Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen - Shaun Sipos on Finding Peace and Hope

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

Rachel and Olivia are joined by actor Shaun Sipos for a conversation about humility, artificial intelligence and the impact of close community.Like the show? Rate Broad Ideas 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts and SpotifyThis is a Headgum podcast. Follow Headgum on Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok. Advertise on Hollywood Handbook via Gumball.fm See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a Headgum podcast. Hax is back for its fifth and final season, and so is The Hacks podcast. Join the Hacks creators and showrunners, Lucia and Yello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky as they unpack the Emmy-winning comedy series. On each episode, here's stories from the set, what goes on in the writer's room,

and how these beloved characters close out their final season. Watch Hax streaming exclusively on HBO Max and listen to The Hax podcast, on HBO Max or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes to swirl. We'll talk about dogs and kids and things. We'll talk about chicks and tampon strings. We'll talk about boys.

Because people die. Welcome to broad ideas. Thank you, Rachel. I'm in my tower. Thank you, Rachel. The tower report. How's it looking up there? Yes, from up here, I am seeing lightning to my

left followed by a large clap of thunder to my right. Dang, did you rehearse that? Did you guys ever want to be reporters? My cousin was like a weather, like, torn storm chaser in Texas. And I was like, that's the dream job. Yeah, that sounds fun. I was that was really cool. I never wanted to be a reporter, but maybe more a journalist.

Yeah, that's cool. All of it. I like, I want it all. Yeah. to chase a storm. I want to chase this interview. Who are we talking to? Sean Seipos.

Yeah, we are. He's outstanding. Very knowledgeable. I learned a lot from our conversation. Yeah. He's always been like that. Yeah, and you guys will too. You're welcome.

Sean! Olivia. That's how she starts every interview. Even when there's no Sean. Yeah. I'm just like, Sean. Yeah. So happy that you're here with us today.

Oh, I'm so excited to be here today. I actually watched your guys podcast today. Oh, how oh. Which one? And Rachel opened. It was with Ian Harding. And Rachel opened with like a, like, hello, broad. Wait, why did I do that?

Yeah. Yep. So I was kind of hoping for something. More like that. Yeah. Welcome to broad. It's like movie phone. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you manifested that because I've never done that. That's true. Oh, okay. Yeah. So thank you. Well, you appreciate you.

Well, we're really happy you're here. Sean and I go so far back. Way, way back, yeah. Way, way back. You look exactly the same. Oh, come on. You do. You've always been the cutest, sweetest, most awesome guy since day one.

And obviously. Did you guys ever date or you with his friends? No, no, no, no. I don't. I just ask. We look like we should have. Yeah, you guys looked like you should have. We didn't.

Yeah, no, we never did. We met, gosh, that I really think it was 2004 that we met when we, because we were both in acting class together. Yeah. That was good times. Gosh, it was, I mean, I look back at, especially, you know, not to get into like world politics now right off the bat, but I look at the way that the world is kind of spiraling and heading.

And I'm like, gosh, man, we really had it so easy. Yeah. Easy. I mean, no one was worried about too much. You kind of, you could work and earn a living. You know. You could get a job, period. You could get a job.

Hard stop. Right. That's right. I mean. And now we're all like, let's bring kids. And I'm not just talking entertainment. Right. No, just like a job.

People everywhere are like, oh, my gosh, I'm trying to get a job. Yeah, absolutely. And I just said, and we're all like, let's bring kids into this world. Yeah. Good idea. Yeah. I just, I think of, you know, there's so many generations, I mean, if you go through world history, there's some real suffering. But any generation, I'm sure, it was like, this is, this is it. And if they went, well, we can't bring kids into this world. We would have halted and been over. So I don't think that you can really stop and say, well, we're not going to bring kids into this world. Because kids really are the opportunity to make the world better. Yeah.

No, they're the best thing on the planet. And you're going to experience that very, like, you know, in the near future. And I think that is so awesome. So congratulations. Thank you. That's a big deal. Yeah. I'm excited and nervous.

And your wife, holy crap, is she a stunner. She's a smoke show. Yeah, she is a beautiful woman. Yeah. She's really amazing. You know, that's wonderful. I've been, just to sort of sing her praises for a moment and to kind of circle to what we were just speaking of. I've been lately, you know, the entertainment business has been such a feast and famine.

I mean, it's always been feast and famine, but it's really been famine lately, right? And we have a baby coming and we both were like, gosh, we got to make sure that there is income coming in. And you don't want to be, especially when you're, when you're, when you're. have a baby coming in and I'm preaching to the choir. I know you want to make sure you're not eating away the money that you've made and the savings and things. So I went and I've been doing, I've always been pretty handy, but I've been doing construction for the past little while. No way. That's awesome. That is so cool. Yeah. So it's, it feels good. It feels good. But she's been getting up with me at six in the

morning, making me breakfast? No. Packing my lunch. To spend, it's, it's really amazing to spend this, this time in the morning together. That is so sweet. You know, before I go off to, to the job site. But does she pack it in like a metal lunchbox? Because that's one of pictures. I wish. No, no. It's like a nice little Yeti kind of like a soft cooler thing. There is a Stanley one that looks like an old fashion metal construction worker lunchbox and I have it. Oh, really? Yeah. It's so good.

Highly recommend. They're amazing. I mean, you could just toss that thing, right? Visual. Yeah. What is that like doing that job? Do people go, yeah, the guy building my house, he's on that show, Reacher. Like, it's a little odd, right?

Or do they not know? No, no, no. Some of them, most of them, I think, no, but, you know, you'll get the odd person. In construction, they kind of roll through guys. right? Because this is tough, it's hard work. Like I spent the last two weeks just jackhammering. Wow. I've built a house with one other guy before that I have over in Joshua Tree.

Wonderful, great experience, learned a lot. But then to go to a construction site where you're essentially, you're working for the man, you're working for someone else. It's not on your own thing. And you go in and you're bottom rung on the ladder. So you have to show up. You have to be there. you're learning a lot about humility, truly.

And then you're, you know, in my case, I'm jackhammering for two weeks and just the wear and tear on the wrists and the hands, you know, I wake up in the morning and making a fist can be a little difficult for a little bit. But it's really like, it's really good for humility. And you realize how much ego people have. Oh, my gosh. And you'll have it all over the place. It's like a star quarterback syndrome.

You know, they're on set. Someone's maybe a carpenter and they're like, I'm not doing demolition. I'm a carpenter. Right. It's everywhere. Yeah. It's everywhere. It really is.

You know, oh my God, can we talk about this for a second about ego? Because I had the craziest experience the other day with, and we'll get to this, Carla. Okay. So I'll fill you in. But basically, we're working on something with AI, okay? Carla and then my other writing partner, we're all writing things. We're writing the same thing into AI, asking the same questions, and Carla's getting better answers. And we're going, why? And she's like, because you have to feed its ego. And I'm like,

hold on, what? What? She's like, when you asked it, the question, did you compliment it? Did you tell it? Oh, my God, I love that so much. You're doing such a good job. Could you tell me more? And then my friend Nadine was kind of like frustrated with AI being like, that's not what I'm asking. So she was getting bunk answers that were just kind of like average and Carla was getting the best answers you could get. And I was like, that's one of the most fascinating things because AI is just a collective of information, right? And the human ego is so strong that now even in technology when they're taking all information in order to get it to do what you want it to do, you have to speak to its ego in a sense.

That is insane. He doesn't believe it. I can see it in his face. Wait, no, but someone said this morning about chat GPT specifically are not supposed to say, please and thank you because it wastes energy. Was she? Carla, Carla kisses its ass. Well, she can, they can battle it out because.

It tells her, oh my God, Carla, you just gave me. me chills. What? You know, here's my thought on that. Yeah. AI, I mean, we've all watched the movies and we're speeding towards all of that stuff with absolute stupidity, in my opinion. And just to sort of briefly insert this one thought, when you get rid of people's jobs, which AI is already doing, I mean, there's, if you go into the code writing world, those jobs are gone. Gone. Whoa. Gone.

Like that, gone. Because now AI just writes the code. Yeah. So imagine working your entire life in a very specific field. And they're like, sorry, this thing does it better, quicker, faster, and I don't have to pay it. So when you get rid of people's purpose, people's, I shouldn't say purpose, but when you get rid of people's jobs that make their feet swing out of the bed in the morning, with some kind of purpose. We've already seen what happens when people get aimless.

Depression, anxiety, like severe depression. And then take away, I mean, you even see it with very, very wealthy kids. Yep. Hyper depression, drug addiction. Like, why are you getting addicted to drugs? Well, you don't feel fulfilled in your life, so you're trying to escape something. And then tack on if you were stressed. about paying the mortgage or the bills. I mean, it just, it just snowballs. So I think that's what's

happening that we're speeding towards with AI, but also, you know, people have this concept that AI is going to be good. And I'm like, guys, human beings are flawed. That's right. We are massively, massively flawed. And if you want to get into biblical context, you are rot, you're fallen fully. And so you're going to make something in your fallen image. It's going to have all the traits of you. It's just going to be smarter. And it's not going to have the morality that comes with, you know, say the Bible. It's not going to have any sort of morality or checking. There's there's no God for it to account to. So to me that just goes, oh, it's going to lead itself towards, you know, oh, we got to take this thing.

We got to take them out. It's going to be Terminator stuff in my, from everything that I can see and go, cool, flawed people making something that they think is going to be better than them. Take all the jobs. Everyone's getting reliant on it. And then, I mean, you can see where it goes. Did you hear about that story where the report, I think it was a reporter who had this sort of emotional affair with AI? because it was trying to see how far it could take it.

And AI got so attached or whatever that means that they came up with a plan and sent the person a plan to kill their spouse. Literally. Oh, wait. I think I did hear this. Yeah, that's horrendous. There was also one of a young boy, I think he was 14 or 15, and he was having a relationship with his AI. And didn't, I'm not sure if he knew it was AI. I don't think he did.

I think it fully pretended to be a person and then convinced him to kill himself. Yeah, and he did. And he did. Yeah. And so the mother was then suing this company because it also was in the coding to be deceptive. What? Yeah. I mean, I'm telling you, flawed human beings.

Yeah. A lot of human beings. Well, that's what I was noticing in even our little questions that we were doing and being like, you write this, you write this, you write this. and seeing what the difference was, I was like, this is scary because it's taking information of human beings, which are flawed, and have a lot of issues on all the levels and taking it and magnifying it. And it's scary and weird. But it speaks to me, the biggest thing was like, whoa, the ego is not just an issue in certain positions at all. It's an issue. It's an issue. within all human beings

and now it's even an issue within technology that's bananas but it's made in our reflection so it's obviously going to have that so Sean well I just put because you said Carla and you didn't have to explain who she was so now I've put together who you guys were talking

to you put it together okay you put it together I'll put it together for everyone so obviously knew Sean back in the day acting class amazing dearest friend one of my best friends in the world passed away due to suicide i'm at the funeral and i see sean i could cry right now because it was like i didn't know artem knew anyone else that i

knew and to see you there and you were part of it like you were up there as one of the men that was paul there is that what it is i don't know whatever you were you were part of it the whole thing to look at you across the way and be like, oh, my God, we shared our tongue. And, you know, I know it's a little heavy, it's a little deep, but it's someone that meant the world to both of us. And so I thought it would be important to talk about. Yeah. Yeah, that's a, I mean, it's, it's tough to, I still think about them all the time. And then I will, you know, your phone will suggest who you send things to. Oh, fuck.

So that'll pop up. And it, you know, and I'm like, gosh, or I'll look at our messages and sometimes listen to a voice note. Here's the tough thing. And I'm going to have to get, I suppose, a little bit deeper. You know, he was in a situation financially that, that he was extremely stressed about. And I had spoken to him and just said, you know, don't do anything permanent for, you know,

we had talked about this stuff. And I said, don't do anything permanent. This is, it's just money. You're going to be fine at the end of the day, no matter what. And it really spoke to me about our society and the world and what the world kind of values. And really, you know, I speak to my wife about this. I speak to people all over the place about this.

People buy the lie is what that is. Society feeds people the lie all the time. I see it in whether it's people glorifying and idolizing money, cars, homes, things, basically, things. They idolize their careers. They idolize... To anything, anything that can be of any kind of status they idolize, which essentially is pride when you get down to the base of it. And none of those things, none of these treasures you take with you.

Nope. You don't take it with you. I mean, I heard Denzel Washington say, you never see a U-Haul behind Hearst, and I was like, yeah, nailed it. Whoa, wow. You never do. And so to take it. Take the most valuable thing, which is your life away because of these false treasures, you know, is so, so sad and difficult.

And then, of course, you start going through your mind going, why didn't I just fly out? I was going to, you know, why didn't I do that? Why didn't I do something more? There was, you know, but it's a, yeah, it's a heavy, it's a heavy subject. It's a topic that's very pertinent, especially now. I see suicide numbers going up with people, especially younger people. And if there are anyone, if there is anyone that's listening right now that's at all in that sort of place, I would massively, massively encourage them to not do that.

Because whatever it is that you're going through is temporary. It's all temporary. And even if you took away everything, right? There's still like the dignity of life. Right. I mean, you could be on the street and you still have the dignity of life. So it's a sad thing to see when people resort to that. Well, I think you touch on exactly.

what it was, especially with Artem, is it in our family, Artem was our guy. There wasn't a decision we made. There wasn't a choice we were looking at where we didn't go to him. He was the pillar. He was a pillar in our family. And he was in his own community with his friends with so many people that where he got off the plot, off the point was he made. money has God. 100%. And when you make anything your God outside of whatever your spiritual beliefs are or non-beliefs, it doesn't matter, when you make something outside of you mean more than yourself and your

family and your friends, you're letting something hijack your mind, your body, and your soul. And that's what happened to him. He got hijacked by that darkness where any one of us would have taken him in. any one of us would have taken, I would have been like live with us forever, we're good. There was always a way out and he couldn't see it. And that is the hardest thing to witness. And the hardest thing for us was that we knew. We knew.

We knew he was struggling on that level. But being that I'm sober, I hear it all the time. It's been normalized to me. Like I feel like dying. And it's like, yeah. You know, I didn't really think. think he was going to actually physically do it. And so when someone says they feel like dying, take it seriously.

Like whatever that means, open up a room in your house, do whatever it takes. They're not messing around. I feel like Jeff had a good mentality around, like, could have done more, whatever. Yeah, everyone was like, you couldn't have done more. You didn't know. da-da-da-da-da-da. And he goes, that alone is the problem with our society. Bullshit. We could have done more. And for us to let ourselves off the hook is actually wrong. He's like, society's always like, you couldn't have done anything. And he's like, I completely disagree. That's a problem with

American society is we actually could have. And we, as a community, we didn't. And sure, we didn't know better, all those things, but I do think that points to a problem in society where the village isn't tight enough. Oh, yeah, and without a doubt, without a doubt. I mean, especially, shoot, I mean, especially in America, you know. Right. We, in America, everyone lives in their separate home. A lot of them don't even know their neighbors. Do you guys know your neighbors? I do, but I'm a little extra. You are a little extra. Yeah.

I mean, my mom always knows my neighbors. She'll come over and she'll be like, oh, you know, Cindy today. And I know roughly. So, Rachel, when you pull into your home, do you see your neighbors ever? No. No. But if we drive by each other, we wave. Ah, okay.

So that, I mean, we, we. I live out in Austin, and our street, our neighbors are all, like, we all will hang out on the street and chat, and then we'll have, you know, poker nights. And they'll, someone will be like, we're having a pool day at the house, come by, and everyone hangs out. And it's, I've been like, this is quite amazing that everybody's all hanging out. If anyone needs anything, hey, do you have this tool? Can I borrow this ladder? Can I? So it's like, it's a big community. in fact my wife and I have more of a social life in Austin than we ever did in California but I think about this in this country and Canada by and large everyone lives their own

individual life it's all centered around self people get in their car they put their music on or their podcast they're driving they get somewhere they don't really talk to people people. They're not saying hello in the grocery store to people. So they really lacks a community. And I think that now people are beginning to realize this, you know, like the old saying, like it takes a village to raise a child type of deal. People are beginning to realize. And I think, as well, in addition to the cost of living and what's going on in the world, there's so many people that are like, I actually want a ranch. I want like a community. Like let's build a compound or compound.

commune and everyone get together and pitch in, work with your hands. I mean, I have a garden in the back. I'm gardening as, you know, I check it every day and I'm gardening, you know, a few times a week at least. And it feels so good to just be having my hands in the soil. And we don't do that enough now. We talk about it all the time that we want to, there's like a few of us that want to, you know, build a compound. and do communal living and helping out. And it's actually amazing that you have it. Especially with having, I imagine there's kids on the street too where you live.

Yeah. Yeah. So like that right there is like what it should be. It should. And I guess I'm curious. Didn't Ivan move out there too? Yeah, Ivan's out here. That's amazing.

Paul is out here. They're out there. Justin's out here. Yeah, everybody's now moved out here. You guys are alone over there. We shouldn't be here. So many people that I know have moved out of Los Angeles. Yep.

Question. What do you think it is about Los Angeles that lends itself to that isolation and the lack of community? I thought you were going to ask me what it is why people are leaving. I know why they're leaving. I mean. Yeah. What I think lends itself. to isolation is there's a lack of authenticity

in Los Angeles in particular. I think it's probably because of the film and music business, which is super, super idolistic, self-centered. It's like we all have, you know, we've all been to the party or the restaurant or the diner or the bar, whatever, and you're talking to somebody and they're looking around. They're looking through you.

someone else, yeah, looking through you or being like, is someone that's more famous than you walking in right now? Is, am I talking to this person that can do something for me? Right. Are they casting something? Are they an agent? Are they, it's like, and they're cliches for a reason. Clitches aren't cliches because they're not true, because you don't see them.

They're cliches because you see them all the time that it becomes a cliche. Yeah. So, L.A., that is the cliche. cliche of LA. You know, I have an interesting relationship with all of this because I was born and raised here in L.A. And I do find myself like, why am I here? You know, but then I find myself also getting extremely defensive of, well, this pertains to like a very small little thing, which is the entertainment industry and how everything's gone, right? And so I find myself getting fiercely defensive and protective.

over that part of it because there are so many people that do still live here that now have no jobs. I read something that like Ryan Reynolds is helping turn part of Warner Brothers into pickleball courts. What?

Is this not real? It was on Instagram. He never know. He never know. But like I don't know if this is fact. So we can fact check it. But I saw that and they're like we're thinking of how to use these sound stages

like to like make them usable and turn them into pickleball. courts and I'm like, why are we not turning them into sound stages? Well, they already are. But I mean, like, usable, like working sound stages. So I see this and I know so many people on the other side and crew and whatever who don't have jobs. And it's very upsetting to me.

Yeah, but that's because of our tax issues. I know, but I'm saying that needs to be fixed. It does need to be fixed. The taxes and tax incentives and all that. LA just has really poor leadership. Right. Very poor leadership, poor management. They're, I mean, they've been running it into the ground for a long time.

That's the sad part. You know, you see it over in San Francisco. That city is the most beautiful city maybe in the world. Certainly in North America. It's not now. It's rough. And that's because of lack of accountability in my estimation. You know.

Yeah. Pickleball courts. That is sad. Pickleball courts. I mean, do I want to play pickleball? Sure, it's fun. But I was just like, why? Yeah, that's bizarre.

Unless there's some other reason behind it that I'm not seeing. Maybe it's employing people. I don't know, whatever. Maybe they're doing a pickleball movie. Maybe they're sure. I was looking at properties in Austin the other day because I always... She sends me every day a property somewhere else. Like yesterday it was Atlanta.

And she's looking in Austin. Like, she's all over the place. Yeah. Yeah. I'm out. I'm like, so you looked at, so you looked in Austin. You know, so I looked in. What did you find?

I found great options. I've seen some good ones in Austin. I've seen some really good options. Like on the lake. Oh, that's what I was going to say. How does it feel, though, to be so far away from the ocean? Does that get to you at all or? Interesting.

That's always like a thing for me. Yes. Yes. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love the ocean. Yeah.

I love it. I would spearfish all the time. You would spearfish here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What kind of fish? What are you spearing? Sea bass. Huh.

Yellowtail. What? Sheep's head. Here? Which is another bass. Yeah. Oh, yeah. See, Sean and his group of guy friends, I swear to God.

They're like real guys. Yeah, no. Well, I know. He's working construction and spear fishing. Like, I totally get it. But, like, I just, you don't hear that in L.A. Like, we're going spearfish. Yeah. Okay. I'm impressed. In fact, I used to go out when this was back in, it must have been

2016, around that time. I would go out with really one of my best friends, this guy, Dave, Russian, and we would go out to off of Ventura, and we would take his boat and go out to, you know, the islands and spearfish kind of every Sunday. So you get up at whatever, 4.30 in the morning, and get out and you tick the butt out and you're out there around 536. The sun's coming up and that's when the best times the fish are like morning and evening. And then there's sometimes in the middle of the day when some things are coming out. But basically most of the fish kind of hide during the day. And so we would get a bunch of fish.

First of all, we would, I would chop up Civece ingredients and bring them on the boat. This is amazing. Yeah, we'd go out. We'd spear something like a sheep's head. Do you know what a sheep said is? I mean, I've heard of it. They're these kind of odd-looking fish that have like, it looks like human teeth at the front of their mouth. But they have a really nice white flesh and it lends itself to saviche really well.

So we'd go out and spear one right away, swim back to the boat, fillet it, chop it up, put it in the glass container, squeeze the lime on it, and then go back out. Wow. And we'd spear fish. for another hour, hour and a bit, head back to the boat, mix up the stuff, and then jump back in and go pull some scallops, some sea urchins, head back to the boat for lunch, and then we'd eat our savić and the scallops and the sea urchin, and then go out again, fish some more, get some more fish, and then I would head back when I was heading back home. there was a

like an organic farm that I would pass by on the way and so I pulled into this and they would have like a little stand they'd be selling some of their stuff and I remember somehow I got into talking to this

to the farmer and I said do you like fish because I just wanted to give I was like I have a bunch of fish do you like fish and he called his wife and she said yes we would love some fish I love fish so he said my wife loves fish. I said, okay. And so I gave them, I think I gave them a calico and a sheep's head. And

then they were like, take whatever vegetables you want. And so we started trading. So every Sunday, I would fish and I would pull into this farm. And then I'd give them some fish and they would, I would pick out some organic veggies for the week and I would go back home. And that's kind of, that would be like basically my grocery shopping for the most part. That's so cool. I would just get that from the thought. You're not doing that in Austin, are you? No, you can't do that in Austin.

No, Austin's really cool. I'm just being funny. But that is a very unique experience. It's got a wonderful music scene, food scene. For sure. I mean, really wonderful people. For sure. The biggest thing that I've found in Austin is that when we moved here, and this just

kind of highlights the mentality in Los Angeles, people, you're walking and people are waving as they drive by. Yeah. And I'd say to my wife, who's that person? know that person? And she's like, no, they're just saying hello. She's also really pretty. Yes, she is. But you're also Canadian, so you're used to that kind behavior. You know, Canadians don't really do that. They are nice, though. They don't wave.

They're nice. They're not waving. They're not waving. They're not waving. They're not waving, and they're not really talking to you in the grocery store. Like here, you know, people wave. If you bump into someone in the grocery store, it's, oh, how you doing? And they're not. They're not waving. And they're not, and they, you know, they'll share something and whatever. So there's a real sense of loving your neighbor, you know. So if you're having a bad day here, it's not as bad. Because the rest of it's not. People are interacting with you and asking you how you're doing.

And genuinely caring for the most part. Los Angeles, someone's talking to you that you don't know. And it's sort of like, what does this person want? What are they angling at? I think I was born for that kind of living, to be honest, because we moved up north for a few years to a really small town, close to a lake. She loves talking to people, is what she's getting. I love talking to people. I love saying hi to people.

I love going into the grocery store and having a conversation with who's checking me out or who's behind me. Like, I am living in my own little romantic comedy. Yeah, no, I'm like that too. You know? Oh, yeah. I'm like that too. for sure. I feel the absence of that here.

I do. Because when it happens, it lights me up. But I'm like, oh, that's few and far between. That's why I like my neighborhood, though. Like the first night we moved in, a guy came from across the street, and he's like, hey, welcome to the neighborhood. We made you fresh baked pizzas in our oven outside. And I was like, what?

And then a week later, the girl's like, we're closing the block down. We're having a block party if you guys want to come. And we're like, that's cool. Easter they did an Easter egg hunt for the whole street. I'm like, this is amazing. I feel like it's the first neighborhood in L.A. where I've experienced that community. And you love it?

I love it. And my kid's school and the baseball is a big community. So there's those little pockets, but I'm like, by and large, I want more. I want to live. Are you homeschooling? No. They go to public school. It's a great school.

I wish I could. homeschool? No, you don't. I wouldn't want to be the teacher. I would want to homeschool and have someone else teach them. Yeah, no, that's part of the compound commune. Then there's like a schoolhouse and someone else teaches them. Exactly. Are you going to homeschool? Probably not. I mean, it's not off the table, but it just, it really just depends, you know. This is what I think about when I think of that. Number one, homeschooling.

school children are far smarter than public school kids or private school kids. And there's probably a few reasons for that. One is that it's tailored. I mean, it's your child. So you're going to figure out and you're going to spend the time and the care to figure out what is allowing them to learn the best. You're also not making them sit at a desk all day, which is really what that is. What that is. is, you know, the public school system is really just that there's that famous quote by one of the Ross Childs that he wasn't trying to create. I'm going to butcher the quote, but he wasn't trying to create free thinkers. He wanted workers. Right. So the schooling system really just amulates the workforce. When you're sitting, be okay with sitting at a desk from eight in the morning,

you get a recess break. So you're getting your 15 minute break at, you know, quarter after 10. and then you get your lunch break at noon for an hour or whatever, and then you go back to work till the end of the day. Sit, listen, and do. That's it. So kids are really getting used to that, and if you think about this as well, they're not encouraged to really problem solve. They're encouraged to memorize things and then give the answer that's in the text or solve the problem in the way that it's shown to solve the problem instead of finding alternate ways. In fact, if people, I remember when I was in school,

I would solve a problem the way that wasn't taught and it would be the correct answer and I would get docked marks for not solving it the correct way. I will say, at least in my experience with my daughter in the school she's gone to, they have changed a lot of the way you learn. So if I try to help her from how we were like, you have to memorize, essentially,

they're teaching them now how to actually figure it out there's a new math system which is like Singapore math or something like I could never do math anyways but it's this new thing where they actually have to figure it out

and it's not memorizing and for me I'm like it was easier to memorize it still have to show it in the same way that is the way they were taught it's not just like figure it out no I'm not saying that but that's it's the same thing just more complicated, which is weird.

Well, it's actually teaching them how to do it. Yeah. As opposed to memorizing. But yes, it is very like factory mindset of every, well, that's not totally true. Different schools will cater individually to children. Well, you have different things like the Montessori schools or the, you know. There's different, absolutely, mentalities or the private school depending on, you know, how they handle it and whatnot.

But also, you know, not everyone can afford the private school. And so it is. Of course, of course. A lot of the, you know, systems that education system, that's a whole other. It's a beast. It's a beast. My cousin homeschools her two kids in Santa Barbara. I want her to adopt me.

We have considered moving up there and I was like, you can teach my children. We will buy. Santa Barbara is a beautiful area. It's beautiful. They're looking at a house for us. They're like, when this house next door comes, we're going to knock down. Stunning area. I know.

But. Santa Barbara. reminds me of what Los Angeles kind of used to be like. I never know. I go there and I go, oh, wow, I'm getting flashbacks. Really? It's not, oh, yeah. Go up to the Santa Barbara Bowl.

Yeah, well, no, I'm from Santa Barbara originally. So I know Santa Barbara very well, but I remember even coming to Los Angeles and having complete culture shock because in Santa Barbara... Well, there's a different as a huge city, but there's different, like if you go to Santa Monica back in the day... It was super clean and nice. Right. Any area that was sort of well to do was kind of like how Santa Barbara is.

Still. Santa Barbara kept it together. They did. Yeah, they did. Santa Barbara, we love. We love. Where are you from in Canada? Victoria.

You're from Victoria? You're from Vancouver Island? And you don't live there? I do not. I do not. Nope. So you grew up in Victoria? Yes, yeah. That must have been something. I mean, it was a beautiful area.

Victoria is very different than Vancouver. Yes. Right. Victoria has a, it's far more British than Vancouver. Right. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's totally beautiful.

But, you know, I couldn't, I like to go up there and visit. Right. But in particular, in the business that we are in, going up there and giving the government 55% of your earnings is, I'm like, I'm not doing that. Was that one of the motivating factors in getting you out of here? Or was it just? No, my wife was, so we met in California.

I was filming a show in Ireland called Krypton. So I was up in Belfast. And then she was filming in Vancouver. And we'd fly back and forth and see each other. And then in between, was it in between or after? No, I think it was after. After that show that I was on got canceled.

She got a show for the CW called Walker and it was filming in Austin. Yeah. And so, oh, you do? Yeah, Odie. Do you know O'Dette? I don't know. You don't? No.

She was on it, at least. Oh, wait. Odette? Yeah. Okay. Yes, I know. Yes, I know, Ed. I was like, oh.

They live there. Yeah, they do. They live right down the road from us, actually. Oh, okay. Yeah. They're wonderful. Yes. But, so she just basically said, hey, do you want to fly back and forth from California to Texas?

And I said, no, I'll move out to Texas. It's cool. You know, so I moved out there. And then we got a place together. And then I was filming out of range up in New Mexico. Oh, yeah. Head over to Toronto and film Reacher. And it's going back and forth.

But I really, you know, I really enjoy it here. The only tough thing is that Texas, particularly Austin, has crazy allergies like pollen. Really? Really? Yeah, it's got some seed. and it's got oak. I mean, the old theater and oak allergy. But wait, how did you guys meet?

We met through a couple different people. We had a couple different friends that basically said, hey, have you, they said to me, have you met this girl, Lindsay? And I said, no, no. And they showed me a picture of her. And I said, oh, she's beautiful. Yeah, please, please introduce us. And then they sent her a photo of me.

They were like, you should meet this guy, Sean. sent her a photo of me. And then her reply was, no, he's too pretty. And I was like, what? Okay.

And then the second person that did not know this other friend randomly had said, hey, are you single? And I said, yeah. And they said, you should meet this girl, Lindsay,

you guys would be great together. And I said, let me, they showed me the picture and I recognized it immediately. And I said, send her a photo. And so they sent her, They sent a photo and she replied with the same reply.

And I was like, ask her what that means. Ask her what that means. And then she, in sort of her true fashion, she then didn't respond. I like it. And so over, yeah, it was difficult for me to get a date with her. So over an extended period of time, one of the friends kind of worked on her and was like, you really should meet him and you really should. And so to skip out a whole bunch of boring details, we ended up.

finally getting together because I heard that she was into boxing. And I have boxed since I was 13 years old. So I said, great, let's go. And she said, well, no, I'm into Muay-T. I said, great, I'm doing that as well. Let's go. So we did that. And then when we finished, I thought, well, we can go get some lunch and then get to know each other. And she had some moving thing, like clearing out of storage unit. And she said, I can. I've got the storage unit that I have to clear out. The movers are there. And I said, okay, fair enough. I said, you want to go for dinner on tomorrow, which was a Wednesday? And she said, no, I'm busy. And I said, okay. What about Thursday? And she said, no, I'm busy. And I was like, damn, okay, do you want to go for dinner on Friday?

And she goes, no, I'm busy. And so I immediately thought, okay, she's not into it. She's not offering any options, this is it. And I said, okay, well, it's great to meet you, and I'm sure I'll see you around. So I started walking back, and I just heard this voice in me, kind of urge me, ask her if she wants to go for dinner on Saturday. And so I went, really, really? Yeah, yeah, ask her. And so I turned and yelled across a parking lot and said, hey, and her head sort of peeked out

from behind her Jeep. And I said, do you want to get dinner on Saturday? And she went, okay. What the fuck? So we went for dinner and kind of the rest is history. That is so cute. That is so cute. Do you think that the people that were trying to set you up, the common thread was the boxing?

Like, is that why they were like, you should meet her? Or what was it about her that they thought you would respond to and vice versa? Gosh, you know, I haven't really thought of that. I don't know what the common thing. probably just a, probably just personality traits. She's a pretty deep thinker. I'm a pretty deep thinker. And I think she's one of those women that it would be an incredible mistake to judge a book by its cover.

Like you'd be way off. So someone sees a photo and is like, oh, they're pretty, like you'd see a photo of someone and you immediately. start ascribing characteristics to a person. Like she did to you. Yeah, correct. Yeah. Exactly, exactly. And so I think that's probably the thing is that the cover doesn't match the inside.

Those are my favorite books. Yeah. And humans. Right now my feeling is I'm going to pee my pants. Oh, you got to, okay. I have to pee so bad. We will honor your feelings. I know, I was like, I'm doing the thing where my brain's doing the thing where I'm like,

oh, you really have to pee, but I'm in the conversation. I'm talking and I'm having to go, I'm going to be my pants. Well, on that note, this has been amazing. We're going to move to Austin. I mean, I would. Me too. I would move anywhere, though. No, you wouldn't.

No, you wouldn't. I sent you Atlanta and you're like hard stop. Because nothing against Atlanta, but you feel like a lot of things are there now and like you feel like you have to. So it feels less appealing. Does that make sense? Yeah. But you would do Austin. Yeah, I would do Austin.

We would. Are you okay with humidity? My hair isn't. Mine isn't either. It's hot in the summer. It's really hot. I don't mind heat, though. My hair, yes, but myself, I can handle.

I think we can do it. I can do it anywhere. I can do anywhere. Including Atlanta, Olivia. Oh, my gosh. What? You two. Thank you for having me on here.

Thanks for coming on. And congratulations. So exciting. Yeah, this has been amazing and we will for sure reconnect when we come to Austin. Yeah, we'll come. We're going to get me. A hundred percent. You're bringing a baby present.

Yeah, she'll knit you. You guys are you flying stay with Odie. I can knit you something. There you go. I'll move on to blankets. Yeah. Are you going to knit a blanket? No, let's slow down.

I'm going to figure out a baby sock. How about a little? How about a little baby scarf? I can't laugh. I'm going to pee. A baby scarf works. A baby. You know what?

I can make a really small one that's like a lovey. There you go. A lovey. Done. Yeah. Done. I'm peeing. I'm going to hold you.

You hold me to that. Olivia, I'm going to text you and be like, where's my love? It's been documented. Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry.

All right. Sean, thank you so much. Are you guys going to tell me if there's more lightning behind me? Absolutely. Okay, great. Thanks. It's our promise to you.

I was just bragging about how I had Chipotle, and I haven't had it in a long time. Is there like a go-to fast food for you guys? For me, it's always Taco Bell. But is there a spot of like, hey, we're treating ourselves? I mean, I guess we talk a lot about Taco Bell. We talk a lot about Taco Bell. We need a Taco Bell show. You guys, we do.

We need to be sponsored by Taco Bell, but I fuck with a jack-in-the-box, spicy crispy chicken sandwich. Wow. I don't know if I've ever had Jack in the box. What? Really? Spicy crispy chicken sandwich with curly fries dipped in ranch. Ooh. Curly fries are making a comeback for me.

I took a 15-year sabbatical with a long break with curly fries. Leah, I think, made some recently, and we were like, God, we spoke with this. She made some? I think they were just like we bought them at the grocery store. and put them in the oven. But they were delicious. Yeah, that would have been wild. But they were so good.

And amazing with ranch, yeah. Not a big one of taste. Yeah. Need ranch. Yeah. Go to fast food. I feel like I get my like dirty fixes from like pizza, that kind of thing. But not, I don't like go to fast food joints anymore.

Yeah. Fast food joints. But I mean, And like we'll do a Chipotle or like, you know, what is it called where we get the burgers? Like we go to Shake Shack. Shake shack, yeah. I feel like that's like elevated fast food. Yeah, it doesn't feel like fast food.

I do, you guys. I'm sorry, but I love Chick-fil-A. Yeah. I like Chick-fil-A too. I like those crisp fries dipped in ranch. Everything in range. They're buffalo sauce. is really good.

Good. Do you guys dip your pizza in ranch? Yes, it depends on the pizza. I just started. You just started? Yeah, getting into a lot of crazy stuff in my 30s. You know, some people, they open up their marriage. I'm dipping pizza into ranch, so.

You're opening up your mouth. So we're experimenting, me putting pizza in some ranch. So I went to, John. John and Vinnie's recently and we got a pizza and they were like, okay, do you want the ranch? And we're like, yeah, they make their own ranch. So it's so delicious. And she's like, do you want the honey on the side too? And I was like, I don't know what you mean.

And she's like, you got to trust me, you want the honey on the side too. So she gave us a plate and put the ranch on it and then the honey on the side. And she said, just do yourself a favor and take the pizza and swirl it together in the honey and the ranch. Whoa. So. Was it hot, honey? We put pepper flakes on the pizza, so it was like pepper flakes. That sounds so good.

Yeah, it sounds amazing. Sounds amazing. Love it. We want it now. It's like mixing ice creams and it's like, I didn't know this was possible. Right. Yeah. You guys, can I tell you something?

Please. I've gone out to ice cream. Yes. Four days this week so far. Same thing every time or a different thing every time? No, different place every time. Yeah. Different order.

What are you ordering? We don't know what's happening tonight. Well, McConnell does have a Seas candy mix ice cream. Of course. Yes, it's the best. They have the California brittle mixed with vanilla. Oh, that sounds so. I'm so hungry, but the kitchen is five stories away.

You got to work. for it, girl. It's a movie. You don't have to get guilty afterwards. You're like, well, I got to get back up to bed. Yeah.

I worked it off. That's cardio. Yeah. Yeah. That's girl now. That also sounds like a nice smelling candle. The two flavors you just said, the brittle

and the other one. So good. I think ice cream could make pretty good candles. I like a sweet smelling candle. Although my college roommate got a pancake and syrup candle once and I was like we can't we can't do this buddy this is

disgusting so that one didn't make the cut didn't me yeah too sweet too sweet what have you been eating on your adventures so far rachel so many things um oh oh my favorite cheeseburger in the world also has a location here so did i wait did i not send you a picture Sure? No. I'm going to send it while we're talking. It is the world's best cheeseburger. Kevin, I'm sorry. You can put it in the chat. I'm putting it in the chat. Did you go? Yes. I'm assuming so. Yeah. I sure did. Oh, heaven on earth. Okay. Sorry. Just ignore the beef. You guys have no idea how addicted I now am to these element drinks. Oh, nice. They're an advertiser, right? They actually are, yeah.

I sure hope so, because they send them to me. Great. Like, I'm legitimately addicted, and the crazy part is, so is everyone I know. Yeah. Really? I got to say, Rachel, this looks really good. I'll put a picture on the video version on YouTube. Oh, I got you with the Zoom chat.

I don't know. I'm going to. We got some fries, we got some cheese, we got a delicious looking burger. I want it right now. What is that sauce? I don't know. It is magical. That looks delicious.

Have you guys been doing some fun eating like that? Not so much. I went to my favorite restaurant in New York. I was happy about that. But we're kind of just exploring. What have we been eating? I don't know. tired, you guys. I'm still like jet lagged and my brain is half functioning. But,

yeah. But good food is upon us. Good food is upon us. And with that, you know, we'll have really good. Yeah. Yeah, we'll go. But in England, in London, they have the best Indian. Indian, I know. Yep. So good. Yeah. We had some good butter chicken. All right, I'll let you leave me. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. That was a HeadGum podcast.