Happy Sad Confused - Stephen Root

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

The delightful Stephen Root is here! Stephen joins Josh to talk about his Emmy-nominated turn in WIDOW’S BAY, embracing the character actor label, being recognized for his voiceover work in KING OF THE HILL, his iconic role in OFFICE SPACE, and more! SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! Rula -- Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rula.com/happy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #rulapod Quince -- Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for free shipping and 365-day returns. Limited Time Offer–Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code happy15 at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://huel.com/happy15.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I was on the plane last night and one of the flight attendants came over and said, I recognize your voice. Are you an actor? And to be recognized for your voice was a big, big deal. I mean, that's great, that she recognized that from King of the Hill, of course. You know, and she knew I was an actor and did other stuff, but that's what she liked. So being stopped for those kind of genuine pleasure people is fantastic. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now.

Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, it is a first-time guest. The great Stephen Root is here. He is Emmy nominated for his role in Widows Bay. But we are talking about his entire career, Barry, King of the Hill, office space, dodgeball, and more with one and only Stephen Root. Thanks, as always, for joining me on the podcast. Remember to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already on YouTube, on Spot,

life. However you want to do it is fine by me. Remember to also check out our Patreon if you want early access to every single episode of Happy Say I Confused and bonus materials and access to our live events and so much more. Patreon.com slash happy, say I confused. Today on the show, as I mentioned, he is one of the quintessential character actors for the last 30 plus years. You know him, you love him. I certainly do. Stephen Root. Specialty might be comedy, but he can do Shakespeare, He can do drama. He can kind of do it all. And he kind of does it all in his latest series, Widows Bay, the Apple TV show, which I have been obsessed with. I'm sure you're obsessed with if you're a person of good taste. And if you're watching or listening to this, you are a person of good

taste. He, of course, plays Wick on that show, kind of adversary slash friend collaborator with Matthew Reese's mayor on the show. The show itself has been nominated for a ton of Emmy Awards, including Stephen for his performance in this one. It is well-deserved. I love that. I love this show. It is such a great blend of drama, of comedy, of horror, all the good things. He was nominated a few years back for his role in Barry. It's great to see someone like Stephen who has put in the time and the work with collaborators like Mike Judge and the Cohen brothers get his laurels after all these years. He's put in the work. He's put in the time and now he's reaping the rewards. And we are too by having him on this podcast. So I'm

thrilled he came by. He's a great guy, a great conversation. I know you guys are going to dig this. Here is me and the one and only Stephen Root. Hot dog. We're doing this, Stephen. Yay. You ready for this? I'm ready. The long, strange trip of Stephen Root has led here to happy, sad, confused. I don't know if you've won the prize or lost the prize. Uh, I are here. I have certainly won the prize. It's great. I have to tell you one thing right away because my manager, um, brought this up in an email. And he said, make sure you tell Josh how wonderful. he was as a narrator at Comic-Con for Widows Bay.

You did an amazing job. Appreciate that. And we were all like so easy-peasy, fun. But you impressed my representation if no one else. Hey, I'll take it. I'll take it. I appreciate that. Yeah.

I mean, Comic-Con, as you know, you've been probably going for many years for King of the Hill and other things. King of the Hill and different stuff, yeah. It's a bizarre circumstance to be on that stage. It is. And that's a big hall. That's $6,500. I think, maybe.

And we had giant Matthew Reese's disembodied head on a screen. Yes, that's always frightening. Always frightening. But that's how he does it, right? He doesn't actually come to the table reads. He just always just like, tunes in. He's very busy man. He is.

He isn't a man, as he should be. Yeah, no, it's great. I'm looking forward to his, he did a show, not in Welsh, but for Richard Burton. He did a one man, Richard Burton. that I think is coming to New York. I'm hoping that will. I've heard you say this and I totally agree. Maybe the funniest man on the planet.

Oh my God. Who knew? I mean, he was always funny when we were doing Perry Mason. But it's not a comedy. No, it was not. Every time we were off stage, he was, he's just really smart. He's really smart and really joyful person, which is an, an amazing number one to have. I was going to say, important to have that kind of vibe

emanating off the number one. That's probably something you learned early on is like it all kind of trickles. It all comes from the top. And then we have Hero and we have Katie and we have Matthew. Wait, did Hero direct some of Barry now that? Yeah, he directed about five of them. So he's your good luck charm. Stick with that guy. Believe me, that was one of the draws for this show was that Hero was going to direct and executive produce because he's just, he's the calming force in the universe. He says, well, we're going to do this, I think. What do you think?

This is a good vibe. And it's a wonderful vibe. He lets you do your gut work because, I mean, they've cast you. You know what you could do. He knows what you could do. and he'll take your gut read and mush it around a little bit. But it's mostly he lets you do the work. So look, the reason you're here, and I'm so happy,

it's given us on occasion to dive deep into your career because I'm a long-time admirer. But Widows Bay, as I said on that panel, is such an unexpected in the best possible way surprise in that it's been critically beloved. It's obviously widely watched. It's already greenlit for the second season. And it could have so not worked.

Like, it's such a hard tone. Easy. Easy. If you weren't, if the tone wasn't right, because everything is about tone in this show. So we talk about tone a ton with actors. It's kind of a hard thing to kind of pin down. Like when you're on a set, is it hero? Is it Katie Dippold?

Like, how when you find it, right? Like, did you feel like on this one in particular, like everybody was in the same sandbox? Everybody was making the same show? Because Allison Jones cast it perfectly. Yeah. You know, that's one of the big reasons, but everybody was immediately on the same page when we did the table read, which was with everybody. And it was really the only script we'd read, only one I'd read, because I came in a little late, I think. But the tone of the show was set immediately that day that we did the first table read.

And it was set by Matthew and by Hero, because Katie had already written this great script. But the main thing that I think is important for Matthew being number one is to keep the correct tone, to keep everybody on it. And he does, along with Hero, of course, the director, it's great. But it was up to Matthew to sustain it. And how would you describe it? I mean, do you need to intellectualize it for yourself of like what I'm going for? Or is it more something that's hard to kind of put into words, like what you're trying to achieve? Yeah. Honesty. Honesty and reality within a strange situation, because that's where the

comedy comes from. It comes from character. It doesn't come from Katie writing jokes and sticking them in there. But if you play it honestly or real, as Matthew has said many times, you can't go wrong. Right. Real people in slightly heightened bizarre circumstances. Exactly. I mean, there's definitely like, it's not an exact comment. But like there's a little bit of the Twin Peaks kind of vibe. Oh, sure. It's still, as you say, I mean, the office comedy of Parks and Rex comes through. The Twilight Zone comes through.

And character drama comes through. So how was this, you say you came on relatively late, how much of WIC was on the page? How much did you know going in in terms of the arc of the season? In terms of the end of the season, no, we didn't know. I had only read the first script and Katie surprised me when we were doing the Comic-Con show and said, no, there was no wick in this. This first script. And I think I called her an asshole.

Yeah. And then, but I love her so much. But yeah, no, we didn't really have an ending that was in sight to us. And I'm glad we didn't because you never want to play the end of the play, you know. You don't want to know too much. Yeah, you have to go, you have to go through the steps to get there. So I was okay with not knowing not much other than the, because we were block shooting, the first maybe three episodes, you know? Right.

And in terms of like, it's a funny show because it kind of trades on like classic archetypes of characters. Sure. In some ways, Wic is kind of like, oh, we've seen this guy. We know this guy. This is the town drunk. This is Quint in Jaws. Absolutely. So are you playing off of that in your mind?

I assume you can't run away from that exactly. You have to embrace that to a degree. Yeah, you do. The absurdity of the situation. But I think I have to play it with some sort of humanity. Because I rarely, I don't think, play characters that have no redeeming qualities. And it was so much easier to do that in this character for some reason. I guess because we knew a little bit of the backstory, even from the

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suppositions and ideas. It's Who Killed J.R. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So have you dived into that at all? Are you aware at all of like the fan theories out there? I get told them by my wife.

Yeah. And by her friends that send them to her. But no, I don't delve into them myself. But I think a lot of them are really interesting. Does anything? I don't think they have anything. to do with the show. It's a whole different part of the story.

But I applaud that they're thinking about it so hard and that they could see a lot of the little clues that come up in the first viewing of the show. I think a lot of people have seen the show two and three times because they can go back to the beginning and say, oh, look at that thing on the wall. That was the thing that was the thing with the thing. The thing with the thing. So I mentioned, look, season two, we're going to get one. That's amazing.

Yeah. Are you the type of actor that, like, you've been in some ongoing series, obviously. Like, do you say stuff to Katie about what you'd like to see, or do you put yourself in the hands of Katie? Well, I've told Katie that I really want to see more backstory because you already care about these characters now. And I think if you have even deeper backstories about them in season two, whether that's through a flashback or through exposition,

however she wants to do it, I think it's going to mean a lot to people who, who have embraced these characters and want to know more about them. The meaningfulness of this for you at this stage in your career. Look, you had a great success a few years back with Barry. Yeah, I loved that show. Amazing show. Love Bill, love hero, loved everybody on it.

So that resulted in your long overdue first Emmy nomination. Yes. You've gotten your second for this one. Are those both meaningful moments? Look, you've been a jobbing actor, like a very successful actor for decades. Yeah, I've been a journeyman working actor for a long time. time. And that was my goal as a young actor was to be a working actor. Yeah, of course it does because it means your peers appreciate your work.

And that's everything. You know, as I think all of us on Barry said, the recognition for the show and the recognition for, you know, many individuals on the show was the win. Right. That's the win is if you got nominated. And so I feel the same way about this. I'm thrilled that the, I just wanted the show to get nominated because it's so deserved it. And it was a nice plethora of Yahoo's that I got nominated myself. But you do know, look, to blow some smoke for a second, like the meaning you have to people, it's like you've had this kind of sneaky cumulative effect, I think, on all of us that have grown up, like I, look, I've grown up loving movies and TV and theater.

and like you were intrinsically a part of the last 25 years of my love of pop culture. Thank you. Truly. And I could, and we're going to rattle a bunch off in the course of this conversation. No, we will. Sorry, this is your life, Stephen Root. But like the fact that you can like go down the street and go into Starbucks and like 10 different roles could come up. Yes, maybe more Milton's than other.

But you mean something different to a lot of different people for different things. I appreciate that. And I, I was on the plane last night. sipping my soda water. And I had just gone to the restroom, come back, and one of the flight attendants came over and said, I recognize your voice. Are you an actor?

And to be recognized for your voice was a big deal. I mean, that's great, that she recognized that from King of the Hill, of course. And she knew I was an actor and did other stuff, but that's what she liked. So being stopped for that. those kind of genuine pleasure people is fantastic. What's the most obscure ones that come up? Like, I know the ones that, I can guess the ones that definitely come up,

office space, right, news radio, et cetera. Right. What's the last so random one? Like, really you saw me in that, you remember me in that? Mm-hmm. And if you come to mind?

I had a wonderful message from Nick Offerman the other day. he said your work in George Saunders vigil for the for the book was fantastic. Thank you, pal. I mean, I love the guy, but that's not something that you would expect. One great voice to another. One great voice to another. But that was a thrill. Let me see if I can think of something even odder than that.

I think somebody came up to me one time during the Christmas season and said, no, I loved you in surviving Christmas. Sentence that has never been. Did I do that? I don't remember. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

I think I went through a machine or something on that. I don't remember. Oh, my God. Well, you do have over 300 credits on that. the IMTV? What percentage of those would you recommend I see? What percentage are you proud of? I'm proud of, I would say, really. I'm extremely proud of say maybe 20% just because of the longevity of the career. Otherwise, it would be nearer 10, but I've been around for 40 years, so it's a long time. Quantity, not quality sometimes. Sometimes. No, you have both. You have both.

Tom Hanks famously said, like, a few years back, he's, like, made four or five great movies, which, okay, Tom. Yeah, okay, Tom. Then maybe more. But, yeah, I think, I think probably the worst review I've gotten was the, I think about a year ago, I saw something about Stephen King's golden years. Oh, yeah. Do you remember that series? Sure. And they said, I don't know why Stephen Root was in this.

It seemed odd. Maybe that's speaking to your quality saying, like, you know, he deserve better kind of a thing. Let's take it that way. Let's take it that way that you made it a little better. Do you embrace, I mean, I talk to some actors that, like, resist the character actor label. They do. I don't. I think I am so proud of it.

Yeah. No, I'm the guy that wants to watch, it's a wonderful life for the character actors and the meat, you know. for the bank examiner who comes in in the last scene and Jimmy Stewart's like, ah, my brother, he's flying through a snowstorm. Can you believe that? And the bank examiner says, yeah, well, I guess they do those things. Which is, well, I come back for that one line for the movie, for the character actors. Yeah, the color. Yeah. Well, they give the texture. They give the reality. That's it. Was there ever an aspiration? Like, have you ever been the lead in film like was there ever like a want for like oh I'd really like that you know I've

gotten close to doing that and and a couple of indies that have we we tried to make that happen where I was the number one but we were never satisfied with the script and or when it was going to happen but I'm still amenable to it you know I am the laziest actor in Hollywood because I like to go work and then I like to go home and pet the dog. And then I like to go into the jacuzzi every once in a while. And then I like to go play golf and then I like to work a little bit. Sounds like a good life.

It's a great life. I don't know how it happened. Let's talk a little bit about how it happened. You're good at Segways. Well done. Okay. Okay. So growing up, this was not the aspiration.

You're a little bit of a late bloomer. It's not until college that you kind of discover girls and drugs, essentially. Girls and drugs and acting, finally. Yes, exactly. Do I have the story down? You do have the story down. And I don't think without the drugs, which weren't hard drugs, there is marijuana. There's a little hash involved sometimes. But I think without them, I mean, I was such a pull up my butt, straight, Midwestern kid, you know, and I think I needed to just get kicked in the head a little bit to loosen me up.

And that did loosen me up. And within a couple of, years after that taking an elective for some student directors that's and being able to say well just go you you're going to just say these words and go that's fun I like that yeah and within six months I was in the B of A program and early validation like did you feel like were people saying to you stick with this or you were just feeling that on stage no I was I was feeling it but I got early validation from people because I did mostly comedy when I was in college, because in college you can play 75-year-olds. You know, you have to because there's no 75-year-olds

in the freshman class. But I did a lot of comedy. I did Shakespeare. I did Groomio. I did Guys and Dolls. I did nicely in Guys and Dolls. I got a lot of nice recognition from that from people. And so I felt very validated.

I worked in the state theater, the hippodrome, which is the state theater of Florida a lot. So, yeah, I got a lot of nice validation early on. And so what do you're, in a nutshell, what do your, like, 20s look like? You're like regional theater running around. Like, are you doing side hustles? Like, what's that?

Yeah, well, I went straight from the University of Florida to New York City because I got the National Shakespeare, Company, which is a bus and truck that came out in New York City. We'd rehearse three shows in Woodstock in 1976, and then we'd take them out on the road for nine months, doing little colleges, small places, sometimes huge places. I remember playing West Point, 5,000-seat house. They had to close the curtains so far in to make us look like something on stage. But yes, doing double-cast in three shows doing it for nine months. I mean, there's nothing better

in terms of learning your craft. So that's like, because I talk to a lot of actors. Look, there's like, especially nowadays, it feels like most actors just like break right out. Like they're 17 and suddenly they're on like a, you know, Netflix show or whatever. Right. But like so many folks I talk to,

it's like, Shay K. Simmons was just here. It's like the folks that kind of do the 10,000 hours where we never saw it. And by the time I start to see you or just, JK or somebody on screen, you're a fully formed doing actor, exactly. Right, you've got the chops. I've gotten, I've gotten, yeah,

and to answer your question, yes, it was regional theaters all over the East Coast and finally doing some off-Broadway and then some Broadway. And after my second, third Broadway show, I got the national tour of Driving the Staysie which was sensational. You know, and that's two years of watching people do great things. And then you have the iconic one-two punch of Monkey Shines and Crocodile Dundee, too.

That's when I was still living in New York. That kind of sets off your film and TV crew. Yeah, yeah, that was great doing both of those things because it was a nice part in Crocodile Dundee and Monkey Shined. Crocodile 72. Let's not. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take out because that's all I did in the early days because then after that I did Robocop 3. Right. Everybody who skips the Robocop 3.

Yeah, that's the one to do the C. Forget the Berhoven one. Go right to three. Yeah. But after doing those things and then doing ghost, I got to do a little part in ghost, it's like, oh, well, I'm off and running. Then the next movie I did was many years later. You registered with Ghost. I always remember that scene in ghost.

It's like you're the most like empathetic. It's a very like soft-spoken. It's very nice soft thing with DeMe. DeMey had just had a kid. I had just had a kid. So we just talked about babies off screen. Yeah. And that movie was a very shocking phenomenon at the time.

Absolutely. Those that did not live through it. Ghost was the movie of that summer. Absolutely. Summer Blockbuster with with visual effects at the time that were startling. Yeah. Yeah. And directed by like one of the like those like those like,

like Abrams or Zucker? Like it was like the airplane guy did like a ghost movie. Exactly. Yeah. So off of ghost, it wasn't smooth sailing. It was, you know, it was, it was going to finally to L.A. to try your hand at more film and obviously TV, which I hadn't done. At what point, wait, we'll get to the news radio and King of the Hill, which is kind of the next

obviously markers. when does your you were you were you were technically in kindergarten cop I did not see you in kindergarten oh that's because my five scenes were cut out but I did get honored saying you're fucking funny so that's okay that's the win yeah that's the win five scenes is not an insignificant amount of it is not but uh same thing happened to me and um white oleander yeah yeah had about as many scenes but this is decided to start the movie after that subplot. When you told, hopefully

you don't get to the premiere, it's not one of those situations. No, it was really nice. Both directors called and said, look, we loved what you did, but we're going to start the movie later and see you. So was the kindergarten cop role, like when he's still a cop before he gets to like the kids? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think I am still in that movie, but it's just my elbow. So I still get residual. from it, which is fine. Wait, I do want to mention, as a super geek, of course, Comic-Con, you know, I'm always there. You do have some Comic-Con credit. I was looking at the credits. You were not only in a Star Trek episode.

You were in a very important Star Trek, the next generation episode. It was the first time the two shows had crossed, the original and next gen. I went to Star Trek conventions. I remember when this episode was a big deal. Two-parter, unification. Two-parter, unification part one and two. Yes, sir. Wow, you know your stuff.

No, no, I was hardcore. You're a Klingon. I'm a Klingon. Get to share scenes with... What was my name? Something with a K. Yes, exactly right. Do you know it?

Kvada. Do you still know any Klingon? Do you remember any Klingon? I don't remember. I remember everybody in and around that universe said, well, there's a whole Klingon, you know, vocabulary and book. And we got there. And I had to say a couple of...

boss is, you know, and he said, well, just make it up. It's very easy. What's wrong with you? Just make it up. Yeah, it's totally easy. It just sounds really angry like your breath, basically. And I'm not taking away from the people who know that good stuff, but I didn't have time to learn it. Are moments like that, I don't know if you were a Trek fan growing up or whatever.

Of course. So is that meaningful? In fact, in college, when first couple of years before I was in the theater department, it was Derrickere to go down. to the quad and the meeting room to watch Star Trek at 3.30 in the afternoon every day. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So what are, what are the jobs? I'm curious that are like most meaningful, maybe not even about the actual role, but just like getting the call. Oh, I get to be in Star Trek, a Stephen King thing, a star, Boba Fett, like, or any of those like, Joe Baton? Well, Beaua Fett was a big deal because my my son is a huge huge fan huge Boba Fett fan and I got the call for that from John

and had said come in and do this and so I printed out the two pages that I had and I had my son come over and I said okay this is me and this is who I'm playing with today and he freaked out and so did I and it was so fun to go over and you know enter that universe yeah so I reference before, I guess it's kind of the one to punch in a couple years, like 95, 97 is when you start 95 as news radio begins, right, which is a long run of that, right, and episodes of that. But that was not my first show. My first actual, real, not recurring, but in the cast was hearts of the West with Bow Bridges. Oh, Bo Bridges. And it was a, it was a, kind of modern, modern Western.

Okay. You know, dealing with family. And it was a really, really fun show, but that was the first time I got to be a regular on a show. And that, for me, for my working class actor self, that was my big break. Yes, stability. But the real big break,

when actual people got to see you and recognize your work was news radio, yes. Cute, great ensemble. Great. By R. AP, the great Phil Hartman. Oh, my goodness. Phil. I can still feel him putting his tabs in his script.

Yeah. He'd put colored tabs in his script to know exactly which scene he was on. He's very meticulous. Do you have a quintessential Phil Hartman memory? And this is a guy that was like an all-timer on SNL. And we lost him way too young for tragic reasons. Yeah. How?

Phil used to, I mean, he was a great artist. You know he did album covers, the Poco cover. Amazing, yeah, amazing stuff, but he would draw little things. I have a pencil drawing of him. It's a pencil drawing of Andy Dick in jail with his dick. So, collectors either. I don't know. each other.

You've got that and the Milton stapler. That's the nest egg right. Those two things you can sell if all else goes to hell. Absolutely. Absolutely. I can live on that, I think. But no, I got one. I said I had to have one.

Mike Judge got one because obviously it's Mike Judge and we burned up the other two. We'll get to office space in a second. We mentioned King of the Hill. I mean, this is one of those gifts that keeps on giving. It is. I owe my judge a vast amount of credit for my career being able to do that show for, well, I did it for 10 or 12 years and then we had a break and now we're doing it again. But the fact that I got to enter into a family that was, we saw deaths and births and divorces and everything that a normal family feels through that. And that started, what, 96?

We probably got together. And the first show came out in 97. Can you understand everything that Mike Judge says? He's got a very kind of like, I moderated actually a Comic-Con thing with him a year ago. Sure. And he was like three seats away from me. And he's so soft-spoken kind of- Very much. Very shy guy.

Yeah. But not when he's performing. And the fact that he can split his head open. and do Boomhauer and Hank without stopping. Right. He can answer himself, which he did in Beavis and Butthead. So he had, there's, you know, reason for him to do that. But the fact that he can do it that quickly is just still astonishing to me.

So that famously, and I've heard, like kind of the tale of how that led to office space, which is just sort of kind of a random thing. It begins just as like a read and you're just, you're not even going to play Milton at first. No, no, no. He took a bunch of us from King of the Hill to do the table read for Fox. I think I was originally going to read the psychiatrist that slumps over and dies, one of the bobs. And I don't know if there was anything else, but he was going to read Milton.

And when we were walking over, he said, I want to see it. Why don't you do it? And he showed me a two-minute pencil sketch. And I said, okay, I'll try something like that. like that, but I want to give him a lisp. Just the tiny lisp. So your idea was the lisp. I mean, yeah, the whole visage of him is iconic now.

Just like, you know, the, the hair, the look, the walk, the demeanor. He's- And the gravy on the tie. You must, you must because people come up to me and say, yeah, my, my husband like that every day. Do people come up to you and say like, I'm Milton or I know a Milton? Like, what do they say? Always, always, they always know a Milton. Yeah, it's better than know a Milton than to be a Milton.

I think that's why the movie was so successful. I mean, it showed true characters. And there's, everybody who has worked in an office knows exactly what the show is about. And many shows after office space are on television, probably with some hint of that. So it's now 27 years as we tape this since office space. is essentially it's still a daily occurrence that somebody wants to like talk about Milton or do Milton for you?

Pretty much so. I was seeing a show in Massachusetts that a friend who was in and we're walking down, a very small town walking down the street, a guy stops, looks at me and says, Stephen Root, and he drops his pants and shows me

all of the King of the Hill character is tattooed on his leg. which is what a huge compliment. Yeah. What an amazing thing. He, that he loved the show so much that he had to have him with him all the time. Crazy.

Yeah. Do you, you seem like pretty game to just give people Milton if they want Milton. Like, have you done like answering machine messages? Have you, like, have you had strange requests?

Like, have you had like... Yeah, I've done a couple of answering machines, but I'm not... I don't like to do them too often just because I want to protect that character. As Mike does, which is why he doesn't want to do a sequel. And I think that's correct.

There was never any, like, real talk of, like, Milton spin-off, animated show. Nothing. No, I don't think so. I love it as the perfect little package that it is. Yeah. More happy, say, confused coming up. Hi, listeners. We want to tell you about a podcast we love.

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Listen to Rebel Girls wherever you get your podcasts. And find us on YouTube.com slash Rebel Girls. And whatever you do, stay Rebel. Goodbye, Kyle. Did the sound of those words call to you like Pavlov's dog? Then you might enjoy our podcast Turtle Time. Every week you can join me, Riley Hamilton, and my co-host, Amy Scarlotta,

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I so respected their work from day one. I had met Joel early on because his wife and I were doing all my sons at the Long Wharf. But then it was strictly a straight audition after that for O'Brother that I got to know them. That began your done at least two blind racist characters in your career. It's a very Stephen root niche. Very Stephen root. Yeah. Congratulations.

Well, if it's based on Odysseus, you know, then I'm the I'm the Cyclops in that scenario. Did you go see The Odyssey and say, I could have done that much cheaper? I could have. No, I can't wait to see the film, but I want to see it on IMAX. So I'm waiting till, you know, people clear out. But yes, you've worked with them a few times. I know brothers the first time. I'm a manlessly fastened with them.

They are arguably for me, like maybe my favorite filmmakers. made just dozens of great films. What's their vibe on set? Are they laughers? Do they get much direction? Ethan is a lapper. Yeah. Joe Lizza, that's funny.

That's funny. But they're both just sweetheart. Do you need and want that kind of validation at this point in your career? Did you once? Like, what do you need on a set from a director? Oh, I, I always hopefully. want them to let me show you my gut read and then go ahead and direct me from there. Yeah.

Whether it's more or less faster, slower, or different intention, you know, that's, that's all okay. And the boys let you do that. And they do let you have a free take at the end. Yeah. Yeah. One for you. I mean, it's, you know, when I think about your career, because like you, you are able to,

there are many characters that have a lot of subtly to them. And then you, you go big at times when, when needed. Like nothing in like a movie like Dodgeball or office space is necessarily subtle, but it works. Right. It demands that kind of performance. It does for Ethan. It's the one time Ethan told me to go bigger was for what's what's the last movie they did together. Oh, for a Buster Scrooks.

For Buster Scrooks. I was, you know, I said this, this guy hasn't seen people for months. Yeah. He just vomits words as quickly as he can. And that's what Ethan wanted. And I said, yeah, that's fantastic. Let's do that. And I started to do it.

And he said, yeah, I'm going to tell you, though, something I don't ever tell you. Go bigger. And I went as big as possible and stayed in within the realm of not too crazy. Well, that's exciting. I would imagine as an actor to be given that license. It is. And also to know you have the security, like, they're going to take care of me in the editor. They're going to take care of me in the editor.

They're going to take care. He's going to tell me if I go too crazy like I used to do. How does, I mean, Dodgewell probably comes up a bit too. People love that movie. I love that movie. That was my tribute to Rick Moranis. Oh, absolutely. That's great.

I told Ben that. And I said, I want to do Rick Moranis in this movie because I so admire him as a teacher and a comedian. And I thought he was amazing. I said, I kind of want to do him like that. Yeah. So on a scale of 1 to 10, how crazy and scary was Rip Torn, because there's so, there's so much legend about Rick. Crazy and scary is exactly right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when, when he was sober, he was great. I'm not saying that he wasn't. Yeah. But sometimes maybe he wasn't. Yeah. Some days were better than others. Some days were better than others. Some days you didn't want to be a woman standing next to him. Oh, no. Yeah. But that's, it's okay. It's a, it all worked out in the end.

Right. The, I know it's also important to you. I've heard you talk about this. Look, you've had this like amazing, you know, lane in comedy throughout your career. But like, you know, it's important to show different facets. And something like West Wing was important to you at the time. Really important to me because I had done so much comedy at that point that I literally had to turn

down comedy guest stars and stuff. I couldn't turn down Norm McDonald because he's one of my hairiest too. But I said, I don't want to get sucked into another sitcom, you know, doing the same thing that I've, I've always done. So getting the call to do West Wing was a huge, huge thing for me. And it made me able to do more drama and more drama shows as a television actor. In film, too, I think of like, you know, you were directed, correct from wrong by Redford twice. Twice. Yeah. I got to act with him once as he directed and directed by him. I mean, not necessarily, you know, the most well-known ones he's did, the conspirator and company you keep, I believe.

Right. But still, I mean. But amazing. He'd actually cast me in another film before that. I couldn't do it. It was doing something else. And he's very generously brought me back for the company you keep. Yeah. Yeah. Do I imagine your days of auditioning are long since gone, but were you, do you have like, do you romanticize those days when you were an auditioner? When you, were you a good auditioner? I was a good auditioner because I, I wanted to know my lines backwards if I was going to go to an audition. Did I always hold my pages? Always did. It was a nice comfort blanket to do, but I didn't use them. And in the early days, a lot of people would come into the offices. You'd see five guys that you always see there.

And they go, are there sides? Right. You know, it's like, you're not going to get the job because you're not prepared. And I wanted to be always prepared. Do you have a happiest memory of an audition, whether you got the role or not? Like something just that felt like I had a moment. They nailed that. Yeah.

Yeah. I felt that way in my final audition for New York. radio. I came in and Jimmy Burroughs and Paul Sims were looking for an older guy for that role. And I came in and Paul said, no, we really like the weirdness that you're bringing. But Jimmy B. kind of directed me personally. You know, and said, you know, and said, for this audition. It said, come in, do this and this and this. And I said, okay.

And I was prepared to do three scenes. I did one scene. And then I went, now I've got to go. As Jimmy, you know, would say. I can't, I got to go. And I think I felt like I had nailed that. Yeah. That when I walked out the door, I feel I think I've got this part.

Like, you've literally done every, kind of acting, whether it's theater, whether it's sitcoms, whether it's dramas. Animation. Animation. Is it one size fits all in your mind? Like, is it, again, just about honesty and truthfulness? I think that's a good point. I mean, it's all honesty and truthfulness, but each medium is really kind of different

in the terms that when you're doing a sitcom, you're playing for the camera and a 200-seat audience. Right. So coming from theater, that was a nice transition. I still have an audience, but I get to play for the camera. I don't get small sometimes. And then when you're doing a movie or a drama on television, you're basically doing the same thing.

Right. When you just, in some instances, you have time to rehearse and some you don't. So like I say, I always want to be prepared as I walk in to give you something. I'll give you my gut, but, you know, and if you don't like that, then we'll play around. I mean, are there approaches to acting you see in young actors that you can't abide by? Like, are there trends of things? So like, oh, that's just not how I would do it or I don't support that. I have to say that everybody takes something from everything.

You take a little bit of method. You take a little bit of Stanislavski. You take, it's whatever, however you came up through the ranks, you know, and if that's through Shakespeare and structured roles, or through, like Katie Dippold came up through UCV. Right. So it depends on where you come from, but I think in the end, it's playing it completely honest and real. Yeah. Yeah. A couple more I want to mention before I let you go.

We reference quickly Barry, but we should give it a little more love because that was a remarkable series. Bill and the whole team did an amazing job here. Amazing. And the fact that Bill directed every episode in season four was astonishing. No, he's a, he's a cinephile, as you well know. I know. I'm so excited to see. He just directed his first feature, which I can't wait to see. I can't wait. I took him to Musos and tried to grill him, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't. He wouldn't but yeah here it's a horror film i don't know i'm very curious very curious but um the arc of that character pretty remarkable as well i mean yeah so like from where you started to where you ended up i mean that even the very beginning of that experience as i understand it was very much in flux of what that very much in flux yeah we the way my character was written was over the top all the time screaming yelling at at perry's character and it just and we shot that but

as as HBO and and Bill said, it's just, it's just nowhere to go. Right. There's nowhere to go. So we reshot my stuff with the emphasis on, um, pal, buddy. How are you? Right. You know, and that let me start at two. And by the time we got to season four, I could go to 11.

Yeah. Yeah. You'd earned it by then. Yeah. And then something like I want to mention get out because again, now people might forget how unexpected. that was. Yeah.

Oh my goodness. Yeah. That was his first feature directing debut. Yeah. So at the time was that sort of just like, oh, this is like a fun gig. We'll see what comes to this. Fun B movie. Yeah.

With that's, you know, it's not necessarily a horror movie, but a thriller. Yeah. You know, I love thrillers. And I think the reason that I was considered for that role is because I tried to do their show. And they cast me as such. a freaking racist. I mean, this guy was a modern slave driver, as it were.

And it was so out there, they never showed it. They never showed that episode. It was too much. We shot it. It was too much. Because we would have the producer on the side of it going, are you sure you want to do this? And it didn't make it on. But they knew I could do that

kind of role. And when you see the finished rot, like, do you remember? to sinkly seeing Get Out? Like there must be moments when you see a finished film that suits even your own expectations. First time I saw Get Out, I was just astonished at the honesty of that film. To see him cry. Yeah, Daniel. Daniel to cry just sitting in that chair as he's going through it. And my buddy, Catherine Keener, playing with that teacup. So subtle and wonderful yeah no I I ran over to everybody is this is some of the finest work I've ever seen so you said early on your oasi actor all evidence to the contrary you or it seems like you're

always working when you're not in the jacuzzi or I'm not okay okay I'll take your word for it but you do have some stuff in the can I want to mention yeah did you work with Jeremy Solnier yeah I'm very he's another filmmaker I'm very oh I'm very interested to see how this has come out yeah it's going to be it I think it's going to be really interesting um are pretty intense. This one's very intense. I think I don't want to spoil any of that. But yeah, it was a great working experience. And there was some interesting, interesting makeup in that film as well. Okay. Yes. Okay. So what does peak your interest when you see it in the script now? Is it hard to define, like at this point, like what gets you

out of the jacuzzi onto a set? A completely, not just my part, but a completely well-written script. Yeah. You know, that's the draw always now for me. Otherwise, I feel like I'm, I'm wasting time on what I should be doing. So if the script is fantastic and wonderful and the person who's directing it or created it is wonderful and then who's in it, oh, okay, wonderful. Yes, I'd like to be a part of it. Yeah. Yeah. Is there an actor that has evaded you, a director that's evaded you that like just their name on the script, attached would get you. I think they've evaded me. No, I know you said like when you went when Quint came calling that's a moment, right? Like are there a few? There must be a few out there. Well, you know, you always.

But when I did the conspirator with Redford, you know, the other Lincoln movie wouldn't, wouldn't let you anywhere near it. So, you know, that's like, oh, it's Bilberg, say, Louise, but it's okay. Okay, it's a red first. Right, you've got that. That's okay. But, yeah, I mean, the joke is for every, all of us working actors, yes, I'm, I, you got to book me up between here and here unless Spielberg calls. Right. You know?

Right. So that. We all grew up with his films. Right. I mean, he's, well, he should forgive the conspirator. Come on. It's been like 15 years. Come on, man.

Okay. We're going to end with this. Happy Second. Confused profoundly random questions for you still. Okay. Ready? Dogs or cats? Dogs.

You mentioned your dog person, huh? Dog person got a little chieini. A wiener dog chihuahua. A big dog person. A hell raiser. I think my pit mix might have something to say to yours. Oh, I bet that. No, he'll alpha him immediately.

It doesn't matter how big the dog is. Oh, yeah. I've seen it happen. What do you collect? I was a big conversation. collector yeah yeah I when I was 12 and 13 and 14 I was the guy that went Marvel comics this is not just stupid Superman shit this is this is real people in like real situation so I was a huge Marvel guy from the time I was a teenager till I got to

college right and didn't have time for it not that I didn't want to do you a favorite like hero or team or anything I was always a fantastic four person. Sure. And I collected all those things in the 60s, kept them. By the time I got to New York and was a starving actor in New York, I had to sell a lot of them just to pay the rent. But I feel that was good because that kept me being an actor in New York.

The only ones I said I wouldn't sell are the Fantastic Fours and I still have them. Wait, I feel like this is like the one genre you really, I mean, you've done some voiceover work, I know the superhero world. Yeah. I don't think I've seen you in a lot of. a live action superhero. No, no. My wife got to do it. She was in the credits of the first Avengers movie on the side of the street going, I love you, Thor! So one part of the family has been in a Marvel show. We need to get you in there. What do you want to play? What's manifest, Stephen,

let me help you. Gosh, it would be fun to do anything, you know, in the venue that, that I like the older, the older stars, the Avengers, and the Daredevil's and the Spideys and all that stuff. So I would do, I would, as I would do with the Kohn brothers, I'll walk across the stage and go, hello. Hello, fantastic four. That's fine with me. Do you have a favorite, did you ever play video games,

a favorite video game of all time? I'm not a video game player because that wasn't my generation, you know, 60s. they were they were not around then but um there there i like uh i like watching my son play the big ones yeah you know the gts and that all that stuff yeah that kind of thing yeah um Dakota johnson asked me this i ask everybody would you rather have a mouth full of bees or one be in your butt one be in my butt because i get squished thank you for giving it the serious thought it deserves Yes. What's the wallpaper on your phone?

My wife smiling beatifically. Definitely. Last actor you were mistaken for, Stephen. Hmm. Hmm. That's a tough one. Ah. I can't think of anything offhand.

Really? No. No, no other character actor adjacent people that they... No. It's... It's... No. I don't see, I'll throw one at you.

Okay. I don't see like an act, like obviously I know the difference. But like, I could see somebody saying, oh, Michael Stolberg, like that kind of like thing. Oh, and I love Michael. Yeah. Oh, my God. The best. Did you, did you see Pillow Man when it was on Broadway back in the day?

I saw it. It was the best thing ever. Yeah. Anyway, yeah. But I got to work with Michael a little bit in boardwalk empire. Right, right, right. A guy can see Michael. I can see because he.

literally changes into whoever he's playing. He goes so deep and I so admire it. It's great. See, that's an example. Look, I do want to manifest. Look, you can do character actor-actor roles till the cows come home. But like when someone like Michael got like a serious man, you need your serious man.

I want like you front and center for a film. Let's see. Worst noted director has ever given you. Can you do it better? Yeah. I was trying. I mean, sure. I'm here.

What are you talking about? Can you give me an actual direction? Just better. And finally, in the spirit of happy, say I'm confused. He's an actor who always makes you happy. You see them on the screen. You're in a better mood. Nick Offerman.

Great. Movie that makes you sad. Old Yeller. Yeah. Classic. Well, I'm from the 50s. What can I tell you? Dogs, please.

And finally, a food that makes you confused. Confused. Pad Thai. It seems like you started to go in shock. I said it. Did I started to shake. What happened? Did Pat Tide wrong you at some point?

At some point it did and then I came back to it. Gave it a second shot. And gave it a second shot because I think the first time was not in a place. I should have had Pattie, some dump in London. But I gave it a second shot in Chinatown. It was okay. Okay. Yeah.

We're on the path to reconciliation. Yes, sir. Pat Tye is okay. Okay, we're ending on a happy note. You and Pat Tide. It's always happy. And I'm always happy, sad, and confused. That's why you're the perfect guest.

There you go. Also because of your amazing filmography. Congratulations on all the work. I'm so happy we got a chance to go down memory lane. Thank you for indulging me. And good luck at the Emmys. Enjoy the silliness of all that. Absolutely.

Well deserved. And I'll see you for season two, I guess. See you then, pal. 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 sure to do this by Josh. Reality TV is messy. Pop culture is louder than ever. And the internet. Completely unhinged.

Welcome to Roxanne and Chantelle. The podcast where cousins, Roxanne and Chantelle break down reality TV, celebrity drama and the stories everyone's texting about. We recap the shows, spill the headlines. and sit down with the stars themselves. No filter, no boring takes, just the tea. New episodes every week. If it's trending, we're talking about it. This is Roxanne and Chantelle. Let's get into it.