Episode 1398 - Colin Hanks
Marc:Lock the gates!
Marc:Alright, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck, buddies?
Marc:What the fuck, Nicks?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:I'm Mark Maron.
Marc:This is my podcast, WTF.
Marc:Welcome to it.
Marc:If you've been here a while, nice to have you back.
Marc:If you're new, thanks for dropping in.
Marc:Hang out.
Marc:Maybe just sit in the back and listen, alright?
Marc:I guess you can talk back.
Marc:It's fine.
Marc:Everybody engage however you want to engage.
Marc:How's your New Year's going?
Marc:Is it OK?
Marc:Is everything all right?
Marc:You know, I need to clear some stuff up.
Marc:But let's start properly.
Marc:Today on the show, I'm going to talk.
Marc:You're going to hear me talk to Colin Hanks.
Marc:He's now a ubiquitous character actor.
Marc:Recently, he's been on Fargo, The Offer, Impeachment, Drunk History.
Marc:He's been in movies like Orange County, King Kong, Jumanji.
Marc:He's also producer and director of documentaries like the one he made about Tower Records and a new one about Willie Mays.
Marc:Also the son of actor...
Marc:Tom Hanks.
Marc:Is that his name?
Marc:Tom Hanks?
Marc:That's his name, right?
Marc:Wow.
Marc:My brain is garbage.
Marc:My brain is garbage.
Marc:It's turning into garbage.
Marc:Look, a couple of things I want to clear up, I believe.
Marc:On my episode with Ben Foster, and I knew it kind of when I said it, that I wasn't quite using the Yiddish word nachos right.
Marc:I believe.
Marc:I think someone corrected me, or maybe they were just telling me what it means, but I don't think I used it right.
Marc:I think I was probably looking for the word chutzpah, which is, you know, that's a word everybody knows.
Marc:Nachos, not so much.
Marc:And I think I misused nachos.
Marc:I think nachos means pride, and chutzpah is huevos, you know?
Marc:Chutzpah is, in Spanish, is huevos.
Marc:Used not as eggs, but as, do you have the huevos?
Marc:Do you have the chutzpah to do it?
Marc:The oomph, the balls, the will.
Marc:Nachos is, I believe, pride.
Marc:And I kind of knew that, but I guess I didn't know it enough not to...
Marc:Fuck up, you know, what I was saying.
Marc:But now I want to know what spilkis is.
Marc:Here we go.
Marc:Here we go.
Marc:Spilkis, a state of impatience, agitation.
Marc:That's what the spilkis means in Yiddish.
Marc:I am in a constant, almost constant state of spilkis, which with occasional moments of nachos over my friends and myself and sort of, I think, in and out of chutzpah.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I think Chutzpah and Spilkis is the name of my soul.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:Chutzpah and Spilkis.
Marc:But anyway, thank you for clearing that up.
Marc:That what I meant to say with Ben Foster was Chutzpah and not Nachas.
Marc:But I'm happy that I had the...
Marc:You know, the lack of naches to admit my mistake.
Marc:So cleared that up.
Marc:Fine.
Marc:The other thing, somebody was wondering about my my barbecue chicken.
Marc:How did it come out?
Marc:Because that was a pressing sort of unfolding goal of my last show.
Marc:And the new year was the barbecue chicken and the chicken came out fine.
Marc:But, you know, the skin was okay.
Marc:You know, when you slow cook it, it's a little rubbery, but I put spices on it, which I don't always do.
Marc:And you know what?
Marc:To be honest with you, chicken is really chicken.
Marc:What are you going to do with chicken?
Marc:You're going to make an amazing chicken.
Marc:I mean, the only amazing chicken I've ever had is just a roast chicken, a rotisserie chicken or a roast chicken.
Marc:That's where it's at, right?
Marc:You're not going to get better than a nice crispy crust or something that's been on a rotisserie for the day.
Marc:I mean, that's the best chicken can be.
Marc:Barbecue chicken, who cares?
Marc:Chicken, chicken, chicken breasts.
Marc:Who cares?
Marc:You know, chicken.
Marc:It's just chicken, man.
Marc:Let's do this first.
Marc:If you haven't signed up for the full Marin yet, this is a good month to do it.
Marc:We've got some good bonus content coming for you this month, including my trip to the AEW wrestling matches at the Forum.
Marc:Talk with Jesse Brown of Canada Land about my dream of moving north.
Marc:Some extra segments with upcoming guests.
Marc:Plus, there's currently more than two dozen bonus episodes from last year sitting there right now, ready for you to listen to.
Marc:Go to WTFPod.com and click on WTF Plus or go to the link in the episode description on whatever podcast player you're using right now.
Marc:And don't forget, if you're already a WTF Plus subscriber, give out the referral code we sent you last month.
Marc:At the end of January, we'll send a prize to the person who referred the most friends.
Marc:Huh?
Marc:What do you make of that?
Marc:So I've been doing stuff, man.
Marc:I've been doing stuff around the house.
Marc:I've been doing like, you know, I've been thinking about it.
Marc:Who am I?
Marc:You know, I'm just barely hanging on most of the time, but I'm engaged with that and I can manage that.
Marc:And I also have a certain amount of success in my life.
Marc:But mentally and emotionally, barely hanging on.
Marc:The point is, what do I do?
Marc:What have I earned?
Marc:What is my life?
Marc:And what do I enjoy?
Marc:And I find that it's possible to enjoy life.
Marc:And it's hard for me to admit that.
Marc:That's like 60 years coming.
Marc:59 and change.
Marc:coming to just admitting that, look, man, there are things I enjoy and they're not big things, but it's the life that I live and it's the life that I've earned, I guess.
Marc:But I have to stop thinking that whatever my life is, I'm not doing enough because I seem to like it.
Marc:I seem to have spent my life figuring out how to more effectively have a lot of free time on my hands.
Marc:And I've been a self-employed person for almost all of my adult life since my 20s.
Marc:And there's different points during that life where having all that time when there was no money and a lot of time, it was difficult.
Marc:When I was chasing it, it was difficult.
Marc:But I was engaged.
Marc:I was writing things down.
Marc:I was wandering around.
Marc:I was sweating.
Marc:I was doing drugs.
Marc:I was drinking.
Marc:I was having sex.
Marc:I was going on stage.
Marc:Those were the 20s and 30s.
Marc:And there was a frenetic kind of momentum to it.
Marc:But it was always about...
Marc:You know, my time is my time.
Marc:I feel very busy, even though I don't go to a job.
Marc:I'm busy all the time.
Marc:And a lot of the stuff I can't differentiate between what's work and what's something I enjoy.
Marc:But I'm starting to do that a little bit.
Marc:And then I went to therapy because I had to work through some of...
Marc:I've been a little hard on myself for the last 45 years, and I'm wondering why that is.
Marc:Why do I need to constantly kind of pound myself into the ground?
Marc:Why do I need to never think that I'm doing what I need to be doing or enough of what I should be doing or enjoying life in the right way?
Marc:Why am I compelled to feel shame?
Marc:Why am I a shame junkie?
Marc:Why am I, you know, there's just a few things.
Marc:I need some fine tuning.
Marc:Around self-flagellation and shame and a little bit of need some codependency work.
Marc:But so we kind of got into it.
Marc:It's been a while, but I had some specific things I wanted to go over.
Marc:And that worked out.
Marc:Got a new perspective.
Marc:She's a bit of a Buddhist thinker.
Marc:My.
Marc:My therapist.
Marc:And it's a weird thing about Buddhism, that whole sort of being the present, the past, the past is sort of like, all right, so does that mean that what?
Marc:That there was no Holocaust?
Marc:I mean, look, that's extreme.
Marc:I apologize.
Marc:I didn't mean that.
Marc:It's being in the presence.
Marc:Good.
Marc:And the past is the past is fine.
Marc:Doesn't mean you don't acknowledge it.
Marc:And I'm not saying that my therapist is thinks that way.
Marc:But, you know, it's just me again, you're reaching into the past, whether it's mine or the history of my people to feel some anger and some and some some some righteous indignation, which is better than shame.
Marc:I've been doing some homework and I've been doing some, you know, renewed interest watching.
Marc:I'll watch McCabe and Mrs. Miller again for like the millionth time because it never stops unfolding for me.
Marc:And this time I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the hat.
Marc:Got something to do with the hat and that coat.
Marc:It's all hinging on the bowler and the giant bear coat or whatever the hell that was.
Marc:And also, I read some of Sarah Pauly's new book to get a handle on her.
Marc:I watched her documentary.
Marc:I watched women talking in preparation to sort of engage with Sarah Pauly soon.
Marc:And yeah, that's what I did.
Marc:And I cooked some fish.
Marc:You all right?
Marc:How's everybody doing?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, look, Colin Hanks, a nice guy.
Marc:We've been kind of dancing around this for a long time in the sense that I've known him.
Marc:We've met.
Marc:We've tweeted at each other.
Marc:But now he's finally here.
Marc:He can be seen in the limited series A Friend of the Family streaming now on Peacock.
Marc:He also produced the new HBO sports doc Say Hey Willie Mays, which is streaming now on HBO Max.
Marc:This is me and Colin.
.
.
Marc:All right, so we were talking about Sacramento.
Marc:And, you know, you asked me how much time I've spent in Sacramento.
Marc:I have spent time at the Punchline in Sacramento and the hotel across the way over there by the Arden Mall.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:How about Arden?
Marc:How about Arden?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And there's a hotel right there across from it that I have, you know, some bad, some not so bad.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Not much good.
Guest:Not so bad.
Marc:Gotcha.
Marc:That's fair.
Marc:That's fair.
Marc:And memories of that hotel that, you know, revolved around alcohol and whatnot.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, the punchline Sacramento was upstairs in a strip mall.
Marc:Yeah, the How About Arden strip mall.
Marc:Oh, but there's a big mall.
Marc:What's the big mall?
Guest:Arden Fair Mall.
Guest:Oh, so you're really on top of it.
Guest:So, yeah.
Guest:Well, when I say really on top of it in terms of, like, things that were in existence in 1996.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:right and you have to walk past a mattress store yeah upstairs and wait online in that strip mall yeah how about our strip mall and did am i wrong in thinking there used to be kind of a 50s yeah no there was mel's yeah right there yeah i think it was mel's i think i feel like it was a knockoff mel it was a knockoff mel yeah it was a knockoff mel yeah i remember yeah i yeah i ate there a bunch of times when i was a kid when you're in high school when i was in high school high school middle school yeah
Guest:So you're a Sacramento guy?
Guest:I'm a Sacramento boy, yeah.
Guest:So my parents met at Sac State.
Guest:Tom Hanks and your mom.
Guest:My mom, Susan.
Guest:I just want to put that up front, that Tom Hanks is your father.
Guest:Yes, not Michael Keaton, as I like to claim.
Guest:And so they met at Sac State.
Guest:So I was born in Sacramento and then moved around with them a little bit.
Guest:And then when my parents split up, my mom moved back to Sacramento with me and my sister.
Guest:My dad stayed here in Southern California.
Marc:What year was that though?
Marc:Like where was he at in his trip?
Guest:In his journey?
Guest:In his journey?
Guest:To Superstar.
Guest:That was around volunteers.
Guest:It was right after volunteers.
Guest:And how old were you?
Guest:Third grade, whatever age you are, third grade.
Guest:That's rough.
Guest:I'm trying to think.
Guest:I mean, my youngest is in fourth.
Guest:Yeah, seven or eight.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Seven or eight years old.
Marc:That's a rough time to weather a divorce.
Guest:Well, I don't know if there's ever a great time to weather a divorce.
Guest:But you always weather it.
Marc:When you're in your 30s, it's less...
Guest:Well, I remember actually having a conversation because, like, when I was growing up, like, I grew up, you know, in Sacramento, in East Sacramento, and, like, all my friends, all their parents were married.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And it wasn't until we all graduated high school and, like, went off that everyone's parents started getting divorced.
Guest:Huh.
Guest:And I remember having conversations, like, with... So you were ahead of the gang.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah, and actually having conversations with my best friend, who I'm still very close with.
Guest:From kids?
Guest:From kids, yeah.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And he's my producing partner on a bunch of stuff.
Guest:We talked a lot, and he sort of said, you might have had it easier when you were younger, because you didn't have relationships with your parents beyond them just being...
Marc:Your parents.
Marc:Here's your food.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, we love you.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You didn't get old enough to make a mess of things, and they... Yeah, or, like, feeling like I was really genuinely, like, pulled between the two.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:I think in a divorce, you'll always sort of feel that way to a degree.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But when you're older, like, it really feels like, oh, shit, I don't know if I like this person.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:You know, when you're a kid, it's sort of like... I was in my 30s when they got divorced, and it was... I guess it was sort of...
Marc:upsetting.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I didn't have to wonder where I was going to live.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:And I knew my dad was an asshole.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, you know, but... Same, Mark.
Marc:Same.
Marc:Hard same.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Tell us the truth.
Marc:Same.
Marc:How often do you get that?
Marc:Tell us the truth about Tom Hanks.
Marc:Tell us the truth.
Guest:He's a monster, right?
Guest:He's a monster who can't figure out any kind of technology whatsoever.
Marc:It's the worst.
Marc:But what was it like for you?
Marc:He was always, I have to assume he was a relatively decent dad, no?
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I want to believe, man.
Marc:I want to believe the Tom Hanks mythology.
Guest:Yes, he was.
Guest:It's so funny because I... Look, I just look at it very differently, obviously, than everybody else does.
Guest:That sounds like a tasty water.
Guest:Here we go, man.
Marc:We're fucking partying.
Guest:Let there be thirst.
Guest:Quench that thirst with that water.
Guest:No, but like...
Guest:Everyone sort of has this kind of like, oh my God, what was that?
Guest:The idea of everyone calling him America's dad and stuff like that.
Guest:He's a dude.
Guest:He's a guy who was incredibly young.
Guest:I mean, he was like 23 when I was born.
Marc:They must not have really known.
Marc:He didn't know what he was doing.
Guest:He had no fucking idea.
Guest:That's a really young dude.
Guest:How old was your mom?
Guest:Same?
Guest:Not that much older.
Guest:I mean, maybe two, maybe three years older.
Marc:That's old school age for having kids.
Marc:That's how old my parents were when they had me.
Guest:I mean, yeah.
Guest:I mean, that's like a byproduct of like 50s, 60s.
Marc:No one does that shit anymore.
Marc:And did he have a plan then?
Marc:No.
Marc:He had no plan.
Marc:Did he have a job that you remember before he was acting?
Marc:Or is he pretty much going?
Guest:No.
Guest:Well...
Guest:No, I mean, he was... I don't remember him having to leave to go work for his first professional acting job in... In Bosom Buddies?
Guest:No, Cleveland.
Guest:In Cleveland, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, the Great Lakes Theater Festival there.
Guest:So I don't really remember that.
Guest:I mean, I remember Bosom Buddies, but I mean, that was...
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:When were you born?
Guest:What year?
Guest:I was born in 77.
Guest:Oh, so it's like, it's all just starting.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You have a concept.
Guest:No, exactly.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:So I remember like years, I think it was around his 50th birthday.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:We were in, uh, we actually went through Cleveland and,
Guest:And I was significantly older.
Guest:And I said, hey, when you come here, what do you think?
Guest:What is the thing that's going through your head?
Guest:You're 50 years old.
Guest:You're here with your kid.
Guest:In Cleveland.
Guest:In Cleveland.
Guest:Where it started.
Guest:Where it started.
Guest:And I think he said, oh, I wish I could just go back and just say, hey, it's going to be okay.
Guest:It's going to be okay.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Only because it turned out okay.
Guest:Only because it turned out okay.
Marc:But if he had thought it was going to be okay, then it might not have been.
Guest:Well, but it just made me realize just how much just sort of like stress and anxiety someone must have had at that age going like, I'm 23 years old, 24 years old.
Guest:Got kids.
Guest:I got a kid.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I don't have a job.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm not married.
Guest:Like, I don't.
Guest:Oh, he wasn't married?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:They weren't married until a few years later.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then even that didn't last very long.
Guest:So, like, just the amount of just, like, fear.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And you're going to be an actor?
Marc:Oh, my... You're in Cleveland?
Guest:Yeah, like, ludicrous.
Guest:Did he bring you to Cleveland?
Guest:No.
Guest:Or were you just sitting in Sac?
Guest:No, I stayed in Sacramento.
Guest:I didn't... He didn't... We didn't move out to be with him until...
Guest:He was in New York and was, like, trying to give New York a shit.
Guest:A run?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's so crazy to be having the kids.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In fact, he told me... And this isn't, like, a... I think he's mentioned this before, but he... We were going through... We were going through Times Square.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Where there's that huge Bubba Gump shrimp co.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And he goes, man, I remember...
Guest:getting you dressed yeah and walking you down to this building which was a chemical bank where he would cash his unemployment checks and now it's a bubba gum shrimp co restaurant does he got a piece of that no he does not he doesn't no he's got no piece of that um but yeah so like yeah he was a young he was a young crazy he was a young like child yeah almost
Marc:So when you, so when do you, you know, I know, do you have a sister from your mom?
Marc:Yeah, correct.
Marc:How old is she?
Marc:She's younger?
Marc:Younger.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm the oldest of four.
Marc:Well, I know Chet.
Marc:He was on my show.
Marc:Yeah, I know.
Marc:You guys get along?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:How's he doing?
Guest:He's doing good.
Guest:All right.
Guest:He's doing good.
Guest:I'm going to tell him that I saw you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We're all worried about Chet all the time.
Marc:Well, always.
Marc:We always worry about our siblings all the time.
Marc:I know, man.
Marc:It was wild to work with him because he got to play himself, basically.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And he did a real good job.
Marc:He's a sweet guy.
Marc:He is a sweet guy.
Marc:And he's just got this thing he does.
Marc:He's his own guy.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And so they have two kids?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So me and my sister, and then my brothers, Chet and Chester and Truman.
Guest:How old's Truman?
Guest:Mid-20s now, I guess.
Guest:Wow, you're all old guys.
Marc:Yeah, we're all adults.
Marc:So when you're coming up, though, like you're in Sacramento, your dad's, you know, you knew at some point he was rocketing to some sort of stardom.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So what are you doing up there?
Marc:Are you like, I'm not going to I'm not going to act.
Marc:I'm going to act, you know, fuck this life.
Guest:I would say the pattern is as such.
Guest:Definitely going to act because I really enjoy it and really, really love it.
Guest:And then as soon as it is expected, like, oh, of course you're going to do that.
Guest:Then it's no, fuck you.
Guest:I'm not going to do that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then a few years of that.
Guest:And then eventually going back and realizing, like, well, I don't really give a shit about what everybody else is saying.
Guest:I really thoroughly enjoy it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't really want to do anything else.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Did you try anything else?
Yeah.
Guest:I tried music for a little while.
Guest:In Sacramento?
Guest:In Sacramento and a little bit in college as well.
Guest:I played in bands in like high school.
Guest:I went to a school in Orange County for one year called Chapman University.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How was that?
Guest:It was all right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I transferred to Loyola Marymount and I was there for a couple of years.
Guest:You didn't finish?
Guest:No.
Guest:Yeah, I chose the one profession where really you don't need the very expensive piece of paper that says you're qualified to do the thing that you studied.
Marc:So close, though.
Guest:I wasn't really that close.
Guest:I was not really that close.
Guest:No, I wasn't that close.
Guest:Not a good student?
Guest:No, not really a good student.
Guest:Did you take acting classes?
Guest:yeah yeah yeah but not like like outside of school yeah like i wasn't like you know and you were still not in la or anything no not really but so like what's going on what's your mom doing up there you know in sack and you're going down to hollywood she's just hanging out yeah i mean she's really she was just she was just there yeah she was just she wasn't working just hanging out raising you guys yeah pretty much yeah
Guest:um and then essentially i i moved down uh for college and then that was really kind of it in what year uh i moved down in 97 huh so i was around 20 here uh yeah like something yeah like la yeah and you're just staying with your dad no i was uh did you have a room at your dad's house
Guest:I had a room.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it wasn't like my room, but yeah, I had a room.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Um, when you were young, you didn't have like, no, I had my, I had my own space.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I definitely had my own space, but I was only in LA for like, you know, four days out of the month.
Guest:I mean, yeah, I would do every other weekend.
Guest:So I would come from Sacramento to LA every other week.
Guest:Was that fun?
Guest:Did he make it fun?
Guest:Oh yeah, it was a blast.
Guest:We would go to hockey games.
Guest:I loved it.
Guest:I absolutely loved it.
Guest:And in a strange way, it really made me, I mean, I'm definitely like a Northern California kid for sure, but
Guest:It definitely made me feel like I'm from the state of California.
Guest:I travel well.
Marc:You are of California.
Guest:Yeah, and I travel well.
Guest:I can pretty much go anywhere and sort of feel pretty damn comfortable.
Marc:So you came down here for college, and now you're here.
Marc:You're in Los Angeles, and it's 19-what?
Marc:96?
Marc:97?
Marc:96, 97, yeah.
Marc:So what was it like then?
Marc:What was going on, man?
Guest:Well, I mean, in LA, that was definitely sort of like...
Guest:There's like two different sort of tracks almost.
Guest:So there's the, what I would say is the sort of young actor, young child actor, high school type boom that is about to occur.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Who are those people?
Guest:Well, that's like Dawson's Creek and teen movies and that sort of.
Guest:I feel like I missed that whole decade.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, because I think that you were of the other track, which was more the sort of comedy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like alternative comedy, whatever.
Guest:I'm already in my mid thirties.
Guest:Whatever.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so you're kind of like already you're, you're the grade above.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's the way I sort of look at it.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You're like the class before.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, how old are you?
Guest:I'm going to be 45 and I'm like 15 years.
Marc:I'm like 59.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I've always sort of generated, like, gravitated towards, like, an older set.
Guest:Do you know what I mean?
Guest:And so, like, even in college, I was always sort of, like, looking at, like, you know, the Largo...
Guest:set and all that, and was sort of like, oh, that.
Guest:So you were hanging around Largo in the 90s?
Guest:Not really hanging around, but just trying to absorb as much of that as I can.
Guest:You go to see shows?
Guest:Very aware that that is what is going on within my city.
Guest:And also, coming from Sacramento,
Guest:like there was a component of always sort of wanting to go to Southern California.
Guest:And then as soon as I got to Southern California, I was like, I really, I miss Northern California.
Guest:But there were certain things that were going on here that made me go like, oh, but I really like it here.
Guest:So it's like between like the comedy scene and, you know,
Guest:all of those sort of people starting to... Did you have friends with him?
Guest:I mean, I got to know some people.
Guest:I mean, I got to know, like, Jack Black pretty well.
Marc:Yeah, so who was your crew when you got here?
Marc:Did you have one?
Marc:I didn't really have one.
Marc:Didn't your uncle try to do comedy for a minute?
Guest:He was, yeah.
Guest:He was a stand-up for a long time, yeah.
Guest:I remember that guy.
Guest:Yeah, every now and again.
Guest:What's his name?
Guest:Jim.
Guest:Jim Hanks?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Every now and again, someone would go, I know Jim.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, okay.
Guest:I know where you were then.
Marc:I just remember, like, it was such a, like, it's hard for you guys.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:With the celebrity brand name.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But, like, it was just one of those things because he kind of looked like your dad.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it was sort of...
Marc:It's sort of like, what, is every brother of a star going to start doing comedy now?
Marc:Because Michael Douglas's sad brother who died was doing comedy.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Marc:Oh, that guy was, it was so sad, that guy.
Marc:I forget his name.
Marc:He used to come to the comic strip in New York and he had a little dog and he was sweaty and, you know, all those guys have the drug issues, but he passed away.
Marc:But it was like, he was, he was clearly a Douglas.
Marc:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:In the mid-90s, where were you living in the mid-90s?
Guest:New York.
Guest:You were in New York.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I remember being at the store and seeing Jim.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:But he did it for a while.
Guest:He did.
Guest:Yeah, he did.
Guest:He did it for a good long time.
Marc:Because there was a period there during that time where there was still a lot of clubs and a lot of booms that a name could sell a few tickets.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I can't remember his act.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Can you?
Guest:Was it all based on- No, I never saw his act.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I never saw it again.
Guest:I mean, I would have loved to, but I never saw it.
Marc:Where's he around?
Marc:Is he around?
Marc:No, he still lives here in LA.
Marc:I heard that your dad said he did the voices for something.
Guest:He does, yeah, he does the voices for the toys.
Guest:For the toys.
Yeah.
Guest:He does the toys.
Guest:He does the Woody voice for the toys of Toy Story.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:So if you have a Toy Story toy.
Guest:Who am I thinking of?
Guest:What's Lightyear?
Guest:That's him.
Guest:What is it?
Guest:That's Tim Allen.
Guest:Tim Allen.
Marc:Sorry, another guy.
Marc:Jim Allen.
Guest:Jim Allen.
Guest:His brother.
Marc:Yeah, the comic.
Marc:Yeah, I guess.
Marc:All right, so you come down here.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But your dad's like, where is he at with his—he's huge already in the late 90s, 96, 97.
Guest:He has just become—yeah.
Guest:Massive.
Guest:He's just become—yeah.
Guest:So that's happening.
Guest:So you come into that.
Guest:So that's happened, and yeah.
Guest:So there's—
Guest:There's a transition there of getting used to the new normal.
Guest:What was that?
Guest:To a degree.
Guest:Well, I mean, look, I didn't really...
Guest:I was not around a bunch.
Guest:Like I said, I grew up in Sacramento, so I would come down in and out.
Guest:I would spend summers with him, so I would go on location to all those places.
Guest:I was there on set for League of Their Own and Sleepless and Gump and was there for a lot.
Guest:Taking it in?
Guest:Yeah, of course.
Guest:But just sort of like absorbing it and just sort of like that was, I mean, it was cool.
Guest:Don't get me wrong.
Guest:I'm not trying to be like, you know, too cool for it.
Guest:But like it was, that was just what, that was the deal.
Guest:That's just what it was.
Guest:And then it became...
Guest:something much, much, much bigger than what it already was.
Guest:In terms of new house, new line?
Guest:No, not necessarily new house, but just like the attention, you know?
Guest:I mean, he wins two Oscars back to back, and that kind of changes everyone's view.
Guest:Was that Philadelphia and Gump?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That changes the way...
Guest:you interact when you're out in the world.
Guest:Sure.
Marc:And it also changes the perception of you, his son.
Guest:Yeah, correct.
Guest:Correct.
Guest:And so there was definitely an adjustment there for me because I never really...
Guest:you know, I didn't, you know, spend every day with the guy.
Guest:So when we would go out, you know, it used to be like, oh, okay, people would, you know, notice and sort of say whatever.
Guest:People would sort of say something.
Guest:And then it turned into like, well, don't walk behind him because then you're just going to be in a wake of people just double taking and then giving you like the elbow trying to get to him, you know, and it just became a different...
Marc:And he's had to live in that since the 90s.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so, you know, and we've gotten better at dealing with it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But there was there was an adjustment there.
Guest:And that coincided with me actually moving to Los Angeles and trying to start my own acting thing.
Guest:Well, my own life.
Guest:But yeah, my own acting thing.
Guest:And so when I was at Loyola, I met Busy Phillips, who I believe you know.
Guest:Yeah, I like her.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I talked to her.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:She seems to be doing all right.
Guest:She's doing good.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I've known her forever.
Guest:We dated in college and we've been friends ever since.
Marc:Before she was an actress.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, we were both in college before, and we both started getting jobs at the same time.
Guest:And so she really pushed me to quit fucking around and really make the effort.
Guest:She's like, look, if this is what you want to do, fucking do it.
Guest:Don't just sit around.
Marc:Well, it's so hard, because I've talked to...
Marc:I've never really framed it this way with the actors.
Marc:But, you know, I've talked to Duncan Jones.
Marc:I've talked to Sean Lennon.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, and Duncan is sort of like, it's a small club.
Marc:It is, yeah.
Marc:Like, you know, he's Bowie's kid.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Sean is John's kid.
Marc:And during the talk with Sean, he gets a phone call.
Marc:He holds up his phone.
Marc:It's his mom?
Marc:No, it's better.
Marc:I don't know who it is.
Marc:And he goes, Paul's kid.
Marc:He's all right.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:See, what's weird is I can appreciate both perspectives.
Guest:Which is his perspective and your perspective.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I can appreciate how silly that is and how random that is.
Guest:It's great.
Guest:From your perspective.
Guest:Well, no, it just proves that it's a small club.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I can also understand, you know, his perspective.
Marc:Why wouldn't he be friends with that guy?
Marc:What are your choices?
Marc:Of course.
Marc:You know, because, and I've, and I've, not to diminish anybody, but I've said, yeah, there's, it's, it's not everyone.
Marc:It's not all celebrity kids.
Marc:So I can, no one's, you know, Bob Seger's kid.
Marc:I'm going to take a shot at Bob Seger's kid again for no reason, you know, is not really part of that club per se.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So,
Marc:You know, sure, your dad's Bob Seger.
Marc:That's cool, man.
Marc:But, you know, your dad's John Lennon.
Marc:What the fuck?
Marc:What is your life like?
Marc:That's a lot.
Marc:So what is that, the awareness of that, the weight of that moving through the world, especially at the beginning?
Marc:How do you know why you're even getting opportunities?
Guest:Uh, that's a good question.
Guest:I mean, there was a period, um, I think starting out, there was a period of really just having to ask myself, like, do I really want to do this?
Guest:Because of that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, totally.
Guest:And I remember- Yeah, like Jacob Dillon asked himself the same question.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, do I really want to- Maybe.
Guest:Is this what I want to do?
Guest:And I had sort of come to the conclusion that I personally enjoyed acting so much that I would do it wherever anyone asked me to do it.
Marc:What's your first experience with it?
Guest:Were you doing plays?
Guest:Yeah, I was doing every single school play.
Guest:And then when I got into college, I was doing a bunch of plays.
Guest:And that was when I really sort of
Guest:had to really sit down and sort of say, like, is this it?
Guest:Is this what I want to do?
Guest:Because technically, this is when everyone is asking me, like, so what do you want to do?
Guest:And I was having so much fun that I was like, yeah, this is it.
Guest:And that was when, you know, I was with Busy and we were doing plays together.
Guest:And she's like, you fucking love this.
Guest:Like, don't be an idiot.
Guest:Like, make the effort to actually try and do it.
Marc:Right, but were you like, but you don't get it.
Marc:My dad's Tom Hanks.
Marc:No, not at all.
Guest:Not at all.
Guest:Honestly, it was, he had sort of said at one point, he said like, is this what you want to do?
Guest:And I said, yeah, it is.
Guest:And he goes, okay.
Guest:The only thing I'll say is like,
Guest:He said, I think you can do it as a profession.
Guest:He said, that's on the table for you.
Guest:I think you have enough talent that you could do this.
Guest:You could have a job.
Guest:You could eke out a living doing this.
Guest:What you have to ask yourself is, is that what you want?
Guest:Would you be happy doing this at any level?
Guest:Because if you're in it for any other reasons than that, you will find nothing but heartbreak and disappointment.
Guest:And it is going, it is going to be hard.
Guest:It is not going to be careless.
Guest:It is not going to be easy.
Guest:It is not going, it's not, every day is not going to be a laugh.
Guest:There are going to be days where you fucking hate it and you think you're done.
Guest:And you have to love this so much that you can ride that shit out.
Guest:It's almost like a, it's not quite go for it.
Guest:It's go, it's, hey, I believe in you.
Guest:But if you do not believe in yourself, this is going to be a hard thing to do.
Guest:But he knew you could work.
Guest:He didn't blow too much smoke up your ass.
Guest:Correct.
Guest:He said, I think you could earn a living.
Right.
Guest:Which, I mean, it's a very... It's practical.
Guest:It's practical advice in a business in which practical is very fucking difficult to come around.
Marc:Yeah, and also it's coming from a guy that paid his dues, knows the work, and has a...
Marc:A sort of good perspective on it, I would think.
Guest:Totally.
Guest:And look, I mean, 45 years old and I'm still figuring this shit out.
Guest:Are you getting better?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, getting better.
Guest:But like there were there have been a lot of times there where I've just been like, I don't know if I can fucking handle this anymore.
Guest:I don't know if I'm built for this.
Marc:Well, you get, like, you were always good, but I think now that you're aging into yourself, it's very hard.
Marc:I was talking to my producer about it.
Marc:It's like, you know, for those of us who saw you at the beginning, it's hard to untether you from your child self.
Guest:Of course.
Guest:Of course.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Fucking baby fit.
Guest:I still get carded for R-rated movies.
Marc:But so how does, like, do you take a class down here or are you still just kind of going with your guts?
Guest:I took, yeah, I mean, I did like theater courses and stuff in college and sort of learned a lot doing that.
Guest:And then am constantly trying to learn and evolve.
Guest:And even just recently, like this last thing that I did.
Guest:Which one?
Guest:A Friend of the Family.
Guest:Yeah, I just watched some of that.
Marc:I couldn't handle it.
Marc:It's a lot.
Marc:I mean, I had just seen The Banshees of Inisheran.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And I was sort of like, I gotta take a couple days.
Marc:I can't, I'm already bleaked out.
Guest:There's only so much bleak one can handle.
Guest:Well, yeah, I mean, definitely.
Marc:But the framing of the, of that show, it looks great.
Marc:Set deck is great.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You guys are acting the shit out of it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Mormons are always weird.
Guest:It's hard.
Guest:It's dark.
Guest:There's a lot there and it scared the shit out of me.
Guest:So I went and met with a, with an acting coach and, and had someone to talk, like talked with them about it and like went over scripts and stuff like that.
Guest:Really?
Marc:Oh yeah.
Marc:So what was your concern about that guy?
Guest:Um,
Guest:That one was so, there were so many aspects of that that just were not necessarily things that I felt like I really wanted to explore.
Marc:So you're the father of a daughter who has, you know, let a neighbor into your life who has a family.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Everything's on the level.
Marc:But from the get-go, you're suspicious of him.
Marc:And then he disappears with your daughter.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Who's like eight.
Guest:Yeah, totally.
Guest:Yeah, true story about a family whose daughter was kidnapped twice by a family friend.
Guest:Yeah, she sets up the show at the beginning.
Guest:Yeah, and that guy who was- The real woman.
Guest:Yeah, that guy who was a master manipulator, pedophile, he groomed not only the daughter, but also the husband and the wife to have control over the entire family.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And used blackmail and intimate relations with both.
Guest:I'm going to have to really pace myself on this one.
Guest:I mean, it's nine hours.
Guest:That's all in there?
Guest:Yeah, it's all there.
Guest:But, like, with that one specifically, like, I was like, great.
Guest:Nice guy Mormon.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm kind of tapped out on nice guy shit.
Guest:Like I've just, I don't know how much more of that.
Guest:Like I haven't.
Marc:You've played a couple of heavies lately.
Marc:Not heavies, but you know, the guy in the, the offer was an asshole.
Marc:He was great.
Guest:That was nice.
Guest:That was nice.
Guest:That was a nice change.
Guest:So I was coming out of that.
Guest:And then I'm like, oh, we're going back to, to Mormons again.
Guest:Dark Mormon.
Guest:No, he's not even the dark Mormon.
Guest:That's the thing.
Guest:He's not the dark Mormon.
Guest:But.
Guest:But Mormonism in and of itself.
Marc:Well, that's, there's a lot there.
Marc:Yeah, man.
Marc:There's a lot there.
Marc:All right, so what's the acting coach, what's they tell you?
Guest:Well, really more than anything else, it was just sort of like talking it through and it reminded me how much I love working on stuff when I'm not thinking about myself.
Guest:Like when I'm thinking about this character and what this character does and what he's thinking and what his values are and where he's looking and how can I present that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What is that character subconsciously even fucking thinking about?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He doesn't even fucking know.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And all of that kind of stuff.
Guest:So that, like, work, that idea of, like, let's roll up our sleeves and, like, let's figure shit out.
Guest:Make some choices.
Guest:I fucking love that so much.
Marc:Well, at some point, you know, and clearly I've not had the experience you have, but you do ask yourself, you know, how is this rewarding creatively?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Especially if you can kind of like just do yourself.
Marc:Correct.
Marc:And, you know, and get through a day.
Marc:Correct.
Marc:And page it.
Marc:So, like, you know, what is challenging about this?
Marc:How is it satisfying to do these two to three minute increments over and over again?
Guest:Correct.
Guest:And so, like, that...
Guest:i enjoy that process so much but that process can get like just passed over a lot and you just think you get away is it any good right do people see it are people acknowledging that i've done it like there's so many other things and you doubt the director it's like there's so many other carrots that are are fighting for your attention yeah
Guest:That, you know, that's why that advice, I think, was actually really, really good.
Guest:From your old man?
Guest:You have to want this.
Guest:You have to want to do this so much that even if all of those other things don't fall into place, it's okay.
Marc:But the truth of the matter is, is that, you know, you've really never stopped working.
Marc:True.
Guest:Ups and downs, yeah.
Guest:Still here.
Guest:In terms of material?
Guest:No, ups and downs in terms of working.
Guest:I think you might understand this.
Guest:That idea of like...
Guest:when all your friends are working and you're not.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I, and I, I only say that because that fucking would drive me in.
Guest:That would drive me insane.
Marc:Let's talk about that.
Marc:So you, you know, you come into this, the first big movie is what?
Marc:Orange County, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's the one.
Guest:That's the first big one.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's the one that broke you.
Marc:That's that Hanks kid.
Marc:He's all right.
Marc:He's, he's okay.
Marc:He's okay.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He's all right.
Marc:And that's when he became friends with Jack?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That was when I met Jack.
Guest:But the other ones were just smaller parts?
Guest:Yeah, supporting roles in teen movies in which, you know, there was a cottage industry of those back then.
Marc:So that's the big one.
Marc:So now you're friends with Jack.
Marc:You're part of a generation, kind of.
Marc:Sort of, yeah.
Marc:Because I'm just trying to wonder, who are these friends you're judging yourself against as that evolves?
Guest:Well, I mean, really more than anything else, it's just who...
Guest:Who else is out and about and who else is out and working and sort of doing that sort of stuff?
Guest:Do you know what I mean?
Guest:Right, right, right.
Guest:It's never the same group.
Guest:It's always an evolving sort of roster of people.
Guest:And I'm not competitive.
Guest:No.
Guest:No, I don't have that.
Guest:I don't have that sort of sense.
Marc:I just was thinking about myself and how I've always picked one or two people to judge myself against.
Marc:And it goes on for years.
Guest:Well, but you want to know what?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I could do that, but I'll be honest, those names change.
Guest:Yeah, of course.
Guest:Yeah, they do change.
Guest:They change.
Guest:But no, I never really got into that.
Guest:It was really just sort of more feeling like...
Guest:Um, the thing that always like would, the thing that would sort of bug me was the fact that I felt like some of the other people maybe that I came up with, like people knew what their deal was and they're like, oh, that, that is, I know who that guy is.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And they would get to me and they don't see who this guy is.
Guest:They're thinking about the other guy.
Guest:Oh yeah.
Guest:We're looking for a so-and-so.
Guest:Well, yeah, we're looking for, you know, we're looking for a young Tom Hanks.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Topher Grace, let's get him.
Guest:I'm just picking Topher out of thin air there.
Guest:He's a tangled up guy, dude.
Guest:Well, but there was a period where I just sort of went like, yeah, I don't think anyone really knows who I am and what I do and what I can do.
Guest:And then if they do, it's like, oh, we need a nice Mormon.
Guest:So let's get him.
Marc:A nice Mormon in a dark situation.
Marc:Yeah, well, I'm the same way because people will project onto you.
Marc:Yeah, totally.
Marc:And like, and they're projecting your dad's template.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:With me, they're just projecting, you know, projecting like, well, this guy's cranky, neurotic guy, you know, and he's like, you know, maybe I'm just starting to find a way to prove myself.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But the odd thing is, is like, you know,
Marc:With certain actors, you know, there's some consistent thing that everyone knows somehow through it all.
Marc:And if you are more of a character-driven guy and you don't have that thing, then it's sort of like it's up for grabs.
Marc:But that's for anybody.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But the fact that you were in the shadow of expectations around your old man, it made it twice as, you know, it's like, I don't know, I don't see, where is he?
Marc:Where's Colin?
Guest:Yeah, and I'll be honest, like, I don't know where he is either.
Guest:Do you know what I mean?
Guest:Oh, come on.
Guest:No, I mean, honestly, like, that's not for me to, like...
Guest:But do you feel comfortable in yourself?
Marc:Oh, I do.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, no, I definitely do.
Guest:But you're saying, oh, as an actor.
Guest:It took a long time for me to just go, I have no control over any of X, Y, and Z. Right.
Guest:So I'm just not even going to worry about that.
Marc:Well, after Orange County, you did a TV show forever.
Marc:It seems like.
Guest:I did a lot of TV shows forever.
Guest:I mean, I just sort of, I would work wherever I could find work.
Guest:I mean, that's really like anything.
Guest:Orange County was funny because I remember I was on a TV show at the time and then I got Orange County and I had to go off the TV show.
Guest:And I remember someone saying to me, oh, congratulations, you'll never have to do TV again.
Guest:You've graduated.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then, you know, within two years, that was no longer the case.
Marc:Well, what'd your mom think of all this?
Guest:We didn't really talk about... Well, to be honest, she passed away just two months after Orange County came out.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I didn't really get to, like, experience that with her.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:Which sort of made that whole, like, subsequent era...
Guest:Early 2000s is weird because there's this sense of like, okay, got cast in this big movie, which was amazing and awesome and...
Guest:And an incredible experience.
Guest:But while I was making that, I found out she had, like, stage four lung cancer and didn't have much time.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:And then 9-11 happened.
Guest:And then within, you know, four months, you know, the world has changed.
Guest:My mom's died.
Guest:And, like, okay...
Guest:What are you going to, like, what's next for work?
Guest:And I'm like, I don't fucking have any idea.
Guest:Oh my God.
Marc:So how did your, like, you know, your sister handle it and everything?
Guest:Hard.
Guest:I mean, yeah.
Guest:I mean, it was, it was, it was, it was a big adjustment.
Guest:How long did it take from diagnosis to her passing?
Guest:uh under two years terrible yeah under it was under two years so did you have to go back up to sack and kind of ride it out yeah yeah and that was that was that was brutal that was really one of the hardest things and you know i mean i don't i i i do not talk about it much but we didn't have like the best relationship when she got sick uh-huh so why was that
Guest:She was a complicated person.
Guest:She had all sorts of addiction issues and some mental health issues that were confounding and a real roadblock to having any sort of like real connection.
Marc:It's hard when you have a parent that is incapable of being a parent.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And, you know, in some ways she did everything she could to the best of her ability.
Guest:And in some ways it was great.
Guest:And then in a lot of the ways I needed, she was not available.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And that was hard.
Guest:And that took a lot of...
Guest:uh, getting used to.
Guest:Uh, and so when she passed and, you know, and the fucking world changed, um, it really made me look at work as like, I, what do I want to do?
Guest:Like, what do I want to do?
Guest:And how can I flex any kind of control, uh,
Guest:have any kind of control over my life.
Guest:And so a lot of that was just like turning opportunities down.
Guest:Not that they were opportunities to work.
Guest:It was opportunities to apply for work.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Which is my word for audition.
Marc:Right, but also like...
Marc:You know, it must have been a realization that, you know, after she passed in 9-11 and then, you know, you're in this thing now, you've kind of committed your life to it, to go out and face that kind of rejection on a day-to-day basis when you're that vulnerable and fucked up?
Guest:Not really the vibe, yeah, that you're seeking out.
Guest:Yeah, how do you get tough again?
Guest:Well, it took a long time, you know, it actually took a long time and it took, um, it took, uh, uh, years, you know, um, to be honest.
Marc:So was it comforting to be locked into a show at least that, you know, became work, you know, steady work for like a couple of years?
Guest:Well, I didn't really feel like I had steady work for, for a long time.
Guest:Was it Roswell steady work?
Guest:Roswell was, but that had already ended by that point.
Guest:So Roswell was sort of like the first thing.
Guest:So I was done.
Guest:And then I had to leave that to do Orange County.
Guest:And then it sort of became... Oh, I see.
Guest:You know, like a sort of string of, you know, movies when I could find them.
Guest:I went off to London and did a play.
Guest:How was that?
Guest:It was incredible.
Guest:That was amazing.
Guest:You got to be in it.
Guest:That was amazing because that was...
Guest:Sort of the first time that I was actually able to not be the nice guy.
Marc:Which play was that?
Guest:It was a Kenneth Lonergan play called This Is Our Youth.
Guest:He's the fucking best, that guy.
Guest:Jesus, man.
Guest:He's incredible.
Guest:He's incredible.
Guest:And they had been doing a run...
Guest:In London, it started off with with Jake Gyllenhaal and and Hayden Christensen and Anna Paquin, surprisingly enough.
Guest:And then they had another cast.
Guest:And I took over for I took over for Matt Damon of all people.
Guest:But it was a scenario in which it's like the really sweet guy and the really sort of abusive best friend.
Guest:And they said, which one do you want?
Guest:And I went, I want the abusive.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I want to be the dick.
Guest:Got to get it out of you somehow.
Guest:And I got to go do that.
Guest:And that was like a fucking godsend for me.
Guest:Cathartic.
Guest:yeah it was it was because it was i was in london where i already knew some people yeah um because i i had shot uh i shot an episode of band of brothers there so i actually like had a group there and i was able to yeah i was able to not be myself your dad produced that he did yeah
Marc:Now, like, how was he during the grief?
Marc:He was great.
Guest:I mean, he was... It's so hard, dude.
Guest:It's so hard.
Guest:It's rough.
Guest:I mean, there's nothing you can say or do.
Guest:The only thing you can do is be there.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:And he was.
Guest:But, you know, I really just sort of more internalized things because it was so brutal at the end that as soon as it was over, it was kind of like...
Guest:Okay, done.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Done doing that.
Guest:I'm not talking about that.
Guest:That's finished.
Guest:I'm going to go, like, do whatever.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Did that bite you in the ass?
Guest:Eventually, yes.
Guest:Eventually, yeah.
Guest:It took a long time for me to eventually sort of come around to what that really all sort of meant.
Guest:The loss.
Guest:Not necessarily.
Guest:I mean, yes, the loss.
Guest:I mean, the loss you always feel.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:But really, like, what that loss, sort of the vacuum that that created.
Guest:And also, like, what am I of her?
Yeah.
Guest:Oh, always.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, always.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know?
Guest:I get it.
Guest:You sit in a certain position and you laugh a certain way and you go, oh, fuck.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Marc:I know where that's... Those are minor tics.
Guest:I know who... Yeah.
Guest:Those are the smallest ones.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:And if those are the ones that make you go, oh, shit.
Guest:What's going on inside?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What are the bigger ones?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But like...
Guest:Yeah, I think more sort of like the dynamic that, you know, that we all sort of found ourselves in, in that vacuum.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's taken a long time for me to go like, okay, maybe that dynamic is not the best.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I need to fix that.
Marc:And were you able to, like...
Marc:experience like was there any kind of joy i don't even ask that i'm not i'm not the joy guy we're not yeah we don't need to find it i find it uncomfortable fair fair sometimes yeah sometimes yeah you are you can you get the joy we got kids more often than not i'm more more pro joy now i don't know if i was anti-joy i'm just not sure i understood how one accesses it
Marc:I didn't realize that maybe you have some amount of control over it.
Guest:Yeah, that is true.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, I definitely... Look, I think there's no... I think it's not a coincidence that, you know...
Guest:after my mom died and, you know, 9-11 and all that sort of shit that, like, I refer to that as my Bill Hicks phase.
Guest:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, you're listening to Bill?
Guest:Oh, I listen to so much.
Guest:That's good.
Guest:So much of his stuff.
Guest:That's relieving.
Guest:And so much of that ended up being weirdly, like, really, like, it left an impression on me in terms of, like, how to view things and how to look at things.
Guest:Dude, that's what the best comedy's for.
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:And I focused on how that...
Guest:Uh, the, I don't want to say how that negative affected, how that affected me negatively, but how that would make me focus on only the negative at times.
Guest:And it took a long time for me to go like, all right, well that, that's okay.
Guest:And we can, we can complain about things.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's okay.
Guest:This is you realizing that you're not a comic.
Guest:Well, yeah, not a comic.
Guest:You never tried comedy?
Guest:Uh, no.
Guest:Like stand-up?
Guest:No.
Guest:Never really tried.
Marc:But that's interesting.
Marc:So you take it in Bill.
Marc:It's relieving.
Marc:It's cathartic.
Marc:He's giving you a sort of- A worldview.
Marc:An aggressive worldview.
Marc:But you realize like, I'm going to take a break from this.
Guest:Well, it's really more about where is the best way to be spending your energy and your anger.
Guest:Like-
Guest:Your energy.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Anger, joy, whatever.
Guest:It's all energy.
Marc:Okay, so that must be one of those moments of recommitment.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, totally.
Guest:Where you go, okay, like, where do we focus this stuff?
Guest:How do we focus this stuff?
Marc:And where were you at?
Marc:When did you get married?
Marc:I got married in 2010.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Oh, so this is still a little ways away.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So this is the 9-11 mom passing away.
Guest:Those 10 years there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Nine years.
Guest:There was a lot of like discovery and sort of like.
Guest:A lot of movement.
Guest:The journey.
Guest:Yeah, totally.
Guest:A lot of movement.
Marc:But was that where most of the kind of like, fuck, do I want to do this happened?
Marc:Or is that sort of a cyclical thing?
Guest:That's a cyclical thing.
Guest:That's always going.
Guest:That depends on.
Guest:Yeah, that depends on are we at the top of the peak or the bottom of the valley?
Guest:Because there's always peaks and valleys.
Guest:And it took a while.
Guest:I went and did a job in New Zealand.
Guest:What was that?
Guest:Was King Kong with Peter Jackson, which was a big fucking deal, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that was like a fucking life-changing, game-changing experience.
Guest:Just what, New Zealand?
Guest:New Zealand and a big job.
Guest:And it was an adventure.
Guest:And I went to this amazing new country where I met all these new people and had this incredibly like unreal life experience.
Guest:I mean, I'm not getting tattoos with nine other guys, but like, but like I'm, I like came back from that chain.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And as a result of that met my wife.
Guest:Huh.
Guest:And so then it's like, okay, so I can't,
Guest:you know be really really happy but it took me a long time took new zealand yeah but then it took me an equal amount of time to go it's not about where you are for your job or where your job takes you yeah and so it requires another you know 10 years right figuring shit out you know
Guest:Oh, because by the next job, you're like, hey, this is... Then it's like, well, I'm only happy when I'm working.
Guest:That's not healthy.
Guest:In New Zealand.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Or it's not in New Zealand.
Guest:Like, hey, I'm working, but I'm in Iowa.
Guest:Is this great?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Marc:A trailer is a trailer.
Guest:Yeah, a trailer is a trailer and a park is a park.
Guest:And so, yeah, it's been a long process of trying to...
Guest:understand i think what what my old man was saying back then which is you need to love what you're doing no matter what yeah and you have to enjoy the actual doing of the fucking thing yeah because you can find a million different things to be unhappy about do you go to him for help
Guest:Define help.
Marc:Questions about business, questions about craft, questions about whether you should take a job.
Guest:Craft, no.
Guest:Whether I take a job, no.
Guest:No, we talk about shit, but we talk about it in a practical sense of like, well, you know, you want to spend your 45th birthday in a hotel by yourself?
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Like those kinds of things.
Guest:So we're more practical like that.
Marc:But it's kind of great to have a guy that knows the life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In all its elements.
Guest:Oh, totally.
Guest:And there were definitely times, you know, during the sort of darker period where I was really sort of miserable and just going like, hey, I'm stuck in this fucking hotel room on location.
Guest:Like, I'm fucking going insane.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And, you know, him saying like, well...
Guest:Sometimes you just got to hope to make the all-star team, you know?
Guest:You're not always going to be playing for, you know, the Yankees.
Guest:Sometimes you got to play for Tampa Bay.
Marc:You got to deal with like Hanks-isms as your parent.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, like, you know, just sort of like these little practical upbeat.
Guest:But I get them, you know, I get them and it's a, there's a,
Guest:There's a shorthand there now that I understand a whole lot more having done this for 20 plus years.
Guest:So I sort of... Yeah.
Guest:There's more of an equal footing there.
Marc:It must be also cool.
Marc:You know, you've got kids.
Marc:He's got grandkids.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:The whole relationship, extended family thing.
Marc:What's your wife do?
Guest:She's now recently just become like a stay-at-home mom.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:She worked in the film industry for a long time.
Guest:That was how we met.
Marc:But it's nice to be in proximity to the grandparents and the family, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, I mean, we live right down the street from her parents.
Guest:And I try and see my folks as much as I can.
Guest:Chet's got a kid, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So we're always trying to get all the family together.
Guest:It's hard because there's a lot of us.
Guest:But I thought the offer was great.
Guest:I thought you were great.
Marc:Thanks, man.
Marc:And I thought you were great in the Elvis and Nixon movie.
Marc:I'm noticing you as an adult in things that I enjoy.
Marc:Oh, right on.
Guest:I'll take that.
Guest:Listen, that is all I can hope for.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Honestly, of all the things, I just hope that I'm in enough things that people have...
Marc:But, I mean, people have got to, you know, kids must like you from the Jumanji movies.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's great.
Guest:Yeah, I'll take it.
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:I mean, they remember one, you know, I mean, I'm in like that one scene.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But they remember it.
Guest:Kids remember everything.
Guest:Great.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I'll take it.
Marc:But, so, but, like, in light of all that, in whatever we're talking about here, in light of you...
Marc:Like, it seems to me that even in preparing for this one, Friend of the Family, that engaging an acting coach and trying to go deeper with the thing, that was satisfying.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, absolutely.
Guest:I think, you know...
Guest:I started making documentaries.
Marc:Yeah, I saw the Tower Records one.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's right.
Marc:I forgot about that.
Guest:Yeah, I mean.
Guest:And, like, that was my first.
Guest:Everyone else I knew would write.
Guest:They would try and write the movie that they needed to be in.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:You know, they'd write their break or whatever.
Guest:And they'd self-generate it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'd never had the patience to be able to do that, nor the skill.
Guest:It takes too long.
Guest:It takes too long.
Guest:And so I started doing docs and that gave me a much more, that gave me ownership of something that was me.
Guest:Absolutely.
Marc:And also, yeah, point of view.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In a different way.
Guest:That was me.
Guest:Right.
Guest:No one's going to like, so what pointers did he give you for that?
Guest:I'm like, he's never made a fucking documentary.
Guest:He doesn't have any pointers.
Guest:Shut up.
Guest:It's my thing.
Guest:He can give me notes, but he's not telling me like, eh.
Guest:And so that... Oh, that's interesting.
Marc:So like, this is...
Marc:You know, the documentary represents your totally own thing.
Guest:Yeah, completely.
Guest:That's great.
Guest:That doesn't exist if I don't think of it and want to make it.
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:And that was the way that I could do it.
Guest:And it had enough of my interests in the sandbox sort of circle that I can go like, I think I can do this.
Guest:And then finding enough people and learning enough from other people to sort of put a crew together and go off and do it.
Guest:The Tower thing was great, the Tower Records thing.
Guest:Thanks, man.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, I never knew that story.
Guest:Um, so that made, I think that made me feel a lot more comfortable in terms of like, I, I've got my own thing and whether people are paying attention or not, I don't care.
Guest:What's the other ones?
Guest:The other one I did, I did a documentary about Eagles of Death Metal.
Guest:It was called Nosa Mi.
Guest:The desert guys?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Josh and Jesse and those guys.
Guest:It was about their relationship and their history.
Guest:I've got to watch that.
Guest:And then them coming back to Paris after the Bataclan attack.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Well, Josh was in Paris when that happened?
Guest:He wasn't in Paris when that happened, no.
Guest:But the other guy was.
Guest:But Jesse was, yeah.
Guest:You big fans of them?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They're good friends of mine.
Guest:They actually played the Tower premiere party that we had five weeks prior.
Marc:It's so funny because I listen to the fucking Caius records.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:They're great records.
Marc:The fucking Caius, Red Sun, what was it?
Marc:Red Sun, Under the Red Sun or whatever.
Guest:Yeah, they're great records.
Guest:That fucking record.
Guest:I still listen to it.
Guest:So good.
Guest:And so that one was, I mean, that one was a rough one.
Guest:Why?
Guest:Drugs?
Guest:No, no, no, no.
Guest:It was dealing with a terrorist attack.
Guest:And so I was making a documentary about my friends who had just survived a terrorist attack and then going with them back to Paris.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:Trying to process that.
Guest:It's called Nosa Mi, Eagles of Death Metal.
Marc:Oh, man, I got to watch that.
Guest:Yeah, that one sent me running into therapy afterwards.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Because of the reality of terrorism?
Guest:Just the pressure of telling that story and sort of—
Guest:people feeling like they could trust me and... Because, like, it's one thing to tell your friends, like, hey, we're going to go on this uncomfortable journey together, but we're together, so we'll be okay.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But then it's another thing to then meet complete strangers and say, hey...
Guest:like i'm gonna help tell your story right we're in it together like that's just a lot of pressure and a lot of darkness yeah and just a lot to to deal with yeah a lot of pressure yeah and i came out of that and i was at the time actually i was doing a you know a super funny light-hearted tv show yeah um and the dichotomy of those two things kind of like broke me yeah
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that's when I was like, oh, okay, well, maybe I have some serious issues here that I got to take a look at.
Guest:Did a lot of stuff come up?
Guest:We've kind of just been talking about, yeah.
Marc:And it all came up?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Stuff around your mom and all that?
Marc:Yeah, just life.
Marc:How you handle life.
Guest:Yeah, just how you handle life.
Guest:Taking on people's pain.
Marc:Well, that's what happens when you grow up with needy parents.
Marc:Being an empath of sorts.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Yeah, because you're locked in.
Marc:Yeah, the sort of self-centered parent with problems thing is rough.
Marc:Yeah, it's hard.
Marc:Because you're wired to just lock in with every lunatic.
Yeah.
Marc:That comes up and asks for something.
Guest:Well, and, you know, I think it's also, I mean, there's also, that's also why I'm sort of like a little bit of a social butterfly and can relate to a bunch of different people because you're always looking at one person going, okay, who are you today?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And who, and who, so how can I help that version of you?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:As your appendage.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What am I supposed to do?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I, since I have no choice in this relationship, let what, you know, how can I make this easier for all of us?
Guest:Cause you clearly don't care about how to make it easy for anyone.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Wow.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:I mean, I got, I don't know that I've processed all that in terms of whom I am, but I think that is, Oh, we never do, but you always try and process as much as you can.
Marc:But that's one of those things, like when you talk about people not knowing who you are and you not either, is that when you have that, when you don't have some sort of solid foundation of at least practical selflessness on behalf of a parent who you're spending the most time with, you go into the world missing a piece with the need to construct yourself the best way you can with the voices you have in your head that aren't theirs.
Marc:And it's a crapshoot.
Marc:But there's always this kind of...
Marc:you know, the nebulous thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, that, you know, like, you know, are you grounded, man?
Marc:Like, I thought I was, but, you know, I don't know.
Marc:Tell me.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, totally.
Guest:I mean, it's... First time I heard this phrase, it was actually used about what it's like making a movie, but I also feel it's also...
Guest:appropriate when talking about just trying to figure out life.
Guest:It's like trying to build a house with all of the components already on fire.
Guest:Where you're just like, okay, I think I've supported this wall.
Guest:I don't know, it's on fire right now.
Guest:I'll probably have to come back and redo that part.
Guest:You need another door!
Guest:But I really need to go focus on the upstairs bathroom right now because that's flooding.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And is any of this grounded?
Guest:Because I don't want to get shocked when I get up.
Guest:I know.
Guest:It's all that.
Marc:And you just explained, it's a depiction of constant anxiety.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Totally.
Guest:So that's why you wish you could just go back in time and say like, hey, it's going to be okay.
Yeah.
Guest:I wish I could do that when I wake up.
Guest:Meditating helps.
Guest:Is it working for you?
Guest:Yeah, it does.
Guest:How long have you been doing that?
Guest:About 12.
Guest:Well, geez, that's a good question.
Guest:Like TM or just other things?
Guest:TM.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:A couple of years.
Guest:So you do the full two times a day business?
Guest:I try.
Guest:I'm lucky if I can get 10 minutes.
Guest:Who got you into that?
Guest:My old man.
Guest:Oh, he's into it?
Guest:Yeah, he got into it.
Marc:And is he pretty good with it?
Guest:So he tells me.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So he tells me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Always try.
Guest:It makes a difference when I can, yeah.
Marc:So you just did the one class and got your thing, got your mantra, and that was it?
Guest:I went, yeah, I went and talked to somebody, like, for a couple of days, like, in a row.
Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And sort of learned the nuance of it, which there really isn't much nuance.
Guest:It's so much easier than you sort of realize.
Guest:But the key is just...
Guest:kind of forcing yourself to just sit down and to just actually do it.
Marc:Yeah, I was doing that for a while during the, you know, the pandemic.
Marc:I was using the Headspace app and I was finding some ability to sit for 15 minutes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:10 to 15.
Marc:Lynn, my late...
Marc:partner she was all in really twice a day stop you know everything full tm like yeah and all yeah yeah and she uh but she really kind of like you know on a set they had to cut out time for her to go tuck away but she like she had been doing it so long she could almost do it anywhere
Marc:Yeah, which is wild.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, it gets to a point where you can almost do it anyway.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which is nice.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But then I remember I was doing it once on a plane.
Guest:Like, I went and sat down on a plane, and the plane was boarding.
Guest:I'm like, I'm just going to do it right now.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, I'm wearing a mask.
Guest:I got my hat on, whatever.
Guest:So I just closed my eyes.
Guest:People think I'm asleep.
Guest:And then someone I knew was on the flight, and they took a photo of me, and I saw what I looked like.
Guest:And I'm like, I'm not doing that in public anymore.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:i'm not doing that in public anymore i gotta make sure i'm at least in in a private space but yeah it makes a it makes a big difference it really it it really does just in terms of because like i don't know you get older and all of a sudden you realize like what is my relationship to anything you know never mind just like my relationship to anybody yeah but then it's like anything it's like
Guest:you know when i heard like yeah so what's your relationship with food like you just went like oh fuck yeah gee oh uh bad i don't know and then all of a sudden you realize you go oh shit yeah i've been doing this wrong for the last 38 years or whatever so like i just threw out six pints of ice cream but go ahead yeah there you go you know actually it's funny i remember i don't know why yeah i thought
Guest:Maybe it's just because I knew we were going to talk, but I remember hearing one episode years and years and years ago, we were talking about if there's almond butter or peanut butter in the house, you'll just find yourself... Eating it right out of the thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I found myself eating it right out of the thing the other day, and I'm like, yeah, that's right.
Guest:And I'll go see Marin in a few days.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:It's my fault.
Guest:No, it just made me think of you.
Guest:It's not your fault.
Guest:But like...
Guest:The, the, like having the time and the patience to be able to sit down and sort of just calm myself down.
Guest:Right.
Guest:All of a sudden I'm not restless in my seat.
Guest:I'm not uncomfortable in silence.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I'm not uncomfortable in confrontation.
Guest:Hmm.
Guest:I'm more confident.
Guest:It's just like all of these small... When you can just get into the present and slow it down.
Guest:Yeah, it's just these small little things that just make me feel so much better.
Marc:The house isn't on fire.
Guest:Correct.
Guest:Or it's on fire, but I'm seeing it in slow motion, and I go, okay, I don't have to worry about that wall falling just yet.
Guest:I have some time to focus on the upstairs bathroom.
Marc:That'll burn for a while.
Marc:That'll burn for a while.
Guest:And if I wait long enough, maybe the water from upstairs will trickle down and put that out.
Marc:Great.
Guest:Deal with it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That'll be good.
Guest:What are you working on now?
Guest:Now I'm working on just trying to fucking have a normal life.
Guest:I've never... Coming out of the pandemic, I sort of made a deal with myself like...
Guest:If this ends, if this pandemic ends and we're allowed to go back to work, like I'm going to force myself to work harder than I've ever worked before and push myself to be uncomfortable and all those sorts of things.
Guest:And lo and behold, for the first time ever, I had jobs like in a row.
Guest:I never worked back to back jobs ever.
Guest:Really?
Guest:In 20 plus fucking years.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was always, like, the question I hated the most was when a teamster would be like, so what you got next?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Like, unemployment.
Guest:Trying to find the next job.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And this was the first time that I had four jobs back to back to back to back.
Guest:And that was what, the offer?
Guest:It was the American crime story impeachment, the offer, friend of the family, and then I did a small British independent movie in England.
Guest:How was that?
Guest:It was good.
Guest:Oh, good.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, the queen died while I was over there, so it sort of threw everything into a tailspin.
Marc:So now you're saying you got a little space?
Guest:I had a little space.
Guest:And so I literally just the other day I came back.
Guest:I'd been pretty much traveling nonstop for a majority of the year.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was brutal.
Guest:And so my body kind of is like, okay, you're done.
Guest:So I'm going to take the rest of the year.
Guest:and relax and then hopefully uh touch wood um start uh the next documentary at the beginning of the year uh which um trying to get a doc made about uh john candy really yeah oh that's great yeah yeah what did i read about a willie mays doc and i just yeah so i produced a documentary about willie mays that just came out uh on tuesday oh i gotcha yeah how is it good
Guest:Yeah, it's great.
Guest:What's it on?
Guest:It's on HBO Max.
Guest:Oh, cool.
Guest:It's called Say Hey, Willie Mays.
Marc:John Candy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:John Candy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Did you know him?
Guest:I did, yeah.
Marc:Was he your dad's friend?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, my dad and my mom's, both my mom's.
Guest:He was around back when my parents were still married, and then he was around when my dad and Rita fell in love.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so he was present in my life quite a bit when I was a kid.
Guest:Good guy.
Guest:Incredible guy.
Guest:And when I say that, I'm saying it as like, you know, an eight-year-old.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:About a guy who I never really had like a sit-down conversation with.
Marc:You remember big presents.
Guest:Big presents.
Guest:Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet presents.
Guest:I remember him like...
Guest:Just being funny and making me laugh and making me feel a little bit better if I was shy or uncomfortable or things like that.
Guest:He was a good dude.
Marc:I haven't watched a John Candy movie in a long time.
Guest:There's so many.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they're all delightful.
Guest:And they're all different.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which one do you like?
Guest:I mean, planes, trains, and automobiles is kind of tough to beat because that, I think, is the most complete performance it is.
Guest:But I could get lost in the weeds in terms of the sort of smaller stuff, like just the little stuff that he does in Home Alone or Spaceballs.
Guest:or anything like that.
Guest:But then also vacation.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, like the thing that I really do like admire so much about him is that he did everything.
Guest:Like he would be the main guy.
Guest:Like he'd be the lead guy.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Uncle Buck.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The name of the fucking movie.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he would also be, you know, the guy that pops in for just a couple of scenes that is just a fully fledged character.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like that believable person within this world.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And there was no, there was no middle ground.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And so it didn't matter how much he was in.
Guest:He was the glue.
Guest:He was just always great.
Guest:He was always great.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And whether it was a silly performance or whether it was,
Guest:you know, something that was way over the top or if it was something that was maybe even a little bit more grounded, you just went like, oh my God, I just, I like that guy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I just feel better.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Even the old, the SCTV stuff.
Guest:Oh, totally.
Guest:Completely.
Guest:And so, yeah, we're going to, we're going to do a doc.
Marc:And also like not like, you know, he comes from that.
Marc:If you kind of like look at,
Marc:that world of SCTV and SNL and sketch in general as some sort of comedia della arte, you know, the heavyset balls-to-the-wall guy.
Marc:Well, yeah.
Marc:But he didn't have the menace that, like, Farley and Belushi had.
Guest:No, I mean, I always sort of say, like, if you think of, like, larger-than-life, you know, quote-unquote, you know, overweight comedian guys, who do you think of?
Guest:And it's Farley, Belushi, and Candy.
Guest:Well, two of those guys died of drug overdoses.
Yeah.
Guest:John Candy died of the same thing that his father and his grandfather died of at roughly the same age.
Marc:Was it a heart attack?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so he, I think, had a sort of inherent ticking clock in him, but he didn't fight it in the wrong way.
Marc:Right.
Marc:I didn't feel like if I think about the sort of the light that came out of him, it wasn't, you know, like this guy's going to blow up.
Guest:no not at all which is not to say that he didn't have demons we all do it's not to say that he didn't have skeletons in his closet we all do but he more often than not you know brought joy yeah you know for lack of a better phrase sure and like that was I mean that's fucking special yeah well I'm looking forward to it hope you do it I hope so too good talking to you man nice talking to you too man
Marc:Colin Hanks.
Marc:That was nice.
Marc:Good guy.
Marc:Got into it.
Marc:A friend of the family is streaming now on Peacock.
Marc:Say Hey Willie Mays is streaming on HBO Max.
Marc:And could you hang out please?
Marc:Please hang out.
Marc:For full Marin subscribers this week, we've got another Ask Mark Anything where I answer your questions, including this one.
Marc:You've had many New York comedians from the tough crowd on your show, but not Colin Quinn.
Marc:Is there something unresolved?
Marc:Yes, there actually is something unresolved.
Marc:I do not know what it is.
Marc:Look, I've known Colin many years.
Marc:I did tough crowd a lot.
Marc:I don't know if it was because he liked me or just because there weren't that many left-leaning comics around at the time, but...
Marc:But I texted him a few years ago and I said, look, hey, man, I'd like to have you on my show.
Marc:Do we have a problem?
Marc:Is there something?
Marc:Is there an issue?
Marc:And he said, I think there is.
Marc:And I said, well, do we do you want to try to resolve it?
Marc:He said, I don't know.
Marc:And that was that.
Marc:So I don't really know what it is.
Marc:I do.
Marc:There is a memory that sits with me that I imagine it could still be the foundation of the resentment.
Marc:Two things.
Marc:I middled for Colin many years ago, probably in the early 90s at Cobb's Comedy Club.
Marc:And I just remember like the middle that that doesn't matter.
Marc:I did very well.
Marc:But that's not the issue.
Marc:Years later, I was at the Comedy Cellar.
Marc:I wasn't really in at the Comedy Cellar.
Marc:I kind of knew Colin to say hi to.
Marc:And he stopped by the table.
Marc:I was sitting with somebody, and he said he had been working on a one-man show.
Marc:And I literally said, why, you can't hack the road anymore?
Marc:And he bit his knuckle, and he got very mad, and he said, you don't know me well enough to say that.
Marc:And it was real anger.
Marc:And then I married a woman he dated.
Marc:My second wife dated Colin for a while.
Marc:But I don't know if that has anything to do with it.
Marc:That marriage didn't end well.
Marc:Maybe she confided in him and decided I was an asshole.
Marc:There's many factors.
Marc:But those are the ones that stand out in my head.
Marc:I just don't think the guy really likes me that much.
Marc:And he doesn't see any reason to change that.
Marc:So that's that.
Marc:Again, if you want to sign up for bonus content in every episode of WTF Ad Free, go to the link in the episode description or click on WTF Plus over at WTFPod.com.
Marc:On Thursday, I talked to Cat Williams.
Marc:You know, that was a surprising interview.
Marc:I was expecting something, and I got something else.
Marc:I mean, look, I don't know Cat.
Marc:I've met him once.
Marc:I've watched his specials.
Marc:I get a sense of who he is.
Marc:I get expectations based on people's public output, but I was very surprised.
Marc:I was very surprised at how we engaged.
Marc:So that's all I'm going to give you.
Marc:Here's some guitar.
guitar solo
Thank you.
Thank you.
guitar solo
Thank you.
Marc:Boomer lives.
Marc:Monkey and the fond of cat angels everywhere.