Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Veep’s MATT WALSH: Comedy Is Harder

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

Matt Walsh (Veep, UCB) joins us this week and shares the turning points in his life that moved him from studying psychology and working in a psych ward to becoming a founding member of UCB and a household name in comedy. Matt shares praise for Julia Louis-Dreyfus and notes how important it is to have a good leader for the success of a show like Veep. We also talk about difficulty in dramatic roles, how the middle child is expendable, and how nice it is to take the role of a viewer on your own projects by doing a rewatch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Again, thank you for listening. This is your first time and you're a big Matt Walsh fan. If you don't know him, he's been in tons of stuff. Co-created the Upright Citizens Brigade. Tons of great stuff. He's a funny man. You're going to learn a lot.

Very interesting. But I hope that you'll subscribe to the podcast and you'll keep listening. Subscribe. You can listen anywhere. Apple, Spotify. You can watch on YouTube. please subscribe write a review it helps the podcast immensely thank you for tuning in and making this podcast your choice for this week ryan hello hello how you doing buddy i'm doing okay

how are you doing house therapy then it's fine yeah yeah that's what's happening with me i think my anxiety is getting a little bit better but uh still working on it man still working on i just had a big uh uh patron zoom call with the top tier patrons and patreon is a place where people support the podcast it's patreon.com slash inside of you i'll message you back if you join um they support the podcast there's different tiers and different things and perks and you get your name shouted out at the podcast and lots of other great stuff so join patreon.com slash inside of you um it's cool um but uh you know on the zoom last night with the patrons we were talking about our anxieties and how it you know everyone was really like hey this podcast really helps me and it makes me feel good that you know

I'm helping some because it feels almost inadvertent like I don't think I'm helping people you're just talking to people sure but then things come out like their anxiety their depression and their mental health and so you know and especially you you're you're forthcoming your uh you know you speak your mind you tell us how it is how you're doing that's right I'm known for just you know speaking truth you do I drop some truth bombs you drop some truth people love Ryan Teas that's me they do I get a lot of messages saying they love Ryan. I got, people are starting to follow me on from Talkville, I think. Yeah. Do we promote me for some reason? I, I always promote. Because I'm sorry, everyone. No, thank you for supporting Ryan Tejas and

following him. Thank you for supporting the Talkville podcast. If you don't know that we're doing that, Tom Welling and I, my co-star from Smallville, he was Clark Ken, of course. We're doing a rewatch podcast. Ryan is here. And we watch every episode from the beginning. And then we critique it. We talk about it. We tell stories and the fans call in and it's a it's becoming a really cool thing. And we're really excited. So subscribe to Talkville as well, asking you to do a lot. Subscribe to Inside of you. The handles for Inside of You are at Inside of You podcast on the Instagram and Facebook at Inside

of You pod on the Twitter. And then if you want to subscribe to Talkville, it's at Talkville podcast, I think on Instagram and Facebook. And at Talkville Pod on Twitter maybe. just check it out but follow us everywhere uh try to listen to both podcasts if you can and support um i appreciate you uh tom and i welling will be doing a smallville nights and a convention in uh boston this coming weekend friday night is smallville nights we do this event private event we read scenes from smallville i put on a ball cap he puts on the flannel shirt it's uh it's a lot of fun so fan expo boston this weekend um hopefully you're there hopefully you'll

join us. Also, go to the inside of you online store. There's tons of merch. There's Smallville stuff, scripts signed by me, lunch boxes, small of lunch boxes, inside of you tumblers and coffee mugs and a bunch of great stuff. There's still so many, so many cool things on there. So go to the inside of you online store and also, of course, the band, sunspin.com. Our new album's coming out like in a month or two. So get merch at sunspin.com. You can book the band. You could book a Zoom with the band. That's me. And we'll zoom with each other. We'll talk. We'll, we'll converse. We'll enjoy. In other words for talking. Talking and conversing are the same. Speaking. Yeah. It's just a bigger word I tried to use to sound a little smarter. I'm convinced.

Thank you. Thank you. I just try to get by. All as well. Great podcast today. Thanks for joining us again. And hey, this is a good one. I know that you really enjoyed this. one. This guy's been in everything. Oh, he's in everything. And he's, every time you see him on screen, you're like, oh, this scene's going to be funny. Yeah. He makes a lot of cameos. He kills it. It's amazing. And what a sweet man. Oh, yeah. What a sweet man. I had him right here and right here in studio. And it's always fun to have the guests in studio. We've got a lot of great guests coming up. Just interviewed John Heater and Will Wheaton. And there's a lot of great guests coming up. So please continue to listen and support the podcast. Couldn't do it without you

guys. Without further ado, let's get inside of Matt Walsh. It's my part. of you you're listening to inside of you with michael rosenbaum inside of you was not recorded in front of a live studio audience i've had a lost i've had a flourishing career as a character actor this is my camera work to this one or or talk to you michael you can just talk to me do you prefer michael or mike It's probably, you know, Mike sounds collegiate like you're, you know, the colleges like, hey, Mike's throwing a bash. Okay.

You're a grown up. I feel, well, you're 50. I just turned 50. You saw the big balloons when you walked in. What do I need to know about my 50s? Oh, I'm ahead of you. Because you told me you're ahead of me. My wife threw me maybe the most glorious party ever of my lifetime.

I was in Baltimore working. She organized an incredible surprise. party with like my buddies from high school, the people I was working, like the cast I was working with, like all of my family members. They all flew out to Baltimore from various parts of the country and then kept me in the dark. Meanwhile, I was planning my own birthday party with people I was working with. And everyone's like, imagine you're on the surprise. And I'm going, hey, so Michael, I'm going to have some people for dinner. And you're like, okay, I'll be there. Like everyone's lying to me. Right. Because they know Morgan.

has set up this grand surprise and then it was at this really cool like bar pizza place with video games and old ski ball games was incredible and I was completely and utterly surprised never really I had one other surprise party in my life but this was just lights out and my favorite moment where one of my most memorable moments is walking in the door and my mother was there my mom doesn't like to travel did you cry did you cry no I just turned to her I'm like what the fuck are you doing here but it wasn't it sounded mean but it was more like I couldn't contextualize any of it. It didn't dawn on me that it was a fully organized surprise party and that she was also in on it. How did that feel? Like when you're in those moments,

yeah. How did that feel? Oh my God, it was so wonderful and so like overwhelming and, you know, just incredibly festive and, you know, just we went crazy all night. It was so fun. Do you know I've never had a surprise party? No one's ever thrown a surprise for me. Really? Really. Yeah. Well, you're sort of putting it out there. I'm sort of putting it out there, Ryan. It's too late now. My 50th.

No, but you have next birthday. It would be a surprise if it was after your 50th, wouldn't it be? Yeah, anything would be a surprise. I just no one's ever thought, you know, I guess because I organize a lot of my own stuff, like you were saying, you organize your own kind of thing. Like, let's get together. Let's do this. And people think, oh, he does it.

He does everything. But it'd be nice if somebody took the reins. It is. And I'm not super organized, but for, For the 50th, I was. I was like, well, I got to do something. I'm out here. I'm not home.

So I started organizing things. And I even like, they even had the lady who, the woman who ran this nice restaurant I liked in on it. So I would say, I need to change that reservation to 12. I need to change it to 14. And every time she's like, okay, I'm writing it down 14. And like, no, there's no reservation. Morgan was ahead of the game.

It was incredible. She was really, which I probably owe her a lights out surprise party, which I'm not. looking forward to it because it'll make me so anxious and it won't be as good as hers but i will try to do it really you're going to try and throw a surprise party at some point yeah to kind of return the favor that's nice yeah but what are the 50s like do you notice any difference do you notice a change i mean you've also got three kids you're married you've got you know a lot going on i mean do you do you feel more overwhelmed in your 50s do you feel more laid back do you kind of know who you are what is it about the 50s that i could look forward to or not look forward to well i can only characterize my own

50s and none of it was like driven by the decade in my like assessment of like okay where should I be in my 50s it was more of a natural like I think the first thing I'm probably like more chill but you talk about chill I think I'm just less eager to go out and do things necessarily I'm just more chill I'm happy to be at home I'm happy to boot the kids I've probably like toned down my like energy of partying like by 100% Were you a partier? I think so, yeah. I like to go out a lot.

Like I lived in New York forever and I don't know. And I did a lot of like shows like where you're always like doing a comedy show and you go out for a couple of years after. Not partying, nothing hard or anything, but I feel like festive evenings were like once a week. Sure. Right. I don't even think I'd do that anymore, you know. Yeah. Do you feel worse after a drink?

The next day you could feel it if it's a drink. Yeah. But I don't, like I said, I kind of put it all down. Like I really don't do anything. to smoke weed i don't smoke weed anymore i really is it just because you just don't feel like doing it or is it i think it was the the booze was um i don't recover so it was like i don't like i like i still have drinks like i'll have a beer or two but i never go hard anymore like ever and for weed it was more a curiosity of like am i like smoking too much so i just kind of put it down and i enjoyed not

doing it for a while and so i've continued that right if that makes sense it does make sense yeah well look you've done so much work as we were just talking about i mean you know you got this new movie press play which i watched the trailer for and it looks really sweet like it looks like a tear jerker yes it is it is the guy i have a very small part but the guy gregg borkman who directed it he came out of that camp like the the fault in our stars did you ever see that yeah yeah yeah yeah love that movie he was sort of mentored by the guy behind that and so it's very much of that energy where like people are having these wonderful conversations about life and it's about love and so it has that energy not that it's the same

movie in any way so that's a great movie to reference well i don't know that they're probably apples and oranges because i haven't seen that one in a while but the feel the feel is there yeah i think that's the genre perhaps maybe they were trying to get and gregg's a wonderful guy and so i said sure i'll do it so and look mike mckett talked from veep we were just quoting you uh you know two Emmy Award nominations, I mean, you've done so many movies. What does that get you anyways? Seriously, but you've nominated. I was nominated for a, I won a Saturn Award.

And my friends immediately said, well, it was better than the Uranus Award, Michael. You know, that's the kind of shit that I guess. What's the Saturn Award if I made? It was kind of a sci-fi. It was when Smallville just came out and it was like a newcomer, best newcomer. And it was like, I was there was Spielberg and I took a picture of Spielberg. and it was the Saturn Awards. It was a nice thing.

Was the Saturn Awards its own ceremony or was it inside the Emmys? No, it was its own awards, its own thing. Did Saturn cars run this? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think they did. Okay, I'm just curious. I didn't know.

But look, you've done all these things. I mean, the founding member of the upright, Citizens were great, which I think I saw. Is it possible? I saw you in New York in 97? Yeah, very possible. Because I think you were, were you with three arts management? I was with Dave Becky at the time. Yes, that's how I kind of.

knew you loosely. We arrived out of Chicago, the four of us. And so Becky was my manager at the time. And I feel like I would see you in the office or whatever. We would have crossover through that. And New York was also a small scene. Right. Yeah. I mean, look at your career. And I then I go back and I look at like what you were doing in high school. And you were like a tied in in high school. Let's go. Oh my God. You were a backup tied in in high school. So where you take this off my Wikipedia? You're the second interview. Were you popular? I was popular. I was like, I had like six or seven really good mates that I always rolled with.

And I played a little bit of sports and I worked at a country club. And so I guess I was popular. And I was like a class clown type. I was disruptive in class, which I was probably looking for attention yet not knowing how to channel. I hadn't really discovered theater yet. So I was sort of like understanding like what performing is and figuring that out. too. Because you have how many brothers and sisters? I have three older brothers and three younger

sisters. So I'm one of seven. Were you in the middle? Yes. Does that explain anything, do you think? I think there is the birth order. I buy into the birth order personality traits that if you're surrounded by many siblings and you're kind of stuck in the middle, you probably need to find ways to get attention or to separate yourself from the pack. And I think that definitely applies to some elements my personality. And one thing I learned about middle children, which you guys might find interesting, is I recently took a ghost tour in Savannah.

And during the yellow fever epidemic, people did, it was kind of like early COVID. They didn't know how it spread, but people were dying left and right. And so if you had an uncle who died, you had to get the body to the graveyard and you would like knock on this crypt and like put it in this crypt or whatever.

Wow. They would always send the middle child to go do that because they were expendable. You wouldn't send the oldest, and you wouldn't send the youngest. Why was the middle kid suddenly expendable? Because everybody agreed that they're not going to be exceptional. They're just like, the baby is the baby, and the oldest, especially if it's a boy, is like the future and the estate's going to go to him, but the kids in the middle were expendable.

That's terrifying. It's a true thing, which I found interesting. Wow. Inside of You is brought to you by Quince. love Quince, Ryan. I've told you this before. I got this awesome $60 cashmere sweater. I wear it religiously. You can get all sorts of amazing, amazing clothing for such reasonable prices. Look, cooler temps are rolling in. And as always, Quince is where I'm turning for fall staples that actually last. From cashmere to denim to boots, the quality holds up and the price still

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because I use this. Ryan uses this. So many people use Rocket Money. It's a a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions crazy right how cool is that monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings and you know what's great it works it really works ryan rocket money will even try to negotiate lowering your bills for you the app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to 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 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 now we owe two hundred dollars by the end of the year yeah they're there to make sure those things don't happen and they will save you money you know rocket rocket rocket money's five million members have saved a total of 500 million and canceled subscriptions with members saving up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. Get alerts if your bills increase in price, 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. How doesn't everybody have Rocket Money?

It's insane. 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 survey so they know that I sent you don't wait download the rocket money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show what was it like growing up though with so many siblings was it uh did you feel like you were the forget because I always felt like I was forgotten my brother actually said this to me he woke up and he wrote down his thoughts he's like hey I had these nightmares and I just wrote down all these thoughts and I just realized how you know ignored

you were or during our childhood and I go what during your childhood yeah he's like He's like, nobody paid any attention to you. I just felt like no one ever listened to you. I was like, wow, somebody finally gets me. But that's good. You got that in an early age. What do you mean? Your brother revealed that to me about a month ago.

Oh, sorry. I thought this was when you were kids. Like he had a coming. Like a revelation. No, this just happened. Okay. All right. On the back end of your life, let's say.

Right. Right. So it was kind of startling. Yeah. To, you know, was it like that for you? because there were so many kids that, you know, that mom and dad kind of overlooked you and that kind of made you a little rambunctious and rebel and...

Yeah, I think unconsciously that was there. I mean, there was definitely a foundation of love and my parents are great. My dad's long past, but my mom was fantastic and... So you had a good childhood. I had a fundamentally wonderfully childhood. I really did. Like, I was loved. And there's also like, in some ways my older brother,

I can think of instances where he served as a... father figure, like if I was crying, he would take me and he would walk me around the block and he would talk me down. You know what I mean? So there's like in big families, it's not uncommon for one of the siblings to sort of serve in moments as a parent, you know, so you get, I got that too. I feel like I've taken over that role as I've gotten older. I've been the parent to everybody. So how many siblings you have or just? I had, my mom had two kids from her first marriage and then my, she married my dad when she was 23 with a five and a seven year old. He was 18. okay and then they got married and then they had me a year later and then my brother five years

later and and you're sort of uh a parent to a lot of these siblings oh yeah i'm a sort of a parent to my mom i am a parent to your mom i'm a parent yeah and it gets exhausting i mean you don't really have to do that did you i mean you had the love you had the they acted like your parents like the parents should act because i think that's what happens is that uh you take over the parental when they got divorced my mom was suicidal and uh would call me young up and I'm trying to do a job and I'm like look can you not kill yourself today I got a big I got a long day today you know and it was it was it was tough but I always look at people I'm like oh you must have had the same thing but I like hearing about normal experiences where your mom was your mom she didn't always ask you for money your dad was your dad he didn't how how was that uh I guess in that it was all I knew it was great like it was wonderful like uh yeah we were just like sort of like a lower middle class middle class family and Yeah, outside Chicago. And I liked having older brothers because they sort of looked out for you as needed. Of course I got like beat up by them occasionally like when I was little. And but they did look out for you. And then having sisters was cool. And I think it's it was great. I mean, I don't really have any sense of what you know, because and we all get along still, which is shocking. Wow. And it was unconditional love. Your parents were like happy with whatever you were doing. They wanted you. to be happy.

That's a big, unconditional love. You weren't, you weren't into acting and all that stuff at first. You didn't start improvving and all the, all the,

you know, serious acting stuff till later, right? You were like studying psychology or something? I was a psychology student in college. Yeah, I thought it was going to be a psychologist and I was, I was curious about that.

And I went to Europe for a year because I didn't know what I wanted to do. And then so I was searching a lot. But yeah, I think there was definitely unconditional love. And to their credit, like, they came and saw some of the worst shows in comedy.

history and they brought friends and some of it was vulgar and i'm like oh my god what i did it and my brother's like why did you invite mom and they're not going to like this they were old-fashioned you know orthodox catholic mom and dad they weren't they weren't going to like a lot of what we were doing in the early days so what would they say after a show that you bombed sometimes it would be like my favorite my mom's so tough she's amazing like you have to read underneath uh like the fact that she shows up she loves me you know what i mean i don't need her a hug because it wasn't a lot of hugs it was like there were uh the affection physical affection was never really there but it was okay but she would say things after show like well you're getting better

like that was her take on the show well that's that's nice yeah that is nice but it's a little underhanded like that wasn't a great show i don't i don't think i'll come back and you knew you're getting better yeah and you knew when it's a bad show you know 100% you feel it i remember the first sketch show i did with a group called department of works guys right out of college are like five of us living in a two bedroom in Chicago. Long story short, it was, I think it was like a two hour and 20 minute show with no intermission. Like, what were we thinking? We had no sense of what an audience has to sit there. And my parents, God bless him, invited like 12 people to the show. So they had dinner before and they're like, Maddie's doing, my dad was very enthusiastic about me

being an actor. So he was like, yeah, Maddie's doing a play. I think he had a penchant for like being an actor, but there was no world where he could have been. Like he had seven kids. He never going to be an actor see we were the opposite my dad i remember i did a play and i go hey i was in college and we went to denny's afterwards and i just remember saying i'm going to be an actor and he said eat your steak that was it disappointed or what i think he was just like what are you doing you're not going to make it as an actor my my my whole family was like what are you what are the odds come on what are we doing here what am i putting you in school for what are you going to school for this is what you're doing but you had a a cheerily

and your father but this was after college really right yeah i think so and i think part of it was i was the only one in the family truly pursuing it so i was sort of like this oddity who didn't fit in so i think the curiosity of it was like well i got one kid who's not going into the straight world in a way you know what i mean like i think i had that freedom and i was sort of misfitty forever you know they always thought you were funny funny appreciated comedy uh goofy for me at times. My grandpa's like, I don't know what's wrong with that kid. That's what my, my grandfather would say the same thing. He would look at me and go, you're a nut. Yeah. You're a nut. And he meant it. Like, I love you, but there's something wrong

with you. Yeah, there was that element. Yes. Which is like, in some ways, I don't know what sort of pathology we had, but I'm sure there was something there. But what happened? What was it? You go to Austria or something and you're studying psychology and you're, what was the turn around. What was like, this is not what I need to be doing? What inspired you to get into this? Inspired. Well, one thing was doing a variety show in high school. We got to be writing sketches about the teachers and making fun of them. And one teacher really got upset with me and was not happy with how we characterized her. But the sort of bug, I got bit by the bug. I want to know how you her name was penny she's probably god bless her she was an english teacher and anyone who teaches

is a saint like so i was a challenging student i'm sure and uh she was just really strict and she i think she probably had some like bipolar stuff happening she would just get livid and insane about something like one time she gave us candy and i didn't like it and i threw it in the trash can and then she found it in the trash can and she was crushed like somebody had taken her gift and like smashed it intentionally And I wasn't doing it to hurt her feelings. I just like, I didn't like it. So she would overreact emotionally.

So I think we characterized her as a psychotic person and an insanely mean woman. Wow. So that was one character. So anyways, that was the bug for performing and then the sort of reception that you get, like people like the next day in school. Like, God, you're so funny. That was so great. And you're like, really? Ever wonder how dark the world can really get?

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We are Wicked and Grim. Follow and listen on your favorite podcast platform. I know, like the same thing. I like this. when somebody acknowledges you you know it was for me it was i did grease in high school like everybody and i remember this popular kid i've talked about it before chris pro and he walked by me and i was the shortest kid in my high school i wasn't popular and he looked at me goes you were really funny last night and then he fucked off and i go oh my god i found it not being me is the way to go being someone else

portraying a you know being a different part being in it it something somehow resonated so i think that was where that that insecure weird little me kind of said hey you're going in the closet and i'm going to take over you know interesting yeah well that affirmation is what you were probably seeking right that elevated like you know approval from someone you didn't really care never got it never got it as a kid yeah like you got it that was so important like to hear my dad ever say like i just got like this is therapy for me if you noticed this becomes sort of therapy sometimes but um i got a card from my dad ryan for my birthday and in the card it's the first time ever he put i just want you to know i'm proud of the man you've become that's beautiful and boy did it i'm 50 years old

And it nearly brought me to tears. I was like, I've never heard any of this. I've never heard, I'm proud of you. I'm so, you know, I love you. Never. And that is really difficult growing up, not hearing those things, those affirmations. And because you doubt yourself. If you don't have the ones that are taking care of you, give you unconditional love and support and all that.

You've got to find it somewhere else. And so I found it in Chris Pro. Hey, you were really good last night. so you were really good in doing sketch comedy or whatever you did it in high school just one show one show that was for me the bug and uh yeah it's an interesting generation though like my dad who's no longer with us i don't know he's would be 88 or something was that a tough loss it was many years ago now it was probably seven years ago he was he had battled cancer for like 10 years so we had a good 10 years but yeah he was like the classic big fish salesman

great talker you know love to tell stories you'd hear the same stories he was that guy a little right but he was a wonderful character bigger than life guy so uh yeah and he was a big part of the the whole family right but what was the what was the 180 what was the switch from you know because you said you did this thing in high school but now you're off studying psychology and was it an improv show or did you see a movie or did you see something to go you know i'm going to give this a shot i took one i was so you're you're a little braver than me because i think i was like kind of lost in sports i wasn't i wouldn't characterize myself as popular but i could make people laugh at a party right but i wasn't popular i wouldn't i was like a geeky napoleon dynamite looking kid

you know what i mean like does you get laid a lot no no no god no no no i was very shy very shy and the turning point I guess was like seeing either I think I saw a touring company a second city come through my college and I think I took an acting class in my junior year in college and I was curious to get that affirmation from an acting teacher like oh you're good at this and so that was that was another turning point because he did give me affirmation he's like oh you're good at this which I wanted to hear and I was you know fortunate up to hear and I wasn't brave enough to be in acting like in Greece in high school yet like I give you credit for that like you were like it took a lot it took a lot I was scared of shit yeah exactly to like really commit to it and like all my friends were jocks and I wasn't like a meathead jock I wasn't that athletic but I love sports and stuff and I love my friends but it was a different track it would have really separated me on a track in my mind and I don't think I was ready for that yet so that was part of the searching so and then

the real thing i think is a friend of mine my last year in college said they teach these improv classes downtown in chicago so i would drive my last year of college i would drive downtown take a class and come back out to college what was it called it was placed called uh players workshop of second city and it was the only place teaching improv at the time did you have to audition for it no it was just a class just a class they take your money and try to teach you the fundamentals of like almost like viola spolen in game playing and like early theater stuff and it was really like I said I did a variety show I did one acting class and then I was in improv I had very little experience like informal training yet you know what I mean so then you started to fall in love with this I fell in love with improv which

just made me like chase it forever the the idea of creating and writing on your feet was just mystical to me and that led me into theater when I graduated and I was doing psychology for the first couple years right out of college what were you doing in psychology i worked on an adolescent psych ward northwestern hospital with disturbed adolescence for two years and i was taken like graduate school i was thinking i was going to be a psychologist what was that like it was intense it was it was really educational and intense like a lot of disturbed kids a lot of medication that was like you know this is like 1989 let's say so like early riddalen and early zola And they're experimenting with drugs to get kids normalized.

And then you'd see schizophrenia or you'd see eating disorders or you see kids with suicide or you'd see like court ordered gangbangers who's, you know, the judge says you can either go to psych eval or you can go to prison, juvie. And they're like, I'll go to psyche vall. And then, you know, so you get every kind of population in there, wealthy, poor, public aid kids, you know, Rockefeller kids essentially. Like, so you got everything in there. So it was fascinating.

100% something that was too challenging that once I was exposed to it. I'm like, this is too hard. It was too much for you. Yeah. You didn't want to do it anymore. Because the responsibility of helping someone is too great. Like if you mess that up, they could kill themselves or they could, it could go really wrong. Like if you misdiagnose, if you don't get, because you saw it as I was just like on the nursing staff as a mental health worker kind of working my way up to like be a psychologist. just. I wasn't really doing treatment plans for anyone. But you process emotion with every kid and you try to treat them therapeutically. It's like a camp counselor vibe, you know. It was draining. So draining because you're a wash with pathology when you come home at the end of the day. So that would do that

during the day. And then at night, I would go out and do comedy and bars. So I had like two lives. Yeah, like two, I was living two days. It was crazy. And what was the first, the first time you felt like I'm funny. I've got this. I am I how many classes in what what happened where you felt like I've got to go full throttle and what did you do? The the bug or the juice that hit me or the crack was like I don't know three or four classes into my first level one improv at players workshop I ended up doing a scene with a who became a friend of mine this guy Kevin Irvick and uh we like sustained a three minute scene that made everyone in the class laughed and it was as if we were able to finish each other's sentences and it's as if we knew where the scene was going and that to me was mind-blowing

like I couldn't imagine how that happened and so I was chasing that I was trying to understand how to do that again right and when did I mean how many years later did uh did UCB start uh UCB probably started loosely a couple years later like in various incarnations and then the four of us moved to New York and that was Amy Polar. Amy Polar, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and myself. Right. And then we moved to New York in like 96.

In 96. And then I met Michael. And then my life changed. You met me. You met me in the office. Yeah. I met you in the office. And you were like getting coffee for Dave Minor, I think, at the time.

I probably was. And these guys represent a lot of comedy studs now. Who are you with now? I just have an agent. I don't have a manager anymore. Yeah. No. Managers became, it's like, what do you?

you need a manager. Do you have a manager? No, no. But for years, I had a manager 15%, an agent 10%, a publicist 5%, a lawyer 5%. It's like, am I making any money here? I know. I don't have a manager, but I do have, I need an accountant like a, I'm terrible that way and I need occasionally I get a publicist if I have to promote something. Right. And then an agent. You need an agent. You don't have, you must have an agent. I have an agent. Yeah, you have to have an agent. Well, you started, I mean, the likeability factor on you is really high because you get cast. Can me search my likeability on the internet? is there where do you go for that likeability dot com you look at these roles like todd phillips keeps

casting you like people keep hiring you why is that well i think you probably have experienced directors or writers who think you're sort of a muse or someone who's like oh my god i have this other thing michael and i'm thinking of you todd was one of those guys i audition for him once what was that uh first one was road trip and then also because one of todd's co-writers was my buddy Scott Armstrong, who I became friends with two. So sometimes when Scott and Todd were writing, they would name a character, Walsh, loosely, because I have an everyman quality, like you can put me in a short sleeve shirt and a tie, and I look like I belong there. So I think they loose me, kept me there. But I would audition for Walsh. I've auditioned for Walsh characters. Characters that are

named. Yeah. So it wasn't a gimmie. I had to go in and then my guy in the hangover was Valsh with a V, Dr. Walsh with a V. Which I don't think I had to audition for, but yeah. So I think Todd, long story short, I think he just liked me right away. And also I think he likes improvisers and he likes to play with it on set. And so I was able to do that with him and I think we had a good, you know, playfulness. On road trip, that is the first time you met him? I audition for him in a room before I met him, yeah. And did you improvise in the room? I think I took it further. I think I went beyond what was on the page.

Like the scene continued and he didn't cut it. So I think that's probably where the improv happened. I didn't feel emboldened to just like throw the script away and just improvise the first time I met him. What's it like being on set and you have the scene? Do you know that with a guy like Todd Phillips, you are going to improvise? And a lot of these guys that hire you, they're expecting Matt Walsh or Matt Walsh to come in and bring something. bring something extra do you feel like there's a pressure no i don't i i personally welcome it if it's if it's what they're looking for i want collaboration i want to be able to contribute to the material

always i always have plenty of ideas which i'm never married to i don't have a big ego like i have a much better joke put that away i'm you know i'm i'm pitching it in a collaborative way uh always so i love those situations because when you're tight you don't don't express yourself as well, quite honestly. Not that I can't do a scripted scene as scripted, but I also like, if I understand the character and the camaraderie or the sort of artistic juge is there between you and the director, then you can play in a fun way, which I think gets you a little extra. Right. Do you ever get nervous? Do you ever feel like, wow, there's a lot it's like a court reporter is this is he doing edit points yeah perhaps perhaps okay yeah in case

something goes wrong and then i have to like go back and say like when would when did that go wrong i have oh the question when i leave like oh we need we need this again got it yeah yeah okay it's like a court reporter i don't i don't know if i'm depot it's like a deposition like someone it's all it's a bunch of evidence has anything ever gone to shit oh by the way first of all i want to know if anything has ever gone to shit on set where you're improvising and it's not working working you just it can't be funny and you feel like that just didn't work i feel like that's uh hmm well at times it doesn't work are when the people sort of in charge of it don't care like they're like just do anything then for whatever reason what you think is funny in the moment it doesn't work

you know that's that's the only way i can explain it so yeah there's been times where they're like do anything like anything like i actually want some leadership and they're like no no do anything like all right and then you just give them all kinds of stuff and then you realize like there wasn't enough there to edit it into something good if that makes sense right so you're doing a movie essentially and you're doing a scene and the director really doesn't know exactly what he wants and he's just like matt just just do something that's a bad sign and you that you never like that i don't think so no Like in general, it doesn't happen a lot, but sometimes, and it hasn't happened in a while. But yeah, sometimes you're in those situations like, I really wish there was something you were

giving me so I could something specific carve up or play towards that, yeah. And who's the best at doing that? The best at doing what? Giving you specificity. Any good director, like lots of good, like great scripts give you specificity, obviously. Like if you have great scripts and you're allowed to play a little bit on top of them, that's the dream like veep had that and todd's movies had that and i've done a lot of things with really good scripts that you get to play with isn't it exhausting though you think as an actor you memorize your

lines you go in there you deliver and you go away but a lot of times on these shows that you see especially shows with danny mcbride shows movies of todd phillips judd appetel you're going to keep doing it and you're going to keep doing it over and over again and that seems like it's almost harder to keep going to find something as opposed to just let's get what's scripted and usually i guess when you're filming something that's dramatic like this new movie press play it's like matt just deliver your lines well that was we were in the in the press play me and a woman named christina chang who's a great actor we were a couple and we were sort of comedic relief like we had we got to play like we were post-divorce as our timeline went on right which i think is really funny seeing

couples who are fresh off a divorce. So we got to play a little bit comedically. But I also think like for whatever reason, drama can be more challenging for someone, or for me, quite honestly. Really? Yeah, because it's, it is, it's not different, but it is slightly different. And it's also like, like if a director says to you, I want you to do drunk, okay? And you were playing it drunk. You did work good actor you did your work you know where you're at you do some takes and then he's like i want you to be like spasticly drunk like out of your mind falling down drunk and you and your heart of hearts go that's not that's not where i went ever like my instinct was never that guy right right are you going to give it to the director i guess you have to don't you right yeah you do you do

and do you feel in that moment i missed it like do you feel like shoot i did all this investigative work on this character and he's got this take that I never saw that that that means I'm a bad actor do you have that moment uh I've had moments where I just I'm like wow I'm not give he wants something completely different than what I'm giving him so I feel like I'm failing that happens to me in drama and that plays on my insecurity like if I get notes from a director inside a drama and it's something I missed because I have less experience at it i think i have less of a foundational like integrity with it and i'm like shit i'm a bad actor like have you gone through those stages oh yeah oh yeah i just did something where like the morning

i'm like i'm fucking really good actor and then the afternoon like i don't know how to act anymore i literally don't know how to act i've had moments where i'm on set the same thing where bring anything at me give me any notes i am on fire and then there's been times where i'm like like, oh my God, everybody's looking at me. I'm embarrassed. I'm terrible. I want to honestly leave the country. I never should act again. I just please, God, get me out of this. God, get me out of this. God, get me. I swear. And I'm, you're laughing, but I'm really thinking these things in my head. Get me out. I'm laughing because I recognize it. I'm not laughing at you sucker. Like, you poor bastard. I'm laughing because you could. I just went through that. Like,

I get it. It's hilarious. It's hilarious because I think it's, hopefully it's just because of experience like I have less experience and confidence in like pure dramatic stuff do you know what I mean but do you want to do more dramatic I do enjoy it because I think you have that I think you can do that I think so too and I'm not like bragging but I think if you can do comedy you can do drama I really that's what I think I think comedy is much harder I do think so too and it sounds arrogant but I do because you have like great people like a Julia Dreyfus who's like playing this emotional moment with her and she's crying about something. Let's say it's say it's a VEP episode. I'm thinking of something a moment. But in the meantime, she's like, don't go away because she's got another meeting that

she cares more about, but now she's back into this emotional crying moment. So she's really investing in something emotional, but don't let him leave. You know what I mean? So you kind of have to do, but you have to ground it in reality so people get lured into the circumstance that you're creating. And then you also have to be able to be funny. So I don't know. Have you had the moments where I'm like, you're like, I am a dramatic actor. Wow, I just nailed that. I, or you watch yourself. Do you watch yourself? I'm not a fan of watching myself. I might, I might peek at a monitor once, like, coming into a project to see how they're shooting it and see the framing. And if there's something tricky that I'm not getting like, this is what I'm doing. I really want

you to like hit it here or don't deliver that until, you know, then I'll, mechanically, I need to know, I need to look at the monitor. But performance wise, it just puts me, in a place where you know when i do live theater i don't look at the faces of the people watching it because that would put me in their head i sort of look above their heads or i just zone out you what i mean and in the same way i can't look at my own visage when i'm acting because it puts me in my head it makes me aware of like this thing i'm doing but if you and i are doing a scene i can just pretend as best i can that it's really here but when i look at it it takes me out of it right so there's that Do you get nervous?

I do. Still, I do. What makes you nervous? Big monologues. Shakespeare, I've never done Shakespeare. I don't know that I could handle that. Big monologues, how long does it usually take you to memorize? Are you a good memorizer?

I'm not a great, if I'm in rhythm, like, if I happen to be inside a show or a movie and it's like third week and I got my rhythm and character, then I'll be fine. But if it's like first week or like first day and I have the chunky monologue, first day, That would terrify me. That would be like... Well, you played press secretary, right? Yeah. So didn't you have a lot of monologues? A lot of that you could read.

You know, it's just like, all right, I got a bulletin, and then you could just have your bulletin there. You could cheat. Because that's what they do. They kind of like, oh, well, and you would do that. Yeah. So you wouldn't memorize them. Some things you didn't have to memorize, yeah, but some things, you know, occasionally

you have big monologues. But I feel like Veep was never really in the big monologue world very rarely. It was always like repartee and just being bulletproof as somebody insulted you sometimes. How does it work? with Julie Louise Dreyfus. You've answered this. I know. I had the name drop her just so people think I'm a big deal. But by the way, she's just like, I have always had the biggest crush on her. Yeah. I think she's phenomenal. She is. She's a force. She's the best. She really is. She's wonderful, kind, hilarious, uh, tirelessly wants it to be amazing. Like,

she does everything right. Generous. Uh, a great leader. You know, I think the, the thing with a show or a movie if like number one on the call sheet is a mess or if they're not great then it just goes downhill but if she's like atop the list and she's setting the pace it just makes everything like you know flourish i just imagine her always being pleasant on set hi matt how are you good morning i don't know that she's like a chipper like good morning great day we're going to kill her today i don't think she's like that no no i think she's real i think she's just real like she's probably quiet in the morning and worried about her lines just like we are you know what i mean like so but yeah have you ever worked with an actor where you are improvising with and you hate this other person's

skills they are not viving with you they are not listening to you and it's just going to hell and you're like you don't know what to do and you feel it a lost and you're hoping the director will say something to that person yeah i think in the in the world of like improv if people are improvising outside of the scene and they're basically doing stand-up and they're not throwing it back at you and they're not building something with you. That's disappointing. That's like, all right, you don't really need, you just turn to the director. You're like, you don't really need me here because he's just or she's just going to, you know, do their stand-up. So it's like, I don't know why I need to be here. Have you ever gotten upset? Well, yeah, I guess so. Yeah. And then you just hope

that we don't spend too much time on it because they're probably not going to use a lot of it because you want to improvise towards the story. You really want to give them things that the editor will be like, that actually serves a story. We'll get, we'll get that. And sometimes you do movies where they have, you improvise all this hilarious stuff to an exhaustive extent, which you mentioned earlier. And then none of it ends up in the movie. Is that crushing? It's not crushing, but it's like, I wish they didn't make me think it was going to be in the cut. Right. Or like they might use it. Yeah. Yeah. What do you do in situations where, because you've, you've directed you've directed two movies now right and you've also been a part of shows like

dog bites man players that were short-lived shows that didn't last does that is that something that kind of you can't let go or you let it go immediately and you say hey we did our best or you can you feel it coming uh how do you deal with sort of uh failure maybe I guess it is hard like it is hard like if you make a movie and it's like uh I could have done that better I probably won't watch it you know i can't watch it for a while so that that is hard but you try to look at it and learn from it and then with like a show as you know like you have no power like even if you're a celebrity they'll cancel your show in a second so it's just like what you're gaining through all of it hopefully is like uh an expertise in producing writing uh making things better

navigating the process like experiencing all that right so i guess you just try to take away whatever experience you can get from those things but yeah i mean it is disappointing and it is hard sometimes you you can yeah you can like lick your wounds a little long i guess what's the one thing that you had to do that where you're like you know i have to i'm i mean this is going to take me a minute to get over what is the thing that make me keep over i don't know i'm trying to think that's a really good question uh put that on the list to get back to right get back because i'm multitask i mean I really, I'll multitask. The thing that really, beyond like some girl that broke up with me when I was like 22.

It could be anything. I mean, I've had that. I've had that too. But like I had a show that I did. It lasted two years. It was decent ratings. Reviews are pretty good. And then they canceled it.

And then it just said, this is not what our network is looking for. And I remember going, hey, thanks for the work. Appreciate it. And I didn't think it bothered me. I thought I was good with it. And then all of a sudden, just felt like man that was a really good gig i was really lucky to be a part of the dad and it just kind of got down i'm like what was it is it me i guess so i'm the lead you know you start to doubt

yourself and uh have you done that yeah i guess i can't think of a specific project or maybe i'm too guarded about maybe you're too great no no no i have those moments but like i don't know the thing that like i probably hung on to too long i think is what you're describing i don't know i can't think of it that's all right yeah i mean by the way do you remember because you remember specifically when your parents came to the worst shows ever yes do you remember when they came to the show where you were like fuck yeah well it was always things that they would appreciate like if i did a british mystery show my mom would be in heaven like she would be like that's the premium entertainment there could possibly be is like an interesting detective who has a

British accent who's solving a mystery every week. Oh my God. My mom would just be like I'd be your favorite child. Did you do that a lot, that character? Huh? I've never done it. Oh, you haven't. I've never done it. Oh, I thought maybe it's something that you know. No. Because I want to see that character. No, I sometimes think I should write a mystery just to please my mom because she's always watching British shows. She's always watching mysteries. So in some ways I'll never measure up to her like sense of what

you know, exalted theater can do or exalted television could do. Like she kind of like V but I think she might have found it a little vulgar at times or whatever or it wasn't her cup of tea perhaps. Was there something though that she was like, I really, you were great.

I can't think of it. You know that. God damn. I'm serious too. Like I, but you don't, I like you perhaps. didn't really get it. Like, I wasn't going to get it from that generation. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's of the school of like, oh, if you tell your kids you love them too much,

they'll be soft. They'll be like, they won't be hungry. They won't be ambitious. They got to be toughen up and make it on their own or something. You know what I mean? There's a little, whatever that Eisenhower era mentality is that bled into all of our, you know,

upbringing, perhaps. There wasn't that elevated understanding of the, you know, speaking love and doing that for people is really valuable and it won't tarnish them and it won't make them soft. So I don't know that I ever got like my mom's raving review and she kept bringing up. But I do remember the things that like just doing a commercial early on where she could tell her friends, Matt's on a commercial. Like she liked being able to see things that her friends could see.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So if it's like if it's a commercial for true value hard, he's on that true. He was on a Super Bowl commercial. He's, that commercial was not like she likes that. She likes to have things. So really anything that wasn't. I don't know, R-rated that she could tell her friends about, she probably liked.

Now, is there something, because I know you don't watch yourself a lot, but is there something you could at least appreciate now? You watch it, there's like, you know, when you came up in a movie and a Todd Phillips movie or the hangover or something where you just killed it, and it's something that you go, you know what, you could at least look at that and say, Matt, you nailed it. You're funny. You're really funny in that. Well, I don't really go back to my work ever.

like I think I watch everything once or I haven't yet and maybe when I'm 80 and we're in the old folks home for motion picture actors we'll do it Michael you and I all right but Mike I did I'm one of those guys who's doing a rewatch podcast me too okay it started a Wednesday called Talkville it's about rewatch smallville I'm doing one with Tim Simons called second in command which we did the first half we'll be coming back soon enough sweet that has caused me to go through through every episode of Veep. And I'm like, oh, I did a good job. I like that. Really? Yeah, I don't hate it. Like, and I, and I also can watch everything. Like, I can watch other people and like,

because I think as an actor, sometimes you're myopic and you're like, I gotta get this mott writer. I gotta get this scene writer. I gotta get like, you know what I mean? And so you're a little just focused on your scene and then you see this beautiful show when it's all packaged together and you can really enjoy it as a fan. Like, I'm sure you can watch the whole,

show now and not just see yourself but like oh my god yes he was great she was great yeah and not that you didn't appreciate other people before but i think we're burdened with our nervousness to deliver and some of that comes from insecurity some of that comes from ego some of that is just like it's human beings trying to do a good job and everybody has that right so it's refreshing to go like five years after whatever the last episode of beep was out to go back through the first I think we've gone through the first three and watch them and not feel anything but like, wow, that's a great show. That was really good. And to also literally be removed and watch it as a fan is amazing. Will you have guests on that show? Yes, we do. We try to get every week. We'll try to get anybody who came through the show, one of the regulars. Tony's been on, Julie's been on, Sam's been on. Is that a lot of fun to go back? It is. Did they actually go back and watch or they don't know? We don't watch. We just sort of have talking points and we'll hit the plot and then we'll just go anywhere. subject matter can go anywhere we just have it be a conversation you ever been intimidated by someone you're working with yeah i'm trying to think like any big actor came on set and you're

like oh fuck these are big pointed questions um names names names names intimidated well i think hugh lorry coming into veep was a big moment for me i was intimidated by him because he's a consummate amazing dramatic comedic guy yeah uh there was also a director on v named chris morris i don't know if you know him no he directed these really subversive shows called the brass eye and he was sort of uh i was way uh intimidated by him because he has this very aggressive almost like sasha baron cone prank style comedy that was an early probably influenced sasha and a lot of stuff that happened over here so he was just someone i was intimidated by those are two names that come to mind who are the best improvisers that you see out there now that you i mean

obviously there's a ton of great improvisers but who are the ones that you're like these are my favorite well there's like guys like old school guys like a guy dave pesquazzi who is always great because he when i started i was a freshman he was a senior at the second city sort of pool of talent and he's kind of like a good dramatic actor but he's really good improviser so he's someone that like i have a lot of respect for still or that i know still improvises and is really great um i think a lot of the guys i just play with are great like i don't know like anybody that's uh i don't really improvise anymore actually because that's you know the just not something I have time for.

Or with the theater, we don't do the theater anymore. But it's still around, Uprice Citizens Brig. Well, we don't have anything to do with it. You don't. No, we let it go. Nothing to do with it. Why did you let that go? During COVID, shut down.

Was that hard? Yeah, that was a hard one. Yeah, we had to get rid of it. That was a hard one. When you say, like, things that, like, ended and you're like, I wish I could have made that last longer. Or I wish, was it me? You know, I had to do some examining around that.

And also, when I, put it down. I'm like, oh, thank God, that was a nightmare heading to manage because it was like 20 years. We were trying to keep a theater afloat. What do you miss about it? What do you miss about the gym night? The pickup shows, the Sunday day improv with people just doing a good. It's like pickup basketball. It's like amazing. It really keeps you fresh and smart and you laugh your ass off and it's good for your health. You like literally expand your lungs and and you also creatively chase these premises that you would never come up. with on your own right what's next what else are you doing you got the press play oh zach woods is a

great improviser he's someone that Zach woods yeah he's he's so eloquent yeah so what's next you got it got the podcast we got the uh second in command second and command promotion promotion you got to promote you got no no i know you're right uh i should start bragging about my brag i just finished the show called which isn't coming back but it's called um it's on the c w which you probably familiar with that network. Would I lie to you? It was like a fun panel show where two teams tried to lie to each other.

That was a blast. I shot that, but that's gone. What the hell is gone? There's a movie called Unplugging that's out on demand now. You can watch it. I wrote it and co-starred it with Eva Longoria. Oh, wow.

Yeah, really proud of that. You directed it? No, no, just wrote it, co-starred with Eva. We play a couple who puts their devices down for a weekend and just it goes bananas they can't handle it is it hard being a writer when someone else is directing you when you have written the the stuff depending on the direct if the director thinks they're a better writer than you then it is hard but if you get a director who's like collaborative and like sort of defers to some moments that like you guys probably have this then it works great if they're focused

on other things like visuals and things like that if it's collaborative basically right all right this is called shit talking with matt walsh this is uh these are my patrons go to patreon.com slash inside of you to support the podcast these these folks do it and they get to ask some questions and i appreciate you thanks to become a patron i'll write you back uh these are fast you can just spin them out if you want these are questions from your fans my patrons yeah your patrons they're people who support the show support the podcast got it so they get to ask some questions so we just narrowed it down thank you ryan are the questions for you you didn't do it i'm sure ryan did this uh you didn't do any work what

he's talking about you just rolled in i am reading you made me coffee you were a good host i'm a reader okay you're reading it leanne veep any funny behind-the-scenes stories you would like to share did you take any props home from set uh i kept my watch so mike wore a watch in every episode and i it was actually a watch my grandpa gave me so i took that back and then i have a giant uh i don't know it's like a 200 pound piece of plexiglass that says CBS News with Mike McClintock and Dave Mandel the head writer's like who's a total memorabilia geek he saves Star Wars gear he has like a me too look a boba fat yeah he has like a boba fat mask and he has like a Raiders of the lost arc you know clip from what's this called this thing when you go take two what's that call uh what do you call

what he called slate slate slate he has an original from like raiders and stuff wow he's like you got to keep this thing. I'm like, it's like 200 pounds and it's like eight feet by eight feet. And he's like, you got to do. And I'm like, all right, I guess so he arranged and I had the prop guy delivered to my house. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I have that, Leanne. Emily S. What's been your most favorite role to do so far in your career? Well, it's such a cop out, but I love any role that I can help write. So anything from V to sketches and upright Citizens Brigade to Dog Bite man to Todd Phillips movies like you know anything where I'm able to like contribute I'm super

psyched about awesome Michelle Kay Matt since you're a Chicago native deep dish regular or thin crust pizza then all right Kelly S I think you're hysterical Kelly you did a great job on how many times did you have to redo a scene because you burst out laughing just a couple I got pretty good at not laughing, but just a couple. Does there someone who, does she laugh a lot, Julia? Julia little, no, Julia's pretty pro. She tries to, like, Tony was weak. Tim could be weak.

Those would be the two gigglers probably that come to mind. Does it upset you when you're just killing something and it's so funny and people are laughing? No, I'm a fan of the, I love a good, just burst out. Like, I love a good gag reel. I love a good crack up. Like, that's so much. joy i don't get mad unless we were like blowing up a car we only had one car and then they laughed and ruined it then i guess i'd be mad but ultimately it's just dialogue we can get we'll get it

you know all right all right danny what has been the busiest year of your life to date and how did you manage it i feel like in the v years when we were like doing seasons back to back and like maybe flying to baltimore and then coming home and like were you exhausted yeah it felt like And it sounds ungrateful, but it felt like a, the, the sort of, you know, the party scene, not the party scene, like it sounds like cocaine, but like Emmys isn't just the Emmys. It's like the parties around the Emmys. And if you get nominated, you're doing that. And then you're doing publicity for that.

And so some of those seasons in the middle, I found really hectic and wonderfully grateful for all of it. Ray H., what do you consider your greatest accomplishment? I have a buddy name Ray age I wonder if it's my greatest accomplishment it's a woman Ray is a woman okay sorry oh how sex is somebody is Kelly a woman or a man Kelly is a woman okay um my biggest accomplishment greatest accomplishment greatest accomplishment without saying your kids and your wife yeah that's a good one that's that's that's where I would go yeah pass Do you want to pass on that one?

Well, I'm sorry, Ray. Like, because I feel like, you're just so matter of fact. Pass. I'm not going to be cornered on that one. Because this goes down in the historical record. This podcast will live for infinity. My kids will stumble on it. And they'll be like, why didn't you say me or why didn't you say this?

Do your kids think you're funny? A little bit. A little bit. Yeah. They're fun. I think they probably think I'm corny or something. Is your wife funny? She is funny.

She is funny. She makes you laugh. She does. Do you make her laugh? I do. Still to this day. And you've been married? How long? I don't know how long we've been 13 years. 13 years we've been married, been together 17. Yeah. I still make her laugh. How do you know when you were with the right one? Oh my God. What is it? What is it? Is this from you or from the list? This is from me, man. Are you married? Can I ask you some question? You're not. Ask me anything you want. Are you settled? Are you with someone?

No. What's the longest long term relationship? A couple years. years two years and with that two year with i'm sure i'm assuming you probably had a couple two year relationships yes sure what was it about those two that made you stay in it what was special about those two um i just felt really comfortable like i could just be me like i could really just be the fucking lazy shitty shitty me you felt you could be honest i did and i lost lost those people, those women, those great women, but it was my own problem, my own fault. But I answered my own question. I've had opportunities.

I just need to not let another one pass me up, I guess. But what do you know, what is it about you in a relationship that makes you feel like Morgan's right for me? I think it's luck. I think the serendipity of like meeting someone at the right time is what it's about, I think. Like the fact that Morgan and I are still together and we have three kids and, you know, we're probably be to knock on what we'll be together forever. I think it's the luck of meeting each other when both of you are relatively healthy and willing to be your ugly selves. That's what it is, I think. For me it was.

And I think probably for her because she had her shit together too. And I don't know that I had my shit together, but I was also kind of over trying to be someone else. And so I think that plays, because that creates momentum. And then once you're in it and you're invested in it and you realize like, oh, she's got my back and like, I am, I should probably work on myself. And then you're like, then the momentum carries you. But like the beginning and like the awesomeness of it all, I think you have to get a little lucky with where you're at and where with the other person's at.

I do. I think that's the biggest. For me, that's what made a difference. Yeah. And you've shown her your ugly. colors oh my god i every day jesus she's a little disappointed she's probably regretting it at this point she's like oh my god oh come on i knew you were ugly but not this nasty uh christie last question what's your biggest pet peeve that's a good question christie pet peeve these are ticky

tacky but one is you know how when you're like getting off the plane and it parks and then they got to like unlock the door and they got to secure the things and tie the handles down and then you can get up and leave

and you see people like race up and cut in front and just like they want to be the first as if they're the only ones who have a busy day ahead of them and the truth is like they might take five spot they might get up five rows

but they're going to wait too you know what I mean that's just something that like it irks you it does I'm such a small person and I realize too like sometimes people do

have a connecting flight and I don't know but it's just it's just one of those like human nature things I'm like that just bugs me I'm like do you really first of all you're not really

you might get four rows you might get three you're not getting mine well no you're not you're not you're not I'll get my bag out there I'll get my body out there and I'll just be like

I guess we're waiting until the door opens and sometimes it's not even for me it's for other people like they're cutting off other people I'm not so like you don't do this to me I'm like everybody's in this

I think that's very fair that irks me too right I think that's yes I think you're absolutely right yeah so yeah and then like

just not a fan of Carl's Jr. That's a pet peeve of yours Carl's Jr. But just like, make it right or don't do it. I don't know. It's just there's nothing there. That came out of left deal. That was great.

This has been a real treat for me. I feel like I got to know you. I appreciate you for coming on the podcast. Thanks for allowing me to be inside of you today. Whoa. I mean, that's how we roll. That's personal. I didn't know you were going to get inside me, but I felt you were gentle.

Yes, I tried to be. You were. I tried to be. Ryan, did get all this? I did. Got all of it. Anything we need to go back on? your greatest accomplishment no i believe it was the greatest accomplishment uh my god i met michel obama

once i don't know did you really yeah we met her uh between the west wing and something she was running between buildings in dc she's sweet yeah she was lovely brief so so brief but she was lovely i love it yeah i love well thanks for coming on the podcast thank you for having me all right now i'm going to take in your room we're done yeah i uh enjoyed that yeah so funny so funny so naturally funny and open and you know just hearing different perspectives from different people about their life and how they handle things and how they handle stress and how they how they started and you know he uh he wasn't uh you didn't think he was going to get into comedy and he didn't get into it till late and uh it's a great story so

thank you um also thank you for listening to the podcast and if you want to become a a patron go to patreon.com slash inside of you and uh join the family join the family of patrons who support this podcast and i'll send you a message soon right after you join and um a lot of perks and cool stuff there and of course the inside you online store merch and uh i'll be in boston this weekend with tom welling 12 13th and 14th doing small little nights and uh signing autographs and it's always nice to see you guys see your faces there um And part of the great perk of being a patron is the shoutouts at the end of the episode. And that's what we do now.

We give shoutouts to everybody, the top tiers, who give the most to the podcast. And that's what we're going to do right now. And Ryan's got it pretty much memorized. Oh, yeah. Do you think you still have it memorized? Nope. No. There's some new ones.

Nancy. D. Leah. Sarah. V. Lisa. Lisa. You.

Kiko. J. B. Nico. B. Robert. C. Nope. Close. B. Robert B. Jason. W. Sophie. R. M. Rage. C. Joshua. D. C.J. P. Jennifer. N. N. N. N.

Okay. You did. Stacey. L. Jamal. F. Janelle. B. Kimberly. E. Mike. E. Eldon Supremo El Dan Suprimo 99 Moore Rha

Mira Santiago M Chad W or D W you're right Leanne P

and Maya P Maddy S Belinda N Chris H

Dave Shila G Brad D Ray H Tabith

Tabith T Tom N Lianna Lillianna A Yeah

Talia. N. M. Am, correct. That's he. D. Chad. D. L. L. Marion. Meg. K. Angel. F. M. Rianan. C. Corey. C. K. D. Dev. Nexon. Michelle. K. A. Jeremy. C. Andy.

D. T. Gavvinator. Corray. David. R. C. John. C. B. Brandy. L. D. D. Camille. N. S. The C. Joey. Joey Foteone. Joey Foteau. Joey M. Design. O.T.G. Eugene and. Lea. Nikki. Nikki. P. G. These are the tough ones. These are the bottom ones. Yeah, we're getting into some. All right, it's Corey, Katie B, Patricia, Heather L, Jake B, Megan T, Mel, S. You did really good, really good. Mel asked, Orlando C, Caroline R, Christine S, Sarah S, Eric, H, Jennifer R, Shane R, M, R, R,

Jeremy V, Andrew M, Robert G, Zatoichi, 77. Cool. I just talked to Zatoichi on the Patreon. I know I messed it up again. Andreas N, Alexandra, Chris R, Michael F, Samantha W. Michael, Michelle D. and Amanda are. And those are the top tier patrons. Those of you who really help the podcast, appreciate you.

Good talking to you on the Patreon last night. Or maybe it was last week because this is recorded a little later. But, hey, I really appreciate you. Thanks for supporting the podcast. I guess that's it, Ryan. I guess that's it for today. A lot of great guests coming up, though. All right.

Yeah. A little tired today. yeah yeah yeah yeah just a little out of it yeah you know we got another podcast to record you know new month new month new month um but it's all good it's all going to be good tomorrow's a new day make the most of today um from the hollywood hills in california i am michael rosenbaum i'm still ryan taez yeah a little wave to the camera we love you guys thanks for being you be good to yourself, and we'll see you next week. Thank you for listening.

Hi, I'm Joe Saul-Chi, host of the Stackin' 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-advantaged 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 addition 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. Stacky Benjamin's, follow and listen on your favorite platform.