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hey guys this is uh David Spade Nana Carvey and before we get into Ben Stiller we just wanted to share a few
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thoughts about the other night with the Will Smith uh Rock situation Rock it's
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obviously a buddy of ours we had him on here a little bit ago and we have a common
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denominator which is being bullied growing up I was a certified pipsqueak uh and always being pushed around and it
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really hit a nerve with me and Dana also and rock had talked about on this uh podcast
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um I could jokingly say that slap in the face was a real slap in the face for comedy but it is true that
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um on a serious note this is a dangerous precedent um that was the straw that broke Will
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Smith's back I it couldn't have been a medium rough joke uh just bad timing it was like a Jack In
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The Box that you hear Dean today and here's Chris Rock so that was just the one where he decided to flip and not
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sure what Will's going through a met him seems like a decent enough guy uh I'd love to see him in a roast I mean
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listen comedy's rough I just did a comedy special for Netflix and it's there's some stuff in there that makes
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me laugh people could get offended by it's just the way it is I hope roasts aren't
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outlawed soon I mean my god um I don't know I just thought it dimmed some light on the other performers that
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night you didn't really think about any other performer anybody that won it was just that
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and they allowed him on stage again I didn't I probably wouldn't have not a
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lot of defensive Chris right there and then at the show like other people or people are standing up and giving Will a
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standing ovation like nothing happened I thought that was all very odd and I honestly just don't think he should have
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been able to go get his award I hate to say it but there's got to be some consequence because you shouldn't be
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allowed to do that Dana well first of all um you know I've seen real anger and
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experiences so the first thing I thought was I was triggered because everyone talks about triggers when I saw a very
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large person Go Go full [ __ ] house physical on a person who's not small but
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much smaller and that just like whoa this really just hit me so I saw a bully and you know I when I entered High
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School I was five feet tall 93 pounds you know I look like a fetus with shoes but my point is
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me too dude I I that yeah I I'm not a psychiatrist but I've played one on TV
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but this was not about Chris Rock it was not about the joke something else is going on especially the second time will
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said keep your keep my wife's name out of your [ __ ] mouth the energy and rage
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and anger of that was so extreme so I don't really know but mental health is a
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thing that I would just say needs help secondarily where was security could anyone else have gotten away with that
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it was very awkward um and then to give them a stand Ovation he had 45 minutes to kind of pull it
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together he had Denzel Washington talking to him other really smart people Bradley Cooper but he couldn't pull it
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together to apologize and said sort of double down I protect women um yeah so the word protect was Heavy in
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there yeah I'm protecting and then the next morning he got said uh hi this is your publicist uh Brian
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and uh maybe we should talk you know because then there was the apology so I just looked at it as a bully it
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triggered me and uh I think it was uh kind of horrific and just felt bad Chris is our friend and our colleague and I
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don't want to see anybody slap like that at any time on television especially or
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anywhere David yeah it's funny you know Dana when you get older uh like us we we
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when we were bullied and I know rock was bullied as a kid a little skinny kid and
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he said he really it really stuck with him and it does it's it's the root of a
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lot of things I I you know get me mad I have a short temper and any bullying in a car cutting me off
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or a guy if I'm on a date coming up with me and looking at me and going okay I could
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take this guy and so I'll hit on this girl right in front of him those little
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forms of it are there all the time yeah so when I saw that obvious just walk up hit him and walk away and almost like
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laughing like [ __ ] you what are you gonna do about it it made me spin out like oh my God so it bothered me all
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night uh I thought Chris was pretty cool about it of course but what do you do your
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mind's spinning I'm in live TV a billion people what's happening you know what do
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I go down do I hit him back do I I couldn't even read The Prompt after that I'd probably be going I I gotta get out
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Chris Chris handle it perfectly and well I give him a lot of credit for keeping it together after something like that
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you know I I actually thought Will Smith would walk up if if he was staying and he's joking around laughing which was
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sort of more crazy in my head or more that's not a good word but it was just
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more unusual and then when he got his award I would have said what the [ __ ] was I doing with Chris Rock that was not
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sorry yeah I thought you know I thought that for sure the jokes got to me I [ __ ] how stupid I'm gonna go back and
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tell him right now thank you for this award whatever any acknowledgment would have just taken all the pressure out and
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gone it was nuts we'll still talk about it but hey something else is going on
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clearly and I'm sure Chris is your friend like it just all it was all tough to watch so I don't have a ton to say
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about it other than uh what we just said I mean it'll all work out everyone will
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walk away but definitely an odd moment in time you know before that moment of course my
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relationship with Will Smith was just from afar as a very likable uh positive person so it was it was it's disturbing
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on so many levels it gave everyone a relief from covid and and Ukraine you know so the whole culture has been
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rotated on on this moment because it was so shocking and I really just uh I don't know it's still it's still going
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on because Chris hasn't spoken at this hour yeah I hope they uh make up they
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seem to be it seems they're friends and uh like them to get back to that uh and
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have everyone live happily ever after it's tough to live with that hanging over your head if you think someone's
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out there after you hey Lady Gaga oh all is who's beautiful but she's always
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working with really old people like she gets next to Tony Bennett she looks like
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a high school senior last night they wheel out Lisa Liza Minnelli poor sweet woman and then Lady Gaga looks like
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she's in eighth grade it's a I don't know it's it's I would I know and Us
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magazine immediately did who wore it better and who looked better and that was unfair
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um also Dana Regina uh one of the hosts beautiful lovely woman she did a bit that I have to say
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as an observer I'm for all forms of Comedy but if everyone else gets to complain
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if it's a male host bringing the prettiest actresses up to analyze them and take them backstage right with them
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covet test then Pat them down it just wouldn't fly I mean I don't care that
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writing bits someone in the room should have gone what if someone doesn't love
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this idea but listen fine fine I just have to say it because I don't care just
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either let everyone do comedy in general men women or just don't but you can't
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say you can't do this you can do that that's all you agree uh totally agree it was uh
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was really surprising maybe the Oscars are coming back now if they have more more fights more Politically Incorrect
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things and they go just ape [ __ ] you know maybe it'll become a huge winner
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again I don't know I mean the only thing could have been bigger would be a melee
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Chris fights back and then you've got Nicole Kidman who's knows her way around
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the block you've got Keith Urban coming up you've got Costner probably with a
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shotgun stopping the whole fight to either Perry would have gotten in there so Joe Jonas is ripped he would have
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come down there's a lot of people that have been trained to do movies like that
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where they have training so they can come in and send them yeah I mean I don't know if Keanu was there he needed
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to be um it must have been tough for Chris to sit in the back and realize literally
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nothing happened no one walked up no security no stopped the show no it was just like on with the show this is it
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Standing Ovation for standing ovation you know it's hard to pull for the bully
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I don't know Will Smith probably a great guy just in that particular instance
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it was the bad guy talk to people who grew up not bullied because they were bigger at a young age and so forth so on
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so maybe their father didn't bully him they're like what yeah they don't get it
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they didn't get it um but that's what my takeaway was but I wish everyone the best in the end of the
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day so I'm not a Negative Nancy no it'll we'll all land on our feet all right here's a show Squad
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Dana we've got Benjamin Stiller Ben Stiller yeah he's Ben Stiller who's pretty much
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a superstar I would say uh yeah I would say if you add up everything he's done
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by the time you get to the end you can't even remember the whole amount if you
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read his IMB it you get exhausted he's done it all you get exhausted I mean if
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you think of night of the museum one two and three right there that's over a couple of years to do
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three movies that are very like Robin Williams is in all these great people in them they all Crush they all killed
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worldwide PG family movie check three three three you gotta have an animated franchise
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Madagascar one two three how about doing a comedy with Robert De Niro Meet the Parents meet the water meet the father
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too yeah yeah Zoolander one two I'm gonna call him the franchise kid I mean my gosh it's unbelievable and he's a
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cool dude I saw him last year I don't see him a lot but I saw him last year it's Sundance which is uh it's a dance
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place I go to so we went out there and uh people were hounding them I the guy I think
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he directs a lot now but he's got a very interesting life he did sign it live he
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did it for how many five shows five shows and that's the riveting hook of why we get to talk to him because we
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want to talk about that and we just he's just a guy that's very cool big star
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Something About Mary was a monster monster I mean you don't even get to that one and it's so big dodgeball all
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these big comedies yeah and he directs a lot and he's got the new show Severance
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which is cool weird sci-fi so yeah all props to him he's very unassuming person
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uh and kind of shy uh but we're gonna tease him out on today's show oh yeah
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we'll flush him out of the brush it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting is it
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mono and mono is it a fight no it's a conversation but I think things will happen
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things will happen but yeah looking forward to talking to our friend Ben I'm
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already thinking of how I'm going to interrupt you during the show when you're asking very good questions well
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yeah when I'm running out of steam I should have a signal like just please please bailed me out on this please
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interrupt me I am winding down and I have no no you know sorry anyway so Ben Stiller yeah I hope you're going to have
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a good time with him um an old school snlr that spun it out into his own sketch show and uh won an
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Emmy for it but he'll tell you all about it yeah yeah revenge of uh whatever yeah
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he won the Emmy beat out his own his old gang I think there's a there's over there
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it's like a comeback movie's tale of Vengeance it's a bit of a Rocky theme oh
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definitely yeah and he he was he was a lightweight boxer yeah he was he was uh I think 82 and seven as an amateur boxer
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if I read that correctly yeah you know I'm super um fly on the wall wait oh boy yeah the jokes are getting worse
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uh fly fly on the wall fly fly the wall gotta fly don't blow up all right let's
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just get to Ben Stiller these people are sick of us ladies and gentlemen we bring
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you we give you the one and only Ben Stiller Ben Stiller yeah [Music] I'm okay if I gotta be oh [ __ ] there's
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that guy there's that guy um yeah Mr Stiller yeah if someone said to me this so I'm gonna start with
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someone said to me you know Ben Stiller is probably the biggest most successful comedic influence of his generation last
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20 years my answer is I wouldn't I wouldn't punch them in the face like I
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wouldn't I wouldn't have an argument with him I wouldn't get mad I would go
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huh it would make you go okay if they said Spade was you'd go no I was looking over your film films and I
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was reading them out loud to my wife and she goes man people he might be underrated I mean it's like yeah it's
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kind of crazy I said lucky oh yeah look yeah mostly luck come on okay I'm just gonna get
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these out of the way real fast then we're gonna get into Severance but these
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are these all the [ __ ] monster movies I'm not gonna go to existential questions it's two Howards coming at you
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with coffee and I'm overlapping so you jump you can ask us questions too Ben
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we're all at will we're excited because you're here uh certain uh Impressions
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I'm gonna request and yeah we'll get to that later the last 40 minutes is about
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us believe me Eddie Munster uh by the way I just talked to Mike Myers about Eddie Munster on sprockets
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the very first sprockets that was the first one right yeah yeah incredible yeah okay just real quick like it
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commence blushing okay night of the museum three great movies Meet the Parents got three out of that then you
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do something got three I got three out of that no but those are brilliant something really in terms of ringing
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ringing movies out of a concert I've definitely yeah not at the Museum yet so it was so
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so many that you got to present history people you got to like Joe Biden then you do Tropic Thunder and Zoolander
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dodgeballstar ski Hutch as broad characters you do something about time my observation for you Ben which maybe
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you've never thought of before it's very difficult in modern comedy what you did
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was play these broad characters and then have a character that could travel as Ben Stiller
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uh in movie that's all I got I'm tapped out David you go that's all I have for
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the day like that analysis uh like a 40-minute answer I think it was basically yeah you know
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it was basically doing what was there you know coming at me and I never really you know look when I was at my short
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short time at SNL I was so overwhelmed by the level of sketch comedy acting prowess that was there I never ever was
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you know I never considered myself being to be good at that I did like sketch I loved sketch comedy I like to do it and
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try to do it but I think I never felt like I always felt like okay I'm kind of
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like trying it and I can kind of do it sometimes and it's fun to do but I never
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considered myself you know that wasn't like my wheelhouse really even though I
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like to do it well I would have been curious because if if say it was a government order that Ben Stiller has to
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do 100 episodes of Saturday Night Live because I I felt altered after about 80 episodes it took me to kind of I faked
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it in the beginning you know you only did like five shows right so who could get results yeah it was so intense and
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overwhelming you know you were there it's crazy you know it's funny that it
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was because it is and then you do movies which there's makeup there's directing
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there's you know directing is no easy task there's so many pressures of just
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being in the movies and TV and it is true that that one hits you in sort of a different way where you get in there and
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you go you're just like hit around going what the [ __ ] is happening you know you
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don't see it coming even though you think you do yeah because of the whole process of the week leading up to the
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show and and what it takes to get to the show and what it takes to get a sketch on the show and then to really
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understand how to gear yourself to and you were both really good at it to you know for that 11 30 show because the the
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thing that always sort of was like this kind of crazy mind [ __ ] for me was when you do that dress
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rehearsal and the dress rehearsal would be like all right we nailed in the dressers was like yeah but we actually
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haven't done it for real at all yet because nobody saw that yeah you know it's worse on air and you go God damn it
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yeah you hate when dress goes too well you always want the idea was that the live show in the back your head if if
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that voice is talking it's saying this is the best you've done it all week this
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is I'm I'm actually doing it's going the best it doesn't always happen but I
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remember the intensity when we did Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise and just you're in the slats and the music's
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playing and then it is kind of like they just push you and all acting or come it's all about getting it out of your
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own house and then you're giving yourself a report card like am I okay am I doing it too
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much where's Ben I mean I I get it it's just it's a ridiculous concept really
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it's a torture yeah and I'm sure you guys talk about it on on this this this
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podcast all the time the you know like that feeling right before you go on and right before you get you have to go out
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the door um or just like The Surreal nature of like your whole life wanting to be a
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part of SNL and then you get there and then you're doing it and then it's like
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it's just crazy the voice in your head goes I'm on SNL and I'm doing it we had
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Tara uh Julia Sweeney on and she she came in one show early and just watched this show but she was so Adept at doing
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sketch comedy she said she wasn't nervous she looked at it and said oh I can do that but then she got nervous
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later but initially it was like La Dee Da just say your life did you guys did you guys get nervous doing it oh sick
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yeah I wasn't when I was there I went I did the same thing as Julie did I went
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there a week early and watched and I had the other reaction of I cannot do this like I was just I was a stand-up now
00:19:04
she's coming from an improv group so she's used to Quick changes she's used
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to blah blah everything jumping around in characters and I'm watching it going
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are you out of your mind and how fast it moves and during the commercials that's
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really all the time you have I didn't really get that part like if it's 30
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seconds it's 30 seconds or they go to a fake graphic in the front that's just to
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buy you some time uh and then when I was doing my first update piece I'm on the
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side and it's such a little studio in when I got there that I go so when I walk three feet uh 10 million people see
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me and then I come back and it's just some stage and chewing gum going good job good job here they move the camera
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and look at the other guy and I go is that it like did anyone see it that one out there yeah it actually happened yeah
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and I don't have my phone you know I'm not on a cell phone back then so then
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hopefully somebody saw it somewhere and they tell you but you just go the rest of the night and everyone's doing their
00:19:57
thing my first sketch uh I never did sketch comedy just to stand up my first sketch was a cold opening with Jan Hooks
00:20:04
and Phil Hartman and when I landed a laugh I had to I my head wanted to turn toward the audience like a stand-up and
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I go keep looking at Phil he's the host of the game show so but I could show you
00:20:16
Church chats early on where she's going like this her hand goes up and it's wet
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with sweat you know sure babe you were so good but you like that's crazy that
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you never did sketch comedy at all before the show I was doing it as a stand-up but didn't really know it you
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know I didn't have any jokes I've written maybe two jokes in my life I was
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doing one man sketch but I there was no theater group in ssf at the time anyway but um but I do that but I do think that
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with you guys both coming from stand up that did at least prepare you in a way because it's the live experience of
00:20:51
going up in front of an audience you know and I had had some of that but I didn't come out of stand up and you know
00:20:57
there's the natural sort of thing of being in front of an audience you know I've done some theater but you know that
00:21:03
I always gravitated towards having more takes and doing it you know you do in a movie where you could just like you
00:21:10
could do it a number of times that was really what you know I I felt more comfortable doing which is why I went
00:21:16
running away after a few weeks and one one the Emmy for best television sketch show two years later yeah but I mean I
00:21:25
was you know I was like looking at that environment going oh man this is really hard I don't know if I I will do well
00:21:30
and even when I you know think back on the few things that I did there I was so nervous
00:21:35
um even you know sprockets like Mike was that was his first box and Mike was just
00:21:39
so like that was such a great sketch that character it was all so well formed he was a great sketchwriter right out of
00:21:44
the box and he was just so you know he understood you know I was doing whatever character I was doing Eddie months there
00:21:51
wasn't even a character it was just like you know well it was a very funny take on it the
00:21:58
outfit was hysterical you know Dieter was such a like a perfect kind of SNL type character he just understood the
00:22:03
structure of it and everything instinctively yeah well I I get that I mean Mike did a lot of sketch comedy
00:22:09
before he got SNL that that would be helpful but still but Ben did you do uh was it a color of money why would you do
00:22:16
that you did a video and why did you do that for is that what they saw is that what Lauren saw I liked it yeah yeah I
00:22:22
um yeah I I was doing a play uh Off-Broadway um and I saved up the money I'd made in
00:22:31
the play to do this takeoff on The Color of Money with a couple of friends of mine and we made this short and I didn't
00:22:39
know then I didn't know what to do with it because I basically had made a short
00:22:42
but there was nowhere it was pre everything you know there was nothing to die no nothing there was nothing so it
00:22:48
was sort of like I had a 16 millimeter short yeah and that was like transferred to
00:22:54
three quarter inch tape so I had this like three quarter inch tape I was taking around and John Lovitz came had
00:22:59
come to the show that I was doing the play uh called The House of Blue leaves and he had come back stage and I reached
00:23:09
out to him I didn't even know him really I said hey I got this short I'd love to
00:23:12
get it try to get it to you know somebody to see for the show and he took it up to Lauren he literally owned his
00:23:18
tape up to Lauren the romance of that when I hear about somebody let's put on
00:23:23
a show and making financing making a short film and then having it go somewhere because imagine all the young
00:23:29
people now putting stuff on YouTube but the fact and I did watch some of it this
00:23:33
morning it was absolutely hysterical they make up the whole like yeah it was all like my friends and my parents my
00:23:39
grandfather it was like oh you know the whole cast of it was just people doing favors and the Tom Cruise impression and
00:23:45
character was so potent and bizarre and your look was so amazing I mean what it was you must have laughed your ass off
00:23:52
it was called you [Laughter] you know we kind of like had the idea for the movie uh it was uh Steve Clayman
00:24:04
Ralph Howard my two friends that we and we had this idea and was like Who's Gonna Do cruise because like we knew we
00:24:10
had the idea but and and Steve actually did a cruise too and I was like oh well maybe I should do a cruise and then you
00:24:15
know we had like a cruise off like we should do the best part well what was your not to interrupt Ben but what was
00:24:20
your into Cruise usually it's like one hook you did it in the restaurant it was
00:24:24
just it was one thing it was just sort of yeah that yeah um which I'd love to understand how you
00:24:47
how you what your method is because you talk about it sometimes I'm trying right
00:24:51
now with Biden I'm still trying to find your Biden is great where are you at
00:24:55
when you're buying right now well the the new the latest Hook was that he he
00:24:59
yelled in the beginning it was like come on here's a deal my dad lost a job no
00:25:03
joke not kidding around here that was you know it was not a joke and he said no joke
00:25:08
number one the one part number two what the guy said number three you know the drill come on it isn't rocket science
00:25:15
folks and then once in a while saying nothing it's mad I know how to do this I
00:25:20
can talk loud look at me go and he's finally had it do it right and then he whispers you just no but yeah no please
00:25:28
no whispers are really funny The Whispers when he comes down you go what's going who's he talking to is
00:25:33
there someone else to do someone and also for the audience to get used to that person you know just
00:25:40
little hooks later on I know more about Biden's voice now than I did six months
00:25:44
ago but anyway I think it's your comedic hooks into the characters to me are
00:25:48
always like what you choose to focus on is what makes it so funny because it's
00:25:52
like something nobody else would think and then you're like oh my God yes that's exactly what he does that's the
00:25:57
hard part and when they when you do it Dana and then some someone like George Bush like back in the day when there's
00:26:03
only four channels in SNL that you know all the presidents are aware and then they almost do what you're doing because
00:26:10
that's what they're supposed to be doing it's a weird thing that happens I wanted
00:26:15
to learn Michael Caine because of Steve Coogan yeah those guys traveling around Europe in their car and doing
00:26:22
impressions oh yeah yeah the trip yeah they were so good at Michael Caine that was me consciously wanting to learn
00:26:26
Michael Caine just for myself not not to put on TV or anything but then how do you do it knowing that that exists do
00:26:35
you go to you just go to Michael Caine and go I'm going to come up with my own
00:26:38
take um yeah I realized them what is it I used to do it like this and then I realized the whole Hook is the nasal you
00:26:44
could choke like that but if you go totally a day so you got him there and the hook that I do is I do Michael Caine
00:26:51
in kindergarten so it's Michael Kane at five years of age and the line is I like
00:26:57
to eat paste I I don't know why I don't know why I like to eat things in the classroom I'm
00:27:05
sure on a hula hoop so that's right but as far as Saturday Night Live having that Focus like it's
00:27:16
gonna be on TV Saturday you know I'm terribly lazy about these things so yeah
00:27:21
yeah but yeah anyway you understood how to do that and uh it's a definite a specific art form that uh you know I
00:27:28
think some people are built for and some people aren't [Music] but what's the difference like so you go
00:27:38
in there and uh you do I I guess it was you said five shows maybe Dana said that
00:27:43
but then you go ultimately not Revenge but you still are interested in it you go back and do your own show and then it
00:27:53
works you got to feel a little good like see it's not it just wasn't my situation
00:27:57
that wasn't perfect for me yeah I mean that's why I made the decision in the
00:28:02
moment and I think it was after I made that decision in retrospect a lot of people you know including people in my
00:28:08
life are like wow you quit Saturday Night Live you know and which was like oh yeah geez but I I did have a specific
00:28:14
thing that I was going to which was this MTV show which was uh Jeff Khan and I were working on uh uh this thing called
00:28:23
it they have this thing called it's your hour where you could kind of do your own
00:28:26
thing and it was really because of the shorts and that time I wanted to be doing short films and I wanted to do
00:28:31
what Albert Brooks had done on the show that was sort of my dream and and you know he'd go and make these little short
00:28:37
films and then show them on the show and that wasn't happening back at that point
00:28:41
and so that was I had an opportunity to do that and really I think instinctually
00:28:45
I just felt like oh I'll be more comfortable doing this and I'll be able
00:28:49
to you know that's funny Ben is that to go like uh you go to MTV and they go why
00:28:54
should we do a show with you about sketches you go well my resume shows you I just quit a sketch show no so we
00:29:01
should do one with you and you yeah I was at the Emmys Saturday Night Live was having a good year it was the political
00:29:08
campaign everything and the winner is for best comedy show the Ben Stiller show and I remember you and Bob onakirk
00:29:15
and your gang going up there and just how shocked you were can you describe that feeling of like oh it was surreal I
00:29:22
mean yeah we'd been canceled for nine months already I think we'd been off the
00:29:26
air for that long and you were canceled that's right yeah we weren't even on the
00:29:30
air oh that's even more of a shocker it was crazy easy and you know I think there was a fair amount of bitterness
00:29:36
towards Fox that we all felt because we felt you know we thought like oh our show is you know we were good and give
00:29:42
us a chance but we really didn't play our cards right with uh the network it
00:29:46
was a fledgling Fox network you know at that time they weren't even on fully you
00:29:51
know they were on like maybe like 12 hours a week or something and we were up against 60 minutes so we had awful
00:29:56
ratings and you know and also we were a weird show I don't think anybody should
00:30:00
have really watched us necessarily but we we felt very excited I loved it but you know the head of the network I think
00:30:08
we did something I really I know there was a moment when there was some sort of presentation I think it might have been
00:30:14
the TCA things which is like the television critics Association and you go up and you talk to everybody and Bob
00:30:19
and I and Janine were up there and we made some joke about the head of the Network's hair I think Bob did looking
00:30:28
like an old-timey uh leather head football helmet like that you know that movie leather yeah yeah we made a joke
00:30:35
about the head of the Network's hair looking like that and that might have been the nail in the coffin first and
00:30:40
after that uh you know we were just we didn't expect that you know to win I didn't expect to win I heard Bob talking
00:30:46
about it recently and saying that he actually thought we might have had a chance
00:30:50
um but you know which he was such a great sketchwriter yeah he was amazing so funny Dana it's so funny
00:31:00
he was yeah and he and he really I think it was his a lot of his writing was on the episode
00:31:06
that won it you know for us um so it was great it was and then I said some stupid
00:31:12
thing about like Fox you missed something here I was sitting next to Lauren when your
00:31:20
name was announced or the show and Lauren just went oh anyway I was listening to you guys break down
00:31:37
the Lauren Impressions um recent episodes which I can never you know always entertaining to listen to
00:31:43
different interpretations different Lauren I guess Rob Lowe does a good one oh yeah I do I do a copy of anyone's
00:31:50
copy I'm like a cc of a cc I just it comes down that's what I do I'll try to
00:31:55
do just noises how does Lauren feel about it you think I mean at this point you know I think he is you know I think he's
00:32:06
he's like he's Lauren he's aware bigger yeah right he doesn't he doesn't dig
00:32:11
into it I think he he underst I think he understands how it's meant because everybody always is doing it with a
00:32:16
sense of like Lauren is a singular entity that's created it's like us he's
00:32:19
a celebrity now and it's like a celebrity impression and a weird way and he also knows you know anytime he does a
00:32:24
sketch on the show he always knows how to do himself yeah I mean like he always can be he would
00:32:30
have a glass of Chardonnay at least the first season he'd walk around the floor
00:32:34
during the live show I guess just to try to calm us down you know but he was an intimidated figure but then after you're
00:32:41
not on the show he's like your greatest friend he's like so positive and
00:32:46
everything is positive I mean you went back and hosted twice I was just going to ask you to the nerve part did you get
00:32:52
past that by being a host on two shows and you've done a lot of cameos as well
00:32:56
recently Michael Cohen yeah has it gotten a little better just because you're Ben Stiller now and you know
00:33:01
there's nothing to lose honestly not at all every time I feel that thing in the pit of my stomach
00:33:09
especially when we were doing the last round we were doing the Michael Cohen ones because there were changes that
00:33:13
were happening and this must have happened to you all the time you know the few times I was out there I don't
00:33:18
remember when I was on the show the last minute changes like literally like like
00:33:23
a minute 30 seconds before still playing around like things like that I remember
00:33:28
them on the cue cards while you're standing there and they're like this will be a little different you're like
00:33:32
and you realize that you're just on your own like maybe it's like whatever like
00:33:36
you just have to do it nobody else is going to do it you have to keep it in your head
00:33:41
so you know it's fun when you can come on I think in a an unannounced moment
00:33:47
right when you show up in somebody when somebody else is hosting and it's like
00:33:51
all of a sudden like you walk out and I remember doing that once with De Niro and it that was probably the most fun
00:33:56
because I didn't really have to do anything there was no pressure and it was like oh people are excited to see
00:34:00
you because they didn't know you were going to be there right yeah big Applause yeah and then you don't have to
00:34:04
do much um but uh I think uh yeah the hosting I think is really you know there's nothing
00:34:10
like that feeling when you go out right before you have to go out and um again but that's the same feeling I
00:34:15
always had so I don't think it'll ever it's chilling going through that door
00:34:19
Ben Stiller and just the Roar of like expectations really high yeah and right now and then
00:34:29
it's like then the show all right I like when the host you know Dana when the
00:34:32
host has to go uh you know ladies and gentlemen Red Hot Chili Peppers you know they've dragged you all the way out
00:34:38
there and they put you in a different outfit for that I'm like how about I just wear what I'm wearing and you've
00:34:42
never heard of them you know but ladies and gentlemen bent nerve you know yeah sometimes like hot House Flowers it is
00:34:48
interesting to watch when you go through the old shows like what the bands were and like which ones are actually they
00:34:53
made whatever yeah yeah because they try to catch them right on the precipice of
00:34:56
blowing up and some of them blow down they never quite catch and you're like
00:35:02
no it's a game I play with myself watching the show now to see which bands I actually know better on the show
00:35:08
because I almost I'd say like 80 of the time I don't know do not that's out of
00:35:12
it I think it's a typo there's no way that's a band on the show I have never
00:35:16
heard of them when you listen to music Ben like now today what do you listen to do you listen to it in your car because
00:35:22
that's why I listen to music yes I listened to music in my car I live in the city and I also live north of the
00:35:28
city of New York so I kind of go back and forth and I like listening to music but I'm I'm so like as I get older like
00:35:34
my I can start going like 80s 70s yeah 90s I go to the 90s and then little and then I become the old guys like what is
00:35:43
this what are they playing what is this stuff that's not music I don't this
00:35:46
auto-tune all of it um I mean I like hip-hop I guess but from like even like my hip the hip-hop
00:35:53
taste is much older but I'm like I could listen to you know like Elton John all
00:35:58
day I'm that guy right I got lost somewhere around the Spin Doctors after that I don't I think I'm pre-spin
00:36:04
doctors but isn't that interesting though because it really does sort of like settle in like what you really like
00:36:08
to listen to you know and like you just don't know it after a while you just
00:36:13
stop knowing anything wanting to know it too yeah but like I was thinking about it like if I'm
00:36:21
listening to Elton John from 1973 right now that's 50 years ago or whatever right
00:36:28
pretty much almost yeah yeah yeah right so that's like if my dad in 1973 was
00:36:34
listening to 1920 some hit song from 1923 all the time oh my God you know what I mean yeah
00:36:42
yeah totally the one thing that happened to me was the stereos back then sucked so I have a Volvo it's not a rich man's
00:36:49
car per se but it's a you know and the stereo in it is so insane that uh maybe
00:36:56
three months ago I put on oh Tiny Dancer okay so I blast it it's 1500 watts I'm
00:37:02
surrounded titanium speakers it's like I'd never heard the song before but then
00:37:06
I go to the hip-hop Channels with my sons and they introduced me to cardi B and I'm like wow I've never felt so old
00:37:12
you know WAP anyway this one's about poontang G-rated yeah they're not open to it I'm
00:37:22
open to it but then if I'm really being honest with myself usually I don't get
00:37:25
into new stuff so Ben what here's the question how did you get so good at what
00:37:30
you do you think like you're a little kid you like to like I I want two I want
00:37:35
one or the television shows I know Star Trek we got to interview William Shatner
00:37:39
on this podcast which was a thrill oh really a crazy the Lucid brilliant analyzed everything you know asked us
00:37:48
question it was like a shrink he's a scientist he described what a mirage is
00:37:52
we talked about UFOs so I know that and I was wondering what other films or TV shows that just blew your 10 year old
00:38:00
Ben's mind and then you grow up to equal or surpass Your Heroes as a film director uh I don't know kind of surreal
00:38:10
it's not you know for me it yeah I loved movies ever since I was a kid and was
00:38:15
just making Super Eight movies as a kid and watching movies and television watching movies and television you know
00:38:22
in the 70s when it was uh stuff was on TV or you actually went to the movies and go see Planet of the Apes or go see
00:38:29
you know Towering Inferno or side Adventure itself Shelly winners I was obsessed with it
00:38:37
Gene Hackman the way I was up there he had a turtleneck on he was just it's out
00:38:42
that's incredible life is out there it's one inch stick less thick than two
00:38:48
inches remember that he said they had to go up there and they go yeah it's an
00:38:52
inch of Steel a pair of Lights yeah yes do that again up there is life down here is death
00:39:04
many gives Shelly Winters a big wet kiss oh I love it and she swam under the water she was the
00:39:12
championship swimmer and God damn and that was a great movie but that tidal wave that's a great shot right Ben
00:39:21
yeah the tidal wave it's incredible that's great direction is that Irwin and Ronnie
00:39:27
McDowell is the you know the waiter who helps them and they had to turn the Christmas they had to take the Christmas
00:39:33
tree it was so smart I was just obsessed it was UPS everything was upside upside
00:39:36
down I'm gonna watch that all day okay I remember once my parents were going to
00:39:42
see uh they had tickets to see Lily Tomlin performing live on Broadway she was doing one of her amazing one-woman
00:39:49
shows and they said come on we're gonna go see Willie Thomas I was like no Poseidon Adventures on yeah 12th time
00:39:55
I'm gonna stay home and watch it do you remember there's got to be a morning
00:39:58
after yeah unreal song Perfect her brother the bass player dies in The you know the only time it looked fake is when
00:40:19
they looked through the binoculars they see the huge tidal wave and then when it
00:40:22
hits they had a crew guy throw a cup of water a Dixie cup of water into the captain's face he goes oh
00:40:31
are you [ __ ] me it was Unreal I was scared as a kid I could I was riveted I wasn't scared enough like I was during
00:40:37
scary movies it was sort of accidentally scaring me but I was riveted to it like
00:40:42
what if this happened my sister and I snuck out when we were in LA with my parents because we grew up in New York
00:40:48
where my parents would come out to LA to work and do like The Love Boat and things like that and we would stay at
00:40:53
the sunset Marquis Hotel with them and like my sister and I snuck out once to see The Exorcist at the man's timeout
00:41:01
these are grumman's Chinese Theater and it scared the [ __ ] out of us we just
00:41:05
were so freaked out by it but we didn't tell my parents that we've got to see it
00:41:09
he said they couldn't understand why we were so why you were crying every day
00:41:13
yeah oh my God yeah go ahead you're I want to hear your exercise I still can't see it I used to my
00:41:22
brother told me about it and I was so [ __ ] scared that I would talk before I went to bed to make sure my voice was
00:41:26
wasn't like the way he said the voice was in the movie because I was scared I'd be possessed and then I I won't I
00:41:34
shouldn't tell Dana you don't have to listen to this but I'll tell Ben because
00:41:37
he's a better all right I'll mute Ben I saw the movie Tommy at this huge this
00:41:43
huge theater in Arizona the Santa Capri when I was whatever age I was when I came out and it scared me that I got
00:41:50
like a stomach ache and I had to leave when the Acid Queen there was burning and it threw some something to burn the
00:41:56
guy's face and right at the beginning I go what the [ __ ] that that movie is not
00:41:59
for kids I thought it'd be a fun movie Tina Turner right yeah it was a Psycho
00:42:04
movie I saw him he was like a great he did Altered States too remember that movie with William oh yeah
00:42:10
Bob going on I'm on [ __ ] fire remember when this and he turned and his feet turned into eight feet in the in
00:42:17
the shower and it's just like he's having these crazy hallucinations he was
00:42:20
a really interesting filmmaker yeah so I I mean those movies were so good when we
00:42:24
were that age that I was and I was so into them that you know just I wanted to do that and make make movies and and so
00:42:31
that's you know I I was always doing that that's honestly like part of the
00:42:35
reason why I didn't stay at SNL and all that is because I wanted to keep exploring that and doing that but I was
00:42:40
also kind of like trying to be an actor too and I think uh you know I just have always loved that more and probably like
00:42:47
the last you know six or seven years I've you know I haven't really acted in
00:42:50
anything for a while and it's been mainly directing and I stopped acting and in the things I was directing which
00:42:57
I've really enjoyed a lot more because I do feel like that gives you the opportunity to really focus on the you
00:43:03
know what you're doing it's hard when you're kind of you know doing both like
00:43:07
just how hard it is to either and then you got to do both I mean yeah yeah yeah well it's kind of cool that your latest
00:43:13
thing you've done is being received so it's brilliant and I'm obsessed by it my
00:43:17
son's in their 20s the way it's shot that I don't know the set design the colors of the lights
00:43:23
action you know it's so music so Atmos atmospheric and as it gives you this wash of feeling and really takes you out
00:43:31
I mean what what I mean yeah you know what's interesting yeah I mean first of all it was written it was a
00:43:38
script that came to our production company about five years ago by a writer as a writing sample Dan Erickson this
00:43:43
guy who had not had anything produced and I read and I was like oh this is really this reminds me of like the
00:43:49
office it reminds me of office space it reminds me of like Parallax view it reminds me of you know um
00:43:57
Truman Show um yes and it had all these different things going on and I was trying to
00:44:03
think of that other movie oh what was it the Andromeda stream yeah or t-h-t-h-x 1130x 1138 yeah the drama story I just
00:44:11
thought it was like an interesting thing he was doing with the tone which he was
00:44:14
taking the office workplace comedy and then sort of like adding this other surreal layer to it which is like who
00:44:21
are these people what are they doing why are they doing it but yet they're bantering like they work in an office
00:44:24
but they don't even know what who they are yeah you know you know that's like
00:44:28
really interesting concept so anyway I I just you know it took a while to set it
00:44:33
up I knew Adam Scott was the guy to play it because I felt like Adam has sort of
00:44:37
like mastered that tone yeah can we talk about him for 10 seconds Adam Scott is I
00:44:42
saw my big little lies I you've seen him around for years and then I've seen him
00:44:46
on this I go holy [ __ ] he's never made a false smooth as it's amazing and he has
00:44:52
this like really interesting quality because like sometimes he'll he'll be
00:44:55
like he'll look like Tom Cruise he'll have this like this like thing and then
00:44:58
other times he'll be like sort of like this kind of regular like guy like kind
00:45:02
of you know very self-effacing and then he'll be kind of like flat and nothing
00:45:06
going on but then all of a sudden you look in his eyes and there's some really
00:45:09
deep thing happening and he's also like just as an actor he just like is he just
00:45:14
is so specific and I call him an acting machine and I mean that as a compliment yeah whatever you want whatever you can
00:45:22
do it wait you too David I feel like you're an acting machine yes thank you um and he has this ability to uh like
00:45:30
just change things by a millimeter but uh you know and still you know do what he did but then like as a director it's
00:45:37
great to work with him so the whole thing was really interesting to me and you know trying to do something that I
00:45:42
tonally that I guess you know was an experiment and then I I thought you know well it's fun to be able to experiment
00:45:48
with some something we did it all during the pandemic it's been literally like
00:45:52
two and a half years working on it yeah so we started before the pandemic and then we were about to start shooting and
00:45:58
then the pandemic happened and we had to shut down so it's been a long process
00:46:02
and we were in this you know very oppressive uh claustrophobic set for like nine months shooting it so it got a
00:46:09
little bit you know like it was the show kind of like folded in on itself and you
00:46:13
got John Turturro and Christopher Walken I mean those are also just it was weird
00:46:17
because tutorial I was talking to him about doing the part and he suggested Chris Walken he said because we hadn't
00:46:25
cast the role of this his co-worker bird who you know Chris plays and John said well have you cast I'm like no you know
00:46:32
I'm thinking about some music it goes what about what about Chris and I'm like
00:46:35
yeah that would be great okay I'll reach out to you because I can call him and he
00:46:41
literally made it happen he's like yeah everyone loves Christopher Walken I know
00:46:45
I mean anything he's got this amazing voice amazing face and he just you can't
00:46:51
not look at him on the screen yeah you know I mean and he's aware you know he's
00:46:55
such a sweet person I actually worked with him in that first play that I ever did the thing I did when I did Hustler
00:47:00
money to take off on color money yeah he was in that production and he worked with my dad a lot
00:47:06
um and uh you know he's just he's very sweet and sensitive uh yeah guy I
00:47:13
remember this is a non-securator standing next to Bonnie Ray at a party and it was Eric Roberts and Christopher
00:47:18
Walken and this is in the 90s and Bonnie Ray said I feel like I'm having sex just
00:47:23
looking at him [Laughter] um if he is aware of all these Impressions and if he it throws him off
00:47:35
acting because you know that's the way he sounds and now he's like do I sound
00:47:39
like a cartoon of myself yeah I think he's aware that people you know he knows
00:47:45
that people will adjust scripts when when he's in it that because he's in it
00:47:49
you know I think he's aware of it but he honestly I think is not a guy who you
00:47:53
know he doesn't really he's not I don't want to like say too much because it protect his privacy but
00:48:01
like he's not a guy who engages in social media and does it you know what I mean like he really just lives his life
00:48:06
and um he's a very genuine person like I think he loves act he's been acting
00:48:11
since he was a like a small child I mean literally like a like five or six years old yeah I have a question for you
00:48:19
but this one is not Christopher Walken related but still a good question can't
00:48:23
wait um in severance in the first episode I picture like you know we all get scripts so you're
00:48:32
reading it I'm like I wonder where it won Ben over like you know because I think you only read the one right you
00:48:39
only read the first episode that's right that's right so I'm watching it starts a
00:48:43
little Bleak it's got some interesting creepy music I mean I don't really know
00:48:46
what I'm watching music you know yeah and that's so I'm watching I'm like this
00:48:50
looks so different and so I'm just getting hooked in on the fact like I don't know what's happening you know
00:48:55
that's kind of fun but I'm picturing on the page because you sort of you know
00:48:58
bring it more to life and then and in those last couple minutes I go oh [ __ ] oh [ __ ] and that's probably where I
00:49:06
go I bet Ben was like oh [ __ ] this is great because it makes me go I gotta watch the next one now right which I
00:49:11
think is like the bottom line with TV shows and I learned that on the last one I worked on which is like you just want
00:49:16
to get people to watch want to watch the next episode you know you want to have a
00:49:19
story that unfolds but you know when I read it it didn't have all that there
00:49:24
was no music attached to it right there just like reading it and it totally I think I might have taken it a slightly
00:49:31
different place and I didn't even know it was going to go because I really responded to the like that that
00:49:36
workplace comedy thing that was in there you know the banter that was happening you know and like just sort of like the
00:49:42
back and forth between uh Adam and Zach Cherry in the beginning when they're at
00:49:46
their workstations that seems so familiar to me and funny and like oh I've you know I've heard that but then
00:49:51
like I said it was that other layer to it but I think the ending too I just as a pilot I thought oh well this like this
00:49:57
crazy little thing that happens at the end with one of the characters where you don't expect it that really pulled me in
00:50:03
and uh but I don't know you know I I don't know if you're like this but like
00:50:07
when there's something you read as that just you have a gut feeling about where
00:50:11
you just go okay this is something that I really connect with I don't even know
00:50:14
why I connect with it but it's just you know it's just pulling on something that
00:50:18
like I something it's resounding with something in something inside of me which um sometimes you don't have to
00:50:25
explain also it's Unique it's a unique read so yeah I'm sure you see like I get
00:50:29
similar comedies a lot and you and Dana and so if you see something out of that world it's it's our already a little
00:50:36
easier to keep your attention because you're not doing this every day and is
00:50:40
it kind of unintentionally zeitgeisty you know about work from home and the great reset and people rethinking their
00:50:46
lives because it rang true that sometimes people are in a corporate situation they're not quite sure what
00:50:51
they're doing which is kind of funny and separate no one really knows what they're doing you know that's the funny
00:50:57
that was one that's one of the things I loved about is they have no idea what
00:51:00
they're doing to do they don't know why they're doing it or what what purpose it serves and
00:51:04
they know they're not really supposed to question that also you know yeah um but
00:51:09
uh you know this was all before everything that was happening we wrote the script like six years ago or
00:51:14
something so yeah it was kind of ahead of it all it's uh I don't know it just
00:51:18
it feels like people are definitely rethinking that kind of corporate structure and you know just yeah you
00:51:24
know it seems like everyone in the world is really rich now because it's never
00:51:28
been in our face as much notwithstanding Ukraine right now but just the idea of uh people monetizing fame or Instagram
00:51:35
or what is it David fans only to get people on a cubicle for 50 years you know with all this other input
00:51:50
coming at them but anyways we told kids kids are being told like I see on uh these places where they're like why are
00:51:57
you working for other people when you can make millions on your own it's like
00:52:00
I don't know if that's the best message I mean it's a good message but everyone
00:52:04
chasing their dreams at once might collapse everything you know it's very hard to say keep one foot in reality but
00:52:12
always try to strive to do something better in life but it's hard because right now they're like quit your job
00:52:19
I also think that's changed in the way uh you know in Show Business too and like what you're you know you talk about
00:52:25
back when there was no YouTube or anything to or Instagram to post funny stuff you know I made my little short
00:52:32
and was like taking it around now it's almost incumbent on uh an actor or a comedic performer to put their stuff out
00:52:40
there and to make stuff so that you you know that you have to do that really to get noticed and then the other aspect of
00:52:46
that is there's so much of it out there now it's almost the opposite where now
00:52:50
like how do you get noticed within that sea of um you know content quote unquote
00:52:54
and I think um it has changed the way people sort of approach like what are you supposed to what do you call success
00:53:01
and you know are you supposed to be successful by 19 or 20 and you know if you're if you're putting your stuff out
00:53:08
there feels younger and it feels younger when you're Kylie Jenner and you're like
00:53:11
19 and you have a billion dollars everyone goes wait I'm it's so much stress for kids like I'm so far behind
00:53:17
I've got fomo from Instagram everyone's prettier than than me everyone's you
00:53:20
know everyone there's two girls at my school are pretty and now I'm like I'm
00:53:24
competing against the world if you're a woman you know it's like I see every
00:53:27
guy's life everyone's Rich it seems everyone's having a better time than me
00:53:32
it's funny that during the the lockdown it almost let you relax for a second if
00:53:37
you're a kid to go at least everyone's in the same spot for a second like
00:53:41
they're not on a yacht they're not skiing they're not and I don't feel
00:53:44
because I think people feel badly over and over quietly about all that stuff and it makes them nice I I I feel that
00:53:52
way even you feel that way yeah because I I looked up I mean yeah what your celebrity net worth no I'm kidding
00:54:00
novice I definitely feel that way I took I got off Instagram because of that yeah I I'm
00:54:07
still on Twitter but like I I couldn't I was feeling all those feelings way too
00:54:12
much and I was like this is I'm too old to be getting into this like it's not
00:54:16
healthy I should be really concentrating and spending my time you know on much more
00:54:21
um positive in you know things and you know so I just made that choice for myself the thing is when you do do take
00:54:28
yourself out of that you know right now everybody sort of communicates that way though too you know even there are good
00:54:33
parts of it being able to stay in touch with family and you know and and stay in
00:54:37
touch with people that you're you don't see all the time but I just decided that
00:54:40
for me that was that was too much um and I think you know it's I I don't see the good
00:54:47
thing I I feel like Twitter also I have uh conflicted feelings about Twitter too because I I like being able
00:54:56
to get immediate news and information and things that are going on in the world but then I'm also again way too
00:55:02
aware I think sometimes the things that I shouldn't really be spending my time
00:55:05
on you know [Music] did you turn down any uh Big commercials like in the 90s or the knots or did you
00:55:19
do some I mean now that's totally changed and people talk about their brand and getting their product in the
00:55:24
marketplace which is great by me but did you turn down commercials I did a few naively yeah no I did I didn't I've
00:55:32
never gotten offered a lot of commercials weirdly but I did do I did a Japanese beer commercial
00:55:38
in the 90s uh yes I or nice um uh I'm trying to even remember that it was like it was a crazy thing I had
00:55:48
to say I had to go um this like frozen wave or something um that's it and you got paid money I
00:55:57
got paid money for that and uh and then not a lot of offers after that maybe that effective but um yeah I got offered
00:56:05
one a couple years ago uh one of those Super Bowl ads uh and I somebody else did it and I saw it and I just felt like
00:56:14
it didn't feel right I had that happen a Super Bowl ad and then someone else did it I'll tell Dana
00:56:19
later I'll do anything at this point but I remember Paul Newman and I don't know
00:56:24
if he gave it to charity but Paul Newman is like the greatest kind of celebrity industry I think I think he was writing
00:56:29
a a tricycle or something like it was a motorcycle or something but Paul Newman and I think Meryl Streep did one and
00:56:35
then they didn't like it and they she got millions and they didn't even show
00:56:39
it but I do think the Super Bowl is unique everyone kind of goes hey it's a Super Bowl commercial I mean also now
00:56:45
it's become such a thing where the commercials are such a huge deal and you know everybody watches I watch them you
00:56:51
know and see like okay what's yeah you know who's gonna did they ever ask you
00:56:55
to Direct One um I've I've directed some commercials back then I have been offered
00:56:59
commercials to direct I'm not great at directing commercials because I don't
00:57:04
love this process at the end of the day it's a little bit like I have to care about this someone's
00:57:11
like move the Doritos closer to the Chihuahua please hold it up while you're
00:57:15
talking Angela Chihuahuas chewing the bag it's an art form I I enjoy a funny
00:57:22
commercial but you have to really care about that so Ben how are you as a celebrity like your emotional
00:57:27
temperature I just made it how are you is like kind of assuming Superstar obviously you don't
00:57:34
you're not out there all the time I mean when was the first time you're going you
00:57:37
were like Mickey Rooney and the Twilight Zone like uh I'm too famous I'm too
00:57:42
famous what was the one that blew you up where you were like oh [ __ ] now it's
00:57:46
good you know there's there's a point where you hit critical mass I don't know
00:57:49
what your words like you're really famous yeah and that's where my glasses
00:57:53
broke and I couldn't read any of the books Meredith young Ben Stiller with Fame that he
00:58:00
never wanted go ahead I think it was a kind of a gradual you know thing for me because I was around
00:58:06
for a while from like my you know my little stint in like late 80s uh to you know then getting little parts and
00:58:13
movies and something about Mary was something about Mary was the one that really was the first time I was ever in
00:58:19
yeah that was huge and meet the parents and then Zoolander that was pretty quickly boom go ahead
00:58:26
yep yeah and that was that was after that was like 1998 or something and I had been doing it for you know on and
00:58:34
off for 10 years and had you know had directed Reality Bites and directed cable guy at that point and like so I
00:58:40
was working in Show Business and happy I was really happy and then that that movie you know was a big hit and I
00:58:47
remember people going like oh I knew like someone who worked in my team said I knew it was always going to happen for
00:58:53
you I was like I thought it had you know I thought I was doing it okay and you're like I've heard people say
00:59:02
come back oh come back did you wear a hat and stuff when you went out or sunglasses yeah when you first got yeah
00:59:08
David I love it to be in a convertible you know hi everybody yes I mean I was definitely going around La
00:59:18
I you know I had a period of time when it acted ridiculous I'm sure you know
00:59:23
like I bought a Jaguar sweet do it yeah a low-key rhyme yeah yeah um yeah I mean it was yeah it was it was
00:59:40
definitely like you know fun but a little bit sort of intoxicating in that you know it's that thing where like
00:59:46
everybody you know is recognizing everybody's being nice to you and there's just a lot you know a lot of
00:59:52
opportunity in all ways and it's like you know weird yeah it's weird when
00:59:56
there was a jizz scene you might not remember in Something About Mary no I forgot which one was that it was there a
01:00:03
discussion of the amount of jizz is it too offensive is it too far there was because I don't think people have seen
01:00:09
too much jizz on screen apparently brothers or since yeah um I had a discussion and Bobby Fairley
01:00:17
about that scene because you know I took my work seriously and I was I was questioning a lot in that movie but I
01:00:25
would like question all of like the logic moments in that movie with them and then I realized halfway through the
01:00:30
movie that you know shooting the movie that I just was wrong because they were yeah because they're just going to do
01:00:35
what they did and they were so right because they knew exactly what they were doing but I was like okay I'm gonna make
01:00:40
sure this makes sense to me so my question was how am I not feeling how am I not
01:00:47
feeling the jizz on my earlobe right why am I not feeling this yeah how can I nerve ending how do you play that so I
01:00:56
literally like said can we somehow set up in the movie at some point in like in the past I lost feeling in my earlobe
01:01:06
that's what they said they're like Ben [ __ ] I'm like really I think it's not
01:01:13
gonna be as funny if you think you're wondering why I don't feel it on my
01:01:16
earlobe so I lost that argument and yeah and I guess you're smart to say when I'm
01:01:22
in someone else's thing I've done that where you go this is their thing I'm
01:01:25
kind of along for the ride I did sign up and I I can put in my two cents but overall they're gonna win in editing so
01:01:32
I got at some point just gotta roll it yes and you have to recognize that you know and I think it took me I remember
01:01:39
we were there in Miami it was so much fun shooting that movie too because it was just like everybody was having a
01:01:43
great time and they cut together like the first 10 minutes of the movie and Peter pulled me into his trailer and
01:01:49
said hey check this out I want to show you and I saw the first 10 minutes and I was like oh this is like it's so much
01:01:53
fun and it had such like yeah I think I was like you know I'm like kind of more
01:01:56
of like a serious type of person or you know and they were just like happy fun I'm like okay this is like a happy fun
01:02:03
thing which I have to get used to and you know Embrace is probably good for me um but I remember also after the movie
01:02:09
we Shot the movie weirdly uh I keep saying weirdly don't I um it's a good
01:02:15
word um you have a big life um no but I was living in the same apartment building as Cameron Diaz in LA
01:02:23
in largely that is weirdly yeah and um I was coming downstairs and and she was going out with Matt Dillon at the
01:02:32
time and you know so we'd all done the movie together the movie hadn't come out
01:02:35
and he'd just seen a screening of the movie and Matt was like hey man did you
01:02:40
see the movie is really it's funny man it's funny and he's like dude dude you
01:02:45
jerked off in that movie that's a good Matt Dylan yeah that is good and I was like yeah I know I did it
01:02:56
I definitely did it um and he was like he was saying it as a compliment I think but it was kind of like you really did
01:03:01
that and at that time we didn't know how the movie was going to do so it felt a
01:03:05
little bit scary your balls are in a zipper dude it's great it was like a hangover in a movie that came out and
01:03:12
just kind of changed everything for a while but I'd like to talk before we go
01:03:15
whenever we go about Tropic Thunder because that hit me like a ton of bricks and I've probably seen that three times
01:03:23
I mean I just absolutely I I think I mean Ben died you went full r word that's why you went
01:03:31
home empty-handed it is like it for comedy writing at the time I know that you couldn't do it today I suppose but
01:03:39
God that was that brilliant that movie how did you [ __ ] come up with that but I think in today's you know
01:03:45
environment now of course it just would never even get out of the you know it would never get out of development um
01:03:50
but that was an idea that I had had since I had a little part in Empire of the Sun in 1987 I was playing one of the
01:03:57
pows uh in that movie and I which was hilarious thank you and Robert Downey Jr was in blackface in
01:04:06
that film too I remember but uh I you know I thought oh that at that time in like mid 80s all the actors my age were
01:04:13
auditioning for every you know war movie it was all war movies it was all Hamburger Hill platoon
01:04:19
um and yeah we all and we all I remember and everybody was going on these fake boot camps where they'd go out with Dale
01:04:26
die and you know spend two weeks in the Philippines and get you know dirty and get yelled at yeah well could David just
01:04:32
for an insert David could you do your Michael J fox War thing just and then go back to you I can't do it hey Sarge you
01:04:38
got to give me a minute on this hey she's just a just a farm girl we don't know I have to ask you what
01:04:48
would uh Bert Lancaster be like yeah I'm telling you we gotta get down I did a movie with bird Lancaster that's
01:05:03
one of my favorite of your impressions is the bertland the Kirk Douglas Burt Lancaster entertainment oh that thing oh
01:05:09
that's beautiful yeah would you like to come over to my house I'd like to come
01:05:13
home five o'clock I'm on Cannon Drive there's a code five four three two gate
01:05:20
code no we're gonna yes we're gonna wrestle right we're gonna rest we're
01:05:25
gonna wrestle Greek Romans die because that lack the wristle I do too two men having fun doesn't mean a thing I had to
01:05:33
I made it a little more PG yeah no that's good yeah did you ever see the swimmer by the way with Burt Lancaster
01:05:39
oh yeah what a weird weird crazy movie he just swims in people's pools fences
01:05:45
in this like tight tighty whitey you know speed up thing the whole time he looks good but it's like he's swimming
01:05:53
in people's pools for two hours to get home and kind of going crazy it's
01:05:57
fascinating Dan is like I love that movie so much I saw it once so Tropic Thunder I'm gonna update
01:06:04
that change it I'm gonna up it to five times [Music] now Ben before you go one last one we're
01:06:14
not talking enough about The Reality Bites yeah come on Dana do you know this Spade had a little part
01:06:22
you went in Reality Bites I was have a tude wiener dude come on plucked me out of obscurity out of a
01:06:32
rigorous casting and I went in there I don't know if I was on SNL or was I on
01:06:36
it I feel like how did you even remember how that happened I don't remember the
01:06:40
beer yeah but Ben the funniest part about this is I first of all I'm not great at acting so I I I'm trying to
01:06:48
memorize the script I thought before I do the scene I should know it because I do that with a lot of my parts
01:06:55
um so I I look at and I go I'm interviewing Winona for a job at the wiener Hut or whatever it's called
01:07:02
and so I'm the manager and then uh so I have I the the joke is like I go I I I'm
01:07:09
with it whatever is I interview her and then I go just I'm gonna throw out some
01:07:12
numbers what's remember I told her she's gonna get cashier so I'm gonna go what's
01:07:16
85 plus 22 and she's like uh 1. I'm like nope like dollar 40 I'm like nope she
01:07:21
was already and so I go but listen so anyway I do this and then Ben hits me with this
01:07:29
[ __ ] curveball I picture we're sitting in a little interview table like in the back of Burger King and then you
01:07:35
know I just go back and forth and then he goes okay let's go now Spade scenes
01:07:39
up here you go you're gonna walk this way you're gonna hand the customer this
01:07:42
you grab a bag you put this mop over here I go what the [ __ ] I have to walk and talk and say my and say the lines
01:07:48
and you go yeah and I go holy [ __ ] inside my hands I'm like this was never
01:07:53
discussed it's never happened in acting before and so I go why is he doing this
01:07:58
to me and so and then Winona all she has to do is trail behind me that's way
01:08:02
easier and so I'm literally going in rehearsal going if I hand them this then
01:08:07
I say this that's how you remember it you know you go by blocking so I go somehow we got it but I agree a lot of
01:08:15
business you had a lot of business and I think I believe I did it as a winner I think it's like a one shot which is
01:08:22
worse because they have to get everything right yeah it's like you're traveling you're following the Steadicam
01:08:27
or something yes and you have to get it all right and I'm like but obviously that's the way to do it
01:08:32
obviously it made it funnier and then um yeah and it was funny I still love it I
01:08:36
love hearing people saw reality no and I love that you're in it too it always
01:08:40
makes me happy I'm gonna have to order that up on Amazon tonight and check out
01:08:44
Dave and the last thing I got to tell Ben is when I did this last movie they go uh a Sandler sent me this movie and
01:08:51
he goes you know you're not like it it it's the wrong Missy he goes it's
01:08:56
not the typical thing you do blah blah but then I go I read it and I go oh this is like what a Ben Stiller would do
01:09:02
because I always like what you do in these movies where these craziness around you like you don't meet the
01:09:06
parents you're not always doing that but you're very good at it and I go I want
01:09:10
to do one where it's sort of a re you know grounded guy that's overwhelmed
01:09:15
and so everything was happening around me swordson was funny each night it was funny Lauren Lapkus who was great is the
01:09:22
Missy character and uh and I was sort of trying to keep it together but there's it's a hard thing
01:09:28
to do and you do it very well and I was like going if I can just kind of do that
01:09:32
part because it's an underrated uh thing to do in movies yeah and it really keeps
01:09:38
everything working if you have good reactions and do it and then that movie was super fun wound up being but I just
01:09:44
wish they could tell you ahead of time if the movie's gonna be a hit it would
01:09:48
be so much easier to shoot like something got married you'd have so much more fun if you go this is a [ __ ]
01:09:53
yeah you never know here we go that's the old adage you just you know you really have no idea but I think like
01:09:59
when you're doing that like that kind of thing like the great thing is I always
01:10:02
felt like there's no pressure on me except to just you know just to be in the scene and hopefully react honestly
01:10:10
but like you have to not have the ego about like feeling like I always wanted more funny people around me because I
01:10:16
just felt like that would make the movie funnier it helps everybody if you don't
01:10:19
understand it by being around funny people who make me funnier how happy were you when when you sat
01:10:25
down either rehearse or shoot the first scene on Meet the Parents and you saw that De Niro was playing it full
01:10:32
badass dinero which made it so funny the way he intimidated your character it was
01:10:37
just such a perfect common chemistry he was amazing and also I think you know he
01:10:41
at that point he hadn't done a bunch of comedies you know he'd maybe done analog
01:10:44
I don't know if analyze this was before or after that I think oh right right he
01:10:48
you know and he was one of the producers of the movie too but he totally got it from the beginning and you know was just
01:10:55
playing that he knew that playing it straight and also he knew with me that you know he could just sense with me
01:11:02
that I was nervous around him and so he would yeah you know what I mean like he wouldn't make it so he worked off that
01:11:09
he enjoyed doing that and you know it was really like there was like real that was a real thing like I remember like
01:11:15
we'd be in the car together doing these scenes and then like you know back then
01:11:18
we were doing scenes where you actually were in the car it wasn't like a green
01:11:21
screen and we'd have to then take the car around to start the scene again and
01:11:24
then we'd have to just sit together in the car in between when we did the seat
01:11:27
and when we restarted so there'd be like five minutes of us just sitting uncomfortably which is staring literally
01:11:33
just you could have just kept the camera rolling it was the same as the movie it
01:11:37
just wasn't moving I have nipples do you want to milk me or is it I was just like coming out of De
01:11:45
Niro's mouth you want to find him you want to make my nipple yeah great that's
01:11:49
great all right well let's let Ben go he's been great you guys Ben was very
01:11:52
nice thank you very funny people great to catch up with you Ben uh I'm glad you're doing for kids who want to live
01:12:00
stream Stiller for young people dodgeball starts getting Hutch Madagascar Something About Mary more
01:12:06
than I could mention Jesus it's a resume I got exhausted is Severance Apple TV Severance is Apple
01:12:15
TV plus it's Apple TV plus that's the part you have to pay for yeah and it's
01:12:20
uh that's all right it streams every Friday so all right guys thanks [Music]
01:12:29
hey what's up flies what's up please what's up people that listen we want to
01:12:33
hear from you and your dumb questions questions ask us anything anything you want you can email us at fly on the wall
01:12:40
at cadence13.com we have one from Andy Lipsy all right Andy lipsey says hi guys what
01:12:48
was the first concert you ever saw live and who do you want to see that I've
01:12:51
been able to I'll start with this I saw heart 16 as a heart the band they [ __ ] rocked it and my brother's
01:12:58
snuck in some Sloe Gin you ever know what that is it's so gross it's like
01:13:02
Boone's Farm it's like a muddy cherry wine it's like a red I don't know what it is but it had booze
01:13:08
in it I didn't care I couldn't be picky chugged barfed and I did like heart I
01:13:14
still love them and then did a joke about him and I said no one got in trouble and then I would love to
01:13:20
see Led Zeppelin live Dana Les Evelyn is the greatest uh when I was 14 I was running cross country freshman High
01:13:26
School this summer I ran a six mile time trial at 5 20 a mile so I was feeling really good I have three older brothers
01:13:34
so I was 14 16 18 and 20. they took me to Fillmore West ooh ten years after Cactus and toe fat so I'm there girls
01:13:43
are bikini dancing there's a show Bill Graham actually came out and said stay
01:13:47
away from the brown acid I actually did and they were passing joints along I didn't have any but all that experience
01:13:54
was Unforgettable then went outside and this dude kind of like a wino was really
01:13:58
high and he looked up at the Marquee he was really buzz and he goes ten years after Cactus and toe fat what the [ __ ]
01:14:06
that's what I said when you just said that was the name of a rock band toe fat
01:14:11
my brother in 1966 he came home from Fillmore was he was like in eighth grade he says I've
01:14:19
just seen the best guitar player in the world I said what's his name he woke me
01:14:22
up I was in like sixth grade Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Hendrix Jimi Hendrix for real that
01:14:29
was Hendrix it was Hendrix I said yeah weird name probably won't go anywhere he
01:14:33
goes why do you say that just a thought but then we saw Jeff Beck a lot me and my friends would Jeff Beck
01:14:39
um we saw I saw Fleetwood Mac Jesus a lot of Neil Young and who would you see now if you could pick
01:14:48
um Snoop Dogg okay because my sons played that for him and that was the first time I really appreciated hip hop
01:14:59
like it's hot Drop it Like It's Hot thank you Andy when it's feeling kind of
01:15:05
hot Drop It Like It's Hot you're a bad boy David Spade [Music] flying the wall has been a presentation
01:15:19
of cadence 13. please listen then rate review and follow all episodes executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade
01:15:27
Chris Corcoran of cadence 13 and Charlie finan of brillstein entertainment production and Engineering led by Greg
01:15:33
Holtzman Richard cook Serena Regan and Chris Basil of cadence 13.