Soul Boom - Oscar Nunez Gets REAL About 'The Office', 'The Paper' & God

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Oscar Nuñez (The Office, The Paper) celebrates our 100th episode digging deep into The Office, The Paper, and organized religion. He & Rainn reflect on their time on the show and look back at their favorite scenes, bloopers & moments with Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Angela & more. Oscar also opens up about his gay father, Catholic upbringing, immigration, and organized religion. SPONSORS!👇 🛒 Grow Therapy: https://growtherapy.com/soulboom 🛒 Get 15% off OneSkin with the code SOULBOOM at https://www.oneskin.co/soulboom #oneskinpod 🛒 Get 40% off select Lola Blankets products 👉 https://Lolablankets.com use code: SOULBOOM at checkout. Experience the world’s #1 blanket with Lola Blankets. 👉 Fetzer: https://fetzer.org MERCH OUT NOW! https://soulboom.com/store Sign up for our newsletter! https://soulboom.substack.com SUBSCRIBE to Soul Boom! https://bit.ly/Subscribe2SoulBoom FOLLOW US! Instagram: http://instagram.com/soulboom TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@soulboom Sponsor Soul Boom: [e-mail] Work with Soul Boom: [e-mail] Send Fan Creations, Questions, Comments: [e-mail] Executive Produced by: Kartik Chainani Executive Produced by: Ford Bowers, Samah Tokmachi Companion Arts Theme Music by: Marcos Moscat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's so great talking to you. How's Ursula doing? She's great. You guys are doing well. Yes. Everything's working fine. Same here. Same here.

So that's great. You're able to keep up a good sex life. Pretty normal. Yes. At home, normal. Wonderful. That's great. Holiday and I are, we're great.

Really? We'll still go out of it. Yeah. And we're active everywhere you go, you know, on vacation, at home, at work. Whatever car, it doesn't matter. Where, right? Where, Rain? I think that you know where.

One thing I learned about Oscar today, he's Cuban. Welcome to Soul Boom. Hey there, it's me, Rain Wilson, and I want to dig into the human experience. I want to have conversations about a spiritual revolution. Let's get deep with our favorite thinkers, friends, and entertainers about life, meaning, in idiocy. Welcome to the Soul Boom podcast. Shout out to our sponsors. Grow Therapy, Lola, OneSkin, Fetzer. Links and promo codes on the screen and in the description. Enjoy the show. Oscar and I are going to be answering your burning office questions in a part two coming out in a couple of weeks. So send in

your written or video questions about all things Dunder Mifflin to confessional at soulboom.com. Or leave us a voicemail at 909 276 5232. That's confessional at soulboom.com or 909 276-52-3-2 for all messages. See you in just a couple of weeks for part two. Okay, now you can enjoy the show. Let's do the act off. What if we're a doctor and we took out a kidney? Maybe we took out the wrong kidney.

Is this improvised? You want to improvise a thing? We always have set lines that you and I both say the exact same lines. Oh, got it, got it, got it. So you go for Senai-go, is it like we take turns? Yeah, yeah, it's a contest with the same lines that we say, but we can play it, same scenario, same lines, but we play it, who's the better actor?

Okay. We'll start with the surgery and like the pit, you know, scalpel, we'll say scalpel, suction, sew it up. Okay. And then someone says, are you sure you took out the correct kidney? And then the line is like,

of course I took out the correct kidney. Okay. And like... That's good, right? And then one last line, which would be realization that the maybe did not, maybe did not take out the correct kidney.

No one questions me. Okay. So, scalpel, suction. Close. So it up. So it up or close? Close it? So it up like more casual.

Okay. So it up. Scalple suction, close it up. Of course, it took out the correct kidney. No one questions. And then we'll do the line for each other. Like, are you sure it was the correct kidney? Of course it was the correct kidney.

No one questions me but crumbling because there's a realization. All right. So the name of this game is act off. Okay, we're going to show people, office fans, especially like, who is the best actor among the two of us? Okay. We're going head to head. Do you understand that?

Cabesa a cabesa. You understand? Comrendes? It wasn't racist. Now it's getting there. Yeah, almost. Yes. Let's do it.

So again, the lines are. Scalple suction. Scalpel suction. So I'm up. And then you'll give me that line from off camera. And then of course I took out the correct kidney. No one questions me. Okay.

All right. So I'll go first. Okay. And we'll see what you come up with. So an operating table in an operating room. Okay. Here we go. Watch and learn.

Scalpel. Suction. Are you sure you took out the correct kidney? Of course. I took out the correct kidney. And see. Okay. Wow.

Okay. Yeah. That was crazy. Crazy? Crazy. Good. Okay. You can play it any which way you want.

You just have to say those lines. I understand. NYU you say? Yeah. Okay. It's expensive school. I know. I paid a lot of money for that training.

I know. I know. It was good. All right. I'll do the off-camera line. All right. Action. Scaple.

Suction. So I'm up. Sir, are you sure you took out the correct kidney? Of course I took out the correct kidney. No one questions me. Are you looking at the camera? To get the audience. That wasn't part of the...

To get the audience involved. Okay, all right, okay. To bring the audience into it. Because that's not how. It usually works. This is method. This is not mockumentary. I thought it was an audition tape we were doing for the part.

All right, well, you had me. Up until the look to the camera, you had me, you own. me. Well done. So now what happens? Well, viewers get to comment and decide which performance they like better. Well done. Hey, thank you, man. So good to see you. People listen to this? Are they tuned in? Not really. You know what? Burnout is sneaky. One day you're productive. The next year in a fetal position on the shower floor negotiating with your nervous system. Just like your car, you can't run on empty without inevitable burnout. Grow therapy and help you know.

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OneSkin is helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. For a limited time, try OneSkin with 15% off using code Soul Boom and Onskin.co slash Soul Boom. That's 15% off Oneskin.com with code Soul Boom. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Hi, Oscar. Welcome to Soul Boom. Hi, Rain Wilson.

It's so good to see you. It's good to see you. Now, before we were rolling, we were having a conversation about handkerchiefs. You like handkerchiefs. What's up with that? You know the science of like mucus. There's bacteria and mucus. Oh, is that what we're discussing?

Yeah. I'm glad I came prepared. Snoboom. Snop boom. Is it enough to damage me, the bacteria I'm carrying around? Will I be damaged or sick from it? No, I don't think so. I think it's just one of those things.

I always do that. Even if I blow my nose and I have a Kleenex in my pocket, I think about like, wow, there's just billions of germs in my pocket right now. And that's why you have a podcast where you are 100 episodes. 100th episode. Because you're obsessed. Oscar Nunez, welcome to our 100th episode. Thank you. I appreciate that.

We're so happy to be here. Hankershifts and all. Let's see what the studio audience has to say about that. Hi. Oh, Regina, you're here. Hi. Marianne, good to see you. All the regulars.

They're all here. Make more More celebratory noises Here come the roaming legions Even more Keep going Elephants came That's great

And horse is a 100th episode Okay What is that? Okay. Hawks. Yeah. Right?

It's almost like Cleopatra coming into. And what about some music? What kind of music would there be? Okay. Chachia, chowel, chichita, chowel chow. Okay.

It went the other way with the music. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Just a little bit of like a funk band. A little funk band. The one expected that. Time travelers.

I have known you for so fucking long. I have known you since 2003, 2004 when we started this crazy endeavor. And what are we? 2026 now. Something like that. that. It's a super long time. We were shooting the pilot in 2004. Let's just put it back to January 2004. And that's when I first met you. But I've never really gotten a chance to know you.

Let's keep it that way. I'm going to get to know you a little bit deeper. I'm going to get behind the Nunez of it all. There's nothing there. I think we do know each other. We know the important things about each other. We know each other's heart. We know our souls. We know our brains. We know our humor. But I know so little about your history. I have no sense.

Yeah. I have no sense. I can tell you, you can figure out the year if I tell you what was happening at the time. Yeah. But I don't know. That's astonishing.

This is really different because in a year, you tell me in my life, I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing. Just pick a year and I can tell you where I was living, what I was doing. I cannot do that. There was so much going on. And it was all.

There was a lot of. No, not that. Just a lot, a lot of stuff in my head. When I went back, when I went back to do a theater for the New City, that my, that Joel's called that.

I moved in with my father. Oh, wow. And we're living together. In New Jersey. In New Jersey. Yeah. And I'm like, huh? And we have the same name.

My father and I have the same name. Awesome. So, so. I get, we're getting mail, right? And I'm like, huh? And I'm like, oh, this is Oscar. That's me. Oscar and I open it.

And it's not for me. It's for my dad. And it's like a love letter from a guy. And I'm like, oh, my dad's gay. And I didn't know my dad was. Then I went to see my friends, Pepe and Felix. And Felix's like, oh, Oscar, you didn't know the whole everyone we all knew. Yeah, you're dead.

And I'm like, oh, my God. And then. Your dad was gay the whole time? Yeah, I think so. When did your mother pass? Did they separate or had she passed away at that point? They had already divorced. No, no, they had already divorced.

And she told me, she goes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, your father was gay. He was, yeah. So that's a whole, that's a whole thing. And that kind of, that kind of bugged me. And it bugged me because he wasn't happy. He was like half man gay. Do you know half man, the TV show? No, no.

From the guy who did baby reindeer. Oh, I haven't seen that yet. Oh, my God. God, Rayne. It's really good. I heard it was good. That guy's great actor. I don't know if it's good.

It's devastating. They need to get out of that town, those gay guys. Go to San Francisco, New York. Be happy gay. Not miserable gay. My dad was miserable gay. Okay. Because of Catholicism and all that.

And he couldn't fully embrace his sexuality. We all were okay with it. We're like, no one gives a shit. Yeah. Dad, and he's like, I don't know what you're talking about. Wow. So because of that, he drank a lot and stuff. He only started drinking after the,

divorce. And so it was very sad. I'm like, oh, this is messed up. I had this girlfriend who was in love with and we broke up and I'm like, oh, I just felt miserable. And I went to live with my sister and my brother-in love for a year or two. And then I'm like, there's nothing here in Florida for me. I'm going to Los Angeles. And if it didn't work in Los Angeles, I would have gone to Japan. I was just going to keep going west. But luckily, I got to L.A. and I joined the groundlings. Did you get an agent or something? Not right away. I did not like it for the first four years.

Did not like Los Angeles. Now I love it. But you were committed. Once I joined the Groundlings, I found my people and still have friends from the Growlings to this day. I've been here like 35 years. Holy moly. It's been. But see, you can tell by my trajectory that I clicked late in life.

I clicked. You matured late. Yeah. Yeah. So people, oh, you're retired or you're old. I feel like in my 30s because I didn't start. start really doing my thing until just before the office. I was clicking right before the office. I sold halfway home and all that stuff. But most people start clicking in their 20s. Like

you, NYU, you're like, it took me a while to click. Like, I really need to speak up and for myself and say what I want to do. Right. You know, being funny when I was growing up, that people wouldn't say, you're great. Keep doing that. They were like, what are you doing? Get serious. Stop messing around. It was just the opposite. So, yeah. Yeah. How did you end up on the office? How did that work?

Did Allison Jones just called you in for a general or? It was a great day to be an actor because I had four auditions on that day or five. Oh my gosh. Which is the best. Yeah. Because by the time you get to your fourth audition, you don't care. And that's when you do the best. You've just been going through the.

Yeah, you're like, I'm doing this. What wig do I wear for this one? What do I? And then by the time you do it, you're so relaxed that you're like, and it's improv. Yeah. It's improv and improv is my thing. Yeah. Were you called in for Phyllis?

Yeah, yeah. I read one of the generic parts and I got three callbacks and I'm like, yeah, let's keep going. I'll keep going until the wheels come off. But I didn't think we were going to go past the pilot until I knew Steve Carell was cast as the lead. Because remember when we got cast, they didn't have a lead yet. Right.

And I was like, all right, I know who's up for it. I know and they're all great guys, but I'm like, okay. But when they said Steve Carell, I'm like, oh shit, we have, because Steve's special. He is special. And he had just come off of the Daily Show. And the God movie where he killed it and the 40-year-old Virgin was coming out. And what was that movie? What was the movie?

Ron Burgundy. No, but what was the God movie? That he was Jim Carrey made him do something. Yeah. As a weatherman. Bruce Almighty. Bruce Almighty. Jesus, Chris.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He came off that. That was big for him.

Yeah. So when I heard Steve Correll, I'm like, oh shit, here we go. This could happen. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And then I got to meet all you guys, which was incredible.

I'm like, oh, yeah, this is really good. Brian. When did they tell you that Oscar was gay? Because I didn't know that until. He wasn't gay. They made me gay. Yeah. It was like how many episodes in or years in?

Years. The second season. Halfway through. Because I told Greg Daniels like it said, I sold a show. show to Comedy Central and they want me to do it and he goes and he's like we'll figure this out don't worry about and he got me out by making him gay and then and then I had to leave but he said Oscar how do you he's like Oscar and he was real serious right and he's like can I ask you something how do you feel if your character is gay and I said I don't care and it's good because we wrote

the script I'm like I'm like why are you asking me Greg yeah no it was different for me too like because I had this whole theater life. I had a life in theater of 10 years of theater and then a couple years of kicking around L.A. And then it went six feet under and the office went. Six feet under. Oh, my God.

Yeah, when my career kind of launched, I was like 38, 39. When the office took off, I was 40 years old. So I, you know, my, really my fame or my career was launched with me in my 40s. All of us, Ray, Kate, all of us. How old were you when you, You did six feet under.

37 or something like that? I looked a lot younger. So much younger. I looked like 24. Like me. Yeah. And such a... I don't anymore.

Not anymore. You caught up. But you were so memorable. I didn't know you from Adam. Yeah. And when I saw, I'm like, who's this fucking guy? Yeah, thank you so much. Oh, right.

Yeah. So good. It was a role that got me the office. It's something I'm super grateful for. It was seared into my... I'm like, who is that guy? This is, I loved it. I loved it.

I loved it. I loved it. I loved the relationship. You were in the relationship with the mom. Oh, that's right. Yeah, with Ruth. Fantastic. But, you know, one of the things, here's my, my greatest memory of you from the office was what an amazing straight man you were.

And I'm wondering how you learned to be such a good straight man because you're a, you're a fucking lunatic. And I have gone to some parties with you. And you can get unhinged. like presto, but on the office, you were incredibly buttoned up, and you played just the best straight man, deadpan, reactive to Steve and to Dwight. What's the best? So fun. How did you learn to do that? How did you know that that's what your role was?

It's the same as being a lunatic, but different. It's the same. You're just committing. You're like, now I'm doing this. Now this guy's doing cartwheels, and I'm just staring at him. Like, really? And I have so many people to, you know, Tony Randall, Harvey Corman,

Jack Klugman staring at Tony Randall as Tony did his... Why do I reference the odd couple so much? Such a funny show. But yeah, I had so many... I mean, it's just part of comedy. It's just doing that. Jack Benny. You know? It's just so fun. Great comedy needs a straight man.

Yeah, it's just as important. And I got to do crazy things. I was in the proposal and Ann Fletcher's like, do your thing. Don't worry about it. So, yeah. Yes. Yeah, that's amazing. And I never... I never saw you in 200 episodes.

I never saw you break. I never saw you laugh. You know who made me break, Steve, but you know who made me break? Ed Helms would make me break because his facial expressions were just incredible. He reminds me of the fellow who played Floyd the Barber on Mayberry. Remember Floyd the Barber?

I don't. Sorry. He was a character on Mayberry after he was the Barber. And he was so weird. and yet grounded. And I found Andy to be that way too. Andy was so weird. Yeah.

Such a weird character. And he had anger issues, which was hilarious, that he would be violent. Ed Helms, he had so many different looks like Corel, but he may have more looks than Corral. Edd Holmes is,

he, when, I love the bit, like, when people would be speaking to him, and he didn't want to hear it, but he had to look at you, and he would just go,

and just stare. And then he would do this. Who does this? He would do this. And make it believable. And this is a move that Floyd the Barber might do. And so Andy was such a great character. Such a great character.

So nuanced. So well-rounded. They were all so good. Think of Ellie Kemper. She was nuts. Yeah. She was insane. And then she would do little dances and shit.

It was nuts. Yeah. What's it like carrying on the legacy of Oscar Marquis? Tinaz into the paper. How has that been? Has that been a strained transition for you? No. What has that been like?

No transition whatsoever. I'm wearing a shirt and a tie and I walk into an office and there's. And there's a bunch of crazy people. And now I'm older than most of them, which is the most depressing thing. But other than that, Donnell Gleason. Yeah. Chelsea Frye. Yeah.

Alex Edelman. Have you seen this kid do stand up? He's hysterical. Come on, Rain. Yeah. He is amazing. He is amazing. I sound like his uncle, because everywhere ago I praise him so, but he's special.

His stand-up is like, Ursula and I just saw him at the Ford Theater. Not just for us, new stuff, new stuff. Yeah. That's just so good. Oh, that's great. So Alex. And so the whole cast, yeah. But the transition has just been easy for you.

I go in, there's cameras, and it's a new bunch of wackadoodle folks, and I'm playing the same character. My character, and they're like, how do you act? I'm like, I'm not acting. I'm an accountant who just wants to go to work and do his job. And he doesn't want to be bothered and, oh, no, there's cameras there. That's pretty straightforward. Yeah, just continuing. Yeah, just continuing.

And then, of course, being a human, he's going to make friends with people. And once in a while he's going to wink at the camera and go, yes, I guess I have to put up with this. And that's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people say, like, who is Dwight going to be on the paper? It's like, why? I would Dwight go to a newspaper in Sandusky, Akron, where is it?

Toledo. Toledo. I don't think people quite understand the conceit of the world. This is not like a land in which office characters can just pop up at this obscure newspaper in Toledo. Have you met people? They're idiots. They see all kinds of. I'm like, no, that's not going to happen.

Maybe it does, but it's not up to me. It's up to the writers. Next. Have you met people? That's really good. Well, because this is soul boom, was there anything else to say about the paper or should I say about the paper? Just that it's great.

Greg Daniels, Michael Coleman, husband of Ellie, you know? I think the paper. Paul Eberstein is there. When you start the next season? Or you just finished the last season? We finished the second season. They're editing.

I love the paper. Huge fan. I think it's really hard to follow in the office's footsteps. And I think Greg has done an amazing job. Michael Coleman, Ellie Kemper's husband, hysterical, great cast. Yes. And you just wrapped the second season. They're prepping that for release.

Yes. How is that? Are you excited? You feel like it's kind of found its voice more and more. I mean, it did take the office a little while into its second season to kind of like start cooking with gas. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah. People are going to compare it because the. The office was so darn good. There's no getting away from it. It's fine. Let them compare it. It's a different show. New cast, different city and a different vibe.

It's a newspaper. So there's different things going on. I don't know if you know Donal. Have you met Donal? Yes, I have. He's fantastic. Yeah, brilliant. And he's either of the, he's funny.

He does that all. And then we have Alex Edelman. We have all these. The whole cast is great. Sure. And then this old guy is there too. Yeah. So, yeah.

You had a good time in season two? Yeah. But it's different, right? It goes by so quick. Yeah. Remember, we used to do 20 episodes, more or less, a season. We would do 24 in a season. That's crazy.

We're doing 10. Right. So it's just so quick. Wow. Yeah. It's different. Everything's different. One of the things that I talk about a little bit in Soul Boom and also in the Bassoon

King is this kind of belief that I have and have been exploring and I'm fascinated by of that intersection between creativity and spirituality. Okay. Because both things come from some kind of spark or essence that is beyond the rational. And you, and I've seen you do it as an improv comedian, and I've seen you as Oscar Martinez, have these flashes of brilliance. And you talked about like doing the street car, you know, improvisation. have you ever had transformative creative experiences

where you feel like, holy shit, this is coming from somewhere beyond me. There's something kind of transcendent and transformative about making people laugh or creating this character, having these moments. Have you ever felt that vibration? Yeah. Do you have any examples of that?

I think on the office a bunch of times, oh, Rain, that was such a good show. on. It was the best. It was the best. And seeing, and sometimes I'm not even in the thing, just seeing you, I wish there was a way to know that we were in the good old days while we were in. Brian and I, like, pretty early on, he's like, this is a good show. You think we're going to win awards? I'm like, I think so. Is this crazy that we're talking about this? But I remember seeing you doing your karate thing with a black belt around the office.

And I'm like, this is fucking nuts. Remember when you went? Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. But when I was on the proposal and, and Anne Fletcher and I was dancing and I'm like, it's fucking Sandra Bullock and I'm like raising my like crotch to her and you're so great in that. And she comes to the grocery store

and she's like oh shit, it's you. And Ryan knows me. It's like, hey, Ramon. And she's like, oh no, it's that guy. And I'm like, I saw you yesterday and she's like, I know. And I'm like, member? Member? And she's like, yeah. And then she's going to leave the store and I'm like, eh. And I went out to reach and touch her hair. I don't know why. And she went like kind of like this. And that was funny too.

And freaking Anne Fletcher, at the beginning when I'm giving her hors d'oeuvres, and Fletcher said to Sandra, like, spit on him. Like when you're eating the hors d'oeuvre, like cough or something and spit on him a little bit. And Sandra's like, I don't want to do that. She's like, do it. And she did. And Sandra's like, I'm sorry. And I'm like, it's okay.

He's permanent press, you know. And she's like, so stuff like that. Really tickles me. Moments that you found spontaneously. Yeah. Yeah. If you couldn't already tell, I am a very cozy person. So obviously, I'm a huge blanket guy.

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Because this is soul boom, we do talk a little bit about, yes, thank you. Thank you so much. But I am curious. It's not something that we've ever really discussed before, but you grew up Catholic with this closeted gay Cuban father, which is really just threw me for a loop. But going to Catholic school, tell me a little bit about your relationship to Catholicism and that Catholic heritage. Well, Lucifer is very much misunderstood.

I just like to say that things have been said about him. I love... That was a little loud. Huh? That was so loud. That was very loud. I love my nuns at St. Michael's School. I love my nuns.

But you had a good nun experience. I had a great nun experience. And I had a good priest experience, too. But the nuns are more impressive because they really do walk. the walk and talk for real. They really, no cynicism. They're married to Jesus. They're married, but they're not cynical.

Some priests are a little cynical. They're okay. They're a little cynical about it. But not the nuns. They really are, they love you and they're beautiful and they're and people are like, were they strict or whatever? I'm like, yeah, I'd rather be reprimanded harshly by someone who loves me than ignored by someone who's apathetic towards me.

It's all out of love. And so I had a great experience at St. Michael. with the Catholicism and stuff. Yeah. I think it's a great foundation for a child to have that. And to learn by... Are you raising your daughter

to be Catholic at all? No. No. Because... So you don't think it's that great a foundation. I like the individuals. I'm not crazy about organized religion. But, you know, take what you will

and leave the rest. We've had a run of some pretty good popes. Leo and Francis. Well, they've got a lot of to make up for. I should hope so. I should hope that they're good. Oh, that's a good point. Very good point. I hope that they support Judaism and not turn their backs on on Judaism like they did during World War II. I hope they support women's rights and gay rights. This is a, this is true Christianity because I think Jesus would. Yeah. You know? So I was thinking about

this on the way over here and people, you know, in this. this country, it's everything so loud and big and aggressive. And people throw the word Christianity around. And to really, so, so, right, after Christ, Jesus Christ, Christianity. If you believe in him and want to emulate him, then a person that I would look to, and this is impossible, but it's something to reach for, would be, and she was canonized, Her name is Mother Teresa. And what she would do is walk out of her convent,

in New Delhi in India, I think she was in New Delhi. And she walked down the street and whoever she saw in distress, and people do this thing, India, not just her. People are still doing that. Who is homeless and destitute on the street. She would sit down with them, speak to them, shave them, feed them, whatever they needed. She would shave them?

There's the guy shaving people now. She would speak to them and feed them, maybe not shave them. It was a guy like on TikTok shaving people, shaving homeless people. Yeah, and shampooing them and helping them and stuff like this. And you know, you and I, we drive down the street and we see homeless people. And I think I'm like, that shouldn't be. Should I put them in my car and drive them home and say, Ursula, this person was in the street. Let's bathe them and shower them and take it.

You can't do that. Your wife, I didn't sign up for this. You can't do it. You want to do it, but you can't do it. And they said to Mother Teresa, why do you do this? Why do you, how could you do this? Stop and, and she said, because every person I see, I see Jesus Christ in that person. So that's a real Christian.

If you want to be a Christian and talk about being a Christian, then live up to that. Imagine living your life, right? Everywhere you turn, you see Jesus Christ. That's real shit. That right there, that's trying to walk in crisis footsteps. Nothing about politics. nothing about abortion, nothing about guns rights,

nothing about nothing. You see a poor person, you bend down on their level and you speak to them and you love them. That's it. That's what Jesus did. He bent down,

he helped a leper. He got mad when they bought money into the temple to make accounts and trade monies and he tipped them over and said, get the money lenders out of it.

That's the only time he lost his temper. Yeah, I mean, part of the problem is because Paul had some quotes that are often taken out of context, talking about how it's faith alone that can offer salvation, it doesn't matter how you act in your life to a lot of Christians. You don't have to live ethically or an emulation of Jesus and serving the poor. All you have to do is at the end of your day, you have to say, Christ,

forgive me, I love you, save me, save my soul, and then all is forgiven. How convenient. How convenient. How convenience. What about treat others the way you'd want to be treated? That pretty much covers everything. Now, if you want to add bells and whistles for that, you need vestments and structures and things so you can add more shit to that, more bells and whistles.

All you need is treats people the way you want to be treated, but that's too simple. You can't make money off of that. You can't ask for anything for that. Yeah. So here we are. Yeah. Like when I'm distressed or whatever,

I'll tell you what happened. So I was at the Groundlings, and I was poor as shit, but it's okay. I might have been... What kind of shitty jobs were doing in L.A. while you were at the grounds? Waiting table, busking table. When I got the office, I was babysitting and waiting tables. So I'm living a block off...

You would have been the world's best babysitter. I'm sorry. Oh, I love babysitting. So I was a block on El Centro, which is a block off Paramount Studios. Okay. Paying $350 for... a small apartment that I shared with a guy, thank God, he was mostly in New York City.

Okay. But I remember being like, I'm like, oh, do I have enough rent this week? And I got to pay this. I'm like, oh, and I'm in this shitty apartment. I'm like, what am I doing here? My family is back east. Everyone, I have friends here, but I was like kind of like, what am I doing? Is this home?

Where is home? And this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm thinking. What I was depressed. I'm like, and I'm listening to KCRW. and Ram Dass is speaking on KCRW. And Ram Dass says, I just left the convention and I'm walking down the hallway.

And I'm in this hotel and I go in my hotel room and I'm thinking, what am I doing? What am I doing? Where am I? I'm just on the road and I'm in this hotel room and I, what am I doing? I don't know where I am. And I put my feet up and I look at my feet and I thought,

huh, I'm here. And then Ramdaq starts laughing. Because whenever he says something, like, why is he? And he starts laughing. I'm like, that's right. Where I am is where I'm supposed to be. And I'm like, and so that, this is an example of what I was trying to say earlier.

If I'm ever like, oh, spiritual or whatever, I just try to quiet down and listen to the quiet voice inside. So I don't like evangelism. I don't like people yelling at me. about brimstone and hell. And I don't like the yelling. I like the quiet voice telling me what to do. And if you quiet yourself, it's there.

But you need to be. Is there something you do in a practice to access this quiet voice you're talking about or meditations you listen to or books or audio books? I tried transcendental meditation for a while. And then I got bored with it. Did you have a good mantra? Maybe you needed a better mantra.

Maybe I forgot what it was. It doesn't matter what the mantra is. Mine is a hey bad, bad, bad, a hey, badda, badda, swing batter. And that was worth it to stop this 100th anniversary. People are taking notes. People are digging what I'm saying. And you stop to do that dad joke.

Abbott and Costello. So whatever you need to do. For me, exercise. I like exercising. And I like being in a habit of regularly doing some sort of exercise. That works for me. I've tried TM. But I like really exercising a lot.

So where does your spiritual life stand right now? And what do you impart to August, your daughter? I impart to her to listen to her gut. I also am of the mind. And it's very important. And I hope she gets this, but I hope everyone gets this. It's okay not to know something. It's okay.

It's okay. It's okay. You don't have to freak out. You don't have to. Why are we here? Why are we, you know, human, we've only been here a little bit of time. Thousands of years from now, we might discover who put us here and why, and it'll be science who leads us there. But if spirituality works for you, that's fine too.

But it's okay not to. I know two things. I know. I don't know what happens to us after we die. And I'm okay with that. But I don't know what happens. I really don't. And the second part to that is no one knows.

Everyone's guessing. It doesn't matter if you have a pointy hat. a flat hat, if you burn incense or you're throwing rocks off, whatever you're doing to help you think of what can happen after, you really don't know. But some people might have a clearer vision than others. I don't know, but I don't think no one knows for sure. But I think that's okay.

And I don't think that should affect how you act here. People now this disclosure movie. It's like there's aliens. That's going to freak everyone out. Why? You're still going to have to pay taxes and you're still going to die. Whether aliens exist or, not still be a nice person. Don't, doesn't have to change who we are. Did you ever have any mental

health challenges? Did you ever deal with anxiety, depression, find yourself overmedicating in a way? That's one thing we try and connect the dots with in Soul Boom is that there might be some spiritual tools for modern living that help us through those difficult times. That's a good question. Or were you always, you know, just kind of moving forward? Always moving, but it did throw me for a loop. The fact that, not that my father was gay, but the way he was reacting to it. Divorcing my, that I was like, oh my God. That's a big family trauma.

Can't help him and he can't help himself. And I'm like, well, that happened. So that was depressing. For better or worse, I'm pretty good at, Like moving forward, like I can say, it's crazy. I can, as nice as I am, I can say, have a relation with someone for 10 years and say bye, and that's it. That's it. I go forward and I don't have to call them or say, I don't care.

I hope they're great, but that's a little crazy. I know. You know, like, sometimes I'm like, well, this doesn't work or that doesn't work. And I'm like, well, think of your parents. They invested so much in education and in a country and paying taxes into the system. And then everything got turned upside down and they had to come and start over again. And they had hard moments, but they did it for me and my sister. They got their organized and got their stuff together.

And not only them, all the other my relatives that came, the refugees that came to this country and did that. And so it's the hardest, the stuff. that you ask, like the mental, like, depression and all that. Yeah. That's happening now. Never before. Never before Rain Wilson in my life has I been so upset with this country than now.

And that's affecting your mental health right now? Absolutely. Absolutely. Never before. The disunity, the chaos, the... Yeah. I'm off Instagram. I can't be on Instagram.

I can't look at what's happening. Wow. I can't look at what's happening. And then... what do you do? Well, I can't go nuts because I need a mortgage, so I can't go crazy. But yet, it's, and you know, you're, you know, I've, I've voted people like, oh, immigrants, I've voted in every presidential election I was 18. Immigrants love this country. I've been a citizen for over 60 years. So does this issue specifically about immigrants and immigration?

Yeah. And non-legal immigrants. Yeah. Is this one that? that really ignites you more than other issues? Yes, because never in a million years that I think that leaving this country would ever cross my mind for political reasons. That's what my parents did. And I'm like, how is it happening now? And then the fact that there's Cubans supporting this,

Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, who know better, this is, this is, this is, makes me livid. You know? Yeah. It's bananas. Do you see any hope, any way forward? And in raising August 2, do you see a way out of this other than electing a different president? We have to elect different people. Here's the good news.

Do you feel like things will be solved or get better if we elect a different? I think so. But I don't know. But here's the good news. You think so. We live in a wonderful state. And that's politics. And unfortunately, it has a, there seems to be no checks and balances. Things are happening really quickly because there's no Congress or. Senate, so everything, it goes from brain to signing a paper to law. It shouldn't work that way. It has to go through Congress. That's out. That doesn't happen. This is, names are going up on institutions. This is crazy. The good news is, in my personal life, things couldn't be better.

I'm working on a show. My kids in a great school. We just went to a dance. So there's a whole disconnect. We're in California. Thank God. And we're surrounded by beautiful people. There's beautiful people in this country. And I've of the mind that Florida and Texas are way more purple than red, but because they're gerrymandering and stuff like that, people just aren't getting represented. I think Texas is way more liberal than it is. And I think Florida is too from meeting people there and stuff. I think people, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We'll see what happens. I mean, part of the thesis of soul boom is that what we need is a spiritual revolution. going back to what you were talking about Jesus Christ and emulating his actions in serving the

poor, you spoke about that in terms of a far deeper compassion for immigrants and understanding that this is an immigrant country. I mean, the first Puritans came here as refugees and immigrants. And you said it. Instead of worshiping him so much, emulate him. Try to be like him. Yeah, but I feel like it doesn't really matter if we have a slightly better president or slightly better members of Congress and the Senate, that it will help a little bit for a few years,

perhaps in some of the policies, but that as a people, as a culture, Trump is a symptom of, you know, of a very vocal 38% of the United States. And that's where the work is. The work is in bringing two sides together and in deepening our understanding of each other, how the human heart works, how we can best, you know, care for the poorest among us. What, you know, what is the role of government in that?

What is the role of America as can, does America need to be the world's police? or could America be the world's peacemaker? But this is a shift on a fundamental level of how we relate one to another. And the tools for that relationship, I think are found in the world's great wisdom traditions. And I am a staunch believer

that our political system is so corrupt and broken and dependent on money and the candidates are not truly representing the American people on both sides, that there needs to be a much deeper, more pervasive spiritual revolution that needs to happen. And that's what these conversations are about. That's where I come from. I agree. Meanwhile, as you're saying those words, as we speak these, there are people in detention camps for innocent because of their color of their skin and women are not allowed to have health care

in this country. It's happening right now. So I'm glad you're able to say that as a white man. You're not getting pulled over if you're driving on SUV. You and Walter are not getting pulled over. I'm not getting in my electric BMW. No one's pulling me over. That's right. There's people in the United States that's going to pull.

And we're not allowed to visit them in the detention centers. That's a five alarm fire right there. We're not allowed to find out what's really happening. This is the United States of America. Yeah. So that's urgent for me. That's urgent. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's not theoretical. No. It's where the rubber meets the road. Yeah. This is like people are suffering. I wish we could all sit around and, but no, but there's people being who work,

who pay taxes. They're being pulled over and put in detention camps. And now we can't visit them because men with masks, come on. You speak so eloquently and passionately about. And you are an immigrant and come from an immigrant refugee family. I hope you'll do more work in this arena because you have a lot to offer. You have a lot to bring. We'll see.

So upset. What about those hundreds of hours that you spent doing improv theater at the groundlings? I don't remember. Have you ever made that connection internally somehow? That what? That's per shawley. It has something to do with the... In the act of being an artist, of creating characters, of creating moments,

that there is a language behind creativity. Rick Rubin talks about this a great deal. There is a language of transcendence behind it. You're tapping into some muse or energy that's, you know, beyond the rational. Yeah, I think so. I think that's true, but I think it's inside all of us. I don't know if we're tapping into. I think everything's inside of us.

I don't know if we have to go reach. Here, it's inside and it bubbles out. You're like, that was in there from before. So many artists you talk to when they're writing songs or creating paintings are like, I don't know where that came from. or poetry or writing. It came from them. It came from them.

But it came from them. But it came from outside too because everything outside is in us. It's all the same. But I like to give credit to people who are cool and say, you fucking did that. You came from what? No, man, that's you. You filtered it something, but it came from you. And it's okay.

It's okay that it came from you and that you did that, you know? We ask every guest this question. there's this funny word in the title of our podcast, soul. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I say the word soul, how would you define that? How would I define? The word soul, yeah, yeah, the concept soul.

What does it mean to you? The concept of soul is what gives us life. I know we think it's only for humans, but I think it's in all living creatures. Everything has a soul. And it's that, I guess, ferns have a soul? Who?

Ferns, slugs? Maybe. I know animals do, but then now why are we leaving plants out of it? I think if they're alive, they have a spirit of tree, a redwood for sure. It's quiet,

it's dignified. It doesn't have to be loud and crazy. They don't have bumper stickers, but they're there. They're living. And then when they die, then something leaves them. The thing that kept them alive is gone.

and the same goes for us, whatever that is. They say when we die, we get lighter, right? There was a movie about eight ounces or something, right? Yeah, I've heard that. Yeah, I've heard it too. And they're like, that's the soul. So maybe it is, maybe it's not. But yeah, I have no problem with that.

Oscar, it's been so great getting to know you better here on Soulbone. Thank you. We did something, right? We did something. We did a lot. This was fantastic. And I wish we would have sat down in my trailer was bigger than your trailer,

which we sat down in my trailer and had conversations like this. You had no room because you had that jacuzzi installed. Well, that you didn't, you used it twice. I don't know why you insisted. Well, and the vibrating pillows took up a lot of space.

This is true. Thanks, Oscar. You're welcome. The Soul Boom podcast. Subscribe now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get your stupid podcasts.