SmartLess - "Paul Giamatti"

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

All’s well that end-swell with the illustrious Paul Giamatti. Moth protection, boxing tips, the Hummus Diet, and everything in-between (colonoscopies need not apply)… we all get naughty with Mr. Giamatti. Stay tuned, Listener: it’s another honeymoon with your sweetie SmartLess.This episode was recorded on June 05, 2023.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You know Jason, have you ever ate at a mame? Because I've had a daddy. Never even met your mame. Oh, see, you did the joke too. I do like, you know what I really like doing with the at a mame, especially if I'm sitting across the table from my daughters. Yeah. Is that like to take one of those at a mame beans, like to fire like squeeze it and fire

one of those beans right at my daughters? Right. That's right. Yeah. Of course, you know, 16 year old gets pissed off at the 11 year old. She opens the per mouth real wide and goes, yeah, try, try, try, I'll catch you. And that's fun. And then mom smacks me and and then dinner falls apart. Hey, remind me to skip sushi next time. Yeah, you should or just wear a helmet. Welcome to Smart List. Smart. Smart. Smart.

Smart. Smart. Smart. Blast. What's the purple sex toy over your right shoulder? There? In the back. Keep going.

That's the purple thing. That's just one purple thing. Right here, even further back. Oh, this? Yeah. By the way, you know what that is? Should it be in? Roller back, roller back.

That's the inside of like a metal, but it's a record. It's like a sound thing. Oh. And you can also stick it up your ass. That's what we're getting. Okay, so but wait, I want to say something about Jason's food because I FaceTime with Jay last week. And you do eat a lot of stuff, it is kind of a joke,

but it's not really because you do for every, you know, cookie that goes in, it's like 20,000 pounds and not some bolts and twigs and sticks going. Yeah, that's right. So, but I FaceTime do, it's like 20,000 pounds of nuts and bolts and twigs and sticks going. That's right. So, but I face time due and you answer it and you were on the treadmill, that's the other thing, you constantly

are on the treadmill constantly. Well, again, this is not constant, it's just discipline, it's one hour a day. No, I know, but it's good. But, and then we talk, and then we have, I brought up the porn thing again because I can't believe you're the only male in the world That doesn't look a porn but that we already talked about that and then

One of you looked at any porn today No, no, I don't need the eyebrows. Well, no, you don't need to like but I meant like what a weird question You know, you guys look at it daily or weekly or what's the frequency? No, like again, more eyebrows. This isn't a, what about, is it once a week? More, I don't know, like the frequency of it, but I'm just saying that general is the spirit. You say, you don't know, let's hear it. No, like male guys, I agree guy looks at point. Anyway, yeah, but the other thing was, I want to talk about the headband that you were wearing,

while you were running on the thing. Seems kind of horny. It was, no, I've never seen you in that I've seen you in that like other like hats and stuff But I've never seen you wear the headband while you're on the trust. I still have that dumb long hair And I don't want it sweating into my eyeballs That was astonishing. It was like lover boy like the 80s band or something But it made you think of Gay porn. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't know. I just thought I'd never seen you in that. Jason, it was Jason never, Jason never

would look at gay porn because he's too worried. Oh, wow. You're my pants grouting. Yeah. Well, no. Wait, what were you saying? What's my workout? Yeah, what's your workout? Get up. So you know what? It's, it's fine. Well, my hair is quite short right now, but when, if it's even a little bit longer, I have, it's the worst. If I'm, so that I don't sweat and I would never wear it outside because I'm embarrassed, it's old school bandana rolled

and then kind of up here and then my hair is kind of sticking by. That's exactly what Jason was wearing. It's the worst, but I could never wear it like everybody who lives kids, Alessandro, everybody looks at me like, dude, that is the worst. I look like such a solid. Because you don't want to get zits, is that what it is? Well, you just don't want the hair dripping down his face.

You don't want the sweat. You don't want the sweat, because then you get zits if you sweat on your face. Well, I'm 53. I'm pretty good on that, but it's more and just don't want to get the sweat in my face. You know what I mean? I sweat out of my face. You know, it'm pretty good on that, but it's more and just don't want to get the sweat in my face. You know what I- I don't sweat out of my face.

You know, it's sweat period. You what? I don't sweat out of your face. I never sweat for my face. I don't know why, because it's fucking getting on my teeth shirt. Boy, I'm getting on that, teeth shirt so quick. I want to get to our guest,

because I can hear him really feel, I feel badly for him that he's had to listen to the porn and he's had to listen to the sweat. I don't sweat out of my face. Um, I don't. I don't. And he doesn't deserve it. You know why? Because this is a guy.

I use, do you like the term actors actor? I do like that. He's the kind of actor in the way I look at it is. He's the kind of actor that all us actors look out to. Yeah. You're like, yeah, this is the guy knows it. He's in in nervous. Well, the second you say actors actor,

you know, they're friendly. Yeah, and they're just like, they've just done so much stuff, and they've done the dramatic stuff, and they've done the comedy, and they're good at all of it. And you don't regret some, because you're like, they're so good at it,

that you're like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, and this guy's got, he's got an Academy Award nomination. He's got, he's won two Golden Globes. He's won a Primetime Emmy. He's won a Primetime Emmy. He's won four SAG awards. He's been in every imaginal. We were talking about one of his movies last night at dinner after you left, Jason,

because one of his co-stars was there from that film from years ago. He's been in, he's single-handedly responsible for the death of the Merlot business. He's played John Adams. He played Howard Starter Boss. Oh, I love him. I love him.

Guys, I love Paul's view. I love him. I love him. I do this right? Okay. Yes. Oh, Lord. Yes.

Well done. I love you. Hello, I love you guys. I love you. I love you guys. I love you. Look at you. Fantastic. Look at me. I mean, talk about the background.

Can you see me? Yeah, I like. We can hear you. Jason and Paul Jason's very confused right now because of all the books behind you. Look at that wallpaper behind you. It looks so sexy. It's all to green screen. Green's fantastic.

Wait a minute. That's a moth trap. I see that. That's all to green screen. It's fantastic. Wait a minute. That's a moth trap. I see that. That's a very effective. It works like a charm. So listen, he's got, he's got at least 6,000 books behind him. And you've read all of them all back. No, no, I have a lot of them. I haven't read, well, some of them. I've read some of them. Jason, name a book quick. Where the sidewalk is. So no pornography, no books. It's pretty dry. It's just sugar and salt for me.

Those are my, those are my vices. I want to know about the books. Why the book's Paul behind you? I have a kind of manic thing. I honest to God, I have a kind of collecting manoeuvred with, with books. I put all my manic behavior into, into books. I get that. And you know what? If you had asked me to

describe, say, what would Paul Jimani's background be? I probably would have said a bookshelf. Bremler books. I probably given a few guesses or or a bunch of different glasses frames. Or a selection of Warby

Parker just all back there. Paul, do you have a favorite bookstore? In New York, I like going to this. Yeah, I'm assuming you're a new year. Yes, I am. I like going to the Strand bookstore. That's a classic bookstore. It holds up. It was a good one out in LA called Iliad Books. That's a great. I know that one. But we, I was just at the Strand two weeks going it. It's really holding up, isn't it? It is still there. It's still there. Yeah, it's still there, which is nice. Wait, now who was so, so what was the film that you were referencing last night that one of our dinner guests was in? Private parts with Mary McCormick.

Oh, yeah. Wow. That is a deep cut. And we were talking about kind of love that movie, Paul. You're so great. I was very, very happy. It's a good movie. It's a really Thomas directed that, right? Yeah. Have you worked with her? I have not. I would like to. love that movie Paul, you're so great. It's a good movie. It's a really Thomas directed that, right? Yeah, have you worked with her? I have not. I would like to. So, so let me ask you about private parts now that we're on it.

How did that movie come about? Like, were you a fan or did you listen to Howard before leading up to that at all? Like a little bit, you know, but not much. I wasn't any kind of big because I didn't, I didn't realize, for instance, that guy I was playing was a real guy until about halfway into my little 10 you're doing the movie, which was a couple of weeks. And they said to me, how'd you nail this guy so well? And I said, this is an actual guy.

And they were like, yeah, I feel terrible now because I've made a manist guy like the biggest asshole on the planet. And that this is a real person's children are going to see this. His wife is going to see this. This is horrible. And it got me a little nervous. I thought this is terrible. But so. Did you meet him? No, at one time I had to do in promoting something a few years later. You know, they, but like I was always the guy they make me do the drive time radio. Shit, they'd be like, well, you do the promotion on the drive time radio guys. And I've been talking to that.

I only a couple of years ago. But it was always me. They may do that. So because of private parts, so I was always talking to some fucking guys in Oakland or something. And one day they patched him through. They put him on with me. And it was just incredibly uncomfortable. But you started me as a fellow who's pretty diligent

about researching your parts and whatnot. Are you, are you not? Aronius mistake. It depends. And sometimes I am. Sometimes it depends. But sometimes I do a lot of research and sometimes I just don't.

And what is it, if you're playing a nonfiction character, you'll do the research and maybe if it's a side depends. Like I did a boxing picture. I did a boxing picture and I was interested. Yes, Cinderella man. Yeah, so good. I'm nominated for an Academy Award of which I was. I was.

Thank you. Yes, thank you. So good. And I wanted to learn about how to rap guys hands. Right. And I wanted to learn all that stuff. And I learned all these old school tricks. They would hold a big cold silver dollar

against the guys' bruise. Well, it was fun. I learned all that kind of stuff. Because you could have taught them because you're pretty good at wrapping guys' hands while I rounds up. Yes. Yes.

Yes. I'll show you later. I'll show you later. Wait. What do you mean, the silver dollar? What are you talking about? It's like an N-swell, right? Guys would get an N-swell, meaning like a,

it's like, that's like the real thing that they use to smear out a swollen eye or something. It's like a metal square that's got like a little ring. Yeah, that's right. And in the old school, because that movie I did set in the 30s, they didn't have those things. They would just have a freezing cold silver dollar and they put it, they pushed it against the guy's face. Oh, just to take the swelling down. Yeah, correct.

Will, you got anything for, you got anything for N's well? It's, what is N's well? Well, all's well. I think that's what it's called. All's well, that N's well though. But, but, but, but Paul, but then yeah, what about my idea that you may be very, very well trained? I'm assuming you went to, are you a, you a jewelry art guy, a Yale guy? I went to Yale, I went to the Yale School of Drama. That's amazing.

Now, wasn't our friend Laura Lini over there? Well, she went to the jewelry art, I believe. Was she Yale as well? Maybe God, I should know that. No, she was. You remember, yeah. Yeah. Hey, Jason, you remember you were in Ozark with her? Uh with her. Yeah. That's right. You were in the television.

Do you remember that? I've never been. How was that? Did you enjoy that with her? He's completely blanked it. Yeah. I only can remember just an hour ago. No, she's about the best average. So Paul. So you went to you mentioned so you went to yell you were you're you're from New Haven. You actually weren't there, right? No way. And your dad was, your dad was a professor there, ended up, ended up being, being the president of Yale and, oh my God. Wait, your mom? Did your mom teach at Yale too? No, she taught it at a private school in New Haven. Right. So your mom was a teacher. So both of his parents ran into Yale tattoos. You should have a Yale tattoo. I should, I should have a big, I don't. I should have a bulldog on my ass.

Or a big fly right on the small earball. I should always have a bulldog on my ass. Same. Yes. But wait a minute, what about, go back though before, in order to get into Yale, you couldn't just, it wasn't like your mom and dad were like, come on, I got you.

Like you had a like high school, you probably excelled, right? I did pretty good, yeah. I was pretty good academically, yeah. Did you go to high school in New Haven? No, I went to a high school. I went to a prep school. I went to a boarding school, but I didn't board there. So I went, you know, to school. Will, you went to a boarding school, didn't you?

Yeah, I did up in Canada and then the day students, we call them, because there's all boys with they were called day boys. Yeah, day Sean anything? I mean, this whole episode is really gonna get a letter well My history month for Christy Is a Canadian boarding school is it is like horrendous as the boarding schools are seem to be an English? Well, no, but back then did I came you there? Did they like give you a good

sound? Good sound frashing if you, you know, didn't even bother grabbing the can they just went with the hand. I'm not getting easy. Yeah, it's it's mapped in the back hit. No, yeah, I was serious.

You used to get hit really. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got hit in the back of the head a bunch and was this like a Catholic school? Is it like Jesuit? It's an old school. It's a, it's a, I went to this school that's like a very old school

sort of British style boarding school at the time It's now co-ed in is very different is all change and so I'm but at the time it was very much a old English style all boys boarding school Yeah, and our our sort of brother school was this school in Scotland called Gordonston where you know You know a lot of the real family family went and et cetera, et cetera. So we had some members of those types of people came over to and went to my school as well. So the then Prince of Spain, Philippe, he's now the king of Spain was, what's my school? Yeah.

So you struggled a bunch growing up, did you will? Well, I had nothing to do with that. I was like, I was low man starving all the time. That's crazy. Could you have a dad? Did people harass the Prince of Spain? Did you know the Prince of Spain? Yeah, I did.

Boy, this is a terrible sentence, but he and I were on the same ski team. So that is crazy. And I got bust. I got bust to a school in downtown Los Angeles too. Yeah, okay. Yeah, and I had a walk a school in downtown Los Angeles too. Yeah, okay. Yeah, and I had a walk to school with no food. Yeah, no food, no shoes, right, Sean?

Both ways, no shoes. But anyway, we're back. So we could bet to Yale and, and then, when your dad was, your dad was a professor in the beginning president of Yale. So that, I think it does help, because I know other people, probably, parents are professors at colleges.

Yeah, but it only takes you so far. You must have done very well in high school. You were pretty good at high school. I was a bright kid. That was not a school. I bet was pretty good. And your essays and all that. I think probably they must have been.

I don't remember what my essays entailed. I don't remember what they were about. What were the extracurriculars? They must have been pleasing. My ex-cork, that's interesting. I worked on the school newspaper, I drew cartoons. Really? Wow. Really? Wow.

Yes. And what else did I do? I did some theater there. And I worked in the kind of ladder end of it. I did some theater. Well, you're parents more interested or excited about you becoming an academic, or were they okay with you becoming an actor?

I think they were okay with me becoming an actor. I think they, I think the extra, because everybody in my family going back was teachers. Like, right. It was ridiculous. Everybody is a fucking teacher. So I think the idea, the assumption was one of their three children was going to be a teacher, and my brother insisted and do it. So I think they thought this guy will do it.

And then I just didn't. I could see, could you see Paul in a Alexander Payne film playing a New Yorker cartoonist? Oh, yeah. And I don't know what the story is yet, but I'm working on it. I'm gonna call. Now, but now wait, I might embarrass myself here,

but didn't, where did you not do Crumb? The, the, the, the, the Crumb movie? My confusion. I did a movie called American Splendor about a guy, this guy Harvey Pekar and crumb did the drawings for his, because he couldn't draw. He couldn't, yes sir, yes sir, you're welcome. So you're close, well.

I'm very close. Were you able to use some of your talents as a cartoonist while while doing that film? Nope. He couldn't draw. So I couldn't. Oh right. Because who for him?

Yes. No, I didn't get to do any of that. I wish I had wanted to be a cartoonist like an animator was what I kind of wanted to do, but that's that. Did you know that guy was real when you were doing that movie? I did. Yeah, he probably did. Okay.

I did. I did. I did. Yes. I was, yeah. No, I was I was confronted with the actual man. So there was no questioning. It was real. And he was very doodle.

Do you doodle still to this day? Yeah, not as much. I wish I did. I don't draw as much as I used to. I think when I decide to be an actor, I stop drawing. And it was just a kind of different part of my life. And I stopped drawing. I think when I decided to be an actor, I stopped drawing and it was just a kind of different part of my life and I stopped drawing. I still do sometimes with nothing.

Yeah, what does your go to doodle? I think everybody's got one thing that they do know how to draw well. Yeah, well, I do a lot of faces mostly and it's kind of angry old men, moustache-y old men. You have portraits of Jason and your house? Yeah, that's exactly.

My, my 11 year old, a daughter is very, very good at drawing. And I was looking at some of her work the other day. And I said to her, I said, honey, you know, I notice a lot of the faces that you draw. There's a lot of tears coming out of the eyes. Is everything okay? She goes, yeah, dad. And I go, no, no, I mean, I just, you know,

I'm trying to be good dad here. And I'm just saying that that's a flair for me. And I just want to make sure I check in with you. She's like, no, it's just really fun to draw. That is, you think that she was show so shocked that you noticed anybody other than yourself? That I knew my way to serve out of your own that didn't have to do with show business.

Something that wasn't stuck to the front of the television that I noticed. Yeah. She was the Dodgers. Yeah. Dodgers are gone. Do you still get a chance to do theater? Do you like doing it? Do you prefer like now that you are on this trajectory of 800 movies and TV shows?

You're like, I haven't done a play in a while. I do, I do like it. I do prefer it. You're doing a play right now. Yeah, show them like for you to take over form. You play in a while. I do, I do like it. I do prefer it. You're doing a play right now. Yeah. Showing like for you to take over form. You should have a thing. You want to step in.

He's very tired. Yeah. You know, Paul actually was quite famously in a play with a very good friend of ours and a friend of the podcast, Billy Crude up in our case years ago. Oh, no way. What was it? Yeah. I did a couple of plays with Billy. I did a three case years ago. Oh, no way. What was it? Yeah. I did a couple of plays with Billy.

I did a three plays with Billy. Oh, wow. Billy just took $15 off me this weekend because his Yankees took two out of three from my Dodgers. Oh, you're gambling with Billy. But I only sent him $14. I kept the dollar back for the damage that Aaron Judge did to our bullpen fence. Did you see any of that footage? for the damage that Aaron Judge did to our bullpen fence.

Did you see any of that footage? He ran right through the wall, taking a scoring flyball away from us. It was a very, he had a, Aaron Judge had a very exciting weekend to hear in Los Angeles. Obviously this podcast is airing later than that, but Paul, I don't know if you're a big baseball fan,

I know that baseball runs in the family. It does. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I occasionally follow it. Things like this. Tell Sean, well, tell Sean, because I don't know, Sean, you know, Paul's involvement with baseball, which is quite, you know, good.

I don't know what's saying. And we can cut it too if you don't want to talk about it. No, no, no, no, no. After being in academia, my father ended up in professional baseball, and he ran the national baseball baseball. That's a commissioner major league baseball for leagues. That's like God of baseball. Basically, well, yeah, kind of. That's crazy.

It is crazy. And so he didn't, he didn't, he didn't, either one of those things for very long. But you, were you, did you go to a lot of games in that time where you, was it because it was kind of the family business that you were playing with? It was a big, big, big league business. It was a big league business.

It was a big league business. It was a big league business. It was a big league business. It was a big league business. It was a big league business. It was a big league business. It was a big league business. It is crazy. And so he didn't, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't either one of those things for very long. But do you, were you, did you go to a lot of games in that time? Was it, because it was kind of the family business in a way? Yeah, I mean, I did. I went to some playoff games.

Now I'm a senior member of what once I went to. I wish I did. I wish I was paying more attention. I wasn't paying that much attention. But I did go to some, yeah. And, but, but not enough. I wish I'd gone a bit. That's why I asked you about extra curricular in high school like You know like like I was on the swimming team. I was on the swimming team. Oh, okay, that's about as well

Interesting It's like to picture you swimming in high school is kind of interesting. It is interesting You know, I had hair I had hair. I went a little speedo So you did have hair. I had hair. I went a little speedo. So you did have hair. I did have hair. I actually had hair. But for swimming, you know, you would shave. You would actually shave your head.

Of course. Yeah, they would pull that stuff. You would probably shave your old body. You would shave your whole body. Right? You would shave your whole body. Yes. Did you, Paul, you just said, I wasn't paying attention.

And I was actually thinking about this concept recently, about this idea of, as we get older, and I've been doing a lot more reflecting lately, about this idea of this stuff, I feel like, now I'm much more aware or cognizant, and I want to absorb everything much more now than I did when I was a younger man. All these things that we took for granted,

these experiences that we would have. Right? Have you guys had any of that recently? Well, but even just saying what I was saying to you, I regret that, I mean, I was in college and I was kind of checked out and I was sort of like, eh, not dealing with my dad and stuff like that. And I very much regret it now because he passed away very shortly after doing all of that.

So I definitely regret that. And very much regret it now because he passed away very shortly after doing all of that. So I definitely regret that. And very much so. But I very much feel the same way that I need to be taking everything in way more than I did. And I wonder if my kid, my kid will remember, shed or regret shit the same way I did. But hopefully not. How old is your kid? How's your kid?

He's 22. He just graduated from college. Oh, wow. He's the age. I was when my father died I want to bring the whole show down by But he's the age my father was He's the age my father when my father died. So it's interesting to me to to think yeah, I remember I remember I worked with With Marcus with your brother on a very very shitty football movie No, I remember I remember I worked with with Marcus with your brother on a very very shitty football movie No, I remember movie very well. I

Remember yeah, I remember just dorking out with him about about your dad and just like I've taken his brain about it He's a huge baseball fan. He's like a fanatic. Yeah, he said you good to it. I really like my time He is a good dude. That was I loved that movie. It was called necessary roughness. This football. He's back in the day was Scott back. No, he has been bad. The Ireland. Who else was in that? It was a lot of pro. Alizondo. I think that's it. Yeah. Jay, did you, Jay, did you take the moment during necessary roughness and really absorb it? Oh, I sure did absorb it. Wait, we're talking about two different things now. Well, we shot in Dallas, Texas. There was a lot of off time. They've got some nice ballet

and Dallas. Absolutely. We'll be right back. Smartless is supported by Mint Mobile. Signing your life away to a big wireless provider is kind of like being trapped on a roller coaster. From hell, hell, hell. Sure, it looked fun at first. They probably threw in a free phone. But now you can't get off month after month of insane bills and unexpected thrills,

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and use code SmartLess for free socks with a purchase of $48 more. That's ALLBIRDS.com code some Martless. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ All right, back to the show. Paul, since we're kind of going through and I want to, there's so many movies we could, you know, because behind every movie,

there's a story about making it and stuff like that. I could talk to you for hours about so many things that I love you in. But is there one, because we're kind of like going through them now, is there one that stands out that's really, really, really meaningful to you, that you will, speaking of holding on to things and remembering things that really, really sticks to your soul

and you have great memories of. There's a lot of them, I really remember it nicely that way. You know, and it's not necessarily the movie, it's the experience. It's the experience, right? Is there one in particular? There's a movie I did called The Illusionist, which is sort of, it's about a magician and stuff like that. I really liked making that movie. It was in Eastern Europe, it was in Prague, which was fun to be in. And I enjoyed like that. I really liked making that movie. It was in Eastern Europe. It was in Prague,

which was fun to be in. And I enjoyed making that. I wasn't Christopher Nolan, was it? No, it's that's the prestige. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the same time, two magician pictures came in. Yeah, I remember that. I remember that. I mean, I just like working in Prague, man, that is a beautiful time. Great. I loved it. It was fantastic. Yeah, what film do you think, and this would be a very hard thing for you to answer, but what, which film do you think

was the most helpful to you in your career? Because I, I feel like every single job you've done has been extremely prestigious and really, really like, I'm, did, did, will say you've been nominated only once for, for an Oscar? For an Oscar. Yeah, but then, I feel like every single one of us would be like. But like 12 years of slave, Romeo and Juliet saying, Mr. Banks, that would be like.

It's just, well, those are all I mean, and the 12 years of slave was an amazing movie to me. Yeah, one of those really like it. But any one of those jobs you would think an actor would go, okay, now my career is made. Right, you know. I guess so, but I mean, I think something like. Private parts actually was the first time I ever did anything with real, uh, any- Just for my sister, made, right? You know, I guess so. But I mean, I think something like private parts actually was a first time I ever did

anything with real. Just for my sister Tracy, private parts is the Howard Stern movie about his life, just so we're Howard Howard. It really convincingly and to great claim, plays himself, which is great. He was great. He was so good. He was really great at it. He was, he was terrific.

Paul, it does occur to me that private parts actually was a kind of a kicking off point. Of course, you were a working actor, but that kind of opened you up to a halt because it was such a big commercial success. Yeah. I'd only really done theater stuff up until then. I'd done little bit parts and a lot of stuff and a lot of TV shows and TV movies and stuff like that. So that was the first time I had anything substantial to do in a movie. Did that lead to saving private Ryan? I don't remember which one of those came first.

Maybe, but saving private Ryan was years after private parts. I don't, was it? I don't even, this is what's weird. And then this is where I feel like my mind, my brain is going. You're also a guy I bet every single film would love to have you be a part of that film because of what you're a part. I just looked it up. Really? So what it says to the what it says to the community or the industry about what our film is like we have Paul Giamatti in this film. So for sure. Don't even submit your you know this person or

that person. I appreciate that and I like it, but I don't I don't see it I mean, that's very nice of you to say I feel the same thing about you gentlemen I feel the same way about you don't even try it. No, no I'm not I'm sincere and honest Path protector back there When they say I'm in a movie they're like oh great. It's going straight to video. That's good now We know it's great to video. I've been in plenty of stuff, I've been in plenty of stuff like that, that's for sure.

But Paul, you know, what's funny is, and I love, and I feel like there have been all these, through the decades that you've been working in film, there have been all these, like saving private parts, and then in the 2000s, it was sideways, which really, it was so, and I joked that it killed the Merlo business single-handedly. It did, actually.

But it kind of did, right? It did, yeah. It actually did, I think, yeah. How so? I've seen that movie 50 times. Because of how disparaging you guys talk about Merlo. Yeah. That is sort of like for the Philistines. Yeah. Oh, dude.

Dude, what? Yeah, what are you talking about? You're even at the mention of Merlot, the look of discussion. The guy goes crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I know, I knew nothing about wine. I know nothing about wine. I don't, you know, you don't drink it. Not particularly now. Yeah. Kind of gives me a headache. What's the drink that you like? What do you like? I like tequila, I like mezcal. Those are the two things that I like a lot.

Is it a pause at a problem? Go ahead, we can talk about it. Yeah, that's hard. Do you really do love it? This shows you I do love it. And this shows you're not a problem. I just still live in the loving, I'm still in the love phase. I'm in the honeymoon phase still with tequila and my scalp.

So everything's fine. I took a sniff out of somebody's. Somebody had a beautiful glass of tequila on the rocks. Yes, she did. I took a sniff of. I swear to God, I went into a time machine. You never know. By the way, I watched you get in, put his nose in.

Oh my God. I was knee deep into my 20s. I was feeling pretty fast on a highway. And it was all kinds of things in my pocket. You had a candle on the dashboard. Can't hold the camera down. Paul Jason used to drive with a lit candle on his dashboard. Why?

Because he wanted the cops to stop him so bad. I should have put a co-jack light on my roof. You should have had a Kojak light on my, on my roof. You should have had the little light to just pop up on the roof. Why did you travel to Likana? What was the idea? Just for night time or was it lit all the time? Paul, it was just, I guess I was blind to my douxiness

and I was looking for Atmo, you know? Jason, when you smell that tequila thing and it took me like a time machine, do you, is there like a desire to drink it? Or you're just like, that was nice to smell it, but I don't have any desire. Yeah, no, not anymore, because I did it. And I was thinking about it at the time, I was thinking, let's do this until you're sick

of it because you don't want to be doing this when you're in your 40s or 50s. Oh, that's interesting. Like at the level, at the level at the time. That's what you thought at the time. At the time. Really? You had that foresight to say, I get level, at the level at the time. That's what you thought at the time. At the time. Really? You had that foresight to say, I get it out of the way now. Yeah, I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm a little bit too. Whenever I make a cake, I eat so, I'm not kidding. I eat so much of it so that I don't ever want it for a long, long time. It also makes all the cake go away so you can't have any more. So do you, gentlemen, do you drink at all? I don't drink anymore. Will you? I don't know. None of you drink anymore. That's not Sean. No. In a second, Sean, you don't drink. How do I not know that? James, because of, because New Year's Eve, two years ago, all right, the one you got when you're playing games. Sean disappeared. Sean, Sean was doing

bit. Paul, this is true. We're at our friends house. And we kept pimping Sean out to do various bits. So he's standing up. It's true. And Sean's doing bits and he's dancing. He's doing all these moves and he's doing impressions of people. And most of the people at the table, like a monkey. But he was hilarious and we're dying.

And then all of a sudden, he wasn't around it. And somebody goes, we're Sean. They went. He went to the hospital. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah, Scotty, you have the hospital. went to the hospital. Oh my God. Yeah, it's Scotty. You have the hospital. You have the hospital.

It's just like a competition. I get a fit. I get a fit brought on by alcohol. Oh my God. And so I would just deal with it. I didn't, I wouldn't know when it comes on. Like it would come out once or twice a year. Wait a second.

I was just going to throw it. So you would have it regularly. Yeah. Yeah. Like once or twice a year. And I could be, it goes to his drug. He could be at a party. I could be any I could be a church. He's got his own entrance at Seeders. He's got a special back. So they were

back or not and now Jimmy Kimmel calls me paddles because I know so many times they are and they would they would you know clear and get my heart back to right. Yeah, and then he faced time back to the party. This guy's, I'm okay. It's just on schedule here. So you just, you quietly, you just quietly took yourself off to the hospital. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful.

Yeah. The set was done. That's very thoughtful of you. He's been known to, he's been, Paul, he's been known to in the middle of the night. Go to the hospital and not even wake his husband, uh, Scotty up. And then come home and then he tells Scotty the next day that he was at the hospital for a month. Because you've had these heart-buttations. Well, I'm on a cell.

It's an atrial fibrillation. What am I supposed to do? He's a hypocondriac. He likes to be taken care of. That doesn't sound like hyper. That sounds like a real thing. No, no, they had his own podcast called hypocondriac. Okay? He's a hypocondriac. Okay. He's a hypochondriac.

It's, you love it. I understand. I think I used to be one. I'm kind of recovering one. I'm not as bad as I used to. Really? Yes. How'd you get over it? I'm not exactly sure. I think I out, I think I outgrew it. Well, what is a hypochondriac? Like officially, it's somebody who's, who's irrational afraid of germs. No, no, no. Or worried about their health, concerned with their health. Yeah. And a kind of constant monitoring of your health. And making sort of these leaps that they have a sort of a, and I fight again, I think

everybody has that and to certain to a certain degree. And I've had to go to jail. Yeah, older you get to, right? And I had this thing recently where I had Jay I was telling you about when we were at any play golf and I was had this sort of pain. I was like, and I'm like, you know what, motherfucker, it's just gas and relax and give yourself a break. Oh, yeah. What was it? A way.

You're joking. Oh, really? I think in that moment, it just vanished. And I just took it easy for a couple of days and I just like, you know what? Just stop giving it so much fucking credence and stop thinking about yourself and do something. Yeah, but you also said you had a threeminute fart that on the backside of that, you felt great. That is true.

So if I, if I had hummus, that happens. You have a terrible gas. Just the valve just gets stuck open. Just for the longest one forever. Yeah. I would love to go with you to the Mediterranean somewhere. Just get you into under a hummus diet and watch it all fall apart. I would be, please excuse my friend. I'm so sorry. That's amazing.

Paul, I was going to, the other thing I wanted to bring up was, and going through all, and I don't want to go through all your credits, but one of the things, and I've been such a fan of yours for a long time, and I even, and I'm a fan of yours despite the fact that you're friends with the row. And, I've made a lot of deal with the row. Well, we don't have our best friends, but we love to throw as much at them as we can. We really have the best material now. No, that's interesting. Throw it at us.

Beautiful. No, no, no, I haven't seen him in angels. I haven't seen him in a long time. And you're better off. Yeah, probably. I think I probably have to. He, he, he adamantly will not return my calls, my texts, nothing. Does he do this to you guys? You know, you may have a wrong number for him. He's easy. You think so. Pretty good. He likes, he likes contacting connection. He loves doing text bits. You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so?

You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so?

You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so?

You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? You think so? I'm happy to observe, but I then I'm constantly feeling like, oh, God, everyone is contributing and, and, and, emerging and double-click thumbs up. And if you're down with them, and if I don't, I'm a, I'm a dick or I, I hope that people just assume I put my phone down. No, I know.

I know. I put, like, I put my phone down. And so, right? So that they just think I'm not staring, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, Polly, any, any good, you gotta have one. Oh, is I'm not right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm Paulie. Any any good. You got to have one now. Yeah. Yeah. Paulie.

No, that's fantastic. So that's I want to be a Paulie. No, I don't know. I appreciate it. To give me one good theater story. Just something when Oh, holy long. Here he comes. That's a that's a tough thing. Like, did you ever forget your lines?

Paul? No, I've ever I ever a guy. A guy speaking of heart attacks. A guy I was doing a show once, and a guy, I was in a little black box experimental theater in Seattle where I moved out to Seattle and I started acting out there. And a guy got up in the second row. I was watching him,

and I was on stage doing this long monologue, 40-minute monologue. Oh my God. And the guy. Doing the monologue and watching the guy. Yeah, I was watching him, and I was on stage doing this long monologue, 40-minute monologue. And the guy. Doing the monologue and watching the guy in the second row? No, I and I in the guy because he was getting really, Dave's getting really dopey looking. And he was like, and I thought something's wrong with this guy. I mean, his close quarters, a little shitty,

little experimental theater. And he got up and climbed over the guy in front of him, came up on stage,iston shot himself and dropped He'd had a hearted I didn't realize he'd had a heart attack until and and I was playing in the It was just your performance. I thought well I mean people thought it was just because in the performance I was playing a What you call it the guy who puts his hands, you know, a faithy healer. A healer.

I was playing a healer. And, you know, and I suck at improving and things like that. I could have been a gold moment for me, but I didn't, but I sort of knelt down and they came up and got the guy off. I heard later, actually years later, I didn't even know that he'd had a heart attack,

a small heart attack. So, in a way, that's the sound itch on. That's not a great story. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait? Do you evacuate fully? I mean, I'm a little bit of a... Just front-fall, cardiac event, doesn't it? I've never heard about pooling when you have a heart attack. I think maybe it can happen. Well, yeah, you might lose, like, you lose your faculties or whatever. But the guy lives.

Wait, but the guy lives. That's the whole different thing, though. I think you know. Yes. Well, he was on stage with you. Did he die? He was on stage with me for a while, yeah. That's crazy. I don you know, yes. Yeah, okay. Well, he was on stage with you. Did he, did he? He was on stage with me for a while. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know if there's anybody who enjoys pooping or talking about it, but it really made me think it says to me today. He says, he goes, he goes, hey, can you play golf on Thursday? I said, no, I can't because I'm getting a colonoscopy on Friday. So Thursday's my prep day. And I said, let me know, I'm going to be at home in that prep phase. I go, let me know if you want to come by and observe. And he wrote very kind. What's the latest to

let you know? I'm just not sure if my Thursday's going to fill up, you know, I had you with you. Finally, Adlin, did you have it this week? I'm on Friday. Oh, you are. It's actually fantastic. I can tell you I enjoy the hell out of it. It's really, I enjoy it. That little twilight thing they send you off into and you wake up real chatty too. I had a bunch of jokes for the doctor. And then the rest of the day are you, are you exhausted?

No, you're good to go. You feel fresh. I felt very fresh. Paul, I've said this on this podcast a couple of times. You will need a shower, Will. But when I got my colonoscopy and my bare ass is hanging out, right when they put the anesthesia in my arm, they said, count back to 10, I go, 10, nine, or I feel it.

And right when I pass that, I go, whatever you do, don't touch my asshole. And then I pack it up. And you got that out. That all got out. And I heard laughing as I went out. Beautiful. Well, it reminds me of one of my favorite jokes, right? Guy walks into a two, two, a, two, a, two, a, two.

He's going in my car. He's going in my car. I know that. I think I know the shook. No, complete. Please, please. I like this show too. I think I, I think I leaned over the table and he drops his pants and he's ready for his,

his exam and the doctor comes in and the doctor says, okay, don't, Jerry, this time no hard on. And the patient turns around and he says, my name's Andrew and doctor says, I'm Jerry. No, that's not even close, Jason. That's not fucking terrible. That actually confused me. I was confusing. Paul, Paul, Paul, if you know, I'm fucking terrible. I'm so sorry. That actually confused me. I was confusing.

Paul, Paul, I was confused. No, I'm confused. It wasn't the joke I thought it was going to be and I'm confused. No, you should know we both got quiet because we wanted to let him hang his up because he has tried to tell this joke 30 times. It's my favorite joke. And it's so embarrassing. On this show or something?

Oh, I want to show him a golf course at dinner and he does it all the time And one time he set up one time he taught it even like this he one time he said he goes And the guy comes in and he says Don't get a heart on Kevin and Kevin says my name's not Kevin I'm gonna go Kevin says Wait, but I think I was conscious of that this time. And I think I said it right. No, I don't think you did.

The guy's on the table. He was puzzling about that. The guy said, the doctor walks in. The doctor walks in. What happened? The doctor walks in and he says, and the guy says, okay, Jerry, don't get a heart on this time.

And the patient goes, my name is not Jerry and the doctor goes, no, my name is Jerry. Very good. I just punched it up. I said, I'm throwing extra name in there. I punched it down. I'm confused as to say, I'm Jerry's good. I like just I'm Jerry.

That's funny. By the way, leave it to baby and you need it longer and more complicated. And I'm funny. So, Jerry, I'm very funny. That's a funny joke. I have to funny. That's a funny joke. I have to say it's a very funny joke. If you give it a try, it's hard on Jerry and Andrew, who's actually related, who grew up

with Jerry's cousin, they went to this, they're from the same town, says, this is why we need our writers. This is why we need our writers. Don't you really feel the lack of writing? Don't you need our writers? We do love her writers. We do love her writers. Who told you that show? You. Sean. Sean told you the joke. So speaking of our writers, one of the things I love, so this is what I was getting at before. And I've again, it goes without saying how much I enjoy watching you perform. I'm a legit fan. And but in the last couple of years, the thing that I've really

loved watching you is billions. And I think that that is a performance that is so, just deserves so much more acclaim. And there's a, there's a, there's a specific and for people who haven't watched it, it's really great. And it's, and it's Paul and it's Damien Lewis and amongst a million other really. I need to have a farmer. So great. I know. And I love and I love me some Damien Lewis, so I think he's just outstanding. He's great.

But but you Paul have this moment in the end of one of the seasons where you're left on the bed. I don't want to ruin it. I mean, it's a few years old, but you're left on the bed, and you are crying because it seems like your world has imploded. And as the camera comes around, it reveals that you're laughing. And it was one of the great, I thought it was such a, such an incredible device. It was a device, if you will. Smart episode, yeah. But it was such a nice experience. Fucking brilliant episode. I didn't even see it. it was such a small target for you to hit. Yeah, because an actor would read that in the script and then you'd have to think,

well, how could I laugh that could believably sound like crying? It was tricky. It's an unfortunate question. Unfortunately, some of it was on my back. That's actually what made some of it easier was it was on my back. So it was like I could do sort of like making it look like I was hunched over laughing or something. But I think actually part of it is too, when I start laughing, I start crying actually. So it actually, it wasn't really, you know, because if I can get, I'm able,

making yourself laugh is tricky. Actually, it can be, but I feel like it's like making a sneeze or something like that. Like it's hard to make it make an authentic sounding sneeze. Yeah. Oh, it is hard to do it. Are you a good cryer? Can you cry on cue? I'm sometimes I'm not necessarily, I'm not one of those people that can do it on cue.

And I'm not one of those people that's like, which eye do you want? Kind of like that. Right. Laura Linnie knows how to do that. Laura Linnie can, oh my god. Where's my mom? I couldn't nail that in a second. Oh, hey,

Paul. Um, but wait a minute. Cause he only had one eye, Paul. Uh, but wait a minute. Did she have tears out of the fake eye? Oh, fake eye. I would know. The tears were the two were the duck. That one came with a pump that she put in her head. Yeah, it's a hole in her head. Did she lose? I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Did she lose the eye in somewhere? It's just two. When she was two years old, she. I'm sorry. Did she lose the eye in somewhere? Yes, she is too. When she was two years old, she'd cancer. And she found it and brought it to the show. We actually had, we both, we've all three of us have held her eye. We did it on stage. Mm-hmm.

Her was constant. Actually, I am formaldehyde. That's not galasii. I see. I hear galasii. Wow. That's amazing. Paul, do you, is there like a, do you, are you somebody who seeks out, like, develop things for themselves?

Are you just an actor who's just like, you know what, my agent just call me when there's something that you feel is right? Otherwise, I'm not going to go find a writer, put this thing together, right? It was more of that kind of thing for a long time. I made some like, not on successful attempts to produce some stuff, not even necessarily stuff for me to be in, and I managed to make some movies, and I did a television show that I then appeared

in called Lodge 49 that nobody watched, and it's a nice show. Oh, yeah, tell me about that show. It's a really good show. It's a really good show. And yeah, it was on for two seasons on AMC, and nobody watched it, but it was really good show. It's a really good show. And yeah, it was on for two seasons on AMC and nobody watched it, but it was a good show. And just because the writer, I met the guy

and I read the thing and thought, wow, somebody should help this guy make this thing because it's really great. But I haven't only lately now, and as I finished billions, I've actually been doing a podcast because for the past couple of months. Which I can get to, yeah.

And that was something that I did develop with a guy that I know was a philosopher and there's animation and stuff like that. That's kind of the first thing that I feel like I really did on my own. That's cool. podcast is chin wagging. It's called chin wag. Yeah.

Chinwag chinwag. What does that mean? What is a chinwag? It's like a, I think it's a British term for like just shooting the shit. I've never heard of it. Yeah. mean, what is it, Chen Wag? It's like a, I think it's a British term for like just shooting the shit. I never heard that. Yeah. Wagging the shit back.

But you get, and it's a, it's a comedy podcast, but you, you get into all sorts of different areas you got, you talk about UFOs and ghosts and big foot and shit like that. I'm in, I'm in. I'm in. Yeah, because I like stuff like that. And I was like, you know what? I'm tired and I'm tired of not talking about big foot and doing shit about UFOs and ghosts. Yeah, yeah.

Do you watch ancient aliens? I do watch ancient aliens. I love it. I love that joke. I love it. What about how the universe works? I've known. I haven't seen that.

What's ancient aliens? Yeah, what is ancient aliens? What's your channel? It's on the history channel. It's what it is. It's all about conspiracy theories about like why civilizations just died out like the Mayans is like, right, or the Egyptians. It's like all the stuff happens and then it's just done. It's like, chariot to the gods. It's all about UFOs, visited Earth back in the day and it built the pyramids

and all this kind of thing. And they took out. And we have legitimate people sort of espousing on these theories and yeah, fairlyly, fairly legitimate. Is that a degree you can get fairly legitimate? Do you? History channel level. Shatter actually was on it. Was Shatter on Ancient Ali? Oh, okay, I mean, yes, he was. He wasn't. And we actually talk, I talk to Shatter. He was a captain of a spaceship, so yeah, he's quite legitimate.

Yeah, Paul, do you, so what have you, what have you gleaned from these episodes about, say, for instance, UFOs? Are they, what's, what's your feeling about it? What's going on? Well, I'm a believer. I've never seen anything like this. I'm a believer. And stuff is super weird now. I mean, all the weirdness now of the government saying they exist. They just opened up a new division. They just did, yeah. They did, but I'm confused.

It's like, on the one hand, a bunch of guys say they're real and then they walk that back very quickly and it's really confusing. And NASA just, is it a NASA that they just opened up a new thing? I don't know. Some, Jason's right. I read that too. There's some part of the government is opening a new, they're doing, I know that. And if it had any been happened to him.

If they were, if they were really curious about it, I would think they would not tell us. They would let us know when they were done. You would think. You know, but don't the intelligence community. It's up though. We had Neil the Grass Tyson on our show, ages ago, right? Well, one of the first episodes we did and he made the point that if these things, these supernatural or extraterrestrial visits or all these things were actually

occurring, we live in a time where people take something like a billion photographs a day and videos pointed in every direction. And yet there's no because they don't, because they don't want to be lots of actual. There's lots of videos that they can. They are. They may be in the early days. Well, the Navy. The Navy videos are pretty. But don't you think we live in a world now too that if it was, if there was actual proof,

you could hide it. That people, people, no, well, no, I don't, I think we live in a culture now where people would be like, yeah, that's kind of cool. Anyway, what are you guys doing? Yeah, they could give it. Don't give it shit. Well, I see. It would just get buried in the avalanche,

a shit that's out there all the time. So we just end up as just like a really non-consequential, like TikTok, like, I was my family this weekend and we saw a UFO. Yeah. You know, in that mechanical voice. I love when I stumped that smart scientist to grass Tyson on my whole mirror.

How'd you do that? Oh, you should have. No, backhand, listen, It's a real great listen. Yeah, Jason really did you tell him the hard on joke and see if he understood it? I did not hear you go. So I just give you a good figure this one out. Who's named Kevin and who's Andrew smart man?

Jason was trying to figure out what he was trying to figure out about figuring out if you could. Time travel. If you put a mirror far enough away, could you see? It was about the speed of light. The speed of light. And would you be able to see? But the question was so long and involved.

You've seen Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is a big brain guy. He's got a lot of stuff. He's glazing and really becoming quite confounded. And then he got it. And if you see him, because you're getting angry that he's almost angry. He's almost angry. And at which point I said, I said,

Neil, do you think that they could build a telescope big enough that you could go back in time through mirrors to see the beginning of Jason's question? Nice. That he liked. We earned him back on that. We earned him back. There we go.

So I'm so into that Paul. So billions is. Yeah, take a listen to it. We earned a back. Very good. So, you still ended that, Paul? So billions is, yeah, take a listen to it. Billions is over. Yeah, yes, it is. Now it's ending. Yeah, we trust it. Now I said, because you guys kind of, you stuttered, stopped, you stopped, and then you guys did another season.

Is that kind of how we had a, well, the COVID thing, you know, shut everything down. And so we had in the middle of the fifth season, and then we finished that half and the sixth, and then we just did the seventh and now it's the seventh. Wow, good for you. Was that a great, a good, positive experience working in New York? Yeah, yeah, it was great. I mean, I was 15 minutes from my house here in Brooklyn,

which was great. And it was nice I could be around my kid, he was a teenager and all of that was great. And the people were great. There was no assholes anywhere on it. It was great. That's great. Yeah, man, it. Yeah. You know,

I always say if you if you look around, you can't find the asshole on a set. It's probably you. Yeah. You do say that. You do say that once a day. I'm looking for this reminder me my colonoscopy. It's all about my asshole. Yeah. You know, great. We had to bring it all back, guys. We have a classic guest with us today. What are you doing when you're not asking? What are you doing like to fill fill the time and the god? It's like you're reading that yeah No, I'm just running out of more robotic puller. What do you do when you're not? No, because I want to know because I know you're doing the podcast, but like what I do the podcast now and I and I really I read a lot. I don't know. I it's a little bit like I'm kind of I don't have a job now and I am a little anxious about it. Because I am a little bit I think of a work of all like what will you do for the summer?

Like again, I have to do the podcast is to do the podcast. Yeah. And then and then I don't know this is what you walk across the you walk across the Brooklyn bit. This is what Iummixed. You walk across the Brooklyn bit. This is what I imagine your day is. You walk across the Brooklyn bridge, you go get coffee, you go to the strand. You might meet somebody for lunch, you walk back,

you'll take a nap, you'll go for dinner, maybe you'll go to Williamsburg. That's actually pretty accurate. That's terrifyingly accurate. It's actually pretty close. The thing that is very nice of what you do is that you work all the time so that we get to watch you.

I love that I can count on you being in something once a year at least. You know, like I hate these great high quality actors that are like so goddamn like I only want to work you know once every five years. But they're picky. That's not a bad thing. You're very picky, though, too. It's just, I feel like you, uh, I think there's been more things that you haven't, that you haven't treated yourself to watching that I've done,

whether or not, not if I'm not at the highest quality. There's no, I know you're being very modest, but I'm not, I should, should have been picky here and so on. You know, you're being very modest, and I will say, and I think what Jason is getting at is that you are, when, if I look at a film or a show that's coming out of some, and I see Paul, your name, I'm like, all right, this thing has a certain,

they know it. I mean, good day. Yeah, it's true. It's a true, now, saying that, here are the list of things that you've done that I have not liked. No, right. Yeah.

As we like to hand the show, and I'm going to have to go alphabetical because the list is low. No, no, but, Paul, but I was going to say you've done so many things and we often ask people here, we're like, oh, what have you done? You've done a lot of this, you've done a lot of that, what would you like to do? I mean, you've kind of done comedy, you've done drama, you've done period, you've done a lot of this, you've done a lot of that. What would you like to do? I mean, you've kind of done comedy, you've done drama, you've done period. You've explored a lot of areas as an actor.

Is there one zone that you feel really comfortable in that excites you still? Well, I'd like to do more theater. That would be nice. I would like to do goofier comedic stuff. I used to do a long time ago and I definitely got into doing something like that in a long time. It's not comfortable necessarily doing that at all. But I bet not winking though, right? I bet like authentic sort of like Cohen Brothers type of eccentric characters that are very funny,

but they don't know they're funny. Yes, that would be nice. Something like that. What if you want to wink, man? No. What if you and the not-winking? And Lincoln would be like, what do you mean? Like, super, super broad and soft-mooric and you're overqualified for that. You think so?

I don't know. Super broad and soft-mooric. Do you guys still love to perform on film and TV? Do you still love it? Do you still feel like it gives you the thing and always gave you, do you feel? It's just a good question. I was gonna ask you the same thing.

It's a good question. I'm curious. It's like, I just love a set. I just think it's, I'm so comfortable on a set. I love how many people it takes to make something. I grew up on a set. I know, but I didn't know then how complicated it is to make fake life and how many people you need to actually get it done.

You know that it's not just the love it. And you love the process of it, and all that. More than the product. Uh-huh. I get that. You know, to answer your question for me, I think at this age, it really now finally for the first time in my life, it really, really matters what it is.

Because if I'm gonna spend all that time, energy resources, all of it, I'm gonna give 110%, and if it works, right? If it doesn't work great, that's fine, but as long as I believe in it, I think that's my answer. I feel the same way.

I feel like, yeah, and life and kids, and also just sort of feeling content on a day to day basis is I put such a premium on that. And being happy, I put such a premium rather than on work. And the last couple of years, I have not really done anything. I have not said yes to anything in a long time until this year.

And that feels good, that's felt good. It feels really good. And there were things I maybe should have done, but I was just like, ah, I just didn't feel. But you don't regret it. No, and luckily I was doing other stuff, and so I could continue to make a living and could afford to say no, but I just wasn't feeling it.

I mean, you know, and Jay, I know that you feel, well, because you're doing so much more directing and you've had the opportunity again, I don't want to speak for you, but it's as an observer that you do a lot of, like, I don't want to do, you just want to do this stuff that excites you. Yeah, yeah, I want to be,

I really like being challenged because I know there's gonna, I've had enough periods in my life where I'm not confident or I'm not feeling up to a challenge and I know those times will occur again. So while I'm feeling eager to take off possibly more than I can handle,

I want to take advantage of those moments. Right. Yeah. Because I know I'm going to be a coward later again. Paul, what about you? The same question to you. Yeah, no, I think I feel a lot of the same things that you guys were just saying. But I feel like I'm a little bit in the place that you are, Wilbur. It's like I think I just want to, I didn't use, and all of you guys, I mean, I just want to do the thing that is really gonna matter because it's otherwise, I don't have the energy, I'm old, I'm gonna be old, man.

And it's like, I'm just, it's like, so I have to just, it's gotta be something I really, really wanna do. But it's been interesting doing other things too. It's like, I would like to draw again. I would like to try to write. I don't know if I can fucking read all the fucking time, but I don't know if I can write something.

I would like to try different things. So I think I need to say no more, and I think I need to just do the things I wanna do, for sure. Well, how about this, when you're done with your walk across the bridge to get the coffee in the dinner, like Will, you write a couple pages. I would try. I think you to get the coffee in the dinner, like Will, sat in the usual, right, a couple of pages. I would try.

I think you should do. You should get over there to the Bolasco theater and see Shawnee and Good Night Oscar. I would like to see you. I would very much like to see that. I'm going to get you some house. I would very much like to see that. I would love to see that. I would love to see that.

I would love to see that. Here's what's going to happen. I'm headed east at the end of this week and I'm going to come to the city. We're going to go and have dinner or we're going to have lunch. I would love that. Downtown. And then we're going to talk about what you're going to write. Yeah, I would love it. And for 3% will you be offering his agent thing for 3%?

No, I know, I'm just going to help him. It's going to be his idea and I want to write. That actually would be right. I would welcome that. That would help me. It would help me. I need help. Conversations get ideas going for himself. So he doesn't need my help. He will help me. Yeah would help me. I need help. Conversations is get ideas going for himself. So you just need my help. You just offering your muse and amuse muse muse for hire.

Why don't you call it Paul? Why don't you call it moth catcher? I like it. I like it too. Moth catcher. Fantastic. That's a start. That's a great start. Moth protector. Does that what I call the protector of the catcher? That. What's a math tracker? What's a math tracker? Math tracker. Math tracker. Math tracker. Math tracker. Math tracker.

That's a math tracker. What was the last book that you read that really, that you were excited about, that you really liked? Do you remember? I read a lot of like crappy mysteries. Do you? I read a lot of crappy thrillers and crappy mysteries and spy novels. Oh, I read a lot of stuff like that.

I read a lot of stuff like that. That's the funny thing. Oh, I love spy novels. I do too. I read a lot of stuff like that. That's the funny thing. I don't read much hype out stuff, actually. I read a lot of spy novels. Yeah, I enjoy that stuff a lot. I really like that. Do you ever read any of those lend Dayton books?

You know, that's what I just read. Actually, I was going to say what I just read was a fucking lend Dayton book. I'm a penny. It is a penny. And so the Bernhardt the Bernie Gunther series, right? Yeah. So I read all nine of those. Yeah. A couple of some of you guys. Yeah, those are great. I can see. We are. We are. I just read a

good. You would be a great fucking Bernie Gunther. I wouldn't. That's the clown sitting on the on the on the Brooklyn bridge. He's with I'm sitting on a on a Brooklyn bridge He's with a book sitting on a bench right We're talking to each other No, no Like some great old couple So if you love those

Lendite, I've got another Series for you I'll bring them a book That would be fun That would be lovely That would be lovely I'm going to Yeah, by the way

Please Paul, what now what are we What are we looking at Just before we let you go? What are we looking at for the summer? If everything is kind of shut down, are you gonna hit the beach? Are you gonna get in the water? Are you gonna, what are you gonna do?

I can't do you. You know you're on the swim team. Yeah, I was on the swim team. I'd like to get back in the water. Maybe I'll go up to Cape Cod or something like that. I don't have a home up there, but I'll go up to Cape Cod or something like that. I don't have a home up there, but I would go up there, a main or something like that. Maybe somewhere like that, that would be nice.

Let me just say this, there are a lot of people, a lot of really bougie people who listen to our show. Give them your email if you've got a real nice play, if you've got a nice spread up there in the Cape or one of the island of vineyard or nantucket, and you'd like to have Paul Gianmatti as your house guest for a few days. Yeah, let us know on our Instagram.

It's terrific. Somebody could host you. Let us know. And he's going to spend a lot of it. During the day, don't bother him. He's reading Lynn Dayton books, and he's going to be at the pool. What's that for dinner time?

Don't approach him if he's in the middle of the night. Nice class of Miss Gulley's not going to drink your wine, but give him a nice class. And then he'll discuss whatever you want. Awesome. Paul, you're well. Is that good well. We set up your summer for you. That's fantastic. Thank you. You're by the way, by the way,

all jokes you're gonna find, you're gonna find yourself on a fucking yacht in the Mediterranean because this is gonna be great. Oh, shit, that would be great. That's the demographic. That's the audience. That's the whole yacht. That's the first thing right now.

It's all yacht. It's a real yachty crowd. Fantastic. Well, it is so nice to see you again. And to echo what Will said, I'm here in the city for quite a while. So maybe we could grab a bite. Let's do it. Let's do it. Make me happier than they have, then I've lunch with them. I'm going to get your contact info from our guys. If that's okay, pull them to reach out. Absolutely. It's a pleasure. Okay. And. Paul, I'm gonna reach out. Absolutely. Fantastic. Okay. And Jaygerson, when I'm out there sometime,

I'm gonna make a man. Yeah, you guys, you guys, face time, me from your lunch. Sure. Jay, we love you. We love you. But Paul can't wait. We love you, Jay.

But Paul can't wait. It's gonna be a nice blessing. Bye, Clay. Thank you, Paul. You're my pleasure to meet you, my friend. Thank you. Yeah, real pleasure to meet you guys. Thank you very much.

Yeah, absolutely. My pleasure. See you down the road, by pal. Bye. Well, Will, you've, it was worth the wait. Right? No, I feel like I met him briefly. He's, I knew that he was friends with Thoreau, their old friends.

And like I said, I've always just been such an admirer of his. Yeah, the credits are just endless. And that's what I meant, right? He's an actor's actor. Like we all as actors, where like, you know, if you were doing something to go, oh yeah, by the way, Jay Maddie's gonna do it. You'd be like, oh man, this thing is really

like, we have to like, we got totally. And I met him once at the Golden Globes years and years and years ago, but I didn't, you know, I didn't chat with him until right now. And talking to him at length now, you feel like he's one of those people like, oh, I feel like I know him forever. Like yeah.

And he's the guy you would give any part to. Yeah. Yeah, he really does have that just, there's something about him when he inhabits a character. You're just with him. Yeah. Yeah. And he brings so much sort of pathos to every character. I

even enjoy watching his Verizon commercials. He's playing Einstein. I can't believe we didn't bring it up. I was going to. I was going to, but I was like, I guess I totally forgot. When he plays Santa Claus, right? Yeah. Because his service was playing Einstein. You stupid fox. Oh, I thought it was Santa Claus. Which would have brought it up and you would have said so when you play Santa and the Verizon career Listen, you know what though. I didn't know he was in Brooklyn. He lives so close to the ballast go Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbaco, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Unjurf. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Our next episode will be out in a week wherever you listen to podcasts,

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