Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - Nick Offerman the Humorist

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Nick Offerman pops onto the pod to chat with Dana and David about his “Johnny Appleseed Mission”, which is why he wrote Little Woodchucks. They also chat about his latest movie with Jacob Tremblay called Sovereign which leads to a bigger discussion on how Nick bolsters his acting confidence, his breakout roles, and all their favorite films. And of course come Parks and Rec talk! 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

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So I meet a lot of kids these days that say, oh, God, I've seen Parks and Rec seven or eight times through. to which I say let me recommend some books to you you do a ton of blow and then dump out a jigsaw puzzle and you go 72 hours sit down at a big butt plug

yeah okay Nick Offerman David Nick Offerman was a good time this guy I see out and about here and there he's a great guy married to Megan Malaley

so I see them together Yeah, sometimes. She was on Will and Grace. Will and Grace? hilarious. He has a book. He's got a book called, is it Little Woodchucks? Little Woodchucks.

He's quite the carpenter. And we talk about that a lot. You don't really meet show folk too much that can like, he thinks all Americans should be able to just build a chair or build a table. Sure. And don't be intimidated. So Little Woodchucks is a way to introduce carpentry to. to your kids and to dysfunctional adults as well.

Yeah, a big movie called Sovereign right now out. So I saw the trailer. I didn't see the whole movie. The trailer looks pretty riveting. It's not like a goofy comedy, but he's very good in it. And also, you know him from Where the Millers, you know him from Parks and Rec. He's done a ton of things. Everyone knows who this guy is.

Yeah, and he does stand up. He doesn't really call it stand up, but he also, that's another gear we talk. talk about. He plays guitar and he's sort of foxy up there. He's been on the scene for quite a while now, but he's, he's extremely humble about it. He really works a lot. He's very humble. He's got a great voice. Must be doing a lot of voiceovers. His voice and his look is like, that's Nick Offerman. Yeah, good dude. And here he is. Have a good time with it. I did not expect this. I did not expect this. I thought it was John Ham, but I'm so thrilled

that our guest today Sean Ham. Damn! You grow a great mustache. Yeah. Thank you. Good morning. Jeez, this voice, this guy has voiceovers for breakfast. Yeti microphone. I'm making, here we go. Let's see if everybody's happy on our technical

side. We'll give you a quick 20 minutes to figure this time. I've put, and now I have you in my cans, which is, uh, your cans is, uh, like with Don Ordo used to call headphones. Something we say in filmmaking. And it can't. Let me ask you a question right off the bat. Technical stuff like this and setting up electronics and that stuff and solving all that, that compared to carpentry, which is harder for you?

For me, tech shit. I, I'm, I'm a pragmatist. And so in our house, like, and Megan, my wife and I, do a lot of cartoons and whatnot. And so we had to set up a studio in our house. Oh, for voices. Yeah. And so I master everything just to the extent that I need to. Right.

Which is annoying because, as you know, the systems change every seven weeks. Like as soon as you master your operating system, they update it. Yeah, they should have, instead of Geek Squad, it should be called. tech shit call us for your tech shit because it's true i you write the book you have to write the book every two weeks that's right did you do a cartoon during the pandemic at from home i did sure i mean i think sure i think everybody uh did and started a podcast um we Megan does Bob's Burgers and uh oh shit yeah we both did a show called the Great North that was written by a couple of Bob's Berger's writers,

the Molyneux sisters. And I do like audio books and some voiceover work. So we've got a cute little setup. It seems like you do a couple hours a day. No, I have a question about that. I'm going to back up. I know.

I want to tell my story about Qatar stands and blankets when you're finished. I want to tell about Great White North. I think I did a demo track for that. Was that, were they in an airplane or something at the beginning of this pilot? Were you on it for a long time or was it on a show that was on a long time? We just finished five seasons and that's, that's the end of it. Fox has thrown us in the dumpster.

Okay, so I didn't get it. It doesn't look like it's going to work out. Dana, I didn't know for five seasons if I got that thing. Oh, you waited and waited. Yeah, they sent it to me. They love your tape. Okay, thank you. They are checking your avails.

I was in Hotel Transylvania, and you were in Hotel Transylvania. How was your team? I noticed, I was reading yesterday what team is looking into. You do a podcast and guests. Team is advising. Team is working hard on it. Next team is asking our team. You have a team.

I have a team. Everyone has a team. You don't have an agent or manager or lawyer. You have a team. You have a team. Yeah, I've got a shooting forward who sets up my podcast appearance. she's terrific she's greater rebounder as well defensive defensive rebounder

are you talking about basketball yeah both ends man she does it all she does it all all all as I'm looking for we don't know where to start I mean we yeah there's too much I presume there's too much author carpenter actor stand up and the two things I notice you have little woodchucks is is is kind of your latest book that's right i saw it on x and also this movie sovereign which has a 90% of rotten tomatoes uh it's yeah it's fantastic and it's and it's a it's a

fan it's a hilarious pairing because the the book is really fun and positive and lighthearted and it's it's my trip is i i encourage people to make things with their hands like that's that's my Johnny Appleseed mission. And then the indie movie, Sovereign, which is so exquisite, it's despite my participation, this guy named Christian Swigle wrote and directed it. It's a story of a sovereign citizen, which is kind of like a Q&ON conspiracy theorist, inspired by a true story. It's a terribly tragic thing.

It's powerfully moving. People are just crazy about it. But they're the exact opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. That trailer for Sovereign was heavy duty. I just saw it. It's pretty wild. A kid named Jacob Tremblay from Canada and then another kid named Dennis Quaid. Dennis Quaid.

I think he's going to do big things. Is Jacob Tremblay? He was in a movie I saw. He's a good kid. And is he your son in it? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn't recognize him.

man he will he will just break your heart he's just incredible in it and you're a sort of a tough dad in it um yeah i i am tough but loving that's that yeah part of the theme of that film um is how fathers raise their sons and how that might contribute to violence in our country in our modern day so the me and my son and then dennis quade has a son who's on the police force and then the great Thomas man plays him and then he has a baby and so they all everybody weighs in on how you should raise your sons

and the way the movie turns out you're like well maybe don't go that route yeah because the sense of modern masculinity often leads to hate and violence which I say is a thumbs down I'd say that's the message of the movie right do you think what's a bigger turn on being a movie star killing it stand up for your wife

or you fixing something or finishing your canoe or building with your hands because that's i didn't get that gene i don't do it i'll probably get this book because i think it'd be interesting to try to build a table but what is the biggest turn on for your wife when she sees you doing something okay that's thank you that's a great question um I'm going to start by saying, I hope you will get this book and read it. It's a short read, and I think it's really funny. I think you guys would love there's a subversive sense of humor where it's like written for parents to read to their kids, but it's got a hard-boiled sensibility.

So I'm like, all right, kids, are your parents, do your parents, can they find their ass with both hands? Like, are they feeding you, okay? And there's a conspiratorial, per radical sense of like, let's get together and learn how to keep making our homes together and not let AI take over our lives. So I do think you guys would find it funny. And as far as turning on my wife, we've been together for 25 years, and we actually have yet to consummate our relationship. On Tuesdays, I'm allowed in the house for dinner. You live in a dog house, or what's not bad? I stay in the yard.

I mean, we're in. She runs a tight ship. We're in Bel Air. It's nice, yeah. You stay in the yard. I, you know what? I honestly, I'm going to have to think about what is a bigger turn on for her. I think probably, you know, we both went to, like, theater school.

Well, that's not true. I went to theater school. She went to Northwestern and did theater, but she was an English major and was quickly plucked out of school. And for your listeners that don't know, it's Megan Malalley from Will & Grace and Parts. Malawi is the pronunciation.

Just legend. Hilarious, a lot of fun. Legendary, funny. Sweetheart, too. Most recently of the righteous gemstones. And she has an amazing band called Nancy and Beth that'll knock your socks off. So I feel like for both of us, like, even though we're lucky enough to get to work in a few different circuses, what we really want to do is like medicinally affect an audience with acting work.

And so probably like my work in Sovereign has been accused of being affecting. And so I think something like that probably thrills her more than when I build a canoe. right so when you're being i was just curious as an actor is it it obviously it depends on the director who's on the set what's going on but what do you what do you one of you're most excited to play something is something really scares the hell out of you anger because you're kind of you're you're sort of a contradiction you can play the alpha male you know but you're also can play really vulnerable well i've just observed this you know thank you thanks a luck in my Bronson voice.

Or is there anything you haven't done, you know, in terms of acting that would turn you on? The way I pick jobs and I'm so, I feel so stupidly lucky to even get to say the sentence when I pick jobs as an actor. That I have a choice. It absolutely just has to do with the writing. And so I'm never looking for like, okay, next up, I want to do a Western. or I want to do a play or a comedy. It's just what I do. What organically comes my way.

I'm looking forward to your Western, David. I go, the next script that comes along is what I'm looking for. I hear you're a hilarious shot. He's no horseman. He's remaking the Apple Dumpling game. Tim Conway. That's a brilliant idea, actually. Yeah, that actually is a great idea.

Was Barney Fife in that? Yes, I was just going to say you should shit out the catalog of Don Knott's. I shit out the catalog. Just go through each one. You should play Don Knott's in a biopic. The Incredible Mr. Limpit. Oh, my God. Now we're talking.

So when I read a script, it's completely organic. It's like, does this writing move me, inspire me? And it could be the stupidest comedy like Rob Cordry's, uh, Children's Hospital, where I'm just like, this is the stupidest shit. I have to be part of this. Or like, Conan will give me a bit to do that's so dumb that I'm like, people are going to, I can't wait to make people laugh with Conan. Or this sovereign script is a great example. My agent was like, this is kind of like out of left field. It's very unorthodox. But just read it. And I read it. And I called him and was like, You're right.

I think I have to play this guy. And so I recently did a series that will be out next year with L. Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer. And doing scenes with like total movie stars like those two, that instills a thrilling fear in me. Like I once did a movie with Michael Keaton and I'll compare the three to each other. They're all performers where the camera, I'm sure you guys have had this and people have it with you in your own way. The camera's on you and you're looking at Michael Keaton or L. Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, and I'm supposed to keep my shit together and give like a commensurate performance while a huge part of my conscious is like Michelle Pfeiffer is making eye contact with you.

Yeah. when in your life would she look at you know when would that ever happen Michael Keaton is firing lightning bolts at you out of his beautiful blue eyes oh it's shit it's my line so I'm I love that thrilling feeling of when I read something I'm like one way or another this is feels really scary and challenging and that that keeps me from ever getting jaded or bitter with MX Platinum access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot track side. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime.

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spectacular in it by the way thank you thank you really just very talk about empathy for those guys and um the great john carroll lynch as my brother what yeah you two were so heartwarming in that and just it was fantastic and what keaton does really really well is um and it's a common actor thing but to think on camera with no dialogue you know and uh do you do you like to do that as well you know just just because he'll he'll he'll really just kind of he'll be thinking about it's a movie where you can read what's going on with No, yeah. Yeah, he does it so so brilliantly, you know.

I mean, sure, I would say that, yes, I aspire to. I mean, the thing is, Michael's been a movie star for decades, and I, I've been having such a goddamn good time. I'm 55. I got my big break. Like, I worked a lot in Chicago theater. And then when I moved to L.A. in my late 20s, I started, you know, a guest star on ER, like, slowly rolling the snowball, Sundance movies.

movies, but I was 38 years old when I got Parks and Recreation that catapulted me into getting to choose roles and getting to do much meatier stuff, but I still am not quite, like the last few years, I've gotten to do stuff that's maybe at the level of magnitude that could be a Michael Keaton role. And so I'm still learning to own the, the scenery and the camera where I'm like, I'm to take my time and think about what you're asking me because the camera just fucking I've got so much charisma that I can just I can just you just love to watch me think so I'm still I'm well it's hard because you have other actors and you're like are they bored with my performance

are they thinking hurry up guy you're not this important well Keen will do he'll turn toward the window even if he's a scene with other people and kind of windows he does a lot of thinking but uh you know confidence is an interesting thing to me, this idea of confidence. And I've always thought to myself that you could be 99% confidence, say you create, create this strata, whatever. And the last one percent is more important than the previous 90%, which means all the negative voices are silent. I guess Brando got it at 21, geniuses. And all that's gone. And then you're just pure. And that, have you, did you i mean the one that stands out is the last of us your part in that where you seem really in the pocket whatever you want to call it so talk about that as an act uh well thank you

for for saying that and i i can't i can't ever receive a compliment about that episode of that show without immediately throwing it to uh to craig mason who wrote it and and murray bartlett my scene part my yeah he's great my husband you're both great in that uh But we knew, like, Craig sent it to me and I read it and I said, Megan, read this. And we were like, everyone knew as soon as they read it, we were like, this is the greatest fucking episode of TV. And we, I arrived in Calgary to shoot it. And everyone was walking around holding the script up, like, we have to not fuck this up.

And so even so, even knowing that, I, it's funny. never feel i mean i'm curious you know i don't ever feel like i'm shooting three pointers like brando would in a scene so even in the last of us a lot of that emotional vulnerability was terrifying to to try and reach honestly on camera for the first time like yeah uh i've had the privilege of doing a lot of great stuff over the years but my new thing and this this show actually with L. and Michelle, which will be out next year. It's the first time that I'm getting complicated emotional relationships. And so I love that because I still feel like a freshman. It's those butterflies of like, how can I get a girl to like me and I'm on camera. And so,

you know, my confidence definitely grows and grows and grows where I definitely, the most important thing I learned to bolster that confidence at some point is these people think, like they picked you out of all the people to play this guy. And so whatever misgivings you have, whatever foibles or weaknesses I have, that's part of what they picked. And so let that go and just do your goddamn best, be as prepared as you can, and do as honest of work as you can. And even so, I never feel like I'm, it's, it's subjective art.

So I'll never feel like I've, I never do a take. And I'm like, yes, nothing, there's always, there's always something. There's always something where you go back to Video Village or you go watch it or you say, was that good? And they go, yeah, moving on. And in your head, you're like, was it? Like, are you, I got it? Like, because you also, I don't do as.

many dramas, but, or any, but when you're doing different things, sometimes you do it and you go, I think I'm doing this right, but I can be adjusted. And so if I'm somehow off here, I hope someone pulls me aside and says, I think you're kind of missing a little bit, what we want to hear, and then you go, got it. And that's where a good director can make you look good. Oh, 100%. I mean, I agree. I mean, especially the pace that we shoot at these days, now that we no longer shoot on film and these new cameras, the RE camera and the red camera, require basically no lights. The turnaround is a thing of the past where they're like, you used to have a break.

You used to be able to pace your day where you're like, okay, then I know when they turn the world around, I'm going to have an hour off so I can brush up my monologue or whatever. But now we work at this incredible pace. And so I defy, you know, the most talented actor can't be perfectly right every time. And so on every project, I'm so grateful one of the directors is like, all right, I think we got, we've done three your way. And I think one of the, I think we got that. But what if this other idea? And invariably, every time, you're like, God damn it, you just made me twice the actor.

Thank you so much. and then you have a choice that you've got that way or their way and it's very important. Just to clarify, Dana, for people at home, and he says turn it around,

let's say you're doing a Western and, you know, I do a lot. And then they're shooting my scene, they shoot a wide shot, but when they shoot, like let's say Nick talking and there's a lot of stuff behind them, then they say,

let's take a break and get the other actors close up. They have to turn the cameras around and then they have to take all the covered wagons and move them behind that side and move the crew on that side, all the lighting on this side. And that stuff takes an hour. So throughout your day, you do have these breaks where you get to think for a second and go over your lines and cram and go, I don't think I know these perfectly. Let's run them again. And when you don't get that, like you're saying,

it starts to go, oh, shit, when I get that morning makeup chair, I better be ready for almost anything today because they can flip it and say, actually, we're going to start with the last scene today. And you're like, what? guaranteed and I'm the king of I'm the king of on the drive home I always think of the better way I'm like that's how I should have said that joke or that's the perfect comeback I'd like something tripped me up Dana that I just want it's a tiny thing but if I can bring the conversation around to comedy I don't know if you guys are comfortable discussing that we love everything we We love when people ask us anything or say anything about it. Whenever I'm accused of being a stand-up, I kind of bristle because I am such a fan of obviously your guys, the juggernaut careers in comedy you've both had. And I do tour and perform, but I say that I'm a humorist because the thing that all of my comedy friends have that I don't is a joke machine. Like you, among other things, you guys are incredibly, you have a facility to get, to say things at the drop of the hat that the audience is like, how the fuck did they come up with that?

The person I've spent probably the most time with that watching him do it is Zach Gallifanacus. But you guys are both geniuses in your own right. I've enjoyed you for decades. And so when I get up in front of an audience, I do songs. but I don't speak in joke I speak in essay and so it's and I have a great time I love touring but I just always when people say stand-up I'm like don't please don't mistake me for the great like I feel like I belong more with Spalding Gray or Garrison Keeler or yeah I know you're saying well that's why yeah your couch does a stand-up but your your use of language is

different and quirky. If George Carlin was half as funny, I'd be in his leg. Well, you have your own lane, and it's almost harder to find an interesting lane other than just Dana and I are like, but da, but da, but da, but da, but up. But you're up there taking your time, you're owning the stage. Yeah. Yeah, I could say you're humorous. You're not, you're not needy for the next laugh.

You're also using quirky word package, just quirky ways of. And they find it with you. Part of your charm is that you're unexpected. And Zach is another example of a just genius mind that in his own weird world that just completely can drop me with stuff he says. He's so good. Yeah, he really is. Yeah, Zach is. He's a very special talent.

I hope he gets discovered by the public someday. Shit, that's so great. do you i was just thinking when you're going back to acting and directing have you had a director that's giving you too many notes between takes and you start to feel yourself getting annoyed and how do you deal with how do you do with necessary even benign confrontation in in the movie set well i've been really spoiled i got to say like maybe because um of the the weird organic career path I've had, the good writing

usually is surrounded with good directors and good producers so by and large, but I definitely do, that happens frequently where, and I love collaborating with a director and sometimes the writer, sometimes a writer

will get in there too. And I appreciate it. Like I said, like we pointed out, rather than, I don't think I'm Lawrence Olivier where I'm like, please, let me create my masterpiece, step the fuck away. I'm like, no, great, great, great. You're helping me achieve, you know, the maximum medicine with what we're making here.

But even an enthusiastic smart director, even can just get to, they're like, okay, they come over after a scene and they can get to a second note and then a third note. And then, I don't know if you saw, but there's a comma or whatever. And I'm like, okay. But the thing is, I'm usually friendly where I'll either say, okay, I'm going to do the first two. And then if you still need the comma or whatever, like, or I'll just, you know, one of the great things I learned writing books. I have a wonderful editor named Jill Schwartzman who's done all my books. And with my first book, I'm a total perfectionist and I'm a workaholic.

So I write this book. And like so many things that we work on, you learn, you can edit it for the rest of your life. Like at some point you have to say, okay, put it in the goddamn bookstore. Like, because we keep going back and forth with editing. And it was such a huge lesson to let go of an artwork or a project and say, all right, I've done my goddamn best on this. could I keep tweaking it for years? Sure. Sure. I'm doing that right now.

And it's so true for TV and film that the editor and the director have to say, okay, just show it to the people. Because no one ever thinks, okay, this is perfect. Someone has to stop you almost. It's like just stop. This is your deadline. You need the end of a semester. You got to turn in your paper.

And so when a director, is being like that with me. I just think, okay, I'm going to do my best to give you what you're asking for, and it might only be half of what you're asking for, but ultimately we will present that collaboration with confidence. Well, they don't realize it's too hard to absorb some of these notes. It's like to remember the scene already, all your lines, and you go, oh, and go a little dark on that. And you're making a sandwich, and the mustard is like squirting water. And then script comes up and goes, you were shaking the mustard on the third line. you go, it's an Indianapolis, it's a pit stop like a race car because you get the hair people

are doing the hair. That's a great analogy. You're getting notes and everyone's looking at you. It's your close up. It's the money shot and you're trying just to be loose and totally in the moment. It's a little, it's a hat trick. It's so funny. Yeah, there's someone like pinning down your prosthetic and the director's like, now listen,

emotionally, I need you to get to a place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some great actor or actress, I can remember. remember we're saying retired from acting and basically happily but just said no one's going to ever picket my shirt or come at my hair again and it was like what they were so overjoyed what i was going to i i watched uh vertico recently non sequitur but you know hitchcock was a minimalist and there was a lot of moving masters that just means the camera moves it doesn't just it doesn't you know unless he needs it

and now in the modern era for a long time with digital and being able to go in there you feel like the director's watching gets bored and the editor and then we'll cut some more and cut some more and you saw it maybe when it was in simple shots and go this is a great scene

and then it gets strangled I Megan and I talk about this a lot because our popular culture and our attention deficit disorder has gotten to the point it kind of started with oliver stone i was a i loved sword fighting on stage i was a choreographer and it's still if anybody's listening i'm still desperately wanting to play a swashbuckler um the and oliver stone we we you know three of us we make a generalization

yeah let's i believe uh the number of musketeers required is three ah um Oliver, to make a generalization that's unfair to Oliver Stone, but he brought in this sense of fast cutting where at first it was fresh and exciting, like the violent cutting of combat scenes of every sort. But for those of us that love the artistry of Jackie Chan or Gene Kelly, where you see the ballet and the use. And I feel like popular culture has gotten so cut up to the point that we are now having this renaissance where shows like the studio and other great filmmakers are masturbating with the oner, the long one moving, you know, moving master. And they do it incredibly. I don't, you know, I don't consider masturbating to be a disparaging verb. I think it's a triumph of Mother Nature. But, I mean, Megan and I really appreciate that as theater actors, where don't just depend on Flash.

Flash is fun and has its place, but you've got these actors and this writing and the scenery to make, what you immediately made me think of is in the movie Sovereign, this wonderful actor, Thomas Mann, plays Dennis Quaid's son. And I did a movie with Thomas, I guess about 10 years ago called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. And it won Sundance. It won both things at Sundance, the trophy and the audience award. And rightly so, it's a beautiful movie and Thomas is the lead. And we got this incredible cinematographer from Korea who had done.

this movie called Old Boy. And I'm not going to try and butcher remember and butcher the guy's name. But he's the guy who shot Old Boy. And Alfonso Gomez Rahon was the director. And on the very first day, he says to his Korean DP, who can't speak a word of English, there's a translator. And it's a shot with me on a couch. And we're in a living room in Pittsburgh. And he's like, okay, we're going to see these two boys walking up the front sidewalk through the window. They're going to say something to this cat sitting on the windowsill. Then we're going to come around on Nick. And he's watching a Klaus Kinski movie. Then we're going to come around and the boys are arriving at the door and we're going to start the scene. This is the first

shot of the movie. And I just was like, and I love everybody there. Like I have no misgivings to this point. Connie Britton and I play his mom and dad. And he says this and I'm like, oh, we're fucked. This is a, this is a 23-day sundance shoot. And we got it in like two takes. And it was one of the rare times that I've worked with a

director who aggressively used the camera in a hitchcockian sense. It was so beautiful. And I, I've, my role is a small, supporting, but I highly write, this movie is so gorgeous. It's really funny and ultimately makes you cry at the end. What's the name again? It's called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Okay. Yeah, when you get that shots. It's so incredible, like when these, in this day and age, when somebody slows down, and that's actually what my woodworking book is about is slowing down

your life off of your smartphones and your screens to a human pace. No. You don't have to? I mean, no, I'm going to share that thought on X right now if you don't mind. That's right. No, go for it. Make a TikTok of me. Let me say it again.

Was Birdman going back to Michael Keaton, was it Birdman the one with the five-minute shots? That was the other extreme. I just saw the player. Remember the player? From about 20 years ago? that's uh it's um colin brothers right

uh who directed it was about showbiz yeah tim robbins is it early cohen brothers opens with a maybe 10 minute shot oh yeah god that this on studio i mean the yeah those guys the i i just i love to make things here's the thing the world of capitalism tells us make things as fast as you can that's how you make the

money and that's like the global mantra we're marching to that goddamn Elon anthem and so what I desperately you know in my tiny wood shop I'm like hang on it's your life is way more enjoyable if you slow down and build your own dining table or if you do shots like the opening of the player like that that movie experience is going to be so much more delicious for everybody involved and you're somebody's going to make 17,000 less dollars but every but it's a much better meal well you're talking about it 20 years ago 20 years later where you say and every actor in it it it's so fun to go like you with your the couch when you feel the camera that's the scariest there's no cue when you feel it it's going it's here that's the fun is everybody gets it right you know

With those shots, I was watching the whole thing going, I wonder how long it took a shoot, a day. And then I was watching more, I'm like two days where they have to choreograph everything and just keep trying it going, all right, we're going to try one. And it was like, you fall here. There's a car crash, there's this, very hard to do. But fun to see.

It's astonishing. I mean, it's an astonishing thing to just finish a feature film. Like, if you see your film or your friend's film in a theater, even if it sucks. eggs, you'd go hug them and be like, Jesus Christ, it's impossible to make a feature film. It's so true. It shouldn't be allowed. The thing is, the bad ones are as hard to make as a good ones.

I've had both, and it's like, holy shit, people go, what the fuck? I go, I can't believe, if I knew it was going to, I would have put less effort in it. But you're trying to make every day, every line good. And when it doesn't work out, you're like, God, all that work, it's so hard. You can't believe it even gets finished. You're right. As I suspected, sorry, it's niggling me, and I just looked it up and it's Robert Altman made the player. Yeah, it was niggling all of us.

I was, I'm just curious for this conversation. I conflated it with Barton Fink. That's a great word. Do you actively increase your, do you read the dictionary or whatever? Because you seem to have a pretty big vocabulary. Do you work at the dictionary? I don't. I do love vocabulary because it's a place.

I started in the Catholic Church as an altar boy, and then they had me reading the gospel readings as the lector. And so at age like 14, I'm up there reading to the church full of people, reading like the gospel readings. And that was where I think it all began for me, where I was like, oh, if I, depending on how I toned this reading, I can make my cousin laugh. Like, if I'm a little too serious with my delivery, the congregation is moved and my cousin is like, that was fucking hilarious, man. Very inspired by Leslie Nielsen's line readings and Naked Gun and so forth.

True. Oh, I was talking about that yesterday. You know, all respect to Liam Neeson and the latest one before, Leslie, he just, there's something magic about his timing and his tone in those movies, Naked Gun. Yeah, there's... Someone decided, take a serious guy and get... Don't call me, Shirley. And you're like, wait, that's funny. Like, someone goes, if you did this the whole movie, it's such a gamble.

Oh, yeah. An airplane, too, their earlier one was Peter Graves, you know, or, you know, do you like Gladiator movies? I mean, it's just, I was going to ask you, because I, because we have you here, it's like, just quickly, what are the movies that you and your wife would watch more than once or performances that really stand out. You know, my wife and I have different movies that you revisit because they're so brilliant. I'm going to, may I excuse myself for a tinkle and think about that, and I'll be right back?

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Only in theaters, October 24th. Get tickets now. So the thing about Nick, why he's a great person to interview, is that Nick is real. Oh, he's back? You're back? Yeah. Oh, Dana was giving you a compliment when you were gone. Please continue to let me interrupt you.

You know, the last of us, you won the Emmy. I didn't know if I mentioned that. You said he's very real. And you gave a very quirky acceptance speech, very you, very interesting. You're eccentric. Do you go to someone for speeches? Do you go to someone and say anything you would say, If there anything funny, you would write them. Believe me, I might go to someone and go, give me something for this.

Oh, for sure. I love anything that I do when I tour as a humorist, I write my material. But I, you know, I'm friends with genius writers. And who love, like, their bread and butter is they love for me to send them my stuff. And they're like, here's two jokes about Brett. or whatever. And I'm like, fantastic. And it's funny, they refuse payment. I'm like, let me, like, let me pay you. And it's, and they're like, no, like, if you get a laugh with my joke, that's my pay. It's so flattering. So, but so then I send them a nice bottle of something they like to drink. So I, while I was urinating for 17 minutes. Yeah, that's a long break. There are a couple of interesting things about your question. One is, I feel like Megan and I, the answer to your question is historical.

It's like singing in the rain. It's great performances from our youth that are monumental and foundational. Innocent and nice. Donald O'Connor, make them laugh. Yeah. Yeah, and I mean the films of Mel Brooks, like Marks Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, we watch a ton of Laurel and Hardy, and there's this scene at the end of their movie, The Music Box, where they're trying to get a piano up a set of stairs in Echo Park. Famous scene. And they finally get it up and get it into the house, and they do this little dance with each other.

and they like hook arms and do a little dance. And we consider that scene to be this, that's our marriage. Like that represents our household. Oh, interesting. Nice. That's the two of us. But in modern, in the modern age, like, because you get questions like this sometimes. And what we've realized is we would watch Will and Grace and Parks and Rec when they aired.

And we've never seen them again. there are some things we've done that we've never seen. But with all of the preponderance of things available to us to watch or listen to or read these days, we really, it's very rare that it would ever occur to us to watch something a second time. And which brings me to something I find very interesting, and I've been the great beneficiary of just lucky timing, that Parks and Rec happened. When it first began to hit around 2010, social media was also just beginning to hit, like memes and gifts or jiffs were just, and so they were just arriving on the scene. And the world was like, does anybody make funny faces? Like, who can we plug in here?

So we benefited from that timing. And then when we were all done, people don't realize now that we were never a hit show. We were on the bubble every year. And it was because we were. No one realizes that. We were in the transition from the Nielsen ratings to DVR to streaming. And so the kids were all going crazy for Parks and Rick, but it wasn't showing. up on the rating system, which was a real bummer because we didn't get award nominations

and we didn't get a raise. You know, like we were kind of one of the biggest hit shows critically, but business-wise, it never clicked for us. And so then, especially once the pandemic hit, there's this new thing, especially among young people, where they pick a show like friends or the office. office or Parks and Rec, and it's their comfort show. And they just always have it playing. So I meet a lot of kids these days that say, oh, God, I've seen Parks and Rec seven or eight times through, to which I say, let me recommend some books to you. Like, there are things

you could be doing. Like, I would love for you to see it once. Let me teach out a whittle. But it's a crazy phenomenon in the modern day that the kids. Because you also, if you love to show when we were young, you couldn't watch it again. Yeah. Well, you wait six months for one rerun. Well, then they made great films. Great films are hard to make. When my wife, we're looking in for old films, we've seen the Godfather.

You know, we revisit those two. But there's just not a plethora. I mean, Quentin Tarantino, who's named Rob, I was interviewing him substituting for Jimmy Kimmel. And he said, there's no great movies between New York. 2000, and it was 2003 when I interviewed. No really great movies besides mine, basically. I'm paraphrasing.

But I thought one that really stood out was the descendants with George Clooney as something that we will visit once in a while. We also go back to Sound of Music, which I became possessed by and was not a fan of musicals as a kid. All I'll watch it, and then I became possessed by it. As the greatest arc of a couple of a relationship, I've ever seen, I must have done something right, the song in the gazebo.

Yeah. Just gets me every time. Somewhere in my youth and childhood, I must have done something good. Yeah. When I was a kid living out in the middle of a cornfield, growing up in the 70s, when we finally got a VCR in like 1982 or something, never had cable my whole life, we had five video cassettes, and two of them were singing in the rain and the sound of music. it's interesting how ubiquitous like how how abbey road certain movies are where it's like

what everyone knows the white album has to have this one yeah yeah the wizard of oz was another um well that was that was that was good that was good uh nick before we let you go i want to say that um i had a when i did this old show just shoot me oh my god a few people remember back there um that uh megan was right next to me with will and Grace, and she was always so hilarious, so wonderful, and always so great on her show. Tell her hi, and we had a great time that during that run of both of those shows, so much fun over there, watching them in their new cars, anyway, sources. But great to talk to you, Nick.

Really, really appreciate it. And we can't have you hang up right away. You have to wait a hair of our technology, whatever. I met you and your lovely wife. I like that expression backstage at the Largo and got to chat with you guys for five minutes and

lovely people well we're not Hollywood phonies I'm just going to say it no no we're super boring and I can I recommend that to everyone who thinks a Hollywood I don't think

anyone's having a good time going to clubs and like chasing whatever the ditty party idea is we stay home. We literally do jigsaw puzzles and listen to like stodgy murder mysteries read as audiobooks. That's that's our line of Coke. It can be fun. Listen, that's a new, that's a different form of fun that people are maybe picking up on again. Scrabble. That was during the pandemic.

I'm done with ditty parties. My wife does, unless he gets out. Yeah. You do, you just, you do a ton of blow and then dump out a jigsaw puzzle. And you go 72 hours. Sit down. And a big butt plug. Yeah. All right. Thanks, Nick. And good to see you, but, and we'll talk soon. Hey, guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app.

Give us a review, five-star rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey, and he's. Executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment.

Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtney, and Lauren Vieira. Reach out with us, any questions to be asked and answered on the show. You can email us at fly on the wall at odyssey.com. That's a-u-d-ac-y-I-C-Y-com.