August 7, 2025 • 47 mins
Tony Hale has infused humor and heart into hilariously awkward TV characters on "Arrested Development" and "Veep," and now he’s taking on a profoundly different role in the fantasy-drama “Sketch” — a beautiful film he worked for eight years to make.
Hear which moment in the movie hit very close to home and even helped him be a better dad. Find out what traits he and Sophia share, and which one informed his character in “Arrested Development.” Plus, Tony tells why "Veep" writers would never have written storylines like the ones playing out in real life current events.
"Sketch" is in theaters now.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Well, hello, Whipsmarties.
We have someone on the podcast today that I have
(00:21):
such a talent crush on. I'm geeked that he's here.
From playing incredibly hilarious characters like Buster Bluth on Arrested
Development to Gary Walsh on Veep, we are joined today
by Emmy winner Tony Hale, who is here to talk
about a pretty profoundly different and deeply personal role that
(00:44):
he's playing in the fantasy drama feature film Sketch. What
really struck me about it is the movie exists in
this fantastical world, Tony's daughter's drawings come to life and
kind of wek havoc on a town, but they wind
up bringing the family closer together. And Tony isn't just
(01:07):
the star of Sketch, the great dad on screen. He
was a driving force behind the scenes, co producing this
movie and fighting for eight years to get it made.
Today we're going to talk about that journey, how you
really stay loyal to your creativity and your hunches about
what you want to do, His journey as a performer,
(01:28):
as an anxious person, as a father. Tony is so
self reflective and authentic and funny and just genuine. Oh
what a gem. Let's dive in with Tony him. Hello
(01:54):
for you, I'm great and thank you so much for
your flexibility and congratulation ends. Sketch is so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Did you get a chance to see it?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yes? They sent me the screener and I I just
love it. At one point I paused the movie and
I ran out. My partner was doing some work, and
I was like, I know you're working. I need you
to look at this. I just need you to look
at this. This is so amazing and it was really
I can't I felt like I couldn't wait to share
it with people. So I can't imagine how you feel
(02:27):
about it.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, that means a lot, man, that means a lot.
It's it's it's taken us eight years to get it
made and we uh just I mean, you know, I
mean the business is so easy getting a film to
you know, Yeah, but it's like finding financing. And people
either thought it was going to when we pitched it.
They either thought it was going to be like The
Bob a Duke but then it had it was kind
(02:49):
of funny, or they thought it was like bomb Snowbits
got some emotional depth, so they couldn't really grab the
vision of it, which I get. And then just having
it released, it's a very like, uh, take care of
my kid kind of a feeling, you know. Yeah, I'm
really proud of it. So I appreciate you watching it.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I'm so excited for you. It really made me think.
You know, normally when people come on the show, the
very first question I ask them is the one I'll
ask you. If you could, like fold space time for
an afternoon and today, you could walk onto a playground
and hang out with your eight year old self, do
(03:27):
you think you'd see the man you are in that kid?
Do you think that kid's interests if you got to
watch him play or talk to him about what he
was into, would track for your career? And it's a
crazy question to post to someone who literally made this
beautiful movie about the inner world of a child.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah. First, so I love that question. I love unique questions,
So I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh thanks. Who.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I gotta be honest, I don't think it hasn't been
until probably the last five years to therapy that I've
like kind of liked that kid, you know, I mean
that's super kind of deep and cheesy. But I was
just kind of like that kid was kind of obnoxious
and just you know, just how much attention he could
get and I wasn't crazy about him. And then just
(04:17):
kind of, much like I've done with a lot of
my emotions, kind of invited them to the table rather
than trying to kind of, you know, compartmentalize them. That's
been helpful of like, yeah, it's a kid who Yeah,
he was kind of as we all do. You know,
middle school is like a piece of hell and so dismanaging.
(04:38):
You know, he was doing what he could to get
through it, and I think it was more of just
like I would. I can definitely see the pattern that
has developed. I can definitely see how the whole map
has been put together and how it definitely started there.
I mean, I was a very anxious kid. It's kind
of beautiful how that anxiety has used in today's work
(04:58):
that i've you know, or that I've been able to
put out, which is great. So I've seen the whole
kind of patch making of the quilt. But back then
you're just like in survival mode, you know, So it
just kind of me alongside him being like Hey, it's
gonna be okay, you know, just you're doing your best.
I think one thing one thing I do tell I mean,
(05:19):
I'm sure you've talked a lot to like you're younger actors,
and they always ask your advice. But I would say, like,
just so you know, the value you have today is
going to be the exact same value you have after
whatever success you think is like success that your value
doesn't change. Yeah, I think I lived my life and
this business is in a way of like, you will
(05:39):
have value when this happens. You have value when this happens. Yeah,
even the way, even though in my mind I know
that's not true, the subconscious can believe that, you know,
and totally confirmation of like, yeah, my value is the
exact same is when I was back in middle school.
It hasn't changed absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
And I think you see that on such a large scale, right,
Like you know, you look around the world and this
sort of runaway, runaway capitalism, if you will, Like you
see all these people who have everything they could ever
want of value and value that they could never spend
(06:21):
or use, who still aren't satisfied. And so what you're
saying is really it's really hitting me because and maybe
it's the stage we're all in in life, right, Like
when people have gone through career shifts or divorces or
moved across the country or whatever the big change is,
(06:43):
and you realize like, oh, yeah, anywhere I go, I'm
still there. My problems are still there. Hopefully my joy
is still there, but like, oh, I really do. I
have to get to know me. I have to deal
with me. And I don't think it's an accident that
so many people are dealing with their own unique version
(07:04):
of this same situation. There's a universality to it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Oh yeah, there's also I mean, I love you said
that because there's a there is a tremendous weight that
we put on these kind of whatever that big thing is.
I mean, I've talked about this so much. Do you
ever talk about something so much? And you're like, people
are so tired of me? You think about it?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But yes, but then I have to remind myself that
much like today, whatever you're about to say, I haven't
heard you say.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Okay, well that makes me feel better.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And there might be something I've said a thousand times
that's new information to you. There's probably fans of both
of ours that are like, shut the up, you keep
repeating this, but oh well, you know, we're just two
humans hanging out on zoom.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's probably pretty narcissistic of me to think that everybody
listens to anyone.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Every single person knows every single thing I've ever said and.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
They're counting them. But I when I booked Arrested Development,
that was my That was I all when I was
in New York, you know, just trying to make it quote,
make it. Being on a sitcom was like it for me.
It was like if I can I remember back then,
we had pilot season, if you remember, and it was
(08:11):
it was like the season where everything gets made, and
that pilot season would always run by me and I'd
be like, damn it, you know, I missed pilot season.
And then I booked it and I realized that it
did not satisfy me the way I thought I was
going to satisfy me, and it really really freaked me
out because I got, you know, I was fortunate enough
to get my quote dream and it didn't satisfy I
was like, oh shit, this is where to now and
(08:36):
it was and then after that was canceled, when I
kind of kicked into therapy, and I just realized like
that whole thing of like, if you're not practicing content
me where you are, you're not going to be content
when you get what you want. And I had not
been practicing contentment, you know, all my time in New York.
I mean not that, not that I didn't love my
time in New York, but anytime I was going through stuff,
(08:57):
I was like, you know what, whatever, that big thing's
come and that big things came in and I gave
it much weight, way too much weight, and match that weight.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, and it's like putting too many eggs in one basket. Right,
we understand why that's bad or should be observed or
however you define it in a relationship. You know, you
hear you want you want to be happy with someone
but not co dependent. But nobody talks about codependence with
your career expectations or your personal goals. And it's kind
(09:30):
of striking me that that's sort of what it feels like,
you think, like, you know, it's the it's the work
version of like once I meet you know, my my
Prince Charming from the Disney movie, Everything's going to be amazing,
And it's like, yeah, somebody still has to do the dishes, actually,
so good luck.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, And there's also a big difference what I'm learning
with codependency and healthy dependence. Yeah, we need each other.
We're made community, We're made for relationships. And I've i've
I jokingly harp on codependency a lot because it's a strong,
strong than my history. But like, it doesn't mean I'm
supposed to be massively independent or.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Isolated, well, because that's not good either.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
That's not good either. There is a balance of healthy
relying on each other, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And where the reliance feels like joy, where it feels
like love totally, you know how nice, Like what a
what a thing? I'm curious, you know, when you talk
about that early success with Arrested, it's really interesting because
it makes me realize something like when I was working
(10:38):
on my first show, which similar thing, right like in
the early opts, you book a WB show like right
after Dawson's Creek, you know, what a thing. But then
our show also got relentlessly made fun of because it
was high tabloid culture the soup loved to talk about
and to be perfectly clear for our listeners, we were
(10:59):
doing a really dumb shit on that show, so like
they deserve to make fun of it. But in a
weird way, it gave me the opposite thing where I
was doing this thing that was largely pretty amazing and
kind of ridiculous, but ridiculous is fun, and I got
so almost allergic to liking it or thinking it was
(11:23):
good and only as a pandemic project. Rewatching the show
for a podcast with my friends, cause like how could
we work and what were we all doing? Anyway, we
were like, wait, this a lot of this is actually
really good. Like occasionally, you know, a dog eats a
guy's heart on the way to the hospital transplant, Like
that's ridiculous, but actually, these emotions, these actors, Like I
(11:46):
even looked back at myself and I was like, oh
my god, you really ate up that scene, okay, And
I've been able to kind of enjoy it in a
way I didn't. Then, are you at a point where
you can go back and look at the those things
and just love them and love your time on them, or.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yet I think, I'm man, it's a it's a tough
one because it's it's it's hard for me to watch
it and not constantly think how the sausage was made
or how this almost the feelings that I was going through.
I mean I was so overwhelmed arrested, which, by the way,
(12:26):
I would not have been able to play job on
that show because he was super confident. Thankfully, I was
playing like a very overwhelmed you know character was having
panic attacks every other day. So I mean that worked,
but I I think I was I was so honestly,
it's I related. I relate it to that kid in
(12:48):
middle school, like it's taken me a little time to
kind of be like I get you. I'm getting there
with that time, unarrested because I was just in this
uh really really, I never been on a stage. I've
never been a lot. I just asked a lot of
stupid questions. I mean I was just kind of overwhelmed.
So I think there's a little bit of a not embarrassment,
(13:10):
but kind of But then again, and also maybe I
gave a lot of power to people that I probably
just that I probably should not have given in just
the business in general, you know, so kind of that's
where I go back. I'm like, God, I really gave
that personal a lot of power, you know, that kind
of stuff. But that's Those are the regrets I have.
(13:34):
But in terms of the work I do really. I mean,
like my favorite joke on the show is Tobias joining
the Blue Man Group because he thinks it's a support
group of depressed men. I mean, I think that is
so later, and like him trusting he was my Him
and Job were probably my favorite characters. Will Arnett was
(13:55):
just you know what, I'm circling back. But it's like
I think watching other people on that show, it gives
me I love me, but for people. Yeah, and Deep
is a different story because it happened later and so
that I have no issue. I mean I enjoy that.
And I love watching bluep of reels because oh I
(14:16):
love that. That's what I remember. I remember just not
being able to keep it together. I mean, you know
that feeling like when your whole body is shaking and
you're just like, I I'm really trying my hardest, but
I'm I'm not gonna be able to make this and
I know the camera's on me, and I guess I'm
gonna lose it. That kind of feeling. I love watching
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, Oh it's such a joy too, Like whether it's
you or someone you love to watch. Watching Somebody Break
really is one of my favorite, like favorite moments.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
That I mean, I don't know if you grew up
you're younger than me, but the Caroburnett Show was a
big influence on me. And they would always Harve Tim
Conway trying to break up Harvey Korman just and you
can just see the pain in Harvey Korn. It's so
good and it's so freeing. It's such a moment of
accidental joy where it's yeah, nothing is planned, They're just
(15:08):
free and you're like, oh, I watched that. I just
I was telling somebody recently, it's like I would love
a comic con for just bloopers like I just to
like just be absorbed, and I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
We'll be back in just a minute after a few
words from our favorite sponsors. Is that so surreal to you?
Because when you talk about VEEP, I think about that
that level of complete political absurdity that you all were portraying.
(15:41):
And half of the days of my week now when
I look at the news, I'm like, is this a
headline from the Onion or is this the New York Times?
Like what's happening? Is it? Is it surreal? To you,
are you like, oh god, in some woo woo world,
like did we manifest?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
This?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Is this the secret come to life?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Like that's so good? I do, I do. But what's
even more surreal is I remember an episode where Selena
was she tweeted something accidentally and we were all like
she we were all freaking out. And Trump lives on Twitter,
(16:26):
you know, stuff like that. Yes, and you're like, wait
a second, we were we thought this was extreme, and
now you know, CNN is its own political sitcom. You know,
it's that kind of And that's I think partly why
we or they stopped. I mean, I would have kept
going because I love them so much, but it was
there was nothing. Everything was had just become its own farce,
(16:49):
you know, wild. I mean, I'd love to go back,
but I think it just got things got too extreme.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh my god, I would give anything, please bring it back.
But I yeah, it is. It is kind of. It
must be a wild feeling to have read scripts for
that show and gone, okay, well, no one would really
do this. And now you see what's actually on the
internet from the literal president, and you go, oh, if
(17:15):
we'd written a fraction of that. The heads of the
studio would have said we were being insane and it
could never.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Go on the air totally. And I think that's exactly
what it happened. That the writers would be like, if
we had written a character like this easily, the note
would have been too broad. This is great, we've gotten
away from our because we're always trying to ground it somehow.
And it's like, two, a cartoon character is, you know,
kind of out there.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
It's so nuts to me. It's like, we live in
the family. Guy. Do those things do you think they
strike you more deeply? Perhaps because of the way that
you grew up, because when I think about when I
look at the movie and this that you play, and
then I think about some of the things that you've
(18:02):
talked about in the ways you grew up and the
ways you came into the work. And you know, your
dad was a physics teacher and suddenly science is under attack,
your mom was involved in politics, and then you did Beep,
and now a cartoon character is the president, Like how
does it all kind of how does the dust settle
for you in your experience when you look around at
(18:24):
all of this.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I mean, it's the first thing I thought about when
you said that is there is an irritation component of man,
there's I mean, honestly not to like. For instance, my
faith is important to me and I grew up in
a kind of a conservative environment, and many times there
(18:49):
is an association with my faith with a certain party
and it's if anything, I just go, ah, that's not
the faith I'm experiencing, you know, Like Christ says the
fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self control. That that's the fruit of someone following God.
(19:14):
I can't find one of those in a person that
is associated with with my faith. That's you know. And
I kind of I mean not to get too political,
but it's like that's when I get just speaking of
weep and I remember doing a storyline where my character
was kind of connected to kind of the faith component,
(19:37):
and I it was I that whole narrative, not the
narrative of the show, but just the narrative those out
there is really frustrating. You know. It's a very powerless
feelings sometimes because I'm like, wait a second, this isn't tracking,
you know, totally. Yeah, that was a total tangent, But
that when you were talking about that. That's where my
(19:57):
mind went immediately went no, but I think.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
That's really powerful, the kind of incongruous nature of the
like preachers with private planes telling us to deport people
and take food away from children. You're like, whoa, this
is literally the opposite of what I learned. I feel confused,
(20:22):
and it is surreal. I you know, I feel really lucky.
I grew up my mom like deep Catholic family. My
dad grew up in a sect of Christianity and became
an atheist, and the entire rest of my family is Jewish,
and so I've done like all of the religious studies,
(20:44):
which I adore. And it is that incongruous experience of
watching people tell you. It's like someone saying to you,
I promise the sky is green, and it says so
in this book, and you're like, but it doesn't. It
literally says the sky is blue. And also the sky
is blue and I can see it and what And
(21:06):
it's so it's so confusing. But what I think, this
is going to be a wild connection. But this is
what's coming into my mind, and I hope you'll ride
this train with me. What I think stands out so
powerfully even in this very funny, strange, hybrid authentic and
(21:31):
heartbreaking but still so light in its moments movie you've made.
Is that the whole thing really is about a hero's
journey and a group of people learning to tell each
other the truth even when it's hard, and that to
me is kind of a spiritual thing.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, that's that's really powerful because I when you were talking,
I just immediately thought about the world the word control,
where it's the people are just trying to control a
narrative or doing things and say like this, and it's like, listen,
stop pointing the finger. You got to point the finger
back at yourself. Like we've got to start. I mean
(22:12):
just like that's bad. That's bad. It's like, no, let's
let's just start taking care of our own six feet
and be like what am I? What do I need
to work on? Who do I need to love? If
we start doing that, then that might cause some kind
of a change, the change that you're trying to If
you do that, then I might start doing that. But
it's like in the movie the dad who I play,
you know, he really thought compartmentalizing grief was kind of
(22:35):
the best thing to do, so if I can control it.
If I cannot, because he leaves me his wife in
the movie, and I mean I get it. I mean
I've I've got a nineteen year old daughter. I do
not want her to walk through challenges I don't want
to field. I mean, I want her to be happy
and all that hit that impulse. But if I tried,
he in the character of the movie, you know, doesn't
(22:55):
have pictures of her in the house. He really talk
about his wife, he and in his he really thinks
this is the equation to save the situation, when in actuality,
he's got to let go of that control and allow
his kids to process them the way they're going to
process them. That's how they're going to get through it.
And I feel like, you're right, that's kind of this.
(23:17):
What's happening is like in people's mind, they think, no,
if I do this, if I try to control this,
that's going to be the equation. Now you gotta let
go of that control and process it your own way
and back at yourself.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, it's like that adage. You know, when I point
the finger at you, there's three fingers pointing back at me. Yeah,
it's a nice reminder. I think when you talk about
the movie and for our friends at home, Sketch was
released yesterday. How do you feel now that it's out
in the world. I mean, you talked at the top
(23:51):
of our conversation about putting eight years of effort into
getting this movie made. What's it like to have an
eight year old in the world for the last twenty
four hours. How do you feel?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Well? Thanks for First of all, that's really kind of
you to watch it and talk about it. I uh.
I think it goes back to that control. It's like
I am powerless to how people. I love it so much.
It's it means so much to me I and I
(24:22):
really want people to experience the joy that I have
experienced from it.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I don't have that control, and I want that control.
I mean I've been doing press for a while and
it's hard not to be like, watch Sketch. I promise you,
no love it.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I promise you it's going to make you feel so
good fx you.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
But it's you know, I don't have that, and so
it's now it's just that kind of vulnerability of like, hey,
I gotta just let it go.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah. Yeah, releasing it into the wild is.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Like, oh, it's tough, hard, it's tough.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
What drew you to it?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You know?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Because I always think it's good you spoke earlier about
how you know you'll talk to younger actors. I think
it's so important to let people know how hard it
is and how long it takes to get something made,
and for you to stick by this thing for close
to a decade. When did it come to you? How
did it come to you? What made you say, you know,
(25:19):
come hell or high water. I am going to get
this movie out, Like, why do you think it got
in you like that?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I don't know if you're fear like this too, I
don't know. I don't know, but something just kept because
you know, eight years ago, when Seth Worley, the writer
and director, brought me kind of half the script, I
was like, dang, because I knew his history with special effects,
and even even in the movie, she's drawing things out
of chalk or crayon or sharpie or glitter, and you
can see the textures and the monsters when they come
(25:46):
to life. Yes, and I just loved his detail of that.
And then at the same time, being a dad, I
was like, I got the there's a new term called
snowplow parenting, where it's not helicopter parenting, but you want
to move all the challenges in front of your kid.
You want to just snowplow them away. And I get that.
I fully get that, and I when I saw it,
(26:08):
I was like, oh, man, I like the idea of
not only a kid watching this and feeling seen that, Like, yeah,
we all process feelings differently, but parents just given themselves
a break, you know of like, yeah, he is a
learning curve. Of course this dad thought he was doing
the right thing, and everybody else is like, whoa, let
your kids feel, Let your kids feel. But in his
mind he's like, no, we got to move. Like he
(26:31):
just was in survival mode, you know. So I liked
I resonated with that. But yeah, to the what to
your question of it's hard, it's crazy man, this and
you can relate to this. I mean we've both done
work and at the time it looks like working all
the time, when in actuality, there's months in between those
(26:52):
jobs where you're hining for work. You're like, when's the
next job and how is this going to be received?
And you're gig to gig, you know, you're calling your
agent and you'll be like, hey' is anything going on?
What's happening. It's like there is a I've been doing
this for thirty years and there's you know, there's just
there was a season actually after arrest of development, where
(27:14):
we thought we were gonna have to sell our house
because we were like, we don't know if I remember
the month that arrest had got canceled, we bought a
house and my daughter was born. So this was, you know,
almost two years ago, and I turned to my wife
and I was like, I don't I don't know what
to do. I don't know what and so we kind
of kept going and gigs weren't really flying that much,
(27:37):
and I was and we've talked to our kind of
our financial consultant, be like, do we think we need
to sell the house, And he's like, we're not there yet,
but it might be coming, you know, And you're like,
you know, you just but that's kind of and then
you kind of take funds from other things and you
make it work. But it is a bit of a
piecemeal together. Koreer and as you, I mean, we both
(27:59):
know this business. This man is I so many times
people have said, hey, you just can't take it personally.
You just can't take it personally. It's hard to not
take a personally. Yeah, right, it's tough.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
One of the craziest things about that to me as
an actor is our entire job is to be so
raw and so empathetic that we can feel another person's
feelings and portray them as our own. Yeah, and then
we get our feelings hurt and people are like, don't
(28:33):
let it hurt your feelings. I'm like, are you nuts?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Are you?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Are you nuts? It's like the weird misnomer. It's like
the comment section people on the internet are like, look
at how many this point, this many million. You must
just have people kissing your ass. I'm going to be
doubly mean to you. And it's like, so you're just
doubly mean. I'm just running into doubly mean people all
day and I'm not supposed to let it affect me.
(28:57):
I'm like a sensitive little smush. What do you mean,
I'm like moving around in the world like a snail
without a shell.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I'm built. That's your job too, Like you have to
you got to access these feelings, and you're right, you
can't turn them off when somebody says words like it,
it does and when somebody says like if you're going
for me, if I'm going out for a job, and
someone's like, yeah, you weren't right? What's that? What what
I'm like?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But what do you mean?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
What do you mean? And it's also the sense of like,
I sure i'd loved I know, I know that it's
I wasn't right, but it's it's tough to not feel it.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You get well, yeah, because then you think, but what
could I have done that would have been right?
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Totally, totally totally.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
And you know what I've started to do. Here's here's
a little nugget. I don't know why it's helping, but
this came out of a conversation with one of my
best friends where we were talking about why is the
negative weigh so heavy and the positive way so light?
Why why isn't everything just for a pound of flesh
if you will? And we were like, Okay, how do
(30:03):
we take the things that feel hard and put a
little humor on them? Or a little something you don't
get a job, or you don't get the thing, or
something doesn't go your way, like how do you take
your power back a little bit? And what we've both
started to do is, you know, will vent about something
or be sad about something and then be like, oh, well,
sucks for them. I'm so fun, and like that's the
(30:25):
end of it. I'm so fun. I'm such a good time.
I bring good snacks, like whatever dumb thing any of
us can think of. And it's funny because none of
my best friend and like the little group that we
do this with on a on a group chat, like
none of us work in the same industries. Yeah, but
we're all experiencing our own versions of the same thing.
(30:45):
And I'm just like, sucks for them, I'm a good time.
And that's then I get a little bit of it back.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
No, great that I'm so fun, Like I was saying that,
because oh my god, I'm so fun. I'm so fun.
Because the amount of other talk give ourselves. Yeah, that
that that closet that like packed full of shame is full.
You know, it's totally I can just completely rip myself
apart and take my court and constantly, you know, all
(31:12):
the all the time, those little things like I'm so fun,
we just don't even saying it. There's a lot of
power in kind of putting a label on it, that's
like yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Even in this conversation me to you, I'm like, Tony,
you're brilliant and like you're a good time, You're a
good hang. It must be really, it's so nice to
be smart and fun.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Take it with you, dub.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Mercy, and now a word from our wonderful sponsors.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I like that. I really love you're doing a podcast,
by the way, because I think you're really good at this.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Thanks. You know what for a person who's like absolutely
a little bit on the spectrum, who wants to have
deep talks and who always no matter what, like I
would tell I would say like six out of nine,
six out of ten times I go to a thing,
I don't know what happens. I don't know if I like,
if I have a little bit of some sort of
(32:17):
energy that I can't help but let seep out into
the world. I wind up in a corner and somebody's
like telling me their deepest, darkest secrets. We're unpacking what's
going on in their relationship or with their family or whatever.
And I kind of love that. But I also realize
occasionally where I'm like, ooh, I'm having like a really
I'm having that little like ADHD with the Wing experience
(32:40):
where I ask a question and I'm like, ooh, the room.
One other person's there with me, but like the other
four people in this conversation are like, that's kind of
a lot. I realized a podcast gives me the container
within which to ask questions, to let conversations be as
deep as they want to be. And and I love it.
(33:03):
I just love it. And like, I don't know, maybe
it's because I grew up begging my mom to pick
me up early from school so i'd be home before
Oprah started, not ten minutes after. It's after her show started,
so I could just watch her like talk to people
about their lives.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
You know, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
But I love it.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
You always had, you always walk into that permission of
being like, this is always going to be that conversation
that's nice.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, And if it's and if it's light and we're
like laughing and being stupid the whole time, great. Sometimes
it's a hybrid. Sometimes it's really serious and I like
getting to meet people where they are.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's kind of COOLT Holmes calls. He says,
some people have to tell you tell me your pain
face and I totally just like there's an openness to
like your face or that it's like people feel free
to like just tell me the pain, which you know,
I also really enjoy that. Try not to fix it,
(33:56):
that's the challenge. That's that's tough. But yeah, it's hard
for me because I want to be like, oh, well,
this is what I went through, and it's like, no,
why don't you just listen Tony.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah. Another one that I got from my therapist, which
is really good, is when I can feel that urge
coming to say, quick question, do you want to talk
about how to solve it? Or do you just need
someone to listen to the problem. And if I can
(34:27):
know myself well enough to ask that question, then the
person I'm talking to can tell me what they need
and in a weird way, then I don't feel like
they want me to fix something. And if they do,
I'm like, you trusted me with that?
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yay. That's actually I lose that on my daughter. That's
really in my wife because we you know, like I
do have that compulsion to be like oh, especially with
my daughter, like I've been through this and it's like, no,
I want me do you want a solution? Right now,
do you want my thoughts on a solution or do
you want me just to listen totally?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And it's nice for them, and it's nice for you
because I get the sense, you know, maybe anxiety recognizes anxiety.
It's like the less cool version of like game recognizes game. Yeah, Like,
I'm like, if I don't know what someone needs, I
actually can get a little anxious listening because I have
all these thoughts and I don't know when it's appropriate
to say which one, And weirdly asking them the question
(35:27):
makes it easier for them and also so much easier
for me. So it's kind of nice. It's like a
double gift.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
As a dad being in this position, I can't imagine
what it's like to have a kid that's, you know,
nineteen twenty who's out in the world. Because to your
point of course, you want to remove obstacles and difficulty
from your children's lives, your child's life, but they learn
(35:58):
resiliency by encountering problems and solving them. And so the
duality of that, I imagine, two decades into doing it
is pretty intense. Knowing about your personal struggles with anxiety,
you know, your your own experiences processing your childhood. How
(36:21):
do you feel like you can look back at your
history and then forward at what you watch your kid
do and figure out how to how to parent.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, that's a tough one because I mean I wouldn't
just like both of us, probably, I wouldn't be who
I am without everything I've gone through.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
In fact, like there's no way I would not have empathy.
I mean all that kind of stuff is the result
of what I've been through. But it's like, man, it's
like that that knowledge in me turns off with her,
Like it's just I just there is a there's a
when they're growing up, there's a big difference between a
(37:03):
performance cry and a real cry. You know, like because
I had that cry, we're just that kind of you know,
like there's a little bit of like I need some
attention or I need you know, whatever it's it's but
when there's a real genuine cry and that you can
see their feelings will hurt. Oh, it is absolutely heartbreaking.
(37:25):
And to this day, like when she's really I mean
she obviously the performance cries go away when they're little,
but it's like anytime she's hurt or I can see
that paint. It's just there is Oh, it's just that
you just want to rescue them, just constantly ecue them.
And she has got to walk through it, she's got
to feel it, and I've just got to come over
(37:47):
her and listen, like to your point and not give
a solution unless she asks. And man, there's just I
don't even I don't even know. I just take a
day to day. I mean, she's actually come home. She's
been working in a camp as a counselor for the
past month and a half and so.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
She said, I did that. I loved being a camp counselor.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
She loves it. It was the same camp that she's
been going to for like ten years. And yeah, she's
coming home tomorrow and oh man, it's both my wife
and I are just like we're super but at the
same time, you want to give them space and you know, yeah,
it's been kind of in performance mode for a month
and a half and so like totally have her space.
(38:28):
But it's just like hei, hi, hi, hi.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
You're like, oh my god, I missed you so much.
I don't want you to know how much, but it's
so much.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
The day to day thing of like just really trying
to check myself.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
You know, well that and I don't want to give
any spoilers away to the movie, but you know, also
being an adult anxious asthmatic kid.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Who is You're an asthmatic kid, you are too, I know.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
It's really I was like, I could always tell.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
There was something tribe look at it.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah, yeah, but there's like this really cool thing that happens.
I'm trying to think of how to reflect on it
without spoiling anything for our audience. A scene in your
film with you and the wonderful young actress who plays
your daughter by the lake or the pond, however we
(39:28):
classify it, and you really see each other and you
get to explain some things to her and she gets
to explain some things to you, and it's so beautiful.
And maybe the reason I thought about it this way
is because my therapist is really worth every penny I
(39:48):
pay him. But I was like, oh, this is one
of those moments where some part of me gets reparented
by watching a by watching what's happening between a parent
and a child. Yeah, and I know that when you
have kids, you know, I've got little kids in my life.
You get these opportunities parenting them, assisting them that sort
(40:09):
of reparent something in you. Did this? Did this movie
feel like that for you?
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yeah? It did. I mean the other actor, Q Lawrence,
who played my son, and.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
They were both unbelievable kids.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Such good kids. You know, one thing that I really
connected to was just the dad. There's a moment when
the dad just says, I kind of screwed up. You know,
I really really miscalculated how to process this whole situation.
And you know, I recently actually did that with my daughter.
(40:48):
I'm talking to her and I remember when she was
really young and I got kind of mad at her
about something and it was just silly. I was stressed
out and she was being a kid, and I remember
there's just this moment where I was like, you can't
do this, and I could just see that face in
her and I said, sweetheart. And today, like when she
was home, I was like, I remember this moment and
I'm just so sorry. I was this was so angry
(41:11):
about this stupid thing, and she's like, you know, Dad,
I don't even she don't think she even remembered it.
But you know, you just the more and it's hard.
It's hard because there's a part of there's a part
of humanity where you feel like if I I'm that weak,
then it somehow it's not connected to strength, you know,
like they're not gonna they're not gonna see me as
whatever that whatever I think a parent needs to be
(41:32):
seen as. And it's like we're if they there's so
much prower in the humanity of like, man, I'm just
I really I messed that one up, but you know,
I love you and I'm doing my best that kind
of thing. I think there's so much power in that
that I I, even as a parent, still think I
have to reframe like, yeah, there is power in that
being that honest.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
You know, absolutely, And I'd wager it takes more power,
more conviction, uh more wisdom to be courageous and vulnerable
in that way than it does to do the quick
to anger oh traditional power strength thing totally.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
And you know, the fact is my daughter is probably
more than likely probably going to be in therapy one
day for how having an anxious you know, yeah you
know who like was playing crazy characters? I don't know,
but like there's going to be something that is going
to deal with and of course, as a part of
me that was like, what did I do wrong? What
(42:38):
did I do wrong? Well, we're human, you know. I
there's no perfection in that. You know. That's but that's
that's kind of a reality. That's like, Yeah, that's probably
gonna happen. She's going to be in therapy for something.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
I mean, aren't we all? Yeah, it's okay. What do
you think you know, looking at the kind of land
scape of what you're processing as a person, what you're
releasing into the world as a professional, you know, even
the fact that you're you're about to get your kid
back from summer camp, Like there's so much happening in
(43:13):
every sphere. What at this point feels like your work
in progress, the thing you want to tackle next, or
maybe the thing you're going to tackle forever.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah, you know, I got this question recently. Sounds super cheesy,
but I'm just going to say it. It was during
an interview and they can ask what's next? They said
what's next for you? And I said, honestly, now I'm
going to turn into Oprah. But I said, honestly, at
this stage of my life, Uh, there's I'm really trying
(43:47):
to ask myself what's here? Because I don't. I've been
just for so long. And there's nothing wrong with ambition,
there's nothing wrong with dreaming, there's nothing wrong than you know,
obviously planning and looking to the next thing. But so
much of my life has been devoted to that of
just thinking next and you know, wondering what's next, and
(44:09):
I just haven't really taken the time to look around
and ask myself, what's here? You know, what's going on here?
What's where am I? Because those times when I do
that is the things that I actually remember, ironically, you know,
when I do take the time to look around and
what's your life? My wife and I joke that we've
been married for twenty two years and neither one of
(44:29):
us remember our weddings because we just weren't. We kind
of remember it, but it's like I was so distracted
and I was so like, I don't know, just this
kind of whirlwind, and I don't think either one of
us were very present. And now it's like taking deep
breast and kind of looking around and hey, what's here,
what's here? That's kind of what I'm asking myself. So
(44:52):
all that to say, I feel like it's been kind
of going for these heightened experiences, and I've missed the
power of kind of the every day, the power of
the power of the ordinary. You know, life is fast.
I'm fifty four years old. I just you know, started
when I was twenty five, and it's like it's fast,
(45:12):
and I just, you know, I I don't want to
I don't, not in a sense of regret. But I
think most of the power and life is in the ordinary,
is in the every day, in relationships, not in these
big mountaintop experiences. And I'm always looking to what's next.
It's just not you know. So I as I get older,
(45:33):
I want the power to really surface more in those
every day Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I love that. What's here. That's a good work in progress, Tony,
That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
It's hard, though, I love it. My therapist says, I
have to You have to wake yourself up one hundred
times a day to where you are. And it's true.
I just constantly to wake myself up because my head
is somewhere else, Like it's checked into either anxiety, it's
checked into dreaming, it's checked into whatever, and it's like
I gotta check in to now, I gotta check in.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
It's beautiful. Where can all of our friends at home
watch sketch.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Ye at theaters it opens? It opened yesterday, and uh yeah,
they can watch it hopefully at a theater. Are you
it's I think it's opening to like about two thousand screens.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
So I'm just amazing stoked, and you know, and I
first of all, I really appreciate you doing this. This
is so nice.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Oh my gosh, thank you? Are you kidding? It's It's
a joy to have you on the show. I would
like to volunteer myself as tribute for whatever project you're
doing next, even if it takes eight years. I'm down.
I'm a real I'm a I'm a like a dog
with a bone. I can be a pain in the ass,
which feels like gets stuff made, but also like I'm
really fun, you know, like a like a fun pain
(46:58):
in the ass.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
That's so great. I just this is a real gift
to a lot of people. You're doing this though, because
just being all these conversations, you know, it's an opportunity
to kind of get a little deeper
Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Well, hello, Whipsmarties.
We have someone on the podcast today that I have
(00:21):
such a talent crush on. I'm geeked that he's here.
From playing incredibly hilarious characters like Buster Bluth on Arrested
Development to Gary Walsh on Veep, we are joined today
by Emmy winner Tony Hale, who is here to talk
about a pretty profoundly different and deeply personal role that
(00:44):
he's playing in the fantasy drama feature film Sketch. What
really struck me about it is the movie exists in
this fantastical world, Tony's daughter's drawings come to life and
kind of wek havoc on a town, but they wind
up bringing the family closer together. And Tony isn't just
(01:07):
the star of Sketch, the great dad on screen. He
was a driving force behind the scenes, co producing this
movie and fighting for eight years to get it made.
Today we're going to talk about that journey, how you
really stay loyal to your creativity and your hunches about
what you want to do, His journey as a performer,
(01:28):
as an anxious person, as a father. Tony is so
self reflective and authentic and funny and just genuine. Oh
what a gem. Let's dive in with Tony him. Hello
(01:54):
for you, I'm great and thank you so much for
your flexibility and congratulation ends. Sketch is so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Did you get a chance to see it?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yes? They sent me the screener and I I just
love it. At one point I paused the movie and
I ran out. My partner was doing some work, and
I was like, I know you're working. I need you
to look at this. I just need you to look
at this. This is so amazing and it was really
I can't I felt like I couldn't wait to share
it with people. So I can't imagine how you feel
(02:27):
about it.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, that means a lot, man, that means a lot.
It's it's it's taken us eight years to get it
made and we uh just I mean, you know, I
mean the business is so easy getting a film to
you know, Yeah, but it's like finding financing. And people
either thought it was going to when we pitched it.
They either thought it was going to be like The
Bob a Duke but then it had it was kind
(02:49):
of funny, or they thought it was like bomb Snowbits
got some emotional depth, so they couldn't really grab the
vision of it, which I get. And then just having
it released, it's a very like, uh, take care of
my kid kind of a feeling, you know. Yeah, I'm
really proud of it. So I appreciate you watching it.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I'm so excited for you. It really made me think.
You know, normally when people come on the show, the
very first question I ask them is the one I'll
ask you. If you could, like fold space time for
an afternoon and today, you could walk onto a playground
and hang out with your eight year old self, do
(03:27):
you think you'd see the man you are in that kid?
Do you think that kid's interests if you got to
watch him play or talk to him about what he
was into, would track for your career? And it's a
crazy question to post to someone who literally made this
beautiful movie about the inner world of a child.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah. First, so I love that question. I love unique questions,
So I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh thanks. Who.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I gotta be honest, I don't think it hasn't been
until probably the last five years to therapy that I've
like kind of liked that kid, you know, I mean
that's super kind of deep and cheesy. But I was
just kind of like that kid was kind of obnoxious
and just you know, just how much attention he could
get and I wasn't crazy about him. And then just
(04:17):
kind of, much like I've done with a lot of
my emotions, kind of invited them to the table rather
than trying to kind of, you know, compartmentalize them. That's
been helpful of like, yeah, it's a kid who Yeah,
he was kind of as we all do. You know,
middle school is like a piece of hell and so dismanaging.
(04:38):
You know, he was doing what he could to get
through it, and I think it was more of just
like I would. I can definitely see the pattern that
has developed. I can definitely see how the whole map
has been put together and how it definitely started there.
I mean, I was a very anxious kid. It's kind
of beautiful how that anxiety has used in today's work
(04:58):
that i've you know, or that I've been able to
put out, which is great. So I've seen the whole
kind of patch making of the quilt. But back then
you're just like in survival mode, you know, So it
just kind of me alongside him being like Hey, it's
gonna be okay, you know, just you're doing your best.
I think one thing one thing I do tell I mean,
(05:19):
I'm sure you've talked a lot to like you're younger actors,
and they always ask your advice. But I would say, like,
just so you know, the value you have today is
going to be the exact same value you have after
whatever success you think is like success that your value
doesn't change. Yeah, I think I lived my life and
this business is in a way of like, you will
(05:39):
have value when this happens. You have value when this happens. Yeah,
even the way, even though in my mind I know
that's not true, the subconscious can believe that, you know,
and totally confirmation of like, yeah, my value is the
exact same is when I was back in middle school.
It hasn't changed absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
And I think you see that on such a large scale, right,
Like you know, you look around the world and this
sort of runaway, runaway capitalism, if you will, Like you
see all these people who have everything they could ever
want of value and value that they could never spend
(06:21):
or use, who still aren't satisfied. And so what you're
saying is really it's really hitting me because and maybe
it's the stage we're all in in life, right, Like
when people have gone through career shifts or divorces or
moved across the country or whatever the big change is,
(06:43):
and you realize like, oh, yeah, anywhere I go, I'm
still there. My problems are still there. Hopefully my joy
is still there, but like, oh, I really do. I
have to get to know me. I have to deal
with me. And I don't think it's an accident that
so many people are dealing with their own unique version
(07:04):
of this same situation. There's a universality to it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Oh yeah, there's also I mean, I love you said
that because there's a there is a tremendous weight that
we put on these kind of whatever that big thing is.
I mean, I've talked about this so much. Do you
ever talk about something so much? And you're like, people
are so tired of me? You think about it?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But yes, but then I have to remind myself that
much like today, whatever you're about to say, I haven't
heard you say.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Okay, well that makes me feel better.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And there might be something I've said a thousand times
that's new information to you. There's probably fans of both
of ours that are like, shut the up, you keep
repeating this, but oh well, you know, we're just two
humans hanging out on zoom.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's probably pretty narcissistic of me to think that everybody
listens to anyone.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Every single person knows every single thing I've ever said and.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
They're counting them. But I when I booked Arrested Development,
that was my That was I all when I was
in New York, you know, just trying to make it quote,
make it. Being on a sitcom was like it for me.
It was like if I can I remember back then,
we had pilot season, if you remember, and it was
(08:11):
it was like the season where everything gets made, and
that pilot season would always run by me and I'd
be like, damn it, you know, I missed pilot season.
And then I booked it and I realized that it
did not satisfy me the way I thought I was
going to satisfy me, and it really really freaked me
out because I got, you know, I was fortunate enough
to get my quote dream and it didn't satisfy I
was like, oh shit, this is where to now and
(08:36):
it was and then after that was canceled, when I
kind of kicked into therapy, and I just realized like
that whole thing of like, if you're not practicing content
me where you are, you're not going to be content
when you get what you want. And I had not
been practicing contentment, you know, all my time in New York.
I mean not that, not that I didn't love my
time in New York, but anytime I was going through stuff,
(08:57):
I was like, you know what, whatever, that big thing's
come and that big things came in and I gave
it much weight, way too much weight, and match that weight.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, and it's like putting too many eggs in one basket. Right,
we understand why that's bad or should be observed or
however you define it in a relationship. You know, you
hear you want you want to be happy with someone
but not co dependent. But nobody talks about codependence with
your career expectations or your personal goals. And it's kind
(09:30):
of striking me that that's sort of what it feels like,
you think, like, you know, it's the it's the work
version of like once I meet you know, my my
Prince Charming from the Disney movie, Everything's going to be amazing,
And it's like, yeah, somebody still has to do the dishes, actually,
so good luck.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, And there's also a big difference what I'm learning
with codependency and healthy dependence. Yeah, we need each other.
We're made community, We're made for relationships. And I've i've
I jokingly harp on codependency a lot because it's a strong,
strong than my history. But like, it doesn't mean I'm
supposed to be massively independent or.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Isolated, well, because that's not good either.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
That's not good either. There is a balance of healthy
relying on each other, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And where the reliance feels like joy, where it feels
like love totally, you know how nice, Like what a
what a thing? I'm curious, you know, when you talk
about that early success with Arrested, it's really interesting because
it makes me realize something like when I was working
(10:38):
on my first show, which similar thing, right like in
the early opts, you book a WB show like right
after Dawson's Creek, you know, what a thing. But then
our show also got relentlessly made fun of because it
was high tabloid culture the soup loved to talk about
and to be perfectly clear for our listeners, we were
(10:59):
doing a really dumb shit on that show, so like
they deserve to make fun of it. But in a
weird way, it gave me the opposite thing where I
was doing this thing that was largely pretty amazing and
kind of ridiculous, but ridiculous is fun, and I got
so almost allergic to liking it or thinking it was
(11:23):
good and only as a pandemic project. Rewatching the show
for a podcast with my friends, cause like how could
we work and what were we all doing? Anyway, we
were like, wait, this a lot of this is actually
really good. Like occasionally, you know, a dog eats a
guy's heart on the way to the hospital transplant, Like
that's ridiculous, but actually, these emotions, these actors, Like I
(11:46):
even looked back at myself and I was like, oh
my god, you really ate up that scene, okay, And
I've been able to kind of enjoy it in a
way I didn't. Then, are you at a point where
you can go back and look at the those things
and just love them and love your time on them, or.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yet I think, I'm man, it's a it's a tough
one because it's it's it's hard for me to watch
it and not constantly think how the sausage was made
or how this almost the feelings that I was going through.
I mean I was so overwhelmed arrested, which, by the way,
(12:26):
I would not have been able to play job on
that show because he was super confident. Thankfully, I was
playing like a very overwhelmed you know character was having
panic attacks every other day. So I mean that worked,
but I I think I was I was so honestly,
it's I related. I relate it to that kid in
(12:48):
middle school, like it's taken me a little time to
kind of be like I get you. I'm getting there
with that time, unarrested because I was just in this
uh really really, I never been on a stage. I've
never been a lot. I just asked a lot of
stupid questions. I mean I was just kind of overwhelmed.
So I think there's a little bit of a not embarrassment,
(13:10):
but kind of But then again, and also maybe I
gave a lot of power to people that I probably
just that I probably should not have given in just
the business in general, you know, so kind of that's
where I go back. I'm like, God, I really gave
that personal a lot of power, you know, that kind
of stuff. But that's Those are the regrets I have.
(13:34):
But in terms of the work I do really. I mean,
like my favorite joke on the show is Tobias joining
the Blue Man Group because he thinks it's a support
group of depressed men. I mean, I think that is
so later, and like him trusting he was my Him
and Job were probably my favorite characters. Will Arnett was
(13:55):
just you know what, I'm circling back. But it's like
I think watching other people on that show, it gives
me I love me, but for people. Yeah, and Deep
is a different story because it happened later and so
that I have no issue. I mean I enjoy that.
And I love watching bluep of reels because oh I
(14:16):
love that. That's what I remember. I remember just not
being able to keep it together. I mean, you know
that feeling like when your whole body is shaking and
you're just like, I I'm really trying my hardest, but
I'm I'm not gonna be able to make this and
I know the camera's on me, and I guess I'm
gonna lose it. That kind of feeling. I love watching
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, Oh it's such a joy too, Like whether it's
you or someone you love to watch. Watching Somebody Break
really is one of my favorite, like favorite moments.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
That I mean, I don't know if you grew up
you're younger than me, but the Caroburnett Show was a
big influence on me. And they would always Harve Tim
Conway trying to break up Harvey Korman just and you
can just see the pain in Harvey Korn. It's so
good and it's so freeing. It's such a moment of
accidental joy where it's yeah, nothing is planned, They're just
(15:08):
free and you're like, oh, I watched that. I just
I was telling somebody recently, it's like I would love
a comic con for just bloopers like I just to
like just be absorbed, and I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
We'll be back in just a minute after a few
words from our favorite sponsors. Is that so surreal to you?
Because when you talk about VEEP, I think about that
that level of complete political absurdity that you all were portraying.
(15:41):
And half of the days of my week now when
I look at the news, I'm like, is this a
headline from the Onion or is this the New York Times?
Like what's happening? Is it? Is it surreal? To you,
are you like, oh god, in some woo woo world,
like did we manifest?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
This?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Is this the secret come to life?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Like that's so good? I do, I do. But what's
even more surreal is I remember an episode where Selena
was she tweeted something accidentally and we were all like
she we were all freaking out. And Trump lives on Twitter,
(16:26):
you know, stuff like that. Yes, and you're like, wait
a second, we were we thought this was extreme, and
now you know, CNN is its own political sitcom. You know,
it's that kind of And that's I think partly why
we or they stopped. I mean, I would have kept
going because I love them so much, but it was
there was nothing. Everything was had just become its own farce,
(16:49):
you know, wild. I mean, I'd love to go back,
but I think it just got things got too extreme.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh my god, I would give anything, please bring it back.
But I yeah, it is. It is kind of. It
must be a wild feeling to have read scripts for
that show and gone, okay, well, no one would really
do this. And now you see what's actually on the
internet from the literal president, and you go, oh, if
(17:15):
we'd written a fraction of that. The heads of the
studio would have said we were being insane and it
could never.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Go on the air totally. And I think that's exactly
what it happened. That the writers would be like, if
we had written a character like this easily, the note
would have been too broad. This is great, we've gotten
away from our because we're always trying to ground it somehow.
And it's like, two, a cartoon character is, you know,
kind of out there.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
It's so nuts to me. It's like, we live in
the family. Guy. Do those things do you think they
strike you more deeply? Perhaps because of the way that
you grew up, because when I think about when I
look at the movie and this that you play, and
then I think about some of the things that you've
(18:02):
talked about in the ways you grew up and the
ways you came into the work. And you know, your
dad was a physics teacher and suddenly science is under attack,
your mom was involved in politics, and then you did Beep,
and now a cartoon character is the president, Like how
does it all kind of how does the dust settle
for you in your experience when you look around at
(18:24):
all of this.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I mean, it's the first thing I thought about when
you said that is there is an irritation component of man,
there's I mean, honestly not to like. For instance, my
faith is important to me and I grew up in
a kind of a conservative environment, and many times there
(18:49):
is an association with my faith with a certain party
and it's if anything, I just go, ah, that's not
the faith I'm experiencing, you know, Like Christ says the
fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self control. That that's the fruit of someone following God.
(19:14):
I can't find one of those in a person that
is associated with with my faith. That's you know. And
I kind of I mean not to get too political,
but it's like that's when I get just speaking of
weep and I remember doing a storyline where my character
was kind of connected to kind of the faith component,
(19:37):
and I it was I that whole narrative, not the
narrative of the show, but just the narrative those out
there is really frustrating. You know. It's a very powerless
feelings sometimes because I'm like, wait a second, this isn't tracking,
you know, totally. Yeah, that was a total tangent, But
that when you were talking about that. That's where my
(19:57):
mind went immediately went no, but I think.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
That's really powerful, the kind of incongruous nature of the
like preachers with private planes telling us to deport people
and take food away from children. You're like, whoa, this
is literally the opposite of what I learned. I feel confused,
(20:22):
and it is surreal. I you know, I feel really lucky.
I grew up my mom like deep Catholic family. My
dad grew up in a sect of Christianity and became
an atheist, and the entire rest of my family is Jewish,
and so I've done like all of the religious studies,
(20:44):
which I adore. And it is that incongruous experience of
watching people tell you. It's like someone saying to you,
I promise the sky is green, and it says so
in this book, and you're like, but it doesn't. It
literally says the sky is blue. And also the sky
is blue and I can see it and what And
(21:06):
it's so it's so confusing. But what I think, this
is going to be a wild connection. But this is
what's coming into my mind, and I hope you'll ride
this train with me. What I think stands out so
powerfully even in this very funny, strange, hybrid authentic and
(21:31):
heartbreaking but still so light in its moments movie you've made.
Is that the whole thing really is about a hero's
journey and a group of people learning to tell each
other the truth even when it's hard, and that to
me is kind of a spiritual thing.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, that's that's really powerful because I when you were talking,
I just immediately thought about the world the word control,
where it's the people are just trying to control a
narrative or doing things and say like this, and it's like, listen,
stop pointing the finger. You got to point the finger
back at yourself. Like we've got to start. I mean
(22:12):
just like that's bad. That's bad. It's like, no, let's
let's just start taking care of our own six feet
and be like what am I? What do I need
to work on? Who do I need to love? If
we start doing that, then that might cause some kind
of a change, the change that you're trying to If
you do that, then I might start doing that. But
it's like in the movie the dad who I play,
you know, he really thought compartmentalizing grief was kind of
(22:35):
the best thing to do, so if I can control it.
If I cannot, because he leaves me his wife in
the movie, and I mean I get it. I mean
I've I've got a nineteen year old daughter. I do
not want her to walk through challenges I don't want
to field. I mean, I want her to be happy
and all that hit that impulse. But if I tried,
he in the character of the movie, you know, doesn't
(22:55):
have pictures of her in the house. He really talk
about his wife, he and in his he really thinks
this is the equation to save the situation, when in actuality,
he's got to let go of that control and allow
his kids to process them the way they're going to
process them. That's how they're going to get through it.
And I feel like, you're right, that's kind of this.
(23:17):
What's happening is like in people's mind, they think, no,
if I do this, if I try to control this,
that's going to be the equation. Now you gotta let
go of that control and process it your own way
and back at yourself.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, it's like that adage. You know, when I point
the finger at you, there's three fingers pointing back at me. Yeah,
it's a nice reminder. I think when you talk about
the movie and for our friends at home, Sketch was
released yesterday. How do you feel now that it's out
in the world. I mean, you talked at the top
(23:51):
of our conversation about putting eight years of effort into
getting this movie made. What's it like to have an
eight year old in the world for the last twenty
four hours. How do you feel?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Well? Thanks for First of all, that's really kind of
you to watch it and talk about it. I uh.
I think it goes back to that control. It's like
I am powerless to how people. I love it so much.
It's it means so much to me I and I
(24:22):
really want people to experience the joy that I have
experienced from it.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I don't have that control, and I want that control.
I mean I've been doing press for a while and
it's hard not to be like, watch Sketch. I promise you,
no love it.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
I promise you it's going to make you feel so
good fx you.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
But it's you know, I don't have that, and so
it's now it's just that kind of vulnerability of like, hey,
I gotta just let it go.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah. Yeah, releasing it into the wild is.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Like, oh, it's tough, hard, it's tough.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
What drew you to it?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You know?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Because I always think it's good you spoke earlier about
how you know you'll talk to younger actors. I think
it's so important to let people know how hard it
is and how long it takes to get something made,
and for you to stick by this thing for close
to a decade. When did it come to you? How
did it come to you? What made you say, you know,
(25:19):
come hell or high water. I am going to get
this movie out, Like, why do you think it got
in you like that?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I don't know if you're fear like this too, I
don't know. I don't know, but something just kept because
you know, eight years ago, when Seth Worley, the writer
and director, brought me kind of half the script, I
was like, dang, because I knew his history with special effects,
and even even in the movie, she's drawing things out
of chalk or crayon or sharpie or glitter, and you
can see the textures and the monsters when they come
(25:46):
to life. Yes, and I just loved his detail of that.
And then at the same time, being a dad, I
was like, I got the there's a new term called
snowplow parenting, where it's not helicopter parenting, but you want
to move all the challenges in front of your kid.
You want to just snowplow them away. And I get that.
I fully get that, and I when I saw it,
(26:08):
I was like, oh, man, I like the idea of
not only a kid watching this and feeling seen that, Like, yeah,
we all process feelings differently, but parents just given themselves
a break, you know of like, yeah, he is a
learning curve. Of course this dad thought he was doing
the right thing, and everybody else is like, whoa, let
your kids feel, Let your kids feel. But in his
mind he's like, no, we got to move. Like he
(26:31):
just was in survival mode, you know. So I liked
I resonated with that. But yeah, to the what to
your question of it's hard, it's crazy man, this and
you can relate to this. I mean we've both done
work and at the time it looks like working all
the time, when in actuality, there's months in between those
(26:52):
jobs where you're hining for work. You're like, when's the
next job and how is this going to be received?
And you're gig to gig, you know, you're calling your
agent and you'll be like, hey' is anything going on?
What's happening. It's like there is a I've been doing
this for thirty years and there's you know, there's just
there was a season actually after arrest of development, where
(27:14):
we thought we were gonna have to sell our house
because we were like, we don't know if I remember
the month that arrest had got canceled, we bought a
house and my daughter was born. So this was, you know,
almost two years ago, and I turned to my wife
and I was like, I don't I don't know what
to do. I don't know what and so we kind
of kept going and gigs weren't really flying that much,
(27:37):
and I was and we've talked to our kind of
our financial consultant, be like, do we think we need
to sell the house, And he's like, we're not there yet,
but it might be coming, you know, And you're like,
you know, you just but that's kind of and then
you kind of take funds from other things and you
make it work. But it is a bit of a
piecemeal together. Koreer and as you, I mean, we both
(27:59):
know this business. This man is I so many times
people have said, hey, you just can't take it personally.
You just can't take it personally. It's hard to not
take a personally. Yeah, right, it's tough.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
One of the craziest things about that to me as
an actor is our entire job is to be so
raw and so empathetic that we can feel another person's
feelings and portray them as our own. Yeah, and then
we get our feelings hurt and people are like, don't
(28:33):
let it hurt your feelings. I'm like, are you nuts?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Are you?
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Are you nuts? It's like the weird misnomer. It's like
the comment section people on the internet are like, look
at how many this point, this many million. You must
just have people kissing your ass. I'm going to be
doubly mean to you. And it's like, so you're just
doubly mean. I'm just running into doubly mean people all
day and I'm not supposed to let it affect me.
(28:57):
I'm like a sensitive little smush. What do you mean,
I'm like moving around in the world like a snail
without a shell.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I'm built. That's your job too, Like you have to
you got to access these feelings, and you're right, you
can't turn them off when somebody says words like it,
it does and when somebody says like if you're going
for me, if I'm going out for a job, and
someone's like, yeah, you weren't right? What's that? What what
I'm like?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But what do you mean?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
What do you mean? And it's also the sense of like,
I sure i'd loved I know, I know that it's
I wasn't right, but it's it's tough to not feel it.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You get well, yeah, because then you think, but what
could I have done that would have been right?
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Totally, totally totally.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
And you know what I've started to do. Here's here's
a little nugget. I don't know why it's helping, but
this came out of a conversation with one of my
best friends where we were talking about why is the
negative weigh so heavy and the positive way so light?
Why why isn't everything just for a pound of flesh
if you will? And we were like, Okay, how do
(30:03):
we take the things that feel hard and put a
little humor on them? Or a little something you don't
get a job, or you don't get the thing, or
something doesn't go your way, like how do you take
your power back a little bit? And what we've both
started to do is, you know, will vent about something
or be sad about something and then be like, oh, well,
sucks for them. I'm so fun, and like that's the
(30:25):
end of it. I'm so fun. I'm such a good time.
I bring good snacks, like whatever dumb thing any of
us can think of. And it's funny because none of
my best friend and like the little group that we
do this with on a on a group chat, like
none of us work in the same industries. Yeah, but
we're all experiencing our own versions of the same thing.
(30:45):
And I'm just like, sucks for them, I'm a good time.
And that's then I get a little bit of it back.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
No, great that I'm so fun, Like I was saying that,
because oh my god, I'm so fun. I'm so fun.
Because the amount of other talk give ourselves. Yeah, that
that that closet that like packed full of shame is full.
You know, it's totally I can just completely rip myself
apart and take my court and constantly, you know, all
(31:12):
the all the time, those little things like I'm so fun,
we just don't even saying it. There's a lot of
power in kind of putting a label on it, that's
like yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Even in this conversation me to you, I'm like, Tony,
you're brilliant and like you're a good time, You're a
good hang. It must be really, it's so nice to
be smart and fun.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Take it with you, dub.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Mercy, and now a word from our wonderful sponsors.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I like that. I really love you're doing a podcast,
by the way, because I think you're really good at this.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Thanks. You know what for a person who's like absolutely
a little bit on the spectrum, who wants to have
deep talks and who always no matter what, like I
would tell I would say like six out of nine,
six out of ten times I go to a thing,
I don't know what happens. I don't know if I like,
if I have a little bit of some sort of
(32:17):
energy that I can't help but let seep out into
the world. I wind up in a corner and somebody's
like telling me their deepest, darkest secrets. We're unpacking what's
going on in their relationship or with their family or whatever.
And I kind of love that. But I also realize
occasionally where I'm like, ooh, I'm having like a really
I'm having that little like ADHD with the Wing experience
(32:40):
where I ask a question and I'm like, ooh, the room.
One other person's there with me, but like the other
four people in this conversation are like, that's kind of
a lot. I realized a podcast gives me the container
within which to ask questions, to let conversations be as
deep as they want to be. And and I love it.
(33:03):
I just love it. And like, I don't know, maybe
it's because I grew up begging my mom to pick
me up early from school so i'd be home before
Oprah started, not ten minutes after. It's after her show started,
so I could just watch her like talk to people
about their lives.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
You know, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
But I love it.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
You always had, you always walk into that permission of
being like, this is always going to be that conversation
that's nice.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, And if it's and if it's light and we're
like laughing and being stupid the whole time, great. Sometimes
it's a hybrid. Sometimes it's really serious and I like
getting to meet people where they are.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's kind of COOLT Holmes calls. He says,
some people have to tell you tell me your pain
face and I totally just like there's an openness to
like your face or that it's like people feel free
to like just tell me the pain, which you know,
I also really enjoy that. Try not to fix it,
(33:56):
that's the challenge. That's that's tough. But yeah, it's hard
for me because I want to be like, oh, well,
this is what I went through, and it's like, no,
why don't you just listen Tony.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah. Another one that I got from my therapist, which
is really good, is when I can feel that urge
coming to say, quick question, do you want to talk
about how to solve it? Or do you just need
someone to listen to the problem. And if I can
(34:27):
know myself well enough to ask that question, then the
person I'm talking to can tell me what they need
and in a weird way, then I don't feel like
they want me to fix something. And if they do,
I'm like, you trusted me with that?
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yay. That's actually I lose that on my daughter. That's
really in my wife because we you know, like I
do have that compulsion to be like oh, especially with
my daughter, like I've been through this and it's like, no,
I want me do you want a solution? Right now,
do you want my thoughts on a solution or do
you want me just to listen totally?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And it's nice for them, and it's nice for you
because I get the sense, you know, maybe anxiety recognizes anxiety.
It's like the less cool version of like game recognizes game. Yeah, Like,
I'm like, if I don't know what someone needs, I
actually can get a little anxious listening because I have
all these thoughts and I don't know when it's appropriate
to say which one, And weirdly asking them the question
(35:27):
makes it easier for them and also so much easier
for me. So it's kind of nice. It's like a
double gift.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
As a dad being in this position, I can't imagine
what it's like to have a kid that's, you know,
nineteen twenty who's out in the world. Because to your
point of course, you want to remove obstacles and difficulty
from your children's lives, your child's life, but they learn
(35:58):
resiliency by encountering problems and solving them. And so the
duality of that, I imagine, two decades into doing it
is pretty intense. Knowing about your personal struggles with anxiety,
you know, your your own experiences processing your childhood. How
(36:21):
do you feel like you can look back at your
history and then forward at what you watch your kid
do and figure out how to how to parent.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, that's a tough one because I mean I wouldn't
just like both of us, probably, I wouldn't be who
I am without everything I've gone through.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
In fact, like there's no way I would not have empathy.
I mean all that kind of stuff is the result
of what I've been through. But it's like, man, it's
like that that knowledge in me turns off with her,
Like it's just I just there is a there's a
when they're growing up, there's a big difference between a
(37:03):
performance cry and a real cry. You know, like because
I had that cry, we're just that kind of you know,
like there's a little bit of like I need some
attention or I need you know, whatever it's it's but
when there's a real genuine cry and that you can
see their feelings will hurt. Oh, it is absolutely heartbreaking.
(37:25):
And to this day, like when she's really I mean
she obviously the performance cries go away when they're little,
but it's like anytime she's hurt or I can see
that paint. It's just there is Oh, it's just that
you just want to rescue them, just constantly ecue them.
And she has got to walk through it, she's got
to feel it, and I've just got to come over
(37:47):
her and listen, like to your point and not give
a solution unless she asks. And man, there's just I
don't even I don't even know. I just take a
day to day. I mean, she's actually come home. She's
been working in a camp as a counselor for the
past month and a half and so.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
She said, I did that. I loved being a camp counselor.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
She loves it. It was the same camp that she's
been going to for like ten years. And yeah, she's
coming home tomorrow and oh man, it's both my wife
and I are just like we're super but at the
same time, you want to give them space and you know, yeah,
it's been kind of in performance mode for a month
and a half and so like totally have her space.
(38:28):
But it's just like hei, hi, hi, hi.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
You're like, oh my god, I missed you so much.
I don't want you to know how much, but it's
so much.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
The day to day thing of like just really trying
to check myself.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
You know, well that and I don't want to give
any spoilers away to the movie, but you know, also
being an adult anxious asthmatic kid.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Who is You're an asthmatic kid, you are too, I know.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
It's really I was like, I could always tell.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
There was something tribe look at it.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah, yeah, but there's like this really cool thing that happens.
I'm trying to think of how to reflect on it
without spoiling anything for our audience. A scene in your
film with you and the wonderful young actress who plays
your daughter by the lake or the pond, however we
(39:28):
classify it, and you really see each other and you
get to explain some things to her and she gets
to explain some things to you, and it's so beautiful.
And maybe the reason I thought about it this way
is because my therapist is really worth every penny I
(39:48):
pay him. But I was like, oh, this is one
of those moments where some part of me gets reparented
by watching a by watching what's happening between a parent
and a child. Yeah, and I know that when you
have kids, you know, I've got little kids in my life.
You get these opportunities parenting them, assisting them that sort
(40:09):
of reparent something in you. Did this? Did this movie
feel like that for you?
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yeah? It did. I mean the other actor, Q Lawrence,
who played my son, and.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
They were both unbelievable kids.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Such good kids. You know, one thing that I really
connected to was just the dad. There's a moment when
the dad just says, I kind of screwed up. You know,
I really really miscalculated how to process this whole situation.
And you know, I recently actually did that with my daughter.
(40:48):
I'm talking to her and I remember when she was
really young and I got kind of mad at her
about something and it was just silly. I was stressed
out and she was being a kid, and I remember
there's just this moment where I was like, you can't
do this, and I could just see that face in
her and I said, sweetheart. And today, like when she
was home, I was like, I remember this moment and
I'm just so sorry. I was this was so angry
(41:11):
about this stupid thing, and she's like, you know, Dad,
I don't even she don't think she even remembered it.
But you know, you just the more and it's hard.
It's hard because there's a part of there's a part
of humanity where you feel like if I I'm that weak,
then it somehow it's not connected to strength, you know,
like they're not gonna they're not gonna see me as
whatever that whatever I think a parent needs to be
(41:32):
seen as. And it's like we're if they there's so
much prower in the humanity of like, man, I'm just
I really I messed that one up, but you know,
I love you and I'm doing my best that kind
of thing. I think there's so much power in that
that I I, even as a parent, still think I
have to reframe like, yeah, there is power in that
being that honest.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
You know, absolutely, And I'd wager it takes more power,
more conviction, uh more wisdom to be courageous and vulnerable
in that way than it does to do the quick
to anger oh traditional power strength thing totally.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
And you know, the fact is my daughter is probably
more than likely probably going to be in therapy one
day for how having an anxious you know, yeah you
know who like was playing crazy characters? I don't know,
but like there's going to be something that is going
to deal with and of course, as a part of
me that was like, what did I do wrong? What
(42:38):
did I do wrong? Well, we're human, you know. I
there's no perfection in that. You know. That's but that's
that's kind of a reality. That's like, Yeah, that's probably
gonna happen. She's going to be in therapy for something.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
I mean, aren't we all? Yeah, it's okay. What do
you think you know, looking at the kind of land
scape of what you're processing as a person, what you're
releasing into the world as a professional, you know, even
the fact that you're you're about to get your kid
back from summer camp, Like there's so much happening in
(43:13):
every sphere. What at this point feels like your work
in progress, the thing you want to tackle next, or
maybe the thing you're going to tackle forever.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah, you know, I got this question recently. Sounds super cheesy,
but I'm just going to say it. It was during
an interview and they can ask what's next? They said
what's next for you? And I said, honestly, now I'm
going to turn into Oprah. But I said, honestly, at
this stage of my life, Uh, there's I'm really trying
(43:47):
to ask myself what's here? Because I don't. I've been
just for so long. And there's nothing wrong with ambition,
there's nothing wrong with dreaming, there's nothing wrong than you know,
obviously planning and looking to the next thing. But so
much of my life has been devoted to that of
just thinking next and you know, wondering what's next, and
(44:09):
I just haven't really taken the time to look around
and ask myself, what's here? You know, what's going on here?
What's where am I? Because those times when I do
that is the things that I actually remember, ironically, you know,
when I do take the time to look around and
what's your life? My wife and I joke that we've
been married for twenty two years and neither one of
(44:29):
us remember our weddings because we just weren't. We kind
of remember it, but it's like I was so distracted
and I was so like, I don't know, just this
kind of whirlwind, and I don't think either one of
us were very present. And now it's like taking deep
breast and kind of looking around and hey, what's here,
what's here? That's kind of what I'm asking myself. So
(44:52):
all that to say, I feel like it's been kind
of going for these heightened experiences, and I've missed the
power of kind of the every day, the power of
the power of the ordinary. You know, life is fast.
I'm fifty four years old. I just you know, started
when I was twenty five, and it's like it's fast,
(45:12):
and I just, you know, I I don't want to
I don't, not in a sense of regret. But I
think most of the power and life is in the ordinary,
is in the every day, in relationships, not in these
big mountaintop experiences. And I'm always looking to what's next.
It's just not you know. So I as I get older,
(45:33):
I want the power to really surface more in those
every day Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I love that. What's here. That's a good work in progress, Tony,
That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
It's hard, though, I love it. My therapist says, I
have to You have to wake yourself up one hundred
times a day to where you are. And it's true.
I just constantly to wake myself up because my head
is somewhere else, Like it's checked into either anxiety, it's
checked into dreaming, it's checked into whatever, and it's like
I gotta check in to now, I gotta check in.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
It's beautiful. Where can all of our friends at home
watch sketch.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Ye at theaters it opens? It opened yesterday, and uh yeah,
they can watch it hopefully at a theater. Are you
it's I think it's opening to like about two thousand screens.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
So I'm just amazing stoked, and you know, and I
first of all, I really appreciate you doing this. This
is so nice.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Oh my gosh, thank you? Are you kidding? It's It's
a joy to have you on the show. I would
like to volunteer myself as tribute for whatever project you're
doing next, even if it takes eight years. I'm down.
I'm a real I'm a I'm a like a dog
with a bone. I can be a pain in the ass,
which feels like gets stuff made, but also like I'm
really fun, you know, like a like a fun pain
(46:58):
in the ass.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
That's so great. I just this is a real gift
to a lot of people. You're doing this though, because
just being all these conversations, you know, it's an opportunity
to kind of get a little deeper
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Bethany Joy Lenz
Sophia Bush
Robert Buckley
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