SmartLess - STAYING ALIVE: Will Arnett, Part 1!

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

Hey, Smarties! Please enjoy the first half of this hilarious, in-depth interview with Will Arnett on SmartLess Media’s show Staying Alive! Hosts Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally (101 Places To Party Before You Die) sit down with Will to ask him about keeping in shape, cutting out sugar, viral podcast clips, and the nuts and bolts of making his new film, Is This Thing On? Plus, Pally has a text exchange with Will that he’d like to ask him about, and Gabrus might have to buy new budgie smugglers.Go to the Staying Alive feed HERE for Part 2!Full video episodes available HERE.Check out Will’s movie Is This Thing On? HERE. Check out Staying Alive merch at siriusxmstore.com/stayingalive This episode was recorded February 5, 2026 on the information superhighwayStaying Alive is produced by Devon Torrey Bryant and Anne HarrisEngineered and edited by Devon Torrey Bryant, who also wrote the musicAssociate producer and video editor is Maddie McCannExecutive produced by Jon Gabrus, Adam Pally, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Bernie Kaminski, and Rich Korson Keywords for this episode: Tony Stark, Castaway, Springsteen, Romesh Ranganathan, tattoos, budgie smugglers, Rubirosa, CAA, New Zealand, metric system, sushi, street fighting, Basil Hayden, Zyn, nicotine, OnlyFans, Tom Hanks, Wes Anderson, Bradley Cooper, Bob Castrone, The Comedy Cellar, prop comedy, Tony Gilroy, Pedro Pascal 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.

Hey, smartless listeners. It's John Gabris, one of the hosts of Staying Alive, a health and wellness podcast hosted by the unhealthy and unwell. That's Adam Pally and I. And we've got Will Arnett on our pod today. We got to spend some QT interviewing our pod father. And we went deep with him about his this thing on, Bradley Cooper, eating right, fitness, sugar, all the stuff we cover on our show. So please enjoy the first part of the interview with Will. And if you like what you hear, come on over to staying live and hear the second half hit subscribe or follow while you're there

Hey Will Thanks for thanks for doing this Oh dude thank you So much gents How you doing? Dude you look you look awesome Look that facial hair Really? Oh thanks

Yeah you got some you got Tony Stark Sean yeah you got some son And you got some Ironman fucking Yeah I was just shipwrecked Nice Dude well You don't hear about it that often anymore about people being shipwrecked. It's fucking old school.

But I knew I had to do staying alive. So I paddled to shore to make sure I did this stupid fucking podcast. I hope that the intro music, are we allowed to play other artists intro music or it just has to be ours? I think we should keep it to be just ours. Oh, okay. So it would be cool if today we could play something from Bruce Springsteen because the boss is here. Yes, our boss is here.

He does not like, we will learn that he does not like to be called the boss, but he is our pod father. He is the boss. Will Arnett on the podcast today. Big guess, so we're not going to go into a long, cold open, because we don't want to turn off anyone who's here to hear Will and not understand that. It's for anyone new. Welcome.

We hope that you can learn a little something about what it takes to stay alive as you get older and you don't necessarily play by the rules all the time. Yeah. Well, without further adieu, I'm learning French. Will Arnett. Is that your next duolingo? Trio lingo. No. The podcast lately, I've been feeling a little podcast burn lately. I've just, oh yeah? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah? I know, of course not, advertisers. We love it. But it's so. I made a joke. Working your ass off? I mean,

it's, I did this podcast with this guy in the UK. He's so fun. I mean, I forget how long ago was like, uh,

whatever, a couple months ago. And, uh, do you know this dude, Ramesh? Yeah, he's so funny.

He's really, really funny. So he's this podcast. And he asked me, and I told him this, like, I have this controversial position. I said,

there's a direct relationship. Yeah. And I said, the more text. It came up on my feet. The more. tattoos you are the more you have the more boring you are. Now, I was very clear. A, it's something that I've said to my friends with, I don't have any, that I've said to my friends with tattoos for years.

And it's, and it's basically a bit, right? Yeah. When I say it with it, that people are freaking out in the comments and the thing. And then I'm like, what a boring response. If you're, if you're insulted by it, then you're proving my point. But the truth is, I don't have a point. I didn't even mean it because I have a million friends who were covered with tattoos. And, People are insulted by it. It's insanity, man. Yeah, it's crazy when you realize that bullshit is news. Like, all of a sudden you're like, Will Arnett says they did have a guy on smart list that they didn't air or whatever.

This goes everywhere and you're like, who is, who is this matter to? What doesn't matter to Will? Have you looking at? It doesn't matter to me at all. But matters to podcasts. Most of them are bits. Most of them are just to fuck around in the moment, right? And then you're like, and then you hold it up.

Let's read this back in court. So your theory on tattoo, it was not a theory. It's a bit. You said here you like, you love to go swimming with bow-legged women. Is that correct? It's like, I was quoting a fucking movie. I did it. Anytime you get like even do it, this is all a net loss.

Like this can only hurt. This can only hurt. That's why we are so thankful that you're coming on our podcast because it's only, it's just lost. Yeah. It's just a fucking mindfield of like... That's a very loose. How are... Well, if you're not our boss, that means rich is our boss,

and that is a problem. That is... You're right, by the way, that's a problem for everybody. If you prefer the term podfather, we could do that too. Oh, I like that. You know what I wanted to ask you?

Will, like, is... Please be about tattoos. No, it's not... You're talking to guys who have matching tattoos. We are wildly... I can go fuck about when I saw that he was like you know what he's kind of right I am a drag I like

my head goes instantly to because now you're like a dramatic bleeding man is to what like do you feel how are you thin how are you looking like this Oh, oh, oh, physically. Oh, yeah. Like how, because our show is about staying alive, like,

because we're too out of shape or better in shape now. Yeah. We're doing pretty good. I don't know if it's the show or like dark medical revelations in our lives. You guys look good. Yeah. We're a better place. I'm like down 20 pounds.

You see? Yeah. I'm under 300 for the first time in like 10 years. It feels amazing. I might have to start buying a new. budgie smugglers. But like, so what are you doing to stay alive? Like, are you, because I have a text exchange that you and I have that I found on my phone

today from over the summer that I could read to you. We might have to edit? I don't think we do. It's pretty, I don't think we do. Okay. It's pretty base and it heads into the question. It starts with Long Island, baby, where are you at? headed to Ruby Rosa to eat my weight in red sauce.

What are you doing? No can do on pizza, but let's hang out this week. Then I wrote back, what are you doing to keep that Walton Goggins physique? And then you wrote back, you wrote back, I start by not eating, then I smoke a couple butts,

repeat every day. And as always, we are not doctors on this show. Do not take any medical advice. And as someone who struggles with everything, including the smoking. Yeah. I'm blood type marinara at this point. So I get it. I'm, yeah, it's that old school diet, man.

I've just, right. I look, I look, I think a lot of people, I look like that dude who, like, now that I'm looking on the thing here, I look like that dude who's like kind of tan and smokes butts. and drinks coffee. I became that. Place plays chess. I became the guy that I used to go to my buddies. Hey, look at that guy.

Right. We all do. That's who I aspire to be. Look at me. I look like fucking Mark Maren drowned in a pool. Yeah. I look like an offensive lineman in court for a fucking D-2-I. I.

I locked the gates. How come you didn't lock the gates? I drowned in the pool. Jesus Christ. Jesus. I, you know what the truth is about, what are we? About 18 months ago, one of my agents was like

hey you should go talk to this doctor like out of the blue not out of the blue for you but that's something that was on the agents mind I was ever out of the blue meanwhile like the CIA

had a morning meeting about my weight and and they go and he goes you should go see this dude who's basically like a nutritionist and talking he's like what he's like what do so I was so and that's a true story

And I was like, you know, I think I always was able to stay thin and then I got over 50. And as you know, like, it just gets hard. When you're over 50, it's just, and they're like, sorry, I'm going to eat what I want, but I'll just work out. And then you just get massive. So, so I was like, what do I do? So I went to see this guy and he helped me look at the stuff I was eating. And he was like, okay.

And like, you know, you tell him, he's like, how, what do you, you know, you tell him, like, it's not that bad. And then you tell him, he's like, wow, that's terrible. And you're like, oh, shit, really? The worst with those kind of situations is when you downplay what you're doing and they still say it's bad. You're like, yeah, I have like two beers

like a couple of nights a week and they're like, that's really bad. I'm like, oh, I was lying already. That's the good. I did that once years ago when I used to drinking this guy said I went to this doctor and I could tell and I go, this is like early 90s

and he goes, how much do you drink and I said, and I'm thinking like, when is going to be? I go probably six drinks a week. He's like, that's a lot. And I'm thinking, motherfucker, that's before I go out. I have six drinks.

That's a day. Yeah. Adam and I are very adjusted to telling a doctor, not cigarettes whenever they have to smoke. And I can't even do that anymore. I've regressed. I've regressed so I can't even do that anymore. Now I'm lying about cigarettes to a doctor in New Zealand who's like filling out a physical. I'm like sitting in like the in order to get to set that like a doctor's going to come in here.

You all right with that? I'm like, yeah, whatever. Guy comes in. He's like, says he. three to five drinks a day. I was like, I don't. No, I don't know. I don't know.

I didn't even fill that out. Somebody else wrote that. Someone else guessed that when they saw me. Well, it's metric down here, right? So, yeah, it's not actually the same amount. Yeah, and a day, you mean tomorrow, because tomorrow is our yesterday. So I'm, yeah.

Oh, we're not doing time zones? Okay. Next thing I know, he's like writing like psycho. Catholic conversation. Borderline personality disorder. Yeah, borderline. I, and so the truth is actually, so I, I, I ended up cutting up basically sugar, which is my number one, I think my number one addiction, because I won't, because I'm not addicted to cigarettes. And they're addicted to me.

You're such a badass And I are synergistic We help each other They've never let me down They've never lied to me They always told me what they were gonna do You are like blind to you from the moment You know

I know I was gonna say like sugar When you say no sugar Like how strict are we talking Are we talking like no like You go out to sushi You're doing sashimi Yeah basically

When I'm really doing it And so I go, I eat. Oh, God, it's so boring. But I eat. I know. Also, we're kind of living in the boring world. So don't let it. I got a bunch of tattoos, man.

This is the shit I'm into. You're right. It's so good. It's so good. You're like, I hated that this blurb went around and we've brought it up 11 times one interview. No, I love it because it's so dumb because it was so meaningless. Romesh is laughing himself.

You know what I took from that clip? It's like, Romesh is like, he's like, I have a lot of tattoos. Am I boring? And I wanted to be like, no, but the Apple Watch is making you more. We should be. Tattoes are fine. It's the Apple Watch.

So you cut out sugar. So I basically, like I was that difficult? Like, do you have any hat? Anything that you did for yourself? Like any substitutes or anything like that? that we're like... Dude, dude, I'm addicted to ice cream. I fucking love ice cream.

My favorite. It's my fucking favorite. So I'm like, like every day for me is like a nine-year-old's birthday party leading up to this. Every day, you'd be like, what are you doing? And so I had to like go, so I had to go... To answer your question, I couldn't, I didn't even go for sushi because I kind of, I was too nervous that I wanted to eat the rice.

Right? So then I just, so every day I'd wake up. And eventually I started, I was doing like, I was do like a little bit of oats and then some berries and whatever. And then like a little snack. And then lunch, I have a salad with chicken. And then at dinner, I have to have like 18 ounces of protein, fish or meat and some veggies. And then actually there's a crazy thing here. So I did that.

And then eventually he, and I could have a cup of rice with lunch. Then he got, and then like 45 days into it, he's like, now you got to cut all the carbs. So now I have none. And I don't have a cheat day. have a cheap meal once a week. Every seven days I have one cheap meal. Jesus. Yeah, and he's like, don't go downtown on your go uptown,

meaning like don't eat a bunch of crap on your cheap meal. Don't go to like Taco Bell and McDonald's. Right. Have a nice dessert. Yeah, have a nice dessert that doesn't have like a bunch of preservatives in it. And so I've kind of stayed to that for the last year and a half. And I've had a couple times where I haven't been able to. But for the most part, I've stuck with it and exercised at the same time.

and it's been pretty good. Here's a cool thing that he taught me. What kind of exercise are we doing? I just do, you know, street fighting mainly. A lot of street fighting. Yeah, your Kimbo slice in the backyards of Florida. It's hard to find a good gym. It's hard to find a good gym.

It's easy to find a street fight. I'm doing, you know, I do pretty light in terms of the gym. Pretty light. I was doing this thing where I was like, And I do it I don't do it as much anymore just because of time or whatever, but I was doing this boxing thing called Fight Camp

and Thoreau turned me on to it and it's like you get like a, it's almost like Peloton for boxing. I look like the loserist boxer of all time. Oh, I'm the worst in that. I'm the worst in there. But the cardio of it was really great. So I do that a couple days a week. I do these like sort of long walks and or hikes and then I do stuff with like kettlebell. Pretty light stuff.

You got a trainer? You're doing this on your own? No, I do it on my own. I'm pretty consistent. That's cool. Yeah. And so that's been good. He taught me this really cool thing, which is he's like 40 minutes before you go to bed, before you're going to go to sleep, eat like a cup of berries or a sorbet.

And he gave me a couple brands so that you get that spike of natural sugar. And then you'll crash. and you'll have a, you'll go into a sleep better and you'll sleep better. And he, God damn it, he was right. Oh, and there's probably the psychological element of like, now I get to have my treat. You get a little treat. And then it's like, and a little treat and then you're going to bed and like, oh, that's a real interesting wind down. Pretty insane. Pretty insane.

My version of that is I switch from a joint and a bourbon to a joint and a camomile tea. Oh, that's nice. And that has been, and I'm out on my balcony, sipping tea and having an indica. And I'm like, I'm going to sleep like a baby. It's so much better for me than two, two fingers are fucking, uh, basil Hayden's. Two fingers. Much like, much like my only fans, I prefer a little more than two fingers. Well, I mean, alcohol is the big, alcohol is the big thing that like, uh, I mean. It's a saboteur of your health.

Yeah. It's like you let it in. A1 killer. Yeah. It's, it's trash. And it's for a lot of different reasons. And yeah, I'm, I don't drink. I'm so happy that I don't.

for myriad reasons. But one of them is, you know, every time there's a new study that comes out, which is like every four hours. Every four hours, Huberman's making a fucking proclamation about, I can't believe we ever drank alcohol. You're like, oh, come on, man. And I just think, oh, thank God I don't.

And I do, I do feel better as a result of it. And you can't do it as you get older, too. Like, you just can't, like your body can't do it. It's harder. It takes more and more of its toll on you every year. I want to quit smoking butts. I really do. And I don't smoke as much as I used to.

Are you zinning? Yeah. I mean, I just put one out. I just stubbed one out. That's the level. I have a problem to zinn. I can't do it. So many of my friends are zinning.

So many of my friends are zinning and still blasting Sigs, which is like, I'm like. Yeah, it's me. I don't do it at the same time. At the same time. I've got people who are telling me that nicotine is actually like a neutral. and it's like it's like a performance and answer it is we actually just had hubbard man on on the podcast and i gotta say he was pretty great and i ended up being fascinated with everything he was saying and i didn't want it to end and i was like and what if i do this and what if i like i was like the little kid you know yeah and he talked about nicotine and how great it is yeah i just look like i have nine zins in my mouth at all time yeah wills hit in the five milly uh what do they call them the uh uh five-mill lip pillow or whatever. I'm on the three right now,

but I go back and forth between the three and the sixes. And then what does it do? It's just like a pouch, like a baseball player, or is it like, or is it like, or like, no,

you just put it, he's put it between your lip and your teeth. It takes a second to get used to. It's like these little pouches like this. And I know for a fact, based on our experience, that Adam can't handle just packing a lip with something. We did recreational ketamine together

and you're supposed to just put it in your, lip and Adam's like, I chewed it and swallowed it. I was like, what the fuck? You can't leave it there. It's like a little kid. I played a baseball in high school. I've been like, swallowing sunflowers.

As soon as that shit started, like, as soon as you go from sunflower seeds to like the first kid brings in chewing tobacco, I was just like, like, I can't, I can't pack a lip in high school. I can't do it. I have a weird, that's funny you saying that I have a weird time off, half the time when I would go to get it out of my lip, I start the gag. I don't know why. that that place. It's also, I can't, I also gag when I put my contact lenses.

Well, I think you're supposed to put him in your eyes. Not at the back of your throat. I thought you swam. I have no gag reflex. Again, I'm sorry. That's for my only fans. Clip that. Clip that for my only fans. Fuck, that's a great clip on its own. That's going to be the clip. That, I mean, I get somehow gets credited to Will, unfortunately. It's like Will Arnette's got no. Will Arnette says tattoos. Tattoes are bad. Again. Never live it down. It does make you think about Tom Hanks.

God, he's done so many different things. The dude's kind of unreal. I was just thinking about his run the other day. It's unreal. Right? His run from like Joe versus the volcano maybe. He splashes the original. He made a few clunkers.

I mean, they didn't, they never stuck. They never stuck to him. Yeah, like a clunker for time. Yeah, yeah, but he made like 60 movies and he made like 30 really good movies. So like half of them. I'm going to let him have. I mean, mine is I made only clunkers. Dude, I was to say like, do you know, if you looked at my IMDP, like my average, I'm batting 164 in the miners.

Hank's also did like 10 years of dominating comedy and then switch to drama and then was the go-to drama guy for like another decade. Similar to you, Will. You're a little late, but a little late. I don't think I'm, brother Solomon. I don't think I'm dominating anything. I don't know, dude. I think it depends on how you look at it.

Like, this is your turn to Hank's run it. Just a couple years later than he did. We're just doing a few more terminals. I decided to wait until I was 55 Because I didn't want to embarrass anybody I love it when people People do say to me sometimes they're like Do you ever think about doing like a drama

Like changing up and always like Yeah Yeah Yeah I'm trying to do comedy I'm like it all the time Yeah What you got?

Yeah You're like you know what you got to do You got to work with really good directors Yeah okay Yeah great I'm available. I would love that. Have you showed them my extensive

20 year television career? Yeah. Because you could Google me. You got a number on them? Let me just, you got a number on them? It's like, oh, it'd be so cool if you worked with Wes Anderson.

You're like, fuck yeah, I would. Yeah. It would be fucking awesome. That's like, that's the real like grown up version of your aunt saying like, you should do the Conan O'Brien show. You should do what he does. You know, and you're like, yeah, I would love to.

Right. I should. I should get on SNL at 44. I could speed run my fucking speedball death. I was going to ask you by this press run that you've been doing because it's a dream of mine as someone who's worked, you know, in comedy the way you have for a long time to see you doing the like a academy, a, like, academy. War run press tour where you're like in cool clothes and like you know what I mean? And there's like pictures of you

in a swimming pool with clothes on. You know and there's like sitting sitting cross-legged in like the W lobby with like with a bourbon or something. And then there's like an interview with you and Odessa Zion together. You're like you're doing

it. You know like how does that feel? Like do you ever? Does the comedian part of you ever, because I consider you like a comedian, you are one of the, you're comedian. Like, do you, does that side of your brain ever click on while you're doing, while you're doing it all while you're like, wow, this is new? A gazillion percent. And so what the difference is, well, yeah, I, I spent a lot, long time, you know, doing stuff and fucking around. And what happens is by the end, like when you do something with, as part of that, when you go and you do something like with Ramesh and I'm just dicking around, it's so fun because then I just get to dick around, which is why I say a bunch of stupid shit that I don't mean. Because you're just, you're just having fun, right?

But a lot of those things, you got to go. And, you know, look, the movie we made, this, this movie is this thing on that Bradley and Mark Chavlin and I wrote. And we worked on for, it took like from the time that we decided to start doing it until the time. that it came out was like seven and a half years or something, right? Jesus. Yeah. And so, so like we took it really seriously and we did it and it's a and we spent a lot of time on it obviously and a lot of care and so you come out with it and then when they start to you know starts thinking like hey maybe this has a chance for people to recognize it for X, Y and Z you want to give it the you're

you're doing a bunch of different stuff and so you're you want to speak very it's tough because you don't want for me I feel like man it's hard for me to be that earnest in a way yeah yeah that's what I mean comedy is not comedy is inherently like you want to undercut yourself and undercut the situation so frequently yeah yeah but then you but it but you know what the same rules apply in that you just got to read the room which is these are people here who are appreciating it and so that you you do take it seriously and I did take seriously doing the the project itself and I do really like it and I am really proud of it. So then, but there were times where, yeah, where you just kind of like, you, you, you,

you fuck around. But, but a lot of the time, you know, the questions are different too. The questions are like what, you know, why did you do this? Or what is the message or, you know, what was the process like? And you're like, well, actually, the process was pretty serious. Yeah, it took a lot of preparation. Yeah, to do those scenes. It took a lot of, we workshop for a long time.

And you find yourself down this road. and I did have a few times that there were some really cool interviewers who were like, I see that you're struggling with talking about it in this serious way. Well, there's like the, there's another layer to it too that you're a comedy guy doing serious interviews about a serious movie about comedy. It's like a quadruple 4D cake or some shit. Yeah, man.

That's a thing. Yeah, it's complicated. And, and, uh, and then, But at the same time, and then what happens is it's very alluring because people do respond to it. And they're like, hey, we really liked it. And we thought it was a great story. And you're like, you're kind of forced to put your guard down. It was tough for me to kind of talk about me and or it in this way that didn't feel like,

I kept trying to, I was like catching myself. I didn't want to seem like I was being self-aggrandizing. Do you know what I mean? This is the most understandable, like, headspace to be. My therapist one time said to me, do you ever use positive self-talk with yourself? I was like, no, why? That would be corny. He's like, no, that is something you need to like.

And I'm like, oh, fuck, I never, like, it's so easy to just downplay everything. But then when you're a part of something larger, like a piece of art that you're involved with other creatives that you're like, I can't go out here and downplay this because I worked hard. Other people worked hard. My instinct is to like undercut myself for the sake of comedy and to not come across as, like a guy who is too serious. What made it easy was, in certain ways, was that the people I worked with, you know, A, Bradley, you know,

he's... I got a billion questions. Yeah, he's an incredible... He's an incredible filmmaker, right? I mean, and I've known him a long time. His capacity for all of it is so insane. And his concentration and his focus

is so intense in the best way. And Laura Dern, who's one of our greats, You know, and she's just, she's just incredible. And so you kind of, you, you start to get in that, you know, I heard, but what's, what's interesting is, so, so that part of it made it really easy. And then when you listen to that and the way they talk about you're like, okay, yeah, I can talk about this thing. And, and I did take it seriously. You know, what's weird is, you know, as Pally, you were saying that, like, you go and you're doing these, like, screenings for the academy and stuff.

And, of course, we didn't get any nominations for anything for our film. Not about that. I know, but what's weird is they, you get put in this place where you've got to go and do that. And then, and then you're disappointed. And then you're like, I heard Ben Affleck talking about it. I think on Kimmel maybe or something recently, and he was much more articulate than I was. But about this idea that people are like, oh, man, sorry, didn't get the thing. And you're like, I didn't even, when we made it, it's not like I was thinking like, wow, we're going to get, we're going to make this Academy Award winning thing.

thing. When you get drafted in the NFL, you're not like, fuck. I just want to get, if I don't win the Super Bowl, I just want to get out of the field. And that was it. We just wanted to make something good. So played a great game. So it's confusing. And I remember my 15 year old said to me, and he's such a great kid and you want to talk about this kid is so funny. He's an absolute bit machine. It's unreal. It's unreal. It's in the jeans.

Do not introduce him to my son. I do not. I don't need two of that. My son is a nightmare. Yeah, bit machine, right? Yeah, it's insane. And we were driving home and I was driving him home somewhere. I was out here in California and I said that and we found out like that we something came out. We didn't get, we didn't get recognized. And he goes, and I hung up and I go, yeah, he goes, what happened?

I go, yeah, it's a bit of a bummer. And he goes, don't let the fact that that happened ruin what you think about this great movie that you made, Dad. and I was like, you're right. You're absolutely right. It was so dope. It was so dope. And like it took my 15 year old to give me the perspective.

Yeah, the clarity comes from the most of the wildest places sometimes. You worked with our mutual friend. Oh, real quick. My buddy Bob Castrone. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, Bobby Castro is one of the all-time funny dudes.

Yeah, one of the best. I met him when I was a PA at Best Week. ever like 20 something years ago when I graduated college and we've been tight ever since. I mean, you want to talk about Bit Machine. Bob Castro. So Bob came with us when we were doing, because as you know, he used to be a stand-up back in the day. Yeah.

And so when I started doing stand-up and was going to the cellar when I was living- Were you using your name? Were you using, like, would they say, ladies and gentlemen, Will Arnett? No, no, no. I was using the name of the character, which was, yeah. Some fucking I know Well I was doing it

Yeah I think that people were like Is he doing like Some like low rent Andy Kaufman ripoff Daniel Day Lewis over here Daniel Dave Lewis doing On the set

Everyone call me Will I'm living the life All right Everyone treat me like Will Okay I stand up comic He's going through a divorce All right

So I So I would go down. And so Bob, Bob came with me in, because we wrote all the stand-up, you know, that's in the film that kind of tracks where this character of Alex is going and stuff. And so I wanted to have that experience, truly what it was like to be this dude. And I'm not a stand-up, so I'd never done it before. But I wanted to understand what that experience was going down and being that dude. And so really what I got to do is kind of rehearse for six weeks and going to the comedy cellar every night and walking down, stairs and being introduced as Alex Novak and people did like kind of

I'd get up there that sort of snicker and think like I was losing my mind or whatever and but then poor will he's going going through it I mean sorry Alex I joke I did joke though I did joke that people are you know like a you know so I'm getting divorced and stuff that people are Googling like this asshole got married again like what and you were doing a super high-pitched voice right No gravel. I was doing like this. Dude,

the worst part of that was lugging that prop bin up and down those stairs though, right? I'm glad you guys did the rewrite to make Alex not a prop comic.

I think those a smart movie. It was so, it was such a, I'm glad we dropped that because it was, it was just hard to get the shit

up and down the stairs. It was so. The art department was furious that was so happy. I made everything, the plunger, the chicken,

the glass, all of them. And you've got to be careful with it. You can't just throw it down. You have to place it. No, well, there's an anvil in there. You can't throw it down. It's going to ruin the chicken.

We come from improv, as you know. And so, like, there is, that is a different thing. Like, we, you know, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, So much stage time, but no crossover. Where you're like, oh, I can get on stage. You're like, I can get on stage with no material in front of however many people and feel, feel comfortable. And then you're like, but that doesn't mean anything. That's not currency.

That's not, you know, it's not music. It's like shitty jazz, you know, in a way. It's like, well, what, you know, what was interesting was so, so when I was, yeah, so when I'd go down there, the first time that I did it at the cellar, we walked down the stairs and I was there with Bob Castrone and in Bradley and we're standing there by the doorway, you know, downstairs there at the main room there. And I'm about to, they're about to call me up. And Bradley knows me and he knows that. I'm going to, if I get up there, that because I didn't come up through improv, I wish I had, I wish I'd known about it, I wish it existed in that way when I was coming up. adjacent. I mean, you, I'm adjacent. We've hung out at McManus enough for you to be considered

an improviser. Yes, but, but like I wish, I just wish that that was kind of around more when I was, when I first moved to New York in 1990. Yeah. It just was it. So, but, but I, but he knows that my instinct is that if I get up, if I walk down there, get on stage, that I'll try to figure out a way to make, to squeeze out a laugh somehow. To make it work. To make it work. To do something and whatever. And the first time he stopped me and he puts his hand on me and he, he leans in and he goes,

we're doing something different. And basically we're saying, you're not doing that. We're here to do this. This is the job. And so go out there and do the material as Alex and do Alex's material that we do from the film, which is what I did. And that was really dope. Yeah, because the impulse would be to be,

like, I know how to impress this crowd. I'm a funny guy. Give me a mic. Yeah, just lean on my sweaty bits. You know what I mean? Yeah, the tattoo thing. Let me try something out of here, guys. From everything you said, the, the, I mean, I've had a director that I've really loved working

with that I trust, you know what I mean? But I never had a, like, a friend who is also my director who's like, it must have been really bonding where you're doing this. If you guys were like going undercover. writing the movie as it as it's forming, you know what I mean? Like that's pretty special to have a friend that's like, hey, man, don't do your bullshit tonight. And then, but trust, but trust me that I'm going to have your back and make you look good.

100%. And it was, and it was, you know, again, because I do, I got to see sort of under the hood over the last couple of years as we were working on developing it. What an incredible mind he has for this kind of thing and for making movies. So I trusted that in that moment and it did help us be you're absolutely right I'm in terms of Weeks later when we actually start shooting I do that trust is just built built built built and such a strong thing and then and then Actually was you know coming to those moments where we had these really insanely vulnerable moments in the film and I've got to trust him and he's you know I'm be I I've never done anything like

like this on film in this way. And I had to kind of, you know, we talked about it. And he'd be like, you gotta trust me that you have to, there's, there can be no bullshit here. There's no acting, there's no bullshit. You have to, and we gotta go deep. And he would like pull the camera off. He's operating too.

So that was the crazy- Soderberg style. It's like, yeah. He and- Well, that's also, where's he gonna sit? There's no freaking chairs. There's no chairs. By the way, there's no chairs,

there's no video village, right? Yeah. Everything's intense. From the moment you should, show up from call time to rap. There's never a break. There's never sitting around. I wish for that.

It's amazing. So you're always engaged and he's right there. He's a foot from me with the camera in my face. And he's talking to me as we're rolling. And he's like, here we go. Here we go, man. Here we go. And then you go like, we got to go.

We've got to go deep on this. We got to go. You got to fucking throw it all the way. All this kind of shit. It was dope, man. It was scary as fuck. That is amazing. Can you introduce us to Bradley?

I know. I'm not ready to hang out with Bradley yet. I need a couple more years. I'm not concerned that he's ready to make a movie. You guys should work with Bradley. I didn't say movie. I don't want to hang out. I'm not ready to hang out with Bradley yet.

I need a couple more years. Because there are people like that in my life who like, I feel like I'm going to meet Bradley Cooper and I'm going to be like, I got to get more like Bradley Cooper. And you know what I mean? And like right now, right now I just got to. I can't handle that identity. I can't handle that.

I can't handle that right now. I got to just figure out me. He's crazy inspiring. I mean, again, like, it, it, our whole thing, our whole relationship went into a totally different gear. And he really inspired me in, in so many ways. It was pretty sick. Are you going to do it again?

Are you going to, I mean, are you going to, obviously the material, you're, you're getting a different look now, right? Like, there's got to be cooler stuff. Yeah. Or a more, more variety of. things in front of you that you can do next. Yeah, for sure. That's the exciting.

That's the exciting part. And I'm not, what's funny is, again, I think because maybe I'm, because I'm 55, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not precious about it. I'm not like, hey, now this is what I do. But I had these, like, really sort of very, what should be obvious realizations. But it's taken me a long time where I go, like, I only want to do stuff. that I that I respond to.

Wow. I haven't had that revelation. I was like, what? And they're like, yeah, what I did. And so,

so it's been cool. Yeah. And it has been different. You know, I just finished this thing, um, um, um,

with Tony Gilroy, which is pretty dope. Oh. Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. And with with Pedro Pascal and that was, that was really awesome and Olivia Wilde in a bunch.

It was pretty dope. And, and so just a small little thing, but, but like, really cool to be able to kind of do do some different stuff so that's uh yeah i'm pretty i'm pretty psyched about it are you are you looking to downshift and to do a comedy again and be like oh fucking like safety i feel like a lot like you know what i mean like you're like okay like yeah yeah or

let that Clydesdale out of the gate did you get did you get a taste did you get a taste and you're like i got a i want to fucking you know let's let's let's see what else is in there let me keep digging you You know what? I think it's more, I don't think that I, I mean, that's always, that's always alluring, right? Just because you want,

because if you read something really funny, you're like, oh, that'd be really fun to go fuck around and do that. Right. But at the same time, I think that it is much more about, like, I just, and if it ends up being something that's funny, that's great, I just want to do something that feels,

as you know, it takes, you know, it takes time away from your life and your kids and all that kind of stuff. so it's got to be something that feels valuable. I get to screw around like you guys do with Jason and Sean all the time. So that scratches a lot of itch oddly enough. Right. Yeah, that's actually kind of cool when your quote unquote day job is like riffing with other talented funny friends.

It's a little spoils you a little where you're like, I don't need to chase this high elsewhere. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. I hope you've been enjoying the interview with Will Arnett as much as we enjoy. enjoyed doing it. So if you want to hear the second half where we get into Will's morning routine, his kids dunking on him, an extended conversation about Benicio del Toro, then you got to go over to the staying alive feed anywhere you get your podcast. Hit subscribe or follow while you're there. We've got other great conversations with people you'll know and love like Manzukis, Mark Marin,

Scott Ackerman, Casey Wilson, Ego Wodom, Eric Andre, et cetera, et cetera. Come listen to a very funny people telling us what they do to stay alive. You have been listening to Staying Alive with John Gabris and Adam Pally. A smartless media production in association with Sirius XM. Executive producers are John Gabris, ooh, me, Adam Pally, ooh, you. Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Richard Corson, and Bernie Kaminsky.