SmartLess - "Elizabeth Banks"

Episode Date: July 5, 2021

The incred Elizabeth Banks joins us this week from Ireland. Elizabeth is an actor, director, writer, producer, and all-around baller. She teaches us about pet-care in exchange for lodging, Jason learns what the word “college” means, and a few people admit to their rollerblading histories. Get ready to get wicked smaht... it’s another episode of SmartLess.Please support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey guys, what's up? Hi. Hi. Oh my gosh. It's a new show. It's a new... Oh, this is an opening for... Oh, we have a guest waiting?

Yeah, we've got a guest. We're going to do the whole thing. And people are settling in. They're starting their jog. They're starting their drive. They're getting into the hot tub down in Australia. Yeah, I know you. Get some finger sandwiches.

You think more people listen to us in the car or while they're exercising? That is a great question. We should do a poll. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder, when I'm exercising, I got to be watching TV. Hang on one second, Jason. This is an all-new smartlass.

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Smart. Did a doctor friend of mine say that, like don't look at the laptop when you're in bed or the phone because it's supposed to keep you up or it doesn't, it makes me fall asleep? We'll see, but Rob just told me that it drains you. So does it just make you tired? Does it keep you up?

Does it destroy your eyes? I should not look at a screen like at least 30 minutes before you go to bed. It affects your sleep because it has to do with brain activity, although you guys should be okay. You're not seeing yourself up for an online porn joke here, will you? We're not gonna see a lot of brain activity.

If we haven't seen any yet, it's not like we're gonna all of a sudden see a surge. You know what I mean? Well, maybe I had too much blue light when I was a kid. That could be it. Maybe that's a problem. Something. What time do you guys go to bed?

I need better sleep hygiene. I need to start going to bed at the same time. Your sleep hygiene is disgusting. But what does that mean? What, you sleep dirty? What do you- No, sleep hygiene is just making sure you sleep better. Like if a better-

Your sleep routine. It's called sleep hygiene. What do you guys sleep in? You guys sleep in... Sean, you sleep in pajamas and one of those kind of like cone pajama hats with a little tassel at the end. With the feties?

Like the night before Christmas. With a candle. I carry my candle to bed. With a hand in front of it, so the wind doesn't blow down. Sean looks like a TV, he looks like a TV husband from the 90s in like pajama bottoms in a nondescript T-shirt.

Sure. Right? Yeah. Kids, let's shut those lights out. We're half hour past your bedtime. No, you're supposed to, by the way, this is what I read. Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

is when the best sleep is supposed to happen. I don't know how your body knows the hour time, but that's what I heard. This sounds like a weird website. Well, you know, according to Folger's, the best part of waking up, yeah. The best... Hey, no, for real though, what time do you go to bed?

I want to get to our guests because we have an incredible guest who's being very patient, but what time do you get to... Jason, what time do you go to bed? I go to bed at a probably, no later than 10 30. And that's when it's really gotten away from me. Sean.

Wait, listen, just because you said that, when I did the Kenny Rogers Christmas tour, and he sang... No, I have all the time in the world for this. Make this a long one. And Kenny used to sing, Christmas in America, the sweetest time of year, right? We'd be backstage and he would go,

Christmas in America, and we would go, is Folger's in your cup? He was right though, Kenny was right. Here it comes. Ireland's in the stream, that is what we are. You know who wrote that song? Dolly Parton. Nope, the Bee Gees.

Jennifer Warren, the Bee Gees. Yeah. I'm glad we've got some extra openers. So, I realized that I would describe our guest as an island in the stream. This person is a true Eddie. Brooke Shields of Cheddar Rivera. No.

Chris Hatkins. No, sorry, are we not guessing? Well, it was not just the cast of the Blue Lagoon, man. So, our guest is a multi-hyphenate, just a multi-talented person who I first became aware of in a film from the early 2000s that was very popular at the time that was directed by a guy called David Wayne.

It was a movie called Wet Hot American Summer. She then went on to play in a million movies, some of the biggest hits, but then became an incredible director. I got to know her during the Lego movies, really got to know her, and then she went on to start directing, and she directed what is now the biggest gross opening

ever for a first-time director with Pitch Perfect 2. Aw, Chris has a big face. It's a little bit of a big face, everybody. Woo-hoo. There she is. Oh my gosh. Not a lot of people know this, but you are the wife of David Cross.

We just learned on our episode with David. Did you guys remember that? I was just listening to David Cross' episode. He said that his wife, I think Sean, you asked him who he's married to, and he said a little bit of things. A little bit of things. Yes, that's true.

Actually, David Cross and I are husband and wife. It's not legal. It's not a legal thing. Oh, it's not legal. No. Look at the lizard. Haven't seen you for a long time. You guys, I'm sorry.

I'm such a disappointment after you're hoping Brooke Shields shows up. Well, listen, it's just me, guys. We have love for everybody. We have love for everybody. I'm so happy you're here. You're one of those people. I always feel like when I see you, you make me smile.

I'm always happy to see you. Aw. You're always- It's true. It's true. And you're also one of those rare finds in Hollywood, a girl who's absolutely unbelievably hilarious and unbelievably gorgeous at the same time.

I love that you call me a girl, Sean, is the greatest compliment that you could be paying me. And listen, this is the first time I think anybody's ever worn something halfway decent to do, I mean, she's got a very nice blouse on. She's combed her hair. This was not for you guys.

I'm gonna be totally honest. I had to do another thing before this. I wish I was in my pajamas. Like these? My footed pajamas. What was the thing? Can you say? I was doing a panel with Stacey Snyder,

who's another big wig in our business. Sure, huh? Sure. For, we both went to the same university and we did a panel for an alumni thing. For Penn, you went to university of Pennsylvania. I? Will, aren't I?

I went to the school. I did, I went to Penn. Yes, I went to Penn in Philadelphia. And so did Stacey Snyder. And so did a bunch of Hollywood types. And Stacey and I. I think you graduated with honors, did you not? I did.

Oh, who's done some research? Will found the Wikipedia page on those banks. Come on, tell us. Will's on the wiki. No, I don't wiki, I don't wiki. Uh-huh. Magna glada, maybe? That's true.

Those are some Latin words that are on my degree. Yes, they are. Was your, was your degree in theater or? It was in communications and also theater arts. But yeah, the school, they're not a big theater arts program at Penn. Can I ask you a question here? Cause I did not go to college.

This is going to be great. And this is going to come as a surprise to a lot of people. But I did not go. This is going to be a great, by the way, I don't have a degree or, yeah. Here it is. This is this, a good dumb question from a good dumb guy.

How hard is college? And I mean it. What an episode. Thanks for joining us. I do, I do mean it. And now from what I understand. I buy it with you, Jason. This is not a bit.

This is not a bit, okay? First of all, I didn't even graduate high school. I dropped out of college. It should be noted. But it's my understanding that there are two years of general ed, right? Which is sort of the college level history. College level English, college level math.

That's for two years. Which sounds like a nightmare, okay? And then the last two years, this is my understanding, is that you get to study your minor and your major. So, you know, I want to become a roofer or I want to become, you know what? Whatever the hell it is. I'm just saying, you can pick whatever occupation you want

and study your nards off about it. And there's no, so that sounds fun. But those first two years sound really difficult. Is that the way it goes? Not really. I mean, what? How do you answer that question? It's no don't.

It's no don't. No, but let me say something. Were you gonna sleep right before this? Yeah. No, let me say something. It's high school harder. I'm kind of with, I'm kind of with Jason because, you know, this long kind of idea about

is college necessary, you know? Does anybody really need to go to college? Additional voluntary school. It doesn't make any sense to me. I learned, here's what I learned guys. I learned about what kind of alcohol I liked. I learned about drug use. Yeah.

I learned how to get into a club in Philly, which was, and I learned about, I went to my first jazz club, which was amazing. It's like underground jazz club in Philadelphia. That's the stuff that mattered. That's why, you know, I met my husband. Sweet, sweet Max. Well, that's good.

That's good. I liked college because I mean. But with the arts, I have a scholarship set up at the Illinois State University where I went for theater. Oh, Jesus, hang on a second. College graduate, Sean Hayes. Thank you.

Well, I didn't. I got an honorary doctorate, but I never graduated. But I think it's important for the arts because it's where everybody gathers for the first time to really kind of become vulnerable and learn from each other and grow and figure out where your place is in the field of theater and arts.

It's a lot of that too. This is where I'm coming from. Like you can't really, you can't fail in college, right? Like it's only, you can learn as much as you apply yourself to learn. That's right. There's no obligation to score a certain number on a certain number of tests like high school.

No, it's all self-imposed. That's the greatest part about it, right? Sounds great. So everything is self-imposed. I think that's maybe everything in life. I mean, other than like you have to pay some bills. So you have to make some money to pay bills, but like really so much of this pressure

on ourselves is all self-imposed. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Western Massachusetts in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Okay. In short, Massachusetts. By the way, how many people from your high school went to Penn?

Just me, Matt. I don't know, maybe a couple other people eventually went there. Sure. Somebody's a real overtuber. Matt, I went to public high school guys, like in a small town where we literally went into the fields and tipped cows

when we drank too many beers. Are you gonna want your kids to be academics like you? Or are you gonna say, yeah, no, it's not that big a deal. You just learned how to get into clubs and go to like jazz functions. Well, I mean, I did learn some cool things too. I mean, I've never studied certain, and I picked up a love for learning things.

And I had access, I really felt lucky to have the access I had to the amazing professors that I got to learn from. And some of them were total assholes. I remember this one professor who was like, just laid things that like I needed to miss a class for a family thing and I love my family. And she was like, too bad, you're in college now,

like you're over 18 and you don't get to, you either this or that. And I remember having to make that kind of decision for the first time. She was right. I chose my family. She was right. And she ticked, nicked my grade. And it was like, wow, okay, this, I'm an adult.

I gotta say, and I think the world of you, but I'm on her side. You made a bad decision. Because I think we live in a world where there's too much of that, like especially in our business, of like, I gotta go, I gotta go visit, like too fucking bad.

Too bad. No, you don't get a special dispensation because you like have a loving family. That's off. Did you go back to, to Massachusetts when after college or did you go straight to LA? I did not go straight to LA. I did more fucking school.

She went down to B.F.A. I could get more school. M.F.A. I got a master's degree. M.F.A. Sorry, sorry. Oh, oh, oh, sorry. You got a master's? I got a B.A. and I have an M.F.A.

Yeah, I went to drama school. I went to drama school. And honestly, I went to drama school partially because I thought maybe I wanted to be an actor, but where I'm from, nobody is an artist. That's not a career. That's not something anybody does. Wow, that's not true.

Fucking some beer artists. We got some fucking beer artists. There's a lot of that. You're absolutely right. However, you, you, I remember, you just reminded me of something. I went to an event in Massachusetts not that long ago and this guy got up with our, with the Mass accent

and he was like, this is Elizabeth Banks. She, you know, in my high school, if you were a little different, maybe you went to the acts, you know? You did some acts, like the different kids did the acts. Yeah, sure, different. They did the acts. Anyway, so I was in the acts,

but that was not something you did where I'm from. But if you got a master's in drama school, does that mean that you thought, okay, I might be an actor, but if I am an actor, it's gonna be like a serious dramatic actor. Was comedy even on your radar? Comedy was on my radar,

but the degree was because I didn't know how to go to New York City and get an act. I didn't understand what was step one. I'm not even kidding you. It was like, a lot of people don't know. So I show up and I get a job as a waitress and then what happens? Yeah, where do I go?

Where, what, is there an office or a phone number that you call like a back stage? Yeah, like you go to the open calls and backstage. So what did you do? So how did you find out? Yeah, tell us how it worked. I didn't have to do any of that because I went to drama school

and when you go to drama school, they do a showcase and you meet agents and then they call you and they go, do you want me to represent you? And I go, yes, please. And then you start acting like the next day and literally that is what happened. Wow.

So you went on auditions and you just started booking stuff. My very first day, so I did my showcase and the next morning, I got asked to audition for a soap. I think it was as the world turns. And then that afternoon, they called and said,

do you want to be on this soap opera for two years? And I had not even graduated, ACT yet. And so you did it? I did not do it. Oh, what? I didn't do it. What do you mean? She's listed up in banks, man,

and in her first day, she gets a two-year gig and turns them down based on what? That was part of it. A few things. One, I wanted to finish school. They were like, come tomorrow, like you're on this show tomorrow. I now know as I've spent a long time in the business,

I produce things, you make things, I cast a lot of things. And sometimes they're just looking for the person and if you walk in and solve it, you're literally hired and you show up the next day, right? And that just happens every once in a while. So that's what happened. They had been looking for somebody to play this role

for a couple of weeks and then I happened to walk in the door and they were like, it's gonna be you. And I said, actually, it's not gonna be me. And I remember I was on a pay phone because that's how old we all are. I was on a pay phone in New York City up by Lincoln Center. I called my mom, I had massive student loans, like major, and I called my mother and I said,

they offered me this job and I turned it down. It was $250,000 for two years. This is more money that I'd ever seen in my entire life and it would have paid everything. And like, it was, yeah. And I said, I'm not gonna do it. And I burst into tears because I thought, I knew it was the right decision, but I also,

I was really scared. I was really scared not to have money because I was eating like a bagel a day. But wait a minute, but I'm sorry, I may have missed it. Why, what was the main reason you turned it down? To stay in school? Just to... I wanted to finish school, one, but more than anything, I'm not kidding.

I thought to myself, if I can get a soap on day one, what can I get on day two? Awesome. Yeah, God damn, that's Western magic. I'm not even kidding. That is some hardcore shit. Yeah, fucking eight. I was fucking hardcore. And then how long was it before your next offer?

I got it commercial like a week later. Wow. Oh, good. Yeah, so you just came home. And I signed with the one agent who said to me, like, no, no, no, don't take that job. Like, I think he, because I didn't know anything about the business either. So remember, I went to New York,

did a showcase from drama school thinking, I'm gonna be like a chorus girl on Broadway. Right, my dream. My dream, my dream was not to dream. No, Sean, Sean's dream. Oh yeah, Sean's dream. Sean's dream, Sean's dream. I wanted Sean's dream too.

And so when I got offered a soap opera, which was not my dream, but it was just like an amazing money job and a foray into New York and all that. But it wasn't my dream. And I thought, oh wait, I don't think that's what I want to do. And at the time, everybody was doing,

remember like Scream was like the big movie. I remember Party of Five was on it. The Neve Campbell was like my dream. Sure. And I remember thinking, I don't need to do this soap opera. Like I actually do want to keep pursuing the things that I want to do.

And maybe I'll be on Broadway and maybe, and then the commercial world was also something I knew nothing about. You could make a lot of money in commercials in those days. And I did. I paid off all my student loans with the commercial work. No way. Will Arnett would have been fine too.

Because how many goddamn commercials do you record in that booth of yours right there? A lot. A lot. Well, I graduated from no more drama school. You know what I'm talking about? How you doing? How you doing?

I'm doing fine. And now back to the show. What were those first couple of years in New York like being a waitress and going from audition to audition and trying to have a social life too? Did the city, was that easy for you? I loved every second of it. I did not sleep.

So my first summer after drama school, I went and moved to New York. And I was a waitress at Prohibition on 84th and Columbus on the west side. And I did some bartending there as well. And I worked with this woman named Bonnie. Bonnie was, she was studying to be a flight attendant. She was like an ex model.

She lives over in the ocean. How do you study? You have to go to like the school, like the Delta school in Texas and learn how to be a flight attendant. So Bonnie had a bunch of animals. I never understood anyone who had a pet in New York City but whatever.

So she had a bunch of animals. She had like a dog and a cat and a bird or something. And she started going away and she had a boyfriend that she was staying at. And so she said, you can move into and live in my studio apartment with these three animals and watch my animals. And we'll, we'll, when she is back.

So there's a bed and a couch. And if she was in town, she got the bed and I got the couch. But if she was flying, like doing her overnight, then I got the bed. And then after a while we just were like, let's just go sleep in the bed. And so the main thing that people like to hear about my time-

Let's just film it. How long is it before let's just film it? When did that happen? Is that? Sorry. I was literally sleeping in a bed with Bonnie, the bartender slash flight attendant X model and her dog. And we would just sleep in a bed together

on 101st and Columbus. And that was my life for like six months. And then I, my now husband moved back to New York and we moved in together. Anyway, so those are my days. I lived with a flight attendant. I was a bartender and a waitress. I went on my auditions.

I had a roller bag that I would carry around because, you know, and by the way, I walked around in heels back then. This was like sex in the city time. So you felt like not, you weren't a real woman if you couldn't walk near city streets and high heels. So I walked around in high heels and I had all my changes, all my clothes, my changes for my auditions.

Cause I had auditioned for a doctor and then I auditioned for a lawyer. And then I had to plan for- And your head shot, your head shot was in four quadrants. They may have had each one of those. This is like, this is like what? Like 97, 98, 99, all in there. Exactly, exactly.

Did you ever see me like rollerblading by? Did you ever see me rollerblading? Oh my God, I totally rollerbladed. I went to the Central Park and like, did the rollerblading thing. Oh, me too. I played hockey and I would rollerblade uptown and then I go by and then I, if I'd see some, you know,

a girl on a street corner that kind of slowed down, like she is paying attention to the guy on the rollerblades. So what do you do? Well, hang on a sec. Well, let me paint this picture here. So you got a hard look there. Like there's a lot of bunch of smoke in the room, right? So the eyes are real tight.

And then what you're dragging one of your skates behind you to slow down a little bit. Smoking a butt. Smoking a butt. And then doing that thing where I look out and I just go and just answering to a question that was not asked and I just go, probably. Oh God.

And so would you have a plastic hockey stick sticking out of your backpack too? Just a hatch, right? Let's get back to Elizabeth. So, hey Elizabeth. So you're doing a ton of commercial stuff. You're doing, I mean, you're killing it in the commercial world.

You pay off your, I was gonna say, so you pay off your student loans. Yeah. Best feeling in the world. I paid off a student loan with like one Crest Whitestrips commercial. Wow. Back in the day.

These big honking teeth. I have chicklets for teeth. They're ginormous. And I used to really dislike my teeth and now that, but they pay off a lot of student loans. Grass is always green. They're very all-American these teeth. They fell a lot of things.

Jason did a Crest one too, the before shot, right? Didn't you do? Well, I was gonna, yeah, go ahead. Well, I was just, I mean, I was gonna flash all the way forward to like what the view is like on the top of the mountain. I mean, you're blazing, I mean, honestly, you are blazing trails for your peers.

You're top of the world with acting, with directing, with producing, just smashing ceilings all over the place. I mean, do you have perspective on that? And I know it probably makes you uncomfortable to admit it or address it, but it really is, you know, super impressive what's going on. Very, yeah.

Aw, thanks guys. No, I mean, yes, I, do I have perception on it? No, I really don't actually. I just, I don't know, I'm not kidding when I say, when you've committed to making Hollywood your place of employment. I mean, as you guys all know, what else are we supposed to do?

You know what I mean? Right, it's frightening. You get to the point of no return. You're like, well, I have no other skills that I know no other people. I haven't done anything else. Like these are all the people I know. They create things and we put them out into the world.

And so I just thought, well, how else can I, how else can I take advantage of all these dim-dongs that I've met along the way? Right. What else can we do, you know? I'm one of those, I'm one of those guys who, shocker, I love Pitch Perfect, right? Thank you.

And one of the greatest signs that your movie is a classic and stands the test of time is that when you see it and when you're scrolling through the guide, you have to flip it on and watch whatever, wherever it is in the movie and you just sit there and watch it and do that every single time.

I see that movie and any sequel of it. And so, but what is the genesis of Pitch Perfect? How did it come about? How did you get involved? Like, what's the story of that from idea to script to screen? And then the second one too. Wow, thank you, Sean.

So my husband, who's my business partner, my partner in all things, Max, you guys have all met Max. Sure, yeah. Max wrote a book about fantasy football, which before fantasy football was really a big deal. He wrote a book about fantasy football and through that he met a really fun book agent

and he was out to drinks with a book agent in New York who said, yeah, I've just moved over to this imprint and we're doing these silly books and I think I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna put together this book about college acapella. It's called Pitch Perfect. And Max started laughing

because acapella was a really big thing at Penn where we went to school. Oh, really? Yeah, there was like 10 groups I can't, I mean, they were, they're overwhelmed. Of course there was. Exactly. Of course there was.

There's a little too much acapella. Of fucking course there was. Exactly. So, and my husband has Will's attitude, which is, I mean, but those people take it so seriously, like it's already gonna be funny. Did you see that documentary about everything was aca? Like you guys, I'm really aca mad at you.

I could be, you know what? They use it as an adverb. No way. Yes, oh yeah, yeah. They use aca for everything. So, you know, it was like dodgeball. Remember, was one of you in that movie? Jason was, I'm not sure.

Jason was in the blackout when he made that. That was actually during a lunch hour while we were shooting Arrested Development. Yeah, that's great, you were the commentator, right? Like I was playing. Yeah, I was a cotton or skater or something crazy. You were aca great. Yes.

So we, dodgeball was actually a good model for a pitch in that it's about a group of people who take something very seriously that should never be taken as seriously as they take it, right? And the coming together of a group and it's really a sports movie kind of dressed up. It's a comedy dressed up in a sports movie dressed up in a musical is what Pitch Perfect is.

And so anyway, so we got this book proposal that Mickey Raffkin wrote. He was a writer at GQ at the time and he'd actually interviewed me for GQ like two weeks before or something. So that kind of synchronicity I always find like it's like a signpost in Hollywood. Like, oh, you shouldn't probably do this

because you just have a signpost. And we actually didn't get the whole town, somebody else had the book proposal as well. And somehow we got universal. And so we took it out and we needed a writer. And I had just started doing 30 Rock. Will knows about that. And Kay Cannon was one of the writers in 30 Rock

and I was friends with Jason, her then husband. They're no longer together. Lots of things have happened in Hollywood with all of these people. Kay Cannon, who went on to make blockers. She's now a director in her own right. And now Cinderella, she's now a director too, exactly. She's an incredible funny writer and yeah, yeah, yeah.

So funny. So she was one of Tina Fey's like proje's on 30 Rock at the time. And they had made acapella jokes on 30 Rock. So I knew that she knew. And so we ended up, I called her and I was like, do you, have you ever heard of acapella? She's literally, I think she went,

oh, on the phone and started singing. And I knew we had found it. And she came to our house in LA from New York. We sat around the dining room table. We put together a pitch and we went out with it. And we sold it. And that's what happened. That's amazing.

Was there ever a moment when you were gonna play one of the singer girls? No, no, no, I never, I was, we wrote the role that I play in the movie we wrote for Kristen Wiig actually. We wrote for Wiig and probably one of you guys. And then, and I ended up doing it with John Michael Higgins cause I had worked with Michael Higgins.

Yeah, it's so funny. And he was doing the Chris Guest stuff that he does. It was like a great template for your stuff too. Absolutely. And he did one of the greatest improv's that I'd ever seen live, like in reality. We were on the set of a very not good movie

called Fred Claus, Vince Vaughn starred in that movie and five Oscar winners, just if we're counting. And then me and John Michael Higgins. So we were making this movie and the scene was Vince and John Michael Higgins in a bar and Vince started improving about teaching John Michael Higgins how to woo me, which is what happens in the movie.

And so. There's not a lot of people better than Vince at this, what are you about to say? But John matched him. So Vince says this whole thing that, so it starts like this. He's like, listen, listen buddy, you're in a Mexican standoff with this woman

and you gotta bring her to the table and you gotta figure out how to like, blah, blah, blah, blah, and you know how he goes. He just goes on and on in the Vince way that he does is genius and everything or whatever. And he kind of pauses and John Michael Higgins like looks back at me. I'm off camera like over here.

He looks back at me and turns back and he goes, gosh, she does not look Mexican. They did not. Yes, and did Vince pick up the ball there or did he just say, well, you just ruined the bit. I think. You ruined the improv. We kind of all fell out, honestly.

The whole crew fell out. I mean, it was just the perfect, it was like he held it, you know, an improv when you grab it and you hold it and you go like, where's my opening? Where's my opening? And he just held onto it the whole time and he dropped it right at the exact moment.

Right now, Tracy's nodding. Nodding, yeah. Perfect setup. Oh, I know what you mean. Exactly what that means, yeah. Oh, it was beautiful. That's really cool. That's such a great story.

Waiting for the perfect, sorry. So here's the other thing that you may be surprised or not surprised. So Scotty, my husband, Scotty and I, we love. Wait, what? Yeah, he's Scotty. Oh yeah, sorry. Elizabeth, Sean's gay.

Well, can we pause our record for one second? So we like game shows. We're old people who like game shows. We watch stuff all night long and it goes without saying. We watch you and press your luck all the time because we just can't get enough and you're so great on it and we love it. And I want to ask you what made you want to do it

because you're so good at it. And also, what do you think about this trend of big talent like yourself doing game shows? Like Will Arnett, Jamie Foxx, Alec Baldwin, yourself. A lot of people are doing these and it's all, it all works. Like I love all of them. I did, I actually was inspired partly by Will and his and when he did relaunch the show,

which was, I was on, yeah, the gong show and I was on. Very kindly. The Mike Myers of it all was so incredible. I feel like we could tell stories about that for over eight years. Spoiler alert, that was pretty wild. Mike Myers was disguised as the host, yeah. Was there ever an episode when he pulled the mask off,

like dug his finger into the prosthetic and... No, and it was so cool because we were like, obviously we thought it would be great to get Mike and then he was like, I'll do it, but I want to do it in this character. And Sony's like, he wants to do it in the character. I'm like, yeah, great, fucking say how, I can't say yes, hard enough.

Yes, let's go, but they were all really cool. And ABC, where you do your show too, they were all really cool about it. And of course I got to feel like you're some, at some point people are going to look back and go, you know, Mike Myers hosted a game show in character. And everybody's going to go, what? Nobody's making a big deal, enough, big, anyway.

So you did come and do it very graciously. I did. Kamie did it, we're awesome and participated in that. And then, but you were already talking to them about doing, press your luck at that point. Well, I was talking to them about doing a name that tune and like rebooting name that tune, which didn't end up coming to fruition.

But then... Well, it's out now, yeah, but yeah. And now, yeah, not with me though. Right. Not with me. Right, right, right. We started talking about it. And then, yeah, and then pressure luck came on.

I loved pressure luck growing up. It was like, I was a latchkey kid, so to go home after school and like get to watch the know anything and I loved it. So I was already a fan. And I went to work, I remember the first day, I really didn't know what to totally expect. I was in the same block.

I was told, you're going to be in a block with Alec Baldwin and Steve Harvey and me and pressure luck. And I love those two gentlemen and I love their shows. And I thought, okay, well, I can't, that's pretty good. I'm not the loser in that. And I went to work the first day. We shoot like three shows a day.

It's exhausting. And I came home and I was in the shower, remember, and my husband came in and he was like, how was it? And I... I'm naked. Can we talk about this later? I'm in the shower for fuck's sake.

I was naked. Guys, we had a conversation about pressure luck while I was naked in the shower. And I was started crying in the shower. And I was like, it was the most amazing day of my life. Oh, that's great. We had given away like $700,000 to a bunch of people whose lives were completely and utterly changed

by game show money. Like I think you forget when you're watching it, the real people that show up, that go through the motions to get there. And that are hoping to win. And then like, you're like, here you go, here's a car. And a bunch of money. I cry at that shit.

I cry when people win and all that money. It's so great. Has anyone ever done a follow up on how that all went for these folks? This life changing influx of money, yeah? We do, we, they all, I mean, everything gets tweeted and Instagramed and all that. So we had this one contestant,

no whammy for Pammy, maybe Sean remembers. So Pam was a big share fan. And we gave her an all expenses paid, private jet to Vegas, three shares nights in a row. I saw that show, it's an unbelievable show. Yeah, she's great. And this woman lost her mind. She got to bring her friends.

She also won a guest wardrobe, because that was her favorite clothes. And so she wore her guest clothes and went to share and like posted it all. It was amazing. And like, that's all she ever wanted in life was to go see Cher and a private jet with her friends. And like, we were like, here you go.

And that all happened, yeah. Yeah, you make it happen. It's incredible. I absolutely love hosting a game show. I love it. It's one of my favorite things. So that's, so that's, and so interesting. Now, do you, is there something that you-

Thank you for watching, Sean Hayes. Of course, I love it. Is there something that you kind of, it seems like you've been immersed into the world of Hollywood, like you said at the beginning, where it's once you're in it, it's like, what else do I do?

I don't have any other skills. Is there anything you always wanted to do or that you are still want to do, or is it 24 seven Hollywood directing produce? Like you just love it so much. I mean, I don't know that I love it so, so much. Yeah. But it's the only thing that you're doing.

Everything. Sean really made it out like Hollywood should just be loved up. Like, like I'm rubbing up on it all the time. Every night. No, just because of your journey from school to then getting a master's to then New York to just working all the time.

Is it, is it, is your life fulfilled in that way? Is kind of what I meant. Or is there more that you've always wanted to do? I mean, I'm one of those people, I feel like you guys are, I mean, why did you start this podcast? You know, it's like, what else is there to do? Yeah, there's that.

You know, honestly, we're all very similarly aged too. I have come to the point in my life where I'm like, all right, I mean, 50 more years. Like, what are we doing now for the rest of it? Like, you know. Right. Do you guys ever let your imagination go to that, that whenever that fork was in your life,

you know, whether it was college or before or a little bit after where you could pick where you're gonna kind of put your energy. And if you could switch that and point it somewhere else, what was close to maybe gonna be your career? Or if you could go back knowing what you know now and what you love now, would you have put your energies into architecture or politics or anything

that's even remotely interesting to you that can compare? Nope, no. I think being a storyteller is an incredible job. And I love it. And I remember being taught in college that storytelling, you know, that it's the oldest form, it's not just entertainment, but like, you know, they used to sit around the fire in the caves

and someone would get up and be the storyteller and be like, there's lions and this is how you avoid that. You know, it's literally like how we, why we are humans is because we have storytelling, because we have imaginations, because we create characters, right? And so to me, it's such a gift of a job to do every day. It's incredible.

Right, but if that guy who got up, he's telling a story, well, if he falls over into the fire, he burns himself, he's gonna have to sue the guy that didn't put the rock wall up high. Who's gonna represent him? So, you know, lawyers came around and eventually things filled out. That's right, we had to fill out civilization

around that particular guy. I just mean to say like, it's an old tradition and it's being carried on by all of us and it's a fun responsibility, I think. And I don't take it too seriously as you guys know, I really am just trying to entertain people at the end. I would say, so one of my favorite things about you is that how you don't take it, and you mentioned that,

and or yourself too seriously. And it's always one of the most sort of, it's almost disarming how sort of open and genuine you are as a person. I always sort of, you sort of forget because you do, as Jason said, you do have this incredible career and you've done so many amazing things.

And then anytime I spent any time with you, I was like, oh God, you're so down earth and so normal and so funny. And I felt comfortable enough to let you in on my, when I was on the dating app and everything and we remember that whole thing, and you checked up to see how it was going. Let's pull over here for a second.

You got it. So there you are on, so you're on Raya and you swipe and you see Liz Banks on there and you're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The story's about it, the story's about it, the story's about it, the story's about it. I was living vicariously through Will. He was getting to be on dating apps,

Raya being the main one. And I was like, I wanna look at some of these ladies. I wanna swipe. And one of the things I found fascinating was how every dating profile is the same. So like every girl is like in a bikini by eating a pizza or like holding a duck. They're like always like in bed under the covers

but with a dog, like they're all the same. Like there's no bad ideas, yeah. And then it's all listed like their job but they're all philanthropists too. They're all like, well, all the dudes say that they're philanthropists because what they're trying to say is like, I got a lot of dough.

Yeah, and every guys with like a kid but it's usually like, look, I'm a great uncle. So it's like you're great with kids but you're hot but your abs are out but you eat pizza but you love animals but you're cool and you lay in bed and you'll like a photo and you have messy hair. Like it was amazing.

It's amazing. So we went on this trip to promote the second Lego movie and it was me and Liz and... Chris Pratt. Well, Chris Pratt and Corden. Oh yeah, sorry. You guys went to space camp? Yeah, we went to space camp.

Oh my God, I saw that. It was hilarious. And so we were there. First of all, I don't know if you remember this. So Corden says, I was like, I had the app open. I'd just gotten it and I was like, okay and you could kind of message to people who you matched with or whatever.

And Corden said, whatever happens in this next one you have to message exactly what I say. Do you remember that? So I was like, okay. So Corden says, this girl's like, hey, how's it going? And he's like, you have to answer. Well, I just stepped off a helicopter so it's going pretty well.

So I put that in there. And imagine being on the receiving end of this girl being like, okay, you dick. I'm in Ireland right now, you guys. What? I forgot to mention. You're in Ireland right now? You guys, I live in a cottage by the Irish Sea.

Like that's. What is going on there? Okay, you guys. I'm making a movie called Cocaine Bear. Yes. You're making Cocaine Bear. Yes. We're making Cocaine Bear.

Have you started shooting yet? Are you in pre-production? No, I'm in prep. We start shooting in August. Yeah. Are you directing this? I am, yeah. I'm directing the movie.

Oh, that's great. Who's in it? What's it about? We, it's about, it's based on a true story, Sean. This is an incredible story about an infamous drug runner whose whole MO was that he would drop drugs out of an airplane like a Cessna that he would fly up from Columbia with Coke in it.

He would drop it over fields to get picked up along the East coast. And then he would parachute out of the plane and then dump the plane into the Atlantic Ocean. So, you know, they would do drug runs worth like 100s of millions of dollars. And these Cessnas are like $2 million planes. So it was cost of doing business.

They'd get rid of the plane. So if anybody had tracked it or whatever, it's the equivalent of like lighting the car on fire with where the crime had occurred. And he was able to do this because he was a paratrooper in the army and he had a whole special set of skills. And so one day, you guys will love this story. He flew the plane back from Columbia.

He had brought to Columbia his karate instructor. And the two of them had had parrot while they were in Columbia. They were sick on the plane. They were puking everywhere. They decided they needed to dish this plane. And the karate instructor jumped out and landed and was fine.

And then Andrew C. Thornton II, the infamous drug runner jumped out, apparently hit his head on the plane, never deployed his chute. His emergency chute deployed. He ended up dead on the ground, surrounded by drugs with like Gucci loafers. This was all in 1985.

And the police and the mob, suddenly were like, he just dropped a bunch of drugs because the police never had any clues about where he'd done anything. So now he falls from the sky and like, we gotta go find the bags of drugs. And they never found the drugs actually. And we don't know if the mob picked it up or what happened.

But three months later, they found a black bear in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia, surrounded by bags of drugs. And he had died from a massive drug overdose. He had eaten $17 million worth of cocaine. The bear. The bear did. The bear did.

Yeah. And he's now, that bear was called Jason Bateman. There are a lot of jokes about who the cocaine bear was in 1985. It definitely could have been Bateman. Are you in the movie too or just directing? No, I'm just going to direct it. And who is in it? Ray Liotta, plays in the mob. Oh my God, I love Ray Liotta.

Yeah. Carrie Russell. Love Carrie Russell, I love Carrie. I love her. She's one of my all-time faves. Oh, a delightful human. Did she work with her will? I did. I know her very well.

She's a good friend. Say hi to her for me, please. I will. I know. I love her and Matthew. Matthew's a great cut to you. All great. Jesse Tala Ferguson, I think, is going to be hit. Fantastic. Because we're very old friends and I-

He's hilarious. He's hilarious. Alden Ehrenreich is going to be in the movie. He was Han Solo. Sure. Oh, sure. He's fantastic. I love that.

He's a very good actor. Yeah, I mean- So it's got a really fun cut. Then a bunch of young kids. It's like a bunch of young kids that go- That's fun. It seems like a kid's movie. Very stand by me in this movie, yeah.

Really? Yeah. So Liz, you're off doing this movie, this cocaine beer. I heard about this. I'm so excited. I just, I can't, I just, I told you before, I just think the world here.

I just think that you're just so funny and cool and- Here comes the butt. I just want to, no, there's no butt. I was going to say, I just want to do something. I want to be at your disposal at some point. I want you to tell me, I want you to direct a movie with me, not with Sean and Jason.

Not with Sean and Jason. I just want to be a supporting character. I just want to be there to have fun. Sean and I are holding out for a Pitch Perfect 3. Is 3 on its way? It was a 3. 3 happens. 3 happens.

Is 4, let me finish. Is 4 on its way? 4. We'll make a deal right now. I'll self-tape right now. I think we'll self-tape. No, this is a self-tape. This is it.

We're self-tapping right now. Sing right now, Jason. Sing for real. I sing the body electric. Which was a song that was great and wonderful, because if we don't talk about a song we have to pay for. That's a fantastic song. I sing something else from fame.

And what is the song? It's such a wonderful thing. Stop singing and start talking. What is the song? That song is from, is that from hair? No, that's from fame. That's what I meant. Yep.

By the way, hey, how about you remake fame? I remember that. I remember that, right? Was that Alan Parker? You guys, oh, that's so, I have no idea what a great segue that is, because I talk about fame on my podcast, My Body, My Podcast, exclusively on Audible. And they, because fame literally rocked my life

when I saw fame in so many ways. And not because it was about a group of people who really wanted to pursue, to live in the ats, to work in the ats. It was people who wanted to live forever, who wanted to learn how to fly. Exactly. Not because of those things, even though I was inspired.

No, it's because Irene Cara is topples in that movie. I don't know if you guys remember that part. Oh, we do. No, no, I never knew that. Well, there was always the TV version that I feel like you got to watch. I got to watch it on HBO back in the day when HBO was like a new thing.

I was old enough. I was in the theater. And we got like, my family could never afford HBO, but we would get the free weekends, you know? And I'm pretty sure that it was on one of the free weekends. So I watched it. And Irene Cara is topples. And I do an entire podcast about this.

I'm not joking. Every episode is about fame? Yeah. I was being about Irene Cara specifically. I was being bullied back then. I was really skinny. And I was very behind in puberty. I still am.

It's coming along nicely. It's coming along nicely. This is the whole point. They never came along. Your voice still hasn't dropped. They never came along. And I was being bullied by this girl named Erica. And she heard the insult that she hurled at me after school

when she would bull me out on the way home, was you're going to have cone boobs. And I didn't know what that meant. Like Madonna's cones have not come out. Yeah, that wasn't a thing. I didn't know what a cone-shaped boob was at the time. Because I just looked at sports illustrated swimsuit edition.

Those were all round. Nobody had cones in sports illustrated. And then I saw Irene Cara. And she has very, she had. I don't know. I haven't seen her body in a very long time. In fame, when she was topless, she had some very adorable small breasts

that were a little conical. And I kind of freaked out. I was like, that's what the bully means. And I was like, that might. OK, that's going to be me. And at the time, those were unacceptable boobs. Do you know what I mean? But wait, why?

I mean, what? Why would all boobs are gorgeous? Of course, it makes no sense. Makes no sense. It's so dumb. It makes no sense. Of course, everybody's gorgeous. Everybody beautiful.

And so the podcast really is about why these things seep into our brains and why we get this messaging that you should look like the cover of sports illustrated. And I've never been able to fill out that bikini top. You're doing OK. Well, you guys, then my very first big movie that you mentioned was What Had American Summer I Show Up. And David Wayne's like, we wore this bikini, I guess.

And I put it on. And then the first agent I ever met in LA, because I had a New York agent, as I said, when I went to LA and I interviewed this agent, I won't name him. But he was like, have you ever thought about getting a boob job? Uh-oh. Oh, Lord. Wow.

Is he still in the business? Yeah, he is. He's still in the business? And I was like, well, the gig's kind of up, because I made this movie What Had American Summer that I'm sure tons and tons of people are going to see. By the way, no one saw that movie for like 20 years. So I was like, everyone's going to see this movie.

And I'm already in a bikini top. So now I think it would be weird if I suddenly pop a d-cup after just showing off these little babies that I have. The New York Times is going to write a story about it. Exactly. Like, it's going to become a thing. And I can't have that happen. Meanwhile, all I was thinking to myself was, no,

I'm not having surgery. And I don't know why we're talking about it in a movie. No fucking kidding. We live in such a fucking. But, yeah. It's not even just Hollywood. It's just this environment we live in. I have body dysmorphia myself.

Show us your cones, Will. Will, can we see your cones? Anyway, fame. Fame, remake it. Fame. No, don't remake it. No, it's perfect. No, don't remake it.

It's perfect. But don't you think that, like, you know, for people who hold on to things like that, obviously that had an effect on you and somebody said that to you and you held on to it for such a long time. Isn't it funny at some point at some age, I don't know what it is, where you go, why was I holding on?

Like, who gives a shit about any of that? Like, who cares? I like me. I like my body, whatever I have. But it's hard. I mean, Shani, luckily you hit fuck it like 15 years ago, right? I hit fuck it. I'm still working on fuck it, but I'm almost there.

By the way, I remember one of the first places I went on the Warner Brothers lot. I was walked past all of your Porsches on Will and Grace. Yeah, how about that? People didn't hate us already. Yeah. I mean, now that is hot. Man, that's the life.

I sold mine. I sold mine. That was like 19, Sean sold his, but it was like 1999. Yeah, just to give, so Will and Grace became a hit. The same thing happened to Will and Grace's happened to Friends, which was we became a hit when they had reruns over the second summer. So it was the network recognized this

and to award us, reward us. They gave us like four Porsches for the cast. And you're like, oh, wow, it's incredible. And then you add up how much it costs for an ad in the USA today, and it was a biased four Porsches was cheaper than an ad. And we got more press from getting the cars. Yeah, of course.

I always said to our friend who ran to Silverman when he ran NBC, I was like, go back to giving dumb actors cars because it's way less than a fucking raise. And they're going to thank you forever. And every time you negotiate, they're going to say like, yeah, but Ben was kind of nice to me. So I'm not going to, I don't want to push it. You can't get that car that time.

I must say though, it was a very nice, generous thing. But yeah. Sean, I remember when you got those, when you got those Porsches, and as actors, I was in the same position, I was living in New York, kind of coming out to LA to work when I could and whatever. And they're like, and then I got a pilot, I was on a show and you guys were on the air.

And I did a show for like, we got canceled up to two episodes, two areas called the Michael Malley show. So we were at the upfront with you guys were like, I love Mike. Yeah, the Mike's the best. And in love, yeah. Mike, first of all, just a second for Michael Malley, one of the all time greats.

He's one of the all time. Boston strong, Boston strong. Boston strong. It was just a moment of silence. Is he not with us? No, no, he's still, he's doing a praise. Believing he's, he's a mitch's mitch. But anyway, but we were at the, we were at the upfront

and you guys were the, the toast of the upfront, Sean, Will and Grace. I don't think we've ever talked about this. And I was like, oh man. And then somebody's like, they all got Porsches. I was like, oh man. And then they go, Porsche Boxsters. And I was like, yeah.

Yeah. I swear to God. And I had nothing. I didn't have a fucking pot to piss in. And I was like, yeah. So just to be clear though, I couldn't pay my rent at that moment. Even after, you know, sure.

I, we made it through one season. I was like, oh, I can kind of pay my rent now a little bit. And then we get this. It's like, no, I'm not holding onto this. I'm selling mine immediately. So I can pay my rent for the next year in case this doesn't get picked up. What do I need two cars for?

Thank you. It's very appreciative. But I'd rather a raise or something. I don't need a car. You were still on a commercial. I remember you were still on a Bud Light commercial while you were on Will and Grace. Yeah. That's a true story.

That's a true story. Yeah. I have to say, I went to a taping of Will and Grace. And I was, yeah. And I still, I tell people about it all the time. You know, when people are like, what makes a great TV show? I'm like, the actors have to be fucking great.

You're so sweet. And they have to be written for their special thing. And then they have to have amazing chemistry. Like this is not easy. It's what you guys had in the rest of development too. But yeah, for sure. You guys were maestros. I mean, it helps to have Jim Bros there.

But man, you guys were so, it was magic to watch. That's so sweet. Did we meet? Forgive me. How you guys worked together. The four of you worked together. Sean, you were fucking great on that show. No, you really, really were.

That's very sweet. I appreciate it. You guys are so funny. Everyone was virtuosistic. Truly. That's very nice. I feel the same way about everybody talking here today. I would, I'm dying to do another sitcom.

Let's do it. I miss that routine. I know. And the audience and the, oh my God. I think we're kind of doing one. It's called smart men's show. Why don't we just read the four of us to do one? Let's do a sitcom next year.

Hit record. We have taken, God, we've taken up way too much of your time. You got an industry to uphold, you know? I mean. Here's what I want to say. I want to say thank you for dressing up for your other thing that you had today and keeping it on for us.

Keeping it on. Instead of changing into the drama. That's a great point. You look gorgeous. And you kept your hair on too. I've seen you bald. It's not fun. No, no.

The wig is beautiful today. Thank you so much. This one's named Doris. I think Doris is the winner. She's so pretty. You guys are the best. You're the best. We love you.

Love you guys. Say hi to Max. Thank you. I will and I will love you guys too. Bye. Oh man, I've been waiting for her to come on. Yeah, she's great. I love it.

She's the best. You know what I love about her is the, she's the perfect example of picking something when you're younger that you're drawn to. And you follow it through. You're inevitably going to be successful. The earlier you pick the thing that you love, right? I suppose.

And she went to high school, college, all of those things, master's degree. So of course she's successful because she knew she wanted to do it from day one. We didn't even really talk about what a successful director she is about her experience. Because we were talking so much about her.

We were so into her life. She has so many layers that you're like, you're just like, yeah, I want to hear more about that. She's also just got a great spirit. You just want to like, I just found myself just listening to her, not wanting to cut her off as I've got a bad habit of doing. She's just, she doesn't keep a conversation going.

And she's just infectious. I really, I really like, and plus the fact, I mean, that what Max and she has done with the 29 year marriage, I think is like incredible. That's a really hard thing to do. Specifically in this business, we spend so much time away from one another.

I think that that can't be overlooked either. And they work together. What do you love about that? They work together. Well, what, the continuity of it all? The marriage, yeah. The marriage is that, that it's- Why is that important to you?

Oh God. Don't make me cry, Will. No, you tell me why it's fucking important to you. Because it's hard to do nowadays? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Don't tell, don't look at me.

I never pulled it off. If I- No, it's just, the fact that they've been together for so long and that they work together as well, and it's just, they're fun to hang out with those two. Yeah, I love her. She's so great. Yeah.

All right. Boy, how do we work up buy- By Coastal, by Coastal. By Coastal, no. No, we can't, you can't workshop it. Wait, can you hear my thoughts right now? We could also change it up and not do buy anymore. Oh, you know what?

That reminds me, there's a great place to visit if you ever get out past the Middle East called Dubai. Did you just said- Oh, for fuck's sake, holy. We almost made it. We were so close, we'd almost pull it off. Bae, the skin of our teeth. Oh, there you go, you saved it.

Woo! Bae, the skin of our teeth. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart.

Smart.