"Ryan Reynolds"

Speaker 1 If you're like me, some of the footwear you've bought in your life actually doesn't last for a very long time, and you wish it did, but some things are actually built to last, and that's the promise of LL Bean, crafting boots built to last over a century.

Speaker 1 Bean boots carry that tradition forward, handcrafted in Maine since 1912 with full-grain leather, durable rubber bottoms, and triple-needle stitching.

Speaker 1 Built for the outdoors, they handle rain, mud, and snow. With over a century of timeless design, they don't chase trends.
Each pair becomes more personal, more distinctive, and uniquely yours.

Speaker 1 LL Bean boots are simply best worn. Find your pair at LLB.com.

Speaker 1 Nobody wants to spend the holiday season clicking from one site to the next to get their hands on the best brands. But who knew Walmart has the top brands we all love?

Speaker 1 Like the big names that your friends and family actually want and all in one place. Nespresso, Nintendo, Apple, you name it.
Get the brands everyone loves at prices you'll love at Walmart. Who knew?

Speaker 1 Go to Walmart.com or download the app to get all your gifts this season.

Speaker 1 Hello, listener. My name is Jason Bateman.
I am one of three hosts on SmartList. The other two are late, as they are one to do.
I am prompt, and I am also a fan of stone fruit.

Speaker 1 You might not know what stone fruit is, but it is a peach, a plum, a cherry, a nectarine, things with stones in the middle of it.

Speaker 1 And right now, listener, they're glorious and they are well in stock at your local market.

Speaker 1 You think I'm kidding, but the serenity in my voice right now is prompted by the incredible fleshy stone fruits I've had in the last half hour. Welcome to Smartless.
Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Go ahead, Sean. I was just going to ask you, so you listen to Italian rap.
Sure. And that's like a real thing.
Yeah, I listen to Italian rap. I listen to French rap.
Well, because

Speaker 1 you can understand French, but I don't think you speak Italian. I don't speak Italian.
I wish I did. So So, why? What's the draw? The draw is it's about a lifestyle.

Speaker 1 Well, hip-hop, no matter where it is, is about a lifestyle, Sean. So, cool it.
And

Speaker 1 I can tell by the way you look that you're really you understand that. Put it this way: you see me on a scooter

Speaker 1 in downtown Naples rolling with my crew.

Speaker 1 Can I ask you an honest question? Ask me anything you want. My hair, my hat.
I always wear a hat. No, it was about me.
Oh, sorry.

Speaker 1 How would I look with a neck tattoo?

Speaker 1 To me, no different than you look now. No different.
Jason, we're rolling.

Speaker 1 Sorry. Sorry.
That was a long walk.

Speaker 1 Oh, I guess so. From one wing to the other.
We're rolling. We're rolling right now?

Speaker 1 You're on the show right now, Jason. Yeah, you're a little late, Jason.

Speaker 1 Well, do you ever wear like long-sleeve shirts? You're always in a T-shirt, always.

Speaker 1 Well, I'm in a climate-controlled house.

Speaker 1 You know, do you not have climate? What's going on? Are you just

Speaker 1 the elements? We can be in a world with, you know, Thoreau could be the third leg on this tripod, and we'd have to deal with no sleeves at all. So can you imagine?

Speaker 1 Jason,

Speaker 1 are you having a coffee? Is that what your beverage is?

Speaker 1 Yeah. And I think it's a little late for the coffee.

Speaker 1 I get more irritable than usual

Speaker 1 the later I drink coffee, but I'm going to try to. And it's late right now.
I know.

Speaker 1 And I get all sweaty. Well, we have a guest here.
Wait a second. We're rolling.
Yeah, we got a guest here.

Speaker 1 You guys. Our guest

Speaker 1 is so, I don't know, it's tough to describe our guest because this person does so many things.

Speaker 1 Our guest started

Speaker 1 on a show that might be close to your heart. I'm not sure.
A show called Hillside.

Speaker 1 Four seasons on Blues? Hillside Blues? Four seasons on Hillside. I think in this country it was called 15.
It's one of those shows that had different names in different countries.

Speaker 1 But American person?

Speaker 1 Well, this person is a person you is not an American person. This is a person who lives in America.
But this is a person who,

Speaker 1 well, strangely enough, comes from just north of the border, where I'm from. Oh, so it's one of three people.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 this person is an entrepreneur. Oh.
This person

Speaker 1 is a visionary. Oh, boy.
Is a business visionary. He's got his hands in mobile phones.
He's got his hands in the booze industry. He's now got his hands in Welsh football.
This is a guy.

Speaker 1 Ryan Reynolds.

Speaker 1 This is your buddy Ryan Reynolds. Oh, my God.
Look at him. Look at him.

Speaker 1 I hadn't even gotten to his looks yet. He is too hot for a podcast.
It's Ryan Reynolds.

Speaker 1 I wore sleeves today, guys.

Speaker 1 Wait, now, Ryan, in week one of this COVID baby we call Smartless, I think I sent you a text that said, listen, I know you love to do podcasts, so we're happy to accommodate you.

Speaker 1 It was a sarcastic, sort of passive-aggressive pitch.

Speaker 1 Never heard back from you.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we're in the middle of a fucking pandemic, Bateman.

Speaker 2 Shit was going. I was batting down the hatches.

Speaker 1 Appropriate response. Appropriate response.

Speaker 2 By the way, I'm still hung up on Hillside Blues, picturing me and Dennis Franz as a couple of angsty teenagers going through puberty together.

Speaker 1 Don't skirt the issue here.

Speaker 1 So I get a no, I don't even get a no. I just get a no response.
But you say yes to Arnette. You and I are so much closer than fucking Will and you.

Speaker 2 Let me reset the table here.

Speaker 1 Can I reset the table? Yeah. This will be quick.
It better prop me back up.

Speaker 2 You guys just wait. I have never been in a room, virtual or otherwise, with three people

Speaker 2 who have at many points in my life caused me to fall over. weeping with laughter.

Speaker 2 This is one of the

Speaker 2 moment.

Speaker 1 Still good. Each one of you

Speaker 2 have made an adult diaper requisite wardrobe for me to return to the middle of the year.

Speaker 1 Go around the table. Go around the table.

Speaker 1 Guys,

Speaker 1 truly.

Speaker 2 Let him finish. Bateman was the first person when I moved to Los Angeles that was kind to me that I found that was kind.
I was 18 years old, and I had just

Speaker 1 hairless, freshly waxed. Eyebrows were exquisite.

Speaker 2 And got to Los Angeles. I ended up in this manager's office that would never in a a million years take me.

Speaker 2 But in walks Jason Bateman and just out of nowhere, asked me where I'm from and what I'm doing here.

Speaker 1 I think I said, hey, friend.

Speaker 1 I started with, hey, friend.

Speaker 2 He could see my soul visibly exiting my body.

Speaker 1 He always talks to wandering teens. That's always been one of his calls.

Speaker 2 It really is the hallmark of a truly dynamic predator.

Speaker 1 Hey, hairless, vulnerable, innocent-looking friend. Come to this place.
What brings you to the office? Absolutely. You look like you could use a ride.
But he was, no, he did not.

Speaker 2 he did not drive a panel van nor did he offer me any candy whatsoever

Speaker 1 so bateman was kind to you so bateman spoke to you and you knew him at that point from all as far as teenage jason bateman jason bateman right ryan did you move out here cold i mean did you just did you have a reason to move out or did you just move out to be honest he was coming off hillside otherwise known as 50 hillside blues what yeah wait wait what is hillside and where what is me and lawrence pressman you know smashing it together um

Speaker 2 just for throwing out all the fun going deep cuts on the on the uh now listen, Ryan, do you remember the first time we met?

Speaker 1 I remember very well. The first time we met in person.
Do you remember? Start to nod politely. Where was that? It was at a gym.

Speaker 2 Oh, in Equinox and Santa Monica. Thank you.

Speaker 1 Equinox and Santa Monica.

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 1 And you know what my thought was? I was in there just, I was moving some weight around. And obviously I'm no stranger to a gym, and we don't need to get into that.
And

Speaker 1 why don't you shut the hell out? So I'm in there and

Speaker 1 I'm feeling kind of good about myself. Sure, you are.

Speaker 1 And old Brian reynolds as as dax likes to call him to his face which always makes me laugh because it's just not funny and i do it too um ryan comes in and i'm like this motherfucker is so handsome and he's so strong and i look like it i i like pretty quickly like i'm gonna put these 20s down and i'm just gonna leave

Speaker 2 He was actually only in ankle weights. Will was wearing nothing but ankle weights.

Speaker 1 But Rye, what about my question? Did you, did you move to LA to be,

Speaker 1 what was my question?

Speaker 2 Did you actually move because you had an offer for something or did you move to start a career here no I mean I was working at Safeway grocery store at the time in Vancouver I didn't even quit I just I just left went on break I'd gone to college I'm not making this up for 45 minutes I walked in and I just went nope and I went right back pulled one more all-night shift at Safeway and then the next day just got in my car and drove to Los Angeles what department is yeah exactly were you checkout or were you box boy or no it I did train as a cashier but I was actually stocking shelves midnight to 8 a.m.

Speaker 2 I was working on a graveyard shift with, yeah, facing out all the gross.

Speaker 1 So everything is perfectly smooth and flat for the customer.

Speaker 1 Do you ever like just open a box of cereal and just house it when nobody was looking?

Speaker 2 No, most of the time it was food fights. I mean, some of the people I worked with at Safeway, there's a graveyard shift at Safeway at 25th and Oak.
They know who they are.

Speaker 2 Some of the funniest human beings

Speaker 1 that I've ever been around. Some big laughs.
I bet you had some huge laughs. I'm not joking.

Speaker 1 Are Are you still friends with any of your coworkers there?

Speaker 2 I don't keep in touch with men. I kept friends with a lot of people that I went to high school with, but like that was an odd group because we only saw each other in the pitch black midnight hours.

Speaker 1 All coked up and stacking. Oh, God, yeah.

Speaker 1 All glued up. Stacking.

Speaker 1 So are you really still friends with, even if you're friends with...

Speaker 1 five friends from high school,

Speaker 1 I admire that. I wish I was better at that.

Speaker 2 I'm still in touch with my high school girlfriend, who's now, you know, married with three kids. I'm in touch with my one of my best friends, Peter Zerbinos, that I went to school with my whole life.

Speaker 2 Since Little League, I've basically known him.

Speaker 1 Ryan, Ryan, this is, be honest, because, and she won't hear this. High school girlfriend.

Speaker 1 How hard is she kicking herself right now?

Speaker 1 I mean, do you think it's.

Speaker 2 I think she married a surgeon. She's doing all right.

Speaker 1 Oh, she married her. Okay.

Speaker 2 And she herself is a prolific educator. She's doing really well.
She's really barely.

Speaker 1 Does the surgeon have a back on him like you do?

Speaker 2 Yeah. My God, yes.
That guy had thighs like Earl Campbell. I mean, he was just an absolute shredder on the football field.

Speaker 1 Did he steal her from you?

Speaker 2 No, he did not. No, we were together in 10th grade and broke up in 11th grade.

Speaker 1 And they got together after relationships run hot in 10th. Right.
That was a good idea. Yeah.
They sure do.

Speaker 2 I was too busy working with Dennis' friends. Yeah.

Speaker 1 When you got here,

Speaker 1 like, tell us, because I love little origin stories from actors, because I did the same thing. I just just got my car.
I've never even been here before. You've never driven a car.

Speaker 1 Yeah, hang on a second. What kind of car did you rock out here from?

Speaker 1 A Toyota Corolla. A Toyota Corolla.
And let me tell you something. Really quick story.
When I got the pilot of Will and Grace, they had a kickoff dinner, and I drove my Corolla.

Speaker 1 And the only place you could park it was to valet it at this one restaurant. And I was so embarrassed because the window was out, the hubcap was missing.

Speaker 1 All that was disgusting because dents everywhere.

Speaker 1 And I made sure I got there before everybody else. I went in and had a dinner with the cast of Will and Grace and Jimmy Burrows and everybody.
And I'm so embarrassed.

Speaker 1 I didn't want them to see me get the valet when I got out. So I left early.
I was like, guys, I'm sorry, I got to get up early. Bye.
I got up to the valet, still waiting for my car.

Speaker 1 And one by one, it's taking forever. One by one, everybody else comes out.
Now we're all standing in a line, and my fucking car pulls up, first one. And I go, What did you do to my car?

Speaker 1 Or run ticket. Ron ticket.

Speaker 1 First of all, it wasn't a Corolla. It was not a Toyota Corolla.
Sean, how quickly were you trying to pull off your coexist bumper? Because you've always

Speaker 1 coexist.

Speaker 1 I drove a similar sensible sedan for years.

Speaker 2 Even after I had a TV show, I remember I kept my little Nissan Centra and was just covered in Rust, the Hubka. Same thing.
It wasn't even a car. It was just like millions of wasps fucking.

Speaker 1 Like this car was just like absolute

Speaker 1 danger to the bottom was out and you just moved it with your feet like Fred Flint's done.

Speaker 1 So, So, Ryan, so you move here, and you had done a show, you done sort of like a YA show

Speaker 1 for a few years, and that was like your first big young adult for Wisconsin.

Speaker 1 Young adult, and then and then, so you move here, and then you get two guys, a girl, originally known as Two Guys, a Girl in a Pizza Place, that which

Speaker 1 they dropped the pizza place. Great show.
Great show. Great show.
And I remember seeing you on that show. I remember auditioning for that show.
I remember seeing you. Come on.
I swear to you.

Speaker 1 Did you get it? Did you really? Yeah, I think I did get it. Yeah.
I think we did, I forget how many seasons. Well, Ryan will tell you.
Yeah, I think four and a half seasons.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we did the four seasons.

Speaker 1 But, but, Ryan, I remember how, and this is no joke, how funny you were. It was undeniable.
You're such a funny. I watch that show all the time.
I thought you were.

Speaker 1 The timing is like a Swiss watch.

Speaker 1 His timing is impeccable. A surgeon.
Here's what I want to know, Ryan. And the reason I bring this up is this, because you've gone on, you've had, I think, a super interesting career.

Speaker 1 And I think that you've always, no matter what, you're you're always good in everything you do.

Speaker 1 And everybody does things that sometimes they don't, you know, you, I remember somebody describing a movie, a bad movie. You're like, well, I thought we were going over here.

Speaker 1 Oh, we're going over here. There are certain things that are out of your control.
What you can control is you're always really, really good. And I've always thought you were super funny.

Speaker 1 Like Bayman said, your timing is incredible. I feel like you are depriving the world of more just pure comedy.
Look, I love seeing you in the action stuff. I love seeing you kick ass.

Speaker 1 And you do bring humor to those parts. But fuck, man, you could absolutely crush pure comedy.
I think you're so fucking funny. The way he's going with this is please do another sitcom is the question.

Speaker 1 I would love to do another sitcom.

Speaker 2 Best job I've ever had in my life. I know everyone here has had their,

Speaker 2 you know, it really is the greatest job in the world. Absolutely.
Reasonable hours, live audience, you know, fun. You get to improve.

Speaker 2 I mean, the reason I moved to, to answer Sean's question, I reasoned to Los Angeles was to join the Groundlings, which as a...

Speaker 2 you know, 18-year-old moron, I thought I could just show up there and they would put me on the stage.

Speaker 1 And the Groundlings is like Second city it's an improv kind of trip yeah we're saturday night live are you telling that to ryan he moved here to go no

Speaker 2 why are you explaining it to him did you get into groundlings no they were like of course not they were like you got to get on in this class you can't i was like i don't have enough money to sit in the class i need to make some dough so you're so you're in the class of groundlings how are you what's your day job did you go to albertson's and vaughn's and say hey yeah i i got a pretty good tenure and pretty swell cv going here guys i know how to work a manual forklift like no i know how to close a wound with crazy glue like no one else.

Speaker 1 Did you,

Speaker 1 what was your first day job out here?

Speaker 2 I had no day job because I had no work permit. So I couldn't just walk into

Speaker 2 any place. And Will knows this.
You can't just walk. See, you need a work permit.
So actually,

Speaker 2 I went looking for an agent to see if I could get sent out on a couple of auditions, and maybe that way they would sponsor me.

Speaker 1 And that's when you met Teen Wolf 2?

Speaker 2 Well, that's exactly when I met Teen Wolf 2.

Speaker 1 Come on, really?

Speaker 2 That was it. You know, I'd just been rejected from the Groundlings, and the next day I met you.
And then when I met Jason, he got hit

Speaker 1 he got hit on by a weirdo.

Speaker 2 No, he saw the look of pure, unadulterated panic in my face. And, you know, he asked whoever it was at that management company my number and left me a voice.

Speaker 2 This is back when you had answering machines. He left me an answering machine message just saying, hey, if you ever need anything, here's my number.
I know you saw you.

Speaker 1 Are you serious? Is that arrested for that nowadays?

Speaker 2 That is a random act of kindness right there, unlike anything else.

Speaker 1 It's very sweet.

Speaker 2 I've known this guy for a long time, and this is something he does, though. He doesn't like to admit it or talk about it, but Jason Bateman has got a wake of decades of random acts of kindness.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, no. He has such a squishy center to him.
And Ryan, I told this, what was it, a couple months ago, Sean, when I hurt my back and Jason showed up with like stuff for my, came to the house,

Speaker 1 just showed up unannounced, and he's got like stuff for my back and all this kind of stuff. And very, very sweet.
So that doesn't surprise me. It does freak me out a little.

Speaker 1 It freaks you out when I said, but the deal is I need to apply it. I'd like to apply it.
Is that part where I was going to do it? This is a backpad.

Speaker 1 I have like 25 things aching on me right now and wrong with my body. And Jason sent over Neosporin, but not in person.
Wow. And a bill, an invoice.

Speaker 2 How is your shoulder, Sean? I heard you have a rotten shoulder.

Speaker 1 I do. How do you know that?

Speaker 2 I listened to the podcast.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. I have a bad shoulder.
I don't respond to Baben's texts about it, but I listen to the podcast.

Speaker 1 What about, now, what about, speaking of the podcast, what about McElhaney and you owning a,

Speaker 1 I'll say it, football team. A footballer.
Football club. A Welsh football club.
Welsh. Sorry, Welsh.

Speaker 1 And you're doing, and you're going to do, you're going to do a documentary, a two-year documentary, like following you guys around the trials and tribulations of propping this team up to the next level, yes.

Speaker 2 To a certain degree, yeah. It's not so much about, we're not really centered in it as much.
I mean, we're in it, but it's really about this community and this town.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know, they're sort of, what I found interesting about this particular type of football team is that they're inextricably linked with the community.

Speaker 2 So when the football team is suffering, so is the community. When the community is suffering, so is the football team.

Speaker 2 So if you can find a way to kind of interconnect these two and raise them both up simultaneously, it's such an amazing, has an amazing and profound effect and a win-win for everybody.

Speaker 2 So we, we love the idea of,

Speaker 2 you know, sort of splitting our focus between community and the football club.

Speaker 1 You've seen Sunderland Till I Die, obviously.

Speaker 2 I think I've seen every single football documentary ever made at the same time.

Speaker 1 Same. And

Speaker 1 I think you always need a face, man, and like nobody can replace your face, man.

Speaker 1 But, you know. That was great.
Do you see what he just did, guys? Thank you. I think go ahead and rewind that, listener.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that was an A-team reference as well.

Speaker 1 Just

Speaker 1 you, you and Rob are going to need somebody on the ground. And look, look, I've got a full-time job.
All I'm saying is... Yeah, imagine a guy.
We're losing you, Will. You're going over a canyon? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Who can go in in there? Imagine somebody who could inspire, who can pull up lyrics, whether they be Smash Mouse or Thumba Wumba.

Speaker 2 Or Italian rap.

Speaker 1 Or Italian rap.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, of course. You heard me talking about my Italian rap.

Speaker 1 I love. Andre Drand, by the way.
Sorry, Landrand. I love, like I was saying, I love origin stories and your story when you first arrived to Los Angeles.
And so talk to us about the...

Speaker 1 kind of when you got here and you said you got an agent was hoping to find another couple jobs but like when did it start taking off was was two girls and a guy the first kind of big thing that kind of led to other things?

Speaker 1 And when did that chip kind of turn on in your head? That's like, wait a minute, I have to leverage all of this right now in order to get a career, Mike. You know what I mean? Hang on a second.

Speaker 1 You're conflating two separate jobs that he did. Two girls and a guy with something that he's trying to expunge.
Two guys, a girl, and a piece of yarn.

Speaker 1 You're referencing a skin flick in Upper Saskatchewan that he's still running from. So we'll erase it.
Two guys and a girl. Sorry.
Two guys and a girl.

Speaker 2 Skin flick.

Speaker 1 So we currently have, we have four total of four guys. How many pizza places do we have?

Speaker 1 What the fuck was the question? Oh, the

Speaker 1 two guys that girl on a pizza place. Yeah.
When you were on that show, is that when something clicked inside of you that said,

Speaker 1 you know, I have to figure this out so this doesn't go away. And it became this drive, this ambition that you have to, because an actor is only, you know, we thrive on our next job.

Speaker 1 We're always looking for our next gig. And I know when I was on Welling Grace, I was like, okay, God, I'm on the show.

Speaker 1 I have to make sure I keep working now because that's what I've always wanted to do. I want to be an actor.
So did that click in for you when you were on that show?

Speaker 1 Because you're so successful now in everything in so many different areas. When did that start?

Speaker 2 No, I didn't. I mean, well, thank you, but I never had any, I was the very fortunate beneficiary of having zero expectation.
So when I moved to Los Angeles, I wanted to join the Groundlings.

Speaker 2 I didn't expect that that I'd ever end up on a sitcom. And if I could get, I remember when I went and met this little agency in Los Angeles called the Paul Koner Agency.
And

Speaker 2 I said, if you just send me out on five auditions, I swear to God, I will get one. Five sitcoms, I said.
And they said, okay, sure. And I was just bluffing.
I didn't think I'd actually get one.

Speaker 2 But I ended up getting this one, Two Guys Girl on Pizza Place. And I, um, My highest aspiration was to play the wacky neighbor, you know, on like a, on a, what was that?

Speaker 2 What was the predecessor to the CW? It was the UPN network. UPNet.
I was hoping to get as the wacky neighbor on like the UPN network. That's where my expectation was.

Speaker 2 And that's still a pretty, coming from where I came from, that's a pretty high expectation, you know.

Speaker 2 So the fact that I got on that show and it was one of the lead roles, and then I just learned so much as I went.

Speaker 2 And I've always kind of maintained that sort of minimal expectation thing, which has served me really well.

Speaker 1 What was your state of mind? So you do Two Guys a Girl, a Pizza Place. They dropped the Pizza Place.
Obviously, a lot of meetings went into that.

Speaker 1 They dropped that, and it's just Two Guys a Girl.

Speaker 1 And then, and then you, that show ends after four years, I think. Is that right? Yeah, four and a half years.
Four and a half years, the show ends. It initially comes out.
It's a huge hit.

Speaker 1 So it's a big hit, blah, blah, blah. And then shows happen, things happen.
So then all of a sudden, it's like 2000.

Speaker 1 I don't know, one or two or something when it ends, I think. I think I got that right.
I've tracked your career for a long time right now.

Speaker 1 And so you find yourself, you're 2001, 2002, you're at Equinox a lot in Santa Monica, and I know because I see you.

Speaker 1 And you're there and you do, but you kind of shift. You do Van Wilder.
Is that what it's going for for Lampoon? Right.

Speaker 1 Definitely worth a rewatch, listener. Yeah, another movie that would like, not necessarily the greatest movie, but you're really good in, that you get a lot of accolades for.
Like people.

Speaker 1 Again, they point out, but what was your, where did you think you were headed coming off the show?

Speaker 1 It's a very tricky time in an actor's life, as you know, when you come off a show and kind of like what Sean is saying, you come off a show and you're like, oh shit, now what?

Speaker 1 What were you thinking? Did you, in your wildest dreams, think, I'm going to become this. Your Van Wilder.
Yeah,

Speaker 1 great. Really nice, Sean.
Thank God. Really, really nice.
That's great.

Speaker 1 But what was that? What was what was that? Was it just day-to-day?

Speaker 1 Was it because you did Van Wilder and then you did these Blade movies where people were like, oh my God, this guy's like an action star as well. Did you have a plan for any of that?

Speaker 1 Or were you just... No.
Could you have imagined that you would achieve the success? Do you guys have plans? I don't have, I don't know. I was too dumb for a plan, but me too.

Speaker 2 I was, my plan was to keep this fucking heartbeating.

Speaker 1 That was kind of it.

Speaker 2 I didn't, I mean, I had no,

Speaker 2 when I was doing movies, I was still looking for another TV show. Like, my real focus was on my father's son, like, you know, lunch pail actor.
Like, I need another, like a job that I know will last.

Speaker 2 Right. This movie thing is stupid, you know? Right.

Speaker 2 So I, yeah, I was always looking for another show.

Speaker 1 I was always trying to get back into sitcom i think i still am well but but i'll bet you i mean you're you're just you're you're too you're too skilled and experienced now and clear on i think where you want to go and what you're capable of doing that at some point you absorbed enough information and knowledge on a set to start to shape an appropriate and realistic kind of path for yourself.

Speaker 1 Like you're clearly enjoying being an entrepreneur, a producer,

Speaker 1 a star, a writer.

Speaker 1 So at some point, it started to crystallize a bit for you what you were capable of doing and what your opportunities might be if you really applied yourself, dedicated yourself to it, and treated yourself to being

Speaker 1 worthy of it, you know, in the best sense of the word.

Speaker 2 But I think everyone here on this podcast can relate, you know, nothing good was ever made without enthusiasm. Sure.

Speaker 2 And I think that when you are a fan, like a genuine fan of so many people and you really absorb a lot of what these masters are doing. And I consider you guys all masters as well.

Speaker 2 I just, you you know, you start to want to create your own thing, you know, and I, and I just feel like that eventually I got to a place where I would say it wasn't until my mid-30s where I really understood that like you can't be great at something unless you're willing to be bad at it.

Speaker 2 And it just freed me in a way that like I don't think I'd ever experience before. It really genuinely freed me up and amazing things started happening.

Speaker 2 I mean, a movie I've been trying to get made for 10 years, Deadpool finally gets made. And like, that changes my life.
And then we build sort of on that.

Speaker 1 And then I can start a marketing company and continue to tell stories and I just you know I think it's important I will say as a compliment to you and you you'd plug your ears if you don't want to hear it but from working with you and knowing you I know that that that enthusiasm slash ambition comes not only from just wanting to to accomplish things with your life but it really comes from an appreciation and a respect for the people that you work with and that you observe in this in this business.

Speaker 1 Like you have a clear appreciation for the opportunity and access that you have and all of the work of the people around you like you have a very clear sense that it is teamwork this this business it's not solo stuff and you you're just it's really admirable how you seem pretty optimistic how graceful you are with yeah with with people that you work with you're just you're a kind you're a kind leader you get how hard people work around well i love working with people i love collaborating

Speaker 1 beautiful skin beautiful skin thank you

Speaker 2 dewy skin i i sort of phrase it like that but it's it's very dewy.

Speaker 1 This message comes from the International Rescue Committee.

Speaker 1 The IRC has spent over 90 years helping people whose lives have been upended by crisis, often in responding within just 72 hours when emergencies strike.

Speaker 1 Every day, IRC teams support recovery efforts in places like Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, helping displaced children and families find safety, rebuild their communities, and recover hope for the future.

Speaker 1 Donate today by visiting rescue.org slash rebuild.

Speaker 1 Having the United Airlines app is like having your own pocket-sized personal assistant at the airport.

Speaker 1 Get real-time flight updates like your gate number and a live countdown to boarding, even if your home screen's locked.

Speaker 1 Stride over to your gate with gazelle-like grace, thanks to door-to-gate directions from your personalized airport map. Once you fly with the United app, you'll never fly without it.

Speaker 1 Unless you don't want to save about 30 minutes at the airport, get it before your next trip at united.com/slash app.

Speaker 3 The family that vacations together stays together. At least, that was the plan.
Except now, the dastardly desk clerk is saying he can't confirm your connecting rooms. Wait, what? That's right, ma'am.

Speaker 3 You have rooms 201 and 709. No, we cannot be five floors away from our kids.
Uh, the doors have double locks. They'll be fine.

Speaker 3 When you want connecting rooms confirmed before you arrive, it matters where you stay.

Speaker 1 Welcome to Hilton.

Speaker 3 I see your connecting rooms are already confirmed. Hilton, for this day.

Speaker 1 You know, as somebody like, I consider myself an optimistic person. As Downey always says, nobody wakes up in the morning happier to be himself more than you.
And it's true.

Speaker 1 But you do seem like you're an optimistic guy in that you do have a great sort of positive look on life. And in In any encounter I've ever had with you, it's never different.

Speaker 1 If I see you doing, you're in a movie or you're promoting something or talking or you're talking on the street, you're the same guy and you do exude that sort of positive energy.

Speaker 1 But are there things that get you down? Like you must have things that sort of seep in.

Speaker 1 What pisses you off? What pisses you off? When does it get dark? Right.

Speaker 2 You know what pisses me off?

Speaker 1 Yeah, what pisses me off?

Speaker 2 Well, no, no. I mean,

Speaker 2 I have a patchwork quilt of pitch black night within me that is, you know, I mean, of course, we all have that it's like a

Speaker 1 it keeps me warm at night yeah yeah you know that big hole with teeth in star wars that is my soul no one's heard from blake for over 48 hours guys no no no i i ate her

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 gently braised medium heat but it to that point right i i have like uh a question about this kind of motivation positivity thing and it's about the green lantern because now that i'm speaking to you we you know it's so funny i was in atlanta shooting the Three Stooges movie.

Speaker 1 I go walk over to go see the Phoenix.

Speaker 2 With my friend Craig Villarco.

Speaker 1 Craig Villarco's hilarious. I love him.
Yeah. Very funny person.
So I walk over to this mall on a day off to go see the Green Lantern.

Speaker 1 And when I walk into the mall to go see the Green Lantern, there's Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds shooting the change-up.

Speaker 1 And I walk in the middle of the

Speaker 1 isn't that crazy? That was the Phipps, the Phipps, Phipps Plaza or Lennox. Yeah, and we were reshooting, I think.
I think you're right. And I walked right in the middle of of the scene.

Speaker 1 I was like, hey, what's up, guys?

Speaker 1 And you were like, oh, God, this idiot. Yeah, I do too.
And I was like, oh, my God, I'm going upstairs to watch your movie right now, The Green Lantern. You're like, good.
But I think I warned you.

Speaker 2 I said, don't do it.

Speaker 1 Don't do it.

Speaker 1 Save your tickets. Don't do it.

Speaker 2 I will hand you $12 plus popcorn.

Speaker 1 You made kind of this, like you're doing now, a public admission that it didn't kind of maybe work out the way you had hoped, right?

Speaker 1 There's even that hilarious at the end of Deadpool where you have that script. It's so funny.

Speaker 1 So forget about like Hollywood for a second and share with us, like how someone be in a similar position somewhere in life professionally that was a part of something that didn't meet expectations or

Speaker 1 how they wanted. And so what was the drive or the path to say, okay, this didn't work, but we're going to go bigger and make the best thing more successfully?

Speaker 1 Was it something inside of you that said, I know I can make Deadpool this role successful. I'm going to try it again.
Because a lot of people would have given up after something like that.

Speaker 2 Well, you know, that's an issue.

Speaker 1 Sorry, Ryan, not to cut you off, but Sean's saying that Green Lanter was so bad, you should have quit. Go ahead.
Go ahead. Thank you for reading between the lines.

Speaker 2 My entire inner monologue is a gigantic comedic nod right now.

Speaker 1 Yes, Sean.

Speaker 2 You know, I think like failing at starring in a gigantic comic book movie in the grand scheme of things is an extraordinarily uptown problem.

Speaker 2 So I think kind of, you know, reframing it a little bit like that, but then also.

Speaker 1 But it's your life? Well, it's okay. It's your life.

Speaker 2 It is. You know, everything's a little bit bigger when it's your life.
And,

Speaker 2 you know, at the time, it really hurt because I realized that it was, I let a lot of people down.

Speaker 2 It sort of felt like, you know, when it's you in the public discourse about that, everything feels much bigger than it actually is, you know.

Speaker 1 So I felt a little bit like I'd let people down.

Speaker 2 I, you know, people really loved that character and I, I didn't love that feeling, you know, but I think what changed everything was, was finding a way to have gentle authorship in the work that I do as opposed to that unilateral power, like walking into a room and saying, I'm the boss, this is how it's it's going to be, my way or the highway.

Speaker 2 It's really finding a way to truly collaborate with people.

Speaker 2 And the best leaders I know, and this applies to all forms of business and the arts, but the best leaders I know are the ones that are very, very comfortable saying, I don't know.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 how can we get to a place where we know, can someone in this room show me or teach me? And those are great leaders. So I think harnessing some of those kinds of...

Speaker 2 things, you know, basically grinding up 45 self-help books and snorting it like the biggest line of Coke you've ever seen also kind of helps helps shape some of these points of view.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 But that was the thing that I think kind of changed my life.

Speaker 2 And then it allowed me to sort of take that energy around that particular movie and use it a little bit like Judo uses energy against it and kind of ramp it.

Speaker 2 I mean, one of the great prides of my life was writing the tag on Deadpool 2 where Deadpool kills Ryan Reynolds while he's reading the script for Green Lantern. I just like,

Speaker 1 you know, it was like a lot of

Speaker 2 that kind of stuff is so fun to me, you know, to be able to do that.

Speaker 1 And And also, I think, well, part of it, what you're talking about is you don't, and you never, it seemingly never have taken yourself too seriously. And I think that that's really important.

Speaker 1 And people see it as armor. It's not really.

Speaker 1 It's actually kind of a great

Speaker 1 way to go through life. If you don't take yourself too seriously, then the slings and arrows don't hurt as much.
No. Not at all.

Speaker 1 And so you, yeah, and you have a healthy, and I think there's a very, you also have a very kind of Canadian outlook on life in certain ways.

Speaker 1 Certainly I identify with that, which is like, hey, man, it's like you said, like, it's an uptown problem. It's all kind of a gas.
I mean, the fact that we're fucking doing it is hilarious.

Speaker 2 Right. You're making a living at it.
I mean, my father, if he were alive today, you know, he'd probably find some new way to die. But if he were alive today, he would, you know, dark.

Speaker 2 He would, you know, he'd be like, holy shit, you're living like the life of Riley here. Like, come on.

Speaker 1 Yeah. You know, Sean, what would your dad say? My dad would say, what's your name? Yeah.
That's what my dad would say. Over the sound of the departing car engine.
Oh, no.

Speaker 1 Sean's dad left when he was five. Yeah.
Sean's dad left when he was five. And so it's a big, it's a recurring joke on the show.
Yes.

Speaker 2 My dad canceled Christmas one year. I'm not kidding.
He said, Christmas is canceled. And it was just like, to this day, it's still, it makes my brother and I fall over laughing.

Speaker 1 What year did Blake and her little angel wings float down into your life?

Speaker 1 During what projects and how did they? Hey, man, don't say it's so fucking creepily in that. that way.
Oh, she's just, she's such an angel. Don't describe his wife as an angel.

Speaker 1 Straight from heaven. Straight from heaven.
Just say, when did you meet Blake like a normal fucking angel?

Speaker 1 But I want to know how, what the little, what the wings flapping did for his life and his career,

Speaker 1 and then children, did it change anything, or did it just complicate stuff and affect your overhead?

Speaker 2 No, no, no.

Speaker 1 Overhead.

Speaker 2 This is the only fucking guy on earth who would look at a family as overhead. I know.

Speaker 1 It's so true. Yes.

Speaker 2 Where's the line item for daughter?

Speaker 2 No, I met Blake on the darkest crease in the anus of the universe called Green Lantern.

Speaker 2 And we were friends and buddies. And then about a year and a half later, we actually went out on a double date, but we were dating separate people.

Speaker 1 Wow. Really? She was doubling with someone else.

Speaker 2 Yeah, she went on a date with someone else. I was on a date with someone else.
And we hung out. kind of, you know, we were, we always kind of kept in touch, but sort of casually.

Speaker 2 And then next thing you know, she was going to Boston. I was going to Boston.
So I was like, well, let's, I'll, I'll ride with you. We go, we got on the train and rode together.

Speaker 2 And, and then it happened on the train. I was just begging her to sleep with me.

Speaker 1 Who made the first move? Was it you? Yes. Yeah, yeah.
And how did that,

Speaker 1 so let's get into that. What, what does a first move look like? I mean, is it like, and I've done this move actually in a movie theater where you put girls sitting next to you,

Speaker 1 you stretch out both, both arms, one over the back of her chair and one over the back of the, of the empty chair next to you. So it looks like you just relax.

Speaker 1 And then about five minutes later, you take the other arm down, you scratch your leg, and you leave the one behind her up. Now I got my arm around her.
So that was one of my first moves.

Speaker 1 This is like ninth grade stuff.

Speaker 2 You're like the fucking font. Yeah, man.

Speaker 1 So was yours as good as that?

Speaker 2 No, mine was much more elaborate. I mean, I would use a little bit of tear stick, so I'd get the tears kind of rolling, you know, coming out.

Speaker 2 You can gently sort of put it underneath your eyelids, and then I would tell a little sob story about my life and my hardship, my Eastern Block hardship upbringing.

Speaker 1 About how important your virginity is to you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh my God, of course. Yeah.
Like as soon as I was in love, I was like, there's, listen, we're not a game together. All right.
It's not happening. So you guys are friends.

Speaker 1 So how long after you started dating, you're friends, then you started dating. How long were you guys like, this is it? This is the real deal? Pretty quick?

Speaker 2 Honestly, it was kind of one of those silly sort of like out of a fairy tale. I was like a week later.
I was like, we should buy a house together.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 No, and we did. Because it was getting too expensive to drive back and forth.
So it was really about

Speaker 1 the bottom line, the overhead. It would just be more efficient to own a house together.

Speaker 2 Yeah. We just, again, another overhead, right?

Speaker 1 Same thing with me.

Speaker 1 How long have you guys been together?

Speaker 2 And then, you know.

Speaker 1 How long have you guys been together?

Speaker 2 We've been together almost 10 years.

Speaker 1 Nice. Yeah.

Speaker 2 That's like 45 years in Hollywood terms.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Oh, it sure is.
Two kids, yes. Three.
Three. Three daughters.
Wow. Three daughters.

Speaker 2 Thanks, Bateman.

Speaker 1 And that's

Speaker 2 why I couldn't throw a little Google search in there while we were talking here.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 way to alienate Ryan. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Ryan, I want to ask you too something about because I follow you on Instagram and you posted something that was pretty awesome that I can relate to, which is anxiety. It's about anxiety.
Yes.

Speaker 1 And you're open about the anxiety you have, and I'm pretty much open about the one I have. And this is your quote, which I love.
I have anxiety.

Speaker 2 Yes, you do.

Speaker 1 It says, to all those like me who overschedule, overthink, overwork, overworry, and over everything, please know you're not alone. I love that.
Why?

Speaker 1 And see, that's what I was trying to get to before was you do all of those things.

Speaker 1 And is that you attribute all of those things, not attribute, but do you associate all of those things with having anxiety? And if you associate anxiety with success, isn't it scary to get rid of it?

Speaker 2 Well, that's the dangerous tightrope walk I think a lot of people are on, right?

Speaker 2 It's, you know, I see anxiety as sort of a, you know, an engine in a way sometimes for creativity, but it also has its like, you know, it's got its own sort of cloud and shroud of darkness. So

Speaker 2 I'm grateful for my anxiety, which has allowed me to kind of transmute it a little bit and make it useful, which I think is always great.

Speaker 2 But then, you know, there's a lot of insomnia associated. There's a lot of sleepless nights where you're laying awake, overanalyzing everything.
And it's very hard to turn one's brain off.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 You know, so that's where you start to rely on other, you know, meditation and all kinds of other things, you know, just to kind of get yourself. yourself back to a centered place.

Speaker 2 But yeah, anxiety is something that like, it's been with me my whole life.

Speaker 2 It's, you know, started as a kid, you know, being in a house that wasn't, you know, my household that I grew up in wasn't, you know, overly awful, I wouldn't say in the grand scheme of things, certainly compared to some people.

Speaker 2 But my dad was never an easy person to be around. He was like a skin-covered landmine.
Like you just never knew when you were going to step on the wrong spot and it was just going to explode.

Speaker 2 So it creates a situation where as a kid, you start to really try to predict the future. And I think predicting the future is a big brick in the wall of anxiety, which is we cannot predict the future.

Speaker 2 So you're constantly living in this thing that may or may not happen, this place or space that may or may not happen. So

Speaker 2 relate. But then in this business, we all kind of tend to do that, right? We project into the future.
What's it like to be this person? What's it like to comedy's a little bit like that?

Speaker 2 It's a music and it's you're thinking, how do I, you know, come 90 degrees to expectation in this moment?

Speaker 2 And that's, you know, it's all kind of born of that same thing, those wheels that just sort of don't shut off, you know?

Speaker 1 I think that that anxiety when you can't turn it off, when you can't turn your brain off, that is one form. And I know that Sean struggles with his anxiety because he can't turn his brain on.

Speaker 1 And that's often...

Speaker 1 Wow. Yeah.
And that keeps you. Well,

Speaker 1 my cord won't reach far enough to the outlet.

Speaker 1 It's just,

Speaker 1 I walk a certain,

Speaker 1 if I walk anywhere further than 10 feet, the plug comes out of the wall.

Speaker 1 Will this thing ever go on? Will there ever be a thought?

Speaker 1 Listen, what's going on?

Speaker 1 You and Hugh Jackman are obviously in this huge beef. And

Speaker 1 you you guys have had some words. Wait, fill me in.
What happened?

Speaker 2 He's going to be tap dancing in hell.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I promise you that.

Speaker 1 I've seen a few posts, and

Speaker 1 it gets pretty real. What's going on? What happened? Who pissed somebody off?

Speaker 2 You know, Hugh Jackman is,

Speaker 2 I really shouldn't say this, but he is, he really is.

Speaker 1 This is a family podcast, by the way. Okay.
I know.

Speaker 2 He makes like... kindness look like murder.
I mean, he really is just the nicest guy you'd ever meet. And he drives me nuts sometimes.
No, there's no but, unfortunately.

Speaker 2 He's, he really is the real deal.

Speaker 1 I'm not questioning the sincerity of his kindness.

Speaker 2 No? No, it's just, it's infuriating because I want to. Because it's so real.

Speaker 1 I got you.

Speaker 2 No, I want to possess the sense of well-being that Hugh Jackman.

Speaker 1 And it turns into anger for you.

Speaker 2 I want to understand that to some degree. So we sometimes hate and lash out at the things that we cannot understand.
Sure. So I tend to hate and lash out at Hugh.
He does,

Speaker 2 he reciprocates, of course, because he's nothing if not a sportsman.

Speaker 2 And that's kind of it. But

Speaker 2 in reality, though,

Speaker 1 he is like my kind of life Sherpa.

Speaker 2 He's one of the best guys I know. I'm doing a film right now where it's a musical where I have to sing and dance, which is for me is like my actual version of hell.

Speaker 1 What is it? And a champion. Yeah, why would you do that? Are you supposed to be a bad singer and dancer?

Speaker 2 No, I'm supposed to be pretty. I'm doing it with our friend of the court, Will Farrell.
We're in song and dance camp right now for the next month and a half.

Speaker 1 God, he's the best, isn't he? He's so great. Isn't he the best?

Speaker 2 I'm like that Chris Farley sketch with him. I was like, remember when you, remember when you were Neil Diamond and Songwriters and Side Notes?

Speaker 1 You guys are doing a movie together. I'm going to be first in line for that.
What is it called? When's it coming out?

Speaker 2 It's called Spirited, and it's a musical for Apple. And it has just been a real journey.

Speaker 1 When Jason says he's first in line, he means first in line calling his publicist to get tickets for him and the kids to go to the music. No, no, no.
A link. A link.

Speaker 1 Streamed directly into your face from when does it get strummed?

Speaker 2 Christmas. It's Christmas.

Speaker 1 Christmasy. This Christmas?

Speaker 2 No, next Christmas.

Speaker 1 We've just finished

Speaker 1 Christmas. 2022.
Is there a Christmas theme to it?

Speaker 2 Yeah. It's a Christmas musical.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Wow. Original.
You know, like, who wrote the music? Oh, here we go.

Speaker 2 Hasick and Paul, Justin Paul, and Benji Pasick.

Speaker 1 Oh, they're fantastic.

Speaker 2 Yeah, La La Land and Grady Showman and Evan Hansen. And they're just.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're amazing. Oh, amazing.
Amazing. Best songwriters ever.
Yeah. That's great.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 They wrote the songs for real singers. That's the problem.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 But you sing. So how are you? How do you think it's going?

Speaker 1 Your camp?

Speaker 1 Do you want to fire yourself yet or not?

Speaker 2 Oh, I would definitely, but I would fire myself from almost anything, particularly fatherhood.

Speaker 1 Not true. So, Ryan,

Speaker 1 what would our listener be surprised to learn that you do when you are not being

Speaker 1 philanthropic or a key member of the entertainment industry? What do you do to unlike McElhaney, me, and Will,

Speaker 1 we play a lot of golf. Do you do any of the golfing or

Speaker 1 what do you, what do you, what do you do to, to be an idiot?

Speaker 2 I envy golf because it sounds so meditative, right? Like you go out and you just walk. Yeah.
Yeah, you walk.

Speaker 2 You know, I will typically, like, like when I'm in New York, when I'm at home, you know, I'll go, like, I'll do like crazy walks.

Speaker 1 Like, I'll go for four hours. Yeah.
If I can. Have you ever walked all the way around the island of Manhattan?

Speaker 2 No, never that long. I'll go like from downtown to like like the tip of Central Park, which is takes like three years.

Speaker 1 Wait, are you in New York now? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know you lived there.
They're East Coasters. I love that you guys are East Coasters.

Speaker 2 I am in Paul Bunyan's asshole right now.

Speaker 1 I don't know where you are. This is where I live.
Oh, wait. Have I seen this house? No, you moved at the house I saw, right?

Speaker 2 I don't think you've been here, no?

Speaker 1 No, they had to change numbers and addresses. Sorry, Jason.

Speaker 1 You don't even know how many kids he has. Why do you think he'd have you at the house?

Speaker 1 Oh, and who's this little one? Who is this the plane?

Speaker 1 Are you you here on a plane today?

Speaker 2 Was the third for like just like emergency harvestable organs or did you want the third?

Speaker 1 Jason turns to Blake and goes, Angel, Angel Wings, who is this little one? And she's like, don't call me fucking Angel Wings. Did this third one give you a more favorable tax bracket? Is that why you?

Speaker 2 Is that Amanda's name? Do you go, do you guys, do you guys have like a, like a, is she, is she Boo?

Speaker 1 I don't think I've called her the same thing twice in 20 years.

Speaker 1 And my kids the same thing. It drives them.

Speaker 2 Whatever it is, it works, though. I guess.

Speaker 1 You know what's so funny?

Speaker 1 With Scotty and my husband Scotty, I think it's so awkward on sitcoms when characters call the other character by name over and over and over again. So I, because nobody does that in life.

Speaker 1 So I do it to Scotty. I always say, Scotty, do you want to grab something to eat tonight, Scotty? Scotty, I don't know because it's so unnatural.

Speaker 2 Blake always busts my balls about this because I can never just say,

Speaker 2 I did a movie this last year with Dwayne Johnson, but I always say Dwayne the Rock Johnson. True.

Speaker 2 Like I go through the full, I mean, literally like the sun rises and sets before I can make it to the end of his full name.

Speaker 1 You know, like

Speaker 2 Dwayne The Rock Johnson, I'm doing this thing today with Dwayne the Rock Johnson. She's like, I understand.
You could go with DJ D, The Rock, the big guy.

Speaker 1 Dwayne. But people in Boston do that.
Have you ever noticed that? They go, matter of fact, Will, we were over there at, we were out in Dedham, Will. And, Will, we've seen the other guy there, Will.

Speaker 1 And you're like, stop using my name so much. You know what I'll tell you? Let's go through things that we hate that people say, like little pet peeves.
Are we ready?

Speaker 1 Because I got another one loaded up. Okay, I can't imagine you having a lot of people.
Watching fucking hockey these days. Okay.

Speaker 1 And I'm so, and not just hockey, but all sports announcers stop saying without a doubt or without question.

Speaker 1 They constantly, constantly going, well, without question, they're, you know, the leaves are,

Speaker 1 they're not, you know, fighting through the neutral zone. And without question, without question? Yeah.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 I think it's very common people will start to say something something and they'll just throw in the confirmational right in the middle of the thing.

Speaker 1 So when you're walking down the street, right,

Speaker 1 you're thinking about, you know, how nice it is, right? And the right is getting very overused nowadays.

Speaker 2 The one that just cripples me, though, is

Speaker 2 Guy.

Speaker 1 Hey, Guy.

Speaker 1 Hey, Guy. Can I have a...

Speaker 1 But we did that for years. Jason and I did it.
And we used to, it's in a few episodes of Arrested Development where we'll turn to each other and we'll go, hey, guy.

Speaker 2 I've heard you say that, Jason,

Speaker 2 in a comedy context. Because I love it because it's like, you may as well just say, like, hey, Peanuts hooked up to a life support system.

Speaker 1 What?

Speaker 1 You know, it's just so generic. Did you ever see, Jason, what's that movie you did in the desert with Peter Berg and everybody? Oh, Kingdom.
Kingdom.

Speaker 1 Jason has a role in Kingdom and one of my favorite line readings of all time. They're speeding through the desert.

Speaker 1 And I remember seeing this in the theater with Krasinski and you're speeding through the desert and the guy's going way too fast and Jason goes, hey driver, are you late for something?

Speaker 1 My character has anxiety. He doesn't like the speed.

Speaker 2 It's his throwaways though that like I,

Speaker 2 what's the one that kills? There's one that just fucking kills me. It'll come to me in a second.

Speaker 1 I did change guy to gang recently.

Speaker 1 I just like saying, even if it's a single person. Yeah, I like saying we're going to walk.

Speaker 2 Guns Hot is the one I still use from the changeup.

Speaker 2 When Leslie Mann rolls over and passes a little gas in the bed, and Jason, who's now me, my psyche, he's a date, but he goes, hey, you're going to come at me guns hot?

Speaker 2 We all say, Sean Levy says it. We all say it all the time.
I mean, literally all the time.

Speaker 1 I got to see that movie again. I really like that, I feel like.

Speaker 2 I have not seen it since we saw it in like in La Kenata or something.

Speaker 1 The movie you were in? Well, yeah, I only saw it the once. You work on something for months, and then you just see it one time.
Sean, what do you hate that people say?

Speaker 2 You know, it's yours, Sean.

Speaker 1 Circle back. I hate circle back.
Circle back. Oh, circle back.
Circle back. Hey, let us discuss, and we're going to circle back.
Or touch base.

Speaker 2 Or per my previous email.

Speaker 2 Why don't you just say I didn't fucking get back to you? Why don't you do that with me on your text? Per my previous text.

Speaker 1 In anticipation of our conversation, please see the included, you know, dictated but not read.

Speaker 2 That's a little inside baseball.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Today's episode is sponsored by Ashley. They don't just sell incredible furniture, they're also making an impact in vulnerable communities.
Here's a tough fact.

Speaker 1 Over 7 million kids are affected by the welfare system, and over 368,000 are currently in foster care.

Speaker 1 So together with Ashley and SiriusXM, we made a donation to four others, an organization working to end the child welfare crisis in America. You know, partnering with Ashley in our live show,

Speaker 1 first of all, they just made our set look really good. They made us really comfortable.
And they kind of made us look legit because otherwise it would have been, you know, milk crates and,

Speaker 1 you know, cardboard boxes. And Ashley made it look like a real, kind of looked like a living room, made it really comfortable, made our guest, John Mayer, really comfortable.

Speaker 1 And then he thought that maybe we're professional. We're not just a bunch of clowns.
To be honest, there was a point where I got so comfortable, I forgot that I was in front of an audience.

Speaker 1 I was sitting back on that nice Ashley couch and I was just hanging out with my buds in my living room.

Speaker 1 Anyway, Ashley offers timeless, well-crafted furniture with white glove delivery right to your door. Visit your local Ashley store or head to Ashley.com to find your style.

Speaker 1 Some like it hot, but for most, a little spice goes a long way.

Speaker 1 Dorito's golden sriracha flavored tortilla chips are the perfectly balanced blend of yellow and green srirachas for a chip that's tangy and sweet with just the right amount of heat.

Speaker 1 Dorito's golden sriracha are spicy, but not too spicy because Doritos knows bold flavor doesn't have to mean just heat. Try Doritos Golden Sriracha for yourself.

Speaker 1 Look for them wherever Doritos are sold or find a store near you at Doritos.com. Doritos for the bold.

Speaker 1 This is an ad by BetterHelp. Have you ever had someone that you haven't reached out to in a long time and you're just like, you know what, just do it.

Speaker 1 I just did that recently and it was such a wonderful experience. We had a great lunch, a lot of catching up and I'm so glad we did it.
It was great.

Speaker 1 As the seasons change, shorter days don't have to weigh you down. This season, BetterHelp encourages you to reach out, check in on friends, reconnect with loved ones, and remind them you're there.

Speaker 1 Just like it takes a little courage to send that text or grab coffee with someone you haven't seen in a while, reaching out for therapy can feel difficult too, but it can be worth it.

Speaker 1 It can leave people wondering, why didn't I do this sooner? With over 30,000 therapists worldwide, BetterHelp is one of the leading online therapy platforms. BetterHelp therapists are fully qualified.

Speaker 1 BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals. This month, don't wait to reach out.

Speaker 1 Whether you're checking in on a friend or reaching out to a therapist, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step.

Speaker 1 Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/slash smartlist. That's betterh-e-l-p.com/slash smartlist.

Speaker 1 Did you purposely not respond to Bateman because you were just like, fuck it, he doesn't.

Speaker 1 Let's get back to this. Now, here's what I'm going to say.
Here's a generous interpretation of the series of events. I think it is, let's blame it on Apple.
Apple has a problem with texting.

Speaker 1 You cannot mark a text as unread.

Speaker 1 Because if you read a text and they go, oh, boy, I really want to give a good response to this person. It deserves my attention.

Speaker 1 But I don't have the time to do that right now. I'll do it later.
There's no reminder that that text came in later. And you could go months without responding to it and then seem,

Speaker 1 well, hurtful,

Speaker 1 I guess, you know, to the person who sent it to you.

Speaker 2 It would be a kind thing of Apple to do is to allow us to do that.

Speaker 1 But simple update.

Speaker 2 I'm going to be completely honest with you right now.

Speaker 2 I got your text.

Speaker 1 Oh, boy. Uh-oh.

Speaker 2 I wanted to be on the show. Here's the other thing, though.

Speaker 2 This goes back to my little post yesterday.

Speaker 2 This goes back to the thing that we were talking about is I get really like, I turtle a little bit when it's stuff like that, where I'm getting around people that I greatly respect and admire.

Speaker 2 And this isn't me just. pumping a bunch of hyperbole into your balloon nuts.

Speaker 2 I'm telling you, I actually feel, so I get a little like, oh, God, what is that? Like, I need to understand.

Speaker 2 I need to hear that podcast and then I started to then I fell in love with the podcast and that made it worse this last time when you asked that you had someone on that was like meh and I was like oh then I can do this

Speaker 2 who was not Tina Faye'll tell you that milk and money she drilled it she drilled it she's good doesn't miss a lot of things no nobody was meh it was just one of those things where I just just wasn't the right time.

Speaker 2 I also found that the pandemic and I realized that I'm not one of the millions and millions of people who are living at home paycheck to paycheck and living an abject state of panic during a pandemic.

Speaker 2 I am one of the people who is not. I'm lucky.
I'm fortunate. I'm able to not, but I was having a, that was a tough, yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean, you know, when you're homeschooling kids, I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this.

Speaker 1 How did they do?

Speaker 2 Dude, they had a tough time, man. I was like seeking out external help left, right, and so I was reading books.
I was like trying to figure out some way to

Speaker 2 steer the shit. So it was Blake was Blake was so much better at it than I was because I'm also a child.

Speaker 1 But personally, personally, when you have a creative mind and you go through a pandemic, it's hard and you're stuck at home. And I think maybe that's a little bit of what you're saying.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Did you start doing anything that you were surprised at? Did you start painting? Did you start whittling?

Speaker 1 Did you start working with clay?

Speaker 2 No, I wish.

Speaker 1 I did a lot of writing.

Speaker 2 I started to like really make meditation a practice. I know it's like a little esoteric and everything, but it really did help.

Speaker 1 How many times did you accidentally fall asleep? Because that's what happens with me.

Speaker 1 I've given up on it now.

Speaker 2 Jason, if I had a baseline sense of well-being that you did, I would love to. I used to, I remember in the change up, we would work together and be like, Did you get your 14 hours?

Speaker 1 Granddad does know how to stay down pretty good.

Speaker 2 Greedy little pig, you get it all?

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 2 I would love to,

Speaker 2 I would fucking love to just get some uninterrupted sleep. That sounds great.
No, meditating is not. I mean, my version of meditating is like sitting at a perfect right angle and in a silent scream.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 That's so

Speaker 1 mouth wide open, jaw unhinged. The mouth is so wide open.
No sound coming out. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Ryan, where do you see yourself?

Speaker 1 So now you got these three kids, you got all this stuff, you're meditating, you're becoming a complete person. You're obviously drinking gin all day because you own a booze company.

Speaker 1 Married to an angel. So you're constantly half in the bag.
You've got your little, pretty little angel. Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2 He dragged you right into this smut puddle, didn't he? I know.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 where do you see yourself? I mean, it seems like everything you're doing now just is opening up. You're just hitting your stride now.

Speaker 1 Is there part of you that goes like, I've done a lot, I've accomplished a lot, and I just kind of want to slow it down and just chill? Or do you feel like, no, just let's just keep rolling?

Speaker 2 Constantly. I mean, I would assume that you guys feel the same way.
You're always thinking like, oh, okay, next year I'll slow it down, you know.

Speaker 2 But the only reason I think I'm able to continue doing this at this this way I think is that I'm present with my kids and my wife and my marriage is incredibly important to me and that friendship is important to me.

Speaker 2 So I

Speaker 2 you know, I'm able to kind of get through, you know, but then Blake and I don't do movies at the same time. So she's ready to go back and do some.

Speaker 2 So I'll step down and then you know we'll we go back and forth. You guys alternate.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 She'll she'll do a film and I'll just be you know with her on on location hanging with the kids.

Speaker 1 So you you take you take the kids with you on location always?

Speaker 2 Always. Yeah.
We never have. But now they're six, four, and one.
So they're they're in school. So we can't really leave.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It starts to change when your kids, my older kids, are 10 and 12.
And you, yeah, you start to say like you have to make decisions based on it.

Speaker 1 And people know everywhere who have kids that you make decisions based on what works for your family. My dad had that.
My dad had the same philosophy, Ron.

Speaker 1 Take me with him wherever he goes. Oh, wait.
No, I'm kidding.

Speaker 2 You guys have, Jason, I know you have two kids. Will, you have three.

Speaker 1 Three. So you have three dogs.
I have three boys.

Speaker 2 Sean, you have one dog.

Speaker 1 One dog. Okay, so less.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Did you guys ever, I mean, I don't, I never imagined to have three.

Speaker 1 I have three, yeah. Will, three? That's not like that's.
Three boys. But I have 10, they're 12, 10, and one.
My youngest just turned one.

Speaker 1 And yeah, it's,

Speaker 1 you know, it changes everything because everything is dictated. Everything starts there.
That's your baseline. So it's, it's what works for the kids.
It's everything.

Speaker 1 It's where you live, what you do, what jobs you take,

Speaker 1 when you take holidays. It's all geared around.

Speaker 2 But how different is

Speaker 1 three

Speaker 2 to the jump from two to three? I just like, I was researching like a blowtorch vasectomy after the third. I was like,

Speaker 2 there must be a way to stop. Oh, I know a way to stop this.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, I've thought about it without getting, yeah, with, yes, I've also had that same thought.

Speaker 1 But then I also think, like, why, who am I to deprive the world

Speaker 1 of more of you? Well, just me. Yeah, well, just hear me out, you guys.
Look, this, this shit is no fucking fluke.

Speaker 1 Yeah, look at you. So why would I?

Speaker 1 But it is.

Speaker 2 I do think that, though, sometimes when somebody I love and admire doesn't ever have kids, I think, oh, those, those amazing genes aren't

Speaker 1 cast down. Let me tell you something, though.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 You're welcome. I think that the reason why,

Speaker 1 one of the reasons why I don't have have kids is because of some of these conversations that I've always been around, which is like,

Speaker 1 so tired.

Speaker 1 Oh, kids. Oh, I have to figure it out.
And so growing up, I was like, well, maybe there's something to that. Maybe.
It is true. The first year is garbage.
Okay, everybody.

Speaker 2 First year is tough. But I got to say, though, there's never a moment where you're

Speaker 2 genuinely regretting it. Never.
I mean, it's the best.

Speaker 2 Of course not. You can't imagine not.
I can't remember not having kids now.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 I will say, as a man who's 51 and had a child at 50, I was like, hey, guy, what the fuck were you doing?

Speaker 1 Hey, guy. Are you stupid?

Speaker 1 And you were out. You were out of the game.

Speaker 1 And you threw yourself back in there. And guess what? Your chassis's not holding up.
Chassis is so gross. I hate when you say that word.

Speaker 1 You know, I said this, Ryan, before on the podcast, but I read this quote a long time ago that said from this woman who said, I'd rather regret not having kids than have them and regret it later.

Speaker 1 And that was kind of my philosophy. Oh.

Speaker 1 Well, you got to consider the source. Who the fuck was she? You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 It's my mom.

Speaker 1 Oh, no. She's brim full of floss.
She hate.

Speaker 1 Sean.

Speaker 1 No, I know, Sean, we've talked about it before a few times, and you've thrown that quote in my face to make me feel bad a bunch of times. No, no, I've always wanted to want them.

Speaker 1 When is the last time you and Scotty talked about it though? I mean, probably like

Speaker 1 only us listening here. Two years ago.
A couple years ago. Will you guys talk about it again? Just take it up the flagpole again today, over lunch or something.
Awesome. Like I say.
I know.

Speaker 1 I mean, come on. I want to make sure that I want to be there for them like my dad wasn't, right? So that's

Speaker 1 why I know I would be like a great dad. I just make sure that I'm ready.
As somebody who's been friends with you for 20 years, I know that you would be so good at it.

Speaker 1 You and Scotty would be in a great way.

Speaker 1 Oh my God. Sean, maybe I'll take one of yours.
Yes. I'll take the kid.
Sean, listen.

Speaker 1 If you don't like it, I'll take the kid. Because I did always want three.
Oh, this is a great deal.

Speaker 1 But I like the way, like, Ricky, Ricky's always, Gervaise is always saying that, you know, there is that sort of pressure from people to like, why, why is the ultimate thing not to have kids?

Speaker 1 And his thing is like, maybe that's just not for us. We don't want, we don't, I don't share this, and it's totally, totally valid.
100%. But you do get a great tax write-off if you have a kid.

Speaker 1 Oh, it's just a great email.

Speaker 1 Ryan,

Speaker 1 we've really monopolized your time, and you've got freaking.

Speaker 2 Hold on, hold on. I'm not ready yet.
I'm not ready yet. I do want to ask you each one thing, because you guys are all people that I, lesser and greater extents, think less of now.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Worship.

Speaker 2 I love you guys so much. I love your work.
What is your most fulfilling job that you've ever had? What is the one that you look back on?

Speaker 2 It doesn't have to be in show busy. Sean Hayes, you go first.

Speaker 1 Well, the most fulfilling job I've ever had is probably Will and Grace, of course. I mean, that happens to be the biggest job I've ever had, too.

Speaker 2 Bird in flight on that.

Speaker 1 Oh, thanks.

Speaker 1 But speaking of anxiety, a lot of people thought, you know, I came in like a ferret on cocaine all the time as that character.

Speaker 1 And I think it's because it's because of my anxiety, because a lot of people are like, oh, you're so funny. You have so much energy.
Because I have so much anxiety and I put it into the character.

Speaker 1 So I was like, ah, ah,

Speaker 2 since the day you like burst through that door on this, I could literally see you bursting through that door on that set. It's just, it was, I just said it.
I mean, it's like seeing a bird in flight.

Speaker 1 That guy is meant to do this. Yes, well, it was my to answer your question.
Thank you for asking. It's very kind.
Yes, probably that job.

Speaker 1 It happens to be the biggest one, but also just because of the ancillary effect it's had on the world, which was not, nobody could see that coming.

Speaker 1 It was just an incredible byproduct of what we were doing. So that's my answer.

Speaker 2 Amazing.

Speaker 1 Jason?

Speaker 1 I would say, I don't know.

Speaker 1 I'm really deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply in love with directing right now. And so I would say the first film that I directed, Bad Words, was probably really exciting for me.

Speaker 2 Shot by Ken Seng, one of the most pretty looking, funniest, charming fucking movies. I love it.

Speaker 1 Will Arnett?

Speaker 1 I would say

Speaker 1 arrested development

Speaker 1 for me because I've said this before. It's very rare where you guys know when you have, when you're working on something and it doesn't feel like work.

Speaker 1 I remember walking up, driving up every day to the lot on Fox and putting my pass on the thing. And they open up the gate and thinking, I'm so glad I'm here today.

Speaker 1 This is exactly where I want to be. I can't wait to get in.
I never had anxiety about doing scenes. I never had anxiety about any of it.

Speaker 1 I just couldn't wait for them to start rolling and start fucking around. I was like, I'm getting paid.

Speaker 1 To, I've also said this on the show before once.

Speaker 1 I remember saying when I bought a nice place and saying to my dad, can you believe that fucking around, because he obviously thought I just fucked around my whole life. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I was like, turns out fucking around paid off. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 But it was, it was truly such an amazing experience. And it was very, you know, it was so fulfilling.
And there were so many great relationships and it was seamless. And,

Speaker 1 you know, Jason and I, that's where we first, that's where I met my little angel

Speaker 1 first fluttered into my life.

Speaker 1 Jason. And

Speaker 1 it's been a lifelong. Yeah.
Arrested. I love you, Will.
Will. I love you.
I love you.

Speaker 1 Right. I love you too.
Your greatest. Was it two girls and a guy? Two guys and a girl.

Speaker 1 Two girls.

Speaker 1 Two girls. Oh, my God.
The show. The show.
The show. The show.
The show. The show.
You just did it. You did it when I did.
So sorry. So go ahead.
Oh, God. I don't.

Speaker 2 I loved. I did love doing a sick.
I love two guys, a girl and a pizza. I remember I kind of like, I worked with this guy named Danny Jacobson, who was the executive producer and writer.

Speaker 2 And I remember he came out and yelled at me one day because I was kind of holding back. I don't know if, Will, if you can, you know, relate to this, but it was,

Speaker 2 you know, I felt I was very Canadian on stage. I was very like, oh, I got to make sure I'm not too much.

Speaker 2 I'll give, you know, these other, I want to make sure everyone has their moment, you know, and he came out and he just said to me, hey, man, fucking take the stage. You take the stage.
Take it.

Speaker 2 It's yours. It doesn't diminish anybody else's performance.
Just fucking go out there and give it your all. And it really stuck with me.
Take the stage, take the stage.

Speaker 2 I still think about that, but I would say that my most

Speaker 2 fulfilling job was probably Deadpool 1 and Deadpool 2, just because like

Speaker 2 it almost killed me. I mean it was like a, you know, I was chewing and blowing bubbles with every aspect of it.

Speaker 1 And I remember you talking about that years earlier and wanting to really be respectful and deliberate about how and when you do that. You know, when was it you know

Speaker 2 it was a learn so much you know it was just like being involved in the guts of a big movie. Like it wasn't a big movie.
We shot it on nothing, but it was still.

Speaker 1 From the outside, it seems like that was a that was a

Speaker 1 part and a movie and a thing that really was probably shifted everything for you. I can see how it really did.
It was huge, obviously. It was a huge.
And that genre, too.

Speaker 1 But it wasn't just a huge hit. You were really good in it.
It was really funny. It used everything that you're good at.
And look, you mentioned Canadian. You're from Vancouver.

Speaker 1 Do you still, do you consider yourself Canadian?

Speaker 2 Oh, big time. Being from Vancouver?

Speaker 1 Big time. I really do.
It still counts. So British Columbia counts.
That's what I mean.

Speaker 1 Despite this tricky two-country name.

Speaker 1 Yes,

Speaker 1 it is Canadian. Are you close to?

Speaker 1 I'm obviously joking, but

Speaker 1 do you still feel connected to your Canadian roots?

Speaker 2 I really do because I feel like Canada is like one of my parents in a way. It taught me to laugh at myself.
It taught me to really kind of, you never take myself.

Speaker 2 I mean, it's one of the lines of Van Wilder. Don't take life too seriously.
You'll never get out alive. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But what is that? What is that, Will? You tell the story about the lobsters.

Speaker 1 It's a tricky spot. How does that go again? I told, yeah, when Tina was on it, I said the Canadian lobster fisherman and the American lobster fisherman walking down the road.

Speaker 1 And one American American says, Aren't you, you got, I notice you don't have a lid on your lobster pot there, by aren't you worried about your lobsters getting out?

Speaker 1 And the Canadian says, No, these here are Canadian lobsters. One of them tries to get out.
The other ones will pull them back down.

Speaker 1 And I always say, like, that's Canada.

Speaker 2 I caught the newfield accent there, though.

Speaker 1 The newfield. Pretty good, right? Yeah.
Day.

Speaker 1 Thanks, everybody. Thank you, everybody.
I have to apologize to the people at Prince Edward Island because they made a joke on Colbert.

Speaker 1 And I just want them to know they're loved.

Speaker 1 And we really love you on the PEI, all four listeners to the Smartless podcast. And they're like, what? We didn't know and shut up and we don't follow what you say, dude.

Speaker 1 But, you know, Ryan, you and I ought to do a tour of Canada, just like a just like a coming-home tour. And well, just like a parade.
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 Let's get in the car. Yeah.
Let's get in Sean's Toyota Corolla and see how far we can get before my Nissan Centra takes over.

Speaker 1 Let's do it. Let's do a tour of Canada and just a victory lap in Sean.

Speaker 2 You guys are going up there. You guys are taking the podcast in.
We're doing the tour up there, yeah. I know more about this fucking show than you three.

Speaker 1 I know you do.

Speaker 2 Rob Bennett and I have been working this shit behind the scenes like no one's business.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Ryan Reynolds, you are a man, a myth.

Speaker 1 You're a prince. And I can't thank you enough for doing this.

Speaker 1 Love you. Love you like crazy.
Love you guys, too.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Chris, for having you.

Speaker 1 This was amazing for me. It's been awesome having you.
Thank you, Ryan. You're the best.

Speaker 2 Thanks, guys. And I never say that.

Speaker 1 No, you don't. He doesn't.
I don't. I've never heard him say that.

Speaker 1 Thanks, Ryan. All right, pal.
Thanks, guys.

Speaker 2 Take it easy.

Speaker 1 Have a great rest of the day. I will.
Bye, Ryra.

Speaker 1 Bye, guys.

Speaker 1 God, I really like that, Ryan Ra. I really like that.
Well, really? All you Canadians are so nice. Why is that? When does it get dark? Is there going to be like a series of

Speaker 1 like September through April? Uh-oh.

Speaker 1 It gets real dark.

Speaker 1 Does that coincide with hockey season or the opposite? Yeah, well, if it wasn't for hockey, forget it.

Speaker 1 It does get dark up there in the north. But you know what?

Speaker 1 The flip side is it gets really light it does seem though like every because i know i don't know canada like you do obviously but it does seem like everybody that is in the business of show

Speaker 1 is uh always so grateful and upbeat and kind you know there's no entitlement uh which is yeah well no i mean we're so excited i i was talking to you know sean and i we were we were talking to andrea martin the other day uh you know, who's uh who lived in Canada for a long time and she's actually American,

Speaker 1 the brilliant Andrea Martin. And I was saying that like, you know, growing up in Canada, I moved down here because I knew that there was so much more opportunity down here.

Speaker 1 It's the same reason I'm sure that Ryan did. Like you can, there's only so much that you can do.
It's sort of, and Canada's such an amazing place.

Speaker 1 I knew so many, I mean, so many funny, talented, incredible people who are from Canada who moved here because it's just, there's just more. It's just bigger and, you know, more people.

Speaker 1 And you get down here and you're like, I don't know. I guess you just kind of appreciate that like that you get to do this.
I'm a kid from Toronto.

Speaker 1 As much as I sort of joke, I'm just a guy who grew up in Toronto. I have no showbiz connections.

Speaker 1 But let me ask you something, Wilk, because when you came down and when you guys come down to this country, because on the outside, for me, it always seems like, well, because we live here, all just the kind of like the turbulent, you know, atmosphere that is now in the country, the divide,

Speaker 1 you know, you just turn on the news and all this stuff is happening. And it seems like from the outside, Canada doesn't have that.
I'm sure you do.

Speaker 1 But on the outside, it just seems like Canada's just up, everybody's upbeat and happy.

Speaker 1 No, high spirited.

Speaker 1 There are a lot of issues. Of course, anywhere you go, there are issues that are sort of germane to whatever place you go to.
And Canada has its own issues as well. But there is a sense of like,

Speaker 1 you know, I don't know if it's a kind of a hangover from the sort of the English, like sort of a Commonwealth thing, which is just kind of,

Speaker 1 you know, keep calm and carry on idea of just like, yeah, shit happens. And you just kind kind of keep going.
And

Speaker 1 you just don't.

Speaker 1 It's one of the things that I love/slash sort of push back against, which is like, don't take yourself too seriously. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Keep it in perspective, guy. And Ryan embodies that.
Ryan embodies all that. Is Jason frozen or is he asleep? Oh, it looks like.
No, this fucking conversation is just putting me to sleep. Holy shit.

Speaker 1 What the fuck are we talking about?

Speaker 1 Are we still on Canada?

Speaker 1 Holy shit.

Speaker 1 I asked the question because Ryan seems to embody everything that Will is saying.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. I kept believing that.
You know, we're recording, right, guys? We're supposed to be wrapping up the Ryan episode.

Speaker 1 What do you want to say? I literally thought it was frozen. What do you want to say about Ryan? I've got a finite number of minutes in my day to enjoy.

Speaker 1 Fuck.

Speaker 1 Boy, you were really off something, Jason. He looked like he was fucking frozen.
Like we were at the Madame Tussau's, and here's the Jason Basin. Here's what shock looks like.

Speaker 1 So listen, this guy, Ryan Reynolds,

Speaker 1 just a stunning man, a great friend, an incredible talent. Is he getting more talented? Does it seem to be? I think so.
Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 1 he understands, I guess, you know,

Speaker 1 what his thing is, and he's like fine-tuning and fine-tuning and then putting it in other areas and, you know, fucking slinging booze and buying teen.

Speaker 1 He didn't even get to his mobile phone company that he owns. I know.

Speaker 1 He owns a fucking mobile phone company. Yeah.
And you know, when you call somebody through his cellular phone, you start and end the conversation.

Speaker 1 I don't even know what a telescope for. I can just see it coming right here.
Go ahead. You can start the conversation by saying hi, but how do you end it? Oh, you say

Speaker 1 smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Loss.

Speaker 1 You know those moments when you're trying to work through a complex problem and you can't stop until you've found the answer?

Speaker 1 That's where Claude comes in, the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough.

Speaker 1 Whether you're planning something big, researching a topic you're curious about, or just trying to work through a problem, Claude matches your level of curiosity.

Speaker 1 Try Claude for free at claude.ai slash smartless and see why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner.

Speaker 2 The Essential Carrot Puree, made with organic carrots, bit of green apple, and a touch of ginger.

Speaker 2 Served still slightly warm and fed mostly to seven-month-old Harper and her three-year-old doodle named Arthur, who helped clean up any remainder.

Speaker 2 The Essential essential first bite, made possible by Vitamix, only the essential.