TCB Infomercial: Tim Baltz

Speaker 2 This episode is sponsored by Jack Archer. As a man, finding a good pair of pants can feel impossible.
Jack Archer's Jet Setter tech pants make that easy. These are the one pair you need.

Speaker 2 They're built with advanced fabric sourced from Japan that resists wrinkles, stains, and odors. Whether it's a long flight, a workday, or a night out, these pants do it all.

Speaker 2 With customizable fit options and thousands of five-star reviews, trust us, these are the one pair of pants you'll actually want to wear every day.

Speaker 2 And they just launched a matching blazer in the same unbelievable fabric, all for an amazing price of $249 for the suit. It's a no-brainer.

Speaker 2 For a limited time, get 15% off using the code getjack at jackarcher.com. Again, that's the promo code getjack at jackarcher.com for that 15% off, your entire order.

Speaker 2 And thanks to JackArcher for being a sponsor of the commercial break.

Speaker 2 this episode is sponsored by five hour energy caffeine just got a flavor upgrade with what they call tasty caffeine 17 bold flavors that actually taste good you know that midday moment when your brain just stalls out but you still have a full list of things to do well that's when i reach for a five hour energy shot Each tiny two-ounce shot has about as much caffeine as a 12-ounce premium cup of coffee, but with zero sugar and zero crash.

Speaker 2 It's big flavor, packed into the smallest, easiest bottle, perfect for tossing in your bag, in your car, really anywhere.

Speaker 2 And since it's still fall, they've brought back the ultimate seasonal favorite, pumpkin spice. Ah, yes, pumpkin spice.

Speaker 2 A little cinnamon, a little swagger, sweet, rich, and totally cozy without being heavy.

Speaker 2 Fuel your day with tasty caffeine, available in store and online at 5hourenergy.com or get it delivered by Amazon. Give yourself a caffeine flavor upgrade with five-hour energy shots.

Speaker 2 Get yours in store and online, fivehourenergy.com or on Amazon today.

Speaker 3 No, no, no.

Speaker 4 I love dogs, but no, I just walk them.

Speaker 3 Oh, okay. But he has a dog.
Oh. Who's gorgeous? Dogs love me.

Speaker 1 They come up to me.

Speaker 3 Oh, that's great. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Dogs have a good sense of people,

Speaker 3 personalities.

Speaker 6 I like to, I like when I see a dog, I like to try to communicate telepathically with it and let it know that I'm okay.

Speaker 3 How do you do that?

Speaker 1 Well, in my head, I just say, like, you know, you're a good boy, and I'm a good boy.

Speaker 3 What

Speaker 3 you say, I'm a good boy.

Speaker 3 Yeah, well, I am. I'm a good boy.

Speaker 3 Yeah, but why do you need to tell the dog that?

Speaker 1 Because I want the dog to believe that I'm a good boy too.

Speaker 7 We're both good boys.

Speaker 3 We're gonna get along.

Speaker 8 You know?

Speaker 8 On this episode of the Commercial Break,

Speaker 1 it fit really quickly.

Speaker 1 And I think that was another interesting thing because, you know, Eastbound was really centered around Danny's character and vice principals was a two-hander with him and Walton Goggins.

Speaker 1 And then this all of a sudden is their take on an ensemble show.

Speaker 1 And they did kind of prove that they could move up. I don't know if you would call that an evolution, but it's just different style.

Speaker 1 And they took on that ensemble style and they gave everyone, this was key. They gave everyone ownership over their parts.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And they trusted everyone. Like, I'm not going to come in and change everything, but if the syntax feels weird in my mouth, they're like, change it.

Speaker 3 Say it how you think the character would say it, you know?

Speaker 8 The next episode of the commercial break starts now.

Speaker 3 Yeah,

Speaker 3 boys.

Speaker 7 Oh, yeah, Cats and Kittens. Welcome back to the Commercial Break.
I'm Brian Greene. This is my dear friend and the co-host of this show, Chris and Joy.
Odle, best to you, Chris.

Speaker 3 Best to you, Brian.

Speaker 7 Best of you out there in the podcast universe. Thanks for joining us on a DCB Infomercial Tuesday.

Speaker 7 Coming at you with our new best friend, who I'm sure we just become buddy-buddy with everybody, Chrissy.

Speaker 3 I thought well. Tim Baltz is here.

Speaker 7 And if you don't know that name, you know that face. You know that guy.

Speaker 7 He's been in some...

Speaker 6 Some rather

Speaker 7 prestigious television shows. The Righteous Gen Stones.

Speaker 5 Yes, in its fourth season.

Speaker 7 In its fourth season, and its final season. Better call Saul.
He made a guest appearance that was great. I just re-watched it last night.
It's it's a little appearance, but he made a big impact.

Speaker 7 Little appearance, big impact.

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 7 Better call Saul. He now has Shrink, which is available, I believe, on Peacock.
Yes. And Deliboys, which is getting really good reviews on Hulu.
I haven't seen it, but I look forward to watching it.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I've started watching it.

Speaker 3 It's good.

Speaker 3 He plays a great character.

Speaker 6 Oh, he does?

Speaker 7 What's his character in the show?

Speaker 5 He's like the

Speaker 5 he's like the pol the investigator. Okay.
But he also stormed the Capitol or something.

Speaker 3 It's funny.

Speaker 5 I guess I'm just in the first, like a bunch of the first two.

Speaker 3 Oh, really?

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 7 I'm interested to see this show. Isn't this about like a group of like gas station guys who turn into a gang or something like that?

Speaker 5 No, well, it's

Speaker 5 two sons

Speaker 5 who have their father kind of kept them shielded, but he had a big conglomerate or a big, you know,

Speaker 7 organized crime.

Speaker 3 He did. They didn't know that.

Speaker 5 They just thought he owned delis.

Speaker 7 Ah, okay, there's the deli boys. Yeah, I read a summary of it.

Speaker 5 He dies, and then now they're kind of brought into the fold.

Speaker 7 Very fascinating.

Speaker 7 Very good. All right.
Well, Tim is in that. He plays.

Speaker 7 What is the name of his character on Righteous Gemstones? It is.

Speaker 3 BJ. Oh, yeah, that's right.

Speaker 7 BJ. He is the husband of

Speaker 3 Ellie Patterson. It's her

Speaker 5 actor's name, and I can't remember.

Speaker 3 B.J. Barnes.

Speaker 7 He's B.J. Barnes on the show.
That's hilarious. He is so good in this show.
Everybody is great in this show. They are all just scene stealers.
It's hard.

Speaker 7 Chrissy and I were talking beforehand and we made the, we came to the conclusion that Righteous Gemstones and that whole line of Danny McBride, you know, ensemble cast stuff is similar to the 80s and 90s when Christopher Guest was knocking it out of the park on every single improv movie that he did.

Speaker 7 And, you know, Christopher Guest, all those movies, I think are like 95% improv. They have a bullet point and they're trying to get there, but the rest is improv.

Speaker 7 And I know Danny has scripts, but it's so funny and so good and so well done that it reminds me of the gut-busting.

Speaker 3 The parodies. Yes, it's so good.

Speaker 6 And Righteous Gemstones is so on point. It's so prescient.

Speaker 3 We've done so many of those.

Speaker 7 The preachers.

Speaker 3 The preacher features.

Speaker 7 It's hard to preach on a full dick.

Speaker 3 That's right, Carl.

Speaker 7 Good old Carl. I was watching some videos of Carl the other day.
Oh, yeah, Carl's back on the scene. He is? Yeah, but he's like a reformed man now.
He believes in Jesus, but not

Speaker 7 without all the pomp and circumstance. And I don't believe any of it.
This is another way for him to try and make money.

Speaker 7 I'm sure there's a money grab somewhere here.

Speaker 6 It's the year of our Lord, the money grab. That's what it is.

Speaker 6 Everyone's trying to fuck everybody else over so we can all make an extra buck because the end of the world is right around the corner and we all want to live a little bit of luxury before we die.

Speaker 3 That's how I feel.

Speaker 7 That's how I feel. Yeah.
You know,

Speaker 7 so anyway, so Tim's here. He's also from Joe Lietch, Illinois, which is in near Chicago and very close to my hometown.
So I feel like we're already friends in some way. Chicago is this weird place.

Speaker 7 There's a line in West Wing where the president is talking to his chief of staff and he says something about Chicago.

Speaker 7 And the chief of staff goes, or the president goes, Chicago is one of those weird places that everybody who has ever been there is from Chicago and they love Chicago, but they don't live there currently.

Speaker 3 Right.

Speaker 3 It's so true.

Speaker 6 It's so true.

Speaker 9 Well, you spend a winter in Chicago and see how it goes down with you.

Speaker 5 It's a bonding

Speaker 5 thing.

Speaker 7 It's a bonding thing. When you're a Chicago kid, you're a Chicago kid.
You'll always be a Chicago kid.

Speaker 7 I even, I have friends who lived there for college years or right after college, they took a job or whatever. And it's like, they claim they're from Chicago.

Speaker 7 Even though they got there when they were 20 and left when they were 22, they claim they're from Chicago for the rest of your life.

Speaker 7 Because if you've ever been to Chicago, it's just one of the coolest fucking places on earth.

Speaker 3 I have been told that many times. I love it.

Speaker 7 It is like New York without the sharp elbows. It is

Speaker 7 in a lot of ways.

Speaker 3 It's on the water

Speaker 7 part of it. Yeah, it's on the water.
It's a big city. It's got a lot of personality.
There are a lot of flavors of human beings that live there, Irish, Polish,

Speaker 7 everything. You know, it's all there.
It's a big melting pot. And it's got almost a little bit of southern hospitality.

Speaker 7 Like, people aren't going to, like, say hi to you when you're walking down the street. But if you get into a conversation with them, they're going to be very nice.
Yeah.

Speaker 7 Because that's just how Chicago is. Chicago, we're nice people.

Speaker 3 Well, it's Midwest, right?

Speaker 7 That's right. We all suffered the same winter.
So let us be nice to each other now that we can actually go outdoors. And if you don't think Chicago's cold in the winter, go to Chicago in the winter.

Speaker 7 It's fucking cold, man. It's fucking cold.
Anyway, so Tim from Chicago, then he moved to LA. And he's, what else has he done? He's been in so many episodes of comedy Bang Bang, which is a.

Speaker 5 He's got, oh, we talked about Shrink. Yeah.

Speaker 7 He's been in, he's, he, he wrote, produced, and I think directed some of the episodes of Shrink. Yeah,

Speaker 7 when he was in Chicago, he wrote that, and then he moved off to LA.

Speaker 7 Better call Salt Veep. He was in Veep.
He was in Parks and Recreation. He's in Drunk History.

Speaker 7 He's in

Speaker 7 a web comedy series that's called Bajillion Dollar Properties, which I watched an episode of.

Speaker 6 It's really funny.

Speaker 7 It's kind of mocking those million-dollar mansion, whatever those shows are. The most, those ridiculous shows.
You know, those real estate agents that are on those shows?

Speaker 7 They are like certified millionaire. Those people are celebrities, number one.
Number two, they're certified millionaires. Number three, they get a lot of press coverage.

Speaker 7 Those people who are in those television shows, especially that one that's on Bravo.

Speaker 5 The million-dollar listing.

Speaker 7 Yeah, the million-dollar listing. They're like certified celebrities in their own right now.

Speaker 3 I would guess so.

Speaker 7 Yeah, And that's,

Speaker 7 it, that seems to be like

Speaker 7 it's too much for one person. Like you can be, have a job where you make a couple million dollars a year, or you can be a D-list celebrity, but you can't have both.

Speaker 7 And if the Real Housewives of Atlanta has taught us anything, it's that you can't have both. You can't be rich and somewhat famous.

Speaker 7 You have to be one or the other because all of those women in the Real Housewives of Atlanta are one or the other. I'm telling you that right now.
They're not both.

Speaker 7 Except Candy. Except Candy.
What is Candy both rich and famous?

Speaker 3 Oh, yeah. She's rich? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 6 What does she do?

Speaker 5 Oh, God. Well, she was in, you know, all the girl,

Speaker 5 the, she's done a lot with music.

Speaker 5 She's huge in the music industry. Oh, she is.
For one, yeah. And then for a while.

Speaker 3 Oh, she's done a lot of

Speaker 5 businesses, Candy, what? Candy.

Speaker 3 Burris? Yeah, Candy Burris. Candy Burris.

Speaker 7 Yeah, she used to come up to the

Speaker 3 sex toy line.

Speaker 5 She's got a lot of different, she's act, she does like movie stuff.

Speaker 3 Oh. So, yeah, she's big.

Speaker 7 Okay, So Candy's out there. Candy used to come up to the studio.
Yeah. And remember, there was a studio next to the studio.

Speaker 7 There was like an actual music studio next to the studio called 12 Music or something like that. She would always be in there.

Speaker 7 There'd be a lot of celebrities would go in and out of that, the real studio. And then there was the fake studio where we were doing an internet radio show to no one, to no one.

Speaker 3 You were ahead of your time.

Speaker 7 Yes. I remember the first day.

Speaker 7 The first day we actually broadcast, we had like 1,300 people on the stream. And I was so excited.

Speaker 6 I'm like, this is going to go straight to the moon.

Speaker 7 And every day we lost 100 people. Every day, we lost 100 people for 13 days in a row till we had no one.

Speaker 7 I mean, sometimes I would look on that stream and it would say two, and I'd realize that there were two people downstairs watching the stream to make sure that it was on. And I was like, well,

Speaker 7 I guess tomorrow I could come in late.

Speaker 3 My friend Kimmy did the show with you.

Speaker 7 She did. Kimmy and Allie did it for a while.
I mean, like on occasion, you'd have a couple hundred people that would be watching, but it wasn't very often that that would happen.

Speaker 7 And most of the time, it was in the tens or maybe 100 people. But then there was some times where, like on a Monday, where it would just be nobody, nobody.

Speaker 7 I'm talking about scam call FM in case you got to go. You'll have to, you have to listen to every episode of the commercial break to know what I'm talking about.
So get started right now.

Speaker 7 Please, go ahead. There's a lady on the telephone that's saying she's going through the entire catalog of the commercial break.

Speaker 6 Wow.

Speaker 7 And I'm like, that's going to take you five years. And that's if you listen to them back to back.
I don't know how you're going to do that. Do you have kids or a job?

Speaker 3 Because that's not going to work.

Speaker 7 It's just not going to work. Okay.
Anyway, Tim Baltz is here with us. Why don't we do this?

Speaker 7 Let's take a short break.

Speaker 7 And when we get back through the magic of telepodcasting, Chrissy, we are going to have Tim right here on this big screen in front of us so that we can talk to him and interrupt him every five seconds, according to most people on the internet.

Speaker 3 How's that? Sounds good. All right.

Speaker 7 We'll take a break. We'll be back with Tim.

Speaker 12 Let me do something Brian has never done.

Speaker 7 Be brief.

Speaker 12 Follow us on Instagram at the Commercial Break. Text or call us 212-433-3TCB.
That's 212-433-3822. Visit our website, tcbpodcast.com, for all the audio, video, and your free sticker.

Speaker 12 Then watch all the videos at youtube.com/slash thecommercial break. And finally, share the show.
It's the best gift you could give a few aging podcasters.

Speaker 3 See, Brian, that really wasn't that difficult, Mao, was it?

Speaker 12 You're welcome.

Speaker 2 This episode is sponsored in part by Rula. You know, there was a time when I really needed therapy, but I could not find a therapist who took my insurance.

Speaker 2 I can remember feeling so stuck like I had to choose between getting help and staying on budget. That's why I think what Rula is doing is so very important.

Speaker 2 Rula makes therapy accessible and affordable by partnering with over 100 insurance plans. The average copay is around $15 per session, and depending on your benefits, it could even be less.

Speaker 2 They also take the time to find the right therapist for you, someone who understands your goals, your preferences, and your background. There's no waiting weeks or months for an appointment.

Speaker 2 You can start as soon as tomorrow, and Rula stays with you along the way, checking in, supporting your progress, and helping you feel seen and cared for.

Speaker 2 Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit rula.com/slash commercial to get started.

Speaker 2 And after you sign up, you'll be asked how you heard about them. Please support the commercial break and let them know we sent you.
That's rula.com slash commercial.

Speaker 2 You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget.

Speaker 11 This is Free Range with Von Miller, the podcast where I step outside the lines and I take you with me.

Speaker 11 Each week, we're talking everything from the biggest stories around the league to the biggest stories off the field. This isn't your average sports podcast.

Speaker 11 This is game meets culture, locker room meets living room, and no topic is off limits.

Speaker 11 So if you're into good conversations that ruffle a few feathers, join me every Wednesday and follow Free Range with Von Miller everywhere you get your podcast.

Speaker 2 This episode is sponsored by our longtime sponsor, Squarespace. I am working on a new project, Information TBD.
It's very secretive.

Speaker 2 It's very hush-hush around here because, you know, podcast secrets are a thing.

Speaker 2 Anywho, there is only one all-in-one website tool that's designed to help my new project stand out and be successful, and that one tool is Squarespace.

Speaker 2 Squarespace can help me through every step of the process. The launch, the scaling, the branding, and the growth.

Speaker 2 No matter what part of the journey I am on, Squarespace is an all-in-one website platform, so it'll cater to my needs every step of the way.

Speaker 2 There are so many benefits, services, and tools built into Squarespace, I would need a 10-minute commercial to name them all.

Speaker 2 Cutting edge design, search engine optimization tools, domain management, analytics, email campaigns, the ability to host videos, videos, and most importantly, the ability to get paid.

Speaker 2 So if you've been thinking about building or upgrading your website, now's the time to head to squarespace.com slash commercial for a free trial.

Speaker 2 And when you're ready to launch, make sure to use the offer code commercial to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. That's squarespace.com slash commercial.

Speaker 2 Then be sure to use the code commercial when you're ready to launch. Squarespace has been with the commercial break for a long time, and we have have been with Squarespace for even longer.

Speaker 2 This is a company we trust. It's a product we use and there's one overarching reason why.
It makes my life easier. Go build yourself a beautiful website, squarespace.com slash commercial.

Speaker 2 And thank you to Squarespace for being a sponsor of the commercial break.

Speaker 9 Tim's here with us now. Tim, thanks so much for joining us today.
You are in the middle of a whirlwind of you.

Speaker 9 There's an embarrassment of television with tim bolts in it because you've got deli boys you've got righteous gemstones deliboys getting great reviews righteous gemstones you have to have your head in the hole not to know what a funny fantastic show that is

Speaker 2 chrissy and i were we

Speaker 9 making comparisons is how human beings sometimes get through life and we were saying that we feel like righteous gemstones is like the christopher guest of our time like righteous gemstones and that crew doing such great comedic comedic work is like the christopher guest of our time you guys are just a group of human beings that are so

Speaker 1 funny are you i don't see why you don't laugh yeah why do you not laugh time you get on set i mean just looking at everybody

Speaker 1 you know the days are like you know 14 15 hours long so

Speaker 1 you get the laughs out like pretty early with your first second cup of coffee and then like when the work starts you're you're you know that if you laugh it adds time to the day so yeah

Speaker 1 something can be funny, but eventually like your brain gets hardwired to be like, yeah, that's good. But if you ruin that take, that's 10 more minutes, you know?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Good point. But yeah, that's, I mean, that's very nice of you.

Speaker 1 Those guys, I, I was a huge fan of McBride and Jody Hill and David Gordon Green and the whole rough house production team going into this and had obviously like a lot of people devoured he spawned him down and I'd actually auditioned for vice principals and hadn't gotten another great show by Danny McBride.

Speaker 1 Fantastic show. And like, I mean, I think when I first got an iPad, the first thing that I, the first movie that I bought was Foot Fist Way.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And I was like, oh, this is great.
Like, I haven't seen this, like, the one thing of theirs that I haven't seen. And it was the start of all of it, you know.

Speaker 1 And I'm watching it on the plane.

Speaker 1 You know, I'm like, I'm like halfway back in economy watching it on the plane, and like huge tits are on the screen. And I'm like,

Speaker 1 whoa, wait a minute.

Speaker 1 So I felt very honored because I think as a huge fan of comedy too, and this is not something where I'm like, you know, hey, compliment me for being part of this.

Speaker 1 But I really felt like I love, you know, I've watched a ton of comedy. I've devoured like British comedy.
My mom's from France.

Speaker 1 I've watched a ton of like French and European comedies and things like that and anything. that I could get my hands on.

Speaker 1 And I think that, you know, a lot of mainstream stuff, it relies on casting stars, and that's always been the case.

Speaker 1 But I think what makes McBride's and their team's comedy so enduring and funny and why it stands out is that they cast in a way where

Speaker 1 the ensembles just always feel perfect, you know?

Speaker 1 There's no one sticking out where you're like, well, that person's really good and I really know them and I've been following their career, but what are they doing in this thing?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They never do that.
And even when they do cast names,

Speaker 1 they're perfectly cast, and so um,

Speaker 1 just getting cast in it, I thought, like, wow, it's an honor that they think that I would fit into a world like that.

Speaker 1 And uh, and you know, I got, I mean, from the second that I auditioned, I got to test when I did the HBO test, I got to test with Edie Patterson, and the way that we were improvising, I'm like, this is going to be a great

Speaker 9 hilarious, you know, I think you're right about something

Speaker 9 in these shows, specifically this line, this lineage of shows with with Danny McBride.

Speaker 9 Obviously, Danny is a showstopper. He's a scene stealer, but there are no scene stealers in the ensemble.
They're all scene stealers.

Speaker 9 You guys are all doing these nuggets where it's like, that is so fucking funny. And you're right about this.
Sometimes in the comedic ensemble, there's one standout.

Speaker 9 Like, oh, Steve Corell's really good in that movie, you know, and 40-year-old Virgin. Then there's a couple other throwaway lines.

Speaker 9 But in this ensemble, specifically, so many seasons so good everybody is comedically on point and i think that's what makes the show so brilliant much like a christopher guess movie is that everybody is stealing the scenes and i think that's a testament to the writers and a testament to you and the team who are gelling so well and i yeah again i don't know how you i know that it takes an extra it'll get an extra 10 minutes on your play i don't know how you don't just giggle your way through it i mean i mean i mean just there are a lot there are a lot of days where we do.

Speaker 1 I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 9 You guys filmed in Charleston?

Speaker 1 We filmed in Charleston, South Carolina. Yeah.
Nice. Yeah, not far from us.
No, not far at all. I mean,

Speaker 1 it's a gorgeous town. You know, it's the food and

Speaker 1 hospitality scene down there is unparalleled. It really is kind of shocking how high the bar is for restaurants.

Speaker 9 That's a great place. Oh, man.
It's, yeah, it's one of the first, I think, foodie towns. It really puts the southeast on the map.

Speaker 9 And if you, I mean, Charleston is one of my favorite cities in the country for so many reasons. It's quaint, but it's large enough that you've got everything.
The food scene is there.

Speaker 9 It's one of the most beautiful, visually appealing cities in the country.

Speaker 9 Yeah, in the history. Does HBO give you a nice mansion on the island over there?

Speaker 1 You guys

Speaker 1 are.

Speaker 9 What's the scene for, how do they, do they hook you up with a nice condo on Rainbow Row? What goes on?

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 1 it was fascinating because we were, you know, we filmed the pilot there in 2018 and then we came back in 2019 to start season one. And so we saw so much growth while we were there.

Speaker 1 I remember in 2018 being like, this is kind of a sleepy town. Like you can get, if you're in Mount Pleasant, you know, you're zooming off to Sullivan's Island or IOP or whatever.

Speaker 1 And it doesn't take long. You know, it's like eight minutes.
And then by the time we were finishing last year, there's massive traffic jams. You know, you're like, you get on Ben Coleman.

Speaker 1 I mean, this is all for the locals, but you get on Ben Coleman and you're like, where the the fuck are all these people going? Where do they come from?

Speaker 1 And the locals have two attitudes about it. You know, they're like, they're like, ah, it's terrible.
It's changed. It's gotten so busy.

Speaker 1 And then the others are like, this is a sign of a thriving city and we love it. And it helps, you know, prop up so many businesses.

Speaker 1 The first season, though, I actually lived with Edie Patterson and Cassidy Freeman on Salt Lake Island in kind of a beach mansion.

Speaker 1 How fun! And it was like summer camp the whole season. We were riding our bikes to dinner.
I mean, it was really like the type of experience. Like I'm on location right now in Wilmington.

Speaker 1 I'm in an Airbnb. And, you know, no offense to this Airbnb, but it ain't what we were used to in Charleston.

Speaker 9 Yeah,

Speaker 9 it's not the same vibe. Wilmington and Charleston, not the same vibe.
Wilmington, beautiful in its own way.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I love it. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 You,

Speaker 9 I love that idea. I love the idea that you're like at Sullivan's Island filming what will become one of the best comedy television series of generation.

Speaker 9 That's just that, and I think probably, I got to imagine, and we have so many comedians on this show, and obviously you're

Speaker 9 a comedic actor, but we don't talk to many actors like proper, right? People who are doing these big shows.

Speaker 9 That must lend to the vibe on set when it feels like we're in a nice place. We're having fun.
We're riding our bikes to work. We're going out to dinner with each other.

Speaker 9 There must be something magical that's happening on and offset. And that must lend to

Speaker 9 what you see on the screen, that vibe, I would imagine.

Speaker 1 Yeah, absolutely. There was synergy from day one, too.
From the first time we did the table read, you're looking around and it was like a rogue's gallery, you know.

Speaker 1 You're like, John Goodman's here, you know, and like Adam Devine's here, and Edie's here, and Cassidy has been working since she was like 19, you know, and Skylar Grizondo has been working since he was like seven.

Speaker 1 It was really Greg Allen Martin. I mean, he was, yeah, he was on, he He was on Baywatch.
That's true.

Speaker 1 And the amount of small world connections that we had between us,

Speaker 1 it fit really quickly. And I think that was another interesting thing because Eastbound was really centered around Danny's character.

Speaker 1 And then Vice Principals was a two-hander with him and Walton Goggins. And then this all of a sudden is their take on an ensemble show.

Speaker 1 And they did kind of prove that they could move up. I don't know if you would call that an evolution, but it's just different style.

Speaker 1 And they took on that ensemble style and they gave everyone, this was key. They gave everyone ownership over their parts.
Yeah. And they trusted everyone.

Speaker 1 Like, I'm not going to come in and change everything, but if the syntax feels weird in my mouth, they're like, change it. Say it how you think the character would say it, you know? Or if

Speaker 1 we got the script, then do this take for you guys. You know, uh, you know, say whatever you want on this one, or you can go off, feel free to go off page or whatever.
So we would always kind of um

Speaker 1 find

Speaker 1 new things uh through that process and also it just empowers you to own the character and and then you're seeing everyone else do it and you think okay well everybody really knows who they are and the truth is like in most seasons of a show you're halfway through and you're like is it good Are we doing it?

Speaker 1 Because you're figuring it out, especially in the first season. And that one was just razor sharp from the beginning.

Speaker 1 Everyone knew who they were, what their role was, and you had a sense that something special was happening from the pilot.

Speaker 9 Have you worked with directors or on shows or in whatever it is, where the directors, the writers, the producers really have an iron grip over their vision? And it's like,

Speaker 9 I hear it in my head this way. You need to play it this way.
And then you get to a...

Speaker 9 Righteous Gemstones and they say, you own the character. And if it doesn't feel right to you, then I want to hear what you have to say, or I want to hear how you would interpret what's on the page.

Speaker 9 Is there, does it feel better one way or the other? Just depend on this situation.

Speaker 9 Do you like that as an actor for someone to tell you, this is how it is, and I envision it this way, and this is my vision. I want you to follow it.
And then

Speaker 9 now you're having the opposite experience. What feels better to you, or it just depends on the situation?

Speaker 1 I mean, that's a great question because you really do. That's a spectrum.
Those two things are on either side. You know,

Speaker 1 i've had

Speaker 1 i've come in as the toughest thing to do is come in as a guest star during the the filming of a season whether it's the first one or later

Speaker 1 calls all well yeah well that one

Speaker 1 that's like the best that's the best audition i ever got i literally got an audition that said please prepare a voice for a talking toilet and i was like what

Speaker 1 and then when i did the audition they literally like i i did the audition as the character and then they're like can you please step off camera and do the toilet and i was like okay so i like step off camera and i'm like gosh you're so big

Speaker 1 give it to me chandler and they're they're all laughing and it's just a blank wall that they're recording and laughing um that but that one was i think when casting is doing its job and you feel like they have and you're walking into a situation where they all think you're the right person for the job then you don't really have those When you walk into a situation and you feel like two of the executive producers want me there and the director and another executive producer don't want me there.

Speaker 1 That's the tricky part. That's the part where you're like, I can feel that they're fighting, and their visions are not aligned, and I'm going to get squeezed by this disagreement.

Speaker 1 You know, you're going to get pulled. Yeah.
And, and I, in those situations, like, if I can feel the director, I'm not giving a director something, I'll just be like, give me a line reading.

Speaker 1 Like, I don't, I'm not precious about that. It's going to make everyone's job easier.
Just tell me how you want it to say because I came in with a vision, I got cast, and now it's not working.

Speaker 1 So let's problem solve and figure it out. So it's probably, I do like it when

Speaker 1 I do like the other side a little bit more. I think anybody would, where you show up and they're like, what do you got? Whatever you do, it's going to be great.

Speaker 1 And then we'll tweak it and we'll get it there. Because then you feel like.
your decision making is part of the process. And

Speaker 1 I've seen that on the, you know, because the show Shrink, which is on Peacock, it,

Speaker 1 I was one of the co-creators and I wrote on the season and was one of the EPs and was the lead actor. And when someone would come in

Speaker 1 making a strong choice,

Speaker 1 you'd have this relief. You're like, oh, thank God.
Thank God. They don't have a choice.
We don't have to mold them in the moment because time is money.

Speaker 1 So when they would make a choice, be like, okay, great. They're like 95% there.
This is going to be fine.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 that feels good. It makes everyone feel safe.
So if you're casting and you know that this person already made the choice, then they're showing up and you have way less to worry about.

Speaker 9 Yeah, it's like

Speaker 9 they're moving in a direction. So I don't have to babysit them.
And they're giving color to this character that I created.

Speaker 9 And maybe, you know, I don't know because I've never been on a set, but I know you hear the stories that there are people like James Cameron who it's my way or it's the highway and I don't give a shit and he's not tactful about it.

Speaker 9 And then there's very collaborative, you know, directors and writers who say, I see it this way,

Speaker 9 but I hired you for the part. And so you tell me how you see it.

Speaker 1 I love that. You know, I want to be in the next avatar.
So I love that.

Speaker 1 I want to be on avatar.

Speaker 9 You just want those points on the back end. That's what you want.

Speaker 1 Or whatever. Absolutely.
Are you kidding? Avatar back end? Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 9 It's amazing that that guy has just had a string. I mean, just a run.
Like a run.

Speaker 9 Everything he does turns to a billion-dollar gold.

Speaker 1 I saw this on Instagram the other day. There was this post that was like his wife watched Avatar Air and Fire or whatever it's called and cried for four hours afterwards.
And you're like, come on.

Speaker 1 She needs medication. What are you talking about? Yes.

Speaker 1 You're crying about something else. Yeah.
You're crying about

Speaker 1 billion-dollar opportunity.

Speaker 9 Well, she hasn't done too bad herself either. So

Speaker 9 tell me about the Deli Boys because so, shrink, critically acclaimed, uh, righteous gemstones, critically acclaimed, very funny. And then now, Deli Boys is getting great reviews, also.

Speaker 9 So, tell us about Deliboys because this just this just dropped along with Righteous Gemstones, also.

Speaker 1 Yeah, what, like two, less than two weeks ago or something? Um, yeah, they dropped three days apart, which is which is rare. Like, those things line up so rarely.

Speaker 1 I think the last time it happened for me, uh, this episode of Chicago PD and Veep came out. Like, uh, yeah, the thing was like, wow, this is amazing.
Yeah,

Speaker 9 The

Speaker 1 Deliboys was shot in Chicago and cheated for Philadelphia. So for me, it was like a homecoming.
I got to come back. And there was a lot of crew that had worked on Shrink

Speaker 1 that was working on Deliboys, and I hadn't seen them in like eight or nine years.

Speaker 1 Oh, nice. That was really lovely.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Some people from the camera department and art department and

Speaker 1 wardrobe. And that was, it was really special because Shrink was the thing that moved me out to LA

Speaker 1 back in 2014. And I never thought I'd live in L.A., but we sold a show from Chicago, which is super rare.
And then

Speaker 1 just had to go.

Speaker 1 So Deliboys got to come back and spend time with family and friends. And

Speaker 1 the cast was amazing. It was just, it was another one of those things.
You walk in and you don't know what the vibe is and you're a little hesitant. You're like, I don't know what it is.

Speaker 1 I'm coming as a guest star for six episodes.

Speaker 1 That's a long time if the vibe is bad. And the vibe was immaculate.
It was incredible. Asfali, Sagar Shaikh, Pornhna Jagannathan, Brian George, like the whole cast.
They were just phenomenal.

Speaker 1 Allie Reddy was my scene partner and she crushed it. And we had a great time and it flew by.
That's the other thing. That was like season one of Gemstones.
It just flew by.

Speaker 1 And the next thing you know, you're like, man.

Speaker 1 Give our audience.

Speaker 9 Give our audience a flavor of what Deli Boys is about. For those who haven't seen it.

Speaker 1 So I saw this in one of the reviews, which I thought was a great way to describe it. They said it was Guy Ritchie meets succession.

Speaker 1 I'm about that all day long.

Speaker 3 Guy Ritchie meets succession.

Speaker 1 And people, there were so many people. I think it dropped on like a Thursday or a Friday.
And there were so many people that by that first weekend, they had binged the whole thing.

Speaker 1 Or they said, I watched everything in two days. So it's very bingea.
I watched personally, I watched the whole thing in two days.

Speaker 1 And I have a lot of friends that are like, oh, it kind of feels like Cohen Brothers. But when they came to me with it, they said Gemstones was a comp

Speaker 1 for them

Speaker 1 because it lives in this world of, you know, it's a family drama. Like that's the conflict that's driving the story.
But it has a lot of heart along with the comedy and the violence and the gore. And

Speaker 1 there's a lot of kind of like suspense and intrigue. And

Speaker 1 I was just really, really impressed. It was the executive producers were Jenny Conner, Nora Silver, Michelle Nader, and they were incredible.

Speaker 6 I mean Nora Silver is Nora is legendary.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and Jenny Conner did girls on HBO and a ton of other things. And they're, they're, I mean, really, like all of them are kind of like, it was again, like a rogues gallery.

Speaker 1 And the cool thing about the cast is, you know, a lot of these people you've seen work for a long time, but they've never had a cast that's all the leads are South Asian, you know, they're Indian, Pakistani, and they all now are like the leads of the show as opposed to the side characters.

Speaker 1 And so the vibe on set was just everyone was so grateful. And we would go film and you'd see the South Asian community come out like extras or whatever.

Speaker 1 And they're like everyone, I mean, my heart was just bursting seeing how appreciative and excited everybody was.

Speaker 1 And it was cool to be part of something really special. And then I got to meet Chris Elliott and work with him for a day.
Oh, my God. Oh, really?

Speaker 1 That

Speaker 1 blew my fucking mind. He's in the last episode or the second to last episode.

Speaker 3 Really? Yeah.

Speaker 1 And he, this was crazy.

Speaker 9 How is he getting involved?

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 The Bear films in Chicago. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And his daughter, Abby Elliott, is on The Bear. Wow.
She is the sister. And he was there.
He and his wife were there babysitting.

Speaker 1 And Jenny Connor had reached out to me. She was like, hey, you know everybody in Chicago.
So like, can you recommend some people that would be good for for, you know, this part or that part?

Speaker 1 Or, like, who do you know? So, I'm sending her like, you know, reams of paper with like different things.

Speaker 1 I love everybody there. And I'm like, this person would be great.
That person would be great. And then she said, Okay, well, for this one part, hold off.
I think we got someone. I was like, oh, okay.

Speaker 1 All right. And then she comes back.
She's like, it was Chris Elliott. He's here babysitting.

Speaker 1 And he really had been like, since COVID, he had kind of like just taken a break and been like on grandpa duty and chilling in Maine. And he is one of my all-time heroes.

Speaker 1 So I spent an entire day just kind of like teetering behind him. And then he's like,

Speaker 1 so

Speaker 1 on Letterman,

Speaker 9 he is brilliant. He's a genius.
And you haven't seen much of him lately. And so that's crazy that he just pops out of the woodwork.
Hey, I'm babysitting.

Speaker 9 I don't mind coming in and doing a day worth of work.

Speaker 1 And have you seen, I'm sure you've had this too. Like you ever meet someone and you're like you've been a fan for so long, they're like ubiquitous in your brain.
Yes.

Speaker 1 And then you meet them and you're like, it's them. And they're doing their thing like right here, right in front of me.
Yeah, he was doing, he was doing like Chris Elliott stuff right in front of me.

Speaker 1 And we had a take. And they, I think Jenny Connor was directing that episode.
And she's like, you know, you guys say whatever you want. Like you guys just go wild.
Okay.

Speaker 1 I know, I trust that you'll get the scene. And then I like really kind of stuck to the script and came back.
She's like, you okay? You didn't really improvise. I was like, I'm just stopping.

Speaker 1 It's Chris Elliott.

Speaker 1 Chris Elliott.

Speaker 1 Sorry, I'll shake it off. But like, I had one shake.

Speaker 1 I'm just like,

Speaker 1 jaw on the floor.

Speaker 9 We have those moments all the time here because, and, you know, it's a, it can be a little bit surreal. You know, they say there's like an old saying that never meet your heroes, right?

Speaker 9 Because they may not be what you, they're all, they're never going to be what you see on TV or whatever. That's the character that they're playing or that's the jokey part of them on stage.

Speaker 9 But so many times I've found that when the person is sitting in front of us and we're kind of, you know, fanboying or fangirling or we're really, um, we really like their work, that they end up being so much cooler than we ever thought they would be.

Speaker 9 And, you know, we've met so many of our heroes already here, but 90% of the time, I have to say, I find myself engaged in just like a normal man's conversation, normal person's conversation with them.

Speaker 9 And I'm like, wow, they really are cool on the outside of their character or outside of whatever they're doing, they're doing on stage.

Speaker 9 You, how do I, I want to talk to you about Shrink a little bit because this show, Critically Acclaimed, how did you come up with the idea? And it's streaming on Peacock right now, is that right?

Speaker 3 This came out on Peacock, right?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, I think it was. I mean, it bounced around, it was on Hulu for a little while.
It was, it was on the NBC app. It was originally on CISO.

Speaker 1 But we, we originally made it, a friend and I, as an improvised web series in like 2011.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 there was this thing that used to happen called the New York Television Festival.

Speaker 1 This is right when like kind of indie TV is exploding, you know, end of the 2000s, early 2010s, the kind of tech behind, you know, the production of stuff had been so democratized that you could get footage, you could get the gear together and you could film your own stuff and it could look pretty good, you know?

Speaker 1 And I didn't really have any experience in that. And the co-creator, Ted, he had a friend who was, who had gone through medical school and then he hadn't matched with a university hospital.

Speaker 1 So like when you graduate medical school, you have to match with a university hospital and that's where you go do your residency.

Speaker 1 And he didn't. So he was half a million dollars in debt and he was living in his parents' basement.
And so

Speaker 1 the genesis of the show is that a character like that is

Speaker 1 he decides to defer his student loans by starting to do clinical therapy.

Speaker 1 But for clinical therapy, you have to register 2,000 hours of free therapy. Like you have to administer those sessions.
2,000 hours. 2,000 hours.
And then

Speaker 1 you can start getting paid. But while you're doing that, you defer the half a million dollars in debt.

Speaker 1 So this character, that happens to him, and he's basically like, you know, his parents co-signed on his loan, so they need it to happen. And he's doing these sessions out of his parents' garage.

Speaker 1 And he finds a therapist to supervise his hours. And it's the story of like him kind of trying to get better.

Speaker 1 And he's doing all these unconventional things and he's trying to do therapy outside of the garage with which is with his patients which is unethical you know

Speaker 1 right

Speaker 1 but uh but it was great and it was this thing that organically developed and we turned it into a pilot in 2012 and we took it to new york television festival and we ended up winning best comedy and critics award and then uh gene demanion productions picked it up and helped us develop it and we pitched it in 2013 and we sold it to this place called pivot which doesn't exist anymore and then it sat in development for two and a half years there which was very frustrating.

Speaker 1 Then they gave it back. And then I was working on this other show, Bajillion Dollar Properties on CISO.
And oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So then they

Speaker 1 knew who I was. And so we went in there and we're like, well, look, we have this thing.
And we had made a pilot, and the pilot was really good.

Speaker 1 And so it was this calling card that kept kind of like people would pass it around in these indie circles.

Speaker 1 And because we were like a Vimeo staff pick, I mean, it picked up like all the awards that you could on that little circuit. Yeah.
Sure. And we sold it to them.

Speaker 1 And then the next thing we knew, we were writing it. We wrote eight-episode season and came out of Chicago.
We filmed it and then it came out.

Speaker 1 And then, like, two months after it came out, we found out that all of CISO was going away.

Speaker 1 So we're like, what the? And they had just ordered a season two. That was the tough part.
Oh, my God. Yeah.
But that

Speaker 1 also is like, that's,

Speaker 1 that was kind of like the canary in the coal mine,

Speaker 1 so to speak, of the streaming age, you know? Yes. That now people are seeing that happen all the time.
You'll see an entire series just get disappeared, even though it was a fan favorite.

Speaker 1 You'll see entire movies never get released, even though they're, you know, $50 million

Speaker 1 for some tax write-off.

Speaker 1 And you don't own the licensing. So right now we're just thrilled that it's on Peacock and people can see it.

Speaker 1 And it was,

Speaker 1 I mean, people were like, you know, when it was orphaned, when it wasn't on any platforms,

Speaker 1 people would reach out and be like, hey, just so you know, like people pirated it and it's over here now.

Speaker 9 Wow, that must be an amazing feeling and an amazingly frustrating feeling, right?

Speaker 9 It's like, wow, this, I know I have a good product and it just can't find a home that will run with it in the way that it needs to be run with. And Chrissy and I have talked about this all the time.

Speaker 9 We've talked about this just with so many people who have come on the show.

Speaker 9 I have this feeling, this like, I know this is kind of contrarian, but my feeling is that in some ways, the streamers and OTT

Speaker 9 broke something that necessarily didn't need to be broken, right? And that

Speaker 9 these

Speaker 9 some of these television shows that are fantastic fan favorites, no doubt they're getting, you can't find them or three and done or three and out because the streamers, that's not where the new subscribers lie.

Speaker 9 They don't lie in season number four, they lie in the brand new season, the brand new television show that gets all the PR and that brings people in the door.

Speaker 9 By season number four, it's an established audience that's already here paying us a subscriber's fee. Why are we going to spend money on it? And that is a that's terrible for us as the viewers.

Speaker 9 And sometimes, you know, I forgot who was saying this to us, but somebody, somebody who was just here said, you know, sometimes I feel like

Speaker 1 the networks or the television show or the writers and producers producers owe it to people to wrap up some of these storylines and they never get a chance to do that they just go away yeah i mean it's that's disruption right disruption is just the shell game and they sold it to us as if it was this thing that was going to improve upon a product and it didn't it actually made the the product the access to the product worse right yes and what's funny is that the success of a lot of these streaming platforms is like the bedrock of of a lot of these things: are where can I find the long-running show that I want as a comfort watch?

Speaker 1 Where is Cheers streaming? Where is Seinfeld streaming? Where is Friends streaming? Where is Parks and Rex streaming? Right? Where's Abbott Elementary streaming?

Speaker 1 Like, these are the things that we keep coming back to as foundational, which previous networks used to have in syndication.

Speaker 1 And now they're just moving it around trying to keep everyone from subscribing over here or keep everyone subscribing here and then like canceling this one, but then resubscribing because of other stuff.

Speaker 1 So it's built in this way that forces you to kind of

Speaker 1 spend way more than you did when you had a cable package and a few simple add-ons.

Speaker 1 And the future is most likely a bundling of a few different services together.

Speaker 1 Yeah, conglomerates that are going to come together. And then instead of buying one cable package, you'll have to buy three because it'll be Disney ESPN, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1 It'll be NBC Universal and like, you know, Warner or something like that. Yeah.
They're going to start merging out of necessity. They're already doing it.

Speaker 9 They're already doing it. So the model that they took and disrupted and broke in a million pieces is now coming back to the model that we always had.

Speaker 9 There are television, there are ads running again in the streamers. Now we don't have whole seasons dropping at the same time.
They're dropping week after week.

Speaker 9 The streamers figured out that doesn't work. So let's now go back to every week, every Thursday at nine o'clock, we'll drop this new episode.

Speaker 9 And now it's so funny because I have cable, but but on my cable, I watch Netflix through my cable. It's just another television channel.

Speaker 9 It's just another television channel, and one that has a ton of money to pour into content. But

Speaker 9 there's so much content that the discovery is really difficult. And unless somebody tells me about it, or I have time to, you know, bounce around,

Speaker 9 we found this for you, which I never do, then I don't get to see the new things that are deep in that platform. So

Speaker 9 it's an embarrassment of riches in one way. And in one way, it's just so thin.

Speaker 9 It's so hard to find that I can understand the incredible frustration when you have such a great television show like Shrink, and you're like, oh my gosh, this could be four, five, 10 seasons long in syndication.

Speaker 9 And we could make such a great product over and over again. And then it just gets stuck bouncing around everywhere.

Speaker 9 That's where it must be kind of a blessing to be with a company or a studio like HBO because it's, you know, you know, you're the, and the right to stem stones is obviously a breakout hit for them, but you know that you're going to get the proper promotion and the proper platforming and the proper discovery, at least in that universe,

Speaker 9 that it's got a chance, right? It's got a chance to go the distance. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And after

Speaker 1 Shrink

Speaker 1 that happened and CISO went under, I was like, I need a job. And do you know who Jordan Clepper is? He's on the Daily Show.
I do. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1 So Jordan,

Speaker 1 Jordan had the show called The Opposition, which was on right after The Daily Show for like a year.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 It was kind of like Colbert Rapport, but updated for like the InfoWars era, you know? Yeah. And

Speaker 1 he was like, he's looking for correspondents. And they reached out to me.
And I had, that's called field work, when the correspondents go out into the field and

Speaker 1 man on the street stuff. And

Speaker 1 that's notoriously like really difficult. But I needed a job.

Speaker 1 So I auditioned and I wrote a character that was kind of like his little brother, kind of antagonizing him because he was my first improv coach in Chicago. And I, I always,

Speaker 1 yeah, he was. And I always kind of had that rapport with him, you know, where I'm like kind of annoying him, and he's like, all right, all right.

Speaker 1 And so I wrote that into the character, and it worked. And they flew me out, and I tested, and it went great.
So they're like, okay, you're hired. So then I had to do field work.

Speaker 1 And it was in 2017, 18. Trump's.
Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 So I'm going to like CPAC and Roy Moore rallies and Steve Bannon speeches.

Speaker 9 wearing a bulletproof vest.

Speaker 1 I mean almost. I was wearing well, I was wearing like a American flag t-shirt that I got the other store, which was better than a bulletproof vest.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 that was a really, really tough job. I loved everyone that worked there, but it was really kind of soul-sucking because you're seeing these people that are, they're so,

Speaker 1 you know, they're sucked into this cult, right?

Speaker 1 It's a brainwashed. It's right when like QAnon is coming out.
We were on the ground when it first came out being like, so what do you think? You know, and people are like, Yeah, it's real.

Speaker 1 It was really dark.

Speaker 9 And then, did you notice QAnon went away? Did anybody notice that QAnon just went away?

Speaker 6 QAnon was going to save the world and the big reveal, and the whole world was going to change.

Speaker 1 And it just went away. It just went away.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 that experience, too, where it was, it was hard to draw an audience from that because everyone was kind of in denial at the time. So I went from shrink to that.
And then I landed on Gemstones and HBO.

Speaker 1 And, and, you know, my, my reps had been like, you know, are you going to, you want to pitch something else? You want to get another show out there.

Speaker 1 And I was so heartbroken from the strength stuff that, to be honest, I was like, no,

Speaker 1 this is good. Like, I'm,

Speaker 1 I feel really blessed and lucky to be in this company of people. They're all top-notch in what they do, you know, literally like.

Speaker 1 some of the best in the business and whatever roles they they fill and how they're perceived by the industry. And with Roughhouse, that's just, I mean, they, they're visionaries.

Speaker 1 They really are some of the most underrated people, at least of the 21st century. And

Speaker 1 it was such a gift to just come in and be like, what do you need me to do? I'll like, I mean, and that character, BJ, runs through brick walls with those guys.

Speaker 1 We were jokingly, I was when we were doing press, someone had asked about

Speaker 1 season one. I get hit in the face with a stake.
I get tased.

Speaker 1 I think I get beat up. I fall off a

Speaker 1 fence.

Speaker 1 That's right. Season two, I have like the baptism.

Speaker 1 I get shot.

Speaker 1 Season three, I get a ninja star in my head.

Speaker 1 I have to fight a naked guy. This season, I had to learn how to pole dance.

Speaker 9 And you took this seriously.

Speaker 9 I read an article where you like went to class for like two and a half hours a day.

Speaker 14 That's the poor strength.

Speaker 14 I've tried those classes before.

Speaker 1 They're hard. No, Joe, Chrissy, testify to this.
Testify to this.

Speaker 14 Yes, they are so hard.

Speaker 1 Seriously.

Speaker 14 I don't doubt it.

Speaker 14 It takes a lot of strength.

Speaker 5 Core strength, arm strength, leg. I mean, all of it.

Speaker 1 I was really lucky that the person that they just coincidentally picked happened to be, like, it was the closest Pole studio to production headquarters. And they were like, oh, this one.

Speaker 1 Yeah. The woman running it, Tanya Crisper, bless her heart.
She is the president of the U.S. Aerial Federation.

Speaker 1 So basically, if Pole, if Ariel, if Aerial Sports got into the Olympics, she would be the Olympic coach. Wow.
And she was training me. And I came in and I'm like, look, I'm not very flexible.

Speaker 1 You know, I'm like, I don't know about my routine. I'm a fish out of water.
Yeah, I'm a fish out of water.

Speaker 1 And the first routine, which is in episode two, which is out now, I was supposed to get upside down. And I was like, there's no fucking way.

Speaker 1 And she's like, with all due respect, I think you're going to do this entire routine by yourself. I designed it so that you could do it.
And I'm like, there's no way.

Speaker 1 And she's like, don't take this the wrong way. Your body is built for pull.

Speaker 1 I love it.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 she was right. By the fourth session, I got upside down.
And by the fifth session, I did the entire routine. And we're there high-fiving each other, being like,

Speaker 14 That's inspiring me to go back to these classes because I quit after like two. It's hard.

Speaker 1 Well, you got to pace yourself. I went too hard on the pole, and I hurt my shoulder and my elbow.
Yeah. Too hard on the pole.
I Too hard on the damp pole.

Speaker 1 It's so fantastic.

Speaker 9 You are the kind of the punching bag of that, uh, of that, but it's there's it's so goofy and lovable and absurd in some ways. I love the character, I think, I think it's great.

Speaker 9 There aren't too many characters that I don't love, you're and you're working with some of the best.

Speaker 3 I mean, you got Danny McBride, you and Amy Patterson.

Speaker 14 I mean, the two of you just, I mean, and just the back and forth and what she says. What did she say the other day? I mean, I'm watching it.
You know, it makes me slick. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then like all the, it's just learning, the writing.

Speaker 9 Yeah, the writing is so quick and like witty.

Speaker 9 But I have to ask, who is you like John working with John Goodman? We were just talking about before you came on. We were like, wow, just sitting in the same room with John Goodman.

Speaker 9 I mean, ever since Roseanne, I think we've all thought of him as our best friend.

Speaker 9 He played that character so welcoming to inviting to the audience it felt like that's your dad your uncle your best friend your bud however you saw it at the time um and he parlayed that into a career of epic proportions and he's like in my mind he's 10 feet tall he's alleged oh yeah he really is and you know being from illinois like that was rose you know roseanne was

Speaker 1 our homegirl yeah that house like i knew i did an episode of the connors a few years ago and being in that on the studio lot and in that set and seeing the living room, I'm like, this is, it was surreal because

Speaker 1 that house was so many of my friends' houses.

Speaker 9 Yes, mine too.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And yeah, I think

Speaker 1 very blessed with that set. Like, Adam Devine felt like someone that I had gone to high school with pretty instantly.
Tony Cavallero, I knew since 2012 when we did Montreal Just for Laughs together.

Speaker 1 Edie, like it was, it was super easy from the get-go with Edie, and that was, that made the job so fun and fulfilling. And with John, you're,

Speaker 1 I always said it's like watching a marble statue starting to move, where like everything. But that's a good way to put it.
Everything is perfect.

Speaker 1 Like every take, I would be like, huh, there it was flawless.

Speaker 1 But it was interesting in its own way. And

Speaker 1 I would learn so much from watching him that very quickly season one, I was like, okay, Jody Hill would say this.

Speaker 1 After a good take, he'd be like, I was just watching the movie.

Speaker 1 Like he had no notes. And that was his way of saying no notes.
He was like, I was just watching the movie, guys.

Speaker 1 And with John, quickly, I had to be like, I can't watch the movie from inside the machine.

Speaker 1 I got to get over the fact that it's John. And I got to appreciate the fact that he is an incredible professional.
We had a scene together in season two and

Speaker 1 off camera. He's trying to get better.
That, I think, was the thing that I was most impressed by. Yeah.
he's still working at it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, like he's, we did his coverage first and then turned around and did mine.

Speaker 1 And he's still working the scene from his side of the camera. And, like, he had to, you know, sometimes you have to cheat where like you're in a space.
And so, you know, the camera is on you.

Speaker 1 And then it turns around on the other person. And you have to be like this close to the camera.
And so, yeah, you're doing your scene.

Speaker 1 And I remember John had to be like right here. And he's still emoting and giving the scene his all, and like, you know, contemplating and giving me what I need for the scene.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 You're like, you've been doing this that long and you're still that generous with your scene partner, which is professionalism, but still, there are a lot of people that don't do that.

Speaker 9 Yeah, they phone it in because, you know, it's not the attention's not on me. You know, you do your thing and I'll say the lines so at least you have some background.

Speaker 1 And this respect for him.

Speaker 9 You know,

Speaker 9 I think you're on a run here, kid.

Speaker 1 I think you're on a run here.

Speaker 9 And I got to say, I mean, there's,

Speaker 9 you know, this is 45 minutes that we're talking to you. We could go on and on.
Oh, yeah. Comedy Bang Bang,

Speaker 9 that is my flavor of hot sauce.

Speaker 9 What was it? Maurice Flat Bottom. All these characters you play, I just love it because the commercial break is a lot that way.
You know, we do these sketches at the beginning of the show.

Speaker 9 And Comedy Bang Bang

Speaker 9 has some similar ilk, doing it a lot longer than we have and much better. But, you know, some of these characters that you play, I just love it.
And your roots are in improv.

Speaker 9 I think that's probably served you well inside of some of these television shows

Speaker 9 because you have the ability to be really flexible and versatile. It shows you're really good.

Speaker 9 You're all scene stealers, but there are some scenes where it's just clear that

Speaker 9 your character has

Speaker 7 taken the cake.

Speaker 9 You've got the Deliboys.

Speaker 7 I'm excited.

Speaker 14 So excited.

Speaker 9 Deli Boys is on Hulu, right?

Speaker 1 It is on Hulu.

Speaker 9 And you've got Righteous Gemstones on Max, and then you've got Peacock. You have

Speaker 9 Comedy Bang Bang lives forever on the RSS feed, so you can go listen to that podcast. It's, I think, one of the first places.
We did some advertising for our show to grow the show early on when

Speaker 7 no one was going to listen to the show anyway, even if they heard it.

Speaker 7 Comedy Bang Bang was one of those first places for a while.

Speaker 1 That's great. We also have my wife and I and a few friends have a podcast on the Comedy Bang Bang Patreon.
Oh, really? That's called Hey Randy.

Speaker 1 It's based on Randy Snutz, who's one of the long-running characters that I've done on Comedy Bang Bang. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's a call-in-advice show.

Speaker 1 And we have like our, our, our small but mighty fan base calls in with anything duplicitous and scandalous happening in their lives.

Speaker 1 And, and the, uh, it's just a hometown crew of friends and, and the little drama that's part of their lives. And it's kind of based on like the people that I grew up with and Joliet.
And, and,

Speaker 9 I want to talk to you about Joliette.

Speaker 1 I want to talk to you about Oak Source.

Speaker 9 I want to talk to you about the Cubs and the Bears and the Blackhawks and all the, you know, if you like the White Sox, you're from Indiana.

Speaker 1 But hey, that's a different

Speaker 1 for a different time.

Speaker 9 That's what my dad used to say to me. My grandpa used to say it to us.
And then my dad carried on the tradition. He says, you're from Chicago, son.

Speaker 9 So you like the Bulls, the Bears, the Blackhawks, and the Cubs. And if you ever like the White Sox, move to Indiana.

Speaker 9 But we'll forgive the White Sox fans. We'll forgive the White House.
They have a long storied history themselves. It's just,

Speaker 9 you know, Kamiski and Wrigley, two different places.

Speaker 9 So, Tim Baltz, I'm going to put the links in all the show notes. I'll put a link to the Patreon where you can go listen to it.
It's on Patreon, you said?

Speaker 1 Yeah, the Comedy Bang Bang. CBT World, the Comedy Bang Bang Patreon.
Okay.

Speaker 9 I'll make sure I find a link. I'll put it on there.
I'm going to put a link to all three of the network television shows that Tim has now got out there in the universe.

Speaker 1 Congratulations.

Speaker 9 And congratulations on all your success. We wish that you come back so we can dig deeper into the universe of Tim.
I feel like 45 minutes, we're just scratching the surface.

Speaker 1 I'd love to be back.

Speaker 9 Okay. Well, I know I know your people.
So your people are my people. So we'll call them and we'll get this all hooked up.
Awesome.

Speaker 9 Tim Baltz. Thank you very much, my friend.
We really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 All the best. Thank you.

Speaker 12 Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on TCB. And just like you, I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue.
Let's all rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears.

Speaker 12 And I'll rejoice that my check is in the mail. Speaking of mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to tcbpodcast.com and visiting the contact us page.

Speaker 12 You can also find the entire commercial break library, audio and video, just in case you want to look at Chrissy, at tcbpodcast.com. Want your voice to be on an episode of the show?

Speaker 12 Leave us a message at 212-433-3TCB. That's 212-433-3822.
Tell us how much you love us and we'll be sure to let the world know on a future episode. Or you can make fun of us.
That'd be fine too.

Speaker 12 We might not air that, but maybe. Oh, and if you're shy, that's okay.
Just send a text. We'll respond.

Speaker 12 Now I'm going to go check the mailbox for payment while you check out our sponsors, and then we'll return to this episode of the commercial break.

Speaker 16 Don't let the holidays derail your fitness. Stay on track with Hydro.
20 minutes rowing on a hydro targets 86% of your muscles as Olympians guide you from incredible locations worldwide.

Speaker 16 Running can't compete. That's why 90% stick with hydro a year later.
GQ named the hydro Arc the best rower of 2025. And every hydro comes with free shipping, a 30-day trial, and warranty.

Speaker 16 Go to hydro.com code fit and save up to 600 bucks on your next hydro. Hydro.com code fit.

Speaker 15 Hey, Ryan Reynolds here, wishing you a very happy half-off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service.

Speaker 15 And Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price.

Speaker 13 So that means a half day.

Speaker 15 Yeah? Give it a try at mintmobile.com/slash switch.

Speaker 18 Upfront payment of $45 for a three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only.
Speed slow under 35 gigabytes of networks busy.

Speaker 18 Taxes and fees extra.

Speaker 13 See mintmobile.com.

Speaker 7 I'm going to tell a story that Tim didn't tell recorded, but I'm going to tell the story. I'm going to relay the story.

Speaker 7 So Tim and I were commiserating about being long-suffering Cubs fans before we got on to the actual recording. And he was like, oh, well, at least we have 2016 when the Cubs won the World Series.

Speaker 7 And I said, yeah, you know, and every time someone says Cubs won the World Series, I have to tell them that I almost went if I had $10,000 in my pocket. And he was explaining that he was going to go.

Speaker 7 He was there in Chicago around that time, but he got flown out to L.A. or for whatever reason.

Speaker 7 He goes to a bar on game seven when they won, and he's standing by himself at a table, and someone hits a home run in the first inning, which really is an indication things are going well for the Cubs, essentially.

Speaker 7 And because Cubs fans are so fucking superstitious, there were other Cubs fans in that same bar who were like, you cannot move from that table because you're that it's it's so superstitious that if anything changes, then maybe the Cubs are going to lose.

Speaker 7 And that's how it goes when you're a Cubs fan. So they made him stand there the entire night watching the game, and they would bring him food and water and drinks and stuff like that.

Speaker 7 And he had friends at tables in the corner and they were like, come on, man.

Speaker 6 And he's like, I can't move.

Speaker 3 I can't move.

Speaker 7 I got to stand right here at this bar table for four and a half hours while the Cubs win the World Series. And they did.

Speaker 3 And they won. And we all cried.

Speaker 7 And Tim Baltz is awesome. What a good guy.

Speaker 3 Thanks to Tim. Yeah.

Speaker 7 I enjoyed it. I liked Tim.

Speaker 4 Oh, God.

Speaker 3 Love Tim.

Speaker 7 I wish there was going to be another season of Righteous Gemstones, but, you know, we got four.

Speaker 3 That's better than most.

Speaker 5 I'm going to go back and start re-watching them, which I think is the mark of a great show.

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 5 If you go back and re-watch what you've already watched.

Speaker 7 I totally agree with you. There are shows that I re-watch over and over and over again.

Speaker 7 Kath and Kim, The West Wing,

Speaker 7 Benny Dorm. Benny Dorm is the most terrible show you've ever seen in your entire life, by the way.
I re-watch it at night. It's like comfort food.

Speaker 7 It's like, this is so bad, I know I'll fall asleep to it.

Speaker 3 Why not?

Speaker 7 Sometimes I'll go to sleep on like episode one and then I'll wake up

Speaker 10 and the next day it's on 13.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 7 And I was like wow that played for 13 hours and i wonder where my phone's always dead in the morning all right tim baltz i'm gonna put all of the pertinent details links to the righteous gemstones links to his hulu show deli boys and links to the peacock a critically acclaimed show shrink go watch it who knows maybe they'll right you know raise that from the dead and give him another season or something like that yeah they should uh and comedy bang bang he's got his own podcast behind the paywall i'll give you a link comedy Comedy Bang Bang is great, by the way.

Speaker 7 If you like the commercial break, it's like a much better version of the commercial break. They do all improv, mostly all improv, and it's like really funny.

Speaker 7 And Reggie Watts is often on Comedy Bang Bang. So go listen to some of our friends over at Comedy Bang Bang.
Okay, for us, as far as we're concerned, you can go to our website, tcbpodcast.com.

Speaker 7 All the audio, all the video, right there at one location. In case you need to catch up on, you know, 713 episodes of the commercial break, feel free to go to the website.
It's all there.

Speaker 7 You can also get your free TCB swag by going to the contact us button. Hit the drop-down menu.
I want my free sticker. Give us your address and we'll send you one.

Speaker 7 At the commercial break on Instagram, please follow us.

Speaker 7 TCB podcast on TikTok. I don't even know what to say about TikTok.
Just don't even bother.

Speaker 7 YouTube.com/slash the commercial break. For all you Dr.
Phil fans out there, you can catch all of our episodes the same day, usually that they air here on the audio feed.

Speaker 7 They will be dropped on the YouTube feed. Also, 212-433-3TCB, 212-433-3822.
Questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas, leave us a voicemail. We might put you on the next show.

Speaker 7 All right, Chrissy, that's all I can do for now. I think so.
I'll tell you that I love you. I love you.
Best of you.

Speaker 7 Best you out there in the podcast universe. Thanks to Tim for showing up today.
Until next time, we will say, we do say, and we must say.

Speaker 3 Goodbye.

Speaker 17 Ready to level up? Chumpa Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary.

Speaker 17 Enjoy hundreds of online social games like Blackjack, Slots, and Solitaire anytime, anywhere, with fresh releases every week.

Speaker 17 Whether you're at home or on the go, let Chumba Casino bring the excitement to you. Plus, get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus.
Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes.

Speaker 17 Play Chumba Casino today. No purchase necessary, VGW Group, Voidboard Prohibited by Law 21 Plus, TNCs Apply.

Speaker 16 Don't let the holidays derail your fitness. Stay on track with Hydro.
20 minutes rowing on a hydro targets 86% of your muscles as Olympians guide you from incredible locations worldwide.

Speaker 16 Running can't compete. That's why 90% stick with hydro a year later.
GQ named the Hydro Arc the best rower of 2025. And every hydro comes with free shipping, a 30-day trial, and warranty.

Speaker 16 Go to hydro.com code fit and save up to $600 on your next hydro. Hydro.com code fit.

Speaker 17 Ready to level up? Chumba Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary.

Speaker 17 Enjoy hundreds of online social games like Blackjack, Slots, and Solitaire anytime, anywhere, with fresh releases every week, whether you're at home or on the go.

Speaker 17 Let Chumba Casino bring the excitement to you. Plus, get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus.
Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Play Chumba Casino today.

Speaker 17 No purchase necessary, VGW Group, Void War Prohibited by Law 21 Plus, TNCs apply.

Speaker 13 Yeah.

Speaker 19 As a raider scavenging a derelict world, you settle into an underground settlement.

Speaker 19 But now you must return to the surface.

Speaker 19 Where arc machines roam.

Speaker 19 If you're brave enough, who knows what you might find? Ark Raiders, a multiplayer extraction adventure video game. Buy now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC.
Rated T for teen.

Speaker 2 Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way.

Speaker 13 You wanna sell those wheels? You wanna get a CarMax instant offer. So fast.
Wanna take a sec to think about it. Or like a month.
Wanna keep tabs on that instant offer. With OfferWatch.

Speaker 13 Wanna have CarMax pick it up from the driveway.

Speaker 13 So, wanna drive?

Speaker 10 CarMax.

Speaker 11 Pickup not available everywhere. Restrictions and fee may apply.