Bad Dates with Jameela Jamil - Speed Dates: French People Are Like Cats (w/ Tim Baltz)

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

On this Speed Dates episode, host Joel Kim Booster welcomes actor/comedian Tim Baltz (The Righteous Gemstones, Deli Boys, Shrink) to talk about their shared Chicagoland roots, proposal photos, the pow...er of embracing diversity, the right kind of gift-giving, and so much more! The big takeaway here: communication, communication, communication. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video clips.Merch available at SiriusXMStore.com/BadDates. Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual, Fire Island, Loot Season 2Tim Baltz: The Righteous Gemstones on HBO Max, Shrink on Peacock, Deli Boys on Hulu, Hey Randy! podcast on ComedyBangBangWorld.com Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Bad Dates ad-free. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Bad Dates. Speed Dates. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Bad Dates mini episode Speed Date. This is where we we slow things down a little bit. OK, this is not about three comedians screaming over each other as they tell stories about their dating lives. No, this is me one on one with a good pal who I want to know more about because I am what an investigative journalist first before I am anything else. And this guest that we have with us today is amazing. You can see him on shows like the Righteous Jumpsones, Deli Boys. This is
Starting point is 00:00:37 not listed in the bio that I was given, but I am going to shout out Shrink, his very first television show that was on See So, shout out See So, incredible show, let me welcome you. It's Tim Balz everybody, welcome, welcome, welcome Tim. Hey, thank you for having me. My first question is, can you find Shrink anywhere online? Yes, all eight episodes are streaming on Peacock. Oh. I think they've been on there maybe two years,
Starting point is 00:01:03 close to two years. Okay, well Peacock stays winning the best streaming platform contest for me. Because finding out Trink is on there, I'll be firing up the old app later on tonight. Tim, how are you doing? I'm good, how are you? I'm doing well, I'm doing well.
Starting point is 00:01:20 I'm so glad to sit down and have this little chat with you. I always ask our guests, because we are a love and relationship and dating related podcast, even though this isn't necessarily what this episode is about. But I believe you are currently happily partnered. If I'm correct. I'm happily married, yes.
Starting point is 00:01:38 Yes. I didn't want to be specific because I did not know how that operation was working for you. But you have a lovely wife who I've met before. How long have you guys been together? We've been together, boy, since probably early 2016, and we've been married now for a little over three years. Okay, beautiful. It's great. We both have Chicago roots.
Starting point is 00:01:59 We made it through the pandemic? Is that what you're going to say? I was about to say, yeah. Yeah, we did. We got engaged literally two months before the world shut down. Wow. We got engaged in early January. It was very romantic.
Starting point is 00:02:11 We got engaged on the Pogneuf in Paris. Oh. At sunrise because we couldn't. Oh. We were jet lagged. We were waking up at like five in the morning. And I had picked out a few different spots to potentially propose, but it was early January.
Starting point is 00:02:29 And so I was like, hey, we're not sunrise people. Do you wanna go like watch the sunrise? She's like, what? Okay, sure, fine. Furious with you. Kind of furious. Putting her in the perfect mood to get proposed to, yeah. I know.
Starting point is 00:02:43 And she's also like a cartoon character. She needs her coffee or she can't get going. And so she's like, I wanna stop and get a coffee. I'm like, no, no, no time. We gotta see the sunrise. And so we go see the sunrise over, rise up over the river of the sun. And then I proposed and then we went and got her coffee.
Starting point is 00:02:59 That's a beautiful story. Now, this is something, it's so, this is back in, I guess it was 2020. So it wasn't that long ago. So this is still, this part so, this is back in, I guess it was 2020, so it wasn't that long ago. So this is still, this part of the culture was alive and well. But did you have people taking pictures of your engagement? Like as it was happening?
Starting point is 00:03:13 You know what, luckily we didn't, probably because it was so early and the sun was coming up. What we did have was people commuting to work, staring at us like, what the, why would you propose at 6.48 in the morning? Yeah, when I tell you, when I was planning on proposing to my fiance, one of the first questions
Starting point is 00:03:32 I always got from people was like, well who's gonna be taking the pictures? Because they knew I was doing it on a boat ride, and they're like, did you have someone who's taking the photos? And I was like bullied basically. I did end up having someone snap a photo of me in mid-process of proposing, but we're both sweaty as hell.
Starting point is 00:03:49 I'm wearing cargo shorts and a ribbed tank, and I got dragged to hell for proposing to my partner in cargo shorts and a ribbed tank while looking like a sweaty-to-goddamn mess. But we've just been hiking, you know? It's not always gonna be perfect, the moment. And it can lead still to something beautiful, which your marriage is proof positive of that.
Starting point is 00:04:09 Yeah, very proud of our marriage. For all the fun that we have and all the silliness that is kind of baked into our relationship, we've worked really hard and I'm proud of that. So my question for you, specifically about your relationship and about your show, Righteous Jumpsones, I'm a huge fan of the show,
Starting point is 00:04:26 brings up a lot of religious trauma for me every time I watch. And oh no, I love it. I mean, that's a huge draw for me is anything that unearths trauma. And it has, this show has been on for a while. Like they don't, shows don't run as long as your shows, your show has very often these days.
Starting point is 00:04:46 And it has got and in part of that is because it does have a rabbit fan base of people. Do you feel that? Do you like is that has that changed your life? I mean after being a working successful comedian for a while you're now suddenly on this show that is like hugely popular people are psycho for it. How has that affected you?
Starting point is 00:05:08 And how has that affected your relationship to your wife? Like, how does she feel about that? I mean, I think she feels good about it because it's always good to have a steady job and it was there for a long time through some bumpy periods. I know we're still in it, but through COVID, through the strikes, I was very fortunate to be on it. Lily, my wife, actually played my sister on the show
Starting point is 00:05:31 in season two, which is ridiculous. She's almost unrecognizable. She's wearing a massive wig and she's dressed like Hillary Clinton in every scene. But she was very grateful for all of that and to get to come out and spend time in Charleston with the cast and it was a very big happy family. In terms of how it changed my life, I think that I come from a place, I come from Joliet, Illinois. Oh my God, I grew up in Plainfield.
Starting point is 00:05:58 How did we not know this? Are you serious? Yeah. This is bananas. I worked at the family video by the Louis Joliet Mall. Oh my God. All of that high school. On Essington?
Starting point is 00:06:08 Yes. This is crazy. The listeners from the northwest, or southwest suburbs of Chicago are freaking the fuck out right now. Incredible. Because nobody knows that. I usually say Naperville
Starting point is 00:06:18 because no one's heard of Joliet or Plainfield. Yeah, I know. That's so wild. Although if you're from the Chicagoland area, you, I mean, you get this this you probably don't get it for Plainfield but I get it for Juliet when when people are from Chicago and they're like, oh, where'd you grow? They're like, oh, I grew up in Elgin or Arlington Heights. How about you and I say Joliet and they go Yeah, they kind of like instinctively recoil or they say I'm sorry, which is you know, I stand Juliet
Starting point is 00:06:41 So I don't really care but it is I mean Some of my happiest memories it happened in Juliet so I don't really care, but it is kind of funny. Oh, I mean, some of my happiest memories happened in Juliet, believe it or not. But so you came from Juliet, I'm sorry I interrupted you with that. You came from Juliet, humble beginnings? Very humble beginnings. Never really saw myself living out in LA. I think Second City was kind of the peak of the mountain for me for a long time. And so getting to do that and being lucky enough, everything else has felt like I'm through the
Starting point is 00:07:09 looking glass on the other side of something that, you know, is very unexpected. But Joliet in particular, not a very high concentration of CISO or even HBO subscribers. So when I go home, I'm usually like, people are like, dude, you haven't changed. You're still wearing the same clothes, man. You know, like they don't really know it at all, which is kind of a nice way to go back and visit with people in this way that feels very kind of homey
Starting point is 00:07:36 and not old fashioned, but you know, like very much in touch with my roots. Not loaded with any sort of, I don't know, expectation or wanting something from you. Here's my question, because this is something that we struggled with early on in my relationship when I was starting to blow up, was how do you prioritize when you are constantly going to events and press and, you know, premieres and things like that, where you are the star, you are the one who's on both of these hit shows and stuff like that, how do you make sure that your wife is still a priority
Starting point is 00:08:26 and does not feel like a secondary character in your shared life? That's a great question. It takes time. You unfortunately have to go through the bumpy ride of going through those events and then communicating really well afterwards so that your partner can say,
Starting point is 00:08:44 hey, I felt kind of alone at that point or like, you know, you don't have to babysit me. I find people here to talk to. So you go off and do that thing if there's someone that you really need to, you know, have a little conversation with. But that communication, I think, was the most important thing. You can't really simulate it any other way. And the conversations that you have before, they're not gonna, they might prepare you a little,
Starting point is 00:09:08 but they're gonna pale in comparison to the actual experience, which I'm sure you have been through with your partner. Yeah, I mean, for us, like the simple answer, I mean, it's a very complicated layer, obviously, and you're constantly resetting the levels and rechecking in and making sure that everything's okay. But the simplest answer, I think think that made him feel a lot better and a lot more, um, like
Starting point is 00:09:29 valued and like I was on his mind was I'm just very quick to introduce him. Like when we're at, like, you know, the vanity fair party or some bullshit, like if I'm talking to, you know, uh, whoopie Goldberg, like I'm immediately like as I'm introducing myself, introducing him as well, just to make sure that like, he's not, because he felt like he just hated that feeling of hovering around while I was having a conversation with Padma Lakshmi, you know? Like it doesn't feel good.
Starting point is 00:09:57 And so I think like for him, I just like making sure that like I demonstrate, and it's not a performance, but I demonstrate very publicly and very often that like, hey, this is a person that you should know as well. Like, it's not just about me. I have a very, luckily because Lily worked on Gemstones, when people are coming up to me and they're, you know, they're praising the show, they're talking about it,
Starting point is 00:10:21 I get to say like, she was actually played my sister. And then I watch the wheels in motion, they're like, oh my God, that was you, that's crazy. And if they're comedy fans, they might know her from, I Think You Should Leave, because she's in the Nachos sketch. Oh my God. I Think You Should Leave.
Starting point is 00:10:36 So they get to, you know, but to your point, like, I try to set her up so that people understand, like, who she is individually apart from me. Yes. And then, you know, we're very, we're used to these things. And I think now more and more, she has people that she has either seen multiple times at these events or friends of her own.
Starting point is 00:10:57 Yeah. And if we get more than a plus one, knowing that I'm going to be busy at events like these, I'll have her bring a friend of her own, if that's possible, so that if I am swept up in the momentum of something, she's not sitting there. Yeah, so you can talk to Whoopi Goldberg on your own without being bothered by your wife.
Starting point is 00:11:20 That is such a complicated thing. I can't imagine. I'm lucky. I'm very lucky that my partner is not in the same industry as I am. But does that ever come up? How does that manifest? Because obviously, luckily, you are of different genders, very different. You're not going out for the same parts or anything like that. But how do you manage the difficulty of both of you being working in a very stressful industry that is, you know, quite random in terms of how often you're working and when you're working and things like that? And how do you man how do you navigate that? The simplest answer is just communication, you know, checking in with each other a lot. There's a lot of commiseration, obviously, you know?
Starting point is 00:12:05 A certain part of it I don't quite understand it and I never will because she's a woman going through this industry and that's a completely different thing than me, you know? I mean, I, like, oddly enough, you know, I grew up in Juliet, which is a very diverse place and my mom's an immigrant, so I have a different, you know, I have a multicultural background,
Starting point is 00:12:24 but I can't help the fact that I look like Ron Howard, you know, I have a multicultural background, but I can't help the fact that I look like Ron Howard, you know, I look like, I look like Opie Taylor, I look like, you know, Farmer Ted from 16 Candles, like I can't help that. And so I've always dealt with the projection of other people onto me while me knowing that I'm not what they're projecting onto me. And I think that was I did not realize white people experienced that as well. You've really opened my eyes, Tim.
Starting point is 00:12:51 Well, it's not it's it's a very subtle shade of that, you know. No, but no, I can totally understand that because especially in this climate right now, like it is like if I didn't know you quite as well Like I would probably make some assumptions based on the climate too, you know, and that's not fair. That's not fair to anybody But it is we're all walking around like nervous about what's going on behind Everybody in everybody's brain right now. We are I think and you might feel something like this, too But maybe it's the the stigma of Juliet in the Chicagoland area because I spent time in Chicago too, but maybe it's the stigma of Joliet in the Chicagoland area, because I spent much time in Chicago. But it took a long time for me to, for me
Starting point is 00:13:27 to feel, like I always felt this, but I think over the last five years, understanding that the, the diversity that I grew up with, you know, and I played sports year round, so I was kind of moonlighting in all these different sub communities within the community, that that was a strength. That was a power that I'd had. I went to Joliet Central.
Starting point is 00:13:48 I had friends, you know, every color of the rainbow. And I was always fiercely proud of that. And I felt like it was a negative for the longest time. And starting five or six years ago, I started to feel, really feel like, no, this was a massive positive that I had in my life. This was an advantage, and I was walking through spaces where it wasn't an advantage,
Starting point is 00:14:11 and finally now I'm in spaces where it is an advantage. And it is, that shift has been nice. You spent time in Chicago as well, right? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, right after college. I think, like when I was going through Chicago, there was not as much of an open space for people that did not look like me.
Starting point is 00:14:31 Well, I mean, Chicago is famously the most segregated major city in America too. So I remember, I mean, I remember moving to New York from Chicago and coming back to Chicago and riding the brown line near Roscoe Village and looking at the car, the train car, it was a packed train car and not a single person was not white except for me.
Starting point is 00:14:50 And coming back for, and that was, and I think I was desensitized to that after a while of living in Chicago and growing up in Plainfield, which was also very white, but like moving to New York and then suddenly being surrounded and immersed in so much diversity. And then coming back to Chicago, it was such a shock to me to suddenly, there are parts of Chicago you can walk around and there just are not non-white people walking around. Like it is crazy. Oh yeah, absolutely. Like we have family that live in Uptown and Uptown is very, very diverse.
Starting point is 00:15:21 You know, it's a little Vietnam is Argyle Street. Um, and historically it's kind of, uh, historically it's always been that way. There's this coffee table book that costs like $500 on eBay that I've always wanted to get, but it's a, it's this famous like pictorial, um, uh, uh, Chronicle of uptown in the seventies. Um, and it's gorgeous. I forget the photographer, Tim, I gotta say, I wanna say, I think you have the funds. I know what being on two television shows pays for, being an irregular. I think you should splurge.
Starting point is 00:15:54 I think you should splurge on the coffee table book. I think you deserve it. I might. I also went to Loyola in Chicago and Rogers Park, especially when I started, was very much like Joliet, the makeup. And it was very funny to see people come from these prep schools, these Jesuit prep schools from Cleveland or Cincinnati or something. I mean, they were fucking mortified. They were terrified. They walked in groups on the sidewalk. Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:16:20 But we'd have so much to talk about because of Plainfield and Joliet, and also I'd wanna know, you know, like whenever you graduated high school, date redacted, you could, Plainfield to us when I was growing up was where white flight went. Yeah, oh yeah. I didn't meet another Asian person until I was 13 years old, growing up in Plainfield. Wow.
Starting point is 00:16:44 Like, yeah, it was a very insulated, and you know, famously I was 13 years old, growing up in Plainfield. Wow. Like, yeah, it was a very insulated, and you know, famously I was homeschooled, adopted, my parents were white, so I just wasn't, I was not really getting any sort of exposure to diversity until I was in college, for real. And quite frankly, not really until I moved to New York, if I'm being like really honest. Like Chicago, sure, being like really honest, like Chicago, sure.
Starting point is 00:17:05 But like even still, like it was just it was not nearly as normal, I think, as it was in New York, but I want to turn really quickly. This has gotten very serious very quickly. And this is a mini episode. So I want to get to the two questions that I ask everybody on this on these mini episodes and they can be short answers, long answers, but free form answer them in to the two questions that I ask everybody on these mini episodes. And they can be short answers, long answers, but free form, answer them in any way you'd like.
Starting point is 00:17:30 But I always ask every guest, what is a love story, a couple, a moment of romance from pop culture that has really imprinted on you and really helped you and sort of like developed your own sense of what you wanted love to look like for yourself if there is a moment like that. Song, TV, movie, what have you. There are two that really stand out. One's a movie, one's a TV show.
Starting point is 00:17:52 And these are both things that if I'm really blocked up emotionally, you know, like if I need that kind of like juice cleanse of a cry to just like unstick everything and feel like I've purged some emotions. These are the two things I usually honestly I watch these probably once a year at least once every two years. And the movie is Love and Basketball. Oh my god, I just watched this on a flight recently. It is so good. It's so good. It's so good. And that final scene, no, you know, like stop listening if you don't want to spoil it, but that final scene where they're playing basketball and she loses and you're like,
Starting point is 00:18:31 no, no, it was so close. Like they're going to end up together. That to me was like, I mean, that would have been heaven if I could have had a love story like that. Like the first time I saw that I was just, my heart was ripped out of my chest. I thought it was so gorgeous and And and you know for romantic love I think that was that with the pining for each other the the one person who seems like he's getting out of her league
Starting point is 00:18:54 Or he's too big for his britches and and she's the wholesome person that he needs to be with that Oh, I loved it It is also that thing of finding that person who knows you better than anyone in the world, who knows the real you, no matter how many changes you've gone through over the course of the time that you've done each other. That was what I took away from watching it this last time was just how having someone like that in your life
Starting point is 00:19:21 who sees you, especially as you do become more successful. It really grounds you, and it really is a great basis for love. That's a really, I love that answer. I, so, I, god, now I wanna watch that movie. The other, actually, I have one other movie, and it's very quick, but it's platonic, and it kinda relates thematically
Starting point is 00:19:40 to what we've talked about, so I'll just quickly throw it out there. So I actually just met Nora, Awkwafina in The Farewell. Oh, yeah. And the reason I bring it up, because it's more platonic family love than it is romantic love, but I do think there's something very romantic about that and I'll include it. And there's a shot in that movie, which I experienced many times in my life, fortunately, I guess.
Starting point is 00:20:02 My mom's from the north of France and we would go stay basically like on their living room floor in their apartment in northern France. And when we would leave, we would leave early in the morning and they'd get up out of bed and we would drive out of the parking lot of their apartment complex and through the rear view mirror, we would wave goodbye. And there was always this sense like, is this the last time I'm ever gonna see them physically
Starting point is 00:20:24 through the back window of this car? And seeing that in that movie, that was one of the, God, I must have cried for like a week. I'd never seen it depicted in a film. And I kind of like accosted Nora at this party a few weeks ago and she was leaving and I was like, I'm sorry, I have to say this. I have no one else to say this to, you know?
Starting point is 00:20:48 I didn't have like, I didn't have a community very similarly. There were no other French people in Joliet, you know? And French people are like cats. They're all their own thing. They don't congregate in a church and like, you know, have community. Yeah, there's no French community center
Starting point is 00:21:04 in Joliet, Illinois. No. So I was deeply jealous of the Mexican community in my hometown and the Korean community and things like that. So that was that one. And the TV show very quickly is The British Office at the end of the Christmas special. When Dawn comes back in, Tim has given her that gift. Again, seeing her, right?
Starting point is 00:21:28 She's moved away to the U.S. She comes back to visit family and he gives her the painting set or the drawing set because he knows that that's a passion of hers and her husband has essentially told her that he doesn't care about that. And she feels so seen by that and understands that, you know, that's that's that's love. Feeling seen like that. So much of American culture is like you go find like the sexiest fucking battle axe and then you two form this power couple, you know? And then you see all these relationships disintegrate and you realize, no, that the people that are built to last are the people that see each other and in seeing you, there's a built-in grace that allows you to grow and evolve and get in touch, reflect,
Starting point is 00:22:17 you know, get in touch with who you are and work out your trauma. Right. And being on that same page together, it makes it so that you can grow together, so that you're not changing at different rates and at different places. It's so important and I love that scene too. And I beat this drum all the time, but people make fun of me all the time when I say that my love language is gifts,
Starting point is 00:22:37 because I think especially living in America, there's a very consumer capitalist association with it, where it's about how expensive it is or the amount of it. But I am such a dope gift giver because of that. Because I listen to people, I know my partner really well, I know, and it's not always expensive, but it is meaningful every time when I give someone a gift.
Starting point is 00:23:02 And that is how I express me knowing you in a way. And then seeing you. And I think there's a way for a gift to be not about just nom nom nom nom nom, need need, want want want. So yeah, I really agree. I love that scene as well. And that episode especially is great. If you've only watched the US Office,
Starting point is 00:23:24 do yourself a favor. Go back and check out the UK one as well in that episode especially is great. If you've only watched the US Office, give yourself, do yourself a favor. Go back and check out the UK one as well. The British Office is amazing. And finally, Tim, before I let you go, final question I have for you is, what has something that you have seen, experienced, heard about this week that is making you believe in love? This is maybe an odd thing,
Starting point is 00:23:43 but I just started watching Common Side Effects and it was so surprising and interesting and quirky. And I hadn't watched a show in a long time that had such a clear voice and it kind of made me fall in love with the process again. I'm sure you're always developing ideas just like I am and you need to fall in love with that process. And when you haven't seen anything in a while
Starting point is 00:24:06 that makes you fall in love like you did the first time you saw a show like that, I think it can get really discouraging and downright depressing as a creative. So seeing things like that and falling back in love with just, you know, knowing that this was an idea, this was a kernel in someone's mind and it grew into this beautiful thing
Starting point is 00:24:22 that connects with me, that put me back in touch with the love of it. You are such the perfect guest because we've literally gotten answers that cover romantic love, familial love, platonic love, and now even just your relationship to your art. I love it. We've really covered the gamut.
Starting point is 00:24:38 And common side effects, is that the cartoon on Max? Yeah, yeah. I think it's gorgeous. Oh, we've been meaning to start that. So I think maybe we'll do that tonight now that I've, I've, uh, cause I need to be reinvigorated as well. I need to fall back in love, um, so that I'm not writing, uh, hacky jokes anymore. Um, so yeah, I really appreciate that recommendation. Um, Tim bolts, you've been such a fantastic guest. Where can the people find you? What are you doing these days that you want people to know about?
Starting point is 00:25:04 Uh, well, you can watch, um, all the people find you? What are you doing these days that you want people to know about? Well, you can watch all the things that you plug, Shrink on Peacock, Gemstones on Max, Deli Boys on Hulu, and Onyx. And if you're so inclined to go behind a paywall on CBB World, the Comedy Bang Bang Patreon, we do a podcast myself, Lily Sullivan, Dan Lippert, Mary Sohn, Brett Morris, called Hey Randy. And it's about a group of hometown friends, basically from Juliet, that is very much based on a lot of people that I grew up on and their kind of toxic relationships and loyal friendships. So check it out.
Starting point is 00:25:38 Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Check out all of that stuff. Timbalt is a prince, a king. He is so great and I'm so happy that we got to chat today. This has been, again, another Bad Dates mini episode. Speed Dates, I will see you at the next thing. Goodbye. Bad Dates. Bad Dates is a production of Smartless Media created by Robert Cohen, executive producers are Richard Corson and Bernie Kaminsky. We will be back for more...
Starting point is 00:26:06 FAT GATES!

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