SmartLess - "Aubrey Plaza"

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Time for spaghetti and donuts; it’s Aubrey Plaza. Dancing, beams of sunshine, gum advocacy, and D. All Of The Above. We’re just [metaphorically] singing in the shower in the iso-booth but pretending not to be looking at ourselves in the mirror… on an all-new SmartLess. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, Shawnee. I was just thinking about, I'm just going, I'm getting really reminiscent of the old days. Yeah, tell me about it. Well, I was just thinking about back in the day, you used to be able to get $10 out of manufacture Hanover ATM. So I was so broke and I'd take $10 out. And then I could buy a pack of smokes. And I'd go to hot and crusty. And I could get a coffee and a Danish. And for $0.25, I could buy the New York Post. And then I'd go to the 87th Street entrance to the 86th Street station on the Upper West Side. And I'd wait for the subway doors.

to open. And then at the last second, I'd run and I'd hop the turnstile. Before they had the big thing, it was just a little turnstile. And I'd hop it so that I'd time it so I'd run in and beat the fare to get on the subway in case there was a transit cop there. You know what I mean? And then I could... Yeah, welcome to Smartless. Welcome to Smartless. I'm going to keep the gum very low. I'm just, I've turned it down to one. Oh. Oh, is this, is this a suppressant? Gum type of nicotine thing.

It's a medicinal gum. I just have a lot going on. Yeah, I know. I get it. And he needs it today, Sean. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Let's go easy.

You know what I mean? Don't they have like, they've got sprays now? Can't you just like spray your mouth? Do they really? Yeah, they've got like a nicotine spray. What do you mean? You just do a spray?

Yeah, and it's... Yeah, like Benaka. Remember Benaka? Benaka. Where Benaka goes? Yeah, Benaca. Benaca is still happening, I think. Is it really?

You know what makes your breath worse? I can't say, can we say the name? Those tabs, those mouthwash tabs. No, no, no, no, they do not. You mean the little sheets? Yeah, little tongue rubs. They make my breath worse. Yeah.

Really? Who said? Yeah. You, your mom? No, because I use those constantly. The little tongue wrap. No, I know. No, but for me, I don't know what they do.

They make my breath worse. Well, obviously, we know that your breath is much more about your gut. But, you know, the thing that J.B., it's about your gut. Yeah, it might be all the ground beef you have for breakfast. Yeah, it could be, yeah. You have spaghetti bullionies and a donut on the same plate. You're kind of headed to a road down the road of disaster.

But here's the thing I know about, J.B., that he hates more than just bad breath. He hates a heavy breath. Yes, that is true. Right, J.B? Something hot, warm, and, yeah. You know what he said to me? Like a blanket. We were on the golf court.

We were somewhere, and we were in like a golf cart together, and he goes, He turns me with the look of utter, just... Heavy-lid. Disgust on his face. And he goes, and he goes, I can smell your laundry detergent. But that smells good. It does.

But it was a funny thing to say. I must have been feeling a little extra grouchy that day. I know. Why am I naturally grouchy? What's wrong with me? You're not, though. I don't think I've... I'm not naturally grouchy.

grouchy i'm just not unnecessarily chipper giddy yeah i mean do you guys like well sometimes you are and they're just like and you can tell they're not really in that good of a mood that's it's almost like keeping you at arm's length by how happy they are hey hey how's it going go good to see you it's like no i want to bring you in with i'm not full of shit over here right i'm i'm i'm that's so funny how are you one of the one of the one of the many many presidents of NBC when Will and Grace is on the air. Have you guys heard of that show? Yes, yes.

Wait, Will, that's one I said that I want to try to see one of these days. Still not ringing a bell. I'm so sorry, it's still nothing. Wait, so one of the presidents came in, you know, one day and was like, something wrong with Sean to somebody? And they're like, no, he's fine. Like, what? What's wrong?

Well, it just wasn't chipper. And so it's like, you know, to your point, it's like you can't, some days you just don't want to, you just want to talk like a person. I know. Do you not want real today? I know. And that's the thing.

Yeah, I think that for the most part, we're pretty real with each other. We're pretty honest about where we're at. Yeah. Right? But I guess the difference is that you don't, you hope people sort of like, they won't drag their stuff into your meeting, your time together. Like, I'm accountable for my own stuff. I'll put it in a little drawer.

I'm not going to drag my bad mood around. But sometimes we record a lot. We make one of these a week. And sometimes life happens and you end up getting on, and we start recording, and you're in, you are where you are. And there's no.

I've, I had, God, I had somebody, I had a thing that came up on you. Are you ever going on that thing on threads? It's part of, it's kind of like, it's almost like, you know what it is, right? It's Instagram's Twitter, basically, in a way. Yeah, yeah. Meta.

And something, Somebody put my name in, and they were talking about the show, and they were like, oh, I hate hearing him tell his story. I didn't even, I was not looking for it. Like, I was like, thanks, meta. I was like, no, I didn't even, and it came up on me, I wanted to be like, thanks a lot. And then it was just like a litany of like, yeah,

I don't really like that guy. You know what? They're talking about you? Yeah, and they're like, and I hate hearing his stories. I don't even listen anymore, and I hate that guy. And you couldn't stop reading. And by the way, you can't, how can you? And literally came up in my thing.

And so much of it was so unbelievably mean-spirited in this way that I was like, whoa, I don't know you. But we talk about this. It seems like a real douchebag. I'm like, wait a second. What did I do? Yeah, but that's not about you. That's about that. Didn't you want to chime in, Willie?

Mm-hmm. I did. This gal said something like, he seems like, like, what did he say? He looks like, he looks like a perpetual ex-husband or ex-husband or something like that. I was like, hey, fucking. I'm doing my boyfriend. best over here. Thanks a lot. It looks like an ex.

You know what I mean? And it was so like, it was so weird. And then the mean-spirited comments after were so rude. I was like, I kind of wanted to go like, hey, I'm a human, I can hear this. You want to just like drop your phone number and say, you know what? Just call me.

Just call me. And let's talk this through. Let's talk this through. What did I do? It would be kind of fun. Why don't we bring somebody on that hates us once a week? Listen, you'd have no. Evidently. I have no, there's no shortage of people who would love to chime in about. Like a book itself, a waiting list.

By the way, what they think I am, which is amazing. Anyway, God, guys. You two are two beams of sunshine. And you know what a third beam of sunshine is? Uh-oh. Guys. Yeah. Uh-oh.

Today we've got a guest who's a real kick. Okay, this gal pal of ours is about as funny as they come. as dry as burnt toast. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She's been nominated for heaps of awards. She's won plenty of them as well. She's a producer and an actor.

Most important, she's one of our friends. You guys, please welcome Miss Aubrey Plaza. Oh, get it out here. Oh, Brie Plaza. It's me. Oh, God. Aubrey. Oh, man.

I need you all. I hate you all. Will, do you remember when she was your girlfriend and she was also my daughter at the same time? Yes. What? See, I thought you were both playing pedophiles in that. Wait a second. What are you talking about?

Oh, you're the one who's been commenting online about me. We did a digital short for, what was it? Oh, that. Orbits? No, no, orbit gum. Orbitz was a travel site. Oh, yeah. Orbit gum.

Orbit gum. Orbit gum, yes, thank you. That was a commercial? Yeah. It was a, yeah, it was like a... Aubrey. A digital ad. You were not compensated fairly?

I honestly, the only thing I remembered was I thought you were both pedophiles and one of you was my dad. Wow. That's all I remember. I was the dad in the pedophile glasses. And then Will showed up, Will showed up as the too old to be dating my daughter guy. Yeah. And... Oh, right.

We were dating. It was really funny. And then what role did the gum play? The gum, I put in a stick of gum and then all of a sudden you seemed like a good choice for my daughter, right? Wasn't that kind of the bit? I don't remember.

Was that on television? I don't remember the script. It was on the computer. You were fantastic, Aubrey. I do remember. I did that happen. I don't remember anything. Well, I remember you came to us with the idea.

You were like, how can we get gum going again? I think is what you said. Oh, yeah, that sounds like me. Gums been a card. You've always been. been a big advocate for gum. I've got a friend that doesn't chew gum because he doesn't understand

why you chew something and not swallow it. Like he just literally doesn't understand the concept of it. Is that kind of like, if you think about it, it kind of makes sense. I feel that way about dancing. I don't understand why you just kind of just move your body

and the rhythm of the sound you're hearing. It's like, why are we doing this? That's a really tough... No, I understand. I'm not proud of it. It just... It just... It just...

It feels good. It feels good when you connect. It feels good when you connect a part of your body at the same time the music is doing it. Aubrey Plaza is on our show, guys. What is going on? This is insane. Aubrey.

I want to get down. What makes you tick? Obviously, I know that, so I'm not going to get into that. I know what makes you tick. It's gum. It's gum. It's been a minute. I went up trying to think.

Yeah, how are you? I saw you last summer, I feel like. I saw you over the summer, yeah. Yeah. I saw you. Where were we? We were out. East as we say.

Okay. Oh, on Long Island. At East, yeah. Which I'm always corrected because I always say up. Up East? I'm going upstate or up, whatever. You know who does that too?

Who does that incessantly is polar? Yeah. She says up. She says up for everything. I think you need to be two hours north of Manhattan to be upstate. Up. I don't know.

I just don't know the, I'm learning about the Long Island. It goes the other way. Well, it does go east, but it does go kind of north too. It is kind of angled, so you're not... Aubrey Plaza's on the show today, everybody. Hey, welcome, Aubrey.

Sean, do you want to start with a little... Sure, she knows that you know I adore you. I run into it at the gym sometimes. Sean, I was at your opening. I forgot to text you. Wait a second. You were? We were at the opening of the opening.

Oh, my God, Jason wants to know about this. Okay, walk us through. I was there. Wait, we were the opening when the lights went out. Yes, I was. Yeah. That was really. So we weren't at the opening.

When were we there, Sean? You were the day after. The day after. Wait, so, Aubrey. You handled that great, by the way. You were awesome. Thanks. Thank you.

Really? You went to Aubrey. You went to the show. You went to the show. Yeah. And you enjoyed it. And Sean was great. And then you did not go back and say hi to him.

Oh, here we go. No, I bolted the minute it was ever. Jason, thoughts. Okay. I understand that. Nobody wants to talk after. No, they don't. Well, Sean does.

Well, Sean does. And then he wants to take a picture in the elevator. Oh, no. Yeah. Not me. Jesus Christ. The photo. book you could make in the elevator.

What's going on? I leave while people are standing. Scotty takes all those photos. I know he does bless him. Now, Aubrey, you're a theater gal. You've done your runs at, what is it, ATC, and a couple other hot spots I've seen on the Wikipedia page. It's so insinuating when you say it like that. I've done.

I'm two plays. I know. Well, it's two more than I've done. I'm very jealous. But you're so you're more seasoned than I am. So you might have a take on this. I have heard that it is polite. Oh, here we go.

Polite and industry norm to if you're famous and the person in the play is famous, well, then you kind of have to go backstage and say, hi, I'm famous, you're famous and enjoyed your show. And if you don't, then that is you're effectively saying I didn't like the piece. No. This is what I hear. Well, not at the opening. Everybody was there. Very impolite.

Not at the opening, though, right? The opening is it. There's just too many people there. It doesn't matter either way to me, honestly. Swear to God. I know, but I guess one... Anna Wintour was there. Wow.

Anna Winter, and she emailed me after. Anna, really? It's so nice. I really did mean to email you. You were great. I really mean, I meant to. Is it Winter or Winter? Winter, I think.

Because it's T-O-U-R. Anna Winter? I don't know. Aubrey, I remember the... I said this to you before many times and I know we've run into each other a million times and I love you. Is the first time I met you,

which is I'm... It was in Amy Poller's Traylor's trailer. I was on the set of Parks and Rec, and the whole cast is in there. Amy lives in a trailer? Yeah. And you were sitting there with Aziz and Amy and just tons of other, like people on the crew, other people. Sounds like a pack trailer. It was. There was lots of people in there. And I said, I looked to you and I go, what do you do on the show? Do you, are you working the crew? You said, I'm on the show. Really? I don't remember that. That's okay. I felt so bad and I emailed you a long email after.

You felt bad enough that you wanted to bring it up again today? Yeah, yeah. I thought we met at the gym. Remember what I insulted you? And then we met at the gym. What did she?

Did she strike you as a as a P.A? No, you were the quietest one. Like you didn't say anything in the trailer. So I didn't know what was going on. I didn't even realize I was on a television show for like two seasons. I do believe it. I do believe that.

Yeah. Now, so let's go, let's stay with Parks and Rec. Is it true? Wiki says that you talked Mike Scher and Greg Daniels into changing the part to be a little bit more how it became how it is how it became it wasn't originally that true untrue what do you mean like as the show went on no no like when you went in there and you first met with them you were like the part was written a certain way and you were like yeah but wouldn't it be funny if it was this I don't well I don't think they had technically written it yet but I remember I went in for like a

general meeting and I had no and I really didn't have any idea how much like weight was on that meeting because I was I didn't have an agent. Alison Jones sets you up with that general. Allison Jones. I came out because I was screen testing for Judd Apatow's movie. And that was huge for me because I was like plucked out of nowhere. And then I was in LA for a week and I hadn't really been to L.A. So Allison was like, do you mind if I just send you on a couple other meetings? And I was like, isn't your agent supposed to do that? Sure lady. I didn't have an agent. What a nice lady she is. Wait, wait, Plaza, what were you...

I didn't have an agent. What were you doing? Where were you... Where did she pluck you from and how? UCB? She found me at a whore house. Don't.

Don't. What's the problem? What? Plus, it's hard out there. No, don't say that, Plaza. I was at Howard Beach, Queens in a whore house. Oh, my God.

Googling. Googling. I was... I was... I was... was doing UCB shows and I was it was I don't know actually she I think it was yeah it was I was doing UCB and and and Judd was doing like a very wide casting call because he wanted to cast an unknown comedian to play this part and so I made it up the ranks like um like sending my videos in and

stuff and then I made it and then I kind of like made Allison saw my tape I somehow got a tape to her with the scene and then yeah so then it was like I made it all the levels to the point where they were like and now you're gonna come to LA and do screen tests

yeah and were you like on did you have like your own sketch group at UCB or yeah I was like I was in a sketch group called That's My Booze Who were your contemporaries

at that time did any Because I remember You were a little after I wasn't hanging around UCB as much of them But it was like, because I remember Aziz and those guys and Riggle and cheered those guys back in those days when they were all there. Yeah, like Aziz, Aziz and I were kind of in the same class, but Aziz wasn't really doing like improv so much.

But he would be in the sketch, you know, part of it. And then like, you know, it was like Kroll and Manzukas and Pali and Zach Woods and Lennon Parham and all those guys like were kind of above me. Yeah. like Anthony King and Kate Spencer and Joe Wengert and Chris Getherd and I could go on. But they were kind of like seniors when I was like a freshman. Yeah. But I was kind of young and I was friends with them and I was like dating Joe Wengert at the time who was kind of running the school.

Yeah. There's a fly sign. I know. Now it's over here. It's anxiety. I have to move my arms like this. Were you? Were you, would you go to like Askat on Sunday nights

or at least watch or? Yeah. Sketch shows. These are all sketch shows. Yeah, I mean when I was, yeah, I would watch. I would stand in the back. I would see Ascad. Did I ever meet you back then, like back before we became friends?

We'd never talk about this. No, you're kidding. No, don't say that like that. Don't say like that. I'm sure we met. I don't remember anything. Do you miss sketch comedy? Everyone was drunk in those days.

That's true. Yeah, I love, I miss sketch comedy. I would love to do like a... It's still happening, you know, you guys. It's still going on. Where? Yeah, no, you can find it. By the way, where?

Does you... UCB's still going, yes? Hello? Yeah. I don't... Guys, anybody can answer this. It's changed, right? It's going.

I think it was gone. Like, somebody bought it or when it went or something, and now it's back. It's a very different... Yes, it's back. But it's a different... I do feel very removed from... Because I was real, I never did even UCB in L.A. Like, UCB, L.A. to me was like, what?

This isn't. Right, right. Anything. You were. Only New York. You were up on 8th Avenue. I was in that, Chrysides' basement. Yeah, in the Christi's basement.

Yeah. And we will be right back. And now, back to the show. All right. So then, upright Citizens Brigade for Tracy and the rest who don't, that, that is an improv sketch place. You go. and you yell a sort of a prompt to the talented folks on stage. That was Ascat.

That was the one show when they would do like a herald. That's one type of it. It was a place that was created by Amy Poehler and by Matt Walsh and Matt Besser and Ian Roberts. Right. And they came from Chicago and they created this thing. They were a sketch group by Partisan Brigade, and then they created this whole theater and school and stuff

in New York back in the day. Like Second City. And they would do those heralds. Like you said Sunday nights, they do Ascats, Jason, which you went to many times. I was on a Herald team. That's how, that was the thing. You wanted to be on a Herald team.

That was the main. And a Herald was that, where you have a suggestion, and then you kind of bring everything back, and you're kind of telling a long-form improv. Go ahead, Jason. But yes, so. My explanation was a tenth of how long yours was gonna be. No, no, mine was gonna actually be one of the rare Jason's short things.

I was going to get to, this is a place where you go where there is no pre-written and pre-written dialogue. Yes. then Aubrey Plaza went on to start your acting career, yes, with the scripted stuff. And how did you find that? How did you find that transition where you have to now, instead of making up what you say, follow what is already pre-written, the typical actor journey? I mean, I always, that's what I, I love movies. I'm like a movie person, real. I mean, I'm a, I love comedy and improv, but I, for me it was always like

how do I get to the movies part like that was always and what was it what was the first what was the first stuff were you doing some of that scripted stuff while you were while you were also playing around over there

I mean I tried I was like you know auditioning for whatever I could when I was doing comedy stuff but but it really didn't start to you came out here at L.A.? Yeah I mean I really truly did have like a big break moment like the with Parks and Rec.

Funny people. Funny people was technically first. Oh, funny people. You know, I've told the story. So then you got that Judd's screen test. You got it. Yeah, so basically, like, I went out to L.A. for one week, and I got, I booked funny people, Parks and Rec and Scott Pilgrim versus the world in one week. Boom.

Oh, my God. Wow. That's crazy. Bada bang. And it was like, what? Did Allison cast Scott Bildham, too? What? Did Allison Cascott Pilgrim too?

Yeah, she sent me on all those meetings. And the Parks and Rec meeting, not to backtrack, was like they hadn't written the script yet. And Mike and Scher and Greg Daniels were in the room. And I just went into Mike's office. And I was just having a casual conversation with him. And he just kind of said like, you know what else you booked that week? Michael Sarah.

Let's talk about Michael Sarah. Wait, what? She's got pilgrim, you mean? Wait, but didn't she guys, you guys dated for a while, right? Didn't you guys date for a while, right? You guys date for a while? Yeah. But this was news to me when I was reading Wikipedia this morning.

Well, he's our baby writing. He was my son. And you were my daughter at one point. Sure, sure, sure. You know, so it was like, oh, well, that's kind of like your dad's. Booked and bagged him, real good. Booked and bagged. Well, we found our first cut.

There we go. We found our first thing that we went. No, I'm kidding. But Wiki said it was 18 months. That's a significant relationship. That's a good thing, right? Wow. That was a long time ago.

We were going to get married for a second. And we're still very good friends. I love him so much. We almost got married. We drove across the country together eating a bag of edibles. Edibles. Crums of edibles. And we drove to Vegas with the plan to get married and then get divorced right away

so we could call each other our ex-wife and ex-husband forever because we thought that would be a really good bit. That's a great bit. Yeah, that is a good bit. But then I think it was a combination of being too high and paranoid. And then at that time, he was just very, very famous at that time. He, like, really, if you remember, like, when Nick and Nora and all that stuff came out, he was super bad.

He was so recognizable that, like, we won. I feel like we got in line at the county office or something. And then everyone started running, and we ran. So that's kind of all I remember what happened Wow, the fame saved you Yeah He was too The rare case

I'm pretty sure that's how it went down Yeah, we bailed But Now what What I'm gonna stay I'm gonna stay in Again what the great great

Wikipedia has laid out for me here Going in chronological order And I'm sorry if this is a We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to but it is, I think you've talked about it before. There was, at that time, you had a rare stroke that a young person? Why rare for a young person? I did.

I had one at, I was 20, so it was before them. But it was when I was in New York, yeah. I was doing, yeah, I was doing UCB comedy stuff. I was in college. You've got Sean's attention. Sean, Sean's running from a stroke every day. Oh, you didn't know? Yeah.

No, I didn't know that. Tell me, wait, how did you, how did it, like, how did it happen? And what did you feel? It happened like truly in mid-sentence out of nowhere. It's a horrifying story. You just start flooring your words? It's a horrifying story. I had taken my sister to a Hillary Duff concert the night before.

Sure. And you know how that goes. And then I was having lunch in Queens. I took the subway. I was feeling normal. I had my coat on still. I walked into my friend's apartment in Astoria to have lunch. them and I was telling them about the Hillary Duff concert and I said like Hillary Duff and then I stroked out and I kind of the first thing that happened was like my right arm was numb and I looked down and I was confused. I wasn't slurring but I was looking at my arm like that's not my arm it wasn't even numb it was just not connected to my body and then wow then I kind of blacked out for like a second and then I came to could move my arms but I could

speak because the blood clot was in my language center. Oh my gosh. So it was like not even slurring, it was just like not talking. Not talking. But I could understand everything that was happening. And how does somebody at 20 years old get a blood clot or get a heart attack or whatever or stroke? I don't know. It's a, honestly, it's a mystery. I think it was birth control or the tricyclin.

That was the only thing I was putting in my body. Like I wasn't on drugs or, you know, doing anything weird. weird so it was a real fluke like and even to this day like I still have to you know whenever I go the doctors I have to fill out like my history and right I've seen I've seen top neurologists I've been tested for you know all the blood disorders and clotting disorders and everything and it's just like I really think it it must have been birth control because they have that on the label so then what did they were you were you fine right then or did they take you to the hospital like how do they fix i was not fine because i wasn't i wasn't i wasn't talking and so

my friends were like first of course thought i was doing a bit and they were like stop it um and then they realized like something's wrong and so the paramedics came and sorry are you lucid at this point like are you aware like this is happening to you like it's a really weird thing when you have a stroke i've read books about it um and it's it's across the board really similar experience that people have, you know what's happening. And your brain, there's, it really makes you understand that there's your brain and then there's something else going on, which is very profound to think about, because I was, whatever that other thing is, was watching my brain malfunction. And so I was, me was aware that my brain wasn't working right. So it's this really fucked up thing where you're

like, wait a minute. Like my consciousness is, operating on another level. And so people would talk to me and I would know how to respond to them. I would know the answer, but I could not get it through the pathways of my brain out of my mouth. Wow.

Wow. So frightening. Did you, after that experience, did it give you a sort of a different sense on, I don't know how to say, like spirituality? Did you feel like a, do you have? Yeah. As you said, because you're sort of conscious

or whatever this other thing that's operating, Yeah, did it change your view of like... Did it change the way that you look at stuff and look at spirituality and stuff like that? Yeah, 100, like 100 million percent. Like I definitely... Honda P. Hondo P just felt like, all right, well, if that's true,

then like something bigger is... Something bigger is going... I am very fascinated with that. Yeah, I am too now. Well, so when I say, I guess it did change, but were you... I don't know. Sounds like such a sort of sweeping quote.

Were you a spiritual person before? But did you have, what were your thoughts on that kind of stuff before? Well, I grew up really, I grew up Catholic. I grew up very Catholic. I was, I went to all girls, you know, I went to all girls Catholic school my whole life. And so, you know, my spirituality was like very wrapped up in like saints and God and Jesus and, you know, and things like that.

But, but I would say that I've always, I feel like I've always had been. a spiritual person. You know, now I've shifted into more the dark arts, you know. Oh. Paganism. And, yeah. Okay.

You're like, by the way, can I get a sample of your guys' blood after this? Then she goes, don't bother, I've already got it. I've already got it. It's my schick. The whole witch thing. But no, I am.

And I think I did really stop, at least for some time, for some time, like, sweating the small stuff a little bit. Like I felt, I did have a, I did really feel like, wow, A, the trauma of something like that happening so out of nowhere changes the way your brain is because you're like, well, okay, if that can happen like that, then the fuck else can happen and what's the point of, you know. Right, you're not walking around thinking like that can happen like today, are you? Not anymore, but I was after that. I was very like PTSD.

Did it make you less cynical, do you think? I think, yeah, I think so. Yeah. I feel like I would that... Contrary to popular. That might straighten you out, Will. No, I don't think that you're cynical at all. I don't.

So, but you would never take birth control whatever that thing is now, right? I probably wouldn't. I mean, that was the one... For Aubrey. But if that was the one thing that you could kind of point to... Well...

Um... There's a baby inside of me. What's that? Hold. Hold. Wait, wait. Wait, wait. Wait, what did you say?

What did you say? No, I said there is a baby inside of me right now. Is that a true story? Is that true? Yeah, that's true. What? Wait, serious, that's amazing. That's so good.

Oh, thanks. That's very exciting. I know it's shocking, isn't it? That's really cool. That's really cool. Is this baby number one? Yes. That's right.

Number one. How exciting, Aubrey. I'll just say this. I went, today was a big day. I went to the doctors today. And my dog is also one to the doctors. Also pregnant? My dog's getting a scan right now.

I got a scan earlier. I'm not kidding. Frankie's getting an ultrasound on her stomach. She'll be back. When is she back? Two o'clock, we'll find out. I think she's okay. She had to get an ultrasound on her stomach.

And then I got an ultrasound on my stomach and there is a baby in there. That's amazing. That's so exciting. I'm so excited. I'm happy for you. Yeah. And it already has like a cloak and a little hat.

No. I think it's going to come out. But let me ask you something. If the ultrasound was, if you got the ultrasound out at the vet, I would recommend that you go. No, no, no, Jason. No, we did, I did accidentally go to the vet first,

but then that's why I was late. Aubrey, I'm so happy for you. I just think, you know that. I just think that you're such a great person. And I'm just loving you so much. I'm really, really, really happy for you. Yep. I'm really, really, really happy for you.

awesome. You've always got, you're so funny and you're so, just such a great person. Yeah, aren't you excited about being a mom? I mean,

you're going to be great. I am, yeah. I've always wanted, I've always wanted, I've always wanted to see what that's all about, you know. It just seems so interesting. That whole thing. Oh, how incredible.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Congratulations. It's all great news. It's very, very thrilling. Aubrey, you've been so busy, too. I mean, you... Are you working right now? First of all, I was realizing last year,

I want to talk about this because I don't think it got enough. And you and I talked about it last year. I watched your movie, Emily, the Criminal. And I know it's long gone and whatever. I thought that was such a great movie. Your performance in that was so, so good, Plaza. I mean, really, I don't know if you guys saw it. What an awesome movie and what a great performance.

All I know is every time I see you in any... I didn't see that particular one, but every time I see you in anything, I'm always stunned by how... how confident you are in being still. I just find it is it's such a, it's so, it's so, I don't know, it's not attractive or infectious is not the word I'm looking for.

As an audience member, I'm just, I'm drawn in and I can't stop watching somebody who's so comfortable not helping me as an audience member knowing what's going on inside your head. You know, like I lean forward. And being able to do that, J.B., like in a, in a drama where you have to be very sort of vulnerable, very real, and then being able to,

and also do it in comedy, you have so, you have such facility with all of it, and I think it's really impressive. Yeah, so subtle, it's really... I just, I hope people go back and re-watch that and then continue to watch the newer stuff, but I wanted to say that, because you know how much I love that movie. Thank you for saying that. I love that movie.

That was such a baby of mine, that film. I'm so proud of it. Like, I just want... The script was so good, and I was like, as a producer, you know, just like, if we could just, it really taught me that it is always the fucking script. It's like, it is this fucking script. I'm like, if we shoot the script, exactly how it's written, the movie is going to be good.

And it was, we didn't compromise. And that was what I was so proud of. We really didn't compromise the script. And then the movie turned out great. And obviously so many other things have to happen to make, you know, to make that happen. But it taught me that. Where did your, where did your, where did your taste for, what your particular style, where did that come from?

Was one of your parents particularly dry? Was there an actor or an actress that you really admired coming up? I don't know. I don't know. I don't even think, I mean, I don't even know. It's hard for me to really have perspective on that at all because I feel like the deadpan. Maybe I've, maybe that's how I wasn't really always,

like that growing like that wasn't like really my thing but then i think that the things that i got cast in first like character wise uh for me like i'm not saying like oh i'm a method actor but like i do think that like i capitalized on this persona early on because the funny people role was really based on you know and and i know it wasn't officially said but i'm pretty sure that it was based on jean Garofalo and so and I kind of knew that and I studied her and her stand-up. Right. Also incredibly dry and hilarious. Right and she was like, you know, she's such a hero of mine like loved watching her and then the Parks and Rec character was also kind of born out of that same. There was a lot of stuff that there was a zone there that I was like, I couldn't do that.

Are you ever, are you ever, do you ever allow yourself to think somewhat strategically about well maybe I should play a part that shows that I can do all the other side of the spectrum as well. I mean, is that, do you, are you one of those actors that considers that kind of thing? I mean, I think I think when I was on parks

definitely because I was always like, get me out of this zone. I got to show people what I can do. You know, so I was always like, you know, dirty grandpa was an example where I was like, get me that fucking part. Like, that has nothing to do with it.

but now I'm more just like I just want to be I just honestly just want to be in something good I don't even care it's not even about oh I want to blow everyone away with my performance but I want to be in movies that people remember watch more than once

that don't just float away into the ether that is like that never happened and the producing effort is in that direction yeah is it to sort of like start to like cook your own food, right?

And as opposed to just react to the phone ringing. Yeah, I mean, I'm still an actor. Like, I'm still like, why is no one calling me? Like, yeah. Where am I? I'm not hard to believe. Right, right, right. Right, right.

No, no, no, no, I get a lot of, I get a lot of, I'm in a very good, I'm very grateful for my, you know, position, whatever. I get off from things, of course. But like, I still have that, like, actor thing where I'm like, yeah. But producing, I think was. at first very much about like all right well if i'm not going to get you know offered parts that i really want then i'll just fucking do it myself um right but now it's more but then i really but i really i went to film school you know i studied film at n yu i studied directing and

producing and i i truly love the craft of filmmaking like i really love movies so like it all is it's also has nothing to do with acting and it's really about just start you know making something from the very beginning to the very end and seeing it through and being like, you know, how can I make a great film? Did you have a favorite movie this year? The Oscars was like a month ago. You know, did you love any of those? This year was really tough for me. I just could not get into any of it. I will say, and I don't understand why Eddington just got, why everyone's pretending that movie didn't happen. I love that movie. That movie is fucking great and I don't want to hear it.

Yeah. That movie's great. Incredible. I don't know what everyone's... I love that movie too. What the hell was that? Amazing. Where did that go? I don't understand.

Apparently like it wasn't embraced at Cannes where it premiered. Whatever. No divisive filmmakers. Em-gasser. Yeah, that was a stunning movie. I thought that was incredible. In certain regard this, motherfucker. I'm sitting on a really stupid pun that it's too far removed from what we were talking about.

Just go for it now No, but it's just like OCD now I just want to get it out Okay And you're saying you're saying You've stopped the parts So while we're stopped Oh you were saying the parts are coming

And then you know The parts that you want And I go maybe you could do Some parts for fun You know and they You could call them Parts for recreation You know what I mean

And I'm just saying What I'm saying is Had I said that back then I wouldn't have had to stop And this is why people hate me on the show Well I get it We'll trim it.

We'll tighten it all up. Yeah. We'll be right back. And back to the show. All right. Well, I want to, is there, Delaware, right? That's where we started. This is where the dream.

What a question, please. That's what I was going to ask too. But I was going to ask, like, because I've only known you as an adult, I'm fascinated with who you were as a child and were you this dry and funny and witty? And were your friends, did you have like a circle of friends that should, shared your sense of humor or were you like i i mean i definitely i was definitely a shy kid up until when i discovered theater like very classically like you know i i went to like the well meitand drama league which is the the community theater i i learned at and when i was like

11 and i started to see oh people are pretending to be other people this sounds really fun and so then all of a sudden i kind of understood that that was a outlet for me and then I and then I think I came out of my shell more and then by the time I was like you know in middle school or whatever I was like funny and then the and then your summer program at NYU that was sort of like okay there's a bridge has been built to uh to the to the big city and that's kind of how that is that how that role worked well I think like I had a friend who's a comedian Neil Casey who you probably know well um writer really funny comedian you know you know Neil I think I do a new deal yeah

an old school UCB guy, but he, him and I grew up together. He was a little bit older than me, but he went to the old boys brother school. He introduced me to John Waters' movies and to UCB, the The Upbrates Interrogate Show on those on television. And kids

in the hall and Mr. Show, and we got into like stuff like that as teenagers, like young teenagers. And then I started to really become like a comedy freak and then develop like my love for films and movies. Who were your comedy idol, sorry, who were your...

Did you have? I mean, Garofalo. I mean, I always blank. I always like black out when people ask me. I know, I don't forget. Was there any other, like, was there any other occupation or industry or career that was that was battling your growing dream for this to be an actor? Like, was there any other thing that you were thinking about maybe going to college to study? No.

No? This was it. You were all in. Fucking dope. I love that. I was all in. I was all in. I was all in.

Mom and dad were okay with that? What did they do? They were okay with it. My dad was in the finance world. He was a stockbroker. And my mom was a lawyer. No pressure to go into either one of those professions from them? Nope.

My parents were really young when they had me. They were 19 when they had me. And they had me. Wow. had nothing when I was born, like, really, like, hustled and worked their way up in the 80s. And, like, I learned from them, like, how to, you know, hustle. And it didn't matter, like, what field you were in. It was just, like, they're, that's what they taught me.

And my mom, I think also, like, she went to night school when I was a baby to be a lawyer and stuff. But she really introduced me to, like, Saturday Night Live. And she loves theater and movies. and I think in another life she would have been doing what I'm doing. Oh, that's great. Yeah, so. So they've got to be thrilled for you then because you just are all self-created. They're so psyched, yeah.

Well, let's stay there with Saturday Night Live. So you were a page at one point at 30 Rock. Oh, that's cool. I didn't know that. And then a bunch of years later, she comes back and she hosts Saturday Night Live. That must have been very surreal. That was crazy. cray cray, right?

That was crazy. I was a page 2005. It was right after. I can't remember it was after the stroke. I think it was before the stroke. I don't know, after the stroke. But I was at an intern actually in the 30 Rock building. Which is higher or lower on the power scale?

It's weirdly higher than a page. Really? You would think that because a intern doesn't get paid, but a page does, right? But a page gets paid. So you would think, but like, no. The page works for the network and the interim works for the show. Exactly. And I was not a very good page.

I was like fucking around too much. What was your problem? My problem was I was hung over pretty much every time. So I would have to throw up in the trash cans in the hallway, like mid-door. What does a page do there? Well, if you don't get an assignment, which I never did, maybe once I got one, which means like you get assigned to a different, a different, show like the coveted position was the Saturday Night Live pages um to get assigned on

SNL but if you don't get a sign you're just giving tours you're you're you're on the circuit you're giving tours oh yeah oh wow I get tours and then I would love to have yeah what would be so great about being an SNL page um is it is it just the fact that you get to hang out there at the desk and you like basically mission control where everyone is passing by and you just get to be there You just get to watch what's going on and sit there. It's pretty amazing. And like meet celebrities and get them coffee and like whatever. So then when you come back as a host, were you, did you talk with them more?

Did you, was it just sort of just like a private little level? No, I would never talk to a page. Never. No, of course. I mean, every time I go in that building, I'm like, you know, I still know the security guards. Like it feels, you know, that. building is so like it's such a family vibe there like it's the best and like i'm still i love my bosses when i was because i was an intern at s nl and a page but i was an intern in the design

department with um you know akira and uh keith raywood and joe and eugene and um the design of the sets or the costumes or the set designers for the show and then i did my when i hosted i did like my monologue about that and I had those guys like come on stage it came totally came full circle but they were all yeah I mean I love I love going back there was it emotional at all when you yeah it's like it's tripped out it was very trippy it's like it's weird yeah it's very weird when you so when you grew up you grew up in Delaware is that correct yeah and then and then you moved right to New York right like when you're a kid yeah I mean I moved to Yeah, to go to college.

Oh, so Delaware, you know, up until you were at college and then you went to college in New York. Had you been to New York before then and seen it and like, I want to go there and all that? Yeah, I mean, yeah, because Delaware's really only two hours south of the city. People, like, think it's like five hours away. It's really close.

It's really close. I take the train up all the time. And then you went out to L.A. So basically my question is, because I was talking about Scotty about living like in a small town, town somewhere because we're constantly on either coast in New York or Los Angeles, back and forth, back and forth all the time.

And there's something appealing about living in a small town somewhere, like outside of a city, but I think I might go out of my mind a little bit because I do need the... You feel too isolated? Yeah, and I do need the stimulation of the noise. Are you like that? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like the city. I like New York.

I'm back in New York. Are you back in New York now? I'm back in New York, baby. You are? Yeah. I'm back in here. So you wouldn't be able to move back to a small town again. Sean, you wouldn't be able to do that either.

I don't think, I want to want it. But I don't think I could, I would last. Right. But maybe. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I could. But where I grew up wasn't, there was a, it was a small town vibe in some ways, but Wilmington, Delaware is like, it's a proper city also.

So it's not like super. And you want to raise your family in, in a city like you are now. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't, you know, not totally thought through. But I'm like, yeah, I mean, East Coast for sure. My family's in Philadelphia and Delaware mainly. Oh, great.

So I loved, like, one of the reasons I came back here was for that. So I can get on the train and go home, you know. Yeah. My grandmother, yeah. How are you when you go on a location, like when you're shooting something that's in a faraway place, Like a localeche? Yeah, on location.

Yeah, like White Lotus, for example. Like, are you okay being disconnected from major cosmopolitan city for a long period of time? Yeah, I'm, like, very adoptable. Like, I feel like I would, I'm... I go someplace and I'm there for one day and I'm like, this is it. This is my life for the rest of my life. Like, I'm very... I think I would be okay, like, in jail.

Like, I'd be like, this is it? You just make it your home. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I'd be like, this is it. This is what I have to eat, and this is where... I say that when I get into an elevator.

I'm like, if it breaks down, this is where I'm at. I'm just here for several hours. That's not true. That's not true. You kept... You kept volume in your elevator in London. This is a true story, Aubrey. He kept a bottle of volume in his elevator at his place

in case it broke down so he wouldn't freak out. So this is an absolute fallacy what you're saying right now. There's recent proof of you not being okay being stuck in an elevator. But I went through, what is that therapy called? I went through that therapy. EMDR? Yeah, what, no, like, what is it called? Electro therapy.

When you go, you do the thing you're afraid of. EMDR? No, I forget what it's called. Shock therapy. Anyway, exposure, exposure therapy. Okay. Yeah, so I did that with an elevator. On the subway?

You just open up your trench coat? What's going on? No, I did it. I did exposure therapy and I got over it. Let's talk about white. Lotus for a second. Now, where did you shoot that? Sicily. Sicily.

It was like four or five months in Sicily and then one month in Rome. Wow. Wow. That's pretty nice. That's pretty fun. Yeah. That sounds pretty, pretty good. It's pretty good. Is everything okay, Jay? Jay, are you okay? I'm hearing something in the other room. It's probably the Alexa chirping off.

What the fuck? So Jason just get attacked by a Roomba. Did you... His electronics are revolting. Did you... Is it true that the scripts are really secretive when you're doing White Lotus? Like you're not allowed to like talk about them?

It's like doing Star Wars. Did you have a problem with that? I didn't have a problem with it, but yeah, I mean, you're not supposed to. Because he writes all of them, so you get all of them. You've read all of the episodes before you have. Wow, that's so cool. He being Mike White. Mike White.

Right, but is there like, so there's a big, there's a big secret you can't say on these shows, right? It's about somebody that dies, right? You mean say to who? To anyone, to the vote. Like, what is, what are they're trying to keep it secret and locked down? Oh, yeah. Because at the center of each one of these seasons is the reveal. Like a murder.

Right, the murder mystery. The murder. Yeah, I mean, I didn't read other people's lines and other people. I didn't even know. Wait, you're not given the pages that you're not on? No, she's giving them. You are. Oh, you are?

Oh, she's given them. Don't worry. I've heard of productions like that. You're only given the scenes that you're in. I just go bullshit, bullshit, my line. Right. Uh-huh. Right.

Remember? Yeah. No, I didn't read. My season was different, or maybe slightly different because, or maybe it wasn't different. I don't know the secrecy. But I don't, yeah, I actually, like, I read the scripts, obviously, but I was so focused on my Right

You know storyline that I was I didn't I didn't even Really Know what was going on And the rest of the show at all But I will say I just was With Sandra Bernhardt Who's gonna be on the next season

And I was hanging out with her last week And I was and I was like Did you get all the scripts? And she was like, yeah And I was and just nothing And I didn't care I'm not like trying to get the secret out of her but like she had that white lotus

look in her eye. Sandra Burner. You know it well. Did you guys all see King of Comedy way back in the day? Of course. One of my all-time favorite movies. I love that movie.

Aubrey, what do you have coming up that you're super excited about? Because I know you've got a lot of projects going on. Oh, well, the main thing that I believe this is like dropping the day that this comes out, which is today. Which is,

Kevin, my new animated series that I co-created and starred in and produced on Amazon Prime. Oh, great. Prime Video. Excuse me. And let's tell our listeners what that is about, this show Kevin. So Kevin. She said your voice is so long. I know.

It's a lovely title. Who is Kevin? Oh, God. Kevin is a cartoon based on a real true story that was. was about my actual cat that I shared with Joe Wenger when we lived in Astoria Queens at the time that we were talking about, Will, all the, that UCB era. And we had a cat named Kevin, who was an alley cat. We actually had two cats, Kevin and Howard. They were brothers. But this Kevin survived longer. So the show is about Kevin. But the show is basically about a couple that is living in Queens

based on me and Joe that break up and they have to tell their cat because in the show, animals and humans interact and they tell Kevin like, we're breaking up. So who are you going with? Me or him?

And Kevin's like, you know what? I'm not going with either of you. I don't want to be with you. I don't want to be with you. I want to go out on my own and be with the single cats. And I want to play the field.

So Kevin goes and lives at a shelter with all the other single cats and they kind of, they date, owners and decide, you know, negotiate with humans and decide, well, maybe I'll live with this guy. I don't know. And who's playing Kevin?

Kevin is a voice by Jason Schwartzman. Nice. Who's so funny because Kevin's this kind of like neurotic cat. He's got a really messed up butthole that he's fixated on. He's constantly talking about his weird butt hole in therapy. Same. And he's just got a lot of like interesting. And Jason, Jason, Jason wrote the music.

Jason wrote the music for the show, too. Jason wrote the theme song, which is so fucking catchy. You know, Jason's a killer drummer. Yeah, he's a crazy good drummer. He's so talented. Yes, he is. Yeah, he wrote the theme song. It's awesome.

It has this, like, really, like, yeah, early 2000s, like indie rock vibe. And then the cast is just insane. It's like John Waters, plays Armando the Cat, who's this kind of... That's great. Wow. snobby Persian cat, um, queen that lives in Queens.

Um, Whoopi Goldberg plays a hairless freak cat. Um, Amy Sedaris plays like a little yappy dog that's bossing everybody around. Oh, man. Um,

I play a human, among other things. I play a drunk spider and different kinds of characters. That's great. But you didn't have to play two or three characters, you know, you didn't run out of people you could have gone to. I mean,

you got Will has done quite a bit of voice work. Sean's done some, I've done some. We can't afford it. If you ever get tired of playing multiple characters, you know, just saying. I will. That is a really good cast. Isn't it? It's fucking stacked.

And the guest stars are amazing. The show's really, really funny. We've been working on it since before the pandemic. You know, animation takes so long. So long. And it's really funny. I'm so proud of it. I think people are going to love it.

Schwartzman used to do it. to do a show, a weekly show on Sirius XMU where he'd play all sorts of like, you know, deep cuts. Yeah, deep, independent music cuts. And it was, it was so good.

I used to listen to it every week. I'm such a fan of his in every way. Yeah, his taste in music is so... Really good. So good. Yeah, really, really good. I wonder if he, is he, he's not... I think he used to be in a band

back in the day. Yeah, he was in a band. He's not like in a dad band now. theme song to Orange County. Isn't that right? Yeah. Oh, that show Orange County? Yes.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, wasn't that on while we were doing a rest of development? It sure was. But the same time, yeah.

It sure was. Yeah, I wonder if he's like in a dad band right now, how great would that be. That is cool. Don't put him in that. He can be... Well, but he's a dad. Okay.

But that doesn't need to be his identity, man. No, it doesn't need to be his little side gig. Side gig. Well, listen, Aubrey, we hit it. We did it. We're two minutes past our time already. I mean, you're amazing. Aubrey, you're such a delight.

Firing on all cylinders. No, stop. Congratulations on the incredible news. That is awesome. Oh, my God. Really cool. Really, really awesome. Very great.

Thank you guys. And the birth of your new show today as well. Good one, too. Good one. So just, you know, celebrations all around. Thank you for doing this For birthing this episode today Fucking too much

Too much That was too much We'll turn that later Great to see you again, Aubrey Plaza Love you so much Just so happy for you Yeah, just so happy for you

You're the best You're the best, huh? You're the best You're the best You take care of yourself All right You hear me? We're going to watch Kevin

We're going to watch Kevin on Amazon Prime Starting today I'm logging on right now Oh, you know, the reviews are in. Meow, says the me, right. Kitty likes to scratch, says the post. It's the perfect show.

There we go. Don't ruin it for me. Okay, you're right, you're right. We love it. We love it. We love it. We love you. Thank you.

Enjoy your day. Bye, honey. All right, goodbye. See you down the road. Bye, Plaza. Bye, yeah. Bye. There she goes.

Aubrey Plaza. There she came and there she went. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What a pleasure. What a pleasure. Yeah. She's, I love, I love. of her particular talent and taste and style.

She's real cool, as the kids say. She's really cool. Yeah. She just does something that I think a lot of actors are not really comfortable doing, which is, you know, like, I don't know. Believing that they're enough. Exactly, yeah, and that they're not screaming

their performance at you, you know? Yeah, I mean, she has just, she has so much, I don't know, again, just sort of facility with all of it. It's amazing. And that, honestly, I mean, I always, I've always been a fan in sort of bias. But then when I said last year when I saw that, Emily of the Criminal, it was just, it was like another layer, like another really rich heavy-duty layer. I was like, wow, this kid, I'm not kid, that sounds almost, you know, this person is just got it all. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah. And then I think about it, and then I look at J.B. And I'm like, what is, what's missing? You know, what's the thing? How is he still going? What a mystery.

Because he's just so... He's an enigma. An enigma. Well, no, it's not your ability. As a talent, you're great. You got so much talent. But as a person, you're like, you have the personality of a Waymo driver.

You know what I mean? I know. I just leave you alone, mostly. Yeah, I guess. But I'm reliable, and I'll get you there on time. I get you there. But it's basically nothing. Right?

You don't know what? It's a robot. Yeah, yeah. It's big it. But it's not even, like there's nothing. Like, you put your hand in there. Expensive, but, like, not even there. So expensive.

It's just a waste. That's the other problem. You're so, you've priced yourself out. You know what I mean? You have priced yourself out. Shawnee, no, Shawnee. Yeah, I have a goodbye. Did you dig something up?

Oh, I know you do. Well, I was going to say, um, what's this hat today? I don't know there's something about. What's today's hat? Oh, this is my high school. It's a castle. on a hill. Is that something that you purchased? You don't wear a lot of things that you buy

that you buy. No, they gave this to me. Have you ever thrown out a freebie? I know. I was like, this is like somebody's production company. Yeah, see. I know. And I'll bet the sweats are... The sweats are the college, I went to. Uh-huh. The sweats are the college. The has the high school.

And this is somebody's company. I don't know what it is. That is pretty crazy, isn't it? I can't realize it until now. It's so good. Well, maybe one of these days you ought to get yourself out to a store and actually buy something. Yeah, there we go. Nice. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanly handcrafted by Rob Armjurf, Bennett Barbico, and Michael Grant Terry.

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