00:00:00
As far as turning on my wife, we've been together for 25 years and we actually uh have yet to consummate our relationship. Oh. And they just always have it playing. So
00:00:12
I meet a lot of kids these days that say, "Oh god, I've seen Parks and Wreck seven or eight times through." To which
00:00:19
I say, "Let me recommend some books to you." You do a ton of blow and then dump out a jigsaw puzzle and you go 72 hours. sit down at a big
00:00:30
butt plug. Uh yeah. Okay. Okay. Nick Offerman, David Nick Offerman uh was a good time. This
00:00:42
guy I see out and about here and there. He's a great guy married to Megan Mley. So I see them together.
00:00:48
Yeah. Sometimes those she was on Will and Grace. Will Grace. Uh hilarious. He has a book. He's got a book called, is it Little Woodchucks?
00:00:59
Little Woodchucks. He's quite the carpenter. And that's a we talk about that a lot. You don't really meet show
00:01:05
folk too much that can like he thinks all Americans should be able to just build a chair or build a table.
00:01:11
Sure. And don't be intimidated. So, Little Bridge is a way to introduce carpentry to your
00:01:17
kids and to uh dysfunctional adults as well. Yeah. Big uh movie called Sovereign
00:01:23
right now uh out. Um, so, uh, I saw the trailer. I didn't see the whole movie. The trailer looks pretty riveting. It's not like a goofy comedy. Mhm. But he's very good in it. And, um, also,
00:01:36
you know, from Where the Millers, you know him from Parks and Wreck. He's done a ton of things. Everyone knows who this
00:01:42
guy is. Yeah. And he he does stand up. He doesn't really call it standup, but he also, that's another gear we talk about.
00:01:48
He plays guitar and he's he's sort of folksy up there. He's been um on the scene for quite a while now, but you know, he's he's extremely humble about it. He really works a lot. He very was very he's very humble. He's
00:02:00
got a great voice. Um Mhm. must be doing a lot of voiceovers. Yeah. His voice and his look. It's like that's
00:02:07
Nick Offerman. Yeah. Good dude. And uh here he is. Have a good time with it. I did not expect this. I thought it was John Ham, but I'm so thrilled that our guest today
00:02:24
Sean am. Damn, you grow a great mustache. Yeah, thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Jeez, this voice. This guy does voiceovers for breakfast. Yeti microphone. I'm I'm making Here we
00:02:38
go. Let's see if if everybody's happy on our technical side. We'll give you a quick 20 minutes to
00:02:43
figure this out. I've put I now I have you in my cans which is uh your cans is like what Donardo used to
00:02:51
call headphones something we say in film making the cans let me ask you a question right off the bat
00:02:57
technical stuff like this and setting up electronics and that stuff and solving all that compared to carpentry which is harder uh for you for me tech [ __ ] uh I
00:03:10
I thought I'm I'm a pragmatist and so in our house like Megan, my wife and I uh do a lot of
00:03:17
cartoons and whatnot. And so we we had to set up a studio in our house. Oh. For voices and Yeah. And so I I I I master everything just to
00:03:28
the extent that I need to, right? Which is annoying because the, as you know, the systems change every seven
00:03:35
weeks. Like as soon as you master your operating system, they update it. Uh yeah, they should have instead of Geek Squad, it should be called Tech [ __ ] Call us for your tech [ __ ] because it's
00:03:50
true. I You have to write the book every two weeks though is a problem. That's right. Did you do a cartoon during the pandemic
00:03:56
at from home? I did. Sure. I mean I think Sure. I think everybody uh did and started a
00:04:04
podcast. Um we Megan does Bob's Burgers and uh Oh [ __ ] Yeah, we both did a show called The Great North that was written by a couple Bob's
00:04:15
Burgers writers, the Malino Sisters. Um, and I do I do like audio books and uh some voice over work. So, we've got a a cute little setup.
00:04:27
It seems like you do a couple hours a day. No, I have a question about that. I'm gonna I'm gonna back up. I know.
00:04:33
I want I want to tell my story about guitar stands and blankets when you're finished. I want to tell about Great
00:04:40
White North. I think I did a demo track for that. Was that Were they in an airplane or something at the beginning
00:04:45
of this pilot? Were you on it for a long time or was it on a show that was on a long time? It was We just We just finished five
00:04:51
seasons and that's God damn. That's the end that's the end of it. Fox has thrown us in the dumpster.
00:04:58
Okay. So, I didn't get it. I It doesn't look like it's going to work out, Dana. I didn't know for five seasons if
00:05:04
I got that thing. I waited and waited. They sent it to me. I loved your tape. Uh,
00:05:10
okay. Thank you. They are checking your avails. I think I was in Hotel Transylvania and you were
00:05:16
in Hotel Transsylvania. How is your How is your team? I, you know, I noticed I was reading yesterday
00:05:21
what team is looking into. You do a podcast and guests team is advising team is working hard on
00:05:29
team. You have a team. I have a team. Everyone has a team. You don't have employee. You
00:05:34
don't have an agent or manager or lawyer. You have a team. You have a team. Yeah. I've got I've got a shooting forward who sets up my
00:05:41
podcast apparently. She's terrific. She's great a rebounder as well. Defens defensive offensive rebounder. Are we talking about basketball?
00:05:52
Yeah, both ends, man. She does it all. Well, she does it all. All right. Both ends does it all. That's what I'm
00:05:57
looking for. Uh we don't know where to start. I mean, we I presume there's too much author.
00:06:05
um carpenter, actor, standup, and you the two things I noticed, you have Little Woodchucks is is is kind of your latest book. That's right. I saw it on X and also this movie
00:06:18
Sovereign, which has a 90% of Rotten Tomatoes. Uh it's Yeah, it's fantastic. And it's
00:06:24
and it's a it's a f it's a hilarious pairing because the the book is really fun and positive and light-hearted and it's it's it's my trip is I I encourage
00:06:36
people to make things with their hands. Like that's that's my Johnny Apples Seed uh mission.
00:06:43
And then the indie movie Sovereign, which is so exquisite, it's despite my participation, this guy named Christian Swiggle wrote and directed it. It's a story of a a a sovereign citizen, which
00:06:56
is kind of like a QAnon conspiracy theorist inspired by a true story. It's it's a terribly tragic thing. It's powerfully moving. It's uh people are
00:07:08
just crazy about it, but they're the exact opposite ends of of the emotional spectrum. That trailer for Sovereign was heavy duty. I just saw it.
00:07:19
It's it's pretty wild. uh a kid named Jacob Trembley from Canada and then another uh kid named Dennis Quaid who uh Dennis Quaid I think he's going to do big things.
00:07:31
Um is Jacob Tremble? He was in a movie I saw. He's a good kid and he's Is he your son in it? Yeah.
00:07:37
Oh yeah. I didn't recognize him. Okay, man. He will he will just break your heart. He's just incredible in it. And
00:07:44
you're sort of a tough dad in it. Um yeah, I I I am tough but loving. That's that part of the theme of that film um is how fathers raise their sons and how that
00:07:58
might contribute to violence in our country in our modern day. So the me and my son and then Dennis Quaid has a son who's on the police force and then
00:08:08
Tom the great Thomas man plays him and then he has a baby and so they all everybody weighs in on
00:08:15
how you should raise your sons, right? And the way the movie turns out, you're like, well, maybe don't go that
00:08:22
route. Yeah, sure. Because this the sense of modern masculinity uh often leads to hate and violence, which I say is is a thumbs
00:08:34
down. I'd say that's the message of the movie, right? Do you think um what's a bigger
00:08:42
turn on? being a movie star, killing it stand up for your wife or you fixing something or finishing your canoe or building with your hands because that's I didn't get that gene. I don't do it.
00:08:54
I'll probably get this book because I I think it'd be interesting to try to build a table, but what is the biggest turn on for your
00:09:01
wife when she sees you doing something? Okay, that's Thank you. That's a great question. Um
00:09:06
Okay, I'm going to start by saying I I think I I hope you will get this book and read
00:09:12
it. It's it's a short read and it's I think it's really funny. I think you guys would love the there's a a a
00:09:19
subversive sense of humor where it's like written for parents to read to their kids, but it's it's got a
00:09:25
hard-boiled sensibility. So, I'm like, "All right, kids. Are are your parents do your parents can they find their ass
00:09:31
with both hands? Like, do they are they feeding you?" Okay. And it there there's
00:09:36
a conspiratorial paradical sense of like let's get together and learn how to keep
00:09:42
making our our homes together uh and not let AI take over our lives. So I I I do
00:09:48
think you guys would find it fun. Um and uh as far as turning on my wife, we've been together for 25 years and we actually uh have yet to consummate our
00:10:00
relationship. Oh. Um, on Tuesdays I'm allowed in the house for dinner. Um, and so where you live in a dog house or not? I I stay in the yard. I mean, we're
00:10:13
Listen, she runs a tight ship. We're in Bair. It's nice. Yeah, you stay in the yard.
00:10:18
I You know what? I honestly I'm going to I have to think about that. What is a bigger turnon for her? I think
00:10:25
um I I think probably you know we both went to like theater school. Well, that's not true. I went to theater school. She went to uh to Northwestern and did theater, but she was she was an
00:10:38
English major and was quickly plucked out of school. And for for your listeners that don't know, it's Megan
00:10:44
Mali from Will and Grace and Parks. Mali is the pronounc super talent. U legendary funny sweetheart too. Most recently of the Righteous Gemstones and she has an amazing band called Nancy
00:10:58
and Beth that'll knock your socks off. Uh, so I feel like for both of us, like even though we're lucky enough to get to work in in a few different circuses, we what we really want to do is like
00:11:12
medically affect an audience with acting work. And so probably like my work in Sovereign uh has been accused of being affecting. And so I think something like
00:11:24
that it probably thrills her more than when I build a canoe. Right. Ah. Okay. So when you're being I was just curious as an actor is it it obviously it
00:11:36
depends on the director who's on the set what's going on but what do you what do you when are you most excited to play
00:11:41
something? Is something really scares the hell out of you? Anger because you're kind of you're you're sort of a
00:11:47
contradiction. You can play the alpha male, you know, but you also can play really vulnerable. Well, I've just
00:11:53
observed this, you know. Thank you. Okay. Thanks, Lucky in my Bronson voice. Or is there anything you haven't done, you know, in terms of acting that would turn you on? the way I I pick jobs and I
00:12:07
um I'm so I feel so stupidly lucky to even get to say the sentence when I pick jobs as an actor that that I have a choice. Um I I it absolutely just has to do with
00:12:22
the writing and so it I'm I'm never looking for like okay next up I want to do a western or I want to do a play or a comedy. It's just what organically
00:12:34
comes my way. Yeah. I'm looking forward to your western, David. I go the next script that comes along is what I'm looking for. I hear you're a a hilarious shot. Um,
00:12:49
he's no he's no horseman, said he's remaking the apple dumpling gang. Tim Conway. That's a brilliant idea actually. Yeah, that actually is a great idea. Was Barney F in that? Yes. I was just
00:13:01
going to say you should [ __ ] out the the catalog of Don Knots. [ __ ] out the cat. Just go through each
00:13:07
one. You should play Don Knots in a biopic. The Incredible Mr. Limpit. Oh my god. Now we're talking.
00:13:14
I So So when I read a script, it's it's completely organic. It's like, does this
00:13:21
uh writing move me, inspire me? And it could be the stupidest comedy like Rob Cordrey's uh children's hospital where I'm just like this is the stupidest [ __ ] I have to be part of this.
00:13:34
Or like Conan will give me a bit to do that's so dumb that I'm like people are going to I I can't wait to make people laugh with Conan, right? Or th this sovereign script is a great
00:13:47
example. My agent was like this is kind of cra like out of left field. It's very
00:13:53
unorthodox. Um, but just read it. And I read it and and I called him and was like, you're
00:13:59
right. I I think I have to play this guy. Um, and so I recently did a series that'll be out next year with El Fanning and Michelle Feifer and doing scenes
00:14:12
with with like cra total movie stars like those two. That instills a thrilling fear in me.
00:14:22
Like I I once did a movie with Michael Keaton and I'll I'll compare the three to each other. They're all They're all performers where the camera I'm sure you
00:14:32
guys have had this uh and people have it with you in your own way. The camera's on you
00:14:38
and you're looking at Michael Keaton or El Fanning Michelle Feifer and you're I'm supposed to keep my [ __ ] together
00:14:46
and and and give like a commensurate performance while a huge part of my conscious is like Michelle Feifer is making eye contact with you. Yeah. Like
00:14:56
when in your life would she look at you, you know, when would that happen? Michael Keaton is firing lightning bolts
00:15:01
at you out of his beautiful blue eyes. Oh, it's [ __ ] It's my line. So, I'm I I I love that thrilling feeling of of when I read something and
00:15:12
I'm like, one way or another, this is feels really scary and challenging and that that keeps me from ever getting jaded or bitter.
00:15:23
Hey football fans, register with Bet MGM and keep the good times rolling all season long. Uh this pro football
00:15:29
season, new customers can download the Bet MGM app and sign up to receive up to 1,500 bucks in bonus bets. That's with
00:15:38
code fly. Wow. If they don't win their first bet, how about that? Yeah. Get access to bet MGM second
00:15:45
chance promo where you get your steak back and cash if your first touchdown score scores second instead. Let me say that again. If your first
00:15:56
touchdown score scores second instead, you also get access to odds boost tokens. I love these odds boost tokens. Same game bet MGM regional bets special
00:16:12
boost in Yes, right. Yeah, there's new features are here. I'll speed it up a little bit. New features are here like dark motor live same game parlays. From kickoff to the
00:16:24
winning field goal, there are more ways than ever to supercharge your excitement. Enjoy hard-hitting football throws all season at BetMGM. You won't
00:16:31
want to miss it. Follow and tag BetmGM across all socials at BetmG. BetmGM.com. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. See betmg.com for full
00:16:43
terms. 21 plus only. This specific promotional offer is not available in Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New
00:16:49
York, Nevada, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, or West Virginia. Gambling problem? Call 1800 gambler. Available in the US. for New York 8778 hopey or text
00:17:02
hopey that's 467369 for Arizona 1 800 next step for Massachusetts 1 800 32750 for Iowa 1 800 bets off for Puerto Rico
00:17:16
1800 9810023 first bet offer for new customers only subject to eligibility requirements
00:17:22
rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel.
00:17:30
It seems like um like I was going to bring that up because I'm such a huge fan of Michael Keaton and that movie and
00:17:36
when he was on our podcast, I said that every movie star has a sleeper, something that's better than people
00:17:43
know. It's like this underground and away movie. And then I said, "It's the founder." And he goes, "I was going to
00:17:48
say that." Oh, wow. Because that's like a perfect movie. Like it's kind of like a perfect cheeseburger. like you can recommend
00:17:55
that movie to anyone and you're spectacular in it by the way. Thank you. Thank you. And really just very talk about empathy for
00:18:01
those guys and um a great job on Carol Lynch as as my brother. Well, yeah, you two were so heartwarming in that and just it was fantastic. And what Katon does really really well is um
00:18:15
and it's a common actor thing, but to think on camera with no dialogue, you know, and uh do you do you like to do
00:18:23
that as well? You know, just just because he'll he'll he'll really just kind of he'll be thinking about it's a
00:18:30
movie where you can read what's going on with No. Yeah. Yeah. He does it so so brilliantly, you know.
00:18:35
I mean, sure. I I uh would I would say that yes, I aspire to I mean the the thing is Michael's been a movie star for decades and I I've been having such a
00:18:46
goddamn good time. I'm 55. I got my big break like I worked a lot in Chicago theater and then when I moved to LA in my late 20s I started you know guest star on er like uh slowly rolling the
00:19:00
snowball Sundance movies but I was 38 years old when I got parks and recreation that catapulted me into getting to choose roles and getting to
00:19:11
do much me meteor stuff. But I still am not quite like like the last few years I've gotten to do stuff that's maybe at the level of magnitude that could be a Michael Keaton role. And so I'm still
00:19:25
learning to own the the the scenery and the camera where I'm like I'm going to take my time and think about what you're asking me because the camera just [ __ ] I've got so much charisma.
00:19:38
Yeah. That I can just I can just You just love to watch me think. So, I'm still I'm still
00:19:44
Well, it's hard because you have other actors and you're like, are they bored with my performance? Are they thinking,
00:19:50
"Hurry up, guy. You're not this important." Well, Keen will do. He'll turn toward the window, even if he's a scene with
00:19:56
other people, and think he's does a lot of thinking. But, uh, you know, confidence is an interesting thing to me, this idea of confidence. And I've always thought to myself or it that you
00:20:08
could be 99% confident. Say you create create this strata whatever and the last 1% is more important than the previous 90%. Which means all the negative voices
00:20:20
are silent. I guess Brando got it at 21. Geniuses, you know. Yeah. And all that's gone and then you're just pure and that have you did you I mean the one that stands out is the Last of
00:20:32
Us. your part in that where you seem really in the pocket, whatever you want to call it. So, talk about that as an actor. Uh, well, thank you for for saying that and I I can't I can't ever receive a
00:20:44
compliment about that episode of that show without immediately throwing it to uh to Craig Mason who wrote it
00:20:52
and and Murray Bartlett, my scene part my Yeah, he's great. My husband both great
00:20:57
in that. Uh but but the we knew like Craig sent it to me and and I read it and me and I said Megan read this and we were like like every everyone knew as soon as they
00:21:11
read it we were like this is the greatest [ __ ] episode of TV and we I arrived in Calgary to shoot it and
00:21:18
everyone was walking around holding the script up like we have to not [ __ ] this
00:21:24
up. And so even so, even knowing that I it's funny. I I never uh feel I mean I'm
00:21:32
curious, you know, I don't ever feel like I'm shooting three-pointers like Brando would in a scene. So even in uh
00:21:41
The Last of Us, a lot of that emotional vulnerability was terrifying to to try and reach honestly on camera for the first time. like
00:21:52
uh I've had the privilege of doing a lot of great stuff over the years, but my new thing and this this show actually
00:21:59
with uh with L and Michelle which will be out next year um that it's the first time that I'm
00:22:05
getting complicated emotional relationships. And so I I love that because I still feel like a freshman
00:22:12
like it's it's those butterflies of like how can I get a girl to like me like and
00:22:18
I'm on camera. Um and so you know it it my confidence definitely grows and grows
00:22:25
and grows where I I def the most important thing I learned to bolster that confidence at some point is these
00:22:33
people think like they picked you out of all the people to play this guy. Yeah. And so whatever misgivings you have, whatever foibless or or weaknesses I have, that's
00:22:46
part of what they picked. And so let that go and just do your goddamn best. Be as prepared as you can and do honest as honest of work as you can. And even
00:22:58
so, I never feel like I'm it's it's it's subjective art. So I'll never feel like
00:23:04
I've never do a take and I'm like, "Yes, nothing better than that." There's always there's always something. There's always something where you go back to Video Village or you go watch it
00:23:15
or you say, "Was that good?" and they go, "Yeah, moving on." In your head, you're like, "Was it like are you that I
00:23:21
got it?" Like, because you also I don't do as many dramas, but or any, but when you're doing different things, sometimes you do it and you go, "Uh, I think I'm doing
00:23:34
this right, but I can be adjusted." And so, if I'm somehow off here, I hope someone pulls me aside and says, "I think you're kind of missing it a little bit what we want to hear." And then you go, "Got it." And that's where a good
00:23:46
director can make you look good. Oh, 100%. I mean, I I agree. Uh I mean, especially the pace that we shoot at these days now that we no longer shoot on film and these new cameras, the re
00:24:01
camera and the red camera require basically no lights. The the turnaround is a thing of the past where they're like, you used to have a break. You used to be able to
00:24:12
pace your day where you're like, "Okay, then what I know when they turn the world around, I'm going to have an hour
00:24:18
off so I can brush up my monologue or whatever, but now we work at this incredible pace." And so I I I defy, you
00:24:27
know, the the most talented actor is can't be perfectly right every time. And so on every project, I'm so grateful when a director is like, "All right, I think we got we've done three your way
00:24:40
and I think one of I think we got that, but what if this other idea?" And invariably every time you're like, "God damn it, you just made me twice the
00:24:51
actor. Thank you so much." Any and then you have a choice that you got their that way or their way. And
00:24:57
it's it's uh very important. Have you just to clarify, Dana, for pe for people at home, for people turn it around. Let's say you're doing a western and you know I do
00:25:07
a lot and then they're shooting my scene. They shoot a wide shot and when they shoot like let's say Nick talking
00:25:14
and there's a lot of stuff behind them. Then they say let's take a break and get the other actors closeup. They have to
00:25:20
turn the cameras around and then they have to take all the covered wagons and move them behind that side and move the
00:25:25
crew on that side, all the lighting on this side. And that stuff takes an hour. So throughout your day, you do have
00:25:31
these breaks where you get to think for a second and go over your lines and cram and go, I don't think I know these
00:25:36
perfectly. Let's run them again. And when you don't get that, like you're saying, it starts to go, "Oh [ __ ] when
00:25:42
I get that morning makeup chair, I better be ready for almost anything today." Cuz they can flip it and say, "Actually, we're gonna start with the
00:25:48
last scene today." And you're like, "What?" Guaranteed. And I'm I'm the king of uh
00:25:55
I'm the king of on the drive home I always always think of the better way I'm like that's how I should have said that joke or that's the perfect comeback. Um I'd something uh tripped me up Dana
00:26:10
that I just want it's a tiny thing but uh if if I can bring the conversation around to comedy I don't know if you
00:26:16
guys are comfortable discussing that subject. We love every We love when people ask us anything or say anything
00:26:22
about whenever I'm accused of of being a standup. I you I kind of bristle because
00:26:29
I am such a fan of obviously your guys jugger the juggernaut careers in comedy you've both had. And I do tour and perform, but I say that I'm a humorist
00:26:41
because the thing that all of my comedy friends have that I don't is a joke machine. like you among other things, you guys are incredibly you have a
00:26:52
facility to get to say things at the drop of a hat that the audience is like, "How the [ __ ] did they come up with that?" The the the person I've spent probably the most time with that
00:27:04
watching him do it is Zach Galifanakis. The but but you guys are both geniuses in your own right. I've enjoyed you for decades. And so when I get up in front
00:27:15
of an audience, I do songs and I but but I I don't speak in joke. I speak in essay. And so it's it's and and I have a great time. I love touring. Uh, but I I
00:27:28
just always when people say standup, I'm like, uh, don't please don't mistake me for the great like I I I feel like I
00:27:36
belong more with uh uh Spalding Gray or Garrison Keeler or Yeah, I know what you're saying. Well, that's why Yeah, you're couched as a standup, but your your use of language is so different and quirky.
00:27:48
If George car if George Carlin was half as funny, I' i'd be in his league. Well, you have your own lane, and it's almost harder to do to find an interesting lane other than just Dana
00:28:01
and I are like, but you're up there taking your time. You're owning the stage. You're Yeah, I
00:28:08
could say you're humorous. You're not you're not needy for the next laugh. You're also using quirky word packages,
00:28:15
quirky ways of saying something. Part of your charm is that you're unexpected. And Zach is another example of a just genius mind that uh in his own
00:28:27
weird world that just completely can drop me with stuff he says. He's so good. He really Yeah, he really is. Uh yeah, Zach is he's a very special talent. I hope he
00:28:38
gets discovered uh by the public someday. [ __ ] that's so great. Do you uh I was just thinking when you're going back to acting and directing. Have you had a
00:28:50
director that's giving you too many notes between takes and you start to feel yourself getting annoyed? And how
00:28:56
do you deal with how do you deal with necessary even benign confrontation in in the in a
00:29:04
movie set? Well, I I've been really spoiled, I got to say. Like, maybe because um of the the weird organic uh
00:29:13
career path I've had, the good writing usually brings is surrounded with good directors and good producers. Mhm. So, by and large, but I I definitely do
00:29:25
that happens frequently where and I love collaborating with a director and sometimes the writer sometimes a writer
00:29:31
will get in there too and I appreciate it. Like, like I said, like we pointed out uh rather than I I
00:29:39
don't think I'm Lawrence Olivier where I'm like, "Please let me create my masterpiece. Step the [ __ ] away." I'm
00:29:45
like, "No, great, great, great. you're helping me achieve, you know, the the the maximum medicine with what we're
00:29:53
making here. But even even an enthusiastic, smart director even can just get to they're like, "Okay, they come over after a scene and they can get to a second note and then a third note."
00:30:06
Yeah. Like and then I don't know if you saw, but there's a comma or whatever and I'm
00:30:11
like, "Okay." and some but the thing is I'm I'm usually friendly where I'll either say okay I'm going to do the
00:30:18
first two and then if if you still need the comma or whatever like yeah or or or I'll just you know I one of the great things I learned writing books and
00:30:30
I have a wonderful editor named Jill Schwarzman who's done all my books and with my first book I'm a total perfectionist and I'm a workaholic so I write this book And like so many things
00:30:43
that we that we work on, you learn you can you can edit it for the rest of your life. Like you at some point you have to say, "Okay, put it in the goddamn bookstore."
00:30:55
Like, "Yeah, because we keep going back and forth with editing." And it was such a huge
00:31:00
lesson to let go of an artwork or a a project and say, "All right, I've done my goddamn best on this. Could I keep tweaking it for years?" Sure. Sure. And and
00:31:12
I'm doing that right now. It's and it's so true for TV and film that the editor and the director have to say, "Okay, show it. Just show it to the
00:31:23
people." Because you're no one ever thinks, "Okay, this is perfect." It's someone has to stop you almost. It's like, "Just stop. This is your deadline. You need the end of a semester. You got
00:31:35
to turn in your paper." Um, and so when a director is being like that with me, I just think, okay, I'm
00:31:41
going to do my best to give you what you're asking for, and it might only be half of what you're asking for, but
00:31:47
ultimately we will present that collaboration with confidence. Well, they don't realize it's too hard to absorb some of these notes. It's like to remember the scene already, all your
00:31:58
lines, and you go, "Oh, and go a little dark on that." Oh, yeah. and you're making a sandwich and the mustard is like squirting water
00:32:04
and then script comes up and goes you were shaking the mustard on the third line and you go it's Indianapolis it's a pit stop like a
00:32:12
race car because you got the hair people are doing the hair looking at you you're
00:32:17
getting notes and everyone's looking at you it's your closeup it's the money shot and you're trying just to be loose
00:32:23
and totally in the moment it's a little it's a hat trick it's so funny there's yeah there's someone like pinning down your
00:32:30
prosthetic And and the director's like, "Now listen, emotionally, I need you to get to a place."
00:32:35
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some great actor or actress, I can't remember, was saying, retired from acting and basically happily, but just
00:32:42
said, "No one's going to ever pick at my shirt or come at my hair again." And it was like
00:32:47
what they they were so overjoyed. What I was gonna I it I watched uh Vertigo recently non sequittor but you know Hitchcock was a minimalist and there was a lot of
00:33:02
moving masters that just means the camera moves it doesn't just still it doesn't you know unless he needs it
00:33:08
and now in the modern era for a long time with digital and being able to go in there you feel like the director's
00:33:14
watching gets bored and the editor and then we'll cut some more and cut some more and you saw it maybe when it was in simple shots and go this is a great scene and then it gets strangled.
00:33:26
I Megan and I talk about this a lot because we our our our uh popular culture and
00:33:33
our our um our attention deficit disorder has gotten to the point it kind of started with Oliver Stone. I I was a
00:33:41
I loved sword fighting on stage. I was a choreographer and it's still if anybody's listening I'm I'm still
00:33:47
desperately wanting to play a swashbuckler. Um the and and Oliver Stone we we you
00:33:54
know three of us we make a generalization. Yeah. I believe the number of musketeers
00:34:01
required is three. Ah um Oliver to make a generalization that's unfair to Oliver Stone but he brought in this sense of fast cutting where where
00:34:15
at first it was fresh and exciting like the violent cutting of of combat scenes of every sort. But for those of us that that love the artistry of Jackie Chan or
00:34:28
Jean Kelly where you see the the ballet and the use um and and I feel like popular culture has gotten to so cut up to the point that we are now having this
00:34:40
renaissance where shows like the studio and other great filmmakers are are are masturbating with the wer the long one moving you know moving and and they do it incredibly. I
00:34:54
I don't you know I I don't consider masturbating to be a disparaging verb. I think it's a triumph uh of mother nature. But I mean I I Megan and I really
00:35:07
appreciate that as theater actors where don't don't just depend on flash. Flash is fun and has its place, but you've got these actors and this writing and the
00:35:19
scenery. Um, to to make you what you immediately made me think of is in in the movie Sovereign, this wonderful actor Thomas Man plays Dennis Quaid's son. And I did a movie with Thomas uh I
00:35:34
guess about 10 years ago called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. And it won Sundance. It won both things at Sundance, the a the trophy and the audience award.
00:35:45
Mhm. And rightly so. It's a it's a beautiful movie and Thomas is the lead. And we we got this incredible um uh cinematographer from from Korea who had
00:35:59
done this movie called Old Boy. And I'm not going to try and butch remember and butcher the the guy's name, but he's the
00:36:06
guy who shot Old Boy. and Alfonso Gomez Rahon is the director and on the very first day. He says to his Korean DP who can't speak a word of
00:36:18
English, there's a translator and it's a shot with me on a couch and we're in a living room in Pittsburgh and he's like, "Okay, we're going to see these two boys walking up the front
00:36:28
sidewalk through the window. They're going to say something to this cat sitting on the window sill. Then we're
00:36:34
going to come around on Nick and he's watching a Klauskinsky movie. Then we're going to come around and the boys are
00:36:39
arriving at the door and we're going to start the scene. This is the first shot of the movie and I just was like, and I
00:36:46
love everybody there. Like I I have no misgivings to this point. Connie Britain and I play the his mom and dad
00:36:53
and and he he says this and I'm like, "Oh, we're fucked." Like this is this is this is a this is a 23-day Sundance shoot. Yeah. And we got it in like two takes. and and
00:37:06
it was one of the rare times that I've worked with a director who aggressively used the camera in a hitchcockian sense.
00:37:14
It was so beautiful. Um and I I I've my my role is a small supporting but I highly re this movie is so gorgeous. It's really funny and ultimately makes you cry at the end. Um
00:37:26
what's the name again? It's called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Okay. Uh yeah, when you get it's so incredible like when these in this day and age when somebody slows
00:37:38
down and that's act that's actually what my woodworking book is about is slowing
00:37:43
down your life off of your smartphones and your screens to to a human pace. No, you don't have to. I mean No, I'm going to share that thought on X right now if you don't mind. That's right. No, go for it.
00:37:56
Make a Tik Tok of me. Let me say it again. Beep boop. Was Birdman was the Going back to
00:38:02
Michael Keaton, was it Birdman, the one with the five minute shots? That was the other extreme, you know.
00:38:08
Dude, I just saw the player. Remember the player name from about 20 years ago. That's uh it's Robins Coen Brothers, right? Uh who directed it? It was about
00:38:21
showbiz. Yeah, Tim Robbins is early. Cohen brothers opens with a maybe 10 minute shot.
00:38:28
Oh yeah. God that's on studio. I mean yeah those guys the I I just I love to make things. Here's the thing. The world of capitalism tells us make things as fast as you can. That's how
00:38:43
you make the most money. And that's like the the global mantra. We're marching to that goddamn Elon anthem.
00:38:51
And so what I desperately, you know, in my tiny wood shop, I'm like, "Hang on, it's your life is way more enjoyable if you slow down and build your own dining
00:39:02
table or if you do shots like the opening of the player." Like that that movie experience is going to be so much more delicious for everybody involved. And you're somebody's going to make
00:39:14
17,000 less dollars, but every but it's it's a much better meal. I'm talking about it 20 years ago. 20 years later where you say and every actor in it. It's so fun to go like you
00:39:27
with your the couch when you feel the camera. That's the scariest. There's no cue when you feel
00:39:33
it. It's coming. It's here. That's the funnest. Everybody gets it right. You know those shots. I was I was
00:39:40
watching the whole thing going I wonder how many how long it took to shoot a day and then I was watching more. like two
00:39:46
days where they have to choreograph everything and just keep trying it, going, "All right, we're going to try one." Everyone's like, "You fall here,
00:39:52
there's a car crash. There's this." Very hard to do, but fun to see. It's astonishing. I mean, it's it's an
00:39:59
astonishing thing to just finish a feature film. Like, if you see your film or your friend's film in a theater, even if it sucks eggs, you go hug them
00:40:10
and be like, "Jesus Christ." It's a It's impossible to make a feature film. It shouldn't be allowed. The thing is the bad ones are as hard to make as a good ones. I've had both and
00:40:22
it's like, "Holy shit." People go, "What the fuck?" I go, "I can't believe if I knew it was going to I would have put
00:40:27
less effort in." But you're trying to make every day, every line good, and when it doesn't work out, you're like,
00:40:33
"God, all that work, it's so hard. You can't believe it even gets finished." You're right. as I suspected. I I sorry,
00:40:40
it's niggling me and uh it's I just I just looked it up and it's Robert Altman made the player.
00:40:46
Yeah, it was niggling all of us. I was I I'm just curious per this conversation.
00:40:52
I I conflated it with Bart and Frink. That's a great word. Do you actively increase your Do you read the dictionary
00:40:59
or whatever? Because you seem to have a pretty big dictionary. I don't I I do love vocabulary. I I
00:41:06
because it's a place uh I I started in the Catholic church as an alter boy and then they had me reading the gospel uh readings as the
00:41:17
lector. And so at age like 14, I'm up there reading to the church full of people reading like the the gospel readings. And that was where I think it
00:41:27
it all began for me where I was like, "Oh, if I depending on how I tone this reading, I can make my cousin laugh." Like if I'm a little too serious with my
00:41:38
delivery, the congregation is moved and my cousin is like, "That was [ __ ] hilarious,
00:41:44
man." Very inspired by Leslie Nielsen's line readings and Naked Gun and so forth. True. Oh, I was talking about that yesterday. You know, all respect to Liam
00:41:56
Niss in the the latest one before Nesley, he just there's something magic about his timing and his tone in that those movies naked Gun. Yeah, there's
00:42:06
someone decided take a serious guy and get don't and don't call me Shirley. And you're like, wait, that's funny. Like
00:42:13
someone goes, if you did this the whole movie, it's such a gamble. Oh yeah. And the airplane too, their
00:42:19
earlier one, Peter Graves, you know? Yeah. You know, do you like gladiator movies?
00:42:24
I mean, it's just I was going to ask you because I because we have you here. It's like just quickly, what are the movies
00:42:31
that you and your wife would watch more than once or performances that really stand out? You know, my wife and I have different movies that that you revisit
00:42:42
because they're so brilliant. I'm I'm going to uh if may I excuse myself for a tinkle and think about that
00:42:50
and I'll be right back. Absolutely. We have editing capability. Here's a question you may have not considered. All right, let hit me. What is the real cornerstone of health?
00:43:02
The one that shapes energy levels, mood, and even sleep. According to scientists, it's the gut.
00:43:08
The gut is the foundation of overall health and vitality. It's not just about digestion. The gut affects everything
00:43:15
from energy and mood to weight management and even longevity. But here's the problem. Most gut supplements
00:43:21
only contain probiotics or probiotics and prebiotics at best. Yeah. And that's why Bioma is different. Bioma contains all three essential ingredients
00:43:32
the gut needs. Prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics. And David, each ingredient is
00:43:39
sciencebacked, third party tested, and designed to work together to support better health from the inside out.
00:43:45
Just two capsules before breakfast make it simple to take the guesswork out of feeling your best. Yeah. Go to bioma.alth and use code fly to get biome with an extra 15% discount.
00:43:58
This is a limited time offer, so don't miss out. Claim your extra 15% savings today.
00:44:04
So, the thing about Nick, why he's a a great person to interview is that Nick is real. Uh oh, he's back. You're back.
00:44:17
Yeah. Oh, Dana was giving you a compliment when you were gone. Uh, please continue. Don't let me interrupt you.
00:44:22
Uh, you know, The Last of Us, you won the Emmy. I didn't know if I mentioned that.
00:44:27
You said he's very and you gave gave a very quirky acceptance speech. Very, very you. Very
00:44:33
interesting. So you're eccentric. Do you go to someone for speeches? Do you go to someone and say anything you would say? If there anything funny you just have. I know. Believe me, I might go to
00:44:45
someone and go, "Give me something for this." Oh, for sure. I I uh I I love um anything that I do when I tour as a humorist. I write my material, but I, you know, I'm friends with uh the genius
00:45:00
writers and who who who love like their bread and butter is they love for me to send them my
00:45:08
stuff and they're like, "Here's two jokes about Brett Kavanaaugh or whatever." And I'm like, "Fantastic."
00:45:14
And and and it's funny, they refuse uh payment. I'm like, "Let me like, let me pay you." And
00:45:22
and it's and they're like, "No, like if you get a laugh with my joke, that's my pay." It's so flattering. Yeah.
00:45:28
So, but so then I send them a nice bottle of something they they like to drink. Mhm. Um that's so I while I was urinating for 17 minutes. Uh
00:45:39
yeah, that was a long break. I That's a very There are a couple interesting things about your question.
00:45:44
One is I feel like Megan and I the answer to your question is is historical. It's like singing in the rain. It's it's great performances
00:45:58
from our youth that are that are monumental and foundational. Um and innocent and nice. Donald O' Conor make them laugh. I mean Yeah. And I mean the films of of Mel
00:46:13
Brooks, uh, like Mark's Brothers, uh, Laurel and Hardy. We're we watch a ton of Laurel and Hardy. And there's this scene at the end of their movie, The Music Box, where they're trying to mo
00:46:25
get a piano up a set of stairs in Echo Park. Famous scene. And and and they they finally get it up
00:46:32
and get it into the the house and they do this little dance with each other. and they like hook arms and do a little
00:46:38
dance and we consider that scene to be this that's our marriage like that represents our household. Interesting. Nice. That's the two of us. Um but it
00:46:50
but in modern in the modern age like cuz we you get questions like this sometimes
00:46:56
and what we what we've realized is we would watch Will and Grace and Parks and Wreck when they aired and we've never seen them again. there there are some things we've done
00:47:09
that uh we've never seen. Um but we but with all of the the preponderance of of things available to us to watch or listen to
00:47:21
uh or read these days um we we really it's very rare that we would ever it would ever occur to us to watch something a second time. And which
00:47:32
brings me to something I find very interesting and I've been the great beneficiary of just lucky timing that
00:47:39
parks and wreck happened. when it first began to hit uh around 2010, uh social media was also just beginning to hit like memes and and gifs or gifs were
00:47:55
were just and so the they were just arriving on the scene and the world was like does anybody make funny faces like
00:48:02
who can we plug in here? So, we benefited from that timing. And then when we were all done, people don't
00:48:09
realize now that we were never a hit show. We were on the bubble every year. We And it was because we were
00:48:15
No one realizes that we were in the transition from the Neielson ratings to DVR to streaming.
00:48:24
Oh. And so the kids were all going crazy for Parks and Rick, but it wasn't showing up on the on the the rating
00:48:32
system, which was a real bummer because we we didn't get award nominations and we didn't get uh a raise, you know, like we we were kind of one of the biggest
00:48:44
hit shows critically, but business-wise it never it never clicked for us. And so
00:48:51
then, especially once the pandemic hit, there's this new thing, especially among young people, where they pick a show
00:48:57
like Friends or The Office or Parks and Wreck, and it's their comfort show and they just always have it playing. So, I meet a lot of kids these days that say, "Oh god, I've seen Parks and Wreck
00:49:10
seven or eight times through." To which I say, "Let me recommend some books to you." Like, there there are things you could be doing. like I I'm I would love for you to see it once.
00:49:22
Let me teach you how to whittle. But it's a crazy phenomenon in the modern day that that uh that the kids
00:49:29
because you also if you loved a show when we were young, you couldn't watch it again.
00:49:35
Yeah. Well, you wait six months pieces of Well, then that made great films. Great
00:49:41
films are hard to make. When my wife, we're looking in for old films. We've seen The Godfather, you know, we we
00:49:47
revisit those two. Uh, but there's just not a plethora. I mean, Quinton Tarantino, whoops, name drop. I was
00:49:53
interviewing him, substituting for Jimmy Kimmel. He said there's no great movies between the year 2000 and it was 2023
00:50:02
when I interview him. No really great movies besides mine. Basically, I'm paraphrasing,
00:50:07
but I thought one that really stood out was The Descendants with George Clooney as something that we will visit once in a while. We also go back to Sound of Music, which I became possessed by and
00:50:19
was not a fan of musicals as a kid. I'll watch it and then I became possessed by
00:50:24
it. As the greatest arc of a of a couple, of a relationship I've ever seen, I must have done
00:50:30
something right. The song in the gazebo. Yeah. Just gets me every time. Somewhere in my youth and childhood, I must have done
00:50:37
something good. Yeah. What? When I was a kid living out in the little in the middle of a cornfield
00:50:43
growing up in the 70s, we And when we finally got a VCR in like 1982 or something, never had cable my whole life. We had five video cassettes and two of
00:50:54
them were Singing in the Rain and The Sound of Music. It's interesting how ubiqu like how how abbey road certain
00:51:02
movies are where it's like well everyone knows the white album has to have this one.
00:51:07
Yeah. Yeah. The Wizard of Oz was another um Well, that was that was that was good.
00:51:14
That was good. Uh Nick, before we let you go, I want to say that um I had a when I did this old show, Just Shoot Me.
00:51:21
Oh my god, a few people remember back there. um that uh Megan was right next to me with Will and Grace and she was
00:51:28
always so hilarious, so wonderful and always so great on her show. Tell her hi and uh and uh we had a great
00:51:35
time that during that run of both of those shows. So much fun over there watching them in their new cars. Anyway,
00:51:41
sources uh but uh great to talk to you, Nick. Really, really appreciate it. And uh we
00:51:48
we Oh, we can't have you hang up right away. You have to wait a hair Oh, don't worry. of our technology,
00:51:53
whatever. I met you and your lovely wife. I like that expression backstage at the Largo and got to chat
00:52:00
with you guys for five minutes and lovely people. Well, we're not not Hollywood phonies. I'm just going to say it. No, no, we're super boring. And I and I
00:52:11
con I I uh recommend that to everyone who thinks a Hollywood I I don't think anyone's having a good time going to clubs and like chasing whatever the
00:52:23
diddy party idea is. We stay home. We literally do jigsaw puzzles and listen to like stodgy murder mysteries uh read as audio books. That's that's that's our
00:52:36
line of coke. It can be fun. Listen, that's a new that's a different form of fun that people are maybe picking up on again.
00:52:42
Scrabble that was during the D parties. My wife, unless he gets out. Yeah, you you do you just you do a ton of blow
00:52:50
and then dump out a jigsaw puzzle and you go 72 hours, sit down at a big butt plug. Uh yeah. All right. Thanks, Nick. Hey, good to
00:53:01
see you, bud. And we'll talk soon. Hey guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us a
00:53:14
review, fivestar rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this
00:53:20
episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey,
00:53:25
an executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro, and Greg Holtzman, Mattie Sprung Kaiser, and
00:53:32
Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet
00:53:40
Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogerty, Evan
00:53:45
Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gainner, Shan Cherry, Kurt Kourtney, and Lauren Vieiraa. Reach out with us any
00:53:59
questions to be asked and answered on the show. You can email us at flyinthewala.com.
00:54:05
That's audacy.com.