Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast - Poop Doula (Ed Helms, Seth Morris, Isabella Escalante)

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

Ed Helms returns to discuss his new podcast “SNAFU with Ed Helms,” as well as the role of fortune and luck in the early days of his career. Bob Ducca stops by (unannounced, of course) with more tales of medical woe. Then, casting director, voice actor, and teacher Paulina does some impromptu coaching! Don’t forget to check out the Comedy Bang! Bang! Action Figures at shop.figurecollections.com and go to actionfigurecellar.com for international purchases. If you want more great episodes of Comedy Bang! Bang! become a subscriber at comedybangbangworld.com. We have all of the past episodes from the archives, every live show, ad-free new episodes, and original shows like CBB Presents and Scott Hasn’t Seen. Find more great Comedy Bang! Bang! merch at https://www.podswag.com/collections/comedy-bang-bang Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/cbb Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A comedy bang bang, bang, comedy bang, comedy bang, comedy bang, comedy bang, comedy bang, comedy bang, comedy bang. A rose by any other name would be called by that other name, like, uh, blarney bank by, comethy bank by, comrade. It would still smell as sweet as Blarnie. Welcome to Comedy Bang Bang. Thank you to Derivative Gangster for that catchphrase admission. That one took some acting on my part. I don't think I nailed it, so unfortunately not going to stick. But thank you.

The Hunt continues, derivative gangster. We appreciate your efforts. And welcome to Comedy Bang Bang for another edition. My name is Scott Ackerman. We have an exceptional show today. Coming up a little later, we have a show business-themed episode today. First up, we have a show business-themed episode today. First up we have an actor and a producer.

And then a little later, we have an actor slash casting director slash teacher. So this is an incredibly showbiz oriented episode. And I, of course, am a podcaster. Unfortunately. But hey, lovely to have you listening. Let's get to our first guest here. Now, you know him from such things as The Daily Show. You know him from the office.

You know him from the hangover. But most importantly, he is entering the esteemed two-timers club on Comedy Bang Bang the podcast. Can you believe it? Please welcome back to the show, Ed Helms. Yeah. All right. Two times. Two times.

When was the last time? It was been a long, long time. 2014. And you were at a totally different location. I was. to keep it secret where I am, my assassination coordinates. So, yeah, I like to move. Every single episode is in a different place.

Yeah. But, yeah, totally different time. You know, you're entering the two-timers club. Most people are in the zero-timers club. That's most people on earth. Oh, well, yeah, of course, if you do the math. Yeah. But the best people are in the two-timers club.

And that's why for, and it's, I mean, it was years ago that I was on the show, and I've been hounding you. I've texted you every day since then. I put a like a spam blocker on your number, unfortunately, because it's just too much. Well, the two-timers club is just so, it's so intoxicating. Well, now, the one-timers club are mainly like big movie stars who did it once as a favor and never wanted to return. So you have Ben Stiller. You have Paul Rudd.

But the two-timers club is special because it's usually big movie stars like yourself who have a podcast to promote. And so they come back. That's the coolest level, I feel like. That's where it's, and that's what makes the two-timers club so rare. Do you know who else is in it? I wonder. You know what? We don't have the guests broken down by as many times as they've been on it.

I can only access your name. I'm going to start just a club outside of this. The two-timers, like I actually have already rented real estate. Okay, you may want to talk to your wife about this. And it's kind of my new full-time thing. Yeah, I don't know. The CBB 2T club. And, hey, honey, I just started something called the two-timers club.

Yeah. Yeah, the membership dues are $100,000, which is, which I've budgeted to be roughly what I need to feed my family. Okay. And this is, what, a year, a month? $100,000, yeah, per year. Per annum. Yep. And if you join, then you have to hang out at the club for six hours a day.

Six full hours. You know what? I haven't thought this all the way through. I just. I, you only have two rules. Pay me $100,000 a year and hang out with me six hours a day. Sit there for six hours a day.

You don't have to talk. We do have a coffee machine. Yeah. Okay. And some, and some post-it notes and pencils. So you can like do, you can do stuff.

This is like, I'm such a dad. I'm a dad doing bits. Like to me, like a post-it notes and pencils is like enough. That's a full afternoon. That's all you need. Dad bits. Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

You entered the two-timer father club. Oh, that's true. Yeah. That's another two-timer club. And I was reading your Wikipedia page in advance of our meeting. Not to brag. And I noticed under personal life, let's go down to personal life. Let's see.

Helms is married. No other info. In a podcast with Jordan Klepper in August, Helms mentioned he has two children. Now, do you want to give anything stronger than that on this? No. Like, like affirmatively just say you have two children or just casually mentioning. No, no, no. It only comes out in mentions. It only, yeah. I feel like that covers it. That covers it. Yeah. Just an offhanded comment that you have two children.

Yeah, yeah. This is a cool table. I got two kids. Okay. And then, ooh, a whole political views. Oh, boy. Wow. Oh, there's a whole section in Wikipedia. Whole section, yeah. Political views? Would it surprise you to know you were a board member of represent us? Yeah.

Yeah, I'm doing that. Yeah. I like that operation. Alongside other stuff. People can go to the wicket. Do you want any new things you want to break that are Wikipedia warriors can get out there? Oh. Anything new going on in your personal life or your political views?

Oh, breaking news. Breaking Ed Helms news. Yeah, I went on a Girl Scout camping trip this weekend. Okay. With one of my kids. Oh, okay. That's an important classic. Yeah, I didn't just show up at a Girl Scout camping event.

At Helms is known to show up at Girl Scout camping weekends. Put that in the Wikipedia page. Yeah, no, it was great. I brought some balloons and a post-it notes and pencils? A couple of kazzoos. and I introduced myself. Okay, well, that's something we can work with. Hopefully that'll end up on your Wikipedia page.

Yeah, all right. Yep. That's breaking news. Now, Ed, in addition to, you know, your story career, so many incredible, I mean, when you first got in this business, everyone hopes to achieve the kind of things you have, but very few actually do. Did you ever think that you would do? Did you have that belief in yourself where you were like,

I know I'm going to do this shit. I do love the something that happened to your voice asking that question. Well, I started out on one question. It got really aspirational or deep or something sort of exploratory. We're going to get deep here. Let's get deep. We're going to peel back the lid of Ed Helms. Did you ever think that would do it, Ed?

You know, I think like a lot of people who go into this wacky business, it was just a stew of no pun intended because you played stew in the hangover that's true that we want to make sure no one thinks that pun was intended not intended um i did have uh oh this weird belief that i could do this and i sort of like um irrational faith in my ability to push forward but also pushing against all of that is just this very powerful doubt that that kind of and then they're just tides that wash in and out all the time and still do yeah well yeah you go to the ocean any day of the week you'll yeah the tie the ties I'm affected by the moon is what I'm realizing but no but I I think somewhere along the lines uh I also uh I

feel I felt like I guess I think I had something to prove or something yeah and that and that's a weird who are you proving it to that too? Because people do it to their parents. They do it to the people at school. Yeah. Who are you trying to stick it to? I think probably parts of both of those categories. And not out of spite.

Not out of disdain, but sort of just like, I've been underestimated or something, a sense that I had more to show or something. And I, but I do. I do think that what pushed me through those early years doing standup in New York and trying to get on to just get into all these different comedy shows and circles and the Upright Citizens Brigade. You did Premium Blend in 2002. Yeah. That was huge for me. I was actually already on, I think I was already on the Daily Show at that point. You were on the Daily Show in 2002, so that checks out.

But it still was like, this is such a. validation of these like at that point I guess eight years of New York City trenches trying to yeah just trying to make it work and you just I mean you know this like early on there's just so much rejection and so much failure you have to have an irrational belief that you can do this and now that you've made it do you find it's fun to be the one rejecting the other people oh it feels so good just crushing stomping because you have to defend your title Exactly. I don't want anybody rising up and diluting my megalomania. I'm so happy to be here. I deserve it. I deserve everything.

Has ever come my way? No. No, of course that I, you know, I've been, I read this weird. There's a psychologist who's done a lot of study on the concept of luck and where luck comes from. And of course, I would say luck played a huge part in so many, in many steps of my, career. But I think that there's also something interesting just about sort of the psychology of someone who, like how we and how we feel about luck or how we feel about the world around us can open doors for us. Meaning that if you get lucky and you feel like, oh, I actually deserve that. Does that? No. No, what I mean is, oh, shit. Not not that. I took a staff. And I was wrong. No, I think a lot of people, a lot of people do that.

You know, privilege is something. It's hard for, I think, a lot of people to see in themselves or to even understand about one's own background. It's hard to see sometimes. But, no, I saw this study. I'm going to get these details wrong. But the gist of it was that people were given a test where they look in a newspaper or they're told to count the number of pages in a newspaper or something like that. Okay.

And this sounds like something I could maybe do. And on like page 10, it says, there's a huge ad in the newspaper that says the total number of pages is 16. You can stop now. Oh. And people who had a more sort of open mindset and a more flexible mindset towards the world, we're more likely to see that and then tell the proctor of the test, you know. Right.

The answer is 14 or whatever the... You said 16, but I actually, yeah. Which, by the way, stop you at page 10. You only have six to go. I would just continue on through. I know, right? Just verify. But that's why I said I'm going to get the details wrong.

No, I know, but this is like if you watch Taskmaster. I don't know if you've ever seen that show. The Jason Manzoukis was on series 19, but a lot of times they give you the answer to the task that they give you. Oh, right. Early on in a weird way. But so many people are so focused on. on stuff that they never see it. It's that, it's that exact concept.

And, um, and one might think that, that it was luck that allowed someone to see that page, but it actually has a lot to do with sort of how you move through the world and how you, um, whether or not you are accepting defeat and quitting or feeling flexible and feeling and sort of take and feeling more present. And that's to say, um, that I think, uh, that, which is another thing in my life, that I've really washed in and out of periods of great anxiety or periods of openness and flexibility. And because anxiety always comes with a, you know, wanting to control your environment and

control your circumstances, um, which is almost always a bad thing. Like being, trying to be flexible and move right through things and bounce off the world and, in a, in a positive way. So now do you try to just let stuff wash over? You like those tides we were talking about before? Sure. Or? Yeah. And I try not to, to, I try to just stay as presence as possible and is open. And this is all very heady all of a sudden. But, but I don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm still reading these weird things and then talking about them on podcasts. Yeah, exactly. We have, I mean, the day we figure it all out is the day that we keel over and just shuffle off this mortal coil as the bard once in. Are you a fan of the immortal bard?

Of course. I love the, I love the bard. The Star Cross lovers. What is that, which one is, is that a Hamlet? The Mortal Coil reference? I hope so, because that's, that's my favorite one. And if that line isn't in it, then I'm disappointed when I go see Hamlet. I feel like Mortal Coil needs to stage a comeback. Yeah.

As a, as a, as a synonym for life, right? You know, like doctors should say it. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mrs. Helms. Your husband has shuffled off this mortal coil. Exactly. Ooh, classy.

What? Yeah, it's a tough one to... I don't know why I put you dying in that situation. It's okay. I could have come up with any fake name and instead I just grabbed for you. It felt like something that came from a very visceral place. Very real place. And I got to ask, The Office. You played Andy Bernard. Yeah. There is now an office spinoff, the paper. Yeah. Oscar is in both. You see where I'm going with this?

Oscar's amazing? Oscar's amazing, but... My real question, if in the office they sold paper, why in the paper don't they sell offices? Ooh. That, you know. Don't they? They should. I haven't.

You haven't checked it out yet? That's a good one. That's a head scratcher, isn't it? That's a real good one. And I don't know the answer. All I know is that Oscar is amazing. Maybe you could write to Oscar and have a mask or something? I don't know.

I'm just like, or hey, Greg Daniels. like think a little subplot of at least one episode. Did he give you his phone number? Yeah. Oh yeah. I could text. Why'd you text it right now? Yeah.

Yeah. If in the office they sold paper, why in the paper do they not sell offices? Hit me back ASAP. You really want me to? I mean, sure. Yeah. I mean, look, we've had people call their business managers to see how much money they've made on certain projects.

Okay. This is the kind of thing we love on. Tim Robinson, uh, after the show, asked his wife if she loved to laugh. and tape recorded her saying it and sent it to us. Look, this is the kind of stuff we love on Comedy Bang Bang. So feel free to do that. I'm going to give you a little more time to wrap up that text, and I'm going to be looking around at your further information here.

Now, one thing I'm noticing, Ed, about your CV is that, sure, you're an actor. Sure. You're a producer. We produced the Auntie Donna show together, did we not? He's still texting. And now, Ed, you have segued into the wonderful world that so many celebrities are getting into podcasting. Yeah. You just finished the text.

I heard about every other word of that. So wait, here's the text. Here's the text. I'm on a podcast and was just asked, if on the office they sell paper, why don't they sell offices on the paper? care to weigh in. Thank you. Very good. All right. We'll see.

We'll just go ahead and flag that. We'll see if we get an answer by the end of the show. You know, maybe he's on set and he's very busy coming up with excuses as to why they don't sell offices. But we'll see if Greg Daniels hit you back. Now, you have started podcasting. You've continued podcasting. You have a podcast. Yes.

It's called Situation Normal all fouled to be fouled up. Well, no one way to say it. No one says what the acronym. means we just say that the podcast is called snafu snafu yeah which is an acronym as you as you have just spelled out uh situation normal all effed uh fouled we like to say don't say that other word i know i don't say it yes i don't like to think about people doing that i know it's so it's so it's so it's so icky for you i know so yes it's a podcast uh called snafu and it is about snafu's it's essentially a history podcast and i uh i walk

my guests through an historical snafu and it's a delight. Are you a big history buff? Is that how you got into this? Yes. I'm more of a I'm more of a general guy. Who likes the other side? Well, I am from

Georgia. So, and we're... That's right. Whereabouts in Georgia? Atlanta. The Atlanta part of Georgia. The Delta. Yeah, exactly. Delta. Coca-Cola. Sure. We're going to go with some corporate But yeah. And, and you do grow up sort of weirdly, it's more present. The Civil War is present there. Like you're just seeing.

There's a lot of monuments there. There's a lot of. Whether there are just historical markers. You know, there's, we've, my sister found a musket ball in our yard and just like weird. From the Civil War? Yeah, presumably. Someone shot one over there. We think it's from the school.

There was a battle basically right where our neighborhood was built the Battle of Clear Creek and so yes we assume it's from Was it, I mean a musketball is obviously not an explosive device No, no, it's something that comes out of a gun It's not like the size of a milk. So it wasn't dangerous. A milk dud

Yeah, it's a dead, it's a little, it's a bullet essentially from that time period. Right. And it didn't have you know how on CSI they put it under the microscope and they say oh, the styrations or striations? What is it? I believe it's striations. I believe it's striations.

Stryations. Well, so no, that's a different weapon because that's the striations are from the rifling in the barrel. That's why they're called a rifle. Right. And that's what spins a bullet as it comes out of a rifle. I see. And that was a technological advancement from the musket that came later. So a musket is just a two.

So it wouldn't have any markings on it at all. I don't know. Maybe it has like little where the gunpowder, who knows. Hit it. But yeah, I don't, I'm not a civil war. So no one could trade. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you took it to a forensic scientist, no one could trace this back to an actual gun or battle or anything like this.

I don't know the answer to that, to be honest. Or what did you do with it? Yeah, I think we kept it for a minute and we're like, we found a musket ball. That's so cool. And then as I'm finding happens all the time with children, they just get lost. Everything gets lost. Or the parents take it away from them and hide it and say, I don't know where it is, honey. as Kulab did with the bell that I gave our daughter recently.

Yeah, as my dad did with my 45 of another one bites the dust. Oh, no. He didn't think it was appropriate for an eight-year-old. To talk about something biting the dust? Yeah. And the other, the B side of that was a queen song that nobody knows called Don't Try Suicide. That's, I know that one. That's a positive message.

Do you know that song? Don't try suicide. Yeah. Nobody would care. Yeah. It's not a nice song. it's a but it's also like it's just the ideation is not something that I think my parents wanted me to yeah I mean I think their hearts were in the right place yeah I'm like hey don't do this but

but they were still stealing from the hot stuff album yeah I mean this is the early 80s so 1980 1980 itself probably parenting was different it was a lot different so you've always loved history you found this muskets ball in your backyard and you said let me start a podcast about this type of stuff. No, so Snap-Fu came about because history is sort of

I'm just a rabbit hole guy. I get really curious about certain things and I wind up just reading and reading and wanting to talk

about random little nuggets, whatever it is. And sometimes it's topical news items. Sometimes it's a weird science story. And oftentimes it's something

history related. And so as I was trying to sort of ponder if if I fit into the podcast landscape somewhere. It was like, well, this is, this is an easy, easy thing. This feels like very natural, a very natural thing that I can zoom in on. This is something you like to do. Yeah. Because you don't want to start a podcast on something where you're like episode eight,

you're like, God damn. Yeah. Like this podcast. And it's something I do like this one all the time. I know. I can feel your contempt. You're so outraged to just be. sitting here right now.

But the general curiosity, I think, that I had was, I was like, how can I focus this on something? And then history became a very obvious angle. And then it was like, okay, there are a lot of great history podcasts out there. What's a more specific angle? It's like, oh, the crazy messed up human hubris falling on our face stories. So things go wrong in history. Yeah. Yeah.

And what, and do you, you read about these? Do your guests who come on because you do have guests, right? Yes. Do they read about it beforehand or is it you telling them about this story? No. So almost always the guest has no idea what the story is. I just broke that rule. Last week for the first time, I had the hosts of Hard Fork, which is a great New York Times podcast about tech.

It's these two tech reporters, Kevin Roos. They should call it Hard Computer. Hard computer? You know, like I hear Hard Fork and I think it's a cooking thing. Yeah, okay. You know what I mean? Sure. Can you pass that on?

Do you mind doing another text? Yeah, sure, sure, sure. No, but Kevin Ruse and Casey Duden are, they have this fabulous podcast and they're very like into the current moment of tech. But they also covered the Cambridge Analytica scandal a few years back, which you may remember. Sure. Yeah. I wasn't involved in that at all. Yeah, 2018.

There was the whole Facebook thing where, we're all. all this data was basically scraped off of Facebook and then used to, uh, attempted to be used as a way to sort of psychiatrically control people or, or get them to, get them to vote a certain way or just freak them out and outrage people, like, uh, using all this data as a way to target them with certain issues and then whatever. It was a very wild and dramatic scandal. And so they knew a lot about it. So you, They both as tech reporters had covered it. And so they were experts on it.

And so that was a little bit of a flip of the format. So it was like you learning about it a little more than them. I sort of walked us. I sort of walked them through the timeline of it. But they were very much kind of reflecting and joking and talking about what they knew about it, which was a lot more than I do. Right. And that was a really fun sort of flip of the format. But most of the time, I'll just have either really funny people.

or really smart people or really interesting people. They never cross over usually, right? The funny people and the smart people. Hardly ever. And we'll go through a snafu. I'll sort of walk them through a snafu. I've researched and written a script for myself. But then it's very much a conversation.

And it's really, really fun. I had Adam Grant, for example, what would follow? He's very much in the smart guy category. We talked about Charles Ponzi, who, you know, is the original. The originator of the Ponzi scheme. Yeah, right. That's his legacy.

And of course, you hate to have a scheme named after you. Or maybe you're psyched. I don't, yeah, I mean, not even Madoff had really, I mean,

no one goes around saying the Madoff, maybe they say the Madoff effect. Well, his was a Ponzi scheme. Yeah, exactly. That's why like Ponzi. Do you think he was jockeying to get it renamed? Come on.

Let's call us a made off. He needs a better publicist. But that was a really fun. because Adam is like a basically like a social psychologist. And so to kind of like read through Ponzi's life story and his whole, you know, the whole thing that led to the him getting busted for having a Ponzi scheme, which at the time, I guess was just called a scheme. Right.

And, uh, or just an idea. And having Adam Grant like weigh in with all of his professional sort of psychology standpoint. It's really fun, really interesting. I'm, what I'm trying to say is my, my podcast is fun. It's fun.

It's funny. And you also learn something about something maybe you didn't know anything about. Exactly. You know, a lot of times listening to a podcast, this one especially, you leave being dumber than when you came in. You extract intelligence from your listeners. But for you, you want everyone to come away going like, not only was that entertaining, but it was also very informative as well. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Like I had Chelsea Handler on and I walked her through the. the whole Hindenberg story. Obviously, a terrible snafu. Obviously, it blew up, Led Zeppelin. Right. And we know all. Those are the two things we know.

Those are the things we know. Did they say the horror, the horror about that? Or was that somebody else? No, that's the apocalypse now. Sure. Oh, the humanity. Was it about Hindenburg? Yeah, that was the Hindenburg.

That was the live broadcast of. Oh, the humanity. Oh, there's people running around. And there's fire everywhere. Oh, the humanity. And that recording is very famous. But there's so many fun details like when you start to really. It's a lot of stories like that that you kind of know.

Right. That you've heard a little bit about. Have you done one? I'm just coming up with stuff off the top of my head. The Orson Wells War of the Worlds. Adding it to the list right now. Add it to the list. Because that was a big one.

It's a big one. I love that one. And it's media related. Yeah. It's a really fun. one. And no, we haven't done it yet. Definitely putting it on the list. Thank you. Any more? And you got any other ideas? That's the only thing I can think about right now. But I guess I'll how much are you paying your researchers? Because I guess I could have a side hustle going.

All right. Pete Holmes is coming on later in the week. And well, I don't know, whenever this is this, that will have happened by the time this airs. But it's hard to prognosticate into the future. But at some point, Pete Holmes is coming back. Pete Holmes will be on Snapu, and we're going to talk about Chapoquitic, which is something, which is an amazing story. Teddy Kennedy driving a car off the bridge and Mary Joe Kepekekny dying. And I was in the movie, Chappaquittic. So I actually know a good bit about this story. All right. If I'm recalling correctly, you played Joe Gargan. Yeah. All right. I saw a little scroll there. Scroll of what? That's a deep cut. I'm surprised that's even on your computer screen to scroll to.

It was the same year that you played Eddie Crumble in The Clapper. Ah, yes. Yes. Ah, the old, that old chestnut. Yep. Yeah. As well as Peter Reynolds in father figures. Uh-huh.

And Noah brewing. And I do until I don't. I did. I did. That would be funny if you do. If you did that movie and then everyone like gave up in the middle and was like, you know what, I don't anymore. I just walked off the movie and then everyone watched like a bare screen. I feel like the audience did that.

We're here. I have no idea what the movie is. But you were wonderful in it. So this is a weekly show or is it irregular? Is it regular? Yeah, it's in the ballpark of a weekly, I would say. It feels like it feels like we do a ton of them is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, but at the end of the year, do you have 52 in the bank, or do you...

30s, somewhere in the 30s. Yeah. So you take some breaks. Yeah. That's great. And I'll do, like, we just put up a clip show, which is really fun. Of your show or is someone else's? Duke's a Hazard episodes.

I love when they would slide across the hood of that car. Great and an audio medium. No, yeah, lots. It was our first clip show, and it was sort of like, yeah, let's do that. It's fun because there's so many great malls. The tricky thing on our show, though, is that is that a lot of the really funny or interesting moments that bubble up. You kind of have to know this. What you're talking about. Yeah. I mean, honestly, that's any, we do best ofs every year. Sure, sure. And just trying to figure out how much, how much do people need to hear of? Yeah, but nobody ever knows what you're talking about, Scott. That's a good point. Yeah, you've been confused this whole time. You're like pointing at other guests and doing a circle motion around your temple and pointing at me. I've just confused. Well, the podcast is called Snapchat. And we it's out right now. People can listen to it right now.

And from what I'm told, Pete Holmes is going to be on at some point. Mm-hmm. So that's a selling point. And any other TV shows, movies coming up in the, in the near future that, I mean, I know you're in babies. I know you're in Smudge the Blades. I know you're and she gets it from me. Yeah. These are, these are all these great indies that I think will be.

The stunt driver. Yeah. The stunt driver is a very cool movie. That's coming out soon. Soonish. This year. These will probably be, all of the movies you just mentioned will probably, hopefully be in film festivals this fall. So if you're in a or attending a film festival, make sure to vote it for the audience award.

There you go. There you go. The stunt driver, very cool, wild story. It's a true story. All about a Canadian stunt driver, is that right? Yeah. So, very literal title. They should have called it the Canadian stunt driver, but hey.

So the story, that's a crazy one because there was a documentary made about this guy, Ken Carter, who is the Canadian Evil Caneval back in the 70s. And this documentary is extensive. And the director, Michael Douse, who is also Canadian, got the rights to the documentary, but he also got access to all of the B-roll, all of the footage that the filmmakers had of the documentary. So what he did then was the documentary has Ken Carter performing all these incredible jumps and stunts as a stunt driver. You know, we don't do that anymore as a society. We don't celebrate people jumping school buses in cars the way we used to. I don't know. Maybe because like everyone thinks everything is fake that they see now. So what?

Yeah. And well, or I mean, if you if there's a positive way to spin it, it's that we've evolved past the sort of like. human carnage fascination. I doubt it. No, because MMA is now, is like more popular than ever. I think it's just once CGI happen, everyone's like,

well, you can make anything look like anything at this point. Well, Ken Carter really did jump a lot of things, a lot of in cars. And there's a documentary about him that's, that's incredible. And,

and so Michael Douse, the director of this movie, shot us. Oh, no. Jay Baruchel plays Ken Carter. And he really does look like him. And he's intercutting the footage from the documentary. So the actual stunts are in the, in the actual movie?

Like every stunt you see in our movie will be real. I mean, I guess that's better than Jay Barichel having to do about it. I mean, I, he's, he's a great actor. He's a great actor, but could he jump cars? Probably. I mean, look, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. But that's a while. I'm super excited.

I haven't seen that one yet. That's incredible. You play Dick Keller, of course. Yeah. Well, Ed Helms is here. Can you stick around, Ed, because we have to take a break. Oh, heck yeah. We have a very entertainment-focused show.

We have an actor-slash-casting director-slash-teacher here. Great. Yeah, so maybe we'll learn a little bit about the business. Bring it on. All right. Ed Helms is here. We're going to be right back with more, Ed. More Comedy Bang-Bang.

We'll be right back after this. Comedy Bang-Bang, bang. We're back. Ed Helms is here. Snafu is the podcast. now, has Greg Daniels returned a text message at all?

Sorry. Flowers, Scott, it's me. Oh. Sorry, Ed. I know this guy. You, has, has Greg Daniels return? Well, so I was in airplane mode because I'm a respect.

No, I'm not Greg Daniels. I'm your ex-step father. No, hi, Bob. Hold on. Yeah, hi, Bob. Is that true? Yeah. Your ex-step.

Bob was married to my mother for six months. We made love three times. I've never asked you about this. Was it every two months? Oh, I'm happy to go into deep detail. Three at the beginning or two at the beginning and once? What was the distribution? 1.5 and 1.5.

So you had full sex and one hand job at once? Well, it's point five. It's regional. It depends on who, you know. It's getting to second base, though, is it done? I don't do bases. I guess if you're, yeah, that would make a, That would be a logical way to do it. Yeah.

If there's four bases and second base would be half. In the Duke of family, we do it, but cricket style. Do you mean cricket the English game or the... Instead of a baseball metaphor, it's a cricket. Sex as a cricket metaphor. So what is a home, what is when you have sex? Tapstick. Tapstick?

Topstick. Topstick. And I don't, is that a cricket phrase? Is your family from England? No, we just, it was just a more useful metaphor. I see. Are you sure you're not? talking about croquet or cricket cricket because there's another uh that is confusing

you can get to thick stick but these aren't cricket terms are they there's big old thick bat and cricket but you're just making them cricket terms what they well i no i'm not making them up they're real and then you apply them you apply them retroactive to sex yes i don't know it sounds sounds like we're in a sticky wicket guys well we'll see about that hi bob it's uh bob duke Ed, you guys did the television show, the comedy bang bang TV show together. That's true. He sat on a couch together.

I've done live. I've been on stage with Bob Duka before. It's a, I'm very, very mixed feelings about Bob Duka. As do I. Look, I mean, he comes around. You're preaching to the choir, guys.

He comes around once a year, a lot like Santa Claus, but instead of presents. That's right. This year I invited myself. I manifested it. I put it in my calendar, and I said,

this is so. I mean, that's just putting something on your calendar. You weren't in writing. And yet here, it's happening now. Yeah, because you showed up. Right. I did the work. Wait, there's a difference between manifesting something and just doing it.

Yeah, exactly. It's like saying, I manifested this loaf of red. Well, no, you went to the grocery store and you bought the loaf of red. But you first have to manifest before you go. It manifests as you think it. And then you go and you do it. Yeah, but I mean, you can say, like, I manifest that I'm going to play. in the World Series this year.

But then you just... You're proving my point. Then you just show up in the locker room one day. You didn't manifest it. You broke into a locker room. What if you get to play in the World Series? I mean, has that ever happened before? That's something that...

That would be a snafu, wouldn't it? In Bob's defense. Presumably everyone who is playing in the World Series at any given year did manifest it. What if I do this? True. Yes. For this next World Series. Uh-huh.

What if I show up in an old-timey baseball costume? And then I run out and I play. I catch a fly ball. Do you think that they would, this is the question because, you know, you see this all the time in Major League baseball games.

People jump the stands. They run out. Usually they're streaking, they're naked. But what if you showed up in an actual baseball costume and you just pretended you were part of the team?

How long would it take for them to say like, oh, wait a minute, that guy isn't part of the team. I'm going to guess it would take maybe like from, like a streaker they know right away. Sure.

If you jumped out in a perfect replica of like a Dodgers uniform. Right. with like a glove and everything and ran just like kind of like casually jog to the outfield. And then and then the the real player got to the outfield and you guys had an exchange like, wait, what are you doing here? The spider band pointing at each other meme? My guess is that it would take about 10 seconds longer.

You'd have 10 seconds of grace. Yeah, I would buy you about 10 seconds before security kicked in. I have an even better one. What if you combine them and you're like a streaker, but you just go in it at, do they half time? You go into the locker. The seventh inning stretch, maybe. You just get naked with the players. I don't think in baseball.

And you wait for them to notice. I actually don't think in any sport the players are getting naked during halftime. I don't think like an NFL like, they're all like, you know what? Let me just get naked. You don't think they're just like, I feel gross. I'm at a feel. I think they're staying in their pads and everything. Yeah, yeah.

But also, well, but let's at the end of the game, they're showering, right? Sure. So, okay. Okay. So shower with them after the game and then go home. Yeah, that's, but that's with that. Here's a question, though, for real, is it, if, if you join the team while they're naked showering and you're naked, does it count as streaking at that point? That's a good question.

I think it's a good, it's still a good prank because you could just go in there by like, that was rough. Huh? Yeah, because streaking implies being in public naked, but that's kind of a shower in a major league baseball game is sort of a public act. Although it's not public in, in the sense of anyone could walk in. don't know. I don't know where I stand on this streaking. Yeah, it's a true. It's a tough one. Okay, Bob, well, it's been great to see you. Wait, right. No, I'm sorry. You ain't getting rid of me that easily. All right, Bob. What did you, what did you come here for? I have Ed Helms here, huge Hollywood star. This, this, this, this, this, this, you should care about this because I found

out something about my medical history. I mean, you were just my stepfather for six months when I was in my 30s. I don't think this is going to, listen, I loved you and your mother enough that it, it's It's biological at this point. Okay. All right. What did you find out? Well, the results of my 23 and Steve came back. That's the more religious 23 and me?

No, it's a genealogy thing where you spit into this guy Steve's mouth. And then he tells you your ancestry. What? Where is Steve? Where is at this point? I don't know. He's probably at the farmer's market. No, but where do you go to see him?

Does he come by the house or does he? Oh, yeah. You have to go. And why do you think he's at the farmer's market now? That's where I met him. So people aren't always, always at the place that you met them. How do you know? You know what I mean?

If I met someone at the farmer's market on like Friday at 2 p.m., I wouldn't like Monday at 9 p.m. go, that guy's probably at the farmer's markets. Then why do I get so scared if I see my teacher in the real world? All right. You made a good point. All right. So what did you find out with 20, three and Steve? Well, I earned some...

It's not good. It turns out that I'm mostly carbuncle. Carbuncle? Yes. Genetically? Genetically, you're carbuncle. Yes. And a carbuncle remind me that's like a barnacle? Like a witch's wart. A witch's wart? Like a big thick. Oh, a carbuncle. It's like a medical thing. Okay, so most of your body is carbuncle?

Yes. So it's like a growth on something else? Mm-hmm. Wait, are you, is, uh, are you predominantly a carbuncle on Bob Duka or is Bob Duka? It sounds to me like maybe you had a twin in the womb and you're the carbuncle on, on. It's like who's eating who here. You know what I mean? Yeah. Guys.

Wow. Why do you want to high five me after you say, who's eaten who? Put your hand down, Bob. Tell me, tell me what, what else you found out about. Well, there's some other. diseases that I have too. And this, this for you and your child, you know, you're at risk for these as well. Okay. What do you got? St. Vitus's Dance, Quincy, gripe, pepper tongue. Wait, gripe is a disease? Yes. You and you have it. Yes. Do you know they, that's a thing you can get at the pharmacy is gripe water.

Really? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Which, maybe that would cure your gripe. And contrary to what people think, it's not if you have a complaint about smart water. Right. Oh, boy. Carcinoma. Merkle cell carcinoma. Urkel cell carcinoma, aka, did I do rash? Anyway, but that's not what I hear. That was the shortest list you've ever. Those are the things. Wait, you have carcinoma, but. Merkel cell carcinoma. That's another type of carcinoma. And then Urkel and Motorcycle.

I do. Okay. Inside carcinoma. Okay. This is a lot of stuff, Bob. But that's not what I came here to talk about. Okay. What?

Why exactly? He's new findings has caused me to, to reinvigorate my health care team. You know, I have a whole plethora. We always want to reinvigorate our health care teams. It's true. It's true. You have to, you have to, you have to. If I don't do that once a year.

Yeah. You know. To reinvigorate your health care team. You mean like new people or just kind of like give them a high? five. Yeah, I'm not quite sure. New people. You have to always add new people.

Sure. You'll find out what your needs are, you know. And so I just wanted to read out a list of some of the amazing caregivers that are involved in my life because it takes a village. Believe it or not, it takes a whole team to keep this old bag of bones moving. Bob, you've been coming on the show now for 17 years. I do believe it. So you want to read this list here? May.

By all means, the floor is yours. Can you say it, not sarcastic? I don't think I can... Okay, that's fine. I don't think that my body will allow me to do that. The following are members of my health care team. Primary care physician, chiropractor, therapist, herbalist. Hold on now. You're just reading their jobs.

I thought that you were going to give them shoutouts. The specific people. No, no, these are the titles. Okay, all right, go ahead. Sorry. It's a you just your setup was like you want to I did think you were going to say names of of people well I'm sorry to keep you both on your toes and defy your expectations like if I were giving Scott a shout out I wouldn't say podcaster I live in a Lego world everybody is their title okay I apologize I don't mean to interrupt your flow go ahead start start again if you don't mind No, wherever you like, Bob, wherever you like. Carrepractor, therapist, herbalist, poop dula,

UFC dentist, catheter sniper, defibrillator caddy, phlebotomist, toilet daddy, porta-pottie, Crossing Guard, White Witch, And I don't mean that in a racial, I just mean a suburban woman who goes into pentagrams. Seeing eyes, amboni, yoga goat, Gen Z interpreter, AARP whisperer, Chewy candy, molar minor, extra thick nail podiatrist, real doll mechanic, skin tag arborist, rash scratcher.

Cist warden, waddle sander, belly button re-nutter, marijuana clown, underbed monster checker, large pill neck massager, tip froster, getting ready for summer, y'all. Scab moistener, stool tighteninger, toot loosener, helper monkey, help her, help her, or monkey assassin just in case hammertoe blacksmith pelvic mesh girdle grendel bundler say that again if you can pelvic mesh

pelvic mesh pelvic mesh pelvic mesh girdle grundle bundler pelvic mesh girdle grundler bundler and what's their name Dennis okay this is the dentist that you always talk about

Oh, no, not the dead dentist. Dead dentist. Okay, but you have a dead dentist as well? I do. That's a part of your team? Is a dead dentist? No, I have a UFC dentist. Oh, okay.

Which is, just to be clear, to get gym time, if you can make it past his front door, he gives you a free exam. Okay. How often have you made a front door? Oh, he beats the shit out of me. I haven't made it in that. Pickle, Brian bartender, Pachney Chaperone, lice spotter, insurer shaker colonoscopy gaffer

spit in my food tester testing to make sure there's no spit in my to make sure there's no to yeah wow and that's that's the extent of your team yeah are they are they all covered by insurance no

there's a very well it's a whole system of different insurances and and CVS double blinds yep Yeah. Yeah. And is it is, but everyone on that list is a different person or does like one person take on a few different roles?

All different people. All different people. So yeah, there's a lot of people at your house every day. Listen, it's absolutely. But you find, you find what you need. And then that's important. A lot of people think taking care of their health is just having a doctor. Uh-uh.

No. Yeah. This is preventative medicine. Right. Although a lot of it sounds like you should have prevented it before. Like who was it? The back knee, I can't remember the second word, but. I mean, it'd probably take me a while to find it.

You know, you can do just a control find. Or the, yeah, like the poop dula. Yeah. I mean, everybody poops. Sure, sure. But it sounds like you're having issues getting it out. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

Maybe if you could employ it like a fiber wrangler, then you might. not need the poop dula. I don't have Medicare. Yeah, right. That's true. Right. And you've always had issues with ingesting fiber. Hasn't that? I remember that during the time you were married to my mother.

I thought it meant to eat clothes. Right. Everybody got mad at me. Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, speaking about streaking, I was out of a full wardrobe one night. So this is, I would just take a little bite of your, of a thread and then you'd run away. and you were always just so busy working. Workaholic, always nos in your phone.

You didn't realize that you were naked after a little while. That's true. Where is 23 and Steve now? Right this second? Yeah, right this second. Yeah, do you ever find my location finder on him at all? It's just a string. Yeah, I wonder, you have strings tied onto all of your fingers right now.

I'm going to guess by this tension. Pulling on the string. a little bit. This is like watching someone sail a ship back during, you know, ship sailing times. Sorry, I can't be more specific than that in my reference. I think he's at the jack in the box by the old amoeba. Oh, yeah. The one they tore down?

What's he doing there? They tore down that jack in the box? Oh, yes, they did. Amoeba is gone and the jack in the box. Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. So sorry to break this news to you, Bob. He's probably dead.

You think 23 and Steve is dead? When they tore down the jacket in the box, they killed him. Oh, wow. Wow. This is bad, but look, Bob, you have a lot going on with you. So it's at least you're out there trying to do something about your health because I've been concerned about you all these years. Why? Well, I mean, just every time you come by, you have, usually you have a list of all of your new ailments that you're saying.

At least this time you have the people who are there. I'm taking the positive steps. Yes. But you know, it's funny. If you're concerned about me, and I don't want you to be, maybe I should move in here so you can keep a closer eye on me. Oh, you know who I hear has a great place with a lot of extra room is Ed, actually. Like I was hearing.

You were talking during the break about your place. Just going to tie a string onto your ankle. Oh, wait a second. I didn't. That's pure fiction. You were just kind of like saying how much square footage you had and how much of it was kind of empty all day and so I I we I we weren't talking about that that's a total fiction you're making that up however I do have a lot of spare room but um my and I'm I'm just gonna my wife has a

strict no carbuncle policy in our house and that's that's not I would I would love to have I can't say I believe I should have said this before my carbuncles are contagious oh oh oh you've been rubbing up against both of us this entire time Yeah, I thought that, I thought that was odd behavior. Sure, but I look, I long and yearn for human connections. Sure. I wasn't going to say anything about it. But now that I know you're infectious.

It's, um, so we're going to get carbuncles? Most likely, yes. You don't look like a carbuncle to me. Thank you. But a lot of people think I'm a carbuncle with googly eyes. Not true. I'm a human person. You smell a little bit like what I would think a carbuncle might smell like.

Oh, just sort of like a rotten. Yeah. Yeah, you've been rubbing air fresheners all over your body this entire time as well. That's true. Where have you gotten all of those? From your own car? No, no, no, no. From the car wash garbage can.

Oh, okay, yeah. You can find a lot of good stuff there. Yeah. Oh, really good stuff. Yeah. Those old steering wheel cover things. Sure. I don't know how many times I've gotten to car wash.

I say, you know, I'm just going to throw away my whole. steering wheel cover. My steering wheel cozy and get a new one. Yeah, and you're like, it's been so long just my car smelled like candy chemicals. I'm going to get one of these air fresheners. Yeah. I mean, so you smell sort of disgusting in that car wash kind of way. Right. I probably also smell like those chairs, the massage chairs. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I get a lot of extra the food and stuff that people, you know,

It's easy to lose something when you're sitting in one of those. There's a lot of crumbs. There's a lot of crumbs. Yeah. Enough if you put them together. That's a full meal for a guy like you. You know, and I was eavesdropping earlier. You were talking about luck.

And I were fully outside. We heard you open the door. No. And there was a study that lucky people think that they're lucky. Like they just assume that they're lucky. They'll do things like, like they'll say that they have a, like a cycle, a test coming up. They don't know it's about luck. And the people who don't think that they're lucky, and they put out like a $20 bill on the ground.

People who don't think they're lucky don't notice the $20 bill. But the people who think they're lucky notice the $20 bill. If you think you're lucky, you're lucky. Oh, who are these scientists putting on $20 bills on the ground? Because I want to follow one of them around. Oh, I don't know. It's probably big. That's a good kind of, I mean, we're talking about Ponzi in his schemes.

That's a good scheme. Like, find a scientist who's doing a study where he puts $20 bills on the ground and then just follow him around and pick him up. That seems like an elaborate scam that wouldn't take a long time to. It's a scheme. It's not a scam. Oh. Is there a difference? But if you do that and you wind up picking up like a lot of $20 bills by Bob's description, you're lucky.

That's true. That makes you a very lucky person. The sciences would probably get mad at you after three. I'm sorry. You're like, what are you mad at? I'm validating your study. I'm very lucky. And then you'd have what?

I'm mad scientist. That's a good point. Is that out where they come from? Yep. They're just a little irritated. Sure. Because you messed up there. And he would say, I'm unlucky.

I think there's been a big misconception. People think that I'm insane. I just was annoyed about parking. Well, Bob, this is all. fascinating stuff. I'm glad you're taking care of yourself. I hope that 2026 turns out better for you and we love it when you drop

by. I usually don't say this to you, Bob, but can you stick around? Come on. Don't make me back, Bob. All right. You broke it. Come on. Fine. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we do have an actor slash casting director slash teacher. This is very exciting.

We're going to be right back with more Bob Dukkah. More Ed Helms. We'll be right back with more. Comedy Bang Bang after this. Comedy Bang Bang. Ed Helms is here. Ed, I gotta know. Take it off airplane mode. As Greg Daniels returned the text quite yet.

Greg has replied. Greg has replied. This is exciting stuff. What do we got? He wrote, I am not going to take that beef up with hacks, unless hacks takes on beef. Which leads me to believe that this must have been a question posed on the show.

hacks or something? I don't I don't know what He's making additional show reference Yeah this I mean Maybe he thinks that hacks and beef are the same kind of maybe he thinks their spin-offs of each other Have you ever had hacks and beef Bob? It's delicious Look I mean this is why he's Greg Daniels he's on another level Another level exactly so

All right well that's The great Greg Daniels has spoken He has fantastic well give him my best of course Of course never met Well Bob Duka is also here Bob, what's been going on since during the break that you were fielding phone calls and a lot of stuff going on with you. What's happening? Well, yeah, I'm going, I'm starting a business. Oh, you are? Yes. I mean, everyone has a great idea. Some people are able to capitalize it. Some people are not. Yes. I'm, I'm, I got a job as a vape tester. And what how does, I mean, why do vapes need testing?

You got to make sure they work. Okay. You got to make sure. Do you test them as like that you're testing the technology of the product or you test the product on, on its way out the door? In other words, like if I go and buy a vape pen, can I have you tested it? Yeah. Are you at the door testing it as I leave? Yeah.

Yeah. I'm a doorway. I'm a doorway vape tester. Because before you hit that parking lot, you want to make sure. You don't want to look like a jerk. You don't want to get all the way in your car. Yeah. Loaded up.

I'm presuming that these things get loaded. I don't know. With e-juice. And suddenly it's not working. So you're there at the door. Mm-hmm. Okay. How's that going for you?

I don't feel good. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean, you're taking hundreds of hits on bait pins. I smell like sour apple and cotton candy all the time, you know. How are your teeth? My teeth.

Yeah. I mean, doing hundreds. I mean, they're terrible. That has nothing. you do with the baby. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah. Good, good. How about your lungs? Your, you know. My lungs? Well, very bad, Scott. What about your pussy, your neck, your crack? I may have said those out of order. Well, I got a tip-top pussy and an A1 crack. Okay. Well, that's all we need to know about. All right. Well, we need to get to our next guest. Okay. She's an actor slash casting director

slash teacher. Please welcome to the show, Paulina. Hi, Paulina. Hello, hi. Hi. I am a casting director and voice actor. Uh-huh. Yes. And teacher as well. And teacher, yes. I have an acting studio where I teach acting. Okay, great. So you're a voice actor. I'm sorry, I should have been more specific, a voice actor. Oh, well, acting is voice acting, Scott, right? Sure, but- But what is acting? Right, Ed, you're an actor, right? Right? I love acting. But what is acting? Well, you're the teacher. Right? Right. But I'm asking you guys, what is? Wow. This is a... Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, it's Halloween. It's Halloween. Halloween.

I don't know that acting is Halloween necessarily. You're not really a wolf? Sure. But what if you're playing, what if Scott Ackerman was playing a podcaster, right? Then he's playing something that is himself, right? Sure. Right. Right.

It wouldn't be acting that, or it wouldn't be pretending then, right? Right. So if you're saying, right. saying if I get a role in a movie playing a podcaster, which honestly, I'm available. I am offer only, but I'm available. Tech avail. You think that I would not be pretending that I would actually be playing something close to myself so that would not be acting.

Right. So what is acting? It would be acting because you're in the movie, but it is not, then acting is not pretending, right? Saying lies that someone else wrote? But what if you're playing a character who is completely silent or quiet, like a dog or a cat. Okay, maybe... This is a quite a

Socratic journey we're on here. Right. Right. So what is acting? What is? Being told what to do and you trying to replicate that? Wrong. No. No, it is not being told what to do. Acting comes from within, right? I don't know. Okay, sure.

So it's when you It's kind of weird to act something that comes from within and then the director... Oh, I know. I know. Lying. Lying. We're not telling the truth. Lying.

What about the example we just posed, where if you're playing something close to yourself, then you're not lying, right? Ed, what do you got? Okay, so, like, act. I think of acting. When I walk onto a set, I get a script, and I'm thinking, I need to. So you don't get the script until you walk onto the set? Oh, no, no, I have already had.

Yeah, that's a good point, Scott. Thank you. I've had the script. I've internalized it, but then I get sides when I get onto this. And where do you hide them? Are you talking about, are you talking about, are you talking about, They're almost always... Mazzarella sticks.

Are you talking about? No, no, no. Sides are the little tiny script pages that you get for that day's work. And it's... They're always in your back pocket. They're always in your back pocket. And I...

You can almost always see them in actress pockets in movies and TV. So, but what I'm trying to get at is I'm trying to think like my... So I walk onto the set and what am I thinking? I'm thinking I'm going to portray someone's... A narrative that has been provided. it to me.

Wrong. Oh, gosh, that was a good try. I know, right. Apparently wrong? Acting is playing it real, right? Okay. That's something I do a lot at my studio.

I have vocabulary that I've made up and I want people to guess it correctly, right? What about Jim Carrey, though? Is he playing it real? He's playing it real. Because Jim Carrey, what role are you thinking? The mask. The mask. And explain that movie.

Okay, so that... There's an... Ancient is it ancient? Yeah, I think there's an ancient mass. Is it Egyptian? It's like the mask of Odin or something. Oh, yeah, it's Norse. And I think it's of Norse origin and he puts it on.

And then he can, he becomes something like crazy. He can do like googly eyes and he can, his tongue can unfurl when he sees a good looking woman. And he turns green, which I don't think is tethered to reality. So I know. This is how I'm challenging your definition. How could a mask turn your entire body green? Sure. And that is exactly the actor's journey to take something like that and make

it what? What did you say? Playing it real. Playing it real. Yes. What does playing it real mean? This is terminology you've made up? It's a terminology that we teach at the studio about acting and making it real and doing

the work to get there. Playing it real. The work. The work. Because no matter what you are supposed to, you get a script and oh gosh, I have this mask that turns my face green, you have to play it real. You have to make that real. Okay.

I have a question. Yes. Is this real? This is real. I mean, this is a real conversation that we're having with real professionals. But how do I know you're not a podcaster pretending to be a podcaster? How do I know that he's not somebody else that he's not? I don't know if he's being sincere.

You and I have met several times. Right, but she's saying. She's saying right. Oh, but she's agreeing with you, I think. Right. Right. But I thought she was saying right as a question. I don't know.

Right. Right? She keeps saying, right? Right. We don't know, right? That's the thing is I'm not getting, I'm way less clear this far into the conversation about what acting is. Wrong. No, you're more clear. We've learned, right? We've learned that acting is what? Playing, playing, playing, playing it, playing it. Doing the work. Doing the work, got to do the real.

To play real. Right. And that's your process? That's my process. Doing the work to play real. Yes. Yes. I mean, I am a casting. director and I you know when I was doing that type of work for video games uh casting video games voice acting that's mainly what you cast mainly video games yes right so it's like the cut scenes where people are like hey we got a real red dead redemption going on no not just the cut scenes no those are old video games now in these video games we have uh we have beautiful actors oh beautiful actors delivering beautiful lines as orcs as you walk around the world or elves perhaps

Each, the land is populated with voice actors that will talk to your character. Okay. So this is like you see a merchant or something. Right. We've had a merchant on the show before from a video game. And they come up to you and they go like, hey, I got all this kind of stuff for. Right. Yeah.

You want to buy some of this? Right. That's the example of what it would sound like if someone had not done the work. Oh. Wait, you'd think that that read I just gave you was false somehow? Right. What could I do to improve it? Well, what are your methods?

I still don't know what your methods are. Right. I'm glad you've asked. The work. I mean, it starts with the work. Starts with the work. Tell me something that scares you. Wait, man.

Sometimes, what is it something that scares? Oh, I'm very scared of heights. Wrong. No. Do heights have teeth? Do heights chase? Do Heights chase you around and have teeth? Yeah, that's a good question, Ed.

They don't. They don't have those things. Right. But they can kill you. I got something. I'm scared of a vampire who dies because like a vampire hunter kills them and then they become a vampire ghost. Wrong.

No. They have teeth. No. Do they... And they chase you around. And they chase you around. Do they have fur? Do they seem cute and cuddly at first and then you go up to them and then suddenly there's a

pack of them swarming you. Wait, so the only thing to be afraid of is, are, is werewolves and coyotes? No, no. Do they seem cute and cuddly at first? And then suddenly they start petting it and then it's chasing you down Los Felas Boulevard. Are these the gremlins? No, wrong, no. No, it sounds like you're describing coyotes. Right. So coyotes. No, wrong. So what? So something coyote lives. Dogs, right. Dogs are scary. They will kill. you. Not all dogs. Most dogs, not so. I was on Los Felist Boulevard petting a dog. Okay. And I got chased down the street by that more dogs kept coming up to each other and starting to chase me down the street until I had to hide in an ASOP. So you're, first of all, I don't know what that is,

but you're, it's a soap store. Oh, right? Oh, right. Why don't they call it soap? Yeah, that's right. Also, I always thought it was ESOP. I, you know, yeah, I don't really know. But the point is, you're clearly scared of dogs, but you asked us what we're scared of. Right. So are you not projecting your fear of dogs onto us? I am trying to get you guys to tap into places that you haven't tapped into before, right? These are the primal fears.

The primal fears, right. Right, okay. For example, let's say you were going to play in, let's say, an orc, right? By the way, you're very focused on orcs and elves. Is that the only type of video game that? Yeah, Bob wants to know if they're real. They're real? It depends on how you play them, right?

Right, I guess. But why don't you give, like, the three of us, an acting exercise, and you can see how we play it, you know? An acting exercise? Yeah, you know, I would love to do a scene with these two. Me too. Okay, great. All right. Let's say, you are an elf and you are a merchant and you are an ork, right?

Right? Let's see how you play that scene. Sure. Well, who's who again? I'm the elf. I'm the merchant. I guess I'm the orc. Okay. Right.

All right. Get your apples. Get your old-timey apples right here. Who wants an apple? Hi, how much of your apples? Yeah. Hey. You're huge and terrifying.

Well, I'm just a big cuddly bear underneath at all. Okay, so you're not trying to kill me? I'm not trying to kill me. I'm not trying to kill you? All right. You think I'm trying to kill you? All right. It costs four.

Or gold nuggets for an apple. For one apple? One apple. You're fucking out of it. They're very rare. You're out of your fucking mind. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, break it up. Come on, guys.

What's going on here? Oh. That, you're cute. Oh, thanks. Can I have an apple? Man. Wait, you just came over to say break it up just so you could cut the line? Oh, you guys started to get into a little kerfuffle.

Well, so what? That doesn't mean that you're next. Well, here's the problem. We're haggling. Ork. Yeah. Oh. Do you have a name?

Yeah. I don't call you. Names are overrated. Just, well, I just don't know what your name is. Steve. Steve.

Okay, Steve and L. Steve Lamont. Okay. Steve Lamont. Oh, my God. Wait. Are you the Steve Lamont that's been leaving me notes? I mean.

Up, up. Okay, break it up. Break it up. Let me just have two apples. He's been complaining about my cart placement. I think those, I think those notes just say Steve L, by the way. Okay.

Well, then you would, you, and just knowing that makes it clear, you are, it's the same Steve. Oh, shit. He's been complaining to the HOA about my apple cart placement, and now I know who it is. Wait, Bob, you want to cut? And now I'm going to definitely sell my, the one apple. This is my head's a professionally staying in the scene. Bob, what did you want to say? Can I do a stunt?

If I got in, if this audition crossed my desk, I would throw it directly in. into the garbage. Well, why didn't you give us any fucking direction? You didn't do the work. This is what happens. We have lost all, all ability to do the work. All empathy. All empathy. I named the apples. I named myself. Yeah, I named

him. I gave him a last name. This is what happens. Oh, yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. I get hundreds of auditions. I get hundreds of auditions like this a day. They cross my desk. I throw him right in the garbage. It was the pandemic. We had no empathy for each other. No

empathy whatsoever. Not any of us have mentioned the pandemic since we've been here. Have any of you mentioned the pandemic? We're all just going around acting like this didn't happen, that it didn't happen, that we didn't go through this. And I would have to throw all these in the garbage. All right, Pauline, I'm Paulina, Paulia. I'm sorry, we didn't mention the pandemic. We didn't. She was acting. Wait, were you? I don't think so. Was that real? Was playing it real? Ooh. But that was very real. That was very real. Okay. I look, I'm sorry we didn't mention the pandemic. I'm sorry we didn't mention how we're all afraid of dogs. We have no empathy for each other. Okay. Do you want us to try it again? It feels like we have work to do. We have, okay,

what let's get into character a little bit, right? All right. What is an or by the way? That's exactly. Right. Does it fly? No. It's like a big troll or what is it? No, a troll. No, a troll is what little girls play with, uh, that they get in McDonald's happy meals. They sound like Justin Timberlake. Okay. Yeah. Do you know what an org? Anyone know what an or? I thought it was just a big, scary guy that kind of like... Like an ogre. It's a planet. It's a planet.

What makes an orc? You've been watching too much morgue in movies. Oh yeah, you're right. Morque is for more. Nanu, nanu. They are bloodthirsty, right? Orcs are? This is good info.

Right. Well, you have to do the work. I don't know why you jumped into... I mean, you just said I was an orc. Right. I don't know what one is. All right, let's try it again. I'm a bloodthirsty orc.

They are bloodthirsty monsters that will kill you. All right. Get your apples right over here. Do you have any blood? I'm thirsty. Oh, I got that's out. Oh, look a dog! Oh, I haven't been this scared since the pandemic.

Good, good. Yes, right. Right. I'm nailing this. All he did was mention the pandemic and pretend like he's scared of dogs and that's how. Gentlemen, please don't fight. Gentlemen, please don't fight. Gentlemen, please don't fight.

Right. Right. He's just singing and that gets him. You are so resistant. Oh my gosh. All right. Help me. Break down those barriers, man.

Be vulnerable. I don't get it. I was just so vulnerable. Give me one more. You were vulnerable. I was vulnerable. I admitted that I had a hard time in the pandemic. Yeah.

You did. You're right. Any other strange pecky pillows? Yeah. What's another thing that you're scared of? Right. Well, it's not about me, right? Right.

I'm just the teacher. Right. Sure. But what are you scared? What? What? What? Oh, I know.

One of those RFK Jr. Bone worms. Brain worms. Right. Does he have bone worms and brain worms? I would think. There's smoke. There's fire.

Yeah, that's true. You've got a brain worm in his bones. Think seriously. If I'm an acting teacher and I'm here right now, what is something that might scare me? Failure? No. If you're on comedy banging, that's one thing usually, my guess, are thinking about that. Oh.

like if Dave Grohl walked in and did a like a guitar solo that might scary close oh a light falling on your head no oh why don't you just tell us instead of making us guess it because I feel like this is going to be very knives right no murder not no murder forgetting your lines no getting just tell us warmer a zombie no colder colder oh bobcats mountain lions close but no bobcats forgetting their lines working with kids and children Children. Don't do it. Bobcat Colthwaid. Being in a movie with Bobcat Colthwaid. Wrong, right? Shit. Wrong.

That felt wrong, right? Right. Just tell us. No. Oh, like a baby carriage getting pushed out into traffic. That's correct. With a speeding car. It is?

That's right. I got it. Okay, let's do anything. Can we do the scene again? Right. Okay. Get your apples. I got your apples right over here.

Oh my God. There's a baby carriage. Ah! Oh my God. That's who, it's, don't push it into traffic. Where's the pandemic? We forgot This is dog

Health inspector Okay Listen we got Something about you We got to reevaluate your A rating Notice there's a bunch of Slurred poop around here Well sure because we have the pandemic

Okay Okay But listen And seen What did you think of that? That felt incredible I want you all to take a second And be so proud of yourselves

For going there I got to take two seconds Vulnerable. Yeah. Being vulnerable like that. Ed, I really, I really felt at that time. I feel like you got up, it got to a new level. Yeah.

I mean, that, that was really good work. Thanks. We don't talk about it. We don't talk about what? The pandemic, right? We do. Honestly, it feels like it comes up a lot. Yeah, it does come up.

Right? But not enough, right? No. Because we hadn't mentioned it since I sat down. It's like we forgot what we went through. When did you first move to L.A.? Right. Can I ask, was it March of 2020?

No, wrong, no. When was it? Colder. Colder than what? I haven't taken a stab before that. Let's see, well, what other dates could I have moved here? February of 2020. No.

Colder. Okay, yeah, you got to give me a colder or warmer. I don't know, June of 2020? Closer. Did you get COVID? Did I get COVID? Well, let's find out. I am an acting teacher, and I came here and sat down with you guys to do.

the work, do we think that I got COVID? Yeah, quite honestly, I feel like you're experiencing long COVID right now. Right. Right. Right. Yeah, the right, the way you say right is very confusing. Right. Because sometimes it feels like an affirmation and sometimes it feels like a chastisization.

Yeah, like an accusation. Right. See, I think that would be very a good asset as an acting teacher because I'm not in the profession, but I feel like I'm confused and in a. fear and I want your approval and I would just keep kicking classes with you as long as it took until I got a little bit of a nod. Now that is interesting. Now, why don't we dig deeper on that? What is something? How much money does he have? That's one question you need to ask Bob because he's, he has really bad credit. I'm auditing. I'm auditing class. Yeah. You have a negative 8,000 credit score,

I think. And he has so many bills. And he doesn't have a lot of just, you know, walking around money to take your classes. I'm so sorry. think he would be willing to put down a payment even yet. Do you take Dave and Buster's tickets? No. But I take something close. What would, what is something that I would take instead of money for my class, right? I guess odd jobs?

No. No. Oh, I know this. Oh, maybe you could hook her up with 23 and Steve. 23 and Steve? Wrong. Spit in my mouth. I'll bring it over to him.

I will do that, but it's not the answer to the question. Wait, please make us stop guessing. We're running out of time on this segment. What is it? I would also take having connections that would put me in a voice acting booth. Oh, yeah. Oh, but that's your job. I mean, right?

Yeah. Right. I mean, you know, Ed here, he has some upcoming voice work, I know. He just did Agent Elvis, which is a show. You played Robert Goulet. That's true. And don't you have some animated movies coming out or something like that? Not nothing new.

You were in Big Mouth. Yeah. I mean, I've done a lot of animation over the years. Yeah, but you've decided to stop doing that? No. We need to put out a... This is for all the casting directors out there. Ed Helms is no longer doing voice work.

I'm marking that down. No, no, no. I'm marking that down. I love doing this work. You love it, but are you doing the work for it? That's the thing is I'm not sure I'm doing the work. You got to make sure your next anime character is scared of dogs. Constantly references the pandemic.

Like, obsessed with the pandemic. And what was the third thing? Oh, yeah, it is. He's baby strollers. Right. I was scared of baby strollers being pushed into traffic. Right. And as long as you do those things and give Paulina a job.

Yes. Yeah. That's doing the work. Yeah, I guess that's the work. That's the work. Wow. That's because I feel like I worked with someone that came out of your studio. And they really, they wouldn't do the lines.

They wouldn't do. No, is that what you suggest? They just were screaming about the pandemic. Right. Right. And didn't that feel real and magnetic? Hmm. Didn't you feel seen because we don't talk about it enough, right?

Yeah, I feel like it comes up a lot. But how was it working with that person? It was off-putting. It was tough to do your lines. Yeah, it really, it really kind of ground the production to a halt. Right. Had to ask them to leave. We recast the part.

Yeah. Right. Oh, really? Are you still looking? Yeah. No. Oh. No, that, yeah.

No. All right. never mind I saw your work today Scott It was Hey I did really good on that one Here's the thing You definitely did the work

But I did not buy you as an ork I know I didn't even know what it was But what's going on I think I got another ailment Oh no what's happening Bob what do you have I've caught the acting bug Oh no

May I take your class Remember how I was the health inspector That just came to me I really feel like I've got a knack for this All right. Well, I'm willing to pay for five years of classes for Bob. Right? Just so he doesn't hang around here. Right. It gets stuck in your head, right? Once you start doing it, you can't quite stop, right? It's a little catchy, right? That's what I'm saying, right?

You know, sometimes you, that was you adopting what we call character. That's something that Bob will learn in one of our classes. Where you take something that's not quite what you have, right? Right. I guess I didn't quite understand that. But here, I'm willing to write you just to, you just, Maybe I'll just make this out to cash. Cash? Yeah, is that, does that work? I'll just leave it blank, the amount. Oh, great, right.

Just fill it out later on your way to the bank. Okay, thank you so much. Okay, yeah. Yeah, right. Right. Yeah. All right. Well, we are running out of time, guys.

We only have time for one final feature on the show. That is, of course, a little something called plugs. Yeah. If I had a plug bag, well, I'd put all kinds of stuff in you know. But I don't have a plug bag. So I guess I'll listen to CBB. Okay. And if I listen to CBB, well, let me tell you about it.

You ready? Let's go. When I get the lizard, lady, I wish I could. Ah! Oh! Oh, that was nice. That was CBB gives me medical problems by Fatty Maddy Needs to Eat. Thank you so much Fatty Maddie Needs to Eat.

If you have a plugs theme, head over to CBBWorld.com slash plugs, and you can upload everything over there, as well as find the stems for our remixes. Now, Ed, you are a professional musician. You were a banjoist. What did you think of that plug theme? I dug that a lot. All right, very nice. I thought it had good licks.

Tell me about your plugs. What do you got here? What's going on? I have all natural hair. Is that true, really? Yep. No plugs going on here. You seem to have the Joel McHale kind of thing going on for you.

No, really the only thing I'm plugging right now is Snaffoo. That's great. I do have some movies kind of in the hopper, but... Snafoo, the definitive guide to history's greatest screw-ups. There you go. That's your book. It is a wrote about it too. That is my book and my podcast.

Yeah, and people can buy the book still, right? Yeah, absolutely. And it's a wonderful, charming, delightful, and hilarious and informative book. It will make you a killer at dinner parties. Does anyone go to dinner parties anymore? I would love to be invited to one of your dinner parties. That's so nice of you. Thank you so much.

All right. Bob Duca, what are you plugging here? Well, I'm going to get beat up by junior high kids for charity this weekend. Which charity is it? They didn't tell me. They just told me it was for a good cost. You gave you a time and a place? Mm-hmm.

Okay, great. Yeah. And also, are you inviting us to that? Are you plugging it for? Consider it plugged. Okay. So anyone can come by. You'll take all comments.

Yes. Yes. They need all the money they can get for this good cost. My friend Seth Morris has a podcast on this very network called College Town. He also does a monthly show with his improv group called Dinosaur at Largo. It's monthly to check it on the internet. Okay, very good. Now, Paulina, what do you want to plug?

Obviously, your acting classes. Right. Anything else, though? It is by recommendation only. So get yourself a recommendation and then you can come. Okay, great. Anything else you want to plug? Yes, these two girls, they are.

improvisers who have done the work. They have an improv podcast called Onan Isabella do improv. And at least one time an episode, they mention the pandemic. Okay, good. I love this podcast. And we're talking about the COVID pandemic, right? Right. Okay. I don't know whether she was agreeing. Well, that's great. Now, what do I want to plug? Hey, we're out there on tour right now. You can come see us live, Comedy Bang, Bang Live. Paul F. Tompkins, myself and the Comedy Bang Bang All-Stars out there doing a live. improvised podcast for you. Check the dates over at CBBworld.com slash tour. Tickets are still available. This tour is going on through September, so check it out. And while you're over there at CBB World,

check out all the shows we have. We have the complete archive of Comedy Bang Bang, all ad-free. We have every live episode we've ever done. We have other shows like Collegstown was mentioned. We also have CBB Presents, where people from this show have their own shows. We have Scott hasn't seen where I watch movies,

along with Sprague the Whisper, There's so much going on over there. All right, let's close up the old plug bag. All right, opening the malice, parentheses, kiss sweetchats, ass, and parentheses by Barnacle Joe. Thank you so much to Barnacle Joe. And speaking of thank you, Ed, thank you so much for returning two-timers club. Are we going to make it three, do you think? Yeah, let's do it.

Yeah. When do you think that's another 14 years? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Wait, was it? Did you find the episode? It was 2014. It was 12 years ago. Wow. Yeah. Let's make it quicker than that next time. Sure. Let's make it a week. Come on. See you next week. Okay, take it easy. All right. I'm due Thursday. And Paulina, obviously, thank you so much to you. And Bob, you're going to be taking class from Paulina. That's right. How many a week? You have to do five classes a week to really make progress and two audits. Well, hey, all I can say is get that security badge ready. because I'm going to do the work.

I like to hear it, right? Thank you. Did you say you live to hear it? Right. I love to hear it, right? And do you, I mean, is there anything he can be working on right now before the first class? Any, like, exercise that you ask your students to do before they come to class? I think you should get chased by a pack of wild dogs to really tap into what makes things scary.

Oh, I don't know. I've got to take all this raw meat my pockets over to the... He's a natural Wow, he says, boy, I expect to see you on the silver screen this year, Bob. You're lucky if you think you're lucky. All right, we'll see you next time. Thanks, bye.