That Was Us - Chris Koch and Us | Director (with Jon Huertas)

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

This week on That Was Us, we’re excited to welcome director Chris Koch, who returns to the podcast to take us behind the scenes of some of This Is Us’ most memorable episodes. Joined by guest co-host Jon Huertas, Chris shares his journey from making Super 8 films to building a long creative partnership with Dan Fogelman, and reflects on directing everything from comedy to some of the show’s most emotional moments. In this episode, the hosts chat about: * Jon Huertas’ latest adventures, including farm life, directing, and his dreams of eventually owning a boat * Chris Koch’s first experiences making films and how a love of Super 8 led him toward directing * His unexpected path through advertising and branding at MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central * His longtime creative partnership with Dan Fogelman and how it has evolved across multiple shows * The differences between directing comedy and drama…and why the best lessons can come from both * Some of Koch’s favorite and most challenging This Is Us episodes, including the family therapy and Vietnam sequences * Memorable performances, on-set stories, and the importance of treating every member of a crew with kindness * What he learned from working with the cast and crew of This Is Us and the advice he would give to someone hoping to build a long career in television Plus, Jon and Chris join in for a lightning round, revisit some favorite This Is Us moments, and take a few unexpected detours in this exciting conversation. And a friendly reminder, you can catch new episodes of That Was Us every Monday, a day early, exclusively on Hulu. Available on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts on Tuesdays like usual! That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. ------------------------- Support Our Sponsors: - Don’t just take our word for it – go grab one for yourself. Head to Walmart today to try a bar or stock up on 4CTs of your favorite flavors, like Blueberry Pie and Salted Peanut Butter, sold exclusively at Walmart. Check out https://Walmart.com to find a store near you! - Once you try Magnetic Me clothing for your little ones, you’ll never want to go back to buttons or zippers! New customers can get 15% off site wide at https://magneticme.com ------------------------- 🍋 About the Show: The stars of This Is Us, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, and Chris Sullivan, dive back into the world of the Pearsons, reliving each episode and all the life lessons that came with it. Together, they dig in and dig deep, have the tough conversations, bring in very special and familiar guests, share never-before-heard behind-the-scenes moments, and feature listeners in highly anticipated fan segments. Join your favorite family back in the living room to examine our past, cherish our present, and look to the future with new episodes of That Was Us every Tuesday. Executive Producers: Natalie Holysz and Rob Holysz Creative Producer: Sam Skelton Production Coordinator: Andrew Rowley Video Editor: Todd Hughlett Mix & Master: Jason Richards About Headgum: Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com. » SUBSCRIBE to Headgum: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeadGum?sub_confirmation=1 » FOLLOW us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/headgum » FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/headgum/ » FOLLOW us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headgum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a headgum podcast. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range, infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function, and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning.

Let your morning change you. Discover Coffee Plus on Nespresso.com. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Registered today at pmcf walk.ca.

What if I would... Yeah, okay, hold on, hold on. Let's save it. We're ready. Okay. So you wake up by alarm at 5.30? Yes. For, like, just to have, like, time for yourself.

To get a goddamn hour of peace and quiet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel that. I woke up at five this morning. All right. Yeah. And my body's... It started when Bear was born because we weren't shooting at the time.

Yeah. And that would be around 5.5.30 would be a time in his sleep schedule where he would wake up to be fed. And instead of trying to get him right back to sleep, I would take him from Rachel. I'd put him in the stroller and we'd go for a walk. At like 5.30? Yeah. And that's what would put him back to sleep. And then I would just be up. And then when we started shooting again, the call times would be all over the place. And then I'd like try to change it. And I'm like, I should just set this and just always.

Set it and forget it. Be up at this time. And that'll be it. And it's been great, you guys. It's been great. I mean, I don't look at it as that weird. No. I mean, I think it's, I kind of wake up every day between 530 and 6.

I just don't have an alarm. Yeah. Yeah. But I also go to bed at like 9. Same. Same, same, same. And it's not an alarm on my phone. It's just, you know, crippling anxiety.

that rockets me from my sleep. Shoots you out of bed. But on a schedule. But on a schedule. I hate alarms. Like, I hate hearing phone alarms. I have a nice sound. Me too.

It fades in. Yeah, it's like a chimie one. I don't like silver alerts or any of those things. No silver alert. Not a silver alert. That sound. It scares the shit out of me. There was one yesterday.

Did you guys get that? Oh, it makes me want to help them. I was like, oh, God. But they weren't yesterday. Do you know they work? They really work. I am glad. They work, you guys.

I'm really glad for all the reasons. Did you notice? Oh. Are you guys wearing the same shoes? Yeah, so check this out. So check this out. But look, look what might say on the bottom. Oh, the.

So I'm going to do a little commercial, a little freebie for the quins. Okay. So first of all, hold on. John Weertis. John Weertis is in the house today because Sterling K. Brown is out, and we needed a co-house. host and John said, I would love to. Yeah. So thank you, thank you for being here.

I love being here. Thank you. We went to, if I can blow up your spot. John and I went to John's restaurant a couple of weeks ago and had a delicious lunch. And he had these shoes on. So if you're watching us a day early on Hulu, you will see that John has these great shoes on. And I was like, these shoes are great. And he goes, yes, they are.

They are fantastic. They're comfortable. And he goes, but I will tell you, Sully, there may be the most expensive shoes I've ever purchased. They are. And he says, everyone is by accident. It was by accident. It was one of those situations. Have you ever done this where you walked?

And then we shared stories about you walk into a store. And you're like, oh my gosh, I love this. And you bring it to the counter. And they go, that'll be $700. And you're like, but now you're embarrassed. Multiply that. But now you're embarrassed. And you're like.

Because they've already said, oh, my God, I love your. show. Yeah, and they recognize you. Yep. So you're like, I can't be like, oh, you know what? Actually, today I'm not going to. And they bring you up and you're like, that'll be $4,276. Yeah, and you're like, do you have a senior discount? I'm sorry, would you put it on there, bro? Like, I didn't get all that. These shoes, right? It's just the shoes. So I just said, so he tells me about the shoes. I'm like, I have to find a pair. And he goes, well, I actually have a hookup. I found, I found him kind of a round about two days later, I go on quince. there they are.

They're pretty much the same exact shoe. Pretty much the same exact shoe for, I'll say it, $120. What the f. So Quince, there's a freebie. I'm a Quince Prince. What fancy shoes are those? These are zingas.

Oh, yeah. I didn't know what a zeno was. I was like, oh, that'll do it. When I walked through the store and said, you got those in a ten and a half. I know. I didn't know what a zanya was. I saw it.

I just said, you have those in 10 and a half? And I had a whole, like, arm full of clothes. I don't, I'm like one of those guys. I don't like the shopping experience. The shopping experience. I don't like the dressing room. People come up to me. Like, I'm in there for an hour.

They come up to you in the dressing room? No, no, I don't have a dressing room yet. I'm carrying all my clothes. All the things I want to try on. I feel like I know my size. I kind of don't try on clothes. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

But then I just pick up. I just stack stuff up. And so I stacked up those shoes and put everything on the counter. And they told me. me how much it was and I was like, what? How did we get to that number? Look at the receipt afterwards. I'm like, that's, yeah, that's, it's close.

Definitely, it's, it's, it's, one of my mortgages was definitely less than what these shoes that I had back in the day. Well, listen, they're beautiful. Oh, thank you. But I'm glad you can find a version of them on quince. Yeah, these are nine years old, though. I just take care of them. I'll never buy another.

That's right. Wait for real? No. Oh, I was like, damn. They are like three. They are like, probably three years. Those are like comfortable shoes. They are wearing comfortable.

Like that. I think I'd like a pair of shoes like that. So you're going to be here with us for two episodes. Yep. This one where we're interviewing Chris Koch. Who I'm very excited to see. I haven't seen them in a one. One of our favorites.

And then another episode where we're just going to do a rewatch. Oh, well, Chad. And it happens to be an episode that you directed. Yeah. Chris Sullivan. The next one. While Sterling's not here. I'm like, do you just enjoy the silence?

Right. Oh. Whoa. Whoa. Clip that, send it to Ryan. I'm kidding. Listen, the crippling anxiety I felt this morning. I was like, God, I hope Sully and Wirtes are up for this because I don't know how this ship is going to sail.

Sterling just like takes our conversation. And I'm like, I am just a passenger on the ship and I love it. We've talked about our roast of Sterling. Oh, that's right. On this podcast. Oh, you talked about it? Yeah, we talked about it. He had a great time. And I told them that it's one of the performances in my life that I'm most proud of. You guys crushed it. No, no, you really did. We crushed it. You guys were like the closers for a reason.

You didn't feel it? I mean, it felt good. It felt fun. It was rolling. It was fun. It was fun. Yeah. And I was very proud of us. You know, this thing. And I thought about the level of difficulty of not just, it was rolling, of not just. going up and doing a roast. Never mind that. Anybody can roast. But to put together a comedic back and forth. Yeah. In a matter of hours.

Yeah. We got together once, twice. And he was saying that, like, as jokes were told, you guys had to sort of, like, in the moment, sort of pivot together. Like, oh, shit, someone already said that. Oh, they already mentioned that. We were sitting in the front row. Front row.

And they've got people that have known Sterling Kay Brown for years. years, decades. And you're like, you know, you know they're going to say something about him that we have already thought we wanted to make fun of him. Sure, sure. So it's like, yeah, like, so yeah, roll with it. Yeah. Let's take that. Yeah. Take ahead. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm wondering if, if, since he's not here, if we could reach out to Ryan and I know they have video of that roast. And, and if my promise, if I'm not over promising, it's edited into the podcast right here. It's such an honor. We're humbled. Work has been slow. It's hard out there. Thank you. We'll take any stage. Yeah. We'll be on any stage tonight with Sterling Kay Brown.

How many of us get to stay that we've stared? If I can have a little snack before I leave, I'm very hungry. Soyan was saying, right? She was just saying that we weren't on the official guest list because that is for stars. And that is for stars. But we are something that the industry calls supporting. actors. Okay.

All right, we are supporting actors. We supported Sterling for six seasons on This Is Us. Yeah, that's been. We are not stars in the least. No, we are not stars. We, you know... Just seven? Just seven and eight, you know?

But sometimes Sterling likes to refer to us as, hey, you. Or get out of my light! Or remember when he used to yell at you, Hey, number eight, why are you toned down a bit? You're doing two guys. good adapting. I'm trying to work on my E-God over here. On the on time, he tried to convince Dan Fogerman to kill you off with that heart attack. What? Is it, what? Well, anyways, guys, we are really excited to be here tonight.

What do you think of that? That was pretty great, right? It's pretty great. Wait, Wirtes, tell us what you've been doing. What's going on? How's the life? Life is good. You know, I've bought a farm. So we're, you know, up there working on that. Like the Matt Damon movie. We bought a zoo. We bought a farm. So I've been doing that.

I've been directing a lot. That's kind of what my new job is. Getting ready to direct Chris Sullivan on his new show. So excited. Working North, that's right. But yeah, that's kind of the new job. I like it. I love it.

Doing that, I was supposed to direct a feature this year that because of the television schedule getting so constricted, I have to push it to next spring. So I'm excited about that. that. Never a bad thing. To be busy. Yeah. And just kind of looking towards the horizon, maybe early retirement or something.

Yeah. Still going to get a boat. Still going to get a boat. Yeah. He was telling me about boat plans and, you know, setting up shop somewhere overseas where we can all go visit him and just get on his boat. Oh, yeah. I've already, yeah.

I love my family, but I will be leaving them behind. Wow. And just coming, yeah, maybe just mom and dad come in to hang out on the boat. This time instead of Courtney Cox and Jennifer has to get him. pictures taken. It's going to be me and you. Yeah, exactly. Sully. I'll be in my two-piece. They think they're fancy on their yacht. So will we? Yeah, watch this.

It's a little smaller. It'll be a little smaller. Catamaran. A little cozier. I prefer cozy. I don't need to have all the fancy. Me too. You know, jet skis off the back. Something charming. Yeah. We'll have a paddleboard off the back. That's right. Fun. Way better. Better exercise. Catamaranx. I love that. Catamaranx. Two halls in that piece. Real steady. So let's get into this interview with Chris Koch, shall we? Thanks for doing here, John.

All right. Where is he? Oh, there he is. Oh, hey. Oh, hi. Oh, yeah, let's do it like, hold on. Don't cut. We'll do it like Amy Poehler.

Oh, hey, Chris. Do it like Amy Poehler. At the end of all of her intros. She goes, hey, hey, can you hear me? Hey, Chris. Are you there? Chris. Chris.

Chris, Koch, are you parking outside? I think I hear him. parking. And then it goes into a commercial. More that was us after these words from our sponsors. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range, infused

with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function, and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract.

Whatever lies ahead, Don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover Coffee Plus on Nispresso.com. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcf walk.ca.ca. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into

your coffee routine with a coffee plus range infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function, and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with Gensing extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover Coffee Plus on Nespresso.com. Ladies and gentlemen, okay, we're officially live, which means the tone shifts to a more presenting type voice. And today we are joined by two very special men. Yes, you may notice if you're watching this a day early on Hulu.

You're very good. Yeah, I'm going to get it in there. You're very good at that. That our friend Sterling K. Brown is not with us. He's still with us in the world. He is filming. He is filming. He's shooting paradise.

And so we asked our longtime collaborator to join us as co-host today, Mr. John Wirtas. Thank you for having me. Thanks for being here. Good luck. And we've invited him here today to help us in the task of interviewing one of this podcast's, I mean, most well-received. Episodes. Wow. I mean, and why?

I mean, really. Well, we'll find out because you are, as we were discussing earlier, a veteran. A veteran director. A veteran director of television. All your favorites. Chris Koch, you've heard him on this podcast. I'm also a veteran director. Yes.

Yes, two veteran directors of it. Because I'm an Air Force veteran. I haven't been doing it very long. Oh, wow. A veteran comma director. Yes, exactly. Veteran director. You know, I started in the Coast Guard.

What? No, I made that up. I believed it. I was like, that's that on your resume. You look like a year. Is that a branch of the military? Is Coast Guard branched in the military? It is.

Now it's part of a Homeland Security. Oh, okay. It used to be under DOD, I think. Okay. So there are five branches now? Five armed branches. Five armed. Wait, what's an unarmed branch of the military?

There isn't an armed branch. No, there isn't an armed branch. I can't remember what it's called because they don't have any guns. So it doesn't matter. Nobody cares. No one cares. They don't have any vehicles. They dress like they're in the Navy.

They dress like they're in the Navy. Yeah, yeah. So, they're a uniform. I think that's true. I'll chat you be to you later. Natalie's Googling it right now. I think it's called the only people. She's like, no, I don't care.

It's called the village people. If there's a television show that you love, Chris Koch has directed at least one episode of it. We're talking, this is us, of course, Paradise. You haven't seen the land yet. But two episodes of the land. But he's directed two episodes of Mandy's show, only murders in the building, modern family.

I did some three's company. Did you really? Yeah. Not with the second Mr. Roper, not the first. What about Threes Company? You did Threes Company, really? Yeah, back of the day. You're not that old.

Actually, my first thing I directed was the Brady Bunch. Remember that? No, it's not. Yeah. Are you sure? What's the first thing? You are a better director. No, no.

You guys. You're like younger than me. I know, it's weird. I started. What is the first episode of television you ever directed? A fantastic show called The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Oh, right? Nickelodeon.

Yes. You guys didn't watch Inventure. a Pete and Pete? I did not. Holy cow. I feel like if you're watching this podcast or listening, stop the podcast. Pause the podcast. Go Google Pete and Pete.

Which episode should people watch? Oh, last laugh. The last laugh. Season three. You remember the episode name? Yeah. It was his first episode of television. And I will say it was still, to this day, one of the hardest shows to do because

it was one camera in New Jersey with a bunch of kids running around. And both Pete's didn't know who you were talking to at any given time. Didn't know. You didn't know the show. I need you two inches this way. Oh, my God. Wow. Nobody knew what they were doing.

But it was a great, yeah, it was a really fun show. I mean, we had Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Steve Bisham. Like, everyone's, it was all these, like, a lot of rock stars were on it. Like Fred Schneider from the B-52s. And you let them around both Pete's? Yeah. I feel like you guys got to watch this show. Maybe loved it.

I mean, it was... Who was your favorite Pete? The younger Pete. The younger Pete. It was a part of my childhood. Like, all those shows that were on Nickelodeon. Yeah. Who were the actors in it?

I can't tell you the name. Mike Marona. Mike Marona was Big Pete. And Danny Timberle was Little Pete. Wow, okay. And what's funny as I was doing murders, because I know Mike Marona stayed in New York working on film crews,

and I was doing Only Murders. My first day on set, and a guy comes over wearing a mask because he was doing some sanding, and he goes like this, comes over and gets me a big hug, and he pulls down with Mike Marona. Wow.

Big Pea. Big Pea. Yeah. So that was really fun. I love that. And then you've done 11 episodes of our show. Yes, total. Yeah, that's correct.

I feel like beyond Ken, I think Chris has directed the most. Yeah. Kended like 22. Yeah, Ken did a bunch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lightning Round, if you could spend one day with one character from This Is Us, Who Would It Be, and Why?

Oh, good. And no sex stuff, please. Wow. It would probably be Felicia Rashad's character. Wow. Because she scares me. Do you like me? No, I like me.

She was, I. She's choice. Didn't go with any of us. She's scared me too. No, I'm just saying because I watched the episode last night. She's so good, though. She is so good. I'm like, goddamn. You directed Felicia. You directed Delroy Lindo. Yeah, I remember that episode. He was also scary. Very intimidating. I remember, you know, he was very intimidating. But lovely.

Oh, no. The loveliest, but yes. He, like, he had his own, like, method. He was, like, kind of stayed in his own corner. or Milo and I were like, are we allowed to talk to them? The three of us kept trading looks because he had these a very interesting sort of vocal warmups. Yeah. Oh, really? Which Sterling now does. Sterling's been doing it.

I'm not that one before. Muha. Muha. Yeah. I do one. Sorry. Ha. Ha.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Acting. Acting. It was very similar to that. Acting. Serling does that?

That's what I do. That's what I do. That's what you do. It lets people know that they're about to get some acting. Right. I get excited. I'm like, oh, here it comes. Here it comes.

Yeah, my favorite thing to do on the way to set is to walk by Video Village and just go, watch this. You want to see something? Watch how the kids react. Especially if there's executives there who I have not met yet. What happens is they'll come and they'll sit and they'll watch. They'll moonlight and they'll come and hang out on set, right? And I like to walk by never having introduced myself and go, hi, watch this. Keep your eyes, keep your eyes on that monitor.

Tissue boxes right there. Right there. Right there. So Chris Koch, you were born in Melrose, Massachusetts. Yes, I was. You went to be you. Wow. I'm reading your resume, which hopefully is somewhat correct.

I love how Natalie's like, I didn't write this. Oh, I was hoping you were a stalker. I read your Wikipedia. How did you get interested in this whole? whole crazy world. I feel like I'm like the cliche story. Like literally, I was the one taking the 8mm super 8 camera and making little films when I was like 9 and 10 years old.

Really? Yeah. Which, you know, back then it was more work because you had to buy film and stuff. Yeah. In camera. Yep. The first film was called the spaceship. Did you do online editing?

Like cut splice. I would literally cut super 8 film and splice it. Anybody in your film? family creative or in the arts at all? Yeah, I mean, creative family, you know, musical family, everybody kind of played different things. There was always different types of music playing around the house. But my dad was always, you know, we had the camera and he was always filming everything.

So I had seen TV. I thought we needed some better stuff to watch. So I decided to embark on a lifelong career to achieve that. No, I got to go. No, I gotta go. I have to improve the situation. Yeah, I don't know. You know, it's funny.

And then I was a C student and everything else. And what was the study at Boston University? And I was like, I don't know what I want to do with my life. Were you studying film? Not at first. I went in, you know, I was like an OK student. Yeah. So I just kind of like, well, I couldn't get into BU.

The scene is a plug for BU. There was something back then called the College of General Studies at Boston University. and was an academic boot camp for kids like me. Great. Oh. Who were C students. Let's see if we can get them there.

And it was really, really hard. And it was like a 50% dropout rate in the first year. And it was the hardest thing I ever did. But if you got through it, then you could get into any school at BU, no questions asked. Great. Law, medical school, whatever. Wow.

And so I got to that point and I was like, well, I just, like, the only thing I just always wanted to do was, like be in the film business. So that's what I chose. I went to the College of Communication. Great. And you started in New York? No, Boston.

And then, oh, then I... I mean, like your first professional gig. Then I went, I took a detour. I went into advertising in New York. I worked as an advertising producer for, like, J. Walter Thompson. Then I worked for a great little company called Fred Allen,

and they did all the cool advertising for MTV and Nickelodeon, and then we started Comedy Central with them. And that's how I got. into the world of Nickelodeon. You started Comedy Central? Well, branding. So what they would do is, like, they'd say,

we're launching Comedy Central. Because before then, there had been, like, Ha, and the Comedy Channel. And so we were going to merge them into Comedy Central. So we would come up with the look, the logos. I remember running out with Howie Mandel on the streets of New York, interviewing people asking them if they knew where Comedy Central was, like Man on the Street stuff.

Yeah. Did anybody? Did anybody know? Nickelodeon that they were orange. Like we would do that stuff. So it was branding. Yeah. You know, and it was, you know, Fred and Allen were both geniuses.

I mean, they worked with Bob Pittman and creating MTV. So the astronaut with the flag and, you know, the logo was all them. Yeah. And so I learned a lot with them and they let me get, you know, start directing little spots and things for them. So. Nice. Yeah.

How many projects have you directed with Dan so far? There's this is us the land, paradise. I think we did about nine, nine shows. The neighbors. The neighbors. So at this point you have quite the shorthand. A little bit, yeah. So what happens when he calls you and says, all right, we got a new one?

What's the process like between you and he? Has it been the same on each, on each? How does it differ from project to project? You know, usually it's just Dan, you know, calling up and saying, and wants you come do this. I mean, we've worked, you know, It was the best bit of agenting, I always say. Like, we were both at William Morris. This is when agents are good, which is usually if my agent's watching.

If not. Most of the chat. But what if they're not? Well, what if they're not watching? When it works. Oh, yeah, if they're not watching, no, no. No, I just remember one day he was like, hey, this guy I want you to meet. This is back in like 2005.

And you may, maybe guys will hit it off. And it was, damn. We went and had a cup of coffee. it off and then right after that we did a basketball pilot and then we did a really weird pilot with Leslie Nielsen that Dan wrote in like 24 hours called Lipschitz saves the world. What? Ty Borel, Leslie Nielsen. Wow. It's on YouTube.

It is? Is it? Yeah. So it was a pilot that didn't get picked up? But everybody saw it. Like there occasionally there'd be a pilot that didn't get picked up but people noticed it. And like there was one famously called Heat Vision and Jack that I think Ben still did. Yeah.

So it was good. for, I mean, Dan already had a pretty big career even at that point with cars. Sure. And I think when was Tangled? Tangled was 2010. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but, you know, people noticed it.

And so off of that, I started doing more pilots. So then we did the neighbors together and Gallivant and grandfathered. But at that point, I'd only work with Dan on comedies. And so then he got into doing, this is a hobby. us and pitch in the same year. And you did pitch as well? I did. That was sort of like, because Dan was like, come do one of these.

I was like, they're not going to let me do it. I'm a comedy guy, you know, how they are. And he's like, no, no, no, I'll figure it out. And he did. And so pitch was sort of like the test case that I wouldn't screw up a drama. And then I got into the night. But then I got canceled. Yeah, I got canceled.

Yeah. This is us. So, yeah, I know. And now they won't. I don't even know what Pitt were doing. And now they won't even let you guys on comedy. Lost the thread. And now they won't let you back into comedy.

Now they don't let me get into comedy. Yeah. Now you only have to do high-stakes drama. It is weird, though, switching gears. That's, it is a weird, it's a weird thing to switch gears between comedy and drama. Which do you find more challenging? Comedy. Agreed.

Yeah. Because you've got the added layer of it's got to be funny. Yeah. It's a big layer. Yeah. It's a big layer. It's all order. And here's, and here's,

Here's, I have, I had the experience of doing a comedy on stage a few years ago, a play, and I thought, oh, how fun this is going to be. And then I'd forgotten how extremely difficult it is to keep it funny night after night after night after night. Yeah. But the upside of that is, is that you have an immediate response from a group of people about whether or not this is working. I've never done comedy on TV or in film. You haven't? What? Can you believe it? You're so funny.

You're a really nice. That's really nice. That's really nice. Yeah, yeah. You were very funny on this is up. How's your fishing expedition going? He's like, he's like someone. I've never had a chance to be funny on television.

Ever before. And then he looked right at me like, You're going to bring it up? Yes, you were. Thanks for coming, John. No, but I mean straight comedy. But like to, to, because you've been working on Scrubs, how can you know if it's going to land?

It's got to be terrifying. It's got to be like a tightrope walk. Yeah, because comedy and television, the writers always laugh at their own stuff. So if they're there, you just think it's funny because they're laughing, right? Right. But how do you know the audience is going to respond to? You don't.

I mean, that's the funny part. to me is that it keeps shifting. So what you think is funny in a writer's room suddenly isn't funny on its feet on set. And then the thing that killed you on set doesn't work for you in the edit room, necessarily. So it's always a shifting thing. There's stuff that I think, oh my God, this is going to be so funny.

That's got to be terrified. You're like, oh, but this thing, this thing's funny. You know, so you just got to follow your gut. Yeah, how do you give yourself that insurance, though? With comedy, it's much less about the visual, more about, the audio. Like I find it's about pacing and timing and words swapping out words and just keeping it tight. That's so important. I remember watching Jimmy Burroughs, which I just heard today we lost him recently. Yeah. Yeah. He didn't know that a week ago. Yeah, he passed away.

It's so sad. He was so amazing. And I remember watching him do a Will and Grace. And the thing that stood out to me that was that he was never watching the monitors, rarely. He was just listening. He was pacing and listening. And it was all about, it was a radio show. Yeah. Well, interesting. I'm stealing with it. Yeah. If they ever let me do comedy. Yeah.

You'll get there, John. That's interesting. So you can listen to the music of it. Yeah, there's definitely a music to it for sure. And Pace is one of the things where it becomes like a hack direction to give sometimes, but Pace does help for sure. You know, and then comedy's hard. Like, you know, we just, for instance, like we've just rebooted scrubs.

And there's always just 10 pounds of stuff in an eight pounds. bag with comedy. It's five days is still like the template and there's gags and there's bits and so it's always like nine scenes a day. Right. And so it's you're behind right out of the gate. Oh, that sounds stressful. And now it's like 10 hour days, 11 hour days is sort of what you want to aim for it. But back in the day it was always 14 to 16 hour days. So, you know, then people were you know, getting a car accidents after a 16 hour day. So that was a bad idea. Which we're trying to avoid. Yeah. Not a good idea. You did quite a few not only episodes of our show, but big episodes, important episodes.

We had... Songbird Road Part 1. Both things can be true. Family meeting, which is personal favorite of mine. What if none of these are his episodes either? We've just been sabotaged by... Family meeting, I think, stands out as a favorite, personally. It also stands out to me because I think it was the earliest I was ever called ever, because it was daylight dependent and I had to get in prosthetics.

And I think I had to be there at 2 a.m. 2 a. Cotch was like, I want her in here early. Oh, my God, I remember that. Yeah. Today I will break up. I do remember that one day. On set time is 4 p.m.

Right. And we had like four cameras. Yes. Because we had so. Why did we have so little time? It was, I think it was the time of year. I remember we were shooting at that hotel out Malibu. It definitely was daylight dependent.

So it must have been like it was fall. We only had like a certain number of hours and sunlight. So yeah, I just remember being there really, really early. But also the impact of that particular episode was... Well, it was a marvel to watch you do it because for me it was easy because we just basically had cameras everywhere because we didn't have a lot of time. But I just couldn't believe it was a long scene and watching you go from, you know, not letting him in to suddenly having that emotional breakdown at the end was crazy. And then the fact that you can hit those heights and then do a reset, what would we give you, like, five minutes between takes?

And you have to bring it all back to zero. Yeah, yeah. I mean, for everybody, because it was like an eight-page scene or something. And we sort of just did it as a play on its feet. And yeah, it just, it sort of like. Remind people listening what the scene was? It was a scene for, with all three children in therapy. This was Kevin sort of at his, his, most alcoholic.

I guess he was like his rehab, his, I'm trying to remember. My gosh, this was season two. But it was the first time he was sort of explaining how he felt othered in. in his life. And that mom had always sort of given preference to Randall and to Kate and they had their own issues and yet he was always sort of set aside

to like take care of himself essentially. And I think we all went in with our hearts and mind sort of open but I think we were, especially Rebecca, was sort of surprised at how the conversation

unfolded and where it ultimately took us I don't think anybody was sort of expecting. I remember you had that line that you screw, when you finally break, he screamed. That he was easier. Just talking about Randall. That's right. Yeah. It was, that was, that was an episode.

Was that the same episode? Was the other big three? Was that same episode? Yes, because while we were in therapy, Toby and Beth and Miguel were at the bar. The new big three. That's right. Right, right. The birth of the new big three.

Which we shot at some little. The most emotional part. Oh, we shot Here and Out Water Village. Oh, you did? Yeah, the Bigfoot Lodge. Was that where we did it? Oh, cool. Right around the corner.

Where you got to be, do some comedy. You could be funny. There you go, bring a full circle. I think. Yeah, you did a wookie sound. If you don't know, you and Susan were the comedians in the show. Was that, oh, I know, no, I noticed. Well, and John, too.

And John, yeah. Yes, you were. I noticed we were rarely taken seriously. Right. And Griffin. Griffin. Griffin. Yeah.

Cromogeon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he showed up and brought some vaudeville style to the... He was like, our Mr. Roper. Exactly. Wow. Who's your favorite Mr. Roper?

There's two? I think it was... Yeah, let me see if I can remember his name. The first one. Well, he had Norman Fell. Norman Feld. And then he was replaced by... Barney Fife.

Right. Barney Fife. Very good. It was by Don Nuts. Yes. And you worked with him. He's my first. father.

Now it all comes out. Tell us more about that. I can't talk about it. 23 of me. What's it like to be a not? What's it like to be a not? Let's go back to the lighting round. Who's your favorite Pearson?

Oh, boy. Don't do this to me. Miguel. You never got to be Pearson. I never got to. I tried. I tried to adopt that name. Yeah.

Pierce. My favorite Pearson, you know what? You know what? I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say it's Eris. Good. What's her character name?

Tess. Tess. You know why? Because she's working right now on Crew on Paradise. So I get to see her every day. Absolutely. She came in and did a little interview with us.

She's very excited about that. Yeah, she's great. Favorite filming location? Well. Favorite place to work? if you could work anywhere in the world. Lake Piru. Yeah.

Said no one ever. Just a holding tank. Well, that's where we did the little boy on the boat that explodes. All the Vietnam stuff was in Lake Piru. Oh, that's right. Right, which was our comedy episode. I just have such fond memories of all of our Vietnam stuff. Giggling as arms.

All right. What was the most difficult episode on This Is Us that you worked on and why? That one. Yeah, no, that one. Like, the Vietnam episode was really intense because we had two days on that lake to shoot the whole sequence and it had to be so tightly... Wait, what episode was that? That must have been season, that was season four.

Yeah. I'm trying to see all the different episodes. It's flashback. So, Nicky's in Vietnam and he takes a little Vietnam and meet me as boy out fishing. Oh, is that... Songbird Road Part One? Word Road Part 1, you know, I think. Songbird Road Part 1, I believe.

Yeah. So that's season 3. Yeah. Season 3, episode 11. And which character in the show are you most like? Again, I'd say Felicia Rashad's character is closest to me. I thought you were in the test. You're not going to get a straight.

The answer out of me on these? No. Because the truth is really hard. We're here to talk about the truth, touch. Can I say Ken Olin? I'm most like Ken. Yes. We are all Ken Olin.

Yes. All answers are acceptable. Did you, we all stole things from set. Do you directors do that? No, I didn't. And I should have. You should have. He stole a whole car.

Well, you know, no, I did steal one thing from set. It was a weird book that was on set. I don't know why, but it was a little handbook on how to make bombs. That was mine, dude. I've been looking for that. That was Miguel's. Wait, no way. No, it's mine.

It's a little like 1950s book, and I thought, this is so weird. Where was it? I was just like on the set. But in nobody, who's house? And who's house? I forget it was some set. In the cabin. In the cabin.

Prepping or the prepper cabin. Yeah. I honestly don't remember except it was, I'm like, this is crazy. So I'll steal it. And I did. And then literally, I kid you not last week, I'm going through stuff and I find it. And I'm like, well, I don't need this.

And I probably shouldn't have it because, you know, then I was like, I'll donate it to the Goodwill. But then they're gonna like, where this guy, where the dust it. For fingerprints. I'm going to burn it. Did you burn it? No, I still have it.

I'll give it to you. We have coffee every three months. I'll give it to you. We'll put it in the set. We'll put it on the set. Put it right there. Yeah. The coffee table book.

That's it. If you put me on a third time, you're going to get a book. Wow. More that was us after this short break. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range. Infused with functional benefits.

Choose the coffee. love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function, and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight, our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover coffee plus on espresso.com. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research.

Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with the coffee plus range, infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function, and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract.

Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover coffee plus on espresso.com. So you just watched five, of two, season five, episode 12, which was both things can be true. Is that the episode, or are there any other episodes of yours that are worth the rewatch? If you were, if you were to direct... Oh, boy, I love the one, well, obviously the family therapy one is big.

Songbird Road was, I was really, that was probably my favorite, just because it was so intense. Yeah. And for me, having not done big, big drama like that, it was really fun to do it. do. And the scene where your son wanders out of the house and is walking around. Saturday in the park. That was a good episode. And he was amazing. He was amazing. I was just watching him again. I love him. Yeah. We just had to do a shot. This little boy is literally blind and he has to be out on his own walking through a neighborhood. So we set

up a shot with stunt drivers everywhere. And we let this little boy just literally walked down the street while drivers were all on walkies driving on cue and it was terrifying. That's got to be terrifying. We maybe last week or the week before we talked about how at the beginning of the season they kind of set up what's coming with that green egg. Oh my God.

Which is what he stole from set. Did you think of the red egg? I didn't steal it. Listen, I didn't steal the car either. They gave it to me. Yeah. They gave it to me. to you exactly. I had to pay for money.

I, yeah, at the beginning, I kind of, you know, stake my claim on that thing because, I don't know, I just, I was sad when I, first of all, you know, knew that I was going to be directing an episode where it was like the impetus of your character Toby and Kate's breakup. And I was like, this is, it's such a meaningful episode for me because I loved that couple on the show. Second favorite couple on the show.

First one was Miguel and Rebecca. That's right. But yeah, I was like, you know, so heartbroken. So I was like, I want that egg. That's my, it's my humpty dump day. It became a real simple. The hot take we had a couple episodes ago was like, this one's a bit of a stretch. The hot take for the rest of like, the drama around this grill and Toby and Toby being like,

you know what's going to bring the family together? You know what I think we should do? It's grilled some meats. Yeah. Look at this grill. Yeah. And it becoming, and then it's a big blind device. Of your parents' marriage falling apart.

The demise of Toby and Cates. It's like, we're gripping to this grill real tight. Yeah, there are very few instances on the show where we're like, there's something about this that feels a little odd. And now, I smoke the hell out of some wangs on that thing. Really? Nice. Well, true story, my friend bought a green apple.

and within a year his marriage fell apart. Stop. True. Yeah. Holy cow. I'm serious. No. You think I'm kidding.

No, I'm serious. You say with a smile. Yeah. No. Okay. So, maybe. He's happy. Everything worked out.

Was it because of the green egg? I mean, I'm just, I wouldn't buy one. Not a direct correlation. There goes our sponsorship. The call it. You is, this episode brought to you by the big green egg. Smoke the hell out of some wings. After being on our hugely successful podcast, I'm sure people have been reaching out to you directly online and on social media.

So your mom, has your mom shared any stories with you that have really stayed with you? About. You know, about your work on This Is Us, about being on this podcast. Chris, how long have you been doing podcasts? What's that? How long have you been doing the podcast thing? About 150 episodes. Okay.

You're doing great. Thanks. I'm sorry. Wait, how many have we really done? I don't care. Less than 100. Wow. You've done 113?

Wow. Yeah. That's a lot of episodes. That's our last one too. This is it. Can you imagine if there was a Grey's Anatomy podcast? They'd be like doing 23 years of. There is one.

I'm sure there's a real. I'm sure there is one. Of course. Wait till it's always sunny does theirs. They have one too. It's on this network. Yeah. Do they really?

Yeah. It's on this network. Oh, shit. That's going to go on. onto like 2055. Never ends. Who doesn't have a podcast about their show?

That's more interesting category. Everybody has a podcast, yeah. Pretty much. But usually their guests give real answers. Anyways. Back to your mind. I just hit the balls and get thrown to me. Let's talk about adoption.

Oh, yeah. No, we did that last time. We did do that last time. Let's talk about current events. How's it going? No, let me ask a question. What do you want to do? You want to do Iran?

You want to do Israel? What do you want to do? No, you know what? Let's go back to. this is us. I will say one moment that stuck out, and we talked about this last time, but it stuck out to me was your nervous breakdown in the Toby episode at the kitchen sink. Oh, yeah. Like one of the few times I've been in tears at a monitor. Are you serious? I am. Now I feel like I'm being punked. You're not. That's very kind. You're not. That's very kind of you. It's so hard to like. So there.

So there. I am a serious podcast. So here, you sit with that. You sit with that. Why is it one of the few you've been in tears. I mean, it's not the level of the acting. Well, because I like you, number one. I don't like to see you suffer. That's true. No, it was just a great, you were just great. It was a real, I mean, because we talk, you know, the page says, you know, it doesn't give

you a lot. So it just says, Toby goes to sync has nervous breakdown. Yeah. Right? So I don't know how it's going to play out. You didn't have notes, like, in your script, like, I want to, I'm going to guide them towards this. No, well, you're a director, so what do you do?

I don't pay attention to what they're doing. Yeah. I don't even. He just listens. No, but like do you do the thing where, I mean, unless I've got a really strong opinion, you kind of want to see where they land. I just, yeah, I just want to see what they land. And then you tweak.

But it's, you landed in it really, it's a hard thing because you're only going to do that so many times, how many takes you can do that for, right? You had to do it 50 times in the family therapy because everybody had to have their. Had to have their coverage and whatnot. And you, and when it wasn't on you, you gave as much in your performance. Yeah. Well, you have to. To the best of your ability.

But yeah, I think you sort of have to gear yourself up for a day knowing, okay, this is like what I have on my plate today, and it's eight pages, and we're going to spend the majority of the day shooting that. I think, like, I had one other little, like, couplet at the end with sort of the end of the episode where Rebecca goes in and talks to Kevin in his room and help sort of, like, you know, put a pin in what the day was and help remind him like, no, no, I would. was always there. Like, do you remember when you were a little boy and you were scared and it was thundering or whatever? It's so hard to remember the exact circumstance because it was so long

ago that we watched that episode. But I just, I remember that scene of getting on the floor with him. Oh, right. Right. So it's like just trying to remind him. Anyway, that, um, although you don't remember, I remember, like I was, I was there for you too. We did have our moments. Right. Right. But yeah, I just, I think as an actor, you sort of have to prepare yourself when to sort of like really put your foot on the gas and when to sort of like lay back a little bit, knowing that you have a full day ahead of you of take after take after take of a really intense scene. Yeah.

And not everybody does that. I mean, I've worked with actors that don't really give when it's not on them. I mean, I think this show for me was one of the first that I, what the fuck was that? Was this one of the first shows that everybody always brought it when they were right Whether they on camera or not I'd been on shows that were like you sometimes the actors left and you had to do it with the sand in Yeah, but yeah, this was the first show I can't imagine I know. Okay, right? Yeah, it was I think we all knew that we were a part of something so special and there's an immense gratitude for like the work that we were lucky enough to get to do the words we are lucky enough to get to say and so and so and many ways it just didn't feel like, like, what else were you going to do other than like,

give it your 110%, especially when you looked around and everybody else was doing the same. Exactly. It only encouraged you to up your game to the best of your ability as well. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. In the episodic world, there are different levels of directing, and I'm sure that over the years, the goals have changed for you as far as what you want to accomplish.

in your career. So what is the next stage? What are you looking forward to? What are you working on? What are you moving towards? For me, it's just about, I mean, it sounds cliched, but it's just I want to work with, you know, good people on good sets. You want good material, obviously.

But it's got to be a pleasant experience. I know there are sets that are caustic, and I've been on some of those. And I'm not interested in doing that. I don't need to do that. So, finally, like, that's what was great. about this show was it was such, off-camera was such a beautiful place to be, which is probably why people wanted to also be around for coverage on everyone else to be supportive. Yeah, it was the best.

But no, it's just to continue to like, it's nice to do Paradise Now, where I can stretch and do sort of bigger action stuff that I hadn't done before. Right. Or to do the land, to do, you know, football stuff that I'm not a big football guy, but then to get into that world. Yeah. That was really fun to do. and to stretch.

But you also know that you're in good hands. Like you continue to work with a lot of the same people, whether it's Dan or Bill Lawrence. Like you're just sort of, you're in the world with like with your friends and you're just going sort of bouncing around from project to project, which is kind of the dream. It's great.

And the relationships are so important. And you do. You see crew that you've known for years. And of course I don't remember a single name. You don't have to. No. You're the director. Yeah.

John, by the way. You're not Milo. Milo knows everybody's name. I was always, I'm like, God, I'm a terrible person. And he told me he studied the call sheet all the time. Yeah. I would do that every once in a while before coming to work. I would flip the call sheet over and I would see who was going to be there, like from, you know, the crew.

Right. Only when you were directing? Definitely when I was directing. Sure. Definitely when I was directing. But sometimes, you know, as an actor too, because if I would be directing. because if I would go, I saw somebody yesterday. Yeah.

And I can't remember their name. So I'm going to look it up like today. Right. And make a point. And then I know that I'll lock it in. It took me years to identify who was doing what. Same. Like, because nobody, I didn't go to film school.

I didn't know the, like, as an actor. And especially the way an actor's career starts, you start out in these little tiny parts. You're there for like 30 minutes on set. Yeah. And you're trying to gather what's happening. around you. And it took me years to figure out what the jobs were called. Yeah. Right, right, right. So that I could even cross-reference them on a call sheet.

Right. Right. To be like, okay, somebody's touching an electrical cord. Best Boy, what is that? Totally. It's really important, you know, when I talk to kids, when I, I've lectured, it's, you know, for film schools on occasion. And the one bit of advice that it's so important, and I always say, if you get any success, do not let it go to your head. Be really, really nice person to work with because it is a very small town. Hold, I'm going to write this down. It's very small town. Yeah, it's too late for you.

But I think that... It's too late. That's just sales, Chris. But no, because you see everybody over and over and over in these relationships are so important. And more importantly, with the crews, they're busting their ass to make your... You get to take your little episode with you.

Yeah. And it's yours. Yes. They're just going on to the next job. Yeah. And they're working their ass off for you. And I know there are some folks I've met that along the they're young, they get some opportunities, and all of a sudden, I hear they're just like,

they don't know crew's names, they're not, they're being dismissive, they're not engaging, and that's a huge mistake. But then also, you don't know what somebody's going to do with their career and who they're going to be. You don't. In fact, like, I don't know if you guys have brought this up, but like, Curry Barker, who just directed, like, the biggest movie, box office thing this year. Oh, yeah.

Obsession. Yeah. Was our COVID monitor. Yeah. Imagine, like, being the guy, he comes up and tells you can pull your mask up. I'm gonna get the fuck out of here. Move, get out of here. You and your pool noodle.

Keep walking. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get my sag insurance. I just need a job and I'm up for obsession. No, it's crazy. Or obsession two. Did you get it? I didn't. Cory Barker was like, remember my wife?

Remember what she's. I'm talking about you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got all up on her. Yeah. Of course I got up on her. She's Mandy, me. Oh, my goodness.

Is there, we've, talked about acting careers and how if we were ever given the opportunity to speak to people who are younger than us, that it's hard, I find it hard to give acting advice because there is no career that is the same. Like, no, the three of us found our way in to this anywhere near the same way. With the exception of what I mentioned, which is it's connections through people. Yes. So it's everything I've ever done in this business because somebody called somebody to call me or whatever. It's people you know. It's a daisy change.

But you've made fans. You make fans with, I think, every job and every opportunity, you should make fans. And that has nothing to do with how you approach the work or where you come from, how you got into the business. But if you're just a great person, good at what you do, you're going to make a fan. And that person is going to say, you've got to meet this guy like your agent. Your agent was a fan, knowing that you and Dan would get a good at what you do. Right. Yeah. Boom. Yeah, it's true. You're sitting on this couch with us.

I mean, this is it. You see what I want to be cool. Yeah. Welcome to the mountaintop. I want to. Well, I still have not been in the Grey's Anatomy one. Okay. Did you direct some Grey's Anatomy? That's why they won't have me on. There's still time.

I'm sure there's still some episodes if you want. Oh, my Lord. Don't you want to get in there before they close the doors? I would. If anyone's watching, I don't do it. They're never going to close. Why at this point? Why? It's like the simple. It's like 25 years down.

Always need health care. Yeah. They do. Yeah. And drama. Drama. The intersection of drama and health care. Yeah.

Always going to be viable. I forget who's in the urn behind you. That's Jack Pearson. Is that Jack? Maybe you've heard of him. That is the actual urn. That is the urn. That's what Sterling took from the set.

Is it really? That's creepy. It is creepy. No ashes. No ashes. Is this is at all? No. No. I can get some from the green egg, bring them over. Oh, perfect. We do have, we do. I love that. Good callback. We do, we do, we do have, we have all of, all of myel's mustache trimmings. Yeah. Yeah. It's a big fluffy pile. Has every actor been on this show from This Is Us?

We have had, yeah. Oh, yes. From the main cast. Yes, from the main cast, we've had everybody. We're going to try to have everybody back one more time before we're done. We're nearing the end. We're in season six. We're in season six. now. What about the kid who played little Jack? Not yet. How old is he now? I mean, let's see if that was 20, 22 and he was like six. Yeah, he's got to be like 10 and 11 now. Can I be here for that?

Yeah. Man, what a cutie that guy was. Let me tell you my understanding of directing. I did it once. Tons of fun. Right? We're about to talk about your episode, actually. We are in the next episode.

I have a question. So, because you, have directed so much comedy and drama. Do you have a different approach to prepping for directing comedy to directing drama now? Would you say, oh, when I get a comedy script, I break it down in this way, and I am approaching the work in this way differently than with a drama script? No, it's a great question. I know.

Yeah, and that's all I have to say about that. It's a great question. Next? No. Drop games. No, it is great. Well, it actually, no, the answer is I basically approach both as a drama. So if I'm doing a comedy, I approach it all from the underpinnings of, from story.

Okay. And I will never forget my first scrubs back in 2001 or two, something like that. This is a wrong time. And I get my first draft and Bill hands me a draft to the script. he says the jokes are coming. And I read the first draft and it's a drama. It could have been ER. Wow. Interesting. And I was like, okay, the next draft comes and it is hilarious. The under, the skeleton is the same. Interesting. But now it's hung with, it's like a Christmas tree. Now the ornaments are on. Sure. Right. And it was hilarious. And so that was when I went, oh, I get it.

You, it's all, don't focus on being funny. Focus on story. Right. And then, we're going to add the joke then we're going to make it funny right add the game whatever the game and then and then it's like for me it's it's funny isn't just jokes or written lines um there's that but also then what i try and bring to it is behaviors so what's the behavioral stuff that's going to make this land and then when depending on the comedy whether it was like my name or earl or modern family especially with modern family like the camera work was so important for a joke to land when that camera pan to you yeah timing and the timing of that was critical.

Yeah. And so we had these operators that, if you had an operator that understood that sense of comic timing, you were great. But sometimes you have operators that were just a guest for the day. How do you just... How do you get frustrated? How do you solve it?

You do a bunch of sakes and go, don't know, no. Zoom in on the cigarette on after that line. Yeah. It sounds simple. It makes such a big difference. Yeah. Sure. Of course, for a show like that especially.

Yeah. Everyone has to have a sense of humor. Every, like the editor. Yeah, the music has to. Yeah, like, I never thought about the camera operators. Yeah, it all has to work in concert with each other. Yeah. What are the, what are some of the jobs that you've had the most fun doing in your career?

You mentioned scrubs, but. Well, Gallivant was, that was, that spoiled everybody. I just had coffee with Tim. Tim Mammison, oh, my God. Me too. Thursday, and you had coffee with him on Tuesday? Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. He's racking him up, old Timmy boy. I feel left out. I didn't have coffee with Tim. Geez. I know. I have to text him. I'll text him right when we're done here.

So Galavan spoiled you? Galavant was, I mean, it was a medieval music, musical comedy. We shot in England. Alan Mencken did all the music. It was me and Dan and John and Cat, and we just, John and Cat were the showrunners. It shot in England? We shot in Bristol. Oh, I didn't know that.

And it was two seasons. I mean, we did all of the recording at Peter Gabriel's studio. Wow. And just being in a recording booth trying to get Rutger Howard to sing was the high point in my life. I cannot, just the two of us. That's so cool. And he's like, trying to sing, he's like, oh, this is shit. And I'm like, oh, my God, I'm so happy.

I will do this. And I'm like, tell me more about Blade Runner. Wow. But in song. Yeah. In song. Yeah, it was pretty great. I feel like we're going to, I'm due.

for a, I've never watched Galavant. It's so good. I got to watch it. I love it. Yeah, you know, we did two seasons. ABC, just never, I don't know why they didn't get it. But here's what infuriated me about, I don't know, three years ago. Apropos of nothing, the New York Times comes out with an article says, the best show you never watch, Gallivan.

And I'm like, God damn it. Now? Now? People love to do that after a restaurant's closed. Yeah. Yeah. You bet you didn't try it. You never ate a Galavent?

Oh, my God. Yeah. It's the funniest food. Yeah. That's right. It's always after the fact, the post-mortem. Yeah. Yeah. Wait till you see Tim Monson in that show.

I mean, he steals a show. In which one? Galvan. Oh, in Galvan. Oh, yeah. I've never seen it. But you were there. You directed it.

No, Tim. Just listening. Remember, eyes closed. I don't know what Tim looked like. I've heard it. It just sounds hysterical. He's so amazing. He absolutely stole the show.

He did. He did. He's a star. She's the only reason I'm friends with him. Yeah, and my daughter is now like binge-watched all of Syke. Oh, yeah. That was his other big, well, that was what started him. Right.

Amazing. But all the shows, they're all, it sounds cliche again, but they're all fun. I'm going to have to correct you on that. Zena started him. Oh, really? Yeah, warrior princess. Oh, wow. As what?

Zena. Long-haired, bearded. He's really good when he's got long hair and a beard. He's great. That's what he had in Zina. Wow. The beards do a good portion of the acting. It's true.

No. It's true. Yeah. He told me you had a long hair. I mean, I remember the character. Well, I'll ask him during my coffee. He does conventions. Yeah, call him.

Have a car. Learn something. Learn something about it. He'll be like to, where I just tell you that. He directed him. He never talked to him, but he directed. Yeah. When I did the land, that was, I think Dan thought it was funny that I didn't know football.

Oh, I didn't either. Right. I guess it's maybe more important that a director know football. Kind of. But sometimes when you don't know it, you kind of come at it from a different angle, which I think can be interesting. But I also feel like those particular episodes. What's happening in this episode?

They weren't super football heavy, those two episodes. No, they weren't. Yeah. This is why hello. It was a little more like character-driven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have some capsule episodes. We're wondering if you'd come and handle for us.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for coming and chatting with us. My gosh, that's it. Thank you so much. Wow. Another high-rated episode. I think so.

Yeah, this is it. I'll just know what your mom thinks. I will. Yeah. She says hi, by the way. She loves you all. Hi,

mom. How much? Should we FaceTime her? You can, but she has trouble seeing, so she won't see you. She'll just hear you. Again, it's all that matters.

It's a theme here, guys. It's all that matters. Just do your ears. Hear the music. Okay, well, one bomb-making book coming up. Oh, yeah. Just right here on the coffee table. It needs it.

This coffee table would be something. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you for me. It's so good to see you. Thank you. How to podcasts end? Does it just keep awkward like this? Yeah, you look right there at that camera and you say that was us.

Thanks, America. Perfect. Perfect. These next two roasters are from the Sterling K. Brown Show. The Sterling K. Brown Show, this is us. One of them is... Just read it. Just read it, too.

Yes. One of them is a great actor. Some would say. even greater than me. In fact, none of the awards I received for my work on this show would have been possible without these men. They have names, I'm certain of it, but I can't be bothered to remember the names of every supporting actor I've encountered, so I affectionately refer to them by their position way below mine on the call sheet. In my heart, they will always being number seven and number eight. Number eight is incredibly like it is standing right over there.

Number eight is the most interesting person I have ever met. Number seven is tall. Number eight is handsome enough to be a lead actor just like your boy proud. In fact, I would like to commit right here right now in front of God and man to produce a project for you, number eight, to lift you out of your supporting actor status. And number seven, would you get me another drink? I'm just kidding. Number eight should do it. Now I will do a dramatic voice introduction.

Number seven and number eight have nothing to lose, and that's what makes them dangerous here tonight. They approach me from behind the way a storm approaches the coastline. Unhurried, inevitable. I return to my seat to sit in judgment, still handsome, ageless, well, 50. I noticely take a sip of my beverage, I wipe my brow, and I hand the microphone to number eight. Thank you. It's such an honor. We're humbled. Work has been slow. It's hard out there. Thank you. We'll take any stage. Yeah. And we'll be on any stage. We are on stage tonight with Sterling Kay Brown. How many of us get to stay at that?

that we've stared. If I can have a little snag before I leave, I'm very hungry. Ryan was saying, right, she was just saying that we weren't on the official guest list because that is for stars. That is the stars. But we are something that the industry calls supporting actors. We are supporting actors. We supported Sterling for six seasons on this as us.

Yeah, that's there. We are not scars in the least. No, we are not stars. We, uh, you know. Just seven? Just seven and eight. You know, and sometimes this girling likes to refer to us as, hey, you. Or get out of my light!

Or remember when he used to yell at you? Hey, number eight, why are you toned down a bit? You're doing too good at acting. I'm trying to want them my eGOT over here. Oh, on that hon's on me. He tried to convince Dan Bogumman. to kill you off with that art attack. What?

Well, anyways, guys, we are really excited to be here tonight. What we do is supporting actors, we support. That's what we do. That's what we do. And support, who? You may ask? Yeah?

You're going to get them? Get them. Let's go. The real actors. The lead actors. And that is how we got these. They got these. They're not the only one with awards, Sterling. These are sad awards. This is the highest award

that our industry has to offer. We got these for Best Ensemble. Best ensemble. Yes. We both got one for supporting Sterling K. Brown. That's how hard he supported him. So thank you very much for letting us support you and ratings to the heat of heavy

very heavy and gorgeous we can't thank you enough Sterling we can't thank you enough for letting us support you you're welcome buddy yeah oh my God thank you so much

Anthony said earlier we supported Sterling for six seasoners yeah and when he did accept his first Emmy as a lead actor and a drama series. Who did he think first? Andre Brower. Andre fucking Brower.

What the fuck? Saw his picture earlier. It says fucking me. Great actor. Absolutely. Amazing actor. No support for Sterling on Mrs.S. Oh, and you know, hey, number eight, you know who he didn't think?

Who's that, number seven? His single tier. Oh, geez. His single tear. He didn't think his single tier. Oh, that's right. And they're in almost every scene together. They're almost deep. Look, look, guys, it's hard for a leading man to truly understand what it's like, T.

Be a supporting actor. He doesn't understand what a supporting actor dies. Yeah, how can we put this in terms that you'll understand, Sterling? Supporting acting. Oh, it's like what you do in movies. Right. No, but Sterling, listen, Sterling wasn't always a leading man on TV, John. John has known him for many, many years.

Oh, that's right, I guess, that's right. Sterling K. Brown once supported me on a show that I was on podcast on. Yeah, and when you support the supporting actor, that's called being a guest star. Right. Which is technically, it's below supporting, but still, Sterling still got the word star and is on-screen credit. Really nice.

I am currently doing supporting acting for the lead acting of Miss Bialla Davis. I know. Beautiful child. In a feature film. And when I told her that I was going to be roasting the Sterling K. Brown for his 50th birthday, she said, who? I'm just kidding. I am just kidding.

Of course, Viola Davis doesn't speak to me. You know, well, Sterling gave down one of the things he does all the time today,

you know, look at him. He's, you're 50? Wow, he always says black, don't cry. He's always, he's like yelling at me.

You know what I mean? Number seven, black don't crap. But I guess, I guess that doesn't, that doesn't work for tendons of licked. Right.

Those crack all the time. He's torn all of them. The man is being held together by 50-year-old rubber bands, and he still insists on playing all kinds of sports ball. All kinds. And next year, I don't know if he has heard about this, but Sterlingay Brown is starring in the sequel to White Men Hand Junk. Yeah.

It's called Wise Men Don't Junk. They just start. Yeah. Don't jump. He tells everybody, he tells everybody they hurt himself playing sports with younger, stronger men. That's right. But it's funny, he told me and Chris that he tore his ligaments from carrying the cast of Paradise on his back. Oh, I'm sorry.

I thought this was a rogue. He said, he told us that we are. I'm sorry. Sterling gets to do an Asian accent on screen. And nobody, oh, national television, Asian accents. Oh, us. All right, we're going off script now. Let's move out. Look, look, look at him.

Yeah, it's very handsome. He is so handsome. Fucking handsome. Oh, my God. He is a handsome guy, right? Yeah, so we love seeing Sterling smile like everyone else does. We love to make him laugh. Yeah.

And certainly, we heard earlier from our mind. It certainly has this laugh that, that is, It's not a normal laugh. It's not a shovel laugh. It's not an auto. It starts down in his balls really is where it starts. And if you, like Armand said, if you are in his presence and he laughs, you don't just hear it, you feel it. You feel his laughing in your balls. Also in your balls. It's a balls to balls kind of lack. It's the pint of laugh that makes a statement. When Sterling starts laughing, all I can hear is, I, Sir in Kay Brown, have approved of this comedy.

And I want everyone to know it. I'm a well-dained actor, and I am being entertained up in this bitch. Right? And what can we say? Let's look at this woman. What can we say? What can we say about Ryan Rissau about her, guys? She kept this whole thing together.

Look at all the people in this round. Beautiful people. She's incredibly talented, incredibly beautiful, apparently incredibly patient. Yeah, the fun fact, Ryan Shabath is the only person in America right now who can't stand starting K. Brahm. And still, through a party for him, or a bloodbath or a celebration. Who the fuck knows what's happening? We've been up here a long time. It's a long day, guys.

Ryan thought the party would be over by now, and they would just be. just ask us to leave. My heart and mouth, I could have been, yes. Sterling and Ryan both grew up very religious. They both love the Lord. Yeah. They both love the Lord. Yeah, they do.

Now, they call themselves crunchy black folks. For sure. And for a guy, all that is in California, guys, is it's, it's, it's, Sterling says, Namaste. A lot. It's not because he's woke or anything like that. He just loves polo-appropriation, as he saw earlier. They do, hold on.

They do hold on to their faith, though. Ryan and Michelle still loves our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, you do. May I get an amen? Aaron and I. And, of course, Sterling believes in itself. Weird arts. Yeah.

Oh, and even Andrew and Amari, they do a lot. They do a lot of pring, don't they? They say stuff like our father who aren't in Fogelman. Yeah. him the smallest question. Yeah, and he will just sit there and tell you a wonderful story about his fucking time at Stanford. You know when I was at Stanford.

We get it. You're on video taking tests. I heard it, John, but when I was at Stanford, I ride. Hey, Chris, wait a minute. Don't you have a podcast? A podcast? Yeah, you know, with Sterling K. Brown? I sure do, John.

Thanks for asking me that question. I forced you to put into the script. I have a podcast of Sterling K. Brown that I host with the beautiful Mandy Moore. It's called That Was Us. Please like and subscribe. If you, hold on, in all seriousness, if you want to hear deep wisdom

and heartfelt insight from Brown, you can listen to any episode of our podcast. Any episode, that's right. Or you can listen to the podcast that he does with Ryan. It's called Sturring Shut the Fogh. S.K.V. quiet. I like that.

Actually, what's the real name of their podcast? No one cares. Sterling stays. Sterling stays in incredible shape. Oh my God. He's in not normal shape. It's like superhero shape. Yeah, he always tells me that he stays hard so he doesn't have to get hard.

Okay. That's not. No, he's not. No, no, no, no, he's saying, he's, he's demonstrating so that I can get hard. No, I want to get hard with Sterling. I want you hard like Sterling. I just want ads. I just want ads.

Two. Are you okay? I just want abdominal muscles. They're under there. Just keep working. We'll get some. Oh, my God. This guy.

I knew this is going to happen. I'm sorry. So, um, that Sterling was always in the writer's room at this is S. I mean, He, you know, he was always coming up with great ideas. You can ask him, I'll tell you. Oh, did you know?

I don't know if you know this. I was telling John that Sterling actually gave Dan the idea for their new show. Oh, that's right. I heard about this. Yeah, yeah. Ooh, should we do a reenactment? Oh, I don't know if we should. Not in front of Mr. K. Brown.

It might be crest. Okay, ask him, just ask him if it's okay. Stern. Sir? It, would it be okay if we do acting without you? Can we do acting without you, please? Could we do some acting without you? Is it okay?

Thank you. We have been in place. All right, I'll be Dan Fulberg. I'll be Stirling. I'll be Sterling. Sterling walks into Dan's office. Dan, I've been. I've got it.

Oh, I got a little bit already, Sterling. It's the end of the world. Just you are a genius. And I am stuck in a bunker. Ooh, could I be there if I... No. I'm the lead actor and I'm stuck down there with my two kids who I love very much and an extremely hot therapist who hates taking showers by herself.

And where's your wife? I don't know with Lana or some shit. Okay, so... Okay, let me get this right. You live in a beautiful bubble doing amazing, leading, acting. And you're surrounded by an incredibly hot supporting cast. And everyone wants to bathe your naked, hot, black body. And your wife could step all the way somewhere in season two or some shit.

I mean, what are we even? Paul's show like this. Paradise. I love it. Stanley you're the best schooling despite all the shit talking you love you you

you are a wonderful guy and you are a really wonderful person and a genuinely wonderful person ladies and gentlemen happy 50th birthday CDs the best

concerning K. Rapulah That was Us is filmed at Rabbit Grin Studios and produced by Rabbit Grin Productions music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith

da da da da That was us. That was a hate gum podcast. Wayfair's Labor Day clearance is on now. Right now at Wayfair, you can get up to 70% off everything home. Shop Wayfair's Labor Day clearance now through September 7th at Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home.