Podcrushed - Jake Johnson
Episode Date: April 24, 2024We 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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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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
It's just not a huge fan.
Conan sucks.
Roywood Jr.
Pshh.
Yeah.
Penn, how are you feeling today?
A little crestfallen.
Yeah.
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.
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
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.
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.
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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.
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?
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,
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
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.
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.
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,
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.
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
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,
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
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
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?
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,
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
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
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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
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.
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,
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
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
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I have two children and two more on the way.
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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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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,
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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?
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
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?
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.
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?
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,
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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
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
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.
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?
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,
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Stick around. We'll be right back.
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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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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?
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,
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
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.
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.
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?
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?
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
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
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.
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.
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