"James Corden"

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

Speaker 1 Doritos 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 Doritos Golden Sriracha are spicy, but not too spicy because Doritos knows bold flavor doesn't have to mean just heat. Try Dorito's 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 Nobody wants to spend the holiday season clicking from one site to the next to get their hands on the best brands.

Speaker 1 But who knew Walmart has the top brands we all love, like the big names that your friends and family actually want and all in one place? Nespresso, Nintendo, Apple, you name it.

Speaker 1 Get the brands everyone loves at prices you'll love at Walmart.

Speaker 2 Who knew?

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

Speaker 1 Happy holidays and welcome to Smartless.

Speaker 2 That was really nice. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Okay, guys, so the gang said that we need to do some new intros, Sean. So, do you want to take it away?

Speaker 2 We need a really good, solid intro. Go.
Me? Yes, go. Okay.
You got it.

Speaker 1 Hey, everybody, this is Smartlist. You're listening to Smartlist, the podcast that everybody loves.

Speaker 1 And it's with Jason Bateman, me, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. And what happens is we bring on a guest that the other two don't know about, and it's a surprise.

Speaker 2 I'm sorry, are you in a race? Because I've never heard anybody read something so quickly. All right, it's all new, Smartlist.
Let's go. Smart.

Speaker 2 Smart

Speaker 2 list.

Speaker 2 Smart

Speaker 2 Less.

Speaker 2 So when you get rickrolled, what you do is your kids, like, my kids rolled up on me in the car the other day. They were in Amy's car.
Well, it's just Archie and his buddies.

Speaker 2 And they come up and they're playing. They're like, put the window down.
They were next to us in the car and put it down. They're playing like some cool hip-hop music.

Speaker 2 And then all of a sudden, Nemagona, give you up comes up.

Speaker 2 That's when you rickroll somebody. You trick them.
And it's a whole meme. It's a big meme with the kids.
So you send people a link for like, hey, check out this cool video.

Speaker 2 And the video's got like some cool thing. And all of a sudden, it just goes

Speaker 2 and it goes right into the Rick Asley video.

Speaker 3 $5 foot long.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and that's when you rick roll people.

Speaker 2 And he's there.

Speaker 3 Guys, sometimes you just need to turn it off and turn it on again.

Speaker 2 I've been trying to tell Will that for you.

Speaker 3 Techie Fonzie.

Speaker 4 It's a life lesson.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 And we are rolling.

Speaker 4 Jason is in real quick before surprise guests don't say a word, but snap for us, please.

Speaker 4 Bingo. Nice.
Have fun. fun.

Speaker 3 I think it was a double snap, too. I think they snapped with both hands.
And that tells me something. Tells me that they are cooperative.

Speaker 2 They are happy to be here.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 they have strong hands. Strong snap.

Speaker 2 Yep. Oh, God.

Speaker 3 They've got rhythm.

Speaker 2 They're ready to go.

Speaker 1 Guys, not only is it a special day because we have a great guest, an amazing guest, but it's a special day because of a text I sent both of you last night in the wee hours of the night as I was on on episode two of Arrested Development.

Speaker 3 Oh my God, that is right.

Speaker 3 You did send a nice clip last night.

Speaker 2 It got me all excited to watch the show.

Speaker 2 What do you think of the show?

Speaker 1 It is fucking hilarious. Scotty and I are laughing out loud.

Speaker 2 It is unbelievable.

Speaker 1 It's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

Speaker 3 Isn't, and I'm not just saying this.

Speaker 2 I swear to God, I'm not just saying.

Speaker 3 But isn't Will, and I'm not doing this to bait any sort of compliment for me either. Just truly, as a friend and as a fan, I just think Will could have been so much better on this.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't disagree. That's a fairly fair assessment.
No,

Speaker 3 he is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 Yeah, ridiculous.

Speaker 1 When you were trying to throw that letter in the ocean

Speaker 3 with those terrible, flimsy, triple-pleated trousers.

Speaker 2 Tommy Bahama. All Tommy Bahama.
Joe. One word Tommy Bahama.

Speaker 1 Anyways,

Speaker 2 I can't wait to sink my teeth in further. Yeah, it's real.

Speaker 1 Well, I did it for two reasons. One, because I've always wanted to see it, and two, to get you guys off my fucking back about it.

Speaker 2 We won't be off your back until you finish. Remember,

Speaker 2 we're going to come over and watch with you.

Speaker 3 We'll have a little watch party.

Speaker 2 Great. And then I can't wait to watch you, Sean, next to your TV going, arrested development.

Speaker 1 Guys, today's guest is amazing. This is a fella.
This is a fella that not only has conquered Broadway, but he's crushed it in film, television, and now is a brilliant late night host.

Speaker 1 I love this man because he's good, he is kind, and boy is he talented. He's He's literally in every movie that's come out since 2010.
British. His name is James Corden.

Speaker 3 James Corden.

Speaker 3 You should have said yes, and then I would have guessed it.

Speaker 2 Oh, shit, sorry. There he is.
James. Look at him go.

Speaker 2 Look at him.

Speaker 5 How are you? This is thrilling. I'm so happy to see all of you.

Speaker 2 Yeah, this is my God. We're happy to have you on the program, James.
It's really cool. I will say some of my biggest laughs in the last couple of years have been in your company.

Speaker 5 Well, I was thinking the exact same thing about you. I really was.

Speaker 5 i was no i mean obviously sean but i was so i've been listening to the podcast i think it's brilliant it's really really funny i really really really enjoy oh has jason bateman gone uh oh did he just leave sometimes he does that no

Speaker 5 he'll be back in two seconds do you know why i think jason bateman's just clicked out

Speaker 3 i think there's a bigger beef here hello okay i'm coming back here i come he's coming back here i come uh yeah i lost i lost connection for a second are we still still recording?

Speaker 3 Are we still in the show?

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 That was fun. I had a little detour.

Speaker 2 Sorry, James, you were saying. You were saying.

Speaker 5 Well, I was saying that I wasn't surprised, Jason, that you clicked out and left the show just then.

Speaker 3 I'm very fickle.

Speaker 5 You're the only person here on this who's never been on my show.

Speaker 5 I started to wonder if there's something darker going on.

Speaker 3 Well, now, wait, well, let's talk about that.

Speaker 3 Why is that? Have I not been invited allowed?

Speaker 5 You've definitely been invited allowed.

Speaker 2 Really?

Speaker 5 oh yeah no I'm to be clear I'm joking I'm

Speaker 2 yeah well you say you're joking but why do you keep winking at me I don't know what

Speaker 2 I don't know what the wink

Speaker 5 no I sat behind you at the Emmys we had a lovely chat I'm a huge fan I love Ozark as am I with you I and then I thought after that I thought oh he's bound to come on and then I watch like on Colbert tonight and then and then I'd say well he's gone to New York and they go yeah no he's a Kimmel guy well first of all Jimmy's one of our closest friends but aside from that,

Speaker 3 there are, no, no, no, but, but, but this is something I think the listener would be interested in this, because I find this kind of interesting.

Speaker 2 I know what you're going to say.

Speaker 3 And I would love for you to give me the full education on it now and our listener. Okay.

Speaker 3 There is a protocol or an order in which one must go through when you do talk shows, like one can't follow this, or if you do this one, you need to wait a certain amount of time before you do that one.

Speaker 3 If you're on the East Coast, you must. Isn't there a bit of a,

Speaker 3 and I defer all of this to my publicist who

Speaker 3 so I don't mean to hide behind them, but I do know that I love you. I love your show.

Speaker 3 I have nothing against doing that, but I'll bet you the reason I haven't is because I probably have just done one that you guys don't follow or that

Speaker 2 the timing hasn't been coming.

Speaker 1 Yeah, what is the politics of all that?

Speaker 5 Well, I'll tell you the politics for our show, which is we'll more than happy to follow everyone. Really?

Speaker 5 So we will just, yeah, because I don't really prescribe to the notion of like just even network television. Do you know what I mean? So

Speaker 5 it makes no sense to me, the whole, but there's a huge amount of politics that I have next to no interest in ever being involved in. So

Speaker 2 we just always, yeah, I don't really enjoy

Speaker 5 even competition.

Speaker 2 So I was just winding you up by saying I would suggest, James, next time you guys exchange numbers and you call or text Jason. Now, he doesn't get great reception in the shadow of his publicist.

Speaker 2 But you.

Speaker 1 I thought you were going to say, he doesn't get great reception in Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 No. Especially when we're rolling.
Well,

Speaker 2 I'm, well, get ready because I'm coming.

Speaker 5 I'm not singing, though.

Speaker 2 I'm not singing. Jason, let me tell you something.

Speaker 2 I know Sean's done it too, and I've done James's show a number of times over the last few years.

Speaker 2 And I did a musical number. I can't sing.
I did a musical number with Marty Short. Well, they did the singing.
James and Marty did. And I just fucked around.

Speaker 2 But we've done, we did a police detective, like stupid bit with, and then we did, we went to Space Camp,

Speaker 2 which was such a blast down in Alabama.

Speaker 1 Yeah, all your writers and you are great.

Speaker 3 Hold on a second.

Speaker 2 Yes, come on. It's fun, Jason.
Jason, it is such a blast.

Speaker 3 I don't need to be talked into this. I remember us talking at the after party, whatever, of Into the Woods.
Yes. And I,

Speaker 3 god damn it, I fell in love with you on that movie. Oh, that's so sweet.

Speaker 2 It's like

Speaker 2 the talent on this.

Speaker 3 And that movie is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Speaker 1 Same.

Speaker 2 I love that. I love that movie.
So sweet.

Speaker 5 I remember that vividly, and I just presumed you would have forgotten about that because you have to know for me. Oh, God, no.

Speaker 5 When you came over and had that chat with me, when you left, I immediately called my wife and was like, you're not going to believe who I just spoke to. Jason Bateman really enjoyed the show.

Speaker 2 And I was like, freaking out.

Speaker 2 I'm promising that.

Speaker 3 I want to say that you weren't yet doing your show then.

Speaker 2 No,

Speaker 5 I hadn't moved to Los Angeles then.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 3 Because I remember then when that show, when you started on that show, I was like, ah, now

Speaker 3 I get a chance to have another conversation. Go hang out with him on his show.
I swear to God, on my life, I've always wanted to do that.

Speaker 2 And he loved that. He loved it.

Speaker 2 And did Out of the Woods come out yet or no?

Speaker 5 We're still working on it. Sometimes working on it.

Speaker 3 You know, we were saying extremely, or not us, it doesn't matter what we were saying, but Paul McCartney had incredibly nice things to say about you.

Speaker 2 Barry, he went out of his way, Jason's right, to talk about how talented you are. Yeah, so what's going on there? Yeah, what is going on? What do you mean? Tell us

Speaker 3 how you guys clearly have a history.

Speaker 3 Is it England-centric? When did you guys first start accruing blackmail on one another?

Speaker 2 Well, oddly.

Speaker 5 This actually goes back to a sketch.

Speaker 5 I'd written a sitcom in Britain called Gavin and Stacey, which had done quite well and people enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 And you won all the awards, and it's offense.

Speaker 3 Is it the precursor to Ned and Stacey?

Speaker 5 Because I did.

Speaker 5 It was not, but it's quite funny if I do an American interview and they go, I love Ned and Stacey. And I just go, and I just go, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 That's hilarious.

Speaker 5 So we did these sketches for a big charity called Comic Relief, which do a big drive-on, like a telethon on the night. And it's a huge deal in the UK.

Speaker 5 And I'd done a few sketches with my character from that sitcom and we

Speaker 5 decided we had a new idea for it and oddly in the very same sketch that Paul McCartney was in the sketch opened with me and George Michael singing songs in a car and it was that clip that we would send to people's publicists to try and convince them to do carpool karaoke.

Speaker 5 But the whole sketch ended with a big reveal of Paul McCartney and the way you kind of get those sketches together is: if you get Paul McCartney, 10 other people will fall in line.

Speaker 2 No one if he'll do it.

Speaker 5 If he's doing it, I'll do it in the line.

Speaker 2 I thought the rest of the world will fall in line. Yeah, right.

Speaker 5 We'd had this idea to get Paul McCartney. I'd never met Paul McCartney.
I'd never seen Paul McCartney. And I got in touch with his publicist and all these things.

Speaker 5 And they said, you started listening to the Beatles.

Speaker 2 You're like, let me

Speaker 2 start to listen to this music. This is good.
He's got legs.

Speaker 5 Yeah. And they called and they said, Paul McCartney's going to call you on Monday at four o'clock on your private private phone.
So he called me and I just had it all prepared.

Speaker 5 I went into this speech and I just said, I just said, look, the way these sketches work, Paul, is they drive donations on the night, but people also download and buy them for £4.50.

Speaker 5 And £4.50 is the exact cost of a vaccine to give a vaccine to a child so that they won't get malaria.

Speaker 5 So whether you want to admit it or acknowledge it, it's a fact that if you do this sketch, children won't die.

Speaker 3 You didn't say that you'll be saving lives.

Speaker 2 You said children won't die.

Speaker 5 And he went and he went, bloody hell, James. I've heard some pitches in my time.

Speaker 5 This is ridiculous. I said, well, this is nothing.
I said,

Speaker 5 my wife was pregnant at the time, which was my girlfriend at the time. She was pregnant with our first.

Speaker 5 child and we knew it was a boy and i'd said if you'd said no to that i was going to tell you that i'd name my unborn child after you and he said deal if you commit to that i'll do it so we did the sketch and we called my son max mccartney cordon and i took a photo of the birth certificate and i sent it to paul that's

Speaker 5 three days later this beautiful blanket this cashmere blanket arrived and embroidered in the corner it said to max from one mccartney to another love your uncle paul

Speaker 5 lord so from that minute on we sort of had a little bond and

Speaker 2 but which is so crazy did you ever think about like that blanket how many kids lives it could have saved if you had not bought that blanket put that to the malaria i'm just saying

Speaker 5 off the story i sold it and i gave the money to comic relief yeah i don't i don't want to go on about my channel i'm going to send you the faces of those kids right now i have the photos

Speaker 5 but he called me last week paul he called me last week because we did a parody of one of his songs uh we did a thing called maybe i'm a movie he meant he he mentioned it so he called you it was incredible like i really had a moment i thought okay I may have peaked where he called to say he'd seen it and he liked it.

Speaker 5 And the reason he'd watched that song was that Willie Nelson sent it to him on a text.

Speaker 2 And I was like, okay, well, then I'm out.

Speaker 5 I don't even understand how that's possible.

Speaker 2 Hey, Willie Nelson texts?

Speaker 2 Sorry.

Speaker 3 It's on a flip phone, though.

Speaker 2 He's got to hit the one button three times to get to see it.

Speaker 2 That's so cool. That must be so, I mean, what a thrill.

Speaker 2 So, what is your, I mean, you act and you perform and you, and you're a presenter and a host and stuff, and you also obviously excel, and music is a big part of what you do. What was that connection?

Speaker 2 How is it, what's the music for you? How did that start? Which came first for you?

Speaker 5 Well,

Speaker 5 it's important to say I don't consider myself in any way like a musician or a singer.

Speaker 2 Well, you're a bloody good singer. Let's be let's be real.

Speaker 5 I just think it's a different thing as soon as you say that you're a recording artist, which is just something I would never, ever do. And I really love music and I love singing.

Speaker 5 And anytime we do music on the show or any musicals I've been in, I consider a different thing. But when did it start? I don't know.
I don't know if this is the same for you.

Speaker 5 I feel like it might be with Sean when we've spoken before.

Speaker 5 I don't remember a time that I didn't want to just perform in some capacity.

Speaker 2 Sean, you started as a pianist, right, Sean?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I studied piano when I was five and then I thought that was going to be my life and compose music and all that stuff But first of all though you've done eight shows a week Yes of a musical right?

Speaker 1 Yes that to me I have too that's like I people can make fun of you all they want you have to be like an athlete. It's like insane It's

Speaker 1 the stamina and the endurance is crazy on your voice and you doesn't matter if you feel like shit or you're tired or whatever at eight o'clock that night You have to be like da da la da na da la na.

Speaker 1 You have to be so on.

Speaker 1 I was puking my brains at one time off stage, came back on, did my song, went off. It's just fucking awful.
And also, great.

Speaker 3 Are the frontline workers listening to this? It's hard. I get it.

Speaker 5 But it is interesting because since I've taken this job, I meet lots of people who go, God, it must be exhausting.

Speaker 5 And I do only ever reference, like, I did a play in New York called One Man, Two Governors, and that was, I'll never, ever be, I'll never be as tired as I was when I was doing that play.

Speaker 5 That was eight times a week.

Speaker 1 just in pain basically right because because jason and will uh the play he's talking about it's constant physical comedy the entire time you completely falling down running into the like it was incredible and you did that I mean I can't imagine your body after that yeah we did like 400 and I think 490 shows in just under two years it was oh my god it was brilliant I would say you did it for two years yeah we did it at the National Theater then went to the West End and then we went to New York yeah

Speaker 1 Didn't you have problems with your like broken bones or anything?

Speaker 5 No, I did damage my eye. I damaged my eye, which actually just came back to haunt me about four months ago, which had been fine and then came back.
But that was the only real injury.

Speaker 5 Most of it was just sort of aches and things. But I would say this, and this is why I would urge like Chase and Will to do it once, is

Speaker 5 that play was the happiest time of my professional life. There were certain nights in New York where I, I don't know about you, but I almost always only enjoy things retrospectively.

Speaker 5 I look back and go oh that was a good time i had on that you know and doing that play i was like there were moments where i thought if i could stay here forever in this minute now i would i would stay here for this is this is utopia i've always dreamed of having the courage to to do theater on that scale you know in in england

Speaker 2 i've thought about it too and i've just thought too easy yeah

Speaker 1 it seems too easy james you know you mentioned you hurt your eye doing that show i i kind of don't have sympathy for you because my mom mom raised five kids with one eye.

Speaker 2 Oh, boy.

Speaker 2 Oh, boy. And then she died.

Speaker 3 All five kids only had one eye.

Speaker 2 That's just terrible.

Speaker 5 Hey, guys, let's go from that straight to the auto zone.

Speaker 2 Okay, great.

Speaker 2 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 2 Over 7 million kids are affected by the welfare system, and over 368,000 are currently in foster care.

Speaker 2 So together with Ashley and SiriusXM, we made a donation to four others, an organization working to end the child welfare crisis in America.

Speaker 2 You know, partnering with Ashley in our live show, first of all, they just made our set look really good.

Speaker 2 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 2 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 2 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 2 I was sitting back on that nice Ashley couch and I was just hanging out with my buds in my living room.

Speaker 2 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 Having people in your corner makes all the difference. Big moments like moving into a new house, getting a new car, or celebrating milestones are better with the right support.

Speaker 1 With the right people in your corner, you can focus on what matters, like taking that new car out for a spin.

Speaker 1 State Farm has coverage options to choose from to help best fit your needs, so there's support when it matters most.

Speaker 1 That means being able to talk to your agent to choose the coverage you need, knowing there are options to help protect the things you value most.

Speaker 1 Filing a claim right on the State Farm mobile app and reaching a real person whenever you need to talk to someone.

Speaker 1 Whether it's your car, home, boat, motorcycle, or RV, you can choose the right amount of coverage for you.

Speaker 1 And anytime, you can simply go online to statefarm.com or use their award-winning app to get help. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

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 betterhelp.com slash smartless.

Speaker 3 Let me double back to fame for a second and the musical or the movie?

Speaker 2 No, no, TV.

Speaker 3 That movie needs to get redone, by the way.

Speaker 2 I love that movie.

Speaker 2 All right. Stop pushing me, dude.
I'm fucking

Speaker 2 podcast.

Speaker 3 So it seems to me that you have held on to plenty of normalcy and jadedness has not crept up on you to the point where I would imagine that it's not lost on you every night how famous these people are that keep sitting in front of you, that you get to talk to, that you get to come up with questions for.

Speaker 3 And are you able to enjoy that as much as a quote normal person would?

Speaker 3 Because it seems like you hold that for yourself and therefore you enjoy being exposed to all these super famous people all the time. Is that accurate?

Speaker 5 Yes, I think so, because

Speaker 5 I don't know that it's necessarily famous people that I stand into, but my favorite thing in the world is to be around and spend time with

Speaker 5 talented people.

Speaker 5 I think, and I am constantly blown away by how talented so many people are, and I find that infectious. Like my favorite thing to do on the show when people come by is,

Speaker 5 I think, oh if I was shooting something with them I think we'd have real fun like that's how I've really felt every time we've shot something with Will I've thought oh this would be one of those things when when they go cut you go well and anyway then they said like and you're straight into those pockets of of friendships and things and I really love being like in a gang yeah but wait to Jason's point do you feel because you've met what I'm sure feels like every person in this business do you still still have at all starstruck?

Speaker 1 Are you numb to the rush of meeting someone famous anymore?

Speaker 5 I can't stress this enough, and you will think that I'm that this is some sort of faux humility, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Like, I feel starstruck now in this because I do.

Speaker 5 I don't, it's funny. When I listen to your podcast, like when you were talking to Jennifer Aniston, I always feel like I'm an outsider looking at this gang.

Speaker 5 Like, you'll be talking about what great hospitality it is at her house. And I'll sit in the car go thinking oh that would be great to just

Speaker 5 do that i don't in any way feel like and i do i do think that's important with the nature of our show i still am in in awe of like i feel the same way now on this with you jason thinking i just can't believe this like arrested development is just a huge part of my life will and grace i used to watch will and grace and think that would be the single greatest thing just to go to a taping like i still have the same enthusiasm for all of it because I really, really love talented people.

Speaker 3 Well, it's what you can tell.

Speaker 3 It's, it is infectious, you know, when you watch your show, it does come across that you, that's what makes you a great host because you are our proxy to these talented, famous people.

Speaker 3 And you, you don't look, you don't look bored or or disinterested, you know, as a jaded person might.

Speaker 2 Well, he hasn't had you on yet. We've established that, right? We've already established that.
Yeah, good point.

Speaker 5 I also think that's a thing in actors. I do.
Like, I think, I tell me, I'll be interested to think if you agree with this. Like, I think there are only

Speaker 5 two types of actor in the world. I think there are aliens and human beings, and neither are better.
Neither are better. Like, it isn't a better.
But, so, aliens, you're like Mark Rylance, Daniel J.

Speaker 5 Lewis, Meryl Streep, Christian Bale, Christian Bale, Ray Fiennes, and humans, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney, George Clunty.

Speaker 3 just kind of be us.

Speaker 5 And so you can watch the same play.

Speaker 5 Like I watched Simon Russell Beale do a Hamlet and Mark Rylance do a Hamlet, and it's the same text. And I was watching Mark Rylance thinking, I don't know how he does this.

Speaker 5 And I watched Simon Russell Beale and I thought, oh, you're me up there. You're representing us.

Speaker 5 You are the audience.

Speaker 3 And being just the normal guy, it's kind of sneaky tough too to not chew it up, you know, unless you've got the skills like an alien does to really morph into somebody else. Yeah.

Speaker 5 And I think because it looks easy.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 5 Like what you like what you do on Ozark, for example, the stillness of it makes people, I think, think,

Speaker 2 go ahead, Will.

Speaker 2 If you got something fucking hurtful to say, here it comes.

Speaker 2 Jason, you know what? Jason, here comes.

Speaker 2 I love you, and you're my friend, and I don't want to hurt you. So sorry, James, continue on.
And how dare you? He's working on it, though. Yeah.
He'll come back with it.

Speaker 3 Keep going, James. You were in the middle of a compliment? I'm sorry.

Speaker 5 I think people think that that looks easy. And I actually think it's harder than doing.

Speaker 2 Look at Will's just

Speaker 3 smoke coming out of his ears as he's writing with him.

Speaker 1 What Will wanted to say is Jason's stillness is a result of him not knowing the camera started rolling.

Speaker 2 No, no, I think that that's not true.

Speaker 2 Jason is really good. And I think in those moments you see him and you think like, yeah, they've just turned the dial to the don't move mode.

Speaker 2 And he just you know there's a robot dial on my back yeah connects to the batteries no because I think it's all happening in there that's but there is there is that thing you're right and I've worked with both of these guys a lot and I will say there is

Speaker 2 You know, Sean and I had so much time, we did a couple shows and we used to laugh our asses off and fuck around. And it was exactly that.

Speaker 2 It was cut and it was just trying to make each other laugh on set and trying to screw around.

Speaker 2 And then my introduction to working on a regular basis started when Jason and I worked on arrested development.

Speaker 2 And I will say, and I don't know if I've ever said this out loud, I learned so much because Jason had been doing it since he was a kid. I learned so much.
I knew so little.

Speaker 2 And I learned so much from Jason, from that experience. And he was like a friend and a big brother.
And he taught me a lot of things.

Speaker 2 And he taught me with a lot of tough love, like, hey, stupid, why are you standing there?

Speaker 2 You know, whatever. But it was so great.
And there is that thing, that human thing of like,

Speaker 2 you're being silly and you're having fun, but you're really, you're enjoying enjoying it and you're really in the moment. And those moments, you do look back.

Speaker 2 I will say, arrested development was the thing. I remember the second season every day driving onto the Fox lot and I'd hand my pass to the guy or, you know, whatever for the gate to go up.

Speaker 2 And I'd think, every single fucking day, I thought, I am the luckiest guy in the world.

Speaker 2 And I really, I really, really, really appreciate it, especially after spending years struggling. I thought, this is it.
I got to really remind myself, enjoy it, enjoy it, enjoy it. So

Speaker 1 James, I'm sorry. We'll get back to you.

Speaker 2 So I'm from Toronto.

Speaker 2 And I'm a tourist.

Speaker 1 Wait, I want to ask you something. So, James, when you were a kid, did you have like a specific dream as in a late-night talk show? Or is the dream just to do anything and show business?

Speaker 1 You just want to be a part of it? Or did you want to be Johnny Carson or whoever?

Speaker 5 No, it definitely wasn't to be a talk show host in any way.

Speaker 5 It came so out of the blue even being offered this job i i was even when i got offered it i was like what i don't think that's was it a tough decision well you said you turned it down a couple of times i don't know if i'd be able to turn that down i did turn it down twice just because

Speaker 5 i felt like i knew what i was going to do for the next 18 months and and i feel like that's quite a good amount of time to know how long you're doing stuff for.

Speaker 1 And did the offer come out of the blue? Was it just like...

Speaker 5 Well, the offer came out. I was writing a show.
I came to Los Angeles. I'd been twice before.

Speaker 5 And I'd done that round, which of just coming to Los Angeles and dying of encouragement, of, you know, people just giving you a tiny bottle of water and saying they'd love to work with you and then never hearing from them again.

Speaker 5 And then I decided

Speaker 5 I thought I'd written a show for the BBC, another show called The Wrong Man's, which we knew was probably going to be the last bit of that. And I had this new idea for a show.

Speaker 5 So I came to LA and I pitched it everywhere. And then it was one of those strange weeks where by the the end of the week,

Speaker 5 there was like six offers to make this show. And then the offers got to a financial capacity, which I genuinely was mind-blowing to me.

Speaker 5 I didn't even know that you Americans earned this sort of money and write TV shows. Like, I cannot tell you how that is not the experience for any other country in the world.

Speaker 5 And I was like, this is insane. This is crazy.
And anyway,

Speaker 5 CBS, I didn't know this, but my old bosses, Les Mumbez and Nina Tasler, who were the kind of chairman and the president of the network, have both seen the play we've done before.

Speaker 5 And I didn't know that they'd seen it.

Speaker 5 And they made, without question, the biggest financial offer for me to see the show, but I turned it down because the more I thought about it, I thought this is a show that would probably live on HBO.

Speaker 3 This is the show that you had written that you had pitched.

Speaker 2 Yeah, this is this show that I'd written.

Speaker 5 So I decided to make it with HBO. And CBS just didn't understand how that was even a possible.
Like, it was genuine. It was like four times the financial offer.

Speaker 5 So, I was in New York, and I went to see Nina Tasler and Les, and I sat with them and told them, I said, Look, you're mad to be upset about this. I've done you the biggest favor ever.

Speaker 5 I said, I would have written a show that you wouldn't have liked. You would have tried to change it because you've overpaid for it.
I'd hate you for changing it.

Speaker 5 You'd hate me for being annoyed at changing it. We'd hate each other and never work together again.
I said, I promise you, this show is never going to be on your network. You will hate it.

Speaker 5 And Stephen Colbert had just been announced

Speaker 5 as the taking over from Letterman and Craig Ferguson had said he was stepping down. And I said to them, I said, look, I think that 1230 stock is,

Speaker 5 what are you going to do with that? And I said, and I thought, we were just chatting by this point. And I said, if you don't make a show that embraces the internet, there's no point doing it.

Speaker 5 I said, you have got to make a show for kids and stoners. They all still want to watch late night.
They just don't have a TV and they don't care about a schedule, you know.

Speaker 3 So they've passed out by 30.

Speaker 5 Exactly. And they want to find it the next day.
This is a generation of people who just want to watch it now.

Speaker 2 And for our listener out in Wisconsin, a lot of people don't know that stoners and babies happen to hang out a lot together. Sorry, keep going, Jim.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 5 I said, did I say stoners and babies?

Speaker 2 No, stoners and children, I guess.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 5 To be fair. Kids, teens.
Teens. That's what I mean.
So anyway, then that night, this offer came in. Would you like to host the show? And I said, I don't think so.

Speaker 5 And then then they came back and said the first one was like do a pilot the next one was like just do the show and i said no sorry i'm gonna write this other thing and i might go and do a musical on broadway and and then it went quiet for a bit and then i went to south africa to shoot this show in johannesburg and i was i'll never forget it i was in this like service department in johannesburg and i was realizing that really all i want to do is just be creative every day.

Speaker 5 I just want to be creative and hang out with creative people.

Speaker 5 And I was Skyping my pregnant wife.

Speaker 2 By the way, it should be mentioned that Sean also did a pilot right before he left LAX.

Speaker 3 I love the cheapies. Keep going, James.

Speaker 5 So I was

Speaker 2 never picked up.

Speaker 5 Skyping my wife. And I thought, this is only going to get harder.
This will only get harder.

Speaker 3 Keep it clean, James. Please keep it clean.

Speaker 2 I love the cheapies.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God. Go ahead.

Speaker 5 This will only get more difficult being away from them. Right.
And here is someone offering me a job where I'll get to be around. And I started to think maybe you're an idiot to not turn this down.

Speaker 5 And wouldn't you rather regret doing something than not doing something?

Speaker 5 And then I sort of decided, okay, let's leap into it. And we all just moved to it.

Speaker 3 And I was kind of born from that conversation with Les and Nina. And they followed up on it and said, Great, put your money where your mouth is.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you do it. Right.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Also, you're, you know, you seem to have accomplished something as a talk show host that a lot of talk show hosts have not been able to do which is be a host as well as an actor at the same time Yeah, like I can't think of another host

Speaker 5 that that does both and it seems like you're constantly working like I said you're you're doing when you're not doing your show You're in every single movie because it's a 50 week a year job right hosting the talk show mine isn't so that was part of the agreement really the agreement was I'd do it if I could go and do other things because I really really love acting and I love writing and I love working with with actors and directors.

Speaker 3 How often do you get to take time off?

Speaker 2 Is that written?

Speaker 5 No, I have a good break in the summer, so that's a break where I know is there to shoot stuff.

Speaker 5 And then other times, it's just an agreement, really, that if something comes along, we'll figure it out. And it's difficult and it's hard on the team.
But I sort of feel without those things.

Speaker 5 I don't know about you, might think that with this, with this podcast, I feel like side projects in a way they actually re-energize me into the show more.

Speaker 5 Because I get back here in this room that I'm in now and I go, oh, I know what I'm doing here. You know, like, and it's hard.

Speaker 3 So, Sean, it's like cheating on Scotty, you were telling me, right?

Speaker 2 It just keeps that fresh.

Speaker 3 You know, you realize, oh, wait, no, I've got something pretty great.

Speaker 2 Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 You need that. You need that nudge, that reminder.

Speaker 2 So, um, so you're saying,

Speaker 1 so you're saying, James, if you, if you had to choose between being, only being an actor and only being a talk show host,

Speaker 1 you can't answer that question, can you?

Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, no, i would be i would ask oh you would well there it is yeah how about that but it takes you away from the family and you can only see them um you will never go longer than two weeks without seeing them but that's going to happen a lot

Speaker 2 uh then i'd be a talk show host yeah yeah jason what would you do oh hang on we already know the answer

Speaker 3 monster no i am serious and you can check this because i've bored people talking about it before um being a talk show host is one of my dreams i it would be a very difficult thing for me to turn down.

Speaker 2 Wait, I thought you dreamed of being on Broadway. How many fucking dreams did you have? My dreams,

Speaker 2 TikTok, putting it. Everything.

Speaker 2 Hey, I'm an athlete. That's what I dreamed of.
Everybody dreamed of it.

Speaker 3 But for a lot of the same reasons, the routine of it, the schedule of it, being able to talk to a bunch of people that you admire.

Speaker 2 Same, by the way.

Speaker 3 I always thought maybe the hours were a little cushy, and then Kimmel corrected me on that.

Speaker 3 It's not as easy as you guys make it look. Yeah,

Speaker 1 I've had the same dream.

Speaker 2 I don't think they have enough time for the length of your questions, Jason.

Speaker 3 See, that's it. I love to hear myself talk.
So a talk show host.

Speaker 1 So the producer would be like, hey, act one will be the question. Act two and three will be the answer.

Speaker 2 You guys are dicks. When was the moment? When was the moment, James, that you felt, I remember seeing you, you were just about to start, and Craig Ferguson's show ended, and I did one episode.

Speaker 2 That's right. I guess hosted, and I saw you, but we didn't know each other.
But I kind of said, and I had Kimmel and David Cross and Chris. That's right.

Speaker 5 And I had a big chat, a long chat with Jimmy. Kimmel was the first time I met him.
And I was blown away by his insane levels of kindness. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's such a sweet guy. And Jason mentioned that he's a good friend of ours, and he's such a sweet guy.
And you came in, and you were. You were a known quantity.

Speaker 2 You weren't as known in America necessarily, but we knew who you were, people who, you know, who the tastemakers, the three of us are real, the the tastemakers of America influencers.

Speaker 1 That was the other title of our podcast.

Speaker 2 Four influencers, sure. That's a dozen

Speaker 2 different way to say it, too. Yeah, we're influencers.
Coastal elites? Are we coastal elites? We are. By the way, we just got elite status.
Really? It's kind of like frequent flyers.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we're coastal elites. Congrats, guys.

Speaker 2 But what was that moment? I know that you came. I remember seeing you and you were just getting ready to do the show.
And I just, do you remember that moment where you kind of crossed over?

Speaker 2 Were you nervous at all at first? Like, were you running around and struggling to find

Speaker 5 voice, so to speak?

Speaker 5 It was,

Speaker 5 well, I remember that day so vividly because I'd met John Krasinski quite a few times. So I felt like, oh, well, he gives me a legitimate reason to go over and say hi.

Speaker 5 And you were in the studio, actually, that I can see out my window now.

Speaker 5 And I went over and I was so blown away by, like, and have been ever since, actually, by Kimmel's, like, openness to just be a a person and just the way that he as opposed to Krasinski, who's a fucking master, isn't he?

Speaker 5 But you know, Jimmy's like, I was asking him different things, and I felt like, oh god, am I asking too many questions?

Speaker 5 But he just kept going, no, it's this is this is all right, it's okay, it's great, you know. And

Speaker 5 I think, look, we had to move to America and hire a staff and launch, build a set, and launch the show in 11 and a half weeks. And that was a crazy amount of time.

Speaker 5 But in truth, I look back at it now, and I'm very grateful to it

Speaker 5 because we didn't really have a chance to sort of second-guess stuff. Right? We didn't have time to sit and scratch our chins, going, but should it feel more like this?

Speaker 5 It was just, there's an idea, go run with it.

Speaker 2 And so quick because you have to, and it's like, get through that day, and you've got another show tomorrow. Yeah, right.

Speaker 5 And then, yeah, we just knew we had to like hit the ground running. So we knew that we had no kind of goodwill built up up with an audience.

Speaker 5 I wasn't, I hadn't just left Saturday Night Live or the daily show or a sitcom. There was nothing.
So we thought we've really got to try and make our first few weeks on the air.

Speaker 5 We also knew we would follow Letterman for like a month and then he was going to drop off and we were following repeats of Hawaii 5-0.

Speaker 5 So we were like, if we don't do some really big things in this first four weeks, this is going to be a bleak summer.

Speaker 2 That must have been nerve-wracking. Yeah.
It really must have been.

Speaker 6 Say hello to the all-new Alexa Plus and see how Alexa can do so much more for you. Need last-minute concert tickets? Craving your favorite restaurant?

Speaker 2 Just sit back, relax, and talk naturally.

Speaker 6 Alexa's on it. It remembers what you love, anticipates what you need, and makes it all happen.

Speaker 6 Whether you're using Echo, Fire TV, or any compatible device, Alexa Plus brings thousands of possibilities to life. Ready whenever inspiration strikes.
Amazon.com new alexa.

Speaker 1 Nothing goes with football like Sonic's new pretzel bacon Sonic Smasher.

Speaker 1 Two hand-smashed Angus beef patties, crispy bacon and onions, plus pub sauce, all on a buttery soft pretzel bun.

Speaker 1 It's perfect for watching beefy linemen, crispy corners, saucy receivers, and buttery smooth quarterbacks. Geez, did they write this for me?

Speaker 1 And together with the original Sonic Smasher, they're forming a new dynasty of burgers. The Pretzel Bacon Sonic Smasher.
Try it for a limited time.

Speaker 1 Sonic!

Speaker 7 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?

Speaker 4 That's right, ma'am. You have rooms 201 and 709.

Speaker 7 No, we cannot be five floors away from our kids.

Speaker 5 The doors have double locks. They'll be fine.

Speaker 7 When you want connecting rooms confirmed before you arrive, it matters where you stay.

Speaker 2 Welcome to Hilton.

Speaker 7 I see your connecting rooms are already confirmed. Hilton, for this day.

Speaker 2 It was.

Speaker 2 What's your executive producer's name? Your friend

Speaker 2 Ben Winston. Yeah.
Yeah, Ben. So, so Ben is a great guy.
Did he come with you? Had you guys known each other?

Speaker 5 He's my best friend. He was the best man at my wedding.
And he's also,

Speaker 5 I knew, the best TV producer in, I think, in the country for sure. And so when I got the job, which actually he was the person that was saying, you absolutely shouldn't do this.

Speaker 2 You absolutely shouldn't do this.

Speaker 5 And then we talked about it. And we talked, and I explained to him kind of what I felt the show should look and feel like, and it would feel closer to a variety show.
Then he was like, okay.

Speaker 5 And then I said to CBS, I'll really only come if my friend Ben can come with me. And they, I think they, at first, they're a bit like, oh, he's bringing his friend who's a producer.

Speaker 5 And then they, then they met him, then they met him and were like, oh, you're amazing.

Speaker 5 You should take over the Grammys, you know, and he's now like, but he is, it was really hard when we came to America because he's so handsome and charismatic.

Speaker 5 And then there's me. So we would go to lots of meetings where people didn't know.

Speaker 5 No, but wait, hang on. We would go to meetings where people didn't know who James Corden was and who Ben Winston was.

Speaker 5 And all they've been told is one is this new talk show host and the other is a genius producer.

Speaker 2 And by any one metric, we look like we're in the wrong body. Yes, there's the on-camera guy over there.
That's hilarious.

Speaker 1 That's hilarious. How, um, are you still loving doing it? And do you see

Speaker 1 an end date in sight? Not that we want that. I hope you do it for another 10 decades, but for you personally, is there like a limit that you do you see yourself doing?

Speaker 5 I don't know. In truth, I have like a couple of years to go on this contract.
It will never be

Speaker 5 ending the show will always be a bigger family decision than a professional one.

Speaker 5 Like it will be about people at home who we miss very, very much, who we're homesick for. And I also feel like

Speaker 5 my wife and I, we have three young children and they are three young grandchildren that we've taken away from people. And this probably feels particularly magnified magnified now during the pandemic.

Speaker 5 But I have an overwhelming feeling that, like, our family has walked to the beat of my drum for a very long time, and we should probably.

Speaker 5 And I also don't know, genuinely, and I'm interested to know what you think about this, Jason and Will, with children.

Speaker 5 Like, I really feel very conscious of the fact that I don't know that I necessarily want to be putting out the volume of stuff onto YouTube and Snapchat and TikTok and Facebook and all these things when I've got like teenagers.

Speaker 5 I don't know what that feels like at school.

Speaker 5 I think it's a different thing being an actor in a show or, oh, you've got a film come out and then you disappear for a while while you film something else.

Speaker 5 And it's so, you're always putting stuff out there.

Speaker 2 You make it harder on your kids' experience.

Speaker 5 Yeah. Oh, your dad, your dad's been cancelled.
Your dad's trending on Twitter.

Speaker 2 I'll tell you something, James, too. That I had a very,

Speaker 2 I was taking my son to look at some new schools last year,

Speaker 2 you know, to move to a middle school. And his mom and I took him, went with him, and we were driving back to his school after, and I said, he seemed kind of down.
I said, how you doing?

Speaker 2 He said, I don't know. I said, didn't you like that place? He said,

Speaker 2 I just wanted to get out of there. And I said, why? And he said, because all those kids,

Speaker 2 They all knew who you and Mama were at the end there. And I just felt like everybody was coming over and just looking at, everybody was just looking at us and looking at me.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I thought in that moment, and I dropped him at school, and I almost started, I almost burst into tears when he said it.

Speaker 2 And I thought, am I robbing him of a normal life and a normal school experience? And then I thought,

Speaker 2 he's sitting in a Porsche.

Speaker 2 Well, I had a chat with a good friend of mine, and

Speaker 5 she's a singer. And we were talking about the experience of going to Disneyland, if you're like well-known.

Speaker 5 And I said, oh man, I said, I'll never forget, I said to her, you know, we just, we didn't queue, we didn't stand in line anywhere.

Speaker 5 And I said, I'm looking at my kids thinking, you don't know, you're born, this is crazy. And she just went, yeah,

Speaker 5 but when you weigh it up with the shit they're going to have to deal with because you're their dad, not waiting in line is probably, you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 And you're like, oh, yeah, there's just all the stuff that comes with that.

Speaker 2 So that's what I'm like.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it wasn't a group decision is what you're saying.

Speaker 2 It was, it is, yeah, they have no choice. Yeah.

Speaker 3 It is a weird thing. It's obviously not exclusive to any of us.
You know, people who are on TV and film have kids and they've been dealing with it forever.

Speaker 3 And how do you properly, in the most healthy way, frame it for a kid, what it is that we do? I remember driving by some billboard or something or a poster.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 3 my daughter, who was at the time, maybe second or third grade, and she said, oh, yeah, I want to tell, this is near my friend's house. I'm going to tell my friend that, you know, you're on a poster.

Speaker 3 I said, no, no, don't, don't say that, that that i'm on the why oh because and just instinctually i said because you you it's bad it's like like you know how you sometimes incorrectly might frame um money or something like oh don't don't don't talk about you know that that that grandma sent you a hundred dollars but

Speaker 3 you kind of frame something in a negative so that they don't brag

Speaker 3 But then you've stamped something as a negative that then they think, oh, there's something wrong with our family. And

Speaker 3 it was a confusing thing that I'm glad they're a little bit older now to get a little bit more context towards.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 3 it's obviously something that is our burden that we need to figure out a better way to explain to them than obviously I'm doing here, but it's certainly not worth stopping for.

Speaker 5 No, but I think that burden is enhanced if you are just constantly putting out, you know, look, it's an hour a day.

Speaker 5 You know, you know, so it's it's an hour a day that gets chopped up and shared online and all those things.

Speaker 5 And that just, it just, it all just plays on my mind how far away we are from home and i also don't i really really don't ever want to be doing the show if i'm not just absolutely loving it yeah i know like it was one of the funniest things i thought letterman ever said was when he announced his retirement he said uh he said i i told myself that when i got bored with this job a decade later i'd retire yeah and like

Speaker 5 and I sort of, part of me feels like maybe,

Speaker 5 maybe like it was a real, it was a really punk move to, to choose to do it. And maybe, maybe the really punk move is to, is to stop while I'm still really enjoying it.

Speaker 5 And then it will always kind of be perfect, you know? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 You know, back to when you guys had those problems with your kids and stuff, I, you know, I have a dog named Ricky, and when I drop him off at the dog park, he's always like, can you drop me off a block away?

Speaker 2 Isn't the same, though.

Speaker 1 Because, you know, he's just be quiet till we're done talking about children.

Speaker 2 This isn't the same. Bring up a tuna sandwich.
I'm going to,

Speaker 2 we still get along, Chris.

Speaker 5 We'll never look after you.

Speaker 1 All right, look at James. You know, you've been in a billion things that have all like hit, hit after hit after hit.
You're always in these things that work. Your show's a massive hit.

Speaker 1 That's why I want to say, as Chris Cuomo would say, let's get after it. Cats, what happened?

Speaker 2 Oh, my God.

Speaker 5 I haven't seen it.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 5 I've not watched it.

Speaker 5 Here's what I'll say about cats. And you can ask whatever questions you want.
Here's what I'll say. And

Speaker 5 I'm really mean this.

Speaker 5 I

Speaker 2 had

Speaker 5 such

Speaker 5 a great time. I went to London for eight days, shot the song.
with a brilliant group of like actors

Speaker 2 like

Speaker 5 Judy Dench and Ian McKellen and Hendrix and all these women I just like I had a blast

Speaker 5 so I think you have to be really really careful not

Speaker 5 to judge whether something was valuable to you as to whether it's successful at the box office right

Speaker 5 because I've had really miserable times yeah and on things that are really successful and I'm like well that was a really shit time in my life so actually

Speaker 5 I should never look upon that as a success

Speaker 2 vice versa i love that you said that you had a great time i that's always the mark for me anyway because i have a best time yeah i've done a lot of films and worked with a lot of people and had a lot of fun and had a great time and there were great moments in my in my life

Speaker 3 uh and i i think that that is truly i mean it's almost harder you know it's almost harder it is amazing how rare it is to have a really harmonious set for one reason or another.

Speaker 3 And there are many, many reasons why I can go sideways. It's a real special thing when you've got a bunch of people that just sort of agree either verbally or not to just treat each other well.

Speaker 3 It goes a long way.

Speaker 1 And I have to imagine, James, and this is truly from the heart, that because of who you are, and I've now got to hang out with you several times over the years, and that any set you're on, any set that you are on is going to be a great set because you are joy and your energy is always positive and you're always professional and you're always so freaking talented.

Speaker 1 That's why, like, I saw cats. You were fantastic in it.
Like, and everything that you're in, you are great. And I'm sure every set that you're a part of, everybody's excited to be involved.

Speaker 2 Guaranteed.

Speaker 5 Joy is the key. For sure.
Joy is the key. I'm not saying me is joy.
I'm saying just if you, if you start every day thinking, well, how can this be a joyful environment?

Speaker 5 Like, I heard a quote my dad told me something the other day where he said, what did he say? Let me me try and get this right.

Speaker 5 He says, you should never rate your opinion of yourself by the metric of the joyless. Like if someone doesn't have joy, what they think of you is irrelevant because joy is what you have to cling to.

Speaker 5 And like the best example of that, and this will sound like a real name drop, but like

Speaker 5 when we're talking about Into the Woods, like I just did this musical, a film musical with Meryl Streep again.

Speaker 2 Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 You play the part of one of my best friends You know, Brooks Ashmanskis.

Speaker 5 Brooks is amazing.

Speaker 1 He's one of the funniest people ever met.

Speaker 5 He's one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life.

Speaker 5 Meryl Streep

Speaker 5 is the epitome of what everyone should seek to be on a set, which is I'm going to take the work incredibly seriously. And I'll never take myself seriously for a second.

Speaker 2 I love that.

Speaker 5 She's in for the fun. She wants to be in a gang.
She wants to like have a, she wants you to try and make her laugh if the camera's on somewhere else.

Speaker 5 Like, you know, she is like, and that you go, oh my God, that's why,

Speaker 5 that's why your career is so incredible is you've never lost the joy of essentially what we do is play dress up and put on a show. And this can be really serious.
You can be doing something.

Speaker 5 We have a seed in the thing. The two of us are like crying our eyes out in a hotel room.
It took us three days to shoot. But in between those bits, she's telling me stories about this and that.

Speaker 5 And you go, that's it. You can't lose the joy of.

Speaker 5 The greatest thing you can do, like, if any of us could have a conversation, any of the four people here could have a conversation with your 12-year-old self and say, this is what your life's going to be like.

Speaker 5 His head would explode. His head would explode.
And I

Speaker 5 just. never try to stop that feeling.
And there'll be people on our show will tell you I can be grouchy as as fuck sometimes and bore and all those things.

Speaker 5 But I try my absolute best to just go, this is just a gift. And at some point, we're all going to get a tap on the shoulder that goes,

Speaker 2 hey, buddy, yeah, you're not really wanted anymore around here.

Speaker 5 And what you want to do is go look back and go, I made a lot of friends and I really spent a lot of the day laughing.

Speaker 2 I couldn't agree more. James, it's the most important thing to me.
I spend my whole, every day, these guys know, looking for different ways to have fun. And it's the only way.

Speaker 2 And I said, I had a friend of mine that said to me recently, he said, he was joking, but he said, I said something stupid. He said, grow up.
And I said, why? Yeah.

Speaker 1 You know, people have been tapping Will on the shoulder for several years, but he just swats it away like it's a fly.

Speaker 2 Well, that's just because I'm a long, I take a long time to pee. It's just because I got a, my bag is so full often.

Speaker 2 And sometimes the hose gets caught. Sure.

Speaker 1 James, you're brilliant. We love you.
I don't want to take up any more of your time. Yes.

Speaker 5 No, no, I've got one question, which I'm keen to know from you three, just while we're on this thing, I have a question for you, if that's okay. Elizabeth, I'm interested to know.

Speaker 2 Are you three,

Speaker 5 do you think you're good now at separating yourself and your career? Do you know what I mean? Because I think every sort of actor performer when they start, their entire life is about what am I doing?

Speaker 5 Who am I working with? Is it impressive enough? Am I all these things? Are you, do you consider yourselves people that are good at separating, well, this is me and this is my work.

Speaker 5 And if this goes away, I still exist.

Speaker 1 Absolutely. 100%.

Speaker 1 I started that years ago, or at least I tried to years ago, where, yeah, exactly what you just said.

Speaker 1 You're not, you can't, you can't invest in defining yourself by this business and your stature in it. You'll be a miserable human being.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I made, I made the mistake of doing that when I was younger.

Speaker 3 And then when it went away, I had no self-worth, no self-value.

Speaker 2 It was horrific.

Speaker 3 And I felt so foolish to

Speaker 3 identify myself with something that's not a meritocracy.

Speaker 3 No real art is. It's all sort of subjective.

Speaker 1 And I always say the thing that Jason Bateman said to me years and years and years ago, which is, I love you. None of this is up to you.

Speaker 2 Oh, yes.

Speaker 1 He said, none of this is up to you.

Speaker 2 I think the thing, like with Jason, was saying with Jason, for instance, when you scratch the surface, it's just more surface.

Speaker 2 But no, I honestly,

Speaker 2 I stopped a long time ago pegging my happiness and my self-worth to what I do.

Speaker 2 And it's completely, it's been a few years now, but

Speaker 2 for me, it's about friends like these guys, and it's about my kids, and it's about my life, and that comes first and foremost. And everything else, and I mean everything else comes second to that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you can't.

Speaker 1 yeah, we said it all.

Speaker 3 I don't know if I envy those who work in an occupation that is a meritocracy, but it's

Speaker 3 maybe I do. I think it's it's really admirable

Speaker 3 the people that find themselves in an occupation where it's a requirement that you go to eight years of school and you have this diploma and you have this certificate of

Speaker 3 those who are doctors and lawyers and these technicians. I admire that.
And if you are the best at that,

Speaker 3 it's quantifiable.

Speaker 3 In our world, there is no best. It's all just kind of up to the audience.
There's something great about that, but there's also something that's terrifying about that, too.

Speaker 1 If you have a degree in acting,

Speaker 1 but you're bad.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 2 It doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 I'm just an expert at third degree burns.

Speaker 2 There we go. Third degree burns.
Got it.

Speaker 3 But James, thank you. We found something to trim out.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much for being here. We're all huge fans, and Jason's going to be on your show by the end of the tomorrow.

Speaker 2 Can you get Sean and I are going to come? We're going to be in the audience when Jason finally comes on the show.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Jason should be on your show and just me and Will in the audience.

Speaker 2 That would be tremendous. I would love that so much.

Speaker 5 Nothing would give me more pleasure. This has been the absolute highlight of my day.
And anytime I've been lucky enough to be in your orbits, I've always, always thought, well,

Speaker 5 this is why you moved to America to hang out with people like this. I mean it.
And I'm so thrilled to be on your show. And I will forever be a fan and hopeful friend of all three of you.

Speaker 2 Thank you. Bye, Andrew.
Right back on the bottom.

Speaker 2 Bye, buddy.

Speaker 2 James, you're the best. Thank you.
James, you're the best.

Speaker 3 Thank you, pal, so much.

Speaker 2 Pleasure. That was fun.
Loved it.

Speaker 5 See you soon. Bye, buddy.

Speaker 2 Bye.

Speaker 3 That was great.

Speaker 1 That thing he said towards the end, I know what I wanted to say now. Was like, a lot of the times, and tell me how you guys feel.
A lot of certain, I'll say, actors

Speaker 1 or other producers, directors, writers, whatever, they wake up thinking America or the world is waiting with bated breath about their next move.

Speaker 3 No, right.

Speaker 2 They think, like, they're just not.

Speaker 1 Right. Nobody cares.
They care when it comes out. They're like, oh, I love that person, but, or I love that director.
I love that writer.

Speaker 3 And then they still might not see it. I can't tell you you how many films or directors that I love or actors that I love.
It's like, I'm going to see everything I do.

Speaker 3 And I still might forget to go see, like, it's so thin to everybody else.

Speaker 2 Right. It feels like the world to the people who are doing it.

Speaker 3 And it should so that you have a good time doing it, but you can't control the outcome. So better have fun while you're doing it.

Speaker 1 But really interesting to get to talk to him for that long because he's, it's always like in seven minute bits on his show.

Speaker 1 So, you know, and you talk in the middle of commercials, but just to get to know him further and get inside his head, it was really cool.

Speaker 2 What do you say, like, during the commercials? Like when they go to the music and you'd like turn to him and go, it's going pretty good, right? Yeah,

Speaker 2 how are you?

Speaker 1 Everybody in my family was like, when I was first going through the talk show, I was like, what do you guys talk about when they start whispering? I'm like, nothing.

Speaker 1 You just start saying, thanks for having me here.

Speaker 3 I want to see a talk show host too because it is sort of a cliche.

Speaker 3 Like, as you go to commercial, they always like lean in and like kind of like whisper to the guests, like, well, why, why, what are they talking about?

Speaker 3 Why don't they do that while they're just once I want to see a talk show?

Speaker 2 Just stare at the guest and just not make any move to talk to them as they go to court well letterman used to for most guests not talk to them in between no right and kind of famously and um and carson would smoke a little bit carson would smoke a little bit he'll ashtray right there take a couple hits off cigarette and now james cordon is one of those talk show hosts yeah yeah but he's such a naturally great guy and he does have i think one of the reasons that we i mean the three of us respond to him so well not only is a good host but we also he is

Speaker 2 he and he said that he would take, he'd be an actor over being a host. I mean, he is an actor at heart.

Speaker 2 And people go, it's one of those things I fucking hate is people say, oh, fucking actors. And like, oh, do you know actors?

Speaker 2 I'm like, some of the best, greatest people in my whole, in my life, all my, so many of my friends are actors. They're incredibly creative, talented people.
Right, same.

Speaker 2 And people who disparage them, I'm like, there are some doozies, though.

Speaker 2 No, I don't disagree with that, but there are doozies everywhere. That's true.
You think investment bankers aren't 99% douchebags?

Speaker 3 99 is a big number.

Speaker 2 They're the fucking worst. Can you imagine how boring it is listening to a bunch of hedge fund guys?

Speaker 3 Can I speak to the hedge fund folks in our audience?

Speaker 2 This will not speak for you.

Speaker 2 I have a couple good friends who are bankers, who have been for years,

Speaker 2 who are the exception to the rule.

Speaker 3 The 1%.

Speaker 2 They are. They are.
My friend Dan is one of the funniest, greatest, nicest guys you'll ever meet, and he's a banker.

Speaker 3 Too late. I think you just deleted your number.

Speaker 1 You You can't save it. You can't save it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I just saved it. That's that's considered a save.
We already deleted it. You know what I think, though?

Speaker 1 Because you tried to save that. I think it's time to say

Speaker 8 when you give gifts, you like to knock them out of the park.

Speaker 8 Erwick Essential Mist Diffuser's chic design, long-lasting scents, and effortless setup makes it the kind of gift that feels complete the moment it's unwrapped.

Speaker 8 Perfect for your favorite dinner party host or that friend who loves a cozy night in.

Speaker 8 Plus, its cordless design means you can easily take this gentle fragrance with you from room to room. Airwick Essential Mist, ready to gift, ready to uplift.

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.