"Pedro Pascal"

One thing about the entertainment industry, it's easy to earn a reputation even if it doesn't reflect who you really are. For example, everybody thinks that Discover is a card that isn't widely accepted.
But in reality, it's accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Yeah, 99%.
So maybe now you'll think twice before judging a book by its cover, unless it's a book about judges going on vacation. In that case, judge away.
Based on the February 2024 Nielsen Report, learn more at discover.com slash credit card. Life these days moves at a lightning speed, but we all need a moment to recharge for what's ahead.
That's where the all-new Nissan Murano comes in, the ultimate space to catch your breath and re-energize. With available features like massaging leather-appointed seats, a panoramic moonroof, a Bose premium sound system, and ambient lighting, the Murano is thoughtfully designed to be your personal sanctuary, readying you for whatever the day brings.
Because sometimes the greatest rush is not rushing at all. Discover it now at NissanUSA.com.
Features listed are available upgrades. Okay, we're really, really late.
We've got to start the show. I want to get right into it.
But I really want to tell you something about myself that not a lot of people know. But I know you're waiting.
I know you're waiting. We should probably get to the show.
It's going to start in any second now, and I can't wait to see who the guest is. I don't know if it's mine or theirs.
I don't know, because I'm shooting it. I'm looking in the mirror right now, you guys.
And I look amazing.

I look incredible.

I'm wearing a baseball hat.

I'm wearing glasses.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, okay, well, get right to it.

Get right to it. Get right to it.

Get right to it.

Get right to it.

Welcome to SmartList.

Smart.

Smart.

Smart.

Smart.

Smart. Less.
Smart. Less.
Will mentioned that he was going to try a couple of new characters today. Oh, yeah, he did.
Did he talk about some new characters? Is that what he was saying? Make sure they aren't offensive accents, please. Okay.
Oh, this guy's offending. That's sort of stereotypical what? You don't know anything about that guy's story.
You don't know anything about that guy's story. Tell us about him.
I, sorry, he. I'm so in.
I love talking about my work as an actor and how I got there. Well, this is a great segue because let me tell you what I want to talk about this morning.
Yeah, I agree. It is what I want to talk about, too.
Listener, Will and I are fresh off the boat from New York. We do travel by water.
We don't like to fly. No, Sean, you'll be quiet.
Sean, you will be quiet. You'll be quiet.
And we're back from New York and we went and saw Sean's play. We had the pleasure.
The Belasco, sorry. The Belasco.
We had the honor of seeing Sean in Goodnight Oscar at the Belasco. And let me tell you about garbage.
You can smell it from a mile away, but when you actually see it. Yeah, trash.
When you look at trash. It'll pile up.
It does. And the flies give it away.
Yeah, the flies. I used to date that all the time.
Sean. Guys.
Sean is such a mega talent. If you're anywhere near, if you're anywhere near New York City listener, do your eyes and ears a favor and your heart, quite frankly, and your tear ducts and your laugh machine.

And go see Goodnight Oscar.

Sean, Will and I said it immediately after the standing ovation. No, no, Sean turned around.

Sean, Jason was sitting directly in front of me

and he turned around and Jason looks at me and he says,

Sean's ruined the podcast.

He's ruined the podcast.

We can no longer, who are we going to make fun of now?

Who can we disrespect? Oh, get ready. And he said, how is Sean, he goes and does this every night.
And I said, not every night. Yeah, not every night.
They couldn't make that deal. No, but honestly, in all seriousness.
Monday's and Tuesday's, most people on Broadway, they take one night off. I knew Sean was talented.
I think we all know Sean is talented. But when you see him play this character that takes pure acting skill and then he plays the piano, I knew he was classically trained, but then to see him play seven minutes of Rhapsody in Blue unaccompanied on a big-ass Steinway in the middle of a Broadway stage and bring the entire audience to their feet with wet faces from the crescendo of this play with him playing this piano really does play it i mean it's just and this character they played i mean sean i'm really really really knocked out truly thank you thank you absolutely the most magical night i've ever had in the theater and i know what a weird sentence that is but but it's very sweet.
Well, you've had a few magical nights behind some theaters. Behind the theaters.
I'm talking about sitting in the chairs. But in the theater.
And we, that's the theater that's right off Van Nuys. Anyway, that's a different story.
We'll save that for a different podcast. But Sean, truly, and Jason, you and I were not alone in that everybody in that theater felt that it was palpable it was incredible we uh all of our friends who are there all of whom are actors uh and who and everybody's going like this character that he created in unbelievable what about the star wattage that sean can cram into not just our dumb asses that steven spielberg is sitting there and he's a part investor in the play.
He believes in it so much. And boy, was he feeling smart at the end of it.
That's really sweet. It was unbelievable.
And our buddy Frank Marshall was there. He was just beside himself, also one of the producers of the play.
And then just saying, I mean, everybody. It was unbelievable, Sean.
It was incredible.

Marty Short, this is my favorite.

So I see Marty and Andrea Martin were sitting in front of you, Jay.

And so we go to the after party and we're walking over to the table

where we're all sitting.

And I go by Marty.

Marty's at the bar.

And there are probably 40 people between him and me.

And he looks and he catches my eye. And across everybody he shouts, why don't you have talent like that? Wait, another great line though that Will came up to me at the party afterwards and the first thing Will Arnett says to me, he goes, hey, I had to get up during the piano part.
How did it go?

Oh, my God. And then you wake up to a nomination from the Outer Critics Circle.

I know.

You guys are so nice.

Buckle up.

We love you.

We love you.

Love you, too, guys.

Now, let me just say something.

It meant the world that you guys took the time and effort

to come out to see me and support me. I love you guys.
You're my brothers. We always talk about it.
But you just made my night. I'm going to see it again.
I would have done it every night of the week if we had to. That's all the time we have, I think.
Okay. Thanks, listener.
I can't wait. I'm going to take that buyback.
Okay. I can't wait.
This is so exciting. This is so exciting.
Okay. I'm going to nerd out, guys.
Okay. William Shatner? It's Chewbacca.
It's Chewbacca. Well, close.
It's got a Chewbacca. Our guest today, I'm so glad we got him here.
I wasn't sure he'd be available because, as they say, he's hot, hot, hot right now in the Hollywood. That's triple hot.
He really is all anyone talks about right now. At age 11, he was a Texas State swimming champion before throwing in the towel.
Don't worry, he still had a Speedo on. And heading to the Golden State and then pursuing an acting career.
He's become quite the staple in American culture in the last few years, being in the forefront of some major movie and television franchises. The internet refers to him as the ultimate daddy.
But probably most importantly, he did a reading with me of Good Night Oscar only a few years ago. Please welcome my pal, Pedro Pascal.
No way. Pedro.
Hello. Good morning.
This is a good guy. How exciting.
Here we go. You can just pull over, turn your car off, and enjoy this.
No, no, keep it on. It keeps going through the speakers.
Pedro Pascal, oh, my gosh. No, no, I'm on this guy.
Nope, can't do it. Putting the curtain back on.
No, he can't do it. Oh, he had to bail.
Oh, no, where'd he go? No, he had to bail. Just kidding.
Where are you, Pedro, right now? Where am I? I'm in Los Angeles. Oh, you are? Okay, good.
City of Angeles. In your house? It looks like an empty interrogation room.
It's like I'm in an empty interrogation room in Los Angeles. Dude, what? Can I move the camera around to even make it look even scarier? Uh-oh, make sure we don't see anything we shouldn't see.
There really is absolutely no care. Wow, you're really in an empty room.
I've been abducted. Huh.
No. But they let you do a podcast.
But they're fans of your podcast. Wow, that's good.
Now, let me say something. It's true I'm into daddies.
You've seen Scotty, but I'm not hitting you. I'm just celebrating how cool it is that the internet has collectively referred to you as our daddy and that you embrace it.
I've seen you in interviews and stuff. You kind of like that.
It's kind of cool. And look, you got the scruff going on.
You wear the glasses. I just want people to like me.
Well, just keep talking. This is what the kids call.
You've got what the kids call Riz. Do we know what Riz is? No.
No, what's Riz? Charasma. Okay.
It's charisma. My kids would say they call it W Riz.
You got that W Riz. Wild charisma.
And they get real embarrassed. I want to talk about Craig Mazin when we get to it.
We'll get to Craig Mazin. We're not talking about Craig Mazin.
The Mazin Mazin. I want to continue talking about Good Night, Oscar.
We have to just a little bit. You have to invite me.
No, we have to. Buddy, you got to go see that.
The opening was recently. Yes.
the the production is directed by lisa peterson right

correct that's correct incredibly well directed i did a staged reading for lisa peterson 23 years ago at the taper that's where i met her um it was part of the i i can't remember what the label of the theater festival,

festival New Works sort of season that it was.

And I, nothing, I just, we're old. That's my point.
Let's move on. Lisa's amazing.
Did you like her then? I loved her. It was amazing.
I was desperate to get, you know, a job in professional theater, no matter where I was, whether it was Los Angeles or New York. Did that one end up going to stage? It did not.
If it did, it did not go with me. Did you, so Pedro, you're from Texas, which I did not know.
You started, did you start, were you doing theater in Texas? No. So I was born in Chile.
Yeah, in Santiago, Chile. Yeah.
And I have to say this. Let's not brag about the research, Sean.
No, no, but I want to say this to you. En la escuela secundaria, en la clase de español, me llamaba Santiago porque otro chico elegió Juan.
Pero que bien, Sean. Estoy Santiago, perdona.
Do you know how to speak Spanish, Sean? I'm proud of you. I said in Spanish class in high school, my name was Santiago because some other kid picked Juan, which is Sean.
Will, this is a great opportunity for you to launch the Spanish character you were working on. I would like to, but my character is from Bolivia, sadly, so he's not still.
He's close by. He's very close by, but I'm so sorry.
That's better than the arbitrary Latino accents I have shared with the world. By the way, Pedro, I do want to...
Jason, you can go, but now that we're in South America, we're talking about this, Pedro, I am, I got to know you, not personally, but like a lot of people from watching Narcos, I thought you were so fucking great in Narcos. I loved, I loved Narcos and you were so great in it.
And it was like, I'm sure it was one of those things you've been working for years and then everybody's like hey look at look at this guy you're like hey man i've been around for a long time right was that kind of how that happened filled with talent for years it was narcos was a really lucky job and i think it came on the coattails of of the big fight of ober and martell in the mountain and game of thrones and and and the people over at Netflix realizing that I wasn't living past that episode. And then...
Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert.
Sorry, everybody. From 10 years ago.
See, I'm not a Game of Thrones fan, so I didn't... I've never watched it.
It's not that you're not a fan. You just haven't seen it.
It was a splashy guest role of the season, sort of at the height of the game's popularity. So good.
The games. Good God.
It's early for me. Not only are we not going to cut that, we're going to double that one.
Keep going. Well, that was really the first thing that, that was the first time I experienced sort of a larger exposure in relation to work in a big way.
And that I would say... And you met David Benioff and your life's never been the same.
Exactly. We've all been lodged by him.
It completely started there for me as far as consistent work. And so because of Game of Thrones, I got Narcos.
And then it was amazing. We shot the entire thing in Colombia.
It yeah it was six to seven months a season and they would have one it was sort of like um it was so location-based you know uh which is part of the reason i think the show worked as well as it did because the physical landscape of the show was kind of its secret weapon in that where we were shooting was kind of the main character of the show more than these larger-than-life, real, dangerous human beings and dangerous circumstances. What was that like working in Columbia? You know, I'm a soft guy.
And all I'm thinking about is humidity and I'm smelling a little bit of mildew on the wardrobe. Were we in the jungle and was it tough to get dry sometimes we were in the jungle the base of production was in bogota and bogota is 9 000 feet right and so i'm thinking the crispy snacks at crafty were chewy right and so it was tough to get a good crunch out of the chips you could never no no it was dry it no, it was dry.
It wasn't humid up in Bogota.

Bogota is like four seasons in a day

and humidity isn't part of it.

It gets dry, sunny, rainy, windy, cold.

It's generally...

It's like Jason's personality

from Monday to Friday.

It's kind of cold but...

Manic.

Manic, but sometimes beautiful.

Hostile but gorgeous. And the cocaine is always just around the corner.
Yeah, exactly. Careful.
Jay, I mean, and Jay, what was... And Jay, really what he wants to know is, nice hotel and how close is the private airport? You know what I mean? And if he's got that down, then he's happy.
I think it's only prop planes going in and out of those high-allegated locations. You guys would love Columbia.

Really?

Not for the reasons you think.

Really?

Oh, it's the best.

It's the best.

It's the best place.

I would love to go.

I like the yellow soccer uniforms.

It's all I'm into.

For the books.

You would like the beaches and the mountains and the people.

We'll be right back.

Solace Health is reimagining concierge healthcare for your entire family. From mystery sniffles to late night stitches, they provide peace of mind when you need it most with 24-7 care that handles medical concerns with immediacy, expertise, and comfort.
Solace is like a personal medical assistant that works with your primary care provider and connects you with any specialist within days. They're the first and only medical membership that's on demand 24-7 to treat everything from everyday...
Thank you. Solace protects your busy schedule while getting you on the road to recovery.
They keep their members out of the ER 95% of the time

in serene and soothing comfort

without the wait, crowds, or confusion.

I am a member of Solace Health,

and if it wasn't for them,

my pain from my kidney stone would have lasted forever.

They saved me in so many ways.

I love this place.

Join Solace Health,

the first and only medical membership

that's on demand 24-7,

and save 15% on your first year when you use promo code SMARTLESS.

This episode is supported by FX's Dying for Sex, starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate.

Inspired by a true story, this series follows Molly, who after receiving a terminal cancer

diagnosis, decides to leave her husband and explore the full breadth of her sexual desires. She gets the courage and support to go on this sex quest from her best friend Nikki, who stays by her side through it all.
FX is dying for sex. All episodes streaming April 4th on Hulu.
Hey guys, it's spring cleaning time.

Let's start with your mop

because that overgrown winter hair

isn't doing you any favors.

At Sport Clips Haircuts,

they've got pro stylists who know men's hair,

TVs playing sports 24-7

and a place built for guys

to get a great cut without the hassle.

No appointments, no stress,

just a fresh cut and a place made for you.

So shake off the winter scruff

and step into spring looking fresh

Thank you. So shake off the winter scruff and step into spring looking fresh because they got you covered.
Sport Clips, it's a game changer. And now, back to the show.
I think it's fascinating. I want these guys to hear this because when I was reading about your parents,

the political asylum

that they had to seek

when you were a kid

and going around the Denmark

and then like...

By the way,

before you get into this,

I'm going to ask these guys,

Pedro, you know this,

but we're going to expose

these guys.

Do you guys know

who the dictator was

in Chile who was,

you know,

ostensibly just a puppet

of the American

without looking it up?

Paul Dunger. No.
Darnesner. Pinochet.
Anyway, keep going. That's what I said.
Go ahead, Sean. I'm just exposing them, Pedro.
No, I mean, if you... He said enough vowels and consonants that you can kind of manipulate in the edit that he said Pinochet.
How do you get it all in your head, Will? Will? Yes? How do you get it all in your head? How's he so smart, Sean? Because I don't think about anything else, because my brain... No, I know.
I have very little... I have no street smarts.
Pinochet. So your parents fled...
So you guys fled as... Because they were in opposition to Pinochet.
Yes. Is that true? Yes.
No, it's a lie. Uh-oh.
No, but you know, sometimes they build... That's fascinating.
Sometimes stuff on your Wikipedia gets kind of blown out of proportion. What was the deal then? Then I want to know how much you paid for your name because it's the best name in Hollywood.
Well, he's going to get to that because his last name was different. Right, he had to change it.
Yes, I was born Jose Pedro Balmaceda Pascal. And my parents, they were just very young when they had my sister and myself.
My sister's two and a half years older than me, and there was a cousin of my mother's that was very, very involved in the opposition movement against the military regime, its proximity to our family. I wouldn't say that my parents were revolutionaries by any stretch of the imagination,

but they were very young.

Not actual dissidents or anything.

No, they were young, liberal college students

and ties from my mom's side

to close ties to the opposition movement

just in terms of family.

It was a first cousin of my mother's. And my dad was doing his residency at the university hospital, at La Catolica it's called, and so there was a gunfight that my parents were not involved in, but somebody was wounded, and they brought him to my parents' house so that my father could help tend the wound, hide them for a while.
The person that brought them to our house, and, you know, I was four months old at the time, he was taken into custody and tortured and gave names, and then they came looking for my parents. Wow.
And so then my parents had to go into hiding for about six months, as it's been told to me, and they, you know, like some sort of political thriller from the early 80s, they found a way to, they saw that these, there was a change of guard at the Venezuelan embassy where one guy got off the bus, the same bus that the other guy would get on to, to switch places. And so there was this window where they could, you know, climb over the wall, like physically physically climb over the wall and then land on the other side of the wall and demand asylum.
And it worked. One time, Jason, you told, when you were a kid one time, you went to the guard and you didn't have the right at Warner's, and you had to go to the gate four instead of gate one.
Is that true? And I thought about going over the wall, but I was wearing super tight pants. You had to park in the main lot, and you had to end up walking over to the stage instead of going through gate one.
I heard about this. I jumped on the back of a golf cart.
This is how Jason got his first job. It was not dissimilar in the guard, and then the pass didn't match up.
Then I dropped my headshot. I had to double back for my headshot.
And then the golf cart ran over it. Pedro, you know, I remember one of the reasons I know some of this stuff.
When I was in 1981, and these guys know I'm good on dates, the movie Missing came out with Sissy Spacek, Jack Lemmon, and John Che was in it as well. He's the guy who goes missing.
And my mom took me to see it in the theater i was probably too young my mom and and but i was probably too young but but she took me anyway and it had such an impact on me to see how other people were living and and really in a real way like a real so it's always i've always i haven't paid attention necessarily but but i always knew that that was the reality in that part of the world, especially at that time. And it occurs to me as you're telling this, and you're so good at telling this story, and you're such a, you do have that riz.
You're very charismatic. Has it ever occurred to you, have you ever thought about sort of writing a story based on that or doing, no? No? Can we write it and would you do it?

It's really fascinating.

I mean, it is fascinating, man.

It's, what an unbelievable story.

It's totally unbelievable.

I saw Missing myself when I was a kid.

It is, it had such an imprint in my, you know, brain when I saw it

because of how closely I could relate it to my parents' experience. Did Oliver Stone direct that? No, it was Costa Gravas.
And, you know, my mom was like little and beautiful, like Sissy Spacek, you know? And I remember, I think about this now in my middle age, that how strange it is to get information in that way through cinema and relate it to a kind of immediate experience of my parents that they aren't sharing with me not that not that it

was not that it was this big secret or anything like that but they just um we just didn't talk

about it really have you been back there since yeah yeah yeah i've been back my whole life they

ended up on the list of pardoned exiles when i was eight years old oh great and so at that point

my older sister and i we had already gotten sent back on our own you know the late 70s

Thank you. old oh great and so at that point my older sister and i we had already gotten sent back on our own you know the late 70s early 80s four-year-olds traveling by themselves you know in the custody of like a stewardess i did that and uh but when i was eight it was like a huge family reunion because there were very large families on both sides that were left behind and um ever since then, we'd go back my whole life.
My younger siblings who were born in the States were actually raised in Chile. So the strange circumstance of having been born there, never living there, going there my whole life, it never being home, but it being home, and it's just been this ever-present...
Do you have a place there now that you go back?

I don't have a place there.

Both my siblings and my father do.

Yeah.

Wow.

But a couple other movies you mentioned

that were kind of a big, like, shifting gears here.

Peggy Sue got married and raising Arizona,

you said, were, like, huge.

And then also your mom wouldn't let you see a certain movie, I think? My dad. My mom didn't care.
My mom didn't give a shit. My dad was really against me seeing The Breakfast Club.
Oh, really? Yeah. He took me to go see First Blood, The Big Chill.
Sure. You know, anything that he was interested in seeing, uh it didn't matter if it was rated r or not and um sean's in the breakfast club and the lunch club and the snack club and the dinner club and we're back all the sequels but yeah i wasn't allowed to i wasn't allowed to see the breakfast club because wow because it was because it was what sent Sent a bad message? Yeah, it was like kids complaining about their parents.
It's like, you know, watching that. That's hysterical.
I have a thousand questions if you would like to hear one. Okay.
By the way, I guarantee you, you don't have a fucking thousand. Try one.
I do. So you came to California.
Your dad moved you, or your mom and dad both? We all came to Orange County in 86, 87. And then things happened.
You went to New York, NYU. I went to, yeah.
And then at 18, I went to New York, yeah. And you were terrible at waiting tables.
I was, I really was. I was a bad waiter.
What restaurant do you remember? There's so many. You guys, oh, this is the 90s.
I started so. I lived in New York in the 90s.
I worked at, where's the first place? I started it sort of as a coffee barista person in places that definitely don't exist anymore. And then I got a job at Flamingo East.
Do you remember Flamingo East on 2nd Avenue? Yeah. There was a place on 7th and 2nd called Virage.
I got a job at Time Cafe. No way.
Got fired from Fez Bar. Yes.
All of these sound like dancing clubs. And then I moved up to, Flamingo East had a party.
They had different, they had an upstairs space, and they would throw parties up there. And every once in a while, I got to bartend that.
And then... I remember Fred Armisen had his birthday once at Flamingo East like 20 years ago.

Upstairs, yeah.

And it almost had like a living room.

There was like a little back room and stuff.

Do you remember that?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was this beautiful space.

And they fired me.

What did you do that was so bad in each of these spots?

Yeah, because I read that you got fired over 10 times from different places.

In some instances, well, one, I wasn't very good. Yeah.
But what about your work was not good? I didn't have the talent to... The talent.
I don't know. Yeah, you know, it does.
I think it really does take talent to know how to deal with any kind of customer, more so than the customers is to to deal with management, to be honest with you. And to kind of service the system of which you are a part of in terms of that environment.
And I wasn't smart enough to kind of keep myself safe and perceived as a reliable um i was like i was always on time and stuff like that but they didn't like me enough to keep me if i needed to cover my shift again because i was going to go to uh buffalo and shoot a xerox industrial commercial and get stuck there you know because the acting sounds like somebody who's got they had like a major drug problem just covering, you know what I mean? Just going like, they didn't have the, they didn't put up with. And then he tried to tell us he was going to do a Xerox.
My inconsistency with the showing up of the thing. By the way.
All right, so you're bad at waiting tables. No, I was really innocent.
I really was. I was just stupid, you know? No, you weren't stupid.
I don't believe that for a second. But, you know, Pedro, you know that Jason's never, because he grew up in showbiz, this is a true story, he's never had one of those kinds of jobs.
And I think that you kind of wish you had. I've always wanted to.
Yeah, it's a true story. I've actually always fantasized about waiting tables and bartending, truly.
And I always offer you, every time I have a catering gig over here at the house when I'm having people over, I would say, Jason, come on over. Yeah.
You know, we'll be there. And then I end up doing it.
You know what's scary is that Jason would have been great. He would have been great.
I do like the idea of each table is like a separate stage and you're trying to figure out what that audience needs from you so that you get the best possible tip. Yeah, that's right.
Some tables want to be left alone. Other tables want a little bit more show.
Here's what would have tripped you out and that your managers wouldn't have liked it because you would have always demanded a hard out. Yeah, yeah.
And so you would have been like, I'm gone before dessert. My one joke I used to do as a waiter, I'd come by with the food and I'd put it down and the customer would say, oh, that looks wonderful.
And I'd point to my shirt and I'd go, thanks, I just got it. And that's a tip.
That's an extra 5%. This stupid, 24 years old, killed every time.
So listen, so Pedro, so Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this is the thing that Jason was referring to, which I didn't know. You were credited as Pedro Balmaceda.
Si. And what, what why pascal oh literally it is not your name i i was just no it is it's at the tail end no no but i mean yes go ahead sir south americans we've got a lot of names like jose pedro i never went by my dad is jose pedro and i'm jose pedro and he's but he he he grew up as pepe and I grew up as Pedro.

Because Pedro is not a middle name.

So Jose Pedro is like a first name, right?

And I just grew up as Pedro.

And then Balmaceda Pascal is what is on your passport,

your birth certificate, Pascal being the maiden name.

So Balmaceda is my last name.

It's my father's name. And I went by, so I went by Pedro Balmaceda and there was a very, very meaningful reason to change it to Pascal and there was also a very practical reason and they really meet in the same level of importance because one, Balmaceda was impossible for people to pronounce and it just wasn't helping me in terms of auditions and casting.
And Pascal is very easy to read and say out loud and it always felt like a part of my identity and so when my mother passed away uh 23 years ago um i made a you know a gradual transition uh to pascal i will say i will say it is nice and i will say pedro pascal is a is a star name it. That's so funny because I resisted it for such a long time.
It was something that I wanted, that I was taught, that I wanted to do, you know, before my mother died. Yeah.
Hilarious. But I always thought it was kind of silly because of the P and the P, and it sounded like maybe I was trying to create, I don't know what I thought was silly about it.
I should have gotten to it much sooner than I did, actually. Yeah.
And now, a word from our sponsor. 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?

Like, I like sparkling water because it didn't have all the sugar

and the added, you know, 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.
Last year, Americans ate 32 billion chicken wings. Who knows just how many helpless sides of celery were heartlessly thrown away.
But this year, celery neglect stops with you and irresistible Jif peanut butter. Because every bite counts and you can make a snack to make a difference.
You can buy a jar of Jif to save the celery. 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. All right, back to the show.
Now, can I ask you, can I fan out and dork out about mandalorian for just just a little bit before these guys hang tight so so first of all i want to know i've seen every episode it's i love it me and scotty my husband the laser that you had in your belt there's been a lot of discussion the safety wasn't turned turned off, and then it came from Glogblort. Is that

true? Was it originally

from Glogblort? I want

Scotty to do a cross in the background in a

full Mandalorian. Ask him if it was

from Glogblort, because I read on

Reddit.

Scotty, do you have any questions

about Mandalorian? Truly asking.

Truly asking. I hope Scotty.

Do you have any? I have so many. So the Mandalorian.
So listen, when you have the mask on, can you, I want to know, can you see? Is it really you? Do you do voiceover after? What's it like wearing the suit? Do the jets really work? Like, what's happening? Like, tell me all about it. Oh yeah, it's all real.
Yeah, and they're in, too. Yeah.
Stupid ass. I'm a huge fan.
We're in space. We've always been in space.
Sure. And it's really the only way.
It's similar to Narcos in that regard where it's location-based. Sure.
Sure. And there isn't really any other way to achieve it other than traveling to galaxies far, far away from our long past, correct? Mm-hmm.
And Baby Yoda is real. I keep on having this, like, almost sort of this electric shock that goes through my system if I say that.
I don't know why. It's totally fine.
But Grogu, the child. Grogu, right.
You're supposed to say Grogu, not Baby. Is real.
But it's really you under the helmet. So I can't see very well in the helmet.
There was a very extended experimental phase where I was in the suit for so much of it. And establishing what could be established in terms of a physical language, really drawing so much from guys that were better at it than I was.
But how do you do it? Do they mic you in the helmet or do you do voice-on? There's a mic pack in the – there's a mic pack on your person. But there's also – it's a good question, Sean.
There's a mic pack in the helmet and it's really kind of up against the harder surfaces of your skull.

Do they come mic you in your trailer,

or do you just go over to the trolley?

Like, what the fuck are you doing?

And is there a snack hole,

or do you have to take the whole helmet off, right, Sean?

Sean, is it true?

You told me once that just talking,

the Mandalorian, every time you watch it,

makes you grow goo. Is that true? I was working on one of those.
You grow goo. That's good.
I grow a lot of goo when I watch the show. Yeah, for sure.
No, that's so interesting. I'm fascinated by the show.
I love the show. It's hard to see.
There are so many ways that you sort of need to do a head tilt for the camera that makes it so that you can't even really look into the eyes of the human or puppet that you're acting with. And in some instances you feel really cool and it takes care of most of the work and and i have a lot of fun in post because john favreau gives me a lot of opportunity to kind of edit with him and go over things that they got maybe on the day and it's really really surgical technical work that i've never yeah it's like exactly you don't have a right? Not a lot of lip flap matches.
Correct. Yeah, because you can just do it.
Now, you know what I'm thinking about in that helmet is just odor, you know. Yeah, like your own breath.
Multiple episodes and stuff. So do you have like a lavender wipe that you can go in there? Who else wore it before you? Odor, of course.
Yeah, do you put a flower in there or what happens? I was very aware of like my, not only that, but sort of the dark plastic of the tea, you know, because you're like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's almost like what your breath smells like, like cakes on, like stays there. Yeah, that's a Jason thing.
And you're not handing that helmet off to second team for lighting, are you? You don't want them in there. Or sound.
They got their own, right? Different helmet, different flower. I know you'd be surprised.
It's so real, Pedro. It's so real.
This is giving Jesus. That would keep him up at night if something is standing with rareness.
What do you mean we don't have a second team helmet? Like, that should have just come from the shop. Pedro, what you need to know is what would happen is the whole thing with the helmet, if Jason was doing that, he would go to Bloom, his assistant, and then Amanda, his wife, she'd be deep in on the cleaning of the helmet.
There's no way that Jason can have this helmet going to somebody else. He would hand the problem off to eventually his wife and Zach and Aline and everybody.
There'd be emails. Guys, we got to get Jason's helmet situation sorted out before he shows up on set.
Meanwhile, Pedro's a normal, nice guy. He shows up.
He's like, I'll just roll with it. You know? Yeah.
No, you complain. I had three callbacks for Mandalorian, and I think that was the issue.
I think ultimately Fabro is just, this guy's a problem. You couldn't come to an agreement on that.
It's understandable. Sedaris is on that show, right? Amy Sedaris.
Oh, yes, she is. Yeah, she's great on it.
You know, there was an incident with Amy Sedaris specifically, and that was where she made me laugh so hard that I spat into the helmet.

And that was a moment where I came into a clear understanding

of the close proximity that I had to my own,

to the things that are in my mouth.

Your own flesh.

My saliva and it's, you know, or like lunch or breakfast.

She's the best. I love her.
But listen, I want to talk about your new movie too. What's it called? Strange Way of Life? Is that what it is? Strange Way of Life.
Strange Way of Life. Extraña forma de vida.
And it's a 30-minute film. That's it? It's just one film? It's a 30-minute short written and directed by Pedro Almodovar starring Ethan Hawke.

And it's gay cowboys who travel across the desert to find each other 25 years apart. Former lovers.
And one travels across the desert to see him again. and it is shot in the same places

that Sergio Leone was shooting his Spaghetti Westerns. to see him again.
And it is shot in the same places

that Sergio Leone was shooting his spaghetti westerns

in that southern region of Spain.

Oh, wow. That's cool.

On the same sets.

No way.

And Saint Laurent does the costumes.

Wow.

And it's me and Ethan.

And I'd never worked with Ethan before. I actually listened to him on your podcast.
Wasn't he great? He's awesome, isn't he? He's so cool. I love him.
It was so great to get to hear you guys get to know him. Yeah.
Because I spent the summer with him. And, you know, I saw movies that he was in, starting with, like, The Explorers.
Yeah. And then Dead Poets Society and Reality Bites.
And then he published a book. And then he was on Broadway.
And then he was off-Broadway. And then he directed off-Broadway.
Incredible career. And then he was, like, working with friends.
And then we were doing, you know, this thing with Pedro Almodovar, whose movies I saw growing up, it was kind of a family favorite. And it just meant a lot in all earnestness.
It was this moment of sort of being listened to and taken seriously by these two influences was a very surreal experience for me because they, he was my scene partner and this was our director and they wanted to be collaborative and they wanted to, I don't know, all get on the same page at the same level. And I felt so influenced by both of them in my upbringing that, as corny as it may sound, I'm like, these guys care what I think.
And that was... But you know why, Pedro? You know why? And I mean this too.
You earned that seat there because you're really good at what you do. Yeah.
And I hope you see what we all see,

which is an incredible talent,

incredible artist,

and you deserve to be there.

And that's why you were there

in that scene with those guys.

Thanks, Will.

Where do we get to see it?

Where's it going to come out?

It's going to premiere at Cannes.

Gross.

He did a previous short with...

Jesus, that was such a nice story,

and then you fucking ruined it

with your Cannes bullshit.

I've never been. Did you get to keep any of the...
Are you going to go? I'm going to try to go. I want to go really badly.
He did a previous short with Tilda Swinton, so this is the second of what could be three installments of these 30-minute English language forays because everything he's ever done before is in his native language. Hey, Pedro, I'm Tecavale, just FYI.
I'm just putting it out there to the universe. Did you get to keep any of the St.
Laurent Cowboy stuff? I bet it's some pretty cool stuff, no? They don't give me nothing. I asked for the green jacket.
If you want to look up the trailer right now, you see me in this kind of, like, bright green Jimmy Stewart, you know, denim cowboy. They said no, they want to hold on to it for possible reshoots? Jacket.
No, they just gave me a flat no. Jason wants to know, was it moldy? Was the jacket moldy? Did it smell anything? Did it breathe right out there? Because I imagine it was pretty hot.
It didn't wick. It didn't have a wicking quality.
And the last thing I want you to do, Paige, only if you want to, on SNL you were so fucking funny on this internet live. Can you just do a little bit of the voice? Which one? Can you just do a little bit? I don't know what you're talking about.
I don't know what you're talking about. It's so fucking...
Stop asking me. I'm not comfortable with that.
It's really funny. I've been putting on an accent this whole time and now I finally get to talk to myself.
I could listen to that for nine hours. Well, if I'm talking to you guys, I'll always talk to you guys.
Bye. Pedro, thank you for joining us, my friend.
Pedro, we love you very much. You are a talent and a friend.
Honestly, you're such a fan, such a huge fan, man. You're so good at what you do.
Yeah, keep going, my friend. I really love talking to you guys.
Bye, Pedro. We love you.
Have a great rest of your day. Thank you.
I'm just going to take the headphones off because I have no idea what. That's fine.
Just take them off and walk away. Slam the iPad.
Yeah. All right.
Bye, buddy. Bye, bye, bye.
Man, he is great. Yeah, yeah.
I'm such a massive fan of The Last of Us. Did you guys watch it? I haven't yet.
Will, did you ever play the game? I did not play the game. No.
Yeah, it's so good. I saw the prequel.
Uh-oh, here. The First of us.
Did you not see? He was... That's so dumb.
Of course it's dumb. What do you want from me? Because he's a dad.
That's a great clean dad joke. It's a clean joke.
That works everywhere. Do you need a headset to play that game? Is that one of those where you got to use Will's headset? What do you mean Will's? Millions of people enjoy themselves.
He's such a talent, that guy. But isn't it amazing he he started out so like he's been doing this forever so when game of thrones hit and when he was like wonder woman like all these big things that he's done he it kind of came out of what seemingly always the same story all the time that it seemingly came out of nowhere but he's been doing this forever that's what i meant that was my first yeah yeah so that's why he's like down to earth and, down to earth and normal because he's, like, you guys are making all the hype.
I'm not making all the hype. I'm just working, you know what I mean? I saw him in an interview where they had him strapped to a lie detector, and he's just, like, so comfortable.
An interview, I guess it was more like an interrogator. Anyway, whatever it was, he was at a police station, and he was strapped to a lie detector.
No, but he was doing it. And he was just like, and I was marveling at how comfortable he is in his own skin and how relaxed and normal he is.
And that's why I asked that question. It's like, you can tell he's the guy who's paid his dues and he's been doing it for a long time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's not like, oh, my God, this is also crazy.
Jason, you got to run. Where are you heading to? And are you going to, where are you going right now?

Some charity thing.

Are you saving some kids?

Yeah, I got to go feed a bunch of folks.

Are you going to drive or are you going to ride your... No, he's going to drive and then he's going to probably ship.

Isaac.

Oh, he was bike.

I was going to say bike.

Bike.

I love you, Sean.

Have a great show tonight, you star. I love you, too.
Smart. Bye.
I love you, Sean. Have a great show tonight, you star.

I love you, too.

Smart.

Nice.

Smart.

Nice.

Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjarv, and Bennett Barbaco.

Hey friends, Jason here. We're so excited the Smart List has officially joined the SiriusXM family.

We can't wait to announce new surprise guests who we know that

you'll love. If you want to be the first to hear new episodes ad-free and a whole week early,

subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts Plus on Apple Podcasts or visit SiriusXM.com

slash podcasts plus to start your free trial today.