Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) - Will Forte returns!

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Will Forte returns to the podcast to talk about his relationship with his writing partner John Solomon, making “The Four Seasons” on Netflix, why his legendary character Hamilton will never be on TV, how his upcoming movie “Coyote vs. Acme” was nearly shelved, and more.  "Coyote vs. Acme” premieres in theaters everywhere on August 28, 2026. Like watching your podcasts?  Visit https://youtube.com/teamcoco to see full episodes.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And then we went and saw it on that Tuesday, and it's fucking awesome. It's like, whoa, blah, blah, blah. Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. Today we have our friend Will Forte. He's making a return visit to the show, and I couldn't be happier. He's been up to a lot since we last spoke. He's currently in the Netflix comedy series The Four Seasons, and soon he'll be starring in the upcoming film, Coyote v. Acme.

Here he is one of the nicest, funniest, best friends we have in the business. Will Forte. When did you start wearing hearing aids? Four years ago? Four years ago. Five years ago? God, I feel like I'm going to need him soon. Mayor, I kept going, no.

There's something about guys, most guys, going, I don't need them, they say to their wives who are fed up with saying, what, you know, our hearing what, what, what, what. Yeah. I was okay like this. But if she was around the corner, yeah. Gone. Or in a restaurant.

Oh, restaurants still are tough. I need one of those earhorn things. A horn, so you can stick it up to them. Yeah, in the direction. The trouble with these, which are brilliant. Yes, in the restaurant, the person I'm talking to is louder, but so is the jackhammer across the street. Oh, yeah.

So everything gets bumped up. It'll be fun when AI figures out. Yeah, I think so too. the first time I put them in and walked across this, open the door to go out onto the street. And it was like, whoa! It was so vibrant. It was almost like my eyes were in a fistfight,

my ears, I mean, and it was, anyway. Well, it's like when you hear about people who can't see and then they get corneal transplants or some way that they can finally see and it's just, sometimes they just, I've heard that it's so overwhelming that they kind of, sometimes they're like, oh, I don't know if I wanted this, but.

Well, I guess I can't really speak for the blind. The same way through the Instagram or whatever, the Instagram, as Mary does, but you can tell I don't, but babies, babies or infants or, you know, toddlers who are all of a sudden, for whatever reason, seeing their mother's face or hearing, and they just break into gales of laughter or crying or joy. That is, that is like a crack for me. I love watching either videos like that or videos of like service men and women coming back

and surprising their kids. Yes. at school. At the high school graduation or something, yes. Or people who haven't seen their dogs for a long time and their dogs come up and freak out. Nothing pisses me off more than to discover that the dancing dogs are actually AI.

That just irritates out. What dancing dogs are at? You can see something that's just a little bit too far-fetched. Yeah. Rabbits who do something and sing, you know. Yeah. But I want to so believe it when I first see it. Yeah. Oh, yeah, no, it's...

That's rude. Yeah. Mean-spirited. Yeah, they should have a big AI stamp so you can know going in. My kids, we watch a lot of shark content. They just are really into sharks, and they're five and three. So they even like kind of, I should not be showing this to them, but especially with AI stuff where these enormous sharks, the size of like a cruise boat will come

out of the water and swallow a, you know, a whole seal or something. Yeah, and just say, oh, that's not, that's not an actual shark, but then we got to go out on one of my daughter's friends, their family had a boat, and then we jumped into the ocean. And that was, I was very pleasantly surprised that my child would still go into the ocean, thinking that there are sharks that size. My daughter, Kate, now 42, 3, 4. Yeah. Five.

Sorry, I got there. But she, at that age, just fell in love with sharks and loved swimming with them, being in a cage around them. She did everything. She just loved shark. She's done the shark cage? How many times have you done a shark cage? How many times have I been underwater? Very few.

Oh, really? Yeah, snorkeling, I'm okay. Scuba, no. You're a real champion for the ocean, so that surprises me. In ballrooms. Okay. Raising money. In boardrooms, you know.

Do you get seasick? No, not really. I don't either. Yeah. Mary. Wow. Gross. Okay.

Will Forte. Really, this is... Are we starting this? Yeah. side this, but really it's, I think you and I should figure out how we can win at game night. Just by playing our games. Oh, see, you're very confident, I do. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're, you know, we're, we're solid partners, but it's also, I hate it.

We're, when we're not on the same team, I feel like, uh, I bet you say that to all the boys, so, don't you? I like the competition, though, of having the team split apart. I think it makes us stronger as gamesmen so that when we do get to be on the same team, then we're that much better. I want to keep going with games, but it also, we're headed towards four seasons because I just, Mary and I started to binge the second season last night in preparation of seeing you,

and you're wonderful. Oh, thank you. By the way, everybody's really wonderful. It's so much fun. Wonderful group, yeah. Yeah, and it's fun just to hang out with you all as a group, besides the wonderful writing and all of that. But you are on the,

that kind of a gamer. You're always trying to get people to do something on four seasons. And that is you, too. I have played more games around you than any other indoor, outdoor, all of the above. So give me your list of games you love most. I mean, we play code names a lot. Code names is fantastic. I love that one. But I think my favorite all-time game, well, I have two favorites. Number one, running charades. Oh, yeah. I get so into running charades. It's my favorite.

And Can Jam is co-favorite. That was the one. We just were in that lovely Hawaiian island. Oh, yeah. Recently, Mary and I, and we were reminiscing about Can Jam. Can Jam is a contact sport. I mean, that Frisbee coming at you and you're trying to swat it into the can. Do you all know about Can Jam?

Describe it, please. Can Jam is a... You have basically two trash can type, two bins. Each one has a slot on it. A little horizontal slot where a frisbee could pass through it. And there are two teams. The bins are like 50 feet apart, something like that. So I'm flipping a frisbee, trying to get it in the slot of this bin.

For the most points. Yes. Or over the top. And that's an automatic game winner if you get it in. unabetted, un-aided. Yeah. And then if it's off the mark a little bit, and Ted, who's my teammate, swats it into the bin, we get three points.

If he swats it and it hits the side of the bin, you get one point. And if I just hit the bin without it going in, that's two points. And it is. I don't remember the swatting hitting the outside of the bin to get me. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. So that makes it really interesting because.

you can throw the frisbee way off. Did I say it's a frisbee? It's a frisbee, yeah. You can throw the frisbee way off and somebody can make this acrobatic dive and hit the frisbee towards the bin and still save it. I'm sizably older than you, but I do remember after about an hour of swatting that frisbee,

your hand hurt like hell. Oh, yeah. Yes. You get frisbee injuries. Yeah. And you develop kind of a can jam callous after a while. But it's, yeah, it's there.

Yeah. Very competitive sport. Yeah. Those are my two tops. As far as board games, though, code names is the best. Because it also means hanging out.

I don't play code names with a lot of people. So when I think about code names, I'm thinking about you and Mary, thinking about Kristen Schall, and Rich, thinking about John Solomon. John.

How is John? John's doing great. Give them my love. I will. I will. I will. You guys have been writing partners on and off forever. Yeah, we met a sophomore year of college.

We were basically like parent trapped. Oh, yeah. So I had this friend, Ann, he had a friend Lisa, and they were friends with each other, and they said, oh, we think you two would really like each other. So we all took a history class together, and at UCLA, those history classes can be so big. They have a little discussion group that's like 12 people. So we did a discussion group, and that's how we really got to know each other. Free, we're going to be writers, just friends.

Oh, yeah. John was in film school at the time, or he was in, yeah, he was a film major, and then went to UCLA film grad school also. So he's a film all the way, and I was just a history student. I didn't know at that point what I wanted to do. I thought I was going to maybe do what my dad did. which was, you know, be a stock analyst or something with stocks and bonds,

which was... Did that pay off later in life? Do you trade on your own or anything? No. Oh, God. I don't know anything about it. I do remember back in a day when I was 11 years old or something like that, he said,

hey, I want to teach you about the stock market. So, you know, over the years, had a little bit of $200 or $300 from $100,000, and birthday presents and stuff. So he said, you can pick some kind of company, and I'll show you how the stock market works. And so I picked Nutrisweet had just come out. So I was like, okay, I love Nutrisweet.

And I think people are going to love this. So we went and found the company. I'm not going to out them. Out them because not a huge fan of that company. Yeah. But I had put my money into it, and that was made a little bit of money, not a ton. And that was, it's not a great story, but that was how I first entered the stock market. And then, yeah, I just thought, oh, that seems like a fun way to go through life.

But that's, yeah, I don't know anything about anything like that stuff. Well, now, all I know now is it's, I don't mean a rig game and a conspiracy. way, but the way things get traded now, it is, you know, it's rigged. Yeah. Or at least the house has a much better chance of winning than you. Yes, there's been some shady, shady stuff with the market the last couple of years. Yeah, we're going to war. No, we're not.

Going to war. No, we're not. Yeah. In all the trades that are happening, like, right before the announcements. Yeah. So back to John. At least nobody's looking into it. Yeah.

And I think as long as you declare, yeah, I'm stealing, I'm robbing your blind. It seems, I think that's okay. Yes. That's all right. Just declare it. Yikes. So go back to John. So did he go to SNL with you?

No. John was, John had an interesting route because he didn't. He did a bunch of, he worked for a private detective for a while. I don't think he was a private detective himself, but he was doing research. I can't remember exactly what he did. I don't think he like tailed people, but he did work for a private detective. He also filmed trauma cases at UCLA, so he would come back and, you know, tell me about all the crazy things he would see. It would always be like, you know, balls related.

Somebody had something crazy happen with their balls, and he had to film. helmet, you know, it's like, I mean, you know, people are having things happen to their balls all the time. And they sue and go to the private detective to prove that they're, oh, was it was the, no, this was separate. Yes. But I also have a friend who's a doctor who would show me the crazy x-rays when some people get stuff up there, but, so those were, because that's like, this was kind of pre.

pre-internet, pre, like now you can see stuff like that all the time, but back. And do you will? Do I don't seek it out because I desensitized myself to it from earlier viewings. It's just, yeah, let's move on, keep going. John, I'm heading towards Last Man on Earth, which is where I really met you. Yes. Really. And John, because you guys were both writing that.

Yep. Yeah. Right. And, yeah, and then the beautiful Alexis, I thought he would never get married. Yeah, I know. I mean, it was funny because my, you know, my two besties were John and Dave, Hugh Also knows. Right. And we were all, I guess Dave was with Alana back then, but John and I were, John met Alexis during that show.

And I was still kind of single. So, you know, I was so happy when he met her because she's wonderful. Wonderful. And then Dave married Alana and then eventually John married Alexis and then I met Olivia. So it was, you know. I wasn't putting a lot of money on you getting married. I wasn't either. I was starting to think, oh, maybe it's not in the cards for me.

Because I always thought I would have kids when I was 25, 26, you know, the age that my parents started having kids. And always wanted them. But then I just thought, oh, maybe it's. Maybe I'm too old, so it just kind of came out of nowhere. And one of the most beautiful women in the world. She's very beautiful. And the great mom. Most lovely children.

Great wife. Unbelievable. I remember it was a game night. You said, I think I'd like you to meet so-and-so, Olivia, who went before. That was a big deal, too. That was a big deal. Because for you and Mary to meet her and then also to see how she is, playing games. Yes. You know, because that's, that I've played games with people before and,

and that was like kind of the thing that was like, oh, I don't think this is the right, the right match. For me, it was also, I don't know, I'll let Mary speak for herself. For me, it was also how well she could love our very strange and wonderful friend Will. And she actively loved you really well. So it was like, oh, good. Yeah, it's, you have to have a very specific mindset to be able to put up with me as a partner. And she's somehow, somehow is able to do it. I still challenge her all the time. And she somehow is still with me. She's the best. And two kids. Wow. Two kids. They're wonderful. And you're, they, I don't really. I don't really. know your youngest, I really don't. I think more infant.

You're going to see her in three days. I know, I know, but it's been a long time. Yeah, you haven't seen her since she's had a personality, really. She's a little sweetie. She's, she's kind of got a devilish streak. She's, she's going through the three-nager stage. Yeah. Wait, the what? Three-nager. You know, it used to, you would hear terrible twos all the time. We sailed through the twos. The twos were easy. It was once they turned three, they seemed to really have...

That's accurate, I think. Yeah. So you heard three-nager was the term that's out there now. And Zoe is so sweet. I can't wait for you to see her. She's just a delight. And Cecilia is a delight also, but she's still kind of going through the,

the three major stages of, you know. The other end of it? No, I want this. I want that. Yeah. We have a young grandson named Sunny who's discovered the word no at like, I think will be two in October, but just the lights in it. It's a very powerful word when you first discover no.

I know. Oh, yeah. And you just love using it all the time. Yeah. No, that just made me think of there was a little bit of. the most a very fun period which is when they discovered

uh-oh if you drop something or you know you would say uh-oh and so they would just force something to fall over and go uh-oh it is the cutest yeah we do oh no

and oh no it's become its favorite oh no I love that and it includes the word no so we probably loves it oh no oh no Back to four seasons. Is there a third season? There is.

We just found out a couple weeks ago. We get a third season. So I have heard a little scuttlebut on where we might be going because every year we got to go to Italy last year. And I am not allowed to say all this stuff, but I'm very excited about the, things we are potentially going to be doing for season three. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? And they're buddies, aren't they? I mean, Tina you've known forever. Oh, yeah. I've known Tina forever. And everybody else just met for the first time season one, except for Steve Correll, who had hosted S&L a couple times, but I didn't know him well. And everyone gelled together so quickly, it was so easy to

do these scenes where you had to pretend like you were liking each other because he really did like each other. And there was one of these group scenes. There was a big dinner table thing. That was, I think, the first night we were all together. And it already just, season one. Season one, yeah. And it just felt so natural and easy to act like friends with everyone, because everyone was delightful. So it's been, it's been really nice to have this job where you're knowing you're going to be back together with these people who are now like a little family. So it's very exciting because that's what you were not always so lucky, right? No.

I mean, you have been incredibly lucky in your career to have been part of some very long running things, part of my favorite sitcom of all time Cheers, which I'm not just saying because I'm here. You can look it up. I always say that Cheers is my number one. I heard you and Amy this morning talking about it when you were on her podcast. It's the best. Yeah, it was the best. Yeah, it was the best.

Yeah, so well written. And directed with a shout out to Jimmy Burroughs. I know. Yeah, did you work with him? I never did. Never did. Always a big fan. Different vein of comedy.

I love all the different schools or veins, the threads of comedy. You know, there's a huge SNL, groundlings kind of thread of comedy. Going further back, there was the Mary Tyler Moore, you know, M-T-M-T-M, all in the family, all of those different threads. We're very lucky, are we? What's your favorite sitcom of all time? Yikes. Sit-com are we going to say three-camera live or? It could be, no.

It could be, I would count Malcolm in the middle. I guess half-hour comedy. I'm still fine. I'm still discovering. I mean, I just, I'm slow to the catastrophe. Sharon Horgan and Rob DeLaine. I'm just delighting on that because I'm working with Rob now. Oh.

But there's so many, to be honest. There's so many amazing comedies out there. So it's impossible. Like before. Before you made it big, what was, what would? Mary Tyler Moore was destination. Let me start at my origins was Dick Van Dyke. And he's still alive, right?

Yes. And up until, I don't know if he's still doing it, he's still dancing and hoofing and singing. That's amazing. They put up in his garage on certain holidays, they'll open the doors and have a little stage there. and he'll perform for neighbors. He's just magnificent. How do I go see that? Where does he live?

Well, I'll give you the exact address in both. Do you know him? Yes, he played my, oh, I stalked him as soon as I was, had enough success that I felt like I had the right to approach my heroes, which is the best part of being successful, is being able to go up and talk to people. Yeah. When they're delightful people.

When they're delightful people. I've been lucky so far. Yeah. Carol Burnett's also a delightful person. Amazing. Anyway, yeah, I worked with him, and then we did a podcast with him. We all went to his home with cameras and talked to him a couple years ago. So, yeah.

That's so cool. I actually feel like I at least have him firmly imprinted in my heart, but he was my early on hero. That's so cool. How about you? I heard you talk about also Monty Python. John Cleese, to me, was like all of them, but he was physical comedy. It was like, oh. Yes. Oh, yeah. Monty Python was a big deal to me. My ultimate was always Steve Martin. Steve Martin was. Why? Tell me. Me too, but tell me what is it that all of you, so many of you, it's either David Letterman, or Steve Martin are way up on the pedestal. Letterman's the other one.

Letterman, but Letterman, Letterman, Letterman, S&L were my three main, and then, you know, loved Monty Python, loved kids in the hall,

loved, you know, SCTV. But, but, but, yeah, I, I, Steve Martin,

why, why? I don't know. Because he was so new and different and willing to be silly? I don't know. It's like, why do you love guacamole, you know? I don't know. It just tastes good when you put it in your mouth.

Same with Steve Martin. Yeah, I just like I watched it. Thank you. Thank you. I realized as it came out, I was like, okay, that sounds a little weird. I could have phrased that better. But it just, he just, I don't know, just delighted me in this way. that I was like, who is it?

And just everything, you know, all of his stand-up, the jerk is still, if somebody says, what's your favorite movie? It's the jerk and jaws are my two. I stick with the Jays. Yeah. And then growing up, discovering Letterman, that was always, that was a nightly,

you know, my parents would let me stay up and watch Letterman, every night. And, yeah, I think they didn't have a lot of TV rules growing up. So when did you come to the TV scene? And when in the 70s, late 70s? Yeah, born in 70s. So I do remember when SNL came on, we would, when we were supposed to be in bed.

This must have been, because I feel like, Definitely I remember when Mr. Bill was on. We would try to... Right. Mr. Bill was one of the... You remember Mr. Bill was a little segment that would be on S&L. It was the little, like, clay guy.

And he'd always get smashed or fall off a cliff or something. And that was, for me, you know, the number one thing I loved about, about S&L at the time, because I was so young. But we would stay up trying to, watch it and then when our parents would come in, we'd turn off the TV and then pretend

we were asleep, but it was like back in the day when you could go in and just feel the TV and it would be blazing hot, so you'd know that we were up. And I don't remember getting in trouble, but yeah, we would stay up too late and watch

SNL when we could. So that was a big thing in our household and Letterman, as I said. And yeah, that's just kind of from there, found Steve Martin somehow. But that's the craziest thing, looking back, that those were my heroes, and then I got to write at Letterman for nine months,

and then be at S&L and get to actually meet Steve Martin and work with him as when he hosted. So, you know, very lucky to... It is the number of people you met. How many years were you there, eight, nine, ten? Eight years. 2008. 2002 to 2010.

And it was, and then it was, then the crazy thing is, I didn't really have any kind of plan. I, I was always a writer. So I didn't, getting to S&L

didn't feel like the first step in an acting career. It just felt like, oh, I got to go to this, to S&L, which was my dream. So when I left S&L, I didn't think,

oh, I automatically have this, acting career waiting for me. It was, I wasn't like, sought after as a performer. Was Nebraska the first thing? One of the first things you did after SNL? It was out of nowhere that happened. So, so.

How did that happen? Do you, did they tell you? I still don't know. Well, I can, I can tell you the timeline of it. So, so I leave SNL. I had, I had, um, McGruber was coming out. The end of the 2009-2010 season was, say,

May 10th, and then McGruber was coming out May 17th. Well, then McGrueber just completely shit the bed. And we were... Delighted a lot of us, but maybe shit the bed. Yeah, I mean, it felt like... It wasn't for a couple of years that we felt like we could tell people we're kind of giving it a chance. But at first it was just devastating.

You know, you're like, okay, I don't know what I'm doing here. We made this movie that we loved and we were proud of it. And then it just for some reason, people didn't want to go see it. And then my agents and manager had convinced me like, we think that now is the time to leave SNL. They had said this for the last couple of years, But I was saying, hey, I'm still having a great time here and want to stay. And this was the first time that it made sense to me because they said, look,

your profile in the world as a performer is not going to change if you stay for one more year. What would be the ideal thing to stay? would be to get a movie that you could make, you know, like an SNL movie. That's not going to happen after what just happened with McGruber. So you're going to have to get out, try to do something. You're saying this in your head? No, this is my agents and manager. They said it's going to be, you're going to have to leave at some point.

And it's always going to be a crapshoot of what happens. And we feel like it's time for you to see what else is out there. and it made a lot of sense. And then on the personal side, my sister was having a kid, and everyone was out on the West Coast. I was turning 40. So I said, okay, I think you're right.

You're probably right. And I just thought, who knows what will happen acting-wise? I'll probably just go back to writing, which I loved. So for like a year and a half, I didn't really do anything. And then Andy Sandberg reached out and asked if I would come to a part in the Sandler movie. He and Sandler were doing that movie. That's my boy, which used to be called I Hate You, Dad, I think.

So that was kind of the, that was the very first thing that I did after S&L. But that was like a year and a half after I left. And then a couple months after that, I did Akiva Schaffer, who was another of the Lonely Island guys. He was directing this movie called The Watch. And so I got to do a small part in that. So that was like, that was the plan from my agents and manager like, oh, let's do, you know, see if you can get small parts in comedy movies and events. eventually find a way to get back into a bigger part in a comedy movie.

And then out of nowhere, this Nebraska thing happened. My agent had called up and said, there is a, we talked to Alexander Payne, and he wants you to put yourself on tape for this movie, Nebraska. And looking back, I don't think. he was asking about me, I think they had said, hey, would you, if we sent you a tape of Will Forte, would you throw it away or burn it? And, you know, and he said no.

Because he'll basically watch anybody's tape. He's amazing when it comes to casting. He just doesn't get, he's, he will watch anybody, you know, whether you have any credits or not, he just watches everything because he's just such an outside the box thing. So I turned in this tape of me doing a couple of the scenes from the movie. And then I was like, oh, these are, I feel pretty good about this. Like, I'm not embarrassed to turn these into them.

Never thought in a million years that I would somehow be in this movie. But anyway, I turned them in and then immediately forgot about everything. I just didn't even think it was a possibility, so I just moved on with my life. And for six months, didn't hear anything. But it wasn't like I was waiting and going like, oh, I want to hear what happened with that Nebraska, too. Because I just thought there was no chance anyway. So it was the biggest surprise when after like six months I heard, oh, Alexander saw your tape

and he wants to bring you in to have you read in person. And then I was terrified, you know. I, I, it's, there's a safety in doing your own tape. You can do a million takes and then you pick the one, you know, so it was really terrifying. And I almost didn't even go in. I was just scared. But my agent said, you're being a fucking idiot. Go in there.

Do this audition. Here in L.A. Here in L.A. with his amazing casting agent, John. Right, John Jackson? I don't know. I apologize to John if you're listening, and I got your name wrong.

But amazing casting director. And so I went in, and then I felt like I didn't do a great job. I felt okay about it, but I don't know. I just don't audition very much. I haven't been in a lot of those rooms, so I get really nervous. But thank God the character in that movie is a little nervous anyway. So, yeah, and then I just heard over the next couple weeks, I kept hearing that I was in the mix, but I was like, oh, this is, yeah,

I'm not going to get this part. And then one day just got a call from Alexander that he wanted me to be in the movie, and it was the most. incredible, I couldn't believe it. Tell me the cast again, Bruce Dern, Bruce Dern, June Squib, Bob Odenkirk were the main members of the family. You were so good, so good.

I remember Mary and I went to a screening. I remember that was the first time I met you guys. It was, yeah, I was, and I think it was at the same, Mary got an award that night for her singing in, was she in the movie last Vegas? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did she sing in that movie? She did sing in that movie.

I saw her singing. There was some, they were, she got some kind of major shout out, if not an award for that. So I sucked up to you just as much as Mary did, and I'm trying to figure out why I didn't get a part in Last Man on Earth when that came around. because I sucked hard. Well, I mean, that was, that was another crazy one.

So because of Nebraska, I feel like that really helped me be able to, that led to last down. Yeah, you got a lot of recognition from that, too, I remember. So I am, you know, I'm so thankful. Lorne Michaels, thank you. Alexander Payne, thank you. because those were really helped create all these opportunities. Last Man on Earth was the main one. And then to start that,

and then we're looking for two characters and to hear that Mary Steenbergin was interested in being one of the characters. Oh, forget about it. And then I remember when she came and joined and we just had a great time together. And then you came for the first time, I remember, oh, man, I was so nervous. I was so nervous around you for so long.

And you couldn't be a nicer person, but just like. I was still sucking a little bit by the time I got there. There were only seven of us. We kind of capped out. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. It's not something. That was such a, seriously, that was an amazing show.

Oh, has it been re-release? No, you don't have to re-release things now. You know what? There is a French comedian who is actually doing a French version of the show. I don't know where what stage they're at, but I can't remember if they had to ask permission or if they just said he's doing it. But I would have said yes anyway. But this guy's pretty awesome. I'm excited to see what he does with it.

I don't know how closely he'll follow the pattern that we made, but, you know, like, I don't care. He can do whatever he wants with that. So I'm excited to see it. That first episode was truly magnificent. Oh, thank you. It really, really was. God, it feels like a million years ago now.

And all Mary wants to do is go to work and laugh. That's her great joy is to go to work and laugh. And, boy, yeah. I remember she would come home and she said, I begged Will not to put a camera on me because she could not not laugh and ruin takes. And I think it was your tuning your guitar before you sang, and you kept tuning it and tuning it and tuning it.

And one thing about you, you're not shy about milking a bit to the very end of time. and then finally you get to sing, start singing, and all you do is kind of tap the side of the guitar. You never touch the strings. That was the one thing about doing the show on Fox. I mean, thank you Fox for letting us do it for four seasons.

Well, a couple things. You don't get to swear, which I think there was something fun about that too because I don't think we needed swearing, and it made us get a little more creative. But every once in a while, there'd be something that was really funny that was considered too risque. Like there was one time Jason Sadecas improvised

something where he brought up goat piss, and they said, you're not allowed to say goat piss. Okay, we'll let you say it once. But then he refers to it a second time, and they're like, no, you can't say. at the second time. We'll let you say it the first time, but not the second time. We're like, it's really funny. If you can say piss once on TV, why can't you say it a second time?

If you can say piss once, you should be able to do an episode where all you say is piss for the entire episode. Like, it just makes no sense to me. Anyway, they, the second time they took out, they made us take out the actual, he says, like, goat piss, the first thing, And then he says, go. So that was, that was the one thing. And then the other thing was just the time constraints. Because the thing you're talking about is this, for people who don't know, there's this song called closure that I, I would do every once or a while,

every couple episodes on the show. I would just force people to watch this, watch me do this song. And I would tune the guitar for, like you said, maybe sometimes, two or three minutes, just tuning the guitar, getting it just right. And then it's launched into the song, and I never play the guitar. I'm just swatting it. But you would keep this really long version as you're editing of the tuning, and then you just have to cut the episode down.

And I don't think we ever got to do a really long version of the tuning. Because in my heart, that would have been like a two or three minute tuning the guitar. then launching in. What did you have, uh, 22 and a half minutes? I think it was 21 minutes, 39 seconds. Wow. And 20 frames or something like that. Isn't that crazy?

It's very hard to tell a story. Cheers started out at 24, I think. Oh, really? Which allowed you to have a teaser that had nothing to do with your story. So wait, let me ask, is, as it was in syndication, Would they have to like edit stuff out? Probably. Don't know.

Don't know. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. And what I love now, because I've been doing a half hour on streaming, half hour comedy, you get your full 30 minutes and it's much easier to tell a complete story. Yeah, just having that flexibility. It's tough. I will say there were so many times when you would.

think you couldn't take anything out of an episode and you're like, we got to take out a minute and 20 seconds out of this thing that you just don't think you can take any more out of. And you always find a way to do it and the show is always a little bit better. Yeah. When it's just you've got to be merciless and take out a couple things you might like, but there's something about the pace of it that always felt a little. It's such a horrible phrase. Faster, it's funnier.

And almost always true. But I would love to be, well, that's the thing. Just having the option to, because there were times when you did have to cut things that were, I mean, you'd find a way to keep your favorite jokes, obviously. But every once in a while, you'd have to cut things like that, the guitar tuning thing, which are just some of the weirder things that you'd. don't need to make the story make sense, but just you like some of these more absurd things that just can't make the ultimate final cut. I don't think I'm putting words into his mouth,

but Mike Scher used to say that you guys really paved the way for a lot of other people, including themselves, imagination that you can do this kind of out-of-the-box story on network. You've told me that before, and that's a, that's, really cool to hear because I you know he's one of the most brilliant writers out there so to did you crisscross at SNL oh yeah we we were at SNL for several years together and so we he he is he is you don't get much more no funny and smart than him he's just a delight he gave me such a second life by with the that show a good place good place is so great and now we have this other connection. It's like it's

worked with Darcy, Cardin. Yes. On this show, Sunny Nights down in Australia, and somehow had never met her, even though you were tight with her. So many people know. A hundred mutual friends with her and had never

met her. And she's like a sister now. She's Yeah. She is the coolest. Yeah. We're still going to kick her ass because she's coming on me. Game night. She'll be there. learn what defeat is. Actually, I like Jason better than Darcy,

but that's okay. We can talk about that. They're both. Jason is her husband. I got to say, like, in terms of, I've always looked to you and Mary as the coolest couple there is on the planet.

Until, this is going someplace bad. Go on. No, no, no. This is going great, but I look at them because I'm like, you know, what's going to happen in 100 years when you guys,

finally die at the age of 160, which is like somebody has to carry the mantle, and it's going to be Darcy and Jason. Just for fun. Trying to get that visual on your mind. I think there would be a lot of relief that were. Shrunken prune is no longer here.

Sorry. All right, before we move on to what I cannot wait. Well, I won't even say. You have a movie coming up. I want to talk about it. Oh, yeah. Just to finish up, S&L.

Yeah. One of my favorite, it's not while you were at S&L, it was later, but the story of you at Seth and Alexi's wedding, your speech at their wedding

on Martha's Vineyard is, classic. I don't think it was, was it captured? How do I know it? Because I wasn't at the wedding. It must have been captured on video. It was captured on video. Yeah. So at the rehearsal dinner, I did this character, Hamilton, who I used to do at S&L. Actually, much more successful as a wedding speech giver than ever at S&L. Well, it depends if you pan the audience. I think there was some incredibly shocked, slightly horrified. First of all, I just want to, make it be known that Seth asked me to do this character at his wedding.

So it wasn't, I didn't just go out and say, hey, I'm going to do this S&L character. I would never do that. I'm going to check with Seth. No, oh, for sure, he asked. On the night, I bet he didn't fess up to that. Anyway, to explain this character. So this character, his name is Hamilton Whiteman, and he is, you know, just this. very dark soul. He's

a bit of a racist. Probably a little racist, misogynist. But at S&L, we used to do these sketches. Solomon and I would write them together where it would just be either a wedding toast or where you'd get to the last of the planned toasts and then they'd say, does anybody else want to come up and you'd have this

parade of weirdos come up? So Hamilton was one of these guys. Kristen Wigg would always come up with a, she was this character, I forget her name, but she would come up with an oxygen mask thing. Always have to bring her oxygen. And so we did that a couple times, and then we tried to make Hamilton bring him outside of that

to have him be the star of a sketch. And it was, we always enjoyed it, but I don't think it ever really played with the audience as well as it played at table reads. And so wildly inappropriate. Very inappropriate. And like we wrote, so John Solomon and I wrote this toast together,

and there were a couple things we had to run by Seth first. We're like, is it okay to say this? Go ahead, give it us. I mean, there were, you know, that's the thing. He has a full video of it, but he is, he's like, I'm just going to hold on to this just because this is our, and I understand. I think it's, you know, it goes there. A lot of Lexi, his bride of the evening's family members and extended family were fairly shocked, I think, upon occasion. Look, I think that when you are Seth Myers in-laws, you get a little desensitized.

I mean, he is one of the funniest people out there, and he's also surrounded by, you know, so many funny people that they have amazing sensitive humor themselves. And they're, you know the ashes and the Myers, and they're just, oh, I love that family. So they were all appreciating the spirit of the night. Certainly, I'm not even going to say, but there was somebody who came on like right after me and unintentionally gave a way more offensive toast than I ever would. Anyway, then the funny thing is Andy Samburg, who was there at the wedding, said,

he was getting married in two weeks. So he said, hey will you do a Hamilton over it? So I got to do a Hamilton there. And then I got to do it. I did a Hamilton at my friend Pete Hikes wedding. And I think I'm going to do another one. And next year somebody just asked me.

So it's fun to get out there and continue doing this character who probably shouldn't be on television in any way. I think, I don't even, you're so committed to all these characters that you do, so committed that there's not an ounce of how kind and nice a human being you are. But I think it helps that people know what a sweet, kind man you are in life. Oh, that's nice of you to say. To watch this come out of you makes it even more funny and horrifying. I purge all the demons through these things so that I can, And so my inner, so now talking to you right now, I'm a pure angel.

You do. Yeah. Can I speak to Hamilton for a minute? Yes, you may. I can't remember his voice. Okay, movie time. Just the title of it. Just the title.

And then you can tell me this story about how it came into being. But Coyote versus As? Acme. Yes. And I guess the logline is, you know, he's suing Acme. Wiley Coyote is suing Acme, yeah. Well, go ahead. For all the, for all these. Faulty. Yeah, faulty products that have blown up in his face and caused grievous bodily harm over the years. So he's suing Acme. I am, and this is Wiley Coyote who is suing Acme, and this is Wiley Coyote, who is suing

Acme, and then I'm his lawyer. Right. And then the head of the Acne legal team is John Cena. And so it's this wonderful blend of live action and animation, kind of in the spirit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And, man, I'm so excited for people to see this movie.

The trailer is fantastic. Trailers, I love the trailer, but it's like, doesn't even, it's, the movie is, even better than the trailer. It's just, and after, you must know the journey

that this movie's taken, I don't understand the journey, but I know it. None of us understand it. Like, we made this movie. The script was really fun. We felt like we were doing the script justice,

and I was like, oh, this is going to be really great. And then throughout the post-production process as they're putting all the animation in, they're getting more and more excited about the movie. They start to test it. The studio is getting more and more excited. Well, the director and the producers.

The studio we thought was excited about it. We didn't really know. And then once they were ready to show us the movie that we got a call from the producers saying, like, we're so excited. It's been testing really well. It's finally we feel like it's ready to show you guys. And this was a Tuesday night.

They said, we're going to show you next Tuesday. And the next day, I got a call from my agent and manager saying, okay, I've got a little bad news for you. Warner Brothers is not going to release this theatrically. And I'm like, oh, okay. Well, that's a bummer because we were, you know, you just don't get a lot of movies in theaters anymore. Everything's streaming. This is three, four years ago, right? this would have been, yeah, about three or four years ago.

Yeah. And so I thought, okay, well, well, streaming, great. And they're like, no, they're not going to release it on streaming either. And I was like, huh, what are the other, what? I was like, what are the other ways they're going to show it then? And they're like, no, they're shelving it for attacks right off. and it was devastating. The next day I heard they were going to still let us see the movie on the next Tuesday.

So within that six-day period, I was thinking, oh, the producers must just be, I mean, if they're doing this to this movie, it's probably kind of sucks and they just are too deep in it to know. I just thought, okay, let's go see it. You know, Warner Brothers must have some reason for this. And then we went and saw it on that Tuesday, and it's fucking awesome. It's like, whoa, whoa, blah, what? It was so frustrating and confusing. It just like, I didn't understand it.

I didn't understand it. I was so proud of the movie. and it was, at the same time, I was like, my kids were never going to get to see this, because what we were hearing is they're just going to destroy the movie, like it won't even exist. So for a while it looked like there might be hope. We were told that they were open to entertaining offers for the movie,

and then some what I heard were very legitimate offers had come in and they just weren't able to make a deal. So I started questioning whether they really were wanting to make a deal or whether it was just performative to get people off their backs because they were catching a lot of heat for it because they had done this to a couple other projects before us. And so I just gave up, just over time, just couldn't keep holding on to that anger and frustration. So I just let it go and moved on, just thinking, okay, it'll never come back.

And then out of nowhere, catch-up entertainment came in. Catch-up entertainment. It's called Catch-up Entertainment. and they came in, bought the movie for a full theatrical release, and I'm so excited for people to see this. When did that happen, you know? This would have been probably a year and a half ago. I mean, there was, I kept hearing,

they were really trying to get it out early. Like, we were doing Comic-Con last year, and at the time we signed on for Comic-Con, there was a scenario in which we were going to come out like a month after Comic-Con. And then I heard, oh, it might be January-ish instead. And then when I got to Comic-Con, they said, oh, it's going to be August 28th. And I'm like, wait, but that's in like four weeks. And there's a no, no, no, no, of 2026.

So. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . look, it was just because it's as complicated a process as you get because they have to work with Warner Brothers to figure out all this stuff. And there's a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo that's got to go on. So that made a lot of sense. And they also really love the movie and want to make sure that they get it out there properly. So waiting that amount of time while it was tough to wait at the same time, I'm like, This is a movie for a while.

I wrote off as dead and I just thought it was never going to come out. So I can wait a little while longer to get them to, you know, to release it the right way. August 28th. And I think it's coming out, wide release all over the globe same day. Wow. Fantastic. I just am. I don't think I've ever been as excited for people to see a movie. And does it?

My assumption is that even if you didn't grow up with, as we did with Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner. Yes. You don't have to have that backstory in your mind. You don't need to know anything about those characters. I mean, it's an extra level of nostalgia. It's kind of, you know, we will go and watch this movie, and it's like I'm pretty sure the feeling you'll have is the one that I had,

which is like you're spending this time with this group of old friends that you haven't seen in a while, and it's really, you know, it's a fun feeling. And, man, to be on screen with these things is a very special honor. So that's exciting.

But yeah, you don't need to know anything. And it's interesting because going into this, it is a legal, it's a story about a lawsuit. So when I was going in, I was like, okay, it's going to go one way or the other. It's either going to be something that's too adult for kids and two kids for adults.

It's maybe just not going to be for anybody or it's going to be for everybody enjoyable on every level. And after I saw it, I was like, oh, this turned into the really wonderful version of it where there is something for everybody. It is so fun to watch. And Dave Green, the director. did an amazing job. Can't wait to say it.

I'm almost tempted that we cut out the problematic origin story. Because it's, you know, it's... Well, it makes you, it makes you, like, that was when I first heard what was happening, you automatically go to, okay, well, there must be a problem with that. And I don't want people to think that, because when you see, well, when is the trailer out? Trailers, trailers already out. Well, it is really funny trailer. You get it, I think, as an audience.

It is, it's so fun. There's so much fun stuff in this movie. I'm very happy to you. That's very cool. Thank you. Yeah, I'm just excited. People are going to see it. Like, you know, who knows these days what's going to find an audience, but just knowing. Just to know that you're having a worldwide release, that tells you how good the movie is. Because even if somebody came along and bought it and thought,

they were taking a chance. Nowadays, really good, fresh off, you know, being shot, we'll get, well, we'll have it in theaters for four days, five days. Well, the really fun thing is I know they've been sending it out to just a couple of journalists here and there and movie, like a very small amount just to, and I have, people have reached out about it and just are blown. away by this movie and they're all just as confused as we are. Like, what is, what, why did this all happen? So, you know, but, but then again, everything happens for a reason. And it is potentially

because of this crazy roller coaster journey that more people might hear about it. Because it's, you know, it's, it's, uh, certainly an interesting story. Yeah. Yeah. But thank you. Because you're part of the Way that we're getting the story out is by letting me come and talk about it here. I truly was very happy when I saw it. I was, what am I going to talk to Will about? Because we see each other and we've already had one of these moments. And I saw that. And I saw the four seasons, too.

Both of those things were like so good, made me so happy for you and made me want to talk to you about it forever. But let's move on to one last couple of things or two. Fame. How do you do with fame? because people recognize you now when you walk around. It's really weird at first. And I was like 32 when I got on TV. So I was already a kind of full-fledged adult.

And it happened very gradually. And even today, I am nowhere near the level of, you know, of like a Justin Bieber or whatever, who experienced this insane level of fame at such an early age. So, like, I really got transitioned in and then never got to this, you know, rock star. Yeah. So it's, so for me, it's like, yeah, is it you always think, oh, somebody, you know, you

always feel like you might be getting looked at, even if you're not. You just go out and you feel a little bit exposed. And your peripheral vision goes away When you're in public You know, that's the one thing I kind of miss Yeah, yeah, that's a good way to put it And, and you know, I won't go out You just are, you have to think a little more

Before you go out, okay, I might, you know, Who knows if some TMZ person's going to come I mean, this stuff doesn't really happen to me or affect me, but you just like, you don't, you know, not, you, you, you, you, you don't feel comfortable with public, uh, nose picking, um, you know, make sure you're, you know, not, I, you know, you, zip up, yeah, you're, you might have to dress. Oh, always wash your hands in the bathroom, but that's one you should do anyway. And I mean, these are all things, wait, what? When I'm not by me again.

So, it's, so, um, Yeah, I, I, for me, at the level I'm at, I never, it's always just like every couple days, somebody will come up and say something nice. And every once in a while you'll have somebody come up and say something a little weird, but, but, um, like, I don't know, just something. Or usually it's when you're with somebody, excuse me, when they're with somebody who might know, might know, might, be a Last Man on Earth fan and the other person is, um, is, is, doesn't know. You know, it'd be like, yeah. Like, um, well, I don't know who you are. I don't know.

And it's like, I, I, that's totally fine. I don't expect anybody to know who I am. Or, or like if somebody comes up and says, like, I'm not a fan of yours, but my dad is, I love that. I don't really like your stuff. I don't get it. But my dad is, and it's like, okay, you could have just said my dad's, like, but that's like, that's not a huge deal. It's just like, but, you know, there are people who come up and say asshole things to people in every profession.

So it's not a big deal. But I, but the main thing is like, you know, I definitely have had the tiny version of it. And it's disconcerting. And so like I'm just thinking about these young kids and what a weird thing they've had to go through. You know, you give people a lot of grace. You know, I feel bad for how weird it must be for people who aren't fully formed adults yet

who have to go through it. I've always said that being a celebrity at a certain intense level of it is like a four-year-old in the middle of a room full of adults who are all focused on that child. You can spin that kid out just with the energy of everybody looking at that child or focusing on them. And by the way, you are like, you are an icon. So hearing how it's like I'm more interested in what it's like for you because you, everywhere you go. But it's never been the white heat that's unbearable.

It's always been, hey, love your work. I've always been associated with a lot of funny. But I'm not, you know, there's a difference between being associated with funny and being associated with sexy. Sexy, I think, must be a little harder, burdened, you know, carry around. People just smile and go, ha, ha, you know, you made me laugh or you're around something that was funny. Well, it must be interesting for you because Cheers is like, was on for so long. And it really did feel like you were America's family, you know, like America's dysfunctional family. Airports are always where you can take the temperature of your success and who's watching what.

Yeah. Oh, man. Well, like George went. Yeah. But it must be like, you know, because for him it would just be norm everywhere. Norm! Yeah. You know, rest in peace.

I know, it's too many. Kirsty, George, Jimmy. Just this season, I guess. I love you, my sweet friend. You are so funny, so outrageous as a performer, but also you have the Nebraska and the four seasons in you, and you're really a lovely, lovely actor, and I can't wait to spend game night with you three days from now.

I can't wait to do that. And I also, I do believe that we will work together at some point in our life. Yeah, I agree. That's a good fit, actually. Will Forte, give my love to Olivia, see you soon. I will. I'll see you in 72 hours. And I can't wait to see the movie.

It really looks fantastic. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I loved having you here, Will. Thank you for coming in. Look out for Coyote versus Acme in theaters, August 28th. That's all for this week's show. Thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, send it to a loved one. You can watch us on YouTube by visiting YouTube.com

slash Team Coco. As always, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you're in the move. More for you next week, where everybody knows your name. You've been listening to Where 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 Battista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Yen, Mary Steenbergen, and John Osmore.