Happy Sad Confused - Danny McBride

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

For 20 years Danny McBride has been making us laugh in films (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, TROPIC THUNDER) and TV (EASTBOUND & DOWN), THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES), and now he's an author with his new collection of short stories, THRILLING TALES OF MODERN MEN. He joins Josh to talk about it all including the shows HBO has said no to, lessons learned from YOUR HIGHNESS, and his plans for a GI JOE movie. SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! Rula -- Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rula.com/happy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #rulapod Quince -- Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for free shipping and 365-day returns. Limited Time Offer–Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code happy15 at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://huel.com/happy15.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When that movie screened, I mean, it was insane because we went from, I mean, I think when I went to Sundance that year, I might have had like, you know, 30 bucks in my bank account or something. I mean, it's like we had nothing going on. And yeah, everything changed so fast. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins. Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Say I Confused. Today on the show, one of the funniest smartest men on the planet. It's Danny McBride. You know him. You love him as an actor as a friend. filmmaker and now as an author his new book thrilling tales of modern men so thrilled to have danny back on the podcast thanks guys as always for checking out happy say i confused remember to hit that subscribe button on youtube on spotify however however you're enjoying the podcast i appreciate you guys um before we get to the main event as always i want to remind you guys if you like what i do if you want to support what i do check out our patreon patreon patreon.com slash happy say i

confused you get early access to all of our episodes you get discount codes to our live event in New York and LA, autographed merch, posters, lots of cool stuff over there. As always, I always say it, but I really do mean it. Supporting us over there does help us make more stuff over here. Okay, as I said, the main event today is Danny McBride. We know him, we love them from eastbound and down, vice principals, righteous gemstones. This is the end. Footfist way, tropic thunder.

The list goes on and on and on. I've been thrilled to talk to Danny, literally his entire career, which Coensoxed. with the years of my entire career, first spoke to him about Footfist Way, which was the movie that brought him to the four in 2006. And now here we are. 20 years later, he has a great new book out. It is called Thirling Tales of Modern Men.

It's a collection of short stories, and it very much is in keeping with the vibe, the humor, the tone of Danny McBride. You're going to love it. So check it out. This conversation deals with that, but also tons of fun stories about Your Highness Tropic Thunder,

his upcoming G.I. Joe movie that he has written. Sounds very, very cool. This is a really fun one. I'm so thrilled that happened. Please enjoy me and the one and only Danny McBride. Look at you, Danny. Yeah. What's up? Look at us. Here we are. We're doing it. Old men. We've turned into old men. What happened? That quickly. Yep. It's good to see you, man. It's good to see you too, bud. I always have to, you know, check in with you at every juncture in the professional career. Yep. Yep. And here we are. You have changed physically you haven't like classed up at all like in shape at all nope I didn't try to I didn't want to change myself for you yeah but you're a classy author now I would think that's right

so I should have I thought I should get some patches for my my elbows maybe a pipe but a monocle I'll all involve into that yeah I'll do what like John Travolta did at that film festival where he went yeah I'll have a brand new look next time you see me when's the last time you were clean shaven you know what I I was, it wasn't too long ago. It was probably about a month or so ago. Oh, really? Yeah, I, uh, I went and did an episode of the studio and I was clean, shaven for that.

Yeah. I was going to ask about that. You've reteamed with Seth. That's exciting. Yeah. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not. We started with a real exclusive for you on the pit as well. Any other TV shows we should drop?

I'm on the pit. I'm on the, on the pit. Yeah, there's, there's a bad guy this season. That's me. Yeah. Um, let's get the important stuff out of the way. You're an author. now. You have a lot of accomplishments in your life. Look at that. Look at this. This is a real

book. It's a real live book. Yep. Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, Danny McBride. There's no ghost writer here. No, ghost rider. Nope. Nobody. I couldn't convince anyone to write it for me. Every single word is you. Yes. Yep. In all seriousness, is this feel like a moment. I mean, you've been on a lot of different kind of press stores, promoted a lot of things. There's something like, I don't know, substantial real about being an author. I don't know. You know what it is. It's a little bit, it's like slightly more respect than being a comedian. Not much more. But no, it's great.

This is something like brand new. I, you know, I've written at this point over 80 episodes of television. Right. So writing is nothing new to me. But, you know, I wanted to sort of like do an extension of that and try what I do in a completely different format. Yeah. And that's what this was. And I had an absolute blast doing it.

It was so much fun. Is there something different? Because from what I understand, like this wasn't like no one was assigning you this book. This is literally born out of like way back when I think vice principals, like you're on your downtime, you start to just need sudden respite from that. Yeah, I started on vice principal. I started this thing where I just needed a little. I want it to, you know, when you write for TV, it's so much writing and it's, and it's always year after year, it's the same characters. Even though each season's, you know, different.

But you're writing for the same exact character and the same tone. And I was just kind of feeling like I need it to, I don't know, just like write for other. characters or write for other stories and just kind of give my brain a little moment to spin out on something else. And so yeah, I'd start at this habit of I'd write about three pages a day before I would go into the writer's room for vice principals and just kind of work it out and just you kind of write about anything and then just leave it there. And I did that for the whole time we wrote vice principles for like a solid year. And all those books just kind of sat there empty with no one, not empty, they were full, but no one was doing anything with them, including me.

And then it was a few years later, and I just started flipping through them and was seeing if there was anything in there that was worth exploring more. And a few of the stories were sort of what kind of motivated me to finish them. And then I was trying to think, well, what would be the format to give this? Are these each their own stories? And then it started to become clear that I wanted to do like an anthology book full of a bunch of different stories. And that proved to be so much fun. Because with this, it's like, you know, when you're writing for TV, every episode, you know, know, you try to make them stay on their own, but ultimately they're like, they're lining up

with other things, setting up a full season and then setting up a full series. And this was fun to jump into something and be able to take a story to its conclusion, finish it. And every story could be about whoever I wanted it to be or whatever I wanted to. And somewhat like different genres. There's some that are more like, feel like Danny McBride's black mirror and there's something that are a little bit more, you know, does, do you think there's a common denominator in the, in the men in this book? You know, like, the stuff I've explored in like film and TV. I mean, they tend to always be, you're always meeting them at a point where they're kind of lost, you know, met spiritually or romantically

or just in life in general. They're kind of not where they imagine they'd be. And then it's exploring the ways that, you know, the journey to sort of get back on track and just cause all this chaos and, you know, people making very bad decisions and, you know, sometimes people dying. There are a few I want to mention in particular that I really love. And by the way, reading a book, that's not like watching like a 90-minute movie. This was a commitment for me, Danny. Yes, I appreciate that. And I didn't even know you could read until this meeting.

So I'm really, I'm proud of you. I would have just stopped after the first story if I didn't like it. I really dug all the stories in this. And there are a few I want to shout out. The first one, which is maybe the longest one in it is the illusionist, which is about essentially a guy who puts himself in like one of the glass boxes in the middle of a mall. He's also kind of like suffering, going through like a breakup. Yep. What's your relationship with illusionists with magic? Do you consider somebody just sitting in a glass box actual magic? Are they doing anything? It depends on if there's food and water. Then it's

magic, you know. Yeah, it just, you know, well, with all these stories, it, that story just started honestly in the beginning. I just started writing the idea of this guy sitting in a box for 30 days. And then as I started writing, it was like, well, why is he in this box? What got him here? Like, what's going on in his life? And yeah, that was a lot of fun to write. And, you know, the thing that's been kind of interesting about this is whenever you write for TV or film, you know, you come up with a great idea. And then you have to go take it to executives.

And then they'll tell you all the reasons why it's not a great idea or why it's too expensive. And then you kind of go back and you challenge it. With this, it was like you could write something. And then it's, that's the story. That's what it is. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, I do like, I mean, I've never really considered like, does David Copperfield or David Blaine like, where do they poop?

Like, what happens? It's the logistics. Yeah. It's the nitty gritty. That really makes it important. They just, they hold it in. That's the real magic, holding your shit in for an hour. Were you, are you more of a, David Copperfield, or David Blaine?

Did you ever see Sigfried and Roy? Like, what's your bag? I've never seen any of them live, but I appreciate all of them. The, the closest I've got to real magic is the magic castle in Los Angeles. Right. I've seen a little bit of that up close. Yeah, it's fun. I've never gone over there.

I hear it's a bit run down over there. That's part of the charm of it. Yeah. Yeah. You, it would be weird if a, if a magical castle were magicians, drink was pristine.

It kind of needs to be musty to sell the whole vibe. That's fair. Then you're, it's like your Stanley Kubrick AI is like your robocare story, which is about a guy, an older gentleman who needs a robot caretaker and just like. Yeah, his kids don't want to, they don't want to invite them to their home to take care of them.

So they hire this service that puts an android in your home to take care of the elderly. And it goes awry. Yeah. Where do you stand on our robot overlords? Are you running towards it? Are you running away? Do you want a robot caretaker? I feel like I don't have any control on where it's going.

So I'm here to watch with glee what happens. My daughter, who's 11, is like fascinating. it with androids and robots. Like she always, she's been for like years. And she's going to lead the robot on the model against us. She wants, she wants that Tesla robot. She knew about that. She told me about that robot.

But I, she introduced me to something where I'm like, oh, I never thought about that. I always assumed if a family got a robot, you would just get one. You know, the Jetsons had one. Right. But she was like talking like, we'll probably need six of them. And I was like six. And she's like, one to clean my room, one to clean her brother's room, one to drive.

to do yard work. Like she already had given them all assignments. And I was like, oh, I kind of imagine that one would do them all. But she might be on to something. Maybe it's getting a fleet of robots is what the future is. Doesn't seem like a good idea for anybody. It's all teaching how to fight. They could protect you.

That's true. That's true. Entertain you maybe. Yes. They can dance. You can get them to do dances at night. Right, right. You want robot dancers.

Yeah, yeah. We need a troop. Yeah. It seems like you've always had a good relationship with your hair. It's iconic, the hair on your head. Still here for now. still there. Yet in the Institute of Men, this gets at a guy who's facing some follicle challenges. Yes, yes. And then enters into a real nightmare, like an amazing scenario.

I don't know if I want to ruin it the whole thing, but essentially he's found the elixir, but it comes with a cost. Yes, like everything, like any good fable, you know, you think you're going to fix one problem and you create others by doing it. And yeah, it just feels like we're in this day and age where with everything all. line, like there's a million things for people to be self-conscious of and like how far will someone go to like fix what they're self-conscious about? And, uh, you know, this was another one that I just kind of started at the beginning and then just like the joy of it was not really knowing where it was going or what, what was going to happen to him and then just trying every day to make it stranger and stranger of the journey he was on. Do you worry about somebody jumping out of a van and, and just hauling your hair cut? Yeah, give me a haircut. You know, maybe now I will. I never really thought of that as being a fear, but I could see it being. Yeah. The only, I don't want to ruin all of these. The only one I want to mention, I think might be the last one is Dad's Way, which you probably have the only short story that has a Bronson Pinchot role.

When I wrote that, I was like, can you do this? Can you just write Bronson Pinchotos in your story? Is there any legal ramifications? We're going to find out. It's basically, it involves a sitcom, kind of a reunion, an actor who has, he's now playing a mole man essentially in a film. where do you stand on what are your sitcom

we're the same age essentially yeah what were the sitcoms obviously perfect strangers you know we can do the dance of joy at the end if you want yes I yes we definitely should do that

you know it's all that same stuff I mean I love cheers Cosby show family ties perfect strangers full house where are you on Alf you know I liked Alf but I don't know

if I loved Alf I feel like it was it was a little too broad too silly maybe maybe it was a little too you needed the subtle humor full house yeah yeah you know what i think it was my fifth grade teacher was like really into alf and i think it like put a bad taste in my mouth i was like she likes elf do you like reunion specials where do you stand on that uh well you know when they're when they're done right but sometimes when you uh when you're so used to seeing people a certain age and then you see them much older all together doing the same thing sometimes it's a little depressing it's a little it makes you think not because

getting old is gross. It is, but it's sometimes it just makes you sad about how fast time is moving. It's kind of like a buzzkill. Yeah. Speaking of, okay, so like we probably talked about this over the years. Like, I'm sure people always ask you about, in particular for Kenny Powers, like getting the band back together and doing something. Have you ever seriously entertained it? It's been a long time now since you've played that character.

You know, I have never really entertained it because to me, it feels like we did do it, you know? And I wonder what we would have to gain by doing it again. I mean, ultimately, we didn't give a shit back then. We didn't have kids. We didn't have, you know, none of us were married. Like, we didn't even really know how the world worked, you know. So we were, there was a fearlessness to what we were creating. And I love that that is what it is.

And not that, you know, I'll still push things now when I like it. But I just part of me like wonders if, you know, me going back into that world now would actually make it better. or if it would somehow, like, taint it. Like, it kind of feels like the idea would be to do something new as opposed to just go wallow in the past. But who knows, man, I could make some bad real estate investments and then I'll be back, like, trying to push the relaunch of Eastbound down. Yeah.

Do they, do, does HBO come to you and say, like, think about it? They, uh, no, they don't. You know, the closest we came was we talked to Will about doing an Ashley Shaker spin-off a few years ago. But, you know what? HBO didn't even like listen to the pitch. They just like weren't arrested. I was like, all right.

It sounds like it could be awesome. I mean, that iconic character, that hair, everything about him. Maybe they're right. Maybe it would just be too much lunacy for one show. I don't know. We'll see going out. We'll never know. We had a spinoff idea after Eastbound that was going to be called Holy Guacamole.

And it was Steve Little and his, and his wife opened up a Mexican restaurant. And it was just going to be like a workplace comedy. And that again didn't go anywhere. And again, they were not arrested. In the acknowledgments, you mentioned a lot of people, including a couple of authors that caught me eye, Stephen King, Dean Coontz. Have you ever tried to adapt either? You know, I have not. But, you know, both of those writers were, I think they're the first writers that I really ever, like, finished, like, an adult book.

And I feel like it was, like, starting, like, in fifth grade, I started, like, kind of, you know, we'd had the book fair came to our. school and the Stephen King books like eyes the dragon. I remember that being there and and Dean Coons for some reason was always at the book fair things even in an elementary school and I remember I picked up his book Lightning that was like one of the first books I had ever read that was of that size and then it just was like I became like just obsessed with that genre of like the horror and I don't know I just I loved it and it uh I tried reading a bunch earlier and it just always felt like homework but for whatever reason when I found the genre of horror it just the past pages would just kind of, they would just speed by.

And I found myself looking forward to reading. And then I think once you find an in with a genre or a type of book that does that for you, it does start to open you up to reading other things. So I really do feel like those two writers in particular are what sort of like created, you know, the reader and me from a really young age. Yeah. And it's funny. When I think of the, like they never quite figured out unless I'm missing something,

adapting Dean Kuntz's work really well. They really didn't. I feel like he always was getting short. changed. I feel like they would, he had some awesome ones too. That book Lightning, I love when I was a kid. Have you ever read it before? It's like this girl, uh, when like when bad stuff happens in her life, there's always this guy who shows up and like, and it's real like the night she's going to be born, uh, the doctor that's going to deliver her is drunk and this dude shows up at his house and hasn't gone and doesn't let her, uh, doesn't let the doctor go deliver and

someone else goes. Then, you know, a few years later, the girls, uh, in high school and this guy comes in to rob her parents store and this dude shows up with a gun and stops it. And then like it's so kind of these things keep happening through her life. And then she's like now she's a writer and she's grown and this dude shows up that's come at different points, but he's been injured. And then you find out that he was a Nazi who was involved with time travel experiments. And the first time he did it, he saw her at a book signing and she was crippled because

the doctor who delivered her was drunk. And so then he kind of keeps going to different points in her life trying to save her. And then the Nazis come after him because they obviously they obviously didn't send a Nazi to go fix a writer's ailments, you know. Nazis and time travel? Nazis? It was all I need. Fifth grade me was like, oh, fuck, yes. Crazy.

We'll be right back with more Happy, Sad, Confused. The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders, an army scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world, praying the darkness chooses someone else tonight. But in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old-school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time, and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules-light nightmare with a story.

that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s, and man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the Shadow Dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.com slash the Glass Cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. From the parents behind Law and Order comes a mystery the whole family can enjoy. Patrick Pickle Bottom Everyday Mysteries. Step into the whimsical world of Patrick Picklebottom, a precocious 11-year-old with a love for reading

and an uncanny ability to solve mysteries. Inspired by the beloved children's book of the same name, this podcast vividly brings Patrick's tales of deduction and everyday adventures to life as he unravels baffling enigmas and solves clever cases. Patrick Picklebottom Everyday Mysteries is perfect for kids and is just as entertaining for grownups who love a good mystery. The whole family can listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, since we have the luxury of time and we have been talking to each other for a long time,

let's reminisce for a second. Okay. I was saying to you before 20 years since split fist way and 20, that means 20 years of us talking. I know, we have through the years. Yeah, and you're right. It's been at different points in both of our careers. It's crazy. So let's go all the way back first.

Like a snapshot of where you were at that time. When Footfist Way happened, and people by now probably know the story, but you and Jody and Ben, I believe, I co-wrote that one. You star in it, screens at Sundance. And it was Will, Will and Adam McKay that changed your lives, safe to say. Yep. For sure. How quickly, I mean, you'd been struggling. You've been trying to crack the Hollywood thing.

How much of like a mind fuck was it to go from like zero to 60? It was really insane. You know, I had always wanted to make movies my whole life. I mean, even just since I was a kid, I never thought about doing anything different. So that was always what I had kind of worked for and always where my brain was always pushing me there. You know, and you went to film school and met all those guys I work with there. So, I mean, there's four years of us sitting around just fantasizing about making movies, what kind of movies were going to make and watching all of these actors and directors and people that were working at the time.

But it always felt we went to school in normal. Carolina, so Hollywood still always felt very, very far away. Yeah, and when that movie screened, I mean, it was insane because we went from, I mean, I think when I went to Sundance that year, I might have had like, you know, 30 bucks in my bank account or something. I mean, it's like we had nothing going on. And yeah, everything changed so fast. I mean, after screened there, you know, Will and those guys picked it up. And then that, I mean, that was in 2006. That year, I went and did hot rod and then drill bit Taylor and then Heartbreak Kid and then that's where I met Ben Stiller and so then the next year it was a pineapple express the pilot to eastbound and then

tropic thunder I mean it was all all that was like in the course of like one year it was insane it's also crazy to think because you know it's one thing to like struggle and try to get acting gigs or whatever but like you really put all your chips on the table with foot fist way if that doesn't screen well if people don't like it yeah we're chill we're uh we're flipping burgers We're doing something different. That's kind of probably it. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's kind of what Jody and I felt at the time. It's like we had been out in L.A. for a bit. It's kind of funny because now when you look at it, we moved out there in 99. We made foot fist away in 2005. So we really hadn't been out there that long. Six years isn't that crazy. Sure.

But to us, it was a lifetime. And we were definitely at the mind, at the point of, you know, it's time to like, you know, shit or get off the can. Like, we need to, like, figure that we need to give it an honest shot and kind of like not be kidding ourselves that somebody's going to just show up magically and, like, like give us an opportunity. So what I remember, especially from those early years, is like, I mean, when we would do press together, it was always crazy by the nature of the stuff you were promoting. Yeah. And you were just always so down to do the craziest shit.

Yeah. Like I have two indelible memories. One, you referenced when you walk, we walked in and we always talk about it with each other. Is we, we did a competitive eating contest with a gentleman named Kobayashi. Yes. Yep. And I almost died. I remember that.

We have a photo. I was worried about you. So. Look at us. he never slowed down. Yeah, that's right, because we weren't doing hot dogs. We were doing pizza. It was pretty dangerous eating contest.

And what I remember is you slow played it. You're like, fuck that, I'm not going to go all in. Yeah. And you let me, like, there was a moment where I literally thought I was going to do it. Well, it was an odd choice to switch to pizza because the hot dogs dipped in water is one thing. Pizza dipped in water. Something gross. It almost turns into a paste.

Yeah. Yeah. That's why you didn't go all in? Yeah. I was like, I was only going to do this if I could. dip this into water. Yeah. The other one I remember that I don't have a photo of, for way out of the lost, I will always

remember doing a shoot with you and Will where there was a giant white python that was draped over the three of us. Oh, yes. I remember that. Yeah, I remember that. So. There was a whole set. Then you have a whole, there was a whole elaborate set that was.

There was a giant set. There was actually a pool that we created that I think Will Nix. He was like, I don't want to go in the pool. So then we were, we were stuck with the giant python. And I remember the like the animal trainer like giving us the whole like spiel. This can kill you. Basically. Yeah.

Now were you. I don't know. You're now a father of two. So maybe are you a little bit more would you would you do the python thing today? I guess is my question. Yeah. I would do the python thing today. Sure I would.

Bring in the python. We got it. You know what's funny is that I haven't. Having kids hasn't slowed me down from wanting to do. reckless dumb things to promote things. Honestly, the only thing I think having kids has really changed in my perspective on things is just how much time I want to give stuff, you know? Like, I really think about that with any project I have to do of just like,

what is the time commitment and like, what is that kind of worth and how much are you going to miss out on? Totally. Python's, I'm still down. Have you tried by now your kids are old enough that you could, you've probably shown them most of the films that you watched? You know what I've never showed them anything. Seriously?

Yeah, nothing. I feel like they're, I feel like they don't really have any interest. So wait. My son has seen things on YouTube and he think like he will always say like, oh yeah, I saw that. I'm like, when did you see that? He's like, well, I saw a clip of it. I'm like, this not the same thing. It's like watching the whole movie, dude.

It's like you saw a scene of something, you know. He doesn't really have any interest. My daughter is, she's 11. She, I mean, she is insane. She, from a very early age, she curses. I mean, she curses like me and even uses my, you know, my, you know, my, deliveries and stuff. She, uh, that must be a sight. It's really, it's really incredible. I mean, she'll just do little things like her brother will say something and she'll just like walk past and

just do that and just keep walking. It's like, she's been doing it for a long time and we'll try to reprimand her and it's just like no use. You're kind of like, it's hard to tell her to stop when I'm like laughing at her delivery. And also you've been rewarded for this for 20 years. So keep at it. Maybe your dreams will come true. We'll see. This makes me so happy that the legacy continues. It does. Yeah. You can just like all reboots these days. Of course it continues with a gender swap. It would have been too much if it would have been my son being like, it has to be the girl. That's how that's how reboots work these days. So they haven't watched, you haven't like gotten them to watch the Ghostbusters, the Goonies, any of the ones that really meant a lot to you?

I have tried to get them to watch that stuff. They like it. You know what, you know what genre plays well with them surprisingly is the 90s thriller. Really? Like River Wild and Pacific Heights and Like we like honestly it works like I watch them we watch it and they're like you know their fists are Quinched and they're like you know getting speed worked really well all they Yeah it's funny. It's not what I would expect it to caps their imagination But you know what I think it is I think on YouTube there is so much content That's geared towards people their age you know and I think when we were kids Goonies and this stuff this was like a you know wow there's like there's something made with people that are my age in it

Now I think they have so much of that, that weirdly seeing like a mom and a son and a feeble dad on a white water rafting trip getting terrorized by John C. Riley in Geve. That seems cool. That's amazing. Where do you stand on a goonies sequel? Do you want to roll in it? It seems like there's some more momentum in recent years. I don't know. You know what? I'm not going to say I'm above a reboot because obviously I'm not. I've participated in some. But that movie means so much to me that that is one that I'm, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm cautious about that. You could be the son of sloth.

You could be the next. I could be sloth. Maybe he's still around, you know. He's his old now and he's, you know, he only one ear moves. Yeah. Do you think, I don't know if sloth would play today. I don't know if it would work. I'm not sure.

It was a pretty ballsy move, wasn't it? Yeah. Okay, so going way back when, you've talked about how obviously, you really came into your own when you went to school and you kind of found like-minded individuals that some of which you still work with to this day. But you weren't aspiring to be a performer. Like, was it even like a secret dream that you just didn't want to express? You know, it wasn't.

I was at school for, you know, to be a filmmaker to write and direct. And that was kind of how I saw myself. And we at that, at school of the arts at time, the film school was brand new. So that school has a pretty cool history. They have a pretty amazing drama department and a dance department. So there were these other, it was an art conservatory. So you had to go four years there. You couldn't like transfer in.

Like it was, you know, it was a big emphasis on whatever your art form was. But the film school was brand new. We were the third class to go there. So no one had even graduated from that school and we were there. And because I think we were getting all this money, there was a lot of disdain from the other art schools, the other concentrations. They didn't really like the film school. And I also think because it's an art school and there's some pretty eccentric characters. Then all of a sudden there were like frat guys that were showing up, you know?

And so, yeah, it was a little bit of a. a growing period for that school. But in the beginning, the drama teacher was just totally opposed to the drama students working with the film students. And he said it was because he didn't want these inexperienced directors to like ruin the craft of what he was trying to instill. I see. Because obviously every actor is always going to work with an experienced director when they get out into the real world. That's just how it goes. All pros. But because of that, we were all forced to like be in each other's films. And so I had like, you know, I had acted for a lot of my buddies just because, and I think once they saw that,

could memorize lines, I would be cast in multiple student films. But it was always just to help someone else out. It was never because I really wanted to do it or solve myself doing it. And so when David Green was directing all the real girls, he had an actor drop out the last minute. And then he asked if I would come and do it. And I remember thinking like, this is crazy, man. Like you have a real opportunity. You're going to like, put me into this. And it was a lot of fun. I had a good time actually doing that. That was the first time. We're like, oh, this is kind of interesting. Like, it was fun to do it and to do it and to take it seriously. And then after that, Jody and I started talking. And that's when we kind of started kicking around

the footfist way and the idea of me being in that. But it's so strange to me that like, I mean, people obviously must have thought you were funny as a personality and had that predilection. Because like you seemed back in 2006, 2007, 2008, when there was like that giant cluster of movies happens, like this fully formed comedic, very specific. personality. Like people really, you clicked with a wide audience very quickly. So I mean, again, I, I'm just like wondering like what you made of that given that you hadn't even been aspiring to that. It's probably a prime example of imposter syndrome where you're just like, when will they find out? When will I, when will I show up on a set and, uh, and it'll be obvious

that I have no idea what I'm doing. And then the more I'd work, I was like, oh, everybody feels like that. even the people who have, you know, who have more experience than me that this is, you know, part of it. It's part of it. Yeah. Did Nick Nant-I feel? I think I also just, like, love this whole process of filmmaking and storytelling that I started to quickly see it as a way to learn. You know, you could be, I would start picking projects based on I've always liked that director's movies. And I would love to see what it would be like to work with that director and see how they work. And, yeah, it ended up being an awesome way to just get to learn.

Are you still in touch with Nick Nolte from Tropic Thunder? I haven't talked to him in a hot minute, but I hope he's doing well. I had an absolute blast with him on that movie. That voice, that life that he's led. Come on. Him and I, you know, a lot of our scenes were together. And so this was, you know, before this was like, I think Ben Stiller gave us the very first iPhone as our start gifts on that movie. So like everyone was like, oh, my God, what are these things?

But there was no real good cell reception. in Kauai and like every day on that movie you were on call like you never knew if you're going to work or not. So that meant that you really couldn't go anywhere cool in Kauai because they couldn't get a hold of you. So Nick and I spent that whole experience just together. Like we were always at the hotel pool together. We would go snorkeling together. We just were always sitting there with our brand new iPhones waiting for them to call us to know if you're going to have to come into work. But it ended up being a really fun experience to get to hang with him for that long.

And yeah, it was nuts. That reminds you that story that like Will Forte told about like how he ended up somehow living with Val Kilmer for a while. Yeah. Yeah. This could have been your reality show. I wish. Yeah.

Yeah. I felt like we were just on a really long extended vacation together. Did you spend any time with Tom Cruise? Obviously he weren't in the same seats. You know, all of his stuff was in L.A. So we finished almost all of our stuff in Kauai. I think I had like maybe like a day or two in Los Angeles. Have you ever been in a room with Tom Cruise?

I haven't, you know. But I feel like I know him. because I've grown up watching all of his films. I love you. I feel like you two are meant to be. Well, maybe you can pull some strings. I will. I'll do my best.

I am on the cruise cake list. It was a really big moment for me. That's great. What the hell is the cruise cake list? You don't know about this? No. You need to do this. Okay.

He sends a cake to a certain, I mean, it's probably 50,000 people. It's not a very exclusive list. A lot of cakes. It's a lot of cakes. It's a delicious coconut chocolate cake. Okay. It comes every holiday season.

And you're on that list. I made the list. And then once you make the list, Do you have to do anything to stay on the list? You have the exact same brain as me. Yes, that was my thought. Like now I'm petrified that I'm going to be off the list. Because I would be,

and I would hate to get on the list and then one year just doesn't come. You're like, oh, man, he changed this opinion of me. Yeah. No, I was such a psychopath. When I got it, I called the bakery to make sure that it wasn't a friend of mine pranking me because I've been talking about it for years. Yeah. But they said no.

It was real. It's real. I hope you're on that list forever. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate you. We talked about eastbound a bit. But in terms of like the the cultural stickiness of Kenny Powers,

have you come up with a theory of why this character, even among your pantheon of characters, is the one? You know, it's interesting. You don't know. I mean, it's, it is interesting to me that it's, you know, we sold that show 20 years ago, like this summer 20 years ago. We went in and pitched it the day, the weekend after, the Monday after Talladega Nights had come out in the theaters.

Yeah, and it's wild that it's something that people still reference. And I feel like there's also like a whole new generation of young people that are finding it. I find that like it was for a while, it was a very unexpected group of you never really knew who liked these bound. It would always be it was never one type of person. You know, when that first started to hit, it would be someone's parents. It would be somebody young. It was always a wide variety. And then I've noticed in the last like two years, there's been a lot more young people.

So I'm like, oh, it's making the rounds. Is that a good thing? What's the recommended age for people to start watching? I think maybe six, seven probably. It's a good starting. Yeah. Do you get invited to like throw first pitches out at baseball games? Are you?

I have before, but I don't ever, I've never taken up. I mean, you've seen the show. I can't throw. I'm not going to do that to myself. What's the lesson from I love your highness. What's the lesson of your highness? I feel like it was a film before its time. If it had it come out after Game of Thrones.

We were up against a lot of things. I mean, you know, maybe the biggest lesson is. you shouldn't make a rated R movie for 13-year-olds. That's probably the first lesson. Yeah. But if you remember that, that was such a strange time, too, because I think Franco had just hosted the Academy Awards and was getting, like, piled on for it.

And I think this movie came out like the next week. And so then it suddenly quickly became the punchline or the way, I mean, like the reviews were vicious. They were so brutal. But, I mean, I think David Green just did. had a career retrospective in Paris last year. And they were running every, they played all of his movies every day for, you know, he's made a lot of movies.

Yeah. But he said that your highness was the one that people were talking to him about the most. And even at the screening, it was like packed with all these Parisians. And you're like, that thing traveled. And I saw it recently. It was on, I think on HBO and I like, usually I'm like very adverse to like it makes me, it's like hearing your own voice. I'm like, I don't ever really want to see any of the.

stuff. My wife will put it on. Like, oh, this is, I'm like, get rid of it. Turn it off. And she, uh, we left it on. And I did, I was laughing at it. I was like, God, the balls that we had to make this. Oh my God. Literally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I really, that was a fun time. It was. And, uh, yeah, I think we did exactly what we set out to do for better. Oh, it does not feel like a compromised movie. No, no. The only thing we compromised is there was an alternate ending that they, you know, we also had come out, I think, like, after Scott Pilgrim and after Paul, and then there was kind of a thing at Universal where they were like, oh, we're not, we don't want to, like, market this to nerds.

Like, this doesn't, to comic book culture. We want to market this to, like, a wider audience. So suddenly, you know, this was very much a movie for nerds. We're nerds. And, but suddenly they were wanting to shy away from all that. So there became this brief moment where it's what every director loves, I'm sure, where they're trying to reinvent what the movie. is with like test screenings and the idea of like neutering some jokes might make it play more and it

never really does. And there was one, there was, uh, there was one sequence that they chopped out, which I still was like, I wish we would have held to it, which was that right now Justin Thoreau's character Lazare, like he dies, like I, you know, he's stabbed with a lady unicorn and he dies. That wasn't how he originally died. Originally, we beat him and then we're all, uh, we're all like, you know, congratulating ourselves. And then Justin Thro's character comes, crawls out of the pit, you know, because he drank the potion to have the dragon. And so then he's in front of us and it's like he has to take a massive shit and he lays a dragon egg in front of us. And then the dragon comes out of the egg and then burns his face off and kills him.

And then everyone's going to kill the dragon, but then I come down and take a knee next to the dragon and give this monologue about how we should not always judge a book by its cover and that maybe this disgusting beast has something to offer. and then I think the dragon farts or shits and then I cut its head off and kill it and then it would cut outside that would have changed that was a bridge too far I guess everything else

the minotars cock all that stuff was fine but that that ending was too much yep can I get your perspective on I've heard all sorts of stories on and off the record

about what happened on this is the end and awkwardness with Emma I do not want to talk about that every time that comes up for Seth he asks their issue apology

And you're still friends with Sam. Okay, we won't do that. Okay. I will say, I was on the set of that one. And I will always remember, and I'm not just saying this because you're here, watching this amazing group of improv comedians. And you were the one. You were the one that was just like on a whole other damn level.

It was, that was a blast. Those guys did me a solid because when you have that many people, that many funny people, it is definitely hard to kind of like find your way. But those guys wrote me a great entrance and a great exit. Sometimes that's all you need. to kind of, to land it in there. But that was probably one of the most fun times I had making anything. I mean, Seth and Evan, I love working with those guys.

They're just, they're a blast. And the idea that they were getting a chance to make something so irreverent and so different. And when I showed up to New Orleans, that's where we shot it. You know, I knew a lot of people that were working on the movie, Jonathan Watson, who directs on Gemstones, and he's been our ID forever. He was the AD on it. and I would check him with him because I wasn't there yet. And he's like, oh, man, you better bring some ammo. These guys are going hard at each other.

And it was an exciting vibe. And then they did this really cool thing where everything was basically on a, we shot like in an old coffee warehouse or something. And that's where he built the set. But those guys had the green room on the set. So there was this massive room that had like a pool table and video games and all this stuff set up. And it was fun because you'd just be sitting in there with these guys talking.

And then they were like, all right, we're ready to shoot. And then you would just like keep talking and then sit down and roll the cameras. Then sometimes you would just rip right into whatever it was you were just talking about and throw that in. I mean, the takes would go on for 45 minutes. Like the I remember that was the cool thing about shooting on digital then. Because at that point, that was even still new. Like it wasn't just a foregoing conclusion that you were going to shoot on digital. Everything was like we shot Eastbound on 35.

Like it's crazy. But that was a new thing. We're like, oh, you can do longer than like 10 minute takes because. it's digital. And so we were running take so long that the cameras were like overheated. We were like, well we beat the film bags, but there's now the cameras are melting.

More happy say confused coming up. I'm Anne Foster and I have never watched the show Spartacus, Blood and Sand. And I'm Gina Barry and I've watched this show numerous times. On our new podcast, Nefer TV, we discuss TV shows and movies set in ancient history.

This season we are discussing Spartacus Blood and Sand. Follow Nefer TV. That's N-E-F-E-F-E-R-TV wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa, and this is Moms and Mysteries. We're two Florida moms obsessed with true crime, from infamous cases like Ellen Greenberg to shocking Florida stories like the Dan Markell killing. With 55 million downloads, we bring you new deep dives every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen to Moms and Mysteries on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Switching gears.

The fact that you somehow found yourself in and it worked into Alien Covenant directed by none other than Ridley Scott. I know that's a meaningful one for you. I mean, Ridley is iconic for a thousand reasons. He doesn't suffer fools. Like he's kind of a bastard in the best possible way, right? He's amazing. Like what's the, do you have a favorite direction he ever gave you? Like, did he ever have to like?

He never, nothing, like, what I loved is his style. Like, there was a lot of things I loved about him. I mean, I grew up loving his movies. And so then to get to meet him is just like unreal and how nice he is and how funny he is. And his like passion and enthusiasm still to this day. You know, everything that, every scene, no matter how small it was, everything was four cameras always. And it was interesting because a lot of times even, you know, when you try to do more than two cameras, usually the first shot's great. Second shot's a little compromise.

Get to the third and four. It's not unusual. But his, you would look in every one of the shots on the screen. were like Ridley Scott shots. It looked amazing. And it was like because he was thinking about that multi camera shooting even when he constructed the sets. Like, you know, they would pull out portions of the wall and slide a camera in. So he, all of it was designed really efficiently. And it's the only movie I've ever been on where we finished ahead of schedule. You would come in every morning and they would be like, here are the sides for today and here are the sides for tomorrow in case we get to this scene.

That never happens. I mean, like, you get the sides of the day. Usually you're like, yeah, have good luck we won't get through all this this they would pull up scenes all the time and you know a lot of it is his shooting style but also uh he doesn't like do a lot of takes you know it's like one of those two three takes whatever and then you move on and though the energy that that created with the actors was awesome because i think everyone was just nervous you knew that you weren't going to have time to find it you really had to come prepared and know it was going on and it felt almost more like doing something live because the energy was there and i thought that was awesome but He, at the end of the day, he was sort of like, he would say like, look, I'm, I'll be the bumpers.

If it goes off the rails, I'll come in. But ultimately, I'm hiring you because I'm hiring people who are a personality. And I want you to be you. And that's why I feel like you'll fit into this movie. And he said, that's what he did with Alien was that everybody in that were they were certain, they were a certain personality type, you know. And so those people were encouraged to come and be who they are. And then that created that cool dynamic between that ensemble. So you, another thing I want to talk about, you and David embarked on quite a journey on the Halloween trilogy.

The hollow greens. Before it came out, there's this great quote where you said, I just hope that we don't fuck it up and piss people off. Now, they succeeded. The film succeeded. And then as they proceeded, they got a little more divisive. Very much more divisive. You know, the first one was definitely the assignment was, don't mess this up. Like, let's give fans what they want and have it be an answer to those.

films. And I really feel like we succeeded at that. And then I think once Green got to the point where this was like, we didn't know it was going to be a trilogy. There was no, like, we were hoping the first one to work. And then I think, you know, Green is such an interesting filmmaker. Like, he got into the mindset with it of like, I'm going to make these next ones what I want them to be. If I'm going to dedicate this much of my time to making this, I'm only going to get one shot to do this. I'm going to service like my creative wants for what this franchise is and really put his stamp on it. And so, yeah, I mean, I know that some of those things are divisive, but I look at him and I'm like, it's what Green wanted to do. Like, he achieved exactly what he wanted to do

with that series. And I'm sure that somebody else will come and make more Halloweens. And I, I don't know. Like, to me, it's like when people are relaunching things in making new things, I do find it interesting when it's a filmmaker and it's someone who has a point of view. And they get their chance to do it. And someone else will get their chance and someone else. And I think it's cool to have that conversation of how these different directors with their different points of view and their different styles, how they can all affect something that at the end of the day is the same, but translate it completely differently. No, you're spot on because that first film, yes, you, you, you like fulfill the assignment. You kind of gave them enough of what people wanted and it felt comfortable with.

And as you guys further kind of departed and by the, you know, the third one kind of got, you know, people came after. when the perspective changed and it felt like it was like, no, this isn't my Halloween. Did that surprise you at the time? No, I knew that everything that Green led the charge on where those movies went. And I knew that some of those ideas would probably be divisive. But again, like, I liked that he was doing what he wanted to do. You know, I mean, even Carpenter had talked about how what he struggled with with the second Halloween and like what, you know, how creatively that was difficult to challenge that.

I think anybody who's approaching a slasher film is going to. inevitably fall into the same stuff of like oh once it once the engine gets going it does kind of become repetitive and so i think green was really just trying to push all those movies into a chance for him not to repeat himself but to do something just totally different so it's been a minute now since gemstones ended which you've got to take a huge source of pride in i mean it was probably your most ambitious television show i mean it's funny how like if you look at the evolution from Eastbound to vice principals to gemstones. Like the cast kind of kept expanding.

You've talked about this. It was kind of like a singular, you know, built around Kenny. And then it was two characters and then it's this family. And then just it's an ambitious show for a thousand reasons, especially even in that final season taking the swing with the Civil War episode. Yeah. Like what do you look back on with a little distance now at gemstones and take the most pride in? Because everybody knows a comedy about religion. That's the way to go.

That's, you want to do that, right? Yeah. Exactly. That's definitely going to work. You know what it was? That was, you know, we, I created that show right after I moved to Charleston. So I was even at a point in my career where I was just kind of questioning what I wanted to keep doing. And so the idea of creating that series and sort of channeling now, like, I'm going to make something very Southern. I'm living in the South.

And I want to incorporate these big, wealthy Southern families and have fun here. It was awesome to create that. And then every, you know, I live, living outside of LA. And then every year, all my friends come back to where we're living. And it's like the circus comes to town, you know. And even, you know, all the crew on that are people that we worked with from, you know, when we shot the pilot of Eastbound. It was a lot of crew from Georgia and North Carolina.

So people at this point that we had known for years and years. And then to bring something like that to that part of the country where now you were giving a lot of people steady work in their backyard and getting to make something that hopefully we would all be proud of at the end of the day. That was very gratifying. It's really, really hard work writing for TV. And I think the thing that I find the most challenging about it is that the train is moving the whole time. You know, like if you're writing a movie or even writing a book, it's like it's over when you're done writing it and then you move to the next layer. I mean, I know some movies don't operate that way. But most of them,

you have to have a finished product. Then people have to decide whether they want to pay for it. with television, like once they got you, they got you. And so then it becomes like, you're writing and the production office is opening up here and then we're shooting here and then you had to go. And so you usually with each season, you would have,

each season of this was about 15 months from the beginning of writing to the end of post-production. So we were already kind of up against the gun because ideally they'd like this stuff to come out every year. But you were already at a point where that wasn't going to be true. So the only way to kind of being close to it is just to never take a break to kind of go from one into the next. And the first two or three months of writing is great because, you know,

it's just you and the writers and you're coming up with where are we going to go this year. And then after about the third month, the production office opens up. And then suddenly you start having all these questions like, well, are we, the house that you've written in episode one, is that going to come back in the other episodes? Because we need to know about that for this date. And this actor suddenly can't come up. So you start, not only are you writing, but you're also puzzle solving.

Conscious dimensional chess. Yeah. I mean, it's honestly kind of nuts. And it's kind of what's fun about it. There's like a rush to it because when you accomplish it, it does feel like, whoa. Where, you know, and it's also that influences the writing. So you are kind of creating something that is, it's a response to the situations you're in or the problems that you faced while you're creating it.

And so it becomes, you know, a product of that. But it's very stressful and it's fun. But that's what was so nice about writing this is that the train was not. not water behind. Whenever you. Yeah. And like in, and it was nice to get back

to writing that way where there wasn't this sort of like, I was just telling my wife, I'm like, every day we, whenever I'm doing gemstones, I just would have low grade anxiety

all the time. And not because I dislike doing it, but it was just, I'm someone who just works and I just know that there's the apparatus around you. Yeah. And I want all these artists

to have all the information that they need to do the best job they can do. So if someone was unsure about where something was going, it would always just eat at me like, oh, I got to figure this out. I got to, I want to make sure this guy has enough time to build the right set. And I don't want him to build something that I'm not going to use later. And so you just start thinking about all that stuff at the same time. So by nature of like gemstones and moving to Charleston, like, it's

interesting. Like when I was looking at the filmography, it's like even very busy, obviously. But like you haven't been in a feature film like live action in like seven or eight years. Yeah. You know, like honestly, I kind of had a weird moat, not a weird moat, but after I did Alien, I kind of felt, you know, like I said, I didn't get into it for, I didn't get into any of this for acting. Yeah. And there was something after working with Ridley where I'm like, I feel like I've done it. I feel like I've seen what I want to see. And at this point, I want to just focus on what I'm trying to create and I want to facilitate that.

And so, yeah, that's where I kind of jumped into, to gemstones. And like I said, that's 15 months every season. So there's not room to be in a past, there wasn't room to be in anything. So it's kind of nice now to, is. is, you know, sad as it was to wrap up gemstones. It also was kind of cool because I felt like I had done something and now I am like free to try other things or to, it's nice to show up on somebody else's set and you're not wearing 10 hats.

You're just there to do your thing and just to help support something. It's fun. Is it true? You're writing a G.I. Joe movie? I've written one. Yes. I'm stoked about it. I'm really fired up about the script.

Paramount seems fired up about it. So hopefully we're shooting it next year. So I know you don't need to spoil anything, but just like your history with G.I. Joe, was it the cartoon, the action figures. Like, what did you want to honor in this script? It was all, it was definitely the cartoons and the comics and like, G.I. Joe was my thing when I was a kid. I liked that more than Star Wars, more than anything. Like, I loved G.I. Joe. And I still have all the characters. And I tried to give my G.I. Joe collection to my son. And he wasn't interested. You know, who's interested. My daughter who likes robots. That's who, that's who plays with Gung Ho and Snake Eyes in the shower. But I've always loved it. And yeah. And, you know, so I had an idea for a dreadnoughts movie. And I was like, I just wanted to do a dreadnoughts movie. And I went to Paramount and pitched it.

And they were like, well, the franchise kind of needs to be like, it needs to be launched. So we can't come out with a dreadnought movie. Would you have a take on a, you know, on, you know, would you have an angle for G.I. Joe proper? And I was like, hell, yeah, I'll have an angle for that. So Jeff Radley and John Cachirri, who I wrote a lot of gemstones with, yeah, we sat down and we cracked something that we really love a lot. And it's, you know, weirdly it grounds G.I. Joe. It's not a comedy. It's like kind of suspense and action. And yeah, I think it's to be a lot of fun. The whole ensemble? Like who's the star? Who's the character that's the anger? You're following Duke and a group of other Joes. And I don't know how familiar you are with the

comics, are you? I watch the cartoon religiously, but it's been a minute. Yeah, and there's that town in the comics, Springfield, which is a town that's secretly all Cobra. And so that is where our film takes place. So this has some momentum. It sounds like Paramount likes the script. Yeah, and we have

some pretty interesting people lining up to be in it, too. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it looks to be like it's going to be pretty fun. Holy crap. I'm excited. Okay, amazing. We're going to end with two things. Okay, so I do this with folks that have an impressive filmography. Danny, you have a great filmography, you're going to choose the best movie in your own filmography.

Oh, God. I'm going to pit some against each other. It's round Robin style. You ready? Uh-oh. Okay. So we're going to start with foot fistway versus hot rod. I really, I mean, I have to go with foot fist way because that, you know, that launched

at all. But man, hot rod is one of those movies that I still come back to. That will probably be the first movie I show my children properly. I should just take them through the filmography in order. Pineapple Express versus Your Highness. Man, I can't do this. You have to do this. You have to do this.

It almost melted Jack Black's brain when I did the stand. If he can handle it, you can handle it. You know what? God, you know, I think because it was the friendship that began with Seth and James Dan, I would probably go to pineapple. But you know what? Your Highness to me is, I don't know. I would never diminish the power of that.

There are no losers here. This is just at this moment. Okay. I feel like I'm picking children of who's like, it's a custody battle of who's going to go live with mom. Tropic Thunder versus this is the end. Oh, God. Jesus. Oh.

You know what? Because I just chose Seth in the last one. I'll choose Tropic Thunder on this one. Land of the Lost versus Alien Covenant. You know what? Both of them were very fun experiences. You know, I think for the audacity of me showing up in an alien movie, I'll choose Alien Covenant. Now you're almost there.

Now it's Footfist Way versus Pineapple. I'll stick with who I came to the party with, Footfist's Way. And then Tropic Thunder versus Alien Covenant? I'll probably go with Tropic Thunder. Okay. Now for all the marvels, it's Footfist Way, Tropic Thunder. You know what? I think it's the David and Goliath story.

We had $75,000 versus $100 million plus. We got to go for the $75,000 winner. Yeah. You had to dance with the girl that brought you through the party? you're right yeah very loyal excellent okay finally happy say i confuse profoundly random questions we end every episode this way okay dogs or cats uh i grew up a dog boy and uh my wife's a cat is a cat person so it's my my last 15 years has been cats oh oh yeah that's how that's love that's true love yeah yep yep uh what do you collect uh what do i collect uh i collect cameras and i collect cameras and i collect

vinyl. Okay. Do you have a favorite video game of all time? Probably the Zelda series. I've played every one of those. Yeah, I'll go with Zelda. The Dakota Johnson Memorial question she asked me this. I ask everybody, would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one B in your butt? One B in my butt. Yeah, why not? What's the wallpaper on your phone? It's my son with a cowboy hat and a pistol. Who's the last actor you were mistaken for? I get Denzo Washington a lot. More than you'd think.

Really? Yeah. Okay. Let's just move right on the wall. Worst note a director has ever given you. God. It's probably something from David Green. He has a tendency to give direction like, say it like you're squeezing out a fart.

Say it like a bad actor. Say it like you're a robot. So it probably is. David Green. And finally, the spirit of happy, second views, an actor who makes you happy, you see them on screen,

you're in a better mood, would be. God, who would that be? Who is that? You immediately see them and like, oh, yeah. Yeah, he's in it.

Good. Maybe Kurt Russell, maybe. I love that. Yes. Movie that makes you sad? Cinema Paradiso. The music,

the Eniomorikoni, come on. The end of it, just, yeah. Great. Crumbles me and a food that makes you confused. Hmm. A food that makes me confused. Takis.

What do it? Tockeys, do you know what these are? I don't. It's like a disgusting, spicy chip that's like weird. My kids are always eating. They're spicy and blue for some reason. Oh. Very confusing.

I'm going to stay away. I never think of something that's blue as being spicy, right? Generally speaking blue is not the color you want to eat anything. You think blueberries, you think slurpees, you know. You're not thinking spicy. Right. Sneaks up on you. Takis.

Thanks for that PSA. Yeah. Full circle. Congratulations, Danny. Look at that. It's real. It's real. Thrilling tales of modern men.

It's real and it's very good. It's very fun. Thank you. Congratulations on it. You are now an esteemed man of letters. Finally. You did it? Yep.

I always knew you had it in you. No, truly. I always enjoy our conversations. And I'm thrilled for this one, man. Thank you. It's nice to see you, Josh. Oh. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused.

Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't should do this by Josh. Hi, I'm Whitney, and I'm Katie. And we're the hosts of True Crime Campfire. We set out to make a true crime podcast we'd want to listen to. We get right to the story. We don't do a lot of extra talk in, and when we do, it's usually to roast the short hairs off of some loser, murderer, or scammer.

You laugh, but only at the people who deserve it. Like, which serial killer would you most like to shove into a locker? BTK and his awful poetry. Dude got caught because he didn't understand what a floppy disk was. We look for the stranger than fiction stories, like the case of Patty James, a killer catfish before the internet was even a thing. Or Howard Walmsley, a sentient wad of damp laundry who convinced his town he'd won the lottery, fleeced local businesses out of thousands, and then became a romance scammer.

We've covered tons of cases you've never heard of, cults, scammers, killers. So come find your next great binge. Listen to True Crime Campfire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Friday.