Happy Sad Confused - Patrick Ball

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

Patrick Ball nearly gave up on his acting dreams. After a decade in regional theater and working odd jobs, his future seemed uncertain. That is until he landed a job on THE PITT. The rest is history. Here in his podcast debut (!), Patrick talks about landing the job that changed his life, how it was meant for him, and making his Broadway debut in BECKY SHAW. SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! Quince -- Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for free shipping and 365-day returns. Limited Time Offer–Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code happy15 at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://huel.com/happy15.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! UPCOMING EVENTS! 5/3 -- Charlie Cox in NY -- ⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠⁠ 5/5 -- Stanley Tucci in NY -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 5/13 -- Matt & Ross Duffer in LA -- ⁠Tickets here⁠ 5/17 -- Billy Eichner in NY -- ⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Really just like front of mind is just like don't get fired. Don't get fired. Keep your mouth shut. Don't say anything stupid. Don't give them a reason to fire you. And that fear lives on for about the first six months of this process. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins.

Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, it's Patrick Ball. You know him. You love him from the pit. And now making his Broadway debut in Becky Shaw. Thanks, guys, as always, for checking out the podcast, for joining us on YouTube or Spotify, however you were doing it, I appreciate you guys, and remember to hit that subscribe button.

Before we get to Patrick today, I want to remind you guys, as always, check out our Patreon, patreon.com slash happy, say I confused. We have lots of cool, exciting events coming up, including May 3rd with Charlie Cox, making his podcast debut on Happy Say I Confused, talking all things, Daredevil, May 5th, Stanley Tucci, of course, talking Devil wears Prada too, May 17th, Billy Eichner joining me all at the 92nd Street Y. All this information is in the show notes. Patreon.com slash happy sick infused for discount codes to those events and more.

Check it out. Okay. So main event today, Patrick Ball, this is a very cool conversation because I've been a big fan of Patrick's ever since I saw him on the pit. I think everybody that's seen the pit agrees with me there. Langdon, an indelible character. He kills it in this show. It has just completed its second season.

And to hear his story, Patrick's story, of how he kind of came to be a successful actor, it's not been a short journey. It's been a very circuitous journey. Struggled in New York, struggled in regional theater for many, many years, student debt. And now here he is. He's on Broadway, an exceptional new show called Becky Shaw, him, Alden, Aaron Reich, Madeline Brewer. That's on Broadway through June 14th. I highly, highly recommend it. And also just killing it in the pit.

It's an inspirational story, I think, for any struggling actor out there and just a good dude. We've been talking about doing this podcast for a while. So I'm glad we finally made it happen. So without any further ado, here he is the one and only Patrick Ball. Patrick, we're doing this officially. You ready for this? I'm ready. Let's do it.

We've been talking about doing this. We've kind of been dancing around each other lately. We've met at a couple different functions. It's happening. It's happening. You know, I haven't really found many podcasts. Have you podcasted much, Patrick? I'm a big consumer of podcast.

I don't know if, I don't think I've ever been on a podcast, though. I mean, I think you've done some short things. So this is where you let it all hang out. Tears will happen. Okay, okay. This can be unedited. This is... No edits.

We're streaming this live to like the Jumbotron and Times Square. We're just basically going out with us. Okay. Am I allowed to curse? Yeah, fuck yeah. I'm allowed... I did it first. Now you can feel. Okay.

I have to say, congratulations first in order. The play is amazing, Becky Shaw. I got a chance to see this on Broadway, your Broadway debut. It's amazing. Broadway debut. We're going to talk about that. You're also in this little show called The Pit. Have you heard of it?

Have you watched it? No. What's it about? It's about this guy named Langdon. From my perspective. Then there's a side guy named Robbie who just jumps in occasionally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No.

Yeah, no. It's been awesome. We've been circling each other for a while now, so really stoked to finally actually sit down and talk. I have to, there's a lot to talk about because you have a lot going on. And also, I have to say, like, you know, I've talked to so many people and everyone's career trajectory, their story is different. Yours is kind of fascinating. What's happened the last couple of years for you, and I want to dig into all of it. Like, at first before we kind of like give the history, just give me a sense of sort of like how you are absorbing all of this, you know, you're a couple years in, obviously second season of the pit, but also this is a huge moment being on Broadway.

And this was not where your life was three or four years ago. Just like, how are you processing? How are you staying in the moment? Where are you at right now? It's great. I mean, it's great to be on stage right now. It's great to be back in a play. This feels familiar.

This feels closer to the life that I've been living for the last 15 years than any of the, all the newness of the pit in going through all. all of the Hollywood sort of machine for the first time has been a huge, it's just been like new, new, new, just sort of drinking from the fire hose over last year. But being back on stage and being back doing a play feels familiar. And it feels great. And this is my first time doing Broadway. So this is a dream that I've been carrying since I was like 16 years old back in North Carolina.

And it's just great to be back with a cast. And yeah, it's great. It's amazing. And I think it is telling that like in the, correct me if I'm wrong, two hiatuses you've had after the first season and the second season, or I guess after the, yeah, you've spent on stage. Like that's what you did. You did Hamlet in L.A.

Yeah. Last time. And now you're doing Broadway. And you're at this interesting stage where I'm sure there are more and more exciting potential opportunities coming around. Was it, how much is it strategic? How much of it is like, I want to like kind of this is on the list. kind of get back to the stage and do this now.

Yeah, I mean, I'm, I need to start dreaming some new dreams because all my dreams are coming true. Like, uh, getting to play Hamlet was, you know, top of the bucket list for most of my life. And I got to, I was lucky enough to come out of season one and get the opportunity to do it in the middle of downtown L.A. at the Mark Taper Forum with, uh, one of my favorite directors, Robert O'Hara, who I think created a very cool, uh, uh, subversive adaptation of Hamlet that was really cater fit to LA. And then I got to turn around and come off the season two and make my Broadway debut. And so these are both things that I've been dreamed about doing my entire life.

And now I better come up with some new dreams before I'm done. By the end of this, we'll manifest some other things. Okay, so let's go all the way back. Born, raised, North Carolina. Yeah. Is there this in your family? Are you the weirdo? Like, any performers?

Give me a sense of sort of where you come from. No, I'm definitely the weirdo. Everybody else in my family has real jobs and makes real contributions to the world. Both my parents are health care workers. Mom's a ER nurse. Dad's a paramedic. My sister works for the public school system doing adaptive technology for kids with autism. her wife works at a psychiatric hospital working in autism.

Brother is in North Carolina. It drives a truck. Both of them have sort of started families and are living that real life. And I'm sort of the weird, loud one that is now sort of spinning off into fantasy land. Before this last couple of years, were you the one they were worried about? Oh, for sure. For sure. I mean, my mom lost some years off her life worrying about me for sure.

I was, you know, I was sort of a problem child growing up. I got into a lot of trouble growing up and I definitely made their life difficult. And now, you know, I sort of moved to New York and said I was going to be an actor and spent a lot of lean years chasing that dream, a lot of years of working two, three jobs. at a time, living with four roommates, you know, not known how I was going to make rent, eating a can of black beans for dinner every night. And, you know, and mom was worried. She was, you know, as any mother would. She was worried that I was going up a path that that didn't have any, any off ramp. Correct me if I'm wrong. They even, your parents,

so you, again, kind of jumping around a bit. So you eventually end up, you do regional theater, as I understand it for a while. Yeah. Yeah. I'm traveling the country. And I want to hear about that a bit. But you end up at Yale Drama School. Yeah.

Not Juilliard, as I've said to you, three different times at parties. I'm like, you went to Georgia. Yeah. Yeah. And you're like, no, the other one. The other one. But my point is, I read some word that like, they even at some point were like, you need to just drop out.

Like, this isn't kind of, this isn't, this isn't fruitful. Or was that, was that not true? That's not exactly how it has. happened. I happened to be, so I spent five years in New York, about half that time I spent on the road doing regional theater. Okay. And I got to play some great parts. I got to do all my sons. I got to do Cat on a Hotin roof. I got to do a handful of new plays. And I did a lot of growing up on the road. I learned what it meant to be a journeyman, sort of yeoman actor. And I learned sort of the grind of that. and I learned the art of what it means to sort of create a character and arc a character. And after a while, it began to feel like there was a plateau that I was sort of stuck on.

And I knew that I had this dream of being on Broadway. And it sort of kind of became clear to me that I had been sort of sorted into a different category of work. and that if I wanted to work on Broadway, then I needed to sort of back up and come through sort of the system and get more training. And I also, you know, while I was out on the road, I got to work with a number of actors that had come out of Yale. And I was just really astonished at the sort of craft that they had

in this sort of toolbox that they came to work with. And I just knew that they were working in a way that I just, I did not have access to. And it was something that I wanted for myself. And so I backed up. I, you know, I was a college dropout. And so I learned that Yale did not require an undergraduate degree. You get in on a professional experience.

And so. And that's one thing you had. You had to put in your 10,000 hours on the road. I mean, you, right? Yeah. Yeah. You know, I didn't, I didn't have a degree, but I had, I had some life experience. And I'm actually really glad that I took that time.

time to get that life experience. Because then whenever you go to drama school and you're sitting there and you're working on these great plays, you're working on Williams or working on Chekhov, you're working on Shakespeare, like you have actually had some lived experience to draw on, which is, you know, something that one of my, one of my, one of the great acting teachers of our time, Ron Van Lue talked about. He had it, he had us in class and we had spent a month working on Chekhov and he just said to all of us he looked at he's like you're all so beautiful you're all so talented you just need to go out into the world and get the shit kicked out of you

for a while like you just need to get some dirt under your fingernails and I'm very very proud of the dirt under these fingernails because I think it's a big part of yeah well you can draw it now of what I can draw on but but yeah and then whenever I happen to be in drama school during the pandemic and they put us on Zoom school for a year, which was very depressing and very unsatisfying for everybody. And so I left and I moved to Alaska and I was living in a shipping container in Alaska. I was working as a living in a shipping container? Yeah. Yeah. What does that mean? Like turned to they had converted a shipping container into this like little living quarters. And I was living in this camp of about 80 seasonal workers at this fishing camp in Bear Creek, Alaska.

And I was working as a night security guard at this fishing lodge. And, you know, I'm working as a night security guard in a place with 22 hours of daylight. And I spent the entire, I spent four months sitting on the edge of the Resurrection River at the foot of exit glacier in the middle of Alaska. And I thought, I thought at that point with the state of the industry, theater was going through a really hard time at that moment during the pandemic. A lot of people were closing down. And I was looking at the future and not seeing a lot of answers.

And so there's a second there when I thought I was going to stay. But I'm really glad I didn't because. And not to mention, I know you've talked about this recently, like through Yale, you accumulate all this debt. Like, this is running a hefty bill for you, needless to say, anybody that's been through undergrad or grad school knows what we're talking about. And you are an intelligent guy. You know what the path is and how hard it is to dig out from underneath all that. And correct me if I'm wrong, like this also is impacting your just life.

Like as a human being, your relationships, everything. It must be weighing on you to a tremendous degree. Yeah, yeah. I mean, for sure. Sure. It's so funny. I think I came on a school 80,000 down. And as anybody that, you know, most, I guess most people at home, whenever they think of actors, they think of movie stars. They think of people in limousines and big houses and everything. But I'll tell you, I spent 10 years in a very different class of actors.

And I know the vast majority of people that do this for a living do not have the limousine in the big house. they're working job to job. And you might book a great job. You know, I might be going off and playing Hamlet in L.A. for two months, and then that job is over. And then you're back to being unemployed. And that can be a very difficult lifestyle. That can be a very scary lifestyle. And whenever you're living with a sizable amount of debt like that can be a very difficult lifestyle.

like that can be a really scary, scary thing to know that you're, you're going to be playing from behind forever. And that can be a, that can, that can have a lot of, that can add a lot of stress to every aspect of your life. So did you also feel like, I mean, the window was closing. Like you're, you know, you're not 25 anymore, but you're, like, you're still a young man, but like, you're not just out of school. Like, you've been at, you've been at it for a while. Like, did you put a, like, an end date on like, I can only, I mean, I've been putting, so much of my life into this, but at a certain point, I hit 35, I hit 36, I hit 40, like, it's gonna,

I just have to like reassess. Yeah, yeah, and I, and I was reassessing. And I was, I guess, a year out of graduating from drama school, I was catering events at that same drama school. I was like, I was at Yale catering sort of graduation events. And then I like had just moved back to New York And I was working at a coffee shop. I was working at a restaurant.

I was doing gigs here and there. And I was like, man, I can't. I just like, I'm, this is not cute anymore. You know what I mean? This is not cute anymore. And so I was like, I was like, maybe I can learn welding. Like, well, I've got some friends that are welders that make a good living doing that. You know, I was applying to fundraising jobs.

I actually got, I actually got offered a job doing academic fundraising for High Point University back in North Carolina. And it was like a, it was like a real job. It was like $100,000 a year fundraising job. And it would have taken me moving back home. And in turning over an entirely different chapter of life. And I was like, you know what? Maybe it's time.

Maybe this is what I need to do. And the next day, I got a call from Moises Kaufman to come do this play in Miami. And I was like, man, just one more. I'm just going to do one more and then I'll make the change and then I went down to Miami and did this play with Moises Kaufman and I met Alicia

my girlfriend and I was like okay well maybe one more maybe one more after that. Something good came out of that one maybe the next little PMB yeah yeah yeah we'll be right back with more HappySaid Confused Amazon presents

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and man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the Shadow Dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.com slash the Glass Cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. So prior to the pit, obviously you're working a lot on and off,

some rewarding gigs. Like, was there anything that, like, you came close to that felt like it could have been the game changer

before the PIC came around? I think, I think any actor that's been doing this. They have those stories. A couple. I think you develop the ability to forget.

Oh, is that it? I think he, you gotta leave it behind or else you'll go mad. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I spent, I've probably done,

I've probably done, I don't know, thousand, thousands of auditions and I've come close to some that, that, you know, and every time you get these auditions that come in and you're like, oh man, okay, this would absolutely change my life, but it would mean that I'd have to move to Nova Scotia for six months and so I wouldn't be able to go to my friend's wedding. But that's totally okay.

It's totally worth it because it's going to change my life forever. And then you sort of build out that entire vision for the future and then it doesn't happen and then you throw it away and you forget about it and you move on to the next thing. And I did that for, you know, 10 years. And so I came close on some big things. And the thing that was meant for me found me because I ended up not being on a vampire show. I ended up being on a show that I really love and believe in.

And it hits very close to my lived experience. Of course. What's meant for you will find you. Okay, so let's talk about landing this. This is just another of a thousand self-tapes at the beginning, as I understand it, right? Like, did you put any extra stock in this given your parents, given anything? Or was it just another, okay, another thing to check off to send in?

It was, it really, it really was. I think it was one of like five auditions I did that week. You know, I read, I read through the script and, you know, I thought it was really cool. I didn't entirely understand it because it was very thick in medical jargon, as you know. And so I sort of like did the research that I had to do to basically understand the scene that I was reading because it's not a media. apparent on the page. But then, you know, I threw on a nice shirt, you know, and you're not wearing any pants from the, you know, sitting there in my apartment. I think I had COVID that week. So I'm like, I'm like sitting there feverish and sweating in my room. I do the self-tape. I send

it off into the void, never to be heard of again. And then I get a call the next day from my agent saying that they really like the self-tape and they want to do a Zoom call. And then I did a series of Zoom calls and they flew me to L.A. and it ended up changing my life. But, At the beginning, I had absolutely no reason to think this was going to be any different than anything else. The old adage is any great actor can act sweating without their pants on a self-tape. That's what they always say, right? Yeah, yeah. That's your two, a Yale School of Drama. So they eventually fly you to L.A. for, it gets serious, obviously, by that point.

Do you remember, like, being in the room and feeling like this could be real? Like, did you have a beat on Langdon once you got out there, you think? it was really interesting so for the first two rounds we did we did just there were two scenes and they were just like Langdon talking shit I think there were scenes between like me and Garcia right and Langdon to that point had been described to me as just sort of like the shit talking fun time doctor that you just like hate to love and then I I went through the first the first self-tape and then I went through a Zoom call with New York casting and then on the next call they wanted to put me on the line with Noah and Scott and I was like oh great and I'm sitting in the

park like 30 minutes before the Zoom call trying to like get my cool or whatever and I'm sitting there with my girlfriend and she was like it's the same same material right and I was like yeah is the same thing I'm ready to go I just need to like stay cool and stay out of my head and I was like you know what I should check though and I opened the email and I look through I look through the scenes and they had tacked on an additional scene. And it was the scene of Linden getting fired for drugs. And up to that point, nobody had mentioned anything about the addiction aspect of this character. And so I spent 20 minutes.

I was like downloading that scene as fast as I could, being like, oh, my God, oh, my God. And I got to learn this right now. And then I come in and I do it with Scott and Noah. And as soon as that addiction aspect came up, that's sort of like when I knew. I was like, you can key into something. This is for me. Yeah. This is meant for me.

So for those who don't know, I mean, you've talked about this openly. You're in recovery for about four years or so. I mean, was that something you made the creators aware of? Like, did you see? No. No, I didn't, I didn't talk about that at any point during the audition process. I think the only thing that I even hinted at was whenever they flew me back for the final round They flew me to LA to do like a proper sit down with John Wells and

Right before we did the big firing scene John turns to me and he goes okay, well we're gonna do we're gonna do the the third scene now if you need to To take a second to get yourself in the zone or whatever and I just said John I've been preparing for this mind entire life, let's roll. And I think, I think that's, that's the only hint that I, that I gave them that like, that this was something that, that hit kind of close to home. But yeah, we didn't, we didn't talk about it. You could very well easily, the last couple of years, not have talked openly about that personal aspect to your life. Like, why was it, why is it a bit important for you

to kind of share that aspect publicly, you think? Well, you know, I think it's something that a lot of people in this country struggle with. And I think I think there's a lot of stigma around addiction. I think there's a lot of stigma around people in recovery. And, you know, I had, I have no intention of presenting myself as a poster child for recovery or an example to follow. Like, I, I, it's certainly an imperfect about it all the way down the line. But I think it's important to, you know, talk about it and that this isn't. something that lives in the shadows or something that can be, something to be ashamed of. You know, this is something that is a shared experience amongst a lot of people in this country.

And so I'm glad to be part of bringing that into public discourse. What do you think the show is getting right that maybe other pop culture depictions of addiction and recovery haven't? You know, I think it can become a real suffering Olympic thing. It can be, it can become a really, sort of and everybody's story looks different right you know everybody's story looks different but it's not necessarily the person curled up on the floor or the person slumped over on a bus stop that that is struggling with it and somebody that you know yeah i i almost statistically speaking and i almost

assure you that you know somebody that is struggling with addiction yeah and it may or may not be super visible and so I think showing that that struggle of somebody that is fairly high functioning I know that I've got many people in my life that are very high functioning hold down very serious jobs and are you know respected members in their communities that really suffer in silence and I think that is a story that I don't see depicted a lot and very very very glad to be given that opportunity. So for all these reasons, your connection to it, the level, the material, the actors involved, you get the offer, you get, you get, you find out you get it, that must be a moment that you always remember. What do you remember about actually finally getting it,

landing it? It was amazing. I was sitting there with my girlfriend in Fort Green Park, which is my favorite place in the world. And we, like, it had, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the process had been sort of dragging on and I had expected to get the call one way or the other on a Friday and I didn't get the call and they said they were going to take the weekend and meanwhile I'm like currently signed up to do this play where I was supposed to be playing Achilles and I was like man if I'm going to play Achilles I need to hit the gym I need to put I need to put on some weight I need I need to get big but if I'm going to be playing this doctor I need to not be hitting the gym I need to look like a doctor. And so, but like, I'm running out of time here and I need to make a decision. And, you know,

we're sitting there in the park and my girlfriend is like listening to me just like stress out in every different direction. And she, and she just says to me, she says, well, Patrick, I think it's important to, you know, acknowledge all these things that you got to sort out. But I think it's also important to just like, what would be cool about each one of these opportunities? Like, what would be great about them? Because I can get really sort of preoccupied with the problems. Right. And as soon as she asked me that question, my phone rings. And it's the call from the pit.

And I literally lost it for a second. And it was a really beautiful moment. And it was really right on time. And then that beautiful moment lasted for about 15 minutes. And then I realized that I needed to move to L.A. in two days. And I had to figure out all those problems. The dream is realized, wait, I need a plane ticket, I need an apartment. I need...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you call... I mean, it must have been very emotional also, just like telling family the financial side of things you talked about, like finally knowing that you're going to be able to pay this like this albatross that's been on your, over your neck for years. Yeah, and I didn't, like, again, the reality of, it's just impossible to understand. how much your life is going to change at that moment. Yeah.

You know, it's impossible to really appreciate that. You're just immediately fall into, okay, what is the next right thing? What is the next thing, next problem I got to solve? And it really wasn't until, uh, I paid off those student loans in the fall where I sort of saw that number hit zero. And I was like, whoa, like, like life, like, because, because, you know, I got that call. I had to move to L.A. to start pre-production in two days. My girlfriend was currently in a play in New York,

so I spent those two days watching her and her play, had to find a place to live, had to figure out how to get an accountant. And, you know, I'm moved to L.A. I'm staying in this, like, little tiny studio apartment behind these family's home in Elysian Park. And then, you know, And then you're just like, okay, you show up for your first day of pre-production and they're like throwing a bunch of medical jargon at you.

They got a bunch of actual ER docs in there. And you're meeting all your castmates for the first time. And really just like front of mind is just like, don't get fired. Don't get fired. Keep your mouth shut. Don't say anything stupid. Don't give them a reason to fire you. And that fear lives on for about the first six months of this process.

Right. Well, that's the thing I was going to say is like once you like, okay, you get the part. You get the part you've been like dreaming of for years. You get the security. And then like the neurotic in you in all of us, I would be this way is like, okay, now how do I keep this going? How do I like maintain the momentum? How do I like make this not a one trick pony? Are you relaxed enough to feel like, okay, I have security.

I've paid off what I have. I have this. The Broadway show is going great. Like things are moving in the right direction. I don't have to have the kind of anxiety that's been part of my life for the last decade. Has that alleviated a bit? Yes and no. Yes and no.

Like, I think, you know, this two shall pass, you know. You know, and I have been on the ride long enough to know that like I'm in this moment of incredible abundance and this will pass. But I feel I feel very lucky to be on this show. And to know that, like, Langdon's story is going to have a third act. And I feel like I have writers that understand that and have been so successful at telling, making television that spans over time like this. And, and I'm in love with this character. And I'm in love with this story and I'm love with this world that we're building.

And, like, I would be in love with it if I wasn't in it. Right. Like, I think it's a, it's a show that I really believe in. And I'm very excited about, about being able to come back to this year after year. But as far as, like, you know, do I think necessarily that Broadway is going to call again next year? I don't know. I hope so. Like, you know, I hope I get to do a movie at some point.

But none of these things are guaranteed. And, you know, I've been around long enough to know that. So, before we dive a little bit more into, like, the character stuff and, like, the actual narrative of the pit, I'm curious. We didn't talk when you were growing up, like, what you were into? Obviously, you were a theater kid, but like what were the movies, the actors, the genres, the franchises, like posters on your wall? Give me a little bit of a snapshot of what you loved as a kid in terms of pop culture and TV and film. Let's see.

Posters on my wall, I had Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra. Nice. The hits. Yeah. The greats. I think the movie. that made me want to become an actor was one Flavor Kuckoo's Nest. Fell in love with that movie and in love with Jack Nicholson.

R.P. McMurphy is, I think, you know, one of the greatest characters ever written. And then I remember watching There Will Be Blood. So whenever I was in high school, From age 16, into college, from age 16 to age 21, I worked at a movie theater. And it was like, it was not the nice movie theater in town. It was sort of like the $4 cinema. And I would sweep up popcorn in between the different showings.

And I would sneak into the back of all the different movies. And so for five years or so, working at this movie theater, I got to watch literally everything that came out. And I don't know if that's necessarily how the dream began, but I very specifically remember sneaking the back of that one summer when there will be blood and no country for old men came out. Yeah, that's like 2007 or something, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I probably watched both those movies 15 times. You lucked that into a really good summer, like a good year. Yeah, yeah. All right, let's jump back into the pick. Because like there's so many great relationships, like, how Langdon kind of interacts with a few of the characters I want to hit. Like you working with Issa, who's also on Broadway right now, we should say, in Justin Time, very cool. But, I mean, the friction, the tension between Langdon and Santos is so delicious.

It really comes to a head this season. I think it was in episode 11. What do you enjoy about kind of mixing it up with her in this season especially? It's great. And I hope we get more of it moving forward. I think this relationship between Langton and Santos is incredibly interesting. These are two characters that have a lot in common, that for whatever reason are just like two magnets face the wrong direction, and they just sort of rub each other the wrong way right from the very beginning.

And I think, you know, I think there's a lot of story left to tell there. I think there's a lot of water in the well. And I'm excited to see what comes of that relationship moving forward. forward and Issa is you know one of my best friends on the show we hang out all the time she's become great friends with Elysia and we got to go see her do her thing and just in time and it was she was amazing yeah and it's fun it's fun you know like we're both theater kids and there there is there is a different vibe to people that started in the theater of just being able to sort of collaborate and jam and also

have, Issa comes from a theater family as well. And she's talked about this about, you know, her dad, John John Brionas is, you know, theater legend. And, but whenever she was growing up, they had not made it necessarily. They were, they were working actors, but they were not in that place of security yet. And so anybody that has spent a life in the theater like, like I have and like she has and like her family has knows that this is this is yeoman's work this is journeyman work this is not this is not all limos and big houses and and red carpets this is this is humble work and and in in you feel that when you work with isa and I really really appreciate that is there hope for Langdon and Robbie at this point

A lot of water under the bridge, a lot of tension throughout. I mean, the season ends when Landon kind of like giving it right back to Robbie, kind of like saying you're the one that actually needs to help himself, need some help. Must be delicious to work with Noah. But like, I don't know, what do you see? Do you see a future for those two to kind of reconcile? Yeah, I think it's going to be different. I think at the end of season one, you see this very close friendship,

this mentor-mente relationship. I think Langdon spent much of his life wanting to be Robbie and wanting to grow up and be exactly like his mentor. And I think that relationship got severed at the end of season one. And I think he came back in season two trying to reclaim that relationship. And it became very clear that things were never going to be the same. And I think over the course of season two, you see Linden come to terms with that and realize that. And in the finale, you see that confrontation and be like, okay, I accept we will never be the same.

You need help. I hope you get it. And also, like, I hope that this relationship can continue to be a positive one and a healthy one. But we're both going to have to change in order for that to be the case because I'm not going to be the only one. in the back. Yeah. There's so much, I know you've talked a little bit about kind of like maintaining a little bit of a distance with like all the social media, all the fan interactions because this, obviously,

you know, the show has quite the following in terms of whether it's fan theories or takes or whatever. I mean, this year there's been so much like narrative. I don't know if you, how plugged in you are of like, wait, is Robbie an asshole? Is he like the villain of the pit? Like, have you, have you tracked that one? What's your take on Robbie as, I don't know, good. or bad dude on this show?

I don't, I think this show does a great job of, uh, uh, pushing back on the good or bad dude. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Like I think, I think everybody is flawed and, uh, I think everybody is equally flawed and equally redeemable. I think Robbie is a character that carries a lot of responsibility. He carries a lot of responsibility for a lot of people. And I think that that is true to life. And I think anybody that does this work for real, knows that you have to put your own needs aside frequently

in order to attend to the needs of others. And I think that Langdon has been very privileged to, in a weird way, has been very privileged to not be in the pit for the last 10 months and to get the help that he needs and to be able to sit down and face what he is going through. And I think that is a luxury that Robbie has not been afforded. And there is work that he needs to do for sure.

sure, but he has to continue to show up every single day in the pit and jump on the grenade and respond to trauma after trauma after trauma and have an entire staff that he is responsible for their training and education and sort of maintaining morale amongst that staff and attending to the needs of both his staff and his patients. And that leaves very little room for him to face what he needs. And yeah, and I think that's very true to life. I think that's very true to life. And I think that is a, that is a sacrifice that, that people make, that do this,

that do this work. And I think that's why you see the burnout rate among healthcare professionals as high as it is. I think that's why you see the addiction rate in health care professionals as high as it is in the suicide rate. These are, this is a population that, that, uh, suffers at a disproportionate level to the general population. I think it is because it's a very difficult line of work,

and it doesn't leave a lot of room for self-care sometimes. More happy, say, confused coming up. Square knows that in hospitality, efficiency is everything. That's why the system lets you take payments. Track sales, handle inventory, manage staff, send invoices, and keep up with finances all in one place. Fly through orders with zero mistakes. the data you need and keep everything working together. So you're ready for whatever's next.

Learn more about their customizable little plans at squareup.com. It's the family and friends event at Shoppers Drug Mart. Get 20% off almost all regular priced merchandise. Two days only. Tuesday, April 28th and Wednesday, April 29th. Open your PC optimum app to get your coupon. Where are you at in terms of delivering actual medical care today? If I have like a spinal adjustment a laus second season of the pit, could you align me, get me back in shape? No, but I know who to call. I know a guy.

I know a guy. I know a guy. Do people mistake you for, I mean, people are smart enough hopefully to know that you're not a practicing ER doctor. But do people expect you to have medical knowledge? Well, I play the screw up of the show. But you're very competent for a screw up. Yeah. I don't think I don't think I would be the people that nobody would ask me.

Nobody would ask me. They might ask Noah. They're not going to ask me. People want the night shift spinoff. Are you pro night shift? Oh, man. I love the night shift. I think so many great characters on the night shift.

And very excited that Ellis is going to be getting in the action more next year. Aisha's great friend, love her, Ken Kirby. A great friend, Sean Hatticey, obviously iconic. I think, yeah, I think the world that Scott and John have created here is just like, it's like a whole cinematic universe. And I think there are a lot of stories to tell. Langdon at home, a sitcom maybe about what's going on. Why not?

Right? Sure. Langdon really needs a laugh track at home. That's what I think. We need to meet the wife, meet the kid. Like a nice multi-cam sitcom. Classic. 90s, like, yeah, family matters, but with Langdon.

I hope it would be a sitcom. I hope it would be a sitcom. Have they, I mean, how much are you creating in terms of backstory and what's going on outside of the lines versus what they've told you? Do you know what I mean? Like, you got to stay, you got to stay loose. You got to stay loose. Because you don't want to come up with a narrative and then be like, oh, actually, no, this. Exactly.

This contradicts your story. Because, you know, as Noah said to me in season one, they're writing as they go. Right. Like, this is not the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is an organically developing story. And so if I get too specific about writing myself a backstory and then I play that backstory and then we get a year down the line and they're like, oh, wait, actually none of that is true. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. That can be a problem. So you keep it, you keep it flexible. Yeah. But yeah, no, I had conversations with Scott about what that 10 months away looked like. And yeah, I think, I think it was hard. I think it was hard. And, you know, I hope we get to learn more about it.

I hope we get to learn more about the family at home and my wife, Abby, and two kids. And I think the growing up as the child of two health care workers, that that was my vantage point. Like in season one, in season one when Langdon gets on the phone and calls home and wants to talk to his kid because he's just, they just had this traumatic event of the drowning, the little girl that drowned in the pool and everybody in the pit is sort of shook up by it. he calls home to sort of get himself together. And it was, whenever we were filming that, it was a really profound moment to realize like, oh, I was the kid. I was the kid on the other end of the phone.

And so I think my lived experience is knowing very well, sort of like how the work that is done at the pit has residual effects or how it carries into the other aspects, aspects of someone's life. Sure. And I hope we get to learn more about that. Yeah.

I want to give folks a little bit of a tease for those that are in the New York area are coming to do the best you can to see Becky Shaw because this is a really, really great play. It teased it a little bit. Oh my God, I chance to see it. It's a great small ensemble. I think I was there like when you and Alden met for the first time at a random party. Like you were like...

At the... Yes. At the Golden Gloves Party. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, oh, you guys have met before, right? No, we're being for the first time right now. I'm witnessing history.

Here it is. You guys are both exceptional in this, as is Madeline Brewer, Linda Eamond, the whole cast. Let's tease him a little bit of like this show. I was unfamiliar with this work. Kind of a dysfunctional fucked up family. You're kind of ostensibly the good guy, nice guy, wants to help people out.

Ostensibly. That word is doing a lot here. Yeah. kind of reminded me a little bit of like Neil LaBute back in the day, like those people being cruel to each other. It's from that era of dramaturgy, for sure. Right, right. Because it's set in what year? 2009.

Right. Did you know this work prior to it coming to you? Give me a sense of like what you fell in love with about this part, this play when you got it. Yeah, I wasn't familiar with it before. I got a call from my agent and he was like, hey, there's this play that's sort of come along. It's Becky Shaw by Gina G. and Frito. It had an off-Broadway run back in 2009 that was a real moment.

Like it really had a moment. And it sort of was maybe a casualty of the financial collapse. And so it never made it to Broadway. But it was a real moment when it came out. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer. It's like a really smart bit of writing. Give it a look. Let me know what you think.

And so I spent a week with it, reading through it, and I was immediately struck with how smart this play is. And there's a real, there's a real conversation around sort of the various ways of power play, like the covert power play versus the overt power play. there's a real conversation around codependency in various forms of attachment of like of uh there's a conversation around the role that uh money and transaction yeah plays in in relationship and and all of that was just like really juicy and and one thing that did not really occur to me from from reading the play was just how funny it was oh yeah and then we then we then we

We got working on it. And in rehearsal, I think first week of rehearsal, I like said to Lauren, I was like, man, I think this play more than any play I've ever worked on, I think the audience is going to tell us what this play is. And then we got in, we got into previews and an audience told us what this play was. And we had to learn because all of a sudden you've got this audience that is adding. the laughs and the shape and the rhythm of this play in a way that is impossible to predict. But it's just an unbelievably built play by Gina and just like the tension and release and the balance of like the deep sort of like probing thematic psychology of the play and sort of like the taught comedy and the rhythm of the play is just like truly a masterclass by Gina.

Yeah. I mean, Alden was saying to me even that it's like from show to show, it's like you can feel the audience like on the side of a different character. For sure. For sure. Like there are there are nights where the audience is very team Max. There are nights when

everybody is very team Becky. There's nights when there's team Andrew. We also like this is this being a dark comedy. There are some nights where it's one part dark and four parts comedy. There are some nights when it's four parts dark and one part comedy.

And that's the great thing about doing live theater like this is it's like you it depends on what night you came right you know it is a night tonight experience and that is really really exciting do you like to know the random celebrity you may or may not know that's coming that comes backstage have you i'm sure you've had a couple of moments already where it's boggled your mind like oh my god this person just saw me do my thing uh yeah and i think that is that is a product of getting to work with a really great cast man like Alden has a bunch of very fancy friends. You know, Lauren Patton in Linda Eamon are theater legends.

Linda has worked with literally every legendary actor you could name. And so, yeah, we've had some pretty jaw dropping. Is there one that kind of sticks out? Like, this is a moment. I mean, for people, I mean, you just met Paul Bettin that you cross past with Paul. Yeah. For like, I mean, you're getting this a lot the last year or two where it's like these actors you were up with are like,

Like, I'm obsessed with your show. I'm obsessed with you. Like, that's got to feel nice. Ellen Burstyn came through the other day. Doesn't get much more. Which was pretty iconic. I'm trying to think. One of the guys from elevator repair service came through.

Great downtown, downtown theater legend. Yeah, we've had a lot of people cycle through. All right. So big picture looking forward. You're going to be busy because I think you go like straight from this production back into season three. Yeah. Like literally like the next day essentially. I think it'll probably be the next day.

So you don't have much time to do more, but you'll have other breaks. Anything we want to manifest for you? You kind of checked off Broadway. I'm sure you'll be back. But we got to pad out the red. We got to get some films on there. We got to get some new kind of experiences. Who do you who's on your short list?

filmmaker, actor, kind of experience. What are you chasing? Oh, man. I got to meet, you know, got to meet the sentimental value team at that party, which was really iconic. I love to work with every single one of them. I would love to work with Ruben Oslin and Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Cooghler and Chloe Zhao. I got to, I got to, I got, my life is insane because I actually got to meet a lot of these people over the last year. And they know you and they appreciate you. It's not just like you're meeting them as a fan. They're fans of you, which is crazy.

Well, I'd still identify very much as one of their fans. But yeah, no, it's, it's been crazy. So yeah, I mean, I guess that's the only dream to knock off the bucket list at this point is doing a movie. Are you a singer in musicals? ESA is obviously like, that's her. That's what she was born to do. Do you have that?

I can sing Johnny Cash. Okay. That's pretty good. That's about it. I can sing a country song. All right. We're going to end here. The profoundly random questionnaire for you, Patrick.

You ready for this? Dogs or cats. Oh, man. Okay. So I've spent my whole life identifying as a dog person. Yes. And also as a dog myself. But I've had to accept that my lifestyle does not lend itself to be.

being a dog owner. And so now I am the proud live-in uncle to a cat, a little tuxedo cat named Otis. You only have uncle privileges though. You're not a dad. So Elysia, my girlfriend's best friend, Emma, lives with us in LA. And Otis is her cat.

Got it. And I am the proud, live-in uncle that gets all the benefits of having cute, adorable cat, and absolutely of the responsibilities. The dream. What do you collect, if anything? What do I collect? Well, I have an incredible collection of these friendship bracelets now. I'm not exactly sure. Oh, so Langdon wears a friendship bracelet, where's a dad bracelet in season one? And the fandom, the Pitt fandom has really caught onto that. And I guess starting during Hamlet, people started bringing me these friendship bracelets to the stage door.

and now that has really caught fire. And so now every night after Becky Shaw, I come out to the stage door, and I have literally thousands of these friendship bracelets. And so I have quite, quite a collection. More friendship bracelets are crocs at this point in your collection. I have croc chibbets are the other big collection that I have. But I think I literally have probably a thousand of these things.

A favorite video game of all time. Witcher. Oh, you're a witcher guy. Witcher two. Okay. Nice. The Dakota Johnson Memorial question. She asked me this.

I ask everybody, would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one B in your butt? A mouthful of bees or one B in my... Wow. Dang. No correct answer there. I'm going to take it in the butt. Yeah. Thank you for that.

I'm just going to wait. Let that last. Everybody take that in for a second. What's the wallpaper on your phone? Oh, it is a moonbow. Me and Elisa and her friend Emma, whenever we wrapped season two, we took a trip out to Death Valley together

and we sort of sat out and we went camping and we made a little campfire and we sat out there and sort of just like recapped on the journey that had just been concluded and we looked up and there was like a perfect full moon with a perfect sort of moon bow around. And I took a picture of it and that's the background on my phone. Who's the last actor you were mistaken for?

Ever happened? Alden Iron Reich. Because sometimes we come out to the stage door and there are people that want to get autographs so that they can sell them and they show up with like their big boards. to get autographs, but they haven't seen the show and they honestly do not care who I am. And so I will walk out there and they'll try to get me to sign pictures of Han Solo.

And I say, no, that's the other guy. That's the other guy. It's a collector's item to have it signed by you, though. What's the worst note a director has ever given you? The worst note? Pass. No comment. It's too close to the bone.

just to Well, I don't You don't have to name them. I don't know. I think it's an actor's job to figure out how to translate any note. Okay.

Like a director has their eye on the bigger picture and they might speak a different language of you. Like they might say, okay, don't move so much, stand, stock still and turn your head a little bit

to the right. And that's because they have a composition that they're looking after and they have an edit that they're looking after. And it is my job as an actor to figure out how to take that direction and activate it into something

that is truthful and playable. Yeah, that's the job to translate their technical note into something that feels human. Exactly, but you want them focused on that big picture. You want them focused on that composition and it is my job to take that and translate into something that allows me to do what I need to do. Finally, in the spirit of happy, sick, and fuse, an actor who always makes you happy. You see them on screen. You're in a better mood immediately. Keanu Reeves. Oh, I love that. Yeah. What's your Keanu? What's his matrix? Point Break. All the other. Okay. We, I mean, we can circle back to one of your earlier questions.

Posters on the wall. Posters on the wall. The Matrix. I don't know if I had the poster on the wall, but that was another watershed moment for me. I think that is one of the great movies of all time, and I don't think it gets enough credit. Yeah. They're going to make another Matrix, Patrick. How about your film debut in a Matrix movie? Done. Done. I'll do it for free. That wasn't an offer.

I can't. I'm not entitled to do that. But if I could, I would offer it to you. Please. Tell your friends. Hashtag Patrick Ball Matrix movie. When? A movie that makes you sad.

A movie that made me sad. Drive my car. Oh, that's great. Yeah. And finally, a food that makes you confused. A food that makes me confused. Yeah. mochi.

Oh, yeah. What is it? I can't give you the definition. It's soft and gooey and yeah. What is it? Is it ice cream? Is it a bean? Somewhere in between?

I've been told that it is a bean, but it does not seem like any other bean I've ever seen in my life. We'll leave it there. Okay, not that folks need a reminding, but the pit, it's got a few fans. But if you haven't checked it out, I don't know what you're doing with your life. Check it out on HBO Max. But also truly, I think through, what, mid-June, we have Becky Shaw on Broadway, something like that. Okay, get your tickets now. A great performance, a great ensemble, a great play.

I loved it. It's very funny, very dark, very much up my alley. Patrick, you've been podcasted. We did it. How do you feel? We did it. I'm so happy. I'm so confused.

Not sad, though. Not sad, though. Good. All around great experience. We'll do again. Five stars. Five stars. On Yelp.

You'll rate it. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate you. Thanks, man. 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 appreciate to do this by Josh.

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