WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 501 - Vince Vaughn

Episode Date: May 28, 2014

Marc and Vince Vaughn take the stage in front of a live audience in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of The Wild West Comedy Festival. They get into Vince's upbringing, his show business career, sports, parenting, improv comedy, Jon Favreau, rejection, failure and the best Western movies. 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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5pm in Rock City at TorontoRock.com Lock the gates! Are we doing this? Really? Wait for it. Are we doing this? Really? Wait for it. Are we doing this? Wait for it.

Pow! What the fuck? Double duty, Ev. And it's also, eh, what the fuck? What's wrong with me? It's time for WTF. What the fuck? With Mark Maron.

All right, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers, what the fuck buddies, what the fucking ears, what the fuckaceans, is that it? Nashville, Tennessee, Wild West Comedy Festival. Oh, yes. How you doing, buddy? Everything all right? So what we're going to do here is we're going to do a show. We're going to do it. I don't usually do one-on-ones in front of a live audience. So this is only the second time I've done this.

I'll have Vince come out here in a little while. I don't know if any of you heard the first time I attempted a one-on-one interview live, but that was with Jeffrey Tambor. And about 30 minutes of that were just fucking crazy. You should go back and listen to that one, because that was the most uncomfortable live situation I've ever been part of. Eventually he loosened up, and I realized he was having fun fucking with me and making me uncomfortable. I don't think Vince will do that.

I talked to him downstairs. I've only met him once. He's a large man. Surprisingly tall, Vince Vaughn. Very charming. So I'm excited to have him out here. Not, but not before I ramble on just enough for you guys to go like, God, we can't fast forward it live. Um, no, I want to say I'm happy to be in Nashville. I come here fairly often.

I like being here. I would move here if there was anything for me to do. But I don't know if I could live here. I could live here comfortably, but I imagine like

two or three times a year it'd be like, I'm going to interview Jack White again. There's a few things he didn't say the last time. He's close by. I guess a lot of people live here. Who else lives here? Who? Nicole Kidman lives here? Oh, of course, because of the dude, right? But neither one of them are really from this country, are they? And you guys just let

that happen, huh? So you're very open-minded with the outsiders, if they're the right color. Oh, shit. Did he just play the race card in our fucking home? I did. I'm sorry that I got the, I know you're all progressive people who just want to put that behind you.

I am not judging Nashville or the South or any of it. I am full on into it now. Oh, I had my first goo goo cluster. Are you applauding that because you think they're wonderful or just because you ate them as a child? What is it? Do you love them? Yeah, they're pretty good. And I think I've been watching too much Food Network. I think they're missing a crunch element. I think they're missing a crunch element. I think they're like, I'd like to maybe suggest a Google cluster with a little cookie in there or something. Is that wrong?

Listen to this. There's a fucking sucking silence in here. Like I just offended, like I just said something bad about your parents. Really? Google clusters are off limits. There's no room for improvement there. It's like, you can say whatever you want about the racial dynamics of the South.

Don't fuck with Gugu clusters because that's our regional candy, asshole. This is exciting. I bet you don't have these. This is a Gugu cluster pick. I got a Gugu cluster guitar pick. Did you even know they existed? This might be the high point of my entire time here, is a Google cluster guitar pick. I have

one. Fuck y'all. I don't even know where they came from. There were just two sitting there. It wasn't like there was a bunch of them. They just left them out for someone to find, like me, and go like, no fucking way. A Goo Goo Cluster guitar pick. That's ridiculous. I want one of those. It's worth money. Is that your first thought? Yeah, buddy. I bet you I'd get three dollars for it. Yeah. Like how much for the Goo Goo Cluster guitar pick? Some guy's got to be a real Goo Goo Cluster head to fucking want that thing. They only made four of them, man. I got two. It's already a bit of panic. You know, look, I know a lot of you listen to my show. Some of

you are here for, uh, for, uh, you know, cause you know me and I appreciate that. And, uh, I'm trying. Thank you. And I know a lot of you are thinking like, Hey man, everything's going good for you. Why are you so fucking whiny? Um, I don't think I'm whiny, but I am finding that I'm a bit aggravated and I can't figure out why. Have you ever had that happen? I couldn't be happier about my life right now, but yet I wake up in the morning and I just want to be pissed off. Like, I don't know what that is. I have to fix that. Because you can't be doing well in life and run around going like, fuck that, because people are going to be like, no, fuck you.

What do you have to complain about? But I think there's some part of my brain that wants to be angry, that is just looking for an opportunity, case in point. I don't know what's happened to me. I don't know if it's my age or what, but I can't leave my house without forgetting at least two things. I don't know when that happened, but I'll get, I'll get

out of my house, get a quarter mile away. I'll be like, fuck my pants, you know, but not that bad yet, but I I'm prepared for it. So here's what happens. This is just like, this is anger. I don't understand. Cause I know that I clearly want to be angry and I'm trying to find the appropriate place to do it. So I leave my house. I just, I, well, here's what happened. I got up and made a nice cup of coffee, put effort into it. You know, I put effort into coffee. I got a cone. I pour it through. It's a ritual. So I made this beautiful cup of coffee. I put it in my stupid travel mug. It was all ready to go. Get into my car. I get down my hill about a quarter mile. I'm like, yeah, coffee, fuck, my car. I get down my hill about a quarter mile. I'm like, yeah, coffee. Fuck, no coffee. All right.

Now, a normal person at that moment would have turned their car around and driven back up the hill to their home. Not what I did. I chose to back up the hill angrily at 40 miles an hour. There are cars parked on both sides. And I'm just like, fuck that. And I'm driving like a madman up that hill. Didn't hit any cars. I made it. And there's that moment where you do something stupid like that for no fucking reason. And you pull it off. You're like, hell yeah, I just did that. And I didn't hit any cars. I fucking nailed it. I nailed my stupid anger display. I was proud of myself. Proud. Yeah. I didn't even need the coffee after that. I'm like, I didn't even need the coffee after that I'm jacked, I'm pure rage so that happened okay I'm going to tell you this

just because it was fucking cool you know who was in my garage I tweeted it so some of you know fucking Billy Gibbons was in my garage are you kidding me so some of you know. Fucking Billy Gibbons was in my garage. Are you kidding me, man? What kind of life am I living? I live in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house,

like a cabin, with a shitty garage, and fucking Billy Gibbons is sitting there in my garage with his beard and hat? Look, anyone who doesn't like ZZ Top can go fuck themselves that's a fine way to open a show I know some of you who are a little younger

I don't know the beards how about before the beards why don't you go back a little bit to the real shit fuck the beards listen to Trace Ombre why am I selling ZZ Top they need to sell records

look if you do anything after this show please help out the I selling ZZ Top? Like they need to sell records? Look, if you do anything after this show, please help out the fellas in ZZ Top because just as a public service, all right, they only made a billion dollars and they're hurting. All right. Billy needs some sort of trimmer and I'm going to be at Zany's tomorrow night. There's still tickets. I'm just telling you that. I'm not going to take it personally that it's not sold out. It's 7 o'clock on Friday. I know that's a weird time.

It's competing with Willie Nelson? Fuck, I'm canceling the show. And I'm going to go see Willie Nelson. I should interview him. I wonder if he would be a good interviewer. He'd just be sort of high. Let's find out. I'd be be high i don't do that anymore but like what that'd be weird would i relapse for willie like i'd be like if you'll talk to me

i'll take a hit and then the entire conversation be like does my face look weird willie am i cool am i cool willie this is really good shit They didn't have this when I quit smoking this stuff. It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats, but iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice. Yes, we deliver those. Goal tenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries and we deliver those too Gold tenders? No. But chicken tenders? Yes. Because those are groceries and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and

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challenges from right here in Calgary. From cleaner energy, safe and secure food, efficient movement of goods and people and better health solutions. Calgary's visionaries are turning heads around the globe across all sectors each and every day. Calgary is on the right path forward. Take a closer look how at calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com. Is the guest in the shoot? Please welcome to the stage, Vince Vaughn, ladies and gentlemen. There he is, walking the aisle from wedding crashers, from swingers, from the breakup, from everything that is media. Mr. Vince Vaughn, not in any hurry. Take your time.

Nice to see you, Vince. I'm very good. Thank you very much. You're like a beauty queen, and you try to make that moment feel dirty to me. I apologize. I love the way it felt for me to come down that aisle. I asked for a spotlight. I told him he needs lights.

He's doing the walk. That's right. You're a very tall man. You know what? You are quick as a whip, yes. I can see this is already going well. I'm already digging deep, Vince. I'm already going in.

I'm circus tall. I'm circus tall. I'm normally tall. The first time I met you, I had no idea, because most movie stars are tiny. They're like this size, aren't they? That's right. They're smaller. They're smaller.

Oh, my God. You work with a lot of guys that are that small. Ben Stiller can just fit on your lap. He's a giant in so many ways. It's hard to ever look at are that small. Like Ben Stiller can just fit on your lap. Yeah. He's a giant in so many ways. It's hard to, it's hard to ever look at him that way. All right. I'm not going to sit here and throw Ben under the bus. You've done this with Ben, right? I have. He came to my garage. He's great. Very insecure. He was over complimentary. You know, when someone's over complimentary, like this is a great garage. Is it Ben? ben really i know your house must be huge but i i

dealt with it okay yeah why nice to see you nice to see you a lot of this is going to be about me i don't know if you knew that about the show i'm down i just need you to help me i love your garage this is a great garage i i mean what are we doing here right well that well that's a good question what what brought you to nashville why nashville well i've always loved the nashville and for me you know there was always these i kind of got into this in a different way where i had friends who were stand-up comedians and so i started doing these um variety shows and you know i'm at disorder to sort of help them kind of get started um we need help comedians some. Some, some, some, yeah, some no. Yeah, there's funny and then there's sad.

You know what I mean? We ride the line. Underneath all funny is what? Say it. Sad. Okay, thank you guys. Good night. I don't think we're going to get any further than that.

But, so anyway, so I started doing these variety shows and doing these things and having fun. I got to travel around. And I really wanted to come to the South to do a show. There doesn't seem to be as many comedy festivals. They're always kind of up north. And this is a hell of a city and a lot of fun. I've always been a big fan of the music and country music.

Are you? Huge, yeah. Are you a country music guy? Yeah. Who are your guys? Well, I like Dwight Yoakam's a good one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I like Kenny Chesney a lot and a lot of the new guys that are doing stuff that are great.

How about the old crazy ones? George Jones? I love him. The possum, No Show Jones. He was the best. Yeah. He was great. I always hear that story like how they took his license away and then he would drive his tractor to the bar.

And in a way, I just kind of thought, that guy's, I like the work ethic, you know. You're not going to stop him, right? You're not going to... That is commitment to compulsion. You take the old tractor from me while you're at it, yeah. Have you ever driven a tractor? I haven't, no. You've done that?

My wife grew up on a farm. She's driven combine. Really? Yeah. But my grandfather was a dairy farmer, but I was never a part of that activity, if you will. He was a dairy farmer? He was.

Did you visit the farm? I did. So you played with cows? Why is it such a dirty foreign thing to you? What's that about? It's like a world that doesn't exist. There's farms all throughout the country. No, I understand that.

The hillbilly thing works both ways. You know, the people from this and that. I didn't grow up with that. I understand. That's okay. Let's be open-minded to it. Let's share. Why can't we people and this and that. I didn't grow up with that. I understand. That's okay. Let's be open-minded to it. Let's share. Why can't we grow? I'm trying. I am too. So did you.

I'm going to walk down the aisle again. No, come back. But no, I mean, it's like, I think it's important to get a sense of who you are. Did you milk? Did you milk? No. You did no milking? No. You went to your grandfather's dairy farm. You're like, I'm not touching this. I was young. It wasn't like that. I remember I came in from the suburbs.

And his farm was in Ohio, in Brewster, Ohio, a small little town. There was a lot of Amish that lived around there. Amish, you're fun. They are fun. According to the reality shows now, they're leveraging people, right? Well, they do that. What is that thing called? Yeah, I don't know.

The Amish Mafia. Is that what it is? Are you serious? They're stepping on toes. People are getting pushed around, yeah. Wow. What is that thing called? Yeah, I don't know. The Amish Mafia. Is that what it is? Are you serious? They're stepping on toes. People are getting pushed around. Yeah. Wow. It's happening.

You always know they're coming, though. If they're at the door, you kind of know. It's not a mystery. Who's that at the door? It's the Amish Mafia. That's right. If it's not Thanksgiving, it's the Amish. It's either the Amish or the Hasids.

It's one or the other. That's right. Yeah. Slight difference in language. But it's a little, the hair otherwise is pretty close. Yeah, very close. But I think Hasidim can drive. Not on Fridays, but usually.

Fridays, yeah. So we've discussed Judaism and Amish. We've gotten very far. And we're just getting started. Yeah. We're just getting started. So you're at the Amish farm. You're not milking cows.

No, I remember I had studied, just studied the pilgrims and Thanksgiving. And I was maybe, I don't know if I was five, maybe kindergarten. But anyway, we were driving in a car. I was, we were then behind a horse and carriage and everyone was dressed like in, you know, in the Amish and how they do with the black and the white, which in New York is a great style choice. But this was, you know, and I remember saying like, I made some joke about the pilgrims or something. Like we were stuck buying these pilgrims. My dad got so damn mad at me, he pulled the car over. He's like, you don't know those people, don't make fun of them.

And really got mad at me, which was a good lesson, but I didn't know. I just had never seen anything like it before. Kind of like when you started making fun of shit earlier. But when I went up to the farm, it was a big deal because they had a little bit of cattle and they had to rip the fence out and stuff to kind of let us in. And my dad would go there and work in the summers. But I only went up there two or three times. It kind of made an impression on me.

But I was too young. I never was there working or anything. Right. So you didn't get that experience. No. Farm experience. No, no. You just kind of got to look at the animals and say, Grandpa does that.

Well, I didn't talk. Grandpa didn't talk that much with the kids. A little bit he'd joke around. It's a big deal if Grandpa would talk to you. You'd get real excited. He worked in the steel mill, and he was a farmer. He played semi-pro baseball, was an athlete in that. And I remember they had these homemade cookies. And he said to me, I was sitting there real shy.

I was like, my grandfather noticed me, all the kids. He said, hey, Vince is shy. I said, Vince, you'd like one of them cookies. Come up here, grab one of them cookies. And he said to me, I was sitting there real shy, you know, like my grandfather noticed me, all the kids. He said, hey, Vince is shy. I said, Vince, you'd like one of them cookies. Come up here, grab one of them cookies. I was so excited that he talked to me. I was thrilled to grab one of the cookies, but I hated the cookie. I didn't like the cookie at all. So it put me in kind of a weird spot because I wanted him to notice me some more. So I took the cookie, you know, like an ostrich, you know when little kids play hide and seek? They'll like put their head behind a curtain, but their ass will be sticking out.

And they always laugh like they got you fooled because, you know, they can't see you. Well, I took the cookie and I dropped it and it was like a little rug thing. I put it under that and I kind of stamped on it and stood on it and I felt like that's good. Like now the cookie's gone. So I grab another cookie and then he liked it. He said, oh yeah, see, he was just shy. He loves those cookies. But I really just liked him noticing me.

Well, I did this about three or four times. So I know when I left, he had to turn, you know, to the rest of the family and go, that little Vince gets psychotic. Like who the fuck takes cookies and stomps on them underneath the rug? Those are my farm. That's my farm story. That's a great farm story. That went in a direction I could never have expected. That's right. That was the cookie story.

That's the cookies. But where'd you grow up? I grew up outside of Chicago in Buffalo Grove and then Lake Forest, two suburbs of the city. How far from Chicago? Within, both of them within an hour, yeah. And you got brothers and sisters? I had two older sisters. Really? Yeah. So it's just you and two girls? Me and two ladies, thus my verbal skills

picked up. I have no, I have a brother, I have no context, so you had to learn, they were older too. They were five and six years older than me. Wow. They'd beat you up, they'd mentally destroy you, you hadn't really learned to survive. No, you know like kids do. We're very close. But you know, when you're younger, brothers

and sisters can be a little rough on each other, right? Were you beaten up by women? Well, they got smacked around by some ladies a time or two, sure. But yeah, we were very close, my sisters and I. We were very close, yeah. Not younger, but as you get older. Yeah, it gets easier. You know, when you're younger

and you're five years younger and they want to play a board game, you you get older. Yeah, it gets easier. You know, when you're younger, and you're five years younger, and they want to play a board game, you're a problem. Yeah. You know, let Vince play too. So I understand. Just the annoying brother. Yes.

Yeah, get out of our room. We're doing grown-up things. That's right. Yeah. But you're close now? Very close. Are they in show business? No.

They work with me. We do stuff, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Not before they weren't, but we kind of, yeah, the production company's kind of a. We do stuff, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. You run a family business? Before they weren't, but we kind of, yeah. The production company is kind of a family business, which is fun. Well, that's nice.

Yeah. That's a sweet thing. It is. When you were growing up, did you go to Chicago a lot? Was Chicago part of your life? I did. I started going, once I could drive a car, I started going down, really, when I started to get into acting and stuff.

How did that start, though? Did you do it in high school? I did a little bit. Both my parents worked, so I would do different activities. And one of them, they put me in this community theater. Really? It was all kids. It was all kids.

I was like seven. We were doing South Pacific. But everyone's a kid. It's crazy. I played like Daddy Warbucks when I was 12, like in one of these things. So then in school, I started doing plays and emceeing shows, and that was fun. And then I stopped a little bit. I started playing sports in high school.

So you did musical theater. I did. Younger, we all did. It was interesting because we would improvise the scenes. There was no way you were teaching a bunch of nine-year-olds all the dialogue. So we started improvising. We learned the songs. I remember I'd always kind of talk the songs.

They'd try to encourage me that, like, Yul Bryn brenner was great which i knew but i sucked at singing so um but i liked performing it was fun did you get laughs um and those depending on the scenes i don't remember particularly it was more like you know you were doing south pacific or something you don't remember being compelled to get laughs you weren't one not at moment. When I started emceeing talent shows and stuff like in junior high and high school, then I did, and that was fun. What sports did you play? This is a problem for me.

Sports were a problem? Yeah, a little bit. Tell me why. What happened? What happened? Yeah. Or what didn't happen may be the better question. You know, I think I'm an athletic person,

but I don't know how to process healthy competition. Like, for me, if you lose, it's fucking over. And like I wish in retrospect I would have been taught to be like, no, you got to learn how to lose like a man and go get up and play the next day. There was no playing the next day. Well, that's like, you know, Bobby Knight or a lot of great coaches, you know, show that sentiment. So you had a champion in you that you didn't nurture.

That's exactly right. You have like an unfed champion in you. You have a starving champion that wants to go win a ring. That's right. And because I was defeated by my own insecurity, the world was denied. I don't like that labeling. No, I don't either. That's not true. But I denied the world probably an Olympian. I could have done something. I don't know what, maybe lifting. Kept track of what the scores were that the other people did. Something. You could have contributed.

No, you could have done something. Here's what I'm saying to you. Okay. You were frustrated with not winning, which is a good thing. It was a shitty team, man. It was a shitty team. That's right. I was on the bad news bears.

I seriously was. The Little League team, they were just horrible. My mother didn't know how to sew patches on properly. It's a long story. I like it. It's a laughing stock. I forgot my hat during the picture. I'm the only kid without the hat. How old was I? This was two years ago. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was like nine or 10 peewees. You know what I mean? I was afraid of the ball. Look, let's talk about your sports. Here's the one thing I want to say. What? You can be pretty tough on my friend Mark, and he's a pretty good guy.

I want you to take it easy on my friend, because I like him. Okay? All right, but I don't think you really know him. He's kind of a pussy. He's a good man. All right. I'll try and I'll get that to him. He's a good man.

Yeah, I'll get that to him later. Just be easy on him. You don't have to give him anything. Stop teaching him. Let it go. But were you like a captain? Was I a captain? Like if I was a captain,

somehow I would be like put in a horrible category. I wish I was a fucking captain so we could have that conversation. No, I was not a captain. What do you mean you weren't a captain? No, I went into entertainment. I was not a captain. I played sports. I wrest wait. I played sports.

I wrestled. I played football. I did a little bit of everything. You wrestled? I did. But you're so tall. I'm tall. But how the hell?

You won every time, right? I was pretty good. I didn't want to. I wanted to play a team sport because those are fun. You ride on the bus and everyone's laughing and we're in it together. Wrestling's not like that. You're sitting by yourself. You're spitting, you know, big league chew.

You're trying to lose weight. And you got to get in a street fight in front of some kid you don't even know in front of your mom and dad. It's uncomfortable. But I wanted to be like, hey, high five, or you missed the block. There was none of that. It's like, nope, he pretty much just choked me out. But I did. And I enjoyed it.

And then when you started losing the weight and as you get older and stuff, I didn't like it as much and I enjoyed it. And then when you started losing the weight, and as you get older and stuff, I didn't like it as much. I played football, and I was above average athlete. It was a weight issue? You wanted to eat more, and that's why you got into wrestling? No, it wasn't that. You start like that's your weight, but three months later, that's not your weight

when you're growing unless you're wrestling, and then it is your weight, right? You'd wear like the fucking sweatshit on the bike. Did you wear that? What was that one with the Madonna song in it? Vision Quest. Oh, okay. bike. Did you wear that? It was like, what was that one with the Madonna song in it? Vision Quest. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Did you wear a unitard? I did the whole thing. God. I wore my unitard to school. I was so fucking proud. What's up? Look who's wrestling, bitches. No, I did not.

But then I wanted to, I started going, gosh, I'd like to do this acting and this kind of stuff. I didn't know what it meant. Hold on a minute. What other sports? Oh, we're going to go back to this. I need to know because I want to judge you. Okay, so football. Oh, football.

Yes. Wrestling. I played younger baseball, but just for a couple years, not later. How much football did you play? I played football seventh, eighth, freshman, and sophomore year. So you had a letter jacket? You were a letter jacket guy? Could have had a letter jacket.

Yeah. That's okay, though. Learn to love those people. You're going to love a little bit of yourself. I'm talking about me. We're going to work through this. We are going to work through this. But what kind of letter jacket wear were you?

Were you like a dick or were you like the cool guy? I was a dick. I'd pick on anyone. Anyone who quit a fucking sport, I would have fucking kicked the shit out of. I couldn't stand that guy. I just wanted to know who would have found him. Oh, you forgot your fucking hat? Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Look who forgot the fucking hat. I kind of felt like this was what it was going to be like. I knew I was walking into this. No. No? That's what happened. That's the old you, right? No, it was never me.

But I'll wear that hat if you want to put the costume on me. So you do the baseball. So we played sports. Let's talk about those again. These guys love this part. There was wrestling. You guys ready to fucking kill yourselves yet? Yeah.

It was football. And then what happened was my parents wouldn't let me go down to try out for professional things because I was a kid. Like what do you mean professional? I said I'd like to go try out for like a professional play or go down to Chicago and try to do something. They said, well, you know, when you're 18, you make your own decisions. So a friend of mine, his mom, I got him head shots and the whole thing, and she would take him to the city to audition. So I cut school one day to go with him. You didn't tell your parents?

I did not. I wrote a letter, my own let Vince go with him letter. And I went down, and I was in the waiting room, and the casting director said, oh, he's here. The other mom was nice, I think, and encouraged it and said, would he like to read for this thing? And it was an industrial film about like teenage dating or whatever it was. In-house industrial.

Yeah, like some company. And I got the part. So that was good because then I was able to meet an agent. And then I had to go get headshots. Now, are you guys familiar with headshots? That they are? Yeah. When I did them, and I didn't know anything.

They could have told me to do anything. I didn't know. They were like, you got to have different poses to show different looks. Do you remember this? I do. There was like four. Composite. No, I didn't do a composite. So you'd have a tennis racket, but be looking at the camera.

You'd have a chef hat, and that tastes good. Sweatbands with a kiss shirt on. Look who's helping their friend move. Word of God. You know, preppy. What time does the dance start? I love the Foxtrot.

Whatever. So I did this, humiliating. Do you have any left? I don't know where the hell they are. You've got to find them. I burn those things. But then I started getting a chance to audition and do stuff. And then I started to go down to the ImprovOlympic, which Del Close started, who started Second City.

When I was a kid, I started to study and train with that. With Del? With Del. Took some classes from Del. How did you tell your parents on the idea? Now, they busted you. My dad was pretty cool. Well, I had a car and I was driving down.

And they knew I took it seriously. And they were supportive at that point. But my mom was just, you know, they were removed from the entertainment industry. So they were always encouraging. What kind of business? They just thought you're not going to go get paid and have a job. Right. They're worried. When you play and stuff, you're going to go to school. They're worried. That's, that's their primary concern. It's not that parents judge what your choice is, but they're like, that doesn't work out for anybody. Right. But once I got to be 18 and I wanted to move to California, they were, they were like, that's fine. What business were they in?

Once I got to be 18 and I wanted to move to California, they were like, that's fine. What business were they in? My dad was a manufacturer's rep for toys. What toys? Well, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was one that he represented. Really? He repped the turtles? But he was the manufacturer's rep. So he was, you know, the factory would make it and he'd get on the shelves.

Really? Yeah. So did you have a... Christmas was very nice at the Vaughn house. A couple samples would fall off the truck if you know what I'm talking about. Remember the Evel Knievel stunt cycle? Yeah.

That was a big one. Plenty of toys. Wait, Del Close, tell me about that. So what were those classes? This guy's the wizard. He's the Buddha. He's the improv genius that sort of set all of it going, like UCB, all of it. And you spent time with that guy. I did. I had met a guy in a different acting class who said, you should really

come down to this thing called the ImprovOlympic. And what it was is, I think they wanted to do more improv where you really went on stage and you didn't know where it was going to go. And they had this thing called the Herald. Right. And you would get on there, you take a suggestion from the audience, you'd have different games and tools, and you would attempt to tell a complete story with the beginning, middle, and end with the people on the team with you, and you would compete. And I was only there for a little while, although Del came from Second City, and a lot of the coaches did go back and forth between the two of them. I only did ImprovOlympic, which was really good training. But I wasn't old enough to be in the places. I was tall, but I would go perform at these places in Chicago,

and I really enjoyed it. And I think it was a great training. And looking back, when I met Favreau, we met on a movie called Rudy. And although he was from Queens, he was living in Chicago at the time he had gone to study. Right. And so we had that in common. Who were the guys?

Do you remember any of the people who were around then? Because a lot of people started in Chicago. A lot of people started in Chicago. A lot of people started and a lot of great screenwriters. And obviously people came out of that program because you're really screenwriting. I mean, improv is writing. It gives you the chops to act, to listen, to do everything and also build sketches and direct everything. Yeah, it's a great training ground, I think, just for getting comfortable even just jumping into something without knowing where you're going. Was Farley around or any of those people that you remember?

He was before I was. Oh, he was. So he was already off and on SNL. Yeah. I loved watching him like anybody did. But somehow or another, you didn't get stuck in the full arc of it. Like you're not in the road troop. You weren't, you know, you got in and out, huh?

I never had the ambitions of being on SNL or doing that stuff. Really? I never had the ambitions of, of being on SNL or doing that stuff. I never, I never had the ambitions of being a standup. I, I really liked that training and it, it came easy to me in that they put me on stage very quickly and I really enjoyed it, but I really wanted to be an actor. So once I, I stayed with it and then once I got to be 18 and graduated high school, I moved out to California. But how did the movie Rudy come about? Were you cast in Chicago? I was in Los Angeles, and I hadn't been working at all. I had a manager but no agent.

So you tell your parents you're going to go. You go to L.A. Yes. You don't know anybody. Well, I go there, and they say you have to take community college classes. I already tried that once. I went for two weeks weeks in Chicago, CLC community of last chance. Anyone else here from there? I went for a couple of weeks, whatever. Then I go, okay, I'll take community college, Santa Monica junior college. Um, I signed up in that and then I was, I was

able to get an agent right away when I first moved out there. Really? Right away. How'd that happen? I just got a number of this lady and I called her. And she was like a big agent at like ICM. Really? And I had done stuff in Chicago. So I had done like a Chevy commercial and like an Indiana farm insurance commercial. I'd done like a Sears Roebuck, like how to use the universal exercise machine correctly. So you actually did your composite photograph. So for Chicago, I had done a lot of stuff. I thought, this is great. So when I called her, I said, you know, I was trying to like, you know, I said, you know, she said, I only represent like actors, like people know.

Like there's nothing I could do for you. And I said, I'm not sure I'm going with you. We haven't even met each other yet. But she was nice enough to refer me to a smaller agent. And I went to this, not smaller in size, but in stature, but I went to her and she just liked that I called someone right away and that I had studied a lot in Chicago and I had done some stuff. She liked your moxie. She liked the moxie that I brought to the table.

This guy's got balls. That's right. Are you still with that agent? No. How long did that last? I was with her for a while. I was with her for a while, but I had kind of been dropped by agents and stuff for a long time leading up to Swingers. It was about seven years or so that I was out there.

But I met John on Rudy, and he was currently in the ImprovOlympic, and he was also washing dishes at Second City. And we had that in common, and we just made fun of each other right away. I mean, he was from Queens and we were kind of similar but different backgrounds and so I liked it. He was very insulting and vice versa. We would kind of ride each other and we sort of became friends.

So he was living in Chicago studying. He was living in Chicago doing the Improv Olympics and he was washing dishes at Second City. But he was just like working the door and stuff and washing dishes and just hanging around. He was trying to ascend, if you will. And then,

how did you both get cast in that movie? Well, I think he like auditioned and got a part. It was the craziest thing because I had a tape. You know, you put these tapes

like the composite together where it's like scenes you've done and the different things which for me were like after school specials and whatever. You're real.

They were looking for a guy to play a football player, and so they cast me, and I never had to read for it. And I was not a good auditioner, so that's how I got the part. And then we met in South Bend, and then when he moved out to Los Angeles afterwards, we hung out quite a bit. So how long were you out there before you got cast in anything? I mean, how did you get cast every now and then and stuff?

The first year I got cast in nothing. You know, it's difficult. Sure. No, I know. I know. But it seemed like you were hammering around. You were out there for a long time. Where were you working?

What were you doing? Well, I was fortunate. You know, national commercials paid a lot. Oh, right. And I had done those younger. And then I would work every now and then in residuals and stuff. But, you know, nothing consistent. Yeah.

Nothing fun? Nothing weird? Nothing weird? Nothing too crazy. No, I wish. I did 21 Jump Street, China Beach, different TV shows that were there at the time. And you were how old were you? Like 20 what? I was 18 when I moved out.

And I did Swingers. I think I was 24. Favreau has a funny story I want to tell because it made me laugh. Like, you know, they name these characters stuff. He told me this. He went in for, he was heavy. You know, he did Rudy and he's like a big guy. And there was an audition for this movie, Shawshank Redemption.

It seemed real pedigree for us. We were like, that's great. And he got a part to go read in the part of the character was Fat Ass. That was the name of the character he was going to read for. And Fabs didn't like that they named the part Fatass. I don't blame him. But anyway, he wanted to play around with him. So he went in, and there was a receptionist girl, just a girl.

She had nothing to do with anything, right? This poor girl just sitting behind a desk. So Favre comes in, and meanwhile, there's a bunch of really heavy white guys, a bunch of them in the room, all there auditioning, obviously, for the same part. So Favre goes in and goes up to the girl, and just real naive and excited, he says, I'm here to read for the part of Fatasse. And she goes, I'm sorry? He goes, Fatasse, I'm excited. My name is Jon Favreau. I'm here to read for the part of Fatasse. She says, I don't, there's not a part of Fatasse.

He's like, well, what part could it be? What could it be? What am I here to read for? She goes, I think I know what part that you're here for. So she gave him the sides and handed it to him. And he looked at it, he goes, this isn't Fatasse. What is this? And she goes, the name, you know,

the name on the top of the sides, the name is on the sides. He goes, well, what is it? What does it say the name, you know, the name on the top of the sides, the name is on the sides. He goes, well, what is it? What does it say? Because he just wanted to make her say it to him. So she looked at him and she goes, fat ass. And then he just acted like wounded to the core like he couldn't believe it.

But I always liked that story that John tells. But yeah, it was like you would go up for those kind of parts, right? Whatever. Sure, yeah. I never was cut out for up for those kind of parts, right? Whatever. Sure. Yeah. I never was cut out for it for the same reason sports didn't work out. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Go on an audition. At some point. Let's get a little backbone here, right? Let's go on the audition. They're like, yeah. Rejected. The victim.

Reject. No. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's not a victim thing. It was just sort of like, fuck you.

No, it's kind of like somehow, it's like someone's got to make you okay with that journey. You know what? Only one can make you okay is you. Honestly. Really? That's real love, yes. Was there ever a point in your life where you were wavering with your confidence?

Yes. When? Early on? Well, I think you always have that at different points. Yeah. Don't you think? Well, if you stayed out in L.A. before Swingers, I mean, you always have that at different points. Yeah. Don't you think? Well, like if you stayed out in LA before swingers, like, I mean, it must've been like, fuck,

how am I going to make a break here? I think what it is, is I think that, uh, the confidence comes from working at something more and more. And I think the fear, which I had is a good thing. If, depending on how you manage it, it doesn't destroy you there's both right and then you learn that you know i think the thing with acting is you have to work really hard at it and you'll get more confident like anything in life i think you have to work really hard at something including your own life you have to really try at something to get better and you can improve where you're at if you're willing to kind of do those things but part of the fun for acting i look back now i don't know what i was thinking at 18 or what got in my mind. It was probably, for me, feeling like younger,

that was an area I got a good response in and I felt confident in. So I felt like, gosh, that feels fun, let's go do that. And then when I went through rejection and all that, that a lot of actors do, you sort of have made your bed at that point. So you just sort of, gosh, I've got to make this know. I don't think there's anything else I feel good that I could do. I really love this. So I better really work at it. Right. But is that sort of part of the game? I mean, if I talk to actors like the auditioning process or not being right, certainly early on, I mean, now they know who you are. But at some point, it just has to say it's not personal

that, you know, if you get rejected from a role, a lot of times they're not even looking for you. Well, you know, when you're going through it and you're young, you do take it personal. But as you get older and you get on the other side of it, it isn't. But of course it feels that way because you're trying very hard to work. I mean, you want to work.

And for me, if I would have gotten a TV series or anything, I was just thankful to have a chance to try to work at the art, at acting. I wasn't trying to be selective. I was just thankful to have a chance to try to work at the art, at acting. I wasn't trying to be selective. I was just thankful to want to do this. It felt so foreign to me. Were you training at all? I trained a lot.

I always trained all the way through. With who? Well, in Chicago, I did Improv Olympic and that. And I did with David Darlow, Shakespearean stuff. And this was in Chicago. And in L.A., I stayed with Larry Moss quite a bit, who's a very popular acting coach and terrific. I just worked with him recently on this last movie I did.

He came in and coached? No, just I went to go see him and go through my stuff. Because I think acting, and you could probably confirm this, I think you have a natural ability for it. I mean, either you're going to, like some part of you lives in that. Like there is natural talent to it. But I'm always curious as to what people say the craft is or what the method is. I mean, what are some helpful things that were told you by these teachers that enabled you to move forward with focus?

I believe that, you know, there's always more than one way to the waterfall. Yeah. So there's not, this is the only way to do the technique. Did you make that saying up? No. Oh, okay. No. so there's not this is the only way to do something did you make that saying up? no but I do believe that there's more than one way to sort of learn how to do something it depends on how you learn

and how you do stuff and I like trying different things take some things that work for you and go and do different stuff but like what was the first problem solver that you had like Like when you were like when you're first going out and you're first in L.A. and you're learning how to act, you know, what was the first obstacle that made you go like, oh, fuck, I can do that?

Well, I think the difference was, is auditioning felt very different to me than having a material for a while and kind of feeling like you were creating a character. I feel like in auditioning, there's something in that dynamic that was very, you're going in for a job interview. Yeah. And I was raised to be polite and shake everyone's hand, which was the worst fucking thing I could have done.

I remember I'd go in, these guys probably couldn't wait to get me out of the room. They thought, who's the guy from Mayberry? But I would go in, and I would say, it's such a pleasure to meet you, and such a pleasure. They're like, how can they? Can they fucking talk?

I said, no, we're not going to cast them anyway. It's an honor to meet you. You know, whatever. That's how I thought you took a job interview. And then I could get a weird feeling, like I knew I wasn't going to get it, but I felt like I had to make them okay. So I'd say, well, this is great stuff.

You guys are going to have a great time shooting this stuff. But it was always weird to me because there'd always be someone out in the waiting room who would be like kind of homeless and real rude to everybody. And they'd kind of like overly nerd, you know, make sure he could get in the room and treat him with kid gloves. And, you know, you'd be sitting, I'd be sitting in my studio, my studio place and watching. And he'd be the guy on the show. He'd be the guy that got the part. But there was something in that, I think, where if there was a confidence, they wanted to feel like they were hiring somebody that felt like they knew what they were doing. And so you started to

learn, although they could be fooled or they, whatever, sometimes people could put on an air as if I really know what I'm doing as a compensation. But what you started to learn was the more you got confident and sort of brought what you believed to be right, that's what they were looking for, someone who really felt like wasn't going to be a lot of work for them. Right. You were locked in. You'd made your choices. You knew exactly what you were going to do. Thank you. See you later. Not like, was that okay? Yeah, right, right. Yeah. Walking out going like, okay. Okay, great. By the way, I'm like, okay. Okay, great.

By the way, BBQ Saturday, if anyone's interested. Four o'clock. But we could go five if it works better for everybody. I'll just wait. I'll just wait there. I'll be outside. You tell me. You know what?

Let me come by Monday and bring you whatever we donate. Have you done that thing where you're like, do you guys need it either way? I can do it another way do you want me to do another yeah sure for sure horrible so desperate right you want it angry i can do angry can i blow someone what are we doing here guys honestly anyone you can watch you can all watch or you can leave walk on here how much part uh, of swingers creation were you part of? I mean, did you, did you, were you working with John throughout the process of it? Yeah. You know, it's when, when that first happened, I said to Favreau, you know, I'm sick of auditioning these people, these, this material is not very good and no one's writing stuff. I said, we should write our own stuff. And I made up my mind that I was going to write something. I had flown to Austin to see a

friend of mine. I was going to go write. I had flown to Austin to see a friend of mine. I was going to go write, and I came back after two weeks. I kind of got my outline. I was ready to go. And John wrote Swingers in two weeks. He got one of those screenwriting books, and he wrote it, and it was great. Which book? Sid Field?

Yeah, Sid Field, one of those. Oh, no, maybe it was Joseph Campbell he got. Joseph Campbell? The Writer's Journey. Okay, okay. I think that's the one he did. And it was great. What did you write?

I had not finished that. I had written a treatment and I was like two weeks, this dude turned out this script and it was incredible. Like, I think it just kind of came out of him and that it was sort of something that was, you know, close to him, but we really loved it. And we said, we're going to get this movie made. And we were young and very kind of like, we have to not compromise the script. And it was difficult because no one knew who we were, me less so than him. And also, the movie wasn't traditional in that they said,

well, swing music, who listens to swing music? And they said, can you make it grunge music? That was more popular at the time. And they said, there's no girl's point of view in the movie. We'd love to hear how the girls think about dating.

And I said, this isn't a fucking health video. Right? We're not trying to save the... There's about a bunch of guys who don't really know what they're doing trying to figure it out. If there was a girl hanging out, there wouldn't be a fucking movie, right? Yeah, here's my...

The girl telling me how it works. I'm dating her. What are we struggling with here, right? So, you know, it was sort of a coming of age. So we were very, you know, we would meet every day and talk about how we're going to get it done and who's going to finance it and went through all those different journeys and that kind of stuff. And, you know, I had ideas. And a lot of the dialogue and stuff that was in the movie was stuff that I had said joking around.

But John really, you know, wrote the movie. It was his idea. He coordinated it. But we were friends, and I definitely, you know, gave him ideas and collaborated. Um, but, uh, you know, totally John's doing as far as the idea, the, the setting, all of it. But you guys had a dynamic. We had a dynamic. And he wrote it with my voice. So a lot of this stuff was, was things that I had said and you know, that kind of thing. But we were just thrilled to be doing something. And Doug came in with, with the money to make it. We made it for $250,000.

We shot it in 22 days. And you have to understand, I mean, we didn't have any money to shoot so we would go to a bar and the bar would be open because they couldn't close it.

They say, yeah, you kids can shoot here but we're not closing the fucking bar down. So we'd be there trying to do our lines. Your money, baby.

You know, whatever. But there'd be people there hanging out like drinking. And in LA, if you're trying really sincerely, you're a loser. Like, that doesn't go over well. Like, if you're really making an effort to do something, no one wants to be near you. There's something sad about that. You got to make it like you're cool and you got it working, right? So we didn't know. We were shooting the movie and shot it in a short period of time. And the big thing for us was to try to get into Sundance and then of course we didn't get into Sundance and uh but then ultimately the movie really we had to finished it and did a screening and it really popped like everyone

wanted to buy it at that point it's a huge movie people love that movie it became a kind of a cult classic for sure yeah people love that movie now. I mean, like some people, like they're... And that was... But you... Had you and John been hanging out a lot before you did the movie? We were very good. So that's the best, right? So like, you know, you had that...

You're entering with this chemistry that is established. But then it becomes a little bit, I think what happens sometimes, it's like Oasis or like any kind of young garage band where you're all very close and we did Made and you do stuff, but then there starts to be that, I'm a guitar

player, I'm the singer, and there starts to be a thing. Well, I think it just is a natural thing that happens. Like, you're all friends and you're making a movie and you're doing something and then it's kind of like a band. Did you fight? Very close. Not really ever fight, but I think you go through stages where you're so close and you do something so

personal. I talk to him Saturday, so we're still close and glad that we... But you go through your moments where you're away and you're close. You start together as kids. You kind of grow up together in a way and then both gone on from

there and other people in the movie too to do other stuff. Well, it's good that you're still friends yeah for sure yeah it's nice and i'm excited for that new chef movie is very good if you guys haven't seen it it is good it's a sweet movie i talked to him you know i tried to get some like i emailed him we're you know we're not tight but he was on the show a couple times i know he likes my show so today on the plane i'm like what do you got on vince um nothing got nothing He might be just busy promoting. Yeah, that doesn't matter. I mean, it's about me, Vince,

and I don't understand why he didn't take the time. You know what's going to happen? With my own hands, I'm going to knit a sweater with a C on it, and I'm going to give it to you. Yeah. What does that mean? Just a captain. Just a captain sweater for you.

Yeah. That'd be nice. That would be nice if you could make time to do that yeah that'd be i'd be very moved by that and you know what i'd earn it i would be a captain that's right if you knitted me a captain sweater there already is a captain isn't he oh thank you so that so swingers big break now you're moving now you're the guy all eyes are on Vince Vaughn. I'm saying that like a... I don't know who I just became just then. It's like all eyes are on Vince Vaughn. What happens? I don't know if it was like that.

I think that the movie... There became opportunities and stuff for sure. What was the first one? Spielberg? Spielberg. I did Lost World, which was weird. I had met with him and I talked with him a lot about westerns because I like old westerns. You met with him, and I talked with him a lot about Westerns, because I like old Westerns.

You met with Spielberg, and you just talked about Westerns. Talked a lot about old Westerns. Let's back up. So he calls you. Steven Spielberg, the king of the world, calls you and says, Hi, Vince, you want to come talk about Westerns? No, he was doing this movie, and would you like to go in to talk to him about being in the movie?

I said, sure. We go to Amblin, which looks like a Smurf village, the way that the houses are. We just talked a lot about Westerns and I liked him very much. And then, but no one could see a script. It was like, you couldn't see a script for the, for the movie, for Lost World. And so I went and did that. And that was a big change going from Swingers to that. And then I really made a decision. I didn't want to do a lot of studio films. And I spent the next years really doing, you know, whether it was Clay Pigeons or I did Made with Favreau. Or I did Return to Paradise with Joaquin Phoenix. And I did a much more, that kind of movie.

And I didn't want to do these studio films. I hated them all. I didn't like them. I thought that they were really kind of like, and that was just my personal taste. The taste I had been offered stuff, but I just thought, I don't know. I think coming from Swingers and doing that. Now, mind you, when I started, like I said, I was happy just to be working. And then after Swingers, I sort of felt like, well, gosh, I want to do movies that are kind of about something.

Those are serious roles, some of them. Yeah, I did more dramatic stuff. And they were always critically well-received, but no one knew who we were. And we were kind of movies that weren't really kind of bigger, larger movies. They were smaller films. And that was a choice.

That was a choice at the time. I would have done something. I just didn't love the material that was out there. So you work with Spielberg and you're like, I'm done with that shit. No, I thought

that for me was I was a big fan of Stephen like obviously E.T. and Close Encounters and I think he's a great filmmaker. Of course. And so that was fun to be in that experience. But it wasn't my calling at the time

to feel like I wanted to go and do that. And then later when I got, and then I had done Made and this, and then when Todd Phillips came to me with Old School, which was our comedy, I really liked it. I thought there was something rebellious about it, something kind of outlawed that I liked about it. And so that was the first.

Well, he's kind of outlawed, isn't he? He's great. Todd is great. He's kind of out of his of his mind. I love him. I love him. He's terrific. But that was like, that was a huge break. And that sort of defined, you know, your persona a little bit movie wise. Well, I, I started liking these comedies that were coming out then. So a lot of those comedies I thought were really fun and good movies. So I started saying yes, and sort of went on a roll of doing, you know, that and Dodgeball and Wedding Crashers and these kind of movies that I thought were really, really fun. Now, do you like, I, because you like one of the guys, you're like one of this, you know, these, this modern comedy mob of dudes that do those movies.

How close are you with those guys, like with Owen and with Will? And I mean, I always want to believe that you guys are all kind of talking during the day and you know like I wonder what Owen's up to hey man what's happening nothing just watching tv any of that going on um I don't care if those guys live or die I'll be honest with you sorry uh it's called acting here's another illusion No, Owen and I are very close. Owen's a very good friend. But I don't see him all the time, but we do stay in touch. And I like him quite a bit as a person.

I really respect him as an actor, as a writer, just as a person. I like Owen quite a bit. And, you know, you don't spend all that much time with each other. And he's probably the one that I'm closest with of that group. And did you feel pressure? I mean, after, okay, Old School happens, and that's a huge movie,

and it's a huge break, and it puts you on the map in a huge way. Outside of swingers, that's the biggest thing, right? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I had done some other things. And I did one movie that I did that was The Cell, and I I played this part and I said, I want to do it this way. And they said, yes, you can. And then I did it. And they wouldn't let me do it entirely the way I wanted to do it. And you kind of learn there's a honeymoon period where they kind of want you in the movie.

And sometimes they want to kind of not do what they're saying that they're going to do. And I was like, that's a whole other thing. They figure they got you after a certain point. I don't know. They kind of want to sometimes dial it down towards the middle a lot of times. But, yeah, so old school was kind of fun. And Todd's really a great filmmaker. I mean, yes, he does a lot of comedies, but he's a very talented and very smart guy. Yeah, I've heard great things about him.

I'd like to interview that guy. I heard that if you talk to the guys who work on The Hangover, he just seems he has real guts. He'll push the limit. He's kind of like an artist, but he's also very defiant in a good way. He really believes in what he does, and he doesn't engage in sort of trying to make everyone okay. If you're working with him, you feel like you have a really strong head coach who knows what he wants to do, and you know he's going to find a way to get that done. So it makes it really fun and easy for you on the set. So once you did Old School, did you feel... I guess the question is,

because you had a big run in comedies after that, and you were pretty much a comedy superstar. Was there pressure for you to kind of like, you know, they were looking for you to be that Vince Vaughn? Like, you know, can you just do that kind of snappy kind of... You know, I didn't really know what I was doing. I was just saying yes to material that I liked. It was fun to find things that I was excited to go do.

So Dodgeball was fun. I liked that character and that story. And then Starsky and Hutch with Todd again was fun. And Wedding Crashers was fun. It was just nice to be doing those movies. You know, David Dopkin, who I had done Clay Pigeons with younger, with Joaquin, he was directing that movie, and I always liked working with him. So when he came to me with Wedding Crashers,

he said, you know, me and Owen and him really got to write a lot and kind of, you know, have fun with the script and, you know, come up with ideas. And so that felt very collaborative and kind of fun. We were kind of off the radar, you know. They weren't really watching us too much, the studio. They did it at a small enough price, and we were kind of left alone. So I think we were able to do something that we really felt great about. I saw, I didn't meet Joaquin, but I watched him sleep. I was, I mean, it was probably

wrong of me. I was being flown somewhere first class, and he was in the seat ahead of me, and he was sleeping. I went to the bathroom. I'm like, there's Joaquin sleeping. I should probably keep moving. But I lingered for a couple seconds. I'm just being honest with you. I don't know him. He seems like a nice guy. Yeah, I didn't get that far. He was tired. Most people

on planes do like to shut it down for a little bit. Yeah. No, I know. A laptop? What are you going to do? Yeah, I know. I don't know what I was expecting. Sometimes that's the perfect parachute out of a strange person that you don't know next to you.

Yeah. Just sleep. A little nap. I wasn't even next to him. I was behind him. Behind, next. I know. I get it.

I'm not saying I was right. I'm not saying I was wrong. I'm not saying I was right. I'm not saying I was wrong. Now, your dad was in a couple movies with you? Yeah, we started with Swingers. John put his grandmother in Swingers, and I put my father in Swingers. And then it kind of worked,

so we kept trying to put him in stuff like a good luck charm. Is he still around? Yes, he is. Unfortunately, Favreau's grandmother's not. She was the best. But my father is, and he's great, too. And you've always gotten along with him all the way through?

With? Your dad? Yes. That's good. For the most part, yeah, we're very close. We fight, you know, sometimes, like anybody does. Yeah. There's stupid shit.

It doesn't matter, like, what team's better. Sports. Family, anything. Yeah. Sports, things that you aren't a part of. I can't do this anymore. I swear to God. Got to get past it.

Got to get past it. What do I talk about? Ceramics? What do we excel at? I don't know anything about ceramics. Well, what is it? There's got to be a safe place where you really feel good. Guitar.

Guitar? You do feel good with guitar. I like guitar. Yeah. You play guitar? You play guitar? I don't. So there you go.

How do you like that? Checkmate. You won. I'm a captain. Yeah. Of guitar. That's right. Captain guitar.

Yeah. That felt good. You know what? It felt good for me too. Did it? Yeah, because we got past that. I'm past it. I am too.

Do you have cats? I don't. My wife had a cat that was non-negotiable when we got married. You had to have it. Well, yeah. It came with her. It's one thing to have a cat. That's one thing, right it. Well, yeah. That's what, you know. It came with her. It's one thing to have a cat.

That's one thing, right? It's a cat. That's fine. But then when the cat's name's Diva, it's like just sticking it in you, right? I got a cat and its name is Diva. Diva's fine, but Diva's not like a friendly cat

that wants to be down with everybody. Dogs? You a dog guy? I'm a dog guy, but I don't have any dogs currently. Why not? Well, I will. The kids are very young and when they get older. Oh, so you dog guy, but I don't have any dogs currently. Why not? Well, I will. The kids are very young, and when they get older...

Oh, so you've got to wait so they don't hurt the kids. Yeah, I've got to make it my wife's idea. Yeah. Well, I realize you want a dog, so here we go. Here we go. Diva the dog. So... A swimmer? Big swimmer?

Yeah. Yeah? I was on a swim team. Okay. I did do that. All right. So Swimmer? Big swimmer? Yeah Yeah I was on a swim team Okay I did do that Alright Yeah I had a B time and breaststroke I was alright with that

Okay Yeah I can swim I can do a few strokes of butterfly And it'll make it look impressive For about like 30 seconds That's good And then I peter out How do we do with the ribbons?

What colors were we collecting? What did we have on the wall at home? No Some blues, some yellows What are we working with? Which one's yellow? Third? Yeah Maybe a couple of those Rels? What are we working with? Which one's yellow? Third? Yeah, maybe a couple of those.

Relay? A couple of thirds, yeah. Relay? Huh? Relay? Yeah, I did relay. Did you push it? Did you touch the wall or not? Did you push it? Yeah, I was not good at the flip turn. Flip turn? Not good and do it. Wall and push. You're not going to go blue with that. Yeah, and the backstroke. You're not going blue with the drop and push, yeah.

You've got to mermaid it, little mermaid. You need to be a little Ariel, a little princess, a little water princess. And the other problem was the backstroke, I'd always turn over for the wall. I was a terrible swimmer. I was a lifeguard, but I never was licensed. True story.

How did you get that job? I don't worry about what I do and what I don't do. You know what I mean? Thank God there were no problems. Well, I was... A friend of my mom's, I wanted a summer job, and she was a lifeguard and could certify people, so she certified me to get a lifeguard job.

And I didn't know CPR. So, but I took the lifeguard job. I'm like, you know, again, 16 or something. So I used to get all the kids and play games with them because I wanted to keep my eye on them. I was nervous that if something happened, I didn't really have the skills to save anybody. So I'd get them all to play games and stuff off the rings, and I would watch them all and play with all the kids. And then I did learn CPR, obviously, because I was like, you know, you can't be watching toddlers and not be able to save them when that's your job. But I was

a lifeguard. I love that story. I'm going to tell it again. I was a lifeguard. But I was on a swim team. And I was horrible. I was a terrible fucking swimmer. I know that makes you just so happy, Captain Guitar. And I was really, really bad. What was your stroke? I didn't have one. If I had a stroke, I was terrible. They put me on a relay team

but one time I got put in the backstroke and there was four kids in the race and you know, as we all do, three people are going to get a ribbon in this race

so I had a hell of a shot in this thing and there was a kid from another school who was very big. He was a large child. He was fed a lot and he was a big, big, big, big kid

and me and him were apparently, because you don't know what's going on when you're in the backstroke, He was a large child. He was fed a lot, and he was a big, big, big, big kid. And me and him were apparently, because, you know, you don't know what's going on when you're in the back. We were apparently in a fucking dog fight. Because the people from his swim team were like, they couldn't believe it. Like, he had a chance to ribbon. And they were standing by the pool, and they were screaming for him and cheering for him. And there was emotions, and I was kind of doing it. And the people from my team weren't all that kind of behind me, to be honest with you.

But I ended up touching before him and winning, but I felt terrible because I felt like the guy that they wanted, like Rudy, whatever, that he didn't get the ribbon. He deserved it. But that's the ribbon that I won. That was my individual ribbon. At the cost of a guy who probably won nothing ever. I taught him a very valuable lesson that day. That guy's a lingerie model today because of that. So when you did, um, all right, so you did the breakup and then you did, um, that was a fun movie. All your movies are fun. I'm becoming Chris Farley. This is my biggest nightmare. I'm just going. You remember

that part? You know, that character. That's right. What? I don't know when that happened. You know, we were having a good conversation. Now I'm just going to go right to the filmography. We were talking about me beating a larger boy in a swim meet.

Yeah. Well, I think that hurt me somehow. No, it didn't. That's a sport you were good at. That's a sport you were good at. I mean, guess what? That's a sport. No, but the fact that when you were swimming, you'd get out of the water,

you'd shake the air out, you knew you were good at something. And you have to adjust because of the speedo. That's right. Some of us more than others, but yes. Yeah, exactly. But the fact that when you were swimming, you knew that the kid,

that this was his one chance. I don't know what it was. I knew I was terrible, and I knew there was excitement around the pool. And I knew I was in a dog fight. I knew I was in a dog fight. And I knew they just couldn't believe he had a chance at ribboning.

The second movie you did with John that he wrote, what was that called again? Made. That was a great movie. Yeah. John that he wrote, what was that called again? Made. That was a great movie. Yeah. And that was a little darker. Intentionally, because we didn't want to kind of try to do the same type of thing, so we intentionally made it a little darker.

Because you were a little scary in that one. A little annoying. Yeah, it's scary. It's good. I like that. That's one of my favorites. I like Made. Do you want to do more of that?

Sometimes, yeah. I like doing different stuff, trying to do some different stuff. I'm excited to go do some more things like that or more character stuff and smaller things. Now I'm going to ask a difficult question. Let's do it. So when you do a few movies that get a lot of push and don't go great.

Like the last few, you can say it. Okay, like the last few movies, there's a lot of you around and then it's like, did you see that movie? I don know did it open right um was that rude no it's true okay um how do you how do you process that well i think each one you do differently but it depends on you know obviously you want people to see your movies and you'd like for them to do well but um a lot of it as an actor is really out of your control. Breakup was my idea. I produced that movie. So I had a lot of say in that.

That did well, right? That did well. And that was something to do a little different where they don't necessarily end up together at the end. And it's hard sometimes to get those things through a process. With no happy ending. They want the thing that's going to test the highest and be the thing that's going to be the most obvious for audiences to want to go and do its multiple. So if you do something like that, they really want to try to have the version of the movie that they think is going to be the most crowd-pleasing.

So I was fortunate that I was able to, you know, be able to have it be sort of the ending that we intended it, which was for them not to end up together. But, you know, on some of these films that you go do, you're just a hired gun, so you can, like, you know, for example, on The Internship, which was my idea originally, and I think Sean did a very good job with the movie. The story of the movie is very good.

But obviously for me, when I went back to Owen, I wanted to do an R comedy. I wanted to do something that was adult, that was far more adult in conversation. And it ended up with the studio and decisions to make that movie PG-13. So they neutered it. Well, I just sort of felt like it's weird because it's me and Owen, and obviously it's a workplace thing. You could go there. I mean, it was the original intention to.

Right. But as an actor, those aren't your choices. Really? Even as a star? It's not your – you're still – the medium is really the director, and then ultimately the studio, depending on what the situation is. That's why when you're doing things like these smaller films, if you have more control and there's less of a financial risk up front,

you're allowed a little more creative freedom with them. Right. And as far as like, cause you know, we were talking in the dressing room, you know, you seem to be very on top of, you know,

structure and, and you know, narrative and story and stuff. Do you want to write and direct more stuff. Do you want to write and direct more movies or do you want to do that? I like being involved in that process, you know? But I think if there's something that you can step into that you feel really good about the people that you're working with and everyone wants to say, make the same movie, that's fun. But I think as you get older, you do enjoy being more involved in the creative process. And I had

been younger with the people that I worked with. We were far more collaborative. And, you know, for me, I enjoy that side of the filmmaking process. What are you producing now? A movie called Swim Team. Yes. And in this particular film, there's a bunch of misfits, all from different walks of life, kind of from the wrong side of the tracks.

And they were younger. They swam, and they were pretty good. They were a good team, but they just couldn't beat those rich kids from the wrong side of the tracks. And they were younger. They swam. And they were pretty good. They were a good team. But they just couldn't beat those rich kids from the other side of the track ever in a big swim meet. That sounds fresh. And now they're older. It's like a part district pool.

And you got the one guy who's like really psyched. So he shaves every little bit of his body because he wants to be like a greyhound in the water. He wants to be fast. So he shaves it all up. One guy's got some substance problems. He can swim his ass off. But is he going to show up? You know what I mean? Yeah. One guy's not swimming

for him. He's swimming for his dad. That's not going to work. That's not going to last long, right? One guy's got a wife that's really on him and on him and on him and pushing him around and making him make choices and sacrifices. And one day in the middle of one of her tirades, he just walks out. She goes, where the fuck do you think you're going? And he goes, I'm going to swim practice. That sounds great. Is that in production? I don't want to say it's a green light but it's a flashing yellow. It's amber.

Pre-production. So how long have you been a dad? A little over three and a half years is that great yeah it's great how did that uh change everything for you mentally and emotionally oh you know i i waited till i was older to to have kids how old are you i'm 44 now and so i was i always do the math and i feel like i'm like when i was younger you know the kids you show up with that old parent you always felt weird.

You go, God, fucking Laura's dad's a fucking senior citizen, right? Remember, they always had the real old dad. Like, everyone's parents would show up, and then he'd move real slow. And I was like, and then someone would say something like, oh, it's nice your grandparents showed up. That's my dad. Oh, fuck, I want to bury my dad. I feel terrible. But I started doing the math.

I think I could be the old dad. Because I think I was 39, 40 when I had the first one but the good side of it is I think that you're older and more patient in those ways but the downside is like when I beat my dad for the first time and we're going to go back to sports because I know that's where you live

it was a big deal but I know these kids will be beating the shit out of me early how'd you beat your dad? well with basketball or a game of horse he's far better than i was he played in college but you know if you beat him in a game of horse or something's a big deal but yeah you know my dad was younger when he had kids now how about you what about me kids almost yeah yeah came close yeah and then uh i don't know if i think i did the right thing. She's significantly younger than me, and I had trouble getting her to clean her room. So I don't know that the child thing was really going to work out. I don't think it's going to happen for me.

Is it something that you want? You know, I've avoided it this long, and I've been married twice, and I've got no kids. Right. So I think that I might be a little too self-involved. I don't know. Maybe you just haven't found the right person, or you weren't at the right time for you. So you think I can still do it? I do. I think got no kids. Right. So I think that I might be a little too self-involved. I don't know. Maybe you just haven't found the right person

or you weren't the right time for you. So you think I can still do it? I do. I think you still could. I'm 50, man. You're also a guy and you would be able to have a kid. It's scientifically possible.

I'm 50. I'm going to have to find a woman that's going to have to sign some sort of paperwork that she's going to have to do 80% of the work and that when I'm 60, she just leaves me alone

and brings the kid in occasionally. Well, I think it's about finding the right person, whoever is going to make sense for what you're looking for. If that's something that you want. You think there's still hope, huh? I do. If it's something you want. I don't think it's something you have to have, but I think if it's something that you want

to have, you can kind of ask for those years back now and say there's things I'd like to have. I'll have kids with you. Is it wrong to say? I will have kids with you. I'll impregnate you. Huh? I'm. I'll have kids with you. I will have kids with you. I'll impregnate you. I'm saying I'll have kids with you. I don't know what happened.

I thought that's what we were moving towards. I'm in. Is it wrong to say I'd like to try it and see how it goes? Hello? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You guys thought you were coming to a little talky talk. Should we do it now or do you want to wait on it?

Oh, yeah. Do you want... Oh, like a big closer? Like, and now I'm going to fuck her. And then we do that. And Vince, you... Here's what I like. You would ref it.

You could ref it. Here's what I like. Let's get someone pregnant and back into getting along. I think that's a good plan. Huh? I like this. Let's have the kid. Okay, here it is. Yeah. Now let's figure out how do we get along. along. I think that's a good plan. I like this. Let's have the kid. Okay, here it is.

Now let's figure out how do we get along. I think that's a good plan. Well, that's what our parents did, I think. That's how it used to work. That's right. I think that's how it didn't work out great with my parents. No? No, they're okay.

But, I mean, look at me. You're great. You're fantastic. Well, thank you very much. You're fantastic. And now your parents still together? No, no, no. No?

Yours? No. Right. How old were you when that happened? I was 21. So they waited. You? Right when you got out the door, they were like, finally.

I know, that's the thing, too, right? Because that's on the other side. It's like, oh, great. It's all pretend. You're only here for me, right? For kids. If they do it younger, they say it's hard for kids. But if they wait, then that can be hard, too.

Because you're only waiting for me, right? Right. The whole thing a lie? Right, exactly. Oh, that's a lot of responsibility, right? No, it was difficult for me and I'm still getting over it. How old were you? 35. When they got divorced? Yeah, because it was like, who do I live with? That's crazy though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's tough. Those are choices. Sophie's choice. It's your choice. That was your choice. Yeah, yeah. No, they're both a little kooky, but they're okay. I still have very dramatic, exciting fights with my father.

Right. Ridiculous. Don't you feel horrible afterwards? Horrible. Yeah. Have you done that? Yeah, you have arguments. It's not fun.

No, I mean like big arguments. Well, you get mad. Sure, yeah. Not like fighting. No, not physical. I love my father. I have so much respect for him. But you can fight because it's your family.

You can get very upset over things. But like, fuck you. Yeah, you physical. I love my father. I have so much respect for him. But you can fight because it's your family. You can get very upset over it. Like, fuck you. Yeah, you scream. Yeah, it can happen. You do that? Try not to. Not in a while, but younger for sure. Seriously.

It's happened. Like, what's a while? Seriously. It has happened, yes. I've confirmed that. But it's not an ongoing thing. Yes, this is like, all of a sudden, I'm like a detective show, and he's trying to get the final answer out of me.

All right, the guy stole the car. What do you want? Yeah, I've got your father on the phone. There he is. Yeah. It's weird, though, because, yeah, you do feel bad. I had one of those recently where it's sort of like, what did I just do? And then you try to figure out what was it really about, right?

Yeah. Because you don't want to repeat that. You don't want to be doing it. You don't want to repeat it, but it's hard to let go of the fact like, well, he had that coming. No, do you feel that way? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Okay.

Don't you? No, I don't, but it's okay to let go of the fact like, well, he had that coming. No, do you feel that way? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Okay. Don't you? No, I don't, but it's okay. I like this. You feel like he had that coming because you feel like there was times, perhaps, where he was kind of pushing you around a little bit, and this was like, now it's his turn to know what it feels like not to be heard.

That's right. Yeah. And how did that feel once that happened at the end, a couple days later? Felt good? Well, I'm trying to defend it. Yeah? Yeah, I'm trying to defend my choices so let me ask you this yes a little time passes you and him would find yourself back on the old horn and how do you what's the first thing said do you talk about the fight you just move on until a new fight happens he's trying to renegotiate

okay yeah but then there's always a little catch to it you know there's a there's a but you know and then i'm like oh that's a clause and I don't enjoy that at all but I think the idea is isn't the but maybe kind of saying here's where I'm coming from or here's how I felt as a person because even though it's your dad he's still a person

feeling his stuff right isn't the but kind of like yeah but that's not my problem it's going to be okay you know it just becomes... Yeah, I sent him some money. And I think that... Throw a little cash on the problem. Oh, you're furling spat here.

You took the fucking money. Don't say a word. You took the fucking money. Did you want the new addition to the fucking house in Mexico or you didn't want the fucking new addition? Did you? All right. You took the fucking money. Did you want the new addition to the fucking house in Mexico, or you didn't want the fucking new addition? Did you? All right.

You took the money. That's it. Yeah, we're good. Now we're talking about my day. Love you, Dad. Yeah, exactly. Love you, Dad. That was good.

So I'm over a lot of shit. This was helpful. I'm a captain. You are a captain. No one can take that away of shit. This was helpful. I'm a captain. You are a captain. No one can take that away from you. I know. I know. And I'm getting a sweater.

You are getting a sweater. By the way, you are getting a sweater. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And you know, my dad and I are going to be all right. You and your dad are all right. Now I think we've got to find a new mate because this one's a lot. I like her.

I like her. But I'm just saying we need a date. You guys want to go out on a date. I'll pay for it. Otherwise you're on your own. It's like, uh, it's like the old love connection. What do you, what are you working on? Uh, I just did a movie called term life. Yeah. With, um, Haley Seinfeld and, uh, uh, Peter Billingsley, who I work with quite a bit, uh, director of the movie. And, um, it's got a great cast. It's based on a graphic novel.

It's about a guy who's a criminal, and then he has a daughter that he's kind of not in her life, and he plans a heist that kind of goes bad, and they're forced to sort of be around each other. It turned out very good. Yeah, you like it? I like it. Is it a darker character, edgier?

It is, it is. It's an R movie. It's not a comedy, but it was very, very good. And, like, in the, like, I don't usually ask this, but, like, are there people that you really want to work with that you haven't? Like, who are your heroes in the whole? You know, I don't have that as much. I mean, there's people I like working with and doing stuff.

I don't really set people up in my mind and say, God, I really love to do something with that person. I always hear, like, I think it's weird when people do interviews sometimes and they say, how did you feel when so-and-so called you? And like, oh my God, I can't believe it. I mean, I think it's nice to have people to like to work with. I don't really, to me, it's more about the material or what the attempt is and sure there's people whose work you like for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Who were your like filmmaker heroes? Like what were the movies when you were growing up? I watched a lot of Westerns as a kid. You like Westerns? I like Westerns.

What's your favorite one? It's hard to pick a favorite one. I watched Shane a lot. It was good. George Stevens. I like Wild Bunch. The Searchers was good. Wild Bunch is great. Great kid. You like Westerns? I like Westerns, yeah. What's your favorite one? It's hard to pick a favorite one. I watch Shane a lot. It was good. George Stevens. I like Wild Bunch. The Searchers was good. Wild Bunch is great. Great movie, right? Peckinpah. Yeah.

Bill Holden. Yeah, he was great. Great. And who was the other one? Robert Ryan played that. That was very good. Yeah, that's beautiful. Ben Johnson.

Yep. Ben Johnson. Yeah. He was in both. He was in Shane and he was in Wild Bunch. Wow. And Warren Oates.

Warren Oates. I'm just going to repeat names. That's good. You know, it's a great movie, The Unforgiven. Have you watched that recently? Very good movie. Genius. Very good movie.

Wow. Yeah. Is Shane dead when he drives away? No. He's not? Maybe a little part of him, but not in the natural. Yeah. Not in the natural.

How about the part in The Searchers where John Wayne's going to shoot the girl? Because she's one of them now? That's heavy shit. That was the first movie to really kind of deal with racism in that way. Yeah, and he just owned it. It was kind of scary. You're like, John Wayne's not cool.

Well, depending on where you came on that. What side of the fence you fell on that at the time? He's right. Fuck her. Vince Vaughn, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, guys. You can turn on that music. Fuck her. Vince Vaughn, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you guys. You can turn on that music.

You guys are great. Thank you for coming. Enjoy the festival. Thank you. Thank you so much. That was great. That was fun. Yeah.

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