Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Austin Butler (February 2023)

Episode Date: August 20, 2023

Since the release of Elvis, Austin Butler has stepped into the celebrity spotlight, winning a Golden Globe, hosting Saturday Night Live, and rolling-out a list of upcoming roles. Willie and Austin got together in New York for a "Sunday Sitdown," to talk about the ride. (Original broadcast date February 19, 2023.) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. Today, we revisit one of our favorite conversations with Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee this year, Austin Butler. The guy really became a bona fide Hollywood star this year by playing the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, in the Bos Lerman directed film Elvis. You've probably seen it by now. You heard all the buzz around this guy. He'd been in movies, but in some lower profile roles. This was really his coming out party.

Did a lot of the singing himself. And I have to say a great guy, truly a great guy to spend some time with. We got together ahead of the Oscars while this was all happening to them. And I saw him sort of sit in his chair, take a deep breath and just have a minute and say, man, I don't really know what's going on right now. He's been on an incredible ride, as I said, won the Golden Globe, nominated for an Oscar. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. once again my conversation with Austin Butler on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

Austin, great to meet you, man. Thanks for doing this. I'm so happy to be here with you. I think we just had a pretty good interview already, but we'll just keep you on here. Yeah, we've been talking. I'm like, let's just keep this going. Yeah, this is nice. Man, I was just saying to you, this moment for you where you've just won the Golden Globe, you're now nominated for an Oscar, the world knows your name and your face. How are you feeling in the middle of this well-deserved whirlwind you're sitting in? I mean, right, you know, we were just talking about it. But I feel so grateful, just incredibly, incredibly grateful.

But also, as we were just saying, it feels like a dream. So, you know, I've been doing this since I was a kid. I've never had a real job. I was 12 when I started acting. and I always had these dreams and there were many moments in my life where it didn't feel like it was possible, you know, where you kind of end up in a certain lane

and you don't get the opportunities that you really want to challenge yourself or whatever those things are and so to now be here, as we were just saying, to look back and kind of take a breath and be able to see, you know, my life retrospectively and go, wow, this is actually happening? This is real. I just feel very humble and grateful. I know it feels like a long last year to you because you've done so much,

but I was just saying to you that trailer, the first trailer for Elvis was about a year ago, a little under a year ago, where the world said, my God, who is that guy? He looks exactly like Elvis. He sounds like Elvis, all of those things. Has it felt to you like a long year, or has it felt to the, like it does to the rest of us, like, this guy came out of nowhere. I know you didn't. But it feels like here you are now nominated for an Oscar with a pretty good shot at one. I mean, it definitely does feel like longer than a year. That's why when you said that, I thought, has it only been a year?

It feels like a lifetime. Yeah, it's, as we were saying, the whirlwind takes you and it's so fast that you're only ever doing it one moment at a time. And that's why moments like this of talking about are cool because it's kind of like when you're a kid and you can't quite tell how fast you're growing and you draw those lines on the doorway. And you see, oh, I grew an inch this summer or however much it is.

So to take moments like this is really nice for me. That's such a good way to put it. It's so true. So I want to go back to the genesis of this role for you, which I know that when you heard Baz was making this movie, it was something you wanted to be a part of, at least throw your hat in the ring. But is it true that people around you, friends sort of had a sense even before then that you'd be a good Elvis?

You know, it was never a thing in my life. Like, certain people will ask if, since I was a kid, people were saying things. But I never put it together. I never even really felt like our faces looked that much alike. I mean, there's certain similarities, but I never felt like this. and I never really heard that, you know. But in the month prior, my partner at the time, she, you know, she mentioned it to me a couple times. And so it was in my mind.

And then... Were you singing along to Blue Christmas or something? Yeah, it was Blue Christmas. Yeah. Which was, yeah, and I just happened to... I think we have a similar timbre of voice. So as I was singing, it was kind of in that place. place already. And then I was playing the piano a couple weeks later and just kind of making

something up. And I would only ever sing in front of, you know, my mother, my partner, or, you know, somebody very, very close to me. I was never a singer beforehand. And so I think I was kind of singing in that place at that time. And so I got brought up again. And then a couple weeks later, than I got a call from my agent that Baz was making the movie. And that was one of those moments where did hairs stand up on your arms? And you think, okay, the stars are aligning

a little too clearly right now. So let's just throw all our chips on the table and give it everything that I have. And so I just went all in, even though I didn't know if I had an audition, you know? At the day one, I called a singing coach and a dialect coach and a movement

coach and I just started working on it like I had the job even though I didn't even know if I was going to get an audition for it. So what was it about this role and this man and this icon that was so fascinating to you that you would put this much in it without even knowing you were going to get an audition? I mean, it's it it's the role of a lifetime, you know, and you kind of know that when you when you read the script or even just the idea of getting to explore the life of of of, of somebody who had the life that Elvis had, and it has either been so misunderstood and is now simply a Halloween costume for people, or he's idolized to a level where he becomes larger than life.

So for me, it was just really fascinating to strip all that away and find the human being that is at the core of all that, you know, what is his soul. And also just how dynamic he was, the fact that he moved in the way that he did and sang in the way that he did. And I was a very shy child, and I talked about it a little last night, but this sort of shyness and self-consciousness and, reservation of releasing certain bits of yourself. Knowing that I would have to explore those things,

to the nth degree with this, I knew that it would expand what I felt was possible in myself. And there were many times, you know, I told Baz this the other day, but there were many times that it felt impossible. And I didn't feel like I was enough. And moments where I didn't believe that I could actually do it. And those are moments that looking at Baz and seeing that he believed in me,

I owe him so much for that because there was many moments where I thought, you know, especially in the preparation process where about a month after I got cast and we were down in Nashville and Memphis. and I felt sort of like an imposter, you know. And I kept waiting for somebody to look at me and go, you don't belong here, get out of here, you know. And Baz had this faith in me. And then as we got closer and closer, it started to build, and I started to just feel the life more.

And then it became the most exhilarating thing. And so I think I kind of knew at the very beginning that that, if I could get through it and could survive somehow, that I would come out the other side, a different person. Nobody would blame you to be nervous about it. This is a guy who knows and has an opinion about and loves so deeply and has been a part of their lives for so long.

It's obviously this is going to be the defining movie about him. It's kind of a big responsibility. And you pointed to something so interesting, which is that you were a shy kid. Like you've said, you couldn't order for yourself at a restaurant. Your mom would do that for you. To take on the role.

of someone whose entire persona in life is to be big and loud and wear the jumpsuit and the sunglasses and karate kicks on stage in front of 20,000 people, the sort of paradox of those two things is fascinating. So how did you end up breaking through that in the end

and saying, oh, I can do this. I can command a crowd. Well, part of it was learning that Elvis was very shy and that was liberating to me to learn that when he first started playing the guitar.

He would turn off the lights in the house and ask people to turn around. So he would play, but he wouldn't want them to watch him. And then even when you watch Elvis on tour in 72, and he's talking about his stage fright. All the way through his career, he had that stage fright because he cared so much. But then he also spoke of,

how once he got into the first couple of songs and felt the rapport of the audience that then the fear sort of subsided and then he was liberated. And so that was freeing for me to know that even Elvis felt fear. And I think that you know, the more that I started to look at every performer,

you start to see that most all of us have that, you know. And then it's in the moment that you're actually doing the thing that you love that time sort of stands still and and fear sort of becomes something different. You know, it becomes this energy that focuses you or something. And that was my experience the first time I got on stage. I mean, Baz curated these experiences before I ever got into filming where I was performing live in front of people.

And the first couple times were awful. I mean, it was just, it's so painful. And And, uh, Well, you're also singing people. Yeah. This is real.

There's no lip sync. There's no track that you're, you know, it's like, you have to get that bound and then you have to be the person and you have to move like the person. I mean, you've got like 10 different things, I imagine. There's so many things. In your head, if you get one of them wrong, people go, oh, he doesn't look like Elvis. You start judging yourself. You start thinking, I don't know if I moved exactly right in that moment or I don't know

if I sang exactly right in that moment. And, um, and so you're nitpicking yourself. And, and, uh, you're, And so for me, it was this constant process of trying to figure out how certain things could be, if I worked on them long enough, then I wasn't having to think about them anymore. And then they also, if I approached them from the impulses that were happening inside, then you're not watching yourself from the outside. And that was, those were the pivotal moments when it started to feel like it wasn't me, me, you know, judging myself from the outside. But it was feeling something that was, there was no other way to move. It was just that because that's how the music was in that moment.

Yeah, so that's when it became fun. Do you remember the first time you looked in the mirror and saw Elvis with the hair and the makeup and the wardrobe and all of it? Do you remember that moment? I mean, I remember the entire process. We had more hair and makeup tests than I think most people have ever done on a film because that's the way Baz is where we had just months and months of just trying things. We were trying a nose, and we tried tons of prosthetics and then no prosthetics. And we kind of kept going back and forth trying to figure it out.

Because there was also the thing where I've talked about this, little bit, but I, in the beginning, I had this unrealistic expectation that if I somehow could either, you know, with the help of prosthetics, but mostly if I could move the muscles in my face in a certain way, that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between me and Elvis. Yeah. Well, the moment that I, that I first saw myself. I mean, we did have so many months of the makeup tests, but it was the moment that we were first going to film

because you kind of, you live in the possibility when you're in prep, but then the moment that you're actually going to do something between action and cut, that's the moment of truth. So that's when I really, I looked in the mirror and the first thing that we were filming was

the 68 comeback special. And so I was sitting in the dressing room that was Elvis's dressing room in the film and I looked at myself in the mirror and I was in the room by myself. And it was the moment before I was walking out on stage and I was so nervous. And then I looked in the mirror and it was like I was seeing Elvis giving me a pep talk because I'm seeing that face in the mirror saying, you know, yes, this is terrifying.

But, you know, that's exactly what Elvis was feeling in that moment was his career was on the line. And that's exactly how I felt. That was the moment, was looking into the mirror, and it was surreal. Did he also say you look great in the black leather? Yeah, you look great in the black leather. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Austin Butler right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Austin Butler.

I have to imagine it was and continues to be so gratifying to have sort of received the satisfaction. of approval from the Presley family from the late Lisa Marie and Priscilla who were there for you at the Golden Globes and it sounds like kind of were there for you every step of the way and saying you got it right and if anybody's going to say that I guess you want to hear it from them yeah that I um yeah um I remember the moment that they were first going to watch the film I had never been more nervous for anybody to see anything than I'd ever done because they hadn't seen anything and they didn't even read the script at that point

with and so and they were very nervous and I really thought it could go either way and then when Baz read me and Priscilla's email

uh I just burst into tears because it was um I felt so much responsibility to them and and for their family and and for Elvis's legacy and it was just yeah it was such a such a beautiful moment and then and then when I finally got to meet Lisa Marie because we

didn't meet until we screened the film at Graceland and when I I've locked eyes on her it's a really surreal thing when I've been playing her dad for such a long time and um and and been doing my best to to make it as true from me as possible the the relationship you know of of um feeling the love for her through her father um and then because of the film resonated with her in that way suddenly now is this moment where we're standing in front of each other and we're looking into each other's eyes and I felt so much love for her through him and that whole process that I've never felt closer to somebody quicker than I felt with her. And then she was just the most incredible woman I've ever met and just so incredibly honest and

loving. And you had to just to just finally be able to give her a hug and and then to spend all those moments with her. So it's really

sad right now. Yeah, I mean it's such an emotional time anyway around everything that's happening for you professionally. That added layer of her passing must give this entire new depth. Yeah.

profound depth of feeling around what's happening right now with the movie. Yeah, yeah, sure. And it's, it's, yeah, it's so, I mean, I've said it in these exact words, but it's just very bittersweet right now. Because it's, I just wish that she was here to celebrate with us. But I'm, and I'm just so, I'm so grateful that everybody has received the story in the way that they have and to get recognition for their family, you know, and for her dad who, I know it weighed on her a lot, how misunderstood he was. And so to be a part of that, I just feel so endlessly privileged, you know.

Yeah, you did them very proud, and she did get to see it. She got to see you up on that stage, getting a Golden Globe and thanking her father, which was such a beautiful moment, too. We were talking a little bit before we started about that speech at the Golden Globes, where you 10 years ago, you 20 years ago, would not have been able to process. I'm the one up on the stage holding the trophy. I still can hardly process. Brad Pitt and Quinn Tarantino and all my heroes in a room looking up at you

receiving this award for Best Actor. What was that like? Um, it's, it's still sort of just feels like this, um, dream that's hard to wrap my head around, you know. I, uh, yeah, I mean, that moment was really wild. I mean, as I said in the speech, Quentin has meant so much to me for so long. Baz has meant so much to me for so long. Watching Romeo and Juliet redefine the way that I saw films could be made and, um, um, I've looked up to Brad Pitt since before I even started acting. And he was the last person that I touched before I walked up on stage,

and he just said, get on up there. And, yeah, it's just, it's hard to believe that it's actually real. Another one of your heroes, Leonardo DiCaprio, has it had some kind words for you afterwards as well. Yeah, he just said, I'm so proud of you, buddy. And, I mean, we were talking before the interview started, I mean, between Brad and Leo, they were the guys that I looked up to so much, and I still look up to them so much. And I shaped so much of the way that I worked because of, I mean, looking at Leo's career and the way that he invests so much of himself in every project that he ever takes.

on and the fact that he was able to go from being a child actor and then transition in such a flawless way and the choices that he's made, I just, I have so much respect for him. And as we were saying before, you know, I looked at, okay, who are the acting coaches that he works with? And I found Larry Moss, and I read his book when I was 13 years old, and then eventually then Larry became a mentor to me. and we work together, and now we've worked together for years. And so all of that to then have a moment like the Globes and to look at Leo afterwards and hear that from him, it just meant so much to me.

I love hearing you talk about your 12, 13 years old studying acting in such an intense way. And again, going back to a kid who's very, very shy, I think is the way you put it. So where does the acting come from? That's sort of counterintuitive to people that a shy kid wants to be up on a stage or he wants to be on a screen in front of cameras and lights and all that stuff. How did you find your way to acting? Well, so, I mean, when I look back at it, I was so shy in public, but then I would do anything to make my mom laugh. And so, and I think that's how a lot of kids kind of start or how a lot of kids even shy. kids are, you know, when I look at it.

So I would be so silly for my mom. I would just do anything. And then I also loved watching movies. I watched tons of movies. And I didn't really like to hang out with other kids, so I spent a lot of time at home. So I'd watch a lot of films, and I would, you know, recreate scenes from my mom. So that really, I think, was the genesis of it all. And then I mean, if you want to hear the story about it,

I actually got in. I had a, I had, I told this before, I don't know, but I had a stepbrother for a brief period of time. My mom got remarried. And my stepbrother's dad was a hairdresser. And he, my, this brother in mine, he always wanted to have an afro. Okay. And so his father permed his hair. And it didn't turn out as an afro.

It just was this wild curly hair. So he had a very unique look. You mean, kind. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's a little kid. And he had this perm, and he ended up going to the Orange County Fair. And he got scouted by this background talent agent who said, you have a very unique look. You should come up to L.A. on audition.

And so I just tagged along when he went out. to do this audition. Turns out the audition is for a background talent agency and we didn't know what that meant, but you basically pay them some money and they get you head shots and they get you to do extra work. And so as a little kid,

they needed child extras. So I just tagged along and when they saw that my mom had another kid, they said, you know, why doesn't he do it as well? And something came over me that day where she said, you want to do it? And I said, yeah. And I was so nervous. My legs were shaking. I found out later they didn't even have film on the camera. But I had to do this thing in front of a camera of reading like a Welchis Grape shoot, juice commercial or something. And I remember my legs actually shaking.

Like, I could not hardly stand up. And then they, you know, they ended up getting me into doing an extra work. And that was the thing, was getting onto a set. It was the kindness of the everybody that I worked with. It was seeing how the whole dance of filmmaking works. And, um,

and, and there's, there's just something that sparked in me where I, uh, I, I, I, I, fell in love with the whole process. And then it was going to acting classes at that time. And, and that's

the thing that started to give me tools to get out of shyness. That's amazing. Yeah. It's amazing. Sort of happened by happenstance. Yeah. But I guess that is part of, right, that's one way to do,

which is I'm uncomfortable in a real world situation, but if I can get behind a character or read a line or something, you can kind of be that person. You could do all those things that, you know, or maybe frowned upon in real life, you know, letting out bits of yourself that, you know, they don't really let you do in the rest of the world. That's right.

That's right. Well, clearly you made it from the background to a little closer to the camera. You had an amazing run of Disney, Nickelodeon, all the CW shows. What did you take away from those experiences? What did they teach you about acting and about where you actually wanted to be sometime, hopefully, down the road in your career? That's the, that's a good question. It was, as a kid, you sort of taught all these. you're sort of taught to be professional.

And so I learned how to find my light and hit my mark and remember my lines. And it helped me to deal with the anxiety that comes from when action is called and everybody's looking at you and you're nervous. And how do you sort of deal with your nervous system responding in that way? Going to tons of auditions and hearing no. And I imagine it would be different if I wasn't a kid, but at the time, I think it allowed me to be able to deal with rejection a little bit easier because I was so young. And, yeah, so I had people tell me early on, you know, the odds are plan to go to 100 auditions before you book one.

And so, and then another 100 before you book one. And eventually those numbers kind of, it starts, the fraction starts shifting. But in the beginning, I just treated it like a numbers game. And the amount of awful auditions that I had where I was so nervous, I forget lines or have a complete meltdown or my hands would be sweating. And I could never eat before an audition. It just helped me to be able to deal with nerves, I think, a lot. But you did pretty well.

I mean, you booked eventually maybe. Eventually. It took me a couple years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then by the time I was about 15, then I was actually working and then making money. Stick around for more of my conversation with Austin Butler right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Austin Butler. Yeah, and I mean, you book some big name shows, and you sort of come out of that phase of your career.

And it sounds to me, like you can correct me if I'm wrong, but you were looking for that next thing. As you said, you grew up loving, aging bull and James Dean, and you're watching all these movies, and you're like, how do I get to something like that? And maybe it was frustrating, fair to say, for a little while, that you weren't finding that? Yeah, and I lived in comparison as well. I was comparing myself to Leo, you know?

And so I saw he was nominated for an Oscar when I think he was 19 or something. It's been a while since I've looked up that. But it's in my mind as I think he was 19 for a Gilbert great. Yeah. Yeah. And, yeah, I may be off on the age, but either way, I always thought, oh, I'm behind, you know, and I'm doing a young adult TV show when he's working with Scorsese or whatever those things were. And that's really what I mean, such a good lesson for me was everybody's on their own path.

and you just got to just go on your own path and keep your sights set on where you want to go and work as hard as you possibly can. And for me, if I had some big break when I was younger, maybe I wouldn't have sought out the teachers that I did and learned I wasn't ready. I wasn't that good, you know? Yeah.

I really took a, it takes a long time. acting is a it's a weird thing and it's and it's not an easy thing you know for everyone especially i mean certain people just have gifts but i had to really work at it because i was not very good for a long time and um and i still have so much to learn you know i still know that there's just so so much to learn when when you see certain certain actors that um you know are just at the absolute top of their craft you know it there's it's so inspiring to me It's been those couple of years before you make it down the street here in Broadway with Denzel. Was there ever a moment, Austin, where you were like, maybe this just isn't going to work out?

Maybe I'm not going to ever be Leo. Maybe I'm not even going to have a career as a professional actor. Did those doubts start to creep in for you at all? Yeah, and there were many times, many, many times. And I would, you know, I'd really question it, but I didn't have a plan B. I didn't, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I didn't go to college. I, I, I, I, I've never had a real job. I can't, I, I, I didn't have another option. And so, I thought about it for a while and, um, I, I, I, you know, I mentioned this in a roundtable I did recently, but I, I had a moment, especially after, after my mom passed away, where my whole world sort of shifted. And I started looking at material that I was working with and just going, this is,

it just feels so vapid right now. And is what I'm doing, does it matter at all? And is there, is there, I was having trouble finding joy in it. And then that shifted when I did the Iceman Cummeth. because it was such a mammoth task that it required me to really invest so much of myself. And I was getting to act with Denzel and David Morris and these just titans.

And working with Eugene O'Neill, and his writing is just so, it demands so much of you. And so that just shifted so much for me. Yeah, it feels like that was a huge inflection point for you because also coming out of those as you said look sort of Disney and and Nickelodeon years you wanted to a bigger challenge it'd be taken more seriously and all that and boy what a way to do that to come to Broadway number one to be an ice man come with number two

and then to sort of share scenes with Denzel Washington was that daunting to you because you did a pretty damn good job you got great reviews the minute you stepped down to the stage and people saw you completely I was not expecting reviews to be good at all. They were. Because I really thought an LA kid coming to New York, they're going to rip me apart. Right. You know, and I just kind of thought, this is how you cut your teeth.

They're going to rip me to shreds. Right. Part of the process. It's part of the process. You go up there, fail on stage. And so that was a surprise. But it was incredibly daunting. I, so much so that I, out of just sheer terror, I just worked so. hard ahead of time. And I memorized the entire four-hour play, everyone's lines before showing

up to the table reads. So that way I could, you know, everybody that was in the scenes and so the first table read, I wouldn't even look at the script. And it was like I had this, I had so much to prove, I felt. And meanwhile, Denzel was the most relaxed, you know, just absolute top of his game. And he's watching me. The whole table read just, I'm just going for it 100% the entire table read. And I think because he saw certain things in just how much I cared about it, then he started to kind of take me under his wing and he was very kind to me. But getting to watch him in the rehearsal room was the most amazing, amazing experience

because I got to see how many different ways one scene can be done. And there's this thing with acting where often you feel like there's a perfect way to do it That you got to You know, there's this perfectionist sort of mindset sometimes I don't know if everybody else has it but I definitely have Where there's an there's there's like this ideal way that the scene should play but you and you're trying to figure out what it is But what I learned from him is that that's not true That it's just truth

That there's so many different ways if you're newly alive and every night, I would see him one night on stage do the most brilliant thing I'd ever seen an actor do. And you would think he would do the same thing the next night, because he knew it was great. The audience knew it was great. Every actor on stage knew it was great. And you would think, okay, he's going to do the same thing again the next night, and he wouldn't. And I'd never see him do it again.

Instead, he'd do something else that's brilliant in a different moment. And because he's not holding tight to some idea of perfection. Instead, he's just alive. And that's why he's so compelling, you know. So I learned a lot from him. What a gift to have Denzel, Washington, as your mentor. Yeah, I mean, just to soak into osmosis, you know, a little bit of that brilliance that he has.

And there was some beautiful poetry to that relationship. You thank Denzel on stage again in that Golden Globe speech. And it wasn't just for being your partner in Iceman Comet, but because he called Baz and said this kid is really good. You got to give him a good look for Elvis. I really, I'm so grateful to him for that. Yeah. I mean, what a list of people you had to thank up there on that stage.

There's so many. I didn't have enough time to thank everybody. I got a long list. Obviously, up on that stage as well at the Globes, you thanked your mother. I mean, talk about somebody who was there when you weren't sure you could be an actor and sort of encouraging you in that direction. and sadly that didn't get to see where you are now, what do you think she's thinking as she watches what's happening to her son,

what he's done in this last year? I think she'd be very proud. And, yeah, she's sacrificed so much. You know, like she quit a job to drive me to auditions. and drive me to acting class and she'd wait outside and drive all the way back down to Orange County and also she, when she was in high school,

she wanted to be an actor. And so I think I'm sort of getting to live this life for both of us in that way. And she was just, she was my best friend. And so I think she'd be happy. Is she part of the motivation? Has she been part of the motivation in those years when you weren't sure to say, okay, she's with me. Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Yeah. Yeah. There's so many. I mean, she was also just the most kind person. You know, she was so, she lit up every room and she was so vibrant. And so, and she was just nice to everybody. And so there's so many things that I just go, I just want to make her proud. You know, I just want to, I just want to, I just want to, um, and let her sort of live through me in the lessons that she taught me and in and the the way that she she was you know so yeah well you've done her very proud thank you and not just

for your performances but for the way you treat people based on everything i've heard and people i've talked to we were talking about this before how kindness goes a long way you've seen some role models and the way they've behaved on set and you're clearly doing it yourself as well so thank congratulations on everything you a lot of people are emotional today no listen we've had our own Oprah once. No, I didn't. Geez. I didn't mean for it.

It just happened. You're so present and you're so, you're just such a great person to be around. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you, awesome. I really enjoyed it. So great to talk to you. So nice to talk to you. Thank you.

My big thanks again to Austin for that conversation earlier this year. And my big thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of my conversations every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in. into Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.