Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - JOSH GAD — on a fraught father-son relationship and why “Frozen” freaks out his kids

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

The voice of Olaf in “Frozen” and Elder Arnold Cunningham in “Book of Mormon” ... Josh Gad joins the show. Over a salmon citrus salad, Josh tells me about finding out about his father’s secret family, why working in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” sent him home in tears, and we get a little tease for what’s next in the world of “Frozen.”  This episode was recorded at Sirena at The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hi, it's Jesse. Today on the show, you know him as Olaf in Frozen, and for his notorious run in Book of Mormon and his upcoming memoir, In Gad We Trust, it's Josh Gad. Keep doing the Barbara Walters thing. I like it. When I ask you questions. I want you to make me cry. This is Dinners on Me and I'm your host Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Okay so many people have heard me say this before but it bears repeating

theater has always been my first love. I don't want to sound pretentious but it really has. I love it so much. In my early 20s, it's all I did. In fact, it was my role in the original cast of the 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, in which I played Leaf Coney Bear, that paved my way to my first television job in Los Angeles. I have so many incredible memories

from this time in my life. Spelling Bee was very well received when it moved to Broadway, and it was the first time I felt what being at a hit really feels like. I've remained incredibly close with the entire company of that show, and that includes my guest today, Josh Gad. Now, Josh was actually one of the first replacement cast members that we welcomed in.

He replaced Dan Fogler, who won a Tony Award for creating the role of William Barfy in Spelling Bee. Josh has a very unique perspective of coming into the already close-knit cast of Spelling Bee, and I was very eager to get into that with him. Now, that musical was also a pivotal point in his career as well.

It was his Broadway debut, and it opened doors for him on television and film and of course a breakout role that he got to create this time in a new musical that would make him a huge star, The Book of Mormon. Josh was one of my first friends in Los Angeles when I finally moved here permanently. I even got to go to his wedding when some people dropped out last minute. Listen, I will always take a last minute invite to a wedding. He's remained a dear friend over the past 20 years, and I was so excited to finally

get him on this podcast. Hi buddy. Look at this. Oh! What a great way to... Second Earthquake of the day! This is your first time doing this, right? Yeah, right?

I brought Josh to Serena, a restaurant at the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica. Now, if you've driven along Santa Monica's Ocean Avenue, you can't miss the hotel. With its aqua facade and gold trim, it could easily be a backdrop for a Wes Anderson movie. It's nearly 100 years old and was once a beloved hangout place

for Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe. Last year, it was reopened under new management which did a beautiful restoration and has since garnered accolades from Condé Nast Traveler and the Michelin Key program. Serena is its signature restaurant and I was happy to nab a booth on its front patio overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was the perfect serene setup to coax my friend Josh to share his deepest, darkest secrets. Okay, let's get to the conversation. Now Josh, we were supposed to do this earlier, doing it a few days ago.

But I'm a baby. Well, no, I understood. It was 98 degrees and we had booked an outdoor restaurant and we're in a crazy heat wave in LA and I just hope that this is okay for you today. This is beautiful. We have your black coffee. We have a black coffee. We have a breeze. Are we recording this thing now? Is this live? Yeah. Is it our podcast all live? Yeah, it's live. It's being... So it's like CNN? It's live in Times Square as we speak. Really? Yeah. So you guys have like one of those like...

Right, we have Jumbotron in Times Square. Whoa. Yeah, it's big. You've done well for yourself with that. It's a big deal. Modern family money. People gather in Times Square every time I do this. This is a lot of stress.

This is a lot of stress. Basically TRL Live. Oh God. Yeah. I would have worn something nicer than New Balances today. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Balance's today. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh Jesse, you make my heart soar. It's so good to see you. It's so good to see you too.

Are you hungry? Not really. Really? But I'm gonna do it. Like I didn't eat today knowing we were gonna do this. But I'm not a breakfast person. I'm more of like that. No, that's not true.

You said on Armchair Expert, now you gotta get your podcast straight. You said on Armchair Expert it was your favorite meal get your podcast straight. You said on Armchair Expert, it was your favorite meal of the day. It was, that was true at the time. You know what's changed? You know what's changed? I now do intermittent fasting.

Okay. So I've trained myself to suppress my hunger in the morning, but then I'm voracious. My dressing roommate in Take Me Out, Ken Marks, he was doing intermittent fasting, but every night at intermission, he would have a little like mason jar full of wine and like would chomp on nuts.

But by the way. At like 8.55, because at nine it was like cut off. If I were any character in that show other than you, I would be on the same diet every day. Right, exactly, yeah. That is the bravest show to ever sign up for that I've ever seen. Lot, yeah, lot of nudity.

You were so unbelievable in that show. You were ridiculous. Thank you. And I know you're stage acumen. We've done it together. But this was like, I know. I was thinking about that today. I was like, oh my God, how many years ago was that?

Well, I think spelling bee is about. I joined 05, I was like, oh my God. How many years ago was that? Well, I think Spelling Bee is about. I joined O5, I think. Yeah, probably. It's almost the 20 year anniversary of Spelling Bee. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. And that's when we first met. I think overall that was a good experience for you, right?

I mean, it was your Broadway debut. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. You know, I felt very much like an imposter, right? Like I was coming in, the brilliant Dan Fogler left behind such an unbelievably large set of shoes to fill. Right, he did win a Tony for it. He won a Tony, and I felt at least at first like I was the outsider coming into a fraternity.

Does that make sense? Like it's very hard being a replacement. It's very hard. You don't necessarily feel welcome at first. You feel like everybody's kind of like, oh, I miss my friend, rightfully so. And I've been on the other side of it and I get it. And I didn't know the level of expectations

coming into that role, and it was a very rude awakening getting in. Then it became an incredible experience. Right, once you could kind of relax into it and make it your own. Once I relaxed into it, you know, James Lapine, Once I relax into it, you know, James LaPine, our director, and the insanely talented writer of some of the greatest musicals of all time. Sunday in the Park with George.

Sunday in the Park with George. Passion. Into the Woods. Into the Woods. He was definitely hard on me. Like he, you know, I think he was looking at me with a level of responsibility that I don't know I was ready for. I was very young and I was very intimidated

and very scared and he fed on those insecurities and definitely like held me to task. It's very funny, we just went out recently for the first time. Me and James? Me and James, we sat down. We aired it all out. Really? We talked it all through

and it was actually beautiful. Like it was a profound conversation. He actually said, did you enjoy working with me? And I laughed and I said, no, you were an absolute dick to me. And he said, did you enjoy working with me? And I laughed and I said, no, you were an absolute dick to me. And he said, well, did you ever think that you needed an ass kicking? You were young, you were arrogant, you thought you knew it all. And when I heard him, when I heard the context of, and I, by the way, this is not to say that I thought the way he handled it was appropriate or right or justified but I understood a

Perspective I had never had before and I appreciated it and I hugged him after and I was like, okay I get you now I any apologized and I it was really kind of like a profound You know moment because you know, we had a really rough go of it that year And it was really kind of like a profound moment because we had a really rough go of it that year. And he was really respectful, really generous, and really sweet about it. So it was great, it was great.

Yeah, what brought you two together? Why were you hanging out? I asked him out to, I wanted to just put it to bed. Like I. Oh really? You've been thinking about it. I was, I've been thinking about it a lot. I, you know, he was really tough on me. Like I would go home and cry after most of those,

like you know. Note sessions or. Work sessions and James always had like 10 pages of notes for me, and I just never felt good enough. And I had a resentment that I was carrying, and it wasn't like a resentment that was keeping me up at night, but it was like when I would see him, I'd be like, I have to figure, I have to air this.

I have to get this out. It's been 15 years. I owe it to myself to understand why this situation was what it was. And he came to see Gutenberg. He was so effusive. He was so generous. And I said, can we do lunch?

Can we just go out and chat? Cause we've never had that kind of relationship. I think a lot of people who have worked with James then become very intimate and close with him. I never had that and I wanted it. And so we did it and to his credit, it was just like a, it was an open sort of like very vulnerable experience.

Who brought it up first? I guess he did when he said, do you enjoy working with me? He did when he asked me if I, we were talking a lot about, you know, the guy is, first of all, sitting down with James LaPine is such an interesting experience because he's an encyclopedia of musical theater

and theater history. So like the first half of the lunch was me just fanboying in that capacity and being like, what was it like being on the ground of some of the greatest works of art of all time? Best friends are William Finn and Stephen Sondheim. It's crazy. And those are some of the most monumental pieces of musical theater to me in my life.

So like talking about Falsettos, talking about Sunday in the Park, you know, talking about working with people like Patty and Bernadette and, you know, all of these titans of our industry. That was like the first part of the conversation. And then as we both felt comfortable, you know, I think we both opened up and we're just like, OK, can we talk about the elephant in the room, which was why did you treat me like such a piece of shit during that run? And it was cathartic, Jesse.

It was really cathartic. I'm really proud of you for- I was proud of myself too. Yes, I see that. Because I'm not, I don't like confrontation, I don't like- So interesting, because when we did Spelling Bee here in LA, they brought the original Broadway cast to come do Spelling Bee just for the LA leg of the tour.

James was actually a little hard on me, too. And I remember he gave me a note. It was something about, like, stop acting so inhuman or something. Like, it was like it was like a really he basically said I was acting like a Muppet or something. And I said, this note's not helpful. I gave it back to him. I said, this note is not helpful. I'll take another more specific note,

but this is not a helpful note. Good for you. I wish I had had that courage. I did not. I would go home and I would take it on and I would have anxiety attacks and think to myself, I am terrible at what I do. I'm not a good actor and I am bringing this show

to its knees and I felt horrible. And I also felt like I was letting all of you guys down. Like I felt like you and Sarah and Celia and every Derek and everybody who worked on it, you guys were such. It was a tight ensemble. You were such rock stars. Let me just say, you were remarkable on that show.

And I think we all, at least I understood, because I had also before been a replacement in a show. And basically, I just felt like the glue trying to keep everything together and I was getting notes from other actors about pausing more here so that they could get this laugh that they'd already sort of earned and yeah. Yeah, so I had been on the other end of that

and I was really empathetic about how hard that was. You and Debra Craig in particular got me through that time. Yeah, well and you were wonderful. You were. And then the funniest thing is, you guys started to leave to become TV and movie stars. And then I became the one who was the anchor

as new people started to join, and that is when I kind of really understood how challenging that is. Right. Well, when you did Book of Mormon, I mean, you stayed with that for a very long time. You workshopped that part from the very beginning. I mean, you must have had a similar experience

when people started, urban understudies came in. Hi, yeah, please. No, no worries. We're just talking about Broadway. Yeah. What salad do you recommend? Personally, I love the citrus salad.

We got a lot of the citrus from the farmers market right down the street. Oh, it's a great farmers market here. It's real ripe. I trust you. I'm going to do the citrus salad with salmon. Great. Thank you. I'm going to do with this tuna sandwich.

Sounds good. Hard boiled egg, avocado, heirloom tomato. Do it. Choice of French fry or green salad. No, do the fries so that I can indulge on that as I pretend to eat healthy. So what do we have? I'm gonna do the tuna sandwich. We wanna do fries or a salad.

Fries, yeah. Oh, yes. You know, I make a really nice mocktail. It's a little bit of yuzu, watermelon, grapefruit soda. Salt. Oh, I'll do that. Salt. That sounds nice. Let's do it. All right, watermelon, grapefruit soda. Salt. Oh, I'll do that. Salt. That's nice.

All right, I'll get those going for you. Yes, Book of Mormon was a very different experience. So with that one, I'm sure like you did with Spelling Bee, it was like a three year runway. When I first got involved, I got a phone call from Bobby Lopez who was coming off of the HLMUQ. He says, I get a phone call from Bobby Lopez, who was coming off of the NHL MUQ. He says, I'm working on this new musical with the creators of South Park.

But I'm like, great, sign me up. They send me a recording of Bobby doing all the songs. And I hear the first one and it's hello. And I'm like, this is genius, two by two genius. and it's hello and I'm like this is genius two by two genius and then it gets to a song that would later be called Hassadega Ibuwai and there are some very choice words about God and what he can do with his dick and so we did the reading that week it was just the first act exclusively at the time Trey and Matt thought that they were gonna do it as an animated film. It was gonna be their follow-up to Team America. And we ended it.

The response was effusive, albeit people were definitely taken aback and shocked. And they had a huddle and they decided in that moment, let's try this as a live theatrical thing. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Josh tells me about the star-studded sitcom he thought would be his big break and coping with the absence of his father throughout his life.

Okay, be right back. I don't know about you, but every year fall rolls around and I struggle to find the right gift for my friends and my family. But luckily Justin Wine makes it super easy. Justin offers curated gift sets, library wines, magnums, and even custom edged bottles which you could add a message or logo to. That's very fancy. Just in case you're not an expert on Justin, its world-class Bordeaux style wines put the Paso Robles region on California's central coast on the winemaking map. They recently sent me some of their wines including the Cabernet Sauvignon and their flagship

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on Airbnb? We all have times when we're away from home, whether we're visiting family or traveling for work or maybe taking that well-earned vacation. While you're away, you could be earning some extra cash. You can host your entire home or if let's say your kid is away at college, which seems so far away since my boys are still just so young, but for you empty nesters, you could just host a spare bedroom. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. And we're back with more Dinners on Me. Months earlier, by the way, do you remember what I auditioned for opposite you?

Yes. Cam in Modern Family. My wife still to this day bashes me. The guys really wanted me to do it with you. And I was so committed to the show that I was... I think you absolutely made the right choice. By the way, not only did I make the right choice, I could have never done the role as well as Eric did that role.

Eric was Cam. Well, I mean, yeah, we have 11 years of experience to say that. But I mean, what I do love about our lives and our career is there has been so much weird overlap. Like, I will go off and do this thing, and then all of a sudden you will kind of like go into like the same area that I've been in. And I mean that by like,

right before I did Modern Family, you had done a show called Back to You with Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan, who created Modern Family. And also in that show was Ty Burrell. Which is insane. Insane. And it was Kelsey Grammer, two seasons was it?

No, it was Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Ty Burrell, Fred Willard, created by Levitan Lloyd, directed by Jimmy Burroughs. By James Burroughs, right. Who directed you and the class. Who directed me and the class, right. I was certain this show was gonna run for 10 years. Yeah.

It was a follow-up, it was Kelsey's direct follow-up to Frasier, it was Patty Heaton's direct follow-up to Raymond, and it had an extraordinary ensemble. And that year, 07, there was an infamous writer strike. And it brought Hollywood to its knees. And as a result, we unfortunately lost a significant amount of opportunity to continue the show. I think there was a lot of resentment between,

at that time, the creative heads at Fox and our writers, because they were on the front lines of the strike. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And the day of my wedding, the night of my wedding, which you were at, with Debra Craig. That's right, I forgot this happened on the night of your wedding. They come up to me and they say,

well, hate to break this news here, but just got official word the show was canceled. And I'm thinking to myself, holy shit, why did I agree to pay for this wedding? I forgot that that happened. It was brutal. When you're on what you think is going to be a hit show and then you deal with the reality of like what went wrong.

Yeah. And am I ever going to get a job again? And now that I've been on this failed thing, who trusts me with another thing? Yeah. And I spiraled, I was terrified. And then, of all things, a Broadway show changed my life.

What did that do to your self-esteem? And I mean, you speak a little bit about anxiety and having, which I think is obviously something we all carry, especially in this industry, but did that change or shift any of that for you, or did it just amplify it, or? It's a great question. Anxiety never leaves you fully, right?

So there were times during Book of Mormon when there were some extreme highs and lows where I was mingling with some of the most famous human beings alive coming to see my show and that created this weird imposter sin from where I was feeling unworthy of that. The Tonys are a whole other beast. It pits you against your co-stars

in a way that felt very uncomfortable, very strange, and frankly, very competitive. And I don't like that. I was also, I had moved Eda, my wife, and my newborn daughter to New York. I know you were a new dad at the point. We were living in an 800 square foot apartment with a cat and a dog.

It was a lot. It was a lot. And a lot was being asked of me as one of the anchors of the show. It's nonstop. But having said that, it was still the greatest experience creatively of my life. And I would do it all over again.

This is actually from me. Oh! From the farmer's market. Thank you. Thank you. That is gorgeous. Thank you so much. Wow, beautiful.

How are the drinks? How is everything? Everything is wonderful, thank you. What is this thing? It looks like maybe fennel. Oh, okay. Does it taste like Hershey? Is it fennel?

No. Fennel, fawn. Keep doing the Barbara Walters thing, I like it. When I ask you questions. I want you to make me cry. Oh, I'll make you cry. Thank you very much. I had Sullivan when I was doing Take Me Out,

and I mean, I was on the other coast from him, which was incredibly difficult. It's so hard. I can't even imagine actually having a newborn with me trying to keep up with that schedule. You and Eda had been married for how long at that point? We got married in 08. And together since.

No, 09, because she's gonna kill me. We'd been together since around 05. And together since. No, 09. She's gonna kill me. We'd been together since around 05. Right. And so what's lovely about our better halves is they ground us and they're no bullshit. Eda's no bullshit. She tells me the truth about everything, which sometimes is very hard to hear.

Yeah. And I need it. That particular show was also really hard on our marriage because- Spelling Bear, Book of Mormon. Book of Mormon. Spelling me was like a honeymoon. Like it was great.

We had no responsibilities. We were- When you weren't married yet. We were two kids in love and just like, I was living on couches during that. I couldn't afford to rent a place. Wow. And with Mormon, we had just had Ava.

And I was like, here you go, good luck. Which is so unfair. And at the same time, I have to make money for the family. And it became really hard. Like the whole thing was hard. Yeah, it's a brutal schedule. Brutal. For raising children. Did you fly back and forth when you did take me out?

A little bit. I couldn't go back every day off, but I tried to go back as much as I could. I know you've been so honest about your history with your father specifically. And I know you have a memoir coming out, right? The World According to Dad. In G.A.D. we trust. In G.A.D. we trust. I think it should be called The World According to Gad. In Gad We Trust.

In Gad We Trust. I think it should be called The World According to Gad. The World According to Gad. If you can get that changed. I think it's a little late. The publisher's printing. I think, let's just pause this, make a quick phone call. I don't think that's gonna do the trick.

I don't think it's gonna do. But yeah, I assume you talk a lot about that in your memoir. Not only do I talk a lot about it, it sort of bookends the world according to Gadd, the subtitle. Yeah. My dad, I talk equally ad nauseum about my mother

who's the reason that I am who I am today. She was a single woman raising three boys in the 80s. She had to literally teach herself an entire vocation, which was real estate. She became a master salesperson and put me through private education, put me through theater lessons that made me fall in love with the arts, did it all. On the flip side I had a dad who was the opposite. He was not there. He was living in South America. He lived in Columbia. My parents got divorced when I was five.

My dad cheated on my mom, had another family, and I'm the youngest of three boys. My brother, Jason and Jeff, are 10 and eight years older respectively, and they got the family experience, right? They had 15. Those formative years. So 17 years of what it meant to be a family.

I did not. My life was interrupted at a very early age and I didn't know how to deal with that. I frankly didn't know how to deal with that. I frankly didn't know how to process it. And my mother was rightfully incredibly depressed and incredibly angry. And I felt the brunt of that pain. I felt the responsibility to take her out

of that incredible pit of sadness. to take her out of that incredible pit of sadness. And the way that I did that was by trying to make her laugh. And I fell in love with this superpower of like, okay, she gets better when I do this crazy thing. So I'm gonna keep doing this crazy thing. My dad would tell me that he was coming to see me. I would wait by the window for his car to show up and then I'd get a call saying sorry I can't make it and it was eating me alive, like it ate me alive. When he did finally come,

it would always be the same trip, Disney World. And at a very young age, I became in love with all things Disney, ironically, because it became this symbol of my relationship with my father. And it sort of like satisfied this fantasy world in which I had a dad who was present in my life. And then he'd be gone and I was lucky

if I could speak with him and come full circle. I get a call, I'm doing Gutenberg, and I get a call from my dad, he has a very thick accent, my father is, there are many things that make my dad one of the strangest human beings alive, one of them happens to be that he's a Jew from Afghanistan, which is an insane thing to say, but he's that guy. And so he's got a very thick accent.

He goes, Joshy, calls me out of the blue. Joshy, I'm in New Jersey. I want to come see you. And I was really struggling with this because the truth is I hadn't seen my dad in 20 years. I hadn't seen him. And just for context, this is when you're doing Gutenberg. Gutenberg, so a year ago.

Right, but also it was a very successful Broadway show with you and Andrew Reynolds. It had been like 10 years since you'd been on Broadway and you were back in New York doing this thing and it was sort of a big celebrated moment for you. Correct. And so I get this call, I'm alone, Ida, the girls, my family, my parents,

nobody's in New York. And I get this call, Halloween weekend, and he asked me if he could come see the show and I realized it was kind of this crazy moment in which I realized my dad's never seen me on stage in my life, ever. Even when you were a kid. Even when I was a kid.

So I was very torn, but I said, okay, you can come, but it's under my rules. I don't wanna meet whatever family he's on is like third or fourth family. I don't wanna meet whatever family he's on, it's like third or fourth family. I don't wanna meet your new kid. I don't wanna see whoever you're dating. It's you.

You take a car, you come to the theater, we'll go from there. He did. I don't think he understood half the show, but he was laughing. Kept telling everybody that's my son, very proud. And afterwards, I remember going backstage and looking at Andrew and saying,

I don't know if I can see him. I'm like scared. And Andrew- When was the last time you'd seen him before that? 20 years. Wow, Josh. College. I saw him in New York with some friends.

And I said, will you be there with me? And Andrew said absolutely came out saw him was very emotional and after I said hey great timing yeah great time truly saved by the more after this break thank you so much grilled salmon amazing the tuna punino, some fries. Thank you so much. Thank you. Anything I can give for you, just let me know.

No. Oh, wonderful. This is phenomenal, by the way. Thank you so much. Incredible, thank you so much. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Josh tells me about reuniting with his estranged father and his two daughters' sweet

and slightly traumatic experiences with Frozen. Okay, be right back. Hello, I'm Elizabeth Day. You might know me as the creator and host of the How to Fail podcast, but I want to tell you about a new podcast I've made. How to Write a Book is for anyone who wants to get their story out there.

Fronted by a bestselling author, a super agent, and a powerhouse publisher, this 12-week masterclass will take you right through from developing an idea to nailing the plot. If you want to get all episodes at once and completely ad-free, subscribe now. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back with more Dinners on Me. So I said to him, look, why don't you come back to my place with me, spend the night, and let's just catch up. Right. And we did and it was Really profound like it was a

Lot of it's kind of like the James of pine situation, but much more personal right It was me kind of asking questions getting to understand You know and him accepting blame and accepting responsibility. And it was the closure that I really needed that I didn't know I needed. Do you consciously think about how that relationship with your father has colored you as a dad? Well, yes.

Is it something you actively think about? I actively think about it and I also have to say, I'm very lucky because my mom when I was around 10 years old met the man who would become my stepdad Stan Schwartz. Yes, I know about Stan. And you've met Stan. Stan is literally everything I could have hoped for and wanted in a father figure and more. Yeah. So I actually had a role model. Yeah. That showed me, right. OK, this is what you're supposed to do. This is how you're supposed to behave. Yeah.

This is what it feels like to be supported, loved, respected. Yeah. And so that framed The context of the kind of father and the kind of husband I chose to become You wrote this incredible book for them. I love Lizzie picture-face Lizzie picture-face Lizzie it's so relevant today because it's all about kind of social media and people being addicted to their phones and This was a story. I, you were telling me, that you told them and just turned into a book.

So what happened was, during the pandemic, as a lot of other parents, I found myself feeling hopeless and helpless and not knowing what to do. And so one day out of the blue, I pick up a kid's book and I start reading on Instagram Live. And I saw like thousands of people engaging and just saying thank you, thank you, thank you.

And so for the next few weeks, I would every day at the same time pick up a kids book and read. And so I became very familiar with children's books. And I was approached by Jen Klonsky, an editor at Penguin Random House, and she said, would you ever think about writing a children's book? I said, actually, as a matter of fact, I would.

I love that idea. And at the time, instead of Picture Face Lizzie, it was about TikTok. I sent it to my editor and she goes, this is what I've been waiting for. But both for like creative and also legal reasons, maybe. Can you think of something other than TikTok? And so I created in its place, this amalgamation of technology. And toys that is basically an apparatus by which kids can play with a doll

that has social media content on it, that has cameras on it, that has everything they constantly want and see their friends have. And yes, this came out of my children and my wife and I came out of my children and my wife and I having a constant debate about when is too young to get things like Snapchat, TikTok, and the list continues to grow every day. Yeah, absolutely. What is their relationship with Frozen? Is it a big deal to them? No. Really? No. So it's very interesting.

Wait, it should be, I should say you played Olaf in Frozen. Because some idiot doesn't understand. So I shouldn't say no. It is, it was at one time very special to them. The first movie I ever took Ava to was Monsters University. Great movie. And she was, she was about two. They played a teaser for Frozen. And I don't know if people remember or not,

but the teaser wasn't even in the movie. It's all original animation where Olaf is on a, It's all original animation where Olaf is on a frozen pond and Sven, the reindeer, is trying to get his nose. And the only audio is Olaf laughing. It's my laugh. There's no dialogue. And I'm sitting in the theater and this teaser plays before Monsters University. And Ava hears my laugh,

and she looks at me and she goes, Dada? More Dada. I started crying. I started sobbing. Oh. And so it has been present at these pivotal moments in their lives but it's also been omnipresent so it doesn't feel significant because it's been they've grown up with it. Yeah. It just it's their father is Olaf.

Yeah. Like it's really weird. Yeah. There was no discovery to it. There's no discovery. And I think they take for granted that like this is like a very unique, that not everybody's parents are beloved snowmen.

Yeah, I guess. I don't think they get that. The other great memory that I have is when the sequel came out, Izzy was around four or five years old we're at the premiere and there's that moment where Olaf essentially dot spoiler alert but he essentially dies he flurries away and we're sitting we're seated in this crowded auditorium and Izzy goes, no, no, no, no. And she stands up and she screams at the screen

and starts crying. And every face in the auditorium looks back at my family. And I was like, oh God, I've never been more mortified in my life. But it traumatized her. It traumatized her. And I think a part of that is instinctively like, that's my dad. But then they'll constantly be like,

when's that coming out? Be like 2027. I mean. Is it really 2027? 2027. April will be in high school. No. Wow.

I may or may not know a little about it though and I will tell you that it is, it's really gonna be special. Like it's a lot. It's very ambitious. Really? Uh-huh. And the plan as I understand it right now is that they're doing two films.

Oh wow. Did I ever tell you I auditioned for Olaf? No you didn't. No I didn't and guess who's auditioning with me was Jim Parsons. So I mean like and he was at the height of Big Bang 3 at the point. That's incredible.

But it didn't matter. That's not what they were looking for. You actually would make a great Olaf. Well, that's what I thought too, Josh. And I'm glad that you brought it up first. Can you imagine? What are some of the other roles that you've auditioned for that it was like

either didn't count your way or you turned out? I auditioned for Dawson and Dawson's Creek. No. Yes One audition. It was like the pre-read and I didn't get. Did you audition for The Office? I auditioned for Dwight Truth. Yep, the reject pile for Dwight Truth. There's a lot of us a lot of us. Alison Jones brought in Everybody in Hollywood. That's right. I mean, you auditioned for Cam. Yes. But then ended up doing an episode of Modern Family later.

I did, it was so much, two of them. Two of them, yeah, that's right, that's right. I had so much fun. Is it strange, this isn't my podcast, but since you've asked me so many damn questions, I think I should be entitled to two. You asked me something. What is the level of surrealism for you

that you are in a game changing TV show and perhaps the last sitcom that is a pop cultural phenomenon? I think Abbott Elementary's incredible. I do too. And it has enormous reach, but I don't know that anything will ever be as big as Modern Family again. So I think that you guys may have been the last of its kind.

I don't know. First of all, I'm not answering that question. But if I was like, no, pick a different question. No, I don't know if I look at it that way. And sometimes I just don't see it that way. I think that there are times where I feel like our show is still, this is going to laugh so hard, where I feel like our show is still, this is gonna get you to laugh so hard, but I feel like it deserves more credit than,

sometimes it's not on these lists of the best TV shows ever and I'm looking at the list and I'm like, well we deserve to be on there. And it's top 10 comedies. So I sometimes feel like we overstate our- And it's having a renaissance. It is having a renaissance. So what is fascinating to me is now

everybody in my children's schools. People are discovering it. They're watching it. For the first time. They're watching Modern Family, The Office, New Girl, and discovering them for the first time. And I. And 1600 Penn.

Oh God, God help us all. We all make mistakes sometimes. I was looking for a way out of my Book of Mormon contract. No, it was, I'm way out of my Book of Mormon contract. No, it was, I'm very proud of you for doing that. But it is, it is, you are the Seinfeld of our generation. Like, it's pretty incredible. Well, that's very generous of you to say.

It's true. I guess I just don't see it that way. Would you go back? Would you do a reboot or no? Yeah, I mean, like, I would like to do something with the whole cast that would be, like, limited. I have ideas. I sometimes think back to us being kids together on a stage that seats what? Couple of hundred people.

And never in my wildest dreams in that moment could I have imagined, I could have hoped for. I don't think I could have imagined that like here we would be having achieved as many of our dreams as is imaginable when you get into this industry. And it's kind of amazing, Jesse. Like it's amazing that we like checked box after box after box and there are still lows, there are still highs

and they come oftentimes together. But it's like, when you look at the past, you can appreciate the present that much more. That's right. And it's really remarkable. Like it's thank you for saying that because I actually it is easy to forget that when you are like waiting for the next thing that's going to take you to the next place. And it's just not coming soon enough. And it is nice to be reminded that, you know, so much has been achieved. It's a really sort of magical thing

to like go look back at how we got here. Yeah. Like that's really cool, that's a very unique thing. We haven't started recording yet, by the way. Oh, shit. Yeah, so let's go ahead and start, and hi, welcome to Dinners on Me. Hi.

My type guest is Josh Gad. I'm glad we for the waiter. Thank you. That's how it'll end. Thanks, Josh. I love you, buddy. I love you so much. All right, now kill the mics and let's talk, for real.

This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at Serena at the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, California. Next week on Dinner's on Me, you know him from his show's Hollywood medium, the Emmy-nominated Life After Death, and his latest series on Netflix, live from the other side, It's Medium, Tyler Henry. We'll get into discovering his gifts at a young age, and what his conversations with the departed have taught him about living. And if you don't want to wait until next week to listen, you can download that episode right now by subscribing to Dinners on Me Plus.

As a subscriber, not only do you get access to new episodes one week early, you'll also be able to listen completely ad free. Just click Try Free at the top of the Dinners on Me show page on Apple Podcasts to search your free trial today. Dinners On Me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay.

Our associate producer is Angela Vang. Sam Baer engineered this episode. Hans-Dyl She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balanz-Kalasny and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.