The Daily Beast Podcast - This David Duchovny Theory on Aliens Makes a Lot of Sense

Episode Date: June 26, 2022

On this bonus episode of The New Abnormal, actor David Duchovny talks about his book, The Reservoir, what it was like playing a jerk version of himself alongside Sandra Oh in Netflix’s ‘The Chair’, and discloses a solid theory on aliens. Plus! Co-hosts Molly Jong-Fast and Andy Levy listen to more bizarre clips of GOP politicians, including “single biggest asshole’ in America, Ted Cruz, and everyone’s favorite Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, who is still obsessed with testicles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Molly Zhang Fast, no relationship to Kim Jong-un. I'm a left-wing pundant and a writer at the Atlantic Invo. And I'm Andy Levy, former Fox News and CNN-HLN guy, and current cable news conscientious objector. And I'm producer Jesse Cannon, and I'm here to make sure things don't go too far off the rails. We're here to have fun, smart, conversations with the wisest and funniest and funniest people in science and media and politics that help make what's happening today clearer. Our world has been turned upside down, and on the new abnormal, we'll talk about the people who got us into this mess and how we'll hopefully get ourselves out of it. Hello, and welcome to another Sunday bonus episode of the new abnormal. We thank you so much for being here. Today we have an extra special episode with David Dacovny, who you of course know from his roles on X-Files and Californication.

But today, Molly's going to be talking to him about his new book, The Reservoir. He's going to tell us all about it. But first, let's have some fun. I do want to note that we tape this segment on Thursday before Roe versus Wade was overturned in order to accommodate vacation schedules. All right, are you guys ready to listen to some clips? Always. Yes.

You know, the funny thing is, is we always think Merrick Garland's not doing enough, but we have one Sean Hannity talking to Ted Cruz, who has some terrible, terrible thoughts about how Merrick Garland is really Antifa. Now we know that there are direct threats. we're probably going to get a decision on Roe v. Wade this week. If we get that decision this week, there are groups that are calling for people to riot. We reported on it last night. What is Joe Biden?

What are these big cities doing to protect people in light of a threat that we now know is public? Well, let me start with where you ended, which is, I think, the Supreme Court the next week is going to issue its decision. I think it's going to overturn Roe v. Wade. That's the right decision. their session end this week? They could do it next week. So it could be tomorrow. It could be next week.

We don't know for sure when the opinion will issue, but it's soon. It's within the next few days. That's the right decision. That will return the question of abortion to the elected legislatures. That's where the Constitution left it. That's where it belongs. But I think the response is exactly what you said, which is the organized left. They're going to engage in riots.

They're going to get engaged in violence. we're going to see a reprise, I fear, of the Black Lives Matter and the Antifa riots where they're going to try to use political violence to advance their ends. And the Department of Justice needs to step in and stop them. I halfway expect the Attorney General to be rioting alongside them because this Department of Justice has been so politicized. Now, you mentioned in the first part of your question the January 6th so-called select committee hearings. If only, can you imagine? I was trying to get Merrick Garland out there with a pink hat. To do anything?

Right, your ban off my body? I think no. Didn't he move to Ukraine? I'm pretty sure he's in Ukraine. I think he's in Ukraine now, yeah. I think he's in his office is. I was happy to see him in Ukraine because that was really where I want his attention to be right now. Yeah.

Ted Cruz, I just, this is, I guess, sort of an aside. I have decided he is the single biggest asshole in America. I mean, it's, I mean. You can throw other names out there. Had there been a doubt about that? Well, I guess there was in my mind that there might be someone who is a bigger asshole, but that has been put to rest. Yeah, I think that's fair.

I would say that I love their like taking it right away from women that they've had for 49 years. And Ted's like, that's the right decision. Bring it back in the Constitution. There's no abortion in the fucking Constitution. You know, the Constitution wants abortion to be, you know, We're going to make it so that New York can't control concealed carry. But, you know, I mean, they're just whatever. I'm in a rage.

I mean, they just sit there and make shit up at each other. Like Ted Cruz, who doesn't seem to have much of a problem with what happened on January 6th these days. No. Is worried about political violence on the left, which, by the way, almost never happens. And they just make shit up the anti-fah riots. Yeah, the anti-farm riots. That never has. happened. That was not a thing. I think Merit Garland and I were there at the Antiparriots.

I think you were, both of you. Marrick Garland would look great in all black and a nice like handkerchief, maybe a squatter dog next to him. Yeah. Well, Merritt Garland and a skull cap, sunglasses. Oh, God. Speaking of senators having delusions, Rick Scott has some delusions about Joe Biden. Joe Biden and the Democrats have a war against work. They want to take good, hardworking Americans and make them dependent on government. They want Americans to spend more time looking at whether there's a new government program

rather than focus on finding a new job. There's virtue in having a job. I grew up in a poor family. We lived in public houses. My mom told me you're going to work. And there's virtue in work. My favorite thing about Rick Scott

is he was like for gun control when he was a governor, but now that he's a senator, he's against it. I mean, whatever. I like him because he looks like an alien. See, that's the thing I was going to say when I cued it up, but I thought it was too B'd. Okay, he looks like an alien. I'll say it.

I mean, I know this is a niche comment, but he is an observer from the TV show Fringe. Yeah, I think that sounds right. If you've ever seen that show or just Google observer and Fringe, and it's literally a picture of Rick Scott. Andy, ready for me to blow your mind? Yeah. I have a tattoo of the Observer from Fringe. You have a tattoo of Rick Scott? You have a Rick Scott tattoo?

I want to take that joke, man. Yeah, now I'm feeling ashamed. This is why you should never get tattoos. There's always context that changes. Exactly. See, I was thinking the Mars attacks alien was like kind of he descended from them, but I'll take this. The bad news is, is he's not the only senator who really isn't doing well. Little Marco Rubio has thoughts on the gun bill and why he couldn't vote for it.

the bill is 80 pages, was there enough time to read through that? Well, no. I mean, you know, it was publicly released at 6.23 p.m. We only got it a few minutes before that. And then the vote was at 736. So an hour and 15 minutes later

is supposed to go over 80 pages on an issue that implicates the Second Amendment rights, a constitutional right of America. So I think it deserves a little bit more reading. I mean, I may turn out to be the greatest bill in the world and may turn out to be the worst. I don't know how you can deduce that unless you were involved in negotiating it on an hour and 15 minutes.

Yeah. Reading is hard. It's not like he has a staff. He did have time to go on a third-ray propaganda. Well, that's the thing. Like, get off the TV and go read the bill. He got, by the way, he got destroyed by Joe Biden's granddaughter, Naomi, who tweeted at him, okay, suspend reality and believe you would actually read a bill.

The bill is 80 pages, approximately 13,000 words. the average fifth grader reads 180 words per minute. This means a fifth grader could read this bill in just over an hour. So it was just like, oh boy, you just got destroyed by the president's granddaughter. Yeah, well, she's a lot smarter than he is. The thing about him is you always think, well, Marco Rubio, because at one point he was thought of as sort of the great hope of the Republican Party, but he's just a huge coward. Yeah.

And so he's not as disgusting as some of the other Trump loyalists, but it's not. Not because he's virtuous. It's just because he's coward. No, he's one of the, like, the Lake Cruz is just the biggest asshole in America. Like, Rubio's just one of the saddest people in America, right? Yeah. I mean, I don't feel bad for him, but. I don't know.

There's no reason to feel bad for him. Yeah. I mean, he's just sad, like, in a derogatory way, not in a, I feel bad for him way. I think that's fair. So we're going to move on from senators, and we're now going to close out the show with brain genius Tucker Carlson has some very, very good ideas. The first of which, So this jewel bed, it's all about mind control man in the government. Oh, great.

No, they have a new drug war. Yesterday, the FDA and FDA announced is planning to remove virtually all nicotine from cigarettes. Now, nicotine is not the thing that gives you cancer. Nicotine is the thing, it's addictive, but it also increases mental acuity. But they're taking that out. According to the Wall Street Journal, the agency will also ban Jewel e-cigarettes. Now, what happens when you get off nicotine? Well, your testosterone levels plummet and you gain weight.

both of which the administration is for because you become more passive and easier to control. Oh, God. Another thing with the testosterone. Look, Tucker is usually wrong. Tucker is not wrong here. Nicotine has a hallowed history in this country, and it should not be messed with. And this is why I don't like liberals. And this is why I am voting for Lyndon LaRue in 2020. 24. I think he's dead. I think he died. He ran from prison. He could run from the grave. I know he's dead. I'm voting for him anyway. Okay. Because he will not, you can have my nicotine when you pry it from my warm, tingly fingers. That's all I have to say.

I'm a great fan of any moon or mind-altering substance, though, sober. I'm not sure why you would take nicotine out of cigarettes. That said, Tucker Carlson is obsessed with testosterone. It's not. clear to me, I mean, I guess, because it's like an all right trope of being low Tee, right? If you're not masculine, you're low Tee. But I'm not sure. And again, I'm no fan of Tucker Carlson, though I do think he is, he falls into the category of smart and evil and not, you know, Sean Hannity, dumb as a box of hair. But I do think that this is just a weird racist trope of his. Yeah, it's also important to remember that he is a nicotine addict.

Oh, does he smoke? No, but like every second he's awake, he is chewing Nicorette gum. Oh. I'm not speaking out of school here. He's been public about this, but it really is. Like, I've seen it in action, and it's like he'll chew a piece for, you know, however many minutes. And then it's dead, and he'll take it out of his mouth and just replace it with another. And I've never seen anyone chewed Nicolet gum like that in my life.

I've seen people do that. Really? I have, yeah. I mean, it's great. Nicotine is fat. I mean, I don't do drugs, but. You know. See, now you're fueling the theory I had.

You see, I thought Tucker Carlson wouldn't have much of a work ethic to do this. But now I'm becoming convinced that he must do this to have the energy to also double as Alex Jones just in a fat suit. So he could air his other bad beliefs. Jesus. They're becoming one of the same with these beliefs these days. No, I mean, he is moving. Absolutely. I mean, everything with the low T and, you know, it's just every right-wing trope has, is,

now has a home on Fox News at 8 p.m. or whenever he's on. It's fun. Exactly. The bad news is he's waited on who he thinks is a good comedian at this day at age, and it's not good. Who laughs at Robert Smygel anymore? It's pathetic. Who's funnier?

Robert Smygel or the guy who took pictures of himself at Nancy Pelosi's desk on January 6th? Be honest. It's not even close. The guy at Pelosi's desk is. hilarious compared to the guy with the talking dog. And none of them is half as funny. Again, sorry, it's true, as Donald Trump. And how do you know that?

Show us the late night host who said anything, half as amusing as Trump's Taco Bowl tweet. Ever? Any of them? No, never. These people are so afraid. They're so... Yeah, I'm really worried. That comic, the insult, dog is not as funny as the guy who put his feet up

on Nancy Pelosi's desk. By the way, did that guy get charged? I thought he got charged. He said he was just a member of the media, but I think he may have gotten. He was live streaming the whole thing. I mean, it's funny that he's stupid. Yeah, which is generally what the right wants in the comedy,

so that works out. I do have to say, though, it's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, not Comic, the Insult Dog, Molly. Man, sure. Okay. Triumph Selection Specials, I think, were some of the funniest things I've ever seen. Robert Smigel is a genius. I mean, for Tucker Carlson to say that is just, I mean, he's just, that's just dumb.

Yeah, I'm sure he's really upset that Tucker Carlson doesn't like him. TV Funhouse is one of the greatest shows of all time. Yeah, absolutely. David Duchovney is an actor who's known for his roles in X-Files as well as Californication and is the author of the new book, The Reservoir. Welcome to the new abnormal, David Duggany. Thank you for having me. So basically everyone wrote a pandemic book except for me.

Really? I haven't read any of them. Well, you wrote this pandemic book. Well, that's not everyone. Yeah, but I have literally every day we do like five pandemic book interview. I mean, Katie Turr write a pandemic book. This is the best one. Yours is the best one. Explain to us, your famous movie star, your home, you've written a bunch of books.

What happened? take us through it. It's like any book I've written or any story I've written, an idea comes to me out of wherever. And in this case, it was a conjunction of events happening outside of my control that we were all experiencing the lockdown and the pandemic. And then that coming together with just old memories of the movie rear window and fairy tales like Rapunzel,

it all kind of starts to feel like a new story to me, death in Venice, the plague. And it all starts to make sense to me to try to investigate this world and what it means to be locked down in a plague year, which seems to me, you know, also the origin of all English literature, you know, the Canterbury Tales is a pilgrimage, right? And it's just like what happens when people get thrown together or what happens when Castle Across Destinies, the Italo Calvino book, The plague sends people indoors and sends people on top of one another. This was different.

This plague sent people to isolate. And so that's the origin of all literature as far as I can tell. Why should I turn my back on that kind of an idea? So I went off. The book that has stuck with me is DeCameron, which is another piece of plague literature. So, I don't know, writing is so hard. Did you always want to be a writer and then became a famous actor? and then we're like, I can now write?

Or how did this happen? Yeah, that's kind of a version of it. But I would have always identified myself as a writer. I think that I got into acting because I thought at some point, well, poetry is pretty lonely and not really a viable career. Writing fiction is similar. I mean, there are better chances at having a career. But I looked around.

I was at Yale graduate school. And I, you leave PhD in English program at Yale. And did you go right after college? Explain to me the trajectory, because this is totally fascinating, at least to me. I took a year off after graduating from Princeton and I traveled Southeast Asia a bit. And I had won a, I got a melon fellowship, which was going to take care of my graduate fees. Because I didn't have any money and had attended Princeton on scholarship. and also had student loans to pay back.

So the Mellon Fellowship made it possible for me to go to graduate school and even have a stipend to live. And so I was going to go and get that Ph.D. at Yale. And I guess my long-term thought was, you know, I get tenure if I'm lucky. And then I have a steady job, which is interesting to me, but also I would get about four months off every year to write, to write. So that was the idea.

You were going to make it big in academia. No, I didn't want to make it big in academia. I knew that I wouldn't. Right. I was with the best of the best that Yale, and I knew that I was in the middle of the best of the best. So it wasn't something I felt in my bones. You know, I certainly could have done it.

I think I would have been a good teacher. I don't think I would have been a great scholar, but I could have had an effect. I could have made people's lives. better, but also it was people whose lives were already good. You know, these were Ivy League kids. Right. It's true. It's not exactly. But you know, you

do get a range of students. Super interesting. And then you just decided actually, my mom was ABD too. Yeah. I mean, it's not such an unusual affliction. And then you just decided to become an actor. Well, I like that you call it an affliction. It makes me think I

can make use of it somehow. No, so then I was, as I said, as I said, I was looking around for lives that would make writing part of it. If I didn't have the goods to just support myself as a writer, I was looking for ways to supplement that life. And then as I was casting about in the loneliness of realizing what it is to be a writer, I thought, well, playwriting.

Damn, those guys have fun. I get to hang out in the theater with actresses, you know, and I'm going to do that. So that's when I kind of sideways, I started acting because I thought, well, if I'm going to write plays, I should probably know what acting is about. That makes sense. It made sense to me to try and speak words that I wrote. Right. That makes sense.

And that's how you got into acting. I mean, all careers that really are very hard to succeed in, I'm not convinced that any of those are easier, right? I mean, don't you think? Oh, yeah, certainly not easier. I think all careers that are somewhat meaningful. You know, there's a lot of people that want to do those things. And there's a lot of luck involved and luck in terms of timing and zeitgeist and all that shit. So, God, you know, if I went back and had a consultation with me at 2024,

having finished my coursework at Yale and saying, you know, I'm starting to act. And I'd say, what the fuck are you doing? You know, like. I want to talk to you about the chair now. Am I allowed to do that? I know we're supposed to talk about the book, but can we talk about the chair? The chair that I'm sitting in or the chair of the television.

Well, we can also talk about the chair. You're sitting in, but the chair of the television show. Yes. I'm curious to know your feelings about that show when you saw the script because I think it's brilliant. And I thought that the acting in it was amazing. Well, it came about because I know Amanda Pete. She was in an X-Files movie with me, and then the one play that I've ever done, she was in it with me.

So we're friends. And I didn't even know, I knew she was writing because I remember reading something that she'd written a play. I was happy about that. And then, you know, we're not in touch, really. We are now. But she called out of the blue and said, I want you to come do this thing. I'm doing this show for Netflix. And I was like, well, it was fantastic.

That's great. I'm glad you're doing that. And she said, you know, you play. yourself and you're kind of a jerk of yourself, a jerk version of yourself. You know, she sent me the script. And my initial reaction was, I love the character. I'd rather him be called something else. And besides my name, she was like, no, I think it's better if it's you.

And we kind of went back and forth on that a little bit. And I finally said, yeah, I guess, I guess maybe you're right. And so we went ahead that way. And it's not because I have any kind of concern over how people perceive me. You know, I played the jerk version of myself a couple times now. And people do confuse it. People that don't know me, you know, think that I'm probably like that, which is fine. You know, it's a little distressing.

And then the way it played out, I was like, Jesus Christ, you know, she's buying my music to put it on the show. She's playing my music on the show. She's showing my books on the show. This is an advertisement for me. But it is also like a very well done show on academia. Oh, absolutely. Which must have been sort of interesting. I mean, I know that having been and I've never been in academia, thank God, I barely, I mean, I just have a master's and I didn't even graduate college.

But, you know, I know I watch with my husband and I think it was really gratifying for him to see. What's interesting to me is that, you know, where Sandra O. kind of reads me the right act about why, you know, my work is obsolete. you know, the work that I did as a graduate student or undergraduate, which I want to be validated by some chair or PhD at that point, honorary PhD. It's a bullshit rant, you know, and it was so funny for me to be sitting there, you know, kind of in the David Duccoignee character being told that because of cultural trends or cultural philosophical trends, what I once thought about literature is no longer applicable. I wanted to stand up and shout, no, bullshit.

But nobody cares. But it is interesting. I mean, academia is subject to trends as much, if not more, than mainstream media. Which is the point I would have made is you're just trying to replace your trends with my trends. Why don't we just address it as the humanities, you know, in the Blumian sense? Let's close read. Let's see what it's all about. Yeah.

No, it's super interesting. Are you disappointed that you didn't stay in the academy? me, do you ever have those like moments of I should have stayed in the academy? I'm disappointed about everything. Well, that's good. So, yeah, of course. I mean, I wish I had 100 lives to live. So no, I don't regret.

I liked teaching. Right. I liked having to prepare for my job by reading a book or a poem. That's great. But I'm pretty amazed at the way my life turned out. You're going to keep writing and keep acting and keep doing music. Until I get stopped. Well, that's good. That's good. There's no X-Files coming back, right?

I don't think so. It seems like it's a question everybody thinks they have to ask, but why would that be? Because it's been asked so much and it's been answered so much. I know, but it still feels like if we just ask it one more time, people will be like, hmm, you know. You'll get the truth. I'll slip up and I'll go, yes, we made them. I just feel like there are so few really just enjoyable cultural touchstones like that. I agree with you. There's a lot of moving parts. And again, it's a hell of a lot of work for certain people. Not for me. I mean, I would just act at it. And especially if you're dealing with ideas, which I don't really buy into, but ideas of legacy. But if you're talking about Chris Carter, you know, if he's going to go ahead and do more exiles, he's really got to answer that question for himself, you know, are these going to be as good as what we did? That's not on me. I just have to show up. memorize my lines and do my work. So I can be flip and say, I don't know, I don't know. I really don't know.

It's not on me. Are you surprised at how much more weird alien information we've been getting? I don't really keep track of it. I mean, there's sort of like a lot of sort of small bits of information coming out that seem like, you know, the government has been quietly, you know, well, is this, there's that. Again, what any of this is, nobody knows. But it just seems interesting to me that it's sort of that phenomenon of aliens has sort of left the zeitgeist for now. Maybe not forever. Not forever.

It seems cyclical to me, you know, just like horror movies focusing on that. And it's a great repository for all our hopes and fears. You know, it's the other. It's our better selves. It's our worst selves. It's anything we can make it in a storytelling sense that's going to, excite us, you know, but the reality of it, I mean, I just always had the same answer, which was, I do believe that there's got to be other life out there. I mean, it doesn't make sense that

we're the only ones, but I also don't believe that people are good at keeping secrets. And if something is cool, it is earth shattering and as God destroying, as, you know, aliens happened and we knew about it, and, you know, somebody's going to black. Come on. We know this. Am I right? Listen, I have no idea, but I mean, certainly possible. Yes, you do. I mean, it does seem hard to imagine that there's a world where a few people know about aliens.

Double pinky swear, Mike Pence. Everybody fucking writes a book two months out of the White House. Come on. Yeah. So you don't think. No. No. You know, is it good.

point. I have to say my dad is here from California and he's in the other room and he is going to be completely disappointed that you don't believe in aliens. Though, I mean, the rationalist in me looks at the size of the universe and says there's no way that we're the only ones. But also, the rationalist says if they had contacted us in any significant way, nobody's keeping that shit a secret. Very good point. David DeCovney. the book is the reservoir. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.

On that note, we'll wrap this episode of the new abnormal from The Daily Beast. In future episodes, we'll be talking to smart folks from the Daily Beast and beyond from media, culture, politics, and science. We'll help us understand what's happening to our country and the world. We hope you'll subscribe to us

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