Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Melissa McCarthy & Ben Falcone - From BRIDESMAIDS to GOD'S FAVORITE IDIOT - Hollywood's Hilarious Power Couple

Episode Date: June 28, 2022

Melissa McCarthy (@melissamccarthy) is an actress, comedian, writer and producer known for movies like Bridesmaids, Tammy, Spy, Ghostbusters, The Boss, Identity Thief and many others. Her husband Ben Falcone (@benfalcone) is an actor, comedian, writer, director. They join Chris Van Vliet to talk about their new Netflix series called "God's Favorite Idiot", why they love working together so much, what their first date was like when they met in the 90s and much more! Check out "God's Favorite Idiot" on Netflix: http://www.netflix.com/godsfavoriteidiot If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blin! Oh, baby, welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. It's Your Friendly Neighborhood, CBV, Chris Van Fleet with you, and so stoked to have this power couple with us today. I mean, think of all the movies that the hilarious Melissa McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, have starred in together. Bridesmaids, identity thief, The Heat, Tammy, Spy, the boss, Super, Super, and, The list just goes on and on and on and on. In fact, I asked them how many movies they've started together, and they were like,

I don't, hmm, I don't know. That's a good question. Well, they have one more. Well, this one's actually a series. It's a new comedy series on Netflix called God's Favorite Idiot. It's streaming now, so go check it out. And while you're on there, go check out the new comedy with Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson called The Man from Toronto.

That was the last episode we had on Insight last week. So there you go. two great Netflix recommendations. Because we all know what it's like when you turn on Netflix and then you spend way more time looking for something to watch than actually spending time watching something. So boom, right there. A show and a movie. Easy. Give Melissa McCarthy a follow on social media.

She's at Melissa McCarthy. Go follow Ben Falcone. It's just his name. At Ben Falcone on Twitter. At Benji Falcone on Instagram. If you're not following me, just at Chris Van Fleet. And if you have a spare second or two today, please follow the show wherever you're listening right now.

If it's on Apple Podcast, it'd be awesome if you can leave a review on there because it's so, so helpful to help the show grow. All right, please welcome the hilarious Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone. How are you guys doing? Hi. Great. How are you? So good.

How are you? I'm doing fantastic. You know, I think there's so many people that would hate the idea of having to work with their significant other, but you guys make it work so well. So what's the secret? It's my favorite thing. I mean, it's we met doing it. It's why we became such good friends. And then we've, we've never not done it. He's my favorite person to work with. And we just have a blast. Like, that's not a bad day at the office. What, when you write this, Ben, do you immediately go, all right, Melissa is going to be in this for sure? Uh, yeah.

Because, you know, if you happen to be married to one of the funniest people in the world, you'd be pretty silly not to think of them for a role. And I really wanted her to get to play this kind of, you know, rambunctious kind of rock and roll energy. And I think she did such a great job with it. So it was really fun to get to work with her as my wife, but is this amazing character, as well as all the other great, you know, cast members that we had in the office who were all so funny. It was such a great group of people. Like there wasn't a day, especially like at days when we all got to be there. It was just, I mean, everybody is so fast and so funny that it was just like, it's kind of a ridiculous good time. And somebody would go off in a tangent, we'd all go with them.

And then, you know, everyone was so kind of loose and they're, they're such comedy assassins that it just makes for, like, you just stand back and don't get in people's way. And you're like, this is great. I lost count. I think it, is it 15? How many times have you guys been together on screen in a project? My gosh, I don't know. I'd have to Google it. I love that you don't even know.

I have no idea. I don't know. Quite a few. I would say several. More than five? More than five? I bet it is a wrap. More than five less than 50?

More than five less than math. Guys, I don't want to get into math, but specifically higher than five less than 50 sounds right. And where did the germ of this idea come from for you to write this? You know, I wrote a book with the same title in my 20s, and then I put the book promptly away in a drawer. And then, you know, whatever, 23 years later, I was talking to Melissa about about three years ago. And we thought it might make a funny comedy. And she said, oh, he should work in an IT office. That's who God would pick.

And I was like, okay. I still don't know why I said that, but I said it right away. Yeah, so the idea of this sort of unassuming person who's, you know, touched by God. and how would people really react to it? Would people be accepting? Would people not want to believe it on all sides of the spectrum? And that could obviously be a really dramatic idea. But I wanted to really play it for comedy and to see, you know, be respectful of all religions

and sort of, you know, have put a positive vibes out there. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim. And they want to be on that World Cup roster.

There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. We see your characters go on a first date in the series. How similar was this to the first date that you guys went on? Well, I didn't glow on our first date.

Not that he did to me. Oh, thank you. Our first date was really like just after shows. We would do shows at the Groundland Theater. Then we would go down to the snake pit, which is just a bar in Melrose Avenue. And those were kind of our first dating, dating moments, have beers and hang out. It was actually lovely. Well, you're glowing now, both of you.

Well, thanks. There we go, my friends. God's favorite idiot is streaming now on Netflix. Go check it out. And share this episode with someone who loves bridesmaids or Tammy or any of the great movies that they've starred in together. Huge, huge thank you to them for joining us on this mini view, this mini interview. I've been calling them mini views. I hope you've been enjoying these because we've had some huge ones lately.

Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Hennie. Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jeff Goldblum, and of course, you can listen to any of them here on the podcast. You can also go find those videos on YouTube as well. Take a screenshot, share it on social media, tag us, Melissa McCarthy's at Melissa McCarthy, at Ben Falcone, and he's Ben Benji Falcone on Instagram, and I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Let us know you were listening to this, and let us know what you think of God's favorite idiot, streaming now on Netflix. And I've been reading Oprah Winfrey's book.

called What I Know for Sure. I've been loving this. So I want to share a quote from this. So this is a quote from Oprah Winfrey from that great book. Super easy read, by the way. If you're looking for something, it's called What I Know for Sure. She said, whatever you fear most has no power. It is your fear that has the power. The thing itself cannot touch you, but your fear can rob you of your life. I love that. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on. the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're

complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome show. podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.