really touching. Yeah, it felt intimate, and too intimate, in fact,

because there was a whole scene where, I scene where he almost died while we were filming

and we stopped filming

and luckily my brother was filming

a bunch of stuff in the hospital to show my dad

because he went into

diabetic coma and

luckily

the conclusion of the story

was such that we could put it in and

felt like the real triumph through that because my dad

is a beast and he has

cheated death many times

91, still crushing it

Thank you. was such that we could put it in and felt like the real triumph through that because my dad is a beast and he has cheated death many times.

91, still crushing it.

Wow, that's amazing.

You know, what was fascinating to me watching that

was seeing you in the document

because you're like,

you have to check out this documentary.

I ran home and watched it.

And there's my friend Rashida Jones.

And I'm watching Rashida Jones

interview her dad, who's Quincy Jones. And I had this weird thing where like, wait, they're related? Which is a compliment because- That's really nice.
I take that. You've made such a world for yourself, separate from his huge world.
And you've both become hugely successful that it was it was wild just to see wow

that you both

yeah separate from his huge world and you've both become hugely successful that it was wild just to see, wow, that you both, yeah. Well, it's true, Rashidi.
And that was also something that I wanted to get to, which is like, it's not easy, I can imagine. I can only imagine how to, and it's not by anybody's fault or design that you have a dad who is larger than life, who who is you know like as you said a musical genius everybody knows he's created incredible things he's done amazing things and to grow up with that I can only imagine there's a lot there I'll just say that and then you go to Harvard and get to create your own thing and to have your own incredible success, that's a real testament to your talent.

I hope you recognize that.

Yeah, to have the courage

to even try

and then you nailed it

and now people are like,

wait, she has a famous dad?

Yeah.

You know,

it's like you've already

got your own thing.

It's Janet and Michael.

Huh?

Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson.

I never think of them

in the same family.

Oh, his mother, Janet?

No.

No, but like,

Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson are in the same family but when I see them, I'm like, I don't think of the other one. Right.
You know what I mean? It's not a great analogy, also. It's too close.
It's too close with Michael and stuff. All right, sorry, sorry.
No, I mean, we would cut it, but we want to shame you, so we're going to leave it in. We might open the episode with it.
Yeah, yeah. Have you seen The Godfather? Just kidding.
No, I heard talking about that and we actually did. We watched it recently too.
We watched all three. And great films.
Great films. I don't know if anybody knows, but really great films.
And three, great film. I don't know.
I think we watched the edited version, but I watched it because I hadn't seen it since I know Sophia so well and just seeing baby Sophia in that movie. That was her first on screen, wasn't it? You know what's crazy about Three, you guys? It's about first cousins in love.
I know. It's wild.
I just started watching it. And that's not the central conflict of the movie.
It's just a key story. Well, so you mentioned Sofia Coppola.
So you made a film with Sofia, I want to say, five, four, five years ago, right, On the Rocks? Yeah, 2020. Well, it came out during lockdown.
So, yeah, 2020. Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about.
I blacked that part out of my brain. Yes, we all have.
I don't know what you mean. So you and you, right? So you made this film on the rocks in 2020 with Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray.
Yeah. And you got a lot of great reviews for that performance.
I mean, everybody loved it. And did you know Sofia before or was that where you guys kind of got to know each other? We had met, we had met, I was in an act, I was like an out of work actor in an acting class in New York and she came to the class to workshop Lost in Translation.
What? And so I played the like main part for a month with her. No, wait, wait, walk me through that idea.
What is that? So I work with, my acting coach, Greta, works a lot with Frances and Sophia. And they do like dream work around, you know, character dream work.
And so she kind of came to explore and enrich like the characters in the film. And so I was like assigned to the lead part, to the Scarlett Johansson part.
And then I had to do dream assignments and come in and embarrass myself by acting out my dreams. But it was really very cool.
I got to play that part and work with Sophia for a month. I was like 27 or something, 26, 27.
Wow. That's pretty cool.
That is cool. Also shot in Japan.
I didn't get the part, but that's fine. Yeah.
Didn't even audition. So, but you didn't get the part, but you, but you got to have a sort of a really intense working relationship with Sophia and you guys stayed together.
We're like, we got to do something at some point. That's the kind of vibe or.
I mean, obviously I would have done any, I wouldn't have would have done anything for her, but we stayed over the years and then I shot we did she directed a Calvin Klein underwear commercial that I was in and then she did this Bill Murray Christmas special for Netflix and we had a little scene in that and she was like, there's like something happening here. Like, this is like a good dynamic, and I think she got the idea sort of from that scene we had together.
Nice. What was that like working with Bill Murray? A lot of people.
I know. I know.
I mean, you know, you don't really talk to many people that work with him. I know.
You know, they're as elusive as he is. Yeah.
That is true. Also, by the way.
I never thought about that. That's true.
We have, we, when we were doing that workshop, Sophia was trying to cast him and she had a dedicated assistant who sat outside our rehearsals with a phone waiting for him to call back all day, every day. God, it's amazing.
Yeah. Right? Because like.
By the way, she already had a relationship with him, had a successful film with him and stuff, but she still had to have that. No, no, no.
That was for Lost in Translation. That was before.
Oh, that was for Lost in Translation. Yes, that was originally when I met her and we were working on that.
She had not cast him. She was still courting him.
And, you know, he's like a Loch Ness monster. Because the story goes like you can only reach him via fax or something like that.

I know.

Yeah, I guess.

I've never had that.

He's got a phone number that you can call and leave a message.

He had like a toll-free number or something for a while.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I remember that, yeah.

But he really is like, he did a guest spot.

I had a show called Angie Trebeca.

Yes.

And he did a guest spot, and he called me, and I booked his ticket.

He was like, oh, yeah, I want to leave at 9. Oh, no way.
On Wednesday. I was like, okay.
Are you serious? Shiette Blue, yeah. Yeah.
That's funny. No way.
Yeah. And is he just about as chill and sort of don't sweat the small stuff as he seems? He's pretty great.
I mean, he is extremely charismatic. You know, he's like, and he's also, what I didn't really know, I'd worked with him a couple times before, but doing a whole movie with him, like he's so, he's so good.
He's so good. I'm not saying anything you don't know, but he's such a good actor and he's so, he's so present and he still works hard as an actor.
You know, he's not checked out. Right, right.
He could be checked out because he's like just his talent is is is you know undeniable but he's like he works hard he had like a lot of big meaty monologues in that movie where he would talk about like biology evolutionary biology and the nature of men and women and like it was a lot he had to he had to run down some serious theories and he was like fully committed I would love to have him on this show and ask him questions for an hour. Did you, first of all...
Why don't you wait out in the hall with a phone? Yeah, by the way... Not good enough? Not good enough? Wow.
Yeah, Jesus. Already thinking about the next guest.
Already thinking about old Bill Murray. We'll be right back.
Hey, guys, you want to know an easy genius hack to improve your life? Eat more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Sure, there are countless life coaches, gurus, and thought leaders out there, but none of them are sharing this simple secret.
Eating a Reese's peanut butter cup brings a burst of joy to your day.

They've got the perfect ratio of sweet chocolate to salty peanut butter that's sure to satisfy,

and there's no wrong way to eat one.

It's all about whatever makes you happy.

I should speak, right?

I love them.

Shop Reese's peanut butter cups now at a store near you.

Found wherever candy is sold. You and we deserve snacks that are better for you and incredibly delicious, and that's where Skinny Pop Popcorn comes in.
Skinny Pop uses quality ingredients to bring you the light and tasty flavors you love. The original ready-to-eat popcorn is made up of just popcorn kernels, sunflower oil, and salt.
That's it. In addition to the original popcorn, Skinny Pop also offers a variety of delicious flavors from white cheddar to sweet and salty kettle popcorn.
Skinny Pop popcorn is always non-GMO gluten-free, and there are many vegan options too. So stop everything and add Skinny Pop to your grocery list.
It's okay. We'll wait.

So for me, whenever Scotty and I are going to watch a movie at home, I mix the original popcorn with the kettle popcorn because the kettle is a little more sweet, but the original is a little more salty. Do you get what I'm going for? It's kind of like how I cut my apple juice with water.
Anyway, Skinny Pop popcorn. Deliciously pop,ly salted.
Shop Skinny Pop now.

Our show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

Hey guys, everybody should have a support system, right?

Who's your support system?

My support system, as you well know, talk about it all the time, is Scotty and of course my two besties, Will and Jason.

Whenever I have a problem, an issue, I talk to them about it.

And if they're not available, I will talk to a therapist and I I've been going to therapy for a long time. And it's always great.
So think about your favorite leaders, mentors, and idols. They don't have all the answers, but they do know when to ask questions or seek support from their community.
In a society that glorifies hyper-independence, it's easy to forget that we're all better when we have a support system behind us. Therapy can be a source of support for any area of your life.
It's time to shift that focus from doing it all to knowing that we're better when we ask for help. BetterHelp is fully online, making therapy affordable and convenient, serving over 5 million people worldwide.
Access a diverse network of more

than 30,000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties. Easily switch therapists anytime at no extra cost.
Build your support system with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash smartless to get 10% off your first month.
That's betterhelp.com slash smartless. All right, back to the show.
All right, so let's switch gears. All of a sudden, now you find yourself with the gang over at Pixar, right? The crew.
The Pixar crew. The Pixar crew, they approach you and they go, Rashida, we want you to come in here and start mixing it up on the Toy Story bonanza.
How'd that go down? I mean, this is, I love these Toy Story movies. I love Pixar movies so much.
Yeah, I do too. Yeah, me too.
And it was, yeah, I was on Parks and, you know, they have really kind of cool development where every, you know, their development people, their casting people, they watch indie films. Like that's how they get their ideas, you know.
Like I had had some friends who'd written indie movies who'd written there. And we went and screened Celeste and Jessie Forever.
And then we got a call to meet on a project, all very, very under wraps, you know, like they have to keep everything really. And we went and met and we got the job.
And so I went to sure. And I was like, listen, I love you.
I love the show. I want to be here, but I got a job.
It's at Pixar. I have to move to the Bay area.
And like, I, but I need your blessing, you know? And he was like, he's the greatest. He's the best boss ever because he let everybody do everything they wanted to do while we were doing that show.
Chris Pratt, they filmed in London so Pratt could do the first Marvel movie he did. He just wanted everybody to be the best version of themselves.
So he was like, yeah, of course, you have to go. How long did you live in the Bay Area to do that? I lived there two years.
Wow. And you had to live there while you were writing it because the process is so sort of collaborative and back and forth? It's collaborative, it's iterative.
You're rewriting a script every three weeks. It is not a WGA job.
I'll just say that. And you're working with the story artists and they're sort of writing within the way that they draw changes the story and then you have to change the script to fit the sequences.
One of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen is the Pixar story. They sit down and show that to you on your first day there.
Yeah, they should. It's so fascinating.
Yeah. And I did Monsters University, that little movie.
And so we went up there too, and the whole facility is the coolest. Everybody's just playing ping pong and walking around.
Yeah. It's like college.
There's a vibe there. It's like college.
They're so good at ping pong up there. They're so good at ping pong.
That's the one thing I love about Pixar is how good at ping pong they are. I did one movie.
I did a Ratatouille. It's not a big deal back in the day.
With Brad Bird. With Brad Bird.
Who cares? That's a good movie. That's a very good movie.
You've played that great big huge dude, right? The nasty boss? No, he's the German sous chef. So good.
Fun movie. Brad Bird is such a genius.
That guy's a genius. Yeah, it's amazing.
It feels nice. They send me a nice coffee table book every Christmas.
Oh. They do? Yeah.
Just about different subjects each year? Just stuff, you know, from your friends at Pixar. Sometimes it's about boats.
It's very nice. I really appreciate it.
I got a lot of coffee tables. I drink a lot of coffee.
Okay, guys. You and Jason both grew up in the valley.
Did you ever run into each other? Have you known each other or no? You always pass each other. You don't remember, do you? I want to know.
I want to hear this. I don't remember yesterday.
No, I definitely, we've crossed paths. Uh-oh.
Uh-oh, Jason. No, no, no, no, no.
There's no raw stories. There's no raw stories.
I just remember seeing you around and you were cute. All my friends liked you.
I just feel like there's so much crossover. 80s, Valley.
Yeah, but where? Was this before we were driving? Were we at kids' parties? No, because you were driving when I was like 12. Yeah.
Or 11. But I feel like there was like, I'm trying to think of the 80s parties, 80s clubs.
Well, sure, like Roxbury. Flippers, Peanuts, Roxbury.
It sounds like you didn't see each other. That's what it sounds like.
Well, I wasn't remembering a lot back then.

But wait, wait, let's go back to Flippers and Peanuts.

Yeah, Flippers was a roller skating place where-

You were about Flippers?

Flippers is now the CVS on the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica.

And you still go there.

It was like Studio 54, but roller skates.

No way.

Maybe not Studio.

It was happening.

And then there was a big club where the Beverly Center is right now. Oh, yes.
It's called Odyssey, wasn't it? I think that was. Odyssey, yes.
Roxbury, though, that was a spot. And then above the Roxy, on the rocks, that was a biggie.
On the rocks. The whiskey bar at the bottom of the Sunset Marquee was a big haunt for me.
Oh, that was banging. Yes.
Yeah. Me too.
Yeah, it was good times. So see, I do remember things.
But just not her. Did you go to high school? Like, did you go to high school in sets? This is a great question.
Ish. I did not get any.
Imagine a, okay, Rashida, imagine a school bus. No, no, that was eighth grade.
The back of it has a bunch of massage tables. The back of it has a bunch of massage bus, right? Are we not? She doesn't know about the massage.
You went to massage bus school. Yeah, it was called Heartlight.
It was an experimental school. It's just one year.
Exactly. And I also grew up with Amanda.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, Jason's right, Amanda.
Yep. Yeah, we all go back.
Yeah. Where did the acting bug come from? Was there- Well, what age? Well, your mom, obviously your mom.
My mom was an actress, yeah. Was an actress for- Encouraging there? The great Peggy Lipton.
Yeah. Yes, the great Peggy Lipton.
Yeah, she was encouraging. I was like, my rebellion was like, I'm not doing this Hollywood bull.
Right. I'm not doing entertainment.
You've been surrounded by it and you're right. Yeah.
I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be taken seriously.
I wanted to be legitimate. You would have been a great lawyer, by the way.
Yeah, you would have been great. For real, you would have been.
What kind of lawyer? I wanted to litigate. I wanted to be like Spencer Tracy in Hair at the Wind.
I wanted to argue the case in court. Yeah, but you could do that with a lot of different kinds of law, can't you? Yeah.
But there's no particular law that really interests you like environmental law or criminal law or— I probably would want to have been like, yeah, like I would have been like a DA or something, you know? Right. Mm- know? Rashida, with all of your success already, have you sort of like slowed down your dreaming? Do you even allow yourself to, where would you love to see yourself in 5, 10, 15, 20 years? Is it more on the writing side, the acting side? Like, just like harmony, just with your family? Or do your goals move as often as like mine do? Do you just settle on anything? That, no, I don't know.
I'm in a real, like, maybe you guys can tell me because you're a tiny bit older than me. I'm having that moment right now where I like i don't know anything yeah i don't know anything that's better and by the way you can do it all because you're already doing it all i don't know i don't know anything but we're also like i just started i just started therapy uh this is true i'm gonna get real for a second and i fucking don't know anything anything this is the most scared i've been in my life.
Yeah. Is right now.
That's good. That's good though, Will.
Wait, why? Because it's really scary. I'm doing like, I can't even believe I'm talking about this.
I had heavy therapy this morning and I can't believe it. Is scaring you because you're like admitting that like you might not know as much as you're pretending to know? Yeah, that's the tip of it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And I do think there is something at this moment, there's something sort of like regenerative, and I'm sure it's coming for you, Will.
Like right now you're sort of like resetting, which is incredibly scary. But most people I talk to who are 50, just turned 50, have this thing where they're like, who am I? There's like this full rebirth.
Who do I want to be for the next 50 years if we're lucky? What does my back half look like? What's actually fulfilling? What does my ego want? Do I need to fulfill my ego? Do I need to fulfill a deeper soul purpose? Like so much is coming up. I talk about all that shit in my therapy.
I talk about all that stuff. Yeah.
Will, I'm excited for you. This is really exciting.
I wouldn't be scared. I would embrace it.
Embrace the fear of doing it. But the fear's good because we're all scared.
I had to put eye drops in just so that my eyes were white because I just was like, it was rough. Oh, Will.
Oh, really? I know. I had a really rough morning.
Really? Anyway. I love it.
I love it. That's like a good workout.
Yeah, yeah. But good for you for doing that work because you could just like slide by and you could probably be okay and live in denial for the rest of your life and the fact that you're going deep right now means you're going to rebuild and be like the best for yourself.
By the way, the best part is I told Polar yesterday and she's like, oh, I'm so glad. I'm like, what do you mean you're so glad? She's like 20 years too late.
Oh my God. We're all here talking about, laughing about it on a podcast.
I know, but it is so weird. You're right.
I think at this stage of your life, you've done stuff like, you've had like this huge first couple chapters of your life and you have the work stuff and you have the adolescence and then the work stuff and then the kids stuff and and then the work with kids stuff and blah, blah, blah. And you get to this point, you're like, okay, now what? Right.
And also that's all that stuff that you thought for your entire life was gonna fill the gap. You're like, wait, it doesn't quite fill that gap.
There's still a little piece missing. And what is that piece? And we're privileged enough to have succeeded in a way, but I think for everybody, they're like, wait a second, it's just going to be this forever? All the firsts are gone.
Most of the firsts are gone. Wow, I talk about all that, in my therapy.
But to your point, Jason, I think everybody here, including me, I want to not to be overly earnest, but I want to be able to create from a real source, from a feeling of connection. So I'm taking a little breath to figure out what that actually is and what that looks like and what I want to say.
Because I don't know. I don't want to just put shit out.
And also it's hard to put shit out right now. All right, so All right.
So wait. So Rashida, so then first of all, everything you're saying is like so well said.

That's like so succinct and to the point.

And I love it.

What is the best advice somebody's given you to get over what we're all talking about?

Or to not get over it, but to kind of deal with it.

Yeah, manage it.

Well, like the thing I always go back to is my dad says, make decisions based on love and not fear, which sounds so platitudinal, but it's really not. When you think about it, Will, you know what you were just saying, I have often looked at my life and thought, let me just do this thing that I know is the kind of safe way to do it.
Or let me do this thing that's going to make people love me because i'm afraid of not being loved as opposed to like really really loving something and believing in something and not caring about the results yeah well i realized that i have all these tricks when i when i've come to sort of realize that anyway in the last couple weeks that i have a lot of these tricks that i can do that help me get over things and get by and i can kind of and I can get to a place of okay and I can kind of put the things back on on track but but but there's a there are patterns there and I'm like nothing's ever going to really change unless I actually look at it that's the I think looking at it acknowledging it and then I would say my greatest gift is is just continuing to develop my inner life, like something that is not connected to anybody else, creating almost like a little house inside, whether it's meditation or breath, whatever it is, nature. Yeah, that's self-sufficient and it's not reliant on external approval, gratification.

Yeah, I love that. Anyway.
Anyway. Have you seen Goonies? Yeah.
I haven't seen Goonies in a while. Really good movie.
Welcome back to Sean's Hot Takes. Hot takes instead of hot cakes.
Triple hot. Well, Rashida, you are real sweet to give us an hour of your day.
Yeah, this is fun, you guys. We appreciate you.
Is that an hour? Wow. That's an hour, yeah.
Look at us. They're breezy.
It's a breezy little stop here. We were just getting into the meat of it too, right? I know, we were getting deep.
I know, we just started to get... You want to take another bite, Will?

No, I don't.

I don't.

Should we talk about therapy some more?

Another bite.

I really, really don't.

I can't believe we talked about it at all.

I love that you did.

This is good.

It's great to be vulnerable.

Yeah.

We always talk about that shit.

It's good.

It's good.

Good balance.

Rashida, we love you.

I love you.

I love you guys. This was so fun.
Thank you for having me. Thank you for doing this.
And talking to me. Watch Sunny.
Sunny. Watch Sunny.
Now, Sunny, is that spelled with an O or a U? S-U-N-N-Y. It's on Apple TV+.
Yes. Apple TV+, Sunny, starting the incomparable Rashida Jones.
Rashida Jones. Rashida.
Congratulations on that. Yeah, congratulations on everything.
So much love to your family and continued success. You're great.
Thank you, guys. Love you, honey.
Thanks, Rashida. Bye, guys.
See you soon. Oh, well, Willie, that's almost your kind of half-wife, right?

Isn't she best friends with Amy?

Yeah, I mean, I've spent a lot of time with Rashida over the years.

We've, like, a lot of time.

We've vacationed together many times.

We've just done—she and I actually went, well, not—

yeah, sort of together to Mike Schur's wedding.

I mean—

What do you call her for short?

Shida. Shida? Yeah, Shida.
Sheed, Sheedy. Sheeds.
Yeah, Jones, Jonesy. Rashida Jones and me.
RJ, ever RJ? RJ would be good. Oh, RJ's good.
RJ's pretty good. You're obsessed with the initials, Jay.
Yeah, I do like it a lot. I just call you Jay.
Yeah. Yeah, she's lovely.
She's so grounded's so grounded she's so well she's so smart and funny and like just razor sharp and has always been and yeah I always like spending time with Rashida Jones and easy on the eyes and easy on the eyes easy on the eyes but she's grown up in such a potentially privileged, isolated environment, yet does not seem that at all. No, she's very, no, yeah, yeah.
And probably worked hard to not be. Very, very down to earth.
You wouldn't, if you didn't know that her dad was Quincy Jones and that she'd grown up in Hollywood, if you met her in a coffee shop in Kansas City, you'd be like, oh, she's just somebody from any town in Kansas City. A coffee shop in Kansas City.
Yeah, and who is just a smart, you know, awesome person, but she has no, there's no, she's not spoiled to that way. No, no, yeah, really great.
But at the end there, I like that we got real real about it, and I like talking about that stuff, and I'm glad you're doing that, Will. That's really great.
And I love when Jason asked, when we weren't done, if you wanted to take another... Bite! Out of the meat.
Smart. Less.
Smart. Less.
Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjarf, and Bennett Barbaco. Smart Less.
SiriusXM Podcasts Plus on Apple Podcasts or visit SiriusXM.com slash podcasts plus to start your free trial today. Shopping is hard.
I can never find anything in my size. I don't even know my size.
I buy my clothes the same place I buy my groceries. There's a better way.
Make it easy with Stitch Fix.

Just share your size, style, budget, and done.

Your personal stylist sends pieces picked just for you.

That was easy.

Stitch Fix.

Online personal styling for everyone.

Free shipping and returns.

No subscription required.

Get started today at stitchfix.com.