"Steve Zahn"

(upbeat music) - All right, this is Steve's on. And I just went through an intense tech setup with my mic and my computer. And I'm ready to go. I'm just waiting here and waiting patiently to be on Smartless. Welcome to Smartless Smart. (upbeat music) - All right, surprise guest. Give us a clap if you're still with us, please. We are rolling. - Oh, wow, that's interesting. - That's a dude. - Yeah. - We're gonna go tarps off today, guys. (laughing) - I almost sent you an article last night so we talked about tarps off. It wasn't even a Canadian article. - No, I never heard that before. Is that an old saying? - Yeah. - It is, I never heard that. - Canadian old. - You know, when I was in junior high school, they would do certain things. - Oh, hang on, let me settle in. (laughing) - They would do shirts and skins, you know? - Sure. - And I was so like-- - I would always be afraid to be skins 'cause I wasn't happy with my body. - Same. - By the way, it's traumatic for children to be like, hey, take your shirts off, dude. It's against the guys who get to keep them on. It's like, why is that a thing? - Yeah, I wonder if you can still do that. Is it politically not okay? - I don't know. - You take your shirt off, you keep yours on. - And the same, right. And the same with showers after. Like, I remember being 12 years old. Guys, hit the showers. I'm like, I don't wanna be naked in front of them. Like my-- - Were you always on the shower team? - Yeah, guys, can I be team captain showers? (laughing) - No, but I just-- - What sport are you doing this semester? I'm thinking of showering. (laughing) - I'm caught back at the shower team. (laughing) You know, though, isn't that so bad? - Yeah, I went to all boys' boarding school, dude. I had to shower every day, like-- - I mean, is it, what is the thinking behind that? That, like, oh, they'll be fine. They'll work it out, they'll just boys, they're-- - Yeah. - And I'm like, no, we're all sensitive. Anyway, moving on. - Huh. - Huh. - Wow. - Just drop us off right there, Sean. - I guess we'll find our way home from here. (laughing) - No, you know what I mean? - It was awful. - It was awful. - I was in camp, I remember I had a thing. Music camp, I had a thing. - Oh, he's got more. - Shot. - Off the top of my head with Sean Hayes. - Yeah, camp stories. (laughing) I had to take a shower and it was really cold. But did I hear to tell the story? - Well, that explains it. (laughing) - There's a super long line. And there was a line of like 100 guys in line to take one shower at a time. And by the time I got there, the water was so cold, I was, it was freezing. And I, you know, you lose your breath when the water's like, you can't catch your breath. And I was like, and everybody was staring at me, taking a shower. I don't know, it's just so awful. - Did your folks get a deal on the camp? (laughing) This is 100 people for the one shower with the no hot water? - Yeah, right. - Music camp. - It was awkward. - Wait a second, that's it? - Yeah, I mean-- - Full story. - Just the same as always. - Well, I think we can start rolling now. Let's sum. (laughing) - Sean, you've got a GEPD hat on that is some sort of a police department that is-- - Glenn Allen. - Glenn Allen. - Glenn Allen. - Glenn Allen. - Glenn Allen. - Glenn Allen. - That's in the Chicago suburbs. - That is it. - I'm just looking in the chat there. I don't know if you guys want to click on it. - Oh yeah, the chat there's Jason with the-- (laughing) - They see. - After telling off in the Mediterranean. - Hey man, you know, keep it relatable. - That's something you can Google if anybody wants to. - You do look good though, JB, look. - Yeah, you look really good. - No, not really, it's not crazy. - Yeah, it's a dad bod right there. - That's a dad bod has been working out. - Oh, that is. - So that's my shower shot, right? - I know, see, embarrassing. - You're never nude, right? - God, remember that show. By the way, I got a bunch of, I think it's, I wanna give out the correct website, but I'm gonna guess at davidcross.com. But I went on David's website for his, stand-up site where he's got a lot of his performances on there, which is awesome. And I bought myself a bunch of swag. I've got David Cross T-shirts. - That's cool, noice. - Noice, noice, great. - And they threw in a beer cozy. And I said to picture to david once it arrived at the house. I said, "Hey man, I just wanted you to know, I'm a fan "and I've been buying stuff. "I don't know what site I was on, "but it was some sort of a link "or somehow I got to his website." And I was like, "Oh, look at all of this stuff. "He's got merch, you guys." - That's great. - I don't know, if you like David Cross like I do, go get yourself a T-shirt. - Love, beautiful face-on. - We love ourselves some David Cross. - Yeah, he should come back on the show. - He should. - He should, now, aren't we? - We're gonna do repeats. - Well, this one's not. - No, this is a fresh new meat. - This is fresh new meat. And this is-- - With heavy hands. - Yeah, a loud clap. - Yeah. - This guy knows how to clap. - Sure does. - And he probably learned it from all the audience who's clapping for him. - He's a musician. - He's not a musician, he's a performer. - A magician, he's an, he's an, he's acting is sometimes magic. - I don't think his good magicians are a podcast. - We learned that lesson. - Look at this. (laughs) - They're an easy booking. - I wouldn't, I wouldn't describe some of his performances in the magic. He grew up in Minnesota. There was a time when he thought about joining the Marines before he started pursuing acting. And then we got to see him in so many amazing shows, movies and stuff over the years. Way back when, all the way to today, movies like Reality Bites, which he was so good. And he does the thing we go through, through independent film and big studio films. And then he does like Crimson Tide with Tony Scott. And then he was in that thing you do, which has become like a cult hit. And then he's did a happy Texas, which he was amazing in. I remember him in Suburbia. - Steves on? - You guys, it steves on. How was it? - Oh yeah! (audience cheering) - She loves Steve's on. - I love me, Steve's on. - I am Rockwell, Michelle. I want me some pictures of Steve's on the other day. - Yeah, I just lit up like a chorus. - I didn't even get the chance to mention his movie, She Dances, which is available now, which I wanted to get into. Steve will ask you about that. But welcome to Smartless Man. - Huge fan. - Thank you. I'm so stoked to be on this. - This is a guess. - Yeah, this is a guess. - I'm a big fan of yours, Steve. - Big fan. - I'm a fan of all you guys. And I gotta say like, how is it that in 30 years, I have not been in the same room with any of you. - No, I know. Where are you living? Where do you and your macaroni art were live? - That's the name of his production. - Macaroni art. Yeah, you gotta piece the macaroni art. Is the name of his production company. - Yeah, it is. - Is that true? - That's it. - Wow, that's crazy. - So, listener, you should know, there's a painting behind him with an elbow macaroni upside down in the shape of a U. Just over his left shoulder. That's it. It's a brick wall, Steve. And so, macaroni painting is macaroni. That's the name of his company. - And the brick wall is in Midway, Kentucky. - Wow. Well, that's why we haven't seen you for 30 years. - Yeah. (laughing) - Well, I've always kind of lived outside the world. - Yeah, I like that. - I think God, you're still finding your way to our movie screens and TV screens. - Yeah. - Did you ever live in Los Angeles, Steve? - No, because back in the day, when you actually worked in Los Angeles, I would just, I would rent a place for a long time and it was great. - Oakwoods? - Yeah, I would, yeah. I'd stayed at the Oakwoods and Marina Del Rey when I did that thing you do. - Uh-huh. - But, so I was, you know, I was like, well, if I can rent a house for an extended period of time and live in a different neighborhood all the time, wide by, but I was New York. I was New York. - You were, okay. - Yeah. - And then I met my wife a long time ago, 1990. And we met doing national tour by-bye birdie. - Okay. - Oh, wow. - I'm in. - Cool, cool, cool, cool. - Cool, cool, cool. - Should we tune in Anne Rankay? - No, no, really. - Would you really take it easy? - He got it. - He got it. - Fuck. - Wait, which part were you? - I was here. I was here. - Hugo, of course you were here. Okay. - It was 13 months on the road. Anyway, we got back and then we had, you know, we had tour money and we thought we were rich. And so we bought a little cabin in Pennsylvania. And then we didn't work. So we had to give up the apartment and then live in this cabin. And then we commuted to New York. So, really early on. - You got used to not being in the city. - Yeah, exactly, so. - Well, now, and you're not the kind of fella that needs to go in there and take a bunch of meetings 'cause people know what's going on with Steve's on. They know what they know. It's like, you make a call. - It's a lot of get-me-steves on. It's a lot of get-me-steves. - Any chance Steve's on is available. I don't care where we got to fly him in from. - Yeah. - We just need him. - Yeah. - No. - Yeah. - You're like a special firefighter. You got to-- - I will say Steve, I remember hearing that you were like a special firefighter. - Yeah, let's get him in here, put it out. - He's a problem solver. You solve problems for people. I'm a solvent problem. - No, but I remember hearing that you lived in like Pennsylvania or something and I, way back when, 'cause I was always such a fan and I was like, "That's so fucking cool. "That he doesn't even live in the city." - Yeah, we don't live in. - Three of us don't have the balls to live outside the city. I certainly, I'm too afraid to miss the meeting, you know? Oh, you guys are on New York, right? - No, I'm just soft L.A. - I'm here right now. - I'm both-- - I live in New York for Sean. - Sean, he's got both, too. These guys are doing real well, Steve. - Yeah. - No, but I was a New York guy back in the '90s. - And just what he thought you were doing good. - Yeah. - You know what, though, Steve, it's true when Jason just said he is. Steve said, "Whatever he is, we'll make it work." You pop up and like, when you popped up in the white lotus, I was like, "Oh my God, you're brilliant in that." And then I watched Silo and I was like, "Is that Steve's on behind the door?" And that was amazing. And he was, "Thanks." You pop up in the most unique places. How do you, do they come to you? Is it something you seek out? You're like, "I love that show "because it seems like you're on all the good ones." - Well, no, Silo, they approached me. Rebecca did. She actually, Rebecca saw a short that we did, that macaroni art did. We did a series of shorts called on-candid portrait. And I played this like, I played this fictional artist, this photographer that's famous for taking photographs of fireworks. And it was just short as she saw it. She was like, "Oh my God, he'd be perfect for this part." - Yeah, from my sister who doesn't watch it's Rebecca Ferguson, brilliant actress. - Yes, she's amazing. - And really cool, anyway. But white lotus, that was one of the last times I had, I went on tape. - Yeah, wow. - audition. - And now what about that process? It's, do you prefer it to self, do you prefer the self-tapping as opposed to going into a room? - I, I don't do it that much. I mean, usually I get an offer, but it's like, - But it's nice. - I like it. - Because you don't have to send it in until you're happy with it. - Exactly. I was always afraid I was going to send my pants in the room, you know? - Yeah. - Right. - 'Cause you're in all those diuretics, too. - Yeah. - Just trying to drop water weight, it's constantly, it just runs havoc with the valve. - But you know what, also, it's like whenever, I remember reading, you know, being in New York and going in and auditioning at like three of us. And there was like, 70 guys there. - There we go, yeah. - You know, remember that? And like Sam Rockwell was there and, you know, Rick Thomas was there and, you know, everybody was there. - Yeah, I was there. - And then, uh. - The road using the office scissors there to tend to the sleeves. - But you would go winning. You would read with someone that might not be that great. And so, as the instinct of an actor is to make that moment good. So you might do something completely different to what you planned. - Right, 'cause the other hand is clapping in a real weird way. - Right. - It's just right. - Anyway. - Yeah. - It's a great point. So, wait, hey, well, while I got you there, let me ask you about that. - Yeah, he's not going anywhere. - Okay, great. We got you for a little bit, right? - Yeah. - Oh my God. - But I was just talking to somebody about that. I don't want to get into bullshit actor weeds here. But, you know, you are a guy who clearly has many different pitches in his arsenal. And you can throw the ball a bunch of different ways. And I won't torture the metaphor. But if you're working with an actor that is doing something wildly different than what you assumed the night before when you were running your lines and making your plan for how you're going to do the scene tomorrow. And you show up on set and that other actor is doing it completely differently than one would assume. Do you, are you okay with pivoting and taking a different angle on your character? Just as you said, to make that scene work. 'Cause a lot of actors, they, I find they just, they don't or they're not able to or they don't want to or. - No, I think for sure. That's the fun part, isn't it? I mean, well, not for some, for some. It's just like, what the fuck are they doing? You know, I tell my director, can I talk to you? - I tell young actors, it's all my daughter. It's like, look, just show up early, over-prepare and don't be a dick. And over-prepare is the main thing. - Right. - You know, it's like, no, it's so well that you can act with anybody. - Yeah, that you can adjust with anybody at any kind of, anything they throw at you, you can adjust, yeah. - And in the end, it's just a show. - It's just a show. - True, but wait, but Steve, do you, do you find that you've kind of on that thread? Do you find that you've kind of changed the way you approach as you've gotten older? Do you work differently than you did when you were a young actor? Is it kind of the same? - No, I'm not really. No, I kind of do it, yeah, I'm the same. I get, I still get really nervous, man. I get scared when I go to a gig and, you know, I was nervous coming on here. I mean, you know. I'm nervous right now. - Yeah, it is. - Yeah, interviewer of the year. - Yeah. (laughing) - Well, Sean, it's like he's snortin' a Xanax right now. - Okay. - What, anything? - Well, don't you find, do you remember the last time you weren't nervous for a part and do you remember that performance being not that great? 'Cause I certainly do. Like, the few times I've not been nervous, I just don't think it's any good. I think nerves are a good, good component to performance. - Yeah, no, I agree. I think that's, yeah, for sure. - Yeah, I agree. Let me ask something, the macaroni art production company in Kentucky, is that what you said? - Yeah. - Well, there's a Kentucky office. - Oh, there's a Kentucky office. - Oh, oh, I thought it was the only office. - Well, no. - Well, come on. - No, no, no, no, no, no. - Is your office a little bit better? - You're doing a bunch of-- - Yeah, I know, for sure. I just didn't know like how you get, how is, how is it, you can accomplish all you want accomplished from Kentucky for a-- - It's a lot of work going on in Kentucky. - There is. - For an industry. - Oh, there is. - Oh, okay. - Yeah, no, the film instead of here is really good. - There's a lot of work that came here. - No, no, I think I know what he's driving at. It's obviously, you know, New York and LA are typically thought of as the centers of the entertainment. - Accessory people and, you know. - Right. You find it easy to sort of work remotely as it were. - Yeah, but, you know, we have a feature that's out in the site guys now. Called She Dance, as we shot it here. And Rick Gomez is my partner. We wrote it. He directed it. I started it. My daughter started it. - Nice. - We shot it all here and by shooting it here, we saved so much money then. - Not sure. I'm sure. - Yeah, do they have one of those rebates there in that state? - Yeah, we have a 30% and then 35% outside. - And is it above and below the line? Or is it just below the line? - Just below the line. - Okay. - So tell Tracy what below and above the line. - Well, the line is drawn between the above the line is typically the director, the producer, the writer, the actors, and then below the line is the, everybody that works in the crew and post production and all that stuff. - Don't quote me on that. I think I, I don't know. Look it up. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - God, this is all legally binding of this podcast. (laughing) - Talk to me about Kentucky in general though. Like, how did you find yourself? How did you move from Pennsylvania down to Kentucky? - Wait, I've been coming here since my wife grew up here. - Okay. - So I've been coming here since 90 and I've loved Kentucky. And then we had kids and we lived on a farm in New Jersey, West Central, New Jersey. And there's not a lot out there, you know? I mean, we kept saying like, we're only an hour from them yet. - Is that near Somerset? - It was Delaware Water Gap. You know where 80 hits Pennsylvania? - Yup. - Yup. - Slayer Sound Area. - Eastern Pennsylvania is close by, is that right? - Yeah. The Poconos Stroudsburg. You go directly, directly West from the city. GW straight out. And so we had kids and it was like, I don't, I don't know if this was great out here for kids. - Cause why? Cause it was, it was too isolating? - Yeah, there was not a lot out there. And so we decided, you know, I said, why don't we move to, you know, outside Lexington? And my wife, of course, was like, I'm not moving home. I'm like, well, I'm not living in your parents' basement. You're gonna get a sweet place. - Right, right, right. - And you went ahead and you did. And the kids love it? - Yeah, the kids grew up here. They, they know nothing other than this place. - And how old are these little angels? 20, 26 and 24. - Oh, gosh. - Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. - Yeah, they're at your boat, gotcha. - Wait a second, Steve, does Rick live in Kentucky as well? - No, Gomez lives up in Healdsburg in Sonoma County. - Oh, wow. - And we've shot stuff up there, too. - That's California. - I love that, that town is awesome. - I haven't seen that dude. I used to know that dude 30 years ago. He's the best guy. - He's great. - I haven't seen him forever. Please say Adam for me. - I will, for sure. - Yeah. - And we will be right back. And now, back to the show. What was it like working with your daughter in the film? - It was amazing. - Yeah. - She's been acting a while. It was just the first thing. - Audrey went to musical theater, a great school called Baldwin Wallace. Sean, you probably know about that. But it's, you know, it's one of those, they didn't have these schools when we were young. It's like very specific to musical theater. She was there two years and then she started working in theater, musical theater. - So she's got a great voice, I bet. - She's got a great voice. She's an amazing dancer. And even better actor. - Had you guys worked together before? - No. - And will we work together again? Or is that it was it, did it end okay? - Bridget Fern. - Yeah, no, it was the best thing. I mean, it was like working on any other movie for me. - Right. - And that's a compliment to her. - It's gotta be wild though to adjust your brain to like dad to the coworker, right? - Yeah. - Like kind of, but I don't know. It was, we worked on it so much. We read, I was doing silo and she came to visit for like a month and we read every day. And so we knew it back and forth, you know? - But you didn't have any moments on set where they were cutting, you were like, "Hey, are you gonna do it like that every time?" Because, you know we're rolling, right? - You know, yeah, they were, you know. (laughing) - Okay, I mean, see the movie, it's, you know, I'm her dad so I'm gonna say great things. But I can't wait to work as she's from. - When does that come out, is it? - It's been out, it premiered at Tribeca. It's now, you can rent it or buy it on, you know? - Okay, gotcha. - Buy it. - Forget red, buy it. - Buy it. - And then it comes out on peacock on the 21st. - Gotcha. - Wow, amazing. - Wait, so Steve, you grew up in Minnesota? - Yeah. - In the Twin Cities region? - I love hearing the train in the neighborhood. - I was, do you hear a trick? - Is that a trick? - That's great, I love that. - No, it's literally, it's gonna go by and it's, - It's like four feet away. - It's sound concerned, it pointed at you? - Yeah. (laughing) - Oh boy. - Oh wow. - That's great. - Steve, you want to call us back? - Yeah. (laughing) - Oh buddy, there goes the train. - That's cool. - It's really cool, it splits mainstream. - It's, you know, it goes down the middle. - Be great if we pan the camera and it was just some dude who works for you walking by with a speaker. (laughing) - Fulxy. - Uh-huh. - Yeah. - Yeah, I just add to the award. - I just add to the award, Bobby. Just grab the speaker and walk by the, - Growing up in Minnesota, that probably makes you a hockey fan. - Yeah, yeah, I dig the hockey. - Yes. - I had two friends that played pro. - No kidding. - Will would like to know their names. - Um, Dennis Vasky and Lance Pitlick. Lance was a defensive man. - You know, Lance played for Ottawa. He played for, he played for a lot of, a lot of teams. - I don't know. - You don't know. - You don't know how to do that. - He was our quarterback and football at my high school. - And then he went on ahead and then he came up and I said, "I know." - He's athletes, I can do anything they want, you know. And they can go out there. He put a golf club in their hands and off the go. - But those guys were insane, man. They would shoot pucks every day. - Yeah. Winner's summer fall sprang, it didn't matter. And I was, I was the guy who had the, that we made, you know, goalie pads out of like an old couch. - Yeah. - And I would just suffer in front of, you know, Steve. - I used to drive through, I spent all my summers on Lake The Woods, that dips into Minnesota. - Yeah, yeah. - 'Cause my whole family's from Winnipeg, Manitoba. So I used to spend a lot of time, and we would drive through Minnesota to get there. - Oh, yeah. - It's beautiful. It's beautiful, man. It's a beautiful country out there. Do you get back to Minnesota at all? - Yeah. Yeah, I was back visiting my mom. - How did you, so then, how, was it Twin Cities area though that you grew up? - I grew up in, I was born in Marshall. I grew up in Mancado, which is a smaller town, South. And then I moved during like, junior high school, up to the suburbs, you know, suburban kid. - And did you, so, and then how did you, because you started acting professionally pretty young, like you're like 20s, right? Like early 20s? Like, you were getting more to, how old were you when you did reality bites? Like, you weren't that old. - That was, I moved to New York. I'd been in New York for like three years. - Mm-hmm. - Okay. - And then I got that. - Did you audition for that for reality bites? - I did. - I was doing, I was doing a play with Ethan Hawket at Playwright's Horizons. - Oh, nice. - And a play called Sofistry. - Yes. - Yes. - Shot? - I don't know that. (laughing) - I don't have none of them. - I do. - That was a great cast. It was like Anthony Ramp and Callista Flockhart. - Wow. - When was that? - Dick Latessa. - Dick Latessa was the improvises, promises with me. - Oh, great, Dick is, he was one of the greatest, greatest guys of all time. - Well, he was like 90 when he was in promises, promises. I was like, "That's cry, are you seeing and dancing at 90 years old?" - I was a decent show. (laughing) Anyway, Ben came to see Ethan in the show because he was, you know, directing him in reality bites and then I auditioned and I got the part. - Well, that's so cool. - Was that a sort of a bit of a career changer doing reality bites? - Yeah, I thought it was gonna be much more of a career changer. You know, it's like your first movies, you go do 'em and you come home and you're like, poor? - Yeah. - I think you were, like, how was that possible? - Yeah, right. - Right. - You pay to do it, yeah. - Right. - What's been the opposite in your career, do you think? Like something you thought was just gonna be, not a stinker, but it's success surprised you. - I would say, you know, like, I mean, a whole lot. I mean, I'm always surprised, I think. - Yeah. - And then sometimes, I mean, comedies, you laugh your ass off on set and then you go see it. And you're like, yeah, wasn't as funny as it was on the day. - Yeah, I'm gonna do Will's shot here. - You blame the editor on that. - Oh, no, I, well, I can't guess what he's thinking about. And I'm not gonna make movies. - Let's like, Finneas and Ferb, what about. - Out of sight. - Nighttrain. - Out of sight, you know what, I was really surprised. When I saw Out of sight for the first time, I blew me away and I had no clue I was in that movie. No, I was, I remember Cheetle sitting in front of me. He was like, isn't it great? I'm like, I haven't seen it, man. This was like the premier, he was like, you haven't seen it? Like, no, he's like, oh, man. And he's like, he watched me react to the movie. - Yeah. - It was like, it was really, it was really cool. - But like Will said, that thing you do, that was a pretty, that was a pretty big career turner. - That was huge. - I think for me. - Yeah, it was off. - Was that Tom Hanks directed that, right? - Yeah. - Was that his first thing that he directed that? - Yeah. - Was it? - I think he directed maybe an episode of like, from Earth to the Moon, like that HBO studio. - And three bison buddies. - And three, maybe. But yeah, that was crazy because Tom was at the height of the height of the, and everybody that worked on that movie was like phenomenal. - Was that, I did, I missed it. Was it, was it singing and dancing? - No, it was about, it was about a 1960s rock band. It was like a one hit wonder. - Yeah, it was a great movie. - Was there any musical performance at all in that? Did you guys hear? - Yeah, we played a bunch of songs. We were heard. - And the song, the thing, that thing you did. - That thing you did. - Right, so same thing. - You've never seen it. - No. - It's good. - You should see it. - It's really good. - It's one of those movies that people come up to me and go, you know, it's like Thanksgiving. My family watches it every year kind of thing. - Right, it's had this like, it's had this super long shelf life. It's funny that movie, right? I mean, it's, - Yeah. - Did you have to fake the music playing or do you know how to do that stuff? - Well, we were, that was crazy because Tom and Gary Getsman had his rehearse for like a month, just as a band. - Yeah. - Because they didn't want to waste time, not us screwing up and not being on. So we had that-- - It seems reasonable. - Yeah, yeah, you know, when you're back in the day on film and-- - Yeah. - What instrument were you playing? - Lead guitar. - Oh shit. - Whoa, wow. - And did you have, did you have prior experience? - Yeah, but I was just like a, a foaky kind of, you know, the acoustic guy. - But you had a rock out. - Actually Ben stiller bought me my first guitar. - Did it? - Wow. - Do you know what I'm saying? - Just because he, you know, I would sit my trailer all day and he was like-- (laughing) - And would you learn how to play guitar? - We keep calling him in early and not getting to his scene. - So let's buy a kid at guitar. - Exactly, why'd you do something when you're fricking time? Okay. - Well, you're sitting in your honey wagon. - Hey, think about it back then though. It's like, you tell people now you have all these devices and things to keep you preoccupied back in the day, man. - Yeah. - You're like, I would like draw on stuff. - Yeah, read books. - Read books. - Yeah, you would get a car. - I take a nap. - I used to be good about reading books back then. - Oh. - Oh, Sean's got a train. - Hey, that didn't take more than 15 minutes to find. (laughing) - That's where Sean's been. (laughing) - Good job, Sean. How's that dial-up service? - Wait, but you know, I'm thinking about like, out of sight, like, you know, that you did with Steven Soderberg and obviously Clooney and then you worked with so many, you worked with so many, you were at Denzel Washington writing in Crimson Tide. I mentioned Tony Scott. And then I was thinking about-- - Turn her song and-- - I was gonna say Verna Herzog was-- - Richard Linklater, I bet. - Rescue Don, right? - Yeah. - Yeah, what was it like working with? I've always wanted to ask you-- - What was Don's last name? - What? - No, it's not about rescuing a girl named Don. Oh. (laughing) - That she was in trouble. - Or he could have been in trouble. - Or done. - Yeah, no, no. - Dolled Donny. - But it was you and Chris, right, Chris and Bale, rescue Don. And what was that process like working with? How did that movie materialize? - I, it was originally a documentary that Dead Verna made called Little Deater Needs to Fly about this real Deater dangler who was a Navy pilot. His first mission over Vietnam was shot down. - Sean's got the cutest little Deater dangler. (laughing) - I'm gonna post it later. - Especially when he's getting in line for a cold shower. - Cold shower, sure. (laughing) Anyway, he gets killed. and then he's in this camp and then so it was a really, you know, it was really heavy movie and we lost all this weight and you know, went out to church. - Did you know, but did Werner Herzog, was that another one you went in, you read for it, right? - I found out that he was doing it and I just, I had just told, you know, I called on my people and I have to meet, I have to meet him. This is one of my favorite documentaries and so I met him. I went to his house up in like the hills and he wanted to know what I wanted to eat and I was like, oh, what do I say to impress him? You know, I was like, steak and so when he cooked me a steak, he's just so good at his skillet and he showed me, oh, he's crazy, we had this light. - Did he, too, did he, too, or he watched you? - Yeah, no, we shared a steak. - Okay, okay. - And then, oh, wait a second, he shared the same plate. - I can't remember specifically, but it was very, - I mean, was he tarps offered? - Who was he wearing with his shirt? - Steve, we bring everything back around. So you keep your knees bent, okay? - Okay, he's, oh my god, yeah. - Wow, wait, so you go up to, I wanna know about this. So you go to Werner Herzog's house that he's probably renting in the hills in California. - Yeah. - You're talking about the movie, then you agree and you guys, he wants you to come and do the movie or you read from that. - Yeah, no, he was like, Steve, I think you're better to play. Not the lead part, but the other part, you know, I'm like, great, fine, I'll play fucking anything. I don't care. - Not so much theta. (laughing) - Yeah, not, yeah, so. And then it went on forever. It was like, you know, when it was independent movies that fell apart and the Christian would call me and go, eat tonight, I don't think the movie's happening. I was like, fuck. And then it'd be like, stop eating, it's back on. And it put it was, it was fun, it was amazing. It was, I mean, Werner is genius and he's also the guy on the set where you're like, it's, what's happening? - Really? - And then like a fucking butterfly will fly through and he and the operator, I just run off into the woods and you're like three hours late. Oh, one time I was in my coveralls and I get graced with a bullet. And he was like screaming at hair make up. - More blood, more, it was like, let me do it. And he grabs it. And he puts up all this blood on my face. And then his hands are covered in blood, fake blood. And he doesn't know what to do. He just looks at me and he wipes it off on my costume. - No. - Oh, wow. - It's great. - That's cool. - Yeah, it's awesome. And Christian was one of the funniest guys ever worked with, by the way. - Really? - Yeah. - Oh my gosh. - I'm such a big fan of him. - He's so big. - Yeah, me too. - Great and funny. - So talented. - Yeah. - Would you do any of that weight gain weight loss stuff that he does so sort of seamlessly? I mean, what was it, the machinist? - Machinist. - He went down to look like 120 pounds. - JB, you should know Steve. Jason had a picture of Christian and the machinist on his wall in front of his trest. - For years. - And then he just looked at his jacket. - Running gold. - As his running towards it. - Never worked. - Never worked. - And then I put up a picture of when he, what was it when he played Dick Cheney. That worked. - No, it worked. - Oh, that's right. - You thought it was that. - I'm sure that it was a mirror. - You thought. (laughing) - No, he put on a ton for that, right? And took a, I just don't think I can do it at this age. - Yeah, he lost a lot of weight. We shot the end of the movie first. So he lost all the weight. And then he had like a week. I'm wearing a Thailand and I remember seeing him on the street. And he was walking up and he had, he had quarter pounders in his pockets. - No. - And his cargo pants, I swear to God, he was gaining weight in like a week. - Wow. - I'm getting all puffy. - A lot of stuff. - How about that? - Yeah. - I don't think playing the hamburger. - I only did, I lost 40 pounds for that. And you know what? - Oh my God. - Yeah, and you know what was really liberating? I lost, I was down to like, you know, whatever. Junior High Weight and I still had back fat. - Yeah, that's a hard stuff to lose. You know? - Yeah. - But it was like, oh great, this will never go away. Unless I'm in like a lifeboat. - Right. - You know, for a month. - I feel like the back fat is for, you know, like on the old like, I love when she shows or whatever they put on that. - Oh, you've got a point of view on back fat. - I'm gonna give you a hot take on this. You know, the belts, the little vibrating belts and the old timey stuff. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Is that what those are for? They just shake it till it falls off? - Yeah, maybe. - I don't understand what those were. - Yeah, I understand it. What made you think of that? I know exactly the conveyor belt thing. - Yeah, the race. - The race. - All back fat. - Yeah. - Yeah. - What is it? - I have a friend of mine who played professional hockey who will remain nameless. - The infinite. - He played for many years. And I won't say. - Is that a reversal? - And he talked about being in a fight. - Friendship. - True story. He was in a fight. - It's shanny. It's gotta be shanny. - Yeah, I know. You can't confirm her tonight. - So shanny's doing what? - So not shanny. Not, I'm gonna say not shanny. - Okay. - It's a huge fight in the NHL. And there's a big pile up. There's a real Donnie Brook is happening, right? Everybody's going at everybody. - Tarps are coming off. Hey, like guys, everybody's dropped the coopers. Everybody's just going out. - Yeah. Right? Yeah, it's just a real tune up going. And there's a big pile. And my friend said he, at one point, he didn't realize who's grabbing what. And he grabbed. And he realized there was another guy in the pile. And he had his hand on his back fat. And he just grabbed it and twisted it. And he said he heard from the bottom of the pile. (laughing) - Not that bad. - They should teach that in self defense classes. - They ended up giving the nickname back fat after that. The dude on the opposing team. - I swear to God, it's a true story. - It's a cheap shot. It really is. - Dennis Fasky, my friend and played pro hockey. He woke me out. I slept over at his house. And he woke me up doing a double titty twister. And he was an hockey player. - Painful. - I don't know what it is. - There's such tough dudes. We'll be right back. And now back to the show. - Wait, what sports have you played, Steve? Going up football and baseball. - Oh, you did, yeah. - Full stop. - That's it. - Now, does that make you a Viking fan or a twin fan? - I'm a Vikings fan and a twin fan. - Oh, boy. Yeah. - So the twins, that's a tough bus to ride on. - There we go. - Jason, cool. - No, no, really. I mean, they're doing good this year. - We had 87 and 91. - Yeah, boy. - Looking at reach back. - I know, it's pretty far. - Back when they used to play in the big baggy, right? - Wait a second. I'm remembering. - 87. - 87, you guys beat. - Is that that old dome stadium in you guys? - Yeah. - It was a great series. - They were probably beating up on Toronto, right? - No, no. - No, in the World Series, it was not Toronto. - It was. - It was. - In 87 might have been the giants. - I said, do you want to know what they say? - Cardinals? - Yes, it was. - Wow. - How do you write on? - I'm in. - Game 7. - Yeah, I can see it. - And 91. - And 91. - You just put it in another piece. I got them in your mouth. - Well, how about those Vikings? Are you looking forward to the Vikings? Are they looking good this year? - I don't know. We'll see. - I mean, you get shitty. - I mean, hey, sorry. I ain't got a second. We're here with the morning Zoom crew. Go ahead, Sean. You got another card to play. - Here he comes. Go ahead, Sean. It's just the button, the red one. There you go. - Oh. - Go ahead, Will. You got a, you got a, fly, fly, fly. Or something. Go ahead. Anybody? No. All right. We're going to be right back after these messages. - No, no, no, no. - God. All right. Wait, Steve. - Steve football. You played football. Go ahead. - I was going to say theater stories. I was going to get into it. - Theater story. - Yeah. - Well, I'm going to ask you a question about football first, but then get a theater story. - But then get a theater story. - I'll say a way into it. - Yeah, theater story. But football, what position did you play and how long did you play? Because I played as a kid. - Did you? - I played, I played junior high in high school. And I was a, I was a corner, corner back. And I returned pucks and kicks. - Oh wow. - So you don't mind getting hit, do you? - I do. - You run right into the wall, don't you? - I was scared shitless. - I was scared. - I actually could not do a, I couldn't do a fair catch because I couldn't coordinate my hand and then catching the ball. - Oh, really? - So I would just catch it. - And they thought it was a badass. And it was just because I was mentally challenged. I mean, you couldn't do it. - You couldn't do it. - No, I couldn't do it. - Now that, what was going through your head there? Were you thinking, I can't throw up the arm early enough to get it back down into catching position because if I throw up the hand too early, they're not going to see it. You know, right? Because you got to throw it up late so that they're looking at you. Right? But then it's too late to get the hand down into a catching position. - Right. Like when do you, when do you, when do you call for a fair catch? - Yeah. - Am I calling it too early? - Right. - And I'm looking and then they're going to hit me. - And then we're going to yell that for that. - Sure. - I played safety, but I don't know what that means anymore. But I remember that was my position. And I would be so nervous because I'd be in this-- - Uh-huh. - What is it called? - Bubble? - You know, shower? - You know, when you-- (laughing) (laughing) - You played safety in the shower. (laughing) [Laughter] (laughing) - Oh my God. - Plus, let him finish the story. It's gonna be great. (laughing) - Oh my God, I'm proud. - Is there a vest on it all, Sean? Something bright and orange? (laughing) Just an orange vest in the shower. Waiting for your folks to come through like a crossing guard, right? (laughing) - Oh, no, you're in the line of scrimmages. That's what it's called in the line of scrimmages. - You're in the book. You're in the stance. You're in the stance, ready for the book. What is that called? You're in the whatever. And I would be so nervous because I was, I would, the guys across from me would be like, I'm gonna fuck you up. I'm gonna beat the shit out of you. Whatever they're gonna, they're talking shit right before the ball is snapped. So you can have been lined up in the wrong position as a safety. (laughing) - If you were on the line. - Yeah, I don't, I don't know what it is. - Oh, that what it is. Anyway, I would get so scared because I would be so intimidated that I would take it personally. (laughing) - Right, what did you hear when he said to me? - Totally. - Yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about. - That's where they had you start lining up in the shower. - That's right, I'm gonna sue you. (laughing) - Now Steve, can you, how do we get to macaroni art as a title of your company there? You are you a cook? - No, Rick and I were just you know, we just wanna make shit basically. - Right. - And we, and we were like, - Ah, I can't believe it. - Hey man, if it's like, we'll just do stuff. - Like macaroni art, like his kids. - Like when you were kids. - Scale of one to 10, how high were you guys when you came up with this? - Yeah, what was the substance? - Six. - Six, okay, good, thank you for the honest answer. - No, but it came quick. - When did Sam Rockwell run into your life? - Sam and I have known each other since early in New York. - Yup. - And then, and then we did a movie together called "Safe Men." - Sure you did. - Oh yes. - Which was really with, with Gianmatti. - Yeah. - It was, it was a great, and John Hamburg's first movie, and he wrote it, he's brilliant. - Yes. - It's like, it's one of those movies that I get approached every once in a while. So when you will come up and say, "Hey, that plays, that played it on a loop." - In our friend house or whatever. - Well now you know Jason's directing Sam, you probably know that as we, as you speak. - Are you directing Sam right now? - Yes, sir. Just finished. - Oh, great. - She's finished. - Oh, you're done with the actors, Jay, but you have to go back and shoot other stuff or? - I was shooting with two other actors, and Sam himself is probably going to be replaced, but it's not that much to reshoot. - This late, this late, the production. - Yeah, I wanted to get all the way to the end to see if he's going to pull it out, and it just never got better. But it's not a lot of scenes. It'll be fine. It'll be good. Steve, what's your availability? - I'm open, I'm good. - Wait, just Steve, back to macaroni art, do you develop things for other people and other things or just for you guys? - Yeah, the head coach. - And you're about to get a script in your inbox. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Really careful. - Just our stuff right now, it's, you know, we're, we got a, we got like a, a docu-series we did on a chef. We had a Michael that's kind of town-eared. - Got it. - Yeah, we're doing our own stuff right now, but. - Every time I think, keep looking at that art, and I keep thinking about my favorite New Yorker cartoon of the one, the piece of Rigatoni pizza, pasta, he's on the phone. He's like, right, and he's got a face of written, and he says, "Fucile, you crazy bastard. How the hell are you?" (laughing) It's my favorite new cartoon of all time. - Hey, I was gonna say, I need to get some David Cross merch. I did a movie with David, and it was amazing. - He's a man. - He's such an incredible, funny, incredible stand-up too. - Yeah. - No, when you're not making macaroni art, and you're not doing your million things, and you seem to be everywhere, what are you doing? What are you doing with your time? Like, what's the thing when you're back there that you're doing that's not related to your craft, or your art, or your whatever? What do you do? - I live on a farm, so that keeps Anna. - I will work on the farm, right? - What do you mean? - I got a couple horses, I got some goats, real stuff. I'm on my fields, I've just spent eight days trimming on my trees. - Do you drink the goat milk, or anything? - No, we just point and laugh. - Point and laugh, yeah. - They're pets. - They're pets, okay. - And then tell me about cutting these trees down. So you're up there, you got yourself like a lift, or something, or do you have yourself a bunch of ladders? - No, I have an extended pole saw, and then I have a hand saw, and that's really all you need. - That's kind of a gym. - And then you got one of those chippers, and you get all that stuff on the ground, and you got to grind it all up? - No, then I have a huge bonfire that I start, and when the coals are, you know, you gotta have a real dry one that's got a lot of wood in it. And then you keep the fire going, basically. It's so hot that you can put anything green on top, and so I have a side by side, you know, cow was acting me on, I fill that up, and I go to the fire, and I throw it in, I just keep going. - Jesus, I mean, look at the three of us. - Oh, yeah. - Well, the face is kind of, I have no idea what to do. - I'm so worried about getting a catalyst, just even here. - Yeah, this is the podcast. I put my headphones on, and I go all the way. - Really? - Yeah. - So you got a bunch of rideable farm equipment out there. That would be fun for me. You got to need, like, those handsome green John Deere things. - The gators? - I do, I have a, I have a, you know, big tractor, then I pull a 12-foot bat one. - I just got to be fun going down to one of those stores and buying those things. - It's like a real man. - They're a little, a little pricey, but yeah. - It gets hot down there, you're on your tractor. - It does. - Moan the lawn. - You know when you get on a tractor and you moan, you just slow down, it's like forced meditation around. - Are you sipping on a sweet tea? - Oh, sorry, I don't like the sweet tea. I like just plain tea. - Just plain tea. - That's all right, it's all right. - You got any air conditioning on those riding mowers, by the way? - No. - That's a lot of open. - I used to have a cab with AC, but when it breaks, then it's like you're in hell. - 'Cause you can't recamp. - When the AC breaks and you can't take the doors off. - Yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - Tell me. - So Steve, now you got Chad Powers coming up. It's Aaron right around now. - September 3rd, it drops. - Yes, September 3rd. - All episodes, season two. - This is what that. - That Glenn Powell guy. - That piece of ass Glenn Powell. - Yeah. - I love that. He's such a great guy. - He's a very nice guy. - Nice guy, he's got a look at. He's got talent coming out the ears. - He's so fucking good in this show. - Yeah, great. - It's, I'm like, dude, when we showed up first day, I'm like, my God, he's in prosthetics. You know, he's like playing this crazy character. And it's like, oh my God, man. You got to swing hard. This is a big swing, dude. - Yeah. - Like, you can't, you gotta go all in, man. Or else, what do you do? - Right. - Yeah, you have to. - It's a Peyton Manning associated with the show at all. - Yeah, Peyton and Eli, Eli did a video that so many people saw where he put prosthetics on. He went to Penn State and he, and the only person that knew it was him was the coach. The head coach, everybody was, so he's like, you know, that the walk on, try out. And he just sling in these balls and peeping. - Yeah, launching rockets. - Who's this weird, dude? That's like 30, you know? And so that was the premise that Michael Waldman and Glenn, they pitched it and they said, it's the series that, and I read it and I thought, this is the dumbest thing I've ever read. This is crazy. - Yeah, right. - I'm like, prosthetics, how is this gonna work? And it works, I don't know. - And you got the gang from Omaha are still involved there, producers on it. - Yeah, yeah. - Peyton, you have to deal with notes from Peyton. - Oh, so these two guys, this freaking guys. You know what I mean, go ahead, well, go ahead, let it out, man. - No, you just got incomings from Peyton and it's just like, you know what I mean, this fucking guy, yeah. - We love Peyton, we love, we love Peyton. - We love them both. - Yeah, we love them. - We love all three of them, you know? - Oh, yeah, and Coup. - Well, we love, yeah, you get, we're going on Coup, boy, we'll be here all day. - Have you ever met, have you ever met Coup? - No, I haven't. - He's an absolute champ of a guy, we love the secret sauce. - Oh, he's a secret, huh? - It's a fun show, man, I get to play a coach. I mean, it's like, it's like the things, the check marks that you have is like a 10-year-old. Like, wouldn't it be cool someday to like, - Give one of those locker room speeches? - I want to, yeah, I want to, I want to be inspiring and I want my team to run out after me. I can check that off, you know, I want to be in a western-- - Have they done that? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Have you done that? - Yeah, I did that this season, yeah. - How do you play it so? I'm just thinking you've done so many different characters. - So many different, like in so many different levels, is there character? - Well, yeah, I'm, I mean, please, but I mean, like, we should all be so lucky. - We should all be so lucky to be able to play all these, you know, do all these different things and it is there's something that's out there before we let you go, 'cause we kept you forever, but is there something out there that you're like, "Ah, I want to do it." Like, you were saying, like, you want to do it, like, you always dreamed of like doing a coach, playing a coach, is there a kind of a role out there that you're, or something that you've always wanted to do that you haven't done yet? - I don't, I don't know, I really, I mean, I could say, I would love to go back to the theater. I'd like to do that, you know? But as far as something specific, I really feel like, You know, I wanted to be in a war movie. I wanted to be in a western. I wanted to experience that. I've experienced all those things. And now it's like, it's a surprise. It's like, do you want to play this guy that's like in silo that hasn't seen anyone for 40 years? And he's basically 11 years old. And he's alone. He's been alone for 40. I was like, yeah, that's amazing. Oh my God. Yeah. And then you just did a movie with your daughter. Like, that's pretty awesome. I mean, you're, you're living on your dreams. It's really cool. Yeah. Good for you. Lucky. Yeah. Steve, listen, man, big. We're just, we're just such big fans. Thank you for showing up for us. I know. We're lucky to have you. Thank you. You guys are stoked to be on this. You guys are amazing. Keep that macaroni are coming. Okay. Yeah. Please. Okay. Send us all some macaroni merch. Yeah. Thank you, Steve. Chad Powers comes out on September 3rd. Yep. Drops the new, the new season and she dances is going to be available on peacock. Dude, you got it all going on. The great Steve's on. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Thanks, guys. Good to see you. Bye, pal. See you. Steve's on, right? Steve's on the number of the number of characters. He's like, I'd love to put, I'd love to put like side by side all his looks just to be like, wow, looking at how different he is in every single it's just like a mosaic. All the characters that he's played. Yeah. And then when you pull back, those image of me. Oh, sorry. See he's on. We don't make one bit. Yes. Yeah. You do. I he's one of those guys every time you turn something, every time he shows up, you're like, oh, yeah, man, not only in my good hands, I'm so happy to see him. So many. Yeah. How exciting would it be to like act in a scene with him too? Like the very first day, you just kind of looking across from there about to roll and you're like, yeah, I wonder what's coming my way. Yeah. Are you ready? Right. Uh-huh. The nerves. Talk about. Speaking of him, I get no, not yet. So you're about getting ready. Willie looks like you are getting ready to start working. Yes. Yes. And an astronaut coming up. He got nice astronaut here. Wait. He looking really good. Have you started shooting yet? No, no. We're about a month away. A month out. Yeah. Just over a month until we start. I mean, it's one of the things I'm I'm all joking aside. Yeah. It's one of the things I'm really looking forward to is you playing that part in and watching that series because it's right up my alley. And I can't wait to see you do it. Yeah, I'm excited. He's my character's not an astronaut himself. He's a former, you know, pilot test pilot, whatever. He's in charge of the astronaut program. And it's it's pretty. It's pretty. Is there tension there between the astronauts and you like, hey, you can't tell us what's going on. You never been an astronaut. Is there any? Is there a line like that regret? There's a lot of regret. There's no line like that. I mean, I don't know. This is by the way, if you mind if we borrow that. Yeah. Fine. So wait, there's a lot of regret on your character's part because you never. We're going to watch. We're going to get up. You wanted to leave the atmosphere. Just watch my eyes. You just watch my eyes. Just watch your eyes. Are you going to tell a story right there in the windows? Well, I'm a storyteller. Right. With the eyes. Yes. Are you ready for this? You ready? Sure. It's where? It's where. It's where? Oh, Sean, he's got more. Yeah, we're gonna. Oh, wow. We'll trim that up. There he goes. There it comes. I just didn't want the train to pass us. Bye. That was great. That was worth it. That was worth it. We had to bring it back. Smartness. Smartness is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjav, and Bennett Barberco. Smartness.