Episode 405 - Jonah Hill
Marc:Lock the gates!
Marc:All right, let's do this.
Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?
Marc:How's everybody doing?
Marc:Huh?
Marc:I tricked you there.
Marc:I tricked you.
Marc:You were waiting for the rest of the intro, weren't you?
Marc:Some of you were like, you were waiting to fast forward through the first 10 minutes on the second what the fuck buddies, what the fucking ears.
Marc:Let's do this.
Marc:What the fuckers, what the fuck buddies, what the fucking ears.
Marc:But I tricked you.
Marc:For a second, you thought I wasn't going to do all three.
Marc:Huh?
Marc:Didn't you?
Marc:It's jarring, right?
Marc:When you get used to something.
Marc:When you get used to something that...
Marc:that has grown familiar and repetitive and perhaps redundant to you and you're comfortable with it, whether you like it or not.
Marc:It's jarring when it changes, isn't it?
Marc:It certainly is.
Marc:What am I getting at?
Marc:I just finished crying.
Marc:I just finished crying at my dining room table because I am tired of my redundant and predictable and annoying and damaging emotional behavior.
Marc:What does one do when you realize, oh my God, I'm doing this again.
Marc:Oh my God, I'm yelling again.
Marc:Oh my God, I'm in the same cycle of emotional bullshit that I've been in my entire life.
Marc:What do I do usually is I'll just become paralyzed with an emotional despondency.
Marc:And then I will shovel cold cereal into my mouth.
Marc:I will shovel puffins with vanilla almond milk.
Marc:I got rid of the soy milk because I don't want boobs.
Marc:And with a little bit of stevia and just shovel that into my mouth.
Marc:And you know what?
Marc:That works.
Marc:That works.
Marc:With a simple bowl of cereal, I can transport myself back to where the problems probably started.
Marc:I'm surprised at myself.
Marc:I don't know what it is, folks.
Marc:I don't know what it is, but I can tell you this.
Marc:I will be in Nashville at Zaney's, okay?
Marc:Next week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 18, 19, 20, I believe.
Marc:Come down.
Marc:Let's go get some Prince's chicken.
Marc:Let's go say hi to Jack White.
Marc:All right, I got that.
Marc:All right, tomorrow I will be at the Sub Pop Silver Jubilee in Seattle.
Marc:Go search that.
Marc:I don't know where it is.
Marc:Big benefit show.
Marc:All right, so that's what's happening in the next couple weeks.
Marc:I've plugged myself for the next couple weeks.
Marc:So what happened?
Marc:What happened?
Marc:All I know is that there are a lot of things going good in my life right now.
Marc:Things are looking up.
Marc:Maybe we'll get a second season.
Marc:It's encouraging.
Marc:We will know soon.
Marc:I'm okay with that.
Marc:My stand-up is pretty good.
Marc:Right?
Marc:The book.
Marc:People are loving the book.
Marc:Things are going okay.
Marc:I'm making a living.
Marc:That's a nice thing to have happen.
Marc:So that should be great.
Marc:All those things are great.
Marc:But there's some little part of my heart that says, dude, there's not enough chaos.
Marc:Where's the engine that drives you?
Marc:Where's the engine that makes you creative?
Marc:Where is the fight, my friend?
Marc:Where's the fight?
Marc:Maybe you can find it on Twitter.
Marc:Why don't you just engage some idiot on Twitter to get that rush of contempt?
Marc:Or why don't you just all of a sudden decide that, you know, you understand everything about relationships and make things miserable in your own home.
Marc:Shake it up.
Marc:Why?
Marc:What the fuck does it?
Marc:Is there anybody out there that has some sort of goddamn real answer about, you know, how what do you just suck it up?
Marc:Do you just, you know, shut up?
Marc:Do you just do you just what is it?
Marc:I mean, I try.
Marc:I try.
Marc:I try to just, you know, kind of like let it roll off my back.
Marc:But then some little part of me says, no, man, that is an attack on everything you think you are.
Marc:Ridiculous.
Marc:God damn it.
Marc:It just cycles.
Marc:And I just end up breaking down and weeping, weeping with grief and
Marc:Over the child inside me that seems to control me.
Marc:God damn it.
Marc:Everything is going good.
Marc:Why can't all of it be good?
Marc:Just for a little while.
Marc:Why can't it?
Marc:Just shut up.
Marc:Just shut up, Mark.
Marc:God damn it.
Marc:Jonah Hill is on the show today.
Marc:Sweet guy.
Marc:And I was digging for anger, and it didn't seem to be there.
Marc:I love him.
Marc:I think he's a uniquely funny person.
Marc:I think he's a gifted, talented actor.
Marc:And I think we had a great conversation.
Marc:I was charmed and engaged by the lovely Jonah Hill.
Marc:I'm sorry if I was getting heavy at the beginning, but I did just finish crying and I was just crying because and I don't mind crying.
Marc:You know, I prefer to cry in the context of, you know, TV commercials or sappy shows and.
Marc:You know, things outside of me.
Marc:Someone else telling a story will tear me up.
Marc:But literally 20 minutes ago, I was crying because I am sick of the way my heart and mind work together.
Marc:There's something, God damn it, there's something in there that just needs to be switched off or cleaned.
Marc:I wish there was something I could take out of my head and just like, oh, that was it.
Marc:That just needed to be blown out.
Marc:That thing had, it was a little corroding.
Marc:It was dusty and corroding.
Marc:You might want to take some steel wool to that.
Marc:Take some steel wool to that lobe.
Marc:Because some of that shit's been on there for 49 years.
Marc:That lobe is corroded.
Marc:I have a corroded lobe.
Marc:Take that thing out and get a wire brush to it.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:See that?
Marc:Yeah, it's not going to be as shiny as it was when he got it, but that shit should work better.
Marc:You should maybe behave like an adult now.
Marc:God damn it, metaphors.
Marc:But I'll tell you one thing, crying gives me a headache.
Marc:I think it's just because when you do it from your heart, your brain is always sort of like, wow, this is unfamiliar.
Marc:It's making me ache.
Marc:Blow your lobes out.
Marc:Not with a bullet.
Marc:You know, with something, with some wonderful, positive energy.
Marc:Some sort of accepting and nourishing energy.
Marc:Just let your lobes, you know, soak in that.
Marc:Make your brain juices proactive.
Marc:And don't fucking email me and say like, it's time for some shrooms.
Marc:Gotta reset.
Marc:Time for some shrooms.
Marc:I love you.
Marc:Did I tell you that?
Marc:I love you.
Marc:I'm not going to start crying again.
Marc:Let's talk to Jonah Hill.
Marc:So, Jonah, you're going to tell me a great story about me?
Marc:Is that what's going to happen?
Guest:No, I'm going to give you... I wish.
Guest:I just met you.
Guest:I'm going to give you a compliment.
Guest:I'm the biggest Howard Stern fan there is, basically.
Guest:I can't make that claim, but I worship Stern.
Guest:The reason why I think the most is...
Guest:Because I think he is the best interviewer.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I've been reflecting a lot about what I'm going to do if he ever retires or what... What are you going to do with your life?
Guest:Do I just stop living?
Guest:I really... It's sad that that's my life, that I really don't know what I'm going to do if Stern goes off the air.
Guest:But I was thinking, you know, who...
Guest:I just think what you've built is really special in the way you interview people.
Guest:And I was thinking like if he went, I think you've created this great thing where you could, you know, not be like him or whatever, but have the same really special niche of like where people really want to see how you interview someone.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And so I wanted to give you that compliment.
Marc:That's very nice.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You're very welcome.
Marc:I just did his show for the first time in my life.
Guest:Oh, I heard it.
Guest:I listen every day.
Marc:That was crazy.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You've done it a lot?
Marc:I've done it twice.
Marc:And what was the first time like for you meeting your hero?
Marc:I mean, were you fucking nuts?
Guest:I just listened.
Guest:Yeah, I was.
Guest:And I was so excited to meet like Sal and Richard and like Ronnie, the limo driver.
Guest:Like I really was freaking out to meet those people because I listen to that show when I wake up in the morning.
Guest:If I'm shooting a movie, I listen in the car all day between takes and stuff.
Guest:It's like hanging out with a fun group of people.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, that's what I love about it.
Marc:Well, some people have that relationship with him.
Marc:They've had it all their life, but you didn't grow up on the East Coast.
Marc:You were picking it up here on the rerun or what, when you were growing up?
Guest:Yeah, I grew up in LA and my dad would listen.
Guest:So I'd listen with my dad.
Guest:Your dad from the East Coast?
Guest:My parents are both from New York, Long Island.
Marc:So did they listen when they were in New York or how long had they lived here?
Marc:They lived here a long time.
Guest:I, they've lived here.
Guest:They've been together since they were 14.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:Which is crazy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They went to summer camp together on the East coast.
Guest:And then my dad moved out here when he was 14.
Guest:So they were long distance for like a long time of that period.
Guest:He claims they broke up for like a year and he got to date other people, but I don't know.
Guest:I'm probably divulging too much.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He's like, don't worry.
Guest:I like dated other people.
Guest:And my mom's like, yeah, me too.
Guest:Like they have this.
Guest:When they were 15.
Guest:Well, just like this instinctual, I actually talk about my friend, like when people have been together their whole lives, they have this kind of maybe insecurity about it in that because it makes them seem fearful in some way that they never explored or I don't know.
Guest:Right.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Well, no, it's hard for me to know.
Marc:I've destroyed whatever mystique any sex has anymore.
Guest:I was watching your show.
Marc:Yeah, right.
Guest:But that girl on your show, the woman, sorry.
Guest:Nora is so great and so beautiful.
Guest:I want you to be with her on the show so badly.
Guest:Even though she's a bizarre character, I find myself...
Guest:Like, why won't this schmuck date her?
Guest:You know, she's great, even though she's eccentric.
Marc:Why would this schmuck, why would this old, aggravated schmuck stay with this beautiful young woman?
Guest:He's like pushing her away at all turns.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Well, I mean, I ended up with the woman she's based on, so I think there's promise.
Marc:Fantastic.
Marc:Yeah, if we get another season, we're going to have to explore that.
Marc:That's cool.
Marc:Well, I mean, there's something to be said for, but I know what you're saying with that weird kind of like, they don't want to be judged as people that didn't live life because they committed and they love each other.
Guest:It's like defending your life.
Guest:It's like this fear thing, you know?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Well, also, there's two paths.
Marc:There's the path of commitment and loyalty and love, and then there's the, you know, like Harry Dean Stanton.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Alone at Dantana's looking for pussy.
Guest:Have you ever seen that documentary, Dig?
Guest:I just saw it.
Guest:Oh, no.
Marc:Have you seen Dig?
Marc:No.
Guest:Oh, it's my favorite doc.
Guest:It's so good.
Guest:It's about the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols.
Guest:No.
Guest:But it's about these bands.
Guest:At the time, they were small LA bands.
Marc:I don't know if I watched the whole thing right, but what happened?
Guest:But they just have... The Brian Jonestown Massacre are these guys and they have drug problems and they're having this party at this really crappy house, like whatever.
Guest:And it's like 4 a.m.
Guest:and there's just this really VHS footage of Harry Dean just there at 4 a.m.
Guest:playing guitar with these guys.
Guest:And I was like...
Marc:man i don't know that guy but he probably has great stories yeah well i just there's a doc that i just watched it's like this hour and 10 minute thing that just came out i'm sending it to my buddy i don't know where they're going to release it but it's it's a doc on harry dean but it's more it's not really a doc it's not like a life uh kind of it's like a portrait of the guy like just sort of random things the conversation with him and david lynch he sings some songs but it's more of like an arty kind of like cool yeah it was beautiful i
Guest:I would be very interested.
Marc:So wait, so now tell me on the mic about this iconoclast offer that you denied to do.
Guest:That is hilarious.
Guest:No, it's not hilarious, but I told you about that in the kitchen of your house.
Guest:Well, I don't know.
Guest:I love that show, Iconoclast, and they asked me to do one, and I didn't feel I was worthy to be on the show.
Marc:It's weird when you get offers like that, right?
Guest:Well, I don't know if it's weird.
Guest:It's super flattering, but I didn't feel I was worthy of that.
Guest:I felt like I can name 5,000 people who are more deserving of being on that show more than me.
Guest:Well, you're a young guy.
Guest:Yeah, I'm 29.
Guest:Right.
Marc:It's sort of like, well, there's the movie I did a couple years ago, the first one.
Marc:I mean, you know what I mean?
Marc:How are you going to go through a career or have this history as someone on a show like that?
Guest:uh-huh when you've only you know been alive i haven't done that much exactly i lived um but yeah like norman lear was on it and stuff and i was just like he's the most impressive human being in the world and i just was like imagining myself talking about the four movies i've made as if i'm you know yeah well who would you have liked what who would have you have talked to who would you have matched yourself with
Guest:I probably would have chosen... I don't know.
Guest:I always... I probably would have chosen a hero of mine, maybe.
Guest:Mike?
Guest:A Beastie Boy or... They were big heroes of yours?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They're like... They're great, right?
Guest:Well, I was... Yeah.
Guest:I mean, Jews have a notoriously hard time being cool in pop culture.
Guest:And I think the Beastie Boys really... Like Dylan, the Beastie Boys.
Guest:They helped us out.
Guest:Dustin Hoffman.
Guest:They really... Sandler, when he was doing his comedy album, was like...
Guest:That really did make me feel cool to be Jewish or that it was like you could be a cool Jew out there.
Guest:Right, right.
Marc:Yeah, we needed new, like, well, Dylan was an older Jew that made it cool.
Marc:And Sandler and the Beastie Boys were sort of contemporaries.
Marc:But that's true.
Marc:When you find out, isn't that an amazing moment as a Jew when you find out someone's Jewish and you're like,
Guest:Oh, that's great.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Thank God.
Guest:There's this rapper now called Drake, and he's half black, half Jewish from Toronto.
Guest:And he's huge.
Guest:All the big rappers like him.
Guest:That's great.
Marc:So he has those two things to temper his Jewiness.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:He's got the black and the Canadian.
Guest:And he did this video for my favorite song of his called Hell Yeah, Fucking Right.
Guest:And it's him getting rebar mitzvahed.
Guest:And it's this black dude who's Jewish and it's incredible, you know?
Guest:And it's like, yeah, I don't know.
Guest:When you're young, you're nine or 10 or whatever, you know, when I would hear Sandler's comedy albums, when he was doing that stuff, he was a total rock star.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:That to me was really important.
Guest:to feel like there's some world where a young Jewish kid with a Ninja Turtles yarmulke could be cool one day.
Guest:In front of the camera.
Marc:There's plenty of people behind the camera.
Marc:The Jews have always been the machinery.
Guest:Right.
Marc:But to be cool publicly, tricky.
Guest:Yeah, to have some sort of swagger in some way, or I don't know, some kind of cool behavior.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Well, I remember I was sort of amazed when I found out that, was it Mike?
Marc:Which one of the Beastie Boys' fathers is Israel Horowitz?
Guest:Yeah, Mike Horowitz, Ad-Rock.
Marc:Right, his dad is like this.
Guest:The biggest playwright.
Marc:Right, and I did an Israel Horowitz play when I was in college, Indian Wants the Bronx.
Guest:I've seen that play.
Marc:Yeah, it's a good play.
Guest:Yeah, John Casale was originally.
Guest:Oh, was he?
Guest:Yeah, I believe so.
Guest:That makes sense.
Guest:That John Casale doc?
Marc:No, I haven't.
Marc:I love that guy.
Guest:dudes in five movies it was genius everyone best picture yeah yeah deer hunter godfather one godfather two dog day afternoon and uh the conversation right it's like did five movies was engaged to meryl streep and then passed away from cancer very sad horrendous smoking was it
Guest:Yeah, lung cancer.
Marc:But it was from smoking?
Guest:Not to take it down.
Marc:No, that's all right.
Marc:Oh, really?
Marc:He must have smoked a lot.
Marc:He must have got a lot in.
Marc:He died a young man, right?
Marc:In his 40s, right?
Guest:Yeah, well, yeah.
Guest:He was really young.
Guest:He was engaged to Meryl Streep, one of the most brilliant, maybe my favorite actor, at least one of them.
Guest:And he just was so...
Marc:brilliant i mean he's fredo for you guys no he's great he's fredo that's uh yeah that that the the he was very sensitive and in dog day after he had a vulnerability to him i don't know where he come from in in terms of training do you was he a method guy well him and pacino like came up together and they did strassburgs yeah yeah i believe so and they did all those israel horvitz plays right israel horvitz is in the documentary a lot and rachel horvitz actually produced money ball
Guest:Really?
Guest:His daughter?
Guest:It's his daughter, Adam's sister, and she's a lovely woman.
Marc:So it all comes around.
Marc:Did you ever do theater?
Marc:I did, and I went to new school in New York.
Marc:I know the new school.
Guest:Yeah, it was new.
Marc:I took a philosophy class there once as a 35-year-old.
Marc:I think I decided to go back.
Marc:I was a comedian.
Marc:I was living down the street, and I was smoking a lot of weed, and I'm like, I think it's time for a philosophy class.
Yeah.
Marc:I would have loved to have an adult you in my philosophy class.
Marc:I thought I was old enough to wrap my head around it.
Marc:I still couldn't.
Marc:I really thought it would all make sense.
Marc:Well, that's the thing about the new school.
Marc:It's young people who didn't go to regular college and these people that are going back who are senior citizens.
Guest:And Parsons.
Guest:And the actor's studio at that time was there.
Guest:Well, for me, it was really because I couldn't get into NYU.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And it was down the street.
Guest:And I wanted to live in New York.
Guest:So I was like, fuck it.
Guest:This sounds awesome.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And that's where I started writing plays and acting and stuff.
Guest:You wrote plays?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I wrote one acts, but they were attempted to be funny and weird and just bizarre, probably.
Marc:The people that I've had on that I've talked to about their playwriting, and there's a few of you.
Marc:I always like to go, what were the plays?
Marc:Do you remember if you could pitch them?
Marc:Do you remember?
Guest:They were so...
Guest:dumb they were just really dumb but then were they dumb like arty dumb like you were trying i was trying to be like probably like michelle gondry or something right right right i don't know yeah probably highfalutin and yeah i was a million times better than i was and um i would actually put them up at a bar called black and white in this village and they uh i don't know if i want whatever they knew i wasn't 21 maybe right that's right you'll be all right you're not gonna get they're my friends but they still open
Guest:Yeah, and they're awesome.
Guest:These guys are really cool.
Guest:They own a bunch of bars in New York now.
Guest:They're doing really well.
Marc:But you weren't drinking, right?
Marc:No, no, no, no.
Guest:Yeah, of course.
Marc:Just performing.
Guest:Just sober performing as an 18-year-old.
Guest:So what were they, though?
Guest:Do you remember what they- I mean, they were so dumb.
Guest:I mean, they were just really- It would be like one high concept, each one, that was poorly executed.
Guest:So it'd be like a kid that grew up- On purpose?
Guest:Poorly executed?
Guest:No, no, no, no.
Guest:just in reflection upon reflection uh like you know a kid who grew up in neverland ranch or hitler's college roommate you know like really high concept trying to be offensive in some way maybe i don't know but you took hitler's college roommate because that seems like a sketch like a kid who grew up on neverland ranch that sounds like it could be loaded up for some you know real drama and sort of you know kind of intense but hitler's roommate is that was that a real what was the idea the idea was that hitler was like a terrible roommate
Guest:obviously like he was sloppy and like didn't clean up after himself i mean i don't know this is like i think at that age especially like 18 or whatever for me at least it was about like trying to be offensive maybe in some way or i don't know irrelevant or just make an impact yeah i don't know i don't know what it was i did the same thing in college you know you read a couple of plays and you're like well this art shit seems easy you know i can do this
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Like, how much work does this really take to be Sam Shepard?
Marc:I could do that.
Guest:Right, right.
Marc:Yeah, I did.
Marc:I remember one time I had an opportunity to do this.
Marc:They did these short scene one acts as a showcasing.
Marc:And everyone just wrote comedy.
Marc:And I just wrote this 10-minute, completely poetic, ridiculous Sam Shepard ripoff thing that no one understood.
Marc:No one laughed.
Marc:And when everyone was sort of baffled with the sort of like, okay, I was like, yeah, see?
Marc:Too deep, huh?
Guest:Yeah, over your heads, motherfuckers.
Marc:i think like if you ever say the term over your head it just means that you weren't good yes exactly yeah yeah right exactly audience fucking right it's that thing where people like going like this no it's just it didn't make sense and it was stupid and maybe you should try to be a little more general and
Marc:So you, I can't, uh, I don't know a lot of people that grew up here and you grew up kind of in show business.
Marc:So did you, wait, your dad moved here when he was 14?
Marc:Not alone.
Guest:He just packed up his, uh, what's that?
Guest:Like bundle with the bindle.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Uh, no, his dad passed away and he moved out here with his mom and younger brother from the East coast.
Guest:And he went to uni high out here, which is a public school out here.
Guest:And then, um,
Guest:Yeah, I grew up out here.
Marc:That fly is going to piss me off.
Guest:Yeah, that fly.
Marc:Do you hear that?
Marc:I do.
Marc:I hear it.
Marc:And I'm going to try to figure out what we're going to do.
Marc:He's right around you.
Guest:Does this happen often?
Marc:No.
Marc:No.
Marc:But I'm trying to decide whether we're going to deal with it or what we're going to do.
Marc:Hold on.
Marc:Hold on.
Guest:I think he's still.
Guest:I see him.
Guest:I see him.
Guest:I can't spot him.
Marc:I see him.
Guest:Is it on my face?
Marc:It's right here.
It's right here.
Marc:Is he on the ground?
Marc:Is he hurting?
Guest:He passed away.
Marc:Did he?
Guest:I think he's no longer with us.
Marc:No, I've never had a fly situation before.
Guest:You shouldn't take a person.
Guest:I brought my pet fly.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:What?
Guest:You bastard!
Guest:You killed Andrew.
Guest:so all right so he comes out here yeah and he's and he goes to where uni high what is that it's a high school on like uh barrington maybe yeah by santa monica right yeah and then you get in what business does he get into he's an accountant for show business people
Marc:Okay, so he's in the business.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's funny because people over the years have been like, well, your dad was in show business or whatever, but how often do you kick it with your accountant?
Guest:It wasn't like people were like- Yeah, he pulled some strings for you, didn't he?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It wasn't like rocks.
Guest:It was for mostly music people.
Guest:It wasn't like-
Guest:bunch of rock people wanted to hang out with their accountant or whatever it wasn't like he's a very humble um really hard-working by the numbers guy i love him very dearly yeah he's we're really close and my mom is this really wonderful eccentric woman who my dad being an accountant was more so like why is my son not
Guest:normal or walks an unorthodox path right I think that's a you think he framed it like that way originally no she's probably like what the fuck is wrong with this kid why can't he do math and my mom was more like groovy yeah she just was like really
Guest:accepting of eccentricity and was like, I don't think you're meant for college or I don't think you're meant for whatever path the other kids are on.
Guest:And so I'm really grateful to both of them.
Marc:What did she do?
Guest:She was a costume designer back in the day, but she's had many, many jobs.
Guest:She's entrepreneurial and raised three kids, but also every kid after they were a little grown up was able to start her own kind of thing.
Guest:She's very impressive in that way.
Marc:What did your other siblings start?
Guest:What do they do?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My younger sister Beanie's like my best friend.
Guest:She's 20 and she goes to Wesleyan.
Guest:She's super cool.
Guest:Oh, that's a good school.
Guest:Does like musical theater.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Really amazing girl.
Guest:And my older brother Jordan manages bands.
Marc:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you all kind of did your own thing.
Marc:yeah and everyone's cool like we're a very close family and i'm to me that's what i look at is like the foundation of everything i am that's great they're still together it's amazing my folks yeah it's amazing yeah and that is sort of a weird rap that people do when they don't know what show business is they're like oh his parents were in the business it's a huge business
Marc:They could be, it could be a gaffer.
Guest:I mean, what does that mean?
Guest:Well, my dad always says about LA is like everyone's in show business.
Guest:Even if you're a dentist, you're like the dentist to Mark Maron or whatever.
Guest:He's always like, yeah, that guy's killing that guy.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:My dentist is a rock star.
Guest:He's always here for rock star parties, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My house is just a nice, quiet, cool people.
Marc:And you went to that weird school, right?
Marc:Crossroads, yeah.
Guest:Is that what you're referring to?
Marc:I liked it.
Marc:No, no, no.
Marc:I don't know anything about it other than I read a weird book.
Marc:I don't remember.
Marc:It was a crazy Vanity Fair article about the school a few years ago.
Guest:It was like a Montessori school for older kids.
Guest:Right?
Guest:Yeah, we went to Ojai and talked about our feelings and stuff.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:There was finger painting and pottery.
Guest:Yeah, we called our teachers by their first names and stuff like that.
Marc:What was the angle on that school, and how'd you end up there?
Guest:I ended up there because I went to a really rigid school and kind of got asked to leave or kicked out, however you want to phrase it.
Guest:I did, too.
Marc:I see.
Marc:I knew we were kindred spirits.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What was your particular crime, just being a smartass?
Marc:Oh.
Guest:I think, yeah, I was really, I was just very, very uninterested in school and structure.
Guest:I don't know what that means, but I really didn't like that school because the kids, like at an artsier school at Crossroads, it attracted more artsy, interesting kids to me, in my opinion.
Guest:Like those kids from that school were great, but they weren't the elk that I am maybe, or the same kind of vibe, whatever it is, you know?
Guest:I get it.
Guest:And so when I went to this other school in 10th grade, I made all my best friends that I still have to this day.
Guest:At Crossroads?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:They had a film class there.
Guest:I saw like Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and all these weird cool films and David Lynch movies and you were able to make your own little movies and that wasn't the whole school.
Guest:It was a really good school but I'm very excited and lucky that I got to go to like an arts year kind of school at that age because it did turn my life
Marc:in a better direction right because i felt like oh there's other weirdos you know there's other people they're there in regular high schools but you know you got to find them right and this in this other school just attracted more people who were down the more straight and narrow well how did you uh sort of how did you fuck up i mean were you uh were you like uh like a like did you disrupt classes yeah
Guest:Wait, did you make teachers cry?
Guest:I was a really like wild, that like middle school area, I was very wild.
Marc:Like in how?
Marc:What was your thing?
Guest:Joking around, you know, messing with teachers, trying to make my friends laugh.
Marc:It was really like- You weren't a vandal or a criminal.
Guest:You were just a- No, I just, I like to be bad.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It was like fun.
Guest:There was a real excitement in being naughty.
Right.
Guest:is a really weird word to use.
Marc:But you're a funny guy, right?
Marc:So you're a naturally funny person.
Guest:I'd like to hope so, yeah.
Marc:No, no, you have a gift for it.
Marc:I know that.
Guest:Well, thanks, man.
Marc:Me too.
Marc:Well, I appreciate that.
Marc:But the thing about that is that you realize, whether you're conscious of it or not, is that you can easily usurp any sort of authoritarian situation with just a line.
Marc:You can take over a class like that.
Marc:And you're like the go-to guy.
Marc:Like, you got a teacher, and all you got to do is go, nah, man.
Marc:And then like...
Guest:If that's the secret, I'm really happy you just gave it to me.
Guest:The ultimate joke.
Guest:But then all the kids are like, and then the teachers are like, Jonah.
Guest:Well, I don't know if you ever found this, but when I was growing up, that was like what... I'm really fascinated.
Guest:Have you ever watched these TED Talks on the Netflix?
Guest:On the old Netflix?
Guest:Yeah, sure.
Guest:But I watched this one about how people really want to...
Guest:They use checklists to put people in boxes, whatever it is.
Guest:You want to just immediately give someone a title.
Marc:Yeah, that guy's this and this and this.
Guest:Yeah, you just go, okay, well, she's tall and pretty and smart.
Guest:And he's really funny.
Guest:And so I think if you met me growing up or now, you'd probably maybe say he's funny.
Guest:So when I was just a kid, I just liked to make my friends laugh.
Guest:I liked to make my parents laugh.
Guest:I saw the joy that it brought them and brought me.
Marc:But did you like pissing teachers off?
Guest:I hated all my teachers until I got to this new school.
Guest:And what I learned about humor at a young age was it was something that can cause and alleviate trouble.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So you can cause something really crazy to happen with a joke.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But you can also fix it or remedy it in some way with a joke.
Guest:Sure.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:You hurt somebody and then you go, come on.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Or I get in trouble and then I go to the principal and tell him what I said.
Guest:And sometimes they would think it was actually funny.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And so they would be nicer to me about the punishment or whatever.
Guest:Right.
Guest:The charm element.
Guest:Maybe.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I saw that it was this kind of thing that I liked about life that for some reason was part of my brain.
Marc:It comes naturally.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It comes naturally, right?
Guest:Yeah, I don't know.
Marc:You don't have to try to be funny necessarily after a certain point.
Guest:I liked the joy.
Guest:It brings me a lot of joy to make my friends laugh and my family laugh.
Marc:So how did they kick you out of school?
Marc:Was it dramatic or just a letter?
Guest:It was a letter that said, we don't want him to come back.
Marc:It was really polite.
Marc:I got a letter from a private school, the same thing.
Marc:Mark possesses the wrong kind of leadership qualities.
Marc:We suggest a military school or a boarding school.
Marc:Oh, gosh.
Guest:That's what they said.
Guest:My poor parents.
Guest:Honestly, when I think of those years, I'm just like, guys, I apologize all the time.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, because I just wanted- Did you cause them a lot of stress?
Marc:I mean, what was the stress level?
Marc:Were they like, what are we going to do with them?
Guest:We always loved each other and were nice to each other.
Guest:But it was like, I think they just had to worry more about me at that time than my siblings probably, you know?
Marc:So at Crossroads, you go there, you do whatever you want, whatever your interests are, your brain opens up to all this stuff.
Guest:And the teachers were awesome.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And the, yeah.
Guest:Do you get a degree or do you just get a- No, it's like a real, it's like people went to like Harvard and shit from there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's a legit school.
Marc:It's not just a flower and a backpack.
Guest:Oh my gosh.
Guest:They really do have some ridiculous shit there.
Guest:The schedule runs on like three cycles and it's alligator, cow, and bear.
Guest:What does that mean?
Guest:I don't fucking know.
Guest:And we went to Ojai.
Guest:We went on an Ojai retreat in a sweat lodge.
Guest:It was totally like a movie.
Guest:It really was totally idiosyncratic.
Marc:It's just groovy kids going to a sweat lodge.
Marc:Did you have a guide?
Marc:I mean, what was the idea there?
Marc:You guys were, what, 14 years old?
Guest:Yeah, my best friend Schmidt and I were together on this trip.
Guest:It was incredible.
Guest:Actually, my character in 21 Jump Street is called Schmidt, based after my buddy.
Guest:We went on this trip.
Guest:It's just a lot of funny stuff happened, you know, like you're in a suite where guys who liked funny stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was like really sentimental, like, oh, hi, like sweat lodge talking about feelings.
Guest:So for people who like to joke around and stuff, it was real fucking hard not to not to make a joke out of the whole because people were talking about their feelings.
Guest:Yeah, people were saying crazy shit, and I respected that because I'm very open with my feelings, even at that age.
Guest:But it was more the seriousness of feeding a tree.
Guest:It was stuff like that where as a funny person or someone who likes to mock things, maybe- It's hard not to mock.
Guest:It's hard not to, and you want to be respectful, but you also to your friend are like, are you fucking seeing this, man?
Guest:They're giving food to a tree.
Guest:That's crazy as a 17-year-old.
Guest:Oh, hell yeah, man.
Marc:Like, new-agey bullshit is easy to make fun of.
Guest:It's so easy.
Guest:And it's also easy to see how it, like, it's one of those things as you get older, I think, or maybe mature in some way.
Guest:You see how, like, yoga.
Guest:I would have never done yoga or something, right?
Guest:But my best friend Kyle, this girl from high school, is a yoga teacher, and I did some yoga with her.
Guest:And...
Guest:I really liked it.
Guest:I thought it was really cool.
Guest:But when they talk about the stuff in certain language they use is still funny to me, even though I know it helps people and makes them better people.
Marc:I understand exactly what you're talking about because I think I have the same thing.
Marc:It's that you sound like you're a very sensitive guy.
Marc:You're very empathetic.
Marc:But there is something ridiculous about things.
Marc:And I've been in situations like that where you're like, this is... It's not angry.
Marc:It's not like, this is fucking stupid.
Marc:I'm not going to do this.
Marc:But we have to acknowledge... It's silly.
Marc:...that this is ridiculous.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And then you get older and you're like, life's crazy and people just want to be happy.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah, you get it.
Guest:So whatever the fuck makes you happy.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Go with that.
Marc:But you can still make fun of it.
Marc:Like, you know, I do jokes like that and it hurts people's feelings.
Marc:But there is, like, people who take themselves very seriously in stuff that is ridiculous or it seems ridiculous or that you don't take seriously, it's just hard not to... You want to mock them right to their face so they kind of lighten the fuck up.
Marc:It's like, you're not that serious.
Guest:For me, it's not mocking them.
Guest:It's more like...
Guest:We should share in that this is a little silly.
Guest:You know, like we should look at each other.
Guest:Like, you know, when something weird's happening, like on a plane or an airport, I always look for someone else who gets it.
Guest:Like Dave Chappelle had that bit about the other black guy on a plane.
Guest:One of my favorite bits ever because they know they're not going to get taken hostage.
Guest:It's like one of the, they like wink at each other.
Guest:Like we're okay.
Guest:I like when something weird happens, you know, you always look like that was how I knew who my friends were always.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Where when something strange or bizarre or funny would go down, the person you can share eye contact with and go like, this is fucking crazy.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know?
Guest:And so I love that when you're, you're, you're with a stranger or you're in a weird place, like an airport, this, this weird, like stop on life.
Guest:And you, you get to share that moment with someone like two people screaming at each other and you see a person and you're like, that's fucking crazy.
Marc:right like you're like we're all noticing this you know well i had there was a woman on a plane recently that was doing yoga like she got up and started doing yoga in the aisle and i i understand you're stretching you've been sitting down a lot but it's fucking ridiculous right you're in yeah you're in public you're on a plane and it's a very fine line between looking around and acknowledging do you say something or what's your deal like how do you handle that kind of scenario
Marc:Well, I really tried to not say something first, because my mouth has gotten me into trouble more so.
Marc:Because there's a fine line between being funny and being a fucking bully.
Marc:Right.
Guest:For sure.
Marc:There's a fine line between looking for people who see what you're seeing and going like, that's a fucking dummy, and just being nice about it.
Marc:So I try not to be, I'll just tweet bad shit.
Guest:but yeah in the situation i think what are the odds i find your twitter on your tv show your twitter oh the troll thing well i have a lot of friends or have some friends who are performers in some way or another and i i find it really interesting when they they look at themselves on twitter or they look what people are saying or something i really don't do that i think it's like really bad for you
Guest:It is bad for you.
Marc:It's horrible.
Guest:But I find it interesting that you do let it... You do do it because you know it makes you feel bummed out or something.
Marc:I really have a hard time with that every time.
Marc:Because I'll fight... I'll have really weird insult fights with friends, like me and Michael Ian Black or Dave Anthony or whatever.
Marc:But then I'll engage with a troll.
Marc:And I'm just starting... I like that episode where you went and found that kid who talks shit about you.
Marc:This is some poor nerd kid who's angry.
Marc:But I have a problem with that.
Marc:There's some...
Marc:the difference between feeling you know that warmth of making someone laugh but also feeling the warmth of like anger it's it's it's tricky for me like you know they're both feelings and they're tangible and one is not good right the other is good but i still have a sort of compulsion towards that rage is very relieving is it for you sometimes i mean i don't feel good right after but when you're going shut the fuck
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:After you do that, you're sort of like, okay, I'm sorry.
Marc:You're crying.
Marc:I feel that that's out of me, but clearly I've done some damage here.
Guest:I'm glad you find that enjoyment.
Marc:No, it's not enjoyment.
Marc:It's something I have to stop.
Marc:You don't get angry?
Marc:You're aware.
Marc:You're aware, and that's the good part.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:No, no, I'm getting a lot better.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I find that if you want to keep women in your life, you might want to turn that down a little bit.
Marc:You don't find yourself angry?
Marc:In general?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, of course I get angry sometimes, but- Like, what are the things that like-
Guest:I would be angry if someone was like mean to someone close to me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Or, you know, if, if I really cared about something creatively and not, I actually wouldn't even call it anger.
Guest:I would just call it like protectiveness.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Probably in general.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And frustration.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I would really like, if, if I love someone and someone's mean to them or something, that would really bum me out.
Guest:And yeah, that would bum me out.
Marc:So it's usually a friend or family based sort of thing.
Guest:It's not even anger as much as I would just get like bummed that they were sad, you know?
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:But you've never had cause to go like, you know, shut the fuck up, you asshole.
Guest:I don't know if shut the fuck up has ever come out of my mouth towards someone.
Guest:It's like I've just been watching The Sopranos and I literally just finished.
Guest:I know it's weird.
Guest:It actually is weird.
Guest:You watched them all?
Marc:Oh, I envy you.
Marc:I'd love to watch them all again.
Guest:I watched it when it was on.
Guest:I didn't mean to bring this up, but since I did, I really am heartbroken that James Gandolfini passed away.
Guest:I got to meet him a couple times, and this isn't what this is about.
Guest:He was the nicest guy, so I'm really heartbroken about that.
Guest:And I happened to have been on season five re-watching it, because I love it so much when he passed away.
Guest:And I've been watching it.
Guest:And one of the things I noticed a lot about it is how people talk to each other in the show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In regards to what you were just talking about, where you say like, shut the fuck up, just like your wife or something.
Guest:And then the next day you're somehow speaking again.
Guest:Like I didn't grow up in a household like that.
Guest:And so to me, it's very fascinating to watch.
Guest:You didn't grow up in a mafia household?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:My dad's Gumar was, no, I'm just kidding.
Yeah.
Marc:an idea he had yeah it was definitely like in his head no he was great and it was it was shocking you know because like when somebody who was that much of a force of fucking nature just is gone it's like what it's like it might be the greatest like character ever it is and one of the greatest shows ever i mean like i like i would love to start watching that again
Guest:And because we're on a comedy show, it's super fucking funny.
Guest:It is.
Marc:There's definitely a lot of hilarious stuff.
Guest:Laugh out loud, hysterical funny.
Guest:Whenever something, I noticed it this time around and not to like just make this about the Sopranos or whatever, but like I noticed this thing that they do so brilliantly is whenever someone is going through a modern social problem.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They go to Satriel's in the back room and all the guys who were in the century before, like cavemen try and work out how they feel about it.
Guest:And it's the most, it's always the most brilliant comedy scene because it'll be like, whether it's therapy or suicide or being gay or whatever it is.
Guest:And you have these cavemen trying to really work out like what they feel about it.
Guest:And if they're able to shift perspective in some way into the next century.
Marc:Like Pat Cooper on the therapy thing where he's like, you know, what
Guest:are you telling her well the one where the one where i mean my favorite scene in the sopranos and one of my favorite things anything is when meadow's boyfriend finn had seen veto giving a blow job to the security guard and tony brings him in to tell all the guys what he saw yeah and he's like and they're all sitting there and they're all trying to digest this and he goes so paul paulie i think goes like
Guest:So he's getting a blowjob from the security guard.
Guest:And then the boyfriend, who's totally innocent, goes, no, no, no.
Guest:It was the other way around.
Guest:And they all explode, like, oh!
Guest:And then it's like, he's fucking dead, you know?
Guest:Like, him getting a blowjob was maybe... They were going to maybe be able to work that out.
Guest:Yeah, because he's in control.
Guest:He's the...
Guest:And then when they find out he's blowing him, it's like he's, it's just these people, they figured out this formula of like these people dealing with problems they're not prepared to deal with in a very funny conversational way.
Guest:It's great.
Marc:And even some of the most gruesome scenes are really sort of, they kind of play out as sort of funny.
Marc:You know, like when, what's his name?
Marc:I can't remember the character's name, but when the door's locked on the truck and the kid's in the truck and it runs over his head.
Marc:Oh my gosh.
Guest:Yeah, Phil Leotardo.
Yeah.
Guest:It's hilarious.
Guest:Yeah, on some level.
Guest:And then the kids are watching, these young African-American kids are watching, and they're like, oh, no.
Guest:Yeah, they do definitely.
Guest:I mean, it's graphic and crazy as it is.
Guest:And that's what Goodfellas is so funny, too.
Guest:There is such humor within these people trying to figure out...
Marc:And also that type.
Guest:Modern stuff.
Guest:Right, right.
Marc:The sort of resistance and the way they talk.
Marc:It's funny.
Marc:It's very engaged.
Marc:So when was the... Now, how did you end up in... I know this is a story you've told, but the first movie you did was a 40-year-old virgin?
Guest:No, the first movie I was ever in was called I Heart Huckabees.
Guest:I saw that movie.
Guest:Directed by David O. Russell.
Marc:I like that movie.
Guest:I love David O. Russell.
Guest:Yeah, I'd love to interview that guy.
Guest:He's one of my favorites.
Marc:Yeah, he's a genius.
Guest:I don't know him super well personally.
Marc:How old were you though?
Marc:What did you play?
Marc:Why can't I remember?
Guest:I was 18 or 19.
Guest:I was in like two scenes.
Marc:Okay.
Guest:I was the African guy's younger brother and we would like collect autographs and there was one dinner table scene that was more prominently featured in.
Guest:it's a bizarre movie like that guy he's got real balls he's got balls as a director it's like as far as it's like an Ionesco play it's a completely absurd weird thing to me like you know David as far as like the obvious geniuses like you know Scorsese and Spielberg and all these you know people who are the old guard who are the most you know already regarded in that way I think David O. Russell and Paul Thomas Anderson are like absolutely the guys of this generation that have just made movies that are pushing they're just
Guest:ballsy at like every turn yeah and and completely different they're not they're not just hacking on themselves i mean damn movies are different you know like like flirting with disaster is one of the best comedies like ever and then you have like the fighter with this there's so many three kings three kings is a masterpiece it's amazing yeah and that's in the yeah and
Guest:They're just so funny as well as heart-wrenching.
Marc:Oh, yeah, the fighter's great.
Marc:It's great.
Marc:But that's where that thing that went around where he's yelling at Lily Tomlin, that's where that happened.
Marc:Do you have any recollection of him being a crazy man?
Guest:I wasn't around for that, but he is an eccentric guy, at least at that time.
Guest:I don't know him any longer.
Guest:I maybe said hello, but I don't know him.
Guest:You guys don't all know each other?
Yeah.
Marc:Once you reach a certain level, you're not just sort of like, I think I'll call David O. Russell.
Guest:No, if I see him, I would say, David, thanks for my... I literally, every time I see him, just go, hey, Dave, I loved whatever your last movie was, and thanks for giving me my first job.
Marc:How'd you get the job?
Marc:How'd you get the audition for him?
Guest:I am close with the Hoffman family, Dustin Hoffman, his kids, and Jake and Becky went to school in New York while I was there, and they thought I was really funny, and I got close with their family.
Guest:They're really lovely, amazing people, and when Dustin was doing this movie, Howard Huckabees, he...
Guest:asked me to come and audition or asked david if i can come and audition and uh i am so grateful for that yeah he seemed i i love dustin hoffman he's amazing yeah my favorite my favorite actor maybe right probably so as a person that you sit at a dinner table with he's also amazing he's incredibly funny he's so funny he's in good shape so nice super good shape how does he do how does he stay in such good shape i don't know it's just genetics gotta have him on the show man
Guest:Yeah, their whole family is like lovely, amazing, inspiring people.
Marc:So that was the first break.
Marc:And then Judd found you somehow?
Guest:And then Judd... After that, I did a movie for Adam Sandler's company called Grandma's Boy, which was a comedy that Adam made.
Guest:And him and Alan Covert, who's a great guy.
Guest:I'm sure you know Alan.
Marc:I don't, I don't.
Marc:You don't know Alan Covert?
Marc:I don't think so.
Marc:Me and Adam are like in different worlds.
Marc:I said something that offended him a million years ago, and I don't know if we're... If you're ever cool.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't know.
Guest:Well, I mean, Adam to me growing up, like those comedy records to me were, you know, like the goat, things like that were fucking like mind blowing to me.
Guest:Like the Jewish thing I told you about.
Guest:Yeah, definitely.
Guest:And then Judd and Seth and Evan and Shauna Robertson and a bunch of amazing people led by Judd came into my life by fortune.
Guest:And, you know, I'm...
Guest:It's crazy to think about now kind of ten years later.
Marc:It's only ten years, right?
Marc:It's not even that long decades not I mean what's happened in a decade is Mind-blowing right?
Marc:Yeah, and I'm actually interested to hear your did you have much experience with Judd like coming up as a comic or we met a couple times But I didn't really know him that well You know he went you know He was one of the smarter ones who realized that stand-up is a long hard and horrible road and that he had talents that were comedic But could go other places and you know he built a different life for himself
Guest:Definitely.
Marc:I met him briefly at one point in time, and then by the time I interviewed him, that just came about because he loved the show, and he wanted to be on the show.
Marc:So that's when we became friends, kind of.
Marc:Cool.
Marc:So I didn't really know him as a comic, no.
Marc:That whole crew I didn't really know.
Marc:They came out to LA sort of early, and I was still in New York.
Guest:New York, yeah.
Marc:Well, they had a plan.
Marc:They seemed to realize that show business was a business, and that you go find your way in the business.
Marc:So I just thought, like, well, I want to be a comic, and it'll find me when it has to.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah, so I'm in my garage and they're up on the hill.
Marc:I think you're doing okay, Mark.
Marc:Yeah, I'm doing all right.
Marc:I'm getting by.
Marc:But in the 40-year-old version, that scene with you, I didn't know who the fuck you were.
Marc:And when I first saw that, I'm like, who the fuck is that guy?
Marc:Like, that was the funniest fucking thing in the world because it was a tight... Thank you.
Marc:And I think with Seth, too, that you guys have somehow, like you were saying about cool Jews... Mm-hmm.
Marc:is that there was sort of a patter.
Marc:There was sort of a way that Jewish comedy was delivered.
Marc:And I think you're right in saying that Adam did something different.
Marc:And I think that the way Jewish timing sort of played out, if you watch Woody Allen, you watch any of the old comedies that are Jew-driven, there was a neurotic sort of-
Marc:Right.
Marc:There was a neurotic sort of self-aware, persistent.
Marc:It had a rhythm to it.
Marc:And I think you guys sort of came out, like you and Seth and who were the other guys?
Marc:Paul Rudd, Jason Segel.
Marc:Well, yeah, Jason too.
Marc:I'm talking Jews.
Marc:I don't think Paul's Jewish.
Marc:He's half, right?
Marc:He's half Jewish?
Guest:He's full.
Guest:Rudd's a full Jew.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Well, good.
Guest:He just doesn't look Jewish.
Guest:She's handsome, that's why.
Marc:There's so many shows I've been doing lately that's just like this Jewish theme.
Marc:I'm just waiting for the anti-Semites to be like, all right, enough.
Guest:No, but you know what?
Guest:Because of that thing, because of that thing I told you about, like the Beastie Boys, or not that I'm in any way cool, but like...
Guest:I think it was dope that they weren't shy about being Jewish.
Guest:I think it's cool.
Marc:No, but it's great because it transcended the shtick of it.
Marc:There was this whole period in the 70s where all Jewish comedy was like, oh, yeah, okay.
Guest:There was the- Catskills and shit.
Marc:There was Catskills.
Marc:And then you went into sort of like, I'm an analysis.
Marc:And then it was sort of this gray area.
Marc:And then you guys sort of did something that wasn't shtick.
Marc:It was like there was a different timing to it.
Marc:Like when you did that scene in 40-Year-Old Version, I'm like, I didn't even know.
Marc:It was just funny in a way that I had not seen before.
Marc:And it was so brief that the scene was so tight.
Marc:And you sort of stood out in that whole fucking movie.
Guest:That's really nice, man.
Guest:Did you feel that?
Guest:Well, that day, it was one day.
Guest:It was probably, I would say, maybe the most important day of my life, if not definitely one of them.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I was friendly with Seth and met Judd in the audition for that movie.
Guest:I knew Seth.
Guest:I met him in a movie theater before then.
Marc:Just by coincidence?
Guest:I just sat behind him and Jason Schwartzman was a mutual friend of ours.
Guest:And so we talked about Jason and how great of a guy he is, which he is.
Guest:And so I knew Seth and we were friendly.
Guest:And then I got that part and there was one line and the whole bit was about an eBay store and
Guest:Right, yeah.
Guest:With Keener, and it didn't make sense.
Guest:I want to buy a skateboard.
Guest:And she said, you can't.
Guest:And he's like, I don't get it.
Guest:And that was the whole scene.
Guest:Now, it was pouring rain that day that I got there.
Guest:This sounds like I'm trying to be overly cinematic or something.
Guest:No, no, it's good.
Guest:But it was pouring rain.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:and they couldn't shoot the scene they were trying to shoot outside.
Guest:So they had a whole day to shoot this one fucking line scene.
Guest:And so Judd was just like, it was his first movie, and he was just like, just start, you know, I noticed everyone was improvising, so I just was like, this is an opportunity to show someone who I think is really, really amazing and look up to so much that maybe I could improvise with these other people here.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I got to improvise that scene for a whole day with those.
Guest:We found those random goldfish boots and it turned to me talking shit to Keener with Catherine Keener.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:By the way, the greatest person in the world talking shit to each other.
Guest:And it became this kind of thing.
Guest:And Seth would call me over the months that they were testing straight test screening for audiences.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And he goes, he said to me, him and Judd said to me,
Guest:there's no logical reason for this scene to even be in the movie.
Guest:Like all we want to do is cut it out, but it keeps getting really big laughs.
Guest:And so that was a moment for me that really, I think you'd have to ask them, but I think it made Judd maybe, uh, want to continue working with me, you know?
Guest:And so that was an important day for me and I'm really grateful to him in every way.
Marc:Did you feel at that moment that you had some, like knowing that your comedy, your sense of humor was so validated in such a huge way?
Marc:Did you find that, I don't know, it's weird to be funny on purpose.
Marc:You know, like, because I do it for a living.
Marc:Well, it's just all of a sudden, like, you're the funny guy and you got to show up and do that.
Marc:Did you become hyper aware of how to work with your sense of humor more?
Marc:Or were you just sort of like, I just did the thing.
Marc:I just riffed it and that was that.
Guest:I mean, with, I really just approached it as an, as from like an actor in a movie.
Guest:So if the character was a certain way, you know, or in that scene, there wasn't a character.
Guest:So I maybe invented some weird, aloof, weird kid, you know?
Marc:But you have a natural sense of timing.
Marc:It's just interesting.
Guest:And with the judge stuff, it's very set up for who's the funny, like you need to kind of bring your shit or you're not going to make it in the film.
Guest:Right, like you're going to get cut out of the movie if you're not really funny.
Guest:So there's a real importance on making sure you write material for that scene.
Guest:You think of what areas that scene could maybe go in and then be really open to improvising within that scene.
Marc:And then in Knocked Up and then in Superbad, the character in 40-Year-Old Virgin, there was sort of a slightness to him and sort of an oddness to him, but you didn't have time to really flesh out a character.
Marc:No, it was like a three-second scene.
Marc:But then in Knocked Up and then in Superbad, you're slightly aggravated funny.
Marc:Yeah, definitely.
Marc:And then for some reason, I want you to be that guy.
Marc:In my mind, it's like, he's got to be this aggravated sort of compulsive, Jew-y guy that's always got an angle on something.
Guest:Like, well, I don't know, you know?
Guest:And Superbad, that script was so beautifully written by Seth and Evan.
Guest:I mean, never, to this day, never received a script.
Guest:Maybe Cyrus, I was very, like, moved by that script, just the screenplay of it.
Guest:Like, that script they worked on for 10 years.
Guest:It was incredible.
Guest:Yeah, I talked to them about it, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I heard them on here.
Guest:They were great.
Guest:And those guys are, in my opinion, the best comedy writers in the screenwriters working today.
Guest:They're good guys, too.
Guest:They're the nicest.
Guest:I know.
Guest:You know the word mensch?
Guest:It was like invented for those guys.
Guest:But they wrote this screenplay that was honestly, the table read where we read it out loud for the studio and stuff was like an epic thing amongst the studio because it was us just reading it and their script was so funny that...
Guest:So that character was really angry.
Guest:He was a guy who had felt slighted by life.
Guest:So that was easy to have that approach.
Guest:And the only thing I was cautious of was to maybe try and make a character in Superbad that felt...
Guest:With all the anger and hostility that you kind of understand why he's maybe angry and maybe have some sort of sympathy towards the end of the film.
Guest:You're conscious of that.
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, to me, and again, like, I don't want to sound like I, you know, anything, but I just approach it as an actor in a movie.
Guest:I love movies.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, like you grew up doing stand-up.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like I just grew up watching movies.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That's really what I was interested in.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I really love acting in that way where even when it's a funny role where you have to be really funny.
Guest:Right.
Guest:There has to be some realness to the character.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:You have to make sure the character feels like a person you know in real life.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And it's got to be part of you.
Guest:Fully rounded.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I mean, in Cyrus, would that be the first dramatic turn, that movie?
No.
Guest:I would I love Mark and Jay who Mark Mark Duplass is on this show.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Those guys are such beautiful.
Guest:I describe men as beautiful people.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They're like have these beautiful hearts.
Guest:They really like they can say like some spiritual shit that you wouldn't make fun of.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Because it's like they're so pure about it.
Guest:Practical.
Guest:They're just lovely.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they write like that and the movies are like that.
Guest:So basically I was at a point in my career where Superbad had come out and I was really intimidated to do another film because people really liked it and I really liked it.
Guest:And I had gotten handed this amazing script for Superbad and like the other scripts maybe weren't like I didn't feel were going to be as awesome as Superbad was.
Guest:So I took a writing job for Sacha Baron Cohen and worked for him and had a lovely experience on Bruno, the movie Bruno.
Marc:With Seth, right?
Guest:Well, Seth and Evan wrote on the Ali G show.
Guest:Oh, that's right.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:And did they bring you into Bruno?
Guest:They, I think, recommended me to Sacha because I wanted to take a writing job.
Marc:Why?
Marc:But that's a weird sort of decision.
Marc:I mean, you know, you were getting a lot of good reviews.
Marc:You had done some great comedic turns in the career and you wanted to just write?
Guest:I would say intimidated to, I would say scared or like intimidated to be the lead in another film.
Marc:Were you afraid of typecasting?
Guest:I don't know if it was typecasting.
Guest:Typecasting wouldn't bother me as long if it was an amazing movie.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Well, no, but there is some, like, I've talked to enough guys to know, like, you know, I talked to Michael Keaton, you know, who, you know, some people think, you know, kind of, you know, took his career into, you know, into the ground by wanting to mix things up.
Marc:Was there a point where you were like, you know, I don't want to be the clown?
Guest:It wasn't like a clown kind of thing, because Cyrus was, I think, really funny too.
Guest:Oh, no, definitely.
Guest:It just was, I wanted to play different kinds of characters.
Guest:I wanted to make sure that I was doing stuff that was different or important to me in some way.
Guest:And so I was writing for Sasha, and I was lucky enough to get offered a lot of big movies, and I was scared to do them.
Guest:Like what?
Guest:it's not important just because I don't want to be mean to the actors who ended up doing it, but it wasn't, it wasn't, it didn't feel right.
Guest:And I would say it was my own intimidation of.
Marc:Insecurity?
Guest:I would say, no, intimidation of the movie not being as much, as proud of the movie as I was of Superbad.
Marc:That was like your perfect movie experience.
Guest:It just was like at that time.
Guest:Okay, so you have to go by like the time in your life, right?
Guest:So at that time as like a 21 or 22 year old to get that script,
Guest:it was like god came down and it was everything i ever could have wanted in a movie with judd making sure it was great and greg mottola this amazing director and seth and evan who are just so they we just spoke the same language right right and shauna roberton who's my best friend who produced a lot of those movies um it just was it was like a dream like you couldn't ask all the stars align all mike's michael sarah who i have to great you know yeah
Guest:Him on your show was really what inspired me to do this.
Guest:I talked to him last night on text and he's just the funniest person I've ever met in my life.
Marc:Sweet guy too.
Guest:Genuine guy.
Guest:The loveliest person.
Guest:So it was scary.
Guest:These scripts that maybe were halfway there or maybe could be good.
Guest:So you were sort of like, okay.
Marc:I stepped back.
Marc:And really made some choices.
Guest:Wanted to become a better writer until something as an actor really was great to me.
Guest:So I worked for Sasha and learned so much writing on Bruno with Sasha.
Guest:And he taught me so much about how to be a better writer.
Guest:Like what?
Guest:He works so hard to make these things great.
Guest:You know, he does not take it easy on himself.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I think Judd is the same way.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, you learn from lucky enough to have mentors like that.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I'm so lucky.
Guest:I think actually mentorship is...
Guest:is the greatest thing you can do in the world for somebody I was so lucky to have that but my even my dad or my brother in their respective fields they don't take it easy on themselves right working hard is a value it is and these guys reflected that yeah you know like my dad was that something that when you were younger that you like because I know as a as a class clown and sort of a natural creative person or disruptor that a lot of what I got when I was younger was like he's very bright but he's just not motivated
Guest:I'm really fascinated by when something clicks in for a kid, right?
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I would always, you know, my mom would always be like, you're special, but everyone thought she was like crazy or whatever.
Guest:Because there was no real evidence of that.
Guest:You weren't motivated.
Guest:Through academics or athleticism or anything.
Guest:So I'm always fascinated by that point in time when something clicks in for that person.
Guest:So once I found movies and comedy and screenwriting and acting,
Guest:I couldn't be... I wouldn't want to do anything but work on that and make that better.
Guest:Once that clicked in for me, I had my thing.
Marc:It's weird because when you talk about that, it's not... And it happened at the time it's supposed to happen.
Marc:I mean, some people are great students, but that wasn't us.
Marc:But there is...
Marc:But, you know, when you really found what you wanted to do, you know, there was a certain amount of, you know, cosmic synchronicity.
Marc:But the age is the right age.
Marc:I mean, what, you were 21, 20 years old?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, that's when it's supposed to happen.
Guest:Or I'm even lucky that it happened at that.
Guest:I was 18.
Guest:And I'm even lucky that that happened at that age because a lot of my best buddies...
Guest:You know we're maybe 28 29 right right trying to really find whatever that passion is sure I feel fortunate that even at that age I knew what was up for I knew what I was passionate about so when you do okay, so you work with Bruno Yeah, I was working for Sasha and he was amazing all those guys His writers are so funny too like those guys deserve so much props like Dan Mazur and Ant Hines all these guys are so brilliant Mark and Jay
Guest:It was a choice between a really big movie, and Mark and Jay had this movie, Cyrus.
Guest:But I should start with, I met them at a film festival 10 years ago, the Duplass brothers, and saw their short film, Intervention.
Guest:And I was blown away by it, and I was 18, and I was like, I want to be an actor.
Guest:You guys have no value in me at all, but if anything ever happens to either of us.
Guest:You said that to them?
Guest:Yeah, I was 18.
Marc:How were you at this film?
Guest:festival I was in my I was in Jake Hoffman my buddy Dustin's son made the short film that I was in and that film was in the film festival as well that's hilarious and I saw this short film and I was like this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen yeah yeah yeah these guys are brilliant right and I was 18 I just it was in Las Vegas it was Cinevegas I don't even know if it's still around yeah and I went to Mark and Jay and I was like this 18 year old kid and I was like imagine an 18 year old kid walking up to you right now going like if you'd ever like me to act in anything I'd love to be a part of it these guys were like who the fuck is this guy and why would we ever want to I was in a short
Guest:One short film and the other short film, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and then when Michael Ceren and I were making Superbad, we would watch trailers all the time in our trailer, and we saw the Puffy Chair trailer in Mark and Jay's movie, and I was like, these are the fucking guys that made Intervention.
Guest:I told you about these guys, and we were all amped, and when Superbad came out and was successful, I reached out to them and was like, hey, I met you guys a while ago.
Guest:I'm maybe in a position now where people will pay for movies that I want to be in.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you're the first people I thought of that I wanted to work with.
Guest:And we went and got tacos in Silver Lake and they gave me the script for Cyrus, which besides Superbad was like...
Guest:All the scripts that have been the movies I'm most proud of, it's because the scripts, I immediately knew they were the right movie for me to be in.
Guest:And I read it and it was so funny but so moving.
Guest:It was really...
Guest:It sounds like so corny, but it really moved me a lot.
Marc:So that was like another one of those characters, not unlike you said, in terms of when you looked at it in Superbad, that towards the end, there was a turn in this guy's personality that enabled you to feel empathy for him.
Marc:Because that's a difficult character in Cyrus.
Guest:Cyrus, I think, is probably the most complex dude I'll ever play, maybe.
Guest:And those guys only seeing Superbad and Knocked Up, whatever...
Guest:Feeling trusting enough for me to play that guy was the nicest.
Guest:It was like Judd seeing me.
Guest:I'm just really grateful that they trusted their movie to me in that way.
Marc:It's a great movie.
Marc:And it is funny in a very unique way.
Marc:Because it's a tricky character.
Marc:Because you're like, he's creepy.
Marc:He's got problems.
Guest:Him and his mom have this really weird relationship.
Marc:Oh, God, dude.
Marc:For the first time, you hug and stuff.
Marc:I don't remember what the moment was.
Guest:When I read the scene, The Shower, that's when I was like, this movie's fucking batshit, man.
Guest:Like, he walks in, the mom's in the shower, and John C. Reilly's there, and he walks in and brushes his teeth while his mom's in the shower.
Guest:And I was like, this movie is going to be crazy.
Guest:I want to be in this movie.
Guest:and it it fared well i mean it did great for you right well it i people i don't know i i love it so much i love it i love it i've watched it twice thanks man yeah i i love it and i love those guys and i love john riley and marissa tomei and katherine keener like that was just such a cool experience we shot it in that house and you know keener at this point because you worked with her before and she's she's great
Guest:She's been the catalyst for most of these things in my life, actually, if you really think about it.
Guest:Because what happened from that was I had heard that Cyrus was turning out pretty well.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I think some people were maybe starting to hear that it was going to be a cool little movie or something.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I got on a list, a long list of actors to maybe play this part in Moneyball.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:And Bennett Miller, who is the smartest person I've ever met.
Guest:He is literally the smartest guy I've ever met.
Guest:He was living with Keener casting the movie.
Guest:And Keener was in Cyrus saying, Jonah did a different kind of thing.
Guest:It's not super bad or whatever.
Guest:And he was starting to take note of that because he was living in her guest house.
Guest:And so Mark and Jay, I asked them if I could show...
Guest:it was like set up as a mock friends and family screening right it was like a Truman show I kind of pulled so Bennett could come see before the releases way before they were even done and so he saw that and then him and me and Michael Sayre and stuff went to Cantor's after I showed Mike the movie too and I got the part for Moneyball for Moneyball which obviously you know which for me was a really another great thing I'm fortunate to have been a part of you know
Guest:Well, it seemed like things wind up.
Guest:And also, in between that, you did get him to the Greek?
Guest:Yeah, get him to the Greek.
Guest:Nick Stoller and Rodney Rothman, like those guys.
Guest:So Judd, the most amazing thing about Judd is that he just finds all these cool, funny people, you know?
Guest:Not me included.
Guest:I'm the...
Guest:bad apple of that right but like you know nick stoller and rodney rothman all these writers that we got to be around and they you know they they made nick stoller made forgetting sarah marshall yeah yeah that's funny and get him to the greek and you had another great scene in that too thanks man and that's what is that what sort of built the relationship between you and russell and
Guest:Yeah, that was like, that was an interesting thing because I got to be in Hawaii for a month and I only shot like one or two days or something.
Guest:And so I would just hang with Paul Rudd.
Guest:I would babysit Paul Rudd's kid, you know, Jack.
Guest:I would literally just take around and look at sprinklers and stuff.
Guest:He was obsessed with sprinklers.
Guest:It was really fun.
Guest:And I'd give him cupcakes for breakfast.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Sorry, Julie.
Guest:And I wasn't working a lot.
Guest:So I was just in Hawaii.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I would go watch and hang with all the guys and stuff.
Guest:And I had these scenes with Russell Brand.
Guest:I didn't know who Russell Brand was.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I remember he kept being like, I'm really famous in England.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was like, I was like, this dude's full of shit.
Guest:No way, man.
Guest:That's like the, I'm big in Japan.
Guest:It's like the worst line ever, you know?
Guest:And he's like, no, for real.
Guest:I'm like, like real fucking famous in English.
Guest:And so I was like, okay, cool.
Guest:And so we acted together and I just played this like weird sycophantic dude who was obsessed with the rock star guy.
Guest:And, um, and I think when they were editing that Nick liked, um,
Guest:the maybe the relationship between russell and i i thought we bounced off each other in a funny way and get him to the greek uh was the result of that i think it's a funny movie man thank you man that honestly nick stoller is like the funniest motherfucker ever yeah because that's all him yeah and
Marc:and it's very different though because to do like it's hard with those huge big budget comedies like you know how far off you know how far how how big is the comedy gonna get you know and how is it gonna deter from the story and he's sort of like you suspend your disbelief a little bit because that's the way movies are but the difference between something like Cyrus and something like get him to the Greek you have to like I watch what I watch I watch Heat last night and like I forget that you know Heat's the best yeah except for the love scenes no I'm thinking of the Heat the new the new one
Guest:I was talking about the De Niro.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Michael Mann.
Marc:No, that's a good movie.
Marc:No, the Melissa McCarthy movie.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Is that it's tricky with huge comedies because there are certain things, you know, there are certain indulgences taken in order to get more comedy.
Marc:You know, where you're watching the story like, nah, it's not going to happen.
Marc:But it doesn't fucking matter because the comedy is what's important, right?
Marc:Right.
Marc:The big set pieces.
Guest:Right, yeah.
Guest:You know.
Marc:But it just becomes an entertainment.
Marc:It becomes funny, and your dynamic was funny.
Marc:But that seems effortless to me.
Marc:What takes more work for you, really, as an actor when you think about it?
Marc:Is doing comedy... It's a weird question, because I know you're an actor, but you're also a great comic actor, and that seems to be what you got known for, and now you're doing a bunch of other stuff.
Marc:But comedy, is it easier?
Marc:is it easier than drama yeah it's just so different but i mean but like just when you're in it the the thing i mean because like it seems like when you're doing cyrus the choices that you have to make to maintain that character there's a diligence to it that you have to really you know you've got to stay in that thing and you've got to interact like that whereas i think any comedy you're in whether you know whatever amplification you're at personality wise right the groove is different
Guest:Well, here's what I appreciate that compliment very much, Mark.
Guest:I don't deserve that.
Guest:That diligence was not.
Guest:But in drama, it's real life.
Guest:So whatever the conversation would be like in real life within that character, you stay in.
Guest:In comedy, you find a weird tone that you were just talking about.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It's a little heightened reality.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And each movie is different.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And so with the challenge with making a comedy film is everyone deciding on the same tone of reality.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like, so 21 Jump Street has, we decided on the little bit heightened.
Guest:There was this little vibe of heightened reality.
Guest:Not even little at some points, like the chicken truck and shit like that.
Guest:Like we decided we were going to take some things to go a little more fun.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That wouldn't exactly happen in real life.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Whereas funny people, Judd's movies, and I think the way Judd's gone as a filmmaker tend to be comedy within real life, and sometimes broad comedy within real life.
Guest:So to me, and that's all learning from Judd.
Guest:Honestly, Judd's a Jedi, dude.
Guest:He just is a total Jedi.
Guest:He knows so much how to make these kinds of films, and I think so much of it is...
Guest:settling on what the reality is within the film so everyone is now on the same page right and the director's job is to adjust those people to that reality once they've decided sure so to me uh right now i love the i'm really really lucky that i get to go back and forth i try and do one comedy it's a rare thing it's a rare thing so you're conscious of that like only one comedy one
Guest:well not like I won't do this movie for whatever reason like I would do any movie if I thought it was going to be awesome I just want to make movies I would go see at the end of the day but so I don't get stale at either one maybe or I don't know like I'm going to make I just made two dramas in a row and then I'm going to go make 22 Jump Street in September and I couldn't be more excited to go be fucking funny like that's just like to just go and be funny with Channing and Phil and Chris the directors and like
Guest:just fucking laugh yeah so that's awesome you know and I'm so lucky so I don't think one's harder one you have to be more conscious of a joke every minute that's another thing sure you know you're delivering comedy and the other one you know you don't have to have that awareness like a scene could be cool in a drama yeah where like nothing funny happens yeah
Guest:You know, where it's like, if you're shooting 21 Jump Street and you haven't made like six jokes in this scene, you fucked up big time, dude.
Guest:You're like in big ass trouble and you're going to be in ADR with a pen and a piece of paper trying to punch up the movie afterwards, you know?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:In Moneyball, though, when you got that opportunity, what was the difference in your confidence, you know, as opposed to saying, how'd you transcend the intimidation of it?
Marc:I mean, that was a big opportunity.
Guest:It was knowing Bennett through Catherine Keenan and Shauna Robertson helped a lot.
Marc:Just knowing like you trust that guy.
Guest:Well, I mean, I think it's more like, do these people fucking trust me?
Guest:That is always how, you know, in those situations you feel like, just please don't kick me out.
Guest:That's like literally, you know, you just like, I just, it was so the same thing with Judd.
Guest:Like early on, I was just like,
Guest:please don't find someone you like better or that's going to do this better.
Guest:But the Brad Pitt thing was the most intimidating on that movie from the beginning.
Guest:And the initial rehearsals were just me, Bennett, Brad Pitt, and myself in the room.
Guest:And he is the coolest guy.
Guest:Had you met him before?
Guest:I had met him a couple times, and he had approved me to play.
Guest:He produced the movie, so he had approved me to play the part.
Guest:And I had met him at a radio, at a concert, a Radiohead concert years ago.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:After Superbad had come out.
Guest:He is the coolest dude.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He is a bro.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, he could hang like this and he would fucking love you, dude.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because he's, has that same kind of alternative, um, mentality towards things.
Guest:You know, he's always offbeat, like wants to look for offbeat shit, you know?
Marc:He's a guy that like, I have no idea what he's like, you know?
Guest:He's just super cool.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And super nice.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You know?
Guest:So I was intimidated by,
Guest:Right.
Guest:To go into those first rehearsals and then like so that wasn't too many enough and then like a week into it Philip Seymour Hoffman gets there and it's just us four in a room and I'm like what the fuck the fuck dude like this is this is really intimidating you know and so but Brad is so Brad Pitt is very disarming of that he just said he's so famous that you can help not help but be intimidating.
Guest:Yeah, but he's so disarming and charming and cool that it goes away after a week and
Guest:phil philip seymour hoffman phil was way more intimidating to me uh just because when he walks into a room to act yeah like if you're gonna prepare to do a scene everybody just better be on fucking point because like he's so good that you are gonna get eviscerated if you're not trying really hard not to yeah yeah he's locked in he's just so good you watch him act and you're like
Marc:i'm this is i don't know i'm watching did you learn from him on set i mean were you did were there were there things that you notice about these guys when you say that he's so good did you on set did it did it raise the stakes of your game or did you think about that i try and learn as much as possible whenever i'm around did you ever have any formal training acting
Guest:I did at New School.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That's it though, huh?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Not a tremendous amount.
Guest:And then I just got to make a bunch of movies.
Guest:I was so lucky that I hopefully just tried to get better with each movie.
Guest:But I try and learn as much as possible.
Guest:Did they ever tell you anything?
Marc:Did you ever ask anybody anything?
Marc:When you're working with someone like Philip Seymour Hoffman in that role where he...
Guest:He also hates me in the movie, which was scary.
Guest:That was really the most scary.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But did you glean anything from him?
Guest:Did he give you any advice or was he just... I didn't ask his... He comes in the set, he's there.
Guest:Yeah, that's it.
Guest:He's there to work.
Guest:He's there to work.
Guest:And I, of course, probably learned so much by just watching him and acting in a scene with him.
Right.
Guest:But I'd say I'd probably learn the most from John C. Reilly and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Guest:I would say those are the two guys who probably, through acting with them, just as an actor, you know, like Judd and Seth and Evan have taught me...
Marc:more than I could ever imagine but as actors those two guys really like I feel have taught me so much and I've become a better maybe better because of I got to work with those guys like what specifically and Brad and Brad Pitt what specifically like with John and Leonardo like because I mean they're they're they seem sort of like like John's great and Leonardo's a you know like a movie star but he's always good too what was it an emotional thing
Guest:I think John C. Reilly is just a gift from heaven.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:The way he can evoke sympathy from his performances in Magnolia or even Chicago, like Mr. Cellophane.
Guest:He makes you want to cry.
Guest:And he's so brilliantly funny also.
Guest:And he's so talented.
Guest:I just think that guy is otherworldly.
Guest:And then Leonardo DiCaprio is a guy...
Guest:is so he's just i think he's the best actor i've ever worked with he's just fucking brilliant he can just transform himself immediately and i've never seen anything like it just like on a dime yeah and what's so i think what brad pitt is so good at is is
Guest:he's doing so much that you're not maybe picking up on.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I think he's just one of the subtlest actors.
Marc:There's a naturalness to it.
Guest:He's just got a swagger to his acting that is amazing.
Guest:Real movie star thing.
Guest:But John Reilly, I think, can make your heart break.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And I think you can't learn that.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Right, yeah, that's amazing.
Marc:So now, okay, so you get all these accolades and all these nominations, and now you're at a different level.
Marc:Has it fucked with you at all?
Guest:I disagree.
Yeah.
Marc:Come on, let me make assumptions.
Marc:I mean, it must have been amazingly flattering and humbling and like amazing.
Marc:I mean, 10 years in, you had this amazing run and then you get these accolades.
Marc:It must have like done some number on your head a little.
Guest:I guess I'm really flattered.
Guest:I don't feel deserving of it a lot.
Guest:I think I just got lucky to work with people who were awesome at every turn.
Guest:And that made me get to do good work.
Guest:I think Bennett Miller, you know, deserves all the credit for me getting an Oscar nomination.
Guest:You know, he directed Capote and Philip Seymour, one best actor for that.
Guest:And those guys together are amazing.
Guest:I just feel, I don't know.
Guest:It's bizarre to think about.
Guest:I just, I don't feel deserving of it.
Marc:And then I watched this as the end and I gotta be honest with you.
Marc:I mean, you know, I laughed in that movie, but I laughed the hardest.
Marc:It's just the way you phrase shit.
Marc:I don't even know what the fuck it is.
Guest:Seth and Evan are so crazy.
Guest:That movie, the fact that that's a mainstream movie is so bizarre.
Marc:And it's a deeper movie than I think people let on.
Marc:I mean, it's hard to do that sort of end of the world thing.
Marc:But the fact that Satan is left screaming over, he rapes you, but then he's left screaming over his dick that has just been amputated.
Marc:Everyone's doing this heightened version of themselves.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you sort of played it a little sort of like, I don't know, how would you put a character?
Guest:I would say way overly into himself.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:And I would say the kind of nice person where you can tell they're kind of fucking with you, but they're being super, super nice.
Guest:So you can't call them out because their way of fucking with you is being incredibly, incredibly sweet at every moment.
Marc:No shortage of that in show business.
Marc:Yeah, exactly.
Marc:Because when you had the devil voice, and then Jay, and you're saying that it's not very compelling, Jay.
Guest:Is it compelling?
Guest:Is it compelling?
Guest:Yeah, that was just like us improvising fun stuff, you know?
Marc:But you were doing it in real voice, obviously.
Guest:Because they told me you're going to have this...
Guest:modulation is that compelling jay so i was uh we all thought it was funny and i was just started talking like i would fuck with a friend with him right i knew i would have this voice added later on so i was like oh yeah is it funny jay compelling whatever it is you know that fucking was hilarious thanks man yeah you're working on 21 jump street and what and what are the dramas that are coming out that you're working on
Guest:I got to act in a Martin Scorsese movie.
Guest:Oh, that's right.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:So that's where you got to watch Leonardo.
Marc:This is recent.
Guest:Yeah, we finished in January.
Marc:It takes place in Wall Street?
Guest:It is.
Guest:It's an 80s and 90s Wall Street movie, and we play scumbag Wall Street dudes.
Marc:You're a good scumbag, right?
Yeah.
Marc:I can't believe I'm always typecast.
Marc:But is this one of those characters where you're able to find a heart in it, or is there an arc to the character, or not this one?
Guest:I don't know if anything will be sympathetic about this guy.
Guest:It was a dream.
Guest:Goodfellas is my favorite movie of all time.
Guest:I watch it a couple times a year.
Guest:I watch it once a month probably.
Guest:And so to even meet Barton Scorsese is the craziest thing ever.
Guest:Right, yeah.
Guest:And I got to be in this movie and Leonardo DiCaprio and I played partners and best friends.
Guest:So I get to be in the movie a lot.
Guest:And it just was a complete, like, you know how I said, like getting super bad at that point in my life was this gift, crazy thing to get this.
Guest:I just, I don't feel, I don't know.
Guest:My luck's about to run out really soon.
Marc:Well, you know, after a certain point, you know, luck can only take you so far.
Marc:You're obviously delivering the goods.
Marc:You know, unless you, I don't know what you would have to do to fuck it up.
Marc:I'm not sure.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I wouldn't make that plan.
Guest:Yeah, no, no.
Guest:Knock on wood.
Marc:Well, I'm excited to see that.
Marc:I think Favreau's in it too, right?
Guest:Yeah, Jon Favreau's in it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He plays our lawyer.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:And, you know, Matthew McConaughey's in it.
Marc:Jesus.
Guest:Have you seen a cut?
Guest:Rob Reiner's in it, and I got to hang with him.
Guest:He plays Leo's dad.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:And I got to spend a ton of time with him, and for me, that was like a joke.
Guest:dream because he we you know like when we're talking about in your airport and something weird happens you can look at each other i got to like kick it with rob reiner and like eat lunch with him and be like what was princess bride like like what was spinal tap like what was stand by me like you know and
Guest:He's just a filmmaker.
Guest:I know you interviewed his dad who's brilliant also but he's a guy as a filmmaker that really I think is cool representation of what maybe I'd like to be like as an actor.
Guest:He's made all these movies and they're all so different.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like, Stand By Me and Princess Bride and Spinal Tap and A Few Good Men and Misery.
Guest:And, like, he's just made... He has such an... When Harry Met Sally.
Guest:Right, right, yeah.
Guest:Like, that quintessential, hilarious, romantic movie.
Guest:He's just got such an eclectic filmography that you're just...
Guest:It's crazy.
Guest:And he started in comedy and super funny.
Marc:Yeah, it's great.
Marc:I think it's a rare thing to continue to challenge yourself.
Marc:It's easy to sort of get the... It seems that, especially in comedy, that to get this sort of short-sighted payout for repeating yourself in movies, it happens a lot.
Marc:You can see it a lot.
Marc:And to have the balls to... Well, obviously the opportunity, but to continue to challenge yourself and do new things, it's a great thing as a creative person, as an artist.
Guest:I think it's, I think I'd be really sad with myself.
Guest:I think, yeah, I don't know if that was a compliment towards me.
Guest:No, no, no, no.
Guest:No, it was, definitely.
Guest:I just think you, I don't know.
Guest:I really think it's so important to try and just do as many different things as possible before you're gone.
Marc:Yeah, and you're doing it, man, and I appreciate you talking to me.
Guest:Yeah, you're a great guy, Mark.
Guest:Thanks for having me.
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:That's our show.
Marc:Lovely gentlemen.
Marc:Very charming.
Marc:Very polite.
Marc:Very humble.
Marc:I don't know why, if anybody says anything negative about that guy, it's not based on anything that I experienced.
Marc:That's for sure.
Marc:And I am truly in awe of his acting and comedy talent.
Marc:next week got good shows next week got Mike Eagle gonna learn a little something about hip hop and rap because I am very limited in my understanding of that I'm excited about that show I'm gonna be in Seattle tomorrow at the Silver Jubilee Sub Pop Silver Jubilee I will be in Nashville
Marc:at zany's next week thursday friday and saturday what days are those 18 19 and 20 correct right looking forward to nashville gonna go hurt my face with some princess chicken
Marc:Go to WTFPod.com.
Marc:Get into it.
Marc:Do some things over there.
Marc:Might make a new shirt.
Marc:All right?
Marc:Might make those ceramic mugs again, too, that no one got to see because they sold out immediately.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:I think I need another bowl of cereal.
Marc:Boomer lives!
Thank you.