"Stephen Graham"

Grab your extra-icy Arnold Palmer… it’s Mr. Stephen Graham. Topics may include: Scouse, scavenger hunts, parachute pants, and the risk of pretension. So load up your Dopp kit, and as always, thank you for flying the friendly skies with Air 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 the other day, I wanted to make invitations for my dog Ricky's birthday party. And I've got three things open on my laptop. An adorable photo of Ricky, a picture of a birthday cake, and the RSVP details. Thing is, as much as I look like one, I'm not a canine birthday party invitation designer. That's where Google Book comes in. It's a whole new kind of laptop with a feature called Magic Pointer. I just click the photos and different elements on my screen, and boom, Magic Pointer designs a customized birthday party invitation for Ricky. Click anything on your screen to create whatever you want. Visit googlebook.com. Available to 18-plus users.

• 0:44Sean Hayes?

  Compatibility and availability vary.

• 0:49Jason Bateman?

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• 1:29Sean Hayes?

  The place you call home is important to you. So it's important to Allstate. Because home is where you make all your memories. Things like inviting your friends over for game night and discovering that one of them takes charades way, way too seriously. It's these memories that make a house feel like home. If it's important to you, it's important to Allstate. Switch to Allstate, and you could save hundreds on home insurance today. Not available in every state. Potential savings vary, subject to terms and qualifications. Allstate North American Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

• 2:05Sean Hayes?

  Sitting in traffic, huh? Watching an old lady with a walker make it further up the road than you have in the last 15 minutes? And of course, your gas tank is in the perfect spot between not a problem to stranded on the highway. Hit your booking point? Book with Southwest and enter airplane mode. Experience award-winning reliability, fly with the best crew in the sky, and never worry about change or cancellation fees. Now tell that old lady to slow down. Kids live around here. Southwest Airlines, enter airplane mode.

• 2:51Sean Hayes?

  Hey guys, good morning. I'm drinking some tea. What do you got?

• 2:55Jason Bateman?

  Uh, spit? Spit in my mouth? That's about it?

• 2:58Sean Hayes?

  Uh, welcome to Smart List.

• 3:21Jason Bateman?

  Hey, what do you got? Do you call it a toiletry bag? Or do you call it a dop? Is it Dopp kit? D O P?

• 3:26Sean Hayes?

  Dopp kit.

• 3:27Jason Bateman?

  D O P as in Paul?

• 3:29Will Arnett?

  We went through this on stage in front of thousands of people.

• 3:31Jason Bateman?

  Oh, I don't remember things. What is?

• 3:35Will Arnett?

  Do you not remember?

• 3:37Jason Bateman?

  No.

• 3:37Will Arnett?

  We were in, we were on tour. We were in Washington DC. It was our first night.

• 3:42Jason Bateman?

  And we got Sam Jones as a gift, right? Didn't we?

• 3:47Will Arnett?

  I don't, I don't remember that part.

• 3:48Jason Bateman?

  Oh, look who's memory's a little soft.

• 3:54Jason Bateman?

  But what does dop, what does Dopp kit mean? D O P?

• 3:58Sean Hayes?

  It's German, right? For toiletry stuff.

• 4:00Will Arnett?

  It's, it's German, man. Remember we, somebody, somebody in the audience yelled it out and they said, it's German. I forget how it came about. Anyways, yes, D O P P, Dopp kit.

• 4:09Jason Bateman?

  Hey, what, why? Go ahead. I was gonna say, why, what happens in the morning when you, like, I constantly, I'm constantly clearing my throat today.

• 4:18Sean Hayes?

  Uh huh. Does that mean I'm sleeping on my-

• 4:19Jason Bateman?

  Insert joke here.

• 4:20Speaker 03

  Guys, real quick, it's the word was coined by leatherworker Charles Doppeelt, who patented the idea of DOPs in 1919 and marketed them locally before landing a contract with the US Army during WW2.

• 4:31Jason Bateman?

  And that, he was a German?

• 4:33Speaker 03

  Leatherworker, I think he was American. Let's see.

• 4:36Sean Hayes?

  Well, it sounds German.

• 4:37Speaker 03

  We're to come next episode.

• 4:38Will Arnett?

  Charles Doppeelt, D-O-P-P-E-L-T, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I'm looking at it too. I also have the internet, Bennett. Um, so...

• 4:46Sean Hayes?

  Congrats, guys.

• 4:48Will Arnett?

  It's like when we get back, you know, when, we've brought this up before and people go, "I did my own research." Like, "Oh, you've got Google? Fuck off."

• 4:55Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it takes like five seconds.

• 4:59Will Arnett?

  You know?

• 5:01Sean Hayes?

  So, last night-

• 5:02Will Arnett?

  Oh, sorry, Sean, you were trying to get to some business. Sean's like, "Yeah, I know, it takes five seconds." So, my story that I've got ready.

• 5:08Sean Hayes?

  No, I, I was, I was actually, actually serious about like the, I can't stop clearing my throat, I don't know why. Does that mean I'm getting sick? I don't know.

• 5:17Jason Bateman?

  Or do you want to reschedule today's recording?

• 5:20Sean Hayes?

  No, no.

• 5:21Jason Bateman?

  It might be the smoke from the, uh, Canadian fires. I think that's the Toronto Maple Leafs fans still, uh-

• 5:27Will Arnett?

  Hey, man.

• 5:28Jason Bateman?

  Being a handful up there.

• 5:29Sean Hayes?

  What happened? Did they win?

• 5:30Will Arnett?

  Dude, we don't need to-

• 5:31Jason Bateman?

  They're still burning stuff down, they're so pissed.

• 5:33Will Arnett?

  Shots fired over there.

• 5:36Sean Hayes?

  Are they not doing well?

• 5:38Will Arnett?

  It's, they've, that's an understatement. It's been a minute. It's been a tough, I haven't mentioned it since, it's been a while, but they lost again in another game seven and it was really-

• 5:48Jason Bateman?

  Boy, that, that, I can't believe, I still haven't talked to you about it, I watched all three periods of you and Biz doing your commentary on that, on that game-

• 5:56Sean Hayes?

  Oh, wow.

• 5:57Jason Bateman?

  With your, with your Blazers on. I can't, I mean, I sat there, I had the clicker in my hand the whole time, never punched it. Just watched you two-

• 6:06Sean Hayes?

  I want to see it.

• 6:07Jason Bateman?

  Blathering on.

• 6:08Will Arnett?

  You know what the best part was, and, and I took a shot at you because I said, "Baby, it was supposed to be you, he was like literally a mile away and he didn't come."

• 6:14Jason Bateman?

  I was less than a mile away, still just smiling at you saying, "Yeah, you know, he might, he might even stop by during this." And I was just like laughing at myself on the couch with DJs.

• 6:24Will Arnett?

  But, you know, we, we, the best part was, they go, "Do you guys want to go do this?" And Biz and I- Yeah, let's do it. And we get there, we do the pregame, and then we go to this other studio to start this kind of alt cast thing. And then just the dude goes in five, four, three. And I'm like, what do we, we don't, hey, everybody, we had no plan, you can tell.

• 6:43Jason Bateman?

  Sitting in chairs, yeah.

• 6:44Will Arnett?

  And then we had like.

• 6:45Sean Hayes?

  And you just commented on this game?

• 6:47Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, they're just literally watching the game along with the audience at home and doing their own commentary.

• 6:51Will Arnett?

  And we had Charles Barkley kindly called in. He was amazing.

• 6:54Jason Bateman?

  He was great, yeah.

• 6:55Will Arnett?

  He was hilarious. And then our buddy Al Michaels.

• 6:57Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, also amazing.

• 6:59Will Arnett?

  Also amazing.

• 7:00Jason Bateman?

  Sorry, Sean, you think Charles Barkley's a singer?

• 7:03Sean Hayes?

  I always think he's the singer, right? Isn't there a singer named Charles Barkley?

• 7:06Will Arnett?

  Narls Barkley. Do you think it might have gone the other way?

• 7:09Jason Bateman?

  Oh, Narls Barkley. Yeah, you think maybe Narls got it from Charles.

• 7:12Will Arnett?

  Do you think that the Arnold Palmer was, do you think Arnold Palmer, the golfer, gave himself the name after the drink or?

• 7:17Jason Bateman?

  Sweet Sean. Hey, by the way, Sean, think about how sweet Sean is. Franny, my eldest listener, she had a scavenger hunt last night, and I guess one of the, one of the boxes they had to check was get a picture with a celebrity. And Sean was nice enough to stay up until.

• 7:34Will Arnett?

  Introduce them to some celebrities. That's so nice.

• 7:37Jason Bateman?

  Right, this way? Ten thirty, ten forty-five or something. She drove over to your house with all of her friends and took a shot of you?

• 7:42Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I'm like, what's, what's going on with your dad? Can you just take a shot with him?

• 7:45Jason Bateman?

  I guess that don't count.

• 7:47Sean Hayes?

  I guess, yeah, it didn't count because, yeah.

• 7:48Jason Bateman?

  Now, did you go through the works before they got over there? Were you, was your hair and your makeup was all set?

• 7:54Sean Hayes?

  Check out that photo. It's horrible. I look like I'm ninety-five years old.

• 7:58Jason Bateman?

  Oh, so you checked it? You said, let me see it?

• 8:00Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, well, I did it myself. I, because, you know, when somebody stops and asks for a photo, which is so kind, I always grab the phone. I said, let me take it because it takes me two seconds to open the phone. Otherwise, it takes half an hour for them to wait. I gotta find my, I, you know, my phone icons. I'm like, just give it to me. And so I took it with all them because it's a scavenger hunt, so you only have five seconds. So I said, everybody's.

• 8:19Jason Bateman?

  Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't know that rule. What are you talking about?

• 8:21Sean Hayes?

  Well, it's a scavenger hunt. You gotta get your thing and you gotta go and get your thing on the list and go. So, um, but I had to hang out with them for like five, ten minutes because their friends were in another car. Anyway, who, who cares? And I took a photo myself and it didn't look great. But Franny's the sweetest.

• 8:35Will Arnett?

  I hope this is gonna be in your book. I mean. That's riveting.

• 8:39Jason Bateman?

  You know, you telling me that story about taking the, grabbing everybody's phone and taking the picture yourself all the time. And I immediately go to all the germs that I would be taking on my hands by touching everybody else's phone. You know, it's the dirtiest thing in your life, your iPhone.

• 8:54Sean Hayes?

  I think your mouth is.

• 8:55Jason Bateman?

  No, it's dirtier than your toilet seat.

• 8:57Will Arnett?

  Again, I just want to point out, are you watching people drop dead on the street or something? Because we're all, we're all fine.

• 9:05Jason Bateman?

  No, it's just, it's just a gross factor. I'm not worried about getting sick.

• 9:09Sean Hayes?

  I did though, but I did want, I did, Franny texted me earlier in the day. She's like, are you gonna be up like around between 10:00 and 11:00? I'm like, yeah. And then, and I'm watching the Osama bin Laden documentary and I'm completely falling asleep.

• 9:22Jason Bateman?

  As you do.

• 9:22Will Arnett?

  It was really interesting. So good.

• 9:23Sean Hayes?

  And, and.

• 9:24Jason Bateman?

  Is it great?

• 9:25Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's amazing.

• 9:26Jason Bateman?

  Oh, really?

• 9:26Sean Hayes?

  And it's so interesting. And, and then I'm just falling asleep on the cushion. I'm like, Scotty, I gotta go to sleep. I'm gonna fall asleep. And she's like, we're here. I was like, oh God. And the doorbell rang. I freaked out. And I went outside and then I, my phone goes up at like 1:00 in the morning. And she's like, are you still up?

• 9:42Jason Bateman?

  Want to retake?

• 9:43Sean Hayes?

  Cause I think they needed something else.

• 9:44Jason Bateman?

  Really?

• 9:45Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 9:46Jason Bateman?

  Oh no.

• 9:47Sean Hayes?

  And I just texted.

• 9:48Will Arnett?

  That's like the worst are you still up text you can get.

• 9:51Sean Hayes?

  From Franny?

• 9:52Will Arnett?

  On the scales of you still, you still up text. Yeah, it's not what you think. It's can we get a photo with you?

• 9:58Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, exactly. Maybe the photo was bad, but I was freaking out. I hope she got, I hope she won. Do you know if she won?

• 10:03Jason Bateman?

  I have no idea. She hasn't surfaced yet. It's 9:40 this morning.

• 10:06Sean Hayes?

  She went to bed at like 3:00 in the morning.

• 10:07Will Arnett?

  We should do a smartless scavenger hunt.

• 10:10Jason Bateman?

  I would love that. I love a scavenger hunt.

• 10:12Sean Hayes?

  I do too. That'd be super fun.

• 10:14Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 10:14Jason Bateman?

  So how would that work? The three of us would be individually against one another?

• 10:19Will Arnett?

  No, no, it's not for us. It's for our fans. It's for, you know, for people who like listen to the podcast and that we endure, and then we have like a whole, yeah.

• 10:27Sean Hayes?

  God, that sounds like a lot of work.

• 10:28Jason Bateman?

  What's the, what's the, what's the prize?

• 10:31Sean Hayes?

  You're so angry about it.

• 10:32Will Arnett?

  A Dopp kit.

• 10:34Sean Hayes?

  A dop, oh, a smart Dopp kit.

• 10:36Will Arnett?

  Nice.

• 10:38Sean Hayes?

  And because you wrapped it up with such a nice bow, Willie, we're gonna move on to our guest today. Beautiful.

• 10:43Will Arnett?

  Oh, nice.

• 10:43Sean Hayes?

  Who's this? Is it yours today, Shawnee?

• 10:45Will Arnett?

  That's a delicious segue.

• 10:47Sean Hayes?

  Oh, you guys are gonna love this. This is so exciting. He got his first big break by tagging along to a friend's audition and improvising his way into the role. It's a big movie. He has such a thick Liverpool accent that fans don't often believe it's real. He used to tear up the streets as a teenage breakdancer, so did I. And he's been punched, stabbed, and screamed at in more scenes than I can count. But somehow he's the most gentle guy in the room. I met him once on his native soil, the UK, and I've been a fan ever since. It's the ridiculously talented and allegedly intimidating Stephen Graham. Hey, Stephen Graham.

• 11:22Speaker 04

  Hello.

• 11:25Sean Hayes?

  Hello, it's you, woman. Good morning. Look at that sweet face who would beat the shit out of me, I'm sure.

• 11:30Will Arnett?

  That was a world-class reveal. It was just so dramatic. It was great.

• 11:35Speaker 04

  Thank you very much. Thank you.

• 11:37Will Arnett?

  That was very good.

• 11:38Sean Hayes?

  Now, Will, do you wanna get started on the Liverpool Football Club conversation?

• 11:42Will Arnett?

  No, no, we're gonna end on that. We're gonna end on the glory, on Liverpool.

• 11:47Sean Hayes?

  Okay.

• 11:47Will Arnett?

  Cause I'm a massive supporter, Stephen, a massive supporter, so we'll get to it.

• 11:51Speaker 04

  Nice. Great. Can I jump in on the scavenger hunting?

• 11:54Sean Hayes?

  Please, go nuts.

• 11:56Speaker 04

  I was at a mate's, because we were in LA for a little bit, and I went with a mate.

• 11:59Sean Hayes?

  I heard about this, because my wife was there at Guy's house, right?

• 12:03Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 12:03Sean Hayes?

  Guy Ritchie? Uh, close.

• 12:05Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:07Will Arnett?

  Well, let him tell the story.

• 12:08Speaker 04

  Oh, wow.

• 12:09Sean Hayes?

  Go ahead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My wife's Amanda. Amanda was there. She was probably the one that was, made your ears bleed just a little bit when you were wondering, why are my ears...

• 12:18Will Arnett?

  No, she was talking quietly in the corner with somebody holding their arm.

• 12:21Sean Hayes?

  Oh, yeah, or it was, yeah, her.

• 12:23Speaker 04

  No, I did, yeah, she was lovely.

• 12:25Will Arnett?

  What's the story, Stephen? What happened?

• 12:27Speaker 04

  During the day, a friend, we went to his sister's. She graduated.

• 12:32Sean Hayes?

  Correct.

• 12:33Speaker 04

  Um, and she was telling us about her scavenger hunt that she was going on. And I'll tell you what.

• 12:41Speaker 04

  It was a bit risky, some of the stuff that they get really high points for.

• 12:45Jason Bateman?

  I know.

• 12:45Sean Hayes?

  Oh, really? Like what?

• 12:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, like, I mean, eating a bagel off a man's penis.

• 12:49Sean Hayes?

  No way.

• 12:51Speaker 04

  Not risky to me. Back me up on that, Jason. Isn't that true?

• 12:54Will Arnett?

  Jason, did you win that? Did you win that one, Jason?

• 12:58Jason Bateman?

  Well, you know, you need to get a unit that'll actually fit inside that hole, and so...

• 13:02Sean Hayes?

  I just had that for breakfast today.

• 13:04Will Arnett?

  Wait, Jason, Amanda was doing this? What's happening?

• 13:07Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, it was a little bit more of a bialy, um, for me, but, um...

• 13:12Sean Hayes?

  Wait, that's crazy. Is that real, like, crazy shit like that?

• 13:14Jason Bateman?

  Well, here at this party, right, Stephen, uh, this was also get a picture with a celebrity. And at your party, there were, there were some real celebrities there. Shaun, all due respect.

• 13:27Sean Hayes?

  Sure, no, I get it.

• 13:28Jason Bateman?

  We're talking about, uh, you know, the tops in the business, like Stephen and, you know, and there was a whole group photo, so they got major points, I'm assuming.

• 13:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, because we went outside and took a photo, yeah. Um, but it, but it was just when they would explain them to us in the, in the morning, what kind of things actually happen and how many points you get for certain things, it just got rather disgusting, I thought.

• 13:48Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 13:48Sean Hayes?

  Really?

• 13:49Will Arnett?

  My, my elder said to me when he was doing his a couple of weeks ago, he said, "Hey, can I get my nose pierced because I'll get massive?" And I was like, "No."

• 13:56Jason Bateman?

  What?

• 13:57Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 13:58Sean Hayes?

  Really?

• 13:59Jason Bateman?

  Get your nose pierced for points?

• 14:01Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 14:01Speaker 04

  I think one of the funniest ones was if you make out with one of the parents.

• 14:05Jason Bateman?

  Oh, parents, oh god.

• 14:07Sean Hayes?

  Really?

• 14:08Jason Bateman?

  I self-wrote that in. You can...

• 14:09Will Arnett?

  Yeah, I get it.

• 14:10Sean Hayes?

  And he left his door open.

• 14:12Will Arnett?

  Forensic, forensic handwriting check for Jason on that one.

• 14:15Speaker 04

  There was also to drink a shot of certain bodily fluids as well.

• 14:18Sean Hayes?

  Oh, wow.

• 14:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, I know, yeah, I was disgusted.

• 14:21Will Arnett?

  Jesus.

• 14:22Speaker 04

  I thought, "What the fuck are these young people doing these days?"

• 14:25Sean Hayes?

  I know. Wait, so Stephen, I'm gonna need, this is somebody here in LA's house's daughter?

• 14:31Speaker 04

  No, no, no, no, no, it was a friend's sister who was telling me about, and my sister was telling us about what it, what it was, yeah.

• 14:37Jason Bateman?

  Now, do you have kids, Stephen?

• 14:39Speaker 04

  I do, yeah, and thank god mine don't do any of this scavenger hunt shit.

• 14:42Jason Bateman?

  Well, hang on, are they, are they old enough yet? How old are they?

• 14:45Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, Alfie's 18 and Grace is 20.

• 14:48Sean Hayes?

  And so you're saying they they never did anything like this in high school?

• 14:53Speaker 04

  We just don't have that kind of behavior where I come from, Jason.

• 14:57Will Arnett?

  I think that's normal. That's normal.

• 14:59Sean Hayes?

  I don't think they're being honest with you, Stephen.

• 15:01Speaker 04

  Jason, I one of the major things my children are is honest. Now, we do the Mooney, which is like stick your ass out of a window. That's as far as we go.

• 15:11Will Arnett?

  Or do you ever do or against the window, which is a pressed ham?

• 15:16Will Arnett?

  I've never heard of that.

• 15:17Speaker 04

  That was always on a bus, though. That was on a bus, that one.

• 15:20Will Arnett?

  On a bus.

• 15:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, I was on a bus. Yeah, you do that one on a bus. But then the worst thing was you do it and then the car that you did it to would pull alongside you later on in the traffic and yeah. We used to do that when we go to football with the, yeah.

• 15:33Sean Hayes?

  What would be the name if you press it against the window and you spread it? What would be the name there? Oh, God. Sliced ham. Yeah, there you go. Thanks. That's what I'm here for. Um, Stephen, first of all, thanks for being here. And by the way, I just found out this morning. I found this this out this morning. First of all, congrats on your recent Gotham Award and Adolescence is the second most watched show of all time on Netflix.

• 15:56Speaker 04

  That's awesome.

• 15:57Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, that's crazy.

• 15:59Speaker 04

  Well deserved. My goodness.

• 16:00Will Arnett?

  What a what an accomplishment. I mean, truly, I mean, we and I know you've talked about this a lot because I've seen it out there and I watch the show. It's fantastic. You're fantastic. Also, the co-creator of the show.

• 16:13Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 16:13Will Arnett?

  Uh, which is no small feat. I mean, for people to understand, you know, they might see the see the credit and the creator and you think like, okay, well, he's got that's just another hat. It's the amount of work and thought and years and preparation that goes into just being the creator of the show and then on top to being in it and then on top of that, doing it, shooting it all in effect live in one shot is so impressive. So I and I know you've talked ad nauseam about that aspect of doing it, but for people to really understand what it takes to pull off doing an entire episode, each episode of that program live as if it were happening in, well, it was happening in real time.

• 16:56Will Arnett?

  And not just in one location, but but getting into vehicles and moving to different locations. Everything that goes in that, the preparation that must have gone into that.

• 17:07Will Arnett?

  When you came up with the idea of the show, was that part in parcel with it? Was it like, we're gonna do this show, tell this story, and we're gonna do it this way?

• 17:15Speaker 04

  Well, to be honest with you, we did a, the whole thing kinda began with me doing a favor for a friend, actually. My mate Phil Barantini, he was an actor and he just, one day he just phoned me up and he said, look, I really wanna direct. Would you help me out and be in a short film? And I said, no.

• 17:36Speaker 04

  Which is what you should do. I said, no. He was like, what? I went, well, go and make your first short film and then we'll have a look and then we'll, we'll, we'll talk again.

• 17:44Will Arnett?

  Good for you. I don't wanna be part of the experiment.

• 17:47Speaker 04

  Of course, but it's also, Jay, you know, it's that kind of, show me what you can do first. So he did, he went and he made this beautiful, but also though, he was asking me if I would play the trainer to a boxer. And the lad who, who he, who was gonna play the main role was a boxer and an actor. And I said, well, doesn't, doesn't Robbie have a trainer? And he was like, yeah. I was like, well, just use Robbie's real fucking trainer. And he was like, well, I went, cause he knows what he's doing. I says, he got a good face? He went, he went, yeah, he looks great. I went, we'll cast him then. Yeah, I got shit to do. That's a really good idea. I was like, yeah, just use him, they've got a relationship, so he did. Anyway, and it was really good, but to get to the point.

• 18:27Speaker 04

  Matt, who he'd met, the D O P, had this glorious idea of doing a short film in one take, but setting it in a restaurant. So, again, Phil said, look, Matt had this wonderful idea, I think it'd be really good, cause Phil used to work in the restaurant industry. He was a chef for a long time. And it was just this concept about a, a, a shift at work. And this man going through a bit of, you know, lots of troubles at home and trying to navigate that in work. And also he has his own addictions and stuff, so it was like, look, we'll shoot it in twenty-two minutes, that's, that's how long the take's gonna be. And I was like, that sounds great. How many days? And he went, five. I said, I'll give you three. He was like, oh, okay. I went, we can shoot it in three. So we did, we shot it in three.

• 19:09Speaker 04

  And the primary purpose of it was to try and use it as a calling card to get Phil an agent. So I give it to my agent, she sent it round the office and then literally, within four to five days, he was having meetings and he then got his agent, Jago. And that was how it happened. So it was all starting to do a favor for a friend. And then Jago said, why don't we turn this into a feature? So we did a little indie film called Boiling Point. Um. And just to go to that, that you know, that you never know what can happen from these things, as we all know with this industry, you just don't know. Cut to three years down the line, four years down the line, we're sat at BAFTA. And film's nominated for best actor, the film's up for best British film.

• 19:54Speaker 04

  I'm nominated alongside Will Smith and Leonardo DiCaprio and.

• 19:59Jason Bateman?

  Amazing.

• 20:00Speaker 04

  Benedict Cumberbatch, all for doing a mate of favor.

• 20:04Jason Bateman?

  Wow.

• 20:04Speaker 04

  And so we had proof of concept with that particular piece.

• 20:07Jason Bateman?

  Sure.

• 20:07Speaker 04

  And then we were asked if we would be interested in turning it into a television show. And that's basically how it all began.

• 20:13Jason Bateman?

  So then, so then Boiling Point is uh similar to the story in Adolescence?

• 20:19Speaker 04

  It's a completely different story, but it's all shot in that one take format. And that's more controlled, it's an environment, it's all set in a restaurant, in a, in a, in a kitchen and in a restaurant. And it's this one particular shift, and I think the film is an hour and maybe an hour and fifteen.

• 20:34Jason Bateman?

  And, and the, and the, um, the thinking behind the, the, the creative effect. Uh, that you guys were, were, were, were aiming for by, by having it all intact in one take. And not distracting the audience with any cuts whatsoever, or coverage, or anything like that. Uh, was, was what? Did you guys ever kind of put words to the, the, the, the, the, the purpose behind? Only one take, aside from just like the, the incredible rush, the creative challenge of that.

• 21:05Speaker 04

  I think that was, that was it, basically, Jason, to be honest with you, it's that kind of trying to grab the audience's attention straight away. Um, and you have kids, I have kids, and, you know, we live in an age where we, I mean, I don't know if you, this, we'll be watching a film, but yet they're still looking on the phones.

• 21:21Jason Bateman?

  Right.

• 21:21Speaker 04

  And it's kind of like putting that down, we're trying to watch a film in many ways, you know what I mean? So it was that, wanting to grab the audience's attention, but also make sure that it wasn't just a gimmick shot. And hopefully, you know, that's what we achieved, but the movement of the ca- of the camera perpetuates the story.

• 21:37Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 21:37Speaker 04

  So there's kind of like little things that we came up straight away with. Matt decided that we could never just move the camera where it doesn't have a purpose to move.

• 21:46Jason Bateman?

  Sure.

• 21:46Speaker 04

  So what that does then as well is that kind of helps you, you know, it's like we all jump on a train and then we don't get off until we finish.

• 21:54Jason Bateman?

  But, but, but, but, but for people to appreciate, and, and we all sort of work in this medium, so we understand. But to really appreciate the difficulty, not just the.

• 22:04Will Arnett?

  Not just the closing of the roads, not just the, you know, hiding crew and camera and all that kind of stuff, but the light changes, for instance. By the way, there is that, am I wrong? Did I, did I imagine it? There were light changes when the, when the, your son,

• 22:21Will Arnett?

  the actor's name is, is it Owen?

• 22:23Speaker 04

  Owen Cooper, yeah.

• 22:24Will Arnett?

  Owen Cooper, who's brilliant. Owen Cooper, when he gets moody, did the light darken in those moments? Am I right about that? Or is that obvious?

• 22:34Speaker 04

  No, that was really, that was very subtle. And that was also a decision that Matt kind of made right at the very beginning. There's moments where it does subtly change. And Phil wanted that concept, that psychological aspect of it just changing slightly dramatically within the scene.

• 22:48Will Arnett?

  Thinking about changing that.

• 22:50Jason Bateman?

  Was that a lighting cue or was it an iris ride?

• 22:52Speaker 04

  It's a lighting cue, kind of. It's a lighting cue within the police station, within the cell, when he's, when he's brought into the cell.

• 22:58Will Arnett?

  I mean, think about that, JB. I mean, think about making that call. So you're doing all that stuff, you have all these, and then in the moment, you gotta get it right. And you have, there's a, basically a lighting cue in the middle of it. There are so many elements happening at once.

• 23:10Speaker 04

  The logistics.

• 23:11Will Arnett?

  Yeah, the logistics.

• 23:12Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 23:14Sean Hayes?

  We'll be right back.

• 23:18Sean Hayes?

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• 24:00Jason Bateman?

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• 24:40Sean Hayes?

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• 25:23Sean Hayes?

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• 25:41Sean Hayes?

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• 26:55Sean Hayes?

  And now, back to the show.

• 26:58Sean Hayes?

  And so the obvious question which I had, which how many takes did you do? And like, I mean, I'd be so afraid to be the one to screw it up.

• 27:06Speaker 04

  Well, the beauty of it, I mean, and it was also, look, it was beautifully written by Jack, Jack Thorne, our wonderful writer, who constructs the human condition so beautifully and so amazingly. And we had that kind of discussion right at the very beginning, what it was going to be and how we were going to try to put this story across without pointing any fingers. But it's just that kind of accountability of parents, you know, maybe the parents are accountable. The school system, the education system, the society and the community where they live, and also the government and also on top. But you know, you have the internet, which none of us had when we were kids. So we've never had to navigate that kind of thing. You know, if an incident happened in school, it was kind of finished by the end of, when the bell went and then you'd pick it up again the next day. Hopefully, it didn't continue too much.

• 27:51Speaker 04

  But today, if anything happens on their phone straight away, it can carry on. So it's that perpetual kind of fear that some of these kids live in, do you know what I mean? With incidents happening in school. But to go back to that, it was more that kind of to navigate it the way we did. Um, and make sure that everything is bang on. We did, it was a different process. So you spend the first week just working through the script. Which we never have that luxury, do we? We never have that luxury to be on set with the writer and the director and just discuss the words.

• 28:23Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's like theater.

• 28:24Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, that's exactly what it is. Sean, it's that, you know, it's that beautiful process of being a theater company and having this brand new script.

• 28:30Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 28:31Speaker 04

  So we, we take it to pieces. It's kind of, and I don't mean to be pretentious, but it's kind of like analyzing every single word like you would a Chekhov play. And understanding the importance of it and why it's there and why it's being said. So we spend that week just amazed in it as the actors and the company. And then the second week, we spend the whole week rehearsing with the camera team, the sound department, the A Ds. Like you said, we're either dressed in police uniforms or, you know, um, teachers in the school. So we then spend all of that week having a whole dress rehearsal. And by the end of that week, by that following Friday. We'll go for a little take, we'll see what happens. And then when you get back in on the Monday, we do, we go for two takes a day.

• 29:13Speaker 04

  Um, so you do one in the morning, about half ten, have lunch, reset, and then come back again in the afternoon. So it's a beautiful experience. So ultimately, we were looking at hopefully trying to get ten takes by the end of the week.

• 29:25Sean Hayes?

  Wow.

• 29:25Speaker 04

  But episodes two, three and four were all the final take of each one.

• 29:34Sean Hayes?

  Oh, wow.

• 29:34Speaker 04

  That final Friday. So I think take, um, episode two was take fourteen.

• 29:43Sean Hayes?

  Wow.

• 29:44Speaker 04

  Mm hmm. And it was the only time that the drone actually got attached to the, the, the camera got attached to the drone. It flew up. I don't know if you remember that. In the school where it, it flies up in the air and then it comes down. And then it gets taken by the camera department and it comes to where I'm stood with the flowers.

• 29:59Sean Hayes?

  Saying, yeah.

• 30:00Speaker 04

  Now imagine that though, Will. This is, I mean, the, the wind had been shit, so we, we didn't have a take at all. So it's the final Friday afternoon. And it, and it's all going great. And I'm sat in the, I'm sat in the, I'm sat in the van. Beating an executive to producer, listening to Sarah on the radio. Okay, go. So we've got the kids coming out the thing and it's, and I'm listening to it all and it's like, okay, that's good, that's good. And then it's like, okay, drones attached, the drone's up. And I'm like, sitting there going, okay, so the drone's up. And then I see it. And I see the drone. I'm like, oh, wow. Okay, so the drone. And then I see the van coming around the corner. I see all the fellas jump out the van. I see Matt run over to the, as the drone, they catch the drone. Matt takes the camera and then I go, oh, oh shit, I'm in it. Oh my god.

• 30:41Sean Hayes?

  And your headphones off.

• 30:42Speaker 04

  And I'm like, yeah, I remember that was in it. And I've grabbed the flowers, composed myself, and then I've opened the door and got out.

• 30:49Sean Hayes?

  Ah, how about that?

• 30:50Speaker 04

  And we managed to get that take, but the, the, the picture went off when the drone was attached. So all, everybody back at base had no idea that we'd completed the scene.

• 31:01Sean Hayes?

  That, right, right. They were just holding their breath.

• 31:03Speaker 04

  They were just panicking. Yeah.

• 31:04Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 31:04Jason Bateman?

  It's just, it's so, I mean, just aside from just all the logistics, the sequencing and all the planning and all that stuff, the, the, the fun of that and the excitement of that. But specifically for this subject matter and the, and the way that the scripts are constructed and, and this, this linear storytelling. It's, it's A goes to B goes to C goes to D and you're, as you said, on a train. And you can, you never get off, you're never tapped on the shoulder by an edit and knocked out of your trance. You're staying in this one shot and you're, you're stuck in the best sense of the word. And you can't stop watching and you, it's just, it's so propulsive.

• 31:46Jason Bateman?

  And it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's such a perfect concept to use this device.

• 31:52Will Arnett?

  Well, JB, and I'll, I'll add to that, which is that I think that linear storytelling is, is something that, that we kind of take for granted and, and don't. We sort of try to get away from and try to dress stuff up. And there is something, because of the way that you told it, and it, and it, there is no cut to distract you. But also because it's happening in real time. You feel less like you're watching it and more like you're in it.

• 32:13Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 32:14Sean Hayes?

  Right, right.

• 32:14Will Arnett?

  And so it's much more immersive in that way. You feel like you're, do you know what I mean? You're not, it's not performative. It's not something that you're, you're, you're not observing. You're actually in it.

• 32:26Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, and, and, and given the subject matter, like, it's very, uh.

• 32:30Will Arnett?

  Visceral.

• 32:31Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, you're so affected. It's, it's like you just step on the audience's neck and you don't get off. It's outstanding.

• 32:37Speaker 04

  That was, thank you very much. They're lovely things for you both to say. That was kind of one of the things we thought of at the very beginning. And which, like I say, Jack's one of my favorite writers of all time. He's a wonderful man. I've worked with him six times. And Jack's kind of idea as we'd create the story was to, to grab the audience. But it also, he said what it gave him as a writer was a lot of freedom. Because a writer is totally, you know, with writing that script, he's totally in kind of control of not just what the story is, but also the rhythm of how it moves and how it's set and the kind of pace of it.

• 33:11Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, the music of it.

• 33:13Speaker 04

  And then you're just amazed. Like you said, it's that kind of voyeuristic element. But as well, conventionally, you know, the story would be told, but it'd be slightly disjointed and you could go to any point in time. But when I said from the very beginning, look, this goes over 13 months and we're just gonna grab the audience four times in this story, but it's gonna be for an hour. And we allow the, I think what we did as well was like, you know, treating the audience with respect and with intelligence, let them fill in the gaps. And it doesn't have the answers and it wasn't open.

• 33:45Jason Bateman?

  And as an actor, was it exciting to be inside of that, of the take, of the one hour, knowing that, you know, no one can get to you, just like theater? So like between action and cut, you're dictating the pace, the rhythm, the timing, everything. It'll never be, it'll never be changed. It'll never be manipulated by an editor's choice or a director's choice or a scene won't be cut. So all of your, all of your, your ideas about how you're gonna arc out your performance is completely in your control.

• 34:19Speaker 04

  You're working out beforehand, though. I mean, like.

• 34:22Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, but still, but like each, you say you do this multiple times.

• 34:25Will Arnett?

  Once it's rolling.

• 34:26Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, exactly. So each take can be completely different. I mean, everybody has to hit their marks because of all the technical sequencing. But there's still, there's, there's just performance stuff you know is going to be married to this particular version of this episode. This particular take will always be, my reaction to her line is always going to be that. It's not going to be taken from take two, married to her reading in take seven. Like, it's all, it's, it's all unique to that one piece.

• 34:56Speaker 04

  Completely.

• 34:57Jason Bateman?

  Kind of cool, yeah.

• 34:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head because, you know, as we all know, when you perform, there's, you, we're not in control of the choices that get made.

• 35:04Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 35:05Speaker 04

  Um, which, which we all understand, and that's great.

• 35:07Jason Bateman?

  Frankenstein.

• 35:08Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, completely. They take the little bits like you just perfectly described. But with the process of this, and again, you know, back in Sean as well, we have that wonderful rehearsal process, like we would with a play. But then you're right, on the day, no take was identical to the others. Because what, what it does, and again, I don't, oh, I'm a working class kid from Liverpool, you know what I mean? I can't sound pretentious.

• 35:31Will Arnett?

  By the way, but you, you, you never run the risk of sounding pretentious.

• 35:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 35:36Will Arnett?

  Just for clarity.

• 35:37Speaker 04

  All right, all right, good. But it's, and now give me a moment, because I may do. Um, but it's the most zen I've ever felt as an actor. And it also puts you right in that place.

• 35:46Will Arnett?

  No, you did it. No, you did it. You did do it. You did do it.

• 35:48Speaker 04

  See, I mean. Joining us, Stephen. That's what my, that's what my microphone's leading on, you know what I mean? So it's not, I'm just saying it for shits and giggles. That's my take. I love that. So in the same respect, it's that kind of, you know, you're completely, like you said, Will, it's that immersive experience for the audience, but picking up on you, yeah, it is for the actor. Because you have to be present, truly present. And what it does is, to me, acting is all about listening and reacting.

• 36:15Jason Bateman?

  Oh, I gotta write that down.

• 36:16Speaker 04

  So you're constantly, you're constantly listening and reacting to what's being, what's being, what's in front of you.

• 36:23Will Arnett?

  Well, you know, somebody, as you know, Stephen, I had this discussion with somebody very recently. They said, oh, is it hard to memorize lines? I was talking about this. Having lots, lots of dialogue and Jay, I know you just came up with something where you had a lot of dialogue. And, and the truth is, as we all know, it's not hard when if you're present and the person says something to you, you're, what you're gonna say next makes sense to them. You don't have to memorize because it makes sense what you should say.

• 36:47Sean Hayes?

  If the writing.

• 36:48Will Arnett?

  You know what I mean?

• 36:48Speaker 04

  If the writing.

• 36:49Will Arnett?

  Yeah, if the writing's good.

• 36:50Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 36:51Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 36:51Sean Hayes?

  Uh, but that's what I love about your process about like it being like theater. You can discuss like, I don't know that I would say, say that. I would say, I feel like this would make more sense and that collaborative experience probably made it all the better.

• 37:02Speaker 04

  Completely.

• 37:03Sean Hayes?

  But, um, yeah, tell me about, wait, so I want to talk about breakdancing. First of all, what's Scouse? So, uh, like Scouse is what?

• 37:11Will Arnett?

  What's Scouse?

• 37:12Sean Hayes?

  Is that, is that?

• 37:13Speaker 04

  Scouse is like a terminology for, uh, the particular type of person who comes from Liverpool. We, we have different.

• 37:20Sean Hayes?

  It's like a subset of, um.

• 37:21Speaker 04

  Well, well, it's like, you know, if you're from Liverpool, you're called a Scouser. If you're from Newcastle, you're called a Geordie.

• 37:28Sean Hayes?

  Oh, okay.

• 37:28Speaker 04

  If you're from London, you, you know, you used to be called a Cockney, you know what I mean?

• 37:32Sean Hayes?

  Oh, right, right, right. All right.

• 37:33Speaker 04

  And if you're from Scotland, you're called a Joch.

• 37:36Sean Hayes?

  Why?

• 37:37Speaker 04

  So it's different kinds of sayings.

• 37:38Sean Hayes?

  Where'd all these come from?

• 37:39Will Arnett?

  Like if you're from Beverly Hills, you're called the douche.

• 37:42Sean Hayes?

  Right.

• 37:42Will Arnett?

  Right.

• 37:45Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 37:46Will Arnett?

  So, no, it is, so yeah, Scouser is, uh.

• 37:49Speaker 04

  So a Scouser is someone that comes from Liverpool.

• 37:51Sean Hayes?

  Okay.

• 37:51Will Arnett?

  Who's like a, who's like a true Liverpudian who has a, you know, who's right, uh, sort of.

• 37:56Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, you know.

• 37:57Will Arnett?

  Working class, full.

• 37:58Sean Hayes?

  Why do people think you're faking the accent when I, I read like, what?

• 38:01Speaker 04

  I have no idea. That's how I've always spoke. So to me, I don't, I don't know. I've never heard that one.

• 38:06Sean Hayes?

  All right. Tell me about breakdancing because I was, I did it too. And I would, I would absorb the pain and then walk away like, that was really fun, but I've been so much pain. Like I never did the head spins or anything, but I constantly was breakdancing.

• 38:20Speaker 04

  It was just, it was just, we did this kids.

• 38:23Sean Hayes?

  Cause you did it in Liverpool and I did it like, I was like, I'm like, when I read that, I was like, I did that too. That's so crazy.

• 38:29Speaker 04

  Where, where was you when you did your breakdancing?

• 38:31Sean Hayes?

  Oh, anywhere, anywhere. There's a.

• 38:33Will Arnett?

  A mall. Like a dinner theater.

• 38:36Jason Bateman?

  Anywhere there was a piece of cardboard, I would just go, watch this.

• 38:41Speaker 04

  Well, we even bought lino, so you know the lino that people used to put in the kitchens back in the eighties?

• 38:46Will Arnett?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 38:47Speaker 04

  We used to carry our own bit of lino.

• 38:49Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 38:50Speaker 04

  Get off blasted and it was like back in the days of Electro Seven and Grandmaster Flash and Melly Merle and the Furies Five and all that kind of stuff. And we just, yeah, I don't know, it was just this whole thing that just popped up. Obviously it came over from America. And it ended up in a little town where I'm from, Kirby.

• 39:07Jason Bateman?

  That's so funny.

• 39:08Speaker 04

  And we used to go and do it in the town centre. We'd, I don't even, because we couldn't watch videos and nothing like that to work out what they were doing.

• 39:15Will Arnett?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 39:15Speaker 04

  So I don't even know how we, I think it got past that.

• 39:17Jason Bateman?

  But now it's an Olympic sport.

• 39:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 39:18Jason Bateman?

  Isn't that funny?

• 39:19Speaker 04

  Have you seen how good it is? It's amazing, isn't it?

• 39:22Jason Bateman?

  It's really amazing.

• 39:23Speaker 04

  It's a next level.

• 39:24Jason Bateman?

  How were the outfits? Were you proud of your outfits and your hairdos?

• 39:27Speaker 04

  Yeah, I used to have a, I had a shiny shell suit back in the day, yeah. Something that you could spin on, do you know what I mean?

• 39:33Jason Bateman?

  Remember parachute pants and like, yeah.

• 39:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 39:36Jason Bateman?

  Shaun, Shaun, were you in like an Adidas tracksuit or were you like MC Hammer pants?

• 39:40Sean Hayes?

  No, no, I, but I did have parachute pants because I thought they were really cool, yeah.

• 39:44Speaker 04

  I used to have, I used to have a really lovely velour Adidas.

• 39:48Sean Hayes?

  Oh, yeah.

• 39:48Will Arnett?

  Oh, nice.

• 39:49Speaker 04

  Velour.

• 39:50Sean Hayes?

  Wear that straight to bed.

• 39:52Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 39:53Sean Hayes?

  So, so you grew up in Liverpool or outside of Liverpool, Kirkby? Where's Kirkby?

• 39:58Speaker 04

  Kirby, it's just kind of like thirty-five minutes from the city centre, yeah.

• 40:02Will Arnett?

  Do you know, Stephen, you must know John Bishop?

• 40:07Speaker 04

  Um, I, not personally, but I've.

• 40:09Will Arnett?

  Not personally?

• 40:10Speaker 04

  No, I've never, I've met him a couple of times socially, but I don't know him personally, yeah.

• 40:14Will Arnett?

  Okay.

• 40:15Jason Bateman?

  That's the guy you did the film that's based on, Willie?

• 40:18Will Arnett?

  Yes, who's also, who's also a Scouser, yeah.

• 40:20Jason Bateman?

  That's right.

• 40:21Will Arnett?

  The film that we did is, is based on his life, yeah, his story.

• 40:24Speaker 04

  When's this film coming out?

• 40:26Will Arnett?

  But I thought you would. Uh, fairly soon, yeah, we just, I, I met John by chance and, and he told me a story of how he became a stand-up comedian, which is a really kind of an interesting story and he kind of by mistake. And he was going, he was, he was separated from his wife and they were getting divorced and he went to a, um. To do stand up, he went to go for a drink and they were charging a cover because it was open mic night and he put his name down just so he could get in and they called him and he had a few and he went up and just started doing stand up. And then it was quite cathartic and he started going back and he didn't tell anybody. And that's how he got into stand up.

• 41:02Jason Bateman?

  Will, did you ever discuss doing it as him and doing the whole Liverpool accent and anything?

• 41:07Will Arnett?

  Not really, because we didn't want it to be too much, you know, too like Billy Elliot or Full Monty, you know what I mean? Like, all due respect to those movies, we just wanted to tell a difference. So we set it in New York, Stephen, and I wrote it with an Englishman with Mark Chappell and Bradley Cooper directed and Bradley's in it with me as well.

• 41:26Jason Bateman?

  Will, do you think you could do a Liverpool accent?

• 41:28Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, you can.

• 41:29Will Arnett?

  No, it's tough.

• 41:30Speaker 04

  It's a tricky one, it is quite tricky.

• 41:31Will Arnett?

  Yeah, because you hear me say, "It's a tricky one," like, there's a kind of like an, almost like an.

• 41:35Speaker 04

  See, but then he sounds a little bit like Miss Doubtfire there. It's a tricky one, children, let's go do it. No, we don't speak like that. It's a very difficult accent.

• 41:44Will Arnett?

  That's why I just kind of, I leave it alone, that one.

• 41:46Jason Bateman?

  It sounds like there's a little bit of Scottish in there. Is Liverpool north?

• 41:51Will Arnett?

  Yes.

• 41:52Speaker 04

  Yeah, it is, and it's kind of, I think it's an amalgamation of Irish, Scottish, but also kind of because of the docks and the pollution, it's kind of to do with nasal and throat kind of extractions or whatever, do you know what I mean?

• 42:04Jason Bateman?

  Will's got that down.

• 42:05Speaker 04

  There's a science behind it.

• 42:06Will Arnett?

  There's a, there are a lot of Irish people who immigrated to Liverpool.

• 42:12Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:13Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, because it sounds a little bit Irish.

• 42:15Speaker 04

  Well, a lot of Scousers, I say Scousers, Scousers are just lazy Irish that couldn't be arsed going through America. When the boat came, they just stayed at Liverpool and didn't move forward, do you know what I mean? So, it's kind of.

• 42:27Jason Bateman?

  Now, the fellas in the Beatles, did they have famously thick Liverpool accents?

• 42:31Speaker 04

  But back then, the accents were slightly different.

• 42:34Jason Bateman?

  Really?

• 42:35Speaker 04

  And obviously, it's changed, but they, yeah, all of them, Paul, Ringo, Leon and George, Leon, George, obviously, they all have that Liverpool accent. But theirs was a lot more kind of singy at the time, do you know what I mean?

• 42:47Jason Bateman?

  Right, right.

• 42:48Speaker 04

  It's more lyrical and like, nice little notes and things.

• 42:52Jason Bateman?

  That's the, that's the go-to when anybody does an impression of Liverpool.

• 42:56Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 42:57Jason Bateman?

  So, wait, so you, so, growing up there, what, what was your window to want to be an actor when you were breakdancing? You're like, wait, I'm not a breakdancer, I'm gonna be a...

• 43:08Speaker 04

  It for me, it was, it was, it was really interesting because when I was about, I think eleven, we were doing a play in school, um, and across the road from my nana's house, uh, a wonderful man called Drew Schofield lived there and he was an actor and he was on television and he was on a show called Scully, which was really popular. And that was about a young man who had this dream and this fantasy of playing for Liverpool. And he was the lead role in that, um, and he lived across the road from my nana's house. And no one in my family was ever into the arts or anything like that, you know what I mean? My dad, me and my dad used to go to gallery and stuff like that and everything and, and heavily into films, my dad got me right into films when I was a young lad, but no one had done anything like that, but I could see Drew across the road

• 43:53Speaker 04

  and he was on the telly every week, so it made me realise that it was a possibility. Um, and he came to watch a play we did in school. His nephew was in the same play and at the end of it, he said to my mum and dad, he said, "Look, I think Stephen's really talented. You should look at maybe taking him to a youth theatre or something." And thank, thank God, you know what I mean? I did, I went to the Everyman Youth Theatre and that's kind of where it all started.

• 44:16Jason Bateman?

  Did you ever think along the way in high school, uh, maybe I should, uh, do my studies in such a way where I can get into a college and maybe study up on another career? Was there ever a backup?

• 44:28Speaker 04

  There wasn't, but there was also that kind of, I went to, I would, my intention was to go to university and, and you know, um, if I could, if I couldn't make it as an actor, but give it a go, then I would hopefully fall into being a teacher. Uh, that was kind of the other role I was looking at and the other way of going down it.

• 44:46Jason Bateman?

  Like an elementary teacher that, that teaches all subjects or, or specialising in one in high school or college?

• 44:52Speaker 04

  Teaching drama in like, uh, uh, high schools, you know what I mean? Cause over here we have GCSEs and stuff and that kind of, so that's secondary school, being a, being a, a drama teacher, that was another possibility that I looked at. But if not, believe it or not, I wanted to be a fireman.

• 45:08Sean Hayes?

  Sure, why not? Same. Um, now wait, but, but this is pretty wild. Like, I, I had no idea.

• 45:15Will Arnett?

  Be with the firemen?

• 45:16Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, be with the firemen. No, no, it's fire, it's the firemen and village people, that guy. Yeah, that's right. I keep forgetting that's what it is. Um, wait, your dad, your biological dad was Jamaican?

• 45:29Speaker 04

  My granddad was from Jamaica, yeah.

• 45:31Sean Hayes?

  And your, and your stepdad, African American?

• 45:34Speaker 04

  Yes, yes, pops, pops family. Yeah, um, pops, you know, was being there since I was 10, so he's the man that's raised me. He's my father.

• 45:43Sean Hayes?

  And did you ever talk to your biological dad? I mean, when he was?

• 45:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, we, you know, we, we haven't spoken for a while. There's, there's no animosity there, you know, I, I suppose kind of through that.

• 45:52Jason Bateman?

  But he didn't, he didn't.

• 45:53Will Arnett?

  Sean, are you familiar with this area?

• 45:55Sean Hayes?

  Yes, yes. Oh, God, hang on, I gotta get that. My dad calling. One second.

• 46:00Sean Hayes?

  Hello?

• 46:00Speaker 04

  Sometimes you grow apart, don't you? Do you know what I mean, in many ways?

• 46:03Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, or sometimes you just drive away.

• 46:08Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, exactly.

• 46:09Sean Hayes?

  That's the running joke, Stephen, that my dad left when I was five. Anyway, so, um, okay, so, and you, and you have siblings?

• 46:16Speaker 04

  And then, did he really leave when he was five?

• 46:18Jason Bateman?

  Oh, yeah, he spun, he spun the wheels. He, he just threw it and, threw it and drive, and there was a screech. Yeah.

• 46:23Will Arnett?

  They didn't see any warning signs. I mean, other than he bought a sports car, a two-seater war sports car with five kids.

• 46:29Speaker 04

  No, no, no, wait a minute. Let's, let's be serious for a second. Did it, did he, did he, did he just, did he say, I'm just gonna go to shop, I'll be back in a minute?

• 46:36Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, he was gonna get some milk.

• 46:37Sean Hayes?

  No, he was in, he was in a Korean War, and he came back and he married my mom.

• 46:44Will Arnett?

  A Korean War or the Korean War?

• 46:45Sean Hayes?

  The Korean War.

• 46:49Sean Hayes?

  He was in, he was in the army. And then he came back and he married my mom and had five kids, and this, I said, this isn't for me.

• 46:55Jason Bateman?

  Mm-hmm, back to Korea?

• 46:57Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, no, I don't know where. I don't know.

• 46:59Jason Bateman?

  I'd rather be back in a war theater than be part of this.

• 47:03Speaker 04

  Shit. So we, hang on, so. Five.

• 47:07Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 47:08Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 47:08Speaker 04

  And then he made the decision to fuck off.

• 47:10Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 47:11Will Arnett?

  Wow.

• 47:12Jason Bateman?

  Didn't really solidify.

• 47:13Speaker 04

  Selfish bastard.

• 47:14Will Arnett?

  If you spend a lot of time with Sean, it'll make sense.

• 47:17Speaker 04

  Yeah. No, wait, wait. Sean, what number are you within that five?

• 47:21Jason Bateman?

  Five.

• 47:21Sean Hayes?

  What, what?

• 47:22Speaker 04

  What number are you within that five? Are you the first?

• 47:24Sean Hayes?

  Oh, I'm the youngest. I'm the youngest.

• 47:25Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, he's the one that really sealed the deal.

• 47:27Speaker 04

  Fuck me. Well, he stayed for the first four, Sean. Yeah, you were the one. I'm sorry, mate. The bank on the money there. I mean, he put up with four and he was around. As soon as you came, it was like, get that fuck out of here.

• 47:38Will Arnett?

  Sean, do you think it was the breakdancing? Do you think that was the plot?

• 47:41Sean Hayes?

  Maybe.

• 47:41Jason Bateman?

  Drove it to the meadow.

• 47:42Sean Hayes?

  I ain't raising any kid that does that.

• 47:44Speaker 04

  Sean, you really were the straw that brought the camel's back, weren't you?

• 47:49Sean Hayes?

  I really was.

• 47:50Speaker 04

  Poor back on it. Do you get a lot of therapy now, though, Sean?

• 47:53Sean Hayes?

  Oh, God, I love it. Totally. I love it.

• 47:55Will Arnett?

  Yeah, you know what? I gotta say, of all the jokes that we do about it, there is... Sean is so in front of this trauma, if you will, in a way that you talk about it in such a very healthy way, which is why we do joke about it. For our listeners, because sometimes people are like, "Man, you guys are really rough on Sean." No, I mean, the way that we deal with stuff, all of us, is by laughing about it.

• 48:14Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, totally. And it's earned laughter because you've been through all the processing and all the therapy. And now you've landed in the laughter.

• 48:21Sean Hayes?

  And I don't know, Stephen, I grew up Irish Catholic, so we stuffed everything. So my therapy is to talk about the shit that I couldn't, wasn't allowed to talk about when I was a kid.

• 48:30Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 48:31Sean Hayes?

  And so it feels good to do. That's why I talk about my mom's fake eye. Anyway, we'll go on.

• 48:36Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, so we can move over to the mother now, with just the fake eyeball.

• 48:40Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah. Ad nauseam. We've talked about it.

• 48:43Jason Bateman?

  Stephen just was like, "What?"

• 48:45Will Arnett?

  We brought the... His sister, we were on tour, and his sister brought the eyeball out on stage and opened it in a box and stuff. We took it out. It was a lot of fun.

• 48:54Jason Bateman?

  Stephen doesn't know whether we're kidding or...

• 48:55Will Arnett?

  No, it's true.

• 48:57Speaker 04

  So your mom had a fake eyeball?

• 49:00Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, we were never allowed to ask about it.

• 49:02Speaker 04

  Except when she threw it. It was a glass eye then, yeah, a glass eye.

• 49:05Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 49:06Speaker 04

  How did she lose it?

• 49:07Sean Hayes?

  Nobody knows. She can't, still can't find it. She had cancer when she was two years old, and so they had to take her eyeball out. Anyway, it's a hilarious story.

• 49:18Speaker 04

  Is your mom still alive?

• 49:19Sean Hayes?

  Uh, nobody knows again. No, she passed away.

• 49:22Will Arnett?

  No, but the eye is.

• 49:25Sean Hayes?

  No, she, um, she passed away, oh God, six years ago, maybe seven years ago. Anyway, um, I want to talk-

• 49:32Will Arnett?

  The irony that you don't remember in that, in that, uh, she-

• 49:36Sean Hayes?

  Well, I know she, it was January of 2021, no, 2019, maybe?

• 49:42Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 49:43Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 49:43Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 49:44Jason Bateman?

  But look how well-balanced you are.

• 49:45Will Arnett?

  I know.

• 49:46Jason Bateman?

  Whatever is, it's-

• 49:47Sean Hayes?

  You're a mess.

• 49:48Jason Bateman?

  You did a nice young boy.

• 49:49Sean Hayes?

  No, no.

• 49:49Will Arnett?

  You're not a mess. I, I mean it. The way that you talk about it, you, that you're so open about it and that you have come out the other side, as JB said, and done all the work. It's, it is very healthy and inspiring.

• 49:58Jason Bateman?

  Well, thank you. Very nice.

• 49:58Will Arnett?

  To be honest, it is inspiring.

• 50:01Sean Hayes?

  We'll be right back.

• 50:05Sean Hayes?

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• 50:50Sean Hayes?

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• 51:19Sean Hayes?

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• 51:54Sean Hayes?

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• 52:37Sean Hayes?

  And now, back to the show.

• 52:41Sean Hayes?

  Wait, so you had brothers and sisters growing up, yes? And were they interested in what you did or no?

• 52:46Speaker 04

  Not really, no.

• 52:48Sean Hayes?

  They don't do anything near what you do?

• 52:51Speaker 04

  My life's very complicated because with that biological father, similar to yours, he went off and he had four children to four different women.

• 52:58Sean Hayes?

  Oh, wow.

• 53:00Speaker 04

  Yeah. But, you know, look, everyone, each to their own. I'm all right now. I'm out the other side of it.

• 53:05Sean Hayes?

  Are you an only child from?

• 53:07Speaker 04

  No, I'm not because my mom and pops, they had Nathan, who, there's a 20-year gap between me and Nathan.

• 53:14Sean Hayes?

  Older or younger?

• 53:15Speaker 04

  He's my little brother. I'm 20 years older than him. My mom had me when she was 20, and she had our kid when she was 40. Um. So it was the beauty of that, though, was I was I had all my time with my mum, who, God bless her soul, I adored. And all that time with pops who, you know, I I loved to bits who's who raised me. Like I said, you know, he taught me about my history. Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Toussaint Loebert, all of those things about my historical, you know, background and and where my my my origins are from. So I was given all of that beautiful information by him. So I was always educated in that respect. And then when I was ready to leave to go to university at the age of twenty, Nathan was born.

• 53:57Speaker 04

  So we never had any of that sibling rivalry and I and I love our Nathan to bits, you know, technically, look, he could have been my child, you know what I mean? That kind of thing, we that age difference is there. But it's it's a wonderful relationship I have with Nathan and it's a beautiful relationship. I have with my my dad, who's there for my kids massively.

• 54:15Will Arnett?

  I love that expression, our our Nathan, that that you get, like, my friend who grew up in um sort of the west country, they say like our Mark.

• 54:23Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 54:24Will Arnett?

  You know, I love that. There's something really endearing about it and and just sort of the inclusiveness of it and and, you know, it's.

• 54:30Sean Hayes?

  Sweet.

• 54:31Speaker 04

  I mean, my dad, this this, sorry, just to pick up on that point as well, when I was, when I, when I, when I was about fourteen and I said, I think I really wanna be an actor. Dad was like, all right, come on, let's go. And I was like, what? And he was like, do you wanna do it properly? And I was like, yeah. So he took me to the video shop. Remember the old fashioned video shops, where you go, it's like a library?

• 54:50Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, Blockbuster Video.

• 54:51Speaker 04

  It was before Blockbuster even. This was just the local video shop, just the little one, the little independent ones. And we went in and we looked and he picked these three films. Um, and it was, uh, he picked, uh, The Deer Hunter. Um, The Godfather and Taxi Driver. And then we went home and he was like, right, we're gonna watch these. This is how you do it properly. Let's watch these films. And we spent the whole weekend rewatching those three films.

• 55:19Jason Bateman?

  Which is which is your favorite from those three?

• 55:23Speaker 04

  It's a tricky one, isn't it? I love The Deer Hunter. I love The Deer Hunter.

• 55:29Sean Hayes?

  I love that. And then when you were in your twenties, you were in gang, like fourteen years old, you said you wanted me in it. Six years later, you're in Gangs of New York with Martin Scorsese. I mean, that's crazy. That was so fast.

• 55:40Jason Bateman?

  Another incredible film.

• 55:41Speaker 04

  Quite mind blowing as well to be a part of.

• 55:44Will Arnett?

  What was, what was that like from the moment that you knew that it was a project that was happening? To getting an audition to being there?

• 55:52Speaker 04

  Well, it was, it was, it was, um, I, I got the call from my agent and said, right, we need you to come in and do a read and put yourself on tape. Um, and so I went into London and I, and I, I met Ellen Lewis, who's wonderful. Um, we just had a really lovely time and I read this, these couple of scenes and then I went away. Um, and it was one of them, you know, where you don't hear for like four or five weeks later and you kind of go, it's over, there's no chance. So as a job and actor and a young lad, I had to go for this, we've all done it, lads, let's be honest. I had to go for this bag of shit audition and I really didn't want to go. It was fucking awful. But I'm on the train, I'm sweating, I'm on my way into London. You know, you've got to pay the rent, haven't you? You've got to eat.

• 56:34Speaker 04

  So I'm there and I'm like, and I'm going through this fucking awful script and I'm like, okay, all right, yeah. Having a coffee and then the next minute my phone goes. And it was my agent Jane and she said to him, she said, are you sitting down? I was like, yeah, I'm sitting down. She went, right, okay. You've got that part in Gangs of New York. I was like, what? She went, yeah, they came back today. You've got to fly to, you've got to fly to Italy. I'd say this was Friday, you've got to fly to Italy on Monday. Marty wants to sit down and talk to you and go through the character. And I was like, what? And I was made up. But then, but then the best bit was I went, does that mean I don't have to go for this audition now then? No, you don't have to go for that. I was like, fuck that.

• 57:15Speaker 04

  And so then I flew out there and, you know, and, and we met and it was wonderful and it was just a wonderful experience. And that's when I became friends with Leo as well. That's when we.

• 57:24Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, Leo. And there was some story about a golf cart or something? We wore a golf cart around the set?

• 57:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, I tipped a golf cart over and I nearly broke his leg. Yeah.

• 57:35Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, you can get really messed up on.

• 57:37Sean Hayes?

  Those things.

• 57:39Speaker 04

  Yeah. You don't realize.

• 57:40Sean Hayes?

  They're dangerous.

• 57:40Will Arnett?

  I think that if you go to my Wikipedia page and you look at my filmography, Stephen, they all fall under the category of you have to pay the rent. For what it's for, okay.

• 57:50Sean Hayes?

  And then, and then this is wild. So one of the three movies you mentioned was The Godfather. And then you're with Pacino, you know, and The Irishman.

• 58:00Speaker 04

  Well, can you, can you imagine that phone call to me, Dad?

• 58:03Sean Hayes?

  I mean, that's incredible. That's incredible.

• 58:06Speaker 04

  I had to go to, it was, it was a wonderful, wonderful story. I, I was doing a, a, a, a little series over here called The Virtues with Shane Meadows and it was, it was a wonderful experience. And, and on the Friday, I had to fly to New York to, to go to Marty's house to, to meet Robert De Niro, because Rob was an exec and you had to meet him and he wanted to, you know, make sure that I was right and, and things like that. So, so you can imagine how nervous I was and I had to fly to New York. So I finished work, I think, first thing Monday, they let me go early. So I had to fly out and then I got there and literally I had to land, go to Marty's house and, and see Marty. And then I met, I'm sitting there and Bob comes up and he's got his little cap on and he's got the paper underneath

• 58:50Speaker 04

  his arm and pair of shorts and a little baggy shirt and he's like, and we, it was, it was unbelievable. It was amazing. We, we had a wonderful afternoon. But Ellen had said to me, look, he doesn't really talk much. So, and I'm thinking, oh shit.

• 59:03Sean Hayes?

  Yeah.

• 59:03Speaker 04

  She's like, so you might have to make some conversation. I'm like, okay. Anyway, cut to, we were there for about two and a half hours. And then, and then I, and then they went like, right, okay, you best go. And then I said, if I got the part. I went, I can't, I can't leave now without knowing if I've got the part. And then Bob was like, just give us a minute. Go on, just, just give us a minute. And I was like, oh shit, okay. I've tried my hardest. I don't know if this is gonna work. I hope so. I don't know if he likes me. First of all, he was like, you're not Italian. I'm like, no, I'm not Italian. Um, and, and so then I come back in and I sit there and he goes, he goes, sit down, sit down. I'll let Marty tell you. And then Marty was like, okay, kid. So. Do you wanna do this? And I was like, of course. And then, and then, and then I got a hug off them.

• 59:45Speaker 04

  And I felt like, you know, in all the films, when, I felt like I was a made man, do you know what I mean?

• 59:49Will Arnett?

  Or you were about to be killed.

• 59:51Speaker 04

  Yeah, or to be taken out the back and put two in the, two in the head. Um, and then you can imagine that phone call to my dad and, and the pride gets me emotional just thinking about it a little bit. You know, I'm a young kid from a block of flats, a young mixed race kid who had a dream to be an actor and so. And my dad took me to that video shop, like you say, Sean, and then the next minute I'm phoning them up saying, I'm gonna be in a film with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino and being directed by Martin Scorsese, so.

• 1:00:17Jason Bateman?

  That's really cool.

• 1:00:18Speaker 04

  It's one of those beautiful stories, really.

• 1:00:20Jason Bateman?

  And, and Martin Scorsese is, is famous for many things, one of which though is, is his kindness and his warmth and his spirit on set. Um, and you've had the chance to work with them, um, at least twice.

• 1:00:32Speaker 04

  Three occasions.

• 1:00:33Sean Hayes?

  Three times, yeah.

• 1:00:34Jason Bateman?

  Wow. Yeah, good for you.

• 1:00:37Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, it's really cool.

• 1:00:37Speaker 04

  He's a lovely man.

• 1:00:38Sean Hayes?

  And then when I, I met you, Stephen, uh, at the, um, Graham Norton Show, uh, just in February. And you were so, I mean, I just fucking loved you right away. You were so normal and kind and like, it was just great.

• 1:00:50Jason Bateman?

  That's such a fun show. They should, they should air that here.

• 1:00:52Will Arnett?

  Stephen, what did you think of Sean? I mean, he said that about you. And be honest. And be brutally honest.

• 1:00:57Speaker 04

  Brutally honest. He was lovely. He was wonderful. He was like a ray of sunshine. Yeah. Sean was a ray of sunshine. Yeah, he was lovely.

• 1:01:04Will Arnett?

  Arashawn.

• 1:01:05Speaker 04

  Your Sean. See, look, see the end there and there. Yeah, your Sean was lovely. I found him really wonderful, do you know what I mean? He was, he was, yeah, very gregarious.

• 1:01:14Sean Hayes?

  It was lovely. And afterwards I was like, oh my God, you gotta come on the show. So it's nice for you to be here.

• 1:01:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, he did.

• 1:01:17Sean Hayes?

  But wait, but, uh, you, you were promoting a movie where you trained to be, uh, uh, uh, this boxer. And the movie's called A Thousand Blows.

• 1:01:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, the TV series on, on Disney, A Thousand Blows, yeah, set in, set in the 1800s, that was.

• 1:01:30Sean Hayes?

  And, and, um, I haven't seen it yet, but those clips, I was like, that looks incredible. Oh, go ahead, A Thousand Blows.

• 1:01:37Will Arnett?

  No, Sean, Jason and I are just looking at each other.

• 1:01:40Jason Bateman?

  Who's got the joke here?

• 1:01:41Will Arnett?

  Who wants to go on A Thousand Blows?

• 1:01:44Jason Bateman?

  Do you have it? I don't have it yet. I'm still writing it. If you will, if you're there, go ahead.

• 1:01:48Speaker 04

  See, my missus went, as soon as he said, right, Thousand Blows, my missus, my missus went, sounds a bit like a top shelf.

• 1:01:54Will Arnett?

  I mean, it's just, it's like, uh, it's Sean, right? It's, it's like my, my summer in, Sean Hayes, my summer in Micanose.

• 1:02:03Sean Hayes?

  A Thousand Blows.

• 1:02:06Jason Bateman?

  My time shared by Ireland.

• 1:02:12Sean Hayes?

  I imagine it's different than that, Stephen, yeah. The movie?

• 1:02:17Will Arnett?

  Are you, are you, did you train, did you, did you train as a fighter?

• 1:02:21Sean Hayes?

  Yes, I trained. Oh, sorry, you're asking him.

• 1:02:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah, I did, Will. Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah, I did a lot of boxing, it shitloads of protein and did, yeah, it was, it was great. I had six months when I got into the best shape I've ever been in.

• 1:02:36Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I mean, you're very young. I mean, you're not 20, but you're still pretty young, but like-

• 1:02:40Speaker 04

  I'm 51, yeah.

• 1:02:41Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, to do all that training at 51, that's crazy, like, you-

• 1:02:45Jason Bateman?

  Were you a boxing fan, or are you, uh?

• 1:02:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, I've always been a boxing fan, yeah.

• 1:02:49Jason Bateman?

  Yeah. And how do you feel about where boxing is now, or have you, have you transferred over to UFC? Or are you still a purist with the boxing?

• 1:02:56Speaker 04

  I like UFC. Um, I ju- I just, I just, I'm not 100% on the kind of, look, i- it's attracting audiences, I get that, I understand that. But I think it's gone a little bit sensationalist now.

• 1:03:07Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, so brutal.

• 1:03:08Speaker 04

  I'm a, I'm, I'm, I'm more of a fan of the pure art of pugilism, do you know what I mean? And the belts, and I feel like the belts are important, and to be number one in the world, or a world champion is an important thing to be, do you know what I mean?

• 1:03:21Will Arnett?

  I'm gonna, I'm gonna say something that's maybe unpopular, which is that my, my problem with the sort of the MMA in general is that there, there is a, to me, anyway, there is a kind of a darkness around it, that I find, uh, you know, around the culture of it, that I, that I find really puts me off. Yeah, th- there's something about it, there, boxing you get that is the, the sort of the purity, right, of the, the sweet science, or the, is that what they call it, right? The sort of, the art of it. And, and of course, there's a ton of art to MMA, and I'm not disparaging what the, what the athletes do. But the sort of, the, the culture around it, to me, there's a, I don't know, there's, there's a sort of a darkness to it. I, just me.

• 1:04:01Jason Bateman?

  I mean, it starts, starting with them doing it all in a cage. The optics of it, but it's still, it's really fascinating and it's the multiple disciplines.

• 1:04:11Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 1:04:11Jason Bateman?

  Inside that cage too is kinda cool. So yeah, I'm conflicted on it myself.

• 1:04:16Speaker 04

  And to me though, one of my favorites is Paddy the Baddie, who is also a Scouser. And he's great. He's fantastic.

• 1:04:24Will Arnett?

  Do you guys know this guy?

• 1:04:25Jason Bateman?

  No, who is that?

• 1:04:26Will Arnett?

  He's so funny.

• 1:04:27Jason Bateman?

  Is he a boxer?

• 1:04:29Speaker 04

  He's an MMA fighter.

• 1:04:30Will Arnett?

  He's an MMA fighter. He's so profoundly funny to me. Every time I see him. God, he's good. And he's tough as nails.

• 1:04:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, he's amazing. He's brutal, but he also doesn't take himself too seriously as well. And I love the kinda showmanship of that cat. Look, Ali was the best showman we ever had. But you know, and you go, yeah, but Ali respected the other fighters. No, he didn't. If you listen to some of the things he used to say, especially to George Foreman. Some of the things he said to him was horrific.

• 1:05:00Will Arnett?

  And Paddy the Baddie, he uses that, and that thing that you guys, the Scousers do of calling everybody lad and putting lad in everywhere. And there's something sort of hilariously disparaging when you use the term lad, yeah?

• 1:05:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, I know what you mean. Have a look at him, Jay. Some of his videos, he's really funny as well. He's very sharp.

• 1:05:21Jason Bateman?

  What weight class is he?

• 1:05:23Speaker 04

  I'm not too sure. It might be lightweight.

• 1:05:25Jason Bateman?

  Oh, yeah?

• 1:05:26Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:27Jason Bateman?

  All your tattoos, did you have to, did you just not cover them up?

• 1:05:32Speaker 04

  No, I did, yeah. That was, you'd spend like 50 minutes in this here getting painted when we did the thing. Yeah, it's.

• 1:05:39Jason Bateman?

  And then they don't come off in the shower, the cover up? Really? And you have a tattoo of your nanny, or for your nanny or something? And I never heard this term, a fairy cake. We just call it a cupcake.

• 1:05:52Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, my nanny, she used to, when we were kids, she used to make fairy cakes.

• 1:05:59Speaker 04

  Yeah, cupcakes.

• 1:06:00Jason Bateman?

  Cupcakes, okay.

• 1:06:01Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:06:01Jason Bateman?

  Nothing on fairy cake, Will? No?

• 1:06:04Will Arnett?

  I'm sorry, do you mean?

• 1:06:05Jason Bateman?

  No. No? I'll give you a couple more minutes. Go ahead. Continue with the interview. I never, I never heard that before. I never heard fairy cake.

• 1:06:14Speaker 04

  No, no, no, no. Obviously not a lot of Americans have.

• 1:06:17Will Arnett?

  Hey, fairy cakes, did you?

• 1:06:23Jason Bateman?

  So then, what is your, when you're not doing these incredible projects, Stephen, what is something, what is your, what is your primary hobby? It's not, I bet it's not boxing. What is something that occupies your time that people might be surprised about?

• 1:06:43Speaker 04

  Um, oh, meditation.

• 1:06:47Jason Bateman?

  Yes?

• 1:06:48Speaker 04

  Um, yeah.

• 1:06:49Jason Bateman?

  Great.

• 1:06:50Speaker 04

  Meditation.

• 1:06:51Jason Bateman?

  I love that. I'm constantly trying to learn how to do that without falling asleep. Because it's like, it's right on the edge.

• 1:06:56Speaker 04

  No, it's bang on the door, and you may laugh, but that's the key, yeah. The key is not to fall asleep. There's a wonderful practitioner called Muji.

• 1:07:03Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:04Speaker 04

  If you get a chance, go on YouTube, I'll type in Muji, and have a listen to him. His voice is fantastic, but his pointings and his teachings are wonderful. And he always says, you know, look, the basic aim is to try not to fall asleep in many ways with meditation. But in the same, because that's, but if you think about it, when the head shuts off most of the time is when you're asleep.

• 1:07:25Jason Bateman?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:26Speaker 04

  You know? That's when the subconscious comes into effect. But predominantly, it's that kind of trying to stop the white noise and that constant pounding of the head to step out, but it's just allowing it to, oh, where have I gone here? It's just allowing it to be.

• 1:07:39Will Arnett?

  It's good, I want to do it.

• 1:07:40Jason Bateman?

  It's trying to get your brain to think about nothing, right?

• 1:07:43Speaker 04

  Nothing. But then, but then that's the key, Will, sorry, Jason, that's the key, isn't it? We're trying to get the brain to think about nothing, and in that trying, you're already doing. So it's that kind of just letting the clouds pass.

• 1:07:54Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I love that.

• 1:07:55Speaker 04

  Do you know what else I've got into? If you thought, ice baths, but not in an egotistical sense, just that kind of, like, maybe two, if you do two minutes, it does everything your body needs physiologically.

• 1:08:06Sean Hayes?

  Will does it all the time.

• 1:08:07Will Arnett?

  I've been doing it for 10 years. I've been doing it for 10 years, and it's been a game changer for me, man. Absolute game changer. And it is, that is, I don't, I wish I could meditate like JB. I've thought about it, I've sort of, I've gotten apps before, and I've tried it, and I've had, and I remember somebody saying to me once, like, imagine a stream, and leaves are falling off the stream, and each thought is like a leaf, and then just let it go with it a little bit. And then you can just reset back to under the thing.

• 1:08:32Sean Hayes?

  I just started doing it and.

• 1:08:33Will Arnett?

  Right. And it does work, but I do it in the cold. I do. I get in that thing where I just, I'm like, I'm gonna do three minutes. And I just think about my breathing, think about my breathing and then, yeah.

• 1:08:43Sean Hayes?

  When I first started doing, when I first started meditating, this is, I'm talking about a month ago. Like really doing it, I started, every single time I would do it, I'd start to cry. Because my brain works overtime constantly from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. I'm constantly thinking about blah, blah, blah, and it's going 80 miles an hour from anxiety, whatever. And then, so I didn't, I didn't. And sugar. And I didn't know what to do with myself when I'm still. So I would just start welling up and I was like, but now I'm not anymore. That's good.

• 1:09:15Will Arnett?

  Oh yeah, you seem fixed for sure.

• 1:09:18Speaker 04

  But it is, it's that, look, it's, you can do, you can be mindful with anything you do. You don't have to, the art of it itself is the art, the practice is the art, you know what I mean? At least you're taking that time.

• 1:09:27Sean Hayes?

  He also might be out of tears, Sean. He might just be rebuilding the well.

• 1:09:32Will Arnett?

  But there is that thing of also like when you're doing it and then you hear like, you, you isolate the sound of the refrigerator running or whatever, and that's okay. Then think about that, then focus on that, then allow those things. And it's just, it's the allowing, it's the constant.

• 1:09:47Sean Hayes?

  And then when you, when you're done with the meditation, you really do feel calmer and more focused and present.

• 1:09:54Will Arnett?

  Have you ever tried TM? Have you ever, Stephen, have you ever tried TM? I've wanted to do that.

• 1:09:58Sean Hayes?

  What is that? Oh, transcendental. What's the difference?

• 1:10:01Will Arnett?

  Yeah, I don't really know, but I guess that that's a different, it's a different practice, the transcendental meditation.

• 1:10:06Speaker 04

  That was all that kind of David Lynch skill, wasn't it and everything?

• 1:10:09Will Arnett?

  Was it?

• 1:10:09Speaker 04

  Yeah, I think so.

• 1:10:10Sean Hayes?

  Stephen, you, you, we've taken up way too much of your time. Thank you for being.

• 1:10:13Will Arnett?

  Not enough of your time. God, I could talk to you forever.

• 1:10:16Sean Hayes?

  I know, I love you. I agree. Where are you right now and what are you gonna do the rest of the day?

• 1:10:20Speaker 04

  I am in New York. Um, we got here on, yep, got here on Monday. Um, and then. Seth Meyers, I think we're doing today, this afternoon.

• 1:10:29Will Arnett?

  Yeah, sure.

• 1:10:30Speaker 04

  Later on, and then I'm gonna go home. And to answer your question as well, Jason, my family is my favorite thing to do in the whole.

• 1:10:37Sean Hayes?

  I'll bet, yeah.

• 1:10:38Speaker 04

  I feel very blessed, I'm very, I'm very lucky and I'm full of gratitude that I have. I have the most amazing wife and two gorgeous kids. I love them to bits.

• 1:10:47Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, that's so great. I love that.

• 1:10:48Jason Bateman?

  It's a blessing.

• 1:10:49Sean Hayes?

  Well, we love you. Thank you for being here, Stephen.

• 1:10:51Will Arnett?

  Yeah, I was such a huge fan. Huge fan, huge fan of yours, man.

• 1:10:56Jason Bateman?

  Keep going, keep going.

• 1:10:58Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 1:10:58Jason Bateman?

  All right, my friend. Thanks for doing this.

• 1:11:01Sean Hayes?

  How do they say goodbye in Liverpool? I don't know.

• 1:11:03Speaker 04

  Ta-da.

• 1:11:04Sean Hayes?

  Ta-da?

• 1:11:05Speaker 04

  Ta-da.

• 1:11:05Sean Hayes?

  I've never heard of that.

• 1:11:06Speaker 04

  Ta-da.

• 1:11:07Sean Hayes?

  Ta-da.

• 1:11:07Will Arnett?

  Ta-da.

• 1:11:09Jason Bateman?

  Enjoy the rest of your day. See ya, bud.

• 1:11:11Speaker 04

  You too. Take care. Thank you.

• 1:11:12Jason Bateman?

  See you later.

• 1:11:13Will Arnett?

  Bye, bye.

• 1:11:13Speaker 04

  Bye.

• 1:11:17Will Arnett?

  Sean, what a guest.

• 1:11:18Sean Hayes?

  I love him. I mean, when I met him, when I met him at the Graham Norton Show, I was like, oh, I totally know Stephen Graham. Like, I know his work. And, but I didn't, you never know how anybody is. And I met him, we ended up just talking and talking, and I'm like, he's such a great human being.

• 1:11:34Jason Bateman?

  A nice spirit.

• 1:11:36Will Arnett?

  Great vibe.

• 1:11:37Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, and so talented and so many things that we all know. You know, so many big movies and TV shows and everybody.

• 1:11:45Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, he's been a really high-level character actor for a long, long time. Like, you'd probably like, if you'd like, put one of your, one of your favorite movies on you haven't watched for a while, you go,

• 1:11:54Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, there he is. Oh, there's Stephen Graham, yeah.

• 1:11:56Will Arnett?

  What, another, another great example, I think we were talking about recently, of somebody who had talent, came from, didn't come from an environment that was conducive to making his way into showbiz and had a mentor, had somebody who said, hey, this kid's great, he should go here, and just another, you know.

• 1:12:13Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, we've talked about it before, you need that next, that next stage of people that believe in you after your parents.

• 1:12:18Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:12:19Will Arnett?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:20Sean Hayes?

  I'm still looking.

• 1:12:21Jason Bateman?

  I know, I know.

• 1:12:23Sean Hayes?

  Listen, I believe in you. Sean, look at me.

• 1:12:26Jason Bateman?

  I'm looking at you.

• 1:12:27Sean Hayes?

  Hey, you're great.

• 1:12:30Jason Bateman?

  Oh, no, your eyes are crossing. Your eyes are crossing.

• 1:12:31Sean Hayes?

  I'm trying to find you, I'm trying to find you. Um, so, uh...

• 1:12:36Will Arnett?

  Jason. Here we go.

• 1:12:37Sean Hayes?

  Jason and Will, I had, I ordered, remember when I told you I was in Ojai?

• 1:12:41Will Arnett?

  My god, you know what the worst part is? It's just the fucking, it's his face.

• 1:12:47Jason Bateman?

  I'd love to watch you change lanes on the highway. You must put your car into a four-wheel slide when you do it.

• 1:12:55Sean Hayes?

  I love, I'm still laughing at it. So, Fairy Kicks, listen, um.

• 1:13:02Sean Hayes?

  So, no, I, I really did order some, when I was in Ojai last weekend, I ordered some tea and it was, it was hibiscus tea.

• 1:13:09Jason Bateman?

  Yeah, okay.

• 1:13:13Sean Hayes?

  So the opposite of hibiscus tea would probably be chamomile?

• 1:13:18Will Arnett?

  Are, are you trying to get us to say "bi-biscus"?

• 1:13:20Sean Hayes?

  Hibiscus, yeah.

• 1:13:21Will Arnett?

  Well, that's not a thing. That's not a word.

• 1:13:23Sean Hayes?

  Well, we do that sometimes, but it's not the thing.

• 1:13:26Will Arnett?

  No, no, sorry, Jay. I, I deciphered that. I mean, we, we almost needed the enigma machine for that.

• 1:13:32Sean Hayes?

  Yeah, I was nowhere near. I was, I can't believe you got that. I was nowhere near that. Hibiscus. Okay, let me do another one. We know we just planted in the backyard.

• 1:13:41Will Arnett?

  Did you see him click the file?

• 1:13:45Jason Bateman?

  This is what you do during the day.

• 1:13:47Sean Hayes?

  I was in the, um, I was in the backyard and we, we planted some hydrangeas.

• 1:13:53Jason Bateman?

  Okay.

• 1:13:54Will Arnett?

  Okay.

• 1:13:54Sean Hayes?

  And so, um, after we were done and I walked away, I said, "Bye, dranges." That one's not that.

• 1:14:02Will Arnett?

  Jesus Christ.

• 1:14:04Sean Hayes?

  Sorry, listener. We'll see you next time.

• 1:14:35Speaker 05

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• 1:15:34Jason Bateman?

  Time for a quick break to talk about McDonald's. It's the tangiest time of the year. For a limited time, head to McDonald's and get a McRib sandwich. Make it a meal by adding a medium fries and a soft drink like an ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper. So grab a McRib sandwich and embrace the tang. Save time by ordering ahead on the app at participating McDonald's for a limited time. Dr. Pepper is a registered trademark of Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, Inc.