The Viall Files - E288 Dominic Monaghan & Billy Boyd - Bad Butts, Geekiness & Life Lessons

Episode Date: July 7, 2021

On todays episode of The Viall Files we are joined by the amazingly dynamic duo that is Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan. Most you will know them from The Lord Of The Rings but they are spending some time peeling back the layers of friendship in their new podcast The Friendship Onion. Nick speaks with the guys a little bit about their iconic work but really gets into the hard hitting topics like Billy’s knees being weak cause his butt is weak, naming cars, dating, marriage, even venomous insects. These friends can take a topic from zero to 60 in the most randomly enjoyable way so be ready to be entertained this episode.  “ Never get jealous of someone else's success, that is the absolute secret of life.” Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to [e-mail] to be a part of our Monday episodes.  THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Helix Sleep: http://www.helixsleep.com/VIALL for up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders AND two free pillows. Don't forget to nominate The Viall Files for a People's Choice Podcast Award: https://www.podcastawards.com/ Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall @dom_monaghan_ @boydbilly See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's going on everybody welcome to another episode of the Vile Files I'm your host Nick and thank you for listening to our podcast because there's billions out there and we are going to reward your loyalty to us with a fantastic episode because we have dominic monaghan and billy boyd the wonderful dynamic duo you know them from lord of the rings and a bunch of other movies and tv shows that they have been in that is right also uh they're best friends and they talk about friendship on their podcast the friendship onion but we uh discuss it with uh them on the vile files and they're fun funny lovable guys and you're gonna love this episode so before we get to it uh don't forget to send your questions at ask nick at cast media.com

don't forget to send your questions at ask nick at cast media.com cast with a k anywho um billy Dom and Billy, everybody! Alright. You don't have a virgin ass, but you do have an ass that needs to be fixed. I saw that too. I was working on it on Tuesday. Squats. He's got a squat. I did 16 squats in a lunge. I feel like it's really helped.

Just on one side. Yeah. Just on one side. Yeah, just the one side. You're working the butt? Yeah, I have to. My knee got painful, and my physiotherapist says, my butt is not being used enough. I'm using my thighs too much. That actually is true.

I know. Are you a physiotherapist? No, I ran a lot of track and played sports, and so usually when I'd have a muscle soreness of some kind, like a lot of people have lower back issues. Yeah. And it's because they're not stretching their hamstrings or their butt too much.

Yeah. Enough, rather. And it's pulling. And so all these muscles are connected. And when one's weaker or tighter, it usually doesn't hurt that muscle. It hurts some sort of corresponding muscle that's attached.

Exactly what he was telling me. He said it could be coming from your ankle, but we had a look at my ankle and he said it was dashing, if anything. And he said it's mainly my butt is not activating. You've got a tiny posterior, haven't you? Tiny butt. It's tiny.

Almost no ass at all. Not the whole. The whole's like uniform size It's really But the cheeks Symmetrical But if I stood up just now My pants would fall down

Yeah Because I have no butt or hips I'm completely straight up and down I'm the exact opposite I'm quite a hip guy He's very hippie I'm hippie as well I've got a big arse

That's where my power comes from Yeah Same Yeah It's my centre What do you squat? He's very hippie. I'm hippie as well. I've got a big ass. That's where my power comes from. Yeah, same. Yeah. That's my center. What do you squat? Did not think this was going to go.

I haven't squatted in a while. In high school, at my most, I squatted 400 pounds. 400 pounds? That's like half an elephant. That's amazing. I can't squat my body weight. Dom has to help up yeah if i go like an old man do you guys do everything together well we do a lot of stuff together but if we've watched a long movie and billy needs to go for a wee i need to pick him up sometimes he'll put me on his back like yoda and we walk to the bathroom that way and I give him advice.

Did you guys meet on Lord of the Rings? Yeah. The first time? Yeah. And you guys, was it fast friends from the beginning? No, I initially thought,

arsehole. And then I was proven otherwise. Did you really though? No, no. I mean, sometimes that happens. Sometimes people warm up slowly. Nah, there's no, there's no arsehole vibes with Billy. No, we just, I was the last one there to New Zealand.

Billy and Elijah and Sean were already there and a few others. I think Orlando was there, right? And a couple of other people. And Billy and I met in the costume department i had a costume fitting i think billy was were you finishing a costume fitting or did you just i think i just finished a makeup all right um test right and uh i heard that you were in wardrobe you just arrived from europe and i thought i'll run in and i'll say hello yeah because i knew we'd spend a lot of time together for the next couple of years yeah and i was i felt much better when i liked you you know oh that's good that's a good sign yeah we went for billy

and i went for a beer did we go for a beer i think we did in a game of pool we went to bristol a bar called the bristol just the two of you just the two why didn't you invite the rest of the gang um i think elijah had stuff to do for the remainder of the day i'm not sure if sean aston was there not sure we would have invited them because we were very tight with those boys and also orly we saw a lot and vigo when he was around but it just so happened that we wrapped at the same time and Billy and I were both you know kind of all right at pool so we were like well I didn't know Wellington at all I'd only just got there and I said to Billy is there anywhere in town that plays pool and Billy said I think I actually did pass somewhere that played pool went in there

a couple of beers it's kind of how it works with brits in a lot of ways one of the ways that british people tend to get to know each other if if they want to do it kind of in a fast forward type vibe is play some pool have a beer and it just kind of we were both single you know ready to mingle not with each other no No. Although I have given you a pretty deep kiss. But we'll leave it at that. That was just another night. And we did own a few pool tables. Like in Queenstown, we had an amazing, like,

it wasn't something that we trained for, but we went to Queenstown, and I think we were playing pool at a bar called The Cow. I can't remember the name of it, but I know the evening you're talking about. We started playing, and we put some coins down, and some people came over and said, can we play?

And we said, well, you have to play the winner. And they said, well, what if we bring over a partner and we'll play doubles versus doubles? And we were like, yeah, great. So they played us. They lost. Another double came over and said, well, what if we bring over a partner and we'll play doubles versus doubles? And we were like, yeah, great. So they played us. They lost. Another double came over and said, can we play? And we said, yeah, yeah, you can play us.

And we kept the pool table all night and people kept coming over to try and beat us. And we're all right at pool. We're not like amazing, but we just had one of those nights where you had just the right amount of beer and just the right amount of confidence. And the end up the

barman called up the real good pool players and they arrived they came out there they called them up and these two New Zealand guys arrived and we beat them and oh

we are the champions of New Zealand yeah it was an amazing night and it's been friends ever since yeah deep deep friendship but we haven't taken the pool to the next level which we might do well didn't you say billy was your life well didn't you say billy that don was your life partner kind of yeah i mean certainly one of them. Billy, you know, Billy's married. He wants to be so bad. Yeah. How old were you guys when you met each other at ballpark? 23, I was. I was 31. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you find it like, you know, I think a lot of people, especially at least in the States, they find it harder to make friends after college or high school because of this. Do you, has it been, like for me, I continue to make different types of friends. And part of that was I just kind of took new risks and kind of new adventures in life. And I think sometimes, especially nowadays,

where people move to different places or different cities, they'll have a hard time making friends right because they don't have like you go to school and it's just like you or you play sports as a child uh is that how's that been for you guys you know with being actors and going doing different projects has it been a priority like to continue to connect with people and make friends or you know once you guys was it just kind of luck you guys weren't necessarily looking to make friends when you guys found each other? I think so. I think it was just luck, really.

I think Peter Jackson, who directed Lord of the Rings, a major part of the casting, as well as getting the right people, was getting people who were right to make a movie that was going to take four years to make and not be an easy movie to make. He knew that he couldn't have prima donnas who are going to say,

I'm not leaving my trailer until the snow goes off kind of thing. He knew that it had to be people with the same sort of outlook as he had about making these huge films so i think by accident you got a lot of people who had the same sort of vision for life if you would you know and it was just we were lucky that uh we had it off so well and we had so much work to do together down there that i created that how did you guys find out about the product I I heard I think for my buddy Kyle he I know Dom knows right if you met my buddy Kyle you would have met him at Elijah's house electric Avenue at some point he was one of the guys that

hung out with large back when lies was cooking a lot of like wood fire the pieces you know in that back oven yeah and cooking the Elijah went through a period of cooking a lot of pig's arses. Do you remember that? Did he? Yeah. He was like, come over this weekend. I'm doing another batch of pig's arses. And I was like, well, we had that last weekend.

He's like, ah, but it's brilliant. And Kyle was one of the guys that hung out with him. And he loved pig's arses as well. I mean, as do I. Yeah. But he mentioned that to audition for the lord of the rings role he did he got full cop he got in full costume did a whole thing did you guys do that as well or like how did you hear about the project and did you realize did you anticipate the scope and how big it was going to

be going in straight off i'll say that casting in america and casting in America and casting in Britain is completely different and it threw me over here. Oh, how so? Because, say the part's a police officer in Los Angeles, you go for the, I would go like this

and there'd be people waiting to be seen for the police officer dressed as a police officer. And that totally freaked me out. I was like, wait a minute, if I'm up against a police officer going up for a police officer, probably the police officer and that totally freaked me out i was like wait a minute if i'm up against a police

officer going up for a police officer probably the police officer will win but did you actually think they were some of them might actually be no but i was just amazed that like you know if you were going up for a wall street guy people went in a full suit. In Britain, you just go as you are, and then they imagine you in a suit. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. So it totally freaked me out. And when I heard the story about Elijah,

I thought, that's brilliant when I heard that. But we wouldn't have done anything. In Britain, you wouldn't dress as a hobbit to be a hobbit. No, and on your way to the on your way to the audition you get battered yeah you get battered if you were going up the tottenham court road dressed as a as a hobbit did you guys anticipate like when you got the audition uh was it something you were you know you guys were already working actors at that point did you think it was going to be this massive opportunity

or were you just like oh you know i'll audition and we'll see what happens well you never know if you're going to get it or not you know so you try as hard as you can to not be as excited until you've actually got the the role i was playing a skinhead at the time in a play in london so i had no hair i'd been punched on the tube because someone thought i was actually a skinhead but i wasn't i was just playing a skinhead. But I wasn't. I was just playing a skinhead. But must have been playing him quite good. You must have been brilliant

if somebody beat you up for it. Went full method. And I had like a cold. So I went into the Hobbits casting offices kind of with my voice a lot deeper than normal and like a purplish eye and no hair. Very not Hobbit-like. But the Lord of the Rings, a little bitish eye and no hair, very not Hobbit-like. But The Lord of the Rings,

a little bit kind of like The Beatles, is just part of Britain. It's a huge part of Britain. We all know The Beatles. It's synonymous with music. And Lord of the Rings is the same in terms of literature. Most kids past the age of nine, 10 or 11 in England know the Lord of the Rings.

They just do. It's part of our culture. So of course, a trilogy of movies in New Zealand with Peter Jackson was going to be a big deal. Billy was the first person casting it. So when I went into the Hubbards, they said, you know, we've cast Billy Boyd. I went, are you kidding he went yeah i was oh my god i'm gonna get no i had no idea i have no idea who that guy is no idea no idea but you were the first person

cast in the movies i was that is true the first person yeah so pete jackson told me at the end he uh yeah what was it about you that he was like you know what i'm gonna start we're gonna start with that and we'll build the movie around all around billy right yeah that's the peak i don't i i honestly don't know but um do you think it's because you were available i think i was available and i was very cheap and uh no when i auditioned for it everybody i knew was auditioning for Lord of the Rings. And I was living in Scotland and the auditions were in London. So I went down and like Dom, you didn't really think you were going to get it.

You know, it was a kind of big movie or just something about it felt like it was out of reach, you know. So I did this audition and a couple of weeks later they said Pete Jackson's coming into town he wants to meet you and I was like oh cool so I'm back down to London and we spent about an hour doing different scenes and he was directing it and and then within like a week they called me up and said you know you've got the part and uh we'll see you in New Zealand in two months or something. And you guys lived there for, was it four years? So we were there.

Principal photography was a year and a half. And then after that, we all went home. And then we came back to do the pickups for the first movie. And then went home back to do the pickups for the second movie and the pickups were like four or five months sure so off and on for four years a year and a half straight through and then sort of five months a year after how much of it was a cgi and because you know that was it was made around the time like when the phantom menace came out and George Lucas was going all CGI. And there was certainly CGI in Lord of the Rings, but there was also, I mean, I guess it was hard for me to tell at the time.

How much was it just costume and set design versus doing CGI? And how were you guys able to kind of, as an actor, is it different to transition from doing green screen work versus just set design stuff i mean there's obviously quite a lot of cgi in it a lot of the stuff that billy and i do on tree beard almost all of it entirely is cgi not all of it tree beard was the in the second movie we were up on a tree, and most of that was CGI. But other than that, we traveled all over the country. So we're using real locations.

What Pete did, what great directors do, is they establish the special effects, the hobbits are small, and then they don't show it too many times outside of that because it's understood that the hobbits are small or it's understood that this is a moving tree and then they use different tricks. So even though at times we would have the four hobbits walk through a scene

and then they'd cut and then they'd have other members of the fellowship that were different sizes of the hobbit walk through the scene and then they'd add it together most of the time in fact i would say more than 65 of the time we were just on our knees weren't we yeah that's all we do we do the scene and we'd be on our knees instead of on our feet well that's why you got knee problems exactly i should sue somebody one. Warner Brothers will be getting that. It's how you've been crawling around on your knees for so long. Could you imagine going to that doctor's office, and he's like, it's your butt. And you're like, no, but I've been on my knees for like four years.

Four years. Could it be that doctor? No, it's your butt. Want to fuck on your mattress more comfortably? Well, get Helix Sleep now. That's right. You can also sleep better. I have a Helix Sleep mattress. It's right. You can also sleep better. I have a Helix mattress.

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listeners at helixsleep.com slash V-I-A-L-L. That is helixsleep.com slash V-I-A-L-L for up to $200 off and two free pillows. The toughest was when they used to say, okay, so you're going to do this thing. You guys will speak. This will happen. This will happen. And then at that point, you guys run,

exit camera really fast, and you'd have to run on your knees, you know? So obviously, yeah, we would. You'd have to exit frame on your knees. So you've got Vigo and Orly and John Rhys-Davies doing it pretty easily. And we're kind of hobbling along, you know. You made an interesting point. I'm thinking back and I've seen all the movies several times.

It's been a few years since I've seen them. But you're right. There's always a few moments where they kind of show you, they put in perspective or the scale of how small the hobbits were. And then you would always be like, oh, yeah, these guys are really small compared to everything else but you weren't always it wasn't always like you weren't always next to the larger people and i never thought about i mean obviously when it's the four hobbits were all the same size and now we're walking around you know yeah and they also had they had

a guy down there called tall paul this is true sounds like I've made this up, but there's a guy called Tall Paul and Paul was about seven and a half feet tall, right? Yeah. Or more and they had all the costumes, Aragon, Legolas, Arwen, had all their costumes made in a bigger size so that if there was a close-up of Dom standing next to Arwen, it'd be tall Paul with a dress on. And so that it would look like... For your eyeline, yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. That's all the things you have to think about.

So when you get to make a movie like that, do you have any idea of how it's going to look like on TV? Or does like when is Peter showing you, how does that work with CGI or is that all in post? And you just kind of, you know, I think, you know, some movies are different where there's, you know, smaller sets, but the scale of Lord of the Rings is so big and so grand. And then there are a lot of special effects.

Were you guys just as curious of how it's going to all come together or did you kind of have a sense while filming it? Well, I mean, if it matters to the characters, then obviously he's going to tell us. You know, when we're in Moria and we're escaping after we've kind of roused the cave troll and the goblins and the Balrog,

you know, Pete would talk us through it. Okay, the Balrog is this. This is what it looks like. This is what it's going to look like. This is where its shoulder is. This is its head. Because it serves our characters to know. If it doesn't serve our characters, unless you're asking questions, Pete probably doesn't have enough time to tell you. But

Pete is a massive special effects nerd. He loves that stuff. So if you're sat in Video Village and you're seeing a green screen and Pete's got time, and you say to him, so Pete, what is this now? Pete will love to tell you,

oh, this is Rivendell and this is the staircase and you've got this and that's going to be the sunset and it's going to be like this. He's very excited to tell you. He doesn't have a huge amount of time. So, you know,

lots of times he doesn't have that time. But certainly if it was something that we had to know, Pete would go out of his way to explain it but then in terms of practical terms like the cave troll was a tennis ball on a pole that's all it was it was a pole that was what 20 feet high that someone held and at the top of that pole was a tennis ball it's that big and that was the. And you guys are just being terrified. Yeah. So you're like, oh!

And we're like, oh, fucking hell, tennis, tennis, tennis. I mean, it can be really terrifying, tennis. It can be. The parsley on the glutes. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, you just have to use your imagination. But that's what it means to be an actor, right? Yeah.

You have to pretend it's all there. It's all happening. How many, when you guys have done other projects after lord of the rings are you on set answering a lot of these types of questions or people even as actors um you know asking you notes and how to you know work with cgi are they just fans of the show as well yeah i think most shows that i've done afterwards someone will always be you know a younger actor or will come up and say god i grew up with those movies and and ask you questions about it but it's just nice it's great you know if you know a film that we've been part of inspires filmmakers or young artists then it's just great yeah i don't know i don't know i've

done a project where they've not asked i was lucky enough to do star wars a couple of years ago now and uh hanging out with the guys john and daisy and oscar and we're all chatting for the first few days or so and then i think after like day four john said okay i've been nice now i've been polite we've got to know each other. I'm going to ask you a bunch of Lord of the Rings questions. And I was like, all right, you can ask. And as he started asking Lord of the Rings questions, that's when Kelly Marie came over and Daisy and Oscar,

and I spent the next half an hour talking about Lord of the Rings questions. But the great thing about that with actors is then it opens up the floor for me to ask John questions, for me to ask Oscar questions, for us to share our experience you know so you're just lucky that you've been involved with something that someone has seen you know yeah it's also epic that you're on star wars set talking about lord of the rings like you guys aren't like the star wars geeking out you're like let's lord of the rings geek out right that's kind of rad yeah it, it was. It was amazing.

I mean, I'm a big Star Wars fan. I've told Billy this story a few times. You do all the culty stuff. Yeah, I do. I like those kind of world building things. But we did a scene once with everyone, with Chewie and Poe and Finn and Rey and C-3PO and R2-D2 and stuff. And then we moved to a different part of the stage

and the stage was massive. It was like an aircraft hangar. So they moved the set and all the cameras over about 100 feet in one direction. And JJ said to us, it's going to be about 40 minutes until we do this next scene. So everything moved over

and I was just kind of stood around twiddling my thumbs, didn't really have anything to do. And I looked to my right and it was just me and R2-D2. There's no one else around. And there was no one in the R2-D2 unit. It was just like a shell of R2-D2. So I was able to go over and have like a little private clandestine conversation

with R2-D2 about how that droid changed my life, which is probably the reason why i did star wars to be able to try and communicate that in in some way to myself but also to you know it's a very meta experience it was kind of just got to hug chewy and ask c-3po what um his favorite movie is i told you this right anthony daniel's favorite movie is pretty woman that's a great movie that's c-3po's favorite movie no i don't think uh c-3po's movie c-3po's favorite movie is probably metropolis or something like that but um yeah maybe space balls but anthony daniel's favorite movie is is pretty woman he said it was a masterpiece what

was the original title of pretty woman really what's the question what's the original title of pretty was it something like rags to riches nope i don't know no no one no i don't know i don't know i do know that on the cover of pretty Woman, it's not Julia Roberts' legs. It's not her legs. It's something to do with her legs. The original was 64 inches or something. Oh, right. And it was the length of her legs.

She had legs right up to her armpits, didn't she? Right up to her armpits and right back down to the floor. Yeah, they were long. Do you guys ever get competitive about the stuff that you guys do? Like the fact that he was doing Star Wars. No. Do you? I love it.

I love that Dom does. He did X-Men as well. He does all those things. He's done. Lost, Super Colty. Right? Yeah, but we were just talking before the show started about Billy being involved in Master and Commander. We're pals.

We want each other to do well. We've been lucky to find something that's a job that we do together, but when Billy gets a job, it's exciting to find out where he's going, what he's doing, what he's learned type thing. Do you guys talk every day? Never get jealous of anyone else's success. That is the absolute secret of life it really is if you can celebrate other people's successes the way you'd celebrate your own

imagine how much celebrations you'd be doing true you'd be celebrating all day look at that producer just looking at the original name of pretty woman have you always thought that way billy yes you have from from an early age i uh switched onto that and it's it's the absolute secret gel like jealousy and envy is the devil's arsehole man it's horrible because there's always someone if you're going to be jealous and envious there's always someone better bigger stronger more successful than you you. I listened to a really fascinating Louis C.K. podcast that he did with Marc Maron and Marc Maron had fallen out with Louis C.K. because of the success that Louis C.K. had had. And Louis C.K. really schooled him where he just said, look, my success has

nothing to do with your life or shouldn't make you feel as if you're more of a failure. That's a completely separate entity. You know, this is my life. And he said, also, because we lost contact with each other at the time, you weren't aware of the fact that in this inverted commas success that I was going through, I was also divorcing my wife, bringing up two small girls. My show got canceled. You know, I was having my own challenges. But to you, because you don't know me anymore, all you see is my successes and envy and jealousies. It's horrible, man.

It'll kill you. Because also, you never learn, right? Like before this life, I was in sales and you get a lot of people that have success about something and the jealousy and envy would turn into people saying, well, they just got lucky or they got this role because of this, or they did this because of that. Instead, you could have been like asking a question like, well, what did you make? What was your thought here?

What made you want to do this and have a takeaway? And yet when you people experience that jealousy and envy, you're not only you're just you're just kind of selling yourself short because small, you know, that example you gave me, like maybe there was something, you know, especially in friends,

you could just be like, Oh, you should, you should try it this way. Oh, great. I'll try it that way. As opposed to just being like,

Oh, they, they got lucky. A lot of people like, Oh, they got lucky or that's why they're doing it. I mean, we do get lucky.

Everyone gets fortunate. You have to get lucky sometimes. That's a huge part of your job. combine the the you know working hard and and putting yourself in favorable situations to get lucky right and also our journey in life is to get bigger right you want to expand vibrationally but like envy and jealousy it's a very it's a very small thing to to think those things you know i've, well, Billy and I have both been lucky, even if you take the example of Lord of the Rings, to be working with extremely successful people. Ian McKellen has been an extremely successful actor for large periods of his life.

Cate Blanchett, one of the most successful actresses in modern day. What I've found when I've been lucky enough to work with extremely successful actors or extremely successful actors or extremely successful practitioners, directors, producers, whatever, they're the most secure. They're the most happy in other people's successes because they're happy. They know what it feels like.

They want other people to feel that way. The people that are envious and jealous of other people are the people that probably haven't had that element of success and want it and it's just a shitty way to live your life right yeah i totally agree have you through your both kind of illustrious careers what are some of your maybe kind of biggest fanboy moments other than r2d2 potentially where you walked into a room and you were almost like or did you not have any of those moments my big big one which actually came up on our podcast yeah we just recorded the podcast and um my big one was meeting prince before he passed away yeah i was lucky enough to get invited to a concert at

his house for like 40 people like minneapolis no he he was living here in Los Angeles at the time. And he was such a huge part of me growing up, his music, Purple Rain, all that. Huge part of my life. And to meet him in person just completely blew my mind. And I've been lucky enough to meet huge actors. Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman.

Huge actors. Oh. But that's the one that totally blew my mind. I just couldn't believe I was in the same. In his house? In his house saying hello and shaking hands. What was he like? He was amazing.

I was saying to Dom, because he's such a kind of otherworldly person on stage he just he's one of a kind right so when you meet him and he's just like a normal guy it's just it just blew my mind yeah i'm thinking like i i never i wouldn't expect prince to be normal at all yeah like at all but like everyone i've ever met everyone's a human being right except for my dog he's not a human if you told me like you know prince slept like hanging upside exactly like oh yeah cool of course you know it's like and then to watch him playing you're just like he's just an incredible musician like out out of this world incredible musician but he's still a person like that.

I heard he was also surprisingly amazing at basketball. I have no idea because... Dave Chappelle talks about that. Really? Yeah, he talks about him being great at basketball. I can't play basketball. I'm not very tall, like Prince, but also I don't activate my butt.

I don't know if I told you. You've got a tiny posterior and you've got problems with your knees. So I've got absolutely no vertical power at all. No hops. I'm a big, I'm a big athletes fan. Are you?

Big, yeah. All athletes? Well, a lot of them. Anyone that's at the kind of top of their field type thing. Manchester United specifically. So I met Ronaldo when he was in his pump, when he turned into a superstar.

I was lucky enough to be kind of pulled into the little players area to be chatting to Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, who were playing for United at the time. And Ronaldo came through the dressing room, massive, like huge dude, 6'3", and just like muscles and chest, and he just looked massive. And he came over to me and he did that thing that kind of quite masculine, overbearing men do,

which I quite like sometimes, where, you know, when they kind of grab your trap. He went like that, just kind of grabbed my trap, which I think is, it's nice, but it's a little bit when they kind of grab your trap. Oh, did he? He went like that. Just kind of grabbed my trap, which I think is nice, but it's a little bit of a kind of... He's letting you know. I'm the guy in charge here. Yeah. And it wasn't necessarily that gentle.

It was quite, you know, kind of... A bit of a pitch. Massagey. But I liked it. And he said, how's it going, big man? And I thought, wow, this guy is literally like two foot taller than me and he's calling me big man. So I appreciated that. That was a big moment for me and then i met i met uh bowie at a concert

david aladdin sane i got this at a a thrift store i think that's the lad insane period it looks like it yeah um how was that amazing, I would expect him to sleep upside down or something. He was normal? Very normal. Big Lord of the Rings fan. He had auditioned for Lord of the Rings back in the day and didn't. Did he? Labyrinth is Lord of the Rings.

Yeah. I think he. Labyrinth is the scariest movie I've ever seen. Labyrinth is the most amazing movie ever. Yeah. Dance, magic, dance. Yeah. It's a great song.

And also. He auditioned. he auditioned for elrond i believe that makes sense yeah king of the elves that amazing song that bowie does in uh the the love song with jennifer connelly there's such a cold heart beating so fast kind of film amazing um but he was just beautifully turned out. He was wearing like a kind of gun metal gray suit, massive amount of hair, like a scoop of ice cream on his head, perfect skin, very friendly,

took pictures with us, put his arm around Elijah and I, talked about Lord of the Rings with us and how much he loved it. Great breath, Great breath. Great breath. Minty, but not so minty that it kind of like sticks in your eyes and you think you're covering up something.

You've just brushed your teeth. It was just right. You must have had garlic. Like maybe it wasn't a mint. Fresh. Like he'd had a mint maybe 43 or 42 minutes ago. And it was starting to fade. I like a nice smell.

Do you know who smells nice do i yeah what does he smell of can you remember no it's like it's quite it's masculine but it's not as masculine as you look you know you look as if you'd smell a little bit pungent i'm trying to process this like it's a compliment a compliment. As if you came from a hot car and you've just played some basketball. But there's a kind of, there's a woody, but there's a sort of lemon thing going on.

I'll sniff you on the way out if you don't mind. Yeah, have a smell. It's lovely. It's probably our sponsor. Yeah, each and every. Each and every deodorant. Is it a deodorant? I wear just a dash of cologne.

It's lovely. What is it? It's Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue. It was a gift from an ex-girlfriend. I've been wearing the same cologne for 15 years now. It's hard to change cologne. I know that. Yeah, and it seems to work for me.

I do get a lot of compliments from it. And I've dabbled with other colognes. Don't dabble. I don't seem to get the same response. No, no, don't dabble. And it seems to work for me. And it was a gift from my ex-girlfriend's mom for my birthday. Oh, that's a bit strange.

She bought it and said, give this to Nick for his birthday. Yeah, give this to Nick. Make him smell all lovely for me. And a parting gift from her. Because you said to me, you were showing me a video on your phone. And you sniffed him. And I went and I sniffed him and my knees went, and my knees aren't great. No, no, and you've got quite a weak ass.

I know. And I tell you what, you smell good. That makes me feel good. Well, you should feel good. Because it suits you. It doesn't feel as if you've put something on that's, you know, I've tried to cover myself in some sort of scent. Yeah.

It smells like you should. I'm looking at you quite deeply in your eyes. I think I've went too far. No, not at all. That's the biggest male mistake is putting on cologne. So when you hug somebody, it sticks to you. Oh, yeah. That it's no no no or when you walk by someone and you get a it's like a smack yeah men or women you don't want uh you don't want a waft of small yours is very and yeah actually it brings you closer to you i want to come closer to get a

bigger i think you need to calm down a little bit i'll need to relax i'll give you a hug replace your life partner cologne cologne is not i you need to calm down a little bit. You need to relax. I'll give you a hug on the way out. I think you're trying to replace your life partner. Cologne is not. Dom's getting jealous. I'm getting a little jealous and envious and you're not supposed to feel that way. That's a small emotion. We already covered this.

Jesus. Is smelling people weird? No. I don't think smelling people is weird. I like to smell people. I like to smell dogs a lot and I love smelling babies' heads. Smell babies' heads. They smell smell fantastic i think it's a big thing and and i didn't get permission to touch me after the whole

he's been comfortable complimenting other men yeah i think that's a really secure thing to do that a lot of guys would uh not be so into you know i don't i don't mean it's true like a lot of guys would not be so into. No, I don't care. I mean, if it's true. I feel like a lot of masculine, overly masculine men would... I like to find something. Yeah, who wouldn't be like, oh, that smell.

How do you smell? I like to find something, especially with someone that I've not met before. I like to find just that little thing where if it's needed, I can go, oh, by the way, love your shoelaces. Or, oh, by the way,

big fan of that t-shirt just leave it out there if it's true I'm not gonna force it no I'm not gonna lie if your t-shirt's shit I'm not gonna say it's great but if it's great

I'm into it I was getting brunch with my girlfriend and I saw the one of the hostess gentleman was you know it was

host host host yeah and he was it was busy it was a Saturday. People were waiting in line and, you know, it's still kind of a COVID world. So everyone's a little up in arms and I really quite liked his jeans.

And I was like, Hey, I really like your jeans. Where'd you, where'd you get them? And he, it's, he lit up and he was just like, Oh, you know, I got him at this thrift store. This is where I got the shirt, by the way. I couldn't find the jeans. Oh, right. And then he like went out of his way to, you know, give us a table. And on the way there, he's like, thank you so much for like asking about my jeans. I was upstairs crying 10 minutes ago because everyone else was so mean to me.

And it really, it's like, it really, like I thought about the rest of the day because it's just like you hear these stories a lot, but you just never really know what's going on in people's lives. And I really just sincerely was interested in finding where those genes were. But just hearing that, like it changed his day. And it was just like, I got to do a better job of doing that more often. Did he just seat you or was he your waiter? He just sat us.

Can I ask you, on the way there or as he left, did he smell you? He did not. Okay, so it had nothing to do with the club. Nothing to do. Okay, just take that off the list. And it was just a, yeah, it was just a moment of like, I think we often forget how often how people are

in their own world their own shit you know like uh you know road rage and things like that and and you cut someone off and you give them the bird or whatever and you have no idea what else is going on in their world and yeah like him telling me that story like really it got in my head the whole day it just really made me want to be more present and, and, and people love a good compliment. They absolutely do. I used to be quite big on road rage and I didn't really know that I was

until like exes have told me, you know, girlfriends have been like, that's a bit scary when you like get out of the car and shout at people. I'm like, well, they did something bad and that's dangerous. Get out of the car.

Wait, you have a shot. I've definitely got out of the car before. That's a little extreme. But if they endanger you, look, I'm digging a hole here because I'm trying to say that I don't do it anymore. But I have done it a few times where if someone endangers me, sometimes I can get a little kind of ragey where I'm like, wow, you almost physically hurt me and my girlfriend and I'm angry.

And I remember speaking to my dad about it, telling him like, oh, you know, my girlfriend's made some comments that I'm a bit road ragey. And my dad was like, well, you know, from a bigger way of thinking about it, you know, like you had said, we don't know what's going on with that guy in front of them. They might be having the worst day ever. They might be driving to a funeral. They might be driving to a job interview that they're not going to get. They might just be having a hellish day. So your reaction to that is not going to help them. It's not going to help you. So just let it go. Like path of least resistance. They've cut you off. You're still safe. Let them go do their thing. You you know it's not worth your energy yeah right but as a younger person yeah i kind of i like confrontation i'm a fan so i was into it i'd be like oh here's an opportunity to be confrontational but as i've matured i i i there's nothing i always

appreciate or i like to give a good thumbs up and a smile if someone, let's say I made a mistake on the road and I ran in like I accidentally cut you off. You're honking and flipping me off. I'll kind of give you one of those. It tends to make them more mad. I too like confrontation. It seems sarcastic. Yeah, yeah. No, it's definitely meant to piss you off.

Right. Well, I think he's interested about- I don't know if that's good or bad, but I found myself doing that. What's interesting in LA though, the culture of driving, LA is a very polite city. People say hello.

I find people very polite here. Much more polite than in England where I'm from. People say hello. More polite than New York. Well, yeah, but in England, in LA you get a little, hey, how's it going? How are you doing?

Have a nice day. Nice to see you. Oh, that's because people are fake. Okay, but wait, this is my thing. I don't care if it's fake. I don't care. If someone says have a nice,

I don't really think they're saying have a nice day, but they still say it. Do you know what I mean? It's still there. We don't say have a nice day in England. We don't say any of that stuff. Someone comes in,

buys a newspaper. Yeah, 50p. All right, that's it. No. We don't say any of that stuff. Someone comes in, buys a newspaper. Yeah, 50p. All right, that's it. No hello, goodbye, all that kind of stuff. So what I'm fascinated in with, sorry, is that in shops and stuff like that, people are like, hey, how's it going today? How are you?

Good, okay. All right, see you later. But when they drive and you let someone out, it's rare for someone to say, thank you very much for letting me out in traffic. Now in Britain, if you let someone out, it's rare for someone to say, thank you very much for letting me out in traffic. Now in Britain, if you let someone out in traffic, I would say 90% of people say, thank you very much, that's kind of you.

But we're less polite, I think. So I don't know what the disconnect is. I think it's Chrissy's point because they already got what they want. They don't need to be polite anymore. In LA, people have a tendency of being polite for a self-serving need oh the fakeness yeah it's uh they're polite because they're coming to montana they're hoping they're hoping to get something out of them well even worse no it's

the most polite place on the planet or the midwest have you ever you guys spent a lot of time in the Midwest at all? Where is Montana? It's above us. If that's America, right? It would be It's like Utah, Montana. Next to the right of your fingernail. We're there, right? It's two hours from New York. Montana's

right here. Up there? If we're here, Montana's right here. Washington would be here. This is Wyoming. Right. And this would be like Idaho, a little sliver. I'm quite good with my geography. Oh, good. Nice.

What's the capital of Kenya? It's only a two-hour flight. Ah, wait. You mean America. Oh, there's America there. I'm not bad world. I can point out. What's the capital of Australia?

The capital? Capital city. Is it sydney no is it cap geography is location that's more that's geography what are you talking about capital cities is geography uh i'm not i'm better than the average american about knowing where i know i can point out like most countries in europe in the middle east oh congratulations man you can find most countries in europe i'm not saying i deserve a medal but like you ever watch the jimmy kimmel stuff where they people don't know where yeah i saw that one name a country do you see that yeah name a country and they're like africa no it's not yeah i'm i'm i'm better than most people i'm usually getting

those right like i know the continents and the countries and i can't pick point out all the countries in africa okay other than maybe south africa oh well that's yeah and uh swaziland madagascar maybe mozambique the point of my story is on the east side by the way well yes please chrissy go on where are you my story was here if somebody doesn't say hello, how are you or whatever? That's how they know you're not from here. And where are you again? I'm in, I'm in a town called Livingston. Livingston.

Yeah. Right. I'm where like Bennifer is where Jen and Ben are. Oh, wait, do they live there now? Oh, but that's like near Big Sky.

That's where like all the like Justin Timberlakes, the Kelly Clarksons have their, Jeff Bridges. We should get a place there. It's supposed to be an amazing part of the United States. Wilderness. But that's the difference. If someone doesn't say hello to you, how are you? Good morning.

How are you doing? Good evening. That's how they know you're not from here. I love manners. I love manners. And if you just go up the way, you'll be in Saskatchewan. Right, Canada. good evening that's how they know you don't you're not from here i love manners i love manners and if you just go up the way you'll be in saskatchewan right canada i've been up there the sun sets at like 10 o'clock here i've made a couple of films up there yeah yeah regina i beg your pardon

regina saskatchewan i thought you were being impolite there. Oh man. Never. I did a TV show with the first job that I ever did. I did a TV show with like a 68 year old woman. I was 18 at the time. It was 50 years older than me. And I used to come into the makeup trailer at like six in the morning while she was, she'd already been in there for like half an hour getting her hair and makeup done. And I didn't need a lot to get going. So I would come in in the morning and she would say, good morning. And I'd say, hello. And after the first like three or four

days, she stopped me and she said, when I say good morning, you say good morning. That's how it works. And I went, oh, okay. Like, well, I didn't realize it was a big deal. And she said, it's just how people speak. We say good morning. That's how being human works. Right, right. I just, I was a kid. I had no idea, you know. And she taught me that lesson that like manners, it just costs nothing. It's, you know, why wouldn't you open the door for someone? Why wouldn't you say have a nice day? So I appreciate what you're saying in terms of the fakeness of have a nice day. And a lot of my friends in England say the same thing. They're like, oh, but aren't all Americans all all this you know have a nice day and

blah blah blah and i'm like yeah but they're being fake nice we're being not fake mean we're just like yeah fucking give me that chocolate bar right so you're like you know like just be nice why wouldn't you be nice i i totally agree so billy you're married with a kid yeah and you just live in the you know no judgment i think you like being single um i think i'm probably better at being single than having a girlfriend i've i have a lot of animals and i have a big garden and uh i like to travel and i'm a bit weird you know I like I do weird stuff it's not weird for me but like I have a lot of different sized

microscopes in my house both portable and magnifying glasses don't laugh I can see you laughing I'm not and very often he's like fucking nerd very often on a Fridayiday or saturday night i'll put at certain animals that i keep under magnifying glasses or microscopes and you know

look at them or go see what's in my sink or go see what's you know in the cupboard under the stairs with microscopes and stuff now i, I think most girlfriends would be like, can we just watch Netflix? Maybe order a pizza. Maybe not. Have an early night, you know? But I like- You need like the female version of Bear Grylls. Yeah.

I did date an entomologist once, which was really fun. Someone with a degree in insects, which was great because we have that geek level of things to talk about. What happened? Why did we break up? Can't remember, actually.

There must be a fantastic tagline to that. I'll try and come up with a punchline for the next podcast that we do. I can't remember. I think she probably just went off me. I was probably just a bit too geeky. He is. He's lovely, Dom,

but he's hard to live with. I've lived with him a couple of times. For one thing, he puts on four or five things at the same time, like he'll have a podcast on and a movie and an album and he'll be reading a book.

I do that. Why would you do that? I don't know why I do that. I often think to myself, why am I don't know why I do that. I often think to myself, why am I doing this? Switch off all that stuff. I have a hard time being present. Is that what it is? Do you think it is?

Well, I know that I do. I don't know if it's why I do that. Because I think he is quite present, though, so I don't know why he does it. I like different stimulus. That's what it is. I like to be stimulated by different things. So if I'm watching TV,

very often I'm, you know, doing the Rubik's cube while I'm doing it or I'm with my magnifying glass or I'm cleaning something or I'm playing with one of my animals or if I'm gardening, I'm listening to a podcast or I like two fizz as well. I always like doing two things at the same time. I've always been into that. so I think that is a little difficult for people to live

with also I need a lot of time on my own you know I've been I've had long-term relationships with girls that have that have lasted years and have it's difficult to say to them I probably need to go away for three weeks on my own when they're like but we're together why probably need to go away for three weeks on my own. When they're like, but we're together. Why don't we go away together? I'm like, no, no, I need a holiday from you. And that usually turns into a longer holiday.

I don't know much about women, but I think that wouldn't go down well. What has been the key to success in your relationship? What's the relationship advice you have for all the young people out there well find someone that you like the smell of well there you go very important honestly i me and my wife have been together for many years now and i i love smelling her that's lovely our head all about here i think there's something about smelling someone i think yeah i think there's a

chemical thing with people pheromones and then just give people the space you know let them do what they want to do don't make it too much about and i didn't really get that there's a great poem about that isn't it mark read at my wedding oh yeah i remember that And it's true you know you are a couple And that's wonderful And you get through this adventure together This life together But you also have your own things you know Give each other space

You know You just gotta find someone who's like cool That wants the same space from magnifying glasses Exactly Someday they won't get freaked out if you put a pug under a magnifying glass. Yeah, yeah. It's all right.

Oh, like snail. Oh, yeah, because Dom doesn't have like, you don't have like animals, animals. You have like insects and like rattlesnakes and stuff like that, right? Yeah. You like venom animals or something. I do.

Yeah, that's good research there, Chrissy. I do. I'm fascinated by venom. So I have a lot of venomous creatures. Really? I'm terrified of snakes. Really? He would make you feel better about that. Watch his show,

Wild Things. I've always had this theory that we choose to have the phobias that we have to a certain degree because it's an identity thing. It's one of those things. I definitely don't like snakes. It's not made up. It's real i'm also sure that if it was a goal of mine to get over my phobia i could do it right but i would

rather just not and i choose to like be able to tell people i'm afraid of snakes right and therefore you know it's like it's i think sometimes we hang on to our phobias as a identity it's part of what defines you yeah there's. There's a lot of myths associated with those creatures, you know, and rattlesnakes especially. I think rattlesnakes are probably the most polite snake

on the planet because they tell you exactly how comfortable they are at any given time. As you get closer and closer to them, they rattle stronger and stronger. As soon as you stand still or move away,

they'll rattle less and less. And they're just saying to you, they're not saying, hey, I'm going to attack you. They're saying, hey, this is my space. Don't come any closer. So I find them to be very polite, very communicative. You just have to get in to their way of communicating. And it's kind of a spiritual practice for me because, you know, humans tend to just chat. You know, we have a language that we understand

with each other. Animals have a language. It's harder for us to get in step with it, but you can get in step with it. My lizards will tell me exactly what they want. My snakes will do the same. My scorpions, my spiders, they all communicate with me. It's harder to tune into that vibration, but you can do it. And then you give them what they want and they communicate back. Oh, that was exactly what I wanted. I did want water. I did want food. I did want shade. You can see in their behavior. There's a lot of body language and posturing going on with wild animals. Same with dogs. Dogs, I mean, we have a strong relationship with dogs and a relationship with dogs that is easy to understand simply because we've had a longer relationship with them. But most of the

communication with dogs and humans is body language, right? The way that they behave. It's the same with snakes. It's the same with with scorpions you just have to connect to that thing a little are they caged up or are they kind of some of them roaming free no none of them are roaming free because um would you like put him on billy when he was sleeping no that would be funny i would i would i would never put a venomous animal on anyone because not a venomous one but obviously no i don't play i don't play the fear game with animals because i don't i don't feed I would never put a venomous animal on anyone. Well, not a venomous one, but obviously. No, I don't play the fear game with animals because I don't feed fear into people's relationship with animals. What I want to do is empower people with animals. So if someone's scared of snakes, I always say,

okay, well, listen, I have snakes in my house. If you want to stay outside, we can have a cup of tea or a glass of wine outside, cool. If you want to put yourself into a position where you can meet my snakes in a safe environment and maybe we can start to push into that level of comfort for you in a safe way we can do that but i would never do a snake thing because then you're feeding into that fear that they have it's not helpful you know you've mentioned vibrations a few times and i'm really curious about that because

you know i like different forms of communication like can you expand on that in terms of like when you talk about vibrations to the average person listening to that they might be dismissive of of that or like you know like reading people's energies and in other than just kind of paying attention to people what are some ways to like understand you know the energy someone's giving out or an animal, right? Because we talk about communication so much on this podcast and the relationship between men and women or even dating or approaching a guy or approaching a girl

and the vibration or energy people give out is really important to pay attention to. And I think that's something that we miss most of the time. Yeah. I'm less interested in the human vibration than i am between my personal vibration with with other animals um i just i don't find humans as interesting as i as i do other animals i have a i have a garden um on a relatively steep hill and i spent a lot of time in that garden and I spent a lot of time out in nature anyway. What happens very often when, well what happens almost 99% of the time when a human enters into

a wild space is all of the animals are acutely aware that that just happened and they'll all send out a warning sign, whether that's a sound or a movement or a body position. All other animals understand based on that noise or that movement or that body position. All other animals understand based on that noise or that movement or that body position that something else has changed and they'll continue to pass on that communication. So very often when you walk out into a garden, you'll hear high pitch screeches from birds,

like a scream. Those are birds telling their bird friends, there's a human here. But that communication is also understood by mammals and also understood by reptiles. And they'll all send out this vibration. So what you need to do when you walk into a natural space is stand still. Walk into the place, get comfortable and stand still. When you stand still, you'll start to hear other noises.

And those other noises will then be the birds talking to each other in a comfortable way of hey i found food hey what are you doing i'm over here okay come back to the nest i'm doing this okay you'll hear the change in the tonality of the way that they're speaking instead of a warning sign of we're in danger look out something's here they'll be singing it'll be sing-songy and the lizards will start to come down and they'll start to forage and the squirrels will start to they won't just be focused on you they'll be singing. It will be sing-songy. And the lizards will start to come down and they'll start to forage. And the squirrels will start to, they won't just be focused on you. They'll be like, okay, there's a human.

Oh, he seems okay. All right, I'll go about my business. So now you can then move closer into that environment in a safe place because now they think, okay, human's here. Nothing crazy happened. I'm okay. We can go about our business.

You can get closer, move in. So when you're in nature, when you're in a natural environment, the key is to find a spot, stand still, be patient and just wait. And then nature will come towards you. So that's what I'm talking about in terms of the vibrations.

Yeah, that's really fascinating. When you're talking, you kind of, I think of like, kind of supernatural movies or movies that are about nature and animals. And I'm wondering, did you ever talk about think of like kind of supernatural movies or movies that are about nature and animals and i'm wondering do you ever talk about this was like this seems like would be make an interesting movie or like this even filming lord of the rings this like kind of connection with the supernatural or even animals did you have these conversations with peter and kind of talking about how all

things are affected as it relates to like you know humans interactions with the the rest of nature well pete's terrified of most animals he's terrified of wetters he's not scared he's scared of snakes he's terrified of spiders isn't he because of the whole she love thing um so yeah we've talked about it over the years i had a nature show for three years so part of that well a huge part of that nature show is trying to change people's ideas about animals that most people are scared of i mean a great, most people won't do it. Most people shouldn't do it. I would not advise it. But if you see a wild snake and you grab it by its tail, you want to work with it,

the first thing that the snake's going to do is try and escape. So the snake will, you grab it by its tail, the snake will try and go in the opposite direction. As soon as it realizes that it can't go in the opposite direction, it'll turn around and try and defend itself. It'll try and bite you. If you don't allow that snake to bite you by moving your hand away and controlling its body position very quickly, within probably five or 10 seconds, it will stop doing that because it won't waste its energy trying to bite something that it can't bite.

So now it will coil up in a defensive position and it will just say, I know that you're holding me. I know that I can't escape. I'm going to stay still. And if you don't mess around me anymore, I'll be calm. If you stay in that vibrational state with the snake whilst holding it and communicating through your hand into the tail of the snake, not going to hurt you, not going to hurt you. Just want to hang out here for a second. You will watch the snake relax. Then you can let it go and it won't even escape. It'll just sit there with you. I have it on my nature show all the time with my cameraman, where I'm working with an animal. It could be a snake or a spider or a scorpion. And I'll say to my cameraman, okay, you're good now. And what I'm saying there is we're past that point where it's

going to escape. We're past the point where it's going to bite me. I know that this animal now is aware that it's safe and we can play. And then you play and you work with it and you keep it safe and you make sure that it's okay and you're done with it. You let it go and it motors off. Most wild animals have a couple of immediate reactions towards coming into contact with a human. And if you can ride that wave, then you can hang out with them, play with them, work with them them and then let them go what's fascinating what whatever some of your passion practices so he has animals insects so like other than when you're when you're not working and you're not acting what are the things that you're doing to well billy's got a band doesn't he yeah usually

yeah yeah i've got a band called bee cake and um yeah the name came from him actually he's i'd formed a new band quite a few years ago now and we were looking for a name and he was in holiday um in europe somewhere yeah uh morocco tango morocco and uh he he'd gone to a bakery and there was a a cake that had bee pollen on it was it bee pollen yeah and it was attract it was attracting all the bees so this cake had bees all over it and they would just knock them off if someone wanted a slice and you know and he sent me a picture of it and he had bee cake underneath and i thought that's a good name for a band so yeah so i've got a band called bee cake we have three albums out now and another one that we've just finished so music's a big thing

yeah do you also do you compose like write and compose music as well yeah some of your work was on lord of the rings yeah i wrote a song for uh return of the king that's in the movie and then i came back and wrote a song for the last um hobbit movie for the battle of the King that's in the movie and then I came back and wrote a song for the last Hobbit movie for the Battle of the Five Armies I do the end title song called The Last Goodbye that sort of finishes off that trilogy

yeah so I write music as well that's amazing I've never music is something that kind of escapes me. I don't, I can't, I have a hard time. I like it. I like listening to it.

I have no skill set. Like everything else, it's just practice, right? It's just muscle memory and doing it and doing it. And I love the idea that Dolly Parton writes a song every day. I love that. Does she? Yeah. Every day she writes a song and you're going to write a good

one if you're writing 365 a year yeah one or two of them is going to be 95 you know there's gonna be a good place like every instrument i don't know if you've ever seen her in concert amazing concert she's brilliant she plays like every song she's playing like a different instrument it's insane it's brilliant she's an american legend that woman and that i start writing a song every day well it's the same with jerry seinfeld right jerry seinfeld subscribes to the same thing he sits down and writes every day yeah and very often he says that he will not write great jokes but he'll give himself an hour or a couple of hours a day sit in front of his computer write jokes for that period period. Next day, comes back and does it again. Yeah, I mean, I just never, the music thing,

I played violin as a kid and piano, and I felt like I just got worse. Yeah. It just wasn't for me. I like to draw. I was more of the drawer. And so it's just music for some reason. And I've always been fascinated with it

because I've always drawn to people and things that doesn'm not that that that doesn't come naturally or i'm not good at i like i like learning and and things like that for the same thing like jealousy i'm i'm with you guys on that where and that's been a strength to to not dismiss the things that i am not good at or don't like, but just kind of invite. So I've always been drawn to and fascinated with people. And that's why a big part for me making friends as an adult was connecting with people with things that I, that weren't, that didn't have the same strengths as I had.

So like in high school or college, a lot of my friends would kind of look like me or do the same things that I did. And as an adult, a lot of my friends would kind of look like me or do the same things that I did. And as an adult, a lot of my friends, you would not guess that we might be friends just because we just have different strengths and weaknesses, but it's kind of something that I've always been drawn to as an adult for that reason. And so I have a lot of friends in that industry or have talents and it's something that I've never been good at oh well you still got time yeah well before i let you guys go you guys down to play a game called do you know me we've we've mentioned the beginning of the podcast

fun it's easy i'm gonna ask a series of questions uh and don't answer right away we'll uh guess uh if if we know you if you have an anecdotal story to share, please do. If you don't have to, you can just say yes or no or say what you have done. And we'll go from there. Do you know me with Dom and Billy? Has Dom and Billy ever thrown a drink on somebody? Has Dom or Billy ever thrown a drink on somebody? I don't think Billy has.

I think he is a gentleman. And I feel like Dom, with the road rage, it's happened. Yeah. And not including the movie, because I feel like there was maybe a scene in a movie or something in the hobbits or something with you guys, you were big, big beer drinkers in the movie. Uh, so that's my guess. I think if Billy's done it, it was out of, uh, humor. Like it was something funny that he was like, it was done out of humor, but I think Dom,

yeah. From the road rage story. I don't think think either of you have i don't think it's your style dom i think bill you're too mild tempered do we answer now yeah you can answer that uh you're right i never have thrown a drink on someone i've had a drink thrown on me as a young man, a young lady. Were you being saucy? No, I think at that age where maybe you're seeing a couple of people and different and a young lady came in and didn't know that I was seen and she threw a drink on me in a bar. I remember I was totally, I was shocked. Oh, Billy was, before he was married, he was a man about time, about town. William Boyd, for sure.

Have you thrown a drink on someone? I've never thrown a drink on someone. I think it's a little bit of a... Cheap. A dodgy move. Yeah, it's a cheap move. I'm not... I've been in the same situation.

I've had drinks thrown at me and I was with Billy once in Thailand where we were in kosamui we'd been we'd had dinner we're hanging out on the beach having a few beers having a great chat just the two of us it was a lovely night some girl who was a little inebriated came over sat on our table and we both saw her and we carried on talking. And 20, 30 seconds went by. And she said in a slightly kind of obnoxious way, oh, sorry, am I bothering you?

And I went, well, yeah, kind of. Because we were kind of in a conversation. And remember, she just like wheeled around and smacked me so hard in the face. It was almost like a punch. And I just kind of looked at Billy and was like, did that just happen? And then she got up and walked off, didn't she?

But it was a hell of a slap. Oh, it was a good slap, yeah. Yeah, there you go. But another reason Dom would never throw a drink on someone is he's very, very tight with money. Yeah. And drinks are quite expensive. Yeah, I'm very frugal.

He's very frugal. I appreciate the practicality of it. Yeah. I think it's a punk move, you know? Yeah. And drinks are quite expensive. I'm very frugal. He's very frugal. I appreciate the practicality of it. Yeah. I think it's a punk move, you know? Yeah. Sorry for saying you did. Oh, I don't mind. I don't mind.

Question number two. Has Dom or Billy ever had a paranormal experience? Is that what? That's ghosts. Not ghosts. Whatever. whatever i mean do you explain as someone who's not in big into that i would say like do you believe you have or you know whatever it is means to you by your definition would would you i guess you have yeah do you have a ghost story like i've met a ghost or a spirit or in a house or something my girlfriend swears she's you know seen a couple ghosts

I don't believe her their faces are so hard to read that's the LA thing. It's Botox. No. Neither one of us. I'm going to say vibrations maybe. I don't know.

I'm going to say no. I thought they stay in some creepy places, I bet. In some weird locations. Maybe they've seen or heard some weird things. I'm going to say no. No, don't they stay in some creepy places, I bet, in some weird locations? Maybe they've seen some or heard some weird things. I'm going to still say no. I think yes. Or I think something that you wouldn't admit to thinking of as a ghost,

but was really eerie and that on a base level you think is paranormal. Have we answered now? Is it our time? You can go ahead no i've never no i've never seen a ghost or heard one or you know yeah yeah no i've no never had an experience that you can't explain that you felt was in the paranormal arena no me either i've i've had some space stuff. I thought we'd be connected, had the same birthday. I've had some space stuff, but I don't think that's the same. What do you mean by space?

Well, like I was with friends in Griffith Park walking back from a kind of night hike. We were looking for coyotes, which we found. And on the way back, we saw like a a fiery kind of a meteorite asteroid type thing but that we all saw it so that's more kind of a space phenomena not ufo type thing but you know it was like a burning fireball in the sky that crashed ish nearby so but not a ghost maybe a ghost was in it maybe Maybe a ghost was in it. Maybe. Maybe a ghost was driving it. This is a question, I guess, more for,

well, I guess it could be either. I don't know how long you, probably does. I'll just say, just focus for a dop. Does Dom follow their most recent ex on Instagram? Or any social media? Oh, do they follow their exes okay you follow your ex am i following any of my ex-girlfriends or an ex-girlfriend your most recent okay

yeah i feel like you're good at i don't know you're maintaining relationships and friendships yes yeah yeah uh i feel like billy would if he if he his ex i don't know i'm assuming he's been married longer than instagram was a thing 13 years yeah yeah instagram wasn't a thing wasn't a thing yeah but he would totally be potentially following his ex? I feel like your ex doesn't have social media. Should I answer that? I do not follow my ex on social media. I was trying to think then, do I follow any of my exes? I don't think I really do.

Not really. I'm not, even though I am on social media and I have a presence on social media i'm not the biggest fan of it my social media is very much a kind of here is my work this is what i'm doing this is how you can access the public version of me but to be perfectly frank all of the precious personal fantastic moments that i have in my life and not on social media and i like it that way and um i kind of feel like my ex's business is nothing to really do with me once we've broken up i did

recently just see my ex a couple of weekends ago so we're still friends okay but it didn't make me think oh i'll follow you on social media because i don't know it's not a business do you know i mean it's difficult now though isn't it i mean like i'm thinking of a couple of friends that i've got who have got married and have kids but if you scroll down their instagram far enough they're with other people yeah right and i'm like well that's weird yeah i i haven't gone out of my way to delete photos that's the thing do you delete it or is that weirder i have yeah i deleted them because part did you for me it was more of a i don't care enough to go back and delete them you know it was more like yeah but does your girlfriend now

not say you know if i accidentally scroll right down i mean it was like a few years ago how much of a scroll is that is that like that would be yeah i mean yeah minutes yeah but not exactly like yeah maybe one minute if you went fast enough i wouldn't delete stuff i've not deleted anything any of my tweets or any of my instagram things i'm not i'm not big on the worst thing about it is the anniversary things like oh this memory is today all right no but i don't like but like uh if you get a gift from a significant other and then you break up and let's say it's a watch you like or something i still think you can be appreciate that gift without being right you can't be like,

Oh, well I have to get rid of this watch because I have a new girlfriend and my old girlfriend gave me this. And I don't, I just feel like that's kind of an immature thing. If I'm dating someone and she has like a, a, a,

like even jewelry that she just like, I, you can tell she just likes how it looks. It's not like a sentimental, like this is a special keepsake with a picture. It's just like, right. It's a pair of earrings she likes.

I don't care if you, it doesn't really mean anything to me. Also, I've been lucky enough to have relationships with some quite beautiful women. And on social media, most of the comments on their photos are from men that I don't know going, oh my God, you're so hot. Oh my God, you're so hot. Oh my God, you're so hot. Oh my God, you're so hot.

I don't really want to see that. Do you know what I mean? We got to have that problem all the time. Yeah, sure, Chrissy. I think it's kind of hysterical. I don't know. I mean, I have guys complimenting my girlfriend and it's just like, yeah, well, yeah, she is.

Well, yeah, they are, but it's just none of my business at this point. Question number, I'm not sure, four or three? Four. Ken, Dom, or Billy, name at least three John Mayer exes. Ooh, John Mayer exes? Between us or individually? Absolutely not.

Individually. Or songs. We can go with John Mayer songs. I'm going to name songs. Songs I bet they could do. No, I can't. I don't think they could do exes. I'm going to just name a. Or songs. We can go with John Mayer songs. Songs I bet they could do. I don't think they could do exes. I'm going to just name a mainstream actress or songwriter, and John Mayer's probably dated them.

Okay. I've definitely got one. I think I have two. We're ruining it. I can only think of two. It's fine. It's a very rules it's a very rules oh we broke the rules yeah we did we were supposed to but I want to see you try

okay well I've only got one so shall I go first Mandy Moore probably I don't know I'm gonna say yes did he date Kelly Clarkson? No. Okay. Sorry about that, Chrissy.

Katy Perry? Yes. He dated Katy Perry. He dated Katy Perry, yeah. Oh, God, I'm terrible at names. What's another big name singer? Yeah, the wonderful... Ellen DeGeneres? Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift. Yeah.

Jessica Simpson. Jessica Simpson. Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Aniston wow yeah it's an impressive list well I will say this I'm not crazy

about his music necessarily but he legitimately shreds on the guitar have you seen him play guitar it's insane he's like a virtuoso

he moves his thumbs he puts his thumb over the top. Yeah. I don't know if you've ever seen that. John Mayer. Which is illegal in some states. Go ahead, keep it. No, he's a very talented guitarist.

He shaped my 20s. A lot of heartbreak, heartbreak hotel. Has Dom or Billy ever named their car? No. Yeah. No. Are we to answer christy yes 100 well both of us or just one of us i bet both of you have named a car at some point in your lives in their lives ready ready i mean i guess i have to am i in high school go i'm still gonna say no no never i'm so bad yes and my car currently

has a name what is it so the well my car currently is called the future my tesla it's called the future i named it the future because you can actually rename your car when you go into like the software notes you can rename it so i renamed it the future and And then my first car, which was a Volkswagen Polo, was called Orville. My first car was a 1980 Toyota Tercel, and it used to be owned by a Catholic priest who was German, and his name was Joseph, but he was very popular. He's in the Puerto Rican community, and they would call him Jose.

And I had a sticker of the, like, there was a sticker of, like, the priest, and so all my friends named it, and I subsequently named the car Jose. And that was me and the car. That is the most complicated story I've ever heard. Yeah, you could have just said that. And I loved it.

You could have just said that. I feel like I needed to explain why I named my car Jose. That was brilliant. I loved it. It's 2021. Why did I name it Jose? You're getting into some The Friendship Onion territory there. That's like our podcast, the way you went down that one.

I'm surprised that you've not named a car. No, I've never. I'm just thinking about it. No, even my first car. No, I've never. I'm just thinking about it now. Even my first car, which was an absolute tip. It was a Mazda 3. It was about 15 years old. And that should have had a name.

I was driving it once and see the back wheel. I don't know if they still do, but it's got a big spring in it. And the spring came right through the car. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it like i like you wouldn't even know that that spring was there i was driving it i went over a bump and this giant spring came right through the car i was like where did that come from the ejector seat yeah you named any guitars no what really i named the bass player in our band i named his guitar once because he got a new bass and it was white and i called it

snowy white and he always called it that and it was uh it was a lovely guitar that that's nice snowy white snowy white what about your willy have you named you have you given your willy a name he's just the general the general of course yeah self-explanatory mine's mine's called the death star yeah it's not fully operational yet but we're getting there well done final question carry on uh can um and and Billy touch their toes? With what? It's a good question. The general. Your fingers, I guess.

Okay. Or, I mean, also if... But you mean, I'm like, everyone can do that. You mean standing up? Yeah, like the whole like... I can't for anyone who cares. Well, you are quite tall, right? But that means longer arms.

Yeah, I'm just not flexible. I don't think it's a height. I use that as an excuse, but I... It's flexibility. It's flexibility and range of motion. And since you have

some butt problems and I don't mean no hole i hear you um i'm i'm i don't know if maybe you i don't know if you can so that's an ethan that's a no i'm gonna say no for billy just because what do you think the length thing probably say yes and i think i think i think don can't yeah i know the answer to this because i've spent quite a lot of time with with billy no and your legs have to be locked yeah we have to prove it surely yeah I feel like you should probably just

can I guess before we do it I'm going to say categorically yes for both of us I think Billy's very flexible because he's done yoga for years and I can definitely do it take your headphones off Broly you don't I mean oh my god you're not even trying oh yeah I think we're okay Okay, well. Take your headphones off, Broly. No. You don't, I mean, if you want. Oh, my God.

You're not even trying. Oh, yeah. I think we're okay. Oh, my God. He can put his palms on the ground. We're all right with that. Come on, have a go. Let's have a look.

Show us your best effort. Oh! Oh, that's so close. You'll be dead in a week. You'll be dead in a week. Painful. Oh, wow, really? You're so close.

You've got to push that. I need to do more yoga. Can I tell you? No word of a lie. If you, every morning, did it once in the morning and once at night for like two or three weeks, I bet you you'd be able to do it. It happens so quick for me.

It's just when I go to the gym, I just do a little bit of stretching and within less than a month, it happens. I go to the gym I just do a little bit of stretching And within less than a month it happens I have to stretch more I'm good at staying active I'm bad at stretching Well that's the one thing we'll find out from this podcast You need to stretch more

And you've got a tiny little ass Well let's not worry about that But it's called the general No that's the other part Although generals have been known often to be short and small. But also strong and powerful. It's really unclear. Leading from the front.

It sounds great, but it's still unclear. And sometimes they wear helmets. Guys, it's been so much fun to have you on. Is that it? It's been like 15 minutes? Has it? No, are you kidding? How long? over an hour

oh well we can keep going i just don't know we've got to go i'll get nothing else to see uh you guys obviously have a a new hit podcast called the friendship onion uh it's available wherever podcasts are available obviously a lot of lord of the rings discussions yes elijah wood and many other cast members are on there. Any else things you guys want to plug about the podcast or other projects you're working on where people can find you? I'm only going to plug the Friendship Onion

because that's why we're here. Good shout. It was lovely to speak to you. Yeah. And basically, we'll get you on the the friendship onion sometime if you'd like to i'd love to yeah it'd be great fun but um yeah the friendship onion is me and dom's a podcast where as you say we talk about lother rings but many other things as well lovely i think he's spoken that about as eloquently as any human can

all you can do is agree don yeah i do agree uh you guys are a ton of fun and be sure to check out their podcasts um they're hilarious they're fun and if you have any interest in the lord of the rings as many of you do like myself uh you'll definitely love their podcast don't forget to send your questions at ask nick at cast me.com cast with a k for our ethnic episodes and if there there's nothing else, we will see you back on Monday.