Hollywood Handbook - Ben Stiller, Our Close Friend

Episode Date: May 16, 2023

For the 500th episode of Hollywood Handbook, The Boys help BEN STILLER pitch the show to potential guests.Watch the video recording of this episode with Ben at Patreon.com/TheFlagrantOnes.See Hollywood Handbook live and streaming May 30th at Dynasty Typewriter! Click for ticketsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. It might be good. Okay. Should I get my own? We can door dash you something or just like whatever. Yeah, we can send it over just because we have kind of a... Just an address. You want me to give you my address? Yeah, that'd be great. Okay. Unless you can figure out another way to do it. That's the only way.

Yeah, or if there's a friend's address and the friend brings it over, I guess. If that seems like an extra step. Because, Kevin, I guess this is actually a good place to start yeah let's just get into it because um i don't want this hanging over the show kind of because we're going to get into your stuff which i know you want to do okay uh and it's fine with us we just have a little we just want to get like so um well kevin stuff yeah just so, just because I think we're going to end up breaking out of the show to deal with it later if you notice it. But Kevin, do you want to say, so this is our producer, Kevin.

This is Kevin. Um, hey, uh, he's been with the show for a while. Um, say, say, hey, hey, Ben, Jeff, Kevin here. Thanks for doing the show. Yeah, my pleasure. I've, I've heard, I've heard stuff, good stuff about it. Yeah, doing the show. Yeah, my pleasure. I've heard good stuff about it. Yeah, same. Yeah, yeah.

You've heard stuff too? Mostly good. About your show, yeah. So Kevin is... No, but seriously, I have heard. Seriously, yeah. I've heard it's funny. Thank you.

That's awesome, man. That's so cool. We do just want to take care of this before we really get into that, your stuff like that. We do just want to take care of this before we really get into that, your stuff like that. We do just kind of want to get into this one thing. Kevin, this is sort of an intense moment in Kevin's life. Do you want to share sort of where you're at?

Well, Ben, I guess you could say I'm a freshman at USC, sort of. Oh. I've joined Panera's Unlimited Sip Club this week. So if there's any drinks at all you need, beverage specifically, I can get up to two cups. So we're just going to give space. So you brought four today. You ended up having to pay for two of those? You probably don't know this about me, Ben.

I recently had a house fire. But the upside is my mom's friend angie gave me a gift card to panera so i was able to cover the remaining 1293 with that gift card so uh we're all set over here cool is everything okay i mean after the fire yeah i got a gift card so like we're good sorry yeah you haven't i know you don't listen but don't do it with him because he'll he'll do it all day like okay well all right the garage was nuts yeah he will go into it i'm good i don't think i need a drink though i think i'm good yeah well so um but just to give space to the panera unlimited sips club like um any questions you have about that would be great

to like just get out now just so we don't have to stop later yeah i've actually i'm not familiar with that program is it so you have a lot of questions okay yeah yeah well you can't do like general just like what is it it's unlimited tips not unlimited questions but we could do a few go ahead for ten dollars a month you and one friend can each get one cup and stay at Panera, get as many drinks as you like. You can't leave and come back? You can't leave and come back. You have to save the cup.

I save the cup. I try to wash it out there. Sometimes I'll walk there, and I'm concerned that there's outside germs, so I'll wash it out in the bathroom for a little bit right so it's sort of like a it's like a bottomless cup type of thing i guess it is kind of like kind of kind of it's unlimited more unlimited sip you can sip as much as you want and ben i know you have a lot of like whatever projects and stuff but i know like everyone kind of asked the next question, which is does soup count? Does soup count for the unlimited sips? You mean?

Yeah. Like people always want to know if soup counts and traditionally no. Okay. But what, what were you going to say? I feel like some, some soups could count. And Kevin feels the same. Yeah.

I mean, honestly, I'm coming at this from a total outsider layman point of view so i don't really know but um but i mean i just feel like some soups are more like a you know like a drink like a light broth yeah yeah and then there are other things you've been it goes all the way into like more chunky you know or like thick hearty yeah you know almost goulash type things which then it's like you're on the borderline i'm not actually being a soup. But anyway, I don't know if that pertains.

We know. Yeah. This is the exact endorsement I need to tell the staff because it's just been a back and forth with me and them. So I am honored to be able to play this to them when I bring it up after this recording. What Kevin's been doing lately is he'll walk in with a plastic cup like this with just soup that he brought from home and sipping it, and he'll slide it across the counter and go hey can you top me off brother but it's soup from home yeah and then he tries to trick them initial soup is soup from home but

then the new soup is from is from panera bread yeah the new soup is hot enough that it will often melt the plastic it hurts yeah into Yeah, into their hand or whatever. But the goal there is just to get more soup? Yeah. For you? Yeah. Well, that's what he already has. Yeah.

Are you, I mean, is soup something that, is that like your main sort of staple? It is now. Okay. Yeah, because you got the deal. USC. Well, he's got the deal now, I guess. He mentioned endorsement, obviously.

We're coming up on May, and Kevin is going to have a little trouble covering May, so he has sort of mentioned that potentially an endorsement from you for the Unlimited Sips Club would be useful. Oh, okay. We have you saying Unlimited Sips Club a few times. April's paid for. We also have you saying more soup for you, which they're kind of thinking of as like a catchphrase that you will

be the soup allied soldier you see what i'm saying yeah so you're like this like the soup nazis enemy you're you're like yeah you're defeating the soup nazi he says no soup for you but you're actually here you know fighting right so you're saying i've actually said more soup like you could actually take what i've said already and use it yeah we'll have all the pieces yeah a minute ago and yeah just you just even said more soup yeah so you're kind of like asking if my permission if you we own it we we own it yeah the show is the show you see we paid for all the equipment and stuff and so I think it would be weird to like almost we're just congratulating you

because I think that we didn't actually pay for the equipment got it you're welcome that's awesome yeah that's awesome cool good luck

and you know good luck at school thanks yeah what do you I'm sorry I don't know I was listening for it are you majoring in what are you what do you uh i'm sorry i don't know i was listening for it what do you are you majoring in what are you majoring in soup so sorry usc stood for i don't want to start the

entire yeah i forget but i do we could go back to the beginning and just sort of cover that hey ben chef kevin here i'm actually a freshman at a different kind of usc it's panera's unlimited soup club oh i know putting it together yeah i should have listened earlier so that's the kind USC. It's Panera's Unlimited Soup Club. Oh, I know. I should have listened earlier. So that's the kind of stuff. Yeah, that's cool. Kevin was excited about it. That one was rehearsed on the drive here. That's cool. I'm glad to be a part of it.

And he lives really far away. Long drive. Especially after the fire, he had to move. Move farther. Hot like the soup well good good luck good luck at usc thanks doggy so we are feeling so special today ben oh my god it's to have you on the show it's a big moment for us it's a big episode we're looking back we're looking forward uh we yeah i don't even know if you're aware feels and it's like this is like a momentous i heard i heard something about it yeah i just heard about the show um the other day recently and uh and uh through zach cherry

who's love zach yeah love zach his episode didn't love his work on the show particularly but like i love some stuff he's done for sure yeah yeah he's you know he's i think he's a he's an interesting actor um you get the best out of him do you think do you find that i feel like you know comedically we were sort of starting to get into stuff with him that he has an explorer i feel like i hadn't seen really really be that, you know, as funny as, like, be funny. Funny, funny. That was our experience a little bit. We liked him on

the show, and we invited him on ours. And I think it was a great episode, but not really because of what he was doing. Yeah. I never actually heard it, but Zach told me about it, and then he told me, and he said you guys were funny. And he said that you've been doing this thing thing for like a really uh for a long time like a really long time right yeah i mean it's blown not like not like yeah i mean not like a pathetic but he said this is like your this is like your 5 000th episode five thousand is that great we don't

really i mean like i guess like kevin keeps track of it we don't really mark like time or like success that way in terms of just like quantity of episodes or like how much money we've made or not made or whatever like for doing this show we show up we put on our hard hats we do the work we clock out we have We clock back in. Lunch is from a lunch pail. We do some more work. We're sitting out on the beam. Right. Like,

like just like a blue collar attitude toward the work. Yeah. Just like, just do the work. You just do the work. I know it looks glamorous. Yeah. But how,

how long, how long has this show been on? Cause I just literally just, Zach just told me about it. Just found out about it. Yeah. Yeah. And then I felt,

I felt weird that I didn't know about it. Well, you didn't know about the Unlimited Sips Club. I think we're kind of established. That makes me feel better. But if it were just us, you didn't know about it, but you also never heard of it. You may be a little insulated, Ben. There's so much I don't know. Yeah, honestly.

Because I have my own sort of put my head down, do my work thing. That's awesome. But it is, but it isn't, too. Because sometimes I feel like I miss out on like what's going on in the world. And yeah, I want to be aware. And Zach said, you guys are have been doing this for a long time and it's really funny and it's cool. And, you know, it's really cool. Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely cool and funny. I think we have an opportunity with this episode to really get into sort of our body of work on this show.

And that's that's very special for us. Yeah, we did want to we did want to walk through it, especially with you, someone who you've achieved so much. And, you know, just that you're lending your your voice, your achievements to the show is like so impactful and so amazing. And like, especially this is, I mean, cause we have been doing it for a while. It is a big one, Kevin. Is it like what, what, how many is this? Technically this might be 500 Ben. Oh, 500. Wow. Yeah. Wow. So if it is, so yeah. So if it is 500, then like, I think it's a good time. Yeah. a lot that's a lot of shows that's amazing yeah and it's fucking stupid like it sucks like who cares you know for me it's like we like don't

even try yeah we don't give a shit but like no we don't give a shit about it but but it's cool it's funny it's like a joke to me yeah it's cool and it's funny but it's like that's kind of is that kind of like what the show is like it's like that's what your vibe is it's like we come in like you say you come in with your lunch pail and you you know roll up your sleeves you get on the beam and you we're sitting on that beam really high up and we're having lunch up there you know right and you're just like not giving a shit we're not even nervous we're not even scared normal people would be scared we just show up and we eat lunch on the beam oh is this high oh is it high up here oh i could fall and like and like be be dead like i didn't even realize

that because i didn't which i think is it we don't care yeah i think that's a good show business metaphor too you know what i mean i feel like that's kind of like what right like the best work i think comes out of not giving it not doing any work sometimes yeah yeah i mean that's what we found and sometimes it's sometimes it's bad, but can be terrible. Good. And I want to, we want to talk about it. Looking back,

looking forward, having you here. Yeah. The specialness of that. I just can't, I feel very lucky if I could just take a moment to kind of be in my gratitude, which is something we try to do on the show and just say, like,

kind of be in my gratitude, which is something we try to do on the show and just say, like, I feel so fortunate to have a guest like you who in some ways, like it was almost coincidental, the timing of it, but that it lined up in a way where we do have you here to kind of do, I think what we need to, which is, I can't imagine a better guest to help us kind of do, I think, what we need to, which is, I can't imagine a better guest, to help us kind of get to that next level, specifically, like, getting Adam Scott on the show and, like, making him comfortable with what we do here and, like, who we are. We've been circling Adam for a little while.

Yes, yes, yes. He actually used to do a show on our on our same network we would see him at the studio which you would think would be like an advantage but like it did and we've had email kevin we've had emails back and forth right and verbal agreements yeah no we've had dates booked and his schedule is crazy fucking nuts the guy's like having a moment yeah um so it's it's not easy to line him up but i just think like when we heard you know through zach that you like really wanted to do the show we were like oh my god that's so great funny yeah because we want adam okay the show's funny it's cool no no that's yeah and it's a funny coincidence yeah no go ahead no no no no no you talk you talk well I just I'm now I'm understanding getting a

little more context of what because for me that's awesome I think it happened at the same time that I got the call from you guys about doing the show he had said oh this you should do the show it's funny whatever it's cool and I'm not quite sure how the rest of it happened, that it actually, like, they got, you know, that it happened, which I'm glad it happened, but somehow this happened. We are too, yeah, yeah. The Adam part of it is great to hear.

You know, I love Adam. We do too. We do too, man. We're huge fans of his stuff. Just understand he's committed in the past to doing the show, but hasn't done it. We have never been able to nail down that commitment. We've gotten kind of to the one yard line, but he's a famous actor. He does a lot of shit.

And he's in the podcast space too, which in some ways makes it easier, but also, yeah. too which is something that makes it easier but also yeah that's the funny thing to me because i hear him on so so many podcasts that i actually know you know that he's like on so many of them yeah so you do know what are some podcasts that you that you do know yeah i was i didn't realize yeah because you were saying your head was down you were working well there's that you know like uh pod save america adam scott has the adam scott does that adam was on that regularly he might have been on that one i'm not sure i think he's been um okay then that's good for us to know just like yeah we could like poach their book or something you know there's like the oh you two he loves you too right do you know that okay yeah so that was actually on our same network no he was recording

like next to us like we'd be passing each other like he like actually like hosts like does a show about you too right yeah exactly yeah really into that so i know he's done that one they still do it it's so funny because like i was scrolling through like the podcasts on my phone and i just saw like there were like a bunch was like Adam Scott talks about like, like old TV show. He likes old TV shows. He likes to like, yeah.

So knowing what he likes is amazing for, for you to be able to like help make that connection. Because yeah, ideally you can frame this show as something he would like, you know what I mean? I would be happy to, you know, I don't,

I mean the, the, the level that I would, of course, I'll put in a word. I'm happy to do it. You know, we don't really interact on that. That's fucking awesome. On that level that much about like,

we don't talk about kind of work stuff that much or personal stuff or, you know, we kind of, you know, we don't talk that much, but we were friends. I mean, I think we're friendly. Yeah. You know, and i appreciate him as a you know as a person and as an actor um but i don't know it's interesting and we say one yard line with him too yeah yeah yeah that's something that just knowing him a little bit

one yard line is kind of like a term that comes up with Adam a lot. That's where he keeps you, huh? That's where he likes to keep people, huh? No one gets quite into that. There's a little bit of, yeah, he's got a strong goal line stand. Yes, yes. But once you get in there, that's the Music City miracle, right? That's the 98 Titans. If you get in, if you get in.

Right. And I think that's probably like from the little i know him because he is kind of very unknowable in a lot of ways you know like the way almost as an actor too i don't know if you've noticed that too like i kind of like yeah i don't know what the fuck he's doing well that's the thing i don't know what's going on in there see and that's i think, his brilliance as a performer. And I don't even know if it's an intentional thing or brilliance. It doesn't feel like it. It's a thing where you look at his face and what are you feeling? What's going on inside of you?

Project anything, yeah. I'm going to put that onto him because it's almost like a permeable thing that you can just like, it almost sucks it in and you want to, it sucks you into it and you become whatever you know not i'm not going to say nothing just like what the air that's inside you know yeah yeah all that air yeah i get which not many actors can do no no it is like something where there are certain actors. I'm not even saying this is necessarily Adam, but there are certain performers where you're so fascinated with like why they are there doing like how they got to do it. Right.

That you just like can't look away. Yeah. And you're just like watching going like what am i looking at and it's like it pulls you into the show yeah yeah we we will be able to crack him uh we've we'll break him wide open we've cracked and we've done that with basically yeah uh we just gotta get him you know yeah in the chair. Have you guys had any conversations with him at all personally or talked to him? You know, I mean, I worked. I mean, I did a full season of television with him.

I was a producer on a TV show. Okay. Did you talk to him? I got no. I mean, I got some emails, you know, some notes on some changes he would like to see. Yeah. Yeah. He likes his notes.

And he liked, he thought there was some really funny stuff in there. That felt fucking incredible. Like, to hear from someone who like, as we all sit, we're all fans. And he said, thanks for sending this. And he said, appreciate all the hard work you fans thanks for sending this and he said appreciate all the hard work you put in on this right right which he means too oh yeah yeah yeah oh yeah yeah you can tell when he's not acting and you can tell when he's acting too which is like that's kind of a different issue but but he did yeah he obviously he got into the ugly business of

the critique at some point and had some pretty sharp thoughts. You know? That's what I disagreed with. He's an interesting ball of contradictions. Yeah. And also

there's that space. There's a lot of contradictions of I thought it was one thing. I thought he was one thing. And then there was something else. And then all of a sudden there's like, wait,

what's, is there even anything to connect with? But that's usually when he's acting. Yeah. That's when I feel, but that's like, I think that's intentional too. Do you know what I mean?

But I think what you're saying is too, like he's an interesting ball of contradictions and he isn't. Well, that's the ultimate. So so he so he is ultimate ball yeah no head but we but we do need you to pitch him the show and so we did want to walk you through some of what we have done yeah um and with your body of work we think you like hearing it from you like it's just gonna carry so much more weight when you can kind of tell me okay because this show yeah the show's been through different eras and stuff no that's good i'm the perfect person probably perfect person to tell this too because i know nothing about the show and just because of your body of work and because. Brad's. Brad's. What? Brad's tattoos.

Brad's tattoos. Remote control. Right. All right. Remote control. Yeah. The MTV game show? Yeah.

Oh, that's going way back. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't it? Do you feel like, isn't it amazing that you did remote control, and at the time it was just like this sci-fi concept almost, and then like you did remote control and at the time it was just like this concept this like sci-fi concept almost and then they started doing remote control like for for real they actually started inventing those no it is around that time back like right around that time

and it actually turned out to be like a legit idea it was just like yeah where it's like oh doors really do slide now yeah you know yeah yeah and star trek actually they saw that ahead with that yes that's what i said i mean i think elevators might have been doing it at the time but like actual doors didn't do it though they had the elevator and the actual doors on the enterprise but they but i don't think actual doors were doing that at the time in 1964 no it was just like a crazy idea and then people were like should doors actually do that and then like now they all do i know that's why i know that's another genius of you know gene roddenberry in addition to other things yes yeah i'm so you

want me to it just am i fucking losing my mind like i feel like you're telling me about it like i just i brought it up because i don't know man like i just like feel like i'm being fucked with a little bit like i said it because it's so it's so cool that they brought it up. Yeah. It didn't. Yeah. Because I didn't say Gene Roddenberry or something. Like, Gene Roddenberry. Well, now you're saying what I said. So I'm just saying we could have both. Yeah. I think I was.

Look what you did. This is fine for now. I'm thinking ahead to the Adam conversation. What happened? That fell off. The other part of this, just, I don't know, what is that thing? Is that your microphone? A piece just fell off.

It was my microphone. It's like you're at a radio station, like WXYZ or whatever. No, it could be anything, you know? It's a podcast. The letters are crazy now. Like, they'll do anything. Oh, yeah. Yes.

Yeah. Well, it's still a w if you're like east of the mississippi right no i know yeah that's the rule yeah terrestrial they have to they have to have some way to figure that out you know if you imagine how confusing it would be i don't who figured that out who is the person who decided that W is for the East and K is for the West? It was Gene Rottenberry. Right? So just to be clear, you want me to talk to Adam about the show?

Just tell him. Yes, tell him. The show's like you said yourself, the show's cool. And to sort of run him through a history of the show, which we will now share with you. We want to go through a little bit of where the show's been. And then, you know, you can help us take it where it's going, which is ideally to work with Adam. Right. I'm just also thinking maybe like Zach, since he's been on the show.

But he couldn't get him. He couldn't get out. Zach is the guy before the guy. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right. Right. And you're the guy who gets the actual guy. Yeah. I'm not. No, you're saying I'm not the guy before the guy yeah you know what i mean right right and you're the guy who gets the

the actual guy yeah i'm not no you're saying i'm not the guy you're saying you're the guy who you're the guy after you're the guy who gets the look for the helpers right yes yeah right but adam is the guy and maybe there's hopefully you know and like once we get to Adam, we're like, okay, what's next? Yeah, have him talk to Britt or whatever. That's the final frontier right now to use language that you'd understand. Because of Gene Roddenberry. Yeah, no, I get it. What do I do with this? Maybe you should put it back on the microphone.

I tried. He tried already. It's nice you guys are back in the studio. That's cool. Yeah. Thanks, man. We don't you guys are back in the studio. That's cool. Yeah. Thanks, man. We don't want to start with the end of our... Okay.

We do need to start it. I mean, I guess we should start with episode one. Yeah. When we started doing this show... Do you know who Scott Aukerman is? Yeah. Yeah, I do know who he is. Okay.

Okay. Well, you know who I am, too, so that's fine. So you know who both of us Okay. Well, you know who I am too, so that's fine. So you know who both of us are. Yeah. That's fine. We had coffee with him in a Starbucks, and he was like, segments are really important when you do a podcast.

He never took off his sunglasses for the whole coffee, and he told us segments were really important. Yeah, and we were firmly in the shade. That's a little bit of an LA thing too sometimes yeah I guess so we kept adjusting the umbrella so that he would be more shaded

was it raining? no no no it felt like it was a little bit or is that a paparazzi not to let the pap they bring the umbrellas out for the pop the paps yeah now i'm learning yeah yeah no i didn't know uh no it was just like an outdoor cafe kind of situation where sometimes they have like a shade umbrella right but scott's funny he's a very he's really funny he's awesome he's

really cool and i do i have the same job as him and we do the same stuff yeah we're we're really close uh yeah he said segments are really important and so for our first episode we did do a few segments we did like four different segments and it just felt so long it was taking forever i got lost like really exhausting and we we kind of went after steve levitan we went at levitan pretty gently but like yeah like an emmy speech that he'd made yeah okay we did go after him a little bit and then ouch and we but we feel like we're punching up you know yeah that was the feeling at the time like amazing hair like killer body like that was sort of the idea was the speech was like finally the losers get one you know and it was like he was

finally the losers get one, you know? And it was like, he was standing there, he took sort of tall and beautiful and amazing actors. Yeah. Sort of like cognitive dissonance. Yeah. Yeah.

So we talked about that and then, um, I, you know, I was unable to even get a meeting on reboot. So, um, we sort of learned our lesson later.

Um, so we're not really doing that anymore. So you're not being, okay. So you're not like making fun of people our lesson later. So we're not really doing that anymore. So you're not being, okay. So you're not like making fun of people in show business at all. We still notice stuff, but we don't really talk about it. Yeah. Right. And we'll talk about it, like not on the show and stuff like that.

But yeah, we'll make, yeah. Sometimes like little asides so that like we know what we're talking about, but not that would get us in any trouble. Yeah. So, okay. Can I just add, so what is the kind of the idea of the show, or what's the sort of like,

what's the elevator pitch? We're trying to kind of... We're trying to tell you. Yeah, we're sort of trying to tell you. Okay. We're still on episode one. So yeah, we haven't really gotten very far. We called the Mindy Project

the Mimby Project on that episode. We did that a lot. And then we did that for the next like 30 40 okay yeah episodes yeah somehow we kept having people who were either directly involved or were close or we would just bring it up way to say it we would get that okay like it's funny because you're calling it what'd you call the mimby yeah the project yeah yeah i thought you might be a little confused by it so we do have a clip kevin if you want to play it yeah cool because you're right next to the mimby project

so that's us saying yeah that was that was sean i said it sometimes too i thought there's gonna be a video clip i put my glasses on for that sorry videos clip 11 ben so don't lose those glasses yet so you were having fun with calling the Mindy Project the Mindy Project? Yeah, it was pretty fun. So that was sort of what the show was about at first? Right. That was all it was about.

That was like it? It was kind of like, that was your big thing? Well, we tried kind of taking a shot at Steve Levitan. There was a Steve Levitan thing. We had Jake Johnson on the first episode. He's funny. Yeah, he's funny. I think we called the new girl the news girl or something, too.

Yeah, we called it the news girl. That was the kind of thing we were doing at the time. Just saying the name wrong. Right. Then we had Donald Glover on the third one, which was like, that was cool. Wow. And then we entered...

That was... Around then, we entered uh that was around then we entered what fans referred to as the lost decade of the show but within within that there were a lot of eras like kind of within that era yes yes where we were kind of finding it losing it again yeah like but it's all you know it's all work like it's all how long did that last decade what how long did that go on that was that actually lasted 10 years yeah it's about 10 an actual decade wow yes yeah so how long have you guys actually been doing the show how long have you been like actually doing it doing the show like actually like like we're okay yeah like at like like actually actually doing it i i mean i guess like 10 and a half years yeah if i have to put like a number on it like

or like maybe like 10 years and like two months maybe like not even quite not even 10 and a half so you had like this like six month or whatever the opening period of the mimby project there was a mimby project which is like a short amount of time i think we got what we could out of it yeah but then then then after that whatever a few months then you have like a 10 year lost era or decade you're saying well there were yeah there were other steps in there yeah within their rap so and then then okay and i hear you saying that like two like a few months is a short amount of time and i'm just like i guess i'm trying to remember how many episodes like a season of severances what's the order like it's how long the first first season was nine episodes nine episodes

okay and it airs once a week normal number okay it did there yeah when they first came out okay nine okay so i guess when we get to 500 i guess maybe we can come back and have the conversation over whether two months is like two months of like doing something really good that people like it's like a short saying the movie project you the Mimby Project. You know? Yeah. I get where you're going. I hear you. But what I'm just, what I was saying,

just to clarify, was that you said there was like a long, long period, much longer than two months, of like this lost era. Like you found the show and then you lost it for a much longer time.

And you'll see, when you get to 500... We had our feet under us during the Mimby era. When it gets to 500 episodes, you'll see what like that... When you hit five, yeah. Yeah. I know yeah you've done you've done the front nine and i've done the front nine we're in we're in the the next 10 is what we're doing right now

we're like into the next 10 i don't think we'll get to 500 honestly like i don't think we're gonna get that mark well not with that attitude mister attitude, mister. Did you ever call the show Hollywood Ham Book? Like you guys called it? So, sort of. It actually brings us to our next era where we said hamburger sandwich a lot. That was the show for a while. Yeah. Oh, cool.

Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. It wasn't really connected. Do we have that, Kevin? Do we have a clip? Hamburger sandwich. So that's Sean again saying hamburger sandwich. That was also a thing that I said as well.

Yeah. Do you have Hayes saying it? I'm pretty sure I have three clips of Sean. Let's see. Let's say it's not a basketball team. Let's say it's just a hamburger sandwich. Yes. That one was Sean. What about this's just a hamburger sandwich yes that one was sean what about this clip

a hamburger sandwich that one's sean too sorry so i used to talk different as well what was that character is that a character is just how you talked that was what yeah we started we were dude yeah it was like sort of like this try hard thing at the beginning where there was like a kind of more like a character applied to it all right it just was kind of corny the hamburger sandwich thing was good i like hamburger sandwich i mean because it's yeah we loved it sounds like a thing it sounds like actually that it's like a like once you say it a few times you feel like oh it actually is like that makes sense that was like 150 episodes or so of that and i think we'll do it again. Bring that back. We're happy to do that again.

We'll do that for Adam. Yeah. Okay. He would be comfortable with it. Yeah. I mean, if I, when I talk,

if I, I, you know, I, whenever I see him, I'll, you understand we don't really, you know,

we're not like super tight or whatever, but, but I'll definitely mention whatever. Oh, oh, and we can't get into that. Like your whole, it's feeling like you want to explore something with it,

which like with, with what? It seems like your Adam relationship is, um, no, my Adam relationship is great on my end. It's great. I don't,

and I don't, and I don't, you know, like ours, yeah, I'm just saying like, in terms of exploring things, I don't, you know, there's sometimes it's great i don't okay and i don't and i don't you know like ours too yeah yeah i'm just saying like in terms of exploring things i don't you know there's sometimes it's best to leave things you know like uncharted territory too this could be amazing for all of us i feel like right

that's what i'm thinking oh it's a way to bring us all to get like for me i think the four of us could really benefit from you talking to adam adam doing the show adam coming back to you and saying like holy shit like you were totally right the show was cool they said hamburger sandwich yeah they did just what you promised right yeah uh yeah and so now we're you know we're we're just tipping that pylon over. You know what I mean? The pylon is toppling. Right. The pylon that is the possibility of Adam coming on the show.

Which would be so good for the show. Yeah. Would you want him to just, are you thinking, I'm sorry, I was unclear. Do you think, like, you'd want me to come back on with him? think like you'd want me to come back on with him we'd like yeah but well let's give uh let's give adam his space uh right and and just because like my experience with you a little bit on the show is like and this is a good thing but you do like to talk and i want to make sure adam we love that we love that oh my god you know i don't want to you know i don room to do... We love that. Oh my god. You know, I don't want to... You know, I don't need to talk to this guy. I've been doing it for

500 episodes. You got that, but we actually do like it. No, that's awesome. Are you talking about your experience with me so far in the last, like, 20 minutes? Just on this episode, yeah, like a little bit of like a... like a Blabbermouth vibe. Which is like... And it's actually been 40, which

kind of, I guess, explains some of the... Which is like... And it's actually been 40, which kind of, I guess, explains... No, yeah. Some of the... Just like how much that you don't know. So I guess you don't know. So, which, like, good. That's not your job to know.

Like, that's awesome. But my hope is that Adam will kind of get a word in edgewise when he does the show and that would be like really good and then maybe after he goes back to you goes it was funny it was cool they said hamburger sandwich all the stuff we all like then the four of us kind of reunite you know um okay like and all walk through like both your episodes and like all the you know and what we're gonna do next cool if you're enjoying this episode and would like to hear more of sean and hayes check out our patreon called the flagrant ones there's a bunch of great shows on there like the flagrant ones which is a basketball podcast with sean hayes

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You're talking about like ornate gowns in some cases. And so that was costing me a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash the boys. That's rocketmoney.com slash the boys. Rocketmoney.com slash rocketmoney.com. I want to jump ahead to the next era, which was Clark Duke's second episode that he did with us. Adam's going to ask if Clark Duke did the show. And I think you have to be right on top of it, Ben.

It has to be. He's done twice. Don't even let Ben. It has to be. Twice. He's done twice. Don't even let him finish. Twice. Twice. Twice. Okay.

That'll mean something to him? Why? Well, that's the crew. That's the wrecking crew. Hot Tub Time Machine. Got it. Just to make him comfortable. It's going to be.

Because I think. He literally did our show as many times as he did Hot Tub Time Machine. Right. Right. I got it. the same level of investment okay so just to make him feel like it's not even a question boom next yeah twice did he do it twice right twice right yeah i'm gonna stop you right there twice um do we have a clip or anything to kind of yeah there's a long one ben okay name is sharon stone you know what oliver stone's name would be you know what they are on the flintstones you know what they call the rock what dwayne jagged so there was a little yeah sort of a dangerous moment there where we were talking about what different people's names were

on the Flintstones. On the Flintstones. Sean did say the Simpsons. And again, I was in this episode as well. It's not necessarily reflected in the clip. But he did say the Simpsons, you might have noticed. Yeah, I heard that. I said the Simpsons, but I meant the Flintstones. And we had been talking about

the Flintstones prior. Right. They're both adult cartoons, you know, aired during nighttime. Yeah, different eras, though. Obviously. I feel like I'm more from the Flintstones era. Um, no. Ben, you're so young.

What are you talking about? Are you crazy? I just remember actually watching Flintstones. There was dinosaurs and stuff. You like the Simpsons. No, you listen to Pod Save. Yeah, exactly. Super young demo. You were on the Simpsons, weren't you?

I was on the Simpsons a long time ago. It's like the Flintstonesstones it's a double meaning because like i flintstones era of like obviously like stone age times and then like the actual time the flintstones aired yeah so it's like which were you doing yeah what was the intention when you said it what was your intention you know as i don't think i had an intention when i said i think I just said it because it was something to say. And then all of a sudden I was talking and then I was like, oh, I should stop talking because I'm, you know, blabbermouth or whatever. That's growth. Dude, don't get in your head about that.

Okay. Like, all right. But I just feel like we still got like five minutes left. And it's also interesting to me that I don't really have a sense of time in terms of what, you know, I thought this was flying by quickly in my mind. And obviously it has been, but then there are parts of it that I felt like have been interminable too. But those are usually the parts where I'm not talking.

Do you ever, what's your experience with, not the sativa, but like kratom, I guess you ever, like, do you smoke a lot of kratom? No, I don don't or salvia

what is that it's that's the experience a plant like it's racing by and now now you're just basically trapped and basically in that that cube at the end of sean's microphone yeah you're saying what is that yeah you're in here in terms of your experience of time and space? Yeah. Yeah, basically the corner of the room comes zooming at you from the ceiling, and then you're stuck. But you can feel that sometimes without any of that, too. You can, yes. Yeah, for sure.

That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying right now. Yeah. I think that moment is special for us, the Simpsons Flintstones moment, because there was a time in doing the show where we would have just stopped at the simpsons flintstones moment because there was a time in doing the show where that would have where we would have just stopped at the simpsons thing like that would have kind of shut the show down yeah pushing past that getting able to kind of correct get back on our

feet pick ourselves up dust ourselves off that's become kind of a signature of the show of like i'm you know there have been episodes. I'm not referencing this one where it's going pretty bad. Right. And we do and we do pull something out. We do salvage something. And that's, you know, that's become sort of like the signature move. Right.

And is it is there any do you do any editing? Do you do any post work on the show at all? Or do you guys Kevin's area? We've talked on the show at all? That's Kevin's area. We've talked to him about that. He said that you can't. You can't. It's impossible. You can't do it. You're not allowed to? You just can't. It's not the way the show is.

Yeah. It would be amazing. What I'm getting is it's one of those things like a stream of consciousness. You just go. You riff off of different things that a stream of consciousness you just go you riff off of different things that people say is you know you listen or you don't listen or you yeah i feel like that's what you're getting yeah right or like you guys talk to each other and you

have like it seems like you kind of have like a very like a shorthand kind of language some kind of language um you know that's just very much between you and then all of a sudden the show is over i guess i'm just doing my thing i guess when i think about it i guess i'm just kind of doing my thing i'm like i hate to analyze it you know but no no i don't want to and i don't want to yeah because you don't want to like i don't want to break the spell but you know just having experienced it for the first time it's interesting and it's cool i get it's definitely cool we've back said it was cool and now i guess you know why he said it was cool um it's it's just like it's it's interesting to kind of experience something from the outside and you know how you relate to people other than

yourselves too is interesting yeah you're inside it i'm inside of what you're doing the you're saying you're experiencing from the outside but you're on the show. I guess I'm on the show, but at the same time, I also feel like I'm kind of hovering outside. Maybe you did smoke salvia. But I'm like, no, but I'm like, I feel like I'm sort of hovering outside of it too

at the same time. Yeah, this is Kratom. I'm just like. Yeah, I'm getting Kratom from this. It's giving Kratom. Kratom Scott. Right? Don't say that to him, though.

He won't appreciate that. Okay, so we are getting him. I'd like to try something, because it also feels like you are ready for this. Okay. Not that we have more stuff that we've done on the show, but, like, why don't I'll be Adam? Yes. And just I'm on set, right? Or do you want to be Adam?

No, no, that's not good. I'll be Adam. And then you come and just kind of start telling me about the show, like, what it is, like, why I should do it. And then we'll just kind of see. Hayes might stop you at some point to like kind of like remind like what the big points are to hit okay and ben before you start can i give you some advice yeah you talked about talking to adam about work stuff and personal

stuff right it's all personal babe okay right take it away first of all hi adam it's ben okay how are you doing man uh was really good what's up okay um i just want to say first of all um you know your work has been great on the show i know we haven't talked for a really long time but i really and you know why too right i do i do know why so anyway you know i've been wanting to say that for a long time, for a really long time, just that, like, I miss talking. Like, I feel like we should be able to talk directly to each other, but that's different. We are now, so that's good. Yeah. But I feel like the rest of, like, what's happened over the last year and a half should be water under the bridge.

So there are these guys who do this um this podcast right have you heard of hollywood handbook or hollywood handbook uh hamburger sandwich if you're like wait say that last part again. Hamburger sandwich. That's like one of their things that they do. That sounds pretty fucking good. Yeah. So they do things like they say words wrong, like Mindy, like instead of Mindy project, they say Mindy project, stuff like that. Like hamburger sandwich, they do voices and stuff.

And it's cool, you know? Okay. Stuff like that. Like hamburger sandwich. They do voices and stuff. It's cool. Okay. I'm going to stop you. Really interesting. A lot of good stuff in there. If we could get to hamburger sandwich faster. Yeah.

I felt like he perked up at that. Then we lost him again. Yes. Okay. Do I start again? Or just go? Was there anything else? seemed he and then i felt like he perked up at that yeah we lost him again yes okay okay do i start again or you want to just go is there was there anything else do you have anything for me i mean i i guess it would be helpful if you would say like speak your issue about like what when like you know why they haven't spoken in so long know, just so we can get that out of the way. Okay.

You know what I mean? Like, let's just get that off the table. Let's just clear the, let's just like clear the, like the field of that stuff. And then we get into the hamburger sandwich piece. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Here we go. Hey, hey man. Uh, yeah. Long time. No speak. Yes. Yes. Yes. Um, I'm personal'm personal i'm well let's not blow past that okay let's not blow past that long time no speak there's a reason for that no

yeah there's a reason for it and i'll take my piece in that and take responsibility for my piece and say i'm sorry okay thank you for doing that i won't take responsibility for any piece of it because you because you stole my portion. You crashed it up. And the reason I know that you did that, Ben, and you're admitting that now, right? I admit that there was an accident.

Okay. And I also admit that it was an accident. An accident. Okay, Adam? And I also want to say thank you for the trust you put in me to take it out for a spin and I was excited you know I thought it was an incredible birthday gift that you'd received you got jealous from from apple tv plus and i just wanted to you know yeah and i i screwed up to get the hamburger sandwich we have to can i just talk to you about hamburger sandwich

i feel like that's not as good a segue though into yeah i think like um well look i just say it just say it wasn't you it would be go it'll go faster if you just say it wasn't you that okay it's the admitting it that's it's just in reality this conversation would never happen because it wouldn't even get that far so you know what i mean right okay yeah like the minute he's still too upset like yeah he just like there wouldn't even be it would just be like what he's what was up like you were jealous of the car or you no no i was he got this incredible gift brought to him on the set yeah and the complete you know it was it was from apple tv plus for completing our ninth episode and his birthday as well and his birthday too which happened to coincide on the same day yeah i got confused at that part like obviously

adam knew the story but i didn't know if it was a birthday gift that he gave you to let you drive his car but then it was like no it was a gift from apple tv plus for completing the ninth episode uh-huh i got you know like a box of chocolates or whatever and you know, like a box of chocolates or whatever. And, you know, because they know where their bread is buttered, whatever. And he is the show. I get it. Which he doesn't ever fail to remind me. He is the show, and then he's the show again. You know what I mean?

He's two different guys. Yeah. Yeah, he's the show twice. I don't get it at all. And he doesn't forget either guy. What is going on with that? What, the concept of the show? Yeah, what the fuck is that?

It's pretty simple. It's so weird. Everyone's being really weird. They're acting so weird, which I can get on board for a little bit of that but like yeah we like to play around you know it's kind of like we like to keep it weird and you know what i mean like that's kind of like i think that's what's kind of like the secret sauce of our show is like that it's weird you know what i mean like it's weird and like you know what

what's happening you like to play around yeah we like to play around with people's perceptions of what they think is, you know, like what's happening, what's real. You know, imagine like just the concept of you, like put a chip in your head. Right, Sean? And you came and you went downstairs to do like, I don't know where your studio is, but it looks like it might be in a basement or something. Like you went down to a basement to do the show and then you you and you did a show and then you came a skyscraper okay then you went up you went up to a sky you went up to a penthouse and then you go down and then you forget everything that happened in the show you don't even remember you just like know that you like that's the idea of the show it's like from a damn potato chip greenberg didn't

need to do any of that stuff you know what i Man, I put a whole bag of chips in my head before and none of that happened. I just got a little sleepy. Feels like we're losing our way. Watch the rest of the game. I mean, it's not a potato chip. It's like a microchip. Unlimited

chips club. USC. Anyway, it's a fun you know what? It's a fun. It's like kind of a like you take a, it's like you go off and you go's a fun you know what it's a fun it's like kind of a like a you take a it's like you go off and you and you go with it you know what i mean it's fun it's supposed to be fun not supposed to make any fucking sense not to make not making i just remember when you could be like here's greenberg this is like there's this guy he's not a robotic droid or anything like he's not two different guys. There's only one guy.

There was only one guy. I just remember when we could do that. The name of the thing is the name of the guy. It just feels like we've lost our way. And it's one guy. It's just a different genre. It's a different genre. That's a character piece.

Believe me, I know. Maybe that's what's bumping me. Yeah. It's just some people are into it and you know i don't know like some people go with it and you know some people some people some people can't quite wrap their you know it's like oh i cannot understand yeah it makes my head hurt you know that kind of thing yeah but different strokes right I guess I'm not smart enough for the smart show. It's not. I've done 500 episodes of this thing.

Look, I am not saying you have to be smart to enjoy our show. I think, you know, I like shows like yours. Is he going to be cool with that? With the, is he, the our show? Is that going to be an issue? Is that too much to cut that for Adam? I just don't want him to like go back and, oh, he hears about. We've never edited before.

Hollywood Handbook. He goes back and listens to this episode he hears you say our show I don't want to cut ourselves off at the knees here Ben where we end up in a situation where you can't ask him to appear on the show because you said our show he can say our show because it's him twice I get it I don't think

he's probably ever listened or will listen to this show. I mean, honestly, just knowing the little I know about him. Yeah. That's actually, that's where you're wrong, Ben. That's where I know you're wrong. How do you know? Because when I was working with him, he came up to me one day and said,

hey, I listened to your show. And I said, thank you so much. so much and he said yeah you guys were talking about like a book or something and then we never spoke about it again yeah all right well then he has obviously made a mark so mention the book yeah maybe yeah so i'll say do you want to do yeah you should do that show. I don't know if it's because the show's called Hollywood Handbook that he thought there was like a book involved. Yeah.

Who knows? I know he listens to books on tape a lot too. You might've confused it. I don't know. He's one of those guys. Audible's a sponsor. Tell him Audible's a sponsor. Okay.

He likes books on tape. Dude. Yes. Yes. Say this. Audible's a sponsor tell him audible's a sponsor okay he likes books on tape yeah dude yes yes say this audible's a sponsor okay you think that'll be the that'll put him over the top well with hamburger sandwich between those two things like it's like we're right in his fucking wheelhouse man yeah i don't know the other thing is like once once you finally get him that's the other thing i just say like once you finally get him i don't know if it's gonna be you know all that you imagined too from my experience is that sometimes you know you meet your idol and then i guess i feel prepared for that okay now that might be good okay because yeah see maybe it's good because you guys don't seem to want to have the guests talk

that much so it might actually be i said we love it sort of dependent no i think it's some people think that it's like that like some people don't like it but we actually do love it no you could just get one clean more soup for you like that would like just get it without any i'm not gonna say more soup for you already did say it you already did say it so like yeah but it just makes me not want to say it when you keep telling me to say and if you could do it as like

a British soldier is he saying I'm not gonna say more soup for you this fucking guy's saying it yeah no I'm saying I'm not gonna say it okay Sean I'm not saying more soup for you more soup for you not gonna do it so yeah maybe adam will come on and blow you know knock your socks off and you can bring him on for the thousandth episode or something because i

think that's honestly how long i think it'll take him to actually get he's a slow walker too do you know that I guess talk more about it feels like you have a story or something it's like it's just when they call him setting himself up when they call him

to set this is inside baseball but you know like they'll go like you know okay ready for the first team the whole season with them okay you know what first team is you talked about this on the show yeah the yankees yeah baseball no but actors are called first team and they say first teams ready for first team and then the walk from the from his trailer to the set can like sometimes take like eight minutes or something like that bye alright Hollywood Handbook

that was a HeadGum Podcast