SmartLess - "RE-RELEASE: Matthew Rhys"

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Open a bottle of beer with a key and grab a fire poker, we’ve got Matthew Rhys on the horn this week. We sit down with the intelligent yet dashing yet wise yet charismatic Actor (and skilled traditi...onal Welsh Chef) to hear recipes from the heart and tales of yore. Grab a slice of meat pie— it’s cooling on the windowsill. #EatSmart #SmartLessThis episode was originally released on 5/22/2023. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:03 Sorry that you guys caught me off guard. I was just talking to Jason's wig maker, and he had said that they don't make the hair that Jason uses for the wig anymore because it's a synthetic thing and it has to do with it because they use a certain petroleum component to it, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the point is, if you see Jason on the street, just please say, hey, man, your natural hair looks great. It's an all-new smart list. Smart. Are you guys excited?
Starting point is 00:00:50 I'm excited. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes. Are you talking about our, we're on the TV coming up? With the doc? We're going to be on TV. I told my whole family. Smartless on the road?
Starting point is 00:00:59 Smartless on the road. On Max. On Max. That, that new platform, yes. Yeah. Yes. Should we do what, should we see, should we watch it together? That's much fun.
Starting point is 00:01:10 That would be super fun. Oh, God, that's not a bad idea. I'm really excited. I'm excited for people to. See Will Fair. Sounds weird to say, well, yeah, I'm excited for people to see. Well, we have so many great guests. Yeah, so say some of the guests.
Starting point is 00:01:21 We have Will Ferrell. Will starts it off, though, doesn't he? Will starts off, then we have Conan. Kevin Hart. Well, hang on, hang on, hang on. Then we have Letterman. Then we have AOC with special appearance by, can we mention that Bradley makes a special appearance.
Starting point is 00:01:37 Bradley Cooper comes in, changes the light for us. And then we go to Chicago. We have Andy Richter and Jeff Tweety from Wilco. Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban. And then Maddie. Maddie Damon. Matt Damon, the Matt.
Starting point is 00:01:51 Yeah, a turtle, quartal, worldel, perennial third place finisher, Matt Damon. And then one of the biggest guests of the entire tour is Tracy from Wisconsin. Tracy from Wisconsin comes on. Tracy. Sean's sister. My sister. Oh, Sean's sister makes an incredible appearance. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:09 Oh, and doesn't your mother's right eye makes an appearance as well? And your mother's eye makes an appearance too. It's all true. By the way, it's all true, and you can see it. Get it? Don't get it. On Max, smartless, on the road. Check it out.
Starting point is 00:02:23 I'm glad you asked because I don't think they get it. And then, by the way, we come back to L.A., and then we end here with Kimmel. With Kimmel and Kevin Hart. I mean, we get to have, what a soft lander to come back and have our good buddy, Jimmy, Kimmel, and then Jan makes an appearance and, God, I mean. And then what's the final meal of the whole thing?
Starting point is 00:02:44 Oh yeah, then we're over at Shawnee's house for some... Oh, we go to Shoney's right. Spaghetti Jos? Sloppy Jos. Sloppy Jos. I made sloppy Joe from scratch for you guys. Yeah. It's all on the dock.
Starting point is 00:02:55 It's all in the dock. Are we watching it at your house? Yeah, that's watching it. Let's watch it. We'll watch it on Max. It's kind of so fun. I think, I hope people like, who knows, but... We hope.
Starting point is 00:03:05 It looks real good, too. Sam Jones did a great job directing it. It looks real handsome. It's black and white. I hope people like it's, it's why, it's May 23rd, right? May 23rd on Mac. Okay.
Starting point is 00:03:16 I have a crazy story that happened. I told Will, I said I was going to save it to tell you today. You have some pre-show patter? Yeah. You know, Sean, and his... Go ahead, Sean. No, this is crazy. Sean, what have you prepared?
Starting point is 00:03:27 I've prepared this. Sean, by the way, not to interrupt it, speaking of prepared, there's somebody preparing something in the kitchen behind you. Yeah, Scott is going to make me some tea right now. Okay. Tea? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you fasting?
Starting point is 00:03:37 He's on Broadway, man. He's on Broadway. I'm on the Broadway. Oh, to keep your pipes nice and lubricated? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, it is 1 o'clock there. What was for lunch today?
Starting point is 00:03:48 I just had a... I can't wait. I had a, what's it called? Like a Kaiser roll with egg and cheese and a little bacon. Apple juice. I had, what do they call it, like a foot-long sub? Kaiser Roll. Kaiser.
Starting point is 00:04:06 Yeah. Where do you have to go to get that? Like a bread shop. Downstairs. Downstairs. No, Zabar's. Kaiser. Zabar's.
Starting point is 00:04:13 is a Jewish deli. We live right near it. And then there's a cafe, and they don't do bagels with egg. You'd think they would do bagels because they sell bagels in the store part, but not the cafe part, which is really crazy. You got to go full Kaiser.
Starting point is 00:04:27 All right. All right. So this is the story. This is crazy. This is going to blow your mind. I think it blew my mind. So the show takes place in 1958, backstage at the Tonight Show. Oscar Levant is the guest on the Tonight Show that night.
Starting point is 00:04:38 The other guests, which we never see, we only reference a lot, is Jane Mansfield. Sure. Okay, who was, you know, this big star back in the 50s. Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, very similar. So Mariska Hargitte. You know Mariska Hargitay?
Starting point is 00:04:52 I do. Sure. Yeah, she's the star of the SVU thing. Oh, thanks, Scotty. Hey, Scottie. Thanks, Scott. She just made me tea. So she's the star of this show for like 20-some years, right?
Starting point is 00:05:04 So she's like, I'm outside of your theater. Come out. I'm like, oh, my God, I came out, gave her a hug, said hello. We took a photo. we're done and she go and somebody in the show whispers in my ear her mom is jane mansfield yeah i go wait a minute what yeah well mariska hargette's mom i go your mom is jane mansfield i go do you know that we reference your mom in this show over and over again did your mom know oscar levant she's like i don't i don't know um you know unfortunately she was very young when her mom died so then we go back and we say her bays
Starting point is 00:05:35 i go back in the theater and uh i forgot i text her i go by the way your mom made her Broadway debut in this theater that we're working in right now. Wow. No way. Isn't that crazy? Crazy, crazy. Yeah. So, um, did you at least offer her tickets to the show?
Starting point is 00:05:54 No, she's got to pay for those. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can give her access to the house. Yeah, I can get her. Her dad, her dad was, um, Mickey Hargatee, who was like a, uh, bodybuilder guy from Hungary. How do you know that? I know that.
Starting point is 00:06:05 I know that. Because he just Googled it. No, I didn't. I knew that before. And, um... Wait, why do you know, you know, vague Hungarian bodybuilders. Look, do you want to see my magazine collection or not?
Starting point is 00:06:18 No, I don't want to see your search history either. I do. I actually do. I read somebody in my search history the other day. There was such a bonkers all over the map. I go, here, you want to know what I've been searching up for the last 24 hours? And it was just the weirdest, stupidest stuff. I want to say just because I want to be, and I don't want to bring it down,
Starting point is 00:06:36 but I've got to be honest about where I'm at, if that's okay. Yes, yes. and then we can switch here. Is that okay? Yes, of course it is. It's very real. Do you want me to say? You want me to describe it?
Starting point is 00:06:49 My oldest friend in the world, Jeremy, passed away. Oh. And I loved them so much. Oh, well, I'm so sorry. Yeah, you just found out yesterday, yeah? Yeah. And, um, fuck. Oh, God, I'm so sorry.
Starting point is 00:07:06 And I just got to be honest about it because it's what's going on in my head. And, um, I, um, I just got to be honest about it because it's what's going on in my head. And, um, I, um. I just wanted to say that. I just, I love the guy so much. And it's so, Jason and I were talking today this morning. And it's funny, we always get surprised when people say, it's such a surprise, such a shock.
Starting point is 00:07:26 And we know that the deal is that everybody's going to die in something. We're here for five minutes. Yeah. You pass suddenly, well? You know, the last few weeks kind of came out of nowhere, certainly. And then he finally passed. And I'm happy he did. You know, obviously he was in a lot of pain.
Starting point is 00:07:44 And I'm just thinking about his family and all of them. And I've known them forever. And, you know, his daughter and his wife and his parents, whom my parents knew and our great-grandparents knew each other. Our families are intertwined for generations. And he was- So Jeremy was up in Toronto? He was in Toronto, yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:05 And he was one of the great guys. He's a, I always say he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. Just a great guy. you could always rely on them and and I miss them and you know you never um and I was just thinking this morning and I was taking the kids to school and it was just thinking like oh man hug the people you love yeah tell them as much as you can and if you're thinking about somebody call them let them know right just let them know you're thinking about them you love them how important they are to you um I love that and I just wanted to say that because it's all my mind and I love you guys so much
Starting point is 00:08:41 We love you. We love you too. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it is, you're right, it is this sort of like, you're always shocked that people die, but everyone here is going to. Everyone listening will. And it's like, it's a terrible thought. And we somehow have managed this little device inside our head and our heart to kind of put it in a little box and keep it away and deal with it at near the end of our life. We just kind of pretend it's not ever going to happen. But it does. And we just hope we use our time correctly. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:13 Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You know, I just did this, I just did this article, this interview. And Jay, you were so kind. I just read it. You said such nice things about me. And I appreciate it. I appreciate your generosity.
Starting point is 00:09:26 And I said, you know, if I can pull this thing off, great. If not, I'm still alive. Yeah. It's my quote. You know about the play? So you're feeling bullish about it. about the play. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:43 It could suck, but at least I'm not dead. No, but the point is, to your point, well, is like, we're still here, we're here, we're here, right?
Starting point is 00:09:51 We're here. Nothing matters other than our health and our people we love and all that. And I just, yeah, I wanted to say that,
Starting point is 00:09:58 just say, Jerry, we love you. And, and that's it. You know, thinking about you, buddy. And I also know that he was,
Starting point is 00:10:06 he was always so quick with a laugh and he loved to freaking laugh. This guy made me laugh. And so I don't know. He would, he'd be like, great, well, get to your guest. You have a nice opportunity to give him a nice goodbye this weekend with all of those people you're talking about. That's right. That's great.
Starting point is 00:10:26 It'll be a wonderful thing for him to watch too. That's right. You know, I mean, that's one of the good things about after we go, right? We get to, like, it's a narcissist delight. You get to just pull up a chair and watch everybody saying, nice things about you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that.
Starting point is 00:10:44 At least that's my fantasy. I know. Well, it's one of your fantasies. Right. Just a big Jason session for a whole day. What are you eating? Right now? No. In that situation where you get... Oh. Where it doesn't matter anymore.
Starting point is 00:10:58 Just super salty puff-inducing things. Because, you know, you can be as puffy as you want upstairs. Sure, you can. Yeah. Turns out you can be as puffy as you want downstairs. But actually you lose water weight Almost instantaneously down there
Starting point is 00:11:15 Because you're always sweating Yeah Yeah it's hot as shit Oh where you're going Yeah you're going to get There's a lot of sweating going on That's a good point It's a constant schitz
Starting point is 00:11:24 To switch gears Sure You know if we can As much as we can To somebody who's not puffy Really? No This gentleman keeps it very tight
Starting point is 00:11:37 In the best way I really A lucky son of it Yeah I know he He really is. He's got... This is a guy... You want to talk about
Starting point is 00:11:45 First Ballet Hall of Fame, or this is the guy who's got it all. I mean, he's... When you got... When you got talent and good looks... Forget about it. When you got an easy way about you... Oh, boy.
Starting point is 00:11:55 For a freaking good guy. This guy's done it everything. He's been on the big screen. He's been on the little screen. He's been on the boards, you know, on stage, if you will. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This guy's from the other side of the pond.
Starting point is 00:12:06 Uh-oh. He's British. Yeah, well, he's actually Welsh. His first language is Welsh according to the internet. Huh. He's a guy who's done so much, and he's one of those guys who, like, every time you see him, you're like,
Starting point is 00:12:21 oh, I love this guy. Everything he does. This is the way I feel. You know, he was, for years he was on, you knew him from brothers and sisters, and then he was on the Americans forever. And the thing I love about him, maybe the most, is that he is partnered with
Starting point is 00:12:37 one of my all-time favorite people the delightful Kerry Russell. Guys, it's the incredibly talented Matthew Reese. Oh, Matthew. Yes, sir.
Starting point is 00:12:49 Is he gorgeous or what? Look at the stash. Look at him. There's no water in that face at all. No, not for years. We have a fifth guest today. He proved that the mustache was real. He pulled on it just to prove.
Starting point is 00:13:00 No, no, I'm just checking the glue. Listener, he's got a 30-pound mustache on and it's looking strong. Are you playing a motorcycle cop? No, I'm doing the Tom Selig Biopin. You could. You could, welcome to Smartless Matthew Reeves. Thank you, thank you very much.
Starting point is 00:13:18 You know, that's the real terrifying moment, the reveal. I know. At the beginning, I was like, is he talking about Ian McKellen? Who are they expecting? What is this? This is going to go. It's Terran Edgerton, everyone. The real Welshman, who can say?
Starting point is 00:13:33 Sure. Wow, it's so cool to meet you. I know. Very, very cool. Thank you very much for, for. having me on, Jen. This is a real pleasure. Matthew, I wish we don't know each other well enough.
Starting point is 00:13:45 We've crossed paths a few times because, obviously, Carrie and I are old friends, and so we've met through Carrie. And she's such a delightful person, as you were well aware. And then she's like, I just, I love the idea. I'm like, you're as good as the people you hang out with. And the fact that you and Carrie together, I'm like, Matthew's a good guy.
Starting point is 00:14:05 He's a great guy. No, I just, no. I took that idea. and then I latched myself onto KERRY so that those around us would think the same thing. By the way, that's smart. That's smart living. How long did you guys do that show together?
Starting point is 00:14:19 Was it five, six? It was six years. It was meant to be five, and I think the poor showrunners had kind of arced it for five, and then FX went, you know what, let's do one more, and they went, oh, what?
Starting point is 00:14:32 That's nice. We had the opposite on O'SRGE. That's a good sign on a show. We're talking, of course, about the Americans. Yeah. And Margot Martindale is a friend. And dear, dear Margottenale. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:44 They were both reunited on Cocaine Bear recently. Yes. So Margo, and you were in Cocaine Bear as well. Come on. I muscled my way in. Just looking out of the kids in Ireland and reading the script and that first opening scene, I said, I was like, who's playing that guy?
Starting point is 00:15:01 The guy who bangs his head and falls out the plane? She's like, who? I don't know. And then I said, ask Elizabeth Banks. I said, ask Banks. was playing that part. So she texted, oh, we haven't cast it again. I said, tell, I'll do it.
Starting point is 00:15:12 Tell, no, just ask it if I can do it. And she very kindly said, yes, you can come in and fall out of an airplane. By the way, what an absolute treat? So you're directing a movie, and then you got a guy who's got like one scene, basically. And then you're like, Matthew Reese calls, and he's like, hey, can I just do this one scene? You're like, uh, are you kidding? Yeah, she smelled the desperation on me. I was like, can I please get out of the house.
Starting point is 00:15:34 I can't do another zoo or aquarium. Sean is it true the rumor sorry that's how you and Scott met right didn't didn't you put in the search for cocaine bear no did I not hear that no I think technically it was cocaine cocaine cub wasn't it
Starting point is 00:15:53 it was cocaine cup yeah it was the prequel that they haven't got it oh Scotty oh Scotty if he only knew so so you do cocaine and of course I want to get I don't want to just gloss over the delightful Margo Martin Dale, whom we all adore. Oh, yeah, she's the greatest.
Starting point is 00:16:09 No one can swear like Margo Martindale. Oh. I mean, she should have a kind of course at NYU, like swearing for film and television, because no one can, no one can swear like her. And no one can get their ire up quicker and then get to swearing over, like, something that seems trivial. We did that show together, the Millers,
Starting point is 00:16:30 and she'd be like, can you believe they just did this reroute? I got to fucking remember this fucking thing and they want to shoot this afternoon. you're like, Jesus, what? Yeah. She said of one very famous actor who's in our show, she went, can you fucking hear the way he breathes? I went, well, before then, I had, no, I happened, actually,
Starting point is 00:16:48 but I can hear it now. You brought it up. Oh, Jason, you love to work with her. Jason, you will so fall in love with Margo-Martindale. You won't be able to contain yourself. Guys, am I right? Yeah, gold. She's absolute gold.
Starting point is 00:17:02 Now, tell me, Welsh is a... language? Is that what I heard you say, Will? Oh my God. First of all. Wait, so it's not English? Get ready for the letters. It's not English. It's much older than English. It's one of the oldest in Europe. So let's start there. So I just want to say, so Matthew, you are, it says that your first language was Welsh. Is that true? It is. It is. I grew up speaking Welsh, so the whole family
Starting point is 00:17:25 speak Welsh. But isn't Welsh just English with an accent? I don't understand. Yes, basically. What we do is trying to adopt such a harsh accent. No one really understands the English No, no, no, no, no. He's putting you on. So I've spent some time in Cardiff, which is where you're from, yeah, Matthew? It is. What were you doing there? I was filming there a few years ago, and I remember we had this. What were you driving? I had, I was going to say, the driver I had when I was working on that show, you know the guy.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Jerry Lockett? Oh, the Fet, the Locket Rocket. Oh, the Fet, Rocket, yeah, the famous Jerry Locket. What do you mean, driver? What are you talking about? You got a Rolls Royce. That's what I was trying to bait you to. Oh, no, no, no. Loan you a... Yeah, they loaned me a Bentley when I was in...
Starting point is 00:18:07 When I was in London, I was drove around for a few weeks. I know. It's a long story. Wait, did you drive yourself in this Bentley? Yeah, I did. I did. I drove myself. Right side drive? Sure did. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:18:16 And then I drove up to Ricky's to Jervis' house in London because I was going to have... Go to his house to have just a visit. Who are you? And I called him and I said, I'm outside and he came out and he saw me in this Bentley and go, where can I park this thing around here? And he was like, Jesus, fucking Christ. It wasn't mine.
Starting point is 00:18:35 It was literally, I don't drive a Bentley. That was why I made a point. Anyway, so you're from Cardiff. We know Jerry Lockett. We've got Jerry out there. We know that he's listening. We love you, Jerry. So we know that you do.
Starting point is 00:18:46 How are you? And I knew that you guys knew each other because he was always like, do you know Matthew Reese? And I was like, I do. I do a little bit because I know Kerry. He says, yeah, Matthew, Matthew's from here. And he's so proud of you. And all the Welsh, you're so proud of Matthew for what you've done.
Starting point is 00:19:01 I think there's, because there's only three, million of us, three and a half million. That's all of Canada, isn't it? What? What is the population of Canada now? 30, 30. Oh, okay. You missed it by a zero.
Starting point is 00:19:14 10%. Yeah. So anyone who's Welsh and has done anything, even if they haven't done anything, we're just inherently proud for a country the size of Connecticut. Two of them are named Bale and one of them is named Reese. Yes, that's it. So Christian Gareth and Bail and Matthew Reese. Well, there's also Hopkins.
Starting point is 00:19:31 You also got Hopkins. Oh, yeah. You do. Yeah. And then Burton, obviously. There are a bunch of them. So wait, I don't know. I don't know anything about you, and I know you.
Starting point is 00:19:40 I know you, I know you. So were you one of those people that grew up in the theater and stuff as a kid? And you're like, oh my God, if I can go to America, wow. We're going to get to that, John. That's exactly right. She's right in the middle of a story. He's telling the story. What story about a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley?
Starting point is 00:19:56 Speaking Welsh is his first language. Say something in Welsh. Landing the plane on that. Okay, sorry. Go ahead, Matthew. and... Sean, check your chat, please. So talk about, no, but growing up, speaking well,
Starting point is 00:20:07 you guys spoke Welsh at home, yeah? We did, we did. And in Wales, there's a great, you know, there's a great reverence for, you know, performing arts, and there's a very, there's kind of an ancient tradition. It's pre-Christian, whereby everyone congregate, in the old days,
Starting point is 00:20:24 everyone would congregate, and then you would sing competitively or cite poetry or anything of that ilk, basically. And it's very modern these days, but twice a year, all the children of Wales will gather. And it's a competition now, but you're very much encouraged to get on stage and in some form, art form or another,
Starting point is 00:20:43 and compete for your school or your county or whatever. Oh, wow. So, yeah, so from a very early age, you're kind of kicked onto a stage whether you want to. Really? Yeah, yeah. And now, a word from our sponsor. All right, back to the show.
Starting point is 00:21:01 So you grow up, you're speaking well, obviously you speak English as well. They speak both there. The signage and stuff in Wales is delightful. It's, you know, one in English and one in Welsh. And it's a, it's tough to read. It's a hotbed of contention, yeah. What's the distance between English and Welsh? I mean, I've absolutely no idea what it sounds like, what it looks like.
Starting point is 00:21:22 Yeah, you can talk a little bit in Welsh, just so we can hear it. I'll just get, one of the oldest poems in Welsh is about 600 BC. And it just says, Goyraith, Gatraith of Frayth, Glastferi Hankuina, Gwai, and Gwadi Eluch,
Starting point is 00:21:36 to Eluch, Thouelch, Tao Eluch thee. It's Lord of the Rings, the Elves. It's how the Elves speak in Lord of the Rings. Yes, well, Tolkien based Elfish on Welsh.
Starting point is 00:21:43 Oh, I just made that up. Is that true? Oh, yes, are you kidding me? I mean, I'm a 54-year-old man that is not living in a cave. Why have I never ever heard Welsh? It's a golden cave. Let's be honest.
Starting point is 00:21:55 Well, yes, a beautiful cave. I've heard tell. Yes, one cave to bind us all. Why? What, I don't understand how that's gone by me. Well, I do. Well, I think, listen, I don't want to get into on the English bashing soapbox, but the English, you know, if we're going to, we'll do with a quick history, the English did their best to kind of eradicate all the Celtic languages for the Scots, the Irish, the Welsh, the Cornish, you know, they, they weren't too Celtic friendly. So there was a lot of stamping out of the language in the culture. Wow.
Starting point is 00:22:28 And was it influenced by folks more northern? Like, was there a Viking influence to all of those Celtic languages? I mean, there's the great evolutionist, Germanic-based. And then, you know, I think the Celtoy were a Spanish tribe initially. And they, you know, then the goals got involved and amalgamated. And then they set up camp in Britain and then the Romans came. We're all such babies here in America. Well, you don't learn any.
Starting point is 00:22:57 Even if you did pay attention, you know, even if you did in America go to school, not on a massage bus, you learned, you learned, you learned history. How dare you. You learned history. But at least in Canada, we did, we had to take British history.
Starting point is 00:23:14 So we knew we, oh, we were always studying a fucking battle of collodin and all that shit. Like, was the, is the empire still stamped down your throat in Canada? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, I don't, I haven't lived there in 30 years. This is a guy who reads World War II books on the can, going to bed. It's not as bad as Justin Thoreau who will watch World War II documentaries through the facehole of a massage table on his iPhone.
Starting point is 00:23:40 Okay? He takes it to a new level, this lust for World War II. And he lines it just for comfort and stuff. He lines it with his discarded sleeves just to protect his face. Just to pad the ring. So, Matthew, so you're in, you're what? You're sort of 17. and you go to Rada.
Starting point is 00:23:59 Yeah, yeah. Rada. The Academy of Dramatic Art in London, which is the preeminent classical acting school in the world. That's what I tell everyone. I was what I've told my parents they allow me to go. It's like everybody who goes to Rada, they'll tell you. And it's the same way with everybody who's ever gone to Oxford,
Starting point is 00:24:19 make sure to let that be known. Yes, we'll drop it in. You know, they're all called... You walk in and they've left the honor boards is still up in the foyer. So, like, you know, has Peter O'Toole and Anthony Hopkins. It's incredible. I did a summer course there years ago.
Starting point is 00:24:33 Did you? In 1987. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shakespeare? Yeah, I did the whole thing for a few years there. Yeah. Come on. Come on.
Starting point is 00:24:40 At Rada. I sure did. How was that? It was amazing, man. What did you do? You seem so dumb. It was amazing. Is there a lot of pressure
Starting point is 00:24:48 when you go to a school like that to make it? I mean, obviously, you did. But, I mean, is there just sort of culturally, do you feel they're like, oh my God, okay, so I'm in Rada now. I got to, I got to maintain our batting average. Or is there a lot of people that go there and then go into other fields? Is that more common? It is, it is.
Starting point is 00:25:09 It's a very small intake. There's only 30 to each year, 15 men, 15 women. Every year. Yeah, yeah. So it's very small. So you feel the pressure immediately. That's small. Did they do it on a bus?
Starting point is 00:25:23 Yes, like a massage bus. Yeah, it just kind of goes around, around to Picadilly circus. We have 30 on the massage bus comfortably. That's what I heard. And then you guys stop for lunch at Jinkies on Ventura, right? Yeah, I mentioned that. Some reading at the Bodie Tree. But it's very exclusive.
Starting point is 00:25:41 But here you are, you're a kid from Cardiff. Were you the only Welsh person in your year? Yes, I was. I was. I had a friend who was a year older, and then Michael Sheen had just come through. and kind of blazed a trail and was kind of, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:57 setting the west end on fire. So there was this, you know, there was a, the flag of Wales is the dragon. So there was a kind of a dragon firmly stamped as to, you know, the Welsh are resurging again. But, you know, like I said, Anthony Hopkins was the chairman of the board at the time.
Starting point is 00:26:15 So he'd beat in and out and he'd just done shadow lands. So, you know, there was this, there was this great air that, you know, anything was possible. really. I think one of the things that the Welsh and Wales suffered from enormously is small person syndrome.
Starting point is 00:26:30 And at that time, there was just this little bubble of a few Welsh people doing incredibly while Catherine Zito was bursting to the ranks. So I was there at this Renaissance when anything felt possible. You know what my question is going to be? I can ask it now or later.
Starting point is 00:26:46 Did you ever forget a line on stage? What's your favorite theater story, Matthew? Yeah, because you've got to have one or two. Yes, I I have quite a few, in fact. No, but possibly when I was, because I was doing theatre for the first, well, five years, solidly. And then at 25, I thought I got the role that was going to change my life and my career. It didn't.
Starting point is 00:27:10 But I got to play Benjamin Braddock in a stage adaptation of The Graduate with Kathleen Turner as my Mrs. Robinson. Wow. And to me, it was the first real introduction to Hollywood because I'd never experienced anything like it in every sense. Like, PAs, and I was like, what's a P.A? Who has a P.A? It was just incredible. Anyway, fast forward.
Starting point is 00:27:31 Halfway through the run, it got a little, you know, there were a few bedroom antics in, in the production, and there's one moment where I jump in bed and with simulating sex. And I have to kind of plunge my face between her legs as if I'm,
Starting point is 00:27:48 I'm pleasuring her. Sure, sure. She did have the, you know, the obligatory kind of, you know, flesh-toned underwear on. But anyway, I had a streaming head cold. Sure.
Starting point is 00:27:59 And being the malicious vindictive type that I am, I wouldn't let the end of study go on. So I went on and I had, my nose is just streaming. My nose is streaming. And I couldn't, I didn't want to kind of sniff heavily during, you know, during dialogue. So I'm doing this.
Starting point is 00:28:17 Yeah, and I go, oh, I know what I know what I'll do. I'll just clear my nose in that quiet, when I'm between, I know, and I did, well, I didn't think. So I jumped in, and I'm between Ms. Turner's legs, and I just went, and inhaled deeply, and the covers kind of shot up. And she's looking down me, like, what the fuck? What the fuck are you doing? And I was like, oh, oh, no, I'm not, no, I'm not, I'm not sniff, I'm not, I have a cold,
Starting point is 00:28:42 I have a cold, I'm not saving you. You're not trying wine out. No, no. No, my God, no way. Yes, I always live with this deep regret of that moment. That and when someone, there was a paparazzi photo, in the moment she took off her robe, and this paparazzi photographer stood up and photographed her,
Starting point is 00:29:03 and a big flash went off, I know. And I looked at her on stage in this moment, and I was like, oh, we should stop. And she came in with the next line. And I always remember thinking, regardless that she was an consummate professional, I'm going to come in with the next line, I'm going to carry on.
Starting point is 00:29:20 I bitterly regret in that moment not stopping the production, because the next day in a tabloid newspaper, there was a huge photograph of, yeah. Yeah, I was ashamed. Oh, my God. Well, you know. But it was.
Starting point is 00:29:36 And the headline just said, Welshman, you know, just fucking coweres under pressure. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. Spineless Welshman does nothing. We'll leave it to the English tabloids to say that. Yeah, I love that. Oh, my God. So Matthew, so you did, as you said, did, did you play another great Welshman.
Starting point is 00:29:58 You played Dylan Thomas, didn't you? I did. At one point? Yes. Oh my God, if you feel so long ago. About 12 years ago now, yeah. He had this incredible moment, the poet Dylan Thomas had this incredible moment in his life where he was having an affair.
Starting point is 00:30:16 That part was played by Kira Knightley and Cernabiller's playing my wife. and Killion Murphy is the husband of Kieraniteley and this is all true that he burst in on Dylan Thomas
Starting point is 00:30:27 with a machine gun because it was during the Second War he came in with the machine gun he opened fire and then missed everyone and took out a grenade
Starting point is 00:30:36 pulled the pin and the grenade didn't go off and it was that story that we told in the age of love yeah it was an unbelievable
Starting point is 00:30:46 story that he survived and then tragically drank himself to death. Wow. Talk about the worst assassin you could ever imagine. Yes. And I was like, talking to killing about it. I was like, but you're playing a commando.
Starting point is 00:31:00 You're a trained commando. Do you want to play this part? So you are not, you do not live in Wales, correct? I do not know. I now live in leafy Brooklyn. Leafy Brooklyn. Yeah, so you live in Brooklyn, but you come over, you do theater, as you say,
Starting point is 00:31:15 for basically five years. And then you move over to, America to do what? What was the first thing that brought you over? The first thing I did, I was doing a play. I was actually doing a two-hander at the Royal Court with Paul Bettany called One More Wasted Year, and everyone called it
Starting point is 00:31:30 One More Wasted Evening, because it wasn't good. My own family said as much. It was terrible. Didn't they really? So they come backstage, what were they saying to you backstage? My uncle was the first person of the entire group and they came in and is an old sea captain, very salty, and he went, well, that was
Starting point is 00:31:48 shit. Yeah. And I couldn't argue. I went, you're absolutely right. And then, yeah. Stephen Daughery, who was the artistic director at the time,
Starting point is 00:32:01 and Press Knight came in, went, darlings, was it the play we need to see right now? Probably not. Should we go to a party? That's hysterical. Oh, wow.
Starting point is 00:32:11 That's so hardcore. So you come over with Paul Bettney, you do that. Sorry, yes. Yeah, an American agent came to see the play and he said, Do you want to come over for pilot season? And I'd no idea what it was.
Starting point is 00:32:22 And I said yes, and then came to L.A. And then the first audition he set me up with, it was Julie Tameau's first movie, Titus, with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lang. And I just thought, oh, my God, Los Angeles is truly the promised land where you just turn up and get these huge movies and everything's great.
Starting point is 00:32:39 Yeah, you just sign up. And then I did that, yeah. And I shot that in Rome for six months, and then I went back to L.A. and didn't get a job for a decade. Yeah. I thought here's another time my career is going to be made and it was just like
Starting point is 00:32:50 yeah just paid a few bills isn't that amazing I love that feeling of it like yeah it's gonna be like this forever yeah yeah
Starting point is 00:32:58 it's like the Klondike I arrived who's like the Klondike where they throw you these scripts and go this is being made for MGM with this as a lead and you're like oh my and you're allowing me
Starting point is 00:33:07 to audition for this this is madness all I have to do is get the part and I'm set for life you never know anything you really don't I mean look at us three morons Like, we've, each of us have had great success, as I knock on wood,
Starting point is 00:33:20 we're super grateful for in our careers. But then, you know, this thing comes along. It's more successful than anything we've ever done. And it was just us three idiots chatting during COVID. Right. The world basically was saying, we don't want you guys to do the thing that you think that you're going to just... Yeah, the things you're professional are.
Starting point is 00:33:38 Yeah, you can keep doing that a little bit if you want. But we just want you to be that you're... We want to hear your idiotic thoughts on stupid shit. Yeah. Just like wonder at the moment where Sean learns that whales was, you know where whales got its name, Sean? You know, that's where they made the first harpoon. That's not true.
Starting point is 00:33:57 That's not true. It's not true. Correct. But you bought it for a second. And that's what they tune in to here. Because he'll fuck with me and he'll say something that's completely not true and then he'll say something that's completely true. I never know what to believe.
Starting point is 00:34:10 It's tough. I know, Angel. But wait a minute. They did shoot Moby Dick in Wales with Gregory Peck. And my grandfather worked on it. Is that true? Is that true? Yeah, they built three large rubber whales.
Starting point is 00:34:23 And one of them, I know, this is the great joke. It's like they came to Wales. And one of them sailed off into the Irish Sea, which I think is fantastic. I have a whale that needs a rubber, but go ahead. Hey-oh. Ooh. My grandfather caught Moby Dick, but there's a cure for it now.
Starting point is 00:34:37 Hey, oh. Wait, wait, wait. What did your grandfather do on that? His friend Edgar was a carpenter and they kind of helped out in the framing of the whales I love that That's cool
Starting point is 00:34:50 Wait I want to ask about Kerry And I want to know like Did you meet each other Because I'm an idiot I don't know Did you meet before Americans Or on the set And how did that go
Starting point is 00:35:00 And when did you know the sparks flew Just one question at time We did Because I get easily confused Because I love Carrie I love Carrie So do I We met quite a few years before
Starting point is 00:35:12 the Americans in Rusty Canyon at a kickball party that Jennifer Gray hosted, and I had no idea what kickball was. Boy, all of that adds up, by the way. Yes, yes. How I just ambled through life, bumping into the furniture and ending up going, how did I get here? How did this happen? And we were the last two to leave. We were in the parking lot, and I was trying to open a bottle of beer for her with a key and failing.
Starting point is 00:35:38 And I asked for her number then. And that was all I can remember. She was moving to New York two days after that on the Tuesday. It was a Sunday. And that's all I sort of remember. And then the road to the Americans was a long, crazy one. And then on the first day of fight training, I said to Kerry, I said, oh, we've met, we've met before, actually. She was like, no, no, we definitely have.
Starting point is 00:36:01 I said, it had been years. He's been years at this point. And I said, yeah, yeah, we met before. We met her a kickball party in Rustic Canyon. She went, I know who you are. and you left me a message on my answering machine, a very drunken message. And I went,
Starting point is 00:36:14 Oh. Did I, I'm so sorry. I had no memory of leaving a long, rambling, incoherent, drunken message, which is probably why I should think of- No way, did you really? Wait, can I be a super moron? Are you guys together?
Starting point is 00:36:29 Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. Wait, did you, so you got together, you started working together, that they're just good friends. No, because they worked together on the Americans for six. Cheers.
Starting point is 00:36:40 That's what I'm saying. That's why I was asked. But then, but during that, you guys fell in love, got married, had a kid? We did, yes. Yeah, but I want to know what happens. So she goes, okay, now I remember you. And then what? And then it was, it was just a very, it was a very slow burn.
Starting point is 00:36:56 The first season, you know, I, I think we were both trying to be sworn off to that thing. We're going to go, I'm not going to do what everyone tells us never to do. I'm not going to do that. And then, but the beginning of the second season, it was. It was, it was, it was, yeah. Okay, so now were the producer, did the producers take each of you aside individually and say, hey, this is, you're dealing with an asset here, okay?
Starting point is 00:37:21 Everyone has jobs. If you guys go south, we have to shut the show down. Were there conversations? No, no, they were very gracious about it, because I've had friends. They were all so nervous. I know, I've had friends who, you know, who've had that conversation to sit down from the producers going,
Starting point is 00:37:35 look, we've all been down here before. You guys are in you. You're mid-30s now. You know, you're not 22. Right off the company, and they were very, yeah, they were very kind and gracious about it. Do you know, do you know the TV director Tommy Shlami?
Starting point is 00:37:49 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so Shlami was directing the beginning of the second season, and he has that kind of beautiful voice, but Kerry and I were having a, we're doing a sex scene, and Shlami just goes, these two have been naked together before. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:38:03 And they just, it was like, called out. Oh, really? So at that point, no one knew, but he could tell. He could tell. And then there's a longer story as to how we got found out, which was just...
Starting point is 00:38:15 We've got time. Well, Kerry got broken into. I was in the house at the time, and the robbers kind of grabbed my backpack, shoved it full of her stuff. You're in the house alone during a home invasion. Yeah, yeah. Wow.
Starting point is 00:38:31 Start there. Well, so here's the other thing is it's early day, and this is just a testament to my abject stupid but with early days of our relationship. And she wakes me up, she says, there's someone in the house. And I go, no, there's not.
Starting point is 00:38:47 And then I just heard this voice. Oh, shit. And I remember thinking, in any logical moment, you'd go, let's lock ourselves in the bathroom, call 911. And for some stupid reason, because it were very early days, I thought, what I do next, she will judge me on for the rest of our lives. What's that film? Force majeure.
Starting point is 00:39:08 Force major. Where the avalanche comes and he just runs. He leaves his family beyond. Right, right? I swear to God. I was like, if I suggest to go into the bathroom, call 911, will she think me a coward? Your relationship's over.
Starting point is 00:39:21 Yes. I had all these weird things going to my head. So what did I do? She had a working fireplace in the bedroom. So I picked up the poker. Sure. And with not a stitch on me, I walked out to meet my fate. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:39:37 Wow. And we'll be right back after these messages. Okay, so now we're back. So now we're back. So now you're... So after eight months of treatment, yes. I was fine. No, I'm kidding.
Starting point is 00:39:49 So did you face to face with this fella? No, because what I did was, I think, what most people do is you turn the light on, and they run straight away. Right. So I heard them kind of run, and they ran out the front door. Oh, thank God. I know.
Starting point is 00:40:06 I know. Jesus. So you do this and now Kerry thinks that you're her hero? I wouldn't go that far. Or did she think you were stupid for chasing up to the guy? She was locked in the bathroom. Yeah, calling guy one. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:20 Then seven cops turn up and they start, they clock her and they're like looking. They'll have no idea why, but they're looking at her. And then all of a sudden the DA were like, they catch them and the DA said, oh, I tell you what, we would love to return your belongings on set with a photographer to Kerry. if that's okay. And she's like, she wasn't wild about the idea. Try to put it on.
Starting point is 00:40:41 No, no, no, because the DA was retiring that year. He wanted kind of a, you know, hero ending. So the NYPD, come on set with a photographer, and then they're holding up my bag. And, indeed, one of the young PA's went, wait, that's not Kerry's bag. That's Matthew's bag.
Starting point is 00:40:55 And as I'm running, trying to go, shut the fuck up. And that's how the crew kind of found out. No. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Yeah. That's crazy.
Starting point is 00:41:08 It was a lot to go through just for the big reveal. Wow. That's kind of cool. So then this guy managed to grab a few things before he went running. He did. He did. Wow. And when I saw the picture, when he was arrested, I said, oh, I said, look, there's a picture of the guy that caught him.
Starting point is 00:41:24 I said, look, he's been cuffed by two little tiny cops. She said, they're not tiny. And I saw the size of him. He could have turned me. into a kebab with that poker and done what he wanted. I wouldn't have had it. Now, did you have any sort of war cry
Starting point is 00:41:41 as you turned on the light? Was there any sort of get the heck out of you? You're going, hey bear. Hey, boy. You know. Was there any of that? No, no.
Starting point is 00:41:53 As much as I have a poker. Yeah, yeah. As much as I love that moment in Gladiator and all the Celts kind of attack the Romans and I always think, you know, if it came to it, that's how I'd react. I was not,
Starting point is 00:42:04 I couldn't move. my legs. Don't make me come down there. Yeah, yes. I'm classically trained, you know. I've done fencing. Totally naked. Yes. Let's get this going. Yeah. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. All right, so you and Carrie have a child. That's a boy or a girl. He's a boy. He's a boy. Carrie has two older ones. So there's three, you know,
Starting point is 00:42:32 there's three in the house who outnumber us. And what are the ages of all three? 15, 11, and 6. 15, 11, and 6. Then the 15 and 11 are boy girl? A boy girl, so it was boy girl boy. Boy girl, boy. And how are you liking being a dad? I love it.
Starting point is 00:42:46 Do you love it? I do love it. It's the madness that I love. It's when it's most catastrophic, the small stuff irks you, but when it's catastrophic, it's brilliant. When those mornings, when the wheels so royally come off, that's when I can sit back and go,
Starting point is 00:42:59 oh, this is just brilliant. Who's the more patient one with all of the, with the chaos? Is it you or her? Her. Yeah. Chaos I'm fine with. But manners, like rudeness, I don't tolerate.
Starting point is 00:43:13 And that's when I... No, me neither. Yeah. No, that's what I can. How old are yours now, Jason? I got 16 and 11, two girls. Oh, wow. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:20 And I'm totally permissive and the guy that plays around and I don't have to really be the disciplinarian. But if it's the rudeness, if it's stuff like that, and I just like the switch gets thrown. Yeah, same. I pick and choose my moments. Yeah, the chaos is great. Yeah, rudeness I have.
Starting point is 00:43:37 Yeah, we've got, we've got 14, 12, and then my partner, she's a five-year-old, and then we have an almost three-year-old. Oh, wow. All boys, all boys. No way. Yeah. You've almost got the hockey team. Almost got the team, and it's the fuck, and it is, sometimes it is absolute, just abject chaos.
Starting point is 00:43:59 Like just... How do you like it? I love it. The chaos. It's great. Yeah, I love it. It's, I don't know. I just wouldn't have it any other way.
Starting point is 00:44:05 I embrace it. It's fun. Same thing. They're all nice kids and everybody, you know, has good manners and stuff. That's one of the things. But I love it, man. I love it when it just gets absolute, you know, sometimes when you get into the witching hour sort of near bedtime, it gets fucking bonkers.
Starting point is 00:44:25 Yeah. How about the complications, Matthew, of travel and stuff? Since you guys are both very active in your careers and your kids are now deeply entrenched in school and having that sort of social and academic continuity, like you can't really pick them up and take them places with you as much as you want, I'll bet, right? How do you guys manage that?
Starting point is 00:44:44 Is it easy or tough? It is tough. I mean, we try and live by this ridiculous rule where one of us works, one of us doesn't and that, you know, kids stay at school. Right. But it's just... That never works out, right? Because, like, what if somebody gets a great, great call?
Starting point is 00:44:58 And it's, you just can't say no, but this is your turn and, you know. Yeah, this is what happened last year. Grandma came in and, you know, the kids ate sugar for six solid months. They loved it. I think that my sort of view on it always is that, is that you have this idea of how you want it to go. So you say, like, one of us is going to work, one of us, not, whatever that thing is, and you try to set those parameters and you try to get as close to it as you can. And you have to be flexible and allow yourself to, you know, that there are going to be moments where it's just pure chaos.
Starting point is 00:45:33 Yes. And the trip is kids are so incredibly resilient. Like they don't know any different. You know, I grew up in a house where my mom was a stewardess for Pan Am or flight attendant. She was gone two weeks of every month. It was just normal to me, you know, just had my mom half the time. And that was just normal. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:50 I had my dad. No, no, no, Matthew's going to love this story. No, no, yeah, go. So it starts with a Chevy Pontiac, the engine turning on. Yeah, and it ends with a peel out. Yeah, just a peel out. And a real... And a sort of a distant kind of, fuck you.
Starting point is 00:46:09 Fuck y'all. Fuck all you. I'm out. This is John, this isn't true, is it? Yeah, it's true. My dad left him. That's five. And he left his mom to keep an eye on all of them.
Starting point is 00:46:23 And I stress and I. His mother has one eye. And I'd stress and I. Matthew, it's brilliantly tragic. Traged. You have to laugh. It's fun. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:33 It's the same thing we have to do. We have to laugh at our misfortunes because... But wait, I'm going to ask you a weird question only because you're wearing a black t-shirt. And I've seen a lot of photos of you and stuff where you seem very... You seem very kind of fat... Like, you're into fashion when you have to be...
Starting point is 00:46:47 Like, I know nothing. Like, I'm terrible. But, like, you're probably like Will... You're probably like Will where you're like, I like to look good when I even go to the store. I like to look good when I go out in public. Like, is that... It seems like a lot of effort. Oh, no. No. If you truly knew me,
Starting point is 00:47:03 It's, Kerry said the other day, because I have, I have these beaten up car hearts and I wear, usually just the same black t-shirt every day. I even care is like, you've got, you've got to change for the school run. You've won the same thing for, for, it's now, it's now months. Right. And my car hearts are really beaten up and there's, there was this, there was this, what's cards? Car-Harts.
Starting point is 00:47:26 Sorry, it's a brand, clothing brand. Oh, oh, Har- Hearts. It's like, what are all the carpenters wear them and the, and the, Real worker guys. And I wear them into the ground because they look so terrible. I was standing in school pickup in the line and this mother kind of looked at him like Travis
Starting point is 00:47:43 and she said, what is it you do? And I went, oh, I'm actually an actor. And she went, oh, oh. It's like, almost like, why are you wearing car? Why are you masquerading as someone who works for a living? Well, you have your uniform. Well, it's like Jason always gets the question when they see him.
Starting point is 00:48:01 They always say, what times are your tea time? Right? Isn't that the question that gets most of the day? Well, when I wear this little outfit, it's clear. You know what I do get a lot, you know what I do get a lot is do you color your hair? And now recently, because of this film where I play in a guy in 1985, they think it's a wig. Just a full-blown wig that I'm wearing. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that immensely.
Starting point is 00:48:24 No one thinks that my hair is the right, is the real color. Because in your 70s like you are, it's nobody that's not true. It's not believed. that a 70-year-old would not have to admit that there have been, I've had a few people in the last year who have asked me, Jason, if you color your hair. Yeah, same.
Starting point is 00:48:42 I tell everyone that you color your hair. It's what I did that, huh? Yes, son of a bitch. It was, yeah, it was during that moment. Do you remember what, do you know, I don't know if you remember this, in the Golden Globes, this is, this is,
Starting point is 00:48:56 perversely pretentious, but it still makes me laugh. That kind of green, the virtual green room, if you remember, is you, me, Bob Odenkirk, Josh O'Connor,
Starting point is 00:49:07 and then we were all waiting for Al Pacino to kind of pop up. Do you remember? Into the virtual green room. We're all waiting. And then he pops up because we're all at home during the pandemic. And he looks like a Bond villain
Starting point is 00:49:18 because he has like a small dog in his lap and he's stroking it. Yes. And we all sort of say, we all go, hi, hello. Hello. Hi, hi. And then there's silence.
Starting point is 00:49:28 And then we kind of do a second round we're like going, hello, hi. No, nothing. And then I think you said, I don't think he can hear us. And then Pacino just goes, oh, I can hear you. Oh, boy.
Starting point is 00:49:39 Yeah. We all went, oh. Just doesn't want to do the group high. And then he said, I think he colors his hair. Yeah. Oh, this guy? Oh, oh, hair color.
Starting point is 00:49:49 Oh, Charlie. Oh. Hey, so, Matthew. Yeah. Quick question for Jason. Why is the emblem? Why is the person holding an umbrella? What is that?
Starting point is 00:49:59 Oh, this is some silly golf sweater. Mary Poppins. Oh yeah, what is that? It actually is a Mary Popp. This is a, I believe this is an ATT thing, Willie. Yeah. From ATT? Yeah, this is one of the...
Starting point is 00:50:10 From that swag room we went into? Free Swetter. We have smartless golf stuff coming out soon. I love it. Oh, let's take the opportunity to do a merch tie-in, show. That's smart. Thank. Matthew, Matthew, can you commit right now to wearing smartless golf merch on the school run?
Starting point is 00:50:25 My entire closet is mainly made up of clothes I've stolen from jobs. I don't buy your thing. Well, we're going to send you some smartless golf swag. I love it. I love it. Some plus fours, right, for the golf pants. You know, you can wear that. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:42 You know? We were listening. I do want to say, your show gives us so much joy. And we were listening. Yes, it does. We were listening to it recently. And Will, I think you went to dinner with Sean at Jarr. And Sean, you were.
Starting point is 00:50:55 Yeah, I was not invited. Yeah. Well, we brought that up in the car. We were like, I wasn't Jason. Yeah. Yeah. I never asked. These guys have been all over the world together.
Starting point is 00:51:02 Oh my gosh. I've been to Turkey. They've been to... Where else guys? Yeah, we have. Where else? Your passport's been stamped. Venice, Italy, right?
Starting point is 00:51:10 Venis Italy, yeah. You guys play golf every day. Okay, go ahead. Oh, that's different. So you did say that you were wearing ugs. The kind of slipper ugs for dinner. Is that right? Did I remember that right?
Starting point is 00:51:21 Absolutely, yeah. And I said to Canada, went, see? It's fine! And she went, they live in L.A. Right. She's right. Sean, that was you wearing the comfy? shoes?
Starting point is 00:51:31 He's been doing it for years. He's doing it for years. Who looks at your shoes? Nobody looks at your shoes in a dark restaurant. And then I would choose to never come to dinner with you again. Cobblers around the world. Cobbler's. Listen.
Starting point is 00:51:43 So Matthew, so now recently in the last couple of years you've partnered with our good friend Mr. Downey Jr. Oh yeah, Perry Mason. Now that's a handsome looking show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk to us a little bit about that. First of all, how that came about.
Starting point is 00:51:58 And what an absolute. absolute terror he is as executive producer. Oh my God. Oh my God. He's been checked. Yells and screaming. Oh, what a screamer.
Starting point is 00:52:09 He strikes people. Yes, yes, with a glove. Has a leather glove, a small gauntlet that he sometimes put a metal thimble in it, just for the little, ah! Yeah. Oh, Christ, he's here, he's here!
Starting point is 00:52:22 He speaks so highly. How did that come? How did, yeah, he loves you. Yeah, he does. He really does. Robert loves you. And talk to us a little bit about, And Susan as well.
Starting point is 00:52:31 Susan does not like, oh, she does. Well, yes. The great Susan, the brains of that duo. It's the wind beneath the wings and the brain and the head. Yeah. How did that come into your sort of into your world, the Perry Mason project? I mean, I'm trying to think what year it was now,
Starting point is 00:52:51 because it was a while back. Probably three, four years ago maybe? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I always, this is, this. This is how my brain works. When my manager calls and he goes, you know, Team Downey would want to talk to you about a reboot, Perry Mason. My first question was like, who's turned it down?
Starting point is 00:53:11 Who's turned it down? Why does it Robert want to do it? Yes, and I think he did. I think that was the whole point that Robert was supposed to do it. And it took them almost 10 years of development. And it went through many, very many guises of a TV film, a series. And I just think Robert never quite got. there.
Starting point is 00:53:31 So yeah, they reached out for a meeting, which I was terrified about. And the brilliant Mr. Van Patten directed that. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There was just the, yeah, it was a dream. By the way, I love that
Starting point is 00:53:44 their company is called Team Downey, which is always fun to me. I think that's a great company name. I've always been jealous of that, but I don't want Robert to know. I would have called it Touchdowny. Yeah. Oh, that's good. That's nice. That's fun. Yeah, it's fun. It's just like I'm looking to call,
Starting point is 00:53:59 name mine, Master Bateman, but it will not, has not cleared. So Robert, so Team Downey reaches out and you go and you meet with these guys and you're like, you're like, did you know that it was going to become this group? Like what was your first thought of it when you, were you like excited? Were you sort of skeptical? Were you? I mean, I was, I was slightly skeptical because I have, like, did you develop it with them or was it a script? Well, you're also carrying a bunch of peddict.
Starting point is 00:54:29 out of the Americans. You won the Emmy. The Americans and brothers and sisters that you did for five years with our old buddy Robbie Bates? My old friend. You did not want it to suck. No, no.
Starting point is 00:54:40 But that was never in doubt because, you know, I think when you saw Team Downey, you know, the writers on it, Tim Van Patten, HBO, it was kind of, it was straight to, I wasn't concerned that it wouldn't be of a certain caliber.
Starting point is 00:54:55 If anything, like, you know, usually it stems from my own insecurity as well, know, how I can turn it into a catastrophe more than anything else. But I was very excited. I loved it. It was pitched as a one-off. And they were like, look, we just want to do the origin story and that'll be it. And then, you know, halfway through, they were like, you know, it works pretty good. It looks good. We should think about doing this, you know, we should think about doing more of this. I did have that small reservation where I've done, where I've kind of, you know, Perry Mason is still revered.
Starting point is 00:55:27 Well, it was in the UK. It was huge. And here also, there is a certain generation of an age group up that kind of go, no, no, no, you can't touch Mason, but you know, you have to leave that alone. And then a ton of people have no recollection of the show whatsoever. And that's what Susan said. She said, look, there's an entire, there are swathes of generations ready for a new Perry Mason.
Starting point is 00:55:46 Yeah, we can do it. We can make him whatever he want. And where did you guys shoot that? In L.A. They went back to the origin story in the books, which was 1930s L.A., which to me was, you know, with Chinatown and everything else, was such, was so alluring.
Starting point is 00:56:00 And as a kid growing up watching old movies, I was like, oh my God, I get to wear a fedora in L.A. And you do an American accent? Yeah, yeah. You get to wear a fedora in L.A. like everybody else in Venice, right? In air. Yeah, or Los Feles, yeah. As an actor, is the American accent a tough thing to do?
Starting point is 00:56:18 And do you have like a phrase that clicks you right into the typical American sound that's sort of like a shortcut for you? No, there's not real short. It's still a huge, it's like a, I say block. Like hamburger. Well, I tell you what, well, yeah. I tell you what, killer. I went up to one of the writers early on in Perry Mason.
Starting point is 00:56:40 I said, hey, is there any chance we can change, like, murderer to killer? And he's like, you do realize you've signed on for Perry Mason? Like, you're going to be saying murderer a lot. And I was like, yeah, I hadn't quite thought that one, too. That's a bit of an Achilles heel for me. That's a tough word to say. Yeah, like your batteries run out halfway through. You just go, murderer.
Starting point is 00:56:59 Murderer. Murder. I was like, can you say killer? What about suspect? Suspect would be great. Right, because the British accent would put an A-H on a murderer. Yeah. Murder.
Starting point is 00:57:10 Murder. Yeah. Murder. By the way, if you're going to live in America, you've got to learn how to say murderer. I mean, sorry. I know. That's not true. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:19 It's going to be the thing you're going to say the most. Jesus Christ. Well, I mean, now, so now you've got the second season of, of Perry Mason coming out, which is fantastic, which you never thought you'd do. No. And that was delayed a bit, yeah?
Starting point is 00:57:34 With COVID, perhaps? Hugely delayed, because it's too into a detriment moment, no, we're going to wait. We're not going to shrink the show and make a smaller show of the first one. We'll wait until we can make the same big show with hundreds of supporting artists and do it right. Right, because there's a lot of background players
Starting point is 00:57:53 in a lot of crowd scenes. It's a massive production. Oh my, it's a beast. There are those days I turn up on set and I go, I don't even know how this works. My brother-in-law was a tank commander in the British Army for most of his life. And he said it's all,
Starting point is 00:58:08 it's like if you think about the logistics, they have to do, it's insane. But he came on set one day and he went, how does this work? And he was just so shocked. He goes, what amazes me, he said, what amazes me is that so many components have to come together in one tiny moment
Starting point is 00:58:24 and be quiet. he said it was it sort of staggered him he was like he was like amazed at the cold sheets and everything it is it's true when you watch when you go to a big film television set and you watch all these people who are at the top of their game
Starting point is 00:58:41 and they're seeing like you said come together in that moment where everybody's got to be silent and everything's got to be great and you see it pulled off sometimes it has the timing of something that has to happen in the shots whatever it is it is pretty amazing to watch how good these
Starting point is 00:58:56 people are at what they do. Yeah. And filming in New York, which we obviously did the Americans. Oh, yeah. It's staggering that they get away with what they do in the kind of... Like, location department should be given flack jackets these days
Starting point is 00:59:10 for the amount of abuse they just get from people who want to park, drive down the street, or, you know, enter a shop. But how many times have you had that when you're shooting in New York on the street and then it's like pretty good and then like somewhere in the take,
Starting point is 00:59:22 you just hear somebody leaning out of window going, I want to be in the fucking... movies. All the time. All right. If it says exterior night in the Americans, you know you're looping it. You know you're ADRing it
Starting point is 00:59:34 because you know there's someone shouting along the line. There was this one time in Harlem. I was doing a scene. And it was like eight guys because I had to shout the scene. Eight guys were shouting the exact same words along with me. Because they've heard it so many times.
Starting point is 00:59:48 Yeah. Matthew, we have taken up so much of your time. My God, I just really, we can talk to you for every. You're a real treat. You're one of us. You're one of us. God, you're one of us. This has been a real treat. Shaw, I can't wait to see the show. We're all coming to see it. We're very excited about it. Oh, that's so nice. Thank you. How our preview's going? Really well, really exhausting. But thank you for asking. I walked down the street one day,
Starting point is 01:00:12 today, walked down the street to go get my little sandwich, my egg sandwich. On a Kaiser roll. And this woman, this woman stopped me. She was really sweet, but this is how much energy was in her voice. She grabbed my eyes. She goes, I saw your show last night. I go, yeah? Thank you for coming. She goes, it was really good. And she just kept walking. I love New York.
Starting point is 01:00:34 New York undefeated. And that's it. I was like, last time I did a play, I was, I was walking from the theater. And this woman just shouted, you're an asshole. And I just went, I hope you saw the show. That's not personal. Matthew, well, when we come to New York, I hope that we can grab a meal. you, me and Kerry, and maybe one of these
Starting point is 01:00:57 ding-dongs as well. Let's go. Yes, please. Get Sean and Scotty and J.B. and we'll do it up. It'll be great to see you, man. Thank you for having me. This has been such a treat.
Starting point is 01:01:07 Thank you, Matthew. And send all of our love to Carrie. We will. We adore her as well. And we adore you. You are, as Sean said. You're one of us. It's been such a pleasure, buddy.
Starting point is 01:01:16 And a continued success. Perry Mason comes out. What's the release? It's out now. It's out now. Monday nights at 9. Yeah. Monday nights at 9.
Starting point is 01:01:25 There we go. HBO, Max. Yeah. Congratulations. So, thank you. Yeah, congratulations all the success, buddy. Thank you guys. Thanks, amen.
Starting point is 01:01:31 Thanks for being here, buddy. Have a good day. Bye, bye, bye-bye. And you slam it shut. Now, there's a nice guy. Well, what's a nice guy like that being, how is he friends with you? Because that's the kind of,
Starting point is 01:01:45 that's the ilk of people that I attract. You know what I mean? It's just like-minded people. Birds of a feather. Cool dudes. He's charming. He knows that to carry on a conversation. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 01:01:55 I'm always impressed with guys like that who were just so, like, relaxed, like that late. Like, well, he's confident, you know. He's comfortable, you know, he's got his uniform, he has his black t-shirt and his- He's not like you guys, he doesn't have an ax to grind, you know what I mean? He doesn't have something to prove all the time.
Starting point is 01:02:09 He's not trying to prove anything with his fun tops that he wears, Sean. I'm a fun top. Now, listen. I know you want. Speaking of which, where's the cocaine bear? What's he fixing now? Huh? He's fixing something.
Starting point is 01:02:21 Scotty, what are you making? What kind of sandwich? Oh, you had a Turks. He had a Turk sandwich. Oh, a Turk sandwich? Wait, what else is on it? What goes on a Turk sandwich of the day? Hang on, what percentage of the day when you yell out,
Starting point is 01:02:33 hey, Scotty, what are you doing? Is the answer, I'm making a sandwich? Well, usually it's for me. Making Sammies. That's what I mean? Well, so what do we got on the turkey? How do you like your turkey sandwich done, Sean? I ordered one, I had one yesterday for lunch.
Starting point is 01:02:46 It was a turkey, avocado, lettuce, and extra, extra, extra, extra mayo. Oh, and are we toasting the bread? No. Really? How about a light toast? with a little snap on it. It's like a real soft thing there. Extra, do you literally say extra, extra, extra, extra mail?
Starting point is 01:03:00 Yes, I always do, because they never put enough on. You know what I like? I like it when you get one of those, like a sort of like an Italian, you know what I mean? With different cuts of meat, some cold cuts, lettuce, tomato and get some... Drop it into the Brooklyn eggs. Some oil and vinegar and get a little salt peps. You know, by the way, it reminds me I was saying about the wearing the hats all around. I remember, remember Thoreau went through a long phase.
Starting point is 01:03:20 He was always wearing, like, hats and little pork pie hats and fedoras and stuff. And I remember Polar said to one day, you look fedorable and just really killed us. Hey, what kind of hat do I have on today? You got one of those smartless merch hats. That's right. Yeah. Where do we get one of those?
Starting point is 01:03:40 Sorry to interrupt, guys. It looks like Carrie Russell's entering the waiting room. She might just want to say hi. You want to just pop up. Put her on. Put a carry on. Then we're going to air it. There she is.
Starting point is 01:03:50 If you can hear us, hello. We'll have to have her on. I will tell the boys they can't hear you. right now because they're on the other system. You were fantastic. Thank you. Bye. Okay, thanks for everything.
Starting point is 01:04:00 Really appreciate it. Well done. I love that we just had a quick visual visit from Kerry, Russell. We couldn't hear her, but we got to see her and she was there. She was probably with the kids, right, Sean? Yeah, she probably would. It's about time for pickup. Yeah, it's probably for nap time for our kids, which she would then sing.
Starting point is 01:04:19 What would she sing to them if she was going to put her kids to bed? She would probably sing like. Rock of... Bye! Maybe. Jason hates when we go up. He just pinches that voice off. Bye.
Starting point is 01:04:40 Smartless is 100% organic and artisanly handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjav, and Bennett Barbago. Smartless.

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