SmartLess - Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Talk to Will Arnett About Imposter Syndrome

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Will joined Ted and Woody on their new podcast “Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)” to give them advice on hosting a podcast, delve into Will’s Cheers fandom, and dig into Will’s roots that led to him landing his starring role on "Arrested Development". Listen to the rest of Will’s episode and check out episodes with other guests like Kristen Bell, Conan O’Brien, Jeff Goldblum, Lisa Kudrow, and more by heading over to “Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)” to subscribe. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.

Hey listeners, Ted Danson here. If you enjoyed my recent episode on smartness, as much as I did, you may enjoy my new podcast where everybody knows your name with me and my good friend and co-host Woody Harrelson. Woody and I were great friends and worked together obviously on Cheers for eight, nine years together and then went our different ways. We'd see each other every once in a while. We thought that this podcast would be a great way to get to know each other again and to share the friends we've met on our different paths. So we're having a great time.

You'll hear some great guests on the show, like Kristen Bell, Conan O'Brien, Jeff Goldblum, Lisa Kudrow, and Will Arnett. That's right, we were lucky enough to get Will for our very first episode. Check out the clip now. Ted, I think about this, about what you've done all the time. Both you guys have gone from there, from Cheers, you've had no fewer than five hit television shows since then that I can think of. You had Becker, Good Place.

Damages. Damages. I forgot about Damages. The one with the Board to Death. Board to Death. Board to Death. I love that one. With Zach and, yeah. This is great podcast, by the way. No, but it's true.

And you made all those movies. You made all those Curb episodes. Curb episodes. Made tons of movies in between. Woody, you made a million movies and limited series and comedies and dramas. And I get the sense that both of you guys don't feel like you've got it figured out.

So maybe you had a moment where you thought you were a big shot, but I don't buy it. But it's a little bit of the actor's illness. You never think you're good enough. You always feel a little bit like an imposter. You always don't think you're going to get another job. Yeah. I mean, I don't think that goes away.

Let's heap some praise onto you. Oh, yeah. Before you heap the praise, can I ask you guys a question? Yeah. Do you ever have that thing when you're Oh yeah, before you heap the praise, can I ask you guys a question? Yeah, do you want to go to the bathroom? Do you ever have that thing when you're like in a room with a bunch of Hollywood types and you feel kind of like the... It's my life.

You don't feel like you belong, like you were just saying, like... Totally. I used to imagine that I had a... You walk into these parties and I felt like there was a number on a piece of paper that stuck to my back, my ranking in Hollywood. Come on, really? Yes! And you'd sit there and you'd reach around and go, fuck! 1,200? Really? I'm the 1,200th? No, you know.

You never had that, did you? Not really. You're like, I belong in this room, and everybody loves me. Not only do I belong, but these fucking people are the worst. They're so untalented. I can't believe how lucky all these motherfuckers are. This person can barely read. This person can barely speak.

That's so healthy. I love that. You're like, I own this room. I fucking kill it. No, you do have those things. I mean, I've gone through very, again, I think that it's one of the benefits of getting older that I just put less value on shit like that.

And there was a time coming off of rest of development, if I'm being totally honest, where I thought that I was gonna have, where I had a lot of opportunity and I felt like I squandered it, which reminds me, I gotta fire my manager today. And I've had those moments where I was like, I could have had this or I could have had that,

and I didn't. And I always remind myself that I'm on my path. The universe is always taking care of me. So whatever that's gonna be, and I don't know what is coming for me but it's fucking great and it is right around the corner and you know how I know that because it always has been. So I just got a bank on that. It's the only thing that's kind of the only faith I really have. If you want to hear the

rest of our conversation head over to where everybody knows your name to listen to the rest of Will's episode now or you can head over to Where Everybody Knows Your Name to listen to the rest of Will's episode now. Or you can head over to YouTube and watch it. And be sure to subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.