Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers - STEVE ZAHN Surprised His Parents With a Cabin

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

This week Steve Zahn joins Seth and Josh on the podcast! Steve talks all about growing up in Minnesota, his parents reaction to him dropping out of college, trips to the lake, how he pulled off the surprise of a lifetime for his parents, raising kids in Kentucky, what it's like to prepare his cabin for the winter, traveling for months out of the year while working, and so much more! Plus, Steve chats about his upcoming film with his daughter, SHE DANCES, as well as his upcoming Hulu series with Glen Powell, CHAD POWERS! Watch more Family Trips episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlqYOfxU_jQem4_NRJPM8_wLBrEEQ17B6 ------------------------- 00:00 Introduction with Seth and Josh 02:03 Converastion with Steve Zahn 04:25 Family and Childhood Memories 06:16 Adoption and Family Dynamics 10:17 Camping and Road Trips 22:53 Life on a Farm and Career Choices 30:57 Collaborating with Family 31:50 Working on Silo 34:20 Life on the Farm 35:26 Vacation Stories 44:06 College Memories 46:48 Theater and Film Career 47:43 New York in the 90s 49:20 Living in Kentucky 53:39 Speed Round Questions 57:29 Final Thoughts and Farewells ------------------------- Support our sponsors: Naked Wines Head to NakedWines.com/TRIPS, click ‘Enter Voucher’ and put in my code TRIPS for both the code AND password for 6 bottles of wine for JUST $39.99 with shipping included. That’s $100 off your first six bottles Magic Spoon Get 5 dollars off your next order at MagicSpoon.com/TRIPS. Or look for Magic Spoon on Amazon or in your nearest grocery store Hexclad Find your forever cookware @hexclad and get 10% off at hexclad.com/trips #hexcladpartner ------------------------- Family Trips is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Theme song written and performed by Jeff Tweedy. ------------------------- About the Show: Lifelong brothers Seth Meyers and Josh Meyers ask guests to relive childhood memories, unforgettable family trips, and other disasters! New Episodes of Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers are available every Tuesday. ------------------------- Executive Producers: Rob Holysz, Jeph Porter, Natalie Holysz Creative Producer: Sam Skelton Coordinating Producer: Derek Johnson Video Editor: Josh Windisch Mix & Master: Josh Windisch Episode Artwork: Analise Jorgensen #familytrips #sethmeyers #joshmeyers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, it is Seth alone today because Josh is traveling. He's currently just landed from a red eye from L.A. to the East Coast because we have our annual fantasy football draft this weekend. I'm looking forward to that a great deal. And I also wanted to bring it up because the fantasy football draft is where, and I know we've talked about this before, Josh would record a song very much like the song. as he does at the end of each podcast. And basically it's 12 guys. We've been doing this for almost 20 years.

And the highlight of the weekend is sort of gathering around fairly late into the evening for Josh to basically drop that year's song. And I just cannot tell you how delighted we are to hear it, how much anticipation. There is, sometimes you hear about really big pop stars doing listening parties where They sort of fly people in on private jets and then have them come to some barn and, you know, a sparsely populated state and have to listen to a whole album. And I imagine when the album is great, it is as thrilling as it is for us when we listen to the song. And, you know, we started this podcast. It dawned on me that it would be very cool if Josh was willing to do that for every episode.

It's a big lift. And obviously, I have nothing to do with it. and Josh has to carry it all on his own. And I'm just so grateful that he does it week in and week out. I know it's not easy. I think they're always great. And I just wanted to use today's top of show to share my appreciation for Josh and all the hard work he does. And, you know, again, there's a reason sometimes I have to admit there's a reason he's my parents' face.

favorite uh today today we're talking to steve's on and uh which was very exciting he's one of those actors that has been in a hundred things uh that mean a lot to me and uh especially you know movies like reality bites which came out at an age where i first was starting to get really excited about movies and i think there's that really cool thing when you feel like people your age or close enough to your age are making movies about your generation and how thrilling it is to actually be sitting in a movie theater while that's happening. So Steve Zahn is with us. Josh and I will be together. As I'm recording this, we will be together in 24 hours and I will probably be listening to this year's song at about 48 hours. So before that, why don't you all

listen to Jeff Tweety? Because I can say that now because Josh isn't here. He doesn't like the Jeff Tweety up. And, you know, I'm now, what a missed opportunity. Do you guys want to hear some S&L stories. You made it. I mean, full disclosure, we, you know, we have a timed Zoom meetup, and we didn't expect to see you, and then there you were. Yeah. Pre-tech check, and then you've gone away for a few minutes,

and now you're back with us, but... You didn't think you were going to see me? We, based on the way you presented yourself, you had a sense of, like, you didn't want to be seen. Oh, oh, right. Yeah. No. How are you, man?

I'm great. You might have... you might have the most in-line project with the title of this podcast that we've ever had. So our show's called Family Trips. You are currently in a movie called She Dances.

Yes. Which is basically, to some degree, a father-daughter road trip. Yeah. And it is starring your actual daughter. So, I mean, this is, if you weren't going to talk about it on family trips,

I don't know where the heck you were going to talk about. It's kind of crazy. It is kind of crazy. Before we get to that, you're from Minnesota? I am. And what's your sibling situation? I have two sisters.

I have an older sister, Heidi, and a younger sister, Nancy. And Nancy is Korean. Interesting. All right. Interesting. And now I'm not, you know, I know you're not supposed to, you know, presume these things. But I'm going to guess she was adopted. I mean, she's like, she was, I don't remember when she came over.

I was too young. How old were you when she came over? I think I was like two and a half. And then how old was she? She was a kid, you know. Oh, wow. So she came over as a baby baby. Yeah, well, not a baby baby.

Maybe I was like three and she was one or something. I don't know. Gotcha. But there is a two-year difference between your ages. Yeah, okay. To this day. The crazy thing is like Nancy has the heaviest. Minnesota accent of anybody I've ever met in my life.

That's what we were just talking before you got on. We're not making this up. We were just talking about Fargo, the movie. Yeah. And there's that scene where she sees her old high school boyfriend. Right. And it's that really funny scene because you realize like, oh, of course. If you grow up there, that's how you sound.

It doesn't matter how you look. It's just the way people there talk. How much older is Heidi? Heidi's two years older than me. Okay. So you're a good little unit. You're good. Yeah.

Yeah. Were you guys close, the three of you? Yeah. I mean, Nancy and I, I think we're a little, like we played together. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we were tight, for sure. Was Heidi too cool for you? No, she was just, you know, she was the oldest.

Right. You want to hang out. My brother-in-law was adopted when he was five years old, which is kind of crazy, like how old that is, from Russia. But what do you think it was? What led your parents to make that decision? Because I think it's such an altruistic. No, my parents are really amazing people. I mean, my dad was a pastor, a Lutheran minister, and he was a chaplain on universities.

He's really a cool guy. And my parents were just really, they're just to this day, they're just really giving, open-hearted, helping people. And they wanted to do that. And I thought, you know, I mean, back then um back then korea was was you know that there's a lot of koreans from that time that you know there was a need for those kids to find and uh does you do hidey and nancy still live in minnesota nancy lives in minnesota and then hidey lives in idaho oh fantastic now what did you guys is it safe to assume that you were living one of those minnesota late

upbringings yeah but yeah but we didn't have the cash but we had friends that had cash and sure had the cabin and you know and you would learn how to water ski and and and we I loved going to people's cabins it was so much fun and then when I got older and I surprised my parents I bought a cabin wow it was Christmas and we had this big we you know it was like Okay, the day after Christmas, we're going to, we're going to go somewhere, and you've got to kind of dress up. I had to, like, throw them off a little bit. That's a very good throw off. Right.

Very impressive. We had a carpool, and my brother-in-law, Martin, was in front, and he was instructed to take the exit. And mom was like, I thought we were going to Duluth. I don't know what Martin's doing. This is crazy. And so he pulled up to the cabin, and I was like, here, it was a cabin. And so from that moment, we had like a family cabin. It was kind of for everybody, and it was really cool.

That's great. I won. Did you get the reaction you wanted from your parents when you told them you had bought them the cabin? No, because I would cry and, you know, I would do the thing that would make the trailer. Yep. But they're very, you know, they were like, wait, what? I don't get it for like a half hour. They were still just, they were still working through their grief about not going to Duluth.

Going to some buffet. Yeah. Why did we have to get dressed up? I said, well. I don't know when we're going to eat. That is lovely. So how old were you when you were, um, you know, when you had that cabin money?

Um, I bought that. I forget. I forget. How old were your kids? Was it, were your kids around? My kids were like, my kids were like seven, you know, eight, you know. Were they more psyched about it then than your parents were? Oh, yeah, everybody, you know, my nieces were all jazzed.

It was a really cool place. Is it on a lake or in the woods? Mm-hmm. On a lake. Yeah. It was great. There's over 10,000, you know. Yeah, yeah. We've got a buddy who had us all up to Lake Minnetonka a few years ago. And gosh, it was just amazing. Yeah, it's like, there's a lot of people in that lake. Yeah. This was the boonies. Yeah. And now, was that an annual trip once you bought the cabin? Was that something you would go to once here? No, no, that was they used it a lot more. Great. We did trips when we were kids. Yeah. We didn't have money.

so we we would you know our parents brainwashed us into thinking we're lucky because we get to camp right and we get to goAs that have fools right yeah right and so we would we would do the classic griswold you know two-week trip in an aspen dodge or aspen I think it was like a yellow station wagon and we'd go west with no air conditioning right

no air conditioning it's crazy right we'd put towels in the windows and wet them oh god I've never heard that we've talked to a lot of people from the era

and I've never heard wet towels in the window that would help yeah because a window blow through the wet towel and it would just be cool oh yeah

it's been about at night is it as buggy as I remember my time in Minnesota. Yeah, it's insane. Yeah. It's crazy. And they don't really have that sort of Minnesota nice about them, the bugs from Minnesota. No. Yeah.

They sort of even out. I live in Kentucky now and they get, people hear, I'm like, there's a lot of bugs here. I'm like, no, there's not. There's not one. Yeah. When you did these K-O-A trips when you're driving, would you

would you sort of like set up camp for a few days at a time or were you just going place to place? We were going. Yeah. What were your destinations? What were your, what were the big landmarks? And then our relatives in Phoenix. And then, you know, it was like, and then out east, it was like we're going to go see our friends in Michigan.

And then we're going to, we're going to see what we're going to hit along the way to Washington, D.C. And then we stopped the, my most, the favorite place. ever been to when I was a kid was was was Gettysburg oh really we stopped that for two days my sisters were like gonna claw their eyes out they were so bored and it literally it changed my life it really did and that's it was fascinated with it and and it's you know it's i i just loved it i i you remember when you went on a trip and you you had your camera yeah and you and we got like 2 36 picture roll right yeah you could take two yeah get that you know developed from when we got home so you're kind of like i don't know should i take a picture right right or should i take a picture

of the cow which one you know and i wasted all my pictures on and i still have the i still have the photo of them. It's like pictures of fields. Were they like where like battles had taken place or? Yeah. This was a battlefield. Yeah.

For some reason I would take like this like these rocks with like and I've been there you know, since then. Many, many times, right? I took my kids there, right? We did a road trip. We did the old.

Where they did your kids land on the side of you or the side of your sisters when they went? They, no, they were, they really dug it. That's great. Yeah, we decided my wife, Robin and I, we were like, okay, these guys, they need to, they've had some cushy hotels and flights and stuff. I was like, let's do a road trip.

Let's go to Gettysburg. And I'm like, great, it's like, you know, it's like, how far is that? Yeah, we could do it one day. So we went there And we stayed at this We checked into a motel And the kids Freaked out

And they They came They ran into the room And they're like Dad This place is great I'm like Why?

What's up? They said, come here We went outside And it was like They were so excited That there were vending machines Of course. Yeah

Yeah My kids would lose My mind It is true Like that is still It's funny That even though Like my kids

don't, I mean, again, I don't feel like they don't see vending machines because they were just more ubiquitous when we were growing up. But they're like, this is the greatest thing ever. I can pick whatever I want. Like the refrigerator of all time. It's like a carnival game

like with the claw, but you win. Yeah, every time. Every time you win. There's no frustration. Yeah. Were you, it is very funny, by the way, like not just taking a picture of a field without like any like plaque or anything telling you what it is. It's so funny to take a picture of a place where an interesting thing happened 200 years ago.

Right. It's just like, do you see this? You would not believe what happened 200 years before I showed up. There was a lot of dudes here. Yeah. Wedding profusely at Wool. Did you, were you a history kid before you went to Gettysburg? Or do you feel like that turned to switch for you? No, I think that turned to switch. I mean, I think it was a little bit. I mean, I was the kid that in, in elementary school that, you know, at teacher, conferences we're like we're a little concerned right he just gets like these big war war two books and whatever and not never curious george or whatever so i always had i had a nation with it so and i still do did you like have little army guys that you would paint did you were your toys yeah yeah model airplanes it's nice to know you know that a lot of these red flags don't necessarily mean you know that you're going to go down to a

a life of evil. You just, like, paint little army guys. But you actually were going to, you were considering the military, correct? I was when I was young and I was in high school. And then I remember with a friend, we were like, let's join the Marines. And he did. Oh, man. And I was like, eh, I don't think so.

It's not for me. And then did you, like, calm the next day? Were you like, oh, my God, that's so funny that we almost joined the Marines. And he was like, I did, Steve. What do you mean was that so? Was you think that was a joke? Yeah, he was all mad. Yeah.

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Do you remember, like, at the time when you were in a car with sort of wet towels in the window, at the time were you like, this is a disaster? Or do you, like, looking back, be like, oh my God, that was really? really hot. No, no, it was great. It was fun. It was like exciting. It was, it was, you know, now it's, I would, I would just be like, oh, can we just sit for like five minutes in a place? Yeah. I want to keep driving. I thought it was great. You know, it was, I didn't, I was a kid. I

didn't, I didn't been to Washington, D.C. My God. I mean, I remember when we went to Washington, We went to the U.S. Mint. Do you remember that, Josh? Yeah. Like where they pressed coins. Boring. I mean, but I was so excited. I got a little book of like freshly like coins that have been printed that day, like dimes.

Yeah. It was like one of those things as a kid that you're just like so happy to have. Everybody who comes over, you're like, you want to see my dimes? Brand new. I got the new dimes. And I just sometimes have so much appreciation for like just knowing how deathly bored my parents must have been our parents must have been yeah i know watching my dad has been out of his mind i mean our tent that we slept in was like you know today they weigh like five pounds this was like

rolled up on the roof yeah and it was like it was like a mini circus tent like yeah you know had the peak and the thing and the yeah we had one of those man it was it was it was it uh Was it all five Zons under one tent? Yeah. Were you an assistant of setting it up? Like who was in charge of getting that thing up? That was dad. All that, all that.

And then I'm sure we helped out. Do you feel like you could put that tent up today, Steve, if you had to? Oh, yeah. Confident. I think it might be easier than the modern tent. With all the weird. Yeah, with all the weird. Where does that go?

Right. do. I have a tent and every time I go camping, the first thing I do is I take out my chair and I open like a Coors light and I just look at the diagram for like as long as it takes me to drink that beer. And it's like, all right. So the orange things have to match up to the orange and these and it crosses, but not really. Yeah. Yeah. You're like wishing it into existence. Yeah. But then I sort of, you know, I have to just take it in. again and then and then get it underway. And I just go like, you know what?

I'm just going to use it as a pillow. Yeah, I just going to roll it up and hope it doesn't rain. Did you ever take your kids on a camping trip? Yeah. We used to always, I live on a farm, so it was fun to set up the tent down by the pond and, you know. And then we would go on these late night hikes, you know, ghostly hikes in the woods and stuff it was really fun did your kids almost exclusively grow up in kentucky oh that's amazing yeah we moved here in 2004 oh wow so you really yeah we did not have that

at la crazy people like what where are you going like we lived on a farm in new jersey but we moved out of the city in 1991 because we we we I met my wife on a national tour of Bye Bye Birdie. We made this money. We're on the road for 13 months. You're like, we should do something with this money. Let's buy a weekend cabin in the Poconos. Yeah.

And so we did it. And then three weeks later, we're out of work and we had to move there. Oh, perfect. We were living in a home. So you didn't save any money for rent at all. Yeah. It was forced upon us. But we just, it was great.

And then we kind of became like this is an adult camp or our friends wanted to come out and barbecue and hang out. It was cool. Yeah, I would imagine, you know, whether it was from good or bad financial planning, other New York actors were probably really psyched to know a couple who had a cabin in the Poconos. Yeah. And our mortgage was like 250 bucks, you know, it wasn't. That's great. And you were lording that over your friends, right? You would always just, while they were barbecuing, you would just talk about.

about how low your mortgage was. I know, but I was like, hey, guys, seriously, this is, like, the way to go. I don't have to go do everything. Like, it would be a little more picky. 250, yeah. I can swing that. Pretty good. 250.

I could cut once for that. Yeah. All I have to do is, like, one movie every 10 years. So you had grandparents in Phoenix, you said? I had an aunt and uncle. Or aunt and uncle. And what was, uh, what was, uh, what was, the vibe there? How long would you spend in Phoenix? It was one of those weird things where

you go visit your relatives that you don't really know anymore. And so it's like, you know, so we hung out. I can't remember it really. I remember we went to Tijuana. Wow. For one day. And I remember that. And I got like a myriad puppet, you know. Right. Yeah. I've still never been to Tijuana. It's so close. And it's just. Yeah. You know, with the cup, with the, with the ball. Oh, yeah. I think it's just called, I mean, it must have a better name than the cup and ball game, but, yeah.

Yeah, you know, don't run from the obvious. You know, when they were naming it, they're like, we can do this is something crazy. We can just call it what it is. Were your parents both, do you think your parents sort of shared their affection for a long road trip? Or do you think they did it out of necessity? I think they did it out of necessity. I think it was the only thing we could afford. Right.

It was kind of the only option. We couldn't, you know. Were they an affable couple in the front seat? Did they, like, get along? Like, our parents are very much in love, but they had a tendency to, like, maybe, you know, be a little bit of a throat. Yeah.

They were very Minnesota kind of, like, always cool, you know. That's very nice. But dad would wind up. Was it strange coming? not wind up. Was it strange sort of coming

from that vibe and going into show business where you're like oh, not a lot of people are like my parents. Yeah, I guess but everybody's parents are different, right?

I mean, I mean, it's true. Yeah, a little bit. Are you surprised having raised your kids in Kentucky that your daughter found her way into the same field? Yeah, totally.

It really is strange. It's like, and I remember things, little things, early in life like you know both kids at one point just saying I want to dance like really like we never we never put that you know we gave them like guitars and paints and you know hiking in the woods doing all kinds of different things but we we we never put them in the show or whatever and it was really on their own and I thought that was really interesting and it's like yeah they grew up on a

farm with horses and goats and stuff and yet my son's a playwright you know my my daughter's an actor yeah that's that's so funny it is i mean it i mean again obviously it comes from you know right it's in your wife's blood as well like being a performer do you think they like saw do you think it's like that they just want to do it or do you think they saw it was something that like made you guys happy i think maybe a little bit of both yeah you know it's like see the world they understand the world, you know, I guess that's the leg up. It's like, you know, the plumber's son understands that job, you know, and how hard it is, and how easy it is, and what the benefits are and what the bad things are. I think my kids saw that. But, you know, at the end of the day,

you got to over-prepure, show up early, and not be a dick. And, you know, there's a little magic involved there, you know? What is it? Opportunity meets preper. that's luck so yeah um yeah so it's a little weird it's it's it's it's strange but but they're both um so incredibly talented it's crazy wonderful like a lot further than i was at the time by far i was a idiot did you were they with you when you because i know first season of white lotus is like middle pandemic like ghost town hotel did they get to come my i i ask everybody in my family. I was like, anybody who wants to come. And here was the thing, though, the kicker was we couldn't leave the property. Right. Right. But it's a beautiful property.

I know. I was like, dude, it'll be great. Yeah. I mean, you're going to be able to just, yeah, but I can't go hiking. I can't go look at whales. I can't get a hang out. That was when people forget, like it was very hard to look at whales during the pandemic. Well, we would, we, we, we really were conscious of how hard it was for people, you know. Yeah. Every night we were, you know, as it's cast, like, I just, in the, in the ocean, watching the sun go down, waiting for the green spark every night. And it was just bliss. Yeah.

And we were doing work that we knew at the time was just really good and solid and fun and, you know, challenging. So it was a really great gig in a horrible time. People in New York, like banging pots and pans while we're floating in the ocean. So, yeah, we were really lucky people. At least there was that nice thing of like when it came out, everybody loved it so much that I feel like they couldn't keep being mad at you. You know what I mean? If the show it stuck, they'd be like, this asshole.

Well, it also let you be like, oh, I wish we could take this amazing vacation, except, oh, man, a lot of murder. Yeah, a murder on nice vacations, I guess. It is funny, though, when he stayed at a, you know, when he stayed at a place for any, for any length of time, over a week or two, you start seeing them, like, this couch actually sucks, you know? Yep. Yep. This is like the couch, my great aunt and uncle gave me, you know, or whatever. And you're like, well, all right. Yeah. Did you, so nobody came?

Did they all turn you down? Everybody turned me down. Wow. Uh-huh. And it doesn't sound like they regret it at all. No. So how is it, so you just did a movie with your daughter. How was it collaborating with her?

It was amazing. It was, it was, I mean, you know, it's a miracle that anything gets made. A miracle. It's just insane. And, you know, she's getting. getting older, and I'm getting old. You know, it's all this stuff that had to just kind of happen. And it happened.

And it was great. I mean, I could, if it all ended right now, I'd be the happiest actor ever. It's, it's, yeah. Do you think it was, I mean, I would imagine it might be easier for the parent to be in a movie with their child and for the child to be in a movie with their parent. But do you think she had it equally wonderful time? I know I'm kind of putting you on the spot here. Yeah, no, I think she did.

I mean, you know what we did? We worked a lot. Yeah. I was doing a show called Silo. Big fan of Saila. Big fan of the books. Read the books. Very.

Thank you guys have done a great job. Oh, good. Thanks. Yes, season four is insane. But I was there and Audrey came over for three weeks. And we just, every day. I was like, do you want to read it? Yeah, it's freaking.

So we had it, you know. Yeah. You know, the other thing we did with our production was we had rehearsal that no one does anymore. Yeah. That's so rare. It's so nice when you get it. Sometimes you don't even rehearse on the day. I mean, it's just like, I'll just do it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how goes. It's a dark time. It's a dark time for the creative process. Yeah. It's like, I feel like right now that people who like pay for movies are like, what if you did your best take first?

and then we wouldn't have to do any of the other takes. Try that, try that. Let you just shoot the rehearsal. No, I don't want you to have that. Yeah. I don't like that part. Yeah, I don't get to edit. No, then that's the other thing.

You don't get to edit. Where do you shoot Silo? Is Silo somewhere? London. Do you feel like you've done a good job? I mean, I know, obviously, when you're actually shooting, the schedule does not provide a lot of time, but do you feel like you've done a good job?

when you're on location actually exploring the places you're at? Oh, yeah. London, I love London. Yeah. It was great this year. It was crazy. My business partner, right, Rick Gomez, he's an actor, he's in band of brothers, the whole thing. So we wrote She Dances, the movie I did.

He directed it? Yes, he directed it and we wrote together. He's in silo. He plays Kennedy with the long hair and the beer. Oh, my God. So Rick, that's, this is all coincidental. incidental by the way it's crazy and then our characters work together so we have similar schedule so and we we're living like an eight-minute walk from each other that's so great

fantastic like a pub halfway like called Hemingway and we're gonna just sit and write it's gonna be great well things are really lining up nicely for you steve it's a weird yeah it's like a really I have a lot of stuff right now and it's really awesome I don't think I've ever been this busy it's got to be nice to have a farm to sort of when you do get a moment

to tap out and just like there's a lot though it's like leave a farm I'm leaving for five months wow you know it's impossible to pack for five months but the other thing like I have to like I have all these things to do

like I got to get Mortar the wood. Yeah. Gotta, like, winterize my, my machines, you know, the fuel. Like, I gotta think, you know. And that's, I mean, I'm the having with a phone in my house. Like, did you get the rug guy on him? I'm like, so do you still, you still have the cabin?

No, we sold it. Okay. Okay. So, I mean, if you've got this. farm, obviously on a farm there is a lot to do kind of all the time. Like if you and your family are looking to go just totally relax and chill and they're not willing to come to a White Lotus trip with you. What are you, what are the Zons after in a nice vacation? You know what? We rarely in our existence took vacations. Gotcha.

We just partially because of where we live. And when I get off work, I just want to, you know, do something. We do stuff around here. Yeah. There's, there's, you know, hiking and camping and all that stuff. But we did like a great big vacation to Jamaica once that was really fun, you know, stayed at Golden Eye. And we realized everybody else has stayed in a gold. Did you bump into people you knew?

No. Shaggy, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's so funny that Shaggy. I mean, that's kind of the full experience. And my, and my, my, and my son had this, like, weird breakfast relationship with Harry Belafonte. Oh, man. And I didn't know who he was. And I was like, the guy is on so many different levels, like, such a, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's like, I also do like, though, when anybody, like, uh, when a young person meets a very famous person and just really enjoys them without knowing that they're really famous. Like, you know, that old dude rocks.

Yeah, I think I let it go. He loved his voice. Yeah. Also, I love when young people are like, that guy, let me break some news. That guy has got a great voice. You're like, oh, dude, last to know. Have you ever heard a song called Stairway to Heaven? Yeah.

It's like, yeah. Rocks, Dad. My son's actually literally doing that with Led Zeppelin because there's a Led Zeppelin song in one of the Thor movies. And he's like, do you know this band? I'm like, yeah, dude. Thor's not breaking new artists. And now my kids are giving, they're bringing stuff to me.

Yeah. How is that? I mean, obviously they have taste. It must be great. It's like my son's taste in music is insane. I'm just like, send me stuff. That, because again, like at some point you're just like, well, I'm out of the loop.

Nobody wants to bring me back in. if it's not your own kids like i don't know what you're doing right and i've given him stuff you know i've said i'm like you know he's a huge built-a-spill fan you know there you go mine are mine are not quite at the music taste level no well well they're little yeah your oldest is nine he's nine seven and three so yeah oh dude yeah and it's the best those are great you know what there wasn't a bad time and it gets better and better. Yeah.

It's just insane. Yeah. But now, I... Did they, when your kids left for school, did which, where did they go? My son went to DePaul Theatre School. Okay. And he was there for two years and then came back here.

He was in the COVID. He came back here and finished up at UK. And then my daughter went to a musical, theater conservatory. It was really hard to get it. It was called Baldwin Wallace that was outside Cleveland. That's like one of those like insane. And she, she was there for two years. And they were like, you know, she worked at this theater, the Fulton in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And they asked her to be in the fall show. I said, are you going back to school? What do I do, Dad? What do I? My wife and I were like, You do the show.

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Let Hexclad know we sent you and experience the ultimate upgrade in your kitchen with Hexclad's superior performance. So your wife Robin, is she also from the Midwest? No, she's from Kentucky. So I can be sort of moved back here. Gotcha. Because we've been coming here since 1990 when we met.

Got it. Love it. Because of history and all that. And I just love Kentucky. It's beautiful. Yeah. So when we were living in West Central, Jersey, which is about as redneck as

you get. Yeah, right. There's not that much of a jump. Yeah, if you want anything other than a burger or pizza, you're screwed, you know. So I convinced you moved back here. Did you see you never lived in Los Angeles, huh?

No, but I would you know. Yeah, of course, go work. Right. It was for four months and it was great. Yeah. I was like, when I moved here, if I could, if they, if I can stay in a cool place. Well, I mean, you think that for a while

And then two weeks later, you look at the couch And you're like, oh, yeah, yeah. It's so great. Not so great. Yeah. I, you know, I've been very spoiled because, like, I've basically, you know, I've had a showbiz career that's also like, I mean, I've worked in one building for like the entirety of it.

Like, the entirety of my career is like home games. And sometimes I am like a little bit of jealous of people who like go and do, you know, travel for gigs. And they're all like, be jealous about the first week. Like, just the first week. Just the first week. Yeah, I mean, I really do like going. I think I love going on location because I live on a farm.

Right. I'll run on my road. It's, I see cows and horses. And I'll go to London running Victoria Park. It's just like, I love my favorite thing about this business. It's just being a part of the circus. I just love the people and I love hanging out. I love being on set.

And I love the strangeness of it all. How were your, how were your, Minnesota parents with your decision to do this for a living. I went to a school called Gestavis Adolphus College. It was a small liberal arts college in Minnesota, Swedish Lutheran. And I, yeah, I called him up after this trip to London. I said, hey, I'm going to drop out. And they were like, okay.

So are you coming home now or what's the deal? I was like, oh, that's a good question. Do you think this is verbatim? I was like, do you think they would give me like the money bag for that second half of the year? And they were like, no, I don't think so. I was like, oh, great. Well, then I'll probably just live here. Oh, all right.

And I'll like go to my history class and I'll like sleep in. maybe I'll try that crazy thing reading books. So funny that like, wait, dropping out of college does mean you have more time to read books. It was bliss. It was so great. I went to all my teachers. I said, I'm dropping out. But I'm going to stay because I paid for all the food and everything.

So it's going to be great. I'm going to sleep in, you know, I'm going to drive my friends nuts. You know, hey, you know, anybody want to get a pizza? It's Tuesday night, man. Like, I was just game. And so was that, like, a half a year that you were there that you had paid for? Yeah. Well, I was there for the full year, but.

Oh, yeah. But my parents were not surprised. They were like, great, go for it. Yeah, I really like just the, like, I like that you really wanted to let your teachers know, like, I'm going to be sleeping in. I think they were like, Steve, get on. Just don't show up. Like, hey, I don't want you to think that, you know, I don't like you or that I'm a loser, you know, And the history professor just said you can still, I mean, you've paid.

I went to his class and then I remember driving back to the college to take the essay, the final. And I sat down and I was sitting there and I started the essay. And then I just took another page and I went and I wrote him a little letter, you know, just saying, which I liked his class. and I got up and everybody was like, what's up with a genius guy? That's like a contestant on Jeopardy that just writes a like note on the final Jeopardy thing that's like, love you, mom and dad.

It's like you have no guess for what happened in 1836. You're done, right? I'm like, yeah, I'm done. He's like, yeah, I did. Ethan Hawks in the movie, have you been, you guys must have been friends for a long time. Forever. Yeah.

Yeah, I met him doing a play at Playwrights Horizon in New York called Sophistry. Wow. And then we did Reality Bites right after that. Then we came back and did sophistry again because it was so popular. And then... Before Reality Bites came out? Yeah. Yes.

So you had that window between making a movie that will change your life and it coming out. Right. It was crazy. And then we did with our theater company called Malaparte. And we did it, we did a play called Wild Dogs. So there was a period of time in my career where I just worked with Ethan. Four eggs in a row. And, yeah, we're still just really tight, good friends.

Were you, even those years where you guys were living in New Jersey, did you feel like really connected to that sort of 90s New York theater scene? Yeah, for sure. That's great. I mean, even though I was outside, it was, you know, yeah, it was, it was exciting, you know. It is like, I think it's the, I mean, I moved here in 2001, and I think it's the era that I'm, like, the most, like, jealous of when I see, like, pictures of, like, you and your cohort from that era, I'm like. Yeah, hanging out and, you know, like, Rick Gomez and I, we go, like, we were definitely in the same bars. Yeah.

We just, you know, we were, you know, it was Sammy Rockwell and Josh Han. Hamilton and, you know, Ruffalo and all, you know, everybody was just kind of, you know, Phil Hoffman. What was the bar? Was there a bar that you sort of, a home base? It was a bar that Sam loved in the, because he was always in the East Village. He still is, I can't remember the name of that place. Okay.

There are so many places that are no longer there. Yeah. Fucking old I am, man. Yeah, now we, I was just talking to, I by the way, somebody, like, way, way younger than us. But, like, Zoe Kravitz was just on my show and we were talking about, like, she was in New York in, like, 2004, and she's, like, all the places are gone.

Yeah, and I'm like, I am so happy, though, to have reached the point where I can complain about how New York has changed. Like, that was always my dream. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Yeah. It's crazy, though. I mean, I think of moving there, you know. I mean, hell's kitchen was hell's the kitchen. Yeah. They had a reason for it. do you embrace the derby when it comes to town or is it sort of like that's a that's a circus you don't you're not part of the derby's great the derby's great if you go as a celebrity i would not advise going to the derby

where you have to sign a contract i'm going to get in trouble look when i go to the derby i know the local people i'm in midway kentucky right now right there's a there's a railroad track that goes down the middle of the street. I've been there. I love me. There's that nice little habadashry that I've. Critt. Yeah.

Yeah. I bought a jacket there last time I was there. Really? Yeah. Cross the street. Oh, amazing. There's a building next to Critton and Rollins. And I bought that building.

And my son and his girlfriend are living upstairs. And they're putting in a cafe pub. Oh. The woman that owned that shop, I walked in there and there was no way I wasn't buying something because she kept bringing me things. She was like, try this. Try this. Yeah.

Yeah, she's amazing. She's great. I want to show you the town. That's too important. There's too many wires. Too many wires. But no, I mean, that town, Midway is beautiful. Oh, wow.

It's so charming. Still get your Christmas tree up, I see. Yeah, you know. That is. Did you, while you were panning the camera, did you realize like, oh, shit, they're going to see it's August and I have a Christmas tree. Literally, I, by the way, I thought it was like a trick on my, I thought it was an optical illusion. And I was like, that wasn't a Christmas tree. And then when Josh said it, I'm like, fuck, I thought it was.

Oh. Is, are you guys like, are you guys kind of like just year rounders on Christmas? No, I just drink a lot. Great. Great. I'm going to get to that tree tomorrow. That's fantastic. Just like the driest, deadest tree.

Yeah, it's like, I'll get into it. Yeah. You know what? If you want me to take it down, then you're the Grinch. Yeah. It's fake, right? Yeah. Get off my back.

Went to a fake tree. That was the best thing we ever did. Fake tree. Yeah. Josh, do you fake it? No, we reel it. Yeah. We reel.

But, dude, you got to go to this company. I can't remember the name of it. And it's like, the lighting patterns, there's like, there's like 60 options. And it's like, it's insane. Do you go through all 60? Now I understand why you don't take it down. Yeah.

You've got to get the most out of those. It's fun. Those lighting patterns. Yeah. This has been absolutely lovely. Congratulations, she dances. Your daughter, Audrey, is in it. Oh, Anaconda.

I'm very excited about Anaconda. So am I. Anaconda. saying here's yeah here's my lineup yeah line it line it up so i yeah line it up coming simlo coming out on apple and then um and then chat powers the hulu show oh right with uh glen powell it's going to be huge it's really it's really cool it's a do football show cc and we're i have a fictional team i'm the coach and the mannings they're producing that And anyway, that's going to be great.

And then I did, yeah, I did Anaconda with Jack Black and Paul Rudd. And more people that I kind of consider from that era. Yeah. And we all worked together. We all knew each other. We were like the old people in our little tent on set, like never leaving set. Was that Australia? Yeah.

Fantastic. And Anaconda coming out Christmas, right? Christmas Day. Is that why the tree's already up? Is that excited? It's always, always Christmas for Steve. Yeah. You basically tell your agents, like, I only want to, I only want projects that are coming

out at or around Christmas. That's where I'm at as a person. That's it. I have, yeah, yeah. Well, congrats, that's a lot. That's quite a lineup. And a huge fan of yours for a long time. This is a delight to have time with you.

Thank you so much. And now Josh is going to ask you some speed round questions. All right, here we go. Steve, you can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous, or educational? Educational. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to call you out.

I might throw in some action and some adventure. Sure. You like places that were adventure 200 years ago and educational now. Yes. Like I would, but here, like I would love to go to the island of Pelaloo and see where that. But that would be an adventure because it's a jungle. there right okay great uh what is your favorite means of transportation um my my my my my kawasaki mule all right i love a mule my kids some of our neighbors have mules and my kids you know when a mule

pulls up it's like i'm dead to them they just they would go with anybody in a mule the grim reaper shows up at a mule they'll just jump in the back um if you could take a vacation with any family alive or dead real or fictional other than your own family what family would you'd like to take a vacation with real or not either one just a family i'd like to go with jack black's family family because that would just be funny um if you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family who would it be my wife for sure good good answer um and then I've got a bunch of M-name towns for you. Would you consider Mancato, Minneapolis, or Marshall, your hometown?

I was born in Marshall, but I grew up in Mancato. Would you recommend Mancato as a vacation destination? Not since the Vikings left summer camp. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Viking's doing their practices there. Are you still a big Vikings fan? I am.

Great. Guess what? Guess who's, guess who's, playing in London. Oh, while you're there? He's hopefully hooking up the tickets who's listening on the line

right now. Somebody, hopefully. We are very big Steelers fans and we almost, we couldn't quite make Dublin work this year. Yeah, because they're playing. They're playing Steelers, right?

But that game is in Ireland. I don't think it's... Oh, okay, but then we stay... Oh, you have two. You might have two. Is that... You're right. I think it is.

You're Pittsburgh Steeler fan Yeah, our father's from Pittsburgh That's how it went down I mean I got love for the Vikings Also because of our buddy Our buddy who lives up there Yeah

We're always we're always pulling Pulling for him and for you guys And let's be honest A lot of empathy for what a tortured Franchise has been Dude Yeah And then Seth has our final questions

Have you been to the Grand Canyon Yeah And was it worth it? I can't. It was on a trip with all the pictures, and I didn't take any pictures. Oh, interesting. I think, you know what? That's as good an answer as you're going to get.

That you preferred to take pictures of fields. Empty fields. Versus an empty hole. I think I took a picture. I took pictures that there was tortoises. Okay. They were there, and I took those pictures. Well, that's what everybody says.

You go to the Grand Canyon for the tortoises. Maybe I was like, this would not cast. capture this incredible moment. Yeah. You know what's cool flying over it. Yeah, that's a lot of people try to get away saying they've went to the Van Canyon. Yeah, but that doesn't count. No, from a commercial jet.

Yeah. I often think, I just want to leave you with a very specific performance of yours. In out of sight, I feel like you did some of the most horrified acting that I've ever. because basically we find out how awful it is just by looking at your face and I always think like God that was an incredible piece of acting

oh thank you you're very welcome I appreciate that you've been in a lot of great stuff and thank you so much for your time I hope to see you soon in person Steve yeah have fun in London go vikes

thank you yes go stealers in Dublin go vikes in London yeah you got to be happy with a split. Just take the split, Steve. I will. I will. All right. Bye, buddy.

All right. Take care. Thank you so much. Hey, Suf. Yeah. Suf, do you see that? See what, Pashi. Steve Zon's got a Christmas tree up. Christmas tree? Yeah. And it's fall. That's weird. You think he's okay? Oh, yeah. Are you sure? Yeah. That's just Steve. All right. Back in the day, he and his wife Robin performance. formed in a bunch of shows

After a tour of bye-bye Bertie bought a place in the poker nose Just a few months later They had trouble with the New York rent So the cabin turned out to be Best money that they ever spent Early road trips family drove with purpose Slept in a tent that was meant for a circus

Aunt and Uncle in Phoenix with the sonna Cup and Ball game down in Tijuana Had some success bought a place on the lake Surprised his parents with a bit of a fake Said they had to dress up But that wasn't the truth Confused why they weren't going to the loo-hooth Raised in Minnesota

Baby Steve Kawasaki Nakoboda Farmer Steen Consider joining the Marines Private Steen But then he started doing scenes Actors Tee He's a real Globetrotter

Ghost Steen Made a movie with his daughter Dad's T Nightpikes that are haunted Spooky Steen Sun hit it off with Bellefonte As a child them Family would take road trips camping at the K-O-A's.

But the trip to Gettysburg was the best of days. Wanted to share his love of it when his kids were preteens. But the thing they loved the most were the vending machines. Thank you.