Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - The Other Two’s KEN MARINO: Losing Identity & Keeping Hilarity

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

Ken Marino (The Other Two, Wet Hot American Summer) comes bearing gifts on this week’s podcast! Not only that, Ken opens up on his experience losing his identity while trying to find his way in this... industry and the unique way he’s been able to approach this business to reduce stress and enjoy his passion. We also talk about how hard it is to not break while working alongside some heavy hitting comedic geniuses, the possible return of Party Down, and what it’s like to work alongside your partner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:15 And you know Penzoil Platinum, full synthetic motor oil maximizes engine protection. Find it at Canadian Tire. Because Betty deserves the best. Pins Oil. Long may we drive. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. It's almost Halloween, guys. You're listening to Inside of You. Ryan is here.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Yes. Thanks for listening. Thanks for making me part of your day. I hope you're having a glorious week. Please spread the word on the podcast. Subscribe. If you're here for Ken Marino and you just want to listen to Ken, maybe you'll stick around and subscribe.
Starting point is 00:01:57 That made me happy. You could follow us at. at Inside You Podcast on Facebook and Instagram at Inside You Pod on the Twitter, which is right here and very exciting. I will be in Denver, October 30th and 31st, doing a convention with Tom Welling signing autographs. I hope you will be there in Denver, Colorado, October 30th and 31st. Join me.
Starting point is 00:02:22 A big shout out to my patrons who I couldn't do this podcast without. If you want to give to the podcast a little more, keep us afloat. go to patreon.com slash inside of you. I hope you're enjoying the podcast. Ryan, Javvy, you went to a wedding? I did. I went to a wedding. So my friends from college got finally tied the knot.
Starting point is 00:02:40 They've been together for a very long time. Did you cry? I did. You did? Yeah, during the toasts. The parents. Did you toast? No, I didn't toast, no.
Starting point is 00:02:50 But no, the parent's speech just kind of got me because it, yeah, you sort of think about time. My parents, if they spoke, I'd throw up. Yeah. I'd probably throw up. I don't think I last. Great guest today. Ken Marino, you know him from, he's on a show called The Other Two, very funny guy, Wet Hot American Summer, Party Down, Burning Love.
Starting point is 00:03:12 He's been in so many things, you're going to recognize this guy, but he's got a lot to say, and I really loved him as a guest. Very open, very funny. Ryan? So funny. It's one of the funniest people on the planet. He is really one of the funniest people on the planet. So without further ado, why don't we just get into it?
Starting point is 00:03:31 Let's get inside of Ken Marino. 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. You brought over some treats today. I brought over some treats. Yeah. I brought you some coffee.
Starting point is 00:03:57 You brought, I've never had a guess bring me anything. This is the truth. I've never had a guess actually, you're like, hey, can I pick you up a coffee? Well, that's surprising to me. It is. Because from the shows I've listened to, a lot of the people, well, have people come over recently? Or have you been doing a lot of, uh, we had your good buddy Joe La Truglio. And he was here?
Starting point is 00:04:17 He was here. He didn't bring anything. He did not bring me anything. All right. I'll make sure to let him know. Thank you. Yeah, no, I'll hold that over his head forever. I've had some guests here.
Starting point is 00:04:26 really nice guest Jennifer Love Hughwich who she didn't bring me anything but she's always very thoughtful she's actually gotten me some guests before maybe you could do the same after whatever you need I'm here for you you're a full service I mean not full service but yeah I mean I can I can get you some guests
Starting point is 00:04:43 you can you can if you'd like I can certainly ask certainly like that we always like funny people here well then I'll see if I can you know wrangle up some funny people that would be good yeah so your wife explain this you have i have all these you have a wife yeah you have two kids what i mean that how much explaining do you need there i don't need more than that okay but i will say that your wife you had all
Starting point is 00:05:06 these old tv guides we're talking 70s 80s that you've been collecting since you were young well i collected them when i was young and then they were just sitting in my mother's basement and then she said hey get this shit out of my basement and i was like no my my mother your mother said get this shit out of my base. Yeah. So then I said, well, just send it to me across the, you know, across country. So then she mailed, you know, what were hundreds of TV guides from the 70s and 80s to my home. Right. At which point my wife was like, what are these? And I said, oh, they're TV guys from the 70s and 80s. And she said, what is this shit doing here? Get this shit out of here. So I immediately put them in a suitcase and hid them in the garage.
Starting point is 00:05:57 Because in my head, I feel like I'm going to do something. I'm going to do something someday, saying it out loud. What are you going to do with them? I sort of understand where my wife is coming from. What were you thinking of doing it? Like, what did you think they're going to be worth something someday? I don't know. I just collected.
Starting point is 00:06:15 When I was younger, I collected mad magazines and TV guides. And I always enjoyed the TV guides, especially, I was telling you this before, like the fall preview ones where it was like special and they were like colors, you know, like the whole front of it was all color printout because usually they were in black and white. But then in the front where they usually do interviews, it was all color printouts of the new shows. And then in the back, or in the front it was the shows that were returning. and then in the back it was all the new shows that were happening and it was great
Starting point is 00:06:52 and you could see like you know young you know pre-pubescent you know Jason Bateman in a TV show
Starting point is 00:07:02 that you never heard of look at these yeah Laverne and Shirley you said you know so you go around and you bring them when you see your friends
Starting point is 00:07:11 and you say pick one now I've been so I thought well maybe the reason I've been holding on to them is to share them with friends, my peers, people my age or people around my age. Who appreciate them.
Starting point is 00:07:25 Who have a nostalgic kind of feeling about them. Because nowadays, TV guide doesn't exist anymore. Not like that. You know, you don't look forward to getting the TV guide every week to look at it and look what was, you know, on the four channels. Right. It's different now. It was exciting.
Starting point is 00:07:43 It was exciting. I mean, to me it was exciting. And your wife said get this shit out of here. So ultimately, well, you just get them out of my site. Look, my wife is wonderful. She just doesn't want me collecting a pile of old TV guys in 70s and 80s, which, you know, makes a lot of sense. Well, this also indirectly affects me. Why?
Starting point is 00:08:05 How is it a directly affect? Because as you can look around my house, you notice I have a lot of things that I collect. Now I'm, you know, I have Fangoria magazines and I have now some. TV guides. Yeah. I have posters. So I feel like if I was, if I were married to your wife. Well, to, if you were married, if you were married to anybody, they'd be like, it's a lot.
Starting point is 00:08:32 It's a lot. But you're a single guy. And so this is the coolest house I've ever seen because it's just got like everything that, you know, everything, it has everything you love. And there's an overlap. There's a lot of things in here that I love. And so it's like, I feel like I'm in a museum. Well, yeah, it's delightful.
Starting point is 00:08:51 Well, it scares me, though. Why are you scared? It scares me because you're in your early 50s. I am. You look fantastic, by the way. You look the same as you did when I mentioned. We could talk about that a minute. But I will say, it scares me that I'm single.
Starting point is 00:09:04 I live alone. I'm 49. This is the same conversation I had when I was 39, probably when I was early 30. But now it's kind of, it's like, now it's, is it that, is it really funny? What's the conversation? Well, the conversation is it's like, you know, I'm about to hit 50 in the year. I just turned 49. Yeah. What did you notice? Did you get depressed when you hit 50? When you, when you was somebody, you woke up in the morning and you were 50 years old.
Starting point is 00:09:30 Yeah. Did that affect you at all? No. It didn't. No, but you made a left turn here. You were talking about it happened when you were 49. 50. Are you talking about like when it hit you? Like, because I thought we were talking about if you got married, I don't know, if or when you're planning on. Yes. But would your significant other approve of this? Yes. And then I say to myself, I made that left term where I'm like, am I kidding myself? Am I actually going to ever get married or am I going to be alone having this cool shit? It's both, maybe. Right. And so it does scare me.
Starting point is 00:10:03 And I'm like, it never, age never really scared me until I was like, wait a minute, 50, you do think older. I do. I mean, I do, I mean, I do a little bit. I also realize that, like, you know, the cliche, you're only as old as you feel and age is just a number. Those cliches are, there's value to them for me in that somebody made up that there's, you know, based on the moon and the stars and the earth rotating, there's 365 days in the year. So, okay, that's great.
Starting point is 00:10:39 And then every year, that's one year. And the next year is another year. And but like, none of that, who gives, who gives a shit? just alive or I'm dead. That's a really fascinating way to think about it. Well, because I, like, I'm 50, I'm 49, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm 60, I'm 30. I feel, you know, how people always say, I don't feel 50. I don't feel, you know, like I'm, you know, 70 years old.
Starting point is 00:11:06 I don't feel like I'm 40. Yeah, because it doesn't, because it's a number. It means nothing. How do you feel? I feel great. I mean, things hurt, you know, I'm going for a, um, a colonoscopy tomorrow. I'm going for a 3D image of my heart because I have high cholesterol on Thursday. But like I exercise and I try to, you know, approach life in a, in a healthy way
Starting point is 00:11:34 for my mind and my body and my spirit or soul. But, you know, I feel shitty and I feel shitty and depressed some days, and I feel great other days. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. I'm going to speak to you about something that's going to help you save money, period. It's Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. This is just a wonderful app.
Starting point is 00:12:06 There's a lot of apps out there that really, you know, you have to do this and pay for and that. but with rocket money it's they're saving you money you're getting this app to save money I don't know how many times that I've had these unwanted subscriptions that I thought I canceled or I forgot to
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Starting point is 00:15:24 inside of you. Free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash inside of you. Colonoscopy, I will say that a lot of people say, oh my God, you got to get a colonoscopy. I had a wonderful experience experience. I really did. I had this drink. They gave me these drinks. Yeah. Early evening the night before. Yep. I peed out of my B. Yeah. And BP. BP. And I went to bed. I woke up. I mean, it was it wasn't that intense. And they put me to sleep. And I said, Doc, I don't do drugs, but can I feel it for a few minutes? Can I feel the anesthesia? or whatever, felt great. And then I woke up, he said, you had no polyps and I was done.
Starting point is 00:16:11 And that was it. So it was a great experience for me. I didn't, you know, I got put to sleep. I got to feel good. Well, it had a happy ending. It had a happy ending. So I'm just telling you, you don't have to worry if you're even worried at all. I'm not.
Starting point is 00:16:21 I had it one other time and I had the same experience, except I asked, I wanted to stay awake for it and look and see what they were looking at. And then he's like, well, we can't do that. And he said, he goes, you can do like, you could ask for something called Twilight. or something like that where you're sort of in and you sort of out like you know like you're not feeling it but you're not but you're not asleep and I was like yeah I want to do that and he's like okay and then I went in and they gave it to me and I immediately went out and I woke up and I was done no twilight no twilight geez you know you you and I met years ago we were bowling who's all
Starting point is 00:17:01 your old buddies from the state okay it was Tom Lennon and uh everybody Joe is This when you, this is, this is, this is the first time that we met that we met? Or is this just one of the memories of us? I think that we met at around that time. And maybe we met in New York briefly. I met you through Ballard. Through Ballard, right. But we used to start hanging out because you guys used to come over and play poker at my little rented house. And play video games. You played Sega. Right. And you played a lot of hockey. And at the time, you had hurt your back. Yeah. or somewhere in there you would hurt your back from playing hockey and probably sports my
Starting point is 00:17:43 whole life and a bunch of this shit and I remember that you you were you had some back issues that you were dealing with suffering with yeah but I remember like you guys used to oh you and Sarah Silverman just name dropping here and Michael Ian Black and show alter you used to come to my house and play poker and you used to all take my money I can't imagine that I did because I'm a terrible poker player. I'm terrible. I just came for the, uh, the camaraderie. Really? Yeah. Because they took it really seriously. Mike Black took it, takes it very seriously. Joe is a good poker player. David Wayne, very good. Sarah, she's a very good poker player, but she's just in it to have fun, I think. Yeah. She's, um, uh, she's real good, too.
Starting point is 00:18:24 Although I went to her house years ago, she invited me to play poker and I was so bad that she never invited me back. Or I just wasn't funny. I don't think that that's it. It could be. I've called her up and been like, you haven't any games late, you know, anytime soon? And she's like, oh, I'll put one together. So I bet if you reached out and said, I want to play any games, I want to play, she'll try to throw something together. Now, what I remember about you, though, is you always had this, I don't want to say swagger, but you always were confident.
Starting point is 00:18:54 You always seemed really confident. In poker? No, in life. In life. You felt, I felt like Ken just is. exudes this confidence now what i want to know is it's something that you always had like if we rewind the clock back to grade school in high school you were confident kid no you weren't no i mean i think i had to well i don't i don't i don't know if i'm i don't see myself as super confident now
Starting point is 00:19:25 really um but i do i guess there is a certain part of you know uh being in this town where you have to to be confident in order to survive. Don't let them see a weakness. You know what I mean? And so maybe there is a little bit of a confident persona or maybe it is part of who I am. But I like to, I think the best way to professionally get jobs is, I mean, the only way is to be confident, right? I mean, when you go out and audition for something, as soon as you start second guessing
Starting point is 00:20:03 yourself, the audition is dead or the interview is dead or the meeting is dead. So I turned a corner on that. When? Well, I was confident when I was in the state, when we were doing the state at MTV out of college because I was with all my buddies. And we all, you all helped each other out. We all helped each other out. And it was a safe place. So I, I, I was around that. And then I came out here and was introduced to this town in a not as friendly way. I replaced somebody on a TV show and I worked with some people. And it was not a pleasant experience. And I lost my identity. And I lost your identity. That's a strong phrase. I lost who I was or how I could survive in certain situations professionally. And I, and I could. And I, and I could. couldn't figure out how to navigate the work environment, and I suffered because of it. It was bad. And then when that ended, in the middle of that, in the middle of that show, I got my, for lack
Starting point is 00:21:20 of a better word, you know, phrase, I got my balls back, and I wanted to say something about balls, and it was something I saw on TikTok where people like, somebody was like talking about balls and like women or women women they're everybody talks about like calling somebody a vagina or a pussy and they're like that's a sign of weakness whereas like a vagina and a pussy like so strong and like give life and you know like it couldn't be like the opposite of the you know calling somebody that and then balls when you say people have balls uh says you know like that they're tough but if you tap somebody's balls they're the most fragile things it's so true it's such a you touch a part of a testicle yeah you're done clearly men have come up with those two you know
Starting point is 00:22:12 definitions of those two ways of using that as slang anyway um that's so i got my i got my my my power back but i want to know like that's to say something like you lost your balls or your vagina and then you got it back yeah now the interesting part to me is how the hell you got it back? Like, what, what did you do to get it back? Well, I, uh, I, I, I mean, the truth is, is I got to a point where I couldn't, I couldn't deal with it anymore. I couldn't deal with like the chaos of like trying to figure out how to navigate, uh,
Starting point is 00:22:52 without using the tools that I knew I had. And I forgot that I had those tools for a while. And I'm like, oh, no. live or die by the tools that you have and at least then you go down knowing that you were true to yourself. And then as soon as that happened, I stood up for myself and I did the things that I thought were funny. And I said the things that I needed to say to the people that were sort of not being kind. And then I turned a corner on that. And then soon after that, what? David and Showalter were doing Wet Hot, Wet Hot American Summer, and I went and
Starting point is 00:23:34 shot that with them, and I was with that group again, as well as like Paul and Amy and Brad and everybody who else, Bradley Cooper, yeah, everybody who worked on that. And I was like, oh, this can exist. There are other people outside of the state that are good, kind, positive, creative, awesome people. I don't need to suffer through working with people who are not particularly kind. I can just work with people I like. And then, you know, that shift and also kind of getting my power back, you know, kind of dovetailed into each other. And since then, I guess I've had a, you know, going with your observation, I've been,
Starting point is 00:24:28 more confident with how I approach this business and life. Yeah. No, that's a fantastic. That's a fantastic answer. I just feel like there's times in my life where I feel like I've lost it. Like I've lost that confidence. And you said something really important. You said something, you know you have the tools. Is it that for a while there, you forget about the tools that you have and you're just like almost like looking at your ugly self and thinking, I can't do this, but then realizing, wait a minute, I can do this. I've done this before. Well, I mean, I can only speak for, you know, about my personal experiences of how it happened.
Starting point is 00:25:08 And when I was doing the state, it was like being in a band and, you know, as you were together longer, you sort of have, you've dug a hole for yourself or you've, you've created a certain niche part of the group, like a section of a, a, a section of a, a, you sort of, a, a you've created your personality within the group and there was at a certain point there's no reversing that you can adjust but there's no reversing it but i was who i was in that group and i had and i for better for worse that's who i was when i left that group and by the way the state was on a show that well you guys created in college you and david way and david way and a bunch of other guys
Starting point is 00:25:54 and show Waltz and he aired on MTV from 93 to 95 and it was this comic troupe and you did all these skits and things for those people who were. Yes, we were MTV and then we not broke up, we just stopped making money so everybody had to go off and do their own thing.
Starting point is 00:26:11 And what was your question? It was the tools? What was it? What was it, Ryan? Oh, you were talking about your personality within the group. Oh, so I, so I, so when I left the group, I was like, I'm not going to make those mistakes that I made in the
Starting point is 00:26:28 group. I'm going to start fresh, right, with new people. And so, so I had this mantra that was not healthy ultimately. I thought it was healthy. I'm going to be all things to all people, right? I'm going to approach this new person and this new person and this new person and not make the stupid mistakes that I made in my college and early 20s with the state, you know, where I was young and I did stupid things and then like, you know, like or said stupid things or got into fights with people for stupid reasons. I'm going to do all things to all people. And in doing that, I never stood up for myself. And so, uh, so I lost my identity. You were giving too much to too many people, perhaps. I was trying to be friendly with everybody.
Starting point is 00:27:19 and not worry about my feelings or who I was. I was just trying to be like, okay, oh, is that, will that make you happy? Oh, will that make you happy? Because I just, you know, left this group that I was with for, you know, five, six years. Right. And I just wanted to start fresh. And so I thought that that was a good approach. It wasn't healthy for me.
Starting point is 00:27:42 And so at a certain point, I was like, oh, I don't have to be all things to all people. I have to be true to myself and I have to be kind to people. and I have to try to communicate as best I can, but I don't have to, not everybody has to be my friend. That's, that's, and that was the shift, I think, for me. That's a great, I mean, when you're, what are you talking about this? I start to think, this is kind of therapy for me. At times like this, there's with certain guests, they'll tell a story, and I'll immediately, it will come back to me. And I go, this, this is helping me. This
Starting point is 00:28:14 makes me understand, because I feel like I give a lot to people. Right. And a lot of people take, and a lot of people take and you always want to appease everybody and make everybody happy and you're not taking care of yourself right but for you to have that insight did you did you go to therapy did you have a breakdown what was it that caused i broke down i went to therapy i you know it was i had moved from new york and i came out here and i was doing a show that i was a regular on and it was an established show what was that show it was men behaving badly behaving badly Rob Schneider. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:46 Yeah. And I came out and yeah, I don't know what, I forget what I was saying. Well, you were just talking about how you, when you came out, how it all shifted and you started going to therapy or whatever. Oh, yeah, yeah. So pretty soon after me coming out, I was like, I might need to go see a talk to a therapist. I was also going through a relationship thing. So it was like there was a lot of stuff that was going on in my life that I was, that I needed to speak to somebody about. And, and, uh, it helped. So from the time you, you made it through
Starting point is 00:29:27 therapy, I like this stuff. This is, this is, this is what people like. This is like how do you, because you get in ruts and how do you get out of them? Well, you went to therapy. You dealt with your anxiety. You dealt with like all these issues. Yeah. Because if you did, if you didn't go to therapy you think you would have gotten through it on your own i i don't know i have no idea i mean probably in some way um yeah but i don't know do you still get scared do you still get nervous do you still get anything a new role tackling something you know they say a lot of times when an actor gets a role they get uh they get a little anxiety they get like i can't do this i can't do this no what's his name was here uh emil hersh and he was like i get this feeling i can't fucking
Starting point is 00:30:12 do it. I don't know how to do it. And then fucking he figures it out. I don't get, I don't get anxiety about a role that I get. I go in, I get, if I get something or something is given to me through either an audition or a meeting or just relationships that I have with people, I go in and I do what I think is the right thing. And lately, you know, as I've gotten older, I'm given the freedom to do those things. And there's a trust that, that's there with the people I'm working with because I have a relationship with them. You know, I've worked with them other things. But I don't get scared. I'm just like, I'm, I'm, I just, there's a trust that if I go, I never, if I go too far, that they'll pull me
Starting point is 00:31:10 back but I just I've I've decided that it goes back to what I was saying before which is like I just have to make some choices as an actor and do them and trust that my choices are you know good and not second guess myself be 100% confident and then if somebody doesn't like it they'll tell me and if they don't say anything then that's their issue right and then the thing that I'm doing is going to be the thing that I'm doing. And I, you know, for the most part, I'm going to enjoy that because it's, it's, it's not, there's no filter. It's just coming through me. And it's something that I think I can do that somebody else can do, but they're going to have their version of that. Have you ever been replaced? Yes. You have. I've been replaced once too,
Starting point is 00:32:01 so I know how that feels. I was a guest on a, on a TV show, just shoot me. And I was a fireman and they, replaced me. How did you take it? I was waiting for that to happen at some point in my career because everybody has an experience like that. So I was like, okay. I mean, you know, I came up. There were reasons that I was like, I think I know why that happened. And then when I watched it, I was like, yeah, sure, okay. It didn't bother me. Really? No. I got paid. you're paid well that's the other thing is like i i don't know what would my dad was a plumber and a cesspool cleaner and my mom was a dog groomer and my dad every time i talk to
Starting point is 00:32:50 my dad the first thing he asks me i'm not saying this is healthy at all you make it money like my dad's uh approach to work is like go out collect some money bring it home and take care of your family and go to sleep and wake up the next day and do the same thing. I've always approached acting like that, which is I need to make money to, I love acting and I love doing different things and I love working on really great projects. But I also like, you know, hot water. And so so I want to, you know, ultimately, you know, make sure that I'm putting money in the bank. so I can hopefully do the things that I want to do more and more as I get older.
Starting point is 00:33:46 You know, you talk about that. So it makes me think of your childhood. Like, what was your childhood like with your parents? Was your dad always like, when you said, I want to be an actor, I'm going to get in this comic troupe or whatever. Were they supportive? Always supportive. Always supportive.
Starting point is 00:34:00 He wasn't like, hey, no. Got to bring home the bacon. no he was always supportive everything you did they went to your plays yep i mean my dad came to plays when he could but he was working he worked crazy hours and so he you know sometimes his days consisted of waking up at six and rolling in at nine o'clock at night or ten o'clock at night because he was digging ditches and pumping people's shit out of their cesspools and putting in sewer lines and like that's what he would do so he had an incredible work ethic yeah yes i mean he worked really hard um to take care of uh my family and you always looked at that
Starting point is 00:34:44 like that's always was he a role model would you say i think so i think my dad is a i mean somebody i look up to he's a flawed human being but aren't we all but he's he's a great man and do you when you look back you think you could have done anything yeah have a drink of your tea your i'm sorry did you hear my stomach go oh no do you have to No, it's just that there's nothing in, there's no food in me. And I can't do, I can't eat anything until after my colonoscopy, my colonoscopy. You're calonic. Are you worried that you might need to get up while you're doing this interview? I'm already, I already have to take a leak. Why don't you pee? You know, it's interesting is, this is another thing my wife. This is no, it's interesting. This is another thing my wife and I talk about, I say to her, uh, I got to go, I got to go take a shit or I got to go, And she's like, you don't have to... Address it. Yeah, just say you're going to the bathroom.
Starting point is 00:35:39 I know what goes on in there. I don't like to miss anything, Ken. I like to leave the door open. People don't always like it. Much like Bruno Mars and Anderson Puck. Really? Yeah, they like to leave the door open. Even when I'm pooping.
Starting point is 00:35:51 Well, I don't know if that lyric is... Oh, is that a lyric? If you don't heard that song? No, how does it go? It's fucking great. How does it go, Ryan? Silk Sonic? Gonna leave the door open.
Starting point is 00:36:02 I'm going to leave the door. leave the door open girl i'm gonna leave the door open i'm aging myself yeah you i should know this this song but it sounds like we didn't we didn't we did not we did our version of it was not it was whispered it was a little it was a little creepy actually it was a little sensual i thought that i mean we sang on key i will say that yeah it was you could sing which was nice and you weren't creepy i just feel like i was creepy i was quieter because i couldn't hear like really nice. The headphones?
Starting point is 00:36:35 Oh, am I supposed to put on the headphones? Oh, you know, try them. You might like it. You might like, listen. You know, that's the best way. It's more intimate.
Starting point is 00:36:42 I didn't realize you weren't doing that. No, I wasn't. So I was probably yelling this whole time. So let's start over. All right. So you brought these, you brought these things over, these TV guides.
Starting point is 00:36:52 Listen, I'm going to pee now. Yeah, you should pee. No, no, now. Right now. Yeah. Okay. Oh, boy. Is he really doing it?
Starting point is 00:37:02 Go pee. All right. inside of you is brought to you by rocket money if you want to save money then listen to me because i use this ryan uses so many people use rocket money it's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions crazy right how cool is that monitors you're spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings and you know what's great it works ryan rocket money will even try to and negotiate lowering your bills for you the app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to
Starting point is 00:37:39 save and then goes to work to get you better deals they'll even talk to customer service thank god so you don't have to um i don't know how many times we talk about this but like you know you got it and they helped you in so many ways and with these subscriptions that you think are like oh it's a one month subscription for free and then you pay well we forget we want to watch a show on some streamer and then we forget and now we owe $200 by the end of the year. They're there to make sure those things don't happen
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Starting point is 00:38:49 Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show. The new Mitsubishi Outlander brings out another side of you. Your regular side listens to classical music. Your adventurous side rocks out with the dynamic sound Yamaha. Regular U owns a library card. Adventurous U owns the road with super all-wheel control.
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Starting point is 00:39:25 Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child. vision, they slow down the progression of myopia. So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer through their own eyes. Light the path to a brighter future with stellar lenses for myopia control. Learn more at sloor.com and ask your family eye care professional for SELOR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. So Spalding Gray wrote a book. Swimming in Cambodia. Well, he did a one-man show, and he also wrote a book about that.
Starting point is 00:40:03 That's right. But prior to that book, he wrote a book called, I think, sex and death by the age of 14 or something like that. Something like that. And in it, I remember there's a little section where he had a girl over his house, and he would go into the bathroom, and he knew that you can hear the person peeing. The person outside can hear when he was peeing in the, in the toilet. So he would take
Starting point is 00:40:33 like a pitcher of water and pour it in so it was a stronger flow so it sounded like he had a stronger flow to the girl outside. And I always thought, well, why?
Starting point is 00:40:45 I think maybe because that implied that he had a like a bigger a bigger dick. Yeah. I don't know. I don't remember. Well, look,
Starting point is 00:40:55 it made for a great story for him, not necessarily for this podcast. do you embarrass easily i would take it you don't what it would say it to be embarrassed what embarrasses you i don't know you really don't know anything that embarrasses you like not not uh fucking up on set not getting your lines out not being able to be as great as you thought you were oh so you're talking about like professionally professionally or unprofessionally like you know things that embarrass you like you know i don't like being called out i don't i mean i don't
Starting point is 00:41:28 no, I, I could be sensitive, but I, I'm pretty good with it. You know, I used to get really mad. People go, you don't listen. You don't listen. And finally, I just said, I accepted that. Why don't you think, I mean, do you agree with that? Do you agree that you don't listen? I have a selective hearing.
Starting point is 00:41:46 I think that I listen when someone really needs to tell me something, or it's, uh, I'm engaged, or I have these headphones on and I'm talking to someone. I'm able to focus, have a little ADD. so if it's a lot of nonsense if you're talking to a person for hours on end about you know whatever spending the day with them and they're kind of like sometimes they'll say something they'll be chirping i'll be chirping i don't always hear it but in in this situation do you check out do you find yourself checking out or you seem you seem pretty on top of it no i'm on point for the most part like i you're you're engaging i had these head like i said i put the head ones
Starting point is 00:42:22 don't you feel now that you put the cans on you feel a little more like you're engaged sure i mean what i feel like is i can hear every noise i make which is i guess maybe that's that's how i get embarrassed i don't want to hear my bodily like my clicks in the like my stomach going so do you like watching yourself uh on on uh film i i always like to watch whatever i do uh the first time by myself and then I'll watch it a couple of times, and then I have no problem watching with other people. So that embarrasses me. If I'm watching something I've never seen the final result of like a thing that I've done, my flies open. No one can see that. Your waist down.
Starting point is 00:43:15 Look at that. Well, I see it. Yeah. It's good for you. If I watch something that I've never seen before that I've, that I've been in with other people that, that I get uncomfortable. I always want to see what I, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what the cut is. You want to be the judge. Yeah. Of who sees it. So, no, I want to see what they, I want to see what takes they use. I want to see how they did it. I want to see how the, how the, how the piece looks. And then I can say, yeah, I'll watch that with you or you can watch that by yourself. Have you been disappointed with your work at all in your lifetime?
Starting point is 00:43:49 Of course. Yeah. Having you. oh yeah sure i mean i always do the best i can and i always feel like you know i'm going to give it all i have and sometimes you're all always it just depends on there's so many variables you know for instance smallville if i was really good on a really crappy show it wouldn't matter no one would care all the pieces have to fall in line the show has to be good the writing has to be good The acting has to be. All these things have to be. So most of the time, it's a disappointment because a lot of those things usually don't make it. Does that make sense? Well, I mean, so you watch something that you felt good about your performance and then you
Starting point is 00:44:33 watched the whole thing and you're like, well, I didn't like that whole thing so I don't like my performance? Probably. I don't know. Because I'm part of it. I will watch something where I didn't, I don't like how it came out, like the show, the tone or the approach to the show. And I watch what I did. And sometimes I'm like, oh, I like that they use that stuff or I still feel good about what I did. Or sometimes I'm like, oh, wow, it was cut together where they pulled all the stuff that I thought was interesting out. Yeah. So it varies.
Starting point is 00:45:02 I always notice that you really commit. You either, because you can do drama. You're adept to comedy and drama. I mean, you've done drama. By the way, do you prefer drama over comedy? You're just like acting in general. I just like acting. You'll do whatever they tell you to do.
Starting point is 00:45:17 I think it I don't think there's a big difference between drama and comedy really I think comedy here's the thing I think drama's easier but I think comedy's harder because it's so many takes and it's so many to get the right timing and everything where drama you just as long as you're real and grounded not to see well but that's the thing I think in comedy you have to be real and grounded the stakes are higher right the importance of like for me like my approach is like you know if we're talking about like whatever party down party down you're talking about party down right you know Ron Donald is a guy who I mean everything every choice he makes it's all important to him and so I think it's played it's played to be real through the character that he is do I make some do I try to make some comic choices in there some physicalities or like different things like within a scene sure but like my hope is that it's always grounded and real makes sense was was party dent did you think it was going to be successful when you guys were doing it did you have any idea do you ever know really uh no I mean I I knew it was a special show I knew the people that I was working with were like talented and special and good people and there was an there was a an energy that I liked and I hoped that it would be successful because I like being around that energy
Starting point is 00:47:00 and how many seasons did you do a party down we did two just two seasons yeah I thought it was more than that it was for stars which nobody had at the time it only got a following it would like Netflix had just started and they had put out the seasons on Netflix, but by that point, it was already a sinking ship. But supposedly they're bringing this back. Yes, supposedly. Well, do you know the answer? Yeah, supposedly.
Starting point is 00:47:31 And what are they going to do, supposedly? A season? Another, like a season for stars is supposedly. And how exciting? I mean, they were working on a movie. one point I don't think that's happening but I it's it's it's uncanny it's just this doesn't happen a lot a show airs two seasons and then they want to bring it back well I mean that's just that's a rarity I've been on a lot of shows that last a pile of one season two seasons they don't
Starting point is 00:48:01 five years how long was arrested development on three seasons right or was it four it was three and then they brought it back for five yeah like I said it's a rarity look I hope I hope they bring it back. I don't, I can't. Oh, so you're not, you can't divulge. I don't know. I, I, I, I, I know they've always talked about it and it's a possibility. And you want to do it. Of course. Any chance to get to work with those guys again is a gift. You know, you know how it is. You work with like a lot of people that, you know, people that you enjoy spending time around and creating with. It's, it goes back to what I was saying about what had American summer. As soon as I realized, oh, you know, this is special and rare but something that I can strive for and try to be immersed in as much
Starting point is 00:48:53 as possible. That's all I try to do. I try to work with people I enjoy and whose comic sensibilities I appreciate and respond to. And then sometimes the stuff is successful. Sometimes it's not. but ultimately I think it's always interesting and good did you think what hot American summer would have been the cult classic that it's become no but that's another you know show where like we shot it and we're like who we don't care if anybody watches this we know it's funny and it was all your friends it's like you're going to camp with all your friends that's what we did we stayed at a camp for uh you know seven weeks or six weeks
Starting point is 00:49:34 and we all just stayed at this camp during the off-season. It was great. And you just did what you wanted in a sense, like you do a take. Did David just sort of say, I mean, didn't you co-write it? I did not. He and Show Walter. He and Show Walter. So when they're doing these, when they're filming, are you able to improvise?
Starting point is 00:49:54 Do they want you to stick to a script? Do they go, give me a can take? Give me a big... I mean, back then, it was David's first movie. He was directing. A lot of us who was our first movie that we were in. And, you know, much like any, I mean, there wasn't a lot of time to improvise a lot because it was a short schedule and ambitious.
Starting point is 00:50:13 But, yeah, of course, everybody sort of tried different things. But the script, you know, everybody stuck to the script at first and tried to honor that. When you watch it now, when's the last time you saw? I think I watched it with my son, who's 14 recently, and then he watched the series. and so maybe within the last year I don't know if I watched the whole thing What did he think? He loved it
Starting point is 00:50:38 Or I think he really liked it I think he appreciated it Yeah, it's just a classic Do you just not love that movie? It really is So many great characters in that Who's your favorite? Who's your favorite?
Starting point is 00:50:50 Who's your like, What's the one moment in that movie Or the one character That just kicks your ass That just makes you laugh Every time you see it Him or her? I mean, Maloney is fantastic
Starting point is 00:51:01 I like the relationship between Maloney and 80 Miles. I think that's great. I like me and Joe. I like when Joe and I get to do stuff together. I think there's fun stuff in the series that Joe and I get to do that makes me laugh. Do you know what my favorite, one of my favorite moments in that movie is? It's well. When I crash into the tree.
Starting point is 00:51:25 Hilarious. Is that what you're going to say? Yes, it's one of the best movies. You know what another one is, is show all they're going. Yes, and the dinosaur, and then... What is it? What is it? I was so old that terrodoctals were there, whatever.
Starting point is 00:51:42 What the hell is his name? Oh, my God. He just killed me. Look, I look at your resume. You've done, I mean, you've done so much shit. When I say shit, I mean, the shit, not shit. I mean, sure, you've done shit. We've all done shit.
Starting point is 00:51:55 Sure. But like Will and Grace, Angel, Reno 911, Grey's Anatomy, Monk, happy endings. Wet Hot American Summer Party Down Wonderlust You co-wrote Wonderlust, right? I did. The other two is now on?
Starting point is 00:52:10 The other two has been on the first season came out. I'm going to watch it because Ryan just told me about it. Now I've got to watch that. Oh yeah, you've got to see the other two. It's great. Yeah, I can't wait.
Starting point is 00:52:19 It's a great show. Tell me the premise. It's about the... So it's about, you know, like, you know, the... There's this overnight success, This 14-year-old boy becomes an overnight success on, you know, YouTube sensation, like a Justin Bieber type kid, and, you know, becomes a star overnight. But it's not about him.
Starting point is 00:52:45 It's about his older brother and sister who are struggling in New York and experiencing his rise to fame so quickly. And their relationship, and then Molly Shannon is the mom, the Midwest mom, who comes out to chaperone him and watch him. and I'm the manager who gloms on who considers himself family but isn't I can imagine I can't wait to watch it I'm going to watch it yeah you should watch that I think yeah
Starting point is 00:53:10 what else should I watch well have you ever seen Burning Love I haven't yes I saw one episode I really enjoyed that Oh you should watch Burning Love I think my wife and I wrote that My wife wrote that and created that and I directed it and we did three seasons
Starting point is 00:53:23 and they're short little quick seasons But I'm super proud of that Burning Love How hard is it? it to write and work with your wife? Easy. I mean, it was easy. I didn't write. She wrote it. And then I directed it and was in it. And it was great. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my professional life. How do you keep things sane in the house? How do you keep a happy marriage when you're both
Starting point is 00:53:48 in the business and you're both working together and you're both on top of each other's shit all the time? I think you try to communicate as healthy as possible. I think you just try to like talk about the things that are clearly there. And if something comes up, that's not really about that. You say, well, it's not really about that, right? It's about this. So let's talk about that and let's work through it. I mean, that's not all easy.
Starting point is 00:54:12 No, no. Nothing's easy. No. Do you recommend me getting married? To whom? I mean, I'm just in general. Do you recommend marriage? I don't think you need to get married.
Starting point is 00:54:22 But if you want to get married, I think you should get married. Do you think people should only get married if they're going to have kids? I don't think kids. I don't think it's about kids. I think if you want to have a ceremony where you're committing yourself to somebody and you want everybody to celebrate and you want to call it marriage, then you should do it, whether or not you're having kids. But you don't have to, to commit yourself to somebody. You hear that, Ryan? What do you think, Ryan? What do you think? I'm ever going to get married? I don't know if you find the right person. I mean, are you dating anybody right now? No, not right now. Do you want to get married or do you feel pressure from your family or something? I mean, every time you see my grandmother, she's like, when are you going to have kids? You'd be such a great dad.
Starting point is 00:55:06 When are you going to do this? You hear it all the time. And you see your friends that are couples and they're doing all these things together. And you spend a lot of nights alone. You do. Right. There's a lot of time when you're alone. Right.
Starting point is 00:55:17 And then you immerse yourself and work. And the next thing, you're working too much. And then you're spending the nights alone and you're like, you know, but you don't want to get into that old... that old shit where you just start seeing girl after girl and, you know, just, uh, you know, because that happened. Right. And it's just, they're filling the void, you know, in a sense. You're both like, maybe you're both alone.
Starting point is 00:55:39 So it's like, oh, let's, I don't know. I mean, I think that you should just, uh, just live your life every day. And then if you find somebody you want to spend a lot of time with, then do that. What are you going to get married for your grandma? Don't get married for your grandma. And by the way, you know what's funny? You know what? You know what?
Starting point is 00:55:56 You see your grandma, how many times a year? Twice a year. Twice a year. And you're going to get married because you talk to her twice a year. And you're going to, no, I'm mad. You know what I told her? What did you tell her? I said, Blanc.
Starting point is 00:56:13 I said, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to get married and finally have a kid and you're going to die. And she said, don't call me Blanc. Yeah. You just tell your grandmother she's going to die? I mean, I'm sure she knows it. Yeah. I say that to her.
Starting point is 00:56:26 she always sings the song, the old mayor ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be. She's always complaining about this. Then she's going to die. And she's going to die. You know, when you do all these things, this is a good therapy for me. When you do all these episodics, all these things. Yeah. Were you, did you just like working or were you like, when am I going to get my fucking chance? When am I going to get, when am I not going to do a guest star? Did you go through those stages of, because it is not easy, by the way, the hardest part of being an actor, I think, well not working but then that's the hardest part but being a guest star is the second hardest because you're coming into a show that's already established and then you you're just jumping in
Starting point is 00:57:07 there yeah i think that's the hardest did you like doing guest stars yeah you did yeah i don't i i mean i i i didn't i i didn't i i didn't i i didn't i don't feel that way i don't feel that way when i do a guest i feel like especially later but like you know i mean the worst The worst part about it is they shoot the actors out and then you have like one or two takes before lunch or one or two takes before you wrap at the end of the day for your coverage. But when I realized that, I just would do, again, it goes back to what I was saying. I just do what I, I just do what I ultimately would want to land on as opposed to like, you know, shuffling up, hedging up to the edge or, you know, creeping up to the edge and being like,
Starting point is 00:57:54 will anybody want to see me make these choices? I just go in and do those choices, and then if they don't like it, then they can make the adjustment on the next take, which is the second take and the only other take I'll get in the shot. But the point is, is I don't, I like doing guest spots. I don't feel a lot of pressure doing it. I enjoy it. If they want me to come on their show and I'm lucky enough to be a guest on their show, I'm going to have a good time. You just, you really love work. You love acting. I do. Don't you? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:58:27 I don't know, man. I don't know if I love it as much. I think it's a lot of, look, I'm very grateful. I've talked about this a million times. If it's something I do or I create or it's part of like, you know, with your friends, like you say, that could be great. I'm very excited about that. But there's also something about shooting a scene, a two-page scene in six hours over and over and over again. I don't think that's fun.
Starting point is 00:58:56 Oh, see, see, I have a very different feeling. Tell me about that. I mean, I do it. I'm pleasant and I, and I'm very fun. Well. And I like, but I don't. And I can enjoy it. But it's not like everyone thinks.
Starting point is 00:59:09 People come to see me on set and I'm doing something. And they're like, holy fuck, you're doing this again? Right. And I get it. I'm like, yeah, doing it again. I guess my feeling is, I have, my approach to it is 99% of the time you're not acting. Right. And so when you get the opportunity to act, when you're given text and you're given a platform or a place to do it with cameras rolling or people watching, then you get to do it a bunch of times, that's fun. Because you can bend it in different directions. You can give a bunch of different options. You're giving, I'm thinking about like the editor getting 17 different options of what might work. And it's fun for me. to have the opportunity to play with something and be like,
Starting point is 01:00:02 what's another way that within the confines of like what the scene is and honoring the script and honoring the character and serving the story where you're supposed to? What's another way I can bend is? And so a lot of takes is, I enjoy a lot of takes. I hear you. I'm just saying I think that over the years, Ken, I think I really did enjoy it.
Starting point is 01:00:24 I just threw myself into it. And then something happened where I'm like, I don't know. Maybe I got a little jaded. Maybe I got a little bit like, I don't know. You know, even Ryan will tell me I'm supposed to do this, maybe this movie. I'm very blessed. He's like, do it. Get your feet wet again.
Starting point is 01:00:39 Get in there. You have to do it. Fall in love again. You have to do it. I know. You really think, you know, and it's not that I, look, I, I like acting. I think I do a okay job. I, I just, maybe I've been on some things that I'm just.
Starting point is 01:00:56 like that was just too much fucking work and it just wasn't the greatest payoff well that's that's why that's you know but that's the paycheck part of it like you got you got paid and then you you you get to appreciate those moments for me would be like party down or burning love or wet hot american summer or like you know east pounded down like things that i get to do that are special and i appreciate those and value those even more and i and i can say wow i got to do that and then the other stuff is like paychecks I'm collecting the paycheck you know it's and I'm also working out I'm working out the whatever the process well is no the acting muscle or whatever I'm getting to I'm getting to act and do stuff and sometimes it's going to be uh you know
Starting point is 01:01:48 you get thrown out of first and sometimes it's going to be uh you know a nice little extra base uh hit you know what I would have done I would have been excited and I would have done, I would have worked any hours to do, was due eastbound and down. And this guy tested for it against me. And I read with Danny and they said it's between you and one other guy and they went with you.
Starting point is 01:02:13 Oh, was it me? Yeah. And I go, well, fuck, I love Ken. But that motherfucker, that's the one I wanted. I remember going in. Sorry about that. No, but I remember, you know, and we hit it off.
Starting point is 01:02:24 And he came up to me at a table, for something else and goes man you were fucking funny we were going to cast you but you were right up there man you were right up there with that with the guy we can i go yeah candy's like yeah ken's great but you were right up there too just want you to know you were really funny and he was cool so that's always nice to hear that yes what a treat did you improvise the shit out of that they i mean you know they had a script but yeah every scene was uh you know they opened we opened it up i think i mean i definitely threw in a lot of stuff can that be intimidating working with someone like Danny McBride, I mean, you're going toe to toe with him and you did it and you
Starting point is 01:02:59 nailed it. But like, he's a wizard, right? Yeah, he's incredible. He just goes, were you just shot, like how funny was he on his side? Always funny, but always grounded, always real. Like, he never says anything that doesn't feel like it's, you know, just going back to the drama and the comedy. Like, he's saying, you know, when he would say it, it was, you know, grounded in real and yeah it was funny but it was you know felt it felt uh like sure this it was there was comedy to it but it was um real how always seems real how often did you break i don't remember because i think bright is honestly one of my top favorite comedians he's the best like i just like it just i don't know how i would like i mean i guess when you're on set you just got to stay in it seems like you've done
Starting point is 01:03:49 worked around so many you've been you hear that was that was weird no oh what's gone now oh was it an earthquake what do we got but there's maybe it's your stomach that i didn't hear at that time but maybe but you've worked with so many great comedians you've been around them you've you've worked with everybody a ton of top notch improvisational comedians so there's probably not a lot that makes you laugh anymore you seem like someone that just was staying character and you're hard to break is that something Is that true? I don't, I don't think I break a lot. No, I don't think I break a lot.
Starting point is 01:04:24 I think you break when you're not, when you're not fully the person that you're doing. I think like when you're watching yourself, you break more than when you, when you're really connected to the person. Because whatever the person says, you know, you should try to respond to it in a real way. through that character that you're playing.
Starting point is 01:04:50 But, you know, sometimes something, you know, I can't always get to that place. So, yeah, I guess I break sometimes. I don't know. But don't you like it? Don't you like it when you break every once in a while? I like watching other people break. I've been watching a lot of bloopers of Always Sunny.
Starting point is 01:05:06 And my God, first of all, I love those guys. And I think that their show is incredible. I had to do an episode. You did? I really enjoyed it. Oh, what did you do? I did gun control. It was like the first season.
Starting point is 01:05:17 I played her boyfriend. What's her name? Dee. Yeah. Dee's boyfriend who comes into town. It was really fun. I mean, you know, watching them and watching, watching them break each other up is, it's like, it's like a, it keeps coming up on my TikTok. And I'm like, oh, great, give me more.
Starting point is 01:05:38 Give me more bloopers of them. So you like seeing other people fuck up? I like seeing other people enjoy each other and laugh. Jimmy Fallon Was that too much No Jimmy Fallon He used to break up on the set in the live Like every time
Starting point is 01:05:52 Every time Yes Did that bother? Some people would be Oh he's breaking up Come on I always thought it was funny When he was always fucking up
Starting point is 01:05:58 I mean it was fine I liked when Rachel Dratch Would break up in the Debbie Downer sketch That I enjoyed that more When the main character breaks on SNL and there's no resetting, that's more funny to me
Starting point is 01:06:17 than the person who's sort of peripherally in the scene breaking. Right, she's the lead in the scene. Yeah, and then she has to get through it and everybody else is trying to keep it together for her and she can't do it. That's when I really enjoy it. How do you like directing? I love it.
Starting point is 01:06:36 Because you directed a couple episodes of the Goldbergs? I directed one or two, one, one, but I've directed some features and I've directed Children's Hospital. I've directed Children's Hospital. You're looking at my IMDB page. No.
Starting point is 01:06:49 What are you looking at? Well, there's just notes I took. Oh. Well, I did, I just looked up your directing. Then I'm going to tell you, I did two features that I enjoyed directing and I directed all of Burning Love. Those are the things. You direct all of Burning Love?
Starting point is 01:07:02 And how do you like that? What is it that you love about directing? You have, you see the, you know, you see the whole picture, and you get to control the elements and you get to control the tone of the set and you get to, I love actors, so I love talking to actors about acting and comedy.
Starting point is 01:07:23 That's so much fun. And to try to mold something into what your vision of something is, is pretty pure. I find it very difficult when you're in a lot of it to direct. Like I choose, like my next choice would not to be, the lead role in something in a feature or a major role, an integral part of something. I'd like to sit back and just watch and observe and direct
Starting point is 01:07:50 as opposed to being in it. I always found like when Bradley Cooper directed, what was it called? The Star is born? Stars when I'm like, amazed. Well, I guess my feeling is you're cutting out the middleman. Like, you're the director and the actor, so you know how to modulate it to where you want to go.
Starting point is 01:08:07 The cameras don't have to, you don't have to yell cut. you don't have to pull the actor's side and be like, okay, now I want you to do that. You're just fucking doing it. And you're on, you know, you're in front of the camera and you're the director so nobody could say, oh, no, I'm going to cut. You just keep rolling. I'm going to do that again. Like you actually, you have more control if you can kind of bounce back and forth
Starting point is 01:08:26 between seeing it and being in it. And the only time I found it to be hard to direct and act in something at the same time is when it's a big group scene because you're thinking about. like how are you covering right did I cover that I might what's the best way to cover that who's on camera you have someone have your back like watch your performance you know because you can't go back and watch everything with that you're in you got to kind of trust yourself and trust the people that are watching yes but you know when you give a good performance right I think so I mean there was times when there were times when I directed in and I remember uh thinking it was good
Starting point is 01:09:04 and then the producer's like ah your energy is just really low and I'm like I That's because I haven't slept in two months, but you're right. And then I would do it again, you know, I needed somebody to have my back because I probably would have gone like, oh, that felt pretty good. Right. I was asleep, but I didn't realize it. What did you direct? This little raunchy comedy called Back in the Day.
Starting point is 01:09:24 It was like 2013. It was like Swarton, Marina Baccaron, Harlan Williams, a bunch of people. It was fun. That's great. Yeah, it was in the middle of nowhere and great time in my life. But also, I regret like I shouldn't have been the lead in it. I would have enjoyed it much more if I was. was not the lead in it.
Starting point is 01:09:41 Did you create, did you write it? Yeah. So you wrote it. You're like, I'm going to direct this puppy. Yes. I'm going to be in it. And my brother kept saying, you're gym. You're fucking gym, man.
Starting point is 01:09:50 You got to be gym, man. You got to be gym. I'm like, fuck, I wish I wouldn't listen to my brother. I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about. Well, stop listening to your brother. Stop listening to your grandmother and just live your life. Well, you stopped trying to appease everybody, Ken. I did, many years ago.
Starting point is 01:10:05 You just stopped. Yeah. He said, I'm not going to do this. And it's. guilt that I feel when someone says, oh, hey, I haven't seen you in a while, or they text me. You don't always have to text back, right? You don't always have to send emails back. I think that's my problem is I always have to just, Ryan's looking at me like, but I always feel like I just have to make everybody happy still. And I got to fucking stop that.
Starting point is 01:10:27 Here's my thing about emails. I think that they're called emails. And so it's like mail. And so for me, mail sits on my fucking desk and I don't open it for, for months so all of a sudden i got like when people get mad at me for not responding to an email i'm like it's email it's mail it's mail i don't look at it all the time it's mail sometimes i don't look at it for like six months it's like a sign filled bit this is genius now i say if you want me text me and i see it's immediate i'll respond i'm going to start doing that i don't know i don't know if it's healthy but that's what i always like to delete my emails right away i like to make you so there's not many there. And I have folders and they just go on those folders and they disappear pretty much. And then
Starting point is 01:11:14 you never look at them again, but you have those folders. But I have those folders. This is called shit talking to Ken Marino. Well, that's sort of like my TV guys. Oh yeah. Yeah, I just keep them, but I'm never going to look at them. Never going to look at them. Well, we looked at them today. We sure did. I'm very excited. It was a great gift. You brought gifts. You brought coffee. Very strong coffee. This last segment is called Ken Marino. It's shit talking with Ken Marino. These are all my patrons, people who love the podcast, people who give it extra the podcast, go to patreon.com slash inside of you if you want to join. It's awesome. But these are quick, rapid fire. That means, you mean like answer quickly? You can. Don't have diarrhea of the mouth?
Starting point is 01:11:54 You can do whatever you want. Lee, well, Emily asks, favorite role you've done so far in your career, the one role that years ago, that was my favorite role. Too hard. It's Sophie's choice. I'll tell you some of them. Give me top three. Burning love. Burning love, wet hot, oh, I mean, and party down. There you go. Three, I like that. Ron Donald, Victor Puleck, and Mark Orlando.
Starting point is 01:12:28 Michelle Kay, who's your absolute favorite comedian you've worked with? I know that's hard, but like the one that you just go, God, I just fucking love that. Well, I mean, somebody I'm in awe of, like, and their skills and their talents. I mean, you know, Danny McBride is, we just talked about him. He's, you know, I think he's incredibly special. He really is. Yeah. I love that guy.
Starting point is 01:12:49 But, I mean, I've worked with a lot of really incredible, funny people. Betsy D. How much fun did you have working on Axe Cop with Nick Offerman? I loved working on Axe Cop. I loved the original graphic novel, I guess you would call it. my son and I would read it together, and I was excited when they started doing it, and I reached out, and I said, please, can I, you know, read for Axe Cop? And they're like, Nick Offerman's doing it, but you can be a flute cop. And I said, great. And then I would go into a studio and do the
Starting point is 01:13:22 voice. So I never saw Nick when I was doing it. But I know Nick, and he's a fantastic guy. Kelly asks, is there a particular actor, actress that you would love to work with in the future that you haven't worked with? There's so many people that I'd like to work with. I can't think of anyone in particular. I just want to keep working with really good people. Leanne P., what advice would you give yourself, a younger self, if you had to give advice to a younger self, what would it be? If you're talking about giving advice to my younger self and my younger self wanted to be an actor? just in general
Starting point is 01:13:59 well oh no sudden movements and stop looking for it and you'll find it stop looking for it and you'll find it see that's directly to me that's what just happened it just went right to me
Starting point is 01:14:16 lastly Joe La Truglio from Brooklyn 9-9 you guys have done tons of stuff went out of American state but he didn't he didn't bring you anything he didn't bring me shit he didn't bring you anything Not a damn thing. He didn't bring you a coffee?
Starting point is 01:14:28 Nothing. He didn't bring you a TV guys? He did, no TV guys. From the 70s and 80s? Nothing. He did bring me a story though. And I love this story. Set it up.
Starting point is 01:14:39 Go ahead. Tell me the story about when you're doing the pilot, you're doing a pilot and Joe comes to see you. And I don't know. I can't believe this happened, but it just, the story killed me. I, so after the state, Joe and I came out here for pilot season. I had booked a pilot. It was called House Broken. It was me, it was three brothers who I moved into their parents' house because the parents retired and went to Florida.
Starting point is 01:15:08 And so it was me, I was the bachelor, I was like the ladies man, Sean Aston and his wife, and I'm forgetting the woman's name. But Sean Aston was like the, you know, uptight, like keeping everything organized and Mark Ruffalo as the kind of wacky. the wacky brother like the good cast yeah and we shot it and my first scene i i i oh maybe and it's a live studio audience right yeah i think that this is it or it might have been actually might have been men behaving badly now i'm fuck but just go with this one anyway so i asked joe to come to the audience and and watch and because joe and i have worked on the state together i come in and i do a scene and that's all you told them to do is just sit there and watch yeah just come to the show no but but then i come in and i do the first take of the scene and it's a short little scene my
Starting point is 01:16:03 entrance i come in i say a couple things and it's like the cold open or something and they cut and then i turned to joe and i'm like you know while they're setting the cameras up again you looked at them like you like you like it funny i'm like well i'm i was sort of asking like good was it okay yeah yeah i was like it was it all right and he goes he goes he goes does like a turning of a knob he's like down he goes turn it up he goes he goes no he goes I'm sorry the rest of he goes he goes metse mezze you know he does that hand thing like he goes and I was like and I froze and I got inside my hand and I was like oh shit what I did sucked and then and then and then I have given him shit about that you've never
Starting point is 01:16:56 ever invited him to a tape taping of your show again. I mean, holy shit. I couldn't imagine. I'd get in my head. If I looked at to my friend like, like, oh, not bad. He's like, he's like, he's like, man, turn it up just a little bit. You're okay. You're okay. Turn it up, dude. Could be worse. I would, I would flip. Middling. I would freak. Oh my God. Well, this has been a real treat, man. My true. I really enjoyed this. You, you, you help me in many ways. You've entertained in many ways. I'm excited about your colonoscopy tomorrow. We sang. we did sing you sang we did
Starting point is 01:17:28 this has been a real treat and Ryan was excited about you being on here and he's not excited about a lot of guests oh I was a huge party down fan oh thank you Ryan no I mean I
Starting point is 01:17:37 I just have to say like my favorite scene was because like what you were saying about comedy like playing it truthful is the best way to do it and that is just like anyone who teaches comedy
Starting point is 01:17:48 will tell you that like you it's not just saying the ridiculous thing it's believing the ridiculous thing right and Ron was just so that because every catering event was the most important thing to it really was my favorite one was the one when you did the the flag
Starting point is 01:18:02 the young the young the young the young conservatives young republican the young republicans thing and you because so because you got because ron got put in charge of this like battle worn uh american flag um i think josh was josh gad he gave it to you and you were like this is the most important thing and then martin star's character got barbecue sauce on it and then you put in the washer put in the washer all the colors ran. And just everything was so all altruistic. And then the episode ends with you pulling a flag down in the parking lot and setting it on fire. And they're all watching in the window.
Starting point is 01:18:38 Because you're trying to make it look like it did in the battle. And it was just, and at that moment, I was like, oh my God, this is one of the, this is the funniest thing. Yeah. It was so good. A character that you, like, it's over the top in ways, but really once you continue to watch it, it's not. It's so grounded in that's who that guy is. and he's got to keep everybody on their feet like what are you doing i told you not to go in the
Starting point is 01:19:01 fucking room get out of the room what it's just like this he's wound up it's all wound up yeah yeah and it works the more you watch it the more you got because you have to be that guy you have to i mean i've seen that guy anyway thank you for being on here this is a real treat it was my treat i appreciate you inviting me yeah anytime you're always welcome especially if you bring treats uh always bring treats all right thanks ken thank you Loved it. Guy makes me laugh. He knows how to make folks laugh. He's got a knack for it.
Starting point is 01:19:31 That's for sure. I want to thank you guys again for listening. If you were here for Ken Marino, please subscribe. Make sure you subscribe. We're everywhere. Apple, Stitcher, Spotify. You can watch on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe.
Starting point is 01:19:43 Tell all your friends. Our handles are at Insighty podcast on Instagram and Facebook and at Insighty Pot on the Twitter. All the places. Mm-hmm. My God. If you haven't watched Party Down, please go watch it. Party Down so far. There's only two seasons.
Starting point is 01:19:56 You can burn. through it and burn through it god this guy so funny he is funny uh and i will be in denver october 30th and 31st with tom welling you know clark kent will be there signing autographs so make sure you're in denver colorado october 30th and 31st it's going to be a lot of fun uh without my lovely patrons which i always talk about who i always talk about i couldn't do this podcast and i'm going to give a shout out to all my top tiers right now uh if you're a top tier you get your name shouted out in the podcast so uh join patron patron patreon.com slash inside of you that's right that's right here we go nancy d lea as tricia f sarah v little lisa you gico jill e ryan h mama lauren g nicco
Starting point is 01:20:43 p p he didn't even give me a p jerry w robert b jason w apothean christin christin k amelia o alison l raj c josh josh d d emily s c jp samantha m jennifer for D. N. Stacey L, Jinn, S, Jamal, F, Janelle, B. Carrey B, Tabith, 272, not to be confused with it. Tabitha, 273. Kimberly E, Mike E, L Don Supremo, 99 more, 99 more, Amira, Santiago, M, Sarah F, Chad, W, Leanne, P, Janine, R, Maya. P. Yes, Maddy S, Shannon D, Belinda, N, Kevin V, James R, Chris H, Dave H, H, Spider-Man, Chase, Sheila G, G, Brad, D, Ray H, H, H, hi, T, Liana A, T, Liana A, T, T, T, Lilliana A, T, T, T, what was it again turd ferguson turd ferguson funny name
Starting point is 01:21:29 michael s tely m betsy d claire m laura l chat l rachel nathan e marian maryin meg jennel p trab l dan n lorraine g carrie h veronica k big stevie w kendall t angel m rhian c cori k super sam nice coleman
Starting point is 01:21:49 uh coolers g g deb nexin michel a Liz. I. Is it just A hi. Is I? Yeah. Are you sure it's an eye? Yeah. It's got to be. Yeah. I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think they're doing lowercase. Is there music playing?
Starting point is 01:22:05 Yeah, the whole time. I don't think you'd hear that. You can't hear. That's right. Jeremy C. Andy T. Cody R. Sebastian K. G. Gabbinator, Ann H. David C. Elliott M. John B. Brandi D. Yvour. Camiel S. Bano. Bano. The C. Joey M. Willie F. Christina E. Adelaide, N, Jeffrey M, Bridget A, Omar. What's up, Omar? I think that's an L. Lina N and Design OTG. Here, look at this. Right here, look. I'm telling you that's an L because if you look at Michelle, there's an L. Well, it would be a capital L. But it wouldn't. You think it would be?
Starting point is 01:22:45 The rest of the letters are capital. So that's Omar I then. That's all I have to say about that. Please let them know. thank you so much for tuning in weekend week out it makes me feel real good whether you love the guest whether you don't know the guest stay tuned you'll learn something i sure as hell do uh from the hollywood hills and california i'm michael rosenbaum i'm ryan taez and uh we love you a little wave to the camera and uh thank you all for allow me to be inside of you and have a glorious week be good to yourselves all right you got to be good to yourselves all right we'll talk to you Football season is here.
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