Mad, Sad and Bad with Paloma Faith - Jeff Goldblum: Sadness Makes Us More Beautiful

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Jeff Goldblum is my idol!! I’ve spent my whole life watching him on screen so, despite being HEAVILY pregnant, there was no way I was missing out on the opportunity to have him on the podcast. As well as being a mega-successful actor (and Hollywood legend), he’s also an insanely talented jazz musician.There’s a reason he’s so many people’s dream dinner guest…The first rule of Jeff Goldblum-ism is to be yourself and he is perfectly unfiltered. We spoke about everything from working with Wes Anderson to dealing with loss… and how his therapist ended up officiating his wedding! He also revealed what he is BAD at (surely Jeff Goldblum isn’t bad at anything?!) and even serenaded us with some of his beautiful jazz tones.Jeff’s love for life is absolutely infectious and he was such a dream to have on the podcast. His new album, with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, ‘Night Blooms’ is out on 5th June 2026. You can pre-order the album and find tickets for his 2026 world tour HERE.—Find us on: Instagram / TikTok / YouTube—Credits:Producer: Emilia GillEdit Producer: Kat MilsomAssistant Producer: Alex ReedVideo: Josh Bennett, Jake Ji and Harry SawkinsSound: Rafi Amsili GeovannettiOriginal music: BUTCH PIXYSocial Media: Laura CoughlanExec Producer for JamPot: Ewan Newbigging-ListerExec Producers for Idle Industries: Dave Granger & Will Macdonald Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Paloma Faith and this is my show. One, two, three, four. Each week, I welcome someone fantastic into my home to talk about what makes them mad, sad and bad. Roll recording. I think it's going to come. I think it's coming. Oh my gosh. Paloma. Hi, Paloma. Jeff?

Yes, yes. Oh, I'm so sorry. I was told me we were going to do a podcast today, but... I'm about to have a... I... Oh, Blum here. I need to interview him. No, no, no, no. Thanks for the plows. Can you undo the thing? Sure, oh my gosh. Are you sure? Let's go and do this, Jeff.

Really? I had no idea. Forget you saw any of this. First things first, I think. No, no, no. I think we need the interview. Today's guest doesn't really need an introduction. Yes, I do. But I'm going to do one anyway, because he's straddled three decades of film. From his role as a genius science.

I'm so little injured from that straddling, all that straddling. From his role as a genius scientist in the fly to Dr. Ian Malcolm, the leather-jacketed profit of chaos makes my mum swoon. Also me, but I'm not allowed to say that because I'm right in front of him. In Jurassic Park, oh, and obviously in the global takeover, wicked, my children are obsessed. He never fails to impress whether it's writing and performing critically acclaimed jazz to fronting his hit documentary series The World According to Jeff Goldblum. He's even got a new album coming out on the 5th of June called Night Blooms with the Mildred Snitser

Orchestra. The one rule of Jeff Goldblumism is to be yourself. He is perfectly himself, charming and curious, which is why he's top of most people's dreams dinner guests. I know what you're trying. You understand me more than anyone ever has. It's why on most people's dream dinner guests. Yeah, that. Which is not necessarily true.

But to me, I've spent my whole childhood watching you. Now, I'm still a child, obviously. We're not going to question that. Child, it's hard to be young at heart. Do you know that song? Fairy tales can come true. It could happen. Do you pull home of faith if you're young at heart?

I meet my idol. I watched him in the fly when I was really, really young. And I was really into, then it led me to read Franz Kafka as metamorphosis. Oh, yes. When I was a bit older. No kidding. And I was obsessed with you in that movie.

I just wanted to know, did you learn to speak fly when you made that film? And if the answer is yes, can I say a few things in flight and you translate? Okay, yes, say a few things in fly. Go ahead. Okay. That means Jeff Goldblum. I'm thrilled that you're here and no, no, no. And I say to you, which means the gratitude is all.

all in my side. Paloma, fate. He's so polite. Hey, you know what I'm having a metamorphosis now. Congratulations. I'm turning into a bumblebee. You are? You look spectacular. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you could, this could happen at any moment. Yeah. Do you have any experience delivering babies? Yes, we're not delivering, but I'm ready to do anything that I'm called upon to do. We can go on YouTube and watch how to do it if it happens. Okay. Uh, fine. I'm prepared. My dad was a doctor. Well, that's almost as good as you being a doctor. Exactly.

We're in the section of Mad. So the format is we talk about crazy things you've seen and done. It's amazing. Hey, I just thought of another song. Do you know that Paul Simon's song that I love very much? You know, still crazy after all these years. I don't. Oh, that's a nice song.

But four in the morning. Do you think it's important to be crazy? Oh, yes. A divine madness is. absolutely necessary for the creative soul of which we're all in possession of to some degree. How do you encourage that in yourself on a day-to-day basis, the divine madness? I just let it. It comes out. Yeah. You have to get out of its way. And of course, channel it in the appropriate way, given the circumstance. You know, it's not always correct.

But that's why we're in the so-called creative fields, because that's the demand is the rule is, and go go to town. What's a crazy thing you've done once that's like really, you felt maybe I did went a bit far? Well, like I say, in the acting world, you know, there's no such thing as too far, especially if you're exploring something.

Well, you know, but in some cases, in some cases with directors, I've worked with Wes Anderson. Do you know, Wes Anderson's movie? I love him, and he's beautifully, himself, you know, and unique, But he's very specific to, he's free and at the same time specific. So I prepare, I'm nothing if not conscientious.

And there are a couple of monologues that I've done, big speeches I've done in his movies. And I've gone. And he went, yes, yes, you changed a, you went crazy. You changed a word there. And I go, yes, and here's why. What do you think of it? He goes, I understand everything. Keep it the way I wrote it, you know.

I think that's why you need your music career. Because in music you can change something on the night and everyone loves you for it. Well, there's that, yes. In jazz, you can make any mistake. There's no mistake. You can turn a mistake into a happy accident. Yeah. So there's that.

And yes, improvisation in jazz is part of the, that's the definition of jazz in some ways. Shall I tell you an example of something I did that was a bit crazy once that I think was the wrong audience? was I went on a date with someone. I'd only met a couple of times and I showed up on a Victorian horse-drawn carriage because I just thought, life's a bit short and we've got to keep it fun. And he was working in an office

and he heard the clip-clot, clip-clop down the street and thought, oh, I wonder what's passing, all these people looking. And then I was like, hello! We're just taking it to the restaurant. And they were all wearing plumes and everything. That's fantastic. It was a bit far for the guy.

And looking back, maybe wasted on him? Yeah. Yes, yes. With the right person, yeah, I would have loved it, and I'll bet that was fantastic. Congratulations, that's good. And it was a good test. The sooner you know about him, it probably told you something about him, like he's not up for this. And so.

Perhaps not the right compatibility. Yeah, perhaps not. So, yeah, let yourself out quickly. sooner than later and see if they're up for it. Good idea. What's one of your mad romantic gestures? Off the top of my head, my lady love, my soulmate Emily Goldblum, with whom I'm now ensconced forever and ever happily and with whom we've had, hello Emily. She's the great gymnast with whom, you know, I procreated twice. Yeah, well done. Thank you so much. And saw this, you know, and you know, incredible thing of birth.

What I did was on our first date, after I met her at the gym and went up and said, what are you doing? That's interesting. We started to talk and this and that. But the next crazy thing that I did was on our first date. I read her the beginning of the Great Gatsby, this book that I have a fondness for,

and she had never read it. And then over the course the next few dates, because she liked it, I kept reading it and finished the book. That was a bit sort of extravagant. That's a beautiful, like The Reader, the movie The Reader with Kate Winslet. Do you know I've never seen that movie? You would love it. I know it's a great movie. I love Kate Winslet and I'll bet.

Wait a minute, isn't that Ray Fines? I think he's in it. Yes. Who is also in what movie that I did? Oh, God. I mean, I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, yeah. I like to see you flying by the seat of your pants. I want to get those same pants.

Those flying pants. That's the name of my production company. Did you know that flying pants pictures? No. It's not. It's meant to be. I just made that up, but it's a good idea. But wait a minute.

Ray Fines, no, I did Grand Wood West Hotel with Ray Fines. Yeah, and I did say I was a Wes Anderson fan, so I'm not good enough. No, no, you're very good. I've failed. I'm very sensitive at this point. You are? I can imagine. I can imagine.

How do you feel, you know, excuse me for not asking sooner? Very biologically disrupted. I can only imagine. You know, men, men, as we know, never have to do this. It's something. I have the deepest respect and mysterious curiosity about it, you know. It is mystical. I can only imagine.

Are you otherwise spiritual and oriented and appetized by the, you know, mysteries of the universe? Well, yeah, I mean, I'm curious as a person by nature. I am too. I'm curious like a cat. What are you most curious about today? right at this very moment. Just at this moment. Just at now.

Well, I'm curious about you. I mean, but, you know, come on, sitting next to you and in front of you, you know, like everybody by you certainly are a vast, our vast, is, you're vastly. Just vast. I feel it. Vastly, deeply. Lovely. Oh, thank you.

And gifted. And I have a thousand questions and curiosities that can't even be formed into a Have you ever played a role where you had to be clinically insane? I did a movie called Adam Resurrection where I had some, I was in an institution for recovering from deep trauma and was quite mad in that, yes. Do you think you have to go far to get there? Or is, maybe for you, do you think you have to maybe act more sane playing? the mad characters. You know, I don't know that there's any formula. It's just what's right for the part. Yes. But every character you're right has, I think if it's well done, what you're looking for,

even when you paint a picture or sing a song, is the dark and the light of it. 100%. And the extravagant and the conservative of it in some sort of artful balance. So yeah. Yeah. Because when I was in a TV show where I played a serial killer for several seasons. And I found myself being very straight, and it was everyone's reactions to me that made me seem unhinged. But I was just very kind of much more normal than my actual cell. That sounds great. I'm thinking about, you know, Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, you know, and he said, here's what I want to do, Jonathan Demet, to the director.

You know, I just want to be still and sort of benevolent, you know, etc., etc. Yeah. So sadness, tell me about the last time you cried. I'm a weeper. Let me see. Wasn't I in the middle of a conversation on camera yesterday? I got weepy when I was, oh, they were playing that Peggy Lee song. Is that all there is?

Is that all there is? It's quite appropriate at the current climate of the world. Well, yes, I know what you mean. I know to what you're referring, but I think it's always appropriate. It is for me, at least, the message of that song, which is not just, oh, things are, you know, things are kind of crappy out, but even if you achieve your greatest dreams automatically, maybe you've been told one thing or another, but they don't, they're not all that they're, they're cracked up to be oftentimes. If you're looking for deep satisfaction, deep satisfaction,

comes from something mystical, mysterious and something that you supply possibly. That's what I take from my current thinking about that song. You know, people think that being happy in life is going to be, satisfaction in life is going to be when you figure out what you want and then getting it. And if you get it, once you get it, there you go. But those who get those things know that, hey, I got the right car, I got the right husband, I got the right kid, I got the right house, I got the right outfit, but is that all there is?

It's not giving me what I thought it would. I listen to that song a lot in my breakup with my kid's dad. that. Really? Yeah, because I felt like I had all those things and then I was like, why am I not satisfied? That's what, I think we're talking about an important thing. It's interest to me. Isn't that something? So that song and her rendition of it and musicality, the arrangement of it just gets to me. So I think I got a little weepy with that. But these days, oh, you know, I saw that movie Hamnet. Oh, don't get me started. You remind me of Jesse Buckley, now that I'm looking at you a little bit, I've met her a bit. I've always been crazy about her. She's wonderful.

that movie she's so wonderful isn't it incredible and that's the whole thing the birth oh of course by the tree roots right we're talking about this is exactly what we're talking about and what she does in that movie and how they pull that off and Shakespeare and then that max richter's score and that cue at the end of the movie on the nature of daylight which they'd used in arrival that other movie that i like very much with amy adams you know just kills me i've been playing that anyway on my on my phone all the time. That kills me. I was a bucket. I was a bucket of tears at the end of that. That was actually audible sobbing for me. It's a delightful experience. I like to be, I like to do that. I think it's quite good when you're feeling upset about something and you feel

emotionally blocked to just watch a movie, then unleash the tears, then think about the thing you really should have dealt with. Yeah. It's quite a sort of handy therapeutic tool. Yes. I'm not ashamed, And although some things are hard to face up to if they have to finally kind of come to grips and be personally accountable and with, geez, I did this thing. Do you think sadness makes people more beautiful? Of course. Does sadness make poor people? Yes, of course.

Yeah, I don't think you can be deeply beautiful. Who cares much about, well, I care and a lot of us care. You know, we try to look and not frighten little children and try to be nice looking and appreciate lovely things. But human beings, that's what I was talking about before, like you sitting here, are a whole, you know, story of a deep story of beauty. And, yes, I think it's your connection to the violent universe and to everybody else with whom we really are connected. That's who we really are. We're really the whole thing. And unless you... Yes. Unless you've gone through grief, you can't be really beautiful.

You ever see that movie, Ordinary People? Yeah. Oh, I love that movie. It's Donald Sutherland. It's Robert Redford's first directorial effort, and it's Donald Sutherland. Timothy Hutton is wonderful in it. And Mary Tyler Moore, they're the couple, and they lose a child, speaking of Hamlet. They lose a child.

The kid is going through something, the brother. But the parents, one knows how to grieve, learns how to grieve the other doesn't. and because the other doesn't and doesn't feel ever properly sad about it and go through that, she becomes brittle and finally has to go, is isolated and goes away. The father, Donald Sutherland,

goes through it and finds a more beautiful self of his own on the other side and a more beautiful relationship with his remaining son on the other side. So yes. Do you sit with grief? Do I sit with it? Yeah.

Well, if you mean sit with it, wallow in it, you don't mean extend it or indulge in. No, I think just like you said, allow it to flow through you. That's what you mean? Yes, I try. It's not fun,

but maybe life isn't for fun. It's for awakeness. And awakeness requires the whole range of experience and whatever the cards deliver to you. So yes, as loss comes as it will to us all, you've got to accept it, I think. the wise people tell us and I try aspire to. You've got to accept it, sit with it, as you say.

Sometimes let people go. Yes, that's loss. Yes. That's also the acceptance of loss. That's, that's right. What are you bad at? What am I bad at? Well, I'm bad at most things. Should I give you a quick fire list? You just say yes or no. Definitely. I like that game. But, you know, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm, I try to be good at a couple of things. things, but the rest of it, you know, I'm a horrible... You're a brilliant actor. We know that. I don't know about brilliant.

I can be bad at acting. You can be... You're good at cooking? Not a good cooker. No, not good. Not so interested, but I make a nice egg in the morning. But that's about all. But besides that, and the kids know, da-da, you're not so good.

Okay, bad cooking. Dancing. Well, well, my wife is a real dancer and compared to other, let's not grade on a curve. But not grading on a curve, I think it can be... the criteria could be, do you enjoy it? Yes. So, you know, people go, because who knows who's a good singer or not? You know, yes, I know we have criteria, but I think everybody has the right to sing,

and maybe the quality is determined by how much you enjoy it. So there you go. Dancing in that vein, maybe I'm a good dancer because I like to move around. I like to move around. And in fact, I have a sense, yes, I like my dancing, but I'm not as good as many, many others. and I'm bad at many things. Confrontation? Hey, that's a good question.

I'm not so good at it. How do you deal with it? Hide? I'm cowardly, I think, and I avoid it. But I pick, maybe picking your fights is not a bad idea. And like, hey, you don't have to make a deal, big deal out of everything. So maybe there's a good sign to that. And I think maybe there is.

I hope I'm not just self-justifying and rationalizing, but there are times when I need to, should be more brave about it, and I'm getting better at it. My wife is a good model for it because she's kind of, you know, she faces it and she's kind of brave. She's strong. So, yes, I'm getting better, but I have not been so good at it. Pretty bad at some, sad at it sometimes. Are you good at taking or giving compliments? You've given a lot on this, so you're very good at that. What about taking them?

Well, I do really appreciate it. They're not disingenuous. I really appreciate you and people and things, and so I'm happy to, and it feels good to, hey, you're okay in my book, or geez, I really like this or that. Taking compliments? Oh, I like to be told nice things, you know. That's okay. You're not going to make me mad.

I'm a little bit sensitive. I'm a little bit bad at taking criticism sometimes. I don't like that so much. And sometimes I should be not as hypersensitive as I sometimes am with, what do you say? You know, take it easy, take it easy. She might be right. He might be right.

You know. Does your wife sometimes say you weren't very nice in that situation or whatever, and it upsets you? If she's a straight talker, maybe. Yeah, she is a straight talker. Yep. Yep, and sometimes it feels like, hey, aren't you on my side? And shouldn't you be taking my side automatically?

Well, she shouldn't, of course. And as a matter of fact, with your most intimate people, you should be honest and go, you know what? You know, I'm behind you. You know, I love you, but I don't think you were so nice then. And yes, she's done that a little bit. I'm a nice, I'm pretty nice. But I'm thinking about an incident that happened a couple of weeks ago. What was there?

I'm going to ask, aren't I? I'll tell you. I'll tell you. So I got into a kind of unpleasant little encounter with somebody at the gym. We were both at the gym in a kind of public gym. And it was in Paris, France, and I was about to get on the treadmill. One of the two treadmills or one treadmill was a small thing. I was about to get on.

I was on the side of it kind of, you know, stretching my heel and about to kind of just get on the thing. This woman kind of zips in. gets on the treadmill. I went, oh, sorry, I was right, you know, I was right, just about to get on. No, no, no, she says in a French or in a French accent, I had booked, I'm booked, have you book it? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you have to book the thing. Okay. Well, and then my wife was there, and then she started to speak French, and I was a little bit kind of, not, a little disgruntled and irked, you know, and, and, and I, and she said something in French, I went, well, I, you know, I don't speak French. You know, my wife can, you know, translate, I don't speak French. I said that a

couple of times and she went, you're not a nice person. You're not a nice person, you know. At that point, I didn't like that much. And I turned kind of and I went, okay, we're done, we're done or something like that. I wasn't, you know, it kind of got to me. And then my wife later said, well, you were right. I kept saying, well, here's, here's why I did that. She kept, you know, she said, yes, that may be true, but don't get into any bad encounters. You want to avoid that kind of thing. And maybe, you know, she was right about, you know, so you don't speak French, don't go, I don't speak French, I don't speak French. So she gave me a little talking to about that, and she was right.

I'm like you, I'm a bit sensitive to criticism. I probably would say a self-confessed people pleaser. I just want everyone to be like, she's so nice. It's lovely. I'm in that. I'll be in that camera. My mom was a teacher at the school that I went to as a child. If I ever did anything wrong, then I'd get in trouble with the teacher.

And then my mom at home afterwards, sounds like that situation. That's so interesting. And you'd be like, double! Double. Crying double. Your mom, what did she teach at... She was just for what we call primary school, which is age five to... So she's on many subjects to those young kids.

And she was your teacher? Not mine. Oh, no, but she was there. But they spoke in the staff area. Do you think couples therapy were? That's so interesting. Hey, I like this whole discussion. Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. You know what musical that's from? That's the king and I. Getting to know you. Getting to know about you. Tell me about couples therapy.

So couples therapy and then I want to know if you've done it. Oh, I have. I want to hear all. Should I go first? Yeah, you go first. It's your moment. So I think it's your moment. It only. Takes a moment for her talk to and then. Okay. Couples therapy. So I've done both where there's been trouble afoot and I've gone there. Well, I've with the person, yes.

I've gone with the person and sometimes they help us uncouple and bring to the surface, excavate some things that we should talk about, but go, maybe there's some bit uncoupling. but Luanda Katzman, our therapist, my therapist for a while who I was seeing, then just as needed, you know, once a year or something, for a while, once Emily and I were together for a couple of years and she said to me one day, hey, this is so fun, geez, maybe we should think about having a baby. Would that be an interesting idea? And I was like, I've been, I've done that, I've talked about that before, but the way you say it and how, what we're doing, I think that's serious. And we should really. And we should really. look into it. And here are my considerations and here are my fears and blah-da-da-da-da-da. After a year, we'll be done. We tried to get pregnant and we got married and everything. So that was a couple's therapy. And then Luanda Katzman, she'd never done it before, got registered to marry us. And she officiated. And the therapist married you. And she officiated. Yeah. What a great story. Yeah. How about you with couples therapy?

I did couples therapy in my failing relationship and I actually feel like it didn't work for us and it failed us a bit. Because I think that it's quite, it would be going into a lot of stuff. But I think it's quite common for people to imagine that the stronger character or the more assertive character is like the bad guy and then the quieter character. I think sometimes people err towards that, which I think happened and it wasn't fair. I felt like the judgment was unfair. The therapist kind of took the side of the quiet person. Yeah, but didn't look at inactivity as an aggressive factor. I get what you're saying.

So I'm a proactive person and he was an inactive person. And there's violence in both, in my opinion. But anyway, that's one. I can well imagine. That's an interesting, that's so interesting. And then, but the separation therapist was exceptional. And I would say, I've gone back to her on my own because I was so impressed by how she gave both of us a quite a hard time, which I think suits me in therapy. Really?

Yeah, but just behind closed doors. Obviously not in life. Right, being given a hard time. Well, I quite like her being like, no. No questioning me, but she also questioned him and it felt fairer. And then I think it's the reason why we've got a good relationship. And we have a really good friendship now. Oh, a friendship with your...

Of my children's dad. And that's your children's dad, the two. And he's so nice. Like, it's all very modern about me having a new baby and everyone gets along. It's kind of weird to pinch myself because my parents weren't so great at it. Right. They divorced and they hated each other. No kidding.

I'm sorry about that. We end on glad just because it rhymes. Yes, yes. And it's always, it's always great to be great. Are there any words that rhyme that we've never kind of addressed? Wait a minute. That's a clad, clad. Are we clad?

Well, he's clad in a gorgeous outfit. Dad, of course, I'm a dad. Okay, let's finish up. I'm glad about many things. I'm glad to meet you. I'm glad to be here. I try to be appreciative of every moment. Hey, listen.

You listen to scientists, not just. poets, but they will tell you that the fact that we're here, we've survived, are part of this species that has somehow survived on this unlikely planet that has given rise to life and now so-called conscious life is a one in a, you know, uncountable zero's chance. So we should be thanking our luckies, we should be appreciative, present for this fleeting gift. at every single moment. There's not enough. All we have is now. Huh?

All we have is now. All we have is now. And so I'm super glad and try to be as glad as my body can possess the gladness that it can possess about being here right now. And at every moment, of course, every aspect that you don't really appreciate, every aspect that's unrepeatable, that's unique. I'm glad about every single darn thing. And, you know, I'm here making music. The purpose that I'm here for ostensibly is to talk about the album that's coming out June 5th

and the fact that I'm making music at this point and that it's grown into this little career or activity. And we're playing at, you know, Sydney Opera. We're going to play at the Sydney Opera House and Royal Albert Hall and there's a big orchestra that's going to be with this. Royal Albert Hall, amazing. Amazing.

I played at Sydney. Copper House too. I bet you have. How was that? Incredible. With an orchestra. You're with an orchestra. With an orchestra for the first time. We have a great little band. We have the best musicians in the world and the best arrangers. And we have great guest, Charlie Puth and other, you know, Cynthia Revo and I are singing a song again this time. Can we hear some?

A little taste. Let's see. You know this song? Tell me when you know it. Summer journeys to Niagara and to other. places, aggravate all our cares, we'll save our fares. I have a cozy little flat in. What is known as Old Manhattan. We'll settle down Paloma Faith right here in town.

We'll take Manhattan. The Rawlings and et cetera, et cetera. I love. Thank you, thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Grazie, Nancy, Nancy. You've been such an amazing game.

Yes, Jeff, the dream. You've been a dream. I wish we could talk for 70 hours. Your wish is my command. We will and we must as soon as we're done with this nonsense. Well, wasn't that great? All of the links of everything we mentioned in the show can be found in the episode description.

Oh, and while you're there, why not subscribe and follow the show too? See you all next time. Later's potatoes.