"Charlie Day"

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Hi there. This is Will Arnett, host of the Will Arnett Fun Zone podcast.

Hang on, hang on.

Will.

This week, what?

We've talked about this, man.

We've been over this like so many times.

Okay.

But we are doing it though, right?

We are going to do that.

No, we're not.

This is Smartless.

Okay.

Fun Zone.

I know.

Well, what are we doing today?

All we need is a super simple welcome to Smartless.

Oh, right.

I should dig deep for this.

Welcome to Smartlessist. Oh, right.
I should dig deep for this. Welcome to SmartList.
Smart. Lists.
Smart. Lists.
Smart. Lists.
Now, listen, Jason, before we get too deep into the show, we need to talk about the crew collar. And now you've – tell us what – walk us through what happened this morning.
Well, I went ahead and I got showered and changed prior to our record for my golf engagement following this record. Oh, you golf.
Yeah, I'm not proud to say, but Chuckles over there does it too. So, yeah, so I put on my collared shirt, as you're required to do, and then it's a little chilly here in Los Angeles, so I put on a nice wrap over the top of it, a nice cashmere wrap, 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.
I'm going to go to a V-neck. And Will said we were talking about money for producing the podcast and Will said...
What's the budget for mock turtlenecks for Jason? I'm coming out of the budget. I've already matched it.
It's a fair question. First of all, you're allowed to mock a mock turtleneck.
It's built into the name. Name.
Okay. But by the way, I will never, you'll never see me in a mock turtleneck.
You'll never see me in a turtleneck for sure because I've got, probably, you know, they ask you sometimes, you know, what's the one thing you change about your body? It's probably my non-superhero jawline. I've got sort of like a diagonal from the end of my chin to my Adam's apple as opposed to a 90-degree thing.
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 silhouettes. Go back to the thing, though, about being cold.
It's cold in L.A. I came down the stairs today.
I'm not making this up. I came downstairs, and Scotty had the heat on on the first floor of Los Angeles, and the heat, and I was sweating by the time I got to the bottom of it.
Sean, you come down the stairs, your Hollywood house, every day like Gloria Swanson, right?

That's right.

From Hollywood Boulevard.

In a flowing house coat.

Yeah.

Ready for my close-up.

It's so great to see you coming.

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

This is really exciting.

I'm excited for you guys to talk to our guest today.

Oh, I am excited to listen. Because our guest is somebody, it's a, 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. This person is a skilled musician who started playing violin at the age of three.
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. This person received an honorary doctorate in performing arts from Merrimack College.
This person, you know, was active at Williamstown Theater Festival back in the day. This person has gone on to a huge career in television in, I guess, the longest-running TV comedy of all time.
This person has... Well, it has to be slow down here.
I want to do some guesses here. 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. This person was in the Lego movie with me.
This is Charlie Day. Longest running comedy.
The Lego movie 2. Yeah.
Pacific Rim. Longest running comedy.
Horrible Bosses and its sequel. Well, it's got to be Chuck Day.
And Beth known for his show. It's Chuck Day.
Oh, my God. All right.
You're scraping the bottom of the barrel now, boys. This isn't it.
Time to wrap the show up. So, Chuck, what about this is, now, I think the reason you've taken so long to book on this is your schedule.
It took a real long time for someone to ask me. I think that's what it was.
I can't believe Rob McElhaney beat you onto this show. Oh, that's nonsense.
What does that say about us? Here's my favorite part, is that Bateman and Chuck Day have been friends for many years. They've done a few movies together, and I was so happy to steal Charlie as my guest from under Bateman.
Just a really putty. I would have had him on, too.
I know. I think maybe you did ask me.
Yeah, definitely. And then you were saying, yeah, gosh, you know, I don't know.
We're starting a podcast. And I think he gave me a little bit of a runaround.
And I don't like to pressure people. I know you were looking to get paid quite a bit of money for today's spot.
Yeah, 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.
Yeah, and that's a pay cut for me, guys. Because you're not doing that well, right? You know, that show is not paying you.
I've made a lot of bad decisions, though. You know what I mean? I've made a lot of sketchy calls.
Wait, Charlie, we had McElhaney on, and is it really the longest-running sitcom in history? Yeah. Yeah, well, years.
If you don't count episodes, I think you did more episodes of Will and Grace in like two seasons than we've done. How many years is it now? This is something we don't want to gloss over because this is—you should be, and I'm sure you are, so proud of how long this show has been on the air.
Yeah, it's so cool. This doesn't just make itself.
We're talking, of course, about all of a sudden in Philadelphia. It's 15 years.
Jesus, Lord. We just made it a 15th season.
15 years. And you're about to do another one or two? I don't know.
At least another one, and we'll see after that. Look at the way he's positioning right there.
I know. He knows Fox is listening.
Of course. Or whatever the hell it is.
And he's going to jam them again. He's going to get up to 20.
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 them up. Nothing adds more zeros than a foot out the door, right? I mean, that's just true.
That's true. Yeah.
So Charlie, let's talk a little bit about, because we were talking about Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is a huge long running show, longest by years. Could you have imagined, take us back to the day when it actually became a TV show? Because we had Rob on here and we talked about it.
You guys made some videos and stuff and you shot some stuff. Am I remembering that correctly and you took it to FX? 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, and I think I paid $600 a month for rent.

You got robbed.

Quick aside, Jason, last time you were east of Coenga.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Back in the drug days, for sure.

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

There was a pay phone I'd like to hang out at. i might have had to run you down a dime bag or something i'm not sure what it was oh my god well so you're in your apartment right and was there a phone call from the from your agent or or manager or something that said they bought it you know what it was uh so we had shot this thing and and it, 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. We were doing it so cheaply.
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, oh, there's something here. And we were all at three arts management at the time um so like uh nick frankel and michael rotenberg took it to uh wme and they

they kind of sat on it for a while they're like yeah maybe we'll we'll hook you up with a big

producer and uh god we waited forever for john favreau to watch it and he just i guess he never

got around to it uh the one that got away i know well i mean i'm so glad i'm not cutting half a

Thank you. Jon Favreau to watch it.
And he just, I guess he never got around to it. The one that got away.

I know.

Well, I mean, I'm so glad I'm not cutting

half a check to Jon, you know?

I mean, I'm sure he would have helped a lot,

but it's nice not to have to be paying him anything.

But eventually we got kind of bored

and we shot a third episode.

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. Well, that and the only thing to do on Western is either move the dime bags or shoot another episode.
It should be noted. Can I just take this? Am I right in saying this? And you guys can agree or disagree with me.
The agenting in show business hilarious because like you can't get in touch with your agent, uh, in the first thing in the morning because they're in a staff meeting. Every agent takes lunch at one o'clock, no matter what.
So they're out of the office for two hours. They need an hour or so.
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 three. Then they do the thing is It's like, well, he's not in the office.
Why not? Well, because next week is Thanksgiving. Yeah, next week is Thanksgiving.
Not this week. The fuck are you doing? And then the month of December.
And then the 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. It's the most ridiculous racket of all time.
We were getting a lot of that. Yeah.
The end of the day goes like this, Will. 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. 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.
Right. Sorry.
Sorry, Charlie. No, that's it though.
We lost sort of patience. Yeah, I bet.
And we said, we're going to leave you guys, and we're going to go to a different agency with this. And that sort of prompted them setting a bunch of meetings.
And Rob went around, because we thought maybe it would be too much to have all three of us in the meeting. So Rob went, and we had an offer from FX to shoot a real pilot with a real budget.
Rob's the closer. He's the closer.
He's better in the meeting. He's a better salesman.
Now, how are you in meetings? Because I don't think I'm great in meetings. 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.
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. 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.
You know, it depends. They're all very different.
You go into a meeting and

sometimes you just get cold

stares.

I do have that vibe

sometimes of like, well, here's the idea, guys.

Do you want to buy it or not? Okay.

Yeah, if you have that indifference,

what's it called, Will? It's called

Sexy Indifference.

Charlie, you know about his

Sexy Indifference, right? Yeah. It's one of the major terms.
But yeah, you're either selling or you're buying. The buyers usually look at you with absolutely no expression because they can.
The sellers, us, have to go in there like circus clowns because we're selling. 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 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 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 tough.
It was hard for me. It is crazy.
But then you look at the flip of it, Charlie. So you guys go through this process.
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.

And now, all these years later,

you're at the position we asked you,

like, are you going to do more?

You're like, maybe I'll do one more, whatever.

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.

And I'm 46. And so I feel like, you know, I put in my time with this one.
You look 23, though. I know, it's incredible.
How have you lost age since you started? Yeah, it's incredible. Must be a real stress-free set there.
But we all make stuff. We all produce or write or direct or act, whatever.
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? 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 whoever these big stars go out to pitch these shows and they get passed.
Well, if they get passed and I'm stacking these deck and we're getting those, what does it take to keep a production company going? I like to get everything done independently of, of a partner. So, you know, like 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, and.
And a director in place and an actor place. Yeah.
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, which is cool if you've got the time and the funds to bank on yourself and work for free for a little while. Yeah.
Look, at some point you're going to have to do that work anyway. So 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 pitch. 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. This is what it is.
Here's who's acting in it. Here's the director.
Now please pay this guy. 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. I'm not exaggerating.
He did a complete rewrite, page one rewrite on it, and we used most of it. And out of deference to our writers that wrote the draft before, I'm exaggerating a little bit, and but Charlie deserves a great deal of credit for that.
Well, I appreciate that. I don't want to take credit away from you know, the guys who wound up doing them.

You don't even remember their names.

What an asshole.

No.

I mean, it's just, he's fast, but he is a prick.

I'm fast with writing.

I'm real slow with names.

And we will be right back.

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Wait, so speaking of names, so you and obviously you you have a long-time relationship with Rob McClendon. How did you guys first meet? What was that? I met Rob on a plane.
So we were both being flown out. Writing for the bosses.
We were both being flown out to test for a pilot for the same role. No way.
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.
And the show is called Mather House. It was 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. 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 like the Hilton or something right off the 101 there.
Oh, yeah. By Universal.
Oh, yeah. Many times.
So we're both staying there and then, and then. Used to find Jason on the side.
Yeah. 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. Anyway, keep going.
It was my second time that happened. It happened to me.
for something called weird henry and they liked me for weird henry and they flew me out and then they did one sort of uh you know round of notes with the producers and then the studio was like this show's not going to work and they can't the whole thing and then the same thing happened with rob rob and i both went and tested and i remember thinking like ah got this guy. He doesn't have the charisma.
I'm not worried about him. Look at his stupid face.
Look at his dumb face man. He's never going to make it in show business.
He'll never own a football team with Ryan Reynolds. Forget it.
He was too handsome. I was like he's too model-y.
You know you need someone real. And then the same thing happened.
They canned the whole show while we were out there. And 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.
And then so not only can you not get rid of him rid of 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 Gantz.

Megan Gantz, yes, of course.

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, I hear him.

He barely talks about me.

I'm talking about this guy constantly.

No, no, he talks about you quite a bit.

We just can't repeat it.

Oh, okay.

And you guys started a podcast together, too.

Now you've got this all with Sonny podcast. And now we're talking

about the show and people are listening.

But we're not here to plug that. We're not going to talk about that.

No, let's plug everything you got.

I think

we should really, if we really want to get this

cooking, we should just talk about golf.

Let's go. First of all, when we were doing

Horrible Bosses,

and I'm a bit of a golf nut, 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, dust off the old sticks and hit a few.
You are the most golfing man I know now. Yeah, it's incredible.
Non-stop. And back then, I was very disciplined.
I didn't want to dance with the dragon again. You know, I've got addiction issues.
Yes, yes, yes. And I was like, no, no, no.
You are fully addicted to golf. Dance with the dragon.
Yeah, no, no, that's a saying. And then during COVID, 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 play golf.
And two weeks later, we were in Pebble Beach.

Yeah.

No joke.

He put it right in my arm.

I love it.

Well, I love that you do it.

I hope you don't give it up.

No, no, I don't.

Look at me.

I'm dressed.

Look at my outfit, for Christ's sake.

I'm a half hour from the tee.

Well, keep it snappy because I know you got a tee top.

Yeah, let's go.

Charlie, I have a...

Sean, I know your question is going to be, hey, Charlie, how long and straight are you off the tee? Very. He's very consistent off the tee.
It's unbelievable. This guy's a single-digit handicap, listeners.
Anybody who's into golf, this guy doesn't shoot over 80. It's gross.
He's a natural athlete. He played a lot of baseball when he was coming up.
This is the most you know about me. This is surprising.
Wait, so Charlie, speaking

of growing up, so I mentioned

in the thing that you play piano and you play all these instruments.

What's up with that?

Look at Sean perk up. Sean doesn't

want to talk about how long off the tee, but

let's get that harmonica in his mouth.

Let's do it. I probably have one

lying around. I don't know where

the violin thing came.

I was... You have that ready to go? Yeah, anytime there's a bad joke.
Hey, where's that keyboard we were going to introduce this year, Sean? I know, I'm too lazy to lift this up and go in there because I've got to hook it all up. But wait, Charlie, do you still...
You've got time to grab the slide thing. Do you still play violin? Do you still play these instruments? No, I never played the violin I never played the violin.
Oh, so that was not true. No, I think I played the violin from like three to three in one month.
You know, where my parents were like, well, this is too young. Wikipedia is very accurate.
Is there an instrument that you excel at or that you stick with? Keep it clean. I don't excel at any of them, but I can play a little piano and a little guitar.
That's great. I can write like a goofy song that we put on Sonny.
But was that something that your parents like encouraged? Like did you take piano lessons, guitar lessons? Yes. I took piano lessons maybe until 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.
So that became my nickname for too long. You know what the problem with the trombone is if you leave it in the rain, it gets rusty.
You know that, right? It's true. It's true.
If you leave it in the rain... Clean it up now.
Well, you keep it clean. You get some kind of brass cleaner or something like that.
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? It's a big part of how I write something. I'll be just listening to a style of music and I'll have an idea.
I'll be listening to Depeche Mode and I'll be thinking, I got to do a movie with Bateman where he wears eyeshadow and trench coats. You should see me.
I got great goth skills. Yeah.
I do love Depeche Mode. Wait, Charlie, I know so little about, so it says that you were born in New York, in the city.
Yeah. True story? True story.
Because my parents both met at Columbia where they were both music, getting their doctorates in musicology. Wait a second.
Wait a second. Pump the brakes.
So your parents, so you kind of brushed through the whole music thing and your own involvement with music. Your parents have degrees in music from Columbia? Yeah.
Yeah. My parents are very...
Smart. Smart.
As is my sister. She also has her PhD in musicology.
What happened? What? 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.
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.
But then when I got to like maybe a senior in high school or college, I picked the guitar and i was like oh this is maybe could be cool or a way to meet a girl and then i i got back into it but i i 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 you became an actor so they're at columbia they're both taking they're both in programs music programs at columbia they meet uh you're born in the city and then what happens how long did you live there not long and then my dad got a um a job at a college in rhode island and my mother's family was from rhode island way back uh way way back and uh they went and never left they're still there so you grew up in rhode island I grew up in Rhode Island, yeah. Yeah.
How did the acting thing hit you? Was it like a high school drama thing? That's a good question. I mean, I did plays like 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.
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 there's got. There's a music-based theater out there.
I'm not quite sure. I don't think there's a term for it yet.
Sean, is there a, what would be an example of something that you might do? Five, six, seven, eight. Ba-na-na-na-na-na-na.
Ba-na-na-na. You guys are going to have to take that slide whistle away from them.
I mean. Sean G.
So then, Charlie, so then you finish high school and you say, I'm going to go to New York City and I'm going to try to become a professional guitar player or actor. Yes, I did have that thought.
I was like, well, do I. Which one? I didn't know.
I was like, maybe I want to write music or maybe I want to do acting. But you knew your future 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? Yeah, it's a school after the studio school. Voluntary additional school? I don't understand it.
Voluntary? Yeah. That's the part I couldn't compute when I was a kid.
What trailer was that in on the motor lot? Yeah, one with a flat tire. Here's what happened.
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 the baseball team, and I thought, oh, well, I'll go join the theater club.
And then I just got hooked.

I was like, I like doing the plays.

And it seems to.

Was this school in New York?

This school was in northern Massachusetts called Merrimack College.

And you could get in if you had a pulse.

And they let me in.

My favorite thing in the world is swapping horrible theater stories.

Did I tell you guys about that wheelchair story? You got to go. Let's go.
Yeah, let's go. Okay, so.
Just pull the interview over to the side. Hang on.
Go, Sean. No, really quick.
This is a horror. 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 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 to 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.

This is an episode from a cartoon I saw.

No, I swear to God, this happened. And I raised it and the hook pulled the wheelchair up.
So the curtain goes up and the wheelchair is just swinging, hanging in midair. Oh, shit.
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 awful.
Oh, golly. Back to smart list.
Hey, Charlie.

So you're up there.

So you come down out of the junior college and you come to New York City and you don't just knock on a door and say, I'm here.

I'd like to be an actor.

Do you look in the paper for auditions or an agent or what was your first step? 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. There was a guy there named John Fussman and he was like one of those guys who was like 35 and in college.
And just hanging out just outside the school grounds. Basically.
Looking through the fence. Yeah.
And he had tipped me off to a place called the Williamstown Theater Festival. Sure.
And I went there to sort of, you know, empty garbage cans and maybe say one line in a play and just intern. And they had like a program where you could audition and be part of a non-equity group.
And after my first summer there i was still in college i the next year i auditioned and i got to be part of that group and a bunch of agents go up there you're right yeah yeah after my third year there i i got an agent but sean did you ever do that i'd love to do williamstown did you ever do that i would love to no um but i would love to but uh uh you know char 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? You got your headshots and then you had your resume on the back and then you would submit them to agents and then agents was, but now it seems so different. Do you have friends, 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 and what would that advice be now for kids rather than when we were growing up? 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.
Yeah. Do you feel, no, but let me rephrase that.
Do you feel shitty about yourself that nobody wants acting tips from you? Or career advice. I had that, Sean, you know, when I was a kid, this is a true story, when I was living in New York, and I was at my, I didn't know anybody in New York and somehow my mom knew, through somebody from like Winnipeg, knew the actor Len Carreau.
Do you know that guy? Sure. Len Carreau.
And so somehow she's like, you should call him. And I was like, okay.
So I called him. Poor guy.
Because now I sort of, 30 years later I get that flip, which is like, he's like, hey, 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.
I'm ready to be successful. Yeah.
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, you know, I'm worried about my own day-to-day over here. 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 give him some advice? And there's really nothing you can say to anybody.
I actually like it. I actually don't mind it.
Yeah, it's all about timing, but yeah, I actually like... What do you tell people? You know, because getting an agent, like you do have to get into kind of a showcase situation.
It's just really tough for everybody. I think you have to create your own path.
You know, gone are the days of relying and waiting on phone calls and agents and all that to do it for you. 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.
And so that's how, because every Instagram star wants to be an actor and every actor wants to be like, have the most followers. Well, Charlie, 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 the norm before you guys did that.
No, that's true. Yeah.
Although, you know, in some ways, doesn't everybody do that? I guess the Lonely Island guys did that, too. Yeah, like...
Well, but they were already part of an infrastructure there at Saturday Night Live, right? No, no, no, no, before. Those guys made videos and stuff.
When they did... It was Andy Samberg.
Andy and Akiva and Jorm did... Oh, really? Yeah, they made some videos on Lonely Island.
Then they made a pilot called Awesome Town that Phil Lord and Chris Miller produced. Have you ever seen that? It's really rad.
But they did the same thing, which was... But again, that was around the same time that Sonny started.
It was back in that... I think what was unique about what we did is we did it for television.
Right. There was a lot of that in independent film.
If if you're the cohen brothers you know you raise money you do blood simple and then you you know you go do raising arizona whatever it is 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 and then hopefully someone gives us money to do this more legitimately but going back back to your question before, I often do promote

Williamstown, which for me was like a showcase situation. Or if you're really serious about acting, go to grad school, which I'd wish I'd done.
But because that place was not only boot camp for acting, it was boot camp for you better show up and shine. Because in that group, in that non-equity group it was myself and katherine hahn and sterling brown wow and i mean the competition was so fierce and and jimmy simpson and these people were going to outshine you 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 not set and just blow it out of the water.
So you had to learn how to, 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. You know, it was a rude awakening of like, well, you did that, what are you going to do now? 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. 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 on set, they don't give a shit. 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. 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? You do, like you, you, you put all this work into this. Years go by, you, you develop whatever fame, success, and you kind of think, okay, well now I can coast, but I, you know, the phone doesn't really ring.
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 are in it, you can't stink, right? You got to shine.
Your son, is he too young to know that he wants to do what dad does? Or mom does, too. Both of you guys are actors.

Yeah.

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

Oh, she's great in it.

And that movie's amazing.

Yeah, it is.

That guy.

Paul Thomas Anderson?

Yeah, talk about a guy.

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

He's going to make it.

This is a great debut.

He is going to make it.

Paul Thomas Anderson is the greatest director of all time.

And go.

And ignite.

And ignite. How about he's my favorite for sure.
I know, me too. Who's the greatest? I got to go see a screening of that movie at his house, which, you know, he has these, maybe he doesn't want me to tell, but he has like these film projectors.
He's got like this barn that he's converted into like a screening room. And for Tracy, the name of the movie is? Licorice Pizza.
Licorice Pizza. Licorice Pizza.
Which is the name of a record store that was all over the valley when I was growing up. Right.
It's, anyway. So he's got this cool.
Oh, that's why you're crying. So, and your wife, Emmy, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, whom I know, she and I did a pilot together years ago as you know yes yes and she's a tremendously talented actor and she's in Paul Thomas Anderson's movie Licorice Pizza so you went to a screening at his at his house screening barn with Maya just to kind of and then to get to hang out with Maya Rudolph so that was who's pal.
I just didn't want to blow it for my wife. I'm like, just keep cool, man, and 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. Yeah, we were locked.
Pop Charlie Day in for a couple scenes. That's really going to make this movie pop.
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About two years ago, I was like, we should do a sunny podcast. We should just talk about the show.
The fans would probably want to hear that. 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.
I'm like, this motherfucker. I'm like.
Yeah, I know this guy. But here's the the difference and here's why i've benefited so greatly from a partnership with rob 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 so it's been good for me to unite with an action guy being on that side of it do you and, and we all know this as actors, promoting and marketing and all that stuff, having to do talk shows and whatever, podcasts or whatever the thing is, do you have a preference of being a guest or a host? Well, I guess we're not really hosting anyone, so I don't know if we're hosting yet.
Yeah, I mean, you're kind of hosting a podcast, but yeah. We're really just kind of shooting the shit.
Shooting the shit, okay. People seem to want to listen to it.
But you're, I think that one of the things, 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.
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 uh segue that was a good segue yeah i did a rom-com finally yeah saw me as rom 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 is there a kiss take it easy, man. What are you imagining? Jason, what are you imagining? Talk to what you're imagining.
Well, because some people can go their whole careers or a large portion of it without ever doing a sex scene. 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.
Did you have to do that? No, that's a good question. Have you ever had to do that? Yeah, 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. How'd that go? It was fine, you know.
You don't have to ask him in a whisper, Will. I'm just saying, walk us through it.
Talk slow. 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, I'm like, hey, look, I'm sorry.
It's just me and this, you know, I'm pasty. Sean, you had to do one? Yeah, there's this cult show, which is fantastic, called Campus Ladies with Carrie Aisley and Kristen Susson.
And Will Forte was on it and a bunch of funny people were on it. And Jonah Hill, that was Jonah Hill's first show.
And I played somebody who wasn't the brightest, who always wore a backpack. How'd you get into that character? Wow.
So I just put a backpack on and then I had to wear no clothes except the backpack and have sex and literally have intercourse with Kristen Susson. Oh.
Oh, okay. How did that go? Jason? Fine.
Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
Sean, finish off. How was it? How was it? And Jason, what about your sex stuff? I've got a loose connection.
Can you guys hear me okay? Yeah. Is that what you said in the sex scene? I'm not following.
My wire keeps coming out. And can you hear me? Yeah.
And is it in? I guess that's the big. Hey, Charlie.
Wait, you didn't answer, Jason, if you've done a sex scene. I have, and I don't like them.
They're not good. It's just, you know, all the cliches are true.
You know, you have a, is a very, there's a very difficult line one has to ride, which is, you know, if you're into it and you're being passionate convincingly, things, things start to move guys. 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.
It's a concern. It's a concern.
Well, Batman, we did this movie called Horrible Bosses. It was a massive global hit, Will.
Oh, you had a little sex scene with Aniston, right? That was the first thing. She, mounted you.
Yeah, that was the first thing we shot. Oh, wow.
And that was basically my second time meeting her. I met her at the, uh, at the read-through.
It was like, okay, well, now take all your clothes off and we'll take these provocative photos. But I only found it humiliating, you know, because I was like, oh, man, I should, like, go to the gym or, like.
Sure. I was like, I'm so sorry.
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.
I had to do a scene in Brother Solomon with Forte where we make up at the end of the movie, and I'm in the shower. And I come out, so I've just got the little sock on and then nothing else.
And then I got to turn in.

He and I have to hug while I'm basically...

Now, let's...

For Tracy,

let's explain what the sock is.

Go ahead, Will.

It's basically that.

Like, it's a sock that you put over...

It's a thing you put over your junk.

All your meats and cheeses get covered.

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

as a thong.

Yeah.

Okay.

But it's a nude...

I'm sorry. It's a little coin purse that's got a couple of pieces of fishing wire on both sides that go around you as a thong.
Yeah. Okay.
A coin purse. It's a nude colored and it's made out of like pantyhose and with fishing string on it.
So you can imagine it's just, it's not comfortable. It's not flattering.
It's not a good looking thing. No.
And it's difficult at times to fill out. Will? And it's, well, that was not an issue.
It was more of an issue that, like, it was kind of the, like you said, like, I'm sorry if I get 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. Which way did it go? I don't want to say it, but I just love the guy.
Will have to watch a movie? Let me just say this. I love the guy, and you can tell.
Well, you've said plenty. Well, you've heard that to the beach sometimes.
So, Charlie, so you're doing this romance and comedy. You decide you want to do it.
What is the movie? Well, the movie's called I Want You Back, and it's with Jenny Slate and myself. Oh, mega talent.
She's pretty good. She's pretty good.
Our producing buddy, John Ricard, produced this movie. Another mega talent.
Yeah, and we've worked together on Horrible Bosses and Fist Fight. 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.
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.
What a nasty, nasty thing to say. 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.
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? 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 and I went with the guy who has not been working out yeah it was did you look at the shooting schedule to sort of plan out uh what kind of shape you'd be in because I I do that I mean for Tracy these these these projects they take at least six weeks to shoot sometimes 12 or more and if you know you know you got a topless scene on, as Will likes to call it, you know, you want to make sure that you're not having a whole lot of soy sauce a few days out, you know? No, I let that go.
I was like, no, that's not what the audience wants from me. 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.
There's nothing funny about a six-pack.

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

Charlie, any

recent vacays

as we call it in the biz? Any vacays

with the fam? I went to Hawaii.

Okay. I knew that.

I knew that because I saw that pic. Oh yeah, you sent us a shot of that beautiful...

You sent that pic in our little chain.

Oh yeah, I did. I did.
That's right.

So you went to Hawaii. Did you go by yourself

or did you bring your wife and child? No, of course I brought

Thank you. Oh, yeah, you sent us a shot of that beautiful.
You sent that pic in our little chain. Oh, yeah, I did.
I did. That's right.
So you went to Hawaii. Did you go by yourself or did you bring your wife and child? No, of course I brought my wife and child.
And 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. Charlie, 2022, what are you most excited about? Oh man.
Uh, I don't know. I'm, 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. I've been, uh, polishing up a movie for a good four years that I directed that Bateman was kind enough to be in.
Yeah. When do we get to see that, Charlie? Uh, any minute.
I around the corner. But I was going to sell it.
I was in the process of selling it to a studio, and I was having some conversations with a very talented man, Mr. Guillermo del Toro, and I had a change of heart, and I took the movie, and I reshot about 20% of it.
Am I still in it? You're still in it. You made the cut.
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. I'm excited about maybe getting some golf in with the boys here.
That's good. And Horrible Bosses 3, I think we can announce.
Well, now why didn't we do it? Well, because... No one wanted it? Yeah, because Horrible Bosses 3, I think we can announce.
Well, now why didn't we do it, you know? Well, because... No one wanted it?

Yeah, because Horrible Bosses 2 just basically, you know, cratered.

Did it shit the bed?

By today's standards, it's a huge hit.

Oh, that's true, yeah.

It didn't do as well as the first...

Oh, you mean by pandemic standards?

Yeah, that's right.

By the standards of everybody staying home and not going into theaters, it didn't you? Well, I would like the third one because I really, really like to collect those sets. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. 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. It's not really a story that needed a sequel.
Hear me out. Horrible Boss is three, but there are two new, Sean, right? Two new guys who, look, they're kind of.
They just go, ah. They're happy.
My boss is terrible. My boss is bad, too.
Are you a boss or you're an employee? Exactly. But the catchphrase is, my boss is bad, three.
Yeah. Same here.
I get it, Sean. I get it.
So, Charlie, listen, you're just, you're such a talent. 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. Great marriage.
Charming little kid. Your new movie, I Want You Back, your rom-com is out.
I can't wait to see it. And it's on Amazon now.
It's really good. I actually love this movie a lot.
Charlie. Charlie, I love you.
Charlie, thank you for being here. We see you on the golf course probably in the next few days.
Well, you're teeing off in about, what, 10 minutes? Yeah, this is already six minutes into my heart out. Yeah.
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, as you know.
I appreciate the six minutes over. That's good.
And you know how persnickety Jason is about everything. My range time.
I need my range time. Yeah.
Well, we can come back. I can come back.
We'll finish this off at a private time. And next time you're on the podcast, we'll talk about the time when we were coming down 18 and the guy hadn't charged Jason's Tesla.
I had a two hour drive ahead of me.

It didn't end well.

You made him give him his...

My 20 back.

Yeah, 20 back.

I gave him 20 just because I felt bad he got yelled at so much.

Jason, you don't know this,

but Charlie and I both tipped the guy after you took the tip back.

Are you kidding me?

No.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, we felt bad.

Well, we didn't want them to write a story like fucking Jason. He fucked me.
You were his hero. He fucked me good.
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,

that then means that you no longer need the money for that.

Let me ask you this.

If you had shot, like, even par that day,

like your best round ever,

do you think you wouldn't have cared?

I would have given him a ride wherever he wanted to go

and all the money in my pocket.

And that is Jason Bateman. Guys, we'll be right back with an all-new episode of Smartless.
He loves his golf. He loves his golf.
Charlie, enjoy the rest of your day. Great to see your faces, fellas.
Sean, let's hang out sometime. I'm right here just for you.
Not worth it, Charlie. No? It's got to be better.
Bring the slide whistle. Next two weeks, Texas.
Let's get out. Okay.
I'm busy, but we'll see. Okay.
All right. He's about to slam the laptop.
He's going to do the good out. You know why? I'll tell you why I wasn't going to do it.
Because Sean Penn did it. I was listening to that.
I was like, wow, Sean Penn did it. That's the way to do it.
I think I've done it ever since then. I was like, well, Sean Penn just slams it down.
Slam it down. That's how you do it.
So I'm going to slam it down. Bye.
Bye. Oh, look, he really did.
That Charlie Day is, he's always a breath of fresh air, isn't he? Every time you see him, you feel better. He's like, we could change his middle name to Sonny, right? So just Charlie Sonny Day.
Yeah. Always a Sonny 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 at Monsters University with him.
But of course, as you know, when you do animated films, you don't really see the other actor because you're doing it a lot. What? Yeah.
So I never really met him before. Right.
But I'm a huge fan. And I don't know if you've seen Monsters University, but he steals the movie.
He's hilarious. Of course, first of all, if you've 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, eh. But he is, eh.
But, no, it's a great movie. And he is such a, 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.
He legitimately is. 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 funny.
You guys got that, you guys both have very unique voices. Yes.
Yeah, he's got a very unique voice. I don't know if I would consider myself to, but he does.
Wait, nobody ever bites for my theater stories. Huh, number one.
Don don't we save it 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 stop asking I'm telling you your takeaway is nobody bites on it 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. I know.
It's just 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.
Funny theater stories. And he kept getting up and telling these hilarious, they were legitimately hilarious.
And he got so worked up he had to go to the hospital. I did.
That's a true story. So all of a sudden Jen comes here and goes, Sean just went to the hospital.
I'm like, what? You know, next time I bring up a theater story, maybe someone will bite! Bite! Bite? Oh, bite. Yes, got it.
That works, that qualifies. Love you guys.
Bye. Love you, babe.
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