BONUS Producer Cuts - Questlove, Jeremy Allen White and Marc's Monologues
I think I talked to you since the last time I, since I went to Comic-Con, right?
But in looking back on it, I don't think I really talked about this.
Like, we were sitting in this hall that sat like 5,000, 6,000 people, and they had this huge screen right behind the panel table.
I again, I don't watch a lot of animated stuff.
I have nothing against it.
I think it's great if people find it entertaining.
I'm all of a sudden a born again supporter of just pure entertainment.
It's going to be the new mark.
I know you're wondering, what's he going to do?
Like, I'm taking my comedy a different direction.
Not particularly lighthearted or inane, but why not just, you know, let's get some relief from the funny in maybe not the deepest way necessary.
I don't have to challenge myself necessarily to do the darkest possible introspective, seemingly unfunny thing and like, well, I'm going to try to make that funny.
That's my job.
Maybe I should lighten up a little bit.
Maybe.
I doubt it'll happen.
But nonetheless, I'm at Comic-Con and I'm sitting in front of this massive screen and they're running the trailer of the movie.
And I turned my chair around and I was sitting like directly a five, 10 feet away from this massive screen with the sound was shaking my chair.
And I'm watching this action sequence from this animated film I've been in.
And I don't think I've ever sat that close to a screen before, but I get it.
I get it.
You know, if you're going to go see these movies, you got to get close or go see them in IMAX.
Okay, some people were looking for follow-up.
Oh, I wanted to clear something up, and I do want to check.
I want to, I guess, ask my phone what they are.
But I always seem to include...
I always think Great Neck's in the five towns.
It's not.
I've done that on my two interviews.
I've done it many times.
On Long Island, the five towns are Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett, and Inwood.
Not Great Neck.
Okay?
There.
I stand corrected.
Fine.
Done deal.
No prob.
Other people are looking for a little follow-up.
on the cat situation.
Not great.
It's not great.
And because many people heard me talk to Jackson Galaxy, and it's sort of like, what are you going to do with the options he gave you?
Okay.
I'll tell you what I thought about.
So before I came home, you know, Jackson said, maybe you should get him a kitten.
But also, you know, kind of keep in mind how old you are.
And the fact is, you don't know how it's going to go for you.
And a kitten at this point might outlive me.
Hopefully not.
But I thought about that.
The other thing was get a harness for him and, you know, take him with you everywhere.
Walk him around outside.
Throw him in a bag.
Take him wherever you go because he's overly attached to you.
You are all that means anything to him.
Okay.
I've got that in mind.
So what I did do.
When I went away is I chose to put Charlie in my room with a bunch of enhancements, as many as possible, and just leave him in there because I just didn't want the anxiety of going to New York and wondering, you know, why do I keep saying, you know, and wondering if he's going to fuck things up or beat up Buster badly.
You know, waiting for that.
God damn, it's a bad habit.
Do I always do it?
Yeah.
Waiting for that text from the cat sitter telling me that like he's he's just demolished Buster or shit all over the house or whatever.
So I just locked him in my room, which is plenty big with stuff.
And he did fine.
I think he prefers it.
So when I got home.
I still hold out this hope.
What I was fueled up with from what Jackson told me was, you know, you got to wear him out.
You know, he's a young guy and he wants to bust out.
So I got home.
I kept him in my room.
I slept with him that night, bonded, woke up, got this toy out that he likes and just, you know, wore him out.
And then I let him into the house and it was tense.
And I would step in when he was trying to go with Buster, but he locks in dude.
And the difference between Charlie with me and Charlie out in the house, he's got a crazed look in his eye and he just locks into Buster.
So I wore him out again.
I wore him out three times to the point to panting.
And then I slept with him.
And when he's in the room with me overnight, he's great.
He's sweet.
He purrs.
Nice guy.
As soon as he gets out into the world there, he gets a crazy look in his eye.
He looks aggravated.
So I did it again the other last night.
Woke up, wore him out to panting, you know, to like exhausted him with the toy, let him out into the world and kept an eye on him.
But he just looks aggravated and mad and he locks in on Buster.
And there's just nothing I can fucking do with that.
So I called my vet and I said, this is what's happening.
And I tried Prozac with this guy before, but it upset me.
And I asked her some stuff.
I said, what do you think about a kitten?
And she basically said, look, there's no guarantee that that's going to stop him from attacking Buster or beating up on the kitten pretty badly.
So if that happens, then you just got another cat and another problem on your hands if you look at it like that, which sometimes I do.
So I said, well, do you think I should try the Prozac again?
It just knocked him out so much as last time.
And she goes, well, try a smaller dose.
And then she suggested this got me.
She suggested Busporin for Buster to build his confidence.
That's what I'm on.
And I never thought about it as confidence building, but maybe it is.
Maybe knocking out that base level anxiety does ground you in yourself a little more.
So there's an outside chance that me and Buster will be on the same medication and that Charlie will be on Prozac and we'll just be one big happy family medicated.
One big happy medicated family.
I don't know.
I don't know that they make.
Why do they make cat pills?
It's like giving a cat a pill is a fucking nightmare.
Squirting liquid into its mouth is a fucking nightmare.
Stop making cat pills.
Do it in a powder pill that we can empty into food or do it in liquid.
I mean, what the fuck?
So I don't know if I'm going to give Buster that, but I am going to try... I'm going to put Charles on a smaller dose of Prozac again because I can't pull him out of this.
I cannot fucking snap him out of it.
It's very upsetting how fucking intense he gets.
And it's literally right when he walks out.
If it's just me and him, even during the day, sweet.
No problem.
Locked in.
Buddies.
He gets out there in the world...
He just gets this cockeyed, fucking nutty, aggravated look on his face.
And I just, I'm going to suck it up.
I'm going to try a smaller dose of the Prozac and hope for the best.
And like people, like if it works for a few months or whatever, great.
We can try and take him off it, see if he adjusts.
But that to me is sort of the solution I'm looking at right now.
And that's short of having to rehouse him with somebody who just has one cat, which I don't want to do because I like the guy.
So that's what's going on.
Thanks for asking.
So... I'm glad you made it.
I'm glad I made it too.
I wouldn't miss this for a world.
You know, are you like a plant-based guy?
Not really, but I will say that...
I believe it is food of the future.
Really?
And all of my... All of my... I don't want to sound like a tycoon.
I don't want to use words like...
investments for my portfolio.
Yeah.
But I will say that I invest heavily in plant-based products.
You have a plant-based portfolio?
Yeah.
I'll say that probably when I was throwing – so I would throw these events called food salons.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And one night, Danny Meyer, who's sort of the head of the Shake Shack chain, was bringing Shake Shack to my event.
And it just so happens that these guys that we read about that allegedly had this plant-based burger that tastes like a real burger or whatever.
It was called Impossible Burger.
Yeah, yeah.
They were literally carrying it in like...
You know, like a small, not thermos, but, you know, just seemed like a novel idea.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let's have a taste test between this plant-based and Shake Shack.
Yeah, yeah.
A majority of the attendees chose Impossible Burger.
And then... Wow.
Yeah, and I was like, well, this really tastes like the real thing.
And that was like the first version.
How long ago was that?
This was...
2016 2017 so you went in for impossible burger i was one of the first now did that take a dip or it didn't no it's all right oh yes no i still use it yeah i still actively use it myself i'm plant-based like all around i don't do it all the time but i'll eat it the meatballs yes yeah i'll do the meatballs yes i i you know again as uh a person who's
in a profession in which people that look like me expire before 60, I'm doing all things possible to... Stay alive.
Ensure.
Now, why do I want to ensure long life in this place?
I don't know, but I'm determined to... Well, the alternative.
When you think of the alternative, it's forever forever.
And we're not clear on what that is.
Yeah.
But I do know I want to be on the right side of history.
And the right side of the grass, as they say.
How's it going?
How are you guys?
You all right?
Everything good to get that thing checked?
I did, and I'm still not happy with what I was told.
So I'll probably get it checked again.
Yeah, man, when things get difficult and I feel a little out of control, I'll focus on my body.
Hey, what is that mole?
Yeah, that's a nice way to spend a few days, isn't it?
Go to the dock if you can.
Rest your mind.
Stay off the self-research and images of what you think you have, because you'll bend it into what you think it is, and then you'll just increase your panic.
Just a little, you know, kind of broad words of advice.
Sometimes doing your own research can exacerbate the fire that's already burning inside your brain.
And sometimes it's fun when there's no fire there.
You know, why not start one?
Let it burn wildly and then just spend a few weeks, months, years trying to control that fire or just watching it burn.
Also, I know I talk a lot about the cats when the cats are having trouble.
Look, I know that I anthropomorphize my cats.
I know that I read into it, but somehow it is a way that I express my kind of wild emotions and
in a relatively safe way.
I do think that the way I get freaked out about the cats is really just another way for me not to sit in my feelings and project them all onto cats and then react to those.
So it's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not great either.
That said, this Prozac adventure with Charlie is not great.
But I'm trying to listen to the vet and listen to the doc.
and listen to Kit and other people to try to detach, compartmentalize it, take it sort of day-to-day, which is where I need to be, which is why I told you last week that I went to a couple of the secret meetings and just kind of regroup.
A lot of mind-blowing shit is happening in a lot of ways.
So, whatever.
How you doing, man?
Women?
In between?
How's it going?
Huh?
Where are we at?
Just read an article that... Yeah, that's always a setup for something bad.
That I read an article that...
Trump announced the Kennedy Center honors.
And it's all it's the big push.
Anti woke in parentheses, anti interesting, anti challenging, anti empathetic, anti humane, anti uniquely creative, anti different things.
Anti things that take real risk and show the human spirit anti tolerance.
Jesus fucking Christ.
What a fucking nightmare that everybody has to accommodate and everything has to be leveled to his and his people's myopic narrow vision of what creativity is.
What a fucking nightmare.
Yeah.
All the vulnerable, crazy people that do vulnerable, crazy, interesting things.
That's all they needed is another fucking obstacle.
So look, you guys, did I do everything I needed to do here?
I told you a story and I told you what's going on.
And, you know, we're living in the age of the thug president and all of it's scary.
Getting back to that whole thing about...
you know, no one coming to help you.
It's just, it becomes really apparent that, you know, the economy and the job numbers are shitty.
And I just had this horrible realization that all these, you know, angry, grievance-filled people that are not gainfully employed and are supportive of this administration, this thug administration, where you have a president that wants to
Kind of impose his will on universities, on states, on corporations with, you know, straight up gangster shit.
Just sort of like pretty nice, pretty nice university you got here.
Be a shame if anything bad happened to it.
So maybe you ought to kick into my charity.
You know what I'm saying, right?
Hey, pretty nice state you got going there, California.
It'd be a shame if anything bad happened to it, if you know what I'm saying.
Maybe a little kickback would be nice, a little help.
My kid's got to, you know, he's getting married soon, whatever.
But anyways, in terms of the employment thing, it seems to me that a lot of people are being offered big money.
I mean, South Park covered this.
You know, if you don't have a job and you want a pretty high paying job, why don't you just join up for the American SS?
Why don't you join up for the American Schutzstaffel?
And yeah, it's immigration now.
But when is it the rest of us who believe in tolerance and an open mind?
Okay.
Got a little dark again.
Apologize.
I apologize.
I'm okay.
I guess, you know, today is okay and things have been all right since the last time I spoke to you.
Not a ton has happened over the last couple of days, but I guess mostly it's happened in my head.
That seems to be the way it goes.
Things happen in reality that seems pretty mundane, but every day is a journey of the mind.
And not the exciting kind.
I try to get in all the emotions, all the available emotions by noon.
I guess if I were to do a checklist of the emotions I try to get in by noon, I would start with sadness upon awakening and then ease into anger for a little while.
And then maybe have, you know, moments of envy here and there.
And then there's a bit of, oh yeah, pride plays into it.
I'm kind of looking at a list right now.
Fear.
There's fear.
That comes.
Disgust.
Sure.
Disappointment.
A bit.
Anxiety.
Yeah.
Confusion.
Yeah.
A lot of these are happening simultaneously.
Happiness comes and goes quickly.
Yeah.
Empathy, that happens.
Enjoyment, that's fleeting.
I mean, that's not a daily thing.
Excitement, yeah, maybe a few minutes.
Shame, sure, that's a foundational emotion of mine.
And once I get through all of those, I know there's love and joy and calmness, but let's not go crazy.
So once I go through all the ones I listed, then we start again at sad and move through them again.
And they can be attached to things going on in my head almost always.
In terms of things going on in reality, yeah, that's primarily anxiety and some fear.
But I just try to get them all in.
Get a full day in of emoting without much control and then move into the evening.
Probably have a nap.
get some errands done, but there's no stopping the churn.
There's no stopping the mental churn.
If I'm out in the world and I'm doing things, it just sort of grounds it in destinations, which kind of eases it a little bit.
Hey, we got something to do.
What about all this stuff going on in your head?
Yeah, you can push that back a little bit because we got something to do.
How you doing?
Huh?
How's it going there?
But it was funny on that set, though, because, well, I'll just tell you the story because I got I kind of got kind of I was weird before, you know, because I just done a lead in an indie that hasn't come out.
I don't know if it'll ever see the light of day, but I was feeling pretty cocky.
It was my first time doing a lead in anything.
And then I knew I had to go do the Bruce movie.
Yeah.
And I hadn't really looked at the script since I got it.
And I know Scott.
I love Scott.
I'm a big fan of his.
And he gave me this little part.
And then when I got done with the feature, I was kind of cocky, I guess.
And I'm like, I'm supposed to go to Jersey to do this five or six lines or whatever.
And I called my manager.
I'm like, what am I even doing this for?
It's like five fucking lines.
I mean, they could get anybody.
Get a New York guy.
I don't need to do this.
He's like, well, we'll get you out of it if you want.
I'm like, I just don't fucking get it, man.
It's like entry level.
I don't need to do it.
I just did a lead, you know?
And then like an asshole, I texted Scott.
And I'm like, hey, man, just going over the script.
Doesn't look like there's a lot for me to do here.
Oh, I didn't know about this.
Of course not.
And so I'm just, you know, am I wrong?
And he texts back.
He's like, we don't have to do it.
You know, I just thought it'd be fun.
And, you know, we'll work together at some point.
No worries.
And then I'm like, no, okay.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's like, don't worry about it.
That's fine.
And you're like, hold on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I can figure something out.
I'll, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So then I get there and, you know, well, Bruce is there every day and I had interviewed him.
So it was nice because, you know, he knew me.
He's a guy who knew me.
Yes.
And, you know, Strong's there or whatever.
And I tell Scott, I said, well, this guy, you know, Blotkin, I mean, there's no footage of him.
He's a real guy.
Yeah.
You know, what am I going to do with that?
Yeah.
And he goes, don't worry about it.
I'm like, all right.
And so I figure out how to do the little things with my hands.
And then I do my first speaking thing.
And I'm like, all right.
I'm nervous.
And he goes, cut.
And I walk out in the video village.
And Bruce goes, you got it.
You're Chuck.
And I'm like, that's a fucking coincidence.
I did a lot of research on that.
Oh, it's so great, man.
It was funny, though, right?
Yeah, really funny, man.
I've, you know, I've listened to you for a really long time.
And, yeah, I've heard you speak to Warren.
Yeah.
I've heard you speak to Bruce.
I've heard you speak to Scott.
So it is, yeah.
I've heard, and Jeremy, I've heard you speak to Jeremy.
You know, it's hard to not do what Jeremy is.
It's hard not to bust his balls.
I think, you know what was cool, though?
He did a... He's getting better at taking it.
He did that, I thought it was so cool when he did that Dunkin' Donuts thing.
Dude, but you don't realize, man, when I was in the fucking studio, when you were in the booth, you know, being Bruce and locked in.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, I'm just hanging around with Jeremy and crazy Walter Hauser.
Yeah, yeah.
Paul Walter Hauser.
And he's a great guy.
He's got to go.
Totally, totally, yeah.
But, you know, Jeremy was really kind of like tormented over whether he should do it or not.
Yeah, yeah.
And he was talking to me about it.
And he's like, I just don't know.
Because it's a selling out thing, you know, which doesn't exist that much anymore.
But for a guy like him.
There was a period, yeah.
I don't think that is really a thing.
No, no, it's not.
For better or for worse.
Yeah, yeah.
I've been talking about it on stage lately about the idea of it.
But, you know, he was like, well, it's going to give me money for my kids to go to college.
Yeah.
And I said to him, I said, just have a sense of humor about yourself.
Do it where you can kind of get busted on a little bit for who you are.
And then when he chose to do it, I'm like, ah, there you go.
It was pretty fun.
It was fun.
I thought he was great.
Yeah, he's great.
But he's so committed even to that.
Yes.
It's very funny.
Which makes it work even more, though.
Yeah, because the joke is that.
Totally.
So when he comes out of the coffee grounds, you're like, oh, my God.
Yeah.
It's like Apocalypse Now.
Yeah, exactly.
That's what it is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.