"Steve Carell "
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Hey, Will Arnett. Boy, you got a real bright white shirt on today. Kind of matches your teeth. Thanks. Do you like what I have on? Oh, God. What do you call that? What do you call that? Dirty old tea? Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Smart. Less.

Hey guys, how are you? Listen, I feel like we just saw each other... Was it last night? No, it was two nights ago. Two nights ago we saw each other and...

And Will, you asked me about my car and I said I'm gonna wait to tell you on Monday. I know Sean said-- I said to Sean, 'cause we saw him the other day and his car looked different, and I said, "What happened to your car?" 'Cause you had that car that he talked about. Remember he smashed his new car with his driveway 'cause, God, he re-engineered the gate? To close, yeah. So it's my Audi e-tron, which is my favorite car of all time. -Oh, say it one more time clearer. -Let's say it one more time. God. It really is my favorite car.

Well, Jason and I, obviously, we have no opinion on cars. I mean, other than, you know, GMC, if you're looking for something. We certainly love Range Rovers and Teslas. So the garage is down. So the garage is down. We open up the garage. There's my car and Scotty's car in there. And it's this massive, horrible smell. And we're like, what is it? It smells like a rotting car.

like body or something sure so we're like we looked behind the walls you know we looked like outside next to the garage like it was weird anyway i was like well i'm just gonna gonna get in the car and go to my appointment so i get in the car scotty texts me like an hour later he goes ever since you left the smell is gone oh my god so you're at your appointment so you're like hang on and you said to the guys at the dorito factory i gotta go what did you do

The Dorito factory. Thanks for offering the tour, but I've got to get back home. And also, I'm already kind of affiliated with the gang over at Chex Mix Bugle, so... Well, I also thought it was weird that he called me and said ever since I left, the smell is gone. Sure. Anyway, so I got back, and this Audi person came because they're, like, on it, and they said, oh, yeah, on a lot of the new electronic cars, a lot of the wires are made of soy.

which is food for animals. So what happened was an animal went in, ate some of the wires, and died. Really? Yeah. It was a dead animal. You know, I once found a rat living underneath the hood of one of our cars here in the driveway. Really? Just, like, nestled up in the warm pipes of the engine. A full rat's nest. Like, apparently this is something that happens. Up at your current house? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh.

Oh, yeah. Well, that's different than eating the wires. Do you think the rat was still just traumatized by the image of Ernest Borgnine standing in your kitchen jerking off?

Listener, I live in Ernest Borgnine's old house, and Will's convinced that Ernie Borgnine was a famous masturbator. He talked about it. I don't think he did. I think you're just being mean. He said he masturbated every day. Wait, what? You know in the opening when you walk in your house there with the stairway? He said he used to lean against the banister.

Is this a true story, Will, that he just was a notorious... That's not true. He did. He said it in an interview. I'm not making it up. What do you mean, an interview? Ernest Borgnine said it in an interview. How do you know that? Because I read it one time because I was looking up who masturbates more than...

Everybody. So you're saying that's why we got a deal on this house, that it's a notorious just goo shack. He left his mark, that's for sure. Jack-jack is the term, I think. Let's see. I'm looking it up right now. You're looking up for the article right now? By the way. We'll wait, I guess. BuzzFeed. Ernest Borgnine loves to masturbate. That's not true.

Come on. That's not true. Bless him. Wait, what are you talking about? The guy had a healthy... Clearly, this guy had enough testosterone for all of us, right? Ernest Borgnine was very feral. 2008, he said that the secret to staying young at his old age is masturbation. And how old was he when he died? Master Bateman. Hang on, what is he saying?

It's right there. It's kind of poetic. He did live in this house for 60 years. Did he really? Yeah, I don't want you to let your imagination get carried away with itself, but that's a lot of time under this roof for him. By the way, I wouldn't bring it up if he had not said it. All due respect to him and to his legacy, which is now a little stickier. Hey, y'all. But...

But but he's the one who said it and he was quite open about it. Well, how old was he when he died Ernest? Does it say there? What am I his biographer? I don't know. I want to say it was like 90. He was old. He lived a long time. Yeah, I want to say it was 90. Well, there you go. No, he was already 91 there. How long have you guys been in that house, Jay? Six years? Seven years? How old was Ernest Borg? Oh my God. Granddad is asking Siri how old Ernest Borg was. Oh my God. He was 95. Okay. 95. There you go. Yeah.

So after that interview, you got four more years of snapping it off in that house before...

Sean, I love watching you Google stuff and ask Siri stuff, and I just think, do you have a robust relationship with Facebook too? Hey, Siri. You know, you don't need to hold the phone up right on your lips. You don't need to kiss Siri when you talk to her. Like that? No, just anywhere in the room will do. She can hear you. Like this? Just like this? Like this?

But I don't know. We're going to out our friend Aniston here on that too. She does the same damn thing, except hers is even worse. She'll actually hold the full phone up facing like her nose to the glass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It faces her. Yeah, yeah. It's like I don't know why she thinks she's going to get a better answer that way than just kind of just down around the hip. Sure.

Sean, when we were doing the bits at Jen's house the other night with the bag, and then when I had Jen's glasses, and I kept taking them off and then cleaning them. The best. No, she doesn't. That's the problem. She doesn't clean them. No, she doesn't. The number of fingerprints on her glasses is...

It's just remarkable that she can even see out of them. Well, they go on, they go off. They go on, they go off. You touch them and you take them off. We just kept doing bits. God, it was so good. Yeah, Will did one of the best bits ever, which was similar to bits I've been doing, but he acted like the purse...

I don't know whose purse it was. Well, let me set it up by saying this. Sean's bit, which is great, is often we'll be at dinner and somebody will have a handbag like on a table and Sean will come up, he'll come over, grab it, put it over, put his arm through it and goes, "I'm just running out to the store. Does anybody want anything?"

And it's really funny. It never doesn't work. No, it's always funny. And then Will took it to the next level, which was actually digging in like you were looking for something that was your part. Well, I would go like this. I'd hold it like this. Then he'd come back and go, hi. Oh, my God, I was just thinking about you guys. And then I'd pretend to look into my bag.

is if I'd had some stuff in there. It's really funny. I could watch that for nine hours. Men, you've got a real Swiss Army knife with us today. Wow. This actor can be funny, dramatic, lead or supporting. Wow. I haven't seen him play a woman yet, but I bet it would be convincing. He's got all the nominations you could want, all the respect and admiration possible, but even more importantly, a successful marriage and two great kids. Yes.

On the sad side, he can't swim, can't ride a bike, or sleep laying down. But we're going to cover all of that next with our very special guest, one of my heroes, Massachusetts' own and Nancy's guy, Mr. Stephen John Correll. No! Hey, guys. Steve. Hi, Steve. Steve knows Jen. Steve, have you ever seen Jen do that I'm new to technology bit where she just practically

presses it up against her nose and talks to Siri, like that's going to make it all happen. I haven't seen that, no. Thank you for coming. Thanks, Steve. Thanks for having me. Wonderful. Our next guest... No. Um...

Probably in your defense, you're busy being professional in your dressing room, learning your lines. You're not mixing with... Oh, you're on the set right now? Well, when he was working with Jen there on the morning show. Right. He's not around her when she's asking Siri about the non-important questions. No, he's preparing. He's preparing. Exactly. I'm always preparing. Sure. Sure. Are you at work right now, Steve? Are you preparing now? No, I'm not at work ever.

Wouldn't that be great if he was sitting on the can right now, if he just panned down right now? He's just... He's working on something else. Yeah.

It's the only place we could catch him for a solid hour. Steve Carell, good to see you, man. I'm so glad you're here. It's so good to see you guys. How great is that? Steve Carell is on the show, everybody. Pull over. Turn your car off. I'm just a... Steve, I'm just standing here looking because I'm just a fan. I'm just a... Who isn't? I'm an old school... Soak it in, Will. Yeah, I am. I'm soaking it in. I just think you're great. When you died on The Morning Show, spoiler alert. Yeah.

I was completely crushed. Like, I was so invested. You weren't supposed to be crushed by my character. I was, though, because you were coming around. Your character was coming around. You know, a lot of people haven't finished the first season, Sean. Well, it's the second season, so there you go. Oh, second season, sorry. It was a true spoiler for me right there. I was galloping towards that episode, but I can go ahead and hop that.

now, I guess. Well, Newsflash, it came out 19 years ago. Well, but you know, but I like to wait until a few build up, then I just binge them all. All right. What about Arrested Development? Sean, favorite episode? Son of a bitch.

He's never seen it, Steve. He's never seen it. He's never seen it. I'm out. It's not my list. Steve, let's get into the really hard-pressing journalistic questions I've got from you. Care of Wikipedia. Hold, please. Wait. Steve, where are we catching you? Are you L.A.? Are you East Coast? I'm East Coast. I'm back in Massachusetts right now. Oh.

Now, I remember years ago, you were saying that at one point that you were going to potentially kind of eventually move back there full time. Have you done that?

Well, sort of halftime at this. Probably six and six. I think that's how we're going to do it. Are you off of work right now? I am, yeah. Okay. So you were born in Massachusetts, spent some time there. Is this where potentially you got interested in

acting slash comedy? If so, was that because you were funny and or outgoing as a kid? Did it all start, start happening for you there? Or was it later? I wasn't outgoing as a kid. I, I was pretty shy. Um, I liked to do theater, but it wasn't like specifically my thing. You know, I did a lot of other stuff, but it was fun.

But I wouldn't allow myself to ever think of it as a career or a potential career. It just seemed like... Because I remember being in Chicago, you were like, everybody was like, Steve Carell, you were the god of Second City there. It was like, just the fact that you went through there in Chicago, everybody was like, just thought you hung the moon, as did I. What is it with... What is the difference between being shy because...

I think I'm kind of shy, but I don't mind being – for instance, I'm very shy to like make a toast or something like that. But I am not shy when the camera is on and I get to play a character or something. Are you similar in that? Because it's hard to correlate or to –

reconcile being shy and also willing to be in front of the camera. How did that work for you? I think it's, I think it's the same for me because I feel like you can hide behind a character. You can hide behind a performance and dialogue. You can even hide in a way behind improvisation because it's,

you know, you're kind of stepping outside of yourself in a way. But I think a lot of people are the same way. You know, when you don't at my wedding, I got so shy at my wedding because all of the focus is on you and your, you know, and your wife. And it's weird because it's just you. There's nothing, there's nothing else. Did you cry at your wedding?

I didn't cry at my wedding. I was sweating a lot, but I didn't cry. So the body was crying. Well, we were married here in Massachusetts, super humid, super hot that day.

And I remember I was pouring sweat and then Nancy appeared at, you know, down the aisle and the sweat dried up and I would like my nerves completely went away. It was the craziest thing. Just, just seeing her as she started to walk down the aisle, I thought, oh man, this is like. Did you dance with her?

Definitely. I continue to dance with her to this very day. -I love that. -I did not. You know, 'cause going back to the shy thing, I think a lot of the mis-- There's a big misconception. I think Jason was touching on this. If you're an actor, people are like, "Well, being shy is just an excuse. You just don't want to talk." Like, how could you be scared to speak in front of a large group of people? But it is. It's-- If something's not written for you or you can't cultivate a character

It's one of the reasons we're actors is because it is too nerve-wracking unless that's done for you. But Willie doesn't have a problem with that. Will, you never shy away from, you know, making a toast for someone in a very sincere, genuine way, but also being very funny. Like, you don't have an allergy to a spotlight. I get that.

I get small. No, I... Yeah, but I might have, like, a condition. Yeah. There's a chance. I'm glad you said it. Yeah. Let's build on that. No, let's not. I was thinking about it, reminding me of... Steve, do you know John Glazer? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I knew him for a second. Jason, you remember Glazer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just reminded me of Glazer's wedding, which I had to miss because we were working...

But I remember Amy went and a bunch of, and Glazer was giving a speech at his own wedding and he started to cry, he started to tear up. And John Benjamin and David Cross started going, cry, cry, cry, cry, cry.

That'll make you feel more comfortable. I don't know. I haven't thought about that in 15, 20 years. Steve, again, in this incredible, I don't know if you guys have ever heard of Wikipedia, but it's such a source. It says here, were you also in Massachusetts when you were the disc jockey at W-Dub, both the handle Sapphire Steve Carell? Mm-hmm.

No, that was in college. Okay. I went to school. How did we get Sapphire? Well, the guy, you know, you have to intern under somebody when you first joined the radio, the college radio station. Which was where, where were you for college? I went to Denison University in Ohio. Oh, yeah.

Listen, that's a family name. No, it is. My youngest son's name is Denison, Alexander Denison. Oh, really? And we call him Denny, yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, sorry. No, no. I was interning under this guy who called himself Diamond Doug McKinney. And so the first time...

He allowed me on the air. He sounds very good. I just was kind of blowing him some shit. And I said, this is the South Flyer, Steve Carell. And he didn't think it was that funny. Wait, Steve, what kind of music did you play when you DJed?

Mostly Stairway to Heaven. Yeah. Anything really long. That's a genre. Really long songs. Because I had, you know, as a freshman too, you get the worst shifts. So I was on from like five to seven in the morning. Okay. And we will be right back. And now back to the show.

So, Steve, walk me through a little bit. You're from sort of the Boston area, and you go to Denison, and then what's the move? How do you end up going to Chicago and getting into Second City? Because it's a question that kind of comes up with people in comedy, and especially people who go through Second City. What was that moment for you? Like, yeah, I got to go to Chicago, or that's for me? Well, I was working as a postal carrier, right?

in Massachusetts. - Yeah. - Really? - You left because you were too slow or got fired because you were too slow. - I was terrible. Well, I left because two buddies of mine from college said, "Hey, let's go to Chicago and we're gonna start an educational theater company." - This is post-college? - This is post-college. I had gone back to Massachusetts, living with my folks, got a job as a mail carrier.

Wow. I was trying to put some money away to make some sort of move eventually. I didn't know where. And they said, let's, you know, we're going to move to Chicago, get an apartment and just try our hand at theater on the side. We'll create this educational theater company. We'll make some money and perform for kids on the side. And I was in and

And that's how it happened. But you go to Chicago to do this educational theater, which, by the way, pre-Yon. And then you get there. Yeah.

Fuck me, man. I mean, Steve. I'm still stuck on the money-earning career as a postal worker and then an improv artist. If you and I had been friends in high school and you had said to me, hey, I'm going with those other guys, I would have, you wouldn't have made a fucking dime in your life because you would have never left. I would have been like, are you out of your fucking mind? You're not going to fucking Chicago to do fucking anything.

Steve, get a fucking grip. Hey, Carell, you guys see what fucking Carell wants to do? Shut the fuck up, dude. So you're lucky you did go because it worked out well. But how did you go to go do that?

And then did that fall apart and you just saw a sign for Second City, like out of a movie, like, hey, there's my coupling. Well, that was always the ultimate plan. It was. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I really wanted to go to Chicago to do improv and to try to at least take classes at Second City and to do plays. You know, at that point, I wasn't thinking specifically comedy because I didn't think I was that...

Funny, you know, that really didn't seem like my forte. Well, that makes sense because your ability, and this is why I said right at the beginning that I'm such a fan, you know, during these last couple weird years of this worldwide disaster. What happened? I've watched all of The Office and I'm just even further in awe of what you do. And there's so much of it is because you're such a great actor.

There are a lot of people who are really funny, but you are truly both in such a profound way. Yeah, that's really true. Yeah. Well, there it is, guys. Steve Carell, Dime Sapphire Steve, and we've had a great time.

It is true. Your humor always comes from the depth of the character. You have like the stones to pull off. Michael Scott, there was so much pathos there. There was so much of it coming from a real place in such a way that I think connected with people. And certainly, I don't know, I just loved it. And I think that...

You're very believable as a... You're just a great actor. I don't know. And did... I was going to ask you, like, was there any nervousness or apprehension to...

to take over the office after the British office had so much critical acclaim and was talked about and buzzy and all this stuff. But I would imagine that you found comfort in the fact that what Ricky Gervais does so well is play that character. Tell him what he found comfort in. He played that character with so much

sort of melancholy and drama that, in other words, it wasn't funny to him at all. You know, he'd kill somebody if he heard them laughing at him. So did you think, well, oh, I can play that kind of funny, like no winking, I got it?

Well, that's what I find funny in general is, you know, a character in a comedy doesn't know they're in a comedy. Right. And the same goes for a drama. You know, you don't, you don't know what the circumstances are of your story, your own story is, you know, as a character. Yeah. So, so when you... Crazy people don't know they're crazy. Exactly. You know, drunk people don't really know they're as drunk as they are. So you kind of play against it, you know, and...

And I think the same goes for comedy. It's really off-putting to me whenever I see someone, like you said, winking at the camera or kind of acknowledging how funny they are being in the moment. That always pulls me out. I always think about somebody like Peter Sellers who did the most outrageously broad characters

and never let on that he thought he was doing anything even remotely funny. - Right, that anybody was watching him, you know, that there's no audience, yeah. - Exactly. - Yeah, I love that. - But I think that's, you guys do exactly that same thing. I mean, I think, I'm fans of all of yours for that.

exact reason. You know, you never see it. You never see sort of pandering or winking at an audience. Well, Jason does a lot of winking off camera, but I will say, and it's a little, it's alarming. I just want to say it's alarming. It's unsettling. But Steve, and I want to sort of, because I know that Jason sort of brought up, and I'd heard, and I think that you've said before, like you actually, of course, you knew about Ricky's office, the UK version, but that you weren't, you didn't

You didn't want to see it because you wanted to do your own thing, which I think is really fabulous. Is that true? Did you not see in the office before you? I've never seen it. I've never seen the UK version. Still to this day.

-No, not to this day. -Which makes total sense. And I think it's really such even a further testament to your talent. And, you know, we were such big fans of the UK version, and we were friends, and Ricky's a very good friend, and I am able to like each of them for very different reasons.

And I love both versions. And honestly, I just think that I want to once and for all just sort of like put that out there that you not only did you not watch it, you've never watched it, which is phenomenal. Well, I watched, well, I'll take that back. I watched just for a frame of reference. I watched about maybe three minutes of an episode before I auditioned.

And I knew instantly that I couldn't watch it because he was too good. Because if I watched any more, I would want to just duplicate what he was doing. Right, right. I understand. Brilliant. That was hilarious. Do you want to hear something that will make you all sick in your mouth? And this is a true story. When I said yes to Teen Wolf 2,

I made a concerted choice to not see the original Teen Wolf because I didn't want to be tempted to rip anything off from Michael J. Fox. And I wanted to be able to say that my version was completely, you know, just...

you know, cooked up internally. Did that ever come up? And still to this day, still have not seen it. Did that ever come up at any of the Q&As at the Director's Guild? Yeah. I just, they kept canceling those and I got weird excuses for that. I'm not sure what was behind it, but yeah, never ended up doing any of those. But I did tell a bunch of people to junk it, this story, and didn't get a lot of response back. But, yeah.

But that is true. Nobody's going to love that more than Kyle Gass is going to love that more than anybody. He's a big fan. Steve, do you have siblings, by the way? I do. Three older brothers. Would you like to get rid of them? Sorry. What? Would you like to get rid of them? That's Will's classic follow-up to the sibling question. No, they're fantastic. But you are the youngest or the oldest? I'm the youngest.

You were the youngest. I'm the youngest of four boys as well. Oh, really? Yes. And did you, uh, any of them interested in the, in the business you're, you're in? No, not at all. Did you get your ass kicked quite a bit? No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't like that. Um,

No, I was like five years younger than my closest brother in age. So I was always kind of the baby. So they always kind of protected me. I've got a couple of other Wikipedia hot tidbits here. Steve, did you ever consider... Sorry, just a DJ name. Did you ever consider baby Steve? Because it's a different...

It invokes a different thing. It wouldn't please Diamond Dave as much. Was it Diamond Dave? Sapphire. Can I do my baby Steve DJ voice? Yes, please. It's time to listen to Jerry in heaven. I can hear him turning off already. Now, is it true here that you played the fife? Oh, my God. Yeah. I do a lot of research. What is the fife? What's the fife?

The fife is essentially a flute that they would use during Revolutionary War times. So it was when you were doing reenactments is when you would... I was part of a fife and drum corps. Yeah. And you would take time off from that to just get laid all the time? Yeah.

So it's not a piccolo and it's not a flute. It's a pipe. It's sort of, yes. It is an old-timey piccolo. And just doubling back to the radio thing, WDUB, that's W-Dub. Can I hear you just bark out the call letters once for us? This is Sapphire Steve Carell on WDUB. Never W-Dub? No. I think they might call it Dub now.

All right. Last on this interesting list here is that you were and will just strap in for this, pal. OK, Sean, Sean and I can take a break here. You were a goalie on your school's hockey team, the Big Red, for four years. True. Yes. Will, go ahead. Let's talk goalie technique. And I was a I was a goalie, too, Steve.

I didn't know you were a goalie. Yeah, yeah. I played goal in hockey, yeah, growing up. Where would guys get the puck past both of you most easily? What was your loosest hole? Stop.

Steve and I were both, were old enough that back then the guys didn't play much. They didn't play in the butterfly style as much as they do now. So it was a lot more stack in the pads, right? Remember the stack in the pads? And it was all angles. It was all like coming out, coming way out of the net to cut down the angle. And no face masks back then, right? No. Hey, hey, no, but, but,

But we did, Steve, you know, it's great. I don't know if you feel the same way when you watch those old, I imagine you're a Bruins fan. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And that's unfortunate. But, you know, there's a lot of those old videos of like Jerry Chevers, you know, the Bruins, let's say, or Billy Smith or the Islanders. And they came out so far that the guys would make one move and then they'd have a yawning net because the goalie's like 30 yards out of the net.

Yeah. And I was told you have to learn how to skate backwards really well. So if you could skate backwards as fast as they were skating forwards and you move back with them, but still... You can come way out. It's impossible. The game has changed so much. The equipment is different. What was your... Will, what was your weak spot? Like where was...

Like blocker side. Probably blocker side. Like high blocker side. That was always tough. It's tough for all of them. I think it's tough for all of them. And also below the block, like in that, I don't know, what do they call it now? They call it the six hole or the seven hole? Seven, yeah.

Like under the arm on that side? Yeah, I think that that's pretty tough. If you're pretty, you can beat a lot of goalies right in there on the special. Great. Sean. Real good. Hey, guys, we just lost you. Bring your paddles in to revive Sean. Sean, ask him if he ever auditioned for SNL coming out of Second City. Go ahead. No, I want to ask.

Can I just ask one quick question about growing up? Because I think it's fascinating in a group like that. First of all, what is Corelle? What is your nationality? Italian. Okay. It's derived from carousel-y.

Oh, like a carousel? Yeah. Yeah, like a carousel. Or kerosene or something. Shut up, Sean. Okay, so wait. So you're interested in theater and second stage and all that. What do your brothers think of that as you're growing up? Like, are they like, oh, that's for sissies? Or are they encouraging? Well, it's just one of a bunch of different things that I did. So it wasn't...

I don't know. They didn't give it much thought. I don't think they really cared. Like, oh, Steve's in a play. Well, that's so lovely. We'll go see that. That's so lovely. I didn't tell anybody I was in the high school play because I was nervous to let them know about lots of things, but that I was in theater because all of my brothers are football, baseball, massive sports guys.

And I remember I came home from a performance of Bye Bye Birdie at my high school. And my brother goes, "Hey, I know you're in the play." I'm like, I freaked out. I was like, "You do?" He goes, "Yeah, I mean, I'm in football. We wear makeup too. We put the black stuff under our eyes. It's cool. Everybody wears makeup."

See, he was trying to give you a green light saying it's okay. Let us know, Sean. Yeah. Now in your school, Sean, was there like a huge delineation between like athletics and art and theater and that sort of thing? There was. I mean, we had a couple people crossover from, and when I say a couple, I really mean like maybe one or two from the sports into the theater. But it was mainly, a lot of it was, it's probably more integrated now. Yeah. Yeah.

What about you, Steve? It was a small school, so everybody kind of dabbled in everything. So there wasn't a built-in stigma to any of it. Yeah, that's good. I actually directed a book

like a melodrama and cast everybody from the hockey team. And guys who had never been on stage before. And it was one of the funniest things. That's great. That's how it should be. Yeah, it was really, really fun. What did your folks think when you were showing an interest? What kind of line of work were your parents in? My mom was a psych nurse. She worked the night shift.

at a hospital. Wow. I bet you she's got great stories. Oh my gosh. She, well, she did it for like 40 years. And it's, it was a lot, you know, I, I, I have so much respect for what she did and really worked very hard and she was good at her job. My, my dad was an engineer and

Did you talk to her at all about the patient at all? Is she still with us? She's not. No, she passed away about five years ago. But I think a lot of what I learned from her, I've implemented in that. And to the patient, which is your new show on FX that is to great acclaim. I play a therapist in it, so I think I gleaned a lot of stuff from her when I was growing up. Is that one of the reasons you took the role is because it was so close to what you...

close to what your mom had taught you? - In part, I just find that world fascinating. And mostly though, it was the creators, the guys who did "The Americans." And I'm a huge fan of that show. - You were gonna say that she never talked.

She never talked about anyone because, you know, we lived in these small towns. Right. She worked in Concord. We lived in the next town over. So she never talked about anyone that she was treating or talking to. Oh, my God. She told me so many things. But Steve, is that at the risk of maybe seeing them at the stop and shop? Exactly. I mean, professional courtesy, obviously. But in terms of the...

of what she did. You know, we talked a lot about that and the types of people that she was treating and caring for. - And to have empathy for no matter how sick or broken somebody might be, yeah? - Yeah. - Reminds me of my personal favorite performance that you've done thus far.

John DuPont in Foxcatcher. A fellow who clearly didn't have his feet completely underneath him, but you played him with so much like

I don't know, like any good villain, you should feel some empathy in a sort of an unsettling way for them, and you were just able to do that. Were you as furious? I know your answer. You won't answer this. Were you as furious when you didn't win the Oscar for that? I thought, my God, it's over. It's done. As soon as I saw it, I said, everyone's playing for second now. By the way, you and Channing should have both won.

Seriously. Oh, Channing and Mark were both fantastic. No one touched you in that film, Steve. Leave them alone. You took that and... And this was before... I mean, Bennett Miller... What...

Did you have an incredible meeting with him? I mean, he called, he called me, he out of the blue, he called me. What a great eye he's got. I, I never met the man. I was a fan of his work, but my agent called and said, you know, he wanted to talk to you about it. He wants to talk to you about a project. So yeah,

And it's one of those moments you think, what is this about? What's going on? Like, how would I even possibly be on this guy's radar? And he laid out what he was looking for and I just joined it instantly, you know, the chance to do something like that. Was that kind of vision in you and faith in you terrifying or did it give you the kind of encouragement that you...

you wanted and needed in order to play that part, you know, that someone saw it in you before you even thought about it. Maybe. I don't know how you guys feel about like when you, you take on parts or get jobs. I, if, if you're a little, and it's, I think it sounds like a cliche at this point, but if you're a little uneasy about it, if you're a little scared, I think that's good. Yeah. You work harder. I think so. I think it's like that unknown that that quality of,

Because if you go in thinking, oh, I know how to do this from day one. But like, why do it? If you really think you've got it always figured out. Well, I was going to say to that, kind of goes back to what we were saying before about being shy or not or performing or not.

the truth be told, and I know I can act like a pompous ass a lot of the time. Will. And seemingly not shy or whatever. I have a lot of moments where I think like jump or don't, especially when it comes to like doing things and saying things and stepping out, you know, like improv, like stepping out.

And my instinct always just tells me to just do it and to just go for it and be uncomfortable and who knows what's going to happen. And I feel nervous and just to embrace that nervousness. So I am nervous quite often and I just try to use it and or embrace it. Yeah, because I also find that courage lives on the other side of trying. You know, it's like you don't expect courage before you actually go for it. Fuck, now I've got to change my headstone in this grave. Yeah.

Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I think that's, and that's what's exciting about it. And that's when you find new things. And if you don't know you can do it, I think that's good. Or if you fear that you can't even, that's, give it a shot. Yeah. We'll be right back. All right, back to the show. Let me ask you this too, because you're, you know, you've, I can say it. I know you won't. You've completely conquered comedy. Everybody knows it. You're brilliant at it.

And so are you always actively seeking things that aren't funny, things that challenge you a little more because you know that you've kind of conquered that area already? Not really. You know, it's weird to even talk about like what I choose to do because I still feel like how...

how am I employed? You know, I'm sure. I mean, and you could tell with you guys too, it's like being so thankful for even getting to work is, is really cool. Um,

But no, I've never I've never like kind of picked and choose. I don't have a good sort of broad view of where my career is or should be going. It's just kind of gig to gig. Kind of. Yeah. Like trusting your instincts. If it's something like those guys, I really wanted to work.

with the guys who did the Americans. Nancy and I fell in love with the show. I fell in love with Ozark as well. If I ever get a chance to work with any of that team, my God, like it's, it's, that's what drew me to it.

it. And I thought, it may not be good this time, but just to get a chance to work with people like that. Yeah, because I too, I'm such a big fan of so many people in this business. If any one of them ever called me, it wouldn't matter.

how big or small the role is, what the money is, where it shoots, bubble. It's just that, that's, that's the big influencer on me on what I, what I choose to do to the extent I have a choice. If you're like me, you basically take everything you're given. There's not a lot of jobs that overlap where it's like, ah, this one's in conflict with that one. I got to pick. It's just, it's either yes or no. I'll just stay unemployed for a while. Yeah.

So, um, going on, going further into your incredible gaps on this, we're going to pull that one up right there. Going into your canon of, of incredible roles. Let's go to the other side, uh, into comedy. Let's go to 40 year old virgin where I, I, if I might be right or wrong that you co-wrote, co-created that, that that was an idea with you. If that is,

When did that first idea of the 40-year-old virgin come to you, aside from perhaps the obvious answer? Oh, no. It's not me. I mean, I don't know. It's not me. It's okay. No. It's a little me. It's a little. It's like the 30-year-old virgin. It's... I don't know. You know, it was a sketch that we tried...

I kept trying, you know, it was a second city sketch. I kept trying to get it in a show and it was like, you guys, I have this idea. And it was essentially in, in the Fort Hill Virgin, the seed of the idea was the poker sequence. When this guy gets invited out by his, his working, you know, not buddies at that point, but coworkers and they're all regaling each other with these tales of sexual conquest. And he, um,

doesn't have any context, hasn't done it, doesn't know how to talk about it. And he starts to improvise the most ridiculous things about what it feels like to touch a woman's breast. And he's just way, way wrong. And they call him out on it. So that, after I did Anchorman,

And Judd Aptow said, if you ever have any ideas, you know, I'd love to meet with you and you can pitch anything you want to me. So I went in and I pitched a completely separate idea for about an hour. And he was like, oh, yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah, let's keep talking about it.

So it kind of went nowhere. And as I was walking out the door, I said, oh, and there's this other thing, 40-Year-Old Virgin. I gave him like a 20-second pitch. And he looked at me and said, that I can sell this weekend. Like he was on it instantly.

And that's how that came together. That's great. Now was, was Anchorman on the page or, or did you come up with a lot of that on, on the day as far as the style of that character goes? I think a lot of it was on the page. I, you know, I,

I never want to take credit for like the office, the writing of that show was so fantastic. And there was some improv that went on, but you know, you just, I, you have to give credit. Like Adam McKay is such, such a funny dude. And, and half the, half the improvisation, it was him. Like, you know,

behind the camera, just yelling stuff out that we should say. And then we say it and we get credit for saying it. But the credit you do deserve to take is you have a very keen sense of what, what your funny is and what your funny isn't in that you have, you have such an ease into vulnerability and, um,

and cringe-inducing embarrassment. Like there is... You're not afraid to pull your pants down, metaphorically. And you put that in a lot of your characters, which is just...

It's so courageous and so hilarious. Um, even when you're playing a guy who's arrogant, um, he, it's just so wafer thin. Um, and it's, it just, it, it just kills me. Uh, and I don't know if you can write that as my point. Um,

You know, it's like it's in the eyes. There's a vulnerability, a generosity of spirit that you have with your character. My internet may be going out, but all I heard because it was kind of choppy was just pull your pants down and it's wafer thin. How do you respond to that, Steve?

Wait, Steve, did you have any other sketch ideas from Second City that you wished would have become movies? And you want to pitch them to him now and we'll cut them out. If they're really good, we'll cut them out and we'll sell them to Universal. We'll double back to the answer on mine. You know, it's... And I'm sure you guys look back at stuff that you did that you think, boy, that at the time, you're thinking, this is really working. Yeah.

You reflect on it 20 years later and you think that's just the worst. I did a song. I did a song parody of Bobby McFerrin's. Oh, don't worry. Be happy. And I wrote a song parody for one of our shows that was don't worry. Be affluent as sung by Dan Quayle. And it was the worst. It was so bad.

Oh, that's so good. And so obvious. That's a funny idea. And at the time I thought audience, I mean, got in a show, audience is loving it. You're welcome. And there was no wit to it. It vaguely rhymed. It was terrible. Yeah.

So, no. There's a lot of stuff that deserved to be left on the chopping block, I think. Okay, so those are the ones that deserved to be left on the chopping block. What's the thing, the idea, the thing that never got made or that you had in development at the studio? Did you ever have an idea or a movie that you're like, God damn it, I'm sure none of your stuff got put into Turnaround, but I had like three or four things that have never been made that to this day I still think...

That would be the funniest one thing that Mike Schur and I sold years ago. The ambassador, remember the ambassador? Yeah, the ambassador we sold to DreamWorks and that's still there. And I'm like, it's brilliant. Obviously, Mike Schur is a brilliant writer and you know him well, but do you have any of those things of like, oh, I wish this thing...

Well, Tina Fey wrote something that I wish we had gotten to do. It was called Mail Order Groom. And it's about a woman who works at a video store. This is how old the idea was. Who basically flies to Russia to...

this guy, like a mail order groom. She sees us, I don't even remember how it all starts, and I'm the mail order groom. And so she brings me back to the United States essentially to get one of her coworkers jealous. Did he have the Gru accent? It's all the Gru accent. I mean, that's, yeah, I'm sure if we'd done it, it would have been Gru.

And it's so good. And and so and obviously we end up kind of warming up to each other and eventually falling in love. And there's actually, Will, you were you were who we were talking about to play the immigration agent.

No kidding. He sounds interesting. Like if it had gone, you were like first on our list to play, you know, the guy who's like onto us. Well, let me check. Yep, I'm available. I mean, I'm just saying. Let's fire this up. Steve, let's get this going. Steve, I don't need a commitment out of you now. All I'm saying is if I get this off the ground with Tina and you, and obviously we'll update. It's not going to be a video store. It'll be at a TikTok conference, but it's where she works.

But I'm just saying, don't rule it out. Steve, I want to ask you a question. When you travel back and forth, you said six months on, six months off on each coast. Yeah. When you go back to L.A. after being on the East Coast in Boston, which is so different, is there a culture shock? And what are the things you noticed that you didn't notice before having now made the move and having time away? Anything? Yeah.

I think the main thing is that when somebody sees me in a supermarket here, they just – they give me shit. They're like, hey, Steve, don't get cocky. But they're very sweet about it. Like, hey, that new show. All right. Don't get cocky. Right. Yeah. Right. Whereas in LA, you'll find a script in your shopping cart. It's a little different. But yeah, the people – I mean the people –

I think they will generally know that I'm from the area. Sure. Yeah. I just didn't know if you got back to LA, if you were like, oh, I forgot about this. I forgot about the way this is or that is or this person is or that person is because in Boston, I don't get that. It's just, it's very sleepy back here. That's, that's the main difference. I find that Boston, I have, I have, obviously Amy's from Boston. I've spent a lot of time up there. I have my own lifelong love affair with the people of Massachusetts and

And I always like the, oh, look at you, must be nice, huh? Exactly. The must be nice, which is so good. You're in California now, huh? Must be nice. Look at you, Steve. Steve, you're doing all right, huh? Must be nice, must be nice. All right, I got to go. Hey, we just ran out of Snapple and cigarettes, you know what I mean? Yeah.

No, there's a built-in familiarity. Yes. And generally, there's not a lot of lingering. It's like a glancing blow. Like, hey, you know, you, I know you. See you later. Right. And that's it. Yeah, right. Hit and run. It's the sweetest. Sean, do you remember you and I auditioned for a movie at the same time? Oh, that's right. Down With Love. You were like the nicest person.

I mean, and our paths really haven't crossed much, but I remember how in awe I was of you during that time. That's very sweet. And I of you. And now he's much more just in awe of you.

of you you know what i mean that's very kind steve carrell thank you i i feel the same way about you remember that i do remember that i do remember seeing you i felt the same way i was like oh my god you were so nice steve what do you do what do you do other than because we like to ask people what do you do other than being just super talented and working on tons of stuff where is there do you still play hockey do you have any hobbies you play golf do you play tennis do you play what do you know what do you want the audience not to know about you yeah um

I still play a little bit of hockey when I can. I'm in a league. But you're not between the pipes anymore? No, no, no, no. I gave that a no. That would be really bad. But you play like shinny or do you guys wear full equipment? Full equipment. Yeah, we have uniforms and the whole thing. Will, why don't you play in that? So it's not just pickup. Yeah, maybe. Do you guys ever need extras to come skate? Yes. I'm thinking about coming in to skate again.

- Really? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Anytime. I play D. - I'd love to go play. - Oh. - Can I watch? - For sure. It's really fun. - I'm dead serious. Okay. - How long does it take to put all that equipment on? How long? - Four hours. - Excellent. - And then eight hours to wash the smell off, right? - Well, my dad's not around anymore to tie my skates, so it takes longer.

Did your dad do that? Did your dad help you with equipment? Dude, listen, I'm so old that when I grew up in Toronto, my first team that I played on, Moordale, the rink was at the end of the street and it was an outdoor rink in Toronto. And...

And I remember vividly getting such-- My fingers were so cold and trying to do up my skates, and I got a little bit of frostbite in my skates, and I came in, I was probably like seven, six or seven, one of my first organized, and I came in there to put my feet in a-- They'd had like a tin that cookies come in, they put cold water in. 'Cause you don't put your feet right into hot water if you're gonna have potential hypothermia 'cause it's too shocking. And they put my feet into a-- My grandmother was there with me, I remember.

and put them into this thing and it felt like burning.

And, yeah, so I remember all those things of doing up my skates. Do you remember the skate tighteners that had the hook on it? Like a little hook. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember that. And, yeah, my parents used to take me to, God, Saturday mornings. We'd have practice and or games. And I had a paper route. And I remember having my mom's station wagon with the back down. And she would drive slowly. And I'd run with the insert papers to the different houses and then to the game at like 6 a.m. And I got a...

To both my folks who are listening, definitely. Thank you so much. I don't know if I've ever probably thanked you for all those early warnings. Oh, I know. Just, yeah, big sit for hours. For hours, right? Yeah. I had a paper out when I was a kid and I used to just throw all the pamphlets in the forest and say I delivered them. Sean, we're going to have a long talk after this. Yeah.

Sean, this has not been a great moment for you. It's not been great for you. Okay, the Steve Carell episode for you has been a real fucking low. I'm going to stick around after this interview. Okay. Steve, I'm sorry we're ending on a low note, but you are incredible.

You have been very generous with your time. You're a dream. Please keep giving all you're giving because we'll keep taking and watching. Yes, for sure. And thank you for the hour today. Thanks, guys. My best to you, your radio career, your wife, your kids, all of it.

And we're going to come up. Steve, I can't wait to watch your show. And you've always been, we've only met a handful of times over the years, but you're a true gentleman. And you start skating together now. And let's skate. I'm going to get your email from these guys. For sure. Yeah. Very, very low pressure hockey. You'll enjoy it. It's fun. Great. Great. Love to.

Thank you, Steve Carell. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Steve Carell. Look at that. Look at that. Steve Carell's on the show. You guys are great. Thank you. Unbelievable. It's kind of amazing. I wish we had applause. Let's just give Steve a clap off. We'll pipe it in. Let's clap him off. All right. Thank you, Steve. Thanks, guys. Bye, Steve. Thank you.

Sean. Now, Sean. Sean, we have to talk to you. That was... Now, Sean. What do you mean? About the papers? The pamphlets? No, it just, it was with the pamphlets and people who didn't get their newspapers and stuff and all these years. And just a lot of like stuff. How dare you say stuff about pamphlets in front of Steve? I was like eight. I was like eight years old. Oh, is that guy top, top shelf? He really is. Yeah, he's the best. Man, man, man. Yeah. Yeah.

We didn't even talk about one of my favorite drama roles. Did you ever see Beautiful Boy with Timothee Chalamet? No. I never saw that. He played his son who had an opioid addiction. Oh, man, it was heartbreaking. I couldn't take it. It felt like it was going to be too sad and I didn't want to watch it. It was. It was really, really good. I'm with you about the fox catcher. When I saw him in that, I was blown away. Oh, he's so good.

that was kind of amazing great fraser shot that too beautiful cinematography i loved when jason asked if he cried at his wedding he said no but i started sweating and then jason said well so your body was crying

I've never heard that. Yeah, well, that's when the body is so, why am I so nervous, the body says. And it starts crying. Right. It comes out your pits. But it is kind of amazing. He's one of the few actors who really kind of crossed over from comedy to drama kind of seamlessly. You know, a lot of people, you know, when I was growing up, a lot of people wanted to be like Tom Hanks. Like, oh, my gosh, he was in all those comedies and then he's in all these dramas. Yeah.

And it's so hard to do that. And Steve Carell is doing that. I think that Steve is... And by the way, both you have done that as well. No, but he hits it. You know, he made the point, which is that I think that people always go like, what is your plan and what were you trying to do? And a lot of people, like, there is no grand plan. You just kind of go how you go and go with the flow and what happens to interest you more.

at the time. Yeah. Or like Mike Tyson said, everyone's got a plan until you get punched in the face. Yeah, I guess it's like that. I guess it's like that.

I guess it's a little bit like that. Did he really say that? He did say that. Famously, yeah. That's funny. Larry Merchant said, forget who Mike Tyson was. So, Mike, you seem to be in control very early. What was your plan going in? Or no, I think it was Evander Holyfield. It seemed like he had a plan right up front there, and then that kind of went out the window. Were you responsible? Yeah, yeah, everyone's got a plan until you hit them in the mouth. It's some version of that, but the thing, Tyson, first of all, he had those huge shoulders, but he had even bigger bites.

Bye, Seth. Bye, buddy. Okay, see you guys. I guess that's the end of it then. 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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