Daniel Radcliffe, Vol. V

Sure he'll always be Harry Potter to some but for those that really know, Daniel Radcliffe is a theater beast -- with nearly 20 years of experience now on stage, a Tony award on his mantle, and consistently daring and impressive performances on his resume. He joins Josh in a live recording at the 92nd Street Y to chat about all of it including his latest one person show (kind of) EVERY BRILLIANT THING, mixing it up with Tracy Morgan in THE FALL & RISE OF REGGIE DINKINS, and to finally once and for all rank the Harry Potter films. SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! Quince -- Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for free shipping and 365-day returns. Limited Time Offer–Get Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code happy15 at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://huel.com/happy15.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! UPCOMING EVENTS! 4/16 -- BEEF (Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton) in NY -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠⁠⁠ 5/5 -- Stanley Tucci in NY -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tickets here⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

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• 0:29Josh Horowitz?

  Who's the last actor you were mistaken for?

• 0:32Speaker 02

  Come on. Elijah Wood, every time. Every time, from a car, from people shouting, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I did sign a copy of Lord of the Rings at Stagedore the other day. It was great. Yeah.

• 0:42Speaker 03

  Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins.

• 0:49Josh Horowitz?

  Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, Daniel Radcliffe joins us. Yes, he's Harry Potter, but he is also a Broadway all-star. From Ekkless to Merrily We Roll Along, where he earned a Tony, to his latest one-person show, Every Brilliant Thing. Hey, guys, thanks, as always, for joining us on the podcast, for enjoying this on YouTube, on Spotify. However you're enjoying it, I appreciate you, guys. If you've not subscribed yet, get with the program. Two episodes a week, 700-plus episodes. Every actor and filmmaker worth their strife, pretty much, has strolled by the Happy, Sad, Confused microphone, I'm privileged to say, including Daniel Radcliffe, making his fifth appearance. Number five today.

• 1:34Josh Horowitz?

  Yes, you know what that means if you're a diehard Happy, Sad, Confused listener or viewer. He gets a pre-hat. He got the hat. You'll see if you're watching the video towards the end of this. Dan, join the five-timers club. Big, special event at 92nd Street Y, a fun one, talking about his theater career, Harry Potter, his TV show with Tracy Morgan, and so much more. Okay, before we get to Dan, though, as always, some quick reminders. All the updates I'm going to give you, as always, are on our Patreon, patreon.com/happysadconfused. That's where you get the discount codes, the early access, the bonus materials. You can ask guests questions. Patreon.com/happy say I confused and get a load of some of these live events coming up.

• 2:16Josh Horowitz?

  Well, we have the cast of Beef coming up in just a few days in New York City. All this information, by the way, is in the show notes. That includes Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Charles Melton. This show is fantastic. Season two of Beef, we're screening two episodes, we're chatting with all three of them and more from the cast and the creators. Also, events coming up with Stanley Tucci, May 5th, with Billy Eichner, May 17th, with Marvel star that I can't announce yet, on May 3rd. But mark the calendar, someone you'll want to see me talk to. Lots of events and more to come as always. Like I said, all the discount codes and early access

• 2:57Josh Horowitz?

  to all these events are on our Patreon, Patreon.com/happy say I confused or in our show notes. The listings are there. Okay, back to the main event. It is Daniel Radcliffe and what can I say about Daniel Radcliffe? Except that he's a gem. I've said it before, I'll say it again. There is, he is the creme de la creme of professionalism, of kindness, of a normal person that should not be normal in this industry. I don't know how it happened. Good parenting, luck of the draw. Dan is the best. He really is, considering that he was and is and always will be to many Harry Potter, such a good head on his shoulders and to see what he's accomplished in his career, amazing. If you listen or watch the podcast, you know, we just had Tom Felton on,

• 3:40Josh Horowitz?

  so we had a nice conversation about all things Potter and Broadway. And ironically, yes, Tom Felton's on Broadway, Dan Radcliffe is on Broadway. This show, every brilliant thing, is if you get a chance to be in New York the next month and a half towards the end of Dan's run, check this out. It's an amazing piece of work. It is a one-person show about depression, about suicide to a degree, and I know that's not selling it hard, but this is a joyous show. This is a funny show and it is a very interactive show. You, if you come to the theater, come early because you will see Dan Radcliffe running around like a maniac, enlisting the audience to be his cohorts in this show for half an hour prior to it.

• 4:25Josh Horowitz?

  It's pretty unique, pretty special. I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend, if you haven't checked it out already, The Fallen Rise of Reggie Dinkins, which, if you love 30 Rock, and if you have any sense of humor, you love 30 Rock. This is the same creators, the same folks, Robert Carlock, Sam Means, very, very funny stuff, with Tracy Morgan and Dan Radcliffe. It's currently on NBC and Peacock. Check it out if you haven't already. Yeah, I think that's all I have to say, except this was a fantastic live event, great energy in New York City at the 92nd Street Y. Always fun to talk to Dan. I know you guys are gonna dig this one. Without any further ado, enjoy me and Daniel Radcliffe, new member of the Happy, Sick, Confused Five Timers Club.

• 5:10Josh Horowitz?

  Hello, everybody. How's it going? Welcome to the 92nd Street Y, everybody. Yes, yes, thank you. We like a good enthusiastic afternoon audience. Thank you for being with us today. My name's Josh Horowitz. I host the podcast called Happy, Sick, Confused, and thank you. Whether you knew it or not, you're inside of it right now. This is a very special live taping of the podcast. This gentleman's been on the pod a few times over the years, and he is well worth every conversation. He is an amazing actor. He is a Broadway All-Star. Let's give it up for Daniel Radcliffe in just a second. He's not coming out, don't worry. But I just want to mention, from Equus to How to Succeed in Business Without Really

• 5:53Josh Horowitz?

  Trying, to his Tony Award-winning performance in Merrily We Roll Along, and now, this remarkable performance in a very singular production, every brilliant thing. If you haven't seen it already, get your tickets now. He's in it through mid, end of May. Get your tickets now. Trust me, you will not be sorry. Give a warm 92nd Street Y welcome to the one and only, it's Daniel Radcliffe, everybody.

• 6:23Speaker 02

  Thank you. Hello, hello, hello.

• 6:30Josh Horowitz?

  He's back. You're like a staple here, man.

• 6:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, thank you very much. Yeah, thank you for having me back again, yeah.

• 6:34Josh Horowitz?

  Congratulations on all things. We're gonna talk a lot. I wanna talk a lot about your theatre work today because, stealthily or not so stealthily, nearly 20 years of work on stage now, starting way back when 2007 was Equus.

• 6:50Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 6:51Josh Horowitz?

  When you think about the fact that it has been nearly 20 years, the trajectory that you've been on, especially on stage, it must boggle your mind. Was this a game plan at any point, or what? How did this happen then?

• 7:03Speaker 02

  Oh, I mean, I think it was always sort of inevitable that I, like, I always wanted to do theatre. Like, my mum and dad, like, as a, as, growing up, going to the theatre and seeing shows was a huge part of my sort of cultural, like, intake. And my mum and dad were both actors when they were younger, and they had mostly, they'd done a lot of theatre. So it was just part of being an actor was doing theatre. I don't think I ever thought that I would get to it so quickly. When, on the second Harry Potter film, so the, the first actual play I did was prior to Equus. There was one other thing that I had done, which was, there was a, a play in the UK called The Play What I Wrote, which was by these two English comedians called Sean Foley and Hamish McColl.

• 7:46Speaker 02

  And they, it was based on Malcolm and Wise, who are an amazing English comedy double act, who I, probably nobody here really knows, but look them up, they really are wonderful. And it was sort of a tribute to them, and Malcolm and Wise had always had celebrities, like, come on the show so they could make fun of them, basically. And they, so when they were doing this show in London, they got people on to, to do it as well. And Ken Branagh directed it. He was in the second Harry Potter film at the time, we had just filmed that. And so he asked me to do that, and that was the first time I'd ever done stage. And then Ken originally directed The Workshop of Equus, and Ken was going to direct that. And then that didn't end up happening, but, you know, then Thea Sharick came on and, and we did it.

• 8:29Speaker 02

  But yeah, no, the idea that Equus was 20 years ago is, is truly... Crazy. Also, the idea that I did that in London when I was seventeen is crazy.

• 8:39Josh Horowitz?

  Can we talk about that for a second because that is quite a swing for a young actor, especially given that you're Harry Potter at the time. I mean, what did the, what did the producers, the team of Harry Potter make of you doing that? Were they supportive of you doing what you did every night on stage with a horse?

• 8:56Speaker 02

  I don't know if they supported those specific actions, but, but yeah, I think they were, I mean, I honestly don't know. I think at the time I was always told like, everyone's fine with it, don't worry about it. But that could have been just my agent shielding me from what was actually being discussed. I think there was probably a moment of, of panic at Warner Brothers. But then I think they sort of, they, if there was genuine panic, it never got back to me. And I think probably Warner Brothers were smart enough to know that sort of any publicity is good publicity. Like, it wasn't like I was, there was, and there was nothing that, you know, it's a very prestigious play. Like, it's not, I'm not doing anything that's like damaging the brand in any, in any significant

• 9:40Speaker 02

  way. So yeah, there was, I don't think there was any sort of huge consternation about it. But yeah, and then I remember there was a, there was a headline which I have, I have misremembered this because I was, a journalist brought this up in an interview with me at one point, and he told me the actual headline, and I can't remember exactly what it is. But there was something to, in some paper, there was some headline of like, you know, crash, what's that? The sound of a career coming to a grinding halt. And I remember sort of, I, I think genuinely like, because I was not going out and looking for copies of the Daily Mail or Daily Express, whatever that was. I think it had been like left open on like a table in the canteen of where we were rehearsing. And I saw that and I was

• 10:24Speaker 02

  like, oh, okay, great. But then I remember looking around the room at Thea Sharrock and Richard Griffiths and all these amazing actors and, and John Napier and David Hershey, like our amazing production and lighting designers, and thinking, well, you know, if I'm screwing up, I could not be screwing up with better people. Around me. And yeah, and luckily, you know, it wasn't as good. And then I got to work with, you know, I I loved doing Equus. I love what it what it started off for me. But truly, when I look back on it, the thing that I am I treasure more than anything else is being able to have had the relationship I did with Richard Griffiths for as long because he was just such a spectacular and special human. And I'm so glad I got to work with him that that deeply.

• 11:07Josh Horowitz?

  I guess that if there is like a secret handbook for any young actor, it's kind of what you just alluded to is like surround yourself with the best, then you will, you will sponge off of them, whether you want to or not, it's gonna happen.

• 11:16Speaker 02

  Absolutely. Like, work with great people, work hard and, and, you know, and also, I I was lucky enough to I've met a few of the Stranger Things kids recently. And and I'm very, it's always lovely to meet them and see how great they all are and how well they're all doing. But like, I give the same piece of advice to all of them. I was just like, do, can I swear?

• 11:37Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 11:37Speaker 02

  I like, do whatever the fuck you want. Like, you have, you have done the thing. Like, you can now, like, use that you are now, like, you have the most amazing, like, jumping off platform and getting, you know, doing multiple Sondheim shows and like doing the pizza movie with Nick and Brian. Like, it's like, I, I think that they're just,

• 11:57Speaker 02

  they're making smart choices, but they're all like, just doing whatever they like. And that should be the the goal. If you've had that kind of a start in your career, now you are free to have fun.

• 12:06Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, I mean, we've had this conversation. This is the Daniel Radcliffe handbook. If you ever wrote it, is basically like, you had license, you had that rare license.

• 12:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:13Josh Horowitz?

  Like, I have security, monetarily, I'm fine for whatever. I can, I can be creative. I can just fly my freak flag.

• 12:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, absolutely. And like, no actors are ever in that position. Like, if you, if you, you know, are in the industry, you know that most actors will never have that level of autonomy over their career, where you can say, like, I want to do this. And and where some things that you do stand a better chance of happening because you're doing them, like, that's, and that's not a position that any of us will be in forever. But it is, it's, it's a really, you know, while you're in it, just make hay while the sun shines.

• 12:54Speaker 00

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• 13:23Speaker 04

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• 14:07Speaker 04

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• 14:24Josh Horowitz?

  So I want to talk about two other productions before we get to this current one. Because how to succeed must have also been just a huge.

• 14:31Speaker 02

  Thanks.

• 14:34Josh Horowitz?

  A huge leap. As much as Equus was a leap, I mean, singing and dancing like a madman every night in that iconic musical.

• 14:42Speaker 02

  Getting naked is easy. You just take your clothes off.

• 14:44Josh Horowitz?

  Like.

• 14:45Speaker 02

  Anyone could do that. Anyone, literally anyone can do that. Dancing was, I would always say, like when someone's asking me like, what's the scariest thing you've done on stage? Like dancing, 100%. Like there was a, um, yeah, I mean, but again, I, so I.

• 15:00Speaker 02

  I sat down like, so one of the weird facts of my life around the time Potter was ending, so like if I, during the last Harry Potter film, I could essentially tell you, because I knew that How to Succeed was happening, and I knew that, I knew that Woman in Black was probably gonna happen afterwards and in between those things. I, at some point, at the beginning of the last Harry Potter film, I could tell you what I was doing for the next like, three years of my life. And, How to Succeed, I sat down with Rob Ashford, the director, you know, two years before, because on Equus, okay, right, I'm remembering this now in real time, sorry for having to, you have to watch me figure this out.

• 15:40Josh Horowitz?

  Giant therapy session.

• 15:41Speaker 02

  Yeah. So, when I was doing Equus, the first thing I do in the first scene is I come in and I sing, not show tunes, jingles, advertising jingles. And so, the people that would then, Craig Zaden and Neil Mearon, who would then produce How to Succeed, they saw me in Equus and they said, "Oh, you can sing." And I was like, I mean, I can sing the Double Mint Gum theme tune, I'm not exactly, you know. And, so, they started pitching things and eventually we landed on How to Succeed. I talked to Rob Ashford, the director, and I said to him, I was like, you know, I can sing okay, I can carry a tune, you know, hopefully the acting will, you know, I feel like fairly confident of that, but like, don't, you know, I will not dance, like

• 16:24Speaker 02

  there is no, there is a zero chance that you will get me to dance in this show. And he was like, "Well, you know, we've got at least eighteen months before we even start rehearsals, so let's just start you having dance classes." And I still, I'm not like, I'm not, I'm not a great dancer, but I can learn choreography. Like, I can, I, it's actually been a real problem in my career recently, is because I've done stuff like How to Succeed and a couple of, like, there's the, the coming around the mountain thing in Miracle Workers, like, there's been a couple of dance moments in my career that have led to people thinking that I can just dance. And it means that like, when I was doing, on the Reggie Show, on the Tracy Morgan Show that I'm doing at the moment, they just like, wrote something in about me, like, dancing, and then they sent me the clip of what they wanted me to do, like, a week before I was supposed to do it.

• 17:09Speaker 02

  And I was like, "Guys, this is, I had eighteen months to learn some very, like, but we, you know, we, we, we made it happen, but yeah, I just wanna put it out there now, I can't dance, don't ask me to, if you ask me to dance, give me a lot of notice."

• 17:23Josh Horowitz?

  You were not being your own best advocate here.

• 17:25Speaker 02

  I never am.

• 17:26Josh Horowitz?

  Every actor lies and says they can do everything.

• 17:28Speaker 02

  Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I should lie. But, you know, I've, I, I, look, I, I both, I both can and I can't. You know, I'm, I'm not gonna be, uh, I'm not, I can't do it spontaneously. But yeah, if you give me time, I can, I can get good.

• 17:39Josh Horowitz?

  I feel like I have to be like Jonathan and Lindsay on the stage and be like, you can dance, you can sing.

• 17:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, they are.

• 17:45Josh Horowitz?

  There are your boosters.

• 17:46Speaker 02

  They are very, very good hype people. And I, without them, I do just do a lot of self-deprecating. You know, it's, I'm English. It's just what we do. It's how we talk. It's how we talk about ourselves.

• 17:54Josh Horowitz?

  Let, let us talk a little bit more about Merrily, because that was the last time you and I were on the stage together. And what a, Merrily we roll along, for those of you who saw it. I mean,

• 18:05Josh Horowitz?

  what a, what a performance, what a production. You, it won you the Tony. I mean, that, that, I know that cast, that production will be always a singular experience for you. And working with like these like Broadway thoroughbreds, like these like Lindsay and Jonathan are just like made to do this. With a little distance now, I mean, you were loving it and knew how special it was in the moment. But has the experience, as looking back at it, changed a couple of years out, or?

• 18:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, just, it's just been confirmed in, by how all of our relationships have sort of carried on after the show. Like, I'm still really, really close with Jonathan and Lindsay. I'm still really close with people like Brian Sears and Leanna Rae Concepcion, like other members of the cast who I grew. And also like the stage management team from Merrily, they're all working on every brilliant thing as well. I took all of them with me, you know, I, um, some, I've been very lucky in my career. I've had very, very few jobs that I would term like, you know, bad jobs. But there's, there's, most jobs are just like really, really good jobs. And then occasionally you have one happen that's so sort of formative and huge in your life that it isn't, it becomes lesser job and just like a period of your life that you refer to.

• 19:17Speaker 02

  Like Merrily accounts for like three years between off-Broadway and Broadway of my life, more or less. And to get to work with those people, to get to do that show and for it to be received as it was, was just so special and. I feel like we kind of all felt like we were in this extraordinary moment in time even as we were doing it. And it's very rare that you have a sense of that of like, oh, we're doing something incredibly special and we can all, while doing it, we can all still manage to kind of appreciate that and enjoy that. And yeah, I, and kind of indirectly, it was why I wanted to do this show with every brilliant

• 19:58Speaker 02

  thing because there was something about the freedom of the way I got to act in Merrily, which was, I didn't really have to. Like, I loved Jonathan and Lindsay and so many of the other people in the show so much that I didn't really have to like manufacture emotion or authenticity. It was just genuinely there every night and suddenly I was like, oh, I never want to have to fake emotion again. Like, I never want, you know, I just spoiled myself. And so when I read the script for every brilliant thing, I was like, oh, that, this can, because there is like a forced authenticity in it because it's kind of baked into how the show works. It made me really excited to do that and it felt like the only thing I sort of could

• 20:40Speaker 02

  have done after coming off working with Jonathan and Lindsay. And yeah, I just got to see Jonathan again just before he closed in just in time and just, just the best, isn't it? I know I'm not in it, but yeah, clap for just in time. What a show. I'm just amazing.

• 20:56Josh Horowitz?

  What's the last rambling voice note you got from Jonathan Groff? What was the subject?

• 21:01Speaker 02

  Um, I think we've been asking him about what his, how he's doing after not having, you know, been doing the show eight times a week. So, and I do, and I think he's coming to every brilliant thing in the next couple of weeks and I already have an audience participation plan for him. So I'm excited, I'm excited about that.

• 21:17Josh Horowitz?

  All right, let's talk about this really special show. I got a chance to see this the other day. I'm sure some folks have gotten a chance hopefully to see it. Yes.

• 21:24Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 21:27Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, you know, it takes a lot to say like, "I've never seen anything like this onstage." "I've never seen anything like this onstage." Talk to me a little bit about, I mean, you alluded to a little bit what the appeal was for this, but as the material was presented to you, what did you respond to from a performing perspective, from a subject matter perspective? What got you involved?

• 21:46Speaker 02

  I mean, it's first and foremost a deeply moving play. Like, I cried so much as I was getting to the end of it the first time. And also cried in the middle at things that were not, like, there's a sadness to some parts of this play, but there's also such intense joy that this play finds in the world and in life as we sort of find it on a daily basis, that I... There's one of the brilliant things on the list, 1010 for anyone who cares, is reading something which articulates something that you believe, but you, oh, wow, I'm screwing it up. I don't have to say this one, somebody in the audience says this, I just say the number. Reading something which articulates something you believe,

• 22:30Speaker 02

  but you could never have said so beautifully yourself, and that's what this play does for me. Like, the actors are mostly interpretive, like, we're not creative. So when you find something that is, that does say something that you want to be a part of saying, it's just a really, really special feeling. And so I loved the play itself. If there was, you know, if it was just a straight play about this character, I'm sure I probably would have been very attracted to doing it. But the thing that, as you alluded to, pushes over the top for me is just that there isn't anything else. Like, I've, you know, the first set of stage directions says, you know, if the show starts at seven, the actor is in the house half an hour before,

• 23:14Speaker 02

  meeting people as they come in, handing out list entries for people to shout later and kind of getting to know the audience and cast the show. And I read that and I was like, "Wait, what? What is happening? Like, what is this?" And there is something about... The relationship that I, as the performer, get to have with the audience that is so special and unique and honestly very stressful before the show starts every night, but then really just the most rewarding and fulfilling thing that I think I've probably ever done.

• 23:45Josh Horowitz?

  Can I just say, I have never been so stressed for a performer as watching you in the half hour prior to a show. If you haven't been there, Dan is running around with some assistants, trying to find the right key performers. You're really performing with like about five actual audience members.

• 24:03Speaker 02

  For anybody who hasn't had a chance to see the show, and thank you so much for the people that have, there are sort of two levels of audience participation. There's a list, which I hand out cards which have a number and a thing on it. So number one is ice cream. And I give the card to somebody and I say, you know, when I shout one, you shout ice cream. And so there's probably, I'm gonna say like 75 or 80 of them that we hand out. I probably account for 30, 35 of them being handed out. And then David and Laura, our associate directors, do the rest and we all kind of work together. And so that's the kind of the basic level of audience participation. There's another couple of fun jobs, like somebody gets to throw confetti and I stash

• 24:47Speaker 02

  a chocolate bar with somebody and, you know, there's bits and pieces like that. But then there are five people who play really significant characters in the show. And we cast them out of the audience that night. Nobody who, you know, nobody plays those parts who thinks they're going to at the beginning of the night. That is always assigned to somebody who has no idea that they're going to be doing that when they come into the theatre that night. And it's great, like, and it's so much fun to do. It is very stressful beforehand as you are finding people and very often it does always seem to kind of come together in like the last five minutes of every pre-show that we find like, you know, we've been looking for a Mrs Patterson or we've been looking for somebody to play my love interest. That's a uniquely awkward thing to have to find in the audience every night to like

• 25:32Speaker 02

  be approaching. I apologize to Josh. Josh got a panicked voice note from me because after he sat down with his wife in our show, I... Approached them and I was like, hey, uh, I haven't found anyone yet. Would you mind like playing my love interest to his wife with Josh there? And I like, it's just a very awkward thing to ask people, even though I like, I know Josh. But like, and I could tell his wife was kind of going like, oh, I don't really want to do this, but I feel like I have to because like my husband has a work relationship with you. And we didn't end up, we didn't end up using you guys at night and it was fine. But I did, I feel really bad. Like there is parts of the show that are uniquely suited to me. And there are parts of the show that uniquely like speak to the, the most socially awkward, anxious parts of my brain where every night, it, it sort of feels like you are,

• 26:16Speaker 02

  you're hosting 900 people every night and you kind of want to make sure that everyone goes away, having had a really nice time. And I, um, I remember I, I would be going back after each show going like, oh my God, I said this to this person or I said that like, you know, I, I, one of the things I've learned is I am really bad at working out the relationship between two people sitting next to each other. Like the amount of people I've gone up to and been like, are you a couple? And they were like, we're mother and son. And I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry. There's been, so there's been a lot of that. And I'll go home and I'll say to Erin like, oh, I said this to this person. I mistook her mother for somebody's partner or, you know, I did it. And, and then before we opened, I said to her, I was like, I think, just so you know, because I was coming home, talking a lot about it every night.

• 27:00Speaker 02

  I said, I think after we open, I'm going to be a little bit more settled and a little bit calmer. And she just went down, I've, I've been going to parties with you for 14 years. This is, this, and this happens every time we get home. This is not going to change. And, and indeed it has not.

• 27:15Josh Horowitz?

  In terms of also, I mean, so that's one huge aspect of it, that it differentiates it. And you alluded to the other that this is, this is a show about depression and it deals with suicide. It is also a joyous, very funny show that must be reminded, folks reminded of. But I mean, I guess I'm curious, like, does making a show about depression, about suicide, about the subjects that we don't necessarily feel comfortable talking about. I don't know, does it make it easier to talk about these things for you? And have you reconciled more of like your own feelings about these subjects having, living through it every night, night after night?

• 27:51Speaker 02

  I mean, honestly, there's something really beautiful about getting to do this show that, you know, there is catharsis in it for me and an audience every night. There's, it's really, you know, and I am talking to people a lot at stage or, you know, about their experiences with it, or, you know, there's a couple of moments in the show itself where, there's a moment where I talk about, the line is something along the lines of, I'll remember it tonight, I'll get it wrong now, but it's something along the lines of children of depressed parents can actually have a heightened reactivity to stress. I learned recently that growing up in a house with an emotionally unavailable or inconsistent parent can actually change the chemistry of the brain. And every night, as I'm looking around, I can see somebody just like nodding and, and

• 28:35Speaker 02

  it's the sweetest, and it's so sweet and sad and people that, there's a line in a, in a Mary Oliver poem called Wild Geese where she says, "Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine." And it does, it does feel like there's this very like real and honest exchange happening between me and, you know, and not, and, and I do think the show is, it will affect you differently depending on what you are bringing into it and, and what your history with these issues are and what the, and, and what your experience of, of, you know, if you haven't dealt with it yourself, but people in your life, you know, I think it's, there's a wide range of how this show might make you feel. But at best, there is, I think, like genuine catharsis in it for audience members.

• 29:20Speaker 02

  And, and I also appreciate that, like, for some people, the issues are so heavy that there shouldn't be jokes anywhere near them. And I, I completely sympathize with that point of view. It's just not how I work, I think, and I think this play tries to. Tries to hold both of those things in a really beautiful balance like and it's also it's the you know the experience as I have talked to people about you know the the the character in the show um his mother is is the person in his life who is most directly dealing with sort of um depression and suicide as as an issue um and there is also things alluded to about that character that she's incredibly fun at times and there are great

• 30:05Speaker 02

  moments with her as well and that's something that as I've spoken to people particularly who people whose mothers that would who have a similar relationship with their mother they've really enjoyed that part of the show that it's it's it's appropriately sad at the moments when it should be sad but there is also a recognition of it's not sad all the time like sometimes having a crazy parent is really fun like you know like there there are moments in when if particularly if that person is is bipolar you know I I'm using the word crazy obviously very glibly um but there's like there are there is moments when people you know it's just it's complicated and it and I think this show tries to sort of factor in all those all those sides of those relationships in a way that hopefully I think we do a pretty good job of.

• 30:45Josh Horowitz?

  And in terms of like as much as you're comfortable speaking on it you you've spoken before about dealing with depression at times in your in your life and we we all have to certain degrees none of us are immune to that um I mean what have you felt what what have you found has helped you in in the years that you since that you you dealt with it in more debilitating way what's been.

• 31:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, look, I I I've been very lucky the people I've met in my life at the moments when I've met them um both in terms of you know I'm I'm very, very like I'm I've quite long term sort of sobriety from alcohol now which is it's drugs and alcohol which is wonderful I'm very, very grateful for that and you know I met people at key moments in that who influenced me in in dealing with that um and also like I think there's something about the one of the most moving parts of the show to me is that there's a moment when I'm talking about my my love interests um and I'm talking about how well they know me and there is something about being truly known and understood

• 31:47Speaker 02

  and seen by another human being that is you know it's it's why love exists it's I feel like you can't emphasize like how wonderful that is and so you know I met my partner Erin.

• 32:01Speaker 02

  Fifteen, fourteen years ago, I think, I always add a year accidentally, so I think we're at fourteen, I wanna say fifteen, which I think means it's fourteen. And we've been together for fourteen years, and so like, she's obviously been a huge part of my happiness, and then, you know, having a child, I will say that there's a moment in the show where I talk about, you know, the idea of like, things getting better, and, and, and, and keep going, because you never know, you know, let the future, I don't say this in the show, but like, let the future prove you wrong about what you think it's gonna be. And there's something, you know, I was, there have been moments in my life, in my late teens

• 32:43Speaker 02

  and early twenties, when I was really sad, and, and didn't know, and scared, and didn't know what the future would hold for me, or how I was gonna look back on my life, and if I could have, you know, I would never have believed then that I would be experiencing the happiness that I am now with my partner, with my son, with my life in general, and so I feel like there is something about being in a show which allows me to try and very directly say that to people, that is the kind of like, honest connection that you, is, I don't know, you don't get to do that a lot as a, as an actor in your work, but also, I don't know, particularly as like, a person that like, people think of

• 33:27Speaker 02

  as famous, like, I know that sounds like a weird way of saying that, but like, I'm not famous to the people in my life, like, they are aware of it, obviously, but like, they just know me, and I think that there's something about the idea of being a famous person that puts a huge amount of distance between you and people, and actually like, half of the, my energy that I'm expending in my relationships when I meet people is kind of breaking that distance down, and, and I think that this show like, allows me to do that in a way that I've never experienced before, and probably never will again.

• 33:56Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, I think it's huge, it shouldn't be diminished how hugely powerful like the stuff you just said was, because I think for people listening, it's like, especially young people that are dealing with these issues, it's like, If Daniel Radcliffe dealt with this, and I know like timeline wise, it was kind of like towards the end of Potter where like things were kind of like hitting the fan. And like, you know, having that degree of material success and to still feel isolated and lonely and uncertain about the future. And then to come out on the other side of it is hugely impactful and hugely inspiring, I think, for everybody.

• 34:29Speaker 02

  Well, thank you. And I will say, I don't, you know, I think it's very easy to draw a line and probably many of you, not incorrectly, are in your head between that timeline and what I was, what was happening in my life sort of publicly and what I was going through. And you're not wrong to do that, but also I don't know that it wouldn't have happened if I had never been cast in Harry Potter. Like, there's, there's definitely a world in which I'm dealing with some version of this in sort of any timeline. And so, yeah, I just wanted to add that.

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• 36:22Josh Horowitz?

  On another note, in terms of the structure of the show, we alluded to this. The nature of the show is it's different every night. It's hugely different. You're essentially improvising with non-actors every night. Did you ever improvise a line on Harry Potter once? Was there anything?

• 36:40Speaker 02

  I don't think so.

• 36:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't know. Maybe. I think I would have always been too scared of screwing up a take. Because also, we were shooting on film at the beginning. We really didn't want to. I think I probably would always have asked. I don't think I would ever have fully just made something up. I would have been asking Chris Columbus, "Can I say this?" And he'd be like, "No, that's a bad idea." No, he wouldn't have been. He was very generous. But I'm sure a lot of my 11- and 12-year-old ideas for lines I would add were not great.

• 37:10Josh Horowitz?

  Let me just rewrite Steve Clovis's script over here.

• 37:12Speaker 02

  Right, yeah. I don't... Yeah, no. I don't think... There's not been... And it's interesting, because there's some improvising in the show every night. Some of it's very, very structured. There's a monologue with a few breaks for more improv-y bits. But yeah, improvising has been a huge... I think I do still have reticence about doing it, even on The Tracy Morgan Show. Because I'm like, I still don't want to... I want to get the take as scripted first. And I always feel like, oh, actors... I've been on sets where actors think they're really funny. And most of them are not as funny as writers. And so I've been on sets where actors are just amusing themselves with ad-libs. And the crew is just like, "Can we go home?"

• 37:58Speaker 02

  So I'm always loathe to be one of those guys.

• 38:02Josh Horowitz?

  In terms of... So we alluded to this. You've done so much great work onstage. And it seems like you... Is it fair to say you like the rhythm of theater? I mean, it's conducive to your lifestyle. You're a parent now. Does it all work together? It's satisfying? It works for the personal life?

• 38:20Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, I think it...

• 38:23Speaker 02

  It is, and I guess, and you know, I love working in New York and it's lovely to be on Broadway and have the sort of, you know, be able to go home at the end of the night and particularly with my kid at the age he is now, I think that's a really, you know, it's great. I think there'll be a time when he's in real school where it's gonna be really hard to do theatre because that's the place I would means to, we will not overlap on time and I will never see him. But right now, it's sort of great. And I also think I have, theatre's been a huge thing for me in my career in terms of, I have always gotten better as a result. Like, I've never left a theatrical experience like, anything but having like, learned a lot and become a slightly better actor for having done it. And I think there's something

• 39:05Speaker 02

  about the adrenaline of it as well that is like, ensures that you can't get too comfy and you are still challenging yourself. And I feel like most of the places that I've been able to find sort of the greatest challenges in the lot, certainly over the last few years, have been, have been in theatre.

• 39:24Josh Horowitz?

  Have you planned out your son's first film of yours? Will it be Swiss Army Man or Harry Potter?

• 39:32Speaker 02

  I mean, if I had, if I had a choice, it would be Swiss Army Man, probably. I don't, I mean, like, I don't know. Yeah, he, so we had this moment for the first time the other day. Right now, I'm just his dad and he has no idea what I do, which, well, he's starting to because we, and first of all, you know, your job is a little bit bullshit if you can't explain it to a kid. He understands what policemen and doctors and firemen do, but you act, you're like, well, we'd help tell stories, like the stories in your books, you know, but we sort of act them out. That's sort of what we've landed on as an explanation. But then, he, so we were watching the Olympics and obviously, the Reggie Dinkins show is on the same network as the Olympics were on, is on NBC. And so it was advertised heavily

• 40:14Speaker 02

  during the Olympics, apologies to everyone who had to watch a lot of the trailer. And I had left the room and apparently I popped up in the corner of the screen and my son just went. Dada. With like a, with like a, a, a tone of, I'm not crazy, right? Like, and I had-

• 40:34Josh Horowitz?

  Everybody else seeing this, cause-

• 40:35Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then actually what happened, it happened like a bunch of the kids in our building, that was their first time seeing me pop up and stuff. So like, our friend's daughter, who's like five, was just like, "I saw you on TV. What were you doing there?" Like, it was very, it was great. It was very funny. Um, and I think, I don't know-

• 40:52Josh Horowitz?

  Kind of a big deal, guys. I don't know.

• 40:54Speaker 02

  I don't, I don't, I don't lead with that. I, I, I really, I let them, um, and, you know, I think there's a world where, you know, what, uh, my son watches the, like, the HBO show of Harry Potter now instead of the films. And I'm also sort of happy with that. I, I, as much as I can do to just, just be his very uncool, unimpressive dad for as long as I can is the goal.

• 41:18Josh Horowitz?

  He doesn't have a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

• 41:20Speaker 02

  I, I hope not.

• 41:21Josh Horowitz?

  Okay.

• 41:24Josh Horowitz?

  Um, there's also talk about serendipity, the weirdness of the world. Tom Felton is currently on Broadway.

• 41:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 41:31Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, uh, I know he attended your show recently. He, I just talked to him for the podcast. He's so, he, you know, he speaks so well of you. I know vice versa.

• 41:41Speaker 02

  Very sweet, yeah.

• 41:42Josh Horowitz?

  What's, what's it, what's it like to, I don't know if you've been through like Times Square and see like a giant billboard of Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy on Broadway? What's that experience like for you?

• 41:50Speaker 02

  I mean, it's, it's surreal, honestly. Like, it is. It's so, um, I'm just, I'm generally, genuinely just like so happy for him to be doing it and to be having the experience that he's having on Broadway. Like, I, I love doing theatre and I love that this has allowed him to, to do it. And also, I mean, he is, you know, I'm, I'm every, there is definitely a double bill going on for people right now of Cursed Child and Every Brilliant Thing. Um, because I am signing every night, I'm signing stuff that like, it's me and Tom are both on it. And there's something wonderful about like, you know, this, we met as teenagers outside, you know, in Watford, outside London, when we were, you know, well, no, younger than

• 42:31Speaker 02

  teenagers, you know, but we were, and then, you know, grew up doing all sorts of stuff that we shouldn't have been doing, but together, you know, and friends. And then to now both be on Broadway at the same time is like, yeah, it's surreal and lovely. And I, and, you know, I hope it, you know, I know he's gonna, he's just extended and I'm, I'm sure, but I hope this is like, I, I hope he wants to keep doing theatre after this. And I think he will because he's having like a great time doing it.

• 42:55Josh Horowitz?

  I was gonna ask you this, you kind of answered it earlier. I was gonna ask, did you ever read reviews back in the day when you were a kid? It sounds like you were shielded from that thankfully, because that would have been...

• 43:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, I definitely, I didn't ever, yeah, certainly not when I was very, very young. You know, there was a moment when I, when I was like 16 and logged on to the internet for the first time and like Googling yourself was an option, which I do not recommend. And, you know, that was, that was bad. But like, I, I, yeah, generally speaking, everybody in my life actually did a really great job of shielding me from them, but without making me feel like I was being shielded from anything. Like, you know, when the films would come out, my mom and dad would be, would just go like, "The reviews were good. You don't need to worry about them. They're good. You're fine." And I sort of still have that relationship now with either my dad or Erin, my partner, will, I will basically get them to read all

• 43:49Speaker 02

  of them and, and give me a precis of how it's gone and so, because good or bad, it affects you, you know, and it, and it, and it does. If you ever wanna curse an actor, go tell them you liked the way they said a particular line. They will, they will never be able to say it that way again. Like, anything, anything good also can screw you up.

• 44:10Josh Horowitz?

  Is there an example you can cite of someone's...

• 44:12Speaker 02

  Somebody the other day, I don't mean to say this, because actually one of our wonderful stage managers said it to me the other day. They were like, "You said that line tonight in just the most perfect way." And in my head, I was like, "Damn. Goodbye to that perfect line reading."

• 44:26Josh Horowitz?

  The good news is, I don't know if, again, you're following, maybe Erin or someone else has told you, retroactively, Andrew Garfield apparently just watched the Potter films and said how great you were in them, all these years later.

• 44:36Speaker 02

  Hey, cool. Thank you, Andrew Garfield. You're awesome. He's awesome. He's so fantastic. That's really, that's cool. I disagree with him about my performance in Potter, but that's really, but that's really nice. Thank you.

• 44:44Josh Horowitz?

  We've had this conversation before.

• 44:46Speaker 02

  Sure, you know, but it's like, I have more time now for me in the early films. Like, when I was 18, I would cringe watching the earlier films. Now, I think the early films are sweet, and now I cringe watching myself when I was 18 or 19. But, and I assume that we'll just keep, you know, those dates will just keep changing as to what I find palatable of my own work.

• 45:05Josh Horowitz?

  Is there one sweet spot, or the negative of a sweet spot, that you're purposely avoiding? Like, one age, one moment that you're...

• 45:11Speaker 02

  I mean, I haven't seen any of them for so long. So, so all of them, I guess.

• 45:15Josh Horowitz?

  This is kind of a cruel challenge for you. I do this with actors about their filmography. I kind of do the bracket system, to use the sports analogy, where I'll pit their own films against each other.

• 45:23Speaker 02

  Oh, great.

• 45:24Josh Horowitz?

  I'm gonna pit, since there happily are eight Harry Potter films.

• 45:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:27Josh Horowitz?

  I'm sorry, I'm gonna do this to you.

• 45:28Speaker 02

  Do an all-Harry Potter bracket?

• 45:30Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, you ready for this?

• 45:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 45:32Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, Dan Radcliffe ranks...

• 45:33Speaker 02

  And is this my performance, or the film?

• 45:35Josh Horowitz?

  You can do however you want. How do you want to do it?

• 45:36Speaker 02

  Let's do the films, then.

• 45:37Josh Horowitz?

  Do the film, okay. Sorcerer's Stone versus Chamber of Secrets?

• 45:41Speaker 02

  Uh, I would, I would take Chamber of Secrets. I have those two, because I love the basilisk.

• 45:45Josh Horowitz?

  Okay. Azkaban or Goblet of Fire?

• 45:50Speaker 02

  That's a tough... That's actually tough. Um, I know, I know, I know everyone wants me to say Azkaban. I know, that's how everyone else feels. But I, I love, the stuff I got to do on the fourth movie was awesome. Like, I got to, I, yeah, I, I would, like, so I'll say Goblet of Fire.

• 46:09Josh Horowitz?

  Order of Phoenix or Half-Blood Prince?

• 46:11Speaker 02

  Order of Phoenix, far away. Half-Blood Prince is probably the bottom of the bracket for me. That's, then, that's my own stuff, that's not the film. I don't know what the system I'm using is here. I'm kind of going back and forth.

• 46:22Josh Horowitz?

  Like I said, this is a therapy session.

• 46:23Speaker 02

  Sure, yeah.

• 46:24Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, definitely Howl's Part One versus Part Two?

• 46:26Speaker 02

  Um, I, Part Two. Part Two's my favorite of all of them.

• 46:29Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, so, well, we'll see, you're ruining it.

• 46:31Speaker 02

  Oh, sorry.

• 46:33Josh Horowitz?

  Chamber of Secrets versus Goblet of Fire now?

• 46:36Speaker 02

  Um, Goblet of Fire.

• 46:38Josh Horowitz?

  Order of Phoenix versus Howl's Part Two?

• 46:40Speaker 02

  Uh, Howl's Part Two.

• 46:43Josh Horowitz?

  And now, Goblet of Fire, definitely Howl's Part Two.

• 46:45Speaker 02

  Definitely Howl's Part Two, wow. I'm fascinated, I wouldn't have said, if, if we, yeah, interesting. I don't think I knew that Goblet of Fire would have been my second favorite film. Although it would have survived, if the bracket were different, it would have gone a different way. Okay, I see how this works, yeah.

• 47:00Josh Horowitz?

  What a journey that was for all of us. Um, you alluded to this before, I want to give some love to this fantastic show. It is so damn funny, The Fallen Rise of Reggie Dinkins. Guys, check this out if you haven't yet. On NBC, on Peacock, it's from the brilliant minds of 30 Rock, Robert Karloff, Sam Means, you and Tracy Morgan. Is that basically like the pitch?

• 47:23Speaker 02

  That was the entire pitch, yes. That really was. Robert Karloff just said, "We find the idea of you and Tracy together really funny, and we find the idea of Tracy referring to you constantly by your full name, Arthur Tobin, as really funny." And that was initially all I knew. And then I read the pilot and I was like, and it was just, you know, it's one of their scripts. So the joke density is insane. There's stuff that I've only noticed on like, you know, I would be learning my lines and then it would be like the fourth time looking at the scene, I'd be like, "Oh, right, that's a joke." I've missed a joke on a headline of a paper or something, you know. But yeah, it's just about, it really is, is an unbelievably funny show. The joke writing on that show is so, so good. I really, you know, I,

• 48:06Speaker 02

  I am reticent to even plug my own stuff, but do watch it. You'll really like it. It's a really good time.

• 48:12Josh Horowitz?

  Arthur Tobin's something of a pretentious director. Obviously, you've never worked with anyone like that. No inspiration for this?

• 48:17Speaker 02

  No, not directly. I've worked with, yeah, no, I've been pretty lucky. Arthur's not based on somebody. I think he's more based on just like pretentious English people that I've known, but not like, not necessarily directors or particular people that I've known in my life.

• 48:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's, the, we were, when I was, when we were making the show, we were kind of trying to figure out who is the analogous kind of version of Arthur. And it sort of is Louis Theroux, like in terms of a person that's in their own documentaries in a way that features them. But like, I don't want to say that because Louis Theroux is great and Arthur's really annoying and I don't, I don't want to, you know, sort of disparage him because he's fantastic. But in terms of a sort of intellectual British documentary maker who also appears in his own stuff, he would be the comp, I guess.

• 49:06Josh Horowitz?

  Who's got more idiosyncratic line readings, you think Tracy Morgan or Alan Rickman in your career, working with them?

• 49:11Speaker 02

  Tracy Morgan. Alan is, is completely, you know, iconic and you can't do it in him. Everyone's got an Alan Rickman impression, but no one can actually do it. Like, he was a Amazing. Tracy is otherworldly. Tracy, like, there are line readings available to Tracy that just most actors could not make work in a million years.

• 49:34Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 49:34Speaker 02

  And I still don't know how he does it a lot of the time. Like, it really is, you know, the word, but when you read it on the page, when I read, like, um, books are brain movies, which is a line in the show. Um, I was like, I couldn't say that and make it sound like a real thing, but it just works coming out of Tracy's mouth. Like, he really is, he's, what Tracy is and does, like, it can't be learned and it can't be taught. Like, it's just being naturally one of the funniest people on the planet.

• 50:07Josh Horowitz?

  You also get to mix it up with none other than Megan Thee Stallion.

• 50:11Speaker 02

  Yes, yeah. In a pairing, everyone saw coming. Yes.

• 50:15Josh Horowitz?

  Is that on your bingo card? Was this something you manifested?

• 50:17Speaker 02

  It was not. It was, I definitely, Robert Carlock phoned me up and said, hi, just so you know, like, how would you feel about Megan Thee Stallion being in episode five as Denise the Mail? We'd just done the read-through, and it was like, oh, that's a really fun episode and, you know, a fun storyline. And then he was like, how do you feel about Megan Thee Stallion playing that part? And I was like, we should be so lucky. I mean, it's like, you know, most of the time, it, you have to be like a successful show and up and running for a couple of years before people that famous will come and do a guest star. So we were just, you know, overjoyed that she, that she wanted to, and she was fantastic and funny. And, yeah, we got her back for episode seven as well.

• 50:57Josh Horowitz?

  Not that you have much time in your life, but what are you, what are you watching? Film, TV, anything you're obsessed with?

• 51:01Speaker 02

  Um, what, The Comeback, new series of The Comeback. Incredible, amazing. Um, what about Top Chef? Also incredible and amazing. Yes, thank you, One Person. Um, what else? I am, um, we, not to give a plug to something that's obviously just on the same network, but St. Dennis Medical. It's great. Just such a great, lovely comedy. It's awesome. Um, what else? I'm sure, I mean, obviously, like, see, all my culture, I mean, I was about to say Stranger Things. I know it was months ago, but that's the one, it's pretty much the only TV series that is not a half hour comedy that I have watched from beginning to end. So I'm very proud that I've, that was still recent and I can reference it.

• 51:42Josh Horowitz?

  Were you, were you watching it from the beginning? Did you catch up?

• 51:44Speaker 02

  No, no, I watched it from, I got into it very, very early on and it was, you know, just amazing. Yeah, I loved it. I, I, I think people are so, you know, I know as always, when anything finishes, there's going to be discourse. And, but like it's, it's, I thought it was, I thought they landed the plane like amazingly well. Like considering all the stuff they have set up over that time, like, yeah, like amazing.

• 52:08Josh Horowitz?

  Is Eleven still alive? Is she out there?

• 52:10Speaker 02

  Um, I mean, yeah, like we're kind of allowed to believe the nice virgin if we want to, right? So yeah, for me, that, that watching those guys have to shut down rumors about another episode is the most tiring thing. I'm tired for them. I'm just like, oh my God, you poor guys.

• 52:27Josh Horowitz?

  Well, you've secretly done another Harry Potter film.

• 52:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, that we just haven't released.

• 52:33Speaker 02

  And yeah, what else? I mean, most of my cultural diet now is just, is uh, 101 Dalmatians on repeat with my, with my son. Um, 101 Dalmatians, we've just, we've just watched The Little Mermaid. We're kind of going in, we're just doing like some nice early Disney and it's just great.

• 52:49Josh Horowitz?

  Who's playing with Lego more, you or your son?

• 52:52Speaker 02

  Um, choking hazards, Josh. He's not there yet. Um, he is.

• 52:55Josh Horowitz?

  Obviously not a parent.

• 52:56Speaker 02

  So still, still, still for me, it'll be, it'll, it'll, uh, it's, I'll be doing more Lego than him for a couple of years, but I'm very excited for him to, to get into all that as well.

• 53:06Josh Horowitz?

  Here's a random one. No segue. Where's the Swiss Army Man dummy at this point? Do you have it?

• 53:11Speaker 02

  Great question. No, I don't know where that is. I'm going to assume it's either in um, the house of one of, one or other of the Daniels. Or um, maybe A24's offices. I know the dummy did like a press tour. Uh, like, like I would, I would occasionally make appearances with my own dead mannequin on that press tour. So it's, maybe it's just like in a warehouse somewhere that A24 owns.

• 53:35Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. Do you, did you ever, I don't know if you ever had to, given like your unusual trajectory, did you ever have to audition along the way? In the last like twenty years.

• 53:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:44Josh Horowitz?

  How were you at auditioning?

• 53:45Speaker 02

  I'm pretty bad, like I'm pretty nervous about it like I definitely I've only done it like a couple of I did. Obviously a bunch before Potter when I was a young kid actor I did I auditioned for. Equilibrium, the Christian Bale movie that I and in fact if I had got that I don't think I would have been able to do Potter. So that's that was lucky.

• 54:04Josh Horowitz?

  We'd be doing the equilibrium retrospective tonight.

• 54:06Speaker 02

  Yes, yeah, absolutely, yeah. And yeah, I said that movie like everyone remembers it like it's Christian Bale's main thing.

• 54:15Speaker 02

  And but yeah, no, and I've auditioned for a couple of other things. Over the years. One was a musical that ended up not happening.

• 54:28Speaker 02

  Is that the only I haven't done a lot of it if if I'm on, you know, I I'm I've been. Which is good because I did get so nervous doing that one. But yeah, I definitely like I don't mind it. I always say like if it's if there's ever a barrier between me getting that and getting a job I love. I will I would absolutely audition like I don't have a thing about not doing it.

• 54:49Josh Horowitz?

  So yeah, who are like the shortlist of directors that's like, yeah, Chris Nolan, I will happily audition for.

• 54:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'll do dummy sides for Chris Nolan like, you know, I'll do I'll do some I'll do some fake scenes written for something else. Yeah, I mean, there's loads. I mean, Chris Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, all the Andersons.

• 55:09Speaker 02

  You know, there's there's obviously a list and many directors I would happily audition for.

• 55:14Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, you've you've found so much success both in theater and especially television in recent years. I mean, you've you had you you've you've done great film work throughout, but it seems like the film world now is a strange place. To say the least. I mean, you were in Lost City, which you were fun in and Weird, which I loved. The Weird Al movie was fantastic, but.

• 55:31Speaker 02

  He he came to the show last night. He is Al has blessed it. Since we've worked together, Al has seen like everything I've ever done. Every every show I've ever done. He came last night to every brilliant thing. I did not make him participate. But yeah, he was he's just the best.

• 55:43Josh Horowitz?

  Well, I was gonna say, actually, because I remember you said when we did the Merrily talk like you were one of the cast members who didn't like knowing who's in the audience. By virtue of this.

• 55:51Speaker 02

  It sucks.

• 55:52Josh Horowitz?

  Know who's in the audience.

• 55:53Speaker 02

  I really know who's in the audience. I was like trying to recruit a man to play a part onstage the other day and I looked to my right and Patti Lupone was sitting next to Susan Sarandon was sitting next to Jessica Lange. And I was like, oh, how cool and intimidating that you three ladies all hang out. But they were, but they were, they were great and, and, and they, they came back afterwards. And yeah, we had Ian McKellen was in the other day. And again, it was like, oh, cool. You're here. Great. Better be good. And he, he again was lovely. He got up and did the high fives. I was so impressed. Honestly, like Ian McKellen and Anna Wintour getting up and doing the high fives in that section of the show is an achievement I will take to my grave. It was so cool. And so, yeah, it is, it is a

• 56:35Speaker 02

  negative knock on effect of the show that I've, it's much harder to be unaware of people you admire being in the audience. But I'm getting better at it. Yeah.

• 56:44Josh Horowitz?

  So somehow I segued out of it. The, the film side of things, like, are you finding, is it, it's tougher for everybody, I feel like, finding rewarding material in films nowadays. Where are you, what are you finding?

• 56:54Speaker 02

  I mean, definitely like the, the two things that I've been the most excited about recently have been this play and then the TV show. Like, and it's, and it's, and you don't get a TV show like this made unless you are Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. And, and you know, it's, there's a lot that this has going for it that most TV shows don't have. Yeah, I think it is a, it's a weird time of film. I am hopefully, you know, over the summer going to shoot a film that I've been attached for two, for about three years. And it has, and, oh, I probably can't say who's going to be in it with me, but it is somebody that this room would find particularly exciting. But.

• 57:29Josh Horowitz?

  You're making it worse.

• 57:30Speaker 02

  I know, I know, I know. But it's, it's something that I've been attached to for three years and it's the most beautiful. It's announced, it's called Trust the Man. It's something that I've, it's written and directed by a guy called Will Graham. It is a. Beautiful story, covering something in history that I don't think I know a lot about, which is being sort of, it is about homosexuality in the military in the Vietnam era. And it's also kind of like an espionage documentary, espionage drama along the lines of a film like The Lives of Others. And it's just extraordinary. Like, it's the script I have loved the most in a long, long time. And, you know, we have been pushing that

• 58:15Speaker 02

  rock up that hill to get it made for a long time, and it looks like it's about to. But, you know, that's gonna be the culmination of three years, working even longer on that on the part of the writer and the director. So, yeah, it's a weird time, but stuff still happens. Like, you can still get stuff made if you try really hard. Not all the time, but, and there's definitely other things that have fallen by the wayside over the years. But I'm lucky to get any autonomy over any of this and hopefully be a part of these things. So, yeah, I'm just gonna keep going and try to make weird shit.

• 58:47Josh Horowitz?

  Please do. We're gonna end with the Happy Second Fuse profoundly random questions. I think you've answered some of these, but let's see what you got today. Dogs or cats?

• 58:56Speaker 02

  Dogs. Trying to get me cancelled like Jessie Buckley.

• 59:00Josh Horowitz?

  It wasn't my fault. She went so hard.

• 59:04Speaker 02

  Off that question. Yeah, okay. Wow. You could have, it's a one-word answer. You could have just said it. That's really funny.

• 59:09Josh Horowitz?

  What do you collect?

• 59:12Speaker 02

  Um, now, toy dinosaurs. Again, it's all just answers for a three-year-old. What do I collect? Wow. Books, I guess. Books, yeah.

• 59:27Josh Horowitz?

  Do you have a favorite video game of all time?

• 59:30Speaker 02

  Um, probably Madden, or any of the, a lot of the EA Sports games would have been what I played the most growing up. I was always really bad at video games, which probably saved me from just becoming obsessed with them. Yeah. I, the EA Sports hockey game was always great, because it was both hockey and sometimes boxing. Because you would throw the gloves to the ground, and then it just, the controllers turned into the controls for a boxing game. It was awesome.

• 59:59Josh Horowitz?

  The Dakota Johnson memorial question, she asked me this. I ask everybody, would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one bee in your butt?

• 1:00:12Josh Horowitz?

  Like you've never thought about it, guys.

• 1:00:16Speaker 02

  They're all alive?

• 1:00:18Josh Horowitz?

  No one's asked me that.

• 1:00:21Josh Horowitz?

  Congrats.

• 1:00:21Speaker 02

  Because like, one be in your butt, dead. I don't know. That's probably fine. A mouth.

• 1:00:27Josh Horowitz?

  It'll probably die, once it's there, I would say.

• 1:00:29Speaker 02

  Okay, be in the butt.

• 1:00:30Josh Horowitz?

  Okay.

• 1:00:31Speaker 02

  What's the consensus on that?

• 1:00:33Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, it is be in the butt.

• 1:00:34Speaker 02

  Okay, right, good.

• 1:00:35Josh Horowitz?

  Ninety percent be in the butt.

• 1:00:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:37Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, what's the wallpaper on your phone?

• 1:00:39Speaker 02

  Uh, my girlfriend on holiday with me on our, like, uh, baby moon before we had our son.

• 1:00:44Josh Horowitz?

  Lovely. Who's the last actor you were mistaken for?

• 1:00:47Speaker 02

  Come on. Elijah Wood, every time. Every time. From a car, from people shouting, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I did sign a copy of Lord of the Rings at Stagedore the other day. It was great. Um, yeah.

• 1:00:57Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, I had Elijah on the podcast the other week. Uh, I have a message from Elijah Wood for you right now.

• 1:01:02Speaker 02

  Oh, no, really?

• 1:01:03Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. Let's play this.

• 1:01:06Speaker 04

  Hello, Daniel.

• 1:01:09Speaker 04

  Congratulations on the show. Um, I'm sorry I can't be there tonight. Um, I know you're a New York resident. I only just recently realized this, but you've been here for ages. Um, listen, as someone, uh, we are two people that get mistaken for one another a lot.

• 1:01:26Speaker 04

  Um, I, my thought is just this: Why don't we just work together?

• 1:01:32Speaker 04

  Um, I, I would love that. So, I don't know what the idea is. Um, I don't know if it's a buddy cop movie, um, if we just lean in. But, anyway, all of this is to say, I hope you're well. Lots of love, my friend. Have a good night.

• 1:01:45Speaker 02

  Oh, bless him. That's the thing. It's so nice to be mistaken for someone so genuinely lovely and talented and just like, it's a really, like, it's very nice. I mean, he's just the best, isn't he? I guess I have to shave the rest of this and just have a moustache now, so that we're still, so that we're still twins.

• 1:02:01Josh Horowitz?

  You're gonna be playing Frodo again soon, I hear.

• 1:02:02Speaker 02

  Right, exactly, yeah.

• 1:02:03Josh Horowitz?

  That's so exciting.

• 1:02:04Speaker 02

  Um, I'm, I'm, um, totally up for, yeah, buddy cop, uh, you know, or is it something where we're playing ourselves locked in some sort of fight to the death? There can be only one, like a Highlander situation. Um, yeah, I don't know what it is, but somebody, if anybody out there has pitches, get them, get them, start writing that script.

• 1:02:22Josh Horowitz?

  I guarantee someone will. Um, you answered me this one once before. Let's see if it's the same answer: Worst noted director has ever given you?

• 1:02:30Speaker 02

  Oh, it would probably still be the same. It would be just like, feel it. Just feel it without, without expressing like which emotion I should be feeling. Um, was, was, was tough. Yeah.

• 1:02:39Josh Horowitz?

  And in the spirit of happy, sad, confused, an actor who always makes you happy. You see them on screen, you're in a better mood.

• 1:02:47Speaker 02

  Steep, which I mean, yeah, it's just immediately.

• 1:02:50Josh Horowitz?

  A movie that makes you sad.

• 1:02:55Speaker 02

  I, I, it made me feel a lot of things, but The Wild Robot. As, as a new parent, don't do it. Unless you wanna feel those things, but like the minute they establish the premise of like, oh, she's gonna have to let it go. It's like, oh my God, this is, yeah, The Wild Robot.

• 1:03:13Josh Horowitz?

  And a food that makes you confused. You don't get it.

• 1:03:15Speaker 02

  Um, jellied eels. It's a thing that you, if anyone, if you're ever in the UK and somebody's like, oh, you wanna try a jelly eel? Say no. It is the most, it's, uh, it's, I guess, like, you can be like, okay, I see why this was a delicacy in the Tudor era, but like, it's, it's really like, somebody gave it to me and the, since the instructions they gave me were, you don't chew it, you, you suck all the jelly away until you get to the bone, then stop. Yeah, right. Disgusting. We're disgusting people. And that was, yeah, so that was, uh, and they, that's like a very, it's a very traditional old English thing, but you don't need to try it.

• 1:03:55Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah. Available at the concession stand at every brilliant thing.

• 1:03:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, absolutely. Cockles, Winkles and Jelly, and Jelly eels, they're all there.

• 1:04:02Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, well, before we wrap this up, I just wanna say a quick thing. We've been talking for a thousand years since you were just a kid and I sadly was still an adult. But I did the math, this is your fifth time on the podcast and you know what happens when someone's on the podcast five times?

• 1:04:18Speaker 02

  No, I don't.

• 1:04:20Josh Horowitz?

  Get ready.

• 1:04:20Speaker 02

  Oh, what is this?

• 1:04:24Josh Horowitz?

  You get a free hat.

• 1:04:24Speaker 02

  Hey, awesome. Welcome. Five timers club, baby.

• 1:04:29Josh Horowitz?

  Five timers club.

• 1:04:30Speaker 02

  Hell yeah.

• 1:04:31Josh Horowitz?

  Daniel Radcliffe, happy, sad, confused, wear it with pride.

• 1:04:33Speaker 02

  Thank you very much. I will do. Thank you for having me.

• 1:04:35Josh Horowitz?

  Um, before we go, quick reminders, guys, every brilliant thing, uh, you still have time to see Dan on this. Marsha Hargitay is gonna take over late May, but see Dan if you can, cause he's unbelievable in this production. Uh, and make sure to check out The Fallen Rise of Reggie Dinkins on NBC and Peacock. It's fantastic. Give it up. Dan Radcliffe.

• 1:04:55Speaker 02

  Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you.

• 1:05:01Speaker 03

  And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

• 1:05:20Speaker 00

  Hi, listeners. We want to tell you about a podcast we love. It's called Rebel Girls, formerly known as Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. It's about real-life women who are changing the world with their courage, creativity, and big, bold ideas. Want to know how Taylor Swift became a superstar? Or hear how Simone Biles became the greatest athlete of all time? From immersive stories, to heartfelt interviews, to super smart advice, Rebel Girls brings you stories that will get you fired up to become your best self. There are over 400 episodes for you to explore, with new episodes every week. So, check it out. Listen to Rebel Girls wherever you get your podcasts. And find us on youtube.com/rebelgirls.

• 1:06:05Speaker 00

  And whatever you do, stay rebel.