Noah Wyle

Noah Wyle is People's Sexiest Man Alive! Amy hangs with 'The Pitt' and 'ER' star and talks about almost getting killed by an emu, getting pranked by George Clooney on the set of 'ER,' and trying to befriend Shaun Cassidy. Host: Amy Poehler Guests: Shawn Hatosy and Noah Wyle Executive producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-Berman For Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel Lovell For The Ringer: Supervising producers Juliet Litman, Sean Fennessey, and Mallory Rubin; video producers Jack Wilson and Aleya Zenieris; audio producer Kaya McMullen; social producer Bridget Geerlings; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and bookers Kat Spillane and Paige Garbarini Original music: Amy Miles Brought to you by PayPal. Learn more at https://paypal.com/payin4 Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://Allstate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by eBay Live. Here's how it goes. First, you're watching the eBay livestream telling yourself, I'm just looking. And then boom, you see a vintage Rolex go for an absolute steal. Suddenly, a rare beanie baby pops up. Adrenaline hits and you're bidding. You might lose that first one, but you bid again and win. And that winning rush? Incredible, because you beat everyone to it. Meanwhile, on eBay Live, you don't just watch the action, you're in it. Download the eBay app to stream and shop live. eBay Live, things people love.

• 0:38Amy Poehler?

  Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Good Hang. Boy, we have one of my favorite actors on today from one of my favorite show parentheses, shows, and that is Noah Wiley. Noah Wiley is joining us and we're going to talk about so many fun things. We're going to talk about, um, well, people falling asleep on set. We're going to talk about what it was like playing basketball with George Clooney. We're going to talk about a little show called ER that I've watched in its entirety three times through. We're going to talk about The Pit, a little show that's winning every Emmy, including 1,000 awards. Oh, and speaking of awards, we're going to talk about the fact that Noah Wiley, announced

• 1:18Amy Poehler?

  here for the very first time, is People Magazine's sexiest man alive. Yeah, baby. Okay, we're going to get into it, but before we do, we always try to talk to somebody who knows our guest or has a question for me to ask our guest. And we are talking to Sean Haddacy. Yes, Dr. Jack Abbott, um, the, the, the Nightcrawler himself, the, the man from the night shift from The Pit. And you know Sean, he's an incredible actor, director. He, you know, you know him from Animal Kingdom, you know him from Southland. He's just our, our, our favorite crazy doctor who's, you know, who's bringing us along for the ride. So let's see if we can get Sean on the Zoom.

• 2:03Amy Poehler?

  Hey, Sean.

• 2:11Amy Poehler?

  This episode of Good Hang is presented by PayPal. Brighten up the start to the festive season by getting ahead of the holiday rush. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday, like Sephora for gift sets, Target for toys and electronics, and TikTok Shop for fashion apparel and gadgets. Check out with the flexibility to pay now or pay later and split your payments with Pay in Four with no interest, no late fees. Shop now with PayPal. Pay in Four, subject to approval. Learn more at paypal.com/payinfour. PayPal, Inc., NMLS 910457.

• 2:55Amy Poehler?

  Sean?

• 2:56Speaker 01

  Amy, how are you?

• 2:58Amy Poehler?

  Sean, it is good to see you.

• 3:00Speaker 01

  It is good to see you.

• 3:02Amy Poehler?

  You know, we just officially met in person just recently.

• 3:06Speaker 01

  The pre Emmy party and

• 3:08Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  we were near the bar area and you did this thing, which I often do, which is I put my head down and walk away. And I was like, she doesn't want to talk to us. And then your friend looked up and, and there was a moment of recognition and my wife was like, he knows you were going to go talk to Amy right now.

• 3:24Amy Poehler?

  Wonderful wife, Kelly. I got to talk to you both. And you're right. I mean, I, I get a little overwhelmed at parties.

• 3:32Speaker 01

  I understand, but we didn't give you that chance. We took you hostage for like 20 minutes and we threw up all over you and thank you for indulging.

• 3:39Amy Poehler?

  Right back at you. I'm very, very excited to talk to you today. I mean, Sean, I love your work and have for a very long time. And it's been awesome to watch what you do so naturally and so well coincide with this like huge hit show. Like, you know what it is to work in this business and to be on shows that are really, really good and that don't have this kind of momentum behind them?

• 4:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:08Amy Poehler?

  What's it like to be on a hit? You're on a hit, baby.

• 4:12Speaker 01

  You do so many shows and at the beginning you're like, this is going to go forever. And then it like gets canceled after five episodes. So when you're starting a show, you just sort of kind of go, I don't, you know, it feels like we're doing good work. I'm not sure. I gotta say with The Pit, you know, um, with all the elements in place, I, I've worked with John Wells, who was the executive producer on, on other shows and they didn't do as well, but it, there's something about this that felt really solid. And obviously with Noah and, um, you know, his contributions to this type of show. And then the fact that it's, it's taking something that we're familiar with, but changing the concept by putting it in one day, it, it just, it, it gave a very like immersive

• 4:57Speaker 01

  quality to it that just felt really, you know, exciting.

• 5:02Amy Poehler?

  Let's talk about John Wells for a second. Like what a giant of a producer. I've, I've never had the chance to meet him. He has done so much TV, incredible work. How did you guys first meet?

• 5:14Speaker 01

  I was a guest star on ER. My manager brought me, said, you're going to go audition for this. And I was like, I don't know if I want to do like, I was doing a lot of movies at the time. And she was like, no, you need to do this one because John is directing it. And when he directs, you know, it's, it's a big episode. So I, I read it and it was of course, you know, multiple personalities, very like transformative characters.

• 5:35Amy Poehler?

  Very cool.

• 5:36Speaker 01

  And so it really was wonderful. And at the end of it, I looked at him and I was like, I really want to keep working with you if, if I'm so lucky. And, and you know, then Southland came a couple of years later, we ended and it just has worked out. You know, it's one thing to be able to write a show, but it's a, it's a whole other thing to be able to produce a show and know how to put the people in place to make a quality show. He's very loyal. He's, you know, I'm fortunate to work on three shows shot in LA.

• 6:02Amy Poehler?

  I think people sometimes think that making television feels like, like it's just like people dressed up in fancy, you know, clothes, going to Emmy parties and talking to each other. But it's a weird factory where you're just in there with, you know, the same people every day and you're grinding.

• 6:19Speaker 01

  And a show like The Pit is very much that because we're in one location, which feels like an office, right? The, the lighting is the same. And, um, yeah, I mean, but like, as you know, there's also an, an immense pressure. I watch your show, Parks and Rec, and it's funny every time. Like you guys are, are presenting something that clearly works because it kept going and going. But at a certain point, you feel that, that pressure to, to deliver, which also creates a, a special kind of environment when working together, if that makes sense.

• 6:52Amy Poehler?

  I'll tell you what works. The Nightcrawlers.

• 6:55Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 6:56Amy Poehler?

  Sean.

• 6:58Speaker 01

  What?

• 6:59Amy Poehler?

  Okay, first of all, the, the little pep talk, the Friday Night Lights pep talk that Dr. Abbott gives to the, to the, to the night shift.

• 7:08Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 7:08Amy Poehler?

  Fantastic.

• 7:09Speaker 01

  It takes a certain kind of person to work nights or to choose to work nights. You know what it feels like.

• 7:14Amy Poehler?

  Totally. I think that that's such an interesting and there, and like it's, it's investigated more in season two, and I hope it continues to be, which is what personality trait constitutes a night person and someone who wants to take a night shift? Like, but you know, whatever the job is, I would just love to pitch that we take Nightcrawlers and we just develop Nightcrawlers as a separate show. Um, I'm going to talk to Noah.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  All right, but I, I didn't tell you to do that.

• 7:45Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so we're talking in today and I mean, I'm going to talk to him about all this stuff because I, I think I'm really fascinated by how like our people our age, we're about the same age, I'm a little older, but like how we like to work now. Like I love listening to people's systems of how they work, what works for them, you know, no matter what their job is, doesn't just have to be acting. But I think one of the nice things about being in your 50s is you start realizing, oh, this kind of version of work works for me, or I do better when I'm around these types of people, like all that stuff. I think there's a little bit of wisdom that comes with that. But I feel like he feels like a very serious guy and kind of private. Are either one of those things true?

• 8:25Speaker 01

  I, I, I mean, I, he is a serious guy, but he has a really good sense of humor about stuff. You know, he's like a big brother, you know, a much older big brother.

• 8:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, much older.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  Much, much older.

• 8:39Amy Poehler?

  Much older. That's really nice to hear because that is, the vibe on that show is like, there's just a lot of fraternal love between your characters.

• 8:51Amy Poehler?

  And look, we as viewers, we're just looking for like. Positive masculinity, we're just looking for examples of it, honestly, anywhere we can find it. And the way you guys play these very, you know, complicated and accomplished men who are taking care of each other, sometimes in limited ways, but they're still trying. It's really, really moving to watch.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, the thing that excites me the most about the relationship and just sort of their, their competence competency when it comes to the medical, like you, you just, those are the guys you want. If something is going wrong, like there's nothing that can come through on a gurney that they can't fix. They have all the answers like right on the tip of their tongues. But when it comes to their mental health, you know, they just are idiots and they, they just don't have the tools. And because of their position as leaders, as men who are supposed to be counted on, it's hard to raise your hand and say, hey, I'm struggling and I need help, you know?

• 9:59Speaker 01

  And I think that the fact that we're tackling that and in the way that we are is, is incredibly positive.

• 10:08Amy Poehler?

  Okay. So do you have, I ask all my, my Zoom guests if they can give me a question to ask my guests, big or small, anything you might think Noah wants to talk about or anything you want to know about him?

• 10:21Speaker 01

  I was thinking about this and sort of what we were talking about, like he's such a masterful performer when it comes to acting, his ability to, to bring out the medical jargon. I've seen it as an actor and also as a director. His, his access to vulnerability, his ability to play emotion, heavy emotion. And like the stamina that is required to do it over and over again. He never changes. And the other thing I really think Noah is good at is listening. He's got these eyes that when he's, he has to convey some sort of story point.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Just from listening, he does it brilliantly. And so all that aside, as somebody watching it, it just seems very easy to him. And I was curious, is there something he reads as an actor that he's scared of? Is there an insecurity? Is there, is there a, a, a, something that he would read in a script that he's like, oh man, I'm afraid. I wonder if I, if I could do that. Cause we all as actors have deep insecurities.

• 11:38Amy Poehler?

  Oh my God.

• 11:39Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? And it's so, I'm just curious, what does he read and go, fuck, I don't know if I can do that.

• 11:44Amy Poehler?

  That's a great question because he's had to do, he's, he's, he's gotten a lot of scripts over the years where he's had to do things and they, especially certainly on ER, it was like big physical comedy and big emotional moments and like romantic moments and like big breakdowns that you know are coming and just like, what is the thing that you read on the page or you know, you are in the room pitching that you're like, oh no, I'm going to eventually have to do this.

• 12:10Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then my second question is, he's putting together a basketball team. Okay? He can use anybody from the pit or ER. He's the point guard. Okay? He needs to, he needs to bring on four more players from the pit or ER. What is that team?

• 12:31Amy Poehler?

  Oh, fantastic question.

• 12:34Speaker 01

  And I gotta say, don't tell him this, but if he doesn't pick me, we're gonna have to talk about that.

• 12:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, he'll sense that in the question, you might be hoping to be picked, but I will, I'll try not to deliver it that way.

• 12:48Speaker 01

  I think he's definitely going to pick George Clooney, right? Cause he plays basketball still, doesn't he? I don't know.

• 12:55Amy Poehler?

  I don't, I think so. I mean,

• 12:56Speaker 01

  Does he have time with all the?

• 12:58Amy Poehler?

  He probably has some guy play basketball for him at this point. He's not having, he's not playing his own basketball.

• 13:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:04Amy Poehler?

  He has a gentleman, an Italian gentleman who plays for him.

• 13:08Speaker 01

  For sure.

• 13:09Amy Poehler?

  No way.

• 13:10Speaker 01

  Right.

• 13:10Amy Poehler?

  But you're right. I mean, basketball was a big thing in ER. It was just like, they were always shooting hoops and you, and you're a good basketball player? You like basketball?

• 13:18Speaker 01

  I played a lot of basketball and, and like as a, as a kid, high school. But I play tennis now. I play pickleball. So there's where they played basketball on the pit. I mean, on ER that right next to the friend's stage, there's a basketball court, but they've put pickleball there. So sometimes at lunch we'll go, not Noah. He has never made it out there, but I'll drag some people out there and we'll play pickleball.

• 13:40Amy Poehler?

  A lot of people don't know that the pit and ER were not shot in Pittsburgh and in Chicago, but right on the lot in Los Angeles. Thank you so much for doing this. I'm, I know Noah will be thrilled that we talked and thank you so much for the time. And it was so great to meet you in person. I love your work. I can't wait for the next season and all the good stuff ahead. So thanks again.

• 14:00Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 14:01Amy Poehler?

  Bye, Sean.

• 14:02Speaker 01

  Bye.

• 14:04Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking which group chat you're typing in before hitting send? Next thing you know, you sent a scalding hot take about the restaurant to the group with the person who picked it. Yikes. Yeah. Checking first is a good 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. May I open this on the air?

• 14:39Speaker 02

  Please do, please do. Yeah.

• 14:39Amy Poehler?

  Oh wait, this is from your wife and daughter?

• 14:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, they found these and they know that you have all this little stuff and they thought you would think this was cute.

• 14:46Amy Poehler?

  Come on. First of all, a tie.

• 14:50Speaker 02

  They called it eye joy, just to look at these and get a little bit of pleasure.

• 14:54Amy Poehler?

  This is really nice. This is an anthropomorphic pretzel, but like the one I asked for. And same with a croissant with legs. And then this is, oh, it's broccoli. I had it upside. I thought it was an octopus.

• 15:11Speaker 02

  It's versatile.

• 15:11Amy Poehler?

  Broccoli. Listeners, Noah just came with presents and beautifully crafted presents. And I'm also going to read the card on air.

• 15:21Speaker 02

  It won't be hard. My daughter's got the most incredible penmanship.

• 15:24Amy Poehler?

  How old is your daughter?

• 15:25Speaker 02

  She's 11. This one is 11.

• 15:27Amy Poehler?

  Come on.

• 15:29Speaker 02

  I actually don't know what it says.

• 15:30Amy Poehler?

  Is there anything nicer than 11 year old girls? Dear Amy, my mom and I are big fans of your podcast and heard you collect fake food. Although this isn't realistic, we thought you might love it. Love Francis and Sarah. All I ever wanted was a good, good hang. And then she drew a picture. Come on.

• 15:52Speaker 02

  She used her cursive? Oh, she broke out the cursive for you too. She's really showing off.

• 15:56Amy Poehler?

  What a sweetie pie. Girls are the best. That is so sweet, Francis. Thank you, Francis. Thank you, Sarah.

• 16:04Speaker 02

  She's gonna be so tickled.

• 16:05Amy Poehler?

  Oh my God, thanks for bringing that. We'll put it on the shelf before we're done. For continuity's sake though, we gotta leave it off. Noah Wiley is here. Noah Wiley is here. And also Noah, I just want you to know, no pressure, but you were like one of the first people that I, when people were like, who do you want on your podcast? You were somebody that I've been, I've been trying to get you for a long time.

• 16:24Speaker 02

  I haven't been playing it hard to get. I've just been working a lot.

• 16:26Amy Poehler?

  I know. I've been watching your work.

• 16:28Speaker 02

  I'm really happy to be here and you've been very kind about my work through the years.

• 16:33Amy Poehler?

  Well, get ready, buckle up. I, I heard from your people that you refused to come until you were voted sexiest man. You said, I will only be on this pod.

• 16:47Speaker 02

  I need something legitimate to talk about.

• 16:49Amy Poehler?

  People's Sexiest Man Alive. And I guess my first question is Jonathan Bailey was last year. How is your administration going to be different? What are you going to do different than the Bailey administration?

• 17:00Speaker 02

  I'm really disappointed with what he's done on the international front and with immigration.

• 17:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, you're gonna start with the heavy.

• 17:06Speaker 02

  My administration is gonna really crack down on the borders of beauty.

• 17:13Amy Poehler?

  Congratulations.

• 17:15Speaker 02

  Thank you. I think that one goes to my mother and my father, but yeah, thank you. But I could almost remember chronologically, the ones that came out during my formative years.

• 17:24Amy Poehler?

  Well, don't you remember, I mean, People Magazine was very big in my house. And it was, and you'd get it and you'd sit down, you'd be like, here we go.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  Cover to cover. Not a problem.

• 17:34Amy Poehler?

  Cover to cover.

• 17:35Speaker 02

  Was it like that cumbersome time or, you know?

• 17:39Amy Poehler?

  No, people, you just breeze through it.

• 17:41Speaker 02

  Pie charts.

• 17:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. But, but I have genuinely wanted you to be here for a very long time. Thank you for being here.

• 17:48Speaker 02

  My pleasure entirely.

• 17:49Amy Poehler?

  And thank you for being here on what is like 120 degree California day.

• 17:53Speaker 02

  It is warm out there. I was just in Burbank where it was 108 in Burbank today. It felt like in.

• 17:59Amy Poehler?

  You know, fall.

• 18:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:01Amy Poehler?

  But you like had a LA experience growing up and then kind of like a ranch horses, California experience.

• 18:07Speaker 02

  I had a very atypical upbringing for a city kid because my grandfather back in the late 50s, he was a, a really brilliant guy and he went to a, a symposium on population explosion in 1959 at Caltech. And he came away thinking that water and land are going to be the two most precious resources in California. So he went looking for both. And he found this piece of property about an hour north of Fresno in the exact geographical center of California, north to southeast to west, in this little town outside of North Fork. And he bought this cattle ranch. It's been in our family forever now. And we all grew up kind of playing Huck Finn there, you know, getting dirty and riding horses and hurting ourselves and each other. And so I had a kind of country upbringing and a city upbringing. I had both.

• 18:52Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's so cool. What a like great place to be a kid and run around. And that's awesome.

• 18:56Speaker 02

  Yeah. You don't realize how special it is until you compare your childhood to other people. And, and you know, I was very fortunate.

• 19:01Amy Poehler?

  Do you have an animal that like a? Have like a farm animal that you love?

• 19:05Speaker 02

  I've had pigs at my place. I think pigs are really great.

• 19:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I've heard they're great pets. I mean, you know, not.

• 19:12Speaker 02

  I've had emus. They are different.

• 19:15Amy Poehler?

  I've seen emus on TikTok and I don't want to.

• 19:17Speaker 02

  They're a little scary and they don't, they're not very social.

• 19:20Amy Poehler?

  What happened?

• 19:21Speaker 02

  Well, I was trying to feed them and they got really aggressive after they had babies. And I had a three walled enclosure for them and I had a trash can with their food in it. And they both came in and they fight by kicking up their big taloned feet at like velociraptors. And all I had to defend myself was the lid of the trash can. So I was holding it like a shield.

• 19:38Amy Poehler?

  You were like Captain America.

• 19:39Speaker 02

  Not quite, more like coward America. And I was, you know, crouched down thinking about all the headlines I would not want to read about how I was killed by an emu. So I kind of bum rushed them and got past them and thought, that's it, that's it, they're out of here.

• 19:54Amy Poehler?

  You were like, I'm getting you out of here.

• 19:56Speaker 02

  Emus, their poop is extremely rich in nitrogen, so it makes great fertilizer for pot. And their feathers are what fly fishermen like to make flies out of. So I found a pot smoking fly fisherman who came down and took them all away.

• 20:10Amy Poehler?

  He was like jackpot. Did you have, when you were on the ranch as a kid, little Noah, were you a funny kid? Were you, did you, were you performing as a young person?

• 20:19Speaker 02

  I was a very moody kid. I was a very temperamental kid. And occasionally, one of those temperaments would be funny.

• 20:27Speaker 02

  And I figured out early that I could get attention by being a storyteller and a bit of a comedian. So I kind of latched on to that. But I was, you know, always trying to find my tribe, always trying to find my rhythm. You know, always feeling a slightly step out of my class and my, my group. But.

• 20:45Amy Poehler?

  But I'm, I'm surprised to hear you say that because I know you made some like big choices very young about what you wanted to do with your life. You decided, I'm not going to go to college. I'm going to be an actor.

• 20:57Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 20:58Amy Poehler?

  And that's a big swing for somebody who.

• 20:59Speaker 02

  Well, that was after I found my tribe. I went away to do this theater program that's sponsored by Northwestern University in the summer program called the Cherub Program, kind of an all star program for theater kids from all over the country. And I went and was like, oh, here you are, my people. Let's, let's play. And I came back just committed that college mollyge, you know, I want to start. I'm going to get an apartment with my best friend and we're going to hustle.

• 21:23Amy Poehler?

  Did you wait tables during that time?

• 21:25Speaker 02

  I did. I worked for a man named Dmitry Dimitrov at the Belash Hotel. Dmitry is now gone on to become a rather famous.

• 21:32Amy Poehler?

  Wait a minute.

• 21:32Speaker 02

  Connector in this town. But when I was 17, he hired me to bus tables for him.

• 21:37Amy Poehler?

  Is this the Dmitry?

• 21:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, of his pleasure, of his pleasure.

• 21:40Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 21:40Speaker 02

  Sunset Tower and.

• 21:42Amy Poehler?

  People should know, he is very famous.

• 21:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:45Amy Poehler?

  Dmitry is like an incredible character.

• 21:49Speaker 02

  He's in my A and E biography.

• 21:53Speaker 02

  Talking about how he molded me from a scruffy young street urchin into a rather accomplished busboy.

• 22:00Amy Poehler?

  He's kind of like, you don't make them like that anymore, Dmitry. Like he was a maître, well, and I met him, he was a maître d.

• 22:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:06Amy Poehler?

  And he was like the epitome of what you would imagine fancy service would be.

• 22:11Speaker 02

  He drilled into us this wonderful phrase, the nobility and humility, that you're not subservient because you're serving. And if you want to be an actor, think of this as putting on a show for these people. Give them the most incredible dining experience and play that part and pay attention to detail. And his work ethic was so intense that one night, my job at the end of the shift was to make him an espresso with four sugars while he counted all the money and tipped us out. And one night, he was just sweating profusely. He'd been really aggressive all night, telling us to change ashtrays and give more bread. And it was because he was working with a burst appendix. And he, once he paid us out, he went to the emergency room and had it operated on and showed up the next night for the shift. So do you know how painful that is to work with a burst appendix?

• 22:52Amy Poehler?

  I do because I've watched a lot of your medical shows. I do.

• 22:56Speaker 02

  Well, he, he, he's a, he's an absolute soldier when it comes to work.

• 23:01Amy Poehler?

  Whoa, that's wild. And did you like, do you feel like you were a good waiter? Cause I, I think there is something about waiting tables and being in the service industry in, in general, that especially when you're a young person, where you get very good, or you get practice anyway, at figuring out how to deal with a lot of different people fast.

• 23:19Speaker 02

  Oh, absolutely. I think that's really true. In fact, I've recommended it to my kids. I say, you know, working, you'll, you'll understand why you won't want to do it for the rest of your life really quickly.

• 23:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:29Speaker 02

  But you'll get this camaraderie, this bond with your fellow workers that you'll never forget. And it will battle test you for all sorts of different kinds of people.

• 23:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. The, the idea that you have to very quickly make an impression is really.

• 23:43Speaker 02

  Well, you're so good at impressions.

• 23:44Amy Poehler?

  Oh, thanks. Why thanks? No, I'm learning. Okay. I'm too excited.

• 23:53Amy Poehler?

  Let's take a drink of water.

• 23:58Amy Poehler?

  I did not know that you were auditioning at 20, 18, 19, 20, 21, like really young and auditioning. Did you ever do commercials during that time?

• 24:08Speaker 02

  No, I was really cocky and I was really, I thought I only wanted to do theater and film. That was my whole thing when I started out. And I signed with a wonderful agent, a woman named Eileen Feldman, signed me basically with a list of plays on the back of an envelope that I'd done in high school. And on the recommendation of a casting director named Gretchen Renell, who I had met at a party, who was very kind to me. And she said, okay, that's what you want to do. And then eventually, when that didn't pan out,

• 24:39Speaker 02

  she sent me the pilot script for ER, which had been written as a feature script. And at that point, I was ready to do whatever.

• 24:45Amy Poehler?

  Did you feel like you nailed it when you, like, did you feel good about your audition?

• 24:48Speaker 02

  It's going to date it so specifically.

• 24:50Amy Poehler?

  I love it. Let's talk about faxes and pagers.

• 24:52Speaker 02

  Well, I had just gone through a rather tumultuous breakup. My first big love had broken my heart. And I was trying to rebuild my life and I was sort of looking for clues. And I'd gone back into therapy and I was reading The Celestine Prophecy. Do you remember that book?

• 25:05Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 25:06Speaker 02

  And so I was, I was so into this like idea of controlled dramas and recognizing what someone's trying to do to you and being neutral and all that shit. And so I remember sitting in the hallway thinking about not letting the other actors that were auditioning around me's energy affect me and what I wanted to do. And I went in and the first one went very well and they called me back for the producers. And then I tested against one other actor, a gentleman named Raphael Sabard, who was very talented.

• 25:32Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 25:33Speaker 02

  You know, changed my life.

• 25:35Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I mean, that, I, I just don't think I really understood how young you were when you were on that show.

• 25:40Speaker 02

  I turned 22 while we made the pilot. So I was 21 when I was auditioning for it. Yeah.

• 25:46Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 25:46Speaker 02

  Which is my daughter's age, which is crazy.

• 25:48Amy Poehler?

  I know. And that age is such an interesting age because it is that middle feeling where you're just, you're like, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a, I'm an adult, but you've, you're just, just stepping into that. It's so, so tender, that age.

• 26:06Speaker 02

  I had great big brothers on that one, though. I had George, Tony and Eric, who were all 10 years older than me, who had already been down those roads before. And I had a huge crush on Sheri. So I felt very comfortable to be part of that ensemble.

• 26:19Amy Poehler?

  I didn't know that. I can't, I can't wait. I'm sorry, but Noah.

• 26:23Speaker 02

  Everybody had a crush on Sheri.

• 26:24Amy Poehler?

  You're going to have to bear with me because I'm going to ask you a lot of ER questions.

• 26:29Speaker 02

  I'm ready.

• 26:30Amy Poehler?

  Where do I start? I think you, you share a similar love for television than I do. And I think there's something about television that is so personal. And we revisit these people and these shows and these characters, like if we're lucky enough to get to do that over and over again. When I first watched ER, like everyone else, I was, I, you know, in the nineties, I was, had just graduated from college. Then cut to, I'm watching ER at seven o'clock every night on TNT in reruns when I'm like ripping bongs and going to wait.

• 27:07Amy Poehler?

  You know, with not a care in the world, but I'm 20, you know, whatever it is, 26. Well, maybe, maybe that's a little old to be doing that, but.

• 27:16Amy Poehler?

  And then I watched it again when in my 30s, I rewatched it again during the pandemic. I have rewatched that series a lot. It is my, one of my comfort shows. My first question is, have you rewatched it?

• 27:31Speaker 02

  Not in its entirety, not start to finish. I've caught episodes over the years and kind of, you know, caught up on it.

• 27:37Amy Poehler?

  Do you watch it when you see it?

• 27:38Speaker 02

  When I first started dating my wife, Sarah, she wanted to watch it from the beginning. And I had the DVDs, so I gave them to her. Every once in a while, I'd walk past and go, what are you up to? Oh yeah. Oh, that's a good one. Or I have no memory of this whatsoever. Who is that kid? So, but I'll go back to say that when I said I wanted to do only theater and film, it's so ironic that I've made my entire career in television. And it's been the most rewarding career you could want because it is a family that you build up over a long period of time. There is a culture that's within the show that you're making, that's just as fun to be part of, that nobody else really gets to know about because it's so insular to the, just the environment of, of the work.

• 28:19Speaker 02

  And then this relationship that you build up with audiences who are attending you in their moments of their life that are important. And you kind of are an anchoring point for that. It's really, it's been astonishing to have people grow up with me and have me grow up with them and have these shared experiences and times. It's been wonderful.

• 28:38Amy Poehler?

  Well, I've said this, but the arc of John Truman Carter on that show is, I think, one of the best arcs ever on television.

• 28:46Speaker 02

  There are many shows that run 15 years, so you can get a lot of lifespan in that timeframe. And they did, but they also had, it was such a lovely bookend to have his first day of work be the pilot of the hospital. So it's the audience's exposure to the environment is coming through this character. And even when I left after the end of the 11th season, left a few episodes in the balance, I called it a divorce with visitation rights. John Wells was always adamant about me coming back and being part of the end so that we could close the, the chapter on that career and that the third year medical student becomes the chief attending was a lovely road to travel.

• 29:21Amy Poehler?

  Oh yeah. So satisfying to watch that in like what felt like real time, even though, and you know, spoiler alert, if you haven't watched ER, fast forward now, but if you haven't, literally what's wrong with you. But the way, talk about bookends, Dr. Green getting woken up, come on, let's go. Dr. Green and ending with. With, with John Carter saying, Dr. Green, are you coming to Dr. Green's daughter?

• 29:48Speaker 02

  Boy, you're gonna make me cry.

• 29:49Amy Poehler?

  I mean, good lord, that made, I mean, the circle of life.

• 29:53Speaker 02

  I know. It's good stuff. It's good stuff. I know. I get very, yeah, it's, it's beautiful.

• 30:00Amy Poehler?

  It's beautiful. And also, what was so incredible about that show, and honestly, what is incredible about shows that deal with people who have, who do that kind of work, is there is this feeling of celebrating life, like, one must.

• 30:16Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 30:18Amy Poehler?

  One must.

• 30:18Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 30:19Amy Poehler?

  Because it's all we have.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 30:21Amy Poehler?

  And so I know, I, just, anyway, that was so beautifully done. Um, and, okay, but I haven't even started.

• 30:28Speaker 02

  There's a great Pittsburgh poet who wrote a poem called "A Brief for the Defense" that has a line in there that I think about a lot.

• 30:34Amy Poehler?

  I love this poem.

• 30:35Speaker 02

  Do you know the poem? "You must have the stubbornness to accept the glad, your gladness and the ruthless furnace of this world."

• 30:41Amy Poehler?

  The furnace of this world. I love this poem. I just sent it to a friend who's going through a hard time, Jack Gilbert. Um, okay. Forty-eight million people watched ER. It's such a hit. It's insane. I, I just want to talk about what I believe was the most, for me, anyway, the most important relationship on the show, which was you and Eric LaSalle.

• 31:03Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 31:04Amy Poehler?

  Dr. Carter and, and Dr. Benton.

• 31:07Speaker 02

  Dr. Peter Benton.

• 31:08Amy Poehler?

  Peter Benton, who was the surgeon who, who was, everything about that portrayal was ahead of its time. Eric's choices, your choices together, the writing of that character, the way that character changed, the way that Eric, I think, and all of you kind of fought for ways in which to make sure that that character stayed true to himself. How would you describe that relationship? And what did you two talk about to make sure to, like, maintain its integrity? It's such a beautiful.

• 31:38Speaker 02

  It was very instinctual.

• 31:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 31:40Speaker 02

  And it wasn't very verbalized. You know, Eric and I just fell into a really great rhythm early on with each other where, because of the power imbalance being the exact opposite of what you would imagine it to be, where the young white doctor is killing himself for the approval and approbation of the older black surgeon, and holds his estimation as the highest level of validation. And Eric got to play this sort of, you know, I always laugh when I went to Japan on a tour, on a press tour once, they showed me ER in Japanese, and of course, they gave Eric the very deep, like, shundar, da-da-da-da, huh-da-da-da-da. And then they gave me the.

• 32:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, sure. Status.

• 32:24Speaker 02

  And the journey was to have my voice deepened and to have his voice softened in my mind.

• 32:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I mean, even watching it when I was a young person, I remember thinking, wow, Dr. Benton is so, he's like, so mean, he's so uptight, he's like, you know, he's so tough on Carter.

• 32:40Speaker 02

  I used to go to the post office and all the ladies would go, he's so mean to you. He's so mean to you.

• 32:45Amy Poehler?

  Just the physicality, when you watch the way you two walked, I mean, the way he was like striding constantly down the hallway, the way you were always behind him, over his shoulder, peering, until eventually, you know, throughout the seasons, you just become literally on the same plane as him. The way you are constantly watching him is so, it's, just what a relationship that was.

• 33:10Speaker 02

  It gave me a lot to play off of. And I, I've said many times how much respect I have for what he was doing in a way, without, I think, recognizing what he was doing consciously, but what he was representing at a time that, where that wasn't being represented. And, you know, to us, occasionally, it seemed like Eric's being kind of stubborn. You know, he doesn't want to be a team player and take this picture this way. And we didn't really understand what he was trying to represent, which was a different stripe of blackness, maleness, professionalism. And I have to give him a tremendous amount of credit and have through the years for that. But I didn't get it in the beginning, and I really got it now.

• 33:51Amy Poehler?

  It was so beautifully done because his tension about being, being successful, being right, being at the right time, like, advancing is, comes from a much different place than Carter's. And the, the clash of that was so interesting to watch.

• 34:10Speaker 02

  Eric and I come from very different backgrounds, but we have a lot in common. And it was really interesting to sort of mine both of those arenas, how different we are and how much, you know, we end up liking each other, despite our differences, maybe because of our differences.

• 34:24Amy Poehler?

  Did you guys giggle a lot together, though? Were you gigglers?

• 34:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, he has a very infectious laugh, and getting Eric to break is one of the great joys in life.

• 34:31Amy Poehler?

  It feels like, like, you kind of were a couple of goofballs at times.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  We were all goofballs. We were all the class clowns in our class, trying to get attention. So the idea that we would all be serious doctors, you know, is a finite concept before we all want to start making fun of what we're doing, especially when you've got George Clooney in the scene, you know? It was people that, and he really set the tone, let's work really hard, let's play really hard, let's take this work seriously, but not take ourselves seriously.

• 34:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I could tell that.

• 34:58Speaker 02

  Let's show up, be on time, be professional, erase the division between cast and crew, between foreground and background, let's just see if we can make this feel like a company. And I've taken that exact ethos and recreated it with the pit. That is, that is how, that was baked into the intentionality of the pit, is how can I recreate the environment of family, hard, good, relevant work, and, you know, respectful, inclusive environment at the same time?

• 35:22Amy Poehler?

  Did you like his pranks, though? No, the answer's no.

• 35:27Speaker 02

  No, well, you know.

• 35:29Amy Poehler?

  Who likes the pranks?

• 35:31Speaker 02

  They're funny stories to tell.

• 35:32Amy Poehler?

  Are you a prank guy?

• 35:33Speaker 02

  I've never, I'm not a big pranker. No.

• 35:35Amy Poehler?

  I knew it, I knew it. Who's a prank-pranker? We don't have the time.

• 35:38Speaker 02

  I like, this is gonna, like, I, when my son was small, he was super into trains, and when he would fall asleep, I'd run downstairs and create these elaborate train layouts for him, and then tell him, like, the layout fairy must have come.

• 35:50Amy Poehler?

  Well, that's cute.

• 35:51Speaker 02

  And so he believed in the layout fairy. Like, I, I like magic making, and I like blowing people's minds that way.

• 35:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 35:58Speaker 03

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• 36:46Amy Poehler?

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• 38:12Amy Poehler?

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• 38:30Amy Poehler?

  I just want to ask you about a couple of moments on ER acting wise.

• 38:33Speaker 02

  Okay, back to that.

• 38:34Amy Poehler?

  Okay, sorry. I mean, I only watched it 5,000 times.

• 38:38Speaker 02

  Fair. I'm all yours.

• 38:40Amy Poehler?

  Okay, in addition to Dr. Peter Benton being someone that I, it took me a minute, just like the character of Carter, to realize like, oh, I'm talking about, someone's had a different experience than me and I'm learning about their experience through this character. Laura Innes, Carrie Weaver, what a beautiful performance she gives.

• 38:59Speaker 02

  Oh, my goodness. I was at her audition. I sat in on maybe two or three auditions in 15 years. I just happened to be in the office when they were casting that role. And I had a friend who was reading for it. So that's maybe why I was there as sort of an anchoring energy for my friend. But Laura walked in and walked out or limped out with the part. It was just, it was, it was like a revelation what she did with that part.

• 39:24Amy Poehler?

  And that is a part that, again, when you mature, I think, at least for me as a woman watching the show, when I was in my 50s, I was like, oh, I mean, suddenly that character who honestly, frankly, sometimes has to be the one that's like, stop having fun, guys. We gotta get back to work. You realize the pressure that that character is under to keep that hospital going, which you, you really take a hard look at in the pit. This idea of like, there's a whole other world. There's like the world, there's like the street level world of stuff. There's the bird's eye view of stuff. Then there's

• 40:01Amy Poehler?

  like this, this management piece that is just keeping the lights on. She's so, so good in that. And when, and in the scene, when, when Dr. Carter is, spoiler alert, when he has to go to rehab, when they call him out, what a, I watched that scene. I don't even have a question.

• 40:31Amy Poehler?

  Such good acting. Noah, you're so good in that scene.

• 40:34Speaker 02

  I think I got good on that show. I got, I mean, the luxury of getting that writing week after week and those directors week after week. And you're working with guest stars that are Academy Award winners and icons and legends, and you're getting to share the stage with them every week. I got better so that when, after year five, when George left, and after year eight, when Tony and Eric left, and I inherited some of the bigger, more meatier storylines, I was ready for them then, in a way that I wouldn't have been ready for them in those early seasons. So I credit longevity to preparing me for, for the juicier stuff, but those were great. And to give Carter the drug addiction, I remember thinking, and telling John Wells, like, I don't know if I buy this. He goes,

• 41:15Speaker 02

  that's the point, is that you're the most unexpected face for drug addiction, but the face of drug addiction is every face. And that's the point we want to make.

• 41:23Amy Poehler?

  And lastly, I know you've worked with incredible people, but do you remember working with Adam Scott?

• 41:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, not really.

• 41:29Amy Poehler?

  Season one, episode 20.

• 41:30Speaker 02

  It was reminded me by Instagram.

• 41:32Amy Poehler?

  So he told a very funny story about that. Do you remember it? So Adam was on a gurney and it was you and Ming not doing your scene. And he, I think he's just supposed to lie there as the patient. And he realizes he forgot to put the, the brevi thing in, the tube, that he, he forgot a prop, basically. And you guys have all this jargon. And he's like, oh, shit. And he's like, he kind of raises his hand, like, does it matter that I didn't have my thing on? And where everyone's like, yes, dumbass, it matters.

• 42:02Speaker 02

  I'm gonna forgive Adam and put that all in our prop department.

• 42:07Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it wasn't Adam's job, wasn't his problem.

• 42:09Speaker 02

  That would have been Rick Latman's job.

• 42:11Amy Poehler?

  Like, I know you've answered this.

• 42:14Amy Poehler?

  I know you have.

• 42:15Speaker 02

  Rick's the prop master on the pit.

• 42:16Amy Poehler?

  Rick? He is?

• 42:17Speaker 02

  Yeah. There's a few connective tissue people that really make it very lovely.

• 42:23Amy Poehler?

  A good prop master is no better feeling. You, it is so important.

• 42:27Speaker 02

  It's from SNL and all. I mean, it's the best.

• 42:31Amy Poehler?

  Well, I didn't want to make comparisons, but I'm going to. I'm gonna compare SNL to ER. I'm gonna compare Parks and Rec to the pit. I'm sorry.

• 42:37Speaker 02

  Do it.

• 42:38Amy Poehler?

  But SNL was like a comedy emergency room. And I know we are not doing the kind of work that, that emergency room doctors are doing.

• 42:48Speaker 02

  Way higher stakes with what you were doing.

• 42:50Amy Poehler?

  Way higher stakes.

• 42:51Speaker 02

  Way higher stakes.

• 42:52Amy Poehler?

  Not at all. Please know that I'm not making that comparison. But what I notice is, you know, you just, there's no time to panic.

• 42:59Speaker 02

  No.

• 43:00Amy Poehler?

  There's no one running around being like, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna fix this? We go on air in a minute. There's just, in fact, the more stressful things get, the quieter people get. And when you start to work with those kinds of people, you never want to work with anybody else again.

• 43:16Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 43:17Amy Poehler?

  They're just the people you can depend on when the shit goes down.

• 43:21Speaker 02

  I'll give my father a lovely compliment. My dad is a brilliant man, but in life, you know, sort of comes off occasionally like an absent minded professor, but he's also a small plane pilot. And I've been with him in the plane when something isn't working. And that's when you want to be in Stephen Wiley's plane, because he's got an engineer's mind who just says, problem, work the problem. And motion, fear, all those other things don't seem to kind of come into play. And it's a really, I don't have that ability. I lead with emotion and empathy. So the first thing is like, whoa, what does that feel like? As opposed to like, you know, what would be the right thing to do?

• 43:58Amy Poehler?

  You don't have that, Noah?

• 44:00Speaker 02

  No, I can act it, though.

• 44:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, you sure can.

• 44:02Speaker 02

  My wife will tell you, she slammed her finger in a car door and Dr. Robbie was nowhere to be seen.

• 44:07Amy Poehler?

  You just immediately started crying. And you're like, oh, my God. What are we gonna do?

• 44:12Speaker 02

  And she elevates and drives the dogs to Santa Barbara for like three hours, comes back, goes to urgent care. Meanwhile, I'm still boiling water and finding hot towels.

• 44:20Amy Poehler?

  And you're like, I gotta, I need a moment. I gotta find my feelings. Okay. But I want to talk about the pit because here's my other, you know, clumsy comparison. But first of all, congratulations on a wonderful show.

• 44:34Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 44:35Amy Poehler?

  And a beautiful, well deserved and, and satisfying rise as you made it. Like, it feels like you got to make the show before the show became, do you know what I mean? Like, you got to make what you wanted and then people noticed.

• 44:48Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 44:49Amy Poehler?

  That's not always the right, that's not always the timing that happens.

• 44:53Speaker 02

  It was, it was a whole confluence of events, which I'm sure you're well aware of, that we were gonna start down an ER reboot road that then come to pass. But we sort of set a table of expectation for a medical show from us, that we were then allowed to really fast track the development process through because of that vacuum that we'd created from the near miss. And so this just happened so quickly that it seemed like there was a larger force behind it. And we just needed to stay on the surfboard and let it push us.

• 45:23Amy Poehler?

  What creatively came out of that, like, early stutter step that you're so happy it did?

• 45:28Speaker 02

  Well, sorry to say for all the ER fans, but once we uncoupled ourselves from that IP, it suddenly liberated the storytelling. It wasn't about who do we see again and what have they been up to. It's what are the issues of the day?

• 45:40Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 45:41Speaker 02

  And how is the, what's the most cogent way to, to put them across? So in a lot of ways, it kind of liberated the narrative for us and allowed us to reframe and kind of modernize it and not have to pay any homage to, to traveled road.

• 45:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, because the, why I, I think about Parks and Rec when I think about the pit is, the show is about a place. And the place is this beating heart that everybody is gathered around. And the place is like, has its own system. And the people kind of almost like come alive when they're in the place. And sometimes you kind of feel like they're like at rest, like computers when they're not in the place. And then the, and other thing I'll say is that I feel like people really want to watch people who are good at their jobs.

• 46:27Speaker 02

  100%. I do.

• 46:29Amy Poehler?

  Me too. It's like competency porn. Like, people are like, wow, look at those people. They care and they're good at their jobs. Like, sign me up. It's what we're desperate to see.

• 46:38Speaker 02

  Recently, we rewatched All the President's Men and just watching Redford and, and Dustin Hoffman embody Woodward and Bernstein and seeing that Washington Post office at the verisimilitude, the detail, the specificity of everything in it and what everybody's doing is so good that you don't question anything. You're just along for the ride. That's, that's, that's a movie making its best.

• 47:01Amy Poehler?

  I meant to ask you, Noah, you had the chance. To work with Rob Reiner.

• 47:05Speaker 02

  I did.

• 47:06Amy Poehler?

  How is that?

• 47:07Speaker 02

  Oh, my goodness. It was a dream. It was an absolute dream. He was everything you would imagine and want him to be. I've told the story before, but I'm happy to share it as many times I'm asked about it. I got to the set early for my first day of work.

• 47:19Amy Poehler?

  This was on A Few Good Men.

• 47:20Speaker 02

  A Few Good Men. I saw Rob Reiner talking to Aaron Sorkin, and I didn't want to bother them, so I started to move away. And this big booming voice said, Noah! And I turn and Rob came at me like a big lumbering bear and he picked me up. He goes, hey, man, I'm so excited that you're here. We're gonna have so much fun today. And he turned to Aaron and goes, this guy's fantastic. Well, you saw the audition. He's great. It's gonna be great today. I'm so happy here. Listen, it's a little overcast. We're not gonna get to your stuff for a little bit. Go check out your room. Go get some breakfast. This is gonna be great. And he walked away. And if he'd said, go kill that guy, I would've said, you got it, Rob. I was so excited that I was so welcomed, that he made me feel comfortable and confident, competent, all in about eight seconds.

• 48:01Speaker 02

  And I took that lesson on every set I've ever been on. And I got to tell him 20 years later, when I auditioned for something I didn't get. Listen, I just want to thank you for this gift of set deportment that you gave to me, because I've welcomed every guest on to every set I've ever been on in the same way, and gotten their best work, and gotten them to be relaxed and to feel comfortable in the same way that you made me feel. So that's my takeaway story from that is, you know, you can get such better work out of treating people with kindness and generosity than being austere or sort of aloof and making somebody wonder whether they belong and having their insecurities and imposter syndrome be the ruling emotion, you know?

• 48:43Amy Poehler?

  Oh, what a great story. What a beautiful story with him. You know, I do want to just, you're not asking me for feedback about the pit, but I'm gonna give you a little bit of feedback. Are you ready?

• 48:53Speaker 02

  I'm ready.

• 48:54Amy Poehler?

  If you're gonna show so much guts and blood.

• 48:59Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 49:00Amy Poehler?

  You're gonna go there, which you go there and it's incredible. Your makeup team is incredible. The stuff you do is bananas. I don't watch most of it. I cover my eyes. But, I mean, I can't take it. I'm eating spaghetti, Noah.

• 49:11Speaker 02

  You need the pit blinders. You're gonna sell glasses there.

• 49:14Amy Poehler?

  But if you're gonna show that much, you gotta, every time you do that, you gotta get a little smooch. Someone's gonna do a little smooch.

• 49:20Speaker 02

  Oh, you think it's one for one?

• 49:22Amy Poehler?

  One for one. Just a tiny smooch.

• 49:24Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 49:25Amy Poehler?

  Just one, in the middle of the day.

• 49:27Speaker 02

  No, not one for one. Maybe I would discuss maybe a one to four ratio, but certainly not one to one.

• 49:31Amy Poehler?

  Just a little smooch. Okay? You're gonna show the guts. You gotta show some butts.

• 49:39Speaker 02

  We do show butts.

• 49:41Amy Poehler?

  You do show butts, but you know, in a romantic way.

• 49:43Speaker 02

  Oh, no, we don't show those kind of butts. No, we don't do that.

• 49:46Amy Poehler?

  Okay, and then also Robbie riding without the motorcycle, without the helmet. Incredible. Such a great detail. So great. So smart. Such tension in the, in the, in the second season because he's riding without it. And of course, he's, of course, he's not a good patient. You know, all those things. And it tells us so much. It's so good. I want him to come back from that motorcycle trip. And I want it to have been good.

• 50:12Speaker 02

  I think you're gonna be okay.

• 50:13Amy Poehler?

  Thank God.

• 50:14Speaker 02

  I think you're gonna be okay.

• 50:14Amy Poehler?

  Literally, I can't take it anymore.

• 50:16Speaker 02

  The fact that he comes back at all is a wonderful sign.

• 50:18Amy Poehler?

  Exactly right. But I need him to have gone a little, gone somewhere and had a.

• 50:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's good.

• 50:24Amy Poehler?

  Had some smooches somewhere.

• 50:25Speaker 02

  Oh, you know.

• 50:26Amy Poehler?

  Oh, maybe not smooches. Come on.

• 50:27Speaker 02

  I don't want to give anything away.

• 50:29Amy Poehler?

  Have you ever fallen asleep or seen anybody fall asleep while they were in a gurney on the show?

• 50:34Speaker 02

  Oh, it happens all the time.

• 50:34Amy Poehler?

  Right?

• 50:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, we'd actually tell, because you know, we tell our background, like, go party all night. Take a second job. Come in. Just, this is your job. Just, you know, and you hear him snoring or farting or whatever every once in a while. It's wonderful.

• 50:47Amy Poehler?

  It's pretty hard to lay down for many, many hours and not fall asleep. Yeah.

• 50:51Speaker 02

  No, it's a great gig.

• 50:52Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's great.

• 50:53Speaker 02

  And it's great, you know, it's not just our background. We intentionally have patients that are seated into the environment that don't pop until five or six hours later.

• 51:01Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 51:02Speaker 02

  There's a guy that I'm just working with this week who's been there since week one, in a gurney for seven weeks. After week five, we let him turn over. After week six, I think he sat up and now we're, he's awake and he's carrying the narrative for the next four episodes.

• 51:15Amy Poehler?

  That is so cool. And it is a part of the show that's like just very fun, puzzle boxy, is you're just wondering who's gonna be the main character in the, in the, in the next hour.

• 51:25Speaker 02

  And this is a show that audiences seem to like to pull from the back row. Like, I really like Mateo, or I really like Ahmad, the security guy. You know, people are really focused on the, on the peripheral characters, which makes this feel like, okay, the narrative is working if you're getting invested in people that only sometimes have two or three lines per, per episode.

• 51:46Amy Poehler?

  And you know, we talked very early on about this idea of like, knowing when you met your people, like at that, at that program in Northwestern. You love actors.

• 51:55Speaker 02

  I do, very much.

• 51:57Amy Poehler?

  You've spoken about it, and I find it really very, very moving, the way you feel, count yourself lucky to be among actors as a community. And I think the way you treat actors on the pit, you can tell your love for them. You give people a lot of opportunity to score.

• 52:14Speaker 02

  I just want, during the strike, when I was walking around with a picket sign in my hand, I was walking a lot with Matt Weiner and I was walking a lot with, I don't know, I had a lot of people that I was conversing with. And we were talking about work and what work should mean and used to feel like and what we'd want it to mean again. And I feel like that became the intentionality of what I wanted this to look and feel like. And I even wrote a letter that I sent to our casting director saying, you know, this is the look and feel of the show. It's like an old Altman movie where you just, you gotta throw in like you're going to summer camp or doing kind of rep and TV and camp at the same time. Leave your ego behind. Bring your creativity. You're never gonna work like this again. This is a really immersive experience.

• 52:54Speaker 02

  So if you're thirsty for something like that and you want to buy into something and play hooky from your life 12 hours a day, come join our pirate ship. And it was just like, calling all pros, calling all pros. People just came and they show up to play. It is not hard for me to be focused at work because everybody's coming in there to give the best of themselves. And I find that so inspiring. That's what I love about actors is their courage. And they can be petulant and they can be petty and they can be gossipy and they can be like cats that never want to get on their mark or come to rehearsal. Once you get them there, they'll kill themselves for you. They really will.

• 53:31Amy Poehler?

  You know, you speak really well about a lot of things that matter to you and you also show up. There's, I could list a million things in which I've, even in the past year, I've seen you speak passionately about. Where is this feeling of like justice and advocacy? Where did, where did it come from? Is it, is it, was it in your family of origin?

• 53:55Speaker 02

  I definitely think, I think I grew up in a family that preached a version of social justice and was always conscious of inequality and our responsibility, because we had opportunity or, you know, advantages, was to try to level the playing field and democratize it wherever possible. So, you know, we all grew up with this sense of civic mindedness, the sense of you have to participate in society, that, you know, there is a limit of enough for yourself and you can define what is enough. And that makes the, you know, define the difference between want and need.

• 54:31Speaker 02

  What do you really need versus what do you want? And I, I had this wonderful, huge career in my twenties when I got all the big toys, the big house. You know, I got to see what my grandfather said was true. You can only be in one room at a time. And sometimes the bigger the space, the lonelier the space. So I've been on my own journey of defining what is enough and what makes me happy. And I've gotten to a place where it really is defined by meaningful work and meaningful family life. Anything other than that is give back. So I'm allowed to be philanthropic and feel magnanimous because my cup is full, which is a lovely thing to be able to say.

• 55:10Speaker 02

  And then being in a position with this show to, you know, have an opportunity to go to Washington, have doors open and have people listen to things that are important to me. Be an advocate for Los Angeles based production. Couple of other things have become very important to me.

• 55:24Amy Poehler?

  I love, I loved watching you and your mom go together.

• 55:27Speaker 02

  Oh, that was amazing. I mean, see, to me, that's not a, an act of charity. If you get this incredible opportunity to be with your mother and have your two careers dovetailed together. I got to watch my mother, you know, I don't want to say my mother's age, but of advancing age, walking with her fellow nurses and feeling relevant at her advanced age, which isn't always easy for women of advancing age. Sometimes you feel rather invisible. And for my mother to feel like, like a bit of an icon, like an elder stateswoman who had put in the time and put in the years and was earning the respect of her colleagues was huge. She was wonderful to see.

• 56:04Amy Poehler?

  When you saw her being a nurse, she was an ICU nurse?

• 56:07Speaker 02

  She was an operating room nurse for 10 years. And then she was a chief orthopedic nurse at Kaiser in Hollywood.

• 56:13Amy Poehler?

  When you, when you saw her at work, like, you know, I, I, you know, I have two sons. I love hearing from men my age, like what they took away from seeing their mother work.

• 56:26Speaker 02

  Well, I've talked about this. I had, my mother and I had a big moment after season one of The Pit aired, and she watched episode 12, where my character has this breakdown. And she came over to my house and she just said that it's triggered something for her. And she started having all these memories of all these cases that she didn't save the patient. She starts listing a gang member who'd been shot that she was trying to help with two units of blood and a little kid that she put into a morgue drawer. And, and I was like, I don't know these stories. I've never heard these stories.

• 56:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 56:55Speaker 02

  And I said, where were all these? And she goes, oh, I don't know. I said, how old was that, how old was I when you put the kid in the drawer? She goes, well, I think actually your brother was that age and that's why that one got to me. But then, in retrospect, what I remember is she. Made us dinner. She drove us to practice. She helped us with our homework. She didn't bring her work home unless she was bringing us gauze to be mummies on Halloween or surgical tubing so we could use it for our Star Wars figures layouts or whatever.

• 57:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:22Speaker 02

  Like, I didn't learn about who my mother was professionally until 54 years old.

• 57:27Amy Poehler?

  Honestly, a lot of kids don't learn who they're, like, a lot of times, we don't see our mothers as people for a very long time.

• 57:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, I've given her her flowers now, though.

• 57:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it's awesome to see. Well, we're going feminine to masculine now. Because I have to say, on the pit, there's just a lot of incredible investigations into, like, men's friendships and relationships. And you don't see the, often see the kind of complexity of that. And the relationship you have with Dr. Jack Abbott, with Sean Haddacy, is really something.

• 58:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:00Amy Poehler?

  It's so good.

• 58:02Speaker 02

  And the same with Langdon, you know.

• 58:04Amy Poehler?

  I mean, Patrick Ball is so good.

• 58:06Speaker 02

  And to an extent, Whitaker as well, like, mentor, mentee. You know, it's, it's really lovely to explore these things.

• 58:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, well, we have this thing on the podcast where we.

• 58:20Speaker 02

  Lovely is not a really masculine adjective.

• 58:22Amy Poehler?

  Lovely. You know what?

• 58:25Speaker 02

  It's really cool.

• 58:26Amy Poehler?

  But you know what? The guys are really cool.

• 58:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, the guys are cool.

• 58:30Amy Poehler?

  So, we spoke to Sean.

• 58:32Speaker 02

  Uh-oh. Haddacy?

• 58:34Amy Poehler?

  Haddacy.

• 58:35Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 58:38Speaker 02

  I was hoping you'd go with the other one, but okay.

• 58:43Amy Poehler?

  Okay, first of all.

• 58:44Speaker 02

  I was hoping you'd go Cassidy.

• 58:45Amy Poehler?

  I know. Oh, my God. I love Sean Cassidy.

• 58:48Speaker 02

  You wanted to hear an embarrassing story?

• 58:49Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 58:50Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 58:51Amy Poehler?

  I love Sean Cassidy.

• 58:52Speaker 02

  I, there was a night where it was brokered where we were gonna hang out and play pool.

• 58:55Amy Poehler?

  And for anybody under 55, Sean Cassidy was like, uh, how, he was kind of like Harry Styles.

• 59:02Speaker 02

  He was like the Timothy Chalamet of his time, except more TV than film. And he cut albums, too.

• 59:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, he was, I knew him as a musician first.

• 59:08Speaker 02

  Sure, of course. Did do Run, Run?

• 59:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah, of course.

• 59:11Speaker 02

  So, we're gonna hang out, we're gonna play pool this night. And I tried too hard.

• 59:18Speaker 02

  Sometimes I come on too strong. Sometimes I'm a little overly zealous in the questions I ask and the things that I'm interested in. And I turned him off completely. Never got a call back. Yeah, never got a call back.

• 59:33Amy Poehler?

  Because you came on too strong?

• 59:34Speaker 02

  I believe that was what happened. In fact, that was, I don't wanna embarrass Sean. But I didn't get a review from the mutual friend. He was like, he thought you came on a little strong.

• 59:45Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I'm sweating thinking about it.

• 59:47Speaker 02

  I'm sweating. We're telling the story.

• 59:49Amy Poehler?

  I know, because I think about so many times when I audition for stuff. And it is, take the feeling you have of being on a bad date and multiply it by 10. When you're like, oh, fuck, this date sucks.

• 1:00:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:02Amy Poehler?

  I am, and you can hear your own voice.

• 1:00:05Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:00:06Amy Poehler?

  And you're like, mhm, this is going to go.

• 1:00:08Speaker 02

  I thought it went great. Went home, like, bragged to my wife, and I'm like, we're like this now, baby. Like, I may go out on tour with him, you never know. And then, then you started going, maybe he didn't wanna talk about Hardy Boys for an hour. Maybe.

• 1:00:21Amy Poehler?

  Why, Sean, why would you not wanna talk about the Hardy Boys? That's his problem. He missed out. He's kicking himself.

• 1:00:27Speaker 02

  I got a million of those stories, if that's what you want.

• 1:00:29Amy Poehler?

  You do. I do feel like, Noah, you, I'm learning that you, you go in.

• 1:00:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, and sometimes I come out, but most of the time, I don't.

• 1:00:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I can tell. I can tell. If you're gonna be Sexiest Man Alive, you can't do that.

• 1:00:46Speaker 02

  I gotta get over that.

• 1:00:48Amy Poehler?

  You gotta get out.

• 1:00:49Speaker 02

  Think Sean Connery and Denzel and the sexy men of yesteryear would look down upon my.

• 1:00:55Amy Poehler?

  For all the work that they did.

• 1:00:57Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, I'm not holding out.

• 1:00:58Amy Poehler?

  Think about how hard it was for them.

• 1:01:00Speaker 02

  To me, I should've trained harder for this, really. I didn't realize that there was so much.

• 1:01:05Amy Poehler?

  Your sexy forefathers did not battle so that you were.

• 1:01:08Speaker 02

  There's no guidebook.

• 1:01:09Amy Poehler?

  No, no.

• 1:01:10Speaker 02

  There's no rule.

• 1:01:11Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so Sean, uh, and I was saying to Sean, we were talking about you, talking well behind your back. And he's very, very in awe of your talent and what you can do and, and, and all that you do. And I was just saying, like, what I love so much about his character on the pit and what you guys have done is you've created this mystery, this nighttime mystery for the night shift. That is so fun, because we're just projecting a lot on them.

• 1:01:37Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:01:38Amy Poehler?

  What kind of people they are, what did they like, you know? They kind of show up as the show is ending and you're like, what? Those little tastes are so well done.

• 1:01:48Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:01:49Amy Poehler?

  He had two questions for you.

• 1:01:51Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:01:51Amy Poehler?

  Okay, one is serious and one is fun.

• 1:01:54Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:01:55Amy Poehler?

  Is there anything that you read in a script that scares you that you have to do? Like, you know, when you see something come up and you think to yourself, okay, this is gonna be hard or scary.

• 1:02:08Amy Poehler?

  That, it, it doesn't have to be necessarily in the pit, but like, something that you know is coming. What, what do you do when, what, what is that and what do you do when you know it's coming?

• 1:02:18Speaker 02

  Well, I can kind of answer it two different ways. One, generally speaking, when I read a script, if I think, oh, I couldn't do that.

• 1:02:28Amy Poehler?

  Like what? What could you not do?

• 1:02:29Speaker 02

  Well, for example, I remember the first time I read the pilot script for a show I did called Falling Skies, where it was like, oh, this guy is a history teacher, I'm into that. Oh, wait, no, he's gonna kill aliens with a machine gun? Oh, wait a second, nobody's gonna wanna see me doing that. And so you start to think like, nah, that's not me, I'm not an action hero, they're gonna wanna get, you know, that guy. And then you say, well, what, what are you afraid of? What, what is it that you're resistant to? And you think, do you think this history professor wants to be an action hero? And you start to make logical leaps within to sort of figure out how you would get there if you had to be. And then suddenly, that thing that is sort of scary is more of a, of a mirror saying, look, you're post divorce, you don't know quite what the future holds for you as a single father.

• 1:03:13Speaker 02

  You're rebuilding your life, he's rebuilding his life. Maybe you're afraid of leadership, maybe you're afraid of fatherhood, maybe you're afraid of loss. Those are the three defining characteristics to this character, and maybe that's exactly where you need to go. So, I've, tend to look at those things as barometers for where I need to go, rather than where I wanna go. And then, when I'm in the job, if there's a challenging thing that's coming up, you know, I protect it like I'm, like I'm a caveman trying to protect a kindled fire so it won't go out. I've just, I know it's coming and I just keep blowing on it and adding a little straw to it every day, thinking about it every day, you know, I can make it bigger and then, okay, just, just tamp it down until the day.

• 1:03:54Speaker 02

  So that on the day, it is a day of, of release, it's a day of liberation, it's a graduation from having to tend that fire. And so it's not intimidating. I actually get excited when I go to work. And I think this is gonna be so fun to see what comes out, now that I can actually make this an inferno.

• 1:04:11Amy Poehler?

  I love that visual of that fire, of, of keeping that going and letting.

• 1:04:14Speaker 02

  Especially on this pit, you know, when you've got, in episode one, know that you're gonna have a breakdown in episode 10, it's a long time to keep the fire lit. And that every day, you know, I'd be at breakfast with my kids and think, is it there? Yeah, it's there. And I'd be, you know, shopping in the grocery store, could you do it right now? Yeah, I could do it right now. And to me, that is the technique I've always wanted to have. I wanted to be able to have a technique that required a fresh coffee and a folding chair. And I could do it anywhere.

• 1:04:40Amy Poehler?

  Fuck, yeah, Noah. That's so cool. You're really good at acting.

• 1:04:45Speaker 02

  Thank you. Thank you.

• 1:04:47Amy Poehler?

  Well, that's gonna help you in this basketball team, because Sean Haddacy, second question is.

• 1:04:52Speaker 02

  Second question, here we go.

• 1:04:53Amy Poehler?

  You're the point guard of a basketball team.

• 1:04:55Speaker 02

  Never played point guard in my life.

• 1:04:56Amy Poehler?

  You've never played point guard?

• 1:04:57Speaker 02

  No, I'm too tall.

• 1:04:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Congrats, by the way, because literally, in the world of actors, you're a giant.

• 1:05:03Speaker 02

  It's true. It's true.

• 1:05:04Amy Poehler?

  Actors are pretty tiny. How tall are you?

• 1:05:07Speaker 02

  Uh, 6'1".

• 1:05:08Amy Poehler?

  Hey.

• 1:05:09Speaker 02

  Hey.

• 1:05:11Speaker 02

  And change.

• 1:05:12Amy Poehler?

  Hey, 6'1" and change.

• 1:05:16Amy Poehler?

  6'1" and change. So, you're 6'1" and change, so, okay, you're right, maybe Sean, anyway. You're the point guard of the basketball team.

• 1:05:26Speaker 02

  On Sean's team, I'm not playing point guard.

• 1:05:28Amy Poehler?

  Okay, you're just on a basketball team. And you have to bring four more players from ER and the pit. Who would you bring?

• 1:05:36Speaker 02

  Obviously, I'm gonna take Clooney. You don't grow up in Kentucky without growing up with a basketball on one hand. So, he is a great ball player. And I played a lot of ball with him and he beat me a lot of games.

• 1:05:45Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:05:46Speaker 02

  So, I'm taking Clooney. I gotta pick, how many more? Three more?

• 1:05:50Amy Poehler?

  Three more.

• 1:05:50Speaker 02

  Uh, was Sean asking to play? Is this the kind, it was like a, it was like a.

• 1:05:56Amy Poehler?

  This is a great question.

• 1:05:57Speaker 02

  Was he like, you know, tell him, uh, I still got my heels, my wheels, you know?

• 1:06:01Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I'm, I don't know. What do you think?

• 1:06:04Speaker 02

  I don't think he's asking for a spot. I don't think, I, I, I, he's a tennis player.

• 1:06:09Amy Poehler?

  Okay, he did mention that he plays tennis.

• 1:06:11Speaker 02

  I bet he did.

• 1:06:14Amy Poehler?

  I mean, but I mean, I'm sure if you asked him to play, he'd be psyched.

• 1:06:18Speaker 02

  Luke Tanny's really big. He's on our night shift.

• 1:06:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, Luke is great.

• 1:06:22Speaker 02

  I might bring in Luke for some size down low.

• 1:06:24Amy Poehler?

  Great. Who's your big guy?

• 1:06:27Speaker 02

  That's, that's the tricky part. If I could go all the way back to ER, I'd take A. Ben Ruby, plays Jerry the Desk Clerk.

• 1:06:34Amy Poehler?

  That's what I was gonna say.

• 1:06:35Speaker 02

  Jerry's a hell of a rebounder.

• 1:06:39Speaker 02

  He, he actually never, ever played with us, ever. He would light Nag Champa incense and sit off to the side and watch us play.

• 1:06:47Amy Poehler?

  But he's 6'6", 6'7" or something?

• 1:06:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's like 6'8". He's a good ball player.

• 1:06:50Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:06:51Speaker 02

  And then, who else am I gonna take? I gotta take one more. I'm gonna take young, scrappy Garen Howells, probably never played the game before, but damn it, I'm gonna teach him.

• 1:07:01Amy Poehler?

  You're gonna have one person that you're teaching.

• 1:07:04Speaker 02

  Who makes the winning basket by throwing it underhand?

• 1:07:06Amy Poehler?

  Just rewatched Hoosiers with my kid.

• 1:07:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, the kid that makes the underhanded free throw, that's gonna be Garen on our team.

• 1:07:12Amy Poehler?

  And you always need somebody that's like, gonna be like, give us the spirit. Okay, so Sean was not picked.

• 1:07:22Amy Poehler?

  That's okay, Sean. He didn't want to be picked anyway.

• 1:07:26Speaker 02

  It's just odd that he would use a basketball metaphor.

• 1:07:33Speaker 02

  And wanna get picked.

• 1:07:36Amy Poehler?

  I love that. I love that you got hung up on the fact that you weren't gonna be the point guard, which is so great.

• 1:07:42Speaker 02

  I'm just saying, because I'm merely thinking like, Wiley, no, no, no, you can't dribble up that, no. Get down low, get down low.

• 1:07:49Amy Poehler?

  It is, it is, like, I always loved the fact when I was watching you guys on ER that I could tell you all were shooters. Like, that's, it's just, it was a very satisfying thing to watch.

• 1:08:00Speaker 02

  We had a hoop right outside the soundstage, which my trailer was the backstop for, and we played all the time. We played every lunch. It was the bane of all the makeup artists' existence because they had to constantly clean off the sweat and like, you know, cool this off after lunch. But, you know, George was religious about it, and I could either listen to them play outside my trailer or join them.

• 1:08:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's awesome. Is there a show that you've watched over and over again? Like, what is your ER?

• 1:08:26Speaker 02

  I, I have this very bizarre habit in that I travel with like a jewel case of DVDs and I pack a DVD player because most places don't have them anymore. And I carry with me the collected episodes of Columbo and MASH. And there's a few that I just, I go to.

• 1:08:45Amy Poehler?

  You've spoken about Alan Alda. Can we speak?

• 1:08:48Speaker 02

  Let's talk Alan.

• 1:08:48Amy Poehler?

  I love, MASH was really important to me, too, and very important to my parents. I had young parents and they would, like, MASH was a really big thing in my home when I was growing up. And how important was it for you? What do you love about it?

• 1:09:00Speaker 02

  Well, I, that relationship with television shows and actors on television shows is so ancient for me because I was the classic latchkey kid. You know, I was raised by a square babysitter. And, you know, I watched so much television that my parents were concerned. What parents are concerned about video games or TikTok, my parents were concerned because I was, you know, playing hooky from school so I could watch Big Valley and Bonanza in emergency in the morning. And then Laverne and Shirley and Happy Days, or Love Boat, or Fantasy Island, or The White Shadow, or Hill Street Blues, or MASH.

• 1:09:30Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:09:31Speaker 02

  I mean, I just loved them all. And I don't know what it was about the two actors in particular, Henry Winkler and Alan Alda. Like, to me, I was like, oh, I could do that. I could do that, too. Like, one, they both made acting seem accessible. And I loved both of their characters. And I knew they, from other stuff, so I saw their versatility as well. But getting to meet and work with Alan was, it's not always exciting to meet and work with your heroes, but he did not disappoint.

• 1:09:58Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:09:59Speaker 02

  And we've now been on a television show together. We did a play together. We did a movie together. And I've done his podcast. So we've been able to be in each other's company quite a bit.

• 1:10:11Amy Poehler?

  That's awesome. And you worked with Sally.

• 1:10:13Speaker 02

  Oh, she was the best.

• 1:10:14Amy Poehler?

  Sally Field, who is like our generation. She's just incredible.

• 1:10:17Speaker 02

  I got to reconnect with her doing an Actors on Actors interview, which was so cool.

• 1:10:20Amy Poehler?

  So cool. So good.

• 1:10:22Speaker 02

  She is one of those people, you know, it's like Disneyland. I remember Disneyland at three, five, seven, 11, 15. I remember Sally.

• 1:10:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:29Speaker 02

  Each stage of my life and development, whether it was a comedy, a drama, she was there.

• 1:10:34Amy Poehler?

  No, I talk about this a lot. Norma Rae was one of those films where, I mean, I don't know if I watched it and thought I could do it, but I watched it thinking, I, like, whatever she is doing is the thing I want to keep watching forever. She's just...

• 1:10:47Speaker 02

  That's how I felt about Ron Liebman in that movie. He was never better. I mean, he was so good in that movie. Everybody is.

• 1:10:53Amy Poehler?

  And then what are you watching to laugh?

• 1:10:54Speaker 02

  My wife and I call it palate cleansers. If we watch something really intense, it's like, we need a Key and Peele. We need a...

• 1:11:00Amy Poehler?

  Key and Peele?

• 1:11:01Speaker 02

  Yeah. Key and Peele.

• 1:11:02Amy Poehler?

  Let's watch a Key and Peele on the way out. What's your fave Key and Peele?

• 1:11:06Speaker 02

  Oh, my goodness. That's like, really hard to pick. But there's one that they've been showing on Instagram a lot, where it's a bunch of gang members sitting around a table. And one of them is talking about how they've just lost a friend. And it was a friend he grew up with. And they used to play Care Bears together. And they tried to figure out which one, which kind of Care Bear they were. And Keegan is daring everybody else at the table to not laugh while my man shares his feelings.

• 1:11:31Amy Poehler?

  Manly tears.

• 1:11:32Speaker 02

  Manly tears.

• 1:11:33Amy Poehler?

  Okay, let's watch. Those guys are incredible. What genius is they are.

• 1:11:37Speaker 02

  Genius.

• 1:11:37Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 1:11:38Speaker 04

  Okay, you know what? None of you look at them tears and think that [BLEEP] is funny. Because it takes a big [BLEEP] man to cry in front of his crew.

• 1:11:50Speaker 04

  Go ahead, Carmel.

• 1:11:51Speaker 02

  Go ahead, Carmel.

• 1:11:53Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. Noah!

• 1:11:56Speaker 02

  I'm dying. I'm a sweaty...

• 1:11:59Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. Ari, do you cry when you laugh?

• 1:12:02Speaker 02

  Yeah. I cry all the time, but this is a good, these are good tears.

• 1:12:05Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. Key and Peele, come on and perform this live for Noah.

• 1:12:11Speaker 02

  I got to meet them at Comic Con once, years and years ago. That was super cool. I was with my son, too, who thought it was instant street cred with...

• 1:12:17Amy Poehler?

  Do you ever think about, like, hosting SNL? Did you host SNL?

• 1:12:20Speaker 02

  I, when Juliana Margulies was the host, I did a pre-taped sketch with her. So I got to go out on stage and wave, which was super cool. And DMX was the musical guest. And I'm waving to everybody. I feel this like, oh. And I turn and DMX is like, come on, man. Like, I'm holding out my hand. And I was like, I'm so sorry.

• 1:12:36Amy Poehler?

  DMX, I'm so sorry. Mr. X.

• 1:12:39Speaker 02

  Mr. X, I'm so sorry. I would love to. I would love to. And I recently met Lorne, you know, and...

• 1:12:46Amy Poehler?

  You should do it.

• 1:12:47Speaker 02

  Kind of put the bee in his bonnet, as they say.

• 1:12:49Amy Poehler?

  Yes, you would. I think you would love it.

• 1:12:52Speaker 02

  I would love it. I would live at the studio all week. I would just eat it up.

• 1:12:54Amy Poehler?

  Don't overthink it. Don't live at the studio too much. You don't want a Sean Cassidy on your hands.

• 1:13:02Speaker 02

  That's a really good point. Or a Kevin Bacon. Oh, I've got so many.

• 1:13:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great warning.

• 1:13:11Amy Poehler?

  Just go home at night.

• 1:13:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, right.

• 1:13:13Amy Poehler?

  And enjoy, take it, take a load off. Don't work too hard.

• 1:13:17Speaker 02

  I got pizzas!

• 1:13:20Speaker 02

  No, don't be that guy.

• 1:13:24Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. So many times I've been that guy. So many times. But you know what? You, I always want to go down swinging. I think you're that way, too.

• 1:13:33Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:13:33Amy Poehler?

  Like, no one's gonna accuse you of not caring.

• 1:13:36Speaker 02

  No, I will, I will try and try and try.

• 1:13:39Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:39Speaker 02

  And I think it would be amazing. It's, I mean, since I was a kid, I could, from, I mean, I watched the first cast in reruns, but my first cast was, you know, the Eddie Murphy.

• 1:13:48Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, exactly. We were the same age. Yeah.

• 1:13:51Speaker 02

  It was just like, you know, I'd do every Joe Piscopo bit. I could do them all. Tim Kaczynski, I could do all of his stuff.

• 1:14:01Speaker 02

  I met Eddie once when I was a kid. I asked him for his autograph. And I said, I really like you on SNL. And he goes, what are you doing up that late? And I said, duh.

• 1:14:12Speaker 02

  And I said, can I have your autograph? He goes, fuck off, man.

• 1:14:18Amy Poehler?

  And how old are you?

• 1:14:20Speaker 02

  Like, nine.

• 1:14:23Speaker 02

  So I always sign an autograph. Whenever a nine-year-old needs an autograph from me, I sign that so fast. You want to hear a great story? So I've told this story in my house. And last year for my birthday, my daughter didn't know what to get me. So I let my 10-year-old daughter printed up a picture of Eddie Murphy and then wrote on it, dear Noah, you're a great kid. Eddie Murphy. And she spelled Eddie, E-D-D-Y. And I have it framed in my office. It's the greatest gift. And my 10-year-old thought, you know what? And then she came up with a story. She's like, Dad, you're never gonna believe who Mom and I saw yesterday. Eddie Murphy. And we got what you've always wanted, his autograph. And then they gave me the gift.

• 1:15:02Amy Poehler?

  Oh, Francis. Oh, you're the, she's a doll.

• 1:15:05Speaker 02

  She's the best. She's the best.

• 1:15:06Amy Poehler?

  What a great, I love that story. And I also love Eddie's story, too. I don't think, I think we've turned, we've treated kids too nicely sometimes.

• 1:15:16Speaker 02

  You know.

• 1:15:17Amy Poehler?

  You used to be able to tell a kid to scram, at least.

• 1:15:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, scram, kid, you bother me.

• 1:15:21Amy Poehler?

  Scram, you're, get out of here. And now, God forbid.

• 1:15:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, no.

• 1:15:25Amy Poehler?

  All right, let's end it on that note. Noah Wiley, everybody. Thank you.

• 1:15:30Speaker 02

  Scram, kids!

• 1:15:31Amy Poehler?

  Noah, thank you for doing this. Thank you so much, Noah. It was such a delight to talk to you. And thank you for tolerating all of my fan questions and for the work that you do. And we mentioned a movie when we were discussing some of the legends, and that movie is Norma Rae. If you have not seen Norma Rae, I understand why, because it's so hard to find on streaming. So if there's any people listening right now that like, I don't know, like Jerry Netflix, or Dave Amazon, or whoever is owning those places that can like, flip a switch and get Norma Rae on streaming, please. That film

• 1:16:12Amy Poehler?

  is so incredible. It's, Sally Field plays like a southern mill worker who encourages her factory to unionize. And it's so, so good. And also, you know, ties into a lot of what Noah was talking about. So check out Norma Rae on DVD, I guess. And remember those. And thank you, Sally Field, for that performance. And thank you, everybody, for listening. And see you soon. Bye.

• 1:16:41Amy Poehler?

  You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaia McMullin, Aleia Zanarez, Bridget Gierlings, Paige Garberini, Belle Roman, and Drew Vanstein-Burgen. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:17:11Speaker 05

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• 1:17:40Speaker 03

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