William H. Macy

This week on Thanks Dad, Ego sat down with award winning actor and whiskey maker, William H. Macy! To start, William thanks his wife for joining him on this magnificently weird trip we call life. The two actors chat about what makes a good story, the appreciation of a good box Stuffing, and how he cannot escape his southern etiquette. William shares auditioning advice with Ego & if you don't like it, don't hire him! Finally, Ego & William give advice to a lucky listener on how to sit in discomfort and let the resolution come to you.

Want some advice from Ego and her guest? Leave a voicemail at [phone] (THX-DADS)!

 

Follow William

Follow Ego

Follow Thanks Dad on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You look good. I'm so happy you're here. I'm gonna
do an intro for you because I have a lot
of respect for you, mind you, I do this for everyone,
but I do really respect you. My guest is an
actor who you know from Shameless, Fargo, and the Oscar
nominated movie Train Dreams. You can also see him in
the upcoming series The Land and check out his alcohol company,

(00:31):
Woody Creek Distillery. It's William H.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Macy.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, and the crowd goes high. Yes, yes, the crowd yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thank you for that intro.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Oh my goodness, thank you. You are impressive. Do you
realize how impressive you are? Honestly, yes, you've heard it.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
A lot of actors have impostors syndrome. So when I
find myself being fond over I don't know, I get
self conscious and.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Shy, shy, I see, and you're if I was a
therapist and being so and now it's this, which is
stand offish. There's no right way to be. This is
the way to be.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
You're a student of this stuff. I like that because
I do that when in my acting. You know, I
thought a lot about what does this mean? What does
that mean? And you know, just the other day, I
thought the way to do this, and Bill is opening
up his legs and putting his hand on it. It's basically, well,

(01:38):
we know what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I mean, this is a very confident man. I'm going
to take up space. Hand on the leg feels like
he's in charge.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah, I'm about to strike.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, I see.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
It worked. And then halfway through the scene I put
my legs together and crossed my arms and that said
it all too yeah to speak.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, it's true. There's so much embody language. My acting
teacher in Los Angeles, any Grinlay, used to say, there's
so much more in between the dialogue, the unstated. There's
so much in that. But I want you to know
I think you are incredibly impressive, as do so many people.
And it's I don't say this now to make you
uncomfortable and self conscious, because I relate to that as well.

(02:19):
I think I'm surprised that even now you feel imposter syndrome.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
I think it's was Dave Memmett said, nobody ever became
an actor because he had a happy childhood. You know,
it's it's complicated for me and I don't know, Okay,
I don't know. I get it. I've been in this
business a long time. I read my resume and I'm embarrassed.

(02:45):
You'd think i'd be a lot smarter and a lot richer.
But I've done a lot of stuff, and I got
to admit I get a script now, and I don't
say I've done the scene before, but I've been here,
done that. It's rare that I find myself in brand
new territory.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Right, given that you've had so much experience in this
industry and you feel like you've done so much and
you have what makes you say, as to a script now.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Excellent question. Here's my joke. I used to say. At
the beginning of my career, I asked, how does this
speak to the human condition? And in the middle of
my career, I said, what am I going to get paid?
And now I ask do I have to get wet?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Now?

Speaker 3 (03:33):
I would rather be in a successful movie in a
smaller role than a big movie, than a failure movie
in a big role. It's the story it tells, and
I'll admit it. What my part in telling that story
is and the words I get to say.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
That's a good metric. I think I'm in the in
the how much do I get paid.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Face, no shame.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm like, hold on how much? Yeah, that's a that's
a good. It's a good. It's a good gauge of
where exactly I am in my career.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
I'm gonna well yes when they say yes, you go.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah. You gotta aim high.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Guys, you're seriously, what's the matter with you? You know who?
You couldn't gotten for half this?

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Are you? Okay? How do you do with negotiation in general?
By the way, actually pretty good? Okay.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
I adopted this m O as a long long time ago,
which is lead with the bad stuff. So rather than saying, hi,
how are you? I was thinking about the cast and
we're going to go ice start, I say how are you?
I'm going to fire you? And then you backtrack and
try to salvage whatever you can. You know, Yeah, it's

(04:41):
not you, it's me.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Okay. That is fascinating and I'm I mean, it just
made me uncomfortable. I just had a visceral reaction to like,
how's your day? I'm going to fire you? And now
we can go through the bullet points as to why
I'm going to fire you. When did you adopt that?
How long ago? If you had to say.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
In my thirties. Okay, my teacher was Dave Mammot, the
great writer, and he drilled into us that an actor's job.
A lot of people say, well, you sort of lie
for a living. You didn't write those words, and you're

(05:24):
not really saying them to anyone you know, heard it?
Dave said, no, no, no, no, no, those are the
imaginary circumstances. Yes, of course, but our job is to
tell the truth always, and not just the truth within
the script, tell the truth within you right now in
this place, looking at that other person. You know, it

(05:45):
could be the script says I look at you and
I melt with love, and if I'm not getting along
with you, and I'm looking at you and you're sort
of annoy me, And you have the guts to put
that in the scene because the audience saw it. They
just seen the whole thing. They know what's going on

(06:06):
between us. Yeah, and you know it's got to be
a love story. The solution you come up with always
is really elegant, really better than the direct way. You know,
it gets complicated.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, did you ever do improv?

Speaker 2 (06:24):
No?

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Okay, and no, but I can tell because you just
said no, which would end in.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
Improvs in a film, they'll say you can improv the
scene not much, and I don't like it. But no,
we were talking about snl oh. Yes, it just scares
the Jesus up.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
So you were offered to host. You got an offer
to host.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
At some point a long time ago?

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Okay? Was I alive?

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Do you think must not go there?

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (06:49):
I got a pair of shoes that's older than you.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Thank you so much. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever
said to me. So you got offered the host, but
you said no. So did you say yes initially and
then go never mind, I don't want to do it.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
No, it was it was visceral. I said no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
I don't want to do that. It's a muscle I
just don't have. As a matter of fact, my muscle
of being on stage is it is improv but with

(07:28):
so many parameters it's not wide open.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
I mean, we got a script, we got a story
to tell, we got a job to do, and you
improvise within that. And it's the same improvising you do.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yes, it is.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
It's just rarefied, does it.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
It just makes you scared. The notion that you just
don't have the same kind of guardrails. Yeah, okay, but
then in SNL is so not improv was it then
the live television aspect of it that was.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
There's still it? Oh yeah, yeah, yes, And we talked
a little bit before the actor in me. People used
to not want to go to the theater with me
because apparently I'm.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Moan and say.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
It would just come out of me, you know, if
it was bad, or if there was a bullshit moment,
or it's it just wasn't working apparently, I know, but
I've grown up. I don't know what happened. I think
it used to offend me that they were bad. Now
I realized they didn't. They're not bad on purpose. They're

(08:30):
doing the best they can.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, and I've.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Done it so much. I know how much work they
put into this, so I sort of forgave them. And
now I love going to Broadway and plays anywhere.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, because like, if it's bad, no moaning for me.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, it's okay, And I've seen magnificent stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Do you have performances of yours that you would look
at in the past, And I don't want you to
name them, but performances of yours that you would look
at retroactively, of course, because you can't look at it
while you're in it and moan and go on.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, I don't even have to watch them. I can
remember them and.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
The thought of them. Okay, yeah, I see that. So
then you've given yourself grace then as well.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Right. I also learned along the way, Well, Shameless taught
me this because I got to go to work all
the time, every day for over a decade. Actors, we
don't get there.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
There were eleven seasons, was it right?

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, we wait around. But because I got to go
all the time, I sort of forgave myself and I realized,
you know, you blow this scene. There's another scene, and
this episode's not good. There's another episode. This year's not good.
We knew we were coming back, so it just took

(09:50):
all the pressure off and I became a much nicer
fellow to be around, and I forgave everyone. I learned
how to help directors without threatening or humiliating, sometimes without
them even knowing. And I've been doing this a long time.
I mean, I'm older than the teamsters. Now you are

(10:14):
You know how old you have.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
To be to be older than I'm gonna I don't
want to say, I don't want to say, I don't
want to say.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Well, but you know, I'm the Oman old screeze is
our French brethren would say. And it's a nice position
to be. And I love it. I really love it.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
It's very cool. I mean to also think that by
virtue of doing this for as long as you've done it,
and having all the experiences you've had, you're then able
to take on some of the responsibility of other people
on set. In a sense where you say I learned
how to help the director without the director knowing it
is pretty that's I think, a pretty remarkable skill to have. Yeah, yeah, you.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Know, I'd like to say shameless. John Wells gets all
credit for it. But when Hollywood suddenly realized ten fifteen
years ago that our movies don't look like America, they
really did something about it. I'm proud to be in
this industry and John Wells above and beyond anyone I knew.

(11:15):
We had all kinds of people, women, people of color,
people who had never gotten a shot and were not
close to getting a shot. A couple of them were there,
and they needed a net. And so sometimes they'd come
on and I would see the crew. They would look
at each other with wide eyes and there was an

(11:36):
unspoken thing. They just would lift this director and gently
help him or her over the finish line. And it
was so kind, and you.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Know, yeah, that's really special.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Because it was an impossible show to shoot.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
Sure, sure it was fast, I can imagine. And also, again,
just talking about eleven seasons on the same job, you're
so blessed, I think to I've had that experience as
an actor because there is so much waiting around in
between jobs and not knowing what your next month is
going to be. But that is a that's a long lessing. Yeah,
it's huge. Did you get at any point did you

(12:12):
have a bad attitude about it being on the show?

Speaker 2 (12:15):
That show?

Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, just because you know, I loved it from the beginning,
but I I was a harsh young man. What it
really comes down to is you're worrying about everything, and
I think with maturity you realize that's not your job, dude.
And you also realize if you're worried about that job,

(12:38):
I'm going to guess you're not doing your job too well.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, how many seasons do you think it took for
you to learn that on that show.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
You know, certainly by the midway point, but I could tell.
I was always calling the writers and saying, this is
we got to fix this. We shoot in the day.
Towards the end, I thought, okay, it'll be what it'll be. Also,
things that I thought were heinous. I would watch the
show and it goes by and I'm in an instant

(13:07):
I thought that wasn't so terrible, right, even if it
wasn't a good scene, and I was right, a big deal.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, it's not. There's there's like you said, there's another scene.
There's another episode, another another week, another year.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I saw a T shirt once it said don't worry
about the little stuff, and in parentheses it says, it's
all little stuff.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
That's a fact that'd be good to remember. That's a
that's a good tattoo. I have a few tattoos, and
I think I'll have get them because it'll remind me
of something. But I never look at them. So crazy
to get this permanent thing, and I'm like, this will
be a good reminder that I never look.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
At I'm acting like an asshole. Hold on here, what's
on my back? Could you tell me what that says.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, remind me it don't sweat the little stuff. It's
all little stuff. That is a lower back tattoo. That's charming.
I have to also ask you, because this is what
I do with every guest. Who or what do you
want to say thanks to today? It can be anything,
anything anyone.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
I was alerted to this. I would like to say, thanks, Flicka.
What a magnificently weird trip this is becoming.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
And I'm glad you're with me and probably.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Probably the day you said yes, that the best day
of my life.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
That is beautiful.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
I hate it when I do that.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, I love it selfishly because you let me in
on what's what's in your on your in your mind
and in your heart right now.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
You're on everyone else listening.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yes, but we love it. This is a loving place.
It's a loving place. This podcast.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
Daughters were watching television. They just howl at me because
I weep at the commercials. I weep at everything.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Now you saw you've softened with age. It sounds like
flick as your wife.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Sorry, Felicity, Yes, okay.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
I shouldn't call it Flicka. Flick a to you, Felicity,
to us.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
That's it. That's really beautiful. How long have you been married?

Speaker 3 (15:15):
We've I really should know this, shouldn't I.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
I don't mean to throw you under under.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
We're coming up on thirty. I think it's twenty eight
coming up. Wow, I think we're gonna do some damage.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
On thirty What kind of damage?

Speaker 3 (15:28):
All the same kind of damage we did when we
got married. We had the best freaking wedding. We went
on for days. We got married in Woody Creek where
she grew up, and now we live in Woody Creek.
We bought her childhood home. That's incredible and which I
would recommend to any husband.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Out there by the childhood home.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
It works out very well for you.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
You did that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
When on three days we had this band from Denver.
It was about twelve pieces. They had brass and everything.
I agree them five times. They didn't get out of
there until four o'clock in the morning. I went to
the airport early to take my family and I saw
our members in the little Aspen airport and none of
them could walk because we danced all nice.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Oh wow.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
And it was in September. So when you went outside
to the porta potty, the steam rolled off your back.
It was a magnificent wedding.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
That's incredible. Did you write your own vowels?

Speaker 3 (16:27):
We did, Funny, you should ask. I wrote them, and
about three days before I was reading them, and I realized,
this is poetical crap. Even I don't know what I'm
talking about. And so my vowels were a list. Okay,

(16:51):
I will stand up when you come back to the table. Okay, Someday,
somehow you will have a closet big enough. I will
never old pets or children over you. I will never
make fun of you in public. It goes on.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Okay, well, how many things were on the list?

Speaker 3 (17:10):
I think they're about seven.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
I don't know what I just okay, I think you
just did four, four, five.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
I'm pretty good on the closet. That's I realized that
was a bridge too far. They don't be a closet big.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Enough for there will never be. It's an issue, I
will say. I mean, I live in New York and
my closet is way too small, and your apartment, truly,
it's a little baby. It's a little baby closet half
the size of my apartment, which is also small. And
then my my closet in my house in La my
whole thing to the contract.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
New York.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
It is actually I'd been like, I need a closet.
I have have I need a closet. There's nowhere to
put all my stuff. But then in between asking for
that and them actually designing it, I got rid of
all my clothes. People will see the same outfit on
this podcast.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Oh that's magnificent.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
It was really nice. For my birthday a few years ago,
maybe two years ago, I realized I had no clothes
because it was really in the like I got rid
of everything. I had no clothes and I tried to
go to dinner with my friend and PROMPTU because I
didn't have a plan, and I was like, oh, I
don't have anything to wear to this dinner. I've said
we should go to now anyway, but it was very nice.

(18:23):
It felt light on the birthday was the day it
felt like panic.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
For my birthday one year, Felicity gave me a new wardrobe.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
We have a.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Linda Medven. She's a magnificent designer and shopper and stylist,
and she bought me all new clothes. It was cool, amazing.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Okay, can I ask though, do you think maybe that
was part of Felicity's plan to make you over? Because
women do that. We do that. We go this is
a good man with a good heart, but we need
to change the clothes and the haircut. So do you
has it occurred to that It might have been a
sort of like, yeah, look at this sweet thing I'm
doing for you, But really, my man needs new clothes

(19:06):
and a new vibe. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
I know one she loves my madness and supports it
completely like no one I've ever known.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
She.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
I think she likes men, but she likes this man
in particular, so, you know anything, she really wants me
to do my thing and vice versa. I love women, so.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
You love that woman especially?

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Yeah, but I love all women. I think you're magnificent.
We need a woman president.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
For thank you. You can speak on that if you want,
because yeah, I think it would be a good idea too.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
We got to do it, yeah, got This testosterone surge
we've had is really.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Not good at all.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
I think of the evidence, the proof is in the
pudding at this point. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I have
to ask though, too, standing up at the table, are
we still doing that?

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Oh wow?

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yes, yes, I'm pretty good. And when I'm not all here,
she loves it. I'm a Southern boy. Yeah, I'm really
starting to believe in all those dorky old things we do,
like ma'am and sir and standing up at the table
taking your mother hat off when you go inside.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
What the sensor said, they don't take their hats off.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
Oh my god, I've gone to five star restaurants and
there's some dork in sweatpants with his hat on backwards,
a baseball cap. I think, get out of the rest.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
Kick him out. I bet if you told him, if
you approached that young man and said you need to go,
they would honor that.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Well, they probably beat the crap out of me. But
my daughter, Georgia, her boyfriend showed up one time at
a nice restaurant with a baseball cap on, and I
could see her giving him googly And they make fun
of me. They make fun of me with all my
own stuff. I read mismanners. Yeah, anyway, she almost left him,

(21:15):
took him outside and ripped him a new one. He'll
never put his hat on in a.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Restaurant never again. Where's he from? He's not Southern, obviously.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
Now he was he was an LA boy there.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
It is LA boy with hats.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
All the grown men do it.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
It's I mean, what do you think the importance of
maintaining all those manners is? Though? What do you think
that what do you think that that represents truly? Because
some people just say it's tradition, but.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Why civility To a large extent, the taking your hat
off in a place like that is an act of
respect for the place. This is a fine restaurant. So
I don't come in like I look like I've been
changing the oil in my car. It's not. It's not polite.

(22:10):
And I think people really like dressing up. I think
we're nicer to each other a lot of times when
we're all dressed up.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Tradition, tradition.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
I'm Lutheran, but I dig it.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, I'm not, you know, I think that makes sense.
It's sometimes when people are not trying, I go, why not?
It feels good? It feels good to try, I would
say in that regard. But also people have their preferences.
I once through a birthday party that was black tie
because I wanted to see all my comedy friends in
tuxes and dresses.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Was it great?

Speaker 1 (22:44):
It was so fun. It was so fun. I was like,
it's not mandatory, but come on, it's kind of what
the invitation said. And they did it and it was
so nice.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
I threw a party in New York. We used to
rent a place up state in Dover Plains and just
an hour up on the train. Anyway, we threw a
white party. Oh nice, interesting title these.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Days, I would say. I would say so when I
said all nice, because I was thinking there are other
white parties that exist, some have gone down in history.
Is not good.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
No, they just weren't fun.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah, there was a white party and most people did it,
and some of them had beautiful white gowns, but everybody
wore white and the party got out of hand. There
were one hundred people there at the at Amtrak, they
said what's going on in Dover playing and the people

(23:38):
who owned the place and said, we can't have any
more parties like this. But there were a lot of
people and at one point we're all down. We're playing
we were playing ball, and the where they were playing
music and I can't remember what song came in. Everybody stops.
Everyone and seventy five people well dressed in white on

(24:01):
a big green lawn dancing kind of, that's a kind
of It was a kind of together because of the beat.
You could hear the thing. Yeah, it was magnificent.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
You like to throw a party. I'm getting the sense
that that is so I do. Yeah, have you thrown
any recently? A?

Speaker 3 (24:24):
No. But we make a big deal out of Thanksgiving
and Christmas and okay, some of them they're not huge,
but ten or twelve.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Okay, you host?

Speaker 3 (24:33):
Host?

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving dish? People are tired
of turkey, I'm hearing, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
I still like it. We always get a ham to stuffing.
I could eat stuffing. I'm glad I don't eat it
except Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's something to look.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
I know it's true. I don't. I don't eat the
I don't eat stuffing outside of thanks Giving me Christmas either.
But it's so good. It's so good.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Oh, and talk about tradition. Yeah, when I go to Thanksgiving,
someone said Bob made his special stuffing. I go, oh no, oh, no,
I don't want special stuffing. I want the stuffing. Just
take it out of the freaking box and add water. Man,
I want stuff on top.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, Oh, you want stuff.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
To mean if if you're gonna use if you're gonna
cook it in the turkey, I like that. Okay, you're
gonna you know, Okay, but no, when they you know
this has got pomegranate in.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
It, I just go.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
I've waited all year for this.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Keep your damn stuffing with the pomegranates. Yeah that's yeah.
I understand that. I used to love stuff top, and
now I do love a true from scratch. Sure mind,
I'm never making it, but I do enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
I love it too, as long as it tastes like
stove top.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, you're like, give me the stuffed up. I love that.
A simple man. Okay, I have to ask you Whatody
Creek Distillery. I'm very fascinated. How do we get into
making spirits?

Speaker 3 (26:07):
We got into it because the aforementioned Woody Creek where
Felicity grew up, in the aforementioned house that we bought.
Pat and Mary Scanlon where are my neighbors, and Mark
Kleckner was my neighbor. One two three, Pat and Mary
and Mark created a distillery called Woody Creek Distillers. The

(26:29):
distillery is in Basalt, and Pat and Mary have money
and they decided to make the finest spirits you can
and they did. We got these Christian Carls stills. If
you ever get to Aspen, come see this distillery. It's
kay cool, all right, two stories have these column stills,
all glass and copper and stainless steel. Anyway, when they

(26:56):
started off with one hundred percent potato vodka, and they
grew some potatoes on one of our fields in exchange
for hanging the fields and splitting, you know, for the horses.
And so one day Mark knocked on the door and said, Bill,
I don't know if you know, but we have a distillery.
Say I'm going to stop you right there.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
I'm in and easy, very easy.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
So and I joke I was the only celebrity within
walking distance. I've loved it, ies, loved spirits. I drank
Scotch in college and I had a love affair with that.
You know, it hasn't changed in two thousand years. It's
the same gag.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah, yeah, Scott's your go to? Is that your neighbor?

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Of course not now, it's right, rye whiskey.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Okay, okay, I'm a I'm in my gin phase. I
was telling you that before.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
I'm going to hook you so up you're going to
get a purple gin. Okay, gonna love it.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Okay, I'm very excited. Have you ever been to Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah, it's just down the road.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
Okay. So my friend's parents lived there and they retired
in Glenwood Springs, and that's where I spent a good
portion of COVID.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
You know where I lived, Then.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
I do, I'm really going to come if I was.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Was it fun being there during COVID.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yes, it was really nice, So I was. I went
from midtown Manhattan by Port Authority, which is where my
apartment was at the height of COVID, which was very aggressive,
and could not wait to get out because other people fled.
They have their their houses in the Hampton's and people
were like, I'm going to mom and Dad's house in Texas.

(28:39):
And I just was like, I'm going to hunker down
in my space because I hadn't really spent any time
in my apartment, and I thought this will be the
this will be when I become a woman. And it
really did turn me into a woman. But then I
quickly fled. Yes exactly I was, but I was like
eerily peaceful during COVID. It was concerning to me. I
was like, I didn't leave my apartment because it was

(29:02):
midtown New York and the height of it, and you
didn't want to pass a neighbor in the hall. It
was that intense. You didn't know what And so I
was weirdly so at peace. I'd made peace, Like I
live in this box. It was a studio apartment. There
no natural light gets in here, and I call my
friends all day and we FaceTime and we make each
other laugh. But then when it was time to go,

(29:23):
it was time to go, And so I went to
Glenwood Spring since I spent like two weeks there.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
We were here and we have a big yard, and
it was fabulous. I mean, I really kind of enjoyed
the lockdown you did.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Okay, well, if you had a yard, I mean had
a yard.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
I had a job to go back to, thank you lord. Yeah,
and oh wasn't that different than my life?

Speaker 1 (29:45):
But it was the same pace. Really, did you get
scared at all during COVID?

Speaker 3 (29:50):
No?

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, you were just at ease.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
I'm pretty sure I had COVID before they had named it.
I was doing a play and I got deathly ill
for five days.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Okay, slopped it off.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
But then I got When I did get COVID, I thought,
wait a minute, you have been there.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
This feels familiar.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
I got it three times. Okay I was sick.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
But yeah, okay, did you lose your sense of taste?

Speaker 2 (30:13):
No?

Speaker 1 (30:14):
See, that would scare me, maybe the most, because I
love food too much.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
I thought I did. I went. I was in Woody
Creek and I fixed myself a vodkatonic and I thought,
what's I can't this tastely? I don't have any taste?
And I freaked out. And then I tried the a
shot a bourbon and I could taste it. And I

(30:40):
looked at the vodka and my girls. Somebody had drunk
all the vodka and put the water in there.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
Someone about the habit.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
But it also might have been they were doing a
shooting some scene, so they used that bottle and put
it back.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Wait shooting? Do they shoot?

Speaker 3 (30:57):
They My oldest she's in the Macy. She's probably in
the the Steve Carrell Show. Oh yes, new shows. She's
in that. It's a nice role. Incredible, and she's got
a little film called Brian We're going to south By
Southwest together.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Incredible. I'm excited for her and you. I'm going to
be at south By Southwest, so now hopefully around to
see the film.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Really cool.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
You've going for the music or for the podcasting?

Speaker 1 (31:26):
iHeart I Heeart Awards is at south By Southwest and
I'm hosting their awards, so they're giving out podcast awards
this year. Thank you so much. Where did you grow up?

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Mostly Georgia. Born in Miami, Florida. I was less than
one when we moved to Georgia around Atlanta make Indicator,
then to Maryland, Western Maryland.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
I'm from Maryland.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
Cumberland.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
No, I'm familiar with Cumberland, but I'm from Baltimore. Yeah,
yeah out there, I know Cumberland.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, in the mountains. It's beautiful. And then I went
to starting my career in Chicago about eight ten years,
then New York eight ten years.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Then La, you've done it all. I live.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Yeah, I'm running out of cities.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
But I think you're settled. You're at your wife's childhood home.
I feel like you're good, You're good to go.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
I'm good. You still have our house here. We tried
to rent it, but with the fires and the safeguards
so that people don't get gouged, we couldn't rent it.
You're in the hand wanted to gouge people.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Okay, of course you did with the gouge meaning we're
trying to do we're trying to do that. So you're
not you're not in the.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
In the hills, then yeah we are.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
You are in the hills. Okay, you can't. You can't
gouge in the hills. You got to bring the prices
down in the hills.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
I think, Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm so I'm so
happy to be living up there.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
Yeah, I mean it is. How's the cell service up there?

Speaker 3 (32:56):
It's fine, it is it? Okay, it's fine. When you're
driving down it'll go out once or twice.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Yeah, the driving down the hills in the hills, the
lanes are so tiny, right, People drive so fast down
those hills because they're like, I know my way around it.
But I'm like, but another car could be coming and
you wouldn't know how what's your take?

Speaker 2 (33:19):
This is some way it takes.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
But the road I live on, I don't know why
I don't want to say it.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Don't say the road don't of course, I know why
you don't want to say it's your anyway, it's.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
Not like that. You're talking about Laurel Canyon and all
of those canyons.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
So, but like the little single lane situation where and
then there's cars, I'm like, yeah, it's not like that.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
As a matter of fact, it was. It's such an
easy thing. They put twelve stop signs, okay, just to
slow people down.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Okay, that's good. Okay, I could do those hills. Those
are hills I could do. You also ride a motorcycle,
you were telling me, Yeah, for risk, you enjoy risks.
Is that fair?

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I guess the risk, the danger of it makes a
little more fun. It's like flying. It's I've done some
big trips that was epic. I think, you know, I
ride like an old man. If it's hard to it's okay,
it's dangerous.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
It is exactly in short, it's dangerous.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Felicity, I said, I'm going to get a Harley. Felicity said, okay,
but two rules. You gotta you got to wear all
the gack all the time. I said, I do, I will,
and I do even in the summertime. And it's a caution.
I said, what's the second role? And she said, if
you get badly hurt, you got to get killed because

(34:40):
I'm not taking care of a quadriplegion. I said, okay,
wear all the gack, get killed. I'm down, and I
got a Harley felicity.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
I get it. I love her honesty. She's like, I'm
not about to take care of you if you're half here.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yea, yeah, I ride really carefully. Knock knock, knock knocked.
I mean twee, twee, twee everything, Yes, all the things.
But I think if you're you know, if you think
the light turn screening, you can go, then you can't
ride a motorcycle.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
So okay, well then explain this to me.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
You got to assume everybody's going to be coming the
light turns green.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
You gotta look defensive driving. You have to really be
a defensive drivers.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
And you know it's a weird thing. But I rode
a bicycle in Manhattan when I lived there for eight years.
I mean all the time. I rarely took the subway
or a cabow and felt comfortable when I did call
a cab. But I got a sixth sense about the
traffic and the car doors, you know, opening up because

(35:45):
it's tighter there. It's not like that here, But I
got a sixth sense when it was going to open.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
It's it's the car doors opening, because I know someone
who got in a bike accident in New York City
like six months ago, because an old lady opened her
car and he flipped over and landed on his head
and had to go to the hospital. And it was
that's too scary to me. I rode a Have you
ever been on a city bike in New York?

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Okay, so I rode a city bike because they gave
us like a three year subscription in New York, and
I rode one to go give my friend a gift.
I think she lived at the time in like Park
Slope and I live, and it was it was a
little bit of a way, but I was like, it's fun,
it's a sunny day. I'm gonna finally use this this
city bike subscription before it runs out. That city bike

(36:31):
is heavy as hell. It's a heavy bike. I was
so but it's I was like, it's not. I felt
like I was doing more work. I kind of wanted like, I've.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Never are you a bike rider?

Speaker 1 (36:43):
I like riding bikes in theory I'll.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
Take that as.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Well.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Then there it is. Yeah, the bike's heavy. But you know,
the fly in the ointment in this story is that
you're not a bike rider, and he decided to go
twelve miles.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
I am so sure I'm a bike rider except for,
oh I'm not. Because when I think about my time
in Glenwood Springs during COVID Day one of getting there,
my friend whose parents' house was he was like, let's
go on a bike ride. And I was like, that
sounds so nice, and I'm imagining like Beach Cruiser, Venice Beach,
and then he takes me on this ride. I have

(37:19):
the pictures from me. He takes me on this ride
and I feel like, fifteen minutes in because it's Colorado,
I was like the hills. I was like, honey, we need.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
To stop and call a cab.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
We're gonna call a cab. Are their cabs here at
Glenwood's Rings? Because yeah, I got to bike. Yeah, they
say they're better. I'm gonna try again. But there's just
so much to consider, and why bike when you could walk,
you know.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
Get there faster fair enough.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
It was a trick question, but the answer was obvious.
I see, But I have you always wanted to ride
a motorcycle? Like when you were young. Was that something
you did?

Speaker 3 (37:56):
This movie called Wild Hogs, and that's what really got
me hooked on it. But I had a bike. I
had little bikes growing up hither and thither and yeah,
I think a lot of people ride motorcycles so they
can wear the gag.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, it's just the closes are so cool and you
but you like that. You like the gag. So when
Felicity is like, you need to wear the gack, You're like,
no problem, I like the gack.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
It's it's heavy sometimes, you know, especially when you get
all the armor and the elbows and the shoulders.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
Some are Yeah, and the summer of it all. Were
your parents over protective of you when you were younger
in any way?

Speaker 2 (38:30):
No, no, no, I.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Have free rain on a bicycle and I covered some miles.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
The rule was I had to be back. I grew
up in the country. Mostly you had to be back
by the time the street lights were on.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
That was a thing. That was the thing for me too.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Even now when they come on, I got wait and
you have to go home.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
No, I'm allowed to be outside. I'm a grown man.
I have grown children. What am I talking about? Yeah,
that's that's very relatable because I think growing up so
many of us even I think about that too. I
lived like in a community of townhouses in Baltimore, and
so yeah, when the street lights came on, all it's

(39:09):
like everyone's everyone dispersed, everyone's gone home immediately. No one
wanted to get in trouble. Were you a good kid
growing up?

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (39:16):
I think so. I mean, the stuff I got caught
doing was not that egregious, and the stuff I didn't
get caught doing, I didn't get caught doing.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
So you're not going to speak on it. You could
tell our listeners some of that stuff, or you could not,
or you could not could take it.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
I grew up in the country.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
My dad was.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
Such a fine man and calm, and I sort of
got that, you know, So it wasn't a big deal.
There were rules in everything, but we were calm about it.
And he grew up in the country, all right. I
was cut lucid about eight. I could go anywhere I wanted.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Oh wow, a lot of trust there. How where were
you in the sibling lineup?

Speaker 3 (40:09):
I have a brother. Okay, he's older, all right, and
he's still with us. He lives in Pennsylvania.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
All right, is he a Steelers fan?

Speaker 3 (40:17):
No? Okay, okay, So I'm doing this series.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
It's really good at improv, you think so, No, I don't, okay,
you're doing this series.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Change the subject, but it was it was.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
No, And then you had something you want to tell
me please?

Speaker 3 (40:34):
You asked me for a Steelers fan and no.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Your brother. Your brother probably told me the series.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
I happen to be doing a series about the NFL.
It's called The Land, and it's about the Cleveland Browns,
and I am the owner, and it's all fictional, but
we look and act and dressed like the Cleveland Browns,
which I find really interesting. Cleveland Brown's out there doing
the same thing. Yes, actually, yeah, So I say, there's

(40:58):
the real Eveland Brown's are eale, and the real Cleveland
Browns are e.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
E And that's you guys.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
So clever.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
You are very well. I take back what I said
about you and improv. You're so clever. I've changed my mind. So, okay,
how did that that script? Then when you got that one,
you were like, this is a yes, it's instantly.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
I'm good at reading scripts. Yeah, I always have been.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
What are you looking for when you read a script,
not even in terms of like saying yes to it, right, Yes,
the story, but like, what else are you looking for?
The pros like, no, the story, just the story.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Don't go to a second base if this story isn't good. Okay,
that's all the audience wants to know when you when
you make a movie, we have to remember this. In
our business. Only thing they want to know is what
happens next. Okay, all this stuff about our sense memories
and the the tricky thing that those pairs that pair
of pants does, or the lighting or something like that. Yeah,

(41:56):
it's great, it makes everything better, but you're losing if
the audience is watching that, they just want to know
the story.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Well, to you, constitutes a good story.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
That's a great question. It's true in the sense of
human emotions. I can relate to it. There's something truth,
there's a core of truth about it. Unexpected. The best

(42:30):
is when you didn't see that coming with the end.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
And then the writing beautiful. I just love beautiful writing.
I mentioned Dave Mamma taught me everything I know and
he's a magnificent writer. It changed everything for one hundred years.
After Dave came out, everything started sounding like him. He
changed everything and his scripts are a joy. You literally

(43:02):
like saying the lines out loud. Yeah, They're like the
lyrics of your favorite song. And I've always said, you
find two guys who have done American Buffalo and played
Teach and we'll start doing the lines together. It's like
singing like a duet.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Yeah, and he's so funny anyway. Yeah, good lines. And
the the writing on the on the land is really good.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Yeah, that's very I mean I respond to that too,
especially an unexpected twist in a story. It is really nice.
So that I don't know what it is, what it
is about that that just makes you go, that's something
I watching. I'm watching a bunch of movies now hosting
the Indie Spirit Awards, which I'm very excited about. But

(43:51):
I'm watching a bunch of You're available, will you come
do a bit with me? Okay he's gonna improv okay, okay, okay, yes, yes, okay,
So I I am. What I'm enjoying about watching all
the movies is and I feel like I tend to

(44:11):
see this with like indie films, it's the it's more unexpected,
less formulaic in a way, like you. They know the
formula clearly, but then they break the formula. Like you,
you learn the rules to break the rules. And that's
I'm enjoying that about a lot of the films. Yeah,
like that's my favorite thing. Have you seen anything recently
that you're really loving? Film wise, television? Anything?

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Really?

Speaker 3 (44:35):
Is this thing on? Was just I howled. It's hard
to make me laugh. I berely laughed through that. There's
a joke about a picture that's I knew it was coming,
you know, you talk about unexpected. What's really great is
when they tell you everything you need to know about
that event happening, but you still didn't know it was

(44:58):
gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
Yeah. Yeah, the best is this thing on? Have you
guys seen it? Okay, not yet, it's on the.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
List, you know. I've seen all the ones that are nominated,
all the best pictures.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
And that's all you have to say about that is
that you've seen them.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Yeah. No, I liked a lot of them. The level
of filmmaking this year is really high. It's a bad
year to get nominated that.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Sometimes I feel that for philmmakers. Every once in a while,
I'm like, man, if you were nominated the year before
or the year after, you'd be a shoe in the competition.
I've thought that, like, has a filmmaker ever regret regretted
making their movie in the year that they did, Like,
damn it to. The competition is stiff.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
It is this. Yeah, the level of filmmaking is really high.
It's a great time for movies. I think people are
doing great work.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Yeah, it's very cool. Do you think has your daughter
shadowed you on sets?

Speaker 4 (45:59):
No?

Speaker 3 (45:59):
She never shadowed me, but they visited sets a lot.
I guess something wears off. I mean, at least they
know that environment. They're in a bunch of scenes in
Desperate Housewives because they'd be hanging out on set and
they'd say, okay, here we go and flick it lifted

(46:20):
the restaurant tablecloth and they'd scurry under there and they'd
sit there for the scene.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Wow, it is very cute happen.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
But a lot of times, so.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Your daughter under the table?

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Yeah, okay, I wonder if we could.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Find the scenes. Is there any indication table the tablecloth movie?
A little bit? No indication?

Speaker 3 (46:42):
Now it might move. But then they were good, okay, incredible,
And Sophia john Wells called up and there was in
our final episode. Yes, he said, what about Sophia playing
the nurse? So we did that together.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
That's special. How was that for for you?

Speaker 3 (47:04):
It was magnificent that she was there. It made it
all the more special. I think John knew that it
would make it special. And that was a fabulous ending.
It's hard to end those shows. Yeah, I mean some
series ends and and people are angry with them. Yes,

(47:25):
but I love the ending of that. I got to
say a lot of it was my idea. I thought
of it in the eleventh year, the tenth year. Yeah,
and John had been thinking about it too, and we
both had complimentary ideas, and that was the ending.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
Yeah. All that's special. That's so cool. I'm excited to
see Sophia in the in this new show. Well, friend,
I say, Charlie Clive is also in it. I don't
know if Charlie. Yeah, I'm excited. It looks really good.
I saw the trailer recently.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
Oh my god.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
I love Steve. He's the best, he is, He's always good.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm very very excited. I got to read
that script and it's a good one. It's a good one.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
You know.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
That's time for a segment I like to call that's nice,
but what about me?

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Okay, I like it already.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Thank you because you're here. I'm going to ask you
a question that I hope you can answer. I need
a piece of advice auditioning. I still do it sometimes.
I imagine you're not auditioning anymore. People are just your
offer only right, You've earned that right when you were auditioning.

(48:39):
Toward the end of auditioning, if you will, what did
you do to make it fun for you?

Speaker 3 (48:47):
You could do this professionally. That's a great question, because
I did absolutely do something, and it was this I
The way I approach acting is that it's all about
the objective. It's not how you feel, it's what you want.

(49:08):
We're always striving to right the boat, whatever's wrong with it,
and that's where the conflict comes. You think that I
think this, or you're the problem and I'm the solution.
And so it's what you're doing is what's important. And
I was so sick of auditioning that I took the

(49:29):
attitude of look at this is what I'm going to do.
If that's not right, don't hire me, because this is
what I'm going to do. And I literally said out loud,
I think this is a scene about and I would
say I would I think it's a scene about him

(49:53):
trying to get a big favor or something like that.
They go yeah, or sometimes go I think it's different,
and we're off to the races and like like I'm
talking to my sister. No, no, like you're talking to
a stranger.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Oh, I get you.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Yeah, now he's or she is a little pregnant.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Anyway, I started booking. Oh, I walked in saying, I'll
show you what I'm going to do. Uh huh uh
as good as I can do it. If I'm not.
The guy gets Let's put each other out of the
misery and get out of it else.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
So would you say that out loud? That was your vibe,
you were set, you were articulating this.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
Uh No. The only thing I articulated is I think
this is a scene about this.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Okay, okay, And then would you ever finish that sentence
in a way that you knew might make them go
I don't think so disagree.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
Yes, a couple of times, intentionally, I don't think that's
what's going.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
On, right, Okay, that was intentional When you would do
that when you say I think it's a scene about
him needing a big favor. Was to try to spark
a conversation of.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
No, yeah, to plant my flag. Okay, okay, I think
what this is seen about. And if I say he's
trying to get a big favor, now they know what
to judge me against. They know exactly what I'm doing
when I read it, and whatever you know, improv I
put in there, not with the lines, but you know,
taking pauses, crossing your arms.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Or you know body, Okay, okay, I'm going to.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
Take and they know what I'm up to. Yeah, and
it could spark a conversation because they see that, and
whether they know it or not, they go, well, that
is what she was doing. But I don't think it's that,
And they'll you'll get you're off to the race.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
They're they're they're into you. This is good, Yeah, thank.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
You, And you know what the first part is important.
This is what I'm going to do because you know,
we come from a tradition where the director is the
grand dom or the grand old man of the theater
and it's been around forever and knows everything. That tradition

(52:04):
doesn't exist now it's whoever. And sometimes you know, the
director appears to be seventeen years old and here he
is doing this big film. Oh well, my point is
I didn't like him. They said, no, I think it's
more this, and you know, they want more emotion, or

(52:25):
they want some result, or they want the obvious, and
I didn't have a good feeling about them. And that's
a good thing to know at that point. I mean,
what I'm talking about is really ballsy behavior and the
end of your audition. This was after I had done Fargo.
Before it made a difference, but I was feeling my
oats and I started booking more just by announcing my

(52:48):
attention and sort of saying to myself, we're judging each other.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
There's something to be said for someone having such common
evidence and clarity on who they are and what they're
bringing to the table. When they're saying you can take
it or leave it, I'm fine with either option. I
do think it intrigues people because the few times I've
also been like, I don't know if I'm right for this,
They're like, wait, I think you're really right, and it's
not a mind game. I'm like, truly, sincerely, I'm not
sure if I'm right. And it's such an interesting reaction

(53:19):
because I've also been in the position where I'm like,
please give me this job. I really want this job,
and it never quite works out that way.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Well, your friends are right. Don't ever say that phrase again,
which one I don't think I'm right for this? No,
don't say it.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
There are millions of people who want to decide whether
you're right or not. Yeah, No, I mean they're dozens. Yeah,
you don't have to take that on. They'll decide, okay.
And if they say it's you, we'll take it to
the bank.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
It's you.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
So figure out what part of you. In other words,
quite auditioning. You've got the role.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
Yeah, so now do it. Yeah, yeah, okay, sound wisdom,
Thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
Now there's some other stuff you can do, which is
have the knowledge I've directed. If you ever directed, No,
I'd like to, Well, I'll tell you on the first day.
The most frightened person on the sad it is not
the actors. It's the director, because it's the responsibility is

(54:20):
especially in an indie, but the responsibility is crushing, and
the good ones can take all that pressure and they
still shine.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
I couldn't.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
I fell apart. Oh my god. And but just know
that when you go to the audition, the director is
praying that the character walks in the door. If you're
perfect for it, then he or she can go whoo,

(54:51):
I don't have to worry about that, and you go
to the next thing to worry about in your list.
But when they're excited about who they found, because it's
per so to that end, I think it's a good
idea to walk in a little bit, a little bit
as the character find that part of yourself. And when

(55:14):
I say a little bit, if they know what you're doing,
you're fucked. That's not good.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
Yeah, they got to think you were born to play this.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Yeah. So you mean from we're talking that you walk
in the room and it's like hello, I'm in character
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
Yeah yeah, and God willing you get to walk in
the room and say hello. I preferred that the self tapes.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
I don't like self tapes.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
I love the thrill of getting one shot, but that's
maybe masochistic. I don't, but I really do love the.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
Like, yeah, they make you do it in one take and.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
When you go in person and the no I feel
like when you go in person, the notion is you're
gonna get to do this one time. You might get
redirected if you get there, if they have time for that.
But in my mind, when you walk into an in
personal audition, it's like one chance, let's see what you do.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Yeah, And for me self tapes, getting to do it
over and over and over and over again is I
don't enjoy that for a myriad of reasons.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
I my daughter and her boyfriend both push back, but
they give you these instructions to do it straight on
and blah blah blah blah blah, and they don't say
that you can't move. So I always said, do it
here and then walk forward for your own close up.

(56:32):
Oh you can do that. And I don't think anyone's
going to go take the tape out. They broke the rules.
If someone follows you so you can choreograph it. Yeah,
And I think it's terrible if you overdress, but if
it's a doctor, you could at least wear a white
blouse so they get just make it easy as you

(56:54):
can on the director, be the character.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
What do you think about props in audition a self
tape audition?

Speaker 3 (57:01):
Well, sometimes I think it's more self conscious to not
have the props than it is to go ahead and
get a freaking telephone. Well that's the rule. Imagine yourself
trying to figure out who you're going to choose, because
you're going to sit there for thirty or forty tays
doing the same scene over and over again. Do what
you can to help the director out. Yeah, to see

(57:24):
the scene. Yeah, I got another trick, right, Yeah, you ready.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Yes, I'm ready.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
They sent you that scene for a reason. Find that reason,
and it's going to be one sentence. It'll be one moment.
It's a page, but there's this moment where something happens.
They want to see if you can do that moment.
That's why they choose that scene. Yeah, and that you

(57:54):
can imagine is a big moment. Yeah, I'm assuming it's
a real role. You know, you're going to be it
in the thing a bit, and so when you when
you do yourself tape, that's the moment.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:11):
Okay, And if nothing else, pause.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
Is it because it makes people lean in like I'm.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
It's because of this.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
So I just took a long pause, and I can
tell you just waiting to see what I'm gonna say
it works, take a pause, and then do the moment.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
Okay, ooh, I'm gonna do it. Do you think it'll
work in a comedy.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
I'm absolutely and it could be that's the moment. Okay,
how are you going to do the punchline?

Speaker 1 (58:51):
If I if I book my next job, I'll take
ten percent, no problem, no problem. This is a verbal
binding contract, No problem. I'm curious too. This is not
advice for me, but maybe it could be. How you
the distillery, you guys make vodka, whiskey, gin, Okay, how

(59:13):
would you characterize each of those spirits? Not necessarily woody creaks,
but just in general, what would you say Whiskey's personality is?

Speaker 3 (59:20):
Okay? I write songs on ukulele for Woody Creek.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Okay, great.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
I sing about the distillery and the people in it
and the stuff. And I had this idea for a
song that I'm singing to spirits Okay, and it starts off, Hello, Vodka.
I'm sorry, I've been out of town. You know I've
been working. You're the first one I've called up. Okay.
So I was thinking about all these different spirits and vodka.

(59:47):
Vodka's the girl who gets along with everyone. You can
take her anywhere.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Man.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
She just works. She doesn't have a big range of personality.
But what she does she does really well. And if
I can be blunt, she's a little bland sometimes a
little boring.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Okay, that's okay. We all know her.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
Rye whiskey. Yeah comes from New York. And we'll tell
you know, yeah, it's it's it's sophisticated and it's been
around the block. But it's got an accent. Bourbon's got
to sell an accent. And she's you know, she's flirty,
and you know, and I came up with all this
stuff until I got to tequila. And this is tequila. Okay, tequila,

(01:00:28):
you bitch. You know I almost lost my job. What
were you thinking? Get out of here. I never want
to see you. Wait a minute, come back. I'm sorry.
It was.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
That's good. That's good, okay. But Gin, which I'm on now.
People are not into gin, but I'm so into Gin now.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
I am too. Gen and Tonic, yes, I love them
love and I love Tonic water, the quinine. And I
have never had malaria.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
Not once. I have as a kid. Can you believe?

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
But I would not drinking that gene. Explain your parents
drinking enough.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
I wasn't drinking enough gin as a four year old.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
So we got two gins, a regular gin h and
the aforementioned Mary's gin, the purple gin. The botanicals are
fabulous in that they're not a secret. But gosh, Rye
whiskey is made from rye rye grass, and the law
says it's got to be fifty one percent rye whiskey.

(01:01:25):
And that's my jam. I love rye whiskey and I'm
a Southern boy. Yeah, And I put out a signature rye.
It was a blind barrel tasting seven barrels. That was
a trip. And the one I chose they put in
a really cool box. It's a trifle and it's bottled

(01:01:45):
in bond and ten years old and yummy, yummy, yummy,
it's really fine. The second one I chose. That one
was an eighty twenty mash bill twenty percent malt. I
couldn't believe it. Second one I chose, I could have
sworn had some malt one hundred percent rye okay, which
is a hat trick that's hard to distill. And uh,

(01:02:08):
we've got a couple of ries The bourbon has to
be corn fifty percent, and we've got a bunch of them.
There's a high rye bourbon that everyone. There's a weeded bourbon.
We got straight corn bourbon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
We've got a bunch.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
What am I missing?

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
We're missing.

Speaker 3 (01:02:29):
The vodka is on potato vodka, which has a taste.
You know, vodka tastes like what you mix it with it.
It's a clear spirit. Ours has a taste because it's
there's eight potatoes in every bottle and it's they sort
of grind it into mashed potatoes and that goes in

(01:02:50):
the mash and it leaves a taste good.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
Okay, I'm looking forward to my delivery.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
I'll be trying the gin is on its way.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Okay, I'm very excited. I'll be getting gin and tonics.
I won't be getting malaria ever. Again. We're here, Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
We're here in Total Wine and More. Yes, in a
couple of other places. But you can always get it
go online Woody Creek Distillers.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
I'm such an improviser. I thought you were saying this
is where I'm setting the location, and I was like,
I'm ready to do the scene. We're here at Total Line.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
And Okay, we're here being la.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
Exactly exactly, No, I register. We have to give a
listener advice. If you're up for it, We're going to
give a list Kevin, We're so ready.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Hey, I go.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
It's Zach. I have a question about something I have
a lot of trouble with, which is, whenever I'm waiting
on the outcome or resolution to something that's been stressing
me out, causing me anxiety, I find I have a
really hard time waiting for the outcome and kind of
sitting in that uncomfortable miss as I wait now, I

(01:03:56):
always feel the need to reach out or check in
and try to rab on to some you know, emotional
control of the situation. So I was wondering if you
guys had any advice on how to sit in that
uncomfortableness and wait for the resolution to come to you,
because often that is what is best. It's just waiting.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
I hope you have.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:04:18):
Also, shout out Baltimore County, Shout out Eastern Tech. Catch
me at the White Marsh Avenue in two thousand and five,
Act done a damn fool on a group date to
see Hitch.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Thank you, Oh you sly dog.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Oh well, Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
I hope you have an answer, because I got that
same problem.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
You have the same problem. I don't if you don't
have an answer, I can't imagine mine means anything. But
my immediate instinct in hearing that was meditation. Nation, right,
I feel like you gotta breathe, and I don't. There's
real breath work. Have you ever done breath work?

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
Yes, it's real.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
It's real, and it's incredible, and it really is work,
by the way, kind of exhausted. Well, initially it feels
very exhausting, and then you get into this sort of
like hypnotized state. But I would say that it just
grounds you because I understand the desire. I always want answers.
I like quick answers. I like clarity. I don't like ambiguity. Kevin,
my producer, will tell you it goes always like, Hey,

(01:05:13):
what's happening here? What's the update here? I really like, Yeah,
But I think you have to meditate because it brings
you right back to here. You know you're okay yet
generally usually have everything you need and the answer will
come to you, So you've got to.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
The only part of that I don't like is the meditating.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Okay, tell me why I don't like meditating.

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
I hear two things. You have to meditate and you
have to take yoga, and they're both absolutely under correct.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
Yeah yeah, but what do you not like about the meditating?
Is it just the stillness bothers you?

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
Is it? What is exactly?

Speaker 3 (01:05:47):
I'm being hyperbolic a little bit. I played around with
TM and a couple of other things. But I don't know.
I don't know why I don't do it. It's a
good idea I should, I should practice and it would help.

(01:06:08):
But I do do I said, do do do doo?

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
We gotcha?

Speaker 3 (01:06:12):
Do you do our work here has done some meditative stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
I guess what meditatative stuff do you do?

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
Well? If I'm really flipping out that breathing, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:06:25):
Really good, it's good.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Or journal? By the way, if you don't like meditating,
I think an alternative to it is journaling. I think
I'm not a therapist. Don't sue me if this doesn't work,
but I'm like, I like to journal. Get your thoughts out.
What are you so anxious about.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
I've got the advantage of him because I put it
on a bunch more miles and it sort of naturally
falls away. You know when when are we going to
find out? You know, I just go I got time.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
Yeah, yeah, I have time.

Speaker 3 (01:06:50):
I'm nothing but time.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
I mean, honestly, if we're in this, in this world
of speaking about meditation, I feel like that's something to
repeat to yourself. You have time, it'll work out. Maybe
you need mantra that'll help you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
I want to hear a breathing story. Yes, please, I
got They called me up to do speed the plow
on Broadway to replace somebody, and I had weeks to
learn it over Christmas and I almost had it, but
it was it's a lot to learn. It's Dave Mammot,

(01:07:20):
which is not easy to learn. And so YadA, YadA, YadA.
I go to New York and Felicity was there for
the I said, oh my god, I'm in trouble. I
can't get through this. She said, breathe, just breathe, and
I said, oh my god. I went to the rehearsal
to day. I went up four times. She said breathe,
just breathe. And then she had to leave town and

(01:07:41):
she said, remember, breathe, just breathe, and I went, would
you shut up with the breathing. I don't know the lines.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Breathing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
I'm breathing. I don't know the lines, and she said, yeah, breathe,
just breathe, so boom. I'm sitting at the desk. There's
an act curtain. I can hear the audience. The stage
manager says, you're right ready, and I said yeah. And
then something happened and it was about an extra minute
before it went up, and I thought, well, I'm fainting.

(01:08:14):
I was lightheaded, and I grabbed the desk and I thought,
the curtain's going to come up and I'll be white
and fall forward. Oh God, and my wife's voice came
into my head. Breathe and I breathed, and I took
about ten cleansing breaths and it calmed me down. And

(01:08:40):
I got through the play.

Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
And you didn't and the curtains didn't open to you
past Now I was upright, Okay, that is good, Felicity.
We started kind of by thanking Felicity, sound advice, sage, wisdom, truly,
and it's wild how much our breath not to be
this girl but I am this girl. Well, it's wild
just how much our breath can ground us. And it's

(01:09:04):
this thing we do so mindlessly and we take for granted.
But if we like actually hone in on it and
zero and on it, it is so remarkably calming. It's
it's wild, but that is that's a fun story in felicity.
Right once again, Happy nearly thirty years to you too.
I'm so happy you agreed to do my podcast. Thank
you for being here.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
This is fun.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
I love this. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
This is fun for me too. Thank you. That was
my conversation with William H. Macy. I mean, the man
is wise. He has lived a lot of life in
some sense his words, not mine. Anyway, I feel like
I got a lot and maybe I'll book my next
audition or something. I'm very excited. If you want advice

(01:09:49):
from me and my next guest, all you have to
do is call us and leave me a message. It's
five zero two eight four nine three two three seven.
Again it's five zero two eight for nine three two three.
I cannot wait to hear from you. I cannot wait
to attempt to help you. Please. I want to help you.
I don't know what I'm doing, but I want to
help you. So call, leave a message, and maybe my

(01:10:13):
next guest and I will be giving you advice. Thanks guys,
Thanks Dad is a production of Will Ferrell's Big Money
Players and iHeart Podcasts. I'm your host Aigo wodem Our.
Producer is Kevin Bartelt, and our executive producer is Matt
Appadaka