Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) - Judd Apatow

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Judd Apatow has spent his life obsessed with the sweet science of being funny. He joins Ted Danson to talk about his upcoming book, working with Garry Shandling and Rip Torn, documenting the lives of his comedy heroes, executive producing “Freaks and Geeks,” and what it feels like coming up on the 20th anniversary of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Like watching your podcasts?  Visit http://youtube.com/teamcoco to see full episodes. 

And then she went off to the side and made the vomit herself out of like strobeer yogurt and granola. Did she pass it by Steve? Yeah. Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. John Apatow is probably the closest thing we have to a professor of comedy or maybe even a dean. He bridges generations of comedy through his writing, producing, and directing. Think 40-year-old Virgin, knocked up, freaks and geeks, girls, love, and so much more. If you can believe it, August marks the 20th anniversary of the 40-year-old Virgin, which was remastered for the occasion.

Judd also has an amazing new book called Comedy Nerd, which documents his lifelong obsession with comedy in stories and pictures. He just gave me one. And so I have one and you don't. Let's get into it. Meet Jud Appetat. When do I get my makeup done? You know, you get brought into all these things. Yeah.

And then you think, well, there's no video. You don't think much about the video. And then you suddenly see it on YouTube or somewhere. And you look crazy because you don't have your massive glam squad covering all of your problems. But you have glam lighting. I have to tell you, this is the best light. I've ever seen on a podcast. I was so relieved.

Yeah, me too, actually. Years ago, I realized I didn't care how I looked on anything because I thought, well, I'm just like the weird comedy guy. And I, so now, like, when I do, like, the talk shows, if you ever track it, it literally may be the same suit for 11 straight years because no one cares how I look in any situation. The hair, the beard, the color, it's all working. So.

In this stage. In this stage. It's dancing-esque, right? You're better because it's silver foxy. But I can't shave the beard because when the beard goes, it doesn't look like that. I wish I could have a beard. Mary goes, nope. I mean, you can, but I won't kiss you.

Have you ever seen the videos where there's like a dad with a beard and he has like a baby that's like eight months old or two years old? And then when he just walks in without the beard and then the babies just scream and cry and flip out and lose their shit. That's Leslie, your wife. If you shave. Oh, if I shave, my daughter, Maude would always go, Ew! Your mouth does weird stuff when you talk.

They literally get furious at me. It's not even a debate about regrowing it. And I think it has nothing to do with your face. It's that it's different. It's like when you see Spielberg without the beard. Yeah. You don't like it. Yeah.

Well, I won't go that far. I'm still looking for work. Well, it's different. Yeah. But the beard is the key elements in the look. we did work together once for an afternoon that's right I was a patient of yours

you were playing a therapist we were all therapists oh I was the therapist too yes it was therapy for therapists within help me help you which lasted nine episodes but I got to hang out with Jenny Connor the best who ran girls with Lena

yeah and you got to act with me which is a rare thing because I don't do that you and Phil Rosenthal who doesn't do that either exactly there's a reason why we both don't do it because it doesn't it's not good we we're supposed to not be seen most of the time i'm so happy to be talking to you having read especially having read the book because um i'm a hired hand i'm the actor so i'm not the writer directed so my knowledge of the comedy

strains that exist yeah out there but it makes me so happy it's one of the things i'm proudest of that I got to be part of a strain that held remarkable legends throughout. The best of all time. Yeah. And this book, I'm going to jump around a lot, sorry, but the book, Comedy Nerd, and it's upset. What is the something? Obsession and Lifelong obsession with photos and stories, something like that.

Yeah. Yeah. Let me first to say how wonderful the book is, because I've read about half of it. I feel like you're sitting down with me, Ted, in front of a fire. I put the fire there. That's for me. But you have a scrapbook, and you're saying, let me tell you about my life and some of the stories and some of these remarkable people. Look, here's, you know, Gary Shandling, and that's me, and here's this amazing thing you wrote about Gary or about that time in your life.

So it's so personal because it's not just personal writing, you're seeing it. You're believing it with pictures, and which makes it so much richer and kind of resonates even more. So to me, it's just the joy to read, literally. Oh, good, because, you know, when you write things that are autobiographical, for me, I instantly think, oh, God, who wants to hear this? Like, my critical voice is like, don't even write the book. So the fact that you like it means a lot to me, because obviously, you know, your work and the work of all the people around you, when you were doing cheers

all those people they were all my heroes and as a young comedy nerd I mean that was the center of it you know taxi there was a lot of the taxi people on Cheers American Hall more kind of

yeah Bob Newhart show yeah I mean I used to watch those shows when I was a kid I wasn't good at sports I'd come home I'd watch Mary Tyler Moore and Mash I always wonder what it was like from my young like 8, 9 10 years year old brain watching mash every day about the Korean War.

It was a dark show. Right. And then you'd watch Mike Douglas and Merv and Carson and then later Letterman. And then, you know, Cheers was on. And, you know, it was the glory days of sitcom television for sure. And that, I felt, you know, programmed my brain of what was funny. I remember you as the hairdresser, the hairdresser on taxi. Jim Brooks.

I can still hear his laugh on all of the taxis. You were not a nice hairdresser. You were a villain. Yeah, but I got my comeuppance because Danny DeVito dumped this whole jar of goo on top of my head at the end. I just also want to say, just contextualize for a minute, it's like it's so perfect that you wrote this book. It's perfect that you are somebody who's written, directed, and produced with all these amazing comic minds. because you worked at it. You studied.

You came out of the shoot going, no, this is what I want to do. And I will, in high school, I love that you literally had the balls to pick up the phone. You had a, did you have a radio show? I had a radio show. I had a high school radio station.

But then you would cold call people who were already making it in the business. Who, like. Well, I mean, I would call the public The managers, yeah, to interview Seinfeld and John Candy and Howard Stern and Sandra Bernhard. With no credentials, no reason why anyone should say yes. Well, before the Internet, no one could check. So if you said, I'm with WKWZ Radio on Long Island, nobody could go online and go,

wait, this kid's 15 years old. There was no way to track it. And I also think a lot of those people, because it was like pre-podcast days, no one wanted to talk to them. they weren't doing a lot of interviews. It wasn't the world of a long-form interviews. So I think the publicists were like, oh, this is fun. And then I would show up with a tape recorder and I'd be like 15, 16 years old. And they'd give me a look like, okay, I guess I can't cancel this.

I got to do it. He's a kid. He's a child. I also get a lot of like 15, 60-year-olds who called me now because they heard this story. And they think, oh, well, he'll do it because he knows. Do you? a third of the time. That's a lot of people.

But it was really exciting because I think as a kid, I loved variety television. I loved sitcoms. I was just really into show business and just watching it as a kid on Long Island. And so when I started meeting people, it was like getting to the other side of the bubble, like, oh, John Candy is like a real guy.

They're real. Oh, maybe I could enter this world. Right. And so I just wanted to, you know, touch, them in some way. I totally understand it. I confess that I bumped into you socially a handful of times and I usually am the wallflower who mostly because I'm such a sycophon. I'm afraid that I would offend you with me kissing your ass looking for work. I'm so glad that we get to do this because I would never have the guts to do it. Yeah. Well, this is why I did it. I mean, sometimes I think like

I was trying to invent the podcast as a kid. You know, that's what I wanted. I wish to It was a world where I could hear Jay Leno talk for an hour and a half. Yes. And so I thought, oh, well, I have to do it because it doesn't exist in that era. And so you wouldn't know what anyone was really like. And there was no way for me as a kid to know, oh, what's Ted Danson like? You know, unless, you know, maybe I read your Playboy magazine Q&A if you ever did that. I mean, I used to go to the library and look up the micro-feesh.

I know people remember, like, there used to be scans of like the New York Times. You could go on the microfiche and look up like John Belushi's obituary or Lenny Bruce's trial transcripts or something. But you had to work hard to learn things. Now it just comes up in a second. But I literally was, I remember being at the library for some reason looking up Jimmy Hendrick's obituary on the day he died. Wow. But that's how hard it was to get information about stuff. I, to this day, I'm thrilled to meet anyone who's part of this tribe.

of funny people, because it just thrills me. Yeah. How did, going back just a second, your mom managed or headed up a music label? Well, my grandfather was a jazz producer. His name was Bobby Shad, and he produced Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and Dina Washington. He worked with Quincy Jones for a long time, and he ran labels like Emmercy Records, and then he had his own label called Mainstream, which was a,

not a mainstream label. It was in the 60s and 70s, and he had everyone, you know, from Sarah Vaughn to Janice Joplin. He signed Janice Joplin before Columbia. Wow. And Ted Nugent, but, you know, and Jerry Mulligan. So that's how I first got exposed to show business was my grandfather. It's a very independent jazz guy. Right. And your mom managed that for a while. And so then when he died, my mom took over the label and re-released everything on a CD when that became a thing. But after my parents got divorced, my mom got a job one summer at this club called the East End Comedy Club, and where she was just a hostess, you know, seating people. And I was like, you know, 14, 15 years old, loved comedy, had never seen it anywhere but the Westbury Music Fair.

We used to go see Rickles and Dangerfield. But this was the summer where I saw, like, the comedians from California. Maturizing Star and the improv and the comic strip. And so, you know, people like Jay Leno were coming out to perform there, Paul Prevenza. And that's when I thought, oh, maybe I can ask these people to talk to me. And just before that, all your comedies coming from TV watching. Yeah. And that's where you went, Ari, I got to have some of this.

Yeah. And so I was at the radio station, my friend Josh Rosenthal, started interviewing rock bands. So he would trick rock bands into talking to him. Right. So he would interview like R.E.M. in 1983, things like that. And then he said, you should try see if comics would talk to you. So we abused

this high school radio station and acted like it was real to see, like, can we get free tickets to see Ray Charles and Carnegie Hall? And we would just call up and see who would give us free shit. And then that turned into who would talk to us. Didn't the teacher or the whoever that ran it, didn't he say something to all of you

who were doing that is make use of this? Yeah, Jack DeMacy. Yeah. He's still a great friend. And he inspired all us to act like adults like you have this you know all it was was like a mic and a phone and then you know we would be talking to congresspeople you know we would just milk it whatever your interest was sports you would just try to convince people it was real was that ever scary to you or did you because that is a cold call yeah it is terrifies me yeah i don't know why because like i i i don't know

why i was ballsy enough yeah to do it i was probably so bored You know, because I had been watching so much TV. I didn't really have that much to do. And so I just thought, oh, maybe this is my thing. And then as soon as one or two people said yes, the first one I think was Steve Allen, the original host of The Tonight Show. Which, at that point, what was he doing?

He had put out these albums that when he did, like, variety shows, they would do phony phone calls. And so he had these albums of phony phone calls. Right. Him doing phony phone calls with Jerry Lewis or... Pranking... Pranking Johnny Carson and, you know, and so he was promoting these records. Wait, is this still available?

I'm sure they're out there. Somewhere. The Jerry Lewis one was hilarious. And so I talked to him. So then I could call the next person and go, yeah, I have this show. We just did Steve Allen. And then I'd get Leno. And then I just got Steve Allen and Leno.

And then suddenly it looked very legitimate. And the truth is, I mean, maybe out of the 50 interviews I did, I aired four. I didn't even bother putting them on the air. Right. I just wanted to do the interview. Were you in the back of your mind thinking they could help you? Or was it just, no, I want to be in the same space. I want to rub shoulders.

Yeah, I don't think I was conscious of this is information I need. It turned out to be everything. I mean, comedians talked about how to write jokes. I remember interviewing Harold Ramos. He was in prep on vacation. I knew him so well, actually. The best, right? Yeah.

Just the nicest, most rabbinical man. and just a special guy. We did a movie called Year 1 with him. Oh, that's right. Everyone wanted to be in it, because then you got to hang out with Harold, so Jack Black and Michael Sarah were in it. Then all the comics played,

no matter how small the part was, people would fly to New Mexico, I mean, to Louisiana, to just be around Harold. And then he was the greatest guy. He loved to tell you about Belushi and the early days of the lamp. Right.

Everything you wish he would do with you, he would do. Including singing a song. Yeah. He loved playing the guitar and singing. On set, he had the guitar as he directed all day long. So when I was a kid, I interviewed him, and he talked about writing jokes for comedians like Dangerfield.

And as a way to get in, make some money. Make some money while you're getting in. And so I started trying to write jokes for people because I'm like, oh, so there's this way to do this where you can be the writer. You can still try to be a comedian, and you could try to write jokes for other people to pay your bills as you learn how to do it. Woody Allen did that route too, right? There were so many people that started, you know, Larry Gelbard,

just wrote jokes for Bob Hope. And what does that mean literally? That you, you watch it so you know their style, but then you, what do you do? You write, dear so-and-so, here are some jokes for tonight's show? Sometimes, well, sometimes you would just write up a sheet of jokes, and other times you sit with people. So when I was really young, me and Norm McDonald's,

and John Regi were hired to write jokes for Roseanne. And I remember going to her house and we would sit at her, you know, kitchen table and she would bring out a big stack of yellow legal pads with her ideas. Right. And then we would try to figure out which ones. For a comedy routine for stand-up.

Yeah. And then we would, you know, she would just go like, I want to do something about stretch marks, you know, or something. And we're like young guys, like, okay. I wouldn't really know what that is, but I'll figure it out. So we would listen to her ideas and try to help her shape them. Right. And then sometimes just write jokes and just see if she liked.

And this is before anything else had happened for you. You were writing jokes. Yeah. And for Tom. Writing jokes for Tom. Which I understood could be sometimes scary. Well, Tom was like, the world didn't know who Tom was. So Tom started dating Roseanne, and he was a comic from the Midwest.

And then it's like, who's this guy that's suddenly with Roseanne? And Tom was very funny. and very up for writing, very self-deprecating jokes. Yeah. And he was hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, then Gary Shandling, was that, were you writing for him at that point or did that come later?

That came. Because that's a huge person in your life, if I read that. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, I was working at the improv doing stand-up in Dallas, and then I got to call, Gary needs jokes for the Grammys. Right. So wait, wait, get me there to the stand-up in Dallas. When you were doing jokes for Roseanne, had you done stand-up yet?

Yeah, I'd be doing stand-up, like, at the improv at night. I was like the emcee for years in, like, the late 80s. And it was just everyone on Earth was coming in. It was like Seinfeld and Leno and Ellen and Robin Williams. Like, every night was like this greatest hits of the Earth shows. And I was like the host trying to squeeze in a joke in the middle. And I'd go on the road to the road. to the road improv clubs.

And I didn't know Gary. I'd met him once very briefly. And then I got a call. They said, he needs jokes for the Grammys. And so I stayed up all night and just literally wrote him like a hundred jokes. And the next day, we had a call. And I always remember it because it was when the first Gulf War started, like literally that week.

And so we sat on the phone and he read every joke. And then we kicked around the joke. And then he would make it better. He would fix every joke or come up with a better punchline. And then he said, do you want to come to New York when we do the Grammys? And so, you know, I was like a kid. Like, he flew me to New York. You know, there were other writers, too.

Like, Jeff Cesario worked on that. I'd show a lot. And got to be on the stage during the Grammys. And I'd never seen anything before in my life. And suddenly, like, Bob Dylan's playing the show. Bono's giving an award to Sinatra. Like, it was, like, nuts. Like, the best thing that ever happened.

And that's how I got to know Gary. And then later on, you know, I got to work with him on his show. Right. I mean, he was just always so nice to me. And when I did this sketch show, the Ben Stiller show, I asked him to do the pilot. And he said yes. And then I asked him, do you want to be in one of the other episodes? He said, yes.

And then he started the Larry Sanders show. And then as soon as the Ben's Dilley Show was canceled, he said, why don't you work for the Larry Sanders show? He's like, you'll learn a lot. Which was kind of a big deal because he didn't say, you're going to be really helpful. He's like, you're going to learn. So it was a very much of a giving gesture. And then I work there, you know, mainly just pitching jokes. And then I like slowly had more responsibility. But Gary would go through the writers. Like he fired a lot of writers. A lot of the best writers ever that for reasons both logical and completely illogical,

the place got. Was that a, is he, was that a scary part of him? It was in the sense that he's, Whimsical or does it make sense in his head? It was just that he's brilliant and exhausted and neurotic. And so he would work with a writer and then suddenly it would turn for him in some way. And it's impossible to know what's in his head. So if you're writing for Gary, it's very easy for Gary to go, well, I wouldn't say that. And he'd be right, but you don't, like you couldn't climb in with him totally. Right.

So there were very few writers who did. didn't have moments where he was deeply disappointed because I used to say it's like if you wanted to paint with Picasso, say you were a painting with him. And then Picasso was like, why are you using red? Yeah. Like, that's what it felt like at times. Yeah. Certain people really were amazing at at Peter Tolan, Paul Sims, Meyer Forbes, and John Regi. You know, there were people that, you know, lasted, but it would always ultimately get weird. And so when I was asked to help run it with Adam Resnick,

I just said, Gary, I'm really worried about our friendship. Like, I'll do this, but you can't hate me. Right. Like, how can we do this where you don't hate me at the end of it? Like, where we still talk. And he was like, I'm not going to hate you. And I'm like, but seriously, like, we've got to stay connected. Don't turn on me. and no we did get through it we definitely got we definitely got that was a game changer of a show I mean way ahead of its time and no one had seen anything like that include I mean it's curb like

in a way in that who is the actor the story somebody insulted him or did something and said oh Dana Carvey yeah and then Carvey did an impression of him and I think Robert Smichael wrote it And it was like really like kind of a mean, like whiny Gary, you know, my ass. Like it was just a very kind of two-dimensional, just tough making fun of Gary. Right. And then Dana Carvey calls Gary. And he's like, I'm so sorry. I didn't write that.

And then Gary said, it's okay. We'll just do an episode about it. Yeah. And then he did an episode where Dana is filling in for him and he does the vicious. impression. So Gary took something that he really didn't like and put it on his own show. And that's how the show would work, as things would happen in life

and then he would bring it onto the show. His girlfriend that he wrote an episode, Linda Doucette, who played Hank's assistant, they were writing an episode where she becomes a playboy playmate. And then while writing it, you Hefner asked

Linda to be a playboy playmate. Right. And she said yes. So everything would keep like folding in on each other. So you must have been writing on the spot sometimes when something would happen. Yeah. And all the guest stars would change,

you know, you know, they would write it for one person. Yeah. And then someone else would show up. And so, and then you had to look people in the eye and say,

you know, this scene is satirizing you. So people are playing themselves. And it's our version of what's funny about them. Yeah. And then they read it like, oh, that's the joke on me?

Yeah. And so sometimes people were not thrilled about what the joke was. Larry's version of I'm a goody-to-shoe asshole. It was basically my version of that. Just a moment about Rip Thornt. Oh, wow. Who to me is one of those remarkable actors. Any moment, anything.

What was that like? Rip, I mean, Rip was like, I guess he was drawing. drunk a lot. But, you know, I'm so young, I don't even know he's drunk. I'm just like, Ripp's kind of a character. I remember somebody going to me, he's just drunk. I'm like, oh, I just thought he was in a weird mood. I never got like what was really happening. I remember there was a moment where, you know, Rip and Jeffrey got into a fight. And this is a story. Sorry. Yeah. This is, so Jeffrey Tam, where we played Hank, and Rip called, you know, Rip's character

calls Jeffrey's character like an idiot, right? And then Jeffrey afterward was like, can we take that out? My character is not an idiot. He is, he is, he had another kind of word for him, and he's a, but I don't think he's an idiot. You know, I think he's insincere. And, you know, and Rip goes, well, my character thinks your character is. an idiot and then it turns into this big fight and rip runs out uh and he's like screw this i'm tired of this show i'm out of here and you know the producers are chasing after him

and he goes like call his agent like to quit the show yeah yeah and he picks up the phone and he's like ob gersh please all right could he's own rip torn called okay let's go back It was kind of like that on a daily basis. I love when you're talking about there's still a fan. Yeah, absolutely. You're still a fan

and the excitement of bumping shoulders with people like that. Oh, sometimes I think I only make things to be allowed to be in. In the room. Exactly, just to be in the business.

Like, you have to actually have made something for you to want to talk to me. Right. Right? Like, it's like the, it's more like the entrance pass is that you've done something. And so... My way in is just to be nice. I'm not particularly talented, but I'm really nice. And people like hanging out with me.

That also goes a long way in this space. Are you nice to the core or it's a facade? I can do both. Yeah, yeah. But you operate in the world as nice. Yeah. And then you keep the darker side to yourself unless it's like curb or something where they sense it in you and they bring it out. Yeah. Yeah. He was mean towards me. Very mean. Disrespectful. Yeah. I get through a halfway through a season and over here, I'd hit a mark earlier than I was supposed to. So I came by when he was finishing up a conversation with somebody. And I heard, oh, God, Dan said, he's such an asshole. I agree. What a fucking asshole. And I went, okay, well, I don't know what that's about when I happened again. And I went up to Jeff Goplin and said, I just heard the, and he said, because I'd never read the scripts.

You would just say, you know, they'd say, here, walk here, do that. This is what you're thinking. And he said, you don't know. You were the major asshole of this season. That's what you are. Anyway, that's me. But that's fun. Sometimes you flip it, you go the other way.

Yeah. He's a strain of comedy, wouldn't you say? Larry? Yeah. Yeah, just the, where did that come from, do you think? Is that his attitude? No, no, this strain that he came out of that allowed him to be Larry. Or is it all just him? Because he did change things.

Yeah. He changed half hour forever. I mean, I don't know, like, the source of Larry, like how that all happened. But I would hear about him all the time when I was. about stand-up, so this is before Seinfeld and people say, oh, you know, Larry, like, if he's not happy, he'll just walk off the stage in the middle of the set. And then he came in one day.

I saw him do a set. And I remember one of the jokes, because I was so excited to finally see him, and it was all about how hard it is to get the head of a South American country to wear a condom. And it was like, I don't have to wear a condom. I'm the Generalissimo. And then so when he did, when he started Curb Your Enthusiasm,

I was just fascinated by it and especially by the improv aspect of it because, you know, we had been trying to figure out how to keep it really loose on sets, but not necessarily. Film sets or TV sets? Both, just like, you know, working from a loose place where we do the script, but we give people opportunities to break away. But then we heard, oh, he's working with no. script with just an outline.

So I asked him, and I didn't really know him at the time, if I could come and watch him do it. Right. And so right before he shot, he was about to shoot a scene with like an actor. He didn't know, someone he had just hired in casting. And I said, have you ever had anybody just lock up? Like, they just can't do it. He's like, no, we've been very lucky.

And then I watched the guy lock up. And then he turned to me and he's like, this guy's got a three-episode arc. we're going to have to get rid of this guy. But then I heard that the guy actually pulled it together and they kept them. The other thing that doesn't work with that is when the person comes

and has practiced being funny and trying to be funny for Larry because that ain't your job. Your job is the service Larry, really, and not trying to demonstrate how funny you are. I heard I almost got cast on an episode, but they didn't think I was a big enough asshole. And I was like, I don't know, I wish I could have proven it to you.

They were like, you got close on that one, but we went for a bigger jerk. I don't know who got us. It would be nice to name names. I know, I wish I knew. Where did, all right, go back a little bit, I think go back, maybe not. Freaks and Geeks to me seems like it was like, get me there because there are people there that you either married or worked with, or were you already married to Leslie and freaks and I was married when we did Freaks and Geeks.

But Seth, Jason, all these people you kept working with over and over again. They feel like part of your rep company almost. Yeah, I mean, you know, I had this deal at DreamWorks and I said to Paul Feig. If you ever have any ideas, let me know because I'm looking to find some projects. And then one day you called me and he just handed me like a yellow envelope. It's almost like, you know, just slide it across the table. right? And you're looking at it just as freaks and geeks. And instantly I was like, oh, I love this already. And he's like, yeah, it's a show you know about the podheads and the nerds.

I'm like, okay. This is my favorite thing ever. I don't even have to open it up. And it was amazing. Did he write it? He wrote it. And then we brought on Jake Hasms to direct and I was producing. And then, you know, then we all were, you know, writing on the staff. And but Paul had such a sense of what it was. I mean, he really, he wrote this giant Bible that was like 60 pages just explaining the town and the clothes and the characters and the people and the themes of what he wanted to do and he just had so many stories. And just, like, the amount of humiliating stories he had from high school was remarkable. Was he wearing a suit when he gave that to you, by the way? He wasn't wearing the suit yet. The suit happened right at the end of that time period.

Oh, really? Yes, where he wears a suit when he directs. Every day he directs. And I'm a pig, right? So I don't, you know, I, as I said before, I don't dress up. And Paul was like me for a very long time. He was like a Hawaiian bowling shirt type of guy. And then suddenly it turned into like the greatest suits ever.

And I have to say it made me uncomfortable, probably due to my own insecurities that I have no fashion sense. And so when we were doing bridesmaids and Paul was directing, right before we started shooting, I said, Paul, I don't think you should wear a suit when you direct the movie because it doesn't it make it like you're the center of attention? Like, it just feels like, make it about them. Don't wear the suit. And he just

went, no, I'm going to wear the suit. What is the story behind? There was a story, and I can't remember why. Well, yeah, I'm not sure of the origination of it, but I was so wrong because the crew and the cast loved it so much that they would have like Paul Feig's suit date. where they would wear suits.

Like, I was like the jerk who just like didn't get that, you know, he's doing a little Hitchcock suit thing and I'm, you know, I'm a James Purse guy, you know? Right. That's all I got. That ain't bad. That's as fashionable as I got. Yeah, I got to be directed by him once. I just really admire him hugely.

So it was incredible, you know, watching, you know, his vision come to life. And then we all told him all of our heartbreaking childhood stories. Right. And had a great story. staff. Mike White was on the staff of Freaks and Geeks, and he was really helpful because he had just worked on Dawson's Creek. And he was the only one who had ever worked on an hour show before. So he understood the structure of the hour show. And he would, you know, he would write these scripts and they would really be great. And I remember he gave me a script and I gave him notes to do some revisions. And then a week later, he gives me the revisions. And then when the show was done, he said, you know, Judd, when you would give me notes, I would do the revision. in 35 minutes and then take a week

to write a screenplay. Which I respected. I respected that he pulled that off. That's how I would have handled it. Dawson's Creek does not seem like a Mike White. You got to start in television. I mean, that was a giant show. But it was funny because that was the show

that in a lot of ways, Paul felt like those are like the beautiful kids and it was like a soap opera. And Paul was like, I want to represent the kids you never see on a show like that. And that's why he wrote freaks and geeks. And the casting, how did you, were those people you knew in advance, the Jason's, the Seth? No, we didn't, we didn't know anybody.

We just had a theory about it, which was, the script is great, but let's see who's out there and, like, create these clicks of kids. Right. And then Paul will tune it in to the people we find. Yeah, which is the best way to write. And that was why I think it worked because, you know, Paul was flexible. Like, he had archetypes. But, you know, when you would meet people, you know, like Sam Levine, who played Neil and Martin Star, like you could go, oh, I can add this aspect of what they're doing and their personalities. But then it's not a stretch.

No one's acting. They're inhabiting. Exactly. A big heart of who they are. Yeah. And Linda Cardellini and John Daly were the leads. You know, they were just. just magic every second that they shot.

There wasn't a frame in the daily that wasn't perfect from them. And you felt that the whole time like, something's happening here. That's like really special and it's clicking on all cylinders. But at the same time, we were like, we are going to get canceled at any second.

Yeah. And you were. And we were right about that. I don't see. I don't get. I came late to that. I didn't see it was on the air. But I came back because it became such a major. You got to see this. And everyone came out of that. Why?

Did you just... I mean, you could say it's marketing. You could say it was too painful. What year was it? It was 99. We should have been ready for that. But it was a little bit like independent movies on TV. It was like independent TV.

So the kids, you know, episodes would end in a really depressing way. But like a deeply troubling. Right. Like there was an episode where Jason Siegel was trying to be. a drummer and he auditions for a local band and the end of the show is he's kind of realizing he will never ever be a drummer right the end and and at the last moment of the episode is linda cardalini who he loves but her character doesn't like him right he's so depressed that she kisses him like she's so depressed no he's so depressed like she's so nervous about how

Depressia is that she just doesn't know what to do because he's spiraling out and so she kisses him. And is that the end? That's the end of the episode. But that's a great end. Oh, it was beautiful but just not like at the end of a show that would make you feel great. It was more like life

is really hard and your friends help you get through it and your family and that's it. So it might have been dark or there was a lot of things happening. I don't remember if it was like the World Series or the Olympics, but we were on like every three weeks.

Ah, that'll do it. On Saturday night, it's in a weird slot. You were a streaming show before you, they were streaming, really. It was weird as more people watch it now than then. Like, it's on as if it's on, but it's a long time ago. Okay, go, go, how close are we career-wise, your career, in getting to going from writing to directing? Well.

After Gary. After, yeah, after Gary, you know, I worked on some movies, you know, I was able to write a couple of movies. I wrote fun with Dick and Jane, with Nick Stoller, and we... And that's Jim Carrey, who we worked with on the cable guy, who was an old friend. I used to help write sketches on and live in color with, and, you know, just what my close friend. Dear God, what a talented, astounding. Oh, Jim is... I mean, even back then when Jim was, hadn't broken, you know, we all just thought like, oh, that's our Charlie Chaplin. Yeah. he's going to be the guy.

It was just like, how is it going to happen? And then it, you know, and then it did. Yeah. And so, so we got to work with him on that. And then I produced Anchorman, which Will Ferrell and Adam McKeigh read, Adam directed. Right. And because that did well, and a couple of movies like, especially the Will movies started doing well like Elf. Right.

And Mary was in that. Yes. And that kind of changed the game. So you were a go-to, write the funny... I was producing on some and writing on others and being like a creative producer. And then after Anchorman, I asked Steve Carell, do you have any ideas?

It seems like you should be the lead of one of these. Knowing him from... From Anchorman as Brick, the Weatherman. And so he said, a couple ideas. And he said, and I have this other thing about, you know, a 40-year-old virgin. And I used to do a sketch where he was a poker game and they're all telling dirty sex stories. And when you get to him, it's clear he's

never had sex and he's lying. And then he said to me, you know, it's like, you know, like when you touch a woman's breasts and it feels like a bag of sand. You know, like when you put your hand out of a woman's pants and there's all the baby powder. And so I just understood what that was. I just thought, okay, I get that. I can relate to all of that. And so we, you know, We pitched it around town, and they allowed me to direct that one. I have to, I want more questions about that, but I have to interrupt by saying Mary and I were kind of like the virgins to 40-year-old virgin. We had never seen it. We confessed to each other when I knew you were coming on.

I said, I'm embarrassed to tell you, I've never seen this. Would you mind watching it again with me? And she had the same story. Dear Lord, we howled with laughter. I mean, it is so funny. It is so brilliant. It is so touching. Your wife is one of those amazing actors who can literally go anywhere and be totally touching and believable in the same time.

Yeah. It's such a sweet, loving, raunchy, you know, movie. It's just, it's, it's, I think it must be everything you wanted in a movie because I can't remember what the quote was about you. you want to be loving and caring and, da-da-da, and, you know, have a penis in it. Every movie has to have a penis in it somehow. Well, there was a period that we did want that. But, yeah, the... Sorry, it's brilliant.

I'm sorry, I'm late to the party. Oh, no, I'm happy. Absolutely brilliant. I like that these things just float around and find their way to people. You know, we did a screening of it. It's the 20th anniversary of the movie. Coming up in August 20th. Yeah, so August 22nd, they're putting it in movie theaters for a week.

and train records the 10th anniversary so both of those movies you could watch with people in the theater which would be fun but we showed it at the motion picture

Academy Museum and with a thousand people and I hadn't seen it recently or yeah and I hadn't seen it since you know 2005 so I got to watch it having not remembered

about 80% of us in it like I got a real watch of it as an audience member and I have to say I was I was laughing. There was good joke compression. It was like, wow, this is,

someone's working really hard to stuff a lot of jokes in this. Yeah, but it was, I was also so touching. Yeah. Really was. I mean, that's Steve Carell is that. I mean, Steve has such a big heart. And, you know, in the beginning of the process, we were like, what if we took this very seriously, like emotionally?

Yeah. And, you know, not like a big, dumb-ass movie. Like, what his problem is, what emotionally he needs to get over. His shame, his sense of feeling less than, and his insecurities, and really right to the truth of it, and because he's such a great actor. And so, you know, emotionally available, in addition to being the funniest guy ever, he did something really remarkable. Did you know Paul Rudd by then? We did Anchorman together. Right.

And was that, where the hell did he come from? He's astounding and keeps getting richer and richer. Yeah. But he's one of those people that are just. can be funny without even, you don't see it ever coming. Well, I think back then, like, he was doing, you know, probably more serious stuff than comedies, but he really wanted to do comedies.

And I remember him coming in fully dressed in the 70s clothes for the Hankerman. Right. Audition and mustache. You know, he definitely was committed to, like, being a comedy star. And I would always say, all I need is for you to gain weight. I just want you to gain weight. I like Chunky Paul.

Let's do Chunky Paul. And then when we were shooting the movie, like three days in, the studio got really mad. They're like, what happened to Paul? They're like, could we do anything about this? I'm like, I can't change his weight in the middle of the movie. Yeah. But, you know, he was doing a De Niro for us. I loved watching him dawn when he started to look at Steve and it was dawning on him.

Something's not right. And I thought he was going to go evil and mean. Yeah. And it was just, no, it went the exact opposite. Very sweet. But you could see a dawn on him. Yeah. Yeah, no, he's the funny.

And so, wait, we've worked together a ton of times. Yeah. This is 40 we did together. He was like, you know, the husband to my wife, Leslie, man. Leslie, seriously, that whole, that whole scene with her getting drunk in the car. I mean, there was just uproarious. laughs in it. So I'm really glad I get to catch up with you. Leslie was like, I have to, I think I have to vomit in his face in the end, don't you think? You know, Leslie always has

great, like, joke ideas. And then she went off to the side and made the vomit herself out of, like, strober yogurt and granola. Did she pass it by Steve? Yeah. And Steve does this great take, because his face is just covered. And he just kind of stands there and just lets it kind of run down his face. Did you, did you have a daffery tonight? I thought you might have. Wow. How about your docs? You had one with the relationship between Don Rickles and Blankings, Bob Newhart.

Yeah. Two of the people that I loved knowing that they were friends when I found that out in some talk show. It just made me so happy. Yeah, I mean, I had only met Bob Newhart a couple of times, and I got a call, and he said, I want you to make a movie about Don, you know, about our friendship, but I don't want people to forget Don. It's after Don died. And so I just instantly started shooting. Just with my own money, I'm like, I'm in this business because of Bob. And I just, in my head, I thought of just literally the hundreds of hours of me as a little kid sitting watching the Bob New Hard Show. Yeah. And so

I just, as an act of faith, I'm like, I'm this going to start shooting. Let's go. And so we interviewed him and his family and his wife and it was really funny. Was Donald's wife alive? No, but Bob's Bob's wife was

yeah. That's all you had a Don was yeah. Bob's point of view of memories. Yeah, and so and it was just so beautiful that he loved Don so much and just wanted to talk about their friendship and their lives.

And then when it was done, I realized, like, I think this is like a short film, you know, that it's not a big long doc because there's been a lot of great docs about Bob and Don. But let's just, let's lean into like, that this is like beautiful and heartbreaking and very emotional. And then I gave it to the New Yorker.

So you could watch it on the New Yorker website. It's called Bob and Don, a love story, or you can watch it on YouTube. So it's just free. I just gave it out so people could see it. But I thought, like, I mean, you were friends with both of them, I assume, to some extent. No, no. Did you meet them in your travels?

No, never ever got to. But I listened to his records. I remember that was a family thing back when I was with my folks still. But Bob was got to, I mean, in some ways, I think, edgier than Don. Like in life, his sense of humor was edgy. Even, like, he would make. fun of Don even after Don was gone. He would say, you know,

so we were in Vegas together. I was in the big room. Like, he would still be insulting Don post his death. That's funny. The funny thing he said about Don, which made me laugh, was he said, I said, did he write anything? Like,

it seemed like he always had the same act and then he would riff with the crowd. He's like, yeah, he never wrote anything. And we would watch him and he would go out there almost like in a fugue state. Like he would just start babbling and it would be so crazy and so funny and he would get off stage and we would say, remember that thing you said

to that guy and this thing? And he's like, he didn't remember a word he had said. So he wouldn't come off stage and write down the great jokes to do them again. He would never do them again. And I find it's almost like he had like ADD or something. Right. Because I said, well, what about when he's performing

at Reagan's inauguration? Does he have like jokes pre-written? And he's like, no. That's not how worked, they would just push him out on the stage and he would just start going. He weren't clean. Yeah. He wasn't using words that could, you know,

you'd have to bleed. Yeah. And some of the jokes are shocking now. Yeah. Yeah. Like what he was going, what he was doing. You know, some of it you're like, wow, I don't think you could do that. Even picking the jokes to show in the documentary to get a sense of the spirit of it, but to not put

any in where people would freak out. But it was a time where people really got a kick out of it. And Bob said people would walk up to him on the street and go, do me, do me. They would just want to get lacerated by him. Say the worst things you can think of for me. Yeah. Yeah.

Isn't that funny how we've gone? I mean, that whole cancel thing because you said some of you, I suppose pendulum swing back and forth and that's probably good. But. Well, according to South Park, it's, everything's fair game. Oh, I see. I, damn it, I've missed this. I haven't watched it yet.

But you know, you just love that they're. out there like you guys might have rules but not on us how political are you we don't have to get into it you don't have to do anything but how do you when did you all of a sudden go oh all of you know my career's led me to the point where now i am do i have a responsibility to you know other things to social things to life or i have the money that i need that's power power in a way, do I, you know, what did anything, what was that for you, that moment? Well, when I was a kid, I worked for comic relief and so those were benefits for the homeless with all the great comedy people. You were a part of it. And Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and

Wolfie Goldberg, would host it every year on HBO, like the live aid of comedy. There was a guy there named Dennis Alba and he was in charge of the money and how it was spent. And, He was just, you know, a mentor to me in terms of charity. Right. And so at one point, he gave me a list of places that needed money. And so I just asked him, like, who needs it? And a lot of these were health care for the homeless facilities because it's very hard for homeless people to get any kind of medical treatment.

And I think I remember I spoke to you one point about charities because you turned me on to Oceana. Right. And L.A. Men's Place. Thank you. Thank you. Right. And so I would always have these lists of places like when I can that I would give to. So it started really with charity.

And then at some point, it just becomes about kindness, right? So like today in the news you hear Trump wants to criminalize homelessness. Yeah. So some of those people are addicted. Some of those people are mentally ill. And some of those people are just really down on their luck in a bad situation. You can't just toss them in jails. The jails aren't set up for that.

So just politically, the thing that guides me the most is, don't you want leaders who are aware of that? Like, we don't want to torture these people. We don't want to torture undocumented people? More than left and right, like, don't you want people who go, what is the most humane way to do things? I sometimes think that there's, you know, well, there is. There's the people around him or the people before him even.

I feel like a lot of times all the most hurtful, scary, sad, sorrowful things that you and I witness is a purposeful poke them in the eye because over here we're doing this which is the big stuff. Yeah, that is much more thought through. Like what's happening in the country,

there is probably a plan for the next 18 months of this is when we're going to deal with this issue and this is when we're going to take over this thing. and I feel like everybody on the other side does not know what to do. And there are some people who are like, well, let them just fail and it'll swing back. But they're not failing. Or they'll be in such a position that even if people are unsatisfied, you won't be able to get rid of them. Yeah, it's kind of scary.

I mean, there's all this stuff that is humanity getting beat up and there's a lot of fear and sorrow and all of that, especially in L.A., or at least it feels especially in L.A. But then you go, hey, folks, you know, do you think you're going to be immune from climate change and the devastation that's coming our way as a result of that? The people that love you in the middle of this country and you're saying it's a, you know, it's a hoax. Yeah.

And we're going to take all the science out of here because it's contradicting our, it's a hoax thing. is going to clobber all of us. You're not going to be rich enough or on the, you know, MAGA enough to avoid what's coming our way. Well, how much proof do you need? Yeah.

I mean, there's mountains melting and people are being flooded, fires. It's, you know, that's what I find most shocking is even the people who live in those areas, you don't get the sense that afterwards, they're furious. Right. about these issues.

Right. And then I think the scariest part is people deciding it's unfixable, so let's just go to Mars. God's will. Yeah. God's will. Let's go to Mars. I'm going to upload my consciousness to a computer, so we don't have to worry about global warming. Or have a billion children that will carry my...

Yeah. So I think that's what's more scary, is people giving up and going, let's just drill and make money and ride this out and just milk it and just leave it. in tatters. Yeah. Yeah, very sad, very scary. Wow. You really brought this thing down. No, no, no, no. No. But, you know, we have to, we have to, you know, fight on regardless. I mean, that's the hard part is you have to stay in it and try to come up with ways to, you know, be the light when there's a lot of dark happening.

Yes, because you can't fight dark with dark. Yeah. Or make decisions out of fear and anger. I don't think they work. So you do need to do that. I always ask myself, well, are you just being confrontation, you know, avoidance? Yeah. You know.

Yeah, but you've been fighting that fight for the environment for a very long time. Yeah, and I'm happy to have that fight because it's science. Well, I know just right down the street from my house, there's a giant sign that says, you are in a stage four fire danger area. And I'm like, what does that mean? Yeah. Why do we have a sign a block from our house? It's like you're in the worst place on earth to live.

Yeah. Yeah. But I was lucky as when the fires happened, you know, I had just moved. And so I used to live, you know, farther west. Right. And I had just moved. But then I was like in my house and I was, you know, packing stuff just because, you know, I was nervous, like, you know, how far would it go?

And then I realized that I don't own anything of value. Like I really had like, like, nothing. Like I was like, what would I take? I'm like, I don't really get anything. I just like. my iPad. Yeah. I realized that I wasn't

very stuff-driven. Yeah. That made me feel a little better. You know, I could get new James purse. But our house that we lived in when we first had our kids burnt down in the Palisades and even seeing a house you used to live in

is just devastating. And that's where we raised our kids. So every place where we raised our kids has gone, our doctor's office, our dentist office, the supermarket, the Starbucks. And so that's why when we're, we did the book, I thought, oh, you know, we can give the money to fire aid.

I wanted to mention that. Everything you've made, which is a nice, healthy pre-sale chunk, is going to fire aid. Yeah, and 826, which provides free tutoring to kids. Those are the two charities that the book goes to. And it's raised already about half a million dollars for that. That's cool. And rightfully so. It's really, truly a brilliant book.

What else do I want to say to you, Judd, hire me? No, shit. Did that come? Oh, I didn't mean that. I'm just kidding. Do you know that every meeting I go to, they go, could Ted Danson be in it? Yes. Do you know that you are almost like the thing, you know, that like if you're like a writer and you're just trying to get things through and they're like, you got to package it.

You got to like know who your actors are. And there's just a few people that get it done. Wow. And it's you and Nicole Kidman, I would say. You're the two people that can do anything in the world. Do you feel that in your career life? First time I've ever been associated with her, and I am so thankful. That's very cool.

First off, I now learned that you have not listened to this podcast, because if you had, you would have known that I usually like the compliments up front because it relaxes me. This is almost over, and I've been so tense. I wanted you on guard. What, if you had to go, this is what I. would like to be doing next or I have something I really want to do or whatever with yeah do you have that or what's my next goal yeah yeah or yeah where am I really going with all of this yeah I don't know if I have a goal I mean because you're doing it yeah I mean I've been doing

you know I'm doing a documentary on Mel Brooks right now yes thank you for that and and we're also doing one about Norm McDonald's. So I really am enjoying, you know, telling stories in documentary form. And then I'd like to have, you know, more comedies in the movie theater with people at the theater, you know, and watching things together. So even though that's... Is that gone, gone? I don't think it's gone, gone. I'm going to shoot a movie in February. And I hope that that swings back. But I certainly, it's a goal to try to help that happen. I love that you're grabbing people who have made such a huge impact on comedy. Mel Brooks, you know, grabbing them now.

I want to talk to Carol Burnett. I got an award named after her and I got to tell her I love her. I got to hug her. You know, and Dick Van Dyke I've gotten to, we went to his house to do this. These are people who should be, I don't know, cherished, memorialize. you know, grab them, you know, and I love that you're doing Mel Brooks. Well, I mean, Mel Brooks is amazing. So that's going to be a two-parter that'll be on in January. Have you started shooting already? Oh, yeah, we're just finishing it up.

Are you sitting with him talking? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we did 10 hours with him. And it was incredible. And I loved that. I was watching a Carol Burnett documentary the other day. Maybe it was American Masters or something. And how funny she was. I think people don't even fully appreciate it. When you just start watching a bunch of what the sketches were, she's as funny as anybody ever. She's murdering so hard doing so. When she does like Mama, oh my God. And she's the nicest person.

When she did the Larry Sanders show, she did it a couple of times. You know, we would watch her and go, oh, she's better than anyone who's walked through this place. Yeah. In every possible way. She's royalty. She truly is royalty. And what was brilliant about her show, I think, as well as seeing her comedic genius, then she stood in front of an audience

fielding whatever came her way and you could see her incredible heart and sense of humor and love of other people and the other great your wife Mary I got to watch her when we did stepbrothers just the best

and so nice and so funny I love that that movie has become like the Wizard of Oz it really doesn't go away it's always like people's favorite movies And they don't watch it once or twice. It's five, six, seven times or every year. It's such and such day we watch it.

And she, her and Richard Jenkins as the parents and stepbrothers, I mean, they were so funny together, but, you know, we would sit around and go, what is this movie about? Because, you know, what Will and Adam wrote? Like, it's the funniest thing ever, but at some point you have to go, it needs a story, it needs a reason to exist, not just the behavior. Right. we would sit and try to figure out, like, what's it about? And we were like, oh, it's about parenting styles.

Yeah. That Richard Jenkins wants to be tough, and she's trying to let them, you know, individuate on their own into whoever they're going to be. Yeah. And they're having this terrible marital clash about what to do about these two kids. And then at the end, they win. Yeah. And they put the boat in the tree and make it a tree house.

So Mary won. But watching her and Richard and all of them, Like, for me, as someone, you know, I didn't write it. I'm, like, producing, so I don't have a ton to do creatively. I'm mainly, like, where do we go if it rains? You know, on certain movies. But I get to watch. Yeah.

You know, so it's like the equivalent of if I could watch the Marx Brothers shoot Ducksoo. As a fan, I'm just unsaid watching them going, this is like legendary what I'm just witnessing as a fan. It's the first time I went to a set and visited Mary where usually when you're not involved, it's fun and supportive and sweet to go support and be sweet to the people you love who are working but you're not working so it's like oh that's amazing and then you want to go because you have nothing to do that set they had sofas yeah lined up behind the monitors where adam were sitting and people we'd all come and just hang for an hour or two three hours just to watch yeah I remember Mary said the other day she and Richard were kind of reminiscing about how they looked at each other after the first day and went,

what the fuck are we here for? You cannot compete with those two people. You know, how do you do that? And then they kind of realized, okay, that's not our job. Our job is to be as real and believable as we can with our love for our children. Yeah, and it's, uh, but that, like, reacting to all of it so that it holds together. You do need that. Oh, I mean, everything. But they're both riotously funny. Yeah, they are. And then Richard, when he does his dinosaur speech.

Right. I mean, you know, I remember visiting the set one day, and it was the scene where they, they both hit each other on the heads with golf clubs at the same time. And Wayne Federman is the blind guy with the dog is attacking. Right. Mary's got a hose, and she's like hosing them, so they'll stop fighting. And Adam's yelling to Mary, say fuck, say fuck more. Yeah. Fuck, fucking fuck, fuck.

Yeah. It's fun to make Mary's themeurge and say bad words. Yeah, I think that's what they were enjoying, putting her in the middle of all that. She admires you so much. This is cool that you brought her on. Hey, thank you. Thank you. And thank you enough.

Really, really appreciate hanging out with you. Yeah. I love that you're a comedy nerd and are sharing all of it with us, you know. And it's like you, if somebody said this, Nick, I think said it to me earlier. It's like you are, you're talking about the family tree of comedy just because of your journey. You've kind of nibbled on the edges of all of them. Yeah. And then created your own strain, the Judd-Apital strain.

I'm glad we got to do it. pleasure talking to you. You don't ever have to hire me, be nice, but you don't ever have to. I still admire you forever. I'm going to only hire you because I desperately have to keep my career going since you're the only one that gets it done. You get it done dancing. Okay, we'll just put that on a loop. Thank you, my friend. Thank you. My friend. Thank you. the most amazing conversation for me. I am such a huge fan and now I won't be such a wallflower. I'll go up at parties and say, hey, Judd, it's me. Got anything? Stuff like that. I am truly

in awe of them. Be sure and get a copy of the 20th anniversary release of the 40-year-old virgin on Blu-ray. And also Judd's new book, Comedy Nerd. That's all for our show this week. Special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you've enjoyed this episode, send it to somebody who loves. subscribe on your favorite podcast app and maybe give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you're in the mood if you like watching your podcasts all our full-length episodes are on YouTube visit YouTube.com slash team cocoa see you next time where everybody knows your name you've been listening to everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson sometimes.

The show is produced by me, Nick Leow. Our executive producers are Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and myself. Sarah Federovich is our supervising producer. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grawl. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Boutista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Yen, Mary Steenbergin, and John Osmore. You know, and