Oscar Nunez Gets REAL About 'The Office', 'The Paper' & God

[MUSIC] It's so great talking to you. How's Ursula doing? She's great. You guys are doing well. Yes. Everything's working fine. Yeah, same here. Same here. So that's great, you guys. You're able to keep up a good sex life. Pretty normal, yes. Yeah, wonderful. That's great. Holiday and I were great. We're really-- We'll still go out at, yeah. And we're active everywhere you go. You know, the on vacation, at home, at work, whatever car it doesn't matter. Where, Rain? Where, Rain? I think that you know where. One thing I learned about Oscar today, he's Cuban. Welcome to Soul Boom. [MUSIC] Hey there, it's me, Rain Wilson. And I want to dig into the human experience. I want to have conversations about a spiritual revolution. Let's get deep with our favorite thinkers, friends, and entertainers about life, meaning and idiocy. Welcome to the Soul Boom podcast. [MUSIC] Shout out to our sponsors. Growth therapy, Lola, one-skin fencer. Links and promo codes on the screen and in the description. Enjoy the show. Oscar and I are going to be answering your burning office questions in a part two coming out in a couple of weeks. So send in your written or video questions about all things done under Mifflin to [email protected]. Or leave us a voice mail at 909-276-5232. That's [email protected]. Or 909-276-5232 for all messages. See you in just a couple of weeks for part two. Okay, now you can enjoy the show. Let's do the act off. What if we're a doctor and we took out a kidney. Maybe we took out the wrong kidney. Is this improvised? Want to improvise a thing? No, we always have set lines that you and I both say the exact same lines. Oh god, it got it, got it. So you go for Sanago. It's like we take turns. Yeah, yeah, it's a contest with the same lines that we say, but we can play it. Same scenario, same lines, but we play it. Who's the better actor? Okay. We'll start with the surgery and like like the pit, you know, scalpel. We'll say scalpel suction. So sew it up. And then someone says, are you sure you took out the correct kidney? And then the line is like, of course, I took out the correct kidney. Okay. And like, that's good, right? And then one last line, which would be realization that the maybe did not take out the correct kidney. No one questions me. Okay. So scalpel suction. Close. Sew it up. Sew it up or close. Sew it up like more casual. Okay. Okay. Sew it up. Scalpel suction. Close it up. Of course, it's a good. So it's so it. No one questions me. And then we'll do the line for each other. Like, are you sure it was the correct kidney? Of course, it was the correct kidney. No one questions me, but crumbling because there's a realization. All right. So the name of this game is act off. Okay. We're going to show people. Office fans, especially like, who is the best actor among the two of us? Okay. Okay. We're going head to head. Do you understand that? Cabezza, Cabezza. Do you understand? Comprendes? And the end is? It wasn't racist. Now it's getting there. Yeah, almost. Cassie. Let's do it. So again, the lines are scalpel suction. Scalpel suction. Sew it up. And then you'll give me that line from off camera. And then of course, I took out the correct kidney. No one questions me. Okay. All right. So I'll go first. And we'll see what you would you come up with. So an operating table in an operating room. Okay. Here we go. Watch on learn. Scalpel. S suction. Sew them up. Are you sure you took out the correct kidney? Of course, I took out the correct kidney. Don't want to question me. And see. And see. And come. Wow. Okay. Yeah, that was crazy. Crazy? Crazy good. You can play it any which way you want. You just have to say those lines. I understand. And why you you say? Yeah. Okay. It's expensive school. I know. I paid a lot of money for that. I know. I know. It was good. All right. I'll do the off camera line. All right. Action. Scalpel. S suction. S suction. Sew them up. Sir, are you sure you took out the correct kidney? No one questions me. Are you looking at the camera? To get the audience. I wasn't part of the to get the audience. All right. Okay. Okay. Okay. Because that's not how it usually works. This is method. This is not mockumentary. I thought it was an audition tape we're doing for the part. All right. Well, you had me open to the look to the camera. You had me. You you owned me. So now well done. So now what happens? Well, viewers get to comment and decide which performance they like better. Well done. Hey, thank you. So good to see you. If people listen to this, are they true and true? Not really. You know what burnout is sneaky. One day you're productive. The next year in a fetal position on the shower floor negotiating with your nervous system. Just like your car, you can't run unempty without inevitable burnout. Growth therapy and help you notice what's happening before running unempty becomes your entire personality. 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After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Hi, Oscar. Welcome to "Soulboom." Hi, Rain Wilson. This is "Soulboom." - It's so good to see you. - It's good to see you. - Now, before we were rolling, we were having a conversation about handkerchiefs. You like handkerchiefs. What's up with that? You know the science of like mucus. There's bacteria and mucus. - Oh, is that what we're discussing? - Yeah. - I'm glad I came prepared. - Stop boom. - Okay. - It's not boom. Is it enough to damage me? The bacteria I'm carrying around, will I be damaged or sick from it? No, I don't think so. I think it's just one of those things. - I always do that. Even if I blow my nose and I have a clinic in my pocket, I think about like, wow, there's just billions of germs in my pocket right now. - That's why you have a podcast where you'll have a hundred episodes. - A hundred episodes. - Because you're obsessed. - Oscar Nunez, welcome to our hundred episode. - Thank you. - I appreciate that show. - Happy to be here. - Handkerchiefs and all of us. - Let's see what the studio audience has to say about that. - Hi. - Ovrjina, you're here. Hi. Marianne, good to see you. All the regulars. - They're all here. (imitating music) - Look, more celebratory noisings. - Here come the roaming legions. - Even more. - Keep going. (imitating music) - Elephant's game, that's great. (imitating music) - And a horse is a hundred episodes. (imitating music) - Okay. What is that? What is that? - Legions marching. - Legions marching. - Some trained parrots. - Okay. - Box, yeah. (imitating music) - Yeah. - Right. - It's almost like Cleopatra coming into-- - And what about some music? What kind of music would there be? - Channel channel channel channel channel channel channel channel. - Okay. - It went the other way with the music. - Wow. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Just a little bit of a funk band. - A little funk band, the one expected that. - Yeah, yeah. - Time travelers. - I have known you for so fucking long. I have known you since 2003, 2004, when we started this crazy endeavor. - And what are we, 2026 now? - Something like that. - It's a super long time. We were shooting the pilot in 2004. - That's right. - So let's just put it back to January 2004. And that's when I first met you. But I've never really gotten a chance to know you. - Let's keep it that way. - I'm gonna get to know you a little bit deeper. I'm gonna get behind the noonyes of it all. - It's nothing there. But I think we do know each other. We know the important things about each other. - We know each other's hearts. We know our souls, we know our brains, we know our humor. But I know so little about your history. - I have no sense. - Yeah, I have no sense. I can tell you, you can figure out a year if I tell you what was happening at the time. - Yeah. - But I don't know. - That's astonishing. This is really different because any year, you should tell me in my life, I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing. Just pick a year and I can tell you where I was living, what I was doing. I can't out do that. There was so much going on and it was all-- - There was a lot of. - No, not that. Just a lot of stuff in my head. When I went back to do theater for the new city, that my then Joel's called that, I moved in with my father. - Oh wow. - And we were living together. - In New Jersey. - In New Jersey. - Yeah. - And we have the same name. My father and I have the same name. - Okay. - So I get, we're getting mail, right? And I'm like, huh? And I'm like, oh, this is Oscar, that's me. I Oscar, and I open it. And it's not for me, it's for my dad. And it's like a love letter from a guy. And I'm like, oh my dad's gay. And I didn't know my dad was, then I went to see my friends, Peppy and Felix. And Felix like, oh, ask you, didn't know the whole, everyone, we will knew. Yeah, you're dead. And I'm like, oh my God. And then, and-- - Your dad was gay the whole time? - Yeah, I think so. I think so. - When did your mother, did they separate, or did she pass away at that time? - They had already divorced. No, no, they had already divorced. And she told me, she goes, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Your father was gay. He was, yeah. So that's a whole thing. - Wow. - And that kind of bugged me. And it bugged me because he wasn't happy. He was like, half man gay. Do you know half man of the TV show? - No, no. - From the guy who did baby reindeer? Oh, I haven't seen that yet. Oh my God, rain. - It's really good. I heard it was good. That guy's great. - I don't know if it's good, it's devastating. If they need to get out of that town, those gay guys, go to San Francisco, New York, be happy gay. Not miserable gay. - Yeah. - And my dad was miserable gay. - Okay. - Because of Catholicism and all that. - And he couldn't fully embrace his sexuality. - We all were, okay, we're like, no one gives a shit. - Yeah. - Dad and he's like, I don't know what you're talking about. So because of that, he drank a lot and stuff. He only started drinking after the divorce. And so it was very sad. I'm like, oh, this is messed up. I had this girlfriend who I was in love with and we broke up and I'm like, oh, I felt miserable. And I went to live with my sister and my brother-in-law for a year or two and then I'm like, there's nothing here in Florida for me. I'm going to Los Angeles. And if it didn't work in Los Angeles, I would have gone to Japan. I was just gonna keep going west. (laughs) But luckily I got to LA and I joined the groundlings. - Did you get an agent or something? - Not right away. I did not like it for the first four years. Did not like, love it. - Wow. - Yeah, did not like it. Now I love it. - But you were committed. - Once I joined the groundlings, I found my people and still have friends from the groundlings to this day. I've been here like 35 years. - Holy moly. - It's been, but see, you can tell by my trajectory that I clicked Lating Life. I clicked, I should-- - I matured late. - Yeah. - So people, all you're retired or you're old, I feel like in my 30s because I didn't start really doing my thing until before the office. I was clicking right before the office. I sold half way home and all that stuff. But most people start clicking in their 20s like you, NYU, you're like, it took me a while to click. I really need to speak up for myself and say what I want to do. - Right. - Being funny when I was going up that people wouldn't say, you're great, keep doing that. They were like, what are you doing? Get serious. Stop messing around. It was just the opposite. - Right. - So, yeah. How did you end up on the office? How does that work? Did Alison Jones just called you in for a general? - It was a great day to be an actor because I had four auditions on that day or five. - Oh my gosh. - Which is the best. Because time you get to your fourth audition, you don't care. And that's when you do the best. - You've just been going through the-- - Yeah, you're like, I'm doing this. What do I do for this one? What do I, and then by the time you do it, you're so relaxed that you're like, and it's improv. - Yeah. - It's improv. And improv is my thing. - Yeah. - Were you called in for Phyllis? And yeah, yeah, I read one of the generic parts and I got three callbacks and I'm like, yeah, let's keep going. I'll keep going until the wheels come off. But I didn't think we were gonna go past the pilot until I knew Steve Carell was cast as the lead. - Yeah. - 'Cause remember when we got cast, they didn't have a lead yet. - Right. - And I was like, all right, I don't, I know who's up for it. I know they're all great guys, but I'm like, okay. But when they said Steve Carell, I'm like, oh shit, we have, 'cause Steve's special. - He is special. - And he had just come off of the Daily Show. - And the God movie where he killed it and the 40-year-old Virgin was coming out. - Yeah, that's right. - And the-- - What was that movie like? - What was the movie? - Ron Burgundy. - No, but what was the God movie that he was-- - Jim Carrey and Ducon. - Jim Carrey and Ducon, as a weatherman. - Bruce Almighty. - Bruce Almighty. - Jesus, of course. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, he came off of that. That was big for him. - Yeah. - So when I heard Steve Carell, I'm like, oh shit, here we go, this could happen. - Yeah. - Yeah, absolutely. - And then they got to meet all you guys, which was incredible. I'm like, oh, yeah, this is really good, Brian. - When did they tell you that Oscar was gay? 'Cause I didn't know that until-- - He wasn't gay, they made me gay. - Yeah, it was like how many episodes in, her years in. - Years, the second season. - Second season, halfway through. - Because I told Greg Daniels, I saw the show to comedy central and they wanted me to do it and he goes, and he's like, we'll figure this out, don't worry about it. And he got me out by making him gay and then I had to leave. But he said, Oscar, how do you, he's like Oscar? And he was real serious right now. He's like, can I ask you something? How do you feel if your character's gay? And I said, I don't care and he's good. Good, 'cause we both are scripted. I'm like, I'm like, why are you asking me, Greg? (laughing) - Yeah, no, it was different for me too, 'cause I had this whole theater life. I had a life in theater, a 10 years of theater, and then a couple years of kicking around LA. And then six feet under and the office went-- - Six feet under, oh my God. - Yeah, when my career kind of launched, I was like 38, 39, when the office took off, I was 40 years old. So my, really my fame or my career was launched with me in my 40s. - All of us reign, Kate, all of us. How old were you when you did six feet under? - 37, it's not like that. I looked a lot younger. - So much younger. - I looked like 24. - Like me. - And such a-- - I don't anymore, not anymore. You caught up, but you were so memorable. I didn't know you from Adam. And when I, I'm like, who's this fucking guy? - Thank you so much. - Oh, right. - Yeah. - So good. It was a role that got maybe office and something I'm super grateful for. - It was seared into my, I'm like, who is that guy? This is, I loved it. I loved it, the relationship. You were in a relationship with the mom. - Oh, that's right. - Yeah, with Bruce. - Fantastic. But you know, one of the things, here's my greatest memory of you from the office was what an amazing straight man you were. And I'm wondering how you learned to be such a good straight man because you're a fucking lunatic. And I have gone to some parties with you and you can get unhinged like presto, but on the office you were incredibly buttoned up and you played just the best straight man, dead pan, reactive to Steve and to Dwight. What's the best? So fun. How did you learn to do that? How did you know that that's what you're role? It's the same as being a lunatic, but different. It's the same. You're just committing. You're like, now I'm doing this. Now this guy's doing cartwheels and I'm just staring at him like, really? And I have so many people to, you know, Tony Randall, Harvey Corman, Jack Clogman, staring at Tony Randall as Tony did his, why do I reference the odd couple so much? Such a funny show. But yeah, I had so many. I mean, it's just part of comedy. It's just doing that. Jack Benny, you know, it's just so fun. Great comedy needs a straight man and yeah, it's just as important. And I got to do crazy things. That was in the proposal and then flesh was like, do your thing. Don't worry about it. So yeah. That's amazing. And I never saw you in 200 episodes. I never saw you break. I never saw you laugh. You know who made me break, Steve, but you know who made me break Ed Helms would make me break because his facial expressions were just incredible. He reminds me of the fellow who played Floyd the Barber on Mayberry. Remember Floyd the Barber? I don't. Sorry. He was a character on Mayberry after he was the Barber and he was so weird and yet grounded. And I found Andy to be that way too. Andy was so weird. Such a weird character. And he had anger issues, which was hilarious. That he would be violent at Helms. He had so many different looks like Correll, but he may have more looks than Correll at Helms is he when I love the bit like when people would be speaking to him and he didn't want to hear it, but he had to look at you and he would just go, and just stare. Yeah. And then he would do this. Who does this? He would do this and make it believable. And this is a move that Floyd the Barber might do. And so Andy was such a great character. Such a great character. So nuanced, so well rounded. They were also the thick of Ellie Kemper. She was nuts. She was insane that she would do a little dances and shit. It was nuts. Yeah. What's it like carrying on the legacy of Oscar Martinez into the paper? How has that, how has that been? Has that been a strange transition for you? What is, what has that been like? No transition whatsoever. I'm wearing a shirt and a tie and I walk into an office and there's, and there's a bunch of crazy people. And the only, and now I'm older than most of them, which is the most depressing thing. But other than that, Donald Gleason, Chelsea Fry, Alex Edelman, have you seen this kid do stand up? He's hysterical. Come on, Rayne. He is amazing. He is amazing. I thought, I sound like his uncle because everywhere I go, I praise him so, but he's special. His stand up is like, Ursula and I just saw him at the, at the Ford theater. Okay. Not just for us, new stuff, new stuff. Yeah. That's just as so good. Oh, that's great. So Alex and then, and so the whole cast. Yeah. But the transition has just been easy for you. To go in, there's cameras and it's a new bunch of wackadoodle folks and I'm playing the same character. My character and they're like, how do you act? I'm like, I'm not acting. I'm a, I'm an accountant who just wants to go to work and do his job. Yeah. And he doesn't want to be bothered and oh, no, there's cameras there. That's pretty straightforward. Yeah. Just continuing. Yeah. Just continuing. And then of course, being a human, he's going to make friends with people and once and while he's going to wink at the camera and go, yes, I guess I have to put up with this. And that's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people say like, who is Dwight going to be on the paper? It's like, why would Dwight go to a newspaper in Sandusky, Akron? Where is it? Toledo. Toledo. I don't think people quite understand the conceit of the world. This is not like a land in which office characters can just pop up at this obscure newspaper in Toledo. Have you met people? They're idiots. They say all kinds of, I'm like, no, that's not going to happen. Maybe it does, but it's not up to me. It's up to the writers. Next. Have you met people? That's really good. Well, because this is a soul boom. Was there anything else to say about the paper or should I say about the paper? Just said it's great. Greg Daniels, Michael Coleman, husband of Ellie, you know, I think the paper, Paul Eberstein's there. I think it's a really hard to follow in the office's footsteps. And I think Greg has done an amazing job. Michael Coleman, Ellie Kempers, husband, hysterical, rate cast. And you just wrapped the second season. They're prepping that for release. How was that? Are you excited? It's the best. It's kind of found its voice more and more. I mean, it did take the office a little while into its second season to kind of like start cooking with gas. That's right. Yeah. People are going to compare it because the office was so darn good. There's no getting away from it. It's fine. Let them compare it to different show. Newcast, different city and a different vibe. It's a newspaper. So there's different things going on. Yeah. I don't know if you know, have you met Donald Gleises? Yes, I have. Yeah. It's fantastic. Yeah. Brilliant. Not at all. And then we have Alex Adelman. We have all these. The whole cast is good. Sure. And then this old guy is there too. Yeah. So, yeah. You had a good time in season two. Yeah. But it's different. It goes by so quick. Yeah. Remember, we used to do 20 episodes, more or less, a season. We would do 24 in a season. That's crazy. We're doing 10. Right. So it's just so quick. Wow. Yeah. It's different. Everything is different. I talk about a little bit in Soul Boom and also in the Besoon King is this kind of belief that I have and have been exploring and I'm fascinated by of that intersection between creativity and spirituality. Okay. Because both things come from some kind of spark or essence that is beyond the rational. And you and I've seen you do it as an improv comedian and I've seen you as Oscar Martinez have these flashes of brilliance. And you talked about like doing the streetcar, you know, improvisation. Have you ever had transformative creative experiences where you feel like, holy shit, this is coming from somewhere beyond me. There's something kind of transcendent and transformative about making people laugh, creating this character, having these moments. Have you ever felt that vibration? Yeah. Do you have any examples of that? I think the, on the office a bunch of times, oh, Rain, that was such a good show we were on. It was the best. It was the best. And seeing, and sometimes I'm not even in the thing, just seeing you, I wish there was a way to know that we were in the good old days while we were in the brain. Brian, Brian, I'm like, pretty early on. She's like, this is a good show. You think we're going to win awards? I'm like, I think so. Is this crazy that we're talking about this? But I remember seeing you doing your karate thing with a black belt around the office and I'm like, this is fucking nuts. Remember when you went, yeah, yeah. But when I was on the proposal and, and then Fletcher and I was dancing and I'm like, it's fucking Sandra Bullock and I'm like raising my like, crotch to her and you're so great in that. She and she comes to the grocery store and she's like, oh, shit, it's you. And Ryan knows me. He's like, hey, Ramon. And she's like, oh, no, it's that guy. And I'm like, I saw you yesterday and she's like, I know. And I'm like, member, member. And she's like, yeah. And then she's going to leave the store and I'm like, and I went out to reach and touch her hair. I don't know why. And she went like, kind of like this. And that was funny too. And and freaking and Fletcher. At the beginning when I'm giving her orders and Fletcher said to Sandra, like spit on him. Like when you're eating the order of like cough or something and spit on him a little bit and Sandra's like, I don't want to do that. She's like, I'll do it. And she did and Sandra's like, I'm sorry. And I'm like, it's okay. He's permanent press. You know, and she's like, so stuff like that really tickles me. Moments that you found spontaneously. Yeah. If you couldn't already tell, I am a very cozy person. So obviously I'm a huge blanket guy. That's a blanket statement if I've ever heard one. At the end of the day, I want to sit down and put on a mildly educational podcast that I will not retain. And that's why Lola Blanket has become my sleepy time soulmate, my slumber sidekick, my bedtime buddy, my favorite fuzzy, favorite okay. That's enough. I'm excited with ultra soft luxury faux fur and has this signature four way stretch so it doesn't just sit on top of you like some decorative tarp. It moves with you. It understands the assignment and is machine washable, double hemmed for durability and designed not to pill or shed even after repeated washes. For a limited time, our listeners can get 40% off select Lola Blankets products with Code SoulBoom and check out. Just head to LolaBlankets.com and use Code SoulBoom to get 40% off your order. After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and let them know that we sent you. Wrap yourself in luxury with Lola Blankets. Again, for a limited time, our listeners can get 40% off select Lola Blankets products with Code SoulBoom and check out. Please support our show. Let them know that we sent you. This episode is brought to you by Fetzer. You know, there's this tendency in modern life to believe that every problem has a material solution, more technology, more productivity, more money, more apps, reminding you to breathe while you ignore the fact that your soul feels like a raisin. But the folks at the Fetzer Institute believe something deeper. They believe that behind humanity's biggest challenges are spiritual ones. Loneliness, division, disconnection are inability to see each other, the planet, or even ourselves as sacred and they're asking a really beautiful question. What if shared flourishing begins with the sacred? Fetzer supports stories, communities, and spiritual solutions from people around the world who are healing division, caring for the earth and creating deeper human connection through faith, spirituality, and reverence for love itself. Not dogma, not forcing one belief system, just the radical idea that, "Hey, maybe the soul matters." Honestly, that's a conversation we care deeply about here at SoulBoom. You can explore their spiritual solutions library and learn more at Fetzer.org. That's F-E-T-Z-E-R.org. Thanks, Fetzer. Because this is SoulBoom, we do talk a little bit about, "Yes, thank you. Thank you so much." But I am curious. It's not something that we've ever really discussed before, but you grew up Catholic with this closeted gay Cuban father, which is really just threw me for a loop, but going to Catholic school, tell me a little bit about your relationship to Catholicism and that Catholic heritage. Well, Lucifer is very much misunderstood. I just like to say that things have been said about him. I love. That was a little loud. Huh? That was so loud. That was a really loud. At St. Michael's school, I love my nuns. You had a good non-experience. I had a great non-experience. And I had a good priest experience too. But the nuns are more impressive because they really do walk the walk and talk for real. They really know sin. They're married to Jesus. But they're not cynical. Some priests are a little cynical. They're okay. They're a little cynical about it. But not the nuns. They really are. They love you and they're beautiful. People are like, "Where they stricter whatever?" I'm like, "Yeah, I'd rather be reprimanded harshly by someone who loves me than ignored by someone who's apathetic towards me. It's all out of love." And so I had a great experience at St. Michael's with the Catholicism and stuff. I think it's a great foundation for a child to have that. And to learn by. Are you raising your daughter to be Catholic at all? No. No. Because. You don't think it's that great of foundation. I like the individuals. I'm not crazy about organized religion. But take what you will and leave the rest. We've had a run of some pretty good popes, Leo and Francis. Well, they've got a lot to make up for. I should hope so. I should hope that they're good. Yeah. Oh, that's a good point. Very good point. I hope that they support Judaism and not turn their backs on Judaism like they did during World War II. I hope they support women's rights and gay rights. This is a. This is true Christianity because I think Jesus would. You know? So I was thinking about this on the way over here and people in this country. It's everything's so loud and big and aggressive and people throw the word Christianity around. And to really. So, so. Right after Christ, Jesus Christ. Christianity. If you believe in Him and want to emulate Him, then a person that I would look to, and this is impossible, but it's something to reach for, would be. And she was canonized. Her name is Mother Teresa. And what she would do is walk out of her convent when New Delhi, in India, wherever I think she was in New Delhi. And she would walk down the street and whoever she saw in distress, and people do this in India, not just her. People are still doing that. Who is homeless and destitute on the street. She would sit down with them, speak to them, shave them, feed them, whatever they needed. She would shave them? There's the guy shaving people now. She would speak to them and feed them, maybe not shave them. There was a guy like on TikTok shaving people, shaving homeless people. Yeah. And shampooing them and helping them. And stuff like this. And you know, you and I, we drive down the street and we see homeless people. And I think, I'm like, that shouldn't be. Should I put them in my car and drive them home and say, "Urcelight, this person was in the street. Let's bathe them and shower them and take him." You can't do that. Your wife was, "I didn't sign up for this. You want to do it, but you can't do it." And they'd said to Mother Teresa, "Why do you do this? How could you do this? Stop." And I said, "Because every person I see, I see Jesus Christ in that person." So that's your real Christian. If you want to be a Christian, talk about being a Christian, then live up to that. Imagine living your life, right? Everywhere you throw, you see Jesus Christ. That's real shit. That right there. That's trying to walk in Christ's footsteps. Nothing about politics. Nothing about abortion. Nothing about guns rights. Nothing about nothing. You see a poor person. You bend down on their level and you speak to them and you love them. That's it. Jesus did. He bent down. He helped a leper. He got mad when they bought money into the temple to make accounts and then trade money so that he tipped them over and said, "Get the money lenders out of the temple." That's the only time he lost his temper. Yeah. Part of the problem is, because Paul had some quotes that are often taken out of context, talking about how it's faith alone that can offer salvation, it doesn't matter how you act in your life to a lot of Christians. It doesn't, you don't have to live ethically or an emulation of Jesus and serving the poor. All you have to do is at the end of your day, you have to say, "Christ, forgive me. I love you. Save me. Save my soul." And then all is forgiven now. Convenience. Convenience. Yeah. What about treat others the way you want to be treated? That pretty much covers everything. Now, if you want to add bells and whistles to that, you need vestments and structures and things so people can, so you can add more shit to that, more bells and whistles. All you need is treat people the way you want to be treated, but that's too simple. You can't make money off of that. You can't ask for anything for that. Yeah. So here we are. Yeah. And I'm distressed or whatever. I'll tell you what happened. So I was at the groundlings and I was poor as shit, but it's okay. I might have been. What kind of shitty jobs were you doing in LA while you were at the ground? Waiting table. Waiting table. When I got the office, I was babysitting and waiting tables. So I'm living a block off. You would have been the world's best babysitter. I'm sorry. Oh, I love babysitting. So I was a block, a central, which is a block off Paramount Studios. Right. Paying $350 for a small apartment that I shared with a guy, thank God he was mostly in New York City. Okay. But I remember being like, I'm like, oh, do I have enough rents this week and I got to pay this? I'm like, oh, and I'm in the shitty apartment. I'm like, what am I doing here? My family is back east. Everyone, I have friends here, but I was like kind of like, what am I doing? Is this home? Where is home? And this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm thinking. But I was depressed. I'm like, and I'm listening to KCRW and Ram Das is speaking on KCRW and Ram Das says, I just left the convention and I'm walking down the hallway and I'm in this hotel and I go on my hotel room and I'm thinking, what am I doing? What am I doing? Where am I? My, I'm just on the road and I'm in this hotel room and I, what am I doing? I don't know where I am. And I put my feet up and I look at my feet and I thought, huh, I'm here. And then Ram Das starts laughing because whenever he says something like, why is he, he starts laughing. And I'm like, that's right. Where I am is where I'm supposed to be. And I'm like, and so that, this is an example of what I was trying to say earlier is if I'm ever like, oh, spiritual or whatever, I just try to quiet down and listen to the quiet voice inside. So I don't like even, I don't like people yelling at me about Brimstone and Hell and I don't like the yelling. I like the quiet voice telling me what to do. And if you require yourself, it's there. But you need to be, is there something you do in a practice to access this quiet voice you're talking about or meditations to listen to or books or audio books or, I try transcend some meditation for a while and then I got bored with it. Did you have a good mantra? Maybe you needed a better mantra. Maybe I forgot what it was. It doesn't matter what the mantra is. Mine is a, hey, bad about about a, hey, bad about about a swing back. And that was worth it to stop this 100th anniversary. People are taking notes. People are digging when I'm saying, "You stop to do that, dad, Joe." "About a Castelo." So, whatever you need to do. For me, exercise, I like exercising. And I like being in a habit of regularly doing some sort of exercise. That works for me. I've tried TM, but I like really exercising a lot. So, where does your spiritual life stand right now? And what do you impart to August your daughter? I impart to her to listen to her God. I also am of the mind. And it's very important. And I hope she gets this, but I hope everyone gets this. It's okay not to know something. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. You don't have to freak out. You don't have to. Why are we here? Why are we. You know, we've only been here a little bit of time. Thousands of years from now, we might discover who put us here and why. And it'll be science who leads us there. But if spirituality works for you, that's fine too. But it's okay not to. I know two things. I know I don't know what happens to us after we die. And I'm okay with that. But I don't know what happens. I really don't. And the second part of that is no one knows. Everyone's guessing. It doesn't matter if you have a pointy hat, a flat hat. If you burn incense or you're throwing rocks off of it, whatever you're doing to help you think of what can happen after, you really don't know. But some people might have a clearer vision than others. I don't know. But I don't think no one knows for sure. But I think that's okay. And I don't think that should affect how you act here. People now just disclose your movie. It's like there's aliens that's going to freak everyone out. Why? You're still going to have to pay taxes and you're still going to die. Whether aliens exist or not, still be a nice person. It doesn't have to change who we are. Did you ever have any mental health challenges? Did you ever deal with anxiety, depression? Find yourself over-medicating in a way? That's one thing we try and connect the dots with in Soul Boom is that there might be some spiritual tools for modern living that help us through those difficult times. That's a good question. Or were you always just kind of moving forward? And it did throw me for a loop. And the fact that not that my father was gay, but that the way he was reacting to it. Yeah. To divorcing my, that, that I was like, oh my god. That's a big family drama. Can't help him and he can't help himself. And I'm like, well, that happens. So that was depressing. For better or worse, I'm pretty good at like moving forward. Like I can say, it's crazy. I can, as nice as I am, I can say, have a relation with someone for 10 years and say, buy. And that's it. That's it. I go forward and I don't have to call them or I don't care. I hope they're great, but. Wow. That's a little crazy. You know, like sometimes I'm like, well, this doesn't work or that doesn't work. And I'm like, well, think of your parents. They invested so much in education and in a country and paying taxes into the system. And then everything got turned upside down and they had to come and start over again. And they had hard moments, but they did it for me and my sister. They got their organizing, got their stuff together. And not only them, all the other, my relatives that came. And the refugees that came to this country and did that. And so it's the hardest. The stuff. That you ask, like the mental, like the pressing and all that. Yeah. That's happening now. Never before. Never before Rain Wilson in my life has I been so upset with this country. Then now. And that's affecting your mental health. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so it's the most important thing to do. speak so eloquently and passionately about and you are an immigrant and come from an immigrant refugee family. I hope you'll do more work in this arena because you have a lot to offer you have a lot to bring. We'll see. So upset. What about those hundreds of hours you spent doing improv theater at the groundlings? And I don't remember. Have you ever made that connection internally somehow that what that's personal? Is it all you'd have something to do with the in the act of being an artist of creating characters of creating moments that there is a language behind creativity. Rick Rubin talks about this a great deal. There's that there is a language of transcendence behind it. You're tapping into some muse or energy that's beyond the rational. Yeah. I think so. I think that's true. I don't know if we're tapping into I think everything's inside of us. I don't know if we have to go reach it's here. It's inciting it bubbles out. You're like that was. All right. That was so many artists who talk to you when they're writing songs of creating paintings are like, I don't know where that came from. Or poetry or writing. It came from them. It came from them. I but but but it came from them but it came from outside too because everything outside is in us. It's all the same. But I like to give credit to people who are cool and say you you fucking did that. You know, it came from with no man. That's that's you. It felt you filtered you something but it came from you and it's okay. It's okay that that it came from you and that you that you did that, you know. We ask every guest this question. There's this funny word in the title of our podcast soul. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I say the word soul. How would you define that? How would I define the word soul? Yeah. Yeah. The concept soul. What does it mean to you? The concept of soul is what gives us life. I know we think it's only for humans but I think it's in all living creatures. Everything has a soul and it's that I guess burns have a soul. Who? Furns slugs. Maybe I know animals do but then now why are we leaving plants out of it? I think if they're alive they have a spirit of tree or redwood for sure. It's quiet and it's dignified. It doesn't have to be loud and crazy. They don't have bumper stickers but they're there. They're living and then when they die then something leaves them. The thing that kept them alive is gone and the same goes for us. Whatever that is. They say when we die we get lighter right there was a movie about eight ounces or something. Right? Yeah. I've heard that. Yeah. It's cold. So maybe it is. Maybe it's not but yeah I have no problem with that. Oscar it's been so great getting to know you better here on Soulbrow. Thank you. We did something right? We did something. We did a lot. This was fantastic. And I wish we would have sat down in my trailer was bigger than your trailer. I wish we had sat down in my trailer and had conversations like this. You had no room because you had that jacuzzi installed. Well. You didn't use it twice. I don't know why you insisted. Well, and the vibrating pillows took up a lot of space. This is true. Thanks, Oscar. Welcome.