Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Scrub's Star Zach Braff

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

About time we had me old neighbor Zach Braff on the show. Zach (Scrubs, Garden State) joins us this week and opens up on some of his lifelong anxieties, crippling pet peeves, and natural neurosis he deals with. Zach talks a lot about his experience in the industry… everything from being a workaholic who doesn’t idle well to the idea of peers wanting you to do well, but not TOO well out there. We also get into some funny BTS moments on Scrubs plus Zach’s experience working with legends like Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Robert Deniro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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should come every time every last saturday of the month every month every last saturday we do a stage at a 2 p.m show and a 6 p.m show so make sure you come there um and the band is sunspin we're at sunspin dot com you could book us zoom us tons of merch all that stuff and our handles are at sunspin band everywhere um last week's episode i hope you guys loved uh katie sackoff from the mandolorean if you haven't watched your see it's uh i really enjoyed that one That was a glorious job, Ryan. Do you ever have those days where you just feel a little off? Yeah, oh, for sure.

Like you're just like, you know, you're just, you know, not that you're going through the motions, but you're kind of like foggy, a little foggy. Yep. Is it just because when you get older, you get foggy? You just kind of wake up sometimes and it takes your seven hours to wake up, and by then it's already time for a nap. I think it happens in phases. So I'm having one of those weeks, too.

Yeah, it's just a weird week. But you wake up and you go, oh, that's shit again, huh? Yeah. I think that's what happens. think also you know my dog's just had eye surgery irv and uh it's been really really slowing down and i got to start thinking of you know down the road it's probably it's the first time it hit me that my dog irv i might sometime have to do what you have to do when the dog gets you know put him down um the first time i thought that was last week and i just looked at him and he was struggling so

much with his walking and i just started to go you know he's you know he's seven 70% deaf, his vision is bad. It's like, when does it? He's really 13 years old. They live till 10 to 12 for this type of dogs. And you started to go, hey, I'm not going to torture this guy. Like my grandfather, who died of Alzheimer's, I'm not going to fucking watch him deteriorate. And I couldn't do anything about it.

Do you know how many times I prayed at night? I said, God, please take him peacefully and his sleep. He does not want to be alive. I know my grandfather. Please take him away. I would always, like, pray for my grandfather to pass away because I knew he that he would be like, what the hell are we doing? What is this? I don't even know where I am, you son of a bitches, you know, and I feel like Irv, you know, gave me that look a week ago. He was just like,

hey, dude, this kind of starting to suck. So be on the radar, you know, have your radar on. So anyway, I love my dog, Irv, and I'm going to keep him as long as I can until I feel like he's had enough and uh i think it's a mutual thing to we both kind of like on hey man this is like uh you know it's it's enough is enough there was a song in the seven years enough is enough i can't go on i can't go on sorry to bring you down oh my god hey thanks to all the patrons out there the patron love if you want to join the fucking amazing family i just dropped an eff bomb i don't do that a lot but uh it's patreon dot com inside of you p a t r e o n dot com slash inside of you and uh i always message you afterwards. And I just love the support from my fellow patrons when someone else joins and

they're welcoming and there's all sorts of fun shit there. And also new merch on the inside of you online store, we got awesome white mugs. They're badass. You got to look at them. Awesome white like sippers, tumblers, white t-shirts are coming and white beanies are coming. Fun. So the mugs and tumblers are here. They're really cool. We want to just try a different color because you're usually black. It's usually this, let's go. Try not to ship it with the new red wine is all I'm going to say. Red, red wine. Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea.

We don't ship the right one. You can't ship alcohol, can you? I don't know. You can shit alcohol. What are the handles for the inside of you podcast? And please, guys, if you're here and you're in the mood for Zach Braff, I'd love for you to just subscribe and write a review on Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube and subscribe.

It helps the show enormously. And if you like the show and you actually at the end go, you know what Rosenbaum you did a good job I'm gonna subscribe that would make me feel good and it would really help the show so I hope you do that what are the handles right at inside of you pod on Twitter at inside of you podcast on Instagram Facebook YouTube.com slash inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum and it's right there right there you can see it it's beautiful the graphics thanks to everybody out there for listening and continue to listen and we got great guests coming up today's guests I loved having him on he's a neighbor of mine I have only seen him

once in 18, twice in 18 years, so not that close to the neighbor, but a great guy, a genuinely great guy. And after talking to him for the first time, really, you just, you see how genuine he is. And humble, I appreciated him being here, some great stories, you know, from Scrubs and many movies. I mean, didn't he get nominated for an Academy Award? Garden State was a big deal. Yeah.

I mean, that's what I'm saying. I mean, and he just did a big movie with Robert De Niro and the story. Stories he has are just beautiful. Even stories about Morgan Freeman when he directed Morgan and Michael Kane. So enjoy this one. Let's get inside of Zach Braff. It's my point of you. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.

Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. Look how professional you are. Well, I have the rig. I have all the gear because of our own podcast. And I know what an ordeal it is and how much better it sounds when you have the real gear and then just over Zoom. In fact, I had the audacity to eat popcorn on our podcast. And my social media feeds were blowing up with people saying, please don't ever do that again. It turns out people don't like chewing in their ear while you're entertaining.

Yeah, that's the thing. You know, I always like chewing gum, too, and I never understood what people are like, you shouldn't chew gum while you're doing whatever. And I'm like, you know, and then you hear somebody else do it and they're a chomper. And you know what pisses me off? I'll just fire away. Go ahead. Is that, you know, I eat popcorn and I try to be quiet, but my friend Deneeneen has popcorn ears. So she's always like, I'm like, I can't sit near you.

Like in the theater when we used to be, remember we used to do that? We used to go to the theater. Remember movie theaters? The archa. So it's so fun. But she would say, I'm not sitting by you. I'm like, I'm like, you. How could you hear me?

How could you hear me eat? I could hear you. My mouth's closed. I get so upset because I want to do the right thing. I know. I know. I knew it would be annoying to people, but I didn't think that people would be like,

no, seriously, I have a problem. I couldn't listen today. So no more popcorn on my podcast. Do you have anything that people get annoyed about? Is there something you do that either of your buddy Donald Faison or other friends or your girlfriend? Do they just get,

oh, I hate when you do that. Oh, my God. Stop it. Oh, probably. I'm sure. I'm trying to think of what, though. I don't know. I'm sure there's lots of things, but I can't think of anything off the off the end. For instance, listen to is one that I have sometimes an issue with. I try to listen. And my excuse is always, well, listen, when you have something really, you can't say that, though. But what I mean to say is, look, when you have something that is like, I'm here for you. If it's serious, I'm here. I'm listening. I don't have to listen to. everything do you listen to everything i i have a pet peeve of being interrupted actually that's something i have with with people a lot and um and because i'm just aware that we don't listen to each other really that that much and so when i have one i was what sean hayes was once on an episode of scrubs and he he jokingly said someone interrupted i mean i'm sorry i'm not used to being

interrupted and i thought that was so funny so i've stolen that Like when my friends, when you're, when you're telling an excited story and someone's interrupting you, I was, sorry, I'm not used to being interrupted. And that's a way of saying, shut the fuck up. I'm talking in a joking way. What's funny is that you just said that when you don't like, that's your pet peeve, you don't like it. And I looked over and Ryan looked at me like, like, he knows that I'm going to interrupt you for sure. No, it's fine. And this context is fine.

I'm talking about when like you're telling a story or you're in a conversation. And we all do it. I'm not saying I do it as well. but I'm saying there are people that are egregious. I know I have one woman I know who the whole time you're talking, you're in a conversation, she says something. And then while I'm talking, she's going, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh. And I just, that, that's a pet peeve of mine.

I don't like that. Let me, let me talk. Yeah, that happened to me in New York. I was working at Emergency Skills Incorporated. And, uh, you know, I'd call places up and I'd go, hey, do you realize when someone has a heart attack on the job that you have less than seven minutes, hello? you know what I mean I don't ever you know and and the woman Lorraine I think it was who worked there she would I've never heard anything like this I thought it was a joke at first but I'd say she goes

Michael did you call back the hospital and I go yeah and as I'm saying yes yes she's going uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh I thought it was like a Seinfeld episode I couldn't believe and I I didn't know what to do so I just got you know it's the same thing man I I it's a nervous tick some people have where they just, they, they can't not be talking. There's also, um, sentence finishers. That's a pet peeve. Oh, God. They're constantly trying to guess what you're saying.

And I'm like, that must be exhausting for you. Let me just fin, I have the sentence. It's ready to go. My friend Rob does that. And the thing is, no, no, I do it to Rob where Rob will say something. And I'll go, because I do know these stories. I know him so well that I feel like, I'm like, come on, you're fucking taken forever, dude. So he's like, yeah, so anyway, and I talked to my dad, right, right, and he's in his fuse now.

His back's fused. He didn't have to get the fuse. He goes, no, would you let me finish? You know, you're 90% of the time wrong. And then I'm in an argument where I'm like, no, I'm like 85% right. So, but you're right. I should not finish sentences at all. It is rude, isn't it?

Well, yeah. I mean, again, we all do this. I'm just saying some people are more egregious than others. And I do find that that's funny. Some with people in my life who are really bad at it, I'm like, your brain is worse. working so hard to guess what I'm going to say. You've got four guesses out and they're all wrong.

Let me just tell you my thought and then you'll go. This should be a scene. You have to write this. This is funny. I know. I know. I, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I, you know, like, every buddy, I always think, like, you just said, like, oh, that'd be a good Seinfeld episode or like, oh, that's, that's the beginning of. Seinfeld was so great because it could just take a little

irk, a little something that bothered us and then make a whole episode out of it. Right, right, for sure. Now, you, like, I have, I deal with anxiety and stuff, and I always talk about it in the podcast, but I read that you had OCD as a boy and, you know, I had attention deficit disorder. Do you, OCD is something that you, you manage? Is it something that you had when you were a kid? You lose it. It's gone.

I had anxiety just, first of all, OCD is a type of an anxiety disorder where it manifests in lots of different ways for people. A classic way for children. is tapping, that is to say, and I've told this story on my podcast, because we just did an episode, we just went over an episode where Michael J. Fox was playing someone with Sphere OCD. I had sort of a more mild version of as a child where I remember I would have to touch things and tap things. And if you're wondering what the thinking is going on in the person or in this case the child's mind, I remember thinking, I know even as a, let's say, eight-year-old. that this is crazy.

But just to cover my bases so I'm safe, I'm going to do it. So an example would be I'm leaving the room and we're going out to dinner and I need to kiss the teddy bear on its head six times. And if I don't, something bad could happen. Something bad could happen to my family. Now, I know that that's a crazy thought, even as an eight-year-old, but I remember thinking, you know what, but just to cover my bases, just for safety's sake, I'm going to do it. It's a lot like superstition.

Like, I still won't walk under a ladder. Me neither. I don't think that there's special forces that are going hurt him now. But in my brain still, I go, ah, just to cover my bases, I'm not going to walk onto the ladder. And that's how that, at least that obsessive, compulsive tapping thing manifested for me as a child. Now, did your parents notice it? Like, oh, Zach's doing that. Well, yeah, they brought me to a psychologist or psychiatrist.

I forgot which one. And, you know, he. They explained it to them. My mom was a psychologist, so she was in the know about it. And then I think he said in somebody's, you know, this whole, he'll be dealing with some aspect of this this whole life, just, you know, but it's manageable. And then I, and then I didn't, I didn't think of it in the forefront of my brain because the tapping was sort of the most bizarre stuff, obsessively washing my hands, that sort of

stuff I grew out of. But, you know, and then you just, so. And then I just, you know, began to realize that I was a bit of an anxious person, but that just kind of went along, would feel like the stereotypic East Coast Jewish, you know, guy. I was raised on Woody Allen movies. He was like a, the icon of, of being an East Coast Jewish American. And he, you know, he was cartoonishly neurotic and anxious. And so we just thought it was, I just thought it was, I just thought it was part of being who I was. Right. And now, and now is a 45 year old, I see places where I'm possibly more anxious about things than in the average human being.

Do you think you've gotten more anxious as years have gone on? For me, I felt like I always sort of say, think in terms of I had more energy. So, you know, I was younger. My body could deal with the stress. It could deal with all these things. And then I hit a certain age. And all this shit kind of added up. And now it manifests itself and then comes out in a different way. which doesn't feel as good. Sometimes, you know, I don't feel as confidence. Sometimes I feel a little bit just too much on edge. I'm a little bit wound up.

The anxiety affects me differently than it did when I was younger. So do you feel that? Yes, absolutely. It's the same thing. I think that it just found a way to peek its head out in a different way. There's a line I wrote some of this in my film Garden State because it was manifesting itself in a post- when I graduated college in a new way.

And I was having these really bad sporadic headaches. And I did go to a neurologist, and they said in so many words, it's things, are you, there's nothing wrong with you? And in the film, the neurologist tells me, you know, if you don't deal with some of these things, they're going to find a way of peeking their head out of the water. And so that's kind of how I,

I felt, you know, in my early 20s, I felt like I haven't, the doctor as I was a child was right. I haven't really dealt with any of this in any way. And I don't really know how. I mean, I can go to therapy. I can do things that decrease my anxiety. But at the time, I felt really scared and anxious, for lack of a better word, about it. And so that was one of the things that created Garden State. It sort of came out of all that. Well, what makes you anxious now? What, uh, and what do you do about it? Like, what, what things make you anxious? The way I would describe it is, is that, um, anything that makes everybody else anxious makes a person with, with OCD or anxiety, um, anxious. It's just ours, our base is higher. We're starting higher.

You know, you can have like an adrenaline surge that's the equivalent of, you know, of you were almost in a car accident over something that might make someone uncomfortable or anxious, but shouldn't warrant a giant adrenaline spike. Yeah, I feel like my anxiousness is, this is why I get upset. Like, if you're getting upset about something that seems somewhat significant, hey, you know, I have to go do stand-up tonight in front of a thousand people and I've only been doing it a couple of months. Okay, there's, you know, it's warranted, right?

but then when you start going I gotta go get the mail I'm a little anxious about the male I mean maybe not that small I don't do that but there's always a bit of anxiousness with everything I do I feel like I'm always a step ahead

like I have to hurry through things I have to get them you're worrying you know some of us worry more I think there's some people who go through life I always just thought everyone was like this but I realize now at 45

there's people that go through life worrying less and being, I don't know, they can operate more easily in a time. I mean, this is just such a, you know, this time with this pandemic and the economic crisis that's, that it's causing and all every, and of course, the politics, the president and all of that, it's just such a fucking giant cluster fuck of, of, of, of anxiety. for everybody yeah um so it's a very heightened time yeah you know you you live down up the street for me we are neighbors i drive by you and and we wave um and we finally um now we're finally having a chat i'm i'm i'm really glad about that i am too and it you know it's rare to see you and i look at your like you know everything you've done and it was one of those things where i'm like this guy doesn't

stop and i always look at like i said this to dax i've said this to other people that you know you're directing you're writing you're doing i mean there's this list is endless. There's not, you're, you don't sit there and do nothing, do you? Is it very hard for you? Well, my, my, yes, very hard for me. Why? That cause that causes anxiety for me if you're asking what are triggers. My agent said it best when I was, I'm sure, frustrating the fuck out of him. My directing agent, I was probably bugging about some project I wanted to set up. And he was like, you know, you don't idle well. And I don't idle well. I like to be, I'm happiest when I'm working. I'm happiest when I'm creating. Um, you know, when you do, you know, when you do, you

what we do, and you're basically a freelance creator, whether you're an actor, director, writer, singer, songwriter, you're always waiting for the next thing to happen. And when I'm not doing that, I, I'm, I'm not as happy as when I'm doing it. But how do you handle? I just got a four-day, I just did a four-day directing job for an Amazon show. And it was like mega-co, it's my only time I've worked during COVID. And it was all the. extreme precautions and PPE and directing in shields and mass and it was I mean almost silly sometimes the level of safety which was completely appropriate and I'm happy about it but it was crazy directing in a fit mask and a shield and staying 10 feet away from your actor but my point was

the whole time I was there I was so happy I felt like I felt like a fish back in water you know I just that's what I like doing I like making things now you still have a girlfriend Florence or whatever. Yes. Yeah, yeah, you guys have been dating a while. Now, you know, when you have jobs the next morning, like people work, they go to a nine to five, most people in the real world, right? We're very fortunate that, you know, we get to go on set and, but still, you know, with certain jobs, the work never dies. It never ends. So when you have someone or you're around your friends, is your mind always thinking about tomorrow? Is your mind always thinking about set lists and all the things you have to do? Is it hard to be present with someone? And is, I mean, that's, that's

what it seems like if you're always working, then it's hard to just disconnect from it. I don't really, I think we're both, because we're both, well, this has been, it's been on, this, this year doesn't count. It's funny to say, because everything's got thrown up in the air. But traditionally, I think we're both been people who are excited about the things we're working on. And so we'll, we chat about it. And we want to, we want to say, oh, you know, we read this page. I wrote this today. And I think it's kind of, the scene is. getting better or or or or I'll run lines with her and and you know so we we bring it we bring it into the relationship we bring the we bring it together and and yeah otherwise you're off in your

corners are you a defensive person like I think I get sometimes defensive when someone tells me says something that I'm not that I know isn't true that's the worst thing you could do to me I try to get better about it in my as I've gotten older and accept criticism and and really look at the situation. I think that's something that comes with age being being able to go, okay, let me, my first instinct is to be defensive and be pissed, but let me, let me pause. Let me think. Okay. I can see your perspective on that. I mean, this is after working on myself a bunch. Yeah. And doing sort of, you know, courses and, you know, I'm interested in, in, in, in, in doing work on myself. And I've, again, I had my stepfather was a psychologist, my mom's a psychologist,

my stepmother's a therapist. So I've had a lot of this stuff in my life and I'm always kind of working on myself. So to answer your question, I think I'm, my instinct, of course, like everyone else is to be like, fuck you. But in my head, I'm thinking like, okay, well, zoom out for a second. What was their perception of it? How did it come across? Like, you know, let's look at it from their shoes. Yeah. Well, you know, I picture myself as somewhat of a leader at times. But I do, defer to people who are smarter than me, which is most people. And I, a lot of times, whether it's a therapist, and they say, when your mom asks for something or money or this, or she's crying about her, you know, she has to get a mammogram and she's scared. And she keeps doing,

you don't have to just give into this thing and take all this energy and, and just sort of like, it's exhausting. So she'll say, it's almost like, I, in therapy, I want you to tell me what to do. I want you to tell me what to say sometimes. And she says, say to your mother or other people that do this. I'm sorry to hear that. So I started doing that. And I was like, I don't know. I was like, mom, I'm really sorry to hear that. And I was like, yeah, fuck yeah. You just said that. Fuck yeah. You didn't go on that. And then she's like, what your therapist tell you to say that? Oh, God damn it. Shut up. You know, so those things. I mean, I think a lot of times people just want to vent.

They don't really want your tooth sense. I find like a lot of times people just want you to be heard. And you just let them go and let them vent and you go, wow, I hear you. Yeah, that sucks. Oh, my God. Yeah. Oh, I can understand how you'd feel that. Yeah.

And they just kind of want to be. I mean, that's why, I mean, isn't that what 90% of the therapist does anyway? I mean, occasionally they'll give you some good tidbits and some good steering. but yeah, I think a lot of times, I think I've realized that a lot of times people, when they're in a space where they're bitching, they don't want you to be like, here's what you need to do. Then they get all riled up and they're mad. They really just want you to listen. See, you just gave me some great advice.

Yeah, I'm a better therapist than your therapist. But I know certain people look at me afterwards and I go, you know, I'm really sorry. And they want you to kind of, come on, tell me what. And they look at you like, that's it. That's all you got. But maybe it's healthier. It is, obviously it's healthier. No, I think you, to me, I think, I mean, if they keep asking you, like, what should I do?

What should I do? Then, of course, you can weigh in. But I think, like, I think more often than not, and your listeners may disagree, but I feel like people want to be heard. And it's, there's a lot. What they want is, I hear you. That fucking sucks. If I was in your shoes, you're justified in being upset about that. If I was in your shoes, I would be completely upset by that.

My mom, as a therapist, well, as a therapist and a mom, would say to me something that I always remembered from my childhood, which was she would say, you know, if you weren't upset by that, Zach, there'd be something wrong with you. And I really, I've held on to that my whole life. I think that's really helpful because I think so often we feel like we're not justified in what we're feeling. and my mom, as a therapist, sorry, my dog's decided now's the time to play with the toy right by the mic. That's a cute dog. What's her name?

That's Billy. You've seen her in the car before our walks. Do we walk by your house? I promise, I always curb her the dog. If she poops outside your house, I always pick it up. Billy's decided it's funny with dogs. I imagine if it's like this way with children. She wasn't playing with this toy the whole day,

but I called you and she decided, now's the time. Yeah. Anyway, that phrase always stuck with me, which was, you know, if, and if you're a parent, I think it's great for children. It really, because I always felt heard for lack of a better term, that she would be like, I hear you. You know, if there wasn't, that's, you're so justified in that. If you didn't feel that emotion and that happened, there'd be something wrong with you.

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If there's unusual activity in your accounts, if you're close to going over budget, and even when you're doing a good job, Rocket Money's 5 million members have saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions. With members saving up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features, cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Download the Rocket Money app and enter my show name inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum in the service. so they know I sent you. Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Rocket Money. By the way, Ryan here, who you can't see is my editor-engineer. He's awesome. I love him. And he's a big Scrubs fan. I mean,

you have so many Scrubs fans. But I asked him, he says thank you. I guess you have headphones on. You can hear that. Ryan, thank you very much. But his favorite episode, is the go ahead tell him oh it's uh overkill the one with colin hay at the beginning yeah that's a great one thank you thank you we didn't so yeah so what happened was we were gonna do a a re i let me start this fucking sentence man at work by the way was on there was on the show and and ryan colin hay who wasn't men at work and now has an amazing solo career where he where he has tons of great songs you should check out and he also of course does covers of the old men at work songs as like folk acoustic and they're amazing. And at the time we were making scrubs,

you know, a very long time ago, but we had him on. We used his music and then because he's sort of a funny character and, and, and has had been on, I think the Larry Sanders show as himself or something. So we had him on in a fantasy sequence and he was, he was wonderful. Yeah. If I said, I can't get to sleep. What would you say? I think about the expectation. I think it's implication. implications diving in too deep and possibly the complications especially at night i worry of the situations i'm telling you have you heard his his like solo acoustic version of that i had lunch with him last year uh i've seen him acoustic a few times i i just i love his stuff he's so charming i'm telling you if you guys if you're listeners if you guys haven't heard go go listen to some Colin Hay, like, obviously you'll listen to the men at work songs you might like

that he covers, like Overkill. But there's just, I just don't think I'll ever get over you. It's just one of my favorite heartbreaking Colin Hay songs. Beautiful, my, my, it's a beautiful world, a beautiful world. He's so talented. He's so talented. And when the world opens back up, go see him live because he tours. And it's mostly just him with a guitar.

But he'll tell, you know, most artists, they tell you a story about the song and you're like, okay, get to the song. He goes off on the funniest stories. He's like a part stand-up. And you're cracking up about him telling these anecdotes. And he's done it for so long, just like a stand-up comedian. He knows what works and what doesn't work. And he tells these wonderful stories and then goes into a song.

It's really great. Yeah, he's a great storyteller. You know, when you got scrubs, obviously, I didn't believe this, but I mean, I believe it. But six times you audition for it. Is that true? Yeah. But, you know, that's a lot. Like, I mean, I can understand you go in.

they want to see you again, and they want you to test. But that's six times. I mean, what did they want to see? What did they want to see from Zach Braff? Well, it's a very good question. I think I was a waiter, and I didn't have many credits. I had only done a handful of things, but I had nothing they could really look at and be like, oh, he'd just been on this show.

And I was up against a couple of known people that I won't say, but I'll tell you off the air. And so I was like, I was kind of like, I'm never going to get this. They're going to give it to one of these known guys. But so I, but then I kept getting called back. And then I got called back again. And then it was like a work session with Bill, the showrunner. And then it was, okay, we want to see a chemistry with you and Sarah Chalk who'd already been cast. And then it was, then you know how the end goes. You then go in front of the studio. Apparently they're not doing this like they used to back in our day when we got going. But for those are listeners who don't know, when you go to the studio a studio test you would then go in front of like 10 to 20 people

and it was so intimidating and then if you pass that round you'd then go to the network where there could be I remember for scrubs it was probably 25 people packed in a small room and and all staring at me and it's like the I remember thinking it's like the Olympics like it doesn't matter how well you did it at home it's like you do it now or you die and And it's a ludicrous process because I never understood why you're making the actor sweat so hard. They're not auditioning to be in a Broadway show, you know, where they have to perform live in front of me. They're auditioning to be an actor that's great on set that cuts together well. So why not now, at least when I've done pilots in latter years, there's more like, okay, we'll look at the tape.

We don't need to have you come in and do this in a tiny room in front of 30 people and so much pressure. Well, it worked out. Yes, it did. How many seasons was it? I did nine. We did nine. Good God. I left a little bit early, so I sometimes said I did eight and a half, but we did nine.

Now, obviously, you directed a ton, you directed the 100th episode, you directed, I don't know, what, 30 episodes, 20 episodes? No, no, not that many, actually. I thought it was more, too, and I recently went back and looked, and I think I only did like seven or so. Do you remember when you first directed an episode of Scrubs, were you really worried about It's like now you're directing these people you've been working with. And that's the scariest because you want to make them think he knows what he's doing.

Do you remember that first day? Yeah, I had tiptoed in because here with my tiptoe in was, well, first of all, Bill pretty much made fun of me like a big brother. Our showrunner creator has since become one of my best friends and he's a mentor to me. But at the time, we had a very big brother, little brother relationship. He was supportive of me. loved me, but he was tough on me and I think he had an interest, it seems, well, he's admitted in the past of sort of keeping my ego in check because he didn't want to have a kid who'd become super famous and cocky and ruin his life.

So he would do things to bring me down a notch. And I remember that the line producer said that I could direct the music video for this theme song. And I thought that was so exciting. And Bill sort of made fun of me. He said something to quip, like, oh, well, that should make sure no one ever sees it. And I really felt like shit. And he did it in front of the crew.

And I did it. And I said to myself, I need to crush this. I need to crush this to not only show him up and give him the finger, but also so that the cast will trust me so I could one day direct an episode. So I just put everything I had into it. And I made a really cool music video, which I, haven't seen in years, but you could check out if you're curious on YouTube. And then what happened was Garden State, this was roughly 2003. Then Garden State happened. And Garden State had a record sale at Sundance. And then he had to sort of eat crow and change his whole tune. And then he was like,

okay, you can direct an episode. But the big brother didn't go away because he gave me an episode that was impossible to execute in five days. It was like epically huge. And, lots of locations and stunts and literally a night shoot on the universal New York Street backlot with a stunt like as though he was saying like, all right, motherfucker here, go, direct an episode. Yeah. It was like, you know, it was like a 10 day episode meant to be shot in five. I feel like that's an ego thing and that's like a, I'm not saying it, you know, Bill's a great guy.

I've had other people do that to me, you know, when I directed an episode at Smallville and I had, there were producers that were they, some people, they want to. to see you fail. They want, they want you, or they want to see you struggle and see how hard it is to actually direct. They don't want you to walk in there and go, oh, look, here he's being given the keys when they've worked their whole lives to do what they're doing. And so when they, you know, they say, okay, drive. Now, doing a TV show, ever, it's a lot easier than directing a movie and then hiring the crew because everybody knows what they're doing. And so, you know, well-oiled machine by then. Right. It's easier. But I think there is definitely that, that, that

thought of uh i don't know how many people in general how do you think people generally go i want to see him succeed no you know what my favorite hollywood quote is i don't know who said it but i always think of it when when this shit happens in my life i go you want to sum up hollywood it's like people want you to do well but they don't want you to do that well yeah i and i can't even express how true that is and if you're thinking of coming here i'll just know that people want you to do well, but they don't want you to do that well. I think that's why, I mean, and that's on a micro and macro scale. That could be your friend who's an actor.

Yeah, they're happy you got that pilot, but now they're kind of pissed you got that pilot because everything's going to change. Or it could be on a macro scale of, you know, the media and the internet builds up a new star only to just fucking wait five, four, three, two one to fucking drag them down. man i i'm glad you you said that because i feel that way and i feel that way even with like it could be friends it could be where they really they want you to be successful and healthy and there's no malice there's no but they don't want you to get bigger than they are they don't want you to get more attention than they have and that is just innately some people that's

just that that's who they are i'm sure you when you got your big break um had a few friendships disappear i did yeah you know i my thing is is i don't change in a way of like and i'm sure you did i mean look you change because now i'm not living in a one bedroom with four guys now i'm not now i'm able to have my own car and now i'm able to so there's there's definitely changes but i would purposely try to do i'm just always i'm a kid at heart i grew up in indiana i don't want to go bowling. I want to karaoke. I want to do stupid shit because that's what makes me happy. So I would go to the opposite. I wouldn't do fancy shit. Fancy shit is something I don't feel comfortable with. I didn't do fancy shit, dude. I'm just saying that. I'd say you did do

fancy shit. You know what I bought? The first thing I bought was a shower. I went into waterworks, which is a very expensive, what do you call it? Apply not appliance. Fixures. You know, bathroom and kitchen fixtures place. And I said, what's the most expensive shower? head that you have in the store right now available for me to leave with. And they were like this one. And I was like, I'll take it. It was the first thing I bought with my, with my, with my, newfound money. You know what I bought? Shit you not. There's, there's, there's two things that I remember. Three things. I did this seven minutes scene in a movie called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil with Clint Eastwood. He directed me. And I wasn't invited to the premiere, but I thought I'd

show up. And I bought myself a suit at Fred Siegel. I spent for a jacket, shoes, everything, probably about $2,000. I didn't have it. But I wanted to look like a movie star for my seven-minute scene. I guess. And I'm not kidding. I'm not trying to act like, oh, this is, like, how could I make my son? I was dropped off in a cab in front of Warner Brothers. I walked there and I waited and I saw Spacey, who's in the movie. Oh, cab, it's Rosenbaum. He was like, oh, hey, how's it going? I was like, what are you doing? Are you coming into the movie or not? And I said, yeah, no, I am.

I go, I don't have a ticket. You don't have a fucking ticket? Just come with me. It's fine. So I walked. That's a good impression. Well, thank you. And I walked in and that's how I got in.

So I spent all that money. That was one thing. So that wasn't really, I don't even know why I told that story. But B, I told my dad the first time I bought a Gallagia machine, the full size Gallagia machine for 800. You know the arcade game from the 80s? Yeah, I bought arcade games too. I think that's like a, I think that's like a.

Our age, our age range, nostalgia, like first, first giant check. You're like, what arcade game will I be getting from my living room? Mine was Spy Hunter. Oh, I love Spy Hunter. Was that the song? No, nah, yeah. That's it. That's it.

Nah, nah, nah. You know, also, I remember when going in style, when you directed that movie. Yeah. First of all, I was a little bit jealous. I was like, oh, my God, that's one of my favorite old movies with George Burns. and Lawrence Olivia and I was no it's Lee Straussberg yeah and George Burns and Arc Carney yeah right and so I remember I was so it's like oh my God and the movie was so fun but all I kept thinking was how is Zach not freaking out directing Morgan Freeman Michael Kane

Alan Arkin how is he on set every day acting cool I was freaking out dude every day I was freaking out. And I couldn't believe it. You know, I'd only made, I'd made two small indies that I, that I'd written, wish I was here in my second one I wrote with my brother Adam. And they were all, you know, they were, they were relatively tiny. This was like a giant action heist movie with three big stars. I just kind of couldn't believe it was happening. And I'm looking over at the poster, which is on my wall. And I love them. I love all three of them so much. And and I think at the time I was just I just knew like an actor I had to play the part of confident director but I was certainly a bunch of times having to give myself pep talks well what were

the I to me it seems like the and I'm sure he's a brilliant not he's friendly as shit I just look at him and I'm like got but Alan Arkin right I just picture and doing that why are you doing that for we we just did that already I just why don't know what he sounds like like but sort of all three of them are big personalities and uh it's kind of like a real it's an advanced class in directing because first of all we direct i shot that movie in in manhattan in brooklyn and for the most part and in the summer um and crowds form i mean crowds form when you're shooting anything in manhattan not crowds people are used to it hold on let me deal with let me deal with the crime dog two seconds baby what do you want for me how about out here i guess it's

good practice for a kid when you're like, how do I assess what the dog wants? Right. Yeah, I think this was it. I want to sprint in the garden, not watch you do a podcast. I'm back. So obviously, people in Manhattan and tourists and such are used to seeing film shoots and everything. But when you're shooting a scene with Morgan Freeman and Michael Kane and Alan Ark

arc and like a crowd forms. And so, and paparazzi come. And so it's, I'm doing. doing an action movie with seniors in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the middle of summer with crowds and paparazzi. And it was like, I just remember some days laughing being like, this is like, how the hell do we shoot this, losing the sunlight? And there's like a giant crowd that's at least been wrangled to that corner. So we have to frame that corner out. But ultimately, it was a lot of fun. And I'm really proud of the movie. I think that, I mean, I didn't write it.

I wish I'd wrote it. Ted Melfi did a great job. writing it. But I, you know, it was, it was in my, my audition, if you will, to, to the studios that I could scale up and make something bigger if I, if I was given the opportunity. Did you ever do impressions of them in front of them? Probably not in front of them. But right now. I can do one now for you. I remember Michael Kane coming to set one day. I have to get in a character, Michael Caine, Michael Cain, I'd just seen Hamilton, and he had seen Hamilton the night before, and he's coming, he's saying, you're not going to, it's amazing, this one's talking like this, and the other one's singing like this, it's amazing. He was like giving his rent, Michael Cain presents

Hamilton his impression of, of rapping, which was pretty hilarious. And then of course, Morgan chimes, he goes, he's not going to be talking about this again, is he? Morgan, no. Do you do a good Morgan? Morgan, hello, this is Morgan Freeman. He was my out. message for a while because he lost the bed to me and in losing the bet he had to do my outgoing voice message. It was like, hello, this is Morgan Freeman. Zach can't from him to the phone right now. Please leave him a message. The funniest story was that I, dude, well, first, first time we had a, I got them all in a room together, the Carlisle Hotel, the super fancy New York City hotel. And it's me. I'm in a suite that's sitting around a small circular table is Michael

Kane, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin, and me. And we're just sitting there. And we just start talking about the movie. And I just can't believe how surreal this is, but I'm sitting there. We're just shooting this shit. We get to a scene in going in style where the characters get high. And Michael Kane stops and he goes, you know, I don't know if I've ever been high before. I think Richard Burton got me high.

But I don't really remember. What's it like? And then so I start describing to Michael Kane what being. high is like, I'm like, oh, you're kind of giggly and it's a little bit like being drunk, but it's more a little bit more silly and, and, and I'm just, whatever, I go on and describe it to him. And then, you know, my eyes pan over to Morgan Freeman who just looks at me and goes, I'm a pot hit. That is really good.

It was Morgan's way of telling me, like, I won't need practice. And if you look at the movie, if you watch the scene, Morgan clearly shows that he's had a joint in his fingers before. What is the hardest thing about success for you? Like, what is it that, because people say, oh, poor guy, you know, it seems like you can't ever talk about problems because you should have any problems if you make a lot of money. If you're, you know, you do movies and you do these things. We're ultimately lucky and grateful as we are. It's hard to bitch.

But what are, what's the toughest thing for you about, I mean, you've been famous for a while. But what is it? Is it just sort of, well, you can answer the question. I don't know. I mean, I don't, I feel even stupid answering even after you gave your, your qualifier. I mean, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I think, unless you're in the public eye, you could never get used to reading something false and mean about yourself, um, that some writer took a long time to write, whether it's a bad review or it's an article about you. It's just that I don't think anyone could fully digest. just someone or a publication publishing something super mean and or negative about you until you've experienced it. And if you're in a public eye and you put out things, people are going to write about what you're up to. What's the one thing that hurt your feelings the most though? Like if you read something about yourself and you like knew it wasn't true or

maybe you'd... I mean, I don't want to call out a specific thing because that'll just call attention to it. But I just think, you know, there's times where I'll read something. I'm like, wow, this fucking person got the assignment to review my movie and they clearly don't like me yeah yeah you know it's like it's not like my movie's shit it's like i'm shit and i just always i just don't think i've been i've been famous quote unquote famous for 20 years i don't think i'll ever get used to that have you ever thought of responding to them like what do you got against me in the beginning i used to i totally used but back in the beginning with like the beginning of the internet and my space and Facebook and I would, or even call people sometimes, I would totally engage.

I'll give you an example. I will give an example. I won't say the magazine, but I once, early on in my success, I had a, I met with a writer. He was going to do a big piece on me. And it was a big deal for me because I hadn't been profiled, you know, before. And I spent the day with the guy. We had a blast. Went around Lower Manhattan, started with coffee, then got a few drinks, then just shot

the shit. I'm sure this has happened to you too. It's happened to almost everyone that's I know that's been famous. The article comes out and I look like such a fucking asshole. And I was just, I was gabsmacked. And I call, so I asked my publicist, I go, can't the guy's number? I mean, I'm just, I'm curious. I have to call this guy. And I'm like, dude, this is like a hit piece. What did you do? And he goes, full disclosure, I handed in the story and they said it has to have an angle. It had no edge to it. It had no angle. I needed to find an angle. I needed to find an angle. So this was what I had to do. And I was like, I learned the lesson early on. Like, there's this story. There's a reason, if you look at huge megastars, like we are at Caprio,

Brad Pitt, there's never, there's never, they never sit down for those, those things anymore. It's always Q&As. It'll say QA, QA, QA, QA, QA. Because they've, they're like, well, I don't need to do that. Why do I need you to go spin how our day went? You know what I mean? Yeah. And I learned early on that people don't want to read that me and this writer had a fun day walking around Manhattan doing like a pub crawl. They want to read an angle. They want to read an edge. That's so true.

People want you to do well, Michael. They don't want you to do that way. I don't want you to do that well. Inside you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this. Ryan uses this. So many people use Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions.

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Ask your family eye care professional for SLOR Stellis Lenses at your child's next visit. What do you do for fun, man? What do you do for, like, you know, what makes you happy? What, I mean, I hate that. That's a bad question. What makes, like, what's fun for you? Besides work, what is fun? I love, even though I just broke my toe, I love riding a motorcycle.

I didn't know you rode motorcycles. I do. Why was a Seinfeld there? I didn't know you did that. That brings me joy. What else brings me joy? Being with my girlfriend brings me a lot of joy, playing with my dog. In normal times, going to the movies, going to the theater, I have a place in Manhattan

and I go there often and spend a lot of the year there in normal times. And nothing makes me happier than going to dinner and then going to the theater and then going out for drinks with friends after. That's like my perfect night. If you had a choice to do theater, movies, or TV, that's it. You get one to do one. That's it. I don't care.

that's it one of them what is it well now it would be tv because i think well you're talking about as an actor or director i guess or both but then you have to choose um well i guess i would choose films because but i was about to give a qualifier that now everything's on streaming but i my answer would be a film whether it's streaming or in the theaters um i love theater but uh it's a lifestyle that's really hard i did a i did a broadway show for six months it was supposed to be a year but I only did it for six months because it wasn't selling well enough and it closed. But after six months, I was like collapsed on the ground after doing eight shows a week. So I love it, but it's not something that I have the desire to do right now at this point of my life.

Do you, are you able to turn off? Let's say you do a show. It finishes, you know, Broadway shows are like what, eight o'clock, eight to 11? Yeah. You're done. Can you shut off the next morning? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

That's why everyone goes and gets drinks after. because you, I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I'm sure, considering the amount of alcohol consumed by Broadway actors, dancers, and singers, I can tell you it must be not just me. Yeah, it's very hard. Your adrenaline is going so strong. And it's like 11 o'clock at night. And your body's like, I'm not going home. Well, what about the next day? You wake up. Are you thinking about that night? It's a weird life because then you wake up the next day and you have the whole day free unless it's you know the weekends or or wednesday and um but you can't really commit to too much because you got to be at the theater by 730 so it's also really hard

to maintain relationships your partner has to be down with that lifestyle you know friendships kind of go by the wayside because you can't ever go to dinner with anyone you can't ever unless they come to get a drink after the show you never really see them do you get nervous before a show every show every every single performance Every perform. What time in the day, if you're going up at 8, do you start feeling those butterflies? 7.15, they start, when you're in your dressing, when you start hearing them come over the intercom saying things like, half hour, this is your half hour call.

Half hour, everybody. Welcome to Tuesday, everybody, half hour, half hour. And then you're like, that's when you're like, oh, fuck, here we go. I got to go. I got to go do it. Who's, every time I think, every time I think I'm going to fail or I'm going to fuck up or it's going to go horribly wrong. Do you ever go up on your lines where you're like, just, just, just, just,

fucking completely disastrous. I have. Thank God, knock wood, touch everything in the world. Not so horribly, I couldn't get back or with the help of friends. But that's my, that's a huge anxiety. I mean, that's, you know, actors have nightmares about that. What's the most famous person that ever came to watch you? You found out, oh, look, Kenna Reeves is in the audience.

He's here to see who, Zach? My man crush, Chris Martin, came. That was a big moment for me. What's your favorite Coldplay song? Oh, it's got to be Fix You. Because it's, I love Fix You, I think. And What If? And Swallowed by the Sea.

Who's your favorite band ever? Tough question. I can't answer that. I can. What is it? Chicago, probably. Really? I just love that.

I didn't say Steely Dan. Oh, I like Steely Dan. But you know what? Here's the problem with Steely Dan. Don't see them live because you'll be. get screamed at by people behind you with binoculars saying sit down so you can't ever dance or anything you're like sitting there i go i got on a fight not a fist fight but i'm i you know i paid really good money to see steely dan you know like 40 dollars at least and uh i'm there and i'm just

going i'm like go back jack do it again wills and the guy's like sit down and i'm like i paid good money to come to a concert and have fun why don't you watch on dvd asshole It's tricky, these concerts, these musicians that fall between, there's musicians that are clearly sit down performers, and there's musicians that are clear standing performers. The ones that fall in between, you're always going to have a problem with people being like, sit down. That's true. All right, this is called shit talking with Zach Braff. This is rapid fire. These are my patrons, so all patrons want to ask some questions.

They like you. Okay. Nico P., if you're having an off day, what is something you do that helps you get in a better mood? meditate does that really help you because i tried it for a while what how long do you have to meditate for it to work 20 minutes use the app headspace there's a bunch of them but i like headspace because i like the guy's voice um just do it 20 minutes a day in the morning um not after you've had a ton of coffee because that defeats the purpose if you've had coffee then wait or do it before coffee um and do it 20 minutes a day for five days i bet you'll notice it wow leant p what's

something that people would be surprised to learn about you. I have my pilot's license. Air, like pilot. Yes, I fly airplanes. I mean, I don't currently fly airplanes because I let my license lapse and I'm not current, but I did get super into it and bought a plane and flew around the country. That's it. I can never be a pilot because I'm colorblind. Oh. But I think that you don't, yeah, I'm colorblind. I mean, I know I'm colorblind. I'm just saying is that I'm sure that's I didn't know that that was a restriction. I mean, there are, yeah, I couldn't see why it would be. there's things that involve needing to see colors. Yeah, and they're like, okay, those blue lights right there.

I'm like, which ones are those? Am I, so am I right? You're really, you're really colored. It's not like you can replace it saying, oh, for everyone else, my green is red or whatever. You're really cool. Blue greens, right? Yeah, yeah, anyway, Emily S.

Did you improvise on scrubs often? Yeah, a ton. And that's a credit to Bill. I gave me shit for being tough on me, but I should end by saying, I love him to death and he's one of my best friends in the world. But as a, as a, you know, a nod to him, he was very, very free with letting us play around. And a lot of people's favorite stuff came from us just being, you know, so close and silly. And the thing about scrub is it created such a safe environment.

You know, when you go on a job as an actor in a normal situation, you know, it's like first day of school. You're nervous. You want to do a good job. You want to seem like you're good. at what you do, and you're like, you don't want to put yourself out there too much. You don't want to overstep or be too big. Whereas after the family that was created in scrubs, and I'm sure you felt this with your shows too, is that it creates an environment where there's like, there's a net underneath the line. And you can always go crazy and do whatever comes to your mind and just be

fully self-expressed. And out of that safety, a lot of it will be too silly and not make sense. but some of it will be gems, and a lot of that happened on Scrubs. Who is the one? I mean, I'm sure it's going to be hard to answer because you don't want to say one person, but who's the one guy or girl who made you laugh the most? There's just- Neil Flynn. I can say it.

Everyone on Scrubs would probably say the same answer, Neil Flynn, who played the janitor. He's a hilarious improv comedian and a genius, funny person. Do you remember a day where you just- There's times in the script where it would just say, and then Neil makes up something. Because the writers, it would be like midnight, and they'd be like, I don't know. Whatever we're going to say he's going to beat anyway, so just have him come up with a punchline. It would say like parentheses, Neil makes up something funny here.

And he always would. No, times 10, dude. He's the most quick-witted actor I've ever performed with. What's the one thing that you remember where you just couldn't stop laughing? Like, people were getting pissed because they couldn't move on. There's a bit, and you can look at this up on the gaggrels on YouTube, but there's a bit where the janitors, wanted me to wear his wife had made me short shorts made of the scrubs material and he wanted me to wear them and I was like I'm not I'm a doctor I can't wear short shorts to work and he said

but my wife and this is all stuff he was making up he's like but my wife put a lot of work to these she doesn't have the good lord didn't bless my wife with all 10 fingers she was just born with pointer and thumb pinky and he then proceeded to to show how she made the short shorts using pointer and thumbicky, and I couldn't get through it. And that's just him being silly and crazy. Lisa H. I love the show Alex, Inks. Such a shame we got canceled. I know what getting canceled is like. Great premise, great cast. Did being a part of that show inspire you to create your own podcast with Donald? That's a very good question. I didn't know much about podcasts at all other than the serial podcast,

which I devoured and thought was amazing, like so many people. It was the entry in to the podcast world. And then I got introduced to the story of Alex Blumberg and a podcast called Startup. Season one of the podcast startup was the inspiration for Alex Inc. And that and that guy's story, which is an even crazier story because since the shows got canceled, he sold it for like a billion dollars. And now the character that I was playing is, is incredibly loaded. So it would have been a great season too. But, um, but so I didn't know much about podcasts. Then the show got canceled and the genesis of the podcast to do with Donald, which is called fake doctors, real friends, um, came because the two gals from the office started doing one, um, for, for the office.

And they were approaching Donald and I, because they know we're best friends in real life. And they said, would you guys ever want to do this? We said, okay, sure, that could be fun. I mean, it was, it was, we said, we can't really do it when we're working. But when we have downtime and another one of is doing anything, we'll bang out some episodes and it'll be fun. We haven't seen these episodes in 20 years. Well, then COVID hit. And we were like, we have absolutely nothing else to do but this. And it became a great thing for us. It was like therapy because just like I am with you, me and my best buddy and these two producers who are super fun would just sit around and laugh and tell stories. And neither one of us were ever stand-ups, right? But with the joke structure,

with the spine of an episode of Scrubs to use as a reference point, it was the perfect, you know, format for us because we could just riff and go on long tangents. And again, we never thought it would be so successful. But it's been great. People really like it. And for us, I look forward to it because it feels like, oh, I can go see my friends and have a chat, just like I am with you. I love that. Fake doctors, real friends, guys, you got to listen to it. Claudine, I love how Donald always says you want a Grammy for a mixtape. Yeah, that's true. What's your favorite song on the Garden State soundtrack?

Oh, wow. I mean, God, that's what a hard question to answer. But I'm going to just go with the first one that comes to my mind and say, um, um, only living boy in New York, Paul Simon. Because I never thought we were going to get Only Living Boy in New York. And, um, you know, just as a, um, a motion. motivational pep talk for your listeners, every single person I know said, I will never get those songs on that soundtrack. They were, you know, if you're a filmmaker or an editor and you do a

rough cut of your first assembly, you put in whatever music you want because you know you're not going to necessarily be able to license it all, but you just kind of want to create the vibe. The song will be like, in the spirit of the only living boy in New York, I know we won't be able to get that, but that's a placeholder. And then we filled Garden State with those. And every single buddy, every single person I know said, that's great, but you never get any of those songs. And, and in the end, after not giving up and really, really doing everything I could short of giving hand jobs, I got every song but one. Which one didn't you get? Fiona Apples manager.

It's not Fiona Apple's fault because I love her. And she's such a talented human being. and I wish I was friends with her, but her manager was awful to us, and he was the only person that ultimately still said no. And by the way, who knew it was going to go platinum and become and went to Grammy and become a huge thing? She actually would have made legitimate money, but he was so mean to us that we eventually gave up. So other than Fiona Apple's song, paper bag, which I then later put on another soundtrack because I like the song so much, everybody said yes. Last question, Jeff, Dee, do you have any special charities that you're

involved with that you like to mention? That's a nice question. I just did something I really liked for, we did a reading of the Goonies. And Donald and I were many of the non-lead roles for a great charity that I like called No Kid Hungry.org, obviously helping make sure children don't go hungry during this crazy time. So no kidhungry.org is a good one. And I know it's reputable because the people that organized this reading did their research.

Comeback trail. When's that coming out? The comeback trail is such a good movie. And you've got to see the trailer. It's on YouTube. I have a legitimately large part in this movie. I couldn't believe it myself, but it's me and De Niro and Morgan Freeman again and Tommy Lee Jones and Emil Hirsch.

Really good. I don't know because like so many movies, it was going to come out this fall and got pushed to next year. It looks so funny. Oh, my God. You look so funny that character and you're working with De Niro's sidebikes. Was that just, I mean, honestly, that's the question you're going to hear for the rest of you're like, how was it like working with De Niro? Was he just, was he just kind of quiet like, hey, don't sign. Very quiet. I think the first thing I was surprised about, and a lot of people were surprised about that he's very quiet.

When he's not between, you know, between action and cut, he's the Nero we all know. And if it's intense, he's intense. And if it's funny, he's being crazy. And he's, I mean, it's a joy to watch. It's like, if you love actors, it's like having a front row seat at one of the best of all time. but then they call cut and he kind of quietly goes back to his chair and you know and I it was my we were in Albuquerque shooting it and it was my mission that he was going to become my friend so little by little it's like it's like um you know someone in the in the wild befriending like a wolf like dancing with wolves I was like De Niro will be my wolf I'm going to little by little I'm going to be this man's friend whether he likes or not so when you yeah go ahead go ahead

he's just shy I mean I think he's a shy person And of course, because of who he is, everybody in the world wants to talk to him. And he kind of keeps to himself. But little by little, we bonded and became friendly. And now we text and... You text with Robert De Niro. We do. In fact, Flo and I went to dinner at his house, which was just epic.

And yeah, we sat in his massage chair. We both got massages from De Niro's massage chair. Wait a minute. So he'll sit there and go, oh, you got to take a look at this. I'm going to sit down. Oh, it's great. Yeah, the squint. He's really good in the movie, by the way.

I mean, the movie, it's frustrating because I haven't really gotten an opportunity like this in that so much of my career has been the TV show and then the stuff I created and then a handful of other things. But I've never gotten an opportunity to go toe to toe with someone like De Niro in a way that I get to it in this movie. I mean, I'm really, I'm his nephew and we're B-list movie producers in the 70s. You've got to, I mean, I'm not just saying this because I'm in it. It's really funny.

If you watch a trailer, you'll crack up. I saw. I love it. It's such a crowd pleaser. And De Niro's never been so funny since, you know, it was written by George Gallo who wrote Midnight Run. So it's that style of movie. But anyway, it was just a disappointment because this was a huge opportunity for me because I want to show people. you know that I can

but no, no, the other things other than what they know me for and this was a real chance to do that. You know, it's tough because you know you got it. You know like, you have to. It's not, call it ego, whatever it is. It's like you're doing this for a reason.

You're doing, we're in this business because we think we belong. You hope you belong. And, you know, you get opportunities and you succeed with those opportunities and things become successful. Some things don't. But then you sometimes,

go I never really got to do that and I never and you just always are waiting for more and more and it's that insatiable like I guess insatiable thirst of just you know the the wanting to prove yourself doesn't end it's always you want to prove yourself not only to other people but I know I can do this but you want to prove to yourself you want to prove to everybody like look I fucking belong I'm with the Niro and I'm hanging with them and I'm I'm I'm I should be here and again it's so you know what we do when you're an actor like it's so rare that you're ever doing it you know if you're a painter, you can paint all day. If you're a musician, you can write all day. An actor, it's like, you're waiting for the opportunity to finally come. You audition and you hustle and you memorize.

I mean, even when you're not a struggling actor anymore, we're still, you're still hustling and trying to get an exciting opportunity. And then when it finally comes, when the stars align and there's trucks on the street and it's happening, it's just, it's just you really want to bring it and fucking this is you know an older actor once said to me we don't get paid to work we love working we get paid for all the fucking auditions you didn't get and all the times you spent a week memorizing those sides and you didn't get the part that's what you're getting paid for that part sucks when you're acting when you're doing what you love god we should be paying them wow that that's and i've heard it but i haven't heard it it's been a long time and i'm glad

you said it again but did you audition for that for the comeback trail or they don't i would have I would have in a second. But they offers you the role. They said, Zach, we want you to play opposite De Niro in this big movie. And you were like, like a big role. It just came out of nowhere. And you're like, I couldn't, I couldn't believe it. Well, my agents obviously did a good job.

George knew who I was. He had, George Gallo wrote and directed it. He had seen my work. I think he, his wife, I think also was a fan of my work. It's always good when the wife or partner loves you. And I would have read. I got the script. First of all, they call me, the agents call me and go,

George Gallo wants to meet you for the script. I go, oh, that's awesome. Send over the script. So I start flipping through. And I'm like, is this the right part? This part's like in every other scene. They're like, yeah, he wants to meet you. I go, okay, well, I got in some time to memorize of him before.

Like, no, he just wants to meet you. So I go to his house. He lives, you know, up on top of the hill. And we just got together and laughed and just shot the shit and just, you know, the guy who wrote midnight run and you know he's a very funny man we just I just had him belly laughing and uh I'll never forget it was early in the morning and his wife was still in her robe and she's hilarious too and she came in and she's pouring us coffee and we're just high on caffeine just cracking each other up and he goes um he goes look I want to I want you to do this and I was

just like oh my god don't fuck this up he goes the one thing is you got to go meet Bob for coffee because you know because you're doing so much with Bob he just wants to make sure to approve you. So I had meant Robert De Niro just like a cocktail party once or twice. Like, hi, nice to meet you. I think he knew my name. He'd seen me, maybe he'd seen me in a play. We also, not to go on too long a tangent, but my step sister, Jessica Kerson, is a

unknown stand-up comedian. And he, she was his coach when he did the movie about stand-up comedians. So we had Jessica in common I knew that was my inn to befriend him So I'd go meet Teniro who was in town And for coffee And we shot the shit We told some funny stories

Same thing, same thing Kind of bonded You know, he just wanted to feel me out For a half hour, 45 minutes And I, but even when he was leaving I was like, oh God, I'm going to know if he approved me, quote unquote or not And then he kind of winked in me and said,

See you on set. And I knew that I'd gotten the part in that moment. Oh my God. I got anxiety just hearing this story because I picture you're coming in you're like, I'm meeting with De Niro, okay, you don't want to be the guy who's like, I love you, I love your movies. Oh, he's like, fuck off, you know, kid, let's be, you know,

we're having, so you didn't do that. You just said, hey, it's good. We've met before. I know, I know, you know, because I've been lucky enough to work as a director and now as an actor with some of these old legends. So I know that like there's a time in a place where they're in a reminiscing space,

but it certainly isn't when you're just meeting them. They, you know, it's, you know, talk about anything else. They don't want to hear about what you loved about Godfather. But were you still while you're talking to him? You know, like when you're talking to somebody and you're still thinking about, this is Robert De Niro. Are you sputter, like spinning shit out of your mouth going, De Niro, I'm talking to De Niro. Oh, dude, the craziest part is when you watch the movie,

there's scenes where he's screaming in my face. And I'm getting the squinty-eyed in my face with the mole De Niro look. my face and it's just fucking epic dude i remember thinking like i can't believe this is happening and then there's a great scene i have i have one scene in particular that's really big for me where i drive it and i'm fucking mad at him and i'm screaming enough and i slap his face and i'm just like this is fucking the greatest thing oh my god to me honestly i i could retire after if that happened i'm just done i know i might be done now you know as you know when we're when we're actors and And then you have no involvement in the post process.

You just don't know how it's going to turn out. You like do all this work. And then you're like, God, I hope they don't fuck it up. And this actually came out great. It's so funny. And I'm excited for people to see it. The comeback trail, guys, watch the trailer now. I've seen the trailer.

It looks freaking hilarious. I'm very jealous. Give me that quote one more time. I want you to do well. But I feel like you might want me to do really well. The quote is, people want you to do well, but they don't want you to do that well. Listen, I really respect. you and I want you to do well because you're genuinely you can tell this you're a genuinely good

guy you're a good person I could see the things you tweet the things you people like you if you hear a lot of horror stories about someone and bad things you're like oh there's probably a lot of truth of that you don't hear that about Zach Braff you don't it's mostly he's a he's a good guy I'm sure you've ripped people's asses out when you're directing no I'm a very good kind person I thank you and and same back at you and I like that you're my neighbor I hope that we can be real friends. I hope so. I really appreciated your time.

And this has been a real treat for me. And what's your handle just so people can follow you? Like you need more. Oh, I just my name. At Zach Brab, Z-A-F-B-R-A-F on both Instagram and the Twitter. Cool. When you direct something, I got an album coming out. I'm going to throw it at you, buddy.

I love that. I have a new screenplay. One thing that came out of COVID is I have a new, I forced myself to write, which is always hard for me. It's always a process. and I have a new film going to direct, hopefully next year. Fantastic. Well, you know, you got the exclusive here on your show.

You hear that, guys? All right. Well, if you need an actor, I'm about 100 houses down. All right, yeah, yeah, yeah, 100 houses down. Hey, thanks for allowing to be inside of you. You're the best, man. This has been awesome. Thank you.

Bye-bye. I really enjoy that interview and the story with Robert De Niro. My voice, Robert De Niro in the massage chair. I just keep going, wow, man. How great would it be? You know, zero gravity. You don't want to, the whole thing. I don't do it, De Niro, but actually, if you don't look at me,

does it kind of sound like him? I don't know. You're doing this. Your face is doing like 90% of the work. You're doing this thing with, I don't know. No good? I need to be looking at you because it is here. It's mostly a, De Niro is mostly a vigil.

He breathes a lot. Yeah. Every time you're saying this, it's nasly. I don't know. I got nipples, Greg. Could you mock me? Could you? Is that from analyze this?

No, meet the parents. Meet the parents. A big thanks to Zach Brath for being on the show. Hopefully he'll come back. We've got great episodes coming up. Please subscribe if you haven't already. Just go to Apple Podcast, write a review, and on the YouTube, you could subscribe and comment. I read comments.

I respond. In fact, I respond a lot to comment. And if you want to really leave an email, just, you know, at hello at inside of you podcast.com. And I check them. I don't respond always because, you know, it's impossible. But if you order something on the online store, by the way, and then you send a message there, and you're like, oh, I want to cancel my order. It's kind of too late.

I send things fast. People want to get things fast. And remember, if you want to really join the, want to be a groupie for the best. band we'd love to have you uh our spinners the band is sunspin you could be our spinners um at sunspin band our handles please follow us and sunspin dot com you can get merch zooms you could book us for a picnic all sorts of fun shit and uh merch and the also the inside of you online store you can get all the inside of you stuff uh why don't we give a shout out to uh my lovable patrons let's do it there we go should i do an impression this time when i'm doing it

sure what should i do walking walking that's because you did it earlier today ncd lea s trisha f sara v little lisa yukiko jill e brian h lauren g miko p robin s jerry w rhodore s jerry w emily k robert i jason w deniro steven a steven jay is it jay Kristen K. Emilio Alicynel, Jess, J, Lucas M. Raj. There it is. Oh. Raj G. Joshua D. M.A.S. C.J.P.

Samantha M. Jennifer N. Jackie P. Who else? Morgan Freeman. Stacey L. Carl E.H. Is that terrible? You did a good one in the interview. When I first met, Andy.

Janelle B Carrey B Tabitha 272 Not to be confused with Tabitha 273 I'm not going to do it back Ashley Ryan Kimberly E

Crystal H Mike E Marissa N All right give me another one Do you do Seinfeld Or do you accidentally do Seinfeld El Don Supremo? I don't do Seinfeld

I don't do Seinfeld Thurston Howell, Eldon Supremo, Jack S, Ramira, Gilligan, Malcovich, yeah, Beth B, Santiago M, Sarah F, Chad, W, Leanne, P, Roshan, Roshan, Ray A, Maya P, Maddie S, Tiffany, I, F. Ashley E. Something like that. Did you do Nick Cage? No. How about the guy from Silence of the Lambs?

Shannon D. Matt W. Belinda Ann. Wait, wait, wait. We got Kevin V here. James R. Chris H. Anusha W. Osborne. You got an Osborne.

Osborne H. ABC. Dave. Samantha S. Spider-Man Chase Sheila G. Ryan H. Alyssa C. Tab of the T. Misha H. Deb A. Tom and Natalie 622. Not to be confused with. Natalie 622. Suzanne B. Henry S. K. F. Lilliana A. Michelle K. Marcos. W. N. B. I'll you do a little Owen Wilson here with Michael, Michael S. Talia. Wow. Wow. Wow. That's great. Talia M. Luke H. John S. Andrew T. Christie S. Claire M. Liz J. Laura L. Chad B. Rachel E. Nathan E. Brandon E. Brandl D. and Taylor K. I love you guys. And thank you for the support. As always. Um, I hope you enjoyed Zach Braff. If you did, please again, subscribe and listen to us next week. We have another great guest. And always love being here with my friend Ryan. Yeah. Yeah. I guess thanks for allowing to be inside of each and every one of you. Ryan, a little wave. yeah what song are we playing over here from my band sunspin this is one of the new one this is the show

thanks guys said too much oh it's not enough hi i'm joe's all see hi host of the stacking benjamin's podcast today we're going to talk about what if you came across $50,000 what would you do put it into a tax advantage retirement account. The mortgage. That's what we do. Make a down payment on a home. Something nice. Buying a vehicle. A separate bucket for this edition that we're adding. $50,000. I'll buy a new podcast. You'll buy new friends. And we're done. Thanks for playing everybody. We're out of here. Stacking Benjamin's follow and listen on your favorite platform.