"Tony Hale"

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I got my COVID booster shot today.

I'm feeling a little low from the side effects.

But you know what I don't feel low for?

An episode of Smartless!

Smart.

Less.

Smart.

Less.

Smart.

Less.

I was just in dad hell. Uh-oh.
Yeah, take a deep breath. Yeah, take a couple deep breaths.
Oh, my God. I'm all sweaty and my hands are dirty, which is the worst part of it all.
Look at the way he holds his hands. I haven't been able to wash my hands.
Like working on the car. I just got a 150-pound delivery from UPS, which was Maple's new I'm Not a Little Girl Anymore basketball hoop.
Sure. Oh, I have that.
Oh, God. And I just spent the good part of three hours assembling just half of it.
Okay, I had to punt, and I i'm gonna have to do the other half tomorrow or after this and guys have you ever had an ikea injury you know where you really haven't screwed in a bolt or anything for like maybe ever and your forearms the next day are just ripped to hell i'm gonna have like um uh this is not ikea this is a real big boy hoop why not not get one over the garage? You just put it on the garage. I'd have to assemble that too, Sean.
Oh, like the Cunninghams had on Happy Days. First of all, Ikea, I've always said Ikea is Swedish for argument because anytime you go into an Ikea store on a weekend, you just go like, we don's so true.
Well, we've already got the one in the other room.

We've already got the other thing.

I really feel proud.

There's a certain pride

that comes with

the finishing

of the assembly.

For sure.

And this one...

I always feel pride

when I finish.

We're talking about

the same thing, right?

Yeah.

So I'm going to feel like...

Well, I'm not going to extrapolate on your metaphor there, but I'm going to feel so good when this is done, but it's made me late. My hands are dirty and I'm only half done.
Again, I think we're talking about the same thing. Yeah.
And almost more importantly, I have not had the time to do my prep for my guest today. Oh, that's okay.
Yeah, so you're a guest. I think this is today.
This is my guest, I think, right? It is your guest. Yeah, it is.
Boy. Yeah, and so this is going to be my first raw dog.
Still talking about the same thing. Boy, this is a long subject.
Now we're talking about a different thing. Wait, first of all, I missed you guys last night.
I was supposed to see you for dinner at a friend's house. I know.
I don't know. Well, I saw you.
Well, you know why I didn't make it? Because I kind of partially pulled my back. You did.
And so it's all about old man for me today. That's a thing.
But Jason, and then I stopped by Will's house on the way home, and I texted you, hey, I'm stopping at Will's if you want to come by. I ignored that text because I was so pissed off at my back that's all right and didn't even answer him no i don't do that sometimes well it didn't assess it no here guess what i'm gonna read you the goddamn text right now listen to how this does not trigger a response at all um missed you tonight period we left because scotty's tired Stopping off at Will's to say quick hello if you feel like jaunting over, period.
Well, I don't. And thanks for the update.
Well, we got it now. 24 hours later, he got it.
Hey, speaking of good friends. Yeah.
So Sean did come over last night with Scotty. Well, we said good friend.
It's not like you just got back from the hospital and everyone's got to stop by. Yeah.
I texted Jason about that. No, but Will's, your house is spectacular.
Oh, thanks, man. It's just unbelievable.
Good for you, Will. Thank you.
Thank you. It's so beautiful.
It's taken a long time. But Jay, I think you're really going to like it.
And we're talking about Monday doing a hang. Shame on with everybody.
Oh, sorry, listener. Just hold on one second.
Will decided to take your time to make some plans. What is it, Will? A week from today, what are we doing? I almost did a spit take.
By the way, we just talked about you putting together a fucking basketball hoop for your daughter. Yeah, but that's podcast worthy.
I'm not just fucking filling up my file of facts with next Monday's plans. Just open and fill up your Google News alerts with links about cute dad moment, Jason Bateman put together a fucking basketball.
I'm self-effacing right now. I'm talking about how soft I am.
I'm texting Amanda right now. I want to get a photo of you putting that together so badly.
So badly. Oh, that would be so great.
But all the damage I did to my... I'm trying to do good things for my daughter and the damage I did yelling at her while I'm putting this thing together.
She's asking to help. Do you think by you asking for help that you're helping? By the way, that's a great impression of you.
Inflections on the wrong words. All right, let's get to our guest.
That is a good impression of you. It is.
I love seeing you frazzled. Our guest has a great daughter that I bet he's nicer to than I am to mine.
Okay. Or at least assembles more things for.
So here I am, just raw dogging it right now. Please stop using that term.
Our guest, I don't have my Wikipedia in front of me, but I should know enough. He, okay, so it's a man.
That part I did research. Well, you gave it away a while ago, but go ahead.
No, did I really? Yeah. He has a daughter? Yeah, that was earlier and then before that.
But anyway, keep going, man. No, no, no.
Tell me who you think it is. What do you mean? I don't know who it is, but I know that it's a he because you said he.
Okay. So it's a he.
Oh, my God. He's a father.

He's an actor.

Do you know him?

Yeah, man.

Okay.

And he's great.

Okay.

He's nice.

Okay.

You want to just say his name so he can start? No, not yet.

He's funny.

What time today did you hit fuck it?

You just.

I spent all I had putting up half the hoop.

How's your back now, by the way?

Thank you. He's funny.
What time today did you hit fuck it? You just... I spent all I had putting up half the hoop.
How's your back now, by the way? And you know what? We're going to find out a lot about this guest, and we're going to give him a chance to tell us. But I'll tell you what I do know.
I love him. Okay.
And Will loves him. Yeah.
A lot. Mm-hmm.
How does Sean feel about him? Sean, I don't know if you've ever met him. But you may have.
We're going to find out in a second. Let's just get on with it.
Will, it's our long-lost brother, Tony Hale. Come on, Tony.
Hello. What's up? What are you talking about? I live for Tony Hale.
Have you guys met? Many times. Yeah.
Really? With me? No. Not with you, no.
No. Okay, good.
Actually, no, we did meet with you. It was a party years ago at your house.
And I went up to you, Sean. At my house? No, at Jason's house.
Okay. And I said, oh, Sean, I'm a big fan.
And you said, oh, I'm a big fan of yours. Come to find out later you never watched Arrested Development, so you were lying.
Well, it's not a lie. I can still be a fan.
He's seen the commercials, Tony. Two-tone.
God bless you, I love Tony so much. That's another thing I could have put in the intro that I could raw dog.
If you had said Veep, I just would have known immediately. Exactly.
But wait, Tony, hang on. I just got to absorb this for a second.

Look at Tony.

I'm so happy to be here.

Guys, that was really hard not to laugh.

It's really, really hard not to laugh.

Tony, Tony.

Are we talking about the same thing?

That made me laugh out loud in my mouth, in my hand.

I'd forgotten when you were just,

when you hadn't revealed yourself,

I'd forgotten what a heavy breather you are.

And so I just heard.

Well, asthma.

Asthma, thanks for bringing it up.

Oh, shit. Really?

Yeah.

I meant that in a good way, by the way.

Oh, you did?

Oh, okay.

You don't have,

have you had asthma for a long time?

I have since I was a kid.

Oh, that's right.

I knew this.

I knew this.

Of course I didn't know this.

What do you mean you knew this?

We talked about it on your podcast.

Yeah. Oh.
Oh, wait. Was Tony on knew this.
I knew this. Of course I didn't know this.
What do you mean you knew this? We talked about it on your podcast. Yeah.

Oh.

Oh, wait.

Was Tony on Hypochondriacter?

Yeah.

Oh, no way.

This is a crossover episode.

He played Gary Walsh on Veep.

Uh-oh.

We already did the intro, Jay.

We already did the intro.

He won an Emmy in 2013 and 2015 for Veep,

because I know he didn't win for Arrested.

I was sitting next to Tony when he won.

Yeah, you were.

And Jason was in front.

And Jason was in front when they called,

remember Jay, when he got his first Emmy?

How about that? He's not going to remember.

I don't remember anything.

I know.

Okay, listen, Tony, guess what, guys?

His birthday's September 30th, and he's 51.

Good.

Good, good, good.

I don't need the Wikipedia to tell me his wife's name is Martel.

I love her and I miss her.

And Loy, is still your daughter?

She's not.

Oh, man.

We had a hard breakup.

Didn't work out.

She's 16 now.

She's a junior in high school.

She's driving?

Because Franny's about to start driving.

She's driving.

Yeah?

She's driving.

How did that go for you and Martel?

It's been a journey.

It's the highways that do freak me out a little bit, the LA highways.

So I was driving home just now.

I picked up Archie from school with his pal, and I was driving back,

and I was coming up cold water, and I see these two teenagers trying to make a left-hand turn in rush hour traffic. And so I stopped to let them go, because they were trying to take a left in front of me and to go the direction I was going.
And everybody else coming down Coldwater was not having it. And these kids, they pulled out, then they went back.
And I just stopped, and I held it, and I kept flashing my light, and I put my hand out the window like, guys, go. And I could see that they were barely 16.

And it made me so nervous for them.

And then they finally, one other person.

They were confused by your kindness, right?

Well, yeah, but the people the other way.

And I just thought as they went out, I just, I wanted, of course, as you know, it's single lane.

I wanted to pull up to them and teach them a lesson and literally go like, guys, you need to know something.

Just be careful, please. I was so nervous for them as a dad.
We're such old men now. I know.
Right? Just a few years ago. Yeah.
You would have just been honking and saying, get the hell out of the car. I know.
So Tony Hale, so to Tracy, Tony... This is so fun.
This is so fun. This is amazing.
Tony and I met first. I just want to say, I know, Jason, he's your guest, but I'm going to hog this.
I want to say, Tony and I met. Go, please.
I'm unprepared. Oh, good.
Martel, his wife, used to work on SNL. Saturday Night Live, Tracy.
Saturday Night Live, Tracy, which is a longstanding live sketch comedy. Okay.
When do they shoot that? Oh, my God. So they knew each other before.
So then Tony and I went out to read for Arrested Development, which is a longer story, and we kind of had a little bit of a, we kind of knew each other a little bit. Like, hey, hey, we had that familiarity.
From the halls of SNL? Because our wives knew each other. And it was nerve, we were both, it was very nerve-wracking.
We were both staying at what was then the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City. And we walked to our test together.
Yeah. Do you remember that? For Arrested Development? For Arrested Development.
Tony and I walked over. And you both got it.
That's crazy. And we both got it.
Wait, so you walked, you walked down. Sean's just now learning that we both got there.
We walked in the back gate. We went in, what's that called? The Galaxy Gate.
Yeah, yeah. And we went in the back together and then we walked over and read with you and with Portia and Jessica and everybody.
Yeah. And then we both got it.
And then we walked back and then we were like, I guess we're staying for a little bit. Did you, correct me if I'm wrong, did we shoot the pilot right after we had that callback? Well, yeah, Tony, remember the next night, I'm good with stuff like this, Jason.
The next night we had a read-through. What year was this, Will? This is late February of 2003.
Tony knows. Wait, how do you know the month, freak? By the way, by the way, this spring, it's going to be 20 years since we shot the pilot.
20 years later? And when does it come out? Turn your camera off right now, Sean.

Anyway, so that's...

It's been shelved for 20 years.

And then, and I will say this,

and I've told this and I've said it high and wide.

Frame it up better.

There is nobody on the set,

and Jason, you're there,

and I'm sorry to say,

but there's nobody who cracked me up, and I think you'll attest to this too, the way Tony hailed it. David Crump.
Oh, Tony. No, I listened to David's podcast you guys did with him.
And Will, when you said the best joke that he said, and when he said, I don't know what you said, Jason, like, how are you doing? He goes, good. And he goes, well, it's going to be good.
Yeah. That was, remember that? That's the best line ever.
That was so funny. But Tony would do this thing where he'd be getting ready to, like he and I would both be off camera, ready to enter a scene.
And Jason, you know that thing. He starts getting into Buster, yeah.
And he starts getting into Buster. So you'd be talking to him about something.
He goes to him like, I think we're wrapping later. And he'd go, yeah.
And then you'd hear the scene and go, okay, I got And then you go like. And you bring up the Tyrannosaurus Rex hands.
And you bring his hands up like this. And I would, and then I'd have to come in after him and I'd be in here.
Tony, fuck me, Tony. You're so goddamn funny.
He tucks the chin and brings up the T-Rex hands and then he's in. I took it really seriously.
Well, now, well, tell me about that. Is that because I haven't worked with you before or since, unfortunately.
But are you that disciplined with everything you do? Or did you think at the time, this is a big deal, a big show. I better keep it tight because this feels large.
Yeah. I think, I think I was so, I think all that.

I was really overwhelmed.

I was really intimidated.

And I was like, I gotta, I gotta do the work.

And so I would go back to my hotel room

and I would just like practice in the mirror

and all that stuff.

Because I will say, I went up to Mitch

and I asked a very actory question.

Mitch Horowitz was the boss on the show, Tracy.

Mitch Horowitz, yeah.

And he was the guest.

I'm here too. Sweet Tracy.
And I asked him yeah. And he was the guest.
I'm here, too.

Sweet, Tracy.

And I asked him, I said, what does Buster want in life?

And he said, I know, it's a really accurate question.

And he goes, all he wants in life is safety.

And so then I just kind of like thought everything that threatened his safety,

he would just like panic.

And so he was always in a state of defense.

Like his chin would go back, his hands

would go back, and he was just

constantly waiting what's going to come at him.

That's really funny.

Sean, you have to know, you'd be doing

a scene and then you'd be like, and even when

you were rolling and if Tony was

behind you and you'd be having a conversation

like, and then you'd just

hear, oh.

You could always hear what's going on inside. He'd sort of verbalize it.
And I have a really fat chin, which actually helped. No, you do not.
I have a question about, I heard about, I don't know the process on Arrested Development. It sounds like it was, obviously, I've heard so many stories.
Oh, it's a good time show. Good shows.
Good episodes. And episodes.
And I'm sure you, I like it as much as you love Will and Grace. Save it, though.
Will and Grace, you know. I'm curious, Sean.
Have you seen, I mean, have you literally seen anything? I saw the first two. I laughed out loud.
Oh, you did see the first two. That was enough.
Yeah, got it. Not for him.
You're that person. You're that person.
You're that person. Got it.
So there's a problem and it gets resolved. Okay.
So, but on Veep, I heard that there's an actual, I don't know if this is true. I've always wanted to ask you this, that there is a process, an actual rehearsal process, like a lengthy one.
Can you describe that to me? Because I'm kind of really interested in that where you got to improvise scenes even though they were written or did you improvise them first and the writers would write from what you came up with? I think a little bit of both. Armando Iannucci, who created it, he would give us...
Wait, how do you say his name? Armando Iannucci. Oh, crap.
Here's the day. Armando Iannucci.
No, Armando Iannucci. Isn't it Armando Iannucci? How many years did you guys work together? Yeah, this is probably seven or eight, right? I think it's Armando Iannucci.
You think? So he was a passive producer? We would call him Arm. We would call him Arm.
Arm. I didn't care about his full name.
But I think it's like, I'm pretty sure it's Armando. By the way, we just found our promo clip.
Armando Ragnucci. But he would kind of give us a scenario.
Because Matt Walsh was also in Veep, who's like a master improver, and he helped create UCB and all this stuff. And so all of us had to kind of get in the routine.
It's not necessarily about coming up with funny bits. He just wanted to see if it gelled.
And then out of that, funny bits would come. But as you guys know, we never rehearsed on Arrested.
We rarely had any rehearsal on TV. Yeah, that's why I was asking, just because on Veep, so you would rehearse, what, a week before you even started shooting? We would shoot, we would fly down, because we shot in Baltimore, so we'd fly down a couple weeks before we'd shoot and just, like, go to this room episode a week for every episode uh no no no no no it was like we would do like five scripts or something like that and just kind of feel those out yeah wait wait sorry sorry totally confused here what happens so there's a script that's written yeah there's a script that's written.
Ish. So yeah, the script is,

they have a really good idea of the script.

And then a lot is written.

But then they kind of throw out,

they say,

actually kind of throw away the script and just kind of play with the scene.

So it's like,

we would do some of the lines

and not do some of the lines.

But it was more of just like,

if the story's working,

if the relationships are working,

if bits do come out. You guys sound like storytellers.
Oh, boy. So wait, so then they would then see what you guys would improvise in addition to what is written, and then if the improvised dialogue is worthy of being included in this half-written script, it would.
Yes? Yeah. Well, thanks for making it sound less fun, but yeah.
Well, then a week later, you then have a complete script, and that's the script that you would then shoot? Yeah, but even in that complete script, if stuff came out, it was a very open environment, yeah. You should see Jason explain to kids on how to get on a bouncy house.
He really... So you go and the air is pumped up and it keeps...
I want you to unlace your shoes. And then your socks because of...
Lay them outside. Your ligaments and the buoyancy.
Yep. Now, Tony, I saw, I remember seeing a long time ago, didn't you do Drunk History, like even more than once? Yeah, several times, yeah.
I love that show. So fucking funny.
And I learned a lot, too. By the way, dumb, dumb question because I know nothing about that show other than it's hilarious and you were great.
They really make you drink until you can't talk. Oh, I wasn't the storyteller.
I know, I know. But I mean like the people that are...
Yeah, yeah. I think they get them really drunk and then they have them kind of retell...
Just like they're totally... Tell the story.
And it's... And the thing is, there's stuff that I learned from that show that I never knew.
Just the way they said it. About puking? About puking.
I learned a lot about how you throw up your meals. Tony was a Sigma Chi fraternity.
He's back on Wikipedia. He went to Samford University, which was started by Red Fox and his son.
I was, I actually, I was, I'm in Nashville right now because I'm doing a movie here with my friend Seth Worley. And it's like two hours from Alabama.
So I went and visited some friends from college and then Martel's family. So I was just there.
Come on. Oh, that's nice.
Did you go back to the Sigma Chi fraternity house? I did not. Where you got your journalism degree in 1992? Okay.
Well, he didn't get his degree from, you know, he doesn't know how college works. But hey, Tony, so you've always had...
Well, I'm here to learn. Both you and Martel are from the South, as you just sort of alluded to.

Do you ever, and you maintain deep Southern roots?

This is so fun.

This is so fun. You have a lot of credits on here.

It's just so fun.

Because I don't know why.

He's done a couple of episodes of Samantha Who.

Okay, we got to get past this.

This is fantastic.

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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 all the time, is Scot.
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've been going to therapy for a long time.
And it's always great. So think about your favorite leaders, mentors and idols.
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All right, back to the show.

Tony, so talk to us a little bit.

So you're from the South, you grew up in the South,

and then you moved to New York.

We meet in New York.

How did that happen? What was the move from college to New York,

and what was your goal? Okay, so I moved to New York in 95. Didn't know anybody.
And then the very first theater show I did in New York was Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, where we did Taming of the Shrew in a Parking Lot. Wait, are you being serious? I'm dead serious.
That's hysterical. And then we did that.
And then I had every job. I cater-waitered, all that stuff.
I actually really liked cater-waiting better than waiting tables. And so I cater-waited all these jobs.
And then I started doing commercials. And my type was the guy who wasn't all there.
That's what I was described. Now become the Tony Hale type.
Which really hasn't much changed. And so then I started doing commercials and enjoying it.
But it took me six years to find an agent who would send me out for TV and film because they saw me just as a commercial actor. Well, Sean, you did commercials for a long time, didn't you? A lot, yeah.
Was there a lot of sort of, like, there was a a thing there like a little stigma being like a commercial actor and the difference between that and doing film and tv yeah it was just they were kind of putting you in compartments and it was just tough to get somebody to send me out for tv film and theater and there was this casting director named marcia debonis oh yeah oh the great marcia debonis yeah and she actually don't know if you, she's the one who, well, I'd found.

Cast Arrested.

Yeah, I'd found a manager like a year before or something,

so I was kind of being sent out for stuff.

And then since she cast a lot of commercials,

she thought about me for this role and brought me in.

That's right.

Marsha did the, she did the,

handled the New York casting for Arrested Development.

And, yeah.

Yeah, and the whole thing,

and Mitch said when I was,

because Buster massaged people a lot,

and in the audition,

I was massaging my knees,

and Mitch said,

since the camera stopped here,

he didn't know what I was doing down there,

and it piqued an interest,

and he sent me out.

So it looked like you were doing something else.

Yeah, maybe.

Yeah.

But I was just, I mean, I don't, I don't, do you, I don't know, do you guys have much memory of that, that shooting that pilot? Cause I know we shot it at that. It was down South, right? And at the ballet studios in Manhattan beach.
Yep. It wasn't, was it a Manhattan beach studio? Yes.
Yes. Cause I, the only memory I have is I ran out, I remember running out of underwear and I had to go to old Navy to get underwear.
How does one run out of underwear? Is it because you have too many mistakes in the day? I shit my pants five times. Don't start with Jason.
Don't start with Jason. You got to take care of the business before you leave the house for a second.
Who goes shit in the middle of the day? Tell me about showering. Do you shower before or after? Oh, my God.
Fuck, God. You know, Tony, it does say here that your father taught nuclear and atomic physics and served in the military.
Yeah, he did. And he went to West Point.
He went to West Point. Good Lord.
And then he taught nuclear physics after he was done at West Point. No, he taught there after.
And then he was in the military for 20 years. And we moved around.
We lived in Germany and everything. Will, do you feel as bad as I do that you don't know this about Tony after all the years we've worked together? I feel...
What if Will's like, not really? I really don't. I mean, I will say...
What if Will said, yeah, and his mom taught such and such, but like that you knew everything about Tony and I don't. No, I didn't know that.
I got to say I am a little embarrassed to say that Tony, that I did not know that. Yeah, that's terrible.
I love that kind of stuff. Did you ever get into that with your dad? Like did you ever talk, like, did any of that interest you? Because it interests me.
I don't have a dad. Being in the military? No, that astrophysics part.
Nuclear physics. Like you must have, but that's like a double whammy for a military guy and a nuclear physicist to say, to hear his son say, I want to be an actor.
You know, when my grandfather was an opera singer, so my dad had a real appreciation for the arts. So he always, always supported where I wanted to go, which I...
Do you have memories of that, of your grandfather being an opera singer? He passed away when my dad was six.

Oh, okay.

Nice going, Will.

He hit too high of a note.

Don't say nice going.

It's not like Tony's sad about it.

These guys are real jerks, Tony.

Sorry about this.

But, like, he never...

They always supported me,

which is not always the case.

So I'm really thankful for that.

Your mom was the one

that really was against

the acting stuff.

Go ahead.

No? She loved it, too. She did.
I'm looking for controversy. He wants a real gotcha episode here with Toby.
Wait, let me just go through a couple. You guys talked to him for a second.
I'll find out what mom was doing during all this. Wait, wait, wait.
It says here, let me tell you what else it says here. Oh, my God.
Six nominations for Veep alone there on the Emmys.

SAG

Awards, three nominations,

another six for Veep.

Tony, how many Emmy wins for Veep?

Two? Two.

For you or the show?

For him.

For me, two.

But for the show, I think it was two. I'm not sure.

That's so great. Such a funny

show. It was really, for me too.
Yeah. But for the show, I think it was too.
I'm not sure. Yeah.
That's so great. Such a funny show.
It was a really, really fun experience. I watched some of those outtakes between you and Julia, and I die laughing.
They're so funny. There's one scene where she has to, she has to, she asked me to break up with her boyfriend for her in the first, in like the first season.
And she's so close proximity to me. And it's almost, I mean, I remember all these moments on Arrested.
It's so impossible to not laugh. You were great about not laughing, though.
It's just shaking. I wasn't in Veep.
Julia said to me once, you know you're not watching the show, you're in the show, Tony. Because I was laughing so hard I couldn't keep it together wait was she fantastic at not breaking she would always dig her nails into her hands to stop laughing i i do that i pinch my my thigh skin um i i but i brought blood oh you do a couple of psychotic things to not laugh well i used to i used to not be able to look at jeffrey tambor straight in the eyes when he would do scenes with me and he'd yell at me for like, they'd be staring at like, you know, the side of his cheek or the tip of his nose.
He was so dry. My thing is, though, I don't know about you guys, but there were times that we just trusted Mitch's, the grid he had in his head because there were so many levels to what was going on.
I had many times no idea what was going on. And I just had to trust his guidance.
Most of the time, especially the last couple of years, just so complex. Very complex.
There was a joke. Somebody asked me once, what was one of your favorite bits? And aside from Tobias being in the Blue Man group, which always made me laugh hard.
Oh, God. The one joke when Ian Lesser, the doctor.
Besser, right? Besser. No, Ian Roberts.
Ian Roberts, yes. Yeah.
Ian Roberts came out. One of my favorite jokes.
And Jessica would say, is he okay? And he'd go, yes, he's okay. And then he says, but his hand has been severed.
And they would get all mad. I just thought that was so hilarious, the way he delivered it.
Well, then I was on a podcast, like at the San Francisco Sketch Fest, years ago in front of an audience. And I was saying that was my favorite joke.
Somebody raised their hand and said, no, no, no, that's not what he said. He says, no, he's all right.
Meaning he has an all right hand and not a left hand. So 15 years after the joke is when I finally get it.
That's hysterical. And you were in the scene.
And I was in the scene. That's hysterical.
I mean, just so many things I missed. I love how they would just so proudly lean into cheap jokes.
You know, like the C word was the name of the yacht, right? S-E-A-W-A-R-D, C word. And then she— And the blue handprints on the wall.
And then we'd call her the C wordword, right? We'd call mom, or she thought we were calling her the C-word. So I remember, you know, you called the great Matt Walsh, who was with you on Veep, who's a hilarious guy, one of the founding members of Upright Citizen Brigade, and Ian Roberts as well.
And I just, those doctor moments were so dry and so funny. So good.
Ian is so good in those moments. Yes.
I can't imagine anybody else doing it. And he would do the, you know, the whole like, well, we lost him and everybody starts crying.
They just literally meant that they lost him. And those moments stick with me too.
Those like guys like that coming in who are just absolute assassins.

Hilarious.

God damn it.

And Mitch just would just go,

he would think of stuff that I would never even consider.

I mean, obviously that a seal bit off my hand,

but one is that when Jessica was on house arrest

and she couldn't smoke

and she needed me to inhale the smoke out of her mouth and then blow it out on the balcony. You had to run out on the balcony and blow it out.
And I had to run on the balcony and then come back like a baby bird and just, you know, suck it out of her mouth. Just the most disturbing image.
But Sean, you know what? Just keep watching. Just the two.
Just the two episodes. Don't worry about it.
You're going to love it. Sean, how did you get when you couldn't stop laughing? Did you just go for it or did you keep yourself? I The Will and Grace program.
Wait, were you on that? Yeah. Sean.
I've got to see that. No, I'm the easiest.
I can't. I'm the opposite of a rock on stage.
I laugh at anything. That's so good.
Tony, you know, one of my memories of you, one of my vivid memories and is still alive today is what a kind person you are and how kind you are to people in your life and people around you. And it's one of the great things about you that makes you such a lovable and amazing person.
And I remember being, when we were shooting the show, so many great moments where you were so sweet and kind. But I remember when we first had Liza on the show.
Oh, yeah. Minnelli.
And Liza came in and out over the years and was very open about going through moments in her life and whatever and was just, and you and Martel took, you know, you knew that she was in her hotel by herself. And I i remember you guys describing you guys went and picked her up for dinner one night what yeah and she was in the back seat with no seat belt on she had like a kid remember like we used to do back in the 70s she kind of leaned forward i remember you describing between the seats smoking in martel and tony's car as they're driving to dinner talking to them she insisted that she wanted to sit in the back seat and rolled the windows in and just immediately started chain smoking.
And I was like, please don't stop. Like you can smoke as much as you want.
And she, where'd you guys go? We went to the hamburger Hamlet. Sure.
And so she got in the back seat and she was talking about her music and talking about this concert she did at Radio City Music Hall. And I was like, by the way, I'm still absorbing that Liza Minogue, my girlfriend.
The whole thing is just incredibly surreal. We both kissed her on Arrested.
And we both kissed her. And she's talking about this concert and she says, oh, I sang.
And I said, what'd you sing? And she said, I sang the song Liza with a Z. And I was like, oh, and I didn't know that song, stupidly.
And I said, and so she broke out in the song in the backseat of our car. And she sang it.
And just started singing it. And she had done it so many times that she could hear the orchestration in her head.
And she'd go, Lousa with a Z. Ba-da-ba-ba-bam.
Just smoking. And I was like, well, we can die.
It's time to die, guys. She's just in the back hammering darts.
She's like, and I was just like, I don't know what's happening, but I'm just going to keep driving. I remember you coming back after that weekend being like, well, we had a crazy weekend.
But then she told it, then she would like go and just talk about her mom and she loved her mom and talk about she grew up on the MGM lot. That was pretty much her childhood.
But her stories never came from a place of ego. They always came from a place of like, listen to my life.
Like, this was my life. You guys had some other big guest stars on there too right Marty Short was on there yeah Marty Short great don't shoot me yeah he had lost use of his legs from a tragic weightlifting accident right he was clean and jerking and he got it up high and then too much and both legs went out from underneath him snapped in half and so he hired a bodybuilder to carry him around the rest of his life.
I remember a bodybuilder.

And he would try to get the nuts.

He would like, shoot for the nuts.

And the guy would shoot him down so that he could get nuts.

What was the name of the bodybuilder?

That's a great name.

We had Carl Weathers.

We had Super Dave Osborne.

We had...

Our buddy Ed Begley was so hilarious.

Obviously Henry Winkler, who's just a joke. Obviously Henry.
Scott Baio, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, we really... We've got to watch them all again.
And we'll do it with Sean. It'll be new to you, Sean.
It was a real embarrassment of riches, wasn't it? It really was. Yeah, it was.
Now, well, go ahead, Sean. Yeah, I was going to say, like Will was saying, always so saying always so funny always working by the way and when you're not working what are you doing because I like to know what rounds a person out I actually got into making rope bowls hang on can I show you I'll show you a picture of them.
A rope bowl. So a friend of mine, a friend of mine.
How weird are you currently smoking these? Are you selling it or just smoking it now? Just a personal use. I started doing them over the pandemic because my friend Shauna on the show, I do Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney Plus.
Shout out. She gave me one of these as a wrap gift and i was like oh this is the coolest thing and so i started doing these over the pandemic oh yeah so look these are you see them yes now rope it looked like uh pottery no they're made out of rope really and i really it's incredibly therapeutic are they therapeutic.
Are they malleable? Like, can you move them and... Yeah, yeah.
And you paint them and it's just like the best... What is it, like, what would you put in a rope? His weed.
A lot of his weed. Not food.
It's not food. A lot of weed.
A lot of my weed. And I just, but it's like a decorative bowl.
Is it like crochet? No, it's like you do like a disc and then you kind of mold the rope as you're sewing it

and it becomes a bowl and then you get a leather.

So I got a leather press to do these things.

And then you put a tag on there

and I like to give them as gifts.

Do you sell them maybe on Etsy?

Do you have a little site?

I don't have an Etsy shop.

How about any farmer's markets that you go to?

No, for $5. Slice off a piece of soap and sell that with it.
Hunk of soap with your bowl, ma'am. Tony Hill, I love you so much.
Now, does Martell help with this or does she mock you? No, she mocks me. Yeah.
But she likes to do these kind of number, these painting things. Well, paint by numbers, yeah.
Yeah, and so we had a table and then I would do that and she would do that over the pandemic. And then Loy is doing what while she's watching her parents go off the end? Just shaking her head, yeah.
I kind of get it. I kind of want to take up crochet or something like that.
You know, I get like the mindset of like, check out. It's really, I put on these headphones, I listen to music, and it's just super meditative.
And it's also, I'm not a painter, but I get to paint the rope, so that's kind of fun. And it's just very, like, soothing.
Yeah. Sean, you should do that.

Or tie, like, a stone to your leg and then go to the marina.

Yeah, and see how many times you can get back up to the surface.

Okay.

You guys, can somebody give me a lift?

Hey, wait.

So, Tony, so you're doing that, but if you're not pressing the leather,

what else are you doing? Are you reading these days? Are you doing like- Are you watching telly? I watch a lot of YouTube. I like- Arts and Crafts station? No, okay, this is- You are so controversial.
Tony, you are so controversial. I'm not a big TV.
I do like TV, but sometimes it's too heavy. You know, it's like.
Do you watch comedy? I do some, but Martell watches really, like she loves Ozark. She loves like Handmaid's, she likes heavy stuff.
I have, it really, it affects me. So it's like horror movies when people are like, oh, wasn't that great? I'm like, no, someone's after me now.
You know, it's like, I can't, I can't detach. What about, what about heavy reality shows? Like these guys are tired of me talking about Alone, like these survivalist shows.
I love it. I never got into it.
It's too heavy, isn't it? It's, it's, that's a little, but here's the thing also is sometimes when these stories are so heavy and people are like, oh, well, Tony, it's just, and Martel's like, you're an actor because in my mind i'm thinking yeah that might not be but someone's had that same experience somewhere and i'm watching a visualization of that and it's it's too it's too much paralyzing empathy so i'll watch paralyzing sometimes i'll feel everybody's feelings for them yeah but it's like i i, there was, on YouTube, sometimes I'll watch compilation videos of like X Factor auditions or I watch this. Really? The voice.
But I only want to see when they win. I only want to see like when they turn the chair and they come, I don't want to see any of the rejections.
Yeah, I get it. Well, now talk to me about this, because I battle with this sometimes about exposing myself to news.
You know, like To nudes? Exposing yourself to nudes? To nudes because if somebody doesn't have a great physical body, news, like if I can take certain news but other news about people that are going through just abject hunger or kids that are sick or something like, how do you, do you, do you try to keep yourself? Yeah. Not the head in the sand or anything, but like, I just, I'm, I, it just kills me.
It's too much for me. Now, keep in mind, that's me.
I think other people can really absorb it and can detach from it. Oh, I thought you were speaking for everybody.
Yeah, I'm speaking for everybody. I represent, I represent the human race.
Sorry. But you had, you had Bill Maher on recently and I listened to, and he, the amount of absorbing, I think he can have that kind of detachment probably.
I just can't shake it. So like, I'll do, I'll do something called, um, it's like the, uh, like the skim.
It gives like a sense, like an email, it'll give like, uh, the highlights of the day. Right.
And so an overview of the news. Yeah.
It's like an skim. It gives a sense like an email.
It'll give the highlights of the day. Right.
Or an overview of the news. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, I watch David Muir every night on ABC. But any deep dive and kind of, I just can't, it's hard for me to let it go.
You feel like, well, what else can I do? I mean, I'll donate or I can be charitable or whatnot but if you get into all of the real micro detail of the suffering, it's hard. See, Jason got me into alone so I started watching some Arctic something.
Yeah. So I started watching like five, six episodes and a lot of times we would watch it while we're eating dinner, right? We would put on alone the next episode.
Yeah. While they're skinning a squirrel, it's fun to eat dinner.
That's exactly right.

And the guy, the guy like hadn't eaten,

like one of the guys

hadn't eaten like seven days

and he finally kills this like,

I don't know what,

marsupial badger,

I don't know what the hell it was.

And he cooks it,

chars it.

He's like,

oh,

and he eats the whole thing.

And,

and it's just really,

and he cooks the head

and he eats the head.

It's just so disgusting.

And then of course,

he gets a stomach ache,

dysentery.

So you skipped seasons.

You skipped,

you didn't start,

I don't know. the head and he eats the head it's just so disgusting and then of course he gets a stomach ache dysentery and he so you skipped seasons you skip you didn't start i know where i know where that is there's no way that you got there he started with the free stuff on netflix i started season six oh man yeah he started i did the same thing that's what got me hooked and then i went and i bought them all over on uh what is it history or something they're on discovery plus man i love discovery Discovery Plus.
So do you watch it or do you constantly imagine what would I do in that situation? Like, how would I react to that situation? Oh, I would encourage the helicopter pilot to not even touch down. Are you kidding? It's Jason's dream.
Jason's dream. He's by himself and he doesn't have to eat.
It's like the most amazing. No, no.
I would completely fall apart. I'm so soft.
I can't even put together a basketball hoop yeah because the contestants for tracy the contestants get dropped off in a helicopter in the middle of nowhere and the helicopter flies away they have a camera someone's not with them with a camera they have right they've got they film themselves yeah yeah that's part of the battle they they talk about a lot is is as they go deeper into the the day count sometimes it's obviously the hunger, but also it's the solitude gets them and they start feeling...

They do lose a lot of great water weight.

I mean, but Tony's, you know,

I'm too emotional about the animals in there.

So that's why it's hard to watch that.

Not the humans, just the animals.

You mean that you couldn't kill the animals to eat them?

Correct.

What do you think's happening

when you're going over to Chin Chin, man?

Yeah, I know. Well, I don't want to see it like Jason's saying.
I don't want to see it, but I'll eat it. So, head in the sand.
That's terrible. How long are they out there for? Well, the longer you're out there, the closer you get to the big prize.
I think the longest has been 100 days. I may be wrong, but average is probably like right around 70, 80 days, something like that.
These guys lose like, they lose like 60 pounds

in three months.

That's interesting.

How did they,

how did they charge their phone?

Okay, well,

that's a great question.

They're not having,

see, that's the whole point.

No, but to film themselves,

idiot, to film,

like to film their stuff.

Oh, now I'm the idiot.

Okay.

They have a pack,

they have like a pack.

They have like a whole pack thing.

Well, you know what I noticed? Like they keep their food, they were like, oh were like oh the guy's like oh the mice got into my food i'm like you have that airtight pelican box that keeps the camera equipment in put your fucking food in there dummy you know they have enough battery for this for that whole money i don't know what their battery count is man okay i don's going on. It's a hand-crank battery that they've got to save enough energy for.
Dear Discovery, upon watching your show, I must admit that I was concerned about the battery. And we will be right back.
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.
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Hilton for the stay. Back to the show.
Tony what is the you've done like a laundry list of so many movies

and Back to the show.

Tony, what is the,

you've done like a laundry list of so many movies.

I've got it here in front of me, Sean,

if you're interested.

What is one of like,

other than Veep and Arrested,

of course, those two stand out.

What's one of the best experiences

you've had like on a set

or with another actor

and who was that?

And like, what are,

like if somebody said,

pinpoint the highlight other than Arrested and Veep because we all know how great and special those were. Is there like a moment or a person that really kind of, wow, that totally inspired you or blew your life? Unless it's an Arrested story involving me.
Go ahead. I really, side note.
I mean, Arrested was so crazy fun and wild and overwhelming and all that stuff. But, but aside from that, I would say I did this movie called Nine Days with this director, Ed Sonoda.
And it's, it was such a beautiful movie. And he was so good at what he did and so calm.
And the movie is so beautiful. And that's one that really I think about a lot and I just did Being the Ricardos with Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem and watching them really boldly take over those iconic roles that was really cool to be on the sidelines and watch that really cool and tell me what are you doing are you doing right now? You said you're doing a show over on Discovery Plus? That's Disney Plus.
It's a Mysterious Benedict Society. It's based on a children's series.
Well, here I'm doing a movie with my friend Seth Worley called Sketch, but I did that, and it's based on the series by a guy named Trenton Stewart who wrote the books, and it's just a beautiful, beautiful story. And I get to play twins.
Do you really? You do? Yeah, I get to play twins on the show. An evil one and a good one? He's complicated, but he's like, yeah, the good one and like a one that's had a lot of trauma.
Like a soap opera. Well, wait, tell me about that, because I'll bet there are certain characters that you would not play.
Am I right? I don't know. I think if I'm honest, I think I probably would have said that in the past.
Like I would have drawn a line. But until I hear the story, I don't know if I can draw a line of like what I wouldn't play.
You know, because it's. Would it be based on whether it's it's gratuitous or unredemptive or you know like could you play a serial murderer yeah okay you answered that really fast but he's got a heart of gold he's got a heart of gold no i i could but it's like and even if it's not redemptive i mean it's an i mean you look at veep for instance she wasn't a serial killer but you see that you see that equation of this is what happens when you live a life of narcissism and never giving away.
You end in isolation and you end up bitter. And so that wouldn't be considered redemptive, but what a great story to show that equation.
Yeah, right, right, right. What are the, I mean, you have done, you're so known and obviously celebrated and you've won awards for comedy nice well it's true and and you you've you've done these sort of you know great icon play these great iconic characters comedic characters do you is there part of you that's like okay i really want to do because we asked this we talked about this when we have people on the show all.
Like, do you have this thing in your sights of like, I want to do a great this, like a great dramatic role that really shows this. Is that something that kind of burns inside you? If I'm honest, I think when I was younger, I was kind of, I would say that, but I think I had different motivations of wanting to, I don't know, get attention or I don't know what it was, but now I think it's, I don't know if you guys feel this way, but the older you get, things just get a little simpler.
And it's like, and so it's not necessarily about those big markers. It's about, I would obviously love, I love working, but I like, it's so much more about relationships.
It's so much more about connecting and who you are on set. But I mean, obviously good stories and you want to, I want to be careful as I really believe in the story.
The quality of the work experience, right? Yeah, the quality of the work. But that's really the stuff that has longevity to it.
I mean, the work obviously is good, but it's like how you impact people on set and all that stuff. I don't know that's really the stuff that is, has longevity to it.
I mean, the work obviously is good, but it's like, what, how you impact people on set and all that stuff. I, I don't know.
That's kind of, as I get older, that's where you see the power in that. I feel, I feel you on that.
I, I, I, I think like you guys, I think it's like, so, I mean, your podcast is so fun and just how you guys are with each other and the laughing and just like, and even like you touring. I mean, that's like, there's so much, so much beautiful, like life giving power to that.
Tony, I gotta tell you, it's so, it's so crazy. I mean, you know us, it's so weird.
But it's like, I think it's so fun and just like, you can see that it gives you life, you know, like that's like, as you get older, like that's the shit that matters. And it did come from that pure place that you're talking about where we had no idea, dream or goal about the end result.
It was all about, well, how can the three of us stay better in touch during COVID? You know, and so we just kind of got a little bit more official, you know? Yeah. And but the element that you have of the surprise, because like there's two of you that are coming coming in with an energy of what's coming.
Right. And it's like that provides that, ooh, what gift are we going to get today? And not as like to build up Arrested, but that's how I did feel like also on Arrested.
We never, ever knew. The whole show was just one big surprise.
We never knew what Mitch was going to throw at us. And it gives you this, doesn't fit any formula it's always the surprise i i remember tony after after between both seasons one and two and we were all in um we're at a hotel in century city and we we just found out that we won those that we got nominated for do you remember that we were doing like the press that morning early all of us and uh i don't okay well i do and t I do.
And Tony, you and I were staying at that hotel right there in Century City. I remember this.
And then Jason, you came over the night before. And then early that morning we went and did a bunch of press and that's when we found out that we had won.
Not won. We got all these nominations for the show.
And I remember, so we're downstairs. We're really, really happy.
And then Tony, we were talking to Mitch and stuff, and then we're going to walk back in and go, what's going on? He goes, well, Mitch just told me that I'm going to lose my hand to a seal. And I remember, and I was like, for the whole, he's like, yeah, I guess, for the whole season.
Yeah, I was actually pretty, I was pretty upset about it. I know.
Now, since you were talking about it, I remember now a picture of us down there. Oh, you do? Yeah, we were down there and it was, I remember that from a picture.
But yeah, I remember when he told me that. So you just said to Mitch, you said, so Mitch, so we're going to do another season.

No, I had an idea.

I think I had an idea, a really bad idea.

I think I might have even said,

hey, what if Buster's on Dancing with the Stars

or something like that,

or something just really out there.

And he's like, yeah,

I'm thinking about having a seal bite off your hand.

And I was like,

and I just, I didn't even know how to compute it.

What is the, did you ever have like a massive injury on that or Veep or anything that's like, uh... And I just, I didn't even know how to compute it.
What is the...

Did you ever have, like, a massive injury on that or Veep

or anything that's, like...

Anything go absolutely chaotic and hurt yourself?

Oh, for real?

He means for real.

For real.

Oh, for real.

You got to keep your knees bent with Sean.

His questions...

This guy is a real man.

Yeah, yeah.

I love that.

It's a surprise.

These are award-nominated questionnaire shots.

Did I?

I don't think so.

And then start thinking about your favorite theater story,

anything crazy ever happened on stage.

But let's hear about anything ever.

Did you ever hurt yourself, Tony?

No, but I do remember.

He's the best.

Go ahead, Tony.

Hey, Tony, any terrible memories you want to relive?

I know, I was about to say.

I'm trying to talk about anything other than Arrested a Bell.

I know.

I'm sorry, Sean.

This is your fault. No, but you know, it's not a terrible question.
Tony, have you ever broken a bone? Honestly. No, it's a real question.
I have. How'd you do that? I'm crying a little bit.
I stubbed my toe. Oh, bless it.
Walk us through that. Was it going for...
Were you going for pee-pees in the middle of the night? No, I was stepping over my dog door. Oh, are you okay? Say it again.
I was stepping over, I was stepping over my dog door. You can't step over a dog door.
You'd go into the. Well, no, because it was locked to keep the dogs in.
And then I stepped over it and tripped and fell on. Oh, dog gate.
Oh, dog gate. Dog gate.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, dog.
Yeah, so sorry. Doggate.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Okay. All right.
That's understandable. Any theater stories? Any horrible.
Any horrible theater stories? Yeah, yeah. Never forget a line up on stage, don't you? Well, I did.
I did. Well, you did that.
Yeah, you did that play with Molly, didn't you, Sean? Molly Shannon, yeah. Yeah.
But I did, two years ago, I did a one-man play in San Francisco at ACT called Wakey Wakey by Will Eno. And I was so petrified that I was going to forget a line.
And I remember every night... Yeah, one-man show, you got no help.
Yeah, just feeling like I was going to forget everything. And then, by of god i just i i always had thankfully someone was offset in case i did but i but i started memorizing like six months before because i was so panicked i was gonna forget a line but that makes me think jason um i'll never forget being on set because i with lines i have to i have to kind of take some time with them to absorb i remember you reading the script the morning of and then getting them.
Is that correct? Like you would just skim the page and you have it? Yeah, he's like a crazy, he has a crazy amazing brain. My brain works for one thing and it's that.
Willie's really, well, Will's got the Mary Lou Henner dates stuff down and also he can remember lines. So he's got two uses for his brain.
I only have the one. I mean, that show really taught me, was pretty foundational for me.
I'm just kind of, a lot of lessons from that show for me, which was great. I'm with you.
Oh, me too. My God.
Yeah, I think, and I think for our listener, you have to understand for us, and Sean, you're saying it, and you're sort of saying, let's not talk about Arrested too much. Oh, no, no.
But for us, it was such a seminal moment. Yes, I love hearing about it.
If you hear us making it about ourselves or whatever, we're just showering love because we're so happy and giddy to see Tony. And it brings up so many memories that are really important, big memories from our lives.
And we had this shared experience in our life that was a really yeah big and we used to spend more time together than our own families and we just haven't been able to do that i know i i love hearing about it i really do yeah it's also like it's also i'm sure you can relate to this sean it's also you think back to that time i mean almost you know almost 20 years ago and it's hard not to be embarrassed of kind of how you know i would react to certain things or because I was in this very overwhelmed state. Thankfully, I was playing a very overwhelmed character.
So that kind of worked. But just like I knew I had never been on a studio lot.
I had never, I didn't know. I just didn't know anything.
I never had that much free food offered to me during the day. I was just like, what's everything? Nothing was computing, you know? And I would just walk around and...
Your own parking space, yeah. Yeah, my own parking space, just to kind of, and that thing of like, you give something so much weight growing up of like, that sitcom, that weight.
And then when you get it, you're like, why am I still anxious? Why am I, I thought I was going to feel differently. differently i was and it's just from that well why why why did you feel still feeling just just because you felt then now that i have it now there's pressure to now to deliver is that well i think there's it's it's a few things and you know thank god for therapy but it's like i really don't think i was very present for most of my life i don't think i'd never really i would always be looking ahead of like, well, that's coming.
That sitcom's coming. That big thing's coming.
Yeah. And then I got it and I had to go, oh crap.
Because the thing is, if you're present and if you're in that time, then when you get something, it's just kind of, you know, it just kind of unfolds rather than carry all this weight. And I've said this several times and I apologize if anybody has heard me babble about it but it's that whole thing like if you're not practicing contentment where you are you're not going to be content when you get what you want and i think that really hit me unarrested you know yeah i think that there's a very similar i was talking about this with somebody the other day you can't be you i i try really hard and not perfectly i don't do it i don't execute it perfectly But I really think about this idea that I can't be at the effect of circumstances.
And meaning that my happiness can't be pegged to something outside. Because then you're in for a shit, right? Because it's going to go up and down and nothing's in a straight line.
And you can't, if I'm at the effect of other things, I have to, it's not like I'll see it, you know, I'll believe it when I'll see it. You know, it's almost like I got to believe it and then I'll see it.
My happiness has to come from here. And it doesn't matter if I actually, whatever happens outside of me is going to happen.
Well, how do you guys avoid falling into complacency or being more comfortable than is healthy with normalcy or mediocrity?

Like, in other words, how do you balance contentment and also staying ambitious and driven and have goals and prepare for future?

Balance, I think, which is, you know, the easy.

But how do you know what it is until you have the the clarity of retrospection right yeah and i think i think that's a great question because i i'm glad you really glad you asked because it's not that i'm not it's not that ambition or dreaming is wrong at all in our business i feel like there's a subliminal messaging of like you will have value when this happens. You will have value if this big thing comes into your life.
And the truth is my value before any of this happens, the exact same as my value. Now your value, when it's your value doesn't change.
And so I think with ambition, many times, what I did is associated my value to getting that yeah your outward value as opposed

to your internal value more no i i connected it like my without knowing it my internal value i

can go back to that reunion and be like hey look what you make you know whatever but it's like

my internal value would be better if i got that stuff when in actuality that internal value is

the exact same yeah of course but that's not the message you hear i think in the business does that

make sense yeah for sure no certainly because you get what and it's easy to follow it's a trap

Thank you. that internal value is the exact same.
Yeah, of course. But that's not the message you hear, I think, in the business.
Does that make sense? Yeah, for sure. No, certainly because you get, well, and it's easy to fall into.
It's a trap. You can fall into it very easily.
And it's very easy to, again, sort of peg your value, if you will, that let's say, I'll say happiness, to outside things. Yeah, and you're also, in this business, you're also, you're constantly being asked, like, what's next? You know, what's next for you? Which is a great question, but you kind of don't go up to a dentist and say, what's next, you know? True, but this is a unique, this business is unique in that, at least for actors and also directors, and I guess anybody, it's very a la carte.
Like, you don't have one job that lasts 30, 40 years like a dentist would. It is sort of you, you're constantly getting hired and fired because the jobs come to an end.
So it is a natural question, but it is an annoying one to have to manage. But then sometimes when you do a show, when you do a show, it becomes much more sort of a prefix, you know? Yeah.
And I wouldn't even say it. I wouldn't say it.
I wouldn't say annoying because I didn't mean that. It's not annoying, but it's a challenge for me to not always be looking to next.
You know, it's like, it's easy to fall into that when, yeah, it is piecemeal together. Absolutely.
Is Loy at all interested in going into this business? She is, not if not. But she did just get cast in Steel Magnolias at her school.
No way. Yeah, she's excited to do that.
And so, but she wants to, I mean, this could change, but she really is interested in education. Oh, cool.
Would you encourage her in this business if she did go that direction? I would be lying if I didn't have probably an anxiety attached to it and have to do a couple more therapy lessons. But I, you know, it's that whole thing of like, you never want to dictate your child's wrath.
So I would have to just, I would be curious. That's the thing.
Like, one thing that we're with parenting is, is rather than being reactive, be curious and just, you know, be like, oh, oh well because what I want to do is react and be like well let me teach you these lessons and I just need to kind of shut up and just listen yeah it's hard I haven't seen her since she was six maybe or something like that you guys though made me laugh so hard like a, I don't know if you guys watch, Sean, don't feel bad, because I don't watch the episodes myself much, but I do every now and then will watch the blooper reels that they gave us, because that's the stuff that I remember. I'll watch those.
And there's one blooper of Will and I coming in, Liza's in the room, and we have our robes on, and we couldn't even get two words out, and just bust it. But it was such an organic breakdown that it just gives me so much joy to see all the time.
I just love it. There was a ton of laughter on that show.
Oh, I really, really loved it. Isn't that why we do what we do? I mean, those moments.
I told you, I've said this to David before, and I want to say it to you just so you can hear. We've talked about it, but the hardest I've ever laughed, actually laughed in my life, anywhere, this is not just on set, just anywhere, at any time, was that scene when it was supposed to be an intervention for Lucille, and we all end up getting drunk, and you're on the piano with your hook, and David went and got his jean shorts, and he put them, he's dancing next to you, and I'm on the table, and Jason's got the wig on, he's got Franklin's wig on, and it was just like, nobody said anything, it was just mayhem, they just sort of went like, go mayhem, and it was late on a Friday night, and I had tears.
And you were just, and Tony was going like,

and he was hammering on the piano like Buster's all happy.

And David's dancing next to him with no shirt on the thing.

And I was crying.

I remember driving home, and like an hour later, Mitch called me,

and I was in the car, and I picked up,

but I was still actually laughing by myself.

That's so good. Tony, I mean, you guys were there for the car and I picked up and I was still actually laughing by myself.
That's so good.

Tony, I mean, you guys were there

for the hardest laugh I've ever had.

Oh, man.

That was so, so fun.

Anyway, hi, Sean.

Hi.

So the show is Press Development.

It's on Fox, what, Thursday?

Sundays at 8, 9.30.

Catch it on Roku.

Tony, this is way too much time.

It's already 5.45.

You've given us bonus.

It's so crazy.

We went over.

We apologize.

And again, to our listener,

I don't know. Catch it on Roku.
Tony, this is way too much time. It's already 545.
You've given us bonus. It's so crazy.
We went over. We apologize.
And again, to our listener, I'm so sorry that you had to hear us just fawn all over Tony and talk about the old days. I loved it.
I love being a fly. We just love you so much.
We do love him. You guys are the best.
Tony, you're such an incredible, incredible talent. Oh incredible talent.
But even above and beyond that, you're such a wonderful, sweet, sweet, just great person. Big, huge heart.
Love you so much. Just love you so much, man.
Same. Please say hi to March Alley.
I will. I will.
I love you too, Tony. Thank you, guys.
Thank you, Sean. I do.
I love you too. I'd love to see you soon.
Let's do it. All right? Let's do it.
Hey, guys. We do a reunion special right arrested special do you want to say that i think we say that on the would you guys do it by the way i'm just i'd do anything for arrested why wouldn't you do that always would you do it tony yeah i'd go back to work tomorrow on that show yeah me too yeah sean come on come join us hi mitch hope you hope you're listening uh tony love you love Tony.
Love you, guys. Thank you very much.
Talk to you soon. Thank you for doing this.
Thank you for having me on. Bye, buddy.
Bye, bud. Guys, sorry.
Who was that? Who was that? Your name was Anthony Dale. Jay, that was such a great call, having Tony.
Yeah, that was great. I love that man.
Again, I apologize if it was to our own little clubhouse, but... I know.
It's really, really fun to be a fly on the wall. I could hear stories.
I wasn't even there and I could hear stories like that all day long. Just about like who was on, what would happen.
He's also anything that he says I can listen to because he truly is... He's so genuine.
I think we say this a lot on this show, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to really find truly a nicer person that we've interviewed. And we've interviewed a lot of nice people.
But Tony is just made of all good stuff. I've interviewed him a few times on like when I guest hosted like Ellen or I think Kimmel once or something.
But yeah, I've hung out with him a few times.

So he's just so genuine and sweet and nice.

And he was so funny.

He would make us laugh.

And he was a great laugher. And you could really get him.

I had a really good theater story to share.

But maybe I'll do it next time.

Let's hear it.

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