Brittany Snow

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard. I'm joined by Monica Padman. Hi. Today we have Brittany Snow on. She is an actor, a singer, a director, pitch perfect. Oh, yeah. I really leaned into the pitch perfect. It was like you were trying to do an onomatopoeia. Yeah, and alliteration. Sure. Which I accomplished. John Tucker Must Die, The Beast in Me, and of course, The Hunting Wives. Season two. It's hotter than ever. I watched. Oh. Season two starts November 26th. Wow. Is that Thanksgiving? Around. Yep, that is. It's on Thanksgiving? Yeah, it's a Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving. Sophie trades city life for East Texas and all hell breaks loose. I really love Brittany Snow. Me too. Me too. What a great personality. I agree. Please enjoy Brittany Snow. We are supported by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking whether the turkey was fully thawed before Thanksgiving morning? You were told days ago to thaw it? Days. And now you're standing in the kitchen holding a 20-pound ice block wondering if a hair dryer counts as cooking. Yeah. Checking first is always a great idea. So check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates. Northbrook, Illinois. We get support. Support from Quince. Okay. Can we talk about the fact that the holidays are already here? It's crazy. I feel like I blinked and now we're in gifting season, which I'm not really mad about because I do love giving gifts. And Quince is making it so easy to find something great for everyone on my list, including myself. Because let's be honest, self-gifting is a love language. Quince is seriously the gift that keeps on giving. Their high-quality staples are made with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere, 14-karat gold, and Italian leather. Full-on luxury quality at prices that won't wreck your holiday budget. It's the dream. The cashmere sweater starting at $60. Down jackets, wool outerwear, cashmere accessories. You and everyone on your list are staying cozy and looking incredible all season long. Well, I'm going to tell you this. It just got chilly for the first time this year in California. And I'm so excited. And I'm wearing my Quince cashmere right now. It's great. Yeah. And I am going to gift this to some of my friends. I hope they're not listening. Quince is also more than clothing. They've got fine jewelry for your significant other, leather bags for your bestie, hotel quality bedding to set up your guest rooms, chef-grade cookware. That's an amazing thing they offer here. And it's such a good gift because people don't like buying cookware for themselves. But it's very important. And they also have five-star luggage, another good gift that people don't like buying for themselves. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Armchair Expert. It's the best way to support the show. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Every family has that one holiday tradition nobody actually enjoys, but everyone keeps doing because stopping it would feel like a federal offense. For me, it was a specific meal situation that I will not name because my family listens. So, if you want to know more about that, go to betterhelp.com. But at some point, you have to ask yourself, am I doing this because I love it or because I'm afraid of what happens if I don't? Yes, and that question applies to so much more than the holidays. I think a lot of us carry these invisible rules about how we're supposed to spend the holidays, who we're supposed to see, what it's supposed to look like. And when you start unpacking that with a therapist, you realize half of your stress is coming from rules you didn't even write. This is where BetterHelp can be a great resource during the holidays. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you. So, you can focus on that. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences, which means they typically get it right the first time. If you aren't happy with your match, switch to a different therapist at any time from their tailored recs. I just love therapy. I've been avoiding it recently. Or not avoiding it, but I was like, oh, I'm busy, I'm busy, I'm busy. I'm going to cancel, cancel, cancel. But then I. And you start feeling it. Yeah. Because then I had it this past weekend and I was like, oh my God. And just, thank God. Relief. Thank God for her. Yeah. BetterHelp is now in-network. BetterHelp is now in-network with more than 125 health plans with many co-pays as low as $15 for eligible members. And if you don't have eligible insurance or live outside the U.S., you can still get 20% off your first month. Sign up and get 20% off at BetterHelp.com slash DAX. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash DAX. BetterHelp.com slash DAX. Where on earth would they experience what happens in there? It doesn't exist in real life other than these support groups. And I find them so special. And I thought, oh, could you kind of behave like that in public? What would be the response? I have a lot to say. Have you been in those situations and do you find them to be like so unique? Like, oh my God, 15 people being insanely honest and vulnerable and no one's judging them. And the worse you were, the more relatable that is and more helpful it is. You know, an example. The opposite of everything we think. Like, I got to be perfect and be a champion so people like us. And it's like, oh my God, it's the opposite. And how else would you experience that? I felt like that because I went into program when I was like, I think I started when I was 16. And so it was, I was a kid still. And I was like, all these women are around here telling each other that they love each other and there's no comparison. And there's an answer to this thing that I thought was so crazy. And it was very helpful. But then in a certain way, I felt like you could get lost in it a little bit. So you have to. You have to discern the difference between where you begin and the group ends and vice versa. But that's as you grow up, how you navigate the world. And so it's sort of like a microcosm of, of just growing up. And I was in there. I totally agree. There's like, and I think. Are we going? Are we in it? Yeah. I'm just. For a lot of people that have gone through programs for a very long time. There's a really funny comedian who's been in the program for, I don't know, 20, 30 years. And he's been very honest about his journey. with it, which is like, there are points where you're like, okay, it has some cult elements to it that I need to flag those. There's some people presenting as experts that are not, there are things that after it saves your life, it's fair to get a little skeptical of some of the elements. I think it's so helpful. I was just thinking about that. This has nothing to do. It sort of has something to do with this topic, but I on Emmy's night met the love on the spectrum cast. And I was like, this is so special. I was more starstruck by them than anybody else that I probably could have ever met. And then I started psychoanalyzing why I was so starstruck and what that show means. And I thought to myself and why it's relevant is that it's so beautiful that there is a show that we all collectively agree on and that we have a community of people that really understands the elevation, which like the world needs to exist on because we all love this show. And the reasons that we love it are very beautiful because we're seeing like humanity and empathy and we're seeing real people that we don't know. And I think that's, I think that's, I think that's real people that we don't get to see every day actually do the most basic, truest thing to themselves, which is fall in love or try to find love. It's the best of us. The part that likes that show that all of us like that show. But it's like bringing community together where I'm like, oh, I have restored faith in humanity. And that's what program did for me a little bit too. I was like, oh, there's people out there that really just want the best for other people. Yeah. Yeah. That are rooting for other people. Yeah. And for themselves. Do you think another layer of love on the spectrum, and I've only watched it a little bit, but do you think another element that's quite appealing is, again, back to the thing I just said about like people showing the darkest side of themselves and yet they're still loved. For these autistic kids, they can't even put on a filter. Right. They cannot be anything but their truest self. I love that. We have so many filters and we're trying so hard to not let anyone see our truest self. So to watch people do it, there's also this element of like there's bravery and then you see acceptance around it. Like I think that's another gear of the show that's intriguing to us. It's so vulnerable to be so honest. We like look up to that type of person and so it's nice. It's inspiring in a way. Like, oh, I should say what I feel as well. Dylan, who was on the show on Emmy's night, he was like, you should do more singing movies. Ask your agent to do more singing movies. Okay. Why don't you? And I was like, Dylan, you're right. I should ask my agent. Why don't I? I don't know. I guess I'm scared of singing sometimes, but he just like outwardly said it. And I would love to go up to someone at an Emmy party and be like, you should do more thrillers. Yeah. Ask your agent. Yeah. That's how I feel about Chris Pratt. I want him back in comedy. There you go. Oh, I know. I miss him in comedy. He's so funny. My algorithm is all like Parks and Rec bloopers. Yeah. He's so funny on those bloopers. He's so brilliant. And they're all him. They're all improvised. I'm like, guys. Let's get him back on the network sitcom. That's right. NBC, call him up. Okay. So you're from Tampa, Florida. I am. Weirdly enough, I just booked a plane ticket to go to Tampa in November. On purpose? On purpose. To do something that's so Tampa, which is I'm going to be in a car race of old police cars. Doesn't that sound pretty on point? It's very Tampa. Yeah. Yeah. There's this incredible guy, Cletus McFarlane, that lives down there. Who's got a compound. His name is Cletus. That name is also very Tampa. I love Cletus already. Okay. Now this is impossible and this is great. So your mother's name, it starts with a C. Cinda. Cinda. Hit us with your father's name and go the full name. John Snow. John Snow. Oh my God. When I read that, it jumped off the page. John Snow. Yeah. When Game of Thrones was really hitting it hard in the world, we had a lot of problems in our house because every time we would go, my brother is also named John Snow. And so he would be buying beer and they'd be like, John Snow? Winter was always coming in my house. Yeah. There was a lot of Game of Thrones paraphernalia and things that we would buy each other. I guess now I didn't know your brother's name was John. That's fantastic. Although he, I suppose, is John Snow Jr. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Making a reservation. Like, I feel like it would be helpful, even though it shouldn't be because it's a fictitious character. It was helpful. And it was also a really good conversation starter for my dad at the time when it was really relevant. And what did Cinda and John do in Tampa? Had they moved to Tampa or are they second generation? They moved to Tampa before I was born. And then my dad was in insurance and my mom was in sales. And then I started working when I was a baby, basically. My mom got me into it when I was like two or three. So I've never known anything. And so slowly, very slowly over time, my mom sort of became my manager, which I didn't necessarily know. I thought she was just my mom, but she was old. And then my dad retired when I was 12 and I did the soap opera called Guiding Light. And so he took me to New York and we were together. And I went back and forth from New York to Florida. He retired because you were successful? No, no. Was he an older father when he had you? Yeah. He was 48 when he had me. 48. Well, that tops me. Yeah. I like that. And that's not terribly normal in 1986. No, it was not. I love that you know my birth year too. March 3rd? March 9th. You're really good at this. I'm like, I don't even remember my birthday. I'm the second iteration of kids because I have a brother and a sister from his first marriage. And so I'm not sure if he needed to do the whole thing again, but there we were all together in Florida. And my dad and I had an interesting relationship growing up. And then when I was doing the soap opera, when I was 12, I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. And then when I was 12, it really shifted for me and we got really close. We were so close. Oh, that's lovely. Has he passed? He's not. He has Alzheimer's actually. Pretty extreme at this point. And so I shouldn't refer to it as we were close because we are close, but you know, it takes a different shape. Yeah. No, my only experience with that was my grandma, Yolis, which was truly my second mother. She raised me every summer. Yeah. And she got it really bad. And it's a very disjointing feeling to look at her and she doesn't know who you are. Right. Right. Right. All of this that you have. Yeah. It's been such a beautiful, tragic, sad, all the words, I guess, of understanding how you can have a different type of relationship with someone in such a different shape and form. But I'm looking at it as I'm grateful that I got six years with him because he got diagnosed in 2020. So that I got six years that I wouldn't have had if he got cancer or something like that, and I got to really be present in those years because I, I knew it was happening. And so I really don't take that for granted. I think with Alzheimer's, my grandfather also had it. We were also very, very, very close. And because it's more over time, I do feel like there's like two deaths in some ways. Yeah. You have your own closure and you just like your own goodbye kind of while they're still living, which is a little complicated and confusing because you're around them and they're physically there. But the one you knew is no longer there. It's true. And then you're kind of waiting for this. Other death. It's, it's a very strange experience. For me, it was anyway. I think that's exactly how I feel is it's a prolonged grief that you can either take as it being very helpful because you can sort of look at it in such a bigger way as opposed to just grief hitting you and then having to come on the back end. You're sort of mining all the stuff before. Um, you ready for something? Oh, it's nicotine. We're about to kiss. Oh, you didn't get your publicist didn't tell you that's part of the show. I guess every guest, uh, boy or girl. I was just like, wow, he's just fresh to death. No matter what Alzheimer's. Oh, it's nicotine. I get it. Okay. Okay. Hypervigilance. How did you know that? Are you a psychic? What do you mean? You're hypervigilant. How do you know that? Oh, because I've said in an interview. No one's even going to notice what just happened. You're fully focused on Monica. And on the very far corner of your eye, you just see me put something in my mouth and you don't miss it. Wow. Well, um, I'm going to get comfortable. It's my biggest thing that I deal with in therapy is hypervigilance. And it sort of seeps into, Oh God, I'm really on armchair expert. It seeps into every aspects of my life. It's sort of defines everything that's happened in terms of addiction or partners that I've chosen or anything like that. Because when I was a kid I learned very early on because I was a baby actor. I get the most reward system and the biggest doses of love. If I am managing everyone's emotions and really perfect and doing everything right and performing to the best of my ability and every buddy gets really happy. Yeah. You can control the temperature in the room. Oh, I love it. With your existence. It's my favorite thing to work on too, of just like, I don't need to control the environment. Oh, why would I? So hard. Isn't that interesting how much you have to put it into practice? And that uncomfortable feeling that you feel that just feels icky is okay. Sitting there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can just sit in uncomfortableness. I mean, your brain's telling you you're going to die, right? Or you need to get it off of you. And I think that's, I'm sure a lot of addicty people feel like that. Yeah. You've got to do something to change it or you don't have to. What I love. I think like I would take it all on because of that. Cause I know you right away. You see each other. Yeah. Yeah. And I love that. I think that's really special. That's like the gift in my opinion. I think it's such a gift and it's been so useful for me for my career to be super in tune with people's needs and empathetic in a way where I can read a room. And I think I learned that not because just only in my childhood, but being a child actor, I could tap dance and do the things. And sometimes that is what people need. And I try to take that as it's like a super power instead of it being detrimental. Also, I would guess as an adult, in a scene, it might take me six goes at it before we have the thing the adults in the room are happy with. Now, as an adult, I go, yeah, that's standard. Everyone is going to need multiple takes. But if I'm a child and I know the adults want something that I cannot give them right now, or that I seemingly am not because we keep doing it. Yeah. I have to imagine without that perspective, that is an extremely stressful situation on a little person's nervous system. I learned very quickly to get to where I needed to go and doing it at any means necessary. Yeah. Just be perfect right out of the gate and to use whatever you needed to, to cry or get there. And I'm talking like, it's so terrible. I was having a blast. You know, I loved being a kid actor, but we don't have to apologize. It still was just weird. I shouldn't have to make myself cry to get validation, but you know, that's what we did. None of it's complaining. It's just the reality check of it. Like that's a lot of stress on a because what I was thinking is you're in the department store catalog at three years old, right? So you're part of photo shoot. I can't even imagine getting my three-year-old to cooperate for a photo shoot. I just always was so ready to rock. I don't know what that means about me, but I was like, this is my destiny. When I was a child, the Land's End catalogs, the baby commercials. Did you ever eat any baby food or do you get to play with toys in a commercial? I remember I had an Oreo commercial. The dream. It was Oreos and wheat thins. And I I think I got the Wheat Thins part of the commercial It was under the same umbrella. Because those are both Nabisco. Yeah, it was a Nabisco commercial. And I had, this was when I was in like fourth or fifth grade, which is weird that I had braces. But I remember that I had braces on or like a retainer that you couldn't take off. And my mom took it off. Oh, but she got in there and did some orthodontia. No, like I had to go to the orthodontist and get it taken off because she didn't want to mess up the Wheat Thins commercial. Sure. It was going to get stuck in my teeth. Yeah. And were you aware of the fact at all that you were accumulating like hundreds of thousands of dollars? Did you have any sense that you were generating a ton of money? I didn't even know what money was. All right. Yeah. No clue. Okay. I also had no idea where it was going. Let's be honest. A Wheaties, or rather a. Nabisco commercial. Yeah. Back then. In the late 80s? Yeah. That's a cash cow. That fucker probably ran for 13 months. It was in the 90s at that point. I remember it being a big deal. I remember knowing that like, oh, well, I've made it. Yeah. In fourth grade. Were kids at school seeing you in commercials and what was their reaction to it? I mean, I have a guess. Your advocacy work is about bullying. I'm assuming that there's some story there. It could go either way, though, because people could be like, that girl's cool. She's in commercials. Well, that's what you would hold. Well, that's what I thought would happen. But jealousy. I wasn't really aware. I think I was so focused on achievement. And, you know, it's like one of those kids who's just really into the schoolwork or soccer or something like that. And I just was laser focused until about middle school. And then the girls got really mean. I mean, honestly, from their perspective in their little middle school brain, I got to fly in and out of school. I was on a soap opera in New York. I got to go to two days of school, take my tests. Were boys obsessed with you? Oh, no. I had really curly hair and I didn't know what to do with it. It would be curly and then I would put gel in it and then I'd brush it out. So I had a really big, big frizz. That's unadvisable. But Brittany, if I was in seventh grade and you were on television, I could watch you. And I would have been obsessed. I can't imagine none of these boys were like watching the program. No, I had no. Not in middle school. No, but the girls, I think they thought, why did she get their jealous? Yeah. Why did she get to do this? And to be honest, I don't know why I got to do this. It just I was going in and out. It was a lot because my parents thought it would be normal for me to be in school in Florida and go to work in New York. It was a bad decision. They thought it was the best thing. And how does one know you are afraid your kid's not going to have a real life? I imagine if you have the child actor and you don't know anyone to call, I'm trying to make a case for them. Of course. Yeah. You know, who are they going to call and be like, hey, did you send Tom to normal school? Ben Cruz, you know, who are they going to find out from? The option was that I was going to go to a professional New York school while I was doing the soap opera. And she didn't like that there was other actory kids there and she wanted me to have a normal life. But we look back and it was not a normal life. The ship has sailed once you're on a soap opera. I was more friendly with the JetBlue flight attendants than I was my friends in school because. I was on a plane every week going back and forth. You got on Guiding Light at 12, right? How did that come about? I don't even know how you're auditioning for things in Tampa. I went up to New York. I got an agent. It was my first audition. You and Ashton Kutcher, baby. His first audition? It was a 70s show. Oh, really? Yeah. First audition. That's the only thing we have in common. Not dollar amounts, just that. That was the first audition I went to. And I wish I had as much confidence as I did back then about my acting. I just was like, I'm going to get this. Yeah. And now I've never can do it. So, yeah, it was my first thing. And then we had to move there. And so my mom was like, oh, shit. Good for you that you got your first audition. But now our life is completely changed. OK, now I love talking about this because we've had, I don't know, a dozen folks that have started in soaps. And what people may or may not realize about soap operas is you film an entire episode of the show in one day, which would normally take on a sitcom five days and on a drama eight days. And they're hour long, right? So 45 pages. You got to move, right? Right. Oh, my mouse sneezes. When you leave, you walk out to cough, right? Is that when you leave? If I'm having a cough attack, I will leave because it's too embarrassing. OK. It's disruptive. This is a war between us. I've known her for 11, 12 years now, and she's not farted in front of me. And I'm like, this is this is this is insane. OK, so you are. You are with me on this. Oh, yeah. What about when you're in partner? Well, now we're really deep. We were talking about such serious, interesting stuff. It's always there waiting. When you're in partnership, are you relaxed enough to fart? So yesterday I was on another podcast and I was with Malin Ackerman, who's on Hunting Wives with me, and she went on this whole five minute thing about bathroom behavior. And I like looked off into the distance and I disassociated. And then the podcast, Brittany Broski was like, are you OK? And I was like, I completely left my body. Yeah. I can't talk about this. It's not for you. It's not for you. I think it's my mom comes in my head and it's like, that's not a thing. But this is part of the perfection. I'm going to bring this back. This is part of being perfect. Don't look over here in any way negative, which I relate to, which is why I've never farted. OK. By the way, you're going to bring that back. Yeah, I know Malin very well. Yes. So without you even telling me what her take was, I know what it was. She is a Swede. They're naked a lot in Sweden. Fucking naked with their parents. Presumably fart, fart, fart. Who cares? I mean, if you're naked, like, I don't know. I assume you have some farts that are coming out. It's very free. It's free. It's free. Yeah. That would even saying the word would be a lot, right? Oh, I can't. Yeah. OK, that's fine. I'm not going to ask you to. I think I can feel what your body would feel like inside if you said it. Yeah, me too. It's also a little. Oh, my God. That's an exclusive. Honestly, it is and I'm sweating. I'm sweating. I'm sweating. That's an exclusive. Oh, my God. It's on every headline of every paper. My publicist is like, how did it go? And I'm like, well, I had a breakthrough. She's like, I knew it was supposed to come. Read all about it. Yeah, exactly. Don't you feel good now? I do. I do. You don't have to lie either. No. Maybe you don't feel good about it. I do. Yeah, yeah. But back to freedom. I didn't think when you were talking about not having control. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. We're now putting you in a position. We're now putting you in a position to not have any control. It is freeing. I was talking to my therapist about this the other day. I was like, man, I was in a situation recently where I normally would behave very hypervigilantly and very like. Controlley. Controlley, sheriffy looking, thinking. And I was like, I'm not doing it. Yeah. And I didn't. And I was like, oh, it feels so good. It's the best. It's my favorite thing to do. I mean, I'm so proud of myself that now I can do it. I can see it. Whereas before it's reactionary. Now I can make the choice to not. And it is freeing. It's really important. What a feeling. Well, it's just too much of a beat down on your nervous system. Yeah. To not learn how to put that away. But you don't realize it when it's your M.O. It's just what you do. And you tell yourself that's who you are as if this is a immovable object. And that it's on you. It's necessary for you to behave this way or everyone's going to die or everyone's going to fall apart. Once you realize that you're not going to. it like feels like that's the worst thing you can acknowledge but it's actually liberating so good oh yeah i say to myself i mean i don't even know how many times a day like nobody gives a fuck about you not in a bad way but like nobody cares there's so much what's that like old adage where it's like today's news is another man's fish wrap or like today's newspaper is another whatever i love it never heard it love it but it's something about the front page news is like tomorrow it's gonna be somebody's gonna just throw it away and i truly think that all the time where i'm like you could be freaking out about this but nobody really cares yeah i love jeffrey johnson i don't know if you ever worked with him he's a prop master and he's also the head of the union he was a prop master on parenthood for six years of anyone i've ever met in the crew he's my favorite so every year i go and present or do a bit with for the prop master union award show so it's saturday and he thought this year's bit might be hey why don't you carry me across the stage and then put me down and then when you go to the mic say the prop department's always carrying us actors i thought it returned the favor so i go okay great no problem i underestimate how long the stage is right and i'm gonna say that jeffrey probably weighs like i don't know probably 185 190 but i'm like no problem i'll do that i carry him like a baby and i'm walking walking walking walking walking i'm like oh it's a very long walk and then i set him down i'm like i gotta get back to the fucking mic and then i scurry back to the microphone and then i start trying to read this teleprompter which is it's like a three-page setup for this award in about 10 lines in i'm like i think i'm gonna pass out i'm trying to not breathe while i'm reading the thing and then i have to stop and i go okay gang i thought i was in better shape than i was i can't breathe ha ha ha but now that there's laughs and i feed that a little bit i never really get my breath that i needed oh no yeah and then i try to continue on reading and it was the craziest experience i've ever had on a stage because i kept thinking i was gonna pass out and i could barely read out loud so i was so out of breath i leave and i literally went and this is the freedom of like being 51 and whatever it is i shit the bed on that and who gives a fuck also if you're not a fan of the show you're not a fan of the show you're not a fan of the show if anything it's kind of it's kind of cool yeah it's awesome it doesn't mean memorable i think it's endearing there was a period in my life where i would have left in the whole ride home i would have been like oh my god i fucked that up i should have blah blah and i was just like oh yeah that's one thing that didn't go well other things have gone well and we're going home and who gives a flying fuck yeah and reprogramming that your external validation doesn't make up who you are like it doesn't take away from you being like great that you went there and did that and had that you were supportive of your friend and tried something cool Like why do we need it to go well in order for that to mean something. And it didn't. And that was fine. And it's really okay if things don't go well. We're going to all survive. Life will be pretty much the same. Yeah, totally. Okay. We're on Guiding Light for three years. You win the Soap Opera Digest Award. Wow. Oscar, Soap Opera Digest. It's all in the same. Is there an award show for that? There was. I don't know if there is anymore. I do think that soap operas might not be as relevant. I don't think, yeah, sadly. So many moms I knew in their programs. And you know, so many great actors came from Soaps. Tom Pelfrey and I were just talking about it. He just won. And he was like, you were on Guiding Light? I was on Guiding Light. I was like, oh, see, it's not so bad. No, almost everyone we've interviewed that started there is a phenomenal actor because I think it's great training. It's like, hey, you're going to learn how to memorize dialogue in a hurry. You're also going to learn to move and pace and not be precious. You're so on instinct. You're not in your head because you don't have time to be in your head. You're just doing the first thing. You're just that pops up, which for a kid actor is really good because there's no technique, really. You're not like studying Stanislavski and being like, Meisner taught me this. You're just being a kid. There's a lot of acting that sometimes I just go back to like, what would I have done on Guiding Light? You're trying to just go back to that reactionary sort of feeling. But yeah, it was a really good training ground, but also for a kid, maybe a lot more pressure than I probably should have had. Taken on, yeah. But you know, in hindsight, it made me fall in love with acting. Because I started to realize the reason that I liked acting was because it was a therapeutic experience. You were talking to Claire Danes and you're saying like you have a scene on the show and you're letting it rip against your mom on the show. You're getting to behave in a way you would never be allowed to behave towards your mom. And then at the end of that, there's like a round of applause. Everyone's so happy. Yeah. And that's like the first time you go from like, oh, I just show up here. I do this thing. And this was like, oh, wait, this is rad. I like this. Yeah. I mean, now it's sort of fucked up to realize that that validation that I got from getting in touch with some teenage anger was probably like discombobulated. I shouldn't have probably found it there. But I think that in that moment, I think that's sometimes what acting is, is using your own experience and sort of going into this meditative state where I was yelling at my mom. And so I fell in love with that feeling. That was the first time I did a short film called Milkshake about this. But it was the first time I got like high as a 12 year old because you leave your body and you're doing something. That's way bigger than you. And you're like, whoa, whoa, where was I? You're in flow. You're transcending it all. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah. So obviously at work, you were pulling it off perfectly. But where is the anxiety parked? Like all that anxiety that was never shown on your 10 hour day at work? Where is it burbling up? What were you doing when you got off work in New York City at 13 years old? Well, it gets a little dark, but I think that anybody who cares about knowing me knows this really have an outlet. And so I decided to start emulating the women on set and they were all on diets and they all were all looking at their bodies and talking about their bodies. My body was changing and I thought, I don't want to be, you know, a chunky teenager. So I start dieting and then it starts becoming this sort of best friend and definitely like an addiction where I was really hyper-focused on that being the only thing I cared about. So it was just work and that and controlling that, counting every single calorie, working out for two hours after rehearsals before I would shoot the day of soap opera acting. And so it was repetitive and it made me feel safe that I got a high of like, every time I got on the scale, there was a new number and I did well if it went down. There's very few areas of your life that you can quantify and measure. It's so true. It's extreme validation on an immediate scale, literally, because you have something coming back at you being like, you're doing something right, supposedly. And at that time, it was right because there was no doubt that I was doing something right. And so I was there wasn't any talk about eating disorders. I didn't even know what that was. And nobody's talking about that being a bad thing, necessarily. Everyone's losing weight. I mean, it's the 90s at this point. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. Not checking the weather forecast before you walk out the door. You looked outside, saw a blue sky, felt great about your outfit choice. No jacket, no umbrella. Fast forward two hours, you're sprinting through a parking lot in a downpour, holding a notebook over your head like that's going to help. Yeah, checking first is a brilliant idea. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We get support from superhuman. Look, I love what I do. The conversations, the ideas, the creative stuff, but the best part is that I'm not a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. I'm a superhuman. There's this whole other layer of work that eats my day alive. The inbox that never ends. Docs I need to get through. Threads I'm behind on. And by the time I've dealt with all that, the stuff I actually want to focus on gets whatever's left. 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Foundeo is a once-daily prescription GLP-1 medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Foundeo should not be used with other GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Foundeo is safe and effective for use in children. Don't take Foundeo if you're allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Stop and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, or severe stomach pain. Serious side effects may include inflamed pancreas and gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes, if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills, and before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. Taking Foundeo with an insulin or sulfonylurea may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration. And may cause kidney problems. Once daily, Foundeo is available by prescription only in 0.8 milligram, 2.5 milligram, 5.5 milligram, 9 milligram, 14.5 milligram, and 17.2 milligram tablets. Learn more at foundeo.lily.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX. Now is perfect to talk to your doctor about Foundeo. I remember in 93, my senior year of high school, there was this beautiful girl, and she went away for a while, and then she came back, and she made a speech to our class about where she had been and what she had gone through. Yeah, and she had gone to treatment for anorexia. And I remember like, A, this is the ballsiest thing, much ballsier than the two dudes I just saw fight in the hallway. Like, this is nuts, right? This is so brave. Oh, that poor girl, and she was so beautiful. Trying to comprehend how she could have had some body dysmorphia was challenging for me. And then, yeah, that's a whole new thing. That's the first time I'm really going like, oh, this is a thing someone can have, and that's in 93, and I'm 18. That's so important that that happened, because at that time, nobody was talking about that. And what a brave person to even put a name to it, because at 18. Well, she was also the Tracy Flick of our school, right? She was very outgoing. She was very confident. And again, that's another, it's like, it doesn't match with your whole stereotype of any of this stuff. I think that's what was really hard for me, too, is that I thought that I could not only, like, control this, but then I could control the recovery of it, too, and that it wasn't that big of a deal. And of course, it was. And I'm not an addict in other ways, but I'm an addict in that way, in terms of hyperfixating on something, in terms of control in my body. And I got down to a weight that was scary. So, yeah, dangerous. And who intervened? My dad, actually. And that was the first time that I went to therapy. I started therapy when I was 16. I started going to program, and I learned what an eating disorder was. I read an article in a magazine. I have a charity called September Letters that is about this moment. But I read an article in a magazine about this woman who had an eating disorder. And I was like, the way she's counting her food and the way she's talking about her body, that's exactly what I do. And I said, eating disorder? I don't even know what that means. And so I ripped out the magazine. I carried it around in my back pocket for a while, because it sort of signified that somebody had an answer to this, and it made me feel not alone. And then later, when I got recovery, and I did a People Magazine article, I talked about how that article had really changed everything. Everything for me. And I talked about it in the People Magazine article. And I went to a coffee shop, and a girl was in front of me in line, and she was crying. And she turned around, and she was carrying my article in her back pocket. And I started crying, and she started crying. And I always wanted to do something about that notion that you're thinking, like the girl in your school, that this is something that you're doing for other people, but you're really doing it for yourself. And making sure that your story means something, that it's going to continue on, and that you can to help someone else in the same way because you're offering hope. Yeah. I think there's probably a lot of misconceptions about it, but the thing that makes it an addiction, right. Is like, you're regulating your emotional state with this outward behavior. And that's what I'm doing too. When I go buy Coke, I'm going to regulate how I feel. I don't like how I feel and I have a solution for it. It's expensive. Well, it's expensive emotionally. Yeah. It all is. That was what I learned in program that was so fascinating is that you just insert item here, alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, whatever it is. It's that external thing that's supposed to solve the inner hole that you're feeling and you can't seem to fill it up. And so I had a lot of friends that were alcoholics as a kid and things like that because we were all going through the same thing. It made me feel better that in program two, it was taken just as seriously. Yeah. Yeah. That my. It was not a frivolous sort of. A girly, frivolous, vain. No, it was a life-threatening illness like all these are. Yeah. And then I directed a movie a couple of years ago called Parachute. And that was really about the beginning of figuring out how to get better. And the final day that I got better, I have 17 years of recovery tomorrow. Oh my God, tomorrow. Congratulations. That's amazing. The 17th or 17 years. Yeah. It's a golden recovery day, birthday. I don't know. It is. Yeah. It's my golden day or whatever. What are you going to do? Nothing, probably. Your face just made an interesting shape that resembled Emily Blunt. I've never seen that before, but have you ever gotten that? Yeah, I have gotten that. Oh, wow. That's a compliment. Thank you. Yeah. Not a bad thing to hear. That's fun. I didn't. I didn't get it. Yeah, it was really specific. I wish I had that cool accent and was just as classy. Okay. So you go from the soap to American Dreams. With Sarah Ramos. With Sarah Ramos. With Sarah Ramos. And maybe more importantly to me, Kristen's. Your wife. Oh, that's right. Second guest star of her life. Uh-huh. And she said, you know, Britney was so nice to me. Oh, really? And I've remembered that my whole life. And I always love seeing her just because she was so, so nice to me. That's so nice. On my like second guest appearance. I remember. I remember that. How could you remember? You do. I do remember. Really quick. The premise, it's you're a dancer on American Bandstand. But it's about the 60s. Yes. It was a great show. I loved that show. It was a good show. Yeah. Because it was so before its time. Glee and all those shows that had such musical relevance. American Dreams would have really existed in also a social media world. Totally. Because these stars that would come on, you know, Usher was Marvin Gaye. Yeah. Oh, wow. People would come on and play their favorite 60s artist. And so my character was a dancer on American Bandstand. But she also was going through the changes of women empowerment and civil rights and all the things that happened in 1963 to 1966. And so it was a really special. It was a very good show. Yeah. And you remember Kristen showing up? I do because I remember that role was really hard to cast. And they kept asking me if I had any friends that could play the role. What was the role? She played a lot of hookers at the beginning. Was she a hooker? She wasn't. She was a teenage. Hooker? No. She was a prostitute. He kept calling his wife a hooker when I went on there. No. Have you ever watched the Western? She was in the Milch Project. Deadwood. She was famously a hooker for a long time and then got killed. I love that because Kristen doesn't give hookers to me. But you know what? I played hooker too. What is a hooker? With a heart of gold, obviously. She was a teenage pregnant girl. Oh, yeah. She needed an abortion. Yes. That's what it was. And it was a big, hot topic. And it was a really important role. And so they were sort of worried about who was going to play that role. They had to be good. Also, it comes with a lot of eyes on it. Yeah. Especially on NBC on Sunday nights. And then I remember when she got in, I thought, wow, she's really good. So they nailed it. That's why I remember. It's an interesting dynamic that you're like, you're the star of the show at a very young age. And people that are older than you are coming in. So there's like this contradictory status thing that's on the table when you're a young star. I don't know. I didn't think about it. I was always so just overwhelmed with everybody who was on the show. And I know that a therapist would have a field day. But I dissociated a lot on that show. I didn't think it was really happening to me. I had no idea anyone was watching it. I had no idea that it was a big deal. Whenever we would get a Landis Morissette or a Shanti or someone would come on, I'd be like, hi, what are we doing? Because I was also a kid. I had no idea it was my show. OK. Yeah. So that was one of my questions. Did you feel any of the weight of carrying a network show as your second job? I had no idea. I didn't know you were doing that. I had no idea. I knew that the show was so good and I really relied on that. But I was so sick at that point with my eating disorder that I was really trying to just get by. Yeah. Do you feel this may be not fair because people are still working, but do you wish now that people on set would have stepped in? They did. They did. OK, well, good. I'm glad they did. Yeah, I had a lot of really great and they're still my friends to this day. A lot of. Directors and the producers, the main producer, David Semel. He might have done a lot of parenthood, actually, but there was people meetings and things. Was it so embarrassing when that was happening? Were you in denial enough to. No, no, I was pretty worried. I was worried and I just didn't have an answer at that point and I didn't have time for an answer. You're 16. I'm falling in love with my first boyfriend. A parachute. No, that's later. I was in my 20s. Oh, OK. Yeah. That was like the relationship that got me better. OK. OK. But I'm thinking of the metaphor of the parachute is that sometimes they tell you in early sobriety, no matter what it is, try not to have a relationship in the first year because they become this parachute. That's the metaphor of the movie, right? Yeah. That breaks your fall, basically. Definitely. And I got really, really connected to this person who's still a good friend of mine. He's like my best guy friend and he's friends with my my current partner. And it's really just a beautiful relationship of this person who was trying to save me in a lot of ways. And I needed to just completely remove myself from that situation in order to save myself. And that's how I got better. I'm really glad to hear that, because sometimes I think when we are watching TV and we see someone who we feel like might be struggling, especially in an eating disorder realm, a lot of us judge. We're like, why would they let that person work? Why aren't people stepping in? They're just letting her. And it's like they are probably. Yeah. And I was so young. And I think at that time there was. Not a lot of information about it. It was definitely not prevalent in in conversation. I mean, now people talk about their mental health all the time. We're talking about it right now. This never happened back then. And it was definitely not cool to talk about an eating disorder. And so it was all very not any fault of anyone's, but it was hidden and tried to be dealt with in a contained way. I've said this numerous times on here, but I'm going to say it again. The compassion I have for that specific addiction is one. It's obvious, right? There's no hiding. Really, whereas like on the same cast, some dude's got a gambling addiction. No one knows about some guy's got a sex addiction. No one knows about someone's using drugs destructively, but we don't know that. Right. So yours can be easily observed, you know, so there's really no hiding. So that, that I feel bad for because hiding's half the thing. And then secondly, as I always say, like, if you told me I had to have one line of Coke in the morning, one line of Coke in the afternoon and one. Line of Coke. In the evening, how that's what makes it the most gruesome that in love addiction, which is like, you still have to be in love and have sex. You still have to eat, be in, I don't ever have to do cocaine again. You know, I'm not required to, that was a huge part of when I was in recovery that people would talk about all the time. It's like, you're letting the lion in and out of the cage, you know, three times a day because you're having to face it. And that's why I went to rehab twice. And the thing that worked for me the most was an outpatient. Situation. Where? Where I quit acting for a year and I was in an outpatient program with this guy named Ray Santamaria, who I love at one-to-one treatment, props to Ray. Shout out. Shout out Ray, because he saved my life and it was dealing with doing normal human things, going to a restaurant, going out to eat with your friends, going to the movie theater and not knowing what, if you should get popcorn or not, you know, things like that, where you had to be really accountable and not lie, which is, you know, we love to lie and we love to be sneaky about things and to just really show up for yourself and trust yourself. And that's what I learned with outpatient is for a year, I was just like with the thing that I did every day, which was like, you know, immersed in and I think that's what really helped me is because I learned to trust myself every day. Yeah. Okay. So you're on this show, American dreams, and then you go get naughty. Now this, I remember this is probably the first time I saw you. I get naughtier? No, I would say I'm no way naughtier than a hooker because sex workers aren't even naughty, but, um, you played a neo-Nazi on. Oh, yeah, that's real naughty. Yeah. I mean, that's, as far as naughty is used, that's the last stop on the naughty spectrum is being a Nazi. Definitely. I hadn't gone into recovery yet at that point. So I was, I was really dark at that moment too. Not, not that dark. There's no way that I could get there. Not hate crimey dark. No, but I tried to draw from things that I just didn't know how to deal with. I didn't know how to wrestle with. And this was a character that had absolutely no perspective on reality. Yeah. And I sort of had to use my own non-perspective. With reality of what I was doing with my life or getting better or recovery and things like that. And that's what I had to draw from, which I felt. it was an interesting exercise for me and that's the only way i could do it because you can't relate to a nazi right yeah it was on nip tuck and it was the beginning of ryan murphy being ryan i mean he was already ryan murphy but that was his first big hit yeah he directed the last episode that i was in and that was really cool and it was such a a vision for that show that i really appreciated and loved it yeah it was so naughty it was so so naughty everything on that show was not there's some he's the hunting wives and nip tuck are scratching the same itch for all of us i think that's true no nazis on on hunting no but around this time i got curious now for nip talk you're 19 you're clearly starting to notice people your age are like on backpacking trips or they're going to college are you at any point during this getting aware of like this is a trade-off i'm not gonna have these certain experiences and there's no going back to you I never thought about it never crossed your mind i never wanted anything else it's such a bad time in school that i never looked back i dropped out which goes to show how educated i am i only went to one freshman year of high school and then i went to school on set on american dreams but like i went to school on set you know i don't know what i learned but then i got my equivalency which meant that i could work all hours and i was in la with these new friends and these new people that were doing the same thing that i was doing and i was so focused that i didn't ever think about normal yeah quote normal yeah okay that's good that is good okay hairspray adam shankman is this the first time you sing you sing the new girl in town is that your first time singing on screen or you sing back up on american yes i sang back up on american and it was the first time i sang and i was really nervous and i don't think i'm a very good singer and so i think that was really interesting because there were so many really good singers and i think that was really interesting good broadway stars in that and legends and so i was really intimidated but i had so much fun we were in canada for six months doing that holy smoke and zach and i we had two months where we didn't work at all because they kept us there just in case john travolta or michelle pfeiffer had a day that they didn't this was in toronto wasn't it earmark a story you and i after this so i gotta earmark a funny story about that i feel like because kristin obviously knows adam and well adam came and directed a this whole sequence in a movie that she and i did called when in rome oh yeah and so we just worked with him for two days and it is the most memorable experience like he had what an energy shankman has oh yeah he's right yes yes but yeah what did you guys do in all this downtime in two months i was pretty sad during that time but luckily zach and i were really close he's a sweetheart i also know him yeah we had such a blast and we became really good friends and i knew what a big deal it was to be in hairspray and i fought to be in that and i didn't know if i was going to be and so i really knew that that was a big big deal and so i was fine being there i was so nervous around michelle pfeiffer and she was so lovely and it was a lot it was intense yeah that is a lot kristin told me you are a great singer just completely unprompted i'm not a singer like kristin well i'm just telling you what she said okay when do you take a minute off is it after this year you take prom night right after the cinephile in me will talk about prom night no because it's obviously the best movie that i've ever done no it was a campy sort of movie that was very fun to do and i met a lot of my really close friends on that but i did that right after and i did another couple movies well you did john tucker must die that was huge right before hairspray was before hairspray really quick do you know jonathan tucker i do and when john tucker was coming out jonathan tucker was coming out and i was like oh my god i'm gonna die i'm gonna die jonathan tucker came up to me at a party and was like you've ruined my life i was gonna say very it's a john snow situation three letters separating him from john tucker must die i know he really had to deal with that for a long time thank god it's jonathan but were you tired i mean this sounds like you've just been working literally non-stop i had no idea about anything else and of course i didn't know that that was the way that i was getting and i still have that sort of feeling if i'm not working who am i and i think a lot of people in this business feel like that especially if you started young yeah okay when pitch perfect comes around how do we get that the movie i directed parachute is exactly what happened other than there's a musical theater sort of element and a murder mystery theater that i'm sort of just encapsulating to be hollywood and that's in the movie but everything else really happened and so it got pretty interesting and i had to get better so i did a lot of research and and then around 24 25 i'm starting to try to audition again and i just i can't audition i'm so anxious i feel like i'm not going to get my career back i'm so nervous i've been put on a lot of different medications that weren't correct for me because i don't think they understood what i needed my doctors and medication is great and very helpful especially for what i was going through but i think i was misdiagnosed and so i just could not get a job and it was really hard for me to get a job and i was like i'm not gonna get a job and i'm not gonna that's terrifying it was terrifying because i didn't know anything else yes and at this point i'm thinking i don't know what i'm gonna do oh i was doing the show called harry's law i got fired oh no which i understand why it happened because i was still not okay it was too soon for me to go back to work britney you really fucking went through it yeah but you know what it was interesting because it was sort of a ramp into something that now feels really long lasting and i have the of i'm never gonna falter like that again i'm so grateful that i went through all that in those years because now i see my friends who i grew up with in my time that are going through it now and i i went through it then and i'm so and you came out of it yeah yeah you know that's the funny thing is like everyone's gonna have to go through it some of us have certain habits that force it to happen sooner right which in a weird way for me at least i feel like is a huge blessing it definitely is but anyway the truth is i'm not gonna falter like that again i'm so grateful that i went through the long story short is pitch perfect was my thing that i got back where i don't know how i got it because i was so nervous in the audition but i ended up doing it and it just made me fall back in love with acting again and sort of felt really easy and natural and i made great friends and i was like oh i i can do this again i wasn't there i would just be guessing that there was a pretty fun energy oh yeah where did you guys shoot we were in baton rouge for one and two okay and then atlanta for pitch three okay and now pitch two is fucking enormous right it makes 286 million dollars it's the biggest musical comedy of all time oh really yeah or at least it was at that time dethroned school of rock oh sorry jack black he's okay don't worry he's okay i saw he was at a restaurant friday he's totally eating a steak can you feel because you sound thus far pretty unaware of the fact that you're showing up on the show you're showing up on the show you're showing up on the show you're showing up on the show you're showing up on the show you're showing up on the show even airs on tv on sunday nights or that these things are popular it was that one unavoidable was it did that one penetrate you like were you moving through the world and you're like oh yeah wow this is a fucking mega hit i'm in a mega hit kind of i knew that the movie was big but i'm a perfectionist and so i didn't feel like i did i was like okay in it you know so i'm like no the movie's amazing but i can do so much better oh wow and my part is fun but you know it's silly so i i'm still looking at it like i'm enjoying it and i'm so grateful for it but i always like to have perspective on well you're not you know you're like it's still work no it's not work i just wanted i just this is bad this is not good no i know it's not and here's the analogy i'm going to make is like i know the math you did to come to this conclusion like that's not a mystery to me how you did it you're like well you know anna's blah blah and then this and that right you just go through this list and you you start prioritizing yourself and like the ninth important or whatever you start doing but i would urge you to think of your favorite movies growing up and if you had any sense of who was what or just did you just love characters that were in these things i mean that's really how it works in clueless and movies that shaped me i know every word to that movie and i know every character and every character is important exactly very aware that that is insane to think okay but at the time i just thought wow this is a great thing that's happening to us i hope we get to do more because you never know and i also had such understanding of not knowing if i was ever going to work again so when people would be on set and be sort of challenging or things would happen on set i was just sitting there being like guys we're getting to sing and dance in a movie and we're working let's everybody just just shut up they're gonna pay us on friday yeah i really loved being in that seat of gratitude that sounds so cheesy but that's what i felt when those movies were happening we're like that's the best part of it when you were having the kind of crisis of consciousness and identity like wow can i do this how do i access this i know specifically from your chat with claire that it's like the tools you were using to act were no longer at your disposal right yes they were gone all the unhealthiness is gone it's back to the drawing board in a sense yeah were you having financial insecurity at that point because that's where i would be i just be like what am i now gonna do at 50 i would be in a panic over finances that's not on your radar i mean not really not to biggest concern was that I couldn't do the thing that I loved the most and that I know I was supposed to do. I don't know how I'm supposed to do anything else. Not because I don't have another skill, even though I probably don't, but it's the one thing that I know I'm supposed to do and I can't do it the way that I used to. So I have to now come to another understanding of what that means. And I can't use the same tools that I used to use. It's dangerous because you could easily tell yourself, oh, I was better off when I was sick. Sure. Well, these are all the comedians who get sober and think they can't be funny because they're not like, I was working. I was working nonstop. I guess my life was actually pretty good. What have I done? Like it could get very, very slippery mental health wise, I think. I think I never wanted to go back to being sick, though, because I was so unhappy and I was so all of a sudden really happy. Yeah, but I couldn't work. And so it was this very strange dichotomy. You have the right answer, by the way. Hers would be Kristen's as well. Hers would just be about she wants to do the thing. The other stuff's just ancillary and the consequence of loving the thing. Definitely. I would be like, oh, my God, can I buy this? I remember I didn't work for like a year and a half or something. I had a few stinkers in a row and I was going back to writing. I was like, I needed a couch for my living room. I had no couch in the living room. And it was like the couch from Sophie You Love was like two thousand dollars. And I was like, I know exactly what you're talking about. I was like, I have one hundred thousand dollars, I think, for the rest of my life. I can't. I can't buy a two thousand dollar couch. Right. And that's all I'm thinking about all day long. Right. Not like, oh, I'll never get to do that's there, too. But just my panic of like, how are we going to stretch? That's real. That's real. That's life. Life is you need money to live. So many people go through this when they switch jobs or have to recalibrate in a way. And I did feel very a part of a bigger unit where I'm like, OK, we've got to redo this. And maybe even redo my mindset on what I'm using or why this is so important. Yeah. Can there be a four? Good question. I would like for there to be a four. Yeah. Me too. They've all made boatloads of money. I don't know why we wouldn't go ahead. Everybody just doesn't want to do it if we're going to half-ass it. Yeah. Yeah. And we don't have a good story yet. Maybe they do. I'm the last to know. I was the last person cast on Pitch Perfect 1. And so I'm always the last to know. Parachute, we've talked a bunch about it, but I just think I have a couple of directing questions. One, it got acquired. It's super highly reviewed. So you've definitely proven you can write and direct a movie. Do you want to do more of that? Oh, definitely. Talk about if you love control like I do. It's so nice to get that validation and that high of putting, putting a puzzle piece together and all the puzzles fitting. Solving the problem. It's so fun, right? When they like fit into place and you're like, ah, I'm the best. But it never really gets there because then the next puzzle piece breaks apart and you have to continually do it. But it was definitely using another part of my brain that I really appreciated. I didn't have to think about me. I got to use my mind in a way that was very helpful for me. And I got to do it as a therapeutic exercise because it was a movie that was about something that I had been through when I was exercising. This thing by seeing it in somebody else's eyes. Yeah. Because the actress, Courtney Eaton, who is extraordinary in it, she came with her own experiences. The movie became both of our shared experience. Yeah. I think the obsessive mind that is your best friend when you're an addict is an asset when directing because there's just a catrillion little strands that you're constantly trying to weave into this thing. And like, if you've had a lot of experience, it's like juggling a lot of stuff at once. I think it's like it really sets you up well to do that job. I think that's why I was saying it's turned into a super, not that I'm, it's a superpower because I'm so good at it. I don't even know if I am necessarily, but it was definitely helpful for me. The hypervigilance being a director, because I knew how to be a different type of person to different actors and different prop department, the makeup department, somebody needs a different director or a different person for each thing that they're going through. It was helpful, because there was a lot of things that I could answer that I used to go through, or I know personally that I could really understand in someone else. And I thought to myself, wow, this is a great opportunity to use my own experience with this to help someone else. Yeah. Okay. So 2025 is an enormous year. Yeah. Professionally for you. Yeah. Why did you smile? No, because there's so many things happened in 2025. Okay. Personally, professionally. Yeah. It was just a big year. Shit show. A big year. It was a big year. Yeah. Okay. Well, professionally there was Murdaugh, Death in the Family, Hulu. You were in that. Then The Beast and Me. You were in that. Great show. Did you fall in love with Matthew? I love Matthew. Oh my God. We interviewed him. We were both like, take us home. I know. He's the best. He's so funny. He deserves this moment more than anybody. I love him. Did he offer you to take you on his movable feast? That's the name of the boat, right? I know. Movable feast. No. Okay. You bastard. I'm sure if you do that, you're in New York, you would have. Yeah. This is like when we told Gal Gadot she didn't get Tom Cruise's cake and it was a big, you know, it was a big, we're letting people down all over the place. Yeah. No, no. He and I became friends and he was such a good person to have on that set too, because I was in and out. And as a, you know, a person that's sort of in every couple of scenes or every episode, you don't really know where you fit into the whole thing as a whole. And he always made me feel so comfortable. And he was going through the same thing as well. You know, he wasn't the greatest actor either. You know, he's always like very real and has perspective and it's really nice. And he's so Welsh. That was a great show. Tell me the whole experience of getting The Hunting Wife as a script and what your first thoughts are. At the time I was in Thailand, I was doing a night agent episode where I die right away. And I just remember thinking, oh, I really like this, but I'm sure I'm going to have to work for it and audition for it. But I'm in Thailand. There's not exactly like a self-tape studio. I can do, and I don't know anybody really here. So I don't know how I'm going to put myself on tape for this thing. I had a feeling. Sometimes I just get a feeling and I thought, I think this one I'm going to get, and I don't know how. And I talked to my reps and I guess Erwin Stoff, who was our main producer, he had seen my short film that got nominated for an Oscar, Red, White and Blue. And so I didn't need to audition. And that at the time was for stars. And so I was like, oh, I'm just going to do this and no one's really going to see it. So I knew it I couldn't put it down. I read all eight episodes while I was filming there and I loved it. But I also thought, I mean, no offense to stars, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mullen had already been cast. And did you know her at all? We had friends in common and we were always told by our mutual friends that we would get along. And so I always knew, and I had heard stories that she was just the coolest and she had great perspective on what this business is about and, you know, again, very loose tequila and just, you know, and I was like, that's my girl. Yeah. She's as cool as they get. She really is. Okay. So I think this is going to be a big spoiler time now. I find it hard to believe anyone would not have seen season one at this point. It was wildly successful. Very. Did you feel that one? I did. Okay. But I sort of dissociate from it where I think it's happening to someone else. I think this is a good thing that I'm not really walking around thinking that people care about me or looking at me. I just knew that because of all the TikToks. So many. Oh, tell me about the TikToks. I don't know about the TikToks. Just people having really wild reactions. Oh, okay. And I really appreciated that because it's such a campy, fun show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It has the most plot of any show I've ever watched. Oh, season two is way more plot. Just plot everywhere. I want to kind of march through what happened in season one so that we can then talk about season two, which is you and your job. He's working for Dermot Mulroney, also a radical dude. We love him. What a champ. Yeah. At any rate, you guys moved to Texas. You're a fish out of water. Everyone loves guns. They like day drinking. Everyone's rich. The girls are all like final touches at all times. They've done hair and makeup. It's a real extreme scenario. And then you meet Malin's character, Margo. And yeah, why would you describe? Because I think some people like to frame what happened one way. And what happened? And I, of course, agree with you, but you know, you decided. I mean, I'm going to give you the hot take that because I'm here on Armchair Expert, but that I don't really talk about. It's not really talked about. But Rebecca Cutter and I really agree on this is that I think that Sophie is an addict in a way. And she sort of displaces and sort of mismanages her addiction to other things. I mean, in the first season, we have her like biting her nails. And is she an alcoholic? But she becomes really fascinated and almost addicted to Margo in this way of this person's going to solve this emptiness that I feel, which is I need to be his perfect mom. I can't be who I am anymore. I'm moving to this town and I want to be this free sort of different woman that I've been caged to now become. And I think she latches on and becomes addicted to the idea of Margo and also falls in love with her at the same time, which is a really dangerous combination sort of murderous plot because she can't quit this woman yes and season two was even more of a reflection of that why is that a hot take because i don't think we talk about the addiction part of it ever interesting yeah that's a choice that i made i like that well what i love about the show is it's preposterous yes and yet you're dead real and then this element is dead real and truthful which is yes you're what we would call in recovery you've basically accomplished a geographic here so you are clearly an addict you were in a vehicular accident that resulted in a fatality due to your drinking that's a pretty big red flag low i would say and then so a lot of addicts i'm moving you know i'm going to move to st louis i won't drink there and then this kind of worked for you so your geographic was like i'm going to get married and i'm going to be a perfect mother and that's going to be my solution to this problem right and the solution has been working for a while but as we know these solutions don't ever really last forever so then yes you meet somebody who opens the top of the box you put yourself in so we could blame her but really i think you're in search of someone that'll give you permission to rejoin the little gremlin you really are and haven't dealt with i definitely think that's what it is i think that's what the show is and that's why it's so alluring and sexy it's sort of giving permission of these women behaving badly but it's also this woman who's just really caged to open back up the lion's den in a lot of ways and sort of face these demons and we're watching her sort of fall apart yes it's very esther perrell and that she says that people often think their partner has cheated on them with another person but in fact really their partner cheated on them to be with themselves to revisit a version of themselves that they miss or that is gone or that existed in their 20s like they're actually longing for their old self and this person is an avenue to that and so i think very much that's the dynamic that's happening here oh definitely and in season two i think something to say that's not giving anything away is that obviously at this point in the season you know in season one that sophie has killed kyle margo's brother with another vehicle yes by drinking yes and so back to the beginning doing the same doing it what is it doing the exact same thing and expecting a different result yeah the definition of insanity yeah and the definition of insanity is how sophie is the the whole second season i made the choice from the very beginning i got the pilot episode and i read that one of the first things that sophie does is she has a panic attack in her car and her nervous system it says nervous system is completely shot and then in the next scene she's you know crying and i think i had a line saying like sophie paces in every single episode she's just having a total nervous breakdown the whole show and i think it's because she's realizing that she's now back into an addict cycle of this woman where she's so desperate to get her that her whole life starts falling apart also we're getting to see the side of you that all addicts have pretty polished which is you're now going to be the perfect person the season does start it picks up right where we left off chronologically you and your husband are on like a trial separation situation and then you're in therapy together and you're back in the same place and you're basically perfect trying yeah you're perfect but she's about to fall apart you're saying all the right things you're taking ownership of everything you're really convincing that you don't really have a problem anymore and it's quite convincing and quite addicting yes lies well and then i start crying right in the therapist office that scene we played so many different ways and it's interesting the takes they pick i think they pick a lot of the ones where sophie is just completely unraveling yeah yeah and i got a lot of notes from the directors in season two my one friend maggie kiley who's a dear friend she was like you are a crack addict like you need to go into every scene when it comes to margo with i'm going to die if i don't get her yeah and so that level of intensity is just i was tired that scene in therapy there's a few but there's one scene in particular that i have to say it ended and i was like that's a fucking phenomenally written scene that whole sequence in therapy was like really really well crafted oh good thank you because again there's a lot happening in the show it's like you're getting the juiciest salacious soap opera drama someone's dying every 15 minutes in the show again walk everyone through season one you meet her we find out she's also sleeping with a teenager then we find out that the teenager's girlfriend catches her then the one mom no it's not that mom then that mom goes to confront then she kills that person then they go to confront her and then they kill her and then you kill there's like six or seven murders and deaths i am so impressed that you said that so eloquently and followed it through yes all that happens and then the funny thing about season two is that even more shit happens you gotta you're gonna run out of characters that's my anxiety but it's like game of thrones killing everyone you know wedding i know i sort of feel like we're gonna watch and you're like oh i guess there are still people yes so many people die and also such outlandish things happen where not one single episode goes by where it's not what the fuck that they just do yeah yes yes yes that's so fun we need fun and i think that's what people really have enjoyed about this show they're just like it's easy it's fun it's a little wild people want an escape this is just a fun anecdote but back to you seeing you got to enter our show right so i'm with my 11 year old last night and she clearly has a dairy allergy that is quite obvious to me i too cannot fuck with dairy i get so congested right and she has a cold and so every morning when we're walking to school she's like dealing with that and i'm like how much cheese and dairy do you have yesterday you know this isn't it so last night like what do you want for dinner and she's like i want macaroni and cheese balls from fred 62 i go but you know he's gonna fuck you up right and she's like yeah and i go oh delta this is so great it's probably so abstract that i'm an addict but i want you to know this moment right here it's like you have full knowledge yeah and you go yeah i want it anyways yeah i'm like that's it you've experienced it at 11 you already know what this thing is i know it's bad and watch me go to it anyways yes let's hope it it's just mac and cheese balls but you know what i relate to that it's a unique experience when you really know yeah this is gonna end poorly and i'm going to do it that happens a lot in season two there's about five different scenes that i can think up off the top of my head i think that's also what's really been funny about the reaction of hunting webs is that people are so mad at me my character not me but at sophie because you're watching someone who just is willingly blowing up their life and making really dumb decisions out of reactionary things put in front of her she's prone to emotion she's reactionary and she's reactive she's angry she leaves her kid at home to go drink and drive and the amount of anger that people feel towards a mother who would do this to their child i sympathize with because it's like well i'm not really like that this is obviously a character but the psychology that's interesting is that we really don't like that emotion in ourselves yeah we don't mind if a dad's doing that but it's pretty gendered yeah yeah you can't be reckless you can't make bad decisions i've done a lot of interviews saying like isn't that interesting that there's a lot of anger with one of the main female characters doing really stupid things really people do not like that well also a good percentage of us do this we do make decisions that we know are wrong and we do it and i think a good chunk of the audience watching knows the internal feeling the self-abuse that follows that the shame and the self-hatred so it's a real emotion their experience because they've experienced it it's not a hypothetical i think that's why it's so powerful and i also think in the brass tacks of it all it's almost that feeling when you're watching a horror movie the killer is inside the house and she's like i need my bracelet yeah you have to go back don't go in the basement open the door yeah and you're thinking yourself you dumb ass yeah why are you going back in the house i hate when movies do that but it's that sentiment in this show a little bit you're watching someone be a little silly yeah and isn't that funny when i watch the horror one i'm like you're being stupid but i have no actual emotion attached to it oh that's nice whereas this is like no i know what it's like to go get out of my car okay stay in my car oh yeah yeah she jumps in the car get out of my car please don't get out of my car but i'm crying because i want to kiss her yes yes yes well i love it it's fucking so juicy and season two is everything season one was or at least what i watched so far i just want to put a real fine point you're really really incredible and you're so so good oh thank you yeah yeah i mean truly you're really really good and i would say in a kind of challenging definitely again it's like very heightened and to be really grounded and heightened stuff is a little bit of a challenge thanks i didn't think i did very well but thank you so much no i'll never think i do well you know it sounds like it is there anything you're proud of that you've made like in life that you've made i'm really proud of parachute okay there we go yeah yeah yeah okay out of 65 credits that's not bad one out of 65 it challenges me you know yeah truly feel free that if you don't want to talk about this is fine but i couldn't help but notice just in my research what was the exact day of lockdown do you remember i feel like it was march 15 yeah and you got married on march 14th oh that's hard it made me think boy if anything didn't have a great shot it would be getting married read and you're starting your new life together. And literally the next day we go into lockdown. And then I went berserk in lockdown myself. Of all the worst wedding dates I think I've ever heard. That's probably top of the list. There was so many. Yeah. We don't have to talk about so many things. Yeah. What a time. What a time. I will say now looking back at that time, I am so grateful that I went through that because the person that I am and the partner I'm with now, it's just so different. And I can't believe I'm grateful for my divorce. I think people need to hear that honestly. Yeah. And I was 37 and I was living in an Airbnb, just staring at my dog, being like, I don't know what's going to happen. It's just you and me, kiddo. And we're going to try to rebuild this. I really appreciated so many women, friends of mine that were like, that happened to me. And, you know, I would go on Reddit and look up stories from women going through things in their later thirties and finding people later in life. And I would go on Reddit and look up stories from women going through things in their later thirties and finding people later in life. And I would go on Reddit and look up stories from and we have to make it what we make of it. Yeah. Listen, I hope everyone watches. I don't even need to urge them to, but The Hunting Wives, it does come back November 26th on Netflix. I'm really, really blown away and impressed that you went through the thing you went through, found out how to do it again. And I've had such an incredible last few years. I'm so happy and proud for you. Thank you. Yeah. Happy birthday. Happy golden birthday. I hope you do something to celebrate. I should. You should. It's a big deal. I used to have parties. I would. Honestly, don't tap me at a good time. But yeah, I should have dinner. Awesome. Okay. Yeah. And then I'm just going to throw this out. I've met you in real life, like in social situations and you're very lovely. This is not a presenting self. This is really you. Yeah. Yeah. I hope not. I've always remembered that you and Kristen had first started dating. And do you guys, do you remember I saw you in a Miami hotel and we talked outside the hotel. You probably don't remember this, but I remember thinking, oh, they're going to get married. Really? Yeah. That was 19 years ago. It was so because we were the funny story behind that is. So we started dating. I was dating her and someone else. And then I got this very distinct feeling one time when I went over to her house, like, oh, she's exclusive and I'm not. And I feel very unethical about that. And then I just said, I think we're in two different places and I don't want to mislead you. So we had a little breakup. We got back together very shortly after that. But one of the first things was I said to her, I called her. I'll never forget. I was hanging Christmas lights. I was on a ladder and I'm like talking to her on my T-Mobile cell phone or whatever that thing was, the Samsung blue cell phone. And I go, hey, I got offered to like come to this New Year's Eve party in Miami. And if I go, they'll send me then to the Bahamas for a week or five days or something. And she's like, oh, cool. That sounds fun. And I go, yeah. You think that would be fun? And she goes, hey, if you want to fucking invite me to the Bahamas, invite me. And I was like, she said, ask me like a lady. Yes, yes, yes. She was starting to really advocate for herself. So I was like, I'm so sorry. Let me rephrase this. Would you like to join me? So, yes, we went on that trip. It's so memorable because we saw you and we also saw Robert Downey Jr. in the lobby. Did you see Robert Downey Jr.? I did not. OK, that was fun. I would have remembered that, too, I think. Then we watched Tootsie in the hotel room the night before we went to. That was very memorable. Still my favorite score. Then we went to the Bahamas. And you must remember, we've only been together a couple months. And we start walking down the beach at night the night we've arrived. And she starts bawling uncontrollably because it's pretty. And I relate to this. And I'm like, what am I supposed to do right now? Like, what am I supposed to comfort her? Am I supposed to use a real introduction to her emotional availability? Yes. Yes. And I was very, very scared. And then the more and I cry nonstop. So it's really is we've won 80 because you're a Pisces, right? I am. Yeah. She's a cancer. You guys are both water signs. It makes sense that you would cry it. Oh, yeah. Seeing water. That is true. I'm about to cry at all times. Well, I'm glad you thought that. That's nice. You were dead. I was very jealous that that's what was happening. Oh, yeah. I was like, look at them. They're in love. Thank you. That's very sweet. Well, Brittany, please come back. I would love to. This was so fun. Thank you for having me. Yeah, you're fantastic. And what an exclusive we got. Fart. Fart. We won't make you say it again. We already got it in the bag. Fart. Now she can't stop. This is like you holding hands with Franco. I feel free. Okay, good. Yeah. All right. We adore you. Thank you guys so much. Everyone watch The Honey Wife. Yay. Yay. He is an armchair expert, but he makes mistakes all the time. Thank God Monica's here to help her. She's got to let him have the facts. I saw him. He was on his hands and knees. Oh, my God. You see his butt crack? No, I was respectful and I didn't look. I just, you know, you never know what you're going to see. Sounds like she had to make a great effort to not see it. We used to call that plumber's crack. Of course. Taking pot shots at poor plumbers. Well, to be fair. Okay. That's interesting. That's an interesting take. To be fair, you do often see their crack and it is because they're working hard on their hands and knees. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I think you need any job where you're on your hands and knees a lot. Yeah. That crack is going to be a liability. But it's like you then they probably should wear overalls. But it might be too hot for overall. You can wear tank top underneath. Mesh overalls. Oh, yeah. No. Did you have an event this morning? No. Oh, you look very made up. I have regular makeup on. Oh, my gosh. I did buy some new, I bought a new blush. Maybe you're really responding to it. Perhaps. I like it as well. I'll shout out the brand. It's called, I actually don't know how to pronounce it. It's French. It's like Violette. Plumber's Bot. No, it's Violette. F-R, I assume for French. Plumber de Derriere. That's butt. Yeah, I think derriere. Derriere. Derriere. I'm fresh out of the shower. Can you tell? Yeah. You look clean. I look, my hair is wet. You know? Yeah. You can't really tell. Anymore? That your hair is wet. No, it's just, it's fluffy. Yeah. I use Jen Anderson's finishing oil in it. You did? Mm-hmm. I do that occasionally now. It I do that occasionally now. It's been 13 and 11 years, respectively. Yeah. I've just started combing my hair in the last three months. Interesting. Or I'm using their brush. Oh. I don't use anything of theirs. They're all over my stuff, as you know. My nail clippers, my tweezers. That's true. My toothbrush, my toothpaste. Mm-hmm. So, this is the first roll reversal. And they're pretty into it. They're pretty supportive. But anyways, what I'll do is I'll comb it straight back, and then I'll take a little drop-drop of Jen Anderson's, I'm calling it finishing oil. I don't know. It looks nice. It looks really nice. Oh, thank you. You know who has a new hair care brand out? Ooh. Who I'd like to have on the pod. And she should come on the pod, because as you just discussed, you're into hair now. I love hair now. I've always been into hair. Always. Your original, O-H, original hair. Yeah, original hair. A Jennifer Lawrence, another Jen. What's her product called? I don't know. It just came out. And she goes by J-Law on the streets? Is that the code name for her? Yeah. J-Law. When people call her that. Let's see what it's called, hairline. Mess. This is called. Mess? Yes. M-E-S-S. But spelled M-E-S. Spelled M-E-S. Okay. Okay. Spelled M-E-S, but- Should we change the name of the spelling of messiness of being human to one S? Well, I was just about to say, she clearly got that from messiness of being human. So, she should come on. She's a huge fan. She's an enormous fan. I wonder if she would remember meeting me. You know that funny, I have a story. I wish I could remember the details better, but I'm aging. But I visited Silver Lining Playbook. And I was chatting with her for a while. And we were talking about books. And I forget how the whole thing went. But lo and behold, I see her on a talk show months later. And she's referencing this, but she's saying how she had this talk with this old guy. Older guy. She said that? Yeah. Yeah. And I remember thinking, well, I'm the exact same age as Bradley. And he's your love interest in the movie. Are you describing him as an older guy? Oh, my God. She should really come on. That may be where this whole my-ism stems from. That might be the original wound where I started thinking, I'm really old. Oh, how old were you then? You weren't even that old. 2012. So, 37. Yeah. Younger than me. I don't even know if I did the math right. Is that right? I don't know. I just take your math at your word. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. Oh, that was. Yeah. Wow. So, younger than you. Yeah. By two years. And she said she was talking to this old man about books. Oh, my God. This is. She should come on for an apology. She should amend this. She should really make an amends and talk to us about her stealing of messiness and being human. She has a lot to apologize for. I'm inordinately joyous when I see her. I love her. I am such a huge fan of hers. Me too. I love her. - I love her. - I like her spirit. I like that she was calling me an old man as well. She's funny like that. Yeah, she's a hoot and a ham. She really is. She's a mess, M-E-S. I wouldn't see, I think. She's not a mess, no. Well, remember that was kind of her thing for a minute when she like was falling down and stuff and it was like a whole thing. Yeah, it's cute. It was cute and it was like, she's just really real. Very real, yeah. And, you know, we like to talk about real things, so I think she'd be a great fit. She'd really. So that's our pitch. Yeah, someone get this to her, please. Get back to us. Yeah. I had a scary experience last night. What happened? Oh, yes. Do tell. I did improv at the ground lanes. Yeah. On the main stage? Yeah, there's only one stage there. Ding, ding, ding. He's the guest today on Mom's Car, Guy Stevenson. Okay. So I was in the Sunday Company with him and then he runs this show. All people who have been kicked out of the Sunday Company. So is he still in the Sunday Company? Oh, no, he was kicked out. He's a teacher, though. Oh, got it. And so when I interviewed him on Mom's Car, he said he invited me to do the show again. He had in the past. And I was like, you know, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. Yeah. And I think I've done. I did one gas show there in the 24 years since I performed there. Yeah. I can't even remember when that was. You did a UCB show, right? For a charity thing. A charity thing at a big theater. Yeah. Downtown. Yeah. But I hadn't been there. Whatever. I've been there once in 23 years. Oh, my God. The whole day, it was just kind of looming, you know? Yeah. You looked a little. We FaceTimed yesterday about work and I was like, your hair did not look like it does today. I'll say that. No, it was a little more. It was spiky. More of an MES. Yeah, it was MES. Yeah, major MES. Anywho, I just kept going like, yeah, you'll just, you'll get through it and you'll survive. But I was, I was acutely aware. On the ride there, I was like, oh, the way I used to feel driving to the theater versus how I feel now is almost polar opposites. Like, I used to be driving to that theater so hungry, so excited, praying I'm in every improv, wanting so bad to get a taste. And the whole ride there, I was like, man, I hope they don't use me much. You know, like, I hope they pad out the shh when I say we're not on stage. And then fear. And then I was just like. Like, it's so counterintuitive. There are ways you get way more confident as you age. And then there are other ways where you just get way less confident. Yeah. Like the appetite to fail publicly. Yeah. Has gone down for me. Of course. Yeah. I mean, that's normal. And the thirst for approval and applause and adoration has also gone down. And I'd say a healthy way. Not that I don't appreciate if someone's laughing, but just. Of course. I needed it so bad a long time ago. Yeah. Well, you also have it in different ways now. And almost it's like you have that to lose a little bit. Well, they're right. Oh, great. Thank you. Yes. That's the other thing is like I used to go there hoping someone would recognize me. Exactly. And now I'm like, I'm already getting recognized. So I can only kind of disappoint people. Yeah. The only the only headline is Dax Shepard did improv and it was humiliating. Horrible. Bringing into question whether he was. Ever involved. Exactly. In this theater at all. Yeah. Launching investigative journalists. But how did it go? Well, so I'm like, you know, you just put one foot in front of the other. I was the first one there. And the guy and I hung out and I was just it was a trip just to be backstage. Because I'm like, I mean, it's really been so long. I can't remember where we got ready and where the girls got ready. And some things have changed, but I can't really tell what I'm asking a lot of dumb questions, boring questions. And then I meet the other cast members. They're great. You know, the one dude I'm talking to, Matt, he got booted in 2023. Wow. And I'm like, I got booted literally 20 years before you. Oh, my God. And also to remind people or not, maybe they don't know. They probably don't know. You're either in the Sunday company for how many? You go on six month intervals. Right. So every six months you get voted on. Yes. People get kicked out after six months. Yes. People get kicked out of a year. After a year and a half, you're generally going to get booted or move to the main stage. And there are no slots in the main stage. You know, it's just class after class coming through. Yeah. It's very hard. Yeah. So we do a warm up. We do a couple of different warm ups. I'm like, I am. Yeah. I was a man. I literally this morning when I was journaling, I was like, knowing I was going to talk to you about it. I was like, do imagine yourself driving to UCB tonight. I know. I even when I drive by it, which is a lot, I do get a little jolt of panic, but also like I almost want to cry. Every time because it marks such a special time. I also feel that way. Yeah. You know, like it's so special to be. Yes. And it's so kind of full circle. And getting that back stage was such an accomplishment. Yeah. Oh, my God. To be back there. Oh, yeah. I have a little area for my shit and everything. Yeah. So we do some warm ups. That goes fine. I'm not like embarrassing myself. It's like a zip zap zap or like we did one word story. Okay. And then we did this interesting game I had never played where it's like, so you the person three down from you, you give a name. Okay. Peter Fairley. Then the next person has to say, give a characteristic of them. Impatient. Then the next person says, plumber, ding, ding, ding. Okay. And then boom. Now we're on Peter and he's got to act out all those things. Wow. Okay. They're short. Right. And then it's just going in a circle. So then the person next to them gets a name. Then everyone gets. You know, pass on a thing. Yeah. Yeah. And then mine meld. Ding, ding, ding. We'd love that. Which this Matt guy and I finally solved. You melded. We melded. It was going on forever. People were losing confidence, but he and I got it. Allergies was the word. Oh, wow. Anywho, that finishes fine. Then we go out on stage and you have to enter to music. And then again, I'm not seeing the show. So I'm just like, I'm learning so many things. What games we're playing tonight. I don't remember any of the names of these, you know, what, all these different scenarios. We'll be in. And then we're supposed to walk out on stage and strike a pose. Like you're in like a Western or a cop show or something to the song. And I'm like, okay. So I walk out, I do that. And then I can see in my periphery at some point, the rest of them are now dancing or they're doing movements. In addition to this pose, I was told to do. Now I get, I'm right out of the show. Hasn't even started. Right. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm like a statue and they're all moving. And now are we supposed to move tough guy or it's just general dancing. Right. Trying to get context clues. And then like, I basically just, I instigate walking off the stage and getting in the pit where we'll ultimately have to go. But I certainly was like time to go. I don't know what I'm doing. Yeah. Yeah. I also have to add my favorite writing partner. My writing soulmate at the groundlings was Josh Nathan. I talk about him all the time. The J is Caitlin and Josh and I were besties. Yes. He happened to be at work. He's a college professor. Oh. And another professor came in who also weirdly was in the center. I'm like, oh, we're going to the. The show tonight. Dax is performing. So he's like, oh, I'll come. So I know Josh is there. Oh, so that both. Yeah, that's both. It does both things. It's like if I eat shit, this will be hilarious because he and I were the same and we'll get to laugh at this afterwards. Yeah. Also, I, I know someone there, so I want to be kind of press him a little bit. Yeah. What does he teach in college? Like comedy acting? I believe. Oh, shit. Yeah. Then extra, extra stress. Although I know he's not going to, whether he eats shit or not, he's going to love it. Of course. But the first thing we get in, I end up in, I'm up maybe in the third improv set. And the first one I'm, I'm out to see, man, they're doing character choices. They have emotions already. Like they're, you know, they've been doing. Yes, exactly. I'm more in that scene. Just starting to remember everything I'm supposed to know. Like, oh, I should have had a character. Oh, I should have. I should already know my relationship. I should bring some emotion. I should be doing space work. Yeah. Not doing any space work. I'm sitting in a chair. I'm sitting in a chair on a bus. I don't know. Yeah. First one. I'm like, I come off one. Woo. That was rough. Yeah. Why even have me out there? Yeah. But then I sit down and I'm going to shake it off. Okay. What do we got to do next time? It's like, we need to, we need to, you need to pick a character. You need to commit. Yeah. It's time to fucking just get a character and get it going. Okay. And so the next one is, oh, it's a town. It's a, it's, it's an HOA meeting. And then the audience tells you what the problem is. Oh, great. And it's frogs. Frogs is the problem. Love it. And I'm an old man in that one. Oh, which you are. So it's perfect. As according to Jennifer Lawrence. I got some physicality going. I got my voice. Oh, nice. And that one went pretty well. I had a couple of singers. Okay. And then we're okay. So now I'm like, okay, between the first one and that one, I'm kind of at zero. Okay. And then two more, maybe a really short one. And then the last one I was in was a guest on a morning news show in like New Mexico. Again, the other performers do all the lifting. By the time I enter, they're doing two, like, you know, good morning, HOTAS and Katie Lee, Kathy Lee and HOTAM. This is why you got to see. What is it? HOTAL? No, HOTA. George HOTAL? No, no. I think HOTA. Now I'm in my head. It's HOTA. It's HOTA. HOTA and Kathy Lee. Yeah. Whoever drinks during the morning show, whoever those two people are, they're nailing that. And then I have to enter as a youth pastor. Oh, okay. It's to talk. about premarital sex. oh you'd be great at that yeah were you pro well i'm a youth pastor i did recommend i recommend that the teens there's a lot of options now and we're and we are progressive and so one of the options of course is docking we encourage the teens to dock and to soak yeah soak yeah yeah and you know it's just that kind of business okay people laughed and laughed they're like there's an easy right they're like cheats yeah because they're fun words anyways it was fine it was fine i was probably the least impressive improver of the eight people because they're doing it every day yeah i don't know how the freak certainly a lot more than 2023 if the guy if matt had never done this any the point is i lived yeah i lived and then afterwards backstage i saw karen moriyama who was my director who i loved back in the day it was so nice to see karen yeah and then in the lobby i saw savannah page my niece on parenthood oh wow yeah she was with her older sister who always was on set and i'm walking out of the lobby and i hear a girl say uncle crosby and in my mind i'm like oh this is so weird i've been called crosby in public a lot of times no one's ever said uncle crosby it's very specific it took me a second to compute because she was 11 and now she's 23 oh my god is she in the groundlings no she just was in the audience oh she just had gone to the show so it ended yeah and i survived and that's pretty much that's good that's about as good as i think i could and then this morning i was like do i wanna like find the fire again to want to go on that stage and want to make everyone laugh like could i not even do i want to could i right is that still in me do i have enough vigor in the tank to do it do you no no you know for sure yeah and it makes me sad yeah that feels immoral of me to it does yeah i mean the mirror neurons just now when you're explaining the warm-ups and then like let bring to the stage these three performers doing poses it's like i can't do that anymore right and what it really tells me and this is sad but obviously true i just maybe never had it the way some people did ben schwartz yeah i mean and and not even not yes ben of course but like people you don't know that are still there yeah yeah doing shows loving it yes and and they're amazing they're amazing then they're amazing now like i was never made i was never gonna be that i guess because i just don't i don't think i i mean i thought i did then but clearly not it's just a crazy different dynamic trying to get noticed versus yeah trying to hide under the radar yeah it's very weird it's like i don't know how to operate from that mindset you know what's funny with me is i was always nervous yeah i was always like i i was i loved it and it was such a high you really should have done sketch you would have loved sketch because there's no nervousness you have a role you've rehearsed it you have a character you have props and you know yeah it's a scene that's super funny i know but but the high the high is still there was from improv the high is from creating oh oh you're saying from sketch it is it's still there because even within these written sketches there's just a million different things that can happen and you can double and triple down on those things and you can bring those things back and some things yeah may stretch to a minute and a half that were 12 seconds then something else gets truncated like it's still very alive stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare well you know when i was a clown in college yes clown class your clown days i did a lot of you know that was easy because you did you had like your clown had a character and a personality yeah and it was easy to play in that world and and be funny i was people really loved it loved me they loved you as a clown yeah now that you could still maybe well guess what i'm gonna be a clown for halloween this year you decided how did where'd this come about i didn't have a costume yet and i was looking the theme for this year should have almost been classics yeah because no one knew what to do this year it's totally it's it's really nearly yeah it's not the normal cohesive group theme anymore and i'm like i'm like hun she keeps hitting me with these different and i'm like babe i just maybe can i go as a train conductor since i pulled the oh yeah it makes sense and i got i have a lot on my plate i like i gotta drive that thing i had i have had a couple different costumes that were too big yeah for me to be in the car and my ponytail last year was hitting the ceiling i'm like i just need to drive this fucking car and not crash sure so i'm like maybe train but if you went clown i went train conductor someone was a ghost someone was a pumpkin it could be fun to go i like that classic i was gonna go pumpkin okay i thought this i was like you know what this year because there is no that really ding ding ding improv and sketch like i felt really like ah there's no theme i i don't know how to be i don't know what to do with this open world awaiting me you know so then i was like you know what back to basics i'm gonna go pumpkin i don't think i've ever been a pumpkin actually ever yeah so then i was looking up those costumes but none of them seemed that cute so then i went on etsy and i was looking for like cuter pumpkin ones and then i saw this vintage clown costume and so i bought that and it's supposed to arrive in time okay which is a little scary because i'm nervous i won't but he asked me specifically he's like you need this by halloween i said yes yeah you and vinnie could have been matching pumpkins oh he's gonna be a pumpkin that's what he picked uh yeah i love when little guys are pumpkins me too me too but i i can't compete with vinnie are you kidding me i would look ridiculous while he's looking so cute your legs are gonna look real skinny as a pumpkin i know i it just i don't i wasn't gonna be right okay some people's pumpkins on on amazon were like not circular enough can you have a sexy pumpkin do those they had those but i thought those looked so insane how does a sexy pumpkin look yeah it's just like kind of a dress oh it's a mesh it wasn't it just was like a dress and it's just a normal that looks stupid i wanted like kind of an inflatable one like really yeah but i couldn't figure that out anyway i'm excited to be a vintage clown you're gonna be a vintage clown yeah i mean the costume looks like vintage retro and has how much it's really pretty i don't want to talk about it well i want it to be expensive because what happens is when i'm looking at these costumes on amazon or elsewhere yeah i want it to be more expensive i know i look at this like you can't get all that shit for twelve dollars like i just got a hat an engineer hat in case in case i'm allowed to do that yeah um and it was like get a hat a whistle and a handkerchief for four dollars i'm like all that stuff is gonna be plastic exactly bad for the earth i'm like i want to spend 40 bucks on a train conductor hat can't be done did you look at etsy no you should have yeah etsy is where the like handcrafted stuff really i don't know how to use etsy it's probably just make an account it's a website or is there an app too there's probably an app too yeah that ship sailed i just bought the hat about 20 minutes ago and it'll be here tomorrow i mean that's the thing with these four dollar plastic hats arrive quick they're like they're lightweight they really do okay the fucking ratio of his eyeballs to his face are just it's not possible we're looking at a photo of vinny yeah and his pumpkin the world's cutest little boy oh my god is he cute wow speaking of old yeah my parents are in town oh sure they're older than you they're older than me and you yeah um and no i feel like i'm like anxious about their age it's like it's happening where i'm starting to feel a little anxious a little early but go ahead i don't i i wasn't anxious until i saw behavior that made me a little anxious is someone incontinent not that i know of okay but did you check the sheets i'm not gonna i don't want to think about that at all um more of a slowness you know maybe you're seeing the ease and contentment of retirement how many hours a week is your dad working by the way how how he's working full time right no not full time but most of the time i haven't seen him work on this trip okay but like they were getting out of the car and like i was just like oh god like none of this like seems like it's easy anymore and that and then they blamed it on the fact that they're used to driving in suvs and that my car was low to the ground which like maybe i guess but it was just like yeah a little anxiety look give me a little anxiety also like i don't feel like people can hear as well as they used to but also i don't know if it's that or they're just checked out i just yeah there's a lot of different things that could be going on yeah and you know me it's like so then i'm getting anxious and then that sometimes comes off as impatience or irritability similar you know cousins kissing cousins because you know i'll be like like yesterday my dad was it's like what's that sound and i was like way better than what's that smell well okay what's that sound you heard a sound sound he we were going upstairs and then he we were walking he's walking past a bedroom and the doors were open and the air was on and he said what's that sound and i said it's the air conditioning and then i like went to my room and i felt bad of course but then i was like maybe he wasn't talking about the air conditioning maybe he was talking about something else and i could have asked more questions sure sure sure but i got i think i got anxious i did i got anxious about the fact that he wouldn't know that was the air conditioning yeah you rely on him to know this shit yeah so i get your turn to start answering shit yeah you're supposed to ask him dad what's this noise exactly but it's happening you know and it's upsetting how old are they my dad's 72 okay yeah he's in his 70s i was gonna say you got a long way because my mom's 75 now yeah but no he's only four years and he's a man it is different yeah when your parents start to get older it's stressful yeah it is yeah and like that's gonna be you to lincoln and delta yeah like they're gonna start being i can't wait i can't wait till they have to take care of me and wait on me and be nice to me well what if they're mean to you like i am they might be yeah it's just it's not out of meanness it's out of fear yeah there's a lot of like oh no that was part of the reason my hair didn't look good they had been mean to me that morning you are not gonna do well like i don't care what my hair looks like my girls are mean to me that's the one thing i will say that is nice about my family yeah if you're mean they aren't taking it personally thank god yeah that's around there you have to you gotta survive and that's not something i invented they invented that yeah so it's like from from top down i'm too sensitive i know i'm way too sensitive you gotta maybe yeah i woke up and everyone was already in a fight and then i tried to like yesterday morning joyous self and yeah and then sometimes that doesn't work it didn't work and then i was disinvited to walk with my friend oh no it really hurt so i didn't care what my hair looked like yesterday but then today was better today i walked her yeah so fun today things you know these things the older one waved at me as i walked by her on the way home that's kind of good that's great that's good yeah yeah we were far enough from the school i think that's great listen it's hard okay do we have time when we yeah um do you want to talk about everything you can see everything we have time we could do it next fact check we could do it tomorrow let's save it okay um because yeah we you saw it so we really have to debrief on it and hopefully that gives people another day to go to the theater two two days to go to the theater you have two days um and we have facts i have actually a lot of facts okay so hold on this is for britney snow loved her loved her incredible episode so vulnerable she's just been through so much okay i looked up how much money do people used to make on commercials historically commercial acting was considered one of the most lucrative hidden secrets in show business during the peak era of traditional television the 80s through the early 2000s a sag after a union actor could routinely make 20 000 to 40 000 and sometimes upwards of a hundred thousand dollars for a single day's work yeah over the course of the residuals yeah some people do a snickers commercial back in the day when they let those things run for a year or so and play a thousand times you get a paycheck it's incredible so nice i didn't you had it pretty good oh i i mean i booked a lot of commercials you never pay attention but do you know the one you made the very most on i don't remember so many commercials i had a lucky run of commercials i did it was past the time where you could make money like this and they ran forever yeah exactly okay today's news is another man's fish wrap is a saying she brought up i will say this ai overview is stupid because it says that classic phrase a clever play on one man's trash is another man's treasure captures blah blah but it's not saying what the actual quote is you know it's just saying like this is what it means i'm like i already know what it means we know what it means we already know that yeah someone else said today's news tomorrow's fish wrap i like it better me too that used to be the case it's like i know something was in the news you were freaked out about it but then tomorrow you're gonna wrap fish in it and then it's gone and there's no way to ever read it again monica well if you saved it but if you were making fish and i guess you had like you're you heard about something what was it the whole scandal was so and so you you'd be relying on someone's memory of the article unless you went to the library and looked at the archive microfiche yeah news did go away yeah i know it couldn't be revisited i know now whatever you've done was accessible with a search i know so watch your step okay are soap operas on the decline yeah yeah yeah yeah and are is there still a soap opera digest award no the last one was 2005 okay 21 years ago still more recent than my last improv show yeah is pitch perfect the basic musical comedy of all time it says it was upon its release wicked but now well it's actually like very hard to find which is annoying uh because if you start looking up well where did it go i have so many teams it comes up with like the lion king and it's like that's not funny oh now this is live action either should i type in live action yeah yeah okay well wicked is now coming up yeah i think wicked's blown all of them off the and now it says beauty and the beast see this whoa maybe it is beauty and the beast because that's more recent yeah highest grossing live action musical of all time bringing in approximately 1.26 billion worldwide whoa you probably were thinking about domestic i did not i don't think any movies made 1.6 domestic um rare bit say what now um is matthew reese's boat's name the movable feast but i looked it up and it was even in new york times a lot of places said rare bit rare bit yeah i knew that wasn't what you said but i i couldn't find anything but rare bit you can text him no i don't have his number but i think his instagram i think that movable feast was the business it was a boutique boat charter business that he operated the boat was named rare bit okay oh okay so i think the website was movablefeast.com okay i think the website was okay and the boat is rare bit you know what that means rare bib like a bit rare bit r-a-r-e-b-i-t what if that's welsh probably good for him it's probably welsh for rabbit um okay you were talking about your old because it sounds like rare bit rabbit yeah um you were talking about your old phone that you're hanging christmas lights and you talked to kristin and then you decided and you invited her to new year's to bahamas was it this oh yeah absolutely okay it was workhorse it was samsung sgh c225 blue and silver oh is it samsung not a nokia you said samsung so i looked up samsung that's it you got it yeah t-mobile it says very rare cellular oh you could throw that thing across the room and you'd be fine i might have sidekicked her though now that i think about it because i do think when we first started dating we both had sidekicks sidekicks sidekicks that was a device i still miss the side was that samsung it's t-mobile oh well i think it might be i mean they wouldn't have manufactured it it says the t-mobile sidekick as well originally known as the danger hip top oh i don't remember calling it that okay i'm glad it looks there's a lot going on it's awesome because you'd flip over the screen and then you had a full cordy keyboard yeah it's that what a nice unit fuck i missed that thing you do yeah i could boogie i could write you up i could write you a manuscript on that thing did you you didn't have a blackberry i then had a blackberry i never had one of those you didn't i never had one with the keyboard like oh you i loved it i loved it i could boogie why don't you get it again you can probably it says rare but you could probably find it i can't imagine it's like i'll go for halloween as someone that has an old phone well remember a couple years ago i tried to go as apple pay like that was my whole i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know um it was a whole idea i was gonna go as apple pay and then day of i couldn't figure out how to go as apple pay so i had to go as a cat classic um all right that's all my facts oh okay well those were great thank you really good job on the facts um she was just awesome i hope people listen yeah nice girl all right love you love you you