Happy Sad Confused - Nick Kroll & John Mulaney, Ruth Negga

Episode Date: November 2, 2016

Forgive the pun but it’s a love fest on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast this week with two stars of Loving (in theaters November 4th), the new Jeff Nichols awards contender, plus a hysterical chat with two of our favorite comedians. If you’re a comedy nerd, you’ll be excited to hear the first conversation with Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, starring in “Oh Hello on Broadway”. As you’d expect from comedic veterans of SNL, Kroll Show, and Documentary Now, this chat goes everywhere – from Anthony Weiner to why they’re over zombies to why John is more interesting now that he’s sober. Plus they talk of course about their new show in which they play two “deep losers” as they put it. Kroll also stars in Loving which brings us to our second conversation of the week, with that film’s star Ruth Negga. You may have seen her in “Preacher” or “World War Z” but this may be the performance of her career. Loving in the true life story of Richard and Mildred Loving, whose marriage resulted in a supreme court case that forever changed the legality of interracial marriage.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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They electrified Jeep Rangler 4-E. Learn more at jeep.com. Jeep is a registered trademark of FCA, U.S. LLC. Hey guys, and welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. This week on the show, Nick Kroll and John Mullaney do what funny men do, be funny, plus Oscar contender and the star of preacher Ruth Naga. I'm Josh Horowitz. This, of course, that's Sammy. And we are your fearless leaders on this little podcast adventure we call Happy, Sad Confused.

Welcome to the show, guys. Sammy This is exciting First of all, by the way This is the last podcast Before the apocalyptic Political event I wonder if we'll still be here

Probably not This is probably it For humanity Oh let's enjoy every second of this We had a good run guys Listeners please enjoy this We had happy say confused Don't endorse any candidate

But if you vote for Trump We hate you That's true But I'm nonpartisan But yeah yeah no totally chill about it But if you vote for Trump, what the fuck is wrong with you? You're scary. Okay, that's enough.

Sorry, enough politics. We love you all. Let's talk about our guests on this week. Can you do the, oh, hello? Oh, hello. Oh, hello. That is the name of the show that Nick Kroll and John Malaney star in. They wrote it.

They do everything. They did the catering. Probably not. But they do a lot. And they were hysterical. If you don't know John Malaney and Nickroll, then you don't know. what's what in comedy guys. John Mullaney, of course, is a former SNL writer, had his own sitcom, does some great

stand-up, and is just generally one of the funniest guys in the pilot. Oh, and he's also a co-creator and writer on my favorite, maybe my favorite show right now, documentary now. Oh. I love me some documentary now. You do. We talk a little bit about that as well. And then Nick Kroll, of course, had Kroll Show on Comedy Central, that great sketch

show, just one of like the best improv guys out there. has been around forever and is super funny. And they're both super funny in this conversation about this kind of pet project that they've had for a decade. They've been doing these characters. What are their names? Oh, yeah, Gilfazon and George St. Eland.

And they lived on the Kroll Show. That's right. Yeah, they were on the Kroll Show. And they've been popping up here and there in different places. Like they did it like, you know, in the East Village, different theaters and stuff like that. And they've somehow ended up on Broadway in like the most like mainstream show or environment on the planet. And it's running through January 8th.

Oh, hello. And it's basically, for those that don't know, they play kind of two crotchety old Upper West Siders. Crotchety? Crotchety. Just like me. Because I was born on the Upper West Side and I'm already crotchety. Play you. Basically.

Kind of. And they opine and whine about everything about theater and life. And there's always a celebrity guest star. It's a super fun night at the theater. And if you can get tickets, if you can afford it and find the, the means to get there, do your best to get and to see, oh, hello, before it closes January 8th. So they're hysterical. Coming up a little later on the show, a little switching gears a little bit, but there is a connection.

Is there? Hear me out. Nick Kroll is starring as well in a feature film called Loving out this Friday. Loving also stars our guest in the second half of the show, The Amazingly Talented Ruth Naga. It's almost like you planned it. I actually really didn't. I know. Almost.

I don't have it all together. So we'll talk about Ruth a little bit later, but suffice to say Ruth is, you know, in a good place. She's the star of this really beautiful film that opens on Friday that tells the true story of the Lovings. That was their last name. And this couple, an interracial couple in the late 1950s who simply wanted to live happily in Virginia and could not. They were arrested. and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court and justice was done. And here we live in a time and a place, thankfully, where that kind of thing seems absurd.

So anyway, it's a beautiful story, and Ruth Naga is excellent in it. We'll talk about that a little bit later with her. But first, let's laugh a little bit, Sammy. You're the funny guys. Let's do it. And by the way, you get not only Nick and John in this, you get a little Gill and George coming up in this interview too. Four guests for the price of none. My voice just cracked. I got so excited.

He just went through puberty right now. Here is Nick Kroll and John Mulaney. We're going to see about Sammy's voice while you guys listen to this podcast. Thank you. I'll see a doctor immediately. I'm so excited to be joined by the dynamic duo, the powerhouse. What? You're already snickering.

I heard a snicker. That was snickering. That was him snickering. Was it? I'll tell you why in a moment. Okay. Okay. John Mullaney, Nick Kroll, oh, hello, on Broadway.

Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having us. I was snickering because I was like, what if he does a long intro then gets both of our names wrong? That's my deep fear. Totally. Even if I've talked to somebody a thousand times, you can always freeze. And you took a rather pregnant pause and I was like, what if he didn't, what if, like, you know, we met at the elevator.

What if he truly didn't know who we were? Josh Maloney and Ned Crowler here. Ned Crowler are here. I'm so sorry. They are the new stars of Hamilton on Broadway. Oh, Hello. I have that.

I can't, I can, I've known, I've known people for 15 years and will introduce them to someone who I'm, like, and I will be worried. I will still make people introduce themselves to each other because I am scared I'm going to forget someone's name. Yeah, I have that thing with like my closest friends and family, like when I'm at like a social function where I, and I'm coming towards someone I don't know. And I'll literally being like, okay, that's my mother. Her name is Barbara. My wife, her name is Jenny. Like, I literally, in my brain, go over it. How are Barbara and Jenny, by the way?

They're well. Good. I do that with left and right. Really? Yeah, it's embarrassing. And I would like to be studied, but I do have to say to myself sometimes, like, right hand, right hand. And people go, and on your right, I'm like, right hand, right. How should we properly differentiate the delicious voices that we're hearing?

John. Mine will be, yep, ba-pah-pah-pah-pah-knack. And mine will be like that. But it really won't. They're actually quite nuanced. New beagle puppy. New beagle puppy talking. Old chocolate lab.

Old chocolate lab. The show. The show. An old chocolate lab. Splayed on a kitchen floor. Delighted. Stinking up. Stinking up a kitchen tile floor.

What's the backstory of that lab? It's had a wife. Oof. It's been a, it was active for like three years from like one to four really active. and then blew out its knee and then still holds a tennis ball on its mouth but only sloppers on your leg and the kids were like,

we'll walk it if you get it and then the dad walked it every morning in sweatpants. Now he's overweight. The dad? No, the chocolate lab. Yeah, the dad's overweight too. Let's be real.

The man is depressed and he won't admit it. Your show is delightful. But he'll look back on a full life. The dad? I don't know. He's had kids. He's had two or three kids. He's had two or three kids.

He's worked at Morgan Stanley successfully for a long time. He has a network of his wife's friend's husbands that he knows. But he plays golf with his delinquent friend who's already divorced. His delinquent friend was slightly too long hair for an old man. Who makes him feel good about himself because that friend is even worse life. He goes, boy, Don's dating a new woman. Boy, I mean, you know, talk about getting your priorities straight, but he's so jealous. John's still doing coke.

Yeah. You know, he still has a problem with the Coke. He went to the Dominican Republic and probably had sex with the hooker, and he's doing coke. And he's, you know, he's still with the cigarettes and stuff. I'm so jealous of him. We're going to Miami next week. I'm trying to sell tickets to your show. Let's get to it.

Oh, hello. Oh, hello. On Broadway. What's the website? It is. Oh, hello, broadway. Yeah. And you can buy tickets there.

It's a great show. It's a super fun night at the theater. We wrote it. What? You did? We wrote most of those. Do you know what's amazing? We had one of the gentlemen working on our show who was very actively, it was the head of our props was.

Yes, prop master. Prop master. It was an important role on a Broadway show. It feels like a lofty title on a show to have you get the master title. You are, and he is a master of it. He's been doing it for a long time. He's very good at it. He did not.

A sound man is technically called the Tsarina of St. Peter. which is also a little form. People don't talk about that, but it's not true. People don't talk about it at all, but what a gorgeous sound safe. And a gorgeous crown. Right. And also, oftentimes they do like making love to horses. Right.

So, but our prom master would not believe that we had written the show ourselves. It was pretty cool. He kind of cornered both of us and was like, you wrote this? Good for you guys. You wrote all of it? Yeah. You sure you didn't have writers? No.

We didn't have any writers? We had an associate director who would sort of takes down the stuff that we improvised during shows or in rehearsals, and he would go up to her and be like, are you writing this for them? Are you the writer? Who's to blame? Who gets the credits? I know. And I think it was all out of love. Like, I think he likes the show.

Oh, he liked it. He'd go, that's funny. You wrote this? Doesn't seem like you. And what I know of you. I've only seen you rehearse the show and you don't seem like you wrote it. This is either a true miracle that this exists on Broadway or an affront to the Broadway gods that something this absurd and insane actually exists on Broadway. Maybe a mix of both.

If you watch the first episode of Westworld, which I did last night, not a big deal. Jeffrey Wright mumbles something about that. You know, Jeffrey Wright once mumbled something that I think of often. Which is there are no mistakes. Right. So that in evolution, there are things. Ever since the update ran We haven't

And then Anthony Hopkins comes in He goes Oh, but we don't know And you go I want to turn it up But the explosions are too loud Yeah so We would argue that there are no mistakes

Even in the evolutionary pattern When things go off And slightly ruin the landscape They are there for a reason So we're So Gill and George are basically Cowboy robots We built for you to have sex with

Or whatever's happening over there Jesus Get it together I know, so anyway, so, but yes, it is both, we, I mean, we, I don't know, like, to me it feels both like such a crazy, ridiculous coup and also exactly what was supposed to happen. Right. And, but just to be clear, Broadway has been very kind and welcoming to us in all, in all ways. We've had a lot of people appearing on or soon on Broadway on our show as guests, too, which has been great. And also just generally, like, very.

Very nice. When you meet people from other shows, they were excited, they've heard nice things about it. Like, it is not in any way to be like, what are you doing on our turf? Yeah, everyone's excited to have, you know, a diversity of shows. I'm not that there's anything that diverse about two ghost white men, the color of dandruff. Yeah. And presenting their... Rubbing their dry hands together and telling one-liners.

But it is a bit different. What's the bare minimum that people need to know going into this about these two characters and the lives day? They've lived to get them to the stage here. Well, the backstory of it is John and I have been doing these characters for about 10 years. We used to do them at a club in the East Village when we both were starting out. And we would host a stand-up show and interview our friends' stand-ups after their sets. And there are two mid-70-year-old guys from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which is the coffee breath of neighborhoods. and they are a also ran writer and actor

who fashion themselves sort of intelligence. If you don't know much about that kind of men, it's like Woody Allen types, like people who might have been in the movie like Manhattan or crimes and misdemeanors. Yeah, guys with oatmeal colored hair in the 80s and big corduroys, and they were architects, and like in a Woody Allen movie,

everyone's trying to date them. It's just interesting that I grew up on the upper way. side my dad is my dad is an architect so I feel like I'm cornered here I feel like this is me right it was like just think of like Josh's dad when he was still like getting it getting it going in the 70s and 80s they are married Barbara and Larry Horowitz would enjoy this show very much I believe this Bob and the the actual other title we were toying with was Barbara and Larry Horowitz but it is the show is your parents yeah the show's your parents and your parents have probably seen it even if they have it.

Right. Or you've dealt with men like... Yes. Oh, I think you have. You've dealt with these men a lot. Yes, they are very familiar to me. You, Larry's son? To the point where...

Are you doing your podcast? Larry's son does podcast and it's streaming. You know, he's doing... He's in MTV now. He's at MTV and it's a binge watch. It's podcast. Now, the key difference, and you alluded to this, and playing to a Broadway audience

compared to doing something in the East Village 10 years ago, is you're playing to arguably a few hundred of the people that you're satirizing some nights. Yes. Is that, were you worried about that going into it? No, I mean, yes and no, it was like that what was interesting is we, so we did the show in the East Village.

Then eventually we did it. I had a sketch show called Kroll Show, which we did more of the characters on that show, both a prank show, sort of more Woody Allen filmic pieces, and then a prank show called Too Much Tuna, which was the first time that we were like, all right, look at this. Like, this isn't necessarily to New York.

Everybody gets tuna. And so, like, I get tweeted pictures and stuff from, like, 15-year-old girls in Phoenix or people around the country, people dressing up for Halloween, all this stuff. And all of a sudden was like, oh, it's... I'm direct messaging with 15-year-olds and everyone, you know what I mean? Everyone's talking about it. Everyone, you know, you send these, you can DM and then... They're apps where the messages disappear and you can talk to young people.

It's like... Like Anthony Weiner or, like, well, that's what it's funny. We don't go to that specific message point, but we know what you mean. And by the way, wouldn't it be amazing if it turned out that we had framed Anthony Wiener, that we had been hacking into his Twitter for the last number of years? That we were Carlos Danger? Yes. You would have come up with a better pseudonym, I think, than Carlos Danger.

It's hard to beat Anthony Wiener coming up with the name Carlos Danger. It's perfect. So we, so then we weirdly off Broadway, we did it at the Cherry Lane Theater last year, And it was our fans. Like we sold out the run in like eight hours, the whole run. So then it was like, all right, now we go to Broadway. Can we make a Broadway audience? And what we found is our show lives and dies, we'll live and die on Broadway based on the idea that the Georgian Gills of the real world, like real like upper west side Jews who really are the fuel for like the Broadway economy in a lot of ways decide to come out and see the show.

Sure. and I feel like they've been coming out and they like the show. Yeah. I mean, we're satirizing them, but we're also living in them for a while. And I think it's you kind of, you ease into their world and it's very comfortable for people that love Steely Dan and love Alan Alda and our Barbara and Larry Horowitz. And like no knew what it was like when Ed Koch ran New York and what the 70s were like in New York and all that stuff. So art, I don't think we consciously did it, but what we've done is written like a show with about one million jokes in it. And so the hope is that even if not every joke's for you, there's still like 400,000 jokes that you're going to get in a show.

Nate Silver said at least 67% of the audience will get 79% of the jokes. I missed that. That's on the, I'm following him religiously right now. He said it to me privately and he told me not to repeat it. Oh, interesting. I'd love it if you could edit that up. And Nate Silver said that I would see him on TV like six or seven years ago and be like, what am I doing on TV? Why am I talking numbers?

I'm not a numbers guy. I'm not a numbers guy. When did I tape this? Yeah. Is the audience vocal at all? Do you hear them? Do you hear them? Laughing?

Well, hopefully, yes. But in terms of... And clapping. At the beginning and hollering. And clas. Standing. Standing, maybe. Sometimes not

Sometimes yes Clap, clap, clap, laugh, laugh, laugh Any audible speech? Any actual dialogue? It's a pretty well-behaved audience Every once in a while We'll get someone who wants to pipe in Occasionally, it's a Broadway house

There's just something about that That feels like Synagogue or church It's like there's a little bit like There's some restraint Right Yeah Fewer phones out than many fewer phones than in a regular show

Than in a comedy theater type Which is really nice Yes I realizing even though you want people to, it's nice that people want to take pictures and video and share it with their 15 stone friends somewhere, but

no, there's something very nice about being able to do the show and feeling like everyone's eyes are on you and there's no distractions. And you guys leave a decent amount open for improv every night. You obviously have a different guest every night, a celebrity guest star. Those, I would assume,

are booked relatively far in advance. It's not like you comb the theater and find somebody. Oh, well, Once we did, yeah. Sometimes, on the road, we would pick people out of the audience every night because we didn't have access to, you know, notable folks when we were in Boston or, or San Francisco or whatever. But so we'll still pick people out of the audience. We picked some girl out of the audience on Sunday, and it was her birthday.

And her boyfriend's birthday. Yeah, and they had very similar names. It was weird. It was weird. And then, but then also, like, one night our guest couldn't make it. Natasha Leon was going to do the show, but she was caught on set. So she couldn't make it. And so we found out, like, a minute before the show that Katie Kirk was in the crowd.

Yeah, we were about to pick someone from the crowd. And then our assistant, Jo Ellen, said Katie Kirk. So we asked Katie Kirk to do the show. I was privileged enough to get Griffin done. Oh, wonderful. Which feels like, I mean, that feels... He was in the show already. He was already in the show as a real point of contention.

A high dramatic moment in the show, Griffin done. Absolutely. Absolutely. It was, and I tried to convey to him that you're in it every night. Did he believe you? I think he did, yeah. Nice. But you do need to say, like, by the way, that wasn't for you. Yeah.

But the fun thing is, is depending on who you have and whoever the guest is, we then also talk about in reference at various points in the show afterwards, who that person was or things that are going on with them. Yeah, the show builds in a nice way where anything that organically comes up throughout it, we kind of can thread through. grew a lot, which is fun. Do you ever, in the improvisational part of the show, do you ever, like, use something that the other doesn't get in terms of, like, a reference, or do you ever lose the other person? Yeah, I didn't get college got back. Yeah, it's on our Instagram, oh, hello, at oh, hello show.

At oh, hello show, follow us. Yeah, follow us on Instagram, follow us on the Snapchat that we don't really use. We should start doing Snapchat. I don't know. Is that a thing, Josh? It's a thing. It is. I don't use it enough.

Around here, in the parts of MTV, it's a big thing. And you can direct message with young people on it. I don't know if the way you're speaking about it indicates that you should use it. Uh-huh. Interesting. So, yeah. So losing the other, yeah. Who was our guest that night?

Was it Ben Platt? It might have been Ben Platt, who's about to be on Broadway in a show called Dear Evan Hansen, who's in Pitch Perfect. He was talking about it. He was a college dropout. And then I made a long joke about did his wife's jewelry just get stolen? And John was like, I have no idea what you're talking about. And then I had to work backwards to explain. Is there a safe word you drop in when you say, I need help?

No, what are you talking about? I don't know what you're talking. Which is a sentence either of us could say to each other throughout the plan. So then I had to work backwards and explain that I'm making a Kanye West reference. Got it. And then, and which is something Gil shouldn't know about. True. Which we then set up.

It's a very fun kind of meta thing. You can always play with the levels of it. What about if a joke doesn't land that you yourself? Turn on the audience. Yeah. Attack the audience. But what do you believe in the joke and it just dies in the audience? Do you stick with it the next night?

Do you keep coming back to it? Or if you have a similar ear where we're both hearing the same after we, everything gets a couple days in court. Or we'll try something and then it's like, that's not working. We did it, yeah. I think we try to couch those. There are maybe one or two things left having workshop this show for, what, a year and a half, since off-Broadway. Maybe a couple little things that are like, that might be for us, but we keep it in, you know. But most things, we sort of, we also change it up a lot, so we'll grow dissatisfied with things that even get a laugh and want to mix it up.

Yeah, either the laugh, we're just bored of the joke. and so you want to change it or it's like I've still have a few jokes where I'm like I think I just I need I can beat this joke I just have settled into it and it works but I can beat it right because we have some other jokes that works so well it's hard you get we've gotten so the ones that really the ones that have landed poorly don't make the home team after a while you just go I'm sorry yeah it does it surprise you Bella Abzog reference but you've done yeah does it surprise you that 10 years in it's as like exciting and rewarding that you're still finding new stuff within these characters because that doesn't obviously happen very often with a character.

I don't know surprise. It delights me. I mean, from the time we started doing it, it was the funniest thing. I found it as funny as I think some of the audience that's liked it has. I really enjoy it on sort of a third person level. That's weird and egotistical, but also genuine. Well, no, and I think for both of us, we both done a bunch of different stuff and in different places and have had like been very fortunate to have a good amount of success and but there's something about this particular thing which we're both like I have no um I mean I I we're constantly trying to make it better right um but I have very little humility about it Gill and George have high self-esteem the show has high self-esteem for two maybe too hot deeply deep losers like

Yeah, deeply, deep losers. These are ketchup packets. These men are losers. These are straw wraps. Are these the men that you fear you might become if things go awry? Ah. Oh. I both fear and would be thrilled to be these men.

I would not like to be George. Yes. But he's in, but he's very much inside me. I would not like to be angry. No, and I don't want to be weak gill. You're so sweet, though. Yeah, but he's weak. That's okay.

No, it's not. He's sweet. He's nature's clown. Yeah. Which is, by the way, I think what you call your dog as well. No, that's what someone told me bulldogs are called. Nature's clowns. As if clowns aren't human beings. What about a guy who worked his whole life go to clown school?

Then a flat-faced dog just shows up and gets the title. Clowns are getting a bad rap nowadays, I feel like. I don't care about that story at all. And I'm not shutting down the topic. I mean, I'm similarly, it's a little like, it feels like hack to me to get like, ooh, clowns are scary. No, it's also like, it feels invented by the news. The media is rigging the election. Yes.

How are you feeling about The Walking Dead? Speaking of hot topics right now. Oh, I don't, I don't know. I watched one episode. I was like, oh, look at that TV show. Yeah. That's all I felt watching it. I have no opinion on it except that I was like, why does everybody watch this thing?

It just looks like a TV show. show. I agree. I, I, I, I, people, but people love it. It's like the highest rated show on TV. Yeah. Yeah. Is it?

Wonderful. And is it on AMC? Yes. And they did Madman. They did Madman. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. You're so positive about this.

No, because imagine being there and that'd be fun. To be, imagine being on AMC and be like, ha ha, like I, I, I, I, we used to show the fugitive twice a day and now we have the highest rated show in the world. You're talking about the film, not the TV show. The Harrison Ford. Not the Tim Daly TV show? Not that. It was on CBS.

Oh, not the original TV. Do you watch every incarnation of the fugitive? No, but I was once on a date when I was in college, and that was on a TV at a bar. The fugitive TV. The TV show with Tim Daly, everyone. We all know what I'm talking about. It was on CBS, and it was a Friday night. And I was on this date, and I was not, and it was on closed captioning.

Well, I was, I was drinking. And also, I was just watching the TV. And, yeah. Those were the days. Those were the days. I'm actually having a flashback. Remembering that seeing in one of your stand-up acts, you had a reference to Provasic. Yeah, not my wife.

You are not. I know John Zach perfectly. You are not my wife. This guy can quote me all day long. Anyway, I don't know what became the woman that I was on a date with. Cila Ward? Yep. You dated Ceela.

Yeah. Yeah, and I'd rather not talking about it. This was post-sisters? Yeah, because I met her through, help me. Clooney? Smozy Curse-Curts. Yes. No problem.

A dear friend of Georgian Gills. But, yeah, no, we think that the show's going to do well. The Walking Dead's going to do great. Yeah. So do you feel... Why are zombies popular? I don't know. Don't ask me.

I don't know. I'm so not interested in zombies. I feel like it's overstate it's welcome. But people are interested in them to a degree that I'm like, what does it mean? And we can only... We can set a timer because it's not a good topic. Right. Well, I think it's the overarching, like, the underlying threat of like a force...

Post-apocalyptic kind of thing, or no. Post-apocalyptic. but this idea that there's this like like impending force coming at you that is stronger than you but you but isn't actually a thinking being that they just keep coming at you keep trying to kill them

and you're like and that's what like fear feels like oh because you want to kill the other but you also want it to be like nameless and faithly but you recognize the other it's it just keeps coming at you and there's like no what however I reasoned so you're both a murderer and a constant victim

but there's also a profundity to it that you could be killing your best friend your wife at any point like i got over i get over that fast i'd be like that's not my wife it's a zombie right this has my wife just keep quoting your act that's not my wife that's a zombie With one of the best. With one of the best savings rates in America, banking with Capital One is the easiest decision in the history of decisions. Even easier than choosing Slash to be in your band. Next up for lead guitar.

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Capital One and a member FDIC. What are the, you both have had the wonderful privilege of having shows named after yourself. What are the pros and cons of having a show with your own name in the time? There are pros? I mean, for me, it's a weird thing. John and I had different experiences. Yeah. But I think it's like the nice thing about Oh Hello in general is that it is we are, we get to hide behind these.

I love this pivot and I'm going to take you to lunch. Wow. It's like the third debate. This is like. But the thing about Oh hello on Broadway. Right. No, but it is. And it's part of the larger thing of like you have a show with your name on it.

There comes either great success or frustration with it in both ways. whatever, however it lands. But when you're, we're doing, oh, hello, and you're George and Gill, it's like, John and Nick are still getting so much fucking credit for it, but we still get to be George and Gill, and we still have a show that's called, oh, hello, and it's this thing that is separated from us directly. Right. And so it can be a very successful thing, and then you can still get on the subway, and every once in a while someone's like, you're that old dude from the poster, and you're like, yes,

I am, I'm glad you recognize me, and then the rest of the time you get to walk around in the world. When you have a show with your name on it, it carries a ton of pressure. It also carries your face directly attached to it. And it's a more complicated dance. It's also your family's name. Yes. You're dragging down the whole family with you.

I mean, it's bizarre. Yeah, should it not work, to see Mullaney sucks, you're like, oh, man, that's my grandpa. That guy, he didn't do anything. So in retrospect, they should have just used the entire, the full name, at least. Yeah, the John Mullaney hour. An hour. God willing.

21 minutes and people turned it off. I couldn't... 2130. I was desperate. We were eventually 2115. I wanted to call my show forever. At least Comedy Central was. It was 2115.

They kept taking time away. That's cool. The Nick Show Croll is what I desperately wanted to call the show. And then eventually clowning around with Nick Crolling around with Nick Clown. It was the other title that I was desperate to call it. That was my favorite. Because I was so. not interested in doing that show with your name on it.

Yeah. You know, it is what it is. So, what were your, you guys go way back to college. Yeah. First impressions of each other. This was at Georgetown. What was the, what was the context? What was the first impression of each other back then?

I met John, he was auditioning for the improv group with his buddy, and they were really funny, and then I split them apart to do another scene, and his buddy was still funny, but John's scene was electrically funny, and we joined the improv group, and John's impression of me from that experience. I met him as the director of the group I was trying to get in, so I also thought he was of Latino oranges, of Latino oranges as well, though. Yeah, because he was eating a, he had a net grocery bag of Clementine. Yeah, and I kept saying, from the orchard of Sevilla, I come to you as the director of the

improv group we would do improvisation together with the ghost of Alambra we would do improvisation you had just gotten back from a junior year of abroad I had been in Argentina so he kept talking about like in Argentina we and I was like sure this is the South America yeah yeah but then we became fast friends and and just stayed I think even the chasm between a freshman and a senior was bridged through comedy through comedy and some drugs Any trucks in particular? Just all the other? Some.

I once lost a little cube of hash in Nick's house on prospect. And remember, you don't remember this. I don't. I was like, I came over to your house and I was like looking for it. And we had, I'd given you some on the Sunday night or something. And on Wednesday, I'm like knocking on your door. They're like, hey, man, I lost. So I'm looking around for it.

And I remember Nick goes, you know, you can keep looking, but it wasn't very good. Like I smoked your hat? No, like, on Sunday you had not been impressed. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, oh. Is that your impression of me? Is that the first? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, it's dead on, wow. It was good. That was pretty good. It was a very impressed. That was more a college. That was more a college. Like when I was feigning adulthood. Oh, you know, I'm like, I'm, man.

I buy that. Is John less interesting now that he's more of a straight arrow? Sober. No, he's only more interesting. He, his, his, his, his, when he was drinking and drugging, I didn't know him that well. Partly it's also when people are doing that who have to stop, they hide a lot of who they are from you. And Nick is also, he's a senior, and I'm a freshman, and that will not leave my brain.

So I always want to impress him and always still want to impress them. So I would not... Thank you for the flowers this morning, by the way. Yeah, those are going to stink in three days. They're going to smell like a dead body in three days, and you won't know what it is, and then you'll smell the vase. So I would not be too out of control around him. Yes. But also, yeah, I mean, no, he's...

No, I'm a much more interesting person. I find John endlessly interesting. It's just like a totally unique creature. One of the most interesting things about you has this first segue is a TV show that I adore is documentary now. I just need to mention that. Oh, thanks. I'm glad you like it.

The episode, The Bunker, this year is maybe my favorite. It's like 21 minutes. That's the War Room one? Yeah. So, Stephanopoulos and Carpelt. I watched it one time, and then I insisted that my wife and I sit down and watch the war room followed by the bunker. Had she seen the war room before? She hadn't.

Oh, God, the worm is so great. It's one of my favorites, yeah. I've got to go watch that. It's a real joy and when you're talking about satirizing these old men and I said we're satirizing them or we're also presenting them, I find that with documentary now is people will say like you're spoofing or this week they take on this

and I'm like, yes and no, we're also just like, we love those and want to live in them for a while. Yeah. You know, when you do the war room, it wasn't like, we're taking down the war room. It's like, the war room's perfect. It was just like, we want to dress. I want to write a thing where everyone dresses up like they're in the war room. And seeing his take on haters take on Carville, it's not even that heightened.

I mean, it's heightened, but it's not so extreme. No, no, I think on SNL, the James Carville he would do was more heightened. And this was kind of the deeply obsessive Carville that you see in the war room. The guy who he doesn't even look people in the eye, he's just thinking and blinking all the time. But that's what's, I think, so good about that show in general is like the, the, the take on all of these things it's rarely very broad it's very just all across

the board writing acting directing it's incredibly well realized and not over the top really across unless it's a fun reason to go over the top with something yeah I think the drones episode was like a fun way to spin out from Vice but the Giro Trems of Sushi

one I forget what that was called that wasn't even that I mean you can almost take that as I found it kind of a motion that's what I'm saying it almost could play as I was like, oh, this is, I really, I really care about these people, which in 21 minutes and 30 seconds. 15, 15, they took time out of it. IFC will take an extra 15 to do just, like, wrap around promos for the new episode of... But you don't harbor any kind of ill will about that.

You're cool with it. The extra 15 that was taken away? No, I have nothing to say about that. Also, congratulations to you, Nick, I've seen Loving. Oh, cool. Which is fantastic. Thank you. The new film from Jeff Nichols.

So you've worked with Malik, Jeff Nichols? I mean, this is insane. Yes. Well, I'm an important actor, and so I work with important directors. What was your Terence Malick experience? My Terrence Malick experience was amazing. He obviously, people sort of know him within a certain world, but most notably in last few years he made The Tree of Life,

but obviously he's made Badlands and incredible movies. And he's a very sort of, you know, experimentally tonal kind of director. So I got a call on a Tuesday being like, do you want to go on on Thursday and be in a Terrence Malick movie? And I said, sure. And that's basically from that moment on when I went in on Thursday was just like, okay. They were just like, come and maybe something you'd wear to a party. And I said, okay. And there was no script, no anything.

And I met him downstairs right before he started shooting. And he's a very sort of secretive kind of guy. He wears like a big straw hat. And he was in a full, a denim shirt buttoned up to the day. top and he doesn't like to be photographed and he he came up to me and I was with like another bunch of actors and some models and they had all auditioned or something but I he was just like Nick you are a torpedo you are here to disrupt and that was the extent of what he told me and then I get on set and you stand by him he's got a monitor and he'll just throw you

into a scene and we were in this beautiful crazy mansion on Mulholland and there were hundreds of dogs and costumes running around. And at some point, the scene, Christian Bale was the star. And he just sort of was like, you used to write with Christian and then just pushed me into the scene. And then it's like, okay. And then by the end of there, I was like sticking icicles from some, this man was shaving a block of ice into a poodle.

And then there were icicle shards and I was taking them and sticking them down, Christian Bales back. it was a totally bizarre so fun weird day and I'm in the movie for like 10 seconds but hey you have a good story for a podcast there you go and that's all we're really in this for that's why you got into the business

yes but but but but Matt it was really cool it was a very crazy day before well I should let you guys go but I'd love to I feel people should I will push go see loving yes Jeff Nichols movie it's based on a it's a true story Richard Mildred loving Google them it's a beautiful story and Ruth Nega and Joel Edgerton who are amazing it are amazing it's a gorgeous movie yeah I mean I've been obsessed with all of Jeff's films and he's like one of the best directors working right now totally so I should let you guys go but but I was hoping I think I think Dylan George might be available to swap in for you guys yeah they're outside in the Viacom kitchen they were grabbing a bunch of sugar packets they were looking for Diet Dr. Pepper yeah and they were unhappy well well I think I'll I

I think I see them here, and go and George. Yeah, come on in, guys, yeah. Hey. We're knocking on the table. We're knocking on the table. No, we have to be invited in like Dracula. Well, congratulations. Or otherwise, no.

Who do you think is the best version of Dracula right now? Oh, I think Rudy Giuliani's doing a great touring version of Dracula. I was just congratulating your friends, John and Nick. Fuck him. Screw those fuckers. Fuck them. Fuck those guys. Their credit is the playwrights on this show.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, and we, our prepmaster, he knows the truth. Yeah. They didn't write shit. The primaster knows who wrote it. We told him, you go investigate, find out what they're saying. These guys, these presenters, you know, they present, they produce the show. Meanwhile, we're the guys who are getting on stage every night, you know, bringing the heat.

Doing the work. Yeah. Bring in the love. Do you feel proper accolades thus far? Do you feel celebrate? What? No. We've been snubbed.

We've been snubbed by critics. What do you mean? Besides Barbara and Larry Horowitz. They haven't seen the show yet, but they're going to love it. A snub. A snub. We've been snubbed by the Academy? Excuse me.

The Tudor Village newsletter. This is an apartment complex on York and 83rd. Has not covered the show. They were given comps. The people that write it died, but still. Do you feel embraced by the Broadway community? Have you been, have you gone to Sardis yet? We've tried to embrace a number of members of the Broadway.

community, the mixed results. None of the cats wanted to hug us. Then we've not been to Sardis. We're not allowed in Sardies. We went to Sardines, a packing warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where they pack sardines. And you go there at 6 a.m. Yeah. Have you, a little random question, but I'm just curious, have you guys caught the Walking Dead yet?

Have you seen this show? What are your thoughts? Well, everyone keeps calling us that. So that's been a problem Yeah, we don't care for that Yeah, we don't care for that How dare you, we're not working We're sointering

We're swintering, we're strolling And we're not dead, we're old We're gonna die But we're all gonna die No, but not like us honey Yeah, not like us Just exploding in an apartment To be composing courses

Just us I mean we're praying a God One goes before the other So the other can crawl to the door And let Luis know Hoping that Luis is a Super

He's a porter He's a George he's not a porter What is the difference of the winner No he's not No Kahn is the super

Luis is the one With the dolly No That's Morg Morg is That's the name Morgue No morgue is the

Handyman This guy Morgan Abramovits He's this Irish Jew Who lives in the building claims to work for the place. Does not. No, he's just a lifer who likes to get involved.

We really stay out of building politics. We don't even evacuate when there's smoke. Since the opening night, which featured Alan Alda, have you guys bonded with Mr. Alda? Is he, would you count him as a friend? I know, oh my God. Friend is a good, is a

fun word, you know. He did it, he did a tweet. He did a tweet. Yeah. This is the problem with an Alan Alda. This is the problem with staying active in your, your, your, you're later years like Mr. Oralda has who we have a deeper amount of respect for both for his acting and also

the legal action that he's taken against as restraining order was. We respect his suits and counter suits. Yes, and but this guy he's 80 and he's tweeting himself. Oh, that's great. It's great for him. We're not interested in this. You know, like we have a Twitter hand and he's

a hello show. Sorry? I don't know how that I'm a show. But he tweets himself the day after doing the show he actually did tweet that his profile has been raised that he liked it you know but since then it's like you can't even get into his apartment with a butter knife yeah it's like us with lucy it's us like us with lucy lou radio silence you know we you know we watch an episode of elementary we like her in it we send her 40 to 50 letters and and then she goes radio silent on us you know i send her photos to sign

photos of me and I write do not bend in aggressive lettering on the front what would you say to the folks out there finally that might be on the fence I mean you know probably tickets are expensive it's not not spend it but also get money together get money get you sure go to people have different considerations and it's no go to your bank wait on a line wait on a line get up to the front and then not understand the process or the things that you need to get that money out hold up a line at lunch and have problems with the teller when truly the problem is that some you just the money isn't there yes but i would say also for those folks out there might not have the money for a birthday ticket

there are a day rush tickets you can get tickets on the day go to the theater and we don't mean tickets to see rush in toronto oh which we would love to do to see them in their hometown what a joy it would be what a joy everyone feeling included yes but to go So you can, this is... To the Lyceum Theater. 46. 149.45th Street. The Lyceum TD, you can get yourself

Day of Rush tickets, and this is not a joke as opposed to the other things that we're talking about. Some of the things we say are bits. We won't lie. Because we need to sell tickets. So for approximately 100 more minutes of these gentlemen, yeah. Yeah. You guys should go online, go get rush tickets.

Just figure it out, guys. Go to... Go see. Or get, you know, get regular tickets if you can. Whatever takes. It's whatever works. For those of you, your millennials, your big millennial following, and your podcast. And you spent your monies at a group dinner at Sush Samba.

Yeah. And you go, I want to go see a hello. I want to laugh. I want to laugh and I want to think. And I want to see Coulter. Because I want to be cultured. Because I want to meet Anne Coulter. Get a rich ticket.

Gill and George. It's been a pleasure. Give my best to John and Nick when you see them. Chimd Mue. Chimd Mesh. And tell Larry and Barbie. That's hilarious, Barbara. Oh, you're Larry's son.

Oh, you're Larry's son. Well, you tell Barbara that I say hello and that I am sorry about the fight at Citarella. I'll be sure to do that. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Malaney. Okay, time to switch gears, guys. As promised, we're going to class up the place a little bit, Sammy. Take your silly hats off. Yeah, take those silly, silly hats, silly pants,

whatever silly clothing you're wearing. Because Ruth Naga is, she's kind of a serious actor. And, like, I was actually a little word. I was telling you before, like, I was a little word because I listened to some interviews with her. And she clearly is kind of reserved and soft-spoken and takes, you know, the craft seriously. And that's all cool and fine. And sometimes that can be a challenging interview, though. Having said that, she was delightful. And I feel like I warmed her up with our mutual love of Death Becomes her, the Overlooked Robert Zemeckis classic. And yeah, we had a really good time talking about loving, which, as I said earlier, is a film that's opening a limited release on Friday. You should definitely check it out, and it's going to spread out wide after that.

Very much an Oscar contender an awards movie, and Ruth is being talked about as a best actress contender, and justifiably so, because it's a very reserved and powerful performance. and Joel Edgerton. Friend of the show. A friend of the show, Joel Edgerton. I was saying to her in the podcast, we've had on Michael Shannon, who's in the movie, Joel Edgerton, and Nicole and her. It's like everybody in the movie's been here. Are you in the movie, too? I should be.

I'll be in Loving Two. Yeah, in the sequel. So, yes, so this is a movie that we talk a lot about and we talk about, you know, all the stuff going on in her life. She's also in Preacher, which a lot of people are really digging, and that's coming up for a second season. And, you know, her growth as an actor in movies like Breakfast on Pluto, which was a small, Neil Jordan movie that she made her debut in 10 years ago. And here she is now, big awards contender, super, super powerful Ruth Naga. That's how it happens. I'm happy second fuse. You know you've made it when. You've made it. Yeah. So anyway, happy to have her on the podcast and hope you

guys check out Loving out this Friday in Limited and afterwards wide. Here is Ruth Naga. There's no formal introduction, but I'm very excited to be joined by Ruth Naga, the star of Loving. It's good to see you, Ruth. Thank you for coming in. It's lovely to be here. Thank you for having me. You should know that this is almost the unofficial loving podcast, because I've had, in the past here I've had Michael Shannon. I've had... Fabulous. I've had Nick Kroll just on... Actually, he's part of this week's show, on your show as well.

Nick Kroll was on this episode. And, of course, Joel Edgerton's been on the show. So it's a love fest for loving here. Yeah, that's amazing. Thank you. Of course. This is a film I absolutely adore, and I know it's a special one for you. Yeah. So first of all, I mean, talk to me a little bit about, you know, that we were talking as you came in here today.

It's already been a bit of a long run. You, you know, you debuted this film in Cann. You've done some film festivals. It's one of those films that hopefully will be around through this silly kind of award season, but it's all for a good cause to make sure people are aware of it and see it. Yeah. Does it feel like, you know, this isn't why you. sign up to be an actor, but is this part of it okay with you because you love the film so much? Or give me a sense of where you're at?

I think it's, I do love this film and I love this couple and Jeff and Joel. And I think it's important for people to be introduced to this couple if they don't know them already. And I was always quite surprised that people hadn't heard of them considering, you know, their contribution to, you know, American history. you know, they changed the constitution of the United States of America, and I just thought that was such an extraordinary thing, and I wondered why I didn't know about them. So I kind of think that people like Richard and Milder are like the unknown soldiers of the civil rights struggle. Yeah. And hopefully more and more of these people's stories will be told. And to give a little context for the audience, and I confess, look, you have an excuse at least, you know, you're Irish Ethiopian and by heritage. I'm a U.S. citizen. I feel like I should know the story, and I didn't.

frankly. But it is a really compelling story. And it's, I guess what, it got started in Virginia, Richard and Mildred Loving, went through this insane kind of nine-year process that went through the court system simply because they wanted to remain man and wife and live happily together. And that was against the law in Virginia. It was against the law for a white person to marry a black person in many states. And they got married in Washington, D.C. And when they came back to Virginia, central point where they lived, they got arrested, shoved in jail, and went to the local courthouse and had to plead guilty to, I think it was something very specific, like, contributing to the vulgarization of the Virginia state law or something just awful.

And they had to leave the state or face a 25-year imprisonment, so they had no choice. They had to leave the state. And this became such a, it was such a bruising experience for them both. But, you know, ultimately, Mildred couldn't live away from her family and her hometown. And she proceeded to write to Bobby Kennedy, who then referred her to the ACLU, which is the American Civil Liberties Union. And they assigned them two lawyers, Phil Herschgop and Bernie Cohen, and took them nine years, but they eventually got their,

case heard at the Supreme Court, which was extraordinary then, and it was a unanimous decision and they invalidated the miscegenation, anti-miscegenation laws of the state of Virginia and deemed it unconstitutional to stop people marrying because they're different colors, different races. It's a remarkable film in many ways because I think some people, even in hearing, you know, you describe it, might expect a certain type of film. And it's probably not the kind of film that you might expect big Hollywood to make with like a sweeping score and kind of like going for the gut.

Yet in watching it, it has a cumulative effect on you. It really is very affecting. I think simply because you're watching, right from the start, you're watching a very lived in beautiful relationship that you're rooting for and you can't, you know, in 2016 fathom why this situation exists in a relatively recent past. And it's, I think it's to the credit of what you and Joel and Jeff Nichols as writer-director have done to create such a touching kind of real couple we root for. And I think that, you know, I think Jeff, Jeff isn't capable of making a film that is obvious.

Right. And he really avoids those melodramatic pitfalls, you know, showpieces, those kind of really kind of, I find them kind of excruciating scores that sort of bully into feeling emotion. Well, it takes you out of the moment. Yes. And it's also, it's, it's, it's inaccurate for this couple. It doesn't make sense. It's not speaking their truth. And I think that with real-life couple,

I think that your responsibility is to be as authentic as possible and speak their truth. And Jeff, it's the perfect filmmaker to speak Mildred and Richard's truth. You know, they're a very reserved shy couple. Very much saw themselves as ordinary, like, everyday couple, like the every man and women of couples. They didn't want to be in the spotlight. They didn't think they had the articulacy or the,

or the confidence to become sort of headliners, you know, if you will, in the civil rights struggle. But they knew that they wanted to be married to one another. And they really couldn't see anything wrong with that. And the great thing about Jeff's film is it exposes the folly of those laws. I go back years since I think it's just horribly named as a complete misnomer, the Racial Integrity Act, you know, that kind of legislated on this. And so Jeff's film didn't want to, he didn't, he didn't, he circumvented this sort

of courtroom drama aspect of it. To be honest, we've seen all seen before, and it also takes the spotlight away from this extraordinary couple. Yes, which gives it the emotional residence. Exactly, and the thing about it is, at the end of this day, this is a love story. And it was very important for us to, um, share. show the couple, the humans, the humanity behind the titles of these laws, you know, Loving versus Virginia.

Sure. I think that individuals get lost sometimes. And I think that's how we sort of respond to one another, isn't it? It's through our kind of very basic things. Yeah. How we relate to each other. Yeah. Exactly.

And that's, and I think very much this film, the love for that they have for one another, The respect very much resonates with people. And I think that the way Jeff has done that is extraordinary. And he was right to make those choices. And I think one of the things I love as a film fan is kind of like diving down a rabbit hole after I find a film and kind of like wanting to learn more. Yeah. And there's a great documentary, which I watched just yesterday after I'd seen the film. Oh, interesting.

Nancy's. Yeah, Nancy Burskie. Nancy Burskie, thank you, yes. Documentary for HBO, the loving story, which I urge people to see. It's wonderful. wonderful and it's actually it's on amazon i think you can order for like three or four bucks and it's well worth seeing because that was the genesis of this story you know column yeah had seen columb firth and jeddority who work at rain dog films has seen this um documentary and they wanted

that's what they wanted to make this film it's kind of amazing to see what the footage that they got like back back then that like to because there are these very like revealing moments between this couple of them maybe kind of almost not even aware of you that they're still on camera or kind of like trying to get off camera, but really just capturing the ease around each other. Oh, yeah. And that must have been so valuable for you. And I should say, just to compliment you and Joel again, like, I was impressed enough after seeing the film, but after seeing the documentary, you guys really, really capture

something that is evident in that documentary. So I'll credit to you guys. Thank you. Well, it was very important because what you realized when you see this archival footage is that there was something else, apart from them being individuals, they had this amazing chemistry and an amazing really compelling stage presence as a couple

you know and you know but very distinct from one another because you know this you have this sort of stoic Richard who is just really does not want to be anywhere near a camera and it's very obvious and then you see Mildred who is

really quite charismatic and it's not that she's not a peacock and there's a very little vanity for both of them but she has a comfort with other human beings that is really attractive and attracting. And I think that's what

certainly what Jeff wanted the people he cast he wanted them to embody this couple not just play them or mimic them or mimic the footage and that was very important

that it was more about the spirit of them you know and that's what Jeff and I both were charged with and were very happy to be charged with that and it was very you know it was a very

ensemble piece and it was very sort of a symbiosis symbiotic experience because we were doing this as a team as very much a couple in order to reflect that. Is that part of what gets you off as an actor, the collaborative experience from the start

in terms of working, finding a director you click with, finding a co-star that you share a sensibility with and kind of find that rhythm with? And how often does that happen where it feels as satisfying as something like this clearly did? It depends. really. I mean, I think I've been very lucky, but this was incredibly satisfying. And, you know, acting cannot happen in isolation. And I think no performance can happen in night. I mean, it can, but I just don't think they're at their best.

Of course. And I think that, you know, the work you can do as an individual, you can do that. But then the most interesting thing for me about this job is what happens. happens on set between action and cut. And you have to sort of give it up, give up control in many ways. Because you have to just jump and everyone has to jump. And then something beautiful can happen. That is surprising sometimes for everybody involved. And that's a very, there's a rely on someone another and a support system.

And I felt, I felt very much doing this film that that was, that was very much in place, not just with the other cast members, but also with Jeff's crew that he assembled. Because he also, he is the kind of director who works the same people again and again and develops this shorthand and this trust. And I think that was very apparent on set. And I felt that energy there very much. And it was a real boon for all as actors to feel that supported and buoyed. He's one of those filmmakers that I'm just obsessed with because he, as he kind of charts out his relatively young career.

Yeah, I mean, he's ridiculously young. Absurdily. and has such a great like the film in my you know I've interviewed him a bunch over the years like and you obviously know him better than I but like it really almost reflects

to me how he is his sensibility as this like calm soothing confident person that and I guess what I was trying to say before is that like I'm so intrigued by like how he's starting to kind of dabble in different genres

and yet they all still feel very authentically of his mind and of his sensibility yeah most definitely So, you know, there's the, there's the, I have a lot of actors in here that, like, you know, quote unquote, having their moment, you know, yada, yada, yada. And I'm sure you're getting a lot of questions like that right now in terms of, oh, Ruth Neger, where have you been, you know, et cetera. But like, and that's one of those things that, like, you know, is probably more about the journalist writing the story than in terms. Or does it feel authentic to you that, like, this is a, quote, unquote, big year for you? Or is that kind of, like, useless to think about it in those terms?

No, I mean, you know, between Preacher and Loving, I think I've had a very good year for me, you know, in job terms, I mean, I've did kind of, you know, what I've been drawn to and very lucky to play Chulip and Mildred. I can't think about it too much because it just will paralyze me, you know. I know people think that it's disingenuous to say that you're shy if you're an actor, but most actors I know are shy. Because the whole point of being an actress, you disappear, you know. and it's very enjoyable spending most of your time not with your own self right

like I don't want to root around in my own head more than I have to who does want to do that you know so it's you know the most thing you most enjoy about your job is the chamelean aspect and yeah

but you know the thing is is that so it's very it's very satisfying being part of this team who are introducing this couple to people as I've said and I really I'm thrilled and people come up to us after

screenings and say, I've never heard about this couple. Thank you for bringing them to the attention of us and thank you for, a lot of people said thank you for bearing witness, you know. And I think that's a really important thing that art can do, you know, is bear witness to events and people, especially those that may get forgotten

or sidelined for whatever various reasons. And we all are very proud to be, you know, sort of celebrating this couple and honoring them and many people have come up to me and said you're telling our story or our parent's story or my story yeah well and as you well know I mean you go into a project with the best of intentions and sometimes it just doesn't for whatever reason click

or it clicks in the audience you can't find the audience and when you're in a project like this where it seems to have worked everyone's happy with it and the audience seems to be finding it that's like relish that moment and erase that moment. Oh, most definitely. That sort of alchemical process

that doesn't always sort of mix, you know. But I knew when we were making this story, we were making something special. Did you? Yeah, and I knew it would be a film that would be unignorable, is that a word? It tells the story, even if it's not. And forever making up my own words.

It's okay. You're allowed. Yeah, and sometimes I don't even know what they mean. I think I got the gist of that one. And what do you feel on set like when like

can you define that for me in terms of like just feeling true and feeling real or feeling? Yeah, I think that it goes back to being an idea of something being really authentic and but it's a real and all the

all the parts of the jigsaw puzzle are coming together and they're fishing together really nicely and there's no kind of jamming one in you know it just seems to come together and that's because you know everyone's done their job. They've done the work.

work you know we're all coming together and contributing we're all aware that we are part of this bigger thing um and i knew i know people have called it a quiet movie and a small movie but you know that doesn't mean it's not important and that it doesn't speak volumes about this time you know at the 58 to 67 is when we and when that that that struggle happened but also now it's being it's like brilliantly peculiarly resonating people for many other reasons and people are people it feels like people are really thirsty for films like this yeah films that reaffirm things reaffirm love people's faith in love people's faith in human beings people's faith in goodness people's faith in hope and that's that's a word that that is

used in our film and that mildred says in the documentary footage she's asked what do you feel about this? She says, I feel hope. I feel hopeful. And I think we could all use a good dose of it. Certainly. around. That's okay. I'm too busy chatting. We'll let you out of here and see some good movies. There are some good movies this season. I know.

What's high on your list? What do you want to see? Moonlight. Moonlight's amazing. Yeah. We've had Maryshala and Naomi in here. Yeah. It's a fantastic. We've been kind of...

Yeah, I'm sure you're on the circuit. Yeah. So it's been there such a lovely bunch. What else? I need to see the 13th. Yes. It was a very nice film. Fantastic.

Well, that's on Netflix. You have no excuse to just... I know. I sure I don't. Yeah. well tell me this instead of reveling in the sad things you haven't gotten a chance to see what about just going back as a kid like what made an impact on you in terms of like making you be inspired by the performing arts and arts in general or film i really loved comedies when i was a kid

like really cheesy comedies but i don't think they're terribly cheesy but um name a couple I know, like most bit better films, which I just adore. Stuff like, I don't know, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Oh, classic. Death becomes her. Death becomes her is a highly underrated movie, by the way. My ass, Ernest. I see my head.

Marilynette is fantastic. Bruce Willis is amazing. Angoldy, Horn. Yeah, they're all amazing. Triumph and triumvirary right there. Agreed. What else? And then when I was like, when I, you know, that was in the.

And then when I got, you know, you're going to your teenage years. Kind of, and then it was most of Tim Burton's sort of stuff. And then you get gritty. Like, I remember I was watching Machu Kassavitsi's Lane. Okay. And then Spike Lee's, all Spike Lee's stuff. And, yeah. And do you feel an aptitude and interest in everything that you love?

Would you want to do kind of like broad comedy? Do you feel like that's something that would fit your wheelhouse? The thing about comedy, right, is you've got to be funny. That's the key. All this timing business, you've just got to be funny. I don't know. Really? But isn't timing being funny?

Isn't it just basically? Apparently, but I don't know. I don't think I'd lack that. No, do you know what? I think I'll leave it up to people. I think a lot of people have that dance. Right. Do what you know you can do better than most

and let the professionals do their thing. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I have been told I have a very tragic face. And I took that one way and I'm here, maybe I don't know. But I do have an elastic face. Even elastic face. I think that's a very good.

comedic. Yeah, you're the Jim Carrey of loving. I'm good that far. Sorry. I'm trying to get you new avenues of roles. I'm expanding your repertoire. You're housing for work for me. Yeah, do you have an agent? Because I see big things for you. But it has been an interesting last few years. As I said, I saw you at Comic Con. I don't know if it was a thankful thing for you or not, but one of your co-stars basically dominated that conversation, the crazy Joseph Gilgan, is that he please? Oh, Joseph, yeah, yeah, he's a star. He's a

maniac. I think he's quite normal. Maybe you're all maniacs. No, he's very, he's very loquacious. Yes, but maybe that's relief for you. You didn't have to carry the load. No, it's brilliant. And also, he really enjoys it. And I think it's something, you know, Dom and me, Dominic Cooper plays the pre, the pontiff's title preacher, and Cassidy, who is played by Joseph. Gilgan and I played chula pro hair we just get we all get on like I mean we just really like hanging out with each other and that helps yeah believe it or not and um but we do we we unfairly shift the load onto um onto joseph but I think that the audience are relieved because he's far more interesting than either of us it kept me on my toes definitely yeah he did didn't he and now poor

you know Jeff and Joel have left you to the wolves left me to me alone I apologize you've been doing great so far though you okay only held me back It's time for her to shine and show off her elastic, tragic face. I can see the tragic face. You can't. But it's also been an interesting, you know, you did a, I know you've done a ton of theater, right? You've done a lot of television, continued to do a lot of TV. And I know you don't think about it in those terms. Most actors don't.

Again, it tends to be something others foist on them. You're a TV actor. You're a film actor. Thankfully, that's kind of out the window in 2016 anyway. But you have worked in increasingly large scale. films too. I mean, you've dabbled in that, whether it's a Warcraft and World War Z. Has that been something? I know it's hard to kind of paint it all with one brush, but

have those felt like different kinds of experiences for you? Are you kind of, again, finding those to be as interesting and rewarding to work in that scale? I just, I just like working, you know? I mean, it is sometimes just about your next gig, but I mean, you know, it's, you know, you find sort of a satisfaction in different ways, because those big films, it's They're extraordinarily thrilling. And, you know, when people, you realize how passionate people are about it,

and it's infectious. And I'm all for all, I'm all for enthusiasm, you know. I think that cynicism and cynical kind of mindsets are very easy. They're the easy way, actually. Totally. So, no, I see treasures and everything, really. And you're open to, I mean, because, you know, I have a lot of actors and filmmakers in here that, you know, opine about this isn't maybe to some necessarily the glory days that were the

1970s where studios were making kind of more character-based interesting films like a loving, which, you know, is to some degree in a smaller studio, but, you know, is a studio film. Sadly, there aren't a thousand lovings. There are half a dozen lovings here, maybe. I mean, are you still able to appreciate sort of what dominates the multiplex? Again, I mean, you've been in some of these. Like, do you enjoy going to see a comic cook movie like the rest of us? Or is it just not your bag?

Oh, yeah, I do. Yeah. No, yeah. I mean, I don't, I think I'm narrow-minded or, you know, in that sense. I just, I love the movies. You know, I think the entire act of going to a movie theater is so special and so exhilaration, you know, because we associate with that childhood thrill of going to the movie. You have to go and buy your ticket, and then you get to choose your popcorn.

You don't have sweet popcorn here, do you? Tell me. What is the sweet popcorn that you speak of? You get sugar on your popcorn. No, I'm open to it. Can I bring my own sugar and just add it to the popcorn? Yeah, it's not the same, but anyway. Is that your treat of choice?

No, not necessarily, but I was quite shocked. It's butter. There's a lot of bad shit going on here, right? In Trump's America, there's no sweet popcorn. There's nothing. Help us. Tell me of your sweet popcorn ways. You know that kind of experience

if you go in the lights dim and you get to see the trailers, what do you call them here? Coming attractions are trailers, sure. Prevues. Previews, that's it. You know, and then... I live for the previews. That's all I need in my life.

That was 15, 20 minutes. Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? People say, oh, that's enough of the previews. And I'm like, give me five more. Yeah, I think that I still love them. I still do. And then you come out and you're fighting out. You know, you've also had this communal

experience with people, you know, and that's, there's something very, you know, there's something quite ancient about that, you know. That was the whole point, you know, why the Greeks invented, you know, amphitheaters is that it was important to have this cathartic, communal experience. And I do feel that as a very important and thrilling and you feel like something, when you've come out of a theatre, something has shifted. Absolutely. Whether it's made you, made you've seen something that made you laugh and you feel brighter, or whether

it's made you think about things. things differently or from a different perspective. And, you know, that can't be underestimated. And it does heighten the experience, doesn't it? I mean, I find, like, if I see a comedy with, you know, folks that are laughing, I'm laughing a little more. If I'm crying, I'm crying a little more. And

that's, I mean, why deny yourself that experience? You don't you want to kind of feel at a movie? Isn't that part of the job to go through an emotional journey? But you want to be part of something. Yeah. No, absolutely. Going back was, you know, you worked with Neil Jordan on breakfast on Pluto.

It was a fantastic Irish filmmaker. So, yeah, I mean, and talk to me. Was that your first film? It was my first film. Yeah, I think it was. It's 10 years ago now. That's quite a way to start with a filmmaker like that. What do you remember about, was it shocking for you?

I mean, you've done a lot. You've done a lot of theater by then, I assume. But was it still kind of a big... I was terrified because I'd not done not very much screen work because, you know, a lot of drama schools. You need to do a couple of weeks, if that, you know, on screenwork. and I was worried that I'd be too big, you know, I was worried that I'd version of the hammie

and this old elastic face would get in the way. Ruth and her famous tragic elastic face. But, you know, I just, you know, eventually I just didn't care because I was so thrilled to be a part of this film. I said thrilled to be working with Neil and Killian. Gillian, oh, my God. Oh, extraordinary, is Kit and Braden and Lawrence Kinlan as well. Oh, just countless.

Brendan Gleason is in it, Liam Neeson. isn't it Stephen Ray You had the Irish Elite You had the It was just a thrilling experience And I loved my character

And you know The thing is Is I am drawn to these Misfit kind of characters And Charlie who I play in the film Is very much an outsider And I was

You know Just I was just thrilled To be part of That story And I love Pat McCabe As a writer He's an extraordinary

original writer, you know, bangs his own drum and, you know, and I, and it was, it was just, it was a joyful experience. You were spoiled from the start 10 years ago, celebrating your 10 year anniversary in film and and going strong. Thank you for coming by today. I really, I really very much appreciate it. Sorry, my voice is in my boots. It's just I've been talking to stuff.

No, it has imported, has weight to it. Yeah, thank you. But not true at all. I'm a very superficial person She's giving me that tragic look Again check out Loving for more of the tragic face No but it's honestly It's a really powerful beautiful story

Sure you can call it quiet But as I said like it packs a while But it really you feel something going through it And it's one well worth checking out this season And Ruth thanks for coming by And hopefully I'll see you as people continue to consume this movie In the silly months to come Thank you

Thanks for having me I'll be enjoyed yourself. 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. definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh. This episode of Happy Sacked and Fuse was produced by Michael Katano, James T. Green,

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