"Simon Pegg"
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Sometimes you gotta dig deep. Sometimes you gotta look in the glass and you gotta ask yourself, how much do I want this? Why did I show up today? Why did I want to put it all on the line? What are my goals and what am I willing to do to reach them? I want you to look at me and I want you to repeat.

Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Let's go! Are we rolling, Jimmy? Shawty? Yeah. Sean?

Sean. Sean. Wait, you guys, this is crazy that you're speaking in British accents. Go ahead. Why? What are you doing? I know, mate. I know. Wait, Sean, are you in London? Oh, my gosh. No, I'm not. Well, Jason's not. Neither of you guys. Both of those are terrible. No, that's great. It's going to be so insulting to our guest, but wait, let's get... Of course. Is our guest British? Oh, no. Well, what...

What made you think that the 50 times that he went like, I don't know? Wait, what were you going to say? Shawnee, next week, I know we shouldn't do this on the podcast, but dinner in New York, yes, Tuesday?

Guys, what are we doing? You're not doing anything. You're staying in LA. I'm home. Yeah, Tuesday. 100%. In New York dinner, right? Hold on, listener. We're making plans. Okay. You guys have your Rolodexes out? You want to wait for that or enter it? Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about golf?

No, I'm not going to make plans with my buddy on the listener's time. Hey, what are the rules? Jay, why don't you come out and join us? Finally, come out. No, because I'm married, I have two children, and it would just be too disruptive. But they won't notice. Oh, to New York. To New York. To New York. I already tried to get them to come to New York.

And he just gave a classic Jason, no, I don't want to. Yeah. Well. It hurt my feelings. And I apologize for that. I've had long discussions with my wife over the last 12 hours. And what I need to work on is checking in with other people that are associated with the plan that might not see it through the prism of one. There you go. So maybe ask them what they would like. Right. And then...

you know because i just think well they're asking my opinion so it's just about me how do i personally how well my personal opinion is no i i wouldn't like to do that but if i check in with you i might change that you know right if you go like or you maybe and you can even before you check in you can go like hey maybe this is something that somebody else wants and it's not just i don't want i want i don't want i want yeah and you go like there's a we in this world yeah you don't

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. No, it's a great note, and I think I'm learning it just in time at 54. Jay, do you want to go out to dinner next week? Yeah, no, thanks.

Old dog, new tricks. I'm not going to be in town, but if you guys want to zoom me in from the table. We sure do. That would be a ride. I'd love to watch you guys shoot. Wait, I want to say one thing. As you know, SmartLess Media launched Bad Dates, which is out right now, with Jamila Jamil, which is fantastic. It's a great show. And Just Jack and Will launches June 22nd.

Well, I wanted to say that so that you didn't have to promote your own show. I don't know. No, sorry, it's Will. It's our show. It's our show. Will, who's the... You and Jack Black are doing a podcast? No. No. It's the characters Jack and Will from Will and Grace. Oh, man.

So it's Sean Hayes and Eric McCormick doing just Jack and Will. And it's a rewatch podcast of Will and Grace. Sean, I'm getting to it. I want to say it so you don't have to. So you can take in all the praise you deserve. Do you want to know what I'm most excited about with that podcast is that, uh,

Saying no to coming on? My daughters. Saying no to everything. Actually, listen, I think this means I'm coming on. My daughters, your good friends and mine, Franny and Maple, 16 and 11, have never seen Will and Grace. And they're bananas about you. So I just keep thinking, wait till they see you do your thing.

And so this is going to give us a great chance to start watching the show together. Yeah, that's great. And then listening to the podcast, doing the rewatch, and then coming on. Maybe I'll bring them both on. And we'll give you notes. That would be so fun. Because you guys aren't locked yet on those episodes, right? We're recording them now. We've recorded a bunch already. No, no, no. Sorry. The Will and Grace episodes. If we give you notes, you can.

Oh, no. Yeah, we can go back and reshoot. We can reshoot stuff. Okay, good. It'll match. It'll match. By the way, it's the 25th anniversary of Will & Grace this year. Is that right? The silver anniversary. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. Is that silver? 25 years ago. You know what, Shawnee? Yeah. JB and I saw Jimmy Burrows yesterday. Yes. Oh, no way. Yeah. Where? At playing golf. He was playing with Al Michaels, our other good friend. Yeah.

He said, say hi to Shane. I think you guys are doing a great job on the show. He said, Shane, I loved working with Shane. He was the best. I'll never forget him, he said. Yeah. He said, I'll never forget him. Shane's the best. And by the way. He said, I'll never forget him. We said, who? And he said, what?

Do you know what I mean? So, Tracy, that's the director of Will & Grace. Well, he's a friend and, you know... Yes. And directed every episode of Will & Grace. Not listened to his episode. Just know, yes. So I want to get done with this so we can get to our guest because he's been so kind to wait. So it premieres on June 22nd. All new episodes are out every week or here at a week early on Amazon or the Wondery app.

And it's super exciting. And it's really, really fun. I'd never seen, watched the show really after being on it because my excuse is like I was there. You didn't watch it when it was on for America? I didn't really. I mean, I remember like bits and pieces, but Eric watched it a little too much. So it's kind of, it's really fun to do the show with him. Anyway, it's just Jack and Will. Yeah. Yeah.

Our guest today makes me laugh so much. He's actually born the same year as me, which means he's born the same year as Will as well. 53-year-old man from England. Yes, I consider him British royalty since he's such a major figure in the comedy world and sci-fi, which, as you know, is royalty to me.

He undoubtedly has both Spielberg and Tom Cruise on speed dial. Oh, I know who it is. But his greatest achievement is reaching the holy grail of nerdum status. That's a real thing. Or the nerd trifecta, as some people call it. This happens when you have portrayed prominent characters on Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars. Guys, it's the brilliant Simon Pegg. I knew it was going to be Simon. Simon! I knew it was Simon. Hello, friend. Woo!

I knew it. Will, you didn't have that, Will. I did. I knew it was Simon. Why didn't you say it? I don't know. I was just... You didn't want to spoil it. But isn't that crazy? You guys started talking and burning back then. Listen to those pipes. I thought they were really good. Listen to that speaking voice, Simon. No, you didn't.

I know. Good Lord. Hey, Simon. Hey, man. Great to see you. You too. I'm such a fan of this podcast. I feel kind of strange being on it. No, you're not. You've never heard it. I've never met you. I absolutely have. I have. Oh, and Sean, we've never met. And I just want to say I'm a big Sean Hayes fan. Well, likewise. I'm massive. By the way, before we get going on all of that, I want to say, Simon, I see over your right shoulder spaced.

which was the show that you and Edgar did. And I want to talk about Spaced. I loved, as you know, and I've told you, I've embarrassed you before, how much I loved Spaced. Oh, thank you. For a number of reasons. But walk me through a little bit, because that was your guys' first big thing that you all got to do. You and Edgar. And Nick Frost. And Nick, too. Nick wasn't really an actor before that, right? So I remember you telling me this story once years ago.

No, he was a waiter. Yeah. And I moved to London with my girlfriend and she went to work at this Mexican restaurant called Chiquitos. I don't know if you've ever eaten Mexican in London. It's amazing. They're known for it. She came home from work. I think it's where guacamole started. It actually is where it's invented. Cricklewood. He's really funny and he wants to be a stand-up. And I was kind of dabbling with stand-up at the time and

And we sort of, we met and he was the funniest, is the funniest human being I know. And I tried, he tried stand up, it didn't really fit for him. He couldn't quite sort of convert his hilariousness into a routine. But we came to, we got spaced and I said, look, well, come and be in this TV show with me and we can hang out. And he had this character, he'd come up with this sort of, this army guy called Mike and we

We wrote into the show and convinced the producers that he was an actor, which he wasn't. And I think there was another guy called Nick Frost on our sort of equity. So they looked him up and said, yeah, he checks out. And that's how he got into the show and how he started his career. Wow, that's amazing. And then you, what happened with you and Edgar? Like, how did you guys get that show off the ground?

Jessica Hines and I wrote it. Oh yeah, Jessica, of course. I'd worked with Edgar before and he was like the only guy that we could imagine who could sort of make the show. And he came along and we put it together and he showed us all his storyboards and stuff and we were kind of just blown away because Edgar's got this incredible vision and

And we took it to Channel 4 and they like, this is a really, we were so lucky, you know, as a time when you could sort of just pitch something and they go, yeah, sure, let's do it. And we were on right after Friends and, you know, it was this strange sort of,

you know, slightly surreal show, but it really found its audience. And that was where the idea for Sean kind of came about and where our sort of relationship began. So yeah, that was the beginnings of it all. Do you know the number of things that you, Nick, and Edgar have done together? I could probably count them, but it might be boring for the podcast. Less than a dozen? Two? Probably, well, we did Space, then the three Cornetto films, and then we did Tintin.

So yeah, like five or six, I guess. And we've done other stuff as well. I wanted to ask you about because, you know, your credits, you know, like talk about fandom. I'm like a creepy stalker fan of yours because you're in everything I love, right? So the fandom you're associated with by default

How often do you check? Because you're not on social media. Like, you're not on anything. How often do you check in to see what's being said, if anything, or do you avoid the internet? Because you have those iconic stories that you constantly tell from everything you're working on, but you have no outlet to put them. So people must just be like...

You know, salivating. Well, I've got an Instagram now. Oh, you do? And I follow Smartless. I follow you guys. What? Yeah. I was kind of upset when I saw you. What are we saying? Oh, we'll follow back. What have we been saying on there? Yeah, what have we been saying? Terrible things. But do you ever like look at what people are saying or do you not, you're like, I can't, I don't care, I'm not. Sometimes. I was on Twitter for a while and then I left that because it just felt like,

It just felt like a party where everybody was drunk and angry. Yeah. I sort of checked out of that. I've kept the account just for sort of info. Twitter's like my house growing up, just drunk and angry. Yeah. I remember you and Nick and the reason I got, the person who showed me how, who actually set up my Twitter account

physically did it on my phone was Pete Serafinowicz. Oh, was it Pete? Yeah. And we were in Vancouver and I kept, and I was arguing against it. It was like 2009, yeah, 2009 or 10 or something. What month? What month? It was actually. No, no, Simon, he knows this stuff.

It's crazy. It's no joke. I'm not joking. Just give him two seconds. He'll drop it. It was February 2010. That's crazy. It probably was. It probably was. It just inverts me every time. It definitely was. Simon, so you're born in 1970 on Valentine's Day. Before I get into all your career stuff, because I can't wait, do you have any crazy story about hooking up on Valentine's Day, which is your birthday, and it turning into something? If it's a bad date, save it for our sister podcast, Bad Dates. Yeah.

No, I spoke to Jamila about doing that, but I don't have any bad dates, really. I couldn't think of anything that would make the podcast fun. The mailman who delivers my birthday cards thinks I'm a stud, obviously, but otherwise, you know. That's hysterical. I thought bad dates was more about, like, December 7th, 1941. Jesus. Jesus.

That's so stupid. That was a bad date. That is so dumb. That was a terrible date. Wait, so you were born Simon Beckingham, but why Peg? Tell me about that. Well, my mom remarried. My parents split up. I kept in touch with my dad, which was good. Sorry to gloat, Sean. See, I do listen to the podcast. Simon, I think your dad just had a slower car. That was all. Yeah.

By the way, if your dad runs into my dad, let me know. They're good friends. Yeah. When my mom remarried, I was seven, and I remember thinking, I don't want to have a different name to my mom. And she married Richard Pegg. And I just made that decision. I thought, I want to have the same name as my mom. I don't want her to come into my school and them to say, hello, Mrs. Beckingham, and her have to...

correct the teacher. I remember making that little calculation when I was a kid, which is a strangely adult. Will, do you have a... Sean, I was going to say this. Sean, didn't you one time say on the podcast, hey, to anybody out there, if you happen to run into my dad, make sure to reverse and run into him again.

By the way, we were gonna talk about this a while ago. Total sidebar. My dad showed up to "Goodnight Oscar" in Chicago. -What? -What? Yeah. -I knew this. -Isn't that crazy? But he didn't come backstage or anything. I didn't see him. Well, I guess he didn't like the show. -He probably hated it. -That's very strange. Isn't that what you're supposed to infer? No, and then he showed up on my sister's Facebook and said, "I love the show." Yeah, but he said something weird.

He said something like, Oscar Levant, just like I remembered him. Yeah. But no, like, that's my son. Oh, so he was like humble bragging? Not my son, just like I remembered him. That's my son. He's got a clearer memory of Oscar Levant than he does of you. He doesn't remember you waving from the window. You should show up to his house as Oscar Levant. You can go.

How have you been? Oh, my God. It's not funny. Okay, so, but wait, this is what's so cool. I love this. I did this exact same thing as you, Simon. So you started acting at like 16. You went to Stratford-upon-Avon. But you just studied English literature and theater. But as a boy, you would listen to John Williams scores. And I used to listen to them all the time. And so did my husband, Scotty. I'm obsessed. Yeah, he's the greatest. It was one of my most sort of...

My proudest moments, I think, ever in my career with Tintin was seeing my name come up on the screen and then music by John Williams come up. Yeah, that's insane. Because for me, I used to listen to it and imagine myself in movies. It was the soundtrack to my childhood. I loved him. I still do. He's the most incredible composer. We go. Scotty and I go every year to the Hollywood Bowl to watch him conduct with the...

With his lightsabers. Have you ever been there? It's insane. No, I wish I had. Oh, you've got to come. You've got to come. I'm just going to alienate Jason and Wilma. Fuck, man. Inverted again. You know, John Williams plays a few holes of golf every day at 4 o'clock. Still? He's 91, right? Yeah. He drives down the hill in his golf cart, and he hits it a few times, and that's his routine. And we saw him...

about two weeks ago and just out of barely could just barely hear him say if you see Sean Hayes tell him he's an asshole that's interesting we weren't sure but we were pretty sure that's what it was yeah tell him to stop nerding out about my music he sounds like a fucking loser

Stop fucking mentioning it. Stop identifying his entire fucking life based on my fucking music to my movies and get a fucking life and have some real life experiences other than talking about fucking nerd movies. Wow, he had a lot to say. Was that in between holes? That's all I caught. He kept going. Wait, Simon, do you have a favorite John Williams score?

The Empire Strikes Back. Oh, yes, of course. Without a doubt. It's my favorite. I love that. Is that held up as one of the all-time greats in that sort of, in the John Williams canon?

I think so. I mean, you know, it's just, it's got so many sort of classic themes on it. And, you know, it's the first time we heard the Imperial March and Han and Leia and all these sort of incredibly, it's just a beautiful, beautiful score. Yeah. That's pretty much mutually agreed that that's the best of the Star Wars movies, right? Absolutely. I think so, yeah. And there have been what, nine?

I can't remember now. It's just been a lot. Well, it was '77, it was '80. We were-- Simon, you and I and Will were like 10 or 11. Can I just say this? Can I just say, I hope they make nine more. You know what? They probably will. They are. They are. I saw the first one in 1977. I don't know if we've talked about this with somebody else. I saw the first one four times in the theater. It's the only time I've ever seen. And then I stopped because, you know, I got older.

Hey, so... So... Let me just... Okay, so wait. Simon, I want to go back. Hang on. What, you turned eight? I turned eight. Once I turned eight, I was like, what am I fucking doing? I'll never get laid. Oh my God. And we will be right back. And now, back to the show.

Simon, I remember before we met, which was many, many moons ago... - Yeah. - If you remember, I picked you up somewhere and you were staying at L'Hermitage. We went over there and had a drink. That was the first time we hung out. I remember I was-- You know, 'cause I'd seen-- Edgar had told me about Arrested Development.

And I resisted it for a while. You know when you're sort of in comedy, and I know you've resisted it forever, Sean, but I was like, you know you kind of resent stuff when you're told it's good? Yeah, oh yeah. And it's like, you've got to see this show, it's incredible. And I'm like, yeah, okay, I'll give it a look. And I sort of didn't. A dozen of those. Eventually, I kind of begrudgingly watched it, and I just sort of like...

You know, sometimes as a funny person, you watch comedy like somebody watching a physics lecture. You just sort of nod and smile. Waiting to not like it. This is it. This is it. Why the fuck do anything ever again? This is too fucking good. Jason and I at one of our Sunday dinners sat down and pretty much...

almost all the same things neither Jason and I have seen. It's like a list that we both made. -It's exactly the same. -And it's not because I don't want to. -No, exactly. -I feel overwhelmed to get started. Well, sometimes it feels like homework, which is a bummer. It comes with a slight pressure, doesn't it? It does come with pressure. And then-- 'Cause, yeah, and you have shows that are really good that our mutual friends have done, and you're like, "Fuck, I should watch it." Everybody says it's great. And part of you is like, "I don't want to watch it also. I don't want to have an opinion in case I run into them." It's like--

It's like going to see somebody on Broadway, and then after the show, you got to go up and you got to be like, yeah, you were great.

Sean, like whatever, just for lack of another name. Whatever his name might be. But you've got to say whatever the name of the person is. But wait, Simon, Sean was incredible. By the way, if you're in New York, go see it. I'm not joking. I have to say all this. I'd love to come, Sean. Honestly, I'm going to be there with Mission in July. Oh, great. Come. He's incredible. You're sweet. But Simon, we first met and I had just seen Sean of the Dead. And that

movie for me stands out and I've watched it recently with my kids and it holds up because it's legitimately great and funny. That's a great one to see with the kids. Yeah, and I found it so inspiring at that time. I felt like you guys were doing something that not a lot of other people were doing. You were...

It was smart and it was silly and it was really tight. Whenever I saw you, Will, whenever that movie came out, it's all you talked about to me all the time. For real, for real. For real. I still hold it up as such a great...

Every moment of it, the writing is really good. It's really well shot. It's really well directed. It's incredibly active. Like, every single moment of it, man. And that must have been such a huge turning point for you, Sean, of The Dead. Yeah, it absolutely was because, you know, we got some...

Some sort of exposure over there and a lot of sort of cool kind of directors came into Bat for Edgar and we managed to get a theatrical release over there thanks to, I think it was thanks to Ain't It Cool News, you know, Harry Knowles' website. Oh, wow. And so, yeah, and so coming over and, you know, not to sort of bat it back to you guys, but I kind of felt the same thing about Arrested. You know, it was like these guys, we all say, Nick and I always say people...

people know something if you if you see someone who gets it who is kind of you feel like they're the same kind of person as you we say hey they know something and it was it was you guys were just doing something that was just so that and and uh it was it was inspirational and i always and also sure not to leave you out i always thought on watching will and grace because you always kind of you know not to embarrass you but you all stole that show i thought for sure and 100 i always thought

I'm sure he knows something because Will and Grace is a big, you know, it was a network comedy. It was massive. You know, it wasn't sort of an alternative kind of thing, even though it was an incredibly progressive show. And then you popped up on like Portlandia or something. And I was like, yes, I knew it. I knew he knew something.

Yeah, I love that show. By the way, it's so funny you say that, and it's so true, Sean, you did steal that show all the time. Well, I consider it an ensemble. Amongst a bunch of scene stealers, you were a scene stealer. I remember Nick, Nick has one of those, I hold Nick as one of those guys, he's so naturally frost, he's so naturally funny, and

And just really quick for Tracy, Nick Frost is a comedian and actor. She collaborated a long time with Simon. Paul, The World's End, your bestie. Hot Fuzz, my God, what a great movie. Hot Fuzz. And we were one time standing outside this restaurant in L.A. and I was having a cigarette with Nick and there were these two like...

really douchey guys. I don't know if this story will translate. Standing right there and as we walked, they were just having the worst L.A. conversation. As we went inside, Nick goes, all right, talk to you later. To the complete strangers. Didn't even know them. Didn't know them. We hadn't talked to them at all. And as he's opening the door, he just looked at them and went, all right, talk to you later. So funny. Fuck me. And it just, it was so naturally funny and it made me laugh. Like driving home, it made me laugh. Like I kept thinking about it.

Will, you love that dry sense of humor, that British sense of humor. Was there a lot of that up in Toronto at being, you know, British colony at one point? Maybe. I don't know. I was always a fan. I know I've been accused of being an Anglophile for many years and I do enjoy... I just think that there's something to... You know, when I was 17, I saw Withnail and I the first time and I was like, this...

this is the kind of shit I like. And I don't know, it always just seems smarter. And again, I know so many funny, smart, amazing American. The style of that just never asks for a laugh. No. Right. No, you're right, yeah. You just go right past it. I heard you once describe your and Nick's relationship to My Fair Lady or something. Like, what's the comparison? What is that? Yeah, he was like this kind of rough, around-the-edges oik.

and I was this university graduate who'd moved to London from Bristol and found him in a Mexican restaurant and taught him in the ways of, you know, high culture. Very funny. I mean, Nick was, you know, he was like, he was, he would be the first to say he was like a little thug.

But he was just so gifted, so funny in a way that still to this day he makes me laugh. Like, you know, when I listen to you guys, it reminds me of my relationship with Nick and Edgar just because...

It just runs on laughter and it never gets tiring or boring. It's just, it's constantly hilariously funny. Well, and respect, like massive respect. Yeah. We had a big dinner years ago. By the way, you're going to fucking freak out when I tell you this. You guys are going to be so bummed out because I think it was November 2005. And...

In London. Remember we had that big dinner with a bunch of us, Simon. It was me and Amy and you guys and Darren Brown, the magician. Yes. Do you remember that? Yeah, of course. It was a long time ago. And I think, did I tell this story about saying whether or not you could be hypnotized? Did I tell this hypnotized? No. So we were at this big dinner and Simon and...

I guess Darren wanted to come. He was a fan of Arrested Development because he liked... He's a magician or, you know, whatever. And there were a bunch of guys there. Who else was there? He wanted to meet an illusionist. Yeah, he did. Joe Cornish, I think, was there. A bunch of them. And Pete and...

I asked around the table, I said to Darren Brown, the hypnotist, magician, whatever, I said, "Can you tell if somebody's really susceptible to being hypnotized and being persuaded?" And I said, "Everybody go around the table and say whether or not you think you--" 'Cause he sort of said, "Yeah, I can kind of tell." And so everybody went around the table, and I remember I said, like, "I definitely could be persuaded to do probably anything." And everybody had different answers. But I remember Amy Poehler at the time going, "There's no way.

You can't get me. Just in that very Amy way. She's like, no way. There's no way. Very Boston. Like, no way. No fucking way. You can't persuade me anything. And we're at this really fancy restaurant at Mayfair. The check comes. And Amy looks at me and goes, we got this. And I go, what do you mean we got this? It's like 3,000 pounds. It's an expensive dinner. She's like, no, no, no. We got it. So we're in the cab on the way back to the hotel. And I go, he got you.

Darren Brown, he convinced you to pick up the check. And then she looked at me and she goes, "Do you think?" And I go, "Fuck yeah!" It would be great if she turned to you and said, "Wait, I paid for the check." Did I ever tell you that, Simon? No, I didn't know that. That's amazing. I find it-- He's weird to be around Darren, you know, 'cause you're constantly worried that he might do something strange to your mind. So, Simon, your level of astonishment is greater on the sets of Star Trek or Mission Impossible.

as far as execution, scope of production. Probably Mission Impossible. Yeah, right. Just because of the stuff that Tom Cruise does, you know, that we are witness to on the day of him jumping off a cliff on a motorbike or whatever. Oh, yeah. I mean, that just sort of is genuinely terrifying. Right, and your stunt crew and safety crew and second unit, all that stuff that just must be like rocket scientists. Yeah, hundreds of, you know, cameras on...

When we did the bike stunt, which is in Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, there was a take he did where there were cameras mounted on the bike he was riding. So when he jumped off it, the bike just sort of cartwheeled away and caught him every time it spanned. And then they had to go down into the bottom of this quarry and find the bike and retrieve the cameras and find which ones were still working.

And sure enough, they picked up this incredible footage of him just sort of like disappearing upwards as the bike fell away. The degree of difficulty on all departments of those movies is just insane. That's so crazy. By the way, you know, I just found yesterday that I've actually got a second unit.

Oh, good for you. So it was super tiny. You just discovered it. But it counts. But it counts. So wait, listen. I want to talk about... So Mission Impossible 3, J.J. just called you out of the blue. J.J. Abrams just called you out of the blue and offered you a part. Yeah, he did. Because of Shaun of the Dead, right? Because of Shaun. Me and Edgar were writing Hot Fuzz and the phone rang and it was J.J. Abrams and...

He just sort of literally said, "Hey, do you want to come and be in Mission Impossible 3?" And I said, "Yeah, okay." Yes, please. "Yeah, okay, why not?" And I didn't know-- Let me finish, I'm just at me mate. Let me finish.

In the same way he emailed me about Star Trek and just said, do you want to play Scotty? I think he got bored of looking for someone and just thought, I get that other guy that I got last time. Wow. I mean, it is unusual to be part of two such big kind of iconic...

franchises that are very different. Unless you're Harrison Ford. Unless you're Harrison Ford, that's right. Yeah, Harrison Ford is the king. You're the British Harrison Ford. I've heard that before. Thank you. Would you say your biggest regret was hiring Bateman for Paul? That was a huge regret. Let's get to Paul. I was listening to Hayter the other day on the podcast talking about those jalapeno shooters.

And you weren't there that day. It was me, Nick, and Hayda, and they gave us these tequila shots with jalapeno juice, and we shat lava the next day. Oh, my God. I'm glad you weren't there for the sake of your bottom. He doesn't remember where he was yesterday, so that's the good news. But

Do you remember when we gave you a Teen Wolf 2 poster at the annual wrap gift? I do. We all signed it. I do remember that. I was very warmed by that. Where is it, Jason? I sold that. Binned. Binned. Immediately binned. Jay, get that framed. How unbelievably rude. No, I think it came framed.

-Maybe. -It was framed. But then you unframed it. I thought you told me you unframed it. You just sell it easier. -You just roll the thing out. -Yeah. Wait, I want to go back. So in 2009, you completed the second installment of your nerd trifecta, which again is a real thing, with Star Trek. Who helped you with your Scottish accent? Was it hard? Like, do you have Scots in your family? Yeah, I'm married to a Scot and a Glaswegian. So her dad helped me a lot. Sean's married to a Scot too. Yeah.

There you go. Nice, nice. Lovely. Hello there. Yeah, I got help from the family on that because they're the first people to, although they kept trying to make me put like,

tawdry little Scottish rudeness into the script. And I did actually try a few things, but JJ came up to me and said, Simon, they've got to understand what you're saying. Let's hear just a little bit of the rudest thing you could say in Scottish. I do actually say, there's a famous Scottish-Glaswegian saying, which is, get the fuck. If you're, instead of like, you know, shut up or get out of it, it's get the fuck out.

And in the first Star Trek, I do actually say to Deep Roy, who plays my little wingman, you hear me go, get it. So anyone who's Scottish would know exactly what I was about. Oh, that's great. That's great. Oh, wow. That's crazy. And then you got to write one, like in six months. Yeah, that was... How did you get to write? That was like someone giving you the keys to a really, really expensive car, and then

It was the hardest thing I've ever done just because we had no time. And Justin Lin, who was the director, who's a brilliant, brilliant guy, but he's not a verbal communicator. And it was really hard to understand what he wanted at first. Like he used to drive me insane. And there's some people know it's Star Trek Beyond. Sorry. Star Trek Beyond, yeah. And myself and Doug Chung, we wrote that script together. But it was...

loads of fun and Doug came to stay with me in the UK and we'd write during the day and then at night we'd watch episodes of the original series just to try and get little Easter eggs to put in and we eventually ended up. You know, weirdly it was the first time I'd faced the idea of being rewritten by someone else. That's wild. You know, we'd worked really hard on it and then our producer, Lindsay, called and said, "We're gonna get some fresh eyes on the script."

And I was like, "What the fuck?" Like, I'd never experienced that before. And I was so incensed and angry that, "How dare you?" You know, I come from my cushy little British filmmaking background. Well, Sean's mom used to get fresh eyes about every two months, right? Is that right? What we did was we'd get-- Justin Lin would send us the rewrites

And then Doug and I would secretly rewrite them and then send them back to Justin, and then Justin would deliver them to Paramount as his notes. So we would secretly rewrite the rewrites. If you're listening to this, Paramount, then it'll work out okay. That's fucking great. What a great way to rig the system in your favor. Yeah, that's why. I just can't believe. Did you get rewritten at all on Paul?

No. And it shows. No. No, the Lorenzo. No, we didn't. We were lucky. What was the Lorenzoil? Lorenzozoil. That was your... When we came up with your character name, we took the day off. It was the deepest cut. That's enough brilliance for the day. It was Nick's idea. Lorenzozoil. Right. Then how do I reveal that? Aren't I being at least near the end of the movie, right? Like under the spaceship or something? Your reaction to that...

I'm not just saying that. Your reaction to that is one of the most supreme comedy double takes I have ever witnessed in any comedy forum. It wasn't the joke that it was the first time I'd really heard it said? And I was like, oh, fuck. Why? Why?

You go, we go, agent, you say something like, thank you, agent, you go, call me Lorenzo. And we go, Lorenzo's oil. And you go, yeah. Then you sort of do this. Like you suddenly heard it for the first time. And it's just fucking sublime, Jason. It really is. It really just, it's just textbook. It's not surprising that I remember little of that because I think it was a night shoot. If memory serves. It was a night shoot. Yeah, we were up on the on the ski bowl.

With Sigourney Weaver. And Taos, as Kristen Wiig used to call it. Taos. Taos, that's right. So Edgar Wright, who we've already established as one of your besties and does a lot of stuff. I didn't know this. I didn't know he wrote and directed Baby Driver. I love that movie. Yeah, yeah. I love that movie so much. Really? I mean, that is a masterpiece. He had that script for a long time, yeah. And I heard you do somewhere an impression of him. Can you do just a little bit of Edgar Wright?

He'll listen to this and he'll kill me. He does listen to it. His voice is quite high. That's terrible. He gets quite drunk and he's talking in your ear quite loud. LAUGHTER

Edgar has a right to come on the show now himself. We've got to get him on the show. He does send me reviews of episodes sometimes via text. Well, Edgar, my phone number's still the same. Where's my text? Not reviews, but he'll say, I really enjoyed it. I could listen to you do that for nine hours. And Nick does it really well as well. It's got his very high. It's kind of like a pterodactyl. Oh, my God.

But he is, you know, I mean, I've counted one of the luckiest moments of my life meeting Edgar just because he is such an extraordinary talent. And, you know, I love him to bits. So I'm sure he'll forgive me for doing his voice quite like this. We'll be right back. And now back to the show.

I remember like it was yesterday, although I'm not sure of some of the details, but I'm pretty sure it was a screening of Hot Fuzz that I believe you were there with me, Willie, that we got invited to. And I met you and Nick and Edgar and I

Edgar or you all you guys had loved Arrested Development like that's why we were there That's how we got it invited and then I remember that is being one of the first times that I thought oh, you know what? It was show is being seen by cool Simon I think you're thinking the same thing I am it was a screening of the movie that you did with Mike judge

Oh, yeah, it was... It was the screening of... Oh, Extract. Extract. Extract, yeah, that's it. Simon, did we go together or something? We met up there with Edgar or something. That's right, and then afterwards we were in the bar and it was you, me, Amy, and...

you guys and Amy and me, and there was some, I remember there was some paparazzi shots of us all kind of like hanging off each other and smiling and drinking. And I remember being really drunk. Was I drinking? I don't know. I was still drinking at that time. No, you weren't. Jason, you were not. No.

No, I was still on it in those days. No, well, Paul's right when you got sober, right? Around that time. Just after Paul, yeah. I was pretty drunk through Paul. But it was like the year after that that I got sober. Good for you. Good for you, yeah. I have to fan out because I'm not going to... Go, Sean.

So Star Wars universe and Star Wars world and like growing up was that surreal getting like invited into that world and then like, you know, being around Carrie Fisher and all of those people. And was that you behind the thing for six portions? Was that you, that big guy? Yeah, that was me in the big fat suit, yeah. And was that all CGI or was that just... They CGI'd my face a little bit just to make me look less human, but it was a big suit and yeah, he was called Unkar Plutt.

And he owned the Millennium Falcon, which is like, you know, I was very happy the fact that I have now owned the Millennium Falcon and been the engineer on the Starship Enterprise. That's so insane. That's a personal triumph. But wait, so like growing up and like seeing, were you a fan and then now you're in it and you're around Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford? I mean, were you like? Yeah, it was extraordinary. I, you know, I mean, that set as well, The Force Awakens, because it felt very much like the first sort of,

You know, the first Star Wars, the Star Wars I grew up loving. And to be around those guys, I was on set the day when Harrison Ford and Han and Chewie came onto the Millennium Falcon again for the first time. Crazy, I cried. I cried like a child. And then I had a great, I've told this story before, but it's a good story. It's worth telling. I had a massive crush on Carrie Fisher when I was a kid.

I mean, she was the first romantic love that I remember feeling, you know, and I would kiss her picture before I went to sleep and I was just so in love with her. This is pre-Return of the Jedi, before even, you know. - Well, you had a poster and you'd make out with the poster or something? - I kind of kissed it quite sort of coyly 'cause I wasn't, I was seven, eight, I think I was when I saw "Stars." It didn't get to the UK till 1978.

So I'm on set with her and we're walking around the set. Just look at Will's face. She's trying to come up with what would the poster that Sean was... Oh, Sean? Yeah, to Sean. Lightsabers. We were walking around the set of the Resistance base, arm in arm, and I was kind of chatting with her and stuff. And I stopped and I looked at her in her eyes and I said,

And the thing was, it was the same fucking eyes. It was the same... I know that's an obvious thing to say, but it was her eyes. The eyes that I had just dreamed of ever looking into as a kid. And I said, you know, I've always loved you, don't you? She grabbed my hand and she looked at my wedding ring and she went, fuck you. Nice.

Really? She's so funny. She's the best. She said, you know, the one thing she said to me when I first met her years and years and years and years ago, I never met her in my whole life, was sitting right next to her at this dinner, and she goes, you know Han Solo and I were fucking the whole time. And I was like...

I was like, what? It completely shattered everything. There's that roast she did. I think it's a roast of Harrison Ford or something, but she starts talking and she starts talking about how nervous Harrison Ford looks because he doesn't know what she's going to say because obviously, you know, shit happened. Right, right. Wait, really? Hang on a second. So there you are. So now it was Force Awakens. Is that what you're talking about?

That was what I was in, yeah. Yeah, Force of Wicked. Because that was like 30 years after the Battle of Endor, right? Fuck you, Will. No, hang on. So I'm just trying to think because there's that pilot, what's his name? Poe Dameron and he's on the desert planet of Jakku. Are you looking at Wikipedia? Yes, he is. No, what? Yes, he is. Moron. Come on.

I can't believe they were on Jakku that whole time. By the way, did you notice that some people say in that movie, some people say Jakku and other people say Jakku. Of course I fucking noticed it, dude. It's Jakku. Of course. It's Jakku, right. It's a double K. Of course I noticed it. And then I went and I bought a rope and I bought a chair and I was like, what would be a good spot for this? Fuckin' hell. Okay.

Okay, but wait. I say that with love. You know that I love. So sometimes, so after the Star Wars or one of the 27 Star Treks, whatever, I read that you went on vacation and you said, you told your agent, I don't want anybody to bother me. I don't want any phone calls, only if it's Steven Spielberg. And then Steven Spielberg actually fucking calls you and tells you what. Oh,

Oh my God. He phoned and said, would you, will you come and be in Ready Player One? Yes. I love that movie too. And, which is obviously an incredible call to get. And we'd work with him, you know, cause he does a little cameo in Paul as well. So I'd work with him on Tintin and then he came in and did his little bit in Paul. And then,

And then I got to do Ready Player One. And to work with him is a dream. You know, he's just the most extraordinary. Yeah, of course. I mean, he's everything that I loved about cinema as a kid and as an adult. And he's very willing to sort of chat about his career and stuff. He's really, really... I love that. Without crowing, you know, he'll just tell you stories about Jaws and Close Encounters. And it's just such a privilege, you know. He was at Sean's opening night. Oh, did he go see your play? Yeah, yeah. He's an investor in it. Nice fella. Oh, wow.

Has he been on the show? Yeah. Last year. Super nice. Wait, so Ready Player One. So then you talked a little bit about the English. You talked about a little bit like American humor versus English humor. And like how something about like how we always say just kidding or something. But Americans like... Yeah. Yeah.

Well, that's sort of, there's a weird thing. It comes from a lot of sort of snobbishness in British comedy circles sometimes that you hear, oh, Americans, they don't do irony. And it's such a bullshit statement because Americans do some of the greatest irony ever.

You guys just don't use it so much socially. The present company accepted. I mean, Jason particularly, because you've got a British mom, right? So you're just drier than many a desert. And I'm usually grumpy, so it's kind of a double negative. So yeah, you're virtually British. He's hungry. He's hungry. So hungry. But because British people are very ashamed of their emotions, they just wrap everything in sarcasm and irony, socially, you know.

But I think American people generally are just a little less uptight. And so if they do say something dry, they'll qualify it as just kidding, just in case that person thinks that they were being serious, which is fair. Right, right. But, you know, you only have to watch... I mean, Arrested is a great example of a brilliantly dry comedy show. I actually started showing my 14-year-old daughter the show the other day, which was great because it meant I could sort of go back to the beginning.

And it's such a good example of dry American humor at its best. But it pales in comparison to all the Monty Python stuff, I mean, the British Office, that whole style of not winking and just playing everything as a drama.

but a deeply flawed character in a drama, then you've got real good humor. Yeah. Wait, so another Mission Impossible coming out soon on July 12th. Didn't you guys just do two in a row? Yeah. Are you filming the second part now? We're in the midst of doing two in a row. Oh,

We've stopped filming now so they can finish Dead Reckoning Part 1 and then we go out on a big press tour over the summer. We'll be in New York. Free tickets to your show, please, Sean. The Belasco Theater. The Belasco, the Tabasco Theater. Tabasco Theater. It's hot as hell in there. Spicy shows. Another show. And then we go back to shooting in August and then we complete Part 2, which will be out next year. And it's been a hell... I mean, we started shooting...

This one in 2020. No way. In September of 2020. Wow. It's taken us three years to shoot this movie. Wow, that's crazy. Wow, right in the thick of the hoax. Yeah.

I mean, pandemic. What did I say? You said hoax. I mean, Simon, you haven't stopped making great stuff for like 20 years. Yeah, I know. I mean... I want to get to that. Like, do you geek out like I would if I were you when you get the scripts that you get or you produce or make? Like, are you a fan of the genre like I am? You know what I mean? Like, you're like, oh, this is so cool. Yeah, I think...

I am, but I feel like I've aged out a little bit of stuff that I've not kind of kept up with all the new sort of Star Wars TV shows and stuff. And that's not to say that it's not because I'm sure... I can catch you up. Just call me. I'll catch you up. I'll give you a ring afterwards. Wait, yeah, Simon, what kind of stuff are you watching comedy-wise? Because I'm trying to think if I watch any comedies, really. It's been a while since...

-Yeah. -Is there anything that's kind of-- I started watching the show last night. I think you should leave on Netflix. -Oh, yeah, yeah. -Yeah, I've heard about that. -Yeah, it's great. -I'm writing it down. -It's ridiculous. -Yeah, it's really good. -I think you should leave. I just rewatched it with somebody 'cause it's so-- 'cause the episodes are like sort of 16 minutes long. They're not that long. And I just got-- when we were in Atlanta, I got Eli to go through and I watched them all again with him and they were just brilliant. Yeah, it's really strange and--

but hilarious in a way that in the way that like python used to be you know like sort of slightly baffling it's a British show not sure exactly why you're laughing no he's American he shot here Tim Robinson brilliant brilliant guy and as you know the very nature of we had a lot of people from SNL on here over the years the last few years uh

The nature of sketch comedy is that it's really inconsistent. It's so hard to-- from sketch to sketch to always be strong or always be good. And that show, I think you should leave, those first six episodes... -Oh, you told me about that one. -...are consistently good. -Every sketch, sketch to sketch. -I did watch it. -Really, really good. -That was a while ago. -Yeah, brilliant. -Simon, wait, I just-- I'm sorry, this is the last Mission Impossible question, just 'cause I'm upset. Do you get to-- because it's so-- your character's so funny and like,

It's so natural that you get to write your own lines. Like, are they cool with that? Because it sounds like... Not really. I mean, we don't really have a script. It's a very strange way of working. Really? We kind of make it up as we go along. I don't believe it. But...

That's crazy. It's true. I have not ever read a script for the film I've just made. What? Tom and McHugh, Chris McQuarrie and Tom Cruise, they know the story. They know the big set pieces. They know that those set pieces get shot first usually. And then Chris McQuarrie, who is a genius at sort of like solving problems, he will come up with the connective tissue, sort of grow the story kind of organically as we go. Yeah, but they're so complex. And we'll get the pages...

I know, but we get pages on the morning of shooting stuff. And I have to say, where have I been in the previous scene and where am I going? And it can be frustrating, but it sort of works. And occasionally I get to kind of ad-lib silly stuff, like when we were shooting a scene for Fallout when Tom was, I was sort of guiding. I'm basically like a GPS. That's my job in Mission Impossible. I just read directions for where Tom Cruise needs to go.

And all the stuff about having the map upside down and the 3D thing, that was all kind of thrown in the moment. Oh, really? McHugh is a brilliant writer, you know. He's an Oscar-winning writer. He wrote The Usual Suspects. What an incredible director. He just...

somehow thrives in that situation. - Yeah. That's amazing. - Incredible. I love-- I am so in love with those Mission Impossible movies. All of them are so-- - They're always great. - They're so good. And you're always great in them. I mean-- Yeah, and it's so hard-- You're so great in them, and it's hard to believe that something that's so-- that has that kind of scope, as Jason said, that's so good and complex and stuff, that you guys would--

sort of improvise in that way or not really have a full understanding to me on something so big. I don't know. I tell you where that wouldn't wash is on the oceanic planet of Ahto. No way. You can close the wiki window. No, you wouldn't be able to get away with it. Just shut that window down. Well, on that note...

Beautifully done. Simon, you are like a dream. We've taken too much of your time. This is so nice to really show off. I feel like we just got started. Let's keep going. I don't know. We can do it two-parter. I know, I know. Will you say hi to Nick Frost, please? I will, I will. Get him on. Get Edgar on. And say hi to Edgar, too. You know who put me onto this podcast was Nyra Park, who you know, Jason, she produced Paul. Oh, please tell her hi, too. Yeah. Yeah.

She's Edgar and Edgar, my producer, she's done everything we've ever done. And last year she said, oh, you listen to Smartless, right? And I said, no. And so I had the whole of the back catalogue

to sort of like, which I literally have been like, every time I go to the gym or every time I go for a drive, it's just become like the soundtrack. And then like, however recently, the idea of actually doing it came up and man, it's just so, I love you guys. I think you're so amazing. If you ever got any ideas of people we should have on the show, please let us know. Yeah. Yes, I'll send you some British people and you can do yours. Please.

It's great to see you, man. It's so nice to meet you, Simon. I'm such a fan. You too, Sean. It's a real pleasure. I'm serious about coming to see Good Night Oscar. I'd love to come see it if I can. Anytime. Don't miss that. Yeah, you'll be blown away. Simon, we love you. Okay. We love you. Shall I just slam this lid? You slam it, Seth. Yeah, slam it. All right. Goodbye, pal. All right. Love you guys. Bye. Love you, buddy.

Well, listen, that is a round peg in a round hole. Oh, nice. That peg's no square. No. What else? Those are really good, actually. Thanks, man. I'm coming up with a bye as we're talking. Are you? You know what I'm thinking about? I'm not kidding. This is not getting to a bye. I've been trying to connect the dots. I was thinking about Scotty.

Yeah. Because we were talking about Scotty. Yeah, I told him Simon Pegg was going to be on. He freaked out. And then remind me, I never told you this, because this is not a joke. One of my best buddies growing up, his name is Scotty Bear. And then I thought about your... I swear to God. Oh, really? Yes. That's funny, because Scotty's a bear, and you like Boney Bear. Right. I like Scotty...

Bone and fair. Yeah. Anyway, so wait, but Simon Pegg, I've always wanted to meet him. I can't believe you knew him. I didn't know you guys knew him. I knew you worked with him in Paul, Jay. Yes. But I didn't know you knew him. He seems really fun. Jay's looking up a bye right now. No, I'm finding that my brain needs to completely shut down and focus on that, and I can't hear you guys right now. JB, JB, how fucking weird is that? So...

Remember you thought it was a screening of Hot Fuzz and that I remembered it was a fucking screening of Extract and I remember going to the restaurant next door with Mike Judge and you and Amy and Simon. What does that say? Does it say anything? I'm looking for something that might be good for me. Is there something good that I don't remember it was a screening for me, my movie, that I'm thinking it was for him and his movie? Does that say something nice about me? No. Are you trying to get me like brownie points? I'm trying to...

fill up my own ledger, own side of the ledger. No. The good, no? You know, as a kid, I used to, you know, in Star Wars, you know. This is going to be, by the way, it better be amazing because you are like overreacting

Oh, for 40 right now. It's already lost. This is a good one. You know, when I was a kid, I always used to mix up the pronunciation of Luke Skywalker's mentor. I didn't know. I didn't think it was Obi-Wan Kenobi. No, no, no way. I thought it was. No way. I can't allow it. I thought it was Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan. Kenobi. Oh, I'll buy one Kenobi and two malts.

What? Sean, Sean. Oh, bye. Oh, bye, one Kenobi. Oh, bye, one Kenobi. And two malts. Was that our out? No. No. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbico, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjarff. Smart. Less.

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