BONUS Extra Paul Scheer
Thank you.
Guest:I mean, I'm always looking at that stuff where it's like, oh, Danny Glover, when he was in Lethal Weapon, one, he was 43.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it's like, what?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And he seems so old to me.
Guest:And then like, oh, Wilfred Brimley and Paul Rudd.
Guest:Like, Paul Rudd is the same age that Wilfred Brimley is when he did Cocoon.
Guest:And you're like, what the fuck is that?
Marc:Like, you know, it's such a crazy idea.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But the getting older thing.
Marc:Yeah, I think that if I pursued it, I got cast in this Apple TV thing.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:I'm going to Vancouver to do it with Owen Wilson.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And it's a supporting role.
Marc:And it's a golf thing, right?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I know nothing about golf.
Marc:Do they make you want to do you have to learn about golf?
Marc:No, I thank God I don't.
Marc:It was the same thing with glow.
Marc:You don't need to know anything about wrestling.
Marc:I'm like, great.
Marc:I, you know, I play an old caddy, like a guy who's been out of the game for 20 years.
Marc:Perfect.
Marc:But I don't have to hit a ball.
Marc:Right, so you don't have to look good on camera.
Marc:I can pretend to do whatever.
Marc:I'm not even carrying clubs in this.
Marc:I'm his support system.
Marc:I'm his old pal.
Marc:His old codependent pal that he leans on too much.
Marc:And you're going to be gone for how long?
Marc:Too long.
Marc:Too long.
Marc:that's the thing man I can't that's why I was like I did everything I could not to do it even though like I knew it would be okay but like I get set in my ways I don't need it and then you're sort of like how long but I tried to I literally said you know I gotta come home every two weeks I got a podcast that's my real job and I thought that would scare them off nope they're like we'll make it work sometimes that kind of like attitude like I don't need it send me home they're like he's playing hardball okay we'll send him home every two weeks we don't even want anybody else yeah
Marc:Yeah, but look, I think Vancouver, what's the longest you've been away?
Guest:Maybe like a month.
Guest:I've been very lucky, knock wood, that I've been able to stay roughly home.
Guest:I don't think...
Guest:I would take a big gig out of town with my kids.
Guest:I want to be home.
Guest:How old are they?
Guest:Seven and ten.
Marc:Well, that's young.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I don't know how these guys do it.
Marc:Some guys go away for, like, you see the number of movies that come out from one actor.
Marc:It's like, that guy's never home.
Guest:And there's a part of me that thinks...
Guest:Well, I don't know what their home life is.
Guest:I'm not going to judge it.
Guest:Maybe they travel with their kids.
Guest:Some of them do after a certain point.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I've heard of different people.
Guest:There's schools that you can go to where it's almost like a virtual thing.
Guest:But then if you go to different places, they also have satellite schools.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, so you got to be willing to fuck up your kid's sense of self.
Guest:Yeah, I can't do that.
Guest:I can't do it.
Guest:Like, I want my kids to be playing basketball on their teams, playing soccer, doing the thing.
Guest:I want to be around.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Not following daddy around for a direct-to-video movie or streamer.
Guest:Dad, you worked so hard on that movie, and no one talked about it after the first weekend.
Guest:Like, it's not fun.
Marc:I interviewed Ben Foster once on that fighter movie he did about the Holocaust.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Marc:Like, you know, he was a boxer in The Hulk.
Marc:A guy lost a million pounds.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Not maybe.
Marc:He lost half his body weight.
Marc:And it was like a hell of a performance.
Marc:I heard no one say anything about it.
Guest:It's wild.
Guest:And then on the other hand, you have this show like Baby Reindeer, which there's no way in hell that Netflix thought, oh, this is going to be a hit for us.
Guest:This is a big show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then it's like everyone is talking about it.
Marc:But you know why?
Marc:and it's relative to, you know, your book, and it's relative to a trend in personal expression, is that...
Marc:It's, you know, I don't like the word authenticity, but, but there is something when you watch that thing, I didn't know what it was.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I started watching it and I'm like, this is real.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like this is not, no one made this up.
Marc:And it's only uncomfortable because it rings so fucking real.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:And, and, you know, and then it got even more real and it's a, it's, it's a, it is a, a, what do they call them now?
Marc:A limited series.
Marc:Right.
Marc:directly exploring trauma in a hands-on way.
Guest:And I think that it's interesting.
Guest:I talk to some people where they're like, oh, it was tough to watch.
Guest:And I don't find it tough to watch.
Guest:I actually found it to be really interesting.
Guest:And I'm like, oh, it's thorny and it's different.
Guest:I don't find it tough.
Guest:And I don't know if my...
Guest:my meter is off, just in general, from doing comedy, from seeing things.
Guest:I don't get... That show doesn't disturb me.
Guest:I thought it was actually really beautiful and really interesting, but it's like, oh, I haven't seen a show be this complicated in what it's talking about.
Marc:I think it's disturbing if any of his...
Marc:personality resonates with you, whether it's around performing or around confusion or around being in situations where you were taken advantage of.
Marc:And I think it's disturbing if you've had, you know, dealt with mental illness or stalkers.
Marc:So like these are, and sadly, these are very current and real issues that people have.
Guest:But I also think what's so crazy about that show is
Guest:And what kind of bums me out about it is the internet now is like... Who are the real ones?
Guest:Yeah, they get the woman on TV with Piers Morgan.
Guest:It's like, oh, now you're giving... Like, you're almost creating another wave of trauma.
Guest:Like, if that was a catharsis, you've just created another... For that guy?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Right?
Guest:Like, I mean, you've now put this woman on TV.
Guest:You've given her a platform.
Marc:Which is exactly what she wanted.
Guest:100%.
Guest:And then you also do this other thing where, you know, I'm always...
Guest:amazed at like internet sleuths like there is that um terrible murder that college campus murder i forget where it was in but like idaho or something like that and then like all these tiktok sleuths got in and like it's this person it's that person then they start like bombing these people it's like oh no no it's not that it's not that person it's you don't know it and the cops did arrest the right guy but it's like it's this like we're going to be these vigilantes for it's like no he doesn't
Guest:It's like an extension of troll culture.
Marc:It's like, you know, you have all these people with a lot of energy and nothing to do.
Marc:And there's an argument to be made that maybe they shouldn't have anything to do.
Guest:It's like, yeah, because it's this idea of we're going to find them and penalize them.
Guest:We're going to ride them out of town.
Guest:We're going to tar and feather these people.
Guest:But that's not the want of this person.
Guest:I don't think that that actor was named Richard Gad.
Guest:He wants to.
Guest:I don't think he wanted anyone to find that woman.
Guest:I don't think he wanted to put any.
Marc:He would have thought that he might have thought about it.
Marc:I mean, I have to assume that he must have made some sort of risk assessment on that because it's such a specific story.
Marc:And even if you change some of the details, you know, it's about him.
Marc:I mean, you know, it was, you know, I didn't think that it would happen.
Marc:But in retrospect, it was kind of begging for it.
Marc:Right.
Guest:If it was not successful, then it would never have happened.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Maybe that's what he was going.
Guest:No one's going to watch this.
Guest:I'm a Scottish comedian making a show for... Not a good comedian.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And this all of a sudden has become this... Again, you go to this major level, and that's when things start to shake out in a weird way sometimes.
Guest:You see it happen time and time again.
Marc:I forget to be grateful for never making it to the major level.
Guest:Stay right in this nice, comfortable middle.
Guest:But it's like, it is that, like, what do they call it?
Guest:Milkshake duck, right?
Guest:Where it's like, we love you and then we hate you.
Guest:And I don't think he's getting the hate.
Guest:I think right now there's a lot of that just like, we want to defend you.
Guest:We are actually so connected to you that we want to help you.
Guest:But to what end?
Marc:Like, what are you going to help?
Marc:But it's also the problem with, you know, now that we're talking about it, just the idea that if you're going to use...
Marc:Because everything has sort of been done before and there's a lot of garbage out there.
Marc:But if you're going to take the risk and courageously use your own life as a source that's very close to what you're creating, that's sort of like the – it's sort of this very specific type of creativity.
Marc:But the exposure in a culture of just predatory –
Guest:transparency is gonna get you yeah i think it's it's tricky i don't know how to navigate it because i think the best things that we yeah that we love you know whether it's a great album like i always love that beck album uh that's about a breakup i forget what the uh i'm forgetting the name of the album but there's a great that's a great oh yeah the the country one
Guest:Yeah, it's just like, you know, just pulls it apart.
Guest:And you're like, oh, and you look at stuff like, you know, even like Sofia Coppola with Lost in Translation.
Guest:I think that's talking about like going through a divorce with like Spike Jonze.
Guest:Like we connect to these pieces.
Guest:And I'm just pulling those two weird ones.
Marc:But those are poetic.
Marc:approaches.
Marc:This guy is like, this is me going through it.
Marc:And it's the kind of comedy I do as well.
Marc:It's always been what I've drawn from.
Marc:I had this kind of painful realization that if I don't run whatever I'm thinking through me, it's hard for me to stay interested in commenting on outside of me.
Marc:It all has to come
Guest:Right, to your perspective of the thing, where you're at in this moment.
Marc:Yeah, and if it's not my perspective, it will be like, well, if I were that guy or if I were... Everything's personalized.
Guest:But I think that that's the... Yeah, and so I guess what I'm saying is you can't escape...
Guest:In a way, putting yourself out there.
Guest:Because you, on this podcast, I've listened to it for a very long time.
Guest:You've gone through a lot of different things.
Guest:And when you talk about it, we're with you.
Guest:And it seems like we're actually even with you closer because you're in our ears.
Guest:And all of a sudden, I'm like, oh, I know you.
Guest:I know this.
Guest:And I've seen you.
Guest:And so...
Guest:But that's also why we were listening, too.
Guest:It's like, I want to check in with Mark.
Guest:I want to see what's going on with Mark.
Marc:But not everybody does it like that.
Marc:And I've had to learn how to live with that and know what happens because of that.
Marc:I have a lot of fans now.
Marc:It seems like most of my audience is sort of around my age, 40 to.
Marc:60 you know yeah decent people maybe slightly sensitive uh aggravated uh you know sometimes i say i don't have a demographic i have a disposition but like you know you look at what you manifest and then you have to realize well this is part of me i i don't see myself the way these people do and they seem like pretty okay people so maybe i'm all right well i think it's a you know and do you think that do you draw a line though at all like i mean is like do you ever edit yourself yeah of course
Marc:I mean, I've learned to keep some of my personal life to myself in terms of relationships I'm in.
Marc:I've learned how to, you know, I still live 23 other hours a day outside of whatever they're experiencing.
Marc:But they know my sensibility.
Marc:They know a lot of the stuff I've been through to a degree.
Marc:But ultimately, the life I live is mine.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, I mean, that's it.
Marc:I mean, a lot of times when I was doing like live IG Instagrams during COVID, I found that that parasocial interaction thing is very real.
Marc:I mean, people are looking at it like you're FaceTiming them.
Guest:A hundred percent.
Guest:And I actually like that connection in a world in which.
Guest:Things are so dilated.
Guest:You're talking about like that movie that no one saw, which is very good.
Guest:But it's also like, well, then there's a distance there.
Guest:Like, you know, like, but if people are on board, not to say that he should be doing Instagram lives, but it's like, but, but there is this like at least, Hey, Oh, I want to support my, my, the person that I enjoy this person.
Guest:Like if there's a more of a connection than you're a movie star.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like, and I think that we're kind of in this weird zone.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:You know, where it's like movie stars still stay above it somehow.
Guest:Yeah, movie stars, you don't need to know anything.
Guest:I don't know a goddamn thing about Denzel Washington.
Guest:Nothing.
Guest:I know.
Guest:Right?
Guest:And it's not out there.
Guest:I'm like, but I know he's a great actor.
Guest:He goes and does his movies.
Guest:I'm going to go see it.
Guest:If he's in a movie, I'm down to see it.
Guest:You know, Tom Cruise we know a little bit about because of...
Marc:where that all kind of explodes yeah but for the most part all these big people it's like it's pretty but it's pretty it's pretty rare air up there too oh yeah i mean we're talking about like 10 people yeah and they have to hang around with each other because who else are they going to hang around with and believe you know i i don't like i i i don't uh sometimes i wish that i was disconnected and i fantasized about just being disconnected but then you know who would i be yeah
Guest:Well, I guess I think about this, too.
Guest:It's like, would you just be this guy in an office in a truck depot?
Guest:And, you know, it's like you just don't have the audience, but you still would have the audience of the people around you.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:It's just very weird.
Marc:I'm fortunate that my fans are all pretty good people.
Marc:And, you know, and when they address me in public, they'll be like, Maren.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I'm like, what?
Marc:Hey, how's it going?
Marc:But there's no distance.
Marc:I don't feel a distance.
Marc:They generally know that they don't know me in life.
Marc:Right.
Guest:But I do know that they know me enough.
Guest:Well, I get the thing where people assume that I am Andre from the league sometimes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, so they'll come up and they'll yell.
Guest:They'll yell things differently.
Guest:that are sometimes inappropriate.
Guest:Like, there was a joke on the show where my character was like, there was a porn based on my character called Andre No Dick or something like that.
Guest:And people would come up like, hey, doctor, no dick.
Guest:But I'm also with my kids, and I'm like, oh.
Guest:That's weird.
Guest:You know, you know, like I get the kids are like, what's a dick?
Guest:You know, I'm like, OK, well, you know, and, you know, so there's these moments.
Guest:But then, yeah, I would say, too, everyone's lovely.
Guest:And I think it's also this it comes down to this thing of how do you interact with somebody that you like, that you want to see?
Guest:And I run into that problem all the time.
Guest:I don't know how to express that.
Guest:that I like your stuff in a way that I'm like, Oh, I want to, I want to come in.
Guest:I want it.
Guest:You think I'm nice and friendly, like in a way, like, you know, and I think that that's what everyone's trying to do.
Guest:Like, Hey, I'm a fan.
Marc:Um, you don't, you don't know what a familiarity to assume.
Marc:Like if you're a fan of somebody and I've felt it too.
Marc:And I know when people come up to me, sometimes they're like literally shaking.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And I'm, I'm very gracious with my people.
Marc:I don't do meet and greets as much as I used to cause they're exhausting.
Marc:There's hundreds of pictures of me out there in the world looking tired after shows with strangers.
Guest:Well, I had this moment where I was in LAX, and this is a couple years ago.
Guest:And this guy's like, hey, man, I know you.
Guest:And I'm like, oh, yeah.
Guest:And he's like, I'm a big fan.
Guest:And I said, oh, thank you so much.
Guest:And he's a TSA guy.
Guest:And he's kind of still whispering.
Guest:He's like, Robin Williams.
Guest:And I go, oh, what?
Guest:He goes, Robin Williams.
Guest:And I go...
Guest:oh, no, no, no, I'm not Robin Williams.
Guest:Now, Robin has been dead for a handful of years.
Guest:By the time this happens, he goes, I'm not going to blow up your spot, man.
Guest:I'm not going to blow up your spot.
Guest:I'm like, oh, no, no, you're not blowing up my spot.
Guest:I'm not Robin Williams.
Guest:He's like, got it.
Guest:I got it.
Guest:It's fine.
Guest:And then he goes, let me get a picture, though.
Guest:And I was like, okay.
Guest:And then I just agreed to it.
Guest:I was like, I'll be Robin Williams.
Guest:And then when you show this to your friends, they will say, that's not Robin Williams.
Guest:And he's dead.
Guest:And he's passed away.
Yeah.
Marc:And then it would really be traumatic for him.
Marc:I forgot another weird celebrity thing.
Marc:One time I was with my grandmother in Vegas.
Marc:We used to meet them in Vegas because we lived in Albuquerque like once a year.
Marc:I don't know how old I was, but she had somehow figured out...
Marc:what room Jimmy Durante was in.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Marc:And Jimmy Durante must have been 100.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And all I knew was like, cha-cha-cha-cha, whatever it was.
Marc:But my grandmother was dead set on getting me his autograph.
Marc:And we go to this guy's hotel room and knock on the door, and he answers it, no makeup, no hat.
Marc:He's wearing one of those muscle tees.
Marc:He's 100 years old.
Marc:He was scary.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:Yeah, you don't want to go...
Marc:And my grandma's like, my grandson would like your autograph.
Marc:And I'm like, is this the guy that chats it?
Marc:And he goes, cha-cha-cha-cha.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:That's the other thing that you don't, like, when you have to have a catchphrase along with it, like, do it, do it.
Guest:There's like that Ben Stiller sketch was like, do it.
Guest:do the thing, do the thing.
Guest:And it's like, it's like, at least you don't have that.
Guest:You don't have to, you know, no one's asking you to do like a cha-cha-cha-cha.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And there was another time we were on a plane, me and my grandmother, she's like, Soupy Sales is in first class.
Marc:And, like, I kind of knew Soupy Sales.
Marc:It was a little before my time.
Marc:But, like, she goes, go up there, Soupy Sales, and get his autograph.
Guest:And he was very nice.
Guest:Well, you know, you talk about Soupy Sales in first class.
Guest:On a flight from me, Nipsey Russell was in first class.
Guest:I had a Nipsey Russell.
Guest:Did you?
Guest:I found out I was lactose intolerant.
Guest:From Nipsey Russell?
Guest:Well, from like a trip to Orlando.
Guest:Did you do a poem about it?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:So I didn't know I was lactose intolerant.
Guest:I am now...
Guest:I've puked.
Guest:I have shit.
Guest:I've done everything.
Guest:My dad's like, we got to get you back to New York because we got to figure out what's wrong.
Guest:So I am just passed out on this plane and then like asleep and the stewardess like tap, tap, tap.
Guest:I have a little surprise for you.
Guest:Nipsey Russell.
Guest:And then Nipsey Russell came over and it was like, hey, little boy, I hear you're feeling ill.
Guest:Maybe the doctor will give you a pill.
Guest:I hope you get better soon and quick.
Guest:You know, my name's Nipsey Russell.
Guest:I'll see you in a, you know, jiff.
Guest:It was like, it was like a little poem.
Guest:And I was like,
Guest:And it was so weird because I don't know who Nipsey Russell is.
Marc:Someone went up to Nipsey Russell and said, there's a kid sick.
Guest:Can you give a little poem for me?
Guest:And he came and delivered.
Guest:I mean, and that, like, just like, again, I know Nipsey Russell as an adult.
Guest:Like, I saw a match game.
Guest:I get it.
Guest:But as a kid, I was like, who is this man rhyming to me?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:By my side.
Marc:Oh, and he was old at that point, probably.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:The old celebrities were always weird when you meet them because they always look so much different.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And it's kind of jarring sometimes.
Marc:Sometimes when I first started doing television shows that were hosted, and I'd see the host, I'd be like, oh, my God.
Marc:Before the high-def TV?
Marc:I didn't want to mention names.
Guest:No, I won't mention names either, but there was a guy, very famous guy, still working, still alive.
Yeah.
Guest:And it was like action activated the motor.
Guest:But cut, it was like somebody took a hand out of a puppet.
Guest:And when you see that, like the off switch, it's unnerving.
Guest:And then you watch, it's like click, and then they're back up, and you're like, whoa, oh, okay.
Guest:But I've had many of interactions where you're just like, and they're off.
Guest:They're literally like we've taken the batteries out in between takes.
Marc:Yeah, and sometimes when you meet these people,
Marc:You know, whatever you know of them is usually enough.
Marc:Right.
Marc:You don't need to.
Marc:Michael Lerner.
Marc:Is that his name?
Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:You remember him from Barton Fink?
Marc:Yeah, from Barton Fink.
Marc:Great.
Marc:He played my stepfather, you know, on Marin in one season.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Dude, that guy was an animal.
Marc:He was so fucking, he was just too much.
Marc:But is he like, yeah, because he seems like he wants it, isn't it?
Marc:He's still getting.
Marc:Oh, yeah, but he's the kind of guy that's going to try to fuck you, you know, fuck you up before you go on.
Marc:Oh, whoa.
Marc:Well, he'll just sort of like, he'll be like, do you know what you're doing?
Marc:You don't know.
Marc:Action.
Marc:And that kind of.
Marc:My God.
Guest:When I worked with Nick Cage, again, I had a great experience with Nick Cage.
Guest:When I was working with him, he would do things where he'd be like, ah, I was over at the Home Depot this weekend and I was buying some paint and I was like, and I'm just trying to be
Guest:oh great and talking to him and then it then the director's like action and i'm like oh you were acting like you were playing this character talking about going to home yeah so i like was so lost at certain points i'm like but then he would talk to me about his son which i knew was real but then sometimes we're talking to his character and i'm like i just was never i never knew what footing i was on i was like yeah i was like i just i'm just gonna keep it in this level where i'm just gonna be always friendly asking questions but i don't know yeah if this is nick or this is this guy
Marc:Yeah, it's interesting because, I mean, I've talked to so many movie stars at this point.
Marc:So, like, you don't think you get affected by it.
Marc:But still, in certain contexts, you'll definitely get affected.
Guest:Well, I think that's also, like, when you're trying – I don't know.
Guest:When I feel like I'm on a movie that's not mine and I'm there for, like, a day or two.
Guest:I'm here to –
Guest:I'm here to just be not a pain in your ass.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like I'm not going to try to strike up conversation and directors chairs.
Guest:I'm like, if you want to talk to me, sure.
Guest:Great.
Guest:If not, I will not talk to you.
Guest:I did not, not because I'm rude.
Guest:Cause I'm like, I, I respect your moment of not working.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And I like, I see other people like, like budding up and hanging out and I'm like, I can't,
Marc:Yeah, I won't do that unless I feel.
Marc:I did a scene with Wahlberg once, Mark, on that Spencer Confidential, and it was really just me and him and the other guy.
Marc:Did he have his bald guy with him?
Marc:He was around, I think.
Marc:But it was just me and Mark just sitting in these chairs waiting.
Marc:He's looking at his phone and shit, and nothing's happening.
Marc:And I didn't know what to do, but it just felt like I had to do something.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And I said, do you eat almonds?
Marc:LAUGHTER
Guest:he goes yeah I'm like how many usually like because he's all about his body I'm like yeah I have a handful I'm like oh a handful that's good it's the it's like so funny because you also are like wondering what did they know like for me if I'm gonna work with somebody I'm gonna look at their IMDB yeah
Guest:I'm gonna understand who I'm working with, just on a general sense.
Guest:And I'm like, is Mark Wahlberg, like, does anyone go, okay, so this is Mark, he's great, does this thing, does this.
Guest:Or is it just like, you could be, this could be your first job.
Guest:Like, you don't know, right?
Guest:And that's how I always feel like, I don't want to take anything for granted.
Guest:I don't want to like, you know, I've heard somebody go, hey man,
Guest:good luck in your career.
Guest:Like, you know, it's like putting me off like that.
Guest:I'm like, oh, okay, well, okay.
Guest:And then you feel like defensive.
Guest:Like, well, I'm working.
Marc:I've done other things.
Marc:I asked him how the burger joints were doing.
Marc:Trying to keep it human, you know?
Guest:It's funny.
Guest:I mean, he was interesting.
Guest:I did a movie with him, but he had his ball guy, which I never heard rumors about.
Guest:It's a guy who carries a bunch of different balls and ready to throw them at any point to him if he wants it.
Guest:And, you know, they were...
Guest:They were just throwing a football.
Guest:Then later on the day, they were passing a basketball around.
Guest:And I was like, this is a fucking great job to have the ball guy.
Guest:Like you just have a bag of balls.
Guest:And at any point, hey, toss me that football.
Guest:Like that to me is like, that's a good celebrity side job.
Marc:I did that one scene with De Niro and that was like heavy.
Marc:That was heavy.
Guest:But you see, I did a table read with De Niro and he was great.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like fully present in a way where there's a lot of other big celebrities at that thing.
Guest:And everyone's like reading, like I'm reading my lines like this.
Guest:And De Niro's like acting it out, doing this stuff, like laughing.
Marc:I think he loves it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And like, even on the Joker, which was, it was weird because it was a weird day for him.
Marc:And we're making small talk here and there, but he's not a big talker and I get it.
Marc:And I had this one, you know, scene with him and I knew he's done a million scenes with a one scene guy.
Marc:Like, I'm not looking to make an impact.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I do want to have a moment, you know, and it was, it was all right.
Marc:It was okay.
Marc:But what I couldn't really...
Marc:what makes acting interesting to me is that he knows.
Marc:Like, you know, he's doing these things, he doesn't know his lines that well, and he's playing a Johnny Carson kind of guy.
Marc:And I'm watching them shooting, and I'm like, how are they gonna put this together?
Marc:But De Niro knows exactly how they're gonna put it together.
Marc:And he's exactly correct about everything that seems like it doesn't seem like it's coming together.
Guest:It's so interesting.
Guest:I've learned so much from, like, one of the first things I ever did, I watched Adam McKay
Guest:I inadvertently talked to a director about directing.
Guest:I just happened to be there.
Guest:And he was like, you don't need to get the whole thing.
Guest:He's like, you get a moment here, you get a moment here, you get a moment here.
Guest:And it actually like always sticks out whenever I direct stuff, whenever I'm doing it.
Guest:It's not about getting, it's not like you're creating a stage play.
Guest:It's not like you can have stops, starts, you can edit and you can pull it in.
Guest:And you can create something out of nothing, but you also can just have a great moment from one thing and connect it to another great moment.
Guest:And you got actually a great scene.
Guest:And I've seen that happen lately.
Guest:so much now.
Guest:And I think some people actually cater to it.
Guest:Like, all right, I'm just going to make sure you get that.
Marc:Well, they know, like, yeah, Jeff Daniels once said to me, you got to learn how to use your face.
Marc:He's like 80% or some high number of movie, of acting work is your face.
Marc:Because it's close up.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So it's all here.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I'm always thinking about that now.
Marc:It's like, and I breathe through my mouth.
Marc:So now, like, the big project for me when I go do this new one is, like, keep the mouth closed, even when you're in the background.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, and when you're... I don't even half the time know where my fucking camera is.
Guest:Well, like, this whole thing, like, remember Michael Caine had that book, you know, Lessons on Acting.
Guest:He's like, don't blink.
Guest:If you ever think about that, like, don't blink.
Guest:And then there's some editors who will...
Guest:edit around your blinks.
Guest:Because it's like, the minute you blink, you actually wreck the scene.
Guest:There's a whole theory about that.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, the blinking actually dilutes the intensity of a moment.
Guest:And it's so crazy, because we are...
Guest:We're blinking.
Guest:We're living in light, you know, but you're in that.
Guest:I can't be too.
Guest:It's like the self-consciousness.
Guest:The minute I'm thinking about not blinking, I'm not thinking about a line.
Guest:I'm not connecting.
Marc:We're also like, you know, like Jim Norton talked about this once too, but it's like, what do I do with my hands?
Marc:Well, you don't think about him.
Marc:He's stupid.
Marc:You know, you start thinking about your hands.
Guest:But the minute someone gives you a note like that, Hey, you look a little this and there's all like, how's my shoulder?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I just watched Ezra.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:New movie.
Marc:I don't think it's out yet.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:And it's Cannavale and Byrne, his wife.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:De Niro.
Marc:It's about an autistic kid, a couple.
Marc:And De Niro's in it.
Marc:And it's like, it's one of the best things he's done lately.
Marc:This is a little part, but he's locked in.
Marc:Him as an old guy sometimes, like...
Marc:It's such a fucking treat.
Marc:Like, I never shut up about the movie The Intern with Anne Hathaway.
Guest:He's good in that.
Guest:He's great.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That was like one of those ones where you're like, well, what is this going to be?
Guest:And then you look at it and you're like, oh, he's very good.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, he's great in it.
Marc:When he's got like a normal, when he's got to play a normal guy where, you know, he just has to make choices around, you know, the limitations of that character, it's spectacular.
Guest:I saw a thing or read, it was, Steve Martin had this new book out that was an audio book.
Guest:It was like this Pushkin Press.
Guest:So it was like, it's called Conversations with Steve.
Guest:It was him and this guy from The New Yorker.
Guest:And they just talked.
Guest:And it was interesting listening to him talk about like acting because he said this thing that I think about that kind of depresses me too.
Guest:It's like,
Guest:you work so hard on this stuff and you never know what's going to take on, what's going to go away.
Guest:He's like, but inevitably you work, you put every part of your heart and soul in it and then it just ends up as like a box of,
Guest:on a shelf, like, and people forget it.
Guest:They may remember this one little moment or one little thing.
Guest:It's like, and it's so weird because we do, like, start to think about people, like, oh, I didn't see that movie.
Guest:It must have been bad.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And then, like, and De Niro has become this thing where it's like, well, it's still De Niro.
Guest:Like, he still does great stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But, like, you think about, oh, you think, like, maybe Rocky and Bullwinkle or, like, whatever, this other thing.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And it's a weird way that we like forget people are great and do things and we're not watching them.
Guest:And they're still in it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He doesn't have to do it.
Guest:No, no one has to.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No one has to do it.
Guest:Like that's why I like actually murders in the building because of that too.
Guest:I'm like, oh, this is like Martin Short and Steve Martin.
Guest:Like when they're on the road, I'm like, why do these guys have to go on the road?
Guest:I think they have a good time.
Guest:It's fun.
Guest:It was fun to watch.