Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 158. Ben Stiller and Adam Scott: Working it Innie and Outie

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

This week Mike sits down with Severance’s very own Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. The three of them dig into the behind the scenes of Severance Season 2 and discuss what it is that makes them work so well together as actor and director.  Ben and Adam share audition advice for actors, as well as how their grieving processes influenced their work together. Plus, Mike and Adam nerd out about The Ben Stiller Show and Reality Bites, and Mike reveals which Severance character he almost played.Please Consider Donating To: The Center for Reproductive Rights and the UNHCR 

Okay, the New Yorker article about you. This is a direct quote. This metier has been defined in part by Adam Scott's physical appearance, which straddles the line between hunky and nondescript, medium height, slightly hanged dog eyes, thick chestnut hair that juts like a cockatiel's crest. So is that how you describe yourself? 100%.

Look, she nailed it. That's my country club, cockatiel's crest. That's right. Yeah, New Yorkers good at doing descriptions of actors. The one that did a story on me years ago, the guy spent like two paragraphs on like my right, the right side of my face versus the left side. Really? Yeah, like one side worked and one side didn't.

Those are the voices of the great Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. We are so excited about this episode. Back in 2022, we had Ben Stiller on the podcast. It is one of my all-time favorite episodes. Today, we have him and Adam Scott together in the Working It Out studio. Adam Scott is, of course, one of the stars of Severance, the great Apple TV Plus series. Ben and Adam are both producers on the show. Ben directed a ton of the episodes.

It's an incredible show. I think hands down one of the best television shows and the three of us have a great chat today. It's an exciting day for me because I'm announcing the sixth Count'em Six performance of the Good Life finale at the Beacon Theater in New York City. We just had the sixth show, March 18th at 7.30 p.m. Tickets are on sale today.

Get them while you can. I have just a few more shows on the tour. I think Baltimore, Maryland is sold out. It looks like Palm Beach, Florida is almost sold out. Northampton's sold out, Burlington, Vermont. And then join the mailing list to be the first to know about some shows I'm going to announce in Los Angeles. I'm going to do four small intimate shows in Los Angeles. Join the mailing list to be the first to know because I

think those tickets will go fast. I love this chat with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott today. We talk about Severance. No spoilers. Season 2 is out right now. Check it out on Apple TV+. Adam goes deep about his acting process on the show. We talk about the relationship between actors and directors, because we have an actor and a director right here with us. We nerd out about Ben's comedy and film legacy. The Ben Stiller show, Reality Bites. We even talk about which character I almost played on Severance. Bit of trivia for ya. Enjoy my chat with the great Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. So in that New Yorker piece, which I loved, but it points out that you don't like being called great, or you have a hard time when people are like, you're great.

I don't want anyone to think that I think I'm great, which is, I've been in it for a long time, but also grew up watching actors and stuff and actors getting actory and humble bragging about, oh yeah, no, I'm so grateful. All that stuff, it's all very kind of, I just don't wanna fall into the trap of anyone thinking that I think I'm great. And I wanna assure anyone who cares that I don't.

But still you won't allow eye contact with anyone on set. That's true. That's true. For me that I just don't. But that's a whole separate thing. I don't know if you know this, Ben had considered me for a role in the series early on. Ben, do you have any regrets about the casting?

I talked to Mike about playing Rickon. Oh, fantastic. Yeah, you would have been a great Rickon. Great. But the actor's great also. He's great, Michael Jurnis. He's great. Great.

Yeah. Yes, I do, Mike. I do regret it. Sitting here now with you on your podcast, I definitely regret it. But Mike, you, you know, I feel like a little kinship with you because there's that thing of being an actor

and being a director and a writer and creating your own stuff. And sometimes the way the people in the business like look at you probably is like, well, Mike's doing his thing. Mike does his own movies. Mike does his standup. Mike does his podcast.

Mike creates his own stuff. Do you feel that? Yeah, you know, completely. Yeah, and it's like a weird thing where sort of like, it just sort of like crosses over into, you know, oh yeah, Mike Birbiglia could do that. It's like, but yeah, isn't, but Mike is like, would Mike do that?

Is Mike doing his own thing? That whole, and I feel like I've experienced that too. And I'm not saying that that's an excuse for why not playing Rickett. We did go kind of go down the road on it though. And I'm not saying that that's an excuse for why not playing Rickett. For why? We did go kind of go down the road on it though. So I will take responsibility. We did. Yeah.

And interesting in that New York article, you were pointing out that they, you had to audition after Ben was like, so you got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's right. Apparently I'm not as in charge as I thought I was. That's right. That's right. Apparently I'm not as in charge as I thought I was. That's right.

That's right. So basically Ben, and interestingly, one of the things that you said in that piece about Adam in the New Yorker was you were like, because you guys have ended up becoming collaborators and not just the actor director relationship, you're a producer on the show. And you were like, so much of collaboration

is like really having the same taste or similar taste. And do you guys ever disagree on what is not severance enough or to severance or exactly severance? I feel like we're pretty much in sync. Yeah. Don't you think? Yeah. And I also am smart enough to follow Ben's lead because when we started in season one

and there was nothing, one of the most satisfying things about making stuff is just at a very base level where there was nothing, there is now something that you and your collaborators made, that's super fun. But so when we started, there was nothing except this weird set and Ben just sort of being like, I don't know, I feel like maybe it's this.

And it was like a brand new weird thing. And we were all like, okay, let's try that. And we kind of eventually all were like, oh yeah, okay, this is fun, this feels weird. And kind of found it together. But I got to sort of really see how he, Ben's always seeing the whole grid at all times, right, like everything is being looked after.

Because for me, sometimes it's, I get caught up in my head if I'm working on something and it's like, okay, well, if I'll do that for you, but not trusting like, is the audience gonna be aware that we're going at this certain speed up the hill I'll do that for you, but not trusting like, is the audience gonna be aware that we're going at this certain speed up the hill? And does it make sense for people to be chasing us if we're doing this and for me to be reacting? And sometimes when you kind of start bringing those things

up, you get the sense that whoever's in charge hasn't even considered any of this before. And so that's what I get in my head about as an actor sometimes if I'm like, okay, if you want me to do that all these other things need to make sense to with Ben it's all been worked out and make sense. So yes, we're aligned, but I also know if we're at a fork in the road,

I can totally trust going down his way. I read that you got a concussion. Yeah. And that it's on film. Yeah. But I haven't gotten to that part of the season yet. Yeah, I can't. You can't say.

Say how, because it spoils something, but yeah. That's such a classic thing where, I'm sure you've had this over the years, where when someone gets injured on a set, it's just like, did we get it? Oh, he came up to me pretty quickly after it happened, and was like, dude, it looks great. You're going to love this.

That was amazing. How many fingers am I holding? Yeah, yeah. What's your birthday? That's right. What's your birthday? This is gonna be a great episode. Tell me your name. Yeah, no, I mean, you know,

when something like that happens, it's awful because it's happened and you can't, you know. Oh, it's awful, yeah. It's like once it happens, it happens and we can't really talk about it Oh, it's awful, yeah. It's like once it happens, it happens. And we can't really talk about it, how it happened. But yeah. I thought of it the other day, because I'm watching Night at the Museum

for the first time when it came out. Be honest, it's your 20th time. Come on, Mike. It wasn't my age group. Yeah, when it came out. Mike says, I just, he comes here, he goes, you know, I watched Night at the Museum. I'm sorry, I just watched it for the first time

because when it came out, I wasn't quite... I'm like, yeah, it's not your demo, I get it. You're not like a single guy who would watch Night at the Museum. I was 26 years old, single in New York City, kicking back, watching Night at the Museum. Not going to go to the matinee by yourself. My daughter's nine and we're watching it. And of course, you guys know,

now we've watched it six or seven times. I know all the frames, but one of the things I notice is, you hop over the museum desk in it. Yeah, like when I'm running from the dinosaurs. Ben can do that? Yeah, and I said Ben could do that in 2000. Ben could, right.

Honestly, you made me think, because we just did this little pickleball movie. Movie, yeah. And I have like a two day part and then we were producing it. And my character is a ridiculous movie and my character's like running away in a scene. And there was like at a tennis club

and there was like a fence or like a railing, right? And I was like, oh, I'll do the thing where I push off and I flip my legs over. I swear. I can't. The first take, I like barely cleared it, but then like hurt my ankle when I dropped over. And then there's like, the director's like, great,

yeah, we missed it, we got it. I think we do get it, we do it a couple more times. I'm like, oh no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's not, literally in the movie, it's me jumping up, my feet land on top of the railing, and then I go, you know, like I gotta do, I do it in two steps.

So it's funny, it's like. No, I was so impressed. He fully clears it. It's like the museum desk and he clears it. We were young and bold and excited. That desk is quite high. I know. Yeah.

I will say, I hadn't seen those movies. You and I have been friends for almost 15 years. Yeah, and like, is it ever Adam intimidating working with Ben knowing like he kind of can do anything? Like I apologize for complimenting you so hard, but it's like, it's a little much. Yeah.

It's a little bit, and he can act, and he can direct, and he can write, it's like kind of a lot. Yeah, no, and I've told Ben many times, I was one of the people on Sunday nights in the early 90s getting high and watching the Ben Stiller show. I mean, and then- One of the people. Yeah, one of the people.

You were on the roster. That's right. There were not a lot of people. Wow. And then, Reality Bites, I was there- Oh my God, come on. I was there. Oh my God. That was a huge deal. Yeah.

And still when I watched that movie, it feels it's really resonant. Have you watched it in the past few years? I think I watched it with Ella, my daughter, like three years ago. What did, so here's what I thought. It was a completely ridiculous interview with Ben recently at the New York Times

where the guy, the interviewer was like, reality bites isn't really resonant today. I didn't understand that. Ben's like, it kind of is actually. Well, was it that that guy is super young? Is that what it was? I didn't understand that. I don't know. Well, he had his take on it was, what was his take on it?

That it was- GenX's fear of selling out. He didn't understand it. Right, right. Right, that everybody's selling. I think that was his take on it? That it was- Gen X's fear of selling out, he didn't understand it. Right, right. Right, that everybody's selling. I think that was his take, that everybody's selling out now, or like with Instagram and social media. But I mean, honestly, like what I've found about it,

it's just like my daughter's just graduating from college. And it's that period, and I remember that period of time in my life when it was like, what do you do? How do you become a person? Of course. Yeah, and I think that the generation X kind of phobia of selling out or I mean, I think that's probably where that comes from at the beginning of the show

when you're asking me about my fear of thinking that people might think that I think I'm great. Yeah, sure. I think that's kind of the vestiges of that might be in, cause when I watched reality bites, I so connect with sitting around with like Brady Bunch trivia and smoking cigarettes. And it was kind of a specific to the time,

but also the kind of disposition of, I don't want to, you know, dangle my foot out there and make anyone think that I'm gonna sell out even for a second. That was a really strong position with all of us back then or with some of us. No, completely. One of my favorite things is that in that final episode

when Helly shows up as her any self in the Audi world and she sees like at the expo, it's like all these videos of her being like, it's great to have an any life and an Audi life and all this stuff, but it's like she hasn't agreed with it. And I was thinking like, do you relate to that in relation to, because you've been like a blockbuster movie star.

Have you ever been in a situation where there's like, posters of you in Times Square, things like that, where you're like, oh, this feels so odd, because I'm me and that's that. Yeah, it's weird. It's more when you guys will have a conversation, it's like, oh, Ben, you've done this or that and say these things that I've done.

Right, but 90 Museum has to be that. And I'm so grateful for all of it and that it's happened. But also there is a big part of me that's like, okay, I guess that happened. And I know it's there because people come up to me. I guess that happened. No, but. That's so in the Audi by the way.

It is, and it's like there but for the grace of God. You know what I mean? It's just like a lot of it is luck. And by the way, a lot of people have written about that too. Sure. You know? Right, have written about that critically. Yeah, but it's like. Right, right, have you ever been about that critically? Yeah, but it's like, whatever it is,

it's like the thing that always gets me in a positive way that does surprise me is when people come up to me, people, when I see them on the street or whatever, they recognize me, human beings come up and say something to me about something they saw. And they're genuinely like, I really liked that. I really appreciated that. Or this woman came up to me yesterday,

we're doing this town hall thing. And she said, my husband and I went to see reality bites on our first date and we're still married. And this is whatever, how many years ago. And I was like, wow, that's really cool. That's a thing in their relationship that they have. And I appreciate that so much. And that's, you know, always, it doesn't,

it's not like it's surprising, like, oh, but it's something that I always take in. And that resonates with me more than like seeing a picture on a thing or whatever, because that's just whatever. It's weird, you know? Yeah, it's weird. Like I, you know, my relationship with you is like, you were kind enough to tweet about Sleepwalk with me

in 2012 when it was at Sundance. And then we got in touch and then you made the cameo and Don't Think Twice. And it was like, yeah, there was a period of time where I had to make the leap from that you are this iconic movie star film director to, no, no, you're Ben and you're a person and you're supportive of other artists.

Like Adam, did you have a leap with Ben where he went from the public him to him? Yeah, because like going from what I was talking about earlier from like being into the Ben Stiller show and reality bites and then seeing him flirting with disaster and then seeing Ben become this giant star having already been a fan when he was like his MTV show and then the Fox show and seeing him become this giant movie star

and always kind of feeling, having never met the person, always feeling like, oh yeah, that's a legit like artist. That's like one of us that's out there like doing cool shit on a grand scale. And then actually getting to like meet him and work on Walter Mitty. That's where we kind of got to know each other a little bit and actually getting to watch Ben direct that giant movie.

What I wonder Adam is like, why you still won't let me make eye contact with you on set. That is weird. Or anybody else on the set. Again, that's a separate thing. It's not separate though. I feel like you're trying to separate these two things. Or maybe you're trying to somehow,

like is this a tactic? Listen, I'm just trying to focus on the things I need to focus on and eye contact with you isn't one of them. I think it's weird that you won't look at our producers and our camera people or sound recorders. I understand they're all there. Yeah, well, they also know they can't look at our producers and our camera people or sound recordists. I understand they're all there. Yeah, well, they also know they can't look at you

and that's, you know. Which is great, great for them. They can spend their time doing something else. You were, a car, you pulled up in a car, you were put in a box. The box was carried up the steps. But seriously, when he did pull up, he got out in like this camel hair coat,

sunglasses from like, sunglasses from, literally, you were your character from the Aviator or something. It was like a scarf, a silk scarf. What is that with the Aviator in you? Aviator glasses from the 30s. Ever since you did the Aviator, you've enveloped this character.

Listen, I think there's a little Hughes in all of us, and I just like to wear it on the outside. Adam just mocks us with his hair every day. So when you were in Party Down and no one watched it. Yeah. I'm just kidding, thank you. I'm just laughing, I'm just laughing because there's that article where it was like,

it received a 0.0, it's like an iconic show. It's like the Ben Stiller show, it's like iconic show that like is beloved by comedians. Yeah, it did. What is a 0.0? What ended up being our series finale, we were like, okay, maybe finally people are watching because we had a little critical support at that point. And I remember John M. Baum getting the ratings

and telling us we got a 0.0. And it actually equaled out to 13,000 viewers. That's amazing. Which is 0.0, I guess. 13,000. 13,000. Like you could get them together at a stadium. Oh, half a stadium. They didn't give you the full answer.

It was 0.000000013. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, they didn't give you the full answer. It was 0.000000013. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I don't know how many zeros would have, yeah. They needed to, maybe we got off the call too quickly and they were just reading out. When you found that out,

did you feel good about yourself or bad? Great. I wonder what cross-section we're watching the Ben Stiller show. That's it, I bet all of them. Yeah, yeah, I bet every single one. They're all 10 years old. That's right.

During Adam's, when you were in school, you briefly tried to use the surname, Cuardero. That's right, Cordero. I remember... Adam Cuardero. I remember being in the library at the acting school I was at writing Pacino De Niro Cordero and just like looking at them and being like, yeah, I think this is it.

I think this is what I'm going to do. Adam Cordero. Because my mother's maiden name was Cordararo. I was like, that's too much. When I was in college, I convinced Jim Gaffigan to have lunch with me and I asked him for advice. He was in the 90s. And at the end of it, I go, do you have any last advice?

He goes, you gotta change that name. Very good Jim Gaffigan You gotta change that last name. You gotta change that last name. I was just like, I went back to my college and I said to my professor, I go, what do you think I should change my name? And he goes, maybe like, maybe make it a little more Irish and Italian.

Call yourself Mickey Birbiglia. For a period of time, I was writing out my signature as Mickey Birbiglia. The comedy stylings of Mickey Birbiglia. Mickey Biggs. What if it was Mickey Birbiglia and Adam Cordero starring? That's been sitting here. Yeah, starring in Severance.

Mickey and Cordero. Didn't get that part. Mickey didn't get that part. Was it in your Spike Lee phase where you had your goatee and your Nick's hat? I was already, at this point I think Malcolm X was out so I had my ex hat. Oh, perfect, perfect.

Is there anything, Ben, do you have anything as embarrassing as Adam Cordero? No, Mike, I never took myself seriously. Right, no, of course not. Or thought that I was, yeah, like cool. Yeah, no. No, Mike, I never took myself seriously. Right, no, of course not. Or thought that I was, yeah, you know, like cool. Yeah, no. No, you did. You did, we all saw it.

It was in the 1990s, it was on television. But it's not on, you can't find that anywhere on YouTube. No, no, it's readily available. Okay. No, you. Because every talk show appearance, I was incredibly humble, well, you know, spoken. Well, I think you and, well, you know, spoken.

You and I have something in common, which is, I think we were both very ambitious as young people. Totally, totally. And yeah, I've heard you talk about it too on the podcast with friends. Well, I'm embarrassed when I look back at myself in my 20s and I'm like, I was so absurdly ambitious and now I'm quietly ambitious.

It's very subtle. Yeah, yeah, sure, me too. I mean, it's crazy to go look back at that I see myself doing stuff. I'm going like, it's so cringy to me. There's like B-roll footage of me on the set of Reality Bytes, where they came and like did some behind the scenes, and I'm like walking around like 20, whatever, six or 27,

and I'm like, going, yeah, that's a grip, and you know, like he gets stuff, hey, what are you guys up to, all right, oh yeah, here's the sound man, and your arms get tired holding that thing, and I'm like wearing like a denim shirt and jeans, like a denim undead, and beads. It's just ridiculous.

Oh man. When you're, like when you work with like Noah and Wes, do you feel like you're still learning things about directing when you're working with other directors? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel like that's when I learned the most, you know, because it's so interesting to see you work with you, see how you do it. Yeah, like what is your process? Every director's process is different and it's subjective

because directing is subjective. So it should be different. It should be your own point of view, but you can pick up things and you go, oh, that's great. I mean, you know, like no Obama, no chairs on the set. Right, no chairs. No chairs. I was doing Greenberg and I think it was like 10 days

into shooting and one day I'm like, where's the chairs? I'm like, oh my God, there's no chairs here. And that's his choice because he doesn't want to have people sitting around and like, and guess what? People find a place to sit down somewhere on the set. That's interesting. You find like an Apple box. I think you did that on Walter Mitty, maybe.

I did, I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then I'll take something like that, you know what? That's a good idea, no chairs. It keeps everybody more. I read that about Greta on, Greta Gerwig on Barbie, no phones. Oh, yeah. No phones.

Definitely no phones. No phones is great. No phones. We had no phones. And crew have to use phones sometimes to communicate, but for me, I'm like no phones anywhere near. No phones anywhere near the eye shot of the actors at all. The phones were cordoned off. My least favorite thing is to see a Dolly Grip guy

hunched down while an actor is like acting their brains out and he's like just scrolling or whatever. And by the way, it's fine. Cause he's being, he's being respectful of like not, you know, but if I see the actor can't see it, but when I see it, it drives me crazy. Oh, it drives me nuts.

Oh, the actors can see it. No, the actors can see it. Like I can, I can see it in the corner of my eye of someone. Yeah, yeah. But also it's a sense. It's such a vulnerable thing when you're doing it. No, the actors can see it. I can see it in the corner of my eye of somewhere. Yeah, yeah. But also- It's such a vulnerable thing when you're doing it. Oh my God, yeah.

So as a director, you wanna protect that environment for the actors, but by the way, you also have to be respectful of the crew too. That's the thing I didn't know back in Reality Bites days. I was like all about the actors. I was like making jokes about the crew, like, hey, that guy. But then I realized, oh my God, these people are actually working really hard

and you have to figure out how to motivate them to want to be on the team. Because they haven't been with the script that you've been writing for five years. They just came on last week. So how can you, it's on you as a director to actually figure out a way to like get everybody on board. Like, hey, we want to try to do something here

that might be a little different. And these are the things we're going for. Chris Walken's on the show and he's great. And I saw him in an interview where he's like, I don't like cut, I don't like action, I don't like cut. Do you do action and cut? I true, Noah doesn't, by the way, Noah Bondak doesn't do action.

Doesn't do action and cut. What does he do? He does begin or. Begin, that's a nice one. Yeah, or it depends, sometimes you have to say something like action to like cue the film, the dolly grip or somebody to move the camera or whatever. And people don't know when it's starting.

But if it's a scene where people are standing around or sitting at a table or something, you can just let the camera roll and just go, hey, whenever you're ready. I don't like action as an actor, because it is that thing of like, oh, what am I supposed to do? I should do something,

when really you just wanna just be. And cut, Jessica Lee Gagne, a cinematographer I work with, we were doing Escape at Dannemore one day, and she's like, you know, you yell, not yell, you say cut like too soon. She said to me one day. Oh, really? Like, yeah, just like let it roll a little.

She's great. She's directed one of the episodes this season, and she's a very good director too. Excellent. But I was like, yeah, and it was really interesting. So I started like taking more time before I said cut. And it's so interesting what the actors do. Yeah.

You know? Cause they just, they keep going. Chris Everwalken of course is a legend. It's like- The best ever. It's unbelievable. Yeah. At this point, do you have any actors who you direct

where you're, cause if I were directing Chris Walken, do you have any actors who you direct where you're, because if I were directing Chris Walken, I'd be so intimidated. Anyone you're intimidated by when you're directing them? Yeah, I have natural sort of intimidation. I feel. I mean, with Chris, I feel it. And he's the sweetest guy in the world.

And I've known him. I did a movie with him. I did my first play with him, 1986, The House of Blue Leaves. Oh my gosh. He was in it and I had a him, I did a movie with him. I did my first play with him, 1986, The House of Blue Leaves. Oh my gosh. He was in it and I had a part in it, and he knew my folks and still intimidated by him because he's Chris Walken.

And also he's, I don't know, he's an actor, it's hard, you don't really wanna say too much from my point of view. Of course, yeah. That's how I feel. You wanna let him do his thing and then think if there's something that you can offer up that can somehow help, you know? And it's usually something like maybe like, hey, maybe you wanna take a little more time with this

or I thought that was great what you did when, you know, is there a different direction to go here? Maybe you're, you know, something like that. He's so great, obviously, but he's so lived in, as far as the role goes and who he is, and he's so relaxed that it is impossible to differentiate between life and what he's doing on camera. It's so seamless and real.

It's extraordinary just to be there watching what he's doing. He's just- Just full relaxation. Fully. And it's just all 100% there. It's really something to see. What are your criticisms of Ben as a director?

Well, how long do- I heard you say that. No, no, no, I know. No, you tried to say it, but only Adam would hear you. Just imagine, just imagine it's just me and Adam right now. You're watching this on television. Criticisms of Ben as a director.

Ben, you thought somehow that would miss me. No, no, I just thought like, let's open it up a little bit, let's get real. I appreciate the question. The first part, half of the interview is kind of friendly. The fluffy part. Friendly stuff. What is left for you to explore?

What's left? Ben, what's left for you to do? What's left before you die? And then Adam, what do you hate about Ben? I mean. This is how Birbiglia does it. The Birbiglia twist. D.

It's not the gotcha interview, it's the got Ben interview, it's the got-ben interview. Oh man. Listen. You can be totally honest. We have enough time, right? Like we can really go. We can do 10 minutes on him.

Seriously, what else? You know, there's, he's always trying to trick us, like trick us in performances, playing mind games with the actors off camera. Like Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone, like that kind of shit, like diabolical. Oh my God. Just frightening all of us into performances.

Oh my God. oh my God. But you did, you know, you have to, in the first, I think it's the first episode of the whole series, you have to deal with your wife's death carrying her, and you were directing through a headset and you had to, right? Cause you weren't there. Yeah, I was like on a walkie talkie that he had in the car. And he had to be like? Cause you weren't there. Yeah, I was like, I don't walkie talkie

that he had in the car. And he had to be like, I think the line was like, just like open yourself up or something like that. Yeah, we had done a few takes, a couple of takes where I was crying in the car. And I lost my mom about seven months or so before we were shooting the show, six months.

And, and so I was really sort of still processing her death and I was with my family during lockdown when, when she died. And so I was really kind of protected and with my wife and kids. And so they really kind of cushioned the blow. But then when I got out here to shoot the show it was by myself and realized I had a lot of grieving to do and a lot of processing to do.

And all I had was the show. So I was like, why not? Maybe I can do some of that processing here. And so for that scene, we had both kind of lost a parent in recent times, was five, four years ago, five years ago. So I think there was a sort of unsaid connection there. And so after a couple of takes,

Ben was just like, you know, really feel free to open yourself up and just let it all out. Like really feel it. And like no one's watching, just let go. And so I did and it felt incredible, honestly. And he was kind of saying stuff over the walkie that was helpful and it was great.

It was, you know, I was really glad we did it. I told him a PA was making eye contact with him. Yeah. And that's what- And that really gets me every time. That really gets me. Every time. It was amazing.

He was like amazing. And that's when as an actor, you're totally on your own. Yeah. You know, you're totally on your own. Yeah. You're totally on your own. And all you can do as a director is try to like empathize and give space to, I'm not saying holding space. Holding space, yes. Just like gives hold space.

But really, honestly, it's like, you gotta, it's like, this is crazy stuff to have to do, right? It's, there's no,, like how do you access that? So all you can do is just try to give them a place where they go, you know what, just go, you know, take your time and just allow them a safe place to do it. I think that's one of the things you don't realize when you're sometimes watching something.

It's like, for that actor who's in that case, Adam on screen in close up or whatever it is, they're experiencing in real time the most personal thing and it's so deeply vulnerable. It's so vulnerable, yet it's what we all as an audience crave. It's what we crave. And need.

And so it's mystical, it's a mystery. I was just grateful that he was so available and there. And that really was another moment for me when I was like, you know, this is what the show is, is it has to have this level of, you know, of reality. And I was just grateful for Adam. And then after that that I was like, Adam is like, this guy's like really good.

That's what I mean. I mean, I knew it. No, I knew, I knew it. And he's really good. And I was like, Ben, don't look at me. No, I wasn't allowed to talk to him at that point, but still. Adam, what actor breaks,

has broken you the most laughing in a scene? Because I was watching this and I was like, oh, everyone's really funny. And everyone in Parks and Rec is really funny. Do you break in scenes? Yeah, I break. But I'm also, sometimes I'm like stone.

I'm sorry. This guy, do I not break? This is an acting machine. Is that right? Yes, technical acting machine, acting machine guy who doesn't break. Well, you will break before he breaks. Oh, really? Every time.

Really? Yeah. I guess. Yeah, maybe so. I mean, I don't know from previous things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But just from having watched. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think of,

you know when I broke the most was when I did a tiny roll and knocked up and I had never been, I've never been on it. This is the first time I was on a set where like, when Judd was like, say that and like calling out lines and takes would go on for 20 minutes and all this. I was like, what the, this is great, but what is going on? What is going on?

And Ken Jeong, who had never really been on camera before was there and he did this run where he just went and me and Seth are on camera with him. And I'm supposed to just stand there next to Ken and just stone faced. I was a nurse and Seth was on the other side of them. And Ken just went off and I saw Seth, like I could only see the back of him.

And I saw him like going like this. Trying not to laugh. And so I was like, oh, oh good. He's shaking a little bit. He's laughing so I can laugh. And so I just fully broke a few times and then watching the scene months later when it was on YouTube or something,

I see that Seth is not breaking. He's just like contorting his face so he doesn't break. And I'm standing on the other side, just laughing. But what about like on Step Brothers? Oh yeah. Yeah, we would break all the time. Would you ever crack yourself up? I was, you know what?

I was so freaked out and nervous on Step Brothers that I probably didn't break that much because I was so worried about- That dinner table scene, Yeah. They're breaking up half of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Then when you're, what advice would you,

because you're on both sides of the casting table, what advice would you give for actors auditioning? Know that they want you to get the job almost as much as you wanna get the job almost as much as you want to get the job. They're looking for the right person. Right, their job is actually to find someone who's great for this. When you find the right person as a director, writer,

you're so happy. You're so happy that that person came in and they were the right person. And know that it's so many different factors that don't have to do with your acting talent. And that's the big thing I'd say because auditioning is hard. And you just have to kind of keep doing it too.

It's one of those things I think that you literally get better and better as the more you do it because you have more experience, you get used to the situations more, you start to relax more. My daughter just got a job in an off Broadway play, her first play. Oh, that's awesome.

And she said she had this moment in the audition where she was like, oh, I was like, I'm relaxed. I'm in this. I feel okay here. I feel free to just do my thing. ["Slow Round"] This is called a slow round. What's the best piece of advice someone's given you that you used? Early, the first episode of Party Down we shot, I got good advice from Fred Savage, who was directing the episode.

Cause up until then I had like smaller roles, supporting roles. And I, you know, it's really hard playing small roles and things, cause you're trying to, the bad habit I was in was trying to stuff so much into whatever time I had just to show that I had all these ideas and whatever. And we started shooting Party Down and I was in a scene with Lizzie Kaplan

where we meet each other and kind of start flirting. And after a take, he was like, hey, you can relax. Like you've got a lot of time. We've got all these episodes. You're gonna be, you know, we'll watch you take this whole journey. And then you're meeting Lizzie's character.

Just talk to her. Don't worry about it. We'll get to it. Oh, that's nice. Can I just, that made me think of when I was in a movie with Andrew McCarthy in 1986, one of the first jobs I had, and he'd done a lot of movies.

We were in a scene in a car, we were like best friends, and we'd just had an argument, and the scene was me just dropping him off in my car, and he got out, there's no dialogue. And I remember he just turned to me and said, we really don't have to do anything here because the scene just happened. The big fight and the audience will fill it in.

And I was very similar to you at that point in my career where I was doing a lot, trying to be funny and like, you know, and he was, and I think he probably was picking up on that. He was like, hey man, we can just like be. And he was so right, cause it just, the audience will fill it in. It's so true, the audience does a lot.

Can you think of a time when you were so scared you ran away? First thought that comes to my mind is when I was on a plane going to camp, when I was about 10 years old and got scared that I didn't wanna go to Maine, I was in camp when I was about 10 years old and got scared that I didn't want to go to Maine. I was in New York and somehow convinced the Delta Airlines, the flight crew to turn the plane around

on a tarmac and go back to the gate to drop me off. That's outrageous. And did they? They have to, and they did. You were just terrified to fly at all? No, I got homesick. Okay. I had second thoughts about the whole thing.

So I- What did the other passengers, how did they feel about that? It's pretty funny, cause I was on, so we had a housekeeper named Hazel, a Jamaican housekeeper who was part of our family, and she had seven of her own kids,

and she lived in Brooklyn, and we lived in Manhattan, and she would come of her own kids and she lived in Brooklyn and we lived in Manhattan and she would come stay with us five days a week and her kids were on their own for, you know, they should go home on the weekends, but they became like brothers and sisters to us too. And Lincoln, her son, was with me. My parents were sending Lincoln and me to camp together and he lived in Brooklyn. He didn't get a chance to get out of the city. It was an exciting thing for him and he was so into it. Yeah.

Oh God. And I'm there, his seatmate. Poor Lincoln in this story. And I like, yeah, exactly. And I'm like, basically I'm like every man for himself, Lincoln. And I'm like, I'm not returning this thing around. So we turn the plane around. My mother is at the gate, really not happy with me

when the gate opens and I come running out. And Lincoln stayed on because he was, you know, excited to go to camp. And the plane took off without me. And anyway. Did you flag down a flight attendant or did you like run up to the front? Yeah, I think I must've run up to the front.

I mean, I kind of have blocked it out, but it was definitely- That's what this show's all about. I was about to take off on a flight with my son when he was probably nine or 10. And we were like on the tarmac. And he suddenly was like, made a decision that this whole flying thing is bullshit

and he does not wanna participate and be on a plane. And I had to ask them to turn around and bring us- They do the same thing? Yeah. Yeah. My God. I didn't even know this is an option. That's right.

I know. The turn around the plane on the- Listen. What? Anytime you want. Change your mind, you go back. Okay, who are you jealous of? Like right now? I mean, Adam Scott.

Other than Adam Scott. Oh really? Yeah, it's so sad. Because I really am jealous of Adam Scott. Okay. Are you jealous of each other? Sure. I'm definitely jealous of you.

Sure. I think it's kind of a healthy, I feel like it's a healthy jealousy. And you know what I'm jealous of with Ben is you were talking about earlier about ambitions, of the work ethic, because we talk all the time and we're always like talking about like the show and stuff, the work ethic, because we talk all the time and we're always like talking about like the show and stuff.

And I'm like, when I get a break from work, I'm always like, okay, I think I can squeeze in a survivor episode or like real housewife. I'm just always like shutting my brain off and just, but Ben's always like, oh yeah, I was just editing and I'm hopping on a call right now and I've got a meeting for this thing.

And I'm just like, Jesus Christ, okay. Holy shit. So that just ethic, that work ethic is, I'm a busy person, but really filling the day up is something that I feel like my mind is too like chaotic to even organize it. I was thinking about this with the show. It's like, it's a weird irony that it's on Apple, right? Isn't it?

That's kind of Apple would do the thing that happens on the show in 10 years from now. I look at it as synchronicity. Do you? Yeah, I do. I think, I mean, look, whatever you want to like, sort of like what your interpretation of what that means, like it's like, you know, these big corporations, but the Apple aesthetic, you know?

Yeah, yeah, no, I know. All of that, it just kind of, to me, like fits with, the show fits with Apple TV Plus. Like it's, and that doesn't mean, you know, anything other than it just does. Are they ever like, so how do you do it? How does it work? How can we do it?

They're not a med tech company. We'd like to do it. We'd like to do this to people. I wish the audience could see the look you're giving as you're portraying the Apple executive. How do you do it? How do you do it? Okay, now it's shifting.

Now they're Norwegian. Now it's turning into something else. To be the character that we do on Severance. That's right, there it is. Jesus. Ben's gonna have me read for 10 other roles and not give me those roles also. Someday. He's looking forward to it.

Someday, Ben just keeps saying, you have to relax, Mike. Just like I said, I'm working it out. You've got time. You've got time. Mike, I said, I'm on your side. I'm rooting for you. Now do it again. I do it again, I do it right this time. You've got time. Mike, I said, I'm on your side. I'm rooting for you. Now do it again. Do it again, I do it right this time.

Do it funny. Everyone wants you to get it right. Okay, thank you very much. Do it funny, do it real. Good. That's what he keeps saying to me over and over again. Do it real. And then after I leave the audition, he texts me,

no, do it real this time. Yeah. Yeah. I uh. Right now, do it real, wherever you are. Oh, God. While we're being critical, I think you both are too handsome to be comedians.

I think Adam Scott is for sure. I don't think anyone would accuse me of being a comedian. I think this metier has been defined by Scott's physical appearance, which straddles the line between honky and nondescript hang dog eyes, thick chestnut hair, and a cockatiel crest. Cockatiel crest. So the last thing we do is working it out for a cause. Is there a nonprofit that you guys would like to contribute to? We will contribute and link to them in the show notes.

Yeah, the Center for Reproductive Rights. Great. I will contribute to them. I will link to them in the show notes. And thank you both for making this brilliant show. Sorry, I wasn't speaking for both. I was. No, I don't really support any of these things.

Well, I'm sure Ben, I would guess that you would speak something with refugees because you do so much international refugee work. UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency for sure. Especially right now with everything that's going on in the world and just, yeah, the attitude towards people who are stateless. One of the many things I admire about you

is all the work that you do. Thanks. Because you are one of the people who shows up and does the work with that and travels the world and shows up for people who are struggling like that. And I, yeah. So I'm on the fence. On which thing people who are struggling like that. And I, yeah. So- I'm on the fence.

On which thing? Ben's work with that. His nonprofit work. I think it's genuine. Refugees? Might be great. I just haven't done the research. So I'm holding that.

What do you mean you haven't done the research? I just haven't looked into it. We've seen the videos of him in these countries. I haven't seen all the videos. You need to see the raw footage to believe it's real. I need to see everything. You're talking about that jealousy thing before. Yeah, it's like-

I'm not jealous, just haven't seen the footage. Ben does things that are selfless. Ben does a lot of things. What does that mean? What do you mean he doesn't- Take what you want from that. No, I'm saying- I'm just saying he does a lot of things.

No, I'm saying to you, Ben does a lot of nonprofit work for people other than Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. And what do you do? I keep an eye on what Ben's doing. Adam. I'm telling you. For profit, Scott. Oh, for?

For profit. I like cash money. Let me rephrase the question. Are there any for profit businesses that you guys like to support that we'll link to in the channels? Okay, where's the camera? Which camera is mine? Cash money. Let me rephrase the question. Are there any for-profit businesses that you guys like to support that we'll link to in the channels? Yeah, okay, where's the camera?

Which camera is mine? Go to this one right here, right down the barrel. Listen everybody. Go to AdamScott.com. AdamScott.com. We got all kinds, we got some sunglasses, camel hair coats. We got all kinds of shit. Cockatoos for sale?

Cockatoos, cock? Cockatoos. Cockatoos crest, you'll find it there. The cockatiels crest sweatshirts are really nice. That's great, right? Thank you. You put the hood up and it has this swoop. It's great. Scott Ben Stiller, thank you for being you.

Thanks, Mike. And being here today. I don't want to leave, Mike. I know, this is fun. Safe and warm here, I like it. Working it out, cause it's not done. I don't want to leave Mike. I know this is fun safe and warm here. I like it That's gonna do it for another episode of working it out. That's an exciting one You can follow Ben on Instagram at Ben Stiller You can follow Adam Scott on Instagram at MR Adam Scott check out severance season 2 on Apple TV

Plus I couldn't recommend it more highly. You can watch the full video of this episode on our YouTube channel at Mike Birbiglia. Subscribe and then you'll get more and more videos that we are posting. Check out birbigs.com to sign up for the mailing list. As I mentioned, I'm gonna be announcing some shows in Los Angeles and there will be limited tickets

to those shows. So be the first to know. Our producers of Working It Out are myself along with Peter Salomon, Joseph Berbiglia, and Mabel Lewis, associate producer Gary Simons. Sound mix by Kate Belinsky, special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music. Special thanks as always to my wife, the poet J. Hope Stein, and our daughter Una who built the original radio fort made of pillows. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy the show, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts.

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