"Eugene Levy"

Hello, friends. Jason here.

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Tinkle, Will? Or do you want to pee? You're going to pee and then we're going to do the episode. You want to pee now? Well, wait.
I tell you what. I tell you what.

I'm going to run out.

Pee during the music.

Yeah, and then during the music, I'll be peeing right now.

It's an all-new Smart List.

Smart.

Light us.

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Smart. Less.
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Okay, I got something. I got something.
Ready? Here we go. Oh, shit, Sean's got something.
Hang on. Why does it look like you're reading off a cue card? Are you reading off cue cards today? What are you talking about? Do you have...
If you flip your camera around and Scotty's working cue cards.... Could you imagine Scotty's just there like dropping them? Just like Wally, who we mentioned, we haven't mentioned Wally over at SNL, who's the greatest cue card guy of all time.
Who is the brother of... Of Spike Fairstein.
Of Spike Fairstein. Wait, what? Yeah.
Yeah. I didn't know that.
We've talked about Wally before. He's the one of the all time.
Yes, we have. And super.
Wally. Wally.
Wait, I got something like about, you know, for Christmas a month or two ago, whenever Christmas was. Sure.
Scotty got me this. It's called Woobles.
The Woobles. Learn to crochet kit.
Yeah. Huh.
That qualifies as a present in your house, huh? Yeah. And it's, everything's in this box.
You know what? He got you that instead because he got sick of saying shut up. Shut up.
So he just thought, fuck, he'll be distracted. He just, and then I don't have to say, spend my day going, shut up.
Shut the fuck up. Now you're busy being quiet and knitting and he's got a couple of weapons around now that come with the kit just in case you start to run your mouth again.
Right, but isn't that good? Wait, Jay, didn't you say you used to crochet or something? No, my sister did. My sister used to have a knitting...
True. No, I said...
No, my great-grandmother did. Back in the home, my great-grandmother did when they were just, you know, trying to wait the winter out.
She did. That's what I think I always mean.
Now, that little starter kit is unopened. It's been a few months since Christmas.
I know. That's rude.
Do you know my mom knits a lot and she knits the kid's sweater. This is a true story.
And she knits the kid's sweaters for Christmas and stuff. She just sent some new one.
Why wouldn't it be true? I know. And she would love to knit you boys a sweater.
So would you both like a cardigan or a V-neck or a crew neck? I'd like a v-neck, please. Ask Alex.
Ask Alex nicely and she'll do it. Alex, can you please make me a v-neck, something that I can wear when I play golf with your son? Don't make it a turtleneck because I can't pull those off.
And I know very few people that can. Thick or do you want it kind of thick or kind of thin? Thin, you know.
Kind of thin. Okay, Shawnee?

I would like a crew neck for me, thin. But for

Jason, can the V go all the way down

to show some of his cleavage? Super low.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well below both.

But you want a crew neck, Shawnee? I want a crew neck,

Alex, please, yes. And maybe, Alex, maybe put

in some sort of a catch pouch, like a kangaroo

catch pouch for Shawnee just for the crumbs.

That's fun. And do you guys

want like some Canadian, you want a little Canadian flag

on it? No, thank you. Maple Leafs or anything?

I don do that. Don't say so quick.
What about an American flag? Okay, Jesus. I'll do like a nice little tiny maple flag.
That'd be cool, like in a corner of the back or something. You know what? The Canadian, actually, if you think about it, this is a good tie-in to...
Our next guest? You like segues. You like segues? I think you just did the segue right there.
Let's get right into it, Will. We're into a segue.
Oh, yeah. As a Canadian, he's somebody who's been making me laugh and also making me feel like, wow, this is so great that somebody Canadian who's from where I'm from can do this at such a high level.
So it's inspirational. This is going to be a funny thought.
And we've only sort of passed, really sort of said hello kind of once.

And of course he was just as gracious and had good vibe and kind of spirit

that you could feel as I thought he would be,

in addition to being super, super hilarious.

And once I start listing his credits, you're going to know who it is.

But suffice to say that he created a show that won nine Emmys one year, which is the biggest ever for comedy in one year, including picking up two of his own. He comes from, he has his background in comedy is, is like of the, the highest order from just, you know, his credits are, are, are comedies are comedies that are just enshrined in the Mount Rushmore of comedy, whether it be sketch or film.
And then he went on to TV to create this series that he created with his son. They did this series for about seven or eight seasons.
He is none other than the great Eugene Levy. Good Lord.
Oh, Eugene. Here he is.
There he is. Gentlemen, how are you? How are you? Better now.
Better now. I know.
I feel like jumping out of a cake, but there's no cake. Eugene, I'm going to see you for dinner tomorrow.
What? Yes, fantastic. Boy, I've never seen a look of shock before.
I know. There it was.
Shock. boy i've never seen a look of shock before there was shock and i've never seen a look of like how can i get out of this on someone's face sean where's this dinner that he doesn't know about it's at marty's where are you valeting tomorrow oh at marty's oh uh yeah no i don't valet uh eugene i gotta tell you man, you know, as a Canadian, as a fellow Canadian, I'm just, first of all, I love that we're having yet another person who is part of the incredible production of Godspell in Toronto from 1971 or whatever it was.
Thank you, thank you. Please.
The greatest cast that opened at the Royal Alexander and moved up to, I think, the Bayview Playhouse. Bayview Playhouse.
With the greatest cast of all time. Wait, is Bayview kind of small? I don't know that.
Well, it's kind of out of the lee side. It was a smaller theater in a section of the city that was not what you would call the theater theater district no no um i'm not entirely sure what what the district was but but it was a theater that we got to move into because they they kicked us out they only had us in the royal alex for three months it was only booked over the summer right when they're when when everything is kind of low-key there right yeah so we had to be out in in September so they found this other theater and we were there for another year incredible remind us Eugene who else was in the cast remind us Victor Garber of course was our Jesus and he only played in the show for a month because they hired him to do the movie.
So as soon as we opened the show, he was only in it for a month, and then he got to go to New York and then shoot the movie. Sure, big hair.
And so Andrea Martin, of course, was in that show. But Andrea didn't get hired initially.
And there was another girl that got hired for that classic Day by Day song. Call her the Day by Day girl.
I'm sorry, Eugene. Sorry, really quick.
Do we have to wrap up? No, no, no. I was just going to say, if Cher sang Day by Day, it would be Doe by Doe.
Okay, go ahead. He's got Tourette's when it comes to that.
It's almost Tourette's. He's got to get it out.
So anyway, this girl got pregnant, and they had to let her go. And so there was an opening, and I was friends with Andrea at the time.
So time. So I, um, I called her to say, uh, you know, we're having, uh, the, the director's having a party tomorrow night.
Why don't you come to the party and just bring your A game? Okay. Because, you know, you, you, they're looking for a replacement and she did.
And she was hysterical that night of course and the next day the director

calls new york and says you know we i think i found the girl and and and there you go and we

got in marty short uh my good friend from hamilton ontario we went to school together

and i talked marty into coming in and auditioning for the show because i had auditioned for it he

was still writing his final exams at mcmasty university the time. Still is, by the way.
And I said, well, he works a little slower. Yeah.
Not true. So he was in it.
Gilda Radner. God bless.
All in the cast. Dave Thomas.
Dave Thomas was in it. He was in the, what Marty likes to call the B cast.
It was like when everybody left after a year, they brought in a new cast and Dave came in as the new cast. I see, I see.
Not Dave Thomas from Wendy's, just for our listener out there. Not that Dave Thomas.
Oh, shoot. Dave Thomas from the Great Way North.
It was great. It was was a great it really was a fun time and and the great thing is we're still friends we're all friends i know we became friends back then and we're still friends and was it because of that that you all started second city scv that's my good expression how did sctv all those same people end up or a lot of those people end up in SCTV.
What was that migration? Well, we were very fortunate in Toronto back then in 72 because these were kind of bigger American productions that were coming into town. And we happened to hook like with Godspell was coming in from New York.
So we, you know, we auditioned for it. We, Marty and I, you know, got in, there were like probably 500 people auditioning for the show and, and we, and both of us, uh, got in.
Um, and again, when Godspell ran its course, uh, Second City moved up from Chicago to open a Toronto branch. Yeah.
And so and so you know we all went out and auditioned for that eugene with all of these all these folks being such um uh elite comedic minds uh at that time from that region i mean i bet you've been asked this question a million times so i apologize what's in the water can you attribute it to anything was there was there a sense was there a leader a tonal comedic tonal leader that kind of freed all you guys up to kind of do the same hilarious take on things I think I might have been the leader you look like the leader that's not true the odd thing is I'm not I've have been the leader. Yeah, sure.
You look like the leader. No, that's not true.
You know, the odd thing is I'm not, you know, I've never been. The biggest thing I've had to deal with in my life is being introduced as comedian Eugene Levy because I'm actually not a comedian as so far 20 minutes into this you guys can attest.
But, you know, I've always gotten my laughs through characters and everything else but as a as a as a human being i'm not you know i don't consider myself i don't i don't kind of look through that comic prism the way look at life through that prism the way stand-ups do you know everything has to be funny so but you love improv and bits and stuff like that, right? were all like that it's all sure because you can still get to do it through character yeah the scariest thing for me ever performing was playing anybody close to myself and then i would just like really just clam up and say why am i doing this you know uh but you know give me a mustache and some you know know, slinky glasses and a hat. And I'm like, you know.
Well, the slinky glasses, you just have to attach to the frames you have now. No, but I get that.
I feel the same way when people sort of say, will sometimes say comedian. And I'm like, well, I'm not a comedian.
I'm not a standup. I didn't come up through that.
I didn't even, I mean, at least you were in Second City, so you were doing sketch comedy. And then you did SCTV, which was, you know, film sketch comedy.
I didn't even, I mean, at least you were, you were in second city. So you were doing sketch comedy and then you did SCTV, which was, you know, film sketch comedy.
Um, I didn't even do any of that either. So I, but I, I get that when people kind of slap that on you and you're like, well, I don't really think of myself as a, as a joke teller, as a comedian.
Although man, I gotta say, Eugene, I've gone back and looked at so many and I've,, you know, obviously grew up with SCTV. And again, as a Canadian and growing up in Toronto, I, you know, we were so proud that we had SCTV came from Toronto.
And we were so, we looked up to you guys. So you guys were the people that I watched and was able to go like, these guys did it.
I mean, you know, not if these guys can do it, we can do it. We looked up to you guys.
Well, you know, when you're starting anything in Canada or Toronto, the way we did, it has to, like, for example, SCTV was, you know, we started when SNL came on in what, 75? Yeah. We came on in 76 because Bernie Sollins, who owned the Second City Theater back then, you know, which had said, well, you know, we're losing all our people to SNL because SNL was kind of, you know, half Second City and half Lampoon basically when they started.
So all our people are going to be going to SNL. We should start our own show.
So we came up with the, you know, SCTV, Second City Television. And, you know, our, while they were the toast of Broadway in New York, you know, we had, our budget was $7,000 a show when we, when we started SCtv and it was only a toronto show back in 76

and in sctv in seconds in sctv it was you katherine o'hara john candy yeah marty short again uh again it was all of these other people that are now just known as comedic you know was martin moll a part of that? No, no, i met uh i met martin moll uh when we were when we were working on uh well anyway i can't it won't go anywhere so but i met i met him on a movie we were both doing a thing called uh are you nervous about serving prison time or something? We've all been locked up. Well, it's actually a funny story, but it was...
We're ready. We were working on one of those Richie Rich things years ago.
And, you know, Christmas Wish or something. Richie Rich and the Christmas Wish.

I watch it every year.

I was playing Professor Keenbean, and I was playing him as kind of a Brit.

And I had a big mustache and very, very excitable.

And I was playing him like that with mustache and glasses.

And we were on a break on the set one day, and I'm sitting beside Martin. I looked at him, and I said, Martin, what are we doing here? Paying bills.
And he said, hey, it doesn't say asshole on the check. So I— That's really funny.
That was meeting Martin. But no martin was uh not a part of that but it's but it's like i was saying in toronto you know it's in back in the early 70s that's like dan akroyd and uh a girl named valerie bromfield and you know and john candy right so i mean this these these were these people were just i mean that was kind of the scene back then.
And eventually everybody kind of hooked up either on Godspell or on Second City. And we will be right back.
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When did you first work with Christopher Guest? Well, I first encountered, well, listen, Chris was, I was a fan of Chris's from the National Lampoon days,

you know, when I'd listened to the radio broadcast and I knew, you know, Bill was on,

Bill Murray was on that and Gilda Radner and Paul Schaefer and Harold Ramis and they, you know,

but there was a guy who did voices and characters that just blew me away. And I kept thinking, who is this guy? He had the most incredible voice.
You know, that kind of deep nasally kind of thing. And his characters were insane.
And I laughed so hard and found out that this guy's name was Chris Guest.

And then I met him on a Billy Crystal special in the mid-'80s, 85.

But we didn't work together, but when he was on camera, I made sure I was on set that day,

and I would just sit and watch him and try not to laugh and blow the take. I got to work with him again in the late 80s directing one of Marty's specials, I'm Martin Short Goes Hollywood.
And Chris was on that working with Marty. And they played two gossip columnists and basically improvised their entire rant on camera.
Wow. And again, it was still the funniest footage that, you know, I have to date.
So cut to mid-90s. I get a call in Toronto, and it's Chris Guest on the phone, and he said, I'm thinking of working on a movie.
Would you want to work on it with me? And I, you know, my heart was kind of palpitating over the phone because I, I mean, I didn't know him. I just worked, you know.
Big fan. Yeah.
Huge fan. And that movie was? Well, the movie turned out to be Waiting for Guffman.
One of the greatest. He said, you know, I've got a cabin up in the Idaho and, you know, we can go up there and work.
And I thought, Jesus, what am I, You know, I don't know this. He's trying to get me away for the weekend already.
I don't know, but working in a cabin, working on a script. What happens if it doesn't work out? What happens if it's, you know, a nightmare? How do I get to the airport? Right.
right how did he present that project did he say it was all going to be improvised or that there was going to be some sort of a uh a loose script or an outline he at the time he just said i'm thinking of putting it together would you want to help write it and so i said what what's the worst that can happen if it just if it's if it doesn't work out i just go to the airport and fly home and that's it. So I went there.
I flew there. And from the time he picked me up at the airport to the time we got to the cabin, I was laughing so hard.
Yeah. And, you know, and I had him laughing as well.
And we started working on this thing. Wow.
And I knew from Spinal Tap. Listen, when I saw Spinal Tap, I was so envious of anybody that was in it.
It was the most brilliant thing I had ever seen. Good for you for being honest that you were envious a lot of people would say i loved it i love that you said you were envious no i i was envious listen i my good friend paul schaefer was in it and he's not even an actor right so eugene you know i have to tell you when i when i went to go see waiting for guffman when it first came out half well i forget the year it came out, but this is a badge of honor, what I'm about to say.
Half the theater walked out because they didn't understand that it was improvised. They didn't get the comedy.
And the other half of the theater was like crying, laughing. I mean, and so it was just interesting.
Was this in this country or like the Far East? It was this country. And then as people caught on and realized, oh, this is, and understood the comedy and understood the improv, it became this huge, huge hit.
But for my sister, Tracy, a lot of it's improvised, right? So it's not a script with specific dialogue. It was just an outline saying like, this scene will be about this.
Yeah, yeah. Sean, was this like in Illinois?

You could probably hear, like, the 300-ounce Mountain Dews hitting the ground

as people stomped out.

I'm going to say stomped out or thundered out.

But it was really kind of a unique, different style of comedy

that people didn't see before, and I think people didn't get it.

And now they do, of course.

In the mold of Spinal Tap, this is what Chris was putting together with Waiting for Guffman. So, you know, we did, we put together a very, you know, detailed outline.
We, you know, we lay out the story. We lay out all the story points scene by scene so that it moves.
You know, otherwise it's like, it's just's just a free for all of improvisation and like, you know, you're in trouble and, you know, you can't pay an editor enough money. You have to have an idea of where you're going and what your objective is.
Yeah. Of course.
So we laid everything out, but what, and if we had some funny lines, we would put them in the script if we thought it was funny, but we didn't hold anybody to saying them. We just, we put that in, but more or less how the information came out was up to the brilliant cast.
So the script would basically be, this is what the scene should be about. This information should be revealed in this scene.
Yes.ky walks into rehearsal very upset because he's you know one of the great characters of all time of all time it really and you know it's so funny katherine i was just talking to katherine o'hera the other day and she was telling me because i was like how when you made those movies i was asking her did you guys not just break up laughing constantly because i would have been on the the floor. And she goes, she told me, I don't know if it was that or Best in Show, where you did, she said, she did something, somebody did something that made you laugh so hard, but you didn't want to ruin the take, so you crawled out of the scene on your knees.
Speaking of being on the floor. Yeah.
That was in Guffman, and that was, of course, Corky. That was Chris, and he had this, you remember the dance move he had with his pants on backwards? Yes, of course.
He would kind of, mm. Yeah, mm.
That thing. Yeah, and that got me every time, and I just could not stop laughing.
So there's a scene in the movie where he's teaching us choreography, and every time he makes this move, I go crazy, and I start laughing. So I work my way to the back of the group so I could hide behind them, and then I was actually still gut laughing so hard that I dropped to my knees, and I crawled off the set so that they could keep shooting and nobody, you know what I mean? It's a group scene.
It didn't matter. That's hysterical.
That's so good. But that troupe that you guys cultivated, curated, all those actors, you guys went on to do a few movies together.
How many? I mean, I wish you guys would just keep going and going. Mighty Wind, Best in the Show, Guffman.
For Your Consideration. Wow.
You know, it occurs to me, Eugene, that if you think about, it just occurs to me, like looking back at starting with Godspell and then Second City, SCTV, and then working with Chris Guest and that whole crew that you really, it seems to me, and you can tell me if this is right, that you enjoy working and collaborating in an ensemble that you get a lot out of that process and you really shine in an ensemble. Even the show you know, even the show you did with your son, which I want to get to with Dan, that you love being part of almost like a troupe each time.
There's a similarity there that you create a community. Do you enjoy that? Does that make you, does that invigorate you? Well, of course.
I mean, I, yeah, it, it, it, to be a part of it energizes you. You've all had that experience.
I mean, you guys, you know, Will and Grace must've been like that. Arrested Development must've been like that.
Yeah, it was super fun. You know, it's, you enjoy watching other people doing their thing.
Yeah, it's fine. You know? Yeah, and it's infectious.
One plus one makes three. Yeah, it's insane.
And it's kind of fun. It's fun work.
Those movies were fun work because you never really know what's going to happen. When we did Guffman, my first scene, even though we were writing it and I knew it was an improvised movie, my first day of shooting when I got to Austin, we were shooting in Texas.

Lockhart, Texas actually was the town.

We got there and I'm ready to shoot my scene.

I go in and then I say to Chris,

so where do you want to rehearse?

He said, what do you mean?

I said, well, where do you want to go over the scene?

Where do you want to, where should we work it out?

What do you mean?

I said, just to rehearse the scene.

He said, no, the cameras are there.

We're going to be doing it on camera.

First take.

First take.

I think... I said, just to rehearse the scene, he said, no, the cameras are there.
We're going to be doing it on camera. First take.
First take. I said, oh.
Oh. Okay, so we do it just on camera.
Right. Yeah, okay.
No practicing. And that, you know, but that becomes a very kind of joyous experience because you don't know what's going to happen.
You don't know what people are necessarily going to say, how they're going to say it, what's going to happen. And it's kind of, and holding it together is kind of a key thing.
We learned over the number of movies that as much as you want to laugh like we did in Guffman because it was just so much fun. It was like kids at school, you know, doing a play.
What is your secret? Do you have a secret trick not to laugh? I mean, I like to drive a nail into my, my fingernail into my leg a little bit. Well, hang on.
I want to hear, I want to hear Eugene's trick because I, I know what Jason's real one is. Go ahead, Eugene.
I, I wouldn't, I, you know what the thing is? I think, I think it's just bearing the brunt of how disappointing it would be if there's a great take happening and you blow it by laughing. Right.
And when you're improvising a scene, you will never get that exact moment again, you know? Yeah, right. It just won't happen again.
Right, right, right. So if you're the one that blows it, you're going to have to go back and do it.
And are you going to get the same thing? Probably not. So there's a moment that's gone.
So just the guilt factor alone. And it wasn't your moment by definition.
You know, you're laughing at what someone else is creating and you're wrecking their creation. Yeah.
Sometimes, you know, if it's my moment, there's a possibility I might laugh. Right.
Yeah, yeah. Because I surprise myself.
And I can't really hold back. It'd be great if you say it.
And if it's my moment, because I'm my biggest fan. Yeah.
And I enjoy my work. I enjoy my work.
Yeah. We'll be right back.
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I would like to know, I would like to talk about what we're not talking about, which is Schitt's Creek, which is so fantastic. I know, I was getting, this is all the build-ups.
Okay, well, come on. You created a show, one of the great sensations with your son, Daniel Loving.
With your son, Dan. And it's one of the greatest comedies of all time now.
And I've been sitting here since you got on one and talk about it. And I want to know how it happened because I love Dan.
Dan's like such a, he's you. He's like sweet, normal, hilarious, funny, great, like outgoing.
Like everybody loves him. Everybody loves you.
So how did that happen? I can't confirm because I haven't met him yet. But it sounds right.
He seems nice. Well, once you meet him, I'd love to get your take on him.
Yeah. And if you could let Eugene know what you think of his son too, that'd be nice of you.
I'll put it up on my blog. What a fucking dick.
Quick group break, Eugene. No, he's done, he has, I have to say, both my kids have all the talent that the dad didn't quite have.
BS, I'm calling BS.'s really quite quite amazing um and we started this thing um you know when he said do you want to work on a show i you know i said yeah yeah that would be good i didn't i never thought that would happen yeah so uh but that was good and it was watching it was like watching him and no matter what happened, I, it was the experience of doing this with him that I thought, okay, this is probably a once in a lifetime thing. Yeah.
Just make, make, you know, make the most of it, enjoy it. This is great.
Never thought it would happen. And, um, and so we start working on this and then, you know, know, I had at one point I had a nightmare.

I woke up in a cold sweat thinking, what if he doesn't have it? Sure, sure. At what point, I mean, we're going to keep working on this idea.
Face replacement, you call Marty. If I know that he doesn't quite have what it takes, how long are we going to keep working on this as a project? Or at what point do I sit him down and do I tell him he just doesn't have it? Sure.
It's a tough call. You know? Or do we just keep working away? Yeah.
It's like when Will sat me down. You know, where he's kind of deluding himself.
Right. And, you know, you think Sophie had a choice.
Yeah. Wow.
Wow. So I, I decided, but, but anyway, he, his work was, his writing was great.
His ideas were great. And so that never really happened.
And when we got to the point of starting the show, he really, really exploded in terms of performing, in terms of writing, and then his producing skills kicked in as well. I mean, it's so, Eugene, so funny.
I remember watching just from the first episode, the pilot episode, the way through that, especially that first season, just getting to know and seeing all these moves and seeing how funny it was and just thinking, God, this is so good. But what was the moment that maybe not even through your own lens, do you remember kind of somebody else that you knew or respected or you worked with and they were exposed to the material or to the show? And did anybody stop and say to you like, hey, Eugene, hey, this is really good, man.
You guys are onto something really... Do you remember a moment like that? I remember probably around the fourth or fifth episode.
It was one of the shows. Listen, I was thrilled to death when I saw the shows coming together.
Yeah. And I knew it was good.
And then around the fourth or fifth show, I knew it was really good. This is something that is really interesting.
This is something that is working on so many levels to me. And a lot of it had to do with the cast, you know, just picking the right people, picking just the perfect Alexis.
And of course, Catherine was always our first choice for Moira. I mean Catherine is so incredibly, I mean what an unbelievable sort of generational talent, Catherine O'Hara and then the great and Annie Murphy so great and your daughter Sarah and all these people I mean it was just every piece of it worked.
Now so you you do this series with Daniel. Tremendous success.
Tremendous. You guys, tremendous.
You sell it around the world. Global.
You guys do really well, and you make it with the CBC as your partner, CBC and Pop down here in the States. But, you know, it's a great deal for you guys guys and you guys get to control the property a little

bit more because you have this split deal and you're able to do and just really a really great story of success and you guys put yourselves on the line to do it you shoot it up in canada where were you shooting in the middle of nowhere were you in sarnia or something no we our our studio is in Toronto. Okay.

And our location was about an hour north of Toronto.

But yeah, we were fortunate. What town was that?

What town was that north of Toronto?

It's a town called Goodwood.

Sure, Goodwood.

Yeah, sure, yeah.

I'll get a place there.

Yeah.

You remember that one?

That's Sean's website.

Don't you have a website that's similar to that?

It's a rating, it's like a rating website. I forget what it is.
Anyway, I forget what it is. It's rated.
A lot of uploads. But you're up there.
You guys go up there. You're shooting this thing in Toronto.
And you really kind of bet on yourselves in a way, right? I mean, you guys. Well, to be honest, we're just doing the show.
We, you know, the idea that we got the show on the air was it.

That's all we cared about.

Right, right, right.

We finally did it.

We got a show on the air.

Felt so good.

And then the show was you're doing the best job you can on the show.

And fortunately, you know, we were getting very few and then eventually no notes from the network.

Yeah. So, yes, it's always fun when the inmates can run the asylum.
Well, the CBC, what notes? I mean, who were you guys paired with? You were right after the beachcombers, I think. I forget what the— The beachcombers.
I forgot what you got paired with. Yeah.

That goes back a while.

That goes back a while.

But listen, executives are doing their job and they feel like they have to do their job.

So they're going to, you know,

they're going to come in with notes.

They're going to come in with notes.

Actually, you know what?

The CBC, I like those people up there.

They've been very, they're nice people.

Good save.

Thank you.

But I mean, honestly, once again,

I mean, you guys did so many great seasons and you did, and you won all these accolades and so well-deserved, and I'm just couldn't be happier. And now, sorry, go ahead.
I was going to say you've been awfully kind, Will. You took part in our Best Wishes documentary, had just very lovely things to say about the show.
Well, I love it. So that was, I always appreciated that.
I'm a big fan of yours and your son Daniels and your whole family, and you guys have done an awesome job. But then now you're doing this new show for Apple Plus called The Reluctant Traveler.
Yeah. Which is, I love your face because you're like, yeah.
I get the sense that you are legitimately a reluctant traveler. Yeah.
I don't love traveling. And when they called me about this, originally they had pitched a show about hotels.
It was called Room with a View. And I got a call from my agent saying, you know, they want you to, Apple wants you to host, they're interested in you hosting a show about hotels all over the world.
And I went, oh, wow. Okay.
That's interesting. So it's a show about hotels.
I love a good hotel. Sure.
But you're doing a lot of traveling and there's cameras, so there's some talking involved and then you have to talk to people and you've got to generally be kind of, you know, interested in what they're saying, and chatty, which I'm not in real life, but I don't consider this real life. No.
So I said, well, thank them very much, but I honestly think they have the wrong guy. There's probably somebody who's much better at this than I am.
So at this point, you're being the reluctant host. Nice.
I'm being the reluctant host. Yeah, sorry to keep going.
I'm just being generally reluctant. Reluctant in general, yeah.
Meanwhile, you're turning it down, and they were like, he's the perfect guy. This is our guy.
So what happened was, so back again saying, you know, they really want to talk to you. I said, honestly, I don't understand what the point is.
Okay, you know what? Set up the call and I can tell them myself, you know, because this is. So we set up the call.
They're not hearing me. And I'm telling them why.
I just, you know, I'm not the guy. I don't love, you know, I don't love my food palate is quite normal.
I'm just a meat and potatoes kind of, I'm not into fancy things. Traveling, I don't really love.
Sightseeing bores me. I'm not big on water.
I don't get me near water. And so, and I'm hearing laughs and I'm getting laughs and I'm thinking, well, this is great because I'm, I'm, I'm actually getting, I'm making my point and I'm keeping it light.
And you know, it's not a heavy. Little did you realize you're casting yourself.
That's right. They get off the phone.
He mailed it. I found out after, and the two, the exec exec producer and the executive from apple they said the producer said that's the show it's not about forget hotels that's the show it's the guy that doesn't want to travel that's doing all the traveling so then they called back and they they pitched that and i i got i mean i got that you know because i can't pretend to be the traveler that I'm not.
Right. But if I'm the traveler that I am, and I'm on camera, but nevertheless.
But it necessitates you now traveling. And so you've been doing that? How many, yes? Oh, it's been really great.
It's been quite a phenomenal show to do. So we've been to eight locations around the world, went to the Maldives.
You know, when am I going? When would I ever go to the Maldives? Best place, worst place. We did go to Venice where I've never been, but I've been to Italy.
So I love Italy. I adore, I love Italy.
I just, you know, anywhere in Italy, I absolutely love it. So you've been, I mean, this is great.
What an unbelievable career. You've done, honestly, you've just, you've done so much and you continue to do so much.
And, you know, I was just thinking, every time I meet people like you, Eugene, who work with the same people and work with your friends your whole life, I always think about how lucky you are. And then it reminds me of how I was thinking this morning as I was coming down here to record, knowing that I was recording you and I was thinking, I'm so lucky that I get to do this with these guys.
I love these guys and I get to do this. And what an unbelievable privilege, you know? Yeah.
Well, it's the hottest podcast. That's true.
It's a hot podcast. I'm saying.
All right. You're doing, you know, because it all comes through.
What you're talking about is coming through, you know?

Your affection for each other comes through.

Yeah.

And how you rip each other apart comes through as well, which is...

Well, how could, again, how could you not?

Once you see it, I mean, it's just unbelievable.

I mean, these guys are just complete fools.

Also great fun.

Eugene, thank you so much.

Just continued success success my friend uh

from one canadian to another uh uh keep her going eh good on you thanks for so much uh amazing stuff

and and uh yeah just all the best man and congrats on the new show yeah yeah thank you thanks eugene

thanks yes hope it works it's great to meet you i'll see you tomorrow nice'll see you tomorrow. Nice to meet you.
See you tomorrow, Sean. Yeah.
Take care, guys. Bye, buddy.
Bye, Eugene. Bye-bye.
Huh. So do you guys carpool to Martin's dinner tomorrow, Sean? Or do you guys meet there? We're just, we're probably, I'll probably swing by, pick him up.
I was just thinking that if I was in town. Oh, you'd be there setting up probably right now.

I'd probably be there.

Yeah, yeah, I'd probably be there.

Yeah, setting up.

Setting up.

I'm not going to work there, you dick.

I think I'm tearing down.

How great would it be if I just did catering at Marty's house?

By the way, I haven't talked to you both since...

Who Killed Santa Murderville.

Oh, right.

I know.

And I'm sorry to the listener.

This is probably a couple months later,

but I just want to say congrats, Willie.

You guys, you and your whole team there

put together a really great show.

The feedback I'm getting from people just loved it.

Yeah, everybody I know saw it, loved it.

He was like over the top about it.

They weren't even drunk.

They weren't high. These are sober, smart people.
They didn't have guns held to their head. No, unsolicited.
Well, listen, I thanked both of you guys at the time, and I'm so lucky, again, that I get to do it. Again, that's been kind of on my mind the last couple days.
I'm like, you know, I posted something about it. Not reluctantly, but you have to do it as part of your thing.
Your fee. Your fee, and they pay you to do, and they send you stuff.
They're like, post this, and you're like, yeah. And I get to look, and I'm looking at the outtake stuff, and I'm looking at the three of us idiots that we get to do this thing.
And it's like, it's not a job. And I was thinking about it again, like with Eugene.
And in fact, you know, it's not, I'm not putting it on the same level as Chris Gaston by any means. So please, you know, hold back on your shit comments.
But, you know, we got to do this thing where we got to mess around. We had a loose idea of what the script was and kind of worked.
And then we got to kind of fuck around and have fun in this game. Well, why don't you keep that going? Let's keep this troop going and do it for each sort of, like, the next should be who killed the Easter Bunny.
We have that time for spring. And then we, you know.
And I just play all the characters who get killed. Yeah, you get to be the bunny.
Yeah, and you get killed. How would the Easter Bunny die? If Santa died from a sharp candy cane.
The Easter Bunny would die from salmonella. Salmonella, yeah.
Or lacerated by a rogue eggshell. Fucking salmonella.
Come on, it's got to be different. I remember somebody pointing out to me, and it is true, the bunny's got a basket full of eggs.
Eggs, right. Yeah.
That's what I's how he died um that eugene levy is just so also like and and and was just gonna say like what how do you what are the odds of like the godspell thing all that troop of people then that troop of people goes on in second city then that troop of people plays together in all those uh christ guest movies yeah and it's just like this tight circle of friends that stay together and make stuff. That's like a dream come true.
And there hasn't been, I mean, I'm sure that there are plenty incredibly hilarious, talented comic actors coming out of Canada since then, but never in that same kind of flood that came out during that era, right? I wonder what the hell was. Very concentrated time of incredible talent.
Well, I have to say this, and I'm not just saying this well, but you, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, like all of these people that come from there. It's weird.
It's like, what? All those people, and like he said, in addition to the other people who left and went to SNL.

Yeah.

Like in that time, think about it.

And by the way, including Lauren who created SNL.

Right, right.

So in that mid to late 70s, like right in like 75 and then 76, which incidentally was America's.

Bicentennial.

Bye.

Oh, you did it! Smart. Nice.
Smart. Nice.
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