"Bill Hader"
01:03:29 Share

Are you prepared to have your mind expanded? To learn things you may not have known? And to go places that might be a little unexpected? To talk with people who can teach you things? To learn about culture, music, and art? Well,

You're not going to get that here because this is Smartless. Here we go. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Smart. Less.

Wait, two pieces of business right up front. Okay, let's go, business. One, Jason Bateman just recently won the Screen Actors Guild Award. Oh, listen. And we couldn't be happier. That was a minute ago, wasn't it? Flipped out. This is going to air Monday.

- Months after that. - Yeah, I get it. But it just kind of happened recently and it was really exciting. I, a little tear, I got welled up. I was so happy and so proud. - I'm just trying to chase you. What do you got four of them now? - I got four, who's keeping score? Who's keeping score? - I mean, yeah. - You're keeping score. - That's right, shit. It's so four, yeah, four. - Yeah, well, we're trying.

And I wish my hair looked as good as yours this morning. Did you get up early? What, do you have a call back or something? By the way, I slept in our new merch shirt. It's so comfortable. Oh, the merch store is up, isn't it? Yeah. Here's what I say about our merch. Sleep in it, don't sleep on it.

You know what I mean? Oh my God. Are we paying you extra for marketing ideas? No, all of this stuff. And these are just the tops of headsies. Yeah. As I call them, tops of headsies. Wait. And then the other order of business is Jay had an emergency root canal yesterday. Yeah. Why did, did you not feel it coming on? Why an emergency? I did. It was, uh, it was whenever I would crunch on something that didn't crunch, you know, like a, like a, like a

popcorn kernel that doesn't... Well, no pills. If you really come down and like, I need this, it will collapse. Sure. But, you know, a bacon bit...

-Oh, yeah. -How many bacon bits are you eating? -What are you talking about? -Stuff like that would send me down to my knees. Well, you eat so many nuts. And by the way, insert joke here, but also nuts here. But you do eat a lot of nuts. I do, and seeds. And sometimes seeds don't collapse either on a hard-- So anyway, it's hard for me to go down on nuts too.

The seed is stored in the nuts, right? The seed is stored in the nuts. Yes. Yes. Yes, actually, I hear what you did there. So it was all of the sudden? So, yeah, so I had a bad bite on some overly fried rice kernel.

that was fried up too hard in the pan. So that took me down a Sunday, and then I had to get in there Monday. And so what they did was-- - Was that pre-SAG Awards? - Yeah, it was. It was. I managed to fumble through my acceptance speech with a hurt tooth. I've got skills, you know? - So you were able to just kind of grit what was left of your teeth and got through it? - Right. I did. - So in a sense, you acted like everything was okay.

I was up there for acting excellence. Yes, yes. No one was the wiser, Sean. And so then I sit in the doctor's, the dentist's chair yesterday morning and he said, yeah, you're going to need a root canal. And I said, when do we do that? He goes, well, we can do it today if you want to. And he just stared at me and I stared at him and he blinked and I blinked and he wondered if I had, you know, the

the stones to actually go for it. And I was like, let's do this. And he leaned the chair back and he, yeah, I know. And he went in there, started drilling and about 45 minutes into drilling. Right. When I thought I was through the worst of it, he then gives me a play by play says, okay, now I'm going to slice out the root or no, no. He says, now I'm going to remove the nerve.

Oh, God. You don't need to tell me. I just pictured this big, large, animated, angry, red worm that he's going to slice through and pull out. It was just so dumb of him. That's a lot of nerve, yeah. Was it...

That takes a lot of nerve. Really good. Oh, Sean, are you getting a fax? Did a fax just come through, Sean? What happened? Sorry, listener, we've got to wait. Sean's doing some reading. Go ahead. Is it okay, Sean? Should we pause the recording? Something was just printed on my printer. Okay, let's turn all the devices off. Everything's on silent. Do you think people are just, like, butt-printing you? What's going on? With their butts. Sorry, I butt-printed you. Nothing that's an emergency comes through the fax anymore, Sean. No, uh-uh.

I got a phone call. I got a phone call from- Hang on a second, guest. Will's not done.

Well, we can cut this up, but I got a phone call from our friend Conan O'Brien yesterday. I saw I missed it, so I called him back. Don't even speak his name to me. And I texted him. I guess it's about the holidays next year because everybody... He's working on the list already. We're sending out the group photos from everybody, you know. This motherfucker. I guarantee you our guest was at that party. I guarantee you. We're going to open with that. So I said, sorry I missed your call. And he goes, it was a butt dial. Even my ass hangs up on you. LAUGHTER

There's a problem about having your name be starting with an A. You get all the butt dials. I get all the butt dials from people all the time. All the time.

Anyway. What's even more pathetic is that you called him back. Hey, man, you didn't leave a message. Do you want me? Well, we had been texting, and then so I figured that he was like sick of texting, so he just wanted to get to phone. So I was like, what? No, I didn't want a longer conversation. And I'd been kind of shitty. I'd said to him, because he'd been texting me this thing, and he was like, can I ask you to the blah, blah, blah? I go, yeah, man. I go, I'm a very busy person. Wait, he was inviting you to something else? Yeah, he's doing this, you know, his Easter jamboree.

You couldn't even get that out, could you? God, you are talk show quick today, Willie. Good for you. And Easter jamboree.

Who says jamboree? How do you have that word ready? You know what I just noticed after how many years now, Will? That when you laugh really hard, you hold your left eye as if it's going to pop out. It's just the left eye that's loose, I think, right? You just hold right underneath the eye. That's my drifting. I think that's my drifting eye. So it'll fall with a real big laugh. Oh, my God.

Gang, this week's guest is one of my favorite people and talents. Here we go. He is able to make you laugh or cry. He can act or direct. He also writes and produces. Ladies, he's a Gemini, an avid reader, and allergic to peanuts. Sounds like a catch. Peanuts. Peanuts. Peanuts. I should have pronounced that better. Peanuts.

He's been a part of 50 movies and a lot of TV. In fact, there he's received three Emmy Awards, three DGA Awards, three WGA Awards, but the three daughters he has are his favorites, guys. He's a lover, not a hater. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Bill Hader. Hi. Hello. Hello.

I think I'm, I'll bet you, I've got to be the best at the intros. Can we just, yeah. Well, I was just thinking that when you were saying it, I was like, oh, it's very, Will is always improvising them. I take time and I shape them. I shape them. That's what's the worst part. I think that's the most damning thing is that you actually put time into that. Hi, Bill Hader. Hi, buddy. How are you guys?

Hi, Bill. How are you doing, man? Hey, Bill. How are you guys? Good to see you. So, Bill, did you go to Conan's Christmas party? I did. Yeah. I did. Were you invited the year before as well? I was. Yeah. Yeah, those are intense. How many years has he been having that?

I mean, wait, however long he's had that house. Were you guys there when the couch caught on fire? I've always been there, yeah. Yeah, when the couch, he's inside and he's talking, and you know when Conan's had a couple, two glasses of wine because he's like, when I was a writer on Saturday Night Live, and then behind him his couch caught on fire. LAUGHTER

And it wasn't a bit. It wasn't a bit, and we were all going, Conan, the house is on fire. And he went, oh, wow. But it was very sweet. Was he head writer by the time he left?

I love Bill Hader's on the phone when we're talking about Conan. No, but no, I think Conan, he had to be like one of the top writers on the show. Yeah, I don't know if he was ever a head writer, but he certainly is. I don't know. I think Jim Downey was always the head writer when he was there. Jim Downey. Couldn't book him.

Hey, Bill, what's number one on my list here? Fascinating wiki page, by the way. Have you ever read your wiki page? Have you ever edited your wiki page? No. No? Will, have you ever read your wiki page? Uh,

Don't lie. Yeah, I've read it before, sure. Haven't you? Sean, I have not. Sean? I read it years ago. I have no idea what it says now. I think you can get in there and change it, right? Didn't we change Thoreau's once? Yeah, Kimmel used to change Thoreau's, right? Yeah, we wrote on Thoreau's wiki page that he...

He's a, I don't think we called him a cum crier, but we said that he does cry after he ejaculates. Right. But it stayed there for a good day or two, I think. We told him about it on his birthday. I love that. Okay. Hey, Bill. Hey.

Were you interested in comedy as a kid? Oh, boy. Jesus Christ. He didn't come here for this shit. This is like a German interview. Were you the class clown? In Germany, the clowns are very sad. Bill, you know what? I can't help thinking, and I'm so sorry to bring this up, but every time I see you, and we're all fans...

that is the story of Megan Mullally seeing you and calling Warren Michaels. Yeah. And like saying, hey, you need to see this guy. Is that true? And then you got set in a nightlife. That's an incredible story. I was in a, I was at a class. I was a,

like a class show at Second City LA and her brother-in-law, Matt Offerman, and I were in the same show together. And she saw me and it was like, you know, she's from Oklahoma, I'm from Oklahoma, so anytime you meet someone else from Oklahoma, you're like, you know, there's a mural of them someplace. So it was always like, oh my gosh, you know. And she was like, you're really funny. And that was...

And I didn't think anything of it. But had you auditioned for SNL before? No, no, no, no. I didn't have it. And she was like, you're really funny. And I was like, oh, thanks. And I was working as an assistant editor on Iron Chef America. Wow. That's really what I was doing. Couldn't get the main gig on that. I know. I couldn't get the main gig.

I couldn't get the main gig. That's true. Being assistant editor is a lot of like, Bill, get the lights! You know, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Assistant editor was like, Bobby Flay electrocuted himself. Can you take that out? You know, whatever. So Megan Mullally was that close to Lorne Michaels that she could actually pitch? I guess so. I think she had just hosted. Okay. And so she called him up, and then I got a call from...

I was in my edit bay and Lindsay shook us, called me. No way. I was like, I work. Hey, it was Lindsay shook us. And she was Marcy, you know, Marcy Klein's like, she was brand new. Whisper. Yeah. Yeah. And she said, hey, you know, Lauren, like to meet you. Blah, blah, blah. And I was like,

Lauren would like you to come and wait in the hall outside his office at 1 a.m. For eight hours. And then meet him at 4.30. Yeah, I met him at 4. No, that's 100% what happened. Nothing makes me more nervous about the auditioning process than waiting to go in. I went in and I was just sitting there and then...

I sat in that outer office on the ninth floor for four hours and then someone came in and was like, hey, we're going to go have dinner now. And I was like, with Lauren? And it was like, oh, no, no, no, no. Just you and me. And then it's like awkward, small talk, very nice people. And then, yeah, I finally... Who was that dinner with? Who was that dinner with? I was just Lindsay and... Oh, my gosh, I forget the other person. Um...

But it was one of his assistants. And then this is like early 2005. And then I finally go in to see him. And he goes, do you know why you're here? And I said, oh, Megan Mullally says she saw me. And he's like, you know, I was on a boat once with a guy. And he was funny the way that Bill Murray is funny. And I thought to myself...

I know Bill Murray. End of story. That was the end. And then it was like, do you want to hang out tomorrow and watch the show? And I was like, sure. And he was like, all right. And you know who, and then you know who hosted the next week when I did my show was you, Jason. Me? When you hosted. The first time. Was I, that was when it

It was Tuesday night writing night of when you hosted. They made the cast, some of the cast members and people come and watch me perform. No way. Because I remember... That was early 2005. That was like January, February. Yes, yeah. How do you know that, Will? How do you know that, Will? Jesus. Because I have a fucking... And I was sitting there going to go, yeah, we're writing, Jason Bateman's hosting this week and, you know, we got to get back. So hurry, come on, you got to like... Because he needs a lot of writing, yeah. I had a sketch group and my like...

sketch slash audition piece was in the middle of the show and lindsey shook us around the back and was like just do that sketch come on but here's my question though it's like it megan so megan made this call to lauren lauren called you so you but did you have any aspirations to do that or were you just like sure i guess i'll show up because somebody called i always i came to la to be a director those were always my heroes was you know i would like writing directing and then

But I, you know, I mean, back especially late 90s, early 2000s, it was still like had to be on film, you know, I mean, video didn't look good now. And I had no money. So a way to be creative was a friend of mine said, Oh, do you want to take classes with me at Second City? And we'll just mess around. And it was really fun.

But it was always like, so when I got on SNL, I was so envious of the Lonely Island guys that they were making short films. Yeah. So I was like, can I go hang out while you guys are making those? So I can, cause that's,

That's what I was excited about. Those were the digital shorts for Tracy. For Tracy. I remember, Bill, I remember early on when you came on the show, like early, and we were at an after party with your folks. It must have been one of your first shows. Do you remember that? We were sitting outside. Yeah, my dad lost his mind over Will. My dad lost his mind over Will. Really? His parents were huge Arrested fans. Oh, no way. Do you remember that, Bill? Yeah, my dad goes, "'No fucking way, Will Arnett. Holy shit. Holy shit.'"

And he kind of had Will up against the wall. It was just that place that's right across the street from 30 Rock. On 6th Avenue. 6th Avenue, yeah. Fuck, Bill, good. And I was going, dad, dad, dad, dad, relax. And he was like, no fucking way. Get out of my face, Bill. And I remember Bill was like new and Bill just kept going, I'm sorry, man. And I was like, no way. Dad, relax, relax. Your parents were super...

Super nice. I was going to have a panic attack because I had my back turned. This was back when I smoked, so I was having a cigarette. That's right. And behind me I hear, Will Arnett, Bill Senior. And I was like, oh my God, no. No. You start stubbing out the cigarette. Stubbing out the cigarette. No. No.

I remember one time my mom went over and sat at Lauren's table. And I look over there and Paul Rudd was like, he goes, Bill, are you clocking this? And I turn around and my mom is sitting at Lauren's table in between Marty Short and Steven Spielberg. And I just walk over there and I'm like, she's coming with me. I'm sorry. Come on, come on. You know, just like, oh my God. It's like, they're all so short. They're so tiny. They're all so tiny.

Were you, I would imagine... Like they're not even there in front of him. Yeah, exactly. Were you confident that you were a comedian and were able to make a living in comedy, given that you were kind of just wanting to be a director and go that route, and then all of a sudden you find yourself...

with a job as a comic, did you feel like, great, well, let's do this now? Or were you like, uh-oh, they're going to find out. I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, I don't know what I'm doing, yeah. Yeah, I was, I mean, to have that, those people who were in there when I showed up, you know, I was really intimidated, you know? So I was like, they all had...

Second City, you know, Groundlings. I mean, I came in with Jason and Kristen. Chicago Mafia. Yeah. Comedy Chicago Mafia. Oh, man. And I just was like, I don't, I remember my first table read just going, I wrote a thing with Will Forte and it was so bad. And I just remember looking in the middle of it over at Tina Fey and she just had this look on her face like,

Fuck. Oh, no. You know? And I was like, oh, God. You know? So I was so... I was very... I was...

incredibly, incredibly crippling, insecure and anxious, I would say, the first four seasons. But it's almost like you were made for the show, though, because, like, I'm sorry to keep harping on the same point, but it's like, you got this call, but you could also, you had all these characters inside of you, and a lot of the, you know, I find it rare in a lot of sketch shows that people have so many characters, like you or Mike Myers or Dana Carvey or whoever, who are like,

that just had them... But did you even know that you had those characters in you? No, I didn't know. No, a lot of that was like, you know, you make fun of people. You know, you do impressions of people at school or, you know, things like that. But never, you know, I don't know. You guys are probably saying, I don't know. I was not the funniest of my friends in high school. So it wasn't like I was known as a funny, like,

my friends in high school, when I hang out with them, I'm like, I'm like the eighth funniest guy in this group. But you know how to cherry pick. I know how to cherry pick. You know what I mean? Half my shit's all Will Arnett. Bill, you know what makes me think of is our mutual friend and all of our friend, the great Pete Serafinowicz, when he used to do that 15 Pressions thing.

but it's all of made-up characters. That's one of my favorite things ever. So it's not, it's fake famous people. You guys both do an Alan Alda that kills me. You both do an Alan Alda. Well, that's what people say, Alan Alda. It's like, we got to see Peter Serafinowicz. It's pretty insane. But, Bill, it does make me think, though, like you did, you talked about the film. You did, you and the Lonely Island Boys started making video. You were in there working with those guys pretty early. I mean, in fact, the summer after...

Lazy Sunday, you guys were making Hot Rod. Was it June, July, or August? That was September. Hot Rod was August, September of 2006. So that's fall. That's fall. 2006. It came out in seven. Yeah, it came out in seven, but we shot it. But we shot it in six. Yeah, because I remember I went up to my friend's

wedding in Toronto, but I had to go. You're really funny. I was really sick. I just watched that movie with my kids and their favorite part is you yelling, babe, babe, babe. Which one is it? Hot Rod? I've never seen it. Do you remember there was that scene, Bill, we were shooting? It was you, me, Danny McBride, and...

Yhorm, but you and Yhorma were standing in front of me and-- Fuck, I forget what happened. I kept going like, "What about the little one?" I kept saying Yhorma. And we kept fucking laughing and then we'd all break up and I was like, "Okay, we gotta stop. We gotta get one." But what I was gonna say was you did-- You got on-- You started making videos with these guys really early and fuck, I love the one that you guys did that fucking always kills me, I think holds up is that Dear Sister.

Oh, yeah. I mean, to be clear, those guys wrote and directed all those. It was kind of like they would come into my office and go, hey, Bill, you want to be in this? And I'd be like, yes, because I just wanted to be around them shooting stuff. Yeah, but you're a vital part. You're still a vital part of it. That Dear Sister one was, I think something fell through and...

And that was a thing they had done before. So like, oh, we're going to recreate this thing we did once before. And that was at a hotel across the street from 30 Rock. And all I remember from that one is that we started shooting it at like midnight. No way. And then it was done on Friday night. And then it was done at like seven in the morning, like,

Saturday morning and I walked out and I had the choice. Do I, do I go home and try to sleep or do I just go to 30 rock right now and just hang in my dressing room until we started rehearsing. It was awful. Fuck. Yeah. I don't like that. I'm not a fan of that. It was you and wig and, uh,

Andy and... Fred and Jason were cops at the end, and then Shia LaBeouf. Shia LaBeouf and Fred and Jason. Fuck, have you guys ever seen that sketch? Do yourselves a favor. It is incredible. The Lonely Island, guys. It's incredible. Just incredible. I'd love everything they do. The timing of the editing of that sketch is unbelievably funny. Yeah. It's very good. It's a master class in timing. Yeah, I got to see that. And we will be right back. And now, back to the show.

So, Bill, did you think that you had a fastball when you started? Was there – did you think, I'm going to do impersonations or I'm going to be the straight man or I'm going to be the crazy – like, what did you think your best thing was? Like your Vincent Price – by the way, your Vincent Price fucking kills me. Oh, thank you. A lot of stuff was the writers would kind of – I was someone who really needed the writers. I was always impressed with people like Fred and –

and Kristen and these people who would just write for themselves, you know, and you were like, man, you guys are just so confident that you could do that. I really needed to go into a writer and go, you know, and sometimes it was like, well, Bill, what's a voice you do? You know, or what's anything. And, um, and like a lot of people, I kind of came in and, um,

My heroes and things I liked was much more weirder and kind of stranger. And a lot of, I learned the term hat on a hat. Because it was like, you can't just do a talk show. It's got to be a talk show that's inside a man's ear. You know, whatever. It was very Monty Python-y.

Explain hat on a hat for Tracy. It's kind of like a joke on a joke. So a perfect example was I did a sketch because I could do a Tauntaun impression. So funny. And Matt Murray, one of the great writers on the show, said, what if you did that? Panther. Panther.

And we had Natalie Portman was hosting. So it's like, oh, what if it's you teaching her how to do different Star Wars noises as part of her SNL audition? And then I said, what if I do it as Peter Falk?

So that thing alone is me as just an acting teacher. That's enough. But adding Peter Falk was like... Can you do like two seconds of it? It's a hat on a hat. Oh, no, it was like, so this is a Jawa.

Now, listen, the tauntaun comes from the land of Hoth. And Hoth is... Come over here. Come over here. Will's holding his eye. Luke Skywalker is going to have to ride him across the icy tunnel. And he goes... That's all you got to do is...

And I just remember Seth Meyers going like, hey, buddy, hey, buddy, can I talk to you for a second? It's a little bit of a hat on a hat. And I go, what? I don't know what that means. And then I did it at dress. You're never going to believe this. It died. I think that's so funny. It was one of those scenes where I could hear my footsteps. I could hear myself putting a glass of water down. It was like...

It's so quiet. You can hear the E train opening the doors. Yeah, you can hear the E train. You can hear someone cough in the alphabet streets. And I was like, oh, God, this is bad news. And I went in there and Seth just looked at me and he mimicked, you know, putting a hat on top of another hat. And I was like, okay. And so it didn't make it.

Yeah. I think that is so funny. Natalie must have been dying when you were doing that. Yeah, she seemed to like it. I don't know. And then...

And then we did, I remember Dana Carvey hosted, we did a thing called the Kasems, where he was Casey Kasem and I was his son, JC Kasem. And the whole thing was that we had a terrible relationship and it was me coming to the house at two in the morning. And he was like, who's out there? I'm Casey Kasem. And I'm like, it's me. Dad, it's not a burglar or a raccoon. It's me, your son, JC Kasem. Son, get out of here. Dad, hear me out. Son, I want nothing to do with you. And it was this very intense...

family drama that we were. And he says, "You're always asking me, why won't you get a job? Why won't you stop doing drugs? And what recording artist had more number one hits?" And he goes, "Mariah Carey with 11. But seriously, son, I need you out of my house." And that played to utter silence.

That's astonishing to me. More silence. Utter silence because the audience was going, wait, did he? Wait, what? You know what I mean? And so, yeah, we were just like, I just remember Dana and I were going, Dana and I were like, I wrote it with John Mulaney and we both were like,

Why didn't that work? That was so funny. Well, do you guys ever have discussions about, because the dress is what, eight? And then the show is obviously 1130. But is there, do you ever say, well, but the audience at eight is weird and it's different. Let's just trust that the 1130 audience is going to love it at home and. It's like, I wish there was a science to it, but I do remember if the dress was hot and

That was bad. If dress was really hot. I remember Polar saying like, uh-oh, hot dress, that's bad. And I was like, why? What? Oh, you know. And then, yeah, she was right. It's like if the dress is hot, then weirdly you get like –

It's a superstition thing. You get really confident, and then when you go out to do the live show, it's like, oh. Go, Sean. Go, Sean. I was going to say, for my sister Tracy, when you say dress, it's dress rehearsal. Oh, sorry. Dress rehearsal. And they have extra sketches in the dress, and then they cut. Go ahead, Bill. The stuff that doesn't work gets paired out. Yeah, so dress rehearsals at 8 o'clock. We do a whole show plus like three or four extra sketches.

and then we go into Lauren's office and stuff has been cut and then the stuff's been rearranged and rewritten and then that's the live show. And this is after a brief conversation with the host who gets to chime in. I'm not sure to what effect about what they would like cut or not. Yeah, and I'm not sure if they're listening to it. And it's Lauren eating popcorn going, I mean, if you want to look like a fool, we can do this. LAUGHTER

You know, I once, my brother-in-law played golf once. Yes. Years ago, and he owned a golf club. And the question is, are you going to rent or own? Are you going to rent or own? Wait, is the sketch cut? You know, and then we would do those Vincent Price sketches, and it'd be between dress and hair, and someone wouldn't do something, you know, old school impression, and Lauren would be like, what if Jon Hamm played Herbert Marshall?

And you're hearing the band playing, you're hearing the live audience being put in and you're like, I don't know if the audience is going to know who I'm working with. Fred McMurray and it's like, how about James Mason? Anybody could do James Mason. If I imagined you when you're working on an impression, if I imagined you in front of a mirror alone, uh,

just like making faces and doing sounds. Is that about the extent of it? Like is it a real private kind of – or is it kind of a little here and a little there, like sometimes in the car, sometimes – Yeah, you do it in the car or you do it around people and then it kind of comes out and it's like, whoa, that sounded good. Do you still do that, Bill? I mean, do you still – Oh, yeah, yeah. It's like – it's just like – yeah, it's like a –

Uh, my dad does this too, where it's, it's called appropriation where it's, you know, when you're nervous around someone, you start to talk like them, you know? And I've done that since I was a kid. Like I get very socially anxious, uh,

And then you start to mimic people's accents as a way of being like, hey, I'm like, don't, you know, like we're all good. We're part of the same tribe. Don't kill me. Yeah, don't kill me. So yeah, you start to talk like people or whatever. And so I think that lent itself to being able to do

When you were growing up in Oklahoma, did you do that? Did you gravitate towards friends that had the same sensibility and were kind of odd like that? Or were you like...

Oh, yeah. And, like, we weren't, like, weird outcasts or anything. No, he was trying to ingratiate himself with murderers and, you know... Well, that, too. I mean, yeah. I mean, I kind of wanted, like, a... I just wanted, like, to get to know everybody. Yeah. No, but, like, my best friend is a writer on Barry. He's, like, one of the big writers on Barry, and we've known each other since we were 15 or so. Wow. Great show, by the way. Great show, and you're great in it. Oh, thanks. Yeah, congrats on everything with Barry. It's huge. So, working on a bridge from SNL to Barry, what about...

Do you remember the moment where it started to become clear to you that, okay, my life is changing and going to change and I got to kind of get my knees bent and be ready for what can be pretty uncomfortable, which is fame and recognition and responsibility and approaching your dreams?

What did that feel like? Like when Barry came out or like after SNL ended? Yeah, I mean to move away now from SNL but I guess it must have started there and feeling like maybe I can now leave and see if I've got what I hope I have and try it out there. Yeah, it's nerve-wracking when you – I mean because I remember when I left SNL –

I did like interviews about it. Like I went and did like Charlie Rose and I did these things about you're leaving SNL and the attitude and everything was like, well, maybe we'll never going to see you again. You know, nice knowing you. That's the risk. No one knows. You know, and it was like, maybe that's it. And so, yeah, it was. I wonder what that batting average is. What do you, what do you think the percentage of cast members that go on to, uh,

you know, careers that you can still make a living with. I don't know. Is it 50%? I have no idea. I mean, I try to, I think it was for me, it was like, you know, it's like if I thought of like what makes the plane stay up in the air, I would go crazy. So I just was like, I'm just going to move forward and block out any sort of, because I'm very sensitive to other people's energy. So it is hard when you see, you know,

or executives are like, hi. You know? And you're like, wait, am I out? Am I in? Wait, what was that? Why are you at my end? You know what I mean? And so I'm very, so I do kind of like put my head down and just keep going.

keep moving forward and try stuff. It was pretty cool to see you start taking roles that weren't necessarily starring roles. They were these really cool supporting roles in, in these really fun movies that had these great big stars leading them. And I was like, this, this is, it looks like you're building this foundation that is going to be around for a long time. And then when Barry happened, uh,

and especially the directing element, I was just like so excited for you. And then talking with you afterwards and finding out about your original passion, which was directing, I just was so excited for you that that –

has all come true. I mean, thank you very much jumping around a bit, but I mean, uh, was that always a goal for you and that some of these, to the extent there was any strategy that some of these, these career choices were meant to point you in that direction and finally land something where you could be somewhat of an auteur? Yeah. I mean, I think it was always wanting to do movies and then, and then, you know,

I'd written some scripts and then I did some acting jobs. But I didn't really have a lot of faith in myself. It was kind of like, you know, it's like you dream of a thing, but you don't, you know, I don't know if I can do it. It feels like the universe wants me to be this thing. And I'm kind of going, well, maybe I'm not right for this other thing. And then honestly, I had a beanie with HBO.

They had seen me in a movie called Skeleton Twins, and they said, oh, you should, we're interested in you being like that kind of acting in a show for us, not like sketch. And I was like, okay, cool. And then they go, you meet this guy, Alec Berg, maybe you guys come up with something. So Alec and I sat. The great Alec Berg. Came up with the show Barry. And it was when I went into the meeting, I haven't talked about Alec about it or anybody. And they went, who do you think should do the pilot? Mike Lombardo was like, who do you think should do the pilot? And I was like, I'll direct it.

And it was just silence. And they go, have you ever directed before? I was like, no, no, but I can do it. And Alec Berg, to his credit, kind of looked at me. I hadn't talked to him about it or anything. And he went, yeah, yeah, he can do it. Yeah, I got, no, he'll be fine. He can do it. Oh, that's great. And then he told me afterwards that he was driving home and they called him going, all right, can you really do it? Yeah, because that's a big for Tracy. That's a very... Bill, didn't you tell me though at one time that you said that Alec said,

to HBO, yes, if Jason Bateman can direct, anybody can. Is that true? That is a quote. That's a quote. Well, that was a T-shirt they wear over there. And the DGA said... And the DGA said, yeah, we let him in as a...

As a bit. They kept saying we went as a bit into the DGA. That was also at South by Southwest when they give you your key cards before seasons. It said Jason Bateman. That's what it said. Wait, guys, I hope this is a joke. No, it's going to be. It's a big, long joke, and they're giving you awards, and they're giving you jobs, because at the end, it's going to be, we're going to do a big reveal when you're like 60. Yeah. And by the way, when Jason's 60, he's simultaneously going to weigh 60 pounds. He's whittling down.

And now we can't even have the nuts. So it's just the cardboard. So it's going to be 60 pounds. And then we all go, it was a fucking joke. Jason, do you ever have that happen though when people look at you and they go, oh, an actor's directing? If they don't, they can always be sure that I'm doing it. I'm sitting there going –

What am I doing? Both of you guys are smart dudes and you know what you're doing and you've been around a lot. And as you know from the little directing that I've done, it's much more about understanding what it is that you want tonally and what you want that to be. And also you guys have succeeded in it. It's not like you tried it and failed. But still it doesn't matter because my idea of what a director is and looks like

is completely opposite for me. It's just like your idea of what 50 would be when you were 12 has nothing to do with what I feel I can look like at 50 or, you know, like... But you also know, like, even the greats, as you know, there is a certain... And I say this out of, you know, with a tremendous amount of respect for all the great directors that have come out, is there's that thing of, like, they have to keep it special and keep it exclusive and keep you out because it...

They're not doing it to punish everybody else, but it's also to maintain that respect and that level of thing. It's like, this guy's a great director and you could never do that. And there's a little bit of like, well, you did it. No. You're just a human being as well. Yeah, it's not so scary. Yeah, a little bit. And of course there are great directors, but you guys are both very accomplished, good directors. Yeah.

And you-- That's how you become a great is you keep doing it. Yeah. And also just sitting around a set and absorbing what everybody is doing to create this fake world. Like, it's hard. What these crew members do is insane. It's insane, yeah. It's really, really cool. And it's not just the director, as you guys know. Right. Everybody's a filmmaker. The costume department. I love how many actors show up on the first day of principal photography and they're like, "Okay, let's get started." It's like, "No, no, we've been to this location probably a half a dozen times." The whole movie's shot already.

Basically, you just need to talk. Yeah, people kind of thinking like, well, you know. It's also, I always have a thing where you have an idea and then you go out there and you see all these people busting their ass away from their families in terrible conditions. For at least 12 hours. Trying to make your idea work.

You know what I mean? I'm like, I sit and I look at that and I feel like such a responsibility to, you know, have my shit together. And, and as we know as actors, that's the worst is when you have a director that doesn't know what they want and they're surly and it can be this and you're there for, I mean, I've worked on shows where I did a show on a movie where we did reverse splits because we kept going so late through the week. So by Friday we started the day on stage and,

at 1 a.m. and shot until 3 p.m. It was solely because the director was just like, I don't know. What's reverse splits? Okay, so like... For Tracy. That's a big Tracy. Oh, yeah. So like if you start, so you have to have like a, like certain people have to have like 12-hour turnarounds, meaning like if you work from 7 a.m. and you shoot until 10 a.m.,

you got to start the next day at 10 a.m. You got to give people 12 hours of rest.

Which includes driving home, which is a 90-minute... You've got to negotiate for that. You've got to negotiate that door-to-door thing. No, but I mean, early on when you're starting, let's not even get into portal-to-portal. I mean, what are we talking about here? Portal-to-portal is like the gold. Like, you've got portal-to-portal? Now we're going to start getting into Downey's deal. I mean, Downey's on stage for 45 minutes before he's out. Yeah. Anyway, so if you start Monday at work at 7 a.m. and you end at 10 p.m.,

And then you have to go, okay, now we have 10 a.m. And then they go until 1. Now, Wednesday, you can't start until 1 p.m. And then Thursday, it's going to roll back even more. So it's basically a director shooting 18 to 20-hour days. And you've got to give people their turnaround. It just keeps pushing, pushing, pushing. So you're ending your work week Saturday at like 4 in the afternoon. Yeah, Friday. And you're like...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's solely because someone doesn't have their... Shit together. Yeah. Shit together. And in a director's defense, they never see any other director direct. So they don't know that they're not getting it done, that they're not doing it well. It's, you know, actors, crew members, everybody sees multiple directors. And then if you ever get the chance to direct, you can cherry pick from all the good ones and not do the stuff that the bad guys did. Sean, go ahead, jump in. I wanted to say, Bill, one of the first times I was ever introduced to one of those...

hysterical bad lip reading things was you. Somebody sent it to me years ago and they're so funny. I think they were Star Wars ones or something. Yeah. And they make me cry laughing. And I want to know... Are you done with the subject we were on? Yeah. Correcting? Okay. He loves it. He just goes 180. Sean, unbelievable. He got nominated. Remember. It's okay. It's fine. You're fine.

You've pissed off the guest, Sean. No, no. It's okay. We can talk about bad lip reading. No, I always wanted to know because I've never met anybody who I know who did it. This is going to be the dumbest question in the world, but I'm always interested in knowing how do you do it? Do they just run the tape and you ad-lib? Well, the guy who does it is a genius and you go to his house and he's done it already.

Oh, wow. So you just do it over. It's just ADR. You're watching it going, okay, so he's done it already, and so you're trying to mimic what they've done. It's so funny.

It's really that guy. And it kind of just took off, and now they do it for people in Congress, and like... I don't know how they... Yeah, I have no idea how he... Anyway, that's all I wanted to know. Now, with... You can move this around in the episode. I mean, just veered us off the road. There's a whole Sean section that is after people usually listen. Sometimes he talks like... We say he's like a make-a-wish kid. He'll just go, I always wanted to know, how did you...

And when we give them a t-shirt every once in a while. We're just building the steam. Did you grow up with a dog?

Now, with Barry, where are we with Barry? As we talk to you today. By the way, sorry. No offense to Make-A-Wish. Obviously, it's amazing. Yeah, you don't have to say that. Everybody knows you're joking. Well, we don't. You know, we get lots of letters from people. Let them write. Just don't read them well. You're right.

So where are we with Barry? Are we in production, out of production? The thing with Barry... I'm just waiting for Sean to come in. Yeah, he'll interrupt. That was really funny. He doesn't think of any questions until you're actually talking. Did your parents listen to Charo? LAUGHTER

Believe me, it's exactly like that. No, but I think that's funny. I like that. No, we just did... So we're doing editing season four. How high can you jump? God, it's so... I'm just curious. These are the things. These are the things. Seemed like you could. Long legs. Seems like you could jump high. Anyway. Depression. You were talking about depression? Sorry, you were...

You're really into the thing you were talking about, but I just wanted to take you out just to satisfy my own itch. And so... That's right. Depression has affected your family for how long? And you do like tater tots. I just want to get that. And now, a word from our sponsor. And now, back to the show.

Wait, so you're editing season four of...

And the anxiety of like, oh, please tell me this works, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And seeing how it plays out and going. But then it's also that I'm also at that phase where really smart friends and people who have worked on the show or people I know, writers or former editors, I will send them the episodes to be like, how's it feeling? Haven't been sent anything. You know, well, you know. I'll check my chat. Siri, refresh my inbox. Yeah, I don't think so.

I don't need it. Didn't you take that? I feel like it hasn't been on for a while. Didn't you take a break? Was there a break or a COVID thing or something? Yeah, well, we had to for a season between seasons two and three. Yeah. And then I shot. I've been waiting. No, I've been, I did three and four pretty much back to back. Huh? Yeah. Huh.

Because of Dr. Fauci? Dr. Fauci. Yeah, because of Fauci, because he wanted to do... I keep going, what's the endgame? What did he want to do? He wanted to take over the planet? What do you think that he... I say at the Emmys, but I say you, you two, Jason and Will, were the two people at the Emmys that pointed at my face and went, Mal, why are you wearing a mask? I remember you wearing a mask. I remember, yeah. Jason, you were going, why, like, Mal, are you sick? Stay away from me.

And the reason was because I was shooting. And it was this thing of like, if you get COVID, we shut down for two weeks. We lose all our locations. People got to go home. We lose crew. So I walked in and I was like, there's literally no one with a mask here. You were the only one. I saw Bob Odenkirk and he's like, do you have COVID? Yeah.

Bob Odenkirk and Bill. So we were doing Brother Solomon. Oh, my God. I was on a... Yeah. I know what you're going to say. Bill's on a recumbent bicycle, okay? Yeah. And so we got this scene. It's me and Forte and Wig, and he kept having this thing, but Bob was so obsessed with Bill, and he goes, oh, my God, buddy. Oh, look at Bill on the recumbent bicycle. He says, look up in the sky. What?

And Kristen Wiig is giving... She's giving a performance where she has to cry. She's got to cry. Do you remember this? Yes. She has to cry and give this emotional speech. And the joke is that while she's doing this, the brothers Solomon are watching me as this weird guy in a recumbent bike. Well, he was...

Bob was being one of the brothers' songs because Kristen was giving this amazing performance and he was like, cut. Okay, Bill, what you gotta do? And Arnett was like, hey, Bob, can we please acknowledge what Kristen's doing over here? It's incredible acting work. She was doing this amazing work and he was like, oh my God, where did they find this thing? Did they invent it?

This isn't real, is it? Oh my God. It was so crazy. Kristen's drawing on all this past pain. And Bob obsessed with Bill on the fucking bike.

I really respected Arnett for being like, hey, can we just acknowledge? And then You're Going to Prison is another Odenkirk film that was incredible. That was a great one. Yeah, it was good. That was my very first audition for a movie. It was an audition for some part in that movie. No way. And Bob, I remember reading with him and he took my sides away and he goes, don't worry about these jerks.

Oh, really? I was so scared. I was so anxious. I was so anxious because I was like, he's a legend and Mr. Show and everything. And I was so terrified. And I'd never auditioned before. And I did the like by rote in a mirror. Like, you know, I did everything, you know, and

And I had all the words. What's the most money you've ever spent in one trip to Trader Joe's? Oh, my God. Sorry about this, Bill. Honestly. No, on that, while we're on food, I want to hear about your peanut allergy. When was the last time you had a real... I want to know when you had a real blow up with peanuts. How did you know? Marty Short said, you know, Bill, usually people, when they talk about their allergies, it's so boring. But when you talk about it...

I do have a nut allergy. I do have a very bad one. How do you know what happened? My mouth gets – it just happened to me. It just happened to me about a month ago. I was moderating a Q&A with somebody, and we went and ate beforehand, and I ate this lasagna.

I'm at, you know, Little Dom's and I eat lasagna and then suddenly my mouth goes numb and my throat starts to go up and I go in the bathroom and I see I'm getting a rash on the side of my face and I go, fuck. And so I ran...

And people are still talking and mingling. I go, I'm going to go to the bathroom. I ran down to, there's like an Albertsons there or something, run inside, find Benadryl, take it in the aisle, took like three of them, and then went back. So you don't need an EpiPen? I was like, I got to go find an EpiPen. And I just, I had no EpiPen, so I just did some Benadryl, texted my doctor.

They were like, okay, you should be fine. Okay, we're going to put in a prescription or whatever. And we were just figuring it out. And I ended up still doing the thing on a month and a half. What would nuts be doing in lasagna?

It was vegan cheese. It was cashew cheese. -I'm out. -It's not unusual in Los Feliz for actors just to be taking drugs in the Isles of Elm. That is true. There was a bunch of other people and they're like, "You too, man?" But now, so, as I don't remember when we were at the Dodger game and I eat tons and tons of peanuts. I don't remember you getting nervous that I was near you with peanuts.

Yeah, it wasn't. So you're not one of those. No, no, it's not like the dust or something. I have to, like, ingest it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. It's no fun. By the way, Sean just very discreetly under his thing wrote down, you just give me a lasagna. He just wrote it down. That's what he's going to have for lunch. He's like, lasagna, Garfield. Oh, no, I'm free. You know what Sean said to me, by the way, the other day? This is totally true. Jason, I haven't told you this yet either. Sean, the other day, just goes, you know what I had for breakfast this morning? I had a pot roast.

I had a pot roast for breakfast. And they go, what? Just out of the blue. And mashed potatoes. Yeah, with mashed potatoes and then I had ice cream. I swear to God, nine in the morning. What, are you being executed?

Are you being executed? Are you on death row? I mean, we were at a meeting the other day. We were at a meeting the other day, and they made us a cake. This is true. Bill, are you ready for this? A cake that had our smartless pictures and names and stuff that was on the frosting on top. Just like as a gift, like a sort of ceremonial, like here's a cake. Yeah, it was kind of a fun little thing. And Sean left the meeting with the cake, full cake in his hand. No, hang on a second. Hang on a second. Walking out. Before the meeting started, Sean...

Sean cut into the cake and started eating it at the table, his own cake. They made a cake for us. 30 people in a business meeting. He was like, well, it would be rude not to have a piece. So he starts eating it, and then he took it with him in his car. He left CAA. He came down out of CAA with this cake with his own fucking face on it.

But he lives with his husband and a dog. That's it. So who was going to eat that cake? It's not for kids. You said you'd have half of it done by the end of the week. Scotty's got diabetes. He's not eating the cake, so it's all Sean.

Bill, what's your current temperature? No, no, no. Sean, serious question. How much of the cake is left? This is not yet a week. That night he had more, and that morning, the next morning, right, Sean? It's five days later. How much is left? I kind of wanted it done. Like, if you're an adult and you have all the cake you can eat, why wouldn't you eat it? Right. Are you self-aware when that's happening, Sean? No.

Do you have guilt? Do you have shame? No guilt. No, you know what I think it is? Like, I just can't stop. I think because we grew up with nothing. Anytime I'm like, oh my God, free cake. Free cake. Tell me how much of the cake is left. It's gone. Is it really? Yeah.

Well, that was a week. You shit pig. Almost a week ago. Shit pig. Yeah, you just a shit pig. I get that. I don't know. Don't you get it? I get it. I do get it where it's like, we're just going to leave this here. Come on. I know. There is a lot of that. There's a lot of waste in what we do. Final question.

How high can you jump? If you really wanted to jump high, how high? By the way, here's the other thing. Bill, you work with our old dear friend on Barry, Henry Winkler. Oh, yeah. I love him. I love him. Henry's so sweet. The one and only. He's the greatest. The sweetest. Yeah, he's always like, you get me there. Like you doubt his sincerity. Does he still leave his ringer on on his phone while you're rolling? Does he do that? No, no, he doesn't do that.

We have a blooper reel that's dedicated from the first couple seasons of Arrested to Henry's phone going off in the middle of a scene. By the way, usually during his own dialogue. So he'd be doing a courtroom scene going, what do we have to, and then, oh my God, hang on a second. He's like, uh-oh, it's Stacy, hold on. And Jason, we have a great blooper of Jason going, go ahead and take that. You want to just take it or...

Henry, he's so sweet. Henry, one time we were doing a thing and my character fought in Afghanistan and three takes in a row he said Vietnam. It was really funny. I have him on my phone. And when Barry was fighting in Vietnam, that's not right. Hold on. That's not right.

And then every Friday it's like, Henry, that was a great take where you had to have a mental breakdown. That was really good. He's like, you got me there. I have this chocolate Bundt cake from Jersey City in the trunk of my car.

He is absolutely the greatest guy ever. He does amazing work, and I think he gets very anxious about his dramatic work, but he's such a good dramatic actor, and he really will go where he needs. He's not afraid or whatever, but it is funny how much he'll have that moment, and then he turns it right on. This season especially, he goes through a lot of stuff, but when he'll do that,

And then, yeah, he'll offer you sweets. He's such a talent. You know, he was one of the guys, when we were first doing Arrested Development, and I was living in New York but coming out here to do it, and I'd be oftentimes, you know...

I was friends with these guys a little bit, but, you know, whatever. I didn't have anywhere. And he and his wife, Stacy, would invite me over on Saturday mornings, and I would go over there and just, you know, have breakfast with him and with the family all the time. He was so sweet. I love him. I know. They were so generous. Yeah, we pretty much every month go and have breakfast, like, once, you know. And it's...

And it's great. And he is kind of like, so how are you doing? Like outside of everything, how's your life? How's this? How's this feeling? Like he's just, I always walk away from those feeling, you know, better about myself. Didn't you want to grow up in his house? Well, you know what was funny? You remember back then, back then it was like when his son Max was still in high school and his best buddy was Jonah Hill. And those guys were still in fucking high school when I was there. Like this is like 2005.

Like the fall of 2003. The fall, was it? Yeah. Those guys were still in high school. Him and Jonah. And they were like, oh, man, we love Arrested Development. And they were like fucking 17, you know? Wow. Or if that. So weird. Anyway. 2003. Sean wanted to know, have you ever had to put snow tires on? He just texted that in. He texted me. He said, just please ask him.

I'm so glad you got it in time. Don't be so shy, Sean. That's a great question. Can you, Bill, because I'm such a massive fan. What's that hammer? I'm such a massive fan. Can you do just, I know you're not a singing monkey. Here we go. But can you do Vincent Price just a little bit? Because it's so fucking funny. Oh, I'm trying to remember. Well, the thing I remember, John Mulaney's first night of writing at SNL,

Seth Meyers said, "Oh, maybe we should bring the new guy in and help on Vincent Price." And we were writing a thing and it was Fred would play Liberace and I'm Vincent Price and we're arguing.

And we're arguing, as you do. Right, still with you, yep. Yeah, so he's Liberace. Still with you. This, by the way, this is in 2008 when people are still really excited about Vincent Price and Liberace. And as Lauren said, I like to sketch, but why now? Um...

but Liberace and they're talking and we're like, oh, what's a thing Vincent Price could say to Liberace after he burns him or something? And John Mulaney came up with the line, save your sassy asides for your windowless bars. That is so funny.

That is so funny. And then he had a... I wish Fred was here to do his Liberace. That is profoundly funny. Yeah, Liberace was always him talking about, like, a prince who had given him a jewel or something. Yeah, it was always... Anyway, Jack Nicholson, John Malkovich, all of them. I fucking love all of them. Oh, thank you very much. All incredible. And then, yeah, that line always...

We were just like, whoa. But, like, what about that? Like, is there ever going to be another vehicle where we can see you do your impressions? Or is it just going to be, like, just. Is that chapter closed, bro? Yeah, I mean, I go on, like, Camel or something. They'll be like, I went on Camel, like, not too long ago. And he had me do all the Dateline people. Right. Because I watch Dateline a lot. So he's like, just do all the Dateline people. So I did them and.

But yeah, usually it's like you're at a party or something and you know, you know who loves impressions? Yeah, Conan. You know who loves impressions is Larry David. Yeah, yeah. He loves... Sean just did some work with him. He loses his mind when you do an impression of anybody. Can you do Larry David?

Wait, who would you trust to do you? Oh, man, everybody does me. Probably Sarah Fanoich. I mean, yeah. I mean, Fred does a really good me. Does he really? His impression of me, everybody's impression of me is like, hey, man, what's going on? It's Bill. And then his impression of me is I've always just discovered a super famous band. Hey, you know who I started listening to is Bruce Springsteen. LAUGHTER

He's like, you always walk into my office and you're like, you know, the Allman brothers are pretty good. I just started listening to them. Wait, do really quick. Do Jack Nicholson watching Dateline? I don't know if I do Jack Nicholson. Oh, really? We're doing Jack Nicholson. You know who Larry David likes is...

Burt Lancaster, when he, there's this guy told me a story, this made Larry David laugh really hard, was a guy worked for Burt Lancaster and he brought him some chowder for lunch. And he said that Burt Lancaster looked in the bag and looked up at him and he went, oyster crackers. You forgot the oyster crackers. Larry David makes me say that all the time. He's like, oyster crackers. You forgot the oyster crackers.

That's so bad. You know, that's always fun. I do it on set and it gets old fast. Yeah.

No, actually, nothing. I've never had setups in between shots feel shorter than when I worked with you on Paul. Oh, yeah. It's just so fun to hang out with on the set. You've got to do more of that. Yeah, do you remember when they blew up the house in Paul? Yeah, yeah, shockwave. And they said, yeah, you guys are going to stand right here. Okay. Okay.

And we went, okay. And then me and you are looking at each other. I go, you know what? I want to go stand where the special effects guy is. The guy standing behind a barricade. And where we were standing was a giant car or something like that.

massive debris landed where we were. We were like, this isn't fun. No. Yeah. Oh my God, wait a second. I love that you're telling us this because Jason doesn't remember anything. By the way, he never would have told us that story. Never comes up. No, he also, were you there when the guys made us drink jalapeno stuff?

I think you're, aren't you with us? I might've been. It was me and Simon Pegg and everybody. And they're like, Hey, you guys are Hollywood people. You know, it was just like, we were in New Mexico and they were like, Oh, these loud Hollywood people. And they're like, Hey, here, drink a shot of this. And it wasn't, it was pure jalapeno juice. It's not alcoholic. Cause I was like, Oh, I don't drink. And they're like, it's, and it was jalapeno juice.

And we had to run and get milk and stuff. It was a way of like, get the fuck out of here. Maybe I was there. That's starting to sound familiar. That was like, that was like, that was fun.

That was good. Let me tell you what was fun, Bill, was this chat. Yeah, it was. We could do two full episodes. We haven't gotten into any of your incredible voiceover work in all these animated films, too. I mean, it's on and on and on. It really is. You're an incredible talent, multidimensional or whatever it is. You're that. Oh, yeah.

Big, big, big fan. And a great guest. Well done. Good to see you, dude. Good to see you guys, man. Yeah, man. I'm calling you for a Dodger game soon. Yeah, please. All right. Have a good day, bud. You, bud. Bye. Thank you. Bye, pal. Bye. All right. I don't think there's anything that guy can't do. God, that was funny stuff, man. He's funny. He's dramatic. He acts, writes, directs, produces. High quality person, friend. I'm just kind of blown away that he...

went on SNL and then just had all those characters. Like, what are the odds of, yeah, let's take a chance on Bill Hader and then you've got all this stuff inside of him? Yeah, it's so funny. He's always got... It's funny that he said that he does that appropriation thing because it is... You see that in him. Like a nervous thing. Yeah, where he's just like, oh, and he starts doing the voice while he's... I do that all the time. I'll take people's laughter. I'll start laughing like them. Oh.

for some weird reason. And that'll be like my new laugh for a few weeks. Really? I think it's like a common human thing. I do find that I just yammer and yammer and yammer when I'm socially uncomfortable. I'll do the opposite of what you think you would do, which is just shrivel and go into a corner and be quiet.

but I should just start talking. I just start speaking whatever I'm thinking of in my mind. Yeah, I mean, I notice you at parties, and you kind of do it on this. I see you talking to somebody when you're engaging with, like, another person, and you're just talking at them, and you're, like, asking them questions, and you're just fucking, and they're thinking, like, oh, at first they're like, oh, I got to talk to Jason Bateman, and then they want to fucking...

kill themselves they realize it's not that great do you blah blah blah and you're like you're going but the question is like the show you're asking questions and you're leading and it's on and on i know and and i just often they have a look of what i would describe only as disgust yeah my family kicked me out of the house a couple days ago but you know what jay with all that work on your mouth that you've had you're talking so beautifully and i'm glad you finally got that tooth fixed which one was it called

I think it was a bye cuspid. And then repeat it again and say it higher. Bye. Bye cuspid. Look at Will harmonizing. I didn't love it. It was too early. Well, my God, are you kidding? Smart. Yes. Smart. Yes.

SmartList is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarv, Bennett Barbico, and Michael Granteri. SmartList. If you like SmartList, you can listen early and add free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.