Josh Gad
Appearances
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So it's that proximity to chaos. And that is not to say that areas of the world, Haven't experienced this.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It's happening on a global level. And it's not to say that there hasn't been places that have been directly affected by genocide, by starvation, by all sorts of crises during the past 40 years. But this period feels particularly dark.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Like, what are we turning over? That's 100% true. And it's also, I think, frustrating that we don't learn from history that when it comes to, for instance, geopolitical conflict, there are certain things outside of our control. The pandemic, for the most part, was outside of anyone's control. This virus. This is outside of anyone's control. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It is really, really hard for me to think about at a time like this, criticizing anyone. Do you see the video that Karen ambushing Newsom? I saw it. But by the way, in the same way, I never hold DeSantis responsible for the destruction of hurricanes. I grew up in South Florida. I know the pain and the chaos of those events. I lived through Hurricane Andrew.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
There's only so much you can do preventatively, and there's only so much you can do during the crisis. Really, your job as a leader is what you do after, what you do to speak calm to people during, and then how you rebuild. Yeah, I know you were going to say, see, you live through.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
That's how I process grief. too. It's therapeutic and it's not appropriate for everyone, but it is how I'm wired. And I've always been unapologetic about that. My grandparents told me themselves that when they were in the Holocaust, a lot of how they got through their daily lives and being on the brink of death on a daily basis was by laughing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Yeah. This has been great guys. Thank you so much. I'm glad we processed it all for the nation. Because I couldn't get my therapist on the phone today. So this ended up being a good. Because their house is burned down. Yeah, because you no longer have a phone, a landline. I'm glad that you guys were here for me. Thank you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Having said that, I think it's best to get out of here while we're going. It's good. No, we're sticking close right now. We have discussed leaving because of air quality. We live on the west side, very close to the fires right now. We're talking about it. We're talking about, do we maybe go like an hour South or North just to get the kids to be able to go outside?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm supposed to leave tomorrow for my book tour. Yes. That's what I meant. And I was going to cancel it. And to your point, my wife said, absolutely not. How's that helping anybody? Well, that's what she said. She said, you are actually more of a burden if I'm evacuating than you are a help. And so I think it's best for Our family, if you leave.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Leave LA where you're a burden to this family. You piece of shit.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
They've arrested two already. Yes. And by the way, you were probably like a prime suspect to them. Yes. Because you look like a piece of shit. You look like a real piece of shit. You look like the guy from the Titanic who took all the. Zane again. Yeah, Billy. Zane. But with beautiful hair.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I do think it is tough because to go back to what I said at the beginning, I've seen such greatness and I've seen such beauty in this city. And I've also seen such ugliness. We're all here. The looting, the people fucking flying their drones and affecting planes from dropping water. Fuck you all. It's so fucked up.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And then the arsonists, people fucking going around and lighting war fires. People setting their houses on fire. Yep. And so that part of it remains really heartbreaking, really frustrating.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
We all just kind of funnel into wherever. I don't have friends at the LAPD. And now I feel like I should. Would you like me to put you on a group text with Brandon? Yeah. If I see anything suspicious, I'd like someone official to reach out to.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
You have a direct number. I've got just three 9-1-1. That's all I know. I just have the three numbers everyone has. It sounds like you're not going to play it super cool if I do give you a number, though. I'm telling you now I won't.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It would be like putting me on a text chain with Harrison Ford.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I think that there's a lot of people taking advantage of a horrible situation right now. They'll feel bad for it at 50. You will either eventually pay a price or you will eventually regret it. And it's horrible to take advantage of people in any situation who have already lost so much. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Are you planning on doing this tonight? It sounds like you're talking it through.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm just very uncomfortable. I couldn't even tell you what my last car was. It was black. Oh, gee. Right. And you parked it right over here.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I was like, this is your car. Do you feel like when you look at my new car, do you understand why I'm driving in that one? Or are you sort of like, this doesn't fit as well?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
They're not flashy, but I'm going to tell you this now. I've never been a car guy. I know. I'm jealous of all of my friends who know every model and make of every car, and I can't do that. I've never operated like that. I look for a nice interior. That's right. Yeah. In a quiet, soft ride. Great stereo. Yes. And it can get me from point A to point C. Exterior color's immaterial.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
You probably don't care about that. No. I'm jealous that you have such a knowledge of cool cars.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Because I get this. I'm jealous of hobbyists in general. Right. So if you have a knowledge of something niche or something specific, I am jealous because I love knowledge. I love to collect knowledge. I love... People who know something so well, that is very attractive to me. I'm like, that's really cool to have great expertise. It's why I love your show. You collect knowledge for a living.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
This particular episode is making people stupider. But in general, when you have experts in different- No, we have that list of numbers, remember?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But what I love is that that's what you do. You invite people on this show who are experts in different areas. Oh, it's so great. It's the coolest thing. Are you going to add my book to your bookshelf behind you?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
If you're just joining us, we're with Josh Gad, author of Engad. Do you think there was another world in which you were born maybe like 20 years earlier that you ended up on NPR? Or do you think your career would have gone stern like before podcasts?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But you know what's great about Stern too? I think like Dax, Stern could have ended up easily on NPR. I think Stern has the capacity and the skill set to be equally riveting on NPR as he is.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
NPR has very wet mouths. Oh, ew. When you listen to NPR, it's a very moist. Don't be upset about it. It's an observation. But you know I'm right. Yeah. There's like a quality that's very intimate and very wet.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
He was the one host who always intimidated me. Oh, it's so scary. Because, you know, he's smarter. This was the same thing being on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. When I had to sit and pitch something to Jon, I have never been more intimidated in my life. That's so scary. He scares me. He's the smartest man in every room.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And he just knows better than you know what's funny and what's going to work and what is not going to work.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Oh, man, I don't want to say goodbye to my family. You better get this right. I better get this right. No, I think it's the perfect time. This has become very ominous, this episode. Yeah, five years. That feels right. But I remember doing a guest spot or another appearance.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
That's what I did. Then that was after. So that's why I feel like it hasn't been five years because you invited me like today as a last minute sort of we need filler. Gad is good for filler episodes. No, no. Can I be honest with you?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I don't know where we know where it's going to be. Aliens! Live from the set of Hell, here's Josh Gett. From the bowels of Hell!
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
That's why you case their cars. That's why you know everything you need to know about them so you can hurt them if they try.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
What a nerdy, like I'm reading words I've never read before. Like I talk about in my book, I thought it was the chopping up of dead bodies for investigative purposes. And instead, it's actually a thing that high schoolers do, which is another word for speech and debate. And so I'll get stopped today. Not today because- Today we're in the middle of something. There's bigger fish to fry today.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But maybe next month again, people will be willing to come up to me and say, I know you from high school, but people watch my high school videos from speech and debate and forensics. Well, you're a three-time national champ. I was a three-time national champ. You have more respect for me than you've ever had.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But I understand how hard it is to do. Cheerleading?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And so like I fit that because it's got a performative element to it. Never learned how to play chess. Still to this day, don't know how to play chess. I would have been the kind of guy that played chess, but nobody taught me how. This is what not having a father around does is you don't learn things like love of cars, how to play chess. I missed all of that. So I was like, oh, speech and debate.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
That feels like something I can do. A lot of how I fell into this was through that world.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Well, the Columbia part was new to me. The Emerald trade. It is out of a movie. My dad was a Jew born in Afghanistan. Which was maybe their third or fourth stop. Correct. They were nomads. You can actually trace my lineage back to one of the original tribes of Israel, the Gad tribe. They were just going from place to place and being told, no, you are not welcome here.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And surprisingly, Afghanistan, which seems like a great place for Jews, turned out not to be. Yeah, that's what I always think if I was Jewish. My father got into precious jewels along with his brothers in Israel.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
When you're 12 years old, that's a great, great way to make a living. Yeah. And so by day he was doing that. And by night he was a bodybuilder. Not what I'm expecting. No. And I have a picture in there, I think, of my dad just ripped. I mean, he looked like Venice Beach Schwarzenegger. Really crazy. That's who we talked about last time. He looks like Kumail.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Right. From Marvel. He looked like Marvel era Kumail.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So anyway, my dad and his brothers end up moving to the United States and they decide to start an Emerald business. My father moves to Columbia. They own Emerald Mines. In the 80s, at the peak of Pablo Escobar.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I remember traveling to Colombia at the age of four, and I just remember seeing armed people all around my father and just Uzis, like automatic weapons, not even semis, and just thinking to myself, Wait, is this what everyone's dad does? I was so confused.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
All my friends' fathers were doctors or lawyers in South Florida, and my dad was literally in the middle of the jungles of Columbia, surrounded by dangerous people. He was always a larger-than-life guy when I was growing up. My parents got divorced when I was six, and I talk about my relationship after that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But what I also talk about in the book, which we've never spoken about, was I haven't seen my dad in about 20 years. And I get a call one day while I'm doing Gutenberg, which you were so gracious enough to come to. So much fun. And my dad is in New Jersey and he says, I'd love to come see your show.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And I said, OK, I think he's on his third or fourth family now. And I said, come alone. I'll send a car for you. And why don't you stay the night? Wow. That's nice. And I was very anxious about it. And he comes to the theater. I'm looking for him in the audience. I don't see him. Are you like eight years old? A hundred percent. It's Halloween night.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Andrew and I, after the show, decide to dress up as the Mommy Dearest characters. He's the Faye Dunaway character. I'm the daughter. Is he holding a coat hanger? Uh-huh. Yeah. And I look at Andrew after the show and I said, I need you to come with me. I'm very nervous about this. So we go out, both dressed as women. Yeah. My father's never seen me on stage in my life.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Even as a kid. He was not the dad who came to my shows. Right. So this is the first time my father's ever seen me on stage. I come out and I see a man that I know immediately and yet don't recognize at all. It was both... exhilarating and really painful. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to interact. He looked frailer than I remember. Well, he's pretty old, right?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
He's in his late 70s, but the gregarious... person that I am, that's from my father. Yeah. I think about my dad as this invincible figure, a force of nature, and he's not that. So Andrew is amazing, sort of helping me navigate it. I get in the car with my dad. He's hard of hearing. English is his like third language.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So he's repeating to me that he was telling everybody that he was sitting next to that I'm his son and he was so proud. But also I could tell he understood none of the fucking jokes in the show and just saw everyone laughing and so started laughing with him.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Just unbridled chaos. Yes, yes. We go back to my place. And I order us some sandwiches and I realized that like I'm the father. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
We start talking. He starts telling me about his life. It's incredibly awkward at first and then incredibly easy. And then I start to fall back into like being a kid again. I don't know how to describe it. I start to feel like I'm in my eight year old body. And I'm talking to this man who approximates my father. And I can also tell that there's extreme memory loss going on from him.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I think it was neither of those things. I think it was... My son's in New York. I'm here. I'd like to see him. And we'll go from there. As simple as that. Yeah. There's no question in my mind that my father loves me dearly. What he did to me and my family doesn't support that. But he has never not expressed his own form and his own idea of love.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So we're sitting there, we're talking and it starts to become very apparent to me that he's lost everything. He's living on welfare. Wow. Cause he was a kind of high roller. He owned, I think the largest producing mine in Columbia. Had he held onto that, we would have been billionaires and lost it all. As there always is. He and his partner fucked each other and all paid the price.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So I'm sitting there and this guy who I always was like, Oh my God, he's invincible. Yeah. is now like Al Pacino in Godfather III. The next morning, I hug him, I get him a car, and I give him his jacket, and he goes, what's that? And I said, it's your jacket. And he goes, it's not my jacket. And I go, that's your jacket, Dad. He goes, it's not my jacket.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And then I put it on him and I say, this is the jacket you came in. And it occurs to me, perhaps this is the last time, A, my father recognizes me. He's not the kind of guy who will go to a doctor. And it seems to me like there's something debilitating going on. And I love him and so I wish he would. But I'm also having this moment of going, is this where this journey ends for us?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And if it does, I'm so grateful I had this. I lied to my mom. I didn't tell her that I saw him.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And he says, surprise, and introduces me to his mistress and their son from Columbia. The dad had another family. I didn't know what to do with that. I'm eight.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
He was oblivious. My dad doesn't operate in familiar ways that we understand responsible parents. And I'm grateful for that because, man, did it fucking teach me how to be a great parent. Yeah. I'm sure you have the same sort of experience of learning from mistakes and vowing to never fucking repeat those mistakes. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
The exact same story. Except my dad would go months at a time and would live in another country. Right. With one of his many other, you know, fuck buddies.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I vividly remember sitting at the window in my home in Hollywood, Florida, waiting for my father to show up on countless nights where he never came. And my mom knew he wasn't going to come and he would tell me he was coming and I believed he was coming and then he wouldn't show up.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And I talk about this in my book too, which is the sort of the kismet of my Disney journey is the one place my father would always take me when I was growing up was Disney World. Wow. And so Disney World became a symbol of my relationship with my father and Disney escapism became the salve that was healing any sort of absence that I felt in my life.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
You want a coffee, right? I always want a coffee. Do you remember what I like? You like cold brews. Oh, yes, you remember. You mean something to me. You mean something to me, even though you don't have me over unless it's for work. But isn't that true across the board for all of us? Yeah, it's kind of fair because I don't invite you over to my place.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Yeah, it can. It had the opposite effect on me and my brothers. I have such an incredible mother. My mom was so badass. And despite the emotional shrapnel that I felt as a result of her divorce, and I've had to heal and talk to her about that and forgive that because... I didn't understand at the time that her mood swings and her anger and my brothers having moved to college.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I was the only one in the house who was absorbing that. And that was scary. And that was lonely. And the birth of comedy. Big time. And it was a birth of comedy because as a result of her pain and her depression, I somehow found this weapon where I was able to make her laugh. And I was like, that's something.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And tapping into that and then making that a career came from the seeds of that despair, as it often does, I would imagine.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I grew up too fast and I didn't grow up enough. I'm jealous of my friends who had both parents till they were 18 at least. And then a later divorce, I think is sometimes maybe better. Sometimes maybe worse for me. It was very different experience than it was for my brothers. My brothers were 10 and eight years older and they got the family journey. Mine was ripped away at six.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
You don't have the skills to process that. And so I became very destructive. I would lie constantly to my mom. I was doing horribly in school. It is almost impossible to flunk first grade. I was getting F's and D's. Of course you were. Regulating with food enters the picture. That's when I started to balloon. And I was also actually physically destructive.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I remember a day where I took something in the back of my mom's car, the little cigarette things that you would push down. And I started burning holes in the back of her car. And my mom could not figure out what the fuck was going on with me. And it was this thing. absolute burden on my shoulders of having to keep this secret and lashing out because I didn't know what else to do.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And my mom finally sat down and said, something's got to change, got me to speak to a therapist. I was able to finally unburden this secret, was able to finally find some sort of path for myself to navigate my own very difficult emotions and then was able to overcome all of the chaos.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
The therapist did. This was a period where I only wanted to sleep in my mom's room. I was afraid to sleep by myself. There was so much shit going on. So I had one therapist who told my mom to lock me in my room. Oh boy. And my mom, God bless her, is like, you're out of your fucking mind.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Let's switch. And then I found this incredible woman who was able to talk to me as a child and was able to get to why was I feeling so scared? I had this enormous fear of death. I was constantly afraid of dying, was constantly afraid of loss. And once I had a grasp on that, I was then able to take all of that and start to focus my energies on performance.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And so my mom found this local children's theater called the Hollywood Playhouse for the Performing Arts, signed me up, and that changed my life, especially being overweight. I found that the greatest superpower I had was making fun of myself and using that self-deprecation to win people over. And so I also parlayed it into popularity. I became class president. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I became sort of a king in high school and I didn't fit the sort of physical bill of what that usually looks like. It makes it even that much better. Funny is funny and it attracts people. And I suddenly was like, okay, this is my high. This is what I'm going to lean into. Cut to me going to Carnegie Mellon drama for some reason.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Oh, you didn't? I had the worst audition of my life. But you said I Trojan horse my way into Carnegie Mellon. Sorry, tell me about Juilliard. Juilliard, I go in there and I am bullish. I'm like, I got this.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
At the time, I had gotten like a 1350 on my SAT. It's not bad. So I was thinking like, oh, I'm shooing. But like all my friends had got 1400 or above. Oh. So Northwestern was out of the picture. And I'm like, well, it doesn't matter. My backup Juilliard is all about like the audition. So I go in there and I do Marty by Patty Chayefsky.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
My goal is get enough leverage to just work with my friends and do it across the street from where I live. Maybe ideally in the backyard. Now that is sort of like next level thinking.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
That was the piece that I had gotten third place in my sophomore year of high school.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So I do it and I'm thinking to myself, I'm fucking killing this. I described the three people auditioning me as like the ringwraiths of Lord Sauron. It is really, truly these hooded kind of like. figures who are not willing to express at all.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But you have to think about this. These are also the same people at that time who had Kevin Kline and Robin Williams and all of the greats come through. So they don't fucking care about like who I am.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So their stoicism is, Absolutely gets to me. And then Michael Kahn, who's running it, goes, do you have anything else you want to do for us today? And I said, you have a classical piece. And I do something from Henry VIII. And I...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
forgot all of the words and start improv in iambic pentameter to a man who literally is responsible for not only Juilliard, but a Shakespeare festival in Washington, D.C. And so I look at them after I finish and I go, I will see myself out. Good luck with Juilliard. And I go outside and I start crying. And I look at my mom and I go, I don't know what I'm going to do.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And I'll never forget, we were walking through Central Park and as we crossed the threshold into the park, it started snowing. And for some reason I was like, I think it's going to be okay. And then I applied to Carnegie Mellon and was feeling the weight of all the rejections. I saw that I could apply as a director.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And when you apply as a director, you have to do an audition for some reason to sort of communicate that you understand an actor's journey as a director. So I come and I do this audition and the guy who runs Greg Lehane goes, huh? Are you sure you want to be a director? And I said, why? What are you thinking?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And he's like, well, I'd like to share this with my acting colleague, Tony McKay. So Tony comes in and watches and he goes, you want to direct? And I said, I guess I could be convinced to act.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So I completely Trojan horse my way into theater. And then tried to Trojan horse my way into musical theater. That's where they drew the line. And my class was crazy. It was Leslie Odom Jr., Josh Groban, Rory O'Malley. So that is how I ended up there.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So conservatory is basically like Hogwarts for drama kids. You don't have to do shit other than act, right? You just act. In fact, I was desperate. Here's again, my absolute jealousy of expertise was I wanted more academia and I didn't get more academia. I got movement class one, two, three, and four. I got voice class one, two, three, four. You basically had to take
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
seven to 10 classes that were academic in nature during the duration of your studies. And that wasn't enough for me. I'm more jealous of the liberal arts. Yeah. Mind expanding understanding. I definitely would never trade in my experience, but I did miss out on a fuller body of learning.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It's not because of my prowess. It's because I was the only straight person in my classroom. What a blessing. And so it was just a fuck fest. And, you know, I lost a hundred pounds in college. I substituted my food addiction for sex and alcohol. And so that just became the chaos of that period for me.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It was a complete body transformation. Yeah. I dyed my hair blonde. Sure.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I will show you a pic. I lost myself a little bit. Yeah. By the way, I think you should.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
No, no, no. In a bad way. Yeah, yeah. But I think you should lose yourself in a bad way. So I started to get extreme anxiety. I was being looked at in a different way and I didn't know how to handle that attention. And I also didn't know, this was me as a blonde.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Here's platinum blonde. So I felt like a stranger in my body. I was not used to being attractive. I was not used to being sought after. I didn't know how to operate in that body. And I also didn't know how to play the roles in that body.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I felt like an alien taking over another person's body. I don't know how to describe it. I had my eyes. I had my ears. I had my voice, but it was not me. I was playing a character. Yeah. Cool guy character. And by the way, I think it's why I continue to struggle with weight at this point in my life, because I really didn't know how to be that guy for health.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm Kathy Bates. Are we talking about the movie or are we talking about the real incident?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I want to lose weight and desperately trying to. But that was really, really strange. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Has it limited your joy at all? It has suppressed in a great way that noise. When I wake up, I feel hunger pains. And so much of that is psychological. Right. And what this does is it takes away that signal. Yeah. It's even working on addicts. It is a miracle drug. It truly is. Yeah. I was on a different drug that caused me diverticulitis. Okay, no good. And I had lost 40 pounds.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I was really bummed out because it was working incredibly for me and I had to switch. I'm figuring out this new one and it is life changing, but it also doesn't negate the fact that it can't be in the place of having a healthy relationship with food and it can't be in the place of having a healthy relationship with exercise. Well, would it be fair to say it's treating the symptom?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It is treating the symptom. And by the way, this is the first time I've opened up about this. Oh, okay.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm actually really happy that I'm opening about this because I'm having my own journey with it. Sure. Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating myself by doing this. You shouldn't. And I know a lot of people who aren't overweight like I am who are taking it. And I feel like, okay, I should be able to do this because I need it for health. Yeah, someone's shaving off the last three pounds.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I think you're the Billy Zane character. Wasn't he naughty?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm not one to pass judgment to each their own. I think that the problem becomes when it prevents others who need it medically, like myself, from getting it. That's where I get upset.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
He was a bad guy, right? You seem like you could go either way as you spray whatever that is into your mouth. Nicotine spray. You saw I had the lozenges. I like to think of myself as the little old lady who's looking for a necklace towards the end of her life. She survived. And then it's just like, if I have to die, so does the worth and value of this necklace.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Would you judge someone for taking suppressants for nicotine? Would you judge someone for taking antidepressants for anxiety? No. This is medication.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I think that that's very fair. At the end of the day, my wife is so much hotter than me. You're like, I should be more concerned about like her.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Yours did. As you're saying, I've always been the funny fat guy. Can I be the funny skinny guy? Right. Can I be the hot leading man? I know I could be those things. I don't know that people would accept me as those things. And that's always really hard. We get typecast. We do a thing and people see us as that thing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And I've been very blessed that I continue to challenge myself to not be typecast, to do things that nobody expects.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
There's a lot of airplanes on the scene now. Can I say three things really quickly? Yeah, absolutely. One, my heart breaks. breaks for every single person who has lost their home right now. We know personally 15 people who have lost everything. It is unthinkable what's happening. Entire zip codes are gone. Our friends from the Pacific Palisades, their communities are wiped out. It's like Dresden.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I also think I have a healthier relationship with my brain than I did back then. And so now I think, you know, as I go on this journey of weight loss, I'm not as worried about that because my primary goal is I want to be there for my kids. Everything else is bullshit.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I appreciate that. At the very least, I'll do more of this.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
What if that's how the IRS takes me down because of this $100 that was promised to me on this bullshit?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I was singularly focused on one thing. I wanted to be on Saturday Night Live. That's all I wanted. In my fucking fragile little brain, I somehow thought going to Carnegie Mellon drama was enough to audition and be accepted. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I started immediately out of college. putting together a reel for SNL. I got Ron Howard to open the video. He said, live from Josh's VCR.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Oh my God. How'd you get that done? Bryce Alice Howard is my best friend. Okay. Because she married my actual best friend, Seth Gable, from when I was four. And so she let me borrow her father, who was very willing to help me out. And it was incredible. It did not So I kept sending in tapes for like three years. Didn't get on, signed up for the groundlings, did that for two years.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
You did that for two years. I did the first two classes. They didn't accept me into the third level. And then I start to get little jobs here and there. I'm sort of at the breaking point. And I talked about this on my last time. So I'm not going to revisit all of this, but I basically am like, I'm quitting acting. I'm not making money.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I had met my then girlfriend, now wife, Ida, and I was like, I need to become a lawyer. So I started applying to law schools. My mom, as you know already, basically is like, you're a fucking coward if you do that. I audition for this show called 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And I get it, but I got the San Francisco...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
version and I don't know what I'm thinking cause I have no work, but I turn it down. Oh wow. They are done with me. They are fucking furious. And somehow I find out they're, they're replacing Dan Flogler, the Tony award winner for the show. And I get them to give me another chance, but they're like not having it. I go in, I do my audition goes fine. I then do the music audition goes fine.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I do the dance audition. It's an unmitigated disaster. I look like a fucking beached whale learning to swim again. And then I somehow get a phone call that I'm supposed to go to the theater that night. I go to this callback. It's me and this other guy, Jordan, who's on Broadway doing Avenue Q. I have nothing on my resume. I have one episode of ER and I have.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It is absolutely a war zone. Secondly, I have never seen on such a personal level the kind of bravery, the kind of camaraderie, and the kind of we are not taking this sitting down attitude as the SoCal community has shown. Hosing down each other's homes. We've been dropping items off at various shelters around town. They are rejecting what we're dropping off because it is so full. And...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So this guy goes first. He's out there for like 10 minutes. I come out. I see 30 people who are all sitting in the circle in the square theater. They're all directors, producers, investors. I crack a joke. I start my scene. I get a minute and a half in. And the director, James Epine, and I talk about this in the book, says, Josh, can I see you up here for a second?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
All of your teachers sound like Phil Hoffman. Okay.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
We've established this. I do one impression, it's Phil Hoffman. Everything else derives from that. Yeah, Josh, I don't want to talk to you. Come here. James calls me up, dismisses everybody, and he says, I don't think you take this seriously. And I said, excuse me? He goes... I don't think you take this seriously. And I said, well, what makes you think that?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And he goes, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Everybody wants to do a Broadway show. And your first instinct is to come out and crack a joke. And I said, well, forgive me, but there are 30 people sitting in front of me who are about to decide my fate. And I figured I had two options. I could either break the ice or projectile vomit on you and your colleagues.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So forgive me for choosing the former. And I'm not even saying it jokingly. I'm like super fucking pissed. And then he starts to lecture me about the fact that I don't have the discipline in craft to take this job. Oh my God. And I look at him and I say, I'll do respect. You can tell me I'm not right for the role. You can tell me that I am not your favorite actor.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
You can fucking tell me I'm not funny. For you to sit there and tell me and judge my discipline after I literally spent four years in conservatory, spent every last penny that I had to learn my craft. to study my craft, to stick with my craft through thick and thin. That is not something you get to take away from me. And I said, good luck with your show. I appreciate this.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Thank you for the opportunity. I walk out. I congratulate Jordan on getting the role. I go back to my hotel, the Sheridan. Ding, ding, ding. No, actually it was a Hilton. That was a Hilton. Well, they kind of became, yeah. It's either Sheridan or Hilton. Modern day Sheridan. And I called my mom up. She said, how'd it go? I said, didn't happen. As bad as it could. As bad as it could.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm coming home. And I get a call from my then agent, Hannah Roth. And she says, hey. And I said, hey, I'm not really in the mood to talk right now. And she goes, well, you have two tickets to go see Spelling Bee tonight. And I said, why the fuck? Would I want to go see that show? And at this point, I had never seen the show. I didn't have enough money to get a ticket to see the show.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I was just approximating what I thought it should be. And I said, why the fuck would I want to go see that? And she goes, well, the director feels that you should probably see it before you start rehearsals in two weeks.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
unreal wow so it was a mind fuck what was your all's post conversation of that initial my relationship with james is now wonderful recently we had a dinner where we talked through everything and he was incredible about it but he was horrible to me during that process oh he The whole show. The whole show. I was a punching bag. It was brutal. Was he so upset he was losing Dan?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I think that was a big part of it. When we sat down and we discussed it and we had it out and he was so gracious and has since apologized to me for what that experience was. He said I needed to get my ass kicked. I agree with that. I don't think the psychological warfare was necessary, but I agree with it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But I would come back and I would smoke every night a full bong of like hashish because I was so fucking scared. I was just fucked. I was always in a state of fear, panic, and it just didn't get better. I couldn't wait to leave. And the cast... was awesome, but also they missed Dan. Yeah, that's a hard position. It sucks being a replacement sometimes. I'm not sure if that's everyone's experience.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I go out of my way to be kind to my replacements because of what that experience was, but it fucking sucked. And I would do it all again if I could because it taught me resilience. Yeah, if you can get through that. I think we coddle a lot now. And I think actors who are breaking in, you need to get your ass kicked, man, because it's a fucking brutal business.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I learned from every minute of that, even though it wasn't all roses and candy. It was everything I needed at the time to prepare me for a career that is filled with so many more lows than highs. And once you have that, you can handle that. Yeah, absolutely. And there were times when I didn't think I could get through it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
There were times when I would literally have anxiety attacks because James would call a rehearsal that I knew was just about putting me in my place and keeping me in a box. And I didn't feel safe. I didn't feel comfortable improv-ing. I didn't feel comfortable being my funniest. It's like with your confidence. I had real problems with my confidence. That happened again on Book of Mormon. It did?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It did. Because I saw that. I talk about this in my book as well. So my director there, Casey, who's brilliant and amazing, he came in after Jason Moore, who we had workshopped the show with for three years, left the project. He was coming into a situation that was like, hey, we're going to Broadway. It's your turn to get it all going in a couple of months. He wanted to put his stamp on it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
On top of that, we continue to donate. And I would encourage everyone who's listening right now, can we make a list available of the various places that people can make donations?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And based on my experience with Spelling Bee, I think I had my guard up. Yeah. You got a chip on your shoulder maybe a little bit. Don't fuck with me. Yeah. I am not to be fucked with here. And I think he felt that. And I think he, in turn, sometimes did not love that I was basically doing whatever the fuck I wanted on that stage. And he wanted to control that. And right or wrong, it was his job.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And I respect that. But we definitely butted heads.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And it was... sometimes very unpleasant. And Andrew and I sometimes got into it because a lot of what was going on during that time was Rannells and I, suddenly we went from zero to 60 and we had this entire show on our backs. We were not prepared for what it became. Yeah. I was not ready for that kind of pressure. And I think Andrew wasn't.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And so we felt sometimes like we were being pitted against each other. And you're in the midst of like Tony season and you're both vying for that award.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
We were both nominated for the same thing. What the hell did he do with that? And we both lost. It was a fucking rollercoaster. How old were you at that time? I had just turned 30. And Andrew and I now talk about it laughing about how stupid and petty all of the little bullshit was. But it was a pressure cooker.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And it was so funny because going back and then doing Gutenberg, we had the complete opposite experience because we're in our 40s and don't give a shit about anything anymore because we've had so many life experiences.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
All of that stuff feels so insignificant. Yeah. Yeah. And it's beautiful because our relationship has never been stronger. We came through the other side of it. We had the most amazing experience doing that show and being a part of a pop cultural phenomenon, the likes of which musical comedy theater hadn't seen since the producers and I think hasn't seen since. It's just Hamilton and that.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But in terms of comedies, right? Yeah. In terms of comedies, we're a rarity. That was hard. I have since been able to look back at all of it and own my part in all of it. What's your part? I was a cocky fucking guy. And part of the cockiness was a defense mechanism. Yeah, you're scared. I'm scared that I'm not good enough. I'm scared I'm not funny enough.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm scared I'm not worthy of the attention. I'm scared... that I am going to let people down. I'm scared I'm going to let myself down. You'll be revealed at some point. I'll be revealed. And so I really peacocked and puffed up.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But I want you to. I don't want her to have anything to do with it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Do you know how petty I was and hungry and starving for love and adoration? I'll never forget being so mad. This is so ridiculous. But I was so mad that Andrew got the last bow and I didn't. Sure. And that is such a fucking joke. I love that you're admitting that. That I would even think that way. Yeah. Because he clearly was the one who should get the laugh back.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But at the time, I was like, I've been doing this show for four years. I've been here from the beginning. I'm the funnier role. I wasn't. I wasn't any of those things. I was involved longer. That's it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
As long as you delegate. And then check it off. Because if there's any fake numbers on there, I'm going to blame you. If there's any bank routing numbers that go directly to your account, I'm going to be pissed. To primate LLC. And I won't do this a fourth time. And I want to say that whatever happens next is on DAX, how we rebound as a city. The final thing I want to say is the firefighters.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
No, you don't make an excuse. I'm just a real piece of shit. And I deserve what's happening to me. Yes, yes, yes.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It doesn't go away. And also I have always felt like a fraud. I have an absolute case of imposter syndrome. Yeah. And when I go and I put myself out there, I am so scared I'm going to fail. And I am so scared that what I think is funny, other people won't find funny. And if I fail even one person, I don't think about the thousand people who enjoyed it. I think about the one person who hated it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It is to the point now that I can't even watch anything I'm in because I judge it so harshly and so critically that I feel like a fraud. Actually, the beauty and the reason that I went back to Broadway and did a show with Andrew was I needed that again.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I needed to put myself out there in the most vulnerable way at the age of 40 and have this guy who is the single funniest fucking human being I've ever worked alongside other than the two of you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Well, no, it's a promise. And so I needed that. I needed my ass kicked. And the difference between when we did Book of Mormon and we did Gutenberg was being on the other side of that and no longer focused about any of the little shit, any of the dumb shit. I was able to just...
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It's funny. I think in a certain way, you need to go through that. I'm at an age now where none of that is... a factor anymore. Because I've learned these lessons, every job that I do, every day I take in and I give gratitude and I am savoring it. And you read about stories like Mandy Potemkin talking about he was so miserable to others and to himself for so long.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And like my experience of working with Mandy was the complete opposite. I've never met a more giving person. And I think that we all in a weird way have to go through that, not just in this industry, in our lives. Oh yeah. Yeah. You have to experience that. Everyone with coworkers knows this. It's okay to go through all of that as long as you come out the other side acknowledging it. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm finally at a place, maybe too late, but I'm finally at a place of acknowledgement to say I was my own worst enemy in many of these situations. I was not present. I was... Afraid to be told no because that meant that I had to concede I was doing something wrong. Proving you didn't belong there. It was a waste of one of the greatest years of my life.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Oh, my God. What bad motherfuckers. I can't believe it. I don't know... that I've ever seen such fucking superheroes in real life as these guys who are risking it all without giving a flying fuck about fires two inches away from them. Yeah. I'm watching it like it's Sunday night football. These guys are so badass. Yes. They really are.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I wanted to get the fuck out of that show by the end because I was miserable. And I am so bitter about that because if I could go back and do Book of Mormon right now, I would fucking leave this room and put that outfit on and get on stage because it was the greatest joy ever. What Trey and Matt did is for the ages. And I didn't appreciate it enough at the time.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
What in this day and age, people could be fighting over a burial plot? My grandparents were buried in this South Florida cemetery and my parents bought a plot next to them. My mother is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. There are books about this generation. It is really difficult. The guilt is unthinkable. For me, I'd be like, just put me wherever. For her, it was such a loss.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It was such a betrayal. And the way she found out, which was accidentally from a friend who was told they gave that plot accidentally away was so fucked. So it was a thing.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Do you exhume grandma and grandma? Well, going through it now, we are literally in the process of figuring out what to do because there is no good solution. No, bury mom on top. But you sort of anticipate that the fucking place will do its job. It has one job, which is put the boxes where they're meant to go. That's your only job. I don't know how they fucking mix and match.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
You're so prolific. This has been a year of writing for me. I really wanted to challenge myself as a writer. So I wrote Picture Face Lizzie, a kid's book, which is basically about my girls are obsessed with... what their friends have and what they don't have. And that a lot of times comes in the form of social media apps.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
So they are constantly asking us why their friends are allowed to have TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and we put such restrictions on them. This is a conversation... so many of my friends are having, so many of my friends' kids are having.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It inspired me to write a book from the perspective of both the parents and the kids talking about this new doll called a Picture Face Lizzie that is a mixture of an American Girl doll with the technological advances of having a social media application to it so that it's all-encompassing. And this little kid, Eves, finds herself in a situation where
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
All her friends do is talk about their picture face Lizzie's and she gets left behind. And so she goes to her parents and she says, I want one. How can I get one? And they finally cave and they give it to her. And basically they say, just don't lose who you are in the process of playing with this. Have a healthy relationship with it. She becomes absolutely consumed.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
But over the course of the book, she starts to miss Lizzie. The little things she used to do, the imaginative play, the sort of experiential things. As she starts to sort of balance having this thing and doing these analog things, her friends become really attracted to what she's doing. Yeah. And put their dolls down and start doing that as well.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And it's been really amazing to watch families read this book together, experience this journey together. And yeah, start a conversation from it. Why did you get such a hack to narrate it? Kristen Bell was the only option I had at the time because similarly, I was canceled on by most of my previous guests. And that was without an apocalyptic event.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I am doing what I can to give them a healthy relationship with technology. But also giving them the skills to be able to be without that technology, because my concern is I know I'm addicted to it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
That's it. We at least come from a background in which we didn't have any of that. We can remember the halcyon days. And I think part of the reason my kids love Stranger Things, your listeners are like, what kind of dick shows their little kid Stranger Things but doesn't give them Snapchat? You knew the shit I've shown my children? Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I was fucking six when I watched Nightmare on Elm Street.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
The worst thing that's ever happened to me is I was in college and I took my mother to go see Unfaithful, the Diane Lane sex film. Oh, yeah. Sex tape. It's like fucking snuff film. And I sat next to my mother as like she's getting rammed by this really hot young man. And I was like, God damn, I should have just read the reviews. I gotta tell you one more moment.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Sex isn't bad. Same. We showed Ava Rain Man and I forgot that there's a scene in Rain Man. The hot one with Tom Cruise. Where like, yeah, he's just fucking away. Same with Jerry Maguire. There's a period of Tom Cruise movies. Well, he's going to sprint in every movie. He was sprinting or fucking.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It really is. And I think that was their objective. They all watched Maverick before.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
God, that is so your child. That is so your fucking child.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
They flew out there and they said, let's make it look as cool as possible.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Why didn't you write a blurb on the back? I was, um... It's not too late. I could just send out a flyer.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I did at one point, actually. Okay, that got taken off too. There were so many puns.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
How does one pick? And is that you? That is truly me. What is that from? What photo is that? I did it exclusively for the book. They take photos now. You think that they like pull it off of the internet?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Amen. All right. Love you. This was, by the way, reprieve for me. Thank you.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
All right. Be well. Josh Charles. That's a little late for that. Thanks, Rob. Josh.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I don't know if you've had this sensation watching them when they drop the fire retardant in the water. The precision with which they do it. It is exhilarating because you're like, fucking save that whole community, please. And they're doing it. And it seems unthinkable because you see these massive flames heading towards these communities. It looks unstoppable and they are stopping it.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Fuck yeah. Yeah. And then at the same time, you think about the too little too late communities like the Palisades and like Pasadena. And it is heartbreaking and devastating for those people who aren't on the ground in SoCal. Let me tell you now, it's going to be years and we're going to need all the help we can get.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
If you can, in whatever way you can, even the amount of people who have lost clothes. We were speaking to a family who lost their home and we said, do you need anything? And they said, we don't have any clothes. And it's just little things that you don't even think about. You think about all the possessions.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It's actually in a way really nice to be here. I needed a little bit of a distraction from the chaos. Yeah.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
When you asked me to come today, I definitely hesitated. Yeah. And I posted about this the other day. I am doing everything I can and none of it feels like enough. The reason I came on today was I was like, oh, we can start by talking about this. That is actually making me feel better about sitting across from such a piece of shit like you who continues to do podcasts in these kinds of situations.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
It's a great point. This morning, we actually had this conversation where I said to my wife, I'm going to make a pot of coffee. And she said, why don't you go to Starbucks, get it? And I said, well, I go to Starbucks. I don't want to go outside with the air. She goes, because the community needs that right now. Restaurants need the support. There are so many people who are fleeing right now.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
And these places that aren't even in the line of fire are going to feel the effects of it. It is going to hurt everybody. Yeah, it's catastrophic.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
No, stay calm. Carry on. It's a great point. A stiff upper lip is exactly what I think of when I think of the British people going through that period. And it is true. We're unfortunately living through a period of post-apocalyptic situations. The reason I started writing my book, I was inspired by telling the story of parenting in what feels like it's the end of the world.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I have had two children and most of their lives have been defined by pandemics, by disaster, by socio-political upheaval. You never stop and think about it, but we lived and we grew up in a period in which we had great ease. The world was a very peaceful place in the context of history. But Josh, it wasn't about sapiens. Have you guys read?
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I wrote half of it. Think about what you've all said. We are living in the greatest time of prosperity and peace in the history of mankind.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
I'm just saying our parents. Our parents definitely lived through a period of upheaval, the likes of which resonates with what we're going through today. Political leaders being assassinated one after another. The world on the precipice of nuclear war. My parents hiding under their desks. That was not my experience in the peaceful and prosperity bubble that I lived in in the 1980s and 1990s.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Josh Gad Returns
Now, that is not to say that everything was perfect, but it is certainly not to say that it wasn't better than what I'm raising my kids through right now, which is climate change is an existential crisis. The world seems like it's on the brink of chaos on a daily basis. We had a first of its kind pandemic the first time in a century. We're doing this as half our city is on fire.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
Well, it was just sitting there and typing all the words was intimidating because I had to come up with them. And, you know, as it started to expand, it just felt like, OK, this may be a story worth telling. And then a publisher paid me and I was like, OK, it is.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
I ask, when... And that's why I answered it. Thank you. Yes, you anticipated it.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
that you wish you had used a different voice for olaf the snowman because whenever you're talking in public children hear you and go insane yeah it was a stupid decision um i i will get recognized in like grocery stores just being like hi is the milk over there it can be something as innocuous as that and all of a sudden three children will just give me an exercise yeah So I regret that now.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
But at the same time, I'm grateful that so many people love the voice of Olaf, which is me. The other thing that I'm weirdly recognized for is Bearclaw from New Girl, which makes no sense. There you go.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
Yeah. I did two episodes of that show, and what's so funny is, People went nuts for Bearclaw. He was this guy who, like, pined after Jess, played by Zooey Deschanel. And I was actually with Zooey's real-life husband, Jonathan, yesterday. And he looked at me, and he goes, Bearclaw and Jess should have ended up together. Which is a very weird take. Yeah, from her actual husband, yeah.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
Yeah, there's like a small community, including her own husband, who just really loved Bearclaw. Wow.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
This feels like less of a question and more like a threat. You're right.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
One that's very volatile. Like this thing that's happening right now. You know what's funny is I've now been on the other side of it where my girls are obsessed with Wicked right now and I'm having to listen to Ariana Grande's Popular over and over and over again or Cynthia Erivo's song. So I'm with you, I'm struggling, and I know these people, and so I'm texting them.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
And I'm like, can we please just put a moratorium on this? It's a great job, but I can no longer listen to these songs on a loop.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
Oh, God, yeah. So David O. Russell, this is such a crazy story. David O. Russell, brilliant director. We were at the same Mommy and Me program, because we're both mommies. And We were outside, and it was after he had just been nominated for one of the many films he was nominated for. And he looks at me, and I said, congratulations on your nomination. And he goes, oh, thank you. What do you do?
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
And I said, oh, I'm an actor. And he says, well, what do you do? What do you act? And I said, oh. Well, you know, I do this, I do that. He didn't recognize any of them. And I said, you know, your kid may know me from something called Frozen. And he goes, what's that? It's an animated movie that's sort of, you know, everywhere, but at home. And he goes, oh, what are you doing it?
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
He said, do it. And I said, do the snowman? He goes, yeah. And I looked at him, this Academy Award winning director, and I said, hi, I'm Olaf. And he looked at me and he goes, huh. And I have not been in a David O. Russell film. Really? So there you go. Yeah. Should have done a song, dude. That would have done it. But then afterwards he goes, oh, you're Bearclaw.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
I think it's the bear thing, because that's just crazy to come up with.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Josh Gad
I'm thinking it's B. Wait, what is your audience screaming? The audience is screaming C. The audience is screaming C. All right, well, my friend in Denver, if the audience gets this wrong, it's on them, not me. C. You're all right. It was C. Yeah!