The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Nat and Alex Wolff

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

Musicians and actors Nat and Alex Wolff join Andy Richter to discuss their upcoming self-titled album, getting their start as kids on “The Naked Brothers Band” TV show, meeting Paul McCartney, sibling fights vs. band fights, Marvin the Dog, 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!) or ask a question - 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.

Hey, everybody, welcome back to the three questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter. And today I'm talking to Nat and Alex Wolfe. They are actors and musicians. Most recently, Nat can be seen in the film's pavements and play dirty. Alex can be seen in Oppenheimer and A Quiet Place Day One. Their self-titled album, Nat and Alex Wolf, is out January 16th. Here's my conversation with Nat and Alex Wolfe.

We got Nat and Alex Wolf here today. and Marvin. It's Marvin, right? Yeah. Their mother's dog, who apparently is now their publicist. Yes.

That's why Marvin's here. Marvin. We don't have the same taste. insisted you guys get some lunch. They need sandwiches and they need them now. You get in a fight in the elevator with another dog.

I mean, the other dog, no. He didn't get into a fight. He was really cool and chill, but the, what was the dog's name? Well, it's not out the dog. Yeah, yeah. Well, why not? Okay, the dog's name was...

Dogs can't afford satellite radio. It was some... Well, one of them was named midnight, and midnight was nice, and then the other dog... Was that in here? Teddy. It was Teddy. Just now and he was...

And someone was like, wow. You're the eighth and seven floor. Did you meet Teddy? Really, Gary. I was told... I was told, first of all, I have dogs that I would bring in here, and I was told, like, there's no dogs in this building. Like, I was told that like a couple years ago.

Oh, my God. Yeah. And it's a dog party. Maybe it's just because it's a holiday with four dogs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they've been, you know, lying to you.

Marvin liked it. Or maybe they just saw you guys coming in it. Wait, does your jacket say Marvin too? Dude, what? Whoa, I didn't even realize that yet. It says Marvin. Why? We're Marvin's publicist.

I'm just kind of a Marvin guy today. Your dog has his own clothing line. His own brand. Yeah, he's a publicist. He's very strict. I did talk about it. No, Andy brought it up on his own. Well, you guys are here because you have a band.

I'm letting you know. Thank you. Thank you for letting us know. I decided you guys need to do something together. Thank you. It's too long that your siblings have been working independently. Yep. And the album's coming out.

It's a self-titled album. It's just Nat and Alex Wolfe, right? Yeah. Why not Alex and Nat? That's a very good question. Because I'm older. Is that where it is? Let's unpack it.

You would think it would be alphabetical, though. Yeah, that's a really good point, and you're bringing up a real sore subject. I know, of course. I want to get to the doctor. Dr. Fullstuff right away. Yeah, let's get into it. What do you think, Nat? Why?

I think that we're announcing it now. I was born first and Alex and that Wolf coming out. Really, really, really exceptionally good years before he was ever born. And I think then he came into the picture and I was a really good host, you know, in the family. And then I think when we made the, man, how did I get the first? I mean, I was the older brother. So he probably just accepted it. You know what it does.

Yeah, but now I'm going to change it up. But you know what? We'll do a little oats and haul. I'm sorry. See, that's a little Garland, Simon. You just proved what I was just about to say. You're right. Hall and Outs, Aitchin.

Which is that Nat and Alex and Nat Wolf. Well, you just aren't used to. Nat Wolf. Nat Wolf. Nat Wolf. Not Wolf. Like, you know, I think it's just that. Wait, so now you're saying his name is better.

That the name is. Well, my name objectionally is better. Yeah, yeah. Nat Wolf sounds like a, like a wildlife show. Like a, you know, like a tiny bug. that has been bitten by a wolf. I didn't even ever think of it. Also, it's a bug and it's an animal.

Yeah, yeah. There's a net wolf. Krolls, cruising. In the Marvel universe. I can't believe I'm wearing, by the way, we can't curse, obviously. Yeah, you can say whatever the fuck you want. Hey!

You know? Let's change this fucking net. Beal, boom, boom, boom. You got any siren buns? This is a podcast. The children aren't listening. this. And if they are, fuck them.

You know, child protective, yeah, well, there's that, but also child protective services should

probably be called. Well, I mean, you guys, with this album, is, this isn't like your first album

as a duo. No, this is like our 800th album. Yeah, yeah. And why self, my self-titled this time.

We just couldn't come up with a name in time. Really? No. No, no, we thought that this was a re-definition. We thought it was a re- not,

not to, you know, undo or erase the albums before because I'm proud of those albums too, but I felt like this wasn't like, okay, we are really, this is the music that we are the most proud of. We're going to slap our name on it. And also on the earlier albums, it was always, I wrote a song, he wrote a song, I wrote a song, he wrote a song, and this album we really collaborated on the whole thing. So we kind of, you know, even if I

would start a song and then he would come in or he would start a song and I would come in and help it up. Every single song is definitely a brainchild of both of us. Is it collaboration? It's the most collaborative. Why were what was, why was that your working mode like before and what changed to make you more collaborative? Um, I think we started touring way more in the last couple years and, uh, and we lived together during COVID for the first time since high school, since we kids and there was something about that where you know i would wake up and Alex was writing a song and then i would come in and just start playing piano with him while he was on the guitar or vice versa and uh i think somehow we got back into a pattern that we had when we were little kids which was

just constantly playing music together yeah um and then it was just years of being on movie sets and being apart from each other where we were just sending each other songs which isn't just doesn't have the same kind of collaborative feeling. It's like, I mean, you'd be like, oh, you want to change, like, you know, what if you changed this or what if you tried that? But the idea of being in the same room, they're just started to be kind of a magic together that we didn't have for. So it wasn't, it was the solo writing was about a necessity.

It wasn't. Yeah, kind of. Yeah, it was. You guys weren't feuding. No. Made up. No, definitely not. We could finally work together.

Yeah. No, we're kind of going the opposite direction of most bands where, we're, we're, we're, we start doing a little more separately and kind of helping each other with the song. And then now it's becoming more of a duo doing things together. It is back. It's the reverse. We had one massive fight on this album and that was kind of it, I think. Most of the time when we fight, it's about stuff that doesn't have to do it.

It was about the name of the band, which we are changing live on air. Right after doing the Andy Richter podcast. Well, wait, can you tell us what the fight was about? Yeah, I was doing. I don't remember. You don't have to. I was doing a piano part. and it sucked.

It sucked. It was, honestly. It was me, it was like his, it was one of those things where he should have just played it, but I was like, I got a little bit controlling.

Alex, and Alex, I'm a bit bossy once in a while. Usually the producer doesn't let Alex have the button, the talkback, but that's honestly what it was. And Alex got the talk back button. So I'm in the room with the headphones on playing the part,

and Alex is like, I think maybe just a little, I think maybe there's a little, and I kind of like, you know, it's like when you have, somebody in your ear, especially when they're in your ear and they're not in the room and then finally I was, you fucking do it. And I threw down the headphones and then we

yelled at each other for a second and then you know, but I remember one time actually during COVID, we were living with our friend Austin and we got into a fight because Alex took my sweater and he wanted it was too hot in his room so he took my sweater and he put it in between the

window and the thing to keep the window open and I was like, why would you do that to my sweater and we got into a fight about And we were like really getting mad at each other. And then Austin, you know, in five minutes later, we're like, hey man, I'm sorry, sorry, I got some man. He's like, oh, sorry, sorry. And my friend Austin is like, go get my sweater watch.

Yeah. And my buddy Austin was an only child was like, wow, I thought the band was going to break up. I was like, dude, no, we can fight like this, you know, and then get over in a second. You said that this, you know, that there's this change in the title of the album, because there's this change in your music. And can you describe what that changes? Because, I mean, to me, it seems like before you got, well, I mean, to say, you know, you guys writing before you've been writing since you were babies, you know, and I mean, and you were so prolific for so long where you're just cranking out songs. And they were very poppy.

They were like, you know, you were kids. So, yeah. So you were a very poppy kids song. And this is kind of more. I mean, I mean, it was some really stupid shit. It was really, it was like, I heard it. I'm like, sorry. I thought you were going to say something else.

He was he was gearing up for a compliment and then you've bought. Yeah, well, I had. I didn't know. It was overwhelmed by the positivity. We were about to get a compliment. No, no. But I mean, the new stuff, it is, it's kind of very ethereal and very sort of, you know, almost trippy and atmospheric. And is that what prompted that change?

And is that the change that you were talking about? Yeah, definitely. I think we've gotten way more drugs or bull in this. It could be. It definitely does have that effect. No. You do want to hear synth loops for 10 minutes. I think that there was a lot of experimenting in the studio with different, you know,

we have a couple different producers on this album and stuff. But, you know, it's not like we go in with a band. We pretty much play everything ourselves and stuff. So that when we were younger was cool, but probably limiting. And then now we've just spent more time in the studio. And we, because we were on that, you know, what was that he's like

boring was that a what end did that come out of him the guy that made the most amazing that was out good name sorry that was me I told him I told him I told him I think also we as kids

like a lot of weird stuff I just think that as we get older we're letting each other off the leash more and we're kind of embracing so a lot of times when we get a little trippy it's not like I mean I always loved like strength weird music

even since we were young. Like Cocktoe twins kind of thing. Yeah, and Radiohead since we were young. I remember like hearing, not that that's weird, but just a little more left to center than when you're young. Our dad is a jazz band. So we kind of grew up going to way more jazz shows than we did going to any rock concerts, you know.

So I think, and then like on this album is the first time that we had, you know, some, we kind of tried to bring in some of that influence. But I feel like a lot of it, too, is that we I wish I would say that I would sort of a lot of times push it towards the simpler basics

like the song you know like kind of more focused on just like you know bearing it down to the just the song and then I think Alex sometimes will push it out into the stratosphere and it's kind of a good combination and I think we kind of balance each other out well that is yeah I mean collaboration to me is always there's like

attention to it that is very, very useful. All right, I'm going to take him to come out. You can just talk to me. All right. By the way, we don't have to let Nat back in. You can just let Nat. Now, why don't you go babysit the dog?

Andy, let's get down to it. Let's get down to the music. Let's get down to the spirit and the music. I don't want to talk about the music. I want to talk about the girls. No, you guys have been working since you were little kids. I mean, because that's always interesting.

to me because I have you know starting in Chicago I was I worked in film production and I would see I worked mostly in commercials and I would see like Chicago child actors and just and just it always struck me I mean you know what I'm where I'm going it's like well no not that the kids are insufferable they're just weirdly like like you can just tell they're manipulated yeah they're manipulated by their parents into kind of being uh market marketing tools. Yeah. You know? And you can immediately tell the ones that don't want to be there. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, they're the ones usually with the biggest smile and the deadest eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the parents are like, you know, yeah, that is really, really tough. And we were definitely around a lot of those kids, but we were kind of lucky in having two artists parents that were like, okay, no matter what you guys do, you have to go to school during the year. Yeah. You know, we're not taking you.

you to like auditions you know you're not like um and and also kind of being in a i think in a healthy way being really anti the business whereas i think a lot of these kids they have the pressure on them to like make money make me parents and like you know it's a that's too much pressure i mean it's a lot of pressure to put on a kid it sure is yeah yeah yeah and you hear all those stories i think sometimes those kids spiral out because they've had to have have all this adult pressure and they kind of like even speak like adults like a lot of the kids you know they're like kind of talk like little adults but they're not so then they get to an age where they're allowed to you know where they're like 19 or something and they're breaking away

they come well done they go insane absolutely yeah you know i i mean just when i i had so few like i met i mean i met people that were child actors and that are you know like seth green you know was acting since he was like a little tiny kid kid. And he's a well-adjusted, normal guy. But when I think about most of my exposure to child actors, there's always some tinge of like, ooh, yow, that's not good, you know. Can't you tell my loves it growing? I mean, it's nice that your folks at least gave you. Also, too, I imagine with you both doing it at the same time. We could take care of each other. Yeah, yeah. And that you don't feel like you're so like thrust into this adult world of, because,

there is the thing of like adults judging you and saying you're not doing this right and you don't look the right way. Strangely enough, I mean, not just to bring it back, but honestly, that is kind of, you know, generally the theme and the idea of what we went into in making the album, which is another reason why we called itself titled, is that the idea was kind of reflecting on this sort of whatever you'd call that early adolescence like 11 through 14 and how those years, which are weird for anybody and we're super weird for us, kind of reflect, you know, are reflected in our lives now, you know, and like how that affects. And, you know, I think for us, it was super strange because, you know, our parents are like, oh, you got to go to real school and, like, have a real life and not. But then, you know, we go to real school and, and we leave our school and we

have, like, 80 girls outside screaming because we're on a TV show. And then inside the school, all the kids are like mean, mean and pissed and the teachers are like, you know, some kid put up like a flyer of us or something like that and the teachers rip it down and like, they're no different than anybody else. And, you know, it's like, it was just really strange. And it brings out a lot of, you know, strange things in adults too, which is super strange. But the idea of like going from that, going from school where you kind of felt like ostracized and, and then leaving school and being kind of appreciated, and both things felt kind of weird and fake and strange.

And not right for kids. They aren't about who you are. At all. Yeah, right. You know, and so then you find yourself, at least for me, I don't know as much for Alex, but you find yourself sort of, you know, self-protecting and getting a little bit of a, you know, I think kind of a protect,

you like a. Well, you're on both ends of the spectrum when you need to find the middle. Like we were kind of thought, you know, oh, we are special or oh, no, we're, you know, this is a shit because of the way of people treated us. Yeah, we're resented because we're. So you want to trying to find the middle. Which honestly, and then, you know, at the same point, then you hold at the same time, it's like we're the, I mean, at the time we also felt and still feel that was like the luckiest thing that could have ever happened. You know, it's like such an amazing, such an amazing opportunities and so exciting and all that stuff. But it came with a lot of weird, you know, like the stories you're telling.

about these kids. Like, you know, also, you know, it's possible those kids went and then it led them to a creative, you know, like meeting cool creative people. And I could totally see why I could, you know, spin you out. And honestly, if I didn't have Alex, if I don't think if he had me, you know, it would be different. You do seem more needy than he does. That's definitely not true. Like during that period, because I know your parents made you stand.

stop doing the naked brothers because of school. Like they wanted you to work too much, right? The Nickelodeon. Yeah. They wanted us to do like a bunch of episodes and do like, you know, what the other shows did. And my parents are like, no, they're not doing more than, you know, the summer. Right. Like as if it's summer camp, you know.

Yeah. Which it was kind of. It was kind of because it was my real friends and all. You know. Yeah. It was in New York. It wasn't in L.A. with all. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But, but yeah, that's, you know, that was a good, that was a good, that was a good parents. Did that, but when, I mean, when you were in this position where you were, like, stuck between two not true worlds, like, you're incredible, you know, you're garbage, you know, it's like nobody's any of, you know, either of those things. Did your parents ever kind of feel like, oh, sorry, guys, you know, the JVers sort of expressed sort of like. No, we're still waiting on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still waiting on the sorry.

I hope they listen to them. We're going to send them to link. All right, guys. Marvin to the podcast? They're like, what the fuck? Why'd you bring our dog? No wonder he's talking so filthy now. His language is gone really downhill.

Well, now tell me about like about those early days. What is that like when you, you know, I mean, because it was kind of your mom's idea, right? You guys were writing songs just for the fun of it. And then she's like, hey, why don't we turn this into a TV show? Is that kind of how it happened? No, we sort of had the. band. We had a band when we were kids and then she started filming us like almost kind of

in a bit like a bit like you know. The whole thing is in New York too. In New York and it's and it was all done for no like it was there was no money like it was just done as like a bit with the camera and stuff. And then people there's this editor and people started seeing the footage and being like this would be a cool movie. Yeah.

Kind of structured it through voiceover and through things like that to give it sort of an arc. And then Nickelodeon bought it and was like, you know, we want to, this would be a good TV show. Yeah. And then, yeah, and then it was like three summers. But all those kids, none of them were actors. They were all just friends of mine from preschool and stuff. Yeah, yeah.

So they didn't like become act. Like we were very just, it was very loose. It was very lucky. Yeah. After when I went on other sets, I was like, whoa, you don't just kind of say where you want. You don't have a basketball hoop that you're like going to play? You know, just kind of do whatever you want. You can't change all your lines.

Yeah, I'm like, what the hell is a mark? Yeah, yeah. We were both, like, super ADHD kids and like the first. I mean, now we're ADHD adults, but they, but when we were kids, there was like, I think the first day, Alex was, the first day of shooting on an actual professional set, which was like the Nicolone said, Alex was like, you're such a lot of guts. You don't have the guts to kick me. Like, you would never kick me in the throat. Like, you're somehow like goading me. And I just kicked him in the throat.

started screaming out screaming and crying. I was like, you sure this is going to be okay? My God, these are not trained child actors. That's day one? Day one. They were like, we were unhinged. These other child actors were like,

ah. When that, did the whole show didn't have other like actors? It was all just like, we had like one or two, but they were really kids. And who does their writing or is it all just kind of loosey-goosey? Well, my mom did a lot of writing. It's really her show.

Yeah. But it was a lot, you know, it never felt like we were doing a show. Yeah. I learned that later. I actually just watched the new spinal tap. Have you seen the spinal tap? I just, yeah. Yeah, the first one.

Yeah, yeah. And it was, it made me think like, oh, God, it kind of reminded me. It re-reminded me of the Naked Brothers Band. Spinal Tap, a little rascals. I got to go back and watch the original spinal tap. Yeah. But, you know, that might be a spoiler, but Paul McCartney's. Yeah, yeah, no, it's already out.

It's been out long enough that, you know, you know, Yeah. But that was a great cameo. He killed it. Yeah, yeah. No, he really did. He was, like, really locked in and not, yeah. He was in Pirates the Caribbean, too. I can't believe Paul McCarty was in Pirates to Caribbean. Yeah, he had a, what? Yeah, he had a cameo later on in like third or fourth one.

Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, because Keith Richards was in the first few. And then he came in and did the one of the last ones. I think Dead Man's chest. Yeah, he's really funny. I didn't know that. Yeah. He's amazing because it's like, he's old as shit. And he does not see.

But he looks, we just saw him in an elevator. Yeah. Um, randomly. And I have a Beatles tattoo. I have here. They're everywhere. Yeah. And, uh, I mean, it's a long story, but I, I basically was trying to go up to him because I was so excited and the bodyguard was like, you're taking your shirt off as you're walking up.

Literally. Yeah. Literally. Yeah. Just show him. And the body guard thought he was grabbing a gun. Dude, what the fuck are you doing? I'm like, you're right.

You're right. But I just, I have a tattoo. And then, and then Paul was like, I don't like to see the tattoo. So I showed him the tattoo. And as he leaned forward. to look at it, I looked in his little beetle eyes. He just looked like a young guy. He just looked, he looked amazing. And he just had these beautiful Paul beetle eyes. I just saw him in Columbus, Ohio, play a show. And he said something where he said, it was amazing. Like every time I've seen him,

it's incredible. But he said at one point, you know, men of our generation didn't tell each other that we loved each other and I realized that after John Dad I never got to tell him that I loved him I was like And then did you play You go so I wrote this song

Yeah Yeah yeah What would you have to be If you were here today What are you doing? We can't afford Stop! Stop You've already gone past

This show will never air now You can't afford fucking Beatles It's not Beatles It's Paul Well whatever It's probably even pricier Paul loves you Andy Oh I

Did you You guys have had him on a bunch You had them on No, I don't, I think, in fact, I don't think he was ever on when I was on. Because, you know, I did the first, like, seven years. But I have seen him in the wild, you know. You met him before. Yeah, yeah.

In the wild. With, and it was usually like in around Lauren Michaels because like. Are they friends? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's like one time I was in the 90s at Nobu and was going to the bathroom and sitting right by where the bathroom, the door, you know, know, like going into the back hall is Lorne and Mick Jagger. Whoa.

And, you know, Lauren was the executive producer of Conan. And so I was like, oh, hey, Lauren. And he's like, hey, talking to me. And Mick Jagger, it was like just looked away. Like they're like, just let me know. We are not going to be interacting. So just don't even bother. Yeah, yeah.

You just talk to Lauren. And then when he's done, I'll turn back, you know. Did you ever have a guest where you were such a big, Have you ever had a guest on any of your shows where you were such a big fan that it was hard to do your job? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No. No, the people that I really cared about, I couldn't even talk to.

Like if Conan was talking to me. Michael Kane. Yeah, like Michael Kane. What am I going to say to Michael King? You know, I read your acting. You're good. Yeah. You're good actor.

I like you lots. Yeah. But there were people that, you know, are like James Brown. Right. Whoa. Just you can't even believe that you're sitting next to James Brown. Yeah. Right.

But then there were people that with repeated exposure, like David Bowie was local and he would do bits for the show. And he did him kind of more after I left, but he was on a number of times. And so it just kind of became to be sort of like familiar. And then just like, I remember one time we're chatting about boots, like we're just because I was wearing, you know, we're talking. You know, we're talking about any, and he, you know, he's like, look at us. Just sitting here chatting about boots. He did that on TV? Yeah, no, no, it was in the commercial.

Oh, that's amazing. But I was, but it really was. I had like a, you know, a little relationship with like. I read some interview with Gary Olman where he's talking about being friends with David Bowie. And he's like, the David Bowie of David Bowie is a character. Yeah. Which isn't, I think, true of a lot of rock. Like some people there, it's the same thing.

Yeah, yeah. Or they meld at some point. Yeah, they turn into one. They don't even know. Maybe more like Paul. who seems pretty real and pretty good. Yeah, to always be Paul. Yeah.

Not have a character. Yeah, yeah. Also, David Bowie had Ziggy Star Dust. He had like a lot of different versions of him. And he also too, you know, he had like terrible drug years where he was like not not, like he talked. I read an interview once where he's like he couldn't remember like four months. Whoa. Like he just like one time.

He's like those are gone. He woke up one morning and he's like, wait, it's four months later or. something like that, which is just mind-blowing, you know? And I think it was during those four months that he, like, put out a cigarette in a rock journalist's ear that he didn't like. Right, right. Which, you know, like he found it was mortified. Conveniently, didn't remember that.

Yeah, yeah. He's like, those four months are gone. No, that was. That was Ziggy. That wasn't me. But, I mean, it just, that was, like, just the nicest, most normal guy. Well, having those boots conversations are actually kind of the greatest in any time. I've gotten to spend, like I got to work with Sam Shepard before he died, who has always been

one of my biggest heroes. And like, I obviously wanted to talk to him about his plays and, you know, everything. But then you realize that every single person on the, you know, we did two things, like a movie. And every single person on the movie is like coming up to him and talking about his plays. You can just see his eyes kind of glaze over. Yeah, yeah. And then we ended up talking about, like jackets and the, you know, like the winter in Iowa and like, you know, like just different things that. And honestly, you get more of a taste of him through that than you would through, you know, through talking about normal human stuff.

Yeah. And also it's probably exciting for somebody like that to have a conversation that's about normal human stuff. Absolutely. And to not talk about yourself. I certainly, I mean, I'm sure you guys are the same way. When when people who are fans of yours come to talk to you and then they want to like talk about stuff that you've done and it's nice.

at a certain point, like, you don't have a lot to say about, like, yeah, I did that. Right. Yeah, it was good. And, you know, but like, if people want to talk about, you know, kids or, you know, or just the weather or. That's actually how you get to know somebody. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. And also, like, you might have this relationship with their art that's totally positive,

but they might have a negative relationship with, you know, it's like this play that everybody loves. But maybe, you know, with Sam, it's like he wrote the play about his dad. at being an alcoholic and trying to, you know, so right, right. He doesn't want to maybe go there all the time, like every day. And he's also talked about it

probably a billion times. And no, there's no new angle on it that anybody's going to find. And one day we did a, then we ended up doing a play together. I remember one day I kind of switched it and my brain got excited

because Patty Smith came, and I was like, and I said to him like, wait, so how did you and Patty Smith mean? And he looked at me like, don't betray me, you know, like, asking about the jackets.

Yeah, yeah. And then he was like, Where did you get that Canada goose catch? I want to get a Canada goose. And I was like, right, right. Back to it. I'm like, sorry. I got it at a normal store.

Sorry, I got too excited. Right. We're jacket bros. I'm not going to step outside on a jacket bros circle. Me and Sam, we're jacket bros. There was, I,

doing the movie Elf with James Kahn was like, that was really, because James Kahn truly was like somebody that was kind of, like, Oh my God. I mean, come on. He's James,

come on. He's just the fucking best. The greatest. And there was a movie he did called Thief. Yeah. I love Thief. Thief was so. Deep was so.

The best movie was super formative to me because it was, yeah, because it was shot in Chicago. And it was just so like, and I, like, so at the time, I was like a teenager. And I recognized all these places. And it was like, oh, you can make movies here, you know, so it made it all seem kind of real. And then he was on, when I got to Elf, I was, you know, I was, you know, I was, I was all ready to never speak to him. Right, right, of course. And the first day when I was there, he was kind of a little bit standoffish.

But then it was like combination of Will Ferrell, Amy Sedaris, Kyle Gas, and me. He could, like, after a while, he said at one point, he's like, look, if we're just going to fuck around, I'll fuck around too. I don't. He's like, I'm trying to keep it, you know, trying to keep it serious here, like, you know, professional. But guys, if you just want to fuck around, that's great. And then from that point on, he fucked around with us. And Amy used to treat him like a jukebox of stories. And she would just go like, Barbara Streisand.

And he'd go like, oh, yeah, she was really. You know, like, there was one day where she had this dress she couldn't fit into, you know. Because he did like funny lady with her. Funny girl? Was it funny girl or funny lady? One of them. He was in one of them. There's two of them.

I've only seen funny girl. There's funny girl and then funny lady is the sequel. but yeah she would just you know spout out name you know john wayne oh yeah i did a western with him and and i kind of do that the best he was just and and he like it went beyond that to where you know he also too is like just really open like unbelievably sharing about like difficult horrible things that it happened to him with like addiction and recovery and stuff like just over lunch you know right like it's just such an open book i loved him so much yeah I had the moment where I got to do one scene with Rob De Niro

It was obviously everybody's you know the greatest and I was like I'm not gonna You know everybody says you know he's kind of shy and stuff so I'm not gonna talk to him and the other people in the movie have been like oh yeah he's not really talking to him I'm like cool whatever I'm gonna come in I'm just gonna like zone out and also to make it easier because I'm not gonna How is it doing taxi driver fuck And then I was chewing gum between takes and he was like what do you, the first thing he said to him, he was like, what are you going to do with that gum? And I was like, oh, I was just going to, you know, spit it out before the take. He's like, put it under the table.

And I was like, all right. I took the gum and I stuck it under the table. And then the director was Nancy Myers, he's like, hey, Nancy, the kid put his gum under the table on the set. I was like, whoa, I got roasted. That's pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty awesome. Thanks, Bobby D. Can't you tell my loves it grows?

There's a famous story when he was, I don't know if he was hosting. SNL or he was on SNL, but it was either before or after the table reading, he was just killing time in one of the writer's offices. And he had the newspaper up. And the writer was just kind of sitting there. And after a while, went like, you know, like, so how many kids you got? And from behind the paper, De Niro went, we don't have to do small talk. Okay. All right then. We'll just sit here in style. That's cool. Because that was something I noticed, too, over the years of being on a talk show is like, really famous people because there was always the commercial break you know where i'd sit next to these

people and they're like and they're the the level of comfort that really famous people have with awkward silence is just amazing like you could be sitting like do they want to go to medium talk like no no herb when they're just there's like there are some of them that just they're like like you like mick jagger you know when i walked up the table like you don't exist and uh you know and i dare you to pierce the veil of my invulnerability. I always do. You know. I always do.

I'm like, hey, what's going on? You look at me. What are you doing? What are you going to? I have a tattoo of you. If we're even in an Uber and the Uber driver doesn't want to talk to Alex, he is like a puppy dog. He's going after that. I'm going to crack this guy.

Where are you from? I'm like, let him be. Yeah. Well, let's get back to the album. I feel like this is, I've got to be a professional interviewer here. One of the biggest influence on the album is Chicago is. Wilco. We love Wilco, too. Is it? Oh, really? Yeah. He's the best.

Yeah, he's the greatest. He's the great. And we got to see them in Mexico City, and I think that was right before we, actually it was right before we went on a tour, but right after that, we made the album, and I think that was a huge. Yeah. Their live shows unbelievable. Yeah, yeah. And I love, too, how he's, like, brought his kid along. It's very much

of his family. Oh, their album is so good together. Are they? Really? Yeah, he's got his kids. The drummer is so good. That's really a testament, too, because it's like, it's hard to work with your, I, you know, I grew up working for my stepfather and my mother for, in their businesses, and it sucks to work for your parents. Oh, God, it's tough. If your kids, you know, you know. That's true. That's true. They even leave you with the dog.

Yeah, but I will say we got to bring, you know, our, you know, in the last like 10 years, our dad has been battling cancer. He's an amazing jazz pianist, but he wasn't able to play for a long time. Now he's back to being able to play. And we got to play at Madison Square Garden last year. And we brought him up and he played with us. And it was like, you know, it was kind of like a full circle thing where now we're, we got to have. We didn't respond for you to come up on the stage. You didn't match me.

You couldn't get my price. Yeah, I know. We tried to get there, but we didn't do it. I don't leave the house for more than $1,200. And you guys were not willing. We got up to 11. Yeah, we got to 11. 115, maybe.

I got to stay firm. 115. the last 5. 1150, you mean. Not 115. No, 11. 11.50. Oh, no, we were ready to go to 115.

You must have not seen the email. Oh, no. You're like, oh, shit. I never read those things. Well, I mean, the new album, is there like a vulnerability, like an emotional kind of vulnerability to the new album that is, that is like weird or different or like, you know, kind of daunting? It's way more raw. Way more raw. But I mean, do you?

But I mean the lyrics. okay with that? We'll see. I mean, when it comes out, how it'll feel. But I think that, you know, we have a song that came out where, like, the bridge is just saying, I've been told I'm an asshole. I've been told I'm an asshole. Yeah, I know.

And there's, you know, I think when you say something like that in the moment, it's funny, then it's scary and then it comes out and it's funny again and then it's scary. I think it changes, you know, based on the he's listening. But we'll see. I have a songs that we're nervous about. Called a horse on the album, which is like, you know, kind of tracking, having like a trauma in my childhood, that then I'm in an adulthood and I'm trying to deal with that through, you know, having relationships and things like that.

And, you know, that was one of the things where, like, I was, my hands were shaking, playing the song for Alex. And so then the idea, but then weirdly, as soon as it was done, I can't wait for, for some reason, I can't wait for people to hear it. Because I think, like, when we've played the album for people, it's actually those moments. that people are like, oh, whoa, that got me. And, you know, I focus, what's the point otherwise of making music? If we're just going to, you know, do something general, then it just doesn't interest me. Yeah.

Is, uh, I mean, some of the songs. Have you played them live yet? I mean, have you been. A few of them, but not really. A few of them we have. Yeah. I'm excited to play a few of them. When we were, that we haven't done yet.

The show that we're doing in January, like the album release show before the tour, you know, it's not going to be like one of those album release shows. shows will you come uh when is it January 16th uh I will I will be seven days out from a hip replacement whoa oh wait seven days out you won't have done it yet I mean I will have I will be seven days after yeah that feels like enough time you can get out of the house are you in a lot of pain do the tampering on the other side you must be in a lot of pain yeah it's bad one it sucks do you have another hip that's no no the right Right hip. It's the left hip. Yeah, no. And I did dancing with the stars with it too. Like I just with the with the yeah, yeah. And a need that needs replacing too. Are you going to do that at the same time? Uh, no, you can't really do that. But I mean, this is there we go from like you guys is album, you young men that are going out to like the hip finally vulnerable and emotional and doing the music you want to do. And then like, I'm getting a new hip. Well, there's nothing more vulnerable than that. Yeah. That is true.

You're vulnerable than you limping or hobbling around our show. No, I said yes to dancing with the stars and then two months later found it. I need a new hip. And I was like, can I do the dancing? And he's like, yeah, we'll just inject you with things. And I was like, limping with the stars. Okay. And I had to go back a couple times.

And then I have a knee that's all fucked up too. Why is it fucked up? Did you use? No cartilage. And it's been scope three times and half a meniscus and, you know. And it just, and arthritis too. It's just been grinding. You're all fucked up.

I'm all fucked up. But I didn't, I didn't even tell him about the knee. And then my knee blew up when the weight or workload doubled on the dancing. And I went in and he took an extra. Is that because you were doing so well on a show? Yeah, I stuck around for like nine weeks, which was a huge surprise. Yeah, yeah. I was.

Are you a great dancer? No, I'm shitty. I mean, I'm not, I got to be. You can't be too shitty nine weeks. I got to be where I could do it. Right. But I certainly, you know, it's like. And there were people on the show, you know, there's like Olympic gymnasts, you know, and then and then people that like there were actors and reality people that had like real dance experience.

So there was like a group of them that were just fantastic and almost professional. And then there was the rest of us. And I, you know, I throughout the whole thing would do some, you know, I'd learn something. And she'd choreographed something and I would do it. And I would think, oh, yeah, I got that. That one I really think I did a good job. And then I would look at it because we would videotape it. And I would look at it and I would just be like, look at that fucking old man, like stomping around and waving his arms.

Do you think you blew up your knee because you were trying to like make your hip safe? No, no, no, no. It just, it just got to be too much. And what did the doctor say? Well, he drained it and he took x-rays. And he's like, why didn't you tell me about your knee? He's like, you need a new knee. Like I was already embarrassed about the hit.

I was like, I was like, I figured we'd get around to it, you know, eventually I'd tell you I need a new knee to. But yeah, no, so it's, you know. So it's a waiting game to see if you're going to be able to come to the show. But we're going to get you. And it's here. Like in a wheelchair. It's here, though, right here. Yeah, it's at the Belasco.

Yeah. I don't know. Had you said three days, I wouldn't be pushing for it, but seven days. Growing up. You grow up. Get your fucking ass to the show. You didn't respond about MSG. You stirred up some shit about Alex and At Wolf.

Get your ass to the Blasco. All right. All right. I'll be wheeled out on stage like Hannibal Lecter. That's fine. On a dolly. No, I mean, honestly, you do, you are up in a, like, hip replacement nowadays is really easy, and you're up and walking around pretty quickly.

Yeah, he'll be there. I'm doing the tour for dancing with the stars in, like, four weeks after. Whoa. Like, they move the date. Now it looks like five weeks, but he said, yeah, I should be fine. I mean, I'm mostly just emceeing and there'd be like maybe some minor dancing. But yeah, I'll try. Why don't I get a knee replacement at the same time you get a knee replacement or hip replacement just to kind of prove a minute with you?

Okay, sure. Yeah. No, no, I don't want you to get a knee replacement. An unnecessary knee replacement. Yeah, come on, why not? I'm sure there's got some knees lying around. It's not rock and roll. unless it's metal on the outside.

Which would be rock roll. Yeah, that would be pretty rock. Bionic. Yeah. Well, how does the album business even work these days? Like, how does this sort of economics of it? I mean, is it, I mean, as an old man, is it all downloads? Nobody really.

It's all streams at this point now. Like we got, this is our first time we're going to have a vinyl. We've never had a vinyl around. We're really excited about that. but I guess people listen to vinyl now. That's like a big, but besides that, I think it's mostly just,

it's just, you know, Spotify and Apple music. Stream dreams. Yeah. And then, you know, I guess,

I mean, I still love listening to albums all the way through. Oh, yeah. But I don't know if a lot of people do. I'm not sure if that's a thing. Or maybe it's kind of coming back.

I think it's coming back. But I mean, is your success? as musicians with a new album out, is your success gauged by downloads or is it gauged by live appearances? I think, I mean, if you're there at the concert, that'll be our gauge.

I mean, finance. No, no. It's true. Like financially, I think everybody's making their money off touring. Yeah. But, yeah, I think you're kind of gauged by the streaming, but it's all kind of nebulous. I think you get your fan,

I guess these days, it's like, you get these, like, really fervent fans. and everybody, it's kind of a little bit more spread out. But I don't know, man. I mean, I know a lot of people, it's like, did you listen to the new Geese album? And you're like, yeah, I heard the, everyone's heard the album. Yeah, yeah. People love a new album they can get excited about.

Yeah. A lot of young people. Yeah, yeah. But then you look at the streams for like, you know, some artist that you never even heard of that's like has a song that was in a TV show or something, and they have like five million months. monthly listener or a TikTok, five million monthly listeners, and then

geese or a band that are like selling out big venues and stuff, they have like a million. It's just a really strange kind of system where you don't know. But yeah, it's kind of, it's, but I do feel like there's a, I feel like in the last couple years there's a lot of really good

rock music coming up. I think rock is really having a moment. Alex G and MJ Lenderman and and geese and Yeah. Kicking some ass Wednesday. That's good.

I mean, oh, it is good because it did seem like pop music was kind of pretty... Taking over. Yeah. Well, it is still, it's still taking over. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a cool, there's a, a rebellion rising of rock. That's kind of awesome. I mean, do you, and are you guys, I mean, I mean,

are you that worried about, like, how it does in that kind of sense? Does that, is that something? Yes, but it's more of like a long term. It's like a way,

longer thing. It's not like, I guess, it almost reminds me of being in movies. You're like, we've only gotten this many. You know, that kind of thing. I think when you're in a studio movie, but it's not the main thing that matters. Right. It's like when you're in a studio movie or something and they're like,

oh, you know, you're checking the news to see if it made enough money over the weekend. And now it's like, I can't, I can't think of a movie I've been in or you've been in a while where that was the metric. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's more like, are people talking about it? Is it getting. scene and yeah yeah is it any good right you know yeah that's helpful it's helpful it's good yeah

well guys um thank you so much for coming in thank you for bringing Marvin because that really did make the difference he was only there for the very beginning but he left a lasting lasting he made enough weird noises to really make an impression and to and probably that's what people are going to be leaving this interview like this Marvin yeah got to hear more about this Marvin I want to come see you do your dancing with a stars tour where are you where are you guys doing that in LA it's it'll be it'll discuss it at the show it'll be I think it's like it's at the end of April or beginning of May and it's I it's a some venue here I don't know exactly where but it's a couple nights in the table center yeah yeah but yeah I'm doing like I'm doing

two different chunks of it in like but I'm doing a total of like five weeks hell yeah how's your doctor feel about you doing that five week he doesn't give a shit He's me at all. No, he, I said, he gives the shit. No, I, I had, I had, did you hide it from him? I asked him like, because I, like I said, I got to start the tour. I'll say six weeks after my, that, the knee or the hip replacement. And he's like, he should be good after four.

Like that's, whoa. His attitude's the whole time. He's a big fan of the show. He's definitely a fan of the show. No, you'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Yeah, yeah. My wife and I voted for you.

Yeah, yeah. So, well, guys, when does the album comes out? January 16th, man. Why so long? Why does it take so long? Because it's all ready to go, right? Right?

Is it? Is it? Is it master ready? I think it, we think it's ready. No, it's uploaded. Alex's, even a couple days ago, was like, do you think this one song is, the master's just a little louder than the other?

I'm like, it's already been ingested, dude. There's no way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm always doing that. And also, you got to let go. You got to let go. I think that was the moment. Yeah, yeah.

There's a comedy, there's a TV comedy version of that, which is like on the Conan show, like people that would be like editing when the band is playing the warm up. There's still, dude, there's still another tweak. It's like just. Wait, with the script or with? No, with the video. With like cutting a remote or something. And like there was a couple times it was like it had to be fed in to the control room from the edit bay rather than being brought up to the control room.

So, yeah, it's very stressful. And it's, I've always felt like, yeah, no, I bet it's, I bet it was fine an hour ago. Yeah, totally. Considering that there's five of these shows a week. Yeah. All right, well, everybody check out the album on January 16th. And you guys, I mentioned you're going to be touring into support of it. Yep, we're going to start.

The first show is then, but then we have a couple months until the tour starts end of April. And then it goes to like mid-June or July. Nice. Yeah. But if there's any, you know, we step on your dancing with a star. dates. We can change. We'll change our dates.

You know what? Yeah, I'll send you this spreadsheet. We'll cancel the tour, actually. I'll say you this spreadsheet. You can cross-referencing. You guys can just get the fuck out of town. You see Alex next time we're a bunch of fake hip replacements and fake me.

Hey, man. Got four different hips and we're Alex and Nat Wolf. You fucked up my life, baby. I got an extra leg installed. Just for you. Just for you. Just for you. All right.

And then, and then after that, is it, is it a world tour from that? Or you think it's, yeah. That's going to all be in America. and then in the fall, that's not, we don't, it's not totally firmed up. Yeah, but yeah, then hopefully we're going to. Because who knows if there still will be a world. Yeah, may not exist. Europe might be.

Month by month. It might be over by then, you know. Europe might be gone. Just gone. Yeah. All right. That's a good note to end it on. Jesus.

And Europe might be gone. And Europe might be gone. Thanks so much, guys. Thank you so much. I love with all this stuff. You're the best. This has been a lot of fun. And thank you all for listening.

I'll be back next week. And bring your dog in, man. Yeah, and bring your dogs, guests. Everybody bring your dog in. The three questions with Andy Richter is a team cocoa production. It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna 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 a knowing. This has been a Team Coco production.