Brittany Snow

Brittany Snow (The Hunting Wives, Pitch Perfect, Parachute) is an actor, singer, and director. Brittany joins the Armchair Expert to discuss commuting from middle school in Florida to a soap opera in New York, getting her orthodontic hardware removed for a cracker commercial, and entering recovery at sixteen. Brittany and Dax talk about rediscovering her love of performing through Pitch Perfect, the double standard for mothers behaving badly onscreen, and turning her own recovery into her directorial debut. Brittany explains why falling in love can become another addiction, how her relationship with her father has changed through Alzheimer’s, and why realizing nobody cares can be comforting. Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://www.allstate.com/ This holiday season, NOBULL encourages people stay “Stronger Than the Season.” Head to https://www. NOBULLProject.com all holiday season to shop new deals every week and checkout products like the Drive 2, a versatile hybrid training shoe built for mixed workouts, helping listeners move through the season their way. The Quarter Pounder with Cheese Meal now $8 for a limited time. Only at McDonald’s. 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?

  Today we have Brittany Snow on. She is an actor, a singer, a director, pitch perfect.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 0:13Dax Shepard?

  I really leaned into the pitch.

• 0:15Speaker 01

  It was like you were trying to do an onomatopoeia.

• 0:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and alliteration.

• 0:19Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 0:20Dax Shepard?

  Which I accomplished. John Tucker Must Die, The Beast and Me, and of course, The Hunting Wives.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  Season two.

• 0:26Dax Shepard?

  It's as hot, it's hotter than ever. I watched.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 0:30Dax Shepard?

  Season two starts November 26th. Is that Thanksgiving?

• 0:35Speaker 01

  Around.

• 0:35Speaker 02

  Yep, that is.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  It's on Thanksgiving?

• 0:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's a Thursday.

• 0:39Dax Shepard?

  Happy Thanksgiving. Sophie trades city life for East Texas and all hell breaks loose. I really loved Brittany Snow. What a great personality.

• 0:51Speaker 01

  I agree.

• 0:51Dax Shepard?

  Please enjoy Brittany Snow. We are supported by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking whether the turkey was fully thawed before Thanksgiving morning? You were told days ago to thaw it, days. And now you're standing in the kitchen, holding a 20-pound ice block, wondering if a hairdryer counts as cooking? Yeah, checking first is always a great idea. So check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We get support from Quince.

• 1:30Speaker 01

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

• 1:50Dax Shepard?

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• 2:06Speaker 01

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• 2:17Dax Shepard?

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

• 2:24Speaker 01

  It's great.

• 2:25Dax Shepard?

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

• 2:29Speaker 01

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

• 2:51Dax Shepard?

  Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Armchair Expert. It's the best way to support the show. We get support from Gusto. So here's the thing about running a small business that nobody romanticizes. It's not the big idea that wears you down, it's the payroll, the tax filings, the wait, do I need workers' comp for this stuff? That's the part that quietly eats away your whole afternoon, which is where Gusto comes in.

• 3:32Dax Shepard?

  Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use so you can pay, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. They handle automatic tax filing, direct deposits, health benefits, 401K, all of it. And you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises. If something tricky comes up, you've got direct access to certified HR experts who actually know what they're talking about. And they're ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026, entrusted by over 500,000 small businesses. That's not nothing. Try Gusto today at gusto.com/dax and get three months free when you run your first payroll.

• 4:17Dax Shepard?

  That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com/dax. Again, that's gusto.com/dax.

• 4:43Speaker 01

  Hello.

• 4:45Speaker 03

  I am so excited to be here.

• 4:47Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you are. We're so excited to have you.

• 4:51Speaker 03

  I'm such a big fan.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Oh, my goodness gracious.

• 4:54Dax Shepard?

  That can't be possible.

• 4:55Speaker 03

  Well, I've never met you before.

• 4:57Speaker 01

  I don't think so.

• 4:58Speaker 03

  But I obviously know you forever. Yeah, I've just been like listening from afar and waiting for my turn.

• 5:04Dax Shepard?

  This is so self-indulgent, but do you have an area that you're listening to? Is it during exercise, or you don't have a standard commute like a lot of people?

• 5:12Speaker 03

  No, but I'm a podcast girl. I clean with a podcast.

• 5:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. Do you listen at night ever?

• 5:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, I listen at night. I don't know what this says about me, but I think it calms me when I have another voice in my head other than my own.

• 5:25Speaker 01

  Same.

• 5:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 5:26Speaker 01

  I'm with you. We'll get into that. But yeah, so that's why I listen to podcasts, because it's like soothing to me.

• 5:31Dax Shepard?

  What are your others?

• 5:33Speaker 03

  A lot of true crime.

• 5:34Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 5:34Speaker 03

  Because I think if I can solve the murder before the detectives do, then I get like a high.

• 5:40Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 5:41Dax Shepard?

  And that means you're safe, because it means, oh, I'm good at this. I will never be a victim of this. I can see this coming, right?

• 5:47Speaker 03

  And I also, I like that I'm occupying a part of my brain where I'm not thinking about my own shit. I'm like thinking about someone else's way worse shit.

• 5:55Speaker 01

  Going on out there. My stuff's small.

• 5:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, but I also listen to you guys because I like to hear that other people who are in my business that I relate to and respond to and look up to have shit, too.

• 6:06Dax Shepard?

  Well, isn't that, I mean, I guess that was the original premise, which is like, I know all these people, we have all these peers. Everyone thought it was gonna be utopia, and it would solve all the internal issues. But yeah, I think that was the thing I hoped to talk about.

• 6:19Speaker 03

  That's so nice that you thought about that for yourself, too. You're like, I'm gonna do two things at once. I'm gonna help other people, but I'm also gonna help myself, hopefully.

• 6:27Dax Shepard?

  Well, I was really just like, oh, wow, for people who aren't addicts and don't get to enter a 12-step program, where on earth would they experience what happens in there? It doesn't exist in real life, other than these support groups. And I find them so special. And I thought, oh, could you kind of behave like that in public? What would be the response?

• 6:47Speaker 03

  Right. I have a lot to say on.

• 6:50Dax Shepard?

  Have you been in those situations? And do you find them to be like so unique? Like, oh, my God, 15 people being insanely honest and vulnerable, and no one's judging them? And the worse you were, the more relatable that is and more helpful it is? You know, an example of the opposite of everything we think. Like, I gotta be perfect and be a champion so people like us. And it's like, oh, my God, it's the opposite. And how else would you experience that?

• 7:11Speaker 03

  I felt like that, because I went into program when I was like, I think I started when I was 16. And so it was, I was a kid still, and I was like, all these women are around here telling each other that they love each other, and there's no comparison, and there's an answer to this thing that I thought was so crazy, and it was very helpful. But then, in a certain way, I felt like you could get lost in it a little bit. So you have to discern the difference between where you begin and the group ends and vice versa. But that's, as you grow up, how you navigate the world. And so it's sort of like a microcosm of, of just growing up. And I was in there.

• 7:45Dax Shepard?

  I totally agree. There's like, and I think.

• 7:47Speaker 01

  Are we going around it?

• 7:51Dax Shepard?

  For a lot of people that have gone through programs for a very long time, there's a really funny comedian who's been in the program for, I don't know, 20, 30 years, and he's been very honest about his journey with it, which is like, there are points where you're like, okay, it has some cult elements to it, that I need to flag those. There's some people presenting as experts that are not. There are things that, after it saves your life, it's fair to get a little skeptical of some of the elements, I think.

• 8:18Speaker 03

  It's so helpful. I was just thinking about, this has nothing to do, it sort of has something to do with this topic, but I, on Emmy's night, met the Love on the Spectrum cast. And I was like, this is so special. I was more starstruck by them than anybody else that I probably could have ever met. And then I started psychoanalyzing why I was so starstruck and what that show means. And I thought to myself, and why it's relevant, is that it's so beautiful that there is a show that we all collectively agree on, and that we have a community of people that really understands the elevation which like the world needs to exist on, because we all love this show, and the reasons that we love it are very beautiful.

• 8:55Dax Shepard?

  The reasons?

• 8:56Speaker 03

  Because we're seeing like humanity and empathy and we're seeing real people that we don't get to see every day actually do the most basic, truest thing to themselves, which is fall in love.

• 9:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 9:07Speaker 03

  Or try to find love.

• 9:08Speaker 01

  It's the best of us, the part that likes that show, that all of us like that show.

• 9:13Speaker 03

  But it's like bringing community together where I'm like, oh, I have restored faith in humanity.

• 9:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 9:18Speaker 03

  And that's what program did for me a little bit, too. I was like, oh, there's people out there that really just want the best for other people.

• 9:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, that are rooting for other people.

• 9:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:26Dax Shepard?

  It's hard to believe.

• 9:27Speaker 03

  And for themselves.

• 9:28Dax Shepard?

  Do you think another layer of love on the spectrum, and I've only watched it a little bit, but do you think another element that's quite appealing is, again, back to the thing I just said about like people showing the darkest side of themselves and yet they're still loved. For these autistic kids, they can't even put on a filter.

• 9:42Speaker 03

  Right.

• 9:43Dax Shepard?

  They cannot be anything but their truest self.

• 9:45Speaker 03

  I love that.

• 9:46Dax Shepard?

  We have so many filters and we're trying so hard to not let anyone see our truest self. So to watch people do it, there's also this element of like, there's bravery and then you see acceptance around it. Like, I think that's another gear of the show that's intriguing to us.

• 10:00Speaker 03

  It's so vulnerable to be so honest. We like look up to that type of person and so it's nice, it's inspiring in a way.

• 10:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 10:07Speaker 03

  Like, oh, I should say what I feel as well. Dylan, who was on the show on NBC, he was like, you should do more singing movies. Ask your agent to do more singing movies.

• 10:15Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 10:15Speaker 03

  Why don't you? And I was like, Dylan, you're right. I should ask my agent. Why don't I? I don't know. I guess I'm scared of singing sometimes, but he just like outwardly said it and I would love to go up to someone at an Emmy party and be like, you should do more thrillers.

• 10:29Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 10:29Speaker 03

  Right? Ask your agent.

• 10:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 10:31Speaker 01

  That's how I feel about Chris Pratt. I want him back in comedy.

• 10:34Dax Shepard?

  There you go.

• 10:34Speaker 03

  Oh, I know.

• 10:35Speaker 01

  I miss him in comedy. He's so funny. My algorithm is all like Parks and Rec bloopers.

• 10:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  And they're like.

• 10:44Speaker 03

  He's so funny on those bloopers.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  He's so brilliant and they're all him. They're all improvised. I'm like, guys.

• 10:52Dax Shepard?

  Let's get him back on a network sitcom.

• 10:54Speaker 01

  That's right. NBC, call him up.

• 10:56Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so you're from Tampa, Florida.

• 10:58Speaker 03

  I am.

• 11:00Dax Shepard?

  Weirdly enough, I just booked a plane ticket to go to Tampa in November.

• 11:03Speaker 03

  On purpose?

• 11:04Dax Shepard?

  On purpose. To do something that's so Tampa, which is I'm gonna be in a car race of old police cars.

• 11:11Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 11:11Dax Shepard?

  Doesn't that sound pretty on point?

• 11:12Speaker 03

  It's very Tampa.

• 11:13Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. There's this incredible guy, Cletus McFarlane, that lives down there who's got a compound.

• 11:18Speaker 01

  His name is Cletus. That name is also very Tampa.

• 11:20Speaker 03

  I love Cletus already.

• 11:22Dax Shepard?

  Okay, now, this is impossible and this is great. So your mother's name, it starts with a C.

• 11:28Speaker 03

  Cinda.

• 11:28Dax Shepard?

  Cinda. Hit us with your father's name and go the full name.

• 11:32Speaker 03

  Jon Snow.

• 11:33Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my God. When I read that, it jumped off the page.

• 11:37Speaker 03

  Jon Snow. Yeah. When Game of Thrones was really hitting it hard in the world, we had a lot of problems in our house because every time we would go, my brother is also named Jon Snow and so he would, you know, be buying beer and they'd be like, Jon Snow?

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 11:50Speaker 03

  Winter was always coming in my house.

• 11:52Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 11:53Speaker 03

  You know? There was a lot of Game of Thrones paraphernalia and like things that we would buy each other.

• 11:57Dax Shepard?

  I guess now I didn't know your brother's name was Jon. That's fantastic, although he, I suppose, is Jon Snow Jr.

• 12:02Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 12:02Dax Shepard?

  Okay. Yeah, making a reservation, like, I feel like it would be helpful, even though it shouldn't be because it's a fictitious character.

• 12:08Speaker 03

  It was helpful and it was also a really good conversation starter.

• 12:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:12Speaker 03

  For my dad at the time, when it was really relevant.

• 12:14Dax Shepard?

  And what did Cinda and Jon do in Tampa? Had they moved to Tampa or are they second generation?

• 12:20Speaker 03

  They moved to Tampa before I was born and then my dad was in insurance and my mom was in sales and then I started working when I was a baby, basically. My mom got me into it when I was like two or three. So I've never known anything else and so slowly, very slowly over time, my mom sort of became my manager, which I didn't necessarily know. I thought she was just my mom, but she was both. And then my dad retired when I was 12 and I did this soap opera called Guiding Light and so he took me to New York and we were together and I went back and forth from New York to Florida.

• 12:52Speaker 01

  He retired because you were successful?

• 12:56Speaker 03

  No, no.

• 12:57Dax Shepard?

  Was he an older father when he had you?

• 12:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, he was 48 when he had me.

• 13:00Dax Shepard?

  Forty-eight? Well, that tops me.

• 13:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:02Speaker 01

  I like that.

• 13:03Dax Shepard?

  And that's not terribly normal in 1986.

• 13:06Speaker 03

  No, it was not. I love that you know my birth years.

• 13:10Dax Shepard?

  March 3rd?

• 13:11Speaker 03

  March 9th. You're really good at this. I'm like, I don't even remember my birthday. I'm the second iteration of kids because I have a brother and a sister from his first marriage and so I'm not sure if he needed to do the whole thing again, but there we were.

• 13:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:26Speaker 03

  All together in Florida. And my dad and I had a interesting relationship growing up and then when I was doing the soap opera when I was 12, it really shifted for me and we got really close. We were so close.

• 13:37Dax Shepard?

  Oh, that's lovely. Has he passed?

• 13:39Speaker 03

  He's not. He has Alzheimer's, actually.

• 13:41Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay.

• 13:41Speaker 03

  Pretty extreme at this point and so I shouldn't refer to it as we were close because we are close, but you know, it takes a different shape.

• 13:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:49Dax Shepard?

  No, my only experience with that was my grandma Yolas, which was truly my second mother. She raised me every summer. Yeah, and she got it really bad and it's a very disjointing feeling to look at her and she doesn't know who you are.

• 14:02Speaker 03

  Right, right.

• 14:03Dax Shepard?

  And you have all of this that you have.

• 14:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's been such a beautiful, tragic, sad, all the words, I guess, of understanding how you can have a different type of relationship with someone in such a different shape and form. But I'm looking at it as I'm grateful that I got six years with him because he got diagnosed in 2020, so that I got six years that I wouldn't have had if he got cancer or something like that, you know, and I got to really be present in those years because I knew what was happening and so I really don't take that for granted.

• 14:36Speaker 01

  I think with Alzheimer's, my grandfather also had it. We were also very, very, very close. And because it's more over time, I do feel like there's like two deaths in some ways. You have your own closure and you like your own goodbye kind of while they're still living, which is a little complicated and confusing because you're around them and they're physically there, but the one you knew is no longer there.

• 15:00Speaker 03

  It's true.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  And then you're kind of waiting for this other death. It's, it's a very strange experience. For me, it was anyway.

• 15:07Speaker 03

  I think that's exactly how I feel is it's a prolonged grief that you can either take as it being very helpful because you can sort of look at it in such a bigger way as opposed to just grief hitting you and then having to come on the back end. You're sort of mining all the stuff before.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 15:24Speaker 03

  Um, oh, you ready for something?

• 15:28Dax Shepard?

  Oh, it's nicotine.

• 15:29Speaker 03

  Oh, it's nicotine.

• 15:30Dax Shepard?

  We're about to kiss.

• 15:33Speaker 01

  Your publicist didn't tell you that's part of the show.

• 15:36Dax Shepard?

  Because every guest, uh, boy or girl.

• 15:39Speaker 03

  I was just like, wow, he's just fresh to death, no matter what. Alzheimer's?

• 15:46Dax Shepard?

  What was that your name?

• 15:50Speaker 03

  Oh, it's nicotine. I get it. Okay.

• 15:51Dax Shepard?

  Okay, hypervigilance.

• 15:53Speaker 03

  How did you know that? Are you a psychic? What do you mean?

• 15:55Dax Shepard?

  You're hypervigilant.

• 15:56Speaker 03

  How do you know that? Oh, because I've said it in the interview?

• 15:58Dax Shepard?

  Because you're talking to her, no one's even gonna notice what just happened. You're fully focused on Monica and on the very far corner of your eye, you just see me put something in my mouth and you don't miss it.

• 16:07Speaker 03

  Wow. Well, um, I'm gonna get comfortable. It's my biggest thing that I deal with in therapy is hypervigilance and it sort of seeps into, oh God, I'm really on armchair expert on it. It seeps into every aspect of my life. It sort of defines everything that's happened in terms of addiction or partners that I've chosen or anything like that because when I was a kid actor, I learned very early on because I was a baby actor, I get the most reward system and the biggest doses of love if I am managing everyone's emotions and really perfect and doing everything right and performing to the best of my ability and everybody gets really happy.

• 16:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. You can control the temperature in the room.

• 16:49Speaker 03

  Oh, I love it.

• 16:50Dax Shepard?

  With your existence.

• 16:52Speaker 03

  It's my favorite thing to work on too of just like, I don't need to control the environment.

• 16:57Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 16:58Speaker 03

  Why would I?

• 16:59Speaker 01

  So hard.

• 17:00Speaker 03

  Isn't that interesting how much you have to put it into practice? And that uncomfortable feeling that you feel that just feels icky is okay sitting there?

• 17:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 17:09Speaker 01

  And it goes away.

• 17:11Speaker 03

  You could just sit in uncomfortableness for me.

• 17:14Dax Shepard?

  You won't die?

• 17:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:15Dax Shepard?

  I mean, your brain's telling you you're gonna die.

• 17:17Speaker 03

  Right. Or you need to get it off of you and I think that's, I'm sure a lot of addict-y people feel like that.

• 17:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure.

• 17:23Speaker 03

  You gotta do something to change it or you don't have to.

• 17:26Dax Shepard?

  What I love, I think, like, I would take it all on because of that, because I know you right away. You see each other.

• 17:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 17:33Dax Shepard?

  And I love that. I think that's really special. That's like the gift, in my opinion.

• 17:37Speaker 03

  I think it's such a gift and it's been so useful for me for my career to be super in tune with people's needs and empathetic in a way where I can read a room. And I think I learned that, not because just only in my childhood, but being a child actor, I could tap dance and do the things and sometimes that is what people need and I try to take that as like a superpower instead of it being detrimental.

• 18:00Dax Shepard?

  Also, I would guess, as an adult in a scene, it might take me six goes at it before we have the thing the adults in the room are happy with. Now, as an adult, I go, yeah, that's standard. Everyone is gonna need multiple takes. But if I'm a child and I know the adults want something that I cannot give them right now, or that I seemingly am not because we keep doing it.

• 18:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:21Dax Shepard?

  I have to imagine without that perspective, that is an extremely stressful situation on a little person's nervous system.

• 18:28Speaker 03

  I learned very quickly to get to where I needed to go and doing it at any means necessary.

• 18:34Dax Shepard?

  Just be perfect right out of the gate.

• 18:36Speaker 03

  Right out of the gate and to use whatever you needed to, to cry or get there. And I'm talking like it's so terrible. I was having a blast, you know, I loved being a kid actor, but.

• 18:47Dax Shepard?

  We don't have to apologize.

• 18:49Speaker 03

  It still was just weird. I shouldn't have to make myself cry to get validation, but you know, that's what we did.

• 18:56Dax Shepard?

  None of it's complaining. It's just the reality check of it. Like, that's a lot of stress on a little body. Cause what I was thinking is you're in the department store catalog at three years old, right? So you're part of photo shoot. I can't even imagine getting my three year old to cooperate for a photo shoot.

• 19:11Speaker 03

  I just always was so ready to rock. I don't know what that means about me, but I was like, this is my destiny when I was a child. The Lands' End catalogs, the baby commercials.

• 19:22Dax Shepard?

  Did you ever eat any baby food or did you get to play with toys in a commercial?

• 19:25Speaker 03

  I remember I had an Oreo commercial.

• 19:27Speaker 01

  The dream.

• 19:29Speaker 03

  It was Oreos and Wheat Thins. And I think I got the Wheat Thins part of the commercial because it was under the same umbrella. Yeah, it was a Nabisco commercial. And I had, this was when I was in like fourth or fifth grade, which is weird that I had braces. But I remember that I had braces on or like a retainer that you couldn't take off and my mom took it off.

• 19:48Dax Shepard?

  Oh, but she got in there and did some orthodontia.

• 19:50Speaker 03

  No, like I had to go to the orthodontist and get it taken off because she didn't want to mess up the Wheat Thins commercial. It was gonna get stuck in my teeth.

• 19:58Dax Shepard?

  And were you aware of the fact that all that you were accumulating like hundreds of thousands of dollars? Did you have any sense that you were generating a ton of money?

• 20:05Speaker 03

  I didn't even know what money was. Yeah, no clue. I also had no idea where it was going.

• 20:11Dax Shepard?

  Let's be honest, a Wheaties, or rather a.

• 20:13Speaker 03

  Nabisco commercial.

• 20:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, in the, in the, in the, in the late eighties, that's a cash cow. That fucker probably ran for 13 months.

• 20:20Speaker 03

  It was in the nineties at that point. I remember it being a big deal. I remember knowing that like, well, I've made it. In fourth grade.

• 20:27Dax Shepard?

  Were kids at school seeing you in commercials and what was their reaction to it? I mean, I have a guess. Your advocacy work is about police. I'm assuming that there's some story there.

• 20:37Speaker 03

  It could go either way though, because people could be like, that girl's cool. She's in commercials.

• 20:41Dax Shepard?

  Well, that's what you would hope.

• 20:42Speaker 03

  That's what I thought would happen.

• 20:44Dax Shepard?

  But jealousy.

• 20:44Speaker 03

  I wasn't really aware. I think I was so focused on achievement and you know, it's like one of those kids who's just really into the schoolwork or soccer or something like that. And I just was laser focused until about middle school. And then the girls got really mean. I mean, honestly, from their perspective in their little middle school brains, I got to fly in and out of school. I was on a soap opera in New York. I got to go to two days of school, take my tests.

• 21:12Dax Shepard?

  Were boys obsessed with you?

• 21:13Speaker 03

  Oh, no. I had really curly hair and I didn't know what to do with it. It would be curly and then I would put gel in it and then I'd brush it out. So I had like really big.

• 21:24Dax Shepard?

  But Brittany, if I was in seventh grade and you were on television, I could watch you and I would have been obsessed. I can't imagine none of these boys were like watching the program.

• 21:32Speaker 03

  I had no, not in middle school.

• 21:34Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 21:35Speaker 03

  But the girls, I think they thought, why did she get to do?

• 21:39Speaker 01

  They're jealous.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  Yeah. Why did she get to do this? And to be honest, I don't know why I got to do this. It just, I was going in and out. It was a lot because my parents thought it would be normal for me to be in school in Florida and go to work in New York. It was a bad decision.

• 21:52Dax Shepard?

  They thought it was the best thing and how does one know? You are afraid your kid's not gonna have a real life, I imagine, if you have a child actor and you don't know anyone to call. I'm trying to make a case for them here.

• 22:04Speaker 03

  Of course.

• 22:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. You know, who are they gonna call and be like, hey, did you send Tom to normal school? Ben Cruz, you know, who are they gonna find out from?

• 22:13Speaker 03

  The option was that I was gonna go to a professional New York school while I was doing the soap opera. And she didn't like that there was other actory kids there and she wanted me to have a normal life. But we look back and it was not a normal life.

• 22:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, the ship has sailed. Once you're on a soap opera.

• 22:29Speaker 03

  I was more friendly with the JetBlue flight attendants than I was my friends in school because I was on a plane every week going back and forth.

• 22:37Dax Shepard?

  You got on Guiding Light at 12, right? How did that come about? I don't even know how you're auditioning for things in Tampa.

• 22:43Speaker 03

  I went up to New York. I got an agent. It was my first audition.

• 22:46Dax Shepard?

  You and Ashton Kutcher, baby.

• 22:47Speaker 03

  His first audition?

• 22:48Dax Shepard?

  Was Seventy Show.

• 22:49Speaker 03

  Oh, really?

• 22:50Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, first audition.

• 22:51Speaker 03

  That's the only thing we have in common. Not dollar amounts, just that. That was the first audition I went to. And I wish I had as much confidence as I did back then about my acting. I just was like, I'm gonna get this. Yeah. And now I never can do an audition like that. So yeah, it was my first thing. And then we had to move there. And so my mom was like, oh shit. Good for you that you got your first audition, but now our life is completely changed.

• 23:13Dax Shepard?

  Okay. Now I love talking about this because we've had, I don't know, a dozen folks that have started in soaps. And what people may or may not realize about soap operas is you film an entire episode of the show in one day, which would normally take on a sitcom, five days and on a drama, eight days. And they're hour long, right? So 45 pages, you gotta move, right?

• 23:35Speaker 03

  Bless you.

• 23:35Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 23:40Dax Shepard?

  When you leave, you walk out to cough, right? Is that when you leave?

• 23:43Speaker 01

  If I'm having a cough attack, I will leave because it's too embarrassing.

• 23:51Speaker 03

  It's disruptive.

• 23:52Dax Shepard?

  This is a war between us. She's owned a bar owner for 11, 12 years now and she's not farted in front of me. And I'm like, this is insane.

• 24:03Speaker 01

  Okay, so you are with me on this.

• 24:05Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 24:05Speaker 01

  What about when you're in partner? Well, now we're really deep. We were talking about such serious, interesting stuff.

• 24:11Dax Shepard?

  It's always there waiting.

• 24:12Speaker 01

  When you're in partnership, are you relaxed enough to fart?

• 24:16Speaker 03

  So yesterday I was on another podcast and I was with Malin Ackerman, who's on Hunting Wives with me. And she went on this whole five minute thing about bathroom behavior. And I like looked off into the distance and I disassociated. And then the podcast, Brittany Broski was like, are you okay? And I was like, I completely left my body. I can't talk about this.

• 24:35Speaker 01

  It's not for you. Yeah, it's not for you.

• 24:38Speaker 03

  I think it's my mom comes in my head and it's like, that's not a thing.

• 24:43Speaker 01

  But this is part of the perfection. Bring this back. This is part of being perfect. Don't look over here in any way negative, which I relate to, which is why I've never farted.

• 24:53Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 24:56Speaker 03

  You're gonna bring that back.

• 24:57Dax Shepard?

  I know Malin very well.

• 24:58Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 24:59Dax Shepard?

  So without you even telling me what her take was, I know what it was. She is a Swede.

• 25:04Speaker 01

  They're naked a lot in Sweden.

• 25:05Dax Shepard?

  Fucking naked with their parents, presumably fart, fart, fart. Who cares?

• 25:09Speaker 01

  I mean, if you're naked, like, I don't know. I assume, yeah, some farts were coming out.

• 25:14Speaker 03

  It's very free.

• 25:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:17Dax Shepard?

  That would even saying the word would be a lot, right?

• 25:20Speaker 03

  Oh, I can't.

• 25:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, okay, that's fine. I'm not gonna ask you to. I think I can feel what your body would feel like inside if you said it.

• 25:26Speaker 01

  It's also a little.

• 25:31Speaker 03

  Honestly, it is and I'm sweating.

• 25:36Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 25:38Dax Shepard?

  It's on every headline of every paper.

• 25:41Speaker 03

  My publicist is like, how did it go? And I'm like, well, I had a breakthrough.

• 25:46Speaker 01

  She's like, I knew. Yeah, exactly. Don't you feel good now?

• 25:51Speaker 03

  I do. I do.

• 25:53Dax Shepard?

  You don't have to lie either. Maybe you don't feel good about it.

• 25:57Speaker 01

  But back to freedom. I do think when you were talking about not having control, we're now putting you in a position to not have any control. It is freeing. I was talking to my therapist about this the other day. I was like, man, I was in a situation recently where I normally would behave very hypervigilantly and very like.

• 26:18Dax Shepard?

  Controlli.

• 26:18Speaker 01

  Controlli, sheriffy looking, thinking. And I was like, I'm not doing it. And I didn't. And I was like, wow, it feels so good.

• 26:28Speaker 03

  It's the best. It's my favorite thing to do. I mean, I'm so proud of myself that now I can see it. Whereas before it's reactionary. Now I can like make the choice to not, and it is freeing. It's really important.

• 26:40Speaker 01

  Feeling.

• 26:41Dax Shepard?

  Well, it's just too much of a beat down on your nervous system to not learn how to put that away at times.

• 26:47Speaker 01

  But you don't realize it when it's your MO. It's just what you do.

• 26:51Dax Shepard?

  And you tell yourself that's who you are, as if this is a immovable object, right?

• 26:56Speaker 01

  And that it's on you. It's necessary for you to behave this way or everyone's gonna die or everyone's gonna fall apart. Once you realize like you're not that important, it like feels like that's the worst thing you can acknowledge, but it's actually feels so good.

• 27:09Speaker 03

  Oh yeah. I say to myself, I mean, I don't even know how many times a day, like, nobody gives a fuck about you. Not in a bad way, but like nobody cares. There's so much, what's that like old adage where it's like, today's news is another man's fish rap or like today's newspaper is another, whatever.

• 27:25Speaker 01

  I love it. Never heard it. Love it.

• 27:28Speaker 03

  But it's something about the front page news is like tomorrow it's gonna be somebody's gonna just throw it away. And I truly think that all the time where I'm like, you could be freaking out about this, but nobody really cares.

• 27:39Dax Shepard?

  I love Jeffrey Johnson. I don't know if you've ever worked with him. He's a prop master. And he's also the head of the union. He was the prop master on Parenthood for six years of anyone I've ever met in the crew. He's my favorite. So every year I go and present or do a bit for the Prop Master Union Award Show. So it was Saturday and he thought this year's bit might be, hey, why don't you carry me across the stage? And then put me down. And then when you go to the microphone and say, the prop department's always carrying us actors, I thought it would return the favor. So I go, okay, great. No problem. I underestimate how long the stage is, right? And I'm gonna say that Jeffrey probably weighs like, I don't know, probably 185, 190, but I'm like, no problem. I'll do that. I carry him like a baby and I'm walking, walking, walking, walking, walking. I'm like, oh, this is a very long walk. And then I set him down. I'm like, I gotta get back to the fucking microphone. And then I scurry back to the microphone. And then I start trying to read this teleprompter, which is, it's like a three page setup for this award.

• 28:24Dax Shepard?

  And about 10 lines in, I'm like, I think I'm gonna pass out. I'm trying to not breathe really hard while I'm reading the thing. And then I have to stop and I go, okay, gang, I thought I was in better shape than I was. I can't breathe. But now that there's laughs and I feed that a little bit. I never really get my breath that I needed.

• 28:42Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 28:43Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And then I try to continue on reading and it was the craziest experience I've ever had on a stage. Cause I kept thinking I was gonna pass out and I could barely read out logs. I was so out of breath. I leave and I literally went, and this is the freedom of like being 51 and whatever it is, I shit the bed on that and who gives a fuck?

• 29:00Speaker 03

  Also, if anything, it's kind of.

• 29:06Speaker 01

  I think it's endearing.

• 29:07Dax Shepard?

  There was a period in my life where I would have left and the whole ride home, I would have been like, oh my God, I fucked that up. I should have blah, blah. And I was just like, oh yeah, that's one thing that didn't go well. Other things have gone well and we're going home and who gives a flying fuck?

• 29:20Speaker 03

  And reprogramming that your external validation doesn't make up who you are. Like it doesn't take away from you being like great that you went there and did that. And had, like you were supportive of your friend and tried something cool. Like why do we need it to go well in order for that to mean something?

• 29:35Dax Shepard?

  And it didn't. And that was fine. And it's really okay if things don't go well. I mean, I'll survive. Life will be pretty much the same.

• 29:43Dax Shepard?

  We're on Guiding Light for three years. You win the Soap Opera Digest Award.

• 29:48Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 29:49Speaker 03

  Oscar is Soap Opera Digest. It's on the same.

• 29:51Dax Shepard?

  Is there an award show for that?

• 29:53Speaker 03

  There was. I don't know if there is anymore. I do think that soap operas might not be as relevant.

• 29:57Dax Shepard?

  I don't think, yeah, sadly. So many moms I knew, their programs.

• 30:04Speaker 03

  So many great actors came from soap. It's like Tom Pelfrey and I were just talking about it. He just won and he was like, you were on Guiding Light? I was on Guiding Light. I was like, oh, see? It's not so bad.

• 30:14Dax Shepard?

  No, almost everyone we've interviewed that started there is a phenomenal actor. Cause I think it's great training. It's like, A, you're going to learn how to memorize dialogue in a hurry. You're also going to learn to like move and pace and not be precious.

• 30:27Speaker 03

  You're so on instinct. You're not in your head because you don't have time to be in your head. You're just doing the first thing that pops up, which for a kid actor is really good because there's no technique, really. You're not like studying Stanislawski and being like Meisner taught me this. You're just being a kid. There's a lot of acting that sometimes I just go back to like, what would I have done on Guiding Light? You're trying to just go back to that reactionary sort of feeling. But yeah, it was a really good training ground, but also for a kid, maybe a lot more pressure than I probably should have had.

• 30:58Dax Shepard?

  Taken on, yeah.

• 30:59Speaker 03

  But you know, in hindsight, it made me fall in love with acting because I, I started to realize the reason that I liked acting was because it was a therapeutic experience.

• 31:09Dax Shepard?

  You were talking to Clarines and you were saying like, you have a scene on the show and you're letting it rip against your mom on the show. You're getting to behave in a way you would never be allowed to behave towards your mom. And then at the end of that, there's like a round of applause. Everyone's so happy.

• 31:24Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:25Dax Shepard?

  And that's like the first time you go from like, oh, I just show up here. I do this thing. And this was like, oh, wait, this is rad. I like this.

• 31:32Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, now it's sort of fucked up to realize that that validation that I got from getting in touch with some teenage anger was probably like discombobulated. I shouldn't have probably found it there, but I think that in that moment, I think that's sometimes what acting is, is using your own experience and sort of going into this meditative state where I was yelling at my mom. And so I fell in love with that feeling. That was the first time, I did a short film called Milkshake about this, but it was the first time I got like high as a 12 year old, because you leave your body and you're doing something that's way bigger than you. And you're like, whoa, whoa, where was I?

• 32:05Dax Shepard?

  You're in flow. You're transcending it all.

• 32:08Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, yeah.

• 32:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. So obviously at work, you were pulling it off perfectly, but where is the anxiety parked? Like all that anxiety that was never shown on your 10 hour day at work, where is it burbling up? What were you doing when you got off work in New York City at 13 years old?

• 32:25Speaker 03

  Well, it gets a little dark, but I think that anybody who cares about knowing me knows this story or where it's going. Because I didn't really have an outlet. And so I decided to start emulating the women on set and they were all on diets. And they all were all looking at their bodies and talking about their bodies. My body was changing and I thought, I don't want to be, you know, a chunky teenager. So I start dieting and, and then it starts becoming this sort of best friend and definitely like an addiction where I was really hyper focused on that being the only thing I cared about. So it was just work and that and controlling that, counting every single calorie, working out for two hours after rehearsals before I would shoot the day of soap opera acting.

• 33:07Speaker 03

  And so it was repetitive and it, it made me feel safe that I got a high of like, every time I got on the scale, there was a new number and I did well if it went down.

• 33:16Dax Shepard?

  There's very few areas of your life that you can quantify and measure.

• 33:19Speaker 03

  It's so true. It's extreme validation on an immediate scale, literally.

• 33:24Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 33:25Speaker 03

  Because you have something coming back at you being like, you're doing something right supposedly. And at that time, it was right because there wasn't any talk about eating disorders. I didn't even know what that was. And nobody's talking about that being a bad thing necessarily. Everyone's losing weight. I mean, it's the nineties at this point.

• 33:44Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking the weather forecast before you walk out the door? You looked outside, saw blue sky, felt great about your outfit choice. No jacket, no umbrella. Fast forward two hours, you're sprinting through a parking lot in a downpour, holding a notebook over your head like that's going to help. Yeah. Checking first is a brilliant idea. So check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. This episode is brought to you by McDonald's.

• 34:29Dax Shepard?

  The Quarter Pounder with Cheese with Medium Fries and a Drink is now $8.

• 34:34Speaker 03

  What?

• 34:35Dax Shepard?

  Okay. I need to talk about something that doesn't get enough respect. The Quarter Pounder with Cheese. This is not a casual burger. This is a crafted burger. We're talking a hundred percent fresh beef cooked right when you order it. No artificial flavors, no fillers, no preservatives, just beef doing what beef is supposed to do. And here's a detail I love. There's a cowbell sound in the kitchen. When somebody orders a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a cowbell goes off and the grill master throws a fresh patty down. That's like having your own entrance music at McDonald's. I want a cowbell for everything in life. The onions are hand topped by someone who just knows the right amount. Two slices of cheese laid out in a star pattern. So every single bite gets cheese and two pickles side by side. So you're never in a pickle desert.

• 35:19Dax Shepard?

  Every bite is accounted for. Someone engineered this thing with love. I love a Quarter Pounder.

• 35:25Speaker 03

  Me too. That's my order. It's a Quarter Pounder with cheese. I love it. I didn't know they put so much effort that they did a star formation. I should have known because you can taste it when there's effort.

• 35:38Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. The love. Don't tell anyone this, but I'll put two of them back. I'm sitting.

• 35:42Speaker 03

  I'm not surprised.

• 35:43Dax Shepard?

  The Quarter Pounder with Cheese with Fries and a Drink, now $8 for a limited time only, only at McDonald's. For a limited time only, prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California and for delivery. Fresh beef not available in Alaska and Hawaii. Offer not valid for delivery. We get support from NoBull. The holidays can get hectic. You finally hit a post summer routine and suddenly you're on hosting duty every week.

• 36:09Speaker 03

  That's when you really need to ground yourself.

• 36:12Dax Shepard?

  Exactly. And that's why I keep my training routine through the holidays. It's the whole NoBull idea. There's a no bullshit training brand built around consistency, honesty, and just putting in the work. It's not about adding more pressure to an already packed schedule. It's about having the gear and the habits to move through the season your way. My personal favorite, all three of the shoes are fantastic. The Outwork, the Outwork Flex and the Drive Two. I like the Drive Two because it's a hybrid and I lift of course, but I also like to do what's called box jumps. Right? I do a lot of jumping onto a little platform and I want a little more flexibility and boy, do they deliver.

• 36:49Speaker 03

  And if you're a cardio person and you're running and you also need to be lifting.

• 36:53Dax Shepard?

  And the style is banging. I don't know what to say. Beautiful style, very breathable, very, very comfortable, lots of support. They were built for lifting.

• 37:01Speaker 03

  They also make a great holiday gift. You know, I love gifting, a purposeful one that actually supports someone's goals and routines. And it's not a gift that just ends up in the back of the closet.

• 37:10Dax Shepard?

  Stay stronger than the season. Head to nobullproject.com all holiday season to shop new deals every week. We get support from Quince. Okay. So I have a confession. I'm the worst holiday shopper on the planet. I wait until the last possible second, I panic, and then I end up buying something nobody wants. But this year I've cracked the code and the code is cozy. And Quince's bedding makes it so easy because the quality is exceptional. It's the kind of gift people actually use in love long after the holidays.

• 37:41Speaker 03

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• 37:58Dax Shepard?

  You crawl into bed and you're like, wait, did I accidentally check into a Four Seasons? Quince just makes it easy to create a bed you'll actually look forward to getting into. And their quilts, coverlets and duvet inserts make any bed and any gift feel complete.

• 38:13Speaker 03

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• 38:23Dax Shepard?

  I mean, guys, I put these on the bed of my children. They are wrapping my little babies and I feel great about it.

• 38:29Speaker 03

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• 38:43Dax Shepard?

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

• 39:07Dax Shepard?

  I remember in 93, my senior year of high school, there's this beautiful girl and she went away for a while. And then she came back and she made a speech to our class about where she had been and what she had gone through.

• 39:20Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 39:21Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And she'd gone to treatment for anorexia.

• 39:24Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:24Dax Shepard?

  And I remember like, A, this is the ballsiest thing, much ballsier than the two dudes I just saw fight in the hallway. Like, this is nuts, right? This is so brave. Oh, that poor girl. And she was so beautiful. The trying to comprehend how she could have had some body dysmorphia was challenging for me. And then, yeah, that's a whole new thing. That's the first time I'm really going like, oh, this is a thing someone could have. And that's in 93 and I'm 18.

• 39:49Speaker 03

  That's so important that that happened because at that time, nobody was talking about that. And what a brave person to even put a name to it because at 18.

• 39:58Dax Shepard?

  Well, she was also the Tracy Flick of our school, right? She was very outgoing. She was very confident. And again, that's another, it's like, it doesn't match with your whole stereotype of any of this stuff.

• 40:08Speaker 03

  I think that's what was really hard for me too, is that I thought that I could not only control this, but then I could control the recovery of it too, and that it wasn't that big of a deal. And of course it was, and I'm not an addict in other ways, but I'm an addict in that way, in terms of hyper fixating on something in terms of control in my body. And I got down to a weight that was scary.

• 40:29Dax Shepard?

  Dangerous.

• 40:29Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 40:30Speaker 01

  And who intervened?

• 40:32Speaker 03

  My dad, actually. And that was the first time that I went to therapy. I started therapy when I was 16. I started going to program. And I learned what an eating disorder was. I read an article in a magazine. I have a charity called September Letters that is about this moment. But I read an article in a magazine about this woman who had an eating disorder. And I was like, the way she's counting her food and the way she's talking about her body, that's exactly what I do. And I said, eating disorder? I don't even know what that means. And so I ripped out the magazine. I carried it around in my back pocket for a while because it sort of signified that somebody had an answer to this and it made me feel not alone.

• 41:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 41:07Speaker 03

  And then later, when I got recovery and I did the People Magazine article, I talked about how that article had really changed everything for me. And I talked about it in the People Magazine article and I went to a coffee shop and a girl was in front of me in line and she was crying and she turned around and she was carrying my article in her back pocket.

• 41:23Dax Shepard?

  Oh, man.

• 41:23Speaker 03

  And I started crying and she started crying. And I always wanted to do something about that notion that you're thinking like the girl in your school, that this is something that you're doing for other people, but you're really doing it for yourself and making sure that your story means something, that it's going to continue on and that you can help someone else in the same way because you're offering hope.

• 41:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I think there's probably a lot of misconceptions about it, but the thing that makes it an addiction, right? Is like, you're regulating your emotional state with this outward behavior. And that's what I'm doing too, when I go buy Coke.

• 41:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:59Dax Shepard?

  I'm gonna regulate how I feel.

• 42:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:01Dax Shepard?

  I don't like how I feel and I have a solution for it.

• 42:04Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 42:04Dax Shepard?

  It's expensive.

• 42:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, yours is way more expensive. Mine was like donuts and stuff.

• 42:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yours is like saving money, maybe.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  Well, it's expensive emotionally.

• 42:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:12Dax Shepard?

  It all is.

• 42:13Speaker 03

  That was what I learned in program that was so fascinating is that you just insert item here. Alcohol, drugs, food.

• 42:20Dax Shepard?

  Shopping.

• 42:21Speaker 03

  Gambling, whatever it is, it's that external thing that's supposed to solve the inner hole that you're feeling and you can't seem to fill it up. And so I had a lot of friends that were alcoholics as a kid and things like that because we were all going through the same thing. It made me feel better that in program too, it was taken just as seriously.

• 42:38Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 42:39Speaker 03

  That mine was not a frivolous sort of.

• 42:41Dax Shepard?

  A girly frivolous vein.

• 42:44Speaker 03

  Right.

• 42:45Dax Shepard?

  No, it was a life threatening illness like all these are.

• 42:48Speaker 03

  Yeah. And then I directed a movie a couple of years ago called Parachute. And that was really about the beginning of figuring out how to get better. And the final day that I got better, I have 17 years of recovery tomorrow.

• 43:01Dax Shepard?

  Oh, my God, tomorrow.

• 43:02Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 43:03Dax Shepard?

  Congratulations.

• 43:04Speaker 03

  That's amazing. The 17th for 17 years. Yeah, it's a golden recovery day, birthday?

• 43:09Dax Shepard?

  It is?

• 43:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:10Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 43:11Speaker 03

  My golden day or whatever.

• 43:12Speaker 01

  What are you gonna do?

• 43:14Speaker 03

  Nothing, probably.

• 43:15Dax Shepard?

  Your face just made an interesting shape that resembled Emily Blunt. I've never seen that before, but have you ever gotten that?

• 43:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, I have gotten that.

• 43:23Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 43:25Speaker 03

  Such a compliment. Thank you.

• 43:26Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, not a bad thing to hear.

• 43:28Speaker 01

  Fun. I didn't, I didn't get it.

• 43:29Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it was really specific.

• 43:31Speaker 03

  I wish I had that cool accent and was just as classy.

• 43:35Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so you go from the soap to American Dreams.

• 43:38Speaker 03

  With Sarah Ramos.

• 43:39Dax Shepard?

  With Sarah Ramos and maybe more importantly to me, Kristen's.

• 43:43Speaker 03

  Your wife.

• 43:43Speaker 01

  Oh, that's right.

• 43:44Dax Shepard?

  Second guest star of her life.

• 43:46Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 43:46Dax Shepard?

  And she said, you know, Brittany was so nice to me. And I've remembered that my whole life and I always loved seeing her just because she was so, so nice to me.

• 43:54Speaker 03

  That's so nice.

• 43:55Dax Shepard?

  My like second guest appearance.

• 43:57Speaker 03

  I remember. I remember that.

• 43:58Dax Shepard?

  How could you remember? You do.

• 44:00Speaker 03

  I do remember.

• 44:00Dax Shepard?

  Really quick, the premise is you're a dancer on American Bandstand.

• 44:04Speaker 03

  But it's about the 60s.

• 44:05Speaker 01

  It was a great show. I loved that show.

• 44:08Speaker 03

  It was a good show.

• 44:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:09Speaker 03

  It was so before its time. Glee and all those shows that had such musical relevance. American Dreams would have really existed in also a social media world.

• 44:18Speaker 01

  Totally.

• 44:18Speaker 03

  Because these stars that would come on, you know, Usher was Marvin Gaye and.

• 44:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:22Dax Shepard?

  Oh, wow.

• 44:23Speaker 03

  People would come on and play their favorite 60s artists. And so my character was a dancer on American Bandstand, but she also was going through the changes of women empowerment and civil rights and all the things that happened in 1963 to 1966. And so it was a really special.

• 44:40Speaker 01

  It was a very good show.

• 44:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And you remember Kristen showing up?

• 44:43Speaker 03

  I do because I remember that role was really hard to cast and they kept asking me if I had any friends that could play the role.

• 44:52Dax Shepard?

  What was the role? She played a lot of hookers at the beginning. Was she a hooker?

• 44:55Speaker 03

  She wasn't. She was a teenage, she, she was a teen, no.

• 45:00Speaker 01

  She was a prostitute.

• 45:01Speaker 03

  He kept calling his wife a hooker when I went on there.

• 45:04Dax Shepard?

  No, have you ever watched the Western she was in the Milch Project, Deadwood?

• 45:10Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 45:10Dax Shepard?

  She was famously a hooker for a long time and then got killed.

• 45:13Speaker 03

  I love that because Kristen doesn't give a hooker to me. But you know what? I played hooker too, so I.

• 45:20Dax Shepard?

  What is a hooker? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 45:21Speaker 03

  With a heart of gold, obviously. She was a teenage pregnant girl.

• 45:26Dax Shepard?

  Oh, yeah, she needed an abortion.

• 45:27Speaker 03

  Yes, that's what it was. And it was a big, hot topic and it was a really important role. And so they were sort of worried about who was gonna play that role.

• 45:36Dax Shepard?

  They had to be good.

• 45:36Speaker 03

  Also, it comes with a lot of eyes on it. And so, especially on NBC on Sunday nights. And then I remember when she got in, I thought, wow, she's really good. So they nailed it.

• 45:47Dax Shepard?

  Ah.

• 45:47Speaker 03

  That's why I remember.

• 45:48Dax Shepard?

  It's an interesting dynamic that you're like, you're the star of the show at a very young age and people that are older than you are coming in. So there's like this contradictory status thing that's on the table when you're a young star.

• 46:01Speaker 03

  I don't know. I didn't think about it. Like, I was always so just overwhelmed with everybody who was on the show. And I know that a therapist would have a field day with this, but I dissociated a lot on that show. I didn't think it was really happening to me. I had no idea anyone was watching it. I had no idea that it was a big deal.

• 46:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:20Speaker 03

  Whenever we would get Alanis Morissette or Ashanti or someone would come on, I'd be like, hi? What are we doing? Because I was also a kid. I had no idea it was my show.

• 46:29Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 46:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:30Dax Shepard?

  So that was one of my questions. Did you feel any of the weight of carrying a network show as your second job?

• 46:38Speaker 03

  I had no idea.

• 46:39Dax Shepard?

  You didn't know you were doing that, really?

• 46:41Speaker 03

  I had no idea. I knew that the show was so good and I, I really relied on that. But I was so sick at that point with my eating disorder that I was really trying to just get by.

• 46:53Dax Shepard?

  Manage.

• 46:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:54Speaker 01

  Do you feel this may be not fair because people are still working? But do you wish now that people on set would have stepped in?

• 47:04Speaker 03

  They did.

• 47:04Speaker 01

  They did. Okay, well, good. I'm glad they did.

• 47:07Speaker 03

  And they're still my friends to this day, a lot of directors and the producers, the main producer, David Semmel. He might've done a lot of parenthood, actually, but there was meetings and things.

• 47:17Dax Shepard?

  Was it so embarrassing when that was happening? Or were you in denial enough to?

• 47:21Speaker 03

  No, I was pretty worried.

• 47:23Speaker 01

  You were.

• 47:24Speaker 03

  I was, I was worried and I just didn't have an answer at that point. And I didn't have time for an answer. You're 16, I'm falling in love with my first boyfriend.

• 47:33Dax Shepard?

  A parachute.

• 47:33Speaker 03

  No, that's later. That was in my twenties.

• 47:36Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay.

• 47:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, that was like the relationship that got me better.

• 47:39Dax Shepard?

  Okay, okay, okay. But I'm thinking of the metaphor of the parachute is that sometimes they tell you in early sobriety, no matter what it is, try not to have a relationship in the first year.

• 47:48Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 47:48Dax Shepard?

  Because they become this parachute. That's the metaphor of the movie, right?

• 47:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 47:51Dax Shepard?

  That breaks your fall, basically.

• 47:54Speaker 03

  Definitely. And I got really, really connected to this person who's still a good friend of mine. He's like my best guy friend and he's friends with my, my current partner. And it's really just a beautiful relationship of this person who was trying to save me in a lot of ways. And I needed to just completely remove myself from that situation in order to save myself. And that's how I got better. I'm really glad to hear that because sometimes.

• 48:17Speaker 01

  I think when we are watching TV and we see someone who we feel like might be struggling, especially in an eating disorder realm, a lot of us judge, we're like, why would they let that person work? Why aren't people stepping in? They're just letting her. And it's like, they are probably.

• 48:34Speaker 03

  Yeah. And I was so young and I think at that time, there was not a lot of information about it. It was definitely not prevalent and in conversation. I mean, now people talk about their mental health all the time. We're talking about it right now. This would never happen back then. And it was definitely not cool to talk about an eating disorder. And so it was all very, not any fault of anyone's, but it was hidden and tried to be dealt with in a contained way.

• 49:00Dax Shepard?

  I've said this numerous times on here, but I'm gonna say it again. The compassion I have for that specific addiction is, one, it's obvious, right? There's no hiding, really. Whereas like, on the same cast, some dude's got a gambling addiction no one knows about. Some guy's got a sex addiction no one knows about. Someone's using drugs destructively. But we don't know that.

• 49:21Speaker 03

  Right.

• 49:22Dax Shepard?

  So yours can be easily observed, you know? So there's really no hiding. So that, that I feel bad for, because hiding's half the thing. And then secondly, as I always say, like, if you told me I had to have one line of coke in the morning, one line of coke in the afternoon, and one line of coke in the evening, how? That's what makes it the most gruesome. That and love addiction, which is like, you still have to be in love and have sex. You still have to eat. I don't ever have to do cocaine again. You know, I'm not required to.

• 49:53Speaker 03

  That was a huge part of when I was in recovery that people would talk about all the time. It's like, you're letting the lion in and out of the cage, you know, three times a day, because you're having to face it. And that's why I went to rehab twice. And the thing that worked for me the most was an outpatient situation where I quit acting for a year and I was in an outpatient program with this guy named Ray Santa Maria, who I love, at one-to-one treatment. Props to Ray.

• 50:16Dax Shepard?

  Shout out.

• 50:17Speaker 03

  Shout out, Ray, because he saved my life. And it was dealing with doing normal human things. Going to a restaurant, going out to eat with your friends, going to the movie theater and not knowing if you should get popcorn or not. You know, things like that where you had to be really accountable and not lie, which is, you know, we love to lie. And we love to be sneaky about things and to just really show up for yourself and trust yourself. And that's what I learned with outpatient is for a year, I was just like, with the thing that I did every day, which was like,

• 50:45Dax Shepard?

  Immersed in it.

• 50:46Speaker 03

  Immersed in. And I think that's what really helped me is because I learned to trust myself every day.

• 50:51Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Okay, so you're on this show, American Dreams, and then you go get naughty. Now, this I remember. This is probably the first time I saw you.

• 50:59Speaker 03

  I get naughty?

• 51:00Dax Shepard?

  No, I would say, I'm way naughtier than a hooker, because sex workers aren't even naughty. But you played a neo-Nazi on Nip Tuck.

• 51:07Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, that's real naughty, yeah.

• 51:08Dax Shepard?

  I mean, that's as far as naughty as you can go.

• 51:10Speaker 03

  That's the worst.

• 51:10Dax Shepard?

  That's the last stop on the naughty. My term is being a Nazi.

• 51:13Speaker 03

  It's definitely. I hadn't gone into recovery yet at that point. So I was, I was really dark at that moment, too. Not, not that dark. There's no way that I could get there.

• 51:23Dax Shepard?

  Not hate crimey dark?

• 51:24Speaker 03

  No, but I tried to draw from things that I just didn't know how to deal with. I didn't know how to wrestle with. And this was a character that had absolutely no perspective on reality.

• 51:33Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 51:34Speaker 03

  And I sort of had to use my own non-perspective with reality of what I was doing with my life or getting better or recovery and things like that. And that's what I had to draw from, which I felt was an interesting exercise for me. And that's the only way I could do it, because you can't relate to a Nazi.

• 51:51Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 51:51Speaker 03

  It was on Nip Tuck. And it was the beginning of Ryan Murphy being Ryan. I mean, he was already Ryan Murphy.

• 51:57Dax Shepard?

  But that was his first big hit.

• 51:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, he directed the last episode that I was in, and that was really cool. And it was such a vision for that show that I really appreciated.

• 52:06Dax Shepard?

  I loved it.

• 52:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 52:08Dax Shepard?

  He was so naughty. It was so, so naughty.

• 52:09Speaker 03

  It was so naughty. Everything on that show was naughty.

• 52:11Dax Shepard?

  There's some, The Hunting Wives and Nip Tuck are scratching the same itch for all of us, I think.

• 52:17Speaker 03

  That's true. No Nazis on Hunting Wives.

• 52:20Dax Shepard?

  No. But around this time, I got curious. Now, for Nip Tuck, you're 19. You're clearly starting to notice people your age are like on backpacking trips, or they're going to college. Are you at any point during this getting aware of like, this is a trade-off? I'm not gonna have these certain experiences and there's no going back to these certain experiences?

• 52:43Speaker 03

  I never thought about it.

• 52:44Dax Shepard?

  It never crossed your mind?

• 52:45Speaker 03

  I never wanted anything else. It's such a bad time in school that I never looked back. I dropped out, which goes to show of how educated I am. I only went to one freshman year of high school. And then I went to school on set on American Dreams, but like, I went to school on set, you know? I don't know what I learned. But then I got my equivalency, which meant that I could work all hours. And I was in LA with these new friends and these new people that were doing the same thing that I was doing. And I was so focused that I didn't ever think about normal.

• 53:16Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, quote, "normal."

• 53:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 53:18Dax Shepard?

  Okay, that's good.

• 53:19Speaker 03

  That is good.

• 53:20Dax Shepard?

  Okay, Hairspray, Adam Shankman. Is this the first time you sing? You sing the new girl in town. Is that your first time singing on screen? Or you sing backup on American?

• 53:30Speaker 03

  Yes, I sing backup on American. And it was the first time I sang and I was really nervous. And I don't think I'm a very good singer. And so I think that was really interesting because there were so many really good Broadway stars in that and legends. And so I was really intimidated, but I had so much fun. We were in Canada for six months doing that.

• 53:50Dax Shepard?

  Holy smokes.

• 53:50Speaker 03

  And Zach and I, we had two months where we didn't work at all, because they kept us there just in case John Travolta or Michelle Pfeiffer had a day that they didn't want to come.

• 54:00Dax Shepard?

  This was in Toronto, wasn't it?

• 54:01Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 54:02Dax Shepard?

  Ear mark a story. You and I, after this, are gonna earmark a funny story about that.

• 54:07Speaker 03

  I feel like, because Kristen obviously knows Adam and...

• 54:11Dax Shepard?

  Well, Adam came and directed this whole sequence in a movie that she and I did called When in Rome.

• 54:17Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 54:17Dax Shepard?

  And so we just worked with him for two days. And it is the most memorable experience. Like, he had, what an energy Shankman has.

• 54:24Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, he's the best.

• 54:25Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes. But yeah, what, what did you guys do in all this downtime in two months?

• 54:30Speaker 03

  I was pretty sad during that time. But luckily Zach and I were really close.

• 54:35Dax Shepard?

  He's a sweetheart. I also know him pretty well.

• 54:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, and we had such a blast and we became really good friends. And I knew what a big deal it was to be in Hairspray. And I fought to be in that. And I didn't know if I was going to be. And so I really knew that that was a big, big deal. And so I was fine being there. I was so nervous around Michelle Pfeiffer and she was so lovely. And it was a lot.

• 54:57Dax Shepard?

  It was intense.

• 54:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was intense.

• 54:59Dax Shepard?

  Kristen told me you were a great singer, just completely unprompted.

• 55:02Speaker 03

  I'm not a singer like Kristen.

• 55:03Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'm just telling you what she said.

• 55:07Dax Shepard?

  Okay, when do you take a minute off? Is it after Hairspray? When is this year you take off?

• 55:12Speaker 03

  Prom night right after. The cinephile in me will talk about prom night. No, because it's obviously the best movie that I've ever done. No, it was a campy sort of movie that was very fun to do. And I met a lot of my really close friends on that. But I did that right after. And I did another couple movies.

• 55:31Dax Shepard?

  Well, you did John Tucker Must Die. That was huge.

• 55:33Speaker 03

  John Tucker Must Die.

• 55:34Dax Shepard?

  Right before Hairspray.

• 55:35Speaker 03

  Was before Hairspray.

• 55:36Dax Shepard?

  Really quick, do you know Jonathan Tucker?

• 55:38Speaker 03

  I do. And when John Tucker was coming out, Jonathan Tucker came up to me at a party and was like, you ruined my life.

• 55:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I was gonna say. Very.

• 55:46Speaker 03

  It's a Jon Snow situation.

• 55:48Dax Shepard?

  Only three letters separating him from John Tucker Must Die.

• 55:52Speaker 03

  I know. He really had to deal with that for a long time. Thank God it's Jonathan.

• 55:56Speaker 01

  But were you tired? I mean, this sounds like you've just been working literally non-stop.

• 56:00Speaker 03

  I had no idea about anything else. And of course, I didn't know that that was the way that I was getting. And I still have that sort of feeling where if I'm not working, who am I? And I think a lot of people in this business feel like that.

• 56:15Dax Shepard?

  Especially if you started young.

• 56:16Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm. Yeah.

• 56:18Dax Shepard?

  Okay, when Pitch Perfect comes around, how do we get that?

• 56:21Speaker 03

  The movie I directed, Parachute, is exactly what happened, other than there's a musical theater sort of element and murder mystery theater that I'm sort of just encapsulating to be Hollywood. And that's in the movie, but everything else really happened. And so it got pretty interesting. And I had to get better. So I took a year off. I was 23 when that happened. And then around 24, 25, I'm starting to try to audition again. And I just, I can't audition. I'm so anxious. I feel like I'm not gonna get my career back. I'm so nervous. I've been put on a lot of different medications that weren't correct for me, because I don't think they understood what I needed my doctors. And medication is

• 57:02Speaker 03

  great and very helpful, especially for what I was going through. But I think I was misdiagnosed. And so I just could not get a job. And it was really...

• 57:12Dax Shepard?

  That's terrifying.

• 57:13Speaker 03

  It was terrifying because I didn't know anything else.

• 57:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 57:16Speaker 03

  And at this point, I'm thinking, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Oh, I was doing the show called Harry's Law. I got fired.

• 57:22Dax Shepard?

  Oh, no.

• 57:23Speaker 03

  Which I understand why it happened because I was still not okay. It was too soon for me to go back to work.

• 57:30Dax Shepard?

  Brittany, you really fucking went through it.

• 57:31Speaker 03

  Yeah. But you know what? It was interesting because it was sort of a ramp into something that now feels really long lasting and I have the foundation of I'm never gonna fault her like that again. I'm so grateful that I went through all that in those years because now I see my friends who I grew up with in my time that are going through it now. And I, I went through it then and I'm so.

• 57:55Speaker 01

  And you came out of it.

• 57:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 57:57Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you know, that's the funny thing is like, everyone's gonna have to go through it. Some of us have certain habits that force it to happen sooner.

• 58:05Speaker 03

  Right.

• 58:05Dax Shepard?

  Which in a weird way, for me at least, I feel like is a huge blessing.

• 58:09Speaker 03

  It definitely is. But anyway, the long story short is Pitch Perfect was my thing that I got back where I don't know how I got it because I was so nervous in the audition, but I ended up doing it and it just made me fall back in love with acting again and sort of felt really easy and natural and I made great friends and I was like, oh, I, I can do this again.

• 58:30Dax Shepard?

  I wasn't there. I would just be guessing that there was a pretty fun energy.

• 58:34Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 58:35Dax Shepard?

  Where did you guys shoot?

• 58:36Speaker 03

  We were in Baton Rouge for one and two.

• 58:39Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 58:39Speaker 03

  And then Atlanta for Pitch Three.

• 58:41Dax Shepard?

  Okay. And now Pitch Two is fucking enormous, right? It makes $286 million. It's the biggest musical comedy of all time.

• 58:51Speaker 03

  Oh, really?

• 58:51Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Or at least it was at that time.

• 58:54Speaker 03

  Right.

• 58:54Dax Shepard?

  Dethrone School of Rock.

• 58:55Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 58:56Dax Shepard?

  Sorry, Jack Black. He's okay. Don't worry.

• 58:58Speaker 03

  He's fine.

• 58:59Dax Shepard?

  I saw you was at a restaurant Friday.

• 59:02Speaker 01

  He's still living after that?

• 59:03Speaker 03

  He's totally.

• 59:04Dax Shepard?

  I'm eating steak. Can you feel, because you sound thus far pretty unaware of the fact that your show even airs on TV on Sunday nights or that these things are popular. It was that one unavoidable? Was it, did that one penetrate you? Like, were you moving through the world and you're like, oh, yeah, wow, this is a fucking mega hit. I'm in a mega hit.

• 59:23Speaker 03

  Kind of. I knew that the movie was big, but I'm a perfectionist and so I didn't feel like I did, I was like, okay, in it, you know? So I'm like, the movie's amazing, but I can do so much better.

• 59:36Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 59:37Speaker 03

  And my part is fun, but you know, it's silly. So I, I'm still looking at it like, I'm enjoying it and I'm so grateful for it, but I always like to have perspective on, well, you're not, you know?

• 59:48Speaker 01

  You're like, it's still work?

• 59:50Speaker 03

  No, it's not work. I just wanted, I just.

• 59:53Speaker 01

  She's saying, she's saying.

• 59:54Speaker 03

  This is not good.

• 59:55Dax Shepard?

  No, I know it's not. And here's, here's the analogy I'm gonna make is like, I know the math you did to come to this conclusion. Like, that's not a mystery to me, how you did it. You're like, well, you know, Anna's blah, blah, blah, and this and that, right? You just go through this list and you, you start prioritizing yourself in like the ninth important or whatever you start doing. But I would urge you to think of your favorite movies growing up and if you had any sense of who was what, or just, did you just love characters that were in these things?

• 1:00:21Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:00:21Dax Shepard?

  I mean, that's really how it works.

• 1:00:22Speaker 03

  I mean, in Clueless and movies that shaped me, I know every word to that movie.

• 1:00:26Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:00:27Speaker 03

  And I know every character and every character is important.

• 1:00:29Dax Shepard?

  Exactly.

• 1:00:30Speaker 03

  I'm very aware that that is insane to think.

• 1:00:33Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:00:33Speaker 03

  But at the time, I just thought, wow, this is a great thing that's happening to us. I hope we get to do more because you never know. And I also had such understanding of not knowing if I was ever gonna work again. So when people would be on set and be sort of challenging or things would happen on set, I was just sitting there being like, guys, we're getting to sing and dance in a movie and we're working. Let's everybody just, just shut up.

• 1:00:55Dax Shepard?

  They're gonna pay us on Friday.

• 1:00:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, I really loved being in that seat of gratitude. And that sounds so cheesy, but that's what I felt when those movies were happening. We're like, that's the best part of it.

• 1:01:06Dax Shepard?

  When you were having the kind of crisis of consciousness and identity, like, wow, can I do this? How do I access this? I know specifically from your chat with Clara that it's like, the tools you were using to act were no longer at your disposal, right?

• 1:01:19Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:01:19Dax Shepard?

  They were gone. All the unhealthiness is gone. It's back to the drawing board in a sense.

• 1:01:24Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:01:25Dax Shepard?

  Were you having financial insecurity at that point? Because that's where I would be. I'd just be like, what am I now gonna do at 50? I would be in a panic over finances. That's not on your radar?

• 1:01:36Speaker 03

  I mean, not really. Not to say that I wasn't like drowning in money or anything. I think my biggest concern was that I couldn't do the thing that I loved the most and that I know I was supposed to do. I don't know how I'm supposed to do anything else. Not because I don't have another skill, even though I probably don't. But it's the one thing that I know I'm supposed to do and I can't do it the way that I used to. So I have to now come to another understanding of what that means and I can't use the same tools that I used to use.

• 1:02:07Speaker 01

  It's dangerous because you could easily tell yourself, oh, I was better off when I was sick.

• 1:02:12Dax Shepard?

  Sure.

• 1:02:13Speaker 01

  That's a very slippery slope.

• 1:02:15Dax Shepard?

  Who gets sober and think they can't be funny because they're not like.

• 1:02:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, you're like, I was working, I was working nonstop. I guess my life was actually pretty good. What have I done? Like, it could get very, very slippery, mental health wise, I think.

• 1:02:28Speaker 03

  I think I never wanted to go back to being sick though, because I was so unhappy and I was so all of a sudden really happy.

• 1:02:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:36Speaker 03

  But I couldn't work. And so it was this very strange dichotomy.

• 1:02:40Dax Shepard?

  You have the right answer, by the way. And that would be Kristen's as well. Hers would just be about, she wants to do the thing. The other stuff's just ancillary and the consequence of loving the thing.

• 1:02:50Speaker 03

  Definitely.

• 1:02:51Dax Shepard?

  I would be like, oh my God, can I buy this? I remember I didn't work for like a year and a half or something. I had a few stinkers in a row and I was going back to writing. I was like, I needed a couch for my living room. I had no couch in the living room. And it was like, the couch from Sophie you love was like $2,000. And I was like.

• 1:03:06Speaker 03

  Sophie, I know exactly who you're talking about.

• 1:03:08Speaker 01

  On Western.

• 1:03:09Dax Shepard?

  I was like, I have $100,000, I think, for the rest of my life. I can't buy a $2,000 couch.

• 1:03:14Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:03:15Dax Shepard?

  And that's all I'm thinking about all day long. Like, not like, oh, I'll never get to do, that's there too. But just my panic of like, how are we gonna stretch a hundred thousand?

• 1:03:22Speaker 01

  That's real. That's life. Life is you need money to live.

• 1:03:25Speaker 03

  So many people go through this too, when they switch jobs or have to recalibrate in a way. And I did feel very a part of a bigger unit where I'm like, okay, we gotta redo this. And I maybe even redo my mindset on what I'm using or why this is so important to me.

• 1:03:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:45Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

• 1:03:52Dax Shepard?

  This episode is supported by Helix.

• 1:03:55Speaker 01

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

• 1:04:06Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:04:17Speaker 01

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

• 1:04:34Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:04:34Speaker 01

  Recently.

• 1:04:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:35Speaker 01

  That doesn't have a Helix mattress on it and I really could tell a big difference in my sleep.

• 1:04:39Dax Shepard?

  Temperature was all over the map.

• 1:04:40Speaker 01

  It was a mess.

• 1:04:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:42Speaker 01

  I need a new one.

• 1:04:42Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:04:57Speaker 01

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

• 1:05:04Dax Shepard?

  Right now, Helix is running their Black Friday sale with up to 30% off. Go to helixsleep.com/armchair for up to 30% off your Helix mattress. That's helixsleep.com/armchair for up to 30% off your Helix mattress. Helixsleep.com/armchair. We get support from Skims. Okay, I have a confession. I genuinely love matching pajamas. It's the best part of Christmas morning, really. Everyone in the same matching set looking ridiculously cute in front of the tree.

• 1:05:36Speaker 01

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

• 1:05:56Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:06:07Speaker 01

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

• 1:06:13Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:06:14Speaker 01

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

• 1:06:27Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:06:36Speaker 01

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

• 1:06:55Dax Shepard?

  We are supported by Squarespace. So here's something I think about a lot. Most people I talk to on this show, the ones doing really interesting things, they all had a version of their work that existed before anyone else saw it. It was just theirs, notes, ideas, projects they were tinkering with. And then at some point, they made the decision to share it. That's the part that's scary, right? Going from, I'm working on something to, here's what I made. Rob went through the exact same thing, building our site on Squarespace. And what made it doable was that he didn't have to become a web developer overnight. He just had to show up with the idea. Squarespace handles the rest. Beautiful templates that actually look like you hired someone, built in SEO so people can find you, email campaigns, scheduling, analytics, all under one roof. No code, no patchwork of random tools.

• 1:07:40Dax Shepard?

  And honestly, the thing I keep coming back to is how low the barrier is. If you've got something you've been building quietly and you're ready for people to see it, Squarespace makes that leap feel a lot less traumatic. Head to squarespace.com/dax for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code DAX to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

• 1:08:02Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:08:24Speaker 03

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

• 1:08:41Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:09:00Speaker 03

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

• 1:09:08Dax Shepard?

  You start feeling it.

• 1:09:09Speaker 03

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

• 1:09:16Dax Shepard?

  BetterHelp is now in-network with more than 125 health plans with many copays as low as $15 for eligible members. And if you don't have eligible insurance or live outside the US, you can still get 20% off your first month. Sign up and get 20% off at betterhelp.com/dax. That's betterhelp, H E L P, dot com slash DAX.

• 1:09:46Dax Shepard?

  Can there be a four?

• 1:09:47Speaker 03

  Good question. I would like for there to be a four.

• 1:09:50Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:51Speaker 03

  Me too.

• 1:09:51Dax Shepard?

  They've all made boatloads of money. I don't know why we wouldn't go ahead and-

• 1:09:55Speaker 03

  Everybody just doesn't want to do it if we're gonna half-ass it. Yeah.

• 1:10:00Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:00Speaker 03

  And we don't have a good story yet.

• 1:10:04Dax Shepard?

  Take care.

• 1:10:04Speaker 03

  Maybe they do. I'm the last to know. I was the last person cast on Pitch Perfect One, and so I'm always the last to know.

• 1:10:12Dax Shepard?

  Parachute, we've talked a bunch about it, but I just, like I said, have a couple directing questions. One, it got acquired. It's super highly reviewed, so you've definitely proven you can write and direct a movie. Do you want to do more of that?

• 1:10:24Speaker 03

  Oh, definitely.

• 1:10:25Dax Shepard?

  Talk about if you love control like I do.

• 1:10:27Speaker 03

  It's so nice to get that validation and that high of putting a puzzle piece together and all the puzzles fitting.

• 1:10:32Dax Shepard?

  Solving the problem is so fun, right?

• 1:10:34Speaker 03

  When they like fit into place and you're like, ah, I'm the best. But it never really gets there because then the next puzzle piece breaks apart and you have to continually do it. But it was definitely using another part of my brain that I, that I really appreciated. I didn't have to think about me. I got to use my mind in, in a way that was very helpful for me. And I got to do it as a therapeutic exercise because it was a movie that was about something that I had been through when I was exercising this thing by seeing it in somebody else's eyes.

• 1:11:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:04Speaker 03

  Because the actress, Courtney Eaton, who is extraordinary in it, she came with her own experiences. The movie became both of our-

• 1:11:12Dax Shepard?

  Your shared experience.

• 1:11:13Speaker 03

  Shared experience.

• 1:11:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I think the obsessive mind that is your best friend when you're an addict is an asset when directing.

• 1:11:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:11:21Dax Shepard?

  Because there's just a catrillion little strands that you're constantly trying to weave into this thing. And like, if you've had a lot of experience juggling a lot of stuff at once, I think it's like, it really sets you up well to do that job.

• 1:11:35Speaker 03

  I think that's why I was saying it's turned into a super, not that I'm, it's a superpower because I'm so good at it. I don't even know if I am necessarily, but it was definitely helpful for me, the hypervigilance being a director, because I knew how to be a different type of person to different actors and different-

• 1:11:52Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:53Speaker 03

  The prop department, the makeup department, somebody needs a different director or a different person for each thing that they're going through. It was helpful because there was a lot of things that I could answer that I used to go through, or I know personally that I could really understand in someone else. And I thought to myself, wow, this is a great opportunity to use my own experience with this to help someone else.

• 1:12:16Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Okay, so 2025 is an enormous year.

• 1:12:19Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:12:20Dax Shepard?

  Professionally for you.

• 1:12:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:12:23Dax Shepard?

  Ish. Why did you smile?

• 1:12:24Speaker 03

  No, because there's so many things happened in 2025.

• 1:12:27Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:12:28Speaker 03

  Personally. Personally, professionally, yeah, it was just a- Big year. Shit show.

• 1:12:31Dax Shepard?

  A big year.

• 1:12:32Speaker 03

  It was a big year, yeah.

• 1:12:34Dax Shepard?

  Well, professionally, there was Murdaugh, Death in the Family, Hulu, you're in that, then The Beast in Me, you're in that.

• 1:12:40Speaker 03

  Great show.

• 1:12:41Dax Shepard?

  Did you fall in love with Matthew?

• 1:12:42Speaker 03

  I love Matthew.

• 1:12:43Dax Shepard?

  Oh my God, we interviewed him, we were both like, take us home.

• 1:12:45Speaker 03

  I know, he's the best. He's so funny. He deserves this moment more than anybody. I love him.

• 1:12:52Dax Shepard?

  Did he offer you to take you on his movable feast? That's the name of the boat, right? Movable feast?

• 1:12:57Speaker 03

  No, actually.

• 1:12:59Dax Shepard?

  Bastard. I'm sure if you were in New York, you would've-

• 1:13:01Speaker 03

  Yeah. This is like when we told Gal Gadot she didn't get Tom Cruise's cake and it was a big, you know, it was a big, we're letting people down all over the place.

• 1:13:11Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:11Speaker 03

  No, no, he and I became friends and he was such a good person to have on that set too, because I was in and out and as, you know, a person that's sort of in every couple scenes or every episode, you don't really know where you fit into the whole thing as a whole. And he always made me feel so comfortable and he was going through the same thing as well, you know, he doesn't feel like he's the greatest actor either, you know? He's always like very real and has perspective and it's really nice.

• 1:13:36Dax Shepard?

  And he's so Welsh.

• 1:13:37Speaker 03

  That was a great show.

• 1:13:39Dax Shepard?

  Tell me the whole experience of getting The Hunting Wife as a script and what your first thoughts are.

• 1:13:44Speaker 03

  At the time, I was in Thailand. I was doing a Night Agent episode where I die right away. And I just remember thinking, oh, I really like this, but I'm sure I'm gonna have to work for it and audition for it. But I'm in Thailand, there's not exactly like a self-tape studio I can do, and I don't know anybody really here, so I don't know how I'm gonna put myself on tape for this thing. I had a feeling, sometimes I just get a feeling, and I thought, I think this one I'm gonna get, and I don't know how. And I talked to my reps and I guess Erwin Stoff, who is our main producer, he had seen my short film that got nominated for an Oscar, Red, White and Blue, and so I didn't need to audition.

• 1:14:22Dax Shepard?

  No way.

• 1:14:23Speaker 03

  And that, at the time was for stars. And so I was like, oh, I'm just gonna do this and no one's really gonna see it.

• 1:14:28Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:29Speaker 03

  So I knew it was really cool. I couldn't put it down. I read all eight episodes while I was filming there and I loved it. But I also thought, I mean, no offense to stars, but-

• 1:14:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:14:40Speaker 03

  Who knows?

• 1:14:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:14:42Speaker 03

  Malin had already been cast.

• 1:14:44Dax Shepard?

  And did you know her at all?

• 1:14:45Speaker 03

  We had friends in common and we were always told by our mutual friends that we would get along. And so I always knew, and I had heard stories that she was just the coolest and she had great perspective on what this business is about and-

• 1:14:56Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:57Speaker 03

  You know?

• 1:14:57Dax Shepard?

  Again, very loose.

• 1:14:58Speaker 03

  Drinking tequila and just, you know, and I was like, that's my girl.

• 1:15:01Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, she's as cool as they get.

• 1:15:03Speaker 03

  She really is.

• 1:15:04Dax Shepard?

  Okay, so I think this is gonna be a big spoiler time now. I find it hard to believe anyone would not have seen season one at this point. It was wildly successful.

• 1:15:14Speaker 03

  Very.

• 1:15:14Dax Shepard?

  Did you feel that one?

• 1:15:16Speaker 03

  I did.

• 1:15:16Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:15:17Speaker 03

  But I sort of dissociate from it where I think it's happening to someone else. I think this is a good thing, that I'm not really walking around thinking that people care about me or looking at me. I just knew that this show was a big deal because of all the TikToks. So many.

• 1:15:32Dax Shepard?

  Oh, tell me about the TikToks. I don't know about the TikToks.

• 1:15:35Speaker 03

  Wild reactions.

• 1:15:36Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:15:38Speaker 03

  And I really appreciated that because it's such a campy, fun show.

• 1:15:42Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It has the most plot of any show I've ever watched.

• 1:15:45Speaker 03

  Season two is way more plot, just plot everywhere.

• 1:15:51Dax Shepard?

  I'm gonna kind of march through what happened in season one so that we can then talk about season two, which is you and your husband move from Boston down to Texas, he's taken a job, he's working for Dermot Mulrooney, also a radical dude, we love, right? What a champ. Yeah. But anyway, you guys move to Texas, you're a fish out of water, everyone loves guns, they like day drinking, everyone's rich, the girls are all like final touches at all times, they've done hair and makeup. It's a real extreme scenario. And then you meet Malin's character, Margot. And yeah, well, how would you describe, because I think some people like to frame what happened one way, and I know you have a different idea of what happened, and I of course agree with you, but you know, you decided.

• 1:16:33Speaker 03

  I mean, I'm gonna give you the hot take that, because I'm here on Armchair X-Files-

• 1:16:38Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:16:39Speaker 03

  But that I don't really talk about, it's not really talked about, but Rebecca Cutter and I really agree on this, is that I think that Sophie is an addict in a way, and she sort of displaces and sort of mismanages her addiction to other things. I mean, in the first season, we have her like biting her nails and is she an alcoholic? Is she not an alcoholic? But she becomes really fascinated and almost addicted to Margot in this way of this person's going to solve this emptiness that I feel, which is I need to be this perfect mom, I can't be who I am anymore, I'm moving to this town and I want to be this free sort of different woman that I've been caged to now become.

• 1:17:18Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:17:19Speaker 03

  And I think she latches on and becomes addicted to the idea of Margot and also falls in love with her at the same time, which is a really dangerous combination.

• 1:17:27Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:17:28Speaker 03

  And gets mixed up in this whole sort of murderous plot because she can't quit this woman.

• 1:17:34Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes, yes.

• 1:17:35Speaker 03

  And season two was even more of a reflection of that. Why is that a hot take? Because I don't think we talk about the addiction part of it ever. Oh, interesting. Yeah, that's a choice that I made. I like that.

• 1:17:44Dax Shepard?

  Well, what I love about this show is it's preposterous.

• 1:17:48Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:17:48Dax Shepard?

  And yet you're dead real. And then this element is dead real and truthful, which is, yes, you're what we would call in recovery, you've basically accomplished a geographic here. So you are clearly an addict, you were in a vehicular accident that resulted in a fatality due to your drinking. That's a pretty big red flag.

• 1:18:08Speaker 03

  That's low, I would say.

• 1:18:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you would hope. And then, so a lot of addicts, I'm moving, you know, I'm gonna move to St. Louis, I won't drink there. And this kind of worked for you. So your geographic was like, I'm gonna get married and I'm gonna be a perfect mother and that's gonna be my solution to this problem.

• 1:18:23Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:18:24Dax Shepard?

  And the solution's been working for a while, but as we know, these solutions don't ever really last forever. So then, yes, you meet somebody who opens the top of the box you put yourself in. So we could blame her, but really I think you're in search of someone that'll give you permission to rejoin the little gremlin you really are and haven't dealt with.

• 1:18:44Speaker 03

  I definitely think that's what it is. I think that's what the show is, and that's why it's so alluring and sexy. It's sort of giving permission of these women behaving badly, but it's also this woman who's just really caged to open back up the lion's den in a lot of ways and to sort of face these demons and we're watching her sort of fall apart.

• 1:19:05Dax Shepard?

  Yes. It's very Esther Perel in that she says that people often think their partner has cheated on them with another person. But in fact, really, the partner cheated on them to be with themselves, to revisit a version of themselves that they miss, or that is gone, or that existed in their twenties. Like, they're actually longing for their old self, and this person is an avenue to that. And so I think very much that's the dynamic that's happening here.

• 1:19:32Speaker 03

  Oh, definitely. And in season two, I think something to say that's not giving anything away is that, obviously, at this point in the season, you know in season one that Sophie has killed Kyle, Margot's brother, with another vehicle by drinking?

• 1:19:48Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:19:49Speaker 03

  And so back to the beginning.

• 1:19:53Dax Shepard?

  Doing the same, doing, what is it, doing the exact same thing and expecting a different result?

• 1:19:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, the definition of insanity. And the definition of insanity is how Sophie is the whole second season. I made the choice from the very beginning, I got the pilot episode, and I read that one of the first things that Sophie does is she has a panic attack in her car, and her nervous system is as nervous system is completely shot. And then in the next scene, she's, you know, crying, and I think I had a line saying, like, Sophie paces in every single episode. She's just having a total nervous breakdown the whole show. And I think it's because she's realizing that she's now back into an addict cycle of this woman where she's so desperate to get her, that her whole life starts falling apart.

• 1:20:36Dax Shepard?

  Also, we're getting to see the side of you that all addicts have pretty polished, which is, you're now going to be the perfect person. The season does start, it picks up right where we left off chronologically. You and your husband are on like a trial separation situation, and then you're in therapy together, and you're basically perfect.

• 1:20:55Speaker 03

  Trying.

• 1:20:55Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're perfect.

• 1:20:57Speaker 03

  But she's about to fall apart.

• 1:20:58Dax Shepard?

  You're saying all the right things, you're taking ownership of everything, you're really convincing that you don't really have a problem anymore. And it's quite convincing, and quite addict-y.

• 1:21:08Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:21:09Speaker 01

  Lies.

• 1:21:11Speaker 03

  Well, and then I start crying right in the therapist office. That scene, we'd played so many different ways, and it's interesting, the takes they pick. I think they pick a lot of the ones where Sophie is just completely unraveling.

• 1:21:23Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:21:23Speaker 03

  And I got a lot of notes from the directors in season two. My one friend, Maggie Kylie, who's a dear friend, she was like, you are a crack addict. Like, you need to go into every scene when it comes to Margot with, I'm going to die if I don't get her.

• 1:21:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21:38Speaker 03

  And so that level of intensity is just, I was tired.

• 1:21:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21:45Dax Shepard?

  That scene in therapy, there's a few, but there's one scene in particular, that I have to say, it ended, and I was like, that was a fucking phenomenally written scene. That whole sequence in therapy was like, really, really well crafted.

• 1:21:59Speaker 03

  Oh, good. Thank you.

• 1:22:00Dax Shepard?

  Because again, there's a lot happening in this show. It's like, you're getting the juiciest, salacious soap opera-y drama. Someone's dying every 15 minutes in this show. Again, just walk everyone through season one, you meet her, we find out she's also sleeping with a teenager, then we find out that the teenager's girlfriend catches her, then the teenager's girlfriend gets killed, then we think it's this one mom, no, it's not that mom, then that mom goes to confront, then she kills that person, then they go to confront her, and then they kill her, and then you kill, there's like six or seven murders and deaths.

• 1:22:31Speaker 03

  I am so impressed that you said that so eloquently and followed it through.

• 1:22:38Speaker 03

  Yes, all that happens. And then the funny thing about season two is that even more shit happens.

• 1:22:45Dax Shepard?

  You gotta, you're gonna run out of characters. That's, I have anxiety about, it's like Game of Thrones, it's like killing everyone you know.

• 1:22:50Speaker 03

  The Red Wedding? I know.

• 1:22:53Dax Shepard?

  And you're like, oh, I guess there are still people.

• 1:22:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, so many people die, and also such outlandish things happen where not one single episode goes by where it's not, what the fuck did they just do?

• 1:23:05Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes, yes, yes.

• 1:23:06Speaker 01

  That's so fun. We need fun. And I think that's what people really have enjoyed about this show. They're just like, it's easy, it's fun, it's a little wild, and people want an escape.

• 1:23:17Dax Shepard?

  This is just a fun anecdote, but back to you saying, you gotta enter every scene like you're a crack addict, right? So I'm with my 11-year-old last night, and she clearly has a dairy allergy. That is quite obvious to me. I too cannot fuck with dairy. I get so congested, right? And she has a cold. And so every morning when we're walking to school, she's like, dealing with that. And I'm like, how much cheese and dairy did you have yesterday? And she's like, you know, this isn't it. So last night, like, what do you want for dinner? And she's like, I want macaroni and cheese balls from Fred 62. I go, but you know, it's gonna fuck you up, right? And she's like, yeah. And I go, ooh, Delta, this is so great. It's probably so abstract that I'm an addict, but I want you to know this moment right here, where it's like, you have full knowledge that this is gonna hurt you.

• 1:24:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:24:02Dax Shepard?

  And you go, yeah, I want it anyways.

• 1:24:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:24:05Dax Shepard?

  I'm like, that's it. You've experienced it. At 11, you already know what this thing is. I know it's bad, and watch me go do it anyways.

• 1:24:13Speaker 03

  Yes. Let's hope it, it's just mac and cheese balls. But you know what, I relate to that.

• 1:24:18Dax Shepard?

  It's a unique experience when you really know, yeah, this is gonna end poorly, and I'm going to do it.

• 1:24:24Speaker 03

  That happens a lot in season two. There's about five different scenes that I can think up off the top of my head. I think that's also what's really been funny about the reaction of Hunting Wives, is that people are so mad at me, my character, not me, but at Sophie, because you're watching someone who just is willingly blowing up their life and making really dumb decisions out of reactionary things put in front of her. She's prone to emotion, she's reactive, she's angry, she leaves her kid at home to go drink and drive, and the amount of anger that people feel towards a mother who would do this to their child, I sympathize with, because it's like, well, I'm not really like that. This is obviously a character, but the psychology that's interesting is that we really don't like that emotion in ourselves.

• 1:25:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, we don't mind if a dad's doing that, but we...

• 1:25:07Speaker 01

  It's pretty gendered.

• 1:25:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.

• 1:25:10Speaker 03

  You can't be reckless, you can't make bad decisions. I've done a lot of interviews saying, like, isn't that interesting that there's a lot of anger with one of the main female characters doing really stupid things? Really, people do not like that.

• 1:25:22Dax Shepard?

  Well, also, a good percentage of us do this. We do make decisions that we know are wrong, and we do it. And I think a good chunk of the audience watching knows the internal feeling, the self-abuse that follows that, the shame and the self-hatred. So it's a real emotion they're experiencing, because they've experienced it. It's not a hypothetical. I think that's why it's so powerful.

• 1:25:46Speaker 03

  And I also think in the brass tacks of it all, it's almost that feeling when you're watching a horror movie, the killer is inside the house, and she's like, I need my bracelet. I have to go back and get my bracelet.

• 1:25:55Speaker 01

  Or don't go in the basement, open the door.

• 1:25:57Speaker 03

  And you're thinking to yourself, you dumbass, why are you going back in the house? I hate when movies do that, but it's that sentiment in this show a little bit, where you're watching someone be a little silly.

• 1:26:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And isn't that funny? When I watched the horror one, I'm like, you're being stupid, but I have no actual emotion attached to it.

• 1:26:14Speaker 03

  Oh, that's nice.

• 1:26:14Dax Shepard?

  Whereas this is like, no, I know what it's like to go, get out of my car. Okay, stay in my car.

• 1:26:22Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, that's neat.

• 1:26:22Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, she jumps in the car, get out of my car, please don't get out of my car.

• 1:26:26Speaker 03

  But I'm crying because I want to kiss her. Yes.

• 1:26:29Dax Shepard?

  Well, I love it. It's fucking so juicy, and season two is everything season one was, or at least what I watched so far. I just want to put a real fine point, you're really, really incredible in it. You're so, so good.

• 1:26:39Speaker 03

  Oh, thank you.

• 1:26:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, truly, you're really, really good. And I would say in a kind of challenging...

• 1:26:44Speaker 01

  Definitely.

• 1:26:44Dax Shepard?

  Again, it's like, very heightened, and to be really grounded in heightened stuff is a little bit of a challenge.

• 1:26:49Speaker 03

  Thanks. I didn't think I did very well with this. No, I'll never think I do well, you know?

• 1:26:55Speaker 01

  It sounds like it. Is there anything you're proud of that you've made?

• 1:26:59Speaker 03

  Like, in life?

• 1:27:00Speaker 01

  That you've made?

• 1:27:00Speaker 03

  I'm really proud of parachute.

• 1:27:02Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:27:02Dax Shepard?

  There we go.

• 1:27:02Speaker 01

  Good. We need one.

• 1:27:04Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, okay. Out of 65 credits, that's not bad. One out of 65.

• 1:27:10Speaker 03

  It challenges me, you know?

• 1:27:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:27:12Dax Shepard?

  Truly feel free that if you don't want to talk about this, it's fine. But I couldn't help but notice, just in my research, what was the exact day of lockdown? Do you remember? I feel like it was March 15?

• 1:27:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:27:23Dax Shepard?

  And you got married on March 14?

• 1:27:26Speaker 03

  Oh, that's hard.

• 1:27:27Dax Shepard?

  It made me think, boy, if anything didn't have a great shot, it would be getting married, and you're starting your new life together, and literally the next day, we go into lockdown. And then I went berserk in lockdown myself. Of all the worst wedding dates I think I've ever heard, that's probably top of the list.

• 1:27:45Speaker 03

  There were so many.

• 1:27:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, we don't have to talk about it.

• 1:27:47Speaker 03

  So many things.

• 1:27:50Speaker 03

  Yeah. What a time.

• 1:27:52Dax Shepard?

  What a time.

• 1:27:53Speaker 03

  I will say, now looking back at that time, I am so grateful that I went through that, because the person that I am and the partner I'm with now, it's just so different. And I can't believe I'm grateful for my divorce.

• 1:28:05Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:06Speaker 01

  I think people need to hear that, honestly.

• 1:28:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, and I was 37, and I was living in an Airbnb, just staring at my dog, being like, I don't know what's gonna happen. It's just you and me, kiddo, and we're gonna try to rebuild this. I really appreciated so many women friends of mine that were like, that happened to me. And, you know, I would go on Reddit and look up stories from women going through things in their later 30s and finding people later in life. And we have to make it what we make of it.

• 1:28:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. Listen, I hope everyone watches, I don't even need to urge them to, but The Hunting Wives, it does come back, November 26 on Netflix. I'm really, really blown away and impressed that you went through the thing you went through, found out how to do it again, and have had such an incredible last few years. I'm so happy and proud for you.

• 1:28:53Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:28:54Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:54Speaker 01

  Happy birthday, happy golden birthday.

• 1:28:56Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:28:57Speaker 01

  I hope you do something to celebrate.

• 1:28:59Speaker 03

  I should.

• 1:29:00Speaker 01

  You should. It's a big deal.

• 1:29:01Dax Shepard?

  Let's get another dog.

• 1:29:03Speaker 03

  I would. Honestly, don't talk me into a good time. But yeah, I should have dinner some.

• 1:29:09Dax Shepard?

  Okay. And then I'm just gonna throw this out, I've met you in real life, like, in social situations, and you're very lovely. This is not a presenting self, this is really you. Yeah, yeah.

• 1:29:17Speaker 03

  I hope not. I've always remembered that you and Kristen had first started dating, and you guys, do you remember, I saw you in a Miami hotel, and we talked outside the hotel, you probably don't remember this, but I remember thinking, oh, they're gonna get married.

• 1:29:30Dax Shepard?

  Really?

• 1:29:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:29:31Dax Shepard?

  That was 19 years ago.

• 1:29:33Speaker 03

  It was so long ago.

• 1:29:34Dax Shepard?

  Because we were, the funny story behind that is, so, we started dating, I was dating her and someone else, and then I got this very distinct feeling one time when I went over to her house, like, oh, she's exclusive, and I'm not, and I feel very unethical about that. And then I just said, I think we're in two different places, and I don't want to mislead you. So we had a little breakup. We got back together very shortly after that. But one of the first things was, I said to her, I called her, I'll never forget, I was hanging Christmas lights, I was on a ladder, and I'm like, talking to her on my T-Mobile cellphone, or whatever that thing was, the Samsung blue cellphone. And I go, hey, I got offered to, like, come to this New Year's Eve party in Miami, and if I go, they'll

• 1:30:16Dax Shepard?

  send me then to the Bahamas for a week or five days or something. And she's like, oh, cool, that sounds fun. And I go, yeah, you think that would be fun? And she goes... Hey, if you wanna fucking invite me to the Bahamas, invite me. And I was like-

• 1:30:35Speaker 01

  She said, "Ask me like a lady."

• 1:30:36Dax Shepard?

  Yes, yes, yes. She was starting to really advocate for herself.

• 1:30:41Speaker 01

  Oh, hell yeah.

• 1:30:42Dax Shepard?

  So I was like, I'm so sorry. Let me rephrase this. Would you like to join me? So yes, we went on that trip. It's so memorable because we saw you and we also saw Robert Downey Jr. in the lobby. Did you see Robert Downey Jr.?

• 1:30:52Speaker 01

  I did not.

• 1:30:53Dax Shepard?

  Okay, that was fun.

• 1:30:53Speaker 01

  I would have remembered that too, I think.

• 1:30:55Dax Shepard?

  Then we watched Tootsie in the hotel room the night before we went to, that was very memorable. Still my favorite score. Then we went to the Bahamas and you must remember, we've only been together a couple of months. And we start walking down the beach at night, the night we've arrived and she starts bawling uncontrollably. Cause it's pretty and I-

• 1:31:13Speaker 01

  I relate to this.

• 1:31:14Dax Shepard?

  And I'm like, what am I supposed to do right now? Like, why do I, am I supposed to comfort her? Am I supposed to use a real introduction to her emotional availability?

• 1:31:25Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:31:25Dax Shepard?

  Yes. And I was very, very scared. And then the irony is she doesn't cry anymore and I cry nonstop. So it's really, we've won 80.

• 1:31:33Speaker 01

  Oh, because you're a Pisces, right?

• 1:31:35Speaker 03

  I am.

• 1:31:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, she's a Cancer. You guys are both water signs. It makes sense that you would cry at-

• 1:31:39Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:31:40Speaker 01

  Seeing water.

• 1:31:41Speaker 03

  I guess is what it was.

• 1:31:43Speaker 01

  That is true. I'm about to cry at all times. I'm gonna cry when I get the cover. No, I'm just kidding.

• 1:31:47Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'm glad you thought that. That's nice.

• 1:31:49Speaker 01

  It was very cute.

• 1:31:50Dax Shepard?

  You were dead right.

• 1:31:51Speaker 01

  I was very jealous that that's what was happening.

• 1:31:54Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 1:31:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was like, look at them. They're in love.

• 1:31:56Dax Shepard?

  Thank you. That's very sweet. Well, Brittany, please come back with your next show. This was so fun.

• 1:32:02Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me.

• 1:32:03Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you're fantastic. And one exclusive we got fart.

• 1:32:06Speaker 01

  Fart?

• 1:32:06Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:32:07Speaker 01

  We won't make you say it again. We already got it in the bag.

• 1:32:11Speaker 03

  Fart.

• 1:32:13Speaker 01

  Now she can't stop saying it.

• 1:32:14Dax Shepard?

  It's like you holding hands with Franco.

• 1:32:16Speaker 01

  I feel free.

• 1:32:17Dax Shepard?

  Okay, good.

• 1:32:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:32:18Speaker 03

  So glad you're here.

• 1:32:19Dax Shepard?

  We adore you. Congratulations on everything. Everyone watch The Honey Wives.

• 1:32:22Speaker 01

  Yay.

• 1:32:24Speaker 04

  He's an arm care expert. Tony makes mistakes all the time. Thank God Monica's here. She's gonna let him have the facts.

• 1:32:34Speaker 01

  Good. I saw he was on his hands and knees.

• 1:32:37Dax Shepard?

  Oh my God, did you see his butt crack?

• 1:32:38Speaker 01

  No, I was respectful and I didn't look.

• 1:32:43Speaker 01

  I just, you know, you never know what you're gonna see.

• 1:32:44Dax Shepard?

  She, it sounds like she had to make a great effort to not see it.

• 1:32:48Speaker 01

  We used to call that plumbers crack.

• 1:32:51Dax Shepard?

  Of course. Taking pot shots at poor plumbers.

• 1:32:56Speaker 01

  Well, to be fair, okay, that's interesting. That's an interesting take. To be fair, you do often see their crack and it is, it's because they're working hard on their hands and knees.

• 1:33:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, you're right. I think you need, any job where you're on your hands and knees a lot.

• 1:33:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:33:12Dax Shepard?

  That crack is gonna be a liability.

• 1:33:14Speaker 01

  But it's like, then they probably should wear overalls.

• 1:33:17Dax Shepard?

  But it might be too hot for overalls.

• 1:33:19Speaker 01

  You can wear tank top underneath.

• 1:33:21Dax Shepard?

  Mesh overalls. Ooh.

• 1:33:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, no.

• 1:33:26Dax Shepard?

  Did you have an event this morning?

• 1:33:28Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:33:28Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you look very made up.

• 1:33:30Speaker 01

  I have regular makeup on.

• 1:33:31Dax Shepard?

  Oh my gosh.

• 1:33:33Speaker 01

  I did buy some new, I bought a new blush. Maybe you're really responding to it.

• 1:33:37Dax Shepard?

  Perhaps.

• 1:33:38Speaker 01

  I like it as well. I'll shout out the brand. It's called, I actually don't know how to pronounce it. It's French. It's like Violet.

• 1:33:46Dax Shepard?

  Plumeurs de derrière?

• 1:33:48Speaker 01

  Nope. It's Violet. Violet FR, I assume for French.

• 1:33:54Dax Shepard?

  Plumeur de derrière.

• 1:33:56Speaker 01

  That's butt?

• 1:33:58Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I think derrière.

• 1:33:59Speaker 01

  Derrière for sure.

• 1:34:00Dax Shepard?

  Derrière.

• 1:34:03Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:34:04Dax Shepard?

  Sure. I'm fresh out of the shower. Can you tell?

• 1:34:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, you look clean.

• 1:34:11Dax Shepard?

  I look, my hair is wet, you know?

• 1:34:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, you can't really tell.

• 1:34:15Dax Shepard?

  Anymore?

• 1:34:15Speaker 01

  That your hair is-

• 1:34:16Dax Shepard?

  It's so greasy?

• 1:34:16Speaker 01

  What? No, it's just, it's fluffy.

• 1:34:19Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I use Jen Aniston's finishing oil on it.

• 1:34:22Speaker 01

  You did?

• 1:34:23Dax Shepard?

  Mm-hmm. I do that occasionally now.

• 1:34:25Speaker 01

  It looks nice.

• 1:34:25Dax Shepard?

  I comb it back. My kids are having a blast with this because they've known me for 13 and 11 years respectively.

• 1:34:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:32Dax Shepard?

  I've just started combing my hair in the last three months.

• 1:34:35Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 1:34:35Dax Shepard?

  Where I'm using their brush.

• 1:34:37Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:34:38Dax Shepard?

  I don't use anything of theirs. They're all over my stuff, as you know. My nail clippers, my tweezers.

• 1:34:43Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 1:34:44Dax Shepard?

  My toothbrush, my toothpaste. So this is the first role reversal. And they're pretty into it. They're pretty supportive. But anyways, what I'll do is I'll comb it straight back and then I'll take a little drop drop of Jen Aniston's. I'm calling it finishing oil. I don't think that's the actual term, but it's a light oil.

• 1:35:00Speaker 01

  It looks nice. It looks really nice.

• 1:35:01Dax Shepard?

  Thank you.

• 1:35:02Speaker 01

  Um, you know who has a new hair care brand out?

• 1:35:06Dax Shepard?

  Oh.

• 1:35:07Speaker 01

  Who I'd like to have on the pod. And she should come on the pod because as, as you just discussed, you're into hair now. I'm-

• 1:35:14Dax Shepard?

  I love hair now.

• 1:35:15Speaker 01

  I'm, I've always been into hair.

• 1:35:18Dax Shepard?

  Your original, OH, original hair.

• 1:35:20Speaker 01

  Original hair. A Jennifer Lawrence, another Jen.

• 1:35:24Dax Shepard?

  What's her product called?

• 1:35:25Speaker 01

  I don't know. It just came out.

• 1:35:26Dax Shepard?

  And she goes by J Law on the streets? Is that the code name for her?

• 1:35:30Speaker 01

  Yeah. Some people call her that. Um, let's see what it's called. Hairline.

• 1:35:36Speaker 02

  Mess.

• 1:35:37Speaker 01

  Mess?

• 1:35:37Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:35:38Dax Shepard?

  M E S S.

• 1:35:39Speaker 02

  But spelled M E S.

• 1:35:41Dax Shepard?

  Spelled M E S.

• 1:35:42Speaker 01

  Okay. Okay, spelled M E S.

• 1:35:45Dax Shepard?

  Should we change the name of the spelling of messiness of being human to one S?

• 1:35:49Speaker 01

  Well, I was just about to say, she clearly got that from messiness of being human.

• 1:35:53Dax Shepard?

  Uh-huh.

• 1:35:54Speaker 01

  So she should come on.

• 1:35:55Dax Shepard?

  She's a huge fan. She's an enormous fan.

• 1:35:59Speaker 01

  Loves the show.

• 1:36:00Dax Shepard?

  I wonder if she would remember meeting me. You know that funny, I have a story. I wish I could remember the details better, but I'm aging. But I visited Silver Lining Playbook. And I was chatting with her for a while and we were talking about books. And I forget how the whole thing went, but lo and behold, I see her on a talk show months later. And she's referencing this, but she's saying how she had this talk with this old, older guy, older guy.

• 1:36:31Speaker 01

  She said that?

• 1:36:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. And I remember thinking, well, I'm the exact same age as Bradley and he's your love interest in the movie.

• 1:36:38Speaker 01

  True.

• 1:36:39Dax Shepard?

  Are you describing him as an older guy?

• 1:36:40Speaker 01

  Oh my God, she should really come on and-

• 1:36:43Dax Shepard?

  That may be where this whole my, um, ism stems from. That might be the original wound where I started thinking, I'm really old.

• 1:36:50Speaker 01

  Oh, how old were you then? You weren't even that old.

• 1:36:53Dax Shepard?

  2012, so 37.

• 1:36:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, younger than me.

• 1:36:57Dax Shepard?

  I don't even know if I did the math right. Is that right?

• 1:37:00Speaker 01

  I don't know. I just take your math at your word.

• 1:37:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah.

• 1:37:03Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:37:05Dax Shepard?

  Wow. So younger than you.

• 1:37:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:37:07Dax Shepard?

  And she's, she's talking to this old man about books.

• 1:37:10Speaker 01

  Oh my God. This is-

• 1:37:13Dax Shepard?

  She should come on for an apology. She should amend this.

• 1:37:16Speaker 01

  She should really make an amends and talk to us about her stealing of messiness of being human.

• 1:37:21Dax Shepard?

  She has a lot to apologize for. I'm inordinately, um, joyous when I see her.

• 1:37:27Speaker 01

  I love her.

• 1:37:27Dax Shepard?

  I'm such a huge fan of her.

• 1:37:29Speaker 01

  Me too. I love her.

• 1:37:30Dax Shepard?

  I like her spirit. I like that she was calling me an old man as well.

• 1:37:33Speaker 01

  She's funny like that.

• 1:37:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, she's a, she's a hoot and a ham.

• 1:37:36Speaker 01

  She really is.

• 1:37:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:37:37Speaker 01

  She-

• 1:37:37Dax Shepard?

  She's a mess. M E S.

• 1:37:39Speaker 01

  I wouldn't see, I think-

• 1:37:41Dax Shepard?

  She's not a mess, no.

• 1:37:41Speaker 01

  Well, remember that was kind of her thing for a minute when she like was falling down and stuff and it was like a whole thing?

• 1:37:48Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it's cute.

• 1:37:49Speaker 01

  It was cute and it was like, she's just really real.

• 1:37:52Dax Shepard?

  Very real, yeah.

• 1:37:53Speaker 01

  And you know, we have, we like to talk about real things. So I think she'd be a great fit.

• 1:37:57Dax Shepard?

  She'd really. So that's her pitch.

• 1:37:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:38:00Dax Shepard?

  That's her pitch.

• 1:38:01Speaker 01

  Someone get this to her, please.

• 1:38:02Dax Shepard?

  Get back to us.

• 1:38:03Speaker 01

  Yeah. Um-

• 1:38:05Dax Shepard?

  I had a scary experience last night.

• 1:38:07Speaker 01

  What happened? Oh, yes. Do tell.

• 1:38:11Dax Shepard?

  I did improv at the Groundlings.

• 1:38:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, on the main stage?

• 1:38:17Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, there's only one stage there. Ding ding ding. He's the guest today on, um, Mom's Car, Guy Stevenson.

• 1:38:26Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:38:26Dax Shepard?

  So I was in the Sunday Company with him and then he runs this show. All people have been kicked out of the Sunday Company.

• 1:38:33Speaker 01

  So is he still in the Sunday Company?

• 1:38:35Dax Shepard?

  Oh no, he was kicked out. He's a teacher though.

• 1:38:37Speaker 01

  Oh, got it. Okay.

• 1:38:38Dax Shepard?

  And so when I interviewed him on Mom's Car, he said, um, he invited me to do the show again, he had in the past. And I was like, you know, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it.

• 1:38:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:38:48Dax Shepard?

  And I think I've done, I did one gas show there in the 24 years since I performed there.

• 1:38:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:38:56Dax Shepard?

  I can't even remember when that was.

• 1:38:57Speaker 01

  You did a UCB show, right? For a charity thing.

• 1:39:01Dax Shepard?

  Charity thing at a big theater downtown. Yeah. But I hadn't been there, whatever. I've been there once in 23 years. And, um-

• 1:39:10Speaker 01

  Oh my God.

• 1:39:11Dax Shepard?

  The whole day, it was just kinda looming, you know?

• 1:39:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, you looked a little, we FaceTimed yesterday about work and I was like, your hair did not look like it does today. I'll say that.

• 1:39:21Dax Shepard?

  No, it was a little more-

• 1:39:22Speaker 01

  It was spiky and I don't-

• 1:39:23Dax Shepard?

  M E S.

• 1:39:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was- MES.

• 1:39:25Dax Shepard?

  Major MES. Anywho, I just kept going like, yeah, you'll, you'll just, you'll get through it and you'll survive. But I was, I was acutely aware on the ride there. I was like, oh, the way I used to feel driving to this theater versus how I feel now.

• 1:39:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:39:40Dax Shepard?

  Is almost polar opposites. Like I used to be driving to that theater. So hungry, so excited, praying I'm in every improv.

• 1:39:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:39:50Dax Shepard?

  Wanting so bad to get a taste. And the whole ride there, I was like, man, I hope they don't use me much, you know, like I hope they pat out the.

• 1:40:01Dax Shepard?

  And then fear. And then I was just like, it's so counterintuitive. There are ways you get way more confident as you age. And then there are other ways where you just get way less confident.

• 1:40:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:11Dax Shepard?

  Like the appetite to fail publicly.

• 1:40:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:14Dax Shepard?

  Has gone down for me.

• 1:40:15Speaker 01

  Of course. Yeah. I mean, that's normal.

• 1:40:17Dax Shepard?

  And the thirst for approval and applause and adoration has also gone down. And I'd say a healthy weight, not that I don't appreciate if someone's laughing, but just.

• 1:40:28Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 1:40:29Dax Shepard?

  I needed it so bad a long time ago.

• 1:40:32Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, you also have it in different ways now and almost it's like you have that to lose a little bit.

• 1:40:40Dax Shepard?

  Well, they're right. Oh, great. Thank you. Yes. That's the other thing is like, I used to go there hoping someone would recognize me.

• 1:40:46Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:40:47Dax Shepard?

  And now I'm like, I'm already getting recognized. So I can only kind of disappoint people.

• 1:40:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. The only, the only headline is Dax Shepard did improv and it was just truly horrible.

• 1:41:00Dax Shepard?

  Bringing into question whether he was ever involved.

• 1:41:03Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:41:04Dax Shepard?

  In this theater at all.

• 1:41:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:41:07Dax Shepard?

  Launching investigative journalists.

• 1:41:09Speaker 01

  But how did it go?

• 1:41:10Dax Shepard?

  Well, so I'm like, you know, you just put one foot in front of the other. I was the first one there and then guy and I hung out and I was just, it was a trip just to be backstage.

• 1:41:17Speaker 01

  I bet.

• 1:41:18Dax Shepard?

  I'm like, fuck, I mean, it's really been so long. I couldn't remember where we got ready and where the girls got ready and what, and some things had changed, but I couldn't really tell what.

• 1:41:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:41:27Dax Shepard?

  So I'm asking a lot of dumb questions, boring questions. And then I meet the other cast members. They're great. You know, the one dude I'm talking to, Matt, he got booted in 2023.

• 1:41:38Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:41:39Dax Shepard?

  And I'm like, I got booted literally 20 years before you.

• 1:41:43Speaker 01

  My God. And also to remind people or not, maybe they don't know, they probably don't know. You're either in the Sunday company for how many like?

• 1:41:51Dax Shepard?

  You go in six month intervals.

• 1:41:52Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:41:52Dax Shepard?

  So every six months you get voted on.

• 1:41:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:41:54Dax Shepard?

  Um, people get kicked out after six months.

• 1:41:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:41:57Dax Shepard?

  People get kicked out of a year. After a year and a half, you're generally going to get booted or moved to the main stage.

• 1:42:02Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:42:03Dax Shepard?

  And there are no slots in the main stage.

• 1:42:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42:05Dax Shepard?

  You know, it's just class after class coming through and.

• 1:42:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's very hard.

• 1:42:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. So we do a warm up. We do a couple of different warm ups.

• 1:42:13Speaker 01

  I'm like, I have like.

• 1:42:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I was a man. I, I literally this morning when I was journaling, I was like, knowing I was going to talk to you about it. I was like, do imagine yourself driving to UCB tonight.

• 1:42:23Speaker 01

  I know. I, even when I drive by it, which is a lot, I do get a little jolt of panic, but also like, I almost want to cry every time. Because it, it, it marks such a special time.

• 1:42:38Dax Shepard?

  I also feel that way.

• 1:42:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42:39Dax Shepard?

  You know, like it's so special to be there.

• 1:42:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:42:42Dax Shepard?

  And it's so kind of full circle and getting that backstage was such an accomplishment. Just.

• 1:42:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. Oh my God. To be back there. Oh.

• 1:42:51Dax Shepard?

  I have a little area for my shit and everything.

• 1:42:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42:54Dax Shepard?

  So we do some warm ups. That goes fine. I'm not like embarrassing myself.

• 1:42:58Speaker 01

  It's like a zip zap zop or like.

• 1:43:00Dax Shepard?

  We did one word story.

• 1:43:02Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:43:02Dax Shepard?

  Uh, then we did this interesting game I had never played where it's like, so you, the person three down from you, you give a name.

• 1:43:10Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:43:10Dax Shepard?

  Peter Farrelly. Then the next person has to say, give a, a, a characteristic of them. Impatient. Then the next person says plumber, ding, ding, ding.

• 1:43:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:43:22Dax Shepard?

  And then boom, now we're on Peter and he's gotta act out all those things.

• 1:43:26Speaker 01

  Wow. Okay.

• 1:43:27Dax Shepard?

  They're short.

• 1:43:28Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:43:28Dax Shepard?

  And then it's just going in a circle. So then the person next to them gets a name, then everyone gets to, you know, pass on a thing. Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:43:36Dax Shepard?

  And then, um, mind meld, ding, ding, ding.

• 1:43:39Speaker 01

  We love that.

• 1:43:40Dax Shepard?

  Which this Matt guy and I finally solved.

• 1:43:43Speaker 01

  You melded.

• 1:43:44Dax Shepard?

  We melded. It was going on forever. It was, people were losing confidence, but he and I got it. Allergies was the word.

• 1:43:49Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 1:43:50Dax Shepard?

  Anywho, that finishes fine. Then we go out on stage and you have to enter to music. And then again, I've not seen the show. So I'm just like, I'm learning so many things, what games we're playing tonight. I don't remember any of the names of these, you know, what all these different scenarios will be in. And then we're supposed to walk out on stage and strike a pose like you're in like a Western or a cop show or something to the song. And I'm like, okay, so I walk out, I do that. And then I can see in my periphery, at some point, the rest of them are now dancing or they're doing movements in addition to this pose I was told to do. Now I get, I'm right out of the game. The show hasn't even started.

• 1:44:24Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:44:24Dax Shepard?

  And I'm like, oh my God, I'm like a statue and they're all moving. And now aren't we supposed to move tough guy? Or is this general dancing?

• 1:44:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:44:32Dax Shepard?

  Trying to get context clues. And then like, I, I basically just, I instigate walking off the stage and getting in the pit where we'll ultimately have to go, but I certainly was like, time to go.

• 1:44:41Speaker 01

  I don't know what I'm doing. Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:44:44Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I also have to add my favorite writing partner, my writing soulmate at the Grilling's was Josh Nathan. I talk about him all the time. The J is Caitlin and Josh and I were besties.

• 1:44:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:44:55Dax Shepard?

  He happened to be at work. He's a college professor.

• 1:44:57Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:44:58Dax Shepard?

  And another professor came in who also weirdly was in the same, like, oh, we're going to the show tonight. Dax is performing. So he's like, oh, I'll come. So I know Josh is there.

• 1:45:06Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:45:07Dax Shepard?

  So that both.

• 1:45:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's both.

• 1:45:09Dax Shepard?

  It does both things. It's like, if I eat shit, this will be hilarious. Cause he and I were the same and we'll get to laugh at this afterwards.

• 1:45:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:45:16Dax Shepard?

  Also I, I know someone there, so I want to be kind of.

• 1:45:20Speaker 01

  Impress him a little bit. Yeah. What does he teach in college? Like comedy?

• 1:45:24Dax Shepard?

  Acting, I believe.

• 1:45:25Speaker 01

  Oh shit. Yeah. Then extra, extra stress.

• 1:45:28Dax Shepard?

  Although I know he's not gonna, whether he's shit or not, he's gonna love it.

• 1:45:32Speaker 01

  Of course, but eh.

• 1:45:34Dax Shepard?

  The first scene we get in, I end up in, I'm up maybe in the third improv set. And the first one I'm, I'm out to see, man. They're doing character choices. They have emotions already, like they're, you know, they've been doing that.

• 1:45:47Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly.

• 1:45:48Dax Shepard?

  I'm more in that scene, just starting to remember everything I'm supposed to know. Like, oh, I should have had a character. Oh, I should have, I should already know my relationship. I should bring some emotion. I should be doing space work.

• 1:45:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:45:59Dax Shepard?

  Not doing any space work. I'm sitting in a chair on a bus. I don't know.

• 1:46:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:04Dax Shepard?

  First one, I'm like, I come off like, whoo, that was rough.

• 1:46:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:09Dax Shepard?

  Why even have me out there?

• 1:46:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:11Dax Shepard?

  But then I sit down and I'm like, shake it off. Okay. What do we gotta do next time? It's like, we need to, we need to, you need to pick a character. You need to commit.

• 1:46:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:18Dax Shepard?

  It's time to fucking just get a character and get it going.

• 1:46:20Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:46:21Dax Shepard?

  And so the next one is, oh, it's a town. It's, it's, it's an HOA meeting. And then the audience tells you what the problem is.

• 1:46:28Speaker 01

  Oh, great.

• 1:46:28Dax Shepard?

  And it's frogs. Frogs is the problem.

• 1:46:30Speaker 01

  Love it.

• 1:46:31Dax Shepard?

  Okay. And I'm an old man in that one.

• 1:46:33Speaker 01

  Oh, which you are. So it's perfect. As according to Jennifer Lawrence.

• 1:46:37Dax Shepard?

  Physicality going. I got my voice.

• 1:46:40Speaker 01

  Oh, nice.

• 1:46:41Dax Shepard?

  And, um, that one went pretty well. I had a couple of zingers.

• 1:46:45Speaker 01

  Okay. And then we're, okay.

• 1:46:47Dax Shepard?

  So now I'm like, okay, between the first one and that one, I'm kind of at zero.

• 1:46:50Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:46:51Dax Shepard?

  And then two more, maybe a really short one. Then the last one I was in was, uh, guest on a morning news show in like New Mexico. Again, the other performers do all the lifting. By the time I enter, they're doing two, like, you know, good morning, Hodis and Katie Lee, Kathy Lee and Hodam.

• 1:47:10Speaker 01

  See, this is why you gotta see.

• 1:47:13Dax Shepard?

  Hodel.

• 1:47:14Speaker 01

  No, Hoda.

• 1:47:15Dax Shepard?

  George Hodel.

• 1:47:15Speaker 01

  No, no, I think Hoda. Now I'm in my head. Okay.

• 1:47:20Speaker 02

  It's Hoda.

• 1:47:20Dax Shepard?

  Hoda.

• 1:47:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:47:21Dax Shepard?

  And Kathy Lee.

• 1:47:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:47:22Dax Shepard?

  Whoever drinks during the morning show, whoever those two people are.

• 1:47:26Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:47:27Dax Shepard?

  They're nailing that. And then I have to enter as a youth pastor.

• 1:47:30Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 1:47:31Dax Shepard?

  It's to talk about premarital sex.

• 1:47:33Speaker 01

  Oh, you'd be great at that.

• 1:47:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:47:35Speaker 01

  Were you pro?

• 1:47:37Dax Shepard?

  Well, I'm a youth pastor.

• 1:47:39Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:47:39Dax Shepard?

  I did recommend, no, I was saying, I recommend that the teens, there's a lot of options now and we're, and we are progressive. And so one of the options of course is docking. We encourage the teens to dock and to soak.

• 1:47:50Speaker 01

  Yeah. So, yeah.

• 1:47:51Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. And you know, it's just that kind of business.

• 1:47:54Speaker 01

  Okay. People laughed and laughed.

• 1:47:55Dax Shepard?

  They're like, there's an easy, right? They're like cheats. Yeah. Cause they're fun words. Anyways, it was fine. It was fine. I was probably the least impressive improver of the eight people.

• 1:48:07Speaker 01

  Cause they're doing it every day.

• 1:48:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah. I don't know. Certainly.

• 1:48:11Speaker 01

  A lot more than.

• 1:48:11Dax Shepard?

  2023, if the guy, if Matt had never done this, then he's, the point is I lived.

• 1:48:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:48:17Dax Shepard?

  I lived. And then afterwards backstage, I saw Karen Moriama, who was my director, who I loved back in the day. It was so nice to see Karen. And then in the lobby, I saw Savannah Page, my niece on parenthood.

• 1:48:32Speaker 01

  Oh. Wow, yeah.

• 1:48:34Dax Shepard?

  She was with her older sister who always was on set. And I'm walking out of the lobby and I hear a girl say, Uncle Crosby. And in my mind, I'm like, oh, this is so weird. I've been called Crosby in public a lot of times. No one's ever said Uncle Crosby.

• 1:48:49Speaker 01

  Very specific.

• 1:48:50Dax Shepard?

  It took me a second to compute because she was 11 and now she's 23.

• 1:48:55Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. Is she in the Groundlings?

• 1:48:58Dax Shepard?

  No, she just was in the audience.

• 1:48:59Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:49:00Dax Shepard?

  She had gone to the show.

• 1:49:01Speaker 01

  So it ended?

• 1:49:03Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, and I survived. And that's pretty much.

• 1:49:06Speaker 01

  That's good.

• 1:49:06Dax Shepard?

  That's about as good as I think I could have. And then this morning, I was like, do I wanna, like, find the fire again to want to go on that stage and want to make everyone laugh? Like, could I? Not even do I want to, could I?

• 1:49:20Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:49:20Dax Shepard?

  Is that still in me? Do I have enough vigor in the tank to do it? Do you?

• 1:49:26Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:49:27Dax Shepard?

  No, no, for sure.

• 1:49:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it makes me sad.

• 1:49:30Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that feels immoral of me to.

• 1:49:34Speaker 01

  It does.

• 1:49:34Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:49:35Speaker 01

  I mean, the mirror neurons just now when you're explaining the warmups and then like.

• 1:49:40Dax Shepard?

  Bring to the stage these performers.

• 1:49:42Speaker 01

  Doing poses. It's like, I can't do that anymore.

• 1:49:47Dax Shepard?

  Right.

• 1:49:47Speaker 01

  And what it really tells me, and this is sad, but obviously true. I just maybe never had it the way some people did.

• 1:49:57Dax Shepard?

  Ben Schwartz.

• 1:49:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, and not even, not, yes, Ben, of course, but like, people you don't know that are still there.

• 1:50:06Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:50:07Speaker 01

  Doing shows, loving it.

• 1:50:09Dax Shepard?

  Yes.

• 1:50:10Speaker 01

  And they're amazing. They're amazing then. They're amazing now. Like, I was never, I was never gonna be that, I guess. Cause I just don't, I don't think I, I mean, I thought I did then, but clearly not.

• 1:50:25Dax Shepard?

  It's just a crazy different dynamic trying to get noticed versus.

• 1:50:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:50:30Dax Shepard?

  Trying to hide under the radar.

• 1:50:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:50:33Dax Shepard?

  It's very weird. It's like, I don't know how to operate from that mindset.

• 1:50:37Speaker 01

  You know, it's funny with me is I was always nervous.

• 1:50:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:41Speaker 01

  I was always like, I, I was, I loved it and it was such a high.

• 1:50:45Dax Shepard?

  You really should have done sketch. You would have loved sketch because there's no nervousness. You have a role, you've rehearsed it, you have a character, you have props and, you know.

• 1:50:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:50:56Dax Shepard?

  It's a scene that's super funny.

• 1:50:58Speaker 01

  I know, but, but the high.

• 1:51:01Dax Shepard?

  The high is still there.

• 1:51:02Speaker 01

  Was from improv. The high is from creating. Oh, you're saying from sketch it is.

• 1:51:07Dax Shepard?

  It's still there because even within these written sketches, there's just a million different things that can happen. And you can double and triple down on those things and you can bring those things back. And some things.

• 1:51:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:51:19Dax Shepard?

  May stretch to a minute and a half that work 12 seconds and then someone else gets truncated. Like, it's still very alive.

• 1:51:27Dax Shepard?

  Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. We get support from ZipRecruiter. Oh, get recruiting. So I went down this rabbit hole the other day on real holiday jobs that exist and I couldn't stop. Somebody out there is hiring a ham glazer, a professional ham glazer. Another place is hiring a lead elf, implying a whole hierarchy of elves I had never even considered. Here's the thing, these jobs need real skills. People like that are hard to find. Whether you're hiring for one of these roles or any other role, the best way to find qualified people who are genuinely excited about your role is on ZipRecruiter. And right now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com/dax.

• 1:52:12Dax Shepard?

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

• 1:52:47Speaker 01

  Well, you know, when I was a clown in college, in a clown class?

• 1:52:50Dax Shepard?

  Your clown days?

• 1:52:51Speaker 01

  I did a lot of, you know, that was easy because you did, you had like, your clown had a character and a personality.

• 1:52:57Dax Shepard?

  Armor.

• 1:52:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it was easy to play in that world.

• 1:53:01Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:01Speaker 01

  And be funny. I was, people really loved me as a clown.

• 1:53:04Dax Shepard?

  They loved you as a clown.

• 1:53:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:53:05Dax Shepard?

  Now that you could still maybe.

• 1:53:07Speaker 01

  Well, guess what? I'm gonna be a clown for Halloween this year.

• 1:53:09Dax Shepard?

  You decided?

• 1:53:10Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:53:11Dax Shepard?

  How did, where'd this come about?

• 1:53:12Speaker 01

  I didn't have a costume yet and I was looking.

• 1:53:15Dax Shepard?

  The theme for this year should have almost been classics.

• 1:53:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:53:18Dax Shepard?

  Because no one knew what to do this year. It's totally.

• 1:53:22Speaker 01

  It's, it's really nilly. Yeah.

• 1:53:24Dax Shepard?

  It's not the normal cohesive group theme anymore. And I'm like, I'm like, hun, she keeps hitting me with these different, and I'm like, babe, I just, maybe can I go as a train conductor since I pulled the.

• 1:53:35Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:53:36Dax Shepard?

  It makes sense. And I got, I have a lot on my plate. I like, I gotta drive that thing. I had, I have had a couple of different costumes that were too big.

• 1:53:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:53:43Dax Shepard?

  For me to be in the car. My ponytail last year was hitting the ceiling. I'm like, I just need to drive this fucking car in that crash.

• 1:53:49Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:53:50Dax Shepard?

  So I'm like, maybe train, but if you went clown, I went train conductor, someone was a ghost, someone was a pumpkin, it could be fun to go.

• 1:53:57Speaker 01

  I like that.

• 1:53:58Dax Shepard?

  Classic.

• 1:53:58Speaker 01

  I was gonna go pumpkin.

• 1:54:00Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:54:01Speaker 01

  I thought this, I was like, you know what? This year, because there is no theme that really, ding, ding, ding, improv and sketch. Like, I felt really like, ah, there's no theme. I don't know how to be. I don't know what to do with this open world awaiting me, you know? So then I was like, you know what? Back to basics. I'm gonna go pumpkin. I don't think I've ever been a pumpkin, actually, ever. Yeah. So then I was looking up those costumes, but none of them seemed that cute. So then I went on Etsy and I was looking for like cuter pumpkin ones. And then I saw this vintage clown costume. And so I bought that and it's supposed to arrive in time.

• 1:54:40Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:54:41Speaker 01

  Which is a little scary because I'm nervous I won't. But he asked me specifically, he was like, you need this by Halloween. I said, yes.

• 1:54:46Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:46Speaker 02

  You and Vinnie could have been matching pumpkins.

• 1:54:49Speaker 01

  He's gonna be a pumpkin?

• 1:54:50Speaker 02

  That's what he picked.

• 1:54:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:54:52Dax Shepard?

  I love when little guys are pumpkins.

• 1:54:53Speaker 01

  Me too, me too. But I, I can't compete with Vinnie. Are you kidding me? I would look ridiculous while he's looking so cute.

• 1:55:01Dax Shepard?

  Your legs are gonna look real skinny as a pumpkin.

• 1:55:04Speaker 01

  I know. It just, I don't, I wasn't gonna be right.

• 1:55:07Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:55:07Speaker 01

  Some people's pumpkins on, on Amazon were like not circular enough.

• 1:55:13Dax Shepard?

  Can you have a sexy pumpkin? Do those?

• 1:55:15Speaker 01

  They had those, but I thought those looked so stupid.

• 1:55:17Dax Shepard?

  How does a sexy pumpkin look?

• 1:55:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's just like kind of a dress.

• 1:55:21Dax Shepard?

  Oh, it's a mesh.

• 1:55:22Speaker 01

  It wasn't a mesh. It just was like a dress and then.

• 1:55:25Dax Shepard?

  Just a normal dress.

• 1:55:26Speaker 01

  That looks stupid. I wanted like kind of an inflatable one, like really huge. But I couldn't figure that out. Anyway, I'm excited to be a vintage clown.

• 1:55:34Dax Shepard?

  You're gonna be a vintage clown?

• 1:55:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, the costume looks like vintage retro and has some paint. It's really pretty. I don't want to talk about it.

• 1:55:41Dax Shepard?

  Well, I want it to be expensive because what happens is when I'm looking at these costumes on Amazon or elsewhere.

• 1:55:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:55:47Dax Shepard?

  I want it to be more expensive.

• 1:55:48Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:55:49Dax Shepard?

  I look at it, it's like, you can't get all that shit for $12. Like, I just got a hat, an engineer hat, in case I'm allowed to do that.

• 1:55:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:55:56Dax Shepard?

  And it was like, get a hat, a whistle and a handkerchief for $4. I'm like, all that stuff is gonna be flammable plastic.

• 1:56:04Speaker 01

  Exactly. Bad for the earth.

• 1:56:06Dax Shepard?

  I'm like, I want to spend 40 bucks on a train conductor hat. Can't be done.

• 1:56:09Speaker 01

  Did you look at Etsy?

• 1:56:11Dax Shepard?

  No.

• 1:56:11Speaker 01

  You should have.

• 1:56:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, Etsy is where the like handcrafted stuff.

• 1:56:14Dax Shepard?

  Really? I don't know how to use Etsy.

• 1:56:16Speaker 02

  It's probably too late.

• 1:56:17Speaker 01

  Make an account.

• 1:56:17Dax Shepard?

  It's a website or is there an app too?

• 1:56:19Speaker 01

  There's probably an app too.

• 1:56:20Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, that ship sailed. I just bought the hat about 20 minutes ago.

• 1:56:23Speaker 01

  And it'll be here tomorrow. I mean, that's the thing with these $4 ones.

• 1:56:27Dax Shepard?

  Plastic hats arrive quick.

• 1:56:28Speaker 01

  They really do.

• 1:56:29Dax Shepard?

  They're lightweight.

• 1:56:30Speaker 01

  They really do. Okay.

• 1:56:31Dax Shepard?

  Could have done.

• 1:56:32Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:56:37Dax Shepard?

  The fucking ratio of his eyeballs to his face are just, it's not possible. We're looking at a photo of Vinnie.

• 1:56:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, and his pumpkin.

• 1:56:44Dax Shepard?

  The world's cutest little boy.

• 1:56:46Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, is he cute. Wow.

• 1:56:50Speaker 01

  Speaking of old.

• 1:56:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:56:54Speaker 01

  My parents are in town.

• 1:56:55Dax Shepard?

  Oh, sure. They're older than you.

• 1:56:56Speaker 01

  They're older than me and you.

• 1:56:58Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:56:58Speaker 01

  Um, and no, I feel like I'm like anxious about their age. It's like, it's happening where I'm starting to feel a little anxious.

• 1:57:08Dax Shepard?

  You're a little early, but go ahead.

• 1:57:10Speaker 01

  I don't, I, I wasn't anxious until I saw behavior that made me a little anxious.

• 1:57:17Dax Shepard?

  Is someone incontinent?

• 1:57:18Speaker 01

  Not that I know of.

• 1:57:20Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:57:20Speaker 01

  But.

• 1:57:21Dax Shepard?

  You check the sheets?

• 1:57:23Speaker 01

  No, I don't want to think about that at all. Um, more of a slowness, you know?

• 1:57:30Dax Shepard?

  Maybe you're seeing the ease and contentment of retirement. How many hours a week is your dad working, by the way? How, how?

• 1:57:35Speaker 01

  He's working.

• 1:57:36Dax Shepard?

  He a full time, right?

• 1:57:37Speaker 01

  No, not full time, but.

• 1:57:39Dax Shepard?

  Most of the time?

• 1:57:41Speaker 01

  I haven't seen him work on this trip.

• 1:57:42Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:57:43Speaker 01

  But like, they were getting out of the car and like, I was just like, oh, God, like, none of this like seems like it's easy anymore. And that, and then they blamed it on the fact that they're used to driving in SUVs and that my car was low to the ground, which like, maybe, I guess, but it was just like.

• 1:58:02Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:58:02Speaker 01

  A little.

• 1:58:03Dax Shepard?

  Gave you anxiety.

• 1:58:04Speaker 01

  Gave me a little anxiety. Also, like, I don't feel like people can hear as well as they used to. But also, I don't know if it's that or they're just checked out. I just.

• 1:58:14Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, there's a lot of different things that could be going on.

• 1:58:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, and you know me, it's like, so then I'm getting anxious and then that sometimes comes off as impatience.

• 1:58:23Dax Shepard?

  Or irritability.

• 1:58:24Speaker 01

  Similar, you know?

• 1:58:26Dax Shepard?

  Cousins, kissing cousins.

• 1:58:28Speaker 01

  Cause, yeah, I'll be like, like yesterday, my dad was, he's like, what's that sound? And I was like.

• 1:58:36Dax Shepard?

  Way better than what's that smell?

• 1:58:37Speaker 01

  Well.

• 1:58:38Dax Shepard?

  Okay, what's that sound? You heard a sound?

• 1:58:41Speaker 01

  He, we were going upstairs and then he, we were walking, he's walking past a bedroom and the doors were open and. The air was on and he said, what's that sound? And I said, it's the air conditioning. And then I like went into my room and I felt bad, of course. But then I was like, maybe he wasn't talking about the air conditioning. Maybe it was talking about something else and I could have asked more questions.

• 1:59:02Dax Shepard?

  Sure, sure, sure.

• 1:59:03Speaker 01

  But I got, I think I got anxious. I did. I got anxious about the fact that he wouldn't know that was the air conditioning.

• 1:59:10Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, you rely on him to know this shit.

• 1:59:12Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I get scared.

• 1:59:13Dax Shepard?

  Answering shit. Yeah. Yours was asking him, dad, what's this noise?

• 1:59:17Speaker 01

  Exactly. But it's happening, you know, and it's upsetting.

• 1:59:22Dax Shepard?

  How old are they?

• 1:59:23Speaker 01

  My dad's seventy two.

• 1:59:24Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 1:59:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, he's in his seventies.

• 1:59:26Dax Shepard?

  I was gonna say, you got a long way because my mom's seventy five now.

• 1:59:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:59:32Dax Shepard?

  But no, he's only four years behind.

• 1:59:34Speaker 01

  And he's a man. It is different.

• 1:59:36Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:59:37Speaker 01

  When your parents start to get older, it's stressful.

• 1:59:39Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, it is. Yeah.

• 1:59:41Speaker 01

  And like, that's gonna be you.

• 1:59:44Dax Shepard?

  To Lincoln and Delta?

• 1:59:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, like they're gonna start being.

• 1:59:47Dax Shepard?

  I can't wait. I can't wait till they have to take care of me and wait on me and be nice to me.

• 1:59:52Speaker 01

  Well, what if they're mean to you like I am?

• 1:59:54Dax Shepard?

  They might be.

• 1:59:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's just, it's not out of meanness. It's out of fear.

• 1:59:59Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 1:59:59Speaker 01

  There's a lot of like, oh no.

• 2:00:01Dax Shepard?

  That's part of the reason my hair didn't look good is they had been mean to me that morning.

• 2:00:05Speaker 01

  You are not gonna do well.

• 2:00:12Dax Shepard?

  Like I, I don't care what my hair looks like. My girls were mean to me this morning.

• 2:00:17Speaker 01

  That's the one thing I will say that is nice about my family.

• 2:00:21Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:00:22Speaker 01

  If you're mean, they aren't taking it personally. Thank God.

• 2:00:26Dax Shepard?

  That's never really got a thick skin around there.

• 2:00:28Speaker 01

  You have to.

• 2:00:29Dax Shepard?

  You gotta to survive.

• 2:00:30Speaker 01

  And that's not something I invented. They invented that.

• 2:00:33Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:00:34Speaker 01

  So it's like from, from top down.

• 2:00:36Dax Shepard?

  I'm too sensitive.

• 2:00:37Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:00:38Dax Shepard?

  I'm way too sensitive.

• 2:00:39Speaker 01

  You gotta maybe.

• 2:00:40Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I woke up and everyone was already in a fight and then I tried to like.

• 2:00:44Speaker 01

  Yesterday morning.

• 2:00:45Dax Shepard?

  Joyous self and.

• 2:00:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then sometimes that doesn't work.

• 2:00:48Dax Shepard?

  It didn't work. And then I was disinvited to walk with my friend.

• 2:00:51Speaker 01

  Oh no.

• 2:00:53Dax Shepard?

  Really hurt. So I didn't care what my hair looked like yesterday.

• 2:00:57Speaker 01

  But then today was better.

• 2:00:59Dax Shepard?

  Today I walked her.

• 2:01:00Speaker 01

  Yeah. So.

• 2:01:00Dax Shepard?

  Fun today.

• 2:01:01Speaker 01

  Things, you know, these things.

• 2:01:03Dax Shepard?

  And the older one waved at me as I walked by her on the way home. That's kinda good.

• 2:01:06Speaker 01

  That's great.

• 2:01:07Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, yeah. We were far enough from the school, I think.

• 2:01:10Speaker 01

  That's great. Listen, it's hard.

• 2:01:12Dax Shepard?

  Okay. Do we have time? Yeah. Um, do you want to talk about everything you, you can see everything?

• 2:01:17Speaker 01

  We have time.

• 2:01:19Dax Shepard?

  We could do it next fact check. We could do it tomorrow.

• 2:01:20Speaker 01

  Save it.

• 2:01:21Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:01:22Speaker 01

  Um, cause yeah, we, you saw it. So we really have to debrief on it and hopefully that gives people another day to go to the theater.

• 2:01:29Dax Shepard?

  Two.

• 2:01:30Speaker 01

  Two days to go to the theater.

• 2:01:31Dax Shepard?

  You have two days.

• 2:01:32Speaker 01

  Um, and we have facts. I have actually a lot of facts.

• 2:01:35Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:01:36Speaker 01

  So hold on. This is for Brittany Snow.

• 2:01:39Dax Shepard?

  Loved her.

• 2:01:39Speaker 01

  Loved her.

• 2:01:41Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:01:41Speaker 01

  Incredible episode. So vulnerable. She's just been through so much.

• 2:01:45Dax Shepard?

  Mm hmm.

• 2:01:46Speaker 01

  Okay. I looked up how much money do people used to make on commercials? Historically, commercial acting was considered one of the most lucrative hidden secrets in show business. During the peak era of traditional television, the eighties through the early two thousands, a SAG after a union actor could routinely make twenty thousand to forty thousand and sometimes upwards of a hundred thousand dollars for a single day's work.

• 2:02:09Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, over the course of the residuals.

• 2:02:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:02:13Dax Shepard?

  And some people do a Snickers commercial back in the day when they let those things run for a year or so and play a thousand times. You get a paycheck. It's incredible.

• 2:02:21Speaker 01

  So nice. I didn't.

• 2:02:23Dax Shepard?

  You had it pretty good.

• 2:02:24Speaker 01

  Oh, I, I mean, I booked a lot of commercials.

• 2:02:27Dax Shepard?

  You never pay attention, but do you know the one you made the very most on?

• 2:02:32Speaker 01

  I don't remember.

• 2:02:33Dax Shepard?

  So many commercials.

• 2:02:34Speaker 01

  I had a lucky run of commercials. I did. It was past the time where you could make money like this in a day.

• 2:02:40Dax Shepard?

  They ran forever. Yeah.

• 2:02:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. Okay. Today's news is another man's fish rap. Is a saying she brought up. I will say this AI overview is stupid because it says that classic phrase, a clever play on one man's trash is another man's treasure captures blah, blah, blah. But it's not saying what the actual quote is, you know, it's just saying like, this is what it means. I'm like, I already know what it means.

• 2:03:06Dax Shepard?

  We know what it means.

• 2:03:07Speaker 01

  We already know that.

• 2:03:08Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:03:08Speaker 01

  Someone else said today's news, tomorrow's fish rap. I like that. Me too.

• 2:03:13Dax Shepard?

  That used to be the case. It's like.

• 2:03:15Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:03:15Dax Shepard?

  Something was in the news, you were freaked out about it, but then tomorrow you're gonna wrap fish in it and then it's gone. And there's no way to ever read it again, Monica.

• 2:03:23Speaker 01

  Well, if you saved it, but if you were making fish, I guess you had.

• 2:03:27Dax Shepard?

  But if like you're, you heard about something, what was it? The whole scandal was so and so. You'd be relying on someone's memory of the article unless you went to the library and looked at the archive microfiche.

• 2:03:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:03:39Dax Shepard?

  News did go away.

• 2:03:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know.

• 2:03:42Dax Shepard?

  It couldn't be revisited.

• 2:03:43Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:03:44Dax Shepard?

  Now, whatever you've done was accessible with a search.

• 2:03:47Speaker 01

  I know.

• 2:03:47Dax Shepard?

  So watch your step.

• 2:03:48Speaker 01

  Okay. Are soap operas on the decline? Yeah.

• 2:03:52Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:03:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:03:53Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:03:54Speaker 01

  And are, is there still a soap opera digest award? No. The last one was two thousand and five.

• 2:04:00Dax Shepard?

  Okay. Twenty one years ago. Still more recent than my last improv show.

• 2:04:04Speaker 01

  Yeah. Is Pitch Perfect the basic musical comedy of all time? It says it was upon its release.

• 2:04:11Dax Shepard?

  Wicked.

• 2:04:11Speaker 01

  But now, well, it's actually like very hard to find, which is annoying. Uh, because if you start looking up, wow, where did it go? I have so many Tums. It comes up with like The Lion King. It's like, that's not funny. Oh, now this.

• 2:04:29Dax Shepard?

  Now it's not live action either.

• 2:04:31Speaker 01

  Should I type in live action?

• 2:04:32Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:04:33Speaker 01

  Okay. Well, wicked is now coming up.

• 2:04:35Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I think wicked's blown all of them off the.

• 2:04:38Speaker 01

  And now it says Beauty and the Beast. See the, whoa, maybe it is Beauty and the Beast.

• 2:04:43Dax Shepard?

  Cause that's more recent.

• 2:04:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. Highest grossing live action musical of all time, bringing in approximately one point two six billion worldwide.

• 2:04:51Dax Shepard?

  Whoa.

• 2:04:52Speaker 01

  You probably were thinking about domestic.

• 2:04:54Dax Shepard?

  And I did not. I don't think any movies made one point six domestic.

• 2:04:57Speaker 01

  Um, rare bit.

• 2:04:59Dax Shepard?

  Say what now?

• 2:05:00Speaker 01

  Is Matthew Reese's boat's name.

• 2:05:02Dax Shepard?

  Is the movable feast.

• 2:05:04Speaker 01

  But I looked it up and it was even in New York Times. A lot of places said rare bit.

• 2:05:08Dax Shepard?

  Rare bit?

• 2:05:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. I knew that wasn't what you said, but I, I couldn't find anything but rare bit. You gonna text him?

• 2:05:15Dax Shepard?

  No, I don't have his number, but I think his Instagram.

• 2:05:19Speaker 02

  Think that movable feast was the business. It was a boutique boat charter business that he operated. The boat was named rare bit.

• 2:05:27Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 2:05:27Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay. So.

• 2:05:29Speaker 02

  I think the, the website was movablefeast.com.

• 2:05:32Dax Shepard?

  Okay.

• 2:05:33Speaker 01

  Okay. And the boat is rare bit.

• 2:05:34Dax Shepard?

  I know what that means. Rare bib. Like a bit, rare bit.

• 2:05:38Speaker 01

  R A R E B I T.

• 2:05:41Dax Shepard?

  Wonder if that's Welsh.

• 2:05:42Speaker 01

  Probably.

• 2:05:43Dax Shepard?

  Good for him.

• 2:05:44Speaker 01

  It's probably Welsh for rabbit.

• 2:05:47Speaker 01

  Okay. You were talking about your old.

• 2:05:49Dax Shepard?

  Cause it sounds like rare bit, rabbit.

• 2:05:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:05:53Speaker 01

  Um, you were talking about your old phone that you were hanging Christmas lights and you talked to Kristen and then you decided, and you invited her to New Year's.

• 2:06:01Dax Shepard?

  To Bahamas.

• 2:06:02Speaker 01

  Uh huh. Was it this?

• 2:06:04Dax Shepard?

  Oh yeah. Absolutely.

• 2:06:06Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 2:06:07Dax Shepard?

  Old workhorse.

• 2:06:08Speaker 01

  It was Samsung S G H C two twenty five, blue and silver.

• 2:06:14Dax Shepard?

  Oh, is it Samsung? Not a Nokia?

• 2:06:15Speaker 01

  You said Samsung, so I looked up Samsung.

• 2:06:18Dax Shepard?

  That's it. You got it.

• 2:06:19Speaker 01

  Yeah. T-Mobile. It says very rare cellular.

• 2:06:23Dax Shepard?

  Ah, you could throw that thing across the room and you'd be fine. I might have sidekicked her though, now that I think about it. Cause I do think when we first started dating, we both had sidekicks.

• 2:06:32Speaker 01

  Sidekick.

• 2:06:33Dax Shepard?

  That was a device. I still miss the sidekick.

• 2:06:36Speaker 01

  Was that Samsung?

• 2:06:37Speaker 02

  It's T-Mobile.

• 2:06:38Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 2:06:39Dax Shepard?

  Well, I think it might be. I mean, they wouldn't have manufactured it.

• 2:06:42Speaker 01

  It says the T-Mobile sidekick as well, originally known as the danger hip top.

• 2:06:49Dax Shepard?

  Oh, I don't remember calling it that.

• 2:06:51Speaker 01

  Okay, I'm glad. It looks, there's a lot going on.

• 2:06:54Dax Shepard?

  Awesome. Cause you'd flip over the screen and then you had a full QWERTY keyboard.

• 2:06:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's that.

• 2:07:00Dax Shepard?

  What a nice unit. Fuck, I miss that thing.

• 2:07:02Speaker 01

  You do?

• 2:07:03Dax Shepard?

  Yeah, I could boogie. I could write you up. I could write you a manuscript on that thing.

• 2:07:08Speaker 01

  Did you, you didn't have a BlackBerry?

• 2:07:10Dax Shepard?

  I then had a BlackBerry.

• 2:07:12Speaker 01

  I never had one of those.

• 2:07:13Dax Shepard?

  You didn't?

• 2:07:13Speaker 01

  I never had one with a keyboard like.

• 2:07:15Dax Shepard?

  Oh, you, I loved it. I loved it. I could boogie.

• 2:07:19Speaker 01

  Why don't you get it again? You can probably, it says rare, but you could probably find it.

• 2:07:23Dax Shepard?

  I can't imagine it's like. Man, I'll go for Halloween if someone has an old phone.

• 2:07:29Speaker 01

  Well, remember a couple of years ago, I tried to go as Apple Pay. Like that was my whole.

• 2:07:34Speaker 01

  There's a whole idea. I was gonna go as Apple Pay and then day of, I couldn't figure out how to go as Apple Pay. So I had to go as a cat.

• 2:07:42Speaker 01

  Classic. Um, all right. That's all my facts.

• 2:07:46Dax Shepard?

  Oh, okay. Well, those were great.

• 2:07:47Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 2:07:48Dax Shepard?

  Really good job on the facts.

• 2:07:49Speaker 01

  Um, she was just awesome. I hope people listen.

• 2:07:52Dax Shepard?

  Yeah.

• 2:07:53Speaker 01

  Nice girl.

• 2:07:54Dax Shepard?

  All right.

• 2:07:55Speaker 01

  Love you.

• 2:07:55Dax Shepard?

  Love you.

• 2:08:11Dax Shepard?

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