SmartLess - "Steve Carell "

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

Sapphire-Steve Carell joins us this week via Wicked SmahtLess Satellite-Uplink. We review his resume from resident DJ to mail carrier… to just a guy who works in an Office. Will and Steve bond over their history as hockey goalies, Sean gets down with love, and Jason finally reveals his process in shaping his Teen Wolf Too performance. Must be nice.Please support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey Will Arnett, boy you got a real bright white shirt on today, kind of matched your teeth. Thanks. Do you like what I have on? Oh god, what do you call that? What do you call that? Dirty old tee? Smart!

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Hey guys, how are you? Listen, I feel like we just saw each other, was it last night? No, it was two nights ago. Two nights ago we saw each other and... And Will, you asked me about my car and I said I'm going to wait and tell you on Monday. I know, Sean said, I said to Sean, because we saw him the other day and his car looked different and I said, what happened to your car because you had that car that he talked about.

He smashed his new car with his driveway because he got it re-engineered, the gate. To close, yeah. So it's my Audi e-tron, which is my favorite car of all time. Say it one more time, clear. Let's say it one more time. God. It really is my favorite car. Well, Jason and I, obviously we have no opinion on cars.

I mean, other than, you know, GMC, if you're looking for something, we should certainly love Range Rovers and Tussles and... So the garage is down. So the garage is down. We opened up the garage. There's my car and Scotty's car in there. And it's this massive horrible smell and we're like, what is it? Smells like a rotting like body or something.

So we're like, we looked behind the walls, you know, we looked like outside next to the garage. Like it was weird. Anyway, I was like, well, I'm just going to get in the car and go to my appointment. So I get in the car, Scotty texts me like an hour later, he goes, ever since you left, the smell is gone. Oh my God. So you're at your appointment.

So you were like, hang on, and you said to the guys at the Dorito factory, I got to go. What did you do? The Dorito factory. Thanks for offering the tour, but I've got to get back home. And also I'm already kind of affiliated with the gang over at Chex Mix Bugle. So I also thought it was weird that he called me and said, ever since I left, the smell is gone. But anyway, so I got back and this Audi person came because they're like on it.

And they said, oh yeah, on a lot of the new electronic cars, a lot of the wires are made of soy, which is food for animals. So what happened was an animal went in, ate some of the wires and died. Really? Yeah. Was a dead animal. You know, I once found a rat living underneath the hood of the, of one of our cars here in the driveway.

Just like nestled up in the warm pipes of the engine, a full rat's nest. Like apparently this is something that happens up at your, up at your current house. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh wow. Yeah. Well, that's different than eating the wires. Do you think the rat was still just traumatized by the image of Ernest Borgnein standing in

your kitchen jerking off? Listener, I live in Ernest Borgnein's old house and Will's convinced that Ernie Borgnein was a famous masturbator. He talked about it. I don't think he did. I think he's just being mean. He said he masturbated every day and he said he used to, you know, in the opening when you walk in your house there with the stairway, he said he used to lean against the banister.

Is this a true story, Will, that he's just was a notorious, that's not true. He did. He said it in an interview. I'm not making it up. What do you mean, an interview? Ernest Borgnein said it in an interview. How do you know that? I look, because I read it one time because I was looking up who masturbates more than

everybody. Everybody. So you're saying that's how I got a deal on this house, that it's a notorious just goo chef. You left it with Mark. That's for sure. Jackshack is the term I think that's, let's see, I'm looking it up right now. You're looking up for the article right now?

By the way. We'll wait. I guess. The Buzzfeed. Ernest Borgnein loves to masturbate. That's not true. Come on. That's not true.

Bless him. Wait, what are you talking about? The guy that healthy clearly, this guy had enough testosterone for all of us, right? Ernest Borgnein was very ferocious. 2008, he said that the secret to staying young at his old age is masturbation. Wow. And how old was he when he died? Master Bateman.

Hang on. What is he saying? It's right there. It's kind of poetic. He did live in this house for 60 years. Did he really? I don't want you to let your imagination get carried away with itself, but that's a lot of time under this roof for him.

By the way, I wouldn't bring it up if he had not said it. I'll do respect to him and to his legacy, which is now a little stickier, but he's the one who said it. And he was quite open about it. Well, how old was he when he died, Ernest? Does it say there? What am I? His biographer?

I want to say it was like 90. He was old. He lived a long time. Yeah. I want to say it was 90. Well, there you go. No, he was already 91. There.

How long have you guys been in that house, Jay? Six years. Seven years? How old was Ernest? Oh, my God. Granddad is asking Siri how old Ernest is. Oh, my God. He was 95.

Okay. 95. There you go. Yeah. So after that interview, we got four more years of snapping it off in that house before. Oh. Sean, I love watching you. I love watching you Google stuff and ask Siri stuff and I just think, do you have a robust

relationship with Facebook too? Hey, Siri. You know, you don't need to hold the phone up next to your, right on your lips. You don't need to kiss Siri when you talk to her. Like that. No. Just anywhere in the room. We'll do.

She can hear you. Like this. Just next to her. Like this. But I don't know. We're going to out our friend, Ernest, in here on that too. She does the same damn thing, except hers is even worse. She'll actually hold the full phone up facing the, like her nose to the glass.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I don't know why she thinks she's going to get a better answer that way than just kind of just down around the hip. Sean, when we were doing the bits at Jen's house on the other night with the, with the bag, and then when I had Jen's glasses and I kept taking them off and then cleaning them.

The best. She knows she doesn't. That's a problem. She's, she's. No, she doesn't. The number of fingerprints on her glasses is, it's just remarkable as she can even see out of them. Well, they go on.

They go off. They go on. They go off. You touch them and you take them off. We just kept doing bits. It was God. It was so good. That was, yeah.

Will did one of the best bits ever, which was similar to bits I've been doing, but he acted like the purse, I don't know whose purse it was. Well, let me set it up by saying this, Sean's bit, which is great is often will be at dinner and somebody will have a handbag like on a table and Sean will come up. He'll come over, grab it, put it over, put his arm through and goes, I'm just running out to the store. Does anybody want anything? And it's really funny.

It never doesn't work. No, it's always funny. And then Will took it to the next level, which was actually digging in like you were looking for something that was your part. Well, I would go like this. I'd hold it like this. Then he'd come back and go, hi. Oh my God.

I was just thinking about you guys. And then I pretended like look into my bag as if I'd had some stuff in there. It's really funny. It was relevant. I could watch that for nine hours. Man, he's got a real Swiss army knife with us today. This actor can be funny, dramatic, lead or supporting. I haven't seen him play a woman yet, but I bet it would be convincing.

He's got all the nominations you could want, all the respect and admiration possible, but even more importantly, a successful marriage and two great kids. On the sad side, he can't swim, can't ride a bike or sleep laying down. But we're going to cover all of that next with our very special guest, one of my heroes, Massachusetts own and Nancy's guy, Mr. Stephen John Correll. Hey guys. Steve. Hi, Steve.

Steve knows Jen. Steve, have you ever seen Jen do that I'm new to technology bit where she just presses it up against her nose and talks to Siri like that's going to make it all happen. I haven't seen that. No. Thank you for coming. Thanks, Steve. Thanks for having me.

Wonderful. Our next guest now, probably in your defense, you're busy being professional in your dressing room, learning your lines. You're not mixing. Oh, you're on the set right now. Well, when he was working with Jen there on the morning show, he's not around her when she's asking Siri about the non-important question in the world. He's preparing.

Yeah, please. I'm always preparing. Sure. Sure. Are you at work right now, Steve? Are you preparing now? No. I'm not at work ever.

Would that be great if you were sitting on the can right now, if you just panned down right now? He's just... I'm done. He's working on something else. Yeah. The only place we could catch him for a solid hour. Steve Correll, good to see you.

It's good to see you, man. I'm so glad you're here. It's so good to see you guys. How great is that? Steve Correll is on the show, everybody. Pull over, turn your car off. I'm just... Steve, I'm just sitting here looking, because I'm just a fan.

I'm just a... Who is that? I'm an old school... You just call me a fan. Yeah, I am. I'm soaking it in. I just think you're great. When you died on the morning show, spoiler alert, I was completely crushed, like I was

so invested. Okay. You weren't supposed to be crushed by my character. I was, though, because you were coming around. Your character was coming around. You know, a lot of people haven't finished the first season, John. The second season. The first second season, sorry.

Well, it was a true spoiler for me right there. I was galloping towards that episode, but I can go ahead and hop that now, I guess. Well, News Flash, it came out 19 years ago. Well, but, you know, but I like to wait until a few build up, and then I just binge them all. All right. What about a rest of development? Sean, favorite episode?

Son of a bitch. He's never seen it, Steve. He's never seen it. He's never seen it. Not the one. He's never seen it. I'm not. It's not my list.

Let's get into the really hard pressing journalistic questions I've got from you. Care of Wikipedia. Hold, please. Wait, Steve, where are we catching you? Are you LA? Are you East Coast? I'm East Coast. I'm back in Massachusetts right now.

Oh. Now, are you, now, I remember years ago, you were saying that at one point that you were going to potentially kind of eventually move back there full time. Have you done that? We'll sort of halftime at this, probably six and six. I think that's how we're going to do it. Are you off of work right now? I am, yeah.

Okay. So you were born in Massachusetts, spent some time there. Is this where potentially you got interested in acting slash comedy? If so, was it because you were funny and or outgoing as a kid? Did it all start happening for you there? Or was it later? I wasn't outgoing as a kid. I was pretty shy.

I liked to do theater, but it wasn't specifically my thing. I did a lot of other stuff, but it was fun. But I wouldn't allow myself to ever think of it as a career or a potential career. It just seemed like. Because I remember being in Chicago, you were like, everybody was like, Steve Carell, you were the god of Second City there. It was like, just the fact that you went through there in Chicago, everybody was like, just thought you hung the moon as did I.

What is it with, what is it? What is the difference between being shy? Because I think I'm kind of shy, but I'm, I don't mind being, for instance, I'm very shy to like make a toast or something like that. But I am not shy when the camera's on and I get to play a character or something. Are you similar in that because it's hard to correlate or to reconcile being shy and also willing to be in front of the camera? How did that work for you?

I think it's the same for me because I feel like you can hide behind a character. You can hide behind a performance and dialogue. You can even hide in a way behind improvisation because it's, you know, you're kind of stepping outside of yourself in a way. But I think a lot of people are the same way. You know, when, you know, at my wedding, I got so shy at my wedding because all of the focus is on you and your, you know, and your wife. And it's weird because it's just you.

There's nothing, there's nothing else. Did you cry at your wedding? I didn't cry at my wedding. I was sweating a lot, but I didn't cry. So the body was crying. My, well, it was, we were married here in Massachusetts. I was super human, super hot that day. And I remember I was pouring sweat and then Nancy appeared at, you know, down the aisle

and the sweat dried up and I would like my nerves completely went away. It was the craziest thing. Just seeing her as she started to walk down the aisle, I thought, oh man, this is like, did you dance with her? Definitely. I continued to dance with her to this very day. I love that. I did not.

You know, because I, going back to the shy thing, I think a lot of the mis, there's a big misconception. I think Jason was touching on this. If you're an actor, people are like, well, being shy is just an excuse. You just don't want to talk. Like how could you be scared to be, speak in front of a large group of people? But it is, it's, it's, if something's not written for you or you can't cultivate a character, it's one of the reasons we're actors is because it is too nerve wracking unless that's done

for you. But Willie doesn't have a problem with that. You're never shy away from, you know, making a toast for someone in a very sincere, genuine way, but also being very funny. Like you don't, you don't have an allergy to a spotlight. I, I, I get, I get, I get small. No, I, yeah, but I might have like a condition. Yeah.

There's a chance. I'm glad you said it. Yeah. Let's, let's build on that. No, well, let's not. I, I was thinking about reminding me of Steve's, you know, John Glazer. Oh yeah. Yeah.

I knew him for a second. Jason, you remember Glazer? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, I didn't get to miss cause we were working, but I remember Amy went and a bunch of, and Glazer was giving a speech at his own wedding and he started to cry. He started to tear up and John Benjamin and David Cross started going, cry, cry, cry. That'll make you feel more comfortable.

I don't know. I haven't thought about that in 15, 20 years. Steve, again, in this incredible, I don't know if you guys have ever heard of Wikipedia, but it's such a source. It says here, were you also in Massachusetts when you were the disc jockey at W-Dub, both the handle Sapphire, Steve Carell? No, that was in college. Okay.

I went to school. How did we get Sapphire? Well, the guy, you know, you have to intern under somebody when you first joined the college radio station. Which was where? Where, where were you for college? I went to Denison University in Ohio and listen, that's a family name. My son's name is, my youngest son's name is, is Denison, Alexander Denison, and we call

him Denny. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, sorry. No, no. I was interning under this guy who called himself Diamond Doug McKenney and so the first time he allowed me on the air.

He sounds very good. I just was kind of blowing him some shit and I said, this is the Sapphire Steve Carell. And then he didn't really, he didn't think it was that funny. Wait, Steve, what kind of music did you play when you DJ'd? Mostly Stairway to Heaven. Yeah. Anything really long, really long songs because I had, you know, as a freshman too, you get the worst shifts.

So I was on from like five to seven in the morning. Okay. And we will be right back. Hey, smartlist listener. You're supported by Lost Debate. Today's polarized media landscape gives people a false choice, stay in a partisan bubble that never challenges you to think or embrace the online outrage cycle. But you can choose something even better.

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You're from sort of the Boston area and you go to Denison and then what's the move? How do you end up doing going to Chicago and getting into Second City? Like because it's a question that kind of comes up with people in comedy, especially people who go through Second City. What was that? What was that moment for you? Like, yeah, I got to go to Chicago or that's for me or... Well, I was working as a postal carrier in Massachusetts.

Yeah, really? You left because you were too slow or got fired because you were too slow? I was terrible. Well, I left because two buddies of mine from college said, hey, let's go to Chicago and we're going to start an educational theater company. This is post-college. This is post-college. I had gone back to Massachusetts living with my folks, got a job as a mail carrier.

Wow. I was trying to put some money away to make some sort of move eventually. I didn't know where. And they said, let's, you know, we're going to move to Chicago, get an apartment and just try our hand at theater on the side. We'll create this educational theater company, we'll make some money and perform for kids on the side and I was in and that's how it happened. But you go to Chicago to do this educational theater, which by the way, pre-Yan, and then

you get there. Fuck me, man. I mean, I'm still stuck on the money-earning career as a postal worker and then an improv artist. If you and I had been friends in high school and you had said to me, hey, I'm going with those other guys, I would have, you wouldn't have made a fucking dime in your life because you would have never left. I would have been like, are you out of your fucking mind?

You're not going to fucking Chicago. I got to do fucking, Steve, get a fucking grip. Hey, Carell. What the fuck did you do when fucking Carell wants to do, shut the fuck up, dude. So you're lucky you did go because it worked out well. But how did you go to go do that and then did that fall apart and you just saw a sign for Second City like out of a movie, like, hey, there's Michael Hulling. Well, that was always the ultimate plan.

It was. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I really wanted to go to Chicago to do improv and to try to at least take classes at Second City and to do plays. At that point, I wasn't thinking specifically comedy because I didn't, I didn't think I was that funny, you know, that, that really didn't seem like my forte. Well, that makes sense because your, your ability, and this is why I said right at the beginning that I'm such a fan, you know, during these last couple weird years of, of

this worldwide disaster, I've watched all of the office and I've just even further in awe of what you do. And there's so much of it is because you're such a great actor. Yeah. A lot of people who are really funny, but you are, you are truly both in such a profound way. And yeah, that's, that's really true. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, there it is guys. Steve Corral, Dime Sapphire Steve and we've had a great time. It is true. But it's true. Your humor always comes from the, from the, from the, from the, the depth of the character you have like the stones to pull off. Your Michael Scott, there was so much pathos there.

There was so much of it coming from a real place in such a way that I think connected with people. And certainly, I don't know, I just loved it. And I think that you're very believable as a, you're just a great actor. I don't know. And did, I was going to ask you like, was there any nervousness or apprehension to, to, to take over the, the, the office after the British office had so much critical acclaim and was, was, you know, talked about and buzzy and all this stuff.

But I would imagine that you found comfort in the fact that what Ricky Gervais does so well is play that character, he played that comfort or that character with so much sort of melancholy and, and drama that in other words, it wasn't funny to him at all. You know, no one's, he'd kill somebody if he heard them laughing at him. So did, did you think, well, oh, I can play that kind of funny, like no winking. I got it. Well, that's what I find funny in general is, you know, a character in a comedy doesn't know they're in a comedy.

Right. And the same goes for a drama. You know, you don't, you don't know what the circumstances are of your story, your own story is, you know, as a character. Yeah. So, so when crazy people don't know, they're crazy. Exactly. You know, drunk people don't really know they're as drunk as they are.

So you kind of play against it, you know, and, and I, and I think the same goes for comedy. It's really, really off-putting to me whenever I see someone, like you said, winking at the camera or kind of acknowledging how funny they are being in the moment. That always, that always pulls me out. I would always think about somebody like Peter Sellers, who did the most outrageously broad characters and never let on that he thought he was doing anything even remotely funny. Right.

That anybody was watching him, you know, that there's no audience. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. But I think that's, you guys do exactly that same thing. I mean, I think I'm, I'm fans of all of yours for that exact reason, you know, you never see it. You never, you never see sort of pandering or winking at an audience.

Well, Jason has a lot of winking off camera, but, but I will say, and it's a little, it's alarming. It's unsettling, but Steve, and I want to sort of, because I know that Jason sort of brought up and I'd heard, and I think that you've said before, like you, you actually, of course you knew about Ricky's office, the UK version, but that you weren't, you didn't look at, you didn't want to see it because you wanted to do your own thing, which I think is really fabulous. Is that true?

Did you not see in the office before you? I've never seen it. I've never seen the UK version. No way. Still to this day. No, not to this day. Which makes total sense. And I think it's really such an even, even a further to testament to your, you know,

your talent and, and, you know, we were such big fans of the UK version and we were, you know, and we're friends and Ricky's a very good friend and I am able to like each of them for very different reasons. And I love both versions and honestly, I just think that I want to once and for all just sort of like put that out there that you, not only did you not watch it, you've never watched it, which is phenomenal. Well, I watched, well, I'll take that back. I watched just for a frame of reference.

I watched about maybe three minutes of an episode before I auditioned and I knew instantly that I couldn't watch it because he was too good because if I, if I watched any more, I would want to just do what he was doing. Right. I understand. Really. I was hilarious. Do you want to hear, you want to hear something that will make you all sick in your mouth?

This is a true story. When I said yes to Teen Wolf two, I made a concerted choice, concerted choice to not see the original Teen Wolf because I didn't want to be tempted to rip anything off from Michael J. Fox and I wanted to be able to say that my version was completely, you know, just, you know, cooked up internally and still to this day, still have not seen Teen Wolf. Did that ever come up at any of the Q and A's at the director's guild? Yeah.

I just, you know, they kept canceling those and I got weird excuses for that. I'm not sure what was behind it, but yeah, never ended up doing any of those. But I did tell a bunch of people to junk it this story and didn't get a lot of response back. But that is true. Nobody's going to love that more than Kyle Gass is going to love that more than anybody. He's a big fan. Steve, do you have, do you have siblings by the way?

I do. Three older brothers. Would you like to get rid of them? Sorry. What? What? Would you like to get rid of them? That's Will's classic follow up to the sibling question.

No, they're fantastic. But you are the youngest or the oldest? I'm the youngest. You are the youngest. Really? I'm the youngest of four boys as well. Oh really? Yes.

And did you, any of them interested in the business you're in? No, not at all. Did you get your ass kicked quite a bit, Steve? No, it wasn't. No. It wasn't like that. No, I was, I was like five years younger than my closest brother in age. So I was always kind of the baby.

So they always kind of protected me. I've got a couple of other Wikipedia hot tidbits here. Steve, did you ever consider, sorry, just a DJ name. Did you ever consider Baby Steve? Because it's a different, it invokes a different thing. It wouldn't please Diamond Dave as much. Was it Diamond Dave? Sapphire.

Sapphire. Steve, DJ boys? Yes, please. Please. It's time to listen to Jared and Heather. I can hear them turning off already. Now, did you, is it true here that you played the fife? Oh my God.

Yeah. Can't do a lot of research. What is the fife? What's the fife? The fife is a, is essentially a flute that they would use during revolutionary war times. Certainly. And, and I was, so it was when you were doing the reenactments is when you would, I was

part of a fife and drunk core. Yeah. In the act. And then you would take time off from that to just, you know, get laid all the time. So it's not a piccolo and it's not a flute. It's a fife. It's sort of, it's sort of, yes, it's a, it is an old timey piccolo. And just doubling back to the radio thing, the WDUB, that's WDUB.

Can I hear you just, just bark out the call, the callers once for us. This is Sapphire, Steve Carell and WDUB. Never WDUB? No. Huh. I think they might call it dub now. WDUB. All right.

Last on this interesting list here is that you were, and will just strap in for this pal. Okay. Sean, Sean and I can take a break here. You were a goalie on your school's hockey team, the big red for four years. Uh-huh. True? Yes.

I will. Go ahead. Let's talk a goalie technique. I was a goalie too, Steve. I didn't know you were a goalie. Yeah. Yeah. I played goal in hockey.

Yeah. Where would guys get the puck past both of you most easily? What was your loosest hole? Steve and I were both, were old enough that back then the guys didn't play much, they didn't play in the butterfly style as much as they do now. So it was a lot more stack in the pads, right? Remember the stack in the pads? Yeah.

And it was all angles. It was all like coming out, coming way out of the net to cut down the angle. And no face mask back then, right? No. Hey, hey now. Hey. But we did, Steve, you know, it's great. I don't know if you feel the same way when you watch those old, I imagine you're a Bruins

fan. Oh yeah. Yeah. And that's unfortunate. You know, there's a lot of those old videos of like Jerry Cheever's, you know, the Bruins, let's say, or Billy Smith or the Islanders. And they came out so far that the guys would make one move and then they'd have a yawning net because the goalie is like 30 yards out of the net.

Yeah. And well, I was told you have to learn how to skate backwards really well. So you, if you could skate backwards as fast as they were skating forwards and you move back with them, but still, you can come way out. Yeah. It's impossible. The game has changed so much. The equipment is different.

What was your, Will, what was your weak spot? Like where was, like, like blocker side, you know, probably blocker side, like high blocker side. That was always tough. Well, yeah. It's tough for all of them. I think it's tough for all of them. And also, and also below the block, like in that, in that, I don't know, what do they

call it now? They call it the, the six hole or the seven hole, just like under the arm on that side. Yeah. I think that's pretty tough. If you're, if you're pretty, you can be a lot of goalies, uh, right in there on the special. Great. Sean.

Real good. Hey guys, we just lost, they're bringing the paddles in to revive Sean. Sean, ask him if he ever auditioned for SNL coming out of Second City. Go ahead. No, I want to ask, can I just ask one quick question about the growing up? Because I think it's fascinating because, uh, in a group like that, first of all, what is Corel? What is your nationality?

Uh, Italian. Okay. It's, it was, it's derived from carousel. Oh, like a carousel? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like a carousel.

Or a carousel or something. Sean. Sean. I mean like a carousel. Okay. So wait. So you're interested in theater and, and, and, and Second City and all that. What do your brothers think of that as you're growing up?

Like are, are they like, that's for sissies or are they encouraging? Well, it's, it's just one of a bunch of different things that I did. So it wasn't, I don't know. I don't, they didn't give him much thought. I don't think they really cared. Like, oh, Steve's in a play. Well, that's so lovely. Well, we'll go see that.

That's so lovely. I, I didn't tell anybody I was in the high school play because I was nervous to let them know about lots of things, but that I was in theater because all of my brothers are football, baseball, massive sports guys. And I remember I came home from a performance of bye bye birdie at my high school and my brother goes, um, Hey, I know you're in the play. I'm like, I freaked out. I was like, you do?

He goes, yeah, I mean, I'm in football. We were makeup too. We put the black stuff under our eyes. It's cool. Everybody wears makeup. So he was trying to give you a green light saying it's okay. Let us know. Sean.

Yeah. Now in your school, Sean, was there like a huge delineation between like athletics and, and art and theater and that sort of thing? There was. I mean, we had, we had a couple of people crossover from when I say couple, I really mean like maybe one or two from the sports into, into the theater, but it was mainly, a lot of it was, was it's probably more integrated now. Yeah.

Yeah. It was, it was, it was a small school. So everybody kind of dabbled in everything. So there wasn't, there, there wasn't a built in stigma to any of it. And I actually directed, uh, like a, a melodrama and cast everybody from the hockey team and it was, and guys who had never been on stage before. And it was one of the funniest things. That's great.

That's how it should be. Yeah. It was really, really fun. What do folks think when you were like showing an interest, what kind of stuff, what, what kind of line of work were your, your parents and like, um, my mom was a psych nurse. Okay. Uh, she worked the night shift, uh, at a hospital. Wow.

I bet you she's got great stories. Oh my gosh. She, well, she did it for like 40 years. Um, and it's, it was a lot. You know, I, I, I have so much respect for what she did and sure really, uh, I, I, I, uh, worked very hard and she was good at her job. My, um, my dad was, uh, an engineer. Did you talk to her at all about the, the patient at all?

Is she still with us? She's not. No, she passed away about five years ago. Um, but I think a lot of, a lot of what I learned from her, I've implemented in that. Yeah. And to the patient, which is your new show on FX that is too great. Oh wow. I play a therapist in it.

I think I gleaned a lot of stuff from her when I was growing up. Is that one of the reasons you took the role is because it was so close to what you would close, close to what your mom has taught you? Um, in part, I just find that world fascinating and mostly though, it was the creators, uh, the guys who did the Americans and I, I'm a huge fan of that show. Did you, you were going to say that she never talked? She never talked about anyone because, you know, we lived in the, the small towns, um, right?

She, she worked in Concord. We lived in the next town over. So she never talked about anyone that she was treating or talking to. Oh my God. She told me so many things. But, but, but Steve, is that at the risk of maybe seeing them at the stop and shop or exactly? I mean, professional courtesy, obviously, and, um, but in terms of the, of what she did,

you know, we talked a lot about that and, and the types of people that she was treating and, and caring for and to have empathy for no matter how sick or broken somebody might be. Yeah. Um, reminds me of my, my personal favorite performance, uh, you've done thus far, uh, John Dupont, uh, in Foxcatcher, uh, a fellow who clearly didn't have his feet completely underneath them. Um, but you played him with so much like, I don't know, like, like any good villain,

uh, you, you should feel some empathy in a sort of an unsettling way for them. And you're just able to do that. Were you as furious? I know your answer. You won't answer this. Were you as furious when you didn't win the Oscar for that? I thought, my God, it's over. It's done.

As soon as I said, everyone's playing for a second now. You, by the way, you, you and Channing should have both. Seriously. Oh, Channing, Channing and Mark were both fantastic. No one touched you in that film, Steve, you leave them alone. You took that and, and this was before, I mean, what Bennett Miller, what, did you have an incredible meeting with him? I mean, he called, he called me, he out of the blue, he called me like, I, I had never

met the man. I was a fan of his work, but my agent called and said, you know, he wanted to talk to you about it. He wants to talk to you about a project. So it's, and it's one of those moments you think, what's, what's, what is this about? What's going on? Like, how would I even possibly be on this guy's radar? And he laid out what he was looking for and, and I just joined it instantly, you know,

the chance to do something like that. Was that kind of vision in you and faith in you, uh, uh, terrifying or did it, or did it give you the kind of encouragement that you wanted and needed in order to play that part, you know, that someone saw it in you before you even thought about it, maybe. I don't know how you guys feel about like when you, you take on parts or get jobs. I, if, if you're a little, and it's, I think it sounds like a cliche at this point, but if you're a little uneasy about it, if you're a little scared, I think that's good. Yeah.

You work harder. I think so. I think it's like that unknown that, that quality of, because if you go in thinking, oh, I've, I know how to do this from day one, but like, why do it if you really think you've got it always figured out? Well, well, I was going to say, I was going to say to that kind of goes back to what we're saying before about being shy or not or performing or not the truth be told. And I know I can act like a pompous ass a lot of time and seemingly not shy or whatever.

I have a lot of moments where I think like jump or don't, and especially when it comes to like doing things and saying things and stepping out, you know, with like improv like stepping out. And my instinct that always just tells me to just do it and to just go for and be uncomfortable and who knows what's going to happen. And I feel nervous and just to embrace that nervousness. So I am nervous quite often and I just try to use it and or embrace it. Yeah.

Cause I also find the courage lives on the other side of trying, you know, it's like, you don't, don't expect courage before you actually go for it. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I think that's, and that's what's exciting about it. And that's when you find new things and if you don't know, you can do it. I think that's good. Yeah. Or if you fear that you can't even that's give it a shot.

Yeah. We'll be right back. SmartList is brought to you in part by Audible. With our schedules, it's not always possible to sit down with a book and read uninterrupted, but that's where Audible comes in. Audible makes it possible to listen to audio books across every genre from best sellers and new releases to celebrity memoirs, mysteries, thrillers, motivation, wellness, business, all kinds of stuff.

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to stuff. So let Audible help you discover new ways to laugh, be inspired, be entertained. New members can try it for free for 30 days. Try Audible.com slash smartlist or text Audible to 500-500, that's Audible.com slash smartlist or text smartlist to 500-500 to try Audible for free for 30 days, Audible.com slash smartlist. All right, back to the show. Let me ask you this too because I can say it, I know you won't. You've completely conquered comedy.

Everybody knows it. You're brilliant at it. So are you always actively seeking things that aren't funny, things that challenge you a little more because you know that you've kind of conquered that area already? Not really. It's weird to even talk about what I choose to do because I still feel like how am I employed? Me too. I'm sure.

You can tell with you guys too. It's like being so thankful for even getting to work is really cool. But no, I've never kind of picked and choose. I don't have a good sort of broad view of where my career is or should be going. It's just kind of… Gig to gig. Kind of, yeah. Like trusting your instincts, if it's something like those guys, I really wanted to work with

the guys who did The Americans. Nancy and I fell in love with the show, fell in love with Ozark as well, if I ever get a chance to work with any of that team, my God, like that's what drew me to it. And I thought it may not be good this time, but just to get a chance to work with people like that. Yeah. I too, I'm such a big fan of so many people in this business. If any one of them ever called me, it wouldn't matter how big or small the role is, what

the money is, where it shoots, blah, blah. It's just that's the big influencer on me on what I choose to do to the extent I have a choice. If you're like me, you basically take everything you're given. There's not a lot of jobs that overlap where it's like, ah, this one's in conflict with that one I got to pick. It's just it's either yes or no, I'll just stay unemployed for a while. So going on, going further into your incredible, we're going to pull that one up right there.

Going into your canon of incredible roles, let's go to the other side into comedy. Let's go to 40 year old virgin where I, if I might be right or wrong, that you co-wrote, co-created that, that that was an idea with you. If that is correct, when did that first idea of the 40 year old virgin come to you aside from perhaps the obvious answer? Oh, no, it's not me. I mean, I don't know. It's not me.

It's okay. No. It's a little me. It's a little. It's like the 30 year old virgin. It's, you know, it was a sketch that we tried. I kept trying. You know, it was a second city sketch.

I kept trying to get it in a show and it was like, you guys, I have this idea and it was essentially in, in the 40 year old virgin, the seed of the idea was the poker sequence when this guy gets invited out by his, his working, you know, not buddies at that point, but coworkers and they're all regaling each other with these tales of sexual conquest and he doesn't have any context, doesn't, doesn't, hasn't done it, doesn't know how to talk about it and he starts to improvise the most ridiculous things about like what it feels like to touch a woman's breast and, you know, and he's just way, way wrong and they call him out on.

So that after I did Anchorman, Judd Aptow said, if you ever have any ideas, you know, I'd love to meet with you and you can pitch anything you want to me. So I went in and I pitched a completely separate idea for about an hour and he was like, oh, yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah, let's keep talking about it. So it kind of went nowhere. And as I was walking out the door, I said, oh, and there's this other thing, a 40 year old virgin.

I gave him like a 20 second pitch and he looked at me and said, that I can sell this weekend. Like he was on it instantly. Yeah. And that's how that came together. That's a great idea. That's great. Now, was, was Anchorman on the page or, or did you come up with a lot of that on, on the day as far as the style of that character goes?

I think a lot of it was on the page. I, you know, I, I never want to take credit for something like the office. The writing of that show was so fantastic. And there was some improv that went on, but, you know, you just, I, you have to give credit like Adam McKay is such a funny dude and, and half the, half the improvisation, it was him like, you know, behind the camera, just yelling stuff out that we should say. And then we say it and we get credit for saying it. But the credit you do deserve to take is you have a very keen sense of what, what your

funny is and what your funny isn't in that you have, you have such an ease into vulnerability and, and, and, and, and cringe inducing embarrassment. Like there is, you have, you have, you're not afraid to pull your pants down metaphorically. And there, you put that in a lot of your characters, which is just, it's so courageous and so hilarious. Even when you're playing a guy who's arrogant, it's just so way for thin and it's, it just, it just kills me. And I don't know if you can write that as my point.

You know, you, it's like, it's in the eyes. There's a vulnerability, a generosity of spirit that you have with your character. My internet may be going out, but it was kind of choppy was just pull your pants down and it's way for thin. How do you respond to that? Steve, did you have any other like sketch ideas from second city that you wished would have become? And you want to pin them to now and we'll cut them out.

If they're really good, we'll cut them out and we'll sell them back to the answer on my, you know, it's, it's, and I'm sure you guys look back at stuff that you did that you think, boy, that at the time you're, you're thinking, this is, this is really working. And you reflect on it 20 years later and you think that's just the worst. I did a song, I did a song parody of Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy. And I wrote a song parody for one of our shows that was Don't Worry, Be Affluent as sung by Dan Quayle.

And it was the worst. It was so bad. And so obvious and at the time I thought audience, I mean, got in a show, audience is loving it. You're welcome. And it, and there was no wit to it. It was, it vaguely rhymed, it was terrible. So no, there was just, there, there's a lot of stuff that deserve to be left on the chopping

block, I think. Okay. So they did, those are the ones that deserve to be left on the chopping bug. What was, what's the thing, the idea, the thing that never got made or that you had in development at the studio? Did you ever have an idea or a movie that you're like, God damn it, that I'm sure none of your stuff got put in to turn around. But I had like three or four things that I have never been made to this day.

I still think that would be the funniest. One thing that Mike Schur and I sold years ago, we sold to DreamWorks and that's still there. It's brilliant, obviously Mike Schur is a brilliant writer and you know him well, but, but do you have any of those things of like, I wish this thing? Well, Tina Fey wrote something that I wish we had gotten to do. It was called mail order groom. And it's about a woman who works at a video store at the, this is how old the idea was.

Who it basically flies to Russia to marry this guy, like a mail order groom. She sees this, I don't even remember how it all starts. And I'm the mail order groom. And so she brings me back to the United States essentially to get one of her coworkers jealous. Did he have the grew accent? It's all the grew accent. I mean, that's, yeah, I'm sure if we'd done it, it would have been grew. And so, and obviously we end up kind of warming up to each other and eventually falling in

love and there's a, actually, Will, you were, you were who we were talking about to play the immigration agent. No kidding. He sounds interesting. Like if, if it had, if it had gone, you were like, for some of our lists to play, you know, the guy who's like, Well, let me check. Yeah.

I'm available. I mean, I'm just saying, let's fire this up. Steve, let's get this going. Steve, I don't need a commitment out of you now. All I'm saying is if I get this off the ground with Tina and you, and obviously we'll update. It's not going to be a video store. It'll be at a Tik Tok conference, but is where she works, but, but I'm just saying don't rule it out.

Steve, I want to ask you a question. When you travel back and forth, she said six months on six months off on each coast. When you go back to LA after being on the East coast in Boston, which is so different, is there a culture shock and what are the things you noticed that you didn't notice before having now made the move and having time away? Anything? Um, I think the main thing is that when somebody sees me in a supermarket here, they, they just, they give me shit.

They're like, Hey, Steve, don't get cocky. Yeah. And they're very sweet about it. Okay. That new show. All right. Don't get cocky. Right.

Yeah. Right. Whereas in LA, you'll find a script in your shopping cart. It's a little different. Yeah. Um, but yeah, the people, I mean, the people, I, I think they, well, generally know that I'm from the area. Sure.

Yeah. I just didn't know if you got back to LA. If you were like, Oh, I forgot about this. I forgot about the way this is or that is, or this person is, or that person is because in Boston, I don't get that. It's just, it's very sleepy back here. That's the main difference. I find it Boston.

I have, I have obviously Amy's from Boston. I've spent a lot of time out there. I have my own lifelong love affair with the people of Massachusetts. And I always liked the, uh, oh, look at you must be nice. Huh? The, the must, the must be nice, which is so good. You're in California now. Huh?

Must be nice. Steve, Steve, you're doing all right. Huh? Must be nice. Must be nice. All right. I gotta go. Yeah.

That's, you know what I mean? Yeah. No, there's a, there's a built-in familiarity and, and they don't, and, and generally it's there's, there's not a lot of lingering. It's like a glancing blow like, Hey, you know, you, I know you. See you later. Right. And that's it.

Yeah. Right. Hidden rise. There's a sweetest. Sean, do you remember you and I auditioned for a movie at the same time? Uh-oh. That's right. Down with love.

I mean, our paths really haven't crossed much, but I, I remember how in awe I was of you during that time. That's very sweet. And I, and I of you. And now he's much more just in awe of you, you know what I mean? That's very kind. Steve, thank you. I feel the same way about you.

Do you remember that? I do remember that. I do remember seeing you. I felt the same way. I was like, Oh my God. You were so nice. Steve, what do you do? What do you do other than, could be, we like to ask people, what do you do other than being

just super talented and working on tons of stuff? Is there, do you, do you still play hockey? Do you have any hobbies? Do you play golf? Do you play tennis? Do you play Scrabble? What do you want the audience not to know about you? Um, I still play a little bit of hockey when I can.

Uh, I'm, I'm in a league, but you're not in, you're not between the pipes anymore. No, no, no, no, no, I gave that no, God, no, that would be, but you play, you play like Shinny or do you guys wear full equipment? Full equipment. Yeah. We have uniforms and the whole thing. Well, why don't you play in that? Well, pick up.

Yeah. Maybe can you, uh, do you guys ever need extras to come, think about coming into skate again? Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anytime. I play D. I'd love to come play.

Can I watch? For sure. It's really serious. Okay. How long does it take to put all that equipment on? How long? Four hours. And then eight hours to wash the smell off.

Right. My dad's not around anymore to time my skates. So it takes longer. Did your dad do that? Did your dad help you with equipment? Dude. I'm so old that when I grew up in Toronto, that my first team that I played on, Mordale, the rink was at the end of the street and it was an outdoor rink in Toronto.

And, and I remember vividly getting such, my, my fingers were so cold and trying to do it. My skates. And I, and I got a little bit of frostbite at my skates and I came in, I was probably like seven, six or seven, one of my first organized and I came in there to put my feet in a, they, they had like a tin that cookies come in and they put cold water in because you don't put your feet right into hot water if you're going to have potential hypothermia because it's too shocking.

And they put my feet into a, my grandmother was there with me, I remember, and put them into this thing and, and it felt like burning. And I remember, yes. So I remember all those things of doing up my skates, do you remember the skate tight nerves that had the hook on it? A little hook. Yeah. Yeah.

And I remember that. And yeah, my parents used to take me to God's Saturday mornings. We'd have practice indoor games and I had a paper route and I remember having my mom station wagon with the back down and she would drive slowly and I'd run with the insert papers to the different houses and then to the, the game at like six a.m. And I got to, to my, to both my folks who are listening, definitely thank you so much. I don't know if I've ever proudly thank you for all those early mornings. So thank you.

Oh, I know. Just, yeah. They sit for hours and just watch. For hours, right? Yeah. And I used to just throw all the pamphlets in the forest, say I delivered them. Sean, we're going to have a long talk after this. Sean, this has not been a great moment for you.

It's not been great for you. Okay. The Steve Carell episode for you has been a real fucking low. Stick around after this interview. Okay. Steve, I'm sorry we're ending on a low note, but you are incredible. You have been very generous with your time. You are a dream.

Please keep giving all your giving cause we'll keep taking and watching. And thank you for the hour today. And my best to you, your radio career, your wife, your kids, all of it. And we're going to come up. I, Steve, I'm going to watch. I can't wait to watch your show. And you've always been, we've only met a handful of times over the years, but you're, you're a true gentleman.

And you start skating together now. Yeah. And let's skate. I'm going to get your email from these guys. For sure. Very, very low pressure hockey. You'll enjoy it. It's great.

Great. Love to. Thank you, Steve Carell. Thanks guys. I love you. Thank you, Steve Carell. Look at that. Look at that.

Steve Carell's on the show. You guys are great. Thank you. Unbelievable. I wish we had applause. Let's just give Steve a clap. We'll pipe it in. We'll pipe them off.

All right. Thank you, Steve. Thanks guys. Bye, Steve. Thank you. Sean. Now, Sean. Sean, we have to talk to you.

That was. You know, it was really with the pamphlets and people who didn't get their newspapers and stuff and all these years. And just a lot of like stuff. How dare you say stuff about pamphlets in front of Steve? I was like eight. I was like eight years old. Oh, is that guy top, top shelf?

He really is. Man, man, man. Yeah. We didn't even talk about one of my favorite drama roles, but a beautiful boy with Timothy Shemily. No. I never saw that. Played his son who had an opioid addiction.

Oh, man. I couldn't take it. It was almost, it felt like it was going to be too sad and I didn't want to watch it. It was. It was really, really good. I'm with you about the fox catcher. When I saw him, I was blown away. That was kind of amazing.

Greg Frazier shot that too. Beautiful cinematography. So pretty. I loved when Jason asked if he cried at his wedding. He said, no, but I started sweating. And then Jason said, well, so your body was crying. I never heard that. Yeah.

Well, that's when the body is so wild. You're so nervous. The body says, and it starts crying when it comes out your pits. But it is kind of amazing. He's one of the few actors who really kind of crossed over from comedy to drama kind of seamlessly. You know, a lot of people, you know, when I was growing up, a lot of people wanted to be like Tom Hanks, like, oh my gosh, he was in all those comedies and then he's in all

these dramas. And it's so hard to do that. And Steve Carell is doing that. I think that, I think that Steve is people are by the way, both are both you have done that. And he hits it, you know, he made the point, which is that I think that people always go like, what is your plan and what were you trying to do? And a lot of people like, there is no grand plan.

You just kind of go how you go and go with the flow and what happens to interest you at the time. Yeah. Well, like Mike Tyson said, everyone's got a plan till you get punched in the face. Yeah, I guess it's like that. I guess it's a little bit like that. Did he really say that? He did say that famously.

Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. Like every merchant said, forget who Mike Tyson was. So Mike, you seem to be in control very early. What was your plan going in or no, a vendor, I think it was a vendor hall of field. It seemed like you had a plan right up front there. And then that kind of went out the window. Were you responsible?

Yeah. Yeah. Everyone's got a plan till you hit him in the mouth. You know, it's some version of that, but the thing of Tyson, first of all, he had those huge shoulders, but he had even bigger biceps, you guys, I guess that's the end of it then. SmartLess is 100% organic and artisanly handcrafted by Bennett Barbaco, Michael Grant Terry and Rob Amjaref. Our next episode will be out in a week wherever you listen to podcasts or you can listen to

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