James Corden: How to Know When the Time is Right to Let Go

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I couldn't be more excited to share something truly special
with all you tea lovers out there. And even if
you don't love tea, if you love refreshing, rejuvenating, refueling
sodas that are good for you, listen to this Radi
and I poured our hearts into creating Juny sparkling tea
with adaptogens for you because we believe in nurturing your

(00:21):
body and with every sip you'll experience calmness of mind,
a refreshing vitality, and a burst of brightness to your day.
Juni is infused with adaptogens that are amazing natural substances
that act like superheroes for your body to help you
adapt to stress and find balance in your busy life.
Our superfive blend of these powerful ingredients include green tea, Ushwa, Ganda,

(00:45):
acirolla cherry, and Lion's made mushroom and these may help
boost your metabolism, give you a natural kick of caffeine,
combat stress, pack your body with antioxidants, and stimulate brain function.
Even better, you has zero sugar and only five calories
per can. We believe in nurturing and energizing your body

(01:06):
while enjoying a truly delicious and refreshing drink. So visit
drink Juni dot com today to elevate your wellness journey
and use code on purpose to receive fifteen percent off
your first order. That's drink j Uni dot com, and
make sure you use the code on purpose.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Step out of a curtain and four hundred people will
go nuts. And you've got to remember the other side
of this camera is a sign that says applause. Daytonian,
Emmy winning actress on TV screens for eight years. The
man himself, James Corner. I went upstairs and I sat
in his room and I just went to I need
you to know that I haven't changed. I love you

(01:50):
more than you will ever know, and he went.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Before we jump into this episode, I'd like to invite
you to join this community to hear more interviews that
will help you become happier, healthier, and more healed. All
I want you to do is click on the subscribe button.
I love your support. It's incredible to see all your
comments and we're just getting started. I can't wait to
go on this journey with you. Thank you so much

(02:17):
for subscribing. It means the world to me.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
The number one health and wellness podcast, say, said Jay.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
James. It is truly a honor and privilege to have
you here today because I have to be honest with you.
I've been a huge, huge, huge fan ever since Smithy
and Comic Relief. And I was at the Grove just
a couple of weeks ago and I was remembering how
that's get started. There we're walking, yeah, and you walk

(02:50):
into one of the rooms and you're with me. And
so I've been such a huge fan from day one
and watching you and admiring your journey, seeing you go
crushing from the UK through to the US, and you know,
I moved to the US a few years after you did,
but just getting to see the impact you had there,
the amazing, amazing content that you've created, I'm a big

(03:13):
fan of, whether it's Spilly your Guts or Cardboard Carryoku,
every single segment you guys produced, such a huge fan
and so to be able to sit with you and
even a few moments we've just spent together off camera,
I've already enjoyed your company, but I wanted to start
off by just saying I'm a huge fan and thank
you for doing this.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
I'm a huge very great yours. I think what you've
done is is really quite extraordinary. Actually, I really think.
I think it's actually deeper than a successful podcast or
show or booke. I think what you've done, really I think,
and I'm sure I'm certainly not the first person to
say this to you, is you've created like a safe
place for people to talk about, to talk about mental health, health, everything,

(03:52):
you know. What I mean feeling is the depth that
I think is. Of course, we're more aware of today
than we were a decade ago and certainly a decade
before that, and I think you're You're a real big
part of that. I'm a real fan of the show
and it's given me a lot over the years. So
it's a real thrill to be here. And I hope
I can be deep enough to fulfill the needs required

(04:16):
you know, well.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
For everyone, everyone who doesn't know. Everything that James was
saying to me off camera just novel like James, save it.
I need you to say it again because it was
so it was perfect. But James, I was thinking about this,
I was looking at your journey and I was saying,
like you went from writing right Gavin and Stacey amazing success,
gone to the West End, amazing success, Broadway Tony Award,

(04:38):
amazing success, then moving off into Late Night, amazing success.
And there was something I was observing about you, and
I felt that what I saw in you was someone
who had the ability to continuously disrupt themselves, take risks,
and innovate when it seemed like there was a clear path.

(04:58):
And I wonder whether what's the decision you've made right
now is almost the same thing that you've said, I
don't want the safe option. I'm willing to take the risk.
Would you agree with that?

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yes? I think so. I mean, it's really lovely of
you to say that there's also misses in the middle
of that, you know what I mean, at least very
important to say that that curve could also be looked,
do you know what I mean? There's as many misses
as there is hits. You just want to keep that
ratio as clean as you can. You know, in the
sort of last sort of six months since finishing the show,

(05:31):
and then the few months before that after when we
announced that we were on the show, lots of people
would say, you know, they would ask why you're doing
this and why would you leave such a thing and
such a contract and offer and all those things, which
I completely understand. I've always been able to separate work
and life and that the two one shouldn't outweigh the other.

(05:56):
Does that make sense that actually you have to go, well,
I know that for my career, Ruth and I could
have Ruth Jones, who I co wrote Gavin and Stacey with,
which was a show that became successful in the UK.
We could of course have carried on writing that show
and making more episodes of that show. But I don't

(06:18):
know that that was at the time feeding our life.
You know, I wasn't feeding mine, it wasn't feeding Ruth's.
It was like, we've done that, it's time to stop.
We have to do something else. And then, you know,
I love being in plays. I love being in the theater.
And when I was in One Man, Two Governors or
The History Boys, there was a path where you could say, well,
I could carry on doing this, and there were moments

(06:41):
or opportunities to perhaps go and do another play after that,
but it was like, well, I don't know that that's
going to feed my life. So I think the key
from or what I'm trying to do is go, well,
if my work is feeding my life and my family,
then it's of benefit and if it isn't, then it

(07:01):
won't be. And I think some people perhaps often just
look at their career as being the primary thing in
their life. Well, the work is the thing. I'm going
to do this, and I'm going to do that. Then
I'm going to do this. Then I'm going to do that,
and you have to go no, no, But but how
is that feeding your life and your soul and who
you are as a friend, son, brother, husband, father, you know?

(07:25):
And that's the thing I think I've always thought about.
So the decision to end the show had nothing to
do with not enjoying it anymore. It had nothing to
do with it not being fun. Financially, of course it
was fantastic, But then it got to a point where
it was like, is it feeding me and us as
a family. Is this environment what we want now I

(07:48):
don't think it is. Okay, well then we're going to
then we're just going to turn it over and shake
it and see what it is the other side of that.
The thing I keep coming back to all the time
in my in my life a lot recently is just
to constantly say, well, we don't know yet. We don't know.
I don't know yet. I can't tell you if it

(08:09):
was a good thing or a bad thing to stop
the show. I don't know. I will only know in
a year or two years or maybe five years time,
because you just don't know. You don't know at all.
You know in the same time that you might accept
a role over here, and when you get that job,
people are going, oh my god, this is the greatest
thing ever. And you say, well, we don't know. Me

(08:31):
and my friend Louis wrote dear friend of mine, Louis
who moved to America to come and write on the
Late Late Show, you know, uprooted his family and moved.
Oh oh, he didn't have a family at the time,
had two kids. In the eight and a half years
we were there, we wrote a TV show together which
got picked up at Hulu or I wasn't going to
be in it. We just created this show. And then

(08:54):
a few months later we wrote two scripts and they
really love the first that we wrote the second script
and they said, look, we're just we're not going to
make this show happens all the time, and I was
really bummed. And my friend Louis said the best thing.
He was like, look, if they'd have picked it up,
it might have been the worst thing. It's whoever happened

(09:14):
to it. We might have fallen out, we might have
who knows what would have happened. It might have been
a disaster. We just don't know.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, you have no idea, Yeah, I don't know anything.
You've reminded me of this beautiful zen story where a
farmer finds a new horse. You know the story. Yeah, Yeah,
the farmer finds a new horse and everyone's excited and
they're like, wow, this beautiful horse you just came upon it,
Like how lucky are you? And he says good thing,

(09:41):
bad thing? Who knows? Yeah, And then his son's riding
the horse and he looks incredible. But then all of
a sudden, he gets tipped off the horse and his
son falls off and breaks his leg, and everyone's like,
oh no, this is the worst thing ever, Like if
only you didn't bring that horse in, And he says
good thing, bad thing?

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Who knows?

Speaker 1 (09:56):
And the story continues. And hearing you say that, it's
really honest of you to share that, though, because I
think sometimes when we make a decision, we often feel
like we have to convince ourselves it's the best decision
in order to make it through. But for you to
actually have the vulnerability to say I actually don't know

(10:17):
that takes a lot of courage.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Well, I do know that that ending the show. I
do know that the reasons for it are absolutely right,
no question. But you don't know. You don't know how
those things will. You just don't know, you don't know
any of it. So if you can accept all of it,
if you can just say, well, this is this is it,

(10:41):
this is life. What we're doing now, me and you
sitting here, this is it. We're doing it. You're alive.
And I think sometimes the expectation of stuff is the
thing which really ruins stuff. Your expectation of what holiday
might be, your expectation of what Christmas Day was going
to be like. The is actually the problem the thing

(11:02):
that happened on holiday, or the argument you had on
Christmas Day. That's not really the issue. I didn't have
an argument on Christmas Day. I'm just using it as example.
That's the thing I think is your expectation of well,
when I do this, my life will be like that.
And I think my life, I think I've thought that
a lot of my life when I get my driver's license,

(11:23):
my life will be like this. When I get a girlfriend,
my life, when I get my when I move out
of my parents' house, my life is going to be
like this. And it's not it isn't it can't be.
It's and what it is will be amazing. You're going
to be alive, you know. And I think I just
feel very accepting of everything now at the moment.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
There's something really beautiful that came out of what you said,
this idea of reasons over results, Like you know your reasons.
You don't know what the result will be, but you're
sure about your reasons, and that's something we can all
practice and take on. Like, I think that's something everyone
who's watching can apply. That you never know the result
of your decision, you don't know how it's going to
pan out, but you can be sure.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
About your reasons without question.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
And if you feel clear about those and.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
To recalibrate, perhaps what success is and that's I think
a big issue in a broader society. What is success?
Success is not this amount of money. It's not this
amount of gold statues and trophies. You know, you've got

(12:36):
to look at it as a whole it's really interesting
if there are numerous people who talk about the night
that they won an Academy Award as being the loneliest
night of their life, and yet for us looking in
on that, you look and go, oh my god, that

(13:00):
this is incredible. I would give anything.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Do you think that is?

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Because I think it's more the climb is the thing.
The top of a mountain I think can be quite
a isolating experience actually, and the climb to the top
of it is. And of course when you get that,
it's amazing because you go, oh my god, we did

(13:26):
you know what I mean, we did it. It's like
someone that takes a helicopter to the top of Everest
is not going to have the same experience as a
person who's climbed it. Absolutely you're looking at the same view,
but it's going to be it's going to feel very
very difficiure. I also think it's it's an incredibly you know,
the anxiety of it, that the fear of it, I

(13:48):
can only I don't know. I'm not I don't know,
I can only imagine. And so I think because I
think that what you realize is that the doing of
the work and the climb of it is the thing
that is the most satisfying, And how can there be
such a thing as best? Yeah, how ever, you can
be the fastest runner over one hundred meters. That's not

(14:08):
up for debate, you saying Bolt, you are the fastest
runner over one hundred meters. You can't be the best films.
That's impossible.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
You know, it's more subjective.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Of course it is and should be.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, where did your drive for success come from? You
just said that you've realized now that success is not
you know, the bank balance or this or that these
specific things. Where did your initial drive for success come from?
Did you always define success in a particular way or
was it just what you think everyone in our generation

(14:43):
was almost chasing?

Speaker 2 (14:44):
I don't know. I think for me really from I
really don't remember a time that I didn't want to perform.
I just don't remember a time that I didn't want
to just perform.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Did you perform at school and at home and.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
In everywhere everywhere? I would call it performing. I'm sure
some people would call it showing off? My mum, would
you know, oscillate between the two? Stop showing off? Still?
You know, like I just I just loved I just loved.
I loved performing in in in any shape or form,

(15:25):
school play, church, playground. I just I really really loved it.
Like I can remember so vividly the first time I
was ever sort of on what we call a stage.
So we grew up in I was we were a

(15:46):
family that we're in the Savage Army, which is a church,
but that's also a charity. And like any church you're
born into, you think that this is completely normal, you know,
any church you're wanting to, and then like whether we
you know, we would like put on a uniform and
we would my dad would you know, occasionally march down

(16:09):
the road in a brass band and we would do
Christmas caroling and I would play the trumpet, and you
just thought, well, this is just completely life. And then
you get to about fifteen and you're like, guys, this
is really weird. But it was essentially a church and
that's what we'd go to. And a church, from what
I can really work out now retrospectively, was perhaps full

(16:30):
of the least Christian people I've ever met in my life,
you know, like many churches, you know, and its core
good infect it with people become something very very different
and and So we're in high wickhambe in Buckham Shehar
and my sister was three, No four, My sister Ruth

(16:53):
was four and it was her christening, and we were
on the platform, which was you know, tall, intensive purposes,
looked felt like a stage to me, and the savage
army officer, the vicar, the priest I couldn't see because
I was, you know, quite smart. He said, let's get
James a chair, and I stood on this chair and

(17:15):
I could just see there was maybe, I don't know,
thirty people in the congregation, it looked like a thousand,
and I just started like pulling these faces and turned
around and looked back through my legs and people are chuckling,
and I was like, well, this feels fantastic. And then
what I really remember is sitting back down in the

(17:38):
congregation and I was sat between my mum and dad
and person's back is in front of me, and I
remember being like, well, this is boring. This is nearly
as much fun as being up there. And I was
seven at the time, and No I was four, and

(17:58):
my sister was obviously a newborn, so I was four,
and I remember just thinking, well, this is that's that's it.
Now life is a quest to be up there as
much as possible.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Oh that's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
So I think that's what I always thought successful was
like my my absolute ambitions were to be in a
West End musical. That was it. That was like, that
was the peak and literally it was a road away
from where we are now at the Prince Edward Theater
and I was seventeen and Inner musical and I was
I honestly genuinely was like, well that's it for me.

(18:34):
I will it cannot be greater than this. That's how
that's where my absolute ambitions were, to be just on
a West End stage.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
That's verytacular. I mean you said there were missus naturally
in the journey that I laid out in the beginning.
I wonder what were some of the most painful or
tough missus, whether when you were younger, as you got older,
what were the ones that you look to and say,
I'd love people to know about this or learn about this,
because when you look at it from the outside, it

(19:04):
is easy to see. But these are the couple that
maybe would surprise us.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Well, well, there's things that you do that just naturally
aren't very good. That's the first you know what I mean.
There's things that you do and they're not they're not
very good. Those things you understand why they didn't connect
because they're not very good, you know. And oddly I
don't feel a sort of sense of any disappointment in

(19:30):
that area, do you know what I mean? Because someone
asked me once because I was in that film. I
was in that film Cats, right of the musical Cats
and that you know, I haven't seen it, but like
by all accounts, not good and didn't do very well.
And someone said to me, oh God, do you regret that.

(19:50):
I was like, no, I'll do it again. I had
a great time. You have to separate sometimes your own
experience and the outcome of a project, because you can
do things that do really well, but at that time
in your life it was a disaster.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Do you know what I meant?

Speaker 2 (20:07):
And at the same time, at the same time, you
can do stuff which isn't good, but actually you had
a really great you know what I mean. You know,
when we were shooting Cats, we had an afternoon and
I sat in this weird green suit with dots on
your face with Ian McKellen and Judy Dench and I

(20:28):
wouldn't swap that friend to literally sit and talk to
Syrian McKellen and Dame Judy Dench about I couldn't tell
you what we talked about. I can't tell you if
it you know. And I was like, well, how lucky
am I? This is extraordinary? So I think I did this.

(20:51):
I did a TV show which came out I think
about maybe just two years ago now, maybe eighteen months ago,
which was Amazon called Mammals, which I was really proud of,
and I really, I really hoped that people would find
that and they didn't. That's the only that's the only

(21:11):
thing that I look at and I think, ah, because
it got reviewed. Well, it's written by I think the
best living playwright at the moment, you know, or certainly
young living playwright called Jez Butterworth, who wrote like Jerusalem
and The Ferryman and Mojo, but then also wrote Skyfall

(21:33):
and Specter and Indiana Jones. And it was me and
Sally Hawkins and Melia Cralling. And that's that's the only
That's what I would say. That's the only thing that
I go, Ah, I wonder what we could have done
differently to make people find it, But then we don't
know yet.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yeah, you don't know, We don't know. You don't know
when it's going to take off again, Like I love
hearing about but even if.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
It doesn't, don't you know who know? You know what
I mean? Like you just you just have to.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
I love what you just said, mate. I love that
perspective of the idea that and I can relate to that.
I've had moments in my life where I'm having one
of my biggest external career wins, but I didn't have
the right people around me to celebrate it with, and
therefore it's not as gratifying or as celebratory, or it's
not as meaningful, whereas you could have had something that

(22:23):
externally like no one cared, but you had the people
around you where you knew what you'd built and you
knew what you'd created. And I love that that resonated
so strongly, honestly.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, also the notion that I don't know. The way
I see it is every single day your life can
get turned over and flipped on its head in a
phone call. Every single day. Like I used to say

(22:53):
that to my wife Julia all the time when we
were in Los Angeles, right go. Every day we live
here in the phone ring in the middle of the
night to tell us something's happened at home is an
absolute win. It's an absolute win. And you just have
to be so aware that those things are coming and
those things are real, and all the stuff that we're

(23:14):
talking about over here at work and all those things.
It's it's not it isn't. It isn't those things that
are just gonna just bang and you're and then you're
talking about life before and after, before and after those moments.
Like I was talking to a friend of mine the
other day, you know, and I'm forty five, and my

(23:38):
friend said to me, and it's quite a dark thought,
but actually it's good to He said, We've he said
he's forty five also, and he said, we've we've turned
the corner into sniper's alley. And I said, what do
you mean. I didn't know what he meant. And he
said to You're now in an alley and suddenly people
are going to just and you're going to go, oh

(23:59):
my god. Like it's just that it's that that shift
in life of like, oh, this is where like I'm
very fortunate both my parents are still alive, so that's inevitable.
That's definite, and then you're in this world of just
absolute unknowns. So I think the older I get, just

(24:21):
the less I sort of think about work in that way.
I just don't. And maybe because I've had six months
of real reflection, six months of not really doing anything,
you know, started this podcast that I'm really really enjoying.
Outside of that, I'm writing some stuff. Some of it

(24:41):
I hope people will see. Other stuff I'm certain they
never will, you know what I mean? And you know,
and some of it I hope they never will. That's
a terrible idea, you know. And you just don't know.
And so I just think less about work and I
want to think more about my health and all those

(25:03):
all those things. You know.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, walk me through what like, like you've had all
these transitions in your life, walk me through what your
reflection process looks like in your head, like just for
you personally, Like it doesn't have to be systematic or perfect,
Just what is it? What do you go through? Is
it looking at going well? Am I helping my family?
Am I taking care of them? Is that the number
one thing? Or are there other things that go through

(25:26):
your head? Because I feel like you've had to make
some big transitions.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Well, that's that is that's that's the number one. I
think you're only as happy as your least happy child
is a wonderful saying, which is without question true. There
is there is nothing that can happen in your professional
life that will matter if one of your children is unhealthy, unwell,

(25:56):
either mentally or physically. This is irrelevant. So that's let's
park that as a as a given. Yes, very clear
In terms of my reflection, I mainly I just think
like I'm so aware of time and the and the
and the passage of time, and that this is this

(26:19):
is it, and you have to go, Okay, well, now,
how do you really really want to use your time?
Because I think when I was hosting the show, I
think I probably knew this at the time, but I
recognize it more now that I think I said yes

(26:41):
a lot, perhaps to too much, because I I just
loved I knew I wasn't going to host that show forever.
I didn't want it to be the end of the book.
I didn't want it to be the last thing I did,
so I didn't want it to be a shock when
I finished the show and said I'm going to go

(27:02):
back to act again now, because I was very aware
that there was a lot of people watching that show
who had no idea that I'd ever acted before. So
I really just said, yes, I'll do it, I'll be there,
I'll do it, and I think I understand my reasons
for it. But now I think mainly the thing I'm
really thinking is forget what you can do, Forget what's possible,

(27:25):
Forget what's in front of you, Forget what's offered to
you or not offered to you. What do you actually
want to do? What is worthy of your time? What
is worth not taking your kids to school in the
morning or picking them up at four o'clock, what other thing?
Because that's really the question you're asking yourself, you know,

(27:45):
And like, I don't have like so much money that
I don't have to ever work again, I really really don't.
Whatever you might read on the internet, I cannot stress
you untrue. And so you know, it's that thing of
just going, well, what do you what do you want
to do? Is there anything that you want to say?
And if there isn't, then don't and then and it

(28:07):
will come, It will will it will, it will come.
And you know, it's interesting this since moving back to London,
and I feel in a different cultural space. I'm trying
my absolute best to hit ten thousand steps a day.
That's I'm really, really, really trying to do that. And

(28:28):
so sometimes I'll just go and once the kids are asleep,
I'll go and I'll be I'll look and I'm looking
at eight thousand steps and I'm like, babe, she's gonna go.
And and I'll literally walk up and down the road
and to come back in. And in that time of walking,
I'm starting to feel the notion of like, oh, it's

(28:49):
maybe that's is that an interesting idea, But don't leap
on it. Yes, don't go, that's it. Let's go, let's
book a flight, let's pitch it is to go. I
let's let it. Let's see if it almost just to
treat it like a plant, really, and we're going to
water it for a minute, see if there's something there.
And then and already now I'm like, well, thank god

(29:10):
I didn't go and tell someone about that. Have you
ever read that thing about doing the thing? Yes, yes,
I mean that's my I just I just look at
that almost every day, doing the thing. Just do the thing,
don't talk about doing the thing. Don't tweet about doing

(29:31):
the thing, don't just do the thing. The doing the
thing is the thing, and that's all I'm really trying
to do.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, it's it's fascinating because I find, like, you know,
you've been performing, as you said, you love performing when
you're a kid, You've been performing for decades now, and
it's almost like an identity shift when you stop yourself
from performing an in a I'm talking about performing in
a play or in a movie or on stage, Like
you're not allowing yourself to do something that I feel

(30:00):
so pure and true, and I can see in your
eyes when you were talking about it, like brings you
to life and almost removing yourself away from that requires
you to rethink your identity a little, like who are
you today? Or how are you feeling about who you
are when you're not performing when you've been so used
to entertaining crowds for so long.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
But that's ego. I think that's ego. That's what we're
talking about, is ego. I lived for eight and a
half years what could only be described as a narcissists stream.
Do you know what I mean? And I cannot stress
how much I think being the host of a late

(30:43):
night TV show is one of the greatest jobs in
the world. I think it's amazing. I think it is brilliant. Like,
my god, how lucky am I to have done that?
I think it's amazing. You know. But if you were
an other way and climb you, you know, drive into

(31:03):
a studio lot, you drive past a massive picture of
your face. So that's that's the first thing you see
when you get to work is a huge picture of
your face and your name. You then park in an
amazing parking spot with your name on it. You go in,

(31:26):
like I tee. The thing I miss most about the show,
it was my like I miss seeing there's a great
lady called Tea who was on the front desk and
see Bess and I would just my interaction with her
every day. I just grew to love it so much.
Morning Tea, Morning James, how's it going? All good? And
as I walk through the door, she'd say, have a
good one, and I go, have a good one. And

(31:46):
it would be a racter who could say, at first
you get in a lift, you come out the lift
to be greeted by another picture of your face. Do
you know it's like another picture of your face and
your name. You turn a corner and then you start
walking up corridor and there is just your name and
faces everywhere, right everywhere. Then you get to say, well,

(32:08):
what are we going to do tonight? Back up, and
then you get to like shoot a sketch with Matt
Damon or drive around in a car with Stevie Wonder.
Then you'll come back into work, get dressed. You work
also in a gang of people who are the funniest
people you've ever met in your life ever, and they
only want to try and make you seem funnier and

(32:29):
that's amazing. And you chat with them and you're hanging
out with them, and then good day, bad day, in
different day. Your day will end with a standing ovation
right step out of a curtain and four hundred people
will go nuts. And you've got to remember. And the
thing that I would just remember all the time is

(32:50):
the other side of this camera is a sign that
says applause, you know what I mean. There is people
going it go you know what I mean. And the
walk down from the from the office green room to
the studio is an amazing change in your psyche because
you're with all you're buying and very slowly. I remember

(33:12):
the first show because really you're in a gang. You're
in a team where you make a late night show.
It's just a gang. You're all making it together. And
then at some point people tap you on the shoulder
and go have a good one. And then you are
surrounded by people. You walk it, microphone, make up, touch
at the You enter a door and you hear, you know,

(33:34):
the other side of this thing. You hear four hundred
people screaming. You're going, okay, that's everybody on your feet.
Let's go. This is how we do that. Another look
at the jar right everywhere. Here we go, let's get around, okay,
and we got five four three, And you find yourself
stood behind a curtain, completely on your own, and suddenly

(34:00):
this team effort, you're just you are on your own,
and the spotlight's behind you. So this this circle is
on the curtain and the shadow of you. And I
used to stand there and open my hands, take a breath.

(34:20):
I would look and I would say to him, I
always have this feeling that my granddad is getting a
real kick out of all this. So he is not
with me in any spiritual sense. He's just in for
the right of it, you know, like I know that
he just you know, he's a jazz musician. He would
be like, this is fun, Jose, you know, and I

(34:42):
would open my eyes and I would look up and
I would say, be with me, Just be with me,
and be here now and for the next hour. Your
only job is to enjoy yourself as much as you can.
It doesn't matter what's happened all day, it doesn't matter
what happens on tomorrow show. You're only a job is
to enjoy this right now. I and I did, and
I you know, we did one one hundred and ninety

(35:06):
eight shows, I think, and I just loved it. I
loved it. So it's a lot to leave behind, it's
a lot to walk away from. But I also think
this period of silence is so good for me. I'm

(35:30):
getting as I'm getting as much or more from this
period now, Like I you know, it's so odd that
I used to do that every day that then even
speaking to you now, I'm like, God, I haven't spoken
to anybody in this sense.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yes, yes, since.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
April, i'n't done anything, and so it feels odd. You're like,
oh man, this is and the podcast I'm doing I'm
loving because I'm in your chair and I'm but even
now this feels unnatural, and there is a feeling of
like I don't know what I've got to say. But
then you go, but I'm gonna I'm gonna get to

(36:07):
meet Jay, so that would be lovely, you know, So
what is life without it? It's it's great. It's great,
I think because I really really always knew that this
wasn't going to be forever. I always knew I wanted
to leave before it ebbed away. I just knew that

(36:35):
I wanted to to to do it and then stop
doing it and see if there's something else, and if
there isn't, okay, great, who could wish for more? Do
you know what I mean? I guess that's the thing
is I look now and I think I don't want

(36:56):
any more stuff or fame or all those things. Like
what I'd really love to do is go. I wonder
if I've got one more thing to write. I wonder
if there's one more thing to say, Like I wonder
if there's just something else.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
I don't know yet what a brilliant way to live.
I mean, when you just said that the idea of
I knew that it wasn't going to last forever, and
I didn't want it to. That's so the opposite of
how we're conditioned to think. Most of us are conditioned
to believe when you find something good, hold on to
it forever, make sure it lasts forever, because you never know.

(37:37):
And I love your perspective because I think not only
is it healthier for the mind and the ego, it's
actually the reality of life that everything is ephemeral and
transient and it will move anyway. Yeah, and so you
wanting to hold onto something that isn't yours to control
is almost a fool's game anyway.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Well, then you're a kid with a balloon. Yeah, right,
and you got hold I'm never I'm never ever going
to let this balloon go, right, And ignoring for this
for a second, the environmental impact of letting a balloon go.
Let's talk about it just metaphorically. You know that you go, oh,
this is my balloon, and hold this Broun'd never ever, ever, ever,

(38:17):
ever going to let go of this balloon. In fact,
I'm going to go I'm going to tie it to
my wrist so it can't disappear. Because that happened to
me once before, and it you know what I mean,
I'm gonna just you know, that's it. And then slowly
that balloon will just wilt and it will run out
of the thing that made it great and it will
just then be. Then it's tied to your wrist and

(38:38):
you're dragging it behind you, right, and actually there's something
quite beautiful. And again, environmentally, I'm not encouraging this. We
didn't we didn't know about this when we were kids.
When you let go of a balloon, it's magical, magical.
And then you see it and you're like, oh my god,

(38:59):
I used to have that. I used to hold on
to that and look at it. Now, look it's just
that's amazing. And then you go and now I haven't
got a balloon. And then you go, well, maybe I'll
get another one. Yeah, maybe there'll be another balloon, and
maybe it'll be a different shape, or it'll be shinier
or whatever. It is. Like, you've got to be able

(39:23):
to let go of stuff to make new things come in.
You've got to have the space and the time to
encounter something new. A friend of mine a year ago,
maybe less, had his heart broken in the most brutal circumstances.

(39:47):
It was his first love, first girlfriend, and they broke
up and he was just not in a good way.
And this was his first real proper serious girlfriend, certainly
the first time he'd been in love before. I just

(40:08):
found myself saying to him. I was like, this is great,
This is great because you really only understand what love
is once your heart's been broken. You understand how tender
it is. And I was like, and you understand it now,

(40:28):
and what you're looking at this all wrong? You get
to do it again. You get to do this again.
You're going to meet someone else and feel all these
feelings and perhaps you'll go into that relationship learning what
you've learned from this relationship and that will then feed

(40:51):
that relationship in a different way. And he's just met someone, right,
and he's like, oh my god, this is amazing saying
and I'm like.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yeah, got that balloon again.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Yeah, Like that's it, that's it. And so again, I
think it's expectation is the thing that that that makes
us hold onto stuff. If you can just ebb and
flow with stuff, you're going to find it so much
easier to take the good, the bad, and the everything
in between. It's just all being good for you.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
I think, James, you're a philosopher who knew we're going
to add to the list we're gonna have to add
it to the list of list of the tis No
genuine I mean that visual you just painted of the balloon,
that's going to stay with me for a long time.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
I've probably never heard it.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
I didn't, I don't, I don't. I don't know that
it's a thing. I think we just might have you
made it up, but it is so made it up. Yeah,
there's taken Banksy's image.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
That's it's such a beautiful way of sharing that lesson.
There's you know, a zen saying that says what's holding
you back is what you're holding on to? Yeah, and
that's you know. But that visual that you just painted
is so powerful. And even the visual that you painted

(42:11):
of saying that you come out to all this ruptuous
applause and you know, the whuhahn, the idea of you
coming out into the stage, but you're thinking about the
fact that the screen says applause on the other side.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Because I think if you don't, it's really dangerous. I
think it's really dangerous.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
Were you conscious of that? And have you been conscious
of that the whole time in your career.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Because not the whole time.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
When did that become like a real Because that's Marcus
aurelius meditations at its best. Marcus Aurelius famously had a
Marcus Aurelius. When he would walk around the Roman town square,
he had an assistant that would follow him around, and
the role of the assistant was that whenever anyone in
the town square would say, Marcus Aurelius, you are such

(42:57):
an amazing emperor. You are phenomenal, You're in credible, the
assistant's only job was to whisper in his ear, You're
just a man, You're just a man. Wow, and that
sort of practice. And so when you said that, that's
what that's the first thing I thought of. When I
didn't know you said the applause, I was like, wow,
you know you're you're living that.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
I think I've probably fallen into the pitfall of thinking
I was more of a dude than I really was
quite early issue in my career. I think, I guess
in a way, I think I'm I think I don't know.
I think I'm sort of entering phase three, right, Yeah,

(43:35):
if phase one was history Boys, writing Gavin and Stacey.
Phase two was moving was one was going to Broadway
to do One Man, Two Governors, everything that came with that,
and then ending up hosting a late night TV show.
And phase three will be whatever this is. And I

(43:56):
don't know. I I mean, look, I've fallen into all
those pitfalls of thinking that you're more of a dude
than you really are, thinking any of this is it's
like fame and that was successful whatever, you know, level
of that I kind of have in a way like
it's on the whole a picnic, right, It's great, it's great,

(44:19):
it's it's lovely. People come up, they talk about things
and that all you things that they that they've liked
or enjoyed. And certainly being back here in London, you know,
it's amazing hearing people talk about like Gavin and Stacey
and stuff which obviously I would never hear in Americans.
And I'm so proud of that show. And I think
it's I've started to think of like, don't confuse the selfie, right,

(44:42):
I don't think I think for me, I think it's
different if you're like Brad Pitt, Harry Styles. Do you
know what I mean adele like, I think that's a different,
that's that's a whole. That's an aura and an orb
of fame, which I think is not what I'm talking
about now, whereas I think on the whole, when people

(45:03):
are asking for a selfie with me, it isn't really
anything to do with me. I think it's just people go, well,
this is going to be good on my story, right,
I do no, I do no, I'm not That is
not any fogy. I genuinely believe that. I think people
are going, well, he's there, he's only over there, this

(45:25):
is gonna this is going to be great in amongst
the other four photos of my day, right and so,
and I love taking photo people. I don't say no.
So I used to say no when I was with
my kids or but but now they have a bit
a bit better understanding of it, and I don't need
to hold their hands all the time. Since that was
my My wife was like, you cannot give your attention

(45:47):
to someone else when they're that night. So Charlotte master
Road whatever, So Charlotte siks. So if I'm out with
like you know, my two eldists, it's always a lot
easier now, and it's people are people are really great
in corner. But I don't ever, ever in my ever
in my life, go I got all these people, they

(46:07):
just want to photo. What can I say? I just
go no, no, no, this is They didn't find me,
They've been waiting for me. I just happened to be
in the same Joe and the juices there, you know
what I mean. And it's like, as well, you.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
Know, I love that. That's amazing. But no, I do
love how our conscious you're aware of that, and it's
a it's it's it's so it's so fun because that mindset,
that approach to success, that approach to fame, makes everything
just feel wonderful and beautiful and it makes everything so

(46:43):
you know, in the sense of when I don't I
don't mean perfection, I mean in the sense of it
gives you a sense of joying and interaction, removing the
expectation and the weight that can come with it.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Yeah. I also just think you have to just take
it all with a bag of salt. Yeah, all of it, everything,
everything good bad. You know, it's if you just can
take it with the same bag of soult and distance
yourself from it, you can just sort of go well

(47:17):
that's over there, that's happening over there, and but I'm
but what's really I'm here, and here are my friends
and my fan and all those things, and just and
also just being so aware of like how lucky you are,
how lucky you are, and if you lose sense of that.

(47:38):
And I understand when people do, by the way, and
I have, you know, other points in my career, in
my life, and I don't. I'm not walking around like
this every day. I have all those same things, right,
So this it's not like I'm sort of floating around
like I'm really really not. And a lot of this

(48:00):
really is predicated on just how much sleep I get.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Yeah, that's true for all of us.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Like that is it?

Speaker 1 (48:08):
You know what I've been on this supplement rec I
was talking to my So I'm very into you know,
buyer hacking and health and all the rest of it.
So I was I was been testing this supplement I've
been having for the last thirty days, and it's it's
like boosted my mitochondrias so much that I can't get
to sleep. I have so much energy. And I was
telling I was telling my doctor, I was like, hey,

(48:28):
I really want to sleep like I enjoy sleep. I'm
someone I'm not someone who sacrificed to sleep. I enjoy sleep, sleep,
and I haven't been able to I haven't really been
able to sleep because of this one supplement.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
That anything to do with that. Also jet lag in
the time difference.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
I think there's a bit of that, But I've been
here for like thirty days now, so I'm like it
should have gone and after a week or two. But
I agree with you, coming from la to London is
the harshest jet lag, right because I.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
Go from sleeping and I really get used to it.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Oh it's really rough, and so it could be that.
But I feel like, yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Sleep is so rarely I think that I'm saying rarely
talk about We probably talk about it more now than
we ever have in the last forty years. But like,
sleep is this extraordinary gift and I think I'm probably
more aware of it now because I've got a twelve
year old who is who seems to think that sleep

(49:20):
is some sort of punishment, you know what I mean,
Like he's sleepers, Like why would you do this to me?
And like, dude, I don't want to be awake right now,
you know, And it's only like in in Alan Debotton's
new book, Please, which I just bought for you as

(49:41):
a gift. I think it's called a Therapeutic Journey. A
therapeutic Journey which I bought for you, is that I
don't know if you want to plug other people's books. No, please, No,
I'm not as good as How to Live Like a.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
Man and a School of Life. I'm a big fan
Genius's genius, very big fans.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
He's got a section in that book where he talks
about sleep, and he says, when you've got a newborn baby,
when you've got a newborn baby, you are very Your
only intention is to put this child into a routine
and make sure that they sleep at the right time
for the right amount of times. Therefore, you feed it
the right food to make sure it's the you know,

(50:19):
the right We have to because if you don't get
the right sleep, they are going to be awful tomorrow.
And then at some point we just decide, well, I
don't need to do that. That's only for a baby.
I can sit with my phone at midnight just looking

(50:42):
a stream of thirty second videos to then character to
not sleep and imagine that I'm going to be okay tomorrow.
And I find that that sleep is just like this gift,
and that the better sleep I have that with out question,
in every facet of my in every facet of my life,

(51:04):
I'm better. Yeah, Like I'm really thinking about you don't drink?

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Right? No? No, no?

Speaker 2 (51:11):
How went? How long have you not drunk?

Speaker 1 (51:14):
I would say, how old? Am I like? Maybe eighteen
years or right?

Speaker 2 (51:21):
But did you ever were you did? Right? Okay? Not?

Speaker 1 (51:24):
I was never in a car by. I drank socially,
enjoyed it, had fun, love drinking games. I used to
hang out with the lads and like you.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
About where I am so I really really I I'm
very ready drink at home. I never really get in
and go I'm going to have a glass of wine
or a gin and tonic. But if I go out, yes,
and if I'm out, I'm like, I love the feeling
of being three and a half drinks in between three
and six. I am. Look at Roger's face, he knows

(51:54):
what I'm talking about. I am. I'm feeling my knees
and I love it right, And now as I've got older,
I'm just really am really I'm going to really try
to just stop doing that. Like with no great declaration.

(52:15):
You know, you know, I am saying, I just am
really really going to try not to do that. Because
my friend, a good friend of mine, my friend jezz I,
spoke to him about it, and I was like, how
did you just manage to just did you just stop
doing this? And he said something to me, and I
think you'll really like this, he said. He said, I
started asking myself, and I do think this changes post

(52:39):
probably like thirty seven thirty eight. It starts to change
in your body. And he said, I started to ask myself,
how how much of tomorrow do I want to borrow?
All I'm doing now by drinking is borrowing from tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
Right, It's like it's like you're going to a cash point.
You're going to a cash point and you're going, I'm
going to withdraw three hours from tomorrow that I will
be useless. And then probably if I just borrow three
hours around about noon or one, I'll start to feel okay.
So I'm borrowing from tomorrow and that and how many

(53:23):
hours do you want to borrow? And sometimes you borrow
a day and then the only way you think you
can rescue that day is to go, let's have another one,
you know, And I thought that was a really amazing
way of looking at it. And so my intention is
to really try and and not do that. I just
want to try, try and just be healthier. I don't

(53:48):
even sort of think about weight loss anymore. I've done
that so many times in my life, just made so
many like decisions just right, this is it. I'm not
going to go and what wy don't you change that
acts that isn't working. Why don't you just only try
and do what is healthy and see how that impacts
your frame?

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Yes, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I like that approach.
I mean, you know, I think it's natural when when
we're recording this, it's like New Year's resolutions and start
of the year and all that kind of stuff. And
I think all of us know that about eighty percent
of us drop off by the end of January. By February,
we're not practicing this New Year's resolution, this massive commitment

(54:30):
we made. And it's almost because we go from this
huge extreme from being indulgent in December to trying to
be hyper intentional in January. Yeah, and trying to go
from one extreme to the other, and none of us
can hack that it doesn't work well.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
A friend of mine said a really good thing to me.
My friend Simon said to me, he said, you need
to stop going on a diet because my weight has
gone up and down. You know I can I can
see it in too many videos on YouTube where I
was up, where I was down. I used to have

(55:02):
like three sets of suits. Lauren Shapiro, who was our
wardrobe designer on the show Who I Am Now saying,
as I said it out loud, I would have hated
hearing her name on your podcast, and my time with
her I used to just love so much because, like
I said, so much of the day would be a
lot of people, and then it would just be me
and her choosing suits and choosing what I'm going to wear,

(55:25):
and we'd chat about the day, and you know, we've
had moments where we cracking up laughing with other days
where one of us is really down, and it would
just be this little precious moment in this very small
walk in closet that was off my office where all
the suits were, and my time with those are the

(55:45):
things I really miss. That's the stuff I really really miss.
And she very very subtly, and we never talked about it.
We never ever talked about it, but I knew what
she did, and I was grateful. Was she basically started
organized in my suits into like really fat, fat and

(56:05):
always looking good. You could see and she would just
you know, but she would just very very in the
in the just and I would go. And then we
just became a thing where I'd be like, I think
we're you know, particularly if we came off a hiatus
or a go away and I think we're going to
be and she'd like, and we'd never really speak about

(56:28):
my friend. My friend said, my friend Simon said, you
need to stop going on a diet. So what do
you mean? Said You've got to stop. You've got to
stop going on a diet. He said, because going on
a diet is like going on a holiday. You are
going to return, You're going to come back. Wow, he said.
If you go on a diet, what you're saying is

(56:50):
this is short term. He said, you need to just
go this is how I live now, and this is it.
That's not going. I don't eat any bread. You know,
in moderation, it be probably good for you to eat
certain types of bread, but that's it, and you're going

(57:12):
to don't just stop this thing of being like, oh, guys,
I'm not I'm on a diet. Ye, And he was like,
and stop broadcasting saying it, Just stop saying it. Just
go this is what I'm going to do, and to
try and exercise like this. I'm going to try and
walk like I'm trying to do and just be like no, no,
I'm gonna I'm going to eat this, And don't don't
be like, well I want to be down twenty pounds

(57:35):
in thirty five days, Like because you've done that and
you know how that plays out. Don't go on something
that's changed. Something that's good.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
I like that. Yeah, on a diet, on a holiday,
that's good. That's strong. You've got some wise friends, James.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
I do.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
There's a lot of good there's a lot of great
advice and these and these friends for like life for
these friends.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Recently time and I've known probably but yeah, probably about
nine nine years. And I have yeah, I have like
friends I've known for thirty five.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Years, you know what I mean, Like, what's it taking
to keep those? Because I find like I've been talking
to a lot of my male friends about this recently,
and this idea of you know, do we have Do
you have a friend that you could call in the
middle of the night and you know they would pick up,
they would turn up, they would be there, Because if
you have one of those friends, that's pretty rare and
pretty incredible. Especially as men, I find sometimes it's it's

(58:25):
almost harder to have those vulnerable relationships. But you seem
to be having a lot of open, vulnerable, healthy conversations
with men in your life.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
But I think it's easier now. I think it's easier
now than it used to be. I think I hope
we're going to move into a generation of men, and
I think you and your show is responsible for that.
I think lots of I think just the ability to
just be like I'm struggling is a thing which I

(58:55):
think for a very long time men were conditioned to
that that was weak, and actually it's almost certainly the
bravest thing you can do. It is it is a
tremendous act of bravery to say I'm not doing too
great at than And as soon as those words leave

(59:17):
your mouth, I reckon twenty percent of those things have gone.
And I'm very I'm very, very fortunate. I just have
a lot of I love a lot of friends that
I've known for a very long time, and I and
I love them, and I tell them I love them
and I I and I enjoy the company of people

(59:44):
so much, you know, I just you know, it's interesting
you talk about who would call it like my friend
Louis that I was just telling you about who we
wrote that script together. Louis had a previous life where
he used to he would go out sometimes for three days.
I don't think he'd mind me saying this. He'd go

(01:00:04):
out for days on end. And I always always. And
then I said to Jules when we met, I said,
just so you know, I've got this friend Louis, and
he goes out for a long time, like you know
what London was like in those times, in these very streets. Yes,
And I said, if he calls me, I always, but
I have to pick up, always pick up, because I

(01:00:28):
always used to think he might be in trouble. This
resulted in some of the funniest things I've ever heard.
Him calling me at two, three, four, five in the
morning resulted in some of the funniest things I've ever heard.

(01:00:48):
And so that's why I say to anybody who doesn't
pick up the phone to a friend in the night.
It might not always be bad. It might be said.
He called me once, I think it's okay to tell
you this. He called me once and I was half
three in the morning, same man, okay, and he went,
I'm and he's drunk, and heone, I'm going to tell

(01:01:09):
you something now. And it's a fact. I went, what
he went, it's a fact. I went, sorry, you went.
What I am about to tell you is a fact.
It is a fact of life, and I would like
to share it with you. Okay, this quarter four And
he's like, it is a fact, James that I have

(01:01:31):
never and will never see the Jersey Boys goodbye and
hung up. And so yeah, I don't know. I don't
think for a friendship is I think it's something. It's
sort of everything, isn't. He like it's it's I cherish

(01:01:52):
it so much. I also think, you know, with kids,
it's really important for them to see you with friends, Yes,
to not separate those things, to be to involve your

(01:02:14):
friends with your children and your children with your friends.
Because I'm really aware that, Like my son's twelve, and
like he's right now, like we just get on great,
We get on so well, So we get on so
well's I love It's beautiful, and I'm so aware that

(01:02:37):
that is about to change, because that is just nature.
You know. I took about a year ago, before we
moved before we move back, I took my son. I
can't even remember what happened. He was kind of strappy

(01:03:00):
and you know, stomped upstairs. He's really not that kind
of boy, but he did. And I went upstairs and
I sat in his room and I just went to him.
I said, can I ask you some questions? And he
was quite taken aback because because he thought I was

(01:03:22):
going to go what was that about? And can I
ask you some questions? And he went yeah. I said,
do you think I love you? And he went yeah.
I said, do you think I would ever do anything
to intentionally hurt or upset you? He said no. I said,
and do you think in the eleven years that you've
been on Earth, do you think I've changed dramatically? He

(01:03:47):
went no. I went, well done, he scored one hundred percent.
They are all the right answers, I said, And I'm
telling you this because over the next few years, there
are going to be points you are going to think
I don't love you. You are going to think I
am intentionally trying to hurt or upset you, and you're

(01:04:11):
going to think that I've changed. And I need you
to remember this, that I haven't changed. We haven't changed.
You've changed, and you need to and you have to,
and you are going to go through immeasurable changes in
your life and body and all we are trying to

(01:04:32):
do me, your mum, your sisters, and it's going to
happen to them too. Are just trying to help you
navigate these bumps that are going to come your way
and these changes both mental and physical that are happening
for you. But I need you to know that I
haven't changed. I'm never trying to intentionally hurt or upset you.

(01:04:56):
And I love you. I love you more than you'll
ever know. And he went, I think we should have
some sort of code word so I remember this, And
so we came up with some silly code word that
I would just say to him, like do you remember,
and he'd like and he'd be like, oh, yeah, you
haven't changed. I was like, my hair hasn't changed, dude.

(01:05:19):
I got the same hairstyle that I had when I
was eighteen years old, you know, and that was and
I refeel that with friendship that they I'm so painfully,
painfully aware that there's going to come a point where
the influences that aren't me are going to become bigger
on my children for a moment. And so if I

(01:05:41):
can make sure that those other people that they look
to are people who are aligned with how I feel,
then it's going to be great, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
And sometimes they're going to take advice from dad's friend
more than they are from Dad, if.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
They are going to seek it. Yeah, they're going to
absolutely seek those other role models, Yes, particularly boys. I
think that's right. Is that right? I think that's right. Yeah, yeah,
I don't know if that's completely right, but I do
think that there is a perhaps more of a thing
between boys and dads, and you know, it's it's such
a strange thing that it's so you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
Know, yeah, I remember, so you would have know this
because we didn't know each other then, but became friendly
with James Longman on your team years ago and so
long as it invited me to come and watch the show.
This is when I first moved to la when I
first moved there, So this is like five years ago,
and yeah, and I got to come and he was
he was He's wonderful, obviously great and so he showed

(01:06:37):
me around. I got to see all the rooms and
like you know that, the green rooms and every like.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
He was.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
He just gave me the best tour ever. Took me
to the photo wall. I got to put up a
fake photo of myself on the wall as if we've
been on the show, you know, all all of it
was really sweet. And we didn't know each other at
all then, of course, and I didn't know anyone else
apart from him, and I was just really excited to
be there because I was such a fan of the
show and I remember you were. You were so wonderful,
even if between the show where you're in between segments

(01:07:02):
like it's not live, and you would come and chat
to the audience. You'd shake people's hands, and then I
remember you'd go and call your kids and you'd literally
sit at the desk before in between and just like
get that because and you tell us you'd be like, guys,
I'm just gonna call my family because I'm gonna say
good night to my kids. And it was such a
like it was so amazing to see someone who's in
the middle of everything you described so phenomenally earlier. But

(01:07:23):
then be like, I just want to say good night
to my kids because it's that late, right, however late
it was at that time. I think kids were going
back to bed at seven or seven or whatever may
have been, and I remember you facetiming them and then
we got to wave it, and I just remember how
special that was. And I just think, you know, I've
heard you say before that you know, for so many
years your your family was marching to the beat of

(01:07:44):
your drum like they were. They were therefore, they were
just holding it together for you so that you could
build and create. And I just think about moments like
that that you were having with.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
Them and media. I'm so worried that the show you
came to is terrible. That's all I can think.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Is good Ruffalo. It is great. It's great, it's great.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
But like, that's that's really what really resulted in us
moving back, is the truth is, you know, like my
wife just walks to the beat of my drum, my family.
You know, we're going to New York, We're going to
LA I'm going here, I'm going there. Babe, I'm going

(01:08:25):
to do this thing in Australia. You're you're good here
with the kit, do you know what I mean? Like, honestly,
I genuinely feel I get the feeling that you might
be like this. I feel like I could live anywhere anywhere.
I could live anywhere, because we're very fortunate that you're
here now in London. You're going to go back, You're
going to go to India, you're gonna go to New York,
You're to LA Like, what a privilege. I'm so aware

(01:08:49):
that that hasn't been my wife's life for the last
twelve years, thirteen fourteen years, you know, And so really
our our decision to move back was like I was
going to stop the show regardless. You know, there was
a there was a moment where I was going to
stop it a bit earlier, and then it was done

(01:09:12):
so beautifully. My leaving of the show, like me and
my boss George just sat in my office and literally
talked it out like this, no agents, no lawyers, no nothing,
Like I said, I'd like to leave it this date.
He said, is it any way I can get you

(01:09:33):
to stay to this day? It's like I can't stay
to that date because we've got to resettle, the kids
have got like they have to start school in September,
you know. And then at one point it was going
to be May, and then there was like I think
there's golf and masters and all this, and we literally
just were like, okay, we'll end it then and that
will give us the right gap. And all of that

(01:09:55):
came from me just saying to Jeles like, I'll live
anywhere where, where, Where do you want to be? Where
do you think it's best for us to be, because
I know she would never make a decision that isn't
best for the kids, forget me, and she was just like,

(01:10:19):
I think it's time to go home. I was like, Okay,
that's it, and I'm so I'm so grateful that we
that we did. Just in my family before Christmas, we
had a My mum sings in a choir. It's not
a church choir, it's just a choir with some of

(01:10:40):
her friends and we all went out to high Wickham
to watch her sing in this choir. I sat in
this room in a in john Hamden sports hall or there,
you know theater, just a a school hall that we

(01:11:01):
were in. I cried my eyes out. I cried. I
couldn't stop crying because I'm my mum. I was in
this choir with like forty other people singing Christmas songs,
and it was so pure. It was so pure, it

(01:11:23):
was so the antithesis of what our life of being
in Los Angeles. And my mum was in the corner
of this glad, you know, and I just she couldn't
stop smiling. And I just thought, Oh my god, this
purity that's here. These are a group of women and
men in there. I guess they range between thirty to

(01:11:46):
sixty people, and I just was like, this is everything.
I don't want to be anywhere else. This is I
only want to be here. And it was so weird.
It's so weird the effect it has on me even
now saying I can't understan and it. I can't tell
you why. I think it just felt in that minute like, Oh,

(01:12:07):
this is the sacrip, this is why we made what
you would perceive to be a great sacrifice. Yes, this
is the reason something here that I would never see,
I would never come back for, I would never be
part of. And then my dad joined them with a
few numbers playing the saxophone and I just I just

(01:12:27):
was like, oh my god, this is worth everything. This
is this is this is everything I need to feed
me and my kids watching their grandma sing this song,
I was like, how lucky are we to appreciate and
have this experience? Yeah, to have come back and everyone

(01:12:48):
be healthy? You know?

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
Yeah, for sure? What does it take in that in
the marriage, for that communication, for that even the fact
that you know you're both asking each other questions, you're
both checking in with each other, Like, that's not easy,
it's challenging. Yeah, Like what is that? What has that taken,
like from both of you to really be able to
make those big decisions together.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
It's taken me learning from my wife. That's it. That's it.
Like she, I think has always known and always figured
out how to communicate how to do this, And I
think I've been terrible at it. I think I've been

(01:13:32):
rubbish at it because I think I lived for a
very long time an existence of just I nothing will
move me from this train. I'm on this is it.
Oh you're hopping on great, but this is this is
it's this is the thing. And actually you then realize
that that isn't the case. I mean we don't argue

(01:13:55):
very much. We really really try to talk in the
day right to not make it the last thing we do,
even if you are going to bed with like and
it's more her than me, and she's like, well, I'm

(01:14:15):
going to talk to you about that tomorrow, you know
what I mean. But it's so much better than going
to bed, going to sleep. Just don't go to sleep
on an argument. That's the first thing. And I think
I learned quite probably halfway through our marriage that that actually,

(01:14:42):
if all you're doing and this is this is an
almost impossible thing to do. But if you're but if
you're at least trying to, you're pretty much there is
if you're going well, if if all you're trying to
do is meet your partner's needs, then all yours in
turn will be met. They just will like how many
times do we hear it's funny we had a friend

(01:15:04):
of ours or a friend of my wife's. They're friends
of ours. You know, if we ever broke up, she'd
get her. Now you've got me thinking about friend, Oh,
divide it up a fun game and going to take
what's quite a fun game. And she was saying, this
is a few years ago now, She was like, he
just never does anything for me. I never. He never

(01:15:27):
surprises me and takes me out for dinner. He never
says ah like, oh I'm good, you know, buy the
theater ticket. He never says, oh, Friday night, me and you,
let's do this. And I just went, well, when do
you do it? How often do you do that? She went,
what I don't. And I was like, right, well, you

(01:15:48):
have to see that that might be a that that
might be a thing. For all we know. He sat
somewhere now going she never takes me out? She never,
because let's go the cinema. And she was like, and
that's it in its most base level. I think that's
probably the thing I've learned the most.

Speaker 1 (01:16:06):
Yeah, I love hearing about your relationships and the way
you talk about your relationships. Obviously, this whole shift in
your life is because of your relationships, and so it's
so wonderful to hear about it. And you were giving
me credit earlier for you know, hopefully changing conversations around masculinity.
But I think you did that very much so as
well with your bromance comic relief videos with David Beckham,

(01:16:29):
and I'd always appreciate those when they came out. I know,
you guys have a real romance, but seeing it on
screen was always a real treat. Whether you're doing the
Calvin kleinads together or whether you know or doing each
other's nails or whatever it was, it was. It was
so funny. And you went to the premiere recently of
his documentary, which I thought was just, yeah, brilliant, phenomenal.

(01:16:50):
I read Bex's biography when autobiography when I was like
fifteen or something, and it was life changing. I loved it,
and getting to what's the doc was obviously reliving it again.

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
I mean, what a story?

Speaker 1 (01:17:02):
What a story?

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
Right? This is the whole thing. When I watched it,
it really really reminded me. Have you ever watched Aaron
Sorkin's commencement speech at Syracuse University? I have not known,
so actually me saying, you know, when I get my
driver's license, my life will be like this. He actually
says that in that speech. He talks about that, and

(01:17:24):
I think, and that was the first time I realized that, like, oh,
that's what I have always done. His commencement speech at
Syracuse University is brilliant as you can imagine. It's just
so brilliantly written and he delivers it. It's exceptional. It's
my favorite thing to watch on YouTube is people's commencement addresses,

(01:17:45):
and his is particularly good. And I would urge anybody
to go and to go and look at it. I
use it, I quote it. It's fed into me, you know.
And he says a brilliant line and it really came
to the forefront of my mind watching the Beckham documentary
where he says, the world doesn't care how many times

(01:18:07):
you get knocked down, so long as it's one less
than the amount of times you get back up again.
And that's what I think the Beckham Dock is. It
is a story of a man who just doesn't stop.
He just gets back up and he carries on. And
that's what it's about. You could say it's about the

(01:18:30):
first sportsman to become a global brand and icon. You
could talk about it's the first family to have become,
perhaps in Britain outside of the Royal family, a family
of intrigue and interest. You could say it's a story
about fame and sport. It's not. I think it's a

(01:18:52):
story of someone who just kept going through adversity, through challenges,
just got up and carried on. And that's why I
think it's resonated so much with people, because it's interesting.
I don't know if you found this, but like it's
interesting being British and watching it. Yes, yes, then because

(01:19:12):
because people in America are.

Speaker 1 (01:19:14):
Like, I had no no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
Oh my god, those football those soccer fans, the way
they were with him, and you're like, yeah, no, I know,
I remember the yeah, yeah, you know. And then and
then Greece and that like that's where sport tho can
transcend everything. It's like, it's it's why I think sport

(01:19:39):
and music. I think sports stars and musicians are I
think their fame is so different to actors and performers
and hosts and writers, and I think their fame is
something different because they give you moments. They give you
moments in the and really what I put those moments

(01:20:03):
down to is they made you feel less alone. That's
actually what it is. It's why our relationship with singers
and art and recording artists is so personal. Because I
was in this play called The History Boys and it's
written by Alan Bennett, and there was a speech that
Richard Griffiths used to deliver every night, and he'd say

(01:20:27):
the best moments in poetry are when you think a
thought or a feeling is particular to you, and then
suddenly someone who is long dead you will never meet. Now,
someone who you will never meet, perhaps even long dead,
has written down the very thing you're feeling. And it's

(01:20:47):
like a hand has reached out and taken yours and
it says to you, you're not on your own. You're
not on your own. That's a great bit in a
John Lennon documentary where there's a guy saying to you
on Lennon, that song you wrote, but you know that
that was about me. It's about me, thats how I am.

(01:21:08):
And John Lennon's going, they're just songs. They're just songs.
It isn't that And he's going, nobody is you wrote
that about me? Because you can't know how I felt,
And so I think you don't. Suddenly you feel very alone.
You hear something and you realize you're not. And then
I think sport when David Beckham curlled that free kick
in the top corner, which when we qualified for the

(01:21:28):
World Cup, it did not matter Tory, conservative, Republican, Democrat,
left right, all the stuff the divisions everything suddenly yeah,
and you're hugging people you don't know, you've never met,
and you're you're brought together and you're not alone anymore.

(01:21:50):
And that's where I think sport and music is such
a powerful thing in our lives, which you don't feel
when you watch a film. You can watch a film
or a TV show and go, oh, yeah, that's good.
That was amazing. Even if it moved you hugely, that
connection isn't the same.

Speaker 1 (01:22:07):
I don't think that's why you gave him an ugly
statue of himself. Oh my god, I've watched that a
million times that day.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
Man, that was so much fun. That was just, you know,
because pranks they're the worst thing to film. They're awful
because they could just go wrong at any point. They
could go wrong one notice of a camera and hundreds
of thousands of dollars and my got that day just
worked out in the best way. It was.

Speaker 1 (01:22:42):
It's so good. If anyone's not seen it, it's so good.
If you watch The Dog and you love Dabbie Beckham
and you love what James does, you have to go
and see it. It's just you made the ugliest statue
I had the idea one of the best looking men.

Speaker 2 (01:22:55):
I had the idea because do you remember the real
Ronaldo one? Yeah? Remember that? So then it was like
I remember going into it, going into Ben's office and
going because I think if if they hadn't done that
with Ronaldo in real life, I don't think David would
have believed it right right, Yeah, But it was because
it happened in real life with Cristiano Ronaldo that we

(01:23:15):
were like, oh, hang on, we could do this, and
I never thought it would work as well as it did. Yeah,
and credit I have to say to the to the
actors in that sketch, I mean just just brilliant.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
Perfect, Yeah, Manchester City, brilliant, amazing, it's amazing. Walk me
through that what you just said. Now that you're in
that space six months, you're reflecting, figuring it out. We're
waiting for that next balloon. We've let the other balloon go.
What does James Corden's creative process stillness, waiting for the idea,

(01:23:53):
building an idea look like? What does that look like?
Where does that Where does inspiration strike? Where does it
come from? Where do you seek it? When you've let
go of something without knowing what's next.

Speaker 2 (01:24:04):
What I'm really trying to do now is not rush anything.
I spent a long time squeezing so many things in
that Actually now I just sort of think, well, don't
force an idea to be whatever it is that you

(01:24:30):
might you know, write or do or But then at
the same time, I think what I have to really
be conscious of now is to not be too afraid,
to not be too scared to do anything, because I
think I've been so enjoying this feeling of not being

(01:24:54):
on TV every day and putting out content on whether
it's you you, you know, social but I'm so aware of
how much was just being pushed out all the time,
and that can come with so much stuff. Totally, it's
good to sit and work, but then don't be scared

(01:25:14):
to do it. Don't be scared of the failure of it.
I've only took a screen grab. I think it's the
guy who's the new CEO of Van's Shoes. I think
we used to work at Logitech and it says here,
I've just got the screen grab which ran for a decade,

(01:25:35):
which he ran for a decade, and he penned a
doctor Seuse like poem titled the Secret of success, Oh sorry,
the Secret to success. Avoid it. It reads in part,
success makes you fearful of losing your place of gambling
with stature of losing your face, and it is there
is an element of that I feel of like, well,

(01:25:58):
there's a very very very real answer that you do
something and it's shit, you.

Speaker 1 (01:26:05):
Know, And all the greats have had that, They've all
done that.

Speaker 2 (01:26:08):
Oh my god. But I think that's why I was
so keen too, even in this period to make this,
this podcast called This Life of Mine, to like go, well, no,
I know, I know what this is like this this
idea of this podcast is an idea I had when
I was sixteen and I wrote it out. Wow, I

(01:26:29):
wrote it out and it was called Planet Lovely. That's
their name now it's called Planet Were Lovely because do
you remember there used to be a TV show on
TV on BBC two when we were growing up called
Room one o one. Of course, so Room one oh
one was a show where people would take things they
hated in life and they would be they would put

(01:26:49):
them into Room one o one and they'd be gone forever.
It was a really funny show. It was a brilliant
show and premise and I was like sixteen. I was like, well,
this is great. Wouldn't it be brilliant to make a
show which is just people talking about things that they
love and things that are really significant in their life?

(01:27:10):
And I wrote this like thing this planet Lovely, it's
not called Planet Lovely anymore. The decision that that's it
and not great, But I was like, why don't we
just have people talk about things that are significant in
their life, whether it's a film, a place, a person,

(01:27:30):
a memory, a possession, a song, and the you know,
I really really wanted to do it. So I was like,
can I create something in a completely different medium that
feels almost the antithesis of what the Lately show was?
It's it's completely different. It's calm, and it's quiet and

(01:27:51):
it's soft, and it's people talking about things that they
love or that were moments in their life. And like,
some of the stuff that we've heard has just been great.
So I've really loved creativity. I'd love the creativity of
just I don't you know, like we're going to put

(01:28:14):
this on serious exam and hopefully people find it and
hopefully it will be just a piece of joy. It'll
be a warm hug on a Sunday afternoon, and that
would be a lovely thing to put out into the world.
But that's a sort of gestation period of thirty years.
I don't think I should do that again. But I

(01:28:36):
do think what I'd really love to do is try
and write one more thing. I'd love to try and
write one more thing. I'd love to write again with
Ruth Jones, who I wrote Gavin and Stacey with. I
love her so much. She is and has been a
constant in my life as a friend. And you want

(01:28:58):
to talk about a long friendship, you know, And so
I'd love to try and write something else with her.
I don't know what that'll be. I don't even know
if we'll ever before do it. I don't know, but
you know, we we do. We do have chats about
maybe this is the thing, you know, so that that's
what I'd really love to do. It's just if you

(01:29:19):
listened to Bradley Cooper talk about making my well, he
really just made a decision to give himself over entirely
for three years to that project, to just go, well,
what does it feel like actually to not move from

(01:29:41):
one thing to the next, to be to hear they're
doing this doing and what is it? What does it
feel like to just give myself over in every way
to the point where I imagine a lot of people
around him on that set were earning more financially, but
like as a as a as a challenge to give
himself over to it in the most beautiful way. I

(01:30:03):
think is it's so inspiring to watch. And I don't
know if I've ever done that. I don't. I know
I haven't done that. I never liked that on that level,
But like, I don't think I've ever completely just given
myself over to something and seen it through from inception
to pushing it on the water and letting other people

(01:30:26):
decide whether it's good or not and seeing who I
am the other side of it. Like that's I think
that would be a really good thing to do. Like
I might go to I might go this. I just
found this like seven weekend course at the Film School
in Becconsfield or seven, I don't know how many days.

(01:30:49):
I can't That might be wrong, but I like I think,
oh maybe I'll maybe I'll do that. I wouldn't mind
doing some acting classes. I didn't I just wouldn't mind
just going, well, can I I wonder if there's one
more thing, And if there isn't, how lucky was I?

(01:31:09):
You know? But I really feel like I might be
getting to a spot where I might have something to say.

Speaker 1 (01:31:15):
Yeah, James, you are. You're very unique and extremely extremely
thoughtful and conscious and so honest and genuine. It's it's
been such a treat talking to you, honestly, like genuinely
just sitting with you, and I know that I'm listening
to an actual stream of consciousness more than curated answers,

(01:31:41):
and you know, it's it's really powerful. It's been really
really special, and I want to thank you for giving
me this space, holding this space and trusting you with it.

Speaker 2 (01:31:49):
I mean, it's a it's a real thrill to to
sit and chat with you. It's it's it's it's it's great.
It's it's a lovely thing you've created here. It's brilliant.
It's really brilliant what you're doing. I'm so it's strange.
I don't know if you feel this, but I feel
like there's a strange thing with like Brits that go

(01:32:11):
to America because it's only like there's only a handful
of us who know how hard it is and how
vast that is. So like when I look at when
I look at your staff and I see the things
that you're putting out, and like, I think, I walk
past like a huge billboard of view the other week
and I was like, and I don't know, we've never met,

(01:32:32):
but we have friends in common. And I was like, yeah.
I was like, gone, boy, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:32:39):
When I get to work, Yeah, this is great. I
was like, you're.

Speaker 2 (01:32:42):
From from green Wood Green. Yeah, You're from Wood Green.
Look at him. I'm very proud of you, with no
reason to be.

Speaker 1 (01:32:51):
No, mate, I appreciate it. And you know, offline today
and online you've given me a lot of mentorship and
coaching that I'll take on and i'll practice in my
life if honestly, You've left me with some really thoughtful
pieces of insight. But we end every show with the
final five, and these are the fast five, which are
answered in one word to one sentence maximum, of course,

(01:33:11):
and so and I'll ruin that rule every time because
you give such wonderful answers. But we'll try.

Speaker 2 (01:33:17):
We'll start absolutely, we'll start that.

Speaker 1 (01:33:18):
So, James, these are your fast five. First question is
what is the best advice you've ever heard or received.

Speaker 2 (01:33:26):
To ask yourself, is this of my concern? Right? I'm
gonna break it already, but I really think that phrase
is one of the most important things you can hang
on to, is to just go. There's a great power
in being able to say that's none of my concern.

(01:33:47):
It's more polite than saying I don't care. It's more
truthful than saying it's nothing to do with me, because
sometimes it will be to do with you. But is
it of your concer Do you need to engage with it?
You just go, I'm sorry, what was that someone say something?

(01:34:11):
Think about it? Oh, that's none of my concern and
carry on.

Speaker 1 (01:34:17):
I love that super powerful Okay. Question number two, what
is the worst piece of advice you've ever heard or received?

Speaker 2 (01:34:25):
Oh? Jeez, oh god, it's weird, you know. I think
just do it? Right? The Nike, the Nike if you're
in America, and the Nike if you're in England Britain.
The I think, just do it is a brilliant slogan, right.
I think it's one of the most powerful slogans in
the world. And what makes it so powerful is that
is the full stop is the period just do it right,

(01:34:49):
just do it great, but that can really have other connotations. Yeah,
so I would say I would say, don't just do it.
Ask whether you want to do it? Do you really
want to do it? And then do it.

Speaker 1 (01:35:04):
I love how you just went up against the greatest
slogan of all times.

Speaker 2 (01:35:08):
Do you think it's a masterpiece? I just sometimes think yeah,
because it's like you know, I would say, like you know,
Crystal Meth, don't just do it, don't just do it? Really,
don't just do it? Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:35:23):
Now the new one when we go walk about the
next door in England, do you really want to do it?

Speaker 2 (01:35:27):
It's going to ask yourself seriously, do you really want
to do it? And if the answer is yes, just as.

Speaker 1 (01:35:36):
I love it, I love it. I'm looking forward to
seeing that billboard with you on.

Speaker 2 (01:35:39):
It's not as snappy. I don't know if it will
really take off.

Speaker 1 (01:35:44):
Question number three, how would you define your current purpose?

Speaker 2 (01:35:48):
I think my current purpose is to let it be
and accept whatever it is. And that's not work, that's life,
accept all of it. Don't get caught up in what
you thought something should be. Just to accept what it

(01:36:11):
is and realize how incredibly amazing is to just be alive.

Speaker 1 (01:36:18):
It's brilliant. Question number four, what does it feel like
when Tom Cruise says to you your life is more
valuable than his?

Speaker 2 (01:36:29):
It feels like a lie? Ja, It's like, yeah, it
feels like a lie. And I think I knew that
at the time, but you believed it. He I mean, man,
he could say anything, and I believe him, you know,
anything at all? Like the guy is just exceptional. Oh

(01:36:50):
my god, amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:36:52):
Yeah. Special fifth and final question, which we asked every
guest has ever been on the show. If you could
create one law everyone in the world had to follow,
what would it be.

Speaker 2 (01:37:04):
I think the law should be for every minute you
spend on social media, that when you come off the app,
you're not allowed back on for that many minutes. So
if you go on for an hour, you're locked out
for an hour. If you're on for two minutes, you're
locked out for two minutes. And I believe that should

(01:37:24):
be the absolute law. I don't prescribe to this notion
that these things should be banned. I think it's insane
to think that. I just think that actually, we regulate
the speed on the road, we regulate what age you
are when you can vote, what age you are, when
you can get married, have a child, do a degree,

(01:37:49):
drink alcohol, all these things. And actually, I think one
regulation would be that you know, you could expect if
you need to spend seven hours on it. The second
is dormant for a minute. You're locked out for seven hours.
And I think people would be I think it would

(01:38:10):
be great. I think it would be brilliant.

Speaker 1 (01:38:13):
That is genius. That's my that's my genius. We never
had anything like that.

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
I pitched it once to to I was at some
conference thing, interviewing quite a prominent sort of Silicon Valley
Ye you know, CEO, and I pitched this as an
idea in the room, and it did not go down.
They did not respond as well as you. That's why

(01:38:39):
would we ever do that? Monetizing every all of their time?
We want all of their time, James. We don't want
some of their time. We want to steal it all.

Speaker 1 (01:38:50):
I'm the opposite. I'm thinking, how do we make that happen?

Speaker 2 (01:38:52):
Like what?

Speaker 1 (01:38:53):
That that's brilliant.

Speaker 2 (01:38:54):
I think it's a really interesting to play with.

Speaker 1 (01:38:57):
Because again, it's not I'm on a diet. I'm on
a d top someone it's not you know, this is awful,
this is you know on it for seven days, and.

Speaker 2 (01:39:05):
All of these things, all of these things social media,
like you know, the way people the way that you know,
the new thing where we talk about AI and it's like,
of course it's terrifying, it's also going to be miraculous
and brilliant. So nothing is nothing is all bad, nothing
is all good, No one is all bad, no one
is all good. It's impossible. But what you can do

(01:39:26):
is regulate these things in a sense. And if that
was just the we would all accept it. We'd all
accept it. And I'm sure someone somewhere will find a
hack that means you can't, but on the whole people
would just go along with it, and they'd like, I
can't open it. I'll open it in a minute, and
then they would stop and look up and realize that actually,
maybe maybe out here can nourish me more than it

(01:39:50):
does in there. It's very hard to leave in there
when it's always there.

Speaker 1 (01:39:55):
James, Your world class This Life of Mine is available
right now wherever you listen. Two podcasts Serious right Yes,
Serious ExM and So I hope you guys subscribe, Follow
and look out for an episode. I'm going to get
to jump on the podcast too, really really looking forward
to that. Great and again, thank you so much, James.

Speaker 2 (01:40:14):
This is absolutely privilege.

Speaker 1 (01:40:16):
If you love this episode, you love my interview with
Will Smith on owning your truth and unlocking the power
of manifestation. Anybody who hasn't spoken to their parents or
their brother, call them right now. Don't think you're going
to have a chance to call them tomorrow or next week.
That opportunity with my father changed every relationship in my life.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Jay Shetty

Popular Podcasts

24/7 News: The Latest

Therapy Gecko

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}James Corden: How to Know When the Time is Right to Let Go