Paul Rudd
Appearances
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah, and it was just like, oh, wow, this is like – I haven't seen this movie really before. And anyway, so I went in and I asked to audition for all the different parts. And then they said, well, what about read for the part that I wound up playing, which is Josh character. And so I did. I didn't really hear anything afterward. And I remember I'd really I had long hair.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And then a couple of weeks later, I wasn't even thinking about it. I just went to I was walking past a barbershop and just when I said, just buzz my head. I mean, her hair was down about there.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And they just went with the clippers, everything. I was just like, I just want to cut it all off. And then a week later, I went into a restaurant. And Amy Heckerling, who directed the movie, was eating there. And she looked at me.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
She froze. She goes, what did you do? What did you do to your hair? I was like, I just like shape. You're like, this is getting too long. She goes, you were in, you auditioned for this part. We were going to, you were going to maybe going to get this part, but you can't cut your, I was like, and I was so, I'm like, ah, well, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
But then I had to do a screen test for Clueless and they put me in a wig to try and match. Whoa.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
what my hair is and there is nothing that feels more manly than a than when you're trying to get when you're trying to get chemistry to get like sweetheart don't pull my hair too much eventually like enough time had gone by that anyway they're like yeah this is not gonna work just grow your hair out and so they they skipped the wig and and by the time it got to filming my hair had grown enough that uh
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
In some regard, yeah. I don't think – like I don't feel competitive with other actors. I'm a real big fan of a lot of other actors. I get really excited by people who I – like are talented.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And I don't think this should be torturous. I know this is something you and I both really share.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
This should be fun. It's a really fun job. You respond to comedy in the same way I do and that it should be a fun experience. Have you had the experience where you're working on something and it might be funny and people say, oh, if you find it funny, it's not going to be funny and it's supposed to be torturous. Otherwise, it won't work.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
It looks like you're having – if you think it's a blast, it's not going to translate. And I think I couldn't disagree with that more.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Are we done with this? So my conflict style is probably different depending on who I have a conflict with.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I'm just going to try and I've got to ride this out. I can't go anywhere. I've got to do this.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Do you remember we had to leave for a week in the middle of shooting?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
No, because somebody rented it out for a bar mitzvah. And we all left for a week and then had to come back.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I remember in those brief moments when it was sunny, we all were like, oh, my God. It was like, what can we film? What can we do?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
But, you know, I remember the opening scene that we did when we were all around the campfire when they're playing Jane. Yeah. That it had been pouring and it was like we're sitting there soaking wet everywhere.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And freezing. It was all freezing. It was freezing all the time. I remember the – I remember the kind of the clothes we were wearing at the time.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. And whoever wasn't filming – Right. Because we were – there was a 30-minute drive to Target in the main part of town.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
It might have been pre-Target. And whoever wasn't filming had to go buy the beer.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And we were all wearing like kind of – you know, Wellingtons and, and, uh, and then we would all just hang out and, uh, drink beer and drink beer, play guitar, they have guitars and, uh, play music really loud, really late.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. It was his first, he showed up No one – we were all like dumb kids just wanted to have a blast.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
You were late 20s. I think I was 30. Yeah, you were late 20s. I was 30. And then – and David Hype here showed up. He was coming in later. But he was also the – except for Janine, the only one that anyone would really know.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And we didn't, we were all like, what is this guy going to think? And we are, we all slept in those kinds of like in the infirmary. Everyone had these little kind of their own little rooms and cots or whatever it is. And then the main infirmary where we would hang out as a group every night till like one or two in the morning playing music really loud. Um, Was the main part.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And I remember it was his first night. None of us knew him. And it was like one in the morning. And it's so loud. He's filming the next morning. And he's been in his room.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
He's doing everything. He's a professional. He's a professional. And I remember he came out and then stopped in the doorway. And we all, it was like, the needle on the record. Stop. Everyone got quiet. And we all looked. And Ken Marino just goes. Oh, great. It's Frasier.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
There's no telephones. And then whoever did have to shoot, we'd all just go watch their scenes.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I mean, with the week that we had off for the bar mitzvah included. I think that's, yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
But I don't remember like filming scenes and everyone's like kind of watching. You were the one that I would go to and I'm like, is that funny? Was that kind of, you know, I really valued your opinion on everything.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Paul, you want to ask for another one. Go ask for another one. You want to ask for another one.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. The video for the song that's on the soundtrack of the movie is in the middle of the movie.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah, and a soul patch. You had a soul patch? Yeah, I had a soul patch. But it's like, yeah, us in our street clothes.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah, they're in this mixing boards, and we're just, like, hanging out, goofing around with Nora Jones.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Professional. Incredible musician. Yeah, and then after the video ends, it just goes right back to the movie. Yeah. How did this movie get made? I don't know.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Everything just kicks in and you're like, oh, oh. This entire life is absurd.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
All kinds of different things. I suppose... When people talk about comedy specials and stuff, I always say, oh, have you seen Patrice O'Neill, Elephant in the Room? That's one of my favorites.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
It's like the fact that Patrice O'Neill, that we lost Patrice O'Neill when we did, where I feel like he was on the verge of just being the guy, is just heartbreaking. I think he was just so funny.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And... That's one of my favorites. One of the things I just kind of – I always seem to watch – I mean I like little memes and things that get passed around like the guy jumping into the pool that it's frozen over and he doesn't know it. He just like wipes it out. That kind of stuff is people falling. Forget it. I love it. But I love – I always go back to news bloopers. Yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Well, you know, there are these— There's just something so beautiful and great about people that they— It's the news. It's serious. And when something goes wrong— You know the gay blind one?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
That is— That is the most incredible one. That is the— I've watched that so many times. It's, what, four seconds. The blind mountain climber.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Okay. As we head to the break. Okay. Okay. And as we head to the break, and you know, wait a minute, because you know in her, like, oh boy, I just messed up. And he is like, I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Nothing. When I see people really laughing... And really, like, there's – in those news bloopers, there's one – there's one – it's these two guys. They're speaking a language I don't understand. Okay. It's like I don't know what – by the way, some of the ones that, like, news in other countries.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I'll go in. I'm going to go like best news bloopers of 2023 or 22. I've seen them all.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I will watch those over and over again. But there's like one where these two guys and somebody says something and I don't know what he's saying, but the other guy says it and he starts laughing and they both start laughing. And they are crying.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And they're on the ground crying. And I don't know what the hell they were talking about. And tears because there's – God, I do love – God, I love that. Why do we love – I mean, I think – Because there's something – it's the opposite of pretension. It's pure joy. It's defenseless. It's the purest – It's celebratory. My wife has said before, this is such a good idea.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
She goes, they should have like in hospitals when people are getting, going for like chemotherapy or whatever, And they're sitting in the chair for hours. They should have on screens all around just bloopers from people laughing.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
It's a great idea. And I agree. If I see people laughing really, really hard... I'm done. I love it so much.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah, I think that's even a line. That's how Bobby feels about abortion, isn't it? Oh, yeah, right. What did he say about abortion? Yeah, so I guess my thoughts on abortion are just like, I want everybody to have a good time. I just want everybody to have a good time.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I want it. Come on. Please, you can do it. Just do it. Come on.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Leslie Knope is capable and great for that job. Bobby Newport is not.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Thank you, Amy. My memories of that were I can't believe I get to work with my favorite people in the world. You and Adam and Catherine and Rashida. It was like the dream. I mean this is –
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
You know, I remember when you were talking to Tina on the very first episode you did where you were saying you feel like the great thing that can happen if you are able to sustain enough of a career that you can get to a point where you work with your friends or you get to work with people you really like. Because it's not work. It's just the best.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And, I mean, it was such a fun character, obviously, and the show is so great and you're so great in it. It was just... It was a dream.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
It was a dream. And I was – I loved it. I loved every second of it. I loved hanging out with all you guys.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. Well, there's nothing – there's nothing funnier to me than unearned confidence in
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Like just – just somebody feels like they – you know, it's like I've got it figured out. And it's like, no, you don't. Yeah. But if it's – and if it's like nice – like it's really funny if it's not nice, unearned confidence. But that was the thing of like – He had a lot of kind of unearned confidence, but he was just dumb.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And that was a fun thing to get to play. Yeah. It's a fun kind of character to get to play.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah, I think that's a good way to do it. Yeah. I know that word. That's a really good—by the way, of course you do. Fucking great word. You know, it's a fucking great word.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Not a ton of stuff. I know. It's weird. He's kind of like my closest, oldest friend, but we haven't done a ton of stuff together.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I'd love it. You should. He's such a good actor. He is. He's a really, I mean, clearly everyone's obviously recognizing this. He's such a good actor.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Well, he's like, he's one of, you know, he's so good. He is. And he really can play very complex emotional scenes. Yeah. And you really kind of know what that character is thinking. But then he also has a way of being able to kind of remove this, have this kind of emotionless removal of whatever he's doing that's really interesting, which plays into Severance, I think, very well.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
make your face still you have to be able to just like get the machine on like neutral like for everyone to project and it's he's very good it's like a greek mask kind of thing yes so adam is great at that and the one thing that i always thought with anna like when i met him is he's the funniest he's got the driest kind of most irreverent um sense of humor um
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I mean, that's how we became friends because we liked a lot of the same kind of jokes and things like that.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen it. You haven't seen the finale? No.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
No. I'm staying away from everything. I don't look at my phone.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I know. I know. So, yeah, I've been able to avoid all that. And I've told him. I haven't. I haven't reached out to you yet. Because you're saving it. I haven't seen it yet.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I'll tell him he was great in it. But I mean... Anyway. But he really is terrific. And you know that better than anybody.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I got to cover this. So for sponsorship, no one knows what I'm drinking. You can't see any labels.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Look, this is a long podcast, and I don't want to walk away and interrupt the flow, so to speak.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Now's our time. But you guys get to pee in bottles on the road. That is true. It is one of the good things.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. By the way, everything's long. They're so long. And having to do—even if it's like something you're interested in with people you know or like it's all work.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
tender-hearted nerd he's not as cool as you think he is as you learned no not not at all okay friendship though you've done a couple movies about that yeah one thing that i feel like um i've always had like i've been good at in my life is picking friends and Um, it's the one thing that even like when I was in grade school and I didn't, I was not like the, Oh, I'm friends with everybody.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Like I was not that kid at all. But, um, I could – I think I have – I could recognize like nice people. And so my whole life, all my friends were – they were kind of funny and nerdy in all the ways you want your friends to be nerdy and decent. And so – I just want to like, you know, it's like you want to hold on to the people you care about.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And, and, and the other thing too is, you know, you and I were talking about this. It's, I think in a way we, we live weird lives cause they're public lives and it can be a little overwhelming and, you know, and with the noise of the world and the noise of this job and everything else is you kind of want your world to be smaller. I, each year that goes by, I just kind of want it smaller and I want,
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
the important stuff to count. And to me, the most important stuff that I've learned, probably because I'm now 55 years old, is that, oh, the pinnacle, the height of it is just... being with the people that I love and really laughing with like a bunch of friends it's the greatest it's the best thing there is and so that is I just always try and cultivate that
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. That I had painted on the back of it? Patrick Nagel. Yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I painted it. Okay. I'm like, I need this. I want to get a good acid wash jean jacket, but it needs a Patrick Nagel print on the back, and I'm just going to have to paint it myself.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I've known John since he was, I want to say maybe about 16 years old.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
No, he was all, he might have been 17, 16, 17, around there. He was, we'll talk about the coolest guy in the room. It was not me. I recognized that in him right away. He was really handsome. He was smart. He was athletic. He was all of these things. And I know all of this because he was friends with the girl that I liked. That he was – and that was how I – Was he with the girl? Yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
They used to go out and then they – He got the girl. Yeah. But they knew each other for years and years way before me. But I was always a little bit like, okay, this guy – Yeah. Oh, how do I compete with that guy?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. I'm going to grow my hair. She's going to look at my hair and go, wait a minute. Do you know Michael Hutchence?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Well, I was, you know, I was certainly drawn to that. And I think that was probably because I didn't have the ability to be the other guy.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Ham was sports and he was just, you know, I remember we were, I have such a vivid memory of all of us playing Trivial Pursuit. And I'm just meeting John. The girl that he was friends with that I was dating at the time, we're all playing, we're playing in teams. And he would roll and immediately go like, oh, sweet, I'm going to go to history. I'll go to yellow.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Not arts. Not pink. Not pink. I'm going to entertainment every time. Of course. And he's like, this guy is going to yellow? Yeah. And then all of a sudden, it's like he gets a question. What's the biggest lake in Africa? He's like, Victoria. Yep, yep. That's a pie. That's a pie piece. And I'm sitting there going.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah, yeah. Give me all the science. You're going to science and nature, are you? Are you going to be that guy? And so I was so kind of. Here's what I do remember afterward, after that game. I'm like, I should probably like read some atlases. I read an atlas.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
after a while and it's a longer story but we did become really really tight and really good friends and it's great we've been really great friends since I know you all are one of the things that really makes me laugh and I have told this story and I have nothing to do with this story but it's when you got the news about your doctor and he was hosting SNL the best
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah, it was. Not that long afterward. Not that long afterward.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
It was because of the emotional rollercoaster, the release of that. And I think it's also not just a testimony to him, to you, that he knew that it's like you're going to find this funny. Yeah. And it's because that's you. Yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And it was like this incredible night. I remember. And he did the – I know.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
No, no. I still worry. I sometimes think like I think I'm getting worse at this.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. No, there are times when, you know, it's such a strange thing where it's like sometimes on one day or something, you're like, oh, this is, I got it. I know how to do this. I feel like I've really kind of figured some things out. I've got my, at this point, way more than 10,000 hours in. And then other times you're like, wow, I'm not – I don't – I can't do this. I don't know how to do this.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And I don't – and it's – the mystery of it is a little frustrating and bewildering. So I do feel like I don't have a handle on it all the time. But I do feel also more relaxed about aspects of it. I know how some of this stuff kind of just – the technical sides of things, how they work. I understand editing. I understand, um, how like I can, like I can do a scene.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
It's like, I'm picturing it as how the editor will see it or a director and where you would do a cut point. And these kinds of certain things you just learn over time. Um, but I, but I don't ever feel a hundred percent, um, comfortable. I don't, I don't think, um,
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Certainly. And you have that thing on the drive home. You're like, oh, why didn't I, you know, say that?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
By the end, we're in a flop house. You're sitting next to the crackhead. Yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Here's why I say that, though. I think you're wrong. What are you going to say?
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I sometimes think, you know, people say less is more. Sometimes more is more. And it doesn't, you go big if it's like coming from a real place. I think that was, you were hilarious in that scene.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
You're not. This eye is kind of looking at me and that eye is looking at the fake food. Paul, sometimes I think I go too big. I'm worried. I'm worried about this. That is such a good... God, you still surprise me. I don't think I've seen you do that. It's like doing that weird thing. There's nothing particularly specific about it.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I don't know what you're talking about. You need corrective lenses, but you're not wearing them.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
You got a little wonky eye. And you look like... I just have a thing with my lips.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
You just got a little... It's not that I got a little surgery. It's maybe that I need a little surgery.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
They still exist! I don't know if people go. No, they don't go. I'll tell you, though. No. They should go for... Look, you know me. Why do I want to go in my living room and my couch? I don't promote anything. It's the lamest thing ever. I don't ever want to talk about it. We didn't even have to talk about this. But I will say, Tim Robinson is freaking hilarious. He's a genius.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I got to see this movie. in a theater with people and I was like oh my god I forgot what it's like to see something that like everyone is laughing at like and having that kind of shared experience and it was really it was it made me so happy and also kind and like nostalgic yeah and like almost sad yeah it's like oh yeah this used to exist
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I saw it in the theater. It was so good. I went back and watched it the next night. I went twice. Yeah, yeah. So many times that movie in the theater.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
So I remember this scene where John Lithgow Hits his daughter. Oh, Laurie Singer. Laurie Singer. And hits her. And then it's shocking. And it cuts to the next scene. And he feels terrible. And he's saying to his wife, Diane Wiest, I've never had anyone in my entire life. And somebody in the back row goes, liar.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And to this day. I still think of it. Yeah. And it's like, I was 14 years old, whatever, however old I was, maybe older than that, but like, you don't get that at home on your couch.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Say whatever you want. And look, if you can't think, if you're in the movie theater with people and you can't think of something to say, just get on your phone, Google some things. Yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Good, good. Perfect. We're right there. I'm terrible. I want to say, was it maybe... It might have been at a UCB show early on or there was another time I think I was at 10th Street Lounge with Janine Garofalo maybe. My first famous friend. Yeah, it was around that. Because we kind of both moved to New York somewhat around the same time.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
No, I was in California. Right. I'd gone to an acting school for a couple of years.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I don't know. There's Ada, Lambda, Rada, Bada. I went to Bada, too. You went to Ada and Bada? I went to Ada and Bada. Yeah, I couldn't get into Kada. That was the next one.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Oh, I remember we were doing Malfi at the Round Wharf, Bobby and I. And we were in between show, Guillaume. We were in between matinee and evening performance.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yes, yes. No, absolutely. It's funny you should say that because when Rene Auberginois and I were doing Mattress once upon a, we had the exact same conversation about, you know.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
By the way, I just buried Tis Pity, She's a Whore, which is a real play.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I think he's in the show. He's a pilot. I think he maybe had a couple of lines. But I loved dramatic films and dramatic actors. And I thought, oh, this is what you're supposed to do. And so... And then I got to college and it was like, oh, I'm studying Shakespeare, which I'd never done before and found that I really liked it.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Yeah. I was going to school. I would DJ and emcee bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. That's right. I did that for a while because I could work on weekends.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
There was also just the real fun of just a straight up moany moany that Billy Idol would do. Because... Come on, that part. Come on. Here she comes now, say moany moany. Hey, hey, now, get... Laid, get fucked. And that was like, that was like.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Are you going to say this? And then I'd look around and see kind of like the grandparents going like. Yeah.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
I went to this acting school in California, Ada, which is where I met Adam, by the way. That's how we became friends.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
So it was – I was probably – Adam Scott. Adam Scott. I was probably 21, and Adam was maybe 17 or 18 years old. Maybe I was 22, and he was 18. And there was like a party. The school was only like two – a couple years. It wasn't big, but – I do remember the first time I met Adam, and it was – somebody was having a party, and we hit it off right away. We talked, and I want to say we talked about REM.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
Wow. And we became – We became pretty tight, pretty good friends not that long after that. He went there after I did. And then we did a play together because I graduated from that school and I stayed in California for a few years and then tried to get a play going.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
One of the teachers, a woman named Diana Stevenson at that school, she had said, let's do this play about Byron and Shelley called Bloody Poetry. And so it was a small little cast, and Adam and I did it together.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
But I auditioned for different things, and I didn't really get them. And then I did audition for Clueless, which was like the John Hughes things. And I went in. I didn't really get it. I was reading that script. I'm like, oh, this is like – Like, oh, a bunch of kids, huh? This reminds me a little bit of those movies I grew up watching.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Paul Rudd
And then I got this audition to go in, and I remember there were other characters. I'm like, oh, that's a cool character. I hadn't seen a character like Christian before like this. I liked it. There was a gay character that was not being made fun of, but it was kind of the coolest character.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Yeah. Scotty and I, I know Jason loves this Kathy and Rita's section of the show. I do. But...
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Okay, good. So, Scott and I, we're doing our will and testament, you know, like you have to fill out, you have to do the icky stuff. Oh, my God, that sucks. So, congratulations, you guys. It's all going to you. We're in?
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Of course you said that. Of course you said that. Hey guys, good luck with this. That's really funny. Wait, did I ever tell you guys?
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Yeah. Tell me, Jason, stop me if I said this on the show before, but I once went to, and Will's like, stop. I once went to, I had an audition for, to play like a dental assistant. So I needed a white lab coat. Cause I was like, I'll dress the part, right? It was for commercial. And at night I was doing sketch comedy in this theater and that we would kind of rent out at night.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
But during the day it was a massive acting class, right? And with like 200 people in the class. And so I was like, oh, on the way to the audition, I'll just run and get my prop, my little white jacket to go to the commercial audition at the theater. I had no idea it was being used during the day. I walk in and I open the door in front of 200 people and a guy's teaching the class. And I was like,
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
And the guy, it was just, it's stupid. But, you know, you have to go in there and you sit in this, you know, conference room with the guy, with this, you know, estate lawyer. And he goes, I said, I go, so wait a minute, let me get this straight. So if I die, and I was doing like before and then after. So I go, if I die, he goes, I'm going to stop you when you die. Go ahead. And I... I love that.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Oh my God. Oh my God. I was so embarrassed. I was like, I'm so sorry. I do a show here at night. And then he was like, it's already too long of a story. He's like, what do you need? And I was like, I just have to get some. He's like, well, be quick about it, you know, and go get your thing, whatever you need. I was like, so sorry.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
So I go in the back and I'm rustling through and I'm making all this noise. And he's like, can you please be quiet? I'm teaching a class. And I was like, I'm so sorry. And I keep going and I'm making more noise, more noise. And he goes, are you for real? I go, why don't you act like I'm not here? And I got my stuff and I ran out. They all fucking hated me.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Yes, thank you. Good story. You have this crazy ability, I know off the top of my head, all of the hits shows that you've been on. And so you have this crazy ability to- Name them. You just said it. So name them.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Obviously Cheers. Becker. I remember Becker. I remember, well, Good Place. You did, I remember Creepshow. I remember CSI. You were on CSI. Which was very damages. Damages. Like you've done so many like hit shows. It's unbelievable. By the way, I did audition for Ink, which was a short-lived sitcom. I did not get the part. Wow.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
And I was like, wow. It's coming for you. Yeah. I'm sorry, when you die. Go ahead. And I was like, Jesus.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
But how do you, do you, is there a process by which you have like a filtering system? A filtering system for how to pick the right project? Because you seem to always do that. The trick is to spend all your money so you have to go to work.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
It just needs to be— Look, for every ice cream sandwich you eat, you just got to run an extra mile or something. Yeah, there you go.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Wait a minute, Ted. Wait, I was looking through your earlier credits and I see that you did an episode of BJ and the Bear. That sounds like something right up my alley.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Uh-oh. Some Jake Gyllenhaal movie years and years and years ago. I can't remember. Well, isn't it? Yeah.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
We were talking about that in the meeting with the estate lawyer, you know, Will guy. And he goes, I said something, you know, came up with like the health initiative, like, you know, I forget what it's called, where you can pull the plug or not, you know. And he goes, you know, you just got to make sure like if you're in a, if you have a feeding tube or something.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
It must have been wild, Ted, to watch the evolution of Woody Harrelson from getting the part and starting out at the end of the series to what he had become as a human being and as an activist and as everything, as a movie star. He's a wonderful actor.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
I do think it's funny. I do think it's a very funny thing in this town where I won't say who it is, but I ran into a person that is known in the world. Male or female? Because I'll guess it. Female. And she said... I've got it. I said... I said, hey, what's going on? She's like, have you ever been to her house?
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
And it's like, if anybody from Chicago, where I'm from, you know who's been inside of your house.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Anyway. You know, I was looking at a lot of heads. Here we go. Fucking here we go.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
And I go, I would hook up a feeding tube now. Sure you would. Sure he would. It's such a shortcut.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
I was looking at Ted's credits and I was like, and you tell me, you stop me when you hear something that you might want to know more about. He was on Help Me Help You. I remember that. I remember that show. He was on Heist for two episodes. He was on something called Bye Bye Benjamin. Then he was on Knights of the South Bronx. And then our front, Was there one in there you want to know about?
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
All right, there's a show called Help Me Help You, and then you did Heist, and then you did a show called Bye Bye Benjamin.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
And going to town. Yeah. By the way, a trough of just all your favorite stuff would just be incredible. It would be incredible.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
With my mouth just hanging on the bottom. That's what I'm saying. I'm going to have Maple draw that. Please, just the design of it, the engineering of it.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
So, hey, guys. Hey. Hey, Sean. Hey, hi. What city are you in? Everybody's been traveling so much. Where are you at?
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
Ted Danson, hello. I was just with Jimmy Burrows last night and Debbie Burrows, Scotty and I at the Hollywood Bowl. And we were talking about you just last night. And Scotty and I, every, like I would say, three or four years, we watched from the beginning to the end, no joke, every episode of Cheers, every several years, every episode, over and over.
SmartLess
"Ted Danson"
I ran out of Pop-Tarts, so this morning I made an English muffin. Oh, don't worry. We read the internet. We saw. You made an English muffin? On CNN, dude. What'd you stick in all the nooks and crannies? So butter, and then I made my own cinnamon, like, mixture. Cinnamon sugar mixture. Cinnamon and sugar.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And so I was getting rejected at every waiting application I'd fill out. There's no way. I couldn't get a job. And I went to this bar called Studebakers, which was like a 50s bar in Kansas City. Had to be 23 to get in. They didn't want any of the younger crowd.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
They want some certified 23-year-olds who, like, who's going to go to a 50s bar anyway?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
That's funny. And so I... Went to try and get a job and they said, we're not hiring. And I saw that they had a DJ booth. And I said, do you need a DJ? Because I also DJ, which is not true. I didn't. But they said, actually, we do. But here's the thing.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
At Studebakers, every hour on the hour, we do these things called show times where all the waiters hop on the bar and they do like, you know, born to hand jive or some dumb dance thing.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
So I lied and they said, well, here's the thing. You got to audition because we do these show times. So I had to audition with a lip sync of a 50s song. Which one? I know you still know it. So I chose Volare. Volare.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And which was, I just thought it'd be funny because it's in, you know, Italian. But I put on a tuxedo and a pompadour to cover my long hair. Oh my God. Like an Elvis wig, right? And so anyway, I got the job. And then they saw that I had really long hair, and they said, you got to cut your hair. Wear a 50s bar, not a 60s bar. And I said, well, I won't do it.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Yeah, and it was also a really bad pompadour. So it was a really cheap wig. And so it started to lose its pompadour shape, and it just turned into like a big, weird, black tuft of something. Yeah. And when I was working, people didn't realize that I had long hair and had to cover it up. So they just thought I was some young kid with this weird wig. I don't know what they thought.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Rudnitsky. Down, like, way back, not while I was born or my grandparents. Way back, great-great-grandparents. Wow. Polish? Yeah. Like Russian, Belarus, that Eastern European. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And I found that it was mainly kind of like in an area of Belarus. Yeah. Something cool. A town called Holmec.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Well, being, you know, everyone in my family was kind of, was British. Both my parents, everyone was kind of around London. My grandparents were in London, but they, we moved to the States, And then, or my parents did anyway. Most of the family went to Canada. And so I had grandparents and aunts and uncle in Toronto and in the GTA. No, he really knows it.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I'd walk to the byway, get my Empire Strikes Back cards in French. Yes. The byway. Are you still a Maple Leaf fan? Past the Mr. Submarine. This is all for you, Will.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Did you live in Canada? No, but I'd been going there my whole life. Wow. And so most of my relatives were in Canada. So when I had to get a bar mitzvah, my parents said, well, just do it in Canada because that's where most of the family is.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
No, he did work for TWA. TWA was the airline... TWA, their hub was in Kansas City, which is why we wound up in Kansas City.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Got it, got it, got it. When my dad left London when he was a kid, he was about nine years old, and then they moved to New Jersey, his family, and they were in Patterson, New Jersey. But he eventually started working with TWA before I was born, and he kept getting job transfers. So we moved around a lot when I was a kid. I was born in New Jersey, and then I lived in,
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And then I moved to Kansas for about a year. And then I moved to California for a few years. And then I moved back to Kansas. So we moved around quite a bit.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Oh, look at the new kid. Did you grow up in one spot? Did you always, I mean, Jason, you were always LA, right?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I have a younger sister. She's two and a half years younger than me. And I think, yeah, we always were just kind of the new kids in school. We got very used to it. We didn't really know any different.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Uh-huh, yeah. Possibly. Yeah, I sometimes think that a good way to kind of ingratiate yourself or just not get your ass kicked is to just be kind of pleasant. And if you can make somebody laugh, then you can be accepted a little bit easier. I certainly was drawn and always have been drawn to people who are funny. I mean, my dad was hilarious. And I think that...
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
You know, when I'd be, yeah, probably in some new school or something, I'd go home and I'd listen to those Steve Martin records. Yeah, that album, Get Small. Did you ever listen to that?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
things i could really remember laughing at was they used to show monty python's flying circus on pbs yeah i loved it my parents loved it and we'd watch it and i thought it was hilarious um i never really understood or thought in terms of like british comedy or a british sensibility but uh i did always respond to that and then and then when faulty towers was on it was just one of my favorite shows yeah me too but it's like you know you guys like that
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I think that... I think I just... There was an absurdity to it. And there was also something, it might have been the first time, maybe why I was drawn to Steve Martin as well, but it was like, oh my God, there are grown-ups that are being... completely silly. I remember that twit of the year competition as a kid and crying. I couldn't believe how funny it was to see these grownups acting this way.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And I mean, there was still so much with, same with Steve Martin, where it was this kind of ridiculous, I'm getting happy feet kind of thing.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Look, just please don't bring that up to anyone at Holiday Ham Company because they had a real issue with Honey Bae.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Is it like in a factory? No, no. It was in like a mini mall. Oh, I see, like personalized ham. It was a standalone store. Oh, got it. Honey Bait, I believe, is a chain, isn't it?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
There's one thing I don't want to do. It's piss off the people at Honey Baked Ham. No.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Oh, no, no. What do you love? No, you go. You go. What were you going to say? Guys, don't play. All right. You go. Oh, Jesus. No, you go. This is a great bit.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I want to know where you worked. I want to know where you worked. Oh. I worked at Holiday Ham Company. No, you were going to say something else about working. So I worked at this place and when I say it was a whole process, I would get there very early in the morning and I would unload a truck filled with ham.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
By the way, this isn't like pigs hanging in a truck. These were ham hocks. Are they hocks? They can be. Sure. And they were cryovacced, vacuum sealed. Oh, wow. And what I would have to do is unload a truck at like five in the morning, and then I would have to cut open- Release them from their sheaths? Yes, exactly. Cut open the plastic.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And then I would have to put them, these entire ham hocks- So far, I haven't heard one thing that we're gonna keep in the episode, but go ahead.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
So I got to put it on a thing. I slice it. I dice out a whole thing. I got to cut it in half with a saw. I put it on a spit. And then I take a propane torch and a sugar sifter. And I have to wear protective gear on my wrists. Same approach to acting. Same approach to your acting. That's exactly right.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Yeah, at Studebakers. I went from Studebakers to Holiday Ham Company. So, you know.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
By the way, I think I had it in a net. Net the hair. It was in a net. I was in the back. So if I was up front dealing with customers, there's no way.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Comb it out. Yeah. Now, I can only imagine, though, you know at least one or two of those long hairs were getting glazed into the ham.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
It isn't what I say. I think I said something about sleep once where it was like, oh yeah, you try and get enough sleep. I sleep a lot. I don't look anything like you. You know what the secret is?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
No, I have lots of other questions. Of great theater stories? Yeah, yeah. Something bad happened in a theater. Something... Oh, something really bad. Yeah, no, no, I've had, I actually, well, I've done a show where somebody died in the audience.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
There was a death. There was a death in the audience. There was somebody went to the bathroom in like the fourth row. That was an interesting thing to get a whiff of that during the scene. No way. Somebody lost control of their bowels.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Nice. Bravo! Thanks, guys. Well, it wasn't me that did it. Oh. Yeah. No, that would be, actually, that would be, that would be horrible. Wait, what was the show and somebody really died? Somebody died last night of Ballyhoo was the show. These were two separate occasions. Okay. Unless I'm conflating them and they shit themselves and they die.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
By the way, it's often, I think it even happens in the other order where it's like you die and then you wind up just shitting yourself. That's a thing that happens. So wait, so the person died. I've had somebody, by the way, I've also done a show where somebody in the middle of a scene, I heard a bunch of commotion in the audience and then didn't realize it didn't subside.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
So it's like, what is happening? Only later came to realize that somebody in the front row of the balcony leaned over and puked on all of the people below. Oh my God. Word of God. Yeah. It was a show called Grace. And there was a scene, and I was doing it with Michael Shannon. No way. And Michael Shannon had this long monologue. We're doing the scene. It's just the two of us. We hear this noise.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
We're both aware that, like, there's a commotion. But usually it dies down, and it's getting louder and louder. And Michael is... pissed off and starts screaming his lines toward the direction of the noise. To make a point. Which of course, when Michael Shannon is yelling at you, like it's the most terrifying thing ever. It's the thing that did make everybody kind of quiet down.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And then after this scene, I have to rush over to the wings to do a costume change. And I asked the stage manager, I said, what the hell's happened? What happened out there? And he's the one that said, somebody threw up. Somebody was drunk and threw up over the balcony and it puked onto about 10 different people.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Talk about the person who died. Learn that after the fact. You're like, oh my God. They had to close down and then eventually they had to bring somebody, like a stretcher to get somebody out of there. It's like, oh wow. Wow. It's weird. I mean, you know, you hear of people dying on stage. Yeah. But you don't hear as much about people dying near the stage. Yeah, yeah.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
He fucking, he killed. By the way, died. The guy. We slayed him. Yeah, died nearing the end of the show. Yeah. And. So you finished. I'm not so sure. Yeah. anyone realized until people were shuffling out of the theater and one guy stayed. Sounds like a nice, peaceful passing. It was definitely a courteous way to go for us, for the actors.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Yeah, right. I've had, by the way, I had one, now they're all kind of coming, they're flooding back. I did a scene, I was lying on top of a bed. I was doing a scene, I was lying on top of a bed and I'm, with this woman, Rachel Weisz was in the show and I was wearing boxer shorts and a t-shirt. And all of a sudden, this had never happened before, I heard the audience laughing.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And I'm like, what is going on? I realized it's because I was lying on the bed. I had my leg up and kind of like, and I realized my balls were hanging out. Which is worse than actually like even your penis. It's like when it's just your balls. Or just one ball. By the way, it might have been just one ball. But it was loose-fitting boxers.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Well, one of them. One of the Wrights. It was originally written by Edgar Wright.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Yeah. He's great. The first time I ever met Judd, was it really is a weird thing. I don't know if you guys feel this way about those Steve Martin records. I know we've talked about them a lot. But it seems as if a lot of people in our generation, those albums had a big effect on them.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Yeah. And as did Steve Martin in general. And one time I was at a dinner and I was talking about fake names and how it's so – difficult to come up with a perfect, funny, fake name. And I said, a great example is Gern Blanston, which was from an early Steve Martin routine. And someone at the dinner said, Gern Blanston. Oh, that explains Judd Apatow's email address. Oh, wow.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And I think at this time there was only AOL. I'm like, oh, that's hilarious. Yeah, he's like Gern Blanston. I don't think he has this anymore in case anybody wants to email him. But... Anyway, I went home and emailed Judd. I'd never met him.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And I said, hey, man, nice reference on your email address. That's amazing. And he emailed me back.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And that's how we met. And then he emailed me back and said, oh, I'm glad you've emailed me. It's nice to connect with you. Now I know who to hit up if I ever need tickets to a new Neil LaBute play. Because I've just done a bunch of Neil LaBute plays. Uh-huh. Anyway, we kept emailing each other for about a year. We became kind of pen pals. Never met each other.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And it wasn't until Anchorman that I actually met him in person. Oh, wow. That's crazy. Wow. And when I went into audition, he was there. And it was a little bit like, you know, meeting your... your pen pal that it's like, oh my God, wow, I can't believe there you are. I can touch you.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
No, it wasn't on purpose, although in Friendship, in the script, the character that I was playing was originally called Brian, which was the name of my character in Anchorman. And I thought, maybe we should change that name just because I also have another mustache. The mustache was just something that seemed like, oh, this is the kind of thing that this guy would probably.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Well, I got to say, you know, Tim, it's really Tim and it's Tim is so funny. And I don't know if you've ever watched, I think you should read, which I think you probably have.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I mean, he really has his own take on all of this stuff. And that was just such a blast to kind of, get to work with him and see what he was doing.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I remember I met him when he was a writer on SNL. Yeah. You know, everyone, even at that time at SNL said, oh, well, I mean, this guy, Tim Robinson's the funniest. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
He didn't write it. It might be the only thing I think he's ever done that he didn't write. However, the guy who... Directed it. It's a guy named Andrew D. Young. Yeah, he's great. He also wrote it, and he's friends with Tim and completely captures Tim's voice. I mean, when I read it, I would have sworn that Tim wrote it. Was there a lot of improv on the movie? I mean, there was some.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
But, you know, it's funny when we kind of... We were talking about it, and Tim said, let's take out all of the jokes. He wanted no jokes. And so it wasn't really perceived as this silly comedy. I mean, I know that Andy, the director, said that he envisioned... the master, you know, the Paul Thomas Anderson movie. He was like, we could do like a weird comedy version, but very strange of that.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And so it wasn't really, there was certainly some improvisation, but neither one of us was trying to really hit anything too funny. And I apologize, can we see this now? It's coming out, can't see it now. I think it's coming out in, I don't know, April or May.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I think you're going to do great. Thank you. I'm so happy to be doing this. You guys are so awesome. The show is so funny. I'm so happy to be on this finally.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Look, you guys have got a lot of people to talk to. I'm honored to be one of them. Wow.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
You get two U's, you get two episodes. I'll tell you who would turn the volume up. Jason Sudeikis and Claire McCaskill. That's who. You're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that would. What's Bobby Witt going to do this year?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I get a lot of her emails. Okay. And it... It's usually when they talk about the three from KC. The big three. It's Sudeikis, me, and McCaskill.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
You guys are the best. And I can't wait to see you in person. It can't come here soon enough. We'll be at the candy shop soon.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
That's your manager? That's great. Always. She's great. Back when she was my agent, when she was an assistant. That's how far back we go.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And it was started by a guy named Ira. Sure. And he was just this sweet guy and... No pun. He passed away, sadly, when he was very young. And we didn't want the candy store to kind of go away because it's not a big place, not a big town, and all the high school kids would work there, and everyone needs a candy store.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And so Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilary Burton, who are neighbors of mine... Yeah, let's... Mm-hmm. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Anyway, we went in, and another guy named Andy Ostroy, we went in and bought the candy store, and now we run it.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Yeah, about an hour, depending on if you're leaving from the Upper West Side, it's about an hour and 45.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
So Amy Heckerling said, after we filmed Clueless, I knew nothing about anything. I still don't that much, really.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And she said, say hi. And she also said, say nice things about her. So I love my wife. And she's an avid listener. And then we just hear the page flip. And then you... And now it's enough of her. And so, yeah. So what were you talking about?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Um, I'm remember, uh, yeah, uh, we have a, we get into it. We had some scrapes.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
That'd be good. This is a great idea. Thank you, Will. That's a great idea. I haven't done it. I haven't really done that yet, but maybe this year. Write this stuff down.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
They did like a cast change like Fargo or... I think they kind of went... I want to say in seven, it might have been Josh Hartnett. They did a White Lotus swap. That might have been H2O. Oh, H2O.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Yeah, 29 of which my microphone went down. I know. I did want to know. Can I just say also... How fun it is just to listen to you guys.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
To listen to you guys before I come on and to hear the jokes, which I really, really liked. Did you like my urologist joke? I did like the urologist joke. See, you're the one. I'm a fan of the dad jokes. I heard one not that long ago that I really liked, which was where did McKid Mellons go for the summer? Where? To John Cougar's melon camp. Nice.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Paul's microphone. It is, totally. It's this weak connection that I have. Thank you for saying that, Will. Thank you, Colin. I don't think it's totally true. I've made many missteps, and I've been very fortunate in many instances. But... When I was a kid, I just loved comedians. I loved watching SNL and all of that stuff and listening to Steve Martin albums.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And I think that, you know, when I was kind of in school, we had speech class. We had a radio and TV class. I loved watching the David Letterman show. And I used to start making little videos like he used to do. And I used to perform in speech competitions. And when I was... I want to say about 16 years old, my neighbor in Kansas City said, what do you think you want to study?
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
What do you think you want to pursue? And I said, I don't know. I like the arts and I like drawing and all of that. And he said, what about an actor? It seems like that's something that you would maybe like to do. And I think it was some kind of...
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
lightning bolt moment where I thought yeah maybe that is what I'd like to do because I certainly always liked funny stuff and movies and everything else and it feels like from that moment on I decided oh this is exactly what I'm going to try and pursue and I then went to school for it and I studied it and I and what were these what was this humorous interpretation thing because we had something similar in high school but it was called forensics I don't know why yeah forensics exactly this is it was called forensics in Kansas City too and sometimes I would tell people I study forensics and they think it's like what Quincy did
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
Well, there were different categories. There was dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, prose and poetry, improvised duet acting.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
So Paul, I heard you were a DJ for a while, right? Well, I mean, barely. You know, I did.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
I really did DJ. But when you say to people that, you know, oh, I used to DJ, that sounds like it was kind of a cool thing. But the way I DJed was not cool in any way.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And by the way, eventually it was that. The first time I DJed, was I was in high school.
SmartLess
"Paul Rudd"
And I went... Nobody, they're like, we don't even have equipment in this thing. I was trying to get a job as a waiter. I was in high school. And I went to different restaurants and I had really long hair. And I didn't want to cut my hair because... Because you're a G. I was a cheese ball. And I'm like, I got to keep this. You're crushing it.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
I'm sorry, John. I'm on this new medication.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
My perineum is on fire.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
LAUGHTER It's the telltale giveaway of an inflamed perineum. Do we think... Now, do we think it's... Do we think it's... Should I go first? You go first. Okay. We hear perineum, but we've also heard perennium. I thought you were going to say taint. The layman's term, sure. Don't denigrate the term. Perennium sounds like a... The poor man's perennium. A perennium sounds like a flower.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
You gotta throw your whole body into it.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Transference. You felt it. You felt it. That's good acting. Or is it acting?
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
You know the portrait of Dorian Gray? I have a painting in my attic. I call it my attic. My Attica. That is just a rotting, old, decrepit taint. And I also have one where it looks like a spaceship. It's called the Perennium Falcon.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
I have wondered this. Every commercial is for a medication. No question. Everyone talks about the perineum and how it's some sort of side effect. The other thing they also mention, which is in a way even more disconcerting, because they do it with kind of a cheery voice. It's talking about bloody or black stools.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Yeah. I know. What's the giveaway? Oh, I think I might be allergic to this. Yeah, everything.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Yeah.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
There is a thing that is so strange that we are so insistent on letting everyone believe they are sick in this country.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
No, but every commercial is one of these medicines. And my daughter, when she was little, You know, you just watch TV. It was unavoidable. You play games with your kids of like, all right, we're going to go through. We have to name. You have to come up with a food. We're going to go through A for like apple, banana, you know, cherries, whatever. We used to do. No, keep going.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
We used to do it. My daughter would be four years old and we would do it with medicines. She'd be like, Abilify. And I swear to God, we could make it through the entire alphabet. Four years old. Normally you skip X, but she's Zelljans. It's true. Right. Not a bit. That's really true. How many times are we going to do Zoivarax and Zithromax? Yeah. Xanax didn't even make the cut. God damn.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Good old Anacin. Right. And it cured everything. I just remember as a kid, I think all we had was Anacin, Bufferin, Bayer. You know, like aspirin commercials.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
But how was your perineum?
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Yeah. Yeah, I do. I mean, I certainly feel older. My kids are older. They have their own lives. I mean, I'm sitting here, you know, getting nostalgic about the Abilify game as I'm talking about it. And... I see, you know, people with little kids. I'm like, I remember that.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
And... Yeah.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Yeah. Oh, it's great. I mean, it's, you know, you always hear that, and that it's like, oh, every age is great, and it's true. Right. And it's an amazing thing. I was just in Australia, working in Australia, and my son was on break from school, and he came to Visit is the first time ever by himself and it was came to visit you in Australia.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Well, I don't know. Have you found this to be the case? Because I certainly have. I think just as I get older, my world gets smaller. And as far as friends, I do have friends, but I'm not nearly as social as I used to be. I'm not on any actual social media. I never have been. So I do feel as if the world operates in a way that it's passing me by. I... It's like I sit alone with my books.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
I sound like a Simon and Garfunkel song. I am a rock. This is crazy. I'm going to tell you something.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Talk about an oil painting.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
I don't... I get a thing that says, it's called Death of a Unicorn. I'm like, where do I sign it?
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
I would love nothing more, John. I hope so, too.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Jon Stewart on Which Speech Is Free in Trump’s America | Paul Rudd
Huh.