WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1398 - Colin Hanks

Episode Date: January 5, 2023

Colin Hanks knows there are public perceptions of him that are tricky to navigate. For one, the man known as America’s Dad is his actual dad. There’s also the fact that people have a hard time seeing him in roles other than The Nice Guy. And then there’s the way people still think of him as a young man even as he enters middle age with children of his own. Colin and Marc talk about the mindset he’s had to put in place to feel at ease with himself, much of which he had to absorb as he processed the loss of his mother. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Lock the gates! Alright, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck, buddies? What the fuck, nicks? What's happening? I'm Mark Maron. This is my podcast, WTF. Welcome to it. If you've been here a while, nice to have you back. If you're new, thanks for dropping in. Hang out. Maybe just sit in the back and listen, all right? I guess you can talk back. It's fine. Everybody, engage however you want to engage. How's your New Year's going? Is it okay? Is everything all right? You know, I need to clear some stuff up. But let's start properly. Today on the show, I'm going to talk, you're going to hear me talk to Colin Hanks. He's now a ubiquitous character actor. Recently, he's been on Fargo, The Offer, Impeachment, Drunk History. He's been in movies like Orange County, King Kong,

Jumanji. He's also producer and director of documentaries like the one he made about Tower Records and a new one about Willie Mays. Also the son of actor Tom Hanks. Is that his name? Tom Hanks? That's his name, right? Wow. My brain is garbage. My brain is garbage. It's turning into garbage. Look, a couple of things I want to clear up. I believe on my episode with Ben Foster, and I knew it kind of when I said it, that I wasn't quite using the Yiddish word nachas right. I believe, I think someone corrected me or maybe they were just telling me what it means, but I don't think I used it right. I think I was probably looking for the word chutzpah, which is, you know, that's a word everybody knows. Naches, not so much.

And I think I misused naches. I think naches means pride and chutzpah is huevos, you know. Chutzpah is, in Spanish, is huevos, used not as eggs, but as you do have the huevos. Do you have the chutzpah to do it? The oomph, the balls, the will. Nachos is, I believe, pride. And I kind of knew that, but I guess I didn't know it enough not to fuck up, you know, what I was saying. But now I want to know what spilkus is.

Here we go. Here we go. Spilkus, a state of impatience, agitation. That's what the spilkus means in Yiddish. I am in a constant, almost constant state of spilkus, which with occasional moments of nachis over my friends and myself and sort of, I think, in and out of chutzpah. I don't know.

I think chutzpah and spilkas is the name of my soul. That's it. Chutzpah and spilkas. But anyway, thank you for clearing that up. That what I meant to say with Ben Foster was chutzpah and spilkus. But anyway, thank you for clearing that up. That what I meant to say with Ben Foster was chutzpah and not naches. But I'm happy that I had the lack of naches to admit my mistake. So cleared that up. Fine. The other thing, somebody was wondering about my barbecue chicken. How did it come out? Because that was a pressing sort of unfolding goal of my last show.

And the new year was the barbecue chicken. And the chicken came out fine. But, you know, the skin was okay. You know, when you slow cook it, it's a little rubbery, but I put spices on it, which I don't always do. And you know what? To be honest with you, chicken is really chicken. What are you going to do with chicken?

You're going to make an amazing chicken. I mean, the only amazing chicken I've ever had is just a roast chicken, a rotisserie chicken or a roast chicken. That's where it's at, right? You're not going to get better than a nice crispy crust or something that's been on a rotisserie for the day. I mean, that's the best chicken can be. Barbecue chicken, who cares?

Chicken, chicken, chicken breast, who cares? You know, chicken, it's just chicken, man. Let's do this first. If you haven't signed up for the full Marin yet, this is a good month to do it. We've got some good bonus content coming for you this month, including my trip to the AEW wrestling matches at the Forum. Talk with Jesse Brown of Canada Land

about my dream of moving north. Some extra segments with upcoming guests. Plus, there's currently more than two dozen bonus episodes from last year sitting there right now, ready for you to listen to. Go to WTFpod.com and click on WTF Plus or go to the link in the episode description on whatever podcast player you're using right now. And don't forget, if you're already a WTF Plus subscriber, give out the referral code we sent you last month. At the end of January, we'll send a prize to the person who referred the most friends. Huh? What do you make of that? So I've been doing stuff, man. I've been doing stuff around the house. I've been doing, like, you know, I've been thinking about it.

I've been doing stuff around the house. I've been doing, like, you know, I've been thinking about it. Who am I? You know, I'm just barely hanging on most of the time, but I'm engaged with that and I can manage that. And I also have a certain amount of success in my life, but, you know, mentally and emotionally barely hanging on. The point is like, what do I do? What have I earned?

What do, what is my like, what do I do? What have I earned? What do, what is my life and what do I enjoy? And I find that it's possible to enjoy life. And I, it's hard for me to admit that that's like 60 years coming 59 and change coming to just admitting that, look, man, there are things I enjoy and they're not big things, but it's the life that I live and it's the life that I've earned, I guess. But I have to stop thinking that whatever my life is, I'm not doing enough because I seem to like it. I seem to have spent my life figuring out how to more effectively have a lot of free time on my hands. And I've been a self-employed person for almost all of my adult life since my 20s. And there's different points during that life where having all that time

when there was no money and a lot of time, it was difficult. When I was chasing it, it was difficult, but I was engaged. I was writing things down. I was wandering around. I was sweating. I was doing drugs. I was drinking. I was having sex. I was going on stage. Those were the 20s and 30s. And there was a frenetic kind of momentum to it, 20s and 30s and and there was a frenetic kind of momentum to it but it was always about you know my time is my time i i feel very busy even though i don't go to a job i'm busy all the time and a lot of the stuff i can't differentiate between what's work and what's something i enjoy but i'm starting to do that a little bit and then I went to therapy because I had to work through some of, I've been a little hard on myself for the last 45 years. And I'm wondering why that is. Why do I need to constantly kind of pound myself into the ground?

Why do I need to never think that I'm doing what I need to be doing or enough of what I should be doing or enjoying life in the right way? Why am I compelled to feel shame? Why am I a shame junkie? Why am I, you know, there's just a few things. I need some fine tuning around self-flagellation and shame and a little bit of need some codependency work. But so we kind of got into it. It'd been a while, but I had some specific things I wanted to go over and that worked out. Got a new perspective. She's a bit of a Buddhist thinker, my

therapist. And it's a weird thing about Buddhism, that whole sort of being the present, the past, it's a past is sort of like, all right, so does that mean that what? That there was no Holocaust? I mean, look, that's extreme. I apologize. I didn't mean that. Being in the present's good. And the past is the past is fine. Doesn't mean you don't acknowledge it.

And I'm not saying that my therapist thinks that way, but it's just me, again, reaching into the past, whether it's mine or the history of my people, to feel some anger and some righteous indignation, which is better than shame. I've been doing some homework and I've been doing some, you know, renewed interest watching. I watched McCabe and Mrs. Miller again for like the millionth time because it never stops unfolding for me. And this time I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the hat. Got something to do with the hat and that coat. It's all hinging on the bowler and the giant bear coat or whatever the hell that was. And I also, I read some of Sarah Polly's new book coat or whatever the hell that was. And also I read some of Sarah Pauly's new book to get a handle on her. I watched her documentary. I watched women talking in preparation to sort of engage

with Sarah Pauly soon. And yeah, that's what I did. And I cooked some fish. You all right? How's everybody doing? So look, Colin Hanks, a nice guy. We've been kind of dancing around this for a long time in the sense that I've known him. We've met. We've tweeted at each other. But now he's finally here. He can be seen in the limited series A Friend of the Family, streaming now on Peacock. He also produced the new HBO sports doc Say Hey, Willie Mays, which is streaming now on HBO Max. This is me and Colin.

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Zensurance provides customized business insurance policies starting at just $19 per month. Visit Zensurance today to get a free quote. Zensurance, mind your business. All right, so we were talking about Sacramento, and you asked me how much time I've spent in Sacramento. I have spent time at the Punchline in Sacramento and the hotel across the way, over there by the Arden Mall. Yes, how about Arden? How about Arden? How about Arden?

Yeah. And there's a hotel right there across from it that I have some bad, some not so bad. Not much good. Not so bad. Gotcha. That's fair. That's fair.

Memories of that hotel that revolved around alcohol and whatnot. Yeah. And the Punchline Sacramento was upstairs in a strip mall. Yeah, the How About Arden strip mall. Oh, but there's a big mall. What's the big mall? Arden Fair Mall. Oh, so you're really on top of it.

So, yeah. Well, when I say really on top of it in terms of like things that were in existence in 1996. Right. And prior. And you have to walk past a mattress store. Yeah. Upstairs and wait in line in that strip 1996. Right. And prior. And you have to walk past a mattress store upstairs and wait in line in that strip mall. Yeah. How about Arden Strip Mall?

And am I wrong in thinking there used to be kind of a 50s restaurant? Yeah, no, there was. Mel's, yeah. Right there. Yeah, I think it was Mel's. I feel like it was a knockoff Mel's. It was a knockoff Mel's.

Yeah. It was a knockoff Mel's, yeah. Right. I remember, yeah. Yeah, I ate there a bunch of times when I was a kid. When you were in high school? When I was in high school. High school and middle school, yeah.

So you're a Sacramento guy? I'm a Sacramento boy, yeah. So my parents met at Sac State. Tom Hanks and your mom. My mom, Susan. I just want to put that up front, that Tom Hanks is your father. Yes. Not Michael Keaton, as I like to claim.

And so they met at Sac State. So I was born in Sacramento and then moved around with them a little bit. And then when my parents split up, my mom moved back to Sacramento with me and my sister. My dad stayed here in Southern California. What year was that though? Where was he at in his trip? In his journey? In his journey in his journey superstar that was around volunteers it was right after volunteers and how old were you third grade whatever whatever age you are third grade I'm trying to think I mean like

my youngest my youngest is in fourth yes Yeah, seven or eight. Wow. Seven or eight years old. That's a rough time to weather a divorce. Well, I don't know if there's ever a great time to weather a divorce. But you always weather it. When you're in your 30s, it's less. Well, I remember actually having a conversation because when I was growing up,

I grew up in Sacramento, in East Sacramento. And like all my friends, all their parents were married. Right. And it wasn't until we all graduated high school and like went off that everyone's parents started getting divorced. Huh. And I remember having conversations like with. So you were ahead of the gang. Huh. And I remember having conversations like with. So you got, you got, you were ahead of the gang. Yeah.

And, and actually having conversations like with my best friend who I'm still very close with and. From kids? From kids. Yeah. Wow. And he's my producing partner on a bunch of stuff. He, uh, we talked a lot and he sort of said like, you know, you might've had it easier

when you were younger. Cause you didn't like have relationships with your parents beyond them just being your parents. Here's your food. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. We love you. Yeah. You didn't get old enough to make a mess of things.

Yeah. Or like feeling like I was really genuinely like pulled between the two. You know what I mean? I think in a a divorce you'll always sort of feel that way to a degree right but when you're older like it really feels like oh shit i don't know if i like this person right yeah yeah you know when you're a kid it's sort of like i was in my 30s when they got divorced and it was i guess it was sort of uh upsetting yeah but i didn't have to wonder where i was gonna live yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I knew my dad was an asshole. Yeah. So, you know, but it.

Same, Mark. Same. Hard same. Yeah. Tell us the truth. Same. How often do you get that? Tell us the truth about Tom Hanks. Tell us the truth. He's a monster, right? He's a monster who can't figure out, you know, any kind of technology whatsoever. It's the worst. But what was it like for, was he,

he was always, I have to assume he was relatively decent dad, no? Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I want to believe, man. I want to believe

the Tom Hanks mythology. He, yes, he was. Like, it's so funny because I, look, I just look at it very differently, obviously, than everybody else does. That sounds like a tasty water. Here we go, man. We're fucking partying. Let there be thirst.

Quench that thirst with that water. No, but like, everyone sort of has this kind of like, oh my God, what was that? Like, you know, the idea of like everyone calling him like America's dad and stuff like that. He's a dude. Right. He's a guy. Yeah.

Who was incredibly young. I mean, he was like 23 when I was born. Oh, so he really did. He didn't, they must not have really known. He didn't know what he was doing. He had no fucking idea. That's a really young dude. Yeah.

How old was your mom? Same. Not that much older. I mean, maybe two, maybe three years older. That's old school age for having kids. That's how old my parents were when they had me. I mean, yeah. I mean, that's like a byproduct of like 50s, 60s.

No one does that shit anymore. And did he have a plan then? No. He had no plan. Did he have a job that you remember before he was acting? Or is he pretty much going? No. Well, no.

I mean, he was, I don't remember him like having to leave to go work for his first professional acting job in Cleveland. In Cleveland, yeah. Yeah, the Great Lakes Theater Festival there. So I don't really remember that. I mean, I remember Bosom Buddies, but that was first. When were you born? I was born in 77. Oh, so it's all just starting. Yeah. You have a concept. was, yeah. When were you born? What year? I was born in 77. Oh, so it's like, it's all just starting.

Yeah. You can't, you have a concept. No, exactly. Exactly. So I remember like years, I think it was around his 50th birthday. Yeah. We were in, we actually went through Cleveland and I was, and I, you know, was significantly older.

And I said, Hey, when you come here,, when you come here, what do you think? What is the thing that's going through your head? You're 50 years old. You're here with your kid. In Cleveland. In Cleveland. Where it started. Where it started.

And I think he said, oh, I wish I could just go back and just say, hey, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. Only because it turned out okay. Only because it turned out okay. But if he had thought it was going to be okay, then it might not have been. Well, but it just made me realize just how much just sort of like stress and anxiety

someone must have had at that age going like, I'm 23 years old, 24 years old. Got kids. I got a kid. I don't have a like, I'm 23 years old, 24 years old. Got kids. I got a kid. Oh, he had an actor. I don't have a job. Yeah. I'm not married.

Like, I don't. Oh, he wasn't married? No, no. They weren't married until a few years later. Oh, really? Yeah. And then even that didn't last very long. So, like, just the amount of just, like, fear.

Oh, yeah. And you're going to be an actor? Oh, my. You're in Cleveland? Yeah, like, ludicrous. Did he bring you to Cleveland? Or were you just sitting in Sac? No, I stayed in Sacramento. We didn't move out to be with him until he was in New York and was like trying to give New York a run. It's so crazy

to be having the kids. Yeah. In fact, he told me, and this isn't like a, I think he's mentioned this before, but we were going through Times Square. Yeah. Where there's that huge Bubba Gump shrimp co. Yeah, yeah. gump shrimp yeah yeah and he goes man i remember getting you dressed yeah and walking you down to this building which was a chemical bank where he would cash his unemployment checks and now it's a bubba gump shrimp co restaurant has he got a piece of that no he does not he

doesn't no he's got no piece of that um but yeah, so like, yeah, he was a young, he was a young. That's crazy, man. He was a young child. Yeah. Almost. So when you, so when do you, you know, I know, do you have a sister from your mom? Yeah, correct. How old, is she younger?

Younger, yeah. I'm the oldest of four. Well, I know Chet, he was on my show. Yeah, I know. You guys get along? Yeah. How's he doing? He's doing good. All right. He's doing good. I'm going to tell four. Well, I know Chet. He was on my show. Yeah, I know. You guys get along? Yeah. How's he doing? He's doing good.

All right. He's doing good. I'm going to tell him that I saw you. Yeah, we're all worried about Chet all the time. Well, always. Always. We always worry about our siblings all the time. I know, man.

It was wild to work with him because he got to play himself, basically. Yeah. And he did a real good job. He's a sweet guy. He is a sweet guy. And he's just got this thing he does. He's his own guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so they have two kids? Yeah. Yeah. So me and my sister, and then my brothers, Chet and Chester and Truman. How old is Truman? Mid-20s now, I guess. You're all old guys. Yeah, we're all adults.

So when you're coming up, though, like you're in Sacramento, your dad's, you know, you knew at some point he was rocketing to some sort of stardom, right? So what are you doing up there? Are you like, I'm not going to act. I'm going to act. You know, fuck this life. I would say the pattern is as such. Definitely going to act because I really enjoy it and really, really love it. And then as soon as it is expected, like, oh, of course you're going to do that.

Then it's, no, fuck you. I'm not going to do that. Yeah it's, no, fuck you, I'm not going to do that. Yeah. And then a few years of that, and then eventually going back and realizing like, well, I don't really give a shit about what everybody else is saying. I really thoroughly enjoy it. Yeah.

And I don't really want to do anything else. Really? Did you try anything else? I tried music for a little while. In Sacramento? In Sacramento and a little bit

in college as well. I played in bands in like high school. I went to a school in Orange County for one year called Chapman University. Yeah.

How was that? It was all right. Yeah. And then I transferred to Loyola Marymount and I was there for a couple of years. You didn't finish?

No. Yeah, I chose the one profession where really you don't need the very expensive piece of paper

that says you're qualified to do the thing that you've studied. You were so close though. I wasn't really that close. I was not really that close. No, I wasn't that close.

Not a good student? No, not really a good student. Did you take acting classes? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But not like outside of school. Yeah. Like I wasn't like, you know.

And you were still not in LA or anything? No, not really. But so like what's going on? What's your mom doing up there, you know, in Sac? And you're going down to Hollywood. She's just hanging out yeah i mean she's really she was just she was just there yeah it was just in she wasn't working just hanging out raising you guys yeah pretty much yeah um and then essentially i i moved down uh for college

and then that was really kind of it in what what year? I moved down in 97. Huh. So I was around 20. Here? Yeah. Like LA. Yeah. And you're just staying with your dad?

No. I was. Did you have a room at your dad's house? I had a room. Yeah. But it wasn't like my room. But yeah, I had a room. Yeah.

Even when you were young, you didn have like no i had my i had my own space yes i definitely had my own space but i was only in la for like you know four days out of the month i mean i would yeah i would do every other weekend no so i would come from sacramento to la every other was that fun did he make it fun It was a blast, man. We would go to hockey games. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. And in a strange way, it really made me, I mean, I'm definitely like a Northern California kid for sure, but it definitely made me feel like I'm from the state of California. Right. I travel well. You are of California. Yeah, and I travel well. I can pretty much go anywhere and sort of feel pretty damn comfortable.

So you came down here for college, and now you're here. You're in Los Angeles, and it's 19 what? 96? 97? 96, 97, yeah. So what was it like then? What was going on, man? So what was it like then?

What was going on, man? Well, I mean, in L.A., that was definitely sort of like there's like two different sort of tracks almost. So there's the what I would say is the sort of young actor, young child actor, high school type boom that is about to occur. Yeah. Who are those people? Well, that's like Dawson's Creek and teen movies and that sort of- I feel like I missed that whole decade. Well, because I think that you were of the other track, which was more the sort of comedy- Yeah.

Like alternative comedy, whatever you're already in my mid-30s whatever yeah and so you're kind of like already you're you're the grade above yeah that's the way i sort of look at it sure yeah you're like the class before right but you know how old you before i'm gonna be 45 and i'm like 15 years i'm like 59 yeah i've always sort of generated toward like gravitated towards like an older set yeah do you know what i mean um and so like even in in college i was always sort of like looking at like you know the largo set and all that and was sort of like oh that so you're hanging around Largo in the nineties? Not really hanging around,

but like just trying to absorb as much of that as I can. Because he shows. Very aware that that is what is going on within my city. And also like coming from Sacramento, like it was, there was a component of always sort of wanting to go to southern california and then as soon as getting i got to southern california i was like i really i miss northern california but there were certain things that were going on here that made me go like oh but

i really like it here so it's like between like the comedy scene and, you know, all of those sort of people starting. Do you have friends with him? I mean, I got to know some people. I mean, I got to know like Jack Black pretty well. Yeah. So who was your crew when you got here? Did you have one?

I mean. I didn't really have one. I was like. Didn't your uncle try to do comedy for a minute? He was, yeah. He was a stand-up for a long time, yeah. I remember that guy. Yeah, every now and again.

What's his name? Jim. Jim Hanks? Yeah, every now and again. Someone would go, I know Jim. Yeah. Yeah, okay. I know where you were then.

I just remember it was such a, it's hard for you guys with the celebrity brand name. Yeah. But it was just one of those things because he kind of looked like your dad. Yeah. But it was just one of those things because he kind of looked like your dad. Yeah. And it was sort of like, is every brother of a star going to start doing comedy now? Because Michael Douglas' sad brother who died was doing comedy.

Oh, really? Yes. Oh, wow. Oh, that guy was so sad, that guy. I forget his name. He used to come to the comic strip in New York, he had a little dog and he was sweaty. All those guys have the drug issues. But he passed away. But it was like he was clearly a Douglas. In the mid-90s

where were you living in the mid-90s? New York. You were in New York. Yeah. But I remember being at the store and seeing Jim. Yeah. But he did it at the store and seeing Jim. Yeah. But he did it for a while. He did. Yeah, he did. He did it for a good long while. Because there was a period there during that time where there was still a lot of clubs and a lot of booms.

A name could sell a few tickets. Yeah. I can't remember his act. Yeah. Can you? Was it all based on- No, I never saw his act. I never saw his act.

I mean, I would have loved to, but I never saw it. Where's he around? Is he around? No, he still lives here in LA. I heard that your dad said he did the voices for something. Was that? He does, yeah, he does the voices for the toys. Yeah.

He does the toys. He does the Woody voice for the toys of Toy Story. Okay. So if you have a Toy Story toy. Who am I thinking of? What's the light year? What is that? That's Tim Allen.

Tim Allen. Sorry, another guy. Jim Allen. Jim Allen. His brother. Yeah, the comic. Yeah, I guess. All right, so you come down here.

Yeah. But your dad's like, where's he at with this? He's huge already in the late 90s, 96, 97. He has just become, yeah. Massive. He yeah he's just become yeah so that's happening so you come into that so that's happened and yeah so there's there's a transition there of getting used to like the new the new normal what was that to, I mean, look, I didn't really, I was not around a bunch. You know, like I said, I grew up in Sacramento, so I'd come down in and out. I would spend summers with him, so I would, you know, go on location to all those places.

You know, I was there, you know, on set for League of Their Own and Sleepless and Gump and was there for a lot taking it in yeah of course yeah but just sort of like absorbing it and just sort of like that was i mean it was cool don't get me wrong i'm not trying to be like yeah you know too cool for it but like it was that was just what that was the deal yeah that's just what it was and then it became something much much much bigger than than what it already was in terms of new house new uh no not necessarily new house but just like the attention you know i mean he wins two oscars back to back and that kind of changes everyone's was that philadelphia and gump yeah that changes the way you interact when you're out in the world. Sure.

And it also changes the perception of you, his son. Yeah, correct. Correct. And so there was definitely an adjustment there for me because I never really, you know, I didn't, you know know spend every day with the guy sure so when we would go out you know it used to be like oh okay people would you know notice and sort of say whatever people would sort of say something and then and then it turned into like well don't walk behind him because then you're just going to be in a wake of people just double taking and then giving you like the elbow trying to get to him you know and it just became a different environment and he's had to

live in that since the 90s yeah yeah yeah and so you know and we've gotten better at that dealing with it yeah but there was there was an adjustment there and that coincided with me actually moving to Los Angeles and trying to start my own- Acting thing. Well, my own life. Sure. But yeah, my own acting thing. And so when I was at Loyola, I met Busy Phillips, who I believe you know. Yeah, I like her.

Yeah. I talk to her. Yeah. She seems to be doing all right. She's doing good, yeah. Yeah. And I've to her. Yeah. She seems to be doing all right. She's doing good, yeah. Yeah. And I've known her forever. We dated in college and we've been friends ever since.

Before she was an actress. Yeah. I mean, we were both in college before and we both started getting jobs at the same time. Huh. And so she really pushed me to like quit fucking around and really like make the effort. She's like, look, if this is what you want to do, like fucking do it. Like don't, don't just sit around. Well, it's so like, it's so hard.

Cause you know, I've talked to, it's, I've never, I've never really framed it this way with, with, with the actors, but you know, I've talked to Duncan Jones. I've talked to Sean Lennon, you know, and Duncan is sort of like, it's a small club, you know, it is is sort of like, it's a small club. You know. It is, yeah. Like, you know, he's Bowie's kid. Yeah. Sean is

John's kid. And during the talk with Sean, he gets a phone call. Yeah. He holds up his phone. It's his mom? No. No, it's better. I don't know who it is. And he goes, Paul's kid. He's alright. So. Wow.

But. See, what's weird is. Yeah. I can appreciate both perspectives. Yeah, which. Which is his perspective and your perspective. Yeah. I can appreciate how silly that is and how random that is.

It's great. From your perspective. Well, no, it just proves that it's a small club. Yeah. And then I can also understand, you know, his perspective. Why wouldn't he be friends with that guy? What are your choices? Of course.

You know, because, and I've, not to diminish anybody, but I've said, you know, there's a, it's not everyone. It's not all celebrity kids. So I can, no one's, you know, Bob Seger's kid, I'm going to take a shot at Bob Seger's kid again, for no reason, you know, is not really part of that club per se. Right? So, you know, sure. Your dad's Bob Seger's kid, I'm going to take a shot at Bob Seger's kid again for no reason, you know, is not really part of that club per se, right? So, you know, sure, your dad's Bob Seger. That's cool, man. But, you know, your dad's John Lennon.

What the fuck? Yeah. What is your life like? That's a lot. So what is that, the awareness of that, the weight of that moving through the world, especially at the beginning? How do you know why you're even getting opportunities? That's a good question. I mean, there was a period, I think starting out, there was a period of really just having to ask myself, like, do I really want to do this?

Because of that. Yeah. Yeah, totally. And I remember- Yeah, like Jacob Dillon asked himself the same question. Yeah, like, do I really want to- Maybe. Is this what I want to do?

Mm-hmm. And I had sort of come to the conclusion that I personally enjoyed acting so much that I would do it wherever anyone asked me to do it. What's your first experience with it? Were you doing plays? Yeah, I was doing every single school play. Yeah. And then when I got into college,

I was doing a bunch of plays. Yeah. And that was when I really sort of had to really sit down and sort of say like is this it is this what i want to do yeah because technically this is when everyone is asking me like so what do you want to do right and i was having so much fun that i was like yeah this this is it and that that was when you know I was with Busy and we were doing plays together. And she's like, you fucking love this. Like, don't be an idiot.

Like, make the effort to actually try and do it. Right, but were you like, but you don't get it. My dad's Tom Hanks. No, not at all. Not at all. Honestly, it was, he had sort of said at one point, said like is this what you want to do and i said yeah it is and he goes okay uh the only thing i'll say is like he said i think you can do it as a profession like that's he said like that's on the table for you i think you are you have

enough talent that you could do this you could could have a, you could have a job. Yeah. You could eke out a living doing this. Yes. What you have to ask yourself is, is that what you want? Like, or would you be happy doing this at any level? Because if you're in it for any other reasons than that, you will find nothing but heartbreak and disappointment. And it is going to be hard. It is not going to be careless.

It is not going to be easy. Every day is not going to be a laugh. There are going to be days where you fucking hate it and you think you're done. And you have to love this so much that you can ride that shit out. It's almost like a, it's not quite go for it. It's go,

it's, hey, I believe in you, but if you do not believe in yourself, this is going to be a hard thing to do. He knew you could work. He didn't blow too much smoke up your ass. Correct. He said, I think you could earn a living. Do you know what, which, I mean, it's a living do you know which i mean it's a

very it's a very um it's practical it's a practical yeah it's it's practical advice in a business in which practical is very fucking difficult to come around yeah and also it's coming from a guy that you know paid his dues you know knows the work yeah and and and has a a sort of good perspective on it i would think totally and look i um i mean 45 years old and i'm still figuring this shit out like are you getting better yeah yeah well getting better but like there were there have been a lot of times there where i've just been like i don't know if i can fucking handle this anymore. I don't know if I'm built for this. Well, you were always good, but I think now that you're aging into yourself,

it's very high. I was talking to my producer about it. It's like, for those of us who saw you at the beginning, it's hard to untether you from your child self. Of course. Oh my God. Fucking baby face. I still get carded for R-rated movies.

But so how does, like, do you take a class down here, or are you still just kind of going with your guts? I took, yeah, I mean, I did, like, theater courses and stuff in college and sort of learned a lot doing that. And then am constantly trying to learn and evolve. And even just recently, like this last thing that I did. Which one? A Friend of the Family.

Yeah, I just watched some of that. It's like, I couldn't handle it. It's a lot. I mean, I had just seen The Banshees of Inishiran. Oh, yeah. And I was sort of like, I had just seen the Banshees of Inisharan. Oh, yeah. And I was sort of like, I got to take a couple days. I can't. I'm already bleaked out.

There's only so much bleak one can handle. Well, yeah. I mean, definitely. But the framing of that show, it looks great. Set deck is great. You guys are acting the shit out of it. Yeah. Mormons are always weird.

It's hard. It's dark. There's a lot there, and it scared the shit out of it. Yeah. Mormons are always weird. It's hard, it's dark, there's a lot there and it scared the shit out of me. So I went and met with an acting coach and had someone to talk, like talked with them about it and like went over scripts

and stuff like that. Really? Oh, yeah. So what was your concern about that guy? That one was so, there were so many aspects of that that just were not necessarily things that I felt like I really wanted to explore.

So you're the father of a daughter who has, you know, let a neighbor into your life who has a family. Yeah. And everything's on the level. But from the get-go, you're suspicious of him. And then he disappears with your daughter. Yeah. Who's like eight. Yeah.

get-go, you're suspicious of him. And then he disappears with your daughter. Yeah. Who's like eight. Yeah. True. Yeah. True story about a family whose daughter was kidnapped twice by a, like a family friend. And that.

She sets up the show at the beginning. Yeah. And that guy who was. The real woman. Yeah. Yeah. That guy who was a master manipulator. Yeah.

A pedophile. Yeah. He groomed not only the daughter daughter but also the husband and the wife right to have control over the the entire family right and used blackmail and uh intimate relations with i'm gonna have to really pace myself on this one i mean it's nine hours that's all in there it's a yeah it's all it's all there but like with that one specifically like i was like great nice guy mormon like yeah i'm kind of tapped out on nice guy shit like i've just i don't know how much more of that like i haven't you've played a couple heavies lately not heavies but you know the guy in the the offer was an

asshole he was that was nice that was nice that was a nice change. So I was coming out of that. And then I'm like, oh, we're going back to Mormons again? Dark Mormon. No, he's not even the dark Mormon. That's the thing. He's not the dark Mormon. Yeah. But.

But Mormonism in and of itself. Well, there's a lot there. Yeah, man. There's a lot there. All right. So what's the acting coach, what's they tell you? Well, really more than anything else, it was just sort of like talking it through and it reminded me how much I love working on stuff when I'm not thinking about myself.

Like when I'm thinking about this character and what this character does and what he's thinking and what his values are and where he's looking and how can I present that? Yeah. What is that character subconsciously even fucking thinking about? Yeah. He doesn't even fucking know. Right. And all of that kind of stuff.

So that work, that idea of let's roll up our sleeves and let's figure shit out. Make some choices. I fucking love that so much. Well, at some point, and clearly I've not had the experience you have, but you do ask yourself, how is this rewarding creatively? Yeah. Especially if you can kind of just do yourself.

Correct. And get through a day. Correct. And page it. So what is challenging about this? How is it satisfying to do these two to three minute increments over and over again? Correct. And so like that, I enjoy that process so much, but that process can get like just passed over a lot.

And you just think, well, is it any good? Right. Do people see it? Are people acknowledging that I've done it? Like there's so many other things. And you doubt the director. There's so many other carrots that are fighting for your attention

that, you know, that's why that advice I think was actually really, really good. You have to want this, you have to want to do this so much that even if all of those other things don't fall into place it's okay well it's what but the truth of matter is is that you know you've really never stopped working true and uh ups and downs yeah still here in terms of material no ups and downs in terms of working. You know, like, I think you might understand this.

That idea of, like, when all your friends are working and you're not. Yeah. And I only say that because that fucking would drive me insane. Well, let's talk about that. So, you know, you come into this. The first big movie is, what, Orange County that was going on. Let's talk about that. So you come into this the first big movie is what Orange County right? Yeah.

That's the one that's the first big one. That's the one that broke you. That's that Hanks kid. It broke me. He's alright. He's okay. He's okay.

He's alright. And that's when he became friends with Jack? Yeah. That was when I met Jack. But the other ones were just smaller parts? Yeah supporting roles

in teen movies in which you know there was a cottage industry of those back then. So that's the big one. So now you're friends with Jack. You're part of a generation, kind of. Sort of, yeah. Because I'm just trying to wonder who are these friends you're judging yourself against as that evolves. I mean, really more than anything else, it's just who else is out and about and who else is out and working and sort of doing that sort of stuff. Do you know what I mean?

Right, right. It's never the same group. It's always an evolving sort of roster of people. Sure, yeah, yeah. And I'm not competitive. No. You know, no, I don't have that. I don't have that sort of sense. I just was thinking about myself and how I've always picked one or two people to judge myself against. And it goes on for years.

Well, but you want to know what? Yeah, I mean, I could do that, but I'll be honest, those names change. Yeah, of course. Yeah, they do change. They change. But no, I never really got into that. It was really just sort of more feeling like the thing that always like would, the thing that would sort of bug me was the fact that I felt like some of the other people maybe that I came up with, like people knew what their deal was. And they're like, oh, that, that is, I know who that guy is right and they would get to me and they don't see who this guy is they're thinking about the other guy oh yeah we're looking for a so-and-so well yeah we're looking for you know we're looking for a young tom hanks

yeah topher grace let's get him you know and i'm just i'm just picking topher out of thin air there but like he's a he's a tangled up guy, dude. Well, but you know, like there was, you know, a period where I just sort of went like, yeah, I don't think anyone really knows like who you are, who I am and what I do and what I can do.

And then if they do, it's like, Oh, we need a nice Mormon. So let's, let's get him. A nice Mormon in a dark situation. Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, well, I'm the same way because people will project onto you. Yeah. Totally. And like, and they're projecting your dad's template. Yeah.

With me, they're just projecting like, well, this guy's cranky, neurotic guy. And he's like, maybe. I'm just starting to find a way to prove myself. Yeah. But the odd thing is, is like, you know, with certain actors, you know, there's some consistent thing that they, everyone knows somehow through it all. Yeah. And if you are more of a character driven guy and you don't have that thing.

Yeah. Then it's sort of like, it's up for grabs, but that's for anybody. But, but the fact that you were in the shadow of expectations around your old man. Yeah. And they did twice as, you know, it's of expectations around your old man. Yeah. And they did twice as, you know, it's like, I don't know. I don't see, where is he? Where's Colin? Yeah. And I'll be honest, like, I don't know where he is either.

Do you know what I mean? Oh, come on. No, I mean, honestly, like, that's not for me to, like, judge. But do you feel comfortable in yourself? Oh, I do. Yeah. Oh, no, I definitely do. But you're saying, oh, as an actor. It took a long time for me to just go, I have no control over any of X,

Y, and Z. Right. So I'm just not even going to worry about that. Well, after Orange County, you did a TV show forever, it seems like. I did a lot of TV shows forever. I mean, I just sort of, I would work wherever I could find work. I mean, that's really, like anything, Orange County was funny because I remember I was on a TV show at the time. And then I got Orange County and I had to go off the TV show. And I remember someone saying to me, oh, congratulations, you'll never have to do TV again. Yeah. You've graduated.

Yeah. And then, you know. A life of TV. Within two years, that was no longer the case. Well, what'd your mom think of all this? When you, like, coming, we didn't really talk about.

Well, to be honest, she passed away just two months after Orange County came out. Yeah. So I didn't really get to, experience that with her uh which sort of made that whole like subsequent era yeah like early early 2000s is is a weird is weird because you know there's this sense of like, okay, you know, got cast in this big movie, which was amazing and awesome and an incredible experience. But while I was making that,

I found out she had like stage four lung cancer and didn't have much time. Oh my God. And then 9-11 happened. And then within, you know, four months, you know, the world has changed. My mom's died and like, okay, what are you going to like, what's next for work? And I'm like, I don't fucking have any idea. Oh my God. So how did your, like, you know, your sister handle it and everything? Hard. I mean, yeah. It's devastating. It was a big adjustment. How long did it take from diagnosis to her passing?

Under two years. Terrible. Yeah. It was under two years. So did you have to go back up to SAC and kind of ride it out? Yeah. Yeah. And that was brutal.

That was really one of the hardest things. And, you know, I mean, I don't, I, I, I do not talk about it much, but we didn't have like the best relationship when she got sick. Uh-huh. So. Why was that? issues and some mental health issues that were confounding and a real roadblock to having any sort of like real connection. It's hard when you have a parent that is incapable of being a parent. Yeah. And, you know, in some ways she did everything she could to the best of her ability.

And in some ways it was great. And then in a lot of the ways I needed, was not available right uh and that was that was hard and that that that took a lot of uh getting used to uh and so when she passed and you know and the fucking world changed. Yes. It really made me look at work as like, what do I want to do? Like, what do I want to do? And how can I flex any kind of control over, have any kind of control over my life? And so a lot of that was just like turning like opportunities down. Yeah. Not that they were opportunities to work.

It was opportunities to apply for work. Right. Which is my way of, which is my word for audition. Well, right. But, but also like, you know, it must've been a realization that, you know, after she passed in, in, in nine 11 and then, you know then you're in this thing now, you've kind of committed your life to it, to go out and face that kind of rejection on a day-to-day basis when you're that vulnerable and fucked up? Not really the vibe, yeah, that you're seeking out. Yeah, how do you get tough again?

Well, it took a long time. It actually took a long time, and it, it actually took a long time and it took, um, it took, uh, uh, years, you know, um, to be honest. So was it comforting to be locked into a show at least that, you know, became work, you know, steady work for like a couple of years? Well, I didn't really feel like I had steady work for a, for a long time. Wasn't Roswell steady work? Roswell was, but that had already ended by that point. So Roswell was sort of like the first thing.

So I was done. And then I had to leave that to do Orange County. And then it sort of became, you know, like a sort of string of, you know, movies when I could find them.

I went off to London and did a play. How was that? It was incredible. That was amazing. You gotta be in a play how was that incredible that was all that was amazing you gotta be in it that was amazing because that was that was sort of the the first time that i was actually able to to not be the the the nice guy which play was that it was a kenneth lonergan play called this is our youth he's the fucking best that, that guy. Oh, he's, Jesus, man. He's incredible. He's incredible.

And they, they had been doing a run, uh, in London. Uh, it started off with, um, uh, with Jake Gyllenhaal,

uh-huh. and, um, and Hayden Christensen, and Anna Paquin, uh, surprisingly enough. Uh,

and then, they had another cast, um, and I, I took over for, I took, I took over for Matt Damon, of all people. But it was a scenario in which it's like the really sweet guy and the really sort of abusive best friend. And they said, which one do you want? And I went, I want the abusive.

I want to be the dick. Got to get it out of you somehow. And I got to go do that. And that was like a fucking godsend cathartic yeah it was it was because it was i was in london where i already knew some people yeah um because i i had shot uh i shot an episode of band of brothers there so i actually like had a group there and i was able to yeah yeah, I was able to not be myself. Your dad produced that? He did. Yeah. Now, like how, how was he during the grief? Uh, he was great. I mean, he was, he was, he was,

he was so hard, dude. It's so hard. It's rough. I mean, there's no, there's nothing you can say or do. The only thing you can do is be there. That's it. Right. You know? Um, and he was, but it, you know know i really just sort of more internalized things because it was it was so brutal at the end that as soon as it was over it was kind of like okay done yeah yeah done doing that yeah i'm not talking about that that's finished. I'm gonna go like do whatever. Yeah. Did that bite in the ass? Um, eventually yes.

Eventually, yeah. It took a long time for me to eventually sort of come around to what that really all sort of meant. The loss? Not necessarily. I mean, yes, the loss. I mean, the loss you always feel. Sure.

But really like what the, what that loss sort of the vacuum that that created. And also like, what am I of her? Always. Yeah. Oh, always. Yeah. You know? created and also like what am i of her all always yeah oh always yeah you know i get you sit in a certain position and you laugh a certain way and you go oh fuck oh wow well i know where that's if those are those are minor ticks i know who yeah yeah those are the smallest ones that's right and if those are the ones that make you go oh shit what's going on inside yeah what what are the what are the bigger ones yeah but like yeah i think more sort of like the dynamic that you know that we all sort of found ourselves in in that vacuum yeah it's taken a long time for me to go like okay yeah maybe that dynamic is not the best. Right. So I need to fix that.

And were you able to experience, was there any kind of- Joy? Well, yeah. I don't even ask that. I'm not the joy guy. Yeah, we don't need to- I find it uncomfortable. Fair, fair. Do find it uncomfortable. Fair.

Fair. Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes, yeah. Can you get the joy? We got kids that think. More often than not, I'm more pro-joy now. I don't know if I was anti-joy. I'm just not sure I understood how one accesses it.

I didn't realize that maybe you have some amount of control over it. Yeah. That is true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that is true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I definitely, look, I think there's no, I think it's not a coincidence that, you know, after my mom died and, you know, 9-11 and all that sort of shit,

that like I refer to that as my Bill Hicks phase. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Oh, you're listening to bill oh i listened to so much that's good his stuff that's relieving and so much of that ended up being weirdly like really like it left an impression on me in terms of like how to view things and how to look at dude that's what the best comedy is for. Absolutely. And I focused on how that, I don't want to say how that negative affected, how that affected me negatively, but how that would make me focus on only the negative at times. And it took a long time for me to go like, all right, well, that's okay.

And we can complain about things. Yeah. That's okay. This is you realizing that you're not a comic. Well, yeah, not a comic. You never tried comedy? No. Like stand-up?

No. Never really tried stand-up. But that's interesting. So you're taking in Bill. It's relieving. It's cathartic. He's giving you a sort of- A worldview.

An aggressive worldview. But you realize like, I'm going to take a break from this. Not an aggressive worldview, but you realize like, I'm going to take a break from this. Well, it's really more about where is the best way to be spending your energy and your anger, like your energy. Sure. Anger, joy, whatever. It's all energy. Okay. So that must be one of those moments of recommitment.

Yeah. Oh, totally. Where you go, okay, like where do we okay, like, where do we focus this stuff? How do we focus this stuff? And where were you at? When did you get married? I got married in 2010. Oh, so this is still a little ways away.

Yeah, it was still a ways away. So the 9-11 mom passing away. Ten years there. Yeah, nine years. There was a lot of, of like discovery and sort of like a lot of movement the journey yeah totally a lot of movement but was that where most of the kind of like fucking do i want to do this happened or is that sort of a cyclical that's a cyclical thing that's always going that depends on whether it's yeah that depends on are we are we uh you know at the top of the peak or

the bottom of the valley uh-huh you know because there's always peaks and valleys you know um and it took a while like i i went and did a job in new zealand what was that uh was king kong was with peter jackson which was a big fucking deal right yeah and that was like a fucking life-changing game-changing experience where i was new zealand new zealand and a big job and it was an adventure and i went to this amazing new country where i met all these new people and had this incredibly like unreal life experience i mean i'm not getting tattoos with nine other guys, but like, but like, I'm, I like came back from that change. And as a result of that met my wife. And so then it's like, okay, so I can, you know, be really, really happy, but it took me a long time.

Took New Zealand. Yeah. But then it took me an equal amount of time to go, it's not about where you are for your job or where your job takes you. Yeah. And so it requires another 10 years of figuring shit out. Oh, because by the next job, you're like, hey, this is- Then it's like, well, I'm only happy when I'm working. That's not healthy. In New Zealand.

Yeah. Yeah. Or it's not healthy in new zealand yeah yeah or yeah or it's not in new zealand like hey i'm working but i'm in iowa is this great i don't know you know what i mean trailer is a trailer yeah a trailer is a trailer and a park is a park and so yeah it's been a long process of trying to understand i think, what my old man was saying back then, which is you need to love what you're doing no matter what. And you have to enjoy the actual doing of the fucking thing. Because you can find a million different things to be unhappy about. Do you go to him for help uh define help questions about business questions about craft questions about whether you should take a job

craft no um whether i take a job no we talk about shit but we talk about it in a practical sense of like well you know you want to spend your 45th birthday in a hotel by yourself you know what i mean like those kinds of things um so we we're we're more practical like that but it's kind of great to have a guy that knows the life yeah well in all its elements totally and and and there were definitely times you know during my during the the the sort of darker period yeah where i was i was really sort of miserable and just going like hey i'm stuck in this fucking hotel room on location like i'm fucking going insane yeah Yeah. And, you know, him saying, well, sometimes you just got to hope to make the all-star team. You know?

You're not always going to be playing for, you know, the Yankees. Sometimes you got to play for Tampa Bay. You got to deal with like Hank's-isms as your parent. Yeah. You know, like, you know, just sort of like these little practical upbeat. But I get them, you know. No, it's, yeah.

I get them and it know, I get them. And there's a shorthand there now that I understand a whole lot more having done this for 20 plus years. So I sort of, there's more of an equal footing there. It must be also cool. You know, you've got kids. He's got grandkids. Yeah. The whole relationship, extended family thing. What's your wife do?

She's now recently just become like a stay at home mom. Oh, yeah. Yeah. She worked in the she worked in the film industry for a long time. That was how we met. But it's nice to be in proximity to your your grand the grandparents and the family, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, we live right down the street from her parents. Uh-huh. And I try and see my folks as much as I can, but they're- Chet's got a kid, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So we're always trying to, you know, get all the family together. It's hard because there's a lot of us. But I thought the offer was great. I thought you were great. Thanks, man. You know, and I thought you were great in the Elvis and Nixon movie.

Like, I'm noticing you as an adult in things that I enjoy. Oh, right on. I'll take that. Listen, that is all I can hope for. Yeah. Honestly, that, like, of all the things, like, I just hope that I'm in enough things that people have done. But, I mean, people have got to, you know, kids must like you from the Jumanji movies. Yeah.

That's great. Yeah, I'll take it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they remember one, you know, I mean, I'm in, like, that one scene. Yeah. But they remember it. Kids remember everything. Great.

Yeah. I'll take it. They remember it. Kids remember everything. Great. Yeah. I'll take it. But in light of all that, in whatever we're talking about here, in light of you, it seems to me that even in preparing for this one, Friend of the Family, that engaging an acting coach and trying to go deeper with the thing, that was satisfying.

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I think, you know, I started making documentaries. Yeah, I saw the Tower Records one. Yeah. That's right, I forgot about that. Yeah, I mean.

And like that was my first, everyone else I knew would write. They would try and write the movie that they needed to be in yeah yeah you know they write their break or whatever and they'd self see their self-generators yeah i'd never had the patience to be able to do that nor the skill it takes too long it takes too long and so i started doing docs and that gave me a much more, gave me ownership of something that was me. And also, yeah, point of view. Yeah. In a different way.

That was me. Right. No one's going to like, so what pointers did he give you for that? I'm like, he's never made a fucking documentary. He doesn't have any pointers. Shut up. It's my thing. He can give me notes, but he's not telling me like, eh.

And so that. Oh, that's interesting. So like this is, you know, the documentary represents your totally own thing. Yeah, completely. That's great. That doesn't exist if I don't think of it and want to make it. Yeah. You know?

Right. And that was the way that I could do it. And it had enough of my interests in the sandbox sort of circle that I can go like, I think I can do this. And then finding enough people and learning enough, uh, from other people to sort of put a crew together and go off and do it. The tower thing was great. The tower record thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I never knew that story. Um, so that made, I think that made me feel a lot more comfortable in terms of like, I, I've got my own thing and whether people are paying attention or not, I don't care. What's the other ones? The other one I did, um, I did, uh, a documentary about, uh, Eagles of Death Metal.

It was called Noce Me. It was about. The desert guys? Yeah. Uh, Josh and Jesse and those guys. Yeah. About, uh, their, uh, it was like, it was about their, guys yeah uh josh and jesse and those guys about uh their uh it was like it was about their their relationship and their history i gotta watch that and then them

uh you know coming back to paris after the bata klan attack because oh yeah they were yeah well josh was in paris when that happened he wasn't in paris when that happened no but the other guy was but jesse was yeah you big fans of them? Yeah. Yeah, they're good friends of mine. They actually played the Tower premiere party that we had five weeks prior. It's so funny

because I listen to the fucking Caius records. Oh, yeah. They're great records. The fucking Caius, Blood Boys, Red Son, something under the Red Son

or whatever. Yeah, they're great records. That fucking record, I still listen to it. So good. And so, that one was, I was uh that one was a rough one um why uh well drugs no no no no it was dealing with the terrorist attack and so i was like i was making a documentary about my friends who had just survived a terrorist attack and then going with them back to Paris.

Oh, wow. Trying to like process that. It's called No Semi, Eagles of Death Metal. Oh, man. I got to watch that. Yeah. That one sent me running into therapy afterwards. Really?

Yeah. Because of the reality of terrorism? Really? Yeah. Because of the reality of terrorism? Just the pressure of telling that story and sort of people feeling like they could trust me. Because it's one thing to tell your friends, like, hey, we're going to go on this uncomfortable journey together so but we're together so we'll be okay right but then it's another thing to then meet complete strangers yeah say hey like i'm gonna help tell your story right we're in it together like that's just a lot of pressure and a lot of darkness and just a lot to to deal with yeah a lot of pressure

yeah and i came out of that and i was at the time actually i was doing a you know a super funny light-hearted tv show yeah um and the dichotomy of those two things kind of like broke me yeah yeah and uh that's when i was like oh okay well maybe i have some serious issues here that i gotta to take a look at. Did a lot of stuff come up? Which we've kind of just been talking about, yeah. And it all came up? Yeah. Stuff around your mom and all that? Yeah, just life.

How you handle life. Yeah, just how you handle life. Taking on people's pain, you know? Well, that's what happens when you grow up with needy parents. Being an empath of sorts, you know? Sure, yeah, because you're locked in. Yeah, the sort of self-centered parent with problems saying is rough.

Yeah, it's hard. Because you're wired to just lock in with every lunatic that comes up and asks for something. it's also i mean there's also that's also why i'm sort of like a little bit of a social butterfly butterfly yeah and and can relate to a bunch of different people because it's always looking at one person going okay who are you today yeah and who do and who yeah so how can i how can i help that that version of you yeah as your appendage yeah yeah yeah what am i supposed to do yeah i since i have no choice in this relationship let what you know how can i make this easier for all of us because you clearly don't care about how to make it easy for anyone yeah wow yes i mean i got bare i don't know that i've processed all that in terms of whom i am but i think that is oh we never do but you always try and process

as much as you can but that's but that's one of those. No, we never do. But you always try and process as much as you can. But that's one of those things, like when you talk about, you know, people not knowing who you are and you not either, is that when you have that, you know, when you don't have some sort of solid foundation of at least practical selflessness on behalf of a parent who you're spending the most time with, you go into the world missing a piece with the need to construct yourself the best way you can with the voices you have in your head that aren't theirs. And it's a crapshoot. But there's always this kind of shift, the nebulous thing. Yeah. You know, like, are you grounded, man?

Like, I thought I was, but I don't know. Tell me. Yeah, yeah. Totally. Totally. I mean, it's the first time i heard this phrase it was it was actually used about uh what it's like making a movie but i also feel it's also uh appropriate we're talking about uh just trying to figure out life it's like trying to build a

house with all of the components already on fire where you're just like, okay, I think I've supported this wall. I don't know, it's on fire right now. I'll probably have to come back and redo that part. You need another door! But I really need to go focus on the upstairs bathroom right now because that's flooding. And is any of this

grounded? Because I don't want to get shocked when I get up there. It's all that. And you just know it's all that and it's you just explained you just it's a a depiction of constant anxiety

yeah yes totally so that's why I wish you could just go back in time and say like hey it's gonna be okay

I wish I could do that when I wake up meditating helps is it working for you? Yeah, it does. How long have you been doing that? About, well, geez, that's a good question. Like TM or just other things?

TM. Oh, really? Yeah, a couple of years. So you do the full two times a day business? I try. I'm lucky if I can get 10 minutes. Who got you into that? My old man. Oh, he's into it? Yeah, he got into it. And is he pretty good with it?

So he tells me. Yeah. So he tells me. Yeah. Always try. It makes a difference when I can, yeah. So you just did the one class and got your thing, got your mantra, and that was it? I went, yeah, I went and talked to somebody like for a couple of days, like in a row. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And sort of learned the nuance of it, which there really isn't much nuance. It's so much easier than you sort of realize. But the key is just kind of forcing yourself to just sit down and to just actually do it. Yeah, I was doing that for a while during the pandemic. I was using the Headspace app, and I was finding some ability to sit for 15 minutes, 10 to 15.

Lynn, my late partner, she was all in. Really? Twice a day, stop, you know, everything. Full TM, like mantra and all. Yeah. Yeah.

And she, but she really kind of like, you know, on a set, they had to cut out time for her to go tuck away. But she, like she had been doing it so long, she could almost do it anywhere,

you know, which is wild. Yeah. I mean, it gets to a point where you can almost do it anywhere. Yeah. Which is nice. Yeah.

But then I, then I was, I remember I was doing it once on a plane like I went and sat like sat down

on a plane and the plane was boarding I'm like I'm just gonna do it right now like I'm wearing a mask

I got my hat on whatever so I just closed my eyes people think I'm asleep and then someone I knew

was on the flight and they took a photo of me and I saw what I looked like and I'm like I'm not doing that in public anymore

I'm not doing that in public anymore. I'm not doing that in public anymore. I got to make sure I'm at least in a private space. But yeah, it makes a big difference. It really does just in terms of, because like, I don't know, you get older and all of a sudden you realize like, what is my relationship to anything? Nevermind just like my relationship to anything you know never mind just like my relationship to anybody yeah but then it's like anything's like you know when i heard like yeah so what's your relationship with food like you just went like oh fuck yeah gee oh uh bad i don't know and then all of a sudden you realize you go oh shit yeah i've been doing this wrong for the last 38 years or whatever so like i just threw out six pints of ice cream but go ahead yeah there you go you know actually

it's funny i remember i don't know why yeah i maybe it's just because i knew we were going to talk but uh i remember hearing one episode of years and years and years ago we were talking about if there's like almond butter, peanut butter in the house, like you'll just find yourself like eating it right out of the thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I found myself eating it right out of the thing the other day.

And I'm like, yeah, that's right. And you're going to see Marin in a few days. Oh yeah. It's my fault. No, it just made me think of you.

It's not your fault, but like the, the, like having the time and the patience to be able to sit down and sort of just calm myself down right all of a sudden i'm not restless in my seat i'm not uncomfortable in silence yes i'm not uncomfortable in confrontation i'm more confident you know just like all of these When you can just like get into the presence. Yeah, it's just these small little things

that just make me feel so much better. The house isn't on fire. Correct. Or it's on fire, but I'm seeing it in slow motion. And I go, okay, I don't have to worry about that wall falling just yet. I have some time to focus on the upstairs bathroom. That'll burn for a while.

That'll burn for a while. And if I wait long enough, maybe the water from upstairs will trickle down and put that out. Great. You know what I mean? Yeah, that'll be good. What are you working on now?

Now I'm working on just trying to fucking have a normal life. I've never, coming out of the pandemic, I sort of made a deal with myself like, if this ends, if this pandemic ends and we're allowed to go back to work, like I'm going to force myself to work harder than I've ever worked before and push myself to be uncomfortable and all those sorts of things.

Right. And lo and behold, for the first time ever, I had jobs like in a row. I never worked back-to-back jobs ever. Really? In 20 plus fucking years. Yeah. It was always like the question I hated the most was when a teamster would be like, so what you got next? Yeah, yeah.

I'm like, unemployment, trying to find the next job. Right. And this was the first time that I had four jobs back to back to back to back. And that was what, the offer? It was the American Crime Story impeachment, the offer, Friend of the Family, and then I did a small uh British independent movie uh in uh England how was that it was good okay yeah yeah I mean the queen died while I was over there so it sort of threw everything into a tailspin but so now you're saying you got a little space I had a little I have a little space and so I literally just the other day I came back I've been pretty

much traveling non-stop for a majority of the year. Yeah. And it was brutal. And so my body kind of is like, okay, you're done. So I'm going to take the rest of the year and relax. And then hopefully, touch wood, start the next documentary at the beginning of the year, which I'm trying to get a doc made about John Candy. Really? Yeah.

Oh, that's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did I read about a Willie Mays doc? And I just, yeah, so I produced a documentary about Willie Mays that just came out on Tuesday. Oh, I got you. How is it, good? Yeah, it's great.

What's it on? It's on HBO Max. Oh, cool. It's called Say Hey, Willie Mays. John Candy. Yeah. John Candy. Yeah. Did you know him i did yeah why is your dad's friend uh yeah well my dad and and uh and my mom's both my mom's uh he was around back when my parents were still married and then he was around when

uh my dad and rita fell in love yeah and so And so he was present in my life quite a bit when I was a kid. Good guy? Incredible guy. And when I say that, I'm saying it as like, you know, an eight-year-old. Yeah. About a guy who I never really had like a sit-down conversation with. He was a member of Big Presence. Big Presence, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet presence.

I remember him like just being funny and making me laugh and making me feel a little bit better if I was shy or uncomfortable or things like that. He was a good dude. I haven't watched a John Candy movie in a long time. There's so many. Yeah. And they're all delightful.

Yeah. And they're all different. Yeah. Which one do you like? I mean, planes, trains, and automobiles is kind of tough to beat. Yeah. Because that, I think, is like the most complete performance it is. like the most complete performance it is.

But like I could get lost in the weeds in terms of, you know, the sort of smaller stuff, you know, like the, just the little stuff that he does in Home Alone or Spaceballs or anything like that. But then also Vacation. Right. You know, like the thing that I really do like admire so much about him

is that he did everything. Like he would be the main guy. Like he'd be the lead guy. Sure. Uncle Buck. Yeah. The name of the fucking movie. Yeah.

But he would also be, you know, the guy that pops in for just a couple of scenes that is just a fully fledged character. Yeah. Like that, a believable person within this world. Right.

And there was no middle ground. Right. And so it didn't matter how much he was in. He was the glue. He was just always great. He was always great. Yeah. And whether it was a silly performance

or whether it was, you know, something that was way over the top or if it was something that was maybe whether it was you know something that was way over the top or if it was something that was maybe even a little bit more grounded you just went like

oh my god I just I like that guy yeah I just feel better yeah even the old the SCTV stuff

oh totally completely and so yeah we're gonna we're gonna do a doc and also like not

like you know he comes from that if you kind of like like, look at that world of SCTV and SNL and sketch in general as some sort of commedia della arte, you know, the heavyset, balls-to-the-wall guy. Well, yeah. But he didn't have the menace that, like, Farley and Belushi had. No, I mean, I always sort of say, like if you think of like larger than life,

you know, quote unquote, you know, overweight comedian guys, who do you think of? And it's Farley, Belushi and Candy. Two of those guys died of drug overdoses. John Candy died of the same thing that his father and his grandfather died of at roughly the same age. Was it a heart attack? Yeah.

And so he, I think, had a sort of inherent ticking clock in him but he didn't fight it in the wrong way like right yeah i didn't feel like if i think about the the sort of the light that came out of him it wasn't you know like this guy's gonna blow up no not at all which is not to say that he didn't have demons. We all do. It's not to say that he didn't have skeletons in his closet. We all do. Sure.

But he, more often than not, you know, brought joy. Yeah. You know, for lack of a better phrase. Sure. And, like, that was, I I mean that's fucking special yeah well I'm looking forward to it hope you do it

I hope so too good talking to you man nice talking to you too man Colin Hanks that was nice good guy got into it a friend of the family

is streaming now on Peacock say hey Willie Mays is streaming on HBO Max and could you hang out, please? Please hang out. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth

at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5pm in Rock City at torontorock.com. Discover the timeless elegance of cozy,

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Don't break the bank. Cozy's Direct2 model ensures that quality and value go hand in hand. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit Cozy.ca, that's C-O-Z-E-Y, and start customizing your furniture. For full Marin subscribers this week, we've got another Ask Mark Anything where I answer your questions, including this one. You've had many New York comedians from the tough crowd on your show, but not Colin Quinn. Is there something unresolved? Yes, there actually is something unresolved. I do not know what it is. Look, I've known Colin many years.

I did tough crowd a lot. I don't know if it was because he liked me or just because there weren't that many left leaning comics around at the time. But I texted him a few years ago and I said, look, Hey man, I'd like to have you on my show. Do we have a problem? Uh, is there something, uh, uh, is there an issue? And he said, I think there is. And I said, well, do we, do you want to try to resolve it? He said, I don't know. And that was that. So I don't really know what it is. I do. There is a memory that sits with me that I imagine it could still be the foundation of the resentment.

Two things. I middled for Colin many years ago, probably in the early 90s at Cobb's Comedy Club. And I just remember the middle, that doesn't matter. I did very well. But that's not the issue. Years later, I was at the Comedy Cellar. I wasn't really in at the Comedy Cellar. I, you know, I kind of knew Colin to say hi to, and, uh, you know, he stopped by the table. I was sitting with somebody and he said he had been working on a one man show. And I said, why? I literally said, uh, why you can't hack

the road anymore. And he just, he bit his knuckle and he got very mad. And he said, the road anymore. And he just, he bit his knuckle and he got very mad. And he said, you don't know me well enough to say that. And it was real anger. And then I married a woman he dated. My second wife dated Colin for a while, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it. That marriage didn't end well. Maybe she confided in him and decided I was an asshole. There's many factors, but those are the ones that stand out in my head. I just don't think the guy really liked me that much and he doesn't see any reason to change that. So that's that. Again, if you want to sign up for bonus content in every episode of WTF ad free, go to the link in the episode description or click on WTF plus over

at WTF pod.com. On Thursday, I talked to Cat Williams. You know, that was a surprising interview. I was expecting something, and I got something else. I mean, look, I don't know Cat. I've met him once. I've watched his specials. I get a sense of who he is. I get expectations based on people's public output,

but I was very surprised. I was very surprised at how we engaged. So that's all I'm going to give you. Here's some guitar. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. BOOMER LIVES Monkey and Lafonda Cat angels everywhere Boomer lives. Monkey and Lafonda, cat angels everywhere.