Marcus Mumford

Marcus Mumford (Prizefighter, Sigh No More, Wilder Mind) is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer, and producer. Marcus joins the Armchair Expert to discuss enjoying occupying the liminal space between his kids and his parents, being born into the church attended by Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, and becoming pen pals with his wife Carey Mulligan at bible camp when they were 10 years old. Marcus and Dax talk about finally feeling able to embrace being an artist with his new record, forming Mumford & Sons from childhood friends, and not understanding ahead of time how performing at the Grammys would impact their career. Marcus explains loving to tour in weird ways like on a boat and a train, releasing a weight with his song Cannibal, and the magical experience of readiness on his new album Prizefighter. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

• 0:00Dax Shepard?

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

• 0:05Speaker 01

  Are you excited that your name is very similar to the little boy's name in

• 0:12Dax Shepard?

  Game of Thrones or Night of the Seven Kingdoms? I do like it. But his name is Dax Sol. His middle name is S O L.

• 0:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:21Dax Shepard?

  Makes me think he's got really cool parents.

• 0:23Speaker 01

  Well, I think he does.

• 0:25Dax Shepard?

  We're in love with him.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  He's so good.

• 0:28Dax Shepard?

  This is an intro, though. I don't know if this is the place for it. Okay.

• 0:32Speaker 01

  It's okay. Marcus probably loves him.

• 0:34Dax Shepard?

  This is an incredible episode. This fuck, we, we, we are so happy with this guest. This was so much fun. Marcus Mumford. Marcus is a Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He's the lead singer of the band Mumford and Sons. His albums include Sigh No More, Babble, Wilder Mind, Delta Ding Ding Ding, Rushmere, and is a new Mumford and Sons album out now called Prizefighter. Listen to it. We're lucky enough to have heard him blast us.

• 1:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, spoilers.

• 1:08Dax Shepard?

  With a live performance.

• 1:09Speaker 01

  He sings for us in this episode, and it's incredible. And the album is incredible.

• 1:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, he sings the shit out of that song. Powerful. Please enjoy Marcus Mumford. This episode of Armchair Expert is presented by Apple TV, the new U.S. home of Formula One. Starting March 7th, you can watch complete All Access live coverage of every Grand Prix, including practice, qualifying, and sprints, all in one place. Watch every race live only on Apple TV. We get support from Quince.

• 1:40Speaker 01

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

• 1:49Dax Shepard?

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

• 2:12Speaker 01

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

• 2:30Dax Shepard?

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

• 2:39Speaker 01

  It's a uniform.

• 2:40Dax Shepard?

  Mm-hmm.

• 2:40Speaker 01

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

• 2:58Dax Shepard?

  Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Armchair Expert. It's the best way to support the show. This episode is supported by Dell. Ready to upgrade your PC? The Dell Top Tech Event is here. And you can skip the research because independent tech experts already did it. Dell has laptops, desktops, and monitors that have been tested, reviewed, and named a winner by the publishers you trust. So instead of spending hours researching, you get a shortlist that's already proven.

• 3:43Dax Shepard?

  Take the Dell XPS 13 Laptop. Built for those who want better. Whether you're studying, working, or just getting things done, its thin and light design makes it easy to take anywhere. It has a touchscreen you'll love using, a battery built to last through your busiest days, and impressive performance powered by Intel Core processors. That's the thing about the Dell Top Tech Event. The experts already found the winners. All that's left is finding yours. While shopping, you'll also find perks like Dell Rewards, fast free shipping, premium support, and financing with flexible payment options. Shop the winners now at dell.com/deals. That's dell.com/deals.

• 4:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's you. Look at that beautiful guitar. It's gorgeous.

• 4:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, the inlay. Where do you guys live? Oh shit, she grew up going to school driving by Stonehenge. Am I remembering the right person? No, I'm not.

• 5:01Speaker 01

  Oh, who are you thinking of?

• 5:02Dax Shepard?

  I'm fucking thinking of the gal from...

• 5:04Speaker 01

  This is embarrassing, we're cutting all this.

• 5:06Dax Shepard?

  We're leaving it all in, I'm failing in my 51st year. No, no, that was from Fargo season five and Ted Lasso. Um, most incredible actress. Junot Temple. She's from down there and she used to cross Stonehenge on the way to school. She went to Beedale's, didn't she? Is that what it was? School that lots of that.

• 5:25Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 5:25Dax Shepard?

  Lily Allen went there.

• 5:27Speaker 01

  Oh wow, very in the news right now.

• 5:30Dax Shepard?

  Yes, man. We just had our 1,000th episode and I'm pretty good at keeping the details straight, but I have conflated two English powerhouse actresses.

• 5:40Speaker 01

  But Carrie was also Zoom.

• 5:42Dax Shepard?

  She was Zoom, so that's harder though. Oh, Carrie was Zoom, was she?

• 5:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. So that's harder.

• 5:48Dax Shepard?

  It's like they happened, but they didn't happen.

• 5:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:51Dax Shepard?

  How do you do this? Well, let me show you what's happening. Through the episode. Because ideally, this is the only brand of lozenge I like. The other ones give me gas, between you and I, Marcus. Because you have to push through a bit of an indigestion barrier with the gum. Mm-hmm, because on the other side is the elation. Yeah, yeah. The ones I like only come in 2mg. Oh, fuck that. And I need 4mm. No, no, it doesn't touch the sides. That's right. You've got to have 4. And so I have to supplement with a spray. So I basically make this a 4.

• 6:22Dax Shepard?

  It's an apothecary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fantastic.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  Are you a nicotine head?

• 6:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I just saw the gum in his... It's my last remaining vice, other than pride and sort of general cuntiness. Nicotine is my last one.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  Okay, that's good.

• 6:36Dax Shepard?

  Marcus, we should not aim to get rid of it, there's nothing wrong with it. No, my doctor was like, have at it, bud. Yeah, I don't even know that we should call it a vice, other than we would die without it in that respect. Yeah, well, that's true.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  Why don't you call it a virtue?

• 6:49Dax Shepard?

  It's a virtue.

• 6:51Dax Shepard?

  Do people ask you, like, non nicotine users, when they see you consume it compulsively, do they go like, well, what's it make you feel like? Do they ask you that?

• 6:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, I get a bit of that, or I get a bit of like, what brand of gum are you obsessed with?

• 7:04Dax Shepard?

  And what's your answer to the the feeling you get? Because I have a go to.

• 7:08Speaker 02

  I only get a feeling with the lack of it.

• 7:11Dax Shepard?

  I said the feeling is absence of agitation.

• 7:14Speaker 02

  They go, that's much more eloquent.

• 7:17Dax Shepard?

  Like, I don't feel it. Other than the morning, the morning's nice. The first coffee and a fucking pop, pop, pop. Poppy, pop, pop.

• 7:24Speaker 02

  You get a buzz?

• 7:25Dax Shepard?

  I get a little, don't you know from the first one?

• 7:27Speaker 02

  No, I get a buzz from my first coffee.

• 7:29Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes.

• 7:30Speaker 02

  And I've taken coffee much more seriously since I stopped drinking.

• 7:33Dax Shepard?

  When did you stop drinking?

• 7:34Speaker 02

  Nineteen.

• 7:36Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 7:36Dax Shepard?

  Two thousand nineteen?

• 7:37Speaker 02

  Seven years.

• 7:38Dax Shepard?

  No shit. Congrats. I didn't know that we had that overlap.

• 7:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, what about you?

• 7:44Dax Shepard?

  I haven't drank in twenty one years.

• 7:46Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 7:47Dax Shepard?

  But I had a nice little go around with opiates during Covid.

• 7:51Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 7:52Dax Shepard?

  Bad spell, had the detox and the whole nine. Yeah, you call it a relapse. Don't call it a relapse. I've been here for years.

• 8:03Dax Shepard?

  You're too young to know all that.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  No, he knows.

• 8:06Dax Shepard?

  You know, you guys are the same age.

• 8:07Speaker 01

  We are? I didn't know that.

• 8:09Speaker 02

  It's a lovely age.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  It's a good age. I like it, too. About to hit forty.

• 8:13Speaker 02

  Coming into our prime.

• 8:14Speaker 01

  That's right. How do you feel about it?

• 8:16Speaker 02

  I feel fantastic.

• 8:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, me too.

• 8:18Speaker 02

  I like it. We were just talking about it, you know, occupying that space between our kids and our parents.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:26Speaker 02

  Is kind of a nice place to be figuring stuff out in.

• 8:30Speaker 01

  Don't you feel like it's the age, though, where time is start, it's eleven, eleven, everyone make a wish?

• 8:35Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  So, don't you feel like it's the age where you start really feeling the passage of time? Because your parents are aging and then you have your kids.

• 8:47Speaker 02

  I feel like a slight shift in authority. I feel like it's time to sort of know what I think a bit more.

• 8:54Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 8:55Speaker 02

  Whereas before, you could kind of rely on the opinions of your elders a little bit. And, I don't know, a lot of people go through phases in their twenties where they're like, really, like, this is definitely what I think. But like, I haven't had many answers for a while. I've had lots of questions.

• 9:08Dax Shepard?

  Wisdom seeping in is what you're feeling.

• 9:10Speaker 02

  Maybe, yeah, maybe, yeah.

• 9:12Dax Shepard?

  But so if I do the math now, then I think you and I are on nearly identical trajectories. Did you quit at 29?

• 9:18Speaker 02

  About 31, yeah. I don't actually know. I think it was 2019. Where are we now? 26. So that's six and a half years and I am 38. My wife and I are so equally bad at maths that on my last birthday, she wrote me my birthday card and she said, "Happy 39th birthday." And it took me a full three hours before I went next door with my calculator. And did the year, because I knew the year.

• 9:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:49Speaker 02

  Minus the year I was born.

• 9:50Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 9:51Speaker 02

  Which I thought was quite a clever way to calculate it.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  That is good.

• 9:54Speaker 02

  And it turns out I was 38.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  Yes, that's right.

• 9:56Speaker 02

  And so actually, for my birthday, she got me an extra year.

• 9:59Dax Shepard?

  I mean, these parallels, will they stop? January 2nd of this year, I walk into my bathroom and my lovely bride has handwritten me a beautiful card and it says, "Happy 52nd birthday." And I thought, oh, she accidentally wrote it too. On the inside, she'll get it straight. No, it doubles down on 52, three or four times.

• 10:15Speaker 02

  Actors make, can't count the shit.

• 10:17Speaker 01

  Oh my God, maybe it's actresses. They can't do it.

• 10:21Dax Shepard?

  And then we'll get into other less fun parallels, but hey, you know, I think we got a lot of them. So I think strangely, you were born in California.

• 10:30Speaker 02

  What's indeed strange, yeah, I was born in Yorba Linda, Rooton Toeton, Orange County.

• 10:34Dax Shepard?

  Which is heavy, heavy Christian country.

• 10:36Speaker 02

  Yes, sir. Which is why I was born there, yeah.

• 10:38Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so mom and dad worked for or were leaders in a church?

• 10:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, in a church called The Vineyard Church, which weirdly Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell went to with T-Bone Burnett in the 70s.

• 10:49Dax Shepard?

  Really?

• 10:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, wild. And then my parents went out and worked there for a couple of years and got trained up by the guy who led it, called John Wimber, who's like a grandpa to me, always used to bring me Quicksilver t-shirts when he used to come and stay. And sort of this large bearded, American, very Californian kind of guy with Hawaiian shirts would show up in southwest London at our house and be like a real fish out of water and. Was this amazing guy, he was actually in the Righteous Brothers.

• 11:14Dax Shepard?

  Oh, he was?

• 11:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, and sort of gave up all that and then went west.

• 11:18Dax Shepard?

  Was it mega churchy style?

• 11:20Speaker 02

  No, well, it's a bit smaller than that, very community based. It's an amazing church. I mean, like all churches, it has its flaws, but it was kind of a cool community to grow up in. We had a real open house. We always had people through. The church bought the house next door to us and knocked through the wall as a guest house. My mom loved hospitality, was always baking, cooking stuff. And so I'd sit in the kitchen with her, watch her and listen to music and talk.

• 11:44Dax Shepard?

  But what makes me think your parents must be pretty unique in their own right is my very good friend from London was just here last week, British automotive journalist Jethro. And we were in the hot tub chatting about religion and he was really saying, you know, it's so different there than here.

• 12:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:01Dax Shepard?

  I mean, even the evangelical kind of strain is so dominant here. And he's really wrapping his head around it because he's married to an American woman with American parents from the Bible Belt. And he's trying to understand how deep it goes here. So because it's so not standard there, what took your parents there?

• 12:19Speaker 02

  My dad was working for the Church of England, which is very traditionalist and, you know, wearing a dog collar and doing lots of kind of last rites, births, weddings and funerals. That was the jam.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  The big three.

• 12:30Speaker 02

  The big three. And then went and saw Wimber speak at Westminster Central Hall in like eighty five. Both of my parents felt like we got to go to California and understand what this thing is about, which is a real risk at that point in their careers and their lives. They had one kid.

• 12:47Dax Shepard?

  Because the Church of England had to have frowned upon that.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  Absolutely, at that time particularly. And so it was a risk. And they went out and felt like that's what they were supposed to do with their lives. They felt like that's what God was telling them to do. And so they went out to Orange County to go spend time with Wimber and learn about how they did church and then planted the first church of that kind outside of the US in our little front room in Wimbledon.

• 13:09Dax Shepard?

  Okay, which is Wimbledon, the tennis venue we think of.

• 13:13Speaker 02

  Yep, that's right.

• 13:14Dax Shepard?

  Southwest London, is that what it is? What kind of kid were you there?

• 13:18Speaker 02

  Do you have siblings? Yeah, I have an older brother who's six years older than me. My wife's a little sibling as well, and both of our older brothers fiercely intelligent. Both went to Oxford University, double first. And so we grew up as like the younger kids who had to like juggle in the corner for attention because we couldn't keep up with the conversation at the dinner table. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think that's part of that. Okay, if you're smart, I'll sing. Yeah, exactly. It was a bit of that. Watched me play the drums on saucepans. It's my vibe. And then always had this kind of Californian streak culturally in my life. So I like peroxide blonde my hair when I'm 10, when I first met my wife, actually. Yeah, where did you guys meet? Bible camp. Bible camp?

• 13:57Speaker 01

  You met her when you were 10?

• 13:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, we were pen pals.

• 14:00Speaker 01

  What?

• 14:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, she was about a foot taller than me. She was an absolute giant at that time. And I was quite small. She's not a giant now.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  I love that you say she was a giant, not that you were small.

• 14:12Speaker 02

  She was freakishly massive. And I would go on her shoulders in the swimming pool. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She wrote in her journal, I met this boy called Marcus. He's two years younger than me, so definitely not underlined boyfriend material. Oh, my God. Like she was Bridget Jones' Diary already. I got a nine out of 10. And my cousin, who was her age, got eight and a half.

• 14:34Speaker 01

  Oh, shit.

• 14:36Speaker 02

  Really good. Before we keep proceeding, you're married to Carey Mulligan. I hate to say that.

• 14:39Speaker 01

  That's right, in case anyone doesn't know that.

• 14:41Speaker 02

  I always hate when people say that when I'm in an interview, but alas, I would be like, who there? Everyone's talking like we should know the wife.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  Right. Now, that needs to be framed in your house.

• 14:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, we do have that. It's not framed. We used to fax each other.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  That's so special.

• 14:55Speaker 02

  What kind of faxes? Pictures? Yeah, pictures and doodles and... Anything naughty? Nothing naughty, no. We were like 11, you know? Yeah.

• 15:05Speaker 02

  Tell me everything. Yeah, no, just all my doodling generally. I found my way into penis and balls, cowboys. Oh, yeah, there was a lot of that, but I was trying to impress, I was trying not to be the meathead. I'm the meathead now. I can take the uniform off, but...

• 15:18Speaker 01

  Now that you've got her.

• 15:19Speaker 02

  Okay, but suffice to say, you liked her? I don't remember feelings like that when I was 10. No, she was a friend. And we kept in touch until we were like 14 or something. Then we lost contact. We were both on Facebook for about a six-month window. I was at college and she was somehow on Facebook, and we got in touch through that. But then we both quit. And we're out of touch and then I saw her on a billboard for an education.

• 15:43Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  And went and saw it and then was in Los Angeles.

• 15:46Dax Shepard?

  Okay, now hold back up.

• 15:47Speaker 02

  Okay, sorry, I'm speeding.

• 15:48Speaker 01

  No, I love it.

• 15:49Dax Shepard?

  I just wanna know, cuz I have this with this girl Danielle Fox, who lived at the end of this street in my grandparents' house. And I would always spend the summer at my grandparents' house. And I was just wildly in love with her.

• 16:00Speaker 02

  Uh huh.

• 16:01Dax Shepard?

  If I had been driving around at some point and saw Danielle Fox on a billboard, and then I went to the movie, I would have been fucked up some. I guess what I'm asking is, when you saw the movie, were you like, oh, goddamn, a little bit?

• 16:10Speaker 02

  Well, yeah.

• 16:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 16:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, obviously.

• 16:13Dax Shepard?

  Okay, good, good, good.

• 16:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, my wife's one of the most beautiful women of all time.

• 16:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, man.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, she is.

• 16:18Dax Shepard?

  With respect, I agree.

• 16:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 16:21Speaker 01

  But also, you were probably like, but I know her, but that's my buddy.

• 16:24Speaker 02

  And then eventually, when we reconnected, it was like, I know you. You're exactly who I know.

• 16:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:29Speaker 02

  And it was cool.

• 16:30Dax Shepard?

  We got married pretty quick, right?

• 16:31Speaker 02

  We did, yeah. And I think because of that, because it was like, yeah.

• 16:34Dax Shepard?

  You guys were both at a really interesting moment in time for yourselves professionally in that it's starting to work for you. And this whole new world, at least in my experience, was like, it's fun, but it's chaotic. And is it real? Maybe to find, at that moment, when life's getting a little hard to kinda comprehend, to plug back into somebody who is experiencing the same thing and from the same place.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  So she came down to Nashville. We were writing our second album. First album just come out. We'd toured it, it'd gone well. We were writing the second one in this rental home. We had lots of friends there, they'd come over and we'd do picking parties. And then we were playing in someone's basement, a room this size. A friend of mine in L.A., who I'd been staying with and talking with about Carrie, had gone to New York, seen her, called me and was like, we're gonna come to Nashville, see you play this basement show. And they arrive in Nashville at that time. I was stood outside the Starbucks and I could see them come out. And she runs down and jumps. Ahhh. I was like, game over.

• 17:34Speaker 02

  You're like, I'll be married in minutes. Two days before that, we got the call asking us to play at the Grammys for the first time with Bob Dylan. Whoa, whoa, whoa. And so she entered stage left at a moment that was weird for me. And she had just been nominated for an Oscar and done the whole thing with an education. Yeah. So she was a couple of years ahead or a year ahead, whatever. And was so helpful to me in that moment, being like, look, you can be in control of this and you can say yes to this. You can also say no to, and I was not in a phase in my life when I was saying no to anything. For sure.

• 18:06Speaker 01

  Right.

• 18:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. So she was so helpful and you're absolutely right. It was just at this moment. You're getting untethered. We left Nashville, she flew to LA to be with me during rehearsals. And this was like four days after we'd reconnected.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 18:22Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then she had to leave again. She was shooting Shame. But then somehow. Inside Lynn Davis. Inside Lynn Davis. Is that somehow part of this story? No, that comes a bit later. When we played with Dylan at the Grammys, that was the first time I met T-Bone Burnett, who has become like a sort of fairy godfather to me in music. And he said, anytime from now on that I'm doing something interesting or that you're doing something, let's call each other.

• 18:43Speaker 01

  That's awesome.

• 18:43Speaker 02

  So then when the Coen Brothers called him to do Inside Lynn Davis, he called me and said, do you want to come and be my? Wow. The title was associate producer or something. And so I just was there and Kerry was in the movie. Do we start singing in church? Not really. When's music start? Music starts early, like pots and pans, playing drums. I know as a drummer. And who was your bottom? Who was your god? Yeah, I was more bottom than star. You were one or the other, but became star. Okay. While Ringo later. My guy was a guy called Terion Gully, who's a jazz drummer, played for a guy called Christian McBride. And I went and saw him play with my skateboard. He signed my skateboard.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 19:20Speaker 02

  When I was like 13 at Pizza Express Soho with my mom. Was mom or dad super into music? They were all very into music. None of them played anything.

• 19:28Speaker 01

  They just played it in the house.

• 19:30Dax Shepard?

  I'm just curious, did they stick with the church?

• 19:32Speaker 02

  Still going?

• 19:32Dax Shepard?

  Life, yeah.

• 19:33Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 19:33Speaker 02

  I'm retired.

• 19:34Dax Shepard?

  Because I do think we interview a lot of people, generally more R and B singers, females, who they grew up singing in church. It's such this great tradition. And I do worry, as much as I have my reservations about religion, most of all of our R and B, it starts in church in America. And I just wonder, like, as that fragments, where's the next crop? Where do all these young kids start learning to sing like that?

• 19:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, and school choirs? I didn't get into the main school choir, so I was in the B team.

• 19:59Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 20:00Speaker 02

  And learnt to sing harmony, which was fun and very helpful.

• 20:03Dax Shepard?

  I was gonna say, that's a good skill, probably.

• 20:05Speaker 02

  We wouldn't sing, what, tenor parts? We'd sing the alto parts. And my mum was an alto too, so she always sang harmony in the kitchen, whatever we listened to.

• 20:12Dax Shepard?

  And what kit were you playing? Did you have the kit you wanted?

• 20:14Speaker 02

  Yes, I did get a Yamaha Maple, which is what I wanted. And it was natural wood.

• 20:20Dax Shepard?

  Well, that's handsome.

• 20:20Speaker 02

  It was great, very functional. It was a workhorse.

• 20:23Dax Shepard?

  Do you collect drum sets?

• 20:25Speaker 02

  I do.

• 20:25Speaker 01

  What's the coolest one you got?

• 20:27Speaker 02

  I have a red sparkle Ludwig 60s kit.

• 20:31Dax Shepard?

  Okay, great.

• 20:31Speaker 02

  And a champagne sparkle 60s kit. And I really like these CNC kits that are new.

• 20:37Dax Shepard?

  And then what about guitar? When do we pick up guitar?

• 20:39Speaker 02

  Towards late teens.

• 20:41Dax Shepard?

  And so you were a skateboarder into jazz who was going to church?

• 20:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, with peroxide blonde hair.

• 20:46Dax Shepard?

  At a public school?

• 20:47Speaker 02

  Listening to Sublime, because of the Californian influence in my life. No one else was listening to Neil Young at home. No one else was listening to Sublime. So I always had that little extracultural lane.

• 20:59Dax Shepard?

  Now, I was a skateboarder, punk rock, bleached hair, spiked the whole night. And really, I was just so insecure, I was rejecting the other style I didn't think I could nail. But it read as incredible confidence to my peers, thank God. Did that happen with you?

• 21:13Speaker 02

  I got sent home from school.

• 21:15Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 21:15Speaker 02

  Because I wasn't allowed blonde hair.

• 21:16Dax Shepard?

  Which is a...

• 21:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:18Dax Shepard?

  An incredible rule.

• 21:19Speaker 02

  So that was the kind of school I went to.

• 21:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, King's College?

• 21:22Speaker 02

  Or your research team?

• 21:24Speaker 01

  He is the research team. He does it on his own.

• 21:27Dax Shepard?

  But it's a public school. I guess I thought maybe you would have gone to like a religious school.

• 21:31Speaker 02

  We call it public, but it's private.

• 21:33Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 21:33Speaker 02

  So my parents spent all of their church salary on my education, which is why then when I left college, it was a responsibility.

• 21:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you go to Edinburgh University.

• 21:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, because we had no other. They spent all of their money on my education.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  So you felt like you needed to pay them back.

• 21:47Speaker 02

  So I felt slightly good. So in terms of my rest development, it felt like I was on sabbatical from university for like most of my career until now. I feel comfortable in my skin. And this new record that we've made is my favorite thing we've ever done. And I feel like now is the moment where I get to really embrace being an artist.

• 22:08Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 22:09Speaker 02

  Whereas before I was felt like I was kind of moonlighting.

• 22:11Speaker 01

  Proving yourself?

• 22:12Speaker 02

  Not so much that. It was just like I was on a track.

• 22:15Dax Shepard?

  You have been feeling like you're supposed to return to university for 20 years and now you finally don't feel like you need to return.

• 22:20Speaker 02

  And this record, this Price Fighter record is like it for me.

• 22:23Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that's great.

• 22:24Speaker 01

  That's amazing.

• 22:26Dax Shepard?

  But how is it going socially, these interests in this extreme look?

• 22:30Speaker 02

  It's going fine. I was always like a slight outsider. I wasn't the best at anything, but I tried everything.

• 22:36Dax Shepard?

  Was it all boys?

• 22:36Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I went to school with Ben in the band from the age of eight.

• 22:40Dax Shepard?

  Were you guys best friends or just you ended up having mutual interests?

• 22:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, we were, yeah.

• 22:44Dax Shepard?

  It must be so fun to be able to share it with this kid you've known since you were eight.

• 22:47Speaker 02

  And now the three of us is close to brotherhood or indeed marriage.

• 22:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's right.

• 22:51Dax Shepard?

  More marriage.

• 22:52Speaker 02

  Because it is more like a marriage really, because the only other person in the world who has experienced that is Ben and Ted.

• 22:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 22:58Dax Shepard?

  We also have to navigate stuff that normally I don't think you navigate with a coworker.

• 23:03Speaker 01

  Or a friendship. There's something when you're both that it takes everything up to a different level of intimacy.

• 23:09Dax Shepard?

  Because these natural things, there's highs and lows. The highs are great to share, but the lows are like no one involved has a clear head. Because everyone's suffering at that moment. It's not a great.

• 23:20Speaker 02

  You're communally going through something.

• 23:21Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, there's no outsider unaffected by the thing to be objective.

• 23:26Speaker 02

  Which is why when we're making records, I like to work with producers. Because some people are like, why don't you just self-produce? You guys know your way around a Pro Tools record.

• 23:31Dax Shepard?

  And you produce things on your own, yeah.

• 23:33Speaker 02

  Produce things for other people, but I like having the objectivity of someone else. Hasn't looked at the tickets.

• 23:38Dax Shepard?

  Or got burned on a song you love.

• 23:39Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 23:40Dax Shepard?

  This is like that other thing we did that we got fucked on.

• 23:42Speaker 02

  Exactly. So the objectivity of a producer. And then for us on this new one, Prizefighter, we had Aaron Dessner, who's known us for fifteen years or something, helped us with the demos for our third record, has been a friend of ours for a long time, seen us go through lots. Also happens to be in one of my favorite bands of all time, The National. Has had this production career with people like Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams that's gone crazy. And so to have him come in at this point and be that objective voice, knows us all really well. We trust him, he trusts us, the dream.

• 24:11Dax Shepard?

  You're also at a stage in your career that I too am at where it's like, all of these kids that were trying, we're now all at these award shows, which is bonkers. It's like I look around the Golden Globes and I'm like, oh, Ben and Melissa, who we rented theaters and no one came. You're starting to see friends that are now producing for Taylor Swift or whatever the thing is happening.

• 24:33Speaker 02

  It's pretty wild. And London, when we first started as a band, was amazing for music. People that really inspired us, like Laura Marling and Noreen the Whale, but also at that time it was Adele and Florence. And these amazing artists that have obviously, so we've seen a lot of them go. Adele presented our album of the year at the Grammys. The only reason I think we got anywhere close to winning it was because she wasn't not like, she didn't.

• 24:57Speaker 02

  But for her to give that to us is so sweet. Our contemporaries, A, are some of our biggest inspirations, but also we've seen their success right the way through from very early on, which is kind of a unique thing.

• 25:08Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so you're playing drums. When do you start playing, not just in your room, but with other people? What age?

• 25:13Speaker 02

  We'd play at weddings and bar mitzvahs and birthday parties from the age of like twelve to make pocket money. And then publicly, the first time I sang a song, I think it was for a music exam when I was sixteen. I did a version of All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan. What was the effect? It went down much better than I thought it would. Was that the first mini hit? Really? Oh shit, some people are looking at me a little differently. Yeah, and then I played a bit. I didn't really do very much until my year out between high school and college. I lived in Denver. Denver, Colorado. Yeah, cuz I had a US passport, so I could come and work. Dual citizenship. Soccer coach in Denver and would play open mics. Lots of cloves, cigarettes.

• 25:56Speaker 02

  And would do open mics and they went alright. And then I went to college and amongst my cynical British friends, when I dropped out to go and do music, they were all like, really, mate? Right. Because they've been at the open mics. We're not at Dropout Stage yet. We're not, we're not. So I had a friend who took me to one side and was like, I'm not sure this is a great decision. Oh, wow.

• 26:17Speaker 01

  Is he still a friend?

• 26:18Speaker 02

  I hope you bought him a Range Rover. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah. It was really at college that I started doing open mics. And then I quit to go play drums because I was a session musician, to go play drums for Laura Marling. And then she invited me up to come and sing a song in her encore. At the end of her show, which was like a hootenanny moment. And that's when her manager spotted me and was like, you should do this. So how do we assemble Mumford and Sons? Two thousand seven? Two weeks after that, I said to him, like, I think it's a band. I don't think it's a solo project. I've been doing writing and recording some demos at Ben's house. He lives with his parents still and they had an attic with a little studio in that you had to climb through the little cubby hole. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. To get in. Carrying fucking equipment up there? Yeah, yeah, it was a nightmare, very hot, no AC.

• 27:03Speaker 02

  And had been doing some demos and then inviting anyone I knew who was playing in other bands, we were all playing in other bands at that point, to come play these songs with me. And at times, there'd be like fourteen of us on stage. But what we noticed was that at that time, when the four of us sang together and played together, it felt different to when everyone else was in the room. So I know how you know Ben, obviously, he's been a friend since you were a little kid. How do you meet the other two guys? Yeah, Winston, I met at church when we were like fifteen. You've known him at that point, too? And then Ted, we met in London when I quit college. And he was a bass player. He showed up with the coolest pair of boots and leather jacket I'd ever seen in my life. And could sing and play double bass. It was like, oh, this guy's a triple threat.

• 27:43Dax Shepard?

  It's funny how often when I watch docs on bands, how much of it is that? Like so and so walked in and their hair was awesome.

• 27:51Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 27:51Dax Shepard?

  And it's like, the music's kind of secondary to the vibe.

• 27:54Speaker 02

  But then when he opens his mouth to sing, it's like, oh, wow, he's got this really unusual voice and he can sing harmony and it's cool.

• 28:01Dax Shepard?

  Did you watch the Mike It Loud, that drumming documentary?

• 28:03Speaker 02

  No.

• 28:04Dax Shepard?

  Fuck.

• 28:05Speaker 02

  No, I didn't.

• 28:06Dax Shepard?

  It was so great. Okay, then never mind that. And then there's another doc I want to know if you've watched. Oh, did you watch the Zeppelin doc that was out last year?

• 28:13Speaker 02

  I haven't watched that yet.

• 28:13Dax Shepard?

  Okay. What is unbelievable about that band is they met and I think six weeks later, they played that first show we've all seen in black and white, which might be still their best show they ever played.

• 28:24Speaker 02

  I've only inherited other people's views about this documentary, but it seems that they were all totally obsessed with Bonham.

• 28:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 28:31Speaker 02

  And that it was like Jimmy's band.

• 28:33Dax Shepard?

  I don't know that I focused on that as much as just, obviously, they had all been working a lot. So it's not like they were green in that sense. But the notion that these strangers could have come together and played that show in six weeks, it's so mind blowing. You've kind of got to believe in magic a tiny bit.

• 28:48Speaker 02

  Oh, I totally believe in magic. I think writing songs is like trying to catch fairies in nets. Noel Gallagher talks about it like, everyone knows Songs Fall From The Sky by Magic. And you just have to have your hands out ready to catch them, otherwise fucking Bono or Chris Martin.

• 29:04Speaker 01

  Everyone just walking around with their hands up.

• 29:06Dax Shepard?

  Because these sons of bitches clearly have their hands up.

• 29:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. So I bumped into him in a bar in London a few years ago and we'd just finished a tour and he was like, what are you doing? I was like, I'm just chilling out. And he's like, what the fuck are you talking about? You're a songwriter. You've got to get to work, write songs. You have no excuse not to write songs. It's your job. What are you doing? And it's like, oh shit, he's right. Better go and write some songs.

• 29:24Dax Shepard?

  How long before the four of you were playing that it was clicking, you were putting songs down that you thought had merit? Was that a quick process?

• 29:32Speaker 02

  It was quite quick. I had a collection of songs that I'd written at college, sort of naked on my dorm room floor, very raw, too raw.

• 29:39Dax Shepard?

  Indulgent?

• 29:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:40Dax Shepard?

  Okay, sure.

• 29:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Trying to put T S Eliot to song, you know, it was just kind of indulgent. It was a nightmare.

• 29:44Speaker 01

  It's hard not to be pretentious.

• 29:46Speaker 02

  It is.

• 29:47Dax Shepard?

  You have to be. Oh, you'll never make it.

• 29:49Speaker 02

  But I had started honing my narcissism well enough to be able to write songs, I think. And then we started playing a couple of shows and then we got asked to support other bands. And that was helpful because it was like, right, well, we need enough songs to fill that set. So I remember the day I wrote Little Lion Man. In my ex-girlfriend's kitchen, which is probably a bit rough. But then showed up at the rehearsal studio like three hours before sound check. And was like, lads, I think I've got another one for the set. And they were like, phew, because we only had like five at that point. Yeah, what were you expected to play, like thirty five minutes or something? Yeah, like half an hour, that's six songs. Then you fill half an hour with a bit of chat, sometimes a bit more chat. Isn't it funny too, how much of this stuff, there's no science to it, but there is like the infamous Beatles stuff. They're playing in Germany forever, they're just playing. They were honing there. Yes.

• 30:34Speaker 02

  I mean, that documentary is my favorite music documentary. The Peter. Yeah, Peter Jackson one. Yeah. And it's nine hours, which is shorter than your average day in the studio. Okay. But watching that documentary, I mean, it's the most beautiful. I think you get an idea of some of the hanging around. You know, you're watching like Ringo twiddling. Ringo's always on time. He's always ready to play. He's always sticks in hand, waiting for the moment to come. Very underrated drummer. He gets a different tone out of the drum set to any other drummer in history. And then Jim Keltner, who played on all the Beatles solo records. He's now like eighty two, I recorded with him a couple of years ago. He is one of the coolest cats of all time. And Bob Dylan's drummer, and you know, like, he gets a different kind of tone out of the drums to anyone else.

• 31:17Speaker 02

  And these great drummers, I think, are able to do things and just hit a drum in a way that no one else can. Admittedly, I didn't like the Beatles. My mom had positioned it as this house is a Rolling Stones house. Really? We're not talking about I Want to Hold Your Hand, we're talking about I Got a Girl Pregnant. Interesting. You were fucking gnarly. See, we were an Oasis house, not a Blur house. There you go. Yeah, you do have to pick a lane. And have you come to appreciate Blur since? Yeah, yeah, I have, but I'm still an Oasis guy. Yeah, you're right, and I'm a Stones guy. You can't change that, really. I know.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  Really? That's wild.

• 31:48Speaker 02

  It's the. Tribalism. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 31:50Speaker 01

  But that comes from growing up in a house where your parents care. I didn't, so I just like it all.

• 31:57Speaker 02

  They didn't have their identity infused with what bands they liked.

• 32:00Speaker 01

  Exactly, there was no identity connected to it, so you could just take it, yeah.

• 32:03Speaker 02

  You're a free agent.

• 32:03Speaker 01

  Free, can take it all.

• 32:05Speaker 02

  So what did that lead you to? Taylor Swift.

• 32:06Speaker 01

  You.

• 32:09Speaker 02

  Taylor.

• 32:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, Taylor.

• 32:11Speaker 02

  No, but as a kid, what did it lead you to?

• 32:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. Taylor was a little later. I'm pop, top forty.

• 32:16Speaker 02

  Britney.

• 32:16Speaker 01

  Britney, yes. Spice Girls, Hans, like, the big Hanson, remember?

• 32:23Speaker 02

  Love Hanson, love Hanson.

• 32:24Speaker 01

  Oh my god, really?

• 32:26Speaker 02

  I think I did a cover of that, actually, back in the day.

• 32:28Speaker 01

  You did? That was my first CD.

• 32:29Speaker 02

  Was it? Mine was Pure Shores by All Saints.

• 32:32Speaker 01

  All Saints, I loved All Saints.

• 32:34Speaker 02

  And then the first record I bought myself, I bought two from the CD exchange on Wimbledon Broadway. I bought Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, under instruction from my drum teacher, because he was like, "You'll play what you listen to, you gotta play that." And then for myself, I bought Miseducation at Laurinhardt.

• 32:47Speaker 01

  Oh, amazing. I mean, that's advanced. I was more in the...

• 32:51Speaker 02

  You were an M-bop. But I'm just saying, All Saints, TLC?

• 32:54Speaker 01

  I love TLC. I loved All Saints. Robin.

• 32:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:57Speaker 01

  All of it. Early Robin, yeah.

• 32:59Speaker 02

  Sick.

• 33:00Dax Shepard?

  But Monica will be the first to admit, most of her musical tastes came from film and television. If she saw something on TV, she heard something, rather.

• 33:08Speaker 01

  A soundtrack, I was like, I want that song. Like, once it was into buying songs, like Napster and stuff like that.

• 33:13Speaker 02

  And so what were the shows that led you to?

• 33:14Speaker 01

  Like Grey's Anatomy.

• 33:16Speaker 02

  One Tree Hill?

• 33:17Speaker 01

  I was on One Tree Hill.

• 33:18Speaker 02

  No, okay, so Grey's Anatomy.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  But the OC, obviously.

• 33:22Speaker 02

  So when Garden State came out, did it change your life? Yeah, yeah, okay, cool. I get you. Yeah, yeah. I know you. I see you.

• 33:29Speaker 01

  Listen, I've changed. I've become cool. But no, I was a sponge. I was a sponge to all of that. The shins, oh my god. Yeah, but no, it was great. It was great. I was open to it all.

• 33:41Speaker 02

  That's cool.

• 33:45Speaker 04

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

• 33:49Dax Shepard?

  Thank you to our presenting sponsor, Apple TV, the new US home of Formula One. You can now watch complete, all-access, live coverage of every Grand Prix, including practice, qualifying, and sprints, all in one place. I will be consuming all of those things, Monica.

• 34:05Speaker 01

  I know you will.

• 34:06Dax Shepard?

  I kill for Friday, to start watching practice one, following it, and then on a sprint weekend, oh my gosh, two races? And this season brings a ton of new energy to the sport, new teams like Cadillac and Audi just... Joining the grid, new drivers stepping into major seats. Lando Norris defending his first World Drivers Championship. And all eyes on Lewis Hamilton in his second season with Ferrari and a brand new circuit in Madrid. Plus, a new US home for Formula One. You can watch every race live only on Apple TV. Watch on Apple devices, Android devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, gaming consoles, or on the web at tv.apple.com. All part of one Apple TV subscription alongside hundreds of exclusive shows and movies.

• 34:48Dax Shepard?

  Watch the Formula One Australian Grand Prix live on Saturday, March 7th at 11:00 PM Eastern, or watch race replays on demand anytime only on Apple TV, the new US home of F1. We are supported by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's smart. Not checking your phone's battery before heading out? That'll get you every time. Of course, your phone dies on the way to meet someone, leaving you wandering around quietly panicking about being in the wrong spot. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North America Insurance Co. and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

• 35:33Dax Shepard?

  We are supported by Intuit TurboTax. April 15th is coming up fast, and if you're like most people, you're probably dreading the whole tax thing. You know the old way, sitting in some waiting room for hours or sending over your tax docs and waiting and waiting for any kind of update? You want something modern and tech-forward, but you also want that human connection. And this year brings a major upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can walk into a tech-enabled TurboTax location near you and meet face-to-face with a real tax expert. Drop off your documents in the store and see them uploaded to your TurboTax app instantly. Just like that, you're done.

• 36:15Dax Shepard?

  Your new TurboTax expert stays back and works tirelessly to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real-time notifications as you go about your day. Honestly, it feels like someone finally figured out what we've all been wanting. It's not some sterile tax office from 1987, and it's not just an app where you're on your own. It's both. The human expertise with smart, modern tech. You drop off your stuff, go about your day, and get real-time updates as your expert works through everything. That's the upgrade. Head to TurboTax.com to find a store location near you and get matched with a TurboTax expert with real-time updates and iOS app. We get support from AG1. Fall is that time when your body and mind are getting ready for the winter.

• 37:00Dax Shepard?

  You're settling in, bracing for the cold. Your body's already running a deficit from the shorter days and broken sleep patterns. You don't want a nutrient deficit stacked on top of that, too.

• 37:10Speaker 01

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• 37:23Dax Shepard?

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• 37:37Speaker 01

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

• 37:41Dax Shepard?

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

• 37:51Speaker 01

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

• 37:58Dax Shepard?

  Yes. Go to drinkag1.com/dax and for a limited time, get a free immunity bundle, including a bottle of Omega 3 Fish Oil and a bottle of vitamin D3K2 with your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro. That's drinkag1.com/dax. And after checkout, be sure to let them know that Armchair Experts sent you.

• 38:28Dax Shepard?

  Mine was I have to like punk rock. I'm going to these shows, none of them are melodic. I hate it all, but I'm pretending I love it. And then I'm just looking for anything with some melody. So I'm just following.

• 38:37Speaker 02

  So did Blink 182 like change your life?

• 38:39Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'm so much older. I saw Exploited when I was 11 years old with my brother. I saw Black Flag and they're trashy.

• 38:46Speaker 02

  As a teenager, I went through post Sublime, probably. I went through like Papa Roach and Blink 182.

• 38:53Dax Shepard?

  I love Blink 182, let me be clear.

• 38:55Speaker 02

  And then I was starting to go off at some 41 when that started. I loved it and then I was like, that was the end of my.

• 39:01Dax Shepard?

  I'm gonna get off the train here. I'm at my stop.

• 39:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  It's actually interesting now that we're talking about it because I think that the reason there are clubs is I wanted to be like everybody else.

• 39:10Speaker 02

  You wanted to conform?

• 39:11Speaker 01

  Exactly. So I'm picking top 40, I'm picking what's on TRL.

• 39:16Dax Shepard?

  You want to be able to talk with your friends about what's popular.

• 39:19Speaker 01

  I want to be normal, regular.

• 39:21Speaker 02

  That's interesting because I get to like 18, I want to do something no one else is doing.

• 39:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, you want to be different.

• 39:26Dax Shepard?

  This is our freedom of being white.

• 39:28Speaker 02

  Right, interesting, yeah, yeah.

• 39:30Dax Shepard?

  Like I'm like, wait, you guys are nerdy and I want to be the opposite.

• 39:33Speaker 02

  That's interesting.

• 39:34Dax Shepard?

  And she's like, I'm brown, please don't notice I'm brown. I do all the same shit you do.

• 39:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, isn't that weird?

• 39:39Dax Shepard?

  If you were white, I wonder what your fucking musical taste would be here.

• 39:42Speaker 02

  Well, the truth is you probably still like Taylor Swift.

• 39:44Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:44Dax Shepard?

  Wow, that's the great unifier.

• 39:46Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly.

• 39:47Dax Shepard?

  10 million tickets sold.

• 39:48Speaker 01

  That's why she is who she is.

• 39:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:50Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so I want to jump to, you record Sing No More, it comes out in 2009 and it's a monster. I mean, you get nominated for two Grammys. Little Lion Man is enormous. How do you take that on?

• 40:04Speaker 02

  We just play shows, that's the only answer we had.

• 40:07Dax Shepard?

  Is keep your head down and play shows.

• 40:08Speaker 02

  Just play shows. We were probably a bit dismissive of the world's reaction to our music for a long time. Because we were like blinkers on, head down, just play shows. That's the thing we can understand. I can't understand how our song has suddenly got big in Australia on the radio.

• 40:25Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 40:26Speaker 02

  I can't get my head around that, but I can get my head around playing a show in Melbourne. And so still now, I don't look at streaming numbers, I don't look at social responses, I don't look at radio plays.

• 40:36Dax Shepard?

  Are you like healthy and you didn't care about money? I care about money so much.

• 40:40Speaker 02

  No, yeah, our household didn't have expendable money, but my parents instilled in us a spirit of generosity. We were taught to tithe as kids. Give away 10% of everything you ever get. I mean, the belief system is like, it's not ours anyway. Right. It's closest to a sort of Native American view of ownership and stewardship. But it was like, ticket sales is what we can understand.

• 41:00Dax Shepard?

  Right. You can see that there's venues are getting bigger.

• 41:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, and we climbed all the rungs on the ladder. We didn't skip any, but we only did them all once. And most bands do them ten times.

• 41:09Dax Shepard?

  How are you making peace with the tension of, I'm an outsider, I'm not with you guys, and this is my art? And, uh-oh, no, it's for everyone, everyone likes it. There's a little bit of tension there, no?

• 41:20Speaker 02

  Well, I think I probably responded to that by driving my negative narrative and finding the negatives. In any review I would read, which I did at the beginning, I'd always read them. I'd pick out the one line that hurt the most, and I'd dwell on that.

• 41:32Dax Shepard?

  I knew you didn't really accept me. You're acting like you accepted me, but I have the proof I'm not really.

• 41:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah, everyone thinks I'm actually a cunt, you know?

• 41:39Dax Shepard?

  God, that's so brutal.

• 41:43Dax Shepard?

  Then you miss so much.

• 41:44Speaker 02

  I mean, we had fun, but I was not present to a lot of the early success of our band. Because I was either in the negative narrative or I was like, let's move on quickly. Because this isn't gonna last, so we have to build for the next thing.

• 41:56Dax Shepard?

  You can have this paradox of actively hating parts of it, and then maybe fearful the next one's not gonna be as good. You can also still want to keep it, right?

• 42:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, I haven't felt this level of a sense of pride in our work, honestly, ever, till this record. It's really freeing. I just fucking love it. And I don't really care if other people like it or not for the first time. That's huge. That's everything, really. I think it's a lot of personal growth and all that boring stuff, but I really don't care what people think. I love it. And I'm excited to play every night. If people come along for the ride, then great. But if not, genuinely, for the first time, I don't think it'll hurt my feelings. Wow.

• 42:29Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 42:29Speaker 02

  To that same extent of like the rawness. And I think that's the vulnerability of artists, and that's fine. Your job is to feel things.

• 42:36Dax Shepard?

  I just think this is cool because we just had Stapleton on, and Luke Combs had this moment. A lot of these musicians now that we're interviewing have had these moments where you performed at the Grammys, and then the album went up ninety-nine percent in sales. There's very few moments that are that make it or break it.

• 42:51Speaker 02

  I don't think I was aware to that extent what the Grammys could do in terms of moving.

• 42:55Dax Shepard?

  Thank God.

• 42:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but I was still shitting myself. I was still very nervous. But like, I had that feeling with the first TV appearance we did.

• 43:02Dax Shepard?

  Did you love Letterman?

• 43:03Speaker 02

  We did Letterman, and it was like, where's your drummer? I was like...

• 43:08Dax Shepard?

  I think he plays drums, maybe?

• 43:10Speaker 02

  Does he?

• 43:10Dax Shepard?

  Maybe that's my guess.

• 43:11Speaker 02

  But no, our first TV appearance was here in LA with Craig Ferguson. Oh, I love Craig. And I broke two strings and forgot all the words. Oh. And it was a fucking disaster.

• 43:21Dax Shepard?

  Oh, no.

• 43:22Speaker 02

  Oh, it still makes me feel like... Yeah, that's horrifying. That was awful. And so they were like, we have to move on. Sorry. We had to play a different song. Wow. It was a disaster. It was horrible.

• 43:31Dax Shepard?

  I'm so sorry. But was Craig great at helping you?

• 43:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, he was sweet. No one could really help me in that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Daniel's got a help. There was no help. But no, the Grammys was made fun by the fact that Dylan was so weird and wonderful. That first one, we'd rehearsed for two days. We'd done all the camera rehearsals. We were aware that it was going out to 50 million people or whatever it is. And we play a song. We come back behind the curtain. Avett Brothers play a song. Oh. And then we were all supposed to go on together and play Maggie's Farm. So we play a cave. Avett Brothers go on. We walk behind the curtain. Bob's there. And he goes, play that again. And I went, what? And I'm still holding my guitar. And he goes, play that again. And it was the cave. So I started playing. I started playing banjo. And he was like, I can sing on that. Oh. And we went, what? And he went, I want to sing on that. I want to sing Maggie's Farm on that.

• 44:19Dax Shepard?

  But...

• 44:20Speaker 02

  And we're like, we'll do what you want because you're fucking Bob Dylan. Right.

• 44:22Dax Shepard?

  But you've already played it?

• 44:23Speaker 02

  We just rehearsed it. And we've already played the cave. And he wants to change the whole arrangement right there. Oh, my God. Luckily, Tony, his bass player, who's the Bob whisperer, comes over and is like, calm down, Bob. We're going to do it like we rehearsed it. Okay.

• 44:34Dax Shepard?

  Did you watch The Greatest Night in Music? It's about the recording of We Are the World.

• 44:38Speaker 02

  Oh, no, I didn't see that, no. You'll tell. I don't really watch music documentaries.

• 44:42Dax Shepard?

  I'm learning that. And I get it.

• 44:44Speaker 02

  Do you listen to other people's podcasts?

• 44:46Dax Shepard?

  No, and I wouldn't watch a comedy doc, but of course I watch music docs. What is cool about the doc, I think you would appreciate, is we have everyone. Who do you want? They're all there, right? You have Michael Jackson. You've got Hall & Oates. You've got fucking Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan. Everyone's there. So to see them all, it's a really wild thing to observe. But Bob can't sing like the other folks. That's not what he does, right? And he is struggling. And there's a moment where Stevie Wonder, who can do everybody, he's a crazy mimic, he says, you want to sing it like this, and he does. Is Bob Dylan and it's on film. And you can't tell it's not Bob Dylan and he uses his voice and his range to show him how he should do it. And then Bob's like, okay, and then he does it. That's such a cool moment.

• 45:28Speaker 02

  That's really cool.

• 45:29Dax Shepard?

  All right, you're not gonna watch it. You hate music. Do you think you don't like him because it's intimidating? Or it's just boring because that's what you do?

• 45:35Speaker 02

  It's boring because that's what I do.

• 45:36Dax Shepard?

  I got you. Okay.

• 45:37Speaker 02

  I think unless it's Get Back, unless it's The Beatles. Movies about musicians don't really do that. I didn't watch a Springsteen movie yet, even though I'm obsessed with Bruce Springsteen. I get that. Star is born, I thought, depicted tour life the most accurately out of any of them.

• 45:51Dax Shepard?

  Although you don't know because you've only seen one or two.

• 45:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:56Dax Shepard?

  Think of the one I sampled.

• 45:58Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 45:58Dax Shepard?

  You went to Baskin Robbins, you tried one flavor. You know, the best flavor of the 31 flavors is vanilla.

• 46:04Speaker 02

  That's true. That's true to be fair.

• 46:06Dax Shepard?

  Okay, tell me about going to India in 2010. Or don't if it's not interesting.

• 46:10Speaker 02

  Didn't really have an audience in India. But we went anyway. Got told to go back to our own country at our last show in Kolkata. Really? Yeah, which I think was

• 46:18Dax Shepard?

  Fair.

• 46:19Speaker 02

  Was fair because given, you know, innate racism in England, the other way around. It's like, yeah, fair enough. We probably earned that historically. But it was amazing. We like touring in weird ways and doing things that feel scary. We'd just done this train tour.

• 46:35Dax Shepard?

  That was next.

• 46:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, so India was awesome. It was really fun. I mean, it was very hectic. It was stupid, but fun.

• 46:42Dax Shepard?

  Did you have in the back of your mind though that The Beatles went there?

• 46:44Speaker 02

  A little bit and it was just an adventure. We'd done a tour on a narrow boat at four miles an hour. That was really fun and we were like, let's go to India and do that.

• 46:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so the thing I loved about reading about your history is I too love when you can take this thing that you do that's your job and you can figure out a way to leverage it into a bunch of other crazy experiences that kind of have nothing to do with it. Because otherwise you can miss it. It can all go by. I read about this railroad tour.

• 47:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:11Dax Shepard?

  You guys had vintage railroad cars you were in?

• 47:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, we did one with Edred Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros and all Krim Edson show in 2011 or 12 or something like that.

• 47:19Dax Shepard?

  Eleven.

• 47:19Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 47:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 47:21Speaker 02

  And we were like, let's do that again. Now, the train thing is fun for the artists. The audience doesn't really get involved in that because you can only fit like a hundred people on it.

• 47:30Dax Shepard?

  But tell me about your car.

• 47:31Speaker 02

  A bunch of vintage rail cars all linked together that go around the country. So the first one went from Oakland down the West Coast across to, we ended up in New Orleans. And the second one, we started in New Orleans and ended in Burlington, Vermont. And for us, a lot of it is seeing places we wouldn't otherwise see. Like I've seen more of this country than most of my friends who live here.

• 47:49Dax Shepard?

  Sure. And I'll argue on a train, you're seeing the backyard of everything. On a highway, you're seeing the front yard.

• 47:55Speaker 02

  Totally. And it's amazing. And I like to stay up in the middle of the night and sit in the front of the bus and watch the world go by, particularly in North America. Because I just find it fascinating, like being stuck in an electrical storm in Kansas in the middle of the night.

• 48:07Dax Shepard?

  Any tornadoes?

• 48:08Speaker 02

  Seen some tornadoes.

• 48:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, nothing like it, right?

• 48:11Speaker 02

  Yellowstone's always really fun.

• 48:13Dax Shepard?

  But was the car itself, did you have your own car?

• 48:15Speaker 02

  No, we had our own room.

• 48:17Dax Shepard?

  And was it from the 40s, 50s, 60s, you know, was it wood paneled?

• 48:20Speaker 02

  This one was wood paneled and I would say 50s, I think.

• 48:23Dax Shepard?

  And was there like a cocktail, like was there a little ball?

• 48:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, like the people running the train are all in outfits.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  Oh, how fun.

• 48:29Speaker 02

  It's fun.

• 48:30Dax Shepard?

  So jealous.

• 48:31Speaker 02

  And then we'd rehearse every day because we had these guests come and join us. And so we'd learn their songs on the train on our way to sound check. And then when we get there, we play it.

• 48:39Speaker 01

  We should do that.

• 48:40Dax Shepard?

  I know.

• 48:41Speaker 01

  We should do a live show train experience.

• 48:43Dax Shepard?

  It would be a net loss tour, but we'll do it.

• 48:46Speaker 02

  You don't do it to make any money. You're not going to make any money.

• 48:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, not for that.

• 48:49Speaker 02

  We had this conversation with our management company. We were like, look, we're not going to make any money. You're definitely not going to make any money. For this one, we had a house band and we paid everyone the same amount of money, like a flat fee, including ourselves. We're like, look, it's an experience.

• 49:01Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 49:01Speaker 02

  This is like a five day vacation where we're working.

• 49:04Dax Shepard?

  Did you take psychedelics on that train?

• 49:06Speaker 02

  No, you don't need to.

• 49:07Dax Shepard?

  Okay. I would think that would have enhanced it.

• 49:09Speaker 02

  I went on this trip down the Grand Canyon with a bunch of people I didn't know. And we get to the bottom and it's like eight days of rafting and staying on the beach. Unbelievable. At the end of it, we find out they would all been on acid the whole time. I was like, this is the one place in the world you definitely don't need acid, man. And those rapids, we're doing them on kayaks, they're pretty dangerous.

• 49:28Dax Shepard?

  But no better way to drown.

• 49:29Speaker 01

  Oh, God.

• 49:31Dax Shepard?

  You gotta drown, man. You think you're drowning in like Willy Wonka's chocolate river?

• 49:37Speaker 02

  No, I'm too much for control freak for that.

• 49:40Speaker 01

  Is everyone in the band on the same page for the most part? Even when we're talking about you guys coming up, you're like tunnel vision, head down. Are you all like that?

• 49:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, we are. Ted, our bass player, is a bit more chill. We need that.

• 49:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:52Speaker 02

  Ben and I are like in it on everything. Our manager recently said to us, like, most artists kind of ask to just know where they need to be, when. Don't go to this level of detail. But we're quite detail oriented. We care about it.

• 50:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Okay, I need to say, though, that I Will Wait came out, that was enormous. You won the Grammy, fastest selling album of the year. Things are fucking.

• 50:12Speaker 02

  Was it really?

• 50:12Dax Shepard?

  Cranking. Yeah, that's what I'm told. Six hundred thousand in the first week. That's bonkers. And in UK, I think four is also the fastest selling album that year in the UK. You can't go anywhere without Mumford and Sons at this point. I want to go to your solo album, which is two thousand twenty-two, self titled.

• 50:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:30Dax Shepard?

  I want to bond with you on this experience, which is, I have for years on here been acknowledging that I have been molested. And that was its own hurdle to just say that. And I got quite comfortable being able to say that. That was fine. And now I'm writing a memoir. And last year, really, the whole year was about, do I have the balls to write down the details of this? Because the details were always going to be mine. I didn't want anyone to be envisioning me. It's weird that that was still some wall between my shame.

• 51:00Speaker 02

  Interesting.

• 51:00Dax Shepard?

  Like, I can say that happened, but I don't need you to know anything that actually happened. And I bet it took me four months to tell that story. And. When I'm writing it, just I cannot help but thinking of people knowing this about me and how still exposed that feels. And I was pretty emotional during the few months. I was having really weird kind of spikes of emotions and moodiness. And I would forget that's why I was having that. But I finished it and something about it existing there feels like a lot of weight is off my shoulders. But for me, there's still the hurdle of like, and also I've not put that out.

• 51:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, because that wasn't going to be my question. I was like, did you put that out? And I didn't hear that.

• 51:43Dax Shepard?

  Right, so I can understand writing Cannibal because it's about his sexual abuse. There's details.

• 51:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:51Dax Shepard?

  Dude.

• 51:53Dax Shepard?

  I was like, fuck me.

• 51:55Speaker 02

  That song's pretty intense.

• 51:56Dax Shepard?

  What's the gap between writing it and then knowing, okay, now I'm gonna put it in the world and people will know all this about me?

• 52:02Speaker 02

  I mean, I was pretty scared, honestly.

• 52:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 52:06Speaker 02

  And yeah, it's pretty detailed. I mean, I played it to a few people who were very helpful. Played it to Elton John, played it to Brandy Carlisle. Elton was like, I've never heard anything like this. And I'll do anything to help you if you want to put it out. And Brandy had said exactly the same thing, like, I'm with you.

• 52:22Dax Shepard?

  Isn't fucking shocking how many of us?

• 52:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, and part of the exhausting process of putting it out is hearing other people's stories.

• 52:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, sure, because you, you need to comfort them.

• 52:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, and it's an absolute privilege. And my general view on it has been, all right, I'm gonna have boundaries around this. I'm gonna say like, thank you so much for sharing that. Hope you have what you need.

• 52:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 52:41Speaker 02

  Because I'm not your guy. I'd be fucked up, wouldn't it? Like, I'm not gonna be your guy on this.

• 52:45Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I can't.

• 52:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, I can't. And that wouldn't serve you, obviously wouldn't serve me. Putting it out was straight, and then the rest of the record is not really about that. But because that was the first song, it got a lot of attention. I feel like grateful that I put it out. I honestly felt glad I have also been able to move on. And I think without it, I wouldn't have come back to the band as energized or as joyful or as free. And I think that's a big part of the freedom that I now feel in the band. It's like, I got that, I moved on, it's out there, I toured it, it was great musically. I'm very proud of it, the whole record, and it helped my songwriting. And it's certainly helped my ability to accept myself.

• 53:25Dax Shepard?

  Well, my body keeps betraying me is a line.

• 53:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:29Dax Shepard?

  The body betraying me, putting that out of your body to there, has that helped in any of that?

• 53:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, like I've been on a real journey.

• 53:37Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yes.

• 53:38Speaker 02

  And part of that was not feeling like a victim, I think. And being like, I've got control of this. I can drive this train. I'm not just a passenger and I won't just be a passive.

• 53:49Dax Shepard?

  My thing is, I can intellectually know how ridiculous the statement is, but emotionally I don't know it in my body, which is, I grew up in such a homophobic environment in Detroit in the eighties. You lived all day long in fear that someone might think you were gay.

• 54:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:04Dax Shepard?

  And now I've done this thing that does make me gay in my mind. And now I have this fucking secret that I know if it were to be revealed on the playground, I'm just fucking dead. I'm a pariah. I know intellectually that's insane at 51 with a family and all these things, but that fear of the whole world, going back to elementaring, is still alive in me in this crazy way. It's shocking to me.

• 54:29Speaker 02

  And so what's your process now, having written it?

• 54:31Dax Shepard?

  I felt that wave of relief that you're talking about. And then I have fear of people reading it. And then even more, I have the fear of what I'm doing to you right now, which is like, I want to be able to put it out. And I don't ever want to have to talk to you about it.

• 54:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, right. Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, that's not gonna happen.

• 54:48Speaker 01

  You've done baby steps. Like, was this the first time anyone's ever known about that?

• 54:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. And the second song on the record is about the process of playing my mother, the first song.

• 54:57Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 54:58Speaker 02

  Well, how should we proceed without this getting too heavy? Is the first line of the second song on the record.

• 55:03Speaker 01

  Wow, yeah.

• 55:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 55:05Speaker 01

  But we talk about it on here. You are very open. I mean, not with the details, but with that something you've gone through.

• 55:12Dax Shepard?

  But I'm in control of it, right? Like, you're not going, well, why didn't you blank? Or why didn't you tell your mom?

• 55:18Speaker 01

  You're worried about the types of questions.

• 55:20Dax Shepard?

  So, yeah, it's just the loss of control of me being able to say exactly how. So, wow, I mean, you waited three years. What happened to me, I got really lucky in a sense, which is I was in high school. I'd been carrying it for, I guess, 10 years or whatever. And I was talking with a girl, I went to school, who I liked so much, as just a friend.

• 55:35Speaker 02

  This is Danielle again.

• 55:36Dax Shepard?

  It's not.

• 55:37Speaker 02

  No, not Danielle Fox.

• 55:38Dax Shepard?

  I would have never risked her thinking I was gay.

• 55:43Dax Shepard?

  But this girl was vulnerable enough to tell me that she had been raped the year before.

• 55:49Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 55:50Dax Shepard?

  And I'm kind of sitting there with that really special trust that she just extended to me in my lap. And I just kind of felt myself saying it out loud. Honest to God, as stupid as this is. To look at her face and the fact she didn't say, oh, so you're gay. I went, oh, my God, this whole story, I think I'm telling myself might be wrong. She doesn't think I'm damaged.

• 56:14Speaker 02

  I mean, that's certainly my experience as women led me through.

• 56:16Dax Shepard?

  Of course.

• 56:18Speaker 02

  You know, it's so interesting and probably quite common that as a man, if you allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to a woman, often you'll find them going to lead you to the promised land.

• 56:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:29Speaker 02

  And that's certainly my experience as people like my wife and Brandy and Phoebe Bridges.

• 56:33Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's powerful, man. It's pretty life changing.

• 56:35Speaker 02

  I mean, it was also quite funny playing my mom that song.

• 56:39Dax Shepard?

  Like, how long did it take her to put together what the song was? Was it immediate for her?

• 56:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, and painful for her.

• 56:46Dax Shepard?

  Of course. You have children.

• 56:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, and just the sense that like she'd spent all this time not being able to support me in some of the hours.

• 56:53Dax Shepard?

  Exactly.

• 56:53Speaker 02

  But fucked up to tell your mom through a song.

• 56:57Speaker 01

  So I'm playing you a new thing. Tell me what you think.

• 57:00Speaker 02

  You want to hear a demo? It's quite funny. Bless her. She's a legend. I'm a parent.

• 57:07Speaker 04

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

• 57:13Dax Shepard?

  This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. We've talked before about Rob building our website on Squarespace, and I bring it up again because it's a perfect example of what they do well. Rob had all the pieces, the content, the vision, the ideas, but he needed something to actually take all that and make it public facing. And Squarespace was that bridge. Maybe you're in the same spot. You've been developing something, a business, a skill set, a body of work, and it's been private. It's been yours, but at some point you're ready to put it out there. And that transition from private to public can feel like a huge leap. Squarespace makes it feel like a step. Beautiful templates, built-in SEO, email campaigns, scheduling, analytics, everything you need to go from, I've been

• 57:55Dax Shepard?

  working on this, to here it is, come find me. All in one place, no code, no stitching together a bunch of different tools. So if you've been sitting on something and waiting for the right moment, this might be it. Head to Squarespace.com/dax for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code DAX to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

• 58:19Dax Shepard?

  This episode is supported by Helix.

• 58:22Speaker 01

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

• 58:32Dax Shepard?

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

• 58:37Speaker 01

  I know. And thanks to Helix, my bed actually lives up to the vibe. All I had to do was take the Helix Sleep Quiz, and within two minutes, they matched me to a mattress built for exactly how I sleep. I have a midnight mattress. It also has cooling technology, which I really.

• 58:53Dax Shepard?

  Increasingly so.

• 58:54Speaker 01

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

• 59:04Dax Shepard?

  She is not wrong. I have one too, and it's been such a game changer for sleep. And I love that they make it so easy. Free shipping right to your door. And with their happy with Helix guarantee, you'll get a full 365 nights to try it. A whole year to live in that cozy. They've got over 20 mattress models, so no matter how you sleep, they've got one for you.

• 59:24Speaker 01

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• 59:31Dax Shepard?

  Go to helixsleep.com/armchair for 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com/armchair for 20% off site wide. Helixsleep.com/armchair. We get support from ZipRecruiter. Oh, get recruited. 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,

• 1:00:13Dax Shepard?

  the best way to find qualified people who are genuinely excited about your role is on ZipRecruiter. 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. At ziprecruiter.com/dax, meet your match on ZipRecruiter.

• 1:00:52Dax Shepard?

  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. 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?

• 1:01:34Speaker 01

  They never are.

• 1:01:35Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:01:46Dax Shepard?

  Why the gap? I mean, obviously you did your solo album in there, but why the seven year gap?

• 1:01:51Speaker 02

  Covid, Winston left the band.

• 1:01:53Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:01:53Speaker 02

  I made a solo record, then we're in the studio for two years.

• 1:01:56Dax Shepard?

  And now, really quick, because last year, March?

• 1:01:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, so we got back in together in the studio like January 20. In fact, I was on my solo tour, I was playing at the Ryman in Nashville and the boys, Ted and Ben came out for that show. And I said, lads, should we sing a song together? We sang I'll Wait Together for the first time in a few years and it felt magic.

• 1:02:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:15Speaker 02

  Just a guitar and them two and three of us singing together. This is a very special place to us. And that was the moment where we were like, let's do this. And I think healthily, everyone had had a bit of a break, a bit of a reset.

• 1:02:28Dax Shepard?

  Was there any sense that you would not come back together?

• 1:02:30Speaker 02

  No, I don't think so. It was just a matter of timing. But then January twenty three, we were here in Los Angeles, actually. We met up, the three of us, at my house down the road when we had it. And we'd played a few ideas that had been kicking around. They turned into Rushmere, but then we felt like we weren't done. While we were mixing Rushmere, Aaron Dessner was next door, working, and came in and played us a couple of things he'd been working on that didn't have lyrics or melody yet. And we responded to it and started making Prizefighter like right there.

• 1:02:58Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:02:58Speaker 02

  And I think the freeing experience for me of getting Solo Record, then Rushmere, out, meant that when we came to sit down to do Prizefighter, with Aaron, this long-term friend, we were just ready. My hands were out, ready to catch the songs. We were in shape and the muscles were all working. There were no injuries and we were in like our prime. And that's why we called it Prizefighter. We felt like we were just ready. We'd also spent a summer with Pharrell Williams in Paris, writing songs and hanging out. And he's like a therapist. He was like, sit us down. Certainly me, gave me a lot of pep talks, which was super helpful. So by the time we came to Aaron, we were just in a good spot. And so these songs just poured out of us.

• 1:03:35Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 1:03:36Speaker 02

  And they're the closest to source, in terms of the writing and the recording, we've ever done. We'd like write it in the morning and record it in the afternoon and be done, and walk away.

• 1:03:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's a very live feel.

• 1:03:45Speaker 02

  The feeling you get as a vocalist, for sure. The closer you can record a vocal to when you wrote it, the better. On the first record, we did a demo at Ben's house that I played and recorded at his house in his parents' attic. And then when we came to record Signo More, eighteen months later, we couldn't get the same emotion in that vocal. So we just used the demo eventually.

• 1:04:03Speaker 01

  Ah, yeah.

• 1:04:04Speaker 02

  On White Blank Page, that song, the Crashing Out song.

• 1:04:06Dax Shepard?

  Boy, acting's so similar.

• 1:04:08Speaker 02

  You've got to grab the emotion while it's there. And then when it's gone, it's catching fairies, man.

• 1:04:11Dax Shepard?

  Better actors is no problem. My wife being like, oh, yeah, I do that. It's no fucking problem. I could have done that on the back of a spaceship if you needed me to.

• 1:04:17Speaker 01

  That's how you can really tell, when someone can just show up and be perfect every time, acting wise. We call them acting robots. It's like, yeah, I don't know how they're doing this.

• 1:04:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's really annoying, isn't it?

• 1:04:27Speaker 01

  It is annoying. I don't like them.

• 1:04:28Speaker 02

  Fuck them.

• 1:04:29Dax Shepard?

  Okay, no, I want to extend a compliment and ask you if you feel it. When we had Seth Rogen on and we were talking about the studio, did you watch the studio?

• 1:04:36Speaker 02

  I did, yeah.

• 1:04:36Dax Shepard?

  Okay, great. You've seen one thing together. We want first overlap.

• 1:04:40Speaker 01

  Well, that's not a music documentary.

• 1:04:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's not about music, about movies. It's fun.

• 1:04:44Dax Shepard?

  But what I see is not just an incredible show, I see the results of an incredibly generous life that every one of these people would have shown up to party in this thing. There's a lot of successful actors that they couldn't assemble five other ex-co-stars.

• 1:05:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, right. So you think his humanity and the way he walks through the world has had a real effect?

• 1:05:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that show is a result of who he is as a spirit. It's really on display and it's really cool. And I would argue that Price Fighter, do you feel that at all? The fact that you can call Chris Stapleton or however that works?

• 1:05:19Speaker 02

  I do feel that. You know, our band has always loved music and being at shows and watching our contemporaries and being inspired by them. We spent a lot of time investing into the community and it's not just so that we can name drop, it's a bit of that as well.

• 1:05:30Dax Shepard?

  Are you friends with the Avits? I'm really good friends with Seth.

• 1:05:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, we love those guys. They're such inspiration for us.

• 1:05:35Dax Shepard?

  They're bad motherfuckers. If you haven't seen the Avits play.

• 1:05:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're amazing.

• 1:05:38Speaker 01

  I'm doing a thing for them on Monday. They do those like-

• 1:05:40Dax Shepard?

  The Muppets?

• 1:05:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, the Muppets. Yeah, I'm excited.

• 1:05:43Speaker 02

  So we've invested a lot into musical relationships, you know, stayed in touch with people and then weirdly as a headliner, you go out and you do your shows and you're a bit insulated from the community.

• 1:05:52Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:53Speaker 02

  Festivals are always fun because you bump into other people and sometimes those awardy things can be cool because you see people you wouldn't otherwise see. But on this record, we've never opened the door, our band basically has always been collaborative and we've never really represented it on record. And so on this record, we were like, we want to call in our friends. And actually, Gracie Abrams has been like the fairy godmother of this record. She's been behind the scenes with her magic wand.

• 1:06:16Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:06:17Speaker 02

  She heard the demo of Banjo's song before I'd written anything on it and was like, you got to fucking write something on that. So I text her lyrics as we were going and voice memos and be like, what do you think of this? What do you think of this? And she was always behind the scenes just cheerleading and being-

• 1:06:28Speaker 01

  Oh, that's awesome.

• 1:06:29Speaker 02

  In a way like Brandy was for my solo record, Gracie has been for Price Fighter. And so then we called her up and said, will you sing on Badlands? And I thought she was going to just do some harmonies. She turned that song into a duet. It's like my favorite song on the record. It's amazing. And the same with Gigi, who'd we'd done some shows with, Gigi Perez. Hosea, we've known for a really long time.

• 1:06:47Dax Shepard?

  Like, I don't need to know you to look at the list and go like, oh yeah, this is a guy who's clearly been benevolent and generous with his peers because- They show up.

• 1:06:55Speaker 02

  I feel deeply honored by the people that said yes. And Chris, I didn't know. Chris, I just called. Cold call. Hey bud. Big fan.

• 1:07:03Speaker 02

  I think he's a generational talent. He's like my favorite voice, male voice in America.

• 1:07:09Dax Shepard?

  Do you know Heaven Sent by Steel Drivers?

• 1:07:11Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:07:11Dax Shepard?

  I cannot stop listening to this fucking song since I interviewed him.

• 1:07:14Speaker 01

  That was his first band.

• 1:07:15Dax Shepard?

  It's my inf-

• 1:07:16Speaker 02

  No, I don't know.

• 1:07:17Dax Shepard?

  -affection.

• 1:07:17Speaker 02

  Heaven Sent.

• 1:07:18Dax Shepard?

  Heaven Sent. I listened to it probably forty times the day after. If I'm not working, I'm listening to that song. It's unreal.

• 1:07:25Speaker 02

  Well, I think he's amazing. And of course, he completely killed the assignment. Because I sent him the song. I sent him here. We all felt in the band that he would be perfect on it. Because it's like a kind of cowboy suicide movie.

• 1:07:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:37Speaker 01

  He is perfect for that.

• 1:07:38Dax Shepard?

  And again, he's a dude who does not need to answer the phone and doesn't need to show up for people. And he does it like endlessly. You find that out.

• 1:07:45Speaker 02

  And then I text him and said, this is our Brokeback moment as well, by the way.

• 1:07:51Speaker 02

  Don't wait for the video.

• 1:07:52Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so you're going on tour and you kind of just nodded at it. You're doing a lot of festivals. Is that by choice?

• 1:07:56Speaker 02

  Those are the ones that have been announced.

• 1:07:58Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:07:58Speaker 02

  There's big gaps in that diary that aren't going to stay gaps. But we haven't announced them yet. But Hyde Park on July 4th, actually. Important day for you guys and half of me.

• 1:08:08Dax Shepard?

  I bet you're really conflicted on July 4th.

• 1:08:11Speaker 02

  July 4th at Hyde Park is the one that I'm looking forward to the most.

• 1:08:14Dax Shepard?

  Because it's been a decade since you guys played.

• 1:08:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's been ten years. And that's like hometown show. It's massive.

• 1:08:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Two seconds on Nashville and then I want to hear you sing if you'll oblige us. Now that I've ruined your voice in two hours of chat.

• 1:08:28Dax Shepard?

  Nashville, very special place, no?

• 1:08:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, it really is. We spent a lot of time there. And we were invited there when we first went to Telluride Bluegrass Festival up in Colorado. We knew that Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were on the bill. We knew that people like Ockham Medicine Show would be kicking around. Jerry Douglas, who's the greatest slide guitar player of all time. Well, Daubro player of all time. And we walked in and they all were there and all stoked that we were there.

• 1:08:53Dax Shepard?

  Ah.

• 1:08:54Speaker 02

  And coming in is these kind of like nerdy kids with more Americana instrumentation. They were just amazing and Jerry became a really amazing friend to our band. We felt invited in and then they invited us to Nashville and they were all around and we've spent a lot of time in Nashville. I love it.

• 1:09:10Dax Shepard?

  I've been shocked to be in that town, which is also a creative town, and just hear story after story of how available everyone is for each other.

• 1:09:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, Laney Wilson has become a friend of ours and I'm just obsessed with her. She's so generous. She's so down.

• 1:09:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:24Speaker 02

  We invited her on the train tour. She's like, yeah, cool.

• 1:09:26Dax Shepard?

  It's like they haven't forgotten that they love the art form.

• 1:09:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, a lot of them, I think. Chris is like that. Noah Khan is there now and he's like that. Super generous people. There's a real sense of community there, which I think still exists and is cool.

• 1:09:39Dax Shepard?

  One of our closest friends is this young artist Hannah Anderson. She's a musician. She's lived in Portland and in LA and from Houston and they just went to Nashville a year and a half ago and they've just never been happy. So even if you're not like successful and thriving, at every level there, she's like, oh my gosh, I've been here my whole life.

• 1:09:59Speaker 02

  I lived in West Hollywood and it drove my shame narrative crazy.

• 1:10:03Speaker 01

  It did.

• 1:10:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, because I'd look around and be like, look at all these amazingly beautiful, successful people. I'm not doing any of that.

• 1:10:09Dax Shepard?

  Billboards. You underestimate the impact of these billboards that are every five feet.

• 1:10:13Speaker 02

  You really do. They have an impact on you, especially if you have like a competitive spirit or an artistic one, like a slightly vulnerable.

• 1:10:20Speaker 01

  And if you have both.

• 1:10:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're fucked.

• 1:10:22Speaker 01

  It's really tough.

• 1:10:23Dax Shepard?

  And even if you're not like competitive or I'm envious, but you're ambitious.

• 1:10:27Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:10:27Dax Shepard?

  Even just to have ambition and see that you're not there is a bad reminder.

• 1:10:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, it is every time you walk out the door.

• 1:10:33Speaker 01

  Can you walk out of a restaurant and there's paparazzi there and they just like put their cameras down when you walk out? It's like, oh God. It's a wild mind fuck.

• 1:10:44Dax Shepard?

  I gotta tell you, one of my funniest moments in life, the first time I did Letterman, which I was so excited to do. He's my hero.

• 1:10:50Speaker 02

  Because he for comics is like.

• 1:10:51Dax Shepard?

  He's number one. Him and Bill Murray, those are our gods. So I couldn't be more excited. I'm in the back of a SUV and Tom Cruise is also the guest that night. So he's first and I'm second. And I pull up to the theater. They've got the whole street shut down and there are sawhorses so that the crowd doesn't move in. And as my SUV pulls up, they believe Tom Cruise is about to get out. And this audience of people is like, the cameras are all like, and I step out and you just hear this collective, like literally 1500 people like, save your film. It's not him. Put your cameras away. And I was like, oh.

• 1:11:27Speaker 02

  Oh man.

• 1:11:28Dax Shepard?

  What a way to walk into this theater. For My Dream Comes True started with Save Your Film.

• 1:11:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, maybe that should be the title of your man.

• 1:11:39Dax Shepard?

  So with so much gratitude, you've agreed to sing and I cannot wait to see that. So if we may.

• 1:11:45Speaker 02

  I try.

• 1:11:46Dax Shepard?

  You're a party. I like you a ton. Thanks, man.

• 1:11:48Speaker 01

  Thanks for coming.

• 1:11:49Speaker 02

  Well, you guys make this quite weird thing feel non-weird at all.

• 1:11:52Dax Shepard?

  Oh, good. That's the goal.

• 1:11:53Speaker 02

  Very comfortable.

• 1:11:54Speaker 01

  Do you know Mark Ronson? I assume you do. You guys have a similar vibe.

• 1:11:58Speaker 02

  Oh, really? I'll take that. He's a generous spirited man. He's a wonderful collaborator.

• 1:12:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:12:03Speaker 02

  You know, some of those people like Pharrell is like that and Aaron Dessin's like that. They just get joy in seeing other people shine. Pharrell's definitely like that. He's in his happiest place when he's helping elevate someone up to their true self.

• 1:12:15Speaker 01

  It's very special.

• 1:12:17Speaker 02

  It's a cool spirit. Mark's like that, too.

• 1:12:18Dax Shepard?

  I had a therapist tell me that as a man, your journey is you try to conquer and you try to get yours. And then if you're a healthy man, the next phase of your life is to try to give that to as many people as you can. And I have entered that phase of my life where it's like, you got to not do that.

• 1:12:36Speaker 02

  And that's the spirit of generosity rather than the spirit of poverty.

• 1:12:38Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:39Speaker 02

  It's not like this has got to be mine. I can't give it away. It's like, I do better when you do better.

• 1:12:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, the scarcity mentality.

• 1:12:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:47Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 1:12:47Dax Shepard?

  Forged in.

• 1:12:48Speaker 01

  All right, let's do it.

• 1:12:49Dax Shepard?

  All right, let's party.

• 1:12:52Dax Shepard?

  Roll Dogs is our compromise.

• 1:12:54Speaker 05

  We need you.

• 1:12:55Speaker 02

  Roll down my secrets. That's our line. Can you hold all my secrets? Can we swear that we'll forget?

• 1:13:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna tell you this and then I don't ever want to hear about it.

• 1:13:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:11Speaker 02

  Exactly. I'm gonna get this off my chest just for me.

• 1:13:15Dax Shepard?

  I can't carry this anymore by myself, but also we shan't ever speak of it again. Well, if that's you diminished, you know, fuck you, I guess.

• 1:13:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, I agree. I'm mad.

• 1:13:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that's you at 70%.

• 1:13:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, Taylor was doing that in the dog.

• 1:13:31Dax Shepard?

  You won't make him tell us now.

• 1:13:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, later.

• 1:13:34Speaker 02

  All right then, we're gonna.

• 1:13:36Dax Shepard?

  There it is.

• 1:13:36Speaker 02

  Do that guy. Shall we?

• 1:13:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:37Speaker 02

  You ready? Yeah.

• 1:13:51Speaker 05

  Here's my fine serenade Here's the gun and here's the blade Here's the picture that I saved for too long Here's my credit card and keys And the reason I won't find peace Here's a song I could not complete for too long Here's my pride and here's my shame Here's a trophy that bears my name Here's all the mistakes I made for too long Here's the answers I never gave Here's the calls I should have made

• 1:14:35Speaker 05

  Here's the substance that I crave all along

• 1:14:46Speaker 05

  Well, here's my vision, here's my aim Here's my suspect and the ones I blame Whilst you're sitting, taking names I just want to belong Here's my lonely serenade Here's the gun and here's the blade Here's the picture that I saved before you were gone Here's my pride and here's my shame Here's a trophy that bears my name Here's all the mistakes I made for too long Here's the answers I never gave Here's the calls I should have made

• 1:15:31Speaker 05

  Here's the substance that I crave all along

• 1:15:42Speaker 05

  Can you hold all my secrets?

• 1:15:49Speaker 05

  Can we swear we can't forget? I had lies like you wouldn't believe

• 1:16:04Speaker 05

  And brought to my knees

• 1:16:15Dax Shepard?

  That's kind of it.

• 1:16:18Dax Shepard?

  No water carries horny for you, you're so hot, would you say?

• 1:16:24Speaker 01

  Incredible.

• 1:16:26Dax Shepard?

  I know, I almost flew into the bookshelf a couple times.

• 1:16:29Speaker 01

  Wow, beautiful.

• 1:16:30Dax Shepard?

  That was at the Memorex moment. My wife's always said we're quite a shouty band, and that one does kick quite a shouty. Oh man, that's fucking awesome.

• 1:16:37Speaker 01

  That's powerful, really.

• 1:16:38Dax Shepard?

  The privilege of being in a room this tiny with him letting it rip.

• 1:16:40Speaker 01

  The whole time I was like, how is this our job?

• 1:16:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:43Speaker 01

  We're so lucky.

• 1:16:44Dax Shepard?

  Well, thank you guys.

• 1:16:45Speaker 01

  That was really, really special.

• 1:16:46Dax Shepard?

  They all normally come play a song. Well, Nora sang for us, Nor Jones.

• 1:16:50Speaker 01

  Ava Brothers have played.

• 1:16:51Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, dude. Which one did they do? Oh, they did Trussell.

• 1:16:55Speaker 01

  They did a few.

• 1:16:56Dax Shepard?

  As you know, when those two fucking lock spirits, like there's something, those two, what do they call it, blood harmony? Yeah, right. There's something real about blood harmony. It's like two brothers playing soccer together as well.

• 1:17:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. Oh, this was so special.

• 1:17:12Dax Shepard?

  Thanks, guys. Well, Marcus, this is a delight.

• 1:17:16Speaker 01

  Thank you so much.

• 1:17:17Dax Shepard?

  Well, come back.

• 1:17:18Speaker 01

  Yes, please.

• 1:17:19Dax Shepard?

  Also, I really want a double date, maybe. Yeah, lovely, lovely. Yeah, okay, great. I'm gonna give you my fax number. That would be dope, wouldn't it, only to fax, like Sharon with his iPad, I'm not sure about that, but fax only, sick. Yeah, get a line, I'll draw you some cock and balls pictures, and we'll get this thing going. All right, be well. Thank you, guys.

• 1:17:39Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:17:47Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 1:17:48Dax Shepard?

  Hi.

• 1:17:49Speaker 01

  Sup?

• 1:17:50Dax Shepard?

  How are you?

• 1:17:51Speaker 01

  Good, I have a headache, but it's gonna go away.

• 1:17:54Dax Shepard?

  It's gonna go away. Did you take, uh, Advil or something?

• 1:17:57Speaker 01

  Through the power of thinking.

• 1:17:58Dax Shepard?

  Why don't you get in your...

• 1:17:59Speaker 01

  No, I will, but, should I?

• 1:18:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, come on.

• 1:18:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, I guess if people want to see my pharmacy real...

• 1:18:04Dax Shepard?

  Traveling pharmacy.

• 1:18:06Speaker 01

  ...prime, it's here.

• 1:18:11Speaker 01

  This is it. Oh, it's like in, um, one of those videos, like a what's in my bag.

• 1:18:16Dax Shepard?

  Oh, sure. Like a Vogue.

• 1:18:18Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:18:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, this is great.

• 1:18:19Speaker 01

  What's in my pharmacy?

• 1:18:21Dax Shepard?

  Do this.

• 1:18:22Speaker 01

  I'm at the.

• 1:18:25Dax Shepard?

  What will you select?

• 1:18:27Speaker 01

  Exact, what, what won't I?

• 1:18:28Dax Shepard?

  Oh, this is.

• 1:18:30Speaker 01

  Oh, this is a hand sanit. I really like.

• 1:18:37Speaker 01

  This one's vulnerable.

• 1:18:38Dax Shepard?

  Pepto, poopy problem.

• 1:18:40Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:18:41Dax Shepard?

  If I have muscle and or joint issues, in order, I prefer an Aleve.

• 1:18:47Speaker 01

  I know. We've done.

• 1:18:48Dax Shepard?

  And then I have your Profin. Never Tylenol for body pain.

• 1:18:51Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:18:52Dax Shepard?

  But if I have a headache.

• 1:18:53Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:18:54Dax Shepard?

  I love a Tylenol.

• 1:18:55Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:18:56Dax Shepard?

  You know what I have not tried, though? Have you tried? Cause it's so old fashioned. I bet it works the best. You ever fuck with an aspirin?

• 1:19:01Speaker 01

  No. Look, aspirin.

• 1:19:04Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my God.

• 1:19:05Speaker 01

  Do you know why I got this?

• 1:19:06Dax Shepard?

  Why? An accident?

• 1:19:08Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:19:08Dax Shepard?

  On X.

• 1:19:09Speaker 01

  I got it on purpose. Um, when I thought my finger was gonna explode on the plane.

• 1:19:15Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:19:16Speaker 01

  I forget why. Probably a Google or maybe I asked someone. Um, and they said, take an aspirin. I think maybe for the sweat, like to make sure my heart didn't explode on the plane.

• 1:19:29Dax Shepard?

  Did you take an aspirin?

• 1:19:30Speaker 01

  I'm sure. I took everything they told me to take. Um, so yeah, I've got some aspirin in here for the plane.

• 1:19:36Dax Shepard?

  Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the difference between all these, aspirin actually thins your blood.

• 1:19:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, it does. That's why, cause that's why on planes it's good for, instead of clotting.

• 1:19:48Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. So when you have pressure, you have your blood moving through a constricted area and you can either attack the blood side, aspirin, or the constriction side, which is the other options.

• 1:20:00Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:20:01Dax Shepard?

  Why can't you take both is my question? Oh, why?

• 1:20:04Speaker 01

  Just you always wanna take both.

• 1:20:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. If one's good, two's better.

• 1:20:08Speaker 01

  I have two kinds of D. I have a leave D, ding ding ding, a leave, and I have Zyrtec D.

• 1:20:13Dax Shepard?

  Ah, wow.

• 1:20:14Speaker 01

  So I just have a lot of stuff.

• 1:20:16Dax Shepard?

  You've really got it going on in there.

• 1:20:17Speaker 01

  I do.

• 1:20:17Dax Shepard?

  Do you need that box still? How do you get rid of that box?

• 1:20:20Speaker 01

  No, I like it.

• 1:20:21Dax Shepard?

  Don't you know?

• 1:20:22Speaker 01

  My Tide Stains.

• 1:20:23Dax Shepard?

  Okay. I'm now carrying one of those.

• 1:20:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:25Dax Shepard?

  In my backpack.

• 1:20:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, they're very helpful.

• 1:20:28Dax Shepard?

  Well, there's a lot of good free ads for all those companies.

• 1:20:30Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:20:31Dax Shepard?

  Just.

• 1:20:33Speaker 01

  It's true. Can you hear? Oh, there's like not much left, but that's okay.

• 1:20:37Dax Shepard?

  There's enough to get.

• 1:20:38Speaker 01

  Probably enough. I'm taking three.

• 1:20:42Dax Shepard?

  It's one take, take them all at once. God, you would have never been a good drug addict. You would have sucked at being a drug.

• 1:20:50Speaker 01

  So I never did. I only do things I'm good at.

• 1:20:52Dax Shepard?

  My character in Chips was very much how I chew them all up and swallow them. Just get over it.

• 1:20:57Speaker 01

  All up is disgusting. I remember the first time I had to swallow a pill. Woo.

• 1:21:03Dax Shepard?

  You remember the first time?

• 1:21:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, cuz it was a, I couldn't do it and my parents were trying to help me.

• 1:21:09Dax Shepard?

  You currently look 15. I'm mad.

• 1:21:12Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:21:12Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:13Speaker 01

  Cuz my hair's up.

• 1:21:14Dax Shepard?

  I guess.

• 1:21:16Speaker 01

  I was probably nine or 10. I lived in my.

• 1:21:20Dax Shepard?

  How could you have made it all the way to nine before you took a pill? Oh, we didn't have those in my day.

• 1:21:26Speaker 01

  Oh, really?

• 1:21:27Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 1:21:27Speaker 01

  I wasn't taking Advil, I guess. I was taking chewable, those Flintstone vitamins, ding ding ding, from last week. Um, I was taking those and they worked. They kept me healthy, but then I had to take some sort of pill, probably an antibiotic or something. And I, in my head, it was this big, you know, enormous.

• 1:21:49Dax Shepard?

  Well, relative to your head, it might have been.

• 1:21:51Speaker 01

  True. Anyway, uh, my parents were trying to help me and then they were getting frustrated, obviously, cuz I like couldn't do it.

• 1:21:57Dax Shepard?

  Sure. And you needed to take it.

• 1:21:59Speaker 01

  I had to take it and I don't, I think eventually, we probably cut it up into like teeny tiny pieces.

• 1:22:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:06Speaker 01

  Made it dust of it.

• 1:22:07Dax Shepard?

  Turned it into a milkshake. Mom.

• 1:22:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, we should have done that.

• 1:22:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, why not? Mortar pestle.

• 1:22:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, could have done that. Um, anyway, so that was a hard day for me.

• 1:22:19Dax Shepard?

  I'm sorry that happened. Um, I had wanted last week, uh, I forgot to bring it up, but I had attended a concert that I wanted to talk about. That was quite special.

• 1:22:28Speaker 01

  Okay, let's hear about it.

• 1:22:30Dax Shepard?

  You know, I give, I, I, uh, I attack social media so much, but I need to also acknowledge, I have discovered so many interesting things via Instagram.

• 1:22:39Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:22:40Dax Shepard?

  One of them is Alfredo Rodriguez. Who is a Cuban pianist. He makes these so exciting, these songs he does. So he'll do like Thriller, but he puts it through the Latin conversion.

• 1:22:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:22:55Dax Shepard?

  And just tackle, he did Star Wars as like what it would sound like if it had been written in Cuba.

• 1:23:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:01Dax Shepard?

  And he's an insane piano player. And he's on stage with just a percussionist who he's been making music with for like 15 years. And these two are like, they're sharing a brain. They're like the Avet Brothers.

• 1:23:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:15Dax Shepard?

  And this percussionist is only using his hands, but he is making so much sound. He's got the bongos, he's got everything you could imagine. All, and his story, which was so great was he was living in Cuba and he got invited to this fancy jazz festival in Switzerland.

• 1:23:33Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:23:33Dax Shepard?

  And he went there and there was like all these legends there, like George Benson and all these different incredible people. So he plays piano on stage and Quincy Jones is in the audience. He goes back to Cuba. Quincy Jones comes home and Quincy Jones calls his manager and he said, I just saw the best pianist of this generation. I have to work with him. You've got to figure out how I can work with him. So this management team spends the next few months trying to find him. He's in Cuba 18 years ago.

• 1:24:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, not the easiest.

• 1:24:07Dax Shepard?

  They start this process of trying to get him to be able to come record. He ends up having to go to Mexico in defect and come over the border. And he then starts working with Quincy Jones.

• 1:24:20Speaker 01

  Oh, that's so cool.

• 1:24:22Dax Shepard?

  Nonstop, does three albums with Quincy Jones. They become like, you know, mentori mentee. It's so beautiful.

• 1:24:29Speaker 01

  I love that.

• 1:24:30Dax Shepard?

  He's now a citizen. He lives in Miami. He's got a family. It's just a wonderful story.

• 1:24:35Speaker 01

  I love that.

• 1:24:35Dax Shepard?

  And I've, I've never seen someone play the piano with this kind of speed and pizzazz. I mean, it's kind of mind bending to watch someone play like that.

• 1:24:45Speaker 01

  That's fun.

• 1:24:46Dax Shepard?

  So I encourage everyone, if you could see Alfredo Rodriguez. I know that they're having a jazz festival in Miami right now ish, I think.

• 1:24:54Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:24:55Dax Shepard?

  And I think John Batista is also playing at that festival.

• 1:24:57Speaker 01

  You guys go to this.

• 1:24:58Dax Shepard?

  I want to go so bad, but I was just there on the damn flight. I really still have my complaints about the length of the flight. Okay, it's too long. It's a three day commitment to go see anything. Okay? Uh, so yeah, check him out.

• 1:25:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's awesome. We also, we went to another, I guess we're arty now because we went to a play, a theater play.

• 1:25:17Dax Shepard?

  Oh, we did, we did. We went to a theater production, a musical.

• 1:25:21Speaker 01

  Three months later that Kristen was in, started and it was great.

• 1:25:26Dax Shepard?

  It was so great. It was impossibly good, given the fact that those people had come together a couple of weeks before.

• 1:25:32Speaker 01

  To do rehearsals and stuff.

• 1:25:33Dax Shepard?

  Start from scratch.

• 1:25:34Speaker 01

  It was so, so funny and sweet and

• 1:25:38Dax Shepard?

  Life affirming.

• 1:25:39Speaker 01

  I loved it.

• 1:25:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:40Speaker 01

  I loved it. And it was extra fun for me.

• 1:25:43Dax Shepard?

  Because?

• 1:25:44Speaker 01

  It was a lot of worlds colliding for me.

• 1:25:46Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:25:47Speaker 01

  Obviously Kristen. And then two very wonderful people who wrote the play, RUCB Peep.

• 1:25:55Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you knew them?

• 1:25:57Speaker 01

  Yes, and

• 1:25:58Dax Shepard?

  I thought they were terrific. Not only had they written this incredible thing, but they as performers were fantastic.

• 1:26:04Speaker 01

  Yes. And one of my very good friends who I did improv with, we were on an improv team together. Zeke was in it as well.

• 1:26:17Dax Shepard?

  Which one was he?

• 1:26:18Speaker 01

  He played the flight attendant, the, the co-pilot.

• 1:26:22Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay. Wonderful. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I met him, the tall gentleman.

• 1:26:26Speaker 01

  He's fantastic and he was so good in it. And it was so fun because I hadn't seen him in so long. And it's one of those really fun things where like,

• 1:26:38Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:38Speaker 01

  you know, in this world, like you, you, especially in the improv comedy world, you have these people and these teams and you're around them non-stop and they're your family and you're making things together. And it's like such a beautiful time. And then your life, sometimes your, your life goes into another direction as mine did. And I don't see any of those people anymore.

• 1:27:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:04Speaker 01

  And it, um, it was so like, it made me feel so happy to see him up there.

• 1:27:10Dax Shepard?

  Warm and fuzzy?

• 1:27:10Speaker 01

  Made me feel warm and fuzzy. And we were talking after the show and he, he said rightly, he was like, I feel like that team was, he was like, I just have such strong memories of practicing at your house, in my apartment. It was like, right before we all sort of became adults. Like, we were adults, but like, our lot, everyone's lives-

• 1:27:33Dax Shepard?

  In your infancy as adults.

• 1:27:34Speaker 01

  Started taking off right after that. And so it was kind of like the last, the last phase of innocence.

• 1:27:42Dax Shepard?

  Okay, now I want to take this moment to discuss something that I think was potentially awkward.

• 1:27:50Speaker 01

  Oh, sure.

• 1:27:50Dax Shepard?

  That we haven't debriefed on.

• 1:27:52Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 1:27:54Dax Shepard?

  And this likely was all from my own perspective, and I imagined all this.

• 1:27:58Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:27:58Dax Shepard?

  But here's what happened. We're watching this play. Three of the characters are gamers. They're young boys, and they're gamers.

• 1:28:06Speaker 01

  So funny.

• 1:28:06Dax Shepard?

  And they have matching outfits, and they're in a gaming troupe and whatever. Mind you, I've not seen the play. I have no idea. I'm seeing it for the very first time. But these three boys start dancing and singing, and it's so adorable. I just have this moment where I'm certain this is going to be making you smile so much.

• 1:28:24Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:28:24Dax Shepard?

  I'm thinking like, she must love these boys right now.

• 1:28:27Speaker 01

  I did.

• 1:28:28Dax Shepard?

  And so I turn around, and when you were with our whole pod.

• 1:28:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:28:31Dax Shepard?

  And so I turn around and I look at you directly to see if, like, I'm right. Like, are you, are you just gonna be smiling ear to ear, watching these boys being expressive and dancing and singing?

• 1:28:42Speaker 01

  I did love it, yeah.

• 1:28:43Dax Shepard?

  But it's very obvious. I turn around, and I look at you, and then you like, you look at me, and you're just like, I'm sure you're like, was he, do you remember this moment?

• 1:28:50Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:28:50Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my God, okay.

• 1:28:52Speaker 01

  Not at all.

• 1:28:53Dax Shepard?

  Well, then I see, like, I see Molly and Eric, and then they, they've seen me turn around and like, lock eyes with you. And then I turn back around. You weren't smiling ear to ear. So I'm like, oh, she's not as tickled by these boys as I was thinking she was gonna-

• 1:29:04Speaker 01

  I was.

• 1:29:05Dax Shepard?

  You were, you just weren't showing it.

• 1:29:06Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:29:06Dax Shepard?

  That's not the point. Don't even worry. That's, that has nothing to do with where I'm going with the story.

• 1:29:09Speaker 01

  Okay, okay.

• 1:29:10Dax Shepard?

  So I made this big show of turning around, and everyone's behind me. So they just saw me turn around and like, lock eyes with you. And then, then the song takes off right after that moment. And the whole song is about them loving double Ds and the princess with big titties. And the whole song becomes about titties and double Ds. And then I started panicking, thinking, does everyone just see that when I turned around and stared at Monica, they think I've already seen this?

• 1:29:37Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, you're sitting there, huh? No one thought that, I don't think.

• 1:29:41Dax Shepard?

  You can see the math of that, no?

• 1:29:43Speaker 01

  I guess.

• 1:29:44Dax Shepard?

  Like, hey, Monica, check this out. And then the whole song, right after I do that, turns into a whole song about double Ds.

• 1:29:50Speaker 01

  That is something you would do.

• 1:29:52Dax Shepard?

  Well, I don't think I would.

• 1:29:53Speaker 01

  You literally said double Ds last week on the fact check.

• 1:29:57Dax Shepard?

  Because you had, what, ADHD? What was the thing?

• 1:30:01Speaker 01

  I don't remember, but you said it.

• 1:30:02Dax Shepard?

  I didn't say that. I just said there was double D in the acronym. It was the meth, medicine, right?

• 1:30:09Speaker 01

  What was it?

• 1:30:09Dax Shepard?

  The medicine you were taking, the meth. There were two doses, double D. Yes. Is that what it was?

• 1:30:14Speaker 01

  Maybe. And then you said, are you conflating it? Yeah, you made a reference to my boobs. You do this. We do this. So I don't.

• 1:30:22Dax Shepard?

  Well, anyways, I felt really pervy all of a sudden. I guess, let's say this, if I turned around like, oh, Monica, look, they're about to sing about big boobs. That's not me.

• 1:30:30Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:30:31Dax Shepard?

  Okay. I'm pervy, whatever the line is, that's not me. I'm not turning around like, oh, Monica, they're about to sing about boobs. That's crazy. I wouldn't do that.

• 1:30:39Speaker 01

  You don't do that noise, but.

• 1:30:40Dax Shepard?

  But that was what I was afraid the Bible sudden was like, oh, my God, do they think?

• 1:30:45Speaker 01

  I don't think that.

• 1:30:46Dax Shepard?

  But I would just turn around to see like, oh, my God, I bet she loves these cute boys dancing.

• 1:30:50Speaker 01

  I did. You were right.

• 1:30:51Dax Shepard?

  But then they immediately were letting her rip about boobs. And I'm like, oh, boy, they think.

• 1:30:54Speaker 01

  I don't think.

• 1:30:56Dax Shepard?

  Monica.

• 1:30:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't think anyone thought that. Is that why you kept looking at your kids too? Because you were like, trying to like, combat it. Like, I'm not a perv. I'm here with my sweet children.

• 1:31:08Dax Shepard?

  Of course not. I was looking at my kids to see how excited they were. Their mom was so cute.

• 1:31:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I know. It was really cute.

• 1:31:16Dax Shepard?

  They had friends with them, the girls.

• 1:31:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:31:19Dax Shepard?

  I was just trying to imagine, as if I was 12 and I took Aaron and my dad was like, to make it one for one and be like, if my dad was doing backflips on motorcycles. Like they're all into musical theater and their mom is like crushing it on stage. And I was like, I wonder if they're feeling pride for their mom.

• 1:31:39Speaker 01

  God, I hope so.

• 1:31:40Dax Shepard?

  I hope so. Yeah, that's what I was trying to check in on.

• 1:31:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love it.

• 1:31:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, Delta had too much on her plate to probably.

• 1:31:47Speaker 01

  She was on the crew.

• 1:31:48Dax Shepard?

  She was on the crew.

• 1:31:49Speaker 01

  So she was all stressed out.

• 1:31:50Dax Shepard?

  She was, she worked so hard. Shout out to D Money. She did costumes. She was an usher. She filled in for some of the cast members when they weren't there.

• 1:32:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:32:01Dax Shepard?

  She was a P A and called everyone to set. She worked at least 45 hours last week on that play.

• 1:32:06Speaker 01

  She said that she gave actors notes.

• 1:32:10Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh. She saw every single rehearsal and then she would film the whole show on her iPad and then come home after the show. She's been at the theater at that point for eight hours that day.

• 1:32:20Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:32:20Dax Shepard?

  Watch the entire show all over again and take notes.

• 1:32:24Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:32:25Dax Shepard?

  And she had of her 20 or 30 notes over the course of the five shows, 10 of them were legit and got implemented.

• 1:32:33Speaker 01

  That's good.

• 1:32:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. She's like, I don't think the mics are on for the boys when they say this line. It's a funnier line in rehearsal. It's not landing here. I don't think the mics are on and they weren't.

• 1:32:42Speaker 01

  Oh, weird. Well, good for her. I love that. I love that. She's an industrious gal.

• 1:32:46Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I was so proud of her.

• 1:32:48Speaker 01

  And she, um.

• 1:32:49Dax Shepard?

  I couldn't have been proud.

• 1:32:50Speaker 01

  I waited, you know, I requested her as my usher.

• 1:32:55Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:32:56Speaker 01

  I had to wait because.

• 1:32:57Dax Shepard?

  So busy.

• 1:32:58Speaker 01

  She is a lot. She had a lot to do.

• 1:32:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:00Speaker 01

  And yeah, it was very, very, very cute. And hopefully they do more. I hope they do more. And I hope more people can see it because it was very cute.

• 1:33:09Dax Shepard?

  Me too.

• 1:33:10Speaker 01

  And sweet and funny.

• 1:33:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:13Speaker 01

  To remind people, musical theater, not my fave. Not your fave, not my fave.

• 1:33:20Dax Shepard?

  Not my fave, but.

• 1:33:22Speaker 01

  But it was great.

• 1:33:23Dax Shepard?

  It was great. It was so entertaining.

• 1:33:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:33:26Dax Shepard?

  And of course, seeing Kristen sing is always so fun. You know what I was thinking of? I had so many waves of happiness for her, which was like, A, she looked 12 years old.

• 1:33:37Speaker 01

  Uh, well, part of the character, she was wearing a wig with bangs. She does look so young.

• 1:33:43Dax Shepard?

  She looks so young, but her spirit was like she was on a stage playing.

• 1:33:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, she's having the best time.

• 1:33:50Dax Shepard?

  She could not do that ever again. She could just act in movies and get paid a lot and act in TV shows, but she's doing this thing for free.

• 1:33:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, that she loves.

• 1:33:58Dax Shepard?

  I'm watching how happy it makes her and I was like, oh, she did it. She has held on to being 12. Like she, she has, she has protected this part of herself that's from childhood and still getting to do it.

• 1:34:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, very pure.

• 1:34:17Dax Shepard?

  It's so pure.

• 1:34:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's beautiful.

• 1:34:19Dax Shepard?

  So I had that round of happiness for, and then I was looking around and there were just so many people that had come that are friends of hers and people she's worked with.

• 1:34:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:31Dax Shepard?

  And I was like, look at this group of people that love her.

• 1:34:34Speaker 01

  It's great.

• 1:34:35Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I was so happy for her.

• 1:34:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was beautiful. Well, great show. Three months later, check it out if you can, if it comes to your city.

• 1:34:45Speaker 04

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

• 1:34:51Dax Shepard?

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• 1:35:16Speaker 06

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• 1:36:01Speaker 06

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• 1:36:20Speaker 01

  Um, I fell down yesterday.

• 1:36:24Dax Shepard?

  Had a big tumble.

• 1:36:26Speaker 01

  So you were being 15 and 12.

• 1:36:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, who'd have thought moving much closer to work would up your danger? Yeah.

• 1:36:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, I.

• 1:36:35Dax Shepard?

  Explain it to me because when you explain it to me, it's felt like absent of a banana peel, what you described couldn't have happened.

• 1:36:41Speaker 01

  I don't know what's happening. I walk, it is a little downhill. I'm in these shoes, loafers for people who aren't watching. And my front foot just goes straight out, slips and just goes straight out. And it's also kind of slow. Like, I like know it's happening.

• 1:37:02Dax Shepard?

  I now know what's going on. Yeah, you were going downhill steep enough that you're putting your front foot out.

• 1:37:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, my foot was out.

• 1:37:09Dax Shepard?

  It's the opposite of walking in essence. You're lowering yourself down the hill.

• 1:37:12Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:37:13Dax Shepard?

  And so you put one foot out and put all your weight on it and it lost traction. And then you hit the fucking deck. That now makes sense.

• 1:37:20Speaker 01

  I guess.

• 1:37:20Dax Shepard?

  I was, I was underestimating the decline of it all.

• 1:37:22Speaker 01

  I think it might have to do with the slippery bottom. Is there a slipper? Does it look slippery?

• 1:37:27Dax Shepard?

  Sure, it's not a great shoe, but I think had you been just walking forward.

• 1:37:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:37:32Dax Shepard?

  You would have like spun out as you, as you tried to accelerate off your back foot. It would have spun out. But you're landing with all your weight to decelerate. And so if you lose that footing.

• 1:37:42Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:37:43Dax Shepard?

  Out you go.

• 1:37:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it, but it was like slow enough that I knew I was falling, which was weird.

• 1:37:49Dax Shepard?

  We got bored in the middle of it so long.

• 1:37:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was like, why am I falling? Why, why? And by then, um, my, I scraped my knee like a little kid and broke my jeans.

• 1:37:58Dax Shepard?

  You ripped a hole in your jeans.

• 1:38:00Speaker 01

  I did, I ripped a hole in my jeans and I had a teeny bit of blood. A scrape, it was a scrape.

• 1:38:05Dax Shepard?

  I still, that part's still a mystery to me. So I understand the physics of putting your weight down. That slips out. Or I guess maybe then the knee that didn't slip is the one that ripped? Okay, so then you went right down on your knee?

• 1:38:16Speaker 01

  Yes. And I just felt.

• 1:38:18Dax Shepard?

  Think I'd only weigh five pounds. I could have shattered my patella at two, 200 pounds.

• 1:38:23Speaker 01

  I felt like such a child. It was really, and you know how I am with embarrassment.

• 1:38:29Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:30Speaker 01

  I, of course, you know, I pop up so fast and I'm looking around to make sure nobody's seen this. And you kind of, and you laugh. You always have to laugh, even if no one's there. You laugh.

• 1:38:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:41Speaker 01

  Like I.

• 1:38:43Dax Shepard?

  That was so fun.

• 1:38:44Speaker 01

  Really funny. Then I'm fine. I'm fine. And, um, but really on the inside tears are bubbling up out of embarrassment.

• 1:38:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:53Speaker 01

  And being like, why, how am I this age and I'm a child still like.

• 1:38:58Dax Shepard?

  Vulnerable to fall.

• 1:38:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was so vulnerable. I hated it.

• 1:39:02Dax Shepard?

  Well, I saw you in the driveway and you were like, I fell. And I was like, okay, well, that's not a whoop. Then I saw that your knee was torn and then I did, I felt bad for you. I said, oh, I'm sorry, buddy.

• 1:39:14Speaker 01

  Okay. This is the difference between mothers and fathers.

• 1:39:19Speaker 01

  First I walked straight into the house and Anna and Kristen are there like doing some designs.

• 1:39:27Speaker 01

  And I walked straight in and I walk up and I said, I fell down and I said, I fell down and I scraped my knee. Like a little five year old and Kristen says, oh no, you know, she immediately is like, oh no. And then, and she, and she was like, well, what are those jeans? She liked my jeans. And she was distracted for a second by my jeans.

• 1:39:47Dax Shepard?

  Sure the loss of the jeans.

• 1:39:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. I was like, they ripped. She was like, well, that's okay. And then she got out the Tide stain stick and she was helping my pants. And, and that was all very nurturing. And then I walked around aimlessly for a little bit and then I ran into you.

• 1:40:04Dax Shepard?

  Gather yourself.

• 1:40:05Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then I ran into you, um, coming out of the gym and you were like, don't go up in my clubhouse. And then, and I was like, I fell.

• 1:40:15Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:16Speaker 01

  And then you kind of laughed and, and then you said, oh, your pants are ripped. Oh, you did fall. As if I was like lying or something.

• 1:40:27Dax Shepard?

  No, just a fall.

• 1:40:30Speaker 01

  I understand.

• 1:40:30Dax Shepard?

  There are bad falls.

• 1:40:32Speaker 01

  So many things.

• 1:40:32Dax Shepard?

  There's bad falls and there's inconsequential falls. And you were, you were kind of peppy when you were telling me. So I was like, well, she didn't fall off her roof.

• 1:40:40Speaker 01

  No, no, no. I, it actually was an inconsequential fall. It just, um, it just felt like a, I just felt so childish. Sometimes I fall, I've fallen. Sometimes you take a fall, but it's an adult fall.

• 1:40:55Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 1:40:56Speaker 01

  This one was not.

• 1:40:58Dax Shepard?

  This is a silly fall.

• 1:40:59Speaker 01

  This is a silly childish fall. And, um, I felt like a kid and I had to tell my parents that I had fallen down. No, my parents, my two parents.

• 1:41:10Dax Shepard?

  Called your folks afterwards.

• 1:41:12Speaker 01

  My mom would be like.

• 1:41:13Dax Shepard?

  Did you go and get an X-ray?

• 1:41:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. No, did you clean it? Make sure you cleaned it.

• 1:41:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I asked if you tore the skin.

• 1:41:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. You said, is it bleeding? Yesterday was a weird day in the atmosphere.

• 1:41:26Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:41:27Speaker 01

  Because I fell, um, and then Anna fell too later.

• 1:41:32Dax Shepard?

  Really?

• 1:41:32Speaker 01

  She fell over like Mona or something and same situation, like.

• 1:41:36Dax Shepard?

  Tore her knee?

• 1:41:37Speaker 01

  She, yeah, she hurt her knee.

• 1:41:39Dax Shepard?

  Wow.

• 1:41:39Speaker 01

  And then we were walking later and she got pooped on by a bird.

• 1:41:45Dax Shepard?

  Whoa.

• 1:41:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:41:47Dax Shepard?

  Yikes.

• 1:41:48Speaker 01

  It was yikes. And then Mona started to eat a condom. Me too.

• 1:41:52Dax Shepard?

  I've been pooped on and I hate it.

• 1:41:54Speaker 01

  And I didn't want to make like two, of course I was like, oh no.

• 1:42:00Dax Shepard?

  Get out your tide stick?

• 1:42:01Speaker 01

  But I, no.

• 1:42:02Dax Shepard?

  You need a napkin.

• 1:42:03Speaker 01

  I'm not giving the tide stick for that.

• 1:42:05Dax Shepard?

  You should, you should just keep it.

• 1:42:07Speaker 01

  She has to keep it.

• 1:42:07Dax Shepard?

  Oh no, keep it. Keep it. You'll want to use it later. Yeah. You need paper towel.

• 1:42:13Speaker 01

  You know, it was, she need paper towel or a cloth or really I was like, I, I said, do you have another shirt? Like for me, I'm like, you throw that shirt in the garbage. That shirt's done.

• 1:42:22Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:42:22Speaker 01

  But she just cleaned it in the bathroom. Um, but I, you know, there's ways to handle things in life and I'm often impressed by people.

• 1:42:31Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:42:32Speaker 01

  You know, cause I was like, in my, in my head, I was like.

• 1:42:36Dax Shepard?

  Ruined your day.

• 1:42:37Speaker 01

  Is disgust like this it to me. I was like, oh, my God, this is disgusting. This is horrible. It looked really disgusting. And it was on her shoulder and it was a white T shirt.

• 1:42:48Dax Shepard?

  Oh, fuck. It's brown at first, right? Like it turns white, but it comes out.

• 1:42:52Speaker 01

  Brownie green. It was diarrhea.

• 1:42:55Dax Shepard?

  They only diarrhea.

• 1:42:57Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:42:58Dax Shepard?

  They don't have solid boobs.

• 1:43:00Speaker 01

  So I.

• 1:43:01Dax Shepard?

  I guess they're eating cigarette butts and stuff.

• 1:43:03Speaker 01

  Ew, yeah, think about what they're eating. And so I, yeah, I was like, well, I tried to put a positive spin on it. I was like, oh, no. I was like, well, you know, they do say that's good luck.

• 1:43:14Dax Shepard?

  That's right.

• 1:43:14Speaker 01

  And I think they do.

• 1:43:15Dax Shepard?

  They do.

• 1:43:16Speaker 01

  Okay, yeah.

• 1:43:17Dax Shepard?

  What else are they gonna say?

• 1:43:18Speaker 01

  Exactly. She said, or bad luck. I said, no, they don't say that. They say it's good.

• 1:43:21Dax Shepard?

  You know, what's funny is it's clearly objectively bad luck. You got shit on. Yeah, yeah. It's never good luck to get shit on, but we say so.

• 1:43:29Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, positive spins. So, so anyway, but I just knew if it was me, I would have, it would have ruined my. I was like, I felt and this happened.

• 1:43:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:42Speaker 01

  What kind of day is this? This hurt my feelings.

• 1:43:45Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:46Speaker 01

  Like hurt my feelings. I'm sensitive, but she was just like, ugh, like she was just a little annoyed by it. She didn't let it get her.

• 1:43:53Dax Shepard?

  She grew up in Venezuela. You know, she has a different beginning.

• 1:43:56Speaker 01

  You're right.

• 1:43:57Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:57Speaker 01

  Um, and Mona then was trying to eat a condom on the street and, and I was like, we got, what is happening?

• 1:44:03Dax Shepard?

  Where were you guys at? Venice?

• 1:44:06Speaker 01

  No, right here.

• 1:44:06Dax Shepard?

  Okay. Fuck, there was a used condom on the ground?

• 1:44:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, there were some 10 cent it popped up. They're probably gone by today.

• 1:44:14Dax Shepard?

  I'm shocked they're using safe sex. That's, that's incredible.

• 1:44:16Speaker 01

  It's true.

• 1:44:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I guess we should be happy.

• 1:44:19Speaker 01

  It's true.

• 1:44:20Dax Shepard?

  Speaking of health.

• 1:44:21Speaker 01

  Okay, health update.

• 1:44:22Dax Shepard?

  I'm a little worried and I don't ever get worried. Not about my health, not about my health.

• 1:44:26Speaker 01

  Tell me.

• 1:44:27Dax Shepard?

  I make a lot of jokes about smoking and stuff.

• 1:44:29Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:44:30Dax Shepard?

  I don't like smoking's coming back. Smoking seems to be coming back.

• 1:44:33Speaker 01

  Definitely back. I know. You gotta be careful what you're saying.

• 1:44:36Dax Shepard?

  About like how it's so predictable. We suffer from the absence of problems. So like polio. Like for anyone who grew up in the thirties and forties, you saw tons of kids

• 1:44:51Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:44:52Dax Shepard?

  in wheelchairs and with crutches and huge deformities. So when they came out with a vaccine for polio, people were like, yes, a hundred percent of people were like, absolutely. But then it got eradicated.

• 1:45:04Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:45:05Dax Shepard?

  And now you have knuckleheads that are like, no, I'm not going to get a polio vaccine.

• 1:45:08Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 1:45:09Dax Shepard?

  Because you haven't seen it.

• 1:45:10Speaker 01

  I know. You don't know how bad it is.

• 1:45:12Dax Shepard?

  You don't want to fucking see it.

• 1:45:13Speaker 01

  Exactly. Same with measles.

• 1:45:15Dax Shepard?

  I think what's unfortunate right now is like, we were growing up, people were dying of cancer left and right. My dad died of lung cancer. You're seeing people fucking, you know.

• 1:45:24Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:45:25Dax Shepard?

  And now that it's curbed a bit, I don't think people realize like,

• 1:45:28Speaker 01

  How bad it is.

• 1:45:29Dax Shepard?

  You can't get lung cancer, man.

• 1:45:30Speaker 01

  And you will.

• 1:45:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I mean, yeah.

• 1:45:33Speaker 01

  If you're smoking a cigarette.

• 1:45:35Dax Shepard?

  High likelihood.

• 1:45:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, like it's not one of those like eh, roll the dice. Like if you're smoking enough, you're getting it.

• 1:45:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's not like drinking.

• 1:45:45Speaker 01

  Exactly. My god.

• 1:45:49Dax Shepard?

  So anyways, I just wish people would choose, I'm pro nicotine. Pick another delivery device.

• 1:45:54Speaker 01

  Ding ding ding. That's gonna be a fact.

• 1:45:56Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay. I get wanting your nicotine. Let's get your nicotine, but there's better delivery device. No.

• 1:46:03Speaker 01

  And not, and vaping too. Don't do that either. I'm glad you said that because you're a smoker.

• 1:46:08Dax Shepard?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:46:09Speaker 01

  And I.

• 1:46:10Dax Shepard?

  A cool one too.

• 1:46:12Speaker 01

  And I, um, you know, notoriously, I've never smoked a cigarette. So I feel a little like I can't say that.

• 1:46:21Dax Shepard?

  You're not in a position.

• 1:46:22Speaker 01

  But actually, I kind of am in a position. So my guys, it's actually not that hard to just not do it. It's not.

• 1:46:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I started noticing like, I think whereas people like, they smoked for sure, but they did, they would never post a picture of themselves smoking.

• 1:46:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know.

• 1:46:35Dax Shepard?

  And now every, I see so many posts of people banging darts.

• 1:46:38Speaker 01

  It's back. Like, people think it's cool.

• 1:46:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I get it. I get it. I get it.

• 1:46:45Speaker 01

  It looks cool. I will be, it looks cool.

• 1:46:48Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, sexy.

• 1:46:49Speaker 01

  On TV.

• 1:46:50Dax Shepard?

  Until you kiss someone.

• 1:46:52Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:46:53Dax Shepard?

  Taste the cigarette.

• 1:46:54Speaker 01

  That's what I'm like, guys.

• 1:46:55Dax Shepard?

  Prioritize kissing, guys. That's my campaign.

• 1:46:57Speaker 01

  Oh, that's a good one.

• 1:46:58Dax Shepard?

  Kissing. That's it. It's just called pick kissing.

• 1:47:01Speaker 01

  Okay, okay.

• 1:47:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:47:03Speaker 01

  APK, always pick kissing? No, you don't like.

• 1:47:07Dax Shepard?

  More than we need is pick kissing.

• 1:47:09Speaker 01

  Okay. Um, yeah, I just, I, I, in practice, it's not the same as how it looks.

• 1:47:16Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:47:17Speaker 01

  And you guys are all coughing and stuff and like making those noises and it's like, it's not cute.

• 1:47:23Dax Shepard?

  Can you even imagine what I sounded like when I smoked?

• 1:47:25Speaker 01

  Oh. No.

• 1:47:28Dax Shepard?

  I would have these fucking fits.

• 1:47:31Speaker 01

  I didn't want to ask, cause it sounds.

• 1:47:33Dax Shepard?

  You can hear me coughing from your house? I feel like that. I thought that was inevitable.

• 1:47:37Speaker 01

  I mean, I hope one day I do.

• 1:47:39Dax Shepard?

  You will.

• 1:47:39Speaker 01

  I'm sure.

• 1:47:40Dax Shepard?

  Cause I'm out in the yard, like I was changing all the wheels on the razor.

• 1:47:43Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:47:43Dax Shepard?

  And I had a couple of moments to clear my throat and I was like, if Monica's window's open, I bet she heard that.

• 1:47:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. No, um, I haven't, but I do wonder.

• 1:47:52Dax Shepard?

  Hmm.

• 1:47:52Speaker 01

  Um, when you're acting.

• 1:47:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:47:55Speaker 01

  For long periods of time, like you have a handle on not doing that.

• 1:48:00Dax Shepard?

  For three minutes. Yeah.

• 1:48:02Speaker 01

  And then do you, is it like right when they call cut, you clear?

• 1:48:04Dax Shepard?

  Well, I clear before I start.

• 1:48:06Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:48:07Dax Shepard?

  And then, yeah, likely in between, I get going a little bit on some cleanup.

• 1:48:12Speaker 01

  Sitting here, you know, and I'm like, it probably depends on if I'm like PMSing or something.

• 1:48:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, sure. Just how you feel about me in general, probably.

• 1:48:22Speaker 01

  And I'm like, why? Like, I know when he's acting, he doesn't do this.

• 1:48:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And if our show was three minutes long, you would never experience it.

• 1:48:31Speaker 01

  I guess that's what I'm asking. Like, okay. And like, and you know, you know how old, the older men?

• 1:48:37Dax Shepard?

  We have respiratory things.

• 1:48:38Speaker 01

  Yeah. And you have like digestion also, like all of you older men are starting, are like burping. You're burping a lot. Okay. You're burping through your talking.

• 1:48:48Dax Shepard?

  Oh, sure, sure.

• 1:48:49Speaker 01

  And it's a common thing that men are doing and, um, and I.

• 1:48:53Dax Shepard?

  Cause we don't cry. We're keeping.

• 1:48:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, so much is bubbling and it's like. Just, okay, yeah, just cry, you know, just cry.

• 1:49:02Dax Shepard?

  That's a good, I have a great story, funny enough.

• 1:49:04Speaker 01

  Okay, well, anyway, I just, sometimes when you're burping through your talks and when you're throat clearing, I think like, is he doing this to me? Like, is this about me? Because, I mean, you know, that's if I'm really angry.

• 1:49:18Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:49:19Speaker 01

  Because I know, I know he's not on set with, I don't know if we're allowed to say, with on set, and he's like burping through his talking. He's not.

• 1:49:34Speaker 01

  I know he's not.

• 1:49:36Dax Shepard?

  I mean, you're, you're, you're ignoring so many factors, it's crazy. Our duration together, the fact that like, I, I researched for two and a half hours and then I quickly eat so that I don't have, I don't, I don't have to eat for the next three hours we're recording.

• 1:49:51Speaker 01

  The food part.

• 1:49:51Dax Shepard?

  So it's like, I, I leave myself six minutes to eat my full calories for the first half of the day. So like, I pound that oatmeal, and then I come in here and I'm dealing with that for the first 10 minutes.

• 1:50:03Speaker 01

  I guess I didn't really think about the food. That is interesting.

• 1:50:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you see me right before, every time right before we eat, I have pushed off eating right to the moment before we, I'm always finishing my oatmeal right before we start.

• 1:50:15Speaker 01

  Well, I would say just don't eat, but that's not a good, that's not a good solution. And I didn't eat today and my stomach was growling during the interview and I did, I was getting so self-conscious.

• 1:50:25Dax Shepard?

  And you have a headache.

• 1:50:25Speaker 01

  And I, so it's not a good.

• 1:50:28Dax Shepard?

  You're mad about my throat clearing just today.

• 1:50:32Speaker 01

  Listen, I, I, it's not a good solution.

• 1:50:33Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:50:34Speaker 01

  Go ahead, keep burping.

• 1:50:35Dax Shepard?

  All right.

• 1:50:36Speaker 01

  It's fine.

• 1:50:37Dax Shepard?

  Burping, farting, coughing.

• 1:50:38Speaker 01

  Just do what you need to do.

• 1:50:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I'm doing the best I can do.

• 1:50:41Speaker 01

  I know, well.

• 1:50:42Dax Shepard?

  I will say this, I have recently, and I just hate this observation, which is, it's considerably worse when I eat cheese. And I fucking hate that.

• 1:50:52Speaker 01

  The burping is?

• 1:50:53Dax Shepard?

  No. I don't think my burping is as big of a deal as you do, or at least I'm not concerned.

• 1:50:57Speaker 01

  I don't think you're noticing it.

• 1:50:59Dax Shepard?

  Okay. My coughing is very disruptive to everyone in the house.

• 1:51:03Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:51:03Dax Shepard?

  You can hear it throughout the house. You can't hear if I burped to myself in my bathroom.

• 1:51:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's just when we're on video, you know?

• 1:51:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. So I have sadly.

• 1:51:13Speaker 01

  Cut out cheese?

• 1:51:14Dax Shepard?

  Well, I've acknowledged, oh yeah, if I eat pizza, it's I'm a mess the next day with my chest.

• 1:51:20Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:51:21Dax Shepard?

  So I have been trying to not eat cheese and I'm like, guys.

• 1:51:25Speaker 01

  What is a life without cheese?

• 1:51:26Dax Shepard?

  Truly, what do we, why are we doing this?

• 1:51:30Speaker 01

  Well, can't you just cough? I mean, everyone's used to it.

• 1:51:34Dax Shepard?

  I mean, I'm aiming higher for myself, but I don't enjoy coughing. I hate having stuff in my lungs. I hate it.

• 1:51:41Speaker 01

  I understand, but do you hate it more than you love cheese?

• 1:51:45Dax Shepard?

  More and more, I'm circling an idea of perhaps fucking quitting dairy.

• 1:51:53Speaker 01

  You keep adding things to quit.

• 1:51:55Dax Shepard?

  I've just heard about my throat clearing from you.

• 1:51:58Speaker 01

  No, it's not the throat clearing so much as the burping.

• 1:52:01Dax Shepard?

  Okay, this is all new. That's not what you've been complaining about over the years.

• 1:52:04Speaker 01

  I promise it's been a thing I've been not wanting to tell you.

• 1:52:07Dax Shepard?

  Great, but for how long? How many months?

• 1:52:09Speaker 01

  Like a long time.

• 1:52:12Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:52:12Speaker 01

  Since video, since video. I never noticed it. I never noticed it before because.

• 1:52:17Dax Shepard?

  I'm pretty good at keeping it inaudible. You never hear me burp.

• 1:52:21Speaker 01

  You never hear it. Well, no, you do, but not, not in the, no, not in when we're interviewing, but you often burp loudly just for fun, but not during the interview at all. It's very, it's inaudible. But you can see it. And so I am always cutting around it.

• 1:52:37Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:52:38Speaker 01

  And that can get complex.

• 1:52:40Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:52:41Speaker 01

  You know, I'm just telling you, but I want you to eat cheese.

• 1:52:44Dax Shepard?

  Well, I don't think I can, unless I want to deal with.

• 1:52:48Speaker 01

  Coughing.

• 1:52:49Dax Shepard?

  I was like, how long can I be coughing before I get cancer? I mean, the whole point of getting lung cancer is because you're putting all this shit in your lungs and then you're irritating them. You're coughing a lot and then you have a ton of cell division and then you have a mutation and that's what you get. So I'm like, why? Just because I'm not putting that shit in there, I'm certainly still doing all the disruptive. I'm sure I'm damaging my lungs, getting this stuff out. And then I don't want an uptick in my odds of getting lung cancer. So I gotta quit eating cheese.

• 1:53:15Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:53:15Dax Shepard?

  See you when I'm dead.

• 1:53:18Speaker 01

  I've had to knock this whole episode. Okay, now what's the story you wanted to tell?

• 1:53:23Dax Shepard?

  I was just on that crying. So we had a very, very, very sweet meeting last night. About Eric. Kind of in memory of our friend.

• 1:53:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:53:32Dax Shepard?

  And we don't ever have women at the meeting. It's a stag meeting.

• 1:53:35Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:53:35Dax Shepard?

  And a woman joined and the woman was awesome. She goes, "I don't know how all of you got through your shares without crying, "but I'm going to be crying through my entire share and I'm gonna cry for all of you." And we were like, "Well, thank you."

• 1:53:52Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. That's nice.

• 1:53:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it was really great.

• 1:53:57Speaker 01

  Oh, man. Sad. Really sad. Okay, let's do some facts.

• 1:54:01Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:54:02Speaker 01

  Um.

• 1:54:03Dax Shepard?

  On Marcus.

• 1:54:03Speaker 01

  Yes. God, that song. I can't believe we got to hear it. It was so good.

• 1:54:10Dax Shepard?

  He blasted us right through the bookshelf.

• 1:54:12Speaker 01

  I loved it. I really loved it.

• 1:54:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:15Speaker 01

  Um, the whole album.

• 1:54:16Dax Shepard?

  I loved him.

• 1:54:17Speaker 01

  I loved him too.

• 1:54:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:19Speaker 01

  He's great. Very charming.

• 1:54:21Dax Shepard?

  I hadn't given him a fair shake when they were really popular. Cause I was surrounded by some people that I was judgmental of who were obsessed with it. And it prevented me from giving him a fair shake and I really regret that.

• 1:54:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:54:35Dax Shepard?

  And I fell in love with him.

• 1:54:36Speaker 01

  Mumford and Sons.

• 1:54:37Dax Shepard?

  Well, they're so good.

• 1:54:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:54:39Dax Shepard?

  They're objectively great.

• 1:54:40Speaker 01

  Yes. Huge, huge band.

• 1:54:42Dax Shepard?

  So I didn't even deserve to get that performance we got, but I am now a Lifetime fan.

• 1:54:47Speaker 01

  Yeah. Um, okay. Did Juno Temple go to Bedale's School or Bedale's or whatever? Um, yes.

• 1:54:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:57Speaker 01

  Yes. She attended, well, she attended Enmore Primary School, boarded at King's College and later completed her A-levels at Bedale's School. Or Bedale's.

• 1:55:08Dax Shepard?

  Or Bedale's.

• 1:55:08Speaker 01

  So he nailed that. Okay. Ding ding ding. Nicotine is not bad for you. Comes up in the episode. There's, you know, yes, nicotine is not the part that gives you cancer.

• 1:55:22Dax Shepard?

  Yep.

• 1:55:22Speaker 01

  We all know that. Well, maybe we don't all know that, but it is not the part that gives you cancer. But it can have some negative side effects. It also has some positive side effects. Benefits: increased levels of alertness, euphoria and relaxation, improved concentration and memory, due to increased activity of the. Ooh.

• 1:55:44Dax Shepard?

  Pyrothymus.

• 1:55:45Speaker 01

  No, two neurotransmitters.

• 1:55:47Dax Shepard?

  Hmm.

• 1:55:48Speaker 01

  Um, reduced anxiety due to the increased levels of beta endorphin, which reduces anxiety. Um, okay, so those are good things. It says it can cause bad dreams and nightmares, uh, possible blood restriction, irregular and disturbed sleep, uh, dizziness and lightheadedness. Uh, that's not for everyone, obviously. Um, there's some, there can be some gastrointestinal bing, bing, bing. Um, side effects. Diarrhea.

• 1:56:23Dax Shepard?

  Don't have it.

• 1:56:23Speaker 01

  Harp. You have it.

• 1:56:26Dax Shepard?

  No, I haven't had it since I quit gluten. I don't ever have diarrhea.

• 1:56:29Speaker 01

  You sometimes have it.

• 1:56:30Dax Shepard?

  I've had diarrhea probably, honestly, without having the flu.

• 1:56:35Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:56:35Dax Shepard?

  I've had it probably three times or four times in the last two years.

• 1:56:39Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:56:41Dax Shepard?

  I mean, it totally, you, you know this update.

• 1:56:43Speaker 01

  I know, but you also do tell me when you're on.

• 1:56:45Dax Shepard?

  I had it five days a week when I.

• 1:56:47Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:56:47Dax Shepard?

  And now I don't ever have it.

• 1:56:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, heartburn, peptic ulcers, indigestion.

• 1:56:55Dax Shepard?

  None of these for me.

• 1:56:56Speaker 01

  Dry mouth, nausea and vomiting. That you don't have that. Side effects on the heart. Uh, increased blood pressure, enlarged aorta, um, altered heart rate and rhythm. Those are potentials. It's person to person for that, those things and what you already are dealing with, what you already have. Um, but it's good for you. It's working great and for him, I think he likes it as well. Oh, does Letterman play the drums? Does not play drums professionally, but he is a well-known enthusiast who has played on air and famously admired, questioned, and tried to buy drum kits from his musical guests.

• 1:57:39Speaker 01

  He held Drum Week on The Late Show and has appeared in videos playing with professional drummers like Anton Fig. Okay, now, fine, got a great answer for why these musicians blow into the water bottle with the straw.

• 1:57:54Dax Shepard?

  Oh, great, yeah, he was doing that. That was the first time we had seen that.

• 1:57:57Speaker 01

  But I saw it on the Taylor doc and I was like, what is that? What is she doing? Singers blow into a water bottle with a straw, a technique called straw phonation, or SOVT, Semi-Ocluded Vocal Tract, exercise. To warm up, rehabilitate, and strengthen their voices by creating back pressure that reduces vocal strain. This gentle therapeutic exercise helps relax the larynx, improves breathing, and massages the vocal cords to reduce fatigue.

• 1:58:28Dax Shepard?

  Hmm. I thought it was like adding humidity to it. I was way off.

• 1:58:32Speaker 01

  Maybe you could try it before an interview.

• 1:58:36Dax Shepard?

  To see if I don't burp?

• 1:58:38Speaker 01

  Well, let's just see what it does.

• 1:58:39Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:58:40Speaker 01

  I mean, maybe you'll feel like so like, maybe it'll fix your coughing.

• 1:58:45Dax Shepard?

  I'm blessed in that I have yet to really feel any vocal fatigue, even though we do have days where we'll talk for six hours straight.

• 1:58:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:58:52Dax Shepard?

  But I have yet to.

• 1:58:53Speaker 01

  So far, so good.

• 1:58:54Dax Shepard?

  I'll lose my voice when I'm with Erin, like screaming a lot, but other than that, I'm pretty good.

• 1:58:59Speaker 01

  That's probably because you're not breathing through your diaphragm.

• 1:59:01Dax Shepard?

  Probably do a lot of stuff wrong, just screaming for too long.

• 1:59:04Speaker 01

  It's not great. Yeah, your child was screaming in the backyard.

• 1:59:09Dax Shepard?

  My god.

• 1:59:10Speaker 01

  And you texted me, can you hear them?

• 1:59:12Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:59:12Speaker 01

  When I could.

• 1:59:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:59:14Speaker 01

  Um, and then you.

• 1:59:15Dax Shepard?

  Screaming with joy, I'll add.

• 1:59:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:59:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, not screaming with terror.

• 1:59:19Speaker 01

  Friend were having a lot of fun back there.

• 1:59:21Dax Shepard?

  She has a friend, they like to do some screaming together.

• 1:59:24Speaker 01

  And you said you could relate.

• 1:59:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, we didn't scream, but we, I can relate. I can relate a lot, yeah. Watching her and her friend together remind me a lot of Erin and I.

• 1:59:34Speaker 01

  Watching her and her friend together, which they're such a cute duo.

• 1:59:38Dax Shepard?

  They are.

• 1:59:39Speaker 01

  So cute. Remind me that I used to be so hyper.

• 1:59:44Dax Shepard?

  Ah.

• 1:59:44Speaker 01

  When I was like that age with my friends.

• 1:59:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:59:47Speaker 01

  And that was like a quality assigned to me. I was hyper.

• 1:59:51Dax Shepard?

  Ah.

• 1:59:51Speaker 01

  And I like can't relate to that girl anymore.

• 1:59:54Dax Shepard?

  Right, you're not hyper.

• 1:59:55Speaker 01

  At all.

• 1:59:56Dax Shepard?

  I know. You used to drive your grandma crazy, right?

• 1:59:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I would lick her arm.

• 2:00:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, impulse control.

• 2:00:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, and just like run around and be crazy. I would just be crazy and bounce around.

• 2:00:06Dax Shepard?

  Wow.

• 2:00:07Speaker 01

  I know, but I grew out of that.

• 2:00:09Dax Shepard?

  Hmm.

• 2:00:10Speaker 01

  But it's cute to see.

• 2:00:12Dax Shepard?

  I know, it's shocking to me they're not exhausted after they've been together for two days, but they're not, it's like.

• 2:00:17Speaker 01

  It gives you energy.

• 2:00:18Dax Shepard?

  Yes, it energizes.

• 2:00:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:00:20Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes, yes. The thing that I relate to is that they are, the rest of the world has melted away.

• 2:00:27Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:00:27Dax Shepard?

  It has fallen away completely and I'm, I just am so happy for her for that feeling. There's nothing quite like when you have your little soulmate and there's like nothing else is relevant.

• 2:00:40Speaker 01

  It's the best. It is the best. I know. They're so, they're, they're, I'm so happy they have each other.

• 2:00:47Dax Shepard?

  My ears sometimes, well, you know.

• 2:00:51Speaker 01

  Again, cost benefit.

• 2:00:52Dax Shepard?

  Uh, all right. Love you.