Chace Crawford

Chace Crawford (The Boys, Gossip Girl, and The Covenant) is an actor. Chace joins Armchair Expert to discuss growing up between Texas, Oklahoma, and Minnesota, being a people pleasing chameleon from having to always make new friends, and leaving Texas for College in California. Chace and Dax talk about crashing a car while valeting in Malibu, narrowly missing Friday Night Lights, and achieving overnight success on Gossip Girl. Chace explains how fame can either make you self-centered or paranoid, how alcohol can make celebrity feel easier for all the wrong reasons, and why chasing the next wave of validation is always a trap. Sign up now in the app or at grubhub.com/plus/golddays to unlock exclusive Gold Days deals. Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://www.allstate.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

• 0:00Dax Shepard?

  Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard. I'm joined by Lily Padman. We have a very gorgeous man today.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  Oh, he is attractive.

• 0:08Dax Shepard?

  Makes my eyes feel good.

• 0:10Speaker 01

  You think you had your sty during this and maybe he healed your sty.

• 0:14Dax Shepard?

  I think he did. I'm gonna give him that credit. Chase Crawford. Chase Crawford is an actor, Gossip Girl, The Boys, The Boys, I love The Boys. The Covenant, Inheritance. This pains me to say out loud, but it is the final season of The Boys. New episodes Wednesdays on Prime Video. One of the greatest shows ever made.

• 0:34Speaker 01

  Pretty much the coolest people I know watch The Boys.

• 0:37Dax Shepard?

  It's such a good show. Everyone should be watching it. And if you haven't started, what a joy. You have so much to catch up on. Please enjoy, not just good looking, such a good hang, so friendly. Chase Crawford, enjoy. We get support from Quince.

• 0:52Speaker 01

  I have to say, I am so ready for fall. I want sweaters. I've been craving a true crisp morning where I actually need a jacket. I can't wait.

• 1:01Dax Shepard?

  I'm fully there. The second it dips below 70, I'm like, this is my season. Give me the layers, give me the boots, give me a reason to wear something other than a t-shirt. And honestly, that's why I love Quince, because fall is when your wardrobe actually has to show up. And everything at Quince is 50 to 80% less than similar brands. We're talking 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters, starting at $60.

• 1:24Speaker 01

  $60, $60 for cashmere that you'd expect from a luxury brand without the luxury price tag. It's amazing. Gets me every time. It really shouldn't be real, but it is because they go straight to the factories, they skip the middlemen, and they just hand you the savings. The stuff isn't trendy. It's the kind of pieces you grab over and over because they work every time.

• 1:42Dax Shepard?

  The 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters for me are it. When I look at Steve McQueen, this man owned a couple of sweaters he wore all the time and he looks iconic.

• 1:51Speaker 01

  It's a uniform. And Quince isn't just about the clothes. They have hotel quality bedding, cookware, bath essentials, thoughtfully designed furniture. You can really go there and outfit your entire apartment or house. So if you're in need of any kind of fall refresh at home too, same quality, same attention to detail for every corner.

• 2:10Dax Shepard?

  Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Armchair Expert. It's the best way to support the show. We get support from AG1. Fall is that time when your body and mind are getting ready for the winter. You're settling in, bracing for the cold. Your body's already running a deficit from the shorter days and broken sleep patterns. You don't want a nutrient deficit stacked on top of that too.

• 2:46Speaker 01

  That's where your AG1 routine earns its spot. It's not fixing your sleep or your alarm time. It's giving your body what it needs so the dark mornings don't tank you before you even start. One scoop cold water every morning before anything else.

• 2:59Dax Shepard?

  AG1 Next Gen has 75 plus ingredients, vitamins, minerals, pre and probiotics, superfoods, backed by four separate gold standard clinical trials. Key nutrient levels improved with three months of consistent use.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  That's the part people miss. It's not a one day fix. It's what happens when you stay consistent.

• 3:17Dax Shepard?

  It's an easy, everyday thing. I've added it to my morning routine and I'm going to tell you, I actually love the taste of it. It's like Pavlovian. I drink it and I know I'm going to get that little vitamin buzz.

• 3:27Speaker 01

  Well, that's also the thing. When you do it first thing in the morning, you already feel kind of self-esteem because you're like, I already did something good for myself.

• 3:34Dax Shepard?

  Yes. Go to drinkag1.com/dax. And for a limited time, get a free immunity bundle, including a bottle of omega-3 fish oil and a bottle of vitamin D3 K2 with your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro. That's drinkag1.com/dax. And after checkout, be sure to let them know that Armchair Expert sent you.

• 4:16Speaker 02

  It's a perfect setup to transition to the garage, huh?

• 4:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so we did record upstairs when we were audio only. Directly above us, there's a little attic.

• 4:25Speaker 02

  Everything's video though now too, isn't it? It's awesome.

• 4:27Dax Shepard?

  We hated the idea, but they forced us as part of our new wondery deal.

• 4:32Speaker 02

  Well, it's probably the smartest thing. I mean, these are the talk shows, you know? It's just like the real deal.

• 4:36Dax Shepard?

  Hi, Mike, how are you? So you work with Caroline?

• 4:40Speaker 01

  I do.

• 4:41Dax Shepard?

  She told me to tell you hi. She's the best.

• 4:43Speaker 01

  I know. You're having my favorite person.

• 4:45Dax Shepard?

  Oh my God, I got that call too. Who's Caroline? Do you know Caroline? Caroline? In the city?

• 4:49Speaker 02

  The Jean.

• 4:49Speaker 01

  Stylist.

• 4:50Dax Shepard?

  Stylist.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Stylist to the stars, incredible lady.

• 4:55Speaker 02

  And she's just like the coolest person.

• 4:57Speaker 01

  She is.

• 4:57Speaker 02

  In general.

• 4:58Speaker 01

  She says you guys hang out after hours and I invited myself.

• 5:00Speaker 02

  You should come. We'll go to like Esque la Takeria on like a Friday.

• 5:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, margaritas.

• 5:05Dax Shepard?

  What's Esque la Takeria?

• 5:06Speaker 02

  You've never been to Esque la?

• 5:07Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  It's great. Well, it used to be kind of the secret. No one knew the tacos in LA. They do like the fried OG hard shell taco.

• 5:15Dax Shepard?

  That's my jam is hard shell.

• 5:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, me too. And it's awesome.

• 5:18Dax Shepard?

  Have you ever tried Baja California in a dumpy, fucking shitty little?

• 5:22Speaker 02

  Oh, I know what that is.

• 5:23Dax Shepard?

  Plaza, right next to Subway at Franklin and Hillhurst.

• 5:26Speaker 02

  Okay, I have not.

• 5:27Dax Shepard?

  The best hard shell taco I've ever had.

• 5:29Speaker 02

  Okay, that's a big claim.

• 5:30Speaker 01

  That is a really big claim.

• 5:32Speaker 02

  That's a hundred percent. I might go after this to try it.

• 5:34Dax Shepard?

  I'll give you testimony. Do you know Ryan Hansen, that actor?

• 5:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, I do, actually.

• 5:38Dax Shepard?

  Okay, great. So Ryan and his wife were over last week to watch the Peaky Blinders movie.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  Oh, amazing.

• 5:43Dax Shepard?

  And I went out there and I got six hard shell tacos for all of us. So 24 hard shell tacos.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  Oh my God.

• 5:50Dax Shepard?

  And Ryan and Amy were like, this is bonkers. What's going on?

• 5:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:53Dax Shepard?

  And Chase, they all were eaten. And the whole time we were watching Peaky Blinders, many of us were going, I gotta go for more though, those tacos. Like, I don't know how many it would take to get my fill of those.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  They're addicting.

• 6:04Dax Shepard?

  I pray you try it. And then the next time I run into you, you go, my God.

• 6:07Speaker 02

  I'm a hundred percent gonna try it.

• 6:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, after this, let's go grab some.

• 6:11Speaker 02

  Dude, I'm down.

• 6:12Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, Maru and go get a tiger. Okay, so back to your things. All right. Hi, Jeff.

• 6:17Speaker 01

  Oh, no, no, we just have a really lovely fun and comment.

• 6:20Dax Shepard?

  So similarly, I got a text last night from Jamie Feld.

• 6:23Speaker 02

  Oh, you know Jamie?

• 6:24Dax Shepard?

  Yes. I know she's not my agent or anything, but I'm friends with her and Zegars.

• 6:27Speaker 02

  Amazing. Yes, Kevin's great.

• 6:29Dax Shepard?

  And she texts me and said, you're talking to my favorite person.

• 6:31Speaker 01

  Oh, you're two.

• 6:33Dax Shepard?

  Two for two.

• 6:34Speaker 02

  Jamie is the best. I've been with her for like 20 years. She was kind of with Q Vane and then obviously now she's the head of everything over there.

• 6:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 6:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, she's awesome.

• 6:43Dax Shepard?

  But that's pretty incredible. I don't know if I've ever arrived. Well, I know I've never arrived anywhere and two different people had gave testimonials about me.

• 6:50Speaker 02

  That's good. Makes you feel good. Do I get a text in the park? I'm like, yes, Jamie's texting. But Kev's great. I've known Kevin for years.

• 6:57Dax Shepard?

  You guys did a movie together.

• 6:59Speaker 02

  And he was on Gossip Girl years and years ago.

• 7:01Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 7:03Speaker 02

  I don't even know when.

• 7:04Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. He was like a bad guy.

• 7:06Dax Shepard?

  Is he a bad guy?

• 7:06Speaker 02

  He was on there for like a fall. It's like six to eight months. You know, back when shows were like 26.

• 7:10Speaker 01

  I know. You guys did so many.

• 7:12Dax Shepard?

  And he's so good looking. Was he playing a boy toy?

• 7:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. He was a suave. We were almost right in that same pocket, like head to head.

• 7:18Dax Shepard?

  Did you guys go out on the town at all?

• 7:20Speaker 02

  We did, actually.

• 7:21Dax Shepard?

  That's back when he really would lose himself.

• 7:23Speaker 02

  I don't know if we're recording or not.

• 7:24Dax Shepard?

  We always are.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  No, we also cut out. We cut out anything.

• 7:28Dax Shepard?

  Oh, no, no, no. We are super best friends.

• 7:30Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 7:30Dax Shepard?

  So I'll be the judge.

• 7:31Speaker 02

  So I know his story.

• 7:32Dax Shepard?

  He's very honestly sober. I mean, he's very open about being sober.

• 7:36Speaker 02

  Yeah. So I didn't know that and I was decidedly not during those years. And we would go out and we were friends already. Always got along, but we'd go out, don't want to, you know, blow it up too much. But we'd go on the town in New York. I mean, we had keys to the city. I knew he didn't know anyone else in the cast and I was always looking for.

• 7:52Dax Shepard?

  A running mate.

• 7:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. Like a whole boy I knew from LA, those two actors. And so we went out and yeah, I think that was the last run that he had.

• 7:59Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh. Did he pee his pants at any point?

• 8:02Speaker 01

  That'd be probably on the mild end.

• 8:04Speaker 02

  Not that I know of, but I will say we had an absolute blast.

• 8:08Dax Shepard?

  As you should. I think as many of us feel in this fellowship of sobriety, no regrets. Super glad I had all those blowout nights. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to be on planet Earth on my one trip and not do what I did.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  Well, because you made it out alive.

• 8:22Dax Shepard?

  I made it out alive, but man, a lot of fun was had until it got dark. I mean, there's good fun to be had out there. New York's a dangerous city.

• 8:28Speaker 02

  New York's a dangerous thing, man. It got dark for me too. It got to be a little too much, you know? It's like that thing where it's, it's New York.

• 8:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. What do you diagnose the problem is? Cause for me, it's a very specific thing. Like, why is it dangerous in New York?

• 8:39Speaker 02

  Now I have that romanticized relationship with the city. Like when I go back, that feeling, that buzz. I don't know if I'd be able to live there again and function. Because you're out, if the weather's nice, there's always people on the patio. There's always something going on. There's always like an event. It really never shuts down.

• 8:53Speaker 01

  And no cars.

• 8:54Speaker 02

  And no cars.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  No cars makes a huge difference.

• 8:57Speaker 02

  You're just walking around.

• 8:59Speaker 01

  You're fine.

• 8:59Speaker 02

  Let's grab a little wine, it's a Tuesday.

• 9:01Speaker 01

  It's not irresponsible because you're not driving and hurting anyone.

• 9:04Speaker 02

  I will say, everyone wants to visit you. So it's like, there's always someone in town.

• 9:10Dax Shepard?

  You're showing the town too.

• 9:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, there or a reason to go out. I'm more reclusive now. I like to just be a homebody and get groceries in the car. New York's not really conducive to that.

• 9:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you have a dog, right?

• 9:19Speaker 02

  A dog, the whole thing.

• 9:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I was spared by having never worked there while I was an addict, but I would go there to promote. Yeah, my answer is like, the bar doesn't shut down until four?

• 9:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's another problem.

• 9:30Dax Shepard?

  An after party is standard. Every night of the week, someone's hosting an after party.

• 9:35Speaker 02

  If you're out from 1 a.m., if you're gonna stay up till 2, it's not closing, you know, you're most likely gonna keep it going, but uh.

• 9:41Speaker 01

  Also, Gossip Girl, we just had Jenny Garth on from 90210, original.

• 9:45Speaker 02

  I saw that, yeah, amazing.

• 9:46Speaker 01

  And Gossip Girl was kind of the my Jen's 90210. So I cannot imagine being in New York and like seeing you guys out there. Everyone would have been freaking out. You guys were all hot.

• 9:58Speaker 02

  If you would have given me my first dose of fame in New York City at 22, you were 22 years old.

• 10:04Speaker 01

  On the hottest show.

• 10:06Speaker 02

  And I'm making thousands a week. I mean, forget it, we're not sure I'd be here.

• 10:09Speaker 01

  You wouldn't.

• 10:10Speaker 02

  Yeah. Looking back on it, it affects everyone differently. Those first two years of fame, most people turn into an asshole in some way. Or they just get paranoid and reclusive.

• 10:20Dax Shepard?

  You went the paranoid route. I read the Interview Magazine interview with you and Magnus.

• 10:24Speaker 02

  Oh, nice. Thank you. I love Magnus. Yeah, that was a good interview. Yeah.

• 10:26Dax Shepard?

  That was a sweet, sweet interview. Okay, but you were born in Lubbock. You moved to Minnesota for four years.

• 10:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:34Dax Shepard?

  And then mom was a teacher. What kind of teacher?

• 10:36Speaker 02

  She kind of taught everything. She got a master's in education, but she was mainly English. But she would like substitute us in kindergarten and throughout high school, actually. And she was kind of like the cool substitute teacher. Like everyone wanted Mrs. Crawford.

• 10:50Dax Shepard?

  No, no, no, no, no. First of all, there's no such thing as a cool substitute teacher. So you're already lying.

• 10:57Speaker 02

  Everyone candy.

• 10:58Dax Shepard?

  Your mom is hot, though. I saw a picture of her.

• 11:00Speaker 02

  She is. Your mom's super hot. She had, she was 20. Get it all the time in high school, man.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Oh, God.

• 11:06Dax Shepard?

  I learned she was 20 when she, or 21 when she had you.

• 11:08Speaker 02

  Exactly. They had me young. Yeah, she was like 20, 21.

• 11:11Dax Shepard?

  And Dad's a dermatologist, so his skin is fucking gorgeous. It's glowing.

• 11:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, I like these genetics.

• 11:17Dax Shepard?

  So you're not doing terrible on the skin.

• 11:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:21Speaker 02

  My dad, he doesn't give me any tips. It's just all genetics.

• 11:23Dax Shepard?

  Before we proceed, I don't know why I didn't detect this when watching The Boys, which I'm an enormous fan of.

• 11:28Speaker 02

  Love it.

• 11:29Dax Shepard?

  Your voice is incredible.

• 11:31Speaker 02

  Oh, thank you.

• 11:32Dax Shepard?

  If you always connected, I mean, you could definitely, it would be a downgrade, but you could be on the radio or have a podcast.

• 11:37Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 11:38Dax Shepard?

  It's such a soothing, it's got a good timber.

• 11:40Speaker 02

  Thank you. I went to college to do broadcast journalism or to maybe do, because people used to say like, oh, you got a great voice, you should get into like TV. And I really fast learned that I was not good at that. Like, you didn't want to do broadcast journalism in sports, even though I love sports, but thank you.

• 11:54Dax Shepard?

  Ironic though, because Candace, is that your sister's name?

• 11:56Speaker 02

  She is.

• 11:56Dax Shepard?

  She's a sports journalist.

• 11:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's how she met her husband.

• 11:59Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so back to, how old were you when you left Lubbock and went to Minnesota?

• 12:03Speaker 02

  We were in love for like a year, and then my dad's side of the family is from Oklahoma, so Oklahoma City for like four years, where he did med school at OU. So Bloomer Sooner, we're all Oklahoma Sooner fans, this college. And his family was there. We moved to Minnesota. I was about five to 10 years old. So he did a residency program. They were young, like 21, 22. I can't imagine having like two kids and not a lot of money before he became a doctor. And then trying to get through med school and then going up to Minnesota. So those were some of the best times.

• 12:31Dax Shepard?

  You must have a little bit of mixed culture between Southern and Minnesota, because those are pretty formative years. What was the vibe in elementary in Minnesota?

• 12:39Speaker 02

  I remember getting to Minnesota and being in school and having like a small identity crisis, because I felt like I'm a Texas kid and like, all you know.

• 12:46Dax Shepard?

  Did you have cowboy boots and shit?

• 12:47Speaker 02

  I was a Cowboys football fan. Yeah, when I was young, yeah, I was Oklahoma little cowboy boots and the hat, the whole thing.

• 12:53Dax Shepard?

  Every little boy in Texas I see's got cowboy boots.

• 12:56Speaker 02

  Right. And you just identify with that, even Oklahoma. And I remember being in Minnesota and being like, what do I say? Who do I say I am? I'm, you know, from Minnesota, is Oklahoma, am I from the South? I definitely had a little twang, you know, growing up. And then I sort of started to have the Minnesota accent.

• 13:13Dax Shepard?

  Sure.

• 13:13Speaker 02

  My grandparents were not like that, you know, saying like soda pop. It kind of melded the accent when I got back to Dallas after that.

• 13:20Dax Shepard?

  And what kind of boy were you? You seem like you would have gotten along with everyone.

• 13:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm a bit of a people pleaser. After doing a lot of therapy, yeah, that's like my thing.

• 13:29Dax Shepard?

  Boundaries are hard for you.

• 13:30Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was kind of part of it, having to move to Oklahoma and then Minnesota and back and always make like a new group of friends was sort of how I learned to survive.

• 13:41Dax Shepard?

  So you get to Plano for what, junior high or middle school?

• 13:43Speaker 02

  Middle school, yeah, fifth grade.

• 13:45Dax Shepard?

  And how did that go, that transition now from Minnesota to Plano?

• 13:49Speaker 02

  I remember that as like a weird time. I had two best friends in Minnesota, like the bikes in the summer, the whole thing, like great, really great friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Lake Life in Texas, that's really all there was. That's what we did. But that was it with those two friends and losing them, that was a first kind of real loss. And I remember being depressed when I was 10, moving back to Plano to Dallas and then having this daunting task of meeting new people and creating new relationships again.

• 14:14Dax Shepard?

  And now you are a Vikings fan.

• 14:17Speaker 02

  We did have that Metrodome back then. Yeah, it's not there anymore.

• 14:21Speaker 01

  Is your sister younger or older?

• 14:22Speaker 02

  She is younger by 17 months, so we're pretty, pretty close in age.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Okay, Irish twins, they say.

• 14:27Dax Shepard?

  And this may shock you, but she's also shockingly attractive.

• 14:31Speaker 01

  So the whole family, the whole families were just...

• 14:33Speaker 02

  She was Miss, I'm gonna butcher it, she was Miss Texas, I think, or Miss...

• 14:37Speaker 01

  We'll fact check it. You wrote it down.

• 14:39Dax Shepard?

  I hate consulting it, but I will.

• 14:41Speaker 02

  She's way older than me in maturity levels.

• 14:42Dax Shepard?

  Miss Missouri.

• 14:43Speaker 02

  Miss Missouri, what am I talking about? She went to school at Mizzou, she was Miss Missouri.

• 14:48Dax Shepard?

  And a contestant in Miss America.

• 14:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:50Speaker 01

  Now, did you grow up with everyone doing what we just did, which is, oh my God, your family is so beautiful and so perfect?

• 14:59Speaker 02

  It was more like your mom's hot.

• 15:01Speaker 01

  Okay, okay.

• 15:01Dax Shepard?

  And your dad's handsome.

• 15:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:03Dax Shepard?

  Although your buddies probably weren't calm down. Fuck, man, your dad is handsome.

• 15:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, I would have appreciated his skin and stature.

• 15:13Dax Shepard?

  Okay, back to mom being a cool substitute. Boy, these substitutes, God bless them, man. They come in and you meet, you're going, oh, great, we get to fuck off today and be assholes.

• 15:22Speaker 02

  Completely.

• 15:23Dax Shepard?

  That's the first thing you think.

• 15:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:24Dax Shepard?

  If my mom walked in the classroom, I'd be like, guys, we're not allowed to do the thing where we're assholes today.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  Be nice to my mom.

• 15:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I would have felt embarrassed and then me, I would have felt protective.

• 15:33Speaker 02

  This had to be tough. She would just let everyone screw off. That's why, that's why it was good. She was just like, it would be a fun day. She knew how to get everyone around to doing what they were supposed to do. But it was started off with games and candy and everyone loved Mrs. Crawford. Yeah, she was like the cool mom as well.

• 15:50Dax Shepard?

  So you weren't embarrassed that mom was there? Because it doesn't really matter how cool mom is. She's just kind of embarrassing, right? When you're a little kid.

• 15:57Speaker 01

  Well, not if you have Miss Crawford, I guess.

• 16:00Speaker 02

  Miss Crawford was great. Fast forward to high school a little bit, but she would, let's have the party at our house. She wasn't like the remove, like do whatever you want, but she kind of wanted over at the house. And that was fun and people liked it and she was the cool mom.

• 16:10Dax Shepard?

  Were you overly protective of little sister? Or did you stay out of her business? Were you monitoring what was going on?

• 16:16Speaker 02

  No, I mean, my, my sister was more like embarrassed of me. I think me and my sister were so different. By high school, she was on honor council. She was like a straight A student. She was president of the whatever and I was starting to cut up a little bit. I was a very good student. I did very well in school until about middle of high school and I just collapsed.

• 16:33Dax Shepard?

  I had the same trajectory.

• 16:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was a weird thing. I think it was an early rejection from a girl, like in like eighth grade, maybe freshman year, like 13, like the worst time. It's all hilarious in hindsight, but you feel that thing. And then I was doing school. It was a rigorous school and I was getting really good grades.

• 16:50Dax Shepard?

  Trinity something?

• 16:50Speaker 02

  Trinity Christian Academy. Yeah, it was kind of a strict school, like small private school. I was just kind of doing everything to please my parents in a way. That just ran out. I just couldn't do that anymore. I just wanted to have fun.

• 17:00Dax Shepard?

  Do you play any sports?

• 17:01Speaker 02

  I played golf and football.

• 17:03Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I got to a point, I was on this math trajectory. I had been on the math team in junior high and then I started the whole pre calc thing. And I just had this moment where I was like, well, I'm not ever going to be a physicist or an engineer. There's no application for this in my life. Why on earth am I learning this? And then unfortunately I just started applying to nearly every subject. I'm like, I'm not going to be a history teacher, right? I was like, I'm going to live in my car like Jack Kerouac.

• 17:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 17:27Dax Shepard?

  I don't really need any of this. What am I doing? Did you have a game plan of what you thought you were going to do?

• 17:31Speaker 02

  It was all to get into a good school. All this nervous energy, just trying to get into a good college. Everyone was just really stressed about getting into a good school. Otherwise your life was a failure, you know?

• 17:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 17:41Speaker 02

  It was kind of like that hamster wheel of that. Like you never thought about what's feasible in life to go do, like you said, calculus. You know, I'm not going to be an engineer or computer scientist.

• 17:50Dax Shepard?

  And that mindset, it's like, if you don't get into a good school, you're going to jail. It's like, those are the two trajectories in life.

• 17:55Speaker 02

  The stakes were so crazy.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, you don't have a complete frontal lobe. So literally, you probably can't think about

• 18:02Speaker 02

  Completely.

• 18:02Speaker 01

  what you're going to be doing in 10 years. So it's like, oh, the next rung is college and it better be a good one because I'm supposed to go to a good one. And then you burn out.

• 18:10Speaker 02

  It was definite burnout.

• 18:12Dax Shepard?

  Why do you think you chose Pepperdine?

• 18:14Speaker 02

  To get out of Texas. It was either SMU or Texas. There was a few other schools in there, but SMU is Southern Methodist, 20 minutes from my house. You know, I was like, I don't want to be 20 minutes from mom and dad.

• 18:24Dax Shepard?

  Your mom might sub one of these classes in college.

• 18:28Speaker 02

  She'd be terrible, you know, and never hear the end of it after that.

• 18:31Speaker 01

  You were like, they're not supposed to be candy in college.

• 18:35Speaker 02

  Like, where's a beer?

• 18:36Dax Shepard?

  But you don't think there's any back of your subconscious that was like, we belong in California.

• 18:41Speaker 02

  I was drawn to it. I forget what trip I took out here at a deep, weird level. It just felt like I've always been attracted to getting out of the bubble and meeting new people in different walks of life, in different stages, which is one of my favorite things about acting is you always are meeting kind of like weird, interesting people, even if you don't get along.

• 18:57Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, who have left their hometown.

• 18:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. I always thought I would go back to Texas or Dallas, I assumed. And I just wanted to, if I could get into Pepperdine, I would get out of Texas for four years. That was it.

• 19:09Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so you only did a few semesters there, right?

• 19:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:12Dax Shepard?

  And for people who have never seen Pepperdine, it's almost impossible. You're on the PCH and you're in the highest valued real estate in the world. And you look to your right and there are 12 flat acres of grass. Oh, it's not flat, but it's on a hill, but just beautiful grass in this picturesque college. And you think, who could go here?

• 19:32Speaker 01

  On the way to Malibu.

• 19:33Dax Shepard?

  In Malibu, right?

• 19:34Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 19:34Speaker 02

  They put a golf course on the land. I don't know what they, yeah, they bought it in the seventies for probably a steal. It's a small school relatively. It's tough to make it to class.

• 19:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so what happens when you land there and like the ocean's across the street?

• 19:46Speaker 02

  You go to the beach every day. I met some really great friends in college, three dudes from Texas, from Austin and somewhere else randomly. But we got along and then that was the whole realization for me. You can grow and kind of grow out of what you were to people from like fifth grade to high school.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  New identity.

• 20:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was kind of like a validating thing. I can go make new friends in this new big school and be in that next stage of life. And I got there and I'm like, oh shit, I don't know what I want to do again. I don't know what I want to do long term with my life.

• 20:15Dax Shepard?

  It's occurring to you, you don't want to be a journalist?

• 20:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. I was taking that communications course. I don't, I love it. It's great, but I'm not gonna be.

• 20:22Dax Shepard?

  So how do we decide we're gonna drop out and pursue acting?

• 20:26Speaker 02

  I was really naive. It was the one time in my life, my parents were kind of like, hey, you graduated high school a little bit early. Just take a year off. And I was like, really? Is that on the table? Which was a nice thing. And so I took a year off. I was like valeting cars out there in Malibu at Joffre's.

• 20:45Dax Shepard?

  Very short valet, right?

• 20:49Speaker 02

  I lied. I said I could drive stick, did not know how to drive stick.

• 20:52Dax Shepard?

  Wow, so you burnt up some clutches?

• 20:54Speaker 02

  Oh, totally. It's Ferraris coming through.

• 20:56Dax Shepard?

  You've had one of the jobs, it's shocking to me, I never had. I can't believe I was never a valet. I'm obsessed with cars and I love driving cars and I love tips.

• 21:06Speaker 02

  The tip thing was real. It's like a high.

• 21:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And you get to woo a new person every five minutes. You get to like be charming every five minutes to a stranger.

• 21:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:15Dax Shepard?

  Did you love it? Was it as good as I fantasized about?

• 21:17Speaker 02

  I loved it, actually. It was a weird little fraternity. There were like eight dudes. There was a hierarchy. Some guy was like 45 and total Venice, like long hair stoner with like dog in the truck. And he was kind of like the head guy. And then it was a tough job to get, I guess. I got like the low rung and I was like the runner. I was running across PCH like Frogger. You would have to floor the cars down PCH and they're ripping.

• 21:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 21:40Speaker 02

  You turn, rip it back up, park on the opposite side and then run back and forth and you're straddling the media. It was awesome. I loved it though. The timing was great, but it was insane.

• 21:50Dax Shepard?

  Again, more geography lessons. PCH is the most dangerous road in California. It has the most deaths per square mile. It's a circus.

• 21:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:58Dax Shepard?

  People are doing U-turns to go to the beach. I mean, it's a mess.

• 22:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was bad.

• 22:01Speaker 01

  How many accidents do we think happen?

• 22:03Dax Shepard?

  Hour late.

• 22:04Speaker 01

  No, no, valets.

• 22:06Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I think they're pretty good, man.

• 22:08Speaker 02

  I had an accident, yeah.

• 22:09Speaker 01

  You did?

• 22:09Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah.

• 22:10Speaker 01

  What happened?

• 22:10Speaker 02

  Well, I did, so I didn't actually, it wasn't like a full wreck, but it was always such a rush. You would leave cars and pull them out, leave them. Well, I just jumped out of one one time and left the door open and it was in neutral. And I heard it before I saw it.

• 22:24Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 22:24Speaker 02

  And it slowly rolled back, cut speed, and the door, Tommy Boy style, hyper extended. I was like, oh shit, like, slow motion, and like, you know.

• 22:33Dax Shepard?

  What did you do? What did you?

• 22:37Speaker 02

  I just closed it and, you know, like, let the guy figure it out.

• 22:40Speaker 01

  I know, you just gotta pretend like nothing happened.

• 22:42Dax Shepard?

  Do you remember what kind of car it was?

• 22:43Speaker 02

  My saving grace was like, I hop back in, I'm like, yes, it's a rental car.

• 22:47Dax Shepard?

  Oh. What a blessing.

• 22:49Speaker 02

  It was a blessing because, you know, all these things have their own insurance or whatever, so I went right away, told the main real guy that ran the restaurant.

• 22:56Dax Shepard?

  Told him to put his joint down for a second.

• 22:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 22:59Dax Shepard?

  I guess something's gonna harsh your high right now.

• 23:01Speaker 02

  Like, you idiot, go home, we'll deal with this later. But you're lucky it's a rental car.

• 23:05Dax Shepard?

  Do you remember, were you stoked when rad cars pulled up? Did you care?

• 23:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, I remember being very nervous when it was like a Ferrari. And John's like, get that one, you know? And it was like a paddle shifter, I had no idea.

• 23:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, this is no.

• 23:16Speaker 02

  I was like, I don't know how to do it. I kinda learned, but it was bad.

• 23:19Speaker 01

  That's not the place to practice.

• 23:20Dax Shepard?

  It wasn't easy on the car.

• 23:21Speaker 02

  It wasn't the place to practice, but I remember like Orlando Bloom coming in and like tipping me money.

• 23:26Dax Shepard?

  Oh, really?

• 23:27Speaker 02

  And I was like, good tip, and Kate Bosworth, I'm like, oh, this is awesome.

• 23:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're meeting.

• 23:31Speaker 02

  The stars are here.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 23:32Dax Shepard?

  What an exciting L.A. job.

• 23:34Speaker 02

  It was, it was.

• 23:35Dax Shepard?

  What other celebrities you see? That's great.

• 23:37Speaker 02

  Oh, God, who else? I remember, and I think I've told him this when I saw him, like, dude, you know, you gave me a nice tip one time, thank you, but I remember like Shug Knight coming through, which was weird, because he had like punched the valets, so everyone was scared of him.

• 23:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 23:50Speaker 02

  Random people, it was like Tommy Lee and Malibu locals out there.

• 23:54Dax Shepard?

  Who's the old, aw, hell, Julie, what was that actor from 48 Hours?

• 23:58Speaker 01

  Nick Nolte.

• 23:58Dax Shepard?

  Nick Nolte. Did you ever see Nick Nolte?

• 24:00Speaker 02

  I did see Nick Nolte.

• 24:01Dax Shepard?

  Yes, he's a staple in Malibu.

• 24:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, he is.

• 24:04Dax Shepard?

  Did you ever see Robert Downey Jr.?

• 24:05Speaker 02

  Never saw Downey Jr. No, no, no, keep him coming. I was pumped that when we see him.

• 24:11Dax Shepard?

  Johnny Carson, no. He's on Malibu.

• 24:14Speaker 01

  He was?

• 24:14Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 24:15Speaker 01

  Are you religious? Cause Pepperdine's religious.

• 24:18Speaker 02

  Right.

• 24:18Speaker 01

  You went to a Catholic school.

• 24:20Speaker 02

  It was Baptist.

• 24:21Speaker 01

  Oh, Trinity was Catholic.

• 24:22Speaker 02

  But yeah, so my mom's dad was a pastor, an Azarine pastor, I want to say, and lived in Texas. Grew up religious.

• 24:28Speaker 01

  Okay, yeah.

• 24:29Speaker 02

  Didn't quite realize how strict Pepperdine was, actually.

• 24:32Speaker 01

  It's very, isn't it?

• 24:33Speaker 02

  I don't want to butcher, I think it's Church of Christ, which is very like no instruments in worship and.

• 24:38Dax Shepard?

  No bullshit.

• 24:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly.

• 24:40Dax Shepard?

  No fun.

• 24:41Speaker 02

  No fun.

• 24:41Dax Shepard?

  That's where Jed and I went, right? To law school?

• 24:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, he did.

• 24:44Speaker 02

  If you had a girl in your room or vice versa, passed like 11 or 11:30 PM, something really kind of weird. They'd give you like a demerit, and there's like three demerits, whatever, I don't know what happens. But the mag light would come through and I'd be caught, not in a copper light, it was like you're literally just talking.

• 24:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:59Speaker 02

  You know, like a normal.

• 25:00Speaker 01

  In college.

• 25:00Speaker 02

  In college.

• 25:01Speaker 01

  This isn't high school.

• 25:02Speaker 02

  So I do remember that. I quickly realized there was like small little fraternities that were just basically friend groups to actually be able to have fun off campus.

• 25:09Dax Shepard?

  I didn't know it was that direct.

• 25:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, I didn't either, till I showed up.

• 25:13Dax Shepard?

  Okay, was it great money too? I'm sorry, we're gonna move off of valeting soon, but I'm so envious of this role. Fucking, in fact, that's another job I could do in retirement, other than 7-Eleven.

• 25:24Speaker 01

  That's better than 7-Eleven.

• 25:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was, I remember feeling so lucky to have the job because a buddy in college, a good friend was older and he had the job, but he couldn't do it. So he kind of like, hey, I'm giving this to you, it's tough slot, everyone wants this thing.

• 25:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 25:37Speaker 02

  It was great. He knew I couldn't really drive stick, but he vouched for me. And it was like I was in this little cool fraternity and it was summer time there and you'd have like a family meal, free meal, like cash.

• 25:47Dax Shepard?

  Can I guess what you were making a shift?

• 25:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:50Dax Shepard?

  I'm gonna go with 350.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  But then tips.

• 25:53Speaker 02

  I wish I knew.

• 25:55Speaker 01

  Oh, 350.

• 25:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  I thought you meant 3 dollars.

• 25:57Speaker 02

  I wish I could remember, I guarantee you it was somewhere around that. But on a big night, I remember going home with some good tips. It was like a dopamine hit, it was like a slot machine mentality, like what's gonna happen next? And it was like a lot of fun.

• 26:08Dax Shepard?

  And this was 2004 or 2005?

• 26:11Speaker 02

  Summer of 04.

• 26:12Dax Shepard?

  So it's cash, baby, too. You're walking with hard cash.

• 26:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:16Dax Shepard?

  Fuck.

• 26:16Speaker 02

  I know, it was great. I was living in Malibu with four other dudes in this house, kind of a decrepit like 70s house, it never been updated. But like, we had this cool little. But they were like surfers and it was a lot of fun.

• 26:28Speaker 01

  It's gonna be a reality show.

• 26:29Speaker 02

  The good old day. I know. Now I'm like 40.

• 26:31Speaker 01

  They should have done it.

• 26:32Speaker 02

  Was it gonna get any better than that?

• 26:33Dax Shepard?

  No, it's not. I know.

• 26:34Speaker 01

  Right, no.

• 26:35Dax Shepard?

  I'm so jealous of this whole spell of yours. Okay, so how do we get from there to 2006, The Covenant?

• 26:42Speaker 02

  I got into an acting class.

• 26:43Dax Shepard?

  Oh, a Meisner class?

• 26:44Speaker 02

  Meisner class, exactly. I forget the name of it, but it was a more serious class. A friend was doing acting. I had done some acting in high school and I was always sort of artistically inclined. I did photography. I loved it. I painted, I drew. And so my parents kind of like, why don't you just get out of your shell, take an acting class? And I randomly got this very serious Meisner. I knew nothing about it. I just loved it. I loved watching it. It was so abstract about coming to the door and the exit. And I like was like, what is this?

• 27:10Dax Shepard?

  You didn't feel panicked like I'm out of my depth?

• 27:13Speaker 02

  I wasn't trying to be an actor. I was so naive. There was no pressure. It was just fun. And these kids were in there really trying and I was like, okay, I'm gonna try and be this good actor within class. I was ever thinking about really becoming an actor.

• 27:27Dax Shepard?

  And did you get an agent from that class?

• 27:28Speaker 02

  I did. I just kept kind of networking. A friend was like an actress to a manager was like, hey, I know this very low boutique, small like agency. It was probably more like a management company as today, just a few people and I went with them.

• 27:41Dax Shepard?

  This is where people pleasing, like people pleasing gets a bad rap. But this is where it's great, right? Cause I wasn't a people pleaser and consequently no one wanted to help me. Cause I didn't avail myself at all.

• 27:53Speaker 02

  Right.

• 27:53Dax Shepard?

  I was trying to act like I knew everything and don't help me and I got it figured out. And of course, no one tried to help me because it didn't seem like I was open to that. I didn't have a fucking agent for like six years and I wanted one. I didn't get a job at a valet. I can see the value. You're nice and there's a great word for it. I mean, no.

• 28:10Speaker 02

  Well, I was a bit of a chameleon as well to try and survive as a kid. You know, you learn it was kind of a survival thing to make new friends.

• 28:17Dax Shepard?

  All the different cities.

• 28:18Speaker 02

  It wasn't like I was completely changing. I had an ability to kind of connect with people from all walks of life.

• 28:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And I think it's a great thing. And then so people are like, yeah, I'll vouch for you. That's what's tricky about when people are like, I'm gonna stop being this way. And it's like, well, also acknowledge none of it's good or bad. This. characteristics also got me to here.

• 28:37Speaker 02

  Right.

• 28:38Dax Shepard?

  What part do I keep and what part do I get rid of? It's hard to know.

• 28:41Speaker 02

  Completely, yeah. And you don't really know that as a kid, even into your twenties, if you haven't really examined it.

• 28:46Dax Shepard?

  So when you end up in the covenant, you're now like, I want to be an actor, clearly.

• 28:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, so I went with this agent. She was great. She did guys and it was back when pilot season was a real thing, like happening every fall. And she was like, I'm gonna send you out for some auditions, just randomly. And I was getting good feedback. I was very green, but they're like, oh, he's talented and you know, work on this. And I was doing auditions and I was having fun with it. I was like part time in school. I was valeting cars, living in this house. And then the covenant came along eventually in 2005. You know, it was a real budget Sony Screen Gems movie, you know, at the time.

• 29:17Speaker 01

  That's wild.

• 29:18Dax Shepard?

  So Taylor Kitsch was in it.

• 29:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, Taylor Kitsch, Sebastian Stan.

• 29:22Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 29:23Speaker 02

  A guy named Toby Hemingway, a British guy we're still friends with, and Stephen Strait was like one of the guys too.

• 29:28Dax Shepard?

  Did you and Taylor get on?

• 29:30Speaker 02

  We did. Me, Taylor and Sebastian and Toby. They were my first real friends. Yeah, like Taylor would like sleep on my couch back in when you come to LA. And he was kind of new.

• 29:40Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so I only know the lore of him because I'm an enormous Friday Night Lights fan.

• 29:43Speaker 02

  Me too.

• 29:44Dax Shepard?

  I've never met him and we'll get to that. But the lore is he was a trainer.

• 29:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:48Dax Shepard?

  Right? So at that time, was he a trainer? Was he already fucking jacked and looking gorgeous? Or were you not intrigued?

• 29:56Speaker 02

  Looking gorgeous. Yeah. That's funny because I specifically remember going and meeting them for the first time in Montreal at the hotel. And we were gonna eat dinner. We all got spaghetti or lasagna and all this stuff. He kind of was like looking at us.

• 30:10Dax Shepard?

  And he got some chicken and vegetables?

• 30:11Speaker 02

  And I cut to him, he's like absolutely shredded. And like, he was a nutritionist. He went to school for two years.

• 30:17Dax Shepard?

  He's like, you guys are killing yourselves.

• 30:19Speaker 02

  He basically, well, he basically like in hindsight, it was funny. He introduced us to all this stuff of working out and eating right. It kind of gave us a trainer. So that was like the start of falling in love with working out with the guys. Like it was fun. And looking back, we were like just shoveling bread and pasta and we had a reason to get in shape. It was a fun boot camp type thing.

• 30:37Dax Shepard?

  And everyone's gonna be shirtless. You gotta show up?

• 30:39Speaker 02

  It was hilarious. We're warlocks.

• 30:42Speaker 01

  So do you love men's bodies too, like that? He's obsessed with men's bodies.

• 30:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, you have a good routine, right? You go to the gym and you do the full.

• 30:50Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, but also I'm just obsessed with other men's bodies. Yeah, more than my own body. I'm much more obsessed with other men. If I were a good painter, I could paint right now perfectly Taylor Kitsch's body. Like, I know it like I know Brad Pitt's in Flight Club.

• 31:03Speaker 02

  He showed up, we were like, oh my God. He did nutrition, he was doing modeling, but he was like really working and he didn't have a place in LA. But he was full on shredded and eating right and the whole night.

• 31:13Speaker 01

  It's funny because I've kind of forgot that was him because the last thing I saw him in, I think, was the Waco thing.

• 31:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:19Speaker 01

  Where he's like.

• 31:19Dax Shepard?

  He's not hot in that.

• 31:20Speaker 01

  Well, he's not ripped in that at all, I don't think.

• 31:23Speaker 02

  Skinny for that thing, I think.

• 31:24Speaker 01

  So skinny, so that's kind of my new version.

• 31:26Dax Shepard?

  Well, you need to re-watch F and L. We just re-watched it because of our daughters, we're finally old enough. And I was like, oh, right, it is the best show ever.

• 31:32Speaker 02

  It's incredible. And the story there was we shot the thing, we come back, he stays at my couch for like a month and he's like, I'm like going to screen test for the show. And I had been auditioning for it. And I got a test deal to read for the quarterback, for Jason Street.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 31:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was like so excited because I knew he was basically going to be Riggins. He had to think, jump through one more hoop. And I was like, oh, the idea of we just become friends. Like, he was like my only friend in the business. Like, yeah, yeah, let's move to Austin and do Texas football, that's where I'm from, you know? I didn't get it. I remember being bummed for like a month.

• 32:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's a heartbreaker.

• 32:07Speaker 02

  That was a heartbreaker. I remember that was my first real, like, that's a role I wanted.

• 32:10Dax Shepard?

  And you'd only had good luck thus far.

• 32:12Speaker 02

  No, yeah, completely.

• 32:13Dax Shepard?

  You probably missed that a little bit.

• 32:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:14Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah, when I go in, I get these things and then I make friends and then we all work together.

• 32:17Speaker 01

  We make friends with you, Dustin, it's just so easy.

• 32:19Speaker 02

  Realizing that was like the most rare situation to become friends with those guys and we're still all friends.

• 32:27Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's smart. Not checking which platform you watch that new show on, so frustrating. 15 minutes later, you've logged into seven apps, reset two passwords and still haven't found it. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Co. and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. This episode is supported by Helix.

• 33:05Speaker 01

  Dax, is there anything better than crawling into a perfect bed on a cold fall night? Candlelit, hoodie on, maybe even some rain outside. The dream.

• 33:16Dax Shepard?

  That's the dream. You just described one of my ideal fall nights.

• 33:20Speaker 01

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• 33:36Dax Shepard?

  Increasingly so.

• 33:37Speaker 01

  I need it. I have to have it. And I heard that you're supposed to sleep at a cold temp. For optimal sleep. It's very, very helpful.

• 33:47Dax Shepard?

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• 34:07Speaker 01

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• 34:14Dax Shepard?

  Go to helixsleep.com/armchair for 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com/armchair for 20% off site wide. helixsleep.com/armchair. We are supported by Walden University. You know that feeling when you've been thinking about making a move, going after the degree, the promotion, the thing you keep telling yourself you'll get to someday? Walden University is built for that moment. For over 50 years, Walden has helped working professionals get the W, the knowledge, the skills, and the confidence to create real change in their careers and communities. Their programs are designed around your life, not the other way around.

• 34:56Dax Shepard?

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• 35:41Dax Shepard?

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• 36:38Speaker 03

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• 36:56Dax Shepard?

  Now, were you able to watch the show and enjoy it, or did it fuck you up? Did you have to boycott it because you didn't get it?

• 37:03Speaker 02

  I've boycotted things I didn't get. I remember him being back in LA, maybe this summer, he had it on DVD. We don't even have those anymore. He had, he's like, do you want to watch? I was like, yeah, I do, I do. And watching the pilot, it wasn't jealousy, it was FOMO. It was like, I wish. It wasn't like I wish death upon everyone. It was like, oh, I wish I was a part of that. That's amazing.

• 37:22Speaker 01

  The wheelchair element, though.

• 37:24Dax Shepard?

  You might have dodged a ball.

• 37:25Speaker 02

  We didn't know. They didn't tell anyone that that was going to be the role. So that was interesting.

• 37:30Dax Shepard?

  Did you have any interesting interaction with Pete Berg? Because I had one meeting with Pete Berg. For people who know me, he was an actor forever and then became a great director. And he directed the movie and then the pilot of that show. And I had a general with him one time. He was like five minutes late and they let me sit in his office before he got in there. And then he walked in and he had tissue crammed in his nose that was just caked with blood.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  Nose bleeding.

• 37:48Dax Shepard?

  And he goes, oh, sorry, man, I'm late. I was sparring with so and so. I'm like, this dude's such a raw dog, man.

• 37:54Speaker 01

  Oh, my god.

• 37:55Dax Shepard?

  He's broke his nose and now he's in this meeting and he was just fighting a man seconds before this meeting.

• 38:00Speaker 02

  He's a wild dude. Yeah, yeah. I've been to dinner with him with mutual friends since. Like, he's a great guy. I remember him being in the room and directing the screen test and throwing me curveballs a bit. I was like freaking out. I'm like, I don't know how to be off the script.

• 38:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:13Speaker 02

  But that was, in hindsight, that was cool. Like, I would appreciate that more now, like the improv nature of that. He's, okay, you're in an interview, throw me questions, you know, how would you answer this as a quarterback? Which really threw me. It was just probably why I didn't get it. But, yeah, but now I would welcome that.

• 38:26Dax Shepard?

  Okay, and then Gossip Girl comes pretty quickly after that, right? So the heartbreak doesn't last terribly long. What do you think the duration is between screen testing for Friday Night Lights?

• 38:35Speaker 02

  Exactly a year. It was the next pilot season.

• 38:38Dax Shepard?

  Did you do anything in between there?

• 38:39Speaker 02

  Covenant came out. I did, it wasn't Lifetime, it was a movie. It was a movie that we shot in Turks and Caicos, which was a lot of fun, but it was very small budget. But my mom loves the movie. I'm blanking on the name of it, thank god. Don't go watch it. But I remember.

• 38:51Dax Shepard?

  You're not blanking on the name at all. You know exactly the name of it.

• 38:56Speaker 01

  No, you should say the wrong name of the movie so we go watch it like the other movie.

• 39:00Speaker 02

  They changed the name of it.

• 39:01Speaker 01

  It's called like The Six Signs of the Man.

• 39:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. Something ridiculous. I came back and I got with ICM, the new agency, because the Covenant came out.

• 39:08Dax Shepard?

  You got a little heat. It was like, ooh, I'm doing the thing.

• 39:11Speaker 02

  And then I remember going into their office to see the pilots and it was these hard scripts and it said Gossip Girl. I'm like, that's like the stupidest name ever for a show, you know? I was like, they're gonna change that name. They're gonna change it.

• 39:22Dax Shepard?

  Sounds a little emasculating, like, I'm gonna be on a show called Gossip Girl.

• 39:26Speaker 02

  It sounds so weird. I didn't realize it was a book franchise and they had had people that were fans of it.

• 39:31Dax Shepard?

  I'm offended you hadn't been reading the Gossip Girl YA.

• 39:34Speaker 02

  Then that was back when you would have to read for the first couple of people, then producers, director, execs, and then you're in like the conference room with like the stadium seating.

• 39:46Dax Shepard?

  And for people who don't know, you also at some point in auditioning, they make you negotiate your contract.

• 39:52Speaker 02

  Right.

• 39:53Dax Shepard?

  They don't let you go in and read for network without a contract because they don't want to fall in love with you and then you have the leverage.

• 39:58Speaker 02

  Leverage, it's a leverage thing.

• 39:59Dax Shepard?

  By today's standards, we both know is probably not a lot of money, but at 21 years old, when you negotiated that contract for that last audition and you're like, I'm gonna make hundreds of thousands of dollars if we do, I mean, what was your brain doing at that moment?

• 40:13Speaker 02

  Oh, it was such a high. I remember thinking if I'd won the lottery.

• 40:15Dax Shepard?

  Yes, you did.

• 40:17Speaker 02

  You're not doing all the math of the percentage that everyone takes.

• 40:19Dax Shepard?

  No, you're getting 100% of that money.

• 40:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, just thinking of that number per episode times how many, you know?

• 40:25Dax Shepard?

  I just wanted to drive a Ferrari. One's certainly in my future.

• 40:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm going back to that job. Lo and behold, it's like the lowest possible thing for six years, but you know, you sign your life away for six years too. You're not really thinking about that.

• 40:40Dax Shepard?

  Hell no.

• 40:41Speaker 02

  You don't even know if it's gonna be successful, so that's like a pipe dream.

• 40:43Dax Shepard?

  So one cute thing I learned today is that you and Ed Westwick.

• 40:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:48Dax Shepard?

  You guys immediately start roomating together in Chelsea. Out of the gates, how did you meet him so quick and go like, let's move in together?

• 40:56Speaker 02

  We shot the pilot in April or something in 07, three weeks in New York. I'm like, I love New York now, it's incredible. He was young, he was like 18. I remember looking at prices that summer, I guess we gotta move there. I'm like, how much is it? I'm like, it's insane.

• 41:12Dax Shepard?

  And you just found out you're keeping 40% of what you made.

• 41:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm a little more realistic. Not one check has come yet. I'm like, maybe I get a roommate. I just text, I'm like, dude, you wanna like live together? He's like, yeah, sure, whatever, man, like just go find it, you know?

• 41:26Dax Shepard?

  Tell me what address. To show up.

• 41:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, I remember me and my mom, I went up there, we saw like three places and I was like, I guess this one will work.

• 41:32Dax Shepard?

  Did he live in England at that time?

• 41:34Speaker 02

  He'd never left his hometown. I don't know if he was outside London, I forget the name of it, but he was like in London area and he was a mini Pete Doherty, you know, he was like trying to be in a band.

• 41:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you from Plano, him from England, you guys are in Chelsea?

• 41:46Speaker 02

  It was wild. Yeah, it was like Animal House.

• 41:49Dax Shepard?

  How nice or not nice was the apartment?

• 41:52Speaker 02

  It started out nice and then it was like, what was funny, it was a, I forget what they call it, two bedroom convertible. So it was an office. We, I had a wall, just a sheet rock built, basically like a closet. And I was like, hey, I'll pay a little bit more a month for the first six months, take the master.

• 42:06Dax Shepard?

  You live in the closet. I find the place. Oh, you proposed to flip.

• 42:11Speaker 02

  I actually did propose to flip. They don't flip, you pay more and that of course never happened.

• 42:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's not.

• 42:16Dax Shepard?

  Every six weeks, every, oh, right, team of movers are in there.

• 42:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, never, never happened. And it was decidedly disgusting, but it was so much fun.

• 42:26Dax Shepard?

  You have a charmed life on the fun spectrum. Yeah.

• 42:30Speaker 02

  It was a lot. It was a lot, though.

• 42:32Speaker 01

  Do to the dynamic of all the people on the show because, I mean, for one, it's, you know, teen show, hot show, all eyes, so dramatic. So in real life, you're really good friends with him. I can only assume you guys are living together.

• 42:45Speaker 02

  Totally, yeah.

• 42:46Speaker 01

  But then there's other boys on the show and yeah.

• 42:50Speaker 02

  They didn't actually. I had a good relationship with all the main, like Penn and Blake and Leighton and him were kind of the core cast and we all got along. We all had a great time. I mean, but me and Ed, we would go out, we would go out, shoot pool, you know what I mean?

• 43:03Dax Shepard?

  We would go out.

• 43:04Speaker 02

  We would go out and they, I remember they had like on one of the buildings, a rooftop, which was kind of redone. They had couches up there and a grill and we would just bring a Bose speaker and a bunch of beer and like we would have parties up there.

• 43:17Dax Shepard?

  Were you banging darts ever?

• 43:18Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was a big smoker. All my New York friends smoked, they're like actors there and like you could smoke somewhere indoors and I never enjoyed them.

• 43:28Dax Shepard?

  You're a good boy.

• 43:29Speaker 01

  You wanted to be cool.

• 43:30Speaker 02

  But I would hit the butt, you know, get the cigarette thing, act like I'm cool, like I really loved it, you know what I mean?

• 43:35Dax Shepard?

  You're on a rooftop banging. Drink a beer in New York City.

• 43:40Speaker 01

  How was your ego, though, at the time? It must have been through the roof, right?

• 43:43Speaker 02

  It's funny, it does affect you.

• 43:45Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 43:46Speaker 02

  How fame always affects you, yeah.

• 43:48Dax Shepard?

  Can we talk about the moment? Cause you were seeing The Black Keys in Central Park.

• 43:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, you got it.

• 43:51Dax Shepard?

  You and Ed.

• 43:52Speaker 02

  Right.

• 43:53Dax Shepard?

  And that was the first time where all of a sudden, people are starting to come up to you.

• 43:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was the very first time. I'll never forget it. It's a validating feeling to kind of know that what you've been working on is being enjoyed and seen.

• 44:04Dax Shepard?

  It's the signal of success.

• 44:05Speaker 02

  It's impossible to not like that. You can get annoyed at certain situations, but to this day, even people that are fans of The Boys, like, dude, I love it. It's a fun thing.

• 44:14Dax Shepard?

  It's lovely. There's uncomfortable parts, but boy, it's lovely. Especially when you're young.

• 44:18Speaker 02

  It blew up. I mean, that was like the show. It still holds up.

• 44:20Dax Shepard?

  I can't watch it. My memory of how funny the thing was versus when I watched it, I'm like, oh no, I inflated in my mind.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  I remember the Timberlake one was hilarious. Oh my god.

• 44:29Dax Shepard?

  It was a kind of cultural phenomenon.

• 44:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:32Speaker 01

  You guys created a word. That word now is in the zeitgeist.

• 44:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:37Dax Shepard?

  After eight years of auditioning, not getting anything, it was a rocket ship. And so you, and you already hinted at it, but it can make you an asshole or it can make you a bit paranoid. And it sounds like you went down the paranoid route. How is it affecting you? And I'd imagine it's more tolerable when you're drunk.

• 44:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 44:55Dax Shepard?

  It becomes a great companion piece to this new experience.

• 44:59Speaker 02

  It does. And we're not working all the time. And we had The Keys to the City in a sense. I remember the first iPhone coming out and being like paranoid about iPhone pictures where she couldn't even see anything on the screen. It was stupid, like one pixel. You know, I remember it was the young teenage thing where sometimes it'd be a lot of energy and that would sometimes kind of like startle me a little bit, you know?

• 45:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you had rabid fans.

• 45:21Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 45:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, it became a little bit rabid. I mean, it was crazy for a minute. I remember feeling like a bit of a fraud, like an impostor.

• 45:28Dax Shepard?

  That's why alcohol helps. Cause when you're drunk, your ego gets To inflate and you're like, yeah, I am the shit. But when you're sober, you're like, I don't deserve this.

• 45:34Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 45:35Dax Shepard?

  But when you're hammered, you're like, you're damn right. I'm fucking awesome.

• 45:38Speaker 02

  It's such a high. Yeah.

• 45:40Dax Shepard?

  You almost need the booze to actually enjoy the celebrity.

• 45:42Speaker 02

  That's so profound. It's so true. It's so true.

• 45:45Dax Shepard?

  I'm just now realizing that.

• 45:47Speaker 02

  You're so much more comfortable in your own skin though. And we would go out, we had other friends in the city.

• 45:52Dax Shepard?

  Were you making also other actor friends that you were like flattered by? Like are other actors around town starting to hang with you?

• 45:58Speaker 02

  A little bit, yeah. Nicks players and like it was kind of like you're kind of making friends with someone like, yeah, the pitcher of the Mets. Pretty cool. And Sebastian, I think he came on like episode four or five, Stan, and like we were already friends. So it was like, yes, got another friend here. And we were all just going around. We had a great time. It was a lot of fun, but it is sort of like a weird drug that you chase. You need to kind of be validated and you realize like, what is wrong with me?

• 46:20Dax Shepard?

  It's a very heightened experience that's hard to compute. And then it's also quite addictive and in the absence of it, you feel a big drop.

• 46:29Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:29Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. If you're out in New York city and fucking 40% of the girls at the bar like you.

• 46:34Speaker 01

  Forty, 99.

• 46:36Dax Shepard?

  Probably 99.

• 46:37Speaker 01

  I will tell you 99.

• 46:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, man, that's a special experience. Yeah.

• 46:42Speaker 02

  It was good for a while. It is a bit empty though. You're trying to keep chasing that feeling or that high.

• 46:47Dax Shepard?

  Well, you feel it when you're not experiencing, again, it's so high.

• 46:50Speaker 02

  Right. It kind of like drives you that question like, why, like, why am I doing this? What am I doing? What am I going to do next? I need to kind of maintain this thing that's been created and what's my reason for doing the next project or picking the next thing? And if it's fame and you're trying to maintain that, it's a lose lose.

• 47:04Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 47:05Speaker 01

  Did it ever get weird on set while you guys were becoming these big stars? Were you guys kind of like, do you guys know I'm a big star? On set, when they would ask you to do things or you'd have to be there for so many hours, were you guys like, do you know who I am? All of you, you were all becoming such big stars.

• 47:20Speaker 02

  You know, we were pretty lucky. I feel like everyone was in their own respects, very well adjusted. Like everyone was cool and you're working with everyone at some point. The characters are in a thousand episodes are going to sleep together. Like you have like six months with someone, then me and Penn are doing shit.

• 47:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:35Speaker 02

  Me and Heather working. So you kind of, I had my own time with everyone to kind of forge a relationship. They were good. Relationships.

• 47:41Dax Shepard?

  I know there's this kind of stereotype of anytime you have a bunch of young people on a show, they're going to be very competitive, but I actually think the blessing of it is when you're the singular star of the show, you can really start thinking your shit doesn't sting. But if you're sharing it, you're not this big special thing. You're all getting fucking heat when you walk out. You're all experiencing it. So it's like, you can't feel so unique in it. That helps.

• 48:05Speaker 02

  Yeah. And it kind of all happened at the same time. And then inevitably there is a little bit of what is this person getting? When you're young, I'm older, you're just more relaxed with all that stuff. It doesn't really matter.

• 48:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, but back then.

• 48:16Speaker 02

  You're kind of become pretentious or you know, you kind of become self-important. You know, you want to be important. You want to like be the guy. There is a little bit of that anxiety of like, what is he doing that I'm not?

• 48:26Dax Shepard?

  Right. I think when it gets dicey is the summer break.

• 48:29Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 48:30Dax Shepard?

  It's like, who got what? Oh, they're working with that person. Fuck, I better be doing that too.

• 48:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:36Speaker 02

  It's hard not to feel that way. Sitting on your ass and you're like, yo, they're doing like a studio movie.

• 48:41Dax Shepard?

  Eddie Murphy, first year of Saturday Night Live, he's on Saturday Night Live. They go away for the summer break and then he stars in 48 Hours. And when they return, he's in the biggest movie of the summer. And they're all castmates that all started. It's like, that's a lot to deal with for everyone.

• 48:54Speaker 02

  Totally.

• 48:55Dax Shepard?

  How did you, or maybe you did, I didn't follow the drama of it, but did you avoid getting romantically involved with any of these people?

• 49:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:02Dax Shepard?

  Cause I would have, that's where I would have absolutely floundered. I would have tried to date all of them.

• 49:07Speaker 01

  Some of them dated each other.

• 49:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:09Dax Shepard?

  Did they? Okay.

• 49:10Speaker 02

  There's things that happened, connections that happened. I mean, you know, yeah, I never dated anyone on the show officially. I mean, there's a lot of like guest stars and people like in the orbit of the show that you'd meet through other friends even. And I remember that was a way to meet people.

• 49:27Dax Shepard?

  You should. Everyone dates people from work. Why would you not do that in show business?

• 49:31Speaker 01

  Especially when you're already kissing them. I mean, you're literally already.

• 49:35Speaker 02

  You've already.

• 49:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, but they crossed the threshold.

• 49:37Speaker 02

  On that, on that, it's like there's 60 people watching with them boom mic. And they say, oh, you know, they want you to be shirtless again. It's like a whole other thing, you know? When you're young, it is a different thing. It is like a college experience. So it's all different. And everyone's kind of single and dating or whatever. And everyone's sort of up for, you know, up for whatever. No one's married. The stakes are very low, you know? It is a funnier, more college like school experience for sure.

• 50:00Speaker 01

  You wish you had his life.

• 50:02Dax Shepard?

  I would have blown it up. Like, I'm impressed you navigated it. I would have fucked up. I would have been partying too hard.

• 50:06Speaker 02

  Close to fucking.

• 50:07Dax Shepard?

  Okay, okay. Look, I missed the part that you're an Abercrombie and Finch model.

• 50:11Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 50:12Speaker 02

  Oh, god.

• 50:13Speaker 01

  Oh, my god. Were you in the documentary?

• 50:15Speaker 02

  Oh, no, I wasn't. Thank god. I did watch that documentary, though. Yeah.

• 50:20Dax Shepard?

  What if I said, you know what would have been great is I said, did you get romantically involved with any of the cast members? And you go, just Kristen Bell?

• 50:27Speaker 02

  Kristen had the best job. She was in this room with a mic doing a weekly, and that was amazing.

• 50:32Dax Shepard?

  We had started dating just as she was getting that offer. And she's like, this is pretty great. I'm getting like an episodic fee, and I think that's gonna be about 15 minutes a week.

• 50:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, they redid it, right?

• 50:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, she got through that one, too.

• 50:43Speaker 02

  Sucked off of that. Yeah.

• 50:45Speaker 01

  And it showed her voiceover skills, which took her someplace, we could say.

• 50:49Speaker 02

  Right, right. No, completely.

• 50:51Dax Shepard?

  My last question on that period is, how blessed and or resentful do you feel that you guys got to do that just before social media was a thing?

• 51:01Speaker 02

  That's a good question. I feel really blessed, actually. In some weird way, Gossip Girl was ahead of its time. Because it was about this blogger, and he kind of was looking at that social media thing in a different way. But I'm just so thankful that wasn't around when we were there. I mean, how many athletes and actors, you know, you tweet something when you're 18, 20. You do something, it's videoized for forever.

• 51:22Dax Shepard?

  I would have had a ton to say.

• 51:22Speaker 02

  I probably would have lost everything if the video thing was real. But the other flip side of that is, I wish I'd started an Instagram account when Ashton Kutcher did it at the very beginning. Like, I would have a million, you know?

• 51:33Dax Shepard?

  So that's what I was gonna say. The con of it not being there is, there are so many people that have been on these shows that they're very zeitgeisty, and all young people like them. But they're not huge ratings hit. People aren't renegotiating, making a ton of money. But they're making a killing on their social media, which is a nice little thing that you probably could have also made a ton of money outside of the show, had that been around at that time.

• 51:56Speaker 02

  I kind of missed a generation. Like, I'm not all about putting myself out there all the time.

• 52:00Dax Shepard?

  But you've had some success in it.

• 52:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:02Dax Shepard?

  Miles Teller dancing and stuff.

• 52:05Speaker 02

  Those have gone viral.

• 52:07Dax Shepard?

  There's many videos. There's not just one. There's a golf one you're probably referencing, but you guys are shirtless in masks.

• 52:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 52:15Dax Shepard?

  You're doing a lot of dancing. Everyone's bodies look great, by the way. Yeah.

• 52:20Speaker 02

  That was a pandemic. That was when we all went a little crazy.

• 52:24Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so when the show ended, I had this very Mixed feeling about Parenthood ending, which is I also had done six years on that show like you did six years, right?

• 52:31Speaker 02

  Right, yeah.

• 52:33Dax Shepard?

  And I had these two feelings, which was like, one was I could have done that show for the rest of my life. I loved everyone so much. It was such a lovely work environment. I had such freedom. And also, if I do anything for six years, I'm kind of like, okay, I want a new experience. So,

• 52:46Speaker 02

  Right.

• 52:47Dax Shepard?

  What were you feeling like when it ended?

• 52:49Speaker 02

  With the Gossip Girl thing ending, I got super depressed and it was way out of left field because I felt like I had to move back to Los Angeles.

• 52:57Dax Shepard?

  You probably did need to for your health.

• 52:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, totally, completely, completely. But I kind of remember thinking, why didn't I just invest and buy a place and stay in New York? I'm glad I didn't. But I remember getting plopped back in LA and it's like anything else, those people become your identity in a way. They're family. I realized that became really important to me. It's the hair and makeup girls you talk to every day. It's the transpo guy that picks you up. It's just that rhythm and that you are somebody and you mean something in that sphere.

• 53:23Dax Shepard?

  And the schedule's tethering you.

• 53:25Speaker 02

  Completely.

• 53:26Dax Shepard?

  It's like, it's what's allowing you to go be a fucking maniac.

• 53:29Speaker 02

  Enjoy it.

• 53:29Dax Shepard?

  For four days a week.

• 53:30Speaker 02

  You know.

• 53:31Dax Shepard?

  Because you click back into the routine and it's stabilizing.

• 53:34Speaker 02

  Yes. I got spit back out here and I remember being like depressed for six months. Listen, not like clinically, I was getting out of bed, but I was not in a good way.

• 53:43Dax Shepard?

  And I would imagine too, at least in my experience, you have all these waves of thought. You first get off the show and you're like, okay, I probably have a lot of options. So I gotta choose correctly. And then a couple of months goes by and all of a sudden you're like, do I have this many options? You start recalculating what you're gonna do and it can be madness trying to figure out what you're supposed to follow up something like a Parenthood or a Gossip Girl with.

• 54:06Speaker 02

  People think, you know, you're the star of this show and the reality of it in the industry, it's a double edged sword. You know, you're like the pretty boy who was like on a CW show. That honestly was, uh, you know, I see you're in the doghouse, but there is a little bit of that. Yeah. That was the reality I was facing coming back. People think you have all these options and these offers.

• 54:25Dax Shepard?

  You have an option to do the same thing, probably.

• 54:26Speaker 02

  Option to do the same thing. People don't really have an imagination in casting. You kind of got to prove yourself, which is all well and good. But I remember it being limited and not realizing, oh shit, I'm not getting the looks I'm wanting. Wanting and even I'm getting close to stuff and putting in good work. It's like, oh, it's not a good fit. So it was a bit of wanting to really, really switch it up.

• 54:45Dax Shepard?

  I don't know about you, but you also start losing confidence. I gotta readjust what I think I'm gonna be able to get into.

• 54:51Speaker 02

  It was a real lesson for the first time of like, okay, I was stripped kind of of of all the confidence. And again, how you go into that room and act confident to get that job if you're feeling completely.

• 54:59Dax Shepard?

  If you're desperate for it.

• 55:01Speaker 02

  Air of desperation. And it's those moments of of being in this business and industry that people don't see, but you gotta navigate. And that was my first time really navigating.

• 55:08Dax Shepard?

  And you're also pretty darn young still. Like, how old were you when the show ended?

• 55:11Speaker 02

  Twenty seven, eight.

• 55:12Dax Shepard?

  That's the age I was when I got on Punk'd. Let me ask you this. Did you have a chip on your shoulder about the show? Because I don't anymore. I have nothing but gratitude. But I had a few years where I couldn't stand when people would bring up Punk to me.

• 55:23Speaker 02

  Really?

• 55:24Dax Shepard?

  Yes, because it was like, it was a reality show and they would ask me like, what's it like to act when I was promoting without a paddle? And I was like.

• 55:31Speaker 01

  I've been acting.

• 55:32Dax Shepard?

  That's the most acting.

• 55:34Speaker 02

  That's an annoying question. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 55:36Dax Shepard?

  And I was just so defensive about it being a reality show. And then, were you friends with Ash? And I'm like, no, he didn't give me, I just had all these chips on my shoulder about it.

• 55:45Speaker 02

  I did too, for sure. I would feel defensive, I guess, is the only word. I just feel like defensive, like, don't ask me about that. You know what I mean? I'm moving on to other things. But I was always grateful of the show. It was never the people.

• 55:55Dax Shepard?

  Well, that's what I'm sad about is that I had that association with it. Even the first time I interviewed Ash, and I was kind of admitting to that. And he's like, yeah, I very much felt that. And it kind of hurt his feelings.

• 56:06Speaker 02

  Okay, got you.

• 56:07Dax Shepard?

  That I wanted to be so distanced from this great thing he and I did together. And now, of course, I can go like, oh, my God, no one gets to be on a cultural phenomenon. And can't believe I never had apex gratitude for it. Like, of course, I always had the gratitude that it gave me all the opportunities I ended up getting. But also just, dude, if you're on something like that one time in your life, that's going to the Super Bowl. It just doesn't happen.

• 56:30Speaker 02

  It's hard to get to that rarefied air. It really is.

• 56:32Dax Shepard?

  But again, you're so scared because you've had that. It's like, oh, my God, how on earth do I get on another thing of that kind of cultural momentum? Yeah.

• 56:42Speaker 02

  Right, which is tough. And now that it's had this weird life through streaming, it's had like these nine lives. In the same age, you know, fan comes up. I love it. But there was a time, it just felt like this black cloud, you know, I couldn't get away from. And it was hard to break out of that.

• 56:55Dax Shepard?

  By the way, I used to have it with Kristen too. It's like every interview I'd get in, they would ask me about Kristen.

• 56:59Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 56:59Dax Shepard?

  I'm like, oh, I'm only here because they want to hear about Kristen. And then I was smart enough to realize like, oh, when I see Kristen, all they do is ask about me. Like, they just don't know what to fucking ask you about.

• 57:07Speaker 02

  They don't have to ask about, yeah.

• 57:08Dax Shepard?

  Right. There's nothing personal going on. There's no evaluation of anything going on.

• 57:11Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 57:12Dax Shepard?

  But now, yeah, I can sit and do a two hour podcast. I'm punked. I'd be delighted for someone to go through every episode. You're like, I would love to talk about it.

• 57:18Speaker 01

  You should do a rewatch.

• 57:20Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I couldn't, I couldn't get through it.

• 57:21Speaker 01

  That'd be great.

• 57:22Dax Shepard?

  I could talk about it, but I couldn't watch it.

• 57:24Speaker 02

  But that is the most acting though. That really is though. That's the thing. That's the real shit.

• 57:29Speaker 01

  The commitment. You can't say cut.

• 57:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, there's no cut. You either fuck up the entire three day thing they've been setting up. The stakes are high.

• 57:38Speaker 02

  It's always like the celebrity, they can sniff that out quickly, you know? I mean, it's high stakes.

• 57:42Dax Shepard?

  If I tip it and go too big, and yet I want to go big, that's my chance to be funny.

• 57:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:47Dax Shepard?

  I'm wearing a fucking wig and shit with Nick Lachey.

• 57:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:50Dax Shepard?

  I'm going as hard as I can without it. Like, I'm in a cutoff shirt and shit, you know?

• 57:54Speaker 02

  What a great episode. It's due for a rewatch. I want to see him all night. It's brilliant. It's my favorite.

• 58:00Speaker 01

  It's so, it's so good. I watched it recently, even after knowing him. I'm like, it's so good.

• 58:04Speaker 02

  Like, jury duty's great and all, but it's not punked. You know, that was like the thing, man. It was the best.

• 58:09Speaker 01

  It was really good.

• 58:10Dax Shepard?

  So, yeah. Walk me through this chapter, right? This is a chapter between, I would say, Gossip Girl and The Boys.

• 58:16Speaker 02

  Right.

• 58:17Dax Shepard?

  How do you keep your spirits high? Do you find joy? Do you figure out how to recalibrate? Like, what is that journey?

• 58:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was probably the toughest journey, like the lowest point. Let me think. I basically sort of snapped out of it a little bit, a little bit. And it just felt so daunting, the task of like auditioning and trying to get that next thing.

• 58:35Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 58:35Speaker 02

  And I, will I ever get something as culturally, rather like a big again? I did a pilot. It got picked up.

• 58:41Dax Shepard?

  Oil and?

• 58:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, they changed the name of it. The best version of it would have been like Yellowstone, basically. And that's what I thought in my head. Oh, they're going to want this thing. The guys who created and wrote it were amazing. They all got fired, but ABC won it. They put on all these new people. We moved to Park City, which was amazing to live up there. Early on, it was like, oh shit. It was the first time I was like scared. Am I going to be stuck on this? It was a great experience, but I was a little nervous about it.

• 59:04Dax Shepard?

  It was fine to be strong. Branded in New York City as a young person.

• 59:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:09Dax Shepard?

  But you probably never envisioned moving to Park City, Utah when you left Dallas. That's a big part of the job that I think is fine to be like, well, I don't know. I lived in Canada for seven, eight years.

• 59:21Speaker 02

  Right, right, right.

• 59:22Dax Shepard?

  It's a big, leave your life.

• 59:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, I bought a truck, drove out there. It was great for a while, but it's sleepy town. It's not New York. Thank God I got a girlfriend. That was kind of a nice thing. I dated a girl that we were working.

• 59:33Dax Shepard?

  Your longest relationship, three years.

• 59:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly.

• 59:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, congratulations.

• 59:39Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 59:40Dax Shepard?

  That's interesting because if you're me and you fall in love and you're both out of town, A, of course you're going to fall in love. You're both lonely and out of town.

• 59:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:47Dax Shepard?

  You're also playing house.

• 59:49Speaker 02

  Totally. That's a good way to put it.

• 59:50Dax Shepard?

  And then you got to return to real life back and forth. I don't know. I think that would be weird. Yeah. I've never done that full experience, but I could see it being tricky.

• 59:58Speaker 02

  Somehow we did. We navigated it. It ended. It was actually in totality. It was like, oh, that was actually great. I did 13 episodes of this thing. We kind of had summer through winter in Park City. It was great.

• 1:00:08Dax Shepard?

  And then you guys stayed together for a long time.

• 1:00:10Speaker 02

  Together. Yeah, yeah, we did. And we worked that out. And that's when I realized I am better in a relationship.

• 1:00:17Speaker 02

  Like, single me is not the best version in a way.

• 1:00:20Dax Shepard?

  Well, there's a lot of data to support that. Married guys live like 11 years long.

• 1:00:25Dax Shepard?

  We're not great on our own.

• 1:00:26Speaker 01

  You guys like don't go to the doctor.

• 1:00:28Speaker 02

  Right, right. No, yeah, yeah. I realize I like need some help. So that was all great and we're still friends.

• 1:00:33Dax Shepard?

  What do you do wrong in relationships?

• 1:00:35Speaker 02

  What do I do wrong? I just try too hard.

• 1:00:37Dax Shepard?

  I'm just, I love too much.

• 1:00:41Dax Shepard?

  I'll go first.

• 1:00:42Speaker 02

  Yeah. What do you, what do you think?

• 1:00:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I had this relationship with Bree for nine years. I left that one and there's no way it could have been her fault. I mean, she was a great human being. I had to be responsible for a lot of it. And I think I had the wherewithal. I was like 36 at the time or something. And I was like, we got to figure out what we were doing wrong. Clearly I need to break some habits. I'm probably a bit, I want them to think like me too much. I was terrible about money. I was so bad at sharing money. I was like, oh, this is my money. You know, I did a lot of things that I knew I gotta break this the next time I'm in one, which was. Kristen, I met Kristen, she was a Christian vegetarian who lived with eight people and had 16 dogs.

• 1:01:25Dax Shepard?

  These are all things I would have normally been like, I love her, but there's no way I can hang with all this other stuff.

• 1:01:30Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:01:31Speaker 01

  I'm laughing because she does all those things now.

• 1:01:34Dax Shepard?

  But I didn't ever challenge any of those.

• 1:01:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, they're not religious.

• 1:01:38Dax Shepard?

  Well, that's the funny thing about life.

• 1:01:40Speaker 01

  You didn't control it.

• 1:01:41Speaker 02

  But you want to though. We get past the honeymoon phase and you start to try and change the other or control the other person in just small ways even. I'm guilty of that.

• 1:01:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and it has the veil of being gross and controlling, which certainly it is, but really it's about safety because you're like, I don't know, man. If she feels this way and I feel this way, I'm scared that we can both hold these conflicting opinions and still be a unit. Underneath it, it's some weird fear, don't we need to be more aligned in order for it to work? Like, I don't think it's entirely disgusting in premise of why you're acting that way. It's just like, well, how are we gonna, I remember we had a fight one time about like, if we had kids, were we gonna raise them with religion? And after that fight, I think I had a wise person in AA tell me, I'm sorry, is she pregnant? And I'm like, no. It's like, so why are you fighting today about something that you don't even know is gonna happen?

• 1:02:28Speaker 02

  Things could change.

• 1:02:29Dax Shepard?

  You're living so far in the future. You guys are having a fight about something in the future that is so out of touch.

• 1:02:35Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:02:35Dax Shepard?

  And then I never brought it up again, right?

• 1:02:37Speaker 02

  You get worried about those things before they happen. One of my biggest things is, I'm like a bottler. Passive aggressiveness is a, is a big problem for me. Like, I'll hold on to things and I won't communicate them properly.

• 1:02:47Dax Shepard?

  You got a little vault?

• 1:02:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:49Dax Shepard?

  And you can pull out when necessary.

• 1:02:50Speaker 02

  I don't run to the hard conversation. It'll turn into a fight and it's about something else. I'll realize, oh shit, it's actually about all this other stuff. I'm so sorry.

• 1:02:57Dax Shepard?

  And you were holding on to six months of shit.

• 1:03:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:03:01Dax Shepard?

  And so that all comes out in the fight.

• 1:03:02Speaker 02

  It's about like a cup left on the table. You know what I mean? It's something so stupid and then you're like, oh my God, this is, I'm so sorry. This is not, you know, but that's one thing for me.

• 1:03:10Dax Shepard?

  So that's part of the people pleaser thing, right? Like, will you lose her affection by having these issues?

• 1:03:15Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:03:15Dax Shepard?

  In this relationship?

• 1:03:16Speaker 02

  It's out of fear of, things are safe. Don't rock the boat. Don't do anything that could jeopardize.

• 1:03:20Dax Shepard?

  Things are just kind of now piling up.

• 1:03:22Speaker 02

  Homeostasis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're all little things until they're not, right?

• 1:03:25Speaker 01

  Was there not a lot of fighting in your house growing up? Or was there finding? Cause I think it'd go either way.

• 1:03:30Speaker 02

  Some of both, really. I mean, my parents were really young. I can't believe they even got through that time.

• 1:03:35Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:03:36Speaker 02

  I can barely, I have a dog now. I'm 40, you know, it's out of doubt, you know, 20 with two kids, but they were amazing. Yeah. And they figured it out.

• 1:03:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Med school workload and two little kids.

• 1:03:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:46Dax Shepard?

  And your mom's living somewhere she didn't wanna live.

• 1:03:48Speaker 02

  Right. Yeah. Yeah. Minnesota. Yeah. She did not like putting those chains on that van.

• 1:03:52Dax Shepard?

  She's in Park City. Yeah.

• 1:03:54Speaker 01

  So it's not like you grew up around it. So you are emulating it or trying to avoid it.

• 1:03:59Speaker 02

  Right. I guess it's in relationships, you need to run to the hard conversations. No one wants to do it. You gotta have the hard conversations sooner rather than later. And that's just what you need to do.

• 1:04:09Dax Shepard?

  And is your move to shut down?

• 1:04:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:12Dax Shepard?

  Get quiet and distant and wait for her to figure out why you're hurting.

• 1:04:15Speaker 02

  Exactly. You just resort to being like the child you were with your parents, basically. That's really what it is, you know?

• 1:04:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:21Speaker 02

  Oh my God, I'm doing what I did to my mom. And it's all that stuff. And you always gotta be aware of it.

• 1:04:25Dax Shepard?

  Okay. So good. So the relationship, I'm presuming that was an identity outside of acting.

• 1:04:31Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:04:31Dax Shepard?

  That was forward momentum as a human, building a life. I imagine those three years bought you a little reprieve from just you sitting there contemplating your career by yourself.

• 1:04:42Speaker 02

  Completely. She was an actress. It was very much a great support system. It was also in a weird way, this isn't the only reason I was getting in a relationship, but it was to prove to myself I was capable of being in a successful relationship.

• 1:04:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:55Speaker 02

  So I was motivated to be a good partner and boyfriend, you know, and I definitely failed at that in many ways, but I need to like grow up a little bit. It did facilitate that. I learned a lot. You always do, right?

• 1:05:06Dax Shepard?

  Was it hard for you to let go of the fun nights out and lots of options?

• 1:05:11Speaker 02

  Yes and no. I definitely still stayed at the party a little too late. Like I was still like having fun with the guys and like going out and stuff. Probably could have shut that down a lot. Sooner, I still like to have fun, but now I'm like, I love home. I love cooking. I love being in a relationship.

• 1:05:26Dax Shepard?

  Dancing with Miles.

• 1:05:29Speaker 02

  With a loaf of white bread. Yeah, that was embarrassing, but uh, that stuff just gets tiring after a while. You just get old.

• 1:05:35Dax Shepard?

  It gets less fun.

• 1:05:36Speaker 02

  It gets less fun and it affects you a lot more. Your body will tell you.

• 1:05:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And the illusion, again, I'm a novelty seeker. So it's like,

• 1:05:44Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:05:45Dax Shepard?

  It has the appearance of a novel night, but if you really take inventory, you're like, oh, I do this same thing over and over and over again. Even if I hook up with a new person, it's the same thing. There's really no surprises.

• 1:05:56Speaker 02

  Exactly. And you feel like it's, it's gonna be this thing and it's never what it is. For me, it was a bit the revelry of it, being with friends and the drinking. It was always kinda like this high of revelry.

• 1:06:06Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:06:07Speaker 02

  The socializing aspect was tough for me.

• 1:06:12Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. We get support from Skims. So Monica just informed me that she's a girl's girl and I nodded like I knew exactly what that meant.

• 1:06:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, but the girls who get it, they get it.

• 1:06:29Dax Shepard?

  Okay, but for those of us who are clearly not girls, walk me through it.

• 1:06:33Speaker 01

  Well, you know how much I love my Skims fleece joggers because the plush fleece is so soft. It's cozy. It's really comfortable without feeling too heavy. Well, I went to friend them and she would not stop talking about how comfy they were. She almost didn't give them back to me, which was upsetting, but I'm a girl's girl, so I let her have it.

• 1:06:50Dax Shepard?

  Great, great, great.

• 1:06:51Speaker 01

  So the sleep sets are awesome because they are very soft and comfortable, but they're cute. If I'm in my sleep set, I feel fine about going down the street to pick up my food. I'm still looking cute, but I'm comfy and I'm cozy.

• 1:07:05Dax Shepard?

  Roger.

• 1:07:06Speaker 01

  A really fun thing to do is if you're going on vacation with your girlfriends, to get matching Skims pajamas. I've done this with Callie and it is so fun. First of all, the pics are so cute, but also it's just fun and friendship.

• 1:07:18Dax Shepard?

  So a girl's girl is looking out for your friends with better loungewear. I get it. Am I one of your girls now?

• 1:07:24Speaker 01

  You are. You and the other girlies can shop my favorite loungewear and pajamas at skims.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. Select podcasts in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.

• 1:07:38Dax Shepard?

  We get support from Instagram teen accounts. So we talk a lot on this show about how the world is different now than when we were growing up. And one of the biggest differences is obviously social media. And I think a lot of people wonder, okay, what's actually being done to make it safer for teenagers?

• 1:07:54Speaker 01

  Which is a fair question.

• 1:07:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so Instagram has got something called teen accounts and they come with automatic protections built in by default. So anyone between 13 and 17 is automatically placed into this experience. They get age appropriate content settings, contact limits, so that by default, only people they're already connected to can message them. And time management tools, daily time limit reminders, and also sleep mode that mutes notifications from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM.

• 1:08:21Speaker 01

  Sleep mode is genius.

• 1:08:23Dax Shepard?

  Right? And here's the thing, for anyone under 16, a parent has to give permission to change any of those settings to be less strict. The guardrails are on and Instagram keeps building new safety features to create age appropriate experiences for teens.

• 1:08:38Speaker 01

  I am really glad Instagram is helping to give parents peace of mind with teen accounts.

• 1:08:42Dax Shepard?

  Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you've thought about trying therapy with our long-term partner, BetterHelp, insurance options may now be available nationwide with an average copay for eligible members of just $23 per session. October 10th is World Mental Health Day, but you don't need a day on the calendar to give yourself permission to talk to someone. I've been in therapy for a long time and the stuff rattling around in my head always just quiets down the second I say it out loud. And it doesn't have to be some big life crisis. Maybe it's a work thing that's taking up too much space or hard relationship moment, or just a feeling that something's off.

• 1:09:26Dax Shepard?

  That's enough. That's worth talking about.

• 1:09:28Speaker 01

  You know, I love therapy more than anything. Gets me through. Often I'll want to cancel because I'm like, I don't really have anything to talk about. And then I'll go and I have some major revelation.

• 1:09:40Dax Shepard?

  You know, I was just talking to a friend who has just started it. And I said, one of the most powerful elements of it is just hearing yourself say out loud the thing. That's been ruminating in your head and how different it sounds. Once it's out into the world, you gain perspective immediately just by hearing yourself say it.

• 1:09:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, you do.

• 1:09:55Dax Shepard?

  If you've been waiting to start therapy, BetterHelp works with more than 125 health plan networks and eligible members have an average copay of just $23 per session with insurance. Don't have insurance or live outside the U.S. You can still get 10% off your first month. Do yourself a favor and just try it. Future you will be grateful. Visit betterhelp.com/dax to explore your payment options. That's better H E L P dot com slash DAX. This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. Look, I have my dream job. I get to talk to folks I admire like crazy and ask them virtually any question that I want to. I can't imagine a better way to spend my time.

• 1:10:39Dax Shepard?

  But even dream jobs have some not so dreamy parts, the stuff that gets in the way of the actual work. Now that's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what you should do about your busy work. They actually do it, start to finish, cases closed, requests handled, no extra work for you. So you and your team can focus on what matters most, which for me is are they obsessed with male bodies on the same level as I am?

• 1:11:06Speaker 01

  They never are.

• 1:11:07Dax Shepard?

  To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com.

• 1:11:18Dax Shepard?

  I just had a thought.

• 1:11:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:11:20Dax Shepard?

  I love the intimacy you could have with other men while drunk.

• 1:11:24Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:11:24Dax Shepard?

  I just craved that and I loved, I show up with a six pack and then now I can say I love you.

• 1:11:30Speaker 02

  Your inhibitions are so down.

• 1:11:31Dax Shepard?

  Yes, I craved that intimacy with men and drinking gave that to me.

• 1:11:36Speaker 02

  You don't even realize you know that's what you're looking for or what you need in your life. And you'll find a lot of them, you know, friends that you're just friends within that bubble of partying or whatever it is, drinking, right? And then that disappears and it's okay. You know, it's tougher.

• 1:11:48Dax Shepard?

  Jack London, the writer, he wrote a book called John Barley Corn. I don't know if you've ever heard of it.

• 1:11:52Speaker 02

  I have not, no.

• 1:11:53Dax Shepard?

  But it's this very, very honest book about his relationship with drinking towards the end of his life. And he was a hardcore alcoholic by the end, where he had to wake up in the middle of the night and drink in the middle of the night to stay asleep. And it was, I think, reading that book that occurred to me, oh, that's what I was kind of craving that I loved is he just talks about the intimacy at a bar with males and how without that, he could have never had that. He couldn't get there without that.

• 1:12:18Speaker 01

  Like have a real conversation with that.

• 1:12:20Dax Shepard?

  Just the intimacy.

• 1:12:21Speaker 01

  The depth of a relationship.

• 1:12:22Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, being emotional. Saying your fears to another man and all these things you just dare not do.

• 1:12:29Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:12:29Dax Shepard?

  Sober with another dude.

• 1:12:30Speaker 02

  It's so hard to get there. If you feel like it's hard to get there if you're sober.

• 1:12:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, dude, right?

• 1:12:35Dax Shepard?

  AA is a hack for that. It's like you're kind of forced to be with these other men.

• 1:12:39Speaker 02

  It's great. It's community, right?

• 1:12:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all agree, let's sit down for an hour and like be real as fuck.

• 1:12:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:12:44Dax Shepard?

  Talk about what we're afraid of, how we fucked up in our relationship, what we regret about our parenting. It's like, how are you doing that unless you're hammered at a bar at 2 a.m.?

• 1:12:52Speaker 02

  When I left New York, all those guy friends were still in New York and I didn't realize I was doing a lot of that just to have those connections. And when all that kind of goes away and you realize you're a homebody, I was like, I really don't have that many friends.

• 1:13:02Dax Shepard?

  Real friends.

• 1:13:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. You gravitate to those guys who are going out and the revelry of that and connecting with those guys.

• 1:13:08Dax Shepard?

  So where were you at optimistically just before The Boys happens? How are you assessing what the future of your life is professionally just before The Boys?

• 1:13:17Speaker 02

  It was dark for me. I mean, in my mind, it wasn't really, you know, I know I was probably in a place that a lot of people would love to have been.

• 1:13:23Dax Shepard?

  Sure. You weren't on Taylor's couch.

• 1:13:26Speaker 02

  But there is that, you know, what have you done for me lately type thing and Keeping Up With The Joneses, like what are these guys doing that I'm not, you know, is all that.

• 1:13:32Dax Shepard?

  You're seeing everyone you know on billboards all day long as you drive through the city.

• 1:13:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, LA. That's a problem with LA. And there's that anxiety there that I don't get, even if I'm working in Toronto, that you kind of relax when you're out of LA.

• 1:13:42Dax Shepard?

  You have no clue what's going on.

• 1:13:43Speaker 01

  Sebastian's getting like nominated for Oscars. You're just like, what the fuck? You can be happy for them and still be like, oh, what am I doing?

• 1:13:52Speaker 02

  No, no, completely. And I'm in a different place now. I'm almost 41, but I'm much more relaxed. Early 30s, it was just a doom loop. What am I gonna do with my life? It felt like there was nothing that was ever gonna happen again.

• 1:14:04Dax Shepard?

  Well, you're 34 probably, right? Seven years ago?

• 1:14:06Speaker 02

  32 probably.

• 1:14:08Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:14:08Speaker 02

  And I think I turned 33 the year that The Boys happened. I remember reading it and not getting that many good, you know, Again, people's casting imagination is limited. I was getting all these things. It was more the same. I didn't want to do. And I read the script of the boys. I was like, what the fuck is this? This is amazing.

• 1:14:23Dax Shepard?

  I would imagine too, there's a little bit of a gift in that it's such an enormous swing. I can only imagine reading that first script because that shows so much about execution. That script, the pilot could go so wrong. The odds of it being executed in the way it was is like a 1% chance.

• 1:14:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:14:41Dax Shepard?

  So I also imagine getting that script and going, wow, this is really cool. And also, if I don't get it, this is probably gonna fail. Like, I could be liberated by what a big swing it is and not get overly worked up about auditioning for it.

• 1:14:54Speaker 02

  Honestly, I'm like, how are they gonna do this? Like, how are they gonna make this thing?

• 1:14:57Dax Shepard?

  A guy's getting miniature and going in a guy's penis and floating the whole body. Like, how the fuck is that?

• 1:15:01Speaker 02

  It felt like a shot at the moon. Like, is this too good to be true? Am I tripping? Like, this is insane. And are they letting us do this?

• 1:15:07Dax Shepard?

  It goes so hard.

• 1:15:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I did feel, I was like, this is hilarious. I was like, I know this guy, this narcissistic, unself-aware asshole who's in a therapist's couch talking about his only friends is the local lobster. Like, that was the audition scene. It was like a monologue of this thing. I just felt connected to it and like everyone is reading for it. And yeah, it was a great audition.

• 1:15:26Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so I'm gonna be dead honest with you. Your fear is a little bit grounded, right? Which is like, I only know of you as an actor on Gossip Girl at that time. And I never watched Gossip Girl. So I just fill in the blanks of what Gossip Girl is.

• 1:15:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:15:40Dax Shepard?

  And so, I had this wonderful, shocking moment when I'm watching The Boys. And, you know, maybe Kristen said it out loud first, where she's like, fucking Chase is so good in this. And I'm like, yeah, this dude's fucking awesome. It was like a huge revelation to me. I was like, well, this dude has got no vanity. You're the butt of every joke, and you are just fucking driving straight into it, and you're not protecting yourself at all.

• 1:16:10Speaker 02

  It's the way you gotta play that character.

• 1:16:12Dax Shepard?

  It's the only way to do it. But a lot of actors would get vain and they would just wink enough to go, I want you to know I'm in on it.

• 1:16:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:16:20Dax Shepard?

  It's very tempting to go, I want the audience to know I'm a little in on it.

• 1:16:23Speaker 02

  I've always appreciated in the women, I think of like Margot Robbie, even on SNL, that she's not afraid to go there and to be crazy or ugly for comedy. The way to go about it is have no ego about it. I think even Anthony, who plays Homelander on the show, came into it and had the same thought about me. Like, this asshole's gonna try and alpha me out. And it is just not the right way to play it. So we had a good time on that show.

• 1:16:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're so goddamn good on that.

• 1:16:45Speaker 02

  Thanks, man.

• 1:16:46Dax Shepard?

  It's very impressive. Yeah, you're fucking great. And then your body, oh my god, dude. Oh my god, your body.

• 1:16:54Speaker 02

  Oh, man.

• 1:16:54Dax Shepard?

  Do we amp, we ratcheted up the training for that?

• 1:16:58Speaker 02

  I did, yeah.

• 1:16:59Dax Shepard?

  What was the approach? No pasta, no more fucking up in Canada eating spaghetti.

• 1:17:04Speaker 02

  Keto, I'll never do it again. It was bad for six months. I got so excited for this role. I'm like, I'm gonna get shredded or jacked, you know, just for fun for me.

• 1:17:13Dax Shepard?

  Of course.

• 1:17:14Speaker 02

  And I don't know what the suit's gonna be, it was sleeveless, whatever. They didn't give us a trainer. I was like, well, I'm gonna do it on my own. But I did the keto thing for six months. It was good for like a few months and it was brutal after that. I had to stop it.

• 1:17:25Dax Shepard?

  I know people think it's vain and everything, but the sensation of having control over that.

• 1:17:29Speaker 02

  I was just about to say, it gives you control in a way. It's a healthy, I was able to channel my obsession kind of into that without going overboard. And it was a lot of fun, you know, like have time to do that too. If you're an actor and you're not working, or if you are, but it's if you're off, it's the only way to like structure your day, I feel like.

• 1:17:43Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:17:44Speaker 02

  A workout or something. It's mentally for me like, yeah, I have to do it.

• 1:17:47Dax Shepard?

  There's a lot of great performances on that show, but Anthony's is fucking outrageous.

• 1:17:52Speaker 02

  Outrageous.

• 1:17:52Dax Shepard?

  It is outrageous. When Chris and I watched it, we love the fucking boys so much. We're like, the fact that this guy hasn't won every single Emmy is absolutely insane.

• 1:18:00Speaker 02

  It's insane. He's not even been nominated once.

• 1:18:02Dax Shepard?

  Despicable, and yet he has these turns where I feel bad for him.

• 1:18:07Speaker 02

  And he's funny sometimes.

• 1:18:08Dax Shepard?

  He's hilarious. Man, is that a performance. And so I'm at a restaurant like six months ago and I see him and then we're like, hey, we stand up and we hug and I'm like, oh my god, it's so great to meet you finally. And he goes, yeah, yeah, since New Zealand. And I was like, what's he talking about? And he goes, you know, I'm without a paddle. And all of a sudden I was like, oh my god. Do you remember you watched it for the reunion?

• 1:18:34Speaker 01

  I know, but I'm.

• 1:18:35Dax Shepard?

  We have a dead friend. The whole movie's about our dead friend Billy Newwood.

• 1:18:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:39Dax Shepard?

  He played Billy Newwood and I was like.

• 1:18:40Speaker 02

  He was the guy.

• 1:18:41Dax Shepard?

  Yes. And I'm like, oh my god.

• 1:18:43Speaker 02

  And I've seen it. I don't even remember.

• 1:18:44Dax Shepard?

  I'm like, dude, nothing could be more out of context. I met you in New Zealand 20 years ago and yes, now of course I realize that that's.

• 1:18:51Speaker 01

  Did they show the dead boom?

• 1:18:53Dax Shepard?

  They show them. Yeah, yeah. In like our flashback scenes, we're like, I'm wearing a leather jacket and we're like, young and cool.

• 1:18:58Speaker 02

  Right, right. He's a key to it. He's from, he's from New Zealand. You meet him, he's like, hey, how you doing? You know, you're like, oh wow, different than Homelander. It's great.

• 1:19:06Dax Shepard?

  Where did the guy who created it, his name starts with a K?

• 1:19:08Speaker 02

  Eric Kripke.

• 1:19:09Dax Shepard?

  Where did he come from?

• 1:19:11Speaker 02

  He came from Supernatural. I know that show with Jensen Ackles and Padalecki. Jensen was on our show as well. It was a great show. A long ass run that show.

• 1:19:19Dax Shepard?

  Civil War guy, what was his name?

• 1:19:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, Soldier Boy.

• 1:19:21Dax Shepard?

  Soldier Boy.

• 1:19:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got a spinoff they're doing. Yeah.

• 1:19:24Dax Shepard?

  Oh, they are?

• 1:19:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're doing a spinoff.

• 1:19:26Dax Shepard?

  That's a great character.

• 1:19:27Speaker 02

  Like a prequel. I don't know all the details, but yeah, it's good.

• 1:19:30Speaker 01

  Are you so excited you get to play kind of like a weirdo so against what people think about you?

• 1:19:35Speaker 02

  It was so refreshing to me. We had a day, like fourth episode. They had a full series order because of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Like they were behind us. They got the full order. Yeah. And I'm like, we're middle of the show. I'm like, are the people gonna like this? Cause I was like, you know, squirting down the dolphin, like talking to some inanimate dolphin in the back and they're moving the van and like Anthony's over there like in an airplane, not saving anyone. Cause he's like, oh, fuck you guys. It was amazing. We're like, are people gonna like connect with it?

• 1:20:00Speaker 01

  And people do.

• 1:20:00Speaker 02

  Felt really tonally weird.

• 1:20:02Dax Shepard?

  So he came from Supernatural. Were Seth and Evan around at all?

• 1:20:07Speaker 02

  They were actually. They didn't come to set that often. They would be at the press stuff, but they would send me emails like, dude, this one line you ad libbed, I keep replaying it. Like they were watching. I was like, oh, that's really cool. Evan would like email me sometimes and they were just super fans of the show. There really are like comic book fans at heart and they just wanted to like do what they love.

• 1:20:24Dax Shepard?

  Now, did they have you in mind or did you have to really win them over for this? How did you get it?

• 1:20:28Speaker 02

  I don't know the entire genesis of it. I remember them landing on, they want to cast people that aren't all their famous friends, basically.

• 1:20:35Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 1:20:35Speaker 02

  So they wanted to read everyone for it. And Kripke was in every room for every single, I think it's about Anthony. I think Anthony was in New Zealand, made some tape and they were like, we want that guy. I remember going in and it was like 60 people. I saw the thing. I'm like, oh, I realize I'm like, I'm last of the day.

• 1:20:51Dax Shepard?

  What's the worst name you saw on the list? And I don't mean they're bad, but you're just like, oh, I'm fucked.

• 1:20:55Speaker 02

  Like actors you know, you mean?

• 1:20:57Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'll give you an example. I remember. Going in for baby mama and I'm sitting in the waiting room and he's next to me, James Gordon, and he's telling me they just flew him from London for this callback. And I go, well, I'm done. They're not spending 15 grand to bring this guy from London here. But there's these moments in auditions where you're just like, I'm dead.

• 1:21:19Speaker 02

  I remember recognizing some names and some friends who had like, and they weren't actually in the room because I was like last. I remember being upset. These people aren't gonna, it's like a Tuesday. There's gonna be 60 people all day. And I didn't even realize that Kripke was gonna be in the room. At the time, I didn't really know, maybe he was like the creator or maybe I knew he's like a producer, but I remember being just irritated and that's kind of the best, sometimes the best state to be.

• 1:21:41Dax Shepard?

  Cause like you kind of don't care at that point.

• 1:21:43Speaker 02

  You just don't care. You're not, don't have this air of like, hi, like nice to meet you.

• 1:21:46Dax Shepard?

  I can't get it now.

• 1:21:46Speaker 02

  You know?

• 1:21:47Dax Shepard?

  They're dead in there.

• 1:21:48Speaker 02

  I remember it was before the holidays. I'm like, they're not even gonna remember this. They're gonna go on hiatus, top of the year, they're gonna keep recasting it, bring it back in for a million different reads. So I was literally the last person in there and I was kind of mad, just kind of went in there and did it. And I kind of heard Kripke chuckling in the corner. And then he was like, okay, try it, do it like, you know, he kind of threw me a few improv things.

• 1:22:06Dax Shepard?

  And you had the lobster was your audition?

• 1:22:08Speaker 02

  The lobster thing. And then it was that, and then an intense scene with Starlight Aaron's character. They changed it in the pilot, in the real pilot with what I actually do, which is a crazy thing.

• 1:22:17Dax Shepard?

  Sexually assaulted.

• 1:22:18Speaker 02

  Yeah. Now that wasn't in any of the pilots or anything.

• 1:22:21Dax Shepard?

  Okay, they were holding Matt.

• 1:22:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, they were like, hey, this was like a big storyline jumping off for her character in the comics and we're actually gonna put that back in.

• 1:22:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:22:30Speaker 02

  And you're gonna be the guy to do it.

• 1:22:32Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 1:22:32Speaker 02

  And I was like, oh. I remember being very nervous. Me too was going out. I was like, oh God, this is terrible.

• 1:22:37Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, a lot of people were like, I'm not playing that. I don't want to play that.

• 1:22:41Speaker 02

  I remember being like, okay, I'm just gonna own this. We're gonna talk about it and talk about it till we can get this thing right. And they did, took it with very great care. And I was nervous as all, you know, about that airing and like, oh my God, what are people gonna say? Is this gonna be the right timing?

• 1:22:54Speaker 01

  About you, not about the show.

• 1:22:56Speaker 02

  And not wanting to be a big joke either. Like we were making fun of it. They did it in a very real way and it was dark. That was kind of the theme of the show. Like you don't want to meet your heroes.

• 1:23:05Dax Shepard?

  The way they handled the tonal shifts on that show is sublime. It's like you get every single thing you could want in a show in that thing.

• 1:23:12Speaker 02

  Kripke's genius, yeah.

• 1:23:14Dax Shepard?

  You're bringing back so many audition memories. Thinking of sitting in the room, I can tell you, I've been numerous occasions, like I have an audition where I'm gonna have to cry and I'm like, yeah, I can't do that on cue, right? And you're sitting there, you can hear a guy is three feet away, divided by a paper door. And this guy's bawling and I can hear it.

• 1:23:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:23:34Dax Shepard?

  And you're just like, oh, I'm so fucked.

• 1:23:38Speaker 02

  Toss the papers out early.

• 1:23:39Dax Shepard?

  You wanna leave, you go, I can just get up.

• 1:23:41Speaker 01

  No, that's when you go in and you're like, so I'm making a different choice. And it's a choice.

• 1:23:46Dax Shepard?

  I presume you guys saw him crying.

• 1:23:48Speaker 01

  So I'm gonna do this other thing that's very hard to do also.

• 1:23:53Speaker 02

  He's like a trained British dude, of course. You're like, oh my god.

• 1:23:56Dax Shepard?

  Your arc on the show, yeah, you sexually assaulted someone.

• 1:24:00Speaker 02

  Terrible.

• 1:24:00Dax Shepard?

  Then you gotta rehab your public persona and you join this very Scientology-esque church.

• 1:24:07Speaker 02

  Amazing, yeah.

• 1:24:08Dax Shepard?

  Lose your autonomy in there and then they pair you with a wife and then she ditches you. And then you find love with an octopus.

• 1:24:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, like the, the ride.

• 1:24:18Dax Shepard?

  My favorite. Like, have you pushed back ever? I imagine after season one, they've built now some confidence with you, like, these motherfuckers can pull off anything. So I'm just, now I can go with God. Do you enter like season two, just going like, oh yeah, I'll fucking snorkel beer out of someone's ass? Like, I'll do anything they say, cause they can land the plane?

• 1:24:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, season two was great, cause they had this mushroom tea thing and I was like tripping with the gills and talking to them. I thought that was so great and funny. But then season two, well, Kripke called me up and he's like, have you seen like my octopus teacher? And I was like, yeah.

• 1:24:52Speaker 02

  Didn't it seem like that guy was like trying to fuck the octopus? Oh, kinda. What are you talking about, man? Like.

• 1:25:00Dax Shepard?

  That's your storyline, you know?

• 1:25:02Speaker 02

  I remember being hesitant, but then he was like, no, no, no, but it's real. Like, you can't connect with humans. That's like your safe space and you keep her like in a tank in your closet.

• 1:25:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're kinda mean though.

• 1:25:12Speaker 02

  And she feels like a secret and she's, you know.

• 1:25:15Speaker 01

  It's very deep.

• 1:25:16Speaker 02

  He's like, you're reading poetry to her, which is brilliant.

• 1:25:18Dax Shepard?

  You fucking didn't clean her tank, man.

• 1:25:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:25:22Dax Shepard?

  Not only will you not let her be in the tank by your bed, but like it's filthy.

• 1:25:25Speaker 01

  Well, people can't see.

• 1:25:27Dax Shepard?

  But she's sitting in there in a murky fucking stew that he should have.

• 1:25:31Speaker 01

  You know what, it's kinda like when people fell in love with their slaves.

• 1:25:34Speaker 02

  Munchausen syndrome kinda thing?

• 1:25:36Speaker 01

  Well, no, like really when people fell in love with their slaves, but they were still enslaved. And it was like, you're over there, but I'm gonna, yeah, I'm maybe able to cut that.

• 1:25:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, we'll probably take it.

• 1:25:46Speaker 01

  I make the decisions.

• 1:25:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. You'll decide. Hopefully you're in a good mood.

• 1:25:50Speaker 01

  But also Munchausen's I'm very interested in as well.

• 1:25:52Speaker 02

  That's her favorite.

• 1:25:53Dax Shepard?

  Her two favorite topics are CTE and Munchausen.

• 1:25:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:25:56Dax Shepard?

  Really?

• 1:25:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love those two.

• 1:25:57Dax Shepard?

  Have you met someone who there's Munchausen was claiming they had CTE, he would spray?

• 1:26:03Speaker 01

  Oh, I see. Like part of their Munchausen is that?

• 1:26:07Dax Shepard?

  Yes, faking that they had CTE.

• 1:26:09Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no, no, hold on.

• 1:26:09Dax Shepard?

  Combined.

• 1:26:11Speaker 01

  I don't want someone with CTE. I'm just always on the lookout for CT. I just think it's everywhere. I think a lot of people have it.

• 1:26:19Dax Shepard?

  She thinks 60% of the population has.

• 1:26:21Speaker 01

  You might have it, you play football. So hate to tell you.

• 1:26:24Dax Shepard?

  I might, actually.

• 1:26:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:26:25Dax Shepard?

  She has looked many guests in the face and said, do you think you have CTE? And it's like, there could be nothing scarier to evaluate is whether or not you're about to turn.

• 1:26:32Speaker 02

  Now they're not sure.

• 1:26:33Speaker 01

  Maybe.

• 1:26:34Dax Shepard?

  Thanks for suggesting that, yeah.

• 1:26:36Speaker 01

  You should get that early checked out, something you can't do.

• 1:26:38Dax Shepard?

  I did lose my temper at the grocery store yesterday, so yeah.

• 1:26:40Speaker 02

  I've been volatile recently, yeah, my God.

• 1:26:42Dax Shepard?

  Now, I hear that it's the biggest show on Prime. Do you have any sense of like how big it is? I want to know. I want to understand.

• 1:26:50Speaker 02

  I want to know too. I guess they don't release the numbers. They say it is.

• 1:26:54Dax Shepard?

  It's a very global show.

• 1:26:55Speaker 02

  It is, which was kind of shocking because humor, that's the one thing they want is like a global show nowadays. And it was shocking, but our show, the humor crossed over.

• 1:27:03Dax Shepard?

  All people are disgusting, it turns out.

• 1:27:06Speaker 02

  Which is comforting.

• 1:27:06Dax Shepard?

  Everyone's a dirtbag.

• 1:27:08Speaker 02

  Superhero genre was saturated with the same formulaic storyline. Anytime the show comes out, there is like an influx of people like, you know, flight attendants, like, oh my God. You can tell people are watching it, even in like Europe to Brazil, like people are crazy about the show.

• 1:27:22Dax Shepard?

  It's a good feeling, you know?

• 1:27:23Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:27:23Dax Shepard?

  It's really nice thing.

• 1:27:24Speaker 01

  Seven Emen, they just cannot miss.

• 1:27:26Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 1:27:26Speaker 02

  They're so goddamn talented.

• 1:27:27Speaker 01

  They're so good.

• 1:27:28Speaker 02

  I'll say though, even internationally though, it's more Gossip Girl stuff.

• 1:27:31Dax Shepard?

  That was hugely syndicated, right?

• 1:27:32Speaker 01

  I sometimes turn it on for a little comfort show.

• 1:27:35Speaker 02

  Good background viewing.

• 1:27:36Speaker 01

  Like an old background.

• 1:27:38Dax Shepard?

  2009, you got people's summer's hottest bachelor.

• 1:27:41Speaker 02

  Did I?

• 1:27:42Dax Shepard?

  You did. I would be both extremely flattered and like, that's so specific. Did you have to make up this category? Summer's hottest bachelor. People's summer's hottest bachelor, such a specific award.

• 1:27:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:27:56Speaker 01

  Congratulations. 2009.

• 1:27:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, my heyday.

• 1:27:59Dax Shepard?

  This is unfair on me, but what happened with Footloose? Why were you rehearsing for that?

• 1:28:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was an interesting story.

• 1:28:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, what happened?

• 1:28:06Speaker 02

  I remember really wanting it. It was Kenny Ortega, who's amazing. I remember telling him, I'm like, I can't sing or dance. It was an interesting challenge because they're like, no, we're going to like learn into this thing. And they're like, we're gonna fly you out and do a big screen test. And I rehearsed for it a little bit, but they were just kind of testing out if I was even trainable. You know, everybody even had like, basic body wares.

• 1:28:26Dax Shepard?

  You're connected with your body at all.

• 1:28:28Speaker 02

  Right. And I had a whole day of that. And what was funny about that, they, they had put in this like reader to read opposite of me, a female actress. And she was really good and natural and we'd eat lunch and she was cool. She's from Kentucky. It's Jennifer Lawrence.

• 1:28:41Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:28:42Dax Shepard?

  No way.

• 1:28:43Speaker 02

  Jennifer Lawrence.

• 1:28:44Speaker 01

  As the reader?

• 1:28:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, as the reader. And she was like 17, probably hadn't even done that first.

• 1:28:48Speaker 01

  Winter's Bone.

• 1:28:49Speaker 02

  Had done Winter's Bone, definitely not yet. But I heard it being really cool. And I was like, hey, thank you for being there with me like all day. And she was like, yeah, no, it was really good and whatever. But I remember it was Jennifer Lawrence.

• 1:28:57Speaker 01

  That's so funny.

• 1:28:57Speaker 02

  So I did that and I felt good about it, you know, Kenny Ortega was, oh, it's great, you know, I can do this thing. And I think they wanted to go in a totally different direction at some point. They hired a new director, like, oh, but you're still gonna be the guy. I had signed a contract that I didn't even know what this meant, pay or play at the time. So.

• 1:29:12Dax Shepard?

  That's my dream.

• 1:29:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, it never happened since.

• 1:29:15Speaker 01

  I don't know what that is.

• 1:29:16Speaker 02

  You get paid whether you do the thing or not. So I remember being kind of irritated it didn't work out because I liked the new director, Craig Brewer seemed to be a cool guy. And they went like maybe darker with it. But I get it. They hired, I forget his name, but they hired a real dancer. I remember doing a screen test with Julianne Hough. That's right. And she was phenomenal dancing and she got me there and she made me look good.

• 1:29:35Dax Shepard?

  Drug you along.

• 1:29:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Literally threw me around. And I was like, she's gonna be great. I had fun with her doing that screen test. But anyway, I remember like, go with God, that's great. And I got paid to do it.

• 1:29:45Speaker 01

  Oh, great.

• 1:29:46Speaker 02

  I probably would have not been able to dance or sing properly.

• 1:29:50Speaker 01

  But ego wise, that hurts because it's like, oh my God, they don't want me so badly that they're gonna pay me anyway.

• 1:29:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, totally. I remember feeling okay with it. I gotta pay, I gotta pay to not, to not do this thing. And I don't have to sing and dance. I got out of it.

• 1:30:04Speaker 01

  They paid me not to do it. Why would they do that?

• 1:30:06Dax Shepard?

  Because they need you committed. And then likewise, they can sue you for that money if you don't show up. So it's like, it's a mutually assured annihilation kind of situation.

• 1:30:16Speaker 02

  Exactly what it is.

• 1:30:17Dax Shepard?

  But the only time it happened to me where it was really great is I got fired from Will and Grace.

• 1:30:21Speaker 02

  Really?

• 1:30:22Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, episode of Will and Grace in a table read.

• 1:30:24Speaker 02

  Come on. That's a crazy story. Cause they always tell you, you're not gonna get fired at the table read, but it happens.

• 1:30:29Dax Shepard?

  I'm gonna go further and say that they kind of begged me to do it. I was like, I was too busy. I'm doing this show.

• 1:30:33Speaker 02

  You didn't want to do it.

• 1:30:34Dax Shepard?

  But I'm friends with Sean Hayes. I'm finally, I'll do it. All to come in and just get fired at the table read.

• 1:30:38Speaker 02

  That's hilarious.

• 1:30:39Dax Shepard?

  But they were like, you know, of course they're gonna still pay you. I was like, okay, that's kind of cool. And then that's. Same week Netflix call and they're like, do you want to be a guest judge on this cooking show and it's X amount of money. So I just remember that day being on there and being like, oh, I'm getting paid for Will and Grace right now and this cooking show. Fuck, I finally got my dream come true.

• 1:30:58Speaker 02

  That's great. Great.

• 1:31:00Dax Shepard?

  We share in common that we've both been directed by Lake Bell.

• 1:31:03Speaker 02

  I love Lake Bell.

• 1:31:06Speaker 01

  I just saw her yesterday.

• 1:31:07Speaker 02

  Did you?

• 1:31:08Speaker 01

  She's the best.

• 1:31:08Speaker 02

  She's the best.

• 1:31:09Speaker 01

  You gotta go to her auction thing. Next time she does this auction.

• 1:31:12Speaker 02

  I love to.

• 1:31:12Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:31:13Dax Shepard?

  I love auctions. I never miss an auction. Well, they were right. These people that told us you're a fucking champ. Yeah. Season five, obviously just started airing.

• 1:31:24Speaker 02

  Just came out. Yeah, last week.

• 1:31:25Speaker 01

  So exciting.

• 1:31:26Dax Shepard?

  I know you've already been asked this, and I think you're smart and saying that the deep is a tricky character to try to have his own show because you need some kind of redemption. He's not a fun character if he's redeemed in some weird way.

• 1:31:37Speaker 02

  Right, right, right, right.

• 1:31:38Dax Shepard?

  But with all that said, how do we keep doing the deep?

• 1:31:43Speaker 02

  Man, I pitched them a spinoff like three years ago, Evan and Kripke, you know, like loose pitch, like over like email or maybe it was in person. Like it was, I mean, in hindsight, it might've been before Barry, but it was like, what if he's like a shitty actor? He's kicked out and he's like a D-list actor, you know, trying to do like some really B movie, but it was like, you see him shooting the bad movie like Tropic Thunder, but it's like Barry. It was kind of an all over the place pitch, but I was like, what if he has to come to LA and we make fun of the industry type of thing? They liked it. They're like, oh yeah, but like, you know, now it's like, no one's opening the wallets to do many things. But how do we keep him? He doesn't have to be fully redeemed, but it would be fun to like do a half hour comedy.

• 1:32:21Dax Shepard?

  All right. Well, you probably have other plans, but I don't hate the idea of you playing the deep in your free time.

• 1:32:26Speaker 01

  It could be president. It could be like Idiocracy.

• 1:32:28Speaker 02

  That's a good idea.

• 1:32:31Dax Shepard?

  All right. Well, Chase, what a delight. This has been so fun. Everyone was right.

• 1:32:34Speaker 02

  Pleasure, man.

• 1:32:35Dax Shepard?

  And everyone should check out The Boys. Sincerely, if you don't watch The Boys, who was I just talking to that said they had an old fucking Tyler outside? I couldn't believe Tyler. I'm like, what do you hate to laugh?

• 1:32:47Speaker 02

  Fans, man. No, thank you.

• 1:32:50Dax Shepard?

  And then our friend.

• 1:32:51Speaker 01

  Anna.

• 1:32:52Dax Shepard?

  Anna.

• 1:32:52Speaker 01

  She loves it. We got screeners and I tried to give them to her. That's illegal. It didn't work anyway. So she was pissed.

• 1:32:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Leave that in or not. That'll be like with the slavery thing, whether you're.

• 1:33:06Dax Shepard?

  All right. Great meeting you.

• 1:33:07Speaker 02

  Nice to meet you too, man.

• 1:33:08Dax Shepard?

  Good luck with everything.

• 1:33:08Speaker 02

  Thank you, guys.

• 1:33:11Dax Shepard?

  I sure hope there weren't any mistakes in that episode, but we'll find out when my mom, Mrs. Monica, comes in and tells us what was wrong. We were just discussing what your nephew, right?

• 1:33:23Speaker 01

  Yes, what my nephew will call me.

• 1:33:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, cuz the girl's called Carly TT.

• 1:33:29Speaker 01

  Yes, which is so cute.

• 1:33:31Dax Shepard?

  And is her permanent name now?

• 1:33:32Speaker 01

  I know. No, I forget her name's Carly sometimes.

• 1:33:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I only call her TT. I call her TT to her face. I like it. It's so cute. It's so much more endearing.

• 1:33:42Speaker 01

  Exactly. Nicknames are always better than non-nicknames. Sorry.

• 1:33:46Dax Shepard?

  Well, not always, but sure.

• 1:33:49Speaker 01

  Well, if they're mean, those are slurs.

• 1:33:51Dax Shepard?

  You do occasionally meet someone, you're like, huh, that's your nickname.

• 1:33:54Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:33:55Dax Shepard?

  What's your real name? Like Blaze, you know? Gunner. Gunner.

• 1:33:59Speaker 01

  Oh, guys, those aren't nicknames, okay? Those are like a pseudonym. Those are like they took that on as their persona.

• 1:34:07Dax Shepard?

  Nom de plures?

• 1:34:07Speaker 01

  Mon de plures.

• 1:34:08Dax Shepard?

  Nom de plures.

• 1:34:10Speaker 01

  Um, but a nickname, a shortened or a cute version of your name or something people call you to be, to love you is so, it's the best.

• 1:34:18Dax Shepard?

  Best. Dad, I cherish Dad.

• 1:34:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's the best we got.

• 1:34:22Dax Shepard?

  And Aaron calls me, no one else does.

• 1:34:25Speaker 01

  Well, two people do.

• 1:34:26Dax Shepard?

  Three people do.

• 1:34:27Speaker 01

  Three people do, including Aaron.

• 1:34:29Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. And TT sometimes. Yep, uh huh.

• 1:34:32Speaker 01

  And Kristen and me.

• 1:34:36Dax Shepard?

  Sad Rob, Rob's never called me Dad or Daddy.

• 1:34:39Speaker 01

  Oh, Rob, you don't have to call him Daddy, okay? HR.

• 1:34:43Dax Shepard?

  I'll go with Daddy. I'll do. I just think that would be such a wonderfully uncomfortable thing for you and I to have as a bit that in public, he called me Daddy. He would be like, what an unhealthy work environment.

• 1:34:54Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly.

• 1:34:56Dax Shepard?

  In front of a guest.

• 1:34:59Dax Shepard?

  Do you want your coffee, Daddy?

• 1:35:00Speaker 01

  Daddy, are you ready for your coffee?

• 1:35:02Dax Shepard?

  I mean, the age gap is such that they might think you're my son.

• 1:35:05Speaker 01

  Well, you do look quite young, Rob. Wobbly wobb.

• 1:35:08Dax Shepard?

  How old are you again, Rob?

• 1:35:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, no problem.

• 1:35:12Speaker 01

  No problem.

• 1:35:13Dax Shepard?

  Fourteen, fourteen, I'm fifty one.

• 1:35:16Speaker 01

  You're twelve years older than me, so you're thirteen years older than Rob.

• 1:35:19Dax Shepard?

  Look, he's thirty seven, I'm fifty one, that's fourteen.

• 1:35:21Speaker 01

  But you're January, although.

• 1:35:24Dax Shepard?

  I'm June, I'm almost thirty.

• 1:35:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, June, he's close.

• 1:35:27Dax Shepard?

  January. Okay, I have a funny story.

• 1:35:29Speaker 01

  Oh, great.

• 1:35:31Dax Shepard?

  So.

• 1:35:33Dax Shepard?

  You may remember that I was asked to go speak at Delta's class about Malala.

• 1:35:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:35:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, which was a little stressful because like, I'm not an expert on Malala, I certainly did my research.

• 1:35:45Speaker 01

  So she did a report, right?

• 1:35:47Dax Shepard?

  They had a whole section on her, they had read her, maybe both of her books and, you know, they really got into everything that happened in Pakistan. And then so Ms. Brown, who I love, shout out Ms. Brown, she invited me to talk about Malala. And then, and then, of course, it evolved into like the boys asking me what sports stars we interviewed, which was hilarious. What's so funny is I couldn't, on the spot, I couldn't think of anyone.

• 1:36:10Speaker 01

  Tom Brady.

• 1:36:11Dax Shepard?

  Well, I got to him.

• 1:36:12Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:36:13Dax Shepard?

  But mind you, we've had so many, like, I couldn't remember Shaq.

• 1:36:15Speaker 01

  And erotic, oh, Lord.

• 1:36:17Dax Shepard?

  I was just like, one of the ones like, you ever interview any sports, you know?

• 1:36:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, so boy, Dwayne Wade.

• 1:36:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, there's been a million, but I did, I was like, oh, yeah, well, I've done a lot of, and I'm like, I've done a lot of NBA players, I know I've done some NFL players. And then I go, oh, Tom Brady, that's the one I came up with.

• 1:36:35Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:36:36Dax Shepard?

  And this kid literally.

• 1:36:37Speaker 01

  We could say Simone Biles, but she won't come on. We would have said, we would have said it.

• 1:36:42Dax Shepard?

  I'd remember her the most. But this, I said Tom Brady and this boy shot out of his chair, he couldn't sit in his chair, he says, you ever interview Tom? Like, it was so funny. Anyways, that was that. I did that. So Lincoln's whole seventh grade class is doing a whole segment on, for, I think, literature or English or whatever. A whole segment on podcasting, like for, I guess, months, they're gonna learn about podcasting, and then I think they're all gonna make a podcast, right?

• 1:37:11Speaker 01

  Oh, she is such a leg up.

• 1:37:13Dax Shepard?

  Well, so one of the, one of the.

• 1:37:17Dax Shepard?

  One of the teachers said, would, you know, would your dad be willing to come in and, and talk?

• 1:37:22Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:37:22Dax Shepard?

  And then so Lincoln asked me and I said, yeah, of course. And so it was approaching and then the night before. Lincoln was such a ball of nerves as I totally understand. I mean, the notion of one of my parents coming into my seventh grade, I just.

• 1:37:36Speaker 01

  And you're a live wire.

• 1:37:38Dax Shepard?

  I'm a live wire. Um, but I just would have been terrified, like, you know, uh, for so many reasons, like, hey, I hope they think they're cool. If they're not, I gotta fight everyone. If you think my mom, if you're mean to my mom, now I gotta fight everyone.

• 1:37:50Speaker 01

  Like makes fun of you.

• 1:37:52Dax Shepard?

  Makes fun of my mom, everyone's dead.

• 1:37:54Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:37:55Dax Shepard?

  Okay. So anyways, so I know it's stressful and I'm, I'm already honored. She's even open to letting me come. I guess that says a lot. But the night before she was like, okay. You cannot wear those, your light colored Levi's that have a hole in the back.

• 1:38:10Speaker 01

  That's fair.

• 1:38:10Dax Shepard?

  And I was like, okay.

• 1:38:11Speaker 01

  It's inappropriate.

• 1:38:12Dax Shepard?

  And she's, you cannot wear a headband. And I go, okay, what do you think people are gonna think? You know, I like to poke. What do you think? You know?

• 1:38:19Speaker 01

  What did you, what'd she say?

• 1:38:20Dax Shepard?

  She just, she just, don't wear it.

• 1:38:22Speaker 01

  It's drawing too much.

• 1:38:23Dax Shepard?

  And then I said, okay, well, I'll just, I'll just wear a hat. You cannot wear a hat. You can't imagine, Monica, what this list became of things, um, I couldn't and could not wear.

• 1:38:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. Was it all aesthetic based or was it like, you can't say this or you?

• 1:38:37Dax Shepard?

  No, it was all aesthetic. Well, okay, we had this bit going. This backs up a whole week. She, she, they, thank goodness, the teacher urged the students to write out questions like last week. And so Lincoln said, I want to hear like, what are your answers gonna be to one of these questions? And, um, also, I don't know why we've been watching a good deal of British stuff. I don't know. That's in the mix. So I said, um, okay, let's, let's workshop this and you be Lincoln in this situation. Okay. This is a week ago. And I said, um, ask me how many episodes we've done. Yes.

• 1:39:13Speaker 01

  Um, Mr. Lincoln's dad?

• 1:39:15Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:16Speaker 01

  Um, how many episodes of your podcast have you made?

• 1:39:19Dax Shepard?

  A thousand? That's a lot, isn't it?

• 1:39:22Speaker 01

  Ew.

• 1:39:22Dax Shepard?

  Isn't it?

• 1:39:23Speaker 01

  Ew.

• 1:39:24Dax Shepard?

  It's a lot of episodes, isn't it? What do you think, isn't it? It's so aggressive.

• 1:39:28Speaker 01

  It's so aggressive and loud. Like, why did it get so loud?

• 1:39:32Dax Shepard?

  I think what made it so funny for. Both of us is if anyone might do that, you know, there is just a thin threat of that. And that's what makes it good. Of course, I would never do that.

• 1:39:43Speaker 01

  Are you sure?

• 1:39:44Dax Shepard?

  But she has seen me act bizarre enough that I'm sure some tinge of hers like, Jesus, is he think he's gonna do this? And I'm gonna laugh. Yeah.

• 1:39:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:39:53Dax Shepard?

  So I keep hitting her with it all week and then, and then I am told all these things I gotta wear. Okay, so then you and I recorded someone, we had to record someone earlier than we normally do so that I could get there. That's why we did it.

• 1:40:04Speaker 01

  Oh, that makes sense.

• 1:40:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, we had a 10 a.m.

• 1:40:07Speaker 01

  I know, and I didn't know why, but I figured it was just cause.

• 1:40:09Dax Shepard?

  Wasn't yesterday, was it? It was two days ago.

• 1:40:10Speaker 01

  Two days ago.

• 1:40:11Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so um, I left that interview and I think I was wearing a hat. I don't even know what the hell was going on, but the point is, is I went upstairs and I put on like all the appropriate approved clothes. And then I got in front of the mirror and Monica, I have never fretted over my hair this much in my, way worse than if I'm like on my way to Kimmel, which I do my own hair when I'm on a talk show. I was in there like, fuck, is this it? And I was like wrestling with it and I was like, fuck, it does not.

• 1:40:38Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 1:40:39Dax Shepard?

  It's so important I don't embarrass her.

• 1:40:41Speaker 01

  Oh, it's so cute because this, yeah, I imagine like if I'm, if I'm putting myself as a little girl and I, my dad's coming to class and I'm like, Oh my God, dad, please do not, just don't, don't, don't. But then now cut to however many, you know, 20 years later, since I'm so young.

• 1:41:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:41:00Speaker 01

  Um, that if I heard that he was like worried about his hair because I said that, like, oh man.

• 1:41:10Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. Anywho.

• 1:41:12Speaker 01

  How did it go?

• 1:41:12Dax Shepard?

  Oh, so it was not just her class, you know, it was the entire seventh grade.

• 1:41:16Speaker 01

  Oh, how many people?

• 1:41:18Dax Shepard?

  Um, 88.

• 1:41:20Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:41:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Um, so first of all, I got there greeted by one of the teachers. They're all so awesome.

• 1:41:27Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:41:27Dax Shepard?

  And this is so lucky. I'm just so delighted with the school that Lincoln goes to. Yeah. And of course they wanna know, they wanna know everything. They wanna know what kind of show it is. It's an interview show or why, what makes a good interviewer. And then they want to know the mechanics of it, right? Like you record for how long? What's the editing process? Like all that kind of stuff. But at any rate, um, they did open it up to questions. And again, this is, this is the incredible. Like I can't even compute what happens at this school because it's all girls.

• 1:41:56Speaker 01

  Oh, that's important to say.

• 1:41:58Dax Shepard?

  It's all girls.

• 1:41:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42:00Dax Shepard?

  One hand after another, boom, every girl had a question. They're so confident and there's question, question, question. It was really, really fun. And Lincoln sat in the directly front row in front of me.

• 1:42:12Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:42:12Dax Shepard?

  And I said to her, I'm like, I thought you were more of like a burnout like I was. I thought you'd be in the back row trying to hide. And she was front and center.

• 1:42:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42:19Dax Shepard?

  And then I took a big swing. Uh huh.

• 1:42:24Speaker 01

  What'd you do?

• 1:42:25Dax Shepard?

  I got asked, I can't remember the exact wording of it, but I got asked, like, have I ever gotten really emotional in one of the interviews or something like that? Yeah.

• 1:42:35Speaker 01

  Wow, that's an astute question.

• 1:42:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, but it was, it was a little, I wish I could remember the particulars. However, the question was, it led me to, and soon as I started talking about it, I was like, this is a disaster, but I'm pot committed. I've already begun talking about it, which was Dove Cameron.

• 1:42:49Speaker 01

  Oh, I thought you were going to talk about your mom.

• 1:42:51Dax Shepard?

  No, uh, uh, just as bad. I said, um, does anyone know Dove Cameron? All of them know Dove Cameron.

• 1:42:58Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:42:59Dax Shepard?

  Right?

• 1:43:00Speaker 01

  Well, they should start listening.

• 1:43:01Dax Shepard?

  Well, they're, they're young.

• 1:43:02Speaker 01

  Dex, I was gonna ask, how many do you convert? Like honestly, we need them. That's the age.

• 1:43:07Dax Shepard?

  I'd say of this 88, maybe six are in. Yeah, that's pretty good. Pick up six listeners.

• 1:43:13Speaker 01

  Okay, so they all knew Dove.

• 1:43:14Dax Shepard?

  They all knew Dove and um, I'm explaining the episode and I'm.

• 1:43:19Speaker 01

  You told them what happened with her?

• 1:43:21Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

• 1:43:22Speaker 01

  Oof.

• 1:43:23Dax Shepard?

  Her father died by suicide.

• 1:43:24Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:43:26Dax Shepard?

  And she thought he didn't love her.

• 1:43:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's horrifying. It's so sad.

• 1:43:29Dax Shepard?

  And then she found this box.

• 1:43:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:43:31Dax Shepard?

  And she found this baby book and in it, he had written my best friend.

• 1:43:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. That's a sad story.

• 1:43:39Dax Shepard?

  And then as I'm telling it, of course, I'm back in the moment that I totally broke down. The first time we heard the story. And then here's the biggest, this could have been career ending for me as a parent. And I said, and I was very emotional because this little person's my best friend.

• 1:43:56Speaker 01

  And then what?

• 1:43:56Dax Shepard?

  That could have been really embarrassing for her.

• 1:43:58Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:43:59Dax Shepard?

  And she looked at me and smiled so very. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I rode home and I got another helmet and then I came back and I picked her up and we rode home together. And she said she was really proud of me.

• 1:44:09Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:44:10Dax Shepard?

  All told, it went well, but high stakes. Again, I don't get nervous to go speak in front of people and I was, I was very nervous.

• 1:44:19Speaker 01

  You should, yeah, I'm glad you took it seriously.

• 1:44:21Dax Shepard?

  Her only complaint was the way I was calling on people. I got a little too animated when I was calling people. You, oh my God, great back row, you know, that I was getting, I was getting pumped. Especially if someone seemed shyer, I was like really trying to.

• 1:44:33Speaker 01

  Oh, that's the worst.

• 1:44:34Dax Shepard?

  Celebrate them.

• 1:44:35Speaker 01

  Oh, that's the worst because they want, they like, they're already nervous and then you're making up. Okay, um, listen, so we had that day, the interview that we did in the morning that you were just coming from was also a very.

• 1:44:51Dax Shepard?

  I told them about it.

• 1:44:52Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:44:53Dax Shepard?

  Because they asked me if I ever interviewed a killer.

• 1:44:55Speaker 01

  Well, that we can't tell people that. Well, I guess we can, guys, there's a, there's an interesting.

• 1:44:59Dax Shepard?

  I've not interviewed a killer that I know of, but one hour ago.

• 1:45:03Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:45:04Dax Shepard?

  And I told them that.

• 1:45:04Speaker 01

  Okay, and then that episode, um, okay, also has any parent like reached out like, hey, please don't ever. Hey, it was a little inappropriate for you to bring up.

• 1:45:18Dax Shepard?

  I was debating those things because I got into real dicey. I did paint myself into a corner really quick. I've had like a panic because they asked me who I'd want to interview that's dead. And I was like, oh my God, we just had this kind of debate on the podcast. And then all of a sudden I'm saying I'd interview Jesus and this is a, this is a Catholic school.

• 1:45:39Speaker 01

  Well, that's, they probably like that more.

• 1:45:42Dax Shepard?

  But I was saying why I want to interview him is I'd love to be able to look at him and see like, is this guy really? I was just honest.

• 1:45:49Speaker 01

  You said that?

• 1:45:50Dax Shepard?

  I did, I said, and then I realized later after I had given that answer that I had just assumed I'll be talking to him in English. And I remembered this guy doesn't speak English. I'm saying all this in front of it and the, and the teachers are around and I'm like, sorry.

• 1:46:03Speaker 01

  God, oh my God.

• 1:46:06Dax Shepard?

  And then I realized, oh, he doesn't speak English. And then I said, but then I realized, oh, well, that would be the proof. If this, if he magically just started speaking English, I'd be like, wow, this guy really is the son of God. I said all that.

• 1:46:18Speaker 01

  That's crazy.

• 1:46:19Dax Shepard?

  It was an hour and 40 minutes.

• 1:46:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:46:21Dax Shepard?

  That's a long time to get me talking where I'm not gonna. But the teachers did not mind it. I was like checking in with them a little bit. And I think they're just like, yeah, we're here to debate this.

• 1:46:31Speaker 01

  Okay, well, that's cool. Did you mention JonBenet Ramsey? She was an important part of that conversation.

• 1:46:38Dax Shepard?

  I did not bring up JonBenet Ramsey.

• 1:46:40Speaker 01

  You know, there was a girl about your age.

• 1:46:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I want to look out at you guys. I can't help but think of.

• 1:46:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. Okay. Well, that's awesome that you did that.

• 1:46:51Dax Shepard?

  I'm just basing it on like Lincoln's hip. She knows what's going on. I'm just granting the rest of them the same like cognitive aptitude as her.

• 1:46:59Speaker 01

  But it's not, okay, what I would, what I would push back a second on, they can be smart and thoughtful and curious, but a lot, there is a wide range of, of how exposed that age is. There's a wide range.

• 1:47:18Dax Shepard?

  But I don't, they're all watching Netflix. They're all listening to the news. Like, they know what's going on in the world. They know there's murderers. They know people do and don't believe in God. Like they, they're not eight year olds. And I just, I always hated being pandered to.

• 1:47:36Speaker 01

  I know. That's what I'm saying. You're, you're doing some projection because you, you hated that.

• 1:47:40Dax Shepard?

  Possibly. And also some percentage, yes.

• 1:47:46Speaker 01

  Did you bring up anything sexual?

• 1:47:47Dax Shepard?

  Nothing sexual. Yeah. No, I, that's, it's an all-girls school. I'm an old dude. No. I was somehow, thank goodness, didn't say anything. I didn't say anyone was hot or anything.

• 1:47:57Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:47:58Dax Shepard?

  Not the students, the guests. None of our guests. I was, I didn't say any of our guests were hot.

• 1:48:04Dax Shepard?

  You know, it was the sexiest guest we ever had. What if I said that?

• 1:48:06Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. Like, I know nobody asked, but.

• 1:48:09Dax Shepard?

  Question in.

• 1:48:11Speaker 01

  Nobody asks, but I know you're thinking it.

• 1:48:14Dax Shepard?

  Anyway, I do, I am, I am, I am a firm believer in the fact that the kids know way more than you think they do. And it's okay to talk about things. If you, if they get to see murders and stuff, then we can talk about everything.

• 1:48:24Speaker 01

  I guess that's true.

• 1:48:25Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I think the whole like protect people from topics is the way to navigate topics.

• 1:48:31Speaker 01

  But I also don't think they're gonna be protect, like, like, I think just because I didn't talk to my parents about certain things didn't mean I was like sheltered in the world. You, you'd talk to your friends about it and you figured it out.

• 1:48:42Dax Shepard?

  That's always my point is like, yeah, you found out all of them, but you found out from peers. And it would have been cool to have the parents' perspective as an adult who's been through some stuff.

• 1:48:51Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, I'm glad it went well. I do think you failed on a, like, big opportunity to get us some listeners.

• 1:49:02Dax Shepard?

  Well.

• 1:49:03Speaker 01

  Yeah. Armchair, did you bring up Armchair Anonymous?

• 1:49:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I think, um, I think Lincoln did.

• 1:49:08Speaker 01

  See, she's doing the Lord's work, ding ding ding, for us.

• 1:49:14Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

• 1:49:21Dax Shepard?

  We get support by Peloton. You know that feeling when you're spiraling over a problem and you just can't figure it out? When that happens to me, I need a change of pace. And I've found that running is the best way. It takes my brain out of the driver's seat and I come back with a fresh perspective. Running can be freeing and cathartic, and Peloton helps you feel all of that. And now that feeling fits wherever you need it with the new Peloton Tread Flex. It's movable and foldable, designed to fit your life. So next time you feel stuck, you can go for a run literally anywhere, whether that's in your office, living room, or even the attic. Plus, they have classes with expert instructors and programs to meet you at any level and keep you moving. Let yourself run.

• 1:50:04Dax Shepard?

  Explore the new Peloton Tread Flex at onepeloton.com.

• 1:50:15Dax Shepard?

  Well, what's problematic about Armchair Anonymous? I just, you know, I say like, we do a show. I was explaining Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. And I was talking about our workflow, you know, interviews with listeners.

• 1:50:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:50:28Dax Shepard?

  We don't have a single prompt that's really cool to tell them about Armchair Anonymous.

• 1:50:34Speaker 01

  Well.

• 1:50:34Dax Shepard?

  Or you want to talk about Dicey Water.

• 1:50:35Speaker 01

  But they're all listening.

• 1:50:37Dax Shepard?

  Well, the funny thing is, is that is the show they would want to listen to.

• 1:50:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:50:40Dax Shepard?

  But I wasn't really free to promote it. Because again, the topic, I wouldn't have felt comfortable.

• 1:50:46Speaker 01

  No, you just say, well, because there's one topic that pops in your mind all the time. But we have others. It's like.

• 1:50:51Dax Shepard?

  Evacuation.

• 1:50:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, you don't have to do that one either. It's like.

• 1:50:54Dax Shepard?

  All I could think about when they're, they wanted to know what the show is about is just, all I kept thinking about is the guy who cut his own penis off. I was like, don't tell that. Your brain does that. You're like, fucking whatever you do, do not mention. It's like the second that question was asked, I just thought of that penis thing. I was like, and that's all I could think about is don't say that.

• 1:51:12Speaker 01

  Okay, well.

• 1:51:12Dax Shepard?

  Example.

• 1:51:13Speaker 01

  Okay, well.

• 1:51:15Dax Shepard?

  Would you, would that story have popped into your mind?

• 1:51:17Speaker 01

  No, never.

• 1:51:18Dax Shepard?

  Which one would have popped into your mind?

• 1:51:19Speaker 01

  I guess I would have been like, oh, um, tell us about a, a bad job interview. Or tell us about a meet queue.

• 1:51:26Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah, we do have nice ones.

• 1:51:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:51:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:29Speaker 01

  Definitely ones you could have said. Yeah, water parks is this week. Water parks.

• 1:51:34Dax Shepard?

  Water parks, those are.

• 1:51:35Speaker 01

  That's great.

• 1:51:36Dax Shepard?

  But didn't nasty stuff happen at the water park?

• 1:51:38Speaker 01

  Well, you don't have to tell them what happens. Just their really funny stories.

• 1:51:41Dax Shepard?

  That all end nasty.

• 1:51:42Speaker 01

  People love to, um, people your age tend to listen and love them. You just, uh, you just give them the links and then have them click. In fact, so Lincoln is running for an office at school.

• 1:51:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:57Speaker 01

  And, um, I haven't told her this yet, but.

• 1:51:59Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:52:00Speaker 01

  When she wins.

• 1:52:01Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:52:02Speaker 01

  I hope maybe like. I'm just like hoping she's in charge of the announcements or something.

• 1:52:08Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:52:09Speaker 01

  Okay, and then she can play clips. And slowly convert.

• 1:52:14Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:52:15Speaker 01

  A whole school.

• 1:52:16Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:52:17Speaker 01

  You gotta think ahead like this. Exactly.

• 1:52:20Dax Shepard?

  Future leader.

• 1:52:20Speaker 01

  You gotta think ahead like this.

• 1:52:21Dax Shepard?

  I look out at that audience of of young ladies and I was like, these girls got it.

• 1:52:26Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:52:26Dax Shepard?

  Like, they're they're such badasses.

• 1:52:28Speaker 01

  So cool.

• 1:52:29Dax Shepard?

  I was in the audience. I I saw myself. She was in the dead back row.

• 1:52:33Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 1:52:34Dax Shepard?

  They got a question. I have two questions. One was legit. She goes, second question, why haven't you interviewed me? When are you gonna interview me? And I'm like, all you gotta do is win a Nobel Peace Prize. I got a seat open for you.

• 1:52:44Speaker 01

  So she's funny.

• 1:52:45Dax Shepard?

  Later, second round of questioning.

• 1:52:46Speaker 01

  Oh, boy.

• 1:52:48Dax Shepard?

  Right back at it. When am I gonna be on the show?

• 1:52:49Speaker 01

  Oh, she didn't know that the, okay.

• 1:52:52Dax Shepard?

  I'm like, this is me. I'm looking at me.

• 1:52:55Speaker 01

  Yeah. Does Lincoln get along with her?

• 1:52:58Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I asked her about her specifically. I'm like, I like that girl in the back row. Uh, and she's like, yeah, she's got, you know.

• 1:53:05Speaker 01

  Problems.

• 1:53:07Dax Shepard?

  No, no, no, no, no.

• 1:53:12Speaker 01

  She's considered the bad kid.

• 1:53:14Dax Shepard?

  And I guess we had this, but we never said it this way, but they have friendship groups.

• 1:53:19Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:53:19Dax Shepard?

  And they're like delineated and everyone knows what friendship group they're in and like, and there's migration. Like someone will try to join a different friendship group and then they all sit together and stuff.

• 1:53:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, lunch.

• 1:53:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so that gal was not in her friendship group.

• 1:53:34Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:53:34Dax Shepard?

  Which is not to say she doesn't like her. Yeah, yeah. She doesn't dislike the people not in her friendship group.

• 1:53:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:53:40Dax Shepard?

  It's complex, man.

• 1:53:41Speaker 01

  Oh, I remember it well.

• 1:53:43Dax Shepard?

  They.

• 1:53:44Speaker 01

  I remember it. It's remember it. It still exists. It still exists. It's actually really funny because I have a few new friends, which is weird. You know, as an adult, it's weird to have new friends.

• 1:53:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:56Speaker 01

  And I have a few new friends and like, they they have friendship groups and I have a friendship group. And it's like, kind of weird to like.

• 1:54:07Dax Shepard?

  Cross-pollinate?

• 1:54:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:54:08Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:54:09Speaker 01

  And.

• 1:54:11Speaker 01

  I guess it just never ends. Like you're like, oh, but would they like me? Well, because you know, the podcast I'm currently obsessed with.

• 1:54:21Dax Shepard?

  One, one person's in that podcast?

• 1:54:23Speaker 01

  Well, Erin and Sarah's podcast.

• 1:54:25Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:26Speaker 01

  Uh, they're friends with one of my new friends.

• 1:54:29Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:54:30Speaker 01

  And it's so strange.

• 1:54:34Dax Shepard?

  Are you going back and you are, you're, how many, like, what's your routine?

• 1:54:38Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 1:54:39Dax Shepard?

  It's like every night or?

• 1:54:40Speaker 01

  I feel weird about it.

• 1:54:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:42Speaker 01

  I like, don't want this to get back to them, but it will, cause we speak clear freely. But.

• 1:54:50Dax Shepard?

  You're like peak obsession right now.

• 1:54:51Speaker 01

  And I know, what I know, this is no offense to Erin and Sarah. The podcast is great. Very, I've, I mean, obviously I find it extremely enjoyable.

• 1:55:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:55:01Speaker 01

  But what I think is like, oh, I'm self-soothing somehow and I don't know what, I don't know why. Like, I don't know what's causing that.

• 1:55:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And why that's the salve.

• 1:55:11Speaker 01

  Yes. I think it probably has to do with moving into this big house and being by myself.

• 1:55:18Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:55:19Speaker 01

  Maybe.

• 1:55:19Dax Shepard?

  Yep.

• 1:55:20Speaker 01

  That like, I have friends around, in quotes. Around my house, you know, just like makes the house more lively.

• 1:55:28Dax Shepard?

  So you have it playing throughout the house and you walk from room to room?

• 1:55:31Speaker 01

  I have that ability. I have speakers, but I just do carry my, I do know how.

• 1:55:35Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:55:36Speaker 01

  But I, I have found myself, I just carry my phone around.

• 1:55:40Dax Shepard?

  Have you ever put the speaker?

• 1:55:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, I do for music. I do when I have friends over and stuff and I'm entertaining.

• 1:55:46Dax Shepard?

  Your new friendship group?

• 1:55:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, but maybe because it doesn't feel like they're with me if they're in the wall.

• 1:55:52Dax Shepard?

  If you're not holding them.

• 1:55:55Speaker 01

  And it's interesting.

• 1:55:56Dax Shepard?

  I think it's an old salve if I could, and I don't know the show. What I know is, um.

• 1:56:03Speaker 01

  And I say salve, but I just.

• 1:56:05Dax Shepard?

  Salve, I say salve.

• 1:56:06Speaker 01

  I know, you make it the L silent. So I don't know what's right.

• 1:56:10Dax Shepard?

  Probably you. I always defer to you. So I know Erin and Sarah. I've known Sarah for 22 years, I guess. And I like both of them so much.

• 1:56:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:56:20Dax Shepard?

  Uh, and, um, so just let me say that.

• 1:56:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:56:24Dax Shepard?

  I've never listened to the show, so I don't, I don't really, I have no position to have this opinion, but I, I'm gonna have it anyways. You know, they're very popular girls. They're like hot popular girls. And I think your salve was like, friends, friends is very hot popular kids.

• 1:56:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, you mean people who liked Friends or The Friends?

• 1:56:46Dax Shepard?

  The Friends. They're, I mean, they're, they're hot and popular. I mean, the whole, America loves them and they have got great style and the new hairdos.

• 1:56:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, they're also weirdos. Like Phoebe's a weirdo and like Ross is a paleontologist.

• 1:56:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:56:59Speaker 01

  Hot one.

• 1:57:00Dax Shepard?

  Um, I think they're, they represent very popular.

• 1:57:04Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:57:04Dax Shepard?

  It's certainly not Seinfeld where it's like you've got Costanza and, uh, Richardson, whatever his name was on.

• 1:57:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:57:12Dax Shepard?

  Um.

• 1:57:13Speaker 01

  Kramer.

• 1:57:13Dax Shepard?

  Kramer.

• 1:57:14Speaker 01

  I, okay, here's the, here's, I don't think I agree with you, but I, I tangentially agree with you.

• 1:57:21Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:57:21Speaker 01

  In that, that, what I was so attracted to with The Friends is, is their intimacy, how much they loved each other unconditionally. How like safe that group of people was.

• 1:57:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:57:37Speaker 01

  And I wanted that so badly. Potentially Erin and Sarah are doing a similar thing. I know, I mean, I'm coming up with this real time. Maybe because they're sisters, right? So there is this just like.

• 1:57:49Dax Shepard?

  Unbreakable bond.

• 1:57:50Speaker 01

  Bond intimacy that nothing, I mean, they're mean to each other, you know, they're really like, kind of, sometimes I'm like, oh my God, this is wild.

• 1:57:58Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, they talk to each other like siblings talk.

• 1:58:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I don't have, I mean, obviously I have a younger brother, but I don't have a sister and I definitely, I always wish I had that. So maybe it's a little bit of that, like, oh, I wish I had this.

• 1:58:12Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:58:13Speaker 01

  I mean, I have friends, but it's not the same.

• 1:58:15Dax Shepard?

  There's a lot of things you'll have in life. You're not gonna have a sister.

• 1:58:19Speaker 01

  That's the thing. There are a lot of things I can make happen for myself.

• 1:58:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I don't wanna limit you, but I do wanna tell you, you're not gonna have a sister that's your age.

• 1:58:28Speaker 01

  Unless.

• 1:58:29Dax Shepard?

  What could happen?

• 1:58:30Speaker 01

  Separated at birth.

• 1:58:31Dax Shepard?

  Oh, reunited?

• 1:58:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:58:33Dax Shepard?

  What if Nirmie called you? Like, I need to tell you something.

• 1:58:37Speaker 01

  And I guess.

• 1:58:37Dax Shepard?

  Monica?

• 1:58:39Speaker 01

  Hey, that was pretty good. Whoa, that was pretty good. I don't wanna hear anymore.

• 1:58:44Dax Shepard?

  I know. I knew you didn't wanna.

• 1:58:48Speaker 01

  Weird. Going home to see her for Mother's Day weekend.

• 1:58:52Dax Shepard?

  Oh, nice. Yeah. Oh, one last thing. Last Friday, Lincoln had the day off school.

• 1:58:58Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:58:59Dax Shepard?

  So we went to the go-kart track and we were on our way home from the go-kart track and we were on Los Feliz Boulevard. And I said, oh, look here. I go, oh, look, here's Monica's. We're coming up on Monica. I spotted your car from like 100 yards back.

• 1:59:11Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:59:12Dax Shepard?

  So we were definitely coming up to get next to you and it was what timing the, the universe smiled on us because right as we were catching you, an ambulance was coming through the intersection. So you were trying to get over in the right lane, but I had just slid into the right lane. And the look you gave me real time and, and Lincoln and I were both staring at you and you like turned and you fucking, you're like, what the hell? Looked with your eyes. And we were laughing.

• 1:59:39Speaker 01

  I know. And then it was you guys and I, then I laughed, but I was still like, go. Like there, the ambulance is trying to come.

• 1:59:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And it was fine. The ambulance went in the other lane.

• 1:59:49Speaker 01

  Really stressed me out.

• 1:59:50Dax Shepard?

  It wasn't in our lane. It was an oncoming.

• 1:59:52Speaker 01

  I know, but still.

• 1:59:53Dax Shepard?

  You were doing what you're supposed to do, but I was there.

• 1:59:55Speaker 01

  I, and I was like, who is this fucking asshole?

• 2:00:00Dax Shepard?

  And it was your friends.

• 2:00:01Speaker 01

  And getting also preventing me from getting over. And it was you.

• 2:00:06Dax Shepard?

  How much do you think seeing her little face smiling, buffeted?

• 2:00:10Speaker 01

  Of course it helped.

• 2:00:11Dax Shepard?

  Okay. Yeah. If it was just me and I was waving, would you?

• 2:00:14Speaker 01

  No, I also knew, I mean, once it was you, I was like, oh, they're fucking with me. So it was, I would have still been, I still would have laughed.

• 2:00:23Dax Shepard?

  Okay, okay.

• 2:00:24Speaker 01

  Um, but I also was like, man, but like, what if they don't get to, what if someone dies, you know, because the ambulance didn't get there because Dax wanted to say hi to me.

• 2:00:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that didn't happen. Nothing happened with the ambulance for the record. Um, I love how rare your car is because. I always know if it's you.

• 2:00:43Speaker 01

  Yeah. Do you know my license plate?

• 2:00:45Dax Shepard?

  No, don't need to.

• 2:00:45Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 2:00:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, cuz no one has. I've never seen your car in that color.

• 2:00:50Speaker 01

  Really?

• 2:00:51Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 2:00:51Speaker 01

  I've seen it a couple of times and I always like, I like, I like that. All right. Well, I mean,

• 2:00:55Dax Shepard?

  facts?

• 2:00:56Speaker 01

  Well, let's do some facts. Okay. Yes, this is for Chase.

• 2:00:59Dax Shepard?

  Chase Crawford.

• 2:01:00Speaker 01

  Chase Crawford.

• 2:01:01Dax Shepard?

  What a likeable.

• 2:01:03Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 2:01:03Dax Shepard?

  Fucking guy.

• 2:01:04Speaker 01

  Very likeable.

• 2:01:05Dax Shepard?

  Oh, so likeable. You can tell. No wonder he's gotten along with everybody.

• 2:01:08Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Yeah. Got a lot. He had a lot of endorsements, like from people.

• 2:01:14Dax Shepard?

  Mm hmm. Tell the audience about.

• 2:01:17Speaker 01

  No.

• 2:01:17Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:01:19Dax Shepard?

  Wow. I thought that would be something you would share for sure.

• 2:01:21Speaker 01

  Fine.

• 2:01:22Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:01:23Speaker 01

  Um, there is a scene in Gossip Girl, I forget what season, and it's not like that sexual of a scene, but he's in a car. Well, they're, they're making out and like they're obviously like they're either post quit or freak or just, they're just, they're just messing around.

• 2:01:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:01:40Speaker 01

  In a car.

• 2:01:41Dax Shepard?

  Oh, hook up.

• 2:01:42Speaker 01

  Him and this older woman.

• 2:01:44Dax Shepard?

  Hmm.

• 2:01:45Speaker 01

  Oh, maybe that's.

• 2:01:46Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:01:47Speaker 01

  I predicted that I'd be a cougar one day. Anyway, when I, when I used to watch the show, I loved that scene and I would watch it multiple times cuz I thought it was so hot. I thought he was so hot. He had like his hands on her and I thought it was really hot.

• 2:02:01Dax Shepard?

  You liked how his, what his hands were doing?

• 2:02:02Speaker 01

  I love hands.

• 2:02:03Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. What are you gonna do?

• 2:02:04Speaker 01

  What can you do?

• 2:02:05Dax Shepard?

  What can you do?

• 2:02:06Speaker 01

  Yeah. Anyway, um, speaking of, when was Ziegers, your friend Ziegers, Kevin Ziegers on Gossip Girl? He was on from 2009 to 2011. He was in 10 episodes across seasons three and four. Damien Dalgard.

• 2:02:22Dax Shepard?

  Sounds very rich.

• 2:02:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, he was a bad boy.

• 2:02:25Dax Shepard?

  Rich, bad boy?

• 2:02:26Speaker 01

  Drug dealer.

• 2:02:27Dax Shepard?

  Hmm. Ziegers is now a full blown cowboy. Do you know this?

• 2:02:30Speaker 01

  From his show, right?

• 2:02:32Dax Shepard?

  Well, I think that's where it started.

• 2:02:33Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 2:02:34Dax Shepard?

  But now he's genuinely, he was just gone for like four days, not for the show, not for money to help another rancher.

• 2:02:41Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 2:02:42Dax Shepard?

  He was castrating bulls and roping and doing the whole.

• 2:02:47Speaker 01

  He loves.

• 2:02:47Dax Shepard?

  The whole thing. He's doing like the shit that's gnarly.

• 2:02:50Speaker 01

  Wow, good for him.

• 2:02:51Dax Shepard?

  Castrating. No, thank you.

• 2:02:52Speaker 01

  Not good for, I don't, that sounds yucky.

• 2:02:54Dax Shepard?

  Oh, pulling balls out.

• 2:02:56Speaker 01

  Ew, why does he want to do that? Do you think he's like, I need to be more rugged?

• 2:03:01Dax Shepard?

  No, I think he got a bug for it. Like, I think he enjoys it. He was, he got invited, I think, from Taylor to go do this, like, uh, showing, cutting horses, you know, cutting horses. They sep, they can separate out, uh, one cow from the herd. So they're really agile and they kind of get into this back and forth. They, they pick a cow, they try to separate it from the herd and the cow's trying to get away from it. So the horse is constantly going left, right, trying to outflank him, like he's covering him in basketball. So to stay on that horse is pretty wild. Like it's, you gotta be a good rider to be riding a horse cutter. And so there was showing horse cutting horses, I presume to sell at some auction or something. And Ziegler's was demonstrating the horse cutting on this horse. And I watched the video. I was like,

• 2:03:45Dax Shepard?

  by God, he's really fucking doing it.

• 2:03:47Speaker 01

  Horses are having a moment. Oh yeah, you rode horses.

• 2:03:51Dax Shepard?

  And I caution people to use, yeah, be careful on them.

• 2:03:55Speaker 01

  And Ziegler's, I guess, is a cowboy. And, um, that Untold on horses.

• 2:04:01Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh. And, and, and Clooney's Beer is all about horses. Yeah.

• 2:04:05Speaker 01

  And, um, Sarah Foster has a horse.

• 2:04:08Dax Shepard?

  She does. Yeah.

• 2:04:10Speaker 01

  I know that its name is Rolex.

• 2:04:14Speaker 01

  How much did Pepperdine buy that property for?

• 2:04:17Dax Shepard?

  Hmm.

• 2:04:17Speaker 01

  Pepperdine University's main 138 acre Malibu campus land was donated in nineteen.

• 2:04:23Dax Shepard?

  Let's take one second. 138 acres on the PCH?

• 2:04:27Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:04:28Dax Shepard?

  Okay, go ahead.

• 2:04:28Speaker 01

  Donated in 1968 by the Adamson Ringe family.

• 2:04:33Dax Shepard?

  Hmm. That's the best way to get property.

• 2:04:35Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 2:04:37Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 2:04:38Dax Shepard?

  Wow, 138 acres, right there. That's worth four or 500 million dollars if it's just flat. I mean, there's nothing even on it. Wow.

• 2:04:48Speaker 01

  Um, how many deaths per square mile on the PCH? It says, while traffic safety data for the PCH is generally measured in fatalities per mile or total crashes rather than per square mile. The 21-mile stretch of PCH through Malibu has experienced a high concentration of fatalities, with roughly 61 deaths reported over the 15 years leading up to late 2024.

• 2:05:12Dax Shepard?

  And no one cares, but I said it briefly in the episode. The problem is, is people are parallel parking on either side of this six-lane. There's a, there's a middle turning lane. There's two lanes. People are going 60 miles an hour and people are making U-turns across all five or six lanes to find the beach parking spot.

• 2:05:30Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:05:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's a bad motorcycle in particular. It's like probably the worst stretch for motorcyclists.

• 2:05:35Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. Um, the movie that Chase shot in Turks and Caicos? I'm not sure. Um, but it was prob, it was probably Riptide.

• 2:05:45Dax Shepard?

  That would make sense.

• 2:05:46Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. And then there's also Long Lost Sun.

• 2:05:49Dax Shepard?

  We went to Turks and Caicos.

• 2:05:50Speaker 01

  We did.

• 2:05:50Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:05:51Speaker 01

  Loaded. Uh, The Haunting of Molly Hartley. I'm just reading a lot now.

• 2:05:56Dax Shepard?

  Hmm.

• 2:05:57Speaker 01

  Like a lot of his credits. But I kind of think it was Riptide.

• 2:06:01Dax Shepard?

  It makes a lot of sense. What wouldn't make sense is a movie called The Mountain Escape.

• 2:06:06Speaker 01

  That would be, but you never know.

• 2:06:08Dax Shepard?

  You don't know, but that would make no sense.

• 2:06:10Speaker 01

  You never know. Okay. Um, now, not to do this, I know I don't love doing this, but I do feel like I have to.

• 2:06:17Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:06:17Speaker 01

  Actually, I don't have to. Yeah, I'm not going to.

• 2:06:20Dax Shepard?

  Go ahead.

• 2:06:21Speaker 01

  Okay, so it's Abercrombie and Fitch.

• 2:06:23Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that's fine with me. I actually am happier I don't know the real.

• 2:06:27Speaker 01

  Well, no. Now you know it right, you can say it right.

• 2:06:31Dax Shepard?

  What is right?

• 2:06:32Speaker 01

  Fitch.

• 2:06:33Dax Shepard?

  Fitch, not Finch.

• 2:06:34Speaker 01

  Well, now I'm worried. I'm, oh, my God.

• 2:06:38Dax Shepard?

  Finch is a bird.

• 2:06:40Speaker 01

  You're, yeah, Fitch.

• 2:06:41Dax Shepard?

  But what the fuck is Abercrombie?

• 2:06:43Speaker 01

  Abercrombie and Fitch.

• 2:06:44Dax Shepard?

  Yes, great, but what is an Abercrombie?

• 2:06:46Speaker 01

  People's names.

• 2:06:47Dax Shepard?

  I don't even say, I'm saying it right now, but normally you should know, I don't say Abercrombie. I say Amber-Crombie.

• 2:06:53Speaker 01

  Oh, you do.

• 2:06:54Dax Shepard?

  I do, I say Amber-Crombie and Fitch.

• 2:06:56Speaker 01

  No, and Finch.

• 2:06:57Dax Shepard?

  And Amber-Crombie and Finch. It's. Scottish surname. Okay. Well, no disrespect to that family, but just what a comical name.

• 2:07:07Speaker 01

  I think it's cool Abercrombie.

• 2:07:09Dax Shepard?

  I just am impressed. Someone was like, yeah, we'll call it Amber Crombie in French.

• 2:07:12Speaker 01

  Well, no one's calling it that because that's not.

• 2:07:14Dax Shepard?

  And then everyone's like, what? And yeah, it'll work. And it did.

• 2:07:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was obsessed with it. That's why I knew I was right, but then I second guessed.

• 2:07:22Dax Shepard?

  I'll tell you when it backfired, Zathura. Like, it's dangerous to name something, something people can't pronounce.

• 2:07:28Speaker 01

  But most people can pronounce Abercrombie. I'm sorry.

• 2:07:31Dax Shepard?

  I don't know. I've not seen the data or the data.

• 2:07:34Speaker 01

  Me either.

• 2:07:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I know Zathura was a real struggle and part of the whole ad campaign was they had bought like a whole episode of The Apprentice. Where the task was to get people to know how to pronounce the fucking name of this movie. And I was like, this is not great.

• 2:07:48Speaker 01

  That's bad, yeah.

• 2:07:49Dax Shepard?

  That's not great.

• 2:07:50Speaker 01

  Well, also because Zathura is like, well, could it be Zeph- Yora?

• 2:07:56Dax Shepard?

  People were saying Zathura.

• 2:07:57Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 2:07:58Dax Shepard?

  And then once they found out they were saying it wrong, they're like, fuck it. I can step up to the ticket window. There's six movies. I know I can say the name of this one. I'll say that.

• 2:08:06Speaker 01

  I know, but part of me is like.

• 2:08:07Dax Shepard?

  Get over yourself?

• 2:08:08Speaker 01

  Just like, just say, I want that Z movie. Like, why would you let it stop you? People have such big egos. Okay. Um, married guys, you said live 11 years longer.

• 2:08:21Dax Shepard?

  I said that? I don't know what. I was being facetious, I think. They live longer.

• 2:08:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. Studies show on average roughly two to eight years longer than unmarried.

• 2:08:30Dax Shepard?

  Then you add daughters into that mix. You could hit 11.

• 2:08:33Speaker 01

  Huh?

• 2:08:33Dax Shepard?

  Daughters, every.

• 2:08:34Speaker 01

  That's different.

• 2:08:35Dax Shepard?

  For, only for men, not for women. Uh, every daughter that a man has on average adds 1.7.

• 2:08:41Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 2:08:42Dax Shepard?

  Like if that data is affected by people who have daughters. Yeah.

• 2:08:46Speaker 01

  Okay. Now, he accidentally, now I'm gonna do it to him. Abercrombie and Fitch. He accidentally said season two twice in a sentence, and I think he meant season three when he was talking about the octopus.

• 2:09:01Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that sounds right.

• 2:09:02Speaker 01

  I mean, the epic octopus scene is in season three. So, yeah. Oh, who did they end up hiring for Footloose? So I think Kenny Wermald.

• 2:09:12Dax Shepard?

  That sounds right.

• 2:09:13Speaker 01

  He played, um, yeah, this is him.

• 2:09:17Dax Shepard?

  Kenny Crombie and Fitch. Yeah, he's a real professional dancer.

• 2:09:20Speaker 01

  Kenny Wermald or Wermald, um.

• 2:09:25Speaker 01

  And the director's Craig Brewer. He might have said Craig Brewer, but I think he said Craig Bryce.

• 2:09:31Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay. A lot of thanks in this fact check.

• 2:09:36Speaker 01

  Oh, one thing I want to make clear. Um, I look, my mouth looks kind of weird in this episode.

• 2:09:42Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 2:09:42Speaker 01

  That's because I have a lozenge in my mouth because that was during my cough attack period.

• 2:09:46Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay. The season of coughing.

• 2:09:48Speaker 01

  Mm hmm, mm hmm.

• 2:09:49Dax Shepard?

  Your coughing era.

• 2:09:50Speaker 01

  So that was lozenge based.

• 2:09:52Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:09:52Speaker 01

  I don't want people to think I had like weird botox.

• 2:09:54Dax Shepard?

  Right. One of our episodes just aired where my sty was very, very evident. And I was like, oh yeah, that was quite evident.

• 2:10:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, you could see it.

• 2:10:01Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 2:10:02Speaker 01

  But you know.

• 2:10:03Dax Shepard?

  I mean, I don't, I'll live. I just don't like the, the connection with pink eye.

• 2:10:08Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:10:08Dax Shepard?

  Cause pink eye makes you think of poop in your eye. And I don't have any poop in my eye. And I didn't then, and I don't now.

• 2:10:13Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 2:10:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I had a sty from stress.

• 2:10:16Speaker 01

  I know, but also like, I don't think I would have thought it was pink eye.

• 2:10:22Dax Shepard?

  There was a moment where my eyeball was like beet red.

• 2:10:24Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:10:26Dax Shepard?

  And that, that it screamed pink eye. I even think someone said, I think my sister said, hey, oh, you got pink eye?

• 2:10:31Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 2:10:32Dax Shepard?

  I was like, no, I wipe my butt with toilet paper, not my hand. TT.

• 2:10:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, but sometimes you still could get poop particles.

• 2:10:40Dax Shepard?

  I can, but yeah, other people could.

• 2:10:42Speaker 01

  You're the one that sticks your finger up your butt when you shower. Okay?

• 2:10:45Dax Shepard?

  You don't know anything.

• 2:10:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, you've said that aloud. Okay, that's it.

• 2:10:49Dax Shepard?

  Love you.

• 2:10:50Speaker 01

  Love you.

• 2:11:05Dax Shepard?

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