"Elton John & Brandi Carlile"

We surely do believe in angels— it’s Elton John & Brandi Carlile. Teleprompters in therapy, Joni’s living room, and the 250-pound mushroom. No more kissing; it’s an all-new SmartLess.

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

• 0:00Sean Hayes?

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• 0:43Sean Hayes?

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• 1:19Sean Hayes?

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• 1:55Sean Hayes?

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• 2:40Jason Bateman?

  Hi.

• 2:41Speaker 02

  Sean.

• 2:42Jason Bateman?

  No, you're Scotty.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 2:44Jason Bateman?

  Hi.

• 2:45Speaker 02

  Scotty.

• 2:46Jason Bateman?

  How?

• 2:47Speaker 02

  Are?

• 2:47Jason Bateman?

  You?

• 2:48Speaker 02

  Today?

• 2:48Jason Bateman?

  I?

• 2:49Speaker 02

  Was?

• 2:50Jason Bateman?

  Wondering?

• 2:51Speaker 02

  If?

• 2:51Jason Bateman?

  You?

• 2:52Speaker 02

  Would?

• 2:52Jason Bateman?

  Stick?

• 2:53Speaker 02

  Around?

• 2:54Jason Bateman?

  And?

• 2:54Speaker 02

  Listen?

• 2:55Jason Bateman?

  To?

• 2:55Speaker 02

  Smartless.

• 2:56Jason Bateman?

  Welcome to Smartless. That was very good.

• 3:16Jason Bateman?

  Good morning.

• 3:17Sean Hayes?

  Good morning, everybody. Hi.

• 3:19Will Arnett?

  Hi.

• 3:20Sean Hayes?

  Hi.

• 3:20Jason Bateman?

  Hi.

• 3:21Sean Hayes?

  Great.

• 3:21Will Arnett?

  Sean, you all packed? Sean, you all packed?

• 3:23Sean Hayes?

  I was just gonna say, I just finished packing. I hate packing.

• 3:27Jason Bateman?

  Wait, Sean, yes, you're going to England?

• 3:29Sean Hayes?

  I'm going to England, yes, the United Kingdom. Yes. What else?

• 3:35Jason Bateman?

  To work on a fantastic new project? Do you wanna talk about it?

• 3:40Sean Hayes?

  No, I mean, it's a little fun cameo in a movie called The Running Man.

• 3:44Will Arnett?

  With our friend Edgar Wright is directing.

• 3:46Sean Hayes?

  Edgar Wright is directing. We should have him on the show, by the way.

• 3:48Will Arnett?

  The great, I know, we should. I've wanted to for a while, and he's a fan, he's a big fan of the show.

• 3:53Sean Hayes?

  I know, he loves, we love him, too.

• 3:55Jason Bateman?

  Well, he's gonna be busy for a little while now, right?

• 3:58Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, he's been, they've been shooting already for a while. He, for Tracy, Edgar Wright, directed Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver, tons of great movies.

• 4:06Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 4:06Jason Bateman?

  Tons.

• 4:07Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 4:07Jason Bateman?

  Really good filmmaker.

• 4:09Will Arnett?

  Yeah. He's a very good filmmaker.

• 4:10Sean Hayes?

  And a good guy.

• 4:11Will Arnett?

  And a good guy.

• 4:12Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, but I packed my sanitizer because I'm like Jason a little bit where I, I have the sanitizer wiped, so I wipe down the seats before I sit down and I wipe down all the-

• 4:22Jason Bateman?

  Do you really?

• 4:23Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 4:24Jason Bateman?

  I see.

• 4:25Will Arnett?

  Don't you pass-

• 4:26Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, like-

• 4:26Jason Bateman?

  No, I know, but I-

• 4:27Sean Hayes?

  What are you talking about?

• 4:28Jason Bateman?

  I would feel embarrassed that I'm making such a big, like, do you try to sneak that at all?

• 4:34Sean Hayes?

  I don't-

• 4:34Will Arnett?

  Now you're embarrassed? This is, this is the line?

• 4:38Sean Hayes?

  I don't put music on with arrows pointing at me like, look as I, you know, I do it like, you know, quietly.

• 4:44Jason Bateman?

  What about theater seats when you're at a movie theater? Do you do that as well or do you, I wear a hoodie like this when I-

• 4:50Sean Hayes?

  No, I do, I do, but I do bring sanitizer to a movie theater.

• 4:54Jason Bateman?

  And for the armrests?

• 4:56Sean Hayes?

  For the, yeah, but I don't wipe the seats and I just make sure I don't touch them a lot.

• 4:59Will Arnett?

  You guys are what's wrong with this country.

• 5:01Jason Bateman?

  But, but here's the-

• 5:02Will Arnett?

  You are, truly, truly, I truly mean that, I do sincerely, and I love you both.

• 5:05Jason Bateman?

  Oh, that's the problem in this country? But Will, don't you, see, cause my brain goes immediately to, so the backrests of, of theater seats or plane seats, you lean against it and then you go right to your pillow, right? So you lean back on your pillow at home in your bed.

• 5:23Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 5:24Jason Bateman?

  And then eventually you flip over onto your side or your face and your mouth's open and you're like-

• 5:30Sean Hayes?

  But what are you talking about? I don't go from the-

• 5:32Jason Bateman?

  Connection.

• 5:33Sean Hayes?

  I don't go from seeing a movie to laying down.

• 5:34Jason Bateman?

  Well, you do eventually at the end of the night, you go home from the theater, you, you put on your little PJs and then you climb into bed.

• 5:41Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, but it's a lot of time for the germs to get away.

• 5:43Jason Bateman?

  But the germs don't die that quick. I think, I think they last longer, don't they?

• 5:46Will Arnett?

  I don't know. Will, you probably know this. I rely on something called my immune system and people have been, you know, doing this and living forever.

• 5:54Jason Bateman?

  What if you're smelling somebody's hair gel, you know?

• 5:56Will Arnett?

  My grandparents lived into their, well into their 90s, my great grandmother over 100, and they never owned a bottle of sanitizer to do any of this shit.

• 6:06Sean Hayes?

  They should have.

• 6:07Will Arnett?

  So like, yeah, they should have.

• 6:08Jason Bateman?

  You're right, you're right, you're right.

• 6:10Will Arnett?

  They lived long, healthy lives and they didn't, they didn't obsess about it.

• 6:13Jason Bateman?

  I know, it's just a gross factor. I wish I could not think about it, cause I don't think I'm getting sick. I just think I'm preoccupied with gross thoughts.

• 6:20Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 6:20Will Arnett?

  I know, I know.

• 6:23Jason Bateman?

  Any other coffee chatter? Should we get to our guest?

• 6:25Sean Hayes?

  We should get to our guest. I was, no, I could talk about the airplane travel thing, but no, let's go.

• 6:31Jason Bateman?

  Okay, and I don't know if you heard it, but I did have an S on the end of that. Yes, guys, today it's a special treat. It's a two for Tuesday.

• 6:37Sean Hayes?

  Oh, wow. We didn't even have to pay extra.

• 6:39Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, yeah. We're gonna double the pleasure, double the fun, because we've, we've got not, not just the one guest, we've got the two. And when I say two, it's kinda more like 10. Because they're combined accomplishments.

• 6:50Sean Hayes?

  Oh, okay.

• 6:52Jason Bateman?

  On one side, he has sold more than 300 million records worldwide, okay? Has 26 Golds, 43 Platinum, two Diamond. I gotta ask him what those are.

• 7:04Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, what's a Diamond?

• 7:05Jason Bateman?

  He's also received six Grammys, two Oscars, a Tony, and yes, an Emmy to join the elite group of EGOT winners. He's a Kennedy Center Honore.

• 7:14Sean Hayes?

  Honoree.

• 7:15Jason Bateman?

  Honoree. He's received the French Legion of Honor and a knighthood from the Queen. For HIV/AIDS, he's raised more than $565 million. Not to be outdone, she is one of music's most respected voices, receiving 11 Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, an Oscar nomination, New York Times bestselling author. They've combined their superpowers to create a new album with a birthday of April 4th. They're here to talk about that and their incredible lives, and very excited and honored to introduce Brandy Carlisle and Sir Elton John.

• 7:46Speaker 04

  What the hell?

• 7:48Jason Bateman?

  Can you believe it?

• 7:49Speaker 04

  Terrific. Absolutely terrific.

• 7:51Sean Hayes?

  What the hell?

• 7:52Jason Bateman?

  Good morning to you both.

• 7:53Sean Hayes?

  Hi, guys.

• 7:55Speaker 04

  Well, hello.

• 7:56Jason Bateman?

  Guys, can you believe this?

• 7:58Sean Hayes?

  This is pretty cool. This is really cool. This is insane. And it's dark, so you must be in London.

• 8:04Speaker 04

  Well, Windsor, yeah. Outside of London, yeah.

• 8:07Sean Hayes?

  Okay, sorry, yeah. I'm from Glen Allen, which is outside of Chicago. It means nothing to Sean.

• 8:12Jason Bateman?

  Nothing to Sean. And you're together, too. This is, I'm, I'm, are you, what are you, what are you both doing right now? This is in conjunction with promoting the album that you're together?

• 8:23Speaker 04

  It is in conjunction with promoting the album. So, yeah, that's why we're talking to you guys. We're promoting and flouting.

• 8:30Sean Hayes?

  This is so cool for us, you guys. This is really cool.

• 8:33Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 8:33Sean Hayes?

  Huge fans of us.

• 8:34Speaker 04

  I'd like to say hello to Sean, who I haven't seen for years.

• 8:37Sean Hayes?

  I know. How are you, my, my friend? I know, I haven't seen you in such a long time.

• 8:41Jason Bateman?

  Sean, do you owe him money?

• 8:43Sean Hayes?

  I do owe him a little bit of money and a little bit of a good time.

• 8:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, he was a rent boy when I knew him.

• 8:50Will Arnett?

  Oh. He's a lease boy now, so.

• 8:56Sean Hayes?

  By the way, it's still the same price.

• 8:57Will Arnett?

  Yeah. Wow, wow.

• 9:00Sean Hayes?

  Now, wait, I have a, I have a great, this is so kooky. So, Brandy, you know what, I'm gonna tell this story when I first met you.

• 9:06Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 9:07Sean Hayes?

  So, this is embarrassing for me. So, we were at a fundraiser and we got sat next to each other, me and Scotty and you and your wife. And I sat there and like an idiot, I go, and we were laughing and having a good time. I go, I'm so sorry, I'm an idiot, what, what do you do?

• 9:28Sean Hayes?

  And you said, I'm in the music business. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. And you, and then you introduced your wife, who's also lovely, and we had a great night. And then the next day, I go to this meeting at like, I don't know, Warner Brothers or something, and it's at a high-rise, and I look out the window and the size of a building is a billboard with your face on it. And I'm like, I just sat next to her last night at dinner. And I had no idea. Now, of course, I listen to all your stuff, I like went bananas on you after that.

• 9:58Speaker 05

  I've done lots of things. I've been a roofing laborer, a barista, a grocery store worker, I've done lots of things.

• 10:06Will Arnett?

  Are those things true?

• 10:07Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 10:07Will Arnett?

  Brandy?

• 10:08Jason Bateman?

  What kind of barista were you, were you, were you good at the baristing? I always think I would be awful at that.

• 10:14Speaker 05

  Well, it's all about tips, it's all about tips, so I was great.

• 10:17Jason Bateman?

  Yeah?

• 10:18Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 10:19Jason Bateman?

  Are you good, were you good working for the tips? I've always secretly had a fantasy to be a waiter, just so I could work each table to figure out what they need me to be to get the best tip, like separate audiences, you know?

• 10:29Sean Hayes?

  Jesus.

• 10:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, we know.

• 10:31Jason Bateman?

  You were great at that?

• 10:32Speaker 05

  Yeah, we know how to do this in the music business, in the entertainment industry. We know how to chameleon.

• 10:38Sean Hayes?

  I, yeah, I never understood why, why, because I worked at a restaurant, why we all have to combine our tips, like, and then you split, did you ever work in one of those places? Where you put all, everybody pools their tips and then you split them.

• 10:49Jason Bateman?

  Is that really the way it works?

• 10:51Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it worked when I was a waiter. It was awful.

• 10:54Will Arnett?

  My, my obsession is watching Jason when people describe real-world jobs because, and God bless you and I love you, Jason, but you've never, he grew up in the showbiz. He's been an actor since he was a kid and he's never had a real-world, right, Jason? You've never had a non-acting job?

• 11:08Jason Bateman?

  Will, have you ever had a job where you get tips?

• 11:11Will Arnett?

  Fuck no, but I'm saying, the point is. I have had, I have had real world jobs though, so I.

• 11:17Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, Doug Trenches, I know, I know. All right, you guys, you two, let's talk about who believes in angels. This is your new album. What about the, the concept for the album? How, how did that, how did that come about? Whose great idea was this to, to get together? Who called who?

• 11:34Speaker 04

  Well, I've been a fan of Brandy and a friend of Brandy's for over 20 years and her family.

• 11:40Jason Bateman?

  Wow.

• 11:40Speaker 04

  And I've been, I've always wanted to record with her. And I had the idea of making the album when the final tour stopped in Europe. I'd already booked the studio in Los Angeles for October 23. Yeah. And I wanted to desperately make a record with her. I've been a fan of hers for years. She's been a fan of mine. We included Bernie Torpen in the process, who's been my longtime lyricist, and Andrew, one of the producers. So there were four of us going into the studio with nothing but self doubt and hesitation.

• 12:13Jason Bateman?

  Always for a good album, yes.

• 12:15Speaker 04

  And I, when I got to the studio, I was really tired. I was grumpy. I was fairly lethargic. And for the first few days, it was a hard experience because I was not in a good place. I had so much self doubt, wondering whether I could shift this album into the way I wanted it to be. And eventually after they put, we filmed every song being written, every take being recorded. So my behavior is there for all to see.

• 12:42Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, I saw the trailer, it's really funny.

• 12:45Speaker 04

  After the first five days, it suddenly clicked. And people were really supportive of me and my behavior. And they talked me around and I felt in a good place. And then we just roared. We wrote 14 songs in three weeks and 10 which made the album. And we started with nothing. So it was probably one of the greatest creative experiences I've ever had. And she is a machine. She is so incredibly inspiring. I mean, her vocals, she never does a bad vocal. Her phrasing, which I had to harmonize to, was so difficult for me that I actually tore the lyric up and told her to fuck off.

• 13:24Speaker 05

  Nightmare.

• 13:25Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 13:25Sean Hayes?

  Really, you just were like, "I'm not doing that."

• 13:28Speaker 04

  No.

• 13:28Sean Hayes?

  "I'm not doing that."

• 13:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. And then after I tore it up, we had to get it stuck back together again because I was being such an idiot.

• 13:34Jason Bateman?

  Well, wait, is that typically the way that it works? You show up in a studio and you've got nothing? And you start to come up with either melodies or lyrics or whichever strikes you first?

• 13:43Speaker 04

  No, you go there with some things written. Sometimes, and Brandy does that. She goes in and I sometimes go into the studio with, I've had a couple of ideas. But mostly recently, I've just right in the studio. But...

• 13:56Jason Bateman?

  And are all the songs duets? Or are there some solos on the album? Is every song a duet?

• 14:01Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's ten tracks, so we did like an album. Side one finishes with Brandy's solo song. Side two finishes with my solo song.

• 14:11Jason Bateman?

  Oh, that's nice.

• 14:12Speaker 04

  And let Brandy talk a bit.

• 14:13Speaker 05

  Oh, well.

• 14:14Will Arnett?

  Well, I mean, Brandy, I wanted to say, you know, hi, first of all. I haven't seen you in a long time.

• 14:19Speaker 05

  Hi, Will.

• 14:19Will Arnett?

  Last time, hi, how are you? And last time I saw you, you were singing beautifully at Jimmy's memorial tribute concert at the Bowl, which was just amazing. It was so incredible. Yeah, Jimmy Buffett, the great Jimmy Buffett, who was a friend of ours and our mutual friend, Jane. And Brandy, what is it like? I mean, you're such an accomplished singer-songwriter. You've done it all. You're an incredible performer. But when you get a call, and I know you've been friends with Sir Elton John for, as he said, 20 years. But when you get a call from Sir Elton John saying, "Let's make a record." That must be, at risk of embarrassing you, Sir Elton John, what is that like when you get that call?

• 15:02Will Arnett?

  When that comes through, like, "Hey, we're gonna make a record."

• 15:05Speaker 05

  It was, if he didn't always do what he says he's gonna do, I wouldn't have believed it. But he does. And he was coming off of that massive tour, Dodger Stadium, Glastonbury, just like really highlight moments, like in anyone's life. And he was coming out of this with all this adrenaline. And I thought, well, he's not gonna do it. You know, he's saying it, but does he mean it? You know, and the thing you guys gotta understand is... I have loved Elton John and Bernie Toppin since I was 11 years old. They're the only reason I ever wrote a song or touched an instrument. Yeah, same. And so it feels really mystical and bizarrely beautiful that at this point in my life, that this is what's happened to me and Elton and our relationship. But also, it kind of makes sense.

• 15:49Speaker 05

  And that's more than I can explain, but it's also more than I could have asked for.

• 15:55Jason Bateman?

  Was it a difficult thing to allow yourself, Brandy, to let all your creative instincts flow as freely as I imagine they flow when you're working by yourself? When you're collaborating with somebody that's such a hero to you, were you able to sort of like let that barrier drop down and let all the instincts fly?

• 16:17Speaker 05

  Not for a long time. I mean, imagine that, you know? Like, think how that could have gone. It was like an existential crisis for me. It could have gone really wrong. Like, that first time I put a lyric down in front of Elton John. What if he hadn't have been able to write a song to it?

• 16:31Jason Bateman?

  Right.

• 16:33Speaker 04

  She's so inspiring and she's so, you know, I was inspired by her. I've always been inspired by her voice and her writing, but her musicianship. And I think we both inspired each other. That was the whole point of doing the record, to have what we have as artists and then, you know, put it on the other person. And she's quick. I mean, she's really quick and she does a vocal in like one take.

• 16:57Jason Bateman?

  Well, you're both able to do so many different types of songs well. So many different sounds and genres and rhythms. Was there much communication about what type of sound and tone the film, or not the film, sorry, the album would have? Whether it would have a rock feel, a country feel, a ballad feel? Was there any discussion about that?

• 17:20Speaker 05

  It was all down to, Elton had this vision. It was like at first, he was like, okay. He was trying to conceptualize what it would be. And he goes, okay, we're gonna be like Robert Plant and Alice in Cross. And then he would call me a week later and go, no, no, no, it's the Eurythmics. And then he would call me a week later and go, no, it's Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline. And then one day he just called me and he said, no, it's gonna be us. Let's have it just be us, but we're not gonna do anything anybody expects from us. And then the vision just came clear.

• 17:51Speaker 04

  And years ago, I bought her an electric guitar because I wanted to push her and nudge her to play electric and get out there and rock a little more. And there's a great side of her that I could see that wasn't coming out. And she, you know, she's great. She loves all sorts of music. And she's broken. Listen, she sang Joni Mitchell's entire Blue Album at Disney Hall without a teleprompter, which takes balls of fucking steel, I tell you.

• 18:12Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 18:13Speaker 04

  And so she's got big, big balls, I tell you.

• 18:19Sean Hayes?

  New title for the album.

• 18:20Speaker 04

  The unfortunate thing is she breaks wind a lot, but that's okay.

• 18:23Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, no, believe me. Yeah, yeah. It's all in the outtakes, right?

• 18:31Will Arnett?

  And we will be right back.

• 18:35Sean Hayes?

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• 19:11Will Arnett?

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• 19:52Will Arnett?

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• 20:14Sean Hayes?

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• 20:57Sean Hayes?

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• 21:21Sean Hayes?

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• 22:01Sean Hayes?

  And now, back to the show.

• 22:04Sean Hayes?

  How did you both first meet?

• 22:06Speaker 04

  She wrote me a letter. And I was aware of her music. I was in Las Vegas doing one of my residencies and she said, "Would you ever consider playing on a song of mine?" And I wrote back and said, or phoned her. I see, put a phone number and I said, "Hey, yeah, if you can come to Vegas, because I'm stuck here, we can do something together." And she came. And before I even sat at the piano, I fell in love with her. It was like it was destined to be a friendship that, you know, it's lasted for years and years and years and gotten better.

• 22:37Sean Hayes?

  I love that.

• 22:38Speaker 04

  It was just happenstance, or whatever it was, serendipity.

• 22:42Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, you know what? I have to say, when I met you, Brandy, too, I just immediately fell in love with you. Like, you are one of those personalities and people that just are so lovely and filled with light and love.

• 22:53Speaker 04

  Took me a minute.

• 22:55Sean Hayes?

  Took a minute?

• 22:55Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm not there yet. I had to warm up to her, yeah.

• 22:59Sean Hayes?

  I did, I really just did.

• 23:02Speaker 04

  And she's creative as hell. That's what I love.

• 23:05Will Arnett?

  No kidding.

• 23:06Speaker 05

  It was wild, like, going to see Elton in Vegas. I remember coming down that long hallway and I could hear his voice, speaking voice, before I saw him. And I had spent so much time, as a kid growing up, with Live in Melbourne and Tantrums and Tiaras and all of his interviews. And it was his voice and I was like, "Oh, my God, I'm gonna come around the corner in a minute and Elton John is gonna be sitting there." And it was chilling.

• 23:29Speaker 04

  And a huge ball gown and a tiara and huge high heels.

• 23:36Speaker 05

  And a tracksuit, but there was a lot of pink. There was a lot of pink.

• 23:38Will Arnett?

  About 25, maybe 30 years ago, I was in Los Angeles, young, unemployed or barely employed actor. And I was at a restaurant in Beverly Hills. I don't know why. And, "Sir Elton John," you came in and you sat at a table with a friend. And then you had, like, a security guy with you at a table next to you. And the phone rang, and his phone, and he took the call, handed it to you. You spoke on the phone for like 30 seconds and handed it back to the guy. And I thought, "That's what I want." I want a guy sitting at a table behind me. He feels the call.

• 24:10Sean Hayes?

  But were there songs on the album? By the way, when you're doing that, when you're collaborating like that, isn't it difficult to come up with like a lyric or a melody or whatever? And through discussion, have to get rid of something that you love so much? Like, how do you come to terms with that?

• 24:27Speaker 05

  There's no discussion. If Elton doesn't like it, he just yells, "Cut the line!" and it's gone.

• 24:32Speaker 04

  Yeah, but it was very easy. There wasn't anything I didn't like. All the ten songs that we chose were the obvious songs. And the rest, mm, there are, mm, yeah, okay. The ten that we had were fantastic. So, no, I mean, no, I would never say that. I mean, all the songs she gave to me were amazing.

• 24:49Speaker 05

  He makes decisions very, very quickly. It's not really even to be thought about. So there's no time to really stew in your kind of artistic, you know, whatever. He just, it happens very quickly. He's a quick, quick songwriter.

• 25:02Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. And there'll be, and there'll be no touring of this, right? There'll be, because there's no more touring for you, correct, Sir Elton?

• 25:08Speaker 04

  There's no more touring for me. And I'm very happy about that.

• 25:11Jason Bateman?

  Now, what about, well, you've, you've, you've, you've done it. Thank you very much for all your, all your shows. My God, I, I went to one of the shows on this last tour. It was incredible. What about, what about videos? Do folks make videos still, right?

• 25:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, we've made a video, we've made a video for this, and it's really great. David LaChapelle did the video. He did the album sleeve. Yeah, of course, we'll do videos, and of course, we'll do some TVs, and we may even do, you know, play on a TV show. But,

• 25:39Jason Bateman?

  I love that.

• 25:40Speaker 04

  And Sean, how's your piano playing coming along?

• 25:42Sean Hayes?

  It's going okay. It's going okay.

• 25:44Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, one of my Tony.

• 25:45Will Arnett?

  Yeah, he wanted Tony.

• 25:46Speaker 05

  He did.

• 25:47Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:48Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 25:49Speaker 04

  He's an amazing piano player.

• 25:50Jason Bateman?

  Incredible.

• 25:51Will Arnett?

  He played, he did a Good Night Oscar at the Tabasco Theater, which won him a Tony last year.

• 25:56Jason Bateman?

  What a show!

• 25:58Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, baby!

• 25:59Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, he did, he plays Rhapsody in Blue, all by himself, on a grand, right there, middle of the stage.

• 26:07Will Arnett?

  Yeah, we've told this story before, so forgive us, and to our audience, forgive us, but, but Jason was sitting right in front, directly in front of me, we went opening night. And it was, as soon as that was over, and Sean had played Rhapsody in Blue, and then everybody is cheering, and Jason turned around, we both had tears in our eyes, and he said, "Our show's over."

• 26:26Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. We can't make fun of Sean anymore. We've got too much respect for him now.

• 26:31Will Arnett?

  It was so good.

• 26:32Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 26:33Sean Hayes?

  And by the way, and that was fleeting, because we're right back where we started.

• 26:38Speaker 04

  I used to go around to Sean's house in Hancock Park and used to play the piano there.

• 26:41Sean Hayes?

  This is the same house.

• 26:43Speaker 04

  It is.

• 26:44Will Arnett?

  He's still there.

• 26:44Speaker 04

  You're still there.

• 26:45Sean Hayes?

  Still here. Yes, and then I, and then you, the, I think the piano I had for a while was yours. And then I sold it for a bigger one.

• 26:55Will Arnett?

  Wait, wait, wait. You had his piano?

• 26:57Sean Hayes?

  I think so because Eric McCormack, who was on Will and Grace, he, some, like, everybody was trading pianos or something. Somehow I ended up with Elton's and then, and then I got a new one.

• 27:08Will Arnett?

  Is this like a black market piano trade? What's happening here amongst musicians and artists? What's going on?

• 27:13Sean Hayes?

  Or one, yeah. But, but yeah, you came over and played the music to Interview with the Vampire. I was blown away. You just sat down at my piano and started playing half the musical. And I was like, how can you do that? It's just, it was incredible. It's amazing, amazing.

• 27:29Speaker 04

  What kind of piano do you have now?

• 27:31Sean Hayes?

  Uh, right now I have, um, oh my God, I'm so nervous. I can't remember. Oh, Bozen, no, Bozen Doffer.

• 27:38Speaker 04

  Bozen Doff, that's the best piano.

• 27:39Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 27:39Speaker 04

  Apart from Yamaha. Yeah, but, because you got the extra notes down the end of it.

• 27:43Sean Hayes?

  Yes, yes, yes, yes.

• 27:44Speaker 05

  The depth of a Bozen Doffer.

• 27:45Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:46Sean Hayes?

  Really?

• 27:47Will Arnett?

  Yeah, secret notes.

• 27:48Sean Hayes?

  Secret notes. Oh, I'm dumber than I thought I was.

• 27:52Will Arnett?

  Is it, where's it made? Wait, what is the name of it?

• 27:55Speaker 04

  Bozen Doffer.

• 27:57Will Arnett?

  True.

• 27:57Speaker 04

  Oh, you have a lovely Bozen Doffer.

• 28:00Sean Hayes?

  If I had a dollar.

• 28:02Will Arnett?

  And this one has extra secret keys.

• 28:05Speaker 04

  This one has three extra keys. It's longer.

• 28:07Will Arnett?

  Of course we do. Of course we're, of course we had extra keys. Wouldn't you like to know where they came from?

• 28:15Sean Hayes?

  So Brandy and Elton, you guys, you've, you've, you've been on stage together multiple times. Has, is there, has there been a favorite performance you guys have had together that you can think of?

• 28:25Speaker 05

  We haven't performed many times. We did Dodger Stadium.

• 28:29Speaker 04

  Dodger Stadium would be my favorite when she sang, "Don't Let the Song Go Down on Me" because she, Lady Gaga had done it before and was incredible. And she wasn't available, so I asked Brandy.

• 28:39Speaker 04

  She was cheaper. Much cheaper.

• 28:41Speaker 05

  A lot cheaper.

• 28:42Speaker 04

  Cheaper, but she destroyed the song.

• 28:44Speaker 05

  Much more eager.

• 28:44Speaker 04

  It was incredible. Yeah.

• 28:47Speaker 05

  The first time we actually sang together, though, and I don't know if you remember this exact, the exact first time we actually ever sang together in real life was in Joni's living room.

• 28:56Speaker 04

  Joni Mitchell.

• 28:57Speaker 05

  On that country song. No, come on.

• 28:58Speaker 04

  Not many people can say that, can they?

• 29:01Speaker 05

  No.

• 29:01Will Arnett?

  No, what a sentence.

• 29:03Speaker 05

  It was an old country song that I've loved since I was a little kid called, "You Can Tell Your Friend They're With You, He'll Have To Go."

• 29:09Speaker 04

  Yes, "You'll Have To Go," yeah. And Joni sang "Love Potion Number Nine" and "Summertime."

• 29:14Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:15Speaker 04

  And it was just one of the most...

• 29:16Speaker 05

  No way.

• 29:16Speaker 04

  Yes. And she, uh, music got Joni back together again as long, as well as, uh, her physio. But this girl here is on my left, who used to instigate Joni jams where people used to come up, you had to play, you all had to sing in front of Joni Mitchell, which is terrifying.

• 29:33Speaker 05

  That's a lot.

• 29:34Speaker 04

  Um, but it was one of the greatest things and you'd have Herbie Hancock up there, you'd have Chaka Khan, you'd have Bonnie Raitt, you have, um...

• 29:41Speaker 05

  You.

• 29:42Speaker 04

  No, uh, you'd...

• 29:46Speaker 04

  There's that, yeah.

• 29:46Speaker 05

  You, Paul McCartney would come.

• 29:48Speaker 04

  Paul McCartney, yeah.

• 29:49Speaker 05

  That's amazing. Harry Styles.

• 29:51Speaker 04

  Debbie Gibson.

• 29:52Speaker 05

  That's amazing.

• 29:53Will Arnett?

  God, I mean, you sang the whole Blue record, too. That's more, I mean, that's, what an incredible record that is.

• 29:59Speaker 04

  Well, incredible record, but she did it, I was sitting next to Joni at Disney Hall when she did it, and it was faultless. And I just said, you know, "Balls to steal is ridiculous." And without a teleprompter. I would never have done that without a teleprompter. And it was the most incredibly brave and courageous thing to do. And, and then she did it at Carnegie Hall as well. It was phenomenal. And Joni couldn't have been happier. She resuscitated Joni Mitchell.

• 30:25Speaker 05

  I love that.

• 30:26Will Arnett?

  Wow. Wait, you know, you bring up an interesting point. I've wondered that about the, about the teleprompters for lyrics and stuff. How common is that on, on tour with musicians?

• 30:34Speaker 05

  It's getting more and more common. I started seeing it happen at all the tributes and stuff like that. Um, but now it's, now I think it's just kind of a part of it because they look like monitors on stage, so you can't tell, you know? But I'm sure that it, it's, it's interesting because a lot of musicians haven't figured out how to not look at them when they're performing, so I hate seeing that. But at the same time, it provides some spontaneity because then a musician can take a request out of the audience and actually play a song.

• 31:00Will Arnett?

  Right.

• 31:01Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 31:01Will Arnett?

  And they can just load it in. Jason uses a prompter when he goes to therapy, isn't that right?

• 31:09Jason Bateman?

  It's hard to keep all the lies together, yeah.

• 31:14Sean Hayes?

  Could you imagine?

• 31:15Speaker 04

  I get requests from the audience, can you play Piano Man? And I, wrong guy.

• 31:20Sean Hayes?

  No way.

• 31:20Speaker 04

  Wrong guy.

• 31:21Sean Hayes?

  No.

• 31:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, wrong guy.

• 31:22Sean Hayes?

  No way you do not have.

• 31:23Speaker 04

  Someone asked me to play Piano Man once, yeah.

• 31:25Sean Hayes?

  No way.

• 31:26Speaker 04

  I have played Piano Man with Billy many, many, many, many, many times.

• 31:30Speaker 05

  Security.

• 31:30Speaker 04

  And I couldn't play it on my own.

• 31:32Sean Hayes?

  Security.

• 31:33Speaker 04

  Oh my god.

• 31:34Sean Hayes?

  That is crazy.

• 31:35Jason Bateman?

  Now, what are you, you say you filmed the entire recording process, what's gonna happen with that?

• 31:40Speaker 05

  But the crazy thing is, I never saw a camera. We don't know where they were. They were fixed, little tiny things. So we fucking forgot about them constantly and just our behavior is reflected in that, you know? It was a very strange concept and I don't know, I think for that reason, it's like, it's a wild ride.

• 31:58Speaker 04

  There's a song at the end of the album, which is my solo song. Brandy has a solo song, the end of the side one, about her daughter, her eldest daughter growing up and leaving. Tell them about it, it's just a beautiful song.

• 32:10Speaker 05

  Oh, it's just, it's like about that moment, like when you have kids, like where it's like, they depart you in some way. Even, it can even happen when they're young and you're so devastated and you're so proud at the same time and you don't know which feeling to pick. It's about that.

• 32:23Jason Bateman?

  I love that.

• 32:24Sean Hayes?

  You mean empty nesting?

• 32:26Speaker 05

  Kind of, but it can happen early on too, like the first time that they choose something you don't believe in. Or pick a record you don't like, or decide to stay home on a trip when you wanted to.

• 32:37Jason Bateman?

  Independence.

• 32:37Speaker 05

  Yeah, those moments are so sad, but also so, you keep so proud.

• 32:41Jason Bateman?

  It's so true.

• 32:42Will Arnett?

  My four-year-old this morning, it was kinda heartbreaking. My four-year-old said to me, he was just waking up and I was, he was kinda snuggled up against me and I was kissing his head, kissing his hair and I was like, "Hi buddy, good morning, morning." And then he just, his eyes weren't even open and he just goes, "No more kissing."

• 32:57Speaker 05

  That's what I'm talking about.

• 32:58Will Arnett?

  And I was like, I was like, "Wow, okay, alright."

• 33:04Sean Hayes?

  God, that sounds like a long marriage.

• 33:05Speaker 04

  I wrote a song, I wrote a song at the end of the album. And I just get the lyrics and I'm just to the Bernice, talking lyrics called, "When This Old World Is Done With Me", and so I'm writing the verse, like, oh, this is really pretty. And then I get to the chorus, and of course it's about my death. And, and... Thanks Bernie. And when you get, when you get to my age, which is near a hundred, you think, I haven't, how much time have I got left? And you got, you got children, you got a wonderful husband. You just think about mortality. And so when I got to the chorus, I just broke down for forty-five minutes. And it's all on film. Cried hard. And we just, yeah, yeah.

• 33:41Sean Hayes?

  I got, I got it. Wait, wait, when do we, so what is the plan with this footage?

• 33:45Speaker 05

  I think, I want everybody to see it, because it's so, it's really human, like deeply flawed and embarrassing. And the kind of shit that you do when you forget that there is a camera on is what's really interesting. But that moment, I got to be in there and I witnessed that moment. Because when we were making the record, I would sit behind him when he was writing his melodies and try to like, remember some of the ones that were really hitting me hard. And I was recording him on the melody of this song, because I thought, okay, well, I want to remember this melody so that in case he moves on to another one, he can remember how good it was. And he got to the end of that chorus and his voice started to shake. And I thought, oh, he's going, like, he's gonna really go. And he went into a real moment of, of a...

• 34:30Speaker 04

  And she came over and she said, "Don't worry, you've got leased it under six months."

• 34:37Sean Hayes?

  That's great, that's great.

• 34:39Jason Bateman?

  Hold on through promotion.

• 34:41Will Arnett?

  The worst part is she was looking at an app that was telling you real time when it was gonna happen. That was scary.

• 34:46Speaker 04

  And I said, "No, you're not in the will."

• 34:50Sean Hayes?

  That's hilarious.

• 34:52Jason Bateman?

  Well, needless to say, not to be maudlin and we can push past this afterwards, if, in the, in the sort of the, the plan of using all your years as, as well as you possibly could, Sir Elton John, my goodness, what an enormous list of accomplishments you've done thus far with plenty of time left.

• 35:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, plenty of time left.

• 35:12Jason Bateman?

  You've contributed for three lifetimes, so rest assured.

• 35:17Speaker 04

  And this is, by leave me, this is one of my biggest accomplishments with her. Accomplishments.

• 35:21Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, well, we cannot wait to listen to it.

• 35:24Will Arnett?

  Do you have, Sir Alan, can I just ask you quickly, if you don't mind, when you, and Brandy alluded to it before, you being such a sort of a hero of hers, you know, musically and inspiration, and Sean, you too, also as a musician. When you, and you have been such a, your music is such a big part of all of our lives for so long, in ways that we don't even know, like you've just, you've really sort of weaved right into the fabric of all of our lives. Do you have moments when you're moving through the world, you're in a, you're somewhere and your song comes on, you're in a car, you're in a restaurant, you're in a shop, you're somewhere. How does it strike you when you hear your music, especially stuff that was from a long

• 36:09Will Arnett?

  time ago? What are those moments like, hearing your music?

• 36:13Speaker 04

  It's great. I don't listen to my stuff very often, I don't listen to the radio very often, but when you're in an elevator and you think, "What the fuck is that?", and it's Daniel, you feel very proud.

• 36:24Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 36:24Speaker 04

  No, I do, you know, I don't listen to my stuff, but I'm very proud of what we've written, and I love to hear it, as long as it's not being played by myself. But it's, yeah, I've done so much in my life, and yeah, there's so much more to do. And she's inspired me to go ahead with this record and I think this is the best record I've made in 40 years, so, there you go.

• 36:48Jason Bateman?

  Oh, wow.

• 36:48Sean Hayes?

  I love that.

• 36:49Will Arnett?

  By the way, glad you mentioned Daniel. I think that probably a thousand times in my life I've made this, anytime I've met somebody named Daniel, I always, they say, "Daniel, say, 'Daniel, my brother, you are older than me'." Every single time.

• 37:01Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 37:08Sean Hayes?

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• 37:52Sean Hayes?

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• 38:16Sean Hayes?

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• 38:57Sean Hayes?

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• 39:41Sean Hayes?

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• 40:02Sean Hayes?

  And back to the show.

• 40:04Jason Bateman?

  So you guys have, your friendship is, did you say it's 20 years? You guys have been buddies?

• 40:09Speaker 04

  Over than that.

• 40:10Jason Bateman?

  Is that right?

• 40:11Speaker 05

  Somewhere around that.

• 40:12Speaker 04

  No, over than that. More than that.

• 40:14Speaker 05

  Maybe more than that.

• 40:15Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. My goodness.

• 40:16Speaker 04

  Because I was in Vegas.

• 40:18Speaker 05

  Yeah, you were in Vegas. And we had kind of, yeah. So yeah, about that.

• 40:22Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 40:22Jason Bateman?

  Do your kids know each other?

• 40:24Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 40:25Jason Bateman?

  They must, yeah. You guys go on vacations all the time together?

• 40:27Speaker 04

  They come to, we have a house in Nice, in the south of France. And Brandy, Catherine and the girls come down every summer and we have the time of our lives.

• 40:35Jason Bateman?

  Oh, my God.

• 40:35Sean Hayes?

  I love that. I love that.

• 40:37Will Arnett?

  I stayed in a house, I stayed in a house right close to your house, Sir Elton John. A couple of years ago, I was working on a job for like six months. And this French caretaker of this house kept saying, that is Sir Elton John's house right there.

• 40:46Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 40:48Will Arnett?

  I didn't ring the bell.

• 40:49Jason Bateman?

  What about, do either one of you need any parenting tips from the other person? How does that go? Do the kids get along?

• 40:54Speaker 04

  Kids love each other.

• 40:55Speaker 05

  Kids really do.

• 40:56Speaker 04

  My boys are a little older than Brandy's girls, but my boys are really good with children. And Zachary's not here at the moment. He's at school, but Elijah's here. And he just loves playing with the girls. It's, there's no problem with that. They get on like a house on fire. And Brandy's girls are so, Brandy and Catherine's girls, I should say, are absolute angels. I mean, they're just beautiful girls.

• 41:17Speaker 05

  The first time I went to go visit David and Elton in France with Catherine and my girls, we landed and we got, we met downstairs at this table. This beautifully adorned table for breakfast. I mean, everything is like decked out. There's like designer napkins and it's like unbelievable. You wouldn't believe it. And I had a three-year-old at the time. And she was at that table for three seconds before, without any warning, she projectile vomited all over the entire thing. He didn't even pretend it was okay. He was just like.

• 41:51Speaker 05

  God damn it. But no, he and David were so sweet about it. And they calmed our anxiety. But I mean, I died a thousand deaths when that happened.

• 42:01Speaker 04

  Poor little fag.

• 42:02Speaker 05

  You remember that.

• 42:03Sean Hayes?

  That's all sweet. Wait, you know, Elton, you know, I just, I go for walks a lot around my neighborhood because you can. And I just put on this album that I bought when I think I was a senior in high school called Red Strikes Back.

• 42:16Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 42:17Sean Hayes?

  It's one of my favorite albums you ever did.

• 42:19Speaker 04

  Oh, thank you.

• 42:20Sean Hayes?

  And one of my favorite songs, I never hear it anywhere. It's so perfectly written as the heavy traffic song.

• 42:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, thank you.

• 42:27Sean Hayes?

  I mean, that's like a massive, massive hit song that was never, I don't know, was ever even released as a single.

• 42:33Speaker 04

  No, there was lots of songs on that album, Japanese Hands and stuff like that.

• 42:37Sean Hayes?

  Yes, Japanese Hands is great too. I love all those songs.

• 42:39Speaker 04

  There were lots of deep cuts. I mean, I've had a lot of hit singles, but probably the best songs are on the, are the deep cuts.

• 42:45Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 42:46Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure, for sure. And of course, Give Up the Ghost is one of my favorite albums.

• 42:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:51Speaker 05

  Oh, thank you.

• 42:52Sean Hayes?

  It's true, it's true. One of my favorite albums.

• 42:54Jason Bateman?

  So, Brandy, growing up in, in Washington, did you, did you think that you would be at this? Did you allow yourself to sort of dream about where you sit now in, in the industry? The level of respect and accomplishment? And, and, and how did that? How did, well, I guess just answer that one first. You know, did you allow yourself to dream of this high?

• 43:25Speaker 05

  Yes, the nuanced things like respect or credibility are things I value so much now. I hadn't really fantasized about, but I would close my eyes and dream of myself onstage in Madison Square Garden. I would think of myself, like, I would visualize myself winning a Grammy and thanking Elton John before I ever met him. I was like, oh, yeah, I pictured I would get up onstage and thank Elton John and the Indigo Girls. And I was like, maybe 13 years old, like, visually. So I've visualized a lot of what has happened, oddly. But, and I don't understand or profess to know why that is, but yes, I did allow myself to dream really big from that single "Wide Mobile Hump."

• 44:01Jason Bateman?

  I love that. Yeah, I wonder if the visualization, if you feel, is a really important part of it, and I'd ask you the same, Sir Elton John. Is that, is it, did you allow yourself to dream as big as well? And for our listeners, can you speak about what that kind of, a big word nowadays is manifestation? I don't know if you guys subscribe to that, but, you know, having those, having those goals and the vision and belief in yourself, what size role did that play, do you think, in both of your successes?

• 44:32Speaker 04

  I never imagined myself as a solo artist. When I was in my group Bluesology, I took the big risk of going up to Liberty Records saying, "I want to write songs. I'm so fed up with playing in a band that doesn't want to go anywhere, and I can sing too." And so the guy, as you know, because it's an old story, gave me the envelope with Berner's lyrics in it. And then, when we wrote songs, I had to go out and, nothing was happening, I had to go out and play them live, so I had to form a band. And I really didn't have any visions of being Elton John's superstar. It just happened very, very quickly. And so, it was like, it was so exciting, because I came to America, and there was Neil Diamond introducing me, there was Brian Wilson, there was Linda Ronstadt, there was

• 45:15Speaker 04

  Leon Russell, all those kind of people that were my heroes. And suddenly, I was there. I mean, it took me a couple of years to establish myself all over America, but it was like, I was a kid in a candy store. Never realized, never really visualized Elton John being a big star. I never, it all happened by accident, really. It really happened by accident, which was lovely.

• 45:35Speaker 05

  That's a good question. I was wondering about that, too.

• 45:36Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 45:37Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, and, and I would imagine the preservation of your smaller image, your more human image, your younger image, I would imagine is, has been, remains to be a very important part of not only your, your identity, but your ability to be creative and your ability to write and to constantly be connected to the person that the public does not know, the person who you started as. That's gotta be a big and part, important part for both of your careers, yeah?

• 46:10Speaker 04

  When I became successful, very quickly, and this is in the documentary Never Too Late, we did so much work in five years and went to the

• 46:22Speaker 04

  the pinnacle of fame in five years and I lost the person that I was originally and and that was very hard for me and it took me loads of years to get that back. And I got it back when I got sober, which is 35 years this year, hopefully.

• 46:38Sean Hayes?

  Right, that's great.

• 46:40Speaker 04

  And so, yeah, the little boy inside of me had vanished. But the little boy's come back and everybody needs that little child inside them to keep them going. And unfortunately, I lost him and it made me very unhappy, very depressed, but I still kept working, I still make, kept making records and touring. And so the music kept me alive until I finally came to my senses. And now, my life is incredible. I mean, I couldn't have a better life than I could. I wake up every morning with my children and David and my, you know, all the people that worked for me, the nicest people in the world. I am the luckiest person in the world. I am blessed. So, yeah. And that little boy is very happy.

• 47:22Sean Hayes?

  That's great. I love that.

• 47:24Jason Bateman?

  And Brandy, I'm sure that little child in you stays vibrant and loud.

• 47:28Speaker 05

  She is hanging out right now. She is like riding shotgun. Like, this is the, you know, I've always tried to kind of like... Keep the young child in me like at bay long enough to do my job and get through the things that are important to me, you know, and but for this one, I've just let that girl come to the surface totally because I'm getting to hang out with Elton John.

• 47:50Sean Hayes?

  So cool.

• 47:52Speaker 05

  And that's an unbelievable realization of a dream and it's it's really been like a life-affirming thing, you know, and also that young version of yourself gets more gets clearer when you have kids too, you know, you just like try not to project onto them, but it's hard not to see a mini me sometimes.

• 48:10Sean Hayes?

  Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure, I'm sure. I'll bet. Well, God, you know, there's there's I'm just looking at you two going, there's such a very, very, very small group of people in the world that have gifts they leave behind that will last forever. I mean, just for decades. Immortal. Yeah, and and to have a part of you live on in music is so rare that people a lot of people try to achieve that level and they just don't. And so it's just incredible, incredible to see you guys and now together. It's great. Thank you. Yeah.

• 48:46Speaker 05

  Thanks, Sean.

• 48:47Sean Hayes?

  Yeah. That's it. And I'm gonna and I'm gonna try drugs for the first time. Oh, no. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

• 48:54Will Arnett?

  You've never tried drugs, right, Sean?

• 48:57Sean Hayes?

  Me? No, I got I would get stoned all the time, smoked pot constantly, and now I take gummies, which is nice, but the only hard thing I tried was... Well, they're legal nowadays, right? Yeah, they're legal. They're legal, but I would I tried mushrooms once and it was just insane. I felt like I weighed 250 pounds and it was just awful, awful. It was terrible.

• 49:15Speaker 04

  The 250-pound mushroom, a film coming to you soon.

• 49:18Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it was terrible.

• 49:20Speaker 05

  You wish.

• 49:21Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, that was awful. Yeah, that's it.

• 49:28Will Arnett?

  Wow, and then what and so and then what's that what's that process like? So now you're done, you've you've completed the record and it's it's gonna come out and you're not gonna tour, maybe you'll do a few dates, a few live dates or a show here or there. And then I guess it's not unlike, you know, for us, like, working on a film. And then you kind of go and you move on. And then it's like, it's hard to say goodbye, I'm sure, when you make a connection. I mean, you're still friends, obviously, but

• 49:51Sean Hayes?

  To that project, you mean.

• 49:53Will Arnett?

  Something that's so intensely creative.

• 49:55Speaker 05

  We talk every day and we see each other every chance we get. We'll always be making music together as long as we can.

• 50:02Jason Bateman?

  Wow, that's fantastic.

• 50:04Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I love that.

• 50:05Speaker 04

  I lango.

• 50:07Sean Hayes?

  What? What's that?

• 50:08Speaker 05

  He said he ain't letting go.

• 50:10Speaker 04

  No.

• 50:10Sean Hayes?

  Oh, that's good, that's good.

• 50:11Jason Bateman?

  Well, we can't thank you both enough for joining us

• 50:16Will Arnett?

  I mean, what a thrill.

• 50:17Jason Bateman?

  And talking to us about your album.

• 50:19Speaker 04

  Thank you, guys. Yeah, it's been a pleasure.

• 50:21Jason Bateman?

  It's been an honor.

• 50:22Speaker 05

  Thanks, fellas.

• 50:23Sean Hayes?

  It's good to see you both, yeah.

• 50:24Jason Bateman?

  Continued success to you both and specifically with this album.

• 50:28Sean Hayes?

  We're really rooting for your careers.

• 50:30Jason Bateman?

  To do with, think of something to do with that footage. Please put it together so we can all get that privileged view into the process.

• 50:38Speaker 04

  Oh, well, I hope we meet each other soon so we can give each other a big hug. And Sean, I do miss you. I love you very much, okay?

• 50:44Sean Hayes?

  I miss you too, honey. I love you too. Thanks. It's good to see you.

• 50:47Jason Bateman?

  Thanks, you guys, so much. Enjoy the rest of your day.

• 50:50Speaker 05

  Bye.

• 50:50Jason Bateman?

  Bye, you guys. Bye.

• 50:53Sean Hayes?

  Jason, how in the world, I mean, did you, how did you, quote, land them?

• 50:59Jason Bateman?

  That's, I'm reminded the same question I asked you after we had Sir Paul McCartney on the show. How did you land, and you said it was an incoming. This is an incoming.

• 51:08Sean Hayes?

  Oh, wow.

• 51:09Jason Bateman?

  And, yeah.

• 51:11Sean Hayes?

  What?

• 51:12Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, they're promoting that album and I guess they're doing a podcast and we were chosen, I suppose. I don't know. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't question. I just said, you know, there was a question as to, are we, how do we feel about doing, you know, a double, double guess, you know, which we've done a couple of times, but it's been rare.

• 51:32Will Arnett?

  It's been musicians. It's been musicians. It was, it was Billie Eilish and her brother, Phidias.

• 51:36Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 51:37Will Arnett?

  And the Smile guys, Radiohead guys.

• 51:40Jason Bateman?

  Radiohead, and then, and then

• 51:42Will Arnett?

  And Tom York and

• 51:43Jason Bateman?

  And then Arcade.

• 51:45Will Arnett?

  Arcade Fire, Arcade Fire as well.

• 51:48Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, it is odd that it has been, it's just been music, yeah. But, yeah, it was really kind of just, no doubt about it, double barrel shotgun on those two.

• 51:58Sean Hayes?

  That's just incredible. I mean, it's, I know I said it already, but it's like, I mean, it's, it's, it's, both of those guys have, go ahead.

• 52:07Will Arnett?

  Well, I just, Sean, I was gonna, I'm looking at your face and first of all, you know, that Elton John knows where you live and

• 52:14Sean Hayes?

  Funny.

• 52:14Will Arnett?

  And that he's been to your house and that he's played on your piano, but I just want, and you mentioned all the time Glen Elton, Illinois, and you know, to the point that we're all so sick of it, but

• 52:22Sean Hayes?

  Yep.

• 52:23Will Arnett?

  Did you, is there, is there, for you, the novelty, as a kid, growing up in Glen Elton, Illinois,

• 52:31Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's bizarre.

• 52:32Will Arnett?

  Who loved music, who's sitting there with, you know, four siblings, no dad, is there part of you

• 52:37Sean Hayes?

  Wait, go back, go back, go back, go back, what?

• 52:39Will Arnett?

  Yeah, what's that?

• 52:39Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 52:40Will Arnett?

  So I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to paint a picture. But it must be for you, Sean, it must be mind blowing that

• 52:47Sean Hayes?

  It always is.

• 52:48Will Arnett?

  You're talking to Elton John.

• 52:49Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's, it always is, and you know

• 52:50Jason Bateman?

  Your buddy.

• 52:51Sean Hayes?

  You, you

• 52:52Will Arnett?

  Your buddy, yeah.

• 52:52Sean Hayes?

  You kind of suppress it because you can't believe it, so you kind of stuff it down, like you're like

• 52:56Jason Bateman?

  I believe the sign off was "Buy honey",

• 52:58Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, "Buy honey".

• 52:59Will Arnett?

  You said "Buy honey".

• 53:00Jason Bateman?

  That's Sir Elton John, and you went with honey.

• 53:03Will Arnett?

  You know where he gets that, you know where, you know where he developed that from? It's from Jimmy Burrows.

• 53:07Sean Hayes?

  Jimmy Burrows.

• 53:07Will Arnett?

  Cause you know Burrows calls everybody honey.

• 53:09Sean Hayes?

  Honey.

• 53:09Will Arnett?

  "Honey, one more time", you're like, "Oh, do the scene again, stop calling me honey in front of the crew."

• 53:14Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's such a habit now.

• 53:16Will Arnett?

  I know.

• 53:17Sean Hayes?

  Everybody from Will and Grace calls everybody honey. But, um, yeah, no, he, yes, exactly, well, thank you for saying that, yeah, but, uh, when people would come on Will and Grace, or I would, like, Elton John was on Will and Grace, or whatever it was, and, or whoever I meet in this business, I just filled with, always filled with gratitude when you wake up, that's, that's where it all starts from. And if you're there, then everybody's on the same playing field, right? Everybody's like, you, as much, that's me trying to suppress, like, "Oh my God, it's Elton John",

• 53:42Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 53:42Sean Hayes?

  You know, but you're like, "Wow", it's, yeah, anyway, it's my long answer.

• 53:46Will Arnett?

  Well, it's a thrill to play, like, I know JB's playing golf with, with Thomas Rhett today, like, I know his whole schedule, you know, like, just to be able to play, am I right?

• 53:55Jason Bateman?

  You are right, you are right.

• 53:58Will Arnett?

  He texted me during the show, he's such a great guy, and he said, hey, man, I wish you were playing today, because obviously you're not enough, and so, which is, which is, but I mean, honestly, even JB, you're not even a musician, you don't even know what music is. For you, Elton John and Brandy must be a thrill.

• 54:14Jason Bateman?

  I have to admit, I think I was more nervous for that than I can remem-- I think I've probably been more nervous for some of these, but I can't remember which one. I don't remember, it's been a while, like, I've got tons and tons and tons of questions here, and I couldn't bring myself to ask any of them, of either one of them. I just didn't know where to start, what to hell to say.

• 54:37Sean Hayes?

  Right, because you want to do the Chris Farley, Chris Farley thing, where he interviews famous people, he's like, remember, like, you know, when he did Paul McCartney, remember when you were in the Beatles?

• 54:46Jason Bateman?

  Both of them too, with Brandy, it's just like, I'm just not sure what to say to people like that.

• 54:51Sean Hayes?

  I wanted to ask him about every song, like, how did you think of it, and where did it come from?

• 54:55Jason Bateman?

  And you just know he's so over it.

• 54:56Will Arnett?

  Well, thank God, you waited till he was gone again.

• 54:59Sean Hayes?

  Well, but I wanted to be respectful of Brandy, I didn't want to just make it all about him, I wanted to like, make it about the album.

• 55:05Will Arnett?

  Brandy gets it too, I mean, she's such an accomplished singer-songwriter, she's amazing. Honestly, that tribute for Jimmy Buffett last year, she was un-- she brought the house down, she was unbelievable.

• 55:17Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, she was stunning. And Give Up the Ghost really is a great album, I love that, anyway.

• 55:21Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, she's got incredible presence. I had no idea, though, that they were such close friends, and that they vacationed together for 20 years, they've been buddies?

• 55:29Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 55:30Will Arnett?

  Yeah, well, listen, I think there's only thing, one thing that I can say, having them here today, having them today, and I just want to say, you know, it's nice to say, it's nice to say hello to some new friends.

• 55:42Sean Hayes?

  Oh, no, that's terrible.

• 55:44Will Arnett?

  But it's also nice to say, goodbye, Elton John.

• 55:50Sean Hayes?

  Bye. That's the one I was gonna use too.

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