Podcrushed - Jake Johnson

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

We couldn't be more excited to kick things off in Season 3 with the one and only Jake Johnson (New Girl, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)! Jake reflects on the trauma of being called "little boy!"... in front of his crush, how his mother's intuition saved him from going to juvie, and why you should always listen to your gut, even when you're wrong sometimes. He also reminisces about his time on New Girl and what excites him most about switching things up behind the camera.    Follow Podcrushed on socials: TikTok Instagram XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 And I hit this bike and flew forward and skidded my face on the ground. But I knew Kelly was watching. And before I could get up, a car pulled up and a mom yells, little boy, are you okay? Oh, why? I literally had jumped up and I'm like, fine, not a little boy. Welcome to Podcrushed. We're hosts. I'm Penn.
Starting point is 00:00:30 I'm Nava. And I'm Sophie. And I think we would have been your middle school besties. Cramming for finals 15 minutes before they start. Shit. Welcome to Pod Crush. I'm asking my co-hosts Navi Kavlin and Sophie. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:00:44 In case you forgot who we are? Yeah. Well, I have to remind myself every now and then. Sometimes I forget which one is which. But thankfully you're in the same screen and that takes care of it. This is honestly the most excited I've ever been for a guest on the show. I'm just like a super fan And yeah
Starting point is 00:01:02 I'm just like in such a good match So as you might be able to tell This is another host episode It's just going to be the three of us Yeah Were you excited or nervous? I was nervous yesterday But today I was just excited all day
Starting point is 00:01:16 I was just really excited for it I texted NAVA last night And I was like Because I was watching all of Jake John John John We're keeping that There we go We cut to the surprise
Starting point is 00:01:27 now you've chopped it up. I was watching all of Jake Johnson's stuff. Well, actually, I should say first when we first got Jake Johnson, I kept thinking it was Jack Johnson. And I was like, interesting. Are we a musician? We're doing more musicians this season. I didn't know.
Starting point is 00:01:47 But anyway, no, I was watching all his stuff. And I texted Nav. I said, he's like my new favorite celebrity. I'm obsessed with him. He's so funny. So she said, are you excited or nervous because of that? And I said, I'm really excited, but I'm also nervous that we're not funny enough for him. Like, he's so funny that I'm just nervous about trying to keep up with him.
Starting point is 00:02:04 And I think the trick is you just don't. You just let him go. Yeah. He's so good. It's funny you felt that way about this. I mean, we've had a lot of comedians on the show. I know, but I don't know what it was about Jake Johnson. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:18 It's just not a huge fan. Conan sucks. Roywood Jr. Pshh. Yeah. Penn, how are you feeling today? A little crestfallen. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Why? That you're not our favorite celebrity? Yeah. That your humor doesn't intimidate us. Yeah. You don't find us funny. I take it personally. No, today, we don't often do banter in this sort of glowy after glow of our glowy guest.
Starting point is 00:02:44 But it was a particularly fun one. And I will say also that doing research was especially enjoyable. He's very funny. The projects he's a part of our joyful and light and... So I guess that's that. You now know who we have on the show. It's Jake Johnson. If you don't know him from New Girl or Drinking Buddies
Starting point is 00:03:04 or any of the other iconic comedies he's a part of, now he is written, directed, and starred, and produced in self-reliance. It's on Hulu now. And he also has a podcast. He's a fellow podcaster. And we sort of rib each other about that in the beginning, you know, like fellow podcasters do.
Starting point is 00:03:26 Inner circle stuff. Yeah. It's called we're here to help. We're here to help. We're here to help. And Jake Johnson was here to help us, help you, help each other. Goodbye. Stick around.
Starting point is 00:03:49 Does anyone else ever get that nagging feeling that their dog might be bored? and do you also feel like super guilty about it? Well, one way that I combat that feeling is by making meal time everything it can be for my little boy, Louie. Nom Nom does this with food that actually engages your pup senses with a mix of tantalizing smells, textures, and ingredients. Nom Nom offers six recipes bursting with premium proteins,
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Starting point is 00:04:54 literally, which is why I'm committed to giving them only the best. Hold on. Let me start again because I've only been talking about Louie. Louis is my bait. Louis, you might have heard him growl just now. Louis is my little baby and I'm committed to only giving him the best. I love that Nom Nom Nom's recipes contain wholesome nutrient rich food, meat that looks like meat and veggies that look like veggies because shocker they are. Louis has been going absolutely nuts for the lamb pilaf. I have to confess that he's never had anything like it and he cannot get enough. So he's a lampy laugh guy. Keep mealtime exciting with nom-num available at your local pet smart store or at Chewy. Learn more at trynom.com slash podcrushed, spelled try n-o-m.com slash podcrushed. A 15-year-old girl who chewed
Starting point is 00:05:46 through a rope to escape a serial killer. I used my front teeth to saw on the rope in my mouth. He's been convicted of murdering two young women, but suspected of many more. Maybe there's another one in that area. And now, new leads that could solve these cold cases. They could be a victim that we have no idea he killed. Stolen voices of Dull Valley breaks the silence on August 19th. Follow us now so you don't miss an episode. So, you know, not to do too cheesy would tie in, but, you know, I did notice that in your film out now, self-reliance, which you wrote and directed, you, and starred in, I should say, obviously, it struck me that the first time your two protagonists open up to each other is when they're, one is 10, the other is 12.
Starting point is 00:06:43 You know, they're telling stories from this time. Right, yes. So, you know, let's just start. You kind of already got us in there a bit, but at 12 years old, who are you, where were you, how are you seeing the world? So 12, my kids are in fourth grade at 10, so 12 is probably seventh. Six or seventh? Six or seventh? Six or seventh?
Starting point is 00:07:05 Six and seventh were a tough age. So I'm seeing this with my kids. So when you go to that age, so we have like their math tutors and all that, and I'm trying to help with the homework, but you realize when you get to algebra, I'm going in the weeds here a little bit, but you're then applying all the stuff you had learned, and you need to have a nice base of everything to make junior high work. And that's when the rubber really met the road for old Jakey Jay. And that's when I really realized I'm behind. And I don't see a catch-up occurring. So that was really when I started getting in big trouble in school, when I started saying,
Starting point is 00:07:45 like, I can't be revealed for this. So trouble started. I remember it was the beginning of not getting on sports teams for attitude stuff. A teacher told my mom at a parent teacher conference that I was very likable and maybe I could be on like a construction crew as a job. My brother, who was
Starting point is 00:08:07 like a little boy genius, they were like he should be the president. He should design the buildings his brother puts together. It was the beginning of that. They're like, my brother was so smart and my sister was such a hard worker. And then when I came, and that age was the beginning of like.
Starting point is 00:08:22 Yeah, Jake's also here. So that was the beginning of me going like, this doesn't work in the way I thought about it. Because fourth, fifth grade, you could hide. And I remember getting singled out and getting trouble in junior high that I ended up dropping out of high school when I was a sophomore for a year and kind of resetting and then going back and redoing that year. I dropped out in October of my sophomore year and then came back the following year.
Starting point is 00:08:51 Wow. But it was, junior high was the beginning of me going, like, and, you know, I think a lot of people see it with addiction later in life or a relationship that doesn't work. Yeah. Where you, there's a moment looking back that you're like, well, I mean, that was a pretty good telling moment. And for me, it wasn't in fifth grade. I got in trouble in fifth grade all the time. Who cared? When I got to junior high, certain things started happening that I was realizing, like,
Starting point is 00:09:22 Like, I'm not keeping up in this race. That year that you dropped out, what did you do? So my uncle Eddie had some legal trouble, so he was living with us. So I worked with him. We hung the neon signs. I, you know, I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was in, like, third or fourth grade, but it was a very different era of dyslexia. And so my family just kind of looked away from it and said the real cure for dyslexia stopped being so lazy.
Starting point is 00:09:52 So, you know, that year was the beginning of being like, let's start reviewing a thing that maybe there's another way. And then in that period, my mom said, you've got to do something. So I started like writing a play. And then in writing a play, which was just dialogue, I was like, well, there's something interesting about this. And so then I could get into reading by really just wanting to read things that were dialogue heavy, you know, any like plays and then screen plays. and then you could do more pros because you'd go like, I mean, it's just, you know, especially when you get to like a catcher in the rye
Starting point is 00:10:28 where you go, well, this is all just one monologue. Yeah. You're like, hell, I just, this guy thinks. This is just, so he's talking as opposed to being like, I can't wrap my head around any of this. So it was, that was the year of kind of rebuilding the foundation. That now, you know, I'm probably the smartest planet Earth. So somebody listening, he's like,
Starting point is 00:10:51 He started to rebuild it and he's still there. Congratulations. So just those years leading up to that, what sounds like the first time, you know, you were reading and writing that would lead to what you're doing now and what you're doing. Yeah, like the dropout year was, so junior high was the beginning of these other kids
Starting point is 00:11:13 seem to know things that I don't. You know, blank plus five equals whatever. You know, where you go, okay, so this is easy, to figure out, it was at that era, I remember a teacher talking, and honestly thinking, I don't know what this human being's asking. I don't even know what the question is. You're trying to get me to answer it in front
Starting point is 00:11:31 of the class. And so then you would look and other kids would raise their hand and be like, seven. And I'm like, how do you little brainiacs all know this? So, and just to be clear, you took a year off. Yes. And then you go back to the same grade? Is that right?
Starting point is 00:11:49 I go back. So then I went back to the grade I dropped out. So I ended up graduating a year younger than the kids I went to class with. To me five years to get through high school. Yeah. Essentially what happened was the I was, there was a book report that was due the following day. And at that point, I was getting mostly Ds. And it was early October. And I said to my mom, hey, I can't go to school tomorrow. And she said, why? And I said, I have an in-class essay on this book, and I haven't read it yet. And if I fail this, then I have an F. And she goes,
Starting point is 00:12:21 so are you going to read the book tonight? I said, no. She goes, are you going to read the book? Did you say it like that? Probably. No. No. She goes, you're going to read the book tomorrow? And I go, no. And she goes, when are you going to read the book? And I think I have, or at least
Starting point is 00:12:37 the story she tells in our memory is I said, I'm never going to read the fucking book. Wow. And so she said, so when are you going back to school? and the moment hit and I kind of I don't remember how the story goes either I said I'm not or she said you're not and then I just didn't go back and so there was not a big plan from either her point of view or mine we just knew what was happening wasn't working yeah and so that year just started slow I just the next day I just woke up and didn't do anything I think I feel like what you're describing of fifth sixth seventh grade that feeling of or when algebra started realizing like the teacher's asking a question and you have no idea what they're even asking and and all these other kids around you do that's very relatable I'm like I'm like oh man I should have taken a year off yeah also by the way these two are former teachers and administrators as part of well actually
Starting point is 00:13:44 Absolutely, yeah, so that happened to me. That's not their spirit. Yeah, you know, but they did have that. No, but I will tell you just a quick story. When I did start teaching, I taught fifth grade. And I remember that when we started math, I had, we had like split the class into different groups based on ability. And I was with like the higher ability kids. And there's one kid, Emmett, he taught that year for me.
Starting point is 00:14:11 I literally, I did not understand the math. And I would say, Emmett, could you show us how you solved this problem? And he would show us. And I'd like, hmm, any questions? Very good, Emmett. The second year I got it. Emett, can you show the class how I did my taxes by doing my taxes, you little brainiac? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:14:34 He must be. He's going far, Emmett. The second year, I caught up. But fifth grade is the, it's the beginning. Yeah, it's true. It's like, it's kind of, it's getting real. And then sixth grade, you go, like, all right, let's go. It feels like the more likely outcome of dropping out would have been to do, like,
Starting point is 00:14:51 vocational training, what inspired you to go back to school? I was raised by a single mother who expected a lot from us. We had, like, you know, she just had, like, was always driving. And this is not to take away from having, like, a skill set. I kind of wish I had one, you know, as apart from just doing what we do. But in that time off, she said, like, you have to do something. And creative was a big option in my house. My mother makes stained glass windows.
Starting point is 00:15:18 She always had kind of different gorgeous. But she always had like different junk shops we were growing up where she would like open up a store, sell what she was making, sell other things. So it just kind of felt like you've got to do something to fill these hours. And playwriting was honestly just the first thing that kind of popped up because it was dialogue heavy. And you could just crush pages.
Starting point is 00:15:43 is by having a character be like, what's up? Not much. And you? I don't know. All of a sudden, you're at half a page. And that counts.
Starting point is 00:15:50 You could say to your mom, like, I wrote seven pages a day. What's it about? Two Joe's in a park bench talk and who cares? If the dialogue is entertaining, you got, you know, a 10-page play. Had you had any exposure to the arts,
Starting point is 00:16:05 you know, in terms of performance art, maybe it was the written word, or sometimes it's music, sometimes it's, you know, I mean, comedy is obviously a huge part of your life. Was that ever was that on the horizon already or like you know you know it's hard because the idea of the arts and art for artists and other artists has never really attracted me and the idea of what we do as actors and writers in terms of it being an art form that's never felt like that's never felt like it was what it is in my bones entertainment feels very different and that feels like very
Starting point is 00:16:43 much in the bones, and that connected to when I was in fourth grade and a teacher would call me in front of the classroom to read something. And I know I can't read this because I can't pronounce the words correctly and people are going to laugh. My first thought was if I can get them laughing before I start reading, then I won. And so whatever that thing is, and then getting the group to laugh, and then if you can get the teacher to laugh, and then if you can get the teacher on your team, they're going to see that you're not doing this to be an asshole. You're just doing this to make them laugh. That seemed very natural and very fun. So going back to like, you know, with you guys as like fifth grade teachers or just you were a fifth grade teacher. But when I am now
Starting point is 00:17:27 around kids and, you know, I tried substitute teaching for a day in Brooklyn, I got fired. But when I see a kid who's, you got fired, substitute teachers, just go back to that. Day one, day one. I was asked by the principal to leave. We have to hear about that after. Not a joke. It was humiliating in front of the kids. Oh, geez. Mr. Johnson, thanks for coming.
Starting point is 00:17:49 Wow. Yeah. But you'll now see certain kids who have like a big personality they're trying to do something. I'm like, oh, you're covering for something. Something's cooking. But so that it wasn't the, it wasn't anything that besides, you know,
Starting point is 00:18:07 my brother did second city, Second City improv stuff in Chicago when we were growing up. Bill Murray lived, you know, in the town right next to me when I grew up. Balushi was a big character. We all studied. Second City was near us. So Tina Faye and Rachel Dredge were on main stage when I was in high school. Chris Farley was a name we all had heard of because you could go to the free improv shows
Starting point is 00:18:29 and watch these unthinkably funny actors for free while they were coming up. And then S&L would take them and then they would be in movies. But we could see them all for. free at a certain point so there was a path in my head there and we'll be right back all right so um let's just let's just let's just real talk as they say for a second that's a little bit of an aged thing to say now that that dates me doesn't it um but no real talk uh how important is your health to you know on like a one to ten and i don't mean the in the sense of vanity i mean in the sense of like You want your day to go well, right?
Starting point is 00:19:07 You want to be less stressed. You don't want it as sick. When you have responsibilities, I know myself. I'm a householder. I have two children and two more on the way. A spouse, a pet. You know, a job sometimes has its demands. So I really want to feel like when I'm not getting to sleep
Starting point is 00:19:26 and I'm not getting nutrition, when my eating's down, I want to know that I'm being held down some other way physically. You know, my family holds me down emotionally, spiritually. but I need something to hold me down physically, right? And so honestly, I turned to symbiotica, these vitamins and these beautiful little packets that they taste delicious. And I'm telling you, even before I started doing ads for these guys,
Starting point is 00:19:48 it was a product that I really, really liked and enjoyed and could see the differences with. The three that I use, I use the, what is it called, the liposomal vitamin C, and it tastes delicious, like really, really good. comes out in the packet. You put it right in your mouth. Some people don't do that. I do it. I think it tastes great. I use the liposomal glutathione as well in the morning. Really good for gut health. And although I don't need it, you know, anti-aging. And then I also use the magnesium L3 and 8, which is really good for, I think, mood and stress. I sometimes use it in the morning, sometimes use it at night. All three of these things taste incredible. Honestly, you don't even need to mix it with water. And yeah, I just couldn't recommend them highly. Enough. Do you want to try them out? Go to symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off plus free shipping. That's symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off plus free shipping. As the seasons change, it's the perfect time to learn something new. Whether you're getting back into a routine after summer or looking for a new challenge before the year ends, Rosetta Stone makes it easy to turn a few minutes a day into real language progress. Rosetta Stone is the trusted leader in the
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Starting point is 00:24:02 And Podcrush listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL memberships when they sign up today at IXL.com slash podcrushed. Visit IXL.com slash podcrushed to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Jake, you have a really interesting story about your mom and her intuition. Can you share that story with us? Yes. So the first time I told this was on a different pod.
Starting point is 00:24:30 didn't plan on telling it big, but that was a podcast where they were smoking a lot of pot in the room, per my request. They said they didn't have to, but I was trying to be like a good guest. And so I was definitely secondhand star. Yeah, right. I had no, like, no joke. I was trying to be cool, but I was like, fuck, man, like, who's got some chips? Because I'm actually hanging now. And the reason I set it up this way is that there were other people involved in this and other families, and by no means did I ever mean to say, no one wrote or there's no been backlash, but it was something
Starting point is 00:25:02 that didn't feel right for me. So there's no comment on another parent. So it's not to say, but it's just something that for me personally didn't feel right because it's a very personal family story. But when I was in fourth grade and it was a night we were like a spring sing type of thing
Starting point is 00:25:22 watching my brother and my sister do some version of a show. and out of nowhere, my mother turns to me and said, you're not going to school tomorrow. And, you know, I said, okay. And then I realized that the next day we were going on a field trip to a little Vietnam in the city. And I literally already had like a bag of candy and I was going to sit on the bus with my friends. And I'm like, fuck of all day.
Starting point is 00:25:51 And so I go, mom, please, please, let me go. I'm going on a field. trip and she says, when do you leave? And I said, as soon as we get to school, we leave. And she when do you come back? And I said, three o'clock. We're going to be gone all day. And she thought about it and then said, fine, you can go. So I got on the bus. We went to Vietnam, a little Vietnam. And while we were there, a woman entered our elementary school through the classroom that I would have, that I was in. And it was an empty classroom. And I had been getting in a lot of trouble. and so the teacher had separated me from the rest of the class
Starting point is 00:26:27 and my desk was near the door this person would have entered and the room was empty and she walked in and walked through the school she was not mentally right she walked into another class and shot seven students and so you know it was a really ugly brutal thing and again the reason I bring it up is that was crazy what my mom did
Starting point is 00:26:52 Yeah. And I don't get it. Yeah. And I have kids, and I don't have that. Now, I'm also going to say she's had a lot of instincts that were wrong. Yeah. Sure. So, you know, there was another thing that she did that, because when that story came out, it went a little viral, and then she commented, and she said, you forgot the other really big one.
Starting point is 00:27:15 And I was like, because that was just the story that I remembered from childhood. But there was another story where there was a kid who, um, had gotten involved with stealing credit cards and he had given me some and told me to go to like a game stop or whatever it was called back then and you buy games with your credit card then you go to another place and you sell them because it's a stolen credit card and then you just take all the cash and so a friend and I had had these like three freight credit cards and we were going to go and we took the bus to another town and we walked into whatever it was called then, you know, video game store, and I had a stack of video games, and my buddy
Starting point is 00:27:58 had a stack of video games, and we turned a corner, and my mother was there. It was not where we lived. Wow. And she said, you turned a corner, and you were white as a ghost, and we went, like, I go, I'm like, what are you doing here? And my mom goes, I don't know. And then she goes, what are you guys doing here? And I go, like, just looking at all these games.
Starting point is 00:28:22 And she goes, he's talking about it. And like, we didn't have a system. So she was like, what are you doing? And I'm like, Mom, nothing. Nothing. And she goes, what are you? And I was like, what are you doing? And so she goes, put the fucking games,
Starting point is 00:28:38 what are you talking about? And we left, we went back with home, she drove us home. As she tells that story, she was driving, and something in her said, go into that, pull into this mall, go. and she just blindly listened. What turned out, the kid who was doing it had got busted for selling weed, and the cops wanted him to do this
Starting point is 00:29:00 to bust like 10 other people. They were looking to do like a... It was a setup. It was a set of a ring. I was in a little ring. They wanted to like bust all these kids in the suburbs to then try to get to who was actually behind it all. Wow.
Starting point is 00:29:15 And so, like, whatever that is in my mom, and I've talked to her about it. She's like, I don't know, just something in my gut told me I should do this. What do you think that is? I don't know. You know, we always believe, you know, the movie I made self-reliance is all about listening to your instinct no matter what. Yeah. And the reason I wanted to make that movie was during the pandemic, you know, when news was getting subjective and everything was saying different stuff.
Starting point is 00:29:42 And we were all going down totally different trains of thoughts and everybody seemed to be right. And that has stopped. Oh, yes. Everybody, we now all have one of things. We've righted the ship. That's exactly right. Yes, we all listen to our Supreme Leader, no. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:59 But I did realize in that era that this was a brutal time to have, like, young kids starting life. Yeah. And I thought, like, if I'm going to make something, I want the point of it to be, listen to your instinct no matter what. If you walk into a room and you don't feel safe. If you're at a party, don't stay. you can go home make up some excuse but there's something in you that's telling you i'm not safe here tonight i feel like we all get conditioned to not listen to that and don't be weird and don't be crazy but i think it's okay to listen to that instinct and that was something i was very much raised
Starting point is 00:30:38 with and so that was kind of the core of that idea that even though all the facts are looking like you're fine relax if your gut's telling you something Probably a good idea to listen to it. We've talked about that on this show a lot. Like, I think we would, or I would call it the intuition, you know, something like that. But it's so much, so many times in our lives. And it really does, I think, start in middle school, like in the way that you have visceral memories of it, but that you are almost being trained by our culture or any given culture to deny that feeling.
Starting point is 00:31:14 Yes. Well, because it's embarrassing when it's wrong. Yeah. But it's okay. Yeah, those are lower stakes, yeah. Like my sister thinks she has my mom's thing, but she doesn't. So, like, she walks up to pregnant ladies all this time. Like, she did it's one of my best buddies, and she'll go like, congratulations.
Starting point is 00:31:34 And they'll go, like, thanks. And she'll go, like, you're having a little girl. And they're like, well, actually, they were told it's a boy. And she's like, no, honey, you're having a girl. And then when it's a boy, and I'm like, you were wrong. She'll be like, well, wrong. so everything in you told me it was a girl you got to follow it so like there's no
Starting point is 00:31:53 I'm not saying like as a betting person always bet on your instinct yeah I can't follow it the stories that we don't remember from childhood is the 5,000 times my mom was wrong and said like one of the things she was wrong about it she let me drop out of school
Starting point is 00:32:07 I don't know I'm just joking tomato because you're the most famous out of all your siblings Yeah, that's right. Are you just, is that clear? Unfortunately, no. My brother's Bill Gates.
Starting point is 00:32:24 Okay. He's doing it. He stayed at school. That's a big age gap. Yeah, yeah. I just get to that later. Yeah. Jake, we have some classic questions that we ask every guest before we move on to your career.
Starting point is 00:32:39 Can you tell us about a first love, first heartbreak in your life? Well, I don't, I wouldn't call it the first love, but. The first, and I think about it with my kids a lot, but my first, like, love sucks moment. Sure. Was there was this girl, Alex Kerkowicz, or something like that, some, like, unique name, last name. She moved to town and she was just smoking hot and so cool. And everybody, it was like, you know, it's like the traditional new kid moves to school. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:12 And everybody's in love with them. Mm-hmm. And I thought she and I were building towards something. And there was some party at her house that I was invited to. And I remember it because there is a movie The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston. There was some like famous song from it. I will always love you. I will always love you, of course.
Starting point is 00:33:35 And that was on at the party. Wow. And I remember being like, this is honestly like an out of body experience. And I was, like, going through the place looking for her. And I saw her in a basement room and the door was open. She was making out with this guy, Ben Dickerson or Dickinson. Was that really a same? Yes.
Starting point is 00:33:55 I could be getting the last name's room. But it was something like that. But he and I were very different. We weren't friends. We weren't the same. You know, like, you're like, there was a type. Yeah. I was like, oh, if she likes him, I have no fighting chance.
Starting point is 00:34:10 We are not, like, if you like that, you know. If I have a restaurant where I'm. I'm selling, you know, deli food, and you just said your favorite food is sushi. I'm screwed. And so I remember seeing that and then walking, but I thought the whole reason I was going to the party was this was a night between she and I. Yeah. And then I realized, like, oh, that whole thing that I thought was building was a sandcastle. Nothing.
Starting point is 00:34:39 She was actually building with him. I had a girl in college when I went to university. of Iowa, Marta McCormick, I believe that's her name, that we were kind of hanging out with. I thought we had this whole thing cooking. I used to write like all this stuff about her, this like weird play. I thought we had honestly thought we were building towards like a truly great romance. Yeah. And right before, I think it was like, you know, Thanksgiving break of that first year. It was like, before I go, what a wonderful evening we've had to And this whole thing, maybe we could at least solidify before the four days off.
Starting point is 00:35:21 Yeah. And the shock in her eyes of what? That's a terrible feeling. A terrible. And you're like, and then realizing really quickly being like, I think you misheard me. I said like this whole thing, like us saying goodbye right now, this wonderful friendship. This absolute misread. by neither of us
Starting point is 00:35:45 because this is clearly just two old friends saying goodbye but that whole thing you go like oh there was something building in my head but it honestly
Starting point is 00:35:55 wasn't there for you those where that was the Alex one was the first one of like oh shock and you better communicate this shit early on such a good lesson
Starting point is 00:36:05 did you feel like you took the lesson do you feel like you because lessons like this are the hardest to learn of life remember the other bullshit I was talking about following your instants
Starting point is 00:36:14 to her. You see how I'm giving opposite things here? This is the logic of somebody who drops out of high school. The other classic question we ask everyone is if they have an embarrassing memory from middle school or high school. Yeah, I was my buddy Kent Hjohn and I were riding bikes and there was another girl. This was maybe fourth or fifth grade. There was a girl named Kelly Fisher who had just moved to Atlanta and did the same thing. New girl accent.
Starting point is 00:36:43 Everybody was in love with her, myself included. And I had like a little 10-speed bike, and he had the, this was early days mountain bikes where the tires just got unfairly big. And we saw her, and we both looked, and his back tire hit my front tire, and his bike didn't even move. It was like a homer versus like a motorcycle. And I was a little fourth grader. I was one of those. I always held the class sign until I was about 15.
Starting point is 00:37:14 So I was a little guy. I mean, 45 pounds riding that bicycle, you know, very high voice, tiny little creature. And I hit this bike and flew forward and skitted my face on the ground and just laid there for a second. I was fine. But I knew Kelly was watching. And I thought, like, I'm going to have to get up. It's fine. And before I could get up, a car pulled up and a mom yells, little boy, are you okay?
Starting point is 00:37:41 I literally I jumped up and I'm like Fine, not a little boy Definitely a man A little man But definitely a man Who's bleeding from the chin Who's fine
Starting point is 00:37:56 Whose now's bike is destroyed Because of a better bike Definitely a man Not a little boy But it was the little boy From like a really sweet mother And like a little minivan I'm being like, oh, no, little boy, are you old gay?
Starting point is 00:38:13 You're so tiny. You must have broke rid and half little boy. Every instinct in me is just pick you up and nurse you back. Please, God, I'm a full man. I'm basically a soldier. It's as if a Navy SEAL just fell off this bike. I'm fine. It's funny how the term little boy at such a young age is emasculating for a little boy.
Starting point is 00:38:34 It's the worst. It is absolutely the worst. There's nothing you could say. to affect somebody when they have a bad guy when they're having a bad mom at worst. Is everything okay, little boy? Hold on, slow down, little boy. Are you okay?
Starting point is 00:38:50 Little boy, I'm 45 years old. A big guy. A big guy. That was one that the level of shame that just instantly hit my body and then getting up after and being like,
Starting point is 00:39:05 the fucking nerve. And there's nothing you can do is like a really sweet mom who was like, you're so into helping where you're like stop being so helpful it's like whatever the opposite
Starting point is 00:39:15 of a caring in some of these moms you're like you're so nice just cool just get out of here that's like Sophie's dad Sophie has that problem
Starting point is 00:39:22 with her parents she has a really really sweet family I was just telling them my dad is so gentle he's really sweet and it's become like a thing for pens
Starting point is 00:39:31 like a dog with a bone what's wrong with your dad being so gentle so he's just the kindest yeah he's lovely well now let's be honest I got a
Starting point is 00:39:40 question. What kind of man did you marry? He's also, he's also very sweet. I was just thinking like, I should probably stop doing this to David because it's like the adult version of a little boy. Sometimes I'll just, just to like twist the knife, I'll just be like, you're so fragile. You're so, okay. This marriage is ending. You're so fragile. You know, it's a thing with men that they, they can't really handle being sick.
Starting point is 00:40:10 I think this is this is wait wait I'm sorry Can't handle being what being sick you know like it's like a phenomenon There's like the man cold Where it's really you're not very sick But you act really sick Because you just can't handle it
Starting point is 00:40:26 Those are the situation I hear what you're saying We're just more sensitive with this stuff Yeah yeah yeah I don't know So here's where I am going to agree with you I don't know about sickness Because a lot of times with sickness
Starting point is 00:40:39 a lot of guys I know myself included just pushed through but what I will say is you're a real man will you thank you yeah not a little boy basically a Navy cell I'm not a little boy
Starting point is 00:40:48 tell that from one to another from one to another I can see it what's up real man what's up real man where we are very fragile is doctor's appointments
Starting point is 00:40:57 where they have to touch our body and or ever enter the body yes where there's been stuff my wife's complained about where I'm like that's true
Starting point is 00:41:07 like all they did was like push on your stomach, and I was like, I did not like it? Yes, it's so. And they're like, do you realize what I've gone through physically with, and I'll be like, I get it. But I felt very bad. They touched under here.
Starting point is 00:41:23 And they pushed on my lower stomach. It's like, you are a baby, let alone putting a finger in the ass. It's like, no, guys are very sensitive in that zone. Fragile. I've still never had that, at least with doctors, at least with doctors. Jake, you mentioned your podcast And I love your podcast I love we're here to help
Starting point is 00:41:45 And I made the mistake of listening to episode one last night While I was putting my baby to sleep And I was like, you know, AirPods in Have to be really quiet But I was just Every time you said I don't even remember the name Tup Tuk Something you're saying
Starting point is 00:42:02 The name of a character in this story It's a person you're trying to help I snort laugh. I will cry out several times. I will say, so to anybody listening, if you're going to start, start at the most recent and then go backwards. Okay. And the reason I'll say that is just because, as you guys know, too, like the shows, what I really like about podcasts and what's so nice about not dealing with, like, a studio and a network, is the shows are allowed to kind of change and evolve and grow. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:31 In a way that I don't get to do that if I'm doing TV or a movie. Yeah. Because you're selling a product, so then you just have to make that product. So I really like the Choose Your Own Adventure aspect of podcasts and how the thing can evolve and change. But the thing that's really keeping me invested in the show, I mean, Gareth Reynolds is my partner, and it's a 20-year friend. He's unthinkably funny stand-up, just a million one-liners. But the callers are so funny. Our whole premise of the show is we take live calls from people.
Starting point is 00:43:04 So Gareth and I don't know who's calling, but our producer, Kevin, has screened them. And they have to have a real problem that's real to them, but we're not therapists. So it's not like, should I get divorced? You know, it's stupid stuff. But it's very real to them. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:21 And so getting to do bits with, like, regular humans. Yeah. I'm like, these people are cracking me up. It's really special. I feel like we've tried when podcrack. to talk to listeners, but I think because the tone of our show is a little more, a little more like heartfelt, it just becomes, like, sad. Yes, totally.
Starting point is 00:43:45 Oh, God. Yes, we had that too, by the way. But I'm like, it, you're right, by the way. Was there ever any episodes that you got or callers you had where you just couldn't air them because it's just too serious? Yes. So what we didn't, so what I mean about the evolution of it, we now, I lead out with say it's got to be a stupid problem because people,
Starting point is 00:44:04 People would start and they would be like, hey, and we're like, how are you doing? You're on weird now. Well, can we help you have for a couple old radio guys from another era. Like, shoot, go ahead. And then stop talking, you little rat, go ahead. And then they would be like, I've been in a loveless marriage for nine years. And I don't know what to do. And then we'd be like, let me give you advice.
Starting point is 00:44:24 And you'd be like, I don't know. My partner, Gareth, has a cat. Like, we're. And so we would finish and he'd go like, I hope. helped that person and I was like I mean we didn't and it wasn't entertaining it was sad like I hope that human is okay but it's not for us and the Dungeons and Dragons Lady was the beginning like we like a call that like you know for example one woman dated her husband forever but before they got married and then they moved in together but they hadn't lived together until
Starting point is 00:44:56 marriage and then she said what's happening now is they live in a small place he wakes up and does his morning stretches after he takes a shower and he does it with no under paragon in their bedroom and she's seeing stuff she truly doesn't want to see and she has casually brought it up to him and his thought is
Starting point is 00:45:17 like this is what I've been doing this is what I do marriage but also like I have to stretch I don't have a lot of time and she's like to put underwear on that's what you're right that takes a lot of I wouldn't want to do that alone And so, but those will be the games of it.
Starting point is 00:45:40 So that when you say that, he has a thing he had said no, when she brought it up to him. So then on our show, we eventually bring him on too. Oh. But that idea of being able to like get in, as long as it's real to the callers, because we also don't air them when we realize they're just trying to do bits and be funny. Yeah. We're not doing a sketch. Do you get a lot of that?
Starting point is 00:45:59 We did at the beginning, but you can sniff it out pretty. fast. And once you sniff it out, you just go like, all right, thanks. Like, I don't want to waste time on it. The beauty is when somebody goes, I know this sounds stupid, but this is significant for me. A guy just called on the one we released yesterday or today or whatever day it is. This is with the Kiwi? No, this was a guy who really, what was the Kiwi one? But not a not the fruit, a New Zealander. He's, oh yeah, the Kiwi. Yeah, the Kiwi guys, incredible. He took a dump in the woods around his friends once,
Starting point is 00:46:38 and they don't let him live it down. So he said, like, what do we do? So Gareth pitch, take all your friends to the same woods, and then give him laxatives. In a bar, which it was, like, the thing that I was kind of odd at is, like, it was plausible. It was plausible. It was plausible. It was like, you take a few bars.
Starting point is 00:46:54 You maybe only put it in one or two. So only one, maybe two of the friends, has to take a shit in the woods. Exactly right. And then it's a, it's like, you know, I guess the point was that there would be plausible deniability. He's like, no, that wouldn't, that wouldn't hurt anybody. Yes, exactly right. And so then he could put it off on them and be like, oh, now you, you know.
Starting point is 00:47:14 That's exactly right. So, but it's fun. It's been, it's been way more fun than I expected. And, you know, I know this pen, but as an actor, what's really great about it at times is like, you sometimes get great material and you get to do it. But you're not in control of it. And when I did self-reliance. never and it's not your it's not you're in the nature of the job and if you try to control it you're a little difficult yeah yeah and you don't want to be that that's not what the game is
Starting point is 00:47:41 you don't want to take away from somebody else's vision it's true and it can't it really can't change that much once it's to you like you know the actors should like have a lot of notes it's like look i respect we're coming from with that at the same time like it's not going to change that yes but it's also really i've gotten really conflicted on that because i heard this like great thing for Ethan Hawke. He was doing some interview. I saw that popped up on my Instagram where he was talking about, like, to be a great author, it's okay to ask questions. Like, why would I walk here? Right? Why would I do this? But when you also get really into production, you go like, because it's lit for that. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I'll tell you why you can't spin in the middle of this, because we don't want to
Starting point is 00:48:23 spend 45 minutes lighting the other side of you. And you go like, and both sides of the argument really work for me and there's times we're on set you kind of get annoyed by one thing or the other or the idea is this for the art or is this for the audience is this for ourselves or is this for like why are we doing this weird thing that used to make a ton of sense but now we have so many different ways to make things that's true and what's nice about the podcast to me is that it's very simple it's like you're making it you have your base you're making it for them It's very clean, and for ours, the callers are the engine, and then it's our job to be around the engine. And I'm like, oh, I like how simple that is for at least my brain to wrap my thoughts around it.
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Starting point is 00:52:20 Learn more at Trynom.com slash Podcrush, spelled Try. N-O-M dot com slash podcrushed. August 2025 marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans forever. There have been many accounts of the storm's devastation and what it took to rebuild, but behind those headlines is another story, one that impacted the lives of thousands of children. Where the schools went is a new five-part podcast series about what happened to the city's schools after the Levy's broke and how it led to the most
Starting point is 00:52:55 radical education experiment in American history. Hosted by Ravi Gupta, a former school principal, where the schools went traces the decades of dysfunction before Katrina and how the high stakes decisions that followed transformed the city's school system. You'll hear from the voices of the people who lived it, from veteran educators who lost their jobs, to the idealists and outsiders who rushed in, to the students and families who lived through it all. Whether you're a parent and educator or someone who cares about how communities and public systems can work together. Where the schools went is a story you need to hear.
Starting point is 00:53:30 From the branch, in partnership with the 74 and Midas Touch, where the schools went is out now. Find it wherever you get your podcasts and start listening today. At the risk of being too earnest, I lived in China when New Girl was coming out. And I had moved there for a particular reason and I was very depressed. Before you start, why did you move to China in 2011? Yeah, I moved there in 2012, 2011, and I went there to teach English at a university. I had a master's degree in education, and it was at a time where you couldn't really get a job. There had been like a budget cut for schools, and you couldn't get a job if you had a master's, but no experience because I had to pay you more.
Starting point is 00:54:16 So they didn't want to pay inexperienced teachers more money. So basically I couldn't get a job as a teacher, which is what I had trained to do. and I had a cousin who lived in China who was like you'd get a job at an amazing university in China with your credentials like why don't you try? So I tried and I got a job at one of the top schools in China in Beijing and I had a
Starting point is 00:54:34 two year contract and I was like I'm going to see it through so one thing about me even if I'm miserable if I make a commitment I'll see it through so I saw the two years through that's why she's on this show just like celebrating for this contract to expire but I hated it it just wasn't I didn't hate China but like
Starting point is 00:54:50 for me there it didn't make sense It wasn't right. It wasn't right. I was instantly, like, from the moment I landed, I was like, oh, I made a mistake. Oh, no. And I was very depressed, like, one of the most severe depressions I've ever had. But New Girl, I had seen the first season, and then when I came to China, the second season came out. My opinion, second season, best season.
Starting point is 00:55:08 And truly, like, I agree with you, by the way. So good. Like, truly, I remember, like, one of the only moments of joy that I would have in a week was watching New Girl. So I feel like a very special bond to that show. That's awesome. I would look forward to it, and it was like, for 22 minutes, I was happy, and then I was depressed again. But anyway, so I'm very grateful to you for being part of that experience. No, so I appreciate that and do go off on a little tangent on it, which was going back to earlier when you said the arts, which kind of started the thing about the idea of the arts and why we do this.
Starting point is 00:55:40 I'm 45 years old, and I don't know how much longer I'm going to keep playing the game. As you age, you start seeing like your exit path. And what I've really kind of realized about this whole, like, dream that it's been this idea of. entertainment is that enough people have told me stories like that of the things that really meant something to them where you go like well that's really neat you know it started off as like a dream and then it became economic and then once you've like kind of made your money and put yourself in a certain spot in the game then you go like well why do I keep playing I don't want to be 55 years old on a red carpet I don't I don't want to wear a tuxedo and go to an event I don't want to do that now right
Starting point is 00:56:21 So I'm like, so what is the, like, so why play this game? And then there are certain people who will come up and go, I had just gone through, I lost my wife or my husband or my, this thing had happened. And you, this thing you did was unthinkably fun escapism for me. And I can't tell you how much it meant. And then I go back to my childhood and watching shows like the Wonder Years or Cheaters or Roseanne and my whole family sitting together and really being. happy and being like, for this 23 minutes, it's really great.
Starting point is 00:56:58 And as soon as it ends and you're back in your real world, you're like, just give me another episode. Yeah. Yeah. And so I don't, that's what I mean when I go like direct to audience and entertainer rather than the arts. Because whatever is giving people that thing in those moments, it feels like, well, that's what the core of this whole game is.
Starting point is 00:57:19 Is that where self-reliance came? from? No, that, no. So self-reliance, this new kind of thought is coming from a lot of times, like, doing the reaction to self-reants and talking to people about it and being like, you know, because we, I made that movie, we went to South by Southwest, Hulu came in aggressively and bought it. We had already sold. We were going to be Paramount International. And I had pushed to go to, um, uh, South by Southwest, honestly, just because I wanted to see it in front of a crowd. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I was like, I know it's going to be a streamer movie. And I passed. I don't want to premiere. I don't want a Hollywood night where, like, everybody in the movie and their managers go, like, wonderful stuff. And I for somebody who's got to wear a tie. And I'm like, I feel like a fake business person. I'm like, come on. Why are we in ties for, like, little photos?
Starting point is 00:58:07 And after Hulu bought it, everybody was really excited. But I genuinely was talking to people and reading early reviews and reading comments. And the issues people had with the movie, I thought were right. And I was like, oh, the third act does change in a way that isn't quite right. And so then I fought for more money. And MRC, the studio, which was unbelievable, said, like, yeah, let's spend it. So I was able to do reshoots and change it. Oh, really?
Starting point is 00:58:37 And then, yes. And so doing that whole process and being stuck in post for all that time doing it and figuring out was realizing I'm only now thinking about the audience for the first time And realizing if I do another product and I'm going to write a movie or a TV show and I'm going to try to care about it, I need to think about the audience not just as this thing, but as the person we're making this for. So that doesn't mean, in my opinion, change your intent or your passion or bend backwards for something you don't believe it. But if you're going to open up a restaurant, think about the customers. That's true. Now, don't cook something you don't love because everyone will see past that.
Starting point is 00:59:16 And that was the big kind of takeaway So hearing that story about China Yeah I love it I appreciate it Oh good, thank you I'm so bad I got to tell you Yeah
Starting point is 00:59:27 Yeah it's cool For me those shows were Battlestar Galactica And a podcast called Radio Lab So I gotta be honest Until I was about 27 Is that old I was? Yeah I think 26, 27
Starting point is 00:59:40 I had never had that experience with television And frankly didn't like television And I had been working in it for half my life over half my life. And so, yeah, but never, your, you're China, I totally get that. I totally get like having a low point, having this show, and just being like, I love that. Oh, you know. Penn, do you feel like you weren't into TV because you were, you were too much on the other side of it? Like you saw how to have a sausage got made. Yeah, that's why we're talking about this, right? Yes. Yes. Look, I've been working in, I mean, I was interested in art, but I was also interested in the entertainment
Starting point is 01:00:13 aspect. I mean, look, the reason I started doing it, which I bet you also love, Jake, is like the culture on set. Yeah. Being on a set is like one of the most fun places in the world of a certain, at a certain time. Like, you know, there's also an argument that they've historically been some of the least diverse places in the world, but they can also, but they can be culturally diverse because of the cast. You know, the crew might be predominantly male and white, but the cast is like something that, where, you know, you get people from all kinds of walks of life in a certain sense. And I loved it. All ages, all kinds of people. I also really love the thing I love most about it. And it depends on the set because, you know, it depends who's running it. If you have one bad
Starting point is 01:00:51 egotistical person at the top, it's really hard to enjoy the day. I had a producer, I had a producer wants to tell me when I was on a project that I really didn't enjoy. And it was early in my career and I thought like, I don't know how to avoid this. Because if I got myself here, How is this not going to happen again? And I didn't see any of the red flags. I didn't get it. And the producers said, when you think about a project, think about the director of it, close your eyes. Imagine their kind of essence, like who they are with their eyes closed.
Starting point is 01:01:29 And then imagine living in that for three months. Yeah. And they're like, if you're okay with that, then there's going to be other people, castmates, It's crude that you get close to, but that is the thing. Right. And so I've gotten very selective of whose energy I want to be in. And then when you're there, what's really nice about being on a set is, and you rarely have this in life. I have it with my wife with the kids, but that's about it.
Starting point is 01:01:56 You all have the same exact goal. Yeah, that's amazing. And you're like, every single person here, we can all do our bits in the morning. Our goal is to do these seven pages. From the cast, the crew to every, you're like, neat. And when you've done it as a group, when they go like, that's a wrap on the day and everybody's happy, we all accomplished our goal at the same time. We all have a lunch from our goal at the same. And you're like, oh, this is a really nice way to feel community.
Starting point is 01:02:31 It's true. Yeah, that's nice. That's what it was. It's really nice. That was kind of the first thing that drew me to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, it's, yeah, there's, and if you can enjoy it, like you're saying, throughout the day, I mean, it's fun. That's great.
Starting point is 01:02:44 And if you have, like, good, funny people and you guys all see, you're like, oh, it can just be a dream. I am ready to stop playing a serial killer for that reason. Because, because, I mean, I actually, I mean, you know, I do, I've, nothing but jokes because it's like, what am I going to do? Take this, take this guy seriously? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have to do that on camera. That's enough. Like, but it's, you know, you can only, you can only elevate that movie.
Starting point is 01:03:08 so much. I'm definitely looking forward to a show that is not just called you about me and one person like, you know, like, ah, you know. A little bit of lightness. A little bit of lightness.
Starting point is 01:03:20 Jake, if someone asked Anna Kendrick to close her eyes and think about your energy, how would she describe you? What do you think she would have said? I know with her it was very collaborative. So she's a director too and she was working
Starting point is 01:03:33 on her project or about to start hers. So So what was, and I've worked, I've known her for a long time. We did Drinking Buddies together a long time ago. And then Mike and Dave, some other movie in the middle, and we kind of kept in touch. So hers would be different because she did feel more like a partner in it. And we could talk about things. I could talk about things with her that I was experiencing that I couldn't with anybody else.
Starting point is 01:03:59 So we could like rehearse a scene and block it. And then the crew would be like, we need like 20 minutes. And we'd be like, all right, so we're good. And then we could go in another room. like, so I'll tell you what's really tricky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she's like, right. And I go, so you got to make sure your DP's good.
Starting point is 01:04:11 She's like, no, I know, I know. And like, it was a lot of that together. You mentioned a couple times in different stories writing a play at different points in your life when you were young, when you were 10th grade, when you were in college. And then you described one of the plays in the dialogue heavy, hey, what's up? Not much. And all I could think of was that, that, like, plot point in New Girl where Nick Miller writes a play. and it's like totally a stream of consciousness.
Starting point is 01:04:39 Wait, when does Nick write a play? Is it a novel? A novel? The book. Oh, yeah, the book. Oh, my God. Well, that's what I'm imagining you were in a blaze. But it just made me wonder, like, how much crossover do you think there is between the character?
Starting point is 01:04:53 I guess when you're on a show for that many years, there does end up being, like, storylines that are inspired by you, the real Jake Johnson. How much crossover do you think there is between the character and you? Well, I think it's hard. I think there's obviously, we improvised a ton on that. So, like, bits that I find really funny. Like, the truth is, that was the play that I wrote in, you know, when I dropped out. But then I went to NYU for playwriting and plays became everything for me.
Starting point is 01:05:20 And so, but those stories aren't that funny. Yeah. So, like, if we're talking about writing, like, I remember when we did the, the book was called Z's for Zombies that Nick wrote. And I remember the bit of it was, there, there were. all sitting on a bed and um i think it was me max and lemorn but they're all like something about they were like celebrating my character's book they were all reading different parts of the book and i purposefully because i didn't have any lines i don't think i was just reacting and they were going to shoot it in a group shop i didn't want to hear what the writers had come up with that were in nick's book so that it could be
Starting point is 01:05:57 you know equally funny for me so i remember one where they was like like like like lemore said like you spilled rhythm wrong, like 72 times. Give his book and each time is different. One was like, you've got a crossword puzzle that goes over three pages, man, and just have to sit there in the scenes and like nod back. Be like, definitely. You go like a dialogue and like, they're just saying hi over and over and being like, it's interesting stuff.
Starting point is 01:06:26 Humans are fascinating. Like the fun of that show and going back to what's fun about set is when everybody's in on the same game and everybody knows what's funny about each other person like Lamorne and I talk about a lot but one of the most fun parts of that show and what I miss the most is like
Starting point is 01:06:44 if Lamorne improvises something he's such a funny dude but a lot of times he hasn't thought in his head about the follow-up line he's almost editing the scene as a blackout right so he would go like because if you're going to do that kind of party
Starting point is 01:07:00 I'm going to have to take my shirt off thinking that's where the next commercial so all you do it is see him with Lamournys go like it's that kind of party man yeah and then he'll go like what's that you said if it's going to be that kind of party it is that kind of party and then you go someone take this shirt off and you go like well go ahead man because the cameras wouldn't cut you start creating a game that the characters don't think they're on a tv show but the actors sometimes are thinking they're on a TV show but the actors sometimes are thinking they're on a TV show.
Starting point is 01:07:33 And so, I don't know, that's the stuff that would get really fun where then I could see in LeMorne's eyes, him being half mad at me, not wanting to laugh. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, the writers start writing stuff and you would see like, oh, LeMorne's really funny when you put him in a corner, that he's acting really Alphistratus and then has to, like, weasel his way out. So you're doing that as a bit on set a lot. You're just trying, I'm trying to find more things that have that feeling.
Starting point is 01:08:00 Yeah. And so that that then gets into the show that you're like, oh, that is the fun of it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I would say there is overlap, but the overlap is actually more of the bits than the real people. Yeah. Like Max and I just talked the other day, and it doesn't feel like Schmidt and Nick and all. Right.
Starting point is 01:08:20 But if it's my birthday, every year on social media, he'll post, happy 50th, my man. Right. Just so that, like, if he does, like, the Mario Lopez show, he'll go like, he'll go like, what's going out with the neighborhood? He'll be like, I just want to celebrate my head, Jake Johnson's 50th birthday. And he's been doing that for like six years. And we're just doing those bits so that when we interact, we get to live in that space again. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah, it's fun.
Starting point is 01:08:53 I just want to ask about one other project, because I'm obsessed with Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse. I feel like some of the best animated movies of all time. They're shocking. And I was just curious, when you got the script for Into the Spider-Verse, I don't know what that whole process was, but did you have any conception of how incredible it was going to be? None. I mean, kind of. I knew, you know, Phil Lord, who I've worked with, I've known for a long time.
Starting point is 01:09:17 I think he and Chris Miller are some of the most talented people playing the game right now. And so Phil wrote to me years ago and said, I'm working on an animated idea. I would love you in it. I want to offer it, but the studio, you know, I'm not one of the names on a list that can just get it done. So would you be willing to do some dancing? It's going to be you, but you've got to do stuff. And my thought even from the beginning, without pre-even hearing Spider-Man, is if Phil Lord is excited about it, it's going to be good. If Phil and Chris are like, this is what we're doing, those guys don't really miss.
Starting point is 01:09:54 And so the material was then really interesting The recording was fun Shameek, I think is excellent as Miles We got to record together a lot So there was a lot that was feeling like Oh, this is great But then Shemke and I watched the first cut together In like the basement of Sony
Starting point is 01:10:11 I can't imagine And afterwards we were both like We could pretend that we knew But we just got to become fans And we're like visually this movie It's shocking It's spectacular No one has done anything
Starting point is 01:10:24 It's actually one of my favorite movies. It's one of my favorite movies. Just period without any kind of clarification. I don't like animated movies for the most part. And Penn was like, you have to watch into the Spider-verse. Oh, I was the one who told you about it? You were the one who told me about it, and I watched it because of you. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:10:39 And then, yeah, I'm obsessed. So good. So our final question, if you could go back to 12-year-old Jake, what would you say or do, if anything? I don't know if I would go back. I think 12-year-old me, that age is such a tricky time. There's so much going on. You know, there's like this sweet answer, but it's not accurate. My dad wasn't around until I was 18.
Starting point is 01:11:09 Then we got very close. We became best friends. He passed away. A very sweet answer is like, forgive your dad sooner. But, like, it's not real, especially not at 12. You know, I would like to say, like, hug all the people you love, but, like, I was still in the mix with everybody. buddy.
Starting point is 01:11:24 Right. Of course. So you're like, you're two in it, you know, and I don't want to do the, like the, it's going to be all right
Starting point is 01:11:30 because, you know, there's bumps. So, you know. So it's a bad question. You're right. You know what I'd maybe say?
Starting point is 01:11:39 Invest in Apple. Yeah. That's good. I'm not telling you goofy. That's fair. There's going to be a moment. Yeah. When computer,
Starting point is 01:11:47 because I remember when W. W.W. NBC.com happened. I remember watching on TV and thinking like, and I truly thought, I'll never
Starting point is 01:11:54 work. I was like, nobody is going to go from TV to a computer. And my mom was like, we are not getting a computer. And I'm like, nobody will. And being like, well, they're going down the wrong road. But what I would do is that's a great example of your mom not having her famous intuition. My mom and I know in WWW ain't going to work.
Starting point is 01:12:20 Go nowhere. No chance. And now we're all talking in different areas on microphone. Yeah. Now we cannot live with, yeah, without them. Yeah, that's amazing. Jake, thank you so much for coming on. It was a real place.
Starting point is 01:12:36 It was amazing. You guys. Yeah, congrats on the show, guys. You can listen to Jake Johnson's podcast. We're here to help anywhere you get your podcasts. And watch his new film Self-Reliance on Hulu. You can also follow him on the gram at Mr. Jake Johnson. Hold on, can we stop for one second?
Starting point is 01:13:02 I just, I noticed that I'm getting your Zoom audio guys, Sophia Nava. Oh, really? I'm not hearing your mics. So, but as long as your mics you're going, you're good. I think they are. I don't normally hear that. How about now? Hello?
Starting point is 01:13:16 Better? How about now? Now I'm hearing more of like that crystal clear level. But I just wasn't hearing before. Maybe it's because you were far or whatever There was a bright orange cable that I unplugged You just had to plug back in
Starting point is 01:13:30 So it's probably that Okay Yeah no it's now much better As a bedding man it was that You could take away The weird probably I came in here and for no reason I unplug this thing that said M-I-C
Starting point is 01:13:45 Of the two cables I have plugged one And then it sounded weird And then this tech person plugged it in now it works. It might be that. Don't know. This guy who's holding my baby.
Starting point is 01:13:58 That's the thing. We will be having a large marital fight about it later. Hey, babe. Could you not unplug the mic? You have one job. I'm going to tell you, it makes me look pretty bad.
Starting point is 01:14:13 You're not helping me here, honey, bunny. I'm also holding the goddamn baby here, honey. You're killing him. You're literally. he's right down the other room being like she's killing me she unplugged the mic then when i fixed it she goes it might have been that assuming if it wasn't that it's his ass yeah right

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