Happy Sad Confused - Ben Schwartz

Episode Date: September 28, 2015

Mr. Ben Schwartz of House of Lies and Parks and Recreation joins Josh this week to test his coordination, talk about his role in the new Robert Zemeckis film The Walk, doing improv with actors who have never done it before onstage at UCB-LA, and share his Top 5 Influential TV Comedies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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howl on your phone or your computer, but you can only use my promo code on the howl.fm website. Go to howl.fm. That's howwl.fm and use the promo code happy for one month free trial of premium. Welcome to another edition of Happy Sack Infused. I'm Josh Horowitz. This is my podcast. This is where I talk to really cool, smart, interesting, talented people, and you enjoy it. Hopefully. That's the idea, at least. This week, we're talking to Mr. Ben Schwartz, star of Parks and Recreation and the new film, the new Robert Zemeckis film, The Walk. joining me for this introduction is an old returning favorite you know him you love him Joel Hanuk hello hi Joel hello Josh how's it going good thank you for having me back

I feel like we should introduce someone else that's in the office right now we've never had her on the podcast she's been an integral part of many an after-hour sketch over the years she's been in a few after-hour sketches over the years been in seven that's the voice of Ms. Sammy Heller. Are you not supposed to do that for yourself? That's kind of lame. For the record, I did not. No, I'm a big fan.

Well, you're not like a nice person. No, Sammy really did. I think your most notable performance in an after-hour sketch, would you agree, is the famous Tom Hiddleston, Loki, a fan favorite. Yeah, that was some of my best work. I'd say that, I tie that with the Ethan Hawk. Ethan Hawk, which you both appeared in. Yeah, we were dueling lovers.

Getting a lot of love for the Ethan Hawk after hours on the podcast. It always comes up as another undiscovered gem, I feel like. One day. But you played in the, in Loki, you played. Who did you play? Lunch lady number one. Lunch attendant, the cashier. Yeah.

Who, you know, you go to pay for your lunch. And I'm like, no, it's already paid for you, idiot. And then Tom Middleston's like, Loki. Yeah, yeah. It's good. Like the audience roars with laughter. You don't need to watch it now. You got it, basically.

Spoiler alert. I also thought Sammy should be here today because she kind of brought together me and the guest on this week's podcast. You're an acquaintance, a friend of Mr. Ben Schwartz. Yes. The very talented comedian improv genius. He's pretty fucking insane at improv. Yeah, he's not bad at it. I've seen him do it in person.

I don't like to give out compliments for free, but he's not bad at it. Me too. I begrudgingly acknowledge his superior. already, to most of the known world in this regard. I mean, we all went to a show and I feel like we all laughed at least once. There was one. There was one like, ha! Yeah, like a... Yeah, it was like a good

alf laugh. Or the single. Single. Classic alf. But Ben, yes, in addition to being an amazing improv guy, obviously has been, he's had two TV series the last few years, House of Lies, I should mention two. Still going strong, I think in its fifth season,

next season on Showtime. And very cool for him, It's like for him that he's in a Robert Zemeckis movie, which we bonded about quite a bit because we both, probably all of us in this room, love Robert Zemeckis films. And this is the new one that tells the famous story of Philippe Petit. Oh, you did that so nicely. It's not Philip Petit, right? No, I believe it's Velie Verdi. Wow, that's hardcore French.

I'm good. Who, of course, high wire artists who, not to spoil anything, it's in the trailers and everything, but like, way back when World Trade Center, the Twin Towers, walked across. Sorry. What? Sorry. Anyway, that's the new film.

When does that open? When should we promote that? It's coming soon. September 30th. Is that true? You're so good. Sammy. 29th.

No, you're right. It's the 30th. It's actually, as we tape this, it's about to open the New York Film Festival. That kicks off this weekend. So check that out what it's in theaters. Also check out some cool new things on the web that we've produced. A really fun shoot we had a few weeks back that I know I can get a lot of tweets from you guys about this. It's the Mockingjay shoot I did with Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.

It's good. It's worth the weight guys. What do you have, Joel? I was saying, could you rank them? Rank the best of least a favorite. No, I never would. They're all equally perfect. No, Liam's not number one. That's crazy.

Yeah, but I'm being honest. No. Twitter handle at Joel Hanick. Go for it. War declared on the Hamsworth Boys. No, they were all delightful. And this was a special shoot that we did out in L.A. a few weeks back. It goes out as of, it should be out October 1st.

Look out for that. And you will see Jennifer Lawrence do something that no, I think no human being has ever seen her do. So prepare. What, Sammy? Because what is your mind wandering? What can it be? You don't know, do you? No.

It's pretty. Awesome. I just want to say I'm a huge lamb. Okay. No, it's too late. It's too late. Also coming up in After Hours universe, should mention just this morning we taped a really fun sketch with the one and only, Mr. Hugh Jackman, one of our favorites over the years.

Everybody's favorite. Nobody has a bad word to say about Hugh because he is a perfect. He's a perfect human being. Like, in every way. We should say Sammy is full on, like, the biggest Hugh Jackman fan on the planet. Like, he's physical, emotion. spiritual, like, just perfection. Give us your best. You do a pretty good hue.

Give us your best Hugh. This is Hugh Jackman promoting Pam. We've got full-scale pirate ships. We built a full Neverland. You're going to love it. You're going to love it. What is your wife think about it? What is your wife?

Deb. Oh, Deb said this was the best one yet. She said this is the biggest pirate movie that's ever been made. No disrespect to John Depp. No disrespect. That's a preview of Sammy's one woman, Hugh Jack. And the backstory that Deb is an expert on pirate films, too. She is, Joel.

We don't know. That's the detail that makes it so rich. Yeah. She's an expert in everything. We've shot a lot of things with Hugh over the years, and this one is no less brilliant. He just, yeah, he walks in a room, and he owns it. He can do everything, and he's really funny in this. So that's coming soon.

So, yeah, a lot of fun sketches. It's on the way. And what else to say about Mr. Ben Schwartz? What do you need to know? All you need to know is this is a funny dude. We talked for about 45 minutes and laughs a punty. Yeah, you guys talked for so long. I think we're kindred spirits.

Yeah. Everyone was like, are they okay in there? And then I was like, did Josh kill Ben? And I was like, first thought. No. And I was like, oh my God, I'm so embarrassed. Yeah. I murder your friends.

Yeah, exactly. No, he's alive and well. And I believe, hopefully. You haven't listened to this podcast yet. You don't know what's to come. No. You might learn a lot about your friend and me. I don't know if I want to listen to it anymore.

Okay, so one person that shouldn't listen to listen to it is Sammy, but Joel will listen. Oh, listen. He's a gentleman. It's a tough act to follow. He's a, he, I listen to gentlemen podcast, and he is a gentleman. It should be called the Gentleman's podcast. Except one scoundrel. It's tough to follow last week, so.

I know Joel, you and I share the Michael Shannon love, I think, an all-time favorite. I don't have hatred for him But we're preoccupied to a degree Things you don't hate Categories for Sammy Things I don't hate Is that how you go up to actors you admire? Hey!

I don't hate you That's exactly how Leave them wanting more Exactly you can't If you, I love you It's like you know it's fake Yeah If I give you and I love you

Well then you know it's like real You're about to skin them alive And put their head on you Like that I have a hair doll of you In my journey Pressor. Speaking of which, no, there's no segue.

Let's just dive right in. Let's let the audience enjoy. Let's get to it. And in the meantime, as always, guys, hit me up on Twitter, Joshua Harowitz. Let me know what you're loving, what you're hating, who you want to hear on the podcast, and who you prefer, Sammy or Joel.

Oh, yes, please. Please vote. Yeah, please vote. Tweet at us. A huge Liam Hemsworth fan. No, he's not. Joel hates the Hungerhap. If we're being honest, I do hate.

William Hems. Have you ever seen The Hunger Games? I've read all the books. It's only, the movies count more than the book. Do, wait, do they have lizard people in this one? Okay, let's go to the podcast. No, that's a thing, right? No, it's literally not a thing. This week's podcast with Mr. Ben Schwartz.

Enjoy. No, for real, at the end of the last book, there's just like lizard people. Leave my office. You can set that out. Get out. Take a moment. We're getting real.

Are we really? No, we're not. Oh, no. You can get real if you want? No. I've listened to some of your... Listening to some of your other podcasts, and I'm kind of intimidated. Which one?

Do you do a little bang-bang? I was listening to Pete Holmes. Oh, that's a very long time ago, and he once again. Did you listen to a solo baller or no? No. Oh, you're a fool. What did I miss on that one? Not because of me, just because comedy bang-bang.

I don't like 20-something of them, but we did. do Just Me and Scott. It's the only time he does it with one other person. And we just sing songs the whole time. The entire podcast is him and I sing a song. What duration of time is there's an hour and change? That's in between. That's enjoyable for you and for the audience. I can't tell you that. I don't think it. And by the way, I'm going to be quite honest. I don't think it is. I looked at the very last page of this script in the script to see if it tells you what happens. Oh, in Inception? Yes. And I got the script to see what it says. And I forgot. I forgot. That's a very anti-comactic story. I truly forgot.

I used to have like 12 of these little Inception totems that they sent for some reason And I think I think just many guests have stolen them So I'm watching, that's the last one And don't let anybody steal it And I'll know if it goes away It's on you

Well, I can't promise I'm not gonna steal it It's good to have you here Ben It's great to have Are we recording? Yeah, sure. Oh wow, it's great to have you, man That's great to have you on my show Wait, what?

My voice is a little bit lower If you can hear I don't know what it is I think I have some sort of I don't know what it is I'm not sick but my throat doesn't work right now. Right.

Well, that, okay. That might be sick. That might be sick. Actually, I'm not a doctor, but that could be. Yeah, but I don't feel sick. I'm just like real tired and I cough and sneeze all day. There's blood coming out of my eyes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Every hole is filled with like everything. But like I know I'm not sick. I'm 1004, but I'm not sick. I know what I'm sick. It's the power of the mind. You're conquering the disease. I think that's what it is.

Do you get sick a lot? Are you an, are you? I'm just talking about this. I do, right? But it's because I kind of overwork myself till I have nothing left. And then I learned not to do that anymore. Right.

But the problem is I went like six or seven months without getting sick, which is huge. That's big. Yeah. We were talking about outside. It's like, you know, when you go in those businesses and it's like 15 days since our last accident, 17 days, I like one of those. Exactly. It was very exciting.

Very exciting. And then maybe three weeks ago, I got sick. I was just my birthday. I got sick a little bit before my birthday. Right. And then it went away. Right. And then after my birthday, even though literally I went to Dave and Busy.

and in and out and didn't drink. I had one beer and that was it. I got, I just, my throat felt scratchy and hasn't been sick. It's just been this weird scratchy feeling. Maybe you contracted something horrible in the D&B. God, but how terrible would that be? I mean, that's a fine way to go. But it's a fine way to go. Chucky cheese. Oh, God, that is. Did you ever go to Chucky cheese in your kid? I didn't. I, I know. Where do you grow up? I grew up on the tough streets of the Upper West Side. Ooh, what streets exactly? West 70th. Oh, and? Central Park West and Columbus. Oh, God. You beautiful, wonderful white boy. It was pretty You're wonderful Jewish man.

You sweet, sweet man. Did you go to the park a lot or because it was right there? Who cares? No, I never got, uh, I think my training wheels came off my bike at like 16. Like I was like, this will surprise nobody. Yes. Um, I'm not very coordinated. Really?

Can we have a toss? You know, what's not? Can we have a toss? The only thing on my desk is like a scissors. Oh, there's another, there is another reception totem. So I'm going to go, I'm going to take the microphone with me. Okay. What's happening?

I'm going to go on one side of the room. So for everybody who can't see. I don't know if you've seen... Is this a new office or the same office? This is a relatively new office. New office. So if you can't see, there's Nazi paraphernalia everywhere.

I'm an enthusiast, don't it. He's not right. You're not a supporter. You're just an enthusiast. I just appreciate it, yeah. Okay, I have an inception totem on one side. What am I supposed to do? You're going to catch it with your hands.

I've heard about this. Someone throws it at another person. And you catch it. It's called having a catch. Oh, okay. It's relatively easy, although the object I'm throwing is kind of weird to catch.

Yeah. And it's going to be a light toss. It's not going to be a hard thing. Do I have to return it, or is the whole goal of this? No, you just to show your coordination. All I want you to do is catch it. Okay, ready? Yeah.

Are you nervous? Very. Do you want to slow motion video it as well? No, no. Okay, here we go. For real. Ready? Are you going to do it?

His lip is quivering, no joke. His bottom lip is quivering. I'm not even doing a bit. His bottom lip, he got nervous. You're a little nervous, right? Very nervous. Okay, I'm going to stand up. You won't hear me for a bit.

Wait, am I standing too? You can. You can't, ready? Sure. On three. Okay. One, two, three. Hey!

He had to use his whole body every minute I'm in. He used his body all day. How would you describe the way I caught that, though? I think, first of all, let's say what it is. You caught it. You caught it. It didn't hit the floor. Your eyes went very, very wide.

But can I tell you, you got the job done. Thanks, buddy. Do you know what I mean? So you are coordinated enough. How did that feel? Did you ever play sports when you were in the upper-wise side or no? I was in the Little League. What were your name?

Were you the Dagestino or something? I was the Dagestino or something. We were the Citibank Panthers. Yeah, sure. I was the Dagestino something. I did not like playing baseball, though. No, were you just not good or you just didn't enjoy it? My dad keeps saying how good I was at it.

I was always afraid of the ball. Okay. Always afraid of the ball, afraid of getting hit. But I always, I loved animated shows and I loved video games. And that's like the time when I would only, like, it was getting in the way of all things I love. Prioritize. So I remember. I remember the day, my father Michael Philip Schwartz and Joan Foreman Schwartz, I remember the day

that I was just so sad that I had to go to baseball practice that my mom was like, Mike, just let him just stay. And then my dad goes, do you really not want to go? I go, yeah, I really don't want to go. And he said, okay, you could stay. And it was like such a grown up moment for me. And then I stopped. And then when I went to high school, I got huge into basketball and that's all I did. So you've got height. You've got that advantage. I have a little bit of height. And then also, I also learned when I moved from Riverdale, which is like the Jewish part of the Bronx, northern part of the Bronx, to Edmont, which is in Scarsdale. It's like a very, very, very suburb, suburb.

Everybody play basketball. So if I wanted to make friends, I would have to learn how to be pretty good, like, okay at it. So what was vying for little Ben Schwartz's time outside of the baseball diamond? It was video games. It was. Don't diminish. Great question.

It is. Great question. Let me answer that question with another question. How do you think of these things? By that, it was not on a car. Are you serious? By way, there are no cards. There are some cards here.

It's in case. You don't need them, though. I feel like you're, I feel like you're pretty good. Can I tell you what I'm really excited? I will answer this question. Okay. What was the question? How tall am I?

Six feet. So what was the question? It was, what was distracting you from the baseball time? It was, I just, baseball, I just didn't, I got no joy of it and I was scared and all. I love my friends and stuff, but I didn't, I didn't enjoy it. Right. But I will say this. I stuck with it for like a couple of years.

It was, it wasn't like immediately. Like, I had to do it for a couple years. Right. Same with soccer. I love like the shit. Baseball, I love to get in that cup. The cup. And then having, like, hitting myself with the baseball bat. Yeah, that's not normal. Right, of course. Of course, of course. And then everybody sucks to the dicks. Maybe my baseball experience was very different. No, no, come on. Everybody says like batter up. You take down your pants. Someone grabs your cup, fills it up with Vaseline. Right. Yeah. And it gives you a quick hand job.

Wow. Oh, anyway, Riverdale was very weird. I'm very excited. I don't know if you bailed yet because you could have. What do you mean? that I'm doing press for The Walk, and your name came up. Did you bail? I haven't officially bailed. I don't think I bailed. Oh, you're going to bailing.

I want to talk to you about the walk. Well, when you do press for like... Oh, am I the official list? A big thing. Yeah, I circled it and sent it to you, remember? Now it's all coming back, yes. Well, you see the poster behind me. I know, you have no idea.

That's all I care about. You know, I've asked him many questions about Back to the Future. I mean, he is top five filmmakers. Have you met him? Yeah. You've interviewed him for a couple times. You've interviewed him a couple times? Well, he was, yeah, I mean, what was your question?

What was your question that you, like, really want to get answered? Well, no, I mean, I've hounded him for years about who framed Roger Rabbit and the sequel. Yes, I have talked to the producers about the sequel. Because there. And I know what the storyline was. What? Which we will talk off the air. No.

No, I'm obsessed with him. I'm like, please, even like down to, like, the films that people don't love, like, death becomes her. That movie is great. No, you're picking the wrong film. That's like a cult classic amazing film. It's a brilliant film. Yeah, that's an amazing, amazing movie. We went every week.

Did you say Melissa Leo? No, it's Bruce Willis in that. But yeah, Melissa. Bruce and Willis is in that? Yeah, Bruce Willis is in that? Yeah, Goldie Haunch. We did something. So the cast us movie was Joseph Gordon Levitt, me.

Sir Ben. Sir Ben Kingsley, but he worked for a week. I got to meet him once. And it was so cool because I said, hey, I'm Ben. And he said, his name is Ben as well. And he didn't say that his name was Sir Ben. And it was a huge honor. Because then I saw him say hello to everybody else.

And he's like, Sir Ben. But he was so kind. But I didn't get to meet him. Like, he was there for seven days and I was there for a month. Right. But we watched this Zemeckis movie every Sunday. We all got together in the hotel. We watched this Zemechis movie every Sunday on a big screen in the conference room.

Was Robert the one that could be in these? He was like, you know, you should watch my work. He didn't know anything about it. And we were too embarrassed to tell him. We were too embarrassed to tell him we were doing it to the very, very end. We were saying, just as you know, we just saw every single one of your movies. Like, we didn't get, we didn't get to see used cars. Oh, that's a good one, see.

Who frame Roger Rabbit? These are seminal movies in my life. Back to Future is my favorite movie of all time. there's nothing that compares the back to the future. I think it's a perfect film. And by the way, if you write jokes and you write scripts and stuff,

like I think you do as well, you write, no? It's a perfect joke set up. He sets up everything in the beginning. He plays it all out. It's like a perfect joke. Everything is set up so perfectly and then pays off so perfectly.

You could study it as a comedian and be like, oh, this is amazing. And then Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a huge movie for my life. Forrest Gump came out at a time when we got movies in my house a lot. So we saw, like, I saw that. I know every,

line DeVars Gump because it was on repeat at my place. And then I loved Castaway as well. But there's a series of them that those three in particular I was so drawn to. He's amazing. He makes old school movies that feel like movies. This movie's so good. Do you see it?

I haven't seen it. They haven't screened it. I can't wait. I hope you like it. I'm sure I will. There's never been a Zemeckis movie. What if you're the one that finally breaks the street? It won't be. It won't be that. It won't. Of course I saw it. It's great. So does this feel like Like, is this apples and oranges

compared to a lot of the stuff you've done? Because it's, I mean, someone like Zemeckis, that stands out on a resume. Yes. It's a different... I mean, as in terms of directors? Yeah, just in terms of, like, the experience of it. Like, I can't imagine Faris Gump was an improvised movie.

That's... Supposedly, it's a total... Is that right? The character choice was totally... You know, did you hear that story about who originally got offered Faris Gump? No, I don't know. I think it was Bill Murray. Am I wrong?

Probably sounds right. I could be wrong. Someone fast-tag that. fact check that kind of hashtag Josh Horowitz But Have you met Bill Murray? No, that's it

So I do a show at UCB Like where I get Big actors or directors I've never done improv before And I match them with old school guys I've been doing it forever And my top two are Tom Hanks And Bill Murray

But Now you're one degree away from Tom Oh, I just almost got a movie That he was in also I thought it was going to see a whole thing Like I thought I got it And then I didn't That by the way

That doesn't ever get no oh it's so it still is very painful every time you don't get a role it's such a weird thing well you just you're just in a different even no matter what echelon you're in and what kind of caliber of the role in the film there's still disappointment unless you are i was going to qualify it i don't think there is an unless no i was going to say like unless you're chris pratt now or something but like in five years he won't get everything he's no i'm sure he doesn't get the role that you know uh christian bail again you know what i mean like it's so funny the second you realize that because there are people like when I was just doing comedy the fact that I was even

on TV is insane it is it's insane it's crazy that I get to do anything and there's always someone there's always someone above you and there's someone always massively above you and there's someone below you and there's always someone massively below you so we talked to me a little bit about because I read about this that this uh bringing folks in that aren't necessarily thought of improv into into into the group like you how long is this podcast it's like 40 45 minutes movie we can probably make a 53 though right we can do 50s okay because this is going to be a 12 in a story. Perfect.

Well, tell me some of the notables because I read like what, Jane Fonda, J.J. Abrams. I mean, your previous loss. Very close with that, gentleman. Smartest, funniest man on it. Hopefully, I'll do a thousand things with him in my life. I hope, I think he's one of the most inspirational people in the world. I'll go visit Bad Robot and he's like editing Star Wars and also developing six TV shows and five movies.

And then he spends time with his family and he's a good father and then a good husband. And it's so exhausting for me to watch that I get this raspy voice. I get this weird, sick, raspy voice. Well, not to mention also, like, when I started to interview him, and my brother is buddy with JJ. Isn't that insane? It's fun. But everybody that inspires you, you get to, like, he is truly someone that I think inspires

me. I can be around him, listen to him, and become a better, better at my job. Yeah. And you get to interview the best people at their jobs. Those are the ones. Those are, it's, I mean, not me out. I apologize. I'm just like a schmuck.

This must be amazing. I'm so sorry. No, you are in the group. No, but honestly, it's the filmmakers with the ones that you grew up. with too like it's like what I think of I think of people like Zamekis I think of sitting down with Francis Ford Coppola that's insane yeah it's mind blowing to pick their brain and and to like get paid to like literally legitimately ask the questions you would ask anyway like so what happened to that's you know it's like it's insane right my point with JJ was um I remember the

first time I heard him speak or or interviewed interviewed him it also struck me he's like he could be a stand-up like he's hilarious he's so funny he should do a comedy I want him to act of comedy so bad. He's so funny and quick. He came on and did improv. But the best thing is you get these huge, huge people, like Cheetos done it three times. So the list, okay, so it's the main improvisers, it could be anybody, but usually there, Horatio Sands, Thomas Middletich, who's in Silicon Valley, this is before Silicon Valley. Right. Zach Woods, who's in Silicon Valley in the office. Lauren Lapkis has been doing it a bunch lately. Gillo Zeri, these guys from a hot sauce, Gilazeri and Adam Pally have done it a bunch. And then it's me. And then it's,

It's usually two people who've never done improv before. One is a comedy-based person, like Scott Ockerman or Paul of Tompkins, and then one is someone who's never done it. So the people who've never, ever done it is like Blake Griffin has done it three times. And by the way, maybe the best, he's unbelievably funny. He's so funny and very quick. I feel like if he wasn't 6 foot 10, maybe. I don't know.

It might be 9 feet up to me. If he wasn't 9 feet, he would be in comedy. 100%. Yeah. 100%. And so, okay, ready? Blake Griffin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Don Cheadle, Helen Hunt, Jane Fonda, Adam McKay, JJ Abrams, Corey Stahl, Jake Johnson, Glenn Howardin.

It's a very, very long list. I think I've done whatever. And the past five have been all charities. So I pick a different nonprofit mental health association in New York, and they get all the money. So I've raised like $10,000 for different mental health in New York, which is great. So what do you say to them? Before, do you give the many tips?

It's only people I know. Yeah. Oh, no. So what do I say before? Like if you were going to do it? Yeah. So if you were going to do it tonight, I would first of all say, do you want to come to a show beforehand? By the way, you do not have to.

Right. You don't even have to see a show. You know what I mean? And then they'll be like, oh, I might be busy. Great. This is all you need to know. When someone runs in front of you, that means the scene is over. Right.

If someone taps you on the shoulder, that means step to the side. Take as many risks as you want. Be as stupid as you want. Be as crazy as you want. whatever you do the five of us our job is just to support you right so it doesn't matter what you do even if you make a weird turn that doesn't make sense improv wise we will make the turn with you so it looks like that's what was supposed to happen right and then um there has never been uh experience where someone hasn't said i want to do it again immediately immediately because

after it's like oh i get it i get it now and i want to you know what it's such uh like when you get dramatic actors up there it's very inspiring because all they do is they act in the moment and they're the best ones like cori stole was awesome and then some people that are comedy based feel such pressure that they try to be too funny and they push it too hard. Right. Um, but you can't, I mean, you can't lose. It's far. It's so fun. So what do you do? I mean, you've been doing this so long in terms of improv and you're literally at the top of that field. Like, what do you do if, does your brain ever like freeze up? Like, do you ever like lapse into like a default? Like, okay, if, if nothing else pops into my brain, I will do this

silly voice number seven. No, but that's funny. No. What is your silly voice? Let's say you're about to be funny and you had to do a silly voice. You know that guy, whatever. I mean, well, you know, that's default. I wonder if there's tropes I'll go back on if there's like, like, because if I do a lot of two-person shows. I do a lot with just Middle Ditch and I do a lot with Adam Pally and Gillesery where like you have to initiate scenes a lot. Sure. I wonder if I'll set up a scene where we're in a car. You know what I mean? Like if I can't think of something, maybe I'll put us in a car, I'll put us in movie theater. But I'll never say the same thing. There's never a thing you go back to, which is funny because like if I, I get more nervous so I have to memorize a huge

monologue. But then at the same time, like, I was talking to someone who was on King of Thrones and they were like petrified of improv, petrified of it and freeze up. He said he freezes up when he, like, he can't do it. And it was amazing because he's a strong, amazing actor. But like, it's just a different thing. They want, you know, some actors want words and I'm more comfortable if I know the words, but I can play. So when you're on a set, so at this point now, when you're on a set like The Walk where it's presumably not much room for improv, I would guess. Is that at this point comfortable, or is it still?

It's more comfortable than it was before. And also, I'll try to sneak some stuff in every now and then. But also, like, my role, I'm in, like, five or six scenes, so I don't have to go crazy. If I was, Joe had, like, every line in the movie. He's amazing. He's extraordinary in it. He's, but it's like, he's a movie star.

I realized that when I was, I remember watching him before when we were filming. He learned how to walk on a wire. You know what I mean? It's insane. He's, like, body was perfectly fit for this exact job. He memorized everything with a French accent. And he spoke French for half the movie. It was so inspiring.

And then I'm like, I just show up with like silly facial hair. I'm like, let's do this. You must be proud of your hair, though. You've got really good hair. My hair is pretty good. You have very good hair as well. Thank you. It's like the one thing I'm not worried about losing.

It's very weird. If you go to L.A. ever. So I used to buzz my head in New York. I used to just like, and then I'd never know how to grow it out. And then I moved to L.A. And I didn't get a job acting for like a month and a half. So my hair grew out incredibly long. Right.

And I auditioned for this movie. The first pilot I ever got was Mitch Hurwitz, who's a hero mine. I can't imagine not a hero of yours. Yeah, of course. I wonder if we name our top five shows. Sorry, I'll get back. Okay, let's do that. Yeah, yeah.

I wonder how much of the cold side, because I bet three to the five will be the same. In terms of what? You want to do sitcoms? No, just like comedies. Our five favorite comedies. But wait, so I apologize for gentlemen to all the place. First month in there. Yes, so I auditioned for Mitch Hurwitz, and Allison Jones is the casting director,

who is truly the biggest and best comedy cast director in the world. She's cast everything. So I knew about her. Like, I was nervous. to meet her. And then I came in late because I went to the wrong address and they emailed me that they, that I had to go a different dress. So I came in late, which was great because I didn't have time to be nervous. And then I auditioned. My hair was so stupid and crazy. And I go, I really apologize. I will cut my hair for you if I get this role. And he goes, no, you will not. You will

keep that hair. So that's how it all started. And then I was realized I become more of a character. My hair was never a thing. And only in LA, like, when you turn like a certain age, so you hit like 26, 27. I'm 34 now, but it's like, all of a sudden, like, guys will come up and be like, dude, great. Like, that's like, it's such a funny, never in my life. Like, it wasn't even a thing people talked about. No, it's one to be proud of me. Oh, my God. In LA, it's such, because I think there's so many medications and regimens to make sure you maintain your hair, which I understand, you know, a lot of people, you know, a lot of the confidence may come from that. So I get it, but it's like, never before have I gotten, and then like, it was a big thing. All right.

Let's do our top, okay, we do movies. Do we want to write it? All right. Well, say, no, let's do TV shows. TV shows. Top five comedies. influential comedies for you in your life um okay so you want to just go back and forth and just sort of like yeah let's see if they coincide i know mine are because i've had to answer this question before if it takes you a second to think i wouldn't know my movies i would not know my movies i've got my top sitcom i always go to oh i kind of think i bet i can get your get let me guess yours oh this is even better idea like whoa wait what type of what type of person were you i'm five years older than you so keep are you really i'm 39 that's crazy oh my god you're of kids and you're married and everything

no kids but there is a marriage your marriage yeah you got that part. I got to figure that part out. You got to, you got to figure it out. Okay, ready? Yeah. Okay. I think that one of your top five favorite shows is Seinfeld. I didn't come with the top five, but yes, of course it is. Is it? It's not in mine. Really? But I knew it would be in yours. Okay. See, now, you're, but the other thing is you, uh, you interview people, you have a collection. So you have like intelligence behind shows. No, but at the same time, I bet you, so my, I don't know if this would be in the list, but someone who does what you do, this is my opinion list.

Larry Sanders is on my list, 100%. But I thought cheers maybe or no. This is number one. See? I told you, only that people who really love, it's not on mine because I haven't been able to watch all of them. All of them.

But, uh, 12012 episodes of- Mine is Larry. These are the ones that changed the way I looked at comedy. When I saw the UK version of the office. Yes, perfect. I could not believe that

I felt like that show was made for me. And only I would get it. And then I met all these people that everybody else loved it. So Larry Sanders for me changed the way I look at television. I've been very fortunate that I'm friends with Gary and he's the best. What was the other one we just said?

We did Seinfeld. It's not in your top five. No, not cheers. Not cheers. What did we just say? What did we say? The first one we said. Sanders. Oh my God. Here you're mine. Sanders. Freaks and geeks. That shaped me kind of. Oh, UK version of the office. That got me. The Simpsons, I think, is my favorite show of all time. Yeah. Do you keep up with it? It's overwhelming. It's tough too.

I will say I had three goals on my bucket list three of them one of them was to be a voice on The Simpsons

The other one was to host S&L and one was to be a guest on Letterman before he went away You knocked that out I know

So I just did A voice on the Simpsons Although I wonder if I'm allowed to say it It's too late It's happened Okay I don't know

When it's coming out I wonder if I can get in trouble You'll be fun Okay It's a very It's a very small I mean It's a very small

I like you know like four lines or someone like that and it's awesome you probably are gonna get I remember when I started here Kurt Loder did a voice and they sent him like the cell of him in the Simpsons

I mean if cells existed anymore that's true I guess it's all like well I've had I've been very lucky I've done a lot of animated stuff and one of the guys used to work in The Simps and for my birthday is like what do you want for your birthday I was like I don't want you to spend any money what I want is just you to draw me with the B-sharps

and like singing with the B-sharps and he goes you got it. But then he took out his stelle stuff, his cell stuff, and he like painted it and it's beautiful. Amazing. If I ever get a house, I'm going to hang it up. But right now it's just hanging out. What's the fifth? It's in your book bag. Yeah,

what else you got? Freaks and Geeks, Larry Sanders, UK version of the office, Simpsons. He-Haugh? And he-ha. He-ha season's 4 through 20. Step-by-step? Oh, my God. This is killing me. What's my fifth favorite show? Well, arrested. Oh, Arrested Belman. That's it. Well, done. There you go. How many of those? I thought you'd have three.

I thought you'd have Sanders arrested. I don't already have my top five like in place like you do. Cheers is number one. I would put cheers. I would definitely put arrested. I would definitely put the office. Those three are definitely on there.

I would need to think. Seinfeld's definitely in top 10. I just need to be. Yeah, you're a Seinfeld guy, I can tell. I love Seinfeld. I'm stereotypical that way. I used to watch Seinfeld and I went to sleep every night in high school.

How Jewie are you? Were you Bar Mitzvitt? I was not Bar Mitzvitt. I was Bar Mitzvid, but I never went to Shul. I got a tutor so I can get Bar Mitzford. Okay. Because I also moved from the Bronx to Westchester. Right.

So, like, I didn't have a real shul that we were a part of. We didn't really go every week. Did you go every week? No, no, no. Like, I'm... Did you get up our mitzvah? No. Wow, really?

The nose and the name is all I got. Your nose isn't bad? Oh, come on, man. Let's go to nose battle right now. I'm like one step away from Houdini. What was his name? Adrian Brody. That was my favorite lines of the Emmys last night.

I thought Samberg crushed it. Yeah. I loved it. It was all written by Birthday Boys and Offer. Markerman. Oh, is that right? Yeah, it was all comedy bang, bang guys. It was, uh, it was pretty great. Um, so what, okay, you talk about the, the, the goals you had set for yourself. What are the, what are the things your parents are most proud of? When they, when they look at your resume, what got them excited. Oh, wow. I wonder what that is. Um, I think,

I, do they, are they, like, tapped into, like, the stuff that you? They are now. My dad is. My dad is very much so. My mom is just pure joy. My mom is just joy. Like, she'll, she loves it. She, she just wants me to be happy and find somebody and all that stuff. My dad is very much, Like he wasn't, but he loves movies and TV, loves him. And he just retired, so he has more time to do that. But he, I wonder what the proudest thing. I think a big one, I won an Emmy once. And when I won an Emmy, I went on stage and everybody, and it was very early in my career,

and it was very unwarranted. It was very weird. The timing of it is not correct. Like I literally, that should have had five years later. I was living in a tent. I was living in a tent and sleeping there on my friend's couch. I remember sleeping in my tucks that I borrowed after. like I did it was very weird um and I remember getting on stage and my family is like you just

want it was crazy like I got a thousand I remember being on stage and my phone was vibrating and my phone died I guess if you get a lot of text messages like your phone died it shows how really I'm not popular at all I have like 50 or 60 text messages from people and it just died and then for the rest of the night I'm like hat with an Emmy in my head I'm like I do you guys have like a a plug I need like plug in my so that was for the the hue and yeah I wrote for the um Oscars with Dan Harmon before he, I remember he was telling us how he was trying to do this pilot call community. Crazy.

He was with us. And he was like, what do you think about this person? And I knew Donald Glover and he wrote Donald Glover's name. And then he's like Joe, he's really like Joel McHale. And then Rob Schrobb, who's now directing Lego movie two or the Batman one. He's directing one of them. Okay. And he's a genius.

He's so incredible. Yeah. And then we wrote together. And I remember it was just very surreal. And I remember when we got nominated, they left my name off the list. And I had to be like, you guys. I forgot to put my name on a list, and it took, like, a couple weeks. And they're like, okay, you're on it now.

I was like, oh, my God. Yeah, that would have been. It would have been, I would have lost the Emmy because of a error. I mean, what strikes me, and, you know, you're looking at the, at the resume. It's like a very eclectic career you've got in terms of everything. I feel like I try to put my hands in everything and see what happens. Like, because I didn't know where I really wanted to do this really bad and I didn't know which one was going to go.

So if it was writing or, like, I wrote books at the beginning, like, anything that would take. Yeah. So does this resemble at all what's, you'd sketched out yes this is what i want to do although i wish i was you know i mean of course i want to like the walk being in a movie like the walk feels very special because that's like like those big movies i grew up on some actors are like oh i don't want to be in like a marvel movie i was like i would die to be in a my are you kidding me you know how cool that is but they're literally actors that are like oh it's it's it's so the type of stories that i connected with as a kid

it is so the type of stories i'd love to keep telling but um to be able to do a show on like a Parks and Rec, or like a comedy on Showtime or HBO or Netflix, like to do that for a long time, that would make me really happy. And then develop my own stuff and write my own stuff. That would make me really happy. But, yeah, it's very similar to it. I wish I was, I've sold a bunch of movies and that have not been made, but I'm acting the stuff I'm acting in.

I've been very lucky. Are you still writing the thing for Seth and? Yes, I am. Writing that. I'm writing a movie for Universal. There's a movie. Oh, I can announce this. I did a movie, a remake of Soap Dish for Paramount,

and they didn't really make it then, but it got on the Blacklist. Blacklist is this thing that Franklin Leonard puts together that is like the best unproduced scripts. And I got very lucky that I got on it years ago. And then Franklin called me, and he said, we're going to put yours on as a live read. Oh, yeah, they've been doing that lately.

Yeah. So I'm going to close off the whole season, and we're going to get all these like, oh, it's going to be great. So I'm going to do it. And then the best part is, if you consider a Jewish person a minority but if you don't

the whole stage is going to be different ethnicities and I don't think there will be one white person I mean me but outside of me there won't be one white person on state which I think is so cool and it makes me very inspired and excited that I could bring that out there

but we're going after like huge wonderful Latino actors and actresses and Gina Rodriguez is doing it and like so it's like soapish but it's tel novella did you like the original the first movie was a big one for me honestly I liked it a lot

But I didn't remember it. I remember when they were trying to get me to write it. I was like, I don't remember enough. You should get somebody else. And I remember I suggested people that I thought would be great writers for it. Yeah. And they had read an old script amount. They said, we want this type of voice in it.

So I said, okay, and I watched it again. And I was like, okay, I have to do it. I loved it. It's so good. It's such a good movie. So is there hope that? Is that one of those things that just like? I have no idea.

It's such a weird feeling because you write something, you put in so much time. And then you just, at the beginning it was way harder. now it's just like you put it a you put it as i tried my best yeah if they're going to make it they're going to make it if not i remember at the beginning the first couple that i sold when they didn't get made you just it's like hurt so much because you put in month two three four months and then one movie i've been rewriting uh for universal for years because they're like yeah we still want to make it like all right if you want to keep paying me to rewrite this right i love the movie like it's my movie i love my idea and everything so um it's a very weird thing and

these are all the set and evan one that's these are all solo writing assignments right Everything is solo. Yeah. Do you just find you write better? I like being able to, yeah, I feel like, I'm writing one thing with one of my friends right now, a TV type thing, but you have control of everything. You literally have control of everything. So I can control when I write, I control what I think is funny.

Nobody says no to me, you know what I mean? Until I'll give it to everybody and everybody says no. Oh my God. The best feeling in the world is when you write a movie, he put it right in front of you. And it says like, I try to make cool cover, cover, whatever, like first. page things um and uh it looks gorgeous and you put it there and you're so proud you create a world and then you hand it off to somebody and then literally you just get shit on i mean in every imaginable way everything you thought was good stuff your face or these notes you get like

notes notes notes that's that's an easy way to shit on you yeah yeah it's a lot it's a lot of notes yeah and how basic is is there ever a basic note like this just isn't working like like i don't like this or is it always couched in like i don't feel the protagonist's journey Great question. A lot of it has to do with, like, what is, like, the jokes are never a problem. It's like, what is this person? Yeah, what is this emotional? Why is this person doing this?

But there's also notes that every single person. I feel like there's notes that when someone doesn't know what to do. They'll just give the same note. Right. So I've gotten that and like sometimes barely change it. I'm like, great, you fixed it. I was like, I mean, but there are like, when you work with like a Seth or and Evan, like, or Adam McKay, who I think is a genius.

anything they say I'll listen like whatever yeah and by the way Evan will nonchalantly be like what if this happened and it's now the funniest part

of the movie and it was an author you know it'd be really funny Ben this like what you thought of on the spot right and like yes

now that is by far the funniest part of the movie right and then like you know but you'll go back and forth like I've written a draft and they're like

you know never mind let's go back to the old that and we'll go back to the old that and with writers it's very different they're not as precious with their drafts

with producers because it's way more like I'll just do a couple drafts and then one draft with oh it's very different but i've been very fortunate the people i've been able to work with and i sell them as pitches so i write them after i sell them as pitches i'm going off actually this afternoon to the set of neighbors too oh yeah where are they haven't they're in atlanta

oh you're gonna fly there yeah i'm flying there tonight really yeah neighbors very exciting yeah i went to a table read of it did you yeah i did i did uh yeah for uh for uh they get a whole bunch of people that are way smarter than me in a room right i remember this one too by the way Is this like a punch-up thing, or is this just like a, it was like kind of like a, it was a little bit punch, but not as much jokes is just like, hey, we're going to film this movie. What does everybody think? Got it. But I remember Apatow was in front of me, and I barely know Apatow. Yeah.

And they're like, okay, so what does everybody think? And then Rogan's like, Schwartz, what do you think? I'm like, uh, Chad Apatow is right there. Let's, let's hear his thoughts. And I remember I had a, he says, I agree. Yeah, I had like a plate of like every breakfast food in front of it because I like did one of the side rolls just to help them out. And then afterwards, I was like, I'm starving. So, like, I have, like, this huge plate of, like, bagels and locks.

And they won't remember this. But I remember being like, oh, I loved it. I loved it. I'll give you my notes later. Kitten, let's hear. I'm missing my waffles. And then Apatow is another one where he just, like, spews, brilliance. But that movie will be great because all those actors are hilarious and, yeah,

it'll be a good set to go on. Those are awesome dudes. Yeah, they're great. Tell them I say hello. I will. And tell them their movie. I just handed in them a new draft of my movie. Hopefully they like it.

We'll read it all together. God, I would love for you to read it. I would love for you to read it. I think it's going to be so good. I'm actually really excited about that movie. And this is one that you get to also like fashion apart for yourself. Yes. Which is, oh my God.

Can you imagine how I slowly keep making it bigger? You have to. I mean, that's like, at the beginning he's like, yeah, because I wasn't sure which role first. And then McKay is like, you should do this role because you can improvise more and I was like, yeah. And then all of a sudden that rolls, be like a love interest all of a sudden.

So what are the, you're talking about, like, being open to being in those kind of like pop culture things, like a Zemeca's film. Do you ever get to go? But is that pop culture? Like, what's a pop culture? Give me an, what's an example of a film that when you interview someone, they'll be like, yeah, they almost seem embarrassed that they're in it. I don't know what that would be. By today's standards is a superhero movie That's crazy though, isn't it? I feel like, do you come from that world that you enjoy those? Of course. I mean, I had a meeting with Marvel people and I was like, these are the questions I have for you

and I like asked them a series of questions about films But I, like I think James Gunn crushed Guardians I think they're, I don't know man, I love the Avengers movies It's just mind boggling like to think like I mean, I don't know what if you were into that stuff growing up But like, you know, the wizard magazine lists of like Who's gonna play Professor X? like all happened and it's all happening it's insane but also think about the wizard magazine are didn't

they have like how much comic book costs sure yeah that's what I would look up all the time like I'd be like oh my god like the death of super oh that was late in my comic book career like remember when superman died I bought like four of them yeah and they came like manila black or white omla I'm I forget where they were I was in the worst like I was collecting comic books and baseball cards at a time when they like they suddenly mass produced them all yes so like we were at the tail in where, like, we thought we were actually investing in the future when, like, no, there were 10 million Don Manningly rookie cards. Yes.

I'm not going to make any money off of that. I remember, I literally remember, I was doing basketball. So, like, Jamal Mashburn rookie card, and I'd, like, put, I'd buy, like, a very expensive case for it. Like, the ones with the screws. You know what I mean? Like, there's some that you could put, like, kind of, like, hard plastic. Yeah.

But there's, like, a glass case where you, like, have tiny screws. And, like, I had a couple of those, like, or, like, X-Men cards. I would, I don't know if you'd collect in those Marvel cards. Those Marvel cards would be like holograms are in them And I would like, oh my God, this is amazing But you can do you have you gotten the app for the Star Wars trading cards on your phone? No. Do you know about this?

No, are there new ones? Well, so they're virtual cards. So I don't know what sense that makes except that I'm totally into it. So you get an app on the phone, I can show you. And it's like buying you buy a card or buy a pack or you open packs and you have a certain amount of fake money And you can purchase packs and you get like these like you get you get the holograms. trade with people? You can trade. Oh, that's really smart. And it goes all the way through the Force Awakens and all

that stuff. That's really smart. What's the most rare? Is Yoda the rarest? Or I guess it would be like a side character? There are so many, they're like 59 different yodas. There's like Yoda with a lightsaber, Yoda and Empire. I want to know what the one in 1000 is. I certainly don't know. You ever do those kid robot dolls? No. Don't. I got addicted to those for a little bit.

I'm a huge Simpsons fan. So like, I used to go to the Tabories just to listen all the time because the cast director was a big fan of undercovers that show of JJ Abrams that I was on, nobody's ever heard of but she's like me and my kid love that show i was like amazing i i knew everything about her because i was a nerd about sims a huge nerd about simpsons so um uh i don't remember what i was saying a robot kid uh oh so they so the simpson so what it is is it's a box and and and if you open the box it's still in a silver bag so you can't see you buy it with it's just

like baseball cards with not knowing which character's in there and so there's like one and one like you know ned devil ned flanders is one in 400 or whatever it is um but then like i I have 35 hippie homer barts or hippie homers so it's like um so I loved it I had so much fun with it and I have a whole collection it's so awesome and then like I remember I was like oh you have to stop I remember thinking like oh you have to stop what are you doing what are you doing 30s now I'm oh it's just like money also like I look at it and it's like probably 200 bucks for like these little things maybe more and I'm like oh what are you doing yeah is there so do you do do a voice on the Simpsons or you're doing your own voice I do my own voice and it's

It's like a character. Do you tend to, in the voiceover stuff you do, do you do voices? Do you tend to do your own? I do a higher version. If my voice wasn't all messed up, I'd show you. So I do this show called Randy Cunningham, which we just did 100, 100 episodes for Disney. Wow. I'm crazy.

100 episodes of anything is insane. And my voice is like, everything is up here. If my voice isn't raspy, if you feel like. But it's like, so like. That's smoking the cigarettes over there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, I'm a ninja, so everything is very, I'm always excited and like really into being a ninja blah, blah, blah, blah, and my voice would get demolished.

That's why I used to get sick a lot, because my throat would be, like, red and, like, well, ready, ready for sickness. We can't wait for sickness. And so, like, you learn how to breathe better, but I'm terrible at that because I never learned how to breathe. Like, I don't know how to use my diaphragm. Wait, and your mom teachers taught music, yeah. But, like, K through five.

That's your level, though. Yeah, that is literally right. So that's, after five is, like, where I stop. So, like, that's why I can sing, like, so. songs with people, but like I can't create music. Have you ever gone up for musicals? Have you done musical theater? No.

I always did basketball instead of the musical theater. Right. So I did basketball and I think there's a part of me that was too afraid to audition because I didn't want to be told that it was terrible. Same with college. I never did improv until my ex-girlfriend at that time forced me to do improv. She's like, you have to audition. And I was like, okay.

And I had the word, I've never been more nervous for anything in my life. And I auditioned and I had a terrible audition and went home. I was like, oh my God, I blew it. And then one of her friends called and was like, he's going to get in. I don't know if I had a good audition. She's just like, he's going to get in. So it's not like, I don't know if I was whatever. But that was, I was always afraid of failing.

And then when I got through that first stage, it got a little easier. How about auditions to this day? Do you still have that fear or? It matters. Like I auditioned for a big old, big old movie, which I'll tell you about off the thing. Like a big one that would have changed my life. And I remember I'm pretty good in auditions now because I've done a lot of them. And I think there's a skill set to learn how to audition.

Like to be, because like as someone, like I direct some stuff every now and then. When you see people, you want to see someone that's comfortable. And you're like, oh, I'm going to spend a couple weeks of this person. So you're like, oh, I want to make sure they're comfortable and they can handle whatever. So being really nervous does not help you in those room. But it's so hard to say, like, just don't be nervous when you go in there. So I'm pretty good. When I get my first laugh or when I get my first scene that I think I did well, I'm close and I'm great.

If it takes a little bit or if there's a director that I really respect or if it's a It's a really big project, and I'll feel nervous beforehand. The casting directors are the directors you meet with and those kind of things. Are they generally cool or they ever dicks? They're almost always cool. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Because they don't want them.

I mean, it's... I mean, what is it? I mean, sometimes it'll be short. Sometimes it'll be like, all right, see ya. And then you're like, ah, can I do it one more time? Like, I just spent a bunch of time memorizing this stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I've been lucky.

My auditions have been pretty good. But the worst thing is you could do a flawless audition. Yeah. And then they'll look at me and they're like, no, he can't play the role. It doesn't look like this. And that's natural. Yeah, yeah. It's such a weird experience.

And it's almost weirder when you lose. I can't tell what church more if you lose a role because you messed up your audition or you lose a role because it's like, no, we need someone that looks different. And have you been on the other side of it yet? I would imagine you've started. I mean, like, I've been in the room where it's been, yeah, where it's like, yeah, dude, that guy crushed. But he, you know, he's hilarious, but he's just not that guy. He's not this guy. So I understand it.

But, you know. And what about, like, kind of the chemistry-read things? Have you had to do that? Done many of those. And done them for, like, independent movies where I'll audition with, like, a love interest girl a bunch of times over. And on both sides of it where you've got the role or they don't have the, like, I mean, it's sort of like, you're vying and the girls vying?

One of them, I had it. And we were testing women to see who would play opposite me. Okay. And then. Is this just like speed dating where you feel like, oh, all these girls have to pretend to be into me now. It's very weird. No, but it's like they'll bring not that many people in. They'll bring just a couple people in. Yeah. So you're not

like whatever. But there's a movie I was going to do a while ago that I was going to that I wrote and stuff and then halfway through it it I bailed on it. But I remember meeting with these people and meeting with my friends and then afterwards listening to what everybody says or being on the other side like I remember I was helping an audition process once just because they wanted

an improviser there and I was supposed to improvise with like these are awesome big actors to see if they can handle it. And then when they leave, you hear them talk about like the biggest people and it by the way you'll be amazed like you know the strongest actors sure it just will still not like yeah or sometimes their auditions will just be okay right it's crazy right yeah so you moved out to LA a few years back mm-hmm six years ago six years yeah have you gone totally LA are you very much I think it's very weird I kind of LA

this this past year I feel like LA has kind of been tough I don't know why I feel like it's Like, it's been, I don't know what, I don't know how to explain it. It's been, I've been there for a while now, and I've been very fortunate what I'm doing, but then sometimes it just beats you, man. There's sometimes that that city will just beat you up. Just because it permeates the, yeah, just not, sometimes not getting roles. There's no place to run away from it. Yes.

Oh, the one thing, the negative for me, well, it's a positive in some, especially when I first move there was positive, but, excuse me, the negative that for me is everybody does the same thing. Yeah. When I lived here, like, you can meet an architect. or a construction worker and like have real conversation or be on the subway and talk to people. You bump into people. Yes. And different types of people.

Metro North because my family lives in Westchester. I'd be a Metro North twice a week to see them or want, you know, and would chat with, you know, a psychologist or a blank. And in L.A. it's a lot of the same. And if they're doing something else, it's a means to make money so they can do this. Which I understand. If you're in Detroit, you're going to work in those warehouses or, you know what I mean, or the factories rather. And where our version of the auto industry is entertainment.

So if you want to do it, you end up there. But as a human being, like, trying to connect with other human beings, sometimes it can get a little bit, it could get a little bit tiring meeting. Everybody does the same exact thing. Yeah. Yeah. What's the best work you've done? You think nobody's ever seen.

Oh, wow. The best work I've done. Okay. It's very hard for someone to say when they were good at something. Well, or just even the product. Because, you know, you've done products of all size, some years that were intended for big audiences, a lot of indies that, you know, at their best are only going to be seen by...

That's true. I think, you know what I really like? There's a scene in House of Lies this year that I don't think a ton of people watch that show. Although we get renewed, so maybe they do. Yeah, you're in like fourth or fifth, right? This is our fifth season. But there's a scene where, this will be a huge spoiler,

but maybe you guys can find it. There's a scene where my dad comes back and he's a terrible person and abandoned our family is terrible. And then he tells me his cancer, so I have to take care of him. So I put him up, I take care of him, and then I find out that he's faking it the whole time. And so I had this speech that David Walpert, an amazing writer wrote, and I lay, I like,

I figure it out at a breakfast between him and I, and I figure out that he's lying to me. And then I switch, and I become, I do this monologue that's a page and a half or two pages that's like me talking about all the terrible things he's done or whatever. And I do it to him, and it hurts him so much that he has a heart attack and he dies. Like, and it's this huge thing. And I love it. and nobody's ever. I love that it happened

and it was such a beautiful moment and like, you know, like also like when they submit for Emmys and stuff like that, they do scenes and I don't even think they submit, I don't even think they did, you know what I mean?

Like, because it's so dramatic it's for comedy, but it's like, I love that. I mean, do you take part in that in a way because that's not,

at least at this point, that's expected of you. You're exactly correct. That's because it's like, also for me, that's a real challenge. Yeah. Like, John Ralphio

is one of my favorite things in the university. It's one, I think it's one, I thought the character was incredible, like to play. It was so fun. But it's like when they show me a script, oh my God, I could play. It's also, by the way, talking about memorizing stuff.

I could memorize John Ralphiel lines in a second. Or I can memorize any real comedic beat in a second. But I had to take time to memorize that I'm going to kill my father's speech. You know what I mean? Like really put in like a day's work and stuff like that. You're right. So those things. But like, you know, there's a bunch of park stuff that I'm super, I mean, like really proud of.

There's a short film called Amamitza that. that's like I went to Sundance and it's just me and it's about like my friend dies in Mexico and I have to pick up his dead body and bring it back home and it's me dealing with the death and Ben Berman directed it and that's pretty special too I think it's a special one too so a coming full circle on the walk so when you finally like you work for a bit and you get to never good with time management you know exactly how much time you have left well you know um I know I know you have to do silly Snapchat things for MTV yeah but it's for Sammy Heller we can do it whenever she's open to whenever

Can I ask you questions? All right, let me, you ask your last one. I was going to say, unless this is going to wrap it up so perfectly that we should. Okay. No, God, no way. So you're terrible at your job. Yeah, I'm not good. But back to the future.

No, back to the future. So what did you, when you worked up the courage, what did you want to know from him? What did you ask him? So I waited. I waited. By the way, oh, you want to hear a great story? Yes, I do. So my role is very small, right?

But I still said I'll audition for it. Like, it's like, I mean, my line, I have so few lines in it. I'm in a couple scenes, but I have so few lines in it. but an integral part of making the heist, the quote-unquote, him, like, I'm there. In real life, like, this guy existed and he helped him out. Right. But I was like, yeah, I'll audition. Of course, I'll audition, even if it's tiny, whatever.

And I did the audition for a casting director, not even for him. Right. And they're like, he really liked it. He wants to see you. Oh, there's a great story, but it's too long. But he's like, he wants to see you. I was like, great. Is he going to be in the room?

He's like, yeah. And I was like, okay, I'm going to meet my hero. The other thing is the audition is so small that there's like not a lot of room to like show him like this is why you should hire me right um and then i did it and he let me improvise a little bit because they're you know whatever and um then he goes to i think it was victoria burrows or was the catheter he goes uh he goes is it okay do you mind for a second if uh just ben and i talk and uh she goes of course she was used to it obviously obviously when he i guess maybe this is a part of the process i think um and then she leaves and i'm like oh i was like oh my god

Robert's a man And he sits And he sits And he changes his chair To right in front of me And we sit right in front of me And I'm like I can I tell you the joy I felt

Even if I wasn't gonna get it And he's like hey I just like To talk to my actors a little bit If you know He didn't know if he's gonna hire me or not Although I made so many jokes about like So I got the role huh And he's like no no no

There's so many people That have to say yes outside of him But like I kept He's very funny by the way If you get him in the right direction He knows exactly what's funny have to be the men that made use cars and death becomes her i mean see it's very very true it's but it's like his comedy and by the way he loves to laugh but you know like he's very uh he does his own

thing and he's so inspired all the time that you almost don't want to get in his way and say something stupid but whatever but i love to make him laugh it was one of my favorite things even talked to on the phone like i after the movie i was like hey i saw the movie and like i can't i love to make him laugh um but he sat down and he's like i just want to talk and we just talked about stuff it wasn't even about the movie. Well, it was like, he's like, so what do you do? Like, what else do you do? And I told him I wrote and we talked about writing for a while because, you know,

obviously he's a writer. And it was so inspiring. And it was, I've never had an experience like that with after an audition. Like sometimes you know, like, oh, I have a chance. I was like, I think I have a chance with this one. And so even if I didn't get it, just the idea that he sat and he took the time. Yeah. Because I'm sure you did have a real experience with him.

Yes. Oh, how exciting. It was so exciting. and then the first question I asked him back to the future stuff and I was like, did you know when you're making it like that it was going to be the biggest like or that it was going to be such

a seminal movie and he's like no we lost our lead actor I was going to say after I inspired Eric Stoltzide maybe God he was like no we were always bought like we we replaced our lead actor I loved asking him and I remember there was one thing I was like

God I remember watching it we just watched it again like when we were there in Montreal I was like I never noticed that it says Twin Peaks and then when he knocks over that tree at the end it says lone peeker Right and he's like Ben you didn't You didn't realize that? And I was like Okay, all right, Samakis

But he I could ask him questions About everything and then what I did is I bothered his Producer because I didn't want to bother him So I asked his producer so many nerdy questions About Roger Rabbit and Cassway The one cool thing that I learned which is My neat little thing Is what was a movie with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer

Oh wow that's a good one What Lies Beneath? Yes so he shot the first half of Castaway when Tom Hanks was heavier and then used the same exact crew. So everybody in that movie went to What Lies Beneath and then went back to Castaway. Totally. So they never stopped.

They must have filmed for, I mean, that must have been... Oh my God. Non-stop. By the way, What Lies Beneath, written by Clark Gregg. Fun fact. Really? Yeah. Clark Gregg from the Marvel franchise? Yeah. I didn't know who's a writer. Yeah, yeah. Also, it's directed a couple Indies, too. I didn't know that. What a great movie that.

was also a thriller by Clark Gregg I know, who does that come from? That's as close to a great Hitchcock movie as we've had in the last 20 years. Great movie, right? You see X Machina? Yeah, really good. Loved it. Love it. What, okay, so New York Film Festival? New York Film Festival. This is going to be big. Yeah, it'll be really fun. You're going to be there, I assume opening night. I'll be there. I'm going to get

interviewed by you. I told badge that I have a friend that's going to interview us and that I think I want to, the problem is this. I really want to screw with you. Oh, God. Like really, really bad. But the, the problem is like, it gets filmed and then we're supposed to be representing our movie and like yours is on a platform also that actually you'll might really you know like you'll interview a lot of people but yours you might release it exactly so uh if i literally tackle you to the ground and tickle you for for 10 minutes i told badge i was like there's one guy that i know that's coming in oh i'm doing it with james badge dale like we're both doing it amazing and so uh together uh which is great so you don't

have to be there by yourself all time but i was like um i was like there's one guy that we may have to fuck with the whole time and he goes really on the defense well no now i'm screwed because I also realize that I can't, like, I have to be. Yeah, you want to work with Zemeckis again. Yeah. The tickle. And also TriStar and Sony, yeah. Although maybe that's the reason why people will watch it.

Well, listen. No, if anybody watches, if anybody listens to this, thank you for listening to this, first of all. It's kind for you to care. But the other thing is, if there's video footage of me and Josh doing press for the walk, know that if I'm not tickling him, I'm thinking about tickling him. As he's giving his canned response, he's actually thinking about my, I, uh, yeah, my God, I hope that camera's rolling from the second you get in.

Jesus Christ. To the second. Suddenly I have a doctor's appointment. It's good to see you, Ben. Great to see you. Can I ask you two questions? Yes, go for it. What's our runtime?

40 minutes? We're, we're on the long run, which is great. We're about 50. What's the longest one you ever done? I think I did about an hour with Jesse Eisenberg. It's a Jew thing, clearly. Yeah, could be. What's Jesse Eisenberg like?

He's fascinating. He's actually like you in that he comes in with as many questions. as answers. Oh, yeah, I love asking questions. He is like, I don't know if it's a deflection technique. Not for you. I don't think it is for you. It is kind of as well. I don't love talking about it. Yeah, but for him, he just doesn't like... I'm genuinely interested in things. Yeah, I don't get that. Really? Of course. I mean, I would have to have that. I guess. These are the two questions I would ask you. One, what's the weirdest thing that's ever happened during an interview? If you had to tell the truth. Are you allowed to talk about that?

Yeah, no. I just say, I'm bad at, okay, okay. You would, of course you would remember. I remember from weird interviews that I've done. I've done like 10. Well, but here's the thing. My stuff is a lot of it's purposefully weird. Like, I put myself in bizarre situations. Oh, yeah. I saw you ask something crazy once and you were so nervous for asking. I forgot what it was.

Well, I do like a series literally called Up Close where like they're on my lap and like. Oh, is that true? Yeah, totally. Like it's bizarre and things like that. And no, the things that that stick out of my mind are the small things like, you know, my stomach making a noise while interviewing Vera Farmiga and like her. Oh, she's so gorgeous. She's so gorgeous.

And both of us just like knowing it happened, but not. acknowledging it. Did you ever fart during an interview? I don't think I have them. Has anybody ever farted during an interview? I'm sure. The law of averages say there have been at least 10 farts over the years. You don't remember one. How about this? Is there ever a question you ask that you wish you never asked? Um, I asked, well, sometimes in film festivals, especially when like I'm fried, the questions get really shitty. Yeah. Dude, imagine like when we're, when we get a thousand. Oh, I'm sure. Same on your end. And I, and sometimes like, you never want to be the last couple. Although you might want to. Sometimes it's punchy. Oh, yeah. I bet if you were, if I saw you

near the end, it would be, that would be the best interview all. time. You get me saying things I would never say to anybody else. Exactly. And sometimes I've like, on rare occasions, and I take pride in actually knowing my shit on like the other 99% of horrible entertainment from that there. But like, I remember interviewing like Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell for a movie like that I saw like six months earlier. It was in Bruges. Yeah, it was. In Bruges. Right. And I think I incorrectly remember that they were brothers in it. And like, you guys play brothers in this. And they're like, no, we don't mate. And I'm like, no, metaphorical brothers here. I'm like trying to cover.

And it's just like, and do they call you out or no? Totally. That's never good. I feel like there's something worse you can't talk about. You think? And what was the best? What's the best interview you've ever done? Oh my God.

The best? Yeah. I bet it's earlier on your career because that's when it's more exciting. I think that the best stuff that I always think about, it's honestly, it's doing fun stuff and making the people I respect laugh. Yeah. So it's like. That's interesting.

It's like doing a sketch with like Will Ferrell. And like to hear like that man like that laugh. He's the best. He's the fucking best. My favorite like random small Will interaction I ever had was I was at like I was at some like random awards show thing just like I was going for fun and I saw Will coming out of the bathroom and he saw me and he just he just pumps his arm and he goes, nailed it as he's walking out of the bathroom. It's like he's always got something of coming out of the bath. He's the sweetest. He is so funny.

He's the funniest man on the planet. Although in real life, though, he doesn't, like, he's not big. He's, yeah. Yeah, he's so, he can turn it on in an instant. We did a sketch, him, me, and Walberg once called The Knife Show. For the other guys? For the other guys? I was in that movie for one scene.

Oh, it's right. And it was, it was epic. I was early on in my career at MTV where I didn't realize that when you do a show called The Knife Show, you should probably use props instead of real knives. No, you did not. We had real knives. And there's, it's actually on my business card. I'll show you.

It's a photo of Mark Wahlberg sticking a knife like in. my eye. Yeah, it happened. He loves you. I've seen many things with you in Walberg. She's the best. I don't know what it is that we share. Here it is. Look at that. That happened. That's really smudged, but that's a look of fear. That's actual, actual fear. Oh my God. I would literally cry. I would cry. Well, anyway, Ben, did we do it? A pleasure. I think we nailed it. I think you did. I attended. I attended the podcast. No, I just hung out for a bit. This was destined to happen. I'm glad we finally made it work. I feel like it'll happen many times.

Can you ask one, like one weird question? Ended with one real weird one. What? Doesn't have to be good. How much did you make on the walk? Oh, very little. I mean, well, comparatively, I told them I'd do it for anything. Very little comparatively to what I'm sure.

Right. Big time movies start. By the way, movies, anytime you see me in a movie, I'm making less money than everybody else. Because I'm so quick to say I'll do whatever. But by the way, I'm also. That's a resume builder. That's the one. And also dreams.

I want to do that movie. And by the way, still, it's more money than I ever made when I was in New York. I had no money in New York. No money in New York. It's all relative. It's such a funny thing because I'll come back here now and they pay for your airfare and they put you up in a hotel. But because when I lived in Manhattan, Manhattan for five years doing comedy, I had no money.

So I don't, people are like, yeah, like you go out with people like, where should we eat tonight? And I don't know any places to eat. Chipotle again? Literally. It would be like Chipotle, Wendy, I ate a lot of fast food when I was here, a lot of Chinese a lot of like Korean like I lived near, I lived in Korea town but it's so funny when you come

here and have more than no money like it's so interesting Well now you're pulling it down to Disney VO money so you're like there's no I mean like there's no money Where's the money coming from Ben? God honestly It's mostly this stuff. Podcasts

Podcasts like Josh pays really well Yeah you were misinformed On to the next one next time we'll do something silly A pleasure anytime you want We're supposed to do a sketch Maybe we'll do a sketch soon I would love to. I would love to do that. That'd be really fun. Thanks for stopping.

I love you very much. Calm down. Can you say it to me? I love you. Josh, I love you. Say it. I love you. I love you. I'm supposed to say Josh, I love you? No, look me in the eyes. I want you in the eyes and tell me you love me. Josh, I love you. Oh, I see you're saying Josh. I want you to say Josh. I love you. You're making this to Woody Allen. I want you to express to me the affection you have to me. As real as you can. Okay. I'm going to film it. And then I'm going to text it to you. Oh, God. Oh, my. Why are you adding layers to this? Why are you adding layers to this? Why Can't it just be one thing?

Ready? Don't periscope it. No, I don't even know. I can't do periscope it. It's all too much. Everything is too much. I don't even know how to wake up in the morning anymore. Ready?

Not really, but let's do it. All ready? Josh, I love you. Ben? Yeah. I love you. Thanks for stopping by. That felt real.

It's great. Should I hit stop? Are we ready? Are we going to replay it? You want to replay it? You want to replay it? You want to see gratification? All right.

Josh, I love you. Done? Yeah. I love you. Now you can stop it. Hello, I'm Emily Foster. MFG, the podcast that helps you get hip to what the youths are up to. And helps you get chill A-F.

Am I using that right? We're V-Chill, Emily. But right now we are actually here for a very eye-opening episode we just released. Very exciting. Lizzie Velazquez was born with an inability to gain weight. After being labeled the ugliest woman in the world on YouTube, she did a TED talk on the epidemic of online bullying. Now she's fighting for Congress to pass an anti-bullying bill.

And starting this week, you can see her incredible documentary of Braveheart. We are obsessed with her. We talk to her. And here's a little piece of what she had to say. Every time I see a bad comment or someone says something, it doesn't really, I mean, there are times it will upset me. I mean, I'm human. But at the same time, there are times where I see it and I think I really do still have a job to do. There are still people that are needing help or needing to see that there is a,

different outlet for your anger. To hear more, listen to Lizzie Velasquez, a brave heart on OMFG. And keep listening to OMFG on Wolf Pop for more interviews with some amazing young people. You can listen on iTunes, Howell, or your favorite podcasting app. This has been a Wolf Pop production, executive produced by Paul Shear, Adam Sacks, Chris Bannon, and Matt Goorley. For more information and content, visit wolfpop.com. American history is full of infamous tales that continue to captivate audiences, decades or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the infamous America podcast, you'll hear the true stories of the Salem Witch Trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy,

Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles Starkweather, of mysteries like the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, Killers of the Flower Moon, Zodiac, Eight Men Out, and many more. I'm Chris Wimmer. Join me as we crisscrossed the country from the Miami Drug Wars and Dixie Mafia in the South, to mobsters in Chicago and New York, to arsonists, kidnappers, and killers in California, to unsolved mysteries in the heartland and in remote corners of Alaska. Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge.

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