Aziz Ansari

He's a stand-up comedian, an actor, a TV creator, and now with the new movie, GOOD FORTUNE, a filmmaker! Aziz Ansari joins Josh to chat about his new Keanu Reeves film, the enduring appeal of PARKS & RECREATION, and more! Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 0:59Josh Horowitz?

  You're gonna probably be in a restaurant like in 30 years and someone's gonna send over something with like a message and says like, "Treat yourself, enjoy this."

• 1:07Speaker 03

  I love that it's part of my career, especially because there's not a ton of shows like that now that are made for that many episodes. Also, it's also something that kids can enjoy and a lot of kids have been discovering the show, so that's been fun to meet like a whole generation of kids that have discovered the show. So cool. But yeah, I'm so proud to have been part of that group and yeah, it always makes me smile when I see little moments like that.

• 1:31Speaker 04

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

• 1:39Josh Horowitz?

  Hey guys, it's Josh and welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today, another first time guest, Mr. Aziz Ansari, talking about his feature directing debut, Good Fortune.

• 1:51Josh Horowitz?

  Thanks guys, as always, for joining us on the podcast, listening or viewing it however you like. We are publishing a lot of content lately, I know. I apologize, I'm clogging your feed, but it's all for a good cause. We just have recorded so many great conversations, and I have to share them all with you. We also are just coming off of New York Comic Con, so there are a lot of the things there that I'm still trying to share with you guys as quickly as possible. As always, if you want extra content, even more, early access, all the cool stuff, you know what to do. Patreon.com/happystayconfused. Plus, you're gonna get the inside dirt first and discounts on our live events, including next week, 92nd Street Y, I am talking to the cast and creators of Nobody Wants This. And there are many,

• 2:33Josh Horowitz?

  many, many more very cool events to come. Speaking of live events, that's what this was. Aziz joined me after a screening of his new film, Good Fortune, at the 92nd Street Y. Just a blast. I really like this movie a lot. I've seen this movie three times, actually. That should tell you all you need to know about the film. It is a high-concept fantasy, comedy, dramedy. Seth Rogen, Kiki Palmer, Keanu Reeves, and Aziz himself. And it's a delight. Super funny. Aziz always delivers as a creator. I mean, if you've seen his work, obviously, Master of None was really his baby that he created, and this certainly continues that. And it's his feature directing debut, so I'm excited to help support that

• 3:17Josh Horowitz?

  film in this conversation. Big career chat, though. We talk about his roots. Obviously, we cover a lot of Parks and Recreation. We have a special message from our buddy Ben Schwartz. We talk about, if you don't know it, there's a crazy story of Aziz kind of almost directing another film. He was directing another film starring Bill Murray and Seth and Kiki that fell apart halfway through it. Google it, you'll see what happened. But fascinating to hear his vision for what that movie was gonna be. Aziz is, you know, one of the smartest, funniest, coolest guys around, so I think you're gonna enjoy this. I take you now to the 92nd Street Y for a lovely live event with Aziz Ansari.

• 4:00Speaker 05

  How's it going, everybody?

• 4:03Josh Horowitz?

  Thank you guys so much for coming out tonight. Um, my name is Josh Horowitz. I host a podcast called Happy Sad Confused. The 92nd Street Y is always so awesome to host these live events. I love doing these here and I love having a first time guest on the podcast. We're about to bring out the one and only Aziz Ansari, everybody. Are you excited for this? Come on, come on.

• 4:25Josh Horowitz?

  Um, from his stand-up, from Parks and Rec to Master of None, this guy can do so many things. He's an actor, he's a director, he's a writer, he's a burrata boy, apparently, from Master, from, uh, his new film, Good Fortune. Give it up for Good Fortune, by the way. You're some of the first folks

• 4:44Josh Horowitz?

  in the world to see this film. Uh, this movie comes out in theaters, yes, in theaters this Friday. It needs all your love, every movie does nowadays, and especially the good ones that need that word of mouth. So I know you're gonna spread the good word. And as a, uh, as a penance, as a, as a gift to you guys for spreading the good word, I give you the one and only Mr. Aziz Ansari, everybody. Give it up.

• 5:16Speaker 03

  Thank you, thank you. Thank you for, for coming to screening. Thank you for having me on the podcast and thank you for these tiny, nondescript water bottles. Three of them. Who's the third one for? Whoever gets the most dehydrated.

• 5:29Josh Horowitz?

  Ooh, something to stay tuned for. Um, congratulations, man. This movie is so great.

• 5:34Speaker 03

  Oh, thanks. Thank you very much. Your third time seeing it, you said. That's a lot.

• 5:38Josh Horowitz?

  I've seen this movie three times. I don't have to do that.

• 5:40Speaker 03

  It's not even out yet. You've seen it three times. That's a lot of love. I appreciate it.

• 5:44Josh Horowitz?

  And I'm a busy man.

• 5:45Speaker 03

  No, thank you.

• 5:46Josh Horowitz?

  No, I love it. Uh, is the greatest acting challenge of your life pretending you've never eaten burrata in your life?

• 5:51Speaker 03

  Uh, hey, you, you know me, uh, you know me well. Yes, that was, uh, that was tough. Yeah. But we did it.

• 5:57Josh Horowitz?

  So this film, it is a film. It is a film for theaters. And that is a rarity nowadays, as we know, to see comedies on the big screen.

• 6:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:07Josh Horowitz?

  Where they belong. Why is that important to you? I mean...

• 6:10Speaker 03

  Well, hopefully you guys felt it today and I felt it on the screenings we've been doing. Just being in a crowd watching a film like this, it's so much more fun than sitting on the couch by yourself and being on the phone and I heard you guys laughing and stuff and I miss that and I remember going to the movies and having that experience all the time, you know, in the heyday of, you know, a lot of sets movies, Pineapple Express, Superbad, all those movies and that communal experience, it adds so much to the film.

• 6:41Josh Horowitz?

  It strikes me, I mean, I remember like, you know, when you started especially to do films and we're in some of those like Appetow comedies and 30 Minutes or Less and like you were kind of like, you know, you were getting some nice roles, some smaller roles, but this must be a whole different kind of feeling because you're the architect of this. Do you feel, you must feel the skin in the game, the pressure, but also the joy of bringing this to the screen?

• 7:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I would say it's similar to when I went from doing Parks and Rec to doing my Netflix series, Master and Don, you know, to just kind of go from being a piece in a machine to being like, oh, you're building the whole machine and putting it all together and you have so many more responsibilities and everything, but you also get to make something that's yours.

• 7:25Josh Horowitz?

  So, take me back, you were saying like, you know, we all share those memories growing up of that theatrical experience, especially seeing comedies. What were the ones that really resonated with you, that you knew by heart, that you can remember yourself sitting in a theater enjoying as a kid?

• 7:40Speaker 03

  Comedies?

• 7:41Josh Horowitz?

  Yes, comedies especially.

• 7:42Speaker 03

  You know, as a kid, I don't remember as many. As a kid, I remember seeing, I was like so into action movies as a kid. And I know this is gonna sound convenient because he's in the film, but I remember a couple of the big Keanu movies. Like, I remember seeing Speed in the theater, I saw that at a drive-in movie theater in Albany, New York, and it just crushed. It was so cool. There was a, it was a, sorry, I've told this story on this press tour a couple of times because of obvious reasons, but I remember I went with my family, my aunt and uncle lived in Albany, they took me to a drive-in movie theater and the first movie was True Lies, which was amazing, and then the second movie was Speed, and I thought Speed was like about... People doing Speed, like the drug. And, and I thought it was gonna be awkward seeing, seeing all these hyper people with my aunt and uncle.

• 8:24Speaker 03

  So I was like, maybe we go home, and then it was Speed, and it, it's so good, and it plays so well in the theater. And that was great. Um, I remember, uh, you know, going to The Matrix when I was in high school. That was unbelievable. Um, but comedies, if I really think back, I mean, I remember being in college. I think I was in college when we went and saw Anchorman. I think at the Regal in Union Square. And it was just, it was just, it was electric. The energy in there was crazy. Same with Forty Year Old Virgin. I, I definitely remember that era of films and, and seeing those with audiences and it being something special.

• 8:56Josh Horowitz?

  I, I also wanted to mention before I forget, again, having seen this film three times. All three times, uh, I think I'm the loudest one, uh, laughing in the theater at the line. I feel like Kevin James in Hitch.

• 9:06Speaker 03

  I feel like Kevin James in Hitch.

• 9:08Josh Horowitz?

  It's a very specific.

• 9:09Speaker 03

  That makes me Hitch in Hitch.

• 9:12Speaker 03

  You know, you wanna know a little tidbit?

• 9:13Josh Horowitz?

  Yes.

• 9:14Speaker 03

  Okay, so, wha- wha- what we had in the edit at one point was, uh, uh, the, I, I, I'd say, I feel like Kevin James in Hitch. And then Seth says, "That makes me Hitch in Hitch. He's a cool guy, thanks." And then, um, we both said, "Take that," and rewound it back. Ursher got the booty, make the booty go clap, and then it cut to the next scene. And then they were like, "That'll cost a hundred thousand dollars."

• 9:43Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 9:44Speaker 03

  And we said, "But we, we really like it." And they're like, "We really don't think that's the best use of the budget."

• 9:49Josh Horowitz?

  Are you, are you the kind of filmmaker, writer, that has like alts? Like, you know, I've been on the, the Apatow McKay sets where they are, they're on the bullhorn throwing out alts. Or are you kind of like wedded to your, to your, the words?

• 10:01Speaker 03

  I say it's a little bit different than their process. I've experienced that process a little bit. You know, they're often shooting with multiple cameras, so everybody's improvising, and it's a little bit more of a free-for-all. Um, you know, I'm usually shooting with one camera, and, uh, we spend a lot of time rehearsing. So a lot of the scenes in there, they were developed through, uh, rehearsal, and, um, you know, uh... We would kind of find the scenes that way and so we were starting a little bit ahead of the game and then while we're shooting sometimes I would throw things out. I mean I remember in that scene where they're both eating the burger when Keanu's eating a burger for the first time. Those scenes were so fun where I'm just directing and I'd have to

• 10:40Speaker 03

  just throw jokes at Seth and Keanu and I think I pitched for Keanu to say, or Seth would say, "You're a big boy now" and then Keanu, "Take a bite and say, 'Yeah, I'm a big boy'" and then they would just do that and it was so fun.

• 10:56Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, seeing this film, I mean, I can't help but think, I mean, you know, I'm a bit of a cinephile, so I think of things like everything from L.A. Story to Heaven Can Wait, Being There. There's a lot of little elements in there. I don't know if any of those were on your mind.

• 11:09Speaker 03

  Oh yeah, I mean, you know, what was interesting is we had a big pause for the writer's strike. You know, we shot for like a day. The only real scene we got under our belt was the burger scene, which was, I mean, you know, this is a precarious thing. People are like, "Oh, man, you know, it must be all so tough to get the movie," but I'm so thankful we got it done because there's a world where we couldn't have come back, where they would have been like, "Hey, you know, this has really changed how expensive this movie is that you shut down because of the strike and everything," but we had that burger scene. I think that burger scene, you know, was kind of proof of concept and, but in that period during the strike, that was a long, it was like, what, six, eight months? It was a long time. I just, you know, I didn't work on the script at all, you know, you

• 11:53Speaker 03

  weren't supposed to, but I also welcomed that because it gave me some space from it and I watched, you know, I would watch a bunch of L.A. movies, you know, a bunch of union movies, you know, everything and I watched L.A. Story and, oh, man, that opening is so great, the parody of, what is it, La Dolce Vita and he has the, he has like a hot dog.

• 12:16Speaker 03

  And then just when they're at the four-way stop and they all crash into each other, that's an amazing movie and so many of those-

• 12:21Josh Horowitz?

  Patrick Stewart in that movie, amazing, so many good things in that movie.

• 12:24Speaker 03

  Patrick Stewart, what is he?

• 12:25Josh Horowitz?

  Patrick Stewart plays like the obnoxious chef at the, he's like the head of the restaurant.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  Oh, okay.

• 12:31Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 12:32Speaker 03

  I mean, what's funny is all those L.A. jokes still work and that was, you know, that's pretty old now.

• 12:44Speaker 00

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• 13:15Speaker 06

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• 13:47Josh Horowitz?

  What is the germ of the idea here? What's the first thing you ever put? Like log line or early version of this that came together?

• 13:54Speaker 03

  I just started writing those two guys and then I would get to like page 40 and I was like, I don't know what happens here. And then I had this angel idea and I was like, oh, maybe that angel thing happens here. And then I tried that and it started working and I kept coming up with other ideas like, oh, what if the angel gets fired and then he has to become a human and then he has to get a job and it kind of flowed from there.

• 14:14Josh Horowitz?

  And the kind of commentary, I wouldn't call this like, it's not an overt message movie, but there's, you know, you're talking about the gig economy. You're talking about how we're kind of like piling all this on this underclass that's propping up the upper class. Was that baked in from the start? Like, when did that kind of like enter in as a theme throughout the film?

• 14:35Speaker 03

  Uh, I mean, it was in there and then I did a lot of interviews and things and gotten a lot of details that kind of, um, I filled in, uh, into the film. Um, so yeah, it, it, it kind of just came as I was doing the writing process and kind of fleshing everything out.

• 14:51Josh Horowitz?

  And in terms of, you know, I mean, this is obviously a high concept film. So like there are a lot of different ways to do that. Like you do, you kind of lean in. It's like you have angel wings. Like they're like, did you question yourself of like, what can I get away with? What's the audience gonna buy in terms of how to depict the fantastical stuff?

• 15:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's a tough challenge to find that tone, right? Where you, you're, you're doing some pretty heavy stuff. A guy sleeping in his car and everything, but how do you kind of play that stuff straight? But then you also have Keanu wearing angel wings. And, and I don't know, for some reason I had it in my head, the tone, and it just kind of worked. And I, I think so much of, uh, you know, whether you're making a film or a television show, if you, if you have the tone and you believe in it and, and know it, I, I think it can work. I mean, that, that's how I felt about Master Nun and, and this and, and, um, and, uh, I feel like I, it works and...

• 15:36Josh Horowitz?

  Well, I think it also works because like you, you do ground it in such a way where like, you know, I think most of us, if we did encounter somebody with angel wings coming up to us, we would probably react like your character does and say something to the effect of like, who the fuck are you? Get away from me.

• 15:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:49Josh Horowitz?

  That's what real, like what you would do.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's played pretty real, you know? And then, you know, he does the fantastical thing and shows me the, the visions or whatever. That's like, okay, this is a, this is clearly a legitimate angel person.

• 16:01Josh Horowitz?

  Did you, so some specific things in the film, I'm curious if they came from your life or not. Did you, weren't a specific dance for your 40th birthday party?

• 16:09Speaker 03

  No. God, no, man. Come on.

• 16:12Josh Horowitz?

  No judgments. I'm just asking.

• 16:14Speaker 03

  No, I just thought that'd be a fun thing for him to have to learn, that he wanted to learn a dance. But that choreographer, he's the real choreographer, Michael Arnold. And he, um, yeah, he, uh, he, he's worked with Scorsese and, and Joaquin Phoenix and all these amazing people. And, and I thought he was a funny character, so I just put him in the movie too.

• 16:32Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing. Um, okay. So you, you, you know Seth, you know Kiki. Did you know Keanu?

• 16:39Speaker 03

  I'd never met him before. I'd seen him one time in real life. And he was just leaving some hotel that I was in, like walking through the lobby. And he has a big smile on his face and he walked past me. And that's the only time I'd ever seen him in person. He's one of these guys that still has that mystique, you know? You know, you go to these kind of Hollywood things and, you know, people aren't really impressed. But he's one of these guys where, whoa, Keanu's here. You know, he's still in that, that kind of rarefied air. So, no, I'd never met him.

• 17:05Josh Horowitz?

  So, he obviously, yeah, he's very specific. There aren't, you can count on one hand, people of that type who bring that kind of gravitas and specificity. It's like, was there a plan B? Is it like, okay, if I can't get Keanu, it's Vin Diesel? Like, what do you? Which would be awesome too, honestly, by the way. But, like, what? Did you write with him in mind? I guess, when did you?

• 17:26Speaker 03

  I didn't write with him in mind. I, I, uh, I originally thought Seth would play the angel. And so I had Seth in my head.

• 17:35Speaker 03

  What's that?

• 17:36Josh Horowitz?

  We're entering another plane.

• 17:37Speaker 03

  That's Vin Diesel. He's pulling up. He heard that bit. He's like.

• 17:42Josh Horowitz?

  It's like Beetlejuice. You say his name three times.

• 17:44Speaker 03

  That's Dominic Toretto.

• 17:49Josh Horowitz?

  You rang?

• 17:51Speaker 03

  By the way, that is my favorite acting of the last few years. Or whatever you want to call it. Performance, everything, anything. One of the best pieces of, I don't know, to me, it's cinema. It's not technically, wasn't in a movie theater, but to me, it's cinema, is, is that moment at the Oscars when Vin Diesel sees The Rock in the audience and he goes, "Hi, Dwayne." "You know what I'm talking about?" There's so much depth to that. That's like, because you hear about these, you hear about this feud and all this stuff, and then they might be coming at together. And then he shows up at the Oscars where you kind of don't expect him to be. He goes, "Hi, Dwayne." It's kind of incredible.

• 18:33Josh Horowitz?

  Whose side are you on in the ongoing feud? I think they mended ways by now, but if you had to choose your side?

• 18:39Speaker 03

  Oh, I don't know. I feel like we're all winning in this because this is pure entertainment. So, you know.

• 18:46Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, so Seth was originally...

• 18:48Speaker 03

  Seth was originally the angel and then me and Seth met with a couple of people to play, about playing Jeff and we were both kind of feeling the same thing. We're like, "I don't know if this is gonna work." Like, I think, you know, Jeff needed to be someone you could root for, while at the same time be a little annoyed with. And then I had the idea, "Well, why don't I just make Seth Jeff? He can pull that off. He'd be great as Jeff." And then we'll find someone else to play the angel. That's a little more open-ended. You have a little more latitude of who that could be. And then, one of the first names that came up was Keanu Reeves. And I was blown away that this was a possibility. I met with him and we had a great meeting and he seemed intrigued by the idea.

• 19:30Speaker 03

  I sent him the script and we met up a couple of times and then here we are.

• 19:35Josh Horowitz?

  I've heard you talk about this a little bit and I agree with you. Like, you're leaning into a kind of a cadence of Keanu that we haven't seen in a while, but that he does very well, this kind of innocence.

• 19:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, he's very funny when he's innocent, naive, kind of dumb. I mean, he does it very well. I mean, before I met with him, I did a little Keanu film festival and I watched, you know, all these things. I watched everything. It's what a delightful filmography to have, everything from Speed to Point Break, Matrix. And then I watched some of those comedies from back in the day, the Bill and Ted stuff, and Parenthood. I love him in Parenthood. And you can see little pieces of Todd and the Bill and Ted character in here. And it's just taking that and kind of adjusting it for who he is now. You know, because he has this, you know, he's in his 60s now. I think he just turned 60 last year.

• 20:25Speaker 03

  And he has this wisdom to him. He has this depth that wasn't there when he was playing those guys back then because he was so young. And it's like, okay, how do you put all that together? And how do you dial this up where it needs to be dialed up to be Gabriel? And he was so great, like, at just kind of giving me his time to rehearse and kind of find the character together and... You know, he, he, he just really knocked it out of the park. I, I, I think he did such a fantastic job.

• 20:51Josh Horowitz?

  I, I, I know you've told this story, so forgive me, but it has to be said that Keanu Reeves has survived four John Wick films, speed, point break, without breaking down. And you almost broke our beloved Keanu Reeves.

• 21:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, he, uh, he famously fell and broke, broke his kneecap. And, uh, yeah, it was when we were filming that scene in the cold plunge and he went back to his room and he was in his dressing room, he tripped over a rug and he broke his kneecap. And, uh, yeah, shattered. And, uh, he did not want to take any breaks. And, uh, he, he just kept filming. We filmed a lot of his stuff where he, where he had like a big knee brace that we edited out in, in, in post. And, um, but we pushed a couple of things like the kumbia dancing and stuff we pushed, um, to, to do after he healed. But, um, he was a trooper. Again, the movie could have completely went away. He could have easily said, hey, I, uh, I, I can't do this. I, I shattered my kneecap. I'm sure his doctor was like, yeah, you, you don't want to be

• 21:47Speaker 03

  acting right now. You want to heal. And he, uh, he, he completely, uh, came through for all of us and, and pushed through what I'm sure must have been excruciating pain.

• 21:58Josh Horowitz?

  Do you have those like surreal moments still at this point in your career? Like you're, you're directing a film that you wrote. You're in a pool with Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves. How did I get, arrive at this place in my life?

• 22:10Speaker 03

  It's, it's all surreal, man. I, I don't take any of it for granted. And yeah, the Keanu thing is definitely very surreal because he's someone I watched growing up as a kid. And, you know, I, I, I, yesterday we had a premiere in, in New York City. And we were at the AMC Lincoln Square. And I, I remembered this while we were there. I remember, I came to New York in, in the year 2000. I was a freshman at NYU and I remember one, one Saturday, I, I hadn't really found my friends yet. I didn't have anything to do and I went to that theater by myself and watched Pootie Tang. And...

• 22:51Speaker 03

  I had such a great time. And it really cheered me up because I was a little bit, you know, it was that like early freshman year. You had all your friends, you're kind of in a different place. And I watched Pooty Tang and I had such a great time. And last night at the premiere, Chris Rock was there. And he's a good friend of mine now and he came to support me at the premiere. And, you know, that was just one of those moments where I was like, wow, this is a truly wild ride.

• 23:17Josh Horowitz?

  Amazing.

• 23:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:18Josh Horowitz?

  Anybody that knows your career and some of the topics you have would not be surprised to see. There's a lot of scenes of people eating in this film. There's a lot of-

• 23:26Speaker 03

  Yeah. You know, that was like season three of Master of None when I, you know, where I, where I kind of gave a deliberate fuck you to everybody and said like, hey, I'm gonna take everything people like about the show and get rid of it. No food, nothing. And then-

• 23:41Josh Horowitz?

  Back to your-

• 23:42Speaker 03

  Then, and then Good Fortune, I'm like, I'm, okay, let's, let's bring a little food here. Okay. And we shot the restaurant stuff and I remember I was with Alan Yang who, who produced Master of None with me. He's a producer on this. And when we were shooting that scene at that restaurant, Dun's Bar, we're like, well, this is very, this feels very Master of None to be in a kind of nice looking restaurant and shoot all this food stuff.

• 24:01Josh Horowitz?

  Do you like eating on camera? Because most actors I talk to, it's like sex scenes and eating on camera. Those are the two things they don't enjoy doing.

• 24:08Speaker 03

  I don't really like it. I don't think I'm, I'm really good at it. Because what I'll do is I'll try to take small bites so I can, I won't be able to, I won't be like trying to do my lines with a mouthful of food. And the Barat Boy scene, for example, I was taking these fake little bites of the bread and Seth was like, that's gonna look weird. It's gonna look like you nibbled on the-

• 24:29Speaker 03

  And sure enough, I'd, I'd have to take the bigger bite.

• 24:31Josh Horowitz?

  I do appreciate, my, my Instagram feed basically is like all cinnamon buns and New York City bakeries and cinnamon buns.

• 24:37Speaker 03

  Oh yeah. Well, did you catch the name of that? So we were supposed to shoot at a real place. And then at the last minute, they, they, they decided they didn't wanna be filmed at for whatever reasons. And they were like, what do we do? And I, and, and this was like, so much of directing is just problem solving. And, you know, dealing with these, these hurdles that come your way. And they were like, I got bad news that the, the place fell through. What do you, we gotta be on the block because we're permitted there. And I was like, let's just make a fake place. They sell cinnamon buns. It's called There Will Be Buns. And, and that, that's what we did. And, and it's cool because now we're coming out after one battle after another. And there's a little, you know, weird nod to PTA.

• 25:19Josh Horowitz?

  Is, exactly. Good double feature, I'm just saying.

• 25:25Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, I mean, so, on the food side, do you keep up with like food trends? Are you like monitoring like what's out there, or are you like?

• 25:32Speaker 03

  No, not really, you know, I don't really go out to eat that much. I try to cook at home as much as I can. I love to cook Indian food and just stay home with my wife and cook at home. That's my favorite thing to eat.

• 25:43Josh Horowitz?

  What about ayahuasca? Where are you at on ayahuasca?

• 25:47Speaker 03

  Ayahuasca, I've never done it. That lady, you know, ayahuasca, it's so funny to me, because it's like this, this like, you know, this drug that indigenous cultures would do once a year, and, you know, it would be this big deal. It would be a journey of the mind, and, you know, it was a sacred thing. And now, white people in LA are just doing it like every couple of weeks.

• 26:13Josh Horowitz?

  It's time for my bi-weekly ayahuasca trip.

• 26:16Speaker 03

  Not kidding, it's like, you're like, "You did it again?" And like, and they're like, "Yeah, we had this shaman named Katie." I'm like, "Wait a second, Katie, hi guys, I'm your shaman." Like, that just doesn't, I can't, I'm not into it. And, um, and then you, then you talk to other people that are like trying to do it right or whatever, like, "Yeah, I was in Peru and almost died, we couldn't get..." I'm like, "That, this doesn't sound..." My view is, the best, the time I feel best, you know, when I've done all the psychedelics and stuff, and, uh, what works best is just,

• 26:52Speaker 03

  go to sleep early and don't drink a lot. And then, you feel amazing. And that's, that's really the secret, but it's just too boring a life.

• 26:59Josh Horowitz?

  Right. Ayahuasca plays better on screen, we'll say that, that's a good...

• 27:03Speaker 03

  Oh my god, there's so much funny stuff we shot of Seth doing the, because we just did it like, the lady is a real shaman, I said, "Just do what you normally do." And she just did all the stuff she normally did, and Seth was so funny. And it was one of those things where he's like, "Well, we gotta cut this down to like, almost nothing." But, uh, yeah, it was so fun.

• 27:20Josh Horowitz?

  Well, it's a perfect, that perfect match cut of him throwing up. On his trip and your poor character donating his blood.

• 27:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, again, you know, when you talk about these things, like I think about um our prop master Eric Garbay, who one of my favorite factoids, he was a prop master on Inception and so he had that top. And um he like, he was like, oh, I got a great puke formula. And like he had like this fake puke, it had the right consistency. I was like, damn, this is good puke.

• 27:50Josh Horowitz?

  What makes it good? Just looks good on camera?

• 27:52Speaker 03

  It just looks like puke, it has a good texture that reads on camera, it's got the right volume, it doesn't feel too liquidy, not too solid, it's a good, he's got it down, he's got, yeah. And here's why this guy's a champion, he's like, and it tasted, it tasted pretty good too. It was just tasted like, it tasted just like kinda chocolate, chocolaty. It was just like, it didn't taste bad, you know? That was the kind of, that was the kind of work ethic we had on Good For.

• 28:20Josh Horowitz?

  Um, I mean, when you look at this film, I mean, you kind of alluded to this, like, you know, you're not shooting, it's a very specific vision, it's a single camera shot thing, you have Carter Burwell doing the score, like you have this amazing behind the scenes crew.

• 28:32Speaker 03

  Again, just as amazing, like I can't believe we got Carter, I mean, he's done some, I mean, Raising Arizona, probably my favorite score ever, you know? And um I couldn't believe that he was down to do this. And we did the score, he recorded the score at Abbey Road and all these people came out to watch, they're like, yeah, Carter's the best, we gotta come see, watch Carter, it was so cool.

• 28:50Josh Horowitz?

  It must feel like a kind of, a lot of roads have been leading to this. I mean, Master of None, you obviously were, it seems like you were not experimenting, but you were pushing yourself, you and Alan were like pushing the envelope as like filmmakers in the television realm. And now it's kind of like, okay, where do we go from here? How do we bring it to the next level in a way?

• 29:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, and I think that's what this does. I think it does feel like Master of None taken to another level in both kind of the runtime and also just kind of the spectacle of having uh, you know, Keanu and Seth and bringing all these people into our world, that was definitely the goal and I hope we get to do more of it.

• 29:26Josh Horowitz?

  Um, I do have, one other person has some questions about your filmmaking. I enlisted a mutual friend, do you want to see a little video from Ben Schwartz?

• 29:33Speaker 03

  Oh, sure.

• 29:34Josh Horowitz?

  Your old buddy?

• 29:35Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 29:35Josh Horowitz?

  Ben Schwartz for Aziz.

• 29:36Speaker 03

  Oh, I haven't seen him in so long.

• 29:40Speaker 07

  Hi Aziz, it's me Ben Schwartz. I played your best friend in the four episodes of Scrubs that you did. I have so many questions I want to ask you. First of all, congratulations on your movie. I can't wait to watch it. Second, how nice is Keanu Reeves? The nicest person in the universe. Third, what was it like to direct yourself in a film? Did you find it easy? Did you find it hard? Did you give yourself enough time, like you did the other actors, to do takes? Or did you cut yourself off short? And do you find any difference between directing yourself in TV and movies? Those are real questions that Josh Horowitz dreams he could think of. Also, Josh is like, "You gotta get it in. You gotta get it in right now." So I'm just on the streets of Minnesota. Miss you, buddy. Hope all is well. Rooting you on from here and can't wait to see your movie. Josh, just fucking get over yourself.

• 30:27Josh Horowitz?

  Unnecessary. Sweet and then evil.

• 30:30Speaker 03

  That's so nice. I haven't seen him in so long. So what was his question?

• 30:35Josh Horowitz?

  Directing yourself.

• 30:36Speaker 03

  Directing myself. I mean, I'm very used to it, you know? In the third season of Master Non and in the film I was doing with Bill Murray that we ended up not finishing at the time, I was kind of not in it as much. Because I kind of was like, "I kind of just want to direct. I don't want to act as much." But I had small parts in both of them. And whenever I had to act, it was a little annoying. I was like, "I gotta go to hair and makeup and do the whole thing. I gotta act." But when you're in it all the time, it's easy because you're like, "Okay, I'm in it all the time. I know the deal." You know what I mean? And so this felt very much like Master Non. I was very much used to this. This was very much in my lane. And I think, you know, I've talked to Seth about this because he does the same thing on the studio.

• 31:21Speaker 03

  And there is something streamlined about, you know, being the person, you know, writing, directing, starring. There's something about like, oh, there's a real line of communication that you have that's so direct for the obvious reason. And as far as the difference between...

• 31:39Speaker 03

  Doing it in film and television, uh, not, not really. I mean, we, I mean, you know, we shot Master of None like a film and tried to make it feel pretty cinematic and I remember screening Master of None episodes in theaters and, and, uh, that was great. Um, so yeah, I didn't, I didn't feel much difference.

• 31:55Josh Horowitz?

  I feel like his question wasn't that much better than my question.

• 31:57Speaker 03

  No, not at all.

• 31:58Josh Horowitz?

  Like it was same, same level.

• 32:00Speaker 03

  There was some unnecessary horrorwood slams there.

• 32:03Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, there's, there's history there. Um, I mean, you, you mentioned the Bill Murray experience and we don't have to go into detail of it, but like, I wonder if you feel like between that strike for this one and the circumstances of that film, which doesn't often happen when you're in the middle of a film and it just like goes away.

• 32:17Speaker 03

  Oh, that never happens.

• 32:18Josh Horowitz?

  Like, did you feel like cursed? Like, oh my God, like?

• 32:20Speaker 03

  No, not really, because here's the thing people don't realize, like, uh, you know, all these movies that you see, you know, the things that the writer's strike and the Bill thing, they were in the news, but most things that people are dealing with, they're not in the news. You don't hear about, oh, you know, so and so famous actor dropped out two weeks before and then they had to spend, you know, another year getting financing. Every movie is a miracle and there's nobody that's made a movie that I know that's had, oh yeah, we had the script, we got the people, we shot it and it was done. It was easy. Maybe a couple of people who have really done a lot and are really getting into a system, but especially now, like things, things fall apart all the time. I mean, I, I, I feel

• 32:58Speaker 03

  so blessed to, to have this movie coming out and, and to have gotten it done and, and I don't feel, uh, unlucky in the least bit. I mean, I, I, I, I understand the, the point, but I guess I'm saying holistically to me, like every movie is a struggle and, and I made it through and I'm here. So I, I, I did it. So I, I feel good, but um, it's interesting. I do think about being mortal, you know, it's such a different, it was such a different movie, um, than Good Fortune and, um, I don't know, it would have been a much different debut. I mean, I, I, I shot like half of it and, um, it was, uh, It's um, it was definitely-

• 33:36Josh Horowitz?

  A little more dramatic, was it a little more-

• 33:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was, it was heavy. I mean, the, it's based on a book called Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, who's an incredible writer. It's a, um, uh, it's a nonfiction book. It's about, you know, dealing with end of life issues and things, you know, that, uh, you deal with when you're around our age and your parents and, you know, you're, you know, they're getting sick, you gotta put them into retirement homes, deal with doctors and it's, it's, it's heavy, but it can also be funny. There's humor there, you know, in these really dark times. And, uh, the idea for the movie is like, oh, well, what if you took this book and you made it into a narrative and the guy was Bill Murray? That was the idea. It wasn't like, oh, what if there was a guy, it was like, what if it was Bill Murray? Cause, you know, and it was really trying to do an evolution of this kind of the stuff he was doing in like Lost and Translation and films like that where

• 34:20Speaker 03

  he's, um, you know, really funny, but it's also very poignant and, and, um, I mean, it was a great experience. And, you know, we were shooting it, uh, you know, it was, uh, Lowell Crowley that shot The Brutalist was our DP. We were shooting on film, we shot on 35 and, and, um, it was, uh-

• 34:39Josh Horowitz?

  It's making me sad now. This sounds amazing.

• 34:40Speaker 03

  Oh, I mean, it's still there. It's on my computer. Uh, it's some of it, yeah.

• 34:44Josh Horowitz?

  Would you salvage it? Like, would you have to start from scratch?

• 34:46Speaker 03

  No, people, people have talked to us about doing it. It's a matter of, uh, it's a matter of, uh, schedules. We got some busy people between Seth and Kiki and, and Bill and myself. But, um, uh, no, but it was a much different thing. It might've been something where, you know, people, people might've been like, oh, man, this is, uh, they might've wanted something more-

• 35:05Josh Horowitz?

  Too much of a leap for you, yeah. Too much of a leap, like, almost like, this is like, you have to like get to that point to like-

• 35:11Speaker 03

  I, I don't know. I mean, I love Being Mortal too. It's just, it was just a different thing. It's a little bit different genre. It was a little more dramatic. It was, um, um, but there was, there was beautiful stuff in it. I mean, uh, but there was really funny stuff too that, that, you know, the, I don't know if you remember, uh, there was a woman in Parks and Recreation, her name was, uh, Helen, and she played a character named Ethel Beavers.

• 35:32Josh Horowitz?

  Uh huh.

• 35:32Speaker 03

  And, uh, she, she was in, uh, she was in Being Mortal playing this cranky lady at the retirement home. And it is so funny, just like Bill, it was such an incredible experience. Cause, you know, Bill, it was like, you're taking Bill and you, you're, you know, you're doing these scenes like, there was a scene where like Seth has to take him to all these different retirement homes to find out which one he's gonna go into. And all of them were just- There'd always be some ridiculous thing happening at the retirement homes that he was visiting and then you go to one that's kinda sad and like a little dark and you know, I remember thinking, I was like, "Man, it's so sad to think of someone like Bill being

• 36:13Speaker 03

  in one of these places." And then I was like, "Oh, it's so sad to think of anybody in one of these places." Bill, everybody knows and he has this light inside him, but everybody has light inside them. And I don't know, the movie made me think about a lot and I hope we get to revisit it.

• 36:27Josh Horowitz?

  So, we saw Ben up there. I have to ask you a bunch of, at least some things about Parks and Recreation, which obviously was such an important part of your life and career. Famously, you were the first one cast in that. Did you realize how insane that was at the time that Greg and Mike thought of you first for their next show and it turned into Parks and Rec?

• 36:49Speaker 03

  No, because I think when you're young, you're just kind of naive and dumb and you don't realize how crazy things are. And maybe I'll look back 10 years from now and think the same thing about myself at this moment, but I don't think so. I think I have a little bit more awareness of how tricky and tough this industry can be. But, yeah, I was the first one that they'd cast. I met with them and they'd seen some stuff I'd done on a sketch show for MTV. There was one sketch they liked in particular and they just said, "Hey, we'd love for you to be a part of this." And I remember leaving the meeting, I said, "Whatever you're doing, it'd be my dream to be involved in this." And then they called me a couple of weeks later and said they wanted me to be a part of it.

• 37:31Josh Horowitz?

  And how much of what became Tom was them presenting that idea to you or a collaborative discussion in terms of like what he eventually turned into?

• 37:40Speaker 03

  They loved to hear any ideas and things we had and were very collaborative with the cast, but it was really, it was their thing, you know. But they would take little things, you know, they'd see like, "Oh, Nick Offerman likes woodworking. Maybe Ron likes woodworking." You know, they would do little things like that. Uh, yeah, that was a great experience and, um, yeah, I still talk to Mike and Greg, uh, you know, when I can.

• 38:03Josh Horowitz?

  So what's the most shocking thing that at the time was like just a throwaway line that you thought you would never hear again? That still exists in your life? There must be dozens of them that like-

• 38:13Speaker 03

  You know what's strange is like, you're, if you're an actor and you're walking around, people will come up to you and, and, and they'll just say something like, "Don't get too comfy in that chair." And you'll be like, "Huh?" And they're like, "You said that! You said it and da-da-da!" And it's like, there's so many things I just forget. Um...

• 38:32Josh Horowitz?

  It is a good line, yeah.

• 38:37Josh Horowitz?

  Do you get, uh, we did an event with Adam Scott, actually, here, and he says he has trouble watching it because it makes him sad. Cause he just thinks of like how special a time it was.

• 38:46Speaker 03

  It, it was special and it's also a weird time capsule of, of your innocence and youth and, and, um, uh... You know, when I watch that show, it's interesting. I, I hadn't really seen it in a long time and, um, I was listening, you know, Amy Poehler has a podcast and I was listening to an episode of that and then on YouTube, I got Parks stuff, like, uh, behind the scenes things and bloopers and stuff. And when I watched that, that really reminded me of my experience. Cause the show is like, you're, you're working this much and then they take a tiny sliver of that and that's, that's in the show. Like, I, uh, there was some blooper thing that, um, I saw where me and Rheta,

• 39:29Speaker 03

  I don't remember what the context was, but we're in, in Nick Offerman's office and Ron Swanson's office and, and we're just chanting, "Ron's in blush, Ron's in blush." I have no, I don't remember what blush is, I don't remember, but we just kept going, "Ron's in blush, Ron's in blush." And we were dancing and then like I jumped on the desk and we're like, "Ron's in blush." And then I started doing like a thing where I like sped up the record, I was like, "Ron's in blush, Ron's in blush, Ron's in blush." And then we just-

• 40:09Speaker 03

  And then it showed you what was in the episode and it was just me and Reddah going, "Ron's in blue, cut!" And then it was done. But it's funny that Ben Swartz, you know, that thing of the record, I was always trying to put that into something. And I think there was some scene with John Ralphio where I was trying to do a thing where it's like the record's speeding and then the record's slow. And it never made it in and then I put it in Master None. I put it in an episode of Master None where we do the fast record and the...

• 40:37Josh Horowitz?

  You do have a gift for slowing it down. That's impressive.

• 40:40Speaker 03

  There were some people, there were audio files, they were like, "That was really accurate, the way he slowed that WAV file down." There's just something about it where, you know, that job was just so, and I don't mean this in a derogatory way, that was the easiest, funnest job I will ever have. I mean, to work with that group. And, you know, when you think about how much more work, when I do Master None or a film like this, I'm like the parent, you know? I'm like a parent who's like rounding up a bunch of kids, like a hundred kids, to go on a field trip or something. And then in Parks and Rec, I'm just a kid. I just show up, you know,

• 41:24Speaker 03

  "Oh, what are we saying? Okay, got it. Fate yourself!" And then I go home. And it's the best, I mean, and when I see that stuff, I remember little things, like I think I remember asking Reddah, like, "Hey, is it okay if I call you my Nubian princess?" And also just seeing that, like, see it, I'm like, "What? This is such a silly, like, fun show that, like, I'm wearing that jacket and jumping in? Why is there a DJ in the office introducing me?" Like, it was just a fun world they created for us to play. And you would, you know, it'd be like, "Oh, who am I doing stuff with today? Oh, Reddah. Oh, who tomorrow? Oh, Adam Scott, Aubrey." Just like the funniest, not only the funniest people, but really like the, some of the best people I've ever met in my life.

• 42:07Josh Horowitz?

  But in a great way, it's gonna follow you the rest of your life. And it's gonna be like, you're gonna probably be in a restaurant like in 30 years, and someone's gonna send over something with like a message and says like, "Treat yourself, enjoy this."

• 42:18Speaker 03

  I love that it's part of my career, especially because there's not a ton of shows like that now that are made for that many episodes. Also, it's also something that kids can enjoy, and a lot of kids have been discovering the show. So that's been fun to meet like a whole generation of kids that have discovered the show. So cool, but um, yeah, I'm so proud to have been part of that group. And yeah, it always makes me smile when I see little moments like that.

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• 43:53Josh Horowitz?

  So briefly, just on your background, for those that don't know, you know, you grew up the son of immigrants, South Carolina. Not like a family that has any history of this. Like, was there a moment when you kind of like? Had to sit them down and say like, "I'm really serious about this." Like, was that a bit like doctor parents? Like, that must have been shocking to have their kids say, "I want to be a stand-up or artist" in some way, or no?

• 44:17Speaker 03

  I, I never really had that conversation. I was doing stand-up while I was in school. I think one thing that made a big difference is I never dropped out of school. I finished school, so I didn't have to be like, "Hey, I'm dropping out of school to do this thing" that is, you know, uh, you know, one in a million shot happening. And, um, uh, they, I think once, I think there was definitely a window where they were like, "What is this?" But I think once I started getting in magazines and doing things that seemed more legitimate, I think they started getting it. And then by the time, you know, I remember at one point, you know, they came and saw me when I did Carnegie Hall and, and I think they were like, "Oh, wow, this is, uh, you know..."

• 44:54Josh Horowitz?

  This is real.

• 44:55Speaker 03

  This is something that he's doing, uh, doing well at.

• 44:58Josh Horowitz?

  In, in the early days before even Parks and Recreation, you must have been auditioning like a ton. Like, was it, was it tough to, I mean, again, I can only imagine, we progressed a little bit, hopefully, but like, it must have been a lot of stereotypical roles that you were up for back then.

• 45:14Speaker 03

  It, it's interesting, you know, I, I remember when I first had an agent, they would send me stuff that was all like, it was like the episode we did at Mastermind about the guy having to audition and everything was something where they asked him to do an Indian accent. And I would get that stuff. And I said, "Hey, I, I don't, I don't want to do this kind of stuff. I'd rather just do stuff where I'm playing a guy that's more like myself and sounds like me or whatever." And I, I think there was a confusion of just like, "We don't think that's possible." And I don't think it was coming from any kind of mean way. I think they were just like, "This is not really a thing. We don't really understand what you mean."

• 45:49Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 45:49Speaker 03

  And then I remember Mindy Kaling was on The Office and that became like the first thing you pointed back. "You see, this is, there's nothing, you know, this is just about her being funny." And, um, but, uh, I did a sketch show for MTV called Human Giant and that was something that I, I wrote with, uh, uh, Rob Hubel and Paul Scheer and Jason Woolner and we, we had this sketch group and we, we got a show on MTV that we did. And then after that, I, um...

• 46:15Speaker 03

  You know, I came to LA because I wanted to act more. And it was one of those things, like Aubrey has a story like this, where she like came to LA and she was this kind of interesting lady from New York and right away famously booked Funny People, Parks and Rec, and Scott Pilgrim. And I kind of had a similar thing. Like I came and I got a guest arc on like Scrubs and I got a part in a couple of little movies. And but the big thing was I got Parks and Rec and then I, we decided not to do a third season of the sketch show and I did Parks. But I didn't, I never had the thing like, I remember I auditioned for something. I, I, what did I, I remember, I definitely did audition for stuff I didn't get, but never

• 46:59Speaker 03

  in this kind of long slog where I was very fortunate and I got stuff pretty quick, but.

• 47:04Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, I think you told way back when like the Transformers story.

• 47:06Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, they, Transformers. What was the story that I was, they wanted me to play a guy in a call center?

• 47:13Josh Horowitz?

  Guy with an accent.

• 47:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. And then my friend did it, Ravi Patel. And then we did a master done episode about the whole thing. Again, wild world. And then, um, uh, oh, yeah, I remember, I remember one time I went in for some movie. This is why I like writing my own stuff. I went in for some movie, uh, it was Tooth Fairy. It was that Tooth Fairy movie. And I was like, I'll go in for Tooth Fairy, like The Rock's cool. And then I remember I did the audition and they weren't laughing and it was kind of like in a mean way and I'm like, well, fuck you, man. You're the ones making the Tooth Fairy. This isn't my shit here, like, you know?

• 47:45Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, this isn't classic comedy.

• 47:47Speaker 03

  They're just giving me a cold room. And I'm like, alright, well, you're, you're the ones making, you're the ones gonna have your names on the credit of Tooth Fairy, so blessings to you, friends.

• 47:58Josh Horowitz?

  It did have a great tagline, "You can't handle the tooth," is a pretty great.

• 48:01Speaker 03

  That is good.

• 48:02Josh Horowitz?

  Pretty good.

• 48:03Speaker 03

  You know what Vin Diesel says when he sees that poster? "Hi, Dwayne."

• 48:08Josh Horowitz?

  There it is. I will say, you glossed over Human Giant. If you don't know Human Giant, look at that. There's stuff on YouTube, Shutterbugs, Illusionators.

• 48:14Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 48:15Josh Horowitz?

  Some great stuff.

• 48:16Speaker 03

  No, there's some fun stuff there. And, um, yeah, there's some stuff that probably hasn't aged well, but the stuff that has, yeah, I mean, the sketch that they liked, uh, at Parks and Rec that, you know, they were like, "This sketch got you this show," uh, was, it was, the premise was that me and Rob Huevel were on a talk show that Paul was hosting. He was doing a news segment about viral videos. And Paul had, or Rob had made a viral video from, uh, using like a pair of like garden shears, and he cut his penis off. And it went viral. And he was talking about being viral. And then he's like, "Oh, we have this other guy. He's also went viral." And it was me, and I went viral just for making a bunch of funny faces.

• 48:57Speaker 03

  And we're both, we're both just talking about our experiences. And, uh, that was really fun.

• 49:09Josh Horowitz?

  Oh, my God. Okay. Um, is Master of None, is the door open? Do you have, do you imagine you would ever revisit that in some way, or?

• 49:16Speaker 03

  No, I'd probably just do a different show or something like that at this point. Um, and, you know, uh, yeah, I mean, I, I love that show, and I think it's a good time capsule of New York, especially, you know, it's like 10 years old now. So it's, um, um, yeah, I feel like at this point, I just create a new show.

• 49:31Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, and the ambitions going forward, I know you, you have a couple scripts, you mentioned.

• 49:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 49:37Josh Horowitz?

  Sci-fi one, like, are they, are they all over the place genre-wise? Or where are you at?

• 49:42Speaker 03

  I, I had this comedy thing I was gonna make. I was actually gonna make this other movie this summer. I was gonna try to sneak it in right before I had to do all the promo stuff for Good Fortune. And then like four weeks out, we just couldn't pull it together. But I, I wanna make that one. And then I finished this, uh, um, uh, sci-fi idea. And, um, yeah, I'd, I'd, I'd love to, I'd love to make all these. It's, it's just such a... It's such a tricky time to get these movies made and stuff. I mean, that's why I'm like, you know, a lot of people say this stuff about, oh, man, you had to go through so much to get this, but it's like, I'm here, we did it. Like, that, it's so hard. There's so many people I know that are friends of mine. I sometimes think it too, and then I, you know, I have people that are friends that have

• 50:25Speaker 03

  been trying to get stuff made for years, and they haven't been able to. Very talented people, good ideas and things, and it's just hard, because, you know, it's just a weird time in the industry. So, I'd love to make both those and other things. It'd be great.

• 50:40Josh Horowitz?

  On the acting side, I mean, like, you know, you're, you kind of like are spoiled when you get to be the creator and kind of like write yourself these like fun roles. Like, I mean, do you have the ambition to kind of work in other people's sandboxes? Or is your focus right now creating your own stuff?

• 50:53Speaker 03

  Oh, it'd be great if the right thing came along, that would be amazing. But, um, yeah, I, I, uh, I was talking to someone about this earlier, about the idea of like, I've never been one to wait for, for the phone to ring. I just build my own phone, but I still have a phone too, so if someone wants to call, I, I, I'm happy to take the call.

• 51:12Josh Horowitz?

  You didn't literally build your own phone, just I want to be clear.

• 51:14Speaker 03

  It's an analogy.

• 51:16Josh Horowitz?

  Okay, just, I take things very literally. Um, your first time on the podcast, so we're gonna do the Happy Second Fuse Profoundly Random Questions, Aziz.

• 51:24Speaker 03

  Okay, ready, yes.

• 51:26Josh Horowitz?

  Um, dogs or cats?

• 51:28Speaker 03

  Uh, dogs, I'm allergic to cats. My, my, my wife had a cat, and she had to give it up to be with me.

• 51:35Josh Horowitz?

  That's love.

• 51:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 51:36Josh Horowitz?

  Dedication.

• 51:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, she's like, what, they have these shots that, that can make them, I'm like, no, they don't.

• 51:43Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, what do you collect, if anything?

• 51:47Speaker 03

  What do I collect? Um, uh, nothing really. Espresso cups? I drink a lot of espresso, so sometimes when we're traveling, I'll get an espresso cup, local ceramics.

• 51:58Speaker 03

  Seth made me a, an espresso cup.

• 52:00Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, he's something of a, uh...

• 52:03Speaker 03

  He's, he's a gifted ceramicist and, and yeah, it's, uh, it's an impressive little piece.

• 52:07Josh Horowitz?

  Um, do you have a favorite video game of all time?

• 52:10Speaker 03

  Oh, probably GoldenEye from Nintendo 64. That's definitely my, my, uh, era. What about you?

• 52:16Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, I'm, I'm, I was a Sega kid, so I, I'm like, I'm like Sonic.

• 52:20Speaker 03

  Ben Schwartz.

• 52:22Josh Horowitz?

  There you go.

• 52:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 52:23Josh Horowitz?

  I shouldn't, given what he said about me, but yes. Uh, this is the Dakota Johnson Memorial question. She asked me this. Uh, I ask everybody, would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one bee in your butt?

• 52:33Speaker 03

  Whoa. Wow, this is a lose-lose.

• 52:39Josh Horowitz?

  Or win-win.

• 52:40Speaker 03

  I'm gonna deal with the one bee in the butt, 'cause that feels like he might get out of there, but the mouthful, they're gonna stick around, uh, you know?

• 52:46Josh Horowitz?

  That's the consensus. I think that's the correct answer.

• 52:48Speaker 03

  How did that become the...

• 52:49Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, she asked me that once randomly and it felt worthy to ask everyone for some reason. Here we are. Uh, what's the wallpaper on your phone?

• 52:58Speaker 03

  Wallpaper, um...

• 53:00Josh Horowitz?

  Background on your phone.

• 53:01Speaker 03

  Uh... I don't know. I don't think there is. I, I have like a old flip phone. It's like, it's just like a, it's just whatever was there.

• 53:10Speaker 03

  A blue.

• 53:11Josh Horowitz?

  Are you playing like the old games?

• 53:12Speaker 03

  I have played Snake before, yeah. It has Snake on there. And sometimes when we were editing, I'd be waiting for our editor, Daniel Hayworth, to do some technical stuff and I would, I would play, I'd play Snake. And I, and I got up to like 180. That was my high score.

• 53:25Josh Horowitz?

  Incredible.

• 53:26Speaker 03

  And one, one time I was like, I was like, "Hey, just give me a minute." And I kept playing Snake. And he was like, "Really, man?" I'm like, "But it's almost my high score."

• 53:35Josh Horowitz?

  It's worthy. Um, last actor you were mistaken for?

• 53:38Speaker 03

  Last actor I was mistaken for?

• 53:42Speaker 03

  Hmm, I mean, it's either Hussin or Kumail. That, it's usually used, uh... But you know, what's interesting is I don't, I don't really take offense to that, 'cause people, some people are like, "Oh, those people are racist." I don't think it's, it's, it's racism, 'cause, you know, I remember when we did Parks and Rec, people would sometimes think I was Danny Pooty. And, and, but then I talked to Adam Scott and he's like, "No, people think I'm Joel McHale." And it's just people, people just get confused. I don't, I don't think you need to jump to the race card there.

• 54:11Josh Horowitz?

  Very generous. Uh, what's the worst note a director has ever given you?

• 54:15Speaker 03

  Oh. I, uh...

• 54:17Josh Horowitz?

  You can't name names, but does anything stick out that felt like, ooh?

• 54:21Speaker 03

  I don't know. I, I, I never had anything bad. I think I've been in stuff that I thought was bad and been like, "This doesn't matter. Okay, whatever you need."

• 54:30Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, and in the spirit of Happy Second Fuse, who's an actor who always makes you happy. You see them on screen, you're in-

• 54:35Speaker 03

  Kiki.

• 54:37Josh Horowitz?

  Kiki Palmer.

• 54:38Speaker 03

  Kiki right away. I, I, on screen, but in real life more, more so. I'm on screen too, but Kiki is, I remember we would be shooting and I'd be like, "Ohhh." And then Kiki would show up and I would light up. I love, I love Kiki so much. She's one of my favorite people I've ever met.

• 54:53Josh Horowitz?

  She can do anything. She's one of these.

• 54:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, she's unbelievably talented. And even like, even when we did some, we were doing some of the press stuff for Good Fortune, God, she'd make me laugh so, so hard. I, I, I can't even grasp the level of talent she has.

• 55:09Josh Horowitz?

  Movie that makes you sad, generally, what always makes you sad?

• 55:13Speaker 03

  You, you ever seen, uh, Make Room For Tomorrow?

• 55:17Josh Horowitz?

  I haven't.

• 55:18Speaker 03

  Uh, it's famously sad. You know Tokyo Story?

• 55:22Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 55:22Speaker 03

  Tokyo Story, Ozu supposedly was inspired by Make Way For Toronto. Again, to bring it back to Being Mortal, it's about, uh, an older couple, but it's, it's a famously sad movie and, um, uh, Orson Welles has a quote about it where he says, "It would make a stone cry." And it's, it's that fucking sad. It's pretty sad. I'm trying to think of what else is, uh, what's, what's sad. This is a good, this is a good, I haven't thought of a list of like, really sad.

• 55:50Josh Horowitz?

  I, I always go to like, I think of Terms of Endearment, I think of Cinema Paradiso, um, you know, a lot of people go to, um, Up, the, the early sequence in Up.

• 56:00Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. That's one of the greatest things ever, right? That, that opening sequence? Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's heartbreaking. And yeah, no dialogue, anything. It's really, really impressive.

• 56:09Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, this is the last question, most importantly.

• 56:11Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 56:12Josh Horowitz?

  Food that makes you confused. You don't understand. Why do people eat that?

• 56:16Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 56:17Josh Horowitz?

  Can't support it.

• 56:17Speaker 03

  I must know this. Food that makes me confused. Um...

• 56:24Speaker 03

  I shouldn't spend this long.

• 56:26Josh Horowitz?

  This is the one that's stumped him.

• 56:27Speaker 03

  But I want to get it right. Do you have an answer? What's?

• 56:29Josh Horowitz?

  Well, you know, I go to like beets. I don't, I can't get behind beets.

• 56:33Speaker 03

  Beets? They were, they were really pushing beets hard. There was a lot of roasted beet salad.

• 56:37Josh Horowitz?

  It's been, it's been tough the last couple of years for me.

• 56:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, but it seems like it's gone away a little bit. Yeah.

• 56:42Josh Horowitz?

  It's my time to shine with the cinnamon rolls. I can get behind that.

• 56:45Speaker 03

  You, you love cinnamon rolls. Yeah.

• 56:47Josh Horowitz?

  Look at me. Of course I do.

• 56:48Speaker 03

  What about cardamom buns?

• 56:50Josh Horowitz?

  Cardamom mum?

• 56:50Speaker 03

  Cardamom.

• 56:51Josh Horowitz?

  It's hard to say. Cardamom buns. I'm, I'm up for that. Yeah.

• 56:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's nice too. Um, but the food that makes me confused. Um, hmm. I, uh, I was gonna say celery, but sometimes I like celery. I like celery when it's in like stuffing and, um, when it's in like, uh, chicken salad. So I don't, or tuna salad. So I don't want to throw celery under the bus. Um.

• 57:12Josh Horowitz?

  You can love everything. I don't want to force you to hate something. It's okay. We can end positive.

• 57:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, I try to keep a positive, positive vibe. So I'm gonna say, um.

• 57:22Josh Horowitz?

  Um, I'm excited for you. I'm excited what's to come. Hopefully the next collaboration will involve Vin Diesel and beyond.

• 57:28Speaker 03

  Vin Diesel.

• 57:29Josh Horowitz?

  That's, that's, I'm, I'm wishing that into existence for you. I just want him in every movie, honestly.

• 57:35Speaker 03

  Yeah. You, uh, have you ever seen, what's the movie? Find Me Guilty? The movie did with Sidney Lumet? How is that?

• 57:40Josh Horowitz?

  Eh, it's okay.

• 57:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, okay.

• 57:43Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, this one's a great one though. Congratulations.

• 57:46Speaker 03

  Oh man, thank you so much. Thank you guys.

• 57:48Josh Horowitz?

  So a couple of quick things. I'm gonna say, like I said, spread the good word of this. This is on the big screen. A big comedy. We need to see more of these. So please support Aziz, support this movie. Spread the good word. Give it up for Aziz.

• 58:01Speaker 03

  Yay!

• 58:08Speaker 04

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

• 58:28Speaker 08

  Hey, first time? Love those sneakers. Thanks. Depop. Got them cheap. Oh yeah? Okay, downloading. There's loads on there. Wow, wish I'd had this last week. I just paid full price for mine. Right? And you can't get these ones anywhere. Find what you want for less on Depop. Sneakers. Worn once. Excellent condition.