SmartLess - "Eugene Levy"

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

Find an excuse to cancel dinner and let’s take a journey through the brain of the great Eugene Levy. We talk comedy, we talk travel, and we all get a timeshare in Goodwood… amongst other things. Join us for another SmartLess, and let us never forget: “God loves a terrier.”Please support us by supporting our sponsors.This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/SMARTLESS and get on your way to being your best self.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is going to be a real quick episode because Arnett's got to pee. I got to take a leak. So bad. So we're going to do the episode and then you're going to pee, Will, or do you want to pee? You're going to pee and then we're going to do the episode. You want to pee now? Wait.

I tell you what. I tell you what. I'm going to run out during the music. Yeah. And then during the music, I'll be peeing right now. It's an all new smartphone. Okay, I got something. I got something.

Ready? Here we go. Sean's got something. Hang on. Why does it look like you're reading off a cue card? Are you reading off cue cards today? What are you talking about? Do you have to, if you flip your camera around, could you imagine Scotty's just there dropping

them? Just like Wally, who we haven't mentioned in a while, Wally over at SNL, the greatest cue card guy of all time. Who is the brother of Spike Ferrison? Wait, what? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that.

We've talked about Wally before. He's the one of the all time. Wally. And super nice. Wally. Wally. Yeah, I got something about, you know, for Christmas a month or two ago, whenever Christmas was.

Sure. Scotty got me this. It's called Wubbles. The Wubbles Learn to Crochet Kit. Yeah. Huh. That qualifies as a present in your house, huh? Yeah.

And it's everything's in this box. And you know what? He got you that instead because he got sick of saying, shut up. Shut up. So he just thought, fuck, he'll be distracted. He just, and then I don't have to spend my day going, shut up. Shut the fuck up. Now you're busy being quiet and knitting, and he's got a couple of weapons around now.

They come with the kit just in case you start to run your mouth again. Right. But isn't that good? Wait, Jay, didn't you say you used to crochet or something? No, my sister did. My sister used to have a knitting, a true. No, I said, no, my great-grandmother did. Back on the homestead, my great-grandmother did when they were just, you know, you know,

trying to wait the winter out that she did. That's what I think I always mean. Now that little starter kit is unopened. It's been a few months since Christmas. I know. That's rude. I know. Do you know my mom, my mom knits a lot and she knits the kid's sweater.

This is true story. And she knits the kid's sweater. It's for Christmas and stuff. She just sent some new one. Why wouldn't it be true? No, I know. And she would love to knit you boys a sweater. So would you both like a cardigan or a v-neck or a crew neck?

I'd like a v-neck, please. I like it. Ask Alex. Ask Alex nicely and she'll do it. Alex, can you please make me a v-neck, something that I can wear when I play golf with your son? I'll make it a turtleneck because I can't pull those off and I know very few people that can't.

Thick or do you want it kind of thick or kind of thin? Thin, you know. Kind of thin. Okay, Shawnee. I would like a crew neck for me, but for Jason, can the V go all the way down to show some of his cleavage? Super low. You'd like to see?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well below both. But you want a crew neck, Shawnee? I want a crew neck, Alex, please. Yes. And maybe Alex, maybe put in some sort of a catch pouch like a kangaroo catch pouch for Shawn just for the pros. And do you guys want like some Canadian, you want a little Canadian flag on it or maple

leaves or anything? No, thank you. I would do that. Don't say so quick. But an American flag. Okay, jeez. I'll do like a nice little tiny maple flag. That'd be cool.

Like in a corner of the back or something. You know what? The Canadian actually, if you think about it, this is a good tie-in to our next guest. You like segues. You like segues? I think you just did the segues right there. Let's get right into it. I am.

We're into a segues. Oh yeah. And he's somebody who's been making me laugh and also making me feel like, wow, this is so great that somebody Canadian who's from where I'm from can do this at such a high level. So it's inspirational. This is going to be a funny style. And we've only sort of passed, really sort of said hello kind of once and of course

he was just as gracious and had good vibe and kind of spirit that you could feel as I thought he would be in addition to being super, super hilarious. And once I start listing his credits, you're going to know who it is. But suffice to say that he created a show that won nine Emmys one year, which is the biggest ever for comedy in one year, including picking up two of his own. He comes from his background in comedy is like of the highest order from just, you know, his credits are or are comedies that are that are just enshrined in the Mount Rushmore of comedy, whether it be sketch or film.

And then he went on to TV to create this series that he created with his son. Oh, they did this series for about seven great seasons. Well, let's get it. Stop making him wait. Great Eugene Levy. Good Lord Eugene. He is. There he is.

Gentlemen. Yeah. How are you? How are you? Better now. Better now. I know. I feel like jumping out of a cake, but there's no cake.

Eugene, I'm going to, I'm going to see you for dinner tomorrow. What? Yes. Fantastic. Boy, if I, I've never seen a look of shock before there was shock and I've never seen a look of like, how can I get out of this on someone's face? Sean, where's this dinner that he doesn't know about? It's at Marty's.

Where are you valaying tomorrow? Oh, at Marty's. Oh. Yeah. Eugene, I got to tell you, man, you know, as a Canadian, as a fellow Canadian, I'm just, first of all, I love that we're having yet another person who is part of the, the incredible production of Godspell in Toronto from 1971 or whatever it was. Thank you.

Thank you. Please. The greatest, the greatest cast that opened at the, open at the Royal Alexander and moved up to the, I think the, the Bayview Playhouse, Bayview Playhouse. With the greatest cast of all time. Wait, is Bayview kind of small or I don't know that? Well, it's kind of about Lisa. It was, it was a smaller theatre in a section of the city that, that was not what you would

call the theatre district. No. No. I'm not entirely sure what, what the district was, but, but it was a theatre that we got to move into because they, they kicked us out. They only had us in the Royal Alex for three months. It was only booked over the summer, right, when they're, when, when everything is kind of low-key there.

Right. Yeah. So we had to be out in September, so they found this other theatre and we were there for the, for another year, but it was. Incredible. And remind us, remind us Eugenia, who else was in the cast, remind us. Yes. Okay.

Well, Victor Garber, of course, was our, was our Jesus and he, he, he only played in the show for a month because they hired him to do the movie. So as soon as we opened the show, he was only in it for a month and then he got to go to New York and, and then shoot the movie. Sure. Big hair. And so Andrea Martin, of course, was, was in that show, but Andrea didn't get hired initially. And there was another girl that got hired for that classic day by day song.

Day by day. Yeah. It's called her the day by day girl. But I'm sorry, Eugene, sorry, really quick. Really? Do we have to wrap up? No, no, no. I was just going to say, if, if Cher, if Cher sang day by day, it would be do-ba-do.

Okay. Go ahead. He's got Tourette's when it comes to that. It's almost Tourette's. He's got to get it out. So anyway, this girl got pregnant and they, they had to let her go. And so there was an opening and I was friends with Andrea at the time. So I, I called her to say, you know, we have the directors having a party tomorrow night.

Why don't you come to the party and just bring your A game? Okay. Because, you know, you, they're looking for a replacement and she did and she was hysterical that night. Of course. And the next day the director calls in New York and says, you know, we, I think I found the girl and, and, and there you go, Andrea got in Marty Short, my good friend from Hamilton, Ontario.

We went to school together and I talked Marty into coming in and auditioning for the show because I had auditioned for it. He was still writing his final exams at McMaster University at the time. Still is, by the way. And I, he works a little slower, not true. So he was in it, um, um, um, um, Gilda Radner. God bless. All in the cast.

Dave Thomas. Uh, Dave Thomas was in it. He was in the, uh, uh, what Marty likes to call the bee cast. It was like when, when everybody left after a year, they brought in a new cast and Dave came in as the new cast. I see. I see. And not Dave Thomas from Wendy's just for a listener.

Not, not that. Oh shoot. That was in my mouth. Dave Thomas from the great white, the great white north. It was, it was, it was great. It was a great, it really was a fun time. And the great thing is we're still friends. We're all friends.

We became friends back then and we're still friends. And was it because of that, that you, I'll start at second city, SCTV, or? Well, that's what my good expression is. How did SCTV, all those same people end up, or a lot of those people end up in SCTV? What was that migration? Well we were very fortunate in Toronto back then in 72 because these were kind of bigger American productions that were coming into town. And we happened to hook like with Godspell was coming in from New York.

So we, you know, we auditioned for it. We, Marty and I, you know, got in. There were like probably 500 people auditioning for the show and we, and both of us got in. And again, when Godspell ran its course, second city moved up from Chicago to open a Toronto branch. And so, you know, we all went out and auditioned for that. Eugene, with all of these, all of these folks being such elite comedic minds at that time from that region, I mean, I bet you've been asked this question a million times.

So I apologize. What's in the water? Yeah. Can you attribute it to anything? Was there, was there a cent? A leader, a tonal, comedic tonal leader that kind of freed all you guys up to kind of do the same hilarious take on things? I think I might have been the leader.

Yeah. You look like the leader. No, I'm, that's not true. I, you know, the odd thing is I'm not, you know, I've never been the biggest, the biggest thing I've had to deal with in my life is being introduced as comedian Eugene Levy because I'm not, I'm actually not a, not a comedian as, as so far 20 minutes into this, you guys can attest, but, you know, I've, I've, I've always gotten my laughs through characters and everything else, but as a, as a, as a human being, I'm not, you know, I don't consider

myself. I don't, I don't kind of look through that comic prism the way, look at life through that prism the way stand-ups do, you know, where everything has to be funny. So, but you love improv and bits and stuff like that, right? Yeah, you are all like that. No, no, it's all, sure, because you can still get to do it through character. Yeah. Yeah.

The scariest thing for me ever performing was playing anybody close to myself and then I would just like really just climb up and say, why am I doing this? You know? Right. But, you know, give me a mustache and some, you know, slinky glasses and a hat, you know? Well, the slinky glasses, you just have to attach to the frames you have now. No, but I, I get that. I feel the same way when people sort of say, well, sometimes say comedian and I'm like,

well, I'm not a comedian. I'm not a stand-up. I didn't come up through that. I didn't even, I mean, at least you were in Second City, so you were doing sketch comedy and then you did SETV, which was, you know, film sketch comedy. I didn't even do any of that either. So I, but I get that when people kind of slap that on you and you're like, well, I don't really think of myself as a, as a joke teller, as a comedian.

So, man, I got to say, Eugene, I've gone back and looked at so many and I've, you know, obviously grew up with SETV and again, as a Canadian and growing up in Toronto, I, I, you know, we were so proud that we had SETV came from Toronto and we were so, we looked up to you guys. So you guys are the, the people that I watched and, and was able to go like, these guys did it. You know, not if these guys can do it, we can do it, we looked up to you guys. Well, you know, when you're starting anything in Canada or Toronto, the way we did, you,

it has to, like for example, SETV was, you know, we started when SNL came on in, what, 75. Yeah. We came on in 76 because Bernie Solans who owned the Second City Theater back then, you know, just said, well, you know, we're losing all our people to SNL because SNL was kind of, you know, half Second City and half Lampoon basically when they started. So all our, all our people are going to be going to SNL. We should start our own show.

So we came up with the, you know, SETV, Second City Television and, you know, our, while they were the toast of Broadway in New York, you know, we had our budget was $7,000 a show when we, when we started SETV and it was only a Toronto show back in 76. Yeah. And in SETV, in seconds, in SETV, it was you, Catherine O'Hara, John Candy, Marty Short again. Yeah. Again, it was all of these other people that are now just known as comedic, you know.

Was Martin Moll a part of that? No. No. No, no, no. I met, I met Martin Moll. Well, when we were, when we were working on, well, anyway, I can't, I won't go into that sir. But I met him on a movie.

We were both doing a thing called. Are you nervous about serving prison time or something? Yeah. Because we've all been locked up. Well, it's actually, it's actually a funny story, but it was. We're ready. We were working on a, one of those, your Richie Rich things back years ago. And you know, Christmas wish or something, and Richie Rich and the Christmas wish.

I watch it every year. I was playing, I was playing a professor, Professor Keenbean, and I was playing it as kind of a Brit and a big mustache and very, very excitable, and I was playing them like that with mustache and glasses. And we were on a break on the set one day and I'm sitting beside Martin and looked at him and I said, Martin, what are we doing here? Paying bills. And he said, Hey, it doesn't say asshole on the check.

So I, that's really funny. That was meeting Martin. But no, Martin was not a part of that. But it's, but it's like I was saying in Toronto, you know, it's in back in the early 70s. That's like Dan Ackroyd and a girl named Valerie Bromfield and, you know, and John Candy, right? So I mean, these, these, these were, these people were just, I mean, that was kind of the scene back then. And eventually everybody kind of hooked up either on Godspell or, or on Second City.

And we will be right back. We get support from visible. So guys, you know how hard it is to plan something, right? So right now I'm working on planning a game night. It's super fun, but it's like a lot of work and I'm excited to do it, but it's a little overwhelming. It's just like planning anything, right? I don't know.

Valentine's Day is coming up. I was like, Oh God, what's the plan? Something's like me and Scotty to do like, can't we just watch TV? Like, I don't know. It's like, it's hard to plan anything, isn't it? So why would I want to be on a kind of like family plan? You know, when it's hard enough for one person, can you imagine everybody chipping in and doing it?

I don't know. It gets, it gets crazy. So today's episode is sponsored by visible who wants to simplify your life by separating your phone from your family. Visible offers their best rate all on one line, not four lines, not three, not even two, just a one line wireless plan with unlimited data for $30 a month taxes and fees included all powered by Verizon. Reach today at visible.com and get 20 bucks off your first month when you use code SMARTLESS20.

That's SMARTLESS20. A special offer for SMARTLESS listeners offer ends March 31st. New activation and offer code required for data management practices learn more at visible.com. Additional terms apply. SmartLess gets support from Diet Coke throughout the whole year, not just Valentine's Day. Diet Coke reminds you to love what you love. So this holiday, embrace the spirit of investing in the most important relationship you have, the one with yourself.

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on February 14th than any other day? I don't get it. For me and Scotty, every day is Valentine's Day, so we don't do anything. Do you know what I mean? However, don't forget to fill your own cup up, especially if you're single or not necessarily looking. And for us, that cup is a glass of Diet Coke. If you need to pick me up to help you make a bold romantic gesture or simply take yourself

on a date, Diet Coke is the ultimate partner. So my friends, embrace love this Valentine's Day with Diet Coke and love what you love. SmartList is sponsored by BetterHelp. I'm going to talk about when I feel my best self, when I feel my best self, I am at home and I'm in the safe space of my relationship with Scotty and I can just kind of talk about almost anything. But there are certain things that I like to talk about with a therapist that makes me feel my best self and that helps me get there, right?

Because when you're at your best, you can do great things, but sometimes life gets you bogged down and you may feel overwhelmed or like you're not showing up in the way that you want to. So working with a therapist can help you get closer to the best version of you. Because when you feel empowered, you're more prepared to take on everything life throws at you. So like I have therapy in two hours, right? It was just true from the time I'm recording this.

And I know I always feel better afterwards because those certain things that I can't talk to Scotty about or anybody like a friend that I keep for myself. But I know it's safe to talk to a therapist about it because it's not going anywhere. It's just a conversation between me and her and I get a lot done with that. I get it out of my head and into hers and it always, always helps. So if you're thinking of giving therapy a try, better help is a great option. It's convenient, flexible, affordable and entirely online. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch

therapists any time for no additional charge. If you want to live a more empowered life, therapy can get you there. Visit betterhelp.com slash smartlist today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelphelp.com slash smartlist. And now back to the show. When did you first work with Christopher Guest? Well, I first encountered, well, listen, Chris was, I was a fan of Chris's from the National Lampoon days, you know, when I'd listened to the radio broadcast.

And I knew, you know, Bill Murray was on that, Gilda Radner and Paul Schaefer and Harold Ramos and they, you know, but there was a guy who did voices and characters that just blew me away. And I kept thinking, who is this guy? He had the most incredible voice, you know, that kind of deep nasally kind of thing. And his characters were insane. And I laughed so hard and found out that this, this guy's name was Chris Guest. And then I met him on a Billy Crystal special in the mid 80s, 85. But we didn't work together.

But when he was on camera, I made sure I was on set that day. And I would just sit and watch him and try not to laugh and blow the take. I got to work with him again in the late 80s directing one of Marty's specials. I, Martin Short goes Hollywood and Chris was on that working with Marty. They played two gossip columnists and basically improvised their entire rant on camera. And again, it was still the funniest footage that, you know, I have to date. So cut to mid 90s. I get a call in Toronto and it's Chris Guest on the phone.

And he said, I'm thinking of working on a movie. Would you want to, would you want to work on it with me? And I, you know, and I'm, my heart was kind of palpitating over the phone because I. I mean, I didn't know him. I just worked, you know, big fan. Yeah, huge and that movie was well, the movie turned out to be waiting for Guffman said, you know, I've got a cabin up in the Idaho and, you know, we can go up there and work.

And I thought, Jesus, what am I, you know, I don't know this. I trying to get away for the weekend already working in a cabin, working on a script. Yeah, six rules, a duct tape. What's going on? What happens if it doesn't work out? What happens if it's, you know, a nightmare? Yeah, how do I get to the airport? Right.

How did he present that project? Did he say it was all going to be improvised or that there was going to be some sort of a loose script or an outline? At the time, he just said, I'm thinking of putting it together. Would you want to help write it? And so I said, what's the worst that can happen if it just, if it's, if it doesn't work out, I just go to the airport and fly home and that's it. So I went there.

I flew there and from the time he picked me up at the airport, to the time we got to the cabin, I was laughing so hard and, you know, and I had him laughing as well and we started working on this thing. And I knew from spinal tap, listen, when I saw spinal tap, I was so envious. Yeah. Right. Of anybody that was in it. It was the most brilliant thing I had ever seen.

Good for you for being honest that you were envious. A lot of people would say, I loved it. I loved that you thought you were envious. No, I was envious. Listen, my good friend Paul Schaefer was in it and he's not even an actor. Right. So Eugene, you know, I have to tell you, when I went to go see Waiting for Guffman when it first came out, half, well, I forget the year that it came out, but this is a badge of honor

what I'm about to say. Half the theater walked out because they didn't understand that it was improvised. They didn't get the comedy like the, and the other half of the theater was like crying, laughing. I mean, and so it was just interesting. Was this in this country or like far east? It was this country. And then as people caught on and realized, oh, this is an understood the comedy understood

the improv, it became this huge, huge hit. You know, but for my sister, Tracy, a lot of it's improvised, right? So it's not a script with, with specific dialogue. It was just an outline saying like this scene will be about this and yeah, Sean, it was this like in Illinois, you can probably hear like the, the 300 ounce Mountain Dews hitting the ground as people stomped out, I'm going to say stomped out or thundered out. But it was really kind of a unique, different style of comedy that people didn't see before. And I think people didn't get it.

And now they do, of course. In the mold of spinal tap, this is what Chris was putting together with Waiting for Guffman. So you know, we did, we put together a very, you know, detailed outline. We, you know, we lay out the story, we lay out all the story points scene by scene so that it moves, you know, otherwise it's like, it's just a free for all of improvisation and like, you know, you're in trouble and, you know, you can't pay an editor enough money. You have to have an idea, you have to have an idea of where you're going and what your objective is.

Yeah. So, so we laid everything out, but what, and, and, and if we had some funny lines, we would put them in the script if we thought it was funny, but, but we didn't hold anybody to saying them. We just, we put that in, but more or less how the information came out was up to the, the brilliant cast. So the script would basically be, this, this is what the scene should be about. This information should be revealed in this scene.

Yes. Yes. Corky walks into rehearsal very upset because he's, you know, one of the great characters of all time. Of all time. Of all times. Really. And you know, it's so funny.

Catherine, I was just talking to Catherine O'Hara the other day and she was telling me, because I was like, how, when you made those movies, I was asking her, did you guys not just break up laughing constantly? Because I would have been on the floor and she goes, she told me, I don't know. If it was that or best in show where she, you did, she said, I, she did something, somebody did something that made you laugh so hard, but you didn't want to ruin the take. So you crawled out of the scene on your, on your knees, being on the floor. Yeah.

That, that was in Guffman and that was of course Corky. That was Chris and he had this, you know, you remember the dance move he had with his pants on backwards. Yes. Of course. He would kind of. Yeah. Yeah.

That thing. Yeah. Like every time and I, I just could not stop laughing. So there's a scene in the movie where he's teaching us choreography and he, and every time he makes this move, I go crazy and I start laughing. So I worked my way to the back of the group so I could hide behind them. And then I was actually still gut laughing so hard that I dropped to my knees and I crawled off the set so that they could keep shooting and nobody, you know what I mean?

It's a group scene. It didn't matter. That's hysterical. That's so good. But that troupe that you guys cultivated, curated, all those actors, you guys went on to do a few movies together. How many? I mean, I wish you guys would just keep going and going.

Mighty winds, Best in Show, Guffman. For your consideration. Wow. It occurs to me, Eugene, that you, if you think about, it just occurs to me like looking back at starting with Godspell and then Second City, SCTV, and then working with Chris Guest and that whole crew that you really, it seems to me, and you can tell me if this is right, you enjoy working and collaborating in an ensemble that you get a lot out of that process and you really shine in an ensemble.

Even the show you did with your son, which I want to get to, with Dan, that you love being part of almost like a troupe each time, there's a similarity there that you create to community. Do you enjoy that? Does that make you, does that invigorate you? Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, of course.

It, to be a part of it, energizes you. You've all had that experience. I mean, you guys, you know, Will and Grace must have been like that, Arrested Development must have been like that. Yeah, it was super fun. You know, it's, you enjoy watching other people doing their thing. Yeah, it's fun. Yeah, and it's infectious.

One plus one makes three. Yeah. The whole group. It's, it's insane and it's kind of fun, it's fun work. Those movies were, were fun work because you never really know what, you know, what's going to happen. When we did Guffman, my first scene, even though we were writing it and I knew it was an improvised movie, my first day of shooting, when I got to where Austin, we were shooting

in Texas, Lockhart, Texas actually was the town. We got there and I'm, I'm ready to shoot my scene. I go in and then I say to Chris, so where do you want to rehearse? He said, what do you mean? I said, well, where do you want to go over the scene? Where do you want to, where should we work it out? What, what do you mean? Yeah.

I said, just to rehearse the scene, he said, no, the cameras are there. We're going to be doing it on camera. First take. First take. I said, oh, oh, okay, so we do it just on camera. Right. Yeah. Okay.

No practicing. And that, you know, but that, that becomes a very kind of joyous experience because you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what people are necessarily going to say, how they're going to say it, what's going to happen. And kind of, and holding it together is, is kind of a key thing. We learned over the, over the number of movies that as much as you want to laugh like we did in Guffman because it was just so much fun.

It was like kids, kids at school, you know, doing a play. What is your secret? Do you have a, do you have a secret trick not to laugh? I mean, I, I like to drive a nail into my, my fingernail into my leg a little bit. But I want to hear, I want to hear Eugene's trick because I know what Jason's real one is. Go ahead Eugene. I, I wouldn't, you know what the thing is, I think, I think it's just bearing the brunt

of how disappointing it would be if there's a great take happening and you blow it by laughing and when you're improvising a scene, you will never get that exact moment again. You know, it just won't happen again. So if you're the one that blows it, you're going to have to go back and do it. And are you going to get the same thing? Probably not. So there's a moment that's gone. So just the guilt factor alone.

And it wasn't your moment by definition. You know, you're laughing at what someone else is creating and you're wrecking their creation. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, it's, if it's my moment, I, there's a possibility I might laugh because I, I surprised myself and I, I can't really hold back. It'd be great if you say, and it was my moment because I, because I'm my biggest fan and I enjoy my work.

I enjoy my work. Yeah. We'll be right back. We'd like to thank Helix for supporting the show. So I talked about this before. I got the Helix Dusk Luxe mattress, not only before the comfiness of that mattress, but I like saying the name Helix Dusk Luxe. But what I love about the Helix Dusk Luxe mattress is that my dog, my dog Ricky sleeps

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Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com slash smartlist. Zip Recruiter the smartest way to hire. And now back to the show. I would like to know, I would like to talk about what we're not talking about, which is Schitt's Creek. I know why I was getting moved. This is all the build up. You created a show, one of your great sensations with your son, Dan.

And it's one of the greatest comedies of all time now. And I've been sitting here since you got on, want to talk about it. And I want to know how it happened, because I love Dan, Dan's like such a, he's you. He's like sweet, normal, hilarious, funny, great, outgoing, like everybody loves him, everybody loves you. So how did that happen? I can't confirm because I haven't met him yet, but it sounds right. He seems nice.

Well, once you meet him, I'd love to get your take on him, though. And if you could let Eugene know what you think of his son, too, that'd be nice of you. I'll put it up on my blog. What a fucking dick. Quick review, Eugene. No, he's done, he has, I have to say, both my kids have all the talent that the dad didn't quite have. But...

BS, I'm calling BS. Yeah, he's really quite amazing. And we started this thing, you know, when he said, do you want to work on a show? I, you know, I said, yeah, yeah, that would be good. I didn't, I never thought that would happen. So, but that was good. And it was watching, it was like watching him, and no matter what happened, I, it was the experience of doing this with him, that I thought, okay, this is probably a once in a

lifetime thing, just make, you know, make the most of it, enjoy it. This is great. Never thought it would happen. And so we start working on this, and then, you know, I had, at one point, I had a nightmare. I woke up in a cold sweat thinking, what if he doesn't have it? Oh, sure, sure. At what point, I mean, we're going to keep working on this, this idea. Face replacement.

If I know that he doesn't quite have what it takes, how long are we going to keep working on this as a project, or at what point do I sit him down, and do I tell him he just doesn't have it? Sure. Yeah, it's a tough call. You know? Or do we, or do we just keep working away, thinking, you know, kind of, you know, where he's kind of deluding himself.

Right. And, you know, you think Sophie had a choice. Yeah. Wow. Wow. So I decided, but anyway, his work was, his writing was great, his ideas were great. And so that never really happened. And when we got to the point of starting the show, he really, really exploded in terms

of performing, in terms of writing, and then his producing skills in as well. I mean, it's so, you're doing so funny. I remember watching just from the first episode of the pilot episode, all the way through that, especially that first season, just getting to know and seeing all these moves and seeing how funny it was, and just thinking, God, this is so good, and what, but what was the moment that maybe, maybe not even through your own lens, did you, do you remember kind of somebody else that you knew or respected or you worked with, and they were exposed to the material or to the show, and did anybody stop and say to you like, hey, Eugene, hey,

this is really good, man. You guys are onto something really, did you, do you remember a moment like that? I remember probably around the fourth or fifth episode, it was one of the shows. Listen, I was thrilled to death when I saw these shows coming together, and I knew it was good, and then around the fourth or fifth show, I knew it was really good. This is something that is really interesting. This is something that is working on so many levels to me, and a lot of it had to do with the cast, just picking the right people, picking just the perfect Alexis, and of course, Catherine

was always our first choice for Moira. I mean, Catherine is so incredibly, I mean, what an unbelievable sort of generational talent, Catherine O'Hara, and then the great, and Annie Murphy, so great, and your daughter Sarah, and all these people. I mean, it was just every piece of it worked. Now, so you do this series with Daniel, tremendous success. You guys tremendous, you sell it around the world, you guys do really well, and you make it with the CBC as your partner CBC and pop down here in the States, but it's a great

deal for you guys, and you guys get to control the property a little bit more because you have this split deal, and you're able to do, and just really, a really great story of success, and you guys put yourselves on the line to do it. You shoot it up in Canada, where were you shooting? In the middle of nowhere, were you in Sarnia or something? Our studio is in Toronto, and our location was about an hour north of Toronto, but yeah, we were fortunate. What town was that?

What town was that north of Toronto? It's a town called Goodwood. Sure, Goodwood. Yeah, sure, yeah. I'll get a place there. Yeah. You remember that one? Yeah, but Sean's website, don't you have a website that's similar to that with a rating?

It's like a rating website. I forget what it is. Anyway, I forget what it is. It's really good. A lot of uploads. But you're up there. You guys go up there, you're shooting this thing in Toronto, and you really kind of bet on yourselves in a way, right?

I mean, you guys... Well, to be honest, we're just doing the show. The idea that we got the show on the air was it. That's all we cared about. We finally did it. We got a show on the air. It felt so good. And then the show was you're doing the best job you can on the show, and fortunately,

we were getting very few and then eventually no notes from the network. Yeah. So, yes, it's always fun when the inmates can run the asylum. Well, the CBC, what notes... I mean, who are you guys paired with? You were right after the beachcomers, I think. I forget what the... The beachcomers.

The beachcomers. What? You forgot where you got paired with there. Yeah. That goes back a while. That goes back a while. I know, but listen, executives are doing their job and they feel like they have to do their job.

So, they're going to come in with... With notes. They're going to come in with notes. Actually, you know what? The CBC, I like those people up there. They've been very... They're nice people. Good save.

Thank you. But, I mean, honestly, once again, I mean, you guys did so many great seasons and you did and you won all these accolades and so well-deserved and I'm just... Well... You couldn't be happier. Now... Sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, you've been awfully kind, Will.

You took part in our Best Wishes documentary, had just very lovely things to say about the show. Well, I love it. So, that was... I'm a big fan. I always appreciated that. I'm a big fan of yours and your son Daniels and your whole family, and you guys have done an awesome job.

So, but then now you're doing this new show for Apple Plus called The Reluctant Traveler, which is... I love your face because you're like, yeah, I get the sense that you are legitimately a reluctant traveler. Yeah. I don't love traveling and when they called me about this, originally, they had pitched a show about hotels. It was called Room with a View and I got a call from my agent saying, you know, they

want you to... Apple wants you to host... They're interested in you hosting this show about hotels all over the world. And I went, oh, wow, okay, that's interesting. So it's a show about hotels. I love a good hotel, but you're doing a lot of traveling and then there's cameras so you got to... And then you're doing...

So there's some talking involved and then you have to talk to people and you've got to generally be kind of bubbly and jettie, which I'm not in real life, but I don't consider this real life, so I said, well, thank them very much, but I honestly think they have the wrong guy. There's probably somebody who's much better at this than I am. So at this point, you're being the reluctant host. Nice. I'm being a reluctant host.

Yeah, sorry to keep you going. I'm just being generally reluctant. Reluctant in general. Yeah. Meanwhile, you turning it down and they were like, he's the perfect guy. So what happened was, so they called back again saying, they really want to talk to you. I said, honestly, I don't understand.

What the point is, okay, set up the call and I can tell them myself, because this is... So we set up the call and I'm telling them why I just... I'm not the guy. I don't love...I don't love...my food palette is quite normal. I'm just a meat and potatoes kind of. I'm not into fancy things. It's traveling. I don't really love sightseeing, wars me.

I'm not big on water. I don't get me near water. And I'm hearing laughs and I'm getting laughs. And I'm thinking, well, this is great because I'm actually getting...I'm making my point and I'm keeping it light and it's not a heavy. Little did you realize you're casting yourself? That's right. They get off the phone.

He mailed it. I found out after and the two, the executive producer and the executive from Apple, they said...the producer said, that's the show. It's not about forget hotels. That's the show. It's the guy that doesn't want to travel that's doing all the traveling. So then they called back and they pitched that and I...I mean, I got that, you know? Because I can't pretend to be the traveler that I'm not.

But if I'm the traveler that I am and I'm on camera, but nevertheless... But it necessitates you now traveling. And so you've been doing that? How many...yes? Oh, it's been...it's been really great. It's been quite a phenomenal show to do. So they try...we've been to eight locations around the world, went to the Maldives, you know?

When am I going? When would I ever go to the Maldives? Best place? Best place? Worst place? Yeah. I...we did go to Venice where I've never been, but I've been to Italy. So I love Italy.

I adore. I love Italy. I just, you know, anywhere in Italy, I absolutely love it. So you've been...I mean, this is great. What an unbelievable career. You've done...honestly, you've just...you've done so much and you continue to do so much. And, you know, I was just thinking, every time I meet people like you, Eugene, who work with the same people and work with your friends your whole life, I always think about how lucky

you are. And then it reminds me of how...I was thinking this morning, as I was coming down here to record, knowing that I was recording you, and I was thinking, I'm so lucky that I get to do this with these guys. I love these guys, and I get to do this. And what a...what an unbelievable privilege, you know? Yeah. Well, it's the hottest podcast.

That's true. It's a hot cast. I'm saying, you got... All right. Let's just say that's true, Will. You're doing...you know, because it all comes through, what you're talking about is coming through, you know? Your affection for each other comes through.

And how you rip each other apart comes through as well, which is... Well, how can you...again, how can you not? It's pretty easy. Well, look, I mean... I mean, it's just unbelievable. I mean, these guys are just... These guys are just complete fools. Also great fun.

Eugene, thank you so much. Just continued... God, continued success, my friend, from one Canadian to another. Keep her going, eh? Good on you. Good on you. Thanks for so much amazing stuff, and yeah, just all the best, man, and congrats on the new show.

Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, Eugene. Thanks. Yes. Hope it works. It's going to work. Great to meet you.

I'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye. So do you guys carpool to Martin's dinner tomorrow, Sean, or do you use Meet There? Which is probably... I'll probably swing by and pick them up. I was just thinking that if I was in town... Oh, you'd be there. You'd be there setting up probably right now.

I'd probably be there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Setting up. Yeah. I'm not going to work there, you dick. I'm tearing down. How great would it be if I just did catering at Marty's house? By the way, I haven't talked to you both since Who Killed Santa Murderville came out, and

I'm sorry to the listener. This is probably a couple months later, but I just want to say congrats, Willie. You guys, you and your whole team, they're put together a really great show. The feedback I'm getting from people just loved it. Yeah, everybody I know saw it, loved it, and it was like over the top about it. Yeah, yeah, they weren't even drunk, they weren't high, they weren't sober, smart people. They didn't have guns held to their head. No.

Yeah, I'll solicit it. Well, listen, I thank both of you guys at the time, and I'm so lucky again that I get to do it. Again, that's been kind of on my mind the last couple of days, I'm like, I posted something about it, not reluctantly, but you have to do it as part of your thing. Your fee. That's what they pay you to do, and they send you stuff, they're like, post this, and you're like, yeah.

And I get to look, and I'm looking at the outtake stuff, and I'm looking at the 3F idiots that we get to do this thing, and it's like, it's not a job. And I was thinking about it again, like with Eugene, and in fact, you know, it's not, I'm not putting it on the same level as Chris cast it by any means, so please hold back on your shit comments, but you know, we got to do this thing where we got to mess around. We had a loose idea of what the script was, and kind of worked, and then we got to kind of fuck around and have fun in this game. Well, why don't you keep that going, let's keep this troop going and do it for each sort

of, like the next should be who killed the Easter Bunny, we have that in time for spring, and then we, you know. And I just play all the characters who get killed. You get to be the bunny, yeah, and you get killed. How would the Easter Bunny die? If Santa died from a sharp candy cane. The Easter Bunny would die from salmonella. Salmonella, yeah, or more lacerated by a, by a rogue egg shell.

Fucking, fucking salmonella. Come on, it's got to be different. I'm not even somebody pointing out to me, it is true. The bunny's got a basket full of eggs. Eggs, right. Yeah. What happened with that? Yeah.

Oh, maybe that's how he died. That Eugene Levy is just so funny, and was I just going to say, like how do you, what are the odds of like the God spell thing, all that troupe of people, then that troupe of people goes on in Second City, then that troupe of people plays together in all those Chris Guest movies. Yeah. And it's just like this tight circle of friends that stay together and make stuff. That's like a dream come true.

And there hasn't been, I mean, I'm sure that there have been plenty incredibly hilarious, talented comic actors coming out of Canada since then, but never in that same kind of flood that came out during that era, right? I wonder what that was. It was a very concentrated time of incredible talent. Well, I have to say this, and I'm not just saying this well, but you, Mike Myers, Jim Kerry, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, like all of these people that come from there. It's weird.

It's like what? All those people. And like he said, in addition to the other people who left and went to SNL, like in that time, think about, and by the way, including Lauren, who created SNL. Right, right. So in that mid to late 70s, like right in like 75 and then 76, which incidentally was the America's. By Centennial.

Bye! Oh yeah! You did it! Smart. Right. Smart. Right. Smart.

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Each week, we share thrilling true stories of survival and put you in the shoes of the heroes who live to tell the tale. In our next season, we take you to a remote corner of Alaska that's home to one of the densest brown bear populations in the world. But in recent years, the changing climate has caused a shortage of the bear's natural food sources. More and more bears are venturing into the town of Haines, Alaska, in search of food, putting residents on edge.

Then, everyone's worst fears are realized. Three experienced backcountry skiers unknowingly ski over a den and awaken a mother bear and her cub. She attacks and one of the men is left fighting for his life while his friends desperately wait for help to arrive. Follow Against the Odds wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery App.