"Nick Kroll"

well good day good day guess my age 59 59 62 what the hell no but be but we be real no really i i i actually what are you i'm 57 i think you're 50 you've always been a year younger right are you still or did you pass me no no it looks like you i think you passed me yeah oh god this backfired so much welcome to smartless hi guys hi oh hi where are you going i'm just finishing up a text here and sending okay wonderful um good good good yeah now i'm back with you glad you could come today and jb we're having a little bit of an earlier start today so i'm imagining your morning because i know you bake in two hours baseball season is on so you're active on the trade front you're managing your various leagues well i've i've uh i've fast forwarded through the final six innings of uh last night's game right right sorry you tape the games every night every one of them i watch every and he watches them at like 5 a.m why don't you watch them live well i i i i don't i just don't get them done before i go to sleep um and so i finish them up the next morning yes it helps me get out of bed i've got the rest of the game to watch that's a reason to wake up in the morning okay so let me ask you a question do you fast forward in between each play yeah i wait until at least one runner's on base preferably i like to get somebody to get to second base before i go to i watch wheel of fortune the same way not even kidding i'll fast forward through the picking of the letters until they get the the puzzle kind of halfway down until it's something that you can figure out yeah exactly uh-huh sean and does anybody ever get like get one guess one so early that you just it surprises you so much that you that you like you have a mistake with the with the canned cheese like does it go all over your hand at that point like oh or do you ever like point it to your temple like if you're trying to kill yourself you know and you just squeeze it all over the side of your face like like what is it called cheese whiz yeah that's it so so jb so so i know jb does a bacon so he bakes in the your game speed through, right? And then as soon as it's over and not before, I then go to my scores, my points, how many points I've accrued on my fantasy baseball league. Coffee is accompanying all of this. Coffee is very first. Very first, very first. I need to light the fuse. Sure. And it's a long fuse, so it needs time to burn down into the dynamite. For the bomb. For the bomb. You need to light the fuse with coffee. That's why I don't drink coffee, because I don't want to be dependent on it. Well, it's not that bad to depend on, you know? Like, you got a half-hour tick-tock until the dynamite gets hit, and then off you go. You know, because if you don't have a fuse mechanism, you could find yourself leaving for your day, and then you're out in the middle of the community. Yeah, in the community. And you know what in the community? You smell something burning, and you know you got to get to a bunker. Sure, I understand. And that's unfortunate. That's unfortunate. That's unfortunate. All right, so we're back to baseball. I check my scores. Check your scores. And then I start doing my loop around the internet. And it's a pretty high-brow loop, you know, Will. I'm not dicking around with gossip sites. Yeah. Yeah, I'm seeing what's going on in the dumpster fire. Well, you know, and actually, it's funny you say that. So this morning, I had that same thing where I woke up, and I did my games with my little crew, coffee, obviously, accompanying it, and then. Oh, right. So, yeah, so your. I'm still in that old. Yeah, so he's still doing whortle, quartle, and octortle. Yeah. Uh-huh. So that takes you. And the gum is as good as it sounds. Sorry, just checking real quick. So you're. What. How long does it take you usually to do those three things? 20 minutes? It depends, because the way we play it is the winner from the day before picks the starter word that you have to use for all three boards the next day. You really mixed it up. Yeah. So wait, what happens? Yesterday's winner picks the starter word. The starter word that you have to use on all three boards the next day. Oh, really? Yeah. What was the. So today's word was sadly. Uh-huh. Yeah, they always get you with an L-Y. And, like, you know, certain people, like, will pick dicky words to fuck you over, and it fucks themselves over, too. Sure. And then a dicky word would be something that doesn't really provide a lot of vowels or a lot of consonants. On Easter. On Easter. Our pal put in bunny. Sure. Okay? From the night before. It's festive. It's festive, but B-U-N-N-Y is a desert when it comes to that game. So it really messed us up. So today. So I do that, get that wrapped up, and then. How'd you do today? You feel good about your score? No, I did. I made a really. Here we go, Sean. This is why I don't plan anymore. I made a really. Well, here's what's interesting. Listen to this. The word from yesterday was sadly, and this morning, it was a word, on our turtle, so we all had a one. Oh, really? Which is rare, yeah. And so. And then I was like, oh, I'm killing it, and I made one error on the third word on our turtle. Oh, you're doing okay? Good, Sean, get him. What was your error, you fucking moron? I don't even want to go into it. I actually. This is what a loser I am. I audibly went, no! Because the letter was already not supposed to be there, and I did it, and I had like a brain. It's incredible. It's fucking. Anyway, but what I was going to get to was that I turned on the news. I looked at some of the news online. You know, I did a little search around. Same sort of thing. And it was such a bummer, and I thought to myself, and it's not the first time, I thought, why am I starting myself out in a rut? Mm-hmm. I got to. Now I got to rally to die at this point. I'm so low. Right. I'm so. Because the news is, as we know, so much of it is so depressing, and so. And I thought, by the time. By the time I stopped looking at New York Times, Bloomberg, Washington Post, all these. I thought, what's the point? Right. So then what's the. The alternative is maybe tweaking your algorithm such that. Or just not. Or not looking like. Yeah, but what if you go to Instagram, and you've managed to get the algorithm pointed towards, you know, unicorns and rainbows and stuff, and you get uplifting messages and all that stuff? Sure. I think that that's positive, for sure. But I think that actually what I came to today was I talked to Shawnee earlier after I got off the thing, and I talked to him. We talked about stuff, and it kind of. That was good as a palate cleanser. And then I was like, you know what? I think from now on, I should play my game, put my three games, put the phone down, and do some. Go outside. Like, two days ago, because I still had jet lag, I started my little walk that you've done with me before, a little bit. I started at 6.15. This is with the ankle weights, wrist weights, leg warmers, and the weighted vest? Weighted vest. Weighted vest. And high elevators. Elbows, right? As you're going up the hill. Weighted vest. Fuck. Weighted vest with a visor and spiky hair. And you do one of the. Sort of a face shield, one of those droopy masks to keep the sun off your skin. No, I've got pharmacy, like, Florida sunglasses you can put over your glasses full around. Okay? I've got Walkman headphones. Any sort of reflective material on your back so you don't get run over? No, no. Full sleeves. Full sleeves. You know, lots of waves to pass the cars. Speaking of walking less. Yeah. But to wrap it up, I think that that's the way because I feel like it was starting. Why don't you try meditation? Have you ever tried meditation? I have. I'd like to do it more. Are you just shutting the fuck up? Did you ever try that? How about that, huh? Let's get to the guests. Thank you, Sean. What do you got for us today? Wait, really quick. I'm gonna. I ran. Speaking of walking last night. Did I go on too much? No, you didn't. Last night I was walking and I ran into. You know what a bollard is? It's. One of those cement stoppers at the end of a street or a sidewalk. Yeah. And it was like. Oh, God, I ran. You walked into it? Yes. Oh, you're talking about something that's about nard height, right? Yes, exactly. It's just a little higher than a fire hydrant. And it was painted black. Okay. Why do they have them on the corner of a sidewalk? So that people don't drive up. Sounds like your Upper East Side. It sounds. I know those black bollards No, no. It's after I ate at the Waverly Inn restaurant. Oh, it's out there. So did you catch it right in the nards? No, right above the knee. And I couldn't. Oh, man. That kind of hurt. Did you call Graydon Carter for a reservation? Yeah. You did? Yeah. No, no, no, no. Oh, you didn't? No, no. Did Scotty throw you over his shoulder and walk you home? Basically. It was right in front of a taxi and we were saying goodbye and I was like. I ran right into the thing with my whole leg. Well, let's. Okay. And I was just like. Did we run? Great time. No. I just walked right into it. Yeah. No. All right, let's get to it. Ready? What's your step count a day? I'm guessing 400. Sorry. My guest today accidentally taught his two-year-old son to say, I'm a coward, which made me laugh when I read that. He went to Georgetown and majored in history. His father's job included tracking the hidden fortunes of dictators. After bombing at his first college comedy competition, the guy that won invited him to audition for a sketch show and that changed the course of his life. He's voiced about 80 animated characters, for real, and the kid he met on the first day of first grade became his best friend in college. He was a creative partner helping turn their own humiliating stories about puberty into one of Netflix's longest. running scripted originals it's the insanely funny and super talented nick kroll oh nick nicholas kroll get out here hey boys he's gonna take it down i have not spoken yet today and i'm listening to my voice and i that was like the first thing i've said all day wouldn't it be amazing if we all wouldn't it be amazing if we all had a had a word limit each day like if every person for you would be yeah hey but could you imagine if you had to budget out your words for the day that would be pretty interesting that would imagine huh man boy you come up with some fun ideas nick you are east coast because you've already got a smart looking jacket on i'm i'm on the west coast i was debating on taking the jacket off before but i'm dealing with what you guys are seeing is this center stage video where i'm going to be constantly the camera's going to be following me you can turn that off you can turn it off if you want i know i can't and i can't figure out how but wait why do you look so damn good already this one you got a short jacket on yeah call back earlier i got uh yeah it's a lipton cup of soup it's a 3 p.m slump and did you crush it i felt good i i felt really good in the room any feedback yet yeah supposedly they wanted a better looking and older though oh you are in the running in case they can't find that oh yeah so i you guys are honestly we're the demo we're that telsey's calling guys uh nick kroll yeah what's up man it's been a long time how are you i'm great it's really good to see you guys um likewise to see you nick the first time i met you was i think was at ted sarandos's a couple years ago at the grammy dinner thing yes right what were you two doing at a grammy at the grammy yeah it was like it was like a for the for the comedy category and we were doing a duet it was a bet midler and barry manilow thing and they had us play for who played that right right no but i i you were so kind and i felt i immediately felt this like rhythm with you and i was like oh i'd love to get to know you more yeah here we go this is unbelievable every time i felt a connection with you let me get put your number in the chat are you joking i'm on the pod let's go for lunch and wrap up how we think we did i'm close by what's your story later because you should come on the pod the boys let me make the choices on this all the time you're so smart and funny and handsome and let's go on a run you want to go for a run wait wait let's go on a run um wait wait wait so that that was the first time that you guys had met i actually met you many many many years earlier there was a guy used to do uh like treasure hunts around la like we have to do a jp manu yes you're talking about the larf um i don't know if that's what it was no it was before amazing race i remember that and it was it was just like the amazing race and this guy organized just a bunch of people to go do this around los angeles it's really fun yes so i you were there and you like i was just sort of starting and you were one of the most uh famous people in the world in that group of five so i saw you and i said one day they're gonna make podcasts and i'm gonna hit on him at ted sarandos's party wait a second you're skipping over that you predicted podcasts yeah yeah yeah yeah why that's just you know but we had to get to madame tussauds to find that's right that's true that's true why have those gone oh wait so much cheap do you remember in the 90s they they these guys had a game going yeah it was called larf and they were both out of stanford there was one no there was another one where we went around and everybody had a you had a squirt gun and it was like a game of tag i did that as a kid my daughter does that as senior senior but all these all these actors when we were in our 20s in the 90s in la i remember being out here for pilot season mid 90s and somebody's saying do you want to get in this thing and people would be like at an audition at warner brothers and some dude would come out of nowhere and spray him and i was like can you imagine walking onto a lot now with a with a water gun so so it at uh at franny school so it's senior assassin um the if you get hit with this with a water gun you're out um and the only way that you can sort of uh protect yourself inoculate yourself from getting some sort of a surprise hit is wearing swim goggles out in public all day every day or swim floaties so you see like these students are all around town you know like mark it's and shopping center and they're really funny it's pretty it's pretty cool but the scavenger hunts things these high-end scavenger hunts i'm pissed that they've gone away we should resurrect that let's do it yeah celebrity scavenger hunt let's do it guys you guys have a lot of free time do you want to start getting into let's do organizing local city scavenger hunts i'm gonna organize nick kroll all right let's get into it you you first of all thanks for being here and and i did i did mean that it just felt like a comedy connection with you you were very funny right off the bat and i felt like i'd known you but anyway he's a nice guy and he's funny he's a very nice what's not to get a rhythm with um so wait is that true 80 voices 80 80 i think that's what i think so and and is it like if i threw out names could you you don't want to do that i probably could i mean i'm a monkey i'll give you what you need let's get those numbers okay i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna do a a fat look at gunter from sing and sing too all right okay what about nothing makes me laugh quicker than a german accent it's okay what about douche from sausage party douche was uh oh come at me bro it was that sort of uh that guy no but wait no but wait do douche from sausage parties okay so wait i only have douche from sausage party we did that's the rogan movie and they they i did the whole thing as like a sort of a british villain like a you know the classic disney british like jafar kind of voice and then or like a scar from lion king and it just wasn't working and we did one last record where they rewrote it as that character was kind of a this character did bobby bottle service who was kind of yeah i remember bobby bottle service wait nick i'm you did your you did nick you did um your series on netflix big mouth big mouth yeah and so we got to clear we got to clear the air on this do you know what i'm getting you know what i'm getting of course of course so we've never talked about it so for years people have commented to me hit me in the thing talk to me in real life i've been in line at the store do you do the voice of there's a character on your show that people thought was me his name is maury the hormone monster is that what it is everybody thinks yeah it's arnett yeah it's it's i can't tell you how many people have and that's you nick it's me and it's nick doing arnett no it's i mean this is okay so here's the backstory here let's clear the air on this let's clear it finally it's finally um so uh i we we did the show big mouth it's about kids going through puberty and my friend andrew goldberg who sean mentioned i met in first grade we created the show together he had been at family guys for years we've been friends forever and we've been friends forever and he and uh mark and jen our other partners came to me with an idea about an animated show about kids about me and andrew at 13 going through puberty yeah and immediately it was like great this makes this i really see this show so we started working on it and andrew started talking about he's like you know and and like i think my guy who he was a really early early developer you know he just hit puberty at like five and had a full beard by eight you know yeah and he was and he was sort of like i think my character was like with something encourages him to jerk off like he's got like a hormone monster and i immediately was literally immediately was like touch yourself andrew and it was like that was the voice because i've been doing this guy i've been doing this guy nash ricky i had a sketch show called crawl show nash ricky was sort of like a hair metal guy who was also like had ocd and yeah yeah yeah wait there was pete was pete giles part of that yes pete giles was part of that yeah yeah we had a we had a song called la deli and it was just about all the delis in la like like california girls uh because all those guys like hung out of you know fucking canters and all yeah anyway so i did this voice nash ricky so i then we go to do big mouth we develop it we make it it comes out i've known will forever will is on the air with bojack at this like so yeah the same time bojack is like the the premiere fucking animated show it never crossed my mind that anyone would be like is that our net and then we start the show and it works and everybody's like can't believe you got our sound like our net i nick nick i i'm honestly i can't tell you how many people over the years i'm like no it's not i think it's i didn't know if it was you but i was like so funny i think it's crow that's just yeah that show still going no we did eight we did eight seasons wow that's remarkable yeah we'll we'll have done we we did more of those than basically any other scripted netflix uh show i think besides ozark how many of you guys done 150 It just felt like 140. No, it was four and a half, maybe, seasons? Seasons, yeah. Anyway, so we did it, and we're about to put out a new show called Mating Season. It's the same team who made Big Mouth. That looks so great. What's the premiere on that, Sean? What's the premiere date? Oh, God. Wait, I have to look it up. I jumped it. I jumped it. I got fucking. I have to scroll tight on this stuff later. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. When is it, Nick? Guys, I'm so sorry. Check the chat. Maybe Michael Granteria sent it to you. Oh, my God. I can tell you. I don't even know. Double back at the end, Sean. Okay. We'll be right back. And now, back to the show. Carl, so I know you. So I feel like the first time I saw you was at UCB over 20 years ago. I think the first time we met, you were maybe doing monologues at ASCAP one night. Yes, I think that would make sense. Like early 2000s. Yeah. And. And. You were so funny. It was one of those, like the first time I saw you, it was like, oh, this dude is fucking hilarious. Thank you. Like right out of the gate. And then you just went on to do. What I love is that you went on and you and Mulaney did so much cool stuff. You did a show on Broadway. You did sketches. You did sketch shows. You've just done. What I love is how many different kinds of things you have done. You do stand-up. You do all of it. And is there. Is there. Do you. Now at this point, do you go like, oh, it feels too spread out. I want to concentrate on this because I know you just did a stand-up special. Yeah. I just watched it. It's so good. Is that kind of where you want to go or do you feel like you still want to just do millions of different things? I mean, I like. What I'm shooting for is like a B-minus across the board. Sure. You can shoot for a B-minus. You can do so much. Yeah. You can really. You never disappoint yourself. You can really. You don't shoot too high. You stay general and broad. And then nobody can attack you for fully committing to. anything. That's such a great call. Oh, I know that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's all about longevity. It's all about just staying right in the middle for as long as possible and then they can't. Don't get too tall. Wait, wait. The three of us, JB, you, me, and Kroll did that animated show with Mitch Hurwitz. Yes. Sit Down, Shut Up. Sit Down, Shut Up. Sit Down, Shut Up. That was very. Yeah, that was. It was literally right after Arrested and then it was us and Forte. And Forte. I want to watch that again. I remember the animation being hilarious. What a cast that had. Yeah, I'm playing a character I would not currently play, I think. Yeah, copy that. Copy that. Oh, let's. Please explain. His name was Andrew Legustambos and it was a. Legustambos. He liked. He was a bisexual Latin teacher. Yeah. Do you think. I love that you remember his name. No, but literally, if you started that today, do you think that today's culture would. Would attack as much as it did, let's say, even six months to a year ago? No, I think everything is. I feel like things are kind of settling. I mean, I don't think I would play that character right now, but I do think things are settling a bit. Like, all of that stuff that I think we're finding different levels now to it, you know? Right, right. Yeah, I think so too. And I wonder why. I mean, the issues haven't gone away, but maybe the tolerance and the. the exploration of finding humor in things that are more challenging is more around. I don't know. I think there's a general. I mean, I think there's polarizing views of it, but I think there's a general attempt to be more thoughtful about what we're doing or how we're doing it. And if you're generally more thoughtful, then I think there's more. a little more room for different versions of people playing different versions of people. I think. In that way, you know? I think also there's a. Interesting. We have to pay more attention to intent, you know? Yeah, yeah, right. And if the intent is to injure or to sideline or to be hurtful. Minimize, ridicule. Yeah, then there's no room for it. Let's save that for our personal friendships, right? Okay, yeah, of course. And family, and family. Yeah, exactly. Let's leave family out of this. Wait, so Nick, when you first started out and mentioned in the intro you bombed freshman year in comedy, comedy competition. Yeah. And the guy who won and then gave you the opportunity was Mike Birbiglia, right? Yes. No way. Oh, no way. Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, that's crazy. Where was this? It was at Georgetown. We did this thing called The Funniest Act on Campus. And I'd never done comedy before in any real capacity. And there were, you know, it's like flyers up. Yeah. And I went and did it. I was really nervous about it. And I just. I showed up and my whole bit was that I was going to get on stage and go, you know, I thought I'd be so nervous, but I'm super relaxed. And then I was going to. Piss my pants. Like, that was the bit. That's a great bit. It's a good bit, right? It's a really good bit. Except I did not prepare. I got. I was like, you know, I was a freshman in college. You didn't drink enough water? Yeah, I was like. Had drank and like, you know, I was just like so nervous that I showed up and I had not. I had not. I was going to bring like a water balloon and a pen and like pop the water. You know what I mean? And I thought I didn't. So. But I forgot all of it. So I grabbed like a empty. A sandwich bag in the trash and grabbed a pen and just got on stage and just like jammed. Over and over. The pen into this like water bag in my pocket. So it just looked like I was jerking off on stage, basically, which is what I've been doing ever since. But Mike. Mike won. Mike had like a solid five minutes as like a sophomore and he won the competition and got to start hosting at the DC Improv. And then he was doing a sketchbook later that year and invited me to audition and I did that audition and then got cast and we went to like a kid's apartment on campus and read all these sketches. And I like. It was truly the one time in my life I walked out of that thing and I was like, this is it. Yeah. This is all. This is it. This is what I want to do. Because what were you studying at Georgetown at the time? I was studying history and minoring in art and Spanish. Just kind of like coasting. Coasting on privilege. That didn't goose you? Yeah. Waiting for something to hit you to do or were you going to make a career out of history? I was gonna. I don't know. I think I was just. I truly was coasting. You know, I just was like. I liked history because I think I like telling stories. Yeah. But I think I was still scared to like write. You know, so English wasn't. Didn't feel entirely safe. And then we started doing. And so we auditioned for that sketch show and we literally then went at the. We did our sketch. It was like we rehearsed for three months. Three months to do one night in Bulldog Alley on campus. And then. And the show was. I mean, we bombed. But I met all these guys who I continue to know and work with still, including Birbiglia. And then UCB was just about to come on the air and they came down to GW and did a show at GW. It was like a big improv festival and it was the first time I saw those guys and my mind fully exploded. Did they do Bucket of Truth? Were they doing that? Bucket of Truth and we. What's Bucket of Truth? It was. It was Little Donnie. Remember Little Donnie's? It was like Besser had to sketch this little kid with a huge gun. Yeah. But I saw that and then moved to the city that summer or started going to the city. We did a workshop at UCB and Will, you know Owen Burke. Very well. You guys all know Owen. Owen was my brother's roommate in college and Owen had just started at UCB. So I started going to UCB, started going to ASCAT as a fan, you know, as like a. and could not believe what I was seeing. I agree. I had the same. First of all, I had the same sensation I saw them do Bucket of Truth in 1996. They just moved from Chicago the month before. Can you tell me what Bucket of Truth is? It was a sketch show that they did. Okay. And they did it downstairs at the West Bank on 42nd Street, the restaurant. They had that little space down there. And I was like, what? And it was Walsh and Amy and Besser and Ian Roberts. And I was like, what the fuck? Like watching, what these guys did. So I loved it. And then they started doing it. They started doing ASCAT at that other place, Solo Arts on 17th Street before they moved into their theater. And I would go every Sunday. And JB, you remember my old roommate, Duff. I had lived with Duff and I'd been roommates years. But you know Duff too, right? I know Duff, yeah, a little bit through Owen and my brother. Through Owen. And so I said to Owen and Duff, I go, you guys got to. I said, let's go to this thing and see these guys. And Owen came along to. Oh, wow. I brought him to his room. I brought him to his first UCB show and he ended up as artistic director of UCB. Oh, wow. Isn't that wild? Yeah, that is wild. Funny, good man. And that was sort of. So I started coming and we would go and I was, you know, I went to Solo Arts once or twice and saw all those shows and then would go to the theater at 22nd Street and like sit on the side, you know, wait, sit on the side and look up and it was like all these people, you know, who were, you know, who were just popping on Conan and. Oh, it was like Glazer and Tina and McKay would be there. And all those guys. Yeah, it just was like. And as soon as I. Literally, as soon as I saw it, the first. Did that sketch, little sketch show and then joined the improv group my sophomore year. I was like, done. I'll do. Back to sort of what you're saying. I was like, I'll do anything. Get me close to this. I'll do anything. But speak more about, you know, because I'm just. I'm always fascinated with people at that age where you need to or you think you need to commit to a career and you have to Really think about making rent and feeding yourself and like you're out from the nest at home. And so you're at this opportunity, an incredible university. You haven't really picked an occupation, an industry, a path. At what point did you feel like, oh, okay, there's enough momentum going in this lane where I need not continue to consider other means of support? Well, for me, after Silver Spoon, I just wanted to have fun. After the spoon, singular. This is why I'm so curious about it because it was like I'd had this momentum since I was a little kid, but I still at 18, I thought, well, is it going to last? Maybe I should study something else that's a little bit more reliable. Well, so going back, so the other thing, my connection to Jason a bit is that you're originally from Rye, right? Or your family. So I'm from Rye, New York. Oh, no way. Yeah. So, you know, I grew up with plenty of privilege. So I went to, I never had like the privilege was that I could sort of be like, what do I want to do? And I went to college and I started, and I, you know, school was never exactly my thing. I was fine at it. Right. But as soon as I started doing improv and comedy and sketch, I was like, I'll do anything. Like I'll print, you know, like I'll go anywhere at any hour to get this done. And when I moved to New York, I had, I did have the, the real, the privilege of knowing that I could fall back. Like if it didn't work, I could go get a job somewhere. Like I was, it was going to be okay. Yeah. But it was the, the thing I feel so lucky about is that I had such a clear, I knew, I knew I wanted, I knew as soon as I started doing it, this is all I wanted to do. And any work, now the question of whether I was going to make it is the intangible. Right. But I think the idea for me was like, well, I'm going to regret the fuck out of this. If I don't try. Right. You recognize that it was something that really fed your soul, that you were decent at it. You liked the, the attaboys and it was sort of self-perpetuating. Yeah. And it's never, it's never waned. Yeah. At least for me. Which is interesting because, which is interesting because JB, you do have that as well. At the same time, this was, this was your thing since before you can remember doing anything else, really. Since you were a little kid, there was never like, hey, I'm going to try my hand at this. You were in. You were in it. You were always in it, right? I mean, I don't mean to say that you, yeah, I'm talking to you. I'm not saying that you didn't have a choice, but that was your, in a lot of ways, it was your job. It became your passion. Yeah. I, I, I, I had realized that I was halfway decent at something before I needed to have something that I was halfway decent at. And so that was, that was a. Yeah. And, and, and I think for you, so, so on that. And you were cute as a button. If I, hey Nick, stop it. God, were you cute. Let's get our rhythm going. Number in the chat, number in the chat. Oh no, oh no. Not or no. Another rhythm connection. Hey, I run too. Enough. But JB, you had that, that second gear for you. The thing that you found was when directing and seeing you light up at this stage of your life, when you talk about directing is the same way. I think that I certainly did and Nick, the way you describe it, discovering this thing where you go, oh, I love this. I got to do this. I'll print flyers. I'll do whatever it takes. True. You kind of have it for directing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Like 10, 12 years ago or 15 years ago. Right. And, and if, and like anyone out there, you know, if, if. If you, if you were lucky enough to get paid a little bit to do something that you would pay somebody else to do, right? Because you, it's, you, you love it so much. That's the sort of fuel that can really travel you into success and longevity and instead of just punching a clock, you know, if it's something that really is passionate. Nick, just quickly, did you do, because you've worked with a lot of great people. We mentioned Mitch Hurwitz and, and obviously Melanie, you've had a lot of great partners and collaborators. Uh, another funny dude that we know that we all connect with is John, uh, Levenstein, who worked, uh. Of course. Worked on "Crawl Show." Yeah. Super, super funny. One of the funniest, most bizarre men in the world. I know. Sweetest man, too. And, and honestly, I just have to say it since we just mentioned it, "The Crawl Show" is one of my favorite shows of all time. Thank you, Sean. Like, truly, I, I, I mean. So, uh, it's so funny. And Levenstein was a big part of that, right? Yeah, he was the, I'm, uh, he, he was the showrunner. Uh, and he had come, we hired, I mean, I had met him doing this cartoon called "Life and Times of Tim." Oh, yeah. That ended up on HBO. That was like, and Giles, that's how I met Giles. Also with Pete Giles. Yeah, that's how I met Giles originally. Sweet Pete Giles. Yeah. And, uh, one of the great voices. Talk about, you think we got some gravel. That motherfucker. Pete Giles, you can catch him. You can hear him everywhere. Fox Sports. Yeah. It's the World Series on Fox. Yeah. Pete Giles. Uh, so it is, yeah, I mean, I, uh, hey, by the way, Jason, I'm so sorry Zootopia didn't work out. But, uh, next time on the VO stuff, they can't all be winners on the VO stuff, so. I do, I do envy what you guys can do with VO. I, I still feel like I'm just leaving voicemail messages. I, I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing. Jason, oh, Jason, I forgot to tell you. Last week I was, uh, I was out east and, uh, I was with, out for dinner with my little guy, Denny, who's five. And there's a couple sitting next to us and they're talking about, and they've got like a seven-year-old girl and they're talking about Zootopia. And, uh, and my guy, Denny, goes, "I saw Zootopia 2," and they're like, "We love Zootopia 2," and he goes, and he comes up and he goes, "Dad, can I tell 'em?" I go, "Tell 'em what?" He goes, "About Jason." And I go, "Sure," and he goes, "My, my dad's friend Jason, uh, is the voice of Nick." He's, my son is five, it was so sweet. How about, I, how about I'm just excited that he knows my name? I know. Isn't it? I love that little guy. Isn't that sweet? Yeah. Can I ask about growing up, because we touched on that a little bit, and I think it's fascinating, and this is, when I read this, I laughed out loud, that you grew up in Rye, New York, and your parents sent a limo to pick you up from school? Is that, is that every day? Yeah, no, no, no, every once in a while. When you're good. So it wasn't, uh, you know what I mean? That's really, that made me laugh out loud when I read that. I'm like, is that true? Yeah, it was like different strokes, right? Like, you're just every day. Yeah, exactly. It's true. Well, what happened to all those limos? You, you remember we used to see stretch limos everywhere? Where did they go? I kind of thought about bringing it back this year when we went to the big award show the other week. Oh, my God, that'd be so funny. I thought, wouldn't it be funny to pull up to, like, the Academy Awards in a white stretch limo? Oh, my God. But I want to know where they went, literally. Like, I guess scrap metal yards, or do they put them in a container shop? They're Waymos now. They're all Waymos. And, like, send them to Eastern Europe? Wait, so, Nick, I mean, you and me. They're all playing in Europe. Yeah. You talk, you talk, they're all playing in Europe. That's a great joke. So, you had to, there were occasions where you had to be driven to work. Or driven to school. It just is what it is. Yeah, picked up. My dad, my dad, it's like, the internet, the internet is real. Loves, loves to speculate on my, my dad, his business. Fascinating business. Fascinating man. Yeah, of course. Built incredible business. Do you guys, Jay, do you know about his dad? No. Please share. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't either. And when I read about it, Nick, I understood 10% of it. So, can you please explain it to me? Arms dealer? Drug dealer? What is it? Consultants. Hey, man. He deals drugs. He dealt drugs to arms dealers. Got it. Two different, it's, you know, you got to find the guy who's going to come in between them. Was that what that Jonah Hill movie was about? Those guys, remember the movie? Oh, yeah. I liked that movie. With Nick Cage? War Dogs. Yeah. Yes, War Dogs. Was that what they were doing? I want to see that. Isn't that cool? But, so anyway, he built this, he sort of did, the larger umbrella would be like risk mitigation. So, like, it started as like corporate investigations, due diligence, and during the '80s, it was, like, Wall Street takeover, private, all those, like, hostile takeovers, like doing, of all, like Ivan Boesky and all those kinds of characters. And then it was dictators, like Saddam, like, the Kuwaiti government hired him to find Saddam Hussein's money. Wow. Wow. And Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti and the Marcos. I love Baby Doc Duvalier, now you're really going into it. Me and Mulaney were trying to write a movie. Yeah. Baby Doc handles Kimmel, handles Fallon, handles the bear. Right? Yeah. James Dixon, Baby Doll. Yeah. Baby. Baby Doll. That's Baby Doll. That's Baby Doll, James Dixon. Wait a second, Nick. Now that I think of it, didn't, did Duff write a book about your dad's company? He may have. Yes. He may have at some point. I think he did. Yes. Yeah. And so he, and then he, you know, he's gone on to continue to sort of work in various versions of that business. We have a company called K2 now, which continues to do different versions of investigations and risk mitigation and security and stuff like that. And they make skis too. And they make great skis. I know, I know everybody out there likes Slalom. Slalom. Slalom. Hey, but Nick, you know, I do want to say, and I'm glad you, you talked about it because you didn't decide how you, what your dad did or how you were born or, and, and your dad started a company and he was successful at what he did. Yeah. So I like that you just, you, you talk about it openly because what the fuck are you going to do? Yeah. Right. You don't need to apologize. The internet will find you. No, I know. But why you don't need to apologize for where you came from, what are you supposed to do? Right. Exactly. Thank you. Yeah. No, but it is, I just got, I mean, I feel like I got real lucky. I got dealt a real good hand. Of course you did. But you, and I, as I've said, I've known you 20, 25 years, you work really hard. you create a lot of stuff, you create a lot of stuff own you didn't have family in show business and you did it all through hard work and talent so you know fuck everybody but he sounds that sounds really fascinating like um get them to investigate bateman please the kinds of no no no no no no no no just look into it just look into it but jason why do you keep going to grand cayman answer that listen these people are so you're doing the firm cosplay um but yeah the kind of connections and and and know how he's got yeah just that's that's like up there with i i would if i if i could pick a new career if i could go back in time if i was like 17 and i would like to get recruited by the cia i would oh yeah you have you have cia vibes written all over your spot i would love to be somebody in my mid-50s um like well i'm in my late 50s now that uh is still uh like i would like to be able to hold that secret uh from because you're not supposed to be able to tell your family or your yeah right i mean if you're really good you want to hold more secrets from your family i've got a i've got a little more room i found a little more room on my drive wait jb we just went through your morning routine you think that you're cia ready are you fucking kidding no that's what you do in the cia you watch the end of a dodger game yeah uh no way this guy's a spy look how dummy is they're like how do we kill that bateman agent he's at the golf club we'll be right back and now back to the show were you gonna say nick were you gonna say you and milaney were working on a script about it or no was that what you were working on a script was the first the we sold a movie called most glorious friend and it was you know those like nigerian email prince email scams yeah well we were the premise was like scams yeah oh willie this our the premise of the movie was like this was the this this time it was real and it was gonna be tracy morgan as the deposed dictator of a country called lyrobia and uh his name is lil mo and uh and and that was so like a bunch of a couple college kids respond to the email and then like tracy morgan and the movie was like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my and shows up being like, where's my money? And we pitched it out to Tracy. Can I have that script? It was genuinely very, I mean, it was probably structurally, I mean, we had no idea what we were doing. We just sat there reading Save the Cat by the chapter and then trying to write off of that. Save the Cat is a screenwriting book. That's so fun. That's such a fun taking. Shur and I worked on this thing years ago, Mike Shur, we called the ambassador about basically he's too dumb to kill. He's the son of a senator. They make him envoy to the EU to ruin all their trade deals. And then he's like getting chased like Bourne, but he doesn't realize he's being, like he's being chased. He keeps going, go around. You both, all three of you guys could be spies. You guys should be like 50s, the worst spies, post-Cold War spies. Right. Spies like you. Spies like us. Yeah, spies like us. But there's a. It's just, it's just how it's pronounced at the end. Wait, so this, this made me laugh too, because Big Mouth, Big Mouth is about, like you said, you and your friend in puberty, 13 years old. But I read your sister, Vanessa, is now a professional puberty educator. Yeah. What does that even mean? What does that mean? So yeah, my sister, Vanessa is a, yeah, she became an expert in puberty. She started a thing called Dynamo Girl a number of years ago. And it's like afterschool program for sports for girls. And then as she was. As she was teaching these young girls, like they, as they got older and started going through puberty, she realized that there was just a ton of, there was just like an empty spot in that, in sort of the education around that and like having parents and kids understand what's going on. So, I mean, it's a crazy synergy. But I think it just speaks to a little bit of, I guess, our experience, you know, she's two years older than me, of going through that period of life together. It was of interest. Like we had those books. You, you, like. It's Happening to Me. You know, those like groovy 70s books with like body, drawings of the body. And so we were. Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, like all of that stuff, I think, loomed large for us. And so it became an interest for both of us. She's, and she's like, so she's kind of a writing about parenting and that kind of stuff. She's got four kids. And then is she the one, who's the one married to the men, one of the men in blazers? That's my sister, Vanessa's married to Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers. Oh, wow. Yeah, I know those. I love those guys. That's cool. And, and all your siblings. You have, there's four of you. Yeah. Are you all funny people? Like, are you all. I think so. I don't know how it works in your family, but like, I don't, I think it's pretty rare that someone comes out of a family that isn't all, if they're funny, that isn't also funny. Right, right. My brother's, my brother's really funny and my sister's, well, yeah, I think there was in the family, there was a sense of humor. Did you guys get it from mom or dad? They're both pretty funny. My dad's funny. And my mom's got a very good sense of humor, especially having to deal with me telling jokes about moms. Like she, you know, she's like, people tell me, am I, am I upset about the jokes about moms? And I'd say, I'm not. Okay. They're both fair game, huh? Yeah. They're funny. But no, it's a funny family, I think. But I think, but me kind of being like, no, I'm going to go be a comedian. Yeah. Everyone was like, huh? There was definitely, it wasn't like, well, of course you're going to, you know. You know, Jim, you know, Jimmy Vallely. Yes. Jimmy Vallely used to have. Another vet leavensy, another rusted guy. Yeah. Another rusted, Jimmy, the great Jimmy Vallely, who's one of the all time, yeah, one of the all time funniest and has jokes that nobody else can think of that are just so, God, I fucking love Jimmy Vallely. Anyway, he used to always say, he'd say like, you know, if you come, he was, we were talking about something, he said, yeah, this guy sort of came from a good family. He goes, he had more to lose. And I go, what do you mean? He goes, well, in a way he could have gone into, he could have been a lawyer. He could have been, he went to a good school and stuff. And he risked it all to do this. If you come from nothing, you got nothing to lose. A hundred percent. Right. And I go, and I was like, oh, that's interesting. I never, I never looked at it that way. It's so true. Yeah. Well, Nick, you're so multi-talented and you've done so many different jobs in the structure of things. What, how do you decide what to do next? And like, what would the perfect next five years look like? I mean, I don't know how strategic you are. I imagine. And I don't mean that as a pejorative, you know, like it takes a certain amount of planning to get things done in this business. Yeah. I mean, you got, look, he's got roommates out April 17th. He's got mating season on May 22nd. Oh, you're Sean's finally got it. Sean finally, Sean finally found the email. You have a hundred percent with Sam Richardson and just, and Vanessa, and that's a, that's another Netflix. I mean, you have tons of stuff coming out. It's so exciting. By the way, Nick, you need to know that Scotty was just off camera going, I just, I just bumped it up in your email. He just held out. He just held up. He just held up. Scotty was like, do you want me to stop warming the cupcake? And get you your dates? Hotmail.com/mail. We actually met it on Hotmail. Anyway, so that's just a little joke. Just a small joke. It wasn't Sarandos's party. It was on Hotmail. It was Hotmail. Yeah. And there just felt like a comedy connection there. Yeah. So, um, I, my strategy is I keep, and I feel like, honestly, you guys all, all feel the same. Yeah. party it was on hotmail yeah um and there just felt like a comedy connection there yeah so um i my strategy is i keep and i feel like honestly you guys all also do a lot and produce a lot like i keep a number of balls in the air who are that are all at different stages of development and so you know i'm and i so i i think i like this show uh mating season is the follow-up to big mouth and it's about animals dating and fucking and falling in love in the woods so it feels like a natural sort of progression of that i've been working with my partners mark and andrew and jen on that it's me zach woods june diane rayfield and sabrina jalees it's like uh you know like a fun fun hangout kind of in the vein of like an animated version of friends or um i can't remember any of the other any of those other uh nbc shows uh no can't see tv but you know that sort of that genre that's right no i mean they're not none really stuck they were signed yes i felt wings wings you're thinking of wings was great i love wings it's a big influence and the single guy you're thinking of single guy of course the single guy that's what you're thinking of uh yeah caroline in the city carol city but then there was that show with the gay guys two guys in a big on a pizza place two guys at frazier wasn't buddies that was abc frazier yeah yeah um and that's about it i guess that's that that was that must see tv stuff yeah but um but but you but you're like in this ideal position of really kind of being your own boss and self self-perpetuating and you've got this great uh sort of troop of of collaborators and colleagues and um for sure right it's it's it is it as ideal as it sounds it really honestly i really feel it right now it really is i feel incredibly uh it's at a time when the business is tricky and things are going away and there's contraction and the fact that i i'm currently getting to make a bunch of different things um is it feels amazing like and i'm writing right now we're writing 100 here in la and uh and it's me manzoukas jason manzoukas I'm Vanessa Bayer, and it's in the world of kind of like self-help, influencer, gurus. So we're writing that. We're going to shoot over the summer. And then I'm producing some other stuff, animated and live action. So it's great. The strategy you were talking about, Jason, I have two kids. I have a five-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old. So that's the step that starts to play into like how do I do this and how do I be also like home and around and involved so that so the opportunities, it's like how can I set myself up as well as I can for opportunities that I get to have some modicum of control over like where. And be in Los Angeles too. Yeah, right. And that's what you guys know. Right now they can travel with you, but soon that five-year-old, he's going to be stuck in school and you won't be able to pop around. He doesn't want to be. If it's any consolation, he doesn't want to be in school. So we might. Does he want to be homeschooled or he's just like, ah, I don't need it. He wants to kite surf. He just wants to do, you know what I mean? He likes to free solo. He saw that free solo doc and he just wants to go climb. That's hilarious. That's very dangerous, Nick, for a child. I know. I know, but we got to let them. But we got to let them. It's lucrative. You can first, you can get that. You know, Jason. Jason knows you got to get to work. Got to get these kids to work. So Nick, so speaking about a kid, you grew up conservative Jewish, conservative Jewish kosher household. So no dishes for each separate dishes for meat and dairy stuff. But I read that you had one junk food day a year growing up when you eat. Oh yeah. And then what was the other thing I read about food that you did? Oh, that you fall asleep listening to a hypnotherapy tape telling you not to eat snacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went to a hypnotherapist. Did it work? To quit smoking. We all, you guys all went to fucking Cary Gaynor at some point, right? Did you ever go to Cary Gaynor to quit smoking? Nobody can cure me. I just ice manned it. Nobody can cure me. She's my enemy. I'm unstoppable. I mean, there's nothing that will come between me and my darts. I would love to see that Western, a little spaghetti Western of you versus a cigarette in a standoff, both of you. No, we're on the same team. We're not against each other. So listening to those tapes at night, was this back in the day when, uh, we were told that you could learn languages from just listening to the people speak to you when you're sleeping? Yeah, it was, this was, well, I went to Cary Gaynor and he was like, you know, he was, you'd go to his like, uh, you'd go to his garage in Santa Monica and there's like a sun faded picture of, uh, Katherine Heigl. Uh, she was here at some point and we think, uh, we hope, um, and so I used him to quit smoking. And then I got a, this woman, uh, from the Deepak Chopra Institute and it was like, uh, this woman, she called me and she, I talked to her about snacks and then she, like my, cause I just was, you know, like we, it's gotta go somewhere, right? It's gotta go fucking go somewhere. So if you can't smoke cigarettes, like give me some goddamn, like, you know, sour patch kids, give me some fucking chips, give me something. Right, right. I'm the same way. So you call her, she just, she just recommending snacks? What did I say? No, she would, she would put it. So she would make it. So she would make the snacks. She would be like, she would make the snacks. She's like, do, what do you find disgusting? And, uh, again, using the Germans, a different version. I can turn that up like five different levels and I got a couple different. Make her more aggressive. Put on it. Do you find, do you find poop videos disgusting? People ask the question. You're like, I think I got the wrong number. So, but she would equate something like maggots are disgusting. So imagine that you're basically, imagine that you're jelly bellies. Uh, maggots, and they are going to, you know, it's in my standup. I do it. I can't remember any jokes anymore, but, uh, anyway, so I would listen to it when I'd go to bed and it, and it's, it worked for a while, but now, God damn it. I want to eat chocolate pretzels all day long. Yeah, of course. What if you just cut out the weed? You know, if you cut out the weed, then you're not good. Don't get snacky at night. Ooh, we cut out the weed. We cut out the weed. Yeah. I gotta be able to relate, my friend. Last thing that I think is really fascinating that I did not know, uh, is Harry Styles helped you plan your proposal to your wife, Lily? Yes. I'm a big Harry Styles fan. How did that happen? Uh, he, we were making that movie, Don't Worry Darling, and which I think is most famous for the movie. And, uh, it was the height of COVID. Tell you what, that Olivia Wilde knows how to direct a film. She sure does. What a talent. She directed it. It was, I don't know. I had a, and I played her husband in the movie. And, um, so it was really fun to act with her. Like, I mean, you guys, it's like when you, sometimes when you act with somebody who's directing, you know, it's different levels. And he, she, she was great. I mean, she, anyway, so we, um, so he, it was the height of COVID. Um, and, uh, I was proposing to my wife. Uh, we were, uh, and, and Harry sort of like, we were planning it out. We were at the, we were doing the, we'd just done the table read and we were all hanging out and, uh, I was sort of figuring out how to do it. And we just, my wife and I just moved into our new house. And, uh, and, uh, so I like, you know, I had a, a box, uh, and I was like, can you just move this last box? And she was like, give me a fucking Brit. Like, you're gonna make me move the fucking box. Like, you know, and, um, I was like, I don't know, Harry. So no, I, uh, opened, she opened the box. There was a bunch of flowers in the ring, but Harry, and, and then he checked in with me to be like, how'd it go? So I told him basically before I spoke to like, we spoke to our family. To let them know that we were married. Cause he was just, had been checking in. That's so cool. That's so cool. What a story. I mean, it's really, really cool. Sweet, sweet boy. Sweet. Yeah. Nick Kroll. It's, you are a pleasure. A joy. I can't believe how quickly this hour went. It's bananas. Yeah. It's a real sprint. I just want to say, I, I, I, I've loved so many things that you've done. The top three are, no, no, the top, well, I just watched Little Big Boy. Yeah. I watched Little Big Boy. It was so fucking funny. How far are you from Larchboy? Is that where you're going? No. And then, of course, oh, Cavemen. Of course. I thought that was one of the funniest shows I'd ever seen. And it went, it was six, six episodes. I laughed based on the Geico character. With Will and Josh. Yeah, with Will and Josh. You guys had just done Blades of Glory. Yes. And then they, I was in four hours of prosthetics. That was my first job. I was in four hours of prosthetics every morning to be one of the cavemen. It's so funny. But I wasn't in the commercials. And they, everyone hated the show. They loved the commercials. Right. Everyone was like. I loved the show. The critics hated the show. But what I always took solace in was that the public hated it as well. We got canceled. We shot 13. I was in four hours every morning. It was the worst. It was my first job. And it was the worst job. And perfect first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank fucking God. There's no way I could have done it later in my life. So it's so funny that you like that show. I love that show. I love that show. And then. From publicity, of course. Yeah, from publicity. You as Liz. Hey, Jay, have you ever seen him play Liz from publicity? No. From the Kroll show? No. I'm going to send you a bunch of clips. It's crying laughing out loud. It's like every. Yeah, you've dealt with. I mean, it's just like. Yes, yes, yes. As a gay guy, it's like I would kill to play Liz. I mean, it's fucking great. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Well, we want more Nick Kroll. Yeah, no kidding. In everything and anything. I'm stoked for your new show. Thank you. How much fun you had today as Liz? Oh. Anyway, guys, you guys being on this podcast with you, one of the most coveted slots that any publicist could secure a spot, Spotify top 20, Apple top 20, the history, the camaraderie, the friendship, the absolute money grab that this podcast is for everybody involved. I love it. It's an honor to be whole. And to be held by you guys. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Nick. Love you to death. Thank you, Nick. So good to see you, man. Good to see you guys. Thanks for having me. Thank you, buddy. Thanks for doing this. You too. Thanks, guys. Bye, buddy. Bye. The funny, funny Nick Kroll. Yeah, it's so funny. And I love that he showed up to play. And he, I mean, he's so. Always. He's always ready to play. Yeah. And look, clearly he's got 80,000 things going on. But how great are these interviews when they feel like five minutes. And you never get to your questions, you know, just because the conversation is so good. That was so, that was so quick. He's a good fellow, that guy. Do send me some of that stuff, shall we? I will. And then I'll bet I'll go down like a YouTube poll. Oh, do send me some of those things. Do send those bits. Right after my toilet. Yeah, he's in full drag as Liz. It's so funny. I mean, the balls, the guy. Just to do anything. Kroll's show, there was so many amazing sketches on that show. Amazing sketches. Yeah, I should probably start there. But he did have, he said he did play that one character. Here it is. Yeah, yeah, the teacher from Sit Down, Shut Up. Yeah. What was the thing you remember about that teacher? Fuck, here we go. Are you ready? Yeah. The character was bisexual. Bisexual. Smart. Nice. Smart. Smart. 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