Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 341 - David Wain

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

This week we welcome David Wain to the table! The Wet Hot American Summer Writer & Director talks with Tom about Cleveland, working with Steph Curry, and raising kids. Enjoy! Our thanks to: IQ Bar: Text PAPA to 64000 to get twenty percent off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Message and data rates may apply. Jack Archer: Right now, Jack Archer is offering our listeners 15% off your first order with promo code GETJACK. Go to JackArcher.com, and use promo code GETJACK for 15% off your first order, and see why thousands of people have given the Jetsetter Tech pant five stars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether life serves you an ace or an unexpected backhand, the high-protein yogurt, Oikos Pro, is there to feed your strength and help you turn every challenge into a smash. Oikos Pro helps build strong muscles and support muscle recovery with high protein and contains no added sugar. Because true strength isn't about being able to take the hits. It's about being able to bounce back. Oikos Pro, feed your strength. Visit oikos.ca for more details. If there's something that I really love, I just decided I'm getting this done somehow someday. Right. And that's what I did with Wet Hot American Summer.

And this other one, they came together, which took 10 years. This new one, Gail, took 10 years. 10 years. And it was just basically me going through the rest of my life and never shutting up about it. And anytime anyone's like, what do you got? I'm like, I got this. And then they say no. And then I'm like, I don't care.

Let's keep pushing. And just keep going. It's breaking bread. Thanks for being here. I'm really hungover. Are you really hung over? Yeah, I had a big Knicks game last night. How'd they do? Nix in five.

Do you know what I'm doing? You don't know what I'm doing? I'm doing, I'm doing, come on. I'm really hung over. So, Molly Shannon's in the film? Oh, well, come on, nothing. No, now I know what you mean. I'm doing Samarrel in. Mark Norman.

I don't know how that became so legendary. It was so really popped off. That is so funny. It popped off. That was like the talk of the town and I guess in the comedy podcast world. Yeah. And I think Tim spread it when we were on his. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was so funny though. Yeah, Tim Hydeck got really. So, Molly Shannon's in it? It was so great. That is really funny. Yeah, I was like, all right, whatever. We've never met, which is so bizarre. Because I've known you my whole comedy life.

I feel like we're part of the same world for decades. Yeah, yeah. When was the state in New York? In the early 90s? Early 90s. That's when I started. Yeah. Well, I graduated school in 91, and we somehow got right into doing that.

Yeah, and I was 93 was my first stand-up spot. Oh, really? Yeah. Cellar? New York Comedy Club. Great. Yeah. And so that was 93.

And then we were banging around. You were doing your thing, and you got your whole, your green. group going and I was, I just stayed in, must have been in the same room many times. Yeah, maybe, maybe. But I'm really happy you're here. You make great stuff and you have always made me laugh. And same. Thank you. Yeah. And I, I feel like you are part of my journey, even though we've never really talked. And you know, this, David Wayne. What's that? David Wayne. Oh, David. Oh, shit. Because one time I went to, when I was in my early 20s, I once went to an ABC, like, casting, like, general meeting. Yeah. They were like, they called me, they were like, we want to sit down with you and, like, talk about development deal or whatever.

Excuse me. I was very excited. And the minute I walked in, it was ultra clear they had the wrong guy. Oh, no. For real? Like, they were like, get that guy from the state or whatever, but they wanted Ken Marino or something. And then it was, they couldn't even hide. They were like, oh, oh.

And they basically weren't even dishonest about it. They were just like, anyway, well, sorry to waste your time. Oh, geez. That was a, that's kind of a cool thing about you guys is that you had real success with the state and made some noise and had your show. And then so many people, how many people in total? 11. 11 people.

And out of that, how many are still in the orbit today? Pretty much all. Just about all. Pretty remarkable. Yeah, it was. It was a remarkable grouping of people that met in college. And we all really loved doing it. and we did that show on MTV, and then kind of decided to,

consciously or not, just to keep working together in different ways over the years. That's really unusual. I mean, even like groups of like four or five people don't go the distance. Was it all college or did you pick up some in New York? No, no. It all started when we were freshmen and sophomores at NYU. Right. And it kind of solidified, the lineup solidified relatively early on.

And then, yeah, we just were like, even though. It was 11 people. It was all democracy, nobody in charge. And we fought through every decision. That's great. Fell apart like in 97 as an active, every group. Yeah, yeah. Because our show, all this stuff happened.

But then we just kept being like a family. Yeah. That's great. Did your role change, like, from the beginning of what you thought? You know, because in the beginning, you're like, I'm going to do whatever. I'm going to be this kind of... Yeah, I mean, well... I mean, we all kind of showed up

having been, like, the funny guy in our high school, and then now, like, oh, everybody's really good at what they did. Where was your high school? In Shaker Heights, Ohio. Okay. Cleveland, Ohio. Yeah, yeah. And so I felt I was actually pretty intimidated

as a writer and a performer around people like Michael Ian Black and Michael Schultor. I was just like, geez, well, you know. So it took me a while to kind of re-get-meet my... confidence doing those sort of things and I did I gravitated toward directing which is what I still do right right how funny were you in school when were you when did you know you were funny I was always the class clown like from being consciously yeah I was the youngest by far and the only boy in my I had three sisters right and so I was the entertainer yeah in the family

were your parents funny yes Not in the same, not like as comedians, really, but my dad was a DJ on the radio. Oh, yeah? In his early career anyway. And so, yeah, he was pretty funny. And they all, each, everyone in my family has a sense of humor in a different way. Right, yeah. And were you, you were a class clown junior high and high school?

Yeah, I mean, I was, yeah. Yeah. I was the same as I am now. I was just sort of an odd fall and kind of. had a slightly off sense of humor. Right. Is it so weird how we're just completely made that way? It's crazy.

Sometimes I find like a journal entry I wrote when I was 19. I'm like, oh, literally the same problems, the same thoughts, you know, like. The same struggles. Yeah, same person. It's amazing how little we change sometimes. Yeah, I had this little gnome notebook. It was the first time I had like a notebook that it was like, a little denim cover and a little gnome in the corners. It's called Nome Notebook. And that was the first

time that I consciously wrote funny thoughts down. I was just like, write some stuff. And I remember writing some stuff and being like, that's really lame. Like reading it back, like, just, and it's like, oh, what was I doing? To this day, when I write something and it's lame, I see the Nome Notebook. Oh, wow. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, oh, that was, that's how you're not funny is when you write that way. And I're used in the practice as like I'm actually so realizing I've never, anyway, the risk is asking a really stupid question. Do you wake up and sit down in your current life now and feel like, now it's time to write funny things? Yeah. Yeah. And I go through, I just handed in another book. And like for the last year, the getting up and going in the morning

was writing that. Right. And then stand-up I will write like whenever I'm about to go up like if I'm going to leave the house, I'll like spend like an hour before I go. So I've been writing these essays for a year. Yeah.

And longer than a year, but methodically like get in the morning and that's the thing. And now that it's over, I'll go back to looking at the stand-up. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have it all that? I love that.

I love the early morning. I love the coffee sitting at my desk. How do you organize a lifetime's worth of material? What do you mean? Like, do you have it like Joan Rivers and like... Oh, like all... Cards or... No.

Yeah. I know Seinfeld has that too where he's got like... He released all of this bits he's ever written in a book for him. And it was like he had those. So do you just working on what you're set now and you're not thinking about... No. categorizing. No, I mean, the laptop kind of keeps some of it, you know, it'll keep things. Like, I guess when you do a special, it's there. Right. It starts to boil it down and then it gets

in a written form and then also, yeah, it's just recorded and yeah, I don't hang on to it. And then some people will be like, that joke, you know, the one with the garlic. And you're like, ah, and I'll ask my wife, did I have a joke about garlic? Do you ever actually write the same joke that you did 20 years ago? No, but adjacent. Right. Yeah, consciously. Like, that's good.

Right. And that sounds like that other one. Which is a good thing. It was good then. I have shamelessly repeated exactly the same jokes in, you know, knowing that the fans will recognize it and be like, right. Yeah. There's one in my act now.

And it's kind of like a, it's kind of like a tag of. and that tag was a really good joke from a couple specials ago. And I'm leaving it because I can tell from the laugh, some people know and some people just think it's funny. You know what I mean? That little callback. So interesting. I always think about like when it shifted where people wanted to hear

the exact same routines over and over again. Yeah, yeah. I think that they still kind of do. Yeah. Did you do stand up at that time? I never really did stand up seriously. Never. I dipped in in tiny little ways or I did, I was part of the like alt scene.

Right. So I was doing Luna Lounge and I was doing different kinds of bits. Yeah. But I never really, I always said to myself at some point when I have the bandwidth and the time, I'm going to try it. Right. But I don't want to, I know that it's not something I feel like I want to try as a half-assed hobby at some point. I want to do it six nights a week sometime. Yeah.

And you think that's still in your future? I do. Yeah? I mean, maybe. Yeah. It's a muscle I've never fully developed. Yeah. I know you'd be good at it.

Everything's sort of surrounding it. Just the way you speak, you'd be good at it. Because it's an interesting, funny cadence. And certainly all the things I do do, like I've been going around with this band with like 12 people touring around or when we did the state. We had a, I mean, like, I'm like, oh my God, just to be one. person and the logistics and the economics of it. Oh my God. Oh, my God. Well, because they're like, you know, last week we had John Mullaney here and it was twice as full and he took every cent of it,

you know. I was like, oh, that seems like a better deal. Have you been touring with it recently? No. Well, we, the state, we did a little bit of touring like two years ago. And it was awesome, but it was, it fell under its own way. It's too many people and too much. We also couldn't help but like get costumes and lights and sound. It's a lot. It was too much of a thing. You have to know you're going to lose money and just do it for fun.

Right. And also keeping that many people in one schedule was ridiculous with 11 different careers. That's insane. But it was fun. It was awesome. So you just had the anniversary

of Wet Hot American Summer. That's right now. Yeah. 25 years. 25 years. That is insane that it's 25. I'm sure you're hearing that every time you talk about. I can't believe it.

I mean, it was... It seems like it was yesterday. And it was a tiny movie that essentially didn't come out. I mean, it was... Yeah. It had a tiny release. It lost every cent that it was invested. Really?

It's a success story, ultimately. Ultimately. Yeah. It was one of those very slow builds. In fact, I think the actual movie just hit profit this year. Really? For real. Which is so insane.

That's crazy. And, but yeah, I mean, by the time, You know, 14 years later, Netflix was like, oh, the classic comedy, let's make, and we did a whole miniseries prequel and then another mini-series sequel. But, you know, it was the first five years after we made that movie, I would come out here to L.A. I was living in New York. And we would, people would be like, oh, I love the movie, but you can't do anything like that. And also, don't forget, it was a huge money loser. Right. And, yeah, it just was, it's one of those things that grew over time, which is really good. It was so good. I mean, it was growing up comedically the way we grew up.

Yeah. That comedic spin on that era and those comedies is just so good. We, that was, yeah, that's all we'd set out to do is like, let's do like a big thing where it's funny the way we wanted to be funny. Right. We think things are funny. Yeah. That had to be pretty challenging with 11 people of the hive mind all thinks funny the same way. Yeah.

the state wasn't officially the maker of yeah but yes yeah no it was no I'm just saying yeah I'm just going when we were doing that yeah the art designer would come and be like do you want a red or a blue thing and we're like okay leave and we'll 11 of us will talk it out and then give you an answer like it was every single thing and and did it start to get more in sync is over time well people started to specialize a little bit like you know like all right you guys can talk about the costumes, I'll sit out for that one. Right, right.

But, no, I think eventually people started to get more confident in their individual voices, and that's what made it hard to literally stay as a group of 11. Right. And then after we were done with the TV show, we tried to make a movie that fell apart. We did make a book and a record that was whatever, and then at that point, a smaller subset of the group went off and did that show Viva Variety. Right. And that sort of was a schism at that time.

Right. And we were like, we hate you, we hate you. But then... Was it like that? It was. It was a dark period. But then we... I think in the long term came to the notion that meeting these kinds of people is not every day.

And we just sort of like... Yeah. ...healed it all, you know. Yeah. Because in a lot of ways, if you look at it, the way people work together that aren't in a group, they do circle back, right? Yeah. It's a lot of people, like, you'll...

see, like, show up in each other's comedies or show up in each other's, whatever. Well, you realize, like, when you really connect with someone, comedically or just personally, it's not like something the dime a dozen. Yeah. You value that. Did you party a lot in the early age, in the early days, Luna Lounge Days? Well, was it a big drinking scene? Was it a...

It was. I was unique. I, for some reason, that it's not... There's no exact reason, but like I just was absent from all that until my late 20s. I never had a drink or a smoke or anything. Really? And people would ask me why, and the answer was, I don't know. I just didn't want it.

Yeah, yeah. And then at a certain point, I'm like, I don't know why. And then I was like, all right, I'll drink a little bit. Right, right. But, no, the state in general was a big, like, we worked our asses off all day, and then we would go out all night. Right. And it was, you know, hung out. We were with each other 24-7, whether it was partying or working.

Where did you live in New York at that time? The village. In the village? I was there. It was in the village for 26 years. You were. Where? From the beginning of college all the way to 26 years later.

Right. I was all over. We started in the dorms at NYU, and then I was East Village and then West Village. Right. I had kids there. Oh, you did? And then moved to L.A. went and they were like kindergarten.

Oh, that's about what we did. We did the same kind of thing. Yeah. Um, we were up on, we were like Chelsea and just, the best, 10th Street and yeah. I miss it quite a bit. Yeah. Do you, I'd go back as much as I can. Yeah, me too. We just did our, so I'm in this cover band and we, was a dad, middle-aged dad jam band. With Ken Marino and a lot of other same kind of larger group of people. And, um, we just did Irving Plaza. You did? Yeah, it was this incredible. Really?

Also, like, Wet Hot anniversary themed rock and roll crazy. That's great. I was thinking about, like, I don't know, when hot American summer, I don't know any filmmaker that has celebrated their own work so much for better or worse. It's great. But, you know, I don't know.

Fans are like, we love it. I'm like, let's let me Utt's that on. Yeah. Yeah, that must have been cool to play Irving Plaza. Yep. It was really quite a thrill. We had actually played there a couple years ago as well. Oh, yeah?

But it was bad. That was our first big show, and we weren't quite ready, and it was kind of one of the worst shows. But then this time was really awesome. Is it covers, or is it original? It's all covers. It's like a straight-up dad band. We play music from the 60s, 70s, 80s.

Nice. The twist is that we're actually better than you think. Right. It's a combo of like me and Kent, like not actual pro musicians and then some real musicians, and it's great. Yeah, I saw a clip of like a close-up of Ken singing, and I was like, oh, no, he's not faking it. Right. He's into it. Well, and that's the thing, like the big, he can really sing.

Yeah, oh, he can. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Would you ever go back to New York? Yeah, I would. Yeah. Depending on...

Hold of your kids now. I have one about to go to college at NYU. Oh, yeah. Film school where I went. Oh, that'll bring you back. My roommate in college was Craig Wedron, who is the composer of all the films I've done. And I grew up with him in Cleveland. Oh, really?

We were roommates in college. Craig's son and my son are about to be roommates in the same college. That's great. That's great. And then my other son is sophomore in high school. Oh, okay. Yeah. I run this radio show in New York.

It's like a variety show kind of thing called Come to Papa. And I've been doing it for years. And I really hang on to it mainly. So I have a reason to go back to New York every month and a half. Oh, wow. So you go back and do like... Yeah, the village underground. Oh, that's so great.

Yeah. And it's like it's sketch and it's like music. And it's a fun thing to keep yourself writing that way. Right. And isn't it nice to be able to go to New York and you're actually really there doing something that's real. Yeah, yeah, it's really great. But I don't know if I could do year-round, I don't know. The hardest part would be, as you know, living here with all your stuff and your space. You get used to it. You get used to it. And you get used to like leaving without putting on a big

coat. Yeah, right, exactly. I like that part. Yeah. Although I've really been desperately trying to de-stuff myself. Like, you are? I don't want all the stuff. Yeah. I really don't. I'm in the same way. I have a basement that's filled with, I keep organizing and trying to, like, all my archives and all the stuff. Right. Posters from stuff and tapes. Yeah.

And I'm like, why? Because, like, my kids are just going to have to go through it and throw it away when I die. Right. I know they're going to have to do it. It's not going to Smithsonian. Like, you know. I know. In Pittsburgh, it's the Carnegie Mellon Museum.

There's an Andy Warhol. I don't know if it's Andy Warhol. like his own part of that museum. The Papa Library? All the Andy Warhol things in bins for years. You know, like, it's all like cataloged up there. And I remember, like, as a young stand-up being in Pittsburgh doing like, you know, a middle act, like looking at that stuff and saying, oh, that's how you do it.

That's how you're going to have to keep track of all your stuff. I remember reading those Warhol Diaries where for a while he was like, I took a cab. It was 375. And it was like, okay. Slice of life. Yeah, it's not that important. Yeah, like your film will be around.

Well, I went through, like, I literally just, not too long ago, went through, like, all these bins. And it's like, here's the clipping of when, you know, I was in this film festival. It's like, why? Yeah. Do I need this? To do what with it? Yeah. You know, the only thing that's really.

meaningful to me and it is a very small way is I'll take things that are important to me like a card or like a note from somebody or something like that and slide it into books that I love that I keep and then like when I You discover it? Yeah and you discover it.

That's nice. That's nice. But like all the shit in the closet old tapes or whatever. Yeah. I try to digitize and scan things so at least then it can just sit on a drive and then get thrown away.

And then get thrown away. Or the technology change. and you can't play that drive anymore. I've been dealing with that, because it's the 25th anniversary, it went out, so I'm opening up drives to find little things, whether it's clips or sound

or old footage, and it's like, no, it's all garbage. Yeah, you can't play, you can't find it. The stuff with the family, though, that's the stuff that I'm really, like, I have this old IMAC in my garage. It's been following me for 20 years.

Just in case, there's something on it. There's some video of the kid that I'm supposed to. Just transfer it off there. I know, and I don't think he can even turn it on anymore. Yeah, I know. I have drives that I've completely emptied on to new or better drives, but I keep the old ones. Yeah, because you never know. It's psychotic.

It's psychotic. I know, it really is. And you think about how many things are of your childhood. Like, we have all this stuff for our kids, but there's like five pictures of me. I know, and you know, my father passed away several years ago, and then I realized his father, my grandfather, there was like two pictures of him. ever, you know. And then just like last week, some other relatives, like, look at all these 10 pictures of your grandfather.

I'm like, you've just like quadrupled my knowledge of this guy. Yeah. And then you just take one of those pictures, just slide it in a book and you're done. Right. And then with my kids, we have like a shared album of some highlights from their life and it's like 7,000 photos. Right. Yeah, exactly.

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That's Papa to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. IQ mix, IQ coffee, IQ bars. All great stuff. They're really just a great way to keep you going throughout your day. Do you write all the time?

I don't. I used to be more of an habit. I write when I have a task. Right. But that's another thing. attracts me to stand up. I'd love to be in that mode of just getting that muscle and that practice of like I'm always going to try to think through

an idea and like... Yeah. I do, if I have an idea, I write it down if something comes to me, but I'm not in that phase. Right. Did you write the new film? Yes, Gail Dottry and the Celebrity Sex Pants. Ken Marino and I have a thing we did

where we go into a room and we lock ourselves in a room for seven days like it's a shoot. from 7 a.m. 7 p.m. And we've just forced ourselves to go from zero idea to a finished first draft of the movie. Ah, that's great. It's very Sylvester Stallone. Kind of, yeah. Right?

When he painted the windows black. Yeah, I heard about that, yeah. Right? He locked himself in a... So we did that three times and three times we made the movie. Really? Why have we not done it more? I don't know, but...

Which ones? The 10 and then Wanderlust, and then this new one, Gail Daughtry. Oh, really? It's worked three times. Yeah, because it's, for me, it's like, I feel like most people, but maybe more, ADD and just like so many kids and stuff on you. It's like, you have to put that guardrail. Like, it's like, we always thought, why don't we do writing like you do shooting where you're like, you have to be there? It's a long day.

And that's just what it is. And then you get a lot done. Right. Jeez. And how good was this first draft? Something to start with. Yeah. You know, it's a workable.

Then you sit down and you do the normal, but you've, you've, you're, you know, you. now you're working on a thing, you know. Yeah. Instead of like a thought to do a thing. Now, when you were doing this movie, what's this one about? The new movie is, it's about a woman named Gail Dottry, played by Zoe Deutsch, who is a Midwestern woman who has a celebrity-pass agreement with her fiancé. And he somehow meets his celebrity, has sex with her.

And so she's distraught. She goes to L.A. and a psychic on Hollywood Boulevard tells her if you want to even the scales and save your upcoming marriage, you have to go find your celebrity pass, John Hamm, and have sex with him. And so she sets out on this quest

and meets people along the way and eventually finds John Hamm. That's great. And it's been quite a great joy to make it, and then the reception has been really positive. Yeah, yeah. I haven't seen it, but I... It's on digital now.

It is on digital? Yeah, by the time... Oh, by the time this comes out. Comes out. Okay, good. Yeah. Because as the time of this recording, I could only pre-order. There you go.

Yeah. Glad you know that. Yeah. No, I was hunting it. But yes, we wrote this movie that way. What would you ask about it? I was going to ask, when you're writing it, when you're...

Before you go into the room together and do it, is there... It's just purely, let's do the... idea and the thing. We didn't have an idea, yeah. You didn't have an idea. First day of the seven days is what, how about a movie about a dog or whatever. Right, right, right.

And at what point are you like, let's go make this? Actually, can I rephrase that? As a filmmaker, do you think of it in terms of, I hope someone lets us make this, or do you think we're going to make this? I think we're going to make this, but that has usually taken. taken many, many years. But I do, if there's something that I really love, I, I just decided I'm getting this done somehow someday.

Right. And that's what I did with Wet Hot American Summer. And this other one, they came together, which took 10 years. This new one, Gail, took 10 years. 10 years. And it was just basically me going through the rest of my life and never shutting up about it. And anytime anyone's like, what do you got? I'm like, I got this.

And then they say no. And then I'm like, I don't care. Let's keep pushing. And just keep going. Yeah. So when you say it took 10 years, the finished script of what you want to shoot is that's done. I mean, we obviously, we changed it quite a bit and did a lot of stuff with it. But we, yes, the essential movie that we put out this year, we wrote 10 years ago.

Wow, that's amazing. And I've been trying in different, you know, not every day, but trying to get it made that whole time. And in trying to get it made, you want you have you want a studio to get behind it and give you real money to do it not necessarily we didn't

this movie was this one was a small budget in a private investor situation right and no I just want some way to make it I've always done things scrappy low budget you know pull every trick to get it done right you know I really have

and you just have a sense of what it would take to get it made well at a certain point I mean, I couldn't even get a producer to partner with me on it and to like make a budget. Like it was, this particular movie, it's so interesting, this Gail Dautry and the celebrity sex pass was so, was perceived as so out there and so inside and so weird and like or whatever, just like people are like, you know, love you, David, love your work, but this one is no. Really? My own reps were like that, you know.

And then I was like, I don't believe. And then as it turned out, we finally, I found this great producer who then helped make a budget, then we raised the money, and we lucked into getting it made. Right. And it got the most mainstream positive reception of almost anything I've ever done. Really? We go to Sundance and it's like, they're shattering the windows with laughter. And it was very validating and very exciting.

That's so great. Yeah. Man, I always, that thing of, because you hear those stories, it took X amount of years, to believe in something so much that you don't quit on it for 10 years. I mean, just, I don't know, you think something, I just, when I thought about this particular script,

I kept laughing to myself. Yeah. And like, this, come on, I gotta make this. Yeah, it doesn't sound like your, your short little pitch of it, sounds very palatable. It doesn't sound so far out. Well, do you wait to see?

No, but it is. It's great. Yeah. And it's got loaded with celebrity cameos and it's funny. Yeah. It's amazing. It really, that thing of just to have it in your mind.

We had a young filmmaker here, and he shot a film for seven grand. Yeah. Oh, wow. Just took his iPhone and just did it. And it's this beautiful small film. It's called Bert. And he did it. He just made it.

Yeah. And it's just like, yeah. There's no reason to. Well, what's amazing? unlike when we were younger, now the action of getting an image on a screen that's good enough to be in a theater, anybody can do. Yeah. And now it's just who's got the balls to get out there and find the, you know, get it all together. Yeah, and just do it. It's amazing.

It's funny, though, that, like, you don't write all the time and then it's creatively, that's a very interesting thing. It's almost like a volcano. Yeah, I would say interesting is one way. It's not ideal. I probably should keep the muscles going more because then we do have to ramp into like, oh, right, writing, got it. Do you write other things while you're waiting to make this?

Like you've done other stuff? I mean, 10 years, you're not just sitting there. No, no, no, no. I mean, I've spent my time, I've worked a lot in TV, and I've directed a lot of things. And I've, we did that show at Children's Hospital for seven years on adult swim

and I've worked on pilots. I've always busy. Right. But it's part of what I guess I ultimately like about it. It's always different things. Like I'm not always, I'm doing different types of work. That's always difficult too. And you are like working on something to like then.

I find it just with stand-up and my friends who, you know, they're writing all the time. And then a project takes, you know, it takes so much of your being to get involved in it that you can't really do all things all the time. No, it's important. And I like when I am forced to not multitasking. desk so much because I'm just happier in my soul to be like, okay, I'm doing one thing.

Right. Instead of trying to like juggle 20 things. Yeah. Have you had moments of that where you've been spread too thin? That's my default. And it's the thing I'm working on all the time. But, you know, you've had this illusion. You're going to get it all done at some point in your life.

And then you're like, oh, wait, there's no, there's only so many countable days left. Right. You've got to prioritize and say no to things. I also, and you never know what you're going to make money on and all that stuff. Right, yeah. I like, though, when I've gotten a job, you know, a couple years ago, for example, that I sort of out of the blue got this offer to direct this series with Steph Curry called Mr. Throwback with Adam Pally.

Right, right. On Peacock. It was great. Yeah, it was great. I had Adam on. Yeah. It was so funny. Yeah, I got to watch a bunch of it, and it was really good.

So like not too long before they did it, they were like, do you want to come and direct the whole thing? You know, and I was like, yeah, it sounds great. So like, you know, very in short order, I had like sort of dismantle everything else I was working on. Right. And go deeply into work on this one thing and just like shift and like, okay, got it. No, this is the only thing about for the next, you know, 12 weeks or something. Yeah. And I like that.

Yeah. No, it's, yeah, and well done. That was really good. And Adam was great in it. He's got a very funny voice. Yes. Right? And it was really cool to learn about and be in the universe of somebody of the stature of Steph Curry.

Yeah. What was that like? Well, I mean, this guy is one of the most impressive humans I've ever seen in every way. And he's got his whole business empire around him and his whole, like, there's a whole universe of, like, people and stuff. And he himself is, like, incredibly nice. and focused and funny and like it's just a wild thing. Yeah. And you realize that one of the things that was interesting is one of the challenges of doing a,

we did this like sitcom starring Steph Curry. Yeah. And he was fully on board to do it. He was one of the producers of it. He helped pitch it. And at the same time, starring in his NBC slash peacock sitcom is probably like priority number 12 in his life. You know?

Yeah. And I could see him with, I pictured him with his people being like, okay, so you know, you're going to accept the award from the president, and then you're going to do the Olympics, and then you're going to win the NBA finals. Oh, and then you have this peacock show you're doing. He's like, oh, let's move that to next week. And then we're like, oh, wait, this is a TV show. How do we? We can't just do that. That. So, yeah. Yeah, I remember seeing him at a game and he wasn't suited up. He was just there in his street clothes. But his charisma, you couldn't take your eyes off him. No, he's, yeah. Just the way he moves.

of those people that just, right? Just a whole different made of something else. Yeah. Is the show still going? And also to be, I got to, you know, we had all these scenes in playing basketball. And so I got to be one inch from him while he's doing these. And you're like, my God. And then like, for fun of the way, let me try it.

And like, oh, it's impot. It's important, yeah, not even close. I mean, I'm pretty good. I'm as good as he is. But. Yeah, I get that. You know what I'm saying. Like, I'm as, I get it.

I'm as good at basketball as. of Korea is. Yeah, no, I totally get that. You get it. Okay, cool. Yeah, I figured that's why you get the project. I'm glad you get it. Yeah. Are you doing another season? No, that was a little while back. And you know what? It didn't, it's missed the zeitgeist. Yeah. Who knows why? Yeah. These things happen. Yeah. There's much stuff out there. Yeah, I know. How do you feel the state of things? You know, we came out here to L.A. and the result, it seems to me, and I don't know if this is just anecdotal,

but it's been on its ass for like the last four years out here, but it feels like things are kind of percolating a little bit. Yeah, I get a similar vibe, but I certainly am no expert on the landscape. And I know, you know, some people I know are crazy busy. Some people are not, you know, and I know that...

I know that... I know that... Because when we shot our movie here in L.A. a low... budget, independent comedy. It was an unheard of thing. Because the first thing that happens when you make any movie is like, where are we going to shoot it? Pick anywhere about LA. Yeah. You know, and this movie that we did happened to be about LA and we fought for it and we got the tax credit. And we had a crew of the most incredible artists on set and actors who were so grateful every moment to be working here in town. Yeah. And so you really felt that. Yeah. It's got to come back.

Who knows? I don't know. I don't know. But it would be nice. I just like, I like the buzz around when... Of course. You know, you go to a studio and there's just like shit happening. Yeah. But I mean... My wife went to Warner Brothers, took her sister on a tour of Warner Brothers, and they were converting some of the studios to pickleball courts.

No way. Yeah. Oh, my God. I know. But then they keep building stages I keep hearing. Yeah. I don't know. I don't understand. I heard there's some, like, weird... Real estate thing about that. Yeah. To me, it's like, you know, you know, You just don't, you can't, some things change forever.

Right. Some things cycle back. But I guess if you could really predict that stuff, you'd be a trillionaire. Yeah. No, you're right. So things do change. Some things are just over. Yeah.

That just does happen. Right. But you don't know which is what sometimes. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. But, you know, I'm just a storyteller. Like, I'm just, I just, I'm just, I don't have a TV. Yeah, I can't be bothered with that.

I baked you this bread. So you, I know that you really, this is your thing. And you baked it. Yeah. And do I get to eat it now or do you, how to do you bring it home? Do you bring it home? Yeah. So excited.

Do you know who's going to eat that? Who? Me and my kids. No, that's good. That makes me happy. Yeah. That we're all big bread eaters. Oh, that's good.

Is your son who's going to NYU? going for the arts? He's going to film. He is. Yeah. So he's a real filming. He rubbed off. Yeah.

Although he will, his biggest goal it feels like in life is to not be, to find himself as not my son. In any way he can't. And he makes movies that are very different than what I did, very personal and very cool. Comedy? Some, yeah, comedy in a certain way, but very different than what I would do. Right. Which is awesome. That's cool.

He also is the saxophone player in our dad band. Oh, he is? Oh, that's great. Yeah, so he's not really trying to get away. Right. Yeah. No, we'll see. Well, he's basically done now because he's going to New York.

Yeah. Oh, that's so great. It's so my kids are a little older. How old? And 24 and 21. Ooh, not ready. And it's so cool to watch, though, to watch that young energy of that you had when you and your pals were banging around.

That thing of just the pure energy is the thing that's so... And that's all you think about. That's all you have. You don't have any other things to worry about you. Right. Yeah. It's just so... They do so many things in a night.

That's the thing. And also that's the other thing I remember. I remember you go out till four in the morning and wake up, go to do the next thing. You know, if I have a late night out, it's like, give me a week to... I know. If I have a dinner out. And also if I go to, I find that jet lag is, like, I fly to New York City from L.A. And I'm like, okay, I need like three days to like, before I can do anything.

I know. You're a wreck. You're like three in the afternoon just lying in your hotel. It's just, what's the point? Yeah. So where are you at now? If you're, you've got this film coming out, when do you lock yourself in a room again? Soon. Yeah? Well, Ken Marino and I are not exclusive partners, but we've really had fun doing all these things. And we want to do another big writing thing, and we're figuring that out. But he's actually right now starting rehearsals because he's going to go on tour for six months with Death Becomes her at the Broadway show.

Really? But he's doing the big tech work in Cleveland, Ohio, my hometown. So I'm going to go there and write with him while also hanging out with my sisters. Oh, that's great. Playhouse Square, like they do it in the theater. Oh, that's great. That's really cool. How do you know that?

I have a love affair with Cleveland. I love Cleveland. I love Cleveland. I do too. And I shot one of my specials at the Hanna. Oh, yeah. I shot one there. Hilarities was a great club there on Fourth Street.

I played that for years. And I just had this real affinity for everybody there. It's a great town. It's so good. People are so nice and salt of the earth. I love it. Yeah, so good. I've definitely have many things that I'm trying to write that take place in Cleveland or about Cleveland.

Yeah, that would be good. I haven't done that yet. Yeah, your Wonder Boys. Yeah. Go in and just take over the city and just film there. You know what I mean? I really do. And, you know, they shoot a lot of movies there now.

Yeah. Like Marvel movies and stuff. Yeah. Subbing for New York. Yeah, there's a lot of that. Although there was one that, what was it? Superman, one of them, they really didn't try to. CGI of the Cleveland away

that you saw all the landmarks. Spider-Man. No, no, Superman. Superman, you're right. At the end in the arcade. In the arcade, yeah, exactly. It was cool. I liked that they were embracing the Cleveland.

Yeah, that was really cool. Yeah, in the square, that's square. And, you know, they shot the movie Christmas Carol in Cleveland, the original. Christmas story. Christmas story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they did the sequel more recently. My friend Aaron Hayes was in it, but they shot it in like Bulgaria.

Oh, really? Oh. You can go to the Christmas story house. You can go there. Yeah. Yeah. And you can also go to the house, I think, where the creators of Superman lived. Oh, really?

Yeah. Yeah, it's a really great place. I really love the people there. I mean, I'd love to maybe move back there and then cut my cost of living down by two-thirds. Yeah. It'd be insane. Yeah. I see that my sisters live in, like, palaces and spend way less money than me.

Yeah. I know. Yeah, that's a, oh, man. Do you love L.A., though? I do love L.A. and I've grown to love it more and more and more. I've been here 13 years, but it's been, I have the same issues with it that anybody does. And I struggle with it at points, you know. And I don't think I would have too much trouble moving away. Yeah. But I do, you know, it's such an incredible community of people here. I know.

And there's a lot of great things about it. There are. My wife really could move back to New York in a second. I always say, like, if I came home after this podcast and saw my wife, we're moving back to New York, she would just walk out, sit in the car and wait for me to walk out. She would leave all the stuff behind. Well, how did you say, like, we have to move here? No, it just kind of happened.

I always said that I would only go to L.A. if they came and got me. And I did a set on Conan. And they saw it on the NBC feed, and they came and got me. And I came out for a pilot. And then it just, you know, things just snowballed. Because I really forced my wife to come out here. You did? And that basically was around, maybe not the whole reason why, but that was the end of that marriage.

Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, she's still out here and we have our two kids, but she was not happy to come out. Oh, really? But, because she grew up on the Upper West Side. Oh, we're living similar. Yeah. Yeah, we survived it.

But my wife, there was times when she was like, what am I doing here? Especially when they came and got me, I was very busy. Right, right. And we knew little kids. And she was, you know, like, what am I doing here? What about going to yoga, though? There's time for yoga. A hike?

You know, he's going to hike. You should have, I mean, I know this is probably decades ago, but you should just tell her she could go on a hike. Or Starbucks. Check out Starbucks. She's gotten used to it, but I think she would go back in a second, I think. Yeah. Yeah.

And like when I bring up, like, we'd have to get rid of everything and move into like a smaller place and, you know, in Chelsea or whatever. She's probably like, fine. Yeah, she's like, okay. That'd be all right. She's like, oh, shit. But I'm like, let's just. just spend more time back there. That'd be, that's not bad either, right? Yes. Well, I was very happy when I was by coastal and I would go back and forth. I felt like I was had a real presence in both places. But then when

my kids started kindergarten, it was like, oh, that's not realistic. Yeah. Yeah. That was the thing. It was, they, they, they want friends. And I'm also not like in that, like, financial zone of like, owning two homes. Right. Yeah, exactly. Or even one. But, you know, I'm young. I'm just starting my career. I'm going to figure it out. They say the career really starts after age 57. That's what it really kicks in. Especially as a director. Yeah, yeah.

Really? As a director, that's when you have, there's a gravitas. Yeah, they're going to send me around all the agencies and here's the new guy on the car. Whenever you watch Turner Classic movies and you see how directors used to act, do you ever think, you know what, I should wear a suit on set. I thought about it. Yeah. I've actually thought about having a uniform. Yeah.

Just for the simplicity of not thinking about what you're going to wear. But I chickened out. Like a jumpsuit situation? No, it would be even more boring, just like a white button-down shirt and like black jeans or something. Right, like a Steve Jobs kind of thing. Yeah. And they're just like, because I didn't realize, you know, like Jason Manzukas, he basically wears something like that. And he wears the same exact clothes every day.

Oh, really? Which I didn't... In his life? I mean, I haven't checked in on this in a few years, but yes. And I didn't even notice because it's so unassuming. Right. And only someone mentioned to me, you didn't realize he never changes his clothes. I'm like, oh, you're right. Interesting.

Or, you know, Jordan Rubin? Yeah? Same thing. He wore a three-piece suit every day for decades, the same one. No. And I didn't even notice. No. How do you do that?

I think he just... You don't, people don't think about what guys wear. I know, but the cleaning of it, like... No, no, he had multiples of them, but I'm saying he wore the same thing. But just the same one, right. Yeah. He did? Yeah, I think so.

That's pretty wild. I've thought about that, too. Yeah. I'd like to do it and just wear the same thing. But then my kids actually rebelled. I brought it up and they're like, no, it's boring. Right. I can see that.

And then you can go the totally opposite way, those people that dress like crazy colors. I've tried to, glow up. I've tried to like up my game and it's so hard because it's just not my because you don't care. My nature. But I did I get two different female friends with taste to be like, you know, help me pick out better new clothes. And I did throw out three quarters of my clothes. Yeah. Which was felt great. Yeah. But then I'm still like, they're like, get this. It's really cool. I'm like, it's too expensive. Even I hear on the podcast. I'm like, I should, you know, I'm always thinking like,

oh, the podcast looks great. You know, but a little more color would be good. And I'm like, and I show up every time, like in a black t-shirt. Right, right. In a black jacket. I'm like, well, this is crazy. I'm wearing blue today. I think you should have a new, do a new hairdo every time. Yeah, I think that ship has sailed.

You want to come to Turkey with me? Well, we're supposed to go to South Korea now. And get a hair transplant. Yeah, that's where they're done. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah, they're better there, apparently. I want them to get to the point where it's like foolproof and painless.

and then I might do it and cheap. I just read on my radio show, Sebastian Manascalco. He got one done eight years ago. Yeah. And there's a lot of hair. And he has to re-up. And he was talking about whether or not he's going to shave, because you've got to shave your head down.

Yeah. And then so they can put in the other jib jabs. It's also just so permanent. You can't be like, I don't want to go back to what it was before. I know, but you know, it's kind of, don't you think it's kind of the same way, the same reason like you don't care about wearing all that flashy colors and stuff is that

you don't really care that much. Right? If we really cared. I remember when I was first started, when I was in New York, not hanging out with you. I was, they had the monocidil drops. And I remember one night just being in my bathroom in the mirror, putting the drops on my head. And I was like, what are you doing? I went through a very similar thing.

I can't tell. I had them. What was the, uh, the brand name of that. Monoxidil. Rogain. Yeah, Rogaine and the propitia. Right, yeah, yeah.

I was doing that for a certain amount of time. And then, yeah, I had the same thing. I'm like, fuck this. I don't care. You know who I always think about with that is John Lithgow. I'm like, hey, he looks great with not much hair. I'm one of those guys. The thing about that, that was like, if you're great looking, yeah.

You look great with anything. Right. Yeah. Yeah, it would be very funny. But you're like, oh, that, you know, whatever, you know, Daniel Craig pulls off. You're like, well, yeah, okay. What is, who is that a lesson for? I know.

Not me. Yeah, I just can't see us being on a flight from South Korea. I'm being like, now I'm going to really be myself. I'm going to be my best self. You never know. Life still, there's still more life left. Yeah. So are you single?

I am. So I guess that plays into it a little bit. Yeah. You got to be out there dating? Do you go on dates? I mean, yeah. Yeah? Are you newly single? No. I mean, I've been divorced for about 10 years.

Okay. And I've had some lengthy relationships in there. Right. And it seems like a lot. It's like, you know, you get, I go in phases of being like, I was exhausting. Forget it. You know. And then you're like, no, no, okay, I'm going to put some effort.

but it's like but it's fine it's yeah that's wild to even think about yeah it's sometimes i feel it's surreal like i go on like a first date and i'm like oh my god i'm like a grandpa what is going on why am i nervous yeah and i'm like you know where do you go to high school no i don't i'm kidding i'm kidding joking joke. We'd like to thank the good people at Jack Archer for sponsoring today's program. Some pants are high maintenance and travel is hard enough without wearing pants that wrinkle, pinch, stretch out before you even land. If you need to go from an airport seat to dinner without changing, your pants should be able to keep up. I've been waiting for this ad read for a while

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Are you... On a date? No, with... Oh, no. What's the name? Well, I haven't. No. I mean...

You're going cold. Really? Yeah. I mean, just because... I don't know why. It's that thing of, like, I'm thinking about it when it's time to think about it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

I... But it's worked. I mean... I think if we had thought too much about this Gail Dautry before we wrote it down, we might have tossed it. Yeah, yeah. I like that discipline of falling through with something quickly and seeing what happens and then and then honing it. Right. Yeah.

Because sometimes it's those whimsical, dumb ideas that you can lose them if you overthink them before you develop them. Right. Yeah. How long it takes to edit this one? It was a lot. It was. I mean, as far as like pure, compared to a bigger film, maybe not as, but we worked so hard for so many long hours for many months. Really?

because I just think that's where I do what I do. Like, that's, it's all in the edit. And I continue to be amazed. I have done it so many times now that, you know, you move, make this one shot three frames longer and suddenly it went from not funny to funny. You know, and you're like, I can't believe that still, that's how that works.

Yeah. It's miraculous. I love that part. Yeah, that's wild. Did you see this movie, Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie? No. You told me about it, right? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you loved it. Yeah, absolutely. It's incredible. Yeah, I just saw it. And I know people been talking about it for many months, but, oh, my goodness. And you can, it's a, whatever, it, you can feel how the care in the edit. Right. You know, you can see, not in a sweaty way, just like in this beautiful, crafted, like, thoughtful, funny, funny, funny.

Right. The way it's just really well put together. Do you know offhand if that that was the director, or was it a separate... In the edit room? Yeah. I'm sure. Yeah. I know that it's a...

It feels like one piece. All I know about that, well, yes, A, the cohesive voice of it is very clear. Yeah. And I just, the old, what little I know about those guys up in Toronto is that they work with a very tiny group. Like, I think it was like the crew that shot out was like six people or something. Really? Four to six people on the set. It was, it's like documentary, stylish, but it's great.

Yeah. I highly recommend that. I got to watch it. Not until I watch your film, though. I saw another movie. Yeah. People should know about called Spider-Man. And so the guy, it's this kid from Queens. Right. And he, this is not what this movie's about. The backstory is he had an incident with a spider,

and now he himself has spider-like abilities, like strength and then he leaned into it, and now he slings webs and he looks, stresses like a spider, and it's, that's the back shirt. Sounds gross. But anyway, then there's this particular one. It's really great. Do you see The Odyssey?

You know my favorite joke I always remember? Jeff Ross from 20, 30 years ago. He'd be like, did you know about that new Jewish superhero, Spiderman? That's stuck in my head so much. It's a good one. You know, I'm sure you know him. Yeah, yeah, he's great.

Did you see his Broadway? I miss it. I'm so much. I can't believe that because he, I love it. I'm a huge fan. Yeah, yeah. I can't believe I didn't get, I wasn't in New York.

Yeah, I, yeah, it was one of those things where we were in New York for just a couple nights and my wife was like, we should do something and just kind of fell into place. I was like, of course. Yeah, it was really moving. It was really good. Did he do, remember his joke about the porn star? The other my favorite one is from the old, I don't know how recently he's ever done it. Yeah.

He's like, so I started seeing this woman who's a porn actress. And I'm like, so when do you want to hang out? And she goes, well, I'm working Tuesday and Wednesday. How about Thursday? How about Monday? Right. It's so good. Yeah, so where are you going to do stand-up first?

What do you think? You tell me, what do I do? I don't know. I don't know. I've always... It's hard because... It's... I had a bit that I...

When people say, will you do something? Yeah. I have, like, some stand-up that's, like, kind of anti-samp. Like, purposely and terribly unfunny. It's my own style of that, and it's... Yeah, yeah. It can work. There's some funny things that I did.

So I've... And I did Luna Lounge, like I did all these. But, so, but, no. But anyway, the point is I want to do, like, sort of a more real stand-up. Right, right. Yeah, and just walk out there and do it. Would you do, like, say I'm, say I'm not hypothetical. It's David Wayne.

I'm this age, this, here we are in Los Angeles. What do I do? Yeah. Shit. You're out of luck, dude. What do you think, John? Uh, a lesion theater, maybe, funny games. Like good open, like good open mics.

And then you go and I do 10 minutes or five minutes or something. Or does he? Oh, wow. But those are harsh. Oh, their last group, you get like one minute. Can't. But I mean, I could, if I wanted, I could call up and be like, book me a night somewhere. You could be.

You could like call flappers. But that's probably not the way to learn to do stand-up. Well, it's still getting up on stage. Why not? I think cut some of the obstacles out. Yeah, Billy was saying he would be like, don't say any of my credits. Just say my name and let me go up. Yeah, Billy Gardell.

Yeah. That's the way to do it. The open mics, they're grim. Even the best ones. Yeah, I don't know that I could stomach it. You don't need to hurt your soul. You're trying to date. You have enough going on.

Just, but yeah, call a friend and be like, I'm going to go up at flappers or Comedy Magic Club. Comedy Magic Club and flappers are like two good spots. I went to flat. That's the one in Burbank? The one in Burbank and the one down in Hermosa. Because I went to my son, when he was like 16, he was like, hey, Dad, if you were this guy named Todd Barry, I'm like, yeah, yes, I know Todd Barry. It's like, well, he's one of my favorite comedies.

Can we go see him? He's going to be in flappers. And I was like, sure. So we went to go see him in Flavors. It was awesome. That's so great. I'm like, yes, I know him. I've known him his whole life.

Yeah. But it's sort of wild how the, what peaks out to the younger. Yeah. No, it is pretty great. I know. Do you know Mary Beth Barone? Mm-hmm. I don't know her personally that well.

Yeah, that same thing. Like, I've known her and she has a new special out. And both my daughters, like, just come through the room. I'm like, Marybeth. And it's like, oh, they're aware of this person that I've been aware of for such a long time. And now it's like, yeah, it's cool to see. She's got a great special, by the way. I got to check it out.

Yeah, it's good. We like it. I like this for you, though. I like a flappers situation. Hermosa's good, but it's a bit of a drive, but... Yeah, do I just be me, or do I, like, come up with a... Don't. The costume?

Just be you. Okay. Yeah, that's the point here. Yeah. Yeah, just be you. It'd be good, though. I think that's the situation to do it in. So you have a fighting chance for your material.

There's not other shit going on. There's not... The audience isn't just a lot of other comments. who are hoping for your failure. I mean, after the one time I went to Flappers with my son to see Todd Barry, they called me on the phone every week, be like, we have a free ticket for you to come to this other show.

That's torture. You'd need to take me off that with that. And like, who calls anybody? Stop it. Right, what are you doing? Jesus. You told me Jeff Garland's coming. Like, hello?

Is it an emergency? Is somebody like, break their leg? You're like, no, we have a free ticket for you. Jesus. Who is this? It's flappers. Leave me alone. Free? Oh, let me cancel everything. Where do you go on a first date? Dinner, I guess.

I don't know. Escape room. See how they are under pressure. Try to be creative. Going to walk. You know, more and more people are like sober. Right. Yeah. So, I don't know. That's hard.

But, um... Are you sober? No? Yeah. But I'm, I'm, I feel like somewhere in the pandemic where people started drinking more, I was like, uh, less. I'll just go with less. Right, yeah.

I just got bored of it. And I also had trouble bouncing back. Yeah. I know. But, uh, I don't like to say never to anything anymore. Yeah. What about drugs? What about a drug phase?

Maybe in like, 20 years. No, I've gone through. I've more recently done trying to drug phases. Oh, you did. It's been a current thing. It's supposed to wait. Wait to get old. I know. I remember when I once had a girlfriend whose dad was in his 70s and just discovered pot and was just like going, balls to the wall. I have a blast. Like literally he's like, you want it? Let's go. Okay. Whoa. Yeah. But, um. Yeah. Yeah. Little Miss Sunshine. I don't know.

Yeah, I've never really been a big juggie, but then sometimes people like try this. I'm like, oh, that's really awesome. Yeah. Yeah, like you're 75. That sounds pretty fun. I do like the other thing, though, of you dressing like a director. Like the old, like a Fellini, like a. Yeah.

Yeah, like a tie. And you can be sloppy, but it's still all together. Yeah, well, there's those certain guys that are out there. That one guy. Oh, yeah. who directs everything in comedy. Yeah. Paul Feig.

Yeah. But there's another guy I'm thinking of who always wears the, and of course Chris Nolan does that. Right. Sure. Maybe. I see that for you. I do try to look nice when I direct. Like you're in charge.

I groom myself and I make sure that I'm not like completely a slob and I don't wear a t-shirt. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm in the middle. All right. I like to just be like neither here nor there. Okay.

Who cares? Don't notice me. And I guess the last question would be, when am I in one of your films? How's Monday? Not good. How about Monday, as Jeff Ross would say? What's funny is that people always say,

will you put me in one of your things? And I'm like, I don't have a thing. If I had a thing, I would be busy and you wouldn't see me. when I'm like out and about it's because I'm looking for something to do myself. I'm doing the same thing you're doing. I'm hoping people will put me in things. What about the acting part of it?

I've been doing that too. I love doing that and occasionally. I don't put a ton of effort into like securing acting work or auditioning. But on some basis, people call me up and I do stuff and I have fun with it. Yeah, yeah. I was just in, oh, that movie that came out called Now Papa boys. Did you see that? No. So funny. Oh yeah. But yeah, I'm available to be a movie star. And very funny. Yeah, I can see that. My website, you can check it all right. Yeah.

On my website. Well, I hope you enjoy the bread. I'm, thank you for this. Yeah. What a lovely thing. I hope you, I hope you like it. Let me know how it goes. I will and I'll give you, you know, an honest assessment. All right, cool. it was just okay, I'm just going to tell you. All right, good. And you know what I would really like? When I'm visiting my daughter in New York and you're visiting your son in New York,

and we're extending it by a couple days because we're in New York. I would love to hang with you in New York. Oh, my God. Because I feel like we should have done that for the last 30 years. And you'll watch me do a set and give me notes. Yeah, that would be good.

Yeah, you'll come on. I should put you on my show. That's a wrinkle. Okay. I put you on Come to Papa at the Village Underground. I book it and you just do that. That's on third? They're good audiences.

Yeah, third. I used to live right there. I lived right there between McDougall and sixth. Whoa. That's an intense spot. Yeah, it was. Yeah. It was great.

That is cool. I mean, as a young person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I needed a carpet so I put in a big, thick red shag carpet. Nice. And I brought in girls. I was like, want to sit on my carpet. That's cool.

This was a long time ago. Yeah. Yeah, but that's another possibility. I look forward to that. Yeah, that would be great. Love it. All right, well, thanks for being here, and congratulations on making another movie. So is this four for you?

Seven. Seven? Wait. I'm going to tell you what they are. Yeah, please. Wet Hot American Summer. Yeah. The 10.

Wait, I might have miscounted. Wanderlust? No, no. role models with Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott, Wanderlust with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. They came together. A futile and stupid gesture, biopic about Doug Kenny, found her National Lampoon. Right. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then this Gail doctrine, the celebrity sex pass. Wow. That's impressive. I mean, but it's seven over 25 years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you're a real filmmaker. I mean, that's impressive. I'm very happy and fortunate.

You really have to dress up. Look at Pavarotti over there. That's what I want you to go to the set. Like, yeah. I thought it was Dom de Louise. No. Yeah. No, you like Pavarotti.

Is this your heroes? Yeah. Yeah. I love all these people. It was great. Yeah. But I see. see you dressing like that.

Do you come here when you're not podcasting? No. I think about it sometimes, but I never have. I don't know what I do. It's kind of sitting here. Where do you write? I have an office in my house. Perfect.

Yeah. And it's good. It's got good writer vibes. Another writer lived there before me. Nice. And yeah, it's got good vibes. And it's, how separate is it from the rest of the house? Not really.

Not really, but it's pretty quiet. I need one where my kids aren't like, Dad, yeah, those hours, well, a lot of years of that, of getting the hours

when everyone's out of the house. Right, we'll see, I'm in summer now. And so, right, they're like, and they both failed

at, like, finding enough to do. Right. Yeah. Yeah, kids don't get summer jobs the way we used to. I'm like,

guys, I'm going to go see town papa. Yeah. Yeah. But when I first moved here, my first place was in Studio City. We had a little house in Studio City.

And that's when the kids were young and weren't even in school and just all over all 24 hours a day. And I remember when it was cold out, I'd be on my picnic table with my pad and a hoodie and just like out there with my coffee. And that was my writing, like just sitting out there. It's awesome. Yeah. Any little escape hatch.

There's a romance to that. Yeah. Any little escape hatch. Awesome. Well, this was fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations.

And we'll be spreading the word for sure. Wet Hot American Summer. No, the other one. Gail Dodgering the Slender. Well, both. I'm here. I'm here. I know.

I mean, yeah. Whatever. But I'm personally, I'm more invested in Gail. The band is called Middle Age Dad Jam Band. We have a whole bunch of stuff on YouTube all the time, new stuff every day. Do you have tour dates coming up? No, because Ken's going on that. Stupid Ken.

We have new videos coming out all time. You do? All right, cool. Awesome. Thanks for being here. We got a kid. B'i B'i B'i B'a B'a B'a B'a B'a B'a B'a'an.