Live From SF Sketchfest 2019: Busy Philipps on Kicking and Screaming

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:25):
Hey, everybody, and welcome to movie Crush. Uh live a
dish everyone. This has only happened once before, last year
with Tony Hale, And this year I went back to
sketch Fest thanks to Janet Barney inviting me like she
does every year, and she lined up, um, a great
guest for me, the wonderful and talented Busy Phillips. Um.
She asked me. I say this actually on stage two,

(00:47):
but she sent me a list of folks and asked
for my top three, and I wrote down Busy Phillips
three times because I wanted to talk to her because, um, well,
for a lot of reasons. I respect her career. I
respect her here twenty years in doing for herself and
making her own opportunities as a woman in Hollywood, and
being a voice for change, and for being a mom

(01:11):
who was out there living life in a real way.
On her Instagram page, she's got a huge install following
because she's just kind of getting real about parenthood and
how tough it is and how hard marriage is, and uh,
talking real about all this stuff, which I really respect.
But more than anything, everyone, it was because of freaks
and geeks, let's be honest. One of my favorite shows
of all time? Uh what what young man didn't have

(01:34):
a crush on Kim Kelly. I was certainly among them.
So I got the chance to talk to Busy in
San Francisco on stage. She was lovely and wonderful backstage,
super super nice, as was her husband, who was there.
I'm going to try to get him on. He's a
screenwriter and director and producer. Uh. But she picked the
great film Kicking and Screaming Noah Bombox first movie UM

(01:55):
from back in my college days, and it really hit
home for me. It was one of my favorite films
back then. It was a pleasure to rewatch and talk
about it with Busy. So here we go, everyone live
from sketch Fest in San Francisco. Busy phillips on Kicking
and Screaming. Hi. Everybody hid time? That perfectly didn't. I

(02:20):
It's almost if I was waiting backstage for this moment.
How's everyone doing? Good? See any good movies lately? Did
anyone want to watch this movie that we're gonna talk about?
You did your homework alright? Good? So Janet Barney, who
runs uh this this show, got in touch with me
um about another movie crush. This is the second one, Uh,

(02:42):
was anyone here last year? Yay? Thanks for coming back
Tony Hale, wouldn't he great? Uh? And Janet gave me
a list of people and said, you know, we have
these possibilities of who you want here and I wrote
her She said, send me back your first three and
I wrote her back. Number were one Busy Phillips, number
two Busy Phillips, and number three Busy Phillips. I was like,

(03:04):
do you think she'll do it? And she said, yeah,
of course you will, I hope uh. And I was like, well,
I guess I couldn't you know, deal with John Hodgeman
again if we had to talk about another Avengers movie,
but that she was my first choice because she's great, uh.
And I love her career and what she's done in
the past, what she's doing now, and just have a

(03:26):
lot of respect for her as an actor and someone
who is making their own way in the business. So
I was super super excited that she agreed to do that.
And she's very very nice. We met about twenty minutes
ago everyone, and she's super cool. Uh. So let's just
get to it, right yeah, Busy Oh my god? Does

(03:50):
he Phillips? Everyone that's one l and two piece two piece?
What's up with that? Uh? Just the way my family's
bells it um. I don't know, you know. I imagine
it has something to do with when they came to
the country and something got sucked up and they've spelled

(04:11):
it that way. Where did they where they come from England?
I don't know. My mom's really into like ancestry dot Com.
I've asked multiple times to be on that Where do
you come from? Or who do you think you are?
Or what the funk we take you and find out
your ancestor thing um um and no dice. Yet they

(04:35):
haven't agreed yet to take me on that job. Yeah
the show where they Yeah, I think they only do
it if there's something really good and juicy that's gonna
make you cry. But I don't know I'll cry at anything,
so so yeah, So I don't know why they spell
it that way, but it separates me from all the
other phillips. Yeah, most of the other phillips except the

(04:58):
ones I'm related to. So you've never done a swab,
you've never done that yourself? I didn't do it, and
you know what I got it in Like the last
time I did. I was a guest on Stephen Colbert.
They have he has like the best gift bag in
his dressing room and they gave. Well, this is something
when I was starting my own talk show, this was

(05:18):
something that was like I shipp you not. We had
all of these meetings about like you know, creative team
and building the show and what it was going to
be and all these things, and I multiple times was like,
we need to discuss the gift bag for the guests,
Like I need to get that on lock because that's
the most as a person who's done a bunch of
talk shows, that's like the most important thing to me.

(05:39):
But anyway, Stephen Colbert, I just did it a couple
of months ago and he gave twenty three and me
in the things. So I will do it. I don't know,
I just gotta do it. I guess let's talk about
gift bags. Yeah, I love them. I love free ships
so much, doesn't I don't know. I have yet to
meet someone who doesn't like free stuff. But what's up

(06:02):
with the gift bags? Because I think everyone would love
to know behind the scenes, like what do you get
in those things? And what do you give? Well? Okay,
so for Busy Tonight. Um. And I've been told now
by multiple guests on my show that I have one
of the best gift bags that they've gotten, because what's
important to me in a gift bag is like not
a bunch of bullshit, Like I don't want filler, Like

(06:25):
I want stuff that is actually cool, like twenty three
and me or you know whatever, so for mine, but
it also has to be stuff that like basically you
get for free from the company's because you don't want
to have to pay for it to give it to me.
This is what I've learned as a talk show host
and producer of my own show. Um. Although I do
sometimes buy the Mr nightgowns to give to people, um,

(06:49):
which is a thing on my show, and then these
dresses yeah, um. And the gravity blanket, you don't give
those away to you. I gave that to Andy Samberg.
I did give my gravity blanket to Andy Samberg, but
that was just because he got the flu on it
and and he was like, this really is super cozy,
And I was like, do just take it and take
that stuff down? Amal too, and like take everything that

(07:11):
you've touched, right, Um. So I give in my gifts bag.
It's these this really beautiful thing of tea, UM like
called I can't remember the name of the tea, but
there it's really nice. I give beauty Counter sunscreen and
makeup um, which is probably going to change to ol

(07:33):
a sunscreen. Um. Sunscreen is important to me. Sun care
is important. Um. We give Mr nightgowns. We give those
all birds shoes. Sure I got some of those. There
you go, and uh, what else do we give? Oh?
And then we give some shop Bando stuff because Jen
Gotch is a good friend of mine who has Bando.

(07:55):
So we give like a tote bag that says I
am very busy, and a reusable UM coffee mug, and um,
I'm very big on no straws, so we give away
you know, like reusable straw or you know, metal straws.
And yeah, I've been doing that too. And my daughter
is actually getting into the straw that I carry from
the car. She doesn't think it's weird now oh yeah, yeah,

(08:18):
and like it's not weird no, but to us too,
to an old guy like me, I have to rep
my head around that. But she's going to grow up
in a world you bring her own straw, you bring
your own straw. What a world. What a world. Pretty
soon we'll stop drinking bottled water, and then it'll be
even better. We'll just go back to the way it
used to be when people didn't have bottled water. What
does Colbert give? Well, his is like he gives like

(08:41):
some fancy stuff from Charleston, which I love because I
spend my summers in Charleston. Um, so there's like some
hot sauce. There's some stuff that like is a little
bit of a bummer because if you're traveling and your
carry it, you can't take it back with you, right
like the you know, like I don't want to bring
like a jar of sauce back with me. There's like

(09:04):
a bottle of liquor. I can't. Oh maybe I give liquor.
Do I give liquor? Are you there? I don't know.
I think I might give some tequila. We should start
a gift bag podcast. I think pretty neat gift bag daily.
I guess the ideas that the brands. Oh but you
know what's interesting, Oh, because this is true. We get

(09:26):
sometimes we get um like, like package is sent to
us from brands knowing that certain guests are booked on
our show and like this is specifically for um, Julia Roberts,
or like this is specifically for this guest that you are,
Sarah Chalk, this guest that you they know we're having

(09:48):
on so they don't send it to everyone. Also, like
the Mr. Nightgowns, because there is like a list, like
they're like certain people can have them in certain people
they'd rather not not like that. They don't want those
people to have them. But just like for free. Sure,
I'm serious, it's you know. But so so when so

(10:09):
at Stephen Colbert, my publicist was saying, She's like, oh,
You're the first person that I've seen, like I got
all these like this Brand Tucker, like like this really
beautiful silk robe and this other this blouse. And my
publicist is like, I think they just sent that here
and called for Colbert because they knew you were going
to be on the show. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah,

(10:30):
I think. So it's all about I don't know what
it's all about. So where are you from? Where did
this all start for you? I was born in Oak Park, Illinois, UM,
and then we moved to Arizona when I was five
and part six Scottsdale Arizona and you spent your teenage
years there. I spent my teenage years there, and then

(10:52):
I immediately moved to Los Angeles to go to loyal
to Marymount University UM with Linda Carlini and Colin Hanks UM.
And then I got Freaks and Geeks my sophomore year,
I got the pilot of Freaks and Geeks, and then
I dropped out of school and good decision. Yeah, I've
never regretted it. Yeah, I mean, let's talk about Freaks

(11:15):
and Geeks, right, everybody? What a special show. Uh, I mean,
it's just one of those things that's endured all these
years in like TV history. I think, Yeah, I everybody
makes fun of me on my show because I'm like, well,
you know, I was on a seminal team show. Yeah,
but it really was a seminal for sure. What was
I mean? First of all, were you acting at that point,

(11:37):
like in high school and stuff and play? Yeah, I
know it was always the goal. I was just I
was always a performer since the time when I was
a baby. And you know, because you haven't I performed
as a baby. Um. I was always putting on shows. Yeah,
I was always putting on shows. I mean it's interesting
when you have kids and you just see like inherent
personality things that are so unique, especially like when you
have to one or more more than one child, and

(12:00):
you can see the differences between them and the ones
that like naturally sort of like want the spotlight and
sparkle and shine and put on the shows and um,
you know, as opposed to like the kid that like
wants to read books in their room or whatever. I
was the one that was like always putting on a
fucking show and um. And so I got involved in
like theater very early, and I would do local theater.

(12:23):
I begged my parents to get me an agent in
Los Angeles and let me fly to l A for
auditions because I had a couple of friends who did
that in Arizona. Um, and my mom was like, no,
that's not an option. Um, you can graduate from high
school and go to two years of college. And like
she said, she literally said, at least two years of college.

(12:43):
And I did at least two years of college. I
did the very least. I mean, maybe she should have
gone all the way and like get through college, but
she did. It's fine. Um. And uh yeah, so I
was I was looking to become an actor. And I
started doing stuff in high school, like kind of professional

(13:06):
gigs when I was a little bit like junior senior
year of high school, like local locally in Arizona. Right,
But and so, but you had an idea that even
from like living in Arizona, that this is a job
that you can do. Yeah, I mean, Jack, I don't know.
I just always thought that anything I wanted I could have. Really, Yeah,

(13:29):
that's great. Yeah, it's wild. I don't know why. I mean,
I guess I do. My parents, my mom, my mother
wanted to be an actor and her dreams were dashed
by her parents. Um, so you know, they were always
incredibly supportive of what of my creative outlets and that
I could do anything. And you know, my mom always

(13:52):
stuck up for me. Um she was just like I
write a lot about it in my book, But my
mom was just such a fierce per tector of my
spirit and like, wouldn't let it be crushed. It was
awesome because truly, you know, this business wants to crush
your spirit. It's like that is it's identifying characteristic crushing

(14:16):
having kids and having daughters especially, Uh, first of all,
do you think they're interested, and would you I know,
you would support anything your daughters want to do because
you're a great mom. But knowing the industry, it's so tough.
It's it's it's hard to reconcile with that, I mean
a little bit. But you know, I do think. I mean,
first of all, I don't think it's an industry for children,

(14:38):
and so I wouldn't. I mean, I let Bertie does
stuff on my show, you know, and she did some
stuff on Cougar Town, UMU, I will, you know, but
I wouldn't ever get them an agent or put them
up for jobs or any of that stuff. Like I
would judge appataw them. But like I'm not that, you know,

(15:01):
but I'm not going to like put them out there
to like actually get rejected at this point. But if
you were going to do something and have them on
yeah yeah yeah. Um But I you know, I and
I do think that getting through high school and send
two years of college is important. No, I don't think
at least to I don't think the two years of
college is important at all. But um but I do

(15:23):
want um, I do want Bertie and Cricket to both
you know, be able to express themselves in whatever way,
and the jury is out. I don't know. Man, Bertie
thinks she might want to go. She's getting older now
and she thinks she may want to audition for Laxa
when she gets into high school or for high school,

(15:44):
which is the performing arts school in Los Angeles. UM
and I was like, yeah, I'll help you. I mean,
if you need voice lessons or whatever. There. They do
like local theater stuff, their little theater programs. I wonder
if the opposite can happen though, is a performer if
like your children, like, no, how don't want to do
what you do at all? No, I wouldn't have her feelings. Really,

(16:10):
I don't know. I just feel like, uh, when a
Birdie was a baby, I definitely had a thing about
like that she was gonna she was going to do
something other like that. What Mark and I did isn't
actually like I had some weird idea that like she

(16:30):
should be you know, like I don't even know what
I thought an intellectual or like, you know, I don't
know the opposite of me. UM. I just felt like
I wasn't supported enough UM in my education, and so
like UM and so I wanted to make sure that
she had all of the things that that I feel

(16:55):
like I didn't have growing up educationally speaking. Um, and
now we're giving are all of those things and she's
still like yeah, like way more interested in creative stuff.
We're like, oh, okay, maybe that's just like inherent to
a person. And you know it's weird. I'm sure so.
Uh back to Freaks and Geeks. Yes, you've done a

(17:18):
lot of work since then, So now that you have
a big thing to compare it to, uh, like you
were a kid on that show, Like do you do
you look back and realize how special it was or
at the time did you think like we knew we
knew how special it was at the time. We all
sort of agree on that, and um, the feeling was

(17:38):
always that we were doing something so cool and so
different and um and that it was about going to
be taken away from us at any second, like we knew,
we we were very aware. Um. I will say that
it was, um, you know, such an incredible introduction into
working in television and film in that just working for

(18:00):
Paul Feig and Judd Apataw, even at that time in
their careers. Um, well, you know, to me, they were
old men, and now I think they were like late twenties,
and I'm not shipping you, like if you asked me,
I mean Judd was my dad's age, Like I don't

(18:23):
you know, you know, in my head, I was I
was nineteen when I got that job, and those guys
seemed because Judd and Leslie had just gotten married, they
had Maud was a baby, Like they were fucking grown
up old people. And now like Leslie's like three years
older than me, Like what, like how is that even possible?

(18:44):
Like it's so weird when it really does in your
like late teens early age weightings. Um, yeah, I think
they were in their early thirties when we did that show. Um,
but they you know already they I think Paul from
coming from the perspective of being an actor and Judd

(19:06):
having had his experience on Larry Sanders. Um, you know,
they were just so friendly to like the collaboration of
it all. Um, even with basically children, you know, which
is what we kind of were, And um, it was
so empowering in a way that you don't most of

(19:27):
my friends who started acting as young as I did
on different shows didn't have that experience and like therefore,
I think, you know, I didn't know to um want
more um, And so it's not surprising to me that
literally all of us went on to create and to

(19:50):
make our own ways and to do different things because
we were just empowered at such an early age by
people who had been given you know, the key is
a little bit, and they were turning to us and
saying like, but your your ideas are just as valid,
Like it was crazy. And then to go from that
to something like Dawson's Creek where they're like, literally, you

(20:12):
are a talking prop, like you are here to just
service what we've written. Do not stray from this, like
you have no say in this. Look pretty lose fifteen
pounds and like shut the funk up was a little
bit disheartening. Who was the casting director on Freaks and Geeks?

(20:34):
Allison Jones? Okay, because like people never talk about that stuff.
She won a thing, she won an award for it. Yeah,
I mean, the the talent that she assembled for that
is just insane. That's kind of like her vibe now,
like that's what she's known for her you know, since then,
it's just like finding people. She did sort of an
exhaustive search to find that you're um. She cast the

(20:57):
show Roswell, the original Roswell, and so I had auditioned
for that show and had gotten fairly far on it um,
but didn't end up testing for it. And so then
she brought me right in for jud and Paul and
Jake kasden Um to read for the role of Lindsay
weir Um. And then Paul gave me the sides for

(21:18):
Kim Kelly and I Kim Kelly took him out in
the hallway for five minutes, and I went back in
and that was it. Uh. It's funny because I worked
as a p a years ago in l A and
I worked on a very small independent film with Jason
and he was you know, on these sets, all actors
are talking about all the things are going to do,
and under the crew you're like, yeah, whatever, man, and

(21:38):
he was talking about you. I'm developing something with Jack
Black and he was unknown, and I remember thinking the time, yeah, man,
we all are. We're all developing something with Jack Black. Yeah.
And of course as fucking Jason Siegel. Right, I felt
like a dick ever since then, just about him. To
be fair, though, like you are right, you know what

(22:00):
I mean? Like, yeah, Okay, Oh good. I've been waiting
a long time to hear that. I'm gonna re meet
him one day and remind him about working on that movie. Yeah,
what was it? It's called The Good Humor Man, And
you don't know it? No, I didn't, but I don't know.

(22:20):
I could have known it, could have been in it. Yeah,
there were lots of like there were so many independent
movies in like the late nineties early two thousand's, like
people were like hardcore vying for Like remember like auditioning
like forty seven times for this movie that Doey Nicks
was directing, and like being like fucking gutted that I
didn't get it, Like I don't even know. No, I

(22:42):
don't remember. I don't remember at all. Every girl I
knew like cried hysterically into her pillow when she didn't
get Mona Lisa smile. Like there's so many, so many
stories like that from those those years. Oh, Josie and
the pussy Cats, Do you guys know how fucking bummed

(23:03):
I was that I didn't get Josie and the pussy Cats.
Do you know how hard I cried? Soaked your pillow? Yeah,
that's tough stuff, especially at that age. I mean, rejection
is always hard, no matter where the crush. I remember,
I drove to fucking Malibu. I had they their casting
office was in Malibu. It's rude. It's like that, it's

(23:27):
fucking rude. Emily, my wife loves blue Crush. That's one
of her sort of guilty pleasures. Yeah, well or maybe
just a pleasure, Emily, Is that just a pleasure? No, No,
just guilty pleasure. Uh. So Dawson's Creek comes along, and uh,
is that where you met your bestie? It is? Actually Yeah.

(23:47):
John Kasden, who's Jake Kasden's little brother, who had written
on Freaks and Geeks and then jumped to Dawson's Creek,
was really instrumental in me getting that part of um. Dawson's.
Tom Kapanos was running Dawson's Creek the last two years
and was a huge Freaks and Geeks fan. Kapanos is um.
You know, he went on to create that show with

(24:08):
David Dukovany what was it called, Yeah, thanks Californiication. But
his sensibility that was dope, his um. His sensibility I
think was like always like cooler and darker than what
Dawson's Creek allowed it to be kapenos I need and
so I think like getting me on that show was

(24:30):
like his the most subversive act he could do at
the time. Truly, I do. I do think that is true.
Um and um and yeah and like uh so John
and I were really close friends from Freaks and Geeks.
We were really tight and uh um and he was like,
you're kind of a guy. Yeah, you and Michelle Williams

(24:53):
are kind of be best friends. Like he fully said that, yeah, yeah,
and and yeah. It was like, you know, we had
a real meet cute like love at first sight. It's adorable,
and I think it is. It's just I think we
see you guys on red carpets and you're always there
and you're holding hands, and you could you just sense

(25:16):
not just like oh that's so cute their besties, but
like you really get a sense of the love and
support and like anyone who has that in their life,
whether it's a friend or or a spouse or whatever,
it's just so important and you guys are so public
about it and it's just it's heartwarming. Thank you. Well,
I like her a lot, No, but we just definitely

(25:37):
have like seeing each other through I mean when when
we met, we just had so much in common, shared sensibility,
and I know people like think that it's a little
bit unlikely because you know, I'm such a loud broad
and she's like so sensitive and small. Um, but you

(25:58):
know there's like a shared thing in inside that we
have and um. And and then you know, moving forward,
were just like you know, been through so much together
so well. And there's something to be said for, especially
as a young woman in this industry, like locking arms
with someone and just really having someone to have your back. Yeah,

(26:19):
and like I don't know where I I guess starting
out in the industry, Like I said, like you know,
like crying of our mona Lisa smile or whatever, like
I did. I used to have. I used to I
was plagued by like the jealousy and comparison and why

(26:41):
not me and why didn't I get that? And whatever?
And like truly I think part of the like the
thing that Michelle, Michelle and my friendship did for me
was like allow me to understand and truly see that
like we all have these and I saw these paths,

(27:04):
you know, these like as a creative person on this
journey and it's not going to be the same for anyone.
And I think I saw that more clearly, not in
terms of like me and my comparison to her, but
more like her comparison to Katie Holmes, Like when I
entered that situation to see like how it affected those

(27:29):
two women very early early on, and like just that
it was so clear to me how insane it was
because they're just sof like such disparate talents and have
just such different things going on for themselves. And that
made me see more clearly that like, I can never like, no,

(27:49):
I didn't get the part that Rachel mcadam's got, like
because I'm not Rachel mcgonham what I mean and like,
and my journey is going to be something that's totally
different and unique. And if I can just remember to
hold on to the like core thing of what makes
me me and stop trying to be something else that

(28:14):
I think people want, then that's like where the true
talent is, you know. Yeah, And I feel I mean,
is that a baby? If it is, just bring that
baby right on up here, baby lovers, I'm such a
baby lover. I will I'll try not to cough on

(28:35):
the baby. But no, that's so funny like two parents
were both like, M, I have a hard time when
I see babies in public now because I know you
can't touch you're not supposed to. But I just Emily
and I both we want to squeeze and squeeze and
you can't do it now you're not supposed to. It's
round upon it is. I've almost asked, like, can I
give your baby a squeeze? Here's where I mean, I

(28:56):
give you like a little bit of a track. I
love it. I'm gonna give you a track. On airplanes,
if there's like a mom flying by herself, sometimes you
can just like be real cute and offer to hold
the baby so that even when you look like me,
Emily can Emily can offer to hold the baby because

(29:17):
there's a big death between you sauntering up and lumbering
down an aisle. That's how I would do it too, baby.
Maybe that's the problem. It's so funny, Marketer, or just accuse.
We were sitting at the embarkadero or just like watching
all the babies pass, and I was like, I would

(29:40):
love this is this is not well thought out. I
was like, I would love another baby for like a
couple of weeks baby share. I would love a baby share.
You know, you can if you're like healthy and whatever,
you can go do volunteer work at the hospital in
the Nikkio or like pet babies. I just found that out. Well,

(30:04):
you know, they need petting and their parents are so
like stressed out and stuff, and they need to sleep,
so like you can be a little soft you can,
you know, you can cuddle them and hold them and stuff.
I might try to do that. I know I have
a lot going on though, that's like, this might be
I might be overreaching. I just want someone to bring
a baby to me. And then oh my god, I

(30:27):
was doing this. Um, this is why I chose you
to come on the show. Thank you. I'm a spokesperson
for Michael's the craft store. Um. Yeah, that's right. I
am their first and only spokesperson ever. Because it was
an incoming an outgoing call, Um, I demanded my agent

(30:48):
call them and bug them for two years. They're like, ma'am,
we're a craft store. We do not need a spokesperson.
And I was like, a hundred person, you do, and
it's me Busy Phillips. Anyway, they fell for it. So
for the last three years I've been their spokesperson. I
was doing a Michael's event in New York and um,

(31:10):
you know it's like people bring their kids that we
do crafts and you know whatever. Block Um, this woman
had us sleeping like two and a half year old
that she was holding, and she was like, can I
get a picture with you? And I was like, can
I hold your sleeping two year old? And she's like,
I would love it? And I had had Actually it

(31:30):
was like right when my book was coming out and
and I was super stressed because of all this like
clickbait press that was happening about this James Franco story
that was in my book, and it was like really
really bumming me out and upsetting me. Um for a
myriad of reasons, you know, one of the main ones

(31:52):
being that, like the irony was not lost on me
that like, I had written a book about how as
a woman in this industry it's been really difficult for me,
and I feel like I've often been reduced and then
like I wrote a fucking book about it, and then
all the headlines were reduced to being about a man. Um.
But anyway, so I was like having a really hard

(32:15):
time and so this woman gave me her sleeping two
year old baby and I held that little girl for
like forty five minutes. We'll shoot that and a little
bit I said to like I said to the Michael's people,
I'm like, are you guys okay that I'm just doing this?
And they're like, yeah, you're fine. They's so sweet. That
baby was so cute. What else happens in a Michael's

(32:37):
event mostly as crafts, So you're doing crafts with people
and do crafts with people. Yeah, I shoot these like
commercials for them that go on their YouTube channel and
like get you know, put in Facebook or whatever. I
don't know where they go. I tweet them out. Um.
They're called makeout makeoffs, the Michael's Makeoffs, and we get

(32:57):
other people like they try to get like like I've
done him with like Nick Cannon and Snoop Dogg did
one and um, and we do like a crafting competition
like it's sort of making fun of like a craft
off with Snoop. Yeah, I did a craft office new
His were wild, you guys. I did one with Whiz

(33:18):
Khalifa and on his Instagram five minutes before we got
to set, he posted himself smoking out of this thing
that was oh yeah, but it was like it was
like a long pipe thing that had like seven holes,

(33:39):
and on in each of the holes was a giant blunt.
So it's like five minutes before we're going to film
the makeoff and he's lighting them all and like sucking
at It looked like a flute. It might have been
a flute. It's like a pan flute. It was like
a little pan flute, and he was smoking blunts out
of he got to set it that. You can watch

(34:01):
the makeup online. It's it's fine because we were able
to edit it. But for the first I want to say,
fifteen minutes, he did not speak. It was like a
while I pad on a Buster R Rhymes video way
back in the day, the video gimme some Oh. I
don't know if you guys remember that one, um, but

(34:21):
there was one part where he was tied to the
train tracks, so he was laying down like tied up
in rope, and my job as the p A was
to put the blunt in his mouth as he smoked
it and just stand to the side and he would say,
come on, dog, and I would give him some more.
And I felt so freaking cool. I was just like,

(34:44):
all right, I've made it. That's amazing. Yeah. Well, and Emily,
we told you she should produced music videos and she
there's some crazy stories from back in the day when
like they paid half a million dollars to shoot a
music video. I don't feel like that happens anymore. It
doesn't happen anymore. I did a music video almost two

(35:06):
years ago for Grizzly Bear and Losing All Senses. The video.
I'm sure you could watch it online. I loved it.
It was really fun. But like, yeah, I think it
was like the I mean, the budget was like I
don't know five, it's a different time. Yeah, she doesn't
do that anymore for that reason. So Cougar Town, right,

(35:37):
I'm curious, Like Courtney Coxes is a legend obviously from friends,
but what was she like as a as a boss
and like, uh, I mean that was her show, right, yeah,
Like what was she like behind the scenes as an executive? Yeah,
she's the best, like the best person. Um. I had
a really great experience on that show, because that's a

(36:00):
hard job to run a show and not showrunner, but right,
she wasn't the show running but ee show yeah and
starring it, and she's in every scene basically. I mean
she was just very from what I could see. And
then you know, she ended up basically being like our
supervising director. She ended up directing like more than half
of Hunger Towns by the end. Um, because directing is

(36:23):
something that she really loves to do, and she was
getting much more into it towards the end of the
run of the series. Um. But she was always like
she's just like a boss as bitch, Like she just
like she she just is like she has like all
these things, she handles all her stuff. She I don't know,
like it was impressive to watch her. Um. She you know,

(36:48):
she would be watching cuts of the show at lunchtime.
She would be like going to the editing room, she
giving note her producer's notes. Um. But and then um,
you know, and then in terms of on set, she
was really more just an actor when we were on set. Um. Occasionally, Yeah,

(37:11):
occasionally she would like have notes that she would talk
to the director of the producers about. But it's probably
hard to draw that line though, you know, and switch
that off and go into performance mode. Yeah. Well, I
mean from the producing standpoint, I mean direct when she
was directing and I got to direct an episode as well.
That's awesome. Yeah, fun, Yeah, I was really good at it.
Was the nerve wracking, or was it. Yeah, I was

(37:33):
super scared going into it. Um, and I was really
only doing it because two of the male actors had
done it the year before when I was UM, I
had just had cricket and um, and I was just
annoyed at the fucking disparity between like the number of

(37:54):
male actors that end up directing episodic television and and
female actors that end up doing it, because like all
my years of being in my twenty years in this business,
it was like it's always like the men actors who
end up like parlaying it into a directing career, just

(38:14):
like at a certain point, like this doesn't work anymore
and this is a podcast. So I just pointed to
my face, um, like it falls away like you do
even for and for men too, Like there's a certain
point where you're you're done, and um, you want to
be able, if you want to continue to work in
the industry, you have to figure out different ways to work,

(38:37):
and directing is one of them. Directing television is one
of them. Yeah, I mean, I think that's one thing
I really respect about you is it feels like twenty
years in you're an overnight sensation. It's because like some
working your ass off and like then you wrote a
book and now you have your own show and it's
like everything's coming up busy and it's really cool. I

(38:58):
think twenty years in to be I mean because of
the industry, you're sort of forced to but to make
the decision like I'm going to fucking make my own way. Yeah,
I mean, I let it's interesting, It's yeah, it's always
like a work in progress for me, and I think that, Um,
I don't know, I just like to do all of it,

(39:20):
Like I like to entertain in whatever way I can.
And so for me, that was like doing my the
show at Largo, doing Thrilling Adventure Hour at Largo, like
that kept me going for a long time creatively. It
was super fulfilling to be able to do that, Yeah,
and to be with those people and play on stage
like that. Um, and you know, and then even I

(39:45):
don't know, like with Instagram and stuff, like I was
always looking at the Instagram stories is like you know,
building as like literally building stories on a daily basis
and trying to give narratives and I don't know so
and entertain like you know, and be entertaining, not just
like on the back of a golf cart. Okay, like

(40:12):
I came out with that, I'll skip right through your ship. Um,
but uh, you know, so I don't know like I
think that and to a certain extent, like you know,
it's it's difficult for me because I am of a
certain age and I started in this business at a

(40:35):
certain time, which was you know, there weren't you didn't
create your own content. You just didn't like you were
an actor for higher You auditioned and you got the
parts they wanted to give you, and um, and the
idea that you could like somehow create your own ship

(40:57):
just didn't really exist. And even and then even when
I try, I too, it was like a fucking disaster
for me with Blades of Glory. So that story, yeah,
so that's in my book, guys. Yeah, we're not gonna
give it all away for free. Yeah, by the book.
Uh No, it's just really cool though it feels like
it's we're at a moment in time now where it's

(41:20):
fifty years too late. But things seem like they are
finally just starting to swing in the right direction. I
think so. And I think you're one of the leaders.
Oh that's nice, you know out there doing it. I
think I just like, you know, I'm just like a
little bit of a girl with a chip on her shoulder,
you know what I mean, And like I always have been,
and so I've always like that was why I insisted

(41:41):
on directing that episode of Cougar Town. Like I just
I always have sort of seen like, what the funk
are the boys doing? And let me do that? And
that's how I got this late night talk show. I
literally was like, what the funk are the boys doing?
Let me do that? And um, it's such a fun
show too. It's fun, I mean, you know, but like,
let me do that in my own way and make

(42:01):
it the thing that I want as a woman. Um.
I don't know why I just did this with my shoulder.
I felt freeing for a second, and now I regret it.
I wanna put my put that back down. Um yeah,
thank you. I mean, I you know, it's not without

(42:22):
a lot of like thought and time and energy. Now
you don't stumble into your own talk show. It's exhausted
and super fun, and uh, every day is a challenge.
We had the craziest day. I don't even know what
day of the week it is today, What is it Saturday?
So Wednesday? So Wednesday it was pouring rain and Los Angeles.

(42:47):
First of all, on Tuesday, Andy Sandberg almost canceled because
he was sick. And I saw that one he was.
That was very sweet for him to show if he
could tell he was hurting, he didn't feel I thought
it was a really cute interview because he was so
he was so sick and cozy. He was like a
lot up but he and he was a little buddy. Um.
But he and I are like friends, really friends in
real life. And he just texted me like how fucked

(43:07):
will you be? And I was like, dude, so fucked
if you don't show up. And so he was like
all right, So he came. You know, he showed up
and um, but the next day one of my guests
was sick and like that was it didn't wasn't coming,
and so we scrambled to find someone. Um. But you know,
you plan on these shows, You've got like a week

(43:30):
or two in advanced that you know that guests are
booked and so the producers and the writers and everybody's
like working on bit ideas and and fun activities for
you to do, and questions to ask and all of
these things so that you're pretty fairly prepared when the
person shows up, you know, but then to throw it
all out of the window and you had we had,

(43:54):
we had one hour. Wow, who did you get in there?
So you guys please watch the it airs. It'll be
this coming Thursday. It's Josh Radner. It's honestly one of
my favorite shows. It's wild, like it is truly off
the rails mark, where are you? Did you? Is it?

(44:15):
It's good? Right? We watched the cut of it yesterday
in my hotel room. It's like it turned out great,
but we had like an hour to pull it together.
We were all just like laughing and crying and like,
but I don't want to do this every day. Yeah
it was. It's not ideal, um, but it was kind

(44:37):
of fun. That's cool. Yeah, congratulations for pulling it together.
We could have scrapped it, truthfully, because we had had
all our shows for this week done, but because it
was it's MLK Day on Monday, we're not supposed you know,
you don't want to film because you have to pay
everybody double really yeah, insider stuff everyone. So yeah, so

(45:01):
this was supposed to whatever. It doesn't even matter. But
as a producer, these are the things, like the decisions
that have to be makes. I was like, if we
can pull there were a few people that my talent
booker came and they're like, I think this person can come,
and I think this, But I was like, I want
to just do a show. To do a show with
somebody that's not going to be interesting, and we have
to pull it together in an hour. And Radner and

(45:23):
I've known each other for a long time and I
knew that he could. He would be great and be
down to play and you know, and it was really fun.
That's cool. Yeah, alright, I feel like we should get
into our our movie now, the movie Kicking and Screaming

(45:48):
from written and directed by uh twenty five year old
Noah bomb Box, which is crazy and it's one of
those movies too where all right. I graduated college the
year this came out, so it was just sort of
I felt like my life, except I wasn't walking around
wearing tweed blazers talking about I went to the University

(46:11):
of Georgia and Athens. Uh, and it was great. And
when we had everyone just listened to m and like
it was like and like, yeah, I looked around for
I did play softball with Mike Mills. Oh that's cool. Yeah,
he was on my softball team. Um, he doesn't remember
that though, because I met him years later a few
years ago. He was like, no clue, but we hung out.

(46:33):
He was nice. But anyway, Uh. Yeah, So I just
graduated college and this movie comes out about people just
graduating college. Um, it's supposed to be set in I
think upstate New York, but it's like clearly Los Angeles.
It's It's one of the best, sort of worst fake
jobs I've ever seen on a movie. It's like palm

(46:54):
trees all over the place. It's supposed to be New York.
Where did he go to college? Vassar and Vassar, Yeah, yeah,
it does. It was supposed to be like Vassar. I
assumed it was like their college. It's supposed to be,
but it was actually occidental in Eagle Rock. Oh really yeah, yeah,
it feels like but also because of that, like how

(47:15):
they kind of messed with the location. I don't know,
it sort of feels like it could be anywhere. Well,
we were trying to figure it out. We're like, is
this suburban Chicago or But then they're talking about New
York all the time, like moving to Brooklyn, And then
I found about the Vasser connection, So I think it's
supposed to be New York. Yeah, but it's so low budge,

(47:38):
you know, and and has like I saw it back
then a bunch of times and it was one of
my favorite movies back in the day and see it
all these years later, it's kind of funny to see,
like it was such like a student film, I know,
but like in the best ways. It's so good though. Yeah,
I like it better than a lot of his other
movies really. Yeah, interesting because I mean I love his

(48:02):
whole Like, I mean, he went on to do Squid
in the Whale obviously, Margaret at the Wedding Greenberg, Francis
Greenberg a lot, and I like Francis ha a lot.
Michelle was supposed to be in Greenberg by the way,
Oh really yeah, who oh is that okay? And that
was the first movie she did with him. That's how
they met, right, because he was married to J. J. Lee,

(48:24):
who Jennifer Jason Lee. Oh yeah, Oh you call her
j J Yeah, j J Lee. Yeah, that's that's her name, right,
j J Lee. You're like me. You give people nicknames
and now I like it. Oh yeah, I mean that's
all we do. Um. Yeah, I don't love Squid in
the Whale as much as a lot of people do.
I think a lot of people do love that movie, right, Yeah, yeah,

(48:46):
I don't love it. Guys love that movie Squid in
the Whale? Yeah, I mean for people like it. Um.
And then Myerwood Stories. Did you see that? The Netflix one?
I didn't watch it because that'stint often No, just because
I don't know. Man, I don't watch movies anymore. Yeah,

(49:08):
let's unpack that. I don't have fucking time. He's got
time to watch movies, even on Netflix. I mean I
watched The Favorite when I had strapped throat and the flu.
I loved it. Yeah, I gotta check that out. And
in fact, one of the like main executives that e
we got like, I was so fucking salty to her

(49:31):
because we did the post Golden Globes show for Busy
Tonight and I was like, can we please get a
bunch of bunnies and say they're the bunnies from the
Favorite and we did we got the Bunnies, and she
was like, I don't understand that. I don't. I really
I hated that movie. And I was like, you're wrong,
you are wrong, and you have terrible taste if you
hated that, Like I was like so insane about it.

(49:55):
I loved it. I thought it was one of the weirdest,
coolest movies. I've seen it in a long time, Like
in the last five years. I feel like I can
count on one hand the movies that I've seen. Yeah,
the favorite is that Black Panther in the Theater. Um,
call Me by your Name? Oh yeah, my favorite? Sobbed

(50:16):
for fucking days. Who didn't You're Dead Inside, Dead Inside?
Is that it? That might be all the years I've
seen in the last five years, Like truly, we just
oh my husband's movie I've seen. I saw. I Feel
Pretty a Bunch was like that whole red carpet thing. Well,

(50:46):
I saw it so many times. Um, but yeah, it's
like it's And then also like, I'm very interested in
the Netflix situation with movies and like how that I mean,
I get the bird Box people really were into I
haven't seen that. Everyone is I'm not going to watch it, guys.
I'm sorry, I'm not gonna watch it. It's still happening.

(51:09):
I have a hard time with children in distress movies now, Yeah,
can't do it. It's tough. Yeah. I can barely read
people mag dot com. You're not joking, No, I'm not joking. Um, So,
how old were you were? I was in high school.
Were you one of those high school kids? So that

(51:29):
all this and I was just like, oh my god,
I want to be been? Was everything? Yeah? To me?
I just like I remember seeing this movie when I
was Yeah, I was probably sixteen years old. It was
so yeah, kind of middle high school, middle high school. Um,
my boyfriend and best friend worked at the Harkins Theater

(51:56):
that was like the art House theater in Arizona and
Scott's Dale, and so we would like go see all
the movies for free, Um, all the art House movies.
Like I sat through the like Kenneth Brandon Hamlet around
that time. Anyone else was like five hours. Um did
you say you enjoyed it or you sat through it?
I don't remember. We did Hamlet in my high school later. Yeah,

(52:20):
I was the Queen of course, definitely not Aphelia um
um so Queen Gertrude so um so. Yeah. So I
remember seeing this movie and just feeling like it was

(52:41):
like the smartest, best, funniest ship I had ever seen,
and like that was the kind of sensibility that I had,
and like, what my truest expression of myself. If I
could like put myself in any movie or write any movie,
it would be that movie. I like just done. And
then I just got it on tape. I got on

(53:03):
VHS and I would just watch it over and over
and over again. And then I got Mr. Jealousy, which
was his first movie, Like that was a student film?
Or was Mr Jealousy after? Was right after this? Yeah?
I got Mr Jealousy and I got maybe it was
this one? Was? It was called high Ball? Do you
know the story I read up about that is that

(53:24):
I had that on VHS too, So I would watch
Highball Mr Jealousy and um kicking and scream. I feel
like it was like because he's disowned it. Yeah, I
don't know, what is it? What did a student film? No?
He shot Mr Jealousy. Noah bomb Boch wrote and directed Mr. Jealousy,
which is also fucking great. That movie. He's really good,

(53:46):
haven't I. Oh you should see it. That's the only
one I haven't seen. It stars Eric Stoltz and Annabella
Sciora Yeah, who I love, right, Yeah, sorry, I thought
you were correcting me, like I was wrong. Um yeah,
and it's really good and Carlos Jacot of course, right,
who was in this as well. Yeah, but so yeah,

(54:06):
he makes Mr Jealousy and then apparently had like a
little money and some film leftover, does highball in like
ten days or something in an apartment and like couldn't
finish it the way he wanted to, and so he
abandoned the project, took his name off of it. It's
it doesn't say written and directed by know a bomb Box.
He made up two different names for writer and director

(54:27):
and disowned it. And he said that they released it
without his permission on whatever and DVD or I had
it on VHS. Yeah, so I still haven't seen that
one because he's just like, Nope, not my movie. It's
like a little bit like the Anniversary Party, like not
as good as the Anniversary Party of Yeah, it's like
it's like that thing. It's like takes place at a party,

(54:49):
like all in one night type deal. Yeah, he had
some leftover film. He had some leftover film. Yeah yeah, yeah,
I love the anniversary party so great waiting for someone
to pick that one. Um, so shoot, I wish I
would have. Oh that's right, we can do this again. Um.
The character names just kill me, Grover Otis Skippy. Yeah,

(55:12):
it was like what was he doing when he was
naming these characters Miami and Parker Miami. Yeah, who I mean?
I still adore her, but this was that mid nineties
period where she was just like the queen on fire. Yeah,
it's like every indie movie. Yes, I did Party Girl.
You know, Guy Brandham, he was my guest for Party Girl.

(55:33):
That was his pet. That's a great pick. Yeah, it's
perfect for I loved it. Um, I love Yeah. I
loved Parker Posey. Parker Posey. When I was a young
person thinking about being an actour, that was my That
was who I looked up to, was Parker Posey. I
wanted to be Parker Posey. Yeah. I love the scene

(55:55):
with her and uh god bless him. The guys not
so great, the guy that played Skippy. Yeah, but that
scene that they have together where after she had cheated
on them with Max, and she's just sitting there and
she's just like, just this you your face and your hair.
I hate it's get out. It's so cute. And that's

(56:21):
actually good. That's his best scene in the movie, probably
when he's mimicking her and all, and you can tell
it seems so genuine. She's starting to kind of crack. Yes,
I love it. It is. That's that's one of the
great so good. I also love when they're moving her
into the dorm fall semester and he's like, oh, the
trusty fan, everybody bringing it. I'm using. She's like, I

(56:43):
use that fan all the time, all the time. I
don't know, I know, she just always has this uh
self assured nous that you feel like it's her, Like
I've never met her, but she seems like that's who
she's like on screen. You know, do you know her really? No?

(57:04):
It surprises me. It surprises me too. I want to
thought by now, but she's a New York bitch and
I'm an l a bit sure. Yeah. So it's different
different coasts. Yeah, um so, I mean the movie opens
up with the Pixie Song right out of the bat,
so you've got me hooked. And then that party, which
is not like any college party you've ever seen, like

(57:25):
in like a weird mansion. Yeah, and they're like wearing
blazers and drinking champagne and stuff. So it is this weird,
bizarro college world that I couldn't relate to. But I
just thought they were so fucking cool and grown up
because I was, I guess twenty one, and they in
the movie there twenty two, but they's weird. How bold
were they? I guess? No, it was you said when

(57:46):
he wrote in direct time they were of age. They
were the same age. And he's in it too. He
plays the g a couple of times. Pig fucker big Yeah,
would you rather suck a pig or lose your mother?
Lose your mother? I'd rather fuck a pig. Piguer um

(58:07):
answer the questions, skippy um. Yeah. They were not well
matched the Skippy in Miami. They were not well matched.
Although I feel like she really did them wrong by
sleeping with Max. It was a weird call. The great
Chris Agaman who Chris I'd been so good? Yeah, I
mean this was I think right after Metropolitan maybe and

(58:28):
before Barcelona. Yes, it was definitely before Barcelona, I think.
But he's sort of the same guy in all these movies.
He's just so smug but somehow likable, somehow, I don't know. Yeah,
you've got that thing, that dick thing, you're like into it, Yeah,
for sure. But of course he ends up with what's

(58:49):
her name, carib Wona, Yeah, Cara who ended up on Madman. Yeah,
I mean she did a lot over the years. Uh.
And I was talking to Emily this. It's funny because
Olivia Dabo I thought was just going to be this
huge star. She's so good in this movie, so good,
and she's so charming and like lovable. I love that thing,

(59:10):
like the retainer retainer out. And I wondered whose choice
that was. Yeah, I wondered that too. I like, did
they build it? They didn't have the money to build
her retainer? Was that real? Maybe it must have been real, right,
It might have been like, I don't see a low
budge Indy being like, let's build her a retainer so
she can take it in and out. No, no, no no,
I'm sure they didn't. Yeah, but like, I don't know,

(59:33):
maybe that was her idea. I don't know. It's a great,
it's very cute and and I read a review from
back then that um hated that and said she was
always doing this annoying thing with her retainer, and I
was like, it wasn't annoying. Sometimes people are idiots, Yeah,
they miss what's truly great about something. Well, I feel,
and it makes it like so grounded in reality, like

(59:54):
everybody knows that girl, like you know that girl? Yeah, yeah,
did you ever do like um writing and pints of classes?
Where did your you know, like where you sit around
and you read your writing and other people critique as okay, yeah, okay,
so yes, it's awful. There was also that. Yeah. I
loved those scenes. Yeah, he was like writing, like reading

(01:00:15):
his like pretentious stories. Yeah, and she's sort of like
digs at him. Yeah. Well, those to me, like are
my favorite parts of the movie are the flashbacks. That's
sort of the through line of their relationship because it
opens with her leaving him to go to Prague and
then they tell the story and flashback of how they met,
and those are really sort of the sweetest, sweetest parts

(01:00:36):
of the movie, I think. Yeah, I agree for sure. Um,
I just also think there are so many I mean, no,
it just speaks to like what an incredible writer, Noah
bomboch Is. There are so many lines in kicking and
Screaming that jump out and are so memorable and repeatable.

(01:00:56):
I've been to I mean, I haven't been to Prague
in but I know that thing that that's one of
the best lines. You've been to Prague. Oh, I've been
to Prague. I've been to Prague. But it also sort
of felt like like I used to try and write
scripts and stuff and I still do for fun. And
it had that student filmy thing of like he took
every funny line he ever wrote on his legal pad

(01:01:19):
and like stuffed it in this first movie. Right, most
of Carlo, most of Carlos Jacob's character is just those like, yeah,
funny lines. Yeah, he's great. He's so good. I've worked
over the years. Yeah, I really like him a lot.
He sells like a pilot every year as a writer,
I feel like what writes and I think he likes Yeah,
he feels like he has pilots a lot. Um. He

(01:01:42):
So he's Otis in the movie, by the way, and
he and Noah went to college together. We're good friends.
I didn't know that. Let me tell you a story check.
So um, I think this is in my book. I
don't think it got cut. UM. When I so, this
was my favorite movie. UM, I was fully obsessed with

(01:02:05):
these bros. And UM. When my first pilot season, UM,
when I had my agent the year that I got
Freaks and Geeks. Um, this actually is like part of
how I got Freaks and Geeks. UM. I went. I
got an audition sheet from my agents and it was
for a pilot called The Acting Class that Imagine Entertainment

(01:02:29):
was producing, um and NBC was supposed to be doing
and UM. The writers were Carlos Jacob and Noah bomb
Bock and the director was no A bomb Back And
I like flipped out like this. I was, you know,
nineteen years old. So where was he in his career?
Was it right after this? Yes, it s would have

(01:02:51):
been nineteen well yeah, nineteen ninety. He had done Mr. Jealousy.
This was pilot season. UM and uh. So I went
in for the It was my first year, so I
went in for the casting associate. She brought me back
for the casting director. The casting director was like, I
would love to bring you back for the director and producers,

(01:03:13):
which is like means no A bomb Bach. So they
brought me back in. I did my scene for them.
I was really funny and um and it was Noah
and Carlos in the room. It was like so thrilling,
And as I was leaving, I like stopped the door

(01:03:33):
and I was like, I just have to say, I
don't know if this is the thing that you're supposed
to do on auditions because I've never done this before,
but Kicking and Screaming is my favorite movie of all time.
I can't believe I'm in this room. This is so
exciting to me, and just like thank you and I'm
so happy to meet you and thank you and goodbye.
And he was like, okay, great. So then I get
a call and they're like my agent or my manager
was like, so it's a little weird. NBC hasn't fully

(01:03:55):
committed to making this pilot. They were like, imagine was
kind of like going through the asting process to see
if they could get someone attached that would push them
into making the pilot. But instead, what they're wondering if
you'll be willing to do is do a table read
as this character like they love you, your their first choice,
if you'll do a table read of this pilot at

(01:04:16):
NBC to try to convince NBC to like fully commit
to making the pilot. So I was like, uh, fuck yeah,
so we go. I go and it's me um an unknown,
Adam Scott, um an unknown, Nie of our dolls playing
one of our acting teachers, Carlos Jacot, Jim Lear, who's

(01:04:42):
also Lear. What's his name? Mark John Lear, John Lear.
My other half of my brain has Mark Silverston, Um
John Lear, who's also in this movie, you know with
the long hair. He's like, oh, was he like one
of the cavemen? He started that, right, so like caveman

(01:05:03):
that sold insurance or whatever, and then they got a
TV show, right, that weird thing that happened. That was
a thing that happened. Um, anyway, John Lear, Carlos Jacott,
na Ardallas, Adam Scott, Me, and there was somebody else
but I can't remember who. But anyway, we do this
fucking table read, and um it was so exciting, Like

(01:05:28):
Noah worked with us for a couple of hours and
it was like being directed by Noah bomb Box. It
was so cool. Um, we did the table read for
all the NBC executives. Um, Brian Grazer came because it
was imagine, which was really excited. It was also exciting
we left NBC. I remember walking to the parking lot

(01:05:49):
with Adam Scott. The sun. I remember this moment so
fucking clearly. I also kind of have a photographic memory.
But the sun was setting and I was like, I
lit a cigarette because I smoked that yeah nineteen and
gave him one and I was like, this is so exciting.
We're gonna like do this fucking pilot. And he's like, oh,
this isn't getting made. Like Adam was like already he

(01:06:13):
had done nothing and was like already cynical and jade
and he's like, oh this this isn't getting made. And
I was like it's not. No. I was like it's
not and he's like, yeah, no, there's no way they're
making this pilot. And I was like, oh, okay, well,
it was really nice to meet you. And he was like, yeah,
best to luck to you. I hope you get something
this where I was like, okay, gotten my Honda Civic S.

(01:06:35):
I drove back to um Louis La Marymount and sure enough,
by the time I got back, there was a message
on my um you know, my dorm phone that the
terrible News the ship. They were not going to go
forward with making the show, but the Grace Wu who
was the head of casting at NBC, wanted me to
come in like the next in that week to have

(01:06:56):
a general meeting. And that general meeting she gave me
the script for Freaks and Geeks. Was like, I'm gonna
make sure they see you for this. You'd be putt Yeah, crazy,
crazy and whatever happened to Adam Scott right now, old
man Scott so funny. He's like been that way since
we were children, Like, yeah, um, yeah, it's so funny.

(01:07:18):
It's so funny. That pilot was great, and I've tried
to find it and I've asked Noah if he well
we know each other now, yeah yeah, And and I
asked him if he has it, and he's like, I don't.
I don't know where that is. I mean, I could
try to find it, but the story, his side of
the story is so crazy, which was just that like

(01:07:40):
Steve Martin, and was also an executive producer on the pilot,
Like Steve Martin and Brian Greezer and Noah, they wanted
Noah and Carlos to write a show and it basically
seemed like totally arbitrary, Like they were just like just
write about like college kids. Isn't that something that people like?

(01:08:01):
And they just wrote about this acting class in New York. Um,
good story. I know. I'm sad that it didn't go
and I wish I could find the pilot. How cool
though that? Like you get to meet and now know
one of your like favorite directors writers? Is it the
kind of thing like how does that work? Can you say, like,
hey dude, why don't you put me in a movie yet?

(01:08:21):
Can you do that? Is that how it works? No?
I don't think so. Um no, because I have so
many of those friends where I'm like, sometimes Mark and
I talk, that's the conversation, like you know, like do
you have like things you can only um tweet in

(01:08:42):
your head or like things you can only like text
to your partner? Like I have those conversations with Mark,
Like those are the conversation, what the fund did so
and so not put me in that movie? Mark? And
He's like, I don't know, Babe, I don't know. I
really don't know. Oh. The funny. Um, what struck me

(01:09:02):
to watching this last night was Olivia Dabo's character. I
was kind of watching her and thinking, oh my god,
that's kind of Greta Gerwig, it is. Yeah, Like, is
that's like his version of like the manic pixie dreamgirl
or something like super hyper intelligent, like and literate girl

(01:09:22):
with blonde hair. Yeah, maybe so, but it really kind
of hit me last time. I was like, that's sort
of how she is. Like it's interesting to me too,
that like sort of that that thing that Frances Hat
and this movie have in common. That's sort of um,
you know, like aimless, like not knowing what the future

(01:09:47):
is bringing or where you're supposed to be going. Thing
is the thing that I like relate to so deeply
both of his films. Like, I really it's what I
like most. Um is ex is like people trying to
figure it out and failing. Yeah, I mean, and that's
what this this whole movie is sort of about the
great unknown and that moment when you're graduating college and

(01:10:11):
well or two years into college and you're like, what
what's out there for me? And there's that It's sort
of exciting, but it's also scary as hell. But I
feel like a kid. Yeah, you're like, yeah, like actual children, yeah,
like literally babies, crying babies, what do you think that
you're so grown up? And they did in this movie.

(01:10:34):
They're all playing grown up. I know. It's so funny.
And Eric Staltz is supposed to be like the old
man and he's twenty eight. Well, and at one point,
uh Carbona's characters calls Josh Hamilton old man River and
he's twenty two which or or no, no is it?

(01:10:54):
How old are you? And he's like twenty two? And
she's like old man River? Right? And then um, who's
the who's actress from Entourage? Oh? My god, Perry Kilpin No,
Emily who? No, Perry reads Reads reeves right, she's in

(01:11:15):
this is like freshman that he Slick Grover sleeps with
trying to get over Jane and she takes her top
off and like has like a really awkward trying to
be sexy moment. And Marissa Rubisi's in it. Yeah, Mercerbies,
isn't it she? I don't even know she's credited. She's roommates,

(01:11:36):
like the roommates. Yeah. Like he he goes to sleep
with another freshman girl in the dorm and it's like
they're on the little twin bed next to the other
people that are having sex. In the other twin bed.
Did that happen in college? That one definitely did not
happen in my college. To me having sex, these people
are nodding, you have sex, like with your roommate in

(01:11:56):
the room. You I wasn't having sex at all. It
so I'm not the guy to ask. I see the
baby in the back by way? Oh really, yeah, I
saw that baby head back there in a little baby
bjorn um. So yeah, they're all playing adult that the
great unknown is in front of them. She's going to Prague,

(01:12:18):
and it's really sad, but you get this great love
story sort of happening along the way, and it ends
with that great oh you gotta let me the best
monologue of all time say it. You gotta let me
go to Prague, let me go to product and he
and he knows, and he follows her out and says,
you know, if I lean, if I kissed you, and
yeah that yeah, like the very end, if we had

(01:12:39):
been dating, like you'd be delighted probably, And he's like,
I just want us to be an old couple, so
I can do that. And it's just like such a
sweet line, A little choked up when I think about it.
Sweet just let me. I just wish we could do that.
And it was just such a great ending and like
to look back now at Noah Bombox career, it was

(01:13:00):
like the seed. And I love going back and seeing
the early work of like some of my favorite writers
and directors and actors because you can see that seed there.
You know. It was a little amateurish and little student
film me but just so endearing, but you see like
the talent that was there, like you know, ready to go.
That's why I feel like it's always remained one of
my favorites, like just because it is sort of rough

(01:13:22):
around the edges, and then you also like have I
guess in the grand scheme of things, you get to
see all the films that came after, and you know,
like where it goes. So it really does feel like
the beginning of kind of an amazing journey and career
for sure. Twenty five. I tried to get the budget

(01:13:44):
for this. I couldn't. I couldn't find it, but it
couldn't have been much, you know. I wonder it was
in that great time though, and I talk exhaustively about
it on the show about that sort of early to
mid nineties indie film explosion that happened. It was just
so exciting. Sleep with me. Yeah, I bet you like
that movie. I love that movie. Yeah. There were some

(01:14:05):
other ones, well, Metropolitan and Barcelona, all those really talky
Uh what are some more? Everyone? So it's of those.
Oh well, jeez, I love all those movies. Dudes. I
saw before Sunrise the night before I took my big
European trip. Oh God, and I was like, oh man,

(01:14:27):
here we go. Julie Delpies are just gonna be How
Ma and Julie Delpies did you find on that trip?
I literally did not kiss a human being on that trip,
not even a little little makeout sesh. Nothing, zero Julie Delpies,
negative Julie. Julie Delpi. Once Julie Delpi and I tried

(01:14:51):
on clothes next to each other at a store, and
it was very exciting for me. Really, that would have
been exciting for me too, which was exciting. It was exciting.
I remember it very clearly. It was years ago. It's funny.
The only the only other thing I have on here
that I see is baggy clothes in the in the
from the thing, Yeah, the movie. It's just funny to

(01:15:12):
look back at the nineties and like everything was so baggy.
It's all coming back, dude. Really, yes, those huge pants
with pleats and stuff. I don't know. I think it's
all about to happen. Yeah, yeah he I saw a
friend's episode the other night with Chandler had these big,
baggy pleated pants with a T shirt tucked in and

(01:15:34):
like kind of pulled out. That was my move. It's
just so funny to see that, Like, wow, that was
awful because you always think in the moment you're that
you're in it's like, no, this is like is that
people dress? Yeah, this will not look stupid in twenty years. Yeah,
I guess you do think that. I don't know, but
it's jeans in a T shirt. This is what This

(01:15:56):
is not gonna looks stupid in twenty years. Is it's
gonna look bad? Really? Yeah, you're there are no stripes
in the future, just like it's just gonna be off,
like the fit or whatever. Like people you'll look back
and they'll be like, what was I doing wearing it
that way? Yeah, but dude, you're gonna be fucking sixty
eight years old in twenty years. Oh my god. It's sad,

(01:16:18):
isn't it. It's weird. Getting older is weird. It is
very weird. I'm not I don't know. I've ascalated. Sometimes
I'm like it's amazing, and sometimes I'm like this blows.
Yeah I did that thing. I'm obsessed with checking ages
of and I've talked about on the show of characters

(01:16:38):
and like when what how old they were? Like I'll
see something and I'll be like, Paul Newman was younger
than me when he played Butch Cassidy. Those that's like,
aside from like all the political trash fire on Twitter, like, um,
those are the ones that bumped me out the deepest
where they're like this pick Bruce Springs team in this

(01:17:00):
photo and you're like, what nobody wants to hear that?
Just stop, please stop at all, please stop. I know
it's crazy for me to like, um, because I feel like,
even in thinking about like what you were saying right
at the beginning, like like when I did Freaks and Geeks,
like Judd seemed so old and he was like thirty

(01:17:22):
two years old or something like that, and he was
an infant. He was he was like, yeah, much younger
than I am. Now, Um, yeah, that's crazy, all right.
So we've got twelve minutes left. We finished with five questions. Okay,
what's up? I didn't tell you about this? Well, to
be fair, you didn't really tell me about anything. No,

(01:17:42):
that's right, it's so chuck. Uh. Number one, what's the
first movie you saw in a movie theater? Karate Kid?
One of the Karate Kid movies. I don't know which one,
but it was early eighties. And this is like the
weirdly sort of a tragic story for me, which is

(01:18:02):
that my parents got, um, my sister, they got two
tickets to the Jackson five victory tour, and so they
were taking my old my mom was taking my older sister,
and they like only could have four, like only got
two tickets. And so the constellation prize that they tried

(01:18:24):
to make seem as cool was that my dad was
taking me to see the Karate Kid. But even at
like age four or whatever I was, I like knew
that it was bullshit. Um. But also, you know, alright, uh,
does anyone else have that thing too where they're flipping

(01:18:45):
through the cable guy and they see Karate Kid and
you're like, oh funk, yes, and you turned it on
and it's Will Smith's son and you just go U
god hoodwinked? Uh? First R rated movie you saw? Period? Well,
I don't. I actually don't know if this is the first,
but I do know that I snuck into the hard

(01:19:07):
way with Michael J. Fox and um, yeah, the Horrible One,
uh James Wits and uh and it was rated R
and my best friend Emily BB and I snuck in
to see it and I loved it so much that
then I saw that movie like four times in theater. Yeah.

(01:19:29):
I loved dance that's where's he's an actor doing like
a ride along and James Woods is a real cop
And I don't know why, I just fucking loved that movie.
And I also loved was the one, Oh my God
about this f X with about the special effects? Oh yeah, yeah,

(01:19:51):
with the Australian Yeah, with the Australian actor. Was that
one rated R? Too? Probably? Yeah? I like loved that
movie too. When I a little kid, we I saw
so many movies growing up, tons And were your parents
permissive with the ratings or was it my parents never
cared about that? Um? I remember what I remember having

(01:20:13):
a really uncomfortable moment watching I think it was outrageous
fortune with my grandma Ben Miller. Yeah, like what is
that is outrageous fortune? The one where there's like an
extended fucking scene in the beginning, like it's comical where
she's just like, oh right, comical, it's comical fucking where
it's just like legs flying and stuff, but like as

(01:20:37):
a seven year old, is really dramatic. Oh we've all
had those moments. It was. It's pretty bad. Yeah, yeah
for sure. Um yeah, so yeah, so I don't think
there wasn't And we would like go to Blockbuster every
you know that we had that routine and make sure
it's like we got a Blockbuster every Friday and get
our movies for the weekend. And you know, we rented

(01:21:00):
tons of movies. We owned a lot of movies the
hard way. And what a great guy James Wood's turned
out to be. That was sarcasm. Probably won't get political.
Um number three. I usually try to taylor to the person.
So maybe in your in your career span, like not

(01:21:25):
any movie ever, but like what movie do you wish
you could have been in, like more than any other
in just in my years that I was yeah yeah,
or or if you want, you can open up to
any movie in history, right, there are no rules. That
seems like what I guess kicking and screaming would be Miami.

(01:21:47):
Would you want to Miami? You would have been a
great Miami, actually great Miami. In fact, the part that
I essentially had gotten in that NBC pilot was Miami,
right like it was that girl. I had a great
line that I still remember, which was, all right, losers,

(01:22:10):
I gotta go. I have a Euston fixt wait, I
have a EUSt In faction that could flip a cow.
I could hear park your posey. You guys, there's a
similar thing going on there. You're like the blonde. You're
the l A version. That's what I told you. I'm
an l A batch. Um. Will you leave a bad movie?

(01:22:32):
Will you walk out of a movie? But by the way, though,
I would have rather I would have been I would
have rather been the Olivia Diabos part. You didn't expect
that I did not expect. I know, yeah, I would
have liked to have played that part. What line, What's
what's your line for her? Like? What's your favorite line

(01:22:54):
from her? One thing I love is how she keeps
coming back and saying I thought of a great retort
to what you said yesterday, and I would just like
to say that right now. Cut when you said, um,
I always liked um. You're not a fair weather friend, Grover,
You're a foul weather friend. You're only happy when people

(01:23:16):
are suffering like you. It's a tough line for a
one year old. Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. Um. Yeah,
will you leave a bad movie? Number four? If you
walk out? I know you don't go to movies anymore,
but I have not. I don't leave bad movies. You'll
stick it out. I suffer through it. I even saw

(01:23:38):
a movie there. It just I just remembered one of
the movies that I saw in the last five years,
and it was so fucking terrible. And I was with
a friend of mine and we were just like going
for a laugh and like get let's get high and
see this little how bad could it be? And I
remember being in the theater being like this isn't even
fun stoned, Like this is just terrible. But I couldn't

(01:23:58):
bring myself to leave it. Do you to say what
movie that is? I think it's me And that's fine.
Talk show now, So like I want those people to
be guests on right to think about now. Uh. And
then finally movie going one on one. When you do
go to movies, what's your deal? Uh? Where do you sit,

(01:24:19):
what do you eat? Do you have rituals? Well, we
take the girls to movies. Actually, yeah, so I've seen
like so, I saw Paddington three, Paddington three, no, I
thought Paddington do. And I saw Peter Rabbit, which was
totally nonsense at all, but everyone loved it. Um, I

(01:24:41):
mean the people, the little people loved it. I saw
that one movie that I like, Legit straight up fell
asleep and um. We get popcorn. I like Coke regular,
not diet. Um. I enjoy a dummy candy. Yeah, like

(01:25:04):
like a sour patch kid. I love dots. What are dots?
Dots are like those little mounds of gummy. I don't
know those they Seloman movie theaters, little mounts, little mounds.

(01:25:24):
We always only now at this point go to the
Arc light in Los Angeles where you like get your
seat picked out for you. So it's the only way
to go. It's the only way to go. Um. I
like to sit like midway up middle Yeah. I'm a
middle Sea Yeah, I mean most people are, but we
have had some weirdos on the show that like John Ronson,

(01:25:47):
the author sits I think front row far left for
something weird because he's just he's from Whales. He's like,
I know, no one's going to be there. I was like, well,
of course not, because it's the worst scene in the theater.
So weird. It's like, you know, that feels like something
that would be on his like you know, signs that
you're a psychopath on a psychopath test. Yeah, and the

(01:26:11):
psychopath test, Like that person sits there, psychopath. That's crazy.
It is crazy. It's very like John ronsonh he's great.
He's really nice to me. He's a lovely, lovely human. Yeah,
great guy. We have a few more minutes three, So
if it does anyone have any questions, you can shout

(01:26:31):
it out. You don't need to go to a microphone
or anything. But if anyone has any questions for Busy,
I'm sure she would love to answer. I can't wait
anyone at all. Someone's got a question. Nope, Okay, there
we go. Yes, So that was dream guests for Busy tonight. Yeah. Well,

(01:26:58):
and I already had Julia Robert like you said, and
I'm not allowed to pick Oprah. So um, she said,
other than Oprah because everybody knows Oprah is my number one. Um,
I don't know that's interesting, Like I, Um, I really
want to have some like musical guests on. We just

(01:27:20):
don't have the money for it. Um. And I want
to try to figure out an interesting way to have
music on. UM. So I would say, oh, I love like,
um Phoebe Bridgers, that's singer Phoebe Bridgers. Yeah, you would

(01:27:43):
like that too. UM And I don't know I need to.
You know, it's hard for me because I feel like
I know so many people and like so that's why
like the Oprah thing is like totally aspirational because I've
never that met her or you know, I would be
very curious to say, like, you know, Patti LaBelle to

(01:28:06):
me was like a total surprise. I mean, obviously she's
a legend, and I guess like I would want someone
else like that, like a legend like Barbara streisand would
be incredible, somebody who it would just be fascinating to
sit with and chat for twenty minutes. Bar Bebs, she'd
be great. Babbs would be great. Patty Labell was amazing.

(01:28:29):
She gave me her home phone number after she loved me,
she really loved me, Like I feel like she could
be my grandma. I'm not kidding, I know, and she
really I am going to go to Palm Springs for
her show next month, and she really wants me to
drive her to the show. Really, she's not. She was like, not,
it was not a bit like she really, she really

(01:28:49):
really wants me to drive her to the show. We
am for sure going to film it. Um but but yeah,
uh and one else. We may be out of time,
but we may have time for one more. Anyone? Oh?
Good one? Oh wow? Well it used to be like
I loved singles back in the day, and I loved

(01:29:11):
the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack. Of course, boys singles, what
singles so good? Has anyone done that? No? Not yet?
Really could talk to my head off about that one.
That's a good one. I love singles. This was hurt you,
Like when I got the email like just pick your
favorite movie. I was like, it's not fair. It's not

(01:29:32):
a fair question. It isn't because there are so many
great fucking movies. But I do need to commit to
seeing more movies. Maybe I will. We just it's too hard.
I don't know how to do it anymore. Also, going
to the movie theaters kind of stressed me out now
because I'm very anxious person. You get bothered too. Imagine

(01:29:55):
not in l A. No one gives a funk. They
all think they're famous. Okay, but no, but it's more like, um,
like I have like like I have like a mass
shooting fears. Yeah, like I'm like a like I Yeah,
I get like very uncomfortable. And Mallison whatever, dude, it's

(01:30:17):
the time we're living on. No one's making any changes,
so I guess I just want to see movies. Um yeah,
I think that's a perfect way to end everything. Sorry,
give it up, and Busy Phillips, thanks a lot. It's
great and thanks for coming everybody. Al Right, everyone, I

(01:30:47):
hope you enjoyed that. Those live shows are always fun.
I had a good time talking with Busy and getting
to know her a little bit, and it was it
was a great pleasure. Many thanks to her for coming
on follow her Instagram and her Twitter. Just look up
at Busy Phillips. That's one L and two ps. Interestingly,
and if you haven't seen Freaks and Geeks at this point,

(01:31:08):
everyone just go watch that. It's eighteen episodes. I think
it's just some of the best TV ever made. As
well as her work on cougar Town, check out her
new talk show Busy Tonight on the E Network and
get her book. She wrote a memoir that's gotten great
reviews for her bravery and her honesty and talking about
her life and career. It's called This Will Only Hurt

(01:31:29):
a Little and uh, I'm gonna read it too. Actually
it sounds great, So big thanks to Busy, and big
thanks to you for listening. And until next time, why
don't you come out next year and see me live
in San Francisco because it'll be happening all over again.

(01:31:52):
Goopy Crush is produced, engineered, edited, and soundtracked by Noel
Brown and Ramsey Hunt at How Stuff Work Studio. It
was Pont City Market, Atlanta, Georgia.

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