DANNY MCBRIDE Talks First Novel, Ghostly Encounters, North Carolina

[MUSIC] >> Michael Keaton really was the coolest guy. >> He was. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Still is the coolest guy. >> You said I reminded you. >> Yeah, well no, you actually said that you reminded yourself of that. You had some leather slips on. >> You're like, wow, is that Batman? >> Yeah. >> It was like, which one dude? And you're like, Michael Keaton, and I was like, wow, I wouldn't say that myself. >> You probably get that all the time. >> No, you get it probably all the time too. You remind me of Michael Keaton more. >> I remember what you remind me the most, and Michael Keaton. >> You remind me of Michael Keaton right now. >> I thought I was in the next multiplicity. >> I bet you, Michael Keaton, wherever he's doing right now is what, I bet she looks just like you. >> Really? >> Yeah, right now. >> I'm like, chill out the fuck out dude. >> Take it, just take it, you can have that. >> I'll take it. >> I'll take it. [MUSIC] >> My guest this week is actor and writer, Danny McBride. Danny is of course known for his legendary work in film, television. And now, in the world of literature, his new book, "Money Tells," "The Modern Men" is out now. And as a cool cover, it's got a tiger. Tigers are, of course, my favorite animals. They have cool fur. I'll be in Denver October 22nd, the 24th at Comedy Works, New York, New York, Comedy Festival, a town hall of November 13th, 2026. >> Welcome to the Adam Friedleich show. I'm Adam Friedleich. My girlfriend's calling me right on the phone. What did I do? >> Ladies and gentlemen, legend, Danny McBride. Give it up for him, everyone. [APPLAUSE] >> Wow, my man, thanks for coming in. >> Yes, of course, thank you for having me. >> So you're number one right now. >> In this book. >> Sold more copies in the Bible. So it's kind of a lot to process, but it's a day-to-day thing. >> Who is this King James? How do you get his name on it? >> Good question, you know? Yeah, I've never run into those, him and any of the literary circles I run around in, so I'm not sure. >> Yeah, what's your literary circle? It's you, be Tucker Maxx. >> Yeah, Tucker Maxx, sure, yeah. >> Yeah, he's in there. Richard Simmons, he wrote a book of his life. So, I've got a lot of tips about how to navigate the book world through him. >> Were you a Stern guy at any point in your life? >> You know, I worked at an enterprise car rental, joined it for a little bit, where I vacuumed cars, and I would listen to Stern, and that's when he was still on regular radio, not on satellite radio. >> Yeah. My alarm clock radio was Stern growing up before school, and I- >> Where did you grow up? >> I lost Vegas. >> Nevada? >> No, yeah. >> That's why the Vegas number. You just still haven't changed that number, even though you live in New York, huh? >> You want to tell everyone, it's 702. >> Yes, that's what I call- >> If anyone was like, no, yeah, I used to be embarrassed of coming from a shit place and living here, but now I'm kind of proud of it. >> I think it's a great place to come from. That's a pretty unique upbringing, I'm sure. >> It was weird. >> It's playing Blackjack all the time. >> No, they didn't let me, because I had a system. Yeah, yeah. >> Gotcha, yeah. >> That makes sense. >> I was one of those math genius kids, yeah. >> Okay. >> You grew up in Fredericksburg, is that right? I grew up mainly, I lived in Fredericksburg, and before that, I lived in a really small town in California called Lampoke. My dad was a guard in the prison there, and we lived on the prison reservation. >> Uh-huh. >> It's pretty exciting. >> Do you know if your dad was a dirty? >> If you would say, she probably was, I'm sure he was, I think he staged pit fights with the prisoners and stuff. >> Really? >> I would imagine, that's what I would think would happen. >> Yeah. >> In Vegas, I was staging bum fights, in fact. >> Oh, perfect. >> Do you remember that website bumfights.com? >> Yeah. >> That was one of the cultures. >> That was you. >> Yeah, yeah. I staged it. Yeah, yeah, of course. >> Cool. >> It gave a lot of people a lot of opportunities to share their talent, so I appreciate it. >> In both Lies, for instance. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I lived in LA for a while. I lived there for almost 20 years, and then I moved out about almost 10 years ago now. >> Oh, congratulations. >> Yeah. >> Last trip I had there, I was like, I don't like this place at all. >> Yeah. It's fun to visit, but when you have to start living your day-to-day there, I just found it to be a lot. >> Yeah. What made you want to write a book? Let's get that. >> You know what? I read books. And so then I was like, why don't you try to write one? Let's see what happens. And my life hasn't been exciting enough for me to write an autobiography just yet. So I figured I needed to invent some stories. >> Oh. >> Yeah. >> And then, my favorite story here was Danny McBride, the man with the biggest penis of all time. >> Yeah. >> The publishing company fought hard to take that out, but I kept it in. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> You said you're taking liberties. >> Yeah. >> It's creative life. >> That story was, you know, honestly one of the shortest stories in the book, you know, was very small. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Short story, big piece. >> Yeah, exactly. >> That's the subtitle. >> That's it. >> In fact, it's mostly a title of a story. >> And then, yeah, it's probably two or three sentences after each title. >> Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've been a fan. It's really cool that you're on the show. I've been a fan for a long time. In college, the pilot for Eastbound leaked. And we loved FootFist way. >> Oh, nice. >> And do you remember it leaked about like a year and a half before the show ever aired? >> You know, I never realized because I had a copy myself. So, I never, yeah. >> You leaked it. >> I leaked it to myself. >> Yeah. >> But when we shot that, we had no clue whether that show would get picked up. So, we kind of like, we approached it. We're like, well, we got to shoot a pilot. >> Yeah, yeah. >> It's my favorite show of all time. >> Oh, I appreciate that. >> The script for the pilot also is pretty crazy. >> Yeah, yeah. >> How did you, what did you just put too much in there so you could get some past the-- >> We were-- >> Yeah. >> We, we, uh, we didn't really, at that point, we were very new to our careers, very new. And so, we did, we just always saw the executives as the enemy. So, we were sort of always trying to outmaneuver them. Like, let's just like go really hard and then the idea that maybe we'll somehow end up just slightly back from that. But weirdly, they kind of stopped pushing back. And so, then we're like, whoa, we're pretty far out over our skis here. We didn't think they would let us do this. >> Did you see your life going in this direction? >> I'm not sure, did you just like say like whatever, like maybe-- >> I didn't really. I mean, I went to film school. I wanted to make movies and do that. But I didn't, I definitely didn't see acting and things. That was definitely not something I was like trying to do or looking to do. >> Uh-huh. I suppose like, do you feel like most normal in the South? Is that why you went back? >> I don't know if I feel most normal in the South. But I just, honestly, I just like the, uh, I like the pace of it. I feel like I did love being in a city, like in my 20s. But then once you have kids and you live in a city, you're like a teen mom, who's just like watching everyone else have fun. >> So you, when you were a teenager, you became a mother? >> I could be him a mother. >> What was that? >> It was sick. You would have loved it. >> Yeah, I guess like when you were young, like, how did you know you wanted to be making, like, did you want to make films? >> I did. I, you know, I, uh, I loved movies. I was like, you know, I'm just like talking like a whole time, but when I was a kid, it was like the birth of video store. So like that was like such a crazy concept that what you're seeing in the movie theater, you could like take home and watch it for two days in your house. And I think that, that came around when I was at an impressionable age. So I just was obsessed with, with just movies. >> How do you like the guys in the '70s, like, become cinephiles? >> I have no clue. I think they had to wait the three years until it came on NBC and had commercials in it. I don't know. >> We saw Star Wars like 57 times. >> Yeah, I know. >> Yeah, like when we were kids, because we had like the VHS. >> Well, that's the thing is I feel like with, we, it's fairly new that people have that kind of relationship with movies that you can watch your favorite movie over and over again. Like, it was something that you would see once, maybe twice. >> It's bizarre to me. >> It is. >> Yeah, it is, yeah. >> Did they have better memories or something? >> I guess there was less of it. >> So maybe they were just like really living it, yeah. >> We could watch it so many times, we could literally blaze and do it. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Just quote every line, yeah. >> I remember when the DVDs, like delivery from Netflix started, like I was like my life is about to change completely. I could watch any movie. >> Yeah, and I don't have to worry about a late fee. I don't have to pay a hundred bucks because I forgot to return this. >> Do you think they suck now? Like, because maybe it's the over availability that's made it suck? Like, I think music probably kids can listen to any song ever, right? Like, I would get a CD and listen for a month and then like get obsessed with one album. >> Yeah, and it would really make an impression on you. Yeah, I mean, obviously, it's like, I got kids and what I've noticed is when they go on vacation and they only have like one or two toys, they play with those fucking toys all the time. But then when they get around their house with all their toys, they're constantly bored. So I think when you have access to all of it, weirdly none of it kind of resonates. You kind of don't care about any of it. >> The art sufferers. >> Yeah. >> There is so much now and it is, I mean, it used to be, you know, if there was a movie you liked, you, you know, you really kind of, you had a hope that it was in the video store that somebody else in your town wasn't wanting to watch the same movie that you were wanting to watch the night. And I think there's something that probably made all of it seem more magic. It felt like you were getting something special when it landed at your house. I guess? - The only thing that's really changed in the world is we just have iPhones, and you watch any shit you want at any time ever. - Yeah. - Which always feel like so weird, like when you see those AT&T commercials and stuff, where it literally is people. - Big fans, that chick? - That one's great, but it's literally commercials where people are just like walking around the city, just like watching TV shows on their phone, and they're like selling it. Like, look how awesome this is. You can watch even more things now. It seems broken, right? - It's fucked up. - Yeah, it's fucked up. - Yeah. - Even calling it "binging" feels like it's-- - Yeah, you're a drug addict, yeah. - Yeah, it seems like a weird thing to call consuming media. - Yeah, it's the thing that someone that dies from having too much food. - Yeah, from doing too much, yeah. - The name says it all, 'cause it's good for you. - Yeah, I guess like, yeah, so I'm in a bad mood right now, 'cause our researcher says you're obsessed with diet, Dr. Pepper. - You know, I like to put out falsehoods and just test the good research. - You're like Bob Dylan when he was like 20s. I've come from the circus, yeah. - But it was a diet, Dr. Pepper, so he really fucked through that. - You want to try one or something? You know what, maybe probably not, you know? - We have a fucking fridge full of diet, Dr. Pepper. - You know what it's gonna be, the diet soda that keeps giving. - This is gonna be in my head the rest of the episode. - All right. - Can the camera operators have drink all of them by the end of the episode? - I think that's a great challenge. - Yeah, okay, just get them to, yeah, James, I want to see you chug. - When you were a kid, did you record the audio of movies on tape? - I would, yes, we didn't have any of the page channels at my house, so when the movies would come on HBO, you could tune to the channel, but it was, yeah, you would tune and you could jack off from front of your parents to the channels, and the signal would be scrambled, so you couldn't see it, but you could hear it. So I would just like record on a cassette tape, the audio of the movie. - And what movies did you listen to, isn't it? - This is the dumbest one. I listened to Mr. Mom for some reason. That was the first one I tried it with. - And that's why in high school, you became a mother. - That was exactly why I became a team mom. But for some reason I was watching Mr. Was listening to Mr. Mom, and I was like, I should record this, and then I did it. I sat there and I screamed at my sister every time she came in the room and talked. I'm like, I'm trying to get this recording of Mr. Mom on the tape that, what are you doing? - Yeah, so then you had to walk around the neighborhood and the walk, man, just like listening to Michael Keaton, like not know how to change a diaper. - You hadn't have been cool. - Yeah, you couldn't have been cool. - You could have been cool. - Like a coolest kid in town. - Yeah, yeah, you got pussy up there. (laughing) - Yeah, that was like second grade, tons of pussy. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Oh, I got it. - You want to hear my Mr. Mom tapes come back to the clubhouse. - He really was, Michael Keaton really was the coolest guy. - He was, still is the coolest guy. - You said I reminded you. - Yeah, well, no, you actually said - You said that when you walked in, you said Michael Keaton. - You had some leather slips on. - You're like, wow, is that Batman? - Yeah, yeah. - It was like, which one do you? And you're like, Michael Keaton, and I was like, oh wow, I wouldn't say that myself. - You probably get that all the time about that. - No, you get it probably all the time too. - No, you remind me. - You remind me the most of Michael Keaton. - You remind me of Michael Keaton right now. - I thought I was in the next multiplicity. - I bet you, Michael, wherever he's doing right now is what, I bet she looks just like you. - Really? - Yeah, right now. - I'm like, chill out the fuck out, dude. - Take it, just take it, you can have that. - I'll take it. - I'll take it. - Remember multiplicity, so should I move you? - I missed that one. So you do look more like Michael Keaton than me. - It's just me seeing a movie. You remind me of-- - That's your effortless chill style, and everyone, when you show up on screen, everyone's like, he has the effortless chill style that Michael Keaton ones had. In the way that Batman couldn't move his neck. - Yeah, I'm the same way, yeah. (laughing) - I guess like, how would you characterize yourself as a kid? You sound like a fu-- - Go ahead, tell me, what did I sound like? - I mean, like a fucking pimp, dude. (laughing) - You know what, I was, you know. - I just marched to my own drum. I didn't really give shit with people thought. I just did my own thing. I liked movies, I liked, I made movies in my backyard when I was like in middle school and high school. - What do you shoot on? - Shot on a little like Panasonic VHS camera. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, we had the Sony High A. - Those were nice, yeah, yeah, those were really cool. - We shoot jackass videos on those when I was in high school. - That's perfect, no one got hurt, huh? - No, a lot of people did, I got a concussion, actually. And then I took a nap and then my dad got yelled at by my mom that you can't take a nap after a concussion. - We, a friend of mine broke his arm when we were making, we were making stand by me, part two. This is serious, this sixth grade, this very serious movie. And the Ray Brower comes back to life and kills the people that saw his body. - That's funny. - That's what we were making. And when my friend was playing River Phoenix and he gets pushed off of a balcony and he was just gonna hang off the side of the balcony and we're gonna cut and then just zoom in. And instead we were filming, he goes on the balcony and he just drops and just straight breaks his arm off the deal and then all the rest of the movie 'cause we shot everything just in camera. He suddenly has a pink cast on for the rest of it. - Yeah, yeah. - Constantinuity issue. - Yeah, yeah. - And then he overdosed on the Sunset and the Viper. - Yeah, that was a good movie. - That was a sixth grade, yeah. - Yeah, it was a good movie. - He was up to it. (laughing) - It was for my bachelor party, yeah. (laughing) - When there's a legend, I mean, you've told us so we're probably a million times of like, foot, fist, weight. Like, you guys just fucking around making it. And then what do you call it? Will Ferrell and McKay finding it and then it coming out. Like, did you guys know that you were the, this was the funniest thing? - We did it, we hoped that it would be. But we were just, you know, we were just making what made us laugh. And so we didn't know where that would land or if it would get, if it would score anything for us. We had no idea. - My favorite moment is when your wife is coming home and you have the knife. - Nice, try to scare her. - And you're just saying "focus." (laughing) - We would replay it. (laughing) - See, those are fun things to do with your wife. - You're like, yeah, you're the same, you're like, (laughing) - I heard you want to say that you like it when your characters don't like teach anyone any lessons. Like, is there, I feel like in a lot of your things, there's a notion of human nature where people are just really, who at this point, why am I talking to this? - Go for it, no, you're killing it. - I'm nervous, I'm really nervous. People are just really, do you think people ever change, right? Like, you know, I mean, sure, some people change, you know, but don't you feel like change mainly? I kind of feel like, sometimes it feels insincere when like you watch someone completely change in an hour to half watching a movie. It kind of feels like, all right, they totally changed. - In real life, but like I am kind of who I was at 17 when I was jerking off to-- - Well, you're more Michael Keaton now, so there's definitely been that change. - I was jerking off Mr. Popper's Penguin's, and then you moved up to the multiplicity. - I think I just saw, yeah, I think I just saw as Mr. Popper's Penguin's a good thing to jack off to. - I don't even know if that was when I was in it. I was jerking off the soul plane. - Oh yeah. - Do you ever pull the move where you go to the movies at like 11 and then you just see, you see four, you jerk off, the crashing tiger, yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - But wait and just stick around the movie theater and just kind of bounce from one to the next. - I've definitely done that before. I haven't done four. I've done two before. - Yeah, me and my friend Alex in high school, that was our move, and yeah, it was just, I miss, they used to just make crap, and then you go see the crap that they made. - I would see everything that was out. That was fun too to sneak into 'em, 'cause like you'd finish one movie, then you'd go into the bathroom, and then the next thing I wanna see is in that theater. I'm gonna go in there, and then you go in, you're like, damn, this shit doesn't start for like an hour. You have to check-- - That's like hide in the back here. - You have to check the paper, right? You have to check, they're like, - You gotta be smart about it. - It's hard to be announced, yeah. And I'm like, oh yeah, I guess I'll sit in on the scorpion king with the rock. - Yeah, why not? - For like 30 minutes, see what that shit's all about. - It's perfect. - And then crashing tiger starts, I mean, I remember, it was just like, I would just, they used to just make garbage, but it was the garbage that they gave us. - Yes, so we take it. - And we take it, and I have a really like romanticism about it. - It was pretty awesome. You think they stripped their, you know, if that stuff becomes unpopular, there really is like nothing for kids to do other than just like, have pain and do drugs if we don't have movie theaters. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - It's important. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's true, I don't even know what they do nowadays. They watch gang bangs on believe on the eye. - Jack off to Mr. Popper's penguin, I think, is what all the young children are doing these days. - Yeah, I don't know if that's really one. - No, I think it is. I saw a date line. - I'm gonna tell you about it. You guys were like such a, like a tight cruise. You, Jody, and Danny. - Sorry, David Gordon, David, David, right again, it was you. You guys were such a tight cruise. You, Andrew, Tate, (laughing) (laughing) The luxury of working with the people that you like knew as a very young, like a man, like a, like a, I guess it's like a, do you think that your work benefits from the fact that it's like such a small crew? Like, you know what, I think it makes the whole journey of it more fun, like, you know, when you're, when you've known a lot of these guys, 'cause even beyond Jody and David, like, there's writers on the show, there's our productions, are all these guys who dudes I met when I was 18 years old when we were at film school. So, like, we, even behind the scenes, are a lot of the same group of guys. But, yeah, it's just always kind of surreal when you're thinking about, like, you know, we were just fucking around, when we were basically teenagers, and then everyone's like getting paid to do it, and we're showing up in different places. So, I think it may. makes it more fun, and then with our crew, everybody has their own sensibilities and their own tastes, so everybody goes and does stuff on their own, so I think it takes that pressure that maybe a band has, where everybody has to stay together or else no one is gonna get paid. Like ours is, the pressure's always off because everybody just goes and does their own thing. - When you, did you guys all move to LA together? Was that how it worked? - Some of us did. Green, David Green lived in Texas, but yeah, a big group of us moved. A lot of kids, I graduated from the North Carolina School, the Arts at Film School, moved to LA. I think when we moved there and like the fall of '99, there was like 30 of us, and then after the first year, there was like six of us. It was like, was anyone turning tricks? - Everybody was. The guy with the six you stayed, that's how we survived, yeah. Yeah, we're not fools. We're not gonna go through, yeah. We're not gonna show up and be a camera guy on a podcast. We're gonna turn tricks. - Yeah, yeah. What was it like at those pool parties at David Geffen's house in the hills? - They were so cool. We, I would just walk around in a banana amic serve of my ties, and everybody seemed to love it. They thought I had a future. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - You're like, look at me, I'm a fucking twink. - Yeah, look at me, you're like, you're a twinky. You're not, we're gonna have no one here wants to fuck you, dude. (laughing) - You're trying to do that. The worst part is you're trying to get Melissa. - I know, and it just never happened for me, unfortunately. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why not me? Why not me? I remember, I forgot where I heard it, but you told this story, like, there was a, it was, you had an ex-girlfriend who said that she got involved with it. What was the story? I try to find it everywhere online. Did I have an escalator or something? - Well, this, the story, I went to go, I had an ex-girlfriend who, after we broke up, where after she broke up with me, I moved L.A. with her, and my life quickly fell apart once I moved L.A. for the first time. She met somebody new. This guy was a pretty big guy, he was a gym guy, and I guess things didn't work out for her. She was trying to break it off. She called me to come pick her up. I showed up, the guy didn't like it. I came there with some friends because we're not fighters. None of us had, like, really gotten to big scuffles, and I ended up with like a golf club, and I tried to take a swing at the skate dude, and it didn't go well. And we got our ass kicked. And so, that was four of you versus the one with me. Well, my friends never got out of the car, they stayed. I thought, we drove there, in my holiday lounge, I remember driving there. We lived in Glendale, and we had to pick her up from Burbank. And I remember trying to hype them up. Like, when we get there, we have to just fucking go for it. We can't show any reluctance. And we were listening to Rolling Stone's satisfaction in the car, just sort of like getting jammed, here we go. And then the reality was that we pull up, and the guy is like, six, five, and he's standing there. All my friends are like, fuck it. I'm even just like barely rolling on the window. Like, come on, come come into the car. We don't need to go out. But then we got into this fight, and so then we get back, it's very traumatic. We get back to my apartment in Glendale. And then the ex-girlfriend tells me why she was breaking up with him, that he was basically a criminal, and have been involved in a car ring theft. And I'm like, oh, Jesus, he'd like assaulted a police officer. And then he's sort of, then he's calling her saying, I'm going to kill that guy. And I'm like, oh, God, is this really happening? Well, at least he doesn't know where we lived. And she's like, actually, he does know where you live. We went on a date, like a cross, and I pointed out that you live there. And it got really crazy. That dude rolled up with a bunch of people, and me and my friends escaped. And I literally never went back to that apartment for like three months. I just like took a high, I took a double bag of stuff, and just scratched at my friend's house for a while. You left all your stuff? Yeah, I left all my stuff there. I took a double bag. I grabbed a butcher knife and a duffel bag full of stuff, and like made my way out to my car and escaped quite well. [LAUGHTER] Was it a Glendale style guy? I think he was. He was a meanious style guy. No, no, he wasn't a Glendale style guy enough. I was reading about it. You said you tried to consider Eastbound to be British TV. What do you mean by that? Well, only in the sense that when we were watching British TV shows, and they were also so short, they were like six episodes long, and American TV was not that way. I mean, it's like 24 episodes or something. Yeah, so which shows were you watching? I had to think, watch the office space, which is like Edgar Wright and Nick Frost's time peg show. And then I'd watch things like-- Grass-eye. Yeah, and what you're going to call-- Partridge. Yeah, Alan Partridge, all the Steve Cugan stuff is awesome. But when we sold Eastbound, I think even at that point, HBO shows were like 13 episodes, it was what they were. So when we sold it, it was like, we just want to do six episodes. And everybody, like our agents and even HP, were like, that's ridiculous. They want to pay you to make more. And we just felt like, you know what? Six is we can just enough time to make sense and not to wear it and to run it into the ground. How did you manage to-- every season is so distinct. And how did you manage to grow it? Because every character, like Jenowsky, he really has a wild ride. He does. And you know what's so funny? We didn't even know we had no idea that that was going to be his run for the beginning. We had him in that pilot. And when we got to the set, I just thought Steve Little was so incredibly funny that I was just like, well, this is what the whole show is. It's going to be these two dudes together. And so then a lot of it, I think, is just we'll have some kind of plan. But really, it's about making it and seeing what we have fun doing. And then just the next time, letting that guide, what you're going to keep doing. Yeah. I mean, it is the best show ever. You know, do you realize the special? You know, I try not to think about it. I don't look into the past a lot. You know, I just look forward. I just look forward. You realize the special. It's the best fucking show ever. I mean, oh god. Yeah. I guess it's just like-- yeah, that's the cool thing about that show is that no one really changes, but they change so much. Yeah, they go too long. Like, you could tell that they're cracks of their insecurities that are beginning to show. And then they just have this-- Kenny Ruins, everyone's like-- Everybody's like, yeah. Everyone's fucking like. He's the biggest piece of shit at all time. How did you, like, come up with the concept each season that's like the Mexico season, the Mertel season, and then the, like, I guess, inside the NBA kind of-- Yeah, we really wanted every season to feel like it could just be its own movie. And that way, even if you don't like the whole series, you might have a season that you would like. Like, I only do the Mertel Beach season or whatever. But we wanted them, you know, that was the first thing we had ever done in television. So we were used to just writing for movies or thinking about stories and movie terms. So we really approached each season like it was a sequel, just sort of like, you know, if they're in the snow and Empire Strikes Back, like, what's our version of? What weird outfits will they wear this season? And so then it was kind of what we would just think that way of, like, all right, what kind of weird shit would Kenny be wearing? Like, he's in Mexico. He's wearing, like, Mexican stuff. He's a Mertel Beach. He's wearing dipshit stuff. Did you go-- that was your vacation spot as a kid, Mertel? I went there, like, once or twice. Yeah, you know, I actually had to go there last week, and my son was in a lacrosse tournament there. It's a long time since I've been there. But get a lot of mileage when I show up there in the Mertel Beach. It is-- it's such-- there are like a bunch of cities in the part of the world that you live in that are so distinct from any other city. Like, you live in Charleston. It is distinct from any other city in America. Savannah's distinct. But Mertel Beach is just-- it is a mirror to America. It is just hell on earth. It's really-- it's sticky. You go to restaurants there, and your arms stick to the tables, the weather outside sticky, the floors in the hotel, or sticky, it's sticky. Yeah, I've been there once, so it's like, I can't get over-- Yeah, I used to-- I mean, when I was a kid, it was so much fun to go there. And you just see all of the tourist attractions. Yeah, so I think it made him pressure me when I was a kid. And so then when we shot Eastbound, I just wanted to have the experience of taking other people and making them live there for a little bit. I remember one night we were shooting in Craig Robinson and Will Farrell were there. It was like, they were doing all that crazy biker stuff in Mertel Beach. Black biker, yeah. And Will was like, we were going to go grab dinner. And Will was like, we should just go to the planet of Hollywood here, just like us three go in and see if we can get set. And we didn't end up doing it. We should have. We went to Bojangles instead. Oh, OK. Yeah. They wouldn't have been like your tables. Yeah, they're like, this is all the memorabilia from El. It's the first situation underneath this. No one really comes here. I remember when I was a kid. I asked my parents if I could have my birthday party there one year and I had-- What did they say? They said, yes. Oh, they had a good parents. And I was like, I was like, guys, you know Sylvester Stallone is a part of an owner? Yeah. My friends were like, you know what I mean? They didn't do it for him? No, no, no, no, no, no. Wait, what was that voice that you just did? That's how you talk when you were a kid? And that's how I talk when I'm not around Gentiles. Oh, got it. Yeah, that's OK. I-- my real name is Rabbi Menachem Schneerson. I heard that, yeah, yeah. This episode is brought to you by eBay Live. Here's how it goes. First, you're just watching eBay Live, seeing some rare finds, not even bidding, just lurking, and then you see a rare rookie card. Go for an absolute steal. A '90s handbag comes up and you have to jump in. Maybe put that rookie card in the handbag. Maybe you lose your first auction. You bid again. and win and that winning feeling, it's such a rush because you know everyone else wanted it to. Meanwhile, on eBay Live, you don't just watch the action, you're in it. Download the eBay app to stream and shop live. eBay Live, things people love. - You're a substitute teacher before you made that show? - I was, yeah, I was living at my, I was, had moved home from LA and, uh, yep, I was substitute teaching. - How nice of a parents you have. - Pretty cool, pretty cool. - Yeah, they're like, you're doing film as a job. - Yeah, and then they were, I think that they saw it coming. I think that they, they were always supportive of me when I went off to film school. I think it was a lot like, well, good luck to you. And so I think when I came home from LA, they were, I don't think it was a big surprise. I think that they were, I think what's happening now is probably a bigger surprise to them. - Was the Civil War a big deal when you were growing up? - It had just happened in the 80s, it had just finished. Yeah, so a lot of T-shirts, there were a billion. - V-A, like that. - Yeah, no, it totally was. I mean, where we lived, Fredericksburg, I've seen reenactments. I've never done that myself. Should, it should be fun, it should be nice. But yeah, Fredericksburg is like, it's known as, I think it's the bloodiest ground in all of North America because the amount of wars there, that's where I'm from. - When you first moved to LA, is that when you realized that the North was a good guy? - I was like, oh, the Civil War wasn't fought out here. I can't stay out here too long. - Yeah. - Have you found out yet, or the North, or the good guys, or? - I'm not sure what you're talking about. They're like, what? - Good guys. - The good guys, I don't know. It's not something we discussed in my house. - All right, it was fun, it was fun. - Do you think Robert E. Lee was a little too hyped? - He, you know, a lot of people-- - He kind of was an office man. - He was like, the thing about Robert Lee, that a lot of people kind of like wash-ever is that he was an incredible body-border. He would often, he would go to Myrtle Beach. Yeah, before he kind of led the church. - He got hurricanes and smoke opium and go boogie-border. - And he'd go down there, and he would surf and stuff. And, you know, that stuff, that's the thing, is we just white wash people, you know, and we don't look at all of the cool things that they really did. - Yeah, he had the pot leaf, that was inspired by him. - Yeah, yeah. Robert Lee Lee was all about weed, a lot more than that. - Well, yeah, that's what the war was really about. - That's what they're going to tell you. - It was, yeah, they wanted to put their, the North want to put their laws on a, just a simple, on a plant. - Yeah. - Can you imagine on a plant that John gave this out? - In history, you got it, yeah. - I love history. - And it was John, yeah. - You're dad, like, made crossbows? Is that what you think, bro? - You know, my parents got separated after I was six grade, and honestly, I don't really keep up with my old man. But I, so I've heard tales of what he's up to. But at one point, I think he was working for a crossbow, a place that makes crossbows, and then a place that makes boat windshields. - She got custody? - Yeah, no, I just became a runaway. I raised myself, I hopped on train cars. - Why wouldn't you go to the judge and be like, can I please live with this crossbow? (laughing) - It's dangerous. - I will be representing myself, your honor. (laughing) Dad, he might have some problems, but he wants to show-- - But he's making crossbows now. - He was the head of the, for the Confederacy, the crossbow. (laughing) - The crossbow division, yeah. - Yeah, what did your mom do, grown up? - Raised us, she raised us, you know. - Raised you good. - Raised us good. When I was a kid, we went to church a lot, and so then one of the deals she did was she, she was, did this puppet ministry at our church, where she would write these puppet plays and then perform puppet ministry for children. - Yeah, what branch of Christianity is puppet? - It grew up, they were all Baptist puppets. - Yeah, yeah, southern Baptist puppets, yeah. - There's a difference between Catholic puppets and yeah. - Oh yeah, there's more ritual involved with the Catholic puppets. - They got something different inside. - Some of this stuff is Latin, and you know, with southern Baptist, it kind of just let it rip. - Yeah, yeah. - They got something, they-- - They got a hand inside of them. - In Baptist. - Yeah. - With them. - They have a what? - They have a penis. - Oh yeah? - An adult's penis. - Oh, in which one the Catholic wants? - Cut that dude, with their friends. - I don't want to go at them. Yeah, yeah, what inspired vice principles, I guess? What the fuck am I James Lipton? - What seems like it? - I just knew him from Michael Keaton and James Lipton pretty quick. - It's wild. - Yeah. And then you said, Fushizl, for the first day of Chappelle. You're the fast to say, "Shift Fushizl." I literally, we had the pilot of Eastbound Memoraz. I wrote on our door in our dorm room, the, I'm the one with the ball. I'm the one who could throw faster than fuck. - Was John Rocker, was it an inspiration? - Well, you know what's funny is that growing up, I was never into any sports, like there was anything. So I didn't even know, I didn't know anybody, I didn't know who John Rocker was when we even wrote this. And then after we started writing it. - You could tell from how you threw in the, - That I can't ball shit, yeah. - I didn't even, we were so worried about making the show that it wasn't until about a week before we were shooting. And we were like, maybe we should like, should I like meet with someone to make sure I know how to like, you know, look like I can play baseball. And so we got this guy from Wilmington, from UNC Wilmington, there you go. And he came and he watched me throw. And he was just like, fuck, no, this is good thing that's in comedy, yeah. And so I tried to learn how to throw over the course the four years, I barely got it. But yeah, I don't know why we even chose baseball to the truth. Like when it was all over, we were like, we know nothing about baseball. Like why did we choose to make a show about a pitcher? But that's just how it came to us. - Did you think John Rocker saw the show? - I hope so, I'd like to think so. - Yeah, you think it made him change a little bit. Maybe think about it. - Well, then what I've learned from about John Rocker since then is like, I think John Rocker has always been John Rocker. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's off his rocker. (laughing) - That was a friendly laugh. That was really nice of you to laugh at that. - You're doing great. - You're the best. - You've been writing, is this the first time you've written like a prose before? - This is the first prose, that's a big word. That's nice. - I have a question. - Yeah, this is my first foray into literature. - Did you find it, you already knew how to write, basically? - You know what, I've been writing for TV now, sadly for like 20 years. I've written over 80 episodes of television. So, - The good place. - You've learned the good place, yes, Ted Danson. You learn from that, but it is different writing for this. You know, like TV, the writing can just be whatever because eventually actors are gonna come in and they'll make the lines better. Or, you know, some editor will come and cut out all the stuff that sucks. And with writing like this, you're a little more exposed. There's nobody coming in, putting a cool song over it, to make up for stuff, it's not working. - You gotta song. - You don't get a song. You can't put the shit in slow motion. - It'd be cool if the publisher's here right now, right? - Yeah, all everyone from the publishing house is here. - Like, you know when you get a birthday card that it like has a song, when you open it up, put that in books, baby. Yeah. - It's great. - If you swap bodies with a random guy in China, do you think you would get found out first? Do you think the Chinese guy's body or the Chinese guy in your body? Who would get in trouble? - It's a fascinating question. - Yeah, thank you. - I'd like to think that I could use my powers as a world class actor to inhabit the body of anyone, regardless of race or ethnicity. - So how would you just day one, how would you? - I would just do all the cool stuff that Chinese people do. - Yeah, okay, so like what? - You know what it is, yeah. - And like, you go home, your wife's there, she's moaning, what's the first thing you say? - Which his wife or my wife, the Chinese wife? - So my wife, his wife. - Yeah. - And why is she moaning? - You don't know, you don't speak Chinese, yeah. - It's your brain, yeah. - That would probably be, that, you know, I probably would speak in the international language then of just fucking, yeah, that's right. You try to figure it out, try to read between the lines. - Also, you have a chair in your house called my chair. - I've always had that, yeah. Okay, anyone else could sit in it, but if you get in-- - No, it's my chair. - Is he your a chair? - Yeah. - It's kind of like I beat my family kind of thing, no? - You think so? - Yeah, a little bit. - I mean, now you say it, those two things do happen, so I guess that is indicative of that, you know? You're right. - I don't think for the publisher, they would like that. - I don't. - They don't care. They're just trying to figure out how to put the music in this book now. - How do you put, just one song? What about "Steel My Sunshine" by Lynn? Okay, have you ever met a ghost before? - You know what, I have a fucking crazy ghost story. I think I have encountered ghost twice in my life. - Two? - Two of them, yeah. - Okay. - Not the same one. - Really different. - Different, when I first moved L.A. I was living in Burbank and I was the night manager of the holiday and there in Burbank. And I used to just come to work and I'd work on scripts late at night, nothing was going on there. But there were rumors about a guy who jumped off the roof of that holiday end. There's a bar upstairs and none of the housekeeping or staff liked going up there because they said that there would be some of their hood whistle at them, that the ghost of this dude was up there. And so at night, I would oftentimes go up and just walk around and challenge him. Like I wanted to see if he was up there as he'd be completely dark and I would say come for me. come reveal yourself to me. And he would, nothing would ever happen. And then this one night I was up there and I was doing the same old shit. Come, show me what you got. And all of a sudden I felt that there was something in there with me. And I was like, oh God, there is something here. And I kind of like ran back to the elevator. And I could, I don't even explain it. I could just tell that it was, I talked shit and something showed up. I could feel it. - It went in you? - It was just around me. You have the hairs in my back of my neck were standing up and I'm like hitting the button for the elevator and the door opens. I come inside, the door shuts. Stay shut for a second and it just opens back up again. Like something opened the fucking door. - The ghost needs the door to open. - He was like, I was playing it down. - The ghost can't pass, so he's got to press the button. And then all the way down. The elevator stopped at every single floor going down. - Really? - That was my first experience with the supernatural entity. - And that was the day after the pool party at David Geffen? - Yeah, yeah. It was the spirit of my innocence. - You made me a little bit. And then what's the other time you had a ghost? - The other time is a little darker. It's a little more fucked up. I didn't make pottery and it ended with one of my buddies. Like, he woke up a little night and was completely on fire. And his room was on fire, he was on fire for real. I lived in West Hollywood in this shitty apartment complex. This is serious. This is very fucking serious, okay? This is ghost shit. We lived in this apartment and there was like, six of us living in this like two-bedroom apartment and everybody was just smoking weed and slipping around on the couch. I mean, it was a halfway house. Everyone was like moving in and out. My buddy had a room, so he was one of the lucky ones. And every time he was in his room for any amount of time, when he came out, he always seemed different. Like, he just seemed off and it was strange. He'd have like a weird look in his eye. And I started kind of like taking note of this. And I'm like, something is up with him. When he's there, he's fucking strange when he comes out. There's something off about it. And then in his part of the house, you could sense that there was some weird energy there in mainly from his bathroom. It felt like whatever was there, that's where the weird energy in the house was mainly there. Well, I was like writing, I would always start documenting this stuff. I get a buzz on to start like, you know, writing what I was observing about my buddy. And I told one of our neighbors, like, yeah, I think that I was like, don't say this to him, but I feel like he's losing his mind, because I think there's like a spirit that's like living in the bathroom of his room. And that's, I know it sounds nuts, but that's it. My neighbor, she told me, she's like, it's so weird you're saying this, because he literally has come to me and was crying, saying that there's a fucking thing living in his bathroom. And at nighttime, it shows him stuff. And I'm like, what? It shows him stuff. What the fuck does that mean? And so she's like, you should talk to him about it. So I talked to my buddy about it. And I'm like, you know, I'm not trying to like, say I think you're nuts, but I've had this weird theory that there's something that lives in your bathroom. And, you know, our friend said that you told her the same thing, so that like we should talk. She's like, you said it shows you stuff. What does it show you? And he's like, it like, I don't know, will just like show me things and say stuff. And it was like, well, that's, so I moved out of that place then. And a few months had passed. And this is when I went back to Virginia and I was substitute teaching. And I was going to go visit my buds back in LA. And so I called that friend. I'm like, yo, what's been happening with you? What's going on with the ghost? And he's like, you know what? Everything had been fine. And then it hadn't been around. And weirdly, last week, it showed up again. And this time, it grabbed ahold of my arm and burned my arm. And I'm like, what? And he's like, yeah, and he's like, and so he's like, I haven't really been sleeping in my room because it's like gotten weird. And I'm like, oh, man, that's nuts. So I'm coming out to LA. I'm getting up on an early flight. And there's a message from my friend on the phone, like before I go on the plane. It's him, but it's not him. It's like a weird version. And he's like, how does it feel to be a burnt black tomato? How does it feel to be a burnt black tomato? I'm like, what the fuck? What is he on right now? I'm thinking he's drunk. I call his phone. No one answers. I call again, the roommate picks up. And he's like, oh, god, you haven't heard. He's in the hospital. He woke up and his whole entire room was on fire. And including himself. And so I went back to LA. He has no recollection of that making that phone call or calling me or anything. And yeah, he got bad third-degree burns on like most of his body. He's one of the writers on Halloween and gemstones. So he's, he lived. He conquered the ghosts. But that was my other experience with the paranormal. And he went to the hospital. They said, yeah, it sounds like a ghost. I think they thought that they thought that they tried this-- the department complex tried to sue him. Because I think they were like, we don't know what's going on. But it was really weird when you'd go into that apartment. Nothing else in the apartment was touched. But his room was just completely scorched. And then just the bathroom door opened with the light on, spirit in there, cackling away. And he's fine now? He's fine now. He has kids? He doesn't have kids. No. He burned his penis off. Yeah. He burned him really. I think so. I don't know. I've never asked him. I'm assuming. Really? Hit him up. Yeah. We'll call him. You still burnt black tomato. Yeah. Burnt black tomato. It's gross. It's kind of weird thing for a ghost to say, right? Yeah. I don't know. It's like a racist. It sounds racist. I mean, he's just talking about like what color he was going to be after he was cooked. Yeah. I don't know. Is he Latte? He's an Eskimo. Okay. That was stereotype. Like, fire is like his that's like his weakness. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They have zero words for fire. Yeah. You know that. Yeah. Yeah. How have you guys like they've taken down episodes of 30 rock office like streaming services? How have you guys managed to like skirt that and everything you've done? I don't honestly. I've known. Maybe it's HBO. Honestly. I felt like when they start taking down episodes. I remember like Jody and David and I were like, oh, like, how come no one wants to take down episodes? I guess maybe our shit is not as dangerous as we thought it was. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. Like, is it the but at the buzzer right now in movies and TV? Do you feel like? Wait. What does that mean? I feel like it might go. They might end movies and TV eventually. You know what? End it? I don't think so. I think that it's just like, I think we're in this weird phase. We're like, you just need the younger people to be able to start making movies. I mean, they're spending some pretty big movies made by young people. Recently, I think that that's what's been missing. It's like all the old guys you get out of the way. Really? I think so, right? You think you're old guy? I'm on the verge. You get kind of like a young man. Yeah. Yeah, young man. I get that a lot. Yeah, yeah. As long as I keep drinking this diet, Dr. Pepper. Can you just try it for Justin? No. No way, Justin. Why didn't you put that in there? Just in time. Just how many did you get? 36. It looks like. Okay. Bring him out. Bring him out. I'm going to try it. It might be good. It's probably going to be delicious to tell you the truth. Are you, you do drink it every morning? Never. Never had one. Really? Yeah. But not because I'm against it. He's going to shotgun that one, right? No. What do you think? It's a professional studio. Mix it in here with this coffee. Oh. Like in a thorn, yeah. Yeah, that's what they do. Okay. All right. Here we go. Cheers. Cheers to you. Yeah. It's disgusting. It's pretty good. Look. Just try it raw. No. I'm not that enough. You had it with coffee. I've had enough. All right. All right. Do you have any questions for me here? So in Vegas. Yeah. Did you turn tricks there? Were you a call girl? I was a cocktail waitress for a while. No, no. Seriously. It was hard for me. I run up. My dad. It was a cocktail waitress, too. It was a cocktail waitress. He had to get, because of my special needs, educationally, we only had one bed. So like my dad, my sister, my mom slept on the floor. Oh, that's sick. That's a good arrangement. Yeah. Yeah. How much more did you have? So much. Really? Tons. And do you know the number? Yeah. I do. You know, in Texas. I just, you know, duck tails, Scrooge McDuck just swims in it. That's what I do. You do that style? I just thought it was like, it stays, first of all, it must be very dirty. Well, I've changed. It's been most of my time cleaning it. You know, I've, I've churrants for all the gold coins. Oh, yeah. And then I've, yeah, I polish it and clean it and stuff. Yeah, yeah. And then also it must hurt just to dive headfirst into like a ball pit, like a chucky cheese or something. You kind of, once you have your angle, you can kind of scurry your way in. Really? Yeah. You have my number, right? You want to text me just the amount of money. As soon as this is over, I'll do that. No, I just, I think it'd be funny if I reacted and can I text you something? I don't have my phone on me. I just want to be present for you. Can we get his phone? I want to text him something. I smashed it before I came in here. I knew this was going to happen. What happened? I like that you went with the orange phone and the orange case, huh? I'm trying a new thing. Like, I don't know. So you wouldn't lose it. That's why you want to be so bright. I just want people to be like, that guy's fucking random. Is that what orange does, you think? Sometimes. Where's your phone? Do you have it on you? I don't, I'm not a prisoner dog. I'm not strapped to it. Can I, I'll just show you what I text you, then. Let me see. Very good. Oh, that's beautiful. Everybody knows someone who looked like this. Is a great meme. Yeah. Is what you sent to me? Sick. - Thank you, I appreciate that. I'll respond with a meme of my own one day. - No, I don't really do memes, but I like this one. It's a Peter Lutheran with like a Latina high school girl haircut. - How'd you find that? Did you search for it? - So much for me, you just searched for it. - Yeah, it's kind of just a. - You were like sick memes. - The top 10 right now, New York Times, this is number one. The rest is porn for moms, right? - Mm-hmm. - Wait, publish your guy. That's all people read anymore, right? - Yeah, porn for moms. - You publish any of them, porn's for moms? - No, I'm not way. - Like a pirate guy with strong arms and then you just back walser. Yeah, you do that? Okay, yeah, yeah. So yeah, just tell us what, give us like a rundown of the show. - There are short stories. I feel like if you like the shows, I think you're gonna like this. This is how it's written to be an extension of that. So it's the same kind of humor, it's the same kind of characters. I was just trying to take what I've done in film and TV and try to do it in a different format. - I think that sounds as good, and I'm pleased to. - Here it is. Okay, one last big question. - Give it to me. I'm gonna get there. Have you ever figured out an anagram of your name? - No, what is it? - I wonder if your parents did this on purpose. Cybermind DNA. - Sick. - Yeah, they probably did do that on purpose. They've always been into that kind of shit. Yeah. - I don't know. You mind like, do we call your mom? - Yeah, she's in prison. - Really? - Yeah, we have to do it at a certain time and now it's not that time. - Okay. - Is your dad the guard? (laughing) - Yes, he said, yeah, maybe so. - Danny McBride, everyone. (clapping) - We got it. I got another one. Okay. - Oh my gosh. - No, we can just do a pick up. - What just been your father's name? (laughing) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Imagine setting your makeup. Then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new groupie setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours with flexible all day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue. Just plump, dewey hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new groupie setting mist from Mabelie, New York. - Maybe it's Mabelie.