Wild Card with Rachel Martin - Danny McBride

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

For Danny McBride, success in Hollywood has taken patience, hard work, and a little bit of delusion. That sense of delusion is also present in the characters he writes, who embody the hilarious extremes of masculinity. He continues to explore these themes in his new book, "Thrilling Tales of Modern Men." Danny also discusses writing unlikely protagonists and why he loves working in South Carolina.To listen sponsor-free and support the show, sign up for Wild Card+ at plus.npr.org/wildcard See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

What have you found surprising about getting older? See, I'm lucky because even when I was 21, I looked like I was 50 years old. So now I look at my picture. I look at pictures of me when I'm here. I'm like, I look older there somehow. This is weird. I'm Rachel Martin, and this is Wild Card. The show where cards control the conversation.

Each week, my guest answers questions about their life. Questions pulled from a deck of cards. They're allowed to skip one question and to flip one question back. on me. My guest this week is Danny McBride. I just think it's funny. I think there's nothing funnier than somebody who's like full of hot air or somebody who just has like an insane ego and then it's completely obvious to everyone around them that, you know, they don't have the goods. Actor and writer Danny McBride has built a career exploring the hilarious extremes of the male psyche. An almost delusional sense of self-confidence gets his characters flying high on

their own supply, only to come crashing down when the inevitable weight of self-doubt shows up. But no matter where these characters are on their journey through American masculinity, be it Jesse from the righteous gemstones or Kenny Powers from eastbound and down, their fragility makes them all the more endearing. Danny McBride has a new book out on these same themes. It's called Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, and I am so very happy to welcome Danny McBride to Wildcard. Hi. How are you doing? Thanks for having me on here. I appreciate it. I'm so happy to talk with you about this book.

any other things. So first, we're just going to get right into the game. How do you feel about that? Let's go for it. I'm ready. The first round is memories. One, two, or three. I'm going to go with three.

Let's see what three has to do. You're filling three. Okay. Okay. Where did you get to feel independent as a kid? Where did I get to feel independent as a kid? You know what? probably, I would probably think my first job maybe is where I started to feel a real sense

of independence. I got a job at, you might know this, living near D.C., King's Dominion. King's Dominion. That was my very first job. I've waited in many water slide lines at King's Dominion. I worked there. I got a job there because I loved King's Dominion, and the best way to fall out of love with something you like is to go work there. And so I used to, I think I just had my learners permit and I got my license while I was working there and I used to, it was about a 30 minute commute from my house and I used to pray on the way to work that I would get into a minor car accident, nothing where I was going to be hurt, but enough where I wouldn't have to go to work.

You don't want to die, but maybe just like. Just enough to get a little sympathy. Yeah. There's less expected on me. Yeah. Wasn't it tempting to just stay and like spend the night in there? I would dream about that stuff. But then once I got a job there, there was all this hierarchy there.

Like all the magic left for me when I got that job because there was all these like old-timers that had been there every season. And in the cafeteria, they all would sit together. And then I was like, oh, I don't got any friends at Kingsden me. And I don't know who to eat my lunch with. You're seeing how the sausage is made. And it's just like it ruins the magic. It ruins the mystery. Yeah.

But it's still a great park to visit, I'm sure, with friends and family. Just I didn't like working there as a teenager. We're going to move to the next question in the memories round. one, two, or three. Let's go for two this time. Two. How well did you adjust to the world of adult responsibility? I'm not trying toot my own horn, but...

Toot it. I feel like I adjusted pretty well. You know, I went to film school in North Carolina, North Carolina School of the Arts, and I kind of just knew, like, I didn't come from any means. I paid for my own college. I went to a state school. And I think I kind of knew if I wanted to do it. this, I was going to have to move out to Los Angeles. I didn't know anyone there and there was no one

who was going to help me or help fund it. So I kind of figured out pretty early that I was going to need to like, you know, do it myself. I was going to have to find a job. I was going to figure out how to like live across the country from my parents. And so I think I was thrown into it pretty quickly. What do you remember about those early days? They were very rough. It was a, but it was fun. You know, I graduated with a, with a large group of friends from that school that I still work with to this day, you know, guys like Jody Hill and David Green who direct a lot of the shows that I've made and our production designer, Richard Wright, guys I write with. It's all people I met when I was like 18 years old. And so we all moved out to Los Angeles and it was fun. So you went

together with your crew. We went with our crew. And I think when we first moved there from school, there might have been like 25 of us that moved out there. And then by the end of the first year there was like six or seven of us that were left out there. Like everybody was dropping like flies. But it was, it was fun. It was fun to that, that portion of my life went by fast. It seemed like it was forever. But when you look back on it, it was like maybe the course of like five or six years, you know, really struggling hard and trying to figure it out. But it was, yeah, I look back and I'm like grateful for all that time. It was a lot of fun. But like what, I'm so interested in what, what you felt like when your friends, you saw them,

saying this is not working or it's not working at the pace I expected to so I'm out. Yeah. And like what convinces you, what delusion convinces you that you can stay? I think it is delusion. I think you kind of have to, you have to have a little delusion, I think, to pursue something that seems so far out the realms of possibility. I definitely left a few different times. Like I went home at, I think I left L.A. like maybe two or three different times where I just like ran out of money and needed to go like, you know, so I would move back at my parents' house. and I substitute taught for about six months.

Oh my God, yes, you did? I did, yeah. Now things make so much more sense. Like when you look at your uvra, vice principals in particular is coming to mind. Yeah, I had come up with the idea for Eastbound when I was substitute teaching back in Virginia. And I found myself constantly wanting to like impress upon these kids

that I wasn't like these other teachers. I was trying to do something with my life. Eastbound and down. I mean, it's the best. best representation of like this kind of man, Kenny Powers, who has this talk about delusion, like just like this delusional belief in himself. His ultimate main character syndrome. Totally.

I love that character. Okay. So substitute teaching, make an ends meet and you just, what was the turning point for you in L.A.? You know, there was, I kind of had got advice when I first moved out that, that a buddy of mine who had been out there for a while, and he had said, you're not going to find the job that you want to do. That's not going to happen. You just need to find something that pays your bills and that doesn't make you want to go home, you know?

So that was, I waited tables for a while. And then I moved into this. I got, like, I guess, you know, I was a PA for a while. Like, we worked me and a lot of the buddies of mine that moved there. We worked on this show called Battle Dome, which was like an American Gladiars ripoff. And I would vacuum the battle dome in between the matches. That was my job. And, you know, we would just...

It needs to be clean, the Battle Dome. Somebody's got to get those teeth up off the ground. Someone has to. But it was fun because we were all, like, we were all these guys from North Carolina and Virginia, and we're, like, enjoying living in L.A. And we're honestly, like, having these conversations after we're slaving away for 14 hours in the Battle Dome,

like, we're really doing it, we're making it. You know, like, but we just stay out there for a while. And then you would just, I would write and friends would do things. And then Jody Hill, who was one of my best friends in school and out in Los Angeles, you know, after we were there for a while, I think he was sort of like, I really want to make a movie. And I don't know any actors. And so he asked me to be in it. We wrote this movie called The Footfist Way Together, and we shot it for like 70 grand back in North Carolina. I think for both of us, it was sort of like we've been giving it a lot of effort and we haven't had a lot of results.

So maybe, you know, this can maybe decide things in our lives. Like maybe it'll be time to go find something else to do if this doesn't work. And it did. Yeah. And it's very cool that you went home to do it, you know, that you guys just decided, well, let's just do this on our own terms. Yeah. Yeah.

And we kind of started to, that started to kind of feel, I think even just going to film school in North Carolina, it wasn't New York, it wasn't L.A. We always felt like we were outsiders and that the chance of any of us getting in was like really was a long shot. But I think because of that, it would make that camaraderie amongst us stronger because I think we all kind of felt like we were all outsiders and we needed to have each other's backs that that was like the best kind of chance maybe we would have. Yeah.

Okay. Last one in this round. I feel like I've aced this. A plus, man. Okay. One, two, or three. You know what? Since we've done two and three, I think it's only logical we do one this time.

Poor one. It's about left out. Okay. When have you felt the most homesick? Hmm. Two different points of my life. I definitely would feel homesick when I first moved out to L.A. Like, I feel like when things weren't going, that's a city that when things aren't going your way. It's almost like everything isn't going your way. You know, like, that's when you get the parking tickets. That's when you get. Like, it just feels like the whole city is against you. Yeah. And I started romanticizing the South then because I think I, you know, growing up in the South, there's a part of me that was always like ready to get out of there. And then once I was in a big city, I was suddenly like, oh, I kind of miss those country roads. And I miss how easy that was. And then I think maybe in my adult life, where I felt the most homesick was I did Alien Covenant that Ridley Scott directed, and it was shot down in Australia. And, you know, I have two children.

My wife, we had just had our second child, my daughter, Peanut. And, you know, they were going to come to Australia and all this stuff. But then it just, I think the long flight spooked my wife out. And so then it was. It's very far. It's very far. It's so rude how far they made that place. Oh, my God.

there in COVID and I was like, you know what? It's been nice knowing you. I'm never going to see. The time change is so hard. But I had an absolute blast on that movie, but I really had kind of a crisis there where I'm like, I don't think I want this to be what the rest of my life is. I don't think I'm going to be one of these dads that's like spending all my time alone in hotel rooms, like, you know, FaceTiming my kids and feeling like, you know, crushed or in some purgatory where I'm like missing everything. And so, yeah, after that experience, that was in 2016, that's when I kind of had the idea of, you know, maybe it's time to like get out of L.A. and go live somewhere where I can try to shoot because we had always shot all of our stuff in the South and North Carolina.

And so then, yeah, I moved my family to Charles and South Carolina. And then we've pushed all of our work since then down there. And so I've lived there full time. And, you know, we shot the righteous gemstones down there. We shot Halloween down there. And, yeah, it just became important to me to try to figure out how to do what I want to do and not miss out on all of this really important stuff in life, like being a parent and seeing your kids grow up. Sure. You know, I could see how fast it was going. And, yeah, I just didn't want to miss any of it.

Yeah, that's a very unglamorous part of that life. Yeah, lonely hotel rooms and being apart from my family. It's the lamest. It really is. It doesn't sound good. I got to be honest, it does not sound good. Like, oh, this is what it is. I didn't imagine that this was part of the deal.

Right. How does living there? How does living in Charleston affect your writing? I imagine it does and just see your imagination. It does. I honestly have loved it. Because I would find myself in Los Angeles a lot of times being a little bit more influenced by like what was selling

or what are other people making. You drive around in LA and there's just billboards for every show that's out. And so it'd be hard not to drive around, like, oh, that looks interesting, that looks interesting. Oh, they're making a show like that. Or like comparison, constantly compared. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And then I would find when I would go home, I would just see things that were like, oh, that's funny. I like what that person. Look at that guy walking down the road. Wonder what his story is. Like I just feel like my brain was a little bit more open. And I'm sure people that are from Los Angeles probably have a, you know, they probably look at L.A. And find their own inspiration.

But for me, I was kind of being drawn more to these stories that felt a little bit more distinct to me into kind of the world I knew. And yeah, so once I moved to Charleston, I felt like, honestly, it felt like I had never been more productive. I got there and the writing really unlocked. And, yeah, just the pace of life was just more conducive to the stuff I wanted to do. You happy? I love it. I love it. I mean, every day, my kids even say it's like, I'm so glad we live here.

It's like, it's awesome. We have an absolute blast there. Yeah. So, let's pull back from the game for a few minutes and talk about your book. Okay, let's go for it. Thrilling tales of modern men. Mm-hmm. It was very thrilling.

Well, good. It seems like the through line is that these are men who are sort of out of step with their own expectations about what their life was supposed to be. Yeah, totally. Is that fair? It is fair. It's a similar type of kind of flawed character that I've liked to explore in all this TV shows I've made and the stuff I've written. I just kind of think when you start with an unlikely protagonist, like somebody who doesn't have it together or even somebody that you're not even sure you are rooting for, I just think that the story can kind of go into more unexpected territory. You know, I think when you have like a traditional hero, you know, there's certain qualities and things that you just, we've seen so many stories that you just come to expect. Like, oh, he's going to figure it out here or here who'll get what he wants because he's figured this and that out. And I think when you start with the character that you're not really even sure if you want them to win, it like throws you off of like what to expect in the story itself.

And I just have always, I've always enjoyed that. And then I feel like the story kind of becomes something with the reader, where the reader is that. then sort of becoming the therapist and kind of like trying to decode, why is this person making these choices and weirdly by the end of it, if it works, you're kind of weirdly rooting for them. I mean, that was what, it was such a trip as someone who was reading it to just see how my own emotional response to the character is changing. Like, I got to be honest with you. So I opened this book.

And the opening story is about this guy. He's a, can we call him a failed magician? I mean, he's struggling. To be generous, he's a struggling. He thinks that going full magician is going to fix the problems in his life. Yeah. So his magic trick that's going to save him and heal him from the wound he clearly feels after getting divorced, right? Like he feels like he needs to prove himself.

He's going to live in a crate of some kind that is suspended from the ceiling of the local shopping mall. Yeah, for 30 days. 30 days. and food is going to be kind of like taken up to him in a bucket. And his waist will be taken down in the bucket, yes. This is the craziest story, Danny. And I opened this and I'm like, I don't know. And because he's also not likable.

No, he's a dickhead. He's totally not a likable dude. And I'm like, I don't know if I want to be in this guy's world. So I put it down. And then I picked it up a couple days later. and I don't know what it was, but then I was along for the ride. I was like, oh, I can't wait to see. It's so weird.

Like, first of all, how did this story come to your brain being suspended in a box? You haven't thought about that? In a shopping mall. No. You know, with all of these stories, it was, it was, this whole book was an answer kind of to what I had been doing with TV, where, you know, the gemstones, the righteous gemstones, I had an absolute blast making it. I worked on it for seven years. was seven years of writing the same characters, you know, in this one established world. And so this book was a chance where with every story, I could just craft an entirely new

world with a new characters. And there was something that felt really freeing to me to be able to, like, shift and do that. And so with all of these, I would kind of just start with an inkling of an idea and then see if it kept me coming back. And with that, I just started with that guy in a cube. And then I found myself each day coming back and just writing. more and more of what happened to them and how it was unfolding. And that's honestly how all these stories were. I kind of, I had no clue where any of them were going at this start. I would just kind of just like, you know, start channeling some weirdo and just keep it going and just kind of see where it goes.

And then after it was done, just go through and clean it up and fix it and change it. But at the beginning, it really was just almost like a fishing expedition just to see what would hold my attention. It does seem like through the through line through, you nodded to this earlier, but in your TV stuff, Kenny Powers or Jesse Gemstone and these characters, there's this interesting tension between their idea of what it means to be a man and like real like alpha male masculinity. But right behind it is like this intense for just. Like at any second, they're just going to crumble. Well, it's just this idea of sort of, yeah, it's, you know, they have this perception of themselves or this, like, so, quote unquote, like code or value system that they have kind of been told will work for them.

And then it's always the idea that, like, when life doesn't turn out that way, you know, how do you find the right path? Like, what do you do next? And I just kind of, I just think it seems, I just think it's funny. I think there's nothing funnier than somebody who's. who's like full of hot air or somebody who just has like an insane ego and then it's completely obvious to everyone around them that you know they don't have the goods like it just it constantly makes me laugh so those type of those type of people to me are just fun people to tell stories about

I mean the way that somebody's if someone has a like a misconception about who they are it's always so telling because you're like it's it's telling what they imagine themselves to be and it's also telling what they don't see that they really are. You know, and I think that is, that's just a fun dynamic for a character to have. Do you see real-world manifestations of that, that insecurity in men in your own life? Like, that's in the ether right now. It is, but, you know, I don't even think that it necessarily is something that's just men. It's like, I feel like every, you know, I feel like, you know, women could have a false sense of who they are just the same, you know.

And for me, I think it ends up being men because, you know, in my shows, I'm writing for something that I can play. Yeah. But I would hope at the end of the day that really what it's like playing on is just these sort of like timeless, like, you know, human errors of just sort of like, you know, the difference between our wants and our desires and our ambitions and then the harsh reality of life that things just always don't work out the way you want them to. And I think if somebody, you know, I think the more you're convinced. that it will, sometimes the more desperate and thrilling the story gets. Is there one story or character in this that you relate to in a personal way? You know, I think I relate to all of these characters in some way or another. And I think ultimately at the end of the day, I'm hoping that even the audience does.

Like, you know, even with Kenny Powers, you know, he is, you know, such a monster. But I really would challenge anyone to watch that whole thing and not be able to identify with that monster at some point throughout the story. And I think that that's the trick is I think you just have to, you have to add depth and dimension to these kind of, you know, irredeemal characters. And I think it ultimately, like, I think people are pretty empathetic. People, I know, we're always trying to find the good. Right. Yeah, totally. And so I think once you kind of understand what makes someone tick, it's not like you're justifying how they behave, but it starts to, they start to become decoded.

You start to kind of, well, I could see that if I was like that, maybe I would destroy someone's boat or. Yeah. Well, I have to tell you, I picked it up and like, it's a tiger and it's thrilling tales of modern men. I was like, I don't know if this is for me. I don't know if I'm the target demo. You are. I am because they're just damn good stories. Well, good. They're really good stories. So, congratulations. Thank you very much. Round two. Insights. One, two, or three. Let's go back to three. Three. How comfortable are you with being wrong? I think I'm okay with being wrong. I think when you're in a, when you spend most of your life in a writer's room and you're constantly pitching ideas and you have, you have to learn that it's the best idea wins and sometimes it might not come from you. And so I think that. Feels like that would take a while.

It takes a little bit to get a hold of, but then you start to see that good stuff comes from that. You know, you see that in real time in a writer's room. I mean, I've been writing TV for 20 years now. We sold Eastbound and Down in 2006. And I never knew how to write a TV show before we sold that, you know. And so I'd never even written stuff with a group of people before. And so that takes a lot of learning. I mean, you got to figure out how to listen to everybody.

You got to figure out how not to, you know, kill people's spirits when the ideas aren't always stellar. But then, like you said, you got to, you have to be able to admit when you're wrong. Like, you've pitched something and someone else pitches something better. You've got to get rid of that ego and be like, yeah, what you have is way. better than what I just said. Do you remember an example of making a pitch in a writer's room and being super psyched about it and having other people say

you know, it rarely happens with me. You know what, honestly, it happens so much that I probably would, you know, it's part of the daily, you know, it's like some idea sticks, some ideas don't. Clearly there wasn't one that scarred you in anyway. You were able to get over it,

metabolize that feedback pretty fast. It's what I like about, you know, This was writing this book is so singular. It's just you by yourself. That is what's kind of fun about writing television is that you end up with a group of people that all are creating something from nothing. And you're all looking to each other for where the guideposts are, whether we're doing it right or not. And it's a fun camaraderie that comes from that. I imagine also liberating to do this kind of writing, writing the book.

Because you're just like, oh, there's no one here. I'm just going to keep going this way. Yep. But, you know, scary because then you're like, well, what if my idea is. are really bad. Nah. Okay, next one. One, two, or three.

Let's go for one. When do you feel most like an outsider? Hmm. When do I feel the most like an outsider? Maybe you don't anymore. Get to a certain point in your career and you're like, nah. You know, I feel like I always have felt like an outsider in my, in this, in the entertainment industry for sure.

I think I always have it. I don't think it's because the way anyone's treated me. I just think that coming from, you know, coming from the south and moving to Los Angeles, there is always sort of like this. And maybe it's all just self-imposed. But you definitely feel like, you know, do I belong here? Do people think of just some like, you know, backwards, you know, moron? And so I think that you carry that.

And again, I don't know how much of that is probably just me putting that on myself when you, you know, when you're there. But that's a tough city. It's obviously a tough industry. And so there's always a level I've always felt like, you know, I stick to kind of my trusted collaborators. And like I said, every time we make something, we always tend to go outside the system to try to do it. So I feel like there. But maybe it's healthy to feel like an outsider in an industry like that, you know. Well, it's probably fueled your creativity.

Yeah, exactly. If you're like, well, I don't care what these people think. It's kind of good to invent an enemy. Like, you know what, we're going to show them. Yeah. Yeah. It fuels you. But I imagine there was part of it.

of you that also just in your storytelling in general, it's not stuff that's being shown in other places. I mean, you are telling stories about the South, telling stories, especially with righteous gemstones. I mean, you're talking, you handle it so delicately, like institutionalized religion and the megachurch culture in particular. You have to be sort of from a place that understands that culture. Totally. And that is inherent to being an outsider. Hollywood doesn't understand mega church culture. I mean, there are some in Hollywood, clearly, but like southern megachurch culture.

Yeah, and, you know, with that show in particular, you know, I have like lots of people in my family who like go to those churches too. So you, so I really, you know, I don't even know if they ended up watching the show, but I would always write it from the perspective that if they did, that they wouldn't feel like they were the butt of the joke. And so I think even just having that much of an understanding of the culture and not just sort of trying to demonize a bunch of people for their beliefs for the sake of comedy. I felt like that was always like that was our kind of how we always approach that tone and what

the, we're always being clear of what the joke was with it, that the joke wasn't what people believe and it wasn't making fun of somebody's beliefs. That was more just about this family. It was about these characters that were sort of making a killing off of like saying one thing and then living in a completely different way. And I felt like that, even if you're someone who's very religious, like, you can identify, you know that. Sure, there's hypocrites everywhere. Yeah.

And so that was always a thought. But again, I think it, to come from that world, you can kind of handle it in a more authentic way, I guess. Okay. Last one in this round. Let's go back to one. Oh, I didn't even have to say. No, I already ended up my mind. You already did.

Commitment. What have you found surprising about getting older? What have I found? You know what, honestly, the pace at which it starts to pick up. It really is kind of mind-blowing. Yeah, it is. And even with the kids, it's like, you know, they're like, to me, when I was a kid, I felt like middle school was like forever.

Oh, yeah. And then you're something like, oh, it's like three summer trips. And then the kids are already heading into high school. It's like, it's been wild how. Times weird. Yeah, how it just is. And even I think it put in perspective, like I kind of felt like my parents' whole life was my childhood.

And then you start to realize with your own kids. It's like, whoa, this is like a blink of an eye. Like, there was a whole life before them. And now this is such a, this is such a small amount of time, you know. So I think that that definitely surprised me of like, you know, these big, you know, we're the main character of our story. So the idea that your childhood is something that went on for so long and then you just see it from the other side. You're like, no, not at all. And also the possibilities that existed when you were young.

and it sort of can narrow when you're on the other side of 50. Yep. See, I'm lucky because even when I was 21, I looked like I was 50 years old. So now I look at my picture. I look at pictures of me when I'm here. I'm here like, I look older there somehow. This is weird. So you're in the reverse.

You're looking in the mirror now and you're like, looking pretty good. Hey, getting fast. I've been preparing this my whole life. Okay, we're moving into round three beliefs. One, two, or three. Let's go for two. Have you ever tried to force a belief?

Have I ever tried to force a belief? Hmm. Hmm. Like on someone else or onto myself. Ont to yourself. On to myself. God, I don't know if I have or if I have. I don't know if I'm like, I don't know if I'm aware of it, maybe.

You can skip it. I'm going to make you answer that one. Wasn't that part of the rules? Oh, yeah. Yeah. But if you flip it, you still have to answer it. Oh, never mind. Let's skip it.

Yeah, let's skip that one. Have you ever experienced a divine power? Danny McBride. Wow. Have I ever experienced a divine power? Yeah. You know what? I mean, I grew up,

definitely going to church all the time. What kind of church? We went to a Southern Baptist church, and we were really involved. My mom had a puppet ministry. She would do puppet shows for the children before the big sermon. So we spent a lot of time at church. That's amazing. Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

So we spent a lot of time at church. And now, as an adult, I don't, I mean, I probably stopped going to church like shortly after my parents got divorced, like in middle school. And I never, I haven't gone back, but I've always been fascinated with religion and I, you know, I'm, I am, I'm interested in all of it. I don't have a, I don't know what any of it is. So I'm open to all of it. Why is it interesting to you? I just think it's, I think it's like, because you start to look at it and you're like, oh, it's interesting that all these stories have been passed down for like thousands of years and this is everyone through time trying to like make sense of what the hell all of this is. And so I like it. I like it. I think that ultimately looking at it like a story, it's sort of kind of cool that this is different cultures. ways of interpreting like what this all is. I think it's like, yeah, I think it's super fascinating. So I think even when you start to look at the world that way, it's hard not sometimes to kind of feel like, oh, this is like, I'm meant to be in this moment, or I met this person here. Somebody is orchestrating this. And so I felt those things, you know, but weirdly, something

that does feel a little divine is that, you know, my daughter, Peanut, she was born with like Some sort of just delays, you know, so she was a little late to the party when it came to certain things. And walking was one of them. She was, like, really late to walk. In the first time that she walked was literally when we shot the pilot of righteous gemstones in the sanctuary of the righteous gemstones. My wife brought me to my wife brought the kids to the set to check it out and were in this massive megachurch. The first time they've been there and literally my daughter like stands up and just walks down the aisle. We're like, she's walking.

She's doing it. Yeah. Jesus has touched her. Somebody did. Someone. The universe. But it was pretty wild. I mean, we laughed at it.

Like, that's so funny that her first steps were literally in the gemstone sanctuary. I mean, if that's not divine, what is really. Okay. Next one. One, two, or three. Let's go back to three. Three. Have you made peace with more?

Oh, wow. Big one. That's a big one. Isn't it? Let's get them heavier and heavier. Let's go. I don't know if I have or not. I mean, you know, obviously, I want to stay here as long as I can, but obviously, you know, we're not allowed to.

Our ticket gets punched at some point. Yeah, I try not to think about it as much as I can. Is that your answer? Because there's another question in our deck about how often people think about death. I'm very preoccupied with it. I think about it a lot. But not in like a morbid way, more just like as a way to appreciate what's going on. I see that.

And when you have parents died, when you have friends who've died, draws a fine point to the whole existing thing. Yep, I get it. Yeah, I think I tend to not think about it a lot. Maybe because I just don't, I don't know how it would benefit me to think about it a lot. But I definitely appreciate everything. My wife thinks about it a lot. Anytime we go on a trip and it's me and her just going, she's always like, oh, God, this is where our kids are going to be orphans. I'm like, we're going to the beach for the weekend.

That's not good. That's not good. You had a very dear friend die. Yeah. Ben Best in 2021. Yep, I believe so, yep. And I guess I'm just wondering how that he was your writing partner and collaborator. He was.

He was. He was one of my best friends. Yep, I met him in college. And yeah, he created Eastbound with us and was in Eastbound. And yeah. Do you conjure him in your writing at all? Like, how does he show up for you? You know, I think about Ben a lot, honestly.

I do. Yeah, he was just a buddy of mine that he just went down the wrong path. You know, he got involved with substances. And I think he has, like, a beautiful daughter. And I think people were hopeful that, like, once that happened, that he would make different choices and maybe it would, like, straighten things out. And in some regards, I think it did. but ultimately, you know, he, you know, he just made some bad choices and succumb to them. And so he was probably one of the funniest dudes I've ever met and very smart.

He was someone who, like, if he was around you, everyone would always assume, like, Ben likes me. He's like, Ben's such a good guy. I mean, he could make everybody feel seen and know how to kind of communicate with everybody. And, yeah, he was a big part of, yeah, of me sort of, you know, at film school. and beyond. Like, he was a big part of all of that. And what was he good at? He was just a people person.

He was naturally funny and he was empathetic. He was really creative. He was a musician too. And he just had a lot of talent. And, yeah, and he was just fun. He was just a good dude. Yeah. I'm sorry about that.

It's hard, especially when a creative collaborator, like I imagine, it's hard when you have the close group of people and you all know one another, like deeply. Yeah. And to have, to lose one member of that, I imagine, affect your creativity for a little while. It definitely does. And, yeah. And then, you know, as time goes on, you just, like, you know, like I said, I think about him a lot and have conversations with them. And, you know. And so, yeah, so he doesn't feel like he's completely gone. I do feel like he's a part of who I am. Yeah. Last one. One, two, or three. Let's go for two.

Two. What's something you want younger generations to understand? Oh. Soapbox moment. What do I want younger generations to understand? Wow, I don't know. I'm not sure. What do we want to?

What do we want them to understand? In part, the wisdom. Yeah. You know, I feel like I saw that, you know, I'll say, even in the film industry, you know, when I went to film school, I think it was like the same year that like Pulp Fiction came out and clerks had just come out. and the brothers McMullen. And it was this wave of this independent film. And it was awesome because you're young

and you're seeing people that are just slightly older than you, finding success, doing something. And I feel like that motivated a whole generation of filmmakers to get into that industry. And my fear has been, as the years have gone on, that not having those examples of young people who are like, you know, become sensations overnight in the film industry,

that that would make, people maybe not see that as a like a realistic path to success. And so I think even just this summer having like obsession and backgrounds and it's these like movies coming from these really young people. Right. For people who don't know what these are. I mean, these are movies that have broken all kinds of records and they were made by super young people.

Even in the audience. When I went to see obsession, it was like everybody in that theater, it wasn't like they were like 17, 18. They were like 15 years old and it was packed and they were loving it. And it was really, to me, it was exciting to see because it was like, oh, this isn't like, you know, nothing against the Marvel movies or that stuff at all. Like those things are a blast. But also it feels like it's something that came from like my childhood that's being, you know, sold to a younger generation and everyone loves them. But this felt like it was coming from this generation. And it was, and they were responding to it in a really cool way. And I think it's that, I feel like is more of that. I like the idea of young people being able to see that success. and it motivate them. Because this industry will totally collapse if it's all just run by people in their 40s and 50s and 60s.

Like you need young people to embrace this industry and to tell their stories because that's ultimately how it will stay alive. What, I imagine you get asked to talk to young people from time to time, like filmy TV kind of aspiring young people? I guess so. People will stay away from me. I don't know if they want me influencing the youth too much.

But how do you, How do you, because everyone's path is different, right? And we talked about how you have to be a little bit delusional. What advice do you give young people who want to have a creative life these days when it feels extra complicated? I think it's just probably that, it's probably as simple as that advice I got when I moved to L.A. of like just understanding you're not going to come out of the gate doing what you want to do. Find a way to make a living in the meantime so that you're not discouraged to keep. keep working on what you want to do.

And it seems like a lot of this is perseverance. Like if you can stick it out and you can kind of stay engaged and stay focused that you can kind of find success. And I think a lot of times, like, it's tough, you know, wanting to go into the arts because there's not always money there if you're not, like, crushing it in that field, you know. And so real life starts to, you know, call. I mean, I had a buddy who went out to L.A. And he got a cavity and didn't have insurance.

And so suddenly he had like all this debt and that like made him have to move home. You're like, wow, just like a candy bar took that dude out. That reminds me, though, of the last story in the book, which is so lovely. It's poignant. But it's about Hollywood. And how hard it is to build a career, how hard it is to sustain a career, and how hard it is to sustain a career. and how that fame and notoriety can be so, so fleeting and how actors in particular, I don't know,

maybe it's the same for like directors or writers or creators, but they're always trying to recapture that moment. Yeah. You could write about that with so much authenticity because you've been up close to this. But I imagine you've seen different versions of that person, right, who's so desperate to hold on to this thing that made them special.

and it's an industry that really fuels that search, and most people are disappointed. Yeah, well, you know, because it's like, I think if you even just pursuing that, I mean, I felt it for sure, when you want to make movies your whole life and then suddenly you're, you know, we made the foot fist way in 2005,

it went to Sundance in 2006, and like literally six months later, I'm like on the set with Ben Stiller on the Heartbreak Kid. Like, I'm, you know, I'm thrust, and I was waiting tables before that. And now I'm like, you know, I'm at a table reading for Tropic Thunder with Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise. That's wild.

What is happening? Yeah. And so it's, yeah, it's just nuts. It's nuts. And so. Like, don't you have to hold it lightly? Because it's not going to stick on. Well, you do because I think that that is so, that moment when that, when if you're lucky

enough that your dreams are coming true, it's, it's kind of easy to be like, well, I did it, you know, like that was what I wanted to do. And I think your evolution as a human still has to go on. on and you kind of have to put that success still in perspective that this is just going to be part of your experience and it shouldn't be what you're getting all of your value from. And I think that's for me why I really wanted to double down on making sure I was there for my kids and even just living in a town like Charleston of like I wanted to find hobbies that were outside of like making movies.

I wanted to become friends with people that don't work in the industry. I wanted to build a sustainable life for the long run so that I could just appreciate working in the entertainment industry and not make it my whole identity. So Danny McRide, we end the show the same way every time. Okay. With a trip in our memory time machine.

Okay. In the memory time machine, you revisit one moment from your past. It's not a moment you want to change anything about. Okay, okay. It's just a moment you want to linger in a little longer. Okay. Which moment do you choose?

Oh, what do I choose? I think I would, and this is probably pretty cheesy, But honestly, I would just like sit in my wedding day for a little bit. You'd be surprised. People, I mean, yes, why wouldn't you? People choose wedding days. There was a lot of people there, some of which you aren't here anymore. And yeah, and it was just seeing where everything has gone.

That memory always brings a smile to my face of what we were doing and who was there and all the things that were still to come that we had no clue. I mean, my wife, Gia, I met her in 2001. So we've been together for a long time, 25 years. And so it's a long time. And she knew me when I had 20 bucks in my pocket and that was it. And so me and her together have seen so much and have kind of done amazing things we never would have ever imagined in a million years that we'd get the opportunities to do. And so I think that moment is what I would like. Can you give me a moment, actually, from your wedding day?

You know, we had it in Palm Springs. and we had what we got married. It was a whole weekend thing. We had locked down this whole hotel. And Guy and I, we liked to party. And so we had our wedding at like Friday at like four. We're like, let's just get the wedding out of the way so we can just rock and roll all weekend

and not have that lingering over us. So all day, Saturday, it was just a massive pool party. And people were never leaving the pool. So you can only imagine that everyone was just pissing in the pool. It was disgusting. So much so that... This is the first time that public urination has been part of a memory time machine. It was that much fun, though, that you didn't care.

And we were going to go on our honeymoon that Monday, and we had to delay it because I got an ear infection from being in that pool. Oh, my God. Really? Yeah. It was a wild wedding. You know it was a crazy wedding when Saturday morning, my suit that I was married in was in the lost and found. It had been discovered at the bottom of the pool. So you know that it was a good time. Danny McBride, the book is called Thrilling Tales of Modern Men. It was so fun to talk with you. Thank you for doing it.

Thanks for having me on. This is a lot of fun. If you finish this episode with Danny McBride and you said to yourself, hey, that was very cool. I'd love to hear another episode like that one. Well, let me stand in for your algorithm and make this personal suggestion. Check out our episode with Nick Offerman. Nick and Danny are both hilarious.

They are excellent writers. and have each done a lot of thinking about the definition of modern masculinity. I think you'll dig it. This episode was produced by Alicia Zhang and Summer Tomad. It was edited by Dave Blanchard and mastered by Andy Huther. Wildcard's executive producer is Yolanda Sanguinei, and our theme music is by Ramteen Arable. You can reach out to us at wildcard at npr.org,

and you know what we're going to do. We're going to shuffle the deck and be back with more next week. Talk to you then.