Happy Sad Confused - Tony Hale

Episode Date: September 2, 2016

If you don't love Tony Hale from "Arrested Development," you love him from "Veep". Who are you kidding? You probably love him from both AND tons of other work. The Emmy nominated actor joins Josh to reflect on his career and give some important advice about enjoying the moment! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Nights definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, and welcome to happy, sad, confused. I'm Josh Horowitz. That's Sammy. Hi. She's so good at responding to my cues.

That's Sammy, very subtle. I wasn't on the last one. I know. It sucked. No, the podcast itself was great. The interview was great. Of course, Edgar Ramirez, delightful. But the intro was me flailing about for four and a half minutes.

And you wouldn't wait for me to finish. I got, you know what's happening? happening right now? Here's what's happening. The Toronto Film Festival is in a... What? Don't roll your eyes. Is in about a week and a half. I leave. I'm very excited. And they're screening a lot of movies before the festival.

So I'm just like running around. I saw two yesterday. I saw one today. I'm seeing as many as possible. So... Your life is so hard. You have to see so many movies. That's not cool. I know. I know. I'm an asshole. But But I always say, look, yes, the job is fun and I get to do fun things, but I hate myself more than anybody does. Don't worry. I know. I have the self-loathing. You don't have to hate me. Yeah, and it's hard because, like, you're like me where it's like, I don't actually want to do anything.

Right. Right. That couch is really cozy. Yeah. So, yes, so that's why we didn't have you on the intro last time. So I apologize. This is already much better than the last one. Thank God. That's all I like to hear. Gold. and this week is another kind of like a smaller episode partially because of timing or whatever but I did want to fit him in because he's somebody that we've talked about having on for a while and he's delightful and he's funny

and he's talented and his name is Tony Hale Tony Hale of course is Emmy nominated once again for his role in VEP the Emmys are in a couple weeks so he was kind of like making the rounds putting a good word on VEP and he's so great.

I mean, of course, we all, I think, fell in love with him on the rest of development. Amazing. Buster. And he's truly, he really is one of the nicest guys that I've encountered in this sordid business and has done some kind of sketchy stuff with us in the past. Sketchy meaning like sketches. No, sketchy, like stuff in a back alley.

It's really weird. We murdered a homeless guy together once. He's done sketchy stuff with us, so we're very close. This is why I need to. you here to clarify my weird statements and I will venture to say that this conversation is kind of profound

and thinky. Well, you scared the shit out of me. More from him. Well, I said to you, I was like how, I'm such a huge fan so I was like, how is Tony Hale and you were like, oh, he was such an asshole and I was like, what? And you're like, oh, just kidding, he's the best. Gotcha. No, I was like, you did get me. You did.

I was upset. No, he has a really interesting. perspective on um on the business and life and and and and kind of just um enjoying yourself like he talks very frankly about um how and you'll hear this in the conversation but like when he was making a rest of development this was like his dream job and you know he had been like torn the way and you know like striving to get on like a really smart funny show for a decade and then he gets it he's on the shining example of yeah he gets like on this like show that we all love and adore and while the experience was good, he says, and he talks about this, it wasn't, like, satisfying in a weird

way. He didn't feel like he'd made it. He was already thinking about the next thing and judging himself. And I think it's something we all are victim to, not enjoying what we've got in front of us. And he's very thoughtful about that. And, like, it takes a lot for me to have a thoughtful conversation. Thankfully, Tony brought his A game. Did he talk about, this is a, I'm about to give you a very rare Tony Hill fact. I don't even know if Tony Hale knows this. Okay. He was on, I was watching this a couple weeks ago, Tony Hale is on an episode of Dawson's Creek

as a doctor in the episode where Joey and Pacey lose their virginity to one another. Whoa. A huge moment in all of our lives. Did he have, did he have hair? What was his hair situation? He actually looked pretty much the same, and I believe he played the doctor to Dawson's dying grandmother or something. Right.

Um, and, and I remember seeing it, being like, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha. So, uh, wow, that's quite a reaction. It was crazy. You know, I did know that because in my copious research, I noticed the guest star appearance. We did not talk about that. So this gives us an excuse. I know. This is, again, why I need to talk to you before I conduct the interview.

Next time, Tony, uh, when you're on, we're going to spend 30 minutes on that Dawson's career. On that two lines in Dawson's Creek in the, it's kind of a fun idea for a spinoff sequel podcast, a happy second fuse, just dissecting your most. inconsequential role in just absurd detail. But then where that led you? Wow. Okay, we'll offline about it.

We'll talk later. What else to say? Hope you guys have a good Labor Day weekend. Big plan, Sammy? No. Okay, me neither. I actually caught up on all my TV, too, so I actually don't know what I'm going to do with myself. Night out?

Did you watch the night of? Yeah, all done. Yeah, I finished up that one. Yeah. Wow. Any recommendations out there? Let me know. I need something to do for about 72 hours.

I've ever than seen the second season of Kimmy Schmidt. Did you do that one? Yeah, it's good. It's okay. I like it. I need to get into that one again. Okay, so when next you hear me, we have one more podcast before a little shift in Happy Sank Infused. I've mentioned this before, but we're kind of aligning with like a new entity.

I don't want to go into detail yet because it hasn't officially been announced. But anyway, suffice to say, there's going to be some cool new developments for Happy Sake & Fused very soon. And next week's show will be kind of. of like the last of the first edition. Before we start broadcasting from space. Yes, exactly. Basically, they're sending me just outer space by popular demand.

But we'll talk about that later. For now, I hope you guys enjoy. I know you will. The delightful, the absurdly sane and thoughtful, Tony Hale. An angel. He really is. I love him.

He's just a good man. I wish she was here right now. He'll come back, I'm sure. I think. Oh, come back, Tony. You're back, Tony. What, who just arrived in my office? It's Tony Hill.

Yeah, guys. Hello. Hey, Tony. Oh, you're talking to the audience? They don't talk back. I mean... Really? Wait, can you hear them, Tony? Wait, what am I talking into?

Tony. What is this fuzzy black ball? Oh, no. It's good to see you. Nice to see you. It's always pleasurable to see you. You're off to do a big time... I mean, my little show is fine, but you're off to do a big late-night

show doesn't get any bigger than Colbert well first of all I'm not going to let you talk about yourself that way don't even try to address the mic it's it's not going to work I'm just gonna hunch down like a buzzard I uh do you get nervous about that kind of thing about the wait night shows at this point uh I think you always it's kind of like theater you always kind of get a little nervous but I when I first I remember my first one was Conan years ago and I was just so nervous but yeah the more you do it the more you just kind of realize you just have to kind of talk. I mean, just kind of be yourself, which is actually hard to do sometimes.

But you're also one of these guys that, and certainly I, we have used you in such a capacity where we know that we can utilize your powers for good, not just as a talk show guests. You've got superpowers. I do love when there's, I do love when there's bits playing. The quote unquote bit. Yeah. I like that because then you can just kind of, then it, then you're not like having to seem relaxed on the couch talking about, you know, whatever.

It's like you can do, you can kind of act and do bit. I enjoy when they have those planned. Are you doing anything? Because Tim Cain is the guest tonight as we... Maybe we'll see. We shall see. Well, yeah, the reason I bring that up, too, is, you know, obviously you're nominated once again for Vee. Congratulations.

Someone's making big mistakes. Well, they're doing it year after year. I mean... There's a pattern of mistakes. Right. Not at all. Not at all. Well deserved.

But I would imagine, you know, one of the byproducts of working on a show like that is you get asked more. than your share of, like, political questions, which is kind of odd. To me, who's not a, I'm not a big political junkie, so I don't really, sorry, that's my chair. This is not like he's having gastrointestinal issues. You know what? It's fine. I'm not a big, I'm not a political junkie. It gets very overwhelming to me. So every time I get that question, I always feel bad because I, I don't have as, uh, my answers aren't as detailed as they need to be. However, our show focuses more on,

the chaos behind the scenes and kind of it's really a it's an office it's like about office politics really and how we're all kind of how in that environment you can kind of position yourself to get ahead and you know everybody wants to be the popular kid and all that stuff so I kind of focus on that a little more it's funny because I'm experiencing that in a again a much smaller degree I just did a little digital series for Comedy Central that's an office comedy that takes place in the junket world oh really so I had the same kind of like um well Garmando had a like an amazing pedigree going into that show and like so they yeah yeah yeah trusted him of me I'm a little bit more of an unknown quantity but one of the big things we had when we were pitching

that show around is like how is it going to be relatable to people yeah sure and a big thing for us was saying sure there's celebrities in it we're going to have guest stars and all that yeah yeah yeah yeah it's really just like that weird like from my end um in covering junkets over the years I noticed that there's like a strata yeah national outlets and online outlets and they all hate each other it's high school oh totally any any offices it all goes back to high school right it all goes back to people try i mean even the even look at dc it's like obama's the popular kid how close can you get to the popular kid and you feel empowered to be you know to the popular kid so it's i'm really interested to see that website what is it called junketeers

yeah junketeers yeah junketeers oh junketeers yeah oh nice i hope you enjoy it man you're going to soon have your own convention for junketeers well here's what i'm scared about is i haven't done a junket since this show has launched. Really? Did it already lunched? Yeah, yeah. It's out there. Oh, cool.

Perfect. I'm going to watch it. Yeah, yeah. And, um, but like to go back in, now, I'm, like, worried. No. Either my brain's going to melt or the fellow junketeers are going to tear me from when. We'll see.

No. Because it's truth. You're just putting out truth and what you've observed. I'm a truth teller, man. Yes. Um, but we're all human and there's crazy human qualities behind all that stuff. Exactly. You see behind the scenes, like Veeb shows behind the scenes.

Yeah, yeah. And I, I always say, like, um, I'm, yes, I'm as guilty as anyone of asking the stupid questions, the got-you questions, like, whatever. But, I mean, again, the byproduct of something like Veep, like, you're also put in different contexts. Like, I'd imagine you've gone to things like maybe the correspondence dinner and stuff like that. I did. Have you felt like it's been incumbent upon you these last few years to become more educated

and more kind of savvy about the political process, or are you just giving up? I think it's not, I mean, I definitely, you can't ignore it because it's, I mean, it's its own political comedy that's happening on the news right now but um with the election um but again i think even going to the correspondent center i enjoy kind of human behavior in that environment like i like just kind of seeing the people for who they are rather than maybe the media storm around them or all of the whatever the hottest political storyline is you know it's just like they're in the they're in a pressure cooker of anxiety with the decisions they have to make and the weight of their jobs. And I don't know, I'm more interested in that and just the, the humanity behind it.

So I don't, it doesn't, I don't ever feel that way because if I'm, if I'm talking to a politician who clearly knows a lot more than I do, I just kind of like to ask them about their life. Sure. You know? It is, um, I mean, it's funny for, for you as an actor that's especially kind of like become recognizable, especially in the last 10, 12 years, whatever, etc., since, especially since arrested. Um, I would think that's important to you. I've talked to a lot of actors about like the importance of observing human nature and just sort of being out there and have you found that is that more difficult for you now slash creepy yeah exactly you're paid to be creepy let me think yeah I mean it's no I mean I'm not a I mean I'm clearly not a I'm not a massive star so

I don't have to I don't constantly have to hide myself I mean I think that just sounds awful we should say though there's for the people listening that you have six pairs of of sunglasses on right now and three hats, which is weird. You know, and here's a deal. There's nothing wrong with that. And I have side mirrors to where I can see who's behind me attached to my head. It's okay. No, I, you know, I'm not that.

So, I mean, I don't, I don't feel weird. I don't feel weird still staring at people. That's what I'm trying to say. I just love to stare at people. And, you know, anytime you're somewhere and you're just wanting so desperately to hear the conversation of another table or just looking at them, you know, even before I had any kind of success, I mean, it was creepy, you know, so I probably, I need to pull it back. Is there, because, I mean, again, you're kind of like your persona, I think the way you come

across to people, you have the, the baggage of being a very affable, likable gentleman. Well, that's nice. It comes from a lot of pain. We'll get there. We'll get there. Podcast is young. Cut to 10 minutes from knowing, bawling my eyes out.

Exactly. But, I mean, again, like, yes, sure, maybe you're not recognized by every single person you encounter, but you're very recognizable, especially being on two successful, hugely successful television shows.

Does, I don't know, do you feel a pressure in always kind of being on in being sort of what they imagine you to be in their head? I don't know about, it's a great question, I don't know much about, yeah, I mean, I guess if I'm being honest, yeah, I think you, you, you, you, you never want to disappoint, but I remember somebody telling me once, and it's right, whenever somebody comes up to me and talks, well, there's a couple things, when somebody talks about arrested, I actually really enjoy it, because I don't remember much. I like, they say, hey, do you remember when Buster did this? And I'm like, I have no idea what you're talking about, so please tell me more. And I'm like, that's pretty funny. But I remember somebody telling me that the minute you think it's about you, you're in trouble. Right.

It's their relationship too. It's their relationship. So you always want to make it about them. And that's life. I mean, it's, I mean, my good friends and my, like, even you, we've known each other for a long time. And so when we're having a discussion, it's, I know that, you know, you're thinking about. But it's like for someone who doesn't know me, I ask questions back to them, just to find out about their life because if I walk away going, oh, I'm amazing because they said

this, that's when it gets sick. That's when you get sick because your identity becomes about what other people put on you. And then when all that goes away, which it inevitably will, because this business is a cycle, you're not going to know who you are. And that's when it gets dangerous. Well, and you touched upon this. And I've heard you talk about this. There are other podcasts out there. Yes. But I do want to hear you talk about this a little bit because, you know, the arrested years and you've talked about sort of like as great as it was you weren't really enjoying the moment it was very challenging I mean it was I learned a big lesson which I'm sure I've shared with you before is actually my time in New York I was always thinking and whenever

something was going on I was like oh well you know what this is happening but my that sitcom's coming that big thing is coming in my life and I always checked out from wherever I was and then went to there in my mind. And then when I got that big thing, which I think is very rare for, I mean, I got my dream. When I got that, it didn't satisfy me the way I thought it was going to satisfy. And it scared the shit out of me. And it really woke me up to that I had not been present for most of my life. And it honestly was a mixture of a rest of development of my child being born that the one thing babies do is you have to be present because you have to keep them alive. Right. And I was like, oh my God, I don't know how to be present. I don't know how to do

this. And so as hard as a rest of what, I mean, not as hard. It was an amazing show with incredibly talented people, but kind of the internal journey I was going as, as challenging as that was, I will never, I would never not want that. Because it really woke me up to,

I have to wake myself up to where I am. I have to be more present. And by the way, I suck at it. I'm not great at it. It's a daily discipline. But if you're not practicing content where you are, you're not going to be content when you get what you want. And that was a lesson I had to learn.

And it's sadly, especially the nature of our industry and both sides of it, where it's like, I feel a lot of exactly what you've described in terms of my own life. And also in terms of the conversations I have with people about like it's always geared towards, yeah, this is great. What's next? Totally. And also, you don't go, I mentioned this to something before. You don't go to a dentist and say, what's next for you? Because there's just an understanding that he's going to be doing cavities and molars and that's just his life. and everybody knows that.

But with actors and freelancers and journalists and directors and writers, you know, people are interested, which I get. So they're always asking you what's next. But then that trains you to always be thinking of what's next because, A, you want to have something to say when people ask. And B, it's the nature of our business. You know, typically in life, people go on a job interview for two or three months and then they have a job for two or three years.

In our business, you're in a job interview for two or three years and you're lucky if you get a gig for two or three months. You're constantly on this job interview, so you're always looking into what's next, which can kind of feed not being present. So it's a discipline to like, I got to wake myself up to where I am. And so what is the discipline for you? I mean, does it come from like teaching somebody? Is it therapy? It comes from a lot of therapy. Yeah. It comes from a lot of that experience and arrested, the anxiety I experienced during that. But a lot of tools. And one of them, one of them being whenever I find myself, what if thing or somewhere else. I say not now. Right now I'm having a conversation with Josh and that's exactly

where I am. It's, it, like my friend says, you have to wake yourself up 100 times a day. So I'll find myself just in life, just being somewhere else in my mind and I say, that's not where I am. This is where I am right now. So it's all these little kind of tools that you just, I just have to do every day. Yeah. So was there, when you think back to the rest of the days, is there a specific moment where that was a wake-up call for you, like, in terms of shifting your attitude? It was everything I wanted. It was an amazing script, amazing people, a cast that I respected and understood. I mean, I just, there was a mutual understanding of each other's talent.

So it was the perfect picture. And the whole thing, and also, I had never been in a studio a lot. I had never been to a party where everything was free. It's all this kind of stuff And I was like, oh my gosh, this is genuinely everything I ever wanted And I still inside of me Feel like, A, it's not enough Which is another thing this business caters to

Is it's never enough And this isn't what I thought it was going to be And it was, oh, I've got to get back to simple truths in life That we're spinning on a planet And also, which interesting was success and fame Is I think fame is grounded in the thing That everybody wants to be known and people look at fame as the ultimate being known

when in actuality it can be the opposite it can make you less known from people and the thing is if you're loved by people and people in your close circle know you that's all the known you need and it's waking up to that reality that it's not about how many Twitter followers I have Instagram followers

how much fame I have I'm already I already have the foundation of being known and it was just a lot of that mixed into that year of arrested of, and again, not having that kind of self-awareness at the time, but just being like, oh, why am I feeling, what's happening in my mind, why am I not, saddest,

all that kind of stuff was going on. I mean, it clearly didn't seem to compromise at the performance at all. It was, it helped it, honestly, because Buster was incredibly shell-shocked, dysfunctional, you know, panic attack-stricken character that was a fish out of water, always.

And so I felt very much, again, here's a deal. This is, even saying, even me talking but it feels so gross because there's so many things happening in the world and here I'm like, ooh, and I'm not saying that, but at the time, having those kind of wake-ups to my own lack of being present

and content in life or whatever, I'm playing a character that's a very fish out of water and I felt very much a fish out of water entering Hollywood at that time. Well, I mean, you should, and you're well aware of this. The lessons you're talking about are literally applicable to everybody. Like, forget, like, Hollywood entertainment, all pursuing something.

We're all... Yeah, my big thing happened to be a sitcom. Someone else's big thing is getting married or having a baby or getting that perfect job or whatever. I mean, we all have, and here's another thing. It's not that ambition is wrong. It's not that dreaming is wrong, but I think for me, I put my personal value on getting it. I was like, oh, when I get that big thing, it's going to fill some kind of void. It's going to give me value. Your value stays the same before and after success. It does not change. Your personal value stays the exact same. And that's something I had to wake up to.

So, this is turning into like an Oprah podcast. I know, wow. This is the first tears on Happy Second Views, and they're my own. I love it. I can talk about this stuff all day. Great, excellent. This is much better than therapy cheaper, too. So post-arrested, I mean, again, these are all the kind of the same issues we're

going to dance around, I think. But, like, were you, again, like, you're coming off this beloved, if underwatched at the time, show. were you a pessimist and like oh that's it i'm never going to get i just i got my dream job it wasn't satisfying enough to me at the time yeah and that doesn't happen ever again so what's next and again to to define that a little more it wasn't that the work wasn't satisfying right it was more of my own kind of my own crap that i brought into the situation so that was kind of that the development of that. No, I didn't, I mean, after it, I think all actors think that every job is going to be the last job.

It's like, oh, am I going to work again? But I remember doing this short series called Andy Barker P.I. with Andy Richter, which was really fun. And I loved Andy Richter, and he had been unarrested on a few episodes. So we had met during then. But, you know, there was a good six years after Arrested, until Veep came, where, you know, I remember the same month that arrested was canceled. that I had bought a house and had my child in the same month. And I was like, oh, shit. Worst timing ever.

What's happening? And it was like a year before the house market crashed. So I was a little bit like, ah, but six years, I mean, you know, I was provided for. And I'm very thankful with that. You know, just I did a little time on Chuck, the show Chuck, and then other films. And, you know, you just kind of piecemeal work together. And it worked out. And then BEEP came along, so it gave me a little more steady work.

So, on VEP, which is now what you're in your fifth... We're going to our sixth. Six season, right. So, well, I mean, a couple of issues that that came up, especially this year. Armando left the show, which was a huge question mark for everybody. And the fact that you guys are still more than getting by, you're succeeding hugely. And that's big kudos to Dave Mandel and the new writers, because they really picked up the tone that was set, and that's not easy to do. Were you, what was your one to ten level of concern after Amondo announced he was sleeping?

You're talking to an anxious person. I'd say it was around seven. Okay. You know, seven, eight, because I trusted the energy we had set and the tone that we had set, like a strong seven. I tested the, I tested the energy that we set, but when somebody comes in and captains that boat, a new captain, you know, you don't know how they're going to steer that energy different. tone different. Um, and when Julia said, Dave Mandel's coming on board, I worked with him on Seinfeld, he knows what he's talking about. Here's his writers. Here's their history. It gave a lot of assurance of, okay, I think this is going to be okay. So talking about Julia for a second, because

he's somebody that like, certainly audiences have adored in, well, as they should, as they should, right? Well, I'm just curious, like from your perspective, like how you would describe what makes her a genius at what she does. What, I mean, you've worked with, um, many, great. But what puts her in that top one percentile that virtually every actor, I feel like that's worked with her, puts her in? I would say it's a mixed bag of a lot of stuff.

I would say she, like, I can only speak from Veep experience because that's all I've known, but she looks at a when she looks at a script, she sees the whole picture and she's, she works with the writers, she says, she just has that eye to go, this isn't working, this is working, this something

is, this needs to be rearranged. And she knows how, she knows the rhythm of comedy and she knows what's going to be strongest for the scene. And I would say that's mixed with obviously her, let's combine with that, her organic talent, but she's an incredibly grounded woman. And there's something about when a woman like her is grounded and she's a normal person, her family is her first priority, she knows where on the list the show goes in terms of kind of life. And that comes through, I think, with a performance. Right. Because somebody who's maybe a little checked out, a little more Hollywood, a little more, there's a detachment sometimes

in their performance that it doesn't feel grounded. And Julia really has that groundedness about her, and I think it comes through. Do you think there's, I mean, one would argue that your most successful work, the work that people have enjoyed the most, maybe you've enjoyed the most, has been in television versus film. Definitely. Do you think? I think, is there any, have you rationalized in your overactive brain, why that is in terms of why the parts haven't been there in the same way in film versus TV? I mean, I think selfishly I like, I'm a huge fan of developing relationships. Like, I'm a relational person. I like to, I like the, I like the feeling of family and working with people over and over.

So television affords you that. Like you're, unless it's, you know, canceled after the first season. but you have you know who you're coming back to you you create these relationships and I love that I love that unit so maybe I gravitate towards that yeah um and I think with film I mean I've been you know I've been thankful to do parts that you know like strange than fiction or the informant or something like that happy thank you more please which we're a little more are definitely not the dysfunction that Gary and Buster carry right and so that's nice to do that stuff to share showcase other stuff. But in terms of me, I mean, I guess, yeah, maybe what I gravitate towards is that kind of, I like the, the word stable is not, the stability is not right for this business because there is no stability. But I think it's just that, just having that understanding what you're coming back to. I like that. Maybe. I don't know if that answer your question. No, it does. And I'm curious like also, do you, do you find, well, I mean,

I guess just give me a sense, but your dad, so that's a full-time job in and of itself. Sure. But are you- And we came back to L.A. This passion. We were shooting Baltimore for the first four seasons. And they brought us back to L.A. And I loved, I really enjoyed Baltimore, but it was incredibly hard being away from family. So to be able to work and then go home and be with family was that was a massive deal. So do you feel like, in terms of your own consumption of pop culture, do you, is it mostly TV? Is it a little bit of everything? Do you? A little bit of reality. You strike me as a big Kardashian guy What reality do you watch? Okay, Kardashian, no, I'm not a Kardashian person Because I get a little

That makes me sometimes angry But I understand I don't like to say I don't like to think I'm better than them But I'm better than them, Tony, come on words We're all work in progress But for some reason it's hard for me However, it's not to say that I haven't

I mean like my daughter and I love watching Project Runaway together Sure It's like we've seen every season and it's like a bonding thing since she was five. This is how you learn about fashion and competition, young lady. We love Top Chef. We watch all the cooking shows.

And we, you know, it's online with the Kardashians, but we've thrown that real housewise of New York is quite entertaining. Maybe it's because we lived here. But, I mean, I love this new show called Shits Creek. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't watched it yet, but Eugene Levy and, yeah. Oh, my God, Eugene Levin, and Catherine O'Hare, which, is who is another level to me she's another level dan levy eugene levy's son right it's

i really it's really fun i just got into difficult people on hulu it's really fun you know so i i i there's something about um i mean obviously the mainstream shows i like but i like the ones that are maybe kind of on the sidelines a little bit and it's i know there's there's a there's a freedom that they give in their writing of just because maybe they don't have to meet such a mass market that I enjoy that kind of like the rains are taken off a little bit do you feel like any needs

that aren't being checked by the stuff you get to do on VEP or does it kind of like creatively check all the boxes for you? Do you feel like I need to deliver my Shakespeare and Sonnet to us who had skull or anything? I don't feel that I mean I every now that you know with Gary

with Gary and Buster like living in so much attention it is nice to like I just did this movie two weeks ago called and then I go and I'm playing a vice principal and it was just kind of nice to just have like a conversation on screen rather than wrapped with massive tension and anxiety right um but like on other show I adore it's portlandia I think Portlandia is a social is such a social commentary you know it's like I love that stuff so I don't know there's a lot of there I mean as you know there's so many venues out there I how anybody I loved Andy Samberg's opening monologue of the Emmys

I think it was last year. It was the thing of him trying to watch all of the TV. Yes, yes. And he ends up like in a bunker, right, or something. And the anxiety that we feel of somebody saying, have you seen this? And it's like, no, I haven't seen it. It's like, well, of course, no one can see everything.

No, it's true. It's like, I'm paid to do this. And I'm always like five shows behind everybody else. It's like, more. Because there's like hundreds of them. I mean, it's impossible. It's not impossible, but you have to check out of life. Exactly.

So what were your, and what were comedically or pop culture-wise, your biggest influences growing up, what you say? Oh, I love this question. I will talk about this all the time. Bob Newhart and Tim Conway. And my favorite show growing up was the Carol Burnett show. And to be even more specific, my favorite things were when he would make, when Tim Conway would make Harvey Corman laugh. And they would obviously show that because it was kind of like live sketch. And it gave me so much joy.

And there's something about Tim Conway and Bob Newhart where there was so much chaos and crazy around them, but they never pushed the comedy. They never went broad. They always held the tension. And you just watching that person living in the middle of that shitstorm and watching that tension was so entertaining to me. And Tim Connolly would sometimes slowly walk across the stage of the old man, not doing anything. And it was the most entertaining thing for me to watch, but by far him making Harvey Corman. and crack up. And I feel like we miss that in today's television. I want to see more. I mean, as much as they did often, which I loved watching Horatio Sands making Jimmy Fallon crack up. It was

just there's so much joy. And I will go on YouTube and watch blooper reel after blooper real after blooper real, after blooper real, because it's just, I don't know, there's something very free about it. And I don't know, I miss that in today's world. Please, I think growing up one of my favorite shows was TV's bloopers and practical jokes. Yes. Yes. I mean, now we've got YouTube for that. But it's like, that was the best. It was the absolute best. it's interesting too that like there isn't as much as much as there is out there and there is a lot of everything it would seem like the variety show outside of like s and l and i guess you know i don't even mad tv even on anymore i don't think it is but like um there's not a lot Maya tried they've been doing it right and i've enjoyed that with with martin short um but even there they don't you know at times i think they i think i saw a couple times when they broke and it was fun but i it's like as i'm like as i'm like like a, it's like I hone in on who's going to break, who's going to break, who's going to break, who's going to break, who's going to break. And maybe it's because I break the most on VEP, so I'm just like, who's going to do it, who's going to do it. Because to watch that keep trying to keep it together is so fun. I feel like they live in fear of Warren Michaels, who doesn't probably appreciate it as much as you and I appreciate the breaking. I just want it more and more and more. Um, so we always end our conversations with some random questions from the Indiana Jones, Vodora. Oh, I love that. That, him, man, Indiana Jones, man, that's one of the best.

It is one of the best. The best. Him running away from that big concrete ball. Do I just grab anything? Maybe the next Indiana Jones movie, you could be. You know what I, Josh? The new, like. I'm sorry.

Oh, sorry, you could be the new Indiana Jones. I'm totally kidding. Oh, please, that would never happen. Unless he needs a sidekick. That's what I'm saying. Oh, that's right. Sala. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Okay, I'm not going to answer that. That shows my ignorance of Godfather movies. What? You've never seen the Godfather movies? I have. But you can't have. I can't. I can't. If I were a rapper, my name would be, I'm going to throw out T-slice. How are your rapping skills? Do you wrap often? I don't wrap often. I like to dance to it. I wish I could change this about my body. Oh, so you do want me to start crying.

Start from the bottom and go all the way up, please. Oh, God. I would love to get rid of the, I'm clearly kidding. I'm clearly kidding. carrying around a lifesaver around my gut. Like, I think there's some kind of donut around my belly that doesn't want to go away. So, um, you're a stumped mad and you're crazy. Well, you haven't seen me without my shirt. You haven't seen the lovely pear shape. The dad bod.

Oh, I can't stop. I'm kidding. In 20 years, I will be hopefully more present than I am. There you go. What's not thinking about the future? I would say that. I would say, I was talking to a friend of mine. because we were talking about getting older.

And it was like, it's so interesting when you see older folks and you're just like, wow, we're all getting there and it's going to happen. And you think, like, what are you going to be, like, what am I going to be thinking about knowing that it's just a different reality? And I think you focus on the now then as much as you focus on the now, now. Right. Usually I would end this podcast by asking what's coming up,

but I'm not going to. I've learned my lesson from you, except to say that you'll be at the Emmys, which is going to be awesome. Are you going to be there? I might. I'm not sure yet. Oh, come on, Jeff. I was going to Toronto Film Festival.

I'm very excited for that. Oh, when is that? That's right before the Emmys, the week before. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, that's not sure. That's actually a lot of fun parties, too. The parties, but also just seeing a lot of good movies, man. Yes.

I love that I focus on the parties. I know. I'm like, that was very unlikely. You're like, you are going to reach. Are you getting free food and free drinks? That's the best. Well, good luck at the Emmys or just have a great time. That's the important thing.

Thank you. Well, deserve, Veep, going strong into its sixth season. It's always good to see it, my friend. Always good to see you, Josh. Thank you. Thanks for the therapy today. I love it. Please, I need it.

I talk about it because I need it. Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. You want to tell him or you want me to tell him? No, no, no. I got this. People out there. People lean in.

Get close. Get close. Listen. Here's the deal. We have big news. We got monumental news. We got snack. Thank you. After a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back.

My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh and I, are coming back to do what we do best. What we were put on this earth to do. To pick a snack. To eat a snack. And to rate a snack. Mentifically? Emotionally. Spiritually. Mates is back. Mike and Tom eat snacks. Is back. A podcast for anyone with a mouth. With a mouth. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.