Nate Bargatze

Nate Bargatze (The Breadwinner, Hello World, Your Friend) is a standup comedian, writer, and actor. Nate joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up with a father who was a preacher/clown/teacher/magician/motivational speaker, working as a water meter reader before finding his way into comedy, and what it’s like reentering reality after being celebrated on an arena stage. Nate and Dax talk about how his decision to always be a clean comic affected his career trajectory, the time he was heckled by a parrot, and realizing that his comedy tribe were all the dirtiest standups. Nate explains that a big aim of his comedy is to not make others feel bad or uncomfortable, his belief that one-on-one we can all relate to one another, and why watching a comic for 20 years is observing a life. Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://www.allstate.com/ Head to turbotax.com to find a store location near you and get matched with a TurboTax expert — with real-time updates in the iOS app. This episode is sponsored by AppleTV. Learn more at: https://tinyurl.com/mr2caw2c See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

• 0:00Dax Shepard?

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

• 0:04Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 0:05Dax Shepard?

  And today we celebrate Nate Bargatze.

• 0:08Speaker 01

  You made it Italian.

• 0:09Dax Shepard?

  I did. It sounds so Italian, but he does not present as Italian.

• 0:14Speaker 01

  Does not.

• 0:14Dax Shepard?

  Nate Bargatze is a stand-up comedian and an actor. His credits include your friend Nate Bargatze, Hello World, The Greatest Average American, The Tennessee Kid. His stand-up is so damn funny.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:27Dax Shepard?

  It's so funny.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  The world agrees. He's a big deal.

• 0:30Dax Shepard?

  I'm the last to acknowledge this, but by gosh. And he has a new movie out on May 29th called The Breadwinner, which is just a bullseye of his comedic brand. If you like his stand-up, which I know everyone does, you're gonna love The Breadwinner. Please enjoy Nate Bargatze. This episode of Armchair Expert is presented by Apple TV, the new US 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.

• 1:11Speaker 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.

• 1:20Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:43Speaker 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.

• 2:00Dax 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.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  It's a uniform.

• 2:11Dax Shepard?

  Mm hmm.

• 2:11Speaker 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.

• 2:29Dax 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.

• 3:05Speaker 01

  You're a fancy man.

• 3:07Speaker 02

  Fancy, well, I, you know, I have a bunch of stuff this week, so then they all come, everything.

• 3:12Dax Shepard?

  Are you touring right now?

• 3:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:14Dax Shepard?

  Where are you at?

• 3:15Speaker 02

  I'm in the middle of it. It'll end in August.

• 3:17Dax Shepard?

  How many dates?

• 3:18Speaker 02

  Probably 150 or something like that, maybe more.

• 3:21Dax Shepard?

  Almost every other day?

• 3:22Speaker 02

  Almost, yeah.

• 3:24Dax Shepard?

  How are you maintaining your energy?

• 3:29Dax Shepard?

  It's like I would read these things about Leno is like hosting the Tonight Show and then somehow doing 80 dates a year. I'm like, how the fuck is this man doing all those things?

• 3:37Speaker 02

  I have pretty good energy. Where I live, we got a crazy storm, so I was in Toledo.

• 3:41Dax Shepard?

  I lost like five trees in my yard. You know where in Mount Juliet, where you are a waterman?

• 3:44Speaker 02

  Yes, I heard y'all were out there. You're out there full time yet?

• 3:48Dax Shepard?

  I wish, no. All summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, so any moment we have three days, we're there. We love it so much.

• 3:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:56Dax Shepard?

  Our friend Hannah, who is staying at the house because she knew she was going to lose her power where she was at. Can we save your house? Great. And she's just sending more and more photos every day like this tree's down, this tree's down. So you were in Nashville this morning?

• 4:06Speaker 02

  So I was in Toledo Saturday. So I was going to Knoxville, Tennessee. Knoxville got canceled because of the weather. So I was going to go home, but the weather got kind of just too crazy of a, we got stuck. And so then we went to Vegas.

• 4:17Dax Shepard?

  They got full power in Vegas.

• 4:18Speaker 02

  They got full power in Vegas. We did the same thing. We did not lose power, but like my brother, he's got his power back. So then I got my buddy Brian, his family's lost power, so they're coming over today.

• 4:29Dax Shepard?

  There's a ring that I love. And then there was yesterday, my wife goes, I told Benny and his three roommates from Ole Miss, they could come up and stay at the house because they lost power.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  That's her nephew.

• 4:41Dax Shepard?

  Same plan. They're gonna drive seven hours because the fucking power's out. And then three dudes that are in college at my new house? No way.

• 4:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 4:48Dax Shepard?

  And I said, you bet. And then luckily they got halfway there and then they jettisoned the plan.

• 4:54Speaker 01

  On icy roads. Like, that's not the smartest move.

• 4:58Speaker 02

  You're already there.

• 5:00Dax Shepard?

  And I looked up the weather. I was like, bro, it's 43 tomorrow. I think the ice issue's gonna be gone.

• 5:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 5:06Dax Shepard?

  Wherever Ole Miss is.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  Oxford, Mississippi.

• 5:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that's gotta be further south than Mount Juliet, we would agree.

• 5:11Speaker 02

  Much further.

• 5:12Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 5:13Speaker 01

  What if that was a skill you had where we'd set a college and you knew exactly the town it was in?

• 5:18Dax Shepard?

  I bet you do because of touring.

• 5:21Speaker 02

  Touring and college football. You can name a college and I could maybe.

• 5:25Speaker 01

  Who's your team? Are you a Tennessee?

• 5:26Speaker 02

  I'm a Vanderbilt fan.

• 5:27Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 5:28Speaker 02

  I did not go to Vanderbilt.

• 5:29Dax Shepard?

  His mother worked in the box office though for the Vanderbilt Commodores.

• 5:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. So grew up a diehard Vanderbilt fan.

• 5:35Dax Shepard?

  Now, where do you live currently in Nashville?

• 5:37Speaker 02

  Brentwood. I'm from Old Hickory, which is the side you're on.

• 5:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you went K through four there, yeah?

• 5:43Speaker 02

  No, I was public till ninth grade. I went to Donaldson Christian my senior year. My dad was a teacher and so he was able to teach there and then we were able to afford to go there.

• 5:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, he was what, history teacher there?

• 5:56Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 5:56Dax Shepard?

  Is that a bummer or fun to have your dad teaching in your high school?

• 6:01Speaker 02

  You know, I never had him as a teacher because he was teaching a different grade. I played basketball. I got cut all four years from my basketball team. The first year, my dad was the assistant coach of the basketball team.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  That's.

• 6:12Dax Shepard?

  Did he give you the news?

• 6:15Speaker 02

  I think I got the news to Nelson, but you know he's in on it. I mean, he's the assistant coach.

• 6:19Speaker 01

  Decision.

• 6:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, part of the decision. They sat down.

• 6:23Dax Shepard?

  I was cut too. I tried out with my best friend in seventh grade and he only tried out because he wanted to hang out with me. And then I didn't make the team and he did.

• 6:30Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 6:30Dax Shepard?

  So then he just quit.

• 6:33Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. And I was even thinking, well, I wonder if now that he quit, they'll call me. And I don't think I was even second runner up for the cuts.

• 6:39Speaker 02

  He still couldn't get you in. He should have said, I'll only play if you bring.

• 6:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, loyalty.

• 6:45Dax Shepard?

  There's brothers in the NFL that are that way, right? One brother, I watched this incredible Real Sports where one brother, he's missing a hand or something. Do you know this story? And he went to college, he was basically like, I'll play here, but you gotta take my brother too. And then the brother is fucking great and he plays with one hand. And I showed my little girls when they were like four and six, this 60 minute segment of Real Sports. I'm like, look at these two. That's you two. That's how you be a sibling.

• 7:10Speaker 01

  Oh, I don't know.

• 7:12Speaker 02

  We'll lose a hand.

• 7:13Dax Shepard?

  That's right. When one of you.

• 7:15Speaker 02

  Not if, when, and we don't know who.

• 7:18Dax Shepard?

  I'm betting on you, Delta, but it could be you, Lincoln.

• 7:20Speaker 01

  Oh, God.

• 7:23Speaker 02

  How athletic and great you have to be to just not have a hand.

• 7:27Dax Shepard?

  No, it's unimaginable.

• 7:30Speaker 01

  It's hard enough with two hands.

• 7:31Dax Shepard?

  You and I had everything. We had all of our penances and we couldn't make the team.

• 7:36Speaker 02

  And for him to get that high.

• 7:38Dax Shepard?

  Glide by us.

• 7:39Speaker 02

  It's like golf with John Daly.

• 7:41Dax Shepard?

  Well, he's a local legend in Mount Julia.

• 7:43Speaker 02

  Yes, he was a guy that was so talented, but drank. His warm up would be three Diet Cokes and a couple cigarettes. And then he would just go out and then he won like a major championship.

• 7:56Dax Shepard?

  He tells the story himself quite often. He loves this story that he invited Tiger at the end of a match to the bar to have some post-match drinks. And Tiger said, if I was as talented as you, I could go have drinks.

• 8:08Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 8:08Dax Shepard?

  But I gotta go practice. And it's interesting, he tells that story and he likes it.

• 8:12Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, it's a compliment.

• 8:13Dax Shepard?

  It is, but what I see is, yeah, now if you had done what Tiger did, you had the talent. God knows, if you didn't go to the 19th hole, I mean, he had a great time, clearly.

• 8:23Speaker 02

  Two majors, I mean.

• 8:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, he's got a tour bus.

• 8:26Speaker 02

  He's got a tour bus.

• 8:27Dax Shepard?

  He's doing great.

• 8:28Speaker 02

  I watched some documentary, it was like about drug lords and Netflix. And there was a woman from Compton in the eighties. She became the biggest drug lord ever, but she was also, growing up, could have been an Olympic sprinter. A person like that, you're just doing great.

• 8:42Dax Shepard?

  You're a winner.

• 8:43Speaker 02

  Yeah. So it just matters, how do you apply it? And so where do you send it? And her path went this other way. And then she's like, all right, well, I'll just be the best. I think she does talks now.

• 8:54Speaker 01

  She has a podcast?

• 8:55Speaker 02

  She could, but I don't, she should.

• 8:57Dax Shepard?

  But like motivational speaking.

• 8:59Speaker 02

  I thought that's what happened towards the end. But again, now I'm starting to make up.

• 9:04Speaker 01

  That's all right.

• 9:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that's good. But it led us to an incredible segue for me. So your father, I think very interestingly, was a clown and a magician and a motivational speaker.

• 9:14Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 9:15Dax Shepard?

  What did his work life look like when you were a kid? First of all, I know you guys are really close. You adore your dad.

• 9:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 9:20Dax Shepard?

  What did dad's work life look like growing up?

• 9:23Speaker 02

  He was a magician. I always said like my daughter, your kids, none of this seems out of the ordinary for them. That's all they've ever seen. So it was that kind of aspect. He always had a regular job. He was a teacher and then he would do magic and stuff.

• 9:37Dax Shepard?

  Well, even let's go back. He was gonna be a preacher, yeah?

• 9:40Speaker 02

  Yes, he had a very rough upbringing. My family was in Tennessee. Then his mom, my grandmother, ran away when she was like 17 to Louisville. So my parents are both from Louisville, Kentucky. And then when my dad was 18, he ran away back to Nashville and then lived with our cousin Ronnie Bargatze, who coached at Vanderbilt too. He was like a coach and broadcaster. So the reason we kind of fell in love with Vanderbilt. And then Ronnie like kind of got him straight. He's a Christian, saved him.

• 10:09Dax Shepard?

  I mean, was he drinking and floundering?

• 10:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think he was just lost. You know, my dad had a Christmas where he woke up, all the kids had a present but him and some stuff like that. So he was just kind of lost.

• 10:21Speaker 01

  So your dad was kind of the black sheep?

• 10:23Speaker 02

  Very much. So he ran away, then moved home and really straightened up. And they were really strict with him, which was something he's never had before. No one ever cared where he was. Now they cared where he was.

• 10:34Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 10:35Speaker 02

  And they're like, you better be home at this time. And my mom and my dad have been together since seventh grade.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 10:41Dax Shepard?

  Seventh grade and they're still together?

• 10:42Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 10:43Dax Shepard?

  My goodness.

• 10:43Speaker 01

  So did she come too?

• 10:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, they got married, she came. And then I was born 79. And when I was five, my dad went to college, Treveka, graduated and started teaching and still doing magic and all that kind of stuff.

• 10:56Dax Shepard?

  I mean, to me, all that's a show business still. Like I've interviewed several people that were going to be preachers. Or Jack White was going to the seminary, but they wouldn't let him bring his amplifier. So he didn't go. It's just so interesting how many people that desire that.

• 11:11Speaker 02

  You feel like you have a communication skill or something.

• 11:14Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Just like, I'm gonna head that way.

• 11:16Dax Shepard?

  You feel drawn to stand in front of people and try to convey something.

• 11:20Speaker 02

  Exactly. You gotta think, no internet, even for me, when you've started, you don't see anyone succeeding. So the high school I was gonna go to is a pretty rough high school. So a lot of parents would try to switch. I went to a very blue collar Christian school. It wasn't a high, high end place, but kids had money. You know, you would see, I graduated in 97, but they have like a 1997 Mustang and Camaro. And then I had like a 1985 Mazda 626, nickname on blue.

• 11:45Dax Shepard?

  Great gas mileage.

• 11:46Speaker 02

  Great gas mileage, yes. So when I look back now, because I'll think about whatever drive or whatever wonder that you could have had, I wonder if I would have had that if I would have just stayed where I was in the public schools. Because at the public schools, no one has a nice car. You don't see the teachers. You have no idea that someone could have a million dollars.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:07Speaker 02

  Like that couldn't even fathom into your brain.

• 12:10Dax Shepard?

  It's not part of reality.

• 12:11Speaker 02

  Yes. And when you would see celebrities, that's like seeing a king when you're coming up and you're in a public school and you think, well, what could I be? You could go be a full-time caddy at a very rich golf course.

• 12:24Dax Shepard?

  That's a good racket, actually.

• 12:25Speaker 02

  Yes. I don't know how you would ever know that someone has done that as a career.

• 12:30Dax Shepard?

  Yes, or even valet Parker, because your parents never fucking valeted. You don't even know about valet.

• 12:35Speaker 02

  None of it. A restaurant that you could go work out where you're full-time at a five-star restaurant. That's a career.

• 12:40Dax Shepard?

  I agree. I always get asked in interviews, when did you know you wanted to be an actor? I hear people say all the time, like, when I was nine, I'm like, I don't know how I would have thought that in Detroit. I never met one, never saw one.

• 12:52Speaker 01

  You watch TV and you're like, what are they doing? I wanted to do what they're doing.

• 12:56Dax Shepard?

  From another reality.

• 12:57Speaker 01

  I know.

• 12:58Dax Shepard?

  They're not even in my world.

• 13:00Speaker 02

  I think now with social media, you see behind the scenes and you see their personal lives. So maybe you're like, oh, that guy does sound like me.

• 13:08Dax Shepard?

  There's no barrier to entry. You can be a producer of content and post it. We just had this expert on talking about this. The internet phase one was all humans could be publishers. Before that, you had to get through the gatekeepers at New York Times to share your thoughts. In writing with anyone. Everyone became a publisher for better and worse.

• 13:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:25Dax Shepard?

  And then now we're in a phase where everyone's a producer or has the capacity to be.

• 13:29Speaker 02

  Growing up at the New York Times, I would never even heard of New York Times. Like it's like, you would hear about some kids make it out of that and they are very curious.

• 13:37Dax Shepard?

  Our world was a lot smaller. That's how we can sum it all up. I think it's like, I knew my town and then the town my dad lived in when I'd see him on the weekends and then my grandparents.

• 13:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:46Dax Shepard?

  And that was that.

• 13:46Speaker 01

  It was very rural.

• 13:47Speaker 02

  It can be rural, but it's not the sticks.

• 13:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:50Dax Shepard?

  They have restaurants.

• 13:51Speaker 02

  But you didn't go downtown when I grew up in Nashville. Nashville downtown was pretty rough and so no one went down there.

• 13:56Dax Shepard?

  But dad, so he did other stuff, obviously.

• 13:59Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 13:59Dax Shepard?

  But he did perform.

• 14:01Speaker 02

  He still did magic. When you look back, he was trying to get a career, but he had a family and I think he had a chance to move to Vegas, but didn't want to with raising us. And so he stayed in Nashville and I don't know if I remember exactly how much him going out and trying to do this stuff. My mom did great because my mom had to stay home with us and dad would go pop off. We, I remember we had a really big Christmas one year.

• 14:22Dax Shepard?

  What age?

• 14:23Speaker 02

  Twelve.

• 14:24Dax Shepard?

  Oh, perfect.

• 14:25Speaker 02

  And now I know because it's gigs, my dad just got a lot of Christmas gigs that year.

• 14:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  So it was kind of like, we had a little extra money.

• 14:32Dax Shepard?

  What was the big present you got?

• 14:33Speaker 02

  I got a snake.

• 14:34Speaker 01

  A real snake?

• 14:36Speaker 02

  A red tail boa. Yeah, I was in the snakes.

• 14:38Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow. You were a weird kid.

• 14:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:40Dax Shepard?

  Every now and then I'd like hang with a kid and he'd invite me to do his bedroom and there was a snake. Yeah. It was a certain type of child.

• 14:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:47Dax Shepard?

  That was amateur herpetologist.

• 14:50Speaker 02

  Yeah. I always liked snakes. As I've gotten older, I'm not going to go grab them. All that went away.

• 14:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Do you think you felt brave? Like it was a way to exercise bravery in some sense?

• 15:01Speaker 02

  With the snake?

• 15:01Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, because they're scary as fuck.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  I don't know if I thought of it that deeply.

• 15:06Speaker 01

  Really?

• 15:07Dax Shepard?

  I mean, most people are afraid of snakes. It's kind of like an innate human fear.

• 15:10Speaker 02

  My dad would just always go grab them and show them.

• 15:13Dax Shepard?

  He was from the country in Kentucky. He'd handle anything.

• 15:16Speaker 02

  Unsupervised. So if he saw something, he was always to show us. We lived in Del Rio, Texas when I was five. My dad moved down there to teach at a Episcopal school. We only lived there and then we moved back. But I remember going to. Church and we saw a snake in the middle of the road. So I'm a five and it was doing like the cartoon way where the middle of it would be up.

• 15:38Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 15:39Speaker 02

  And that's how it was moving. Then my dad got out and caught it. He was like, oh, I'll go show it. We're that family.

• 15:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:45Speaker 02

  I'm gonna go show it. The kids are gonna love it.

• 15:47Dax Shepard?

  Right, right, right, right, right.

• 15:49Speaker 02

  So then we're driving and then my dad's got the snake. It's like over his shoulder and I'm like right behind him and this snake is furious.

• 15:56Dax Shepard?

  It's pissed.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  But then when you get there to the camp and lays it down, all the kids get around it. It's very exciting. That's the family.

• 16:04Dax Shepard?

  Ethos.

• 16:04Speaker 02

  We kinda are. A lot of games, like you're making up games and you're like, all right, let's play this and that.

• 16:10Speaker 01

  Kind of circusy.

• 16:11Speaker 02

  Circusy.

• 16:12Dax Shepard?

  And there was three of you?

• 16:13Speaker 02

  There's three of us.

• 16:14Dax Shepard?

  And what order are you in that?

• 16:16Speaker 02

  I'm the oldest and then my brother Derek and then my sister Abigail.

• 16:19Dax Shepard?

  Okay. And you were by all accounts, a pretty big fuck up. You barely graduated high school and then you go over to the community college. You do a year there, right? And then you end up going to Western Kentucky for a year?

• 16:32Speaker 02

  Just one semester. It was all remedial classes at Vols State. And so it was just to try to even get you where you could go to a college.

• 16:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. You have the best joke I heard this morning. I was watching one of your standups and you said, they call it community college because they have a sense you're gonna be staying in the community. Like show you the ropes of the community.

• 16:53Speaker 02

  I had an old joke where I would say with community college too. I was like, all of my classes were outside because they were like, you guys will be working outside one day.

• 17:01Dax Shepard?

  But get you acclimated to the outdoors.

• 17:04Speaker 02

  They just knew. And all my jobs were outside before comedy.

• 17:08Dax Shepard?

  I went and actually got a degree at a community college and transferred.

• 17:12Speaker 02

  Sometimes I would think about trying to go get just a community college. I don't need the full. I like community colleges for some reason.

• 17:19Dax Shepard?

  Me too.

• 17:20Speaker 01

  It's good. It's great.

• 17:20Speaker 02

  They're attainable.

• 17:21Dax Shepard?

  They're very democratizing. I'll say it's what's really great about our country is most countries that have a really good university system. You test in early or you don't go. Whereas our country, you could start at any moment at a community college, then transfer somewhere really good.

• 17:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:38Dax Shepard?

  That's an incredible part of our society.

• 17:41Speaker 02

  People need to go. My last serious job was a water meter reader. You would drive around, I would listen to comedians and when I look back, I can see it. I would go up and do some shows with my dad when I was a kid, not a ton, but pop up. I'm around it.

• 17:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and you liked?

• 17:55Speaker 02

  And I liked it. I liked the comedy aspect. I like making people laugh. The magic part of it, I don't know. I mean, it's a lot of work. I mean, I could see when my dad does magic. I mean, he's kind of doing it all day at home. And so I liked the making people laugh.

• 18:09Speaker 01

  Was he happy? Cause I do feel like the idea of a magician or a clown, even a stand up, I think we're all like, oh, they're funny, they're happy. But more and more people we talk to, I'm like, oh, wow. Those people are almost carrying the most weight and sadness.

• 18:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:25Speaker 01

  And have decided to channel it.

• 18:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, I would think he was happy, but I'm sure there's a mix of both of that. When you're up there on the show, it's so fun. And I just know this from personal experience. When you're up there, it's like the best. And when you come off, it's like reality kind of set back in.

• 18:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you have ultimate control for this finite amount of time. And then you enter back into the real world where you have virtually no control over anything. You can be a little bit disjointed.

• 18:50Speaker 02

  Well, you can be celebrated in one sense.

• 18:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 18:53Speaker 02

  I mean, I walk out in front of arenas every night. It's this applause, this big, big, big thing. And then it kind of gets back to normal.

• 19:00Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so I do have one question about the reading the meters. I'm so Snoopy by nature. Did you enjoy having full permission to just be like walking onto people's properties? And taking a little peek about how people live?

• 19:11Speaker 02

  So when we did it, the meters were always in the yard in front. And so you would get a crowbar and it was like a mini manhole. And so you would lift it up, you could just go to the top and you just type in what they're doing.

• 19:21Dax Shepard?

  Did anyone ever try to grease you? Like come out and be like, man, type in blah, blah, blah, we're struggling. Let me throw you 20 bucks?

• 19:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't know if they would try to throw you money, but they would, you know, it's like, no, I'm gonna pay. Just give me whatever. And my buddy, Michael, that I started comedy with, he still works there.

• 19:37Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I wonder if he's fucking with my meter?

• 19:39Speaker 02

  He could be. We can find out.

• 19:40Dax Shepard?

  I want to say this out loud. I am so grateful for the water department in Mount Juliet. Cause we had this big issue with the pool. The auto fill flooded for a few days. So I had this crazy water bill and we. Call and we're like, I get it on the water bill, but the sewer fee, it didn't go into the sewer, it went into the lake. And they're like, okay, cool. Like if I had made that call in L A, A, I would have never got anyone on the phone ever that could have made any decision. And they would have been like, suck a dick and then hung up. The fact that they were like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I was very grateful for it.

• 20:08Speaker 02

  I'll let them know and I'll find out if Michael Reed, your wife.

• 20:11Dax Shepard?

  He might have been the one that was like, what the fuck happened here?

• 20:14Speaker 02

  I'll just have Michael pop up to your house one day.

• 20:16Dax Shepard?

  Sniff around.

• 20:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 20:18Speaker 01

  Take some selfies.

• 20:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. He still works. He told me recently, I think he had someone that was upset with them. And said, you know, Nate Bargatze used to work here and I'm gonna tell Nate how you are doing, not knowing that he was the one.

• 20:33Dax Shepard?

  Best friend.

• 20:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, that he started with. He was like, all right. He goes, so tell him. I'd like to think that I have that much pool still, that water coming. I go, Miss Jill, I go, we're gonna back off for a little bit, all right?

• 20:44Dax Shepard?

  We're gonna take our foot off the gas. They need a second to breathe and catch their breath.

• 20:49Dax Shepard?

  Okay. So yeah, you and Michael move up to Chicago to start comedy. You try Second City.

• 20:53Speaker 02

  Second City, I did it very brief.

• 20:55Dax Shepard?

  And why wasn't that a match for you?

• 20:56Speaker 02

  I knew I was, I was gonna be clean. And so I could tell you did improv. I can't control where they're gonna take you.

• 21:04Dax Shepard?

  Not only can you not control, you're obligated to join them. That's, that's the buy in.

• 21:07Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 21:08Dax Shepard?

  So if he says my condom fell off, guess what?

• 21:10Speaker 02

  You're in a situation.

• 21:13Speaker 02

  I can maybe not curse in it, but I'm gonna be in a predicament.

• 21:17Speaker 01

  You just die. You die in every scene.

• 21:19Speaker 02

  And when you start to, they all go dirty. So everything is kinda dirty.

• 21:25Speaker 01

  It's the easiest route to take.

• 21:27Speaker 02

  So I pretty quickly was like, yeah, this is not gonna match with what I wanna go do. And I already wanted to do stand up. Michael wanted to try Second City. It was almost like I just needed someone to go like, hey, I'll try something different. You wanna go? And you're like, yes. That's what you need.

• 21:44Dax Shepard?

  That's all you needed. I needed Aaron to try to join that basketball team with me.

• 21:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. You just need something, someone to kinda come in. Like you really wanna do it, but you're so scared to say you wanna go do it.

• 21:57Dax Shepard?

  And I love how much you talk about this. I think it'd be very comforting for all the people that are trying. You're really honest about the fact that you had gone to, is it Jim Roth?

• 22:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, Jim Roth.

• 22:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, went to comedy college and I think a lot of comedians are too cool for that or would turn up their nose at that. And you were like, for me, I needed some starter stuff between that and open mic.

• 22:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's just a comedy class that he does. I mean, he still does them. It's just, you're meeting people that are starting. We're all pretty nervous.

• 22:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:23Speaker 02

  And we're all scared of what's going to happen. There's a comic, I remember, he still did a very funny comic, John Roy. And he just won Star Search the year I started. So he came in and talked to us. And so you're like, this is nuts, dude. Like this dude just won, this is 2003. And he's a real comic. And then you would go to open mics and you could grab a guy from that class.

• 22:45Dax Shepard?

  Let's do it together.

• 22:46Speaker 02

  Let's do it together. And then so you slowly start, it's kind of like Groundlings.

• 22:50Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm gonna be even darker, which is, it's so comforting to see, minimally, some people are worse than you. It's like that simple.

• 22:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 22:56Dax Shepard?

  I think that's why punk bands are so encouraging. As you go and you're like, yeah, I think I might be able to play in a band. The bar's low.

• 23:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  Everybody's trying it and everybody's doing it. You just gotta get where you're comfortable to go try stuff. And like kind of pushed in the direction.

• 23:10Speaker 01

  It's practice.

• 23:12Speaker 02

  You have to go.

• 23:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, I paid.

• 23:14Dax Shepard?

  It is getting over that fear every time you get up.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 23:18Speaker 02

  I remember, I wanted to get a call every Wednesday and be like, the building burnt down.

• 23:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, right?

• 23:24Speaker 02

  You can't do it. And I'm like, ah, man. So I could be like, I wanted to do it. You want that. All you're looking for is something so you could be like, even if you never did it, you're like, I tried every time.

• 23:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:36Dax Shepard?

  Alleviate the self-flagellation of not trying. Yeah, we just interviewed Anderson Paak. You know that musician? He's incredible. And he just directed his first movie and his son was in it. And he's like, up until a week before the movie, I'm just like praying my kid changes his mind and doesn't want to do the movie so I can blame him.

• 23:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's exactly what you want.

• 23:54Dax Shepard?

  Mind works is like, how can I still have, on record, I did everything I could, but then I didn't have to do it?

• 23:58Speaker 02

  Didn't have to do it.

• 23:59Speaker 01

  It's so weird. You do a show and you're like, oh my God, it's the best thing ever. And then the next show, you just hope. This gets canceled, your car gets blocked in. I remember my car got blocked in before an improv show and I was like, I can't ma- I'm so sorry, can't make it. I was so happy.

• 24:15Dax Shepard?

  Trying to hide your glee.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  I was so relieved. It's so wild.

• 24:19Speaker 02

  Yeah. And that's the thing that you gotta get over. Cause some people are like, I can't wait.

• 24:24Speaker 01

  I know. But are they?

• 24:25Dax Shepard?

  Well, yeah, like 16 year old Eddie Murphy, like there are a handful.

• 24:29Speaker 01

  I guess.

• 24:30Dax Shepard?

  That were like, step back, motherfuckers. It's time. Yeah. There are those people.

• 24:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're very excited and they can just jump right in. And then a lot are like, who do I think I am?

• 24:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a confidence thing.

• 24:40Dax Shepard?

  And I'm gonna say that you are uniquely challenged because A, the persona you end up carving out for yourself that works so beautifully is not a high energy, rapid fire thing. So that A, works best at an open mic. You have limited time. You got a crush immediately. You're gonna be clean. You had additional challenges, I would argue. Why do we decide in oh four, I guess, to move to New York?

• 25:01Speaker 02

  The documentary comedian with Seinfeld, I believe it's on Netflix. It's Seinfeld, got done with the show and then taped a special and then was gonna build a new hour. I don't know if he taped a special, but he was building a new hour of material. And so it showed him going through the New York comedy scene. If you wanna know anything about standup comedy, it's still the best one to watch. Anybody probably around my age or class of starting or really being in comedy that moved to New York is very much because of comedian.

• 25:33Dax Shepard?

  I think it was in that doc, right? Where he says, when I go on stage at this point, I'm gonna get four free minutes.

• 25:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:40Dax Shepard?

  They're gonna just be so excited I'm there. But then reality's going to take over. That's the beauty of comedy.

• 25:45Speaker 02

  Colin Quinn said Jack Nicholson, they're gonna be like, for four minutes they're clapping and then they're like, alright.

• 25:50Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 25:51Speaker 01

  Yeah. What do you really got?

• 25:52Speaker 02

  Tell a joke. Like, what are you doing?

• 25:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's as objective as it gets.

• 25:57Speaker 02

  And in New York, you just dive into it and you're just obsessed.

• 26:01Dax Shepard?

  You started as a barker at Boston Comedy Club?

• 26:03Speaker 02

  At Boston Comedy Club. That was what it's called in New York. And I moved there in oh four.

• 26:07Dax Shepard?

  Burt Kreischer was a barker too. So you're standing out there begging people to come in to- Brendan was?

• 26:12Speaker 02

  At that club, yeah.

• 26:13Dax Shepard?

  Oh, no kidding. So you're out there on the street begging people to come in? And give this comedy show.

• 26:17Speaker 02

  You got flyers. So you're standing on a corner and you're like, hey, we got a great comedy show. And I started, if you ever saw Pete Holmes had a show on HBO about his comedy crashing. I started with Pete, but yeah, you would stand out Dustin Chaffin, a comic buddy of mine. And we were kind of together during all this time and he still comes with me out on the road. He would run a show at Boston Comic Cup. It wasn't a normal, it would start at like eight during the week and it would run till like 2am.

• 26:44Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 26:44Speaker 02

  Lot of comedy. And so there wasn't really set show times. You're just kind of trying to get people in.

• 26:51Dax Shepard?

  Have a couple of drinks.

• 26:52Speaker 02

  You'd be out in the corner and you're like, hey, we got a great guy. And then you would get them to walk in and they could walk in and they'd be like, all right. And then I performed for one guy once. You have two people, then you have four.

• 27:01Dax Shepard?

  You performed for a parrot, you said?

• 27:02Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:03Dax Shepard?

  That's a joke.

• 27:04Speaker 02

  That was in South Dakota. That was on the road. That was on the road. There's a parrot in the room.

• 27:10Dax Shepard?

  Did it talk?

• 27:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:12Dax Shepard?

  It'd been great if it was heckling you.

• 27:14Speaker 02

  It does with its loud screams. And they're hard to time. You know, you don't know when they're coming.

• 27:20Dax Shepard?

  You're a hack.

• 27:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:23Speaker 02

  I was in South Dakota and they had an indoor pool.

• 27:27Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 27:27Dax Shepard?

  Is a human in there?

• 27:28Speaker 02

  Yeah. And you're staying in that hotel. Like your whole world just in this thing.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:32Speaker 02

  And there's two shows. So there's a parrot in the back and you're like, what? Why does he have to be in here? And the guy was like, he likes to shows. And you're like, what? All right. You know, and you're just like getting paid.

• 27:45Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. It's shocking that alcoholism tracks high.

• 27:48Speaker 02

  High.

• 27:48Dax Shepard?

  I mean, if you're just sucking some shithole hotel for three days. I mean, come on. What are you gonna do?

• 27:53Speaker 02

  You try to do your show, parrot's yelling.

• 27:55Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 27:56Speaker 02

  Then you do the second show, the parrot's not there. And so I go, where's the parrot? He goes, well, he has his own room. And you go, why don't you put him in there the first show? I thought like the parrot lived in that room.

• 28:07Dax Shepard?

  Sure. Yeah. Logical assumption.

• 28:09Speaker 02

  He goes, no, the parrot only watches one show. And then he goes.

• 28:12Speaker 01

  Well, then it's flattering.

• 28:13Speaker 02

  It's flattering. Yeah.

• 28:14Dax Shepard?

  Now, how did you socially get along with all the other comedians? Because I'll say the improv sketch scene was lovely. It's akin to Broadway people. Like everyone's insanely supportive. I got along instantly with everyone. But when I did stand up, I felt like that vibe was trickier for me to navigate. And you're from the South and you were clean. How did that whole aspect?

• 28:37Speaker 02

  I think it's kind of like school. You just find your. Group that you're kind of going to be with. Weirdly, my group that I was the closest to were the dirtiest comedians. Big Jay Okerson, Luis J. Gomez, Dan Soder. Dan Soder is the dirtiest.

• 28:52Dax Shepard?

  That almost makes sense, by the way. Because you're not doing the same thing. You're no threat in some sense.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 28:58Dax Shepard?

  They're playing the fucking trumpet and you're playing stand up. That kind of makes sense.

• 29:02Speaker 02

  I would open for them. The shows I would do a lot coming up, they were uncensored and they were advertised. Edgy was super sexy at the time when I was in New York. That's when Burr started. Burr was a big one for me because I watched Burr kind of become Burr. And so he was just doing spots. I remember when I was handing out flyers one time and I go, hey, we got a show. And it's Bill Burr and I'm like, I'm so sorry. And he was doing his first Letterman. So we would know him as a club, but it's not like people knew him. And then the Opie and Anthony rant happened where he just roast Philadelphia. I don't know if you've ever seen it.

• 29:36Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 29:36Speaker 02

  It's amazing. You should go look. So it's Opie and Anthony was a radio show. And so they had comics and then they do a live show and they're doing this live show in Philadelphia. And they're just booing every comic. They booed Bob Saget, Tracy Morgan. They booed everybody. And so then Burr went up. It was on YouTube. This is kind of right when where even a video could be uploaded and all this kind of stuff. And so Burr goes up and just starts tearing into this crowd. Well, they love it.

• 30:04Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 30:05Speaker 02

  And so, I mean, he's just trash.

• 30:07Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 30:08Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I must see it. One man versus Philadelphia.

• 30:11Speaker 02

  So that was a big, big thing where it was funny is we would go watch Bill Burr at Caroline's. Cause Burr was the comic we all were like, can we go see Burr? Can we go see Burr?

• 30:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 30:19Speaker 02

  Louis C.K. was kind of right above Burr. So he was like a little bit older at the time. So Burr was like the younger, the next. Something I learned too from Burr is I remember right after that Philadelphia thing, he would do a show and they would start going like, I'm from DC. I'm from Texas. Start trash and they wanted that.

• 30:38Dax Shepard?

  They wanted to get roasted.

• 30:39Speaker 02

  They want to get roasted and he's like, no. He goes, I got an act. And it was like a learning moment to go like, oh yeah, you don't.

• 30:46Dax Shepard?

  Give them what they want.

• 30:47Speaker 02

  That could have been.

• 30:48Speaker 01

  His whole life.

• 30:48Speaker 02

  His whole life. So the rest of your life, you have to go to towns.

• 30:52Dax Shepard?

  Also, think about how much more work you have. Everywhere you go, you've got to learn everything about. If your whole, yeah, routine is like, and you're in Skokie, Illinois, I don't know how much stuff you're gonna be able to dig up.

• 31:02Speaker 02

  Oh, you'd need a team.

• 31:04Dax Shepard?

  Kohler, Wisconsin, making toilet bowl jokes.

• 31:07Speaker 02

  And then you're also encouraging that your audience is gonna yell out.

• 31:10Dax Shepard?

  And they're gonna lead you, you're not gonna lead them.

• 31:12Speaker 02

  No, and they're gonna be just screaming and then it's not a fun. That's the thing sometimes with like the crowd work comics, unless you're like a phenom, like Matt Rife or some of these other guys, Trevor Wallace, Nate Jackson's another one. Where these guys are really, really good, Ian Bag. When you go down that route, if you're not gonna become the best at it.

• 31:35Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 31:36Speaker 02

  You're going to invite a lot of problems.

• 31:40Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes. You better be very skillful.

• 31:42Speaker 02

  Yes. It's not easy to do and it's not consistent. And then you also end up getting some jokes. I mean, if y'all are married and you're like, oh, interracial couple married. Well, I'm gonna have, how many times, I'm gonna have 10 of them.

• 31:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 31:56Speaker 02

  And then you're like, oh, you have a kid, you're divorced, you have this. You're gonna end up having stuff.

• 32:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you have a routine in essence that is under the veil of improv.

• 32:04Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 32:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, but it's a bag of tricks. So there's even cheats in improv. They happen.

• 32:08Speaker 02

  Oh, there's cheats in everything. Yeah, we used to do, in New York, you perform for a small audience. It's like, we could've just done this in a cab. And that was like, everybody.

• 32:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:19Dax Shepard?

  Universal.

• 32:22Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

• 32:27Dax Shepard?

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• 33:07Dax Shepard?

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• 33:49Dax Shepard?

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• 34:30Dax Shepard?

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• 35:13Dax Shepard?

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• 35:59Dax Shepard?

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• 36:13Speaker 01

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• 36:17Dax Shepard?

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

• 36:27Speaker 01

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• 36:34Dax Shepard?

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• 37:04Speaker 02

  I remember one comic, we were in the back and someone said that. Then this other comic next to me goes, dude, that's my joke. I remember just thinking, here's like little lessons that you learn where you're like, no, I think we're all saying, I think we've all agreed that we can all say that. It was just the idea that he's like, are you kidding me?

• 37:22Speaker 01

  You stole.

• 37:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 37:23Speaker 01

  Were you ever tempted, like when you're seeing Burr do his thing and it's crushing and all these people are crushing? Are you like, should I try to do something a little dirtier? Should I try?

• 37:34Speaker 02

  My mind just didn't go that route of writing that kind of way. I never wanted to make someone feel bad in the crowd. I just didn't like it. It would make me so uncomfortable to do that. So I was always making fun of myself.

• 37:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:49Speaker 02

  So I think it kind of kept me in that realm. I had a joke on YouTube though, and it was one that I didn't like that I put up. Remember there was a bunch of prostitutes being murdered in New York when we were there? And so then it was a joke kind of about that kind of situation.

• 38:05Dax Shepard?

  You're right.

• 38:05Speaker 02

  I'm a young comic, it works very much in those rooms.

• 38:08Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 38:08Speaker 02

  And then I did it maybe out here. I didn't put it up on YouTube, but it got put up on YouTube.

• 38:13Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 38:14Speaker 02

  And then I remember, and this is kind of early on in MySpace. And so then actually a lady that is in that line of work messaged me something. And then I wrote back and said, look, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was going to go up. I wouldn't do that joke again. I know why I did it. I know why I came up with it, but.

• 38:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, you felt bad.

• 38:30Speaker 02

  I was like, I'm so sorry.

• 38:32Speaker 01

  That's just so rare in this space. It's so rare.

• 38:35Dax Shepard?

  He just made himself in the running for Best Boy Award this year. Last year it went to Jimmy Kimmel, so yeah, that's a very best boy.

• 38:43Speaker 01

  Just keep your eyes peeled for that stuff coming in the mail.

• 38:47Dax Shepard?

  Make room on your bookshelf.

• 38:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 38:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love that. You know, we've had other comics on, everyone's great, but they don't feel bad. They double down on why they can be, which is fine.

• 39:00Speaker 02

  There's a lot of reasons for that where that works. And there's other reasons you need that. You could have a mix of both. I always think about the singular person. You know, it's like this group thought where you think like, even in this country where. It's all so nuts and everybody's so crazy. But if you pulled everybody individually and you could get them and talk to them one on one, you would go like, we're the exact same person.

• 39:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, right. I know.

• 39:22Speaker 02

  And so it's like that kind of aspect.

• 39:24Dax Shepard?

  You do you. You have no judgment over anyone else that's doing their thing. And you recognize there's a space and a need. Because let's be truthful, also comedy is this incredible political force, often for good. And people should do that. And people should do what you do.

• 39:39Speaker 02

  They should. You can have everything that you want.

• 39:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we live in a world where you can select exactly which.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  That was even a hard decision when it was getting political, saying your opinions. And there was a time where it was like a lot of comics that were younger than me were just flying by me career wise. Cause they were being more vocal on both sides, whichever way, but just being politically vocal. I want everybody to do everything that they want to go do. And there's places for all of them.

• 40:04Dax Shepard?

  There's a lot of arenas in the country.

• 40:05Speaker 02

  There's a lot of arenas. I just felt like I have a direction I'm supposed to go. I mean, I was very pulled because it was just like, people were passing.

• 40:13Dax Shepard?

  Yes, it was happening to us in the podcast space. There were moments where I was like, huh. Should we shore up half this, you know?

• 40:20Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 40:21Dax Shepard?

  It's right there on a platter for you to take.

• 40:23Speaker 02

  And you gotta just sit and I trusted that I'm being led where I'm supposed to be. And you just go, I'm not gonna do it. And then I see signs of it now more than ever where I'll have someone come to a show. One girl, she's 16 and she's at my show with her dad. It was very just honest and upfront and went through a hard time, was gonna kill herself. Started listening to my comedy, then got them listening to my comedy together. Cause you weren't pushing them apart. You weren't gonna get them in a fight.

• 40:54Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 40:54Speaker 02

  They're laughing at me. I'm being dumb. And then that story kept happening more and more where I would have people come up. And so then now you do get to a point where you go, I have a trust to that audience. I can go to San Francisco. I can go to Alabama. Both sides, they want to come.

• 41:11Dax Shepard?

  Well, the dad and the daughter who most certainly have different political leanings.

• 41:15Speaker 02

  Oh, yes.

• 41:15Dax Shepard?

  Get to come together.

• 41:16Speaker 02

  And that normally wouldn't have anything in common.

• 41:19Dax Shepard?

  But now they have this thing they can share and that's. Fucking valuable and lovely.

• 41:22Speaker 02

  Music, TV, movies, they don't have anything bright. Now with a lot of entertainment, even families is Disney or animated movies. That's it. You're trying to have this kind of thing where you're like, yeah, we all want to go. That's why sports are so big.

• 41:35Dax Shepard?

  Mr. Mom, your movie is Mr. Mom. And when I was a kid, everyone from every edge of the spectrum was at Mr. Mom.

• 41:42Speaker 02

  Yeah. You need to be a place of haven.

• 41:44Speaker 01

  Yeah. I've been thinking about this so much, obviously, because there's a lot of pressure to state your political opinion. And I have a lot of them, but I think not doing it, and as you say, like have a space where everyone can listen, or you can show the humanity of people, or you can laugh at something unrelated, is political? That's a weird thing to say. It is a force to drive people together, which should be the hope. As you said, we're all the same. That is a political stance, that we're all the same. So we're not saying it out loud, but hopefully that's what we're showing.

• 42:19Speaker 02

  So this movie that we have coming out, it's my first movie, and it's cute. I think very funny stuff. I'm a comedian, so like, I mean, I have funny stuff that won't feel like it's written down for children. But it's fun. It's Mr. Mom. We're not doing anything too crazy.

• 42:34Dax Shepard?

  I was watching the clips last night, and my daughter was walking through the room. And she was hell-bent on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She was already announcing, that's what we're gonna watch tonight. My other daughter was like, no, we're gonna watch Home Royale. There's already a debate heating up.

• 42:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:47Dax Shepard?

  And then I'm like, okay, while everyone's yelling, I'm gonna watch these clips for tomorrow. And then both of them just shut up because there was kids their age, and they were talking to the dad forcefully.

• 42:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 42:58Dax Shepard?

  And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, okay, I like this.

• 43:00Speaker 02

  One of my favorite scenes from The Office, so when Jim and Michael Scott were managers, they were co-managers. And then there were gonna be layoffs, and Michael Scott is playing a detective game or whatever. And then Jim comes over and Jim's frustrated because everybody doesn't know if they're gonna get laid off or not laid off. And then he sits there and Jim pulls Michael Scott aside and is like mad to be like, we need to be talking about what's going on. And then Michael Scott just goes, this game is all that matters right now. We don't know anything that's happened. This game is just a distraction. And I've always thought of that moment as one of my favorite moments of that series. Because it's like that sometimes needs to happen. You need that distraction to go, it doesn't matter. Right in the moment, this thing doesn't matter.

• 43:44Speaker 02

  It's out of our hands. It's something that's not controlled. And again, there's plenty of places to go find it.

• 43:49Dax Shepard?

  All I'm saying is like, it's okay to take a break. Even if that's your main thing, it's also healthy to take a break.

• 43:55Speaker 02

  Why is Friends still the highest rated show on Netflix? You go look at the top movies on all these things. You know, be a couple, Jason Statham, anything he puts out, I've watched all of them.

• 44:06Dax Shepard?

  He puts asses in seats.

• 44:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's because it's like, I'm gonna get to watch it and it's fun.

• 44:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think Zootopia was like the highest movie.

• 44:13Speaker 02

  But they don't go to old movies. People just need a break and everything is so like

• 44:19Dax Shepard?

  It's hopeful too.

• 44:19Speaker 02

  Heavy. You gotta be so invested, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. They just want to go back. There was a period where, yeah, it felt like it was that. And then it just went a little too far.

• 44:28Dax Shepard?

  Everything was taking me to church, for lack of a better word. Yeah, and I'm like, I don't need to, I want a break. And by the way, I bet you feel the pressure that Monica and I feel, which is, make no mistake, I got a lot of fucking opinions.

• 44:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 44:41Dax Shepard?

  But yeah, I don't want someone to not feel welcome, listening to whatever we have to offer. I don't want to alienate anyone and I want everyone welcome. There's a lot of criticism that has come with that, but my higher principle is much more, I would always want everyone to feel included.

• 44:57Speaker 01

  I saw something today that said, the biggest political move you can make is consider more people friends. And I was like, that's so true. That is sort of our goal here is get to know every single person. If you really get to know every single person, it's hard to judge.

• 45:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then I want to hear everything. There's a comic, Patrice O'Neal, that passed away, but very, very dirty.

• 45:21Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, he was nasty.

• 45:21Speaker 02

  But unbelievable. He was actually in The Office.

• 45:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I've seen him do stand up a few times.

• 45:25Speaker 02

  And so I remember when we'd be hanging out, I first moved to New York. I'm from the South, so he was like, you don't believe in dinosaurs? And

• 45:34Speaker 02

  At the time, I don't think I even realized that that was like a stereotype.

• 45:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 45:40Speaker 02

  That we wouldn't believe in that. I mean, now I know people that don't believe in that. I know people that don't believe in a lot of things.

• 45:44Dax Shepard?

  Some people don't believe the earth is round.

• 45:46Speaker 02

  You know what? I'll talk to that person.

• 45:48Dax Shepard?

  Sure.

• 45:48Speaker 02

  That guy is way more interesting to talk to than just like the earth is round guy.

• 45:52Dax Shepard?

  A round-earther.

• 45:54Speaker 01

  Cliche.

• 45:55Speaker 02

  Boring. You're like, I would rather talk to that guy. Cause again, I know my beliefs.

• 45:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:00Speaker 02

  So I'm not going to be swayed, but just pure enjoyment. And so he asked me if I didn't believe in dinosaurs. I said, yeah, I don't.

• 46:06Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh.

• 46:07Speaker 02

  I just was like, I didn't even know that this was, I was like, I'm gonna just go the whatever.

• 46:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're improv-ing now.

• 46:12Speaker 02

  I'm improv-ing, having fun. So then cut to later on, he was having a party at his house. My buddy Jay, I wasn't supposed to be going and he was like, they told me you don't want Nate coming. And he goes, what? He goes, that guy doesn't believe in dinosaurs. You don't think I don't want that in my house? I want that all over my house. And I very much believe in dinosaurs, just to say it. But it was like, that mentality changed my life. Cause it was a welcoming mentality to be like, what if I didn't? What if I really?

• 46:42Dax Shepard?

  You're still welcome here.

• 46:43Speaker 02

  Didn't believe in dinosaurs. He still is gonna be like, dude, I would love to talk to you about why you don't believe in dinosaurs.

• 46:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Well, how do you explain these fossils? I'm so curious.

• 46:52Speaker 02

  He would have believed in dinosaurs and he's not gonna walk out going, I don't believe in dinosaurs.

• 46:56Dax Shepard?

  You know what? He changed my mind.

• 46:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe, maybe he does. He goes, this guy was good, dude.

• 47:02Dax Shepard?

  So I want to talk about, you're in New York, you're starting to do shows, takes you a year before you're starting to even get paid 25 bucks or whatever a show. I want to know when, cause you've also said, the writing the jokes is the easiest part. And the most elusive is to figure out what is my unique delivery system that is true to me? That will define me as a comedian. And that's the big battle of becoming a great comedian. So if you moved to New York in all four, at what point do you think you found your? Actual identity as a comedian.

• 47:33Speaker 02

  I was able to write the jokes first and then naturally I had a slower rhythm just being from the South. I had some kind of voice.

• 47:41Dax Shepard?

  You couldn't escape it.

• 47:42Speaker 02

  I couldn't escape. I sounded different. Every show I went up, I had to say something, why I talk like this.

• 47:49Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes.

• 47:50Speaker 02

  So you would start every show like that. It's all evolving. It's so insane. This is how much I love stand up. It's like, I remember once, I saw an interview with Louis C.K. Louis C.K. was like, you don't even know what it is to be a comic till you've been doing it 20 years. Which at the time, I was like 10 years in. And it's also one of those things that you're like, that's so unfair to say to like

• 48:10Dax Shepard?

  It's discouraging.

• 48:11Speaker 02

  Young comics, it's discouraging. But then I've done it 23 years now. And I get it. But you do know what you are as a comic. It's not that you don't know, but the difference at 20 is unbelievable.

• 48:24Dax Shepard?

  Is it the consistency? It's like you know how to do you.

• 48:27Speaker 02

  The way it was said, which was a good way, was yeah, everything I say is gonna be funny now. Your cadence, and then people really know you. And so then you're able to kind of go like, I know how to do this kind of stuff like that. Like, I look at my standup career, I would hope that people would go listen to my first CD and then watch my last special. And then you're actually seeing a life. I used to drink. No kid. I have a kid. I don't drink. I married, you know. So you're watching a full-on person's life being told to you. That's what I always thought was standup. And that's what I liked about it. It kind of got out of jokes where it ends up being, even though there's jokes in there, but it's just the next phase.

• 49:08Dax Shepard?

  The progression of your maturity.

• 49:09Speaker 02

  And you gotta go live life. And that's a big thing with comics is you have to go live a life. You need to go get married or go give kids.

• 49:16Dax Shepard?

  That's what I was gonna bring up, is you get married in 08. It's not like you've made it.

• 49:20Speaker 02

  I got married in 06.

• 49:21Dax Shepard?

  That had to be rare for the comedians in your group to be committing to someone at that moment, because it's such an unstable life. That in itself is a rare choice, I'd say.

• 49:31Speaker 02

  Oh, yes. When you have a kid, most would be 40 and then they would kind of start their family.

• 49:37Dax Shepard?

  You had been with Laura throughout this whole period?

• 49:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, we started dating before I started comedy. We met at Applebee's.

• 49:42Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you were both working at Applebee's.

• 49:44Speaker 02

  Both were at Applebee's where we met. But we were together when I was reading Water meters.

• 49:48Dax Shepard?

  And she's from Alabama?

• 49:50Speaker 02

  Yep, Huntsville.

• 49:50Dax Shepard?

  So what was she doing?

• 49:52Speaker 02

  She moved to Nashville pretty quick, maybe a little. Community colleges type thing that moved to Nashville and just started working waiting tables, Applebee's and that kind of thing.

• 50:01Dax Shepard?

  It's a fun place to meet.

• 50:03Speaker 01

  Very fun.

• 50:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 50:05Speaker 01

  That's also what a ride you two have been on.

• 50:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, she'll tell you, when I first met her, I think it's in me that I wanted to do comedy. My senior year, they wrote like where you would be in 10 years. And like my first thing was like, I'll be in the NBA.

• 50:20Dax Shepard?

  Joke.

• 50:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, joke. Which I played church basketball for Nashville Baptist Association.

• 50:25Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 50:26Speaker 02

  So it was technically the NBA.

• 50:27Speaker 01

  Congrats.

• 50:27Dax Shepard?

  Oh, nice.

• 50:28Speaker 02

  A little loophole. Then my second one was to perform at Zany's, our comedy come in town. And so then I ended up doing that. But I wrote it, you're kind of writing it as half serious. You're so protected. Someone's like, you're gonna be a comedian?

• 50:41Dax Shepard?

  You don't want to get caught believing in yourself.

• 50:43Speaker 02

  Yes, so weird.

• 50:44Speaker 01

  Sad that we are like that.

• 50:45Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And I think culturally, it's different state to state and city to city. Like where I'm from in Detroit, you're not to be caught believing in yourself. It's not a good look.

• 50:53Speaker 01

  Especially if you're a man, probably too, makes sense so much worse.

• 50:56Speaker 02

  My buddy Julian McCullough, who comes out the road with me, he's from Philadelphia. If you had dreams, he's like, you never mentioned them.

• 51:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:03Dax Shepard?

  It's like, we're all pieces of shit and we all agree on that. And who the fuck do you think you are?

• 51:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:09Dax Shepard?

  I guess they call it tall poppy in other countries, but yeah.

• 51:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:12Dax Shepard?

  The two big first breakthroughs are you do a little spot on Comedy Central.

• 51:19Speaker 02

  In 2008, I did Montreal Comedy Festival, Conan and Live at Gotham.

• 51:23Dax Shepard?

  Things are cracking. You and I had the same experience, funny enough, which is a unique experience that I cherish, which is similarly, the first time I did Letterman, Tom Cruise was the first guest. And they had shut down the whole goddamn street. And I pulled up in the SUV and people were fucking pulling their hair out screaming. Cameras were ready. And I stepped out and everyone just went, oh, save your film, you know?

• 51:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 51:46Dax Shepard?

  And you had that at Conan?

• 51:47Speaker 02

  I had the same thing at Conan, yeah.

• 51:49Speaker 01

  What a way to start. Was it Tom?

• 51:51Speaker 02

  Julia Louis-Strachey was on mine. I pulled up, get out. And right when I get out, all these people come up with cameras. And then I hear them go, it's nobody.

• 52:02Speaker 01

  Why do they do this?

• 52:03Dax Shepard?

  You're about to enter the year to be on TV for the first time.

• 52:05Speaker 02

  First time.

• 52:06Dax Shepard?

  Quite a fucking feeling.

• 52:08Speaker 02

  Well, I remember one guy did go, he held his camera up like just to his waist, just in case, I guess.

• 52:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:14Speaker 02

  Like if I was going upstairs to murder someone, like at least he has something. He's like, that's enough.

• 52:20Speaker 01

  Like, I got it just in case.

• 52:21Speaker 02

  I got enough. And you know when you pull up, you're like, I don't.

• 52:24Dax Shepard?

  You know it's coming.

• 52:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're like, can I just get out somewhere else? Yeah, bring me around. Yeah, let me just walk up to it. Yeah. I'll just walk.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  I can come in the front door.

• 52:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, it's fine.

• 52:34Dax Shepard?

  The other cute and fun thing is immediately after you are a celebrity. So I remember going with my aunt to see stand up in fucking Sarasota, Florida at like a Best Western. And of course, the dude, well, I don't care about the dude at all. Then the dude's onstage and I'm seeing a guy onstage get laughs. And yeah, when it's over, I'm like, this guy's Johnny Carson. Like, and now I need a fucking autograph.

• 52:53Speaker 02

  You're like, this guy's rich.

• 52:54Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 52:54Speaker 02

  And then you get into the business, you're like, I mean, that guy.

• 52:57Speaker 01

  He's poor.

• 52:58Speaker 02

  Might have made seven dollars.

• 52:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 52:59Speaker 01

  That guy's struggling.

• 53:01Speaker 02

  It's bad.

• 53:02Dax Shepard?

  And he's, he's drinking a lot in his room.

• 53:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, I saw Jim Brewer was the first stand up comedian I saw at Zany's. And I remember the whole show, seeing the host and then the middle act. And you're like, they're famous. And then you get into it, you're like, that host might have been paid fifteen dollars.

• 53:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:18Speaker 02

  He's gotta get up the next morning and go to his real job.

• 53:22Dax Shepard?

  Behind the curtain, it's depressing.

• 53:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're like, oh, okay.

• 53:25Dax Shepard?

  It never ends, by the way. Every time you get behind a curtain, you're like, oh, wow, okay, so fuck.

• 53:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:29Dax Shepard?

  I still feel like shit, okay.

• 53:31Speaker 01

  I mean, yeah, even now, when you're hosting the award show, do you still feel like no one cares?

• 53:37Speaker 02

  I don't feel like they know me. The Emmys is like, you walk out there and you're like, I don't know.

• 53:41Dax Shepard?

  I was there and you did a great job. I loved it. Yeah, yeah, I had so much fun watching you.

• 53:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't think they love the Boys and Girls Club thing.

• 53:48Speaker 01

  I liked that a lot. I thought that was fun.

• 53:50Dax Shepard?

  I will say this, there is an enormous chasm between a live experience and what you see on TV. It's why improv doesn't work on TV. They've tried many times to put improv on TV. It doesn't work. You can't feel the stakes of it on TV. You're safe in your room. Similarly, like I've been to SNL and I've seen a few people and every time I'm like, I think that's the best host I've ever seen. So you don't know what the experience is on. TV.

• 54:12Speaker 02

  I didn't have a bad experience in there. The only thing I regret with it was I wish I would have went out to the audience and talked to them before and just to go like, hey, I was really doing this. You know, that was a week that was Charlie Kirk.

• 54:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:24Speaker 02

  That was a heavy, heavy, heavy week.

• 54:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:28Speaker 02

  I think I wish I came out and like.

• 54:29Dax Shepard?

  Warmed everyone.

• 54:31Speaker 02

  John Oliver, Seth Rogen did a good, but John Oliver was great with it where he was like, F Nate. And he would go short to cost me more money. So like some comedians like bought into it.

• 54:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 54:41Speaker 02

  But I understand that some of the actors, when it's these big moments and it's serious.

• 54:44Dax Shepard?

  You're threading the needle because all these shows have to be entertaining on the couch to watch.

• 54:49Speaker 02

  The kids were watching it, get out of clock.

• 54:51Speaker 01

  I know, I loved it.

• 54:52Speaker 02

  Fun aspect to it to like, are you going over? And yeah, I was never gonna let, I mean, they did go under, but I did not think they would go under. It was a cool experience. I would like to do it again and just go back, but y'all do whatever you want to do.

• 55:03Speaker 01

  I thought it was a fun, really fun bit.

• 55:06Speaker 02

  I brought a comfortable chair, mention every country you want to mention. You don't believe in dinosaurs? Tell them right here.

• 55:13Dax Shepard?

  You're safe here.

• 55:14Speaker 02

  You're safe here.

• 55:14Speaker 01

  It is frustrating though, because you were like, we can do something. We can raise some money here. There's some action that can be done.

• 55:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, the Boys and Girls Club.

• 55:22Speaker 01

  Which we can all agree on is a good cause.

• 55:25Speaker 02

  To be honest with you, again, I don't always think of the individuals, but there's a lot of companies there. CBS gave a hundred grand. So they're gonna do that, but they were like, if someone win, they go wherever she goes over, we're cover her. I thought they would get it. Everybody has publicists. I thought everybody would go like, yo, if you win, just go, hey, I'm sorry, Netflix, you're giving money to the Boys and Girls Club.

• 55:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 55:47Speaker 02

  So then I kind of thought of it as a win-win. And I think I wish I explained this. For the week that it was, I thought it was like, look, you could go over and just tell Netflix. And on top of you going over and you get to give your big, big, big speech, you get to go, you know what? And Netflix, give Boys and Girls Club a hundred thousand dollars on my name.

• 56:06Dax Shepard?

  Yes, you thought of the clever fix for them.

• 56:10Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 56:11Dax Shepard?

  But they didn't necessarily come up with that.

• 56:13Speaker 02

  But I don't know if that's their fault. Another reason I didn't feel crazy bad about it, I'm nominated.

• 56:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:19Speaker 02

  And then you go, dude, it took me 23 years to get to this and mine wasn't even on that show.

• 56:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:27Speaker 02

  Mine was in a garage two weeks before. I understand how hard it is to get where you want to get. But then I think of it as the entertainment aspect.

• 56:35Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 56:35Speaker 02

  To go like, well, you need to be a show and that's one of the things, everybody tells you that this is going too long. You mentioned the problem, what they should fix. And if I would have known, I didn't know, the presenters, they gotta chill that out.

• 56:50Speaker 01

  I know it's long.

• 56:51Dax Shepard?

  And people are going off script.

• 56:52Speaker 02

  And I know they want to be funny and if I could have been live in the moment, started just packing some time off these presenters. Those guys work hard. Like the writing team I had, like there's so many, they have to come with so many, so many different, there's a lot, a lot, a lot that goes into it. Being a part of it, it's one of those where you're always like, I would never do it again. Then you're like, I don't know, I think I can fix it. That's the comic in you. The comedian in you, when someone's bombing the comic before you, this crowd's terrible. Everybody says this crowd's terrible. You always go like, well, let me get up there. And then usually you get up there and they are, and it ends up bad.

• 57:26Dax Shepard?

  They are indeed terrible.

• 57:27Speaker 02

  You have that thing in you.

• 57:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:29Speaker 02

  Where you go like, you go, I bet I can get them.

• 57:31Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. If you don't think you can crack it, what are you doing? It's like Max Verstappen or one of these racers that if you're not going for the fucking pass, you're not a race car driver.

• 57:39Speaker 02

  So I think the Oscars will be good this year. Cause I think they got a lot of movies that people know.

• 57:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 57:43Speaker 02

  F1 centers.

• 57:44Dax Shepard?

  People have seen them.

• 57:45Speaker 02

  Have seen them with TV and the Emmys. There's just so much.

• 57:48Speaker 01

  It's fragmented.

• 57:49Speaker 02

  It's fragmented and the people at home, you're not thinking about that crowd at home that's watching it. They want to watch an award show. It's live, it's fun. You don't know who's going to win. It's sports.

• 58:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 58:01Speaker 02

  You have sports.

• 58:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:03Speaker 02

  At your hands. So like, make it sports.

• 58:06Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 58:07Speaker 02

  Make it exciting. And then you don't have to come up with a gimmick. You're kind of just purely like, what is going to happen? Oscar parties were always these giant parties and all this kind of stuff. Nothing to say that the movies. I know they're all beautiful movies.

• 58:22Dax Shepard?

  That's period.

• 58:22Speaker 02

  They don't, yeah.

• 58:23Dax Shepard?

  We're not pulling from the same.

• 58:24Speaker 02

  In the middle.

• 58:25Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. We just did this the other day. We read like the ninety eight. Every one of them was a five hundred million dollar movie and everyone saw it and everyone loved it. And they had passed over another dozen great movies to get to the will it now. Yeah. Okay, so post Live at Gotham and Conan. Do your venue size chain, when you're starting to tour? I guess I'm wondering, what are the markers? I know there's these big moments for you that get us to twenty twenty four, which is an insane year for you. What are the big markers in crowd size venues?

• 58:58Speaker 02

  I love giving advice to young comics because I've done every single gig you could do. I rode all the rides.

• 59:03Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 59:03Speaker 02

  There was no quick, when I got SNL, I was doing arenas. I always say like SNL added the second arena. So it like made me more mainstream, but I went through the whole process of doing the show with a parrot. And then being in clubs, you start selling clubs and it was Netflix. First half hour Netflix special.

• 59:22Dax Shepard?

  Which was like a series. It wasn't even a standalone stand up special.

• 59:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was a series. Nikki Glaser was in it, Dan Soder, Fortune Feimster, Dion Cole. From that, I was at a comedy club. And the week after that aired, some people came to the show and I was doing jokes from that special because you didn't have to overturn jokes that much because no one knew. I remember doing jokes and then I was like, have y'all seen? And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, we just watched a special and you're like, oh, my gosh. So then at that moment, you realize like, oh, I have to write a new hour now.

• 59:50Dax Shepard?

  Which is funny. It's different because when I was a kid and you loved Andrew Dice Clay and you'd heard the rhymes, you still wanted to see him do it every time. The paradigm changed a bit.

• 59:58Speaker 02

  Ten of Comedy is still of extremely new art and then what it is today. If you go look at and not to mention Bill Cosby's name.

• 1:00:06Dax Shepard?

  He's one of the greatest of all time.

• 1:00:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, but and he's one of the first.

• 1:00:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:10Speaker 02

  He's alive.

• 1:00:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:13Speaker 02

  You know what I mean? Like George Carlin, he would be alive. George Carlin's like two hundred.

• 1:00:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and if Pryor didn't have MS, he'd be alive.

• 1:00:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. These guys would all be alive. Seinfeld started like, Seinfeld's kind of the one now.

• 1:00:25Dax Shepard?

  He's a virile man.

• 1:00:26Speaker 02

  Yes, these, these guys are alive. So this art form, how you see it. Has changed so much. When they came up, stand up was a niche thing and then they had booms, but there's all these live experiences, but you need to get into TV. You need to get a sitcom.

• 1:00:41Dax Shepard?

  You went on Carson, you got a sitcom.

• 1:00:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was the path. Even when I started, that was kind of the path, but then you just kind of had the Gaffigan and Sebastian Miskal. Dane Cook, I think was important to stand up comedy in the fact that you were able to go like, oh, this is a guy in an arena.

• 1:00:56Dax Shepard?

  Through MySpace as well, not through being on Carson.

• 1:00:59Speaker 02

  No, yes. And Dice Clay was one that you knew from stadiums and all this. But again, this was farther back. Your access to him wasn't as easy to see it.

• 1:01:09Dax Shepard?

  Right. You saw it on HBO and it went live, which is what I saw and we videotaped it. But I would have loved to have gone and seen him in person and do all this stuff I just saw.

• 1:01:18Speaker 02

  Those were giant things that were like going like, look, people are making it to this extremely high level. And then you have Dane Cook where now media and social media and like everything's out. So now everybody gets to watch everything Dane Cook is kind of getting to do. And so then Dane Cook is a giant.

• 1:01:35Dax Shepard?

  I'll add to the Dane Cook thing because I did a movie with him at the peak of that, which was comedy as a cultural identity. So like when I was watching Dane, I was like, oh, there's something more going on than Richard Pryor. This is like, this is my band I like.

• 1:01:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:49Dax Shepard?

  He is an identity marker for me. That's new to comedy. I think that was like kind of the beginning of, he represents what I'm all about.

• 1:01:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:57Dax Shepard?

  As opposed to Dice tells these nursery rhymes and they're funny or Pryor. No one's watching Pryor going like, yeah, that's me.

• 1:02:03Speaker 02

  You liked his story and they broke boundaries and they did stuff and they were just such big personalities. I mean, especially Dice. I'm such a big fan of Dice, but he was just this big, big personality.

• 1:02:14Dax Shepard?

  For the media, it's like he's on SNL and he's on talk shows.

• 1:02:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like Elvis. It's crazy.

• 1:02:20Dax Shepard?

  He had movies.

• 1:02:21Speaker 02

  And then even to see where he's at now, then he goes and was an entourage and all this. He's unreal. I want to meet him, but I mean, Dane was a big part of that. Then you got Gaffigan, who's very, very prolific and writes so many hours. I come from the school of writing an act. An act is very hard to create and that's why. There's certain points where you get, it can thin out a little bit is because you have to keep writing a new act.

• 1:02:46Dax Shepard?

  You gotta feed the machine.

• 1:02:48Speaker 02

  And writing a new act is one of the harder things to do because you gotta come up with stuff. Every time you tape a special, you're like, I don't know what I'm gonna talk about.

• 1:02:57Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're gonna do an hour of material, but my guess is you're going to workshop 10 hours of material to whittle that down to the one hour. Or maybe it's more, I don't know.

• 1:03:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, it depends on how you work, but you're just in your head looking for any.

• 1:03:09Speaker 01

  Observing.

• 1:03:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:03:11Dax Shepard?

  Oh, this, I gotta say, when I was in the Groundlings, it's like, we had to put up hopefully five or six new sketches every Wednesday. And by the end of the year, Jess and I would be sitting at a restaurant, like, oh, you see how that guy grabbed the napkin? That's funny. What if we had a sketch where, you know, you're out?

• 1:03:25Speaker 01

  You're mining constantly.

• 1:03:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:28Speaker 02

  And that's what stand-up is. And it's exhausting.

• 1:03:31Dax Shepard?

  And it kind of fucks up your waking hours because all you're doing is looking for it.

• 1:03:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like grabbing nuts, a squirrel, you're going to hibernationism. I'm such a big fan of stand-up because they kind of have to do so much. You have to write, direct, produce, you have to come up with stuff. If you're talking about a girl in the middle of your act and you gotta try to sound like that or this and change your voice. There's just so much stuff that they have to go do. And you gotta just stand up by yourself and then just entertain like all these people.

• 1:04:01Dax Shepard?

  Doesn't go well all the time.

• 1:04:03Speaker 02

  Not when you're creating it.

• 1:04:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, so it's this disjunction between you're on the road doing your hour that was, say, on Amazon Prime or on, you know, whatever. And that thing works great. And now we're back to, the batting percentage is gonna drop for a while.

• 1:04:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:17Dax Shepard?

  And you gotta adjust to, oh, I'm not crushing.

• 1:04:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, you have nowhere to go. And you know what's funny too, sometimes like after I taped my last special, the day after I taped, I flew to and did this kind of corporate-y kind of event. Some corporate events are great. They're big, they set up, they have a nice stage. And then this one was a little chiller and everybody's kind of in nice, comfortable chairs. I did an hour of material the night before in an arena. And then this was in front of like 40 people and I did that same hour in 25 minutes.

• 1:04:47Speaker 01

  Whoa.

• 1:04:48Speaker 02

  Like, that's how much.

• 1:04:50Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:04:50Speaker 02

  The crowd and energy.

• 1:04:52Speaker 01

  Impact.

• 1:04:53Dax Shepard?

  You're not pausing and letting people sit in things.

• 1:04:56Speaker 02

  You're not, I mean, it is.

• 1:04:59Dax Shepard?

  That's an awesome bit of data.

• 1:05:01Speaker 02

  Yeah. Oh, you can jam through.

• 1:05:02Dax Shepard?

  Cause the pace is literally, it's more than two acts of what the night before.

• 1:05:06Speaker 02

  In your head, you're like, I can't believe I'm at where I'm at in my act.

• 1:05:12Dax Shepard?

  Well, that's incredible.

• 1:05:15Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

• 1:05:21Dax 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?

• 1:06:04Speaker 01

  They never are.

• 1:06:05Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:06:27Speaker 01

  Which is a fair question.

• 1:06:28Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:06:54Speaker 01

  Sleep mode is genius.

• 1:06:55Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:07:11Speaker 01

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

• 1:07:15Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:07:24Speaker 04

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• 1:07:59Dax Shepard?

  So yes, you're just one of the episodes of the thing, but then you quickly do a Netflix special in the same year and that goes well. And then you do a second Netflix special. That one goes great. Then you do Amazon. That one's huge. That's their biggest stand up thing ever. Three million people watch it and I'm 28 days. It's bonkers. You go back to Netflix and then SNL. Was it at all like, I thought I was famous. I sell out arenas and then I do SNL and it's like, oh no, there's a whole other world that I really hadn't touched. Did you have that moment where you're like, oh, this is kind of trippy?

• 1:08:29Speaker 02

  I love awareness. So I was very aware of like, I knew I had to go destroy on SNL. I was doing a sold out arena weekend. I was in Oklahoma City Thunder where they play on that Sunday and then I flew to SNL. So I knew that I was going to fly to somewhere where people there are not going to know what I just did.

• 1:08:53Dax Shepard?

  And you're smart enough to know, like, I know that you started doing small rooms in New York to prepare for your monologue because you knew SNL is a small room in a weird way.

• 1:09:02Speaker 02

  Yes. Well, and I knew the monologue mattered the most.

• 1:09:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:09:05Speaker 02

  And so I just picked eight minutes of my hour special. Comics do that. A lot of comics, they think when you go on SNL or if you go on Tonight Show, they'll be like, I've already heard this material. You're like, yeah, man, like, I gotta go do it. I gotta, this is a whole, I knew I was going to talk to people that are not watching my stand up.

• 1:09:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're being introduced to a whole bunch of people.

• 1:09:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, I would always joke and just be kind of like, well, I'm not even famous. An idea that you could go sell an arena out and then go like, but I'm not famous. I know, it's wild. Like, it's weird.

• 1:09:36Dax Shepard?

  Because you set a record with 1.1 million tickets sold in 2024.

• 1:09:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:09:41Dax Shepard?

  But also, that's not a large television audience. Let's say everyone that knew you came and saw you and bought a ticket, that's actually a show they're gonna cancel.

• 1:09:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, yes.

• 1:09:50Dax Shepard?

  But it's huge in stand up. It can be misleading.

• 1:09:52Speaker 02

  To get them to come out to go do that. We're gonna see if this works out in this movie.

• 1:09:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:09:57Speaker 02

  I knew I had to go on and make a point. And the good part about getting it so late in my career is I was much more prepared for that moment. I was the most nervous about the monologue because I was like, that has to go good. That's what I'm supposed to be good at.

• 1:10:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:14Speaker 02

  And then the rest of it.

• 1:10:15Dax Shepard?

  The expectations won't be that high.

• 1:10:16Speaker 02

  I thought it would be fine because it's live performing. So I was like, I think I'll do fine in it. And then we got lucky with the George Washington sketch. It goes crazy. I mean, the George Washington thing is bigger than, it's the thing.

• 1:10:27Dax Shepard?

  On YouTube, like just views wise?

• 1:10:29Speaker 02

  Views wise, but what people come up to me. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. To now, they love your stand up, but they'd be like, the George Washington thing, it was like the funniest. The George Washington thing is the reason I can almost like walk up to anybody now and you know they kind of know you.

• 1:10:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, they're having some weird feeling, whether they went to high school with you or something, they recognize you.

• 1:10:47Speaker 02

  They recognize you now, and I know it's probably from SNL. Now it's just a bunch of other stuff, but all kind of close.

• 1:10:53Dax Shepard?

  Now, 2018, you quit drinking. And as someone who quit drinking in 2004, I want to know what precipitates that.

• 1:11:02Speaker 02

  Things were cracking. I was about to start doing theaters from comedy clubs. It was my last comedy club. I was in Charlotte Comedy Zone, great club. It was the last time I drank. I just knew if I wanted to get where I wanted to get, this was in the way. You would have a fun night Thursday night because that'd be your first show and you wouldn't be drinking.

• 1:11:20Dax Shepard?

  You'd be hungover on Friday.

• 1:11:22Speaker 02

  Hungover Friday, the rest of the week and you're hungover.

• 1:11:23Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're fucked.

• 1:11:24Speaker 02

  Then you're not gonna mentally work on it and try to expand. You're gonna survive. The extent that I wanted to get to, I just knew I couldn't get to that.

• 1:11:34Dax Shepard?

  Were you also letting people down, you love? Were you inconsistent? Were you not available?

• 1:11:41Speaker 02

  You're just embarrassing. You know, just even waking up and being like, I don't know what I said. You know, where you just feel bad.

• 1:11:47Dax Shepard?

  You're taking an inventory of all the things that happened and each one's getting worse and worse. And you're like, who do I gotta call?

• 1:11:53Speaker 02

  You know what helped was Alacar's got a great book. His is big on non smoking.

• 1:11:59Speaker 01

  He does the no smoking, but he has all the other ones.

• 1:12:01Dax Shepard?

  No, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:12:02Speaker 02

  It's not only the hypnotist, he just talks you through it.

• 1:12:05Dax Shepard?

  He frames everything in an interesting way.

• 1:12:06Speaker 02

  There's another book I read too, and I'm blinking a bit.

• 1:12:09Dax Shepard?

  The big book of Alcoholics Anonymous?

• 1:12:10Speaker 02

  No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I did not do.

• 1:12:13Dax Shepard?

  You're an anomaly.

• 1:12:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:12:15Dax Shepard?

  I mean, it's not easy to do without some structure or approach.

• 1:12:19Speaker 02

  Rob Lowe on Howard Stern years ago, I heard, I think he quit drinking. He said, I didn't have it because you think alcoholism is you're waking up drinking shots of vodka. And I knew a guy like that. I remember him showing up to work at 7:00 AM and shouldn't have driven to work.

• 1:12:38Dax Shepard?

  In the bag, yeah.

• 1:12:38Speaker 02

  And it wasn't like he was up on, he already started.

• 1:12:41Dax Shepard?

  In my case, the end was like, I'm not someone that's gonna drink in the morning, but also this hangover is insufferable. I don't wanna get drunk. I want to alleviate this fucking anguish of this hangover. And then I'd be like, oh, wow, yeah, I drink Sunday mornings. I can manage that, that's on the weekend. And now Monday mornings I drink and I'm like, oh my God, I'm a dude who fucking drinks in the morning.

• 1:13:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:13:02Dax Shepard?

  It's easy to get there.

• 1:13:03Speaker 02

  But then the, the level where you have a problem with it, what I liked when Rob Lowe said it was it wasn't this extreme thing where you're like, I'm drinking 24 hours a day or whatever.

• 1:13:12Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 1:13:12Speaker 02

  I never drink at home. When I was at home, I would never crack a beer open and have a beer. But when I was out with friends, I didn't know how to stop.

• 1:13:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:21Speaker 02

  And so it was like, you would just get going and then that's its own momentum. There'd be times though, I'd go two weeks without drinking. It wouldn't bother me. I wouldn't be like, oh, I need to go drink. I think when I heard Rob Lowe say that, it was like, oh, this addiction, you think it's just driving off a cliff in a car.

• 1:13:37Dax Shepard?

  No, yes.

• 1:13:38Speaker 02

  It's like, there's so many levels of it.

• 1:13:39Dax Shepard?

  That's a great point. Cause I've had dudes trying to get sober and like, well, I never did. Coke. And I'm like, okay, I remember watching this HBO show called Dope Sick. And there was a dude who was buying crack, melting the crack and shooting it up. And I'm like, okay, well, I smoke crack and I could be sitting here going, well, I never melted it and shot it up. And that could keep me from addressing this. Like you can always find someone worse than you.

• 1:14:01Speaker 02

  Find someone worse than you, but all you think is the worse than you. And so then that's what makes you think you don't have like a problem.

• 1:14:06Dax Shepard?

  But I think even the analysis of, does this thing take more than it gives? And if you know it takes more than it gives, and yet you somehow can't stop, that's worth questioning. Why would I do something that I know takes more than it gives?

• 1:14:20Speaker 02

  Yeah. Food is the one I have now, and that's the one I'm working on now is trying to.

• 1:14:25Dax Shepard?

  We have a medical treatment for that one.

• 1:14:27Speaker 02

  Yes, they do.

• 1:14:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I mean, if I could take a shot and drink two Jack and diets once a week, fuck, that sounds good.

• 1:14:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, it sounds good. Yeah.

• 1:14:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. There's no shame in that.

• 1:14:37Speaker 02

  No, no, no. Yeah. That's been the hardest for me to get going, like the eating. I just don't, I like fast food. I like.

• 1:14:44Dax Shepard?

  Delicious.

• 1:14:44Speaker 02

  All this stuff and you get stressed and then you end up going to it.

• 1:14:48Dax Shepard?

  Well, you're regulating all this stuff, whether it's sex, it's booze, it's food. You feel discomfort and you have a very quick solution and that's very tempting.

• 1:14:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's tough.

• 1:14:58Dax Shepard?

  Okay. Now you had one deal to do a sitcom at one point that Fallon was producing at Universal. And then you had an ABC pilot that you shot. Side note, do you love Kurt Wood?

• 1:15:08Speaker 02

  Oh, the best.

• 1:15:09Dax Shepard?

  I love that man so much. I had lunch with him last week. I mean, what a beautiful fucking dude.

• 1:15:14Speaker 02

  He'll still text me. He's just so nice.

• 1:15:16Dax Shepard?

  He's a wonderful man. I feel so lucky. I know that guy. So why do a movie? I mean, I guess I probably already know, like this sitcom thing is not for me. Tell me the decision to do a movie.

• 1:15:26Speaker 02

  Well, the sitcom thing I did, I wrote a script every year. We only shot one pilot. I always made it to the point where we wrote the script, but never made it to the pilot. So I tried it for eight years and eight scripts. And then some of them weren't, some of them were.

• 1:15:41Dax Shepard?

  It's a demoralizing experience.

• 1:15:43Speaker 02

  It's really crazy. You know, it's a year long process in a sense. I got a call that they weren't going to do it. And I mean, I was in like Edmonton and it was minus 20 degrees. Run outside real fast. I'm walking to the club and they're just like, yeah, it's not happening. And then you just go up to go do your set. He has to go do your show. I'm about to go on stage and you're like, okay.

• 1:16:03Dax Shepard?

  And the guy puts his camera down. Save your film.

• 1:16:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Save your film. Yeah.

• 1:16:08Dax Shepard?

  Fucking bottle.

• 1:16:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, he goes, he's still not made it. I kind of learned quickly, and again, this is kind of the aspect of being clean. Cause I would go out on auditions and I would do auditions. I wouldn't want to curse and stuff. A lot of auditions would be maybe doing something that I was like, I don't really feel comfortable doing it. And then even if it was one that I did, I would never commit to it to even even have a chance to get it.

• 1:16:31Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 1:16:31Speaker 02

  I did a Coen Brothers audition within the past couple of years. I have not met them, but their person who books all their stuff, the most wonderful. There was a lot of cursing, the character I would have played and I said like, I'm just not going to curse.

• 1:16:42Dax Shepard?

  Were you gonna say like dad gummit and stuff in place of it? Were you gonna try to fill in?

• 1:16:46Speaker 02

  I would have just figured, I mean, the way I do it is like, I try to do it where you don't know I'm not doing it. Like it's not like you don't make it super obvious.

• 1:16:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:16:53Speaker 02

  It's just, I have to think of a different way to say something. And I always think, that's not your problem, that's my problem. You can give me a rated R script, I'll go through it.

• 1:17:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:02Speaker 02

  I'll make it how, when I'd be comfortable. It's not on you.

• 1:17:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:17:06Speaker 02

  This is my thing. They were very wonderful, but it's like, the more and more you realize the auditioning and all this stuff, you're like, I'm just not gonna get.

• 1:17:12Dax Shepard?

  You're a very square peg in this round hole.

• 1:17:14Speaker 02

  And so I learned it earlier and then you just kind of learned that like, all right, I'm gonna have to create anything that I want to go do. And I'm gonna have to be at a point in my career where I could go, I'm not doing that, so whatever. So that's where I was like, yeah, you just kept doing stand up and kept trying all this kind of stuff. And then it just kind of worked out with the specials and everything. It all kind of started clicking and you know, when I go on SNL, it's like, I'm not gonna do something political or I'm not gonna curse.

• 1:17:49Dax Shepard?

  You're proving your concept. People are like, yeah, he does it this weird way, but it works.

• 1:17:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, we all like it.

• 1:17:54Speaker 02

  I'm out of my own business. I'm not better than you.

• 1:17:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:17:57Speaker 02

  You do, you do whatever you want to go do. Some side of it too is like competitively, you just look and go like, I just don't see a lot of people doing it this way. You need to be yourself.

• 1:18:05Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:18:05Speaker 02

  You need to be who you are.

• 1:18:06Dax Shepard?

  So when does Breadwinner come about as a concept? Because I was watching your friend today, I was seeing, oh yeah, we're touching.

• 1:18:14Speaker 02

  There's some I stand up.

• 1:18:15Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, which I think is an obvious and smart place to start. So how do you start thinking of like, okay? What package do I put this point of view in?

• 1:18:24Speaker 02

  Me and writer Dan Lagana, who we wrote a pilot together, again, 10, 12 years, whatever, 15 years.

• 1:18:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:32Speaker 02

  That didn't go. And then, so we've always just stayed in touch. So Dan came to me. When you write a TV show, the showrunner and I think the writers really matter. So when you go do a TV show, that really matters. A movie, like when you saw half of what I know about Hollywood is because of Entourage. So like when Entourage, they go find those guys shooting at that gun range. A movie can come from a guy that lives under a bridge. The writer, it just doesn't matter.

• 1:19:03Dax Shepard?

  Right. The director's going to have.

• 1:19:04Speaker 02

  The director's going to be the big thing.

• 1:19:06Dax Shepard?

  That's a director medium, TV's a writer's medium.

• 1:19:08Speaker 02

  When you do that, I even like that because you're like, all right, now you're not getting just completely paired up with, you know, well, this guy did this and this and this and this. And you want to go like, I want to write it with my friend or whatever. So me and Lagana got on the phone and just started talking about trying to write a movie. And then, you know, it just kind of follows along in my standup about being, I don't know, just whatever I've talked about my standup. We're making a movie, essentially like that. What's funny is I didn't even think of Mr. Mom. We were talking about John Hughes movies. That's what I want to create more of.

• 1:19:36Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:19:36Speaker 02

  The Home Alones, Planes, Trains, Automobiles, like all this kind of stuff like that. Mr. Mom, I knew what it was. I don't know if I've ever seen it. I didn't watch a ton of movies growing up. So I'm like pitching, I was like, yeah, this is great. And then it is funny that it's like, yeah, John Hughes, you're like, of course. It's like, so it's essentially, it's exactly, you're like, oh yeah, they, we did that. Yeah, that's why it's a good idea. Half the time you come up with a good idea, you're like, like dude, is this the best idea ever? You're like, yeah, it was 50 years ago when they did it. We're not trying to be something better than that, but it was like my take on it. And two, because there's this thing where it's like the dad is dumb and everything and all this. This movie is not that.

• 1:20:14Dax Shepard?

  Can I set up the premise? Your wife gets to be on Shark Tank. She has some invention. And then they tell her, you know, you're gonna be quite busy and you have a family. Is your husband gonna be able to take over? So you'll be free for us to invest. And then you happen to be backstage eating fucking donuts. And they bring you on stage and you embarrass her and you're a dipshit. And so that kind of crumbles. And then now she's gonna be gone for a month to go out and try to get this.

• 1:20:40Speaker 02

  And I gotta raise the kids.

• 1:20:41Dax Shepard?

  And you gotta step in. You're a car salesman?

• 1:20:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, sell cars.

• 1:20:45Dax Shepard?

  With Kumail?

• 1:20:45Speaker 02

  Kumail, yeah.

• 1:20:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We love, we love him so much.

• 1:20:48Speaker 02

  Me and Kumail started together in Chicago.

• 1:20:50Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 1:20:51Speaker 02

  Kumail was, uh, yeah, one of my oldest. Pete Holmes, Kumail, like Hannibal Buress, T J Miller. There was a lot of comics that were, were in Chicago when we all started.

• 1:20:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:00Speaker 02

  Pete Holmes, obviously. So Kumail was unbelievable and it was very great to have Kumail on the set because he's done so much now, been in movies. And so to have someone that you're friends with and that you've known for 20 years, I could ask him a lot of stuff.

• 1:21:14Dax Shepard?

  You could be vulnerable and not feel dumb.

• 1:21:16Speaker 02

  Cause that was a big thing of where people are like, yeah, the dad's sick, you know? Well, this dad doesn't know how to do anything, just another dumb dad. Where you're like, dude, I know how to do stuff, but a lot of roles in life, if one leaves, the other one's gonna be like in some pretty big trouble. And it's also based on, like, I have a joke about my daughter at school. Her school called me and asked me what bus number my daughter's on. I'm like, why would you call the dad? And so like that joke, if I walk up to anybody, that's the joke they bring up.

• 1:21:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21:48Speaker 02

  To anybody, cause everybody can relate to that. Wife, whatever. I got a joke about, cause I did my own laundry forever. I thought it was a big deal and it wasn't as big of a deal.

• 1:21:58Dax Shepard?

  No, no, he goes, I'm gonna, I want you to say it. He goes, yeah, I do my own laundry. I'm gonna bring that up in a fight, but I'm gonna sit on it for a minute.

• 1:22:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's right. I forgot. Yeah.

• 1:22:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:07Speaker 02

  I thought of it one day, cause I knew my mom did my dad's laundry.

• 1:22:12Speaker 01

  That's how you grew up?

• 1:22:13Speaker 02

  That's how you grew up. That's still how it happens a lot.

• 1:22:15Dax Shepard?

  For the record, my wife does all the laundry. I don't wanna lie.

• 1:22:18Speaker 02

  But I just did it, cause I, you know, I'd always be traveling. She would have, I'd just dump it in there and like whatever. But I thought, oh yeah, that's a, cause my neighbors, like their wives, and I, so I was just like, well, I'll just wait. I'll hold on to it. And wait, in my head, it's a bomb. I like in my head, I'm like, it's a fight ender.

• 1:22:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's a nuclear option.

• 1:22:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, like if I set the house on fire, I could be like,

• 1:22:40Speaker 01

  Okay, but.

• 1:22:41Speaker 02

  You got a guy that does his own laundry.

• 1:22:43Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:22:43Speaker 02

  And you should apologize for, yeah.

• 1:22:45Speaker 01

  Did you use it?

• 1:22:47Speaker 02

  Yes, I did drop it in. It did not go like.

• 1:22:49Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, the punchline is, he goes, uh, he goes, yeah, I dropped this fight ender and I had not anticipated it was going to start another fire.

• 1:22:57Speaker 01

  That's right. That is right.

• 1:23:00Speaker 02

  It started a much, much.

• 1:23:01Speaker 01

  Fight beginner, really.

• 1:23:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was tender. Is that what it is? It just kind of set it and then it sparked and then it flew.

• 1:23:11Dax Shepard?

  And you got a great cast. How did you get Forte in it? His wife has accepted a bunch of bids and then some guy came in way under.

• 1:23:19Speaker 02

  It's Will Forte, who's just the sweetest and so funny.

• 1:23:24Speaker 01

  So funny.

• 1:23:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, the whole cast is, great Mandy Moore's my wife, you got Colin Jost in it, very funny.

• 1:23:30Dax Shepard?

  He's gonna go line dancing with the moms.

• 1:23:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. He plays like the stay at home dad. Another reason I thought about this was because there was a guy I knew that was a stay at home dad. It's funny, he would be around women so much that I was like, if he came and hung around with us, it would kind of be weird.

• 1:23:46Speaker 01

  He's like one of the moms.

• 1:23:47Speaker 02

  His energy was just like, it was like he just.

• 1:23:49Dax Shepard?

  Mom energy.

• 1:23:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, it just didn't fit. It was like very funny. And this was just in real life. So that's when I somewhat thought of the idea was that kind of aspect. That you get kind of lost in your just surroundings and so you adapt to it.

• 1:24:03Dax Shepard?

  We're all a product of whatever context we're in.

• 1:24:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of thought of him, and I got a buddy that's the opposite. His wife's a dentist. They own their own dentistry. So he's a stay at home dad, but it's a mess. He was another, it was both of them were kind of the ideas that I thought of. He's, yeah, like a dude.

• 1:24:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:24:21Speaker 02

  So the moms cannot, I mean.

• 1:24:24Dax Shepard?

  He barbecues every night for dinner and steak five nights a week.

• 1:24:27Speaker 02

  He drives his car to the pickup and it ruins everything. There's no system. It's like the most man, if you like call him and you're like, hey, let's go watch the game tonight somewhere. He brings his kids because he doesn't have that in his head to go like, uh, you know what? I should probably get the kids to sleep.

• 1:24:45Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:24:46Speaker 02

  He's like, you know what? They can stay up till midnight too. I just liked the idea of just the kinda chaotic. And Colin is so funny in it is playing the stay at home dad.

• 1:24:56Dax Shepard?

  The execution, I wish I could have seen the whole thing. I can only see the trailer and the scenes I saw, but the execution's incredible. It has your spirit.

• 1:25:04Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:25:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:25:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's the look. I'm excited about it. I think this is a movie that if you've watched me as a stand up, you would think I would make this movie. You're gonna see some jokes that would make sense and maybe have been in my act. But we do have a great cast.

• 1:25:17Dax Shepard?

  It's a family movie that's live action.

• 1:25:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, live action and we just want you to bring everybody.

• 1:25:23Dax Shepard?

  It's a definitely feel good.

• 1:25:25Speaker 01

  We need some of that.

• 1:25:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:25:26Dax Shepard?

  My last question for you, and this is selfishly motivated. Now that I've spent so much time in Nashville, you're gonna open a theme park in Nashville?

• 1:25:33Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:25:37Dax Shepard?

  That's as much as you can say about it?

• 1:25:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:25:39Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 1:25:41Speaker 02

  More will come, but we used to have a theme park called Opuland. It was my first job. I was a sweeper at it when I was 15.

• 1:25:47Dax Shepard?

  Probably a lot of cigarette butts back then.

• 1:25:48Speaker 02

  Only cigarette butts, yeah. They took it when I was like, uh, senior in high school and it's a mall now. Everybody loved Opuland. It was profitable. It was like, why would you take it away?

• 1:25:58Dax Shepard?

  It was part of the 08 collateral damage, was it?

• 1:26:00Speaker 02

  No, no, no. I graduated when I was 97. I'm 46.

• 1:26:03Dax Shepard?

  Oh, so it shut down in the 90s?

• 1:26:04Speaker 02

  Like 90, yeah, yeah, yeah, in the 90s. So it was just annoying. Now, I didn't think at that time, I'm gonna go resurrect this. You hit points in your career where you gotta figure out what's your purpose of being here? And so one for me, when I did Bridgestone Arena.

• 1:26:19Dax Shepard?

  19,375 seats, record.

• 1:26:22Speaker 02

  So I used to daydream about that. And so my dumb little thing that I always say is I always think like your goals, you should be embarrassed if you don't get them. And your dreams should be embarrassed to say out loud. And so it was kinda like. Like that. So the daydream of that bridge show, right? So then I get to that bridge zone night and I can't believe I'm there. And then you're directionless for a second.

• 1:26:41Dax Shepard?

  That's what's so confusing about success.

• 1:26:42Speaker 02

  Yes, because it can't be about you or that's what I believe. Anything that you're doing cannot be about you. If it's about you, it's only going to go bad because it's never going to be good enough. And so you have to have another reason for it. And so then that's when I kind of came up with the idea of Nate Land and the company that I'm starting and like this movie where I really want you to be a trust this brand and trust. When you see it, you know what it is. We have a motto for our production company or movies like good, clean, funny. And but I think we can do good, clean drama. It's basically like I can make Die Hard, but the one that airs on TBS.

• 1:27:13Dax Shepard?

  I even like that you said, you know, there was this era where you could go to the mall. You let your kids fuck off and run around forever. You got to have a good meal with your friends.

• 1:27:21Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:27:21Dax Shepard?

  What a dream.

• 1:27:21Speaker 02

  I'm in experience with going out and touring. And so they tell you it's always, well, no one watches movies anymore. No one wants to go. I just find that hard to believe when I'm staring at people out. And again, it's one of those where you're like, the system that makes the thing is blaming the person. I don't think it's their fault. They're just doing what you're, you're not.

• 1:27:45Dax Shepard?

  They're responding to what you're giving them.

• 1:27:47Speaker 02

  You give them an animated movie or a horror movie and they have no choice. What do you want them to go? And then the movie theaters, that's just a dude that owns a theater. He can't get people to come in there. So I just wanted to create that experience. A, I want to really try to see if people will come back to theaters. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I have no idea. But then the theme park is the bigger aspect of it. To go and be like this place that you can come bring your family. I want you to be able to let your kids go run. When my parents, they could drop you off at Opeland and you could go hang out with your friends and be alone. Maybe you have a girlfriend that you get to go hang out with. Or you have all these little experiences or maybe you're 12 and your parents are like, y'all go meet here.

• 1:28:31Speaker 02

  Yep, exactly. And you have autonomy, that freedom.

• 1:28:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:36Speaker 02

  And now to have those freedoms, weirdly, the only way for people to get them is they actually have to go become very wealthy. And live in gated communities and they can go live like the 50s. It's the other people that can't. And so I wanted to create a space for that. And some of it would be free, some is gonna be a theme park, like a downtown Disney where you can just go walk around.

• 1:28:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:29:00Speaker 02

  But you, you want it to be this place where people go and I want you to be able to feel that you can drop.

• 1:29:05Dax Shepard?

  A safe bubble.

• 1:29:06Speaker 02

  A safe bubble that they can just have a place to go.

• 1:29:08Dax Shepard?

  So I've heard you say that potentially you would stop touring. The 2024 tour generated like 85 million dollars. Mentally, how do you get yourself to a place where you know you might unplug from that safety that's coming your way?

• 1:29:21Speaker 02

  It's hard. I mean, especially right now, because we're doing feasibility studies and we're doing all this stuff for this theme park. I'm paying for all this. So everything that's going into this theme park, which these studies and these economic studies and all this kind of stuff is very, very, very expensive.

• 1:29:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:35Speaker 02

  So right now I'm paying for everything. I'm paying for the tour. We have employees that work for us, healthcare. We have all this stuff that I'm able to provide gracefully because people come to shows.

• 1:29:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:46Speaker 02

  So I don't want that to go away. When I said stopping touring, I did have the idea of where it was like, I want to get out of the way. If someone else comes along, I don't think it's as soon as I probably thought I was when I initially said it. But there is a point, I want to go develop younger people and find them. I think that's what's happened in the industry that we're in now is the developing of younger people. I'm not trying to even do anything different. I'm just literally taking your 80s, 90s way and just going like, we need to probably do that. I know if I need to be in movies, I'm probably gonna have to star in movies to sell the tickets for the movies.

• 1:30:27Speaker 02

  I want to be able to do it to find the people to then find the next big Tom Hanks.

• 1:30:32Dax Shepard?

  Pass the baton off.

• 1:30:33Speaker 02

  And break them off and like try to have them go do stuff and build a world and really go develop. Let people develop social media, especially with comedy. It forms a lot of bad habits because your first told to get booked at a comedy club, you have to have followers. Well, to get followers on Instagram, you gotta do stuff that you cannot.

• 1:30:52Dax Shepard?

  Undo.

• 1:30:53Speaker 02

  Well, you cannot undo and it's too hard to create. Yeah. You gotta create it every day.

• 1:30:57Dax Shepard?

  Well, you get into the clip. Mindset, not the routine set.

• 1:31:01Speaker 02

  So you're feeling all day and every clip's gotta be crazier and crazier and crazier.

• 1:31:05Dax Shepard?

  Well, you're trying to hack the algorithm.

• 1:31:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:31:07Dax Shepard?

  Like your new job is not the audience, it's kinda hacking the algorithm.

• 1:31:10Speaker 01

  And you have to grab the low hanging fruit.

• 1:31:12Speaker 02

  That's all you can do, or you can build an act where people can trust and they're gonna come to it. And I still think that exists. I think a change is happening and you're seeing it. Younger people are annoyed with their phone.

• 1:31:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Yeah, people are starting to like rebel.

• 1:31:28Speaker 02

  People start to go like, I don't like this. That's why experiences are becoming a thing. That's why people want to go out and kinda go do stuff. Restaurants are having pickleball and all this stuff in it. And so you're seeing this aspect, then do it.

• 1:31:41Dax Shepard?

  I very much hope for you and all of us that everyone goes. I think it would be very fun for everyone and their family to go.

• 1:31:48Speaker 02

  I do too. Thank you very much.

• 1:31:49Dax Shepard?

  We do need those options. And this has been a fucking blast.

• 1:31:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:31:52Dax Shepard?

  Thanks for giving me so much time.

• 1:31:54Speaker 02

  I loved it. Y'all were so fun to talk with and I can't wait to see you at home.

• 1:31:57Dax Shepard?

  Oh my God, I know. All right. Great to have you.

• 1:31:59Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:32:00Speaker 02

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

• 1:32:10Speaker 01

  Eddie?

• 1:32:12Dax Shepard?

  Yes, I have two drinks. I feel safe.

• 1:32:14Speaker 01

  Good.

• 1:32:15Dax Shepard?

  Okay. I'll go through both in this little chat.

• 1:32:17Speaker 01

  I know. You intake a lot of fluid.

• 1:32:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:32:21Speaker 01

  Oh, speaking of that, I was at an event and I was sitting with a stranger. Also, just another, it's just so funny to be at events and feel like a little kid, you know?

• 1:32:34Dax Shepard?

  What event was this?

• 1:32:35Speaker 01

  It was for Rose, the hair products that I love.

• 1:32:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:40Speaker 01

  And it was at Dupars.

• 1:32:42Dax Shepard?

  What's that?

• 1:32:43Speaker 01

  It's a very cute diner.

• 1:32:45Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:32:45Speaker 01

  And they had rented out this space. It was so cute, but there's like tables and people were kinda sitting at tables mishmashed, you know?

• 1:32:53Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:32:54Speaker 01

  And I was with Rachel, my friend Rachel, and we were like, what are we, what are we doing? We had to ask if we could sit with someone and it tells us.

• 1:33:02Dax Shepard?

  High school cafeteria.

• 1:33:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, middle school, even worse. And then they said no.

• 1:33:06Dax Shepard?

  They said no?

• 1:33:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:33:07Dax Shepard?

  Cause it was taken already?

• 1:33:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, they were like, we have someone coming.

• 1:33:10Dax Shepard?

  There. Oh, boy.

• 1:33:12Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:33:12Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:33:13Speaker 01

  Luckily, we found these two women who let us sit with them.

• 1:33:16Dax Shepard?

  Geez, yeah, no thanks.

• 1:33:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, and one of them.

• 1:33:21Speaker 01

  Was half Indian.

• 1:33:22Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:33:23Speaker 01

  And she also didn't drink water.

• 1:33:25Dax Shepard?

  So interesting.

• 1:33:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:33:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:27Speaker 01

  And you know, my dad doesn't drink water.

• 1:33:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, just Michelob.

• 1:33:31Speaker 01

  Sometimes Michelob. But no water. And I was like, it's conceivable. We just don't need it as much.

• 1:33:39Dax Shepard?

  Well, what's very conceivable is if you monitored water intake across populations, you would see different levels.

• 1:33:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:33:46Dax Shepard?

  And it would be quite interesting if Indians were like, yeah, very low on that.

• 1:33:50Speaker 01

  What if you, what if Indians only need one thimble a day?

• 1:33:55Dax Shepard?

  All right, I'm gonna make an armchair theory.

• 1:33:56Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:33:57Dax Shepard?

  Okay, and this goes to why African Americans have higher rates of hypertension.

• 1:34:04Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:34:04Dax Shepard?

  I know I've already said this before, but when the people were kidnapped and enslaved, they were marched across the continent of Africa and half the people died of dehydration because they were not offering them water. And then, so the people that made to the boat, they had a really, an above average salinity count. They held on to salt in their body. And then they got on these boats. They did not serve them water. Disentery was running rampant. Another half of them died of dehydration on that trip.

• 1:34:35Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:34:36Dax Shepard?

  So the only people that got here had a really normally high salinity count.

• 1:34:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:43Dax Shepard?

  And which is now leads to hypertension.

• 1:34:45Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:34:45Dax Shepard?

  So it's conceivable to me that the environment Indians came from, hot and warm.

• 1:34:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:52Dax Shepard?

  That you guys do hold on to your salt better.

• 1:34:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:57Dax Shepard?

  In which case you would need less water.

• 1:34:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. But I, I wonder what the rate of hypertension is for Indians.

• 1:35:05Dax Shepard?

  Sky fucking high.

• 1:35:06Speaker 01

  Is it?

• 1:35:07Dax Shepard?

  I don't know.

• 1:35:07Speaker 01

  Okay, it says approximately 25% to 30% of adults in India have hypertension.

• 1:35:13Dax Shepard?

  Versus how many in, say, England?

• 1:35:16Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:35:16Dax Shepard?

  That's a very white, or Sweden.

• 1:35:18Speaker 01

  Thirty-two to thirty-three.

• 1:35:20Dax Shepard?

  Same.

• 1:35:21Speaker 01

  Hmm. Okay.

• 1:35:22Dax Shepard?

  All right. Well, there, there goes that.

• 1:35:24Speaker 01

  Well.

• 1:35:26Speaker 01

  I mean, I definitely.

• 1:35:27Dax Shepard?

  Hate to be, I'm gonna, they're gonna run the risk of being offensive here.

• 1:35:31Speaker 01

  Okay, go ahead.

• 1:35:32Dax Shepard?

  How many people in India are getting measured for hypertension? Like, how many people are going to the doctor? We know that like 700 million of them are living in such poverty. They're not seeing a doctor ever to be a labeled.

• 1:35:44Speaker 01

  Village doctor.

• 1:35:46Dax Shepard?

  I just doubt that the data on hypertension in India is anywhere comparable to the data that's coming from England. Cause so many people don't have medical care in India versus in England.

• 1:35:57Speaker 01

  Maybe, maybe.

• 1:35:59Dax Shepard?

  That hurt your feelings.

• 1:36:00Speaker 01

  No, it's in it. It didn't hurt my feelings. I just don't know.

• 1:36:05Speaker 01

  I don't know, you know?

• 1:36:06Dax Shepard?

  You don't know.

• 1:36:07Speaker 01

  I don't know about the village doctors. A big issue with India is there's very, the cities, there's some very rich cities and then there's extreme poverty.

• 1:36:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:36:18Speaker 01

  So, yeah, it's hard to know what these numbers are based off.

• 1:36:23Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Anyhow, if you're an epidemiologist or you're an anthropologist that studied this in the comments, tell us if there's any data that suggests Indians require less water.

• 1:36:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, if like, if I feel good just having a thimble.

• 1:36:39Dax Shepard?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:36:40Speaker 01

  Then like, I think maybe it's fine. My body would tell me. Like, you get thirsty.

• 1:36:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I don't know what's what with me, right? I just do things compulsively.

• 1:36:51Speaker 01

  Oh, sure.

• 1:36:52Dax Shepard?

  Uh, anything I like, I do nonstop.

• 1:36:54Speaker 01

  I know, but you like drinking water, like?

• 1:36:58Dax Shepard?

  Love it, love it.

• 1:36:58Speaker 01

  I know you, and you love it because of the way it makes you feel, right?

• 1:37:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I love how cool it is and it's refreshing.

• 1:37:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, see, I get none of that.

• 1:37:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I love it.

• 1:37:08Speaker 01

  Benny.

• 1:37:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I see, I know, yeah, I told you, I used to carry around a gallon of my well water.

• 1:37:13Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:37:14Dax Shepard?

  Everywhere in high school, people like, oh, Jesus, here's a tax with this gallon of well water. Cause I love the taste of our well water so much. And when I was in Wald Lake, where I went to high school, everyone's on city water.

• 1:37:25Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:37:25Dax Shepard?

  And so I needed my jug of well water. Isn't that perverse?

• 1:37:29Speaker 01

  So you'd like empty out the milk gallon and put the well water?

• 1:37:32Dax Shepard?

  Well, I wouldn't empty it out, but once it was empty, I would wash that out. I wouldn't waste a gallon of.

• 1:37:37Speaker 01

  No, that would, that's wasteful.

• 1:37:39Dax Shepard?

  My mother would be fucking up in arms.

• 1:37:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, I just, I think, you know, I've told you this, that sometimes I get actually like very, very full. Off water.

• 1:37:50Dax Shepard?

  Uh huh.

• 1:37:51Speaker 01

  And that doesn't seem, I'm not seeing other people get very full.

• 1:37:54Dax Shepard?

  I can drink a gallon of it.

• 1:37:55Speaker 01

  Exactly. I'm seeing you guys be thirsty.

• 1:37:58Dax Shepard?

  India, she did, half Indian didn't drink water too? That's what you discovered?

• 1:38:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:38:01Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:38:02Speaker 01

  So I'm building a real.

• 1:38:04Dax Shepard?

  You have N of three, I guess. Your dad.

• 1:38:06Speaker 01

  Pretty good.

• 1:38:07Dax Shepard?

  Stranger in you, yeah.

• 1:38:08Speaker 01

  I guess people can weigh in, but only weigh in if you are on my side.

• 1:38:12Dax Shepard?

  If you're half Indian or above. We don't.

• 1:38:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:38:15Dax Shepard?

  No one 30%, right?

• 1:38:17Speaker 01

  No, no. I prefer, honestly, I prefer 100%.

• 1:38:21Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, like you're 23 and me.

• 1:38:23Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:38:23Dax Shepard?

  Something at the event that was just that. It was that you felt uncomfortable or is there another thing?

• 1:38:27Speaker 01

  No, just the water.

• 1:38:27Dax Shepard?

  The water thing.

• 1:38:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, the water.

• 1:38:29Dax Shepard?

  Well, I went to an event too.

• 1:38:31Speaker 01

  Oh, tell me.

• 1:38:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I traveled to New Orleans.

• 1:38:34Speaker 01

  That's right. You did.

• 1:38:37Dax Shepard?

  To be a guest at Walter Isaac's, well, I don't know if it's his primarily, but the Tulane New Orleans Book Festival. I put a lot of words together. I don't know if it's called the New Orleans Book Festival or the Tulane Book Festival or the Tulane or New Orleans Tulane.

• 1:38:52Speaker 01

  It's a lot.

• 1:38:53Dax Shepard?

  Whatever. Those were the people.

• 1:38:54Speaker 01

  And it's Walter Isaacson.

• 1:38:55Dax Shepard?

  Walter Isaacson. Yeah, that's what I didn't say.

• 1:38:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:39:01Speaker 05

  The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University.

• 1:39:04Speaker 01

  Okay, that is a lot of words and you did hit them all.

• 1:39:06Dax Shepard?

  Okay, the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University by Walter Isaacson.

• 1:39:13Speaker 01

  Was it fun?

• 1:39:14Dax Shepard?

  It was. Okay, I haven't been to New Orleans in, I guess, since Kristen shot a movie there. We had a rental house directly across from Tulane, which is north of the city by 20 minutes or something. Much different vibe than downtown New Orleans. I was staying downtown.

• 1:39:28Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:39:29Dax Shepard?

  And so I haven't been downtown in a goat's age. So I got there on Friday and I decided I'm gonna take a walk.

• 1:39:39Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:39:40Dax Shepard?

  Before everyone's completely annihilated.

• 1:39:43Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:39:43Dax Shepard?

  It's a huge, everyone, I'm not shedding any light on this. It's a boozy fucking city.

• 1:39:48Speaker 01

  It's such a good city.

• 1:39:49Dax Shepard?

  Maybe the booziest.

• 1:39:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:39:51Dax Shepard?

  And I walked down to Bourbon Street and Canal and then was cruising down. Immediately saw this like 16 piece jazz band, ragtag group, like no uniformity in their wardrobe or their style or their seeming their background. It was rad. I watched that for like an hour.

• 1:40:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:13Dax Shepard?

  I even recorded some of it thinking I'll show someone and then I was like, no, who's gonna want to watch this? But I found myself recording a little bit. That was really fun. And yeah, New Orleans is, I gotta say, if any city in America has the most distinct fingerprint, it's that city.

• 1:40:27Speaker 01

  Culture.

• 1:40:28Dax Shepard?

  Yes, it's like so French.

• 1:40:30Speaker 01

  It is.

• 1:40:31Dax Shepard?

  And so black and Creole and all these things. And it's like, the vibe is so unique.

• 1:40:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:38Dax Shepard?

  And all the food everywhere you're at, even if you're at a corner thing, it's gonna have some, they're gonna have turtle soup or they're gonna have some weird animal on there that I don't normally eat. And there's gonna be a French items on any menu.

• 1:40:49Speaker 01

  Mmm, turtle soup.

• 1:40:51Dax Shepard?

  And I knew, my event was on Saturday afternoon and Anderson Cooper was interviewing me.

• 1:40:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:59Dax Shepard?

  And which was great because we interviewed him.

• 1:41:02Speaker 01

  A long time ago.

• 1:41:03Dax Shepard?

  Yes, for his Vanderbilt book. So he reached out like, hey, can we chat before the event? I'm like, great. Then he said, hey, I'm gonna work out, then I'm gonna eat at the steakhouse in the, in the hotel. If you want to swing by. So we did. So then we had like an hour, sit there on the river, shooting the shit.

• 1:41:22Speaker 01

  Ah, with steak?

• 1:41:24Dax Shepard?

  I can't tell you how, well, he had already eaten a po boy at another spot.

• 1:41:28Speaker 01

  Oh, po boy.

• 1:41:30Dax Shepard?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:41:31Speaker 01

  Do you like po boys?

• 1:41:32Dax Shepard?

  I can't fuck with them because of the bread. So I'd just be eating a plate of shrimp, I guess.

• 1:41:36Speaker 01

  And you don't like seafood. Okay.

• 1:41:38Dax Shepard?

  I like shrimp. If it's, that's, that's asterix.

• 1:41:43Speaker 01

  Okay, but I bet you do like fried shrimp.

• 1:41:45Dax Shepard?

  I hate shrimp cocktail. I love fried shrimp.

• 1:41:47Speaker 01

  So you would like the po boy, you just can't eat it?

• 1:41:49Dax Shepard?

  I've liked po boys in the past.

• 1:41:51Speaker 01

  They're hard to say.

• 1:41:52Dax Shepard?

  Po, not really po, po boy. It's not poor boy.

• 1:41:55Speaker 01

  I know, but you want to say poi boy.

• 1:41:57Dax Shepard?

  Oh, po boy. All to say, I felt very, very grateful. I was like, look at me sitting on the fucking Mississippi River chatting with Anderson Cooper.

• 1:42:11Dax Shepard?

  How did I get here? This is very fun.

• 1:42:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42:14Dax Shepard?

  And unique and I was grateful for it. And we had a lovely time. We could have. And I was like, uh, why don't you get a drink? It's happy hour. So I know he drinks. He's like, no, I'm just, I'm gonna have a coffee. And then later he's like, I gotta go. I, and I'm like, where are you going? It was like six. He's like, I have to do the news.

• 1:42:30Speaker 01

  Oh, fuck.

• 1:42:31Dax Shepard?

  I'm thinking, cause he's in New Orleans. He does, he's not, he's off work. He wasn't. He had to leave my table side and go to a remote studio and do Anderson 360.

• 1:42:42Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:42:42Dax Shepard?

  So after I walked around the French Quarter a little bit, I got back to my hotel before all the blackoutness started. Although there was some, there's plenty of blackoutness at 6pm for sure. And then I'm in my hotel room and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna turn on 60 Minutes, which I never watch. Sure enough, there was Anderson 360. And we, oh my, we were just shooting. It was very.

• 1:43:04Speaker 01

  That's weird.

• 1:43:05Dax Shepard?

  I felt like the fabric of time and space was tearing.

• 1:43:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:43:09Dax Shepard?

  Um, and then the event was Saturday and it was completely lovely. It was, um, in their basketball arena. So I don't know how many thousand people there, but it was huge.

• 1:43:20Speaker 01

  Great.

• 1:43:21Dax Shepard?

  And, um, the topic was grief because Anderson has a podcast called All That There Is or something like that. And it's all about grief. Cause when his mom died, he started going through all of her stuff and he decided to start recording his thoughts on it. And then it turned into this grief podcast he has.

• 1:43:37Speaker 05

  All There Is with Anderson Cooper.

• 1:43:39Dax Shepard?

  All There Is with Anderson Cooper. And, um, so it was about grief. So then it was all about my dad. And it was.

• 1:43:47Speaker 01

  It's lovely.

• 1:43:47Dax Shepard?

  It was outrageously lovely. He was reading from the thing I had written about him, which I hadn't heard in a while.

• 1:43:54Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:43:55Dax Shepard?

  And you would have hated it, Monica. I bet I, I bet I cried six times on that stage.

• 1:44:00Speaker 01

  I wouldn't have hated it. Let's not make that a thing.

• 1:44:02Dax Shepard?

  Okay. What would you have felt about it?

• 1:44:05Speaker 01

  I probably would have felt like it was sweet.

• 1:44:08Dax Shepard?

  All right. I won't make that a thing.

• 1:44:09Speaker 01

  It's not a thing.

• 1:44:13Dax Shepard?

  It's a unique experience to cry on stage in public in front of five or 6,000 people.

• 1:44:17Speaker 01

  I bet, yeah. You did it once before. You did it, um.

• 1:44:21Dax Shepard?

  I got choked up one time on stage with Keith.

• 1:44:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was really sweet.

• 1:44:25Dax Shepard?

  It was.

• 1:44:26Speaker 01

  It was about your dad.

• 1:44:28Dax Shepard?

  It was about my dad. Lo and behold.

• 1:44:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, dads will do that, you know. God, dads are a lot to handle emotionally. They are.

• 1:44:40Dax Shepard?

  And I bet they're they're different daughter to father than son to father.

• 1:44:45Speaker 01

  I mean, I'm sure it's individual, but yeah, I mean.

• 1:44:48Dax Shepard?

  I think the broad trend.

• 1:44:50Speaker 01

  I know. I feel bad about. Do you feel bad about that?

• 1:44:53Dax Shepard?

  About what?

• 1:44:54Speaker 01

  That your feelings about your dad are are diff- your emotions, like you love both of them, obviously.

• 1:45:01Dax Shepard?

  My mom and my dad.

• 1:45:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. But your emotions toward one are a little different than your emotions toward the other. I sometimes have guilt about that.

• 1:45:10Dax Shepard?

  Well, one is historically your nurturer.

• 1:45:14Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:45:14Dax Shepard?

  And the other is like, again, forgive me, historically, like the rational one that's going to tell you you're on course to

• 1:45:24Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:45:25Dax Shepard?

  Right. It's like you're there. That person's your signpost of like, good job. You've done this. Now here's what you do with your tack. I don't know. It's just more like.

• 1:45:32Speaker 01

  Interesting, yeah.

• 1:45:34Dax Shepard?

  I didn't get it. I did. That's not what I had. But I feel like friends of mine who had dads taught them how to do a lot of stuff and their moms comforted them and taught them how to be emotional. But my mom taught me. I don't even know what I'm saying. I I more think not in terms of like how you feel about a mom versus a dad, just like what a daughter feels about a dad versus what a boy feels about a dad.

• 1:45:57Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:45:58Dax Shepard?

  Like I tell me, um, I think boys are looking for much more validation from their fathers. That like they're becoming men or they're

• 1:46:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:10Dax Shepard?

  They're waiting for that. Boy, I'm proud of you. You've become a good man.

• 1:46:17Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

• 1:46:29Dax Shepard?

  Is that what you're looking for from your dad?

• 1:46:32Speaker 01

  Um, not like you've become a good woman because I would be like.

• 1:46:37Dax Shepard?

  How would you know?

• 1:46:38Speaker 01

  Right, exactly. But definitely you want your dad to be proud of you.

• 1:46:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:46:44Speaker 01

  Definitely. So.

• 1:46:46Dax Shepard?

  There's something going on with the roles for sure.

• 1:46:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:48Dax Shepard?

  They're not one for one. There's like, there's definitely like different baggage with each.

• 1:46:52Speaker 01

  It is. It's, it's, it's weird. And like my baggage with my mom is, is not the baggage my brother has with my mom.

• 1:47:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:47:01Speaker 01

  And all, all the iterations are, everyone has baggage with everyone and they're all different.

• 1:47:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:47:06Speaker 01

  And I, it's, I'm sure it has to do with gender, but also, yeah.

• 1:47:10Dax Shepard?

  I see the tension between my mom and my sister and it's just not tension that I have between my mom. But it is the same tension I have between my dad and I, you know?

• 1:47:18Speaker 01

  Right. There's something about the same gender that, yeah.

• 1:47:22Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, it was lovely. Um, I met Kenny Chesney backstage.

• 1:47:29Speaker 01

  Big country star.

• 1:47:31Dax Shepard?

  Huge. Had a great chat with him. It was quite fun. And then, uh, I went back to my hotel. And I had noticed there was a Creole restaurant in the bottom of my hotel that has, it was highly recommended. So I'm like, okay, tonight's.

• 1:47:47Speaker 01

  Turtle soup?

• 1:47:48Dax Shepard?

  I'm gonna work out and then I'm gonna eat a bunch of turtle soup. And so I do all my little chores and then I go down by myself. And I see in the menu for the table, whole fried chicken, red beans and rice. It's got a cool name. It's a hundred dollars. And I'm like, I can't eat a whole chi- this for, this is for like four people.

• 1:48:12Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:48:13Dax Shepard?

  I can't eat a whole chicken. And

• 1:48:16Speaker 01

  I want it.

• 1:48:17Dax Shepard?

  There's no other option for fried chicken. It's just that.

• 1:48:20Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:48:21Dax Shepard?

  So I'm like, I can't eat all that. And if the only way I can have fried chicken, I am going to get it.

• 1:48:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:48:27Dax Shepard?

  It came Monica in this huge fucking metal pan tin. And it was the best fried chicken I'd ever had.

• 1:48:36Speaker 01

  Yum.

• 1:48:37Dax Shepard?

  By like three deviations above.

• 1:48:40Speaker 01

  Fried chicken.

• 1:48:40Dax Shepard?

  I can't tell, it was so much breading, so much.

• 1:48:45Speaker 01

  So it's a little contradictory to what we were just talking about with the po boy.

• 1:48:49Dax Shepard?

  Right. Cause I did say fuck it. You're right. Yep.

• 1:48:53Speaker 01

  But it's worth it.

• 1:48:54Dax Shepard?

  But I want to say the breading to chicken ratio was sixty five, thirty five, sixty five percent breading. And it had three dipping sauces, a hot chili one, honey. And then a garlic one. I couldn't fuck with it. It smells so good. I know it's delicious if you put that garlic on it. Anyways, I ate so much fucking chicken and breading.

• 1:49:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:49:17Dax Shepard?

  All the sauces. I killed all the honey. I had my rice and my beans. I was so full at the end of it that I said, you must go walk for a half hour.

• 1:49:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, smart.

• 1:49:26Dax Shepard?

  Let's try to help your insulin a little bit. So then Monica got out on those streets. I started pounding those streets and again, I was overwhelmed. I went in a different direction.

• 1:49:34Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:49:35Dax Shepard?

  That night and I was over, it was more the upscale direction.

• 1:49:38Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:49:39Dax Shepard?

  And I was smelling so many fun smells and the architecture was different and all the little balconies and I was smitten.

• 1:49:48Speaker 01

  It's a great city.

• 1:49:49Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I loved it. It was great. It was a great little excursion.

• 1:49:53Speaker 01

  Um, speaking into run ins, I had a sim moment.

• 1:49:56Dax Shepard?

  Oh, great.

• 1:49:57Speaker 01

  While you were gone, I went to a store I like to go to. I feel like maybe I shouldn't say, I don't want to like blow up anyone's spot.

• 1:50:03Dax Shepard?

  Okay, then don't, don't say the name of the store.

• 1:50:05Speaker 01

  Okay. I went into a store.

• 1:50:07Dax Shepard?

  Yep.

• 1:50:07Speaker 01

  I was looking and I saw this woman from the back and I liked the backup for sweater.

• 1:50:12Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:12Speaker 01

  I was like, I want that sweater.

• 1:50:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:14Speaker 01

  Cool. And then I kept looking at the clothes and then all of a sudden she turned around and it was Amanda Peet.

• 1:50:21Dax Shepard?

  No way.

• 1:50:22Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:50:22Dax Shepard?

  Oh my God.

• 1:50:23Speaker 01

  And it was so sim.

• 1:50:25Dax Shepard?

  Wasn't like Belle.

• 1:50:27Speaker 01

  It was Amanda. I confirmed. Um, and she said, oh my God. So crazy. I was just, we were, I was just talking about you.

• 1:50:39Speaker 01

  Because one of the sales associates there

• 1:50:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:42Speaker 01

  Said to her, I just heard you want something. And she said, oh, was it armchair? And then he said, yes. So this was very simmy. It was so exciting. And then we were all chit chatting.

• 1:50:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Did you break out your mahjong cubes?

• 1:50:58Speaker 01

  I did invite her to mahjong. She hasn't, she is not, she's on the fence. It was such a good run in and she's so fun. And she was like, meeting friends for dinner. And I was like, oh, what a life.

• 1:51:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:10Speaker 01

  And one of the friends she was meeting was Amanda Anka.

• 1:51:14Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:51:15Speaker 01

  So she came into the store as well.

• 1:51:18Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my goodness. And you guys get to talk about astrology a little bit?

• 1:51:21Speaker 01

  We did.

• 1:51:22Dax Shepard?

  What did you guys decide?

• 1:51:23Speaker 01

  Uh, we decided we're right.

• 1:51:25Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:51:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:51:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:51:27Speaker 01

  Jess and I were on our way to Sunset Tower. We were very indecisive. We wanted to hang out, but we didn't know what we wanted to do. And finally, we were like, let's go to Sunset Towers. We're on our way.

• 1:51:40Speaker 01

  Jess said, he said, well, my friend said that if you're indecisive, it means you have bad gut health. And I was like, I have good gut health. And then, you know, we're driving and all of a sudden I say, I want to go to this store. I want to go right now.

• 1:51:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:53Speaker 01

  And he was like, oh, okay. And I was like, unless you don't, unless you don't want to, but it'll be fast. I just want to run in and get these pants.

• 1:52:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:52:01Speaker 01

  He was like, yeah, fine, no worries. And so then I go and all this sim stuff happens.

• 1:52:07Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow. Good gut health.

• 1:52:09Speaker 01

  That's what I, that was my takeaway. I had great gut health. At the end of last episode, I ended up cutting it because we were signing off. And I said, oh, wait, wait, I have something important to say. And then when I was editing, I was like, eh, whatever. I'll cut that because it felt wrapped up, you know? But I will say now that I have a new wrinkle under my eye.

• 1:52:33Dax Shepard?

  You're convinced now it's here for good? Because you thought maybe it was a result.

• 1:52:37Speaker 01

  I was hoping that maybe it was temp.

• 1:52:40Dax Shepard?

  Because you had.

• 1:52:41Speaker 01

  I did something weird with my eye.

• 1:52:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you swatted your eye or something.

• 1:52:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I thought maybe that was a result. But it's still there.

• 1:52:49Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:52:50Speaker 01

  And I had a really long wiry gray hair the other day.

• 1:52:55Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:52:56Speaker 01

  So stuff's happening and I'm.

• 1:53:00Dax Shepard?

  Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome.

• 1:53:02Speaker 01

  I'm not ready. I'm not ready.

• 1:53:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, as my hair grows out, I'm like, oh, yeah, it's so gray, so gray.

• 1:53:09Speaker 01

  I know, but you're a man.

• 1:53:11Dax Shepard?

  I know, I know.

• 1:53:11Speaker 01

  It's different.

• 1:53:12Dax Shepard?

  I still don't like, uh, it doesn't mean I enjoy.

• 1:53:14Speaker 01

  But you know that the whole thing is like, men look hotter with age and women like, go get buried.

• 1:53:21Dax Shepard?

  I think we make a big meal of when someone does, like George Clinton, oh, I love his salt and pepper. But there are a lot of people that are salt and pepper, that that's not the consensus. So I do think we've, we hone in on the ones that's working really well for, and we build a whole story around it.

• 1:53:33Speaker 01

  Percentage wise, we're gonna, I would say.

• 1:53:36Dax Shepard?

  More men are appreciated with gray hair than women. Yes, totally agree. Yeah.

• 1:53:41Speaker 01

  We pulled it right out.

• 1:53:42Dax Shepard?

  Did you save it?

• 1:53:44Speaker 01

  I don't want any reminders of that.

• 1:53:45Dax Shepard?

  Okay, there's a very classic fable about the king with a gray hair. The second the king shows a gray hair, he has to start ascension or whatever it is, the succession.

• 1:53:56Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:53:57Dax Shepard?

  So he's like living in fear of this gray hair. And I was, you know, you never had to read this in a literary class.

• 1:54:02Speaker 01

  I think you brought this up before.

• 1:54:03Dax Shepard?

  Probably. It had a real impact, but I can't remember.

• 1:54:06Speaker 01

  I don't remember.

• 1:54:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:08Speaker 01

  Anyway, look, this is life. We age.

• 1:54:11Dax Shepard?

  That just reminded me of something I said. Oh, I know.

• 1:54:14Speaker 01

  What?

• 1:54:15Dax Shepard?

  I want to talk about one juicy thing I just, or do you want to talk more about your wrinkle?

• 1:54:19Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:54:20Dax Shepard?

  Okay, I know there's more. Okay, I just, I understand. Um, I started the Murdoch doc. Have you?

• 1:54:29Speaker 01

  I started it last ni- night.

• 1:54:31Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:54:31Speaker 01

  But I only got a few minutes in because I decided to watch The Pit instead.

• 1:54:35Dax Shepard?

  Okay, it's unbelievable.

• 1:54:37Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:54:38Dax Shepard?

  Like, we all have been told succession is based on that family.

• 1:54:42Speaker 01

  Yes, the show.

• 1:54:43Dax Shepard?

  But if you watch this doc, you can't imagine how.

• 1:54:48Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:54:49Dax Shepard?

  Plot point by plot point, it is all the exact same.

• 1:54:52Speaker 01

  Whoa.

• 1:54:53Dax Shepard?

  It's crazy.

• 1:54:55Speaker 01

  That is crazy.

• 1:54:56Dax Shepard?

  It's one of the craziest docs.

• 1:54:57Speaker 01

  They had access? Like, how'd they know all the little details?

• 1:55:01Dax Shepard?

  People have just been reporting on that family so thoroughly.

• 1:55:04Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:55:05Dax Shepard?

  And when different family members are out, they tend to talk more and then they're re-ingratiated. They're given another role, then they sing the party line, then they're out.

• 1:55:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:55:17Dax Shepard?

  I really want to interview, um, what's the one brother's name? There's Lachlan and then the other brother.

• 1:55:23Speaker 01

  Which one? Middle?

• 1:55:24Dax Shepard?

  The younger brother.

• 1:55:25Speaker 01

  The Ki- the Kieran Culkin?

• 1:55:27Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:55:28Speaker 01

  Lachlan James.

• 1:55:30Dax Shepard?

  James. I really want to interview James, uh, Murdoch.

• 1:55:34Speaker 01

  Cause he's more of a rascal.

• 1:55:35Dax Shepard?

  He was like the smartest member, the smarter of the two boys. He actually ran divisions successfully. Lachlan had a much more checkered track record. James want, didn't want to keep Fox News as conservative as it was. In the wake of Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes, all these huge payouts and huge controversies they had.

• 1:56:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:56:04Dax Shepard?

  And the defining moment was their coverage of Charlottesville. Yeah. And his wife said to him, if you're not going to push back against Nazis, who will you push back against?

• 1:56:17Speaker 01

  Oh, I love that.

• 1:56:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, like a little morality check.

• 1:56:19Speaker 01

  So he tried.

• 1:56:20Dax Shepard?

  Yes, but they sued each other. They tried to change, uh, the, this irrevocable trust that was created. There was discovery and all their laundry had to come out in a Reno courtroom. I mean, it's fucking mind blowing.

• 1:56:36Speaker 01

  Family drama.

• 1:56:37Dax Shepard?

  And that whole world news of the world, whatever, that shithole magazine in, in England where they're, they were hacking the, the phones of like, uh, victims who had been killed.

• 1:56:47Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:56:47Dax Shepard?

  That's what unraveled. They had been hacking all of the royal family and, um, prime ministers, but no one really cared. And Jude Law, who we had on.

• 1:56:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:56:57Dax Shepard?

  And no, the public didn't really care. When the elite were being fucked with, but then they were intercepting the voicemails from this girl who had been kidnapped and was ultimately killed. And because they were erasing them, so more could come in, they were losing important information. Like the fucking private investigators that the journalist hired were erasing emails from this victim to make room for more emails so they could keep reporting. So it was horrendous and they did that to a bunch of different murder victims and kidnapped victims.

• 1:57:25Speaker 01

  So that's tied into this?

• 1:57:27Dax Shepard?

  Well, they owned that and James had just come in to run world news. So then there was this huge public trial in England. They ended up shutting down the entire publication and it was their most valuable asset.

• 1:57:40Speaker 01

  Did he feel, is he in it? Are they in it? The doc?

• 1:57:43Dax Shepard?

  No one sits for an interview, but they've been interviewed so much that they can play the interviews.

• 1:57:47Speaker 01

  I just wonder like, did he, yeah, what are his ethics during that? If he's, they seemingly are in and out.

• 1:57:56Dax Shepard?

  They're in and out. Yeah. They're like, okay, I'm going to play dad's game.

• 1:57:59Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:58:00Dax Shepard?

  And then the daughter.

• 1:58:02Speaker 01

  Shiv.

• 1:58:03Dax Shepard?

  Is the smartest of all of them by a long shot. She's had so much independent success away from them. And it's just like the Shiv story. She's like, she's the smartest and he just can't see it because she's a woman.

• 1:58:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:58:18Dax Shepard?

  Oh, it's so juicy.

• 1:58:20Speaker 01

  That's cool. I'm going to watch that.

• 1:58:21Dax Shepard?

  I feel bad for all the kids, to be honest. I mean, what, like, what, what, what a ride they were born into that they couldn't get off. I do like, you're just a prodigal to whatever family brought you home from the hospital.

• 1:58:31Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:58:34Dax Shepard?

  And you have this like incredibly powerful, smart, conniving father.

• 1:58:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:58:42Dax Shepard?

  Who is quite good at creating animosity between the four of you to see who will rise to the top.

• 1:58:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. In that way, yes.

• 1:58:51Dax Shepard?

  And the, and the leverage of money he constantly had, it's like, you might think you'd be above turning down a billion dollars.

• 1:58:57Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:58:59Dax Shepard?

  Well, just let's see if you would be.

• 1:59:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that is true.

• 1:59:03Dax Shepard?

  It's not the fun, privileged life I would think being born into a billionaire family would be. Let's just say that.

• 1:59:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, you see it on that show like they're on yachts. They're doing, I mean, they're doing this stuff, but everyone's so miserable.

• 1:59:15Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:59:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, I would never want to be. Yeah, I guess that goes, I would never want to be one of them. So.

• 1:59:23Dax Shepard?

  No, nor would I want my family dinner to be like this crazy Game of Thrones happening the whole time.

• 1:59:29Speaker 01

  Although you would like that because that's like fun and game.

• 1:59:32Dax Shepard?

  I would try to be the, I'd try to get the Iron Throne.

• 1:59:39Speaker 01

  Um, okay. Speaking of dynasties.

• 1:59:40Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:59:41Speaker 01

  This is for Nate Bargatze.

• 1:59:44Dax Shepard?

  He's creating a dynasty.

• 1:59:45Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:59:46Dax Shepard?

  An empire.

• 1:59:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:59:47Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:59:48Speaker 01

  Okay, you bring up the NFL player with one hand, whose brother also played in the NFL. Shaquem and Shaquille Griffin are the NFL brothers famous for overcoming immense adversity. Shaquem, who had his left hand amputated at age four due to a congenital condition, became the first one-handed player drafted into the modern NFL in 2018, joining his twin brother Shaquille with the Seattle Seahawks.

• 2:00:12Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:00:13Speaker 01

  That's really cool.

• 2:00:14Dax Shepard?

  There's the most, well, it might have been a real sports. I don't know if it was a whole doc.

• 2:00:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, you said real sports.

• 2:00:20Dax Shepard?

  Okay, and I made my children watch it.

• 2:00:22Speaker 01

  That's sweet.

• 2:00:22Dax Shepard?

  Didn't hit them.

• 2:00:23Speaker 01

  They, they take care of each other.

• 2:00:25Dax Shepard?

  Show it to them.

• 2:00:26Speaker 01

  I don't think you're forcing it down their throat.

• 2:00:28Dax Shepard?

  They're babies. Like, what's going on? Do you have a sibling? You'll always protect your sibling.

• 2:00:34Speaker 01

  They protect each other.

• 2:00:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:00:36Speaker 01

  Okay, Nate brings up a Netflix documentary about drug lords and a woman from Compton, who became the one of the biggest drug lords in the 1980s. Drug Lords is a docu-series on Netflix, episodes called Jemaker Thompson. Crack Queen of LA.

• 2:00:52Dax Shepard?

  Crack Queen.

• 2:00:53Speaker 01

  Sounds good.

• 2:00:53Dax Shepard?

  No one's looking for that moniker. You want to be a lot of queens, but like Crack Queen is probably lowest if you polled the nation.

• 2:01:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, but you can make a lot of money in crack.

• 2:01:03Dax Shepard?

  She did. It's, yeah, it's good margins.

• 2:01:07Speaker 01

  Almost as much as those Murdochs.

• 2:01:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:01:10Speaker 01

  Um, what year did Opryland close the amusement park Nate worked at? 1997. I remember Opryland being like a big deal.

• 2:01:20Dax Shepard?

  Hmm, sure. It was in the South. Yeah.

• 2:01:24Speaker 05

  I went to it.

• 2:01:25Dax Shepard?

  You did?

• 2:01:26Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 2:01:27Dax Shepard?

  How were the rides?

• 2:01:28Speaker 05

  I don't remember. I was a little.

• 2:01:30Dax Shepard?

  Well, then we're not that good. Because I went to Kings Island as a baby and I remember, I remember the beast. You shan't forget the beast.

• 2:01:40Speaker 01

  I'm getting mixed up. The pit is making me a little mixed up.

• 2:01:45Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:01:45Speaker 01

  Because I almost said, did you hear about that?

• 2:01:48Dax Shepard?

  Oh, Case, the guy who ate a tennis ball.

• 2:01:51Speaker 01

  People who, who, the, the water slide that broke and people died.

• 2:01:57Dax Shepard?

  Wait, this is real or the pit?

• 2:01:58Speaker 01

  No, it was the pit, but I, I.

• 2:02:00Dax Shepard?

  I'm sure it's happened.

• 2:02:01Speaker 01

  I'm sure it's happened and it really got in there. It really got in that noggin of mine as real.

• 2:02:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:02:08Speaker 01

  Huh.

• 2:02:08Dax Shepard?

  Huh. What are we gonna do? What are we gonna safeguard against this?

• 2:02:11Speaker 01

  I need to, I might need some plans in place. They just, they do that show in such an honest telling.

• 2:02:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:02:20Speaker 01

  Goodness to the pit.

• 2:02:21Dax Shepard?

  There are similarities off the chart.

• 2:02:22Speaker 01

  It really is. It's a great show. Um, all right. Well, that's it for Nate.

• 2:02:27Dax Shepard?

  Those were the facts.

• 2:02:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, those were the facts.

• 2:02:29Dax Shepard?

  Just kind of a couple of references to some Netflix docs.

• 2:02:33Speaker 01

  Sure. Sure, sure.

• 2:02:35Dax Shepard?

  All right. Love you.

• 2:02:36Speaker 01

  Love you.

• 2:02:51Dax Shepard?

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