"Charlie Day"

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Speaker 2 Hi there. This is Will Arnett, host of the Will Arnett Fun Zone Podcast.
Man, hang on, Will. This week, what?

Speaker 3 We've talked about this, man. We've been over this like so many times.

Speaker 2 Okay. But we are doing it, though, right? We are going to do that.

Speaker 3 No, we're not. This is Smartless.
Okay.

Speaker 2 Fun zone. I know.
Well, what are we doing today? All we need is a super simple welcome to Smartless. Oh, right.

Speaker 2 Dig deep for this. Welcome to Smartless.
Smart

Speaker 2 List.

Speaker 2 Smart

Speaker 2 Less.

Speaker 2 Smart

Speaker 2 Less.

Speaker 2 Now, listen, Jason, before we get too deep into the show, we need to talk about

Speaker 2 the crew collar. And now you've tell us what,

Speaker 2 walk us through what happened this morning.

Speaker 4 Well, I went ahead and I got showered and changed prior to our record for my golf engagement following this record.

Speaker 2 Oh, you golf?

Speaker 4 Yeah, not proud to say, but Chuckles over there does it too.

Speaker 4 So, yeah, so

Speaker 4 I put on my collared shirt, as you're required to do. And then it's a little chilly here in Los Los Angeles.
So I put on a nice wrap over the top of it, a nice cashmere wrap.

Speaker 4 And the collar on that crew neck was a little tight. So it took the collar of my undershirt there and pushed it up.
And then Will was hurting me, calling it a mock turtleneck. So that sweater's gone.

Speaker 4 I'm going to go to a V-neck.

Speaker 1 And Will said we were talking about money for producing the podcast. And Will said.

Speaker 2 What's the budget for mock turtlenecks for Jason for the

Speaker 2 coming out of the budget? And Jason,

Speaker 2 it's a fair question. First of all, you're allowed to mock a mock turtleneck.
It's built into the name. It's the name.

Speaker 2 But by the way,

Speaker 4 you'll never see me in a mock turtleneck. You'll never see me in a turtleneck for sure because I've got...

Speaker 4 Probably, you know, they ask you sometimes, you know, what's the one thing you change about your body?

Speaker 4 It's probably my non-superhero jawline.

Speaker 2 I've got sort of like a

Speaker 4 sort of a diagonal, a diagonal from the end of my chin to my Adam's apple as opposed to a 90-degree.

Speaker 2 I have a lot of people.

Speaker 1 So if I wear a turtleneck I then have the turkey goblet hangover over the edge that cascades the skin that cascades over the edge of the turtle I can't have it yeah no I get it I disagree you both have nice nice silhouettes go back to the thing though about being cold it's cold in LA I came down the stairs today I'm not not making this up I came downstairs and Scotty had the heat heat on on the first floor Los Angeles and the heat and a wet I was sweating by the time I got to the bottom you you come down the stairs your Hollywood house every every day like Gloria Swanson, right?

Speaker 2 Like Hollywood.

Speaker 2 And a flowing house coat. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Ready for my close-up.

Speaker 2 It's so great to see you guys. It's so great to see you guys, too.

Speaker 2 This is really exciting. I'm excited for you guys to talk to

Speaker 2 our guest today. Oh, I am excited to listen.
Because our guest is somebody,

Speaker 2 this is a mega talent. This person is a person who's been doing it for a long time.
This person is not just an actor. This person is a writer.

Speaker 2 This person is a skilled musician who started playing violin at the age of three.

Speaker 2 They can play the piano, accordion, trombone, guitar, harmonica, and has written and improvised music a lot in a show that they've done now for many, many years.

Speaker 2 This person received an honorary doctorate in performing arts from Merrimack College. This person

Speaker 2 was active at Williamstown Theater Festival back in the day. This This person has gone on to a huge career in television in, I guess, the longest-running TV comedy of all time.

Speaker 2 This person

Speaker 2 has slowed down here.

Speaker 4 I want to do something else here.

Speaker 2 Well, this is my guess, and it makes sense because this is my friend, and I'm so happy to have my friend. And I want you guys to start trying to guess.
This person has done lots of movies.

Speaker 2 This person was in the Lego movie with me. This is Charlie Day.
This longest-running comedy. The Lego Movie 2.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Pacific Rim. Longest running comedy.

Speaker 2 Horrible bosses and its sequel. Well, it's got to be Chuck Day.

Speaker 2 My God.

Speaker 2 Right. You're scraping the bottom of the barrel, Matt.

Speaker 2 Time to wrap the show up.

Speaker 5 So,

Speaker 5 Chuck,

Speaker 4 what about this is

Speaker 4 now, I think the reason you've taken so long to book on this is

Speaker 2 you're scared of it. It took a real long time for someone to ask me.

Speaker 4 I can't believe Rob McElhaney beat you onto this show.

Speaker 4 What does that say about us?

Speaker 2 Here's my favorite part is that Bateman and Chuck Day have been friends for many years.

Speaker 2 They've done a few movies together, and I was so happy to steal Charlie as my guest from under Bateman, just to really put him. I would have had him on, too.
I know. I think maybe you did ask me.

Speaker 4 Yeah, definitely. And then you were saying, yeah, gosh, you know, I don't know.
We're starting a podcast. And I think you gave me a little bit of a runaround.
And I don't like to pressure people.

Speaker 4 I know you were looking to get paid quite a bit of money for today's show.

Speaker 2 I was waiting for you guys to make money so I could start making money, which is cool because Will cut me a great check for this. I had to send him over cash, a guy with a rucksack full of cash.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and that's a pay cut for me, guys.

Speaker 4 So I think that's because you're not doing that well, right? Even though that show is not paying you.

Speaker 2 I've made a lot of bad decisions, though. You know what I mean? I made a lot of sketchy calls.

Speaker 1 Wait, we had Charlie, we had McElhaney on, and

Speaker 1 what is it really the longest-running sitcom in history?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, well, years. If you don't count episodes, I think you did more episodes of Will and Grace in like two seasons.

Speaker 4 How many years is it now? This is something we don't want to gloss over because this, this, this is, you should be, and I'm sure you are, so proud of how long this show has been on the show.

Speaker 2 Yeah, this doesn't just make,

Speaker 2 of course, about all of a sudden.

Speaker 2 It's 15 years.

Speaker 2 Oh, Jesus. We just did 15

Speaker 2 years.

Speaker 4 And you're about to do another one or two?

Speaker 2 I don't know. At least another one.
And we'll see after that.

Speaker 4 Look at the way he's positioning right there.

Speaker 2 He knows Fox is listening of Corfex or whatever the hell it is.

Speaker 4 And he's going to jam him again. He's going to jump.

Speaker 2 You know what it is? We've done a lot. We've done a lot of these.
I don't know how long we can keep going. Nothing adds more zeros than a foot out the door, right? I mean, that's just.
That's true.

Speaker 2 That's true. Yeah.
So, Charlie, let's talk a little bit about, because we're talking about All of a Sunday in Philadelphia, which is a huge, long-running show, longest by years.

Speaker 2 Could you have imagined, take us back to the day

Speaker 2 when it actually became a TV show?

Speaker 2 Because we had Rob on here and we talked about it. You guys made some videos and stuff and you shot some stuff.

Speaker 2 Am I remembering that correctly? And you took it to FX?

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's basically it. I mean, we were shooting in my apartment, which was on the corner of Western and Franklin there.
I lived,

Speaker 2 and I think I paid $600 a month for rent. You got robbed.

Speaker 2 Quick aside, Jason, last time you were east of Coanga, five

Speaker 2 weeks.

Speaker 4 Back in the drug days, for sure.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think I might have seen you scoring on the corner. Yeah.

Speaker 2 There was a payphone I'd like to hang out at. I might have had to run you down a dime bag or something once.
I'm not sure what it was.

Speaker 4 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 So you're in your apartment.

Speaker 4 Right. And was there a phone call from your agent or manager or something that said they bought it?

Speaker 2 You know what it was?

Speaker 2 So we had shot this thing and

Speaker 2 it was like pretty good, but we knew we'd sort of not hit the nail on the head. And we had nothing really going on.
So we redid the whole thing. I mean, we were doing it so cheaply.

Speaker 2 We were holding the cameras. We had a little boom.
It was real low rent. And our second go-around was pretty funny.
We thought, there's something here.

Speaker 2 And we were all at Three Arts Management at the time.

Speaker 2 So like Nick Frankel and Michael Rodenberg took it to

Speaker 2 WME and they kind of sat on it for a while. They're like, yeah, maybe we'll hook you up with the big producer.
And

Speaker 2 we waited forever for Jon Favreau to watch it. And he just, I guess he never got around to it.

Speaker 2 The one that got away. I know.
Well, I mean, I'm so glad I'm not cutting half a check to John. You know, like,

Speaker 2 I mean, I'm sure he would have helped a lot, but, you know, it's nice not to have to be paying him anything. But

Speaker 2 eventually we got kind of

Speaker 2 bored and we shot a third episode. And literally, you shot it because you were just in this waiting because the agencies are so you're just you guys are on their timetable.

Speaker 4 Well, that and the only thing to do on Western is either move the time bags or shoot another episode.

Speaker 2 And it was out of the way.

Speaker 2 It should be noted. Can I just take this? Am I right in saying this? And you guys can agree or disagree with me.

Speaker 2 The agency in show business is hilarious because you can't get in touch with your agent

Speaker 2 first thing in the morning because they're in a staff meeting.

Speaker 2 Every agent takes lunch at one o'clock no matter what. So they're out of the office for two hours.

Speaker 4 They need an hour or so to do.

Speaker 2 They need an hour to get there. So they leave at 12.
Sorry, we lost him. He's on his way to a lunch.
And then he's back at 3. Then they do the thing is like, well, he's not in the office.
Why not?

Speaker 2 Well, because next week is Thanksgiving. Yeah, next week is Thanksgiving.
Not this week. The fuck are you doing?

Speaker 1 And then the month of December.

Speaker 2 And then month of December, sorry, it's the holidays. Sure, got it.
And then they go. And then, you know, obviously Sundance is at the end of January.
So nobody's back till Feb 1.

Speaker 2 It's the most ridiculous racket of all time. We were getting a lot of yeah.

Speaker 1 The end of the day goes like this. Well, the end of the day goes, sorry, we're closed.
He's going to start rolling calls. And then they call knowing you're not going to pick up.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Or, or they call you at seven o'clock and you're having dinner with the kid and you're like, why are you calling me now? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Sorry. Sorry, Charlie.

Speaker 2 No, that's it, though. We lost sort of patience with that kind of thing.
And we bet we're going to leave you guys and we're going to go to a different agency with this.

Speaker 2 And that sort of prompted them setting a bunch of meetings. And

Speaker 2 Rob went around because we thought maybe it'd be too much to have all three of us in the meeting. So Rob went and

Speaker 2 we had an offer from FX to shoot a real pilot with a real budget.

Speaker 4 Rob's the closer.

Speaker 2 He's the closer. He's better in the meeting.
He's a better salesman.

Speaker 4 Now, how are you in meetings? Because I don't think I'm great in meetings.

Speaker 4 I don't enjoy them. I feel like I'm trapped in an office.
I feel like I'm 45 minutes from getting out of these walls. So it better not go bad in the next minute or two because I'm stuck.

Speaker 4 Like all those things I start to feel, I start to think about, and then it just, the walls start getting closer and closer like Star Wars.

Speaker 4 How are you? Do you look at it as like an arena, like I'm on stage or this is fun, like let's win, or are you looking to get out of there? It's tough. It's a tough part of this business.

Speaker 2 You know, it depends. They're all very different.
You go into a meeting and you just, sometimes you just get cold.

Speaker 2 stares and yeah well often i do have that vibe sometimes of like well here's the idea guys do you want to buy it or not? Okay.

Speaker 4 Yeah, if you have that indifference, what's it called, Will?

Speaker 2 Sexy. It's called sexy.

Speaker 2 Sexy indifference.

Speaker 2 Charlie, you know about his sexy indifference, right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's one of his

Speaker 2 men.

Speaker 4 But yeah, it's, you know, it's, it's, you're either selling or you're buying. The buyers usually look at you with absolutely no expression because they can.

Speaker 4 The sellers, us, have to go in there like, you know, circus clowns because we're selling.

Speaker 4 And that's really what we do in this business and in a good year you're selling you know you're selling yourself six seven eight times and and winning like in other words you get fired you know half a dozen times and rehired half a dozen times if you're killing it so i mean how many people in in other industries have to sell themselves or get fired or rehired maybe three four times over their whole life i mean we got to do that all the time it's it's tough it's it's hard it is crazy but then you look at the flip of it charlie so you guys you guys go through this process.

Speaker 2 You make this thing, you wait. You make this thing, you wait.
You're waiting. You have to threaten to leave the agency.
Finally, FX buys it. You guys are kind of a little bit hat in hand.

Speaker 2 And now all these years later, you're at the position we asked you at it. Like, are you going to do more? You're like, maybe I'll do one more, whatever.

Speaker 2 Like, you have, the tables have turned a little bit. Yeah, well.
Not a little bit, a lot. Yeah, I mean, I think the thing is, though, when we were shooting that pilot, I was 27 years old.
Right.

Speaker 2 And I'm 46. And so I feel like, you know, I put in my time with this one.
It looks 23, though. How do you know?

Speaker 6 It's an extra age since you started.

Speaker 4 Must be a real stress-free set there.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 we all make stuff. We all produce or write or direct or act, whatever.

Speaker 1 And Charlie, kind of what Jason was talking about, is there a point where you, like, are you getting to a point where it's bothersome that the grind is getting to you about getting all these no's?

Speaker 1 Because it seems now to put together a package to sell something you have to really stack the deck high before anybody will even consider you hear about meryl streep getting passed or on or whoever these big stars go out to pitch these shows and they get past well if they get past and i'm stacking these deck and we're getting no's what does it take to keep a production company going i like to get everything done independently of of a partner so you know i like i i'd rather if i'm going to be pitching a movie i'd rather have the whole thing written right and say you know and

Speaker 2 a director in place and an actor in place and like here's we're going this is what it is so all they do is write the check basically yeah yeah you know as it should be yeah but then that means you got to do a bunch of work for free ahead of time um which is cool if you've got the time and the and the funds to bank on yourself and and work for free for a little while yeah look at some point you're gonna have to do that work anyway so i i'm i'm usually it depends right there's other things i'll pitch and i'll know okay i want to get a writer on this and i want to get that person paid so i'll pay.

Speaker 2 But even then, I'll work with that writer. I'll develop a whole outline.
So that movie is basically ready to go. And I'll attach a few people to the movie.
And then I'll go in and be like, here it is.

Speaker 2 This is what it is. Here's who's acting in it.
Here's the director. Now please pay this guy.

Speaker 4 And Will and Sean, you got to understand this guy is, he's so fast and he's so good. He wrote Horrible Bosses 2 on a five-hour plane ride from New York to Los Angeles.

Speaker 4 I'm not exaggerating. He did a complete rewrite, page one rewrite on it, and we used most of it.
And

Speaker 4 out of deference to our writers that wrote the draft before, I'm exaggerating a little bit.

Speaker 4 But Charlie deserves a great deal of credit for that.

Speaker 2 Well, I appreciate it. I don't want to take credit away from

Speaker 2 the guys who

Speaker 2 are doing it.

Speaker 4 He's fast, but he is a great.

Speaker 2 I'm fast with writing. I'm real slow with names.

Speaker 4 And we will be right back.

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Speaker 1 And now back to the show.

Speaker 2 Wade, so speaking of names, so you and obviously you have a long-time relationship with Rob Macklin. How did you guys first meet? What was that? I met Rob on a plane.
So we were both being flown out.

Speaker 2 We were both being flown out to test for a pilot for the same role.

Speaker 2 And it was one of those things where, you know, you're in the airport and you're like, oh, this guy's got to be an actor. You know, he's got that look.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 the show show is called Mather House. It's about college kids or something like that.
And, you know, I think, I don't know when I said hello, but maybe after the plane landed.

Speaker 2 Where were you coming from? From New York? From New York. Yeah.
We both lived in New York and we were flying out. You know, they put you up on

Speaker 2 like at the Hilton or something right on, right off the 101 there. Oh, yeah.
By Universal. Oh, no way.
Many times. So we're both staying there and then.

Speaker 1 I used to find Jason on the sun. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I used to remember pilot season. I used to come out there and stay there or the Sheraton or the Intercontinental over by Fox, which is where Tony Hale and I stayed for the arrested test.

Speaker 2 Anyway, keep going. It was my second time that happened.
It happened to me.

Speaker 2 I tested for something called Weird Henry, and they liked me for Weird Henry, and they flew me out, and then they did one sort of, you know, round of notes with the producers.

Speaker 2 And then the studio was like, this show's not going to work. And they canned the whole thing.
And then. The same thing happened with Rob.
Rob and I both went and tested.

Speaker 2 And I remember thinking like, ah, I got this guy. He doesn't have the charisma.
I'm not worried about him.

Speaker 2 Look at his stupid face. Look at his dumb face, man.

Speaker 2 He's never going to make it in show business. He'll never own a football team with Ryan Reynolds.
Yeah. Forget it.

Speaker 2 He was too handsome. I was like, he's too modelly.

Speaker 2 You know, you need someone real.

Speaker 2 And then the same thing happened. They canned the whole show while we were out there.
And

Speaker 2 we just kind of bonded and stayed buddies. And, you know, now I can't get rid of him.
You know, every year I'm like, well, maybe we've done it with the show. He's like, come on, one more.
Let's go.

Speaker 2 And then, so not only can you not get rid of him always sunny, then you guys create Mythic Quest with, it wasn't just the two of you, it was somebody else too. Yeah, with Megan Gans.

Speaker 2 Megan Gans, yes, of course.

Speaker 2 Yeah, no, I can't get rid of this guy. You know, I go on podcasts.
I'm just talking about him. I'm like,

Speaker 2 I hear him. He barely talks about me.
I'm talking about this guy constantly.

Speaker 4 No, no, he talks about you quite a bit. We just can't repeat it.

Speaker 2 Oh, okay. And you guys started a podcast together too.

Speaker 2 Now you've got this always sunny podcast and now we're talking about the show and people are listening and we're not here to plug that we're not going to talk about no yeah let's let's plug all everything you got

Speaker 2 i think what we should really if we really want to get this cooking we should just talk about golf i mean let's go first of all when we were doing horrible bosses yeah and i'm a bit of a golf nut i would i would say oh jason you know i heard you used to golf and you said yeah i don't do it anymore i was like well you should come out with me you know maybe sometime and just you know

Speaker 2 dust off the old sticks and hit a few you are the most most golfing man i know now yeah it's incredible right non-stop back then back then i was very disciplined i didn't want to dance with the dragon again you know i've got addiction issues

Speaker 4 dance with the dragon no no that's a saying and then uh during covet um you know will just threw me a lifeline he said listen buddy you got to step away from rachel maddow take your pjs off and let's get out there do something socially distant let's let's play golf and two weeks later we were in pebble beach yeah he put put it in the army.

Speaker 2 No joke. He put it right in my arm.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I love it. Well, I love that you do it.
I hope you don't give it up.

Speaker 4 No, no, I don't. Look at me.

Speaker 2 I'm dressed. Look at my outfit for Christ's sake.

Speaker 4 I'm a half hour from the tea.

Speaker 2 Well, keep it snappy because I know you got a tea time. Yeah, let's go.
Charlie, I have to. Sean, I know your question is going to be: hey, Charlie, how long and straight are you off the T? Very.

Speaker 2 He's very consistent off the T. It's unbelievable.

Speaker 4 This guy's a single-digit handicap, listeners. Anybody who's into golf,

Speaker 4 this guy doesn't shoot.

Speaker 2 He's over 80.

Speaker 4 Okay, it's he's a natural athlete, played a lot of baseball when he was college.

Speaker 2 This is the most you know about me. This is surprising.
Um, wait, so so, Charlie, speaking of growing up, so so I mentioned in the thing that you play piano and you play all these instruments.

Speaker 2 What's up with that?

Speaker 2 I don't know where to look at Sean perked up. Sean doesn't want to talk about all off the T, but oh, let's get that harmonic in his mouth, huh? Let's do it.
Let's, I probably have one lying around.

Speaker 2 Uh, I don't know where the violin thing came. Like, I was

Speaker 2 there,

Speaker 2 buddy. Do

Speaker 1 a bad joke.

Speaker 4 Hey, where's that keyboard we were going to introduce? You know, we're going to,

Speaker 1 I know, I'm too lazy to lift this up and go in there because they got to hook it all up.

Speaker 2 But wait, Charlie,

Speaker 2 do you still

Speaker 1 play violin? Do you still play these instruments?

Speaker 2 No, I never played. I never played the violin.
That's one of those. That was not true.
No, I think I played the violin from like three to

Speaker 2 three in one month. You know, where my parents were like, well, this is too much.
TV is very accurate.

Speaker 1 Is there an instrument that you excel at or that you stick with?

Speaker 5 Keep it clean.

Speaker 2 I don't I don't excel at any of them, but I I I can play a little piano and a little gu guitar and that's you know I can I can write like a goofy song that we put on Sunny, but I'm

Speaker 2 was that something that your parents like encouraged? Like were you did you take piano lessons, guitar lessons?

Speaker 2 I took piano lessons maybe till I was 10 and then I switched to the trombone. I used to have a little sweatshirt because I was in the school band that said Charlie trombone.

Speaker 2 So that like became my you know the problem with the trombone is if you leave it in the rain,

Speaker 2 it gets rusty. You know what I mean? It will.

Speaker 2 It's true. It's true if you leave it in the rain.
Clean it out now.

Speaker 2 Well, you keep it clean. You get some kind of brass cleaner or something like that.

Speaker 1 Charlie, when you write and produce or direct or whatever you do, do you think about music when you're doing it or is it an afterthought?

Speaker 2 It's a big part of how I write something. I'll be just listening to, you know, a style of music and I'll have an idea.
Peshmode. Yeah, I'll be listening to the Peshmode.

Speaker 2 and I'll be thinking, I got to do a movie with Bateman where he, you know, wears eyeshadow and trench coats. Yeah, yeah.
You should see me.

Speaker 4 I got great goth skills.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I do love, I do love Debesh mode. Wait, Charlie, I know

Speaker 2 so little about, so it says that you were born in

Speaker 2 New York, in the city. Yeah.
True story? True story. Cause my parents,

Speaker 2 my parents both met at Columbia where they were both music

Speaker 2 getting their doctorates in musicology. And then

Speaker 2 wait a second, wait a second, pump the brains. So your parents, so you kind of blew, brushed through the whole music thing and your own involvement with music.

Speaker 2 Your parents have degrees in music from Columbia? Yeah. Yeah.
My parents are very

Speaker 2 smart, as is my sister. She also has her PhD in musicology.

Speaker 2 And what happened here was that, you know, I'm an idiot. And I was like, I got to get away from this music thing.

Speaker 2 So, you know, I'm taking trombone lessons and all my buddies are outside playing baseball. And I eventually, you know, walked away from it all and gave it up.

Speaker 2 But then when I got to like maybe a senior in high school or college, I picked up the guitar and I was like, oh, this is maybe could be cool or a way to meet a girl. And then I got back into it.

Speaker 2 But I didn't want to be, they, they had no money and I didn't want to, I didn't want to be a music. Right.
So you became an actor. So they're at Columbia.

Speaker 2 They're both taking, they're both in programs, music programs at Columbia. They meet, you're born in the the city, and then what happens? How long did you live there? Not long.
And then my dad got

Speaker 2 a job at a college in Rhode Island, and my mother's family was from Rhode Island way back,

Speaker 2 way, way back.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 they went and never left. They're still there.
And so you grew up in Rhode Island? I grew up in Rhode Island, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4 How did the acting thing hit you? Was it like a high school drama thing?

Speaker 2 That's a good question. I mean, I did plays like

Speaker 2 in third and fourth grade and always enjoyed it. And then I wanted to do the school plays in high school, but I was kind of too nervous to join the group.
I thought, ah, I don't, I don't know.

Speaker 2 But with the musical background, wouldn't you think that you could combine the plays and the music and do what, Sean, what do we call that? The theater that's, but that's got.

Speaker 2 There's a music-based theater out there. I'm not quite sure.
I don't think there's a term for it. Sean, is there a...

Speaker 4 What would be an example of something that you might do in six, seven?

Speaker 2 Ba-na-na-na-na-na.

Speaker 2 you guys are gonna have to take that slide whistle away from them

Speaker 4 so then Charlie so then you finish high school and you say um I'm gonna go to New York City and I'm gonna try to become a professional guitar player or actor yes I did have that thought I was like well do which one I didn't know I was like maybe I want to write music or maybe I want to do uh

Speaker 2 but you knew your future it wasn't in Rhode Island it was probably in Manhattan yeah well first I went to college Jason where was that wait hang on What's college?

Speaker 2 It's a school after the studio school.

Speaker 4 Voluntary additional school?

Speaker 2 I don't understand it.

Speaker 4 Yeah, that's the part I couldn't compute when I was in the school.

Speaker 2 What trailer was that in on the motor lot? Yeah, one with a flat tire. Here's what happened.

Speaker 2 I went to the voluntary additional school and they had a theater program, but they also had a baseball team. And I didn't make baseball team and I thought, oh, well, I'll go join the theater club.

Speaker 2 And then I just got hooked. I was like, I like doing the plays.

Speaker 2 and it seems to was this school in new york this school was in northern massachusetts called merrimack college and uh you could get in if you had a pulse and um they let me in and uh you know my my favorite thing in the world is swapping uh horrible theater stories did i tell you guys about the wheelchair story yeah

Speaker 2 you gotta go today let's go yeah let's go okay so just pull the interview over to the side hang on

Speaker 1 um go show really quick this was a horror i was in i was a sophomore in high school and i was in charge of changing the scenery right the battens that would lift the scenery so in between we had like we were doing one act so in between each act we had like you know 15 30 seconds to change the big huge scenery and pull them up and i was in charge of all those hydraulics so the stage manager points me she's like go and i didn't realize there was a rope hanging on the side that somehow hooked onto the wheelchair that the guy needed in the next scene.

Speaker 2 This isn't

Speaker 4 a cartoon I saw.

Speaker 1 No, I swear to God, this happened. And I raised it and and the hook pulled the wheelchair up.
So the curtain goes up and the wheelchair is just swinging, hanging in midair.

Speaker 1 And the guy's first line was, you know, something like, I don't know if I'll ever walk again. But he had to, it was, it was awful.

Speaker 2 Oh, golly.

Speaker 2 Back to Smartlist. Hey, Charlie.

Speaker 4 So so you up there, so you, you, you come down out of the junior college and you come to

Speaker 4 New York City and you don't just knock on a door and say, I'm here. I'd like to be an actor.

Speaker 4 Do you look in the paper for auditions or an agent or what was your first step?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I did all that crap. You know, you get the village voice and you're looking through all those things.
I had a really lucky break when I was in college.

Speaker 2 There was a guy there named John Fussman and he was like one of those guys who was like 35 and in college.

Speaker 4 And just hanging out just outside the school grounds.

Speaker 2 Basically.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And he had tipped me off to a place called the Williamstown Theater Festival.
Sure.

Speaker 2 And I went there to sort of, you know, empty garbage cans and

Speaker 2 maybe say one line in a play and just intern.

Speaker 2 And they had like a program where you could audition and

Speaker 2 be part of a non-equity group. And after my first summer there, I was still in college.
The next year, I auditioned and I got to be part of that group.

Speaker 4 And a bunch of agents go up there, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 After my third year there, I got an agent.

Speaker 4 Sean, did you ever do that? I'd love to do Williamstown. Did you ever do that?

Speaker 1 I would love to, no,

Speaker 1 but I would love to. But,

Speaker 1 you know, Charlie, I was going to ask you, like, there's when we were all young, all four of us and other people like us that are actors, there was a definite path to what you wanted, right?

Speaker 1 You got your headshots, and then you had your resume on the back, and then you would submit them to agents, and then agents would. But now it seems so different.
Do you have friends?

Speaker 1 Like, does your sister have friends and be like, hey, Charlie, can you help my friend out? They want to get into the biz and they need advice. I mean, do you ever get people coming to you?

Speaker 1 And what would that advice be now for kids rather than when we were growing up?

Speaker 2 Weirdly, I don't get too much of that. I don't know if I don't give off a vibe of that, I'll help or I'm not sure why.
But

Speaker 2 do you feel no, but let me rephrase that. Do you feel shitty about yourself that nobody wants acting tips from you

Speaker 2 or career advice?

Speaker 2 I had that, Sean. You know, when I was a kid, and this is a true story, when I was living in New York and I was, I didn't know anybody in New York.
And somehow my mom knew

Speaker 2 through somebody from like Winnipeg, knew the actor Len Carriou. Do you know that guy? Do you remember Len Carriou?

Speaker 2 And so somehow she's like, you should call him. And I was like, okay.
So I called him. Poor guy.
Cause now I sort of 30 years later, I get that flip, which is like, he's like, hey,

Speaker 2 what can I do for you? I'm like, well, I'm just in New York and I'm going to theater school. I'm like, okay.

Speaker 4 I'm ready to be successful.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And like, I get now that position. I even felt it at the time where he's like, I don't know what you want me to do for you, buddy, but

Speaker 2 I'm worried about my own day-to-day over here.

Speaker 2 And so you do get those calls sometimes from friends of friends and they go, Hey, our kid is 18 and he's moving to New York. And can you call him and

Speaker 2 give him some advice? And there's really nothing you can say to him. I actually like it.
I actually don't mind it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's all about timing, but yeah, I actually

Speaker 2 what do you tell people?

Speaker 4 You know, because getting an agent, like you do have to get into kind of a showcase situation.

Speaker 2 It's just really tough for everybody.

Speaker 1 I think you have to create your own path. You know, gone are the days of relying and waiting and phone calls and agents and all that to do it for you.

Speaker 1 You have to pick up a camera, you have to write the thing, direct the thing, act the thing, put it on YouTube, all that kind of stuff. And Instagram.

Speaker 1 And so that's how, because every Instagram star wants to be an actor and every actor wants to be like have the most.

Speaker 2 Well, Charlie you you guys were kind of like the first people to really do that in a way that has been not just successful but also had longevity You guys created your own stuff. That was not

Speaker 2 the norm before you guys did that. No, that's true.
Yeah, although you know in some ways doesn't everybody do that like somebody I guess the Lonely Island guys did that too.

Speaker 4 Yeah, like well, but they were already part of an infrastructure there at Saturday Night Live.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, no, before those guys made videos and stuff when they did did this, Andy Samberg. Andy and Akiva and Yorm did that.
Oh, really? Yeah, they made some videos on Lonely Island.

Speaker 2 Then they made a pilot called

Speaker 2 Awesome Town that

Speaker 2 Phil Lord and Chris Miller produced. Have you ever seen that?

Speaker 2 It's really rad.

Speaker 2 But they did the same thing, which was... But again, that was around the same time that Sunny started.
It was back in that.

Speaker 2 What was unique about what we did is we did it for television, where, you know, like you, there was a lot of that in independent film.

Speaker 2 If you're the Cohen brothers, you know, you you raise money, you do Blood Simple, and then you, you know, you go do Raising Arizona or whatever it is.

Speaker 2 And we, I guess we just took that model to television. And we said, well, we'll, you know, we'll do the first one real cheap and down and dirty.

Speaker 2 And then hopefully someone gives us money to do this more legitimately. But going back to your question before, I often do promote Williamstown, which for me was like a showcase situation.

Speaker 2 Or if you're really serious about acting, go to grad school, which I'd wish I'd done. But

Speaker 2 because that place was not only boot camp for acting, it was boot camp for

Speaker 2 you better show up and shine. Because in that group, in that non-equity group, it was myself and Catherine Hahn and Sterling Brown.
Wow. And I mean, the competition was so fierce.

Speaker 2 And Jimmy Simpson and these people were going to outshine you.

Speaker 2 And not, they weren't trying to outshine you, but they were going to do their work and they were going to be, you know, they were going to come to rehearsal and that's that and just blow it out of the water.

Speaker 2 So you had to learn how to,

Speaker 2 I feel like my first summer there, I did well in some plays. And I thought the next year, I thought everyone would be like, well, he's the man.
Let's give him everything. And it wasn't that way.

Speaker 2 You know, it was a rude awakening of like, well, you did that. What are you going to do now?

Speaker 2 So that was such a good boot camp in terms of like, do your work, work hard, make sure you make sure you're not wasting anybody's time. It's funny you say that.

Speaker 2 I remember having one of my acting teachers years ago, he was saying like, look, all the process you do, all the work you do, whatever, when you show up unsaid, no, they don't give a shit.

Speaker 2 You got to deliver in the moment and that's it. And that was the only sort of piece of advice that I've ever given young people, which is just like, you got to, you got to be on top of your shit.

Speaker 2 You got to know your shit. Like you said, you got to be ready to deliver in the moment because that's what matters.
Yeah. And it's a bit exhausting, right?

Speaker 2 You do, like you, you, you put all this work into this. Years go by.

Speaker 2 You, you develop whatever fame, success, and you kind of think, okay, well, now I can coast, but you know, the phone doesn't really really ring.

Speaker 2 Maybe it does for DiCaprio, but for nobody else, like you have to, like, you got to put something together, and you have to, and then when you, when you are in it, you can't stink, right?

Speaker 2 You got to, yeah, you got to shine.

Speaker 1 Um, your son, is he too young to know that he wants to do what dad does?

Speaker 2 Or mom does too. Both of you guys are actors.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Mary Elizabeth has this great part in Paul Thomas Anderson's film right now.

Speaker 2 Oh, she's great at it. That movie is amazing.
That guy. Paul Thomas Anderson? Yeah.
Talk about a guy.

Speaker 4 I think things are going to work out for him, I think.

Speaker 2 He's going to make it a great day. He's going to make it.
Paul Thomas Anderson is the greatest director of all time. And go.
And ignite.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 4 How about he's my favorite for sure?

Speaker 6 I know, me too.

Speaker 2 He's the greatest.

Speaker 2 I got to go see a screening of that movie at his house, which,

Speaker 2 you know, he has these, maybe he doesn't want people, but he has like these film projectors. He's got like this barn that he's converted into like a screening room.

Speaker 1 And for Tracy, the name of the movie is Licorice Pizza.

Speaker 2 Licorice Pizza.

Speaker 4 Licorice Pizza. Which is a name of a record store that was all over the valley when I was growing up.

Speaker 4 Anyway, so he's got this cool thing.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's why you're crying.

Speaker 2 And your wife, Amy, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, whom I know, she and I did a pilot together years ago, as you know. Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 And she is a tremendously talented actor, and she's in Paul Thomas Anderson's movie Licorice Pizza. So you went to a screening at his

Speaker 2 screening burn. Yeah, just to kind of

Speaker 2 get to hang out with Maya Rudolph. So that was a...
Who's our pal. I just didn't want to blow it for my wife.
I'm like, just keep cool, man, and

Speaker 2 don't get drunk and don't act dumb. Did you stand up with a bunch of notes at the end of it? I had a couple notes, but he wasn't listening, you know? That's the problem with these artists.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we were lost. Pop Charlie Day in for a couple scenes.
That's really going to make this movie pop. We'll be right back.

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Speaker 4 All right, back to the show.

Speaker 1 Now, listen, Charlie, do you, for your new podcast, which is, I think it's becoming really popular, isn't it? Do you guys have guests on, or is it just you three chatting?

Speaker 2 Right now, it's just us chatting. I mean, that kind of caught us off guard.
You know,

Speaker 2 this was my gripe with McElhenney. About two years ago, I was like, we should do a sunny podcast.
We should just talk about the show. The fans will probably want to hear that.

Speaker 2 And he's like, ah, everybody's doing podcasts. You know, like, you know, we're too late.
Then this year he shows up. He goes, you know what we should do? A sunny podcast.
Oh, boy.

Speaker 2 I'm like, this motherfucker. I'm like, yeah, I know this guy.
But here's the difference. And here's why I've benefited so greatly from a partnership with Rob.

Speaker 2 When I said it, it was just gobbledygook talk. And when he said it, he already had the mics and the producer lined up and ready to go.
He's an action. He's an action.
He's an action guy.

Speaker 2 So it's been good for me to unite with an action guy.

Speaker 1 Being on that side of it, do you, and we all know this as actors, promoting and marketing and all that stuff, having you do talk shows and whatever, podcasts or whatever the thing is, do you have a preference of being a guest or a host?

Speaker 2 Well, I guess we're not really hosting anyone, so I don't know. I don't know if you're not.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, you're kind of hosting a podcast, but yeah.

Speaker 2 We're really just kind of shooting the shit.

Speaker 2 Okay. People seem to want to listen to it.

Speaker 2 But you're, I think that one of the things that we're all talking about the same thing, we obviously have, there are a lot of similarities, which is you talk about we create our own weather, we do our own thing, and we do a lot of different things.

Speaker 2 You've got a, you're doing a podcast, you do your show, you've got this new movie on Amazon, which was, that was a sexy segue. That was a good segue.
Yeah. I did a rom-com, finally.
You did a rom-com.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Saw me as rom.

Speaker 2 So, so talk a little bit about, because I want to get into, you do do a lot of different stuff and you've got a lot of different gears uh which is commendable and you're obviously you know you're a talented guy so you go and you do a rom-com what was the were you just like yeah fuck it i could do a rom-com i was always dying to do a rom-com because i actually really enjoy them um and i sort of wanted to have my uh you know tom hanks moment or uh billy crystal or whatever and um was there a sex scene No, there's, there's, you know.

Speaker 2 Is there a kiss? Hey, cool. Hey, take it.

Speaker 2 What are you imagining? Jason, what are you imagining? Talk to what you're imagining.

Speaker 4 Well, because some people can go their whole careers or a large portion of it without ever doing a sex scene.

Speaker 4 And then all of a sudden, the day shows up and it's like, oh my God, I've been in this business 30 years and I've never had to like fake lovemaking.

Speaker 4 Did you have to do that?

Speaker 2 No, that's a good question. No, I have.

Speaker 4 Have you ever had to do that?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I have a...

Speaker 2 I have a very graphic one on It's Always Sunny where we did a ski episode and we were making sort of fun of like 80s ski movies and over-the-top sex scenes. So, you know,

Speaker 2 how'd that go? Yeah, how did it go? It was fine, you know.

Speaker 4 You don't have to, you don't have to ask him in a whisper, Will.

Speaker 2 You know, just saying, walk us through it.

Speaker 2 I mean, you know, it's always the case with me with the sex scenes. I'm always, I always feel bad for the other person, you know, where I'm like, hey, look, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 It's, it's just me and this, you know, I'm pasty. Sean, you had to do one?

Speaker 1 Yeah, there was this cult show, which was fantastic, called Campus Ladies with Carrie Aisley and Kristen Sussen. And Will Forte was on it, and a bunch of funny people were on it.
And Jonah Hill.

Speaker 1 That was Jonah Hill's first show.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I played somebody who wasn't the brightest, who always wore a backpack.

Speaker 2 How'd you get into that character? Wow.

Speaker 1 Well, so I just put a backpack on, and then I had to wear no clothes except the backpack and have sex with, and literally have intercourse with Kristen Susson.

Speaker 2 Oh. Oh, okay.

Speaker 4 How did that go? Jason?

Speaker 2 Fine. Oh, sorry.
Go ahead. Sean, finish up.
That was it. That was it.
And Jason, what about your sex stuff?

Speaker 4 I've got a loose connection. Can you guys hear me okay? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Is that what you said in the sex scene?

Speaker 2 I'm not fine. My wire keeps coming out.

Speaker 1 And can you hear me?

Speaker 2 Yeah. And is it in?

Speaker 2 I guess that's the big.

Speaker 4 Hey, Charlie.

Speaker 2 Wait, you didn't answer, Jason, if you've done a sex scene.

Speaker 4 I have, and I don't like them.

Speaker 5 And

Speaker 4 it's, it's, it's just, you know, all the, all the cliches are true.

Speaker 4 You know, you have a, is a very, there's a very difficult line one has to to ride, which is, you know, if you're into it and you're being passionate convincingly, things, things start to move, guys.

Speaker 4 And, um, and if they don't move, what, there's that classic saying that one of the actors said, uh, I apologize if I get aroused and I apologize if I don't get aroused or something like that.

Speaker 2 It's like, it's a, it's a, it's a, yeah, it's a concern. It's a concern.
Well, Bateman, we did this movie called Horrible Bosses.

Speaker 2 It was a massive global hit, Will.

Speaker 4 and um oh you had a little sex scene with aniston right that was the first thing

Speaker 2 yeah that was the first thing we shot oh wow wow and that was basically my second time meeting her i met her at the uh at the read-through was like okay well now take all your clothes off and we'll take these provocative photos but

Speaker 2 i I only found it humiliating, you know, because I was like, oh man, I should like go to the gym or like,

Speaker 2 sure. I was like, I'm so sorry.
I'm, I'm really pasty and doughy over here. And, you know, you're probably not used to an image like this in your sexual scenarios.

Speaker 2 I had to do a scene in Brother Solomon with Forte where he comes to, where we make up at the end of the movie, and I'm in the shower and I come out.

Speaker 2 So I've just got the little sock on and then nothing else. And then I got to turn and he and I have to hug while I'm basically.

Speaker 4 No, let's, for Tracy, let's explain what the sock is. Go ahead, Will.

Speaker 2 It's basically that. Like it's a sock that you put over your, it's a thing you put over your junk.
All your meats and cheeses get covered.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's like it's a little coin purse that's got a couple of pieces of fishing wire on both sides that go around you in a as a thong yeah okay but it's a nude it's it's a nude colored and it's made out of like panty hose and uh and with fishing string on it so you can imagine it's just it's not it's not comfortable

Speaker 4 it's not a good looking thing and it's it's difficult at times to fill out Will and it's

Speaker 2 well

Speaker 2 that was not an issue it was more of an issue that like it was kind of the, like you said, like,

Speaker 2 I'm sorry if I get it aroused and I'm sorry if I don't. And I just thought, boy, this could go either way with Forte.
I have no idea.

Speaker 4 Which way did it go?

Speaker 2 I don't want to say it, but I just.

Speaker 2 Let me just say this. I love the guy.
And you can tell. You've said plenty.

Speaker 2 So, Charlie,

Speaker 2 so you're doing this romantic comedy. You decide you want to do it.

Speaker 2 What is the movie?

Speaker 2 Well, the movie's called I Want You Back, and it's with Jenny Slate and myself. She's talented.
She's pretty good. She's pretty good.

Speaker 2 Our producing buddy, John Ricard, produced this movie.

Speaker 4 Another mega talent.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and we worked together on Horrible Bosses and Fist Fight.

Speaker 2 And I was talking to John, I was saying, you know, we should find something to do. And he says, he said, I got these two scripts and you should look at them.

Speaker 2 And he said, but one's a rom-com, so you probably don't want to do that. I said, why would I not want to do that? Send me the rom-com.

Speaker 4 Nasty, nasty thing to say.

Speaker 2 Nasty thing to say. And I loved it.
We put it together. It's a really sweet and funny movie.
By the way, I did have to take my shirt off in it.

Speaker 2 And I had this sort of conundrum where the character doesn't work out and then he starts working out in the story. And I thought, well, which body do I go with?

Speaker 2 Do I go with the guy who looks like he's not been working out or the guy that looks like he has been working out?

Speaker 2 And I went with the guy who has not been working out.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 Did you look at the shooting schedule to sort of plan out what kind of shape you'd be in? Because

Speaker 2 I do that.

Speaker 4 I mean, for Tracy, these projects, they take at least six weeks to shoot, sometimes 12 or more. And if you know you got a topless scene on, as Will likes to call it,

Speaker 4 you know, you want to make sure that you're not having a whole lot of soy sauce a few days out, you know?

Speaker 2 No, I let that go.

Speaker 2 I was like, no,

Speaker 2 that's not what the audience wants from me.

Speaker 2 They don't want me to pop that shirt off and have rippling abs. They don't want it.
They'll be disturbed if they see it.

Speaker 4 There's nothing funny about a six-pack.

Speaker 2 There's nothing funny about it. And this is a comedy.
So,

Speaker 2 Charlie, any

Speaker 2 recent vacs, as we call it in the biz? Any vacs with the fam? I went to Hawaii. Okay.
I knew that. I knew that.

Speaker 4 You sent us a shot of the beautiful.

Speaker 2 You sent that pic in our little chain. Oh, yeah, I did.
I did. That's right.
So you went to Hawaii.

Speaker 4 Did you go by yourself or did you bring your wife and child?

Speaker 2 No, of course I brought my wife and child and

Speaker 2 I played a bunch of golf and we hung out and relaxed and went to the beach and I reset. It was good.
I was coming right off a bunch of things and it was nice to take a break.

Speaker 1 Charlie, 2022, what are you most excited about?

Speaker 2 Oh, man. I don't know.
I'm always pretty just excited to be doing this. I mean, I don't know.
I'm still grateful to be doing it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 I've been polishing up a movie for a good four years that I directed that Bateman was kind enough to be in.

Speaker 4 Yeah, when do we get to see that, Charlie?

Speaker 2 Any minute. I'm right around the corner.
But

Speaker 2 I was going to sell it. I was in the process of selling selling it to a studio and I was having some conversations with a very talented man, Mr.

Speaker 2 Guillermo del Toro, and I had a change of heart and I took the movie and I reshot about 20% of it.

Speaker 4 Am I still in it?

Speaker 2 You're still in it. You made the cut.

Speaker 2 That's been a maddening long experience, but I'm really happy with the movie. So hopefully I'll get it out to the world this year.
I'm excited about that. I'm excited about this rom-com.

Speaker 2 I'm excited about maybe getting some golfing with the boys.

Speaker 2 That's good.

Speaker 4 And Horrible Buses 3, I think we can announce.

Speaker 2 Well, now, why didn't we do it? You know?

Speaker 4 Well, because

Speaker 2 no one wanted it?

Speaker 4 Yeah, because Horrible Buses 2

Speaker 4 just basically, you know, cratered.

Speaker 2 Did it? Did it shit the bed? By today's standards, it's a huge hit.

Speaker 4 Oh, that's true. Yeah.
It didn't do as well as

Speaker 2 pandemic standards. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 By the standards of everybody staying home and not going into theaters, it did.

Speaker 1 Well, I would like the third one because I really, really like to collect those sets.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4 Things do happen in three. Maybe we just make it for a price, you know? But it did turn out people just didn't give a shit about a second one.
So they're really not going to want a third.

Speaker 2 It's not really a story that needed.

Speaker 2 Hear me out.

Speaker 2 Horrible boss is three, but there are two new,

Speaker 2 Sean, right? Two new guys who look at they're kind of

Speaker 2 never happened then.

Speaker 2 My boss is terrible. Hey, my boss is bad, too.
Are you a boss or you're an employee? Exactly.

Speaker 1 But the catchphrase is, my boss is bad three.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Same here.

Speaker 2 I get it, Sean.

Speaker 6 I get it.

Speaker 2 So, Charlie, listen, you're just, you're such a talent.

Speaker 2 You're such a good guy. You're such a good guy.
You're a theater. You're a theater major.
You're a musician, golfer. You're a good man.
You're a great marriage. You're a great family.

Speaker 2 You're a great charming little kid. Your new movie, I Want You Back.
Your rom-com is out. I can't wait to see.
And it's on Amazon now. It's really good.
I actually love this movie a lot.

Speaker 4 Charlie, I love you.

Speaker 1 Charlie, thank you for being here.

Speaker 4 We see you on the golf course probably in the next few days.

Speaker 2 Well, you're teeing off in about, what, 10 minutes?

Speaker 4 This is already six minutes into my heart out. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Okay. He's got a heart out.
That shows how much he loves you. He never does this if he's got a heart out for golf.

Speaker 2 I appreciate the six minutes over. That's good.
And you know how persnickety Jason is about everything.

Speaker 5 My range time.

Speaker 2 I need my range time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, we can come back. I can come back.
We'll finish this off.

Speaker 2 And next time you're on the podcast, we'll talk about the time when we were coming down 18 and the guy had in charge Jason's Tesla.

Speaker 6 I had a two-hour drive ahead of me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 He did it well. You made him give him his

Speaker 2 20 back. Yeah, 20 back, yeah.

Speaker 2 And we never

Speaker 2 gave him 20 just because I felt bad. He got yelled at so much.

Speaker 2 Jason, you don't know this, but Charlie and I both tipped the guy after you took the.

Speaker 4 Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 No. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, we felt bad. Well, we don't want the

Speaker 2 story like fucking Jason. Jason.

Speaker 2 You are his hero.

Speaker 2 he fucking is good

Speaker 4 at least 20 i should have taken more out of his pocket son of a bitch i will say to your credit you did preemptively tip the guy and say hey do you mind taking care of this he said great and then he didn't do it right so it's like well i'm going to pay you for the valet parking but the extra juice for doing me a solid which you didn't do yeah That then means that you no longer need the money for that.

Speaker 2 Let me ask you this. If you had shot like even par that day, like your best round ever,

Speaker 2 do you think you wouldn't have cared? Do you think you would have? I would have given him a ride wherever he wanted to go and all the money in my pocket. And that is Jason Baben.

Speaker 2 Guys, we'll be right back with an all-new episode of Smartless.

Speaker 2 He loves his golf. He loves his golf.

Speaker 2 Charlie,

Speaker 4 enjoy the rest of your day.

Speaker 2 Great to see your faces, fellas. Sean, let's hang out sometime.
I don't know. I'm right here just for you.

Speaker 4 It's not worth it, Charlie.

Speaker 2 No, no, no. It's got to be better.
Bring the slide whistle. Next two weeks, Texas, let's get out.
Okay.

Speaker 2 I'm busy, but you know, we'll see. Yeah.
okay, all right, all right, all right, all right. He's about to have a laptop.
He's gonna do the, he's gonna do the good out. He's talking about it.

Speaker 2 But you know why? Because, because, you know, I'll tell you why I wasn't gonna do it because Sean Penn did it. And then I remember, I was listening to that.
I was like, wow, Sean Penn did it.

Speaker 2 That's how I'm doing it. That's the way it is.
I think I've done it every ever since then. I was like, well, Sean Penn just slams it down.
Slam it down. That's how you do it.

Speaker 2 So I'm going to slam it down. But

Speaker 2 oh, look, he really did.

Speaker 2 That Charlie Day is, he's

Speaker 2 always a breath of fresh air, isn't it? Every time you see him, you feel better.

Speaker 1 He's like a, we could change his middle name to sunny right so just charlie sunny day yeah always a sunny day yeah and charlie so sean you don't know charlie you've never met him personally i never met him i did that one voiceover monsters university uh with him but of course you know as you know uh when you do animated films you don't really see the other actor because you're doing it what yeah

Speaker 1 So I never really met him before, but I'm a huge fan. And I don't know if you've seen Monsters University, but

Speaker 1 he steals the movie. He's hilarious.

Speaker 2 Yeah, of course. First of all, got, if you're a fan of comedy or you're a fan of animation or you've got kids, you've seen Monsters University.
It's a great movie. And he is great in it.
And you are.

Speaker 2 But he is.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 no, it's a great movie. And he is such a...

Speaker 2 I met him. The first time was through his wife, through Emmy, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, who's such a talent and so cool.
And he's a super nice guy, super real. And he joked about being down to earth.

Speaker 2 He legitimately is. And then you go, and then he's incredibly talented.
Yeah, I love him. And prolific writer and just everything.
And he's so funny. He's so naturally.
You guys got that.

Speaker 1 You guys both have very unique voices.

Speaker 2 Yes. Yeah.
He's got a very unique voice. I don't know if I consider myself to, but

Speaker 2 he does.

Speaker 1 Wait,

Speaker 1 nobody ever bites. Nobody ever bites

Speaker 1 for my theater stories.

Speaker 1 Huh.

Speaker 2 Number one. Don't let me say that for a podcast no one wants to listen to okay what's funny is that you don't take from that like maybe I should shouldn't ask anybody

Speaker 2 I'm telling you your takeaway is nobody no I'm telling you somebody's gonna come with a really funny theater story I think they're always so funny I like that usually your question about funny theater stories ends up with you telling a funny theater story

Speaker 2 I know it's just it's a self-setup Jason you missed Sean the other day Robert and I kept pimping him out to tell funny stories for everybody at dinner funny theater stories so he kept so he funny theater theater story, and he kept getting up and telling these hilarious, they were legitimately hilarious.

Speaker 2 And he got so worked up, he had to go to the hospital. I knew.

Speaker 2 That's a true story.

Speaker 2 So all of a sudden, Jen comes and goes, Sean just went to the hospital. I'm like, what?

Speaker 1 You know, next time I bring up a theater story, maybe someone will bite, bite,

Speaker 2 bite.

Speaker 2 Bite.

Speaker 2 Oh, bite. Yes, got it.
Got it.

Speaker 4 No, that works. That qualifies.
Love you guys. Bye.

Speaker 2 Love you, baby. Bait Smart.

Speaker 2 Less.

Speaker 2 Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarv, Bennett Barbicoe, and Michael Grantary.

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