SmartLess - "Matthew McConaughey"

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Matthew McConaughey: Take 2. We get the legend back on the pod for a second timeā€¦ and this time, we actually record an episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi...a Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Listener, what are you doing? Are you driving? Are you walking? Are you jogging? Are you banging around in a subway looking at weird people and now you're listening to a weird person? Well, guess what? I'm sitting alone. I've got headphones on and you know, we're just in this weird space together while we're waiting for Sean and Will to get their crap together and grab a microphone. Until then I'm gonna play a little music for you, a little robot music. All right, here we go. Welcome to Smartless. I'm back home.
Starting point is 00:01:04 I'm back home. I'm feeling really good about it. You don't sound good. You sound a little bored and tired and not into the sash today. This is we're having a sash. We're having a pod sash. Okay. Listener.
Starting point is 00:01:19 Singular by this point. Thank you for your support, listener, by the way. Yeah, we really appreciate keeping this this boat float. Yeah. Jason dropped Sash on the on the group chat. The group text says Sashi and then Sashie and then he went Sashie and then he said it's super fun. It's a short and and fun for a session. Right. And we all know it. We all know Sesh.
Starting point is 00:01:47 But of course, he's the bit is the bit is that nobody's ever used Sesh or Sesh. I love Sesh has been used, but I'm think I'm first probably on Earth with Sesh. Yeah. So you might be, are we going to, are we talking about a new sweatshirt? You know what? You don't need a smart list with Sashi. You know what? The stupid, get a new Sashi.
Starting point is 00:02:11 Join the Sashi. That's a good idea. The stupidest short I have that I forget who gave it to me, but I will not stop it is presh. Oh, presh always. I won't stop. I appreciate it. I love presh.
Starting point is 00:02:24 It is the prettiest. Do she she like appreciate? Yeah. Yeah. Short for appreciate it. So somebody does something you go, ah, presh dog. Oh, God. It's so fast. You used to get so mad at me for shortening words. Oh, it just because I just I love typing it to presh. Because I will put the little, the little, what do you call it, hyphen there?
Starting point is 00:02:47 Or no, no, that the, what is it? The apostrophe. Oh, God. The brain. The brain shuts down after 330 for me and we're now at 408. Yeah, I mean, we are, we're pushing dangerously close to, to gummyville.
Starting point is 00:03:03 I mean, I mean, I read out the outskirts of gummyville. I don't do that for work, bro. I know, dude. I know. Just this is the end of my protein shake right there. I'm on the backside of a workout. I'm fresh.
Starting point is 00:03:15 Oh, this is me peaking. Oh, God, this is your peak. I'm peaking. Look at the hair. Speaking of peak, my happiness is about to peak. And what is it a week and a half, Sean? Yeah, because Sean's coming home. I'm so excited.
Starting point is 00:03:32 I know I feel the same way when I'm home. You know what we did today? We packed boxes and we borrowed this old luggage carrier, you know, like a bellhop uses, to put the boxes on and walk them down the sidewalk to FedEx. You did. Where did you get one of the little holes, one of the little... There's one in the basement here in the building. In the building.
Starting point is 00:03:53 Yeah. But I mean, the site of me and Scotty pushing this thing, sweating our ass up, down the sidewalk. Yeah, it's like a bad opening credits to a sitcom. Did you hit it? It totally is. It totally is. It totally is. Wait, where was it, Sean? Where's the FedEx office?
Starting point is 00:04:08 It's just a couple of things over. It's a couple of blocks. Well, Avenue or blocks. No, like blocks, like blocks. But we wield it inside the store. Sure. So we have the luggage carrier. I should do that when I live downtown,
Starting point is 00:04:23 when I live downtown in the West Village, there was a FedEx right on Lee Roy Street and I lived and I could come out of the back of my building. Anyway, I would come a full, almost big long block and I go across the street with the thing into the FedEx. What kind of thing? Did you have like a little red wagon or something like that? Or do you have?
Starting point is 00:04:43 No, I lived the same thing, luggage cart from the building that had, you could put, you could hang stuff above. They all the buildings have them in New York, you have to. I didn't know that. I didn't know we had one. Oh, man, you're going to love playing it there. Dude, you're going to love Planet Earth.
Starting point is 00:04:55 I know you've been up to, your head's been up in space, hoping it's real, right? I asked for a dollie. We got right now, Sean. Sean, where are we at right now with you with alien, with God? I, I, I, I, because it feels like it's really come like, right? Sean, it's a hundred people. He's talking from the government now. It's a hundred hundred. Are you going to Congress? Are you going to do any stuff like just going like, it's real. You guys, Scotty watching C-SPAN in the back room right now and bring a gavill for no reason. Sean Hayes from television and film. Go ahead,
Starting point is 00:05:24 Sean. It's real, you guys. All right. That's all I got to say. Guys and just a gavill. Gav, everybody pay attention. So wait, they're like, why do you have a gavill? Just outgavill them. But did you see the press conference like a month or two ago where the guys like said basically, no, it was all over the news. It was, I did. That they're real. I saw parts of it. It was all over the news. It was. I did. That they're real. It didn't lead the news. It was kind of like in the last 30 seconds when they put kind of uplifting shots of, no, no, this was like a big, well conquering diseases and stuff.
Starting point is 00:05:54 No, this is a big government press conference about. We've heard some crazy stuff. I heard some crazy stuff in the last week from a dude I know talking about aliens and their existence. I don't want to get too deep into their name people, but it's like pretty crazy. Oh, apparently they're here among us and all this. Yes, it's right. Yes, but we even know which, which square you were pointing at. That was what they don't say it. We allow. Hey, guys, the preach, preach. Yeah, preach. I'm trying to protect. I'm trying to protect the innocent, dude. You know why? Because snitches get stitches. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:27 We're filling a sweatshirt. They also get preferable sentencing usually because they made some sort of an agreement with the prosecution and the government. Which brings us to our guest, Mark Meadows. Which brings us to our guest, who is Sashi? Let's do a Sashi. Which brings us to our guest for today's session, because our guest, he is guilty of entertaining all of us.
Starting point is 00:06:51 That looks criminal over the years. Wait to meet this old outlaw. He's an entertainment outlaw. And he really is. When you see who it is, you're gonna say, yes, he is an entertainment outlaw because he is kind of sometimes outside of the system a little bit.
Starting point is 00:07:08 He does his own thing. He kind of doesn't live here. He kind of lives with his family out in the middle of nowhere sort of, not in the middle of nowhere. Still living at home, huh? He's still living at home with the family, but he doesn't just do the films and all this. He's also the last couple of years,
Starting point is 00:07:25 this guy has been busy writing books, and not just books, like New York Times best selling books. And he's got so many films. I can't have him on a game. So many great films that we're not going to talk about. So much. We're not talking about the films, but we can talk about the work and how it gets to work. I know, I know. But we are going to talk about. We're not talking about the films, but we can talk about the work and how it gets to work.
Starting point is 00:07:45 I think I know this. But we are going to talk about his books, and we are going to talk about his foundation, and then we are going to talk about his new book, Just Because, which I read, which is four kids that comes out September 12th, 2023. It's Texas's own. I know Matthew McConaughey.
Starting point is 00:08:02 I just know. No way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's back. We finally got him back I have been here before. Yeah, that didn't stay on the show Matthew. Please jump please jump right into your experience the last time Hang on hang on. I'm prepared. I'm prepared for this Matthew. Okay, so Matthew was on Matthew was on hang on with second Oh, no, you're please don't have to play back before we do. Matthew came on the show a couple years ago. Oh, yeah. And he was ready to go. And Jason was having some tech difficulties. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:35 Oh, yeah, I was saying, did you wait? I must say, did you notice this time pregame? How secure he was about his technical. Tell us about people have a he'll have a shot, a back off, I got you. Listen to where you were. And that's why I said I love that he's having tech problems today. Let's take a listen to where he was last time, guys. Let's roll in. Let's listen. Oh my god.
Starting point is 00:08:54 It sounds like he maybe cloned his computer onto another computer and it didn't install the drivers. This one's came our own. It's good time to check that out right before we have a gas. Sean, take your headphones off one more moment please. Thank you for asking me to do that. No, I've been waiting for someone. I'm Matthew.
Starting point is 00:09:14 Matthew, thanks man. God damn it. You okay till, to go till just before, what is it, eight year time? I don't know, I've got something in one hour and nine, ten minutes. Okay. Let's go right up to that number. You got it. You got it.
Starting point is 00:09:32 You got it. Perfect. Thanks, man. Thank you so much. Yeah. Sean, you're good. That's all right. Hello. Hello, hello. Hello, can you hear us?
Starting point is 00:09:42 It's not, I don't see, I don't see it here in the sound thing. So let's cancel. Let's just reschedule this thing. I'm in a total fucking tailspin. Yeah. OK. Sorry, buddy. Sorry, buddy.
Starting point is 00:09:59 Great. Who the fuck is that? Who is that? Yeah. Great. that's helpful. Is that our guest? Yes. Yes. Let me tell you what I've heard here of the last 30 minutes.
Starting point is 00:10:23 We got a reboot. Oh my god! My parents got cloned and then it got it got Like for the dog peed on so I got to reboot one more time wait a minute buffering wait let me reinstall No, I'm install it's gonna restart. We got failure. I need security. Oh shit. We got a virus You know that start that me fuck that everyone be patient. Oh shit That's a good start, that one. Fuck, that everyone be paid to, oh shit, we're gonna run a telephoto. Peltude, oh, we're gonna get Matthew Mann.
Starting point is 00:10:48 That's fantastic. Yeah, yeah, all of that, why are you still out of sandwich in your head? There's not been really entertaining, but not as entertaining as watching fucking Bakeman. Oh, you're not just fucking mentally meditating on this shit.
Starting point is 00:11:03 You're like, I've got fucking a minute tells, can you just do it? Listen. I'm in the tail spin. I don't know what's going on. Posit, posit, posit, because we can play the whole thing. Okay, so now we're back in. Say when was just glitching, what? What we didn't know is shot none of us knew to bake when we when baby and finally rage quit as we say in the video gaming world he finally rage quit and he was gone and then Matthew rips his camera up and he starts laughing
Starting point is 00:11:38 and Sean's going Matthew I didn't know is you and McCunney's got he's written it all down he's as you wrote it all down and I, I'm a part reporter. No, it's baby. He was reading. He was perfect comedy. So all that stuff was, all that stuff was you were doing me with stuff I just said. That was you. That was you.
Starting point is 00:11:57 That was you. That's just mortifying. And you were going on and on. You went so long, I was like, this is, this is funnier. Yeah. And funnier and funnier. And the worst part is me hearing somebody laughing thinking it's Willa Shawnee going, who did that?
Starting point is 00:12:10 That's not helpful. And then I just slammed my laptop shot, took my ball and went home like a bitch. You remember this? Oh, you remember? So it doesn't happen often. It's not one of my prouder moments. My God. I mean, you just come back from golf, some guessing you didn't, you didn't play.
Starting point is 00:12:24 You didn't play well. No, it's a safe bet. In fact, it had never happened before and it has not happened since. We've had, we've had a couple times where a guest has had a technical glitch and we haven't been able to do it. But we've never had it like in that situation before and that was, it went from being, we felt so bad because you're waiting for so long. And so we felt bad.
Starting point is 00:12:49 Then there's a point we can listen to this now too. There was a point where Sean and I start doing sing for real. Do you remember that? We started doing just to entertain ourselves and hopefully you, well, Jason's in a full meltdown. Full melt. And I think, did I, I think, I think maybe you would told me it was a big guess. So don't fuck around kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:13:09 I just knew I was blowing it, blowing it. Wasn't I, how my daughter's computer or something? Is it not the pre-blummer? Something like that. Yeah. And I'm dumb. Yeah. Well, you were just winging it.
Starting point is 00:13:21 You were on your daughter's computer. I'm dumb and hot. You headed it. It's a great call. You were, you were tardy, dumb and few headed. It's a great call. Oh, you're a, you're a tardy, dominant hot headed. A tardy too. Oh, listen, Matthew, I mean, the fact that you've come back after, though,
Starting point is 00:13:33 absolute wipe out, I can't thank you anymore. I know. I mean, you're the greatest. Thank you for being here. It's so great. You are, you are an absolute kingpin for coming back, which is just the best. And I have been waiting, and I've been talking to Bennett and Rob and Michael Terry and all
Starting point is 00:13:47 those guys preparing for this moment. We were so excited to get the audio queued up. We all went through to find the peak moment, which was Matthew reading out all this stuff. And then I found out afterwards that it was you. And I was, God damn it. And the fact that it was you laughing and that I actually inadvertently yelled at you and slammed the laptop on you, I was just like. It was, it was great.
Starting point is 00:14:11 High quality entertainment. It was, it was, but it was a pretty tough sassy. I will say it was a pretty tough sassy. It was a mess. So, so, so, Matthew, but I mentioned in the intro and this is one of the things, like I said, you are a, you are an Academy Award-winning actor. I know, I was gonna say insert plot, but fuck it, we'll just do it.
Starting point is 00:14:31 Which is so rad and so well deserved and you've done so much great stuff over the years in, but what's really amazing is in the last couple years, as I mentioned, you have been writing books. So you wrote green lights, huge success. And now you've written this kids book, which as I mentioned the thing that I read, and I thought I really think,
Starting point is 00:14:52 and I read a lot of kids books, because I have basically, you know, I have three kids in a stepson, so four kids. And a four kids grade intelligence. And a four kids. And I read them just because I don't have kids. It took me two weeks to read it.
Starting point is 00:15:03 But I read it today, and I read it, and like I said, I read a lot of kids books. I think it's fantastic, man. Thank you. I really, I really, really enjoyed it. And I mean that. And you guys don't know this, but so Matthew wrote that, well, you can tell them in your own words, what the sort of the Genesis was of this book.
Starting point is 00:15:21 Yeah. 12, so you're like, you're like kids, right? You start thinking about how to parent them all the time, man. They come on with different questions. You're going, oh geez. You know that moment when they ask those questions, you know that like, oh, this is a doozy.
Starting point is 00:15:37 And I better have a bad ass answer, because what I say right now is going to shape the way they see the world playing on. And sometimes you're up for it. Sometimes you got to go get another cup of coffee, you know? Anyway, I'm always thinking about that stuff, so I have this dream one night and I wake up at 2.30 and it was a, it was a, it was a Bob Dylan diddy, man.
Starting point is 00:15:57 It was just because I threw the dart, does not mean that it stuck and just because you guys skills don't mean there is no luck, doon, doon, doon, doon, doon. And so I just started, the. And just because you guys skills don't mean there is no luck, dood dood dood. And so I just started that hook was just because, and I get up at 2.30 and I jam down all these couplets until 6.30 in the morning.
Starting point is 00:16:12 I got about 100 couplets. Wow. I then go back to bed because it's nice to sleep on some of those midnight, those 2.30 in the morning inspirations to see if they still hold. Right. So I get up at 10 o'clock next morning, I was like, oh, this is pretty groovy.
Starting point is 00:16:25 This could be fun. It's a nice, fun, did he song? And as I looked through it, I was like, you know what? There's pieces in here that's about 25 compasses that be good for kiddos that are like about things that I've been trying to talk to my kids about. Questions they've been coming to me with. And so I put those together, sent them to my book agent.
Starting point is 00:16:44 He goes, this would be a great kid's book. You should share it. And that's what just because. That's so cool. That's so cool. How old are your kids? 10, 13, 15, 10, 13, 14. Right. So they're coming into a different set of questions now that they might not even admit they need answers to. And yeah, it's a whole different set. But what's great about it is, it is kind of, it really highlights the contradictions in life, right? And I love that. And for a kid, this is why I love so much.
Starting point is 00:17:19 He just said it, but it starts off with just because they throw the dart, they threw the dart doesn't mean that it's stuck just because they got skills, doesn't mean there is no luck. Just because they let you down, doesn't mean you got to get low, just because they're clumsy, doesn't mean they have no flow. And it's just all this stuff and the illustration too, your illustrator whom. RenƩ Carilla. Really great illustrations. Like really helps you tell this story
Starting point is 00:17:47 in this really cool way. And I think as a kid, there's so many great lessons. There's one where like the kid, it talks about, I'm gonna find this one, because this is one of my favorites that I love. There was such a sort of great message. Just because I lied doesn't mean that I'm a liar. And it's up, you see this older brother,
Starting point is 00:18:05 the little girls hit the baseball through a window. And the next thing, the older brother is taking the blame for it, protecting the little sister. And it's just because I lie doesn't mean that I'm a liar. And it's kind of a cool lesson. Yeah. Sometimes good time to take a white lie, you know what I mean? And the other thing that came from is,
Starting point is 00:18:23 and you know, somebody does something. You tell me, Will, you tell me a lie right now, and I go, man, you're after a liar. And you go, oh man, no, I was trying to get away with this. Sorry, I'm a con of hey, blah, blah. And you don't continue to lie to me. I was wrong in casting the whole blanket over your character, but it's very different to call someone a liar
Starting point is 00:18:45 than to go, man, you lied to me. Because you call someone, especially kiddos, man, you call someone or adults, so you call them a liar or whatever. You blanket them with anything in a proper, not a liar. They get defensive, bro. They're just gonna fight in words. You go, hey, man, you're casted on my character.
Starting point is 00:19:02 You say, hey, man, I don't like that specific time you did to me. You did me wrong. You don't lie to me again. Yeah. All right. Yeah. That's a different thing.
Starting point is 00:19:11 We can come together on that and repair. You can go, I'm sorry, I can go accept your project. We move on. Yeah. Now, if someone continues to bullshit and lie to you over and over, then you go, well, once shame on you, twice shame on me, because you are a liar. That's a character trait.
Starting point is 00:19:23 But usually we blanket somebody with a, with a terminality, with a term, a me because you are a liar. That's a character trait. But usually we blanket somebody with a terminal, with a term, a noun, you're a liar. That person's a liar. They gotta wear that scarlet letter. Where do you sit with all this, are you someone like myself, like if somebody does something like that to me, I will call them on it.
Starting point is 00:19:40 But as soon as they apologize, I will forgive. I probably won't forget, but not at a grudge level. But like I'll trust someone till they give me a reason not to. But there are other people, yeah, go ahead. I got a couple of it in there about just because I forgive you does not mean that I still trust. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:57 And that's true. I gotta be rebuilt. I go in trust first, too. I go in with a very high trust level early. Some people go, you're going in with too high of a trust level. But look, if someone comes and is able to say, Hey, man, sorry, I bogged my bad. And I sincerely believe, I love going.
Starting point is 00:20:19 Forgiveness is not only great for that person. It's amnesty for us who's doing the forgiven. Right. You know, I got a couple that in here that says just because, what is it, just because I let go does not mean that I quit climbing. Right. Someone asked, kid, ask me about that.
Starting point is 00:20:35 And I was like, well, that's kind of like forgiveness. Letting go is forgiven, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And does that mean you're not evolving? Does that mean you're not ascending? No, most of the times that mean you are ascending. You are maturing. That the great illustration with that,
Starting point is 00:20:48 if I remember correctly, is it's a girl on a skateboard. She lets go, goes down. And then in the next picture, she's kind of rising up on the road. Yeah. It's cool. Are there people in your life that you, I mean, the guys will know why I'm asking this.
Starting point is 00:21:01 Are there people in your life that you still have a hard time forgiving? You know, because, yeah, I know. You guess who the first person is? I don't know. Oh, yourself? No. Oh.
Starting point is 00:21:13 That's a lot of what this book's about, man. A lot of all these things that we talk about doing to others. Man, we got to include going, hey, how about yourself? We got to have the proper mental leniency. Well, yeah, I mean, our writer writes what a writer knows, right? I mean, so all this stuff came from you. You had these thoughts, you had these feelings and that brought it out in words.
Starting point is 00:21:32 Yeah. That's so cool. And now, a word from our sponsor. This episode of SmartList is brought to you in part by Framebridge, the easy and affordable way to custom frame just about anything, and we have. Frambridge has a curated selection of frame styles and design experts to make it fun and easy to choose the perfect frame for your piece. The process is really simple.
Starting point is 00:21:56 Order online at frambridge.com, either upload a digital photo for them to print and frame, or mail your art in, they'll send you a free secured prepaid packaging. And then frame bridge, custom frames, your piece using the highest quality materials and ships it to your door for free. Isn't that cool? It's like all the way. The best gift to ever get is a frame with a photo in it.
Starting point is 00:22:16 So you don't have to do any of the work. And that's what I like to do. I ordered an alto frame and I gave it to as a gift, a closing night gift to somebody on Broadway. And then I actually ordered also the black walnut frame, which is now in my office in Los Angeles, but it's a picture of me in Scotty outside the theater when we were in New York.
Starting point is 00:22:34 They're beautiful. They blend in with any furniture, they're gorgeous. It's really, really cool. Framebridge pricing is fair and transparent. Pricing is based simply upon the size of your piece and you know exactly what you'll pay up front. And now they have 19 retail stores in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Maryland, Virginia,
Starting point is 00:22:50 and Chicago, and Atlanta. So you can get one-to-one expert design advice and see the collection in person. Visit frameridge.com or a local frameridge store to get started and custom frame just about anything. thing. SmartList is sponsored by ADT. Now ADT professionally installs Google Nest products, so your home is safe and smart.
Starting point is 00:23:13 You can check in on your home and manage your security system from virtually anywhere. With Nest Cams and the Nest Doorbell, you can even get intelligent alerts so you receive notifications on what matters most. Google Nest Cams can tell the difference between a person, an animal, a vehicle, or with the Nest Doorbell, even a package.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Isn't that cool? And with Nest Aware, as part of your monthly ADT service, you get 30 days of event, video history, and even smarter notifications, like when a familiar or unfamiliar face is seen. Plus, when every second counts, you can trust ADT's 24-7 professional monitoring. You can view video of an alarm event and verify or cancel
Starting point is 00:23:49 an alarm with just a tap. When the most trusted name and home security adds the intelligence of Google, you've got a home with no worries. Go to ADT.com today or call 1-800-ADT-ASAP. Google Nest Cam Nestor Bell and Nest Aware trademarks of Google LLC. Google Nest Cam Nestorbel and Nest Aware trademarks of Google LLC. Thanks to Viori clothing for supporting the show.
Starting point is 00:24:11 Viori makes premium performance-apparel inspired by the active coastal California lifestyle and integration of fitness, surf, sport, and art. Everything is designed to work out in, but doesn't look or feel like it. We've been fans of Vury for a long time, as you guys well know. So we're excited to tell you about one of their newest products, the Men's Core Jogger. It's everything you love about the Core Short,
Starting point is 00:24:33 the same moisture wicking stretch woven fabric and interior boxer brief liner for the ultimate and go anywhere comfort, now in a jogger. I have to tell you, I got a new jogger from Vury, went to the gym, now I'm back in my routine right now, I'm back in Los Angeles from doing Broadway. Now I'm back in my two and going to the gym.
Starting point is 00:24:50 I wore my jogger pants to the gym to work out and came home. Had like 15 minutes, so I didn't shower anything, to go out to dinner, left them on. Left the joggers on, went out to dinner. No judgment from anybody. And guess who's the most comfortable at the table? Me. Viori is an investment in your happiness.
Starting point is 00:25:09 For our listeners, they're offering 20% off your first purchase, get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at Viori.com slash smartless. That's V-U-O-R-I dot com slash smartless. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but you'll also enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Go to Viori.com slash Smartless and discover the versatility of Viori clothing.
Starting point is 00:25:32 And now back to the show. Yeah, I was thinking about what you were saying about casting someone with, they lie to you and then casting him as a liar. And kind of for me, it falls in the same category as when people say, you know, I'm the kind of person who, I always say, hang on a second. We're all the kind of person who anything on any given day. You don't get to just own that lane.
Starting point is 00:26:00 On this day, you did that. But on the next day, you might do this. And so I kind of reject that a little bit. And I think that we are all capable of making mistakes, and we're all capable of redemption, and we're all capable of a lot of things, don't you? Yeah, I do. And look, and look, those pretext context, you know, it's a little bit like that.
Starting point is 00:26:21 Okay, well, now I'm being honest. You're like, oh shit, were you lying there at the time? Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You pretext these things with, it was like, don't, I don't need the supposition. Don't set me up. I get it. I'm on par with you, man.
Starting point is 00:26:33 Come in straight. You know, let's, let's, let's, let's be straight. Frank speaking, yes and no, we all know the babies are in the middle and it's contradiction. And yeah, you may bogey today. You may birdie tomorrow. You may do it. Do it. Do it well today, and then eff it up tomorrow. So we come in on that flat line. It's a little bit easier to get along with that, the pretext of, now let me set this up, what I'm trying
Starting point is 00:26:54 to say. Well, you know, I've always, you know, I remember we were walking back from dinner that night, about five years ago in South of France, a wordies thing, and you said to me, you go, aren't it? We don't know each other, it goes, aren't it? We got a lot of friends in common who say that you and I should be friends.
Starting point is 00:27:12 I was like, let's go. I was like, let's go. And I love that about you. And you're in your so, I love your confidence. And I love, every time I hear you speak, you've got, I don't know, there's like this kind of like, I wanna say wisdom, but I don't want it to sound too hokey. You've got this thing about, you talk about how you feel
Starting point is 00:27:33 in a way that I find is very disarming, and I love it, it's a superpower. I think it's talking about the way you, and be vulnerable. Yes, on Instagram, I'll watch your stuff, and I'm like, you're like, you, I mean, you're like, you know, an Oprah type of like, you know, you have this gift. But it's a vulnerability, I think, and I think, right, I think that that, don't you think so, Sean?
Starting point is 00:27:52 I mean, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, vulnerability, but when we talk about that a lot too, but just like, what you said, well, to Matthew about your wisdom is like, where do you get, how, what happened in your life that gave you this kind of self-awareness enough to look inside yourself and share then be able to communicate
Starting point is 00:28:11 and have the tools to communicate to other people, your philosophies and life values and all those things, which I just absorb. Oh, I don't know. It's a good question, man. Thank you. Thank you. Let me give you one of many answers here. I don't know. It's a good question, man. I mean, thank you. I will let me give you one of one of many answers here and I wrote this the other day. And this may be a bit of when you're talking to a way to talk about vulnerability in a fun way. And I wrote this as they're like, we are all brilliant dramatic actors when we realize we're in a comedy.
Starting point is 00:28:48 Yeah. Yeah. The comedy, it allows us, we've talked, allows you to forgive, allows you to be an ass, allows you to go over the top. It says, oh, but wait too far that time. Come on back, got a second chance. It allows you to go, this is not so precious.
Starting point is 00:29:02 It allows you to not go, well, you know, I want to tell you, sometimes I do this, like you were saying, well, it's like, man, we're in it. We're in it. We did it. Come on, man. Okay, Bog, you screwed up. Now try it again.
Starting point is 00:29:13 It, the comedy of life allows me, I think for, for certain truths to hear them or pick something out that someone says, I love, I love listening to people. I've traveled. I love that too. And I pick out things that people say. To the extent you feel comfortable talking about it,
Starting point is 00:29:29 what was childhood like, what was like upbringing? Like, did you think all of these, this time in your life where you are sharing all of these great thoughts and ideas now have come to fruition because of stuff that happened to you as a childhood or you were raised in a certain way or. I mean, I don't know. I mean, look, I've always been an existential dude.
Starting point is 00:29:51 I'm always been intrigued with, oh, if I can just get a little closer to figuring out the riddle. The big riddle. What are we doing here? Is there a God what's happening? What really matters? What doesn't? That entertains me. You find a way in which to steer a lot of your performances, a lot of your characters, into places of really solid grounding kind of foundations. There's a deep humanity to all the characters you play. And some you can tell is not on the page,
Starting point is 00:30:25 but you find that place in you and you share that through the character and then to the audience. And it's always goes down easy. I don't think you ever ask the audience to buy something that you're selling that is inauthentic. I appreciate that.
Starting point is 00:30:44 Thank you. Yeah, for sure. You know how that is, we don't, we don't want to be watching performance having to do the math. Yeah, we all love to be manipulated. We just don't like to be confused. Yeah, but you find a place to keep it inside your scope, your boundaries, your person.
Starting point is 00:30:59 And to build on Sean's question, like do you think that's always been there? Was it something? I'm sure as we get older and wiser, it gets better and better, our ability to be human, but like, one of your parents kind of like that. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Did somebody model that for you? Look, I come from a family of hams. That's her damn sure. I'm probably third and out of five, my two brothers, mom and dad, third, and I would be a bronze medal winner as far as when it comes to wanting and willingness and performing.
Starting point is 00:31:30 Yeah, really? Yeah, I mean, dad was maybe fourth now that I'm talking about. Dad was an absolute host of a ham. My mom was always talk about existential logic. You know, she, I got her story in the book of Green Life Tom was always talk about existential logic, you know. She, I got her story in the book of Green Life where she told me to sign my name
Starting point is 00:31:49 under this anashford poem. And I said, but I didn't write it, she was, but you understand it. And it means something to you. I said, yeah, she goes within the shares. Ah, I signed my name under it and I won the seventh grade poach contest. Early AI.
Starting point is 00:32:07 Early AI plagiarism. But I mean, so she was always like no TV. Why mom? Because I'm not going to let you sit in here and watch somebody do something. You can go out and find out if you can do it yourself. It was like, bam, okay. So you were just pushed on to say to be the subject that I will say. And inadvertently or indirectly
Starting point is 00:32:25 was set me up for doing what I do, is you were always forced to be the subject. Go find out, go find out. It's live, you get one take, go. Don't ask, don't watch, do it. Come back with a scar, let me know. Yeah, I love that. And then the comedy side of that is,
Starting point is 00:32:43 what tickles my family. Bruce is a lot of people. We were like, we were comedy quick. So there was no risk of embarrassment or shame or making a clown of yourself. It was, you got to pull your pants down to get their attention, right? You got to, and if you came in on any kind of high horse or a little arrogant or a little thought you were the shit, my family just penetrated you to the ground
Starting point is 00:33:08 until you cried Uncle and as soon as you cried Uncle, they'd all lift you up and throw you in the air, man. Yeah! You'd be like, what's your favorite drink? What's your favorite meal? Let's cook it for you. Yeah, same. That was like a test.
Starting point is 00:33:19 I remember I have three older brothers. They would treat me, I remember one time they pinned me down and forced me to shave, because I was just like a 12 or 13 years old, I was just getting a little peach fuzz on my upper lip. And they're like, we're gonna teach you how to shave. What?
Starting point is 00:33:35 And they pinned me down in the family room and got a razor and they just covered me and they shaved my face. Yes. So bizarre. That's cute. Right to passage, initiations, So bizarre. That's cute. Right to passage, initiations, you know.
Starting point is 00:33:47 Yeah, crazy. But now let me ask you because, you know, I don't know if you ever felt this way to be the second you were on your rise to becoming Matthew McConaughey as we know him. And this big massive global superstar was there ever a moment because you're so outgoing and you're so willing to share every thought and feeling now, which is great? Was there ever a moment where you didn't? And when you didn't, what was the switch that made you go?
Starting point is 00:34:12 You know what, fuck it. I'm not gonna be mysterious anymore. I'm not gonna do this anymore. I'm gonna just share everything who I am. Sure. Look, I mean, I'm still measured about what I share. I just have my mind's quicker to notice as it's coming out of my mouth.
Starting point is 00:34:25 Do I do, who, I could say that right now that I know would be a bold print. And as it's coming out of my mouth, I can catch myself and go, whistling, let me tell you that, hair. Now that took years of getting there. Did I notice, do I also notice that there is real value in demand for celebrities, movie stars, to not be around until that Friday
Starting point is 00:34:54 night when your movie comes out. Yes. Is there value to having two tinted blacks of urban when you leave in the pop roti file because they don't know which one you're in and you sneak in the back and you're not seen. Yes, is there value to wearing the same thing out every single day so every pop roti shot looks like it was the same day so they lose that?
Starting point is 00:35:16 Yes, is it value to go, where is he? I don't know where they are. I can only go spend time with them when they come out in the movie in the theater. Yes. I just tried that for a little bit. Very short in my time. I was like, Bullshit, this is how much work.
Starting point is 00:35:29 Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. It sounds exhausting. I started to notice, especially when I had kids, I was like, man, I started to notice if you're gonna live by that code that I just brought up, you start to let your fame wag your life. Meaning, I always said, that's what just keep living to back. What are we doing? You start to let your fame wag your life, meaning, I always said, that's what just keep living to back.
Starting point is 00:35:47 What are we doing? I got rights as a citizen, a mammal, before I have rights or rights taken away from me as any kind of celebrity. So, for instance, we're in New York, my son's four years old, fire truck, the girl who's doing my makeups husband doing is run to a, she's a fire chief at the fire department.
Starting point is 00:36:09 She goes, hey, my son says, I'd love to see a fire truck. She goes, oh, let me call my husband, I'll swing by. He swings by the Greenwich Hotel, right there. I mean, essential. This is when the pop rods are all around. Pools up front, my son's like, I gotta wanna go see the fire truck. Well, I know if I go down there.
Starting point is 00:36:24 It's gonna be a pop paparazzi big shoot it. But I'm also like, my son was to see his first fire truck. Right. That's gotta take precedent, right? If I tell him, no, not right now, I feel like a heel. I feel like a coward. I feel like a whooist. What am I doing?
Starting point is 00:36:39 I gotta go down and get rid of it. You gotta see the fire truck. Later on, I had to explain why I was everyone watching and why I was at the big deal. But you got to see the fire truck. I've chose I had to explain why I was everyone watching and why I was at the big deal, but you got to see the fire truck. I've chose to say, let me go on with my life. Let me make choices that made me, by life first, before I'm gonna curtail those
Starting point is 00:36:53 to like, oh, I wanna be obscure. Sean had a similar moment. I was with him a couple years ago. There we go. And we were on, and Sean was, he gave me a ride on the G5 and he was, and he said we're gonna have. The G-Nickel. And they came out with ride on the G5. And he said, we're gonna have. The G-Nickel. And they came out with the G-Nickel
Starting point is 00:37:09 and they came out with the lobster. And he said, I got lobster. And I said, you're damn right, you did. Good for you. So we started eating the lobster and then he looked over and he realized that I was videotape him. I did, I ate lobster. I'm gonna last you a minute. I feel likeotape. I did.
Starting point is 00:37:25 I hate lobster. Isn't that one of the great, that's one of the caveats of fame and access or any kind of success? Is you say yes to things because a lot of times I'm like, I never had the option to say yes or no. You damn right the The answer's yes. And you got to ask yourself when they go,
Starting point is 00:37:48 do you want lobster on the Chief Five trip? And you're going like, I don't know. That's a little lobster for you. You got to ask yourself first. I like lobster. Yeah. Exactly. Well, on that Matthew, with, you know, you seem so genuinely authentic, honest.
Starting point is 00:38:06 We used the word vulnerable earlier. And it's something that I try to strive for too. I know Sean and Will do as well. And sometimes I feel like what we do for a living is at odds with that quest. In that, like the definition of what we do is, you know, we're professional liars. We're pretending to be somebody other than us. What's your level of comfort with
Starting point is 00:38:32 that? Can you reconcile those two things? How have you been able to do that? Dude, I'm going to go with Bob Dylan on that one. This whole thing about, oh, I got to get to the truth of who I am. Dylan goes the opposite, he's like, man, we are who we create, whatever we create. We're all creations, you know? So I would also go to the extent that as much as, as you said, Bateman, we're inhabiting someone else. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:00 Tell me, man, you feel about this, but ultimately, we're being that part of ourselves. Right. Yeah. My version of you feel about this, but ultimately, we're being that part of ourself. Right. Yeah. My version of that person. Yeah. And so, you know, in that way, acting and performing is an absolute vacation. And an expansion of who we are.
Starting point is 00:39:19 Yeah. Really? Yeah. And you're exploring sort of the edges of it. Yeah. It's like the old Marantz equalizer. You turn up 500HKZ part of yourself. You turn down, if it's a Saturday night character, you turn down responsibility,
Starting point is 00:39:31 and you turn down these other things. If it's a Monday morning character, and you're an astronaut, you turn up responsibility, and you turn up conscientiousness, and you lower the half hazard times. And you just, and then to go, go. Yeah. And then it's just trust in living in there and go
Starting point is 00:39:47 and trust me, I've had plenty of roles that I got in that I'm like, when will this movie's over? Am I gonna come out of this? Because if I continue this, I'm going to jail. You know what I mean? Or whatever it is, you know what I'm gonna be a buddy dud, you know? And, you know, with all these incredible insights that you have, like who, I'm just be a buddy, Dad. You know? And, you know, with all these incredible insights
Starting point is 00:40:05 that you have, like who, I'm just watching you talk and listening to everywhere and hanging out everywhere. Who do you, who gets your juices going, just having, shooting the shit, having a great conversation with? I've got those conversations with the kids as they get older.
Starting point is 00:40:20 I'm finding, I got a 16 year old and 11 year old daughters. The conversations get even better. Like, I'm finding, I got a 16 year old, 11 year old daughters. The conversations get even better. I'm having some of my closest conversations with who I am with my girls now. That's great. I start to have that too. You notice that transition we go from just being a father to being a father and a friend. And then as soon as you slip into that a bit of the friend, you can kind of be like, yeah, let me know, and they can slide. And they're not worried about the consequence,
Starting point is 00:40:49 or if I give the wrong answer, I'm in trouble, where you're kinda like, yeah, let me know. And now let me tell you how that was with me. We've had the first kiss discussions. Oh yeah, yeah. And, you know, well, for this and how you do it. And I'm like, yeah, let me tell you about my first man, Nature Trail. Name of the Amy went out.
Starting point is 00:41:07 I was really excited. And that old, that old, I forget what movie it was with the lip. It's called on the braces. No, my dead. And they bled all over. And you will. And we bumped noses.
Starting point is 00:41:18 I didn't know whether to go left or right. And I doubled juke. And I flinched and it was not good man. So then I get my son laughing. And he's like, yeah, trust me, they don't have to try and be perfect on this thing. Just take your time, blah, blah, blah. I just had the same conversation.
Starting point is 00:41:33 I had it with my son's and I picked my son up. He was on this trip. And so his mom and I, she was like, I was like, I'm like, yeah, I'll go pick him up and we picked him up the airport. We had like a four hour drive home. And it was great because I don't know if you guys notice. What I love driving with my kids is that they're,
Starting point is 00:41:51 you're both looking forward and they tend to share more when we drive. Yeah. On a long journey, they don't have to, they don't feel you looking at them. Because you're looking at the road. That's why I don't like,
Starting point is 00:42:03 that's why I prefer phone calls at a FaceTime. I feel like phone calls are a little bit more honest in FaceTime, yeah. I get that, I get that. You could argue that's why some people have actually, I've formed some relationships doing over COVID, doing Zoom meet that I like more from the distance than I was.
Starting point is 00:42:20 Yeah, you're in person. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. But I do find that those connections, JB, like you were saying, those connections with the kids in that, I don't know, reminds me, I think I told you guys, I had one of the greatest conversations with my son, one of my sons.
Starting point is 00:42:36 I won't say who, because I want to embarrass him, but he said to me a couple of years ago, we were sitting there, we were spending, I could tell he was kind of down. It was a Sunday afternoon, we went around, we were sitting there, and he was could tell you, it was kind of down. It was a Sunday afternoon, we went around, we were sitting there, and he was on the ground, and he has head in his hand, and I go, what's going on buddy?
Starting point is 00:42:50 He goes, I just don't know where I, he looks up and he goes, I just don't know where I fit in. And the fact that he was able to be honest with me in that moment, and we ended up having this incredible conversation. And it was one of the great, I don't know where it ranked for him in his short life, but in my longer life,
Starting point is 00:43:07 it's one of the greatest conversations I've ever had. That's right, I love that. You know, I got a good friend in Austin, his name is Barton Ags, he's raised a few girls successfully out of his house. And he and I were talking just a few months ago, as my kids are hitting teens, and he's like, dude, there's just one thing you wanna do
Starting point is 00:43:25 whatever you can to maintain through these teen years. I go, what? He goes, access. To let him be honest like that and to be able to go, I don't know where I fit in. Yeah. You know, and it's true to pick it out on a spot where it's not, we're gonna sit down and talk.
Starting point is 00:43:42 Look me in the eye. No, where it's a little more informal, to like we're driving, we're doing something or taking a walk, you do find that more. But to maintain some access to keep some honesty, you know, in these years, I'm hoping to do. Yeah, and I feel like that's the friendship part of the relationship, but then I feel,
Starting point is 00:44:00 I worry sometimes, well, am I sacrificing what could be more useful to them, which is parenting at the expense of sacrificing the friendship is like, so I battle with that sometimes, or trying to keep the access door open by being super friends. Yeah. But sometimes that's not helpful to them,
Starting point is 00:44:19 because they've got friends, but they've only got one dad, one mom. That's a tough line to walk, man. I mean, I think the kids have such a great bullshit meter. They're born with it. And we wear it out as we get older, whatever, people, other people's society, whatever wears it out. And I think that what kids, I find in my experience,
Starting point is 00:44:41 I'm not preaching anything, but my experience is that if you are honest with your kids in that way and you're authentic, we're talking about Matthew, about you being authentic. If you can be authentic in those moments, they get it and they can feel you being authentic. If you're not trying to get something from them, but you're just trying to relate to them, a relationship is just two people relating.
Starting point is 00:45:05 And if you can relate to them, they'll be honest with you, they'll share, they'll give you that access as long as you stay in that zone. Just keep it authentic. That's it. I think that's the key. I think. It sure helps. I mean, look, it's, you know, I don't know about you.
Starting point is 00:45:22 I was raised. Camille and I have much longer conversations with our kids than my parents had with me. I mean, my parents, you could talk about it, and I was the question, I was the why. What but how, but why? But why? Mom would entertain that a little bit,
Starting point is 00:45:38 but very quickly within a few minutes, it became because I said so. Right, and I'm your parent. And that was it, conversation over. Yeah. It's that thing, because some conversations that you started 8 p.m., and you're gonna try to explain, you look up and it's 11.
Starting point is 00:45:54 Yeah. And then it's midnight. And you're going, you're wearing me out here, man. It's like, because I said so, man, because I'm 53 and I'm your dad and you're 10. Go to bed. You know what I mean? Exactly.
Starting point is 00:46:07 Who's the disciplinarium between you and Camilla? Who's the parent? Who's the friend? Or do you guys switch off? Well, we try to watch the old good cop bad cop stuff. I mean, look, I got one daughter. And I'm guilty of probably being a little more on the lean inside of the daughter You know you only really ship that the honeymoon never ends, you know, right?
Starting point is 00:46:32 So but I mean It's it's Camille's more day-to-day moment to moment. I'm a little more like guys gang We've you've been stretching that aren't a little bit, I'm starting, the little things you're adding up, I'm gonna step in here and I'll go in and be general. And I'll sit down in the general and they're like,
Starting point is 00:46:50 oh, all right. And it's like, no, this is how it's going down right now. And I've had to talk with them, this one's a great one. When, and this is helped with my boys is going, you know, if I let you get away with that with your mother, what is that teaching you to allow your son to do to the woman you're gonna fall in love with? Right.
Starting point is 00:47:14 You know, and then to go cut even deeper and more direct is, boys, that's my wife. Right. What kind of husband might teach you to be if I let you get away with that? Right. Do they hear that? That one actually cut into places where they understood it. In ways that I thought it was gonna be too above their head.
Starting point is 00:47:32 But I called it personal. I said, this is the woman that I fell in love with that I've married and we got together and made y'all, man. And if I'm letting you get away with that, let you disrespect her. What kind of husband might teach you to husband am I teaching you to be? And they were like, whoa, it became sort of a bit of a, you know, with the boys, it became a little bit of a,
Starting point is 00:47:51 oh, that's my responsibility. Yeah, yeah, as you're son. Yeah, so. But it's kind of fun that like now, they're old enough now to really intellectualize that kind of thing and finish that sentence, you know, that you started for them, you know, that's, yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:06 We'll be right back. Smartlet's get support from Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors or spending, and helps you lower your bills all in one place. Most people think they're spending $80 on their subscriptions when in reality the number is closer on their subscriptions. When in reality,
Starting point is 00:48:25 the number is closer to $200. When you're signed up for so many things, like streaming services where you used to watch one show or free trials for delivery you don't use, it's so easy to lose track of what you're paying for. With rocket money, you can easily cancel the ones you don't want with just the press of a button. No more long hold times or annoying emails with customer service. Rocket money does all the work for you. Rocket money can even negotiate to lower your bills for you by up to 20%. All you have to do is take a picture of your bill and rocket money takes care of the rest. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and manage your money the easy way by going to rocketmoney.com slash smartless. That's rocketm money.com slash smartless. That's rocket money.com slash smartless.
Starting point is 00:49:06 Rocket money.com slash smartless. Smartless get support from Helix. Ugh, it's so nice to be back in my own bad sleeping on my Helix dusk looks mattress. It's the best sleep I've ever had. The helix lineup offers 20 unique mattresses, including the award-winning Luxe collection, the newly released helix Elite Collection,
Starting point is 00:49:34 a mattress design for big and tall sleepers, and even a mattress made just for kids. Let's talk about the new high-end helix Elite Collection. It includes six different mattress models, each tailored for specific sleep positions and firmness preferences. Nervous about buying a mattress online, don't be. The Helix Sleep Quiz takes into account your individual sleep preferences to match you and your partner with the perfect mattress for you. And your personalized mattresses ship straight to your door free of charge.
Starting point is 00:50:01 Plus, Helix mattresses all come with a 10 or 15-year warranty depending on the model. Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners. Go to helixleap.com slash smartless. This is their best offer yet, and it won't last long with Helix better sleep starts now. SmartList is supported by Audible. Audible lets you enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app. You'll always find the best of what you love or something new to discover. Audible
Starting point is 00:50:33 offers an incredible selection of audiobooks across every genre. You'll find guided wellness programs, theatrical performances, comedy, and exclusive audible originals from top celebrities renowned experts, and exciting new voices in audio. As an audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new releases. The audible app makes it easy to listen anytime, anywhere, while traveling, working out,
Starting point is 00:50:56 walking, doing chores, you decide. So I've been checking out Atomic Habits by James Clear. I love his last name, it's so apropos. It's a great, great audiobook. It'll teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to amazing, amazing results. I really, really highly recommend it. You know, we always joke about on the podcast how we don't read, but listening to an audiobook
Starting point is 00:51:21 seems to be more time efficient for us, and I really, really enjoy actually listening to books. It's fantastic. I'm reading again with my ears. New members can try Audible Free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash smartless or text smartless to 500-500. That's audible.com slash smartless or text smartless to 500-500 to try Audible Free for 30 days. Audible. for 30 days audible.com slash SmartLess.
Starting point is 00:51:50 All right, back to the show. So wait, Matthew, I asked you this like five minutes ago, but you were all, you were thinking about it. I don't wanna put you in the spot, so you don't have to answer if you don't want. But you know, you have so much to share and to teach and through your just incredible brain. Who is your guru? Do you have somebody in your life? You're like,
Starting point is 00:52:11 God, you know what? I got to listen to this guy, or you have the greatest conversations where you actually walk away learning something. Because like I said, I learned from you all the time just watching your Instagram. I don't have a certain person. I have in the last five years started to seek out elder mentors in a way that I didn't before. Yeah, that's what I mean. And look, ironically, I was writing about it last night. I'm losing my mentors. They're dying.
Starting point is 00:52:44 Over this last four years, I don't know, I've been for y'all, but I've had some elder friends that were right there. They slowed down, but they were right there holding it. Boy, that last, all of a sudden the drop is steep and they're gone. Has that triggered for you something? And I'm not prying for an answer on the on the specifics, but at least for
Starting point is 00:53:07 me, you know, for all four of us, we're we're closer death than we are to birth. And at some point, especially if you're semi intelligent, like I think the four of us are, you do start to think about, well, what are some of the things I want to when that moment of clarity comes where you're like, okay, here I am in the last week. I'm in hospice or whatever the hell it is. When everyone gets to the end of their life,
Starting point is 00:53:30 what are some of the things I'm gonna wish? I can say yes, I did that, yes, I did that. Are you starting to think about some of those things? Am I being the kind of adult I wanted to be? Am I... I started doing that about about six years ago. There's part of the reason I think I wrote the book, Greenlight.
Starting point is 00:53:50 I started to get the courage enough to project to my deathbed, to my eulogy and go, what's it gonna be, man? Where's your head and heart and spirit gonna be? What's your legacy gonna be? How are you gonna look back? What are people gonna say? How are you gonna be introduced after you're gone?
Starting point is 00:54:06 Right. And we think that's morose. No. But if it's inevitable, how can it be morose? Right. Because it's going to happen to everybody, right? So to look at it, and if anything, it's giving me more of a charge to go. Okay.
Starting point is 00:54:21 Right. Well, let's make this shit count. Yeah, but most people with your success would be, yeah, I did it. I think they're going to live forever. They just kicked the can down the road. I won't say who this is, but somebody super duper successful. I was talking to the other day and I was asking him about his health regimen. And he was like, yeah, you know what, here's a deal.
Starting point is 00:54:45 I don't know what your religious belief is, but I believe that we all kind of come around, we do multiple laps. You know, we're always working on things, you know, reincarnation, whatever the hell it is. But he says, I like this lap. I started laughing because this guy's like enormously successful.
Starting point is 00:55:00 He says, I just don't want this to end. Like, I'm having a really good time. And I want to eat, yeah. By the way, spending time with all those, like anytime you get around any kind of those sort of billionaire types or whatever, the one thing I know that they all talk about is their mortality and their fucking health.
Starting point is 00:55:19 It's it, it's all the time, because it's the one thing they can't buy. They're not thinking about it. They're like, they can improve it. I look at, I've got these mountains of cash, but I can't buy immortality. You're not fucking like, no, man, no, dude, you're gonna die just like everybody fucking else. The other thing is, I also know, I, you know, these guys know my good buddy died a few
Starting point is 00:55:39 months ago, a childhood pal, and it's kind of really, it's made me ask a lot of questions in the last few months. And the one thing I realized is like, we all know the deal. The deal is we're all gonna die. We just kick the can down the road to work out this day. We kick it down the road and we trick ourselves and what happens to go, hey, so and so died.
Starting point is 00:55:57 What? Yeah. Yeah. It's just so bright. What do you think was gonna have? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. He died. He didn't live to a thousand. just. What do you think was going unbelievable?
Starting point is 00:56:08 He died. He didn't live to a thousand. Yeah, you know, Joan River said like just a few months before she died. She's like, I made he sex when I dying. Nobody's going to go so soon. Right. Yeah. But wait, I want to hit a hundred. So bad. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:56:22 I really do. Yeah. Do you really? I've just got a numbers game. Just pure ego. That's the number. I really want to hit a hundred so bad. Oh god. I really do. Yeah. Do you really? He's got a numbers game. Just pure ego. That's the number. I really want to get to a hundred. I do feel like this generation will do that more commonly than the last.
Starting point is 00:56:32 Yeah. I feel like we got. I mean, with your diet of nuts and cardboard, your interns look like you're a hundred and don't worry. I use you to pack my clothes here in New York. But with your success, don't you? I'm just going back to what you said about what's my legacy. What am I going to leave behind?
Starting point is 00:56:50 But my God, the body of work is mind blowing. It's really more than any actor. It's the top of the heap. So what else is there to accomplish in your mind that would make you feel like now I have enough to leave behind. Now I have a legacy. Now I have something for people to introduce me as as you say. Well, I mean, my negotiables are different forms of art, but manan negotiables are those three kids I was talking about. Yeah, yeah. I hope that when they are out of the house
Starting point is 00:57:26 and as they become adults and after I'm gone, that they'll be able to list me, that the three of them will be able to list me as best friend on one hand, one of their five top best friends. Oh, that's great. That's a dream of mine. That's awesome.
Starting point is 00:57:42 You know, and that gets into that friendship thing we were talking about, but I can't go full-bore on that yet. I still do have to be a parent. I still do have to give myself credit and go, I'm a father for a reason. In 53, we have, if we don't know better, what's evolution for at the same time trying to be that friend and hope him on their own.
Starting point is 00:58:01 Yeah, it also, for me at least, it kind of demands that I live my life in a way that they can maintain respect for me, which translates to friendship usually. I mean, you know, or I put another way, I'm not really close friends with anybody that I don't deeply respect. Right. So it's a good safeguard against, you know,
Starting point is 00:58:22 letting your life run off the rails if you're really trying to hold the respect and friendship of people you care about. And then I'm trying to double down on whatever respect I've earned and gained. I'm trying to double down on that. I mean, there's, look, let's be honest, there's the baseline of who pays a rent, who puts the food on the table, who's giving you a chance to get an education, who's up in the middle of the night
Starting point is 00:58:49 taking care of you when you're sick, who's... Yeah, because I'm tired of it. Right, I'm tired. You're sick and tired of it. And they have to know that that's not just like... Over it. This is in just one way, straight. This is, and then we talked to him a lot about
Starting point is 00:59:00 how did we get what success that we've had? We talk about winning the right way. We talk about, is there been luck along with you? Damn right. Has there been trying to do it well? Is trying to be as competent as a craft as I could be? Their mother as well. Yes there has.
Starting point is 00:59:19 But what's that saying about luck? Luck is the result of preparation and discipline or something like that. Yeah, some of the... I don't know. I talked to my son yesterday about this idea. I was saying, he was talking about cool kids
Starting point is 00:59:32 in school and stuff and I said, man, just do what makes you feel happy. I said, if you can be, and he started painting a lot in the last year and a half and I said, do that. If you can live a life where you get to be creative and you can do that on a daily basis, that's what you do. Yeah, yeah. You'll be so lucky.
Starting point is 00:59:50 You'll be so happy in your life, no matter what the sort of the outcome is. And I go, and if you wanna know what success is, and I always say this to them, if you wanna know what success is, and I pull up my phone and I show them the video of Sean eating lobster on a G5. I go, this is success.
Starting point is 01:00:07 I do what it's got to be. Yeah, that's going to be good. Can I peel it for you? Yeah. Wait a second. We've taxed you so much, but I want to ask you one thing, because I want to get into the Greenlight Initiative or the foundation that you and your wife started,
Starting point is 01:00:23 and what you guys are doing. It's so fucking cool. Tell the guys a little bit about what it is. Check this out, man. This is pretty cool and it's low hanging fruit. Yeah. But you know what I say about low hanging fruit? Still fruit.
Starting point is 01:00:34 Pick it. And still fruit. You know? So, first bill by Parsons and Safety Communities Act has passed just over a year ago, right, to Safe and Schools. First one passed in 30 years. So billions of dollars of federal money are there to safe and schools, middle health counselors,
Starting point is 01:00:49 and even physically safe and schools, like middle detectors, panic buttons, et cetera. Our congressman in Texas, who down there in Yvalda, where the shooting was, where I went, when Camilla and I went down,
Starting point is 01:01:02 comes to me four months after. And says, Matthew, I got 119 school districts. Eight, I think it's eight, have applied for a grant and zero have been awarded. Look what? We find out another out of 13,800 school districts in America for this very popular grant from the Department of Justice at Safe and Schools.
Starting point is 01:01:30 405 applications. Total. 235 awarded grants. The math doesn't add up. You're like, what's going on? When we started studying this, and finally, I was amazed at how many school districts don't even know that the grants are there to apply for.
Starting point is 01:01:48 Number two, the ones that do know are superintendents who are in the ones that need it in high poverty rate schools. The superintendents is the bus driver and the PE teacher. He doesn't have, he or she doesn't have the damn time or the expertise to write out one of these 50-page grants. And I understand that I can't even feel out of customs form with that scratch and shit out.
Starting point is 01:02:07 And they're complicated, they're really complicated. So they're like, I might even go write the grant. There's also people that are like, that's federal money. And that money's blue right now and I'm red, so I don't want that money. I'm like, guys, the money ain, blue, blue, blue, red, it's fucking green. You spend it.
Starting point is 01:02:27 It's there. And the government wants you to spend it. Want you to get awarded. So the billions of dollars are there. Then we find out that it's used or lose it. And to year 2026, if these billions of dollars are not allocated, it'll be reallocated somewhere else. And we'll look back at this bipartisan
Starting point is 01:02:43 and safe community's act, which has already done some good, but we'll look back and go, so much of that bill was symbolic. And bravo to us, first one past in 28 years, and what do we do with it? So we started this Greenlight's Grand Initiative to help follow through as private citizens working with the public government to say, hey, let's cut through that red tape. 165 of the highest poverty rate schools in America are main target. We will have a full grant writing service
Starting point is 01:03:10 for those schools to file a grant that will most likely get awarded by the government to save from their schools. That's great, so you write the grant for them. We have grant writers who can write it for them. The second tier is, we have website now that walks you through. So the second tier of poverty schools can go on
Starting point is 01:03:26 and we have someone who will help you write the grant. And then the third place is just for the schools that are more fluent, but it just helps you get through the red tape process in a very simple way. So it's sort of, I call it a civics class of supply and demand. I mean, no, civics is not sexy. You know, as I'm saying, there's nothing glamorous about this I mean, it's, no, it's civics, it's not sexy. You know what I'm saying? This is, no, there's nothing glamorous
Starting point is 01:03:46 about this initiative, but it's useful and it's constructive and it just needs to be there. It just needs to be there. And I, we had no idea how much the government's like, yes, we want to spend the money. We just have to feel the need. We have to feel, F-E-E-L, the need. And where help and schools go better over here going,
Starting point is 01:04:05 we need, but how do I show you we need you? Well, we're gonna help you feel that this grant that shows them. That's great. That you need it. And then they can add it. What's it called again? Green light grant initiative.
Starting point is 01:04:14 And can people go to a site and help out or how are you guys funded? You can go, we're still going around for looking for funding now. You know, one of the challenges has been people, a lot of people come up and wanted to fund, but they specifically wanted it to go towards their city or their state, which is a very interesting thing.
Starting point is 01:04:34 I mean, talk about, you know, this is a nonpolitical issue because it's a bipartisan bill that has passed. You still have people that go, well, I just want to put it in my backyard. It's a national campaign. If you go on the site, there are places where we can, we let you know you can help. There are places where we take donations to help. It'll tell you how much that donation, what it would pay for.
Starting point is 01:04:56 18 to 25, G pays for a full grant writer to write. We have this grant writing firm that can do it by scale and lower their prices to do it by scale. Seems like it makes sense for the government to just peel off a tiny sliver of that huge allocation to fund a service to lubricate it, you know, like you guys are doing. Yes, I mean, they admit that there's too much retic-
Starting point is 01:05:22 the Rs and the Ds admit this should not be this complicated. Yeah. As we know, the government needs some help and run in their business. And this is an example of a private sector going, hey, we're not going to do it for you, but let's help you out. Well, they should donate to your site then. You know, the federal government should make a little donation there to help it run. We have a solid bipartisan advisory board from Murphy to Corning to many others. And they want, and they'd say if we could get to 165 of the highest risk schools and get them grants written
Starting point is 01:05:55 and get them awarded, that that would be a real, the Department of Education said that would be a massive game changer. And then the idea is that down the road, you don't need to have a full grant writer write these things out. That the process will be much more streamlined that, you know, maybe AI down the road can help fill out these grants. And you don't have to pay a certain person. We've also gone out. If anyone out there's listen, is a grant writer
Starting point is 01:06:20 and wants to do some pro bono work, please? Can you retire? Tim, Tim's a home phone number. Home phone numbers, coming up on screen right now. That's a great way to do it. Yeah, there are any great writers out there. And please do reach out to, they can't go to greenlightsgrananissive.org. You spent all this time, you do all this stuff and you do all this amazing stuff and giving back in this,
Starting point is 01:06:43 we're not just giving back. I mean really Taking an initiative and helping Sean by the way, where was that lobster from on the G5? So that was a main Main star is yeah up north. I'm just to the right. Yeah good for you. Yeah Anyway, Matthew you do so as good work out there in the world He doesn't do oysters because oysters only have pearls No, it was diamonds It doesn't.
Starting point is 01:07:05 It doesn't. I mean, it doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't.
Starting point is 01:07:13 It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't.
Starting point is 01:07:21 It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn, so this is gonna, you don't have to talk about this. We can cut it. It's an old topic for any fun theater stories. Oh, oh,
Starting point is 01:07:31 oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
Starting point is 01:07:39 oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, we can cut it. But the only reason I'm bringing it up is because it has been a fantasy of mine. Is there, I know you said, Longo's naked? No, I have that meme. It's on repeat. But, but the Texas thing, will you ever revisit even the idea of Texas or better yet running for the president of this country or anything in politics at all? In politics. It would be amazing. Yeah. Look, it's not something I want to visit now because of what I said earlier.
Starting point is 01:08:07 Yeah. I'm raising three children right now and it's a great adventure doing that. I want to see that through. My only thing I ever knew I wanted to be with his dad since I was eight years old. I want to see that through. Yeah. And I have to measure as I've given great measurement to it. Where can I be most useful? And I want to enjoy myself.'ve given great measurement to it. Where can I be most useful?
Starting point is 01:08:25 And I want to enjoy myself. It's hard work doesn't scare me. But I'm an artist, I'm a storyteller. I'm a folk singer. You know what I mean? Now, is those parts of me what could be useful in a political position of leadership to be a CEO of a state or a country?
Starting point is 01:08:42 Maybe, but some things to, you know, I'm raising my three kids right now, is a hard but fair fight. Going into politics right now is a hard and unfair fight. I'm trying to win, let me go, let me go win my priority non-negotiable fair fight. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:04 First, and then let me out back and have a high-fripp. And forget me go win my priority non-negotiable fair fight. Yeah. First, and then let me out back and have it. And forget me for asking, I just, it's just, I just think you'd be incredible. I don't mind, I don't mind at all. It's a great answer. It is. And I think we kind of made a little bit of news. So in 10 years, you got a 10 year old.
Starting point is 01:09:18 Eight years, really. Yeah. You'll be on the ticket somewhere. Yeah. So there we have it. Can I just say something more, because I I've said this too, personally, okay. But I want to bring it up to y'all, because y'all probably closer with him
Starting point is 01:09:30 and you'll know what I'm talking about. But the man in the bottom right corner who is so technically adept today, and he's so prudent. I'm so, I've always loved him, loved him in comedy. But I was so happy to see him get into drama. Yeah. Because, does anyone have a better delayed blank?
Starting point is 01:09:54 The Jason Bateman? He's got the best, Bateman's got the best delayed blank in the business. That's great. That's great. I introduced a half blank to a character about a year ago. I did it for some of the other night. It's a party. I totally forgot about it.
Starting point is 01:10:12 It's like this really affected kind of, what Winks are super douchey anyway, but I took it up a notch for a half-wink. The lids don't actually close. It's just sort of like a little, a little, a little, a a little exaggerated like squit. Oh, it's fucking terrible. I also keep forgetting to incorporate close-eyed talking with a character. That's also super douchey. You know what someone close- Madonna did that. Closes their eyes when they talk. No, you know what? You just don't understand what I'm saying. Yeah, close-
Starting point is 01:10:39 right? Yeah. That's a good one. But thank you. Thank you. A lot of people close them slow, but then they get nervous on the rebound and open them quick. You close them slow, and I think you open them slower. And it's right between, I got to hang on every word, and he's absolutely fucking with Bidney. I think a lot of it's ZX, too, isn't it? It's a lot of ZX.
Starting point is 01:11:04 I'm also in the editing room. So I'm in freeze frames all the time. Just to elongate the eye clothes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man, God. Well, we're over. We're eight minutes over. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:11:16 We're generous for being there. Listen, man, yeah, thank you for coming back our first returning guest. Yes. For giving me another shot with my hot head. I appreciate you. We only made it through pre-production last time, but that's true. We're producing it through this time. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:11:29 Yeah. What an absolute treat, man. It's so great to have you so much. Yeah, you're such a great person. Appreciate it. Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, and all the success in your book, it comes out just because September 12th,
Starting point is 01:11:42 am I right about that? I think that's right. I'm not sure. I don't have it over there. I'll be out there. I'm talking about it. September 12th. Am I right about that? I think that's right. I'm not sure. I don't have it over there. I'll be out there talking about it. September 12th. September 12th. Just because Matthew,
Starting point is 01:11:50 hey, man. You're the man. You are the man. Man, appreciate it. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Pat. Thank you so much. Bless up.
Starting point is 01:11:59 Bye, buddy. Oh, love him. Real good. I tell you what, I like that, Matt McConaughey. Yeah, I could talk to him. It's not Matt. It's Matthew.
Starting point is 01:12:08 I know. Yeah. I made that mistake once. It's not marable. I know. I know. He talked to him from a man. Wait out.
Starting point is 01:12:16 What a guy. Really? He is an absolute original. He does not waver. He doesn't says what he wants. His roles have been all over the place from the sort of the easiest go down sort of popcorn kind of films to the most challenging artistic films,
Starting point is 01:12:38 small budget things, and then also just like, I love that he lives super down home there in Texas, but then he also lives a very flamboyant and elite lifestyle as well. He just, he figures out a way to manage it all. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, he's, but what he's been able to do in, in starting out is kind of a matinee idol and, and, and sort of hanging in there, not forcing people to appreciate
Starting point is 01:13:07 or respect his, his acting chops, you know, like you didn't cram some, you know, Shakespeare thing down our throat right after some romcom, like he's, he's, he's never by the way. And what I like also is he talks about. He just shows, he's like, for the most part, he just shows up on Friday night. That's where you can see him on a Friday night when the movie opens. And he's not out there going talking about his process. In this way that self-aggrandizing, he just does it.
Starting point is 01:13:35 He just does it. But you know what I loved? I loved when he said, he's so great at everything he does, that even when he was saying he was signing off, he even, it was even cool the way he waved. Good. Bye. It's really a creative one.
Starting point is 01:13:54 I don't know. Literally saying bye. Sean always wants to get out. He's one of the other shots. I was, Sean's always asked like there was like a cat running out with the meter running outside. Like he's just got a like, maybe there is. Maybe there. There probably isn't Broadway is right outside.
Starting point is 01:14:09 All right. Hey, listen, listen, listen there. I love you. Go. Go. Bye. We love you. Listen, we're just going to do something.
Starting point is 01:14:16 Bye. Bye. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smartness is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbaco, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Amjurf. Our next episode will be out in a week wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can listen to it right now, early on Amazon Music, or early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondry Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondry app. Every big moment starts with a big dream.
Starting point is 01:15:05 But what happens when that big dream turns out to be a big flop. From Wondry and Atwell Media, I'm Misha Brown and this is the big flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flugs, fails and blunders of all time like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to like get other people to do it. And the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats. Like if I'm watching the dancing and I'm noticing the feet aren't touching the ground, there's something wrong with the movie. Find out what happens when Massive Hype turns into Major Fiasco.
Starting point is 01:15:43 Enjoy the Big Flop on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Get started with your free trial at Wondery.com slash plus.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.