"Lionel Richie"

If you can believe drummers and motorcycles: it’s Lionel Richie. 12 notes, sleep outs, God’s words, and winning Wimbledon. Fungus is among us… on an all-new SmartLess.

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

• 0:00Sean Hayes?

  This episode of Smartless is sponsored by Google Book. So the other day, I wanted to make invitations for my dog Ricky's birthday party. And I've got three things open on my laptop. An adorable photo of Ricky, a picture of a birthday cake, and the RSVP details. Thing is, as much as I look like one, I'm not a canine birthday party invitation designer. That's where Google Book comes in. It's a whole new kind of laptop with a feature called Magic Pointer. I just click the photos and different elements on my screen, and boom, Magic Pointer designs a customized birthday party invitation for Ricky. Click anything on your screen to create whatever you want. Visit googlebook.com. Available to 18-plus users.

• 0:44Sean Hayes?

  Compatibility and availability vary.

• 0:49Jason Bateman?

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• 1:29Sean Hayes?

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• 2:05Sean Hayes?

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• 2:50Jason Bateman?

  So this is me flying solo on a cold open. I don't know if I've done this before. I think maybe I've done this before. It's not great. This is what you're gonna find in the next few seconds is why this show works with three and not with one. It might work with just Will or just Sean, but not just me. It's just not enough. It's like one hand trying to clap. It's just, it's not, it's not possible. It sounds like this. You wanna know what it sounds like? One hand clapping? It's terrible, right? It's not entertaining at all. So let me bring in the other two hands and let's light this candle. Here we come.

• 3:45Jason Bateman?

  Wait, how's everybody doing today? It's morning where you are, Jay.

• 3:48Will Arnett?

  So good. JJ?

• 3:50Jason Bateman?

  It is. It's morning and I'm still a little foggy from last night. I had a little too much sugar last night.

• 3:56Will Arnett?

  Oh, no.

• 3:57Jason Bateman?

  I have a sensitive system, you know?

• 3:59Will Arnett?

  Did you go to Sunday Fun Day?

• 4:00Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, we had a little peach cobbler for dessert and it was great. It's, you really, the, I was saying as I was driving home with Amanda, saying, you know, love, love the groups there, but you just can't replace Sean or Will in a, in a, in a, in a party dynamic, you know? You can try. Dinner party dynamic? You can try.

• 4:20Will Arnett?

  Yeah, you can try.

• 4:21Jason Bateman?

  We've got your headshots there on a couple of C stands, but it just doesn't work.

• 4:26Will Arnett?

  On C stands.

• 4:29Sean Hayes?

  Still, by the way, still, by the way, you could put cake on the picture in the headshot and I'd still probably enjoy it.

• 4:34Jason Bateman?

  Somehow your picture would come to life and eat it up.

• 4:37Will Arnett?

  It'd like voodoo, Sean, you'd all of a sudden you'd like feel a warmth in your stomach.

• 4:41Jason Bateman?

  Speaking of voodoo, I watched Weapons for the third time.

• 4:45Sean Hayes?

  No way.

• 4:46Jason Bateman?

  Last night, yeah.

• 4:47Sean Hayes?

  I can't wait to see it.

• 4:48Jason Bateman?

  Man, big fan of that movie, that's Zach Baker.

• 4:51Will Arnett?

  You keep saying how good it is. And you watched with Franny?

• 4:55Jason Bateman?

  Uh, Franny, soaked it up, loved it, it's a real director's accomplishment.

• 5:01Will Arnett?

  Well, Franny's going away to start dress, she's going away to college, she's going away to college.

• 5:04Jason Bateman?

  I know, I moved her in tomorrow.

• 5:06Will Arnett?

  Tomorrow?

• 5:07Sean Hayes?

  No way.

• 5:07Will Arnett?

  Yes.

• 5:08Jason Bateman?

  At least she's going locally here to university here in Los Angeles and so, so there might not be tears, I think if, I think if I was to fly her somewhere and then fly away, it would be really, really nice.

• 5:20Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, but it's nice.

• 5:20Will Arnett?

  You don't think that you're gonna have tears?

• 5:22Jason Bateman?

  I don't think I'm gonna have tears, no, because, look, you know, as any parents out there that have like... You pushed them all out at an earlier age. Yeah, but you know, seventeen year olds, eighteen year olds, they, they end up doing a lot of sleepouts anyway, so, you know, she's sort of like living here three days a week anyway.

• 5:38Will Arnett?

  Okay.

• 5:39Sean Hayes?

  Sleepouts, sleepouts.

• 5:41Will Arnett?

  Sleepouts.

• 5:41Sean Hayes?

  What's that called? What's a hell of a sleepout, sleepover?

• 5:43Jason Bateman?

  Overs, yeah.

• 5:44Sean Hayes?

  Sleepout, hey, can you come over for a sleepout? What are you gonna, sleep out on the lawn?

• 5:49Will Arnett?

  Sean, were you, was it teary when you left, did your mom shed tears out of her one eye when you left for John?

• 5:56Jason Bateman?

  I think the other one still cried, it just didn't see.

• 5:59Will Arnett?

  In the box, it was in the box.

• 6:02Sean Hayes?

  I opened the box later, it was soaked.

• 6:03Will Arnett?

  It was pooling, it was pooling in the box.

• 6:06Sean Hayes?

  No, I remember move, I remember my move in day for college though, it was like, it was like a hundred degrees out, it was, everybody just couldn't wait to be done with everybody. It was like, get out.

• 6:17Jason Bateman?

  It's gonna be a hundred tomorrow when we're shipping furniture up two flights of stairs, is that what it was with you? Just like carrying crap?

• 6:22Will Arnett?

  Who'd you pay to do it?

• 6:25Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, exactly, no, it's, it's gonna be me and Amanda and Maple.

• 6:29Will Arnett?

  Is it really?

• 6:30Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, three cars worth of stuff.

• 6:32Will Arnett?

  Can I just say that were I there, and this is not a hollow offer because I'm not, I would help.

• 6:36Sean Hayes?

  I would, by the way, I would...

• 6:38Jason Bateman?

  It's a very safe offer that you go to both make.

• 6:40Will Arnett?

  I know it is, but it's true.

• 6:41Sean Hayes?

  I'd love to help.

• 6:42Jason Bateman?

  You're each thousands of miles away.

• 6:43Will Arnett?

  I know, but it is true.

• 6:44Sean Hayes?

  It was, college was the best time of my life, I loved it, you know, I remember before...

• 6:48Will Arnett?

  You peaked in college.

• 6:49Sean Hayes?

  I did.

• 6:52Sean Hayes?

  I remember my brother Mike was so impatient that before you could before computers and everything and you had to sign up for classes, he drove the car, there was a line from the building, whatever it is, the administrative building where you sign up for classes, all the way down the entire street, there was like a thousand people waiting in line to sign up for class. He drove the car right up on the lawn, got me out, walked right up to the front and said, "Hey, I need to sign my brother up for classes." And like, "Well, there's a line." She's like, "Yeah, I know, but we were registered to come in, we had an appointment." And he just lied his way and she-

• 7:25Will Arnett?

  He just bullshitted.

• 7:25Sean Hayes?

  He did it right away.

• 7:26Jason Bateman?

  That sounds like me trying to get an iPhone.

• 7:29Will Arnett?

  No, no. Jason, don't bring it up. Don't let people Google Jason Bateman's jumping line for iPhone in 2007.

• 7:37Jason Bateman?

  Wait, what happened? Wait, Will, was it really 2007?

• 7:40Will Arnett?

  Yeah, it was.

• 7:40Jason Bateman?

  You're amazing.

• 7:41Will Arnett?

  Yeah, so-

• 7:42Jason Bateman?

  Wait, what month was it?

• 7:43Will Arnett?

  Uh, that's a good question. That I don't know. I'm gonna say the fall, but-

• 7:47Jason Bateman?

  I'll bet you can give a good, yeah, because they usually release in the fall, that'd be a good guess. But JB, you've got the year down, is that right?

• 7:53Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 7:53Sean Hayes?

  Well, that's a year after they came out, right?

• 7:55Will Arnett?

  Yeah, that's the year they came out. Shawnee, so you know the story is JB and I, you know, the people, the nice people at Apple had sort of said, "Hey, we'll set you up with a phone." And Jason said, "You know what? I'm gonna go to The Grove and I'm gonna be a regular guy and I'm gonna wait in line and get my-" I'm so excited.

• 8:13Jason Bateman?

  Romanticizing the whole queuing up, you know, like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, you know, like lineups.

• 8:18Will Arnett?

  So I was like, "Okay," and I was like, "I'm gonna get mine delivered to my house a week early." Anyways, which I did. JB goes down, God bless him, God bless this little boy. He goes down to The Grove and he's waiting in line, all excited and diligently, right? And he's there, and the employees at the Apple store there go, "Hey, look, that's Jason Bateman line." So they go out to him and they go, "Hey, man, don't wait here, come with us." So he kind of like obliges out of being polite and he goes with them. They bring him into the store and he gets a phone early. Well, wouldn't you know, the Daily Mail or whoever, paparazzi are taking photos of people lining up. And the story comes out, Jason Bateman skips line.

• 8:56Sean Hayes?

  He jumped the line. I love that.

• 8:58Jason Bateman?

  And the story's out before I get back to the office, right, Willie? I got to the office and it was already online.

• 9:04Sean Hayes?

  Wait a minute.

• 9:05Jason Bateman?

  Hey, man.

• 9:06Will Arnett?

  I was, I was getting, jumping out of-

• 9:08Sean Hayes?

  But wait a minute, here's the best part of the story, that you didn't want the free phone sent to your house because you wanted to be a real person, then you went in the line and you got out of the line anyway.

• 9:17Jason Bateman?

  One of these nice people were like, hey, and there was a photographer in the bushes. It was taking pictures of me anyway, like in line. And so I probably should have put two and two together.

• 9:27Will Arnett?

  It was one of the best, honestly.

• 9:29Sean Hayes?

  That's fantastic.

• 9:30Will Arnett?

  It felt like such a victory to me.

• 9:32Jason Bateman?

  And then the next year that they issued a phone, our nice person at Apple called us and said, hey, so we want to send you a new phone. And, and we had a staff meeting with, I think it was Tim Cook at the time. And he said, hey, everybody, let's not pull another Bateman. Let's make sure we get the VIP phones out.

• 9:50Sean Hayes?

  No way.

• 9:52Jason Bateman?

  I became a verb at the fucking.

• 9:54Will Arnett?

  I love that, I love that PR fuckups at Apple are now called Bateman's.

• 9:58Jason Bateman?

  No, but they did everything right. It was me that, that, that said, no, thanks. You're gonna do that.

• 10:04Sean Hayes?

  Well, and, and now on our, now we have the best cell phones. We can listen to our podcast on our cell phone and use Smartless Mobile.

• 10:09Will Arnett?

  We can use Smartless Mobile. Why wouldn't you? Because you're gonna get less than half of what you're.

• 10:13Jason Bateman?

  What's Smartless Mobile? What do you mean? I don't understand.

• 10:16Will Arnett?

  Well, you have a provider. Let's say you have a provider. You have whoever it is.

• 10:20Jason Bateman?

  Like ATT, Verizon?

• 10:22Will Arnett?

  I guess if you had to.

• 10:24Jason Bateman?

  T-Mobile?

• 10:24Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, but why not save money?

• 10:26Will Arnett?

  But when, yeah. So why not save money? Cheaper. It's less than half.

• 10:30Jason Bateman?

  What if I want to keep my number?

• 10:33Will Arnett?

  No problem.

• 10:36Will Arnett?

  Why are you so, why are you so tired and beleaguered?

• 10:38Jason Bateman?

  I just feel like, well, on the outside chance people haven't heard our pitch, I guess I'm trying to not be annoying.

• 10:45Sean Hayes?

  You can keep our number. You can keep your number. Smartless Mobile. You can cut your, your cell phone bill in half, more than half sometimes.

• 10:50Jason Bateman?

  A quick signup? Is that what it is?

• 10:51Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's easy. It's like in five minutes.

• 10:53Will Arnett?

  You get the app. Jason, you like apps?

• 10:55Jason Bateman?

  I love it.

• 10:56Will Arnett?

  We have a Smartless Mobile app.

• 10:57Jason Bateman?

  Go sign up, everybody. Okay, let's get to our guest.

• 10:59Will Arnett?

  Okay, our guest, by the way, speaking, speaking of the best, we, I have brought today an absolute heavyweight. I'm so excited about this. This guy is a just bona fide, decades-long international superstar.

• 11:17Will Arnett?

  Okay, he is unbelievable. He has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, multiple Grammys, Academy American Music Award things. He's written so many hit songs. He was in a band, then he had an incredible solo career. Every one of them, he wrote songs for all the biggest stars, and he wrote songs for himself, and he had the hugest, he's one of the biggest record-selling artists of all time. And I'm gonna start to list some of his, starting with his old band, all the way through his other.

• 11:43Jason Bateman?

  Sean, you better guess this.

• 11:44Will Arnett?

  Easy, Sail On, Three Times a Lady Still. He wrote Lady for Kenny Rogers.

• 11:47Jason Bateman?

  Lionel Richie.

• 11:48Will Arnett?

  You are, yes.

• 11:49Jason Bateman?

  No way!

• 11:50Will Arnett?

  Oh my lord, it's Lionel Richie!

• 11:52Jason Bateman?

  Oh my god! Wow, good morning, sir. No way!

• 11:55Speaker 03

  Ah, good morning, guys. That was, the, the, the hamming up of the opening was just amazing. Jason, the story about the cellphone is hilarious.

• 12:05Jason Bateman?

  I know.

• 12:06Will Arnett?

  Listen, Lionel, we'd love to, welcome to the show, but more importantly, we'd love to get you signed up with Smartless Mobile.

• 12:10Jason Bateman?

  That's true.

• 12:11Will Arnett?

  What do you pay him on?

• 12:14Speaker 03

  Oh my god, I'm sitting.

• 12:16Jason Bateman?

  Look at this beautiful studio you've got there. Is that, is that the recording studio?

• 12:20Speaker 03

  It's the recording studio, yeah. This is, this is the hideout down here when I wanna get totally away from everybody. The doors close and don't come in.

• 12:27Jason Bateman?

  You are the man. You've been the man for so long.

• 12:30Will Arnett?

  It is such an honor to have you, Mr. Lionel Richie, here on the show with us.

• 12:34Speaker 03

  Well, let me just say, Jason, Sean, and, and Will, you know, having the three of you in front of me right now is, and listening, is just probably the trip of my life because, you know, I really admire the fact that your talent and the, and you can kind of improv so seamlessly.

• 12:52Jason Bateman?

  Well, but it's just dribble, you know, it's just talking, you know. You're gonna, you're about to get 50 minutes of it, tuck in. Well, it's such an honor to have you, such a pleasure to have you. So cool. You're here, you're here in Los Angeles, yes?

• 13:06Speaker 03

  I'm in Los Angeles, yes.

• 13:08Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, and you've lived here how long? I feel like I know where your house is, too.

• 13:12Speaker 03

  I know exactly where your house is. I've been here, I've been here since 1981.

• 13:17Jason Bateman?

  In the same house?

• 13:19Speaker 03

  Not in the same house. No, no, no, no, no. I, I, I'm doing the, I did the, start off in the guest house, then you go from there to the, to the main house, and then from there, okay, I'm outta here. So, you know, a couple of rentals here and there, and then finally ended up here, beautiful.

• 13:32Jason Bateman?

  Where did you, where did you start? Where, where, where, where were you, where'd you, where were you born? Where'd you get raised?

• 13:38Speaker 03

  Tuskegee, Alabama, right on the campus.

• 13:41Will Arnett?

  Yeah, so that's right. So you grew up on the campus in Tuskegee.

• 13:44Speaker 03

  Right on the campus. It was, it was, well, I shouldn't say right on. It was across the street from the gates of the campus. And since then, the campus has surrounded my place, my house.

• 13:56Jason Bateman?

  And your house is not, you, you, your parents, are they, are they still around? Are they still with us?

• 14:00Speaker 03

  No, no, no, I lost mom, dad, and grandma. But the, the, the memories are right there, still in the house. I still own the house.

• 14:06Jason Bateman?

  Do you really?

• 14:07Speaker 03

  The house is still on the campus and people pass by and go, there's Lionel Richie's house.

• 14:10Jason Bateman?

  Have they offered to buy the house? Do they want to absorb it and like build a new building right there for the school?

• 14:15Speaker 03

  You know exactly what I, why I want to hang on to it. Because, you know, every time they say Lionel, that's a wonderful spot. And I go, mm-hmm, tear the house down and put another building up. Yeah, we're not going to do that. But actually, I grew up right across the street from the president of university's house.

• 14:28Jason Bateman?

  Oh, my God.

• 14:29Speaker 03

  And then as time went on, they moved to the big mansion at the other end of the campus. But I mean, for the longest time, I was there with the.

• 14:36Jason Bateman?

  What campus? I, I don't, what is it? The University of Alabama?

• 14:40Speaker 03

  No, no, Tuskegee University.

• 14:41Jason Bateman?

  Tuskegee University.

• 14:43Will Arnett?

  And what was your connection? Did you have a connection to, to Tuskegee University?

• 14:46Speaker 03

  Did I have a connection? Oh, my God, guys. It was Tuskegee Airmen. My, this is my, the moms and dads of, of my whole little group. Number two, um, believe it or not, on the deed of the house, uh, you've got the Washington family who had the house before my grandmother had it. And so, and grandfather. So it was one of those things where it kind of started right there on the campus with everything else. And of course, in 1923 is when they received the house. And I didn't show up at that time. I must assure you that I keep telling my kids, I don't know Abraham Lincoln, but.

• 15:25Speaker 03

  It was pretty late after that that I showed up, but it was wonderful, man, just to have that history in the house.

• 15:30Will Arnett?

  And you went, you went to col-, you went to college there, right? You went to Tuskegee?

• 15:33Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

• 15:34Will Arnett?

  Yeah, you went to Tuskegee and that's where you kind of got your, that's where you got your start. I remember reading this thing you were saying, um, you're, I want to mention that your book is coming out. I want to say September 30th, your book, Truly.

• 15:44Speaker 03

  You named it.

• 15:45Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 15:46Jason Bateman?

  Oh, that.

• 15:46Will Arnett?

  And, and.

• 15:47Jason Bateman?

  Is this your fir-, your first book?

• 15:48Speaker 03

  My first book. Listen, I'm telling you, if it takes me the rest of my life, have you ever done a book before?

• 15:54Jason Bateman?

  No.

• 15:55Will Arnett?

  No, he's never read a book.

• 15:56Jason Bateman?

  No, never.

• 15:59Jason Bateman?

  It's left to right, top to bottom, right?

• 16:02Sean Hayes?

  I'm gonna read him a book later on tonight, it's gonna be awesome.

• 16:05Speaker 03

  So let me just tell you that it is painful because they keep asking you, and then what happened? And then you wanna kinda go, okay, I don't wanna talk about that anymore.

• 16:14Jason Bateman?

  How was your recall? Cause I figure my recall's gonna be so bad, I'm gonna have to be in some sort of hypnosis to pull it all out.

• 16:22Speaker 03

  You know, it all kind of worked out where, you know, the stories kind of fell into place, you know? Once you, between the band, between going, growing up in Tuskegee, between various episodes of that, and then of course, meeting and greeting around the world, it it kinda fell into place, man. You start calling off names, and then the next name shows up. And it takes a minute. Every once in a while, you have to make a phone call and go, "Hey, who was that guy? What was that guy, that lady's name?" You have to call somebody that remembers.

• 16:55Jason Bateman?

  Who was the most helpful?

• 16:56Will Arnett?

  Jason does that at home when his kids walk by, he says, "Who's that?"

• 17:00Jason Bateman?

  Which was that? Who was, was there, was there one person that was, that was the most helpful for you in, in, in recalling some of these things?

• 17:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, I, I have a couple of homeboys, still in Tuskegee, that calls off the names of everybody in life. Milton Carver Davis was one of them, and Harold Boone is another one, and they just kinda said, "Oh no, that's the guy's name." And then, believe it or not, Ronald LaPred from the Commodores helped me out tremendously, cause he kept saying, "No, that's not what happened," and then he starts calling it, cause you know, as time goes on, it becomes, "Yeah, and I did this, and remember we did that?" And I go, "Rich, Rich, you weren't there."

• 17:42Will Arnett?

  You're making up memories, you're like creating memories.

• 17:45Speaker 03

  You know, I'm creating my, and remember I came on stage and I told the crowd, "Rich, you weren't there."

• 17:52Jason Bateman?

  Is that, is that, is that what people? Yeah, is that what people closest to you call you, Rich?

• 17:56Speaker 03

  No, they call me, actually Skeet is my nickname.

• 17:58Jason Bateman?

  Really? Where'd that come from?

• 18:00Speaker 03

  Believe it or not, of, okay, this is part of that painful book. Okay, so what happens? You know, your father walks in the room, looks at the baby, and he goes-

• 18:09Jason Bateman?

  Go on.

• 18:10Will Arnett?

  Sorry, hang on one second, Sean, father is a guy-

• 18:15Speaker 03

  So he walks in, there's the baby, you know, and most guys would say, "Okay, yo, Killer," or "Bruce," or, you know, "Come here, give me a rough name." My dad goes- My Ski Boo.

• 18:26Sean Hayes?

  My Ski Boo.

• 18:27Speaker 03

  And I said, you know, I even questioned him. I said, dude, of all the names, why Ski Boo? He said, it just came out that way. Well, anyway, I'm now in high school. I carry Ski Boo all the way through elementary school, which is painful, painful, I tell you. And then I get to high school and the guy said, you're going to get killed in high school with Ski Boo.

• 18:46Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 18:47Speaker 03

  So we're gonna change your name to Skeet. And that was it.

• 18:50Jason Bateman?

  Wow. And then it was Skeet? It was never Lionel or?

• 18:52Speaker 03

  No, no.

• 18:53Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 18:54Speaker 03

  Formalities.

• 18:55Will Arnett?

  I like Skeet. It's, it's kinda cool.

• 18:56Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, Skeet's cool.

• 18:57Speaker 03

  Let me give you the other names, so you'll know. Anytime you have a guy named Fungus, another guy named Cookie Man.

• 19:04Speaker 03

  You follow me? So Skeet, I got away clean with Skeet, okay?

• 19:08Jason Bateman?

  Those were your two other be- best friends?

• 19:10Speaker 03

  Oh, no, we had Pehead. We got some names. Pehead and, and Sunny Boy. We got some names, so.

• 19:15Will Arnett?

  Oh, boy. What a crew.

• 19:18Speaker 03

  But believe it or not, can I tell you, can I tell you, these guys went on to become great lawyers. One guy is a biomedical nuclear engineer for NASA.

• 19:26Jason Bateman?

  That's Fungus?

• 19:27Speaker 03

  I mean, come on, you know.

• 19:28Will Arnett?

  Fungus, obviously.

• 19:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, so he was the smartest guy in the stupid group, so. The rest of the guys.

• 19:34Jason Bateman?

  Wait, so getting back to recall, where, how good were you at keeping all your memorabilia? Um, news clippings and pictures and things like that? Good?

• 19:43Speaker 03

  Got them all.

• 19:43Jason Bateman?

  You do?

• 19:44Sean Hayes?

  Really?

• 19:44Will Arnett?

  You do.

• 19:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, and it wasn't.

• 19:46Sean Hayes?

  How did you know to do that?

• 19:47Jason Bateman?

  Was that a mom or a dad thing that, that was like, son, keep your stuff?

• 19:51Speaker 03

  It was mom, dad, grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles. They kept every clipping and as they kind of said, I'm wrapping up the house here.

• 20:00Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 20:00Speaker 03

  So scrapbook after scrapbook after scrapbook. We've got volumes of the first time I did American Bandstand, the first time of this and the first time I played it.

• 20:09Jason Bateman?

  That's so great.

• 20:09Speaker 03

  They got it all, you know.

• 20:11Jason Bateman?

  And you got it in the book there too? You got pictures of all that stuff?

• 20:13Speaker 03

  You know what? That's in the, believe it or not, that's the second book.

• 20:17Jason Bateman?

  That's coming.

• 20:17Will Arnett?

  Wow.

• 20:18Jason Bateman?

  Smart.

• 20:19Will Arnett?

  Wow.

• 20:19Sean Hayes?

  Let me, let, let me ask Will and Jay, do you guys, do you guys do it or do you have family members that archive your stuff?

• 20:24Will Arnett?

  No.

• 20:25Jason Bateman?

  Uh, my mom was pretty good about it and I think I know where some of that stuff is. I've got some, but I, I think.

• 20:31Will Arnett?

  Have you, Sean?

• 20:32Jason Bateman?

  I've kinda stopped.

• 20:32Sean Hayes?

  Scotty does every single thing I do.

• 20:35Speaker 03

  Oh, that's so great.

• 20:37Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 20:37Speaker 03

  That's cool. Believe it or not, you wanna lose some of it.

• 20:39Will Arnett?

  It's like living with a single white male.

• 20:44Sean Hayes?

  Do you have candles under it?

• 20:45Jason Bateman?

  I have one eye open.

• 20:47Will Arnett?

  Wait, wait, I want to get, I want to get into Skeet if I may. No, I'm kidding. I want to get into, so you start.

• 20:54Speaker 03

  That scared me by the way, okay.

• 20:55Will Arnett?

  Yeah, I'm sure. I love that you, you started, so I read some excerpts from your book and you were talking about you were, you, you owned a saxophone and you don't, and you didn't describe yourself as a player. You describe yourself as a blower and these guys were like, hey man, we might.

• 21:09Speaker 03

  No, no, I hope I didn't write blower in the book, no, no.

• 21:13Sean Hayes?

  That's the title of the book, am I right?

• 21:15Speaker 03

  No, I said saxophone holder.

• 21:17Will Arnett?

  Holder, holder, okay.

• 21:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's a big difference, it weighs a big difference.

• 21:21Sean Hayes?

  Mine's blower.

• 21:22Jason Bateman?

  It's still a tricky title, holder blower.

• 21:24Will Arnett?

  But, but, but you just kind of had it, you didn't really know how to play, you, you kind of were able to, you had a musical sensibility to you and you were able to mimic from stuff that you heard, is that true?

• 21:35Speaker 03

  By ear, and, and not only saxophone, but by piano as well. I cannot read or write music to that point.

• 21:41Sean Hayes?

  Wow, amazing to me.

• 21:42Speaker 03

  So what makes it all kind of weird is that when you can pick up a horn and once you figure out, you can now play along with Sonny Stitt or you play along with Coltrane or you play along with, and you go, okay, and then when you sit down to the piano, you know, it's, you know, once you find out that some of the greatest artists in the world cannot read or write music, you know, there's Smokey, there's Paul McCartney, once you start going down that list of folks, you know, it's a pretty rare fraternity sorority, you know.

• 22:12Sean Hayes?

  Now, so do you, had, did you ever learn or want to learn the names of course, like the 575 or the 164 or the, sharp seventh or whatever that?

• 22:21Speaker 03

  Well, I, I can, I can say it, I can, you know, I can talk about it, but the point is, my problem was ADD or ADHD, which we didn't know back then.

• 22:32Will Arnett?

  Right.

• 22:33Speaker 03

  So, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, okay, that's great. Now, try to read that on a page with dots. So tracking was the worst thing in the world for me. It wasn't that I couldn't read it, it's just I couldn't read it fast enough to play it.

• 22:48Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 22:49Speaker 03

  So, so when you get in a room, I just forgot all that.

• 22:53Sean Hayes?

  Can you read a chord chart?

• 22:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, forget about it.

• 22:56Sean Hayes?

  Forget it. You can't read a chord chart, which just says this chord, then this chord.

• 22:59Speaker 03

  I can get it done faster by standing in a room with a group of musicians, hum it to them.

• 23:04Sean Hayes?

  Wow, that's amazing.

• 23:06Speaker 03

  And they are so gifted that what you do is by the time I finish the hum, they've already played it six times over.

• 23:12Sean Hayes?

  Well, that's what I'm blown away, that all of the hit songs that we all know through all of these years that came out of your head, like, it's just fascinating to think about, how did those melodies and those things come to into your head? It's just amazing.

• 23:31Speaker 03

  That's the weirdness of the God gift, you know what I'm saying? There's, I look at actors, I look at comedians, I look at, and I go, you know, how did you put that together in your head? And sometimes they say that was improv, you know, half of that was this and...

• 23:48Sean Hayes?

  But how do you explain it though? Do you just hum whatever you're feeling?

• 23:52Speaker 03

  For me, for me, if I told you there's a radio station playing right now, and all I have to do is tap over into it. Now, it's only 12 notes. Here's the magic of this. It's not like I can go cheat on a lot of words and stuff. There's only 12 notes here, guys. And so what happens is you have to know, all you need is four chords, and that's a whole album, you know, believe it or not. So what happens is just knowing what notes to put together, and believe it or not, I can hear that.

• 24:24Sean Hayes?

  Right, that's amazing.

• 24:25Speaker 03

  You know what I'm saying?

• 24:28Sean Hayes?

  And we will be right back.

• 24:31Sean Hayes?

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• 24:57Will Arnett?

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• 25:35Sean Hayes?

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• 26:19Sean Hayes?

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• 26:37Sean Hayes?

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• 27:18Sean Hayes?

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• 27:38Sean Hayes?

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• 28:23Sean Hayes?

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• 28:52Sean Hayes?

  And now, back to the show.

• 28:55Sean Hayes?

  Have you enjoyed how it's changed over the years in your own head? Because any natural gift does morph. Sometimes to the better, sometimes to the worse. As your taste evolves and as you allow yourself to be influenced by things that you like, and as we get older and tempo and all that stuff, have you enjoyed that process? How your music has changed a bit?

• 29:20Speaker 03

  In love with it. You know, what happens is, you know, remember, it's all texture. It's all, you know, sounds. It's You know, it's all about sonics. So when you can, I started off probably about the first five years, six years on a grand piano.

• 29:37Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 29:37Speaker 03

  Got it? And then after probably Penny Lover, probably after that, never played the, never played that again, a grand piano, because technology came in and you can get sounds on the keyboard.

• 29:52Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 29:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, so from that point on, I never played the same keyboard twice.

• 29:57Jason Bateman?

  Mm-hmm.

• 29:57Will Arnett?

  Do you, do you, do you remember moments, like, like Sean was saying, like where the songs come from? So do you have, you must have memories of like when you first started to write or hum or come, come up with, you know, Endless Love, let's say, or All Night Long? Do you remember, like, were you standing in the kitchen and you were like, you know, getting a glass of milk or, you know what I mean?

• 30:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, no, it's, it's so many stories about, I'll, I'll use, I'll use probably All Night Long. I'll use Hello as the perfect example.

• 30:28Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, great.

• 30:28Speaker 03

  You know, I, I wrote, again, my co-producer, James Carmichael, was late for the, for the little writing session we were having and he walks in the door and I'm just playing on the piano and I said, "Hello, is it me you're looking for?" And I played the chords.

• 30:44Jason Bateman?

  No way.

• 30:45Speaker 03

  And I was waiting, I was waiting for him to say, "Uh, yeah, I'm here, okay, let's get started." He said, "Finish that song."

• 30:51Jason Bateman?

  Wow. So you already had, so you already had the melody and the lyrics just came as kind of a joke to?

• 30:58Speaker 03

  All I had was, "Hello, is it me you're looking for?", which is the corniest thing I could ever think about in life.

• 31:04Jason Bateman?

  Oh my God, it's so great though.

• 31:06Speaker 03

  So if you really want to know the backstory of this, which I will tell you, the backstory to this is, I, I didn't like it. I hated it.

• 31:14Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, wow.

• 31:15Speaker 03

  And he kept saying, "Finish it, finish it." And I said, "James, this is, I'll, I'll be the laughing stock of the business. Who's gonna write a song called Hello, Is It Me You're Looking For?" And so enough, I, I finished the song and then... I fell in love with it and he hated it.

• 31:32Speaker 03

  Because he was going, okay, because he put the strings on it, it was very heavy, heavy, heavy. So are you ready for this? We threw it off the album and I wrote a song called Truly. To replace it.

• 31:43Jason Bateman?

  Of course, yeah, no way.

• 31:45Speaker 03

  And then, of course, the next album, we said, well, let's go back and put that Hello thing on. And that became the national anthem of As I Walk Around the World. Hello Lionel.

• 31:56Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, it's amazing.

• 31:57Will Arnett?

  Of course, although Truly, Truly was the number one single too, so.

• 32:00Speaker 03

  Truly was the first, believe it or not, Grammy.

• 32:04Jason Bateman?

  Oh, wow.

• 32:04Speaker 03

  After all these songs, everyone said, well, you won the Grammy. No, no, no, no. You go to the Grammys and you just kind of sign up for your seat, but they don't give me anything for the first 10 years of your life. And then finally you walk up one day and they call off Truly and I said, whoa, that's pretty cool. And that was the beginning of the ride.

• 32:22Jason Bateman?

  Is that, is that often the way that it, that it has worked for you where you, you come up with, you, you write a bunch of melodies? And then you write a bunch of lyrics and you sort of find what lyrics go with what melodies? Are they, are they that separate?

• 32:35Speaker 03

  My mother was an English teacher, so I, I caught hell just trying to go to school every day and using the proper English. So mom, can I go somewhere? I don't know, can you? That kind of situation, so you know. My problem with trying to write lyrics was, or should I say write a song is, what's the subject? So whatever the subject is, that's the most important thing. It's called the hook. So if you write, you know, all night long, great, or you write hello, whatever the case may be. Then if you have the hook, you'll write now the verses. It's only four lines per verse, but you have to go back and put that together. My problem was I would never write the verses until the Commodores said, we like it.

• 33:21Speaker 03

  Because there's nothing worse than finishing a song. And you get halfway through it, now you spent your whole life on this thing.

• 33:27Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 33:28Speaker 03

  And all of a sudden you say, we hate it, next.

• 33:29Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, right, right.

• 33:30Speaker 03

  So I would just go, here's the hook.

• 33:33Will Arnett?

  I'm not gonna put any more work in.

• 33:34Speaker 03

  I'm not putting any more work.

• 33:37Jason Bateman?

  But then the actual music for said lyrics just comes much later. You just figure out what melody might match this story?

• 33:43Speaker 03

  It's da da's, it's all da da's and occasionally you go, uh. Perfect example is, uh, Lady, you know. I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you. Da da da da da da da da, da da da, that's that.

• 33:58Sean Hayes?

  Uh huh, you just don't know the words.

• 33:59Speaker 03

  You follow me? Uh, you know, penny lover.

• 34:02Sean Hayes?

  It's almost like a call and answer.

• 34:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, you just kinda throw it out there. Now there's some, what we call God's words, which is while you're writing the song, some mumbles comes out in real words.

• 34:12Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 34:13Speaker 03

  Well, you wanna hold those as much as possible.

• 34:16Sean Hayes?

  Uh huh.

• 34:16Speaker 03

  Cause that's the true essence of where the other side was trying to direct you, really.

• 34:22Jason Bateman?

  But what about the great luck that your ear has such incredible taste in what a melody sounds like? And you also have a voice that is incredible as well. Like, you've got both of these enormous talents. Yeah, it's just, it's, it's, uh.

• 34:41Will Arnett?

  It's a perfect storm.

• 34:41Jason Bateman?

  There are a few others, but, uh, not many, my god.

• 34:44Speaker 03

  You, you, you have just, um, um, done my gratitude mantra. First thing I get up in the morning, the last thing I say at night, you know. How did it ever happen to me? Holy crap, I mean, you know.

• 34:55Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 34:56Speaker 03

  You know, I mean, you, you think about very serious things in life and you don't really think about it. It was a, someone said years ago, when you're nineteen, twenty, twenty-five and you win Wimbledon and you go, wow, you know. Where we going to eat tonight?

• 35:13Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 35:13Speaker 03

  And then you turn fifty and you go, I want Wimbledon? You know what I'm saying?

• 35:18Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 35:19Speaker 03

  You know, well, it's only looking back that you realize, holy crap.

• 35:23Sean Hayes?

  That's right.

• 35:24Speaker 03

  What was that all about?

• 35:25Jason Bateman?

  I'm so glad that you, you know, we, we ask people that sometimes on the show, you know. Do you allow yourself to? To pat yourself on the back and appreciate where you are, where you've been, where you're going, all that stuff. It sounds like you've got such a healthy relationship with and perspective on your, on your life and your gifts. And I was gonna, that was gonna be my next question is, you know, you just, you seem like such a lovely man.

• 35:51Jason Bateman?

  How?

• 35:51Speaker 03

  Could you tell that to my kids, please?

• 35:54Will Arnett?

  I would suspect, I would suspect JB, if I can, if I can jump onto your question before you finish it and just say, what I noticed is you, you mentioned early on that you got all your old buddies back where you grew up and that you're really still in touch with. I forget it was.

• 36:08Speaker 03

  Tuskegee.

• 36:09Will Arnett?

  Fungus. No, no.

• 36:10Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, fungus, fungus is among us, yes.

• 36:12Will Arnett?

  Fungus and fungus and all these, and all these guys. And, and I think the idea that you stay so in tune and in touch with them probably has a lot to do with giving, getting their perspective.

• 36:22Speaker 03

  Well.

• 36:22Will Arnett?

  That you have.

• 36:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, the, the beautiful part about this now, when I tell you how long we've known each other, then you're really gonna know how strange it is and wonderful at the same time. I've known these guys since preschool, elementary school, high school, college.

• 36:35Jason Bateman?

  No, wow, that's really cool.

• 36:37Speaker 03

  I mean, honestly, and by the way, every month, we have a Zoom call.

• 36:43Jason Bateman?

  Ah, that's great.

• 36:44Will Arnett?

  Really?

• 36:44Speaker 03

  And we talk about, just like you're sitting here talking now.

• 36:47Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 36:47Speaker 03

  We've got Zoom calls and we're sitting there talking about what you're doing and what's happening and, and who's doing what and what hurts you.

• 36:55Jason Bateman?

  Sorry, Sean, but my, my, my question was, was gonna be really more about like the, how many times did you, was it ever tempting? Cause we live in such a permissive culture and business, you know, like you're allowed to be your worst part often.

• 37:15Speaker 03

  Right.

• 37:16Jason Bateman?

  And was it, were you conscious of making the choice to stay as, sorry to use the word again, lovely as you, as you are, you know, like it could be, cause it's, it's easier. It's to be lazy and to be nasty and to allow people to sort of, you know, clean up after you and care for it, like, do you know what I mean? Like you're, there's just, it's, it's a choice to stay kind. And, and I wonder if that would, would there struggles with that?

• 37:46Speaker 03

  Well, I, I'll be honest with you. I kind of grew up in a magical family a little bit here. Cause I used to go back and ask my grandmother every day. I said, Grandma, how do you have so much wisdom? You know so much about life, but you've not been around the world. I've been around the world. How are you able to hold on to your core?

• 38:05Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 38:06Speaker 03

  And she said, if you learn how to treat people right at home, the rest of the world is easy.

• 38:13Will Arnett?

  Mm hmm.

• 38:14Speaker 03

  An asshole is an asshole.

• 38:15Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 38:16Speaker 03

  You know, and period. And so, again, we're in this business. We're called, it's called the entertainment business. We run across enough assholes every single day.

• 38:25Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 38:26Speaker 03

  So we kinda, if you, the motto that I have, if you can spot one, you make sure you don't act like him or her.

• 38:35Will Arnett?

  Yeah. We came, we came across an asshole recently and let me tell you something. We, I'm not joking and we, the three of us sort of appreciated getting that contrast of seeing that, that grade A, A-hole behave in a way.

• 38:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 38:50Will Arnett?

  Gave us the, gave us the perspective. And you know, it's funny, I was saying to my, my, one of my sons, my 15 year old today, I was driving to work and I said, hey, man, I said, we're just talking about moving through life and so, and I said, you know what, dude? If the only piece of advice I can give you is, no matter what, if you keep pushing out love, even in moments where you feel like you're not getting what you get, if you push it out, it creates a world where you get it back from the universe a million times. So love on people, be kind to people when you run into them, talk to people, not just here at home, we have a loving environment, but also out in the world, and it will come back and you, and your experience, and don't do it with the, with the hope of getting a result, just do it.

• 39:30Speaker 03

  That's right. I had the, the wonderful pleasure of watching.

• 39:33Sean Hayes?

  We have to go, sorry. That was the, at last, kidding. And no, go on, go on, go on.

• 39:39Speaker 03

  I, I had the pleasure of watching my dad, you know, he was one of those guys that, you know, I just couldn't figure him out at the beginning. He would walk up to people and, you know, um. Um, you could tell that he was a lover of people.

• 39:56Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 39:56Speaker 03

  And so he would come home some days and, and um, bring a man home to the house and he would, uh, Bert put on, that's my mother Alberta, Bert put on another plate, this is Bill, Bill, Bert, Lionel, Deborah, and so he said, I'll be back, I'm going upstairs for a minute. And so here's the guy at the table, Bill, and it's okay, and so my mother starts asking questions. Um, so did you, uh, were you, um, do you work with Lionel? Um, I'm a junior, so my dad's Lionel.

• 40:25Will Arnett?

  Okay.

• 40:26Speaker 03

  So, uh, have you worked with, are you working with Lionel? No, no ma'am. Were you in the military with Lionel? No ma'am. Are you all friends from where he grew up? No ma'am. Well, where did you meet, um, Lionel?

• 40:43Will Arnett?

  Why are you here?

• 40:44Speaker 03

  He said, well, I just met him, uh, about, uh, at the, at Kroger's. So now my mother leaves the table to go upstairs to ask my dad.

• 40:54Will Arnett?

  Yeah, who the hell is this guy?

• 40:55Speaker 03

  Who's this guy, right, and of course, Deborah and I, my sister, we go upstairs to hear this conversation because we want to know too.

• 41:03Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 41:04Speaker 03

  And so what the, the conversation was, he's going to do a job interview tomorrow, and he needs a suit. And my dad is reaching in the closet to get a suit that fits him and a tie and stuff.

• 41:16Will Arnett?

  Wow, that's amazing.

• 41:16Speaker 03

  And my mother would say, this argument, well, Lionel, it, it's one of your favorite suits, he says, I can get another suit.

• 41:25Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 41:25Speaker 03

  The man needs a suit to look the part.

• 41:30Will Arnett?

  Lionel, I am, I, I love that so much.

• 41:33Jason Bateman?

  So you had a great example your whole life to, to watch.

• 41:36Will Arnett?

  I was just telling somebody this story, it reminds me, so forgive me, but, but it's just, I love that, and, and my grandfather, my mom's dad, who I was really close, I was just telling somebody last, the last couple of days this story. He was a great guy and I was really, really close with him. And he used to bring guys back, he'd, he'd bring, he'd help out, he wasn't an alcoholic. He'd bring guys back from halfway house and, and make my grandmother bring them, make them a meal and he'd, he'd let them work, he'd pay them and then he'd, and he'd talk to them. He died at 97.

• 42:03Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 42:04Will Arnett?

  Everybody who were his friends, his peers had died long, years before. And I was just saying, the remarkable thing was, that church was packed.

• 42:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:13Will Arnett?

  Cause he reached, he did stuff for people, young people all the time. I couldn't believe it. I was like, this guy's 97, this church is packed.

• 42:21Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, that's so cool.

• 42:22Will Arnett?

  You know?

• 42:22Speaker 03

  Well, I, that's a testament to, to his whole life, yeah.

• 42:26Sean Hayes?

  In college, I would bring guys home and, no questions.

• 42:29Will Arnett?

  Sean, Sean, we're just gonna, let's go to a break.

• 42:36Will Arnett?

  Wait.

• 42:37Sean Hayes?

  Uh, yeah, it was a totally different story.

• 42:40Speaker 03

  Please, please let me come back. I wanna come back to this part. I wanna come back, please.

• 42:44Sean Hayes?

  No suits, I was giving no suits.

• 42:45Will Arnett?

  Wait, no, you're taking off suits. Hey, listen, Lionel, can you, can you, um, ripping him off, can we, you started, your first band was The Commodore. Your first big band was The Commodore. Can you talk a little bit about your experience? How that happened and then how you gradually, you know, gradually moved away and went on a solo career? What, what, just walk us through that a little bit, if you don't mind.

• 43:05Speaker 03

  Well, yeah, I was gonna say, that's a whole, yeah, session by itself. Um, well, okay, I'm back in school and it's my freshman year and of course, um, yeah, I run across this guy on campus and he says, you know, do you play any instruments? And I said, well, yeah, I'm a fabulous horn holder, you know? And I didn't tell him that I brought the horn to school to learn how to play it, but he didn't ask that, so I didn't tell him.

• 43:27Sean Hayes?

  Horn holder, yeah.

• 43:28Speaker 03

  So, uh, you know, he said, well, we're starting a band, this is gonna be a freshman talent show. And basically what the freshman talent show was, is that all the seniors and upperclassmen would come in and, um, laugh at the, at the freshmen. So, you know, we put this band together. And believe it or not, at the freshman talent show, we killed it. Killed it. We just surprised everybody.

• 43:50Will Arnett?

  What, you guys just had chemistry? Like you would just?

• 43:51Speaker 03

  Just vibe.

• 43:53Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, that's wild.

• 43:54Speaker 03

  You know, and back then, all you had to play was James Brown and you got it, you know?

• 43:58Will Arnett?

  So you guys covered a few, a few songs?

• 44:00Speaker 03

  We did nothing but covers, that's, you know? And so the beautiful part about this was, there was a guy in the audience who was in a band called The Jays. Which is the seniors, the greatest band in the world on campus.

• 44:14Will Arnett?

  Right.

• 44:15Speaker 03

  And so, this guy, these guys were graduating. And it was two guys that are gonna stay around, because they wanted to put a new band together. Michael Gilbert and Jimmy Johnson. And, the next thing we got, a couple of guys, got phone calls. "Hey, can you guys stop by? We wanna talk to you about putting a band together." Well, to get a call from them was like, it.

• 44:36Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 44:36Speaker 03

  And so, we put the band together, next thing we know, we have a band called The Commodores.

• 44:42Sean Hayes?

  That's just nuts. That's just nuts.

• 44:44Speaker 03

  We played every sorority house, every frat house, every campus, from here to there.

• 44:50Will Arnett?

  And then, how did the songwriting, how did the songwriting start? So you're starting, you're doing covers, and all of a sudden you're like, "Hey, we should write our own tunes."

• 44:57Speaker 03

  Yeah. Well, that's a whole story. I mean, it's good, though, because, you know, we could cover everything. You want Sly Stone, we got Sly Stone. What do you want, Temptations, we're Temptations. You want Three Dog Night, we got Three Dog Night. Whatever you need, we can play it. And then, it got to the point where, we're trying now to figure out, "Okay, I think it's time for us to put a record out, right? It's gonna happen." And so, we started doing auditions. Well, we went to one audition that changed the whole trajectory of what we're gonna do. And that was Philly International Gamblin' Huff. And we went in and we played every song, we killed it, it's bam, we nailed it. And right after that, something happened.

• 45:40Speaker 03

  The guy came back and he said, "Guys, you all killed it." We said, "Right, we got a recording contract, right?" He said, "No, he said, "What we were thinking the whole time you were playing was, "'Cause by the way, you sound just like Sly Stone, you sound just like The Temps, you sound just like... Who do you guys, what do you sound like?"

• 45:58Will Arnett?

  Wow.

• 45:59Speaker 03

  And I said, "Ah." He said, "I mean, I mean, we just waiting on what you guys sound like."

• 46:05Will Arnett?

  Right.

• 46:05Speaker 03

  That was the mission of- The only way we find out who we are is we gotta start writing.

• 46:11Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 46:12Jason Bateman?

  And then did you guys sit down and say, okay, well, who, what, what songs do we really like covering? Which, which are the ones we really explode with, you know, is it more of a sly sound? Is it more of a?

• 46:22Speaker 03

  Well, that's when the individuality came in. That's when the individuals started catching up. Some guys loved funk, some guys loved, I'm a James Taylor nut. I was a Carole King thing, you know, I was a, you know, I could name it, you know, so I was over there. Then I, I realized, okay, I'm a Stevie person, I'm a Marvin person, you know, that was my wheelhouse. And then as time went on, okay, now I'm an Elton person. Now I'm a, you know, I was in that piano man kind of thing.

• 46:54Jason Bateman?

  Sure.

• 46:54Speaker 03

  And so I would kind of bring in those kind of songs. Now, the joke with all of this was if you want to get a record on the Commodore album, don't try to do anything up tempo. Because everybody had ten up tempo songs. So I figured my niche, okay, I'll bring the only slow song they have. Guaranteed, I have a record on.

• 47:18Jason Bateman?

  Because you gotta, you gotta come down a little bit to go back up again when you're putting together a whole album.

• 47:22Speaker 03

  You gotta have that in the album.

• 47:24Jason Bateman?

  Gotcha.

• 47:24Speaker 03

  So the mid tempo, I, I got the mid tempo, Kill It, I got it, all right? And as time went on, Brick House, we wrote that together as a group. But mainly the mid section of this whole thing was covered by, okay, I got you.

• 47:39Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 47:40Speaker 03

  The only thing happening was when the slow song came out, that was the hit.

• 47:45Jason Bateman?

  Wow.

• 47:46Will Arnett?

  And then, and then in that time when you were writing those songs, when, when did, because you also wrote some songs, like you wrote, um, you wrote for Kenny Rogers, you wrote famously, you wrote Lady, I mean.

• 47:56Jason Bateman?

  You did?

• 47:57Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 47:58Jason Bateman?

  God bless.

• 47:58Will Arnett?

  When did you start writing for other artists outside of your own, you know?

• 48:04Speaker 03

  Well, Kenny was an interesting story because of the fact that it was not supposed to be for Kenny. It was supposed to be for the Commodores, yet another. Slow song for Commodores.

• 48:17Will Arnett?

  He's doing air quotes, by the way, just for the listener.

• 48:20Speaker 03

  Thank you, I forgot, nobody can see this. And so what happens from here, the guys walk in and announce, no more slow songs. Okay, so that eliminates the brother right here, gone. And so now, I decided I'm gonna put out a religious song called Jesus' Love. So I went left of that and put out a church song. Meanwhile, I got a phone call from Kenny Rogers. Do you have one of those songs, man? I just need, right? And I said, Kenny, I have it, but I don't have time. We're gonna go on tour. And I don't really have time to do this, but I'll call you when I get back.

• 48:57Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 48:57Speaker 03

  Two weeks later, the drummer falls off of his motorcycle, if you can believe drummers and motorcycles. And I called Kenny back and said, uh...

• 49:07Will Arnett?

  I'm back from tour.

• 49:08Speaker 03

  I got it, right?

• 49:10Sean Hayes?

  I got it.

• 49:10Speaker 03

  And so, so the song was called Baby.

• 49:14Sean Hayes?

  Instead of Lady?

• 49:15Speaker 03

  That's all I had. Baby, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you.

• 49:21Speaker 03

  That's it. And I walk into the studio with him and I'm used to pitching for Commodores.

• 49:27Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 49:28Speaker 03

  So he said, so where's the song you got for me? I said, Baby.

• 49:32Sean Hayes?

  No way.

• 49:33Speaker 03

  No, no, no, excuse me. He told me how much he loved his wife and at the time, she said, he's a fool. She's a lady, I mean, a real lady. Okay, now what's the name of your song? I said, Lady. Work your baby. Come on, you gotta work your work.

• 49:48Sean Hayes?

  I love that. You know, when I was 24 years old, I toured with Kenny Rogers. I was a Christmas elf in his Christmas tour.

• 49:57Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, you played a little elf and you'd come out and you'd bring him a...

• 50:01Sean Hayes?

  That's right.

• 50:02Jason Bateman?

  The microphone in a little gift box.

• 50:04Will Arnett?

  Sean, just give us a little taste, Sean.

• 50:05Sean Hayes?

  Well, we'd open our, the Christmas section, uh, session with, um, we need a little Christmas. Right this very minute. Handles in the window. And then, um, I was always high. Like every show, I was high out of my mind. And, um, but Kenny was really nice. He was a really good guy. Yeah. That's all. I have many, many stories, but not from now on.

• 50:25Speaker 03

  He's that guy. You could have stories forever, I could talk forever.

• 50:29Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 50:29Will Arnett?

  Yeah, you, you guys, you guys were good friends for, for a long time, is that right?

• 50:32Speaker 03

  Forever.

• 50:33Sean Hayes?

  Oh, really? Oh, that's great. He's such a nice, nice guy.

• 50:36Speaker 03

  Probably not only my friend, but my, my, one of my biggest mentors, really.

• 50:42Jason Bateman?

  We'll be right back.

• 50:45Sean Hayes?

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• 51:29Sean Hayes?

  I got a flannel shirt from them and I love it. It's super soft and cozy and I can wear it outside to the store and then kind of maybe even sleep in it, I don't care. Duluth Trading Company for folks who work their butts off. Shop online or in-store.

• 51:46Sean Hayes?

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• 52:22Sean Hayes?

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• 53:07Sean Hayes?

  and that's when I grab the Butter Skinny Pop. It's so delicious. Deliciously popped, perfectly seasoned Skinny Pop. Popular for a reason.

• 53:20Sean Hayes?

  And back to the show.

• 53:23Will Arnett?

  You wrote a lot of songs like All Night Long and Dancing on the Sea. A lot of sort of party. Were you part of a party vibe?

• 53:29Speaker 03

  I was the party animal. What are you talking about?

• 53:31Will Arnett?

  Were you?

• 53:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know what's so funny? I mean, everyone keeps thinking, ah, you know, Lionel, it's really nice because you're such a sweet guy. Listen, man, I hung out with P-Funk, okay? It's Parliament Funkadelics. I mean, you know, when you're in Rick James, I mean, come on, guys, that's the class. I mean.

• 53:49Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, for sure. Where were these years? So you'd left Alabama. Are we in Los Angeles now during a lot of this, the Commodore stuff?

• 53:57Speaker 03

  I would say from seventy, seventy to probably seventy-five was like, everybody's gonna die or everybody's gonna live through it. You know what I'm saying?

• 54:08Jason Bateman?

  This was in LA or we in New York?

• 54:10Speaker 03

  It's across the country. LA, New York, you know. We were all touring. But the only guys that didn't make it till late was the Commodores. P-Funk was already in motion three years before we made it. And so, you know, Bootsy Collins. I mean, think about this. This is an era where, you know, to get the phone call and say, I'm sorry, this so-and-so died, that was everyday occurrence. You know, but at the same time, you know, you ask the question, how did I get through it? You know, it's just the fear of dying, you know? Because that's what's at the other end of everything you want to try there. But it was such an amazing period because you got a chance to see.

• 54:51Speaker 03

  Either what you wanna do, or what you shouldn't do, or you know, cause what's the end result? You're gonna die, so it's not too much to think about.

• 55:00Sean Hayes?

  I wanted to ask you, you know, I'm a, I watch a lot of documentaries and one of the best ones I've ever seen in my whole life was the making of We Are The World. And I know that people probably come up to you now because it just came out like a year ago or two years ago.

• 55:13Speaker 03

  God, time is flying. Yeah, it was one year ago.

• 55:16Will Arnett?

  Tracy should know that Lionel, you wrote that with Michael Jackson.

• 55:19Sean Hayes?

  Jackson, right, right. And, and as I'm watching, I'm sure, I'm so sorry to like bug you about it, but I just.

• 55:25Speaker 03

  Please bug me.

• 55:26Will Arnett?

  Not sorry enough.

• 55:28Sean Hayes?

  It's just incredible that you put you, with Quincy, put that group of people together at a time when there were no cell phones, no computers, no, it was literally just phone calls, and I hope they call back, and then I hope they show up.

• 55:44Speaker 03

  I hope they show up.

• 55:45Sean Hayes?

  And they did. And it's one of the most famous songs in the history of the world. You know, what was that like, taking that on? I mean, this is a massive mountain to climb.

• 55:57Speaker 03

  There's, there's such a wonderful feeling of naive. There's such a wonderful feeling of you don't know it's gonna be a disaster, you know, cause there's a certain time in your life when you go, this is gonna be the greatest thing in the world, you know, and you just hang on to it, you know. And by the way, when we finish this song, we're gonna save the world, we're gonna, we're gonna wipe out hunger. I mean, think about this, we're all there to wipe out hunger, and this is gonna happen. And then we start getting into the process of doing it, after we finally get all these fabulous artists together. I mean, that one night was a mountain and a half to climb.

• 56:37Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 56:38Speaker 03

  And I didn't get one night.

• 56:40Sean Hayes?

  What time did you finish, like five, six, seven in the morning?

• 56:43Speaker 03

  It was seven o'clock, eight o'clock in the morning. We didn't start until two, because I was hosting the American Music Awards.

• 56:50Sean Hayes?

  The American Music Awards, yeah.

• 56:51Speaker 03

  So I, from seven that morning, to go into rehearsal the following morning, I, I had rehearsal all the way up until five o'clock for when we went on the air. We go on the air. I do the American Music Awards. When it's over, excuse me, by the way. In the middle of all this, won six of these crazy awards. And then at one o'clock in the morning, drive over to A and M Studios. And we've got showtime. I mean, from that point on, I'm walking in the door and are they there or not?

• 57:24Jason Bateman?

  And you have to explain the song, probably Cold, to all of them, right? And this is gonna be your part, and this is gonna be your part.

• 57:30Speaker 03

  All they had was if they got a cassette. Think about that. If you got the cassette, you're doing good.

• 57:38Jason Bateman?

  Right.

• 57:38Speaker 03

  Most of them showed up just saying, okay, Quincy, Michael, Lionel, okay, I'll be there. Most of them didn't hear the song until they got there.

• 57:45Jason Bateman?

  Got there, right.

• 57:46Speaker 03

  So that just shows your blind faith.

• 57:48Will Arnett?

  And you just stayed up all night? This is the mid 80s, I wonder how you guys stayed up all night? It's crazy to think.

• 57:55Speaker 03

  And the great words, and the great words of my dear friend, okay, now where are the drugs? Okay, we were talking about Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. He said, yes, that sounds good. Where were the drugs?

• 58:05Jason Bateman?

  So then you were up for 24 hours, maybe 25, 26?

• 58:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. And that was called the, but we didn't fall apart until about 10, 11 o'clock the next day. Cause now it's over, it's out, the baby's born, you know, we have it. You know, now of course, we gotta put it together later, but the fact is, hardest part was getting it on tape. That was the hardest part.

• 58:30Jason Bateman?

  And then, how was the, it's, it's, it's reach and its effect, the desired effect was accomplished, yes? The money that it earned and the hunger that it alleviated?

• 58:43Speaker 03

  It was beyond, beyond. I remember, I remember calling Quincy on the phone and I said, okay. They were saying, you know, we raised 10 million. Wow, okay, 10 million. We did 20 million, 20 million, wow, wow. We did 30 million, 30 million, 30 million in 1980. Wow, that's like forever, you know? So I remember calling Quincy after we got to a crazy number and I said, Quincy, we say we're gonna give half the money away or all the money. And Quincy said, don't try it, don't try it, Skeet, don't try it. They'll run us out of town.

• 59:17Will Arnett?

  Hey Sean, Sean, out of curiosity, these days, what are you using to mop up hunger? Like, is it just a?

• 59:22Sean Hayes?

  I just use my shirt or whatever kind of what I'm wearing at the moment.

• 59:25Will Arnett?

  Like a sloppy joe or?

• 59:28Speaker 03

  You know, it was an impossible time. You have to understand, everything was, and I would say the next thing that made it work, no one saw it coming.

• 59:38Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 59:39Speaker 03

  Back then, we didn't have cell phones.

• 59:41Will Arnett?

  Right.

• 59:41Speaker 03

  We didn't have live streaming. So, no one saw this coming, so we can sneak up on the world, and so they didn't.

• 59:48Will Arnett?

  I remember being a kid, I remember watching those, watching you guys and watching Band-Aid and all that stuff and thinking like, seeing all these superstars together.

• 59:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:57Will Arnett?

  Because we didn't have social media, because we didn't have any of it, you were like, oh my god, there's Lionel Richie and there's Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper, and like, and you just go down, all these people, and they're all in the same room? It was a mind blow.

• 1:00:11Speaker 03

  Get this, all in the same room with no managers, no lawyers, no glam squad, no nothing, it was like, and I referred to it as your first day of elementary school.

• 1:00:23Will Arnett?

  Right.

• 1:00:23Speaker 03

  And your mother dropped you off, you know, and you gotta go in and kinda deal with the rest of the kids on your own. I mean, Dylan was about to have a heart attack, I mean, but Bob showed up, let's make that very clear.

• 1:00:34Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:35Speaker 03

  You know, Springsteen, we're all there, Stevie's, we're all there, Ray Charles, we're all there. And we had to kinda walk in and get used to each other.

• 1:00:43Will Arnett?

  Did you, did you see a few of them at the, at the AMAs earlier and then say, hey, I'm expecting you in a few hours and take it easy at the party?

• 1:00:51Speaker 03

  We, I saw a few.

• 1:00:53Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:54Speaker 03

  And the ones that were coming off tour made it difficult. In other words, Stevie, okay, I got it, Michael, okay, but is Dylan gonna show up?

• 1:01:03Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:04Speaker 03

  I mean, he's not known for, like, is he, he might, he might not, you know? Springsteen's coming from his last concert in Madison Square Garden.

• 1:01:13Will Arnett?

  Wow.

• 1:01:14Speaker 03

  But what am I saying, Stevie was in Philadelphia.

• 1:01:17Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:17Speaker 03

  There's a snowstorm in Philadelphia, he might not get out.

• 1:01:21Sean Hayes?

  Wow.

• 1:01:21Speaker 03

  Follow me?

• 1:01:22Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:23Speaker 03

  And by the way, we have no cellphone to know exactly where he is.

• 1:01:26Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 1:01:27Jason Bateman?

  But you've got contingencies as far as like, well, then Cindy Lauper will sing this verse. Or.

• 1:01:34Speaker 03

  I mean, it could have been the train wreck of life.

• 1:01:36Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:36Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:37Jason Bateman?

  It was wild to see Waylon Jennings walk out.

• 1:01:39Speaker 03

  By the way, it wasn't wild at all. Waylon was true to his. Waylon was, he was walking on ice just a little bit because he was there because of Willie. Right? Willie said, this gonna be great. And everything was fine. You know, good old boy, he's ready to go. And then we started, we're gonna put some Swahili in there with. Stevie walks in and the point we said was, don't veer off course.

• 1:02:03Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:04Speaker 03

  Well, Stevie didn't get that memo. And so what happened was Stevie comes in and says, we need a little, some African phrasing. Tutu, why no, no Willie Moingu.

• 1:02:13Sean Hayes?

  Right, I remember that.

• 1:02:15Speaker 03

  Tutu, why no, no Willie Moingu. And we said that about three times and Willie said, ain't no good old boy ever sang no Swahili. I'm out, I'm out of here.

• 1:02:23Jason Bateman?

  And he left.

• 1:02:24Will Arnett?

  No way.

• 1:02:25Speaker 03

  Gone.

• 1:02:26Will Arnett?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:27Speaker 03

  And the joke was, joke was, it wasn't Swahili, but it didn't matter. It didn't sound like good old boy, so I'm out.

• 1:02:33Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:33Speaker 03

  You know, but we all, when Willie, when Willie said, well, there goes Waylon, I said, okay.

• 1:02:39Will Arnett?

  Wait, wait, wait. I wanna know what the, I wanna know what the, speaking of like, like this sort of like, just like nonsense or words. There's only, I think it's an all night long where they go, there's that part that goes. On the red, the.

• 1:02:50Speaker 03

  Oh, Tambolite said the mo ya.

• 1:02:53Sean Hayes?

  Mo cha.

• 1:02:53Will Arnett?

  What is that?

• 1:02:54Sean Hayes?

  Jumbo, jumbo.

• 1:02:55Speaker 03

  It's a wonderful phrase that has gone around the world that means absolutely nothing.

• 1:03:00Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:02Speaker 03

  So.

• 1:03:02Sean Hayes?

  Say it again, say it again.

• 1:03:03Will Arnett?

  No way, no way, say it, say it.

• 1:03:04Speaker 03

  Tambolite said the mo ya. Yeah, jumbo, jumbo. Wait to party, oh, we going.

• 1:03:10Sean Hayes?

  Oh, jambala.

• 1:03:11Speaker 03

  Tambolite said the mo ya. Right? Now, here's the joke. The joke was, I am now trying to find some African stuff, right? And so I go in and I go, let me call the, the UN. I figured out, call out, and I said, I need, how stupid I was. I need some phrasing, some African dialect that says infectious party. And the guy said, Lionel, there's 101 African dialects.

• 1:03:43Speaker 03

  I said, okay, so let me get this straight. So one part of Africa, he says, one tribe doesn't know what another tribe is saying.

• 1:03:50Jason Bateman?

  Okay.

• 1:03:51Speaker 03

  Thank you very much. I hang up the phone, call my friend from Jamaica. I said, when Bob Marley says, "Yeah, boo, yanji, ya mu, ya ye, we ya wo." What is he saying? He says, "Absolutely nothing."

• 1:04:02Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. It's like scatting.

• 1:04:04Speaker 03

  You follow me? Okay, so, "Wabo, ye ye, wo ye, wo." Okay, nobody knows what the hell that is. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Hung up the phone. Tambolite says, "Boy, ya."

• 1:04:16Jason Bateman?

  You had license.

• 1:04:17Sean Hayes?

  That's amazing.

• 1:04:18Will Arnett?

  That is so awesome.

• 1:04:19Speaker 03

  So people stopped me. I couldn't tell you, for the first year, people would say to me, "Man, this is so great, man. You tie in, you tie in the mumble with mambo jumbo, jumbo." And they're trying to tell me what it means, and I don't want to tell them. It means nothing.

• 1:04:33Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:33Speaker 03

  But I went along with it, and then finally I just had to let the cat out of the bag.

• 1:04:37Sean Hayes?

  That's great. I love that.

• 1:04:39Jason Bateman?

  How, how often are you, are you getting out there enjoying all the love that you deserve from the crowds?

• 1:04:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:04:46Jason Bateman?

  Are you still enjoying getting out there and, and, and performing live? You do a bunch of dates still?

• 1:04:50Speaker 03

  People, people ask me, you know, "How long does your tour last?" I said, "It's been going on since seventy-one."

• 1:04:57Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:57Speaker 03

  So, so how it works is very simple. We just came off of a European tour.

• 1:05:03Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:03Speaker 03

  Thirty-six, thirty-four dates.

• 1:05:05Jason Bateman?

  Wow.

• 1:05:06Speaker 03

  From London to Germany to, you name it. U, oh-two, oh-two, oh, the, the bigger arenas and a couple of stadiums. And the fact is, it's still happening. I mean, the, the point is, it's still happening.

• 1:05:20Jason Bateman?

  Of course.

• 1:05:21Speaker 03

  So, when you walk out on stage, there's a hundred thousand people. You walk on stage, there's forty thousand people. And the beautiful part about where it is now is that, when I forget the lyrics, I just go, "Come on." And here we go.

• 1:05:34Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:35Speaker 03

  And it gets to the point now where it's even getting to the point of the Rocky Horror Show, they know all the parts.

• 1:05:41Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:41Speaker 03

  And the next thing they do, they walk out with the mustache, the hair, the Afro, the whole thing. And those are the girls. Those are the ladies. So it's really like coming to, I did Glastonbury, which is the whole center of the book. The book starts at Glastonbury and works back. And there's 200, let me give you that name, 200,000 people dressed up like Lionel Richie.

• 1:06:10Jason Bateman?

  Oh my god.

• 1:06:11Speaker 03

  And it starts there and goes back to the beginning of, that's where the book is, what it's all about.

• 1:06:17Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:17Speaker 03

  And so how did I get there? And when you see the security guards break out dancing, that becomes, okay, this is happening. And so, you know, it's really the journey. The book is all about the journey.

• 1:06:33Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, the longevity and the level of quality that you've maintained for so long is just so astonishing, it's really admirable.

• 1:06:43Will Arnett?

  Yeah, it is. You're just a, you're such a, like I said, you're such a heavyweight. You're just an incredible talent and we just admire the heck out of you. And your book Truly is on sale September 30th. And I urge everybody to go out and read it. And I read a bunch of parts.

• 1:07:02Jason Bateman?

  I can't wait to read it.

• 1:07:03Will Arnett?

  It's so interesting. Your story is so fantastic, man. And you bring such positivity, you've got such a positive vibe.

• 1:07:08Jason Bateman?

  It's infectious. I love it, yeah. And I'm an MTV baby, so I grew up on you.

• 1:07:13Speaker 03

  And you know.

• 1:07:14Jason Bateman?

  This is a little surreal to me, it's really, really cool.

• 1:07:16Speaker 03

  Well, first of all, I want to thank Will for inviting me. This has been more fun and Aha! discovery yet again. You know, but it's wonderful to be able to kind of stay here at the other end. First of all, to be alive, clothed in my right mind is probably a phenomenon.

• 1:07:34Jason Bateman?

  Cloth.

• 1:07:35Speaker 03

  In our, in our business, you know. Normally what you have at the end of this is, well, when I came out of this clinic or when I came out of this rehab or when I...

• 1:07:45Jason Bateman?

  Sure.

• 1:07:46Speaker 03

  The trick is just kind of surviving this business because it's treacherous, as you well know, you know. And so, you know, being a positive light, I've found that there's probably one, well, three simple words. I love you. Is what the whole world wants to hear.

• 1:08:02Sean Hayes?

  That's right.

• 1:08:03Speaker 03

  I didn't plan it. That's not me planning. It's just, you know, I happened to get that mission to use, use those words and it's been, it's serving we, and, and the world well.

• 1:08:13Sean Hayes?

  Well, congratulations on keeping your, your, your light bright all of these years and untarnished and shining it on all of us. We really appreciate it. Thank you for the, the hour you, uh, you hit us.

• 1:08:26Speaker 03

  Thanks for being here.

• 1:08:27Will Arnett?

  The great Lionel Richie. Thank you, sir. What a pleasure, pleasure, pleasure. And I hope our, our paths cross.

• 1:08:33Speaker 03

  I promise it's somewhere. If you see me out, just come over and tap me on the shoulder and say, hey, it's me, Will. Sean. Come on. Hey, Rich, you know.

• 1:08:41Will Arnett?

  We're gonna take you up on that. Uh, thank you Lionel Richie. Thank you so much. Continued success.

• 1:08:46Speaker 03

  Great fun.

• 1:08:46Will Arnett?

  His book truly comes out September 30th. Lionel Richie, uh, thanks for joining us, man.

• 1:08:50Speaker 03

  Love you, guys.

• 1:08:51Sean Hayes?

  Thank you Lionel.

• 1:08:51Jason Bateman?

  Love you too.

• 1:08:52Speaker 03

  Thanks so much.

• 1:08:53Sean Hayes?

  Bye, pal.

• 1:08:53Speaker 03

  Love you.

• 1:08:54Will Arnett?

  Bye.

• 1:08:57Sean Hayes?

  I feel bathed.

• 1:08:58Will Arnett?

  Me too.

• 1:08:59Sean Hayes?

  Right?

• 1:09:00Will Arnett?

  Me too. Isn't it awesome when you meet somebody like that who just brings like positivity and you get like

• 1:09:05Sean Hayes?

  Love it.

• 1:09:05Will Arnett?

  contrast, like just, I don't know.

• 1:09:07Sean Hayes?

  You know, a lot of musicians that we've had on the show, I don't know what it is, if they, if they, if they've done, if they found the thing at such a young age that they love to do, that it fills, it might sound really cheesy, but it seems like they've, they're so connected to their spirit and they're so joyful. Like remember when Alicia Keys was on or?

• 1:09:25Jason Bateman?

  I was just gonna say, she, she has been my favorite guest because of her light and her energy and, and he is a, a, a, a, a co, those are my two favorite interviews.

• 1:09:38Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:39Jason Bateman?

  Lionel Richie and Alicia Keys.

• 1:09:40Will Arnett?

  Yeah, those are, those are very good. I, I, I, I think that you're right, Sean. I don't think it's cheesy at all. I think there is something about, uh, musicians in that way.

• 1:09:47Sean Hayes?

  Like you're connected to something. I don't know. And they're, and then they emit that light.

• 1:09:51Will Arnett?

  By the way, you know, I ran into out here, you're gonna love this, Sean, I forgot to tell you. Uh, I ran into, uh, I was at this thing and all of a sudden I fell to tap on their shoulder and he goes, hey, Will, it's Dave from Depeche Mode. And it was so funny the way he said, the way he said, Dave from Depeche Mode.

• 1:10:04Sean Hayes?

  Wait, he was there?

• 1:10:05Jason Bateman?

  He was a sweet guy.

• 1:10:06Will Arnett?

  Yeah, yeah. He was, like, this is like a, a couple of weeks ago and I go, hey, man. And we just, we chit chat.

• 1:10:11Sean Hayes?

  No way. Died. By the way, you know who's coming on the show on Wednesday?

• 1:10:14Jason Bateman?

  Who?

• 1:10:15Sean Hayes?

  Goodnight Oscar. Mark Hamill.

• 1:10:17Jason Bateman?

  No way.

• 1:10:18Sean Hayes?

  Wow.

• 1:10:19Jason Bateman?

  Oh, God. Scotty working, working on his outfit right now.

• 1:10:22Will Arnett?

  Are you, are you putting, are you gonna wear a Depends?

• 1:10:28Jason Bateman?

  Or two.

• 1:10:30Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:30Jason Bateman?

  Oh.

• 1:10:31Will Arnett?

  Oh, man. Anyway. Honestly, I can't get over that Lionel Richie, though.

• 1:10:35Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, amazing. And that we know, I know, like I said, I grew, I was such an MTV guy. Like, I would see him, I would see him in all the music videos. And the Hello video, I was, I was gonna say, and it became more beautiful because the video with the blind girl, I don't know if you guys remember that.

• 1:10:48Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:48Sean Hayes?

  But it was about this blind woman, and it was beautiful. Anyway, I loved that.

• 1:10:53Jason Bateman?

  The number of hits that guy has had, he's just kept running.

• 1:10:57Sean Hayes?

  He's gotta be up there near the top, as far as like, number one.

• 1:11:01Will Arnett?

  It's like 150 million records sold worldwide.

• 1:11:04Sean Hayes?

  And he's that, and he's that guy. And he's like, hey, what's going on?

• 1:11:07Will Arnett?

  Yeah. Yeah, hey, what's going on? He's had like, he's had like, like, like 10 or 12 number one hits, like, it's just, it's insane.

• 1:11:15Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, and he's still touring, and it seems like he's 35 years old.

• 1:11:20Will Arnett?

  No kidding, he looks amazing.

• 1:11:22Sean Hayes?

  I know.

• 1:11:22Will Arnett?

  I mean, he's just, ah, I know. What an inspiration, man.

• 1:11:25Sean Hayes?

  I wanna come back as Lionel Richie.

• 1:11:27Will Arnett?

  I know, me too.

• 1:11:29Sean Hayes?

  Do you think he'll write a sequel to the song Hello?

• 1:11:32Jason Bateman?

  Oh, what would you think it'd be called?

• 1:11:34Will Arnett?

  What kind of a name would you think he could give to it?

• 1:11:37Sean Hayes?

  I mean, if you were gonna do a second part to Hello.

• 1:11:40Will Arnett?

  Well, that's weird. How would you, where would you even start?

• 1:11:43Sean Hayes?

  I would probably start, my first line would say, "Good bunny! Is it me you're not looking for?"

• 1:11:51Jason Bateman?

  We would get your nuts out of the vice first.

• 1:11:55Sean Hayes?

  Goodbye!

• 1:11:57Will Arnett?

  Bye!

• 1:11:59Sean Hayes?

  Bye!

• 1:12:13Will Arnett?

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• 1:12:31Sean Hayes?

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• 1:13:20Sean Hayes?

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• 1:14:03Sean Hayes?

  Basically, Harvey is helping legal teams spend less time on repetitive work and more time on the big-picture stuff. This is how the future of agreements is being crafted now. Harvey. Learn more at harvey.ai. That's harvey.ai. Harvey does not provide legal advice. Users should always independently review and verify any output provided by Harvey.