"Walton Goggins"

Grab your breakfast sushi – it’s Walton Goggins. Seven horses, five camels, two gallons of yak vodka, and an eagle hunter. Plus, imposter syndrome: what is that? This is your reality… on 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?

  This episode of Smartless is sponsored by Google Book. So this may not surprise you, I have a lot of thoughts in my head. And my dream is to just blurt them out and somehow get them down on paper, because my brain works way faster than my hands. That's where Google Book comes in. It's a whole new kind of laptop. No more typing, you just talk, and the Rambler feature cleans up your ums and uhs and all the times you change your mind. Basically, it turns messy thoughts into tidy text. Visit googlebook.com for details. Available in select countries and languages to 18-plus users. Check the responses for accuracy.

• 0:43Sean Hayes?

  Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections on by default. Built-in content settings for the content teens can see, contact limits for who can contact them, and time management tools like daily time limits and sleep mode. Teens are automatically placed into teen accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent's permission to change any of these settings to be less strict. Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

• 1:25Sean Hayes?

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• 2:06Sean Hayes?

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• 2:47Speaker 01

  Hey, everybody. This is Walton Goggins. I'm the guest on Smartless today. And I can't wait to have a conversation with these three fellows. Only one of them know that I'm gonna be here. So let's get this conversation started. Thanks for listening. Welcome to Smartless.

• 3:23Sean Hayes?

  Wait, whose guest is it today?

• 3:25Jason Bateman?

  Shut up, Sean.

• 3:27Will Arnett?

  Jason's. You can tell by the attitude.

• 3:30Jason Bateman?

  Fuck you, piece of shit. Hey, look at Will's on the fucking western set.

• 3:36Sean Hayes?

  Looks like he has a smoking jacket on.

• 3:37Jason Bateman?

  His fucking quilted, self-stitched, what's it called?

• 3:41Sean Hayes?

  Santa Fe something.

• 3:43Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. Will, how much research? So Will's doing a western thing.

• 3:48Will Arnett?

  Not a western.

• 3:50Sean Hayes?

  What is it? It's with Michelle Pfeiffer.

• 3:52Will Arnett?

  Yes.

• 3:53Jason Bateman?

  He's reprising.

• 3:55Will Arnett?

  By the way, our friend Michelle Fives, who said to me.

• 3:58Jason Bateman?

  It's Michi Fee.

• 3:59Will Arnett?

  Michi Fee. And he said, I said, she goes, I know we gotta take a break so you can do your podcast. She was being sort of coy.

• 4:07Sean Hayes?

  She said with a mocking tone.

• 4:08Will Arnett?

  Yeah, and I said, I said, yeah.

• 4:11Sean Hayes?

  She was very good on the show.

• 4:12Will Arnett?

  I said, you were great on the show. We loved having you and I hope you, you know, hope you got good responses. And she said that people came out of the woodwork too and that people listened to it. So how about that?

• 4:21Sean Hayes?

  That's nice.

• 4:23Jason Bateman?

  People always say, "I don't want to do the show, I don't want to do the show." And then they're happy that they do the show.

• 4:27Sean Hayes?

  That's right.

• 4:27Jason Bateman?

  Oh, I don't know, I don't know.

• 4:29Sean Hayes?

  Don't you feel like we just all slept together in the same cabin somewhere? Because we just did this like 10 hours ago.

• 4:35Will Arnett?

  I know, it was.

• 4:36Sean Hayes?

  You mean, like we just all?

• 4:37Will Arnett?

  Well, let's go back to.

• 4:38Jason Bateman?

  Yo, hang on, why is everyone sleeping in a cabin?

• 4:41Will Arnett?

  Oh, because I'm dressed like I'm in the cabin.

• 4:43Sean Hayes?

  Well, no, well, that we just all slept in the same house. And then we just woke up for breakfast and then we started doing this again.

• 4:48Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 4:49Will Arnett?

  Wait, what is your dream?

• 4:51Sean Hayes?

  You know what I mean?

• 4:52Jason Bateman?

  What was for breakfast?

• 4:54Sean Hayes?

  Sushi, I just had sushi.

• 4:55Jason Bateman?

  No, you didn't.

• 4:57Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I went to Zabar's. You know, Zabar's is really close.

• 5:00Will Arnett?

  Oh, yeah, famous for their sushi.

• 5:02Jason Bateman?

  Zabar's is making sushi?

• 5:05Sean Hayes?

  It's true. I put a jacket on, I went next door and I ate some sushi. I mean, I brought it home, I brought it home.

• 5:10Jason Bateman?

  Hey, you shit pig, remember yesterday when you said, "I just had Chinese food"? I thought to myself, "Self, that sounds really good." And so I ordered some Chinese for me last night.

• 5:19Sean Hayes?

  Oh, you did?

• 5:20Jason Bateman?

  And we had Chinese for the first time in a long time. Why was it good?

• 5:24Sean Hayes?

  That's right. What did you have, remember?

• 5:25Will Arnett?

  I was wondering about your face, because I could see there was something, you know?

• 5:29Jason Bateman?

  Will, wait till you see my face after sushi lunch today.

• 5:35Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, wait, do you get, do you get like, you know, anything kind of naughty when you order Chinese? Like breaded chicken or breaded something, or is it all like?

• 5:45Jason Bateman?

  No, no.

• 5:45Sean Hayes?

  Bamboo shoots and, you know?

• 5:48Jason Bateman?

  No, I, we had a couple of chicken dishes and a noodle dish and there were some vegetables.

• 5:54Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, you gotta do it.

• 5:54Jason Bateman?

  You know, because I said to Amanda, I said, "You order, baby." I don't want to, don't, don't let me see anything on the menu, because I'll order, I'll order Sean's food.

• 6:04Will Arnett?

  And she went like totally clean and everything, right?

• 6:06Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, and it was good, and it was great.

• 6:08Sean Hayes?

  All right, wait, Will, one of the grossest images I ever witnessed in my life was going over to Jason's house. And he's swimming in his pool in the backyard while.

• 6:18Will Arnett?

  Yeah, you're right, gross.

• 6:19Sean Hayes?

  Amanda is, has a big hat on covering the sun. And from the pool on his floaty, he goes, "Honey, can we get some sushi for lunch?"

• 6:30Jason Bateman?

  While he's baking in the sun, it's so Hollywood bro.

• 6:34Will Arnett?

  He FaceTimed me once floating on a floaty in his pool. I was like, and I was just, all I thought about was like, obviously Ernest Borgnine in the pool.

• 6:46Will Arnett?

  By the way, by the way, by the way, it just reminded me, I forgot to tell you. So, a little while ago, I run into Griffin Dunn, our old pal Griffin Dunn.

• 6:57Jason Bateman?

  The great Griffin Dunn.

• 6:58Will Arnett?

  The great Griffin Dunn. So, so Griffin Dunn tells, so he says, I've been meaning to see, I've been meaning to tell you this story, I've been meaning to tell you this story. He said, um, years ago, uh, when, this is public record. He said, when, uh, Ernest Borgnine was getting divorced, his wife cited, one of the problems that she cited in, in the court record. Was of their differences, what that she found that is a problem, is grounds for divorce, was that Ernest Borgnine would Dutch oven her. He'd fart in the bed and pull the covers over her head.

• 7:34Jason Bateman?

  Is that real? Is that real?

• 7:35Will Arnett?

  Swear to God, and apparently, and I looked it up, it's true. And she hated it and she was disgusted by it. And so he was like, he was like, I gotta tell Will, I gotta call. So he had my old phone number, because I haven't spoken to him like in like four years or something, and I had switched my number. So he keeps, he's sending me stuff and, and he called, he, he calls me and the guy goes, hello? And he goes, hey, listen, you know, this thing about Griffin, you know, goes, hey, Will, and the guy, and the guy says, sort of says, yeah. And then he goes, listen, Ernest Borgnine and the thing and the reason he got divorced and the Dutch oven and this stuff. And the guy goes, this isn't Will, okay? He's changed his number and that is disgusting. Why would you think I'd want to know this disgusting?

• 8:17Jason Bateman?

  That's really funny.

• 8:20Jason Bateman?

  Listener, as a backstory, you should know that, um, I bought Ernest Borgnine's old house.

• 8:25Will Arnett?

  Years ago.

• 8:26Jason Bateman?

  Years ago. And, uh, Will has been writing me for years that what I've done is I've made a bad purchase because.

• 8:34Will Arnett?

  Not a bad purchase.

• 8:35Jason Bateman?

  Well, when you consider that supposedly Ernest Borgnine was a world-class masturbator.

• 8:43Will Arnett?

  Well, he credited his longevity with the fact that he claimed that he masturbated every day. So I've always imagined him everywhere in the house, leaning against the railing.

• 8:52Jason Bateman?

  Right. Yeah. And so it's in the, it's in the pool too, Will? And there's also lots of farts stuck in the master. Okay, got it.

• 9:02Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, and when Ernest Borgnine, you know.

• 9:06Sean Hayes?

  That is crazy.

• 9:07Jason Bateman?

  Welcome to Smartless.

• 9:08Will Arnett?

  So, so I've been meaning to tell you that.

• 9:12Jason Bateman?

  All right, let me pull up my notes here.

• 9:14Will Arnett?

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:15Sean Hayes?

  All organized.

• 9:16Jason Bateman?

  All right, I've written a little intro. Where is it? Here it comes. What we've got here today.

• 9:24Speaker 01

  So smooth.

• 9:25Will Arnett?

  Oh, God. Stop shouting.

• 9:28Jason Bateman?

  Well, we're back from commercial. What we've got here today is an actor, an exciting actor. This guy knows how to put you on his back and carry you into the world of some pretty interesting characters. Some are funny, some are scary, some are dark, some are breezy. Whatever it is, though, it's always a good ride. He's the kind of actor that gives you the grin of expectation and the feeling of relief that you're in good hands for wherever you're going. Guys, I write these myself.

• 9:56Sean Hayes?

  You can tell.

• 9:57Jason Bateman?

  He was born in Alabama, raised in Georgia, moved to Hollywood at 19, and has brought us iconic roles in films like Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and on TV he's given us gold in shows like The Shield, Justified, Vice Principals, Righteous Gemstones, and recently White Lotus and Fallout. Dudes, here's Mr. Walton Goggins Jr.

• 10:18Sean Hayes?

  Yo, man.

• 10:19Jason Bateman?

  Here he is.

• 10:21Sean Hayes?

  Yo, man.

• 10:22Jason Bateman?

  Now we get it started.

• 10:24Speaker 01

  Wait, why did you? You had to masturbate every day to, to lead Mikhail's Navy?

• 10:29Jason Bateman?

  You gotta get the evil out if you wanna stick around awhile.

• 10:32Speaker 01

  Damn it, I wanted to get that show.

• 10:35Jason Bateman?

  Why do you look so sharp today?

• 10:37Speaker 01

  Do I look sharp?

• 10:38Jason Bateman?

  You're in the middle of a junket.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, in the middle, day, day, day, I think, three or four, something like that.

• 10:45Jason Bateman?

  Oh, really?

• 10:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, in it, but this is the first one for today, so.

• 10:50Will Arnett?

  We get you fresh?

• 10:51Speaker 01

  So I'm doing okay, yeah, you got me fresh.

• 10:52Jason Bateman?

  This is for Fallout?

• 10:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, for Fallout, yeah, yeah, this is Fallout, yeah, yeah, yeah, and I, and I knew, I, you know, I know that there's a surprise guest and I saw Will the other night.

• 11:01Will Arnett?

  I know.

• 11:02Jason Bateman?

  Did you keep it zipped?

• 11:03Will Arnett?

  You were so good.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Well, I didn't know who was it, I didn't know who, who, like.

• 11:06Jason Bateman?

  Who the host was.

• 11:07Will Arnett?

  Dude, you were so good, I had no idea, I mean, I was focused on your full-length leather coat you were wearing and it was 100 degrees in that room.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  So was I, because I was sweating, I lost 10 pounds that night, it was great, oh my god.

• 11:20Jason Bateman?

  Hey, so here, so here's the deal, uh, MGT, I, maybe we've just sniffed out what the, maybe the, the hole is sometimes when, every once in awhile, Walton. A guest will come up to one of the three of us and say, hey, can't wait to see you next week, and it's just like.

• 11:35Will Arnett?

  Or their rep.

• 11:36Jason Bateman?

  Or their rep, or something like that, so what I think is, the guest needs to be told, Michael, who the, uh, the hosting, uh, fella is.

• 11:46Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 11:47Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 11:47Speaker 04

  They're told, the rest are told.

• 11:49Will Arnett?

  They're told. They are told, we're keeping that in, we're keeping that they're told in.

• 11:52Speaker 01

  The host, I mean, the, the guest knows who the hosts are, this is smartest, man.

• 11:57Jason Bateman?

  No, no, but like.

• 11:58Will Arnett?

  Your people didn't tell you.

• 12:01Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, that's right.

• 12:03Will Arnett?

  You know who we need to be speaking to are Walton's representatives.

• 12:06Jason Bateman?

  Get them on the phone.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  They're in the room, some of them are in the room right now, do you hear that? Why didn't you tell me, honestly?

• 12:12Jason Bateman?

  It doesn't matter, it's truly just to cut down on homework for the, for the other two.

• 12:17Speaker 01

  What's up, fellas?

• 12:18Jason Bateman?

  What's up, bud? It's so good to meet you. So you're, you're, you're out there, um, with the sandwich board for Fallout.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  I am, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're just, we're just starting.

• 12:28Jason Bateman?

  And how are, let's, let's just jump off right there. How are you enjoying?

• 12:32Will Arnett?

  God, he loves to jump off.

• 12:33Jason Bateman?

  What's the pre, what's, what's the pre-call?

• 12:35Speaker 01

  I love to jump off.

• 12:36Jason Bateman?

  What's the pre-call on that? You got a two-hour pre-call there for, for the, the makeup chair?

• 12:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, man. It's like, it's like three hours, you know, before anybody else shows up. I mean, it got so bad, like, not so bad, but we were, we were, we filmed the first season in New York.

• 12:53Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 12:53Speaker 01

  For some reason, honestly.

• 12:55Jason Bateman?

  Well, because you've got a place there, a beautiful place there in the Hudson Valley. They thought maybe we'll make it geographically attractive for Mr. Goggins.

• 13:04Speaker 01

  But, but never saw it. Never, I'd never left the city, really, except to go to Namibia. Um, but, but we're out here now and, and we were out filming in the desert. I've got this van, you know, that, that like so many other people.

• 13:17Jason Bateman?

  That you rent back to the company and you call it your dressing room?

• 13:20Speaker 01

  As a matter of fact, I do. Yes, I do.

• 13:22Jason Bateman?

  Wait, what?

• 13:22Speaker 01

  It's working. Yeah.

• 13:23Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, here's what you do, Sean.

• 13:24Sean Hayes?

  What are you talking about?

• 13:25Jason Bateman?

  When, when, when you're a fancy pants like Walton and you're working all the time, the smart money is spent on like a motor home or a van or something like that.

• 13:34Will Arnett?

  You buy it yourself.

• 13:35Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, and then you rent it back to the production as your dressing room. And so they give you the money for dressing room rental.

• 13:42Sean Hayes?

  It's all pays for itself.

• 13:43Jason Bateman?

  It pays for itself.

• 13:44Speaker 01

  Kinda. Yeah, I mean, it's a little harder in, in New York than it is in, in Los Angeles.

• 13:48Sean Hayes?

  Parking on 8th Avenue?

• 13:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, parking's very expensive there.

• 13:51Jason Bateman?

  Parking tickets offset the rental fee.

• 13:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, but it, but it did. It worked, it worked out, you know? It worked out. But so we, we got to a point where we were kind of filming like out in the desert a, a few times. And I just stayed for the first time, I don't know if you guys have ever done this, but I stayed at base camp.

• 14:08Jason Bateman?

  You slept in your trailer overnight?

• 14:09Speaker 01

  You know, really kind of bad hotel rooms, like in the middle of nowhere.

• 14:13Sean Hayes?

  So you, you slept at the location?

• 14:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, at the, at the location with a security guard. Everybody else would leave and I just had my food.

• 14:19Jason Bateman?

  Did you stick them for the hotel, for the hotel money too? Give me that?

• 14:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, I got those sixty dollars.

• 14:24Sean Hayes?

  Out of boy.

• 14:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, I said, no, come on.

• 14:26Will Arnett?

  I love it.

• 14:27Sean Hayes?

  That's great. So you're, and you have, and you have your shower and a little kitchen in there and everything?

• 14:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, everything. And it was only four steps to work.

• 14:33Jason Bateman?

  You didn't shower in there?

• 14:34Speaker 01

  My call time was, I mean, I had, yeah, I did shower there. Yeah, as a matter of, every single night. Yeah, of course. I mean, you got a, you got a shower.

• 14:40Jason Bateman?

  Jason would never use that water.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  With that stuff on your face.

• 14:42Will Arnett?

  Jason would never, Jason, you'd never use trailer water, right?

• 14:45Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, no, exactly. I don't want to smell like a hose.

• 14:47Speaker 01

  I have filtered.

• 14:49Jason Bateman?

  But Walton, you do strike me as a fella, you do strike me as a fella that is not afraid to walk barefoot on a hotel rug.

• 14:57Speaker 01

  No, no, I'll walk barefoot across the desert.

• 15:01Jason Bateman?

  Exactly. You're a guy that you're much, you're not, I'm a soft, I'm a soft man. You don't seem like a soft fella at all. You can handle quite a bit of, you know, taking away the creature comforts.

• 15:15Speaker 01

  You know what, I just, I had an experience where all the creature comforts were taken away, like, and I didn't realize how, how, how many they were gonna take away, but I, I took my, I'm, I'm a father. I know, there's two other parents here, and Sean, you have a dog. I know, that's, yeah, hey, you know, I just have one, so I can kinda, you know, not take a job for a while. But, but I took him, he was 14, right? About to turn 15. And it's like, okay, well, we, you know, this is a big transition, kind of, in your life, and we need to mark this occasion. And I took him on a two-week horseback riding trip across western Mongolia.

• 15:53Jason Bateman?

  Oh, wow.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, it was a big deal. It was a big deal. He's 14, he'll be 15 in about six weeks, and it was just, you know, an opportunity for us to kinda get out there and, and see the world, and we're both obsessed with Genghis Khan.

• 16:08Will Arnett?

  Jason would be stressed, Jason would be stressed going to the first-class lounge in Mongolia.

• 16:13Speaker 01

  You would be, actually.

• 16:15Jason Bateman?

  Where are you gonna find, where are you gonna, where are you gonna find a TV with CNN International, or coffee pods, or anything like that?

• 16:22Speaker 01

  You don't get a signal, man.

• 16:24Jason Bateman?

  But where do you, again, you, you do strike me as a guy who's, who's so, sort of, there's a lot of texture in your life. I'm like, I'm surrounded with thread count and things like that.

• 16:39Speaker 01

  I like, well, I like thread count, too.

• 16:41Jason Bateman?

  I know, but you know how to do both.

• 16:42Speaker 01

  Mongolian cashmere, I mean, I like, I like all of those things, but on this trip, here's what, here's what happened. And other than, maybe we'll get to like, a parenting moment, you know, with my son, which was extraordinary.

• 16:54Will Arnett?

  Yeah, I wanna see it, I wanna hear that.

• 16:55Speaker 01

  But, but on day three, I mean, it took us, it took us- About like seventy two hours just to get to the starting point, you know? Yeah. And stopped and missed a flight, spent the night in Istanbul, which is, you know, hey, throw me in the briar patches. I love that place. Wow. And we made it to Ulaanbaatar in another plane, landed in Western Mongolia and then like an eight hour drive to just the starting point. And we got there and God bless. And it was just the two of us. We're obsessed with that part of the world. And and then we start, you know, start and we meet everybody. Nobody speaks English. We have an interpreter. It's it's just the two of us.

• 17:32Speaker 01

  Five horses, I mean, seven, seven horses, five camels and an interpreter, two horsemen, an eagle hunter. Who sets this up? And a cook, man. Like, it's legit. It's a real, it's the real deal. Wow. And we're both like in the tent the first night looking at each other going like, we're here, man. We did that. We did it. And the very first when we landed in Western Mongolia, my son looked at me and he said, I've never been this happy in my life, Dad. Wow. So he's got that wanderlust like I do. So cut to day, day two, you know, something like it kind of happened and he, you know, was like, wow, this is, excuse my language, this is really fucking hard, Dad. Like, this is really, this is hard.

• 18:12Speaker 01

  Like, this is really hard. And and he was, you know, he was missing his mom and missing, you know, his life. And and I said, you know what, buddy? I I I understand. It is hard. You're absolutely right about it. It's very, very hard. And and you can, you can be in this place and I'll hold you and I'll love you and I'll and I'll and I'll and I'll comfort you in this time, or you can, he said he really wanted to go home. And I said, okay, but I'll I'll hold you and I'll comfort you and for as long as you want. I mean, for the next twelve days. Or you can accept that this is your reality, right? You're not changing this reality. Right. And you can let that fester and you can react to that. Wow.

• 18:57Speaker 01

  Or you can accept the fact that this is your reality. And lean into it. And actually learn, you know, and spend and not waste that energy. Just toughen up. It's up to you. And literally at fourteen years old. I just need, can I, can I use the battery? Because there's no, you don't have cell phones. We only have, you know, little bitty batteries with us or whatever. It's like, you can use the battery if you, use it up. Use it whatever you want. He's like, I just need to listen to some music.

• 19:21Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 19:21Speaker 01

  He did, he sat in the tent. He came out about forty-five minutes later and he just looked up at me with this big, beautiful grin on his face.

• 19:28Will Arnett?

  With a plane ticket?

• 19:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, with a plane. And he thumbs up like, I'm good, Dad, I'm good. And then, so it's like, okay, he got through that. The next morning, I'm on the horse, we're all leaving, this whole caravan. It takes the whole process of getting ready to go. And, and I've been riding horses my whole life. My son is an unbelievable rider. And my horse just trips.

• 19:52Will Arnett?

  Uh oh.

• 19:53Speaker 01

  And I went down. I didn't see it, I didn't see it coming.

• 19:56Will Arnett?

  Oh, now he's gotta go home.

• 19:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, she rolled on top of me. Exactly. Well, this is what happened. She rolled on top of me. And I was able to push her off thinking like, oh my God, I just broke my leg. That's it. And looked down, was like, okay, leg's fine, everything's okay. And then I went to stand up and I immediately collapsed. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. And my son looked at me, he's like, Dad, are you okay? And I was like, yeah, yeah, dude, I'm okay, all right. I got up on the horse, rode for seven hours, don't remember it. Had a couple of Advil, my wife threw in a bag. What I realized, you know, after a few days is that I broke my rib.

• 20:36Will Arnett?

  Oh, God.

• 20:37Speaker 01

  And then all of a sudden, I'm like, taking the advice that I just gave my son. Because it's like, hey, man, nobody's coming to get you. You know, you're in the middle of nowhere. There is no like helicopter coming to air vac you out of here, medevac you out of here. You gotta go, you gotta ride. And so it was, you know, another nine days.

• 20:57Jason Bateman?

  Where does that kind of?

• 20:59Will Arnett?

  That is, dude, dude.

• 21:01Speaker 01

  Do I have some cred now?

• 21:03Will Arnett?

  Jay, you about to tell the story about when the guy didn't have your valet ticket at the Governor's Awards?

• 21:07Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, and I'm like, hey, man.

• 21:09Will Arnett?

  You waited like ten minutes for them to sort out your limo, you remember that?

• 21:12Speaker 01

  A solid ten minutes. And, uh.

• 21:15Will Arnett?

  This happened two days ago.

• 21:16Speaker 01

  I had to talk to a bunch of people I didn't want to talk to.

• 21:18Jason Bateman?

  To?

• 21:19Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 21:20Jason Bateman?

  My tux was sort of itchy.

• 21:23Sean Hayes?

  And we offered to hold him.

• 21:25Jason Bateman?

  Walton, where'd you get this kind of, this kind of thick skin emotionally, spiritually? Did you have a couple of good parents?

• 21:34Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, I think we all have thick skin. You know, it's just a matter of being exposed to it. Look, I'm a poor kid from Georgia and my parents divorced when I was three years old.

• 21:45Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  And I grew up around a bunch of, you know, when I say crazy.

• 21:50Jason Bateman?

  You say it with love.

• 21:52Speaker 01

  With love. Yeah, yeah. Curious and really colorful.

• 21:57Will Arnett?

  I like that.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  Colorful southern women, you know, and little bitty farmhouse, you know, outside of Atlanta. And, yeah, we didn't have, we didn't have anything. We didn't have like, you know, central air. I mean, we had like, like a heater, you know, that admitted, I mean, like, it is the, is the cause of global warming. Like this one particular furnace that we had in our, in our house. And, and yeah, we just didn't have much and so, but we didn't, we didn't want for much. And I don't know, I just think growing up that way.

• 22:27Jason Bateman?

  Well, then what about all this, all this privilege and luxury and, and.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 22:33Jason Bateman?

  Elitism that you're rolling around with every once in a while. You think, is it getting you soft?

• 22:37Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 22:38Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 22:39Speaker 01

  No, dude, is it getting me soft? Yeah, I mean, I suppose, yeah, right? You get, everybody has a new normal.

• 22:45Jason Bateman?

  But you know how to categorize it, right?

• 22:46Speaker 01

  I think so.

• 22:48Jason Bateman?

  You're still able to go to Mongolia and get along.

• 22:50Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 22:51Sean Hayes?

  Can I ask you some questions about that story? That is crazy.

• 22:55Speaker 01

  I just can't believe I'm talking to three of you, man. This is just so.

• 22:58Sean Hayes?

  Likewise.

• 22:59Speaker 01

  Because two of you I know and Sean I don't know. So yes, ask me anything.

• 23:02Will Arnett?

  We went to, Sean and I went to Istanbul once.

• 23:05Speaker 01

  Okay. What?

• 23:05Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, we went to Istanbul.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  Don't make that up.

• 23:08Will Arnett?

  Together.

• 23:08Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 23:09Speaker 01

  They were at the Four Seasons there at the, the old prison.

• 23:11Will Arnett?

  That's true. That is true.

• 23:13Sean Hayes?

  But, but you remember, like a week, a week after we left was like a big terrorist attack. You remember that?

• 23:19Will Arnett?

  I know.

• 23:19Sean Hayes?

  Like a week after we got out of there, wow.

• 23:22Jason Bateman?

  We'll be right back.

• 23:26Sean Hayes?

  Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections on by default. Built-in content settings for the content teens can see, contact limits for who can contact them, and time management tools like daily time limits and sleep mode. Teens are automatically placed into teen accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent's permission to change any of these settings to be less strict. Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

• 24:08Sean Hayes?

  We all like appliances that know what they're doing, which is why you'll love the Vitamix Ascent X5. It has 10 automatic blending programs, 10! We have what, maybe three? Work, eat, avoid work? Meanwhile, the Ascent X5 is making smoothies, soups, sauces, frozen cocktails, nut butters, and a bunch of other stuff you wouldn't even think to make at home. Just press a button and it handles the rest. And when you're done, there's even a self-cleaning program instead of the typical "leave it in the sink and hope someone else deals with it" program. Scotty! Honestly, at this point, the Ascent X5 is contributing more around the house than anyone else, and that's okay. The Vitamix Ascent X5, only the essential.

• 24:52Sean Hayes?

  What I love is having a smoothie after a workout that's sitting in the fridge pre-made that I made myself. No, I didn't. Scotty! But it was made with a Vitamix Ascent X5, that's for sure. Shop at vitamix.com.

• 25:11Jason Bateman?

  This episode of Smartless is brought to you in part by SkinnyPop popcorn. So, I think one of the great journeys in life is finding the snack that's right for you. You know, and it's constantly changing, but what is constant is the love of popcorn. I think that we all have. So, finding a snack that tastes great and feels like a solid choice should not be more complicated than solving a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. SkinnyPop popcorn, made with simple quality ingredients, always satisfies. No overthinking required. No jigsaw puzzle assembly required.

• 25:54Jason Bateman?

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• 26:41Jason Bateman?

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• 27:22Jason Bateman?

  And now, back to the show.

• 27:26Sean Hayes?

  So, the broken rib, how do you get through that many days?

• 27:31Will Arnett?

  This is gonna be about ribs at Chin Chin.

• 27:33Speaker 01

  Okay, you know what? Well, it's really interesting. You talk about, no, how do I get through with a broken rib?

• 27:37Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, you through that many, nine days? What do you do with the pain? And how do you heal? And like, what do you do?

• 27:44Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 27:44Sean Hayes?

  He's hard, man. He can do it.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  Well, no, I mean, like, but there's no, I didn't know what was happening, right? I didn't, and it did, you know, I gotta be honest with you, man. I felt like, oh, you know, maybe, maybe this is internal bleeding. Maybe this is it. Like, I was really, I was scared, but I tried not to show that to my son. And, uh, and I, and I said that when we got to this particular, the next location after that seven hour ride. And I I I crawled into this tent. I mean, they took me off this horse, which, by the way, I had the only horse in Mongolia with Alzheimer's, man. She had no idea who I was. It's like, man, I've been riding you for eight hours a day, man. I haven't even stopped for lunch.

• 28:29Speaker 01

  I've only been gone for 20 minutes, man. Like, I'm here. Like, there's not a, I don't have a scent. I mean, really? But, uh, no, I crawled into this tent and I looked at my son and I said, listen, man, I'm gonna take this Advil and we're gonna see if I wake up with any relief. And if it is, then I think, you know, we're gonna be okay. Everything's fine. And I did, I fell asleep. I don't even remember falling asleep. I woke up, I don't know, three hours later or something like that. And I felt marginally better, right? Because I'd found a place that wasn't so painful. Right, right. And and then I was able to make it out of the tent. I walked in. I mean, I'm in Mongolia. It's the best horse people in the world. You know, they had an idea of kind of what it was.

• 29:11Speaker 01

  And and then while I was sleeping, they fermented a bunch of yak vodka. Sure. You know, like yak milk. And so I I just, I drank, we killed a goat that day. Jesus Christ. And and I drank this yak vodka. They just, when we left there for the next thing, they, we had these like two gallons of yak vodka. So I would just like, in the morning, you know, like with coffee and follow it with a shot of yak vodka and a little bit of Advil. You can't get that at the Marriott Mall.

• 29:41Will Arnett?

  Just a mouthful of goat.

• 29:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. And it was, and we had no refrigeration for that goat, but we ate that goat every way one can eat a goat. Oh, wow. I can't think of anything I'd rather not do.

• 29:53Will Arnett?

  Just watch Jason's face.

• 29:54Speaker 01

  Well, really, because I'm gonna invite all of you on the next trip.

• 29:57Jason Bateman?

  I mean, I would, I would be, I would have an uncomfortable time just researching that trip.

• 30:04Speaker 01

  You know what? Well, okay, you're, okay, this is. And reading about it.

• 30:07Jason Bateman?

  The websites I'd have to go to to research this would have a font and a sort of a user interface that would be aesthetically unappealing to me. And I, let alone go to the country.

• 30:22Speaker 01

  What's wrong with me? Well, you know what? I, because my son was, you know, at this age, I said, and he's obsessed. I got a, I got a smart kid, y'all. Like, he's a, he's a very, very, very bright, very curious man. I can't even say young man, because if you sit with him, you feel like you're talking to somebody who's been

• 30:39Will Arnett?

  How old is he now, Walton?

• 30:40Speaker 01

  He's still 14, man. Like, he turns, he turns, uh, he's a New Year's Day baby.

• 30:45Jason Bateman?

  So this was a recent trip?

• 30:46Speaker 01

  Oh, man, I just got back, like, two months ago, man.

• 30:49Will Arnett?

  Well, how's your rip now?

• 30:51Speaker 01

  Well, you know, better. I mean, I got, I got, I got, I mean, I, look, it was, it's a, it's such a long story, but it kind of made it, like, kept going, and that day three, it took me, that's when it, like, got really bad. And it's took me, like, an hour and a half just to get out of the tent. I'd wake up before my kid did, just so that he didn't see me that way.

• 31:09Jason Bateman?

  So you'd go do this trip again?

• 31:11Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Oh, one on, with you guys, the four of us.

• 31:16Jason Bateman?

  You won't find me there.

• 31:17Sean Hayes?

  I'll drive you to the airport, that's it.

• 31:18Jason Bateman?

  What, what about, like, a safari?

• 31:20Will Arnett?

  I'm in, I'm in.

• 31:21Jason Bateman?

  Safari in Africa?

• 31:21Speaker 01

  What's, okay, well, look, what's the, what's the most adventurous experience that you've ever given yourself? Go ahead, Sean.

• 31:30Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, well, right, during COVID, like, right before COVID hit, I booked a Scotty thing where we were gonna go on the Orient Express. It's like his dream to go on that train across Europe. And so that's, like, the most extravagant thing I would have ever done. But that's on a fancy train.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  Oh, you didn't wind up, you didn't?

• 31:46Sean Hayes?

  No, because COVID happened with it.

• 31:47Will Arnett?

  Have you ever done anything out in nature, though, either of you guys?

• 31:50Jason Bateman?

  Well, I did, I did, uh, a day's worth of work, Schedule F on a Knight Rider episode once they get ahead in a honey wagon. And honey wagons, let me tell you something. If you're looking to stretch out and catch a nap at lunch, you're fucked.

• 32:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, you are.

• 32:05Sean Hayes?

  In the forest, in the forest.

• 32:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's hard. Yeah, those, those, well, you mean, what, your legs are straight up and they're, they're flat, your feet are flat against the wall?

• 32:14Jason Bateman?

  You can't do it, you got the xylophone wall that is just, you're hearing everybody's business next door. I don't recommend it.

• 32:20Will Arnett?

  You remember your roommate? You remember who it was?

• 32:23Jason Bateman?

  Some old timer, bless his heart.

• 32:26Will Arnett?

  Not earned a sport.

• 32:27Jason Bateman?

  Jack Elam. It might have been Jack Elam.

• 32:29Sean Hayes?

  I don't think, yeah, I would go if it was like, you know, the kids say glamping, like if it was, because I love.

• 32:36Will Arnett?

  Do, I've done, I did, when I was, when I was your son's age, I was 15, I did a three and a half week canoe trip up in northern Ontario. Oh, was that right? 1985 and we got dropped off on the side of a road and it was, yeah, three and a half weeks of canoeing and it was, ended up being a whole thing and we were, got way behind because the maps were so old, so we had to portage every day for the last eight days. Portage. And we had to get, we had to get rescued by, we paddled into this bay and we were like, we were, we knew we were way behind and we had to meet a bus at a, at a, at a highway and we knew we were hundreds of kilometers, miles or whatever behind. You were late. We paddled into a bay that we didn't, you didn't see anybody.

• 33:18Will Arnett?

  And there was no, there were no roads up there, there's nothing, it was way up northern Ontario and we, we got, um, we paddled around this corner, there was a cabin there, we saw some people there and they dropped, sometimes they'd drop people, a lot of Americans off for fishing for a week and on a sea plane. And there's a couple there and we paddled up to their, their dock and they're like, are you boys okay? By the way, I'd never let, like, we were all 15 and then the two guides were 18. Right, so the five, five, five of us and then, and then two guides and we were like, um, we're, we're kind of in trouble. And at which point, the plane that had, that worked for that company drove by and saw our canoes and came and he landed. And he's, and asked us what the situation, he said, okay, well, we'll get in touch with somebody, you know, this is way before cell phones and all that shit.

• 34:00Will Arnett?

  And we were like, what's gonna happen? And then like, two hours later, we see a Twin Otter come and land and it's the Ministry of Natural Resources. And they picked us up and we strapped a couple of our canoes to the pontoons and we, and we took off and we got out of there. The craziest thing was at the end of this bay, there were these two small islands really close together and on each island was a wing. We were like, what's that? And they're like, oh, back in the 50s, a plane tried to take off, it was too heavy and it didn't make it, it then sheared off both wings. Oh my god. And we're like, are we okay? And the guy's like, you know, bush pilot, he's like, oh yeah, we'll be fine, hey, no, no worries.

• 34:34Speaker 01

  Wow. Were you scared? Did you get, did you, do you remember that?

• 34:38Will Arnett?

  Yeah, I, you know, about day, about day four of us being way behind, uh, we started to get a little bit scared. It was really, we, we were, it was just, we were out there and we was like, nobody knew where we were and, um.

• 34:50Jason Bateman?

  So anyway, I couldn't eat when they broke for first team. I had to wait till background. I had to eat when background ate. And I'm like, guys, I've got line, I'm saying a couple of lines today. And they're like, no, we're gonna want you to.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  Look at my size.

• 35:04Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, stay in holding and then we'll let you know, we gotta get first team through first.

• 35:10Speaker 01

  I had to eat when background ate.

• 35:12Jason Bateman?

  But I made it. I made it.

• 35:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, you made it. You made it.

• 35:15Sean Hayes?

  Oh, you look great, Jay.

• 35:17Jason Bateman?

  Walton, you grew up in Georgia. What, can you say? God, it's hot there. Anything specifically from that area that has shaped you into the kind of actor you are today? I mean, I guess you're sort of, you basically said it.

• 35:31Will Arnett?

  Well, I was gonna say.

• 35:32Jason Bateman?

  It's seasoned you a bit, right?

• 35:33Will Arnett?

  I was gonna say this, I don't know if it's Georgia, but also the way that you live your life and you're talking about the stuff you do. You have such an unbelievably freewheeling style and I mean that as the greatest, as such a compliment. You bring something to every sort of role that you do.

• 35:47Jason Bateman?

  It's no BS.

• 35:48Will Arnett?

  You bring this kind of, yeah, this life, like this kind of freewheeling thing that I, that is so fucking alive and fantastic. Every time. You light it up, man. And I wonder if that is because of your background, dude.

• 35:59Jason Bateman?

  I've been exposed to stuff, you know, he's got things to draw on.

• 36:04Speaker 01

  Look, that's a, that's a lot coming from this, this, uh, group of men because I am, uh, such big fans of all of you. As, as, as you know, I mean, Sean, you don't, but I am.

• 36:13Jason Bateman?

  Well, that's very sweet, likewise.

• 36:15Speaker 01

  I, and this is what, I, I, I genuinely live every day like it's my last day. And, and what I'm, what I mean by that is, uh, you know, I, I, I know what it's like to be hungry. I know what it's like to be cold. I know what it's like to be uncomfortable.

• 36:30Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  I know now what it's like to wear really nice clothes and people say, well, like, cause I've had this, this beautiful one and gotten to wear. Well, that's very kind of you, say, but, but I, you know, it's like, well, why, why do you think these people are letting you wear these clothes? I said, because I'm wearing them. Like, I'll never get to wear them again. And that's the truth.

• 36:47Jason Bateman?

  But why, you know, we have a friend.

• 36:49Speaker 01

  And I mean that, and that's okay, too.

• 36:50Jason Bateman?

  We have, you do have an allergy to buttons, though. And just like Justin Theroux's got an allergy to sleeves.

• 36:55Speaker 01

  Sleeves, yeah.

• 36:56Jason Bateman?

  What is it with you two? You've got, you're in a fight with the clothes. You're not, you're not.

• 37:01Speaker 01

  Hey, man, I'm taking my cues off Richard Gere. I'm taking my, I'm taking my cues.

• 37:04Jason Bateman?

  No.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  I did, you know what? I did a movie with Richard, man. I did a movie with Richard, like, uh, this is, this is more a few years ago. And, uh, and, and it was with, with Dinklage and, um, and, uh, and, and, and Bradley. And, uh, uh, and we were sitting there and I was really, really tired. It's a long, long day. And, uh, and I looked at him and I said, ah, man, I'm, I'm so tired. I'm, I'm really tired. You must be tired, Richard. And he said, you know what? You're right, I am. I'm, I'm very tired. He said, but you know the difference between you and me? I said, uh, no, man, what's the difference? He said, tomorrow morning, when I wake up, I'll still be Richard Gere.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  Motherfucker. And you won't.

• 37:52Speaker 01

  You motherfucker, man. You're exactly right. You will be, so it's okay. You're okay.

• 38:00Sean Hayes?

  That's really funny.

• 38:01Jason Bateman?

  Now, all right, so, so, so you pack, so you pack up from Georgia.

• 38:06Speaker 01

  Pack up from Georgia, yeah.

• 38:07Jason Bateman?

  You go to Georgia, Georgia Southern University, I think I got that right. And you do a year there and you're saying, you know, you want to know what? I think I know what I want to do. So you, you jump, what, did you ride horseback from Georgia out to Los Angeles?

• 38:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, I did, I rode a horse.

• 38:20Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, so you, you.

• 38:21Speaker 01

  I've seen this whole entire nation. Yeah, I took a long way around. So I went the northern route, then came back and then took the southern route just to get to LA.

• 38:29Jason Bateman?

  So you pull into, to, to Los Angeles there at 19. And, uh, what, what you start, you start the process of, of, of chasing the dream. And was it, was it a difficult thing to get an agent and get auditions right away? What, did you have a colorful first job to sort of pay the bills during this process? What was it, was that first year like?

• 38:51Speaker 01

  You know, I, I was, I was, I, look, we all have our. Stories, right? I mean, there was no way I was ever gonna go to New York. A vertically integrated city was way above my pay grade. I couldn't handle that, uh, living.

• 39:03Jason Bateman?

  Wait, wait, sorry, you thought New York would be too expensive to live in?

• 39:08Speaker 01

  Well, too expensive, but so radically different, right? And I, and I, and I, then, then, you know, then the life that I kinda grew up. Well, not sprawl, no. I grew up kind of like, you know, in, in, in the country with space, a little bit, a little bit of space.

• 39:21Jason Bateman?

  And a big family, a little family?

• 39:22Speaker 01

  No, well, I mean, I, I, you know, I mean, I have a half brother now, but at, at the time, I mean, I was really kinda raised an only child. Uh, it was my, my mom and her three sisters and my grandmother and my cousin who's like, you know, she's like my, my aunt's daughter, like my sister. And, and then all of these crazy, crazy, uh, southern hippies, you know, like all of these guys. I had just a lot of people that kinda came through my life.

• 39:52Jason Bateman?

  Right, so New York was too much of a, of a cultural shock potentially, so.

• 39:57Speaker 01

  Well, you know, maybe on some level, absolutely, but I, and I also think that I was just really attracted to the, to the West, you know, and the idea. I, I'm, you know, growing up in a place where the, the, the biggest view that you, that you have is a football field, right? Because of all the pines and all the rest of it. I, I just, I, I just love the idea of seeing from miles and, and any direction. And, and so, yeah, I, I left, you know, at nineteen, you know, drove across country and, uh, with my, my dad, believe it or not.

• 40:26Jason Bateman?

  Oh, right.

• 40:27Speaker 01

  And, you know, and I had, you know, a number, but I watched, I watched, I mean, I'm not without people in my, in my life that were in this business. In the sense that my, my aunt was a, an actress in the theater and, and her husband, my uncle. So I grew up kinda watching them on stage.

• 40:42Jason Bateman?

  Sure.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  And, uh, but, you know, I, I really didn't, I mean, I, I liked doing this, you know, I mean, I, I did like to, I didn't know this was what I was gonna do for the rest of my life. I just really wanted to see the world.

• 40:51Will Arnett?

  But, but when you landed day one, what do you do? Like, how do you, what was your plan?

• 40:56Speaker 01

  Well, I started working, right, in, in Atlanta. I mean, I started working, like, uh, there was a, yeah, like Kyle Chandler was this, you know, in this. Group and my buddy Ray McKinnon and and just there was there were there was a lot kind of going on in Atlanta then at that time and and I got a you know a few gigs there and and one was a A pretty big one, you know, called Murder in Mississippi and it was was nominated for like eight Golden Globes with a bunch of really great actors in it. And so I I got an agent pretty quick, you know, uh, cause I'd come out.

• 41:25Jason Bateman?

  And they said, come on out.

• 41:26Speaker 01

  Well, kind, I mean, yeah, I kind of that. I mean, I don't know. They were kind of reluctant. I mean, I don't know why they took me, to be quite honest with you, but I, you know, I didn't, I didn't know. I mean, I had a guy's phone number and and I, when I first got dropped off.

• 41:39Jason Bateman?

  At the Oakwoods?

• 41:40Speaker 01

  No, I got dropped off at this woman I met. I worked with her husband. And and she was like a manager and I actually put this like on my inside version of it on my Instagram, but I got dropped off at this apartment. Woman, her husband picked me up and I got back to her apartment like right off like Sierra Bonita and Hollywood Boulevard. And and, you know, and she asked me to sign this paper and I said, I I just, I don't really know. I don't think I should do that. I don't even know what I am. And she said, well, you know, if you don't sign it, then you have to leave. I said, well, I don't, I don't have anywhere to go. Like, and she said, well, you got to figure that out. I said, well, can I just spend the night? I'll be out of here first thing in the morning.

• 42:20Speaker 01

  She said, yeah. And I left, you know, uh, first thing the next morning and I had an audition actually with a cast director by the name of Pam Dixon. And and I sat, I was there, you know, four and a half hours early and with my luggage. And and she said, what, you've been out here the whole time? I said, I, yeah, you know, she said, well, just bring your stuff inside. Just hang out. And I did and didn't get the job. But afterwards I had a phone number from a guy that I'd worked with and I ran into at a Rio Bravo in Atlanta and I called it and he answered the phone, a pay phone, right? And he said, yeah, man, I'll come pick you up. You can stay with us. And and that was kind of it. That was the beginning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, I had 300 bucks, you know, in my pocket and and then got a job like everybody else, you know.

• 43:04Jason Bateman?

  What job? What were you doing?

• 43:05Speaker 01

  Uh, LA Fitness?

• 43:07Jason Bateman?

  Sure.

• 43:08Speaker 01

  Um, uh, you know, 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift, making four bucks an hour.

• 43:11Jason Bateman?

  Were you checking folks in, or were you a personal trainer?

• 43:13Speaker 01

  Checking them in, man.

• 43:14Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 43:15Speaker 01

  On the shittiest shifts.

• 43:16Jason Bateman?

  Locker keys.

• 43:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, like, there was nobody there, just me. Shower slippers, yeah. Yeah, and, uh, and then...

• 43:22Sean Hayes?

  Do you remember where that was, which LA Fitness that was?

• 43:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, Oxnard and, uh, Coldwater.

• 43:26Sean Hayes?

  Oh, in the valley.

• 43:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:27Jason Bateman?

  Oh, with the racquetball courts. I used to play racquetball in there.

• 43:30Will Arnett?

  Oh, did you?

• 43:31Speaker 01

  As a matter of fact, they did. Yeah, did they have that?

• 43:34Jason Bateman?

  Sure, they must have right there on the LA River.

• 43:37Speaker 01

  On the LA River, that's exactly right.

• 43:38Will Arnett?

  Would you play there with, uh, with Schwartz?

• 43:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, Johnny Schwartz.

• 43:41Will Arnett?

  Johnny Schwartz? Would you guys play there?

• 43:43Jason Bateman?

  He'd kick my ass every day, every game.

• 43:44Speaker 01

  And where were you living at that point? I mean, were you living in...

• 43:47Will Arnett?

  He was living at the top of the Sunset Tower. Uh, that's where he kept his horse.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  That's where you started your journey in Los Angeles.

• 43:55Will Arnett?

  Listen, I will say, Walton, it's not surprising, again, I'm gonna get down to, uh, just what I know from you over the years i- i- and that you, that the stuff opened up because you come at life with such a great, positive attitude. And it is a really great, not to get too weird, but it is a great example of, you come out, you just, you make a call, you're open, you're, you're, you're very positive, and you kinda get in life what you put into it. And you, it's almost like, I, I think that that lesson, again, that you, you gave your son, I mean, this is all part of a bigger, if you kinda take a broader view, that you've just got this great vibe of, and again, I just, I, I, it's no surprise to me, man.

• 44:34Sean Hayes?

  People wanna hang out with you.

• 44:35Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 44:36Speaker 01

  That's what you say. Well, I mean, look, look, we all have our path, right? And what, you know, what, how did we, how did we get that first job? How did we get a second job? How did we get a third, how, how, a decade later, 20 years later? I mean, hell, we have, I've been at this 30, 30-something years, 35 years.

• 44:52Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 44:53Speaker 01

  And I, and I, you know, I don't, I just don't compare myself to anybody else, really.

• 44:57Will Arnett?

  That's so crucial, isn't it?

• 44:59Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 44:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, and, and, and I've got, like, we have a lot of friends in common. I've got a lot of friends who are a lot more successful than I am, and a lot that aren't. And, uh, and, and, but it's, there, it's the same, right?

• 45:11Will Arnett?

  Sure.

• 45:11Speaker 01

  It's just, it's just...

• 45:12Sean Hayes?

  We're all the same, yeah.

• 45:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, it is. I mean, we really are. It, it is...

• 45:16Will Arnett?

  Sean was saying something interesting because we were talking about this thing I went to the other night and Sean said, isn't it funny that no matter what, we, on a certain level, nobody thinks that they've made it. I don't care who you are because you're always trying to, right?

• 45:30Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 45:30Will Arnett?

  You're always, there's no, like, people are like, oh, you made it. Like, I haven't made it. I'm like, thinking about, you know, how do I, right?

• 45:36Sean Hayes?

  And everybody else thinks.

• 45:37Jason Bateman?

  They say, and there's this great line, I just saw the movie Jay Kelly, which is pretty good, George Clooney says, you know, that he spent his whole life trying to get something that he thought he really wanted, and then he got it, and then he realized, oh, wait, it's not over. I gotta, now I gotta keep it. You know, it's like, so no matter where you are, even if you think you're there, you still gotta work on trying to keep it if you care to.

• 45:58Will Arnett?

  Do you think they'll put your quote, do you think they'll put your quote on the poster, JB? Jay Kelly, pretty good?

• 46:04Speaker 01

  Pretty good. YI on the back. Yeah, on Sunset Boulevard. There it is.

• 46:08Jason Bateman?

  It's pretty good. I highly recommend.

• 46:11Speaker 01

  Can I ask, can I ask you gentlemen something? Do you ever, do you, do you get insecure?

• 46:18Jason Bateman?

  All the time.

• 46:18Speaker 01

  Walking into a room? I mean, yes, in general, right?

• 46:21Jason Bateman?

  Every day.

• 46:21Speaker 01

  I live my life insecure.

• 46:22Jason Bateman?

  Every moment.

• 46:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, right?

• 46:23Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 46:24Will Arnett?

  Walking into a room?

• 46:26Speaker 01

  Walking into a room with, you know, like, an event, or like, a bunch of actors, or writers, or directors, or, you know, like, something affiliated with this.

• 46:35Jason Bateman?

  A hundred percent of the time.

• 46:36Sean Hayes?

  I don't get it, I don't get insecure about status, because I don't care about it. I get insecure about carrying a conversation.

• 46:46Jason Bateman?

  Carrying a conversation?

• 46:47Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 46:48Jason Bateman?

  Really?

• 46:48Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 46:49Jason Bateman?

  You're an incredible conversationalist.

• 46:50Sean Hayes?

  No, no, but, but, but the work that it takes for me to get up to being a good conversationalist is exhausting.

• 46:56Speaker 01

  It's exhausting.

• 46:56Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's exhausting being interested in somebody you don't, you're sitting next to at a table with placards with your name on it next to somebody you don't know, and you have to like,

• 47:04Speaker 01

  Start from scratch.

• 47:06Sean Hayes?

  Hey, what's going on? Like, you know what I mean? So I get anxiety about that, but not so much about like, Status, I don't care about status.

• 47:13Speaker 01

  No, not anymore.

• 47:15Will Arnett?

  Weirdly, I think it's a, I think, I think that I'm just naive and I don't know what it is that I'm blessed with that. It's, you know, they're just like, I just don't have any sense. Yeah, I had a really cool, I was doing this interview thing the other day. It's gonna come out, but that, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to Benicio del Toro.

• 47:34Sean Hayes?

  Well, that's somebody I would like to sit next to.

• 47:36Will Arnett?

  Yeah, and the woman said, she said, you know, this idea of imposter syndrome. She said, do you ever, you guys ever have the, suffer from imposter syndrome? And she said, Benicio, and he goes, what is that? And I was like, oh, man.

• 47:53Sean Hayes?

  That's wild, yeah, that's cool.

• 47:55Will Arnett?

  And she goes, no, you know that thing, and he goes, I don't know what that is. I was like, fuck.

• 47:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, that would make me feel even more of an imposter.

• 48:04Will Arnett?

  But it was so dope.

• 48:05Speaker 01

  That would send me over the edge.

• 48:06Will Arnett?

  But, but, but at the same time, it was so cool because it was such a great sort of lesson of like, you don't have to. Right? Like, you can, you can try to, you can kind of let that go. And he has it naturally in the most beautiful way, but like, oh yeah, you don't have to have it, you know?

• 48:20Speaker 01

  That's right, yeah, yeah, you know, I've gotten aware, like, you know, I've just gotten, it scares me a little bit, you know? But I've gotten really comfortable at work. Like, it doesn't, you know what I mean? And I, and that's not a feeling that I'm, I'm comfortable with. I like to be, when I'm working, I'm not very social. I'm alone, I'm just off doing my thing.

• 48:46Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I like that.

• 48:47Speaker 01

  And then you kind of come, I don't, I don't, I don't hang out and just small talk. I don't have the energy. I'm like you, Sean, I get exhausted.

• 48:53Will Arnett?

  Yeah, me too. I'm an introvert, for sure.

• 48:55Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, but you know what, David, you know that famous, I just looked it up, the David Bowie quote? It's, I love this, it, you probably know it. Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been. So all of this stuff that we're talking about, I think the older you get, the more you're like, I can walk into a room, because who gives a shit?

• 49:15Will Arnett?

  I just had, I just had an extraordinary, I just had an extraordinary experience, and who knows if it'll translate, but I am up here doing this thing.

• 49:22Speaker 01

  Where are you, by the way, man?

• 49:23Will Arnett?

  I'm in, I'm in, I'm outside of, I'm in Montana, outside of Bozeman, Montana.

• 49:27Sean Hayes?

  He's in the back of an In-N-Out.

• 49:29Will Arnett?

  And I'm, and I'm doing this, I have the pleasure of doing these scenes with the great Michelle Pfeiffer. Jay, what do you call her? M. Pfeiffer?

• 49:36Sean Hayes?

  Missy Pfeiffer.

• 49:37Will Arnett?

  Missy Pfeiffer. And, and she's so brilliant, and, and I just had this moment, and I think it's age. I don't know if it's age or what it is, and I could just say it honestly, that I was just there doing this thing, and we're shooting, we're literally shooting on the edge of this river that's out there, that's beautiful, it's just, the, the, what I'm looking at is insanely beautiful, and then snow cap mountains in the, in the distance and the thing. And we're about to go, I'm like, what am I doing in this scene, and what am I doing, and I just went like, oh man, I literally was like, anything can happen, just enjoy, just be right here. And then it was just like unreal. Yeah, I was just like letting go, and I, I don't think I could have done it as a younger man, and I think that as I'm getting older, I've just let go of so many hangups.

• 50:21Sean Hayes?

  So, yeah, because, well, because you asked that, do you have that? Because you asked us that, do you have, are you still?

• 50:27Speaker 01

  Well, I, I guess my, what I was kind of getting at, just to hear your, your experiences. Yeah, I, I, I think that I, I just carried so much of, the, the people that I've gotten to play, you know, it's, they're pretty lonely, you know, they're, they're, you know, nefarious, and they got a lot going on, and they're under a lot of, a lot of pressure mentally and emotionally for the most part. And, and so I quite enjoy kind of being in that, in that, in that state, in that place, especially, you know, at work. But, but, you know, something happened recently where, where I, it's similar, but I, I just showed up like, yeah, hi, how are you?

• 51:06Speaker 01

  And I was just not, and, and I was there, I'd, I'd read the script 250 times, I know, I know what's happening. But I, all of a sudden, I just, I didn't need that anymore. I mean, it's like, the difference between, you know, your twenties and your thirties, and then for me, becoming a father at 39, so let's call it 40s, and then learning how to be a parent, oh god, oh god, now I'm a parent, I'm in my 50s. And I'm, and it's okay. I'm, I know how to be a parent. And I feel like I, I, I, I, I know how to tell stories. And I just, I enjoy it more than I've, I've ever enjoyed it. So it's just a new experience for me. Right. Like I, I don't, I don't have that. But it's freeing though, right? It is so free, man. Yeah, I love that. It is. It's so free. I love it.

• 51:52Sean Hayes?

  We'll be right back.

• 51:55Sean Hayes?

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• 52:35Sean Hayes?

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• 53:15Sean Hayes?

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• 53:38Sean Hayes?

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• 54:07Jason Bateman?

  Well, do you feel that, um, cause you know, we're, we're, we do this thing where we're playing people and I think, I think all four of us are interested in playing people that, that don't have it all together. People that are, that are, that are somewhat broken in an interesting way and vulnerable and human and have flaws and all that stuff. And have you, have you felt like you've, you know, we're talking about as we get older, we get better, right? Just, just as people. So do you think that that's at odds with playing characters that don't have it all together? Like as we're starting to get our shit together as we get older, um, it's sort of at odds with playing characters that are, that are a little bit broken.

• 54:48Jason Bateman?

  And then in fact, as you get more and more successful, maybe, you know, as we were joking about earlier, you kind of get a little bit soft because things are sort of privileged around you and luxurious and stuff. Is it, do you, do you, do you fight that sort of embrace of success? Does it go against what you like to, to, to live in?

• 55:07Speaker 01

  You know what? That's a, that's a, that's a great question. And I would ask you all to answer that question too, but because I think we're told a lie, you know, uh, early on that, you know, you gotta, you gotta struggle. You gotta, you know, you gotta live in it. You have to be, you have to be fucked up.

• 55:23Jason Bateman?

  Right.

• 55:24Speaker 01

  To play fucked up people.

• 55:25Jason Bateman?

  Right.

• 55:26Speaker 01

  And the truth is, no, man, you don't. You can just be really evolved and, and, and, and not create distance between yourself and that experience, actually really empathize.

• 55:38Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 55:39Speaker 01

  With, with these people. And I think that's where I've gotten to in my life. And I, outside of, I, I generally empathize with human beings.

• 55:48Speaker 01

  I believe that all of our paths are by nature narcissistic. We cast ourself as the antagonist and the protagonist in our own story. And we just watch how we interface with the fucking world.

• 56:02Sean Hayes?

  For sure.

• 56:02Speaker 01

  When you step outside of that, when you really step outside of that narcissistic DNA quality of survival, all of a sudden, the world just becomes, it's just easier. Life is easier. It's just calmer and I'm calmer. And I feel that happening kind of in my professional life. It's happened, God, I had such a hard time. I watched you guys on Kimmel, you know, the three of you on Kimmel. And I listened, I saw you, Sean, and I saw like how far, you know, you sat and kind of speaking about your anxiety. And I had, I still have it on some level, but I had it. I really had it.

• 56:44Sean Hayes?

  It's also a little bit of a superpower, but yeah.

• 56:46Speaker 01

  It is a superpower and getting ready to walk into a room for people that experience that. And it's like, you gotta, okay, I'm gonna, because I show up for shit. You know what I mean?

• 56:57Sean Hayes?

  That's right.

• 56:57Speaker 01

  I show up for a conversation and nothing is half ass.

• 57:00Sean Hayes?

  That's right.

• 57:00Speaker 01

  I show up for everything. And if you put that much into it, if you care that much about it, well, then, and it's not performative. It's not a performance. But it takes a lot from you. And on the other side of that, you know, you gotta just be alone and quiet and kind of do all of that. And I envy people that can just fucking move through it, man. Without expending like a ton of energy and still be just as charming and all the rest of it.

• 57:27Sean Hayes?

  I know, I know.

• 57:28Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, but I wonder if that, because there have been times when I have been less insecure and really kind of just cruise through it and not be, and I just don't feel like, well, I might have a lesser level of anxiety. I just don't feel like I'm participating as much. Like, I don't feel like I'm feeling the day as much. I like being. Insecure in as many things and situations as I can. I just feel like I'm a little bit more eyes open, ears open, heart open if I am like I worry when I get too comfortable. Anyway, all right, so you so you you come out to LA, you start working.

• 58:10Jason Bateman?

  Do you remember what that job was that gave you a little bit of like a? Oh, wow, I think I might be able to make a living at this. Some people have raised some eyebrows. I'm getting some calls. Was there one that kind of initiated the momentum that you've you've kept going since then?

• 58:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, very specific, right? We've all had many before this happened and after this happened events in our in our life. And and I valley parked, I sold cowboy boots. Then I became a personal trainer at the same gym that I started this thing. I did all of that. And and then I got this movie called The Apostle with Robert Duvall.

• 58:49Jason Bateman?

  Oh, my God, so good. You're so good, and I love that movie. You're great.

• 58:54Speaker 01

  But I was 24 years old. And it was through the process of kind of, you know, telling that story. And and the relationship that I had with with Bobby on the other side of that, that I felt like, OK, I can, you know what, man? Because I always were, and I worked as soon as I got here. I was very, very fortunate. And I, you know, poor kid, Georgia, I just squirreled it away always. And just lived off whatever I made doing whatever job that I was doing. But at that point, I thought, well, you know what? I'm just gonna, I'm not gonna do that anymore. And I'm just gonna, you know, focus kind of on on this. And and then, you know, I don't think people really knew what to do with me. Because on the other side of that, thinking my manager, who was actually sitting here, was was my manager then.

• 59:38Speaker 01

  And and she, you know, leaned in my ear or somebody that she was with leaned in my ear and said, Hey, man, your life's about to change. That's good, because it was a Toronto Film Festival, whatever. And then on the other side of it, people just thought, well, this guy's just fucking from there. They just got like, he's just a local hire, you know?

• 59:55Jason Bateman?

  They thought you weren't even like, you weren't even like an actor, you were a real-

• 59:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. It's like, okay.

• 1:00:00Jason Bateman?

  What a compliment.

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  Well, I guess, it is to Bobby Duvall, you know, that's what, that's what he says. But, uh, but, and then I just kept cruising, you know? I just said yes in life more than I said no. And, and I, you know, my twenties weren't under a microscope. I, I just got to do my thing.

• 1:00:16Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. But now, but now when you walk down the street, you're getting stopped.

• 1:00:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:21Jason Bateman?

  And you have, you have been for, for, for years. But, um, how is, what's your relationship with, with that? Um, do you feel like those are two separate people? The, the person that the public, uh, recognizes, wants to talk to? Or have you, have you, have you been able to incorporate that into what seems to be an incredibly authentic person? From the very beginning, you've, you've been very tapped into keeping it real, not being full of shit, no artifice, um, no veneer. Uh, yet the public basically has a say on who they think you are as well. And, and sometimes fame, there's, there's a, there's a, there's a discomfort with, with, with, um, with merging those two things.

• 1:01:05Jason Bateman?

  Have you, have you, have you made a fan of that, or a friend of that?

• 1:01:08Speaker 01

  You know what, I honestly, and I, and I, whether you like it or whether you don't, whether you like me or you don't like me, I am me.

• 1:01:14Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:15Speaker 01

  And I, I am me privately, I am me publicly. Anybody that knows me very, very well, listening to this podcast would say, yeah, he's the, the exact same. And when, like, you know, interfacing with people on the street?

• 1:01:28Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:28Speaker 01

  This is no bullshit.

• 1:01:30Jason Bateman?

  Like, no, because, because editing yourself everywhere you go is exhausting too. It's like, oh, I gotta be this person. Because the person who's not full of shit, who's no BS, would, would be at a dinner table and enjoying your conversation with your friend. And then a fan would come up and ask for a picture or something. The person who's like, truly no bullshit, would say, hey, man, I'm having dinner. I can't do that right now. But, like, this is like an example-

• 1:01:49Speaker 01

  Kurt Russell would say that. Kurt Russell did say that. You know? He called somebody out who said like, I'm a pilot. And he's like, no, you're fucking not. Pilot, tell me about this thing. But I'm, that's not my person, that's not my personality. Like, that's not where I, I come from, that's not how I was raised. And for me, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I really mean this, man. When I'm, when I'm stopped on the street, yeah, I mean, I get, it's, it's, it is, it has been a lot. And it has been a lot over the last two or three years. But, but honestly, man, I feel like I can provide for my family. It just means that somebody else is gonna hire me.

• 1:02:21Sean Hayes?

  And, uh, and I- And we have a public job, that's part of the job, is to-

• 1:02:24Speaker 01

  It is part of the job. And, and I, and I, and I genuinely love meeting people. I, I don't, I don't, I don't, um, no, I, I, I just, I don't, I live my life differently in, in, in that way. And I, and I don't, I never meet a stranger. I, I like, you know, even where we live now, which is radically different than where we've lived our entire life. You know, I wasn't, uh, my friends are, uh, the, the painter and the plumber and, and then, and the artist and all the rest of it. But, uh, that's, uh, man, listen, I, I was raised in a household with crazy fucking southern hippies.

• 1:02:58Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:59Speaker 01

  Crazy, like, like insane. And, uh-

• 1:03:02Sean Hayes?

  With love.

• 1:03:03Speaker 01

  With lo-, yeah, oh, absolutely. But certifiably in, in insane, in the best way.

• 1:03:07Sean Hayes?

  We all are.

• 1:03:09Speaker 01

  Like a Christmas at our house, like, with, you know, one little pe- heater, whatever. More often than not, somebody would go to the store, and then whoever went to the store would come back with three or four people. And that would happen to a couple of people who'd come back. So then all of a sudden, like, in a, like, this, you know, family of whatever.

• 1:03:28Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:28Speaker 01

  There would be like twenty-five people sitting in our, around our Christmas tree that were, you know, when we had food. And then we would go, because we didn't have gifts for them, we would just go to pick out, you know. I remember giving my Atari, like, Pitfall game to somebody, just like, my, my mom said, just go in there and pick out something you can give away. And, uh, and I went in, picked it and wrapped it up in a Christmas present. I'd just been playing it, like, in, like, all morning. And, you know, and gave it out, like, that's, that's kind of what we did. And, and that's, you know, I, I don't know, I, it's just kind of how I live my, my life.

• 1:04:00Sean Hayes?

  I love that. Wait, I, I just wanted to ask, well, like, you know, we could go through- Tons of your stuff, Hateful Eight, Django, Cowboys and Aliens, The Unicorn, like, all those great things that you've done.

• 1:04:11Speaker 01

  Well, and then the TV, Shield, and, uh, anyway.

• 1:04:16Sean Hayes?

  On and on, but only because it's the big recent massive thing is White Lotus, right?

• 1:04:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:22Sean Hayes?

  Is like, you were so fucking great in that, and it was such a great season, and it, the world watches that show.

• 1:04:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:30Sean Hayes?

  It's so massive.

• 1:04:31Will Arnett?

  That must have felt different.

• 1:04:33Jason Bateman?

  And you got to work with your buddy Sam Rockwell, our pal Sammy Rock.

• 1:04:36Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I love Sammy.

• 1:04:37Jason Bateman?

  That must have been fun, but shooting in Thailand must have been, well, maybe not for you. You probably loved all the fucking hot, sweaty conditions, right? Lots of open-toed shoes.

• 1:04:48Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, just like.

• 1:04:48Speaker 01

  I went to, I see, like, okay, like, in the.

• 1:04:50Sean Hayes?

  Provided your own wardrobe.

• 1:04:52Speaker 01

  I went, I went to, I went to that part of the world, uh, 18 years ago. And it's a long story, I've said it, so I won't repeat it here, but I went all over Southeast Asia. Once I got to a certain point in my life, after studying, like, I didn't, I didn't party, really, in my twenties, you know, I just, I was hyper-focused on what it was I was asking myself to do. I didn't go to, I mean, I, you know, I went to, um, uh.

• 1:05:14Sean Hayes?

  Roxbury.

• 1:05:15Speaker 01

  Wall, the Brown Derby, right, or the, well, yeah, yeah, the Brown, you know, all the places over, like, over in Los Feliz with, uh, Elaine and, what's the name of the place?

• 1:05:24Sean Hayes?

  Sure, sure.

• 1:05:25Speaker 01

  Anyway, I did all of that, and, um, but barely, and so then when I turned 30 years old, and, you know, we were on the second year of the Shield, or after the first year of the Shield, I just said, you know what, this is my time. Now, I'm just gonna finish a job, and I'm gonna take off and go somewhere in the world, and just, uh, hang out and get to know that place, and I, and I've done that now, you know, sans family and with family.

• 1:05:49Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:49Speaker 01

  For, god, I mean, I mean, I'm 54 years old, so I've been doing that for 24 years.

• 1:05:54Sean Hayes?

  Your passport must be a mess.

• 1:05:56Will Arnett?

  But it just gives you such a richness of life that's not just about the, the, doing this stuff.

• 1:06:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:02Will Arnett?

  It gives you real-world experience, though, Sean and I talk about this all the time.

• 1:06:06Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:06Will Arnett?

  Like, having that kind of real-world experience and getting out in the world is important, man.

• 1:06:10Speaker 01

  How do you do that? How do you, how do you find something new to bring back to the table?

• 1:06:15Jason Bateman?

  I mean.

• 1:06:16Will Arnett?

  I try to do that too. I try to get out.

• 1:06:17Sean Hayes?

  I think, I think it's what Will just said. I have to force myself to get out of the house. So, so I have.

• 1:06:23Jason Bateman?

  I'll put on CNN International, you know, and I'll just, I'll see how, how it's all going.

• 1:06:28Will Arnett?

  I like to go places, man. You gotta get out.

• 1:06:31Sean Hayes?

  But even like the dumbest things, when Jason asked me to go to the Dodgers game, I was like, yeah. And by the way, never been like to a Dodgers game and like this, those seats. But just as far as an experience goes, it's like, wow, I have that in my brain now.

• 1:06:44Will Arnett?

  Yeah. And you didn't take the 101. You took Sunset. Oh, that was new for you too.

• 1:06:49Jason Bateman?

  Backroads.

• 1:06:49Speaker 01

  That's an adventure, man.

• 1:06:50Jason Bateman?

  And it was an 18 inning game.

• 1:06:52Speaker 01

  You need to take the five, man.

• 1:06:54Sean Hayes?

  It was great though.

• 1:06:56Jason Bateman?

  Now, what about, talk, before we let you go, tell us about Fallout. Tell us about, so you've, you've made a friend of the three hour makeup session. It's certainly worth it. My God, what an incredible job they do with you.

• 1:07:10Speaker 01

  It's a, it's a big, it's a, you know what, we, we got to do this, you know, you get a call from Jonathan Nolan, you know, the first word out of your mouth is yes.

• 1:07:19Will Arnett?

  Right, right.

• 1:07:20Speaker 01

  Read the scripts afterwards. And one of the writers was, she wrote Tomb Raider and she was a friend of mine, Geneva Adore Robertson and, and Graham Wagner. I knew through some friends, was just a fan of his really. But, but, but it started, it was all on the page. I didn't know like how we would, how they would tell this story. And, and, and it was a lot. Like day one was, was really intense, thinking like, man, I'm too old for this shit. Like, I don't know how I can, I can, I can pull this off. It was in New York and it was like 99 degrees with a heat index of like 106 and. And then we just kept, go ahead.

• 1:07:57Sean Hayes?

  No, just to say your makeup, like, it's like, you don't have a nose.

• 1:08:00Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:08:01Sean Hayes?

  So how do they do?

• 1:08:01Speaker 01

  I do have a nose.

• 1:08:02Sean Hayes?

  I know, but how do they do, how do they get rid of your nose?

• 1:08:05Speaker 01

  You know, I, uh, they, it's, it's called CGI.

• 1:08:09Sean Hayes?

  Oh, okay. Oh, I didn't know.

• 1:08:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:11Sean Hayes?

  I thought it was like, uh, yeah, okay.

• 1:08:13Speaker 01

  Still there, yeah, they do that like in, uh, in, in, in the post. So people see me when I, when I do my nose. Actually, I just saw these, uh, screeners that they send out to everybody. And one scene, uh, they didn't do the effects on yet for the credits. And it's like, oh, fuck, that's my nose.

• 1:08:29Jason Bateman?

  Now, do you have to put, do you have to act with like a tracking mark on the tip of your nose?

• 1:08:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, it doesn't affect me because I can't see it, but yeah.

• 1:08:35Jason Bateman?

  Is it like a little X or a dot or a green?

• 1:08:38Speaker 01

  It is five dots or four, one, two, three, four, four dots. I'll send you a photo.

• 1:08:46Sean Hayes?

  Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:47Speaker 01

  So we, we did it, man, and it, and it, and it came out and it was really well received and it became, you know, one of the biggest shows in the, in the, in the world. I mean, it truly is a global, uh, experience. I mean, this game, uh, you know, resonates so deeply with so many people all over the world. And we got an opportunity to do it again and, uh, and, and jump right back in there. I've been on a, on a, on a long run.

• 1:09:09Sean Hayes?

  One of the best pilots I've ever seen, like the first episodes I've seen, it's, it's amazing.

• 1:09:13Speaker 01

  Thanks, man.

• 1:09:13Will Arnett?

  Did you shoot the second season back in New York too?

• 1:09:16Speaker 01

  No, no, no, we're, we're in, in LA now, man. We're, we're, we're here, yeah. And then, and it feels, it feels good to, to be back here and to work with an LA crew, you know, to see all of these.

• 1:09:28Sean Hayes?

  So rare to work here, yeah.

• 1:09:29Speaker 01

  It's so, it's so tough here in this town right now. But it feels great to look out and go, yeah, we're back home. And so we did it, we did season two and look, we've all been down these roads a number of times. And you know that if you get this first season, if you can get a critical mass to like it, and I knew it with the shield and with justified and with like the righteous gemstones or any of these things, that, that you have an opportunity to do something transcendent, really. I mean, if you, if you, you can play it safe. Or you can go for it. And, uh, and that's what, you know, everybody did and, and we're, you know, it's about, it's coming out on December 17th and, uh,

• 1:10:08Jason Bateman?

  On Amazon.

• 1:10:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, and we're, we're really, really, really excited about.

• 1:10:12Jason Bateman?

  Well, you always go for it. You always go for it. And as I said at the top, you, you never drop us. You take us with you. You carry us safely, uh, on these great creative sort of journeys that you, that you take us on.

• 1:10:23Will Arnett?

  Oh dude, what was the show that you and Danny did that killed me? That was the other one before?

• 1:10:27Jason Bateman?

  Vice Principals?

• 1:10:28Speaker 01

  Vice Principals.

• 1:10:29Will Arnett?

  Vice Principal, dude.

• 1:10:30Jason Bateman?

  This is so good.

• 1:10:31Will Arnett?

  Well.

• 1:10:32Jason Bateman?

  All, anything you guys do.

• 1:10:33Will Arnett?

  Killed me in that, dude.

• 1:10:35Speaker 01

  Thanks, brother.

• 1:10:35Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. I, I would, I'd, I'd give a limb to, to work with you one day, buddy. So my, my fingers are crossed for that.

• 1:10:43Will Arnett?

  Same, same.

• 1:10:45Jason Bateman?

  This'll have to do until then. Thank you so much for coming on the show and talking to us.

• 1:10:49Will Arnett?

  Well, you're just a legend, dude.

• 1:10:51Jason Bateman?

  You are, buddy.

• 1:10:52Speaker 01

  I'm gonna, I'll buy you a glass of whatever you want whenever I see you next and, uh, I, I look forward to.

• 1:10:58Jason Bateman?

  Just take me on a horseback ride, you know, I gotta get cultured.

• 1:11:01Will Arnett?

  Anything.

• 1:11:01Speaker 01

  What if, what if I, what if I knocked you? What if, what if you woke up with me in Mongolia?

• 1:11:06Jason Bateman?

  In a tent in Mongolia? I would need a, I would need a few batteries. It'd have to be a lot of batteries in there.

• 1:11:12Speaker 01

  Okay, man. All right, y'all. Thank you so much, everybody.

• 1:11:15Will Arnett?

  Dude, thank you, Walton. Great to see you, dude.

• 1:11:18Speaker 01

  All right, I'll see you soon.

• 1:11:19Jason Bateman?

  Bye, bud.

• 1:11:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:11:21Jason Bateman?

  The slam.

• 1:11:22Will Arnett?

  He slammed it.

• 1:11:23Jason Bateman?

  He did it. Love him. Yeah, well, I, I feel a little, I do feel a little seasoned, just even, just even talking to him. I don't need to go to Mongolia just yet.

• 1:11:33Sean Hayes?

  I know. By the way, those are the kind of guys, like, obviously we have tons and tons of favorite episodes. This is one of my favorite ones. Like, that guy, I could talk to forever. That, he's so cool.

• 1:11:43Will Arnett?

  That's a good dude. His just, his lust for life is just incredible and infectious.

• 1:11:47Jason Bateman?

  Wouldn't you want to invite him over?

• 1:11:49Will Arnett?

  It's funny when he talks about walking into a room. Every time he walks in a room, he lights it up and it's genuine. It's, it's not put on. That's so funny to hear him say that. As I said, I saw him the other night. He just comes in and he just has this like. Joie de vivre, as we say.

• 1:12:03Jason Bateman?

  He's got sparkle, a little fairy dust.

• 1:12:04Sean Hayes?

  He does have sparkle. When he was talking about, when you were talking about your experience, the outdoor thing, I wanted to tell my story about my camp when I went to camp.

• 1:12:12Jason Bateman?

  Oh, let's hear of it.

• 1:12:13Sean Hayes?

  As a kid, I went to music camp at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, and it was in the middle of the woods, and that's my only kind of outdoor, long-term, woodsy kind of thing. Sure. Anyway, who cares? Ah, yeah. But after two weeks of being in a camp in the middle of the woods, I was ready to say, "Bye."

• 1:12:48Will Arnett?

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