Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 40 - Joel McHale

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

This week we break bread with the mighty Joel McHale. He's not snobby, he just likes nice things. And we catch a Quick Bite with the one and only Duncan Trussell!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, it's our goal Hey, it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know? Hey, it's also a show. Hey! Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. I am Tom Papa. Thank you for joining me.

Thank you for breaking bread with me. Once again, we have an amazing show for you today. We've got the talented, the handsome, snarky, Joel McHale on the program today. Love Joel. We, we acted together. We've performed together. We're pals. And I like him because he is one of the funniest people I know who isn't a full-time comedian. For real. He has, he's more, he's funnier, conversation than a lot of comics that I'm friends with. And he would hate me saying that. But I'm going to say it because he can't make a wise-ass comment about it right now.

If I were to say, you'll see. I'll compliment him during the interview and you see how he reacts. He's a wise-ass, and I love him to death. He also is, well, I wouldn't say he's particular. He doesn't suffer fools and he doesn't eat garbage. How about that? We also have a quick bite with Duncan Trussell. Duncan has been a guest on this show before, and we're going to check in with him. He has some big news. We're going to give a phone call to him and see what he's up to. He moved to the East Coast, I think South Carolina, or maybe the beaches of North Carolina.

I forget where exactly. But I miss him dearly, and I haven't spoken to him in a while. So we're going to check in with the great Duncan Trussell. Joel McHale and Duncan Trussell. How about that for a show? Come on. You know, when Joel and I first met, we were working on a great Matt Damon, Steven Soderberg movie called The Informant. Great film.

You should look it up, not just because I'm in it, but it's just, it's one of, I think, one of Matt's greatest performances. And it's, I think it's on the Netflix right now. Anyway, it was great. And we had to go to Decatur, Illinois, to film it, which is where Archer Daniels Midland, the big food manufacturer, it's all about that, basically. And not about that, but it's about a guy that worked for them. And there was this whole FBI thing and this intrigue and this crazy guy that Matt plays and it became this whole thing. And I got to play one of the characters, one of the executives from that company. Joel played one of the FBI agents. And the coolest thing, this is why we became pals, is that you fly off to Decatur, Illinois, and you basically stay there for a month and work on this movie. It's not that I was working every single day, nor was Joel.

But when you do these films, they don't want, you're not a big, we're not the star. They're not going to fly you back and forth every time you have a day off. off. So you live there. You live there. And it's like going to camp with funny people and crazy people. And Alan Havy, another great comedian. A lot of great comics were in this film, Patten Oswald and Paul F. Tompkins and so many great people. And we all get to hang out intermittently if you were there for the run, as Joel and I were. And they had this thing called club informant where you're staying basically in this pretty much just a cheap hotel in Decatur, Illinois.

And there's not much going on. So we had this little bar with a pool table, and they called it a club informant or bar informant, something like that. And then after the day of shooting, you would get to hang out with everybody, which was the coolest. You know, this was a big time movie, and you're hanging out with the likes of Matt and Soderberg and Greg Jacobs and all these great people. And everyone's just so cool. The great thing about working with all these people is they're some of the best people in show business. So it's like nobody's arrogant. Everybody's just down to earth, having a good time,

and we get to hang out. And so Joel and I and Scott Bacula and all these great people became really, really tight. It had this great, it was like going to summer camp and making a movie. It really was. the one thing that I would partake in, my manager sent me a bottle of Lagovoolin scotch, which I'd never had before. And they sent it along as a gift, as a good luck, enjoy yourself. I was like, oh, this is great, nice bottle of scotch. I wasn't totally into scotch at the time, but I was like, this will be good, we'll try it. And Alan Havy and I, Alan's a great comedian who I had watched for years. He was like one, had one of the first shows on Comedy Central. He's just this amazing, really powerful comic. And we were pretty much on the same schedule.

So we would be hanging out all day, waiting for everybody to come back from shooting. And we'd peer out of our little thing. Oh, they're here. And then we'd run and meet everybody at the bar. And when you have that kind of downtime, and you're sitting here with this beautiful bottle of Lagavulin's 16. year old Scotch. It's not going to make it on the plane ride home. You're going to crack it open and you're going to enjoy it. It was so damn good, so amazing that it has now become one of the drinks of my life. I don't get to drink it all that often because I have a life and a family and work. so you can't be just pounding scotch.

But on the nights, when it's, if you want to picture yourself, in my mind, the fire is roaring, the lag of woolen is poured, and then I get to sit with my pipe and talk about world events with the wittiest people in the world. What really happens is I'm usually have had some wine earlier and, you know, I'm, I'm a little tipsy and tired, and I pour it, and I forget about the fireplace because I don't have that kind of time. And no one's around. My kids hate the smell of it.

They leave. My wife doesn't really enjoy it either. She's probably watching TV or asleep, and I'm just sitting in a chair with the dogs. Still, one sip of this, that whole first picture is what the reality is the reality of I'm actually, I'm actually living. Let me describe it to you. I looked it up. The best way to describe it, it's this, it's in the aisle of, uh, the southern, southern,

I don't know if you say Islay, L.A. So you've got Scotland, right? And then you've got this little down, you go down by the sea. Lagovoolan, 16 year old bottling note. This one is in, this one is, this one's better. I like this one. Okay, so the appearance in a lack of oolin is deep, dusky, amber. Okay, that sounds manly, right?

The nose, I'm just going to read this. This is from whiskeywash.com. Okay, the nose, oh, geez. There's Pete, first of all, a big, pungent whack of it, laced with smoked fish, and driftwood and salty rocks. That's really, it really is so accurate. This is why I'm reading it. It is a peaty, you feel like you're in a cave down by the sea.

But underneath that, there's a great big ocean of sweet caramelized malt, all baked apples, and cobbler crust. Accurate. Plenty of industrial character, too. Soot, soot, rubber, hot, hot, electrical equipment, and that magical, grimy petricker of a dirty urban sidewalk after a summer's rain. That's just the nose of it.

That's just what you're smelling. Then the palate, the tasting of it. You know that saying turns to ashes in your mouth? This is like the opposite. At first, it's like a mouthful of recently extinguished ashes, charred, powdery, astringent, But then a lush maritime garden quickly comes into technicolor focus. A lush maritime garden. That's really true.

Basically, Lack of Olin 16 tastes just like a real boat. Varnish, diesel, salty nets, ocean spray, the sticky lanyl-rich smell of thick wool sweater. A hardworking man has been wearing one too many days in a row. Over several minutes in the glass, ghosts of fruit emerge, orange and red cherry, mostly, but never seem to break through the low-hanging haze. That's all right. Suggesting is enough. That's what I know it's complicated.

I know it sounds weird. You've got to taste it. You've got to sit by yourself or with a friend and just enjoy that because it is complex. My way of summing all that up, it's big, it's powerful. it's peaty, and it's going to transport you. Everything they say there about being in the ocean or being on a boat or being in a man's sweater, yeah, there's hints of all that that all kind of makes sense, but ultimately, so enjoyable. Oh, and you will be hooked on it, and it will be a problem for the rest of your life because

it ain't cheap. It's about a hundred bucks a bottle. Okay, we've got Joel McHale coming up. I can't talk about Joel without being attached to Lack of Woolen because it was all, I discovered both at the same time. And Joel, surprisingly, does not smell like the sea. He's so funny. You know him, of course, from community, from a stand-up. He's right now, he's hosting card sharks. He's hosted on New Year's Eve. He's just, he's amazing.

And he always works, and it's well-deserved because he's a star. He's a star. And we're going to talk all about the good health of living. during this pandemic. We're going to talk about wine. We're going to talk about coffee. We're going to talk about all of the good things in life and have some good laughs. I hope you really enjoy it. And then we'll have a quick bite with Duncan Truzzle right after that. So right now, enjoy Joel McHale. It's very good to see you. Thank you for coming on my little show. Thank you for having me. You continue to be the handsomest man in comedy.

I shave my beard because I didn't like it, but I'm looking at your beard and I'm thinking, man, you've got your hair game has always been on point. Well, the hair transplant has really helped Tom. I think I've got, I've got to, I'm beyond. Well, you can, um, there's hope, you, you know, you can Billy, uh, Billy, Biddy Crutt up. No, not Billy Crutt up. He's got fine here. You can Billy Bob Thornton it and just, you know, be super bald. and then all of a sudden, not. Is that what he did? Yeah, and then you're on Fargo and it's really good.

Yeah, and you get to do stuff. No, when I've shaved my beard, my 12-year-old goes, the last time I did it, he was like, you look younger and I don't like it. And then he walks out of the room. I'm like, thank you. Wow, that's pretty great, because my daughter keeps coming up to me

when I have the beer and keep going, keeps whispering in my ear, you look really old. and then just walks away because she knows it kills me. Yeah, but you don't have the difference is you don't have, because I feel like, okay, sometimes beard can make you old, especially if you have a super gray beard, but I feel like if you can see the skin

and the live look in people's eyes, because sometimes people have that ashen look where you're like, oh, you have lived and your body did its best to make you look great for a long time, and this is the letdown. This is where this is the part of the, when you take the steak out of the oven and you let it rest.

This is where you've reached. So I don't actually think it matters whether you're balding or whether you have a beard because you can see that skin and then it's like, oh, you need to, you need to get on a treadmill or you need to go for a run and quit whatever you're doing.

But so you have that look. Oh, thank you. Thank you. No, you have. You have the youthful skin. That's what's important. Right. I think that I see a guy's a lot when they start going bald.

That's when they go facial hair. Yeah. Because it kind of balances it off. But then that becomes like an obvious play to me. So I'm like, I don't know. It doesn't really. I shouldn't be focusing on my hair. I should be writing jokes.

Well, you also have a good shape to your head, which is like just a bonus from however. you didn't lie on the back of your head as a kid, so you don't have a weird you don't have a weird like flat area and then a point and then it comes down. You don't have that. So that's like Patrick Stewart is a better looking man because he's bald.

Yeah, that's really true. I have to say, I can't go to the point of let's just shave it all off and just be bald. I don't know. I don't know. I feel like if you grew the beard and you shaved it all off, then would be welcome to Tom Papa's garage. Today we're bending pipe.

We're going to merge a Harley, like a hog with a, what do we do? Look at that AMC Gremlin. We're putting that together today. Because that's the only way, like soon as they then they shave beard and then they're like, well, now I look kind of badass or, you know, every proud boy thinks they look cool. Right, exactly. I don't want to become another character. I want to lock this character in for a while and just be this guy.

Yeah, it works. You know. So you have been, you have been locked down for a long time, but you've been putting out a lot of good content for me. I've been able to, I've been able to see you on television. I've been able to see you on New Year's Eve. Oh, you. I've been able to see you when, which you've kind of, I think, stopped doing when you had, in the beginning, you had a doctor on your, on your Instagram who was giving us all really good information. I got to start that up again.

You really do. He knew his shit. And he continues to go of shit. And he keeps me educated. Still, he does. I need to redo that. Yeah, it was valuable. It's no joke.

It was because he did most of the talking. And you, at a certain point, you were like feeling, you were expressing what I was feeling while listening to it, which was just like what the F is happening. Yes. Right now. And he would always.

do like, yeah, he would, he was so, he continues to be very smart. And yeah, uh, but yes, it was, it was, it would, he could, he, you knew how smart he was, because you would ask him just a tiny question. Like, I think I'm now going to, I worked with Stephen Fry for one year on a TV show. Uh, I can't believe I was on a show that was canceled. Oh, that's right. All of them. But, uh, yeah, I'd be like, isn't that a cool flower? And then he would tell you every scientific thing about that flower, every time it was made reference to in literature, and then the different artists that have painted it, and that's what this guy was. But you know, we have three more vaccines coming, which is great, Johnson and Johnson

and the AstraZeneca and the OVimax. So that's, that'll be great. Yeah, that's good. We've got to get out of this. How are you doing mentally? What's when you're ups and downs? Well, I've started is taking heroin. And that is really a high. That is great. Is it good? Does it help you? The calm down is rough.

And I'm stealing a lot more. When you run out, it's very difficult. It is. I get pretty desperate. And I'm not going to say I'm beyond murder, but are above murder. No, I get more work. I, at the beginning, it was stressful as you were, I would have these moments where I'm like, oh, I'm anxious right now and I can't figure out why.

And then I'm like, oh, this is what, it's the pandemic. But obviously now we've gotten into these routines that are so routine that we, when we see old footage of people at concerts, we're like, we're like, look at those fools. What are they crazy? And, yeah, that's when I feel like we're, we're in 12 monkeys. And, oh, right, just flash back to when we could be in a train station that wasn't haunted by bear. and full of snow. But I get more stressed out about for my kids,

whether they're doing, you know, like, I, that's, I know that it's very good to keep them. But I do, that's where I start to get like, oh, no, what's going to happen when they've been at a, they have, they've been having Zoom school. And I know that school is beginning to resume. And there's a lot more studies coming out about how kids are not transmitters and don't get it as bad.

And that's great. But, but that has been more, because I, as you, You know I am a golden retriever when it comes to socialization. I am a, I am very extroverted. And so in those, in situations like this, I'll do everything I can to be out there. Or it's like at a party when I will be the last person to leave, no matter what my wife does. So that, and one of my sons is an extrovert and one of them's not. And so I just get worried that, yeah, that's the source of my stress.

How about you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was actually, I think I was actually doing, I went through it in the beginning. It's kind of like when you have your first kid and then you have, you think you have it all together. Then you have the second one. You're like, oh, I was freaking out with that first kid. Like I thought I was all cool.

But that's what it was like with the pandemic. It was like, I went through March and April, just keeping everyone speaking. It's up in May. Right. Just keeping everybody going and this is not a big deal and thinking that I wasn't stressed. And then like when things kind of loosened up, I was like, oh, I was freaking out in March just like everybody else was. But then I kind of like, you know, did some stuff and did some shows and stuff. And now I haven't been performed since November.

And now I feel more like malaise and like just like crankiness that I think some other people who weren't performing early on went through. I kind of like put it off and now I'm just like okay now I've got to now I'm exercising way too often just for stress now but don't you

right but you're not performing it's not like you're waking up at 1130 every morning and then kind of moping around till 2 and watching television and you know I didn't perform the damn right you're

I'm super busy yeah you're a maniac like most people in this business that they create, they have to create the, the culture of work around them. And here we are. You're still, you know, obviously you're kicking ass on your podcast. You keep it going. Sure. Do you get the feeling, because I've been asked to do stand up a couple times and I haven't

been able to because of the heroin. But do you, I have this feeling now that I'll never be able to do it again. I'll be like, I don't remember how to do it. I don't know. It's been a long, long time. I don't know. I don't know. That's my feeling.

Yeah, you know, when I first started stand up, like in the very, very beginning, and then I had to stop for like a year because of like personal stuff that was going on. You were opening for Lenny Bruce? I was opening for Lenny Bruce. And this new guy, Johnny Carson, was coming out. And I was, I like had done it for a little bit. and wasn't even performing that much, but then I stopped for a while. And I remember turning to my sister at one point and saying,

am I funny anymore? Like, I lost the sense of like, am I just turning into a non-funny mush? Like, what's happening here? That's kind of similar to the feeling that I had recently. But I will give you this. It's not true. It's a total illusion. You'll go up on stage and it'll be weird for five seconds.

And you'll be like, oh, Right. Turns out, I know what I'm doing. Turns out after 10,000 hours of this, I can still do this. Yeah. And in a lot of ways, it's very, it was very liberating. It was like I got out of some bad habits, like always having to start a certain way or do a certain thing or go really fast. It was like, I was almost like, well, we should just be grateful that we get to do this at all. Yeah. And I was able to just be more free up there for a minute.

That's, well, talk about, that's a renaissance. That's great. But I, yeah. Do you, are you doing all new material? Yes. Yeah, see, there's the difference that I am, you, you are disciplined and you, I don't know, you probably write three jokes a day or write a bit down. And I'm like, I'll get to it. Well, it's hard when you're not performing.

Like if you, it's hard to write stand up now if you don't have a, if you know you don't have a gig on such and such date. Yeah. I just turned down a gig because I'm going to be out of town. Yeah. But I was like, oh, that would be a really good thing to do because that would give me a month to kind of go, all right, just gather everything together and then put it out there. And then I'm not. Yeah. Yeah. That's bad.

No, it's fine. I've mostly been doing caricature drawings of George Carlin. Yeah. That's good. Those are in high demand. Yeah. Do you need any? No, I'm good. You sure? Yeah, I'm all right. Okay. I'm okay.

I never really got him. Have you done it? Did you do like drive-in stand-up or distanced stand-up? I did indoor stand-up with limited capacity in Salt Lake City, Denver, Cleveland, and I think one other place. Wow. And you felt safe and all that? I did like one a month. It felt safe enough.

Yeah, it felt safe enough. And the cities at the time, like I canceled a couple cities where it got a little out of control and seemed like this wouldn't be wise to go do. And then once November hit, I did Cleveland and it was like, everything was kind of like sliding back into the toilet.

Right. And I was like, I have to go home and just stop for a bit. And I just went home and just kept baking bread. Oh, good. Well, it doesn't look like you've been eating a ton of bread. I've been working. out a lot. What's the workout? Peloton. Bike or a treadmill? Bike, bike, bike, and then I use the app for

for yoga and strength for like dumbbells. Did you say strength? Yeah, which is so funny because when I was in, when I played football in high school, yeah, like strength was. Now you say strength or strength? Strength. What do you say? Strength. What do you say? Strength. I'm from America. Strength? I say the strength. Strength. Strength. No one says strength.

Strength. Are you from Canada? That's a compliment. I'm half Canadian. Strength. Muscles. Yes. And so in football.

Whatever it is, I don't have it. Whatever it is, whatever the, I, like, you know how you'll see like those little hand weights that they'll package with a yoga mat. Yeah. That's you? Yeah, I'm not strong anymore. Were you super strong in high school? I was.

Yeah, I was strong. I was an athlete my whole life, like you. You were even more so. You wouldn't play in college. But I walked on. It wasn't like I was recruited. Yeah, but you were able to hang. You were able to do it.

I did hang. I recruited to row. Were you really? Yeah, I got there in rowing, which is very, very. different from football, but there's a lot less contact. A lot more water. But you'll see, like I, so I, you know, I'm a maniac for exercising because it's,

it's the only thing that keeps me, it's my meditation. But it really is, isn't, that's no joke. Yeah, it is. You'll feel like so shitty in the morning and then just be like, and as soon as the workout's done, aren't you just a different person? The endorphin rush is no joke. It is truly, even if it's not, because you can get those crazy endorphin rushes. If you go, like, you explode for like a 10 mile run or five mile run and you don't do that.

You're like, wow, I'm, I feel, but it really gets you. It's always like, oh, this is like cigarettes. It just kind of gets you to normal. Yeah. People like, I don't feel a nicotine buzz. I just feel good. I just feel kind of okay. But that's it.

But I will send you this crazy, there's these, this guy, it's called Anabolic Aliens. which is a really great name. That's an awesome name. And he is, I think he's from Long Island. He is jacked like nobody's business. And he starts every video going like, what's going on, you guys? So his voice is kind of high, which is intimidating,

which sounds like he's in Sopranos. And he's the scariest dude, but he's got this high voice. But he'll do these five-minute bicep workouts with 10-pound weights. And you're like, no problem. 10 pounds? I can do five minutes. And by three and a half minutes, you're like, I need to go to five pounds.

And so he's great. And then this other guy named this app called Athleen X, which is another one where the guy just comes up with these exercises where I'm like, that doesn't seem hard. And then you do 10 of them. And you're like, I've never worked that muscle. I didn't know that existed. I'll stop talking about exercise here in a second. No, I think it's great. I really do.

I mean, I'm, I, the Palaton has motivated me because they give me these little badges like for like milestones. Like if you do 10 days in a row, you get another like a badge. And my daughter's like, do they send it to you? I'm like, no, it's just on my phone. But it means so much to me. And he's like, my dad is a small man. Do you do the classes live and do you have your favorite teachers? No, I have my favorite teachers, but I don't do them live.

And there's this one guy, Matt Wilpers, who's just like a. straight ahead kind of like a coach from Georgia. He's just like, I can't do the teachers that party on the bike or like are showing you a lot of cleavage and making eye contact in the camera. I don't need a, just give me a coach. You don't need a boner while you're player on the bike. I don't need a bike boner. I know some people, well, I do know that, but they're my friend's sister and his brother-in-law.

They, for vacation, went to New York to take the classes live. Like, she's our favorite teacher. We're going, like, that was what they decided to do. It's a, it's a bit, it's culty. It's culty. But it works, though. Like, it hooks you, which is, I guess, the point. What's your main thing other than the alien?

Other than, oh, I mix it up. I do a lot of squats and deadlifts for, like, 35 minutes a day of that just to, because, it was the exercises I always ignored. So for the last two years, I'm like squats every day, deadlifts. So it's basically switching off. So it's a lot of that core strength. Wow. That's hardcore.

And then I try to do like between 50 and 100 pull-ups because that was another thing I never did. And then I'm like, oh, I'm just going to do this until I'm good at them. Why are pull-ups so hard? Lifting your entire body weight. But it's also because people go, pull-ups are hard. And then they don't do them. Right.

Or lunge, people hate lunges. And it's like, well, if you just do it, they become easier. And then all of a sudden you realize you have more leg strength, strength, as you would say. And then I listen to books. That's what I do. I listen to books. That's why you work out? While I work out, yeah.

Oh, that's interesting. Because I'm super, or I continue to be dyslexic. And I gave that to my kids, you're welcome. And so audible changes. my life. And so I can now go back and listen to like classic books that I would never even attempt when I was younger. Wow, that's great. Like Dianetics. So now I know when you, I don't know what your habits have been lately, but I know you're, you were dialed in diet wise also. And you were really good about during your week, but then you'd have a cheat day. Yeah. And you were, I remember

you talking to me about your cheat day and uh it was disgusting i carry it with i carry with me now because it was so dramatic it was so you it was so euphoric and dramatic at the same time are you still pretty is that pretty much how you live your life no i noticed i was kind of plateauing and actually gaining a little weight uh so this is who's ever tuning in just go ahead and with great disgust, just meet me while I'm talking and listen to the glorious Tompapa because it's, it's a sad, sad world. So, that I've used my, so I, it's so dumb. But, no, it worked for a long time, but I got, I just got bored with not eating anything or, you know, being very restrictive during the week and then going crazy for one day. And I'm like, well, see you, see

you next Sunday. Great food. And so who did I? I ended up talking to this bodybuilder who was like, it's really just, he basically was like, it comes down, his name's Spencer, Rich. And he's like, it basically just comes down to portion control and, and that's it basically because he was like 80% of bodybuilding his diet and the rest is exercise. And I was like 80? And he's like, yeah. He's like, yeah, pretty much. And I was like, oh. And he's like, so if you just make the portion small, then you'll, and it's like, you're not getting to a goal of being on stage, bodybuilding or anything. It was just like, but if you just control the portions, you're basically going to be fine. And the rest of it is, you know, it's just not as much exercise as you think.

Oh, that's interesting. Well, for these bodybuilders. So it's not like, oh, cut back on exercise and don't eat. So I still do a lot of that, yeah, of course. That's sad. What is your, when you're not thinking about the health of it all, what is your favorite things to eat? This is a good podcast. Beer, I like beer a lot. I like an IPA. I like wine. You do.

Spaghetti carbonara, if I could have it. When I die, if heaven is just a huge bowl of spaghetti carbonara, which for those of you out there, it's pasta with bacon and eggs. I'm actually going through a period now where I'm trying to perfect that. Of that specific dish. That specific dish. And you know that it's very difficult because you can't put the pasta can't be too hot in the eggs and it can't be too cold. Because for the people out there, spaghetti carbonate, you put it in mixed up eggs, the pasta, but the pasta can't be too hot because then the eggs get, they cook. but if it's perfect, then they just slick the pasta

and then you have bacon. And some people put in peas sometimes. Yeah, which I've been told by the hardcore people, don't you dare. Don't you dare do that. What do you put in there? And you have to use guanchale, which is the pork cheek. That is the, that's, you can go with panchetta,

but it's really the guantale is the purest way, yeah, to do it. I'm not that great at it yet. I haven't. How many times? It's three. And three times. Is your family like you're the greatest father of all time that this is the thing you've decided to take on? No, they're all vegetarians.

So they are like, that smells great and why are you putting it in our face? As I hand them, their portion, which has butter on it. They won't eat eggs? They'll eat eggs. But they don't need it. You're also putting the Guantali grease in it. Oh, glorious. Oh, it's so good.

There's an Instagram. I'm following someone on Instagram. It's called like Carbo Boys or something like that, where all they do is show their favorite carbonara that they eat, just Carbonara. I'm going to. I'm going to find that Instagram. Now, so you eat, how many portions were you?

you make it? One, two. Two. Good for you. Yeah, well, you know, I'm learning. I mean, everyone says the Mediterranean diet is the way to go. And when you go through Italy, it's not like you see a lot of people that are, you know,

that have put on a lot because they're eating, but they're eating rich stuff. They're eating, but they just don't, yeah, they're just portion control. Yeah, I guess so. I guess so. And red wine. Are you a wine snob? Oh, huge.

Yeah. Yeah? A huge snob. Yes. I'm a snob about everything. You know that. Yes, I do know that. Yeah.

No, I love you. This is my dry. I just, well, it's almost done, but I did a dry January. You did. I was going to do dry January, but then the troubles started. And I was in Northern Ireland? I just didn't forget this. I'm drinking until the end of January.

I thought about it. that, but I was just like, there seems to be troubles every month. They're always starting up. And so just like, I have to, that's why I'm drinking kombut. Well, I guess it's not, you know, it's not evening. But, but, but yeah, tell me about your, tell me about your wine. Tell me about, I have way too much of it. And you, you, you, you come from the northwest was, uh, were you, when you were you, when you were you, uh, were you, uh, growing up wine tasting? Yes. Uh, I would Take my parents. Yeah, parents' night was just, we just did it tasting.

Try the, well, as people may or may not know, the Pacific Northwest is a secret wine, a huge wine producing place. And with spectacular world-class wines, which still are about half to a fourth of the price of some of Napa's, you know, major leaguers. and also, you know, nothing compared to the price of French wines. So, but it's, I think they're making spectacular whites. Anyway, as soon as I could afford it, and before I could afford it, I would buy it. And then as soon as I could afford it, I bought way too much of it. And now I have to get rid of some of it. So this is a giveaway on the Tompapa.

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, so I have a lot of it and I enjoy it. And I'm not an expert in the way that, you know, like, I don't, I've not done a lot of studying, but I'm like, oh, I like that. Yeah. So I'm going to buy a case of it. That's kind of how I've operated. Right.

What is your, what's your, what's your favorite? What do you lean towards? I'm more red than white, but I like white a lot. I think Spain is the kind of big, big secret that we don't get a lot of Spanish wine at all in America. And when I have it, I'm like, this is outstanding. And also, again, the prices are so much lower than French or Italian. and a lot of Napa and I think wine coming out of the Alicante region. See, that's as wine o as I get where I'm just like everything I've had from there.

I'm like, this is great. Where's that? That's Spain? That is Spain. I don't know. If you're looking at Spain, it's kind of, yeah, it's down there. Yeah, it's right over there. Oh, down.

And that's what I like right now. Yeah. I'm trying to think of things. that I, I don't, here, you can't believe you're gonna, you can just edit all this out. I don't like, no, I love,

I love hearing this. American peanut noir's, I do not like because, but I love French peanut noir's because I think it's a delicate, lighter grape and America decided to like turn the grape up. And so they kind of,

we're like, well, America loves these huge cabernets. Yeah. And they're like, and so we're just going to take this peanut grape and kind of turn it into a cab, which I don't, it doesn't taste like cab, obviously, but it's just something, it's an abomination to me.

And I know that people love it and it's great, but I much prefer the French or the Italian version, which are, it's going to sound so douchy, but they're just way more delicate with it and don't try to make it into something that it's not. Thank you, I'm Joel McHale. I do. No, I mean, look, there's that thing where you,

there's nothing wrong with talking about wine that way. Because when you really start to learn it, that's when you really start to enjoy it. And these, I don't think that it's, I don't think it's only, it's only sounds douche when you don't really know what you're talking about. Yeah, we, I think, it's a weird thing because you, you come off as a snob if you know something about wine, but wine consumption around the planet is just gigantic. It's a drink of choice for most people. I mean, the same thing happened to, I mean, now with beer. We live in beer heaven. We never, our dad's never dreamt of beer like this.

It was either, it was just, everything was an American logger. And yeah, some of them are terrific, but that was the only option. And then once in a while you'd be in a safe way. And it was like, Shameh, what's that? Right. And, but now we, we've just, I mean, America really has started something that is, I mean, for all the things to come out of America, the beer is, is, spectacular. And it's

same with coffee, right? Yeah. Like when our fathers were growing up, there was like the hot brown water that you would get at the muffler shop. The percolator. I mean, the fucking percolator, right? Which made terrible coffee. Yeah.

How did we, how did it get? And then we I don't understand, like, it went from this perfect thing. I guess Italy would be the best example of the coffee. through the ages and we're like and then America just went yeah we got it from here and we're gonna we're gonna take the same amount of grounds make that into eight gallons and we're gonna serve it at churches with donuts um yeah but and then we've gone back I mean for as much as I am have a real problem with Starbucks because Howard Schultz sold my Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City uh fine I get why

Oklahoma City wanted a team but he gave away the team for no reason thank you that's a commentary, but I really did bring gourmet coffee back. And yeah, you know it's permeated the culture when, you know, Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's are fighting over who has the most flavorful coffee. Yeah, right, exactly. So that's why I don't think that, like, it's kind of funny when you say, like, I'm a snob about everything, but it's really just being thoughtful about all this stuff. It's like, we're only here for such a certain amount of time.

Yeah. We might as well enjoy it. Like, we, like, I'm not saying way with wine. I'm like, if I am going to drink and I'm not going to sleep that great that night because I drank too much, it should be something good. Yeah. Right. Absolutely. No, yeah, you don't want to be, yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think of all the different label. You don't.

Yes. And you can get really great quality wine for $5 a bottle if you want. And you can also get some of the shittiest wine for $20 a bottle. So, yeah, you might as well drink good wine. life is too short, as you said. Right, yeah. I don't, it is so strange to me when people are like, what would you like? They're like, whatever.

And I was like, I have a cinnamon schnapps that's lovely and I can add some brown sugar to it and if you like, but that always is very perplexing to me. It would be like, yeah, fine. And be like, you don't go to a car dealership. I'm like, so do you want the, you know, like a pickup truck or do you want like a? Supercar sports. This doesn't matter. It's fine. Yeah.

That is one of the sad things about flying now is that they can't. Now it's all these individual bottles. And so I love, like when I'm on a plane, I'm like, well, I should have wine because I'm trapped here. And I can watch a couple of episodes of a German time travel show on Netflix called Dark. That's a plug. Yeah. Not in it. I don't speak German.

But then now it's all these tiny little bottles. I know. I have it hard. It's been hard. Yeah, it's been really hard. Well, it's so nice to catch up. How many typewriters do you have? I have two. I have two.

And the one up top doesn't really work. It's the older one from 1940s. And that one down below is from 75. And that one actually, you can actually, because my handwriting's so bad. So when I write letters to people, I type them on that. Pretty cool. That's, yeah. You can get that.

1940s one in ship shape. There's a couple of companies that'll redo that thing. Yeah, I know. And that's my gift to you. You're the best. So that's the electric typewriter with a ball that bangs into it? No, no, this is the teeth coming up. Yeah, it's a good one.

There's a really good book called the billion dollar spy. And it's about how the Soviets had access to our typewriter makers and could, we're getting secrets through those balls, those typewriter balls. It's pretty, I was like, wow, that's pretty damn good. We never caught onto it either. Oh, that's amazing.

Now they just tell us they're taking our computer systems and just do it. It is incredible. It really is. People like, we know it's Russia. And they're like, all right. Okay. What are we doing about it? When are we going to do something again together?

I think we're going to do the informant too. That's Matt called me about it. That would be fun. What? Yeah, yeah. He's very excited. I didn't get a call. He said everybody's back.

Oh. The entire Andrea's family. Oh, I didn't. I'm sure. A lot of times I don't check my voicemails. Oh, it wasn't a voicemail. He contacted me. Well, he texted email and that his agents.

And then, of course, Sotomay wrote. as he's crafting the script with Scott Z-Barns. I'm just going to keep it going on. When are we going to do something again? Well, yeah, let's do something. All right, how about a sitcom? All right, that'd be good. Called dads.

I'm in there making my carbonara. You're in spitting wine. You're in spit takes with bad wine. How about this? I do. Oh, I have an outdoor, I don't have an outdoor kitchen, but I have definitely the capability of being able to make stuff outdoors since I have an enormous gas grill, which I put pots and pans on all the time and I have a heat plate. You could make spaghetti carbonara and I could choose the wine. And since you're a meat eater, I like making meat and I could make up like a nice, I could do an Italian style like New York strip.

Oh, this sounds good. I think we've got a plan. And then you're, we can, you can just bring your family and they can stare at us. Yeah. And no one has to cast us in this. We could just make it happen. This is great.

Well, you're the best, Joel. That is not true. You are. I'm average. And I'm glad you were able to get a game show host on your show. Yeah, so good. Cart sharks, baby. from one game show host to another.

You're the best. See? Which was your, what's your game show? I did boom. Still going. No? Fuck. That's the thing that people I think always take for granted.

All my friends are like, well, you just get a job and it always goes well. And I'm like, everything I've been on has been canceled. I don't know about card sharks, but it's really just like surfing. where you paddle out, you hope this wave will get you to the shore but he was like, yeah,

most likely it won't, but you just paddle back out again. I guess we're paddling again. Yeah. And I was like, maybe this way, this could do it. I was just saying,

oh, I was just talking, I was like, I'll never forget Harrison Ford's except in speech for the, what's the lifetime

kind of golden globe that you get? I can't remember the name of it. Yeah. He got the big life honor in his entire, speech was, well, I, you know, they've showed all his movies and he was like, yeah, the reason

why I'm successful is because everyone else left. And I was like, he was like, everyone else gave up and I was the one dude that just hung around. And I was like, inspiring, but there is truth to the kind of like, yeah, you just keep going. Keep doing it. Just wait them out. It's just going to wait them out.

Throw a smoke bomb in there and wait for them to choke and then they'll eventually come running out. Yeah. All right. I'll keep working on my Carbon era. And once I think I won't embarrass myself, we'll set a date. Great. I will, great.

And I will send you a picture of my wine overflow that is in a closet, which my wife goes. This doesn't look like you have a problem at all. Let me just move some stuff around. You're the best. Thanks. You're the best. Thank you. Good to talk to you.

Always. You too, man. I don't know how to turn this off. Oh, here we go. Am I leaving? Yeah, if you want. Or am I staying? You tell me. No, you're out of here. Get out of here. Okay, good.

Enjoy your life. You too. All right, now it's time for a quick bite with the great Duncan Truzzle. Let's get him on the phone and see what is happening in his life. Duncan, I'm great. Doing good. How are you? I'm doing okay. I didn't realize when I was reaching out that this would be such a, a big moment.

Well, you know what's weird about it is I was just thinking about you yesterday because I have your audiobook on my phone. And then I saw on Audible your audiobook. And then I thought, whoa, that guy is so deep because we talked about transidental meditation. Yeah, that's weird. I must have pinged you on that actual realm. Oh, I love that. I love hearing that.

and and uh and you must have been pinging me a little bit with just your uh your life change congratulations you had a new baby got a new baby yeah we uh we had our second son and uh i know everything went okay no no no no for the second time the both kids ended up in the nikey forest ended up in there because of jaundas and dune that's the name of the second one ended up in there because he's so big he's uh almost nine pounds and so they like have to i know i know it's a big boy big butterball big butterball but he's fine now we're home but you know have you ever did any of your kids end up in the nicku no no i don't know if i would have handled it well oh no you can't handle it well it's like what do you do have you seen jacob's ladder no

Great, but there's a wonderful scene in it where, like, hell is kind of depicted as this combo insane asylum, like, hospital, you know, where you're just kind of wheeled around and poked and prodded, and it's like, the NICU is like that. Everyone there is sweet. They're all legitimate angels, and it's, I can't even imagine deciding that's where you want to work. I know. Oh. I know. Oh. You know, like, you just, you can't.

You're right in the precipice of life and death and you've got all the drama of these parents whose hearts are breaking. But anyway, the kid's fine, you know. Yeah, but no, that's a different kind of person that can do that. There is, like, I have a friend up in San Francisco that works in that realm. And when you ask them about it, when you're like, how can you handle it? Because you're, like, all emotional and you know how you'd react. And when you talk to them about it, they don't even really, the question doesn't really, even penetrate. It's not like, oh, yeah, I really got to get through it. They just do it. It's just second nature to them.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's second nature, but not for you when you're visiting. No, Jesus Christ. No, I'm like, you know, you want to be, this is where, like, the, just the reality of how important science is comes clear, because if, you know, our emotions are we want the baby out of the hospital home. Yeah. And so because of that, like our first kid had, like I mentioned earlier, had jaundice. And so we were like, you know, he's probably going to have jaundas. And I was basically telling the doctor what to do. And he's like an idiot, you know. Like I'm a fucking podcast.

Like this guy resuscitates life every day. And he's listening to my like, sweet, deprived, bearded ass. Like, listen, I need to tell you how to do. John to talk, I've gone on Google about it and maybe you're not aware of this but they're so patient

because they deal with that shit from parents every day. They have an ethereal compassion where they listen and they're like in a nice way they're like well actually you're totally wrong. It doesn't work like that at all.

Oh God. It's great to have a new baby. Yeah, Dune's a great name too. Yeah, yeah. What was I saw when you were talking about crying at one of your kids' graduation? I can't remember what it was. There was something very sweet. Aaron said to me, are you going to cry at his graduation?

And I just immediately started crying. I'm like, no. I know. It's so unfair. Everything in life is just, you go from trying to get control of yourself for your entire life and like how to act and how to control your emotions and stuff. And then you have children. And then it's like somebody just strips you of all of your coping mechanisms. And then all of a sudden you're like, you're crying at a Geico commercial. That's it. that's I literally I walked in on my wife weeping at some kind of I don't know what it was just some dog commercial I'm not sure what it was on TV she's holding the baby crying yeah it's your heart you know yeah the whole life trying to like put your heart in safe and then the babies just blow the lock off and then you're like exactly back to where you were before oh god so was it fun during the pregnancy where you guys uh were you following your wife freedom and able to binge and eat fun crazy things?

What do you, what do you, oh, you mean like, no, I tried not, we did that with the first, we did that with the first one. And, you know, when your wife is gaining weight, well, she's pregnant. You're right. But when you're gaining weight with your wife, what are you? What do you do? Yeah, exactly. But the first one, we were eating, he's like, delicious.

gourmet chocolate ice cream bars like every night and just trying to rationalize it like where you're pregnant so this is what you would do and this one we didn't do it quite as much there were some binging here and there but yeah yeah but yeah we avoided we didn't gorge on sweets as much this time that's good that she might have I don't know I mean when you're pregnant you get to do whatever you want you're you know you're the forges life. Yeah, right exactly. Yeah, all bets are up. All bets are off.

And are things going good down there? You're back in the south, is it. It's been a little beat now. It's great. It's good. Well, I mean, you know, the winter is winter here, so there's, you know, like there's, but there's a

there was a moment two days ago with my first son Forrest. We were standing at the gate to our little vacation rental and as we looked for a house and uh he just you know he started playing and it's snowy and wet and he just started playing in like a mud puddle with gravel and i'm like this is like this is the fucking ukraine you know i feel like i'm in bosnia or you know i feel like i'm in some like soviet union period peace you go home and have like just a some borscht and stare at the walls

Exactly. It felt like that. But then, you know, you realize for a two-year-old, the gravel in a mud puddle is amazing. It's not. You know, it's not like, I feel like, what are we doing here? Like, I feel like I found an orphan in an industrial park or something. But, yeah, but I really do. I really like. I mean, it's so nice. It's like, it sucks in the sense that it's not like California.

anywhere. I think it's a cold day right now for you all right. You had a cold snap, didn't you? Yeah, it was really harsh. We had like two and a half days where it was below 60. Oh, God, I'm sorry. Yeah, it was really rough. Yeah, that's tough, man. But I have to say, there's that thing, there's definitely that thing. Like, we actually had rain, and it was like dark and cloudy, and it was like, man, you forget, like, the impact that has just on your emotions and your mind. And, you know, when you're, you just have that constant sun and you don't have that change of gears. It's not, I don't know, it's definitely not as deep of an existence.

I think just having that change in the weather and having to just like feel it is, I don't know. Maybe just because I grew up with it, I know kids out here. I have friends that have never been in weather as below 50 degrees in their entire lives and they're like grown people. I wish I could confirm it. I can't, let me, here's the thing. I thought that too when I was in LA. So I thought when I was in LA, I'm like, God, how can I rob my child of the reasons and the rain?

Yeah. You know, I'm like, all this like, smaltzy shit, right? Yeah. So we got out here and it started raining and every couple of days. It's great. And it snows for the first time You're like, wow, look at it. He gets to experience snow.

Yeah. You know, cut to like a day and a half later. You can't take a toddler out in the snow that much. It's going to flee. So now you're just like you're all stuck in a vacation rental. And you realize like, oh, yeah, this is like, this is why I love about Buddhism is because it points out that quality in the human mind that puts one place against another and just tricks your ass, you know? Right.

Go there, you'll be better. Right. I think it's, I don't know what it's from. You know, and I have Buddha quotes. Like, anybody could just take a picture of the Buddha and type anything and put it on Instagram. Yeah. But it was something along the lines of like, some people would tell you this place is better

than that place. Like there's better people there, smarter people or wiser people or the weather's better, whatever, but I say to you, the whole world is on fire. With suffering. Oh, geez. Easy, Buddha. I'm down. What happened?

You didn't call you back, right? Yeah. It's hilarious. Weather is going to save you. Well, you sound great. I'm happy to hear your voice. You'll have to go on each other's podcast and do the longer form for sure. I would love that.

I'm so glad to hear from you. It was really cool. I mean, that's the best thing when you're thinking about somebody. And then the next day they text you. It's a good sign. Yeah, yeah, it is a good sign. Well, congratulations. Enjoy Dune and Farris and take care of your wife.

One second, Tom. I know there's only a five-minute thing and I already probably went over by five. How are you doing? I feel rude getting off the phone with you because I didn't ask how you were doing. No, I'm doing great. I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right. I think I'm really missing performing. Yeah. Is the only, is the only quirk in the system is, you know, I've gone a long, this is the longest time. Like, even in the summer, I was able to sneak out and do a show here or there. And now I haven't done anything since November. So I'm definitely itching for that. But I did this, I took this little. fix where I'm squeezing where I you know I try and write every day so what I'm doing now is I'm

writing when I would normally be out doing a show at the store oh wow so that's cool yeah because it changes your mindset it's like okay so I'm not going to drink a dinner because I have a show tonight and I'm going to go I'm not going to sit in front of the TV I'm going to leave my family for an hour and a half and instead of going to do the show I go into the office and just spend that time at the desk writing and sometimes it's good sometimes it's not just like stand up some nights you feel great some night you just kind of come home and go to bed but that little mind trick has been pretty valuable that's so cool cool i'm going to adopt that once in a little bit i mean we got a baby so yeah you're you don't have to do anything for a year

i don't think anything for a year but man it's a great to hear from you it's harm well yeah let's do Let's do a trade podcast again soon, and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, how we are. All right, buddy. You're the best. You're the best. That's it. Thank you all for listening.

I hope you had a good time here on the Breaking Bread with Tompapa podcast. Like it, subscribe, tell your friends about it, spread the word, keep interacting with me online. I try and respond as much as I can. Show me all of your successes and failures and your baking and your eating. I hope you enjoy yourself and enjoy your life, and I'll see you next time. Thank you.