Jason Aldean

Jason Aldean (Full Throttle, My Kinda Party, Night Train) is a Grammy Award-winning country music artist. Jason joins the Armchair Expert to discuss the chameleonic effects of not spending more than two years at any school growing up, teaching himself guitar via cassette player, and how big the gap feels between his real-life and performance personas. Jason and Dax talk about the eye-opening experience of playing bars while in high school, how he puts his fingerprint on a song he hears promise in, and his adjustment from desert dwelling to sudden chart-topping success. Jason explains learning how to tour in a tenable way with his family, dealing with PTSD and survivor’s guilt on behalf of his fans, and the reality in the country songwriting trope of ‘three chords and the truth.' Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ http://www.wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

• 0:00Dax Shepard?

  Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Shepard. I'm joined by Monica Lilly Padman.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 0:05Dax Shepard?

  And in the shadows, Wabi Wab. Um, today is our second guest. We had a Nashville, but he was actually our first guest in Nashville. So delighted. He said yes and came and was a guinea pig of sorts.

• 0:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, he was.

• 0:18Dax Shepard?

  Jason Aldean. Jason Aldean is a Grammy nominated and multi-platinum entertainer. Albums include Highway Desperado, My Kind of Party, Night Train, Wide Open, Relentless. And he's on tour now, the Full Throttle Tour. And if anyone wants to go see him play, everyone agrees he's so radical in concert. Go to www.jasonaldean.com and go check out the Full Throttle Tour. Please enjoy Jason Aldean. We get support from Quince.

• 0:48Speaker 01

  Okay. Can we talk about the fact that the holidays are already here? It's crazy. I feel like I blinked and now we're in gifting season, which I'm not really mad about because I do love giving gifts. And Quince is making it so easy to find something great for everyone on my list, including myself. Because let's be honest, self-gifting is a love language.

• 1:07Dax Shepard?

  Quince is seriously the gift that keeps on giving. Their high-quality staples are made with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere, 14-karat gold and Italian leather, full-on luxury quality at prices that won't wreck your holiday budget.

• 1:23Speaker 01

  It's the dream. The cashmere sweater, starting at $60, down jackets, wool outerwear, cashmere accessories. You and everyone on your list are staying cozy and looking incredible all season long.

• 1:34Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'm gonna tell you this. It just got chilly for the first time this year in California and I'm so excited. And I'm wearing my Quince cashmere right now.

• 1:41Speaker 01

  It's great.

• 1:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And I am going to gift this to some of my friends. I hope they're not listening.

• 1:46Speaker 01

  Quince is also more than clothing. They've got fine jewelry for your significant other, leather bags for your bestie, hotel-quality bedding to set up your guest rooms, chef-grade cookware. That's an amazing thing they offer here. And it's such a good gift because people don't like buying cookware for themselves, but it's very important. And they also have five-star luggage, another good gift that people don't like buying for themselves.

• 2:09Dax Shepard?

  Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Armchair Expert. It's the best way to support the show. This episode is supported by Helix.

• 2:33Speaker 01

  Okay, can we talk about how November is basically survival mode between the holidays, the travel, the hosting, the cooking, the everything. Sleep is the one thing keeping me from completely unraveling.

• 2:44Dax Shepard?

  It really is the foundation, and I think people underestimate how much a bad mattress is quietly ruining their day. You wake up stiff, your back's angry, you're already behind before your feet hit the floor.

• 2:55Speaker 01

  That was me before Helix. I took their sleep quiz, which is so fast. It took me like two minutes, and they matched me to a mattress that actually fits how I sleep. Not a guess, not a firm or soft coin flip. It's a real match. I have a midnight mattress, and I really like it. I was noticing it because I actually had to sleep in one of my other beds recently that doesn't have a Helix mattress on it, and I really could tell a big difference in my sleep.

• 3:18Dax Shepard?

  Temperature was all over the map.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  It was a mess. I need a new one.

• 3:21Dax Shepard?

  Look, they've got over 20 mattress models, so whether you sleep hot, need extra back support, or you've got a partner who moves around all night, there's one built for you. Plus, free shipping and a 365 night happy with Helix guarantee. That's a full year to decide.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  Helix has been named the most awarded mattress by Forbes, Wired, and more. So it's not just us being enthusiastic. The experts agree.

• 3:42Dax Shepard?

  Right now, Helix is running their Black Friday sale with up to 30% off. Go to helixsleep.com/armchair for up to 30% off your Helix mattress. That's helixsleep.com/armchair for up to 30% off your Helix mattress. helixsleep.com/armchair.

• 4:18Dax Shepard?

  You're from Macon?

• 4:19Speaker 02

  Macon, Georgia, yeah.

• 4:20Dax Shepard?

  Imani's from Duluth.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:21Dax Shepard?

  We were talking about it.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  We did the whole thing.

• 4:24Dax Shepard?

  And you know, he's a huge Bulldogs fan.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, we were saying, his sister went there.

• 4:28Speaker 02

  Kind of a religion down in Georgia, college football.

• 4:31Speaker 01

  It really is.

• 4:32Dax Shepard?

  My fast pass to piss Monica off, if ever I want to wake her up, I just say, "Roll Tide." Now, I have no allegiance to that.

• 4:38Speaker 02

  My wife graduated from Alabama, so.

• 4:40Speaker 01

  Oh, boy.

• 4:41Speaker 02

  It's really, really unfortunate.

• 4:43Speaker 01

  A house divided.

• 4:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:45Dax Shepard?

  And does she watch all the games? Like, how into it is she?

• 4:47Speaker 02

  No, I feel like she kind of duped me a little bit. Because when we first met, she's like, oh, I love college football. Love watching the games. Like, oh, it's perfect. I've found the perfect girl.

• 4:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 4:57Speaker 02

  And then a couple of seasons in, she's like, just tell me if they won or lost. Like, she doesn't really watch the game, you know?

• 5:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 5:03Speaker 01

  It's more about going to the games.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  It's more about dressing up in your gear for her, at least.

• 5:08Speaker 01

  A lot of people don't understand that. In the South, you dress up for games. You wear dresses. You wear heels.

• 5:14Dax Shepard?

  Oh, like formal?

• 5:15Speaker 01

  Not like a long dress. Normally, it's like a cute boutique dress.

• 5:19Speaker 02

  Very preppy at the SEC schools.

• 5:21Dax Shepard?

  Interesting.

• 5:22Speaker 01

  It's a whole thing. It's so fun.

• 5:24Dax Shepard?

  Now, let me ask you this, Money. When you were doing your tailgate parties before these games?

• 5:28Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 5:28Dax Shepard?

  When it was time to go into the game, you were like, fuck, we gotta go into the game.

• 5:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, of course.

• 5:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. That fun is the thing.

• 5:35Speaker 02

  Especially back then, they didn't sell any alcohol inside.

• 5:37Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 5:38Speaker 02

  You have to go inside. You're done drinking. You're like, well, tailgate party's over. Cowboy boots are always a good thing for that. Cowboy boots, then you shove it down in the boot.

• 5:45Dax Shepard?

  Shove it right down. And even if they pat you down, probably they're not picking up a pint.

• 5:48Speaker 02

  They're not patting you down on your ankles, really.

• 5:51Speaker 01

  Okay, I wonder how you'll feel about this. So we went to a Texas game last year with Matthew McConaughey. We were his guests. It was very nice that he invited us.

• 6:00Dax Shepard?

  You must have met him, right?

• 6:01Speaker 02

  I've met him over the years, briefly, kind of backstage at like award shows, those kind of things. But I haven't really spent a ton of time with him, but he's like Mr. Texas, now Mr. College Football.

• 6:11Dax Shepard?

  He's like, if you're in Austin with Matthew McConaughey, it's like being at Disneyland with Mickey Mouse.

• 6:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:16Dax Shepard?

  He is the Mickey Mouse of Austin.

• 6:17Speaker 02

  His jacket and that hat are gonna go in the College Football Hall of Fame at some point, I'm pretty sure. It's like a staple now.

• 6:23Speaker 01

  Yeah. So we went as his guests, but they were playing Georgia.

• 6:27Speaker 02

  I don't think that ended too well for Texas, right?

• 6:29Speaker 01

  It sure did not.

• 6:31Dax Shepard?

  Remember, we are guests of his in his box.

• 6:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:34Speaker 01

  And I was like, what do I do? I have to root for Georgia. I'm not gonna go... Yeah, right? So I wore a Bulldog shirt and a red sweater. I didn't go all out.

• 6:43Speaker 02

  Just enough to be annoying to him.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  Thank God he wasn't there. He was on the field. So we didn't have

• 6:49Dax Shepard?

  He was coaching the game.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  Exactly. We didn't have to make contact. But this was a little bit of a point of contention because, you know, I'm there. Dax is really trying to fit in.

• 6:58Dax Shepard?

  Austin is my spiritual headquarters.

• 7:00Speaker 02

  It's a cool town, man. It's really cool town.

• 7:03Speaker 01

  But still, my allegiance.

• 7:04Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, I mean, you can't flip flop.

• 7:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, but A, we were his guests. B, I love Austin and I wish I had gone. So yeah, I was rooting for the Longhorns and it almost ended our friendship.

• 7:15Speaker 01

  This was a big friendship issue.

• 7:16Speaker 02

  College football has a way of doing that sometimes. It's almost ended my marriage a couple times.

• 7:22Dax Shepard?

  Kind of ironic that you married a gal that went to Alabama and your favorite band's Alabama.

• 7:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, I grew up a huge Alabama fan. It was kind of like my first memories of music from my dad and having a record collection and sitting down and playing those, like the big vinyls, just learned where the little marks were where you put the needle and I had a big set of headphones with a quarter inch cable and I would sit there and play those records over and over and over. And Alabama was just the band for me that I always kind of gravitated towards. It was like country, but still cool. It had some rock and roll, southern rock. They were a club band that started in the bars and made it into Nashville, got a deal, became one of the biggest bands around in the early eighties. And so they were just always kind of my Beatles.

• 8:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. What did dad do in Macon?

• 8:02Speaker 02

  Well, my dad was in the air force. My parents met when they were in high school. Dad joined the air force right after that and my mom got married. He got stationed in Germany and then they came back. They were living in Valdosta, which is a little south of Macon. He was stationed at Moody Air Force Base. I was born. Then we moved to Homestead Air Force Base, which is between Miami and the Keys. He was a weapons mechanic on fighter planes. And as a kid, I was running around the air force base climbing in planes, which was cool. But then they got divorced when I was three. My mom kind of moved back to Macon where her family was from. And my dad stayed in Florida pretty much till I was 18 or 19 and then moved back to Georgia and now lives about 10 minutes from me here.

• 8:41Dax Shepard?

  So my mom and dad also got divorced at three. I'm two years older than you. So I think we got all the same references.

• 8:47Speaker 02

  50? Have you hit 50 yet?

• 8:48Dax Shepard?

  I hit 50 in January.

• 8:49Speaker 02

  Happy 50, man. That's a big deal.

• 8:51Dax Shepard?

  It is.

• 8:52Speaker 02

  Something I never thought I'd see. You probably too, right?

• 8:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, it didn't look good for many.

• 8:57Speaker 01

  You had that thought?

• 8:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, you know, when you're young and especially in this business, twenty eight, all of a sudden it's got some hits and go on the road and you're living the dream.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:05Dax Shepard?

  You've been preparing for this.

• 9:07Speaker 02

  And I don't really know that you can prepare for. I think in your mind, you think you know what it's like. And then once it starts, you're like, it's not really like that at all. It becomes every day. I mean, you're on the road playing two hundred shows a year. And so you're on the road two hundred fifty days a year and things get a little off the rails sometimes.

• 9:22Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, Monday never comes when you're touring.

• 9:24Speaker 02

  No, you know, everybody comes to the shows to have fun and hang out and then you get home and all your friends at home haven't seen you and they're like, let's go watch Monday night football. So you're at it again. Took me a while to adjust.

• 9:34Dax Shepard?

  Dad was in the air force, but he also played guitar himself. Yeah.

• 9:37Speaker 02

  He kind of knew the basics and I would just be at his house, you know, my sister's seven years younger than me. So we didn't really have a lot in common at that time. I started kind of wanting to play guitar and he basically drew it out on notebook paper. It was like, here's the frets. Here's where your fingers go. That's a G chord. He would go to work and I'd just grab his old Fender guitar and sit in there and mess around. And he had a little band that would come sit at our, it was kind of like a living room garage band, three of them, four of them, maybe. And they would come play old Merle Haggard stuff. And after a while, I started playing with them and singing all the songs and that was kind of how it started. You start, kind of like music theory, I guess, you start figuring out, oh, these chords go with those chords and those don't go with those. And then you start figuring out how to put songs together and you find a song like Turn the Page. I mean, it's an E minor. So you're like, well, I know that D goes with E minor and what chords

• 10:22Speaker 02

  to go with that. You go, oh, well, once you know where it starts, you can figure it out from there. And that's kind of how I learned to play guitar. Even now, if we're learning a new song or something and I'm like, what key is that in? B flat. I'm like, what the hell is a B flat? And then my guitar player will be, it's this one. I'm like, okay, I know that chord. I play it all the time. I just don't know what it is.

• 10:39Dax Shepard?

  Right, right.

• 10:40Speaker 02

  So that's how I learned to play even piano. If there's a song I need to learn, I don't know what it's in. I just put the keyboard in middle C and I just figure it out. And I couldn't go in a piano bar and sit there and play. But if you give me a day or two, I'll figure it out. It was like that with guitar too.

• 10:54Dax Shepard?

  I do want to see you in a dueling piano bar now, though.

• 10:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:58Speaker 02

  It'll turn into an acapella bar, trust me.

• 11:00Speaker 01

  Were you always self motivated like that across the board? Or was it kind of just solely music?

• 11:05Speaker 02

  Sports was kind of always my thing before, baseball especially. From the time I can remember, baseball being a huge thing. Played every year, a lot of times on two or three different teams. I played school ball, rec ball, and then, you know, you'd have like all star teams that would kind of become a travel team or like American Legion team once I got to high school.

• 11:24Dax Shepard?

  What position?

• 11:25Speaker 02

  Well, I played first base in high school, but I was not going to play first base in college because I hit leadoff and switch hitter with zero power. So I was going to have to make the switch. When I was going to go to college and play, they wanted me to play either short, second or center field. I'd already done that in summer leagues. I knew that I wasn't going to go to college as a first baseman and be a big power hitter. So I'd already started making the move to short and second. But yeah, I just always thought that's what I was going to do in some capacity. And then music was kind of a hobby. In high school, I started playing in bars at 14 or 15 years old.

• 11:56Dax Shepard?

  I definitely want to get into that because when we interviewed Shania Twain, she too was in bars from very, very young age in Northern Canada, which if you think it can get hickey in the South, if you go up to Northern Canada, they can rival.

• 12:09Speaker 02

  I was just in Saskatchewan, so.

• 12:10Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was going down in the eighties, those bars for sure.

• 12:14Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 12:14Dax Shepard?

  But I'm curious really quick, when mom and dad split, my version of it is I had lots of friends whose parents got divorced at eight or 10 or 12 and they pined for them to get back together. I was three, so I didn't really have that fantasy.

• 12:27Speaker 02

  Same.

• 12:27Dax Shepard?

  But, do you end up with any stepdads?

• 12:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, I had some. Some not so good, some were great. My mom probably a lot of times was trying to make things better for us.

• 12:38Dax Shepard?

  Especially a single mom when they have boys. My mom had two boys. She's like, I'm supposed to get a man in the mix, I think.

• 12:42Speaker 02

  Or just marry for the wrong reasons, not because they're like in love with somebody, but because you're struggling as a single parent, you think that's going to fix the issue and it just doesn't. You know, I've stepped out now, who's great, David, they've been together for 15 years or something. And then my dad got remarried to my stepmom Vivid. They've been married for 40 years. But yeah, I was like you, man. I mean, they got divorced at three and them ever getting back together was never. I don't remember them being together at all anyway. I mean, I would be with my mom in Georgia and then every year I'd go to Florida, spend my summers at the beach with my dad. Ended up moving to Titusville, Florida, which is right there around Cape Canaveral where they launch shuttles and stuff. And so the beach was a 10 minute drive.

• 13:19Dax Shepard?

  Back to the stepdads because I know there's something there.

• 13:21Speaker 02

  One of mine was a Vietnam vet who had some issues with that.

• 13:25Dax Shepard?

  Addiction stuff?

• 13:26Speaker 02

  Not really, just more he was a dickhead, seventh grade or something and wants to like bow up to me. Like I was like this much taller than me.

• 13:32Dax Shepard?

  And a man who's been to war.

• 13:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. Oh, you're a badass.

• 13:37Dax Shepard?

  And then what would happen in school?

• 13:38Speaker 02

  I always knew anybody that did that or any man that's like bowing up to a kid like you're fucking idiot. And so getting to school, that stuff never carried over to me. I got to school. I got along with everybody. I changed schools a bunch. I never went to the same school for more than two years in a row until I was in eighth, ninth grade. And sports was kind of my end, baseball or whatever started. And even if I didn't know everybody or PE class, they'd figure out you could play sports and all of a sudden you kind of get in with the guys and it's cool. And that was how it always was for me. So I didn't get into a lot of stuff at school.

• 14:08Dax Shepard?

  You got along.

• 14:09Speaker 02

  I was kind of sneaky. I wanted to do stuff and not get in trouble, not get caught.

• 14:12Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 14:13Speaker 02

  I got really good at that.

• 14:15Dax Shepard?

  I moved a ton as well. I got to start over a bunch. I showed up at one junior high. I was like, I was full blown punk rock. Mohawk, let's go. I got to try on these identities pretty quickly because I was moving. And I do think it weirdly helped me go to California, get into comedy, starting so many times at these schools. Helped me buy into a persona that I would be selling right away. And I just wonder if you think musically, maybe that all helped.

• 14:41Speaker 02

  When you're constantly having to meet new people like that and bouncing around and you can never get comfortable. Like my kids have friends they went to kindergarten with. They've been friends since they were little kids. It's like, man, I didn't really have that. We were bouncing around so much that you just kind of learn to be a little bit of a chameleon and figure it out as you go. I think I went to school one time dressed like Zack Morris, you know? Coming back from Florida, blonde in my hair, looked like a total idiot, you know? Couldn't be further from me.

• 15:09Speaker 01

  Couldn't be further from you now, but if you had grown up like that, maybe that would have been you.

• 15:14Speaker 02

  Well, I just think when you're younger, like you're just trying to figure it out. You're trying to figure out like who you are.

• 15:19Dax Shepard?

  Well, it's gonna get the most amount of girls.

• 15:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, like when the chicks think you're gonna be cool and bouncing around so much helped me in the music business and just talking to people and just meeting people and being comfortable in an uncomfortable. Situation. So I think that it taught me a lot about how to deal with those things.

• 15:34Dax Shepard?

  We've interviewed a bunch of musicians and I do find that musicians tend to have this kind of weird split personality. Like, I guess they'd be ambiverts, which is you have some extrovert in you because you want to be on stage. But learning music and getting good at music is such a solitary, isolated introverts kind of pursuit.

• 15:52Speaker 02

  I mean, I did that. Eventually my dad bought me a guitar of my own. I would sit in a room with my tape deck of stuff. I wanted to play, I would play it and stop it and back it up.

• 16:00Dax Shepard?

  Did you have a four track?

• 16:02Speaker 02

  No, I just had like a dual cassette deck. My buddy that was in my band, he had a four track.

• 16:06Dax Shepard?

  In high school, that was like the fucking.

• 16:08Speaker 02

  Oh, that was Pro Tools back then.

• 16:10Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 16:11Speaker 02

  Back then you could buy like the music books and they would have the chords mapped out. And so I would just sit there and figure it out and play. But you're right, you sit in your room a lot trying to get decent at it before you ever join a band and you interact with other players. You know, I think there's a lot of that for me. I go on stage and do the show. And then as soon as I come off stage, it's like you hit the light switch.

• 16:29Dax Shepard?

  I don't think there's a more stark transition on planet earth than going from a stage to a hotel room in a foreign city.

• 16:35Speaker 02

  I've had friends before that have never seen a show in the early days and guys that I've been friends with and they finally come out and they're like, what just happened? That is not you off stage. For me, it's just there to put on a show and I love that. Two hours, I get to kind of put on my suit and tie and go to work. You get to be this rock star for a couple hours. Soon as I come off stage, I've turned the switch off and I go back to being dad. I got my kids running around backstage.

• 16:58Dax Shepard?

  But how do you transition into the hotel room?

• 17:00Speaker 02

  I don't. I stay on the bus. Probably 99% of the time.

• 17:03Dax Shepard?

  And that helps.

• 17:04Speaker 02

  It's just my other house. So my kids are out there, my wife's out there.

• 17:08Dax Shepard?

  Well, you're five feet from mine. You don't have to tell me about a bus.

• 17:10Speaker 02

  With the Wayland logo on the back, it's awesome.

• 17:12Dax Shepard?

  I'm so glad you saw that.

• 17:13Speaker 02

  I did.

• 17:14Dax Shepard?

  I had that put on there.

• 17:14Speaker 02

  Is that actually Waylands or did you put that on there?

• 17:17Dax Shepard?

  I put that on there.

• 17:17Speaker 02

  That was so cool.

• 17:18Dax Shepard?

  But occasionally I'm driving down the interstate and someone will speed up and I think they think they're gonna see Shooter or somebody. I think they do think that somehow. The ghost of Wayland is gonna be driving the bus.

• 17:29Speaker 02

  I don't know. It's funny you say that on a bus. Somebody, I played a show for not too long ago, had one of Willie Nelson's old buses.

• 17:36Dax Shepard?

  Oh, really?

• 17:37Speaker 02

  And they had it at their house. It was like a lake house. They had it sitting out there and it. Basically like Airbnb, you could come rent it out and like sleep there. It's like one of their properties on the lake.

• 17:47Dax Shepard?

  Does it reek in there like weed still?

• 17:49Speaker 02

  I don't know. I told the guy, I said, I think I was in this bus back in like 97 when I still lived in Georgia, opening for Willie. I haven't been able to smell in 10 years, so I don't know.

• 17:58Dax Shepard?

  Did you have an incident or just?

• 17:59Speaker 02

  No, it just like nasal polyps. I'm supposed to be having surgery on this, but it hasn't happened yet.

• 18:05Dax Shepard?

  Are you afraid that'll affect your voice?

• 18:06Speaker 02

  A little bit. I know it's gonna probably sound different and it's also just time. And they're like, yeah, it's gonna feel like you got the worst flu for like two weeks. And I'm like, that doesn't sound like something I want to jump on. This doesn't sound like fun. So I haven't had it done yet.

• 18:18Dax Shepard?

  Maybe you go CPAP during the recoveries.

• 18:20Speaker 02

  That thing seems annoying. I need, I need one that just goes right here. The strap, it wakes up. I actually tried it. It woke up and it's like sitting on my eye.

• 18:29Dax Shepard?

  It's a learning curve. My childhood best friend's on.

• 18:31Speaker 01

  A CPAP.

• 18:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I constantly see him in different states of it all. He looks like a fire pilot though, as he goes to sleep. I always wish him luck on his mission.

• 18:40Speaker 01

  I have a question. So since you do go on stage and you become a different version of yourself, do you feel like when you're out in the world, if you're at a restaurant or something and people come up to you or they're excited to see you, you have to code switch into that? Do you feel the pressure to be something for people?

• 18:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. How big is the gap between Jason the man and Jason the performer?

• 18:59Speaker 02

  It depends on the situation. There's times where I know what I'm getting into when I go somewhere and you know that you're gonna deal with it. Then there's also times where I feel like sometimes it gets a little inappropriate. Like if I'm at dinner with my family and it's like, man, at least wait till I'm done. But it's hard because you don't want to seem like an ungrateful asshole. It's not that. I'm very thankful for everything. It's just like at some point as an entertainer, you gotta be able to shut that off and give your family your undivided attention because they don't really get it a lot. It's situational for me. And if I know that I'm getting into it, you know, I can kind of prepare for it a little bit.

• 19:32Speaker 01

  Being harder as a country star though, because I feel like people do expect a type of camaraderie.

• 19:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, probably.

• 19:41Dax Shepard?

  Like, I think when people see Leonardo DiCaprio at a restaurant, they're like, oh my god.

• 19:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:44Dax Shepard?

  If they see Will Ferrell, they're like, fuck, my bro's here. I'm gonna go tell him how much fun I had.

• 19:48Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 19:49Speaker 02

  It's all in what they associate you with, I think. And they associate singers with being onstage or your highlight reels of your life.

• 19:56Dax Shepard?

  And a party. It's kind of party music.

• 19:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:58Dax Shepard?

  It's what you put on to have a good time.

• 20:00Speaker 01

  For them, though, that's a moment they're gonna remember forever. So they're like, I gotta take it.

• 20:04Speaker 02

  And that's the struggle. I understand that part of it, too.

• 20:06Dax Shepard?

  I'm also a fan. Like, I remember moving to LA, and you moved to Nashville when you were a kid. Like, I remember being so excited. I saw Nicolas Cage at a gas station filling up his Porsche. I could've stayed there all day watching him fucking fill up that car.

• 20:17Speaker 02

  I've never seen a guy fill up a car like that.

• 20:19Dax Shepard?

  How the hell is that tank? Okay, so at 14, mom figures out how to get you a gig at the VFW hall. And so that's your first performance. And does it immediately feel right? Are you terrified? Or do you go like, okay, yeah, this is what I'm gonna do?

• 20:33Speaker 02

  My mom and my aunt used to go play bingo. You know, if one of them hit it at bingo, they got a little extra cash. It wasn't a big deal. So there was a little lounge there that had a band, and so they talked to them about me coming in and singing. So I went up and did a couple songs. I think I did Silver Wings by Merle Haggard and Tracy Lawrence or John Anderson's song or something. And I just remember at the time going, man, I was just trying to play guitar and sing at the same time. Remember the words, remember the chords, remember where the solos were.

• 21:00Dax Shepard?

  Were you a better singer or guitar player at that point?

• 21:02Speaker 02

  Probably neither.

• 21:03Dax Shepard?

  Equally bad at both.

• 21:06Speaker 02

  And I did that off and on. I remember singing a little bit with, like, karaoke tapes. I started getting this house gig. I was winning these talent contests at our local bar. And making one of the clubs just said, hey, you know, you wanna come be a featured artist, play with our house band on the weekends and play four or five songs a set? And so at 14, 15 years old, I started doing that.

• 21:26Dax Shepard?

  Did your mom have any fear about you going and spending four hours on the weekends in a bar?

• 21:33Speaker 02

  Not really, because they had to be with me in the beginning. My mom would go to work, I'd go to school, and then after school I'd have baseball practice. I'd get home, she'd cook dinner, go to the bar, and she'd sit there at the bar with me until 1 o'clock in the morning, and then come home, and we'd do that two or three nights a week.

• 21:48Dax Shepard?

  What kind of bar was it, I guess, let's start there?

• 21:50Speaker 02

  It was called Nashville South, it was a country bar.

• 21:52Dax Shepard?

  How often were you seeing fights?

• 21:54Speaker 02

  I mean, you're usually good for a couple of weekends.

• 21:56Dax Shepard?

  There's stuff happening with women you're seeing that's kind of new?

• 21:58Speaker 02

  All of it.

• 22:00Dax Shepard?

  And are you loving it, or are you feeling overwhelmed, like, oh, this is intense?

• 22:03Speaker 02

  You know, when I first started seeing it, it was like, man, this is awesome. It kind of just becomes second nature after a while, you start seeing it, and you're like, alright, you guys move, we're trying to fit, you know?

• 22:13Dax Shepard?

  You get desensitized, and you know how to navigate it.

• 22:15Speaker 02

  You don't even break stride after a while.

• 22:17Dax Shepard?

  I think for Shania, when she was talking about it, as I recall, what was interesting is, she's a young girl, and she's seeing adults enter in one state of mind, and this is northern Canada. And then a few hours later, everyone's acting completely different, and they're acting pretty different to her. So I imagine it's probably less scary when you're a dude in that situation. But also, I went to work at 15 at a race team in Detroit, and these guys were making jokes about butt fucking me and stuff, and I was like, I was like, oh my god, way too much for me at 50, I just like dropped into a third year old mechanic lifestyle.

• 22:51Speaker 02

  What the hell have I gotten into here?

• 22:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think it can distort your version of normal. Like, when you're young, and that's what's happening, like, I guess this is normal.

• 22:59Speaker 02

  This is what happens in a bar, is kind of the way I took it.

• 23:01Dax Shepard?

  By the way, did that make you cool at high school at all?

• 23:03Speaker 02

  Not really.

• 23:04Dax Shepard?

  It didn't?

• 23:04Speaker 02

  It was almost like, Jason's gonna be a country singer. It was almost kind of like, maybe even a little nerdy, and that's where the sports kind of, you know?

• 23:12Dax Shepard?

  Mitigated that.

• 23:13Speaker 02

  Yes, so, I would just sit outside on my guitar on the tailgate of my truck, playing, all my friends would come by, hawking, and be like, what the fuck are you doing?

• 23:20Dax Shepard?

  This guy thinks he's gonna be Garth Brooks.

• 23:22Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 23:23Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. Joke's on you, motherfuckers.

• 23:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, no.

• 23:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, right?

• 23:26Speaker 02

  But I did that, and then I met these guys, they fired the whole house band at this bar I was playing, they brought in another band, and it was a bunch of young guys that were my age, most of them were a year younger than me, and I was probably 18 or 19 at the time, so I met these guys, and it was the first time I'd been around other musicians that were my age, and so... So we started playing and that's kind of where I started really figuring it out and getting to be a better guitar player, learning to play with the band and being the front man of a band that was playing our sets instead of going up, playing.

• 23:56Dax Shepard?

  All covers.

• 23:57Speaker 02

  Justin Weaver, a guy that was in the band who lives here in Nashville now, who I've been friends with forever. He and I would write a few things, you know, but for the most part it was.

• 24:07Dax Shepard?

  That's what people want to hear.

• 24:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're playing the top 40 country songs at the bar. You know, they want to hear Achy Breaky Heart. They're waiting all night to hear those things. That was where I started really having fun. We started traveling with that band and we were all the same age.

• 24:19Dax Shepard?

  And now you're having the community that you would have on a sports team with peers. When you're with these older dudes, I'm sure they're being nice to you.

• 24:25Speaker 02

  But you're not part of the band. And this was like my first band where I felt like, you know, it was my crew and we went out and my dad managed us at the time. He would go out and make sure we got paid because club owners love to rip you off. And it was a cool deal. And I got to spend a lot of time with my dad when I graduated because he had lived in Florida, had just moved to Georgia when I graduated. And so now I got to go on the road, spend a bunch of time with him.

• 24:47Dax Shepard?

  You have a great relationship with him, it sounds like.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, you know, I think like a lot of things, it's probably been a little up and down over the years, different times, but he's great and super great granddad to my kids. They probably love being at his house more than they love being at our house, honestly. But no, I have a great relationship with both parents.

• 25:02Dax Shepard?

  Okay. So then you moved to Nashville at 21. You get signed and dropped quickly, a couple of times.

• 25:07Speaker 02

  A couple of times, yeah.

• 25:08Dax Shepard?

  And then you end up with Broken Bow Records in 2000?

• 25:14Speaker 02

  2003, I think, is when they signed me.

• 25:17Dax Shepard?

  Okay. So this is where you and I have almost an identical journey. So I moved to LA and I'm in LA trying for eight years and at some point going like, when do we quit? And then pretty much start working at 28.

• 25:30Speaker 02

  That's when it hit for me.

• 25:31Dax Shepard?

  So for me in that eight years, A, I had a blast. My life was great. I had a good time. I was broke. I was drunk.

• 25:37Speaker 02

  But you don't know any different. That's the thing.

• 25:39Dax Shepard?

  I didn't know any different, but what was really hard on me was. My friends and peers were working and the people I performed with at the Groundlings, they're all in commercials and they have apartments. Just watching people around me for eight years succeed or have agents or this and that was fucking brutal. I would already been an addict, but definitely supercharged that because I was just scared. You're kind of like a boy wondered to be working at a bar at 15 and then have your own band at 18. What were those eight years like?

• 26:06Speaker 02

  When I moved to Nashville, I felt like, man, I'd kind of been building this thing down in Georgia and Florida. We were selling out big bars down in Georgia and Florida and like making a name for ourself. And then all of a sudden I get the call to the big leagues to come up here and write songs for Warner Brothers. So that's kind of how I got my foot in the door. So I think I'm going to show up. We're just going to pick up where we left off. And it was just not even close.

• 26:26Dax Shepard?

  It's humbling.

• 26:27Speaker 02

  And I realized that the live part of everything was what I had been working on that I had down. But what I didn't have was being in the studio and learning how to capture that on tape and being a better singer in the studio. And really, when you're in the studio, you start hearing all your flaws and all the things that you don't really hear live. We started working on that part of it a lot. But yeah, you know, I just think it was getting better at that stuff. And that seven years of being in town going, oh, we want to sign you. And then I was signed to Capitol Records for a year. And they kept going, oh, we're going to let you go in and cut four sides. And then a couple of weeks out, they go, I don't think we got the songs. And they would cancel it. I did that for like a year and a half.

• 27:03Dax Shepard?

  And when you're in that situation and you're new, are they telling you what songs they want you to sing? Or are they saying, hey, here's some great writers we know, meet with them? How does that work?

• 27:13Speaker 02

  They're bringing in songs. You're trying to find songs and then you collectively kind of sit down and go, man, we think this is the best. And that was always a big thing for me is that I just didn't want people picking songs from me. I feel like that happened a little bit early on in my career. And when it did happen, it didn't go well. I'm a stubborn dude, especially when it comes to that. If I want to fail, I don't want to put the blame on anybody else.

• 27:34Dax Shepard?

  Fail with your idea.

• 27:35Speaker 02

  Yes, I can at least accept that. So at this point, I mean, even making records and stuff now, we go make the album. And when we're done, it's like, here's your record and here's the singles and that constant chirping in your ear of, I like this song. And well, this is my favorite song. And you know, everybody's got an opinion. I'm like, I just don't want to hear all that. Noise. I just want to go make my record and go, this is what I think is cool. And that's kind of how we are now, but obviously it took a while to get there.

• 27:59Dax Shepard?

  This is such a basic question, but I don't really understand. When you sit down with someone who's written a song, they're a songwriter, you meet with them and they play you a demo of them maybe doing it.

• 28:08Speaker 02

  They'll do a demo. They'll get a singer or somebody's or they maybe they sing it.

• 28:11Dax Shepard?

  Great. So now when you hear that and let's say you respond to it, right? You're like, oh, there's something there, whether it's this hook I like, or it's this piece of it. How do you put your fingerprint on it? And then are you looking for a way that's like, okay, great. So that's a great suggestion. Now, how do I make it mine?

• 28:28Speaker 02

  I think that's kind of the easy part. To me, it's finding the song. If the song says something, the way that I would say it melodically, it's something that I think is cool. A lot of the tongue in cheek kind of lyrics, I stay away from that. But if it's something I feel like, man, that's my kind of song. It's as simple as just my band cuts everything in the studio. So we go in and we've done it enough now to have the system down. And so we find the key that it's in and not let them do their thing. And we'll kind of dial it in a little bit, but for whatever reason, you get all of us in a room and you start recording and it just comes out the way it does. There's not a magic button that happens. It's just that's the way everybody plays. It's the way I sing and that's the way we hear it coming out.

• 29:05Speaker 01

  The recipe.

• 29:06Dax Shepard?

  And your producer, who you've done all these with, Michael Knox, when does he come in the picture? And how does he help create that magic that you get in there and it always comes out this way?

• 29:15Speaker 02

  Yes. We're talking about the young band that I had. There was a club in Atlanta called the Buckboard. It was up in Cobb County, somewhere up there, right next to a strip club. It was awesome. Boomers. And then you had, you know.

• 29:26Dax Shepard?

  One stop shop.

• 29:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:27Dax Shepard?

  Everything.

• 29:27Speaker 02

  Stumble out of the bar and go to a strip club.

• 29:29Speaker 01

  What a night.

• 29:31Speaker 02

  But they had a house band there and sometimes that house band would have bigger shows like around town. They play a festival or something that was going on. And so the guy, John Glacio, who owned it would call and be like, hey, can you guys fill in for my band that's out? So it kind of started like that.

• 29:45Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 29:46Speaker 02

  He would do like a showcase where he'd bring people in from Nashville. And kind of showcased the best bands in the area to try and help him get a deal. At the end of the day, he probably got a little kickback off of that. You know, we were all paying him like 500 bucks to get into this thing.

• 29:58Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 29:59Speaker 02

  So Michael Knox was there, saw me playing a couple of songs we had written that night. And that kind of started that journey. He flew down to see me play some shows in Florida and then brought me to Nashville, went to the studio, cut a couple of songs.

• 30:11Dax Shepard?

  Okay, now back to the stepdad thing. It's like a strange dude enters the picture. You show promise to him, but you guys got to start working together and you have to be receptive, I imagine, to what he brings to the table, whatever his genius is. And is that hard for you or easy?

• 30:25Speaker 02

  It was just new to me. Like, I don't know this guy, but he's interested in what I'm doing. Maybe this is an opportunity in your business and my business. You just need a break. You need somebody to give you a shot. That's the biggest thing. Maybe this is it. And so I learned a lot from him. He's kind of like my mentor, my guy that taught me a ton about being in the studio and how to capture all that stuff. And he's the guy that goes home and obsesses with all this stuff and making sure levels are right and this guitar cuts through like it's supposed to. He's that guy.

• 30:53Dax Shepard?

  Did he have an approach that you think worked particularly well with you?

• 30:57Speaker 02

  He's like a big brother to me. He's from Macon, Georgia. He's from my hometown and just happened to be the vice president at Warner Chapel here. His dad was Buddy Knox, who was a 50s singer with Buddy Holly and those kind of guys. So he's just kind of been around it.

• 31:11Dax Shepard?

  Back when one in five musicians was named Buddy.

• 31:13Speaker 02

  Yes, clearly.

• 31:14Speaker 01

  You respected him, it sounds like.

• 31:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, he was like a big brother that was in the business. He was a VP of a major company in town. And for whatever reason, this guy took me under his wing and wanted to help me, even when I would get record deals and lose them and those kind of things.

• 31:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, how were you staying resilient in that period?

• 31:30Speaker 02

  I think definitely losing confidence. You know, you come into town with plenty of confidence.

• 31:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, too much.

• 31:35Speaker 02

  They've been waiting on me to get here.

• 31:38Dax Shepard?

  Big fish syndrome.

• 31:39Speaker 02

  You realize, man, there's a lot of people here that are a lot better singers than you and have a lot more going on than you have. And like you were saying, you're watching your friends get deals and go on to have success. And you're just like, shit, maybe it's not gonna happen for us. Maybe I'm gonna end up working at Pepsi again and you don't know. And having somebody like him to be by your side and go, hey, like, give me gift cards to be able to go eat dinner at Applebee's. Or like Applebee's gift cards or whatever. And if not for him, I probably would have ended up back in Georgia and reevaluating my life, probably.

• 32:08Dax Shepard?

  You might be in rehab right now.

• 32:10Speaker 02

  Probably, very likely, actually.

• 32:15Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

• 32:22Dax Shepard?

  We get support from Skims. Okay, I have a confession. I genuinely love matching pajamas. It's the best part of Christmas morning, really. Everyone in the same matching set, looking ridiculously cute in front of the tree.

• 32:36Speaker 01

  I love matching pajamas. I'm literally going to be in coordinating sets with all my friends this holiday season. Because I got them, spoiler to my friends who are listening, the same Skims pajama set I've been living in. They are so soft and cozy and they look cute. So you can leave the house and go get a late night hot chocolate. Be cozy.

• 32:57Dax Shepard?

  It's so great how Skims has sets for everyone, too. Women's, men's, kids, even your pets. So nobody in your life has to be left out this year.

• 33:07Speaker 01

  I have a bunch of different pajama sets. One of my favorite is the organic cotton sleep long sleeve set.

• 33:13Dax Shepard?

  Okay, tell me more.

• 33:15Speaker 01

  It is so comfortable, very chic, too. The top is a button down, but very, very soft, easy to sleep in. But as I said before, you can multipurpose this and look super cute.

• 33:26Dax Shepard?

  Hot chocolate runs. It's like the pajamas we grew up in, except without the scratchy polyester that made opening presents feel more like a hot yoga class that nobody signed up for.

• 33:36Speaker 01

  All the nostalgia, none of the discomfort. Shop my favorite loungewear and pajamas at skims.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. Select podcasts in the survey and be sure to select Armchair Expert in the dropdown menu that follows. If you're looking for the perfect gifts for everyone on your list, the Skims Holiday Shop is now open at skims.com.

• 33:55Dax Shepard?

  This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Every family has that one holiday tradition. Nobody actually enjoys, but everyone keeps doing because stopping it would feel like a federal offense. For me, it was a specific meal situation that I will not name because my family listens. But at some point, you have to ask yourself, am I doing this because I love it? Or because I'm afraid of what happens if I don't?

• 34:18Speaker 01

  Yes, and that question applies to so much more than the holidays. I think a lot of us carry these invisible rules. Rules about how we're supposed to spend the holidays, who we're supposed to see, what it's supposed to look like. And when you start unpacking that with a therapist, you realize half of your stress is coming from rules you didn't even write.

• 34:34Dax Shepard?

  This is where BetterHelp can be a great resource during the holidays. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences, which means they typically get it right the first time. If you aren't happy with your match, switch to a different therapist at any time from their tailored recs.

• 34:53Speaker 01

  I just love therapy. I've been avoiding it recently, or not avoiding it, but I was like, oh, I'm busy, I'm busy, I'm busy. I'm gonna cancel, cancel, cancel. But then I-

• 35:01Dax Shepard?

  You start feeling it.

• 35:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, because then I had it this past weekend and I was like, oh my God, I'm just, thank God.

• 35:08Dax Shepard?

  Relief.

• 35:08Speaker 01

  Thank God for her. Yeah.

• 35:09Dax Shepard?

  BetterHelp is now in-network with more than 125 health plans, with many copays as low as $15 for eligible members. And if you don't have eligible insurance or live outside the US, you can still get 20% off your first month. Sign up and get 20% off at betterhelp.com/dax. That's betterhelp, H E L P, dot com slash DAX. We get support from Superhuman. Look, I love what I do. The conversations, the ideas, the creative stuff. But there's this whole other layer of work that eats my day alive. The inbox that never ends. Docs I need to get through, threads I'm behind on. And by the time I've dealt with all that, the stuff I actually want to focus on gets whatever's left.

• 35:53Dax Shepard?

  What I needed was something that just works where I'm already working. Not another tab to open, not another thing to set up. Superhuman Go, from the makers of Grammarly, is different. It's already right there, inside your email, your docs, your browser. You don't go to it. It's already working alongside you. You're deep in a long thread, highlight it, and it pulls the key points. About to send something important? It flags what doesn't add up before it leaves your hands. It knows your style, your workflows, and it just backs you up without getting in the way. A thought partner that's already up to speed, at your service, not after your job. So do yourself a favor and try Superhuman Go, from the makers of Grammarly. Find out more at superhuman.com.

• 36:37Dax Shepard?

  We get support from our sponsor Lilly. For adults with obesity or with excess weight and weight-related medical problems, it's time to find out about Foundo or for Gleepran. Foundo is a once daily prescription GLP-1 medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off.

• 37:03Speaker 04

  Foundo should not be used with other GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Foundo is safe and effective for use in children. Don't take Foundo if you're allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had majorary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Stop and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, or severe stomach pain. Serious side effects may include inflamed pancreas and gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes, if you're nursing, pregnant, plant to be, or taking birth control pills, and before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. Taking Foundo with an insulin or sulfonylurea may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and may cause kidney problems. Once Daily Foundo is available by prescription only in 0.8 milligram, 2.5 milligram, 5.5

• 37:48Speaker 04

  milligram, 9 milligram, 14.5 milligram, and 17.2 milligram tablets. Learn more at foundo.lilly.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX. Now is perfect to talk to your doctor about Foundo.

• 38:06Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so 2005, Jason Aldean, your first album comes out, and Hicktown is first out. And then why is your first number one hit? So how do we adjust to eight years of desert dwelling to like pretty radical success right out of the gates?

• 38:25Speaker 02

  Once we finally got a chance to have a hit, so Hicktown came out, you know, it was a top 10 hit for us on the charts for what seemed like a year. All of a sudden that thing hits, man, we're selling out clubs again. We're starting to do the stuff I was doing down in Georgia and Florida, but now we got a major hit, songs on the radio, and we had a damn blast. I was always that person of like, man, that's great. We got a top 10 with Hicktown. But what's next? We can only tour off of that for about a year. Then what? You gotta stack them. And then Y came out and it was a number one. And then Amarillo Sky was a top five.

• 38:56Speaker 01

  Great song.

• 38:57Speaker 02

  And so all of a sudden we're stacking these songs.

• 38:59Dax Shepard?

  Do you have a hard time believing it?

• 39:01Speaker 02

  That it's happening?

• 39:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 39:02Speaker 02

  I was always like, this is too good to be true. I don't want this to end and I'm scared of that. I'm not even enjoying the success.

• 39:09Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 39:09Speaker 02

  For worrying about it ending.

• 39:11Dax Shepard?

  Exactly.

• 39:12Speaker 02

  And that was probably something I still do, actually.

• 39:15Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 39:15Speaker 02

  Even this far into it. I remember having a 15,000 square or 1500 square foot house. Sorry.

• 39:21Dax Shepard?

  You've been rich too long.

• 39:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  How many zeros goes at the end?

• 39:27Speaker 02

  And this was like a house I had bought that I was hoping my record deal would do well, but I didn't have any money yet. I just remember thinking, man, if I could just make enough money to pay off this house, it cost me $105,000. All my problems will go away.

• 39:40Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes, yes.

• 39:41Speaker 02

  And then all of a sudden, a couple of years later, my accountant's like, man, you gotta sell that house and get a bigger one for tax purposes. I'm like, what the hell? So then you start getting into that and you're like, this is too good to be true. I don't know when this is gonna end, but surely this can't keep going on the way it is. And then you turn around and you're 20 years into it, still waiting on something bad to happen.

• 40:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Well, when you have eight years of getting your ass kicked, you get pretty used to that's how it is.

• 40:05Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 40:06Speaker 01

  And more than that, you also grew up in an environment where you were moving all the time. Nothing was stable for that long. Yeah.

• 40:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:12Speaker 01

  There's a lot of evidence for that.

• 40:13Speaker 02

  I was never in a situation where you were financially stable, even though it's not everything. It helps. My oldest daughter was born, I was 25. By the time I hit, I had a three year old at home and wasn't making any money.

• 40:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:27Speaker 02

  You know, and I'm going, oh, this is working. I'm out here on the road, partying and playing shows, not making any money. Kind of hard to validate that.

• 40:34Dax Shepard?

  Well, now here's where booze and drugs works. So I couldn't really enjoy it. So I was so afraid it was gonna go away. But when I was fucked up, I could.

• 40:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's where you had the most fun.

• 40:42Dax Shepard?

  Yes, cuz that's what coke gave me is optimism.

• 40:45Speaker 02

  I never went down that path.

• 40:47Dax Shepard?

  Well, good. You think your nose is fucked up now.

• 40:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:51Speaker 02

  Maybe to clear it out. I was drinking though, man. I probably drank enough to float a damn.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  It's fun. It's a fun hobby.

• 40:59Speaker 02

  It is. You start getting in that lifestyle and then probably four doesn't really do it for you anymore. So you're just kind of up in the ante. The drug side of it was never something I really got into, but still loved to drink and do my thing. I just got a way better grip on it now than I once did.

• 41:15Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. How about this? The people I was obsessed with growing up was like Charles Bukowski, Waylon, all guys who their art was so significant that they were allowed to behave like fucking animals and everyone forgave it.

• 41:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I think that's it. Whether people want to believe it or not, sometimes those things kind of create, you know, genius comes out of putting your head in a different place. There's a reason that rock stars, some of the best songs ever written are coming out of like a place of pain or despair or you trying to cover up something with drugs or alcohol.

• 41:49Dax Shepard?

  How many Waylon songs are about cheating? A third of them are about cheating, one way or another.

• 41:53Speaker 02

  And it was probably coming from a place that was very legit, you know, so.

• 41:57Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Okay. So how do you take to the road? It sounds like wow, but your life starting in oh five, I'm imagining you've just been touring almost without exception. How many shows have you played since 2005?

• 42:11Speaker 02

  I don't know. First few years are doing 200. For us, we kind of backed it down to 150 and stayed there for a while. And then 125, then 175. Now we're probably about 55. That's kind of where we live right now. And it's great. It gives me time to hang out with my family for five or six months and spend some time with them. And then get on the road and go work for five or six months.

• 42:32Dax Shepard?

  Is it the same with us? Like when they were little is no problem. We just took them everywhere we were working. And then they get to an age where you really can't do that. And then you have to really figure out like, well, then do I really want to work?

• 42:42Speaker 02

  For us at school.

• 42:43Dax Shepard?

  Cause you have an eight year old boy?

• 42:45Speaker 02

  We have a six year old girl, seven year old boy. He'll be eight in December.

• 42:49Dax Shepard?

  And then older children?

• 42:50Speaker 02

  22 and 17.

• 42:52Dax Shepard?

  Girls?

• 42:53Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 42:53Dax Shepard?

  I would imagine you have to kind of learn how to tour so that it's tenable, that you can continue to do it. So like what things did you start figuring out along the way?

• 43:05Speaker 02

  When I first started, it was 10 of us on. A bus. It was me and my band, my tour manager, my merch guy. And we're on one bus. We're rolling out and again, we're not making money. So I'm trying to save money, cramming us all in a bus. And it finally got to a point where started doing well and I got my own bus. Met my wife long after that. And so when we started having our kids, two weeks after they were born, they were getting thrown on the bus and you just have their bins for their toys and they go out to the shows. Now they're old enough. We put a pass on them. They kind of walk around backstage. Everybody around there lets them feel like they're helping, they're working. So that's the thing too. I got a great crew out there that kind of helps watch them and we've kind of dialed it in over the years, but like when we first got out there, it was me and all the guys, no family, no kids, no

• 43:48Speaker 02

  any of that. We're playing shows, being gone for a couple of months at a time and the dynamics changed now.

• 43:53Dax Shepard?

  Do you get depressed when you're at home?

• 43:55Speaker 02

  It's usually groovy for me for about two months. I'm good with taking a little time because it also gives me a chance to go and work in the studio a little bit or not try to cram that in when you're on the road. So I like a little bit of time home, but after two, three months of it, it's like, all right. And my wife even knows now. She's like,

• 44:12Speaker 01

  You gotta go.

• 44:13Dax Shepard?

  You gotta go to Cincinnati.

• 44:14Speaker 02

  I mean, you can only travel so much. Real life sets in. You're like, all right, well now I'm home and she works from home and does her thing. So we're home. She's pretty busy doing her deal. I have nothing to do. I'm like playing golf. You can only do that so much. You're like, damn.

• 44:27Speaker 01

  You need your purpose back.

• 44:29Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 44:29Speaker 01

  I have a tricky question, but I have to ask because I wonder, you have these older kids and then you have younger kids. Do you ever think about the fact that those two sets have had such different experiences?

• 44:42Speaker 02

  Yes, absolutely. My older girls, you know, they were little when things were taking off. As they were growing up, my career was kind of going with it. And then the little ones, as they've been born, everything was already established.

• 44:54Dax Shepard?

  And you have a much more manageable schedule now.

• 44:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, but from the time they've come into the world, they've been on Instagram and people have watched them grow up. And so they even come up to them out and about, you know, Memphis. They start talking to them and they're like, who the fuck is this person? You know, so they've been around that too. My wife, she posts all of our lives on Instagram. I don't hardly post ever. She bakes up for it. You know what I mean? It's cool. People have watched our kids grow up over the years. So I think their upbringing is very different as far as that goes.

• 45:25Speaker 01

  There's probably pros and cons to both.

• 45:27Speaker 02

  For sure. When you're in this business, it's like you feel guilty sometimes for some things. And then I know that the way my kids are raised is not normal. They don't know that because they don't know any different.

• 45:36Dax Shepard?

  Because it is normal to them.

• 45:37Speaker 02

  And as parents, you want to give them things you didn't have and make it better for them. And it's like that fine line of you just want them to appreciate it and know that not everybody gets to have it.

• 45:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, so hard.

• 45:46Speaker 02

  So yeah, very different upbringings between the two. And I'm super proud the way the older ones turned out and the young ones. I feel like they handle it pretty well, considering their age and stuff right now. And so you kind of learn it as you go. You know what I mean?

• 46:00Dax Shepard?

  It's all trade offs. How bad do you want to say to your kids like, guys, get your fucking head out of your ass? We didn't go out to eat but once every two months. We didn't have a fucking car with Eric. What are you talking about?

• 46:10Speaker 02

  My son broke his iPad the other day and he was just like losing his mind because it was cracked. And I was like, I'm not taking it to have it fixed. You dropped it. So I made him play with it broken for a couple of weeks. Yeah, until he started bleeding and then I took it out and fixed it.

• 46:26Dax Shepard?

  So I've been told you don't like to talk about it and I'm fully want to respect that. But I'm also quite curious, not about the incident itself, but mostly about going to Saturday Night Live a week later. I'm quite curious about that, but be dead honest with me if you'd rather never talk about it again.

• 46:41Speaker 02

  I'm not talking about it at all.

• 46:42Dax Shepard?

  And I'm not an exploitative type of person.

• 46:44Speaker 01

  I don't even know what anyone's talking about, to be fair.

• 46:46Dax Shepard?

  Well, Jason was performing in Vegas during the shooting.

• 46:49Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 46:50Speaker 02

  Yeah. So Route 91, it was a festival like we've done a million times. You know, it started, it was just obviously something that we weren't prepared for.

• 46:59Dax Shepard?

  It had to be very confusing at first.

• 47:01Speaker 02

  Very confusing. But yeah, you know, it happened. Obviously it was horrible deal. We finally got out of there the next afternoon, getting home and you're just glad to be home. Show up, my mom's crying, you know, my kids are thinking, my oldest daughter was in school freaking out, thinking that somebody was trying to shoot us. All the details were still kind of coming out.

• 47:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's one of the most horrific national events we've had and you were literally center stage.

• 47:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was wild. And so I was just kind of glad to be home. We were still in the middle of the tour. So I was like, man, I don't know if we're gonna finish the tour. We didn't really know what was gonna happen yet. And I was home for a couple of days and I got a call from my manager, Clarence Spodding, and he just goes, hey, Lorne Michaels just called and wants you to come play. This is like on Thursday. Wants you to play Saturday Night Live.

• 47:44Dax Shepard?

  The shooting was the first and Saturday Night Live was a seven.

• 47:47Speaker 02

  The shooting was on Sunday, I believe. We got home Monday and then I got this call like Thursday.

• 47:53Speaker 01

  For Saturday.

• 47:54Dax Shepard?

  For Saturday. Yeah, yeah. That must be a really complicated offer.

• 48:00Speaker 02

  It was. Obviously, Saturday Night Live is something I've always wanted to play. That's like one of those things as an artist or actor. It's just an iconic show. And so I hated that it was like that. And so part of me was like, fuck, I don't want to do it like that.

• 48:12Dax Shepard?

  Cause you maybe are worried it feels exploitative or something. Yeah.

• 48:16Speaker 02

  And we were shell shocked too.

• 48:18Dax Shepard?

  Guaranteed at this point, you haven't even begun to process what the fuck you just did.

• 48:21Speaker 02

  No. And so Tom Petty had just died that Monday. We've got the news. He had died on the flight back to Nashville. And so I just said, man, if you'll let us play whatever I want to play. And they want us to do cold open. So I was like, I don't want you guys writing shit for me to say. And me and my publicist sat on the phone in a room in hotel and wrote out what we were gonna say. And they let me do it. And so I called my band, rallied everybody. And Sunday morning, I was on a flight going back to Las Vegas to go to the hospital and see all the victims. And that was tough. People hadn't recovered from their wounds yet.

• 48:53Dax Shepard?

  You forget, 869 people were injured.

• 48:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was pretty crazy. And so then a week after that, we were right back on tour, going to play. And we had maybe another month of shows. And then we finally got to go home for a few months. My son was born during that time. So the shooting happened on October 1st. He was born December 1st.

• 49:13Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 49:13Speaker 02

  All of a sudden, at home, we kind of had something else to focus on versus watching that on the news every day.

• 49:19Dax Shepard?

  I could imagine just moving so quickly through everything and saying yes and wanting to do everything I can. And then, I don't know, some period later, waking up and going, oh my God, so much shit happened, but I was so busy during it and so much was happening. And I really haven't computed that. And I'm just curious, did that day come?

• 49:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, I think for me, you know, I kind of had a breakdown at my house one day. It was after my son was born and just all that heaviness of everything just getting laid on you. It's easier to talk about now. At the time, it wasn't because you're still trying to. Comprehend what had just happened. My bass player, my best friend for the last 25 years, his bass had a bullet lodged in it that he was wearing when we were on stage. And for our little family, our little crew, we got so lucky. Not one injury to any of our guys. And you're happy about that, but then you're like,

• 50:12Dax Shepard?

  You feel guilty that you're happy about that.

• 50:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, there's like this guilt ridden thing.

• 50:15Dax Shepard?

  Survivor's guilt.

• 50:16Speaker 02

  It sucks. Just one of those things that will kind of forever connect us to that city. And at some point you can either kind of run from it or accept it and try and make something good out of it. And that's kind of what we tried to do. I ended up having, you know, a moment at my house where I kind of broke down thinking about just all the people that I could have lost and all the people that we did lose as far as fans, but my inner circle of people and my wife was there eight months pregnant with my son and all these things that could have happened.

• 50:41Dax Shepard?

  And you love your fans. Like I imagine if Armchairy's got injured at a show, it would fucking devastate me.

• 50:45Speaker 02

  Yeah. Well, that's the thing. It's like those people are there to see you and if this happens, there's this guilt. It's heavy. It's just heavy. It's a lot of shit to put on somebody's plate, especially when you're not expecting that. If you're an Army Ranger and you train for that kind of shit, something like that happens when you're armed with a guitar, ain't much you can do.

• 51:03Dax Shepard?

  Back to expectations. You're talking about showing up. A lot of places you go, you're like, I know I'm going to be on, I'm leaving my house. I've gone there for a reason. I'm going to be nice. Army Ranger has those expectations. They jump out of the fucking helicopter with a parachute. They know shit's hitting the fan when they land.

• 51:16Speaker 02

  If you're on stage or somewhere and gunshots start popping off, you're diving just trying to get somewhere.

• 51:21Dax Shepard?

  How much does it enter your mind going forward?

• 51:23Speaker 02

  Occasionally, kind of situational.

• 51:26Dax Shepard?

  You have to have PTSD from it is what I'm saying, basically.

• 51:28Speaker 02

  We played a show and there was a parking garage, you know, where there's like open things and like in those kinds of things when you see that.

• 51:34Dax Shepard?

  And you're on alert now.

• 51:35Speaker 02

  Yeah. We were in Canada just a couple of days ago, playing a show up there and we're in downtown in the city, walking to our hotel, probably midnight and a car backfires. You know, it sounds like a shotgun went off. And I mean,

• 51:46Dax Shepard?

  You're right back.

• 51:47Speaker 02

  All my crews with me that were all in that too. And so we're all like, what the fuck? So I mean, you still have those moments. I think they'll always be there.

• 51:54Dax Shepard?

  Have you ever gone to therapy for it or are you too southern?

• 51:59Speaker 02

  I guess too southern. No. And here's the ironic thing. We funded.

• 52:03Dax Shepard?

  A ton of therapy.

• 52:04Speaker 02

  A ton of therapy for all the crews and everybody else. And then, you know, obviously I didn't go. So my therapy was me, my wife, my band, all of us that were kind of there. We all talked about it amongst each other.

• 52:16Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that's good. You weren't alone in it and that's helpful.

• 52:19Speaker 02

  All of us had kind of our little inner circle to talk about it with. And that was what we did, but I have a hard time talking to people about my things.

• 52:25Dax Shepard?

  Being vulnerable?

• 52:27Speaker 02

  I just have a hard time opening up to people that don't know me or like haven't been in the same situation.

• 52:32Dax Shepard?

  You're on the wrong show, my friend.

• 52:35Speaker 02

  I listened to you and Pitt talk. I mean, it's fun. I don't have any problems talking about it. I'm just not going to voluntarily go and.

• 52:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. This is just a fun question. I wonder if you agree with this or not. I mostly love outlaw country. That's kind of my zone. And then I love rap and I think those are the two most related musics on planet earth is rap and country. I like them for the same reason, especially in the eighties and nineties. You're hearing these stories about these communities and cultures, Compton, and it's their fucking story. It's not meant to appeal to everyone. It's their authentic life story. They're telling you without any frills, no apologies, no shame. And I think country is very much that too. It's the music of disenfranchised folks who are engaged in real talk in a sense. And I just think they're very similar in that way. Do you see that parallel at all?

• 53:25Speaker 02

  I can see that.

• 53:26Dax Shepard?

  They're all storytelling.

• 53:27Speaker 02

  Well, I think that with country music, it's always been the driving force. It starts with the song and the storytelling. I think that's what everybody loves about country music is it's not a bunch of noise. There's a point to the song and I can see that in hip hop and stuff too.

• 53:40Dax Shepard?

  There's also like a brave freedom to, you know, I get stoned and play all day long. I like to sit on the fucking porch with my blue tick hound.

• 53:48Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 53:48Dax Shepard?

  There's a lot of owning. The shit that people are judgmental of.

• 53:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, owning things that most people wouldn't say.

• 53:55Dax Shepard?

  You're not gonna shame us.

• 53:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:57Dax Shepard?

  This is our story. We're proud of it. We made music out of it. That's the essence that I see in both rap and country that I love.

• 54:03Speaker 02

  Everybody wants to say, but everybody's kind of scared to say until somebody says it once. And then they're like, yeah, and then they all start saying it, you know? But yeah, rap's like that.

• 54:11Dax Shepard?

  But your comp to me is country boy can't survive. I live in the woods. You see the woman, the kids, the dog and me.

• 54:17Speaker 02

  Just attitude. It's real. It's unapologetic.

• 54:20Speaker 01

  Authentic.

• 54:21Speaker 02

  Authentic. And I think that's why those songs work and hip hop even. I mean, that's why that genre is as big as it is. I mean, it's no bullshit. This is the way it is.

• 54:29Dax Shepard?

  The fan bases are similar too. Music album sales dropped out. The last two to remain the most robust are rap and country.

• 54:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:37Dax Shepard?

  Live shows, also great audience for attending. I think when people hear their story, they're really loyal to that.

• 54:45Speaker 02

  Country music fans for sure are some of the most loyal from a standpoint of they latch on to an artist. Early on in their career.

• 54:53Dax Shepard?

  That's their family member.

• 54:54Speaker 02

  And they follow that artist unless they just do something really stupid.

• 54:58Dax Shepard?

  You can do a lot though.

• 55:00Speaker 02

  Trust me, I know.

• 55:03Speaker 02

  I've toed the line a few times over the years, but they will follow and they will support. I mean, it is a lifelong thing for them, for that artist and for that fan. And that doesn't happen in all genres of music.

• 55:17Dax Shepard?

  I would say country has the misleading illusion of being simple. And that's why people get into it and think they can do it. And that's why a lot of it's shit and generic because they think it's easy.

• 55:27Speaker 02

  I think it used to be a lot more simple than it is. You know, you hear people say three chords and the truth, you know? Three chords, you could play a million country songs, which there is some truth to that. Over the years, you know, it's gotten a little bit more complex and different influences coming into our genre. Rock influence, pop influence, hip hop, Stapleton's bluesy as shit.

• 55:47Dax Shepard?

  Is he the current god?

• 55:48Speaker 01

  He's great.

• 55:49Speaker 02

  He's the best male vocalist in our genre to me right now. Morgan's a great vocalist, too. Morgan's kind of just like a global level now.

• 55:57Speaker 01

  He's crossed all the boundaries.

• 55:59Speaker 02

  And that's awesome, too. We get a guy like that that really brings in a lot of different listeners in our format because he's getting people listening to his stuff that wouldn't typically listen to country and those kinds of things. I mean, it's all good for all of us.

• 56:10Dax Shepard?

  Let me ask you, how has the transition felt? And I'll start because we have it in our site. So of course Hollywood's super liberal. And then when you have the handful of actors that are outspokenly conservative, it's not like the liberals are all that excited about that. Vince Vaughn will have some opinions and people are like, oh. How has it been watching this transition where definitely country has gotten a lot more stars that are kind of outspokenly liberal in what's been a very conservative music history?

• 56:40Speaker 02

  Listen, I think everybody feel how you want to feel. You do your homework and you make your own opinions and that's fun. I don't think we all have to agree. When it comes to anything, it's like, I don't think anybody wants things shoved down their throat just because you believe this doesn't mean this is wrong. And unfortunately, you know, it gets a little muddy.

• 56:57Dax Shepard?

  You have a million different opinions, but these are the ones that you can no longer be friends over.

• 57:01Speaker 02

  And you start planting your flag in the ground on those kinds of things. I mean, I'm always open for discussion. Enlighten me. That's my thing. Please tell me something I don't know. If you can make it make sense, then that's cool. But I'm pretty firm in how I believe and it's going to take a lot to sort of change that.

• 57:17Dax Shepard?

  Well, you're not unique in that you're a product of your context. I'm a product of my context. Everyone that thinks they came to their big worldview independently is kind of ignoring. We're all pretty predictable in some sense.

• 57:28Speaker 02

  And I feel like I'm open minded, but you gotta make it make sense to me. It's like anything, I'm not always going to agree 100% over here or over there. A guy can know that that doesn't make sense and that does to me at least.

• 57:40Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so try that in a small town became controversial, but that led immediately to it being your first number one on Billboard. I'm interested personally. We have had very few, but we've had some episodes that are controversial. You're trying to wonder what's your tolerance and appetite for that discomfort of controversy? And yet, if it somehow works, you have to bring that into your analysis. There's sometimes direct relationship to the amount of controversy something's getting to the amount of people that are going to hear the thing. And how do you evaluate that cost benefit?

• 58:11Speaker 02

  This song being controversial was, I mean.

• 58:14Dax Shepard?

  A shocker to you?

• 58:15Speaker 02

  That it was as big as it was, yes. It was a song that I felt like was probably going to raise a few eyebrows and hopefully make people look in the mirror and go, yeah, that probably wasn't a good look. And when we put the video out, it's like, I'm not recreating this. This is what was happening. Like, look at it.

• 58:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 58:30Speaker 02

  When that happened, everything kind of became focused on the BLM movements. And then this church that we had shot it in in Spring Hill where I live, not a church, but a courthouse. They started digging into this courthouse and found where somebody had been hung there. And then that became a thing about it. And so it just kind of became this making something out of nothing to me.

• 58:48Dax Shepard?

  Well, politicizing to the nth degree as much as we can. That person's on that side. This courthouse had to linch.

• 58:55Speaker 02

  The song was essentially saying, look at what we're doing to our country as a whole. This is not right. To put a song like that out and go, hey, you know, as a community, like where I'm from, you band together, you look after each other. And to take that and turn it into this very politicizing song, I knew that it would start a little bit of a conversation that way, just because I know how things are these days with social media. Did I think it would go to the extent it did and turn out to be such a national news headline for the next whatever? No, not at all.

• 59:26Dax Shepard?

  How do you weather those events?

• 59:28Speaker 02

  You're just not going to guilt me into something. We put that song out. When everything started to happen, we put out a press release and said, this is our stance on it. I'm going to talk about it once. Here's your press release. Anything else you got to say is just speculation between you guys. Like, I'm not going to keep going out defending myself, defending the song and letting you guys regurgitate a bunch of news. It's not going to happen.

• 59:49Dax Shepard?

  I'm with you on that.

• 59:49Speaker 02

  Yeah. If I know that I'm not wrong, you're not going to guilt me into it. I can accept it. If I feel like I'm in the wrong, it's like, I can kind of see that. But if I'm not, you ain't going to get it out of me ever.

• 59:59Dax Shepard?

  So it doesn't bother you?

• 1:00:00Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:00:01Dax Shepard?

  Even when I believe in what I did, it bothers me?

• 1:00:03Speaker 02

  Well, you want everybody to obviously like you.

• 1:00:04Dax Shepard?

  I want everyone to like me.

• 1:00:05Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:00:05Dax Shepard?

  And I want everyone to see my intentions. And I want everyone to see that I'm good.

• 1:00:10Speaker 02

  Same. But it's also like, if you don't like me, you don't like my music, you don't like what I say for it. You're never gonna buy a ticket to a show. You're never gonna come see me. I'm never gonna make a fan out of you. So at that point, I don't really care. You're already convinced yourself that you don't like what I'm about. So I'm not gonna waste any time worrying about. I just can't do that. Like we were talking earlier, authentic. I think you have to be true to that. And I'm not gonna go get on a TV show or something and just go and speak my mind for an hour and tell everybody how I feel about the state of the world or whatever. It comes out in a song like that. That's part of my art. That's what I do. And not everybody's probably gonna like that.

• 1:00:46Speaker 01

  And they don't have to.

• 1:00:47Speaker 02

  They don't have to. I don't care.

• 1:00:49Dax Shepard?

  Name a comedian, like, I love Chappelle.

• 1:00:51Speaker 02

  Same.

• 1:00:52Dax Shepard?

  Some people hate him.

• 1:00:53Speaker 02

  He's inappropriate as shit, but he's funny and he was a comedian. So he gets away with it as he should.

• 1:00:59Dax Shepard?

  And I think I have a sense of his spirit and his intention.

• 1:01:02Speaker 02

  And I think he's fair.

• 1:01:04Dax Shepard?

  Everyone gets blasted.

• 1:01:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, nobody's safe. I think that's fun.

• 1:01:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. We're about the same age. Is it harder for you to do songs and make albums the longer you've been at this? Was it easier when you were younger?

• 1:01:19Speaker 02

  I think I'm better at it now. There are certain songs and subject matter that don't make sense for me to sing anymore. Now it's like you're trying to have songs with a little more meat on the bone and things that are gonna make sense for me to sing when I'm in my 50s.

• 1:01:33Dax Shepard?

  That can be hard to evaluate.

• 1:01:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. Hicktown, I mean, it came out, I was 28. She's Country, you know, those kind of things. It's great. But like, at some point, you're gonna have to have some songs that have a little meat on the bone. And now we're writing songs about.

• 1:01:45Dax Shepard?

  Retirement communities.

• 1:01:46Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:01:48Speaker 02

  Things like family members going through things like dementia, but still having the things that people expect from us on a record too. So it's just kind of that weird new era for us.

• 1:01:58Dax Shepard?

  What are your thoughts about retirement or when you back off? And what's that? Mental gymnastics for you?

• 1:02:05Speaker 02

  I don't think I'm there yet. For me, I still enjoy it too much to not do it.

• 1:02:10Dax Shepard?

  And you've pared it down enough that it's manageable.

• 1:02:13Speaker 02

  I've made it to where it works for me.

• 1:02:14Dax Shepard?

  55 versus 200 is a big difference.

• 1:02:16Speaker 02

  Some years maybe 50, some years maybe 60. I still enjoy it too much, man. We just finished an album, so I still love that side of it. You know, I look at things that are going on now, like the Sphere out in Las Vegas, going and doing some residency.

• 1:02:28Dax Shepard?

  Have you been to some shows there?

• 1:02:30Speaker 02

  No, but Chesney just did his out there and Sean Silva, who is our video director too, did all the content for that and seen a ton of stuff. I think Backstreet Boys just did one.

• 1:02:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:40Speaker 02

  Killer. I think that's probably in our future to hit Vegas, do some residencies, but me to just stop touring and even doing it the way we do it. This is what I've wanted to do from the time I can remember. I've gotten to do it for the last 20 years and they still let me do it. It works out for me though, because I take half the year off and I work half the year. And so that half the year I'm off, it's like we're traveling. I just got back from Europe.

• 1:03:01Dax Shepard?

  Where'd you go?

• 1:03:02Speaker 02

  Went to London, went to see the band Oasis.

• 1:03:05Speaker 01

  Oh, did? Oh my God, amazing.

• 1:03:08Dax Shepard?

  Did they get in a fight on stage?

• 1:03:08Speaker 02

  No, I was hoping they would though.

• 1:03:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, of course. That's what you buy a ticket for.

• 1:03:11Speaker 02

  It was awesome. We saw their first show in Cardiff. It was on July 4th. So first show after 16 years and it was killer.

• 1:03:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Buying a ticket to Oasis is like going to a hockey game. You're going to see a fight.

• 1:03:21Speaker 02

  75,000 people in the stadium sold it out two nights in a row. And they're doing like five or six nights at Wembley that holds like 90,000.

• 1:03:29Dax Shepard?

  Whoa.

• 1:03:30Speaker 02

  They're huge over there, but it was so fun, man.

• 1:03:32Dax Shepard?

  Okay. So on the topic of the new album, does it have a title yet? It's going to come out in August or September?

• 1:03:38Speaker 02

  The single is going to come out somewhere around first part of September. Doesn't have a title yet. I literally just turned it in to the label a couple of weeks ago. So if you've got any cool titles, just text me.

• 1:03:47Dax Shepard?

  I'll hit you with some. I might need to hear a track or two. So that's not completely disconnected with the material. But you kind of mentioned it. So I'm presuming the dementia's family situations on the upcoming album?

• 1:03:58Speaker 02

  My uncle has passed away of Lewy body dementia, like in the last year. And we've got another family member that's dealing with that kind of thing. And so, you know, we got some songs we wrote, kind of to talk about that.

• 1:04:09Dax Shepard?

  I don't want to get too lofty here, but you talk about these political differences and then you really talk about like, do you have a family member that's dealt with addiction? We all have. Do you have a family member dealing with dementia or Alzheimer's? Yeah, I think we all have. These real things. We're all doing the same shit.

• 1:04:26Speaker 02

  You kind of hit on that common denominator that everybody can relate to.

• 1:04:30Dax Shepard?

  But no one leads with that anymore. Everyone's leading with the thing that is going to be problematic.

• 1:04:35Speaker 02

  That's the beauty of making albums and stuff these days is song wise, you go down whatever road you want to. And as you get older, you know, the subject matter gets a little more mature and you deal with shit that you maybe didn't deal with early on, or didn't pay attention to early on in your life. And now it's a real thing. But yeah, new single coming out, I think in September with new music, new album and all that stuff to follow. And so I'm excited for people to hear it.

• 1:04:58Dax Shepard?

  And then you have Jason Aldean Kitchen and Rooftop Bar. You have four of those?

• 1:05:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, the first one opened here Nashville downtown on Broadway. That thing's become a staple here in downtown Nashville. And then we opened one in Gatlinburg, one in Pittsburgh, and then just opened one in Las Vegas last year.

• 1:05:16Dax Shepard?

  You and Kristen hosted the CMTs together?

• 1:05:18Speaker 02

  We did. I was gonna bring that up.

• 1:05:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:05:20Speaker 02

  It's the only time I've ever hosted a show ever was with her. She was my co-host.

• 1:05:24Dax Shepard?

  And how'd you like that?

• 1:05:25Speaker 02

  It was great.

• 1:05:26Dax Shepard?

  She's about as good of a co-host as you can have.

• 1:05:27Speaker 02

  She was awesome. I think we had some teleprompters that went out that night. She was like on it. She saved me. So thank you, Kristen.

• 1:05:35Speaker 01

  They're promoting your institutions at the airport, just so you know. When I was waiting for my bag, I saw you were on the carousel.

• 1:05:42Speaker 02

  I love it. Hey, take what you can get. Any press is good.

• 1:05:46Speaker 01

  Like all these things he has.

• 1:05:48Dax Shepard?

  Oh, they were all in the.

• 1:05:48Speaker 02

  Like the bars.

• 1:05:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, the bars. Yeah, yeah.

• 1:05:51Speaker 02

  Well, Nashville's become such a tourist.

• 1:05:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:54Dax Shepard?

  Do you hate this or not that we're all here? You can be honest.

• 1:05:57Speaker 02

  No. When I first moved here in 98, it was still kind of dumpy. You had a bunch of old bars, not really nice restaurants. It's become like a hotspot and obviously it's great for the city.

• 1:06:08Dax Shepard?

  And do you guys have the kind of community we would fantasize about? Most of y'all musicians do live down here and you guys get to see each other?

• 1:06:15Speaker 02

  A lot of us, I mean, we're touring and stuff. So when we come home off the road, we all kind of scatter and go do our own thing. But you know, a lot of us, like Luke, I can call him and go play golf or go fish. He's in LA a bunch because he's doing, I don't know, a big TV star. Like you, you know, big TV star. But yeah, you got your crew that you hang out with and some that you kind of see occasionally. But we're all kind of based out of here for the most part.

• 1:06:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Well, I just want to read your accolades before you go thirty number ones. You're in a group now of like George Strait and Merle Haggard and Chesney and Alan Jackson, Reba. It's so mega. Twenty million albums sold, twenty billion streams.

• 1:06:51Speaker 02

  It's been a good run.

• 1:06:53Dax Shepard?

  Forty-eight, not even fifty yet.

• 1:06:55Speaker 01

  Congratulations.

• 1:06:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, truly, truly.

• 1:06:58Speaker 02

  Like I said, I was just trying to pay for that fifteen hundred square foot house, man. And here we are.

• 1:07:03Dax Shepard?

  Well, Jason, it's been awesome meeting you, man. I really appreciate you being the first person we interviewed in Nashville. It seems like a really lucky get for us. And you're on tour now. So people, I'm sure they're already sold out, but people should be going to the Full Throttle Tour. You're also going to Australia, New Zealand.

• 1:07:17Speaker 02

  New Zealand, Australia, I think in February next year, but we actually go on the road this week to really kick off the tour. We're in Tulsa, Little Rock and St. Louis, I think, is the first run. So and then we head out west for a little bit.

• 1:07:29Dax Shepard?

  Well, Jason, this has been so awesome. Everyone, check out Full Throttle Tour. All right, brother, be well. I hope that I bump into you now.

• 1:07:36Speaker 02

  Absolutely. Hit me up anytime, man. I got a couple of restaurants you go check out.

• 1:07:40Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta stop at your many, many restaurants.

• 1:07:45Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

• 1:07:52Dax Shepard?

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• 1:08:33Dax Shepard?

  into everything they teach. From your first class to career coaching and beyond, Walden is your partner the whole way. Take the first step and learn at a pace that works for you. Visit waldenu.edu.

• 1:08:47Dax Shepard?

  Set a course for change. Certified to operate by CHEV. This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. Look, I have my dream job. I get to talk to folks I admire like crazy and ask them virtually any question that I want to. I can't imagine a better way to spend my time. But even dream jobs have some not so dreamy parts, the stuff that gets in the way of the actual work. Now that's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what you should do about your busy work. They actually do it, start to finish, cases closed, requests handled, no extra work for you.

• 1:09:27Dax Shepard?

  So you and your team can focus on what matters most, which for me is, are they obsessed with male bodies on the same level as I am?

• 1:09:34Speaker 01

  They never are.

• 1:09:35Dax Shepard?

  To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com. We get support from ZipRecruiter. Oh, get recruiting. So I went down this rabbit hole the other day on real holiday jobs that exist and I couldn't stop. Somebody out there is hiring a ham glazer, a professional ham glazer. Another place is hiring a lead elf, implying a whole hierarchy of elves I had never even considered. Here's the thing, these jobs need real skills. People like that are hard to find. And whether you're hiring for one of these roles or any other role, the best way to find qualified people who are genuinely excited about your role is on ZipRecruiter.

• 1:10:16Dax Shepard?

  And right now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com/dax. Plus ZipRecruiter has a new feature that shows you the most interested qualified candidates first. So you meet the right people faster. No wonder ZipRecruiter is the number one rated hiring site based on G2. Let ZipRecruiter find the right people for your roles, seasonal or otherwise. Try it for free today at ziprecruiter.com/dax. That's ziprecruiter.com/dax. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter.

• 1:10:49Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:11:05Speaker 01

  Which is a fair question.

• 1:11:06Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:11:32Speaker 01

  Sleep mode is genius.

• 1:11:34Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:11:49Speaker 01

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

• 1:11:53Dax Shepard?

  Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

• 1:12:05Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for the fact check so you can hear all the facts that were wrong.

• 1:12:13Speaker 01

  Okay, I have an update.

• 1:12:15Dax Shepard?

  You have an update?

• 1:12:16Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:12:16Dax Shepard?

  What is it?

• 1:12:17Speaker 01

  I was right again.

• 1:12:18Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow. Great. It feels so good to be right, doesn't it?

• 1:12:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. So remember when I said you were right about my period and I gave you a whole thing about that? You were wrong.

• 1:12:27Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay. So it's a bad day for me and a good day for you.

• 1:12:29Speaker 01

  And I was right the whole time.

• 1:12:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:32Speaker 01

  The day I said is the day, which is today.

• 1:12:35Dax Shepard?

  Congratulations.

• 1:12:36Speaker 01

  Thank you. It came.

• 1:12:37Dax Shepard?

  So now we have, we still don't know why you had your clothes on backwards.

• 1:12:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:41Dax Shepard?

  Still a big question.

• 1:12:42Speaker 01

  The original mystery remains.

• 1:12:44Dax Shepard?

  My mom liked being right so much, she made up a song and you'd hear her singing it occasionally throughout the house. And it was, it's such a good feeling to know that you're right.

• 1:12:53Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:12:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. There were more lyrics, but that's the, I guess the chorus.

• 1:12:57Speaker 01

  That was the main takeaway. Do you think you really like, because you grew up hearing that, you really embodied it?

• 1:13:03Dax Shepard?

  I just know it feels great to be right.

• 1:13:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, but it's like, do you know because of the song or do you know?

• 1:13:09Dax Shepard?

  I heard the funniest thing once from an editor, a film editor who had cut some, a couple of movies from an actor.

• 1:13:19Dax Shepard?

  And he said, yeah, you know, his thing is if he, if he has his way, his character's arc is that he'll find out he was right the whole time.

• 1:13:28Dax Shepard?

  Instead of learning a lesson.

• 1:13:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:30Dax Shepard?

  His lesson will be he'll found out, he'll find out he was right the entire time.

• 1:13:33Speaker 01

  That's really funny. It does feel good to be right.

• 1:13:37Dax Shepard?

  It does. It's just important not to gloat. You know, I guess that's all you can do.

• 1:13:43Speaker 01

  And I guess it's good to tell other people when they're right, like I do.

• 1:13:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:47Speaker 01

  Even though you were wrong.

• 1:13:49Dax Shepard?

  I was wrong. Yeah. You know, this was just a topic last night in a, in a 12 step meeting, which was in the book, it said something about big shotism, you know, like.

• 1:14:00Speaker 01

  What's it say?

• 1:14:01Dax Shepard?

  Uh, you know, just like that we have to avoid big shotism.

• 1:14:04Speaker 01

  Don't be a big shot.

• 1:14:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And, um, I was thinking maybe the best you can do is you just don't say anything. Like you're going to think things. I don't know that you can control whether you think something. It's just like the thought pops into your head and really, again, the space between your thought and your actions, therein lies peace, or whatever the saying is. Freedom. Therein lies freedom.

• 1:14:31Dax Shepard?

  So I was thinking like, no, I still have some pretty grotesque thoughts. I've just gotten good at not saying them and that's, I feel like that's all I can, I'm capable of and I'm proud enough of that.

• 1:14:41Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, yes, I don't think we can control our thoughts, but we can control everything else.

• 1:14:47Dax Shepard?

  After the thought.

• 1:14:48Speaker 01

  So we must.

• 1:14:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Increase our bust. We must, we must.

• 1:14:52Speaker 01

  We don't have to do that. Everyone's boobs are gray.

• 1:14:56Dax Shepard?

  I'm trying to increase my bust pretty regularly. I'm doing bench press, which is for the pectorals.

• 1:15:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, but you don't have to increase, no one has to increase their bust. No, it's not a must.

• 1:15:06Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 1:15:07Speaker 01

  It's a choice.

• 1:15:07Dax Shepard?

  But it is from Greece.

• 1:15:09Speaker 01

  No wonder I hate it.

• 1:15:10Dax Shepard?

  Oh yeah, that's right. You don't like Greece.

• 1:15:12Speaker 01

  I don't know if I'm odd to say that.

• 1:15:13Dax Shepard?

  You're the only person in the world that does, because I don't like musicals and even I'm like, it's, it's fun.

• 1:15:18Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:15:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. We made out under the dock.

• 1:15:23Speaker 01

  Please stop.

• 1:15:25Dax Shepard?

  Is that song in particular, one you hate?

• 1:15:26Speaker 01

  I don't like any of the songs. You know, my brother, when he was just a young baby boy.

• 1:15:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:32Speaker 01

  He would be crying in the car, he was a baby. And my mom put the Grease soundtrack on and he-

• 1:15:41Dax Shepard?

  To sue them?

• 1:15:41Speaker 01

  Yes, and it worked. And especially this one song. And so we, I had to listen to it on repeat.

• 1:15:49Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:15:50Speaker 01

  To keep him from crying.

• 1:15:51Dax Shepard?

  I got it. You've associated it with your brother's annoying behavior.

• 1:15:55Speaker 01

  It's separate.

• 1:15:56Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 1:15:56Speaker 01

  I already hated it.

• 1:15:58Dax Shepard?

  That's what's going on.

• 1:15:58Speaker 01

  I already hated it. You know, it's so funny when you think back, like, my brother also was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys.

• 1:16:04Dax Shepard?

  Interesting.

• 1:16:05Speaker 01

  As a little boy.

• 1:16:06Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that's cute.

• 1:16:07Speaker 01

  It's so cute. And I'm sure I was mean to him about it.

• 1:16:11Dax Shepard?

  Of course you were. Does he want to go to the Sphere? Aren't they?

• 1:16:14Speaker 01

  I, exactly. I thought about it recently. I was like, oh, he should go to that. That's his favorite band.

• 1:16:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, when he was six. I still like everything I liked when I was six musically. Like, I never came to hate anything that I once loved musically.

• 1:16:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:16:30Dax Shepard?

  Have you?

• 1:16:31Speaker 01

  I'm trying to think. I mean, I just liked so much Top 40 that I'm sure, I mean, it's hard to say. Now, if I heard it, I'm associating it with that time. So of course I'll like it.

• 1:16:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:42Speaker 01

  But, but do I like it? Probably not.

• 1:16:45Dax Shepard?

  Well, this brings up an update for me. So my deepest superstition, as you already know, do you know what's my deepest superstition?

• 1:16:51Speaker 01

  Uh, putting hats on-

• 1:16:52Dax Shepard?

  There's one worse than that, where it really is like, it's, oh, I'm like, oh, my God.

• 1:16:58Speaker 01

  Can you give me a hint? Cause I do want to guess.

• 1:16:59Dax Shepard?

  It's musical.

• 1:17:02Speaker 01

  Oh, you have to listen to a song. There's a certain song you have to listen to twice.

• 1:17:07Dax Shepard?

  If I hear it accidentally, I have to-

• 1:17:09Speaker 01

  And which one is it again?

• 1:17:10Dax Shepard?

  Stepdad used to play this song like at full volume. And it was like, again, it's associated with like maximum chaos.

• 1:17:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:17:16Dax Shepard?

  My brother and him fighting. And that song was always playing. And I just got it in my head that like, if I heard it once, I had bad luck. And then I had to hear it again. But I was not allowed to touch his record player. And he had the album. So I had no control over it. The song is Jump by Van Halen. Wild jump.

• 1:17:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:33Dax Shepard?

  Um, so I was in Nashville and because I'm in my old cars, uh, and they don't have any way to play my phone through some of them. I was listening to the radio a ton.

• 1:17:42Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:17:43Dax Shepard?

  So I was driving down the road by myself and all of a sudden Jump came on.

• 1:17:47Speaker 01

  Did you slam?

• 1:17:48Dax Shepard?

  My first thought, well, my trick is if I hear it on the radio, I know this is a total workaround that everyone will call bullshit on, but I'll turn the channel to another channel, then turn it back. And I try to count that as a second.

• 1:17:59Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:17:59Dax Shepard?

  Which is, we both know that's bullshit, but that's the best I can do.

• 1:18:02Speaker 01

  Okay, listen, there's no rules because it's all made up.

• 1:18:05Dax Shepard?

  It's all asinine. Yes, yes. I don't know why, but this song came on when I was in Nashville and I go, we're done with this.

• 1:18:13Speaker 01

  Good job.

• 1:18:14Dax Shepard?

  We're done with this.

• 1:18:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:16Dax Shepard?

  And I'm not going to try to listen to it twice. And then I go, and in fact, I'm adding it to my liked songs. So now it is in my liked songs, which I listen to all the time and it comes on once. And I'm like, it's a great fucking song and you're going to get over it and you're going to love.

• 1:18:31Speaker 01

  Immersion therapy.

• 1:18:32Dax Shepard?

  You're going to enjoy it. So I've been listening to it one time randomly a lot.

• 1:18:37Speaker 01

  And does your nose slowly bleed when you listen only once?

• 1:18:41Dax Shepard?

  No, I, my eyes tear black like Wednesdays.

• 1:18:44Speaker 01

  And have you had any bad luck since you started this?

• 1:18:47Dax Shepard?

  No, nothing discernible. No, in fact, I feel like I'm on good luck. Uh, I'm on a good luck wave. I, um, I've discovered this documentary, the Cowboys documentary, not the cheerleading one, which is also great.

• 1:19:01Speaker 01

  Great.

• 1:19:01Dax Shepard?

  But a history of Jerry Jones buying the Cowboys. Are you watching it, Rob? I am not. Buddy, I, I don't, I haven't liked a doc this much since Last Dance.

• 1:19:11Speaker 01

  You don't, what? You just asked Rob because he's a boy?

• 1:19:15Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh. Cause he loves football.

• 1:19:16Speaker 01

  Cause he loves football, not because he's a boy.

• 1:19:18Dax Shepard?

  On the row. I go, Monica, have you seen the doc on the row?

• 1:19:21Speaker 01

  But I love Last Dance. You know that.

• 1:19:24Dax Shepard?

  I know you do. Have you seen it, Monica?

• 1:19:27Speaker 01

  Can you, can you admit that you could have just asked everyone?

• 1:19:30Dax Shepard?

  I could have, but I would, if there was a Roe documentary, I wouldn't ask Rob.

• 1:19:36Speaker 01

  Rob does like football. That's fine.

• 1:19:37Dax Shepard?

  He loves football.

• 1:19:38Speaker 01

  Also, he might love to watch Doc on the road. It's probably great. It's probably gonna be great. I'm gonna make it and produce it.

• 1:19:44Dax Shepard?

  I had a really strong feeling you hadn't watched the Cowboys documentary. Unfortunately, I was correct.

• 1:19:50Speaker 05

  That America's team, The Gambler and his Cowboys?

• 1:19:52Dax Shepard?

  The Gambler and his Cowboys.

• 1:19:54Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:19:54Dax Shepard?

  It's awesome. I do think you should watch it. This was all to encourage you to watch it. I'm not leaving you out. I just wanted to see if I could get a two-way encouragement to you to give it a shot.

• 1:20:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:05Dax Shepard?

  Because you do not need to care about football.

• 1:20:07Speaker 01

  Peer pressure.

• 1:20:08Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so you don't want me?

• 1:20:11Speaker 01

  Okay, so just, just be regular?

• 1:20:13Dax Shepard?

  You wanted me to ask if you've watched it and then no, not recommend it?

• 1:20:17Speaker 01

  That's not what happened. I, I just didn't want you to specifically ask the male in the room about a doc.

• 1:20:24Dax Shepard?

  Football lover.

• 1:20:24Speaker 01

  When you just equated it to Last Dance. So we know it's not just for, I don't like basketball.

• 1:20:33Dax Shepard?

  You don't like basketball, yeah.

• 1:20:35Speaker 01

  And I, and The Last Dance is basically my favorite show that's ever happened.

• 1:20:39Dax Shepard?

  I know, it's a great one.

• 1:20:41Speaker 01

  Anywho, okay, so you want me to watch it, or you think everyone should watch it?

• 1:20:44Dax Shepard?

  It's incredible.

• 1:20:46Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:20:46Dax Shepard?

  What characters. Jerry Jones is such a character. Can I just give you a taste of what happens? So he is a very young guy and he is, I guess, a wildcat, they call him. Maybe that's not the right term, but he is buying oil fields, hoping to strike oil.

• 1:21:03Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:21:04Dax Shepard?

  He is so over-leveraged. He's like $50 million in debt as a young man, and he just keeps gambling. And when he describes the oil well he hits, the noises it was making, and when it just started gushing, and then that one oil well made him $100 million.

• 1:21:22Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:21:24Dax Shepard?

  And then he immediately took that money and bought the Cowboys.

• 1:21:27Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:21:28Dax Shepard?

  And the Cowboys are the most valuable sports team in the world.

• 1:21:32Speaker 01

  Yes, I knew that.

• 1:21:33Dax Shepard?

  Every sport included.

• 1:21:35Speaker 01

  Cheerleaders, yeah.

• 1:21:36Dax Shepard?

  Like a $13 billion value of that team.

• 1:21:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and then he grabs this coach out of college Jimmy Johnson and it's just a great.

• 1:21:48Speaker 01

  Do you think it's because he has two Js?

• 1:21:51Dax Shepard?

  It makes it really great that the alliteration's there.

• 1:21:53Speaker 01

  But like he has two Js, so he's like, the only people I can hire, it's like a small pool because it has to have two Js.

• 1:21:59Dax Shepard?

  They were on a championship college football team together and they knew each other forever. And did you ever watch The U?

• 1:22:07Speaker 01

  Uh, yeah, the thirty for thirty.

• 1:22:08Dax Shepard?

  You did?

• 1:22:08Speaker 01

  Yes, I did.

• 1:22:09Dax Shepard?

  So he was the coach that was like, yeah, you guys.

• 1:22:11Speaker 01

  Robbed you?

• 1:22:11Speaker 05

  I did not, no.

• 1:22:13Speaker 01

  Well, well, well, look at that.

• 1:22:16Dax Shepard?

  If you remember, Jimmy Johnson was the one that was like, yeah, be black. Don't listen to this bullshit that you're a thug.

• 1:22:25Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:22:26Dax Shepard?

  He's cool.

• 1:22:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, he is cool.

• 1:22:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and those two, the owner and him, you know, it's tough to share glory.

• 1:22:34Speaker 01

  It's tough to share glory.

• 1:22:35Dax Shepard?

  It's tough to share glory. I'm not done with it and I don't ever want it to end.

• 1:22:39Speaker 01

  That's fine. I love when there's a show like that.

• 1:22:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:41Speaker 01

  That was Too Much for me, the show Too Much on Netflix.

• 1:22:45Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I did start it per your recommendation and I love it.

• 1:22:49Speaker 01

  Right?

• 1:22:50Dax Shepard?

  It's great.

• 1:22:51Speaker 01

  It's so.

• 1:22:52Dax Shepard?

  It does give me anxiety.

• 1:22:54Speaker 01

  Okay, tell me.

• 1:22:56Dax Shepard?

  Because she's so fragile, like anything could, she could unravel over almost anything. And so it does trigger my like, oh my God, if I was around someone who was always like, I don't know if they're going to unravel at this moment. It's very stressful to me.

• 1:23:13Speaker 01

  I don't know how far you're in, but it's, it's interesting the way they.

• 1:23:16Dax Shepard?

  I love him. He's so hot. He's so hot.

• 1:23:21Speaker 01

  So hot. I listened to this one thing on it that I thought broke it down really, really well, where they were like, this show does such a good job of highlighting the highest. Or like the most manic parts of a relationship. The beginning and the end. Because she's come, she has this other relationship she has come out of.

• 1:23:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:41Speaker 01

  And it's very tumultuous.

• 1:23:42Dax Shepard?

  She's making some really wild.

• 1:23:44Speaker 01

  Isn't she so funny?

• 1:23:46Dax Shepard?

  Oh, she's, she's incredible.

• 1:23:47Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:23:49Dax Shepard?

  She's incredible. And Lena's great when she's on, yeah.

• 1:23:52Speaker 01

  It's, it's, it's a really good show.

• 1:23:54Dax Shepard?

  Really great cast. Really great station.

• 1:23:57Speaker 01

  Well, that's when I was rewatching Girls and I was seeing all these people that she, that they cast before. I was like, God, yeah, some people just really have that knack.

• 1:24:07Dax Shepard?

  They have that knack.

• 1:24:08Speaker 01

  Like Mike White.

• 1:24:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, Mike White.

• 1:24:11Speaker 01

  Mike White had Will Sharp and Megan Fahy on the same season of White Lotus, which means he's a genius.

• 1:24:19Dax Shepard?

  He is a genius.

• 1:24:20Speaker 01

  Anyway, Cowboys, you love them, I'm gonna watch.

• 1:24:22Dax Shepard?

  It's so good. It's so good.

• 1:24:24Speaker 01

  Now, I am coming off of some good luck as well.

• 1:24:27Dax Shepard?

  You are, okay.

• 1:24:28Speaker 01

  Because it's birthday luck still.

• 1:24:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:31Speaker 01

  I still have birthday luck. And, um, people who listen will remember that at the Bowery, I got a tassel, 11/11, the room, this is incredible.

• 1:24:42Dax Shepard?

  Yep.

• 1:24:43Speaker 01

  Wow, big story, tassel. For my birthday, we went to the Four Seasons and went to the pool. I had to get a room for that.

• 1:24:52Dax Shepard?

  Yep.

• 1:24:52Speaker 01

  So, guess what my room number was? You already know, 11/11.

• 1:24:57Dax Shepard?

  Um, 12/12.

• 1:24:59Speaker 01

  11/11 again.

• 1:25:01Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my gosh. This should be your first tattoo.

• 1:25:06Speaker 01

  I actually thought that.

• 1:25:07Dax Shepard?

  I bet you did.

• 1:25:08Speaker 01

  I already thought it, which is why I can't get it, because I guess it's a cliche.

• 1:25:12Dax Shepard?

  Do a lot of people have 11/11?

• 1:25:14Speaker 01

  No, but it's like if you thought and I thought, we all thought it.

• 1:25:17Dax Shepard?

  Or it's just so on brand for you, I don't know.

• 1:25:19Speaker 01

  I don't know. I'm not gonna get any tattoos.

• 1:25:22Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:25:22Speaker 01

  But if I was, um, I think it might be that.

• 1:25:26Dax Shepard?

  You could get XIXI. It wouldn't be so obvious.

• 1:25:31Speaker 01

  I know, but you know, I'm not really into Roman numerals.

• 1:25:33Dax Shepard?

  Those, that's pretty, that's pretty basic stuff.

• 1:25:35Speaker 01

  It's not even, it's just like.

• 1:25:37Dax Shepard?

  It's basic.

• 1:25:37Speaker 01

  It's not for me.

• 1:25:38Dax Shepard?

  It is basic.

• 1:25:39Speaker 01

  Oh, oh, my God.

• 1:25:43Dax Shepard?

  Wait, is this real?

• 1:25:44Speaker 05

  I think so.

• 1:25:46Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so for the listener, Rob just put up a photo of Jennifer Aniston, Jen Aniston, and seemingly she has 1111 tattooed on her wrist.

• 1:25:56Speaker 01

  Oh, or maybe, oh my god.

• 1:26:01Dax Shepard?

  God, yeah. Now you can't because if she, if we ever interview her and you have the same tattoo as her.

• 1:26:07Speaker 01

  But now I have to.

• 1:26:09Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that tipped it.

• 1:26:10Speaker 01

  It was always meant to be.

• 1:26:12Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:15Speaker 01

  Should I get one? Like, because I, since I don't really want anyone to see, you think I could just get a really tiny one in between my big toe and my second toe?

• 1:26:24Dax Shepard?

  Toes are rough. The skin rubs off a lot. Fingers, digits, they can be tough. Like, my bell's not holding up like the rest of my tattoos.

• 1:26:33Speaker 01

  Well, have you ever gotten one in here?

• 1:26:36Dax Shepard?

  It's hard. Yeah, I guess that skin's, it's hard for the tattoo to stay there for whatever reason. I don't know why.

• 1:26:45Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

• 1:26:51Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:27:33Dax Shepard?

  Let yourself run. Explore the new Peloton Tread Flex at onepeloton.com.

• 1:27:46Dax Shepard?

  Do you want to hear my maximum Sim event of my entire life? Other than when I guessed the song you were, you had made up Xanthum Gum?

• 1:27:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:27:52Dax Shepard?

  That still is like, that can't have happened.

• 1:27:56Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:27:58Dax Shepard?

  Xanthum Gum.

• 1:28:03Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so I wrote this script called Send Lawyers, Guns and Money.

• 1:28:07Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:28:07Dax Shepard?

  And it was about my last week of drinking in Kauai.

• 1:28:10Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:28:11Dax Shepard?

  And while I was writing it, I'm just like swimming in the Warren Zevon song, Send Lawyers, Guns and Money. Do you know that song?

• 1:28:19Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:28:20Dax Shepard?

  Okay, I'll cover my face and say it to you. I took home the barmaid, ding ding ding ding ding, like I always do. How was I to know she was with the Russian too? Hey, and it's send lawyers, guns and money. The shit has hit the fan. So as I'm writing this script, and it's about my last week in Hawaii abusing, I decide I should learn to play that guitar. I should learn to play that song on the guitar. So I go on YouTube and I'm trying to find some footage of him playing that so I can look at the chords. And I find this video of him in a small venue and he's talking to the crowd.

• 1:29:01Dax Shepard?

  And he says, I wrote this song after, oh, I gotta add, my last week of, of, of drinking in, in Hawaii was I was taking a vacation between movies because I was exhausted and I needed a break.

• 1:29:15Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:29:16Dax Shepard?

  It didn't turn out to be a replenishing trip, as you can imagine.

• 1:29:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:29:19Dax Shepard?

  So he goes, um, yeah, I wrote this song after a couple of years of hard work and I decided to take an aisle, a trip down to the islands of Hawaii. And after a week of improbable danger in something, I decided I shouldn't take vacations. I took home the barmaid and I was sitting at the computer going, what the fuck? This song is about his week in Hawaii?

• 1:29:45Speaker 01

  That's wild.

• 1:29:47Dax Shepard?

  I thought it was gonna evaporate into the clouds at that point.

• 1:29:50Speaker 01

  My dad was. Helping your sim even before we met.

• 1:29:54Dax Shepard?

  Well, it's all been orchestrated from 1987. You don't even, we don't even know if I existed before 1987.

• 1:30:01Speaker 01

  Because even for you, that was the best year of your life.

• 1:30:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:05Speaker 01

  So like, it's all really, it's stinky.

• 1:30:09Dax Shepard?

  Fucking stank.

• 1:30:10Speaker 01

  Really stinky in here. Anyway, so birthday luck is continuing.

• 1:30:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:14Speaker 01

  Um, birthday weekend, weekend was really nice. Ended up at the, oh, I wanted to check something, maybe another sim moment.

• 1:30:25Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:30:26Speaker 01

  Um, can I look up when War Dogs was? I'm gonna, I already did. 2016, dang.

• 1:30:35Dax Shepard?

  Oops.

• 1:30:36Speaker 01

  One year off. Okay, because in 2016, it was my birthday.

• 1:30:45Speaker 01

  And Kristen planned.

• 1:30:47Dax Shepard?

  You're turning 29?

• 1:30:49Speaker 01

  I guess.

• 1:30:51Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 1:30:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was turning 29 and Kristen planned an escape room party for me and her and you and a group of people. It was, it was really exciting. We get there, go inside, ready to escape. And she had accidentally booked it for the wrong day.

• 1:31:09Dax Shepard?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:31:11Speaker 01

  Which was fine. It was like, what are we gonna do now?

• 1:31:13Dax Shepard?

  Textbook bell.

• 1:31:14Speaker 01

  It is.

• 1:31:14Dax Shepard?

  This is kind of her move.

• 1:31:15Speaker 01

  It happens.

• 1:31:16Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:31:17Speaker 01

  So, you know, it was like, what are we gonna do now? And we pivoted plans, it was your idea. You said, let's go to the chateau and have dinner, have bolognese. I had never been there and I'd been trying to go for a long time.

• 1:31:32Dax Shepard?

  Sure.

• 1:31:33Speaker 01

  And it was really exciting and fun. Then we saw War Dogs. That was like a big birthday, I remember. And it was a good pivot and the bolognese was so good and it was very exciting. Um, and on my birthday, it was a lazy day. Uh, I stayed at the Four Seasons. So then I like woke up and I was just lazy. Callie told me I should order a milkshake in, in my robe.

• 1:31:55Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 1:31:56Speaker 01

  Room service. I didn't.

• 1:31:57Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:31:58Speaker 01

  Um, but I want.

• 1:31:58Dax Shepard?

  That's a rough way to start your day.

• 1:31:59Speaker 01

  That's why. I was like, it's too early.

• 1:32:01Dax Shepard?

  Be downhill from there.

• 1:32:02Speaker 01

  But it also sounded nice, but yeah.

• 1:32:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:04Speaker 01

  Anyway, and then, um, I went to Sunset Tower. Oh, I went shopping. I got myself a cute outfit. And I went to Sunset Tower and then Sunset Tower turned into the chateau where I had bolognese for dinner.

• 1:32:21Dax Shepard?

  You did?

• 1:32:21Speaker 01

  I did. And I thought, oh my gosh. No, I don't think so. I don't really.

• 1:32:25Dax Shepard?

  You don't see very well.

• 1:32:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't have good eyes.

• 1:32:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:28Speaker 01

  Um, and I thought it was its 10 year anniversary, but I guess it was its nine year anniversary.

• 1:32:35Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 1:32:36Speaker 01

  So that is not as sim as I wanted it to be.

• 1:32:39Dax Shepard?

  Okay, it's still great.

• 1:32:41Speaker 01

  Still great. Great day.

• 1:32:42Dax Shepard?

  That's a fun tradition.

• 1:32:44Speaker 01

  It is a fun tradition. Maybe I'll, maybe that'll be a new tradition.

• 1:32:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:32:49Dax Shepard?

  You want to ask Monica out?

• 1:32:52Speaker 01

  Oh yeah. Speaking of this.

• 1:32:54Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:32:55Speaker 01

  I probably shouldn't do it like this with this like long, this like long face.

• 1:32:58Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it sounds like bad news is coming.

• 1:33:00Speaker 01

  It's not bad news. Great news. Great news for the world. Travis and Taylor are engaged.

• 1:33:05Dax Shepard?

  Oh, right. Yeah.

• 1:33:07Speaker 01

  And everyone is happy and I'm so happy. She seems so happy. It makes me feel really, um, fuzzy. Like she got it all and she deserves it and I, I love it and it's hopeful.

• 1:33:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, great.

• 1:33:21Speaker 01

  You know, Lincoln said that they like announced it. They either announced it or like a teacher, the teacher came like into the classroom and told everyone.

• 1:33:28Dax Shepard?

  Oh, really? Yeah, it's all girl school.

• 1:33:30Speaker 01

  All girl school. This is incredible. Anyway, um, but I, I forgot that the whole reason they're together is their podcast. New Heights. He, so he went to the concert to try to give her.

• 1:33:44Dax Shepard?

  Or some bracelets.

• 1:33:46Speaker 01

  Yes. And, but he didn't. He couldn't see her. So then on the show, his brother asked, how was the concert? He said, well, um,

• 1:33:56Speaker 01

  Kind of butt hurt because I really wanted to talk to her, but she doesn't talk to people before or after shows. And I wanted to give her my bracelet. It has my phone number on it.

• 1:34:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:05Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:34:05Dax Shepard?

  That's you. Oh, did he put his phone number in the bracelet?

• 1:34:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:08Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that's adorable.

• 1:34:09Speaker 01

  It's adorable.

• 1:34:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:34:10Speaker 01

  And look, that got him a wife.

• 1:34:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:14Speaker 01

  And here we are.

• 1:34:16Dax Shepard?

  One of the more coveted wives out there.

• 1:34:18Speaker 01

  Of all time. Yes. And here we are almost eight years in to this show and I have zero husbands.

• 1:34:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, but, but, but.

• 1:34:29Speaker 01

  Okay, so I don't mean to complain.

• 1:34:32Dax Shepard?

  She heard that.

• 1:34:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:33Dax Shepard?

  And then she reached out and he said yes.

• 1:34:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:34:37Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, there's a lot of people in the comments that are saying you're hot. They want to meet you. But see, you.

• 1:34:44Speaker 01

  Go ahead.

• 1:34:44Dax Shepard?

  You have said many times you don't want to date a listener.

• 1:34:47Speaker 01

  Unless they're Taylor Swift.

• 1:34:50Dax Shepard?

  Okay, okay.

• 1:34:51Speaker 01

  Also, she wasn't a listener. Just got back to her.

• 1:34:55Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:34:55Speaker 01

  Okay, so who, like, I mean, I could on here. You know what's unfair? I would look crazy and he didn't look crazy. And that's.

• 1:35:05Dax Shepard?

  Well, he had a lot going for him. No, it's not.

• 1:35:09Speaker 01

  Going for me. What do you mean?

• 1:35:11Dax Shepard?

  No, it's, it's, it's inherently adorable that this enormous football player, this gruff bone crusher, made a Taylor Swift bracelet.

• 1:35:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:35:24Dax Shepard?

  So you have to do something as completely out of the box as that. That's what made that so adorable. It's like, oh, wow, that guy made a bracelet with his number for Taylor Swift.

• 1:35:33Speaker 01

  It was really cute.

• 1:35:34Dax Shepard?

  There's a lot to the product, you know, it's not.

• 1:35:36Speaker 01

  What am I supposed to do? Like, go beat someone up?

• 1:35:39Dax Shepard?

  Well, we gotta.

• 1:35:40Speaker 01

  And then have scars on and like, talk about that?

• 1:35:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I mean, get good with a butterfly knife and pull a butterfly knife. Like, you gotta, you gotta put the same effort he put into it.

• 1:35:49Speaker 01

  It takes like four minutes to make a friendship bracelet.

• 1:35:52Dax Shepard?

  You have to start by pursuing someone, which he did. Yeah. So, yeah, you're gonna have to pursue like he did. And then he got the woman of his dreams.

• 1:36:01Speaker 01

  Okay, you're, yes, that is all true. This is all correct. But, and I'm kidding. And I do think, maybe I'm wrong, but I want to be honest.

• 1:36:11Dax Shepard?

  Feeling to know that you're right.

• 1:36:13Speaker 01

  I want to be honest. I think if a girl did that. Did that exact thing he did.

• 1:36:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:36:20Speaker 01

  Went to Chris Martin's show.

• 1:36:22Dax Shepard?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:36:23Speaker 01

  Wanted to give him a thing, didn't get to, went on her podcast and was like, oh, like I didn't get to give him my phone number. I'm sad about that. I don't think people would think it was as cute as what happened.

• 1:36:38Dax Shepard?

  Again, you're trying to frame it as female male.

• 1:36:41Speaker 01

  I'm just asking. I'm not trying to say it's sexist, but I'm really trying, like, I'm being honest.

• 1:36:45Dax Shepard?

  Well, you said if a girl did that.

• 1:36:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:36:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. So you are framing it as a, there's a double standard between men and women.

• 1:36:51Speaker 01

  But I'm not trying to make it. I'm just being honest about the fact that I think I even would be like, that's not cute.

• 1:36:56Dax Shepard?

  If he had gone to a Shania Twain concert, hoping to bump into her and give her a number, that's not what it was. You're, you're really ignoring the fact that it was a huge NFL player that was a Swifty. That was such a, that, that's such a unique thing. That's what's happening there. It's not that he's male or female. It's that here, here's the last guy you expect to be a Swifty is a Swifty.

• 1:37:20Speaker 01

  Well, then, okay. So then that's, so if you're reversing it.

• 1:37:24Dax Shepard?

  You going and finding some grungy punk rock dude and you come and bring him flowers or something, you know, that's.

• 1:37:30Speaker 01

  That's just not my type.

• 1:37:31Dax Shepard?

  Right. But that's why that's not a story, but it's not because you're a woman. It's because it's not this crazy first time you've ever heard this.

• 1:37:39Speaker 01

  Yeah. Was he a Swifty or was he just wanting to date her?

• 1:37:44Dax Shepard?

  I think he's a Swifty.

• 1:37:45Speaker 01

  Well, now.

• 1:37:45Dax Shepard?

  Knows to make the bracelet.

• 1:37:47Speaker 01

  Now he's a Swifty.

• 1:37:48Dax Shepard?

  I bet he's a Swifty. A lot of, Andrew Schultz is a huge Swifty.

• 1:37:52Speaker 01

  I know. So then if a lot of people are Swifties, then why would it be?

• 1:37:58Dax Shepard?

  Mostly women are Swifties. I've been to a show. It's 90 plus percent female.

• 1:38:05Speaker 01

  Hmm. Yeah, I guess. I don't know. Now we're doing like.

• 1:38:08Dax Shepard?

  It's, it's very female.

• 1:38:09Speaker 01

  Okay. Well, whatever. I guess this is getting twisted.

• 1:38:12Dax Shepard?

  So if you were like, if there was like some punk band that only dudes liked, Megadeth.

• 1:38:17Speaker 01

  Ew.

• 1:38:17Dax Shepard?

  See this?

• 1:38:19Speaker 01

  I don't even know what that is, but I'm never going to date a death guy. Pro Death? Not even pro.

• 1:38:26Dax Shepard?

  We're trying to make this apples to apples. So you would have to have entered into the most masculine scene. And people go like, oh, my God, this cute little girl.

• 1:38:36Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:38:36Dax Shepard?

  Likes these.

• 1:38:37Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, that guy kinda looks like you on the right.

• 1:38:40Dax Shepard?

  Oh, boy, that's not flattering.

• 1:38:42Speaker 01

  No, different hair. What do you mean? He's not, he's not unattractive.

• 1:38:48Dax Shepard?

  That's a story. That's my point is you showing up at that show is you showing up at a Slayer show and you're in love with the drummer is hilarious.

• 1:38:58Speaker 05

  This is them now, so they're maybe a little older.

• 1:39:00Dax Shepard?

  Uh, you know, yeah, you gotta find the equivalent of Megadeth or Metallica of this era. And people go like, oh, that's super cute liberal little podcast host. Loved that crazy maniac rocker. That's a story.

• 1:39:15Speaker 01

  But I'm gonna push on back on that like, it's not, it's not crazy for any man to like Taylor Swift. She's a, she's a very cute blonde, pretty girl with a, with a talent.

• 1:39:33Dax Shepard?

  I think it's crazy and the, and the reaction would substantiate that, that a, that one of the most gruesome NFL players was a Swifty. That is, that's why it was so contagious.

• 1:39:44Speaker 01

  Versus wanted to go on a date with her.

• 1:39:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I'm saying Swifty. When I heard it was like, this guy knows about the bracelets. He made her a bracelet. He's a Swifty.

• 1:39:53Speaker 01

  Okay, can we, you're saying it so like, you know, a hundred percent and we don't. Cause he went there, he said he went there.

• 1:40:02Dax Shepard?

  Cause he was a Swifty, he's in love with her and he wanted to give her a number.

• 1:40:06Speaker 01

  He, he, he wanted, yeah, he wanted to give her.

• 1:40:08Dax Shepard?

  You're saying he just wanted to fuck her.

• 1:40:10Speaker 01

  No, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying he liked her. Like he was like, I wanna date that girl. That girl seems awesome. She's pretty, she's talented, she's cool. I wanna date her. Like, I think a lot of men think about Taylor. I will say, and I don't know about the Megadeth community, but my guess is, um.

• 1:40:31Dax Shepard?

  Great backstory. Dave Mustang was in Metallica and left. He got kicked out of the band and then started that band, which became their big rival.

• 1:40:39Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:40:40Dax Shepard?

  Right, Rob? Is that the story?

• 1:40:41Speaker 05

  Yeah, he's in a doc talking about how. It haunted him, even though he sold 15 million records still.

• 1:40:48Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 1:40:49Dax Shepard?

  Still thought about getting kicked out of Metallica.

• 1:40:51Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, I'm sure a lot of women want to date and marry them. Marrying Megadeth, I'm gonna just say as a whole, is a real choice.

• 1:41:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you don't want to, and I-

• 1:41:06Speaker 01

  Well, I don't know. I've never met them, so maybe I'd love them.

• 1:41:09Dax Shepard?

  They're also way older.

• 1:41:10Speaker 01

  Okay, I don't care.

• 1:41:12Dax Shepard?

  Again, I'm saying the equivalent of Megadeth.

• 1:41:14Speaker 01

  I know, but I'm just saying, I think that's like a real choice. And I think dating Taylor is like dating Bradley. Or like Timmy. Or like someone huge in the popular zeitgeist, not niche.

• 1:41:36Dax Shepard?

  Okay. They're enormous. They sold 50 million.

• 1:41:39Speaker 01

  Okay, great. I'm proud of them.

• 1:41:40Dax Shepard?

  Metallica's not niche at all. Metallica's-

• 1:41:42Speaker 01

  No, I know. But no, it's still niche to date.

• 1:41:46Dax Shepard?

  What I think, we have a different opinion. I think what was charming about the entire Travis Taylor story is that this big NFL player was a sweetie at heart because he was a Swiftie.

• 1:41:56Speaker 01

  He's a sweet boy.

• 1:41:57Dax Shepard?

  And I think an equally big story would be that this sweetie liberal little girl is into this crazy off-the-chain band. That's the story that I'm seeing. Other people would also find that charming. And the members would be, the guys, the women that came to shows, I've been to these shows, the ones that came that were attracted to Megadeth, they looked like they were in Megadeth.

• 1:42:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:42:22Dax Shepard?

  You don't. If you showed up in the row with flowers, that's a story.

• 1:42:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, but I just don't like that music very much.

• 1:42:30Dax Shepard?

  They'd be so charmed by how unexpected this obsession is of yours.

• 1:42:34Speaker 01

  Right. I guess you're right. There's an element of unexpected. I'm just, the problem is I'm not unexpected.

• 1:42:42Dax Shepard?

  Yes, you are in areas that you don't have any interest in.

• 1:42:46Speaker 01

  What do you mean?

• 1:42:47Dax Shepard?

  You don't like Metallica.

• 1:42:48Speaker 01

  That's what I'm saying. That's expected. I'm saying I'm not, I'm saying the problem is I'm not unexpected. The things I like are expected.

• 1:42:57Dax Shepard?

  Right, yeah, yes.

• 1:42:58Speaker 01

  So this is the problem, is my point.

• 1:43:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you'd have to.

• 1:43:00Speaker 01

  So I'm not gonna be able to go to Megadeth.

• 1:43:03Dax Shepard?

  You're gonna give flowers to the same guy every girl likes already.

• 1:43:07Speaker 01

  Should I say it, that it's Josh O'Connor?

• 1:43:10Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, say it. I don't know why we're holding back.

• 1:43:11Speaker 01

  But he is dating someone.

• 1:43:12Dax Shepard?

  He's not always gonna be dating someone.

• 1:43:14Speaker 01

  Maybe he is, and I wish them well if that's true. Josh O'Connor is extremely attractive, and I find him very cute and endearing and fashion.

• 1:43:23Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:23Speaker 01

  And he is exactly expected for who I would like.

• 1:43:27Dax Shepard?

  That's right.

• 1:43:29Speaker 01

  So it's not gonna come as a shock, but I guess I'm calling it in, but I'm not, because that's actually rude, because he's dating someone.

• 1:43:36Dax Shepard?

  Like, if you tried to date Ben Shapiro.

• 1:43:40Speaker 01

  Dax.

• 1:43:41Dax Shepard?

  I'm saying if you tried to date Ben Shapiro.

• 1:43:44Speaker 01

  You're putting me in a tough situation.

• 1:43:46Dax Shepard?

  He would absolutely notice that happen. He'd be like, you're kidding me. She, she wrote me a letter and likes me? Of another right wing, it wouldn't break through the clutter.

• 1:43:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's fine. I'm not, I can't go against my values. I don't think Travis went against his values. And I don't think, me, it wouldn't be going against my values for Megadeth either, because I don't know, well, unless, again, I'm not really pro-death, so maybe it is against my values, but I...

• 1:44:15Dax Shepard?

  You think about it a lot, and so do they, so that's a good match made in heaven.

• 1:44:22Dax Shepard?

  They're just more mega of what you already are.

• 1:44:26Speaker 01

  That wouldn't be a good match. I need someone to temper the death talk, you know?

• 1:44:31Dax Shepard?

  That's true, that's true. Should we do some facts?

• 1:44:35Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:44:36Speaker 05

  You should date the singer of Ghost. That's, that's some equivalent.

• 1:44:39Dax Shepard?

  Or Monica hit on one of the...

• 1:44:41Speaker 01

  Oh!

• 1:44:42Dax Shepard?

  I was gonna say Guar.

• 1:44:43Speaker 05

  Guar was on there.

• 1:44:44Dax Shepard?

  Monica tried to date one of the Guar guys.

• 1:44:46Speaker 05

  I think they're older.

• 1:44:47Dax Shepard?

  Show a picture of Guar. I know they're too old, but that guy doesn't look terribly young either.

• 1:44:52Speaker 01

  This is creeps, Rob. What?

• 1:44:54Dax Shepard?

  Where'd you see Guar?

• 1:44:54Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:44:58Speaker 05

  I gotta get a good one.

• 1:44:59Dax Shepard?

  Truly, you'd stop the whole show. If you got up on stage during Guar and presented one of them with like an axe, like a custom engraved axe.

• 1:45:08Speaker 01

  Oh my god. I'm gonna have nightmares about that.

• 1:45:14Dax Shepard?

  People, that would make national news.

• 1:45:17Speaker 01

  Oh my god, I take that down. That is truly scary.

• 1:45:21Dax Shepard?

  They like shoot blood out of their guitars.

• 1:45:23Speaker 01

  Penis, oh.

• 1:45:24Speaker 05

  Oh yeah, they have like, here, wait, I got one more.

• 1:45:27Speaker 01

  He has spikes on his penis.

• 1:45:28Dax Shepard?

  Show the whole band. That one's a little intense.

• 1:45:32Speaker 05

  This guy, his penis is out.

• 1:45:34Dax Shepard?

  Oh, he's got several penises.

• 1:45:36Speaker 01

  Penis is out.

• 1:45:37Dax Shepard?

  He's got several.

• 1:45:38Speaker 05

  I mean, it's not, not his real penis.

• 1:45:39Dax Shepard?

  No, they're prosthetics.

• 1:45:40Speaker 05

  They shoot like blood.

• 1:45:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and he's got two of them.

• 1:45:43Speaker 01

  You guys.

• 1:45:44Dax Shepard?

  Oh, there's the whole gang.

• 1:45:47Speaker 01

  This is so unfair. I have to date Guar?

• 1:45:51Dax Shepard?

  No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying you have to date Guar. I'm saying if you want it to be the same story.

• 1:45:57Speaker 01

  But it's so unfair.

• 1:45:58Dax Shepard?

  It's gotta be that crazy where people go like, I can't believe Monica likes Guar.

• 1:46:03Speaker 01

  I don't think it's gonna work out with me and Guar.

• 1:46:05Dax Shepard?

  Oh, let's put it another way. No, he's turned a corner. But there was a period where Marilyn Manson could have been the thing. Cause he, right after Bowling Kalimbine, and all we really knew was like, wow, this guy's way fucking smarter and more thoughtful than we knew. And you were super into it. And you came this little good girl from a podcast and you approached him.

• 1:46:27Speaker 01

  I'm not a good girl.

• 1:46:28Dax Shepard?

  It would, it would, it would catch his attention.

• 1:46:31Speaker 01

  I am not interested in people who like to scare other people. Okay?

• 1:46:38Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so it's not gonna happen.

• 1:46:40Speaker 01

  Anyway, um, Guar, call me.

• 1:46:45Dax Shepard?

  Hit me on Instagram, Guar.

• 1:46:49Speaker 01

  Okay, so he has nasal polyps, unfortunately.

• 1:46:52Dax Shepard?

  Jason?

• 1:46:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:54Dax Shepard?

  Phew, that sounds rough.

• 1:46:56Speaker 01

  Nasal polyps are soft, painless, non-cancerous growth that develop in the lining of the nose or sinuses. They are often associated with chronic inflammation and can cause nasal congestion, a runny nose, and impaired sense of smell.

• 1:47:09Dax Shepard?

  Do you think I have nasal polyps?

• 1:47:11Speaker 01

  Um.

• 1:47:11Dax Shepard?

  I thought I had allergies, but maybe I have some. I doubt I have polyps because I get the screen all the time, the, uh, the butt exam, colonoscopy, and they've never found a polyp. So I don't think I'm polyp prone.

• 1:47:23Speaker 01

  Are they looking in your nose?

• 1:47:25Dax Shepard?

  No, but I'm, I'm thinking if you're a polyp-y person, you're a polyp-y person.

• 1:47:28Speaker 01

  I don't want to make that connection.

• 1:47:30Dax Shepard?

  Everyone get a colonoscopy.

• 1:47:31Speaker 01

  Um.

• 1:47:33Dax Shepard?

  Wow, though, that's, those are all my symptoms.

• 1:47:35Speaker 01

  No, you have, you can smell things.

• 1:47:37Dax Shepard?

  I don't know. Remember I smelled your shirt the other day and I couldn't smell anything?

• 1:47:40Speaker 01

  No, you walked in and you were like, something smells funny that no one else smelled, and then I assumed it was my vintage shirt.

• 1:47:45Dax Shepard?

  Maybe I was smelling my polyps. Maybe they smell musty.

• 1:47:47Speaker 01

  Well, that's possible. Well, anyone can get them. They're more common in adults, particularly those with conditions like asthma or allergies. Treatment options range from medications to surgery, depending on the size and severity of the polyps. So he want, he needs surgery, but he doesn't want to get it.

• 1:48:04Dax Shepard?

  Scary.

• 1:48:05Speaker 01

  Very scary.

• 1:48:06Dax Shepard?

  And when you're, that's your career.

• 1:48:08Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:48:09Dax Shepard?

  Getting in there and messing around, monkeying around.

• 1:48:11Speaker 01

  Although, you know what's funny, speaking of surgeries and people getting plastic surgery?

• 1:48:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:48:19Speaker 01

  You know, it is like, people are really willy-nilly with their, their face, and their face is what got them there in the first place.

• 1:48:27Dax Shepard?

  It's the moneymaker.

• 1:48:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's tricky.

• 1:48:30Dax Shepard?

  I think facelifts have evolved. I think they too have like gone through the same radical progress all medicine has. I think they're different than. In the seventies when Burt Reynolds was getting them, you know?

• 1:48:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, more people are getting them, that's for sure.

• 1:48:47Dax Shepard?

  I think that they're different now, too. I think there's like different versions that you can get that aren't just like, you know, the Burt Reynolds kind.

• 1:48:54Speaker 01

  I don't know. I think it's still like, it's still in a

• 1:48:57Dax Shepard?

  Still Burt Reynolds?

• 1:48:58Speaker 01

  Tense surgery, I think. But yeah, like you gotta be careful.

• 1:49:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I keep hearing they're very common. Are you hearing this too?

• 1:49:04Speaker 01

  A lot of people apparently

• 1:49:06Dax Shepard?

  Yes, apparently.

• 1:49:08Speaker 01

  Have them. I

• 1:49:10Dax Shepard?

  Have you had one?

• 1:49:11Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:49:12Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:49:12Speaker 01

  No, but then

• 1:49:14Dax Shepard?

  I would love one, but when could I do it? When would I be able to recover? We're on camera every day of the year. Yeah.

• 1:49:20Speaker 01

  Um, I don't think you should get it. Like I

• 1:49:24Dax Shepard?

  I'm not good looking enough. Like, that's not my brand. You know, if I was like a pretty boy or gorgeous, I'd have to. That's my thing.

• 1:49:30Speaker 01

  Well.

• 1:49:31Dax Shepard?

  And I'm just kinda like, someone wrote in a comment, I, oh, cause I talked to camera to explain why the episode wasn't up. And a guy wrote, your face looks like a scrotum.

• 1:49:41Speaker 01

  Okay, but Dax, that's also because

• 1:49:43Dax Shepard?

  Is that accurate?

• 1:49:44Speaker 01

  No, it's not. But I did watch the video and I was like, why is he holding it like that?

• 1:49:50Dax Shepard?

  You thought it looked like a scrotum too?

• 1:49:51Speaker 01

  I did not think that, but I did think, um, he, he is putting zero effort into like making himself look how he actually looks. Like it was like held at kind of a weird angle.

• 1:50:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you know why?

• 1:50:06Speaker 01

  And then you're like rubbing your eyes.

• 1:50:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you know why?

• 1:50:09Speaker 01

  Why? Grab the toilet?

• 1:50:11Dax Shepard?

  A, I was, I was on the couch and I'm like, I gotta address this. It's so frustrating that people think we just didn't put an episode out.

• 1:50:17Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:50:17Dax Shepard?

  And then I'm in my house and my kids are running around and like, I'm not trying to show too much of my internal, personal space. So I'm like trying to find an angle where you know, kids are running by.

• 1:50:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:50:28Dax Shepard?

  That, you know, and I, so I think it was a, it was a function over fashion.

• 1:50:32Speaker 01

  I understand.

• 1:50:33Dax Shepard?

  Decision.

• 1:50:34Speaker 01

  I understand.

• 1:50:34Dax Shepard?

  Well, the problem's been fixed and it's down now. Anyway.

• 1:50:37Speaker 01

  The epis- oh, it's, you took the post down?

• 1:50:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, cause it no longer was relevant.

• 1:50:40Speaker 01

  Oh, wow. Well, then no one can see what we're talking about.

• 1:50:43Dax Shepard?

  You were a little disappointed with the angle.

• 1:50:45Speaker 01

  Well, I was like

• 1:50:46Dax Shepard?

  He's really gotten reckless.

• 1:50:47Speaker 01

  I wish he could have. Talk to me about this before he did it. And then also like, we could have held the camera a little different or something. Anyway, um.

• 1:50:56Dax Shepard?

  Because people find everything like what's funny is so many, I kept seeing in the, the comments like, yeah, shut the door, the AC's on. And then I immediately get defensive and I'm like, the door was open? They think that we had the door open, the AC was on? No, they're talking about a little piece of paper that says on the door, shut the door, the AC's on, that they're reading backwards. It's not lit.

• 1:51:15Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:51:16Dax Shepard?

  I had to dig in this video to see what the hell they were talking about.

• 1:51:19Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 1:51:20Dax Shepard?

  And that's what it was. That's why like, I had to hold it. We're just, you know, you can't see anything.

• 1:51:25Speaker 01

  Come in here and done it. This space is already exposed. Like, so just like check, you know, just like maybe check in with me. I have a lot of.

• 1:51:34Dax Shepard?

  You have a lot of thoughts about it.

• 1:51:35Speaker 01

  I have a lot of experience in, um, PR. Okay. Broken Bo Records. We said he joined in 2003, 2003.

• 1:51:50Dax Shepard?

  2003?

• 1:51:51Speaker 01

  Phew, 2005.

• 1:51:52Dax Shepard?

  2005.

• 1:51:53Speaker 01

  According to the internet.

• 1:51:54Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:51:55Speaker 01

  Did Waylon Jennings have a history of cheating? Yes, he had a reputation for infidelity during his marriage to Jesse Colter. While they were a couple known for their strong partnership and love, both in life and music, Jennings also struggled with substance abuse and infidelity, which was openly discussed in Jesse Colter's autobiography.

• 1:52:14Dax Shepard?

  Ooh, I should read that.

• 1:52:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, you should. Um, okay. The Vegas shooting. I was really grateful that he talked about it.

• 1:52:24Dax Shepard?

  Me too.

• 1:52:25Speaker 01

  Cause that's a really vulnerable, hard thing to talk about.

• 1:52:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:52:28Speaker 01

  And I was happy that he did, impressed that he did.

• 1:52:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:52:32Speaker 01

  It was in 2017. It was really bad. Deadliest mass shooting, uh, by a lone gunman in American history.

• 1:52:40Dax Shepard?

  Oof, horrendous.

• 1:52:42Speaker 01

  Horrendous. Um, and.

• 1:52:46Speaker 01

  I can't imagine being

• 1:52:48Dax Shepard?

  At the show, yeah.

• 1:52:50Speaker 01

  Being the person that has all these people here.

• 1:52:53Dax Shepard?

  You know, if that happened at our alive event, the guilt I have over.

• 1:52:57Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. Um, but then we talked about SNL, him doing SNL. And then he was saying that he wrote his own, like, he was like, I'm not having anyone write anything for me for that. Um, so he wrote with his people, I guess. And he said this, I'm Jason Aldean. This week, we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history. Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night, how to pick up the pieces and start to heal. So many people are hurting. There are children, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and they are all part of our family. So I want to say to them, we hurt for you and we hurt with you. You can be sure that we're going to walk through these tough times together every step of the way, because when America is at its best, our bond and our spirit are unbreakable.

• 1:53:40Speaker 01

  And then he played Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down because he had just passed away.

• 1:53:45Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:46Speaker 01

  A lot happened.

• 1:53:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:53:49Speaker 01

  So, um, oh, and it was Gal Gadot.

• 1:53:53Dax Shepard?

  Was the host.

• 1:53:53Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Um, okay, well, that's it.

• 1:53:59Dax Shepard?

  That's it? All right. Love you.

• 1:54:01Speaker 01

  Love you.