New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - Offseason Plans, Wildcard Preview & Matt Damon on Brady, Affleck Bromance & Career Odyssey | EP 174

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

92%ers, welcome to another episode of New Heights brought to you by Intuit Turbo Tax. Today, we are joined by Hollywood legend Matt Damon! But first, we wrap up the end of the NFL regular season, Travis shares his thoughts on what comes next for the Chiefs and where his mind is at going into the offseason, Jason explains why the Eagles were still right to rest their starters, and we look ahead to Wildcard Weekend with our picks for hottest team, biggest possible upset, and our dark horse Super Bowl contenders. Later, Matt Damon joins the show and we talk about his new movie “The Rip,” find out the dumbest thing he’s ever talked Ben Affleck into, get some info on “The Odyssey,” his thoughts on the Drake Maye/Tom Brady comparisons, his favorite Boston sports memory, get his advice for fellow girl dads, a breakdown of his football skills from “School Ties,” the one thing Michael Jordan demanded on “Air,” the best advice from Tom Hanks, and so much more!   Make sure to check out Matt in “The Rip” only on Netflix, January 16th. https://www.netflix.com/title/81915745 Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights every Wednesday during the NFL season and follow us on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshowYou can also listen to new episodes ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. ...Download the full podcast here:Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynwSend something to the New Heights Mailbox. Don’t be weird though. C/O New Heights Productions135 E OLIVE AVE, BURBANK, CA 91502Support the show: INTUIT TURBOTAX: Intuit TurboTax: Learn more at https://turbotax.intuit.com/AMERICAN EXPRESS: The refreshed Platinum card is here. Learn more at https://americanexpress.com/withplatinum. Terms apply.KFC: Presented by KFC. KFC $5 Bowls. 5 different bowls to fill up 5 different ways. Prices and participation may vary. Tax, tip, and fees extra.THE PITT: Starring Emmy Award winner Noah Wyle, the critically acclaimed Max Original Series returns for a second season this Thursday at 9 p.m. on HBO Max. Check out the official companion podcast on HBO Max and all major podcast platforms.STARBUCKS: Try Starbucks new lineup of high protein beverages or customize to create your own! Head to https://Starbucks.comALLSTATE: Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://allstate.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you think the Patriots will do in the playoffs? Are you guys so spoiled that it's like if they don't win the Super Bowl? You guys are going to be upset? No, no, not at all. I mean, this is a new, this is a new team, right? And I think, I think this is like found money for us, right? Like, I feel like it's. It's from the rip.

You guys busted open the wall and you found a quarterback. $20 million dollar quarterback sitting in the wall. He broke in and took the sledgehammer and there with Drake May. Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, 92% are from all over, a Wondry show. Brought to you by Intuit TurboTax. Oh, it's starting to get the tax season, baby. Don't forget to pay your taxes. Unfortunately, they will knock on the door, and you do need to pay them.

I'm Travis Kelsey. This is my big brother, Jason Kelsey, out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Shout out to the Tigers and shout out to those bearcats, baby. Subscribe on YouTube, OneDree Plus, wherever you get your podcast. And follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show. with one after fun clips throughout the week. I am officially jobless, Jason. Actually, this is my only job.

Well, no, you're still employed unless you stop playing. Have you announced you're stopped playing? This is the only company that employs me right now. 90% you've got a great episode coming up. We're going to recap everything that happened in the final week of the regular season as well as dive into these upcoming wildcard weekend games. Hey, who's not excited for some playoffs? Playoffs!

You know what I'm excited for? Tell us. Damon, that's right. He's coming in the back. That's right. We got him. We got Will. We got Jason Bored.

We got one of the most iconic actors of this generation. He's going to come. We're going to make you wait for it. He'll be after we talked a little bit of football. But you're going to get through it with us, all right? Just so you know we can't wait for Matt either. All right. Here we go.

Let's start off. What we always start off with, Luminat, New News. New News. New News is brought to you by American Express. Okay. update from the Amazon holiday giving initiative this holiday season over 3,000 Operation Breakthrough families and Casey were provided with gifts and essential needs. That's right.

How about that? Well done. Thank you to all the 92 percenters and our friends, of course, at Amazon. Well done, Amazon. That's awesome, man. Well done 92 percenters because of everyone involved with this entire initiative, 3,000 Operation Breakthrough families have had something around the holidays, which, I mean, if that's not the Christmas spirit, I don't know what it is.

And for the third time, Travis Kelsey has won the nationwide Walter Payton Man of the Year charity challenge. How about it, man. Every year, each team nominates one player to be their Walter Payton Man of the Year. When you get nominated, there is a fan vote that happens on socials and on the internet. And if you win that, you win the charity challenge. You're the only player to win the charity challenge each time they've been. been nominated. Yeah, it's Chief's Kingdom, baby.

As the club's Walter Payton Man of the Year, shout out to Chiefs Kingdom, shout out to the 92 percenters. Operation Breakthrough also dropped some throwback picks of you because you've been involved there for a while. Oh, we've been doing this since the beginning of my career. Yeah. The young Travis Kelsey right here. There you go.

Oh, yeah. In the muffler shop and then, oh, the early days, man. Oh, my gosh. It's so funny seeing some of these pictures. The original robotics lab that 87 are running my foundations helped support. that robot right there you see that young girl yeah holding up uh and now she is like one of the the like high school kids that are now have been using operation breakthrough and all its resources for a while so it's cool to see some of these familiar faces uh grow into high school

kids and kind of yeah it's awesome man and uh one of my first uh foundation events i used to do a walk to walk it used to be a fashion show uh that used to put on for some of the boutiques and uh in the kids over at Operation Breakthrough, got to walk in it. So shout out to everyone over at OB. You guys know how much I love you and how much you guys mean to me. And it just means everything that 92 percenters and Chiefs Kingdom out there help support that. And it's all to make these kids right here happy and proud of where they come from.

Well, just so you guys know, everything for the nationwide Walter Payton Man of the Year Charity Challenge goes to support Operation Breakthrough. So you guys are awesome. Thank you so much. And thank you to everybody who voted for Travis and who has helped. Operation Breakthrough Route. It's a fantastic organization in Kansas City. They do so many things for these kids and families. So, well done, everyone. And that wraps up new news, which is brought to you once again by American Express.

Let's move on to some bold topics to wrap up week 18 in the NFL. Wow, week 18. I forgot we even had 18 weeks. It was a 17 game season. Both topics are brought to you by KFC. Yeah, we've got some snackers, famous KFC bowls. All right. Here we're go. Chiefs 12 Raiders 14. What are your thoughts on the season, Tram? What are your closing sentiments from this Chief's season? You know, it was a tough season. Obviously, ended even worse because my guy, 1-5 went down and, you know, we finished this season with a lot of starters kind of being banged up. So we had a mixture of guys that were getting their first taste of what the NFL has to offer, which is fun. But it definitely has its challenges. And

And, you know, it's a, it's a tough way to go out, especially with the amount of success and the standard that you hold, you know, yourself and the team to going into the season and throughout the season. And you try and look back on it, you know, right away and you try and, you know, learn from it and maybe even try and figure out where it all went wrong and how you could have been better in certain situations. And it's just a shitty feeling and a shitty way to try and navigate. one of the things you do you love to do the most and that's play football and uh you know i just

appreciate everybody that was in that building and then it was on the field the past like three four weeks when we knew we really didn't have much to play for other than the love of the game and um the pride and the honor that comes with playing in the NFL but um i just uh i appreciate everybody that that was out there giving it their all and putting their body on the line and um made it as as good as as we could have uh going going into the last week and in the end of the the season. Yeah, there's nothing worse than, you know, not making the playoffs. It is very frustrating. You guys have done it, especially when you guys have done it so much. Like, it's absolutely crazy. And you guys obviously should be very proud of that, but that doesn't

make any, it actually probably hurts more, I would assume. Yeah, it's kind of an embarrassing feeling. But, you know, you keep it moving, man. You keep it moving. And I'm still a fan of the game and I still love the game so I'll be tuned in throughout the playoffs seeing how this thing shakes out over the next couple weeks and yeah get to be around some friends and family in January instead of trying to figure out how to win some playoff games the season did not come without you guys winning some things especially you trav with some records being broken let's have a little reminder since you love talking about records so much and stats are hey you became the third tight end ever with 13,000 receiving yards.

The fastest to ever accomplish that feat. Guys in front of you, of course, another Kansas City legend, Tony Gonzalez, who... I mean, absolutely insane, how many years Tony has. No, it's absolutely insane as you're right. He's fucking silly. Yeah. And then obviously Jason Whitten down in Dallas, Travis, the third one to get over the 13,000 yard marker, which is a very fitting number, I think.

You also passed TO for eighth most receptions in NFL history. Do you know that? Yes. I mean, I've known, they asked me about all this stuff after the game. So that's how I really know. That's crazy. I didn't know you were eighth of receptions, just period. That's awesome.

Yeah, Coach Reid dials me up. I don't know what else to tell you. I think when he puts together game plan, he features me. And I'm very fortunate of that. And I'm fortunate that in my 13th year, he was still trusting me to try and win him some ball games. So shout out to coach for, you know, helping me accumulate some of these yards and catches. Another record is you are now tied with Tim Brown for the longest streak of seasons with 75 plus receptions at 10. That's a LeBron step.

100%. Yeah, that's a LeBron step. Shout out to Tim Brown, though. Now that the season is over, what is next for the Big Yeti? Every season adds for me. I put my feet up and I just be a human because I've been putting my body through the ringer for the love of it. You know, I do enjoy playing football and the physical aspect of it.

I think there's something about, you know, feeling the wear and tear of the football season to just fucking, you know, getting ready for a game knowing that your body's fucking beat down. I just, I think there's something to it. It makes you just feel like a mangy animal that just is fucking out here, just fine. way to survive and I just fucking love that shit but yeah um I think uh yeah just being a regular human for for a couple weeks maybe a month or so and uh trying to figure out what I'm going to do next in in terms of my future in football um and uh I think uh you know I've talked to a few people in the facility already you know having the exit meetings and everything and um they they know where

I stand at least right now and I think there's there's a lot of love for the game that's that's still there and I don't think I'll ever lose that um and um i don't know it's a it's a it's a it's a tough thing to navigate but at the same time um you know i think uh if i think my if my body can can heal up and rest up and i can uh i can feel confident that i can go out there and give it another 18 20 21 week run um i think uh i would do it in a heartbeat so um i think right now it's just finding that answer and seeing how the body feels after this game and kind of when it all settles down.

I'm confused. So you're not already coming back? What? Chris Jones has said that you're coming back. I thought this was already. Nice. That's why we love Chris. He's very optimistic.

He's very optimistic. Chris Jones's quote is, I'm not buying it. He'll be back next year. He also followed that up, though. I can't promise you anything. Nice. There you go.

Yeah, let's keep this thing moving. A little Eagles 17, Commanders 24. Jason, you want some thoughts on the game. Obviously, the Eagles didn't play all their starters. Yeah, I mean, that's the big storyline is obviously the way it worked this past week for the Eagles was if, you know, Detroit beat Chicago, which did end up happening. And if the Eagles win, the Eagles could have jumped up to the two seed, the Eagles. The Eagles obviously elected to rest their starters because they prioritized the rest going into the playoffs, which I think is right. I mean, if the Eagles could have guaranteed getting the two seed by playing their starters, I think they probably would have played.

But because there was this other game that also had to take place, you have the risk of injury. It's kind of outside of your control. the one thing you can control in that situation is making sure your team is rearing and ready to go for week one. And I also, to be honest with you, I felt pretty confident the Eagles backups would beat the commanders. And I think that they should have. They didn't finish the game well. They started off pretty good. Tank Bigsby was running crazy.

I was excited to see Tanner McKee. He's played well in most of his outings with the Eagles. So there was a portion of me they just wanted to see what some of these backups and young guys could do. Yeah, it looks bad in hindsight. This is one of those things where, you know, because Chicago loss, you know, we got the egg on our face because we didn't play our starters and we could have the two seed most likely if we would have played everybody. But I think of it like this too is like Monday morning quarterback.

If they start the starters and one of the premier guys gets hurt and the lions don't win, then everybody's going to be on Nick Siriani Valley. What fucking idiot is playing his guys in a game that's meaningless? Damn if you do, damn if you don't, yeah. And we were in the same, a similar situation in 2023, my last year. And the offense was struggling. We really actually had less the game. Like, we weren't really playing for anything in that week, if I recall it correctly.

And we go out there and we play, and what happens? AJ Brown gets hurt and he couldn't play in the first playoff game. Jalen Hertz also got banged up in that game. And I do think that that was also in the back of Nick Siriani and the Eagles head of like, listen, the last time we played our guys in a game like this and ended up costing us some meaningful people, and we weren't at our best against Tampa Bay. I think at this point in the season, when you get the rest and you have the opportunity to avoid somebody getting hurt and you don't know for certain that playing guys is going

to help you, I don't know that it benefits you that much. And at the end of the day, you still got to go through good teams to win the Super Bowl. Like, yeah, if we play, if we're the two seed and we can guarantee two home games, that is a big thing. That is a big deal. But at the same time, like, we're going to have to play great teams regardless. And now we get a week of rest. All of our starters, Landon, our whole offensive line has been so banged up. A lot of those guys got the ability to get healthier.

And then we're going to get to play. And now we get San Fran, who just fought their tails off with a juggernaut of Seattle. And they're going to be coming to the East Coast. You know, I think if this team is good enough, they're still going to find a way to get it done. I don't think that decision in week 18 is going to determine the outcome in this team. I just think that when we play up to our potential with the defense we have and with the offensive firepower we have, I think we can beat anybody. Well, you guys got the 49ers next week.

And, I mean, they've been rolling, man. They've been rolling. They had a tough one last week. Dude, how good is Seattle? That was a crazy game. Dude, Seattle is so long and fast. And those windows just, they're smaller and they closed. And they're active, man, active.

I came away from that game, more impressed with Seattle than I was like, oh, San Fran ain't very good. Sam Fran's still legit. I just think the Seattle defense is freaking, man, do they got some dudes over there. Yeah. With everything that's happened with the 49ers, man, Kyle Shanahan, man. It's one of the best seasons. Tip of the cap.

He just keeps finding ways to fucking win. And shout out to the guys that, you know, haven't gotten injured that are fighting through and finding ways. Shout out to John Lynch for building a deep roster. You know what I mean? Like to be able to weather all this stuff. You know, if they don't go out and get Mac Jones this off season, they probably, they don't, what happens in those eight games that Brock Pretty misses.

Who knows, man? All right, let's get into the rest of week 18. Good luck to those birds playing the Niners next week, man. I'm going to be fucking glued to the TV on Sunday when they play. But the rest of the week 18 games, Seahawks got the number one seed by beating the Niners. We just talked about that. The NFC South had three teams finished eight and nine. Panthers move on due to the tiebreakers with the eight.

9 Panthers hosting the 12 and 5 Rams is a crazy insane thing to think about. I think I remember some coaches coming out and saying, hey, if the record's better, we deserve the home game. But I kind of think that that would. I'm all in on the divisions. You win the division, you get the home game. I think I'm with that too. You don't win your division.

You don't get a home game. I don't care what your record is. Now the Rams have to go all the way to Carolina. Take that four hour, five hour, yeah, four and a half hour, five hour trip. It's a play a football game. Carolina kind of like smalls their way into the playoffs. Like, like Rodrigo just kind of like Rodriguez,

as Benny the jet, just sent them out to center field. And they just held up their glove like this. Sure. Insane. We're like, we're in the playoffs. Holy shit.

Okay, we're doing this. All right. That's hilarious. Steelers pulled it off against the Ravens. Another fucking just. Dude, it was actually an awesome.

It was an awesome end of this. the game. Lamar versus Rogers was a hell of a fucking battle. Lamar and Rogers, especially in the fourth quarter, were freaking on fire. Like, every time you thought one of them out did the other one, the other one answered. And it came down to the wire. Lamar got them in position. But yeah, you missed the kick. I mean, it's unfortunate, right? Yeah. It's very unfortunate. And actually, Mike Tomlin had another Mike Tomlin quote about how unfortunate it is. And just how, you know, sometimes the ball just doesn't go your way, you know? He says, in quote, you, you, You know how it is missing a field goat.

If my aunt had male parts, she'd be my uncle. I wish you would have just said. Just say the whole thing, Mike. I don't need you to sugarcoat it or censor it. Yeah, if my aunt had a dick, she'd be my uncle. That's what the saying is. It doesn't hit the saying with the male parts, but it is a great one. It's a bagger.

And we got the playoff picture. We were just talking about the Eagles playing in San Fran, a host in San Fran, that is, being the number three seat. Rams going to Carolina. Green Bay at Chicago. The Bears hosting a playoff game at Soldier Field. That's epic. Steelers hosting the Texans with the 4-and-5 match of Buffalo.

He's got to go down to Duvall. How about it, man? Those guys are fucking rocking, but you can never count out Josh Allen. And then you've got a fun one, man. Two awesome quarterbacks. Love watching both these guys play with Justin Herbert versus Drake May. and they'll be up there in New England playing, man. Which one's your favorite game?

Well, the game I'm most excited about is Philly versus Sam Fran. I do think that's one of the more exciting games in the first round. There's a little bit of an NFC playoff, like rivalry between you guys for sure. No doubt. We've had a lot of meaningful games really over the last five, six years. Hell yeah. Because we've both been really good. I'm looking forward to all, though.

That's why the playoffs are so good. I'll be honest. I still wish it was six teams. I don't like that there are seven teams. I don't like that there's only one buy. I think it should be the old structure, but it's still the NFL playoffs. It's still the best thing around. I still love it.

I'm looking forward to most of these games. I think the ones that are probably San Fran, Philadelphia, probably Jacksonville, Buffalo. The two, six, three games are probably the most exciting ones. What do you think? What are the games you're most excited about, Traub? I mean, the one I just talked about up in New England, I think that's going to be fun as hell to watch.

Buffalo, Jacksonville game. I'm pretty jacked for it. I'm interested to see who comes out on top on that one. Do we have a most likely upset? who do you think is going to lose that's favorite I mean either of the four seeds which that's not an upset though are we going upset by seed

or upset by seed well then the obvious answer is like LA is going to beat the piss out of fucking Carolina right until that ball just finds the mid sometimes you got that angels in the outfield luck to you you got the juice you got the juice man

I don't know what to tell you I think the other one is obviously Houston versus Pittsburgh Houston's defense is insane. Yeah, that's the one I was going to say. Buffalo? Is Buffalo out? I could see him winning. Jacksonville's really good, right? They got a lot of, they're a lot of fun. They're a lot of fun right now. The one I feel the most confident about is definitely L.A. What team is the most hot going into playoffs? It's got to be Jacksonville. They fucking won their last like seven games or something. Jacksonville has finished the regular season. Hot. That's why that game right now, I'm very much

looking forward to watching. Which quarterback will get their first playoff win? I think May Will. I mean, it's between him and Herbert, I can see. I think Donald, I mean, dude, it's hard to bet against Seattle right now. They looked unbelievable against San Fran. And I mean, Donald looks great too, but that defense is really the one thing that's like, whoa. Seattle's defense is kind of built like a modern day NBA team. The athletes?

Their nickel is like 6'3. Bro, he is active too. They were plays kind of open for San Fran. But by the time the ball got there, that distance. was just closed. They move so fast. They have range. That's right.

They remind me of an modern NBA team because they're all long. They can cover ground. And I feel like right now everybody's playing this like kind of conservative zone, like get back into your hooks. And the way teams are trying to combat that is the short stuff. But then they just break. They break on that stuff so quickly that even when you throw it short, they're on you right now and you don't get much out of it.

So they tackle well. It's a very impressive defense. So I don't know. If I'm rolling with one, I'm going with me. There you go. Do you have a Super Bowl dark course? I mean, it's got to be kind of Jacksonville, right? I just feel like that's the one that's got the energy and has the momentum right now.

And I mean, even though they're a three seed, which their record shows that they're one of the top teams in the league, it's kind of like they, it's unproven yet. You know, you got to see Trevor go out there and really run the table, man. and I think that's probably my dark horse if there is a dark horse. It does feel like the Rams are getting a lot of attention. The Eagles are obviously the defending champions. Seattle, everyone is talking about now. On the AFC side, everyone's talking about Josh Allen. It's his time.

Like Drake May, MVP, almost nobody really is talking that much about Jack. They're the darkest one, but they've actually been playing the most consistent probably. I'm kind of with you on this. I don't think they're going to win, but they are the Dark Horse. Yeah, we've got a great slate of games this weekend, and you can't forget that prime video game. That's right. Green Bay Packers are playing the Chicago Bears over at Soldier Stadium.

Yeah, I remember a playoff game over at Soldier Stadium. It ended in a double doy. It's always electric, and there's going to be an electric game this Saturday, January 10th, at 7.30 p.m. only on Prime Video. Hey, all right. Well, that wraps up bold topics. Brought to you by KFC. Hey, yo.

Let's wrap up some football talk with Stamps of the Week. Stamps of the Week is brought to you by HBO Max. Check out The Pit, season two, premiering tomorrow at 9 Eastern. All right, this is the easiest pick for me. I'm going Miles Garrett. Broke the sack record. I mean, anytime somebody breaks a freaking all-time season record of sacks, rushing yards, anything like that, they're going to get the stamp of the week.

I don't know how you don't give them the stamp of the week. And he did it, sacking. Joe Burrow, did Joe take a dive? Do we have another, do we have another Gastineau? Let's take a look at this. Did Joe take a die? Joe doesn't strike me as a diving kind of guy. No, he's a competitor.

That's a sack. That's a sack. That's a sack. Yeah, he didn't fight it, but that's a sack. That's a sack. We'll count it. We'll count it. Shout out to Miles Garrett, man.

Absolute fucking legend. deserves all the praise he's getting and congrats on fucking getting 23 sacks it's crazy man Strayhand was commenting on it says you know he's got the record in 17 games I got the record in 16 games

he kind of was joking around a bit about it yeah you already know he's having fun with he shows he shows all the respect as well man but for sure I'm gonna go I'm gonna go hit home with it baby Cleveland Heights own Layla Edwards is heading to the

Olympics. That's right. It becomes the first black woman to play for the U.S. women's national team at the Olympic Games. She's going to be out there in Milan supporting or representing the U.S. of A and even cooler, our hometown, Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Congratulations to Lela Edwards. That wraps up. Stay up for the week, brought to you by HBO Max and the Pitt Season 2, premiering tomorrow night on HBO Max. Now let's get to some Matt Damon. Jason, can you do the honors? I would love to, Trev.

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Terms applied, learn more at Americanexpress.com slash with platinum. Thank you to our partner KFC. Both season is over for college football, but new bowl season is beginning. That's way better. Oh, yeah? It's KFC, $5 bowl season. That's right. They're serving up five different bowls for five bucks each.

You get a famous bowl with those fluffy mashed potatoes and juicy chicken, or you can try their spicy mac and cheese bowl. Creamy mac and cheese with a kick. Come on now. People think $5 means you're getting some tiny portion. And nah, these bowls are loaded. Right? Like, we're talking zero leftovers.

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Five dollars. Zero leftovers. Try KFC. Five dollar bowls today. actually right now don't even wait till later today go to your kFC now we are so fucking lucky to have you brother we're gonna do our best we're gonna do our best oh man i'm fired up to be here i've been i actually like for some reason that my instagram thinks that you're the only thing i ever want to watch oh that's too good i've seen so much of your stuff just recommended to me

so this is cool our guest today is an actor writer and producer from cambridge massachusetts He is a two-time Golden Globe winner, three-times critic-choice winner, and an Academy Award winner. He is also the 2007 people's sexiest man alive. You know, I'm from Goodwill Hunting, the Martian, the Oceans franchise is the talented Mr. Ripley, the board franchises, saving private ride, the departed for it in first for Yard, Air Oppenheimer. Gosh, dang, I was running out of movies. Here we go. And his new movie, The Rip is on Netflix starting January 16th.

92 percenters, please don't come. Well, how about this? How about them apples? It's Matt Damon. Let's go. Thank you, guys. That was awesome, Jason. Thank you.

I feel like I should run out of the locker room and go hit somebody. That's fucking go. That's all we're good at. Either doing that ourselves or motivating people to do it. It's all we know. Dude, you're absolute iconic, brother. And we can't thank you enough for spending some time. The rip is unbelievable, man.

It is. It is. Thank you, guys. I'm fired up that you guys are the first people to see it. So this is, that's great news. That's great for me to hear. Yeah, we haven't shown many people at all. It hasn't come out yet.

And this is the first interview I'm doing for it. So this is very, very cool. I live a fucking dumb life, man. This movie is ridiculous, man. It had to be on the edge of my seat the entire time. And it's based off of, a lot of the facts are based off a true story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It starts with a true story and then we take dramatic license from there.

But, you know, there are these, this program in Miami where, where, you know, they take tips to go get money that's kind of, they seize money that's got from by like ill-gotten gains, you know, like drug money and stuff like that. And so they'll hit these houses. They have dogs that don't smell for drugs. They just smell for money. And they have these teams that go, seize this stuff.

And one of the rules down there is you got to count it on site, you know, just to make sure that none of it ends up in anybody's pocket and that everybody's on the up and up. And so they count it and they're very, very serious about it. And there was one of these ones that they went on where they were expecting to find a couple hundred grand. And there was over $20 million in the walls of this house. And so that's kind of where our movies about that. Like it's about this team of people, but you already know there are rumblings that there might be some corruption or there might be some bad apples who are working with people outside. And then they go in and they find this $20 million and they know it's cartel money.

So they're like, oh my God, they're going to come back. for it and so they there it turns into that kind of you know like a thriller where they're where they're they know they got to they got to stay on site but they know that the site is kind of compromised yeah absolutely when do you first get pissed about this or is this are you at the point now that this is your baby like how did you get involved with this so ben and i have a studio like a now artist equity and and and so we're small but we but we're kind of a full service studio and so people are starting to become aware of that and coming to us with projects and this came to us through Joe Conahan, who he directed NARC a long time ago, a movie The Gray.

He's directed a bunch of movies. Yeah. Ben did smoking aces with him, actually, about 15 or 20 years ago. So we've known Joe for a really long time, and he just sent this over to us. And we read it, and we were like, this is great. Well, we'd love to make it. And then as we kind of were working on it with Joe, we were kind of like, well, why don't we just all do it together?

There we're all old friends. We were like, this would be really fun. And so that's, that's. kind of how how this one came to pass yeah it's fantastic and the way it all comes together at the end and the armored vehicle and like you guys that is like cinema dude it's so fucking cool man you got to say you in the movie you convince uh ben to go after a large sum of money well you guys think it's a smaller sum of money and ends up being larger what's the dumbest thing as lifelong friends you've convinced ben to do in your friendship oh my god that's a great question

God, our whole life is a stupid. We were like 14 and 16 years old and we were going to New York auditioning, taking the bus and going down there. Literally, the journey would take us seven hours to get there. We'd walk in and we called it getting okay thanks because you'd do an audition. You'd do the best you could. And the person would just go, okay, thanks. And five minutes, you're out the door and you're back on the bus going like,

I don't think that went too well, you know. Like, so our whole life is, I mean, if you, the odds of it working out were, we're so long against and working out for both of us. Like, I don't, I mean, God, we've done so much stupid shit in our lives, but the whole idea was kind of dumb to begin with, I think. That's, yeah. I mean, it's amazing, really. At what point did you guys realize that, like, what was your first big break that you

knew we were going to be able to do this? Well, it's tough to say big break because I think we thought every break, like the first, like, we got a T.J. Max commercial and we were like, this is it, man. Let's go. No look at that. And then, you know, and then we started to get little parts. And we started to get bigger parts, but we were getting told by casting directors and stuff.

We'd go in and read and they'd go, you're not right for this, but you should keep going. So we were getting kind of signals that we were in the right, you know, area code. But then, like, when we sold Goodwill Hunting, when we sold a screenplay, that we, We thought that was absolutely it. And we were like broke a year later, you know. Really? Yeah. After that.

Yeah. Yeah. We, I mean, not broke, broke. I mean, but like, here, I'll put, I mean, I guess. So we sold the screenplay for 600 grand, right? Which was just so much more money than either of us had ever considered. It was like, which we split, right? And then, but after taxes and agent, lawyer and all that stuff.

No, I get it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So now, now we're down under 150 each. And the first thing we did was buy brand new Jeep Grand Cherokees. Oh, yeah, of course. Oh, yeah. Now we had, and we were renting this place in L.A., you know, like, we, you know,

it didn't take long for us to be like, dude, we got to get another job, like, you know. We can't just survive on that. Let me ask, just for reference, do you know what Goodwill Hunting has grossed in its, like, time? When it came out, I think it was like 220. something in the theater, but I have no idea what it did after that, like they, because they re-licensed it and they, you know. That's one of them that's just continued because it's just such an amazing film. Actually, with our, with our studio, you know, that's one of the things where we really fight

for is reversion rights. Like Ben called me a couple years ago, and he goes, you know, the town just got re-licensed for 35 million bucks, which just means that he made a great movie and people are still watching it. and he you know he at the time like that movie made a fortune it made it did all the stuff but he he was on a flat salary and he didn't you know I don't even think he made a million bucks for that movie and he wrote it directed it start you know starred in it crazy yeah one of those things so but it's like you know our view was like look if if you do something like that as as one of the

real contributors to it then like if there's money kind of in perpetuity then you should you should be a part of that so hell yeah that means it only sounds right yeah yeah Yeah, sounds fair. Seriously, though. Speaking of movies you guys have been in, when was the first movie you guys worked on together? Was it Field of Dreams? We, there were, yeah, we were extras in Field of Dreams.

That was one. But I think even before that, there was a movie that Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson starred in that a little movie called The Good Mother. And that shot in Boston, and Ben and I and Casey, his little brother, we were all extras in that. And I think there's still a shot in that movie of Liam Neeson walking past us. Ben and I, I don't think have hit puberty yet. We're like 5'1. And Liam's a big dude.

He's like 6, 5, 6.6. And we walked past him on a street at one point. So that might have been the first moment we were actually on screen together. We got to find that one. I don't know. I don't know where it is. I just remember going to the movie, and Ben and I were like, we're on it, we're on it.

We made it. That's so cool, man. Well, while we're talking movies, you're in something else that's coming up, too. We got the rip coming up, but we also have The Odyssey. Yeah. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah, July.

Are you Odysseus? Who are you in The Odyssey? Yeah, I'm Odysseus. Yeah. There we go. All right. All right. I had a beard like yours for like a year.

I think I've seen the pictures. You were getting pretty yoked up in some of the pictures I saw, too, circulating the internet. Yeah. I lost, I was in really good shape. I lost a lot of weight. Like, he said he wanted me like lean but strong. Lean but strong. Yeah, lean but strong.

And so I, like, it's a weird thing. I, uh, I don't want to bore the shit out of you, but like I, none of this is boring at all. I literally, literally like stopped eating, just because of this other thing I did with my doctor, stopped eating gluten. And I lost, like, I used to walk around it between 185 and 200. Yeah.

And, and, and I did that whole movie at 167. Holy cow. And I haven't been that light since high school. Like, yeah, yeah. So it was a lot of training and really strict diet. I was going to say, so when you get, you get asked by the director or whoever asked, you to be at that size and strength and that lean built, do you then, like, go out and source a trainer that gets you to that point? Or do you already have somebody in mind or what? somebody but it's just you know yeah trainers are like what are we doing and they can kind of do

anything um you know and it's just knowing it's just having kind of a clear goal and and and setting it it felt actually more it's like when i do that or when i did you do like the jason born movies or whatever it feels almost like like a season in a in a i would imagine what that feels like for you guys where you're preparing you you know it's like just part of your day it's part of your job right and it's like yeah and you get really routinized about it and really and kind of build your day around all that stuff and um yeah yeah that's that's that's that's kind of the physical side of getting ready have you had gluten since i haven't i'm staying strong i'm done i'm done i'm gluten free everything i found a gluten free beer nice there we go how about it all right it's been so long

since i've had gluten i can't tell if it's good or not so that's that's that's a good sign it's working it's working well the trailer for uh the odyssey got over 121.4 million views in the first 24 hours more than double Oppenheimer got which was pretty successful what what do you think has so many people psyched up about this film wow well i think for i mean obviously chris you know you know chris nolan um you know i think everybody feels i mean i i'm i'm a fan too i just love the movies that he makes and and um and also you know the just the way you know the way he insists on shooting them you know on this one was 100% on iMacs it was the first movie that was ever done all on iMacs okay like iMacs cameras are really loud like it sounds like a blender

like a quezon art in your face when this camera's close to me yeah yeah and that's why so there's never been these dialogues and like we couldn't have this conversation with a normal iMac's camera because you wouldn't be able to hear us But they built this giant thing around the IMAX for those dialogue scenes and like a system of mirrors so you could look at, you know, so your eye line would be close to the camera and you could talk to the other actor. And like the amount of work that went into figuring out how to do because he wanted to do it 100% IMAX. And he did it. So it was like really ambitious kind of ideas that he has and like on the technical side. And then just there were locations that we went.

that we shot in where I would get there and I'd just start laughing I'd be like nobody has any business shooting here like but like of course he wants to shoot here yeah that makes that tracks you know um but we do he has such a great crew like his crew is so badass and and everybody just maxed out on that movie and and you know and we made all of our days we actually finished ahead of schedule like we it was just it was an awesome experience that's awesome I haven't seen it yet you know I mean, I've seen the trailer like you have, but that's about it. Is that the way? So how far before the theatrical release do you guys get to watch it?

Like, is there, or do you try and like wait until that moment? No, it depends. There are some, a lot of directors, you know, if I'm doing a movie with Ben, I'm in the editing room within the whole time. And, um, and there are some directors who, you know, who, who like to work that way. Um, Chris has a process that's very, you know, he's, he's, he's screening the movie all the time to people outside the business he's trying he's very he's grinding away at it so i'll see it probably in in in a couple months um you know um before it's done i mean Clint

like i remember Clint Eastwood showed me i did two movies with Clint and that was just he he screened it for me like a week before the premiere but like it wasn't like he was going to take notes he's like I hope you like it you know and so people have all different ways of working and it's a director's medium really, right? Like, they really are the boss and, and, you know, but it can feel it's, or I look at it like a partnership, but you're the, I'm the junior partner, right? So I want to give every good idea that I want to, I want to be as helpful as possible. But at the end of the day, it's, it's their name on the movie. It really is there, you know, they're the ones who are really kind of ruthlessly judged. I mean, I know

actors are too, but, but in, in our world, it's really about. about the director. God, that's awesome, man. Yeah, man. All right. Well, do you want to get in some Boston sports maybe? Let's do it, baby. All right. What do you think about that? I'm, I'm a little nervous about the Chargers. I mean, they're, you know, I love. They got some ball players over there, man. They got some ball players, man. They really do. They got some really great players, but so do we. And, and I love, I love Vrable, man. Oh, my God. I love that guy. You got a good one. You guys got a good one. Unbelievable. I can't believe. This will be the battle of the minds between him and Harball, man. Yeah.

really will man both of those guys i got so much respect for both of those guys and uh obviously uh did you have you you ran into braves before uh no i've never met him i've never met him i've a legend dude i've blown my voice out cheering for him like over the years but i've never met him and uh you know he just seems awesome like all the other and the way he deals it's like he took all of the best of belichick and he's putting it through the filter of himself and he and it's like you know, everybody loves the guy and Drake May is unbelievable, you know. He's just, he seems to have that Tom thing where he just doesn't get rattled. He's got this ability to kind of feel comfortable and almost Tom was unbelievable at dictating the tempo of a game.

Like every game that I felt like I played against him, it just felt like he always had like we were going at his pace. Right. And Drake kind of has that, that feel to him, especially when he's clicking, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's, what, 23, you know? So he's just going to get better. So, I mean, I can't believe we got this lucky in New England to have. You guys had a three-year playoff drought and all of a sudden you got another franchise quarterback. It's nuts.

I feel terrible. It's like people in Green Bay where they go from Brett Farr to Aaron Rogers and you're like, come on. When does that happen? But no, it's, it's unbelievable. And given that my whole childhood, we sucked so bad. like the Patriots were just I mean that was our child out we we grew up in Cleveland so oh right yeah right they still still not doing very good but they got some great players over there though they do how about Miles Garrett man

unbelievable heck of a year heck of a year that's the last guy I'm trying to block I'll tell you what he's the physically probably the most gifted football player I've ever played football against he's really oh my gosh Matt when you line up against him it feels like you're going up against a power ranger like some like unearthly like mighty morphin like dude I'm just like I get in front of it just like man this guy knows that the coach

is not about to put me in a position to block this dude please coach that's amazing how about Aaron Donald he was the other one right that that's the one Jason got a got a good taste of Aaron Aaron was the hardest guy I had to block I didn't really ever have to block miles like that and even Aaron luckily we were double team to most

the time so I didn't have to block him one on but Aaron just didn't have he had his own physical traits which were very good like he was incredibly strong and explosive Miles has all that but then he also has the length just he's a bigger size person yeah it's right it's kind of crazy when you think about both of those guys playing at the same time they were the two most gifted defensive players I played against for sure wow I think another thing that it feels like Miles has done better with this year Aaron also had this mentality where he just was relentless

no matter what you did he would not stop he kept going he ever got tired he was like mad at you the entire time like what are you mad at me if I didn't do anything I'm just trying to do my job but he was like pissed if you and it feels like Miles

feels like he was more of that this year like there was a relentlessness to Miles and I think you felt all season long from him and with those traits and that mentality he saw an incredible season from him for sure But I do want to ask you this. How do you think the Patriots will do in the playoffs?

Is it, like, in New England, is it, are you guys so spoiled that it's like, if they don't win the Super Bowl? You guys are going to be upset? No, no, no, no. Okay, all right. Not at all. I mean, this is a new, this is a new team, right? And I think, I think this is like found money for us, right?

Like, I feel like it's, it's like draught. You guys busts it up in the wall. You got out of the quarterback. 20 million dollar quarterback sitting in the wall. He broke in and took this legend. and there would drink May. Yeah. No, and I don't know, personally, I can't speak for everybody in New England, but look,

if we get bounced in the first round, I still think this is a massive year for us, right? It's like, okay, so, like, the future is really bright for us with the coach that we have, with that, with the organization, like with Bob Crapp and with the way that whole thing is set up and with that quarterback. And I mean, I feel like we're in a really good spot. Obviously, we want to see him go as far as. they can't. But nobody's going to be like, you know, this is bullshit if they don't, if they don't, you know what I mean? It's like nobody was expecting them to be there. I mean, we were

expecting to kind of run into this Buffalo wall for years, right? And that wall's still there, by the way, that team will be, that team's still very, Josh isn't going anywhere. He's unbelievable. And so it's fun. It'll be competitive. I was talking to a buddy of mine. It was like, this year has been so much fun because there are like 10 teams who could win the Super Bowl and you'd be like, I'm not surprised, you know? It really is, man. It's so fun, for sure, you know. It's so wide open.

When you had those, like, New England dynasties or Kansas City dynasties, it's not fun for anybody else. It's only fun for us. Well done. Well done with that. I do every time I thought the whole year, like the Patriots, it feels like they're a few pieces away. Like, I'm like, ah, they don't really have the kind of level of talent you think they need.

But they just, every week, they find a way to win. And I'm with you. This, the more. watch Drake May, the more I'm just, like, so impressed with his tempo. He makes everything look easy. Like when he's back there and he throws the ball. It's the simplest decision he had to make. Right. It's like, it's like, why is this game so easy to this? Yeah. Yeah. It's right. It feels it's like inevitable. It's like, oh, obviously that was going to happen. You know, yeah, it's, it shouldn't be that easy. It shouldn't look that easy. No. Well, speaking of Patriot quarterbacks, Ben, obviously,

friend of the show, he was on here talking about the greatest moment of his life, than the birth of his children was running routes with Brady. I can't believe he got to do that. I can't believe he got to do that. And the way he told the story was, I mean, I got mad. I was like, you're going to fuck up his timing. You're so slow. Like, don't play catch with Brady unless you're just standing still.

Like, don't do that. But yeah, no, I can't. I'm jealous he got to do that. I was going to say, what's your best or your favorite Boston sports moment? Well, mine's super personal because I, because I, the, My best Boston sports moment actually was in 1999 of the celebrity at the All-Star game. I did the hitting challenge thing. But then that night, they led us onto the field to take batting practice at midnight.

And my dad was a pitcher. He was a left-handed pitcher. And we were taking batting practice. He was trying to get, he wanted me to hit the ball. He wasn't trying to strike me out. But I hit one off the green monster off my dad. Oh my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

And I literally happened and we both looked at each other and I was like, I'll never need therapy in my life. I'll just go back to this moment. That was it? We're good. Oh, that's so fucking cool. But in terms of the great teams, like I, like there are so many, you know, so many unbelievable moments. And yeah, and Brady gave us, oh, my God, him alone, that guy just gave us 20 years of them. So we're, we're, you know, we don't deserve Drake May.

We'll take them. that's so iconic man have you ever gotten any working with brady have you met tom yeah yeah yeah i know i i've i met him a bunch over the years and like yeah he's he he he just i don't know to me for you guys because you you guys excel at that championship level and to me it always strikes me across anything that you do it's always the people who do the extra work the extra thing like i remember the year after we went new england went 18 and one and we lost to the giants and the Super Bowl and I had dinner with Tom and a bunch of guys and, you know, they brought a bottle of red wine around and everyone's getting a glass of red wine and Tom's like, no. And I looked

at him and I was like, really? I'm like, it's May. Like your camp starts in like two months and he was like, no. Like he was just like, he was in that like I'm, I'm, my life, I'm going to live my commitment to this thing. You know what I mean? And he just had that insane discipline and And I took my nephew to a game once down in Miami. We were living down there. And my nephew played football. It was played, you know, in the little Pembroke Pines League down in Miami. And I took him.

And I was like, Tom, I'm bringing my nephew. And he was nine at the time. And we get to the, you know, we're down on the field. Everybody's warming up. And he's like, am I going to get to meet Tom? And I'm like, probably not now. Maybe after the game. Like, look, he's about to go to work.

You know, Troy, this is a real, you know, he's working right now. This is serious. Sure enough. Tom comes running over. He's like already sweating. He's just warmed up. My nephew's sitting on the bench. And he's sitting at the end of the bench.

And Tom runs up to him and gets in his face. And he's like, you're going to root for me today, Troy? Are you kidding me? He's looking up at him and he just can't talk. Yeah, right? And he just nods. He just nods. And Tom goes, Tom goes, Tom goes, gets in his face.

They're both nine years old and goes, We're going to kill these guys. Dude, he's iconic, dude. He couldn't have meant it more either. I was unbelievable. And then he runs off to the locker. I was like, that was the greatest thing I've ever seen.

But it was like two nine-year-olds talking to each other. Hell yeah. We're going to fucking smoke. Yeah, literally. I mean, there might have been an F-bomb in there. For sure. You got to make sure he feels it. You got to make sure he's got to know.

How do you rank your Boston sports fandoms? by the sport. Sox, Pats, Celtics, Bruins. That's tough. I would definitely say Red Sox kind of for me growing up, that was the thing. Like that was the definitely the top and the sport

I played the most. And then basketball I played a lot too. So if you, you know, if you had asked me when I was growing up, I would have said baseball, basketball, football, hockey. But when I look at, I just because I Brate everybody we just bought into that like everybody got so caught up and like oh you get

wrapped in it I'm sure yeah we got said if I actually think of what I spent more time watching like the last 20 years probably football yeah yeah not including football who's your favorite Boston sports athlete like who who's your guy from growing up that you're like that's my like Travis is Carlos byerga yeah I'm the Cleveland Indian I got I got Carlton Fisk Hey. He was, he was, uh, over on the mantel. Let's go. Yeah, yeah.

It was a big part of like, we wrote the whole scene in Goodwill hunting about him and, and, uh, there's a whole kind of reference to him in that movie. And there was a whole team, you know, in 77, 78, those guys like I, you know, I used to go through, you know, we have batting practice and I go through all their stances from each side of the, like I just knew, you know, that those were my guys, yeah, all of them, man, go to the game, get the, get the, get the program, start to keep. score in the back man yeah it's just the best well let me ask you this where's you mentioned the green monster i i was fortunate to like go get a tour at that ballpark when i was uh visiting in boston

in high school for some reason what where's the best place to sit in that stadium like it's such it's like that and rigley field like the two baseball stadium are the most iconic what what's the best uh seat in the stadium you think there are a lot of them actually depending on i mean now like what they've done now by putting seats up on the green monster like that that's insane up there i went to i sat in the kind of the last box next to those seats a couple years ago uh when i when i went up and and that was that was absolutely crazy i was fortunate enough i went to uh when they were doing the the one game wild card uh playoff scenarios boston actually played the yankees in at fenway I was there, and they won one-nothing.

I was actually sitting up on the green monster. No way. You sat on the green monster? I sat on the green monster and literally saw a line drive come probably 10 feet from or 10 yards from me. And when they hit that monster, dude, it fell like, dude. It was boom and everybody's going nuts, dude. It was that Boston's an unbelievable sports town, man. Did they leave you alone up there on the monster?

Yeah, it wasn't too bad. Some of the Air Force had some fun with me, but, um, yeah, it was, it was all in that, dude. I'm here for it, man. What's up, Travis? What are you doing here, bro? Yeah, exactly. There's go. You already know.

It was epic, dude. I'm here for the chatter anyway, all day, baby. How much do you hate Jason and the Eagles for beating the paths in Super Bowl 52? Come on, well, I, well, congratulations, Jay. I still don't understand why he didn't put Malcolm Butler in the game. I will never understand that. It's a fair question. Like, I, because.

I think did we punt that game? I don't know if we might have punted it once. It was a high scoring game. Tom, Tommy threw for like 500 and something yards. Nobody ever done that. It was just best performance.

Yeah. It was just unreal. And like we just needed to stop you guys. Like we never stopped you, Jason. One of the best Super Bowls ever, man. I think we punted once. And I think that was the only punt if I remember correctly.

I wonder, actually, I'll bet you. I'll tell you what, man. we might have punted if we punted at all, we punted once probably. That's probably got to be the record for the least punts in a Super Bowl. Well, it was the highest scoring game and then I think

we broke that record again when we played Travis in the Super Bowl. I think that was the only other one that got higher scoring or something like that. But Tom's day, that was his best Super Bowl of his career. Yeah, the Patriots did that punt. Patriots didn't, yeah, the punters were, both punters were

having a Having a Coke and some popcorn on the sideline that game. Yeah. It's a fair question. He never answered it, though. Like, so I always wondered about that. Like, what they? There was something personal.

There was something weird because it's like, why does a guy play 99% of the snaps? And then you tell him while the national anthem is playing that he's not playing. And then you got to switch everybody around to different positions like that they haven't played. It's like they're suddenly playing a preseason for the past two weeks. Yeah. Yeah. I just something weird about it, man. I could never figure out.

Didn't he, I think he got in trouble for like missing a meeting or something like that, didn't he? There was something leading up to it. But there was a meeting. I know. I agree. I agree. But this is kind of like, tell me what I miss. It's also the thing is like for me.

It's the Patriot way, though. You can't be missing meetings. Yeah. But but then maybe after the first quarter when, when you can't stop their offense, maybe you're like, okay, you learned your lesson. Get in there. Or maybe after the first half. Okay, now I've really, you know, I've proved my point.

But like, where you never put the dude. in? It really is actually, I think, more selfish, not to play the best guy because, like, everybody else wants to win. By the way, the Patriots way is do your job, right? The Patriots way is you got 53 guys who gave up absolutely everything. They gave or they sacrificed everything. And you're, and that's your whole thing. And so, like, what does it say? If like, you have an ax to grind with somebody that you're not going to play him? Like, it's just. Exactly. It's, yeah, it's well said. It's kind of selfish. It feels weird. Yeah. It definitely feels like there ego ego is the enemy of everything that's my that's my it really is like it's certainly in my line of

work like if if you can't just like your allegiance has to be to the best idea like you're all you're all a lesser part of the thing you're making and and you got to put that first and if if you do that if everyone does that it's going to be everything's going to work out have you felt like you've been able to do that your whole career or do you get to a point where you've been through that enough where it's like all right selfishie i want to go in, I feel like this is the best thing, but in order for this to work out the best, we really need to operate together in a different, uh, no, I never feel like those things are like mutually exclusive. I never feel, I always feel like my best interest is aligned with making

the thing that we're making as, as good as we can make it. And, and, and that it requires everybody to have that attitude. And so like when I, when I hear stories, I've never, I don't think I've ever been on a set where somebody was really misbehaving or anything like that, was happening i hear those stories i'm like mystified by those stories i'm like man the fuck was that person doing like like you know what i mean like sure it's all about like just trying to make the thing as good as you can make it and it's a collaborative project hell yeah be a good teammate man yeah exactly exactly and with the director who is the director it's like a benevolent dictatorship like the director basically yeah 51% yeah exactly yeah exactly yeah 501% coach andy

Andy reads the director. He's getting 51%. This is bullshit. Travis, shut up. Got it. Yeah. Exactly. There you go.

But if you really like that guy, right? You know, or a woman, if you really like that meter that you have, right, then that's, that's a perfect deal. Because you're, because you're never going to be misaligned with them because you kind of see things the same way. Yeah. Absolutely. That's cool to hear it kind of translates into, into your line of work in your world, too, man.

I think, like, the older I get, the more. crossover there is kind of in all this stuff about like how you approach stuff and it makes me think about how to talk to my kids about that and like whatever they want to do you know these these things will uh will kind of bear bearing across all you know all of these different kind of disciplines because um because they kind of work for everything yeah yeah um hey is it too are you are you have you announced trav if you're going to keep playing is there still are you is that a big secret at this point do you take time at this point like the yeah i think i'm just going to going to take some time, let it, let it kind of fizzle out, let everything happen, get away from

the game. First time I've not had a job in January in a long time, so I'm going to go ahead and enjoy, you know, hanging out with some family and putting my feet up, watching some football, seeing how this crazy, anybody can win it type of season plays out. But yeah, I'm just trying to figure it all out myself. And I'll do that with the family and friends and, you know. No, yeah, yeah. No, it's a big. decision i remember uh michael strahan years ago came came over to watch the super bowl and he was thinking about retiring and and uh and we're the same age and i was like come on man you're we're in our prime you know and it's like look it takes a lot to get ready you know there's a lot of work that

goes into it and you know he was telling me on that kept pushing kept pushing and finally he turns and he goes matt i get in 35 car accidents a week and he's the one doing yeah well yeah so yeah he's he's he's initiating him yeah yeah yeah but that that's a real consideration like you know and and it's easy to sit at home enjoy watching you guys play and be like why don't they play another season yeah i mean when you get the call when you're 45 like philip rivers baby god how good was that you're never out of it pulling for him. Everyone loved it, dude.

We all wanted them to go and fucking get them into the playoffs or at least put up some dubs. And yeah, man, that shit was epic. He did a good job. I thought he did do a really good job. And as a granddad, man, I was like, unbelievable. It's insane. Yeah, with his high school team watching.

I thought it's epic. Playing the game was awesome to watch. But then even his comments after the game about just like not being afraid and like facing, like, I just think it was. Yeah, having that courage, yeah. Man, he's such a just a. the pinnacle of what a quarterback and, like, a football player is. So it was awesome to see them back out there.

It is also cool to see guys. Like, you guys get so much better at your job. It's such a weird thing because you guys get better at your job, but your skills, you know, decline as you age. And so. Mentally, you keep going this way. Yeah. Fortunately, the physical aspects start going down.

But he got out there. He looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Like the game was slow for him. He was like, no, I know what this is. I've seen that before. I know what they're going to do. It felt like he was in control, yeah. Yeah, totally.

So that was really. That was really cool. I've always thought that's a tough part of, you know, the athlete's life is, I talked to a baseball player once who was kind of a journeyman second baseman, and he was, he was like 37, and he was retiring, and I said, what happened? And he was like, well, he was like, look, my bread and butter was a 95-mile-an-hour fastball. And he goes, someone threw me a 95-mile-an-hour fastball, my eyes got big, and I swung, and I was late. And I looked at the catcher and the catcher looked at me and then I looked at the pitcher and

he goes and he gave me another one and I was late again. He struck me out on three pitches. He goes, and then, you know, with all the analytics, they're all looking at it. He goes, within two weeks I was out of the league. Like everybody was true on this fastball. And he goes, the sad thing for me is that I, he goes, I know more about hitting now. He goes, if you put my 37 year old brain in my 21 year old body, I'd be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. It's crazy. and like that but you're yeah that's a crazy thing because I was I was about his age and I was like I'm just getting into the meat of my career now like this is this is getting more and more fun and that's that's it's a tough decision man it's a tough decision so I feel for you whatever you make

is going to be the right decision though like we said earlier man this is a silly life I get to live brother so whether whether I'm coming back on the field or not man I'm still living it to the fullest man well and you guys this is great too this whole forum and everything that you guys made here is like it's like see there's a lot you know it was like like stray and said to me years ago you know like he he had there was another life after that he that he was excited about too so yeah and strahan man he's been an awesome dude to me since i've been in the league and helped me numerous off seasons trying to figure things out so shout out to stray we're always looking out man thank you to our partner HBO max the pit is back with a brand new season tomorrow

8th at 9 p.m. Eastern. All right. Here's the deal. It's starring Emmy Award winner Noah Wiley. The quickly acclaimed HBO Mac series follows a real-time shift with 15 high-stake hours told across 15 must-see episodes. How about it? One episode for every hour. That sounds pretty intense. Yeah, and they're extra long shifts.

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That's pretty awesome. All right. And if you want to switch things up, there's ice protein matcha waiting to energize your routine as well, both available and sugar-free to keep your goals in check. I'm not going to lie, Brandon. You don't lie, Jason. This is actually very good. I'm not a big fan of mixing protein with everyday items usually, but this, I could get on

board with this. This is really tasty. You don't really notice the protein additive. That's what's so wild. It just tastes like a, yeah. Everything that's protein-enhanced. either has that grit or it's got that weird little

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to your favorite drink to customize and create your own swole yeah I mean listen I can get on board with this morning routine very easily let's go ahead and get into this last segment is called we got to ask but you don't have to answer you can tell us the fuck off um you were talking

about uh your kids earlier as a fellow father of four girls uh what is your piece what is your best piece of a girl dad advice for jason over here man i got nothing i got nothing for you you're in it you're in it i heard before we started i heard the kids in the bag i was like oh my god you know i do i do have to say that you know there was a you guys went to eat or uh at least your wife did at a restaurant in Montana. Ming Sai is the chef there and Ming's a friend of mine. And he told me, this was the greatest thing. He goes, Jason Kelsey's wife is a rock star.

He goes, hey, Kai. Yeah, Kai. He goes, she came in. He goes, she's got like an eight month old on one arm. She's got a toddler here. She had four kids hanging off her. He was like, she is a boss. It was like, it was very, very cool.

So I don't think I need to give you any advice because it sounds. Sounds like you married the right woman. She's a boss, you know. She is a boss. And she's got to deal with me, too, a fifth kid. She doesn't even, yeah. I unfortunately missed that because I'd do Monday night football. But I heard she's phenomenal.

She's incredible with the kids. The only bit of advice, whenever I get, I get asked that question to. And my first thing I tell people with advice with kids is don't listen to any advice, anybody else kids. Yeah, you got to figure it out. They're all so different. I don't know how you feel about yours. but the moment one comes out there, like more sensitive.

This one's a little bit more like rambunctious. Like every single one of them is like their own person. And it's like right away. Yeah. The moment they start talking, it feels like they're different. Man, I used to have the, I used to be a real, you know, in that nature, nurture argument. I, I, I'm now on this like nature, like that's a thing, you know, like your kids show up. Like that spirit, that soul is there and it's going to do what it's going to do.

and the nurture part is very important. You're going to be appalled helping with that. But they really are who they are, like right away. And that's like a been profound, and as they grow older, you still see in their infant face, you still see them as their, you know, it's the only thing I'd say, an old friend of mine said when my 19-year-old was probably 18 months, said, don't blink, don't blink. And that is, that shit is real.

daughter broke her collarbone. And this morning, she was getting ready for school. She's 17. And she asked me to brush her hair. And so I brushed her hair. And, man, it was a, like, I hadn't brushed her hair. I don't know, eight, nine years, you know what I mean? But, but you're at that stage now where it's like, you get them ready. It's like, you're brushing. They're lined up. And you're like, you got to get them. Right. And those, and it's the great. And I don't remember the last time, that I don't remember when I brushed her hair for the last time. It just kind of happened and then life kind of kept going and the changes are so incremental that like you don't realize until I ran the hairbrushed your hair and it's the same

like all of it. It's, you know what I mean? Yeah. And it buckled me, man. It's like so don't blink. That's all. Okay. I like that.

I like that a lot. All right. You mentioned just a second ago about how, you know, an athlete learns more and they actually know more. they wish they knew more when they were younger. As an actor, writer, producer, is there something you know now that you really wish you knew when you were younger? Oh, my God.

Yeah. I mean, it's the same as I. It's like, for me, I would love to go back and remake all the movies again. You know what I mean? And like, I remember, you know, working with Steven Spielberg early on in my career and going, like, I don't know enough about filmmaking to be next to this man right now. Like, I have so many questions.

and I don't know what the right questions are yet. And so I remember just following him around and just, I remember everything that guy ever said to me because I was trying to bank it because I knew it was going to come in handy. And then as, you know, in the intervening 30 years or whatever, I've things that he said have come back as I've kind of learned them and go, oh, man, that's what he was talking about. You know, so those kind of things, I really got lucky in that I got to work with some

amazing people. And I'd love to be able to go back through that process and work with, even if I could just work with the people. that I've already worked with again. There's so much I didn't know. And that's kind of the fun thing about making movies. It's like it's, it's, it's always a different job. The challenges of a day are always different and, and it's always fun.

Battle of the Unknown. Well, you're talking about some of your previous movies. Friend of the show, George Clooney, told us that everyone's... Don't listen to anything that guy says. You guys are in talks with another Oceans movie. Oh, okay. I thought he was going to play some fucking practical joke on this. I love that that's immediately where it goes.

He's just, and he'll do the long ones that just go for, you know, it's set it up nine years ago. No, yeah, well, they're talking about it. You know, I don't know, we'll see, you know, these things, there's always, they're always talking about it's a weird business. You never know how things will coalesce. And, I mean, I'd love that group of guys. And obviously, we're down a few now.

You know, we've lost a couple over the years, but, like, there's a lot of love in that group for sure. So, yeah, if we can get our shit together, that'd be a lot of fun. Hell yeah. We have a clip here from school ties where you play a football player. Oh, yeah. Would you mind breaking this play down for us? Sure. Oh, yeah.

Oh, let's go. Yeah. Come on. No bar, baby. Let's go. Run your ass off for me. It said, block your ass. off for me.

Watch what Brendan Fraser does to me. Dude, look at Brendan Fraser. I really wanted to score the touchdown. That's cool. But he's the good player. So guess what, Matt? Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

That's a textbook cut block. Team player, baby. This is, like, this is legendary, dude. Yeah, not only could I not do the cut block. He actually had to throw me in. right position yeah that was the first uh first feature film that i had a big role in and ben's in that movie too that was a good it was ben ben uh ben aflex in that colehauser's in that uh brandon christ o'Donnells in there like there's a really there's a there's a hell of a group of guys but we

were all 20 years old that's crazy that was awesome when you made the movie uh air yeah did you did you get a chance to meet Mike? No, Ben went down and talked to Mike, and I was supposed to go, but my kids had something that day, so I stayed here, and Ben went down to meet Mike, and because this was before we made the deal to do it, because we knew that if Mike wasn't down with it, then, you know. You guys wanted to respect that. A, respect it, and V, like, there would be no, like, we'd put all this work into a movie, and then if Jordan came out and was like, that's bullshit, like the movie's just,

dead. No, I hear you. So, but we wanted his blessing, even though, you know, he wasn't going to be a part of it. It wasn't hit, you know, we, but Ben went down and talked to him. And, and a lot came out of that meeting. In fact, he gave us kind of people who were more instrumental than we understood from the original script we read. So we rewrote it.

The biggest thing he said was, because Ben asked him about his, his parents. And he was like, you know, what, you know, what role did your dad play? What do you need? And Mike said he goes, he was like, my dad was a great guy. And he goes, my mom runs shit. Really? Yeah. And Ben was like, really?

And he was like, yeah, my mom runs shit. And Ben was like, oh, shit I talked to him. For sure. He was like, you want to try to call my mother? He was like, no. Like. And Ben was like, okay, well, who should play your mother? And before he got mother out, Mike was like, Viola Davis.

Wow. So, just knew it right away. Ben called me up from Florida where he was meeting with him. And he was like, dude, good news, bad news. I'm like, what? He's like, but we got Mike's blessing. He's like, we got to rewrite the entire script because it's all about, it's all about his mother.

And I go, okay, you know, great. And he goes, oh, I go, what's the bad news? And he goes, there's only one actor who will in, I was like, who? And he's like, Viola Davis. And I'm like, all right, you want me to call, we got to call American Treasure Viola Davis. And he's like, listen. We can't make this movie unless you make it with us. So that was, there was a great young writer on that, on that project.

And we kind of rebuilt the whole thing around her character. And try to make a role that was worthy of, you know, Viola. That's awesome. Very cool. Very cool. Is there anybody that you've worked with, you worked with a lot of acting legends, but is there anyone that you were starstruck with on set? Yeah.

I mean, I think that's happened a lot of times. me but um i went on on saving private ryan um tom hanks said something to all of us i actually i asked him about a he did this movie a long time ago called nothing in common and jacky gleason played his father and jacky gleason was like this you know bigger than life uh you know star of the honeymooners and all this and and i asked him tom about it and and tom said i asked him if he was nervous and tom goes you know what he stopped he goes i made the decision not to be nervous I made the decision not to be intimidated by and it was that it was really good advice I was like 25 or 26 and it was and it was like you know you got to just

approach the work you know and you got to approach people kind of as they are you know I mean it was just like a very it was very helpful in the sense that you know I think I I I could have been intimidated by a lot of the people that I am because I because I'm a fan of theirs you I'm a fan. And I still feel that way about a lot of people I work with. I did. But it's more like it's better to appreciate them for the work that they do, but leave the rest of the shit at the door so that you can actually get some work done.

Oh, yeah. That's awesome advice, man. Shout out to Tom Hanks, man. I'm going to start using that advice. The man with one red shoe, baby. Let's go. The money pit. Hell yeah.

We always end the segment by asking everyone, what was their, Welcome to Hollywood moment. The story you just told us was pretty fucking iconic early in your career. But was there ever a moment that was just like, holy shit, I'm doing this? Or could be good, could be bad, could be just, you know. Yeah, I think that the biggest, like the one I think about all the time was when Goodwill hunting, when we, you know, it was such a like a roller coaster from writing it to selling it to, you know, developing it to going to the turnaround to getting picked up at another studio.

There's all this stuff that the first day we were shooting and we were actually rolling film and the movie was getting made. And it was a scene between Stell and Scars Guard and Robin Williams. Ben and I weren't even in the scene. But we went to watch and when they called action and those two like heavyweight actors, amazing actors, started talking, started saying the shit that we wrote. Like we just, just tears coming down. And I think that was like, that was that was that was. definitely a kind of an amazing moment uh because it was like this is real like even if nothing happens with this movie like we got it made we're doing we were like we were like rocky in the

first one where it's like we didn't even want the belt we just wanted to go 15 rounds and be and still be there and so that was kind of the moment where we were like this movie's actually going to happen that's awesome fucking iconic if you had any advice for somebody that was looking into getting into writing or acting or what would your advice be like what's what's the best way to get started or learn or yeah i don't know well it's like a trade so it's it's to do it you know and so find really good people to study under and try to apprentice yourself too and um you know if you're if you want to write screenplays i'd go probably online now you can probably get every screenplay just read. Just read, you know, read 10 of them a week and just start by osmosis. You'll start to

understand kind of the form. Read the movies that you like and see what they look like in script form and then read movies even that you don't like very much and see what they look like. And that's kind of how I, that's kind of how we did it. We kind of backed into writing because we were unemployed. Nobody wanted us. And so we were like, we better write our own thing. And we were kind of able to do that because we'd read so many hundreds of the scripts and and then seeing those movies get made and seen what became of them and we'd seen what got cut out and and what survived and what worked on the page and what worked on the screen and all that stuff so yeah the more you can expose yourself to it and

be around other people who are interested in it and and you know make it make it make it a focus for for your time and energy then you know the better the better shot you have it's a brutal business though you know I wouldn't it you know the my old answer to that was always like I would just I just tell people don't do it don't do it no honestly because every single person told us not to do it like everybody there was nobody in my life who said yep this is good you should do this like it's it was a suicide mission basically you know like you're not going to make any money you're not going to you know you're just going to go out and get beaten down by the world it's like a you know in the first hundred times you go audition you usually just get

rejected and it's humiliating and it's like you know you got to have you got to really really really why do you think the landscape has changed at all from when you were trying to come up totally totally totally different business like i don't i don't know what to i have trouble because i don't know where the business is going and so i don't know what to tell but but the things that matter still matter like if you love acting if you love writing then then it's it doesn't matter where the business is going you're going to find your place in the business but um but But, yeah, just doing it as much as you can. Like, it really is it.

It's a trade. Like, people try to put all this hocus, focus around it. But it's like, you know, being a carpenter, like, you know, can you build a house, right? So just start working on that. And eventually you'll be able to get out of put in, man. Yeah, absolutely. Brother, thank you for the wisdom. Thank you for the stories.

There we go. Appreciate the time, man. Thank you, guys, man. And thank you. Thank you for the rip, man. on Netflix, January 16th, everybody go check it out. Matt David!

Thank you guys. I really appreciate it. You guys are awesome. Bro. Thank you for coming all, brother. Thank you for having me, man. This is awesome. I really do watch you guys a lot.

Like, for a dude who's supposed to have a job. We appreciate it, man. You're trying for taking up your real space. No. I am going to get recommended this on my fucking phone. It's going to be great. All righty, everybody, that wraps up this episode of New Heights. Thank you so much to Matt Damon.

Yeah. This is absurd that we get to talk to an individual of his stature. And we will take full advantage of it. Make sure you subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to New Hides and New Hides ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcast. Once again, New Heights of Wondry show brought to you by Intuit Turbo.

tax. Don't forget to do your taxes, ladies and gentlemen. You can make it a whole lot easier by doing it with Intuit TurboTax. Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with one as for fun clips throughout the week. We got a bunch of them for you man. Matt Damon, thank you so much. Thank you to the New Heights production and the team

for making this thing. A fun ride for all of us. And thank you to the 92% us for tuning in. I hope you guys enjoyed it. We'll see you next week. all righty oh now brown cow i'm now brown cow unique new york unique new york did you did you just rip it yeah i thought that was i thought that was you yeah yeah but i was holding it in the entire matt damon interview not gonna laugh you're respectable man yeah talking to a you should have you should have saw he broke like do i do i smell something

through my, do you just smell that? Why do I taste that? You hear how warm it is. What is it about a good? It's like foggy. I'm going to ask you a question. I'm going to ask you a question, Matt. Have you ever Dutch out of it into yourself?

Is that? That's the thing for sure. I mean, a thing. I've done it multiple times just to see where I'm at. You do it. As an experiment. Yeah. You do.

Just, all right, here. Let me check. Wow. That's, I mean, it's my brand. Let me check the old exit. See, uh, see how we're doing here. I got no problem with my brand. Wow.

That is pungent. So does it mean anything if it's like different? I feel like I can tell if my protein intake based on how my farts smell. Ooh, does it get more sour, the more protein? It gets more like dense. Like if you're eating too much protein, like that you're buying. Like, that your body isn't properly, like, harnessing and utilizing to build muscle. If you start eating too much protein, then it almost feels like there's, like, a change in the atmospheric pressure with your fart.

Like, it's like, there's more molecules in the area. You see, you know what I'm saying? Like, there's a pressure that is in there. Like, you are like, wow, that is thick. That's when you know you're eating too much protein. All right. So I can sometimes gauge it if I'm trying to see like, oh, did I eat the right amount of protein? Then you fart.

And then you're like, oh, yeah, I'm definitely eating way too much protein. That's basically water. That's steam. I got steam coming on my ass right now. Yeah.