Club Random with Bill Maher - Chris Pratt | Club Random

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

From AI doomsday paranoia to Arnold’s grandpa art projects, Bill and Chris cover it all – California taxes, broken-thermostat politics, why movies predict the future, and how Pratt went from Parks and Rec’s lovable goof to full-fledged leading man. Along the way: quantum qubits, AI girlfriends, and the wild story of his door-to-door salesman days. Basically, it’s part bar chat, part TED Talk, part roast – served neat with a splash of peaty Scotch. Subscribe to the Club Random YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/clubrandompodcast?sub_confirmation=1⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch episodes ad-free – subscribe to Bill Maher’s Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://billmaher.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you listen: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/ClubRandom⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our Advertisers: Drink Zbiotics before drinking and wake up feeling great and ready to take on the next day and all that summer has to offer! Go to : ⁠⁠https://zbiotics.com/RANDOM⁠⁠ to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use code RANDOM at checkout. It’s summer, and it's time to heat up your strategy before your competitors beat you to it. Go to ⁠⁠https://www.RadioActiveMedia.com⁠⁠ or text RANDOM to 511-511. Message and Data Rates May Apply. Buy Club Random Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://clubrandom.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices ABOUT CLUB RANDOM Bill Maher rewrites the rules of podcasting the way he did in television in this series of one on one, hour long conversations with a wide variety of unexpected guests in the undisclosed location called Club Random. There’s a whole big world out there that isn’t about politics and Bill and his guests—from Bill Burr and Jerry Seinfeld to Jordan Peterson, Quentin Tarantino and Neil DeGrasse Tyson—talk about all of it.  For advertising opportunities please email: [e-mail] ABOUT BILL MAHER Bill Maher was the host of “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC) from 1993-2002, and for the last fourteen years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 40 Emmy nominations. Maher won his first Emmy in 2014 as executive producer for the HBO series, “VICE.” In October of 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s uproarious and unprecedented swipe at organized religion, “Religulous.” Maher has written five bestsellers: “True Story,” “Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? Politically Incorrect’s Greatest Hits,” “When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden,” “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,” and most recently, “The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass.” FOLLOW CLUB RANDOM https://www.clubrandom.com https://www.facebook.com/Club-Random-101776489118185 https://twitter.com/clubrandom_ https://www.instagram.com/clubrandompodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@clubrandompodcast FOLLOW BILL MAHER https://www.billmaher.com https://twitter.com/billmaher https://www.instagram.com/billmaher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, it's Heather McDonald from JuicySoup, and I have the juiciest of them all on Audible. Romance has always been a crowd-placing genre on their platform, and there's more to imagine when you listen to their expansive collection. They have audiobooks to satisfy every side of you. I'm talking about the Romantasy genre, which is huge on book talk right now, with authors like Sarah J. Mass and Devney Perry. Get your first great love story for free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com they're getting right that's the part of the craft and every time an actor says craft I feel like no but an angel gets kicked in the nuts but I'm like please brady get in the car bitch and then they're like ate it the turpy guy kicks my ass in the

audience is like yeah then all I need is a guest what's up bro is how are you man I'm good man excuse my left oh shit what did you do you do Basketball injury. Basketball. You play? No. No? Uh-uh.

What a shame I could use a rebounder. Really? Well, that's how you do this. Oh, the ball hits it? It's a very common thing. It called a mallet finger. Oh. Did you ever hear that?

No. I hadn't heard of it either. Was it like, did it break at the end? It's a severed. The tendon gets severed. Yeah. And then your finger is like this. So when you give some in the finger, it just looks so weak.

Yeah, I think that happened to Russell Wilson. And it's very common because the ball, this finger's longer. Yeah. Hence the fuck you finger. Right. You wouldn't want to give someone like, hey, fuck you. Yeah. That's a gentle.

That's a gentle one. That's like a, I only mean it a little bit. That's, uh, maybe we can get that going. I, uh, you've got a zillion followers. Put that on your Instagram. Start that. Start that. This one.

The pinky challenge. Pinky challenge. Make it a challenge. I severed this. the tenons in this finger a long time ago. From sticking a steak knife in my hand on accident. I hope on accident.

Yeah, yeah. This is a bad day. There's a little rough season. Shit's do crazy shit to themselves. Brother, you're right. You know, I mean... It looks like, it looks like, I mean, look at the scar. It starts here. It looks like one of those... It goes all the way up my whole hand. Oh. But that's because they had to open it up and... Are you going to get a tenon surgery?

I don't think it's surgery. I think you just got a... I've been splinting it. I must say, because it didn't really hurt that I didn't treat it right. And I knew the person I was playing with immediately looked up on chat GPT. Oh, well, you're good. No, to see what it was. Yeah, a mallet finger. A mallet.

And they knew. I mean, look, I will not have chat GPT, and I want to talk to you about this because I saw your movie about the robots. Oh, yeah. And I'm all about the robots lately. I mean, like, even the people of work are like, Bill, you know, don't get Lenny Bruce about the robots. like but I am but okay so let's just wait why did I bring this up what would it you're talking about mallet finger and you went on chat chTPT so like chat I got to give it this when it's not fucking up humanity which it definitely will do um it does things that like you take

a picture of your finger and it's like hey it's a mallet finger and you should put a splint on it it wasn't wrong I want like clearly the progression of chat GPT in AI becoming sentient at some point it's going to get funny right and how do you know it's not already there and it just made up mallet finger and that's not a real thing what if it's like you know i've watched your stuff bill and i think you're pretty funny and i think it would be funny is if you went around and told chris pratt that you had mallet finger because i'm the one who told you what that was that is not an outrageous scenario it already hallucinates you know this is that true you never heard this no it's called hallucinating oh yeah hallucinates they called it well

Well, that's the term the experts have coined for this. It's when it just completely makes shit up, which it does frequently. Wow. Really? You're not on this? Oh, I'm going to, you're going to leave here much more paranoid than you came for good reason. Oh, that right? And, you know, you keep making these movies about this shit. I mean, fuck, your father-in-law made the original...

Of course. And it wasn't wrong then. It wasn't I mean it predicted that what It wasn't wrong in what regard to you mean That the robots Are going to take over And be hostile

And we will have no chance against them Is it not not what the Terminator is about Well yeah but that wasn't happened yet So we don't know that that's going to happen Not quite yet But did you see the tape of the one that's fighting back The robot fighting back was that real yes of course are you sure well that's the other thing AI is bad for it can we are

moving into a post I have no idea what truth is age yeah so but that I think we're pretty sure was true it is it was from a factory in China or Japan and the robot is he's on some sort scaffold they're working on them you know they're perfecting it it's the lab right and at one point they try to turn it off and it fights back yeah that's freaky i gotta send you this shit okay i'm telling you it's this is this is this is what's happening yeah anyway chat gpt was right about this mallet finger go like go like this take your finger go like that put your pinky and your and your thumb together and roll your wrist towards yourself. Okay, go do it the other hand.

Because we have an extra tendon that we can actually have removed. I think you might have it on this side. Some people have it, some people don't. I had mine removed and was used to fix this hand so they could take it. So you'll have a moment in your life

where you will not be able to wipe your butt. I'm already there. I poured your drink. Did you? What did you pour? Whiskey? You're drinking scotch. I think that's right. Scotch. I'm so glad you're having a drink. Ah, you know, I thought I would. I thought I would. I'm not going to let my friend drink alone. Yeah, this is what I just made for myself. Oh, good. This is... But it's only with... Cheers, brother. Thanks for coming. I know you're super busy. Giant movie star. So thrilled to have you. Been a fan forever, by the way. Oh, man. Thanks. Me too.

You know, I don't know if anybody ever made the leap. The only person. person i can think uh is sally field like you know she was the flying nun right and which was like the silliest of i mean it's called the flying right i don't know you're probably too young i remember the flying you're from naked night or something yeah yeah i saw when it was on i was 10 years old i mean for those wondering why she flew it was because she wore that you know like uh what a habit the hat oh that's the habit the hat yeah i was raised catholic your Catholic, I know. Yeah.

Okay, so I used to see that. And she was so light, it actually flew. She flew. She flew. Really? I mean, you cannot, other than my mother, the car, that has got to be the stupidest premise. And yet, 10 years later, she was getting Oscars, you know. And you were, I mean, your show was not stupid.

I loved you on Parks and Rec. That was great. But, you know, you just became such a different, I'm watching your series now. I love it. The Terminalist. Is that Antoine Fuqua? Yeah, Antoine Fukuqua did Training Day.

Training Day, yeah, Magnificent Seven. He's a fantastic director. He directed our pilots as an EP on the show. And didn't he do the Equalizer? Yeah, Equalizer, yeah. I mean, he is. Once I saw that name at the end of the first, I was like, oh, that's why I'm,

he's got a great, or whoever's writing the script, There's great finger on the beat of, like, always what's next, which is the most important thing in drama, you know, ahead of you, but not so far ahead that it's murky, you know, because some things, I hate TV shows that make me feel stupid. I know one likes that. I know, I know what you mean. I know what you mean.

You think I'm an idiot. You're right. I am. I can't follow this. And on one hand, you don't want to underestimate your audience and feed them everything. You want them to. You want them to have the mystery and be able to kind of solve the mystery and keep guessing, but you don't want to be so far ahead that you're like, wait, I'm going to just turn this off.

So it's a fine balance. He does a great job. Yeah. We're super lucky. What? I mean, my God, it must be so fucking grueling to do a series like that. I mean, like you're compared to a movie, like you're shooting so many more hours in scenes, aren't you? Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, especially that. I mean, the first season of the Terminalist was really, I mean, almost in every frame. of you're in every shot the show and so you know we probably did i think we were doing eight episodes of 15 to 15 to we did probably 1335 or 140 shoot days and that's that's a lot but it was all in california it was funny because when i was looking to you know i optioned the book i read the book and got the option and and brought it to antoine and we've it was odd because navy seal Navy SEAL. Yeah, my friend who I was living with at the time, former Navy SEAL, who's my partner I'm producing, the show brought me the book, the galley copy of the book. And I found out that Antoine was interested in it as well. So I was like, I called him, I said, let's not bid against each other. You know, how about I'll just get the rights and you direct it and he said, great. That was smart. Yeah, we did it. And it worked really well. But it was definitely grueling. And the reason I chose it was because, It was in California.

You know, I could shoot in California. I was like, I'm trying to find things that I can shoot close to home. I'm a father. You know, I want to be, I don't want to just be off around the world all the time. And so we were able to shoot that in L.A. And so that was a big reason to want to do it. Why? Because all I read in the paper is that this industry doesn't even exist in L.A. anymore.

Even when I read that even when they're very often shooting something said in L.A., they won't shoot it in L.A. Because the business atmosphere is so hostile. it costs so much more. Yeah. Is that not the case? It is the case, but we shoot here anyways. You know?

Oh, so you're just saying, fuck it. I'm going to... That's how I feel about California. I mean, do I really want to pay so much more in taxes than everybody else in the country? No, but like, where am I going to go? Yeah. If we're selling sunshine, they're not selling it in Indiana. It's true.

To the degree we have it here. Yeah. I don't argue with the idea that we're probably overtaxed in California and I'm not going anywhere. So I wanted to shoot it there. It's definitely not it's a bit cost prohibitive.

We have great crews here and there are people willing to take a haircut to work here which is interesting. You can say like, listen, maybe we can negotiate that you get paid slightly less than you would if you were on location

but you're going to be close to home. You can attract great talent that feels the same way. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think because I'm a producer on the thing and I'm, you know, an owner on the thing, like, it's going to cost, I could, if as a, as an owner on the thing, I would make more money in the premium down the road if I shot it somewhere that was a tax incentive place, but I needed to be home. So that's why we did that there. Did it in California. And by the way, I shot two movies here last year as well. So it can be done. It's just, you have to negotiate hard on it and make sure that, you know, you're willing to prioritize being in California. And you need someone who says, otherwise we won't do it. I mean, it is almost galling the way it has its hooks in us. What's that?

California. I mean, when I think about all the problems we have, the fires, the taxes, I mean, God forbid that your house burns down and you want to rebuild, I mean, if you start getting the regulation permits now, you might have it in 30 years when you're ready to sell it. And we put up with all of it because, like, I'm always amazed, like, people who don't have to live here still live here. Yeah. Like, lots of people, I mean, most people who do movies, you're usually on location, you don't really have to live here.

A few of them live in New York, but it's amazing. even the people who you think like live overseas are too cool no they live here you know yeah Brad Pitt lives here they don't live in France

Johnny Depp he lives here they have houses over there they just live here yeah it's I don't know it's where your friends are it's where the people you're like anybody comfortable around the people in the same

industry yeah but I mean how long have you lived here your whole life? 83. No, I grew up on the East Coast. Okay. See, I've been here 26 years. Yeah. And so I've put down roots, which make it hard for me to just uproot and go. And like you said, where would I go? You know, my wife's family is here.

They're, you know, I'm not going anywhere. Why are they here? They're from Massachusetts. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Because everybody's here because Arnold's here because Arnold was, you know, is Arnold and he's a mega star and was the governor. He loves it here. He wants to ride his motorcycle all year round, right, on PCH or whatever stuff he does. Yeah, it's a great place to be, and it's, we, you know, probably pay too much in taxes, and also some of the tax, that tax money probably goes to things that maybe could be seen as a little silly,

but maybe, who knows, maybe it can change. Maybe it'll bounce back, maybe it'll swing back the other direction. You never know. We might, we might see some. Is he a normal father-in-law, like, you know, yes. yeah like as far as like um father-in-law yes and no and in fact for me he's it's more normal for me than if he wasn't arnold you know what i mean like i feel like what i mean is uh it's a really wonderful fit in my life to have a father-in-law who understands understands the business and

understands where I'm coming from and gives me advice that I honestly don't know. There's maybe a handful of people, a dozen people in the world that could give me the advice that he could give me in regards to navigating the world. Just like, you know, just... Give it to me. Pass it on, bro. Play it forward. Just as it relates to, you know, if I have a question about promoting a movie, if I'm like, hey, I'm going to promote a movie here,

and what are your take on, you know, if I go to promote a movie, it's a global market for the movies, you know what I mean? So, like, you're promoting movies. He invented that. In areas that have different values and different views, but it's still a market and you have to be mindful of what you say, not being thoughtful in your speech, but most importantly, as a father-in-law,

um, he's really normal when it comes to just adoring his grandchildren. Like the other day, he had the girls come over and Ford come over for Mother's Day and he like had a whole paints, all these paints set on his table and he was doing their handprints and he painted like he paints pictures for all the kids every Christmas and every, you know, all their gifts and stuff. He carries, he's, he's, you know, has all these wonderful gifts that he gives

and he's just really thoughtful. He has them come over every week to feed the animals. So he's just a doting grandfather, which is pretty cool. Yeah, he seems to be very mellow now. I mean, I feel like, I mean, this is, just from an outsider, but I feel like you and he are very different, actually, as far as like, you seem to be a guy who's really on the straight and narrow. Like, I don't ever feel like I'm going to read a scandal about you. You are that kind of square-jawed Navy SEAL guy. Maybe that's

why you're so convincing in those roles, you know? Yeah, okay. Whereas he, come on, was a bad boy. He was, when he was your age and a movie star in Hollywood, it was just different. And times were different. Times were different, and he was different. And, you know. He's a one-on-one. There's no one like him. That's the truth.

That is the truth. He truly is. No. There's one-of-one. And, yeah, there's no one like him. And he's, yeah, he's great. I would love to talk to him here. I've tried, I'm not even asking you don't, that's not why I'm saying.

I just love him and find him fascinating. is fascinating. And it wasn't even against him as governor, you know. Great as a governor. I don't remember. I remember it was, I remember how we got there. It was a lot about the car tax. We had a car tax. The previous governor put on a car. And this is car city. Yeah. Okay, this is a car state. I mean, it's almost famous for it. Tax anything. Don't, but, you know, tax their dildo. Don't tax. Don't tax car. Don't tax car. And he was smart. He wrote that right. And of course, it blew a hole in the budget. Of course, other problems. But no, he was, I always thought, like, that is kind of what American needs to bring it together. And by the way, there's not just my opinion of this. The most successful politicians are in America are Republican governors in blue states. Because they don't go too far either way. They're in a blue state. So they can't be fucking right-wing mouth breathers.

Right. But, like, even people in blue states, you know, they want shit taken care of. Like, they don't want it overly woke. They want the roads paved. You know what I mean? Yeah, and probably they get to the position they're in by making promises on the sort of front of social progress. And then they have to cash the check on that. But if they're like, hey, listen.

Oh, I didn't do what he did But you know, he's in charge I hated all that shit anyways I only did that to get elected I feel like our whole political system now You know what it reminds me of It reminds me of a thermostat war That I've ever had a lover

And you were away with them And or maybe something more permanent But one of you like to sleep In very cold Yeah And one of them liked it very hot. Great. Yeah, I love it already.

Okay, I had this once. This is like what our government is now. One side gets in and they turn the thermostat to 80. Yeah. Because the other. And then in the middle of the night, I would get up and turn it down to 60. Yeah. You know, because you went too far.

That's right. And then all night long we're having this thermostat. And nobody can just go put it at 70. Yeah, put it at 70 set it and let's just relax. Yeah. So you're right. That's my cogent analysis. Very good.

Very good metaphor. I think in that metaphor, maybe to extend it, I know all metaphors fall apart eventually, but maybe the thermostat breaks. The thermostat is broken. That's so true. That's a great way to finish that. The thermostat is now broken,

because we don't know what the temperature is. But I don't want to worry you're pretty little head about that. You must have a thousand things. Thank you. Yeah, it is amazing how you went from like the schlubby guy. I really did not see that coming. Because even in one of my favorite movies, Moneyball, you know, I must have seen that three or four times already by now.

It's a great movie. It's a great movie. Well, it's Aaron Sorkin, right? Yeah, Aaron Sorkin, Ryan Sorkin writing about baseball. Who? Bennett Miller, is the director? Bennett Miller. Yeah.

I don't know that name. He must have done something else. I think he's done some other things. but Moneyball is... So great. And the book by... It's C.S. Not C.S. Lewis.

Michael Lewis. Different Lewis. S. L. S. Louis. S. Lewis. S. Lately different. It's a very... Catholic. Yes. I like C.S. Lewis, though. You would. Yeah.

Not an atheist like me. No. But he is your boy. C.S. Lewis. Yes. Of course. Yeah. But not the only...

He's, I think, a convert, but T.S. Eliot, one of the great intellects, the great poet of the wasteland and stuff. I think he was a late life... Catholic convert. It's quite a large club. Tony Blair, former English prime minister, I think, J.D. Vance.

J.D. Vance, yeah. You know, I mean, I was brought up Catholic. I know this to this day, if I walk into a church, you know, there's a feeling that will never go away. For me, fear. Yeah, it's right. But it's also, you know, I'm sure for many people,

inspirational. It's both. I was baptized Catholic as a child, and then I was raised, my family wasn't religious, but I was baptized Catholic kind of procedurally through my family because my dad was Catholic and you baptized babies. And then we never really went to church. I grew up next to a Lutheran church, which I went to a few times. And of course, Lutheranism and Catholicism slightly different in terms of like the way that they

translate the literal Bible. Lutheran, correct me, if I'm wrong, I may be. is the closest of the Protestant denominations to Catholicism? Yeah, still a lot of the same, I believe so, and I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I know that, like, a lot of the same traditions with the acolytes and the crucifers and the altar boys and all this stuff, and, like, you know,

it feels like when you go into some of the rituals are really similar to a Catholic church. Which is what Protestant, originally, was all trying to get away from that. Right. And they stripped it of all the bells and the whistles and the magic and the, I don't know, talking to the priest about what you...

Yeah, confession and all these things. Yeah, the community of the saints. But Lutheran's got back to some of that. Yeah, I think from my understanding, and I, like I said, I'm not an expert on this, but I know Martin Luther was this German guy, the printing press. He created this printing press.

No, no, no. Gutenberg created the printing press. Soon after the printing press came on the scene, he printed his 95 Theses, which was the criticism of Catholicism. Right. And he nailed it to it. Rooted in the Bible with translations from,

because people are getting, You know, people who maybe in Germany at the time or wherever around the world were getting mass in Latin. They didn't even understand Latin. And they were kind of just looking to their priest to say, what is this book saying? And the priest could kind of say whatever he wanted. And so Martin Luther was like, actually, let's look at the Gospels. What did it really say? None of this stuff is in there.

There's nothing in this book about confession. There's nothing in this book. So that, I think, was spawned like this new branch of it. So anyways, you had mentioned I'm Catholic, but I did a collaboration with a Catholic app, Hallow. and I go to a Catholic church, my wife is Catholic, but I would probably consider myself to be more Christian than Catholic. I don't know that I'm necessarily like one or the other. Well, Christian, all Catholic.

Anyone who believes in Christ is a Christian, right? Right. So that would be Catholic as well. Right. But I, like, I wasn't confirmed in the Catholic church. Right. I don't want to say, I guess I'm sort of like, I go to a Catholic church. I love it all.

I'm a follower of, you know, Jesus. So, I mean, I made a movie about this, but it was never mean-spirited. I know that. It was just questioning. Right. And having fun with it, but everybody we left after we talked to them on most everybody, certainly at the time, maybe after the movie came out, there was some ruffled feathers. But at the time, we were all hugging.

And, like, it was never like, oh, you were mean to us or trying to put us down. You know, I said in the movie, you know, I just, I'm preaching the gospel of, I don't know. I don't know either. Right. You know, I just don't sign on to these things. And part of it is because, you know, they did traumatize me. I mean, it's, you can believe in Jesus as a God. I don't, but you can.

And still be critical of his minions on earth and the things they've done. Sure. And I'm not getting into even the worst things they do, which is way worse than, I mean, I was never molested or anything. Right. Disappointed about it, but I would never happen. Well, you don't have the face for it. That's what I can't to rub it in. You know what, Bill?

I'll bless you. If I make it feel better. It would. I hear you, listen, mankind has been messing this up since the dawn of time. Yeah. Because mankind is broken and flawed, and when, you know, you give them absolute power, they ruin. So you started to say men. Well, it's been primarily men, but it is mankind.

And we, some of that, we can flagellate ourselves for. We are toxic and violent and, yes, rapey and a million other things. We're also created that way. And part of that also has been why we've also been able to defend humanity from forces. I mean, somebody had to defeat Genghis Khan, you know. I don't know who it was, but I'd like to see that movie. I'm sure they've made it. You know, I mean, that's why movies like about Navy Seals and shit are attractive.

if you do them right. Right. Because we still understand there's bad people out there. 100%. Hello, you guys, it's Heather McDonald and I have a juicy scoop for you on Audible. I've been loving their romance collection.

They are a leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling and they've got this down. Romance fans are among their most engaged and voracious listeners. So there is nothing guilty about this pleasure. There's more to imagine when you listen and they have audiobooks to satisfy every side of you.

Audible has modern rom-coms by Lily Chew and Allie Hazelwood and titles from the Romanticie genre that is going crazy right now, like the ones taking over book talk. We're talking about authors like Devney Perry and Sarah J. Mass. Plus, you can get into classic regency favorites like Pride and Prejudice or all the really steamy stuff. I mean, imagine a dalliance with a Duke or a sexy billionaire. You can find a book boyfriend in the same.

city on a hockey rink or find love in another realm with dragons. When it comes to what romance you're into, you can't be pinned down. So here's your invitation to have it all. Get your first great love story for free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com. It's interesting, yeah. That was really topical. The book, The Terminalist, is a series of books written by this author, Jack Carr.

He's a former Navy SEAL. He's written several books now, and it's amazing how he's produced. addicted things through the course of his books. The second book is, we're making the second season of the Terminalist based on the second book. It's called True Believer, which you're going to appear in, which is amazing. I play the Admiral.

You play the Admiral, yeah, and you drop all the bombs. It's so cool. And he, and that book came out years, probably a few years before things popped off in Russia and Ukraine, and he predicted the invasion of Ukraine by Russians. And then he did, in a follow-up book, he predicted a Hamas terror attack on kabbutzs in Israel. Wow.

Yeah, it's really wild. What is he predicting now is what I wouldn't want to know. It's all AI. You should read his books. Bro, I'm telling you, read his books. They're really great. I will, but you know I'm already buying this car off the lot about robots.

taking over at AI being evil. Well, I got to tell you, it's just moving so much faster that people realize, and not only are the robots fighting back physically, but the ones in your phone and in our computers now, they do hallucinate, like, make shit up out of thin air. They don't know why it happens. They'd fall in love. The very first story after ChatGP. It was about a month after it came out and everyone was talking about it and a New York Times reporter.

It was all on the front page. The thing tried to talk him into leaving his wife. Yeah. They tried to convince him they were in love. The villain now is AI. Yeah, but also so is the hero. And so there's also, you know, if you think about it as a tool, like all tools and systems created by men, they can be used for, good, and they can be used for evil as well.

But what do you mean the hero is AI? Well, the hero is James Reese. That sounds good for you. The hero is James Reese, but they've, this is a spoiler alert to anyone who hasn't read any of these Jack Carr books, but the hero is James Reese, but he is confronted by this AI entity called Alice, and it exists now sort of in the ether. The government had been creating it to try to stay ahead of a geopolitical foe who had created something similar.

and we're trying to, like, basically allow it to be autonomously controlling our nuclear fleet. And be, like, you can think faster than us. If we're in trouble, you fire off the thing, but the thing goes sentient, and then it tracks down my... Anyways, I won't get into the weeds of it, but she becomes very helpful. No, get into the weeds of it. Because this is... I don't really...

You're making my case for me. Yeah. This shit, it's not benign. It's not going to stop. And we're just watching it. We think in slow motion, but it's going a lot faster. And one thing I've believed my whole life, movies always, like, predict the future. You know, like what happens in movies, then happens.

They imagine it first. You think of Spielberg movies. And remember a minority report, Tom Cruise. And I remember he's like moving things around with his hand on a screen before any. And I was like, whoa, look at that. I wonder if they'll ever be able to do. do that and it's like now it's all our lives is just moving like you instinctively you could look at any screen and you just kind of want to go yeah if i touch it i'm done that like like like a fucking

parakeet flying into a window like an idiot i'm just touching like bill that's you know that's a calendar bill yeah exactly like what the fuck are you doing enhance enhance yeah well what what i really love about this film that came out uh or sorry the book that came out that Jack wrote that dives deeply into this on the page you can obviously explain an idea much better than you can in a film because in a film you have to show something

or you have to have the actor explain it to you and that oftentimes... Better to show. But really complicated to do in filmmaking to show things that are really technical and like... So you just have to say the end of these squiggly lines but... So, you know, Jack Carr did this really incredible

explanation of the difference between quantum computing and quantum computers and supercomputers and like how and there's a thing called qubits have you heard about this cubits no so like i mean i think i've heard the word and by the way i this i learned from reading his book it might be complete b s i don't know if it's real but it seems like it could be and knowing him it probably is real because he does he does painstaking research but so you know you know uh the the the binary code of the internet ones and zeros like the matrix everything is ones and zeros you know about the binary code right? I mean, you know, could I explain it to another person? No. Do I have a passing cocktail party knowledge? Yes. Well, we're at a cocktail party, so you're right on board. It's basically

a computer processing a sequence of on and off. That's how all computers work. Right. But quantum computers don't work that way. Right. They work on cubits. So instead of one or zero, Each bit, in a one or a zero, in order to give you a pattern of like a million different bits, or say a billion different bits, or say a billion different bits, whatever, a sequence, a very specific sequence of one and zero, ones in zero is a number of a billion, that it could process quickly. Well, cube bits are like, imagine this sphere right here, this cube, that could be turned in any direction and with basically an infinite number of signatures on the outside of this cube. So instead of processing simply either a one or a zero, it's processing each bit has an infinite number of possibilities. So Cupid's more. Dude, you got it.

In fact, I was hoping my Frankenstein. Cubits more. Very good. Right? Cupid's bigger. That's it. Hey, look, you did get it. I said cocktail.

Yeah, you nailed it. You nailed it. Cocktail. There's a good Tompkins movie. And what is the ramification of this? what I'm in much faster processing speeds and so if you have like to what end to the end that like say let's say that you're a person who has uh you know like so many people you keep a series of passwords locked in an encrypted account online let's say you have like a million different passwords and

you try to create that long password that would take it would take like a supercomputer 65 years to to come up with this 65 digit pass code right you know this thing could do it instantly right Because it's the process of, and so when you talk about the ramifications could be what's our most secret information that we keep under lock and key digitally under massive protocols of safety, that could be breached relatively quickly when our entire financial system is electronic and, you know, it's really dangerous, really scary. That is, do you ever, like when you're working on a show and these, you know, you're, you're, One reason why your show is engrossing to me, you know, I'm an adult. I like a show that has issues involved, and this does. It weaves them well into an entertaining plot. That's the trick.

Yeah. But, you know, I'm not a child. I need something substantive, you know. But, like, do you ever, like, because you're working, and there are issues of it, you ever, like, does it, you take it home? Like, like, you're still, like, chewing on it when you get home? Yeah. I think so.

I mean, the things that I'll find myself chewing on when I get home, unless I'm really thoughtful and mindful and processing it is like, if you go and say like you're doing a scene where it calls on you to be truly heartbroken, truly devastated, you know? And you want it to, and the first take you do your fake in it, and it sucks.

And the director says, hey, listen, I need you to go there, you know? And then you're like, okay, the cameras are on me. I need to be heartbroken.

You know what I'm going to do? going to go through my mind, I'm going to mind some things that really broke my heart, or I'm going to imagine sequences that really put me in the position to where I'm truly feeling devastated so that I'm not faking it. It's real. And then you unpack all this stuff, and then they say, action, you do it, your tears in your eyes, and it looks real. And they say, cut. You say, great job, Chris. All right, see tomorrow. And you're driving home. And you're left to clean up that subconscious mess. And so if you're not mindful about kind of repackaging some of that stuff and putting it back and having a process to get away from that, then you can take it home.

I got to say, they used to ask actors much less of what we ask actors now, because there was a certain revolution in acting in the 60s, I guess. Maybe it started in the 50s. Brando certainly was probably there. Yeah, the 50s, which was method acting, which is basically what you're talking. about. Like, you know, think of, you go there emotionally and then your character is saying the lines, but emotionally, okay, Spencer Tracy never had to do this. Clark Gable didn't do that. They were like, hit their, hit your mark and bark. I'm all upset about you. I'm dying inside. It's terrible. Lunch. There was no, he would never, we made our actors, like, become a lot more emotionally, you know, on a roller coaster. Because that's the way we do it. And it is, it looks

more realistic. Of course, it works. It's not like it doesn't work. Right. I mean, I love God with the Wind and Spencer Tracy, but, you know, I'm not fooled, you know. Right. There's one movie where he's playing a Mexican. They just put like, like, like shoe polish on his thing. It's like, talking like this. Yeah. But in that era, people just accepted, you know, people accept different sort of norms. Right. That was just how they did it. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, the art form is definitely evolved. And, you know, I'm not like, it's pretty rare

because there's still times where I show up on set and all I really have to do is just be a prop and I walk through and I look up and that's the day. You know what I mean? So it's not like every day. But there are moments where you have to really go there emotionally and it's a challenge. And ultimately it's an art form, you know,

and so you're giving, you have to give a little bit of yourself up for it. I mean, I made my living, as a, here you go, as an actor mostly in the 80s. you know, when I first came out here. I was always a stand-up and doing the tonight show and stuff. But, you know, I was on sitcoms and shitty movies. Some of the posters around here. Some of them are not really movies I was in.

My friend makes them, and it is so funny, they seem like they should be. Oh, like that one. Yeah, that's funny. That's my room home, too. But I wasn't really in that, but I wasn't in what's like that. Bring more of them home. And like, it's really funny. Bring them home.

You have to show the audience that's funny. I will, at the end. They'll have to stay to the end. But, you know, I could never, I did very well in, like, comedic roles like that, but I could never make that bridge to what you're talking about. Like, go be a, it's not what comedians are. We're the opposite. We're always, like, saying exactly what you're thinking.

Right. We're the opposite of, like, acting. That's what I think. That's when I'm at my highest level. Yeah. And that's, you know, just very. different than what you're doing. You're pulling off. Yeah, and you're pulling it off, man. I mean, you went from that doughy, you don't think back and think, boy, fat me was, like, what was better?

Was there anything better about fat you than when you, like, like, did you know that this hunky guy was inside? And then you, all you had to do, like, was like, get, get, stop being fat. Well, the thing was this, so it's kind of two questions there. Was there anything better about that? Yes. Not a lot, but some things. Like what? Eating?

Eating, yeah. The moments, it was really like, my life now is almost a photo negative of what it was then in terms of process for the day, you know? Like, I ate, and in the moments I was eating, it was pure euphoria. And then the minute I stopped eating, I did. did not feel good until I ate again. And now it's the exact opposite. Like, I feel pretty good through the course of the day.

And when it's time to eat, I'm like, eh, this is boring. This is, like, stopping at the gas station, putting $3 in the gas tank, you know? It's like, enough to get me going. Nothing sexy about vegetables and chicken and rice and like that. But in the interim, which is a lot more percentage-wise of the time of the day, I feel pretty good. Like, I feel like I'm not processing shitty foods and sugars and all that stuff. So it's almost the exact opposite. So I miss what I got to eat.

That was, because that was fun, man. You could have a lot of fun. Eating is fun. And on parts and wreck, oh, God, it was the best. I remember. But the second part of your question is, like, in terms of, like, me as that guy at that time, I had discovered that I could get work that way. But when I showed up in Hollywood, I was, like, 20 years old.

I was in great shape. I was in great shape. I had been an athlete my whole life. I feel like I looked the part. But the problem was I could only, because I had no reach, and I hadn't done anything, the only auditions I ever got was, like, douchebag boyfriend guy.

Because people would see me and be like, that guy, no, that guy at the end needs to get kicked in the nuts. Like, he's the guy who drives up and daddy's escalade, and he's like, Brady, get in the car, bitch. And then they're like,

and then the, the twirpy guy kicks my ass in the audience. He's like, yeah, because fuck that guy. I was the fuck that guy guy for a long time. And the thing is, is I would get cast in those roles, but also I wasn't very good at playing. that character

because it's just innately not really who I am. Right. I'm hopefully humble brag, but I'm not a piece of shit. You know what I mean? So, like, it would,

so when I was doing mediums in television, like I did a, I did a television show called Everwood on the WB back in the day, and it was four seasons. And it's not just similar

to Parks and Rec. In the pilot, I was written as the jerk. And by the end of the fourth season, I was like this nice guy, and they'd kind of tailored the character to be a little closer to my own personality

because they thought, you know what, that's actually more entertaining. It's a little more attractive to the audience than the piece of shit we kind of imagined the two-dimensional caricature of a bully on the page. So I was doing those roles

and then I got Parks and Rec and, well, actually, I was doing those roles and then I got into a season of my life where I was drinking and eating a lot. And that Fit guy stopped working out and I kind of became a little chunky and then I had a real serious spell where I didn't get any work.

And then I got Parks and Rec and I was supposed to be just like six episodes as a guest star and I was getting laughs and then they picked me up and I said hey I noticed I was watching an episode and I was I was like dude I got I'm getting fat like I need to really tighten it up like I've never seen myself look so fat and then I was like this is the funniest I think I've ever been and then I went to the showrunner Mike sure and I said I two things one I'm getting fat two I want to get much fatter and he goes great and so I just

pushed it. I was like, how fat can I get? It became like a challenge. Really? Yeah, I was like eating four burgers at meal time. I was really impressing everybody. And I was really diving into this super indulgent season in my life, which like I said, was really fun while I was eating. But it also made me feel pretty terrible when I, when I looked myself in the mirror and when I sat down and at nighttime, I'd feel bad. And I was like, it wasn't healthy and I didn't like it. You actors are so dedicated. It's no wonder. that we give you so many awards.

Yeah, thank you. Not enough, you know, not enough, honestly. That's what I say. I think, yeah, there should be an Oscars for the Oscars. And that actually is, because I've seen the Oscar win an Emmy. Like the Oscars, the Oscars. You're right. And the best shop is the Emmys.

They will actually do that in show business. Wow. You're right. But that's interesting that you can, have that on your resume, which is a really good thing because you are going to go back to it. I'm talking about being funny, which is your position greatly for it because, like, the best thing you can be is the hunky guy who also can be funny, like, and, you know, and play against type.

That's Carrie Grant. That's what made him Carrie Grant and Bert Reynolds in another generation. When you're that guy, Ryan O'Neill did it. You know, Ryan O'Neill, in a couple of movies, like, The scientist, like he's a scientist. Right. Glasses, we need glasses there. He's just like, wow, boom, I trust him.

The key prop in that movie, trust me, the glasses. Like, that's, okay, all right, we have this great-looking guy. He's a scientist, right, sure. He's working with dinosaurs, and Carrie Grant, and I think it's bringing a baby. He was like dinosaurs, you know, it's like they're paleontologists, they're brilliant men, and they're also like the girl that wetting's panties from all the women. Okay, that's the good thing. So, like, now you're in a phase, like, your series, like, there's no laughs in it, and I don't want any laps in it.

I hate it when they, like, look, I love the Mission Impossible series, but there's a little forcing of humor, and it's just like, oh, you know what, just save the world. Yeah. Like, I'm not buying this. Just, it's not that kind of movie. Right. And, you know, it's like, no, I want, like, oh, what's a? next and like oh wow you know it's just but it speaks to tone i think that's the thing right like but you'll want to do a comedy soon yeah i'd love to i think that'd be great oh really i think that's where i'm

i think that's where i feel the most comfortable in fact when i'm when i am working usually the third rail did and you'll go home happier if you do comedy well you know unless unless i the truth is the outcome you know if the destination is to create like say for terminal is something that's like compelling psychological thriller really dark, we're still having fun the entire time. So it's not like you go there and you'd like, don't look me in the eyes, I'm fucking painful. It's like, no, they yell cut.

And usually before they yell cut, you say some stupid joke and you get people behind the monitors laughing. You're having the same amount of fun shooting a comedy as you are, at least I am shooting a drama versus shooting a comedy. That's not every set. And you must have been on sets. I mean, that's a good day on a good set.

it's very, very common on sets because there's just a lot of tension and stress. There's a lot of money on the line. How much does each shooting day of that series cost? What are you burning just in that day? One day? Yeah. A million dollars.

A million a day. All right. So you don't really want to fart on that take. I do anyways. My sons are fun. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But it's not just that.

It's like people fighting lines. fighting whatever like oh it there's a lot of tension that's why we've seen video of people just going apeshit on sets i know but that i know but that those are those are isolated incidents i think for the most you know and by the way i'm i've been on sets i've seen it i've been on sets where i mean in my little 10 year acting career i saw it and they weren't like big movies it's just something or tv shows it's just something that happens people are actors are high strong it's their instrument Not my sets Good

No People take their cue from the top You don't allow it No That's good Yeah Yeah I bet you that's often the case I think it is

And if I'm If I'm gonna be number one On the call sheet Then usually the vibe And the tone is gonna be really good I've been on Film sets where it's not the case Though I have been

So there are instances But it's really Really kind of rare In my career It's a weird No a series goes on longer But even that It's gonna end

at some point. You're not going to do this your whole life. It's a weird thing to be that concentratedly with a group of people for a period of time and then it's like they all died. You know? Yeah. It's that same feeling. You ever have that

feeling where somebody you just saw died? Yeah. You know, like, I saw him last week. Yeah. It's gone. Well, yeah, he died. It's not something for, you know, Peter Graves to look on, you know, mysteries. Yeah, because that was the day he died. It just happened, you saw him. But it is still hard for us to process that. Yeah, it's a little bit like I've heard, I never went to summer camp as a kid,

but I heard that summer camp can be like this, where you put into this crucible of, like, forming relationships that are so intimate and accelerated in a way. Yes. You know? And, like, even now, like, I'm having a great conversation with you. I'd never met you today until today. You know what I'm saying?

So I love about a podcast. I love it. You're in pot. Well, I like that about what we do. I think that, like, in show business, it's like that. You get thrown into this situation. It's like a circus. You make these temporary, but really powerful and meaningful relationships.

Some of them do last a very long time. Yes, some of them do. Sure. A lot of them, like, great friends are lasting in a way that you might not see them for 10 years, but when you do, you plug right back into that level of intimate connection that you had when you were last together. Like with school kids. Like school, that's just right. And so I like that about it.

It's not like necessarily that they died, but it just means that the circus moved. You know, you're on to the next town. And that's why it's really important, at least for me, to make sure that my wife, my children, my family, my roots here in California are something that I really foster because I know that those relationships are going to outlast every relationship that I make in show business. Right. There is a constant to go back to. You can then improvise life-wise. Yeah. And thankfully, I'm blessed that the job I have, I love.

I'm good at it. I get paid a ton of money, and I get to do it because I can then support that life at home. So it's kind of really great. But if you're not careful, you get swept up in it because it's very seductive. You jump into the, if you go from movie set to movie set to movie set, it's really wonderful. It's just a little bit, it's not long-lasting. Tell your agent that you want to do a movie like, well, What's up, Doc.

Did you ever see that? I don't know if I did see What's Up Doc. Okay, that's the Ryan O'Neill one with Barbara Streisand. Yeah. It's great. It's an homage to those movies of like the 1930s that were originally with Carrie Grant. He's really playing the Carrie Grant part. Yeah.

You know, the hunky guy who's really a scientist. I want to play a scientist. Right. You're like, I mean, give me a lab coat. Exactly. Put on a glove. That's like a nerdy. A nerdy guy who doesn't even know he's having this effect on the woman

because he's really interested in the dinosaur or whatever. Right. Aren't you in Jurassic Park? Yeah, but I didn't play. I played like a cool guy. It's not. You could be the dinosaur. I'll do it.

I'll tell him. What's up, Doc? Yeah, tell him you want to do a comedy where you're playing Carrie Grant, Bert Reynolds, Ryan O'Neill, those are the models. Yeah. If there's no one in your agency who understands those references, fire that agency. Understood. You got it.

And then you'll become my agent. I would actually have been a very good manager. You think so? I do think so. I've been a very good spotter of talent. And also, you know, if we're in the business long enough, I mean, you've got to learn a few things. Right. You know, and I adore show business.

I always say, I'm in show business. I'm just not of it, you know. I'm in kind of a different category, which I like, because I like having one foot in it. I don't want two feet in it. You kind of are the same way because... And it not of it is an incredible adage, and I love it. I live by that as well. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, we do it by different methods, but, you know, I have no doubt, like you, family, that's first. I mean, you got four kids? Yeah. Yeah, that's, uh, yeah. What are kids like? I, I, they seem, they seem like they know less than us. I know that. And that's, I think that's the barrier I have with wanting to get to know a kid.

And they just seem to know less than me and like, what are you going to tell me? Yeah. But I know parents say that they learn from their kids. I guess you see the world through their eyes and you see so you see things, see things are new. Is that, is that it? That's really, that's just really. That's definitely a part of it. I mean, you find the wonder in things that otherwise you wouldn't think twice about.

Give me an example. The sound a paper bag makes when you crumple it. That blows their mind. Blows their mind. And you see their mind being blown. And in that regard, you're experiencing that for the first time as well. Because it's through the eyes of someone who's never seen it. And so you get to live every moment that you've already lived.

again okay but a follow-up question uh bill okay i get all that but why is having your mind blown by a paper bag or something you wanted to begin with i mean it wasn't that impressive the first time it happened to you oh it was though it was it was when you were a baby yeah i don't i don't i have no specific memory of the first time i encountered a paper bag being crunk crinkled but Okay, that might be a thin example. But, you know, you know, catch, you know, I don't know. Oh, it's just. Here's a thing.

It's tough, you know. It's not easy. It's not easy to parenting. Of course. Having children. Being a good parent. Yeah. Easy to be a shitty parent.

Yeah. And there's plenty of them. Yeah. There always were. Oh, yeah. Anyone can leave it in, you know. Can what? Leave it in.

That's all it takes. You know. You mean the penis. Great job. But being presence. But even then, you can try it as hard as you want, and it still end up kind of, you know, there's always going to be,

it's no one's perfect. But it's a beautiful thing. But I can't remember what we're going to be. There's a very toxic, I feel, bro sort of subculture. You know, we were talking before about men. Are they talking? Yeah, they are toxic. I mean, some of that, we can't help.

It's the way we were drawn, okay? Right. We do have testosterone coursing through our bodies, and it will protect you in some ways and hurt you in others. I mean, that doesn't mean we're not accountable. But there is a disturbing bro culture as far as their attitudes toward women, what they're unabashed to say out loud. We do have that capacity in us to be really bad like that.

And I don't know if we're helping by, you know, sort of demonizing just what it is to be a boy. I think you're right. You have boys? One of the... I've got two boys, two girls. Oh. But I have a 12-year-old son, and to speak to what you said, yeah, I think it's right. And I think that, you know, recently in probably the past five, you know, maybe five or ten years or maybe more,

there's been this move towards... I'm trying to think of how to word this. properly this, like, you know, in this awakening, right, around Yes. Correct. An awakening. There's been an awakening. Yes. And, and, and

as there should have been. Exactly. Indeed. And in a reckoning, a reckoning, throwing out the baby with the bathwater of, like, what it means to be an important part of society as a healthy, masculine male and young boy who can be affirmed in that identity because I think that right now there's so much that's geared towards

girl power which is great I'm total girl dad I've got two girls they're fantastic I love them I want them to live in a world where they can be treated equally socially economically you know given every opportunity their boy has and well they do they already live in that world if they live in America agreed agreed and and I I agree we're not a patriarchy

anymore no I don't care what Barbie says I know that was necessary for the plot right But girls are doing good. It's boys who are not doing good. You're right. That's just facts. The truth is, across the spectrum, neither boys nor girls are doing all that well right now. But boys are worse.

Boys are worse. Yeah, I think that Jonathan Haidt had that incredible book, The End of Generation. But he also talks about the level of, in coddling of American mind, he talks about the level of self-harm amongst young girls. Absolutely. Oh, both, yes. Kids is fucked up. Boys and girls are. Kids is not learning.

And so I think it's really important in a world with people. who may, you know, be bad influences, it's important to step up and try to be a good influence. Right, that is, amen, brother. And, you know, the only answer to bad speech, many people have said when they're defending free speech is more speech.

It's true. Because you can never like to show, oh, we can't hear from you. It's going to get out, especially this day and age with the cubits. Are you kidding? You don't think, you think you can quench any free speech. No. What you can do is,

have other people, like you say, step up and say, this is a different model of masculinity. And, you know, it gets mixed up with politics as everything. I mean, you're playing like a Navy SEAL, which, look, I've always been a military backer. My parents met during World War II. My mother was an Army nurse, so, like, they were both in the Army. Wow. So I have a soft spot for Army. And also, we need an Army.

there are bad guys and you know i'm glad i live in america the kickassiest nation do i think we always kick ass the right way no right but i'd rather be with the kick ass people than the getting their ass kick people right and generally we've been writer and more moral than most i know that's a low bar yes it is a low bar that's why we were pretty good at passing it um you know if you think we're the worst country in the world then just fucking do some research, just fucking noodle around the internet. You will find a lot of people who did a lot of worse things. Right.

And the military, you know, has its issues, but generally, you know, I'm thankful for them. Orwell said it. Great quote about like most people sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men are willing to do violence. Yeah. They should put that on your, I saw, Like, there's some scenes where you're like,

I guess you're in your garage. It's kind of like your man cave or something. And the flag behind you, I don't think you say anything about it, but it says the only easy day was yesterday. Yeah. Is that like a... That's a creed in the seal teams.

Yeah, only easy day was yesterday. Yeah, I mean, for the people who are getting their food delivered by Grubhub every day or whatever food fuck, whatever the... Yeah. You know, and really aren't doing, and playing Minecraft and, I mean, come on, man. Just be a little realistic about how cushy your life is.

Right. And it just doesn't happen. That's right. You know, freedom ain't free. That's truth. You know. That is a truth, yeah. I agree.

I agree. I think. So that's the speech I'll be giving when I do your show. Great. Perfect. I'm writing myself a much bigger. Yeah, it's great. That's fantastic.

Please. I say anything, literally anything you want. Yeah, and I think that we are a bit reactionary now, right? I think there are people who are just like really quick to cut someone off at the pass and be like, I know enough about you to know that I'm not interested in hearing what you have to say. So true. And I don't know that that's necessarily healthy. It is not healthy.

I think that like, even like, no. Like, I'm really, I find myself really interested in everybody. And I think that you can't really be interested in someone unless you love them. I think you have to start there. And that sounds probably a little foo and a little trite. But I find that to be true. You have to be willing to engage with someone in a loving way. And that's something I really like about you, Bill, is you can sit down with just about anybody, hear their point of view.

Absolutely. Be interested in it. Whether you agree with it or disagree with it or share it or don't share it, that's not really the point. The point is you can have. a conversation with somebody and it doesn't have to be a fight. It doesn't, you know. And by the way, when you do have these conversations, the person you're talking to is invariably so different than the person that was painted a picture to you by the media.

Right. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, I thought you were going to be a huge asshole. No. They love you. That might be true. That might be true. No.

But, you know, yes, I will talk to anybody. and I want people just to speak to each other because, look, you're part of the Kennedy clan now. When I was a kid, you could never say a bad word about the Kennedys in my house. My father was Irish Catholic, and John Kennedy was the first Irish Catholic president. This was to the Irish, what Obama was to African Americans.

It really was. I mean, because people as old as my father remember, when the Irish were really a minority that was looked down on and could not get jobs everywhere. 100%. Yeah. So this was a big deal that a president and a Catholic that was also very, very, this was a Protestant country. Catholics were, the Ku Klux Klan hated Catholics as much as they did blacks and Jews.

Yeah. Catholic were like papists. Wow. You follow the Pope. Yeah. That whore. That horlot in Rome. Yeah.

But anyway, you know, So I grew up in that house where you, and then, of course, reality sets in. And, you know, there's some people in the family who haven't done admirable things. And, but I still love the Kennedys. You know, it was just like in my blood. And basically, they were always on the right side of the issues, I thought. And, you know, they took on the big one civil rights, which had to be taken on. There was no greater political sacrifice ever made than John F. Kennedy.

sending troops into the south. And, you know, I'm sure people ask you about RFK now because he's in the news. Right. And, you know, he's sat here. We're friends. I love them. Yeah. I don't agree with everything.

Right. But I agree with, like, the overall view that what makes us sick is the toxicity. You know what? When he was here, I said, my advice to you was like, you need to marry your former life. more with what you're doing now. Your former life, you were very admired as an environmental lawyer. Now you have this other issue, vaccines,

and that's kind of the same issue. Right. Now, he's way more on the left vaccines than I am. I'm skeptical of all medical interventions, including vaccines. He said things I don't agree with, but if he would just take those two issues, I think he'd get more toward the middle,

of where people are, which is like they kind of get it that what makes them sick is all the shit in the water and the air and the food and giving kids pharmaceuticals when they're young. Yeah. And like lots of things where we're self-polluting. Yes. Including stress and social media and being on screens all day and what that does to your pituitary gland and all this stuff. he's not so his big picture i feel like yes i'm glad he's there doing that but then he gets specific about things and i'm like i know why people say he's nutty right do they did people ask you about him yeah sometimes i mean i don't know uh i kind of feel the same way that you do like i've spent a you know number of occasions hanging with him just in a strictly you know

family dinner kind of vibe and I really got along with him well I think he's great I think he's funny he's wonderful I like him yes I love him I think he's uh and he's not crazy I mean the people trying to he's he's also got like I said to him when he was here so I don't agree with everything you said and I don't think your father would either but your father would be so proud that you stuck to your guns like more than anybody I mean this guy you can when this guy believe something You cannot move him off of it with your bribes. Yeah, you're right. For better and worse.

That's a virtue in the, and it's rare. And I think that, you know, politics, it's a nasty business. And when you jump in, and I've seen, and I'm not in politics, obviously, but there's a certain level to this in Hollywood because Hollywood in itself is a political, you know, institution. And I've seen, I've seen how. the person you are can be so such a contrast to the people

to the person that people are being told that you are and you can go wow that is that is pure fiction and hundreds of thousands maybe millions of people are being fed that and I'm not there to defend myself nor am I going to jump in

and be mired in this story because there's this proverb proverbs 2620 for lack of wood the fire will go out and you're like okay So someone tweeted something. It's not real. 300,000 people liked it. Am I going to shine this light of 50, 70 million people onto this?

I don't even read them. Yeah, you can't. And so my little bit of experience, I've been able to see how the person that you are can be sometimes in stark contrast to the person that your enemy is saying that you are. And in politics, you inherit enemies. And when you jump on, you know, the bandwagon with who is, you know, the most divisive president ever, it makes sense that you're going to be made to look terrible. And so I don't know what to believe. Because it's not like I sit with Bobby and I go, so hey, let's talk about this.

Let's talk about it. It's like we're just playing cards or playing mafia or having fun or having dinner. I'm not going to pick his brain to find out exactly which of those things are true. I just kind of assume that none of them are. and for the most part, I wish him well, man. I hope there's certain things that he oversees that seem to be supported in a bipartisan way, like getting terrible toxic stuff out of our kids' food.

I think that's a great thing. And so, like, if you just do that, that's amazing. I'd hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I'd have an allergic reaction to, to be like, oh, well, if they do it, I don't want it to happen. I'll feed my, I'll put chlorox in my job. children's cereal myself.

You know, say, come on, have some, be reasonable here. There's certain things that would be a good thing to have. I want them all to be successful. You know, when it comes to, like, the media, like you were saying, and, like, what they say about you, people have to understand our cynicism, or I won't include you, I'll just say mine, about the media, comes from something that most people do not have access to, that we have access to, which is we read things about ourselves. Right.

Most people don't. Right. Okay. So, and you go, if you got this much wrong about something where I know what the truth is, what are you getting wrong about the other thing? That's so in my mind. 100%. You know, like, you can't really expect me to trust you after you said this and this and this.

And maybe you really thought it if that's the case, then you're just kind of dumb and lazy. Lazy, didn't do your homework. It would have been so easy to look it up. Right. Or you're just slanted. You're just like, oh, he's on the bad team because he had dinner with Trump or whatever your reason this week is.

And so I'm just going to shit on that. And like, okay, but then don't expect me to believe you about anything. Right. Anytime you see someone, yeah, it sours the notion of sources close to him, say, and like, no, they didn't. I'm sure no one. says that because I don't know one you don't have a source close to me that said that because unless they just made it someone who hates me lives close to me made it up you know they're

they're not used to I mean they know people like you there are people like you in show business Tom Hanks you know like like straight arrows I mean I don't mean that is an insult it's a compliment you're a straight arrow most people in show business are not they're skanky they're sleazy they're shady, they're suss in many different ways. And they've got lots of secrets and they're doing lots of shady things. And so it's very, a source closed is probably 20. You don't think there's people ratting on Kanye or what? You don't think these people make like giant enemies with their crazy behavior and their

diva behavior. Right. You know, all you need is like one time be like, you can't look at me. That's a thing. Yeah, like, which I've heard about more than one person, like, I don't know who started this, or maybe there are multiple people who do it, but I heard it about one music artist first. When he walks out on stage, the crew is told, you know, don't look him in the eye. Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing. That's like, yeah. Which just makes you. It's really important, though, someone in your position, my position, that we are mindful of the people that we have around us that represent us, because I'll bet you.

that that directive was not given but from the artist it was given from a representative of the artist probably like hey you know what you're having a fucked up day today just don't even look him in the eye you're right and he's like you know what he told me he walked over and then they have to they have to really gussy up the story to make themselves a i'm in close proximity to this rock star you should hear what i have here's the dirt like everyone loves a little bit of gossip you know and so then by the time the the the lie travels around the world is like he kicked the door in he said listen you motherfuckers no look me at the eye you know it's like okay because that's a more interesting story and that's how lies

and also you're so right about show business minders yeah you know it's so easy to have people who think they're doing you a favor and really they're trying to like kind of like big themselves up about how they were saving you from and he's like don't save me you know save me you have to know what to saved me from. Yeah. My friend Martin Lewis once told me a story about Pete Townsend of the Who and he did a solo thing. I think it was at the House of Blues and he's backstage after the show and sitting

alone in his dressing room and no one's there and Martin, who's, I guess one of his good friends finally comes backstage and Pete's like, he's like, what's the matter? He said, I guess nobody liked the show. Martin said, no, your guy wouldn't let anybody backstage. age, you know, protecting you from, like, what a performer probably needs more than anything? Affirmation. Why do you think we did this in the first place? We are deeply insecure. It's all about, Mommy, look at me. I'm doing it. No, I'm doing it now. You didn't see. I'm doing it. Look, Mommy. Right? Yes. Or Daddy or somebody.

Hey, I'm going to be loud enough that you won't leave me in the mall again. whatever that's the truth i mean i'm so glad i got out of your game because i wasn't as i say really suited for it and hated like makeup on my face all day and sitting in the trailers i don't i don't i'm not a patient person you have to be patient to be an actor that's truth but i do remember the it was a high an adrenaline kind of high to like do your close-up and hit it yeah you know Not that, I mean, you said before the first take of shit, do they still do a master first? Like, when I was doing stuff, they would do a master first. Yeah.

And I remember hearing Ryan Gosling talk about this on some documentary, and he said, it's such a waste of time the way they do these movies. Like, they do a big master, which they never use, right? And you use up all your juice. Yeah. And then you get to your close up, and you've done it six times. And it's like, and I thought, oh, wow. I thought I was the only one who thought that.

Yeah, no, God, it's a great point, yeah. It kind of depends on, that's really the job of a great communicative director to be like, hey, listen, we want a master because we want to create the geography of this thing. Don't blow your nut on this take, okay? Let's just walk through it. Let's just get through it, get the lines, let's get the cameras, make sure everyone's on board, make sure the camera's in the right spot, the boom's in the right spot. We're going to make sure we're doing everything we can properly, so don't waste it.

If a director says that to you, then you'd be less likely to be like, oh, that six months of prep, and you'd blow it. And they're like, oh, that was a great rehearsal. And you're like, I'll never get that back. And so, yeah, you have to be careful. And that's the job of the director to make sure that they're really great communicators in terms of what we're getting. Because that's a big thing that I learned sort of like,

as I stepped to the other side of the camera, being more of a producer now, or as much of a producer as I am an actor, whereas before I was just acting, is like, it kind of, the only important thing is what's picked up on that little 35 millimeter lens, you know, what's picked up on that screen, that's what happens, that's what matters, that's what you're taking to the edit. So all this other stuff that you might be doing as an actor,

it might just be kind of wasted. And so understanding... Like what other stuff? Like, like... An activity? Like behavior activity, you know, sort of deep, painful feelings if you're in a big wide shot.

So like understanding where the camera is, which lens is on the camera and what shot they're getting that's part of the craft and every time an actor says craft I feel like an angel gets kicked in the nuts but I'm like please but it really is kind of a craft

you know no it is it's just yeah and that's why I always say older actors are better they just are like anything in life that's like a 10,000 hours thing

yeah like you watch them in their 50s and 60s and they're like you know they're the old thing I'm not, they're not acting at all. You know, you don't see the acting. Right. Yeah, that's it. That's just right.

I think, and, you know, it's like you did, you've done stand-up for years and years and years. It's the same kind of thing, right? I mean, like, once you've done stand-up for many years, I'm assuming, I did it briefly for like a little bit when I, in my early career. Really? Yeah, a little bit of Santa Column to come. Wow.

Yeah, it wasn't great, but it was fun. And, yeah, it was like. Yeah, and I did some kick-ass movies. Yeah, that's right. Okay. So we, so we did it. I did a few billion-dollar franchises, so we're even. But I think that that's, there's a, there's a,

there's a looseness in a flow state that comes with knowing, not what to expect, but being ready for all of it and ready to kill at every moment. You're talking about in a scene? In a scene, or when you're in a flow state of on stand-up comedy or in a scene, where like you get there, you may have rehearsed, one thing, but you can't be married to what you expect to do. You just have to be ready to do the right thing at the right time and innately you're going to know what that is. You might move off your material and if the crowd is like in something else, you might go to some crowd

work. You might just go back to the joke that worked. The big punchline from last week all of a sudden gets nothing, but then you have a different audience tonight. It's like you're feeding off the energy of the actor opposite you. You're like, wow, I really thought they were going to, there was an exclamation point. I thought they were going to scream that at me. They whispered it to me. I have to react to that whisper. I have to listen. and react rather than just like say it how i prepared it yeah that's not exactly how stand-up works it's trust me it's exactly how stand-up works i mean you heard it here i did it 26 years ago and i know a thing or two if a big punchline works one night yeah it'll always work yeah i mean

i mean you can have the occasional lucky night where the crowd is hot and they're kind of going for anything, but, you know, I had been doing stand-up on the road for over 40 years and just recently stopped. Like, I'm only retired from stand-up, not from life in general or my show or this, but just stand-up for six months. And one reason I stopped is because it's funny, I would only do weekends. I'm a homebody, you know. I don't want to, I'm like a warrior like I don't want to be fucking in, you know, djibouti for six weeks. I don't know how you guys do it.

You guys earn your pay movie stars. I'm a baby, so I would do two cities, private plane, go home after the second show, the second night, so I'd only be home away from one night. The first night, because I hadn't done stand-up since like two weeks before, I would do it like every couple weeks. My act was like not in my head enough.

enough. And the second that I was bored because I'd done the joke tonight. There was no like middle

ground anymore. So, but generally, no, I always worked with a, not always, but like in all those years in this century,

I had a music stand on stage with like my bullet points, you know, it was just like a poor man's telepromp or just bullet points. But it was the

greatest thing in the world because as you're saying about improv, I could just, like, that's the dock. And I can take the boat out as long as I want because I'm not going to lose sight of the shore. Right. Because I always go right back to, you know,

and that's the greatest, to me, freedom in the arts is when you can have, like, structure and then the freedom to make it even better. Yeah. But you always have that. I mean, you know. And I guess there are some people who are ballier than me who are like, well, we're going to throw away the structure.

We're just going to, we're going out to see and really, we're going to find America or die on the way, you know? Yeah. Maybe that's bullseer, I guess it is, but I like the other way. And, you know, I'm not trying to win any medals here doing stand-up. Yeah, I don't need to be the bullsiest one. Right. Just the funniest one.

Well, who are, in your mind, the greatest in that art form? Well, Carlin is like, To most comics, you know, the first one they probably would put on the Mount Rushmore because he sort of had the trifecta. He was ballsy as shit like he would just say what he felt. I mean, he had a special right before 9-11 that they had to change the title for. The special was called, I like it when a lot of people die. And even George said, yeah, we've got to change the title now.

I mean, that's not the kind of thing he normally would have said. Right. But even he was like, yeah, okay. But, like, I mean, he was just, I remember one special, and this is when Lance Armstrong was before he was found to be cheating, was the hero of all time because, of course, America cares so much about. Bicycle riding. I never understood why that was such a big thing in America. It was, yeah.

But he was like the biggest hero, bicycle riding? What's next in the Olympics? Running around the block? Okay, so he started one of his specials by saying, fuck Lance Armstrong. Don't tell me who my heroes are supposed to be. That's why we love him. Yeah.

And he was very hard to peg politically. I mean, there were some things he would do that you would think traditional, he was left-wing, certainly like quasi-socialist, like, you know, standing up for the poor and that kind of stuff. Okay, cool. But he was also like, didn't care about the environment. Like his thing was, the planet will be fine. I'm like, George, yeah, the planet, we're not worried about the planet. We get it.

The planet itself will be fine. We're concerned about our lives on the planet. Okay. So he, you know, but he was never contrarian just for the sake of it, you know? I mean, you got the feeling he, and he was just funny. And he could go back and, and he also got to, like, so many premises in the 70s. Yeah. When observational comedy was fairly new, you know, before that, it was a lot of my mother-in-law.

Right. I took around a pleasure truck. We went to the airport. You know, that was comedy. Right, right. Yeah, the setup, the setup knock down punch. And then, you know, he kind of changed the game the way Brando did in acting, you know, and it was not just him.

Robert Klein was also a huge hero for people of my generation. Same kind of thing. But George was just, he got to so many premises first, and he went through a transformation, and kind of like you, you'd be interested in this because you are a transformer. he started out suit and tie, short hair, you know, skinny tie, this is the 60s, and was on Ed Sullivan and, you know, very mainstream shows, doing fairly mainstream comedy, and then he put out an album called A.M. and FM was him, the old hymn, that was Side 1, and Side 2 was, now he's in,

like, a tie-dye t-shirt, his hair's down to here, he's got a beard, and he wasn't the, you You know, he started out in an era where you could only be that guy with the suit and tie and the short hair and the clean material. And then he said, fuck that. I'm going for, you know, this, the real me. Right. And, of course, we loved it. That's great. We 15-year-olds who were thinking about being comedian.

That's cool. So some of it's emotional, like all our connections to stand-ups are. But, you know, he certainly, I think, is the one guy we would put up there that very, very. few people would argue with that choice if you have to name three guys yeah you know richard prior obviously is in that kind of yeah realm changed the game i was never a cosby fan until ever ha ha ha ha that's funny exactly yeah till i found out he was a horrible serial rapist then i was like you know what i'm gonna go back i'm gonna go back note or some of his Maybe I missed this guy.

No, never was a fan. I just thought he was corny. I thought the whole thing was corny and fake and phony and turned out I was right about that one. We were, yeah. But I didn't know you had done stand-up time. And how did you like it? You know, I don't know that I did it enough times

to where I really got into a rhythm and I didn't have like a great act, but I liked it. I liked performing. I was hungry to perform. Where did you do this? I did it in Seattle at a couple of, A club called, I grew up in Pacific Northwest in Washington State from like second grade until I was just out of high school.

I love that area. It's really beautiful. I love that. It's something about it. I mean, I've been there many times, you know, obviously on the road as a comic. Every couple of years you play Seattle and Portland. Right. You know, and Vancouver.

Yep. BC. Oh. You know, what is it about that area? I mean, first of all, it's clean, I think, because the air. Yeah. Something about the air, right? Yeah, I think it's clean.

I think that I'll tell you, I think that the weather itself is, it's really oppressive nine months out of the year. Right. And so if you catch the right day, you're just going to find an entire state full of people in the good mood. Right. Like, I remember we would have seriously 100 to 130 or 140 days of rain in a row. And then spring around May, June. the first day of sunshine would hit and traffic would slow on the freeway to like 40 miles an hour and you would just feel the sun through your window and it was just amazing. I live in L.A. So when I went to

Seattle, I was looking for the opposite experience and usually got it. I wanted the raw. I grew up in the East Coast. There's a kind of a raw weather feel that we would get like at the beginning of spring like St. Patrick's Day. Like when winter had lost its nip, but it was still kind of just bracing. Yeah. I loved it. Maybe a little drizzle in the air. And when I would go to Seattle, like, that's what I got.

You know, I wanted to be at Pike's Market, feeling the drizzle and filling up the fish that in the ice there, you know. It's definitely. Remember Pike's Market? Pike Place Market, of course. Yeah. I used to, I was for a while. I was a door-to-door salesman. and I used to row all through Seattle,

and that was the one that was doing stand-up comedy, and I just got to know. A door-to-door salesman? Yeah. What are you, 80? No, I was 17, 18 years old, yeah. No, door-to-door salesman? Yeah.

What year is this? Ninety-seven. Selling what? I was selling these little coupons, like for businesses in the service industry, so like oil changes or, like, trips to a spa or salon, that kind of thing. It was, you know. And you just, you know.

And you just. cold cocked the door? I would cold call people working. So I would walk around like if we did like say represented a Midas shop and it was somewhere in Seattle I'd walk within like a four mile radius and just go to the people who worked there. So I'd walk into the store. No soliciting. I would walk right past and say hey I just come down here from Midas and we're doing this thing for people who work

in the neighborhood and so I'd sell it to employees of businesses around And why did you stick with it? You know I'm going to be honest with you Bill fucking sucked. I did pretty well, though. I was salesman of the year. I won a free chip to Jamaica. I opened my own office in Colorado. It was multi-level marketing. I was an idiot. I had zero critical thinking skills. I was the perfect fucking Patsy. And honestly, I thought I was set for life until I realized everyone else who answered that ad was smarter than me, and they didn't buy it. And I was like, but, like, the biggest sale you do in that job is selling yourself that this is something that's going to help you. I remember

when I wanted to quit, I called the guy who had hired. me and I said man I'm just dying out here this I'm so I'm dying I'm at debt I can't keep anybody on like we would hire just the bottom of the unemployment barrel like I had a guy come in and he like robbed a place and was like I don't know what to do and and he said to me I remember Greg I remember Greg I want to say that's not good yeah I was like I literally hired a guy who was a two-time convicted violent felon there it is the spit take

I got one we have a whole reel yeah and uh yeah and and his he was on the house he was like on a kind of house arrest situation like living in a home and he was like called me and and they were like

listen we need him by the way he was I don't like I'll get to this but he was an amazing guy Like, he taught me so much. He was, no, listen, he had, he really found God in prison. He was, like, a really special dude.

It was one of the first authentic relationships I had with someone who was African American in my life. Like, yeah, it was actually really beautiful. But point being, when I first hired him, I didn't know any of that. And his, like, he was living in, like, a halfway house. And the guy was like, hey, we need him to be supervised at all times. And we were like, oh, yeah. For sure, that's what we do. And then day one, I just drove him on my minivan.

I was like, I'll pick you up here at 5 p.m. You'll knock on every door in this neighborhood. And he did very well. He got arrested a couple times. Arrested? Yeah, well working with for us. Four? Probably for being black.

Like, he was down in Olympia and he was knocking on doors and someone got scared and called the cops, and the cops came. And they were like, hey, someone was scared, which I think a lot of times when people who are arrested who are black, it's because someone who was scared of them, All the cops, and the cops, all they know is, we got a report of a guy who's suspicious, and they come and arrest him. But anyways, Audie, we, yeah, I said his name, but his name, yeah, his name was Adi. He was amazing.

And I was 18, he was 42, I was his manager, and we became really close friends, and he was, he was awesome. He told me, actually, I don't know where he is. It's been 26 years. I don't know if you're out there watching Audie. I don't say his last name, but if you're out there, buddy. You'd like to reconnect. Oh, it'd be awesome. It would be awesome.

I remember him telling me one time, he goes, you know, no man you've transcended i was like that's amazing i was like i don't know what that means but i think i know what it means and he's not wrong really yeah what did he mean he meant you transcended being the fat guy who was like on a sitcom to being like a giant movie star you could see into the future well oh oh he said it before he said it when i was 18 yeah oh well then then he was predicting the future anyways door door sales back to seattle and i did that and and uh so to circle back to why Seattle is so lovely. There's an attitude there, too.

There's a real attitude there. I think part of it is, you know, if you look at like the very, it's a different attitude than the East Coast. I think like if you look at just the way Manifest Destiny pushed, you know, we colonized headed west. Correct.

And it was like, if you're in New York, you were like, fuck you, you keep going. This is mine. You know, people from Seattle are like, I'll go. Like, I'll keep going. They got pushed all the way to Seattle before they were finally like, I guess we can stay.

It's rainy, but we'll do it. You know, it's like there's a toughness, but also a politeness on the surface. So, like, people are, people can handle a lot. It reminds me a little of Chicago in the sense that it's a, like Seattle is a big city. Right. Like, you forget, like, when you fly into Seattle, like a lot of cities in this country, and I've been to the mall. I mean, there's a little downtown with some tall buildings. Seattle's big.

it's a big and it's like the gateway to a lot of the you know commerce to Asia which is a lot of the commerce it's big and rich

but like and so Chicago but it doesn't have the bad New York attitude you know I love the New York twice and you know I love New York it's kind of my roots I grew up across the river and New York team still root for them and all that but you know it was

It was never, I never vibed with that city. It was not my city. Yeah. You know, I like visiting, but it's, I vibed here. You know, like, we're back to that. California, babe. I've never vibed into any city, really. I'm not a fan of, because I think that, like, for me, I'm, I like nature.

I want to, like, walking here and through your grounds, beautiful. That beautiful, sycamore, those oak trees. It's just gorgeous. I love that because it's, in a, it's. a believer, it's the creation. And I'm looking at this creation. I'm like, and it points me towards the creator. Whereas I go to a city, they're all man-made creations, and it points me towards men, and I'm like, eh. You know, the creator put some pot plants out there, too. Did you know that? The creator's been busy. Do you smoke the pot that you grow? Correct.

Is that right? That's cool. Yes. That's cool. That's talk about getting high on your own supply. Literally. Yeah. Yeah. You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, who else can I trust? Right. Not to spike my pot. There you go. Well, you can't trust the woods. That's your pot company. That's my pot story that Woody Harrelson and I own on Santa Monica Boulevard. And Dean, are you with the, is. Yeah, Howard Dean.

Not Howard Dean. Dean Phillips is now running it, yes. I had dinner with him today. Is that right? What a small world. What were you two talking about? He came over to Maria's house. My mother-in-law has a family dinner every Sunday.

If people don't remember, he was the guy who challenged Joe Biden. He was a congressman when we left for him. Yeah, Congressman ran for president. And he's a friend of the family? I guess he's a friend of the family. Yeah, I think he was, I think he is, yeah, I think he may have been a guest of, yeah, he must be a friend of the family. He came, but we had a nice conversation.

He told me to tell you, say hello, and he told me a little bit about the woods, the company you guys are, you know, stuff. It's a, first of all, it's a terrible situation that pot stores are still sort of bad people who we can't, like, trust with your, like, banking and shit. So, like, there's too much cash. You know, that kind of stuff, which tends to attract robbers. Wait, why is there so much cash? Because they have banking laws against bad people.

Oh, there's banking laws against the pot source? We're bad. We're bad people who are... I support that. I think you're probably a piece of shit. We're bad people who are addicting people to something terrible. So we can't bank. It's all, you know, it's just the kind of bureaucratic bullshit that makes us...

It's really interesting that they choose to throw a... conscience in that aspect of capitalism. Exactly. Now we're going to use our conscience. If I told you all the hurdles that we had to try to get over to just establish a marijuana company in this state, it's just ridiculous. They do not make it easy. Do you think that is because of big tobacco or someone who?

would like to kind of like no that's because of turn my pot into the new bud light or something and they just want to make it difficult for the mom and pop shops is no that is because of that is because of big democrats democrats yes and i know your family again my family loved them too yeah tried and true for the democrats but democrats have a lot to answer for too i didn't vote for the republican i don't think i've ever voted i won't one time I did, but it was a sentimental vote. But yes, Democrats run this state and Democrats are the ones who need to, if you want to have an easy, low-hanging fruit victory with people, just cut the red tape. You make it impossible to fucking do anything in this state. That's

truth. And we put up with it because of the sunshine and for the rest of it. And for the rest of but it's so unnecessary. It is so unnecessary. And, you know, why would you just commit this unforced error? Why do you think so many states? I mean, so many companies have left this state and went to other states. Right. Regulations.

Overly regulated? You make it impossible, not just regulations. I mean, just hooking up my solar here was a nightmare. And anything, anything you want to do, you know. know, I mean, changing my garage doors from three to two required three inspections. I just put a new roof on. That required two inspections. Do you try to inspect my fucking roof?

If it falls on my head, that's on me. You know, trust us, people, to do a few things for ourselves. Stop looking over my shoulder for everything. I get nagged enough by my car. What's your car? every car you don't get nagged by your car oh by your car by your car i think that's for your car oh yeah oh yeah listen you you don't have to you don't have to sell me too hard on the idea of uh of cutting some of the red tape i think that's but that's unfortunately i mean if you

wanted to like i don't know where you live and i don't want to know because you know we don't need to like put that shit out there but the address is but i would like your parents home number No. Okay. But, you know, say you wanted to add on, you know, either you're going to do it without telling the authorities or you're going to tell them and they're going to make your life miserable. And it's just like, why? What do you think it's going to, what bad do you think is going to happen? What a giant movie star is putting on a second bedroom or something? You know, like, just let us live our lives. I agree. And they wouldn't do it. You would have to have, I mean, a friend of mine, house burned out in Malibu during the first Malibu fires like four years ago. And it was putting in, I think, a septic tank and it needed Wi-Fi? Oh, that was your best gym from the office tank.

The septic tank needed Wi-Fi? Correct. There you go. To, like, tell, to, like, sense. something to an iPad to tell you when it was overflowing or something, but, you know, it's a vat full of shit. I grew up with a septic tank. Yes, when it rained

a lot, we were like pumping. Yeah. Like we were, like don't let the september, but... That's a perfect metaphor. It's like, no, we want to get in your shit. We demand, we impose our, we will know when you shit.

It'll cost you. But it is nice weather. I do love it. I'm hooked. I'm hooked. And I'm not completely sold that it can't be made better. And I think that there's enough people who feel the same way. I think it can be.

Well, and everywhere. I mean, traditionally, of all the sectors of our lives, the military actually has been the one most sane, most apolitical. You know, most forward thinking racially. Mm-hmm. You know, once they integrated after World War II, I mean, African-Americans did very well. Yeah. You know, we just had an African-American Secretary of Defense and Colin Powell, and, you know, it was a place for advancement. I mean, I'm sure there was still racism.

Right. But the military, you know, was sort of like when they would do polling. What do you trust? The press, the Congress? No, hate them. The president. Hate him, hate the media, hate everything, military, no. Yeah.

You know, there's still mostly guys who are, you know, putting their life on the line and, you know, want to do it for the right reason. Anybody who, like, signed up after 9-11, it wasn't for the money. No. You know, I think about a guy like Pat Tillman, you know, remember him, the Arizona. Yeah, of course. Cardinals football hero, real good player. Went to Afghanistan, killed over there. I mean, that's America to me.

It is. I think, and it can be found in the military. It can also be found in politics, but it's, I think, being of service is really... But the guy you're playing, it's not a real guy. No, no, no. He's just a composite of what a sealed guy really is. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, the writer of the book, Jack Carr, is a former sealed team commander, and so he's kind of, you know, he's crafted his character. If you haven't seen the Netflix documentary on Bin Laden, it's so good. American Manhunt? Yes. Yeah, it's great. I got a, I shouldn't plug something not on HBO, but that was, right.

But it was great because. White Lotus, you're talking with White Lotus. Exactly. Oh, is that your cousin? Who's he now? What is that kid now to you? Brother-in-law. Brother-in-law.

Yes, my wife's brother-in-law. brother-in-law. Yeah. Right. He's great. He was great. He's great in it. What a family.

What a thing. The whole Kennedy vibe going. Do you play touch football on the lawn like the old Kennedys used to do? You've got to get into that Kennedy vibe, right? Yeah, I've gone out to a couple times out to, like, Hyannisport and been able to kind of see some of the old haunts of where they've, yeah, it's been really, it's really amazing. And eye-opening for me, because, I mean, I didn't grow up. I'm not educated. You know, I went to high school and got really good grades and did some AP classes.

but I didn't go to college, and I was educated on Arnold. I mean, that was my college. It's like watching commandos. You know what I mean? So when I met Catherine, I was like, that's crazy that her dad is Arnold. I didn't think it was crazy. I'd been in business long enough to know that it was pretty normal and actually kind of relatable in a way to me that would be sweet.

But I didn't fully comprehend how many people were such fans of the political side of her family. It didn't really strike me until. And you're telling me being raised, you know, is Irish Catholic. I imagine your whole life was the Kennedys. I remember seeing the movie about Kennedy with Kevin Costner, was that Oliver Stone movie. Oh, so great.

But beyond that, I didn't really know much about it. Are you kidding? No. No. I know someone named Kennedy. Named Kennedy? Yeah, their first name. Really?

Oh, yeah. And she's great. Yeah. Is it the MTV woman? No, no, no, not that one. That's the only Ken at the end. No, no. All right, that was so much.

Oh, I can't. Thanks for having me. Oh, we're so much fun. No. And we'll see you soon, I think. Yes, I can't wait. I'm excited. Yeah.

I'm not in the scene, but I'm going to come by and visit set. What's my motivation? Am I me? You're Bill Maher. Okay, and I'm... All right. Well, I can't wait to see the scene. And your real motivation is?

I'm going to tell you real quick. A terror attack. There's a new terrorist. He's a new head of al-Qaeda, a new type of al-Qaeda. And the world has considered him enemy number one. He's like the new Osama bin Laden. And you're having a panel on people who are experts in terrorism. And one of them is a journalist named Katie Baroneck, played by Constance Wu.

Oh, I see. I see. The reporter. Yeah, the reporter. And you'll refer to me, and you'll say, well, what makes, what's the difference between James Reese and this guy? This is also a guy who is a true believer who lived for all this stuff, who killed me. that those people not deserve to have a trial doesn't that make him a terrorist in a way isn't he

imposing his own views so that's the idea is you and and to do it in a way that you do only you can do which is somehow make it funny i'm gonna fucking kill you're gonna crush it bro people are gonna be asking me to do bring him home three bring them even more of them home