Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Matt Friend (impressionist)

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Matt Friend (Grace Period, The Simpsons, Family Guy) is a stand-up comedian, impressionist, and actor. Matt joins the Armchair Expert to discuss exploring whether he’s enough beyond his voice in a new stand-up hour, his sister’s characterization of him as a glorified parrot, and roasting Trump to his face at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Matt and Dax discuss whether there might be a neurodivergence component to his impression skills, doing celebrities to themselves on the Golden Globes red carpet, and humoring the team by welcoming a few yet-to-be friends of the pod. Matt explains where he believes his compulsion towards mimicry comes from, being one of the first people in the world to be completely cured of food allergies, and the last time he cried.Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert. I'm Milton Burrell here with Barbara Walters. Hello. I'm just kidding. I'm Dachshepard, outrageously in shape.

Yeah, you're looking good today. I've been reading and researching this kid, Matt Friend. He's a funny guy on Instagram, been seeing him all over, red carpets, stand up touring. Cool. And my fitness, wellness journey, getting jacked and taking creatine. That's why are you bringing up your creatine? Well, because I can feel the creatine in my system. Okay.

Do you think you might have an unexpected eback? Well, we are presented by Ziproo. Okay. Let's get into the other. Please enjoy Matt Frey, Matt Fren. Good Leaf microgreens, where do I even start? I'm Chef Andy Hay from Andy's East Coast Kitchen, and I'm telling you, these tiny greens are a salad game changer.

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Hey, how are you? This is crazy. Yes, and he just worked with Seth Green. Seth Green keeps finding himself in these situations where he's with people that are way too tall. I mean, including his wife. Yes, Clare's tall. Just owning it, which we love.

Yeah. He's the original short king. I mean, he's a fucking stud. Total. That's so true. This is so crazy. This is crazy. Tell me why.

Well, are we starting? Yeah, we're always starting. Well, the reason this is crazy. Am I being blocked on camera? They have to see my face, right? Can you see me? Can you see, oh, we've a camera over there? The reason this is crazy.

Because you've got to manifest things in life. I have a tweet. I think we can pull it up. No. I tweeted at you. How many retweets to be on an episode of Armchair Expert Pod? And you responded, I'm modest 900K. No.

So that's real. I am a legit fan. Okay. You can fact check that because that is a real tweet. Also, Matt, that's March of 2018. So we had been at it for a month. Is that crazy? You're like first through the door.

I mean, come up. Day one listener? I mean, this is back when I was. on Twitter. This is a blast from the past. And before we get into it, welcome, welcome, welcome. Yeah, do you do a mean?

Well, you do this thing with words that at an I-N-G, you go, been reading and researching and writing. I need to close my eyes. Oh, it's not great yet. Just close your eyes. Reading. That was you.

Oh, okay, okay. You go. We are presented by Tropical Smoothie. Get your tropical smoothie. You know who else does it? One of your frequent guts, Bill Gates does that. He'll be like, well, great to be reading and researching with cats and Monica. That was really good.

He sounds like Kermit the Frog. He does. So he's got a Kermit theme going. I do him as Kermit too, and then I feel like, is that justifying? No, it is. Yeah. I've got a few go-to sayings of his idea. This is great.

I can't believe I'm here right now. This is a hallucinator. I can't believe you've been. No, no, no, no. Let's hope not. You're too tall and handsome and healthy to be a make-a-wish. Now, since you've been here since the beginning, are you sad? We're not upstairs?

A little bit. Yeah. But this is cool. This is the newer, wondery deal experience. That's right. Clearly, we're making a lot of money here. This is so cool. And before we get started to, I'm Walter Cronkite here with Barbara Walter.

I'm sorry. I don't know. Do you know all of your stuff? I love it. You can do the whole show by yourself. Yeah, I would love it. Probably like a lot of people, I'm just suggested reels. I'm wasting some time on Instagram.

and I start seeing you over and over again. And I reached out to the team and I was like, we gotta find this guy and get him in. But we're very late to the party. You've been on everything. Yeah. I'm getting there. Was Kimmel the first person?

Basically, I was doing stand up in college at NYU and then graduated in COVID in 2020. Finished my last semester of NYU at home, graduated on Zoom, which was a lot of fun. What is a Zoom graduation? It was highly depressing. Is everyone in a grid? It was in a grid.

We had classes online. Because you have to wear a cap and gown on Zoom. I think I did, and I walked up and down my street that I grew up on in Chicago. Like, did you like a fake graduation walk? It was so depressing. Yeah. But then we got to make it up at NYU Yankee Stadium two years later. Oh, cool.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Who was your commencement speech? So we had this poet who died, and then the year before got Taylor Swift. So we got a little double screw. Okay, wait. Monica can't stop reading that out loud. Bill Cosby canceled.

That's too bad. He's notoriously very funny. And good at commencement speeches. Yeah, but I've read that commencement speech. I think only one time. You act like I've... Yeah, I've read it on the fact check, and I'd like to read it every couple weeks. She cues it up a lot.

Let's do we agree on the fact that you cue it up a lot. I would like to read it more, and it gets shut down. We decided she'd like to do it quarterly. That would feel good. You had a poet who passed? Yeah, she died. I think like a year. You can fact check this.

This is a good fact check. Thank you. I don't really remember exactly. the graduation speech. But anyways, graduated in COVID, and during that time I was posting on TikTok and on Instagram and building a platform, just uploading videos, me and my phone,

doing impressions of Sebastian Manaskelko and Barack Obama and political and actors, Jeff Goldblum. And I would do celebrities putting on face masks. And that was like a little series I did. So I would do like Rami Malik, like, oh my God, this mask. It's so delirctable.

Like just getting really weird with it. Like a moisturizing face mask? Yes. Oh, that's a good friend. Yeah, it's great. Who is your favorite of that series? Probably Goldblum, because he's so animated, and I feel like I'm kind of having a mild orgasm whenever I do him.

Oh, fine. Very good to be here. Armchair expert, Monica Padman. Dag Shepherd, of course. Christian Bell, very wonderful woman. Places Shiksa, a little show, of course, dating a hot rabbi. Yes, yes. I don't know.

What is his little... It's like moving his fingers. How long could you stretch out a face mask video? I could do that for an hour. There were 30-second videos, but they started to blow up, and then different shows started to have me on over COVID. Like, Kimmel showed my stuff in The Today Show. Then I moved back to New York, started to do more stand-up.

I did my first hour attempt. And then last year, just a lot of things started to happen, performed at the White House Correspondence dinner. Wow. Voices on Simpsons and Family Guy. It's a great in a movie with Seth Green. Wild stuff. Yeah. When did you do the correspondence?

That was last year. Colin Joe's headlined, and then they had me get up in the middle of the room and do like three minutes. Who'd you do? What'd you do? I did Trump, McConnell, Obama, and Bernie Sanders. Boy, were you scared? Well, it was weird because they'd never had another comedian in addition to the headliner before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's a correspondent center that has a headlining comedian, roast the president in the room. Then they had me before Colin Joe.

So I don't even ever really talked about this. Great to be doing it on Armchair experts. See it on Truth Social after the show. I was at the correspondence dinner, and the premise was I get up not on the podium, standing in the middle of the room, like 4,000 people. Right. Light comes on me, and then I do four impressions. And the hook was, I'm Trump reacting to a viral moment of when Obama roasted him years ago

at the correspondence dinner, which many say was the starting point of the Trump campaign. I know you had Seth Myers on recently, and Seth was. roasting Trump, too. So then I was supposed to react to that moment and be like, great to be at this failing dinner with so many losers on the left, on the right, terrible people. And by the way, I have to say,

I love this podcast, we love the Indians, we love the whites, the great people. J.D. Vance, we love you too, probably. And then I went to Obama and McConnell. He loved the whites. But it was a strange thing because, A, my level of fame is at a certain point where I'm very aware of it.

I'm not Jimmy Fallon. So a lot of people are like, who is this person? Yeah, yeah. Right. So it's one thing when you're Seth Myers and you go into a room like that and people are more ready for it. But a lot of people were thinking, what is happening right now? It was so crazy because everyone from the most conservative Republican

to the most liberal person, they're all there. They're all afraid to laugh. And then I got lucky because it cut to Scarlett Johansson when I was doing a Mitch McConnell impression. Oh, great. And she was letting it. And I was like, it's great to be at the dinner. I actually brought these wherever I go, I'd travel with these.

and I just said, it's great to be here. You do look like him. Then it cut to her, and she was laughing, and Lauren Michaels went like this. Oh, that must cool. When she was laughing, you gave permission to everyone else to let it rip. I think so.

I mean, the clip, it looked great, and it was a surreal experience. Biden was 40 feet away for me. That's so cool. I think what's interesting about that dinner, and you've been an experience it, is it's like the homecoming dance. The reporters are the stars that night,

and they're bringing fans. And then also these famous politicians, it's like this weird cross-pollination of every type of fame. It's bizarre. And then in any room, you're trying to figure out like, just as a monkey, you do this. Who has the status here? Is Jake Tapper a butt? You know. Right.

It is weird because unlike the Oscars or an award show, it's the people running the world. It's not necessarily just an actor. It's the Secretary of State is sitting there. That's what's so fascinating about it is one has objectively more sway over the world. And true power, yet this shiny, flashy thing can trump that. I think that's what's so interesting is you've got someone who's like pretty good on a sitcom is somehow outshining the Secretary of State, which is just funny. It is.

It's an important tradition. I think they didn't have a comedian this year, which I thought was a mistake. Yeah. I feel like if we lose our ability to start poking fun at those in power. Why didn't they have a comedian? What did they have? I think their argument was that it's such a serious time that we have to really focus on journalism and what really matters.

But isn't any time super serious? Yeah, in fact, if it's a silly time, maybe we get in this parlet or something. Yeah. The poet. Yeah, you always got to have comedy. The posthumous poet. I want to headline. That's my dream to do that.

Okay. Really quick. What is this? You just did me. I mean, this guy, it's unbelievable. You are an outrageous shape. I see it online. And you look fantastic, too.

Thank you. I feel this is unfair. You do. You look amazing. I should wear. I should have worn a tighter. It's the arms. Very armchair expert, yeah.

Would you say with impersonation, Could you bracket it into, okay, the base of this is like, it's this kind of a thing? Because when I hear you do me, what I'm hearing is this is in the nasal category. You have a nasal. Well, it's a deeper, welcome, welcome to our chair expert. Moni was talking to me about it. When Brad was on the show, I was saying, wow, I couldn't believe that story. I got to close my eyes again.

You know, so you can't look at me when I do anything, and of course, you can't look at you. You are presented by Trojan. We are. Yeah, I need to hear them back to back. Okay. You say a sentence and then that's repeat. Okay, okay, okay, okay. We are supported by ZipRecruiter, Ow.

ZipRecruiter, ow. Get recruiting. Get recruiting. That was good. Of course, the difference is one of us gets 60 million to do that. The other one is just here for free, which is great. I would say that's a problem. That's an example of my Trump Tourette's, by the way.

Lean into your Trump turrets as much as you want. Because you can say anything you want in his voice. So I do it to say things that I could not say as myself. Exactly. It's a great smokescreen. Rogan had Trump on and got apparently 100 million views. So we could use those. True.

Well, isn't Christian a beauty? She's a beauty, right? Yeah. We love Christian. Oh, we love a skinny blonde. That's great. Back to the mechanics of it. Are you hearing something you realize like, oh, that's in this.

pocket or that's in this pocket. I don't even really think about it. It just happens, right? My sister, Nina, called me a glorified parrot. I've been doing it since I was four years old. Like, I watched Austin Powers. Speaking of Seth Green, that's the movie that got me, like, obsessed with comedy. And then I just started to mimic people and I love actors and just to replicate movie scenes.

Sometimes I'll just hear a voice. I'll just start to work on it. And then it all kind of come out. You just said Tourette's, and I literally wrote that down. Yeah. I'm wondering, do you have Mimic Terrette? My wife has it, because my wife is a mimic. And when we're watching TV, we're watching, like, The Crown.

Oh, yes, I do, yes. So we're watching it, and I just hear her. She's trying not to let me hear, and she'll go, Oh, yeah. She has to do it if she hears that. I'm glad you brought that up, because with the Crown, their voices are so weird. Charles in the show, none of their words have any spaces.

They're all one word. I was doing a bit in COVID of King Charles singing wet-ass pussy by Cardi B. Okay, let's hear that. From the top, you could make a drop that's a nice, moist, and tight widdice pussy. It sounds so classy what you say. It's like served on a dish. Wittes pussy, indeed, yes, of course, yes.

I think they say the word yes, E-A-R-S, like ears. Oh, yeah. It's strange. I met Dominic West at the Golden Globes, and he did Charles. Yeah. We did like a Charles off, and he was, oh, the words go together, you know, strange.

It is weird. But when you're in bed with a man or a woman, a woman. Well, whatever you want, yeah, woman. Any safe port in a storm, are you... Am I mimicking? Well, in my stand-up hour, I talk a lot about that. Tell me a little bit. In the hour, there is that question of do I do voices when I'm having a sexual experience?

Oh. And? And, well, I guess you've got to come to the show to find out. Or match with me on riot. But the thesis of my hour that I'm working on now and my stand-up is my voice enough. Am I enough? Without the impression, will people like me? for me. And we explore that in the hour. Yeah, you interviewed Hank Azaria on your show. Yes,

he was my dad's college roommate, which is wild. Tuffs? Yeah, tough. And your dad is also Matthew Perry's dad? No, no. Why didn't say that on Wikipedia? That would be wild. Sadly, I'm not a Nepo baby. Damn it. Hold on that. I literally read this. You read, I think you're on a janky wiki, because I read his wiki and I did not see that. I think there's much on my Wikipedia yet. Okay, it wasn't on Wikipedia. It was just when I googled you. Yeah. One of the questions I came up is who is your father, and it said... Oh, I know how this happened.

How did this happen? Because Hank's area is one of his best friends was Matthew Perry. Yes. And his other best friend is his dad. They were close, yeah. So the AI is like, oh, I can put these together. Interesting. Right?

That has why we shouldn't be trusting AI. Exactly. That has to be how it happened. But, no, they were friends in college. And then Hank, that was a huge inspiration growing up. I didn't know what acting was and comedy. I grew up in Chicago. I didn't have a show business family.

What did your dad do? He's in finance. Can't you tell by looking at me? Kind of. You have a finance vibe. Yeah. Thank you. You also have the vibe of the super cute actor you love.

Oh, Zach. Yeah. You do. Zach who? Zach. Oh, my God. You're not getting a date now. We did hot ones yesterday and my brain doesn't work today.

I couldn't get in the gate earlier. Oh, you couldn't. Yeah, this is bad. Did you have a fiery shit? I don't want to talk about it. Okay, I did. We did Hawkins versus. This is amazing.

Zach Woods. Jesus Christ. Oh, you got him like Zach Woods. You're like Zach Woods. You have a vibe. Yeah, he's kind of like kind of talks like that, right? A little bit. He was in Silicon Valley.

He was in Silicon Valley, yeah. He has a great Instagram account. Yeah, he does. Oh, my God. It's so funny. But it's a vibe. It's an archetype now. Okay.

And girls love it. So congrats. Thank you. Well, I'm trying to get jacked. I mean, I have a trainer now. This guy Don Saladino who does Ryan Reynolds. I don't believe that. You have a trainer named John Stone.

Don Saladino. He's a fitness trainer. That sounds like a builder of speedboats. He does like Sebastian Stan. I think you would like him, actually, but you don't need a trainer. Why do you want to look like this? Because he looks great. Define great. Well, I mean, he looks in shape. It's also feeling a certain way. Okay, that's what I want to be strong. I love how I feel.

So you want to feel confident. So my guy, Don's got me on this program, and I'm going to get ripped. Tell me about the program. I mean, I'm lifting. He's got this Deadpool program, as he calls it. Oh, okay. Trying to get little Dack Shepherd shredded. Wow. A lot of protein, creatine, weight.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, great, great. I'll keep you posted. Here's my hunch. I bet you and I have the same motivation, which is I bet you are super tall and skinny. As was I. I think I am. Well, no, you look completely proportional, but I bet when you were 15, he looked insane. Did you look insane?

Scroni. Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. So I think if you grew up tall and skinny, you, good job. Yeah, because not everyone seeks to be huge. Look like Schwarzenegger. Right. So there's a reason.

True. And that is probably the reason. But back to voices. Hold on, this is good. You know what the show is about. It's about this. You're doing great. 6.4? 6.3 and a half, roughly?

If you're 6.3 and a half, then I'm 6.1 and a half. Yeah, because you are much taller. Yeah, yeah. Unless the muscles are shrinking you. Compacting my spine. They might be. This is a cautionary tale. Compacting my spine.

So would you put my voice in the Owen Wilson umbrella? Wow. You've got a little bit of that, almost jank tampery right here, Sienna and Jake Tamper. Like you do have kind of a nasal, but a deep nasal. Deep nasal. Like Howard Stern is all the way down here. Yeah, I want to talk to Howard. I want to do a fun thing, which is you could fulfill a lot of wishes. We didn't talk about the sex in bed, though. Oh, yeah. Let's talk about sex in bed.

Do I do voices in bed? Yes. That's, I explore that, yeah. I do have a bit in my hour that a girl didn't want to have sex with me. She wanted to be with Trump. Oh. Oh, you can fulfill kinks. And she's like, I want you to talk dirty to me. And I'm like, excuse me? She goes, I want you to call me nasty. Like, what?

And then she goes, I want you to call me a dog. I'm like, what? And then she goes, I want you to grab me by in the pussy. And I'm like, oh, my God, she doesn't want to be with me. She wants me with Donald Trump. And then I started freaking out and crying and hyperventilating. And I go into my bathroom, I splash cold water on my face. I'm like, this most violate HIPAA.

I'm not Daniel DeLewis. I'm about a method actor. Go back into my bedroom and I look at her. I say, you know what, you really hurt my feelings. And let me just tell you. I am going to build a wall around this pussy so big. Going to eat that ass like a burrito bowl at Trump Tower and bang you, China like China.

Thank you very much. That's a little comedy twist. Bang you, China like China. That's not really necessarily true. So we have the same thing, mine is Frito. So when I want to say the most toxic things in my head, I let Frito from idiotocracy. Just do the talking. Like I can talk to you.

Oh, look at this guy's so tall. Not a lot sausage. That's amazing. But it's funny, like, instead of to explore all of these other, like, hypothetical and funny, because my voice, people think I'm telling a joke all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No one knows when I'm not telling a joke. I was on a day with a girl, and she's like, are you trying to be funny?

I'm like, I just ordered a gazpacho. I was like, look at the gazpacho right after commercial. I always sound like I'm delivering major breaking news. I mean, gazpacho is a funny food, though. It is. It is, it's hard to say. But, yeah, your voice on its own is so distinct that it is interesting. Does your dad have this voice?

No. I don't really know where this came from. Yeah. Okay. Back to Tourette's. Do you have to silence yourself when you're watching a movie with a friend? No. It's not like a tick.

I can control it. I mean, the other dicey thing I want to ask you is do you think it's such a unique gift? We just don't see it on this level very often. Do you think it's associated with any neurodivergence or anything? I have absolutely no idea. That's an Eric Topal question. And I don't mean to offend. I'm just, it's like, so unique.

I can't help but wonder, is it tied to anything? It's interesting. I just met Seth McFarlane at the premiere of his new movie. Yes. We love it. I said, like, you're my idol. I love you. He goes, with that voice, how is Peter Jennings not your idol?

And like, we were going back and forth, and it was kind of crazy because he is a similar thing. Yes. I watched you guys. It was really eerie and uncanny. But I don't know if there's a neurodivergence component to it. It's definitely a talent, though. Thank you. It's not something that everyone, if practiced, could do.

It's like singing. Can you sing? I can sing. I wonder if there's a connection there. You sang with Boubley. Yeah. And it sounded beautiful. What song?

We did. I'm not surprised. Not everything last. What was the song I did with him? Like, out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plum. Du-bida, buda-da-da-da-da. You came along and everything started to hum. Baby birds flying high

You know how I feel Sun in the sky You know how I'm chair expert feels Breeze drifting on Monica You know how Dax feels So I was doing him next to him One thing I really want to do this coming year Is a musical album and get celebs to make a cameo

I want you on there Yeah Well, I won't be asked to sing, will I? We'll figure it out You've been polite so far. You've only done Dax, but I want to hear me. If I could adjust my vocal cords to do that, it would be incredible. Too high.

I'm going to study you more. Too high. It'd be tough. Is it high? I do Jennifer Coolidge. That's like the only woman that I can really eat. Let's hear of Coolidge. I did this at the Golden Gloves on the red carpet.

I did Jennifer Coolidge after sipping on a cold drink. Okay. I just go. Oh. Oh, God. Oh, it tastes so good. That, like, broke the internet because people didn't know that she had a regular speaking voice, and she was responding to me, like, oh, it's good to see you. And, like, she sounded kind of normal.

Yes. Yes. A monica will be tough. I got to work on you. Interesting. Phelan did your laugh. He said I have a few laughs, and he did a few of them. But he was more mastering, again, if you break down all the elements to an impersonation, what Phelan could do perfectly was the cadence and rhythm of the thing.

He does do that. of it, not necessarily this own. I interned for him. Wallet and my... Yeah. Did you interact with him at all? I wasn't allowed to. He was amazing, but like there was such stress as an intern, like to not look at...

Yeah. Don't bother anyone. Like if Dak Shepard is coming on the show, don't look at him. You could look at him, but like, just keep a distance. Yeah. Don't stare, maybe. Yeah, and I kind of get it, though. It's like, you're about to go on national TV.

It's a big deal. You can't have some kids fanning out. What was your fantasy of that experience versus what it was when you did it? My fantasy of the experience was that someone would find out that I could do it. Of course. Got to get this guy in the show, bud. This is crazy. That's exactly what I would be thinking.

I said I was getting salad. Yeah. And then you never really got to interface. No, but I did just see him at the premiere of Happy Gilmore. And he was like, you got to come on the show, bud. Oh, yeah. But I'm here. This is the dream.

This is our intro expert. God, yeah. Let's stop talking about other shows. This is the show. Seriously. I hope I'm delivering. I want to deliver on here. You ever thinking about that?

Like, you're in a moment like this. Whenever I do it. anything like this, I will be in the car after this thinking, oh, my God, I should have said this. I could have done this. And you know what? It is the worst. And you can't avoid that. That is the beginning.

I always have it. It's just the beginning. No, it'll pass. And it seems unimaginable. You think it'll pass? It will pass. But it's almost good to have that mindset. Then you might not deliver in the moment.

I'm going to give you the Bill Murray quote I watched on Letterman, which I thought, God, I wish I had heard that younger. And even maybe I would have heard it and I wouldn't be able to accept it. But Letterman said to him, how have you been so consistently great for 30 years? Like, you started a comedic genre that everyone's still doing. And he said, if I can just relax, I know it'll come. Bill said that. Interesting.

And I was like, oh, could I work from that level of confidence? I don't have to force anything to happen. If I can chill and relax and breathe, I can do the thing. I can counterpunch. That's a thing. I can be relaxed. Like, I feel relaxed right now. Yeah.

Yeah. But I will still be thinking, what else could I have said? After. Yeah. That's why I started therapy recently, Dex. Did you? Good job. I did.

Better help? What? Welcome. Welcome. Yeah, well, welcome. Welcome. A better help. Wait, but I think you will over time not feel that every time you leave a place, but there will

always be a place where you'll leave and have that. Like, the stakes will just get higher and higher. Well, you're already doing White House. It's kind of a crappy part of human nature. I wanted to come on this podcast for so long. And I'll be like, oh, what did I miss? Over time, it's like, you're just returning to places. It doesn't have the stakes of it.

And then you've also earned a bit of a reputation. It's like, yeah, I could go on Kimmel next week and not be that good. I've been good on it many times. Even more importantly, as self-realization, actualization is like, and I'm still lovable if I'm fine. I'm presenting at something on Saturday. And I read the script. And he's like, please punch it up if you want.

And I did have the thought I was like, or not, maybe just go and I say what was written. And then I go home and I have a great night. This is post-wondry deal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you're 1,000% right. I've been given some blessings. But I do think you can get to that mental space without that. Yeah.

And I think you're more attractive when you're in that mental space. There is a neuroticism that comes with comedy. You have to be a little bit on edge in a certain capacity to get, whether it's a funny viral moment at an award show or to do an hour of stand-up comedy in the middle of the... To make different audiences laugh. Yeah. You have to maintain a little bit of it, but I do think you can be relaxed. But even so, like, I made notes on this before the show.

Like, these are some things that I want to hit. Of course. Like, let's not forget you had Obama on here. We got to talk about it. Oh, wow, that's an interesting cake. Oh. I go more Kermit with my Obama, as you know. Well, most of yours are Kermit.

Like, we're going to be honest. Can I do my Obama for you? Go ahead. Vax. Sasha. Malia, Michelle. We love the good place. It's not that good.

With Obama, there are really three modes to his voice. Yeah, tell me. There's Obama when he would make a speech. He'd be very stern. He would look to a crowd and he would say, Tonight, more than 200 years. After a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward.

It moves forward because of you. It moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over our nation through war and depression. The belief that each, okay. And then there's Obama when he would be with kids and his voice would get higher pitched at the White House, Halloween. What are you dressed up as? You are a fairy. That is so cute. Come on, that.

That is really good. And then there's the Broie Obama. Yeah, at the White House. King James and stuff. With an NBA team. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He would be like, LeBron James is here. LeBron, he is the second best player to wear the number 23.

Come on, no. So that's great. Thank you. You know what? Can I tell you something? Yeah. The look on Monica's face, she reserves it for when she's seeing great magic. Yeah, that's how it feels to me.

You guys had him on. I got to meet him last year before the DNC in Chicago. That turned out well. I was invited to meet. Say it again? Yeah, seriously. I was invited to meet Obama in Chicago. So I almost missed it because my flight was delayed.

I was freaking out. His team invited me and a couple other creators to do a video with him in an effort to get out the vote. Yes. So I go to this hotel in Chicago. You would never know he was there. There was some security. But then I go up to the 15th floor.

Suddenly I'm brought to this waiting room. There's Secret Service casually all over the place. And then I'm brought to this waiting room, 40 minutes pass, brought to this. this other room, I guess Michelle walked by and I missed her, then I go into this hotel room and it's very well lit. The light is pouring in and Obama is just standing there. And there is probably his assistant and one guard and that's the only people in the room. It felt like I was hallucinating. Like he's standing there. Hearing his voice, it felt like it was

coming through a TV screen. Yeah, yeah. And then he looks at me and he goes, Matt, what are we going to do today? Michelle, we've seen some of your videos. It's good. That's funny. He always brings Michelle into it. Yes. Anything he told me, which is smart, by the way. Hot kettle.

My God. Smart. As he should. Yeah. Every other is that it involves Kristen, which is very, very sweet, but we cannot.

Probably why I noticed it. Throw stones. Exactly. I'm more suspicious of his because his is like, you know, Michelle. Malaya. Malaya.

Malaya. We love the good place. And I'm like, does he or did he hear his daughters and his wife love? Yeah. Is she his, his source of all pop culture.

I don't know. Or is it just he adores her. Same. But it was crazy. I did him next to him. And then I just did like his three greatest hits. Like when he made a jump shot, he was, that's what I do. Thank you.

When I interviewed him, I challenged him on that. Did you? I said that was a dick move. You're there to try to support Biden. Biden can't fucking make a jump shot. You drop it from the three. You can't do that. No, but it was a great video.

It was. It was a great video. It was a great video. For Obama, yeah. It was. Yeah, it was a great. It's crazy. Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

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side of my neck. Yeah. I don't know why that is. But your face contorts. Becomes him. When I was with him, I had my McConnell glasses and I pitched him in one last idea. I was like, Barack, it's going to be with you again. It really is. And then he backs the way. You got to put those away. That is giving me PTSD. Oh my God. It was insane. Then I debated him as Trump. Okay, now here's an interesting question. I did write it now. Go ahead. Is it dicey to do black famous people?

If you're doing some racist parody, that's a different situation. If I'm trying to do it one person instead of like a whole race of people, that's a separate conversation. But if I can do a vocally accurate Denzel impression, I can't really do a Denzel. But then that's a separate conversation. Whereas if you're parodying like a stereotypical Indian or black voice, I think that's a different conversation. That's where you get into hot water. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

That's correct. Yeah. Can you do God? Morgan Freeman? Morgan Freeman. Not really, but I can try. John Doe has the upper hand. It's not great.

Okay, so the wish fulfillment you can give us is that we have a list of guests that we still can't get. They elude us. And I was curious if we could talk to some of those people. Let's see who you got. Well, Stern, of course. I would love to have Stern on. Well, here's what, here's, let me tell you something about this. Right.

So they told me, people thought my show was getting canceled. that I was going to go away. I thought that. I read that. And I canceled serious. I'm interviewing you now. Oh, even better.

So Monica, you're a beautiful woman. You got great skin. Thanks. I've always had a thing for Indian babes. Really? Baby.

Wow. Let me ask you this. Right. Flattering. Is there any sexual chemistry? I mean, obviously you have Christian. She's a great wife. Yeah, yeah.

Was there ever a moment where you guys looked at each other? You said, we got a thing going on here. Oh, our way. Just sorry, not yet. Never crossed your mind once, right? Nothing. Not even a kiss. No, not yet.

But we have a couple more years. By the way, not me. That was a Howard question. That was a Howard question. You got to tap it in the mind of the person. You had him on. When you do the fact, check, does it ever drive you crazy? Right.

When some of these guests, they say so much shit, you're like, Brad, I don't give a shit. You don't know what you're talking about. Right. Robin, do you want to bang Dax? You want to bang it, right? Robin wants to bang you. Sorry, go ahead. Wow.

You've been at a turn, right? Yes. And did you chat with him as Howard? Yeah. It's like a recurring bit where the hook word with Howard is the word right. So I go, great to see you, right, right, right. Right, right. Robin Wright has some cards, right, right, right.

Frank Lloyd, right, right, right, right versus wrong, right, right, right, right. What's right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. Howard Stern is just Alan Alda for MASH, but a little deeper. Yeah, yeah. Alan Alde is up here. He's a little bit like a square than Howard, you pull it back, you get Howard, right? That's that, yeah. Oh, my God.

It's phenomenal, isn't it? It's phenomenal, yeah. It's world class. Do you see Howard interviewing Trump recently? It was just not so. Oh, they used to be friends. Yeah, he was out all the time. Yeah, Howard goes, you're in the prime of your life.

Anybody you wouldn't bang, how low are you going to go? You have an age limit, Donald? Well, I probably wouldn't go down to 14. Oh, my God. And then he just stops talking. And I'm thinking, does that mean like 15 in terms on the table? Yeah. It's strange.

Wow. If you just learn what Mesopotamia is, I'm probably fine with it, okay? I think he all. Also had some really long descriptions of how beautiful his daughter was when he would be on stern. I think a lot of those clips from true. What's the next guess? Okay, keep it moving.

Okay, so someone I've written like three love letters to begging him to do the show is my all-time acting hero, Nicholas Cage. I wanted to come on armchair to be with you. Monica excites me to a level I've never experienced before. Jack Shepherd Jack Shepherd Armchair

What a platform Stop staring at me You sexy dill So I did Nick Cage Also on the carpet of the Golden Globes And then people like Who is this young woman that he's with? It was his ad Asian wife

Okay His hat Asian wife He's with this 19 year old Asian woman Who is his girlfriend Interesting So let me So you stay in Nick Cage I didn't say it

Trump said it You guys are. You just, you're tricky. You're saying horrible. No, and not saying it. It's true. This is the thing. It's unfair.

We all should be able to have. You should develop an alter ego. Nick Kroll has several on his show. That's right. Yeah, it's a great. But it's unfair to us who can't manipulate our voices. So stay in Nick Cage, because I just have some questions for. What do you want to ask me?

It's not great, but could be better. You famously bought a bunch of castles, yeah? Yeah, I love a castle. I put the ass in castle. What about your snakes? Are they still with us? Do you have a big snake right here? Oh, I meant.

Sign the Declaration of a Dependence with this snake. Who is an anaconda? Snake, armchair, expert! Yeah. Not great. Okay. No, it's nice. I like it.

Not great. Okay, now I want to be really thoughtful and careful. No, I know where this one's going. Do you guess? Is it Bill? Yeah. He produced. Or does produce?

I did a podcast. We've kind of stopped it. Go ahead. Bill, who, Mark? Bill Mark. Yeah, I was doing a show and doing a different thing now. But he's a nice guy. Yeah, so I would like to ask Bill some questions.

Okay, go. Let me just say, you know what the problem is with armchair expert? Nothing. Oh, thank you. It's great. Thanks, Bill. Whether you're on the left, whether you're on the right, we're all wrong. And it's great.

Go ahead. What's the question? That was nice. Thank you. You seem to get pretty angry at the audience when your joke doesn't go exactly. as planned. I guess my main question is why so angry at them. Okay, new rule, right? If you're going to have a guest on your own show, maybe don't be a dick, okay? This is what really pisses me off. Oh, this really pisses me off. Let's hear it. About the left. The left isn't the right, and the right isn't the left. And that's what drives me crazy, right? Yeah, it's hard. But with Donald, I had dinner with him. They were so mad at me. Larry David, op at dinner with Hitler. You know what?

Not true. And I would have died with Hitler if there was an option. He would have liked me. We would have had fun. You know why? Because I'm a Jew who can make him laugh. Okay? It's all on the lip smack with Bill now.

He goes, he goes, oh, thank you. Thank you. Oh, my God. I've never noticed a lip smack until you just did it. He does. Oh, great. New rule.

Wrong. So right. Oh, my God. But what's interesting is... He did produce a show with you, but he didn't like your impersonation. No, I think he did. He goes, like, you make me too flamboyant, right? I think hetero me up, okay?

Butch me up. Right? Some guys are like that with it. But he was a great sport about it. I think he liked it. I've only heard a couple people do me. Do me? Yeah.

Me, me. Okay, you're very talented. Thank you. I think you could fine-tune this. No, there's no question I can. Yeah. It's not exactly right. No, no, it's not exactly right.

I'm going to tell you, but we have a fun clip of them. John Krasinski does a version of me, and he did it in front of a group of people, and they laughed uncontrollably, and I was not offended. I just like, I don't hear my own voice out. You know who's eluded me?

Who? Is John Krasinski's brother-in-law? Oh, Emily Blunt's brother? Felicity's husband. Oh, Stanley Tucci. He was another guy who did love. Did he not love? He hasn't really commented on the impression.

Stan hasn't really commented on the impression, but I'm at the Golden Globes. I've done it three years in a row, red carpet. I interview. It's a crazy atmosphere. Yeah. All the celebrities, they're coming. I'm not a red carpet host interviewer. I'm a comedian they placed on the carpet.

Unbelievable experience. My friend Jeremy works at Dick Clark, put me on the carpet, took a chance on me. And now here we are. The exposure is unbelievable. I talked to Nick Cage. Paul Giamani. That was the one that pot. Oh, that was very fun indeed.

Oh, yes. Very fun. Giamani had just won the Golden Globe. So I get him 30 seconds after he wins the award. And I go, Paul, I'm doing you next to Paul. He goes, oh, that's very good. Oh, the fucking Jamati. Oh, I am signing the Declaration of Motherfucking Independence in the morning.

So, Ben, very good, very good. Oh, yes, indeed. Oh, God, fun. So, and he was batching me perfectly. And then I did Tom Wamsgreens next to Kieran Colkin. You're going to go, hey, buddy, buckle up, fucklehead. And then he slapped me in the face. And then I did poolage.

I wonder, because I've watched so many of these clips, are the people warned ahead of time? What I'm seeing sometimes is it takes them a few beats to realize you're doing them. Yeah, occasionally. You don't watch Formula One by chance. I'm starting to. Okay, there's this most incredible clip, Mr. Bean. Rowan Atkinson has perfected this commentator in Formula One,

Martin Brundle. And they're on the grid, and Martin Brundle's interviewing and Mr. Bean is doing him the most flawless impersonation I've ever seen in the entire interview goes on and it never occurs to me. Yeah, that hasn't happened to me. And then Goldblum really loves it too, right?

He's the greatest. I voiced him on like a bunch of shows. He's the coolest guy. But Tucci, I'm like, Stanley, and he just kind of, very funny. And he just, like, walked by. I'm dying to do a video with him. I get why people can be a little uptight. But my goal, I want to make them relax

and comfortable. I have a very funny moment. Yeah. I do Tucci when he's cooking. So he does these hugely viral videos in his kitchen. He asks if we're rolling and he makes some comment that feels a little sexual to his wife, Felicity. So he'll be in the kitchen and it'll go,

are we rolling? Are we filming? Today, I'm going to prepare a chicken conciatore. I'm going to finger this spaghetti sauce and lick it so hard and delicately. I'm placing this olive oil from bologna of specific region in Italy. I'm Italian on both sides.

Thank you for tuning in. I know what it triggers in everyone, which is the last time someone did an impersonation of you was in elementary school and they were making fun. So you have to really be confident to enjoy. It's different from acting, but there's an element of it. If you're an actor, I think you should be able to handle it. Well, here's what I think.

The hidden compliment in it is you're unique enough to replicate. Me doing you would be obvious to everyone. And what I think is the compliment is like, wow, you're a really unique human on planet Earth. Yes, absolutely. It's kind of embarrassing to be. seen like that. Interesting.

Really seen. You are picking up on the sexual... But he's putting the videos out there on Instagram and his sexy apron and his sexy ball and fucking sexy. He's so sexy.

He's so sexy. Was that fun to X? Yes. It was really fun. He's an incredible hose as you might guess. I would totally assume. Absolutely. But like you're, it's more than just

repeating words. You're picking up on their essence and their personality and things that Maybe they don't even want to know about themselves. That is interesting because I was at the premiere of his new show, not Geo Show. You're welcome for the promo. And he said, I don't like to watch it because unlike acting, I'm being myself in this.

It's a nightmare. But Goldblum is so playful with it. He just totally leans in. He knows what he does. He knows what he does. But he's been impersonated for so long, too. But Tucci's amazing. What a guy.

Yeah, we love him. Oh, we love him. We love him. Okay. I wanted to talk to Sylvester Stallone. He's not. Well, yeah, I want to talk to Sylvester Stallone. You know, great to be on armchair expert, you know, really, really great.

Just finish in my meeting with President Trump. You know, I'm on the Hollywood new commission to bring back Hollywood and make it a better connection between Hollywood and D.C., you know, really, really great. Yeah, really, really great. Monica and Dax, you know, really, really... You can do the voices very well, but also you're obviously hyper-intelligent. because you have the speech from Obama memorized. You got to get the word, because there were people that did impressions in like the 50s,

even now, but for me, like, I'm a comedian. In the comedy context, the words matter, the writing matters. You have to have a really solid bit. I mean, it's one thing to go up there and say, Hello, I'm Stewie Griffin. Great to be with all of you. I started out on stage doing that. My first show was at Second City in a classroom in Chicago,

and I did impressions and voices, but that was cute for like a couple minutes. But now, like, I'm a headlining, touring comedian. and it's not just impressions in the hours. I have to have real substance behind the words I'm saying. And in the context of an impression, I certainly want to be inside the mind of the person. I love like old show business,

and like a lot of it is just devouring the news and what's happening in the world. But you have an incredible memory. Your ability to hold on to all these little specificities that are information-based more than sound-based. I know the entire You Got Trouble Song from The Music Man. Should I do it? Yeah.

I don't think you want me to do. No, I don't think you guys can. I think this might be a little too. much of a second way. I can do it. It's about five minutes, but... Is there a 90-second version? Are you Mr. Dunlop?

Say yes. Yes. Well, either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community. Well, you got trouble, my friend.

Right here, say, trouble right here at River City. Why, sure, my bearded player is certainly mighty proud of say, I'm always mighty part of sand. I consider that the hours I spend with a cue in my hand are gold and helps cultivate horse hands and a cool head and a keen eye.

Do you ever take a drive to give an ironclad and leave to your sale from a three-rail bit of your job, just as I say, takes judgment and brains and maturity to score in a ball-clined game. I say that any boob can take each of a ball in a pocket, and they call that sloth. The first big step on the road to the depths of dagger is, they first. But it's a no wine from a teaspoon, then beer from a bottle. The next thing you know, your son is playing for money in a pitchback suit.

And listen to him, talk about some horse race. Listen to how about some horseways get down right on the horse. Let's see something stuck up, jockey boy, sitting on Dan Patch, make it blood, boy, well, I should say. Now, friends, let me tell you what I made. You got one, two, three, four, five, six, pockets in a table. Pockets, I got to stop. But anyways. Wow.

I didn't get that part. It was an eighth grade. I'm out of my mind. It's a very specific type of brain because I'm seeing a lot of parallels. The mimicry, the singing. Oh, thanks. That type of recall.

Kristen has it too. Yeah, yeah. This is all very Kristen. She has a horrible, horrible, horrible memory. Really? For life. She doesn't know what vacations we've been on. But she can recite things like that.

She does a nail thing. Press on nails. She does the commercial from when she was eight. She's got a great voice. Hyper speed. So my current. Current crush, I had the pleasure of telling him at the SAG Awards that I'm so horny for him is Timothy Shaliman. Yeah.

Well, it's such an honor to be here with Monica, with Dax, two pioneers in the field of podcasting, with the changing media landscape such as it is with, you know, with talk shows and, you know, the evolution of our modern media today. I think you guys are really at the forefront of something special and, you're so great. No, but I was just saying, like, I'm just, as an artist, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm super grateful to be here for the platform with Denise Villeneuve and, you know, all these different, Marty Scorsese and all this. Yeah, so that was, it's incredible. I'm going to have you do one last one. We already had him.

He's a friend of pop, but man, is it a spectacular impersonation? And that's the great Sebastian Manuskelco. So I did this podcast with Monica Padman. Said his chick, dude, Jack Shepard manspring for 90 minutes, got his cock staring at my face, trying to ask me questions. Dude, popping weight protein every 15 seconds. What? Let me a favor.

Why don't you separate the podcast from the gym, okay? This guy is asking questions, slurping down a protein shake. This isn't the time, okay, boy, not the time. I'm an Italian, I eat pasta, not fucking zeme, whatever the hell that shit. Okay, now I want to talk to you about some serious stuff. Yeah, please, I'm ready. You've already alluded to it. This is why I'm here.

I wanted to get into this. Let's make some headlines. And Hank, I was saying it earlier, but I didn't finish, but Hank talked about his mimicry was very much a way to hide from himself. Like, he wasn't terribly confident being himself, but this was this great way to be everything but himself and he was saying as he started learning to act that his big hurdle was figuring out how to have some confidence in himself and also there's the famous jim carrie right that the lore of jim carrie is he had this incredibly successful stand-up routine where he did tons of impersonations and at one point he decided i'm no longer doing impersonations i have to do my own thing so is this

something that you are also wrestling with so i never got into comedy or impressions as a form of escape. Or even as I'm starting to act now, I do love to get into the mindset of another person to not be myself, I guess, but it wasn't because I was trying to run away. I'm lucky I had a great family growing up, great support system. I know. That's funny material. But for me, now, stand-up is about embracing who you are. And I've done the impressions that I've gotten so known for it. And now I'm at a place in my career where I'll always want to be doing them. It's just fun. And I think it brings out another side of people, too, in the context that I'm choosing to do them, like red carpet interviews or whatever it is.

And also, I think most people enjoy impressions. Everyone loves me. I am thinking about, and I'm glad I'm talking about this as an armchair expert, I do grapple with the question of like, am I enough without it? I think I am, and my stand-up, like, I feel really good about how it's all building. And the stand-up, in terms of an impression context, is me telling stories and meeting celebrities, and then I re-act that. Yes.

But then the rest of it is me dating in my 20s, crowdwork and political observations and other stories unrelated to it. But there is a question of like, will the audience, because, you know, there's an algorithm, they've gotten to know me in one context. But I feel like I'm 27. I'm at a place where I've gotten started. I want to show people more. It's funny.

Thankfully, I do more than the Trump. Like, there was a guy Von Meter in the 50s who did a JFK impression. JFK was shot and had died. Spoiler alert. Lenny Bruce goes on stage three days after that and says, Vaughn Meader's fucked. But this guy looked exactly. Exactly like JFK was his whole shtick. He did an album as JFK.

Obviously, that's a unique situation, and I actually kind of want to do a movie about that. That would be amazing. Yeah, yeah. I'm thinking about I want my stand-up, myself, to resonate more with people. You just said that you've recently started therapy. So people don't generally seek out therapy because everything's going perfectly. What was it to help manage?

It's such a weird business. There's no path. Terrifying. Now that I look at it, it is happening quickly. Like I said, I'm 27, there was no space between finishing school and, like, needing to get a job because I graduated in COVID, found a way to support myself through social media, and then stand up. So, like, from 22 years old, I was able to figure it out, which doesn't really happen. I shouldn't be taking out frustrations in my career, in my life, on the ones that I love the most. Right, right, right, right.

We have a family group chat. If something is pissing me off or annoying me, I'll, like, text my family. Right. 20 irrational texts. This fucking sucks. I'm so crazy behavior. Just venting into the chat. The ones that have been telling me

to see a therapist is my family. Okay. So, because I'm taking a lot of the frustration and stress. Yeah. We have a lot of anxiety. There's constant comparison. Spending too much time on my phone.

Because a lot of the career is built. I look at this clip. I want to see how things are performing. I'm tapped into the news. I'm never going to be one of those actor people that can be away from their phone. It's part of your business. I don't think that is feasible anymore to not be in touch with your fans.

I agree. The DiCaprio, Shalmay is even going on podcasts. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think there's like a last guard that will enjoy all of that, be able to do it that way. But yeah, I think when Leonardo's done, he'll have been the last one probably. Yes. But I want to, like, improve my mindset, my mentality. Also, like, comments.

You look at them. Yeah, yeah. They're irresistible. They are irresistible. But also, like, I'm on stay. It's like a weird thing. Because sometimes people are paying to see me to do an impression, whatever, and now I want them to see my stand-up. So now I'm at this point in my career where I'm doing impressions and stuff, but I'm pivoting to, there's a lot more that I'm offering as myself.

Just scary. And I want them to see that. That's what Jim Carrey did, which I'm very inspired by. I'm glad you brought that up. And that's what I want to do. No, but I'm thinking about that in myself. Like, am I enough? I want the audiences to see me for me.

And also, I want these clips to do well because things do well in the context of an impression. I want them to see my stand-up doing well or a conversation like this doing well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you want them to see your vulnerability or do you want them to... You do. I do. But also, I didn't have an upbringing where I was traumatized. My mother and father, they're different.

My dad is stoic. My mother, the energy level, it's like she just snorted coke in the morning. She's very energetic, but she's hilarious. You're the youngest of three? I'm the baby, yeah. Like, she's so funny. Two older, boy or girls? Brother and sister.

Brother and sister, are they really tall as well? Not really. They're not. They're not. Like six one, I guess. And what do they do? My sister is a writer. She's working on her first novel, Nina.

She's an amazing writer. Great. And my brother works at a company Thrive with Arenda Huffington. He's the CFO or C-O-O of it. Okay, so he's thriving. He's thriving. My mom is a cookie company called Big Fat Cookie. Oh, she does.

I should have brought them and I regret doing that. The best cookies ever, and I need to plug them. Huge cookies. Like a can't a can pull them up? Yeah, let's come up. They're so good. They're huge. Chocolate chip?

Chocolate chip. There's like pretzel ones. It's insane. They are amazing. Oh, that's it. Oh, fuck me. They're insane. Oh, my God.

Oh, they look gooey? I want this. Oh, I see fruity pebbles. Based in Chicago. Are there any gluten-free offerings? Are you gluten-free? Yeah. I had a deathly allergic gluten allergy as a kid.

You did? And you grew out of it? Then your mom went into the cookie. That's your trauma. We got to talk about this. Mom's right to kill you. Are you gluten-free? Yes.

We got to talk about it. But I don't know. I think there are gluten-free ones, but we'll send you something else. Okay, okay. I had a deathly allergic gluten-allerages of and I was one of the first people in the world to be effectively cured of food allergies. How? Tell me.

You didn't find that on Google, did you? No. I was in a study at Stanford, my freshman year of high school. I flew out to Stanford every two weeks from Chicago for six months. No. In a process called oral immunotherapy, you increased your tolerance level to whatever you're allergic to by eating a tiny amount of your allergen every couple of weeks. Whoa.

And then I started to eat it in a powdery form, like gluten, straightly. in like a milkshake type form. But I did this at the same time I was taking this drug, no, Zolair. It was like an FDA-approved asthma medication that this brilliant doctor, Carrey Nadeau, who's now at Harvard, figured out it can alter your immune system

to detect when an allergen enters. And I did this study. And basically, like, one crumb could have literally killed me. Yes. And now you can eat pasta and shit? Yeah. That was a challenge in my upbringing. Like, literally felt very different

as a kid as a result of that. Yeah. My mother would bring a separate, like, little cupcake to a friend's birthday. Right. Before my first kiss, this girl had to, like, avoid gluten for 24 hours. Oh, yeah, we have a friend. Jason Manzukas has an egg allergy. Unbelievable.

And he kissed someone and went to, like, anaphylactic. It was like an egg in the martinia. So, yeah, I was, like, deathly allergic. Literally, every time we go to a restaurant, we would have to, like, interrogate the chef. Yes. You're the person that's fucking everything up. Because I was the person that's fucking everything up. Because I go, do you have gluten-free pasta?

And they immediately go, Is it an allergy or is it a preference? Yeah. It's a preference. Don't panic. Yeah. If there's gluten back there. But for you...

In the allergy community, there's like a hierarchy. Yeah. There's like the peanut supremacist is what I call them. Okay. It's the mothers of kids with peanut allergies. Sure. Because they think their kids' allergy is more important. Yes, they do.

Like there's always a sign in a classroom. There's no nuts in the classroom. There's never, there's no ficccia in the classroom. Right. Okay. So here's something that I'm so curious about for someone your age. So if I were you and when I was you, all I wanted to do is being on Saturday Night Live, and I'm thinking like in some crazy way, and I can't even believe I'm going

to say this, it's kind of obsolete for young people a little bit. I don't think so. Lincoln loves it. No, I don't mean as viewers. Oh. I mean, if you're aspiring, if I'm him, like, I was waiting for them to call and give me an audition, as opposed to, I can just make the shit I want to be doing on Saturday Night and I can put it out. So why on earth would I be waiting my whole life? And then by the time you kind of hit and they would want you, financially, you're probably going to be taking a pay cut to go do so anyways where's the saturday night live in the mix for you my instagram handle used to be madderday night live that was the name of it i you grew up like a couple blocks from second see yeah i mean i grew up obsessed with the show so much has happened in the past

year and a half yeah where like you used to have to be on s&L to do the things that i'm doing now like even to get on a show like this exactly or like white house correspondence did her i hosted the n hl awards like all these opportunities there was no other path beyond that and now a product of my generation. My political stuff will get more views than their political stuff. Not that it's a competition necessarily. I met Lorne at the correspondence dinner. He was like, have you showcased for us before?

Yeah, right, yeah. And we had a brief chat. I don't know if you would remember that. But I don't know. It's a weird thing because I want to be in movies now, like hosting. But obviously it would be cool to do it. My mentality is I can't be chasing things that I don't know what the result might be. I have to be so focused on what I can control.

Yeah. And also, it's a different world. It is. That's what I'm so curious about. Like, if I were 27, would I even have the same? Is it still the Holy Grail, I guess? I do not think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's interesting. I think this is the Holy Grail. I really do. I think these podcasts, like, look it with late night. It's a different world now. There's always going to be politics. There'll always be celebrities. There'll always be a need to promote things. The medium is the message, Marshall McLuhan. Have you read that book? I haven't read it. I'm aware of it. It's like the medium will evolve. We don't necessarily reinvent the wheel. I think there will always be an interest in political, topical humor. What I've now learned in this business is, like, I can put these big goals and dreams out there, but I just got to keep clying and building. It's like when we started this or when I moved here to be an actor, there weren't podcasts. Yeah. So the idea of coming out for this wasn't a thing yet. So maybe there'll be a new thing. Well, that's the thing like you asked about SNL. I'm just this weird product of timing and like a generational thing. It's all these tools and discoverability. You could argue this has as much impact, if not more, than going on weekend

update. It'd be interesting if I had come up in entertainment when you came up. Yes. Do you wish you had? I think it would have been cool, but I don't know that I would have been at the place I'm in now at this stage. I wasn't. At 27, I still haven't booked a fucking thing and I'm just like panicking. But acting is such a tough nut to crack. My thinking has always been like acting will come through my comedy. Yeah. Right, right, right. And now it's starting to, I did a movie last week with Seth Green. With Seth Green and Ashley Green. We love Seth. Directed by Peter Faccinelli.

David Gordon Green. I played Justin, young man who is the sous chef, two Seth Green's chef who meets Willa, played by Ashley Green. Seth Green is a chef in it. Yes, and Ashley Green is a woman who freezes her eggs and meets Seth. I'm starting to fall in love, and I'm the young guy who has a lot of sex and cooks. Oh, fun. It was an amazing experience.

It was crazy. Yeah, I want that role. Did it filmed here? In Canada. It was unbelievable. It was so crazy. And then your two are telling me about your. your tour, where can people get tickets?

How many shows are you doing? I'm touring right now, building out my hour to be a special. Doing the Wilbur Theatre, it will be my biggest headlining show in Boston. I think on September 27th. I have Fort Worth, Texas. All tickets at matfriend.com. The Matt Friend is my Instagram. I'm so glad I got.

Are we done? Yeah. What else do I talk about? What would you want to do? Yeah, we've been here a while. I want to do that armchair, you know, you open up. You want to cry a little bit? I want to open up.

What's making you cry these days? What have we? What's making you cry? We'll just start making fun of you in hopes of... What's making you cry these? What's the last time you cried? I don't think you cry. I think you get angry.

You think I get angry. You don't think I cry. I do. What is it about me? I think what's easy for you to express is like anger. Really? Yeah. Is that really what you think of me?

I do. Well, maybe because you said you yelled at your parents. Well, no. Did I say that? Well, no, sorry. You got out your aggression through anger with your family. Like what you were feeling was anxiety about the future. And it expresses itself.

When I have anxiety, I'd be like texting the ones that I love the most about that anxiety. I'm like, why am I doing that? Right. Well, also, of course that's who you're going to go to. I guess. But also, it's like, why bother them? Well, if that's not your...

They're the only ones that we have to care. True. First stop emotion, what is? It depends on what's happening, but there can be anger and then sadness and then frustration. So when's the last time you cried? The last time I cried... 99. When's the last time I cried?

Your first birthday party? Do you remember the last time you cried? Yeah, I cried. When did we... Yeah, see, you guys. You can think while I answer, I cried on Saturday. I liked your answer. You didn't say why?

I cried out two weeks ago. I had therapy. You cried two weeks ago? Yeah, two weeks ago, yeah. Okay. I accept that I don't know why she cried, but I'm very curious. Yeah, we need to know why you. Were you watching something or you just had a cry?

I think I was like watching a YouTube video or something. Yeah, those make me cry. But only if they're really uplifting, I think, oh, it's so hard to be a human. And when people express... Do you ever, like, a fear that you're not? Well, the ones that you love are alive. You want them to know how much you love. Mom and dad, my brother and my sister, I love them the most.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Does it stress you out that they might not know it? They definitely know it. I'm so focused on what I'm doing now. I want them to know it. I don't know if I really just answered that question. You're afraid a little bit that they might feel you're way too focused on this. No, definitely not.

Like, we're all very close, but I think I need to do a better job of telling them how much I appreciate them consistently. Right. It's hard to do. It's vulnerable to do that. I don't really do it. You don't do that. You don't?

Wow. She's Indian though. They have a different thing. Like, they literally do. Like, I was saying to her, no, your dad wants to come see the thing. He wants to tell you he's proud of you. He wants to give you a hug and all the stuff.

And she's like, my dad loves me as much as your dad loved you, but that's not how he gets down. And I have now seen it in action. I'm like, yeah, that's not how they get down. Yeah, I have no question about the amount of love. He would jump in front of a million trains for you. Yeah. But he's not going to do the thing.

Yeah. He's not going to do this. Yes. This very American way of showing love. love and that's okay and then so she's not then making them feel awkward that's how it started you were like you need to tell him that you how important is and i was like he doesn't want to hear that i know you can't understand that i can't but that's just going to make him feel like i'm anxious or dying or stressed out like it's going to have this weird boomerang effect then i have to make

him feel better about the fact that he feels like none of us need any of this it's pretty funny It's pretty funny from the eyes I hope you've enjoyed smartless statement shut up Oh that's our nat That's good Thank you No I have adored meeting you

You're so sweet Thank you for having me Thanks for listening for so long I want you to just have some peace This is my unsolicited advice Please It's really easy to miss the ride Because I'm on punkton

I'm like I gotta get off the show And get in movies And I'm like I gotta be the lead of a movie You're already fucking in an awesome spot and don't miss it. That's it. That's my unsolicited advice. Are you going to well up? I'm welling up. Thank you for the advice. This was a dream coming true. Honestly, thank you for having me. And by the show, I'm doing shows with built rewards. Not to plug them too much, but tell me. It's great. I met the CEO of this company built. There are a rent rewards company based in New York.

You could earn points on your rent. Oh. And I met the CEO of this company at the U.S. Open. We created this comedy series together. If you're a member of built, you can come to our show. We've taken over, like, iconic restaurants throughout the country, and we put comedy shows in those spaces. Oh, cool. We did it at the comedy store, but also, like, Luke Colley, this restaurant in Brooklyn and all these places, so they're fun. You would never expect to see a comedy show in these spots. You should come. Yeah, I would love to see you. I would love to see you. I would love to see you. Please come. As I manifest my special.

Yes. Absolutely. We work on this. You're delightful. I love you guys. We will be talking again. See me an only fan. I'm certain of it. Yeah, you must come back. And go to matfriend.com.com. Mattford.com. The Matt Friend on Instagram. He's an armchair expert. Go zip recruiter. All right.

Take care. Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. Stay tuned for the fact check. It's where the parties at. I'm going to be. honest. This is an Easter egg. We just had the greatest fucking interview. We had a great interview. Man, does that make me feel good? We've had a couple great guests this week. Yeah, in a big week. We're a fun, fun week. You're wearing really red pants. Yeah, let's talk about it.

Yeah, let's. Um, you know, the goofy pants I've fallen in love with. Yes. I noticed they had solid colors and I thought, I'll try that. How do you like it? I like it. They look, they're a thicker material than your other They are. I do. I probably prefer them to be a little thinner. Sure. But I do like them. And I'm not sure where this trajectory takes me. But here we are. I do wonder where this is going to go. Yeah. I'm curious because I got three of these in different colors. And I put them on this morning and Delta said, oh, wow, those are really red. And I said, too red. And she's like, no, you're making them work. And I was like, okay, great. Yeah, they were. I love Red. You got to consider, you tell yourself you don't have to consider it, but you do, which is like I drive her to school and then I walk her in. Yeah. And I may be totally comfortable being myself, but I have to consider, you know, would I want my dad walking me with Ronald McDonald pants on? Right.

You know, I got to treat that somewhat serious. So far, she really supports my stuff so far. She, I don't think is the type to care. to snuff out my shine. Yeah. Because she's so shiny. And she's just nice. And Kristen's out of town.

Yep. And I absolutely love and cherish all the contributions that Kristen makes. They got the best mom in the world. She's so helpful. Yes. And I love having them by myself. Yeah. What have you guys done?

Last night we went out to eat at Cafe 101. Nice. Like I'm like a let's get out of the house. Let's go adventure. Tomorrow morning we're going to wake up at six in the morning and go early before breakfast and we've invited other people to join us. Oh, that's fun. Yeah, so, you know, once I'm in charge, it's definitely the extroverts go wild kind

of, let's adventure, let's get a lot of people and let's party. And then even more importantly, I'm the only person to snuggle at night. I'm the only person that can give the hugs and the kisses. And so I get all of it, whereas I would normally get probably 30% of it. I go to 100% of it. Yeah. In the last two nights in a row, and I don't think there's anything more euphoric on planet Earth. And that includes all the drugs I've done.

When I'm laying in bed with them, like last night I read The Giving Tree. Terrible choice. Terrible choice. I love that book, and it's just the meanest book ever. What do you mean? That boy is so mean to that tree. Oh, I know. He is just so selfish.

I was going to bring up the Giving Tree when you told us about your tree, and I decided not to. And that had just happened. And I didn't connect those dots. I'm like, I just cut down a tree. I know. I should have brought it up, but I didn't. That was a, uh, uh, the book already makes you sad. Of course.

You're just heartbroken for that poor tree. I know. Anything to make them happy. It just gave so much. Yes. I'm old now and I want to, I want a boat so I can get out of here. Cut my tree trunk down and make a boat. It's a, and you'll be happy.

It's a good. It's a good book about codependence. Yes, it is. But I did see a part of it that I had never seen prior to less. I mean, first it was getting sad and I was like, oh, my God, and I just, I'm kind of re-triggering the fact that I just murdered this tree. And there's stumps still there. Yes, it is still there.

But one part of it that I don't think I had ever figured out that maybe is part of the message is at the end, he's sitting on the stump. That's all that's left of her. Yeah. And she's happy. That's a her. Is it her? Yeah.

Oh, I don't remember. Boy, I guess I don't know if I can say that, but it feels so nurturing. Take my apples. Let me provide for you. I don't know. Interesting. Is this a treatment of boy to you? I think.

Wow. Yeah. Rob? Yeah, I think I consider it a boy, too. Whoa. Okay. Google says it's a woman, though. Oh.

I wonder. Oh, she uses she to use the tree throughout. So maybe. Yeah, I guess that's why I know that because I just read it. Oh, wow. But I think. I thought there might be another message happening, which is at the very end of the book, he's an old man and he's dying and he's out of energy and he just wants to sit.

Yeah. And she's dead. He's taken everything from her. And the two of them are pretty much finishing their life cycle together. And a little bit of it is like, oh, yeah, that's, this is the life cycle. you're born you play there's a period of growing and then they're dying so it's almost just like yeah the tree was going to die too trees die ultimately um he accelerated that process great way shouldn't die by the hands of timeline of a human yeah they should live more than 90 years

but they're both sitting there at the end of their life cycle together and that's kind of interesting I thought oh maybe that that's part of what this is this is more like just confronting like yeah, this is, this is life. I mean, you grow old and you die. Sure. Yeah. And they were together. Yeah, they were together, but one was abused.

This is not a good. I know. I was trying to find the silver lining, and I guess maybe I'm reaching too far, but there is something about that last image of them there together, dying together. I think, I hope. I mean, the tree's dead. Well, no, it's because the tree's happy. The tree still has.

No. Yes. Unfortunately, she's happy because. He's sitting on her. I know. This is so upsetting. It's the worst book ever written. It is so upsetting that she is on her death that she's been.

God, I wish we could interview Shell Silverstein. I need to know, like, what was happening in your life? His mom was probably abused. Now that we know it's a mom. He probably, but, but again, because I did know it was the mom in the book. Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah, and I knew. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is this great metaphor for being a mom.

It's like, I give my body. to you to be born and then I feed you at the expense of my body and I just give and I give and I give because I love you and it makes me happy to give to you and so it's also this kind of metaphor of parenting and nurturing and you do it you do it you don't want anything back well if I'm the tree and my kids use every bit of me right I'm not mad and it wasn't codependent because that's my purpose now I'm planet earth not not for them the purpose shouldn't be for them to take advantage of you.

Like maybe they will, like we all do. But there should be respect. There should be. I don't know if she's, is she a mom or is she the wife? No, no. I think she's a nurturing mom. That's at least how I'm interpreting it. She's there before him.

She's a full grown tree when he arrives. Right. And she's hugging him and she's playing hide and seek with him. and she's feeding him her apples. And then when he needs a house, she helps him get a house and, you know, who needs money, she helps. So it's very, very maternal.

Yeah. And I don't think it's wrong. It's like what happens is someone does that for you. You're just a needy kid and you don't really consider your parents' feelings ever. You just want stuff. And that sucks. But you then give that to another creature and that right size is what you took. it's like i now i'm here if all things go perfectly i mean it doesn't always it doesn't always

the experience i'm living right now is like oh yeah i don't mind at all right all the inconvenience and like i'm just here to support them and help get them across the finish line yeah and my mom did that for me and it doesn't feel lopsided because like i got to receive that as well and that's just the nature you're just ungrateful and you take and take and take you weren't that's like that's my point like you weren't and your kids aren't like they do a lot of things for you they give you like a lot of grace oh yeah are they are not the boy no they're not the boy and you weren't the boy either so like i think the boy is a piece of shit stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare

You should have known better at least when he was a man. When he was coming to her as a man. Yeah. And he killed his mom. To make a boat. Oh, God. Yeah. It's a hard one.

I think it's even whether it's a mom or a wife or really just anyone, it's for me, the book is about the cost of taking. Uh-huh. And the cost of giving when it's not reciprocated. Yeah. Like it's, but really the cost of taking. like, want, want this, I want this, I want this, and what do you have at the end of the day? Your mom's dead. Great.

Yes, yes. But the point that feels so parent-child is that when she gives him the stuff, it says in the book, there's only one time it says, but she wasn't. I don't even remember him. He cuts her down and then she says, but she was happy. And then next page it says, but she wasn't or something like that. But up until then, it's giving her. joy to provide for this little person that she loves. Yeah, because she probably thinks that that is going to earn her something. And really, it didn't. It didn't. But again, this is the, this is what I'm

driving home is that the quintessential part of parenting, which is so unique, is that you don't expect anything back. You don't need anything back. I don't think you expect to be killed. No, no, no, but that's taking it to a very extreme level. But it's there for a reason. The reason it's an extreme level is because of that. Like, you're taking advantage of someone's kindness. Absolutely. It's just, it is unique in that if I had a friendship that worked that way, I would hate it.

And I would be taking advantage of. And I would be resentful. And I would have great judgment over the person that just took, took, took, took, took. I will never have that towards my kids. Right. That's just the weird magic of it. understand. I believe you. I think you're right. And your parents, like, they just love you blindly. They want to provide for you. And they

don't ever want anything bad. Yes, but they also don't want cruelty. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And again, like, you don't, you're not in the experience where your kids are just take, take, take, taking and not not giving anything. Like, they don't even in the book. Does he even like, is even nice to her? Well, he's a little boy yet. They play nonstop and he carves. into the thing, me and the tree. That's why I thought it was a wife. I think that's just a little boy, like your first girlfriend, your mom. Oh, wow. You carved in L-L plus D-S.

No, but my mom was my Valentine's card, and she wrote her a Valentine's card, and she wrote me one. Well, your mom's still going to be her Valentine. Right, which is kind of like a girlfriend role. Okay, yeah, I guess that heart thing is what confused me. I definitely felt like it was a white. Now, what was disrespectful is he then carved the name of his girlfriend. to it as well. So it became two carvings.

What a book. But again, that's like a mom, too, goes through that. Your son takes a wife. And did he scratch out? No, he didn't scratch it out. He was too lazy to have scratched out. He might have wanted to. Such a prick.

Yeah. I'm not making any defense of him. I know. But I am attempting to imagine that she didn't feel taking advantage of weirdly, even though objectively she was. Right. And that's relevant. Yeah. Yeah. You can't tell people how to feel. This Charlie Sheen doc, like the amount that Martin Sheen gave of himself to help his son endlessly. Yeah. And impatiently and lovingly. Yes. There's no way Martin could do that for a friend or colleague, you know. Right. Well, it would be codependent. Yeah. Yeah. I guess that's true. But we've talked about this because I feel like when we talk about addiction and stuff, I've said.

like how could a parent possibly because you know you've said like you kind of have to let them just do it and I'm always like how that's that is truly impossible how could a parent ever let their kid just go off the deep end and you're like well that's how people get better but I mean do you still feel that way that was a long time ago but I can not imagine someone but Martin's an addict Martin's a recovering addict so in some sense I do think he's a understands it better than your average parent who just ends up with an addict and they can't comprehend what's going on. Like, how could this person be choosing this thing and ruining their lives and blah, blah. I saw my dad do it, you know, like my dad did it perfectly by my account. And so I guess

that was a modeled for me. Which it was to you what, like letting you do your thing. Letting me be me, not even shaming me having this weird faith that he had introduced me to this program. And if I needed it at some point, I knew where to go. It's not like I didn't know what the solution. was. I had witnessed it in him. And I have a similar mild confidence that's like if my kids get in trouble in that way, they certainly know what the solution is. And they certainly have had an example of it. Yeah. And I'm a good person to talk to another addict because I've done it a lot. Right. Yeah. But I think you as a dad. What would be heartbreaking would just be watching the suffering. Well, exactly. I mean, not to, like, you, you did do it for Aaron. You stepped in. And I think

that's what I'm saying. Like, you can have these ideas and you can be like, this is right. This is. And I understand, it makes total sense to me what you're saying. But I think when push comes to shove, if your child or your best friend is like going to die, I think you're like, no. But see, that's where my expertise came in. I knew he won't do it until he. wanted to do it and I was quite astute at seeing the exact moment oh even he wants this because he wants to die otherwise right and so a year before if I had said it he wasn't there it wouldn't have worked right that makes sense um but he went off the map for five days and I know him so well yeah couldn't leave his room yeah and I knew okay next and I mean soon he'll be dead right exactly

And so now is the time to offer the lifeline. Yeah. Okay. So you still do it. You just are going to be timely about it. You got to know. I think a lot of people who are not very well versed in it try. Many, they try after they get kicked out of their apartment.

They try, you know, like they, they try prematurely. Right. And they're just not there. And I'm so sympathetic to those people because how do they know if they've not been there? Also, like people die, you know? Like, I mean, I think if your kid is at risk. of dying. They die, but the great illusion is that you could have stopped that.

Yeah. And that's what I refuse to succumb to. Well, yeah. People do die of it. Yeah. And there's no force on planet Earth that can prevent that. And I accept that to be a very harsh reality. Yeah.

That's so hard as a parent. Other than kidnapping them and taking them to an island where they don't have anything, you know, anything short of assuming their autonomy. Yeah. You can't do it. No, I know. But it's so hard to, like. It's so heartbreaking.

Did you see that movie, Beautiful Boy? Yes. Just a heartbreaking. That's the worst movie I've ever seen. It's the giving tree of movies. It's the giving tree. Oh, my God. Want to do some facts?

Yeah, let's do facts. Okay, Matt Friend Fax. Matt Frax. You know what he opened the door for. What? A full read of the Taylor Swift command. Oh, no. Oh, maybe we are in my sim.

My computer literally just died. I thought we were in your sim, but now I think we're like his. No, we are in my dad's sim. Yeah. But he's trying to give me some hardship. Oh, okay, yeah. Which she's doing a good job of. What is your other hardship?

The clouds? Oh, yeah. Clouds in a dead computer. Yeah, and like, I'm not having a good hair day. I disagree. I had to put it up. I do need to plug it in. Your bad hair day is better than 99% of people's great hair day.

Thank you. Back to this very important Taylor Swift commencement speech. Okay. Let me just say, welcome to New York. It's been waiting for you. Oh, we've entered the speech. You weren't saying, let me just say. No, but you believed me.

Okay. Last time I was in a stadium, this time, I won't do it. No, do it. No, it's 23 minutes. Oh, wow. It was 23 minutes? Well, I could do it fast, but... Even at triple speed, we're still looking at nine minutes, eight minutes.

Okay. Now, we did clear this up real time, but I guess his dad is not Matthew Perry's dad. Yeah, you thought that. That was a shock. Yeah. Because the Internet told me otherwise. And what was it? We knew it real time on the day, the confusion.

Well, you know. You said because Hank Azaria was friends with Matthew Perry, and Matt's dad is friends with Hank Azaria. His best friends. But, like, that is not why it said straight up that his dad was Matthew Perry's dad. No, but it was your dad's best friend was Matthew Perry. It was never that he's the son of Matthew Perry. Matthew Perry doesn't have any children. No, no, no.

It's that basically him and Matthew Perry are brothers. Brothers. That they share a dad. They have the same dad. Yeah, that's what I read. That would be a fur—that man's window of fecundity would be broad. Yeah, but men do this. Because I think Matt is a good 35 years younger than—

He's 27, and Matthew Perry was— Be 62? Was that old? I don't know. We can find out. He was 54. And that was a couple years ago. 2003, it was 54.

Two years ago. Okay, so he'd be 56. Okay, so that can happen. Could happen, yeah. Well, yeah, you could be— You can be 70 years younger than your brother. Exactly. If you're the child of that Italian actor who was having kids up to his 90s.

Men do this. I know, they do it. It's crazy. It could happen and I thought it happened. But it didn't. Are people who are good at impressions neurodivergent? No. Being good at impressions does not mean someone is neurodivergent.

But there are connections, especially with autism, where pattern recognition skills and detailed observation can lead to strong impression-making abilities, particularly through learned analysis rather than purely intuitive social understanding. Some neurodivergent individuals use these detailed observational skills to analyze and replicate behaviors, including voices and mannerisms, as a form of pattern recognition or learned social strategy. His brother is the C-O of Thrive. Chief Operating Officer. Impressive.

Okay, the Chicago place that works on food allergies is University of Chicago Medicine. It's called Food Allergy Research and Education, Fair Organization. So they cured him. That's crazy. That is crazy. I didn't know that was an option. I know. I kind of want that.

Ninety-nine percent success rate. Wow. That's really cool. Wow. Although I also feel like it's a blessing. I can't eat gluten. But garlic. You should try to eat garlic.

I should do it with garlic. Yeah. I miss garlic so much. Garlick's so good. It pops up everywhere too and irritates me. Yeah. You should do it. It was on the potatoes last night at Kara.

Oh, you went to Kara? Yeah. Deprived I didn't see you. I mean, I didn't go to Par. I looked in the bar for you. Oh, I wasn't there. Yeah. We brought four little girls.

And they sat at their own table. What three of them did. Oh, that's very cute. Yeah, yeah. Super cute. Sophia. Yeah. Delt is like head bent there.

Oh, you, we got to try the brocolini. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That's so cute. Okay. And she came over and said it was like, The broccoli is so good tonight. Oh, my God.

Also, whoa. I can maybe I forgot to mention this. So you were a car where I am a lot. I wasn't there. Guess where I was. Was mess hall yes I almost went to mess hall I was talking them into mess hall when Delta said can we go to car guess who else went to mess hall who wabiwob oh that's the least shocking thing to be honest no but because 100% of the time that I go to mustard seed I see

Rob up the window right sure Rob lives on Hillhurst Rob oh another thing Rob people in the comments are really demanding that you have a camera back there don't you have one yeah Just, yeah. They want to see you when you talk. They'd see me when I talk in the fact check. They claim they don't. Then maybe they need to watch YouTube. No, they're watching YouTube and they want him to have a camera.

I think it's during interviews. I don't, I don't record it during interviews when it comes up because it's long. But it does cut to you in the fact check? Fact checks, yeah. Well, it pops up in a little corner. Okay. Well, they're mad. They've spoken.

People watch the YouTube, watch the fact check. They demand satisfaction. And I appreciate it. So you could have been there and I could have been there and Wabiwob could have all been there. That would have been wild. It would have been fun. I tried. The weirder thing is we had a Juilliard guest on.

Yeah. Yeah. The family we went to dinner with, both parents went to Juilliard. Weird. They're two of 16. Yeah. That's wild. They met there?

Well, one was dance. One was acting. Got it. Okay. Wow, cool. The poet that spoke. at his commencement speech is named

Judy Human H-E-U-M-A-N-N Judith human And she's probably someone's favorite And I was being cavalier And I apologize

I was going for laughs We were just kidding And I didn't really know Who he's talking about Oh God, it's a ding ding ding Because she passed a year Well she passed But also she was an American

Disability Rights activist Oh that is an incredible ding ding ding Yeah, known as the mother of the disability rights movement. Wow. She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Human was a lifelong civil rights act for people with disabilities. Wow. All right.

She was 75. That's a little young for my liking. Yeah. I even thought Redford seemed young at 89. Do we know what he passed of? I think just old age. That's old. This fight's over.

Natural causes. Yeah. Natural causes. That's a victory. that's a huge victory although can it be natural cause we say natural causes but some organ failed or some cancer got somebody well yeah you're just like it's not like your body it's like okay everything is great but we're turning off peacefully and asleep it is kind of like that i think it i think it is like your organs are just done all in the same day though that's well i think over time yeah i would

just expect like one of the organ stops working very well yeah and it leads to you the charge to your demise yeah that's probably right just all of them though like dissipating beautifully like when i hear natural causes it does sound like nothing was wrong but something has to be wrong well age i mean haven't you seen someone over 80 like they are slowly diminishing yeah we'll fix that though we're going to fix that we'll try our best with these peptides i was with my best friend on Monday and I was thinking they got to they got to get all this stuff figured out yeah yeah because I don't ever want to lose them it won't he won't he'll always be here yeah okay everyone will always be everyone will always be okay all right love you

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