Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 10: Dan Sterling (Writer/Producer - South Park, Daily Show, Girls, The Interview, Sarah Silverman Show)

Episode Date: June 12, 2018

Wowzers. Dan Sterling: a bright spot in a dark universe, joins us on the interview hour and reminisces about that time one of his movies (The Interview) ruffled the feathers of a certain North Korean dictator. We check in with Dolav on Sports Corner, present to you another installment in the ongoing saga of Pizza Steve, and oh yeah- Andy and Yeti talk about masturbation for like 10 minutes. This is Episode 10. To keep up with the podcast, follow us on Instagram @WorldSavingPodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, tour dates, the band and the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Follow our guest, Dan Sterling, on twitter @dansterl Produced by Andy Frasco Yeti Chris Lorentz Engineered by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Pizza Steve Dolav Cohen Arno Bakker Shawn Eckels & Andee Avila

I am Pizza Steve! Pizza Stevie needs new glasses And maybe some driving classes Pizza Stevie is to blame He loves looking for cocaine Andy Frasco yells at Steve But he can't afford for him to leave Lindsey thinks he is the man

But we got him a jerk in the van Oh Lord yeah! Ooga Chaka Ooga Chaka Ooga Chaka Ooga Chaka How's the song start up? I'm feeling and believing that I'm in love with you. It's off key. I'm sorry. What's up, guys? It's a world-saving podcast. With Andy Frasco and motherfucking Yeti Meister. Yeti Meister. That's a good one. How you doing, guys? It's a world-saving podcast. With Andy Frasco and motherfucking Yeti Meister.

Yeti Meister. That's a good one. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing well. Good day? It's a beautiful day. It's always a beautiful day. Even when it's raining and shitty. I have to tell myself that. When it's raining and shitty, I'm like, it's a beautiful day.

Because I'm a sunshine person. Yep. I am a sunshine person as well. I like the sunshine but growing up in LA I never had any seasons. Oh, that's right. It's just colder and then warmer.

Yeah. And it's always sunny. It was hot and then not as hot. Yeah. So you feel like a crazy person when you're going through changes like the seasons. Like here.

Like here, yeah. Go to different parts of the world and it's cold. Yeah, exactly. When you tour, do you, like when you're going to, like for example, if you're going in,

because springtime is a crazy time to, like you tour fall and you tour spring. I mean, you pretty much tour year round. But I try to take winter off now. Yeah. That's a good, I mean, you did this last year. I took two months off.

That was kind of hard, but it was good for me. Yeah, good I mean you did this last year I took two months off that was kind of hard but it was good for me yeah good glad you did that but do you like when you're going and you know that it's not gonna be summertime oh yeah how do you pack it you just take something to everything you only could bring one bag right I mean we're not I can't afford to have everyone fucking diva out and bring like two suitcases right so it gets expensive especially going to europe so you have to if you're doing a tour where it's a mid fall like say it's a uh mid late fall just winter you have to bring your snow yeah and you have to bring like thin sleeves and stuff and then if you're playing in

the west coast in the fall it's it's fucking still 100 degrees yeah so like we normally tour from la or like west coast to europe then from europe we are in fucking switzerland and it's freezing and then we go over to china and it's hot again because you're in you're in southern china yeah you're in southern you're in h Kong. Yeah. So that's like normally the end of the year tour schedule. It's like, so it's literally a hop to hot

to cold to hot. And then once that, once China goes around, then you're on all the cruises. Oh, that's right. So then you have to wear

swim shorts. So if you're on a three month tour that starts in November, which sometimes we have to do because the pay schedule is New Year's Eve, China, and club dates in Europe. Because if you hit one market for summer, then you have to come, if you do the festivals

in summer, you have to come back and do the club dates or it doesn't make sense. Why are you doing the festival? Why are you going there? Yeah. You got to build hard tickets. Get those, yeah. What are we talking about today, Yeti? What is on your mind?

What is brewing in the world of saving news? World saving news? I'm tired of people trying to have long conversations over a text message. Oh, my God. You are fucking telling me about that, brother. Well, shut up, Mr. 140 text message. Oh my God. You are fucking telling me about that, brother. Well, shut up, Mr. 140 text messages. Yeah, but I don't have time for it. Yeah, I get it.

Let me just say it from a real person's perspective, all right? I know what you're saying. No, Andy, it's not that they're saying a lot. It's that you have 140 people saying something. Like that meme that we posted though about you must have done something bad. Like that's straight up.

Like I identify with that. And I don't, Megan, I talked about it. This isn't a bad thing, but I, her and I really try to have long conversations or conversations that need face to face. I'm like,

we, this needs to be a face to face conversation. Cause I, you just misconstrue stuff over text message, but it's more and more people are just like, and this is how Meg feels. She's like, text message is the way to communicate. And I'm like, it's not a way to communicate. I just don't agree with that because there's so many nuances.

Yeah, you don't understand. You got to be misconstrued by a text message. At the same time, the reason you misconstrue things is because you have an expectation or an emotional attachment to a feeling. And so it's tapes that play in your head like, oh, when they said this last time, this is what's going to happen. And that's not being present. And I've had to learn that. But I do love sex messaging.

Oh, that's so good. That's a good beat off. Sorry, I'm getting all worked up about it. Yeah, what's going on over there? I don't know. Why is your computer on your lap? There's nothing to hide. Well, I think it's because I'm trying not to beat off as much.

You're abstaining at this time? Yeah. So wait, were you saying you're trying to masturbate less? Now I'm trying to masturbate less because I don't want to be addicted to porn. Do you really think you could be addicted to porn? No. I'm addicted to the adrenaline that comes out of my penis. It's not adrenaline.

It's semen. Well, you know what I mean. You're addicted. You like the endorphin rush. The endorphin rush. Yeah. And that's what I'm more addicted to than drugs. That's what…

Did you know it's the most natural high the human body can create really so put it like this if eating sugar is like a 5 okay and orgasm this is on a scale to like

whatever it's just infinite because we don't know how much pleasure we can get right so orgasm is like a 60. This is like, I remember hearing about this in health class in high school. And they're like, orgasm is a 60. Cocaine's 100.

Wow. Why do you think people get addicted to substances so easily? It's just more than we can create on our own. But at the same time, there's people who are just like, for whatever reason, they haven't gone, like, I don't do cocaine.

I don't smoke heroin. I smoke weed and I'll drink. Yeah. And that's it. But jerking off is great. I get it. Yeah. Total control.

Yeah. It's true. How many times a week are you, are you limit, are you trying to limit yourself or are you just trying to be more in the moment? I'm trying to limit myself. Or if you find yourself wanting to jerk off,

are you trying to do something else? It's always so awkward because we're not at that point in the band where everyone has their own hotel room. So you're sharing three people. You're waiting for that moment that you got 10 minutes alone. Not even. You don't have any time alone. So you're at that moment where either Andy Alva's FaceTiming with his chick

or Ernie's sleeping. Or Sean's FaceTiming. Or Sean's FaceTiming with his chick or Ernie's sleeping or Sean's FaceTiming or Sean's FaceTiming with his chick. I'm like, fuck it. I could run into the bathroom, pretend I'm taking a quick shower and fucking beat off, get it out. But you don't want to do that?

That's what you do. That's what I've been doing for fucking 11 years. Holy shit, dude. Watching like a quick 30-second porn video. Fucking beating off. Get it out. You're the one minute wonder.

Yeah, before the suspicion of me, you know, beating off so I don't get embarrassed. But we had this one time. It's chronic masturbator in the band.

I think, I think, I don't know this because I've never seen him beat off but there was one time. He says he's never seen your penis too. Yeah,

I've seen his penis. It's fucking big. Yeah. Oh, okay. Us Norwegians, us Norwegians, we're over six foot. Yeah. I've seen his penis. It's fucking big. Yeah. Us Norwegians we're over six foot. Yeah. It's crazy.

We're hung like horses. But I could tell so when you we could Bluetooth our phones to the music.

Yeah. So in the morning when you could tell which guy beat off before he fucking got into the band. He turned it on?

The Bluetooth pops up and it's, you porn, you know, milf, milf and butter, cream pie. And we always laugh.

I always, but I've been calling them out now. Oh my God. That's hilarious. But you can't fuck up because you call out. Uh-huh.

They're going to get you. You're loaded. They're fucking loaded. Every time you call somebody out, that's just one more click back on the rubber band trigger. Things are going to get back so far, it's going to sting.

Oh, it's fucking, you know, it's hard. I mean, you don't have free time to do like shit. No, masturbating aside, but like anything free. Like even if you want to FaceTime with your chick,

like you're going to have to FaceTime with me sitting next to watching Netflix. Unless you're going to go to the hotel parking lot. Unless you're going to beat off in the van, which is a no-no. You guys aren't allowed to beat off in the van? No. I beat off in the van sometimes.

I know you do. I sleep in the van a lot. Yeah, you do. I like the vans, my sanctuary. This is basically my only apartment. I have a house in Kansas City I bought, but. You remember when you called me and you're like, I just cooked for the first time. And I was like, how long you been there? Two years. Yeah, it's the first time I ever cooked.

It's the only time. Yeah, I know how to make like macaroni and cheese, but I never cooked. I cooked pho. Oh, you actually cooked. I was really proud of myself. Okay, you've made food there before. Never. Oh, I know how to make like macaroni and cheese but I never cooked. I cooked pho. Oh, you actually cooked pho. I was really proud of myself. Okay, you've made food there before. Never. Oh, you've never made any food. Like cereal

and like I get a bunch of frozen. I mean, I'm a... You've eaten... Okay. I've never had a house before, Yeti. No, I get it. I've never been stabilized. I'm just expressing

that I was under the impression that you hadn't had any food in the cupboards ever and every time you... No. It's true. It's true. That's true. Yeah.

I eat the leftovers of the Airbnb because I Airbnb my pads. Yeah, yeah. And if they leave stuff. I'm only in town for four days. Isn't that rolling the dice? What? You don't think you eat any bad food?

I guess everything has expiration dates on it. From Susan who just came into the house yesterday who's 65 years old who eats like cranberries and fucking fruit. I'm like, yeah, I'll eat that shit. We should have a contest.

I'm a total bachelor. It's crazy. We should have a contest to give away a weekend stay at Andy Frasco's pad. We could. In Kansas City, Missouri. Let's do that.

And we'll just tell him to treat it like you would treat any hotel room. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's a nice place. My West, I call it the frotorium. The frotorium? Yeah, it's great.

I've seen it. I want to go sometime. What else is going on, buddy? Bring it on. Bring it on. We're talking about masturbation. I want to continue on this. I masturbated a lot when I was a kid.

How old were you when you first masturbated? I masturbated a lot when I was a kid. How old were you when you first masturbated? My sister's boyfriend gave me a porn magazine when I was probably 11. And I couldn't come. I was just like shooting blanks. But I had the same magazine for a year. Oh, yeah. And then I started shooting.

And I'd shoot on the fucking magazine. Oh, shit. And my parents found it. Oh, God. And then I started shooting and I'd shoot on the fucking magazine. Oh, shit. And my parents found it. Oh, God. It was all stuck together. Oh, I was dirty. What the hell? I used to just...

I was... You were doing it under the pictures. I was doing it on the pictures. You were doing tributes at 13 years old. Yeah, I was super horny.

I don't know what was wrong with me. Everybody's horny. There's nothing wrong with you. I used to masturbate with the hole... My dick was masturbate with the hole. My dick was small. So the hole in the scissors.

I mean, it's grown since I was 13. I get it. But yeah, it's still small. But you know the hole, like the thumb hole in the scissors? I used to put my dick on it and then hold the scissors. It's dangerous. I didn't realize it back then. You didn't ever worry about cutting your dick off?

No, I was holding the knife. I get you. The knife part. So I was just using the handle. The thumb handle. I was just... I was so masturbated so much. I was so bored.

I was just trying to do different... I was doing like yoga beat off sessions. When did you finally figure out how to masturbate like a man with one hand wrapped around my dick's not big enough

it took me oh you know I'm sorry I didn't mean to I didn't mean to masculine like that I was just saying but yeah

beating off I'm glad this episode is all about masturbation I wonder how women like do you think women quickly masturbate oh yeah like oh shit

I gotta get to work they totally do yeah yeah have you ever been so drunk that you try to

fuck your girl and your dick doesn't work so she just has to beat off when you're sleeping but you're not sleeping

yeah I think that's happened yeah that's happened to me a couple times. Cocaine and whiskey together, my dick does not work. I had performance anxiety. Yeah, me too. When I'm sober, I cum really quick. Oh, really?

When I'm drunk, I last a long time. But when I'm sober, I ejaculate really quick. I think because I beat off really quick. Well, yeah. Five minutes or less. Not even. Three minutes. Three minutes or less, you're money back. Andy Frasco's guarantee. Let's listen to the interview already. This is enough. You don't want to talk about junior high masturbatory experiences?

Did your mom ever walk in on you? Yes. My mom found my, yes, she's walked in on me a few times, but my mom found when she moved out of their old house, I would just wipe my hand off of the same crusty towel

and same crusty underwear, put it in the same drawer. And it was there like, Years later. For 15 years oh my god oh my god my dad because i would like i was just like because i was having sex at your parents house you know in high school or you know so like they found like old used condoms so like they found like old used condoms under my bed

and shit did you have a water bed no it was gross I feel so bad and mom dad if you're listening

I want to just apologize for my dirtiness I I was just super horny I apologize I don't apologize for the masturbation and the sex

I apologize for you how it made you feel finding the remnants of my activities. I also too will offer an apology to my parents who confronted me

about the crusty dress of my mother's that was in a drawer in the office next to the computer. Oh my. Oh. They found it.

I came home late one night because that was always my internet porn. I, you know, the internet, was always my internet porn. The internet, you experienced the internet. What was your go-to when you were younger? Well, you didn't have video. Yeah, we didn't really have video.

I had like JPEG in the beginning. Yeah. I don't remember. I don't remember any specifics. I remember finding a site though that I was like, this is a gold mine. It's one of those sleeper sites.

It just had pictures that you could download and it was just like you're so excited about it but I download them and then I have to delete them wasn't porn though

like bad for Christianity oh yeah so my parents confronted me one night I come home late and they're like they say something and my dad just goes into it

he's like you ruined mom's dress and I'm pretty sure I almost laughed but then I'm like you know what there's nothing in the bible You ruined mom's dress. And I'm pretty sure I almost laughed, but then I'm like, you know what? There's nothing in the Bible about masturbation, mom and dad. Shut up.

I'll do it if I want. And I did. And I was right about the Bible never talking about masturbation. If anybody wants to debate me on that, I welcome it. Hit me up on Instagram. Frasco and Yeti at on uh instagram oh yeah do it on

frasco and yeti we'll put that out there yeah by the way no if you dm us we may publish it that's just full disclosure right there like be like kanye with his tweets when he's john legend and if you remember that he oh my god connie is unbelievable right now that guy yeah i like what michael che said that was good that was it. That was it. I was like, yeah. Anyways, go ahead and go down this stupid tangent. No, we're done. I'm done with it. We got Dan Sterling on.

Dan Sterling. This guy, I didn't realize I was a fan of him, and I am. Dan Sterling is a writer and producer. He's worked on a whole bunch of stuff. And this is where I was like, whoa, I like all those shows. King of the Hill, Kitchen Confidential, The Daily Show, South Park, Silverman Program, The Office. Probably the thing that he talks about in the interview

and the thing that he's one of the most notable things. He was a screenwriter for the interview. Yeah, with Seth Rogen. And James Franco. The Kim Jong-un movie. It's funny now because now they're all happy. I wonder if Kim finally watched that movie. I'm like,

oh, it's not so bad. Yeah. I hope so. But Dan's great. He's one of my LA friends. I played his wedding and Sarah Silverman was the host of the wedding

and the guy from Bob's Burgers and I was the house band and we just had too much fun. Sarah Silverman had a joint wrapped up in a Ziploc bag and she's like, I want to get high with the band.

She pulled his hat like it felt like it was going to be a good... She flipped the Ziploc bag open. It was just like one joint. I'm like, what the fuck? The cutest thing. She still is beautiful, man. Is she? God, she's so beautiful. And she's got the best personality.

That guy from Master of Sex, he's married to her. Sheen? Oh, yeah, yeah. I hung out with him too. They're, they're so cool together. God,

that crew is so rad. Will Forte. I'm going to get Will on the show hopefully soon. And, but yeah, enjoy this Dan Sterling interview. He's great. He's just a good guy.

We became really close friends in LA from my buddy Charles. Enjoy Dan's episode and we'll catch you on the tail end of it. What's up, Dan? Hello. How are you doing, sir? How are you doing? Ladies and gentlemen, I'm with Dan Sterling. Pimp, legend, writer, producer.

Man, he's written the interview. Did you write the interview or did you produce it? I wrote it and I was titularly the executive producer. I don't know what that means, but I was an executive producer. So you did the interview. You did girls too? I wrote on the first season of Girls. Holy shit. You did The Office? Yeah. Yeah. I was the executive producer of the ninth season of The Office.

What about the Sarah Silverman show? What'd you do there? Yeah. I was the executive producer, head writer for that for the full run. What about Daily Show? executive producer head writer for that for the full run what about daily show uh daily show i was uh see i guess i was called a co-executive producer at the daily show i was there too how were you how many years were you there uh daily show i was there very briefly i was just there for like half a season sick oh my god what else you did kitchen confidentials uh kitchen confidential yeah i was there for the full run the full 13 episodes only three of which aired

what about King of the Hill yes I was there for like five years wrote a lot of episodes of that so you're basically

the fucking boss brother I everybody else is my employee I am literally the boss oh my god you've run on so many

good shows it's astonishing I'm astonished just hearing it I got a lot of questions I got a lot of questions I got a lot of questions I am literally the boss. Oh my God. You've run on so many good shows. It's astonishing. I'm astonished just hearing it. I got a lot of questions. I got a lot of questions. I got a lot of questions. Being a writer, what did you start?

You started being a writer? Was that your first thing? Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, Busboy and PA. You grew up in LA? What's up? I grew up in Philadelphia, West Philadelphia specifically. I think Wiggles won this year. I read that.

I read that they did well, that they came in first in a two team matchup, yes. Oh, I love that. So you came in from Philly, then when did you get, then you wanted to start your career out here in LA? Well, I went to NYU film school, and then I sort of tried briefly to make it in TV in New York after school

which is not easy to do if you did not go to Harvard yeah which I didn't so then I moved to LA and like what's the deal with that Harvard writing scene like Conan all those guys like is that like a is that a club like a clique well yeah I mean I would say it's more like an institution. There's a major feed from the Harvard Lampoon magazine that goes straight to Saturday Night Live or used to go to Letterman and Conan and all that. So yeah, it's a big help if you start there.

That's crazy, man. So NYU, they didn't have that much prestige as Harvard did? Well, tuition-wise, they're quite comparable. Yeah, fuck yeah. So I had that prestige of having absolutely broken my parents' bank account.

But NYU is not quite as, there's not quite as strong a historical click happening from there so i had to uh pull myself up by my bootstraps i mean bootstraps that were already there yeah all the the tuition from nyu fuck how much was it back then uh i do our 23 year old man so how much was it uh let's see i don't know it must have been tens of thousands of dollars yeah i didn't ask yeah but i i heard it was quite expensive so you went from nyu

then did you go to l.a what uh yeah so then i spent uh after nyu has spent a couple years living uh in new york sort of trying to figure out how to break into TV from there. Was that your main baby? You wanted to be in TV? Yeah, yeah. I really wanted to be a sitcom writer. But I had a girlfriend there. I was trying to not leave. But all the sitcoms are written in, or at least at the time, were done in LA.

So finally, when it became clear that my girlfriend was a lesbian it seemed like it was a good time to yes a lovely lesbian hold on did she turn lesbian like while you're

while you're fucking her or what right in the middle of it actually yeah we were it was the third or fourth thrust and she said

you know what I'm having a thought go with me on this I'm curious about this did you have a feeling she was a lesbian I did once she announced it um she uh yeah i didn't know well uh was there any like kind of clues throughout the relationship that oh she might be lesbian well oh god you know she was

uh while we were still together she was applying for a uh a a a um a, or I guess the word is some kind of funding to go study poetry. And in the application, she described herself as a lesbian poet. And she gave it to me for proofreading. And I said, I'm seeing one thing in here that concerns me. It's the lesbian thing because uh here we are and i'm as you know a a male genitalia having a person and anyway but uh so yeah i think uh you know she did wind up going on to get married to a woman having kids and everything but luckily i didn't i didn't stick around uh waiting to start my career for uh many more years you ever write about that in any of your episodes?

No, I didn't. It's a great story, though. Well. That's relatable. I know a lot of people that that's happened to. Yeah. Oh, good. I thought I was the only one.

No, you're not alone, buddy. It's happened to me. It did. Yeah, but while I was fucking her. Oh, right in the middle of it. It was kind of like we were dating for a week. And I was like, damn, this girl is so hot. And I'm like, I kind of had the lesbian vibe on her.

But it didn't really work out. And then a week later, she's hooking up with some girl. And now they've been together for like seven years. Oh, well, yeah. I always like to say that she, I was the best that she could do with the Y chromosome. With the loaf. No, wait. Male or XY?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Is it XY or NY? That's right. I really should know that. I think males are XY. I'll research that after we... So getting back to it.

So you had a girlfriend, blah, blah, blah, from New York, right? Yeah. So what happened after that? So then I moved to LA and I got a job working as a production assistant on a sitcom on the WB. What sitcom? It was called Nick Frino Licensed Teacher. I've never heard of it. No, you would not have heard of it.

It was only on two seasons. But Mila Kunis actually was a recurring character. Oh, wow. At the time, she was like 13 or 12 or something like that. Oh, wow. So years later, I think I approached her at some big Hollywood party, like a premiere for Black Swan or something, and reminded her that I used to bring scripts to her when she was like 13.

So she was a childhood star too? I guess so, yeah. That's crazy. She was very polite about it, but probably was very eager for our encounter to end. So that happened for two seasons. Then where'd you go? Yeah, so I was just there for one season.

And then at the end of that first season, I got my first writing job, which was on South Park. You did South Park? I did, yeah. I was there for the first season. How was it working with Trey and Matt? What's their vibe like? Are they on all the time?

They are, well, yeah. I mean, so I was like what I thought to be the funniest person on my floor in my dorm at NYU, and I had never met anybody like Trey and Matt. Like I had no idea that people that funny even existed. So it was extremely humbling and terrifying. And they were so funny actually that I think that my laughter creeped them out. Like I was always in tears,, just rolling on the floor laughing because I'd never met people this funny.

So witty, so quick. Yeah, yeah. They slaughtered me, but I think it was like I was starstruck by them. I still am. What's the process like? How does that work? Because it's so weekly commentary. You're doing stuff that's so… Was it like that in the process like? How does that work? Like, do you have to, because it's so weekly commentary, like you're doing stuff that's so,

was it like that in the beginning too? No, no, they really sped up their whole operation. I mean, when I was there, the process was much slower. I was just there the first year and it wasn't quite, I mean, they were certainly, they were sort of still figuring out

their vibe and their voice. I mean, it was only later They were sort of still figuring out their vibe and their voice. I mean, it was only later that they really were able to like comment on stuff happening that same week. You know, an animation that's hard to do. Yeah, it's hard. They work their animators pretty hard. Yeah, I watched that documentary of them doing those week shows. Like they write the show in like two days now and make everything. That's fucking hard.

So you did South Park. Then what? What else? Then after that, an agent found me and then started putting me out. Was it a big agent? Well, at the time, he was just a young agent, but at a decent agency.

So like an assistant of a big guy? no he was his own agent but you know he was you know he was new he probably only been an agent for a couple years now he's a very big powerful guy um at uta and um but uh yeah he found me and um then he started putting me out in the network TV circuit. And so my first network TV job was on the show called Jesse, which was with Christina Applegate. And it was supposed to be a very big deal because it was created by one of the big writers from Friends. And so then I worked on that for two years, but that show was not a huge success.

It's crazy. Yes. So I want to, okay, that's great. Yes. So, I want to, okay, that's great. That started your career and also you're building, building, building. I want to know about this interview thing. Yes. What happened? I mean, you probably talk about this all the time,

but I need to know too. How, so you wrote the script with Seth? I don't know much about the writing process of that movie. Well, so what happened was I was on a sort of a break. It was after the Sarah Silverman program was done, and I was sort of not taking the job.

I wanted to write a screenplay just on my own, which I did. So I wrote a screenplay that was not the interview. It was a romantic comedy that just finished shooting about a month ago and will be out next February. But... How long did it take? Well, I wrote it in about six months,

but it took, you know, almost eight years before it got made. But that... So Seth read it and then we talked about making that. but while they were trying to figure out how to put that movie together, Seth and Evan, his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, came to me with this sort of germ of an idea. They basically were saying, you know, we always wonder what would happen if a journalist got like an interview with osama bin laden would he feel compelled to try to kill him and so um from there you know i sort of went off and and uh tried to figure out uh how to develop that into something we knew we didn't want to do a middle east thing because sasha baron cohen at

that time was shooting uh well he was doing um the dictator which is this sort of total middle east thing so um it took me a while to figure out but uh eventually i landed on the the north korea thing and at the time it was uh kim jong il not kim jung-un who was president this was i remember i mean we shot it in 2013 I think so I must have it happened pretty quick so I must have this must been around like 2011 2012 or something crazy so I wrote it you know so I developed it with those guys I wrote the script and then, um, uh, and then I was, uh, had written it and then I was doing my season on the office. And then one night I'm leaving the writer's guild awards, uh, having actually just gotten one, gotten an award for girls. Um, and I'm walking out to the, to the car

and, uh, the, uh, the head of, uh, Sony comes up to me and says, guess what? We're making your movie. It's going to star, uh, Seth Rogen and James Franco. And I was like, oh, okay. Nice. So somebody to tell me, and I got in the car and, you know, six months later we were, we were shooting it. That's insane. So what's it like working with Seth and Evan? Like, are they just always, cause they feel like they're, they're hustling hard. They're doing so many, they have so many things going on. Like they came to you with the idea, right? Yeah. They came to me and then you wrote the script and then I wrote the script. Yeah. I mean, you know, I sort of developed the idea further first, but, uh, but then yeah, wrote the script and you know, it's, it's very, very collaborative with them. I mean, like before we shot the script,

we spent a summer sitting in their offices, sort of rewriting it for Seth's voice more. Is he a big pot as he says he is everywhere? I would say the answer to that would be yes. It is always... I never indulge because their pot's very strong. I can't really, but by the end of the day, I was always high because the room was small. But yeah, they do enjoy marijuana.

And I have to say, it really doesn't hurt their productivity at all they're quite they're they're very prolific yeah but yeah lunchtime in the trailer on the set or in their offices I think that I don't think they would be mad at me for saying that they do like a tad bit of marijuana. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Here's a quick message from the UN. Hi, I'm Andy Fresco, and this is Backstage Indie Film Trailers with Andy Frasco.

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beats his meat in public. So you made the script. You started making the film. So during the film, did you feel like this was going to be controversial?

You thought you were just playing along. Well, I mean, I don't think any of us, and certainly the studio, uh, could have guessed it was going to be as controversial as it was. I mean, there were some decisions about how to shoot the ending and stuff that were not necessarily what I had originally scripted. Uh, you know, the, I think the thing was the original ending. Well, the original ending,

the first ending that I wrote, there were a bunch of different, I mean, you write these things a billion different ways before the final one gets shot. But the original ending I wrote was that hordes of North Korean citizens storm the gates and

they storm into the castle as it were and i think that i had that you know that they kill kim jong-un or or he escapes into the woods or something i had a version where a tiger bit off his penis i had all kinds of versions of this but um but uh you know somewhere during uh uh the the final stages before production or during production, Seth and Evan got that sort of Raiders of the Lost Ark vision in their heads about what happens to Kim Jong-un's face. And I don't know if you've seen the movie, but at the end, his face does not do well. No, it doesn't. It doesn't end up well for his face.

And I think we shot i don't think i'd be telling tales at a school to say that you know the original version of that was even more gruesome oh no and you know it was only after the the movie was made and there were consultants and political consultants and stuff brought in that they're encouraged uh sony and seth and evan to dial it back a little, which they did a little bit, just not quite enough. Oh, you wanted, yeah. So did you want it? So what's it like when you make your art or something,

then you have a producer say, all right, no, that's not it. You have to rechange that. You have to do this, change the ending. You have to listen to them, right? Well, I mean. Because they're giving you money yeah i mean the thing is is you know seth and evan directed it and this is the first movie i'd written that had ever gotten made or anything so i mean as a screenwriter it's it's different when

you're running a tv show you're really uh in charge you're the boss yeah as a screenwriter working uh for seth and i mean seth and evan are the the bosses they're the directors they're the boss yeah as a screenwriter working uh for seth and i mean seth and evan are the the bosses they're the directors they're the heavies and so um so there's a certain level of you know by the time it's being shot it's really not that i mean i'm there every day on set and you know very much uh part consulted but um yeah those big decisions so that's really the director so uh i was you know i was sort of kept out of the that level of controversy so you okay so you made the film everything's going well you're like oh it's gonna be great yeah and the buzz was great i mean i everyone and everyone was stoked i was stoked my whole crew i mean and then the hack hit right right so from the hack what was like did you guys get into

a meeting right away like oh shit what the fuck are we gonna do or was that like a sony decision well before the hack i think there was some concern uh ahead of time about uh uh i think there a variety of consultants. I don't remember exactly who or how it all went, but people were brought in to take a look at it to see exactly what the political repercussions of this movie might be. So there was already some concern.

And then I think by the time the hack happened, I mean, I was off doing other things. I mean, i wasn't really brought into any meetings how many years was it until like that like you finished a movie how many years before the hack was so we finished the movie at the end of december 2013 or something and i think it was slated for christmas day uh 2014 uh so know, things started getting really crazy that fall. And, you know, I think the night of the premiere, basically, by that point, you know, Obama had gotten involved in this and threats had been made. And I think by that time, Seth.

This is your first film. Yeah. I'll tell you one thing is that they got bodyguards. Yeah, I know. Well, it was not what I expected. I mean, it was exciting, but I did feel a little bit like when they started launching missiles to be menacing, basically, I was like, I really want a movie made, but I don't know if I want it to be something that gets,

uh, a lot of people killed. That's not, that's never really the goal. Uh, so yeah, it was a little, it was quite,

it was a very, very bizarre. It's probably as bizarre an experience for a first time or anytime movie. So like, so what I'm curious about this. Because everyone has a stake in the film, right? So now they have to give the film out. Whose idea was it to give the film, just say, fuck it. We're giving it out.

We're doing this online thing so people see the movie. Because I don't know how back-end works for films or anything, but I know how back-end works for music industry and seeing my residuals or whatever. Was that a scary feeling? Like, you're not going to be able to make profit off this movie that you work so hard on? Well,

the good news is, for a screenwriter of my stature at that time is, you don't get any profits. Oh, so they just gave you for the clean, here's the script, so they just gave you for the clean. Here's the script. I'm giving you money for the script. Well, no, I mean, it's not quite that way.

I mean, the thing is you get residuals. There's profits and then there's residuals. And so, I mean, basically, I think at a certain point, Seth and Evan said to me, you know, you're going to make more money on this movie than we will because there's not going to be net profits. Oh, so they had more of a profit share on their side? Yeah, they took, I think Seth and Evan

took a bigger hit money-wise than I did because eventually the movie did get released. I mean, for all I know now, they've made some money out of it. Oh, haven't they? Yeah, they killed it. I think Seth and Evan are going to be fine either way, I'm pretty sure.

But yeah, no, money wasn't the main thing. So what was it? Do you want people to see was it? You wanted people to see the film? I wanted people to see the film I wanted a nuclear holocaust to not happen particularly as a result of anything I did I'm neurotic that way I like people to be not dead

but yeah it was just I guess the weird thing was when when the major exhibitors based on on the death threats, decided to pull out. And then, you know, I'm seeing pictures in the news of all the billboards being pulled off of the, you know, off of the walls. I was like, that was pretty depressing. Yeah. Because, you know, I've been driving around for weeks seeing billboards for the movie that I wrote and that was very exciting. But then to see them be pulled

off before the movie was out, that was crazy. And so I thought that was it. And then there was this whole new thing where people took it on as a political cause and small exhibitors started saying, well, we're going to show it. and um i mean the weird thing was that some of it became like a right wing uh sort of cause like you know there were some politicians that i wouldn't necessarily otherwise agree with who were like you know uh singing god bless america and telling everybody to go see the interview i was like like, oh, really? That was certainly not... So you got like a really right wing fan base to go see that? I thought that was... Well,

I can't remember which. There was some... There was one southern senator who was saying it was people's patriotic duty to go see the interview. And I'm like, do you know how many dick jokes and drug jokes there are? I mean, like... It is raw as fuck. But yeah, you know... It's raw. It's quite raw. Yeah. I mean, like, it is raw as fuck. But yeah, you know, it's raw.

It's quite raw. Yeah. I loved, I was like, one time, because I'll be honest, I didn't know much about you until you asked me

to play your wedding. Oh, yeah. You know, it's like, our buddy Charles, like, hey, my buddy Dan wants you to play his wedding. And then I,

you know, I look you up and I'm like, damn, this fool. This fool writes all this shit I love. Like, that's crazy, man. And then I, you know, I look you up and I'm like, damn, this fool. This fool writes all this shit I love. Like, that's crazy, man. And then with the interview happening like that.

Yeah. So did that, like, affect your writing career at all? Well, no. I didn't do very much. It's weird because I hired publicists for that movie because I thought, well, this is a big deal. I have a feeling it's going to get a lot of attention. This is a good place for me to raise my profile, raise my quotas.

I had all kinds of ideas about what this was going to do for me as a writer. But of course, I contract with these publicists. And then the publicist's job is to tell me over and over again, you can't take any interviews. Basically, there was a gag order. Seth and Evan stopped doing interviews. They were trying to stop the bleeding at Sony because a lot of people, I mean,

Sony was melting down basically. And so I wound up not doing a lot of press at all. But I did do one interview with NPR. So that was Sony's decision, right? Yeah. I mean, basically, it just came down from sony that they really didn't want us talking to the press keep it so i did do one interview with npr and uh linda wertheimer asked me you know do you think you'll ever work in this town again and i was like well uh i hadn't been worrying about that till you brought it up what a bitch thing to say what a bitch like you're going through this whole fucking thing

and she's like, oh. Well, she was. How'd you take that? Well, you know, it was all fine

and I was so starstruck being interviewed by her and then plus, you know, before, you know, when she thought I had hung up the phone

after the interview, I heard her saying to somebody, almost surprised, like, well, he was so charming and adorable. I guess maybe she wasn't expecting it

because it was a movie full of dick jokes and Kim Jong-un's face melting or whatever. So you just did the promo for that thing and that was the only promo you did for the whole movie? I did a couple of interviews but at a certain point we just needed to shut up

and let Sony deal with all the chaos. How many downloads did it get for the streams when you did the stream thing? Oh, God, I have no idea. I mean, nobody gives me that kind of… I feel like everyone saw it. That may be true. I mean, I know that my father pirated it, which, you know, I was like, really?

You illegally download? Yeah, I don't have any sense of how many people saw it. I just, you know, it got distributed to TV and all these digital platforms and stuff. But nobody, you know, the screenwriter doesn't really get that granular kind of data. Maybe Seth knows, but yeah, I don't. What a fucking life, dude. That's crazy crazy so from there

what happened next so you did that and now what are you working on now you working on anything yeah well so this movie the original movie

that introduced Seth and me to each other so he just shot that so I haven't I haven't seen a frame of that

it wasn't on set I have no idea how that's going to turn out. But that's him and Charlize Theron. It's another political movie. You know, politically themed movie but very different. I don't think any

dictators have their faces melted in it. Although, I don't know. Was it Flarsky or something? Yes. Yes. Flarsky. Yeah. Although I don't think it'll be called that by the time it's out. That's pretty crazy. Yeah. I have notes here. A political journalist tries to hook up with his old babysitter.

Right. Right. Really? Yeah. It's a true story. I, Hillary Clinton was my babysitter and she and I actually had an affair. Nobody knows this. No, that's not what happened. But, but yeah, that, that was the original story. Hillary Clinton was my babysitter and she and I actually had an affair. Nobody knows this. No, that's not what happened. But yeah, that was the original story. So you wrote this or what? Yeah. So that was an original script that I wrote like probably eight or nine years ago now. Just the idea was like, what if some schlub, I didn't even have Seth necessarily in mind, goes and some nearly unemployed alcoholic schlub goes and tries

to pursue, you know, the most glamorous, powerful woman in the world or whatever. And so, so that became this. So we'll see. Somebody told me in the middle of all the interview, Misha Goss, that, you know, as, as frightened and panicked as you are now, your next movie, people will probably just ignore, like they ignore all the other movies and you'll, you'll miss these days. So how important is it to make a really good, like write a really good sophomore film?

Is that like in the music industry, the second record, right? Once you make a good one, the second one has to be even better for you to have like this, like longevity. Right. Is that the same in the movie industry?

I think it's different. I think for one thing, just getting a movie made is just such a big deal. There's so many writers that write screenplays and keep getting paid that they never get made. that write screenplays and keep getting paid, that they never get made. And so I think the spotlight really for movies is on the director. And, you know, if a director makes one movie... Have you directed anything?

I have not directed any movies, no. Do you want to? Yeah, maybe at some point, because ultimately screenwriters aren't really very powerful in the process. However, directing is just such a massive, massive time and energy commitment. I got a family now.

Is that different in the TV world? Well, in the TV world, as an executive producer, it's sort of the same thing. It's like you're running everything and in charge of everything. And it can be, depending on how efficient you are, it can be 15, 16-hour days, especially if you're in network TV,

which goes for 40 weeks a year. So eventually I'm going to have to, you know, if I want to have my vision realized, I'm going to have to run a show or I'm going to have to direct a movie. But I'm just sort of hiding out right now, writing more screenplays. I'm adapting a screenplay right now.

I'm adapting a book written by a guy who ran one of Donald Trump's casinos in Atlantic City. So, yeah. It's like a true story thing? Oh, yeah. It's a true story. Yeah.

Is it just like, what the fuck? Yeah. I mean, in a way, it's sort of, you know, an origin story. It's sort of the story of trump becoming the uh the guy that he is today um so it's just it's sort of a nightmare to write because i'm already sick of trump but yeah at least uh this is from a different phase of his life that's uh

uh where he was handsomer yeah um more hookers. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's, you know, you'll see. Yeah. Well, it's all out there. He wasn't... Oh, that fool was a stick. He wasn't very nice

to his first wife either. No, no, no. The patterns are old. So, yeah. So, I'm writing movies now and sort of try to lay low until I get my toddler into nursery school. Dan, what a fucking life.

It's some kind of life. Writer, producer, TV producer, write a movie that gets North Korea fucking pissed. They really didn't like it, actually. Yeah, it's quite a life. Man, I'm proud of you. I got one last question. I'll let you go.

We'll go have a cocktail somewhere. We're in Los Angeles. Get to see all my friends. But last question. Old, okay, dead or alive, if you can make the ultimate movie with whatever actors you want, we could put a genre on it if you want,

if you want to put a drama or comedy, any actor, old or alive, stars and co-stars, who would it be? Who would star in it? Well, you know. Should we go comedy? I would probably go comedy. I mean, what I would probably do, I would say probably Peter Sellers. I would probably just remake Dr. Strangelove.

Yeah? Yeah. How would you do it? How would you do it? How would you do it? I would exhume Peter Sellers from his grave, get a geneticist in right away. Who else? Peter Sellers, who else?

Who else would be in it? God, well... Who would be a good, like, supporting guy or a supporting girl? Well, I mean, I basically, you know, I want to cast people that are... You know, like Paul Giamatti, for a long time, I always thought would be my great avatar

because he's sort of like me. He plays a great grumpy guy who is irritated by most of the world. But I don't know because pretty much every month as my life evolves I have a new and that's the hard thing about movies is like you know

this movie that I wrote eight years ago whatever that just got shot like it was really interesting to me eight years ago but life has

way way moved on since then and movies are these long you know these long sort of simmering things but what about the girl lead give me the funnying things. What about the girl lead?

Give me the funny girl lead. Who would be the girl lead? Funny. Let's see. G-Love. You said G-Love. G-Love is special sauce. That'd be dope.

I went to high school with him. G-Love? Oh yeah, you went to Philly. That's right. Yeah, yeah. He was too.

He's a Philly guy. So who would be the girl? Who would be the girl? Well, I mean. Who would be the lead? That's like, who do you love He was too... He was a silly guy. So who would be the girl? Who would be the girl? Well, I mean... That would lead... That's like, who do you love that's so funny? I mean, I think Allison Janney. I mean, Allison Janney is an amazing actress

and she's great in so many different things and she can play, you know, a bipolar lunatic or, you know, a sexy executive or whatever. Who else do I like? God, you've got, you're catching me flat footed. I should have a huge, well, you know, casting was never my thing. Tell you what, you've, you only took one interview at NPR. Well, I guess Maggie Gyllenhaal is the other one.

I named my dog after Maggie Gyllenhaal. Oh, really? Yeah, I kind of. Maggie's awesome. I think she's great. I had a crush on her when I got my dog eight years ago.

They told me she was a rescue, so I needed to name her very quickly. Just named her Maggie. If Maggie Gyllenhaal hears this, she'll probably be creeped out by it. She probably won't be working. What's up, Maggie? How you doing, girl? Dan, thanks, man. Thanks for talking to me. What else?. She probably won't be working. What's up, Maggie? How you doing, girl? Dan, thanks, man.

Thanks for talking to me. What else? You got, I want to hear one more thing. I want to hear one more supporting actor and I want to know, that's all I want to know.

And I want to know, congratulations on your child, by the way. Thank you. Well, I will give a broad, there's certain things like everybody that was ever in The Wire to me is- The best.

Yeah. They were all amazing. And, you know, Handmaid's Tale, everybody who's in that is incredible. Oh, my God. Yeah. Don't watch that before a show. That fucked me up. No, no.

That's not a good get pumped up kind of show. But Elizabeth Moss is amazing. She's so good. Carrie Mulligan. Awesome. Gosh. I don't know.

I'm going to… Think about it. I'm going to go scan my brain. I'm going to… I'll record myself from home telling you all my favorites. Send me a voicemail. I'll put it on the pod. Awesome.

I will. Dan, thank you so much, brother. And also, thanks for inviting me to play your wedding, man. That's a big deal, man. He made my wedding. You have no idea. He turned it into a whole... He took it to a whole new level.

This was a star extravagant event. We had Sarah Silverman there. We had Forte there. I mean, you're a likable dude. Yeah. What can I tell you? Yeah, Forte did an amazing speech at my wedding. Silverman was dope.

Who was the co-host? Tall John Schrader. He writes for Bob's Burgers. Yeah, yeah. He is a hilarious dude. That was one of the most fun we ever had at a wedding. Because normally weddings are hit or miss. It depends on the crowd.

Sometimes the crowd is fucking stiff. Oh, shit. Here we go. I'm dry humping grandma. And everyone is disgusted by it. But your crowd. Grandma's at my wedding. We're all out there doing the heat.

Just tripping out. Dan, thank you, buddy. Thank you, sir. Let's go have a cocktail. Let's do it. And let's hang out. All right, man. All right, guys.

Have a good one. Now, a message from the out. Alright, man. Alright, guys. Have a good one. Now, a message from the UN. Hello, everybody and welcome to Dolab's Weekly Sportscast. He's talking shit about the game. He's got a weird fucking name. It's sports with Dolab.

And we got the NBA finals. The fucking rematch. Everyone did not want to see a rematch of the rematch of the NBA finals. The fucking rematch. Everyone did not want to see. A rematch. A rematch of the rematch. The Cavs and the Warriors meeting the finals again for the fourth straight year. For a fourth fucking time. That should be the Utah Jazz.

The Boston Celtics. Fucking ratings. There's a conspiracy against Utah winning a fucking game. But the NBA is fucking rigged. But on the other side, the Cavs... Fuck the Cavs. And the fucking Cavs. And they're gonna get their ass whoop out of the Warriors.

Now the Warriors... They're pretty good. Fuck the Warriors. They can all suck my fucking dick. Utah Jazz, but no. You should be in the fucking finals. World champion. It's Sports with Dolav.

This is bullshit. Wee-wee. Another one bites the dust. sweet this is a bullshit not the one bites the dust and another one interviews for days this'll be archived for children to be in the library of congress yeah people have to have our masturbation everything's at the library that's coming up

what Everything's in the library. Yeah, it's going to be in the library. We don't know much about their civilization other than this act called masturbation. Listen to this excerpt from a podcast from 2018 between a man and a creature named Yeti. Guys, I don't know what else we could talk about today. I feel like we've already disgraced you enough with our date rules. You know, when masturbation's lost its touch. Yeah. I don't know what else we could talk about today. I feel like we've already disgraced you enough with our dangerous rules. When masturbation's lost its touch.

Yeah. It's a green day. There it is. Guys, that's it. Subscribe. Follow us on, where are we? Instagram. We're on Twitter.

We're on Facebook. Frasco and Yeti. Twitter. Stitcher. Stitcher. iTunes. Everywhere. Wherever you get your podcasts. Frasco and Yeti. World saving podcast. FrascoandYeti. Spotify. Stitcher. Stitcher. iTunes. Everywhere. Wherever you get your podcasts.

Frasco and Yeti. World saving podcast. FrascoandYeti.com. Guys, it's always been fun. We're in. We're in for the long haul now. We are in for the fucking long haul. Are you ready, partner?

We're approaching it. Are you ready, partner? Yeah. Yeah. Let's do it. That was the worst high five ever. Shut this episode off. All right, guys.

Love you. Be safe. Come here. Thank you for listening to episode 10 of Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast with Yeti. Produced by Andy Fresco, Yeti, and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For more info on the show, please head to our Instagram at Fresco and Yeti. For more info on the blog and tour dates, head to AndyFresco.com.

For more information on our guests, Dan Sterling. Head to Twitter at Dan Sterling. That would be D-A-N-S-T-E-R-L This week's special guests are Pizza Steve, Sean Eccles, Andy Avila, Dolof Cohen and Arnold Bakker. This was episode 10, but there is lots more to come.