The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Colin Hanks

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Colin Hanks joins Andy Richter to discuss his new film "John Candy: I Like Me," his unexpected and rewarding journey into documentary filmmaking, growing up in Sacramento, the acting advice he received from his father, Tom Hanks, and much more. Do you want to talk to Andy live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Tell us your favorite dinner party story (about anything!) - leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the three questions. This is your Under the Weather host, Andy Richter, and today I'm talking to Colin Hanks. He's an actor and a filmmaker. You've seen him on TV shows like Fargo, The Offer, and Dexter, as well as films like King Kong, Nobody Too, and the Jumanji series. He's the director of the documentary films All Things Must Pass, The Rise and Fall of Tower Records, Eagles of Death Metal, Nosamee, our friends. And this year's John Candy, I Like Me, Here's my great conversation with Colin Hanks. Hi, Colin Hanks. How are you? I'm good, Andy Richter. How are you? Good. I'm glad to have you here. And I'm excited because you're here about this documentary. You're a documentarian now. As a side hustle, yes. Really? That's not your main thing.

Well, I don't know which is the side hustle now. Yeah. Because originally it was the docks where the side hustle. Right. But now kind of wearing makeup and pretending to be other people is taking up less and less of my time. Yeah, yeah. But it pays a little bit better. Sure, it does.

So I don't know which is which. Right. So I'm just, I go both ways. Yeah. C.D.C. Nobody goes into like I'm going to get rich by being a documentarian. God, no. Yeah, no, no, no.

I didn't. Yeah, that's definitely not why I got into it. Well, tell me about the John Candy, I like me. Yeah, so. Yeah, yeah. It's, um, so it's basically, you know, a documentary about the beloved John Candy, who left us a little over 30 years ago. Canadian icon, treasure, national treasure, comedian, uh, generally one of the most

delightful human beings of all time. Yeah, he has a pretty sterling reputation. Yeah. Just as like, I mean, evidently funny, but also just nobody's ever had an unkind word to say about him. No, never. And so, yeah, I mean, a few years ago, Ryan Reynolds, I don't know if you've heard of him. I have. He's very tall.

He's a very tall man, also very funny, also Canadian. He called me and said, like, there should be a John Candy documentary. And he's, like, such a super fan of Johns. Yeah. that he kind of like was willing it into existence. Wow. And I said, I don't disagree. I just don't know what that is.

Yeah. So I did a little bit of digging and sort of found out a bunch of stuff about John's personal life that I just found to be incredibly relatable and interesting. And that sort of seemed like a good entryway into being able to sort of tell his story in, you know, sort of that doc kind of fashion. Well, were some of the, what were some of the main. details that jumped out that made you want to do this since it wasn't like i mean i'm i'm actually surprised i thought that this was like the genesis the idea would have come from you but i no i kind of liked that it was just like hey somebody planted the seed someone planted the seed and in fact um what was what was even stranger was like my my producing partners they had come to me

at some point before even ryan and was like what about a john candy documentary and i just went i don't know what that is like he's too nice like he made so many movies like i don't even like i was just like i don't know how to do that yeah and then ryan was just kind of like i don't want to say he was pushy far far far from it but we just had like the conversation necessary to be able to just make make me go huh yeah let me think about it and the two things that really jumped out at me were i found out that john's father had passed away on john's fifth birthday oh wow and he His dad was 35 years old and died of the same heart failure issue that John did.

Wow. And we don't even touch on this in the film, but John's grandfather also died at a young age from heart failure. Wow. Were they all heavy men? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All sort of, you know, bigger guys for sure. So that I was like, okay, that's pretty big because that is something that affects you to your core. Like from that moment on.

And then talking with Chris Candy, John's son, he had mentioned that in sort of the years leading up to his dad passing away, that he had started to go to therapy and had started to kind of do the digging to try and like he had started having these panic attacks and there was just something about that that I found in. incredibly relatable. I sort of feel like a lot of people in their 40s kind of end up sort of like looking inward a little bit going like, why am I like this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How can I not be like this anymore? And so those two things and knowing that more likely than anything else that they were connected. Yeah, yeah. I thought that was so relatable, like in a strange way. Because it's, It's not like he had some nefarious, horrible, you know, secret or habit or, you know, anything like that. You know, here's the most, you know, one of the most relatable, you know, comedy legends. And it turns out the things that he was struggling with are just as relatable now.

It's just we didn't talk about it then. Like, we didn't talk about it in the 90s. They sure as hell didn't talk about it in the 60s and 70s. Right, right. So all of that just seemed like very interesting, you know, real estate to sort of tell, get into telling John's story. And how old was he when he passed? He was 43. 43, yeah.

Which is absurdly young. Yeah, it's outrageous. It's absurdly young. And did his son have any idea, like, kind of what the stuff he was getting at in therapy? Yeah. Oh, very much so. Very much so. I think, you know, the fact that Chris ended up.

up having to do the exact same thing yeah i think really made it made this idea this sort of general theme like that seemed like such a like noble pursuit to try and like get a better understanding of yeah you know uh and it's obviously something that chris has dealt with his entire life and and he straight up told me like in in one of our first sort of conversations about the film um about maybe doing it is he said, like, look, you know, my dad kind of gave me a blueprint of, like, what I needed to do. He was just hoping to be here for more of it. So, like, when I heard that, I was just like, wow, okay, there's like, there's so much here that I want to unpack. And what I found really kind of interesting, like, in the long run is that, you know, all of the things that we really love about John, his personality, his skill set, you know, like, just his overall just.

I don't want to say grandeur, but, you know, like just everything that we love about John, yeah, yeah, the way he made people, the way he made us feel, the way he made people feel that he met, you know, like all of those good things. Those were all like coping mechanisms that he learned as a little kid. Yeah. You know, people pleasing. Yeah, yeah. Entertaining. Like, hey, are you okay? Is everybody okay? You know, but then not taking care of himself, you know, like those were all things that we're celebrating because that's what made John John. Yeah. But at the same time, at that point, in his life, they were starting to be a hindrance to him because he was giving himself too much and he was overextending and wasn't able to say no to people. Yeah, yeah. It's a, I mean, it's a fairly, I mean, I can relate to John Candy just in that, I mean, I'm a comedian. I'm, I mean, Canada to me, it is, it's just Canada and the Midwest are like sister states. Completely. You know, and so I relate to like the Canadian sort of, you know, ethos is very, very familiar to me. And then also, too, being, like, fat kid, fat guy, you know, there's lots of stuff that

there's lots of stuff in there that is protection, that is, like, seeking solace and comfort. And there's also, I think, and I haven't seen the movie yet, but I definitely, I do want to very much. but I'm guessing there's a lot of I do and do and do for you people and what do I get back well I I have to give myself what I get back and that involves like too much eating and I know he smoked a lot too you know yeah I mean he definitely you know it's hard because I don't want to get to like armchair you know therapist I will with this stuff but I don't I have no problem with it well but

But neither do I. Just not on tape. Yeah, yeah. But, like, there's so, when you really break down people's relationships with food or drink or smoking, it all because it's kind of like, you know, it's like those glasses and they live, like, once you put them on and you're just like, oh, my God, everyone's alien. Like, you just kind of see things so much clear than, than you did before. Yeah. And there's so much about John's experience that I don't have to be Canadian. I don't have to have to have lost my dad at five.

I don't have to, you know, be a larger, you know, guy to understand what all of those connections are. Yeah. And, you know, there's that combination of, you know, being in therapy, seeing those things, being an actor, being a father, like, I see enough of myself. in John than I ever thought I, you know, ever would. And again, I think that's what makes him such a unique person. And, and obviously for me, a unique, you know, character to, to, you know,

based a documentary on to sort of get to know and explore. Because ultimately, it's all humanity. It's all, you know, flaws. Yeah. It's all people trying their best. And there's, you know, I just have spent the better. part of the last three years just like having so much empathy for what John was going through because he was such a good heart but he just had so much stuff going on that you know it just

ended up being a little bit too much for him yeah is is there one like is what's the biggest surprise you found like what's something that you found out from making the movie that you didn't think you would feel about John Candy or that you didn't know about John Candy well there's like The one base kind of thing, which is, like, I wasn't really aware of just how talented a performer he was because he made it look so easy. Yeah. So, like, it's very easy to, like, look at planes, trains and automobiles and just say, like, that's an incredible performance. Right. No one else could have given that performance.

Yeah. Damn, he's good. He probably should have been nominated for an Academy Award. Like, you know, there's that. But then, like, I can find snippets of that kind of skill and that level. of craft and performance in a three-second little moment in the Great Outdoors, which I never would have noticed before. I never would have noticed before. So I kind of, and I guess this is just because of the other, you know,

the makeup and pretending to be other people gig, like I related so much to him just finding little kernels of himself to put into his work that no one else would really know. Right. Just, just him. So that, that was really fascinating. Just, just the amount of talent that he had. Never mind that he was funny. Yeah. You know, like, everybody knows that. Um, but just he was really truly so much more of an actor than I think I really realized. Yeah. Um, but then the other really big one was just how uncomfortable he actually was. I mean, I saw these interviews. I mean, you'll see it when you see the movie, but, you know, he does these interviews and he's visibly uncomfortable. And I don't know why. He mean just being questions.

Just being questions. Yeah. At first I was like, why on earth would John Candy be so uncomfortable? In my mind, he's just the outgoing like, hey, how's going? You know, and he's, at some points, he's like sitting on his hands, like uncomfortable. And then you sort of put together that he knows eventually someone's going to ask him about his weight. Yeah. And the way that they ask those questions are so appalling. Oh, boy. It is a time machine that you want to immediately destroy because once you see it, you're kind of like, I cannot believe. And what's odd is sometimes it's like, wait a minute, that incredibly nice Canadian-looking grandma asked the question like that. Yeah, yeah. And so you just, I just, like, my heart broke, just like, oh, that's why he's

uncomfortable because he knows he knows what's coming yeah and at the beginning it really made him uncomfortable and then towards the end he got a little bit better at sort of like spinning it on them yeah yeah and being a little salty because being a little bit salty but but nice john candy canadian salty like i'm not worried about my way are you worried about your way oh okay good because you brought it up i just want to make sure you're okay but no i'm fine don't worry about me you know that really sort of took me back yeah Damn it. Andy Richter has got a great podcasting voice right now.

I've got, yeah, exactly. He's got the deep, deep, deep, rough bearded time. If that means anything to anybody. If he wasn't as wondering, he's looking like hell and sounding like Kathleen Turner. Thank you. But he still showed up for work today. No, I, I, when you say that, the first thing that comes to mind is like one of my standard lines about what it was like to start in 1993 on late night with Conan O'Brien and to, you know, that being the first thing I'd ever done that was like, I had, I had acted, but nothing that had ever gotten any attention. Yeah, yeah.

Or that was out even, because I had already done the movie Cabin Boy, but it wasn't out yet. Um, but just one of my standard lines is I didn't know there were so many ways to call someone fat because it was to cherubic or ton, you know, all these different. And just, and it, as if, you know, and I, it was, it was galling to me at the time because it's like, they say nothing about my right handedness, about my Caucasian, about the, you know, my blue eyes. They don't say anything about my good, strong teeth, you know. But they have to mention that. No, they have to bust out the thesaurus in order to.

Exactly. And I know there's like a comedy, you know, and I mean, and we used to joke a lot. I mean, I would joke about it. He wouldn't joke about it. But I would always say, you know, because we worked because we were contrasts. He runs at a higher RPM than I do. Yeah. You know, and then, you know, and just we're different, you know, and then there's, you know,

and because he's white and I'm African American. Yep. And just visually. Yeah, yeah, just that alone. But I would always say, like, it's, you know, it's skinny and fatty, you know, that's, and that's a, that's a comedy trope, you know, it was always kind of that thing. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

And, look, John dealt with that, his entire career, like, from Jump, he knew that that was, like, how, you know, the proverbial they of show business wanted him. Yeah. And, you know, it started out very, very early on, you know. And as I think as the movies got a little bit bigger And as he got As he got, you know, more well-known Yeah.

It's just expected like that's the pigeon hole. Like that's, you're the pigeon, that's the hole in there. And that's what it is. Like, I mean, I remember, this is going to sound strange, but like I remember I had a theater professional in college and he basically said, like, look, at some point, if you get to a point where you're professional, you have to know where you fit in.

And if you spend all of your energy trying to resist where they actually want you to be, you are going to have a very miserable life. Yeah. If you are, you know, if we look at you and you're like, man, you are a great character actor, be the character actor. Right, right.

Or if you've got a villain's face, be the fucking villain. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah, exactly. You know, and there's nothing wrong with that. And if you do that well enough, then maybe you can get to a space where you're able to break free of that. But like, get to the table.

Right. Like, get to the table. Make a living being a villain and then do little things where you're the nice guy. But it's hard when your invitation to the table is automatically sort of chopping you off at the knees and making you feel less than. Yeah, making you feel shitty about yourself. And that's really, really hard. Because then that when that's like, you know, that's the precursor to the race

and then you just got to listen to all the people on the sidelines you're saying like yeah yeah you can't run can you you know like then it's just no I know then it's just hard and people they think that they also think I because you have

you know the name of the movie is I like me this is obviously a guy that really liked himself so they felt like he has a sense of humor about himself so I can take a poke at him a thousand I can take and I have that same thing where it's like I'm comfortable being me

and I like me a lot. I love me in fact and you know but people will be like oh then I can tell you this right and it's like you know what motherfucker I don't know you so you can't well and that's the thing too

like especially like in all of those press junket type scenarios where everyone's like oh we're just crack a joke's like really funny like he's your son big city comedy and if you need a reminder just look at him he's big and there's comedy yeah it's like no dude

That's like so unbelievably rude. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, all of that kind of stuff really just kind of, all of that stuff I just, I find so fascinating. And it's what I love about doing docs. Yeah, yeah. I'm able to sort of like process these things and see them now with a different set of eyes. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

This is all 30 years ago. Right. But, you know, this is all still stuff that everyone struggles with, you know, to this day, not only in our industry. We're just a little more sensitive. Yeah. Like, but I mean, like by a little, I mean like an ounce. Yeah, but, but it's no different than what all of these people who post stuff on their social media feeds now have to deal with, you know, where it doesn't matter whether you're just a kid at the school and it's everyone in school, you know, a dog piling on you for doing whatever on, or, you know, whether you're trying to make a name for yourself and, you know, you fuck up.

And then all of a sudden people go like, oh, smooth move. You know, like, yeah, yeah. Just that, that peanut gallery is really loud. And it gets amplified. Yeah. And that takes a toll on people. Yeah. And it's hard, too, because, like, I just was talking about this recently.

You know, I've been on social media a long time. And I have been involved in those dog piles on somebody that I think, like, we're all talking about this person that's in the news. and lay out let's fuck i got a good one they will get this guy's goat and then it's you're like oh wait that is a person's a person and they're seeing all this shit and and especially too on social media i've made jokes about people and then the person within three minutes is like hey what the fuck i'm like oh shit i'm sorry yeah yeah yeah i forgot this goes out to everybody that's right that's right that's right um so it's it's hard because it can be fun to be involved in

there's nothing more fun than talking bitchy about people no totally And so, and then you do it out, you know, you're doing it kind of in public, but you don't, it doesn't feel like it's public because nobody's looking you in the face. It's hard to remember, like, no, you got to have a little sense of decor. It never feels public when you're tweeting, you know, from the toilet. Not at all. Even if it's a public toilet. Right, exactly. Exactly.

You know, and you're live streaming it. Yeah. And, well, two streams at once. Oh, dear. Did you always kind of think you were going to be a documentary filmmaker? because obviously you store you know no no what happened um what happened well do i have to pay you a no no no no no next hour okay um uh no you want to know what it can it sort of came out of necessity i had uh moved out to new york um sort of uh sometime in the aughts like 2006 or so and um

without new york and i loved it just because uh yeah i just needed a change yeah i just needed a change yeah i I just needed a change. I had been in L.A. for a long time. I had been on location in a bunch of different places. And I was actually, I had been shooting in New Zealand. And I was like, I don't, all my stuff in storage, like, I don't really want to go back to L.A. And I had actually texted Dan Ferguson. Oh, okay.

A former, yeah, former segment producer for the late night with Conan O'Brien. Who's a very good friend of mine. And I'm like, I'm thinking about maybe coming in New York. And he's like, do it. You should do it. Go. And so I moved to New York and quickly realized everyone I knew who is in New York had jobs. Either 9 to 5 job, like real world jobs or they were all on Saturday Night Live.

And I'd maybe see them on Sunday for people, maybe tops. And they all were writing, you know. And if they weren't writing for their, you know, their jobs, they were writing, you know, screenplays to do, you know, to try and get off the ground and stuff like that. Yeah. And I looked at all of the other people that I'd sort of come up with when I was younger. They had all started to write screenplays, you know, like Seth Rogen and, you know, like, all those guys. Like, they were making movies that they had written.

And I was like, I don't have the patience. Like, I just don't. I am with you, brother. My chemistry does not work that way. I can't sit down in front of a blank page and fill that fucker. I can't do it. And so I needed some sort of creative outlet. I just needed something.

And I didn't really know what it was. And it was around that time that Tower Records was going under. And as some people, if they're even remotely paying attention, know that I ended up doing a documentary about Tower Records. And a very well-received documentary. Yeah, it was. It was. And basically it was just sort of like, I don't know, maybe I'll try this.

like I just want I I know how to tell a story yeah I know how to do interviews because I've I've been interviewed yeah yeah um I love taking photos I love collaborating with people I want to get into like being able to edit and things like that like work with editors and actually craft a full you know story yeah yeah yeah just showing up and you know on the day and pretending and I was just kind of like dumb enough to be like I don't know I'll give it a shot so I reached out of to my best friend who I grew up with in Sacramento, who was my roommate when we both graduated college down here. Yeah. And he had experience, like, putting a crew together and like going off and filming stuff. And so I was like, hey, man, I got this idea. And he's also from Sacramento. So I was like, I think I want to do this documentary about Tower Records. And he's like, let's try it. And that really was kind of like what it was. It just sort of started out of that. Like, just like, well, let's just give it a shot. Let's just try it. And I got really, really incredibly fortunate because the guy that founded Tower Records, this guy, Russ Solomon, ended up sort of giving me the playbook on how to just try things.

And basically is like, just find a bunch of people that are much smarter than you in all the different areas that you need. Yeah. And then get out of their way. Oh, wow. and just try and, you know, keep the ship going. Yeah. You know, and that was really kind of it. Like, that's how he made Tower Records.

So I'm like, I'll guess that's how I'm going to make this documentary. And I just, yeah, I just kind of, like, fell into it. And I just fell in love with it. What did that mean reaching out to, like, a camera person and a researcher? Well, it was, well, part of it was instinctively, like, reaching out of my buddy, Sean and saying, like, you know how to find a crew. You know how to, like, put together a budget. You know how to do all that. stuff. I don't know how to do that. Yeah. You want to do this with me? Yeah. Cool. Great. And then

him saying, all right, well, we need to get this crew together. So it's like, okay, well, we got a crew, we got a DP, talking with the DP. Like, I don't know, what do you think? Well, how about this? And then just sort of collaborating, you know, because that's the one thing I really do love about acting is that really it is collaboration with other people. Absolutely. So I was just kind of like going with the gut instinct, you know, and it just sort of felt right.

And you just sort of start collecting more and more people that want to go on the pirate ship with you. Yeah. And, and then you kind of end up sort of getting, you know, sort of like a vibe all together. And you're like, yeah, we're going to like go do this. Right. And it just sort of becomes instinctual. And it just, it's like that at every level. You know, it's like, okay, well, what do we need now? Well, now we're going to need a little bit more money. Okay. So let's find somebody else. And then you find, you know, maybe another producer that's able to bring some financing to this. Yeah. Great. And then he knows of a really good editor, you know. And it just sort of goes from there. Right, right. And especially, like, on that movie, it was so, you know, bare budget, you know, by the seat of our pants. I mean, we used Kickstarter to raise money and, like, cameras changed. Like, Netflix, like, on demand didn't exist when we started making that documentary. So, like, literally, like, as the technology changed, we were just like, oh, well, we'll try this new thing.

I mean, it took seven years for us to make that. But it was so much fun. Yeah. And it just, it was just another way to be. creative. Yeah. And I'm really fortunate in that I sort of lucked into finding something that I was really passionate about that made me feel artistically challenged and fulfilled. And it was something that I could do when I wasn't being allowed to be cast in a movie and go do something else. Yeah, yeah. And so I was, been able to just sort of eke it out. And then based off of that,

the next doc came pretty much right away, which was not at all planned, which is the Eagles of Death Metal Bata Clone documentary. And that was a whole other sort of whirlwind. And then next thing, I know we got like a production company where this is kind of like what we're doing. So then we started producing a whole lot of shorts

and producing other directors' documentaries. And so it's just become this other part of my life. do that's great which i love yeah it's a wonderful fake it till you make it story completely yeah and what's really nice is that it really is truly just another part of the sandbox yeah because there's stuff that i can borrow from the acting world and take it over to the dock space and then there's stuff that i can borrow from the dock space or that you know the directing you know aspect that you know bolsters my acting like now like when i show up to work as an actor it's like i look at the director what do you need yeah i don't care about like i mean i'll put in as much as as as i feel like i can

that i want but like what do you need right do you need me to go over here do you need like yeah are we worrying about making the day right now yeah yeah yeah because if so i'll you know i can help you know right or can we you know have fun and play like it's just like a little bit more of awareness as to you know how to be you know a little bit of a better performer yes and a better collaborator No, I have often felt that way from, because I went to film school in Chicago and worked in production and so have done, you know, from the ground level of production. And I've always been struck by actors who will be on set and be just like furious that they're waiting and be like, what's taking so long? And I always just feel like, you wouldn't fucking know, would you? You have no idea what's taking so long.

Well, it's all happening right in front of you. Yes, yes. You're not really big attention, are you? Yeah, yeah, completely. Now, you mentioned that you grew up in Sacramento. So you grew up, I mean, your dad's one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but you didn't grow up here pretty much. No, not really.

Yeah. Not really. And do you think that that gave you sort of, like, does that give you the sort of like light on your feetness to be able to do these different things in show business while still kind of identifying as an actor? Or do you think if you were here that you'd, if you'd grown up here that you'd feel too rooted and just? I don't know. Yeah. That's actually a really good cue. Short for question.

I don't really know, to be quite honest. I feel like by growing up in Sacramento, it gave me an understanding of how fucking special this is and how much I need to just feel fortunate and lucky and do the best work that I can. Yeah. Because you might end up in Sacramento again. Is that what you're saying?

No, that's not what I'm saying, Chicago. High five. Wow. But it just, it, I was very fortunate in that I just had about as normal quote unquote normal and upbringing as you can yeah yeah while also coming down to LA every now and again dipping your toe into candy land that is so there's no frame of reference for it it is just it's it's the weirdest thing in the world and it it's it's it's a lot to process um so i don't know if like growing up in sacramento has made me a little bit more adept at being able to do both i think

what it's done has made me realize like don't ever take this for granted and also know that like I don't know everything. Yeah. Like I don't. You know, so lean on other people and try and, you know, get a little bit better. Like I think I'm just much more, I don't know, maybe a little bit more self-aware of, you know, my situation. Yeah. And, you know, knowing what the realities of that situation is like yeah yeah i i'm just like i try to be as practical as i can you know a lot of times i'll be like okay look if i didn't get the job i don't care just like let's just be very like you don't have to hold my hand yeah yeah yeah please just be honest because i'd much rather just know what the score is and then be able to go along my day but yeah you don't have to fluff my ego or anything like

it's just i'm just i think a little bit more practical on stuff i think that's yeah i think that's very true Although it is, you know, there's no set rules because you could, you know, I mean, I've known people that are ego monsters that came from, you know, Lincoln, Nebraska, you know? I mean, it's true, but I do feel like it's, you can either go one way or the other, you know what I mean? And it's either you totally reject that sort of mentality of the way that you're raised and the way that you interact with people and you're just like, I'm just going to be a fucking famous person, you know, and I can't wait to be a dick. You know what I mean? Or they're so, I mean, they were so like out to lunch, you know, before that happened. That's so many deep character flaws and trauma. Because the truth is, there's every person imaginable in the circus.

Yeah. There's every, there's no one set of, you know, there's a million different ways to be. But I feel like, you know, and in a strange way, I do sort of feel like this, you know, in connection with John. I think also in connection with you, like in connection. with the people that I've met over the course of my time in Shibisness that I feel like I relate to very quickly. And it's because I think that's because of my time in Sacramento. Yeah, yeah.

The same way, the Midwest, Canada. Yeah. You know, I think there's something about that. It's just about, you know, who your friends were before anyone cared who you were. What was it like growing up in Sacramento and having, like, like, I don't, I'm not aware when your mom and dad split up. They split up when I was, like, in third grade. In third grade.

Yeah, so I was pretty young. Yeah, yeah. I don't really remember ages. I just remember grades. Yeah, yeah. So I was pretty young. And then, you know, I mean, in Sacramento, I mean, everyone knew who he was. Right.

But he was never around, you know, because he lived in L.A. And as I was in high school, things started getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Right. I was a sophomore when he won his first Oscar. Right. You know, and then a junior when he won the next year. And so it became more surreal and it became more of a thing. Whereas prior to that, like, it was kind of smaller.

Yeah, I mean. Which is not to say that it wasn't an issue. It's not to say that it wasn't, you know, it's not to say that people weren't weird about it at times. Yes. And it's not to say that it wasn't totally carefree. And, you know, I've never addressed any of that part of my life. therapy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was just that little frame removed, I think, was really helpful, although there was a little bit of an extra microscope on it because it was so unique.

Yeah. Whereas if I was in L.A., people were like, I don't care of my degraded, you know, friends, you know, or whatever. Yeah. My dad invented the Dolly. I can buy and sell you. Oh, Jim Dolly? Yeah, Jim Dolly. Yeah, because. it's got to be, you know, I mean, everybody has to kind of grow up in the shadow of their parents in some way or another. Yeah. And then when you're in. Everybody does.

Yeah, yeah. That's the thing. Yeah. That's the thing that I want to like always stress to people. They're like, wow, I'm supposed to everybody. Yeah. It's just different. Yeah.

You know, it's just a different job. Yeah. It's just a different amount of attention. Yeah. That's all it is. But it's all of the same dynamics are at play. The same dynamics are at play, but I mean, but it's much shittier for you because you're, you know, you're trying to get out of the shadow of the people that raised you. You're trying to differentiate yourself.

You're trying to be your own person. And here your dad is like, there's a whole like industry juggernaut of information being shot out about him. And you're just trying to be like, well, yeah, that's my dad, but I'm me. And, you know, and it just, it's, I mean, I don't know what my point is other than, you know, it's, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, look, it's, I mean, he's a lovely guy. I'm going to be loose with the term hard. Yeah, yeah. It's hard. Yeah. Now, is it hard, like, hard physical labor? No. No, no, it's not. But, like, there are times where, yeah, it's a mind fuck. Yeah, yeah. Like, it just is. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Now, is that something to, for any. one to really, you know, cry about? No, not necessarily. Yeah.

It would be nice if they did, you know, because then I feel like they see me a little bit more. But, like, ultimately, you know, it's just, it's hard to quantify. It's hard to explain. But, you know, for those that stick around because they actually like who I am, and, you know, when they sort of see what it's like, they go, oh, oh, wow, okay. Yeah. This is a lot. just different than what you think it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, my

kids are, I have two older kids and I'm a younger kid, but the thing that I always noticed was I was very aware of the way people treated my ex-wife, like, as I started to get, and how much, how much I noticed they would ignore her and kind of talk around her. And, and I also was, sort of invited into my awareness of that by being Conan O'Brien's sidekick. Yeah. Because I was like there was many times when I would stand there talking to people and I feel like this is what my wife goes through. Nobody's even fucking talking to me.

Nobody's looking at me. Nobody cares. And I don't. Or they're talking right to me, but they're looking right past me. Yes, exactly. And I, and I, you know, and I mean, it's not like it was a huge, like they need to hear what I have to say. I would, I would have rather been home, you know.

But it just, I was like, oh, wow, this is weird. This is weird how kind of rude people can be just kind of by default, you know, and like in, yeah, and by omission. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, every now and again, it doesn't happen too much anymore, but in the past, like, I'd be having, you know, a conversation. Someone I'd be thinking like, oh, it's really good. And then someone else will come up and they go, oh, Brian, hey, I want you to meet Tom. I mean, Colin, and I just go, oh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gotcha. All right. Well, now, how does that factor into you wanting to be a performer? I mean, is that, do you have to struggle with that? Like, you know, I want to differentiate from my dad, but yet I still want to kind of do what he does. I think when I was starting out, it didn't even really occur to me how big that wave actually was. Oh, really?

I was, I think there was a certain amount of, like, blissfully ignorant. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's not that big of a deal. Right. people will see it's me yeah yeah yeah and then and that's probably Sacramento too i think so i think so absolutely yeah um and then you know much akin to once you actually get in that water and you feel those waves actually come yes yes well they looked small on the shore right right much stronger yeah yeah like that then became like oh okay it's going to be this and then it just keeps coming yeah

And you spend, at least I did, spent a large chunk of time, you know, sort of behind the scenes or whatever, like really trying to resist that. Yeah. And there's nothing more futile to trying to resist the waves. Like, you just can't do it. And so you just got to learn to sort of navigate those and flow with it and know when it's important and when it's not. And, you know, when to just put it to bed and not think about it. Right. And look, that is after a lot of therapy and a whole lot more.

You know, I mean, it's just ongoing. We're never finished. Yeah. We're never finished. And so I've just kind of learned to deal with it a little bit better on some days. And then some days I don't handle it very well at all. Yeah, yeah. And it's just not the thing that I want to be dealing with.

And it's just learning that that's okay. Have your dad and you talked about it? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's aware of it, you know. He's not oblivious to the fact. I mean, does he feel bad? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I can just, I mean, you know, my son's not out there trying to be, or my daughter isn't out there trying to be an actor or anything, but I can just imagine, like. For sure. Because it's like it's an odd thing. It's like, well, do you want me to show? show up for, you know, this premiere or would you rather me not be there? Because like that could

help or maybe it could be a major distraction. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, we've learned to, I mean, it wasn't very easy at first. Like, there was a lot of like us figuring out exactly like what that is. And how you talk to each other about it. How we talk about it. Yeah. You know, what's overstepping and what's not and, you know, what's appropriate. But like, yeah, I mean, we've gotten a lot better at it now. But also like, I mean, at 47, it's kind of like we now pretty much. much just kind of talk as like grown men. Right, of course. Where it's like, how are you doing?

Well, I'm tired. How about you? I need a new elbow. Yeah, pretty much. So now a lot of the sort of conversations are about that. So it's a little, you know, it's a little bit easier now. Yeah, yeah. And do you, I mean, your kids are kind of younger now, right?

12 and 14. All right. Well, they've got to start working. Yeah, yeah. You got to get them out there. Definitely, definitely, yeah, they're going to, I don't know what. yet, but we're going to, we're going to figure something. Yeah, yeah. Do you, I mean, did, did you have qualms about raising them in L.A.? Yeah, I did at first. And there were times where

was sort of discussed, like, well, maybe we don't live in Los Angeles. And I do, like, all of commuting. But when I was in New York, I learned this sort of, like, rough lesson that when you remove yourself from that ecosystem or whatever, then you have to leave quite a bit. Yes. And so all of a sudden that dream of like, oh, well, maybe we'll go up to Northern California. Yeah. Then it's like, well, that means any job I have, I'm not home. Yeah.

And more often than not, when I have to go do the other part of my job, which is go try and get a job, I still have to leave again. So then I'm really not home at all. I know. And that didn't seem like something that I really, really wanted to do. And I got really, I got really lucky because right after my youngest was born, within like a year, I got a television show, a Life and Pieces show. Yeah, yeah. That shot here in Los Angeles, and that was like four years.

So I was home. Yep. That whole time, I didn't work during the, the hiatus, the summers. The Conan. Yeah. My entire Cohner experience was, was. I had my kids at home and I was, you know, I was five minutes from home. Yeah.

I was home for dinner every night. And that's been great. Which even in show business, home for dinner every night is rare. Massive. Yeah. Absolutely massive. Because more often than not, it's like I don't see them, you know, I wake up before they wake up and then I'm home. But, you know, after they go to bed.

You only see them sleeping. Yeah. So I was really, really fortunate. So the L.A. thing, I mean, yeah, it's always a, it's always. always a little bit of an awkward thing, but also at the same time, there is some comfort in like, well, they don't care about my job, really that much. They don't really care about their grandfather's job, too, which is hilarious. Yeah. And they don't care that their best friends from dancing is their dad's like in nine-inch nails. Right. They don't, both of them don't care

about that. No, I know. My kids are the same way. Wait, what band is you dad in? Nine-inch nails. Yeah, yeah. Right, right. No, my kids are the same way. They just don't care. And so there's some, that's kind of liberating to know like, yeah, all right, there's just an understanding of like, it doesn't matter. Yeah. It doesn't matter. Yeah, yeah. And that's good. What was it about acting that drew you in? I mean, and at what point did you decide, like, that's what you wanted to do with yourself? It was, because it was always on display, it always looked fun. Yeah. Right. So there was a little bit of a set and that was pretty, And that's pretty romantic.

It's pretty cool. Yeah. And there's like, there is part of it. It's like, man, I would love to be able to do that. Yeah, yeah. No doubt about that for sure. But truthfully, like doing the school play was so much more fun than any of the other things at school. Yeah.

Do you know what I mean? Like it was so much more fun, you know, doing, you know, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in seventh grade. Yeah. Then, you know, trying to play baseball or something. Right, right, right. And I love playing baseball. Like, I love that. But, like, it was just, it was more fun. Yeah. And, and it just came easy, yet it was still challenging. And then as things progressed, then it sort of became like, oh, well, of course that's what you're going to do. And that was, like, you know, around, like, the time you're about to graduate from high school where you're like, oh, you think that's what I'm going to do? Fine, fuck you. I'm going to go do something else. You think just the world said that to you. Yeah. That was just the vibe. of like, well, of course he's going to do it.

Right, right. Following in your father's footsteps. Yeah, yeah. Okay, fuck off. And, but then by the time I got to college. Which you started at Chapman? I started at Chapman for one year and then I went to Loyola Marymount. And what were you studying at Chapman?

Anything but school. Really, to be quite honest. Yes. Freshman year for me was, what can I put inside this body? Yes. And what will it do? Pretty much. Yeah.

And how often? Yes, yes. So, yeah, for, for, like, I took an acting class at Chapman, which I was like, okay, this is a lot more, that was like my introduction to actually, like, real theory. Yeah. Where I was like, oh, okay, Stanislauski and, you know, like, oh, okay. Because for me, it was always just, well, you just do it. Yeah, they say the lines and then you say it like, do you think the person be like, yeah.

So that's when I was like, oh, okay, that's interesting. Oh, this can actually can be even deeper. Like, okay. And then it became, oh, well, then can we just like smoke cigarettes and drink coffee and just talk about this for hours? Yeah, yeah. Like, oh, we can? Yeah.

If there are other people that are into that? Yeah. Great. Let's do that. And then so by the time I was at Loyola, it became much more of like I really sort of fell in love with it again at Loyola, Merrimount. And this is like when I'm at Busy Phillips and a bunch of people. And at that point, then, it was kind of like, yeah, I think this is really what I want to do, regardless.

Yeah. And then that sort of naivete a little bit of just like, no, this is what I'm going to do. Yeah, you know. And knowing that I was, I was okay at it. Like, I could probably do it. Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, started actually like getting work because it was still, you know, the era of the WB and teenagers and teenage shows and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah.

So there was an ecosystem for me to be able to try and to get into. Nice. But it was just more, it was fun. Yeah. You know, that was it. It's the exact same thing about like what we were talking about early about writing. Like it didn't require me to sit down. Yeah.

And try and like type something into a computer. Focus. Or like, no homework. No. Besides learning lines. Learning line. Learning life, which is hard. And in and in and of itself is a thing.

So there, there is an element of having. to sit down and do some work. Come on. I mean, we're not, we're not analysts. But it was just, there was just something inherently I just took to it. And was it because I was exposed to it? Yeah, I'm sure, absolutely for sure. Because then it didn't seem like a far-fetched idea. Do you know what I mean? And in that regard, I was really really lucky. It's doable. Yeah, yeah. And I remember like, you know, People are always saying, like, you know, what's the advice that he's given you and all that stuff? And honestly, the only thing that he really needed to tell me was he's like, look, if this is what you want to do, if you want to be an actor, he's like, I think you can do it and you can make a living. Yeah.

Like, I think you actually are skilled enough to do it. Yeah. I'm not saying this as your dad. I'm saying this as a professional. Yeah. As your dad, I want you to really want that. Yeah. You've got to want to do that because if you don't, you're going to be miserable.

Yeah. And even if you do, there are going to be times when you're going to be miserable because you're not going to be allowed to do it. Yeah. You know, there are going to be times where you're not going to work. But you've got to want that. You've got to really be passionate about it. Yeah. And that was really like the only thing that I needed to hear.

The concept to me, like one of the most, like a concept that I'm like, yes, I believe in that is the notion of yin and yang that the better things get the higher the cost yes and so if you want to do this really fun thing for a living there will be a price it's not just all a day at Disneyland no you're living on cotton candy you know it's like there's there's parts of it that fucking suck yeah you know and that and that that like grind on your soul yeah totally um and there's times when you will feel you know like the fear of like holy fuck it i don't know that this i this is sustainable yeah i'm not sure if this window is i know i think i think i think they're done with me yeah you know i think they're done with us yeah collectively right right so it's it's it is it is true it's like

it's it is super fun yeah i mean my son when he was about four or five came to the set one day of one of the shows I was shooting, and as I was putting him in his car seat, because they left before we did, he's like, Dad, you have a really fun job. I was like, I do, don't I, you know. But it, you know, I think ultimately, regardless of where you're from or whatever, like, actually, Conan speaks to this in the movie, because this is what John provided for him. Yeah. At some point, you do need someone that has done it and has had some amount of, of success, regardless of what that is.

Yeah. That could be someone who's like the big dog at the local rep theater company, like whatever. Yeah. But you do need someone to say, hey, if you really want this, you got to, you got to really do it. There's no try. Yeah. You know, you really got to do it.

But you can. Yeah. And you just need someone to say that at some point. It doesn't matter who. And once you get that, it doesn't really matter if it's. It's the most ludicrous idea to everybody else. As long as you feel like there's some other person that's like, you can do this. That's all you kind of need because ultimately we all ran away and joined the circus.

It's just a circus. What do you want your future to be, say like the next 20 years or so? Oh, gosh. I don't, oh, man, I don't know. I try not to future trips. Well, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I would love to be. be able to um obviously i'd love to be able to keep doing documentaries i'd love to uh still be able

to uh wear makeup and pretend to be other people and and act and stuff like that do you have interest in directing i do yeah yeah i do and so right now i'm i'm kind of hoping like within the next you know however many years whatever that we're going to kind of try and blend those two parts the sandbox together and in the vend diagram so we've uh i've been developing a lot of different ideas for scripted stuff and sort of starting to dip my toe into that, but using the same, you know, Tower Records mentality of like, I'm not going to write it, but let's find somebody who can. So definitely want to do that. But then also, like, you know, I've also, you know, I'm 47. And so I also know that, like, I don't have like a whole lot more time as a quote unquote young

adult. Yes. So eventually, you know, I don't, like, I don't really know. Yeah. For me, it's just like, I know that in my world, sometimes I can be saying like, it's all over, windows closed, fuck, I'm done. And then someone says, you need to go to New Zealand for eight months to go make a movie. Yeah, yeah.

Like, I just know that that's what that roller coaster is. And I just sort of am like, okay, whatever, whatever the waves are. Yeah. I just got to just sort of roll with that. Yeah, I agree. You kind of just have to be available. Yeah, but hopefully, you know, working and comfortable, you know, really more than anything else, I just kind of want, like, peace of mind.

Yeah, yeah. And regardless of how good things seem or crazy they are, just be like, oh, everything's okay. I got my kids. Yeah. People I care about and just sort of focus on that and just try to be a good person. Do you ever consider moving back up North Carolina, Northern California? Because you still identify as like a Bay Area kind of. Yeah.

All your sports affiliations. Oh, yeah. A lot of them are, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, part of me definitely would consider it for sure. Yeah. But, you know, at that point, it would have to be like once the kids are off doing kind of their own thing. Because they have their own.

They get their own lives. They get their own lives eventually, yeah. But there's part of me that would consider maybe doing something like that. Yeah. What do you think is something that you've learned in life that you've learned in life that kind of surprised you that you know that you didn't think you didn't like what something that you're sort of surprised that you you as a young person would it wouldn't have known that you'd be like this i think um and this only comes with age and especially the more and more reps

you kind of get like within like everything is is you spent so much time uh when you're younger sort of like judging and raging where you're like that's not good enough that's not funny enough that's not cool enough that's not powerful enough like whatever right um and and now i realize like no just it's temporary just go and do the like i you know i was talking about this the other day with with someone where they're asking about like what are the jobs that you you know sort of regret and i'm like well there's a ton of them you know and they're all silly yeah but part of me just goes i wish i just done that just so that i could have just worked because who knows who i would have met who knows what would have happened you know like you just

spend so much time just saying no and i just wish that i had said yes a lot more um it's like one of the really interesting things like when i uh yeah i did uh you know oden kirk yeah yeah so oden kirk wrote this thing for me in Nobody 2 and where I'm like the bad cop and it's a big action movie right

and I've known I'm like a massive fan of Odenkirks forever like comedy guy like he's written some of my favorite sketches of all times he's a brilliant guy

SNL, Mr. Show and then as an actor just as brilliant and everyone's like oh I can't believe he's like doing those big action movies I'll tell you exactly

why he's doing those action movies in comedy everyone's like no it's not funny enough that's not good enough yeah it's got to be better like uh it's not good whereas in action movies everyone on the crew is like yeah we can do that yeah yeah yeah no you want to do that no like let's find a way to do it like everyone's like they want to do that because they love what they're doing because they're passionate about yeah yeah and i kind of wish i had spent a lot of more time in that kind of headspace like let's find the way to do it right Right, right. As opposed to, I can't be done.

Is that good enough? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and I bet for Bob, because Bob is like an incredibly critical thinker, comedy-wise. Yeah. Like, he's very, like, it's got to be perfect. Yeah, because I've worked with him and written things, you know, not with him, but around him. And he needs it to be perfect. And so I'm sure that, like, hey, can we blow something up?

Sure, let's blow something up. Well, but he's, I think one of the things I really admire about him is he does that work of like, no, this needs to be better. And then on the day, he's the cheerleader. Like, come on, let's go. Like, let's do this. Like, let's make it as best as it can be. Yeah, yeah. And that sense of like that yes and, I guess, if you want to, if you want to label it something, that to me, I think is really, I wish I had had more of that.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, John Candy, I like me. It's available to stream on Prime Video. I will go home and watch it as soon as I stop this goddamn dancing thing that I'm doing. I mean, so much dancing. I know. It is. I mean, I am loving it, but it is like. Now, one question. So all of the ice packs on all of your, all of your ankles and ease and stuff like that, do you have someone coming in and swap those out every hour? No, no. That's me. That's, that's, it's been a long time. Six hours of my day is just icing myself. Coal plunge, smart. Strapping myself up with pads.

Cold plunge, yeah. You're in Laird Hamilton. You also are going to be in the upcoming movie, Nuremberg, sounds like a laugh riot. It is a feel-good movie of the summer. I'm playing Gustav Gilbert. The movie also stars Rami Mollick and Russell's Crow. It's in theaters. Russell's Crow.

Russell's Crow. It's the Rommies-Mollocks and the Russell's Crows. It's going to be in the theaters November 7th. Yes, that's right. So thank you so much, Colin, for coming in. It was great talking to you. It's always a pleasure talking to you. Yeah, yeah.

And I hope the candy movie does big, big stuff. I hope it streams big. Yeah. Thanks, man. All right, thanks, everybody. I'll be back next week with more of the three questions. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rich Garcia.

Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Sier. Samuel, executive produced by Nick Leow, Adam Sacks, and Jeff Ross, talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, with assistance from Maddie Ogden, research by Alyssa Graal. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to the three questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section.

Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you feel it ain't it showing? Oh, you must be. this has been knowing, I've got a big, big love. This has been a Team Coco production.