Happy Sad Confused - Michael Fassbender (Vol. II), Megan Mullally

Episode Date: December 21, 2016

If you’re going to list the actors most filmmakers are dying to work with these days, Michael Fassbender’s name had better be at or near the top of the list. All of which makes his decision to lend his talents as an actor and producer to “Assassin’s Creed” all the more intriguing. And yet, despite being an admittedly lapsed gamer, the 39 year old says, on this week’s “Happy Sad Confused” the concept was too intriguing to pass up. But this conversation goes far beyond actor motivations and career calculations. Fassbender goes full showman, singing his own made up song for the upcoming “Alien Covenant” and debuting spot-on imitations from “Dumb & Dumber” and “The Big Lebowski”. Plus, just how close did he come to starring in a “Star Wars” movie? Speaking of what ifs, Megan Mullally joins the podcast this week to talk about some films you might have missed her in, such as her cut role from David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” and her blink and you’ll miss it film debut in “Risky Business”. But it’s the “Will & Grace” star’s role in “Why Him?” opposite Bryan Cranston and James Franco that has her excited, calling it “the biggest job I’ve ever gotten”. She explains why in this very funny chat.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This week, Michael Fassbender sings, quotes dumb and dumber, and even talks about his new movie. Plus, Megan Malawi on playing an actual normal person in Why Him and Why She Loved Every Minute of It. I'm Josh Harwitz. I'm your Jewie Santa. Welcome to this holiday edition of Happy Set Confused. Oh, look, I got a smile at you, Sammy. I loved Julie Santa. I knew I knew I had you with Julie Santa.

So, wait, what does that make you? Are you... I guess I'm a Jewelch. You're the Queen Elf. Our Queen Elf here at Happy Second Feud. I thought the first time I've been called a Queen Elf. I am so excited right now. Just calm down.

It's Michael Fassender. Fassie. So good. Are you kidding me? So good. We're going to talk about that in a second. I want to tease a little bit later in the show. We have the lovely and amazing Megan Malawi, super funny.

She's one of those I never really had talked to. I was so excited to have her in. She's so cool. She's very cool. and she did not disappoint. Should we talk about her new film, Why Him? A very funny new film with her and James Franco and Brian Cranston and Zoe Deutsch. A lot of fun stuff coming up in that one.

But first, yes, is Michael Fasbender? That's crazy. Returning guest. It's been a couple years since we had him on the show. And he was like in a good mood. This is a fun interview. In turn, you've been in a good mood ever since you've talked to him. Well, he just spreads joy.

He has that effect on me and others. He is, of course, starring in the new film, Assassin's Creed. This is based on the beloved, you know, super successful video game series. He is the producer and star of this film that is out in theaters right now. Go check it out. Lots of cool action. Michael Fassbender running around, killing people in shirtless and Marion Cotillard being cool and Jeremy Irons talking cool. So there's a lot there for you.

Does he know you call him Fassie? Or is that something that he's finding out right now? As he's walking out, I'm like, thanks Fassie! And he's like, God damn it. I think people call him Fassie. Maybe, but we're not to the point where I say that to his face. No, of course not. But maybe soon, because we really got along, I think, really well in this one.

Well, you guys have, yeah. Well, here's the thing. You've been through a lot. We've been through a lot. We're almost exactly the same age, shockingly, almost the exact same body. Yeah. Almost the exact same body of work. You're the fast fender of MTV News.

But we do, I joke and I jest, but we do actually, I think by virtue of age have a lot of the same reference points. You know, he does quote a lot of, you know, dumb and dumber and godfather and Big Lobowski in this conversation. He sings a bunch of times in this. We talk a lot about the future of the alien and X-Men franchises. We even talk a little bit about Star Wars and how he kind of came a little. He was up for Star Wars. Yeah, there's a little news in here. For what role?

I don't know. He doesn't reveal it. Okay, I will spoil it and say he does not reveal it. What if someone was waiting the whole time for the big room? Just wait. No, but it's an interesting, you can read between the lines to see that he was definitely up for a role in episode 7, The Force Awakens. What that role was? I don't know.

That's a whole other conversation. But, yeah, he was in great spirits. I was thrilled to have him back on the podcast. And, hey, he's now he's a happy, sad, confused regular. Wow. This is big. Him and Anna Kendrick. Yeah.

They should do a movie together. He keeps talking about wanting to do a comedy. He needs to. He should. A musical comedy. Frank is the closest he's come. That's a pretty dark, bleak, black comedy. And there's certainly a lot of music in that one, and I love that movie.

So, you know, tip-y-toes. A little steps. Yeah, we're getting there. Okay, anyway, here's this conversation with the great Michael Fastbender. I mean, honestly, he's one of the most revered actors working today, and justifiably so. So go check out Assassin's Creed. Enjoy this conversation. On the other side, enjoy our chat with Megan Malawi.

But more on that later. For now, here's Michael. Fassie. I get to call him Fassi. You don't get to call him Fassie. There is no formal introduction except to say, it's so good to see you again, Michael. Good to see you, man. Thanks for coming by.

Now we've got professional digs for you. We're upping our game. The last time I spoke to you for the podcast, it was like... We're on the hoof. Yeah. No, I knew that, look, you're upping your game constantly. I need to keep up. This is good.

I like it. some updates for you since the last time we spoke. First, I want to compliment you because Steve Jobs was one of my favorites last year. Thank you. The scene between you and Jeff Daniels in the middle, like the major confrontation, might be my favorite scene in the last few years.

I'm just obsessed with it. Nice. I loved shooting it. You know, Jeff Daniels is just one of the great, so to stand there and spar with him, to think, you know, that he can do something like that. and then dumb and dumber just really shows you the range. Right. We're waiting for your dumb and dumber one of these days.

It's coming. It's coming. The other major update is for my 40th, I went to Ireland and I visited Calarney. Sampsonite. I was way off. We're still doing Jeff Daniels. That's not Calarney reference. That was actually Jim Carrey.

I'm sorry. I'm rusty on my dumb and dumber. I visited your birthplace or where you were reared and raised. Yes. And I was at a restaurant, like, Brickson, Bricken, do you know this one? It's on my street. Yes. Brkeen?

Brkeen, thank you. And they claimed they served me a dish that they claimed they called Fastbender's pork. Are you aware of this? I am not aware of this, but that's good to know. I'm now promoting pork. What sort of pork was it? It had like a sweet and sour kind of thing going on. I think they were saying that, like, correct me if I'm wrong, is your sister a chef or was a chef?

My father is. Oh, father, sorry. Yeah, yeah. He's retired. Oh, not at all. And they claimed that they stole this recipe. It kind of came through the Fastbender lineage and that this was your preferred pork dish. That makes sense.

Oh, really? Yeah, but it's not for me. Okay. Because what do I like? I like bacon. So it's in the family at least. I like roast pork. It's definitely in the family, but I do not like a pork chop.

Okay. So, but this was a sweet and sour mixture. I do like sweet and sour pork. Well, in case you don't know, we changed the food. focus of this podcast. This is now all about pork products. So they're only about 25 minutes more of conversation about this. I hope you're okay. I love it. Keep it coming. Pigs are the philosophers of the farmyard, actually. Is that an actual saying or did you just create that? It is a saying, but they're very close to humans. They're sort of cognitive problem solvers. Really? Yeah.

And of course, if you're getting a skin graft and it's not, you know, of yourself, they'll take it from pig skin. Wow. I have no follow up. heart transplants being pig hearts as well. Wow. I talked a big game, but you're actually delivering the pig talk. Here we are. That's right. Congratulations on Assassin's Creed, man. Thank you. There's no segue. So we're just going to do it. Exactly. It occurs to me. This was kind of surprising when I started to think about the film and look at it. Killer pigs. How's this going to work? The killer pigs in the third act were shocking. I mean, I've read, you know, Animal Farm, but this is something else.

No, here's my semi-serious analysis It's kind of the first time that you've been the guy in a franchise movie Like the main guy where it's on your shoulders Obviously you've been in the X-Men films But it's kind of like a two-hander if not more multiple hands Was that something a conscious thing you were aware of I mean obviously opportunities have come in recent years Things like this I would assume

Is that something that you were thinking about in recent years Like at a certain point I got to be the guy and just do it I've got to be the guy and say like that Two guys in fact Exactly No you know It's just really what stories come along

And I didn't I'm not a gamer I do like to play games But I'm not a gamer I'd be lying if I said it was And I hadn't played Assassin's Creed Before meeting the guys from Ubisoft So it literally was a meeting

That was organized through a mutual colleague Of ours Who's unfortunately no longer with us Eli Richborg, so rest in peace to him. But he sort of hooked up Ubisoft and me together, and they just started explaining this universe, this concept of genetic memory. And how this was the first thing that made me sit up

and pay attention, that within our DNA, we have the experience and knowledge of our ancestors. And that's sort of passed down through the generations as a sort of survival tool. So something that you might think of as a sixth sense or a gut feeling or an instinct is actually something that is a survival thing passed from our ancestors down to us. So like, you know, birds know how to migrate south and winter. Where does that come from?

It comes from our ancestors. Right. That to me seemed really plausible, as well as being cool, something that within a sort of fantasy realm would really anchor this world and something real. It's material that was mined to a different effect in defending your life, the classic Albert Brooks movie when they go to the Past Lives Pavilion. Do you remember this? I haven't seen it. Oh, my God. I've got to see it.

You know, you're Albert Brooks. Have you seen some Lost in America, et cetera, talking about silly comedy? Oh, my God. Albert Brooks is the best. I mean, I've seen Albert Brooks blazing saddles, am I wrong? No, no, you're thinking Mel Brooks. Oh, Mel Brooks. Of course, Albert Brooks is the guy from taxi driver.

Yes. Who talks about the guy lighting the match with two fingers. I highly recommend lost in America and defending your life. In defending your life, he goes to something called the Past Lives Favilion. It takes place in the afterlife, him and Merrill Streep. And he learns that he was a villager being chased down. to be eaten, and Merrill was Prince Valiant in a past life. Oh.

This is a tangent that I did not expect to go down. I apologize. You saw me glaze over slightly. His head just hit the ground. I was like, whoa, Prince Valiant. So, but to the point, okay, so obviously a rich universe, something that has a lot of attraction for you as an actor, but also as a producer. This is, I think, your second go around as a producer.

That's right. But not on this scale. I hadn't sort of experienced it on this scale, which was a baptism of fire. I have newfound respect for producers now. There's no doubt. Have you ended your producing career? You're like, that was good. That was it.

It was interesting. Thank you very much. You guys are crazy. Yeah. Kind of. No, to be honest with you, I really sort of learned a lot on this experience. It was a real baptism of fire. And I will continue on doing it if I'm allowed.

That's kind of my philosophy. That's probably a gravestone thing. I will continue on if allowed. Until you guys tell me to stop. But, you know, It was just the world was so sophisticated and so fascinating, you know, Templars, the world of Templars, even the name, you know, this sort of rich, powerful elite group of society, a secret society that run the world, and they believe in science and order. And they also believe that some people should be enslaved. And then on the flip side of that, you've got assassins who believe that all persons are equal and that free will should be protected.

and maintained at all costs. So a really cool conflict going on between these two ideologies that are essentially fighting for the future of humanity. And moral complexities to both. It's not, I mean, as black and white as maybe it's, you might think, at first.

Especially, you know, in this kind of genre film, it's not, you know, light versus dark, good versus evil. It's a very mixed universe. You know, their ideologies get compromised in both sides. And in the mix of all of that, you've got this thing called

the animus, which is kind of like this genetic delorean. It's like a genetic time machine that'll allow us to access different ancestors and different periods of history and to play with what maybe sort of might have happened

in history. Like for example, in the film, we've chosen the Spanish Inquisition, which on the looking at it sort of at face value, you think, okay, this is a religious cleansing of sort that's going on, but actually you think, Okay, maybe there's some political intrigue going on between Templars and Assassins behind the scenes.

One of the cool things, I mean, you guys, the choices you currently made early on was also to use, like, practical sets as much as possible. And I'm curious, like, was that at all a reaction? I mean, the X-Men films are great. Believe me, I'm a fan, but there's a lot of green screen, I know, in there. And, I mean, I've seen the special features and stuff, and you're basically standing in just, like, a green vacuum. Yeah, basically. So was part of that a reaction to experiences on X-Men were like, yeah, these are fun, but I like something to play off of. I need a little bit more as an actor

to make it feel tangible and real. To be honest with you, no, because I've never had a problem with that. You know, from my first experience in 300, it's very much like theater. You imagine something that's there and it's not, of course. Sure. There's the audience out there

and you're pretending to look off in the distance to Moscow or whatever it may be. But it was really down to the saturation of just the films, all of the films in this genre. Any high concept, fantasy, sort of blockbuster film is sort of just because of technology and it's led us this way

and it's an amazing leap in technology that allows us to experience this sort of CGI world but we just felt like it's a pretty saturated market so we just wanted to take it back to old school and have real people jumping off real buildings and fighting and beating the head off each other with focus audiences demand

we need the real stuff yeah exactly there's more Happy, Sad, Confused, coming up after this break. Where are you at now with the X-Men films? It feels like we might be at a crossroads in terms of where the franchise goes next. Do you have a sense of it?

Q. Eric Clapton music. We can't afford that, man. Okay, damn it. Unless you want to start singing yourself. Okay, no. We thought you had you? Yeah, I thought I was there too for a second. Then I was trying to remember.

What is that crossroads, Eric Clapton song? It's, I don't know. Yeah. All that's to get there. Exactly. I'll wait to find out, as you are. You know, I haven't heard anything from Fox in a long time. I've been calling. They haven't been calling me back.

You shouldn't call the general number. You should have a better number than that. Tell them it's Michael. Yes, Fastbender F-A-S-S. I'm sure I've done this before. I felt like Rupert Pupkin. No, pumpkin. A lot of Scorsese references today.

This is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So where would you like it to go, though? I mean, do you want to continue in that universe? Do you feel like you've kind of done your time, as it were? Listen, I have no idea. It'll, you know, I've had a fantastic time working with everyone at Fox there and all the cast. You know, Simon Kimberg, who's been writing and producing it from when I came aboard first class.

You know, fantastic guy, great collaborator, you know, the experience I had with both sort of Brian Singer and Matthew Vaughn. They were great experiences. And, you know, we really developed a family shooting. the three films with all the cast. It'll just depend on the story. Sure. If it comes my way and see what's in there and then I'll make a decision

from there, to be honest. You were kind of a little bit dismissive of your own performance recently in Toronto when they were like fetting you and you were kind of made fun of your own performance. Do you look at your performance in those films with, I don't know, are you proud of it or do you feel like there are parts of it

that you would do differently now or what? Listen, I find my, you know, I find most of my performance is embarrassing to me out of it. It's not exclusive to X-Men at all. That was just a particular scene that I felt like I could have done more with as opposed to just shout. It was that plain sequence, right, where you guys were going at it. Yes, but I'm very proud of what I've done with X-Men, for sure.

I mean, like I say, it's pretty common for me to just find faults and things that I do. Let's go deeper. Go deeper, Josh. Let's go deeper. Don't take me there. I saw, I was privileged to see about 10 plus minutes of Alien Covenant the other day. That's 10 minutes more than me. What? Let me act it out for you. Okay, so you're on the ship.

And it's like going up and down. It's bouncing. Bouncy Bouncy Ship. That was the original working title, right? Alien Bouncy Ship. I did record a song that hopefully will be on the soundtrack called Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy Ship. And that goes, Bouncy Bouncy Ship. Flying through the galaxy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy ship.

I don't know what is... It's been a while. It's been a while. I was going to have tried something rhymed with Galaxy. Plasticine. You're like the Lynn Manuel Miranda of Alien Films, and the ability to freestyle at will. Oh, who?

The guy from, you know, the guy from Hamilton, he can... Oh, yes, I haven't seen that yet. You and me both. It's okay. So, okay, so Alien Covenant. It looks very cool. It looks also like an interesting... I mean, I love Cremethias.

We've talked about this before. I'm a big fan of that one. At the same time, this feels like maybe Ridley has consciously gone back towards the alien vibe. A little bit more monster running around than heady Prometheus kind of vibe. For sure. For sure. I think he's gone back to that sort of horror element of the original alien, but has kept the scope and size of Prometheus.

That's what I've been sort of describing it at. Also answering some questions from Prometheus. How's David doing? David's pretty good. He's been gardening. How do you manage that with just the head? Well, you know, he's pretty, well, let's say perhaps that the head meets the body. Oh.

You know, who knows? That's a little bit of information there. There is a little bit of information. And who's Walter? Walter is in the IMDB. You play Walter. Walter is a nice guy. They realized there was a couple of problems with the David model.

I don't remember that, really? And they had to go back to the drawing board, and so they came up with Walter. Did you name it? Did you have a say in the name? I didn't. I think it's pretty appropriate. It's pretty cool, yeah. Yeah, this is part of your modus operandi going forward,

only playing two or more roles in films, clearly. That's right. It's in my contract now to be acting with one or two versions of myself, with myself. Your favorite and least favorite screen partner at the same time? Yeah, it's kind of weird. I just realized at the end of Alien and I was thinking, God, I've got two films coming out where I'm playing two people.

Did you compare notes with your Assassin's Creed co-star, Mr. Jeremy Irons? No one did it better than him in Dead Ringers. That's right. We did talk about that. I had looked at Dead Ringers many years ago, actually, because I played Twins before on a Sherlock Holmes TV film called The Case of the Silk Stocking. If you haven't seen it, you've got to go watch it. So, yeah, I played twins there.

I've probably just given away a lot of the film. Of which? Alien or Case of the Stalking? Case of the Silk Stodick. Stocking. Stalking. What was, we've been talking about a lot of genre. films between Assassin's Creed and Alien, et cetera.

Were you into genre kind of things as a kid? What was your bag as a kid? What age are we talking about here? Let's go like 12, 14, like the sweet nerd spot of Michael Fassbender. I'm pretty much any sort of American television shows. Right. From chips to Magnum to Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Those really hold up too.

Yeah, as far as so much that I know pretty much all of the themes songs. What's your favorite TV show theme song? Well, the tricky one, which not a lot of people can sort of get, is this one. It's like, bo-da-p-p-p-do-poo-d-poo-d-poo-d-poo-d-poo-d-poo-d-poo-d-poo-d-pud-pup-poo-pud-pup-poo-poo-poo-l. I'm questioning how long to let this go. Yeah, I'll stop it right there. Wait, I don't know.

It's a cop show. It's a... It's not, you know, it's beyond cops. It goes a little deeper. Okay, just tell me. Think more sort of, you know, CIA. I'm rusty. I just tell me.

What do you got? I actually mentioned it in the thing, Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Oh, Scarecrow and Mrs. King. That didn't last too long. I feel like it was a season or two. Well, I mean, it touched a nerve with me. I thought you'd go more of like a greatest American hero had that great theme song. But that's easy.

Anybody can do that. All right. Calm down. Why you have to make it so aggressive? Hard Castle of McCormick. There's a hard one. Oh, that is a hard one. Yeah.

What was the, oh, never mind. We're going to do 80s TV another time. Another time. Okay. Were you into, because there were rumors a couple years ago that you were offered or you were in the mix for Star Wars. Did you pass on a Star Wars film, Michael Fassbender? Is that you thinking or are you not wanting to answer? You know, I talked about it.

Yeah. You did, didn't you? You did. I didn't necessarily. Wait a second. But I talked about it. You talked about it. J.J. talked to a lot of people.

Yes, we know that. Exactly. Was it a specific role? We talked about a role We had a conversation I'm pretty sure I was busy Doing something else In the summer that he was kickstarting that

Did they do it by Kickstarter? They just they crowdfunded that movie They did it was weird I thought listen I thought to myself You know if you're going to do it You do it with Star Wars because there's plenty of people That'll chip in I know I did

I gave a fiver And you can see that in the end sequence There's a bit of my fiver in the lightsaber. So no regrets when you saw the film. You got to enjoy it as a fan. Absolutely.

Right? Okay. Do you get stressed out still when you arrive on a set? What do you mean? I don't know why you say that. Why are you sweating so much all of a sudden? Sweating.

I get nervous before something. Before anything, before a cup of tea. No, I get nervous before starting a project on day one, day two, it can be sort of, you know, a little bit, yeah, the nerves are there. I guess it's the fear of whether, you know, what you were doing at home in the privacy of the kitchen or living room, bedroom, or whatever is going to work.

You know, you're saying the things out loud, you're presenting the character for the first time in front of the whole crew. So the first two days are kind of like that, and then after that, you just get going, really. Has there ever been a case that you can cite where, like, those first couple of days felt like a disaster and somehow you found your bearings and in the end it worked out? Yes, you know, that's a pretty common feeling, I guess. You know, when I first started off working, I remember the first day I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me and I was like, how do I get out of here and they're

going turnover and I'm thinking turnover where and then it's like, get ready, action, go. But no, now I, you know, it's, I'm so used to it. You're used to the anxiety. You know, that's part of it. I used to the anxiety. No, yeah, exactly. I know the process now a little bit better. I guess I'm more used to it.

Yeah. What's the next filming job? What are you shooting next? I'm not sure. I'm going to take a little bit of time off. How dare you? How dare you? Are you mad?

Time off. We need you entertaining us. Entertain me now. Dance. Exactly. You've already sung for me not dance. Yeah, I just think of that mug being thrown at my head like the scene in Big Lobosky.

Oh, nice. Are you listening to me? Sorry, I wasn't listening. You understand me, Lobosky? Sorry, I wasn't listening. Boom. Stay out of Malibu, Loboski. Stay out of my beach community.

Keep going, one man, Lobowski. I'll listen all day. What was the question? I don't know. What you were doing next? You're going to take some time off. Oh, sorry, I'm going to take some time off. Okay.

Sounds like I should. Yeah, exactly. I'm just going to work. But there's that guy walking on the beach doing Lobowski. Yeah, just talking to himself. I'm going to I'm going to just work on sort of projects that DMC have got on the slate

So that's the production company That's right, yeah So working with writers and directors And just just doing that for now Is there, you know I often ask actors about directors They want to work with And that's a question I do want to ask

But I'm also curious like Is there an actor that you've thought about Like we'd be interesting to play around Like we could have an interesting dynamic on screen Whether it's someone you know personally professionally or whatever Have you thought about specific actors like that? Do you think about specific actors that way?

Christopher Walken, every day. I'm guessing you do a Christopher Walken, too, judging by the first 20 minutes of this conversation. I just couldn't do it. You know, I haven't been practicing in a while, so I feel like I wouldn't do injustice. Wait, have I ever told you my Christopher Walken Prometheus story? No. I should send you this tape because it's amazing. I walked into, it was a junket for seven psychopaths that movie he did with Sam Rockwell.

And as I was walking into the room, he and Sam were talking. talking about the end of Prometheus, and I'm not going to do a walk-in. But he was trying to understand what that, quote-unquote, albino octopus was doing there at the end of the movie. That's excellent. And the next, like, eight minutes was, like, a debate about Prometheus and the albino octopus. Oh, man. I think you would enjoy it. Yes, I'll get it to you.

Don't worry. You are sitting behind me in a plane back from Montreal, actually. I think it was Montreal to New York when I was doing The Last X-Men. Is that right? And did you say anything? I did. I did. When we were getting off the plane, I told him I was a bit.

I'm a big fan. He said, I'm a big fan of that ping pong movie. You were in Balls of Fury, the little known classic. Yeah, balls of fury. Classic. Fantastic. What's your, is it Deer Hunter? What do you go to on your walking?

Oh, it's difficult. I mean, anything, really. True romance. Yeah. Pop fiction. So I know we're all over the place, but you mentioned true romance. Makes me think of Tarantino, makes me think of a glorious bastards. Yeah.

And that's something we've never talked about, I think. I'm just curious because that was one of the first times I saw you on screen, and certainly American audiences, I think, saw you. audiences, I think, saw you. Yeah. As I recall, I think Simon Pegg was going to play that role at one point. He was never going to play that. Let's be serious here. Sorry.

It was mine. I did hear, yeah, I did hear that rumor, yeah. Was, because that's an amazing, there are like three or four amazing scenes in that film. Yeah. And that's certainly one of them. Well, it was just, you know, for me, it was absolute dream come true because when I was 17, 18, you know, Reservoir Dogs was a big deal for me. pop fiction of course changed everything um wait how don't you done a point you've done like a stage version of one of them yeah i got my friends together when i was 18 and um directed and

produced and played mr pink in a stage version of reservoir dogs amazing in a nightclub yeah so uh to sort of sit there and be on a set directed by the man himself was incredible what's the what's the best professional phone call you've ever had in your career what was like the high point the one that like maybe felt like that was pretty surreal when they were like you're going to be in Quentin Tarantino's new movie yeah uh I did I remember very clearly where I was and my reaction there was a lot of jumping around that was pretty pretty special for sure are there performances that you go back to you in terms of not necessarily your own but performances that you revered since childhood that you think about as sort of like the touchstones

for just like as an admirer of of the craft of acting that you always think about oh man you know so many, mean streets, you know, De Niro, Pacino, and Dog Day Afternoon, all the usual suspect, you know, Gene Hackman conversation, the Godfather for everyone in it, Brando, you know, a streetcar on the waterfront. I was thinking about Godfather the other day, and I'm so happy that in this environment, I'm actually kind of shocked that Paramount hasn't tried to, I don't know who owns the rights to it. To do it again?

To do something with it. They couldn't. I mean, could they do it with everything. Let's not be naive, Michael. This is true. This is true. I mean, it's inevitable, isn't it? Unless, like, Francis holds the rights and will never give them up.

I guess people didn't like the third one, did they? But I quite liked it. I actually think the third one is, I mean, yes, compared to the first two, it's not nearly as great. It's hard to follow, yeah. But the third one has some great stuff in it. Yeah. Joey, Zaza. Joe Mantegne, you're right, yeah.

Andy Garcia's excellent. He's excellent. I mean, yes. What time. What time. We can do this all day So soon to be taking some time off And then doing the Dumb and Dumber

slash Godfather reboot is Michael Fastbender That's right I'm going to blend them two together A mashup that's long overdue And then going right into the Assassin's Creed You can do the next six sequels Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back Avatar style

Yeah hopefully That'll be handy Yeah we'll see what happens You know I'd love to continue doing it for sure We sort of start off with this film and we kind of rode over a three-film arc so we'd love to keep going for sure.

Cool. Well, best of luck to you. It's always good to you, Matt. Are we good? We've had our ups and downs over the years. We have. We've had. It's been bumpy, let's be honest.

But forgive and forget, are we good? Forgiven, forget, yeah. You legitimately did hate me for a year. Is that true? Well, just when we were sharing a cell together, but, you know, we got over that, didn't we? Once we realized who was on the top bunk. We don't talk about that on there.

Never mind. I'm sorry, I brought it up. Ladies gentlemen, Mr. Michael Fowellonel. Spender, go check out Assassin's Creed. movie that opens this week that has absolutely nothing in common with Assassin's Creed is why him. This is a super funny comedy from John Hamburg, the guy that brought you, I Love You Man, and Along Cape Polly. He was one of the writers who meet the parents and Zoolander. He's big time in comedy. And this cast is big time in terms of comedy chops. It's got Brian Cranston and

James Franco, Megan Malawi, Kean and Michael Key, Zoe Deutsch. It's a cool ensemble. And Megan is the guest on this latter half of Happy, Sad, Confused. And she's fantastic. We all, of course, love Megan Malawi from Willing Grace, Sammy. Will and Grace, man. I don't want to, like, pigeonhole you, but... No, of course. It's Karen. It's Karen.

And Parks. Parks. I mean, and Parks. I mean, she's, of course, married to the great Nick Offerman. The great. Nick comes up in this conversation as well. And this is an interesting chat in that we talk a lot about the beginnings of her career. In an amusing way, she has some great anecdotes and stories about making her film debut in

risky business, the Tom Cruise movie. movie, how she was up for the lead role, and didn't get it for a variety of reasons, and how she was almost very close to being in, she really was in Blue Velvet, the great David Lynch movie, but she was cut out of it. A really funny story about that one as well. So all of that and more and, of course, talk about this very funny new comedy, Why Him, starring the great Megan Malawi. You ready, Sammy? I'm very, I'm always ready for her. Love her. Okay, here we go.

Enjoy this chat with Megan. Here you go. We have breaking news. Nick Offerman has just bought a new coat. That's right. And Megan Mulally is joining me to talk about it. Yeah, that's right. Nick Offerman has purchased a traditional men's formal overcoat at Barney's at approximately 240 this afternoon. I just got texted a picture of it and it's quite nice.

Now, does he send them, is this his MO? Does he send for approval? Is he his own man that he can just do it? That face indicates no. I mean, are any of you your own? Men. Fair enough. Fair enough.

It's a pleasure to have you in our lovely podcast studio. Well, thank you for having me. My goodness. Congratulations on the film. I was there last night for, it wasn't quite a like a full-on premiere, but it was one of these kind of like fun little weird events that we have. I believe they're called tastemaker screenings. You're considered a taste maker.

I think I was just there as a plus one of someone else probably. But it's a lot of fun. It's a super fun movie. An amazing ensemble You and the lovely Zoe Doey. and, of course, James Franco and Brian Cranston, Keegan, killing it as always, King and Michael Key. I mean, that guy's a genius. Yeah, he's amazing. He's pretty nice.

Seriously. Yeah, he's been on the podcast, and he's one of those guys that, like, too smart for me, frankly. He's just too smart. Yeah, he did some legendary improvisational runs when we were shitting that didn't make it into the movie, but I'm sure they'll be in the DVD extras that were just mind-boggling. I mean, really, I don't think. I think there's 30 people on the planet, if that, who can do what he does. So is speaking of improv, I mean, that's kind of the cliche question.

I know you get like on all these junkies and stuff is like what percentage was improvised or what. And I know John, John Hambor, the writer, director of this pretty well over the years. He did, I Love You Man, and all came polly. He wrote on Zoolander and tons of great movies, right? So you clearly got like an excellent, like, top-notch comedy writer. that being said, you also do have people like yourself and Keegan on set. So I've fallen into the cliched question. But what, I mean, what does improv, is improv importance on a film like this?

I think it is. You know, it's funny. Like, it's a relatively recent development that sometimes in the last, you know, 10 or 15 years, it's become kind of day rigor for comedic actors to do a lot of improvisation, television and film. And I think it adds a little something, and it's nice for the actor to have that kind of freedom. But like you said, with John Hamburg, you don't need it. Especially, you definitely don't need it story-wise. But in terms of just character development and little, you know, sort of adding a little color here and there, it's quite nice.

And, yeah, we had a lot of freedom. I think they shot something like 240 hours of film. Oh. So the editor has now killed himself. Aw. He was very nice. We miss him. You've got a nice 60-hour Netflix series coming next year, version of Y.

Yeah. Yeah, it's going to be a mini-series. O.J. Your heart out. Yeah, exactly. Minis series, yeah. So, I mean, I'm curious about that because, like, when somebody, I'm sure there are some directors and some filmmakers that fall into the trap now of hiring someone like yourself

or, again, a Keegan, et cetera, that can improvise and maybe thinks, okay, the script is 70% there. I'm going to hire somebody that's going to add some of their crazy magic and we'll get a great movie out of it. And that's probably the wrong way to go. Was it at a fair assessment? Have you experienced something like that? If I'm understanding you correctly, I don't feel like we were cast so that we could come in and, like, you know, improvise. he cast us because he felt, you know, we were the right people to tell the story that he wrote. And then we shot, you know, we shot all the dialogue as written, but then we also

had the freedom to, you know, kind of fool around and go crazy. And it was the only thing I've ever done where we would shoot one, we would shoot the first side, like say it's me and Brian. And then we would turn around to, you know, uh, Jane. James and, you know, Zoe, and they would do something that was so funny that we would need to turn back around to me and Brian so that we could respond to it. Right, right. Which I've never had to happen, A, because it's rare that you come up with that kind of stuff that you just have to have, but also because it's really expensive. Yes. And movie studios don't think that's very funny.

Right. They don't get the humor in that? Yeah, they're not quite as amused by it. I guess what I'm saying is not as particularly on this film, but, like, I would think some other filmmakers might use your talents to compensate for a script that's not there. Yeah, I've had that happen. Uh-huh. Yes. Like, you're expected to funny it up, Megan.

Make a silk purse out of a sowsier, as the old saying goes. And so I try to avoid those situations. Because you really can't, I mean, it's that old adage. If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the page. And I know on the stage is so true. Yeah. When, was comedy always the thing for you? Like the first, when you were getting into acting, was that something that you knew you'd end up in?

I never even realized I was more than just reasonably, like, mildly amusing until Will and Grace. Really? I thought, oh, I can get a part on a sitcom and, you know, you know, deliver a punchline. but I didn't think I had any particular facility for it. However, years later, it takes me a while. It takes me about several decades to make certain connections. But I recently realized that as a child, I had every comedy record of every stand-up. Smothers Brothers, George Carlin, Philip Wilson, Bill Cosby, dare I say, Bob Numer.

New Heart. I had them all. And it was a big thing for me. It was a big deal, Phyllis Diller. So what was it, I mean, were your aspirations just different and wanted to be, you know, a dramatic actor? Or did you not think you had it in you at the time, like in the early years or what? I mean, was it or just happened since what you were offered until Will and Grace. I was like kind of like in a blackout drunk for about 30 years. No, no, that's not true. No, we're getting good. Go. No, I don't know why. I started out as a ballet dancer, so that was kind of confusing. Not a lot of comedy there. Black Swan, hysterical.

I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, hilarious movie, one of the all-time, right up there with young Frankenstein. Then I, what are the boring details of my life? Ballet dancer, and then, you know, I've always been a singer, so I did a lot of musical. You know, like a bunch of musicals on Broadway and stuff like that. And then I did, you know, some television where I had to be mildly amusing. But I guess what I'm seeing is I, for some reason, I didn't have the confidence, I guess, to think that what I thought was funny, that other people would find, you know,

things that I thought were funny, as funny as I found them. And once I started Will & Grace, I was able to kind of try myself out, Because, you know, I had a long shot at it, eight years. So I had a lot of chances. And I just started doing what I thought was funny, and it seemed to work. Early on, now, did I read this right? You were on a show called The Ellen Burstyn Show. Was that a sitcom?

Did Ellen Burstynne How a... Smash, the smash hit, Ellen Burst & Show. What do you... I'm just, I mean, I love that one. You're not much of a student of television, if you don't know about... Is I Love Lucy. The classic. Yeah.

Well, it was interesting. I just don't associate her with sitcom. Yeah. It was the first television show I ever auditioned for, which was funny, and then I got it, which was also funny. So check this out. Ellen Burstyn played my mother, and Elaine Stritch played my grandmother. I saw it. I blew my mind, yeah.

I mean, it was unreal. I mean, it was incredible. I mean, I loved Elaine so much. I loved her. And she, you know, she and I stayed friends all through the years, but, God, she would come into rehearsal. just wearing a shirt and a pair of tights and no pants. That's the only stretch wardrobe. That's her thing.

Wear your pants. But just for every day and a pair of like, you know, kids. She lived on her own terms. And a Gilligan hat. I was like, what the fuck is happening? She's a role model for all of us. She was amazing. Yeah, she was the best.

Anyway, so I got that show and we did third. 13 episodes, and it was very unceremoniously canceled. Were you shablered? Were you devastated? What? Were you devastated? Was it like, oh, my God? I was because it was my first thing.

And, you know, we were shooting in New York, and it was like, glant. You know, I just thought it was, you know, it's nice to have a job, that's all I can say. I mean, that remains true to this day or any other. But Ellen Burstyn is unbelievable also. She wanted it to be, like, a little. play every week. And I don't think she understood the sort of unfortunate parameters of the sitcom, you know, template. This is Happy Say I Confused. We'll be right back after this.

And then sequentially, when did, was your, was your film debut, your memorable role in, as a, uh, as a, uh, It was in risky business, I believe, right? You can be glimpsed in a still frame or two of risky business. Is that true? Yeah, I tested for the lead in risky business. Did you really? Yeah. I didn't, well, I don't want to shatter your dreams, but I did not get it.

No, I've seen the film, I recall. Yeah, spoiler alert. I did not get that part. It could have been a success. I would have gotten that part, but rumor has it. Everybody whimey, the director and all the producers and blah, blah. David Geffen, who was like sort of the overlord of the whole thing, no. Is that true?

Seriously? He was not interested in me. Yeah, he flatlined on me. He wanted Rebecca DeMorne, who's hilarious, and he got her. So congratulations, David. It's a dark turn. You did it again. We're going to go darker because I want to bring up blue velvet.

Are you going to slap me in the face? I'm just curious. No, I was amazing. No, okay, so that's a good. great story. So I was in blue velvet. But were you? But it got cut out. Okay, so here's the story. I was standing in front of the Ivy on Robertson, which was like the biggest thing in the world at that time, 1913.

And I was with my agents from William Morris, who that was also 1913. And we were waiting for one of them had Valley Parked. I, of course, parked on the street because I was a penniless actor. and there's an outdoor section with tables and this whole table is like looking at me and I was like what is happening there all up on my jock and they were like my agents were like they're calling you you're like oh my god oh my god it's david lynch and isabella rossolini they're calling you they want you to come over to their table so I went over there and there's like 10 people at the table and this woman says hi I'm so-and-so and I'm a casting director and this is David Lynch, the film director, and he's directing

a movie, and we think you're perfect for it. And he wants you to come in tomorrow and talk to him. And I was like, all right. So, I went to his house, or his office, I guess. I don't know. We had sex. No, we didn't.

And he was very nice, and we chatted, and he goes, oh, my God, no, you're not whatever Laura Dern's character name is. He goes, oh, no, you're not a Lisa at all. You're not a Lisa. You're a Susan. And I was like, okay, no reading of any script at all, just talking. And so then he offered me this other part of at the very beginning of the movie, Kyle Chandler has a, not Kyle. McLaughlin. Cal McLaughlin has a girlfriend who doesn't

treat him very well. And but he doesn't really see that. And then his father has a stroke and he goes home and he finds an ear in the field. Well, they decided. to cut the entire first 50 or 20 minutes and just get right to the ear in the field. So, but now it's, I'd never seen it. But then just like a year or two ago, it came out on the Blu-ray edition. So it's in there. The whole thing is in there. And I watched it.

And I was like, oh, my God, it's crazy. I was so young and I had this, like, long hair or something. So, okay, so you've got the. I think we make out. Don't we make out? It's been a while. It's been a while. Yeah.

Okay. So, so let's see. You have the David Geffen hating you. You were cut out of the David Lynch movie. Yeah, but it was all fun. It was? Yeah, it was all good. I mean, I, you know, I had a great time.

I got flown out to L.A. for two weeks for that screen test for a risky business. Nice. It was cool. So tell me at this point, you don't have to audition for something like, why him. They just, they want the Megan Malawi. They ask for the Megan Malawi. Well, I was kind of surprised with this one because I play a normal person in it. Right.

And that's not what I normally. do. But it's what I'd like to do and what I would like to do more of. If anybody out there is listening who can hire me for that. But what happened was John Hamburg, my savior, had an idea of casting me. And so I was in Boston with Nick, who was working in Boston at the time. And so he and I Skyped for an hour, and we have a lot of mutual friends like the whole David Wayne group. They all go way back, as they say. And we talked for an hour, and I just felt like, God, no matter what happens, we're going on a double date because I knew his wife. Christina Kirk is this hilarious, amazing comedic actress, or actress.

And she had done an episode of Children's Hospital, and I just was fascinated with her. I think she's so great. So I thought, okay, well, we're going to be buddies. And then December 15th of last year, I got the call that I got the part. And I was so excited. I mean, it really was. Did you know it was Cranston as your due to it? I knew that James and Brian were doing it, but I didn't know either one of them.

And, you know, I mean, I don't want, you know, it's silly, but I was really, honestly, I was so excited and I still am. I mean, you know, it's kind of your dream to get like a good part in a big. movie. And I never have ever. I was going to say, I mean, like, you've done a lot of indies and. And yeah, the majority of like, I feel like your great work is obviously has been on television. And but when you look at the film stuff, it's, it's, it's harder. It seems like it's harder to find. Yeah, it's hard to like kind of really show everything when you only have two or three scenes or less. And in this movie, it's just nice because I actually have a role throughout the movie. I have jokes. I play a real person.

I'm not just the dumb, you know, wife who's like, oh, darling. You know, I get to be like a cool, interesting, you know, character. No, it's a smart script in that, like, there are some stereotypes that you think maybe going in it's going to play into that, I mean, like Franco's character you might think is like a monster on the surface and is actually almost like the sweetest character in the film, et cetera. They all have a little bit more depth. Yeah, there's no bad guys. And there aren't any bad guys, which is interesting. And it's not that rote comedy that comes out these days where the big comedies seem like they all start out a certain way. And then it kind of just devolves into a lot of violence, honestly.

And I don't really, I don't like that. I want to just go to a comedy and see people interacting and not have to see a bunch of car chases or explosions. What are your go-to classic comedies you mentioned? I mean, I know your association in Young Frankenstein. For me, that film is obviously a perfect, pretty much a perfect comedy. What else is up there? Oh, my God. This is like the worst kind of question because the minute, then my brain just goes to a blank.

Well. Are there ones that you go, even going back to childhood or growing up or getting to acting? Oh, I love bridesmaids. I mean, I thought that was incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I laughed a lot. during that movie.

And I love that it was women, too. I like women. What's the, what's the, I'm, not, I'm lukewarm. What? Lukewarm. Yeah, you're like, you're on the fence, undecided. What's the surest way to get you excited or interested in a project when you see something in a script? Or on the negative.

Like when you see something, you mentioned seeing kind of like gratuitous action in an otherwise comedic script, maybe as a turnoff. What are your kind of turn-ons or turn-offs when you're reading a script? I don't like violence. so that would be a no I'm not a fan of the horror genre not that I get offered horror movies because you have to be like 13 to get off of those I don't know I guess I look for

things that I personally find funny especially if there's anything that makes me laugh out loud and then the director and the cast and just the general vibe it's very hard to tell when you're going into something, something on paper could look like it's a slam dunk and then turn out to be horrible and vice versa. Right.

You know, sometimes you just never know. Like, you have to go with the filmmaker or, you know. But, yeah, for me, with this, I just really love, I loved, I love you, man. And John Hamburg is one of the only big commercial directors that I actually know, I know his name and I know who he is. Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, like I said, I was so excited. I mean, it's, it's, it was, it's a, it was the biggest thing that it's ever, the biggest job I've ever gotten. Really? Yeah. So put in context a little bit, you mentioned obviously like in the center of that career will always be Will and Grace, which obviously it was a game changer.

Yeah. Was it, I mean, did it, did it, did it, did it, did it, did it, did you recognize the importance it was going to have on the rest of your career? Well, oh, yeah. And so let me. just clarify that last statement a little bit. Like going into Will & Grace, the reason I say that why him is the biggest job I've ever gotten is because going into Will & Grace, it was just another pilot. I've done like 975 pilots. So just the law of averages. It's just not going to happen. This year's pilot. You know, jaded. I guess it took a little while for the other shoe to drop with Will and Grace. I wasn't, the show really started coming together. around the, you know, a few episodes in, maybe 10 episodes in, I thought, oh man, this is really funny. And then there was an episode, just for my character, because I always had just two or three scenes in each episode.

But there was one week we were shooting, and it was during the first season. And I opened the door to Well and Grace Living Room during the B scene, which was when I always entered. And the audience starts screaming and, like, stomping their feet like that on the ground. And I was like, what is, what's, I really didn't know what was going on. Right. And, and. They were just excited to see you. Max Munchnik, one of the creators, came running over and he was like, it's you, honey, they love you.

So that was, that was an amazing moment. I was very flattered and excited. But yeah, in terms of like the impact that the show ended up having, depending on who you talk to on the, you know, you know, LGBTQ community and gay rights, you know, the, you know, civil rights. And that was just an added bonus that none of us could have ever anticipated. Right show, right time. Oh, my God. It's insane.

So, and coming off of it, I mean, that clearly changed, again, the trajectory of your career. And it probably gave you the luxury of more choices than you'd ever had. I mean, were the opportunities that were there as exciting as you would hope coming off of a hit-sick? I mean, you came a talk show host briefly and that kind of thing. Like, was that something that was like on the list or was that one of those opportunities that just came because you're in a show of that, that stature and let's try shit out. Let's try something. Yeah. Well, first I want to say that like sometimes people say, like I'm talking about like schlucky, like pop bratsy kind of journalism.

Always say that, you know, actors, you know, they're just like these egomaniacs who just want to get their picture taken. And so it's fine if paparazzi stalked them. you know, invade their privacy and demean and degrade them, that's all fine because they're asking for it. That's not true. I think there are a few people who are like that, but, you know, most people really want to try to create an entertainment for the audience that might be valuable in a certain way, in whatever way, even if it's just, you know, silly comedy. And that's my motivation and always was. And I am not pursued by any paparazzi ever because nobody gives a shit. But just I'm saying that for the other people.

Well, yeah, it's about, I mean, you're right. And I've talked to many actors about this. I think at the end of the day, for most, it's about connecting, right? It's about. It's a service industry. It's not about you. It's not about, you know, this thing about being famous and all that. That's just a made up thing. I mean, it's something that. It's something that you're compelled to do that you that you know I don't I mean I you have that you you know Well it's I mean it's putting yourself out there in an insane way like I mean for you know Those of us that are a little fragile in terms of like self analysis like acting and putting yourself in front of a camera is maybe the worst thing to do but certain people have certain predilections you know and my I came out of the hat and a top hat and tap shoes and that's just the way it was I didn't have really a choice in the matter you know Um, so I, I just had to pursue that. But anyway, your question was something completely

other than that. That's okay. No, but I mean, it was coming off of Will and Grace and the opportunity. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, okay, so the talk show thing was just a, during the last season of Will and Grace, um, I got approached by King World, which was the company that did Oprah's show to do a talk show, a daytime talk show. And I thought, that's weird. I had kind of, I've always been a big fan of talk shows. I watched them all for my whole life. And I had actually pitched to Jeff Zucker doing a nighttime talk show. Like, I knew Conan was leaving. And I was like, hey, how about me? He was like, I'm asleep. So, um. David and Geffen told me about you. Yeah. David Geffin warned me about you. I'm hiring Rebecca de morning.

That's a talk show? This seems like a horrible idea. She's amazing. So then, weirdly, Jeff Zucker came to see me perform with my band at Lincoln Center and came racing backstage and said, you have to do a talk show. And I said, so funny you should mention that, Jeff, because I just had a meeting at King World and he had an offer on the table the next morning, 10 a.m. And I thought, here's what I thought. I thought, I love talk shows. Two giant companies are wanting me to do a talk show. Is it meant to be? I don't know.

But if I don't try it, then I'll never know. Right. And I might spend the rest of my life wondering. Well, as it turns out, I hated it. I mean, I liked it. I liked the part about talking. I like talking to people. But being working in syndication is very hard.

and it's not a creatively very, it's a little stultifying creatively. Right. And the kinds of things that we would do, like have a contest where people had to come up from the audience and sit on balloons and try to pop them with their butts. I was like, this isn't what I really was like hoping for. This wasn't the dream. Yeah. So I'm glad I did it. And I'm, and I think it's cool and interesting that it all happened the way it did, but I'm sort of glad that I then got to go and do other things.

Your first guest, I think, was Will Ferrell, right? Yeah. I remember that because I work briefly at an infamous talk show failure at John McEnroe's talk show, which also had Will Ferrell as the first guest. He's the first guest of all the ones that failed. Yeah, he's the kiss of death. I mean, he seems like a great guy. But he's the most of life in real life. I mean, he's the kiss of, you know, rapture and in everything.

else. So, yeah, I love Well, and I thought, perfect. And even when I, because I kind of asked if you would do it before I asked anybody else. And when I told everybody, I thought they'd be so excited and they were kind of a little crestfallen because, you know, that's not really the exact right audience for daytime. We haven't put this in the demo. We have to test this first. Yeah. So they made me have some woman on after Well, Farrell, who came out dressed as little Bo Peep with some sheep. I can't think of her name. She used to be married to Jim Carrey. Or she was in a relationship with him, blonde. I have to go, but Jenny.

Was she an actor? Jenny. Jenny McCarthy. Oh, of course. I forgot that she and Jim were together. So this is how it's going to be. Worked out for the best. Speaking of interesting career moments, you infamously had a moment with our president's elect Donald Trump.

He's so sexy. Don't get me started. Not to bring the podcast to a screeching halt. But it's worth noting, go down the YouTube rabbit hole and you'll find... Oh, guess what? What's that? Have you seen Twitter today? A couple times.

Yeah, it turns out Trump is great. It was all just a big misunderstanding. Yeah. There was just some wires were crossed. Really? So he's not all that. The anti-Semitic chief of staff is okay. That's all fine.

So don't worry anymore because it's all going to be great. What a jokester, guys. It's all been a big prank. Woo! So fair to say, despite your Emmy, performance with him, you're not going to be performing at the inauguration. I know. God, no.

I mean, yes, but I'm not supposed to tell anybody yet. I'm going to sing. I'm just going to hum taps. I'm going to sing happy birthday to you, real sexy, and I'm wear that Marilyn Monroe dress. It's going to be good. Well, for those listening, go back to happier times when Trump was really just a joke and watch a lovely duet between him and Megan on the Emmys. When he was just a joke. Oh, God.

When he is. Well, on happier things, let's wrap it up with a nice big bow. Why him coming out soon. It's a very funny movie. Congratulations. I'm happy you got this kind of opportunity because you should be getting anything you want. You're hysterical and you're an amazing actor. Oh, that's sweet of you.

Thank you. I was thrilled. I'm still thrilled. And thank you. It comes out Friday, December 23rd. Nice. And congratulations to Nick on that wonderful new coat. We're all really happy for him and you guys.

I'm going to tell him that you approve. 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 pressured to do this by Josh. This episode of Happy Sad Confused was produced by Michael Catano, James T. Green, Mooka Mohan, and Kashamahilovich for the MTV Podcast Network,

with additional engineering by Little Everidge. You can subscribe to this and all of our other shows on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts. 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 a 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

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