Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - Josh Duhamel Got Dating Advice from James Caan

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

David and Dana have Josh Duhamel joining them this week to talk everything from Ransom Canyon to getting dating advice from James Caan on the set of Vegas. Also, getting his big break on Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, directing Nick Swardson on Buddy Games, and working with Shia Labeouf on the Transformers movies. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I had a date. I'm not going to say who it was with, but I had my first date. Madonna? You know? And I said, Jimmy, what do I do? I was really excited about this date. And I didn't want to impress her. I didn't want to screw it up.

And I said, what do I do? We're going out. He says, well, first of all, take it a vibrato and jerk off before you go on the date. So you don't have any. You told me, you told me to. I have heard this theory. You would find any excuse. If the scene had any sort of physicality,

he'd find a reason to pull a pencil out of his little thing. I'm going to stick it in your neck. He was like, well, that's not scripted, but it seems a little over the top. In the show, that's funny. But you're on a horse galloping, and you're this huge truck, and I don't know, it just seems fun to me. I've never, I'll never be offered that role. You know, I was like.

And I never get to be the church lady, God damn it. Yeah. I want to be the church, lady. Oh. Dana, Josh do Hamel. I think that's the pronunciation. I hope you're correct. That's pretty.

That's what I say. I think that's it. I've known him briefly over the years. Always a gentleman. Always a cool guy. Sense of humor. I knew he was going to be pretty easy because he's done a lot. And we got to extract it because we're fucking pros, man.

It's unbelievable what you're going to see, like you're going to hear about transformers. You're going to hear about James Kahn. You're going to hear about, we're going to give it away. You're going to hear about his life in the mountains and the woods and the lakes. The grid. On the grid, off the grid. You're going to have about different actors. So I'd click it fast. Click it fast and furiously. Yeah. And I'm jealous. I would like to be one of those transformers. That would have been fun. I'd be like to be. There's a tennis ball up there. Act like a Transformer. Oh my God. It's October. Octopolis, whatever's name is. Hey, look at this can opener.

Oh, no, it's a monster. Oh, bo, bab, bad. Yeah. Oh, I open it wrong. He's only at one leg. Yeah, we did get into Transformers. Yeah, he's... What Shia, too.

Yeah, I love Shia. Yeah, yeah. And so it's a, it's a fun interview. He's an extremely likable guy, Josh. Here we go. Josh Dhamlin. David left, but anyway, we don't need him. I thought he bailed.

No, I felt bad for him because he didn't know anything. No, we had guests. It takes 45 minutes. So that was quick. I am so the least tech savvy person, you know. Are you on the grid? I am in Los Angeles. Where are you guys?

A farm. Are you? Oh. Common denominator. Horses having a baby in July. Really? Where are you? Up up in central California. Somewhere between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.

Nice. Beautiful up there. Thanks. But don't you go to North Dakota or do you live there most? Yeah, we live in North Dakota in Fargo. And we got a cabin about an hour and a half into Minnesota from there up in the woods. Wow. I, you know, the cabinet on a lake, because I read about you a couple days is magic. Oh, yeah, we've been cramming.

I'm from Montana. There's not a competition, you know. We can kick ass if we want to, but I actually played mine at North Dakota and I never forgot it. You're kidding me. I did a stand-up gig in Minut. Okay. Yeah. mine it.

M-I-N-O-T. That's my home, my hometown. Back up quarterback. Yeah. You know, I have to try. Jesus, Dana. I like the recent. What was your height and weight as a senior in high school?

Were you an early mature, like, or did you grow later? I was pretty tall, but very skinny. I remember I wanted to get to 200 pounds, and I put these, and we used to wear these, like, stretchy pants underneath our football pants. They had little pockets in them for pads. Sure. And I would slip little two and a half pound weights. No way.

So that I could wet. I never quite, and I got to 199. That was, that was the most I ever weighed in. So the little weights in the stretchy pants built up your legs and create. No,

no, they just made me look heavier. They made me. Oh, so when we wait in. Yeah. No, just just,

just when we wait. I didn't play with those weights. Oh, for the way in, you hacked it with these little weights. I did. I did. It goes,

man. It's the first time I've ever admitted that to anybody. Yeah. We're not going to report it. No. But I think that's pretty clever. I put a kettlebell in my underpants sometimes when I go to clubs. You put a one in there?

A kettlebell? A really tiny kettle. Yeah. Yeah, just for extra, extra. It's all right. It's true confessions. I tell everyone that, though. I was 91 pounds, five feet tall.

when I entered high school. I got my ass kicked a lot. They let you in with those measurements? Look, I played D basketball in those days. There was varsity, Junior varsity, C basketball, D basketball, and this is not a joke. I've said it before, but our center,

the man who controlled the paint was 5'4. I'm not kidding. He controlled it. He controlled it. Yeah. Isn't any video with this? This is something I'd like to see. It was a long way up.

When you're five feet tall and you're shooting a free throw. Listen, we'll get to Josh. I was five, seven, with full pads. I weighed 114 with full pads, 134, and I went out for football and I got smeared like Lucas. The coach said, hey, let me talk to you. And he took me the sideline. Let me talk to you. It took me to the parking lot.

And he's like, all right, get out of here. You cannot be here. He said, I'm saving your life. I know the real story. He said, get the fuck out of here. Remember, he slapped your face. Yeah. We don't want to go there.

Oh. I went out for. That was okay. You could actually do it back then. Yeah, coaches were supposed to rough you up. It's like, I don't know what happened. We were definitely, our coach would take you out behind the woodshed, and he would threaten to take you behind the woodshed. You never knew what happened behind the woodshed, but he would say, I will, I shit you not.

I will take you behind the woodshed. Oh, wait. He would take you behind the woodshed, and then say he'll take you behind the woodshed. I don't know. I don't know. No one wants to be taken behind a woodshed. No. I don't think, John, you were never.

I'd be more worried about sexual things happening. Worried or kind of interested? Just wondering what, what, what, all right, Josh is our guest. No, no, go on. No, Josh. Sorry, Josh. You're going to talk toward the end.

We're fascinating. Have you ever run across John Corbett? Yes, I worked with John Corbett. I figured that guy's worked with everybody. And I figured you two. Which one were you in? I worked on a movie called Ramona and Beezus with him. Let's talk at a clip.

Yeah. Selena Gomez was in the movie. Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Basically remember the Beezas, Ramona and Beezisus? I don't know if you remember those. I think they paid her in followers.

Yeah. John Corbett. John Corbett, quick impression. Yeah, yeah, I got a buddy. Sorry, that's it. That's it. He knows everyone. I got a buddy.

I mean, he knows everybody. The guy, he's a, he's a friend. He's fun, you know. I'm sure you guys. He lives up, doesn't he live up there in that area? Yeah. Yeah. He's very cool.

What's the movie where you win a date with Tad Hamilton? So when a date with Tad Hamilton was my very first break into this industry back in 2000. That was a big break, wasn't it? Two? I think it was 2001 or two. Yeah. was a that was my first you know real job in this business i did all my children i guess that was a real job too three years before that but you know um so i got los vegas and then i got win a date

with that hamilton right around the same time so i thought i was just take off which never really happened but it was it was a it was an interesting your resume is pretty stout josh you were a movie star and you go to a small town and you, someone wins a day with you and is it Kate Bosworth? Who is it? It's Kate Bosworth. Okay. And she was dating Toffer Grace at the Pigley Wiggly.

All right. They worked with the Bigley and I strolled into town like a big shot and tried to steal this girl. Didn't work out in the end for me, but you know. It couldn't in the movies. It couldn't. She had to run back to the bag boy. Yeah.

I like that. I saw that movie. I like it. I like that. And Vegas with Molly Sims, Vegas was on for a long time. Wasn't James Conn't on that? Or was he? James Conn was on that. Vanessa Marcel, Molly Sims. Oh, that's right. That was a cool show. Yeah. Yeah. Jimmy Con was. Tell us about Jimmy con. Yeah. Please. He was just, he's one of those guys that, that, that I learned more from Jimmy than anybody else. And mostly he would be like, you do what I say, not what I do. You know, because the guy would admittedly say that he made. a lot of mistakes

but was one of the most honest people that I've ever worked with. He operated really well with chaos all around him. So he always tried to create, he needed like some shit to talk about somebody to be pissed off at on the set.

Whether it was the writers or the DP or the network, whoever it was, he needed that in order to like rile himself up. But ultimately always showed up. would hang out with anybody on set at all times. He was just one of those guys that you just absolutely adore it and didn't care.

He just sort of said what was on his mind without any thought of repercussions. And I think that's what I admired the most about him. And he gave me some really interesting advice back in the day, not only about acting, but also about dating. I don't know if we can share that here, but it was not. You can share anything here. I'm intrigued by this, so go ahead. I had a date. I had a date.

I'm not going to say who it was with, but I had my first date. Madonna? You know? And I said, Jimmy, what do I do? I was really excited about this date and I didn't want, and I just wanted to impress her. I didn't want to screw it up. And I said, what do I do? You know, we're going out.

And he says, well, first of all, take her to vibrato. I don't know you guys ever been to vibrato, the restaurant. I don't know. Beverly Glenn. Yeah. And jerk off before you go on the dates. You don't have any. He told me, you told me to master.

I have heard this theory. Before I went on the dates that I didn't have any sort of. I know a comedian who would do that. Really? Every time you would go on, every time he would go, before he go on stage? No, before he'd go on a date after the show. He would take care of his sexual urges. he wouldn't wake up going, what?

That's something I've heard and it's, I never practiced it because. Except before podcasts, right? I mean, yeah. Well, that's different because that's business. That was his sage advice for me. And did you follow it or no? Probably.

All right. Let's look at a clip. I always go to the clip. I couldn't wait to say it that time. He's been holding that go to the clip thing for like two minutes. He waited for the opening. But isn't it something about New York guys who have been around for a while? You know, they're like, hey, here's what you're going to want to do, okay?

Yeah. This is the way you're going to handle this guy. Do this. Yeah. It's like Joe Petchy was hosting SNL and he goes, yeah, and I didn't know how much was acting, how much was Joe. And you're going, you know, when are you going to fight? You got to ask yourself, when are you going to fight? I say, fuck it.

It's a sugar bowl across the nose. And you could tell that he'd done that. in life. Someone was fucking with sugar bowl across the nose. I think guys like Pesci are acting like people want them to act like from Goodfellas. Like that's his persona. He likes it. And then he's like, I'm the tough guy.

And then he almost turns into that. I think James Kahn probably gets asked about Godfather. Sonny. Oh, my God. And so he's just like, he's got a built in cool factor just from that, by the way. Oh, my God. Yeah, he would find any excuse. if the scene had any sort of physicality,

he'd find a reason to pull a pencil out of his little thing. And I'm going to stick it in your neck. I was like, well, that's not scripted. But it seems a little over the top. In the show, that's funny. That's gangster. Yeah. And I was pretty green when I first started this show.

I mean, I hadn't done much at all. And I was really open to learning from this guy, obviously, because he's James Kahn. But he would say we'd be in the middle of a scene in between takes. I knew that I knew that I was going to get a talking to. He was like, come here for a minute with Joe.

That's very new. And he would give me advice on what I should do, what I could do better. And, you know, I actually really learned a lot from that guy. It's good if you take it or at least fake take it because that's when fights can happen. It sounds condescending.

But if you're taking from someone in the godfather, you go, I'll hear you out. You know, I'll hear what you say. Maybe something. ring true and I can tweak it. What was it like in general? Was it really short, quick statements? You know, from him and Jimmy,

advising you about the scene. Here's how you can improve. And it'd be like, where was it confusing or was it just like really clean and helpful? It was a God, I don't remember exactly, but it was usually pretty long-winded if I remember correctly.

All right, guys, it's time to get back to, you know, he didn't care about the time. He'll go. We'll go when we're ready. But that was five years we shot that show. Yeah. And it was one of the more memorable experiences I've had in this business.

It's been half a lifetime ago. Was Vegas shot in Vegas? It sounds like a dumb question. We shot the first episode there. And then when we got picked up, we shot the pilot there. And then when we got picked up, they built a big casino. seen on a sound statement. I was right.

100-8 shows. Do you still get checks? If I do, it's not enough for my Mrs. Spender, you would tell me about it. Is that where you met Molly Sims, who is also in benchwormers and the wrong missies? Oh, yes. That is where I met Molly.

Lovely lady. How long have you two known each other? Agreed. Can we just talk about YouTube for a minute? We like taking questions. We're not dating anymore, me and Dana. We're just sort of working friends. He's picked his team and we're cool with it.

Here's the advice Dana gave me when I was acting on SNL. He goes, hey, come there. And I go and he goes, what are you doing? I'm sorry? What are you doing in this scene? I'm like, that's not a very constructive place. And I would wear the tank top. And I have a lot of cash my back pocket.

I go, hey, hey, David, you know, this next scene, he threw me a face. Do me a favor. You know what I mean? Try to fucking be funny, all right? And I'd hand him like 5.20s. Do me a favor. That's very New York.

He goes, how do you not know your lines are on cue cards? Yeah. Read the fucking card, David. Come on, man. I'm sick of this shit. I met Dana. I don't know where I met Dana.

I used to like him because he was a funny comic and then I would see him. Clubs, pre-S&L. David was right out of high school, literally. And then he was, He was around the clubs before I got it on SNL and 86. No, easy, easy with no.

I know, let's just say a while back. But back to our guests. What I'm curious about is this evolution of male model, soap opera, Vegas. When did you sort of feel, or maybe you felt it during Vegas, like, I got this. I mean, when did you kind of go, I know how to do this? Did you study outside of the shows, or did you just kind of a natural? When did you feel like it? you could do it confident well i mean it's i mean i'm still not sure i'm all the way there to be

honest that's everyone's feeling i agree with you even vegas and tad hamilton to a normal person be like great looking guy two things going he's set for life and you're like didn't even cross my mind i was set for life i was just like what if they both don't work i'm right back to zero that's the reality of it it's so scary it is and it's still the reality you know it's i i still have that same mentality, I think. But to answer your question, Dana, I would, I was bound and determined to be proficient at this. And I knew that I wasn't in the beginning and I needed to be, if I wanted to stay in the game, I had to keep working at it. So I would be taking these, these workshops from Larry Moss, have you taken classes on the side, especially in the earlier

days. Okay. And even up until recently, just to, you know, scare myself a little bit, those Larry Moss seminars were two weeks and you would put like big chunks of like a Eugene O'Neill playup on stage or Tennessee Williams or whatever it was and you have to rehearse with your partner with all the props and the whole thing you put it up in front of you know the whole class which is a small theater so that was the closest I ever got to do in theater but it was terrifying and I think that that's that's the kind of stuff I did just to keep myself smart you know all those things help I think we've heard that story a lot by people really you know and I was I watched the first episode um the western

ransom canyon and I and I just thought you were really in the pocket I don't know how you felt about it but I just felt you were very there was a lot to do in that first episode I don't know I don't know I don't know how you felt about that uh I really enjoy the show actually you know I felt like it felt good yeah yeah it was a little soft and I thought in the beginning But then it gets much, it just keeps getting better and better. And I think the second season is an extension of that. But, you know, I work, April Blair is the writer, the head writer, the showrunner. She just runs a great set and lets us really sort of, you know, offer our thoughts and our ideas.

And she's really open to that kind of stuff, which I love because, you know, I want this character to feel as authentic as I can make them. and she's open to that. Isn't it fun to kind of play the alpha, you know? I mean, it's kind of a badass, but you're sensitive, at least what I saw. But you're on a horse galloping and you're this huge truck and I don't know. It just seems fun to me. I'm never, I'll never be offered that role. And I never get to be the church lady, God damn it.

Yeah. I want to be the church lady. I'm writing a movie starting tomorrow and you're going to be the church lady. church lady church later well it's a little thing called growth hormones we're larger now getting used to it bitches yeah you can i can see you doing that i mean do you have a thing where you feel like you were in transformers this and that do you have a thing to do a wacky comedy if you felt you've done a really wacky one almost like wainsworld or joe dirt or you know well those are truly my those are my favorite movies to be honest um that's why i'm so stoked

to be on this show today wow huge fan of both of you honestly i'm not just saying that because I'm here. But I do. I love Fairley movies. I love Adam Sandler movies. I love Todd Phillips and all those guys. And, you know,

we did a movie. I directed it a couple years ago. We did two of them now called Buddy Games, which is just ridiculous. Yes. It is their hard ours. Our boy, Nick Swarton. Sadly with Nick Swartzon.

We wanted to ask you about that. Two things. One is you're directing these movies, so you're making that leap. They're balls out. are rated funny and you have Nick Swartson, what could go wrong? And Olivia Munn and Kevin Dillon and at least in the first one. Alex was in it.

James Rode. Yeah, we had a really funny cast. Man, that was just like, you know, that talked about terrifying. Directing was like something I always wanted to do and felt like I could but didn't think I knew enough. But then I realized that I knew enough to know that I didn't have to know everything. Right. just surrounded myself with really good people like Nick.

When does the hard part come in? Do you come in and you know, you've got as a director opposed to being an actor. So you've got to be part of all the prep. It's sometimes it seems to be so much prep that once you're there, 90% of the hard stuff is done because there's so many decisions. Then you're like, now we just got to go. But that's got to be hard because I'm not in those when you're not directing. So you set up and everything's ready.

and you know you can tweak things but you've got to go with what you got so that's probably a lot of the hard part yeah it's all about the prep for sure but even even even even when you're prepped you things rarely go to plan exactly exactly because you never have enough time or money or you know weather or you know changed locations last minute and you're like i got to do this whole scene in this now is this to make any sense yeah dan back it all broke his leg oh wow at the exact halfway point of the first movie I mean, we built this big slide. And he wanted to do it. He was supposed to have a stunt guy.

He's like, I'm going to do it. And sure enough, he's going down feet first, should have gone head first, turns, bangs the crap out of his leg. And he had this, it wasn't a break. It was called a sub-dermal hematoma, I think is what they called it. It was almost worse than a break. And he couldn't walk for the rest of the movie. He literally had to sit down in between takes and raise his leg up.

And so anytime we had him moving, we had to throw in this body double. And so that, of course, through a good direction of things. We had to change the way we shot scenes and everything else. But man, that guy was a warrior. He battled through it. You know, it was a rough one. But you'd never know watching the movie. But it's things like that.

You just have to be able to make decisions and be able to switch on the fly. And when you have really good actors and a good deep. and a good crew, you're able to do it. And that's really what I needed was all those things to, yeah, I used to think it was just knowing lenses when I was younger, like technical things. And now I realize what Spielberg has, just using his, a minute example, is blink.

I mean, all the other stuff can be learned. But then it's like in the moment, oh, we got it. That's funny. Or that's going to work. And so that's all the director, the sensibility, if it comes through one guy's sensibility, is usually better than having too many. cooks.

Yeah, and I think that there's a lot of different. Some directors are much more technical. They do understand every lens. I wish I'd have paid more attention, honestly, early in my career, so I wouldn't have known more about that stuff. But it's just about your relationship with your DP and being that okay. But if you said, we're going to do a two shot here. Does he say suggest a lens, does he even mention it?

Or does he say, I think we should do this and you go, I get what you mean. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. Or they'll show you through their little thing. and they're able to take their phone now and just sort of say, okay, so this is.

Oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they can tell you what the shot looks like, and they have different lenses that show you like, okay, so this is what. Oh, that's great. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, there's a million things you can do. But really, it's about the prep. It's about the, you know, making it through all of the landmines

that come about while shooting. And then the fun part is really editing. Yeah, that's where the movie gets you can find a movie in it. And you got to just tell. Nick to bring it down a million percent every couple minutes. Nick is actually, Nick is actually that guy, I'm just so proud of that dude. He's sober now. Yeah.

You know, while we shot, he was always, he never drank, you know, which was really impressive. It is for, yeah, it's true. I was with him, yeah. It's true. And he sits on set all day every day and sort of sits and punches up jokes. Yeah. He's streaming.

He's great for that. He was that on the wrong miss. He was that on do-over. He would sit. You guys work together a lot, haven't you? Yeah, it's not great, but yeah. Listen, it's not great news, but it's news. No, I have sushi with him, and I know he's not drinking because he's always grouchy.

Do we have to go where you want to go, why the fuck are you always like this? I go, Nick, you live downtown. Why am I going downtown for anything? I don't even want to go to a Lakers game down there and get gunned down. He's in downtown now? Yeah, you'll come to where people actually live. Downtown? I thought he lived over by Barney's Beanery.

He lives behind Koi. He did for a long time, Barnys Beinery area. I always thought he had a tunnel into Barney's Beinerie because he was there so much. I go, no one's actually seen you except there. Do you go under? Pops up.

Like a fucking mirror cat. Mirror cat. No, but you have an emoji. movie, you can get Mirkatt Manor. If you have him in a movie, you're going to get laughs. And also, he can help punch up, so he's valuable. Yeah. And he's just a very sweet person, you know.

He really is. And he's a Vikings fan, which doesn't hurt. Oh. He does like the Vikings. So you're from North Dakota. What's your team? Where do you intersect? Also Vikings, twins, Timberville.

Okay, because you're close. Because you're in Minnesota now. I was listening. Lake. Lakehouse. Yeah. And I have questions. When you do Transformers, we're jumping around, but Transformers,

a couple of people saw it. I heard some applause. Three transforms. Three of them. And is Shia in any of these at this point or not? Yeah, so Shia was in the first three. And then I didn't do the fourth and I ended up doing the fifth. But yeah, I worked with Shia in the first three.

Oh, you were in three and then another one? No, one, two, and three. five. Oh, so you weren't. Okay. Wow. Great. Shaya, I mean, he seems, first of all, he's a pretty good actor and he seems like a cool dude, but I know he steps in shit a lot, but I feel like was he cool to, he seems like a cool dude. Oh, I love him. I really do. Oh, good. Okay. You know, he's misunderstood. He's a little bit, uh, complicated, I guess. Sure. But also, when he's sober, he's amazing, you know. I'm not sure where he's at now with all that. But he's, but he's, but he's, He was just a kid when we started. I mean, he was, I'm a true story.

We're at, I'm at the airport flying to New Mexico for the first day of shooting this movie, which was a giant break for me. I was like, oh my gosh. Huge movie. Michael Bay. Yeah. I think he was 17 or 18 years old. Shows up with a black eye at the airport.

He went to a Dodgers game the night before and got into a fight in the parking lot after the game. What a great. start shooting in like two days. Oh, boy. And I was like, oh, my God, this kid just doesn't care. Yeah. But, you know, nothing doesn't care about the work.

He just, he just full on, sort of like Jimmy in a lot of ways. But super talented. Yeah. A sweetheart of a guy. And I got nothing but love for him, honestly. And the movies work. I mean, and you were there for the Megan Fox ones too, right? Yep.

And you had, and then she did how many? Just one? I think she did the first two. Didn't she? I don't remember. I think it's more than one. And then it was an Australian. I mean, they kind of, it's always going to be, once she was out, they're like, okay, we need something gorgeous.

We need a gorgeous girl, not something. We need a gorgeous actors, and they can act. And they were coming through. Yeah, he's got an eye for that, Michael Bay. He knows how he knows how to find him. He knows what he was doing. I just want to mention about Shilah is the movie he did about his dad. Is that called Honey Bear or something?

Yeah, it was so twisted. It was such a twisted to have a parent jealous of your success and all the competition. Yeah, I think that's where a lot of the complication came from. I mean, I don't know for sure what the story is there. But he's, he can be brilliant as an actor. He's incredible in that movie. He truly is a incredible actor. He really is.

He is super intense and is able to access that so quickly. I was mostly impressed at just how talented he was. Fearless, because, you know, he was the lead of this big movie and just like went for it. I just have to ask you, because it's in my head. Did they, what did they do about the black guy? Did they have you punch him the first day or something? I don't remember what he was getting at the sequence too. I was like, what were you thinking getting into a fight like the night before we're leaving?

Hey, dude, I'm starting a $300 million movie. Yeah. You're a good man. I'm weak. I'm walking away now. I say I had to get out of any fight. I'm starting a $300 million movie tomorrow, guys. Or I would just beat this shit of everyone in here.

And they go, I thought it was bus boys. I go, it's the budget's getting up there. When someone says to you in a parking lot, what are you looking at? You got to say, uh, nothing's goodbye. You can't go. You don't go, what do you mean? What are you looking at? you looking at. Hey, do me a favor. Get the fuck out of here.

I just want to do that character all day. Once you said Joe Pesci, I'm off with the racist. So the thing about directing, like everyone has always said, just direct. You can't spend your story. So how much better did you feel with the second one, the sequel, Buddy Games, Spring Awakening? Because there was a second one. Yes. You better, I feel better. I felt a little bit more confident, I guess. Confident. that I could, that I knew what, you know, what to look out for, you know, because the first time you're doing anything like that, you obviously make a bunch of mistakes and you learn from those. But the second one just presented a whole new slew of challenges. Okay.

But it was, it really was a lot. I mean, it was, I just love those guys, Roday, back at all, Swartson, Dylan, They're all just such great guys and really sort of patient. So they came ready to go. Not ready to adapt. Yeah. And they were great. And I think that when you have guys like that, it just makes a lot easier.

Do you get to use your first AD or DP? Do you try to get everyone sort of the same because you had a system at that point? Yes. We had a lot of the same crew there. Some are gone. In kind of the same area. Some of them were off working somewhere else, but for the most part, we had the same team. Were they both in the same city?

I'm sorry, I interrupted. Were they the same city? No, well, no, because it was it was Vancouver-ish, but we were out at this place called Lake Harrison for the second one. So, yeah, I mean, it was- That's complications, too. It's different crew. You have to use some local crew. You have to use some local talent, right?

I mean, maybe I'm just crazy. This is what you used to do. No, that's, that's, it'd be nice. to be able to work at the same people all the time, but people get jobs elsewhere and are not available. So like my DP, I didn't get to use the same DP because his mother was sick. He was from the UK and he couldn't make it.

So we had a different DP who's also. Also, sometimes you're saying, hey, we're starting in January and then they clear it. And then he got pushed to April. And they're like, I got to take something. And then it's so complicated that you go, yeah. Yeah.

That's the hard part about it. That's, especially if it's under a $30 million. But if it's not like a tent pole, it's something they just are locked into. Things can be moved. Things get pushed. People fall out. It's tough coordinate.

Yeah. But, you know, the thing that I really learned from this, and I think it was just in general for me in all facets, was that I was able to, one of the things I guess I'm most proud of was I was able to get, you know, whether it's my wardrobe or my, hair and makeup team or my art department. I let them go do their, I said, okay, I gave them an idea of what I want and I let them be the artists that they are rather than try to micromanage it too much because then they felt

enlisted in going out and sort of walking through walls because then it was like all of us were moving in the same direction. You know, and I've worked with directors, all different kinds of directors, some that were micromanaging and some, and they, you know, everybody's kind of operating out of a sense of fear and there are some that felt like they were all part of a the thing where we're all we're all working towards the same objective we really did a good job of that you know because we didn't have a lot of money or a lot of time we had to get these days shot or we didn't we just wouldn't get it so when you know it seems like actors make better directors often because they know what it's like

you're so vulnerable in the camera's on the crew's watching you're doing multiple takes or maybe you blew a few lines. And so anyway, I just assume you'd be naturally good at it, you know, just because your experience on the other side. I don't have any big studios knocking on my door, so I don't know how good at it I am. Well, do you ask, Ransom Canyon if down the line you can do it? Yeah, Josh. Yeah.

Transformers, of course. All right, thanks, Stephen. Spielberg. Oh, good. I'm going to call you. Oh, good. I was going to ask you being a leading man. Like it wasn't something that Dave, well, David did some romantics things.

Did you ever have somebody that you either kind of fell in love with secretly or you knew that they had fallen in love with you? Without, you don't have to name names. I'm not looking for a trend, but, you know. On a set with like a like a, like a, yeah. No. Kristen Bell, Jennifer Lopez. No, no, no, no. No, I never did.

Thank God. Minka Kelly. They all had significant others. but even then it's like I just knew how problematic that can be I never really I haven't been perfect but I have never gotten romantically involved with her

and plus I was always you know either in a relationship or marriage no no yeah okay sorry I got that off my I'll say you know there's always beautiful people in the showbiz so I can see I can see why it happens in the world

And the hard thing is going from movies, even friendships, you're like so locked with people, especially you when you're directing with your whole crew. And then everyone splits. It's such a weird mind fuck that people don't really take into consideration. And then the next one, you sort of have to slowly get to know everybody. And then by the end, the rap party, you're like,

way, we're leaving. And then everyone just gone. And you might never talk to them again in your life. You might stay in touch, but everyone's busy. And work is the best way to keep friends together. because if you all have to be somewhere common goal, then you stay in time. It's very hard to keep it going.

I feel like Sandler's done a really good job of that, isn't he? That's why we're all crazy. Sandler's a singularity. There's no one like Adam Sandler in terms of the amount of work he does, how loyal he is to his friends. I mean, they're going to do grownups three. That's out, right?

So, I mean, there are the posse back together. Chris, Ron. I mean, Rob Snyder, David. He's the best example of, I think, what David just said is, you know, keeping, you know, that crew, that team or those, that group of friends together. But it's hard to do. And every movie and every project, as you guys know, is like a summer camp. Everybody comes together and it's like you're just getting to know everybody's name and then it's time to go home. Yeah.

And then you do it. And then you do it again. But it's like building a little business for however long this production is on. and then it all goes away and then you go on to the next one. So for sanity purposes, it helps to be around the same people. It's just like so odd because L.A.,

you know, you're in Vancouver, Swartz and goes this, you know, I have friends here, then everyone splits off and stand-up comedians, your friends are on the road. It's the same kind of thing. No one's really one spot for too long. No.

We're all vagabonds. What do you think about the, uh, the chance that, you know, production starts coming back to Los Angeles. I'm hearing some, I know that's on the top of mind for some of these,

especially for the mayoral candidates, but do you think they're going to do anything about it? What do you think the first step is tax breaks, try to compete with all these places? Sandler did Happy Gilmore in New Jersey, and this is what I read. I'm not, so it's in whatever,

Hollywood reporter. It was a $150 million budget, and then it, They got it down to a $90 billion a million dollar budget because of the tax credits. However, that works. In Los Angeles? No. In New Jersey, like Netflix is moving their major headquarters to New Jersey.

New Jersey, at least in the States, is saying, come on down. But California didn't keep up. It's got a lot of pensions to pay. It's got a lot of money going elsewhere. So it wasn't easy. But they weren't matching New Orleans or now even Toronto. So people are going to Romania, as you know, London. Ironland.

We shoot, we shoot, we shoot, uh, Rencenton in New Mexico. They got a huge, Netflix is a huge, uh, huge states. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what it is. I mean, when I do a movie or TV show, it's literally someone, first of all, they say they don't even consider LA. They go, they look at some, it's really just a chart.

They go, this one gives 13% tax break. So let's say you spend as much money, you get money back. And that's a 20 million. million dollar movie can be shot for you know 16 million they save four million that's all they want to hear and here it costs 20 or more so it's all it's all math right just mad told us about his game showed uh the floor and that they just had to move the entire american contestant everybody to dublin really to dublo's rob loz game show the floor has to be done in dublin because you can shoot for three weeks there at the same price of one day or

or something incredible, the differential. So, but the good news is, is like, you can, no one knows where anyone is anymore. Like, you can, you can just be in Minot or whatever. We're just going to zoom in or, you know, no one has to be in the olden days. You've got to go to Sardis and have a drink and your manager would network.

And now it's just, I don't know if it'll ever come back to where it was. Paramount is trying to do it, the Ellison twins or whatever, you know. Yeah. I mean, it'd be nice to work here once a while. Yes. And, you know, it just feels like fewer and fewer things being shot here. And, you know, it's fine if you're, if we can go elsewhere and work. But what about the crew that lives here in LA?

That's the really sad part. All those people, a lot of them have had to move and scrambling for money. And that's the real, because the so-called stars are they can move around. But, yeah, they're fixed in one place and they're professional, set designers and grips and all that. How about we lose the high-speed rail and then we have showbiz back? 100% back. Just keep giving the high-speed rail money as taxing sales. $20 billion get you a mile?

I'm not even saying that's a good or bad thing. I'm just saying $20 billion get you a mile. I want a bit on that. I can beat that. I would love, I like European high-speed trains. I don't really like airports or flying. I would love a high-speed train. But it started when I was in eighth grade.

and I have to live to 140 to ride on it. Other than that, it's terrific. It's not even built yet. They're like, I've seen some renderings. I've seen it for 10 years. When do they make it? I don't know. What's North Dakota like?

Is it a pretty reasonable? What's their state tax? Well, I'm actually resident. You're a resident. I'm actually a resident of North Dakota. Whoa. Oh, wow. Smart.

And I can tell. tell you, I've been a resident there for years, but, yeah, my wife was from there, you know, our house is there. I love Montana. I love North Dakota. I love that part of America. I love the mountains. Eastern Minnesota. I mean, western Montana in the, in the summer, it's a love fest, but so you, you're, that's great. So you're not, it gets pretty thirsty down here, as David would say, as far as taxes. It's pretty sad. Yeah, it does.

It's crazy. It's crazy. It would be one thing if I knew where they were going, but I just doesn't look around. Like, where we pay more taxes? Minnesota is also really bad for taxes. Yeah. But. You got your own things up there.

Yeah. I'd like to kind of, I just want to know for a second. Like, what are you, what do you like out in the world in North Dakota? Everyone leaves you alone. You wear a baseball cap. you're just, you're just blend in. And then when you're on your lakehouse, you're just going to the,

are you to fish there, do you water ski? I mean, what do you, what's your life up in those mountains? Alex. So we have a, we have a, our place in Fargo, which is, you know,

Fargo is actually a bustling little town. It really is. There's a lot of, it's like a real city, right? Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's really fun town, too.

I mean, people know of it from the movies and the TV shows. It's, it's very different than that, but, But, you know, it's, I just love North Dakota. I love the people there. I love how, I love the way they live their lives.

It's very, it's a little bit slower. Yeah, not everyone's talking about politics. No. The cabin life is, it's just kind of my, it's just absolute freedom out there. So I bought, over the last 15, 16, maybe 17 years now, I bought like a little half a parcel for 12 acres. for like nothing. And then the other half of that parcel went up for sale when the old guy, Cody died.

Then I had, then I had 26 acres with a little cat, little shack of a cabin with no electricity, no water. But it was a cabin. It was a structure. I got a cabin. I'm not going to sleep there with the rats or the mice or the raccoons. And then the one next to that went up for sale. So it was like, I had, now I had, I got it for nothing.

I'll tell you, I'll tell you what I paid for, $189,000 for 26 acres. I'll give you one. I don't know. And right on the water? Yeah. So it was like, you know, the amount you can get there versus what you pay for it here is crazy. Oh, my God. I'm not sure I would be able to get it for that now.

But then all of a sudden I had two little cabins and like 50 acres on this place and I never planned to do that. I just wanted something out there somewhere that I could just get away and go, you know, fish and stuff like that. Well, it's turned into like a whole passion of mine because I just love. And I started moving dirt and I started shaping it. And then we actually built the property because the other two were so small we couldn't have any families. Like these cabins are so small.

They're just big enough for three people or family of three. And so, you know, what I think I love the most about it is I just get out there and it's just my heart rate drops about 25%. It's just much less of, then my priorities change too. I feel like I have purpose by, you know, I'm always working on something where I don't even mow my own lawn here. I just,

you know. Are you a homesteading or did you get services? Did you get water from the city and hook it up? Well, we had to dig wells. Okay. Each of one of the cabins has a well. We operate off propane,

um, solar. Uh, you know, for the first few years, was, you know, there was no water. There was no bathroom in the, we had electricity in the little cabin, the first, the second one, but no water.

So we were like washing our dishes in the lake. And it was like homesteading. But I loved it. You know, it was like so different than anything I'd ever done before. That's Dana's place right now. I like all that, everything you're talking about. I love being on a lake, Montana. It is just magic.

There's a vibe in an atmosphere you can't quite describe. But it's completely. different. I mean, that's awesome that you do that, you know. Good for the soul. Yeah. Then a week later, you're on a night shoot somewhere in Atlanta. You're like, it might be rude, but I'm playing Minneapolis and I kind of like to take a little vacate. I mean, I'm not going to say what's the address and where's the hidea key, but I'm just saying, hi, I would like, hey, you are welcome anytime, Ben, and I mean that. I mean it. You can take the little red cabin on the water. I like the sound of that.

It's really, it's really cute. Yeah. And would you have a boat? Do you have a little, a fisher boat, or do you have like a speedboat or do you have a canoe? I just,

we just splurred and bought a pontoon because I hadn't, ours was old. God have a pontoon. Yeah. I got a little little little fishing boat out there and a couple of little jet skis. Oh, and so. A sea plane?

I wish. So there's this So we did I did this movie a couple years ago with J-Lo Called Wedding Shotgun Wedding And there was this movie Or there's this not movie

There was this boat That was kind of in the beginning of the movie And at the end it was going to throw a little picnic for her in the movie And it was this old 54 Chriscraft And I was like what do you What's up with that boat? And I said we paid a lot of money for this thing. I said well I'll give you

I'll give you this for it. No no we paid we paid this. What are they going to do? I let it go. Well, about six months later, they come back and they say, you still want the boat. And I said, well, I'll give you like half as much as I offered before. And they said, fine. They took it.

And then it was over in Puerto Rico or something. I had to get it all the way back to the States. And finally, they were having to do all that. And they said, you know what? It's yours. So they gave it to me. They gave it to me. Which there's a little more to this story.

But so I ended up getting it back to Florida and I had somebody pick it up in Florida and drive it to Fargo. And I have this old guy named David Selving and he's got two buddies who help him. He restores these old boats. And it looks beautiful on the outside. But when they open it up, man, it was a huge money pit. So that free boat went to, you know, not free. But it's all done now and it's out of the water and it's fun. It's a really cool ride.

Wow. So, you know. All right, Dan, we're going to let Josh go, but I want to ask him about ingenie in a bottle video. Did you ever think you'd have to worry about money again? And did you have to go in the bottle? What was that? You were the hot guy in the video. I love that.

I love that song. I love that video. But I don't remember you in it. So what is it? She's jumping around and then you're a hot guy. Well, you don't know. You don't remember me in it because I was in it like that long. I like that it's the number one thing on your resume.

They're like, please mention this. Literally, you can't, if you're not watching super closely, you'll never see me in the video. I audition for the lead guy. The videos about these group of guys who crashes Christina Slumber Party on the beach in Malibu. I like it's a story. I was one of the guys. It's great. You're not the hottest guy.

This is insane. You could hot circles around that guy. I don't care of me. All right, well, Ransom Canyon. Ransom Canyon. You got 23rd. Second season starts. And there's a season on right now.

Yep. Ransom Canyon. Nice chatting with you, buddy. All right, guys. All right, listen, if you're enjoying the fly on the wall, of course, hopefully you are. Click follow. We don't want to be desperate, but obviously smash that goddamn button on your favorite podcast app. Smash it.

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I'm going to tell you this right now. Him and I'll believe me later. Fly in the Wall, believe it or not, is presented by Odyssey. And executive produced by Hold For It, Dana Carvey and David Spade. Or David Spade and Dana Carvey. We don't write this stuff. Heather Santoro, Greg Holtzman, and Leah Reese DeSendale. The show is edited by Evan Cox, with production support from Phil Sweet Tech.

Talent production and booking by Sophia Lippor.