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Dax Shepard
Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts, or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Shepard and I'm joined by the Duchess of Duluth.
Monica Padman
Hi.
Dax Shepard
Hi. Our sweetest friend Adam Scott is here today. Yeah, we discovered. Which I would have not guessed. Yeah, I forget now. But in seven, in the interview, we realize he was his seventh guest.
Monica Padman
It does feel like it's been a long time since he's come on, but not that long.
Dax Shepard
No, I just didn't think he was that early. I felt like we were up and running for a while and I reached out.
Monica Padman
Me too.
Dax Shepard
But yeah, so this is his second trip. Oh, this will be good. Because I remembered this. There's a point in the interview where I go, weren't you super into hip hop?
Monica Padman
Yeah, you did.
Dax Shepard
And he's like, no.
Monica Padman
Yes.
Dax Shepard
And I was so discombobulated by that because I'm like, I know. I remember this.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
And it hit me after this interview and I text him and I was like, oh, my God. You know what I think I'm confusing is, were you obsessed with do the right Thing and Spike Lee and started wearing African gear and he's like a hundred percent. So that's what it was. I knew he went through a phase.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Dax Shepard
And he was wearing like the tri color Africa shirts and it was do the right Thing.
Monica Padman
Oh, I'm not.
Dax Shepard
I wasn't totally insane there. There's some connective tissue.
Monica Padman
Got it. That makes sense.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Monica Padman
And also lends itself to him being a cile.
Dax Shepard
Yes. Big Time Parks and Recreation, Step Brothers, Big Little Lies, Party down the Good Place. And alas, arguably the greatest show on television, which returns to Apple TV plus on the 17th. Severance.
Monica Padman
I can't wait. So excited.
Dax Shepard
It's so good. It's so, so good. And I got to do the severance podcast that they're doing, which is really, really fun.
Monica Padman
That's great.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. I do recommend. It's been three years. I have a pretty good memory. I don't remember anything. It is so worth starting it from the get go. It's so enjoyable. I had forgotten so many great things about it.
Monica Padman
Me too. I rewatched it as well.
Dax Shepard
Oh, you did?
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I mean, it's just. What a show.
Monica Padman
It's fantastic.
Dax Shepard
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Adam Scott
He's an object.
Dax Shepard
He's an option. Steal yourself. Is that the expression?
Monica Padman
Oh my God.
Adam Scott
Steady steel.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
Thank God there's no buttons on your slacks. Like Camilo Anthony.
Adam Scott
I wonder what it is I'm supposed to be looking at.
Monica Padman
Yes, this is very nice.
Dax Shepard
You're fucking hot as hell. Hold on, Adam. You're 1000% sexy as fuck.
Monica Padman
What is this from?
Dax Shepard
I've always known you've had good hair, like enviable hair. But this photo, I can't do things like. Like you can take big swings with your hair. Would you acknowledge that?
Adam Scott
And I would say that's a big sw. You think it might be a bit of a miss?
Dax Shepard
No. Oh my God.
Adam Scott
The whole thing just feels a little stupid.
Dax Shepard
No, Adam, listen to me. You can own this. Can I hold this up? Can you see that, Rob? But look at this. This is great.
Monica Padman
You do have great hair.
Adam Scott
Fuck. You have good hair.
Monica Padman
You're welcome.
Dax Shepard
I'm stealing this from Arnett. He would call it the 40 yard stare. Like that Vietnam?
Adam Scott
Yeah, the like middle distance stare.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, like am I seeing a sniper in the background? That you're not.
Adam Scott
Right. Me and Pratt used to do it works. It would be saying something stupid to each other and then just kind of breaking into and it's like, what are you. What Exactly. There is this middle distance where it's so clear. I wasn't looking at anything. It was just. Look over there. Yeah, that's maybe part of why it's embarrassing.
Dax Shepard
No, no, no, no.
Monica Padman
You're so self deprecating. It's a gorgeous picture.
Dax Shepard
I don't think I'm just gorgeous.
Monica Padman
It's absolutely gorgeous.
Adam Scott
By the way, it's so different in here than where we are. Oh, sure.
Dax Shepard
You know, let's take a second to process this.
Adam Scott
How long have you been in here? Three months. I listened to the show. I don't watch it, so I would. I don't know.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, take it in. First of all, Rob did all this.
Adam Scott
It's really nice. Can you believe homey?
Monica Padman
Thank you.
Adam Scott
And well designed. I know you have impeccable taste, Rob.
Monica Padman
Thank you. But this wasn't me. This was all Rob.
Adam Scott
It's really lovely.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. You can almost forget, right? That's the dream.
Adam Scott
It's nice. And you got the camera sort of hidden. It's really nice.
Dax Shepard
Well, we have overs in this podcast which people don't have over. They line up in a line.
Adam Scott
Overs. It's so good. You're a director. You know these things.
Dax Shepard
What if I said I'm a director at heart?
Monica Padman
Ew, that's gross.
Adam Scott
I'm a storyteller at heart.
Monica Padman
That's worse.
Dax Shepard
I'm even scared to admit out loud how much I hate that because so many people I love. I've heard use that term. I know, and it's true. We are story animals.
Adam Scott
Stop it. Just cut it out. Since the dawn of man, we gathered around the fire. We tell stories. We can stop. Stop saying that.
Monica Padman
Yeah, I would like to stop.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
You've seen people you love say it, right?
Adam Scott
Of course. Yeah, I'm sure I've said it.
Monica Padman
I mean, Jesus, I'm pulling for the fact. Check both of you.
Adam Scott
Saying it a thousand times a stream. Is there any other current words that piss me off? Yeah, nomenclature. That's rubbing you the wrong way.
Dax Shepard
I have too much of it to the degree that I'm not proud of myself.
Adam Scott
Too much of what?
Dax Shepard
I am hypersensitive to words people are using in pop culture to the degree that I have to be a little self reflective and go like, this is the kid in high school. Like, I'm still looking for reasons that all the popular kids have their code.
Monica Padman
You feel left out.
Adam Scott
I got that.
Dax Shepard
I think that's why it's such an acute because Monica will tell you I've called out words like artisanal. The second artisanal. I said, you watch, that's going to be on a fucking Arby's sign. It wasn't on Arby's, but it was on subway. My current one I'm tracking is atelier. This is the new Word.
Adam Scott
Wait, I don't know this one.
Dax Shepard
Great. You're getting in on the ground floor.
Monica Padman
You do know it. It just means like a shop.
Dax Shepard
You don't know it.
Monica Padman
It just means a nice shop.
Adam Scott
Apoth bubbled up a few years ago in the wrong places.
Dax Shepard
Yes. Atelier, which I learned this from Monica. This is like a small, bespoked, handcrafted luxury item. And it's the studio for it, which I'm fine with those Italians having their ateliers, or French, whatever it is.
Monica Padman
It's where the designer actually makes the items. It's a real word.
Adam Scott
Sure. But we don't use it to describe the sandwich shop in Beverly Hills, which is coming.
Dax Shepard
I just started hearing atelier a little too much. And I was like, monica, you watch the Gap's gonna have in a two. Okay. So we have storytellers. That's rough for me.
Adam Scott
It's rough.
Dax Shepard
And again, so many people. I love it. I see. You sure? I don't think people can get through an interview without saying it these days. Holding space. Can't you just do that without talking about. Does that trigger you at all?
Monica Padman
Never said it. I do think it's rough.
Dax Shepard
This is where the left is losing people, by the way.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Stuff like that.
Adam Scott
100. Because it's cultural and rhetorical. That's it. Of the two parties, there's one that actually helps out the working class. And it's not the one that won. It's one that rhetorically and culturally don't know how to talk to them. Right.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
So it's shit like that. 100%. But wait, holding space means I'm just creating space for myself?
Dax Shepard
Well, I think it's more often used in, like, I just want my husband to be able to hold space for me to have my emotions. Or hold space for a co worker or a friend.
Adam Scott
Right.
Dax Shepard
It sounds a little too sanctimonious.
Adam Scott
I think I tuned that one out.
Dax Shepard
So I use one that probably people hate. I will say often, my story. My story about you and I is this or my story about losing that job. That to me, feels a little more honest, which is, I know. I'm a storyteller.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And it's just.
Adam Scott
It all comes back to storytelling, you guys.
Dax Shepard
This is a story.
Adam Scott
Monica's visibly uncomfortable.
Dax Shepard
We thought our pants were going to explode, but they've retracted. Were you wearing three belts when you walked in? I didn't notice.
Adam Scott
Isn't it funny in movies where they flash to the future and you see them taking stabs at what will happen Fashion wise. In the future. I think in Back to the Future people have two ties in the future.
Dax Shepard
Right. In 2015, which, by the way, you would have known that already.
Adam Scott
That's right.
Dax Shepard
You know what no one's playing with which they should be, is that as we see drugs like Ozempic become ubiquitous and people will more and more have the same body shape, it's almost interesting that no one's projected that in the future, everyone just virtually. There'll be like three versions of people.
Monica Padman
Also with Botox and fillers and all of those things. Yeah, people's faces are starting to just look like one thing. I mean, young teens are doing Botox and filler.
Adam Scott
I know.
Dax Shepard
I wish I was alive when they were 90 so I could see how perfect they look. I bet it's really going to work, lady.
Monica Padman
To say I'm against it, but I am.
Dax Shepard
You are.
Adam Scott
Even though you're for kids.
Monica Padman
Honestly, for like an 18 year old, you don't even know what your face is yet.
Adam Scott
But also you're not done forming.
Monica Padman
Exactly.
Adam Scott
Growing. I have two teenagers, so they're always on TikTok and Instagram stuff. And yeah, there's a lot of perfection and redefining perfection. It's all really crazy.
Dax Shepard
It's very sci fi. It does make. Did you ever have these days when you were in elementary school, I'm plagued with a lot of cowlicks. I don't have the head of hair. You do back to your hair cowlicks, you know, where your hair juts this way and then that way. It's all scandiwompus and back. I have a swirl. So the middle part with a feather when you and I were kids was king.
Adam Scott
Totally.
Dax Shepard
You had to have that hairdo. Bowen Luke Duke had it and I just couldn't get it down the middle. It was always off to one. It was like a 60, 40 split. And so occasionally I would have a morning like in fourth grade where I would feather it. It would look great. And I would make this weird promise to the deities. I would say, like, I commit to this hair for the rest of my life. If you can keep it looking this way.
Adam Scott
If it can remain this perfect, I will keep this parted down the middle feathered construction for the rest of my days.
Dax Shepard
Okay, now, did you ever do any dumb thing like that in front of the mirror?
Adam Scott
I remember my brother had the little lead figurines for Dungeons and Dragons. They were made out of lead.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
And as a kid I heard lead is poison, so you need to be careful. I Used to just steal all his shit and look at it. He's older than me, so I remember one day taking one of these little lead figures and just sticking my tongue out and just touching it and then just being like, what am I doing? And I remember looking into the mirror in our living room. There was a mirror hanging there and just going, I don't want to die thinking that it was imminent.
Dax Shepard
Okay. What you stumbled upon right there is called the call of the Voice. Do you know this term?
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
So the call avoid is very, very common for people experiences. You're on an extremely tall building, you're looking over the edge, and the voice is going, jump, you pussy. For some reason, it's taunting you.
Adam Scott
Yes.
Dax Shepard
And that's what licking that lead was. And I would have done the exact same thing.
Adam Scott
Like, whoa. It's pretty powerful.
Monica Padman
Powerful. That's what it is.
Dax Shepard
But you got to be on the other side of answering the call, the void, which is. You laughed.
Adam Scott
I did it.
Dax Shepard
And it sounds like you had immediate regret.
Adam Scott
Yeah. It was a stupid thing to do.
Dax Shepard
Did you think in your mind at that time you thought you'd be dead before day's end?
Adam Scott
I thought I would drop dead any second. Were you, like, touching your t. Getting under the faucet? On Instagram, I'm constantly shown, you know those kids that are now climbing skyscrapers all over the world without any equipment? What?
Dax Shepard
Yo, they're just free balling it and they're running and jumping. They're not, like, being careful.
Adam Scott
Oh. They're getting up to the top of, literally, the Empire State Building and balancing on one leg, taking some pics. Yeah. They have their drone up there, and they're just like, what's up?
Dax Shepard
Some toss them a beer.
Adam Scott
Crazy. And there's a documentary on a couple that do this in Eastern Europe on Netflix. Their whole group of friends are traveling the world doing this. And they die often, of course, because they fucking fall.
Dax Shepard
Yes. Yes.
Adam Scott
But I'm on that algorithm on Instagram, and I'm constantly being shown these. This is because there's nothing that I enjoy more than watching these people on the edge of the fucking skyscraper. And I love it.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. It makes my hands sweat so profusely.
Adam Scott
I get butterflies and I get an adrenal rush, I think, watching them. And then I have to just put it down and not look anymore.
Dax Shepard
Sure.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Look in front of the mirror and.
Adam Scott
Say, I don't want to die. It's like, well, it's just a video. You're fine.
Monica Padman
Were you a really good kid? It sounds like you were a really good kid. That extent of mischief.
Adam Scott
Yeah, yeah, I must have been a good kid.
Dax Shepard
I can really relate to being the younger brother who. He'd leave the house to go do something fun and I would run to his bedroom like a chimp. Just like hold his objects 100% covet them.
Adam Scott
Oh yeah, look at chimp, your little possessions.
Dax Shepard
His idols. I felt like I was holding special idols.
Adam Scott
I remember once he came home when I was in the midst of one of my archeological digs. And I hid behind a chimney that came through the middle of his room. And I just hid there for 15, 20 minutes while he just sat on his bed reading a comic book or.
Dax Shepard
Something I was seeing at my grandparents roadside motel in the summertime. And I had an Uncle Rob who was five years older than my brother. So this guy was on top of the world. He had a 68 Camaro. He played the guitar very well. He had a dirt bike. And I got into his room when he was out and I found just a treasure trove of firecrackers.
Adam Scott
Oh.
Dax Shepard
I was like, this motherfucker's got major power movement in here.
Adam Scott
Firepower.
Dax Shepard
I was like, oh, there's 60 of these. I'm gonna steal one black ca. And then later I was out in a field next to motel and I lit him off. And I was like very scared and excited. And I just hear, they're loud, aren't they?
Adam Scott
Oh fuck.
Dax Shepard
And I turned around, it was Uncle Rob. And he fucking called me red handed. Just like the cool uncle. You'd guess. He didn't mind too much. Yeah, he understood what was going on.
Monica Padman
The other day you told me you've never stolen.
Dax Shepard
I didn't say that.
Monica Padman
Yes, you did.
Dax Shepard
No.
Monica Padman
Yes, you did.
Adam Scott
No.
Monica Padman
Then I said, yeah, you tried to steal a parking meter. Parking meter.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I did steal. And then I said, no, I did steal a parking meter.
Monica Padman
Yeah, you said. Then I tried and I tried to. I had a different compartment cause I was drunk. But now. Here we go.
Adam Scott
It sounds like. Sounds like he was in his right mind when he stole these fireworks.
Monica Padman
It does.
Dax Shepard
I was pretty hammered.
Adam Scott
What is that?
Dax Shepard
That's a nicotine spray. You've certainly seen me use these.
Adam Scott
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dax Shepard
On our yearly vacation.
Adam Scott
Yeah, I've got.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. What are you rocking? Zins. Yeah, yeah, that's right. You're a Zinn, man.
Adam Scott
So stupid.
Monica Padman
What's a Zinn?
Dax Shepard
A Zinn is like a little pouch of chemicals. It's kind of like a skull band.
Adam Scott
Hit, except it's Non tobacco. Or maybe Skull Bandits are non tobacco.
Dax Shepard
No, they're tobacco.
Adam Scott
Okay. These are non tobacco. It's just nicotine.
Dax Shepard
Bandits are made in an atelier in Raleigh, Durham.
Adam Scott
So are Zams.
Dax Shepard
They're made in one by one gorgeous.
Adam Scott
Atelier in Terre House, Indiana.
Dax Shepard
Very bespoke, very tisnal. And they fold each packet bespoke.
Adam Scott
That's another one.
Dax Shepard
That one doesn't bother me.
Adam Scott
Agents started using it describing different kinds of movies and shows.
Dax Shepard
By the way, that's a great source for trigger words is agents. Because agents kind of like Silicon Valley bros. There's a lexicon and you gotta stay abreast.
Adam Scott
And political talking heads. There's always a new word kind of cycling through. A few years ago it was crossing the Rubicon. So and so is going to cross the Rubicon into.
Dax Shepard
You're so right.
Adam Scott
This cycle, it was something else. But yeah, it's annoying.
Dax Shepard
Okay, now I gotta go all the way back because when I talked about your hair. So basically we're getting into this era where the Faustian promise couldn't be. We're nearing a technology that at 8, I could have injected myself with something and my hair would have looked like that for the rest of my life. That's where I was going with that entire story. Like, the notion of freezing your face at 16 is kind of interesting. I don't have a moral judgment on it quite yet. Maybe I have to move it over.
Monica Padman
This has gotten better over time. So that would have been a big mistake.
Dax Shepard
Mine too. Is yours improved?
Adam Scott
I think so. I look at photos of me when I was 30 and I'm like, what's going on? And it might just be the way you perceive yourself. It's hard to gain perspective on that. I just saw the substance, which was super interesting.
Monica Padman
Yes.
Adam Scott
So good. But remember when the kid in the doctor's office introduces her to the idea and that kid's perfect face?
Monica Padman
Yeah, but creepy.
Adam Scott
Very creepy. That's what I immediately think of when you say there'll be like three different kinds of faces. Or if you have the power to just freeze your face. Everyone starts kind of morphing into a face like that. To me, that looks like a YouTube tutorial face. Like, it's just weird. And it's become this standard that people are looking at on social media.
Dax Shepard
It's hard to say what's better or worse. Is that better or worse than you and I thinking, you gotta look like Brad Pitt and there's no chemicals or I can't freeze my.
Adam Scott
There's nothing you can Do?
Dax Shepard
No, I'm not sure if it's getting better or worse. Yeah, okay. But my sci fi fantasy is this. So if we just think really quickly that your cells divide and they make perfect copies of themselves.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
So there's this great mystery. How then does your body evolve and look differently? If it's making perfect mirror copies of each cell, what is this aging process? How are the cells changing? And there's a lot of science that's getting close to figuring that out. So let's just say there is a future in which you take it and then that's it. You're arrested. Exactly where you're at. From now on, your cells will just duplicate as they should. That's an interesting sci fi movie where everyone is 28, the wise elders are.
Adam Scott
28, and everyone is immortal, probably, unless.
Dax Shepard
They get hit by a car. Unless some kind of accident happens, their cells are just gonna make perfect copies of themselves. So that would be an interesting sci fi movie where everyone's 30, one guy's.
Adam Scott
130 and one guy's 30.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Adam Scott
But they look exactly the same.
Dax Shepard
And it just makes me wonder like status wise and how you treat people at a grocery store and all this weird stuff. If everyone was the same age, what would that do?
Adam Scott
That would be really weird.
Monica Padman
Also it would make the first, first 30 years of your life, or 28, whatever number everyone shut it down.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Monica Padman
You'd like be living in a bubble because you have to protect yourself until you get to 20. Yeah. So you don't get messed up or.
Dax Shepard
Well, I did think of that as. Once you get the procedure, it'll heighten your fear of accidental death because you're not gonna die of any diseases.
Adam Scott
People would be so much more accident phobic. And also there would probably be some sort of celebration when you hit 30.
Dax Shepard
Or 28 or whatever it is at 27. That's when they always say you just start going downhill from there.
Adam Scott
Is that right? Is that like the peak? That's when you remember Looper, one of the great sci fi movies of the last 20 years or so. Rian Johnson.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
They have that party when you close your loop and you know your death date. Is that what it was? They throw a party and it's a really dark, weird thing. But that's the great thing about really good sci fi is when you drop in and you see kind of the customs of this new altered environment. And when it's pulled off well, like in Looper, it's really kind of mind bendy.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, that's the fun stuff to think about is not the actual actual big.
Adam Scott
Juicy tech cultural reverberations.
Dax Shepard
Like if a guy that's 130 is dating an actual 30 year old woman, but they look the same, do we throw out that whole thing we care about?
Adam Scott
And what are the apps that would be created to catch you up on what a 30 year old is into your fucking 430.
Dax Shepard
What if. Okay, we got to get back to reality after this.
Adam Scott
No, but listen, dating a 430 year.
Monica Padman
Old though, then it's like they're mature, right? That's cool. I don't know.
Dax Shepard
What if. Okay, so the. These new meta glasses, they have a speaker right behind. Yeah, whatever. The arms. I'm told that you could be in China and you can have the AI be translating what someone's telling you in Mandarin and you'll hear it in English. I think we're really close to the Star Trek. Like we're wearing glasses, a Chinese guy is wearing glasses and we're just communicating. So knowing that, that's close. Now what if back to the 300 year old, let's call it a woman dating a 30 year old man.
Monica Padman
That's safer.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, that's safer. We like that. Yeah. And then the 30 year old man goes, I loved this new show, Tobique Crossing.
Adam Scott
It's a great show, by the way.
Dax Shepard
It is a good one. And then the woman in her ear hears, I'm watching this new show, Dawson's Creek. The AI knows where this reference is going, so they can communicate.
Adam Scott
They can have the conversation.
Dax Shepard
Different references. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Monica Padman
Sort of. But they're still living in the same world.
Dax Shepard
Like you'd be talking about Taylor Swift. Like, let's say you and I were on a date. You'd be talking about Taylor Swift and how great she is, but I'd be hearing Madonna so that I understood it's.
Adam Scott
A cultural equivalent, translator cultural. Have the same emotional interaction and just be on the same level at all times. So all cultural references become the same too? Yes, Everything evens out so there are no obstacles anywhere.
Dax Shepard
No, it's just emotion. I'm conveying an emotion. That's right.
Adam Scott
You say you like Raiders of the Lost Ark and I hear Tron. Tron 3D.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
I mean, that just made me sound so much older than I intended.
Monica Padman
These aren't real relationships. You're just hearing what you want to hear. Because what if you didn't like Taylor Swift objectively, and I'm talking about Taylor Swift and you're hearing Madonna, something you do, it's just translating into what you like.
Dax Shepard
No, no, no. See, I mean my version of this cultural translator, you're saying Taylor Swift. And my equivalent of that was Madonna. Now I actually feel about Madonna however I felt then. Right. So maybe I thought she was. I don't think this. Well, I just think she was a stage show. She wasn't really an artist. Let's just say that's what I thought.
Monica Padman
We don't. We're not.
Dax Shepard
That's not what I think.
Adam Scott
None of us think.
Monica Padman
We also just. We don't say that.
Dax Shepard
So I'm hearing you talk about who's a perfect comp. And then I feel the way about. And then I go, she's not for me. I don't like.
Adam Scott
But your AI would be so attuned to you that it would know if you say Taylor Swift to perfectly translate that to someone I love. It's not Madonna. Maybe it's Emmylou Harris. It's attuned to you and your taste. If the objective is to get along with this person you're talking to and create an emotional connection and get rid of any snags along the way, it'll just provide equilibrium for everything.
Dax Shepard
So in your version, like a liberal and Democrat are wearing the glasses, and the liberal goes, I'm so afraid the earth's going to catch on fire. And the person hears, I'm so afraid of immigration.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And everyone's like, I know, I know.
Dax Shepard
Terrify.
Adam Scott
I totally agree. Yes.
Dax Shepard
I'm scared, too.
Adam Scott
Oh, that's wild.
Dax Shepard
Okay, this actually brings me to a real question. First of all, and I told you this privately, so I'm not just fluffing your pillows now that we're in public.
Adam Scott
Fluffing your pillows. I like that.
Dax Shepard
Not a really common colloquial. We go on this trip every year. It's the funnest trip of the year for us. Yes.
Adam Scott
So fun.
Dax Shepard
Our friend Jimmy Kimmel hosts all of us in the most generous possible capacity.
Adam Scott
The loveliest.
Dax Shepard
And there's a lot of things you could say were the bells and whistles of it. The location, the accommodations, the activities. But for me, it's dinner every night.
Adam Scott
Yeah, it's a giant table. How long would you say this table is?
Dax Shepard
40Ft?
Adam Scott
Probably 50 people. 40 people, would you say?
Dax Shepard
Yeah, that feels right.
Adam Scott
Everyone is terrific. And every year there's additions and people can't make it and someone else arrives. And it's always, always just fascinating group.
Dax Shepard
So you can't miss, no matter who you're seated next to. But. And I don't want to rank. It's not polite to rank. But if you and I get seated next to each other, I'm like, this is going to be the greatest three hour dinner. You're the funnest person to talk to. I love talking to you.
Adam Scott
That is so flattering. And when you texted that to me, I immediately went and got Naomi and told her. Because my immediate reaction when finding a seat at that dinner is if I'm sitting across from you or next to you, I'm like, I really don't want Dax to feel like he has to talk to me.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God. And I'm trying to engineer getting seated across from you.
Adam Scott
And I love sitting with you too, because you're an inherently interested person and you're so fun to talk to. And I've always felt that way about talking to you, even when we didn't really know each other that much. You can just drop in with you and talk about stuff and you always have something to say. And you telling me that was a huge deal because I also feel comfortable sitting across from you, sitting next to you, like, I'm immediately at ease.
Dax Shepard
Same. So, so much of our conversations. And this is where one of my questions comes in. We have a lot of nostalgic conversations. We have a lot of the same favorites from the 80s and 90s. We did, I don't know, 90 minutes on against All Odds.
Adam Scott
Oh, you had Jeff Bridges.
Dax Shepard
I did. And I brought up the car chase scene and I asked how much of the driving he did. Questions only you and I would want answered.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Yeah. If I'm wearing the glasses, I to turn now and then maybe.
Adam Scott
That's a pretty good comp.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
He talked about that being the first movie he started physically training and how it created a lifetime interest in exercise.
Adam Scott
That's so interesting. I was watching a behind the scenes thing on Temple of Doom and they're like, Harrison really had to bulk up for this one. And it shows him at like a shitty gym. Just like doing bench presses with those.
Dax Shepard
Plastic weights filled with sand.
Adam Scott
Yeah, like nothing.
Dax Shepard
He did some bench press, not nothing.
Adam Scott
He's definitely exercising, but gyms have changed a lot. There's no trainer there. He's just by himself.
Dax Shepard
No squats, no deadlifts. Just a bench and some curls.
Adam Scott
And then a couple of beers.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, a couple of beers and a doobie and let's get to set. Yeah. But I guess what I was wondering is you have this deep nostalgia. I want an explanation for It. And I'm wondering, do you think we're just that way, or is there something about childhood that was so comforting you would recognize you're more encyclopedic about that whole era than most people you talk to.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
You always blow me way out once we start talking. Yeah. You've watched the behind the Scenes of Temple of Doom. I have.
Adam Scott
Right. In the last three months, I've gone.
Dax Shepard
And looked at that.
Adam Scott
It's so comforting to think about that era. And I think movies in that era in particular were geared for us.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
When I referenced Temple of Doom, that is my favorite movie. I was 11 when that came out. That and Goonies and E.T. i know. It's kind of tired now because our generation has beat the nostalgia to death a little bit. Back to the future. Those movies, at least for me, they meant everything.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
I ask myself that a lot. Why did this stuff mean so much to me, at least for me, that whole period of time, from 82 to 88, when I started getting interested in beer and just a social life, hip hop, for me, it was like the dead.
Dax Shepard
Why do I think you had a crazy hip hop phase in high school?
Adam Scott
I didn't.
Monica Padman
I think you're thinking of Macklemore.
Dax Shepard
Oh, I don't know if I am.
Adam Scott
If I could count the amount of.
Monica Padman
Diet, I bet all the time. I know.
Adam Scott
Oh, my God.
Dax Shepard
That's why we wanted to do this on video, to be honest with you.
Adam Scott
To see if Macklemore and I. Because he's not here. So you don't know.
Monica Padman
But is he?
Dax Shepard
But I think people would think it was Macklemore posing as Adam.
Adam Scott
Probably you're right. It's a particularly positive, potent period of time.
Dax Shepard
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Monica Padman
I saw some of these items appear on a very very trusted gift guide from a friend.
Dax Shepard
Oh really?
Monica Padman
Yeah, the sweatpants are on there. People love the sweatpants and really great for travel.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I'm eyeing those sweatpants. Luxuriate in co coziness without the luxury price tag. Go to Quince.com Dax for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com Dax to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Dax okay, last thing I will say about this. Then I started watching this Brat Pack documentary.
Adam Scott
That's another chapter of that same period of time those movies Hit me so hard. Pretty in Pink. Oh, my God.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God. Pretty in Pain and the Psychedelic Furs and how that was making me feel. But I was watching the Brat Pack doc and I was having the realization like, oh, we also lived in a very peculiar time where five of the biggest movie stars alive were 21 years old. I think of that now. And of course that would seem crazy that there would be this cadre of enormous stars, but that was a unique thing that was happening when we were kids that we didn't know was unique. They're green lighting like 12, 15 teen.
Adam Scott
Movies a year right from that period. They still don't look that young to me. And I think it's because they were six years older than me or something.
Dax Shepard
They looked sophisticated and adult. Like, of course, they were driving a Porsche and dressed nice and had a.
Adam Scott
Big apartment and they were 21.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Did you have that, Monica? My wrong about that. That's a unique aspect. You didn't have that when you were 12.
Monica Padman
Oh, the 21 year old.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. It was like a whole crop of movies every weekend. Zac Efron a little bit before. I'm sorry. Laughter I'm not calling you a bab.
Monica Padman
Yeah, I'm a big girl.
Adam Scott
Harry Potter stars.
Monica Padman
No, I was like the Friends era. They were young. I guess they were young too, but yes, older than me. But I was going to say nostalgia, I think exists because it's the things that you consumed before everything got complicated.
Adam Scott
That's right.
Monica Padman
And also before you started wanting things for real, chasing things and deciding, I want to do this with my life. It was just pure. And there's only a very small amount of time. You get it in life of purity.
Adam Scott
Totally. And that window for us happened to be during this Spielberg era where Elliot in ET Indiana Jones, the kids in Goonies, Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. These were heroes.
Dax Shepard
Luke Skywalker changing the world.
Adam Scott
Yeah. And they were all scrappy nobodies.
Dax Shepard
And divorce was making its way into these movies, which I like.
Adam Scott
ET Is a very divorce driven movie.
Dax Shepard
I was in a divorced family on my maybe second stepdad, feeling like I want to just be in the world on my own a bit. Yeah. And all these kids, these protagonists in these movies were just kind of on their own.
Adam Scott
The parents weren't figuring prominently into any of these things. No.
Dax Shepard
And I think that was really appealing.
Adam Scott
It sure was.
Dax Shepard
Get them out of here and let me run the show a little bit. Let's see what we can do.
Adam Scott
Because those kids in ET Were just like, yeah, okay, Mom. And they were just going to leave.
Dax Shepard
This alien on our own.
Adam Scott
Dude, we're going to outrun the cops.
Dax Shepard
So when I went back to consult your previous episode, I would have not guessed this. What number do you think Adam was?
Adam Scott
Early.
Monica Padman
I think really early. Maybe 32.
Dax Shepard
Right. I would have gone 40s. What would you say first? Five, seven.
Monica Padman
Stop.
Adam Scott
Seventh guest that you had.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Adam Scott
I remember it being early, but I was kind of taking a flyer by saying five, seven.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, seven. Not only seven, but Monica. As I listened to it, the episode starts with how Housekeeping. And it's me explaining, Monica's a part of the show. She's gonna talk and she's not interrupting. Like I read in comments that she's a integral part of the show. Like, it's me explaining.
Monica Padman
Oh, boy. Oh, I just got like sweaty.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I got sweaty listening to the whole thing.
Adam Scott
Oh, how long ago was that?
Dax Shepard
Seven years ago in February. Wow.
Adam Scott
Congratulations, you guys.
Dax Shepard
But obviously so much has happened since then.
Adam Scott
Yeah, seven years.
Dax Shepard
What I learned in a bunch of interviews I listened to of you today, one was I heard you on Fresh Air saying, which I thought was really funny, that you were just obsessed, singularly on TVs and movies. And that's all you thought about.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And I was thinking, if you go into acting, that was a great use of time. But if you're just an average person that says no. All I've ever thought about and obsessed about was TV and movies. Somehow that sounds like a losery endeavor. Yeah, right. I was thinking like just by the fact that you landed in, it means that it was totally, totally justified. And what a great thing to be focused on your whole life.
Adam Scott
I think in the low points of trying to do this, that certainly crossed my mind. Like, what have I done with my life? Because it's all I thought about and talked about.
Monica Padman
99% screen time.
Adam Scott
Right. And here I am with nothing to show for it and no practical skills of any kind. There was a real low Point in 2000 when I had not gotten six feet under. I tested for that with Michael C. Hall. Thank God he got it because he was incredible. And I was not ready to do that.
Dax Shepard
Well, that's heartbreaking. And then you're watching it.
Monica Padman
Oh, yes. Hefty role.
Adam Scott
A hefty role and a hefty show.
Dax Shepard
But you played his lover ultimately, didn't you?
Adam Scott
Yeah, I did play his boyfriend for a couple episodes.
Monica Padman
So they brought you back. That's.
Adam Scott
Yeah, they did, but before it was even on tv. And when I did not get the role, it was after a series of blows, work wise, just not having worked in six months or, you know, one of those. We all went through it and I was nowhere. I had been at it at that point for like seven years or something and was at square one. Because when you're living like guest spot to guest spot and indie movie, you never hear from those people again.
Dax Shepard
To remind people, you and I were in one of those together. Hair shirt slash. Too smooth.
Adam Scott
Too smooth.
Monica Padman
This is when you were Vomiteer.
Dax Shepard
I was Vomiter. But do you know what his role was? I don't know if you knew your role. The last Bar fan at Bar.
Adam Scott
Fan.
Dax Shepard
Almost worse than guy at Bar.
Adam Scott
It is way worse. It's far more humiliating. And who were you?
Dax Shepard
Vomiter at party.
Adam Scott
What does vomiter mean?
Dax Shepard
Someone who vomits at a party.
Adam Scott
Are you on camera vomiting?
Dax Shepard
Yeah, I think so. Oh, man, I hope so. That's what was promised.
Adam Scott
Never seen Too smooth.
Dax Shepard
You haven't seen it?
Adam Scott
Hair shirt. Have you seen it?
Dax Shepard
I've seen it. I don't want to get bogged down in that. But you want to know who else was in that movie that I doubt? You know?
Adam Scott
Was it Rebecca Gayhart?
Dax Shepard
Rebecca Geheart? Nev Campbell? Of course. Course. And then our two leads, which I looked at the poster this morning. Our poor two leads are in the deep, deep background. And Nev and Rebecca are front and center. And they maybe had like, I don't know, three scenes.
Adam Scott
Nev was playing like a big star.
Dax Shepard
Hence you being a fan.
Adam Scott
Fan at bar.
Dax Shepard
At bar, yeah. And me being momenteer at party.
Adam Scott
That's right.
Dax Shepard
Alfonso Cuaron was in that movie.
Monica Padman
What?
Adam Scott
I remember he and Dean were good buddies.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, he played a director in the movie.
Adam Scott
That is so wild.
Dax Shepard
So you and I have been in a film with Alfonso Cuaron.
Adam Scott
Absolutely. We are colleagues of Alfonso Cuaron. We are peers with Alfonso Cuaron. That's really, really funny.
Dax Shepard
So obviously since then you have done a ton of stuff, but severance is the most spectacular thing. And as you know, because Chris and I sent you voicemails almost after every episode, I'd like to play a couple of these.
Monica Padman
Oh, hey.
Dax Shepard
So we're in bed and we just had a quick question.
Monica Padman
Hi. We just had a quick question.
Dax Shepard
Are you guys fucking drawing this season? Is that what's taking so long?
Monica Padman
What in the God damn hell is taking so long?
Dax Shepard
These are the kind of messages you would receive after every. Son of a. You wanted the compliments. Where? Here comes the complaints. Belle and I just sat Here on the edge of our seat waiting to find out what happens when you guys come to.
Monica Padman
You prick.
Dax Shepard
You piece of prick. And that goes for Ben, too.
Adam Scott
Losers.
Dax Shepard
Oh, buddy, are we pissed that this episode just ended when the switches were thrown. So you wanted the cake and now you gotta take the rat poison tooth, you piece of. Okay, so that's kind of an.
Adam Scott
Was that for the finale?
Dax Shepard
It was, I think, one before.
Adam Scott
Oh, the one. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Dax Shepard
This ended up being three. Oh, another thing. It's gonna be a long week for us and for you. Yeah. Because we're waiting. So either block my number or get used to this, you piece of. Okay, and then the last one. Big update you'd probably find funny. My wife just ran through a plate glass window off the second story of our home and was rushed to the hospital. You probably want to know if she's still alive. I will tell you next week.
Adam Scott
I have all those on my phone as well.
Dax Shepard
I want to play one of your responses, which is so good, you can't.
Adam Scott
Imagine how much pleasure it gives me to have the both of you over a barrel like this.
Dax Shepard
I may as well tell you now.
Adam Scott
That the entire season was created just to frustrate and destroy the both of you.
Dax Shepard
Eat shit. You're so fucked.
Adam Scott
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Monica Padman
That's cute.
Dax Shepard
But you went into severance, and I learned this from you. I don't know if this is secret or not, but you were involved, and then maybe you weren't involved for a minute and then you were involved. So doesn't start on the firmest footing. Maybe, or I don't know what you go through before you end up there. Yeah, but you go right at really what point in the pandemic?
Adam Scott
Well, we were scheduled to start the end of March 2020, or beginning of April, something like that. And actually went and did a table read March 7th or something. And then I was going to go home, get all my shit and come out. And at the table read, they passed Purell around. We were like, this pandemic thing is. This is Weir. And then as I was there, just for like two days, shit was contracting in New York, and I was like, maybe I should go get Lysol wipes for my room. Like, what's going on? Then I flew home and then everything happened. So we didn't start shooting till October, but even that.
Dax Shepard
But that was early.
Adam Scott
We were one of the only shows actually shooting. So a lot of shows were doing this where you have a mask, a plastic thing in front of your face, and all that shit for the actors. The only time we saw people. People's entire faces was when camera was rolling. We would rehearse with all that stuff, and there was a special person with your own box to put your mask and all your equipment in. Yeah.
Monica Padman
Oh, my God.
Adam Scott
All that to say the isolation from each other and in general, because I would wake up in my apartment, go down to the van that took me to set that had a plastic sheet between me and the driver.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God.
Adam Scott
Then go to my room. Where you weren't allowed to have anyone in your room. Suffice it to say, the. The only real human contact was after action. Right. So it kind of fed into the show.
Dax Shepard
I didn't know this. That your mom had died as well right before. I guess it would have been that.
Adam Scott
Table read two days before the table read.
Dax Shepard
I think the most interesting part of this is. So then the memorial gets kicked all the way to December or something.
Adam Scott
December of 21.
Dax Shepard
Okay. So very far away. But what immediately happens after she dies is you go into quarantine with your family, and it's like. Like groovy. Right? You're with your family. I think in particularly a time like that where there's the loss of this person, but at least you're connected to the fact that the whole thing just carries on. And that's comforting and maybe misleading. And then you get completely by yourself in an apartment in New York in this very lonely situation already, and I'm imagining everything. Kind of must hit the fan at that point.
Adam Scott
Yeah, it really did. And it really was sort of from the moment I walked into the apartment and closed the door, and it was dead silent. And I was like, oh, okay. I need to come to terms with. At that point. She had died six months before. But like you said, I was cocooned with my family, with the people who love me the most, and was insulated, which is, I guess, one of the things love is for is to make you feel better. And they suffered a loss as well. But obviously I was the one who was going to be grappling with it in sort of a unique way from my kids in the Emmy. So I'm in that apartment, and I needed to find a way towards grieving and defining what this is and what happened. And I really did it through the show. I mean, I sort of just decided, I'm gonna figure this out. But the show is about grief.
Dax Shepard
I hate say it was a good coincidence, but, my God, if you have to go through this, the fact that you got to play someone who's grieving the loss of somebody and you're lonely as fuck in real life.
Adam Scott
Yes.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
You don't have to act. Really.
Adam Scott
Yeah. Just gliding right into it and very directly letting it out and processing it in the show. There's a scene in the show actually where we were on the side of the road at the site of my wife's car accident in the seventh episode. And just by sheer coincidence, because we shot the whole season at once. It was on the one year anniversary of my mom dying.
Dax Shepard
Oh, wow.
Adam Scott
And I didn't realize it till that day. And so there were things like that where I could pretty directly process.
Dax Shepard
When you shut the door to the apartment and you go, we got some dealing to do, are you overcome with fear for that process? What's your reaction to knowing that, oh, we're going to go through some stuff now and we're going to be by ourselves and we're going to get in. Into this.
Adam Scott
I'm a person who tries to compartmentalize and push things to a later date.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
And so I busied myself with getting ready for the show and the election was about to happen. And so I was preoccupied with that. And so I closed that door and was like, oh, shit. And really felt the loss right there. Like there is a giant elephant in this room with me. But it'll be there. I'm here for eight months or whatever.
Dax Shepard
We'll get to that.
Adam Scott
I'll be fine. And eventually, after a few weeks and just hours of alone time because no one was socializing really. And restaurants, you know, it was so weird that I really did have to figure it out there. And I didn't talk to a therapist while I was there. And I really should have. I did in a way, sort of come to terms with it and come to terms with the fact that grief is something that is a flat circle in one way or the other. It stays with you. And sometimes it feels like it happened 10 minutes ago and sometimes it feels like it happened 50 years ago.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
And sometimes it's surreal that that person is no longer in your life. It's just like unbelievable.
Dax Shepard
It's really hard to imagine someone exists and they don't. As dumb and simple as that is to say, it is so weird that you can exist and then not exist.
Adam Scott
Yeah. And someone that is so instrumental in who you are. You know, this thing that I'm doing for a living. When she was gone, I realized that part of the reason I was doing this in the first place was for her to see it.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Scott
You know.
Dax Shepard
Of course. Yeah.
Adam Scott
And so when that was gone, I was sort of like, who am I going to impress?
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Adam Scott
So I had to straighten that out and sort of come to terms with the fact that these feelings and this love that you have for a person and their love for you doesn't go anywhere. It's still here.
Dax Shepard
It's kind of what you're made of.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
The structure of you is.
Adam Scott
That's right. And a parent dying, it's like part of the sky going away or something. It's sort of a big thing.
Dax Shepard
Well, it's the thing you're most tethered to.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
So when my dad died, I had these conflicting feelings of like, a. He had become a dependent of mine.
Adam Scott
You were taking care of him, supporting him.
Dax Shepard
So, unfortunately, a lot of our conversations over those last few years were like, I need this. It's just not a great dynamic.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And then, you know, I lived with my mom primarily my whole life when he was dying. It was a lot of work for me. So I. I had this conflicting. I felt a sense of relief when he died, and I was like, okay, this battle's over. We got him through it without too much carnage. That's a win. I had a misleading sense of relief for a few months and then opened up the door to like, oh, I'm never going to chat with him again, or, he's not going to see anything I do. But through all of that, I was like, also, thank God it's not my mom, because my mom, for me, is the thing you're talking about. Like, Dax wants to live in the woods and be a nice annihilated drunk all day. And anything I've ever done positive was because my mom believed enough that I was a good boy and I needed to make her happy. And so I've often thought, if she's not around for me to even think, what would she think? That feels like a very scary place for me to be in. I really rely on her to almost be my super ego.
Adam Scott
Just like in the back of your head, your mom is this very unique station.
Dax Shepard
It's so fucking thankless. Do you watch Naomi and I watch Kristen. I go, my God, what the.
Adam Scott
Go through. And meanwhile, I'm walking around like, I know.
Monica Padman
They're like, dad.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Monica Padman
You know that Nick Kroll special where he's just like, moms are annoying. Yes, they are. Why? It's so unfair.
Adam Scott
Because they know you so well.
Monica Padman
Yep.
Adam Scott
In a way that no one else does. Not your dad, no one. They just know they were in your.
Dax Shepard
Well, they're who you are able to be scared in front of. Vulnerable.
Adam Scott
Yeah. Even as an adult, something would happen. I would call her. No matter how embarrassing. You know that that call is there.
Dax Shepard
Yes. You know, to your point, guaranteed I'm feeling better when I get off the phone with my mom.
Adam Scott
100%.
Dax Shepard
She'd somehow find the silver lining.
Adam Scott
That's right.
Dax Shepard
Horrific.
Adam Scott
And give you the kernel of whatever it is, at least for me. Part of a son's journey. And I'm sure it's the same for no matter what gender you are, there is a period of time where you and need to peel away and show that you don't need your mom. You've got this. You're good.
Dax Shepard
You're a big boy now.
Adam Scott
Yeah, that's right. And I already know anything you're gonna say anyway because I'm a grown up now. But thinking back on that stuff is painful. But I think also just being a parent now, you just know. You don't care.
Dax Shepard
No.
Adam Scott
Anytime. My kids are shitty to me ultimately, I don't really give a. I almost.
Dax Shepard
Think good for you.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Sometimes like when they tell me off, I'm like, for you got some backbone.
Adam Scott
Yeah. Not bad.
Dax Shepard
You're supposed to hate me from time to time.
Adam Scott
That's right. It would be weird if you didn't roll your eyes and slam the door right now.
Dax Shepard
Yes.
Monica Padman
If you're lucky, you get two sources of unconditional love. And then when that starts going away, it's so scary. What's left.
Adam Scott
It is scary.
Dax Shepard
We have the great luxury and gift of. I think what you do with that is you just turn it on your kids. It's like, I don't have that thing. I miss. Miss that thing. I'm never going to have that thing. But I have this thing.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Imagine when you don't have kids and you go through the loss of a parent. It's got to be really destabilizing because you're kind of now not tethered to really anything.
Adam Scott
I can't imagine. Monica, are both of your parents with us?
Monica Padman
Yes, they are. I live with so much fear of something happening to them. And I think part of it is that I don't really have a place to channel it. But in some ways I think, not that it's a cop out, but like you said in the pandemic, you could sort of channel it with your family.
Dax Shepard
We're all.
Monica Padman
All ultimately by ourselves really. And so when you really sit with it, you are going to have to Process it anyway at some point. Yeah. And the kids aren't really going to be the answer to that. They probably don't deserve to be the answer to that.
Dax Shepard
They're going to bail like every other kid does.
Adam Scott
My son's in his senior year in high school, and that's going to happen in less than a year.
Monica Padman
That's awful.
Adam Scott
Oh, my God, it's so awful.
Monica Padman
Why? Why is life structured like this? It's crazy.
Adam Scott
So wild. And you were so kind, too. He came over and interviewed you for his film class, and boy, oh, boy, was that a feather in his coat. Doing a little mini doc on cars and Dax Shepard's in his feather.
Monica Padman
That's pretty cool.
Adam Scott
He's so smart and such a kind, lovely person and into really cool stuff. It's the best. But it's going to be incredibly sad when he fucking leaves.
Dax Shepard
Oh, God. Yeah.
Adam Scott
Jesus.
Dax Shepard
Well, yeah, you shut the door to an apartment near York, and that had some justification, but the notion that you'll be shutting your door to your home when Frankie leaves and you'll go, we're gonna have to deal with this.
Adam Scott
Yeah. Now we just have each other.
Monica Padman
Yes.
Adam Scott
Jesus.
Monica Padman
Maybe they'll come back. My brother went back home for a while.
Adam Scott
Really? Like, after college or.
Dax Shepard
Okay. He just recently left.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Adam Scott
Wow.
Monica Padman
So you never know, you know?
Adam Scott
Good for him.
Monica Padman
I was panicking for my mom, because that's even worse. It's like, then you have a really long time. I think you probably trick yourself into, this is forever.
Dax Shepard
Great.
Monica Padman
He'll live here. This is just the way it's gonna go. She gets to make sandwiches for him every day, and now he's really gone.
Adam Scott
Did she have to go through the grieving all over again to YouTube instead or.
Monica Padman
She likes YouTube.
Adam Scott
I think she's just watching YouTube.
Monica Padman
She's dealt with a ton of shit, and she's figured it out.
Adam Scott
Where do they live?
Monica Padman
Georgia. So anyway, I was like, oh, no. And also, she just lost her dad. And I was like, oh, my God, my brother's leaving. And that's happening and this is a disaster. Disaster. But she's.
Adam Scott
Well, you know what? When that happens, sometimes the second time.
Monica Padman
They leave, instead of this middle ground, maybe it's like, okay.
Adam Scott
I remember when I came back in between years at school, I had only been gone for eight months. And I remember moving back into my mom's house. And she was a little like, huh, okay. Yeah, you're here now.
Dax Shepard
She had processed.
Adam Scott
She had already moved on. And so there was some adjustments.
Dax Shepard
The baby boomers did it quicker they knew how to get through something really bad.
Adam Scott
That's right.
Dax Shepard
Okay, now back to severance. So those are kind of unique circumstance in which you are filming the first. And so here's what happened. As you know, it's my favorite show. Told you non stop. We got six screeners for the upcoming season.
Adam Scott
Oh, you did.
Dax Shepard
Which we were ecstatic about. I came in and I lured these few things I get over because Kristen has access to everything in the world. I'm never offering something cool. And I'm like, guess who's got six episodes of next season. So, so excited. Sign in to watch them. And I go, let's watch the recap. I wonder if you've done the same thing.
Monica Padman
I had the same crisis of morality where I was like, I want to so bad, but I don't think I should. And mainly actually because I want to be watching it while the world is watching it. There's something about you being like, we have to wait a week. That's makes fun. Really fun.
Dax Shepard
But that's not why I didn't watch the new ones. I watched the recap and I was like, hun, are you remembering this?
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. And she's like, not as much as normal. And Kristen can really remember a TV show. Monica will tell you come back from Game of Thrones. She still remembers. Yeah. So I was like, I'm inclined to start over. Which I've done. I can't recommend this enough to people. You should start right now. In anticipation.
Adam Scott
I'm doing the same thing because Ben and I are hosting a podcast which.
Dax Shepard
I hope to be on.
Adam Scott
Yes. Where we go through every episode of the first season. Then we'll be doing a weekly thing for season two.
Monica Padman
I love that.
Adam Scott
And rewatching the show. I hadn't seen it in a long time and it's been three years. So we're encouraging people to rewatch the whole season.
Dax Shepard
I can't believe how much I forgot about it. And I can't believe how much I'm enjoying rewatching. I think more than I've ever enjoyed rewatching there. A lot of it that feels like I'm watching it for the first time.
Adam Scott
Oh, that's great.
Dax Shepard
I think because of the gap between seasons.
Adam Scott
Long time.
Dax Shepard
But then also the density of it and the subtlety of it. And it's interesting watching it, knowing more about it. I think you get more from it. But anyways, all that to say I didn't watch any of the new season because now I'm on episode four. Kristen Went out of town. I already decided, fuck her. I'm going on without her. Which is another rare. I don't do that.
Adam Scott
That's a tough decision to make. Whether or not you're going to be honest about it or rewatch those episodes, pretending it's the first time.
Dax Shepard
You have three viewings before we.
Adam Scott
Yeah, that's right. That's right.
Dax Shepard
I guess my fear, because I love the show so much is what do you do with a second. Second season? How long did that take for them to crack that? Also, Dan, Is that the writer creator's name?
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
The only thing he had ever written for before this was Lip Sync Battle.
Adam Scott
Yeah, man.
Dax Shepard
Do you know this story he wrote for Lip Sync Battle? He sent the pilot for severance as a writing sample to redhour.
Adam Scott
Yeah. And Nikki Weinstock and Jackie Cohn at redhour read the script and thought it was great and brought it to Ben. And so, yeah, it was more of a sample, like, hey, I'm a writer. But they were like, what about this as a actual thing? And Dan was working at a door factory when that sample was sent to Red Arrow.
Dax Shepard
Really?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
In what state? In California.
Adam Scott
Here somewhere.
Dax Shepard
Good for us. We're manufacturing doors. I thought that was more of a.
Adam Scott
Concept without doors collapse. He's just the coolest guy and brilliant, obviously. And he and Ben just started working on this and developed. Developing it. And Jackie and Nikki. I'm sure Dan was kind of scooped up from nowhere, having no real credits. It's fun talking to him about the show and where it can go and stuff. And he has it all in his head. And also when he's thinking of something new, it's really fun to hear him sort of go, oh, yeah, that's cool. And then little cul de sacs and roads he goes down. He always takes an unexpected strange direction. But also, as far far as the kind of language of Lumen, there is no one who can really crack it and write it like he can't. It's a really particular thing that he invented and has a real direct line to is the strange phrasing and nomenclature of Lumin and Kier and this whole world. It's really fun.
Dax Shepard
How much of Ben's fingerprint is. Is on it directorially because, and I'll admit this, I had not seen Escape from Dannemore or I saw the first one. I don't know why I didn't continue. But we just watched it, I don't know, three weeks ago and fucking loved it.
Adam Scott
It's amazing. I just rewatched it too, last week.
Dax Shepard
And did you see the parallels? Yes, it's a similar thing. You're, like, trapped in a world. You don't have your autonomy. You're trying to escape. I don't know. It's interesting.
Adam Scott
Yes. I really zeroed in on this time watching Dannemora, how art figured in their lives, because John Turturro and Christopher Walken's characters, particularly John Irv, his life is really connected to art and the paintings and the rules and all of the sort of culture of the world is really important to him. And the guys in Dannemora, Benicio Del Toro and Paul Dano's characters, you know, when you have very little, your sort of stimuli is really cut off. These things become really important.
Dax Shepard
And in severance, it almost seems dangerous. You're looking at all those hallways that are stark white. They're meaningless. And then the painting that he hangs up, it's like the most exciting. It's like the fucking sphere in Vegas in that world.
Adam Scott
Totally. And when Christopher Walken's delivering the new tote bags for the manual, that's a huge deal. Yeah, it's an event.
Dax Shepard
Could you see all this stuff when you read the script?
Adam Scott
Not like this. The tone of it was really found during the first season. And I think, do you know, usually when you go back and watch the first season of any show that you know and love the first few episodes, it's like, okay, they're figuring it out. Since we shot the season all at once, we were still shooting the first episode ten months in. So something that worked in our favor is us finding our sea legs was spread out over the season.
Dax Shepard
There's no moment you can detect that.
Adam Scott
And that's to Ben and Dan's credit.
Monica Padman
Were you guys worried? Were you, like, maybe we should put masks on and maybe we should redo the COVID experience while we shoot season two to keep it calm.
Adam Scott
Right. To keep our eyes. Isolation.
Monica Padman
Because that was magic. And that's scary.
Adam Scott
It's scary going back to anything that worked or works.
Dax Shepard
As much love I have for the show as I have anxiety about how we perpetuate this world in a way that ends up being satisfying logically. It's a big endeavor.
Adam Scott
You know, when we started season two, it was like, there is this steep mountain in front of us. Holy shit. Okay, let's go.
Dax Shepard
Should I do Pulp Fiction too, dude?
Adam Scott
Yeah. And just the enormity of it, it's so much to do, and I love that. I love getting in and chipping away. And I love working with Ben. Something we have in common is we don't want to stop until we get it right. I completely trust his taste and his eye. And that's something that you have to have in a director, is complete trust. And how often is that? But I do with him.
Dax Shepard
I have no business saying this, evaluating his career in this way, but I'm going to. So it's like he did Tropic Thunder. He made that movie so big and glossy and actiony, which is cool. He showed he could do that. I was watching Dannemore. I was like, okay, so this is him saying, like, I don't have to with comedy. I know exactly how to do drama. And I feel like severance is the beneficiary of him having proved he can do everything and now letting in some of the comedy and the weirdness. This, to me just feels like the total synergy of all the previous work.
Adam Scott
That's really interesting.
Dax Shepard
There's just like a confidence. It can be anything because the show's often hysterical, I think. And it's just all things now.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare. We are supported by Better Help. The start of the new year brings you 365 blank pages waiting to be filled. What do you want your 2025 story to be? Maybe you're ready for a plot twist, or maybe there's a part of your story you've been waiting to revise. Think of Therap as your editorial partner, helping you write new chapters and become the author of your own life. I know for me, I want 2025 to be filled with a lack of codependency.
Monica Padman
That's nice.
Dax Shepard
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Monica Padman
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Monica Padman
Yeah, that's a good one. I'm starting to journal more journaling, sprinting.
Dax Shepard
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Adam Scott
I did because we had so many scenes together with Walken in season one. Didn't really have all that much time with Him. I had a couple scenes and it was incredible to just be anywhere near Christopher Walken. I couldn't fucking believe it. Yeah. Actually on my first day shooting with both of them, it was like six weeks into the shoot and they both were starting on the same day. And I was so excited and actually took a picture of the call sheet and sent it to my friend. Stu. Was like, guess who I'm working with tomorrow, bro.
Monica Padman
It's so fun to still be that excited.
Adam Scott
Oh, my God. I was so excited, but couldn't get to sleep because I was so excited. Stayed up to like four.
Dax Shepard
Oh, boy.
Adam Scott
Woke up not because of my alarm, but because of pounding on my door. I was supposed to get in the car at probably 6:00am and it was 8:30.
Monica Padman
Oh, no.
Dax Shepard
Oh, my God. Two and a half hours sleeping.
Adam Scott
Set was an hour away.
Dax Shepard
Oh, no. Now it's rush hour.
Adam Scott
My assistant was pounding on the door, which means he had time to drive from set all the way down to Tribeca and pound on my door. This was the first day with John Turturro and Christopher Walker.
Dax Shepard
After you'd brag to your buddy the night before.
Adam Scott
Yes. Which is the kid kiss of death. Right.
Dax Shepard
You're showing up feeling great about, oh.
Adam Scott
My God, I let him in and was running around the apartment crying, trying to get all my together. Because usually I wake up with at least an hour of just time to drink coffee and read the whatever.
Dax Shepard
Okay, so you finally show up on set. Presumably you know these two legends who you can't wait to work with. They've been told our lead actor.
Adam Scott
Yes.
Dax Shepard
We can't find him.
Adam Scott
I just had to go apologize.
Dax Shepard
And what did you say?
Adam Scott
I said, I am so sorry.
Dax Shepard
I just flew in from China.
Adam Scott
The thing that really sucked about it is that I knew no matter what I say, it's going to sound like bullshit. No matter what I say. Yeah.
Dax Shepard
You're a guy who just slept in two and a half hours.
Adam Scott
I now have put myself in a position where I have to earn it back with these two guys who I don't know. And I've been working on this first impression now for a while, and I am starting at a serious deficit.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, you're in a hole.
Adam Scott
No matter what I say, no matter how gracious they are, they're gonna be like, dick. The number one on the call sheet ends up being an asshole.
Dax Shepard
I might have been tempted. I don't know if this manipulative, also just dead honest. I probably said to them, you're to blame. I was so excited to work with both of you that I couldn't go to sleep till 4am that would have.
Adam Scott
Been a good move.
Dax Shepard
Maybe bury it in some flattery. But also that might have sounded like, God, this guy's a pathological liar on top of being these guys. A drug addict, probably. That's what it is.
Adam Scott
Just immediate went to. Is that what you immediately think everyone is thinking about you is this guy's.
Dax Shepard
Drug addict guy relapsed?
Adam Scott
Turturro was just like, oh, happens to everybody. Happened to me in the 70s. Yeah, right.
Dax Shepard
I have so much curiosity about both those gentlemen. They're in a similar category for me where there's this group of actors where I'm like, they're so intrinsically interesting and unique and different that I almost can't believe they can also act. They're so genuinely authentic.
Adam Scott
I can't believe that Christopher Walken finishes work and then goes home and makes himself something to eat and watches television and goes to sleep. Like, what?
Dax Shepard
Or he's behind a guy at the parking garage arm who can't get his credit card to work. He's just there for 12, 15 minutes. Should I get out and try to help him? Yeah, he's dealing with that.
Adam Scott
Christopher Walken.
Dax Shepard
No.
Adam Scott
So to see him in the makeup chair looking at his phone, I'm like, oh, my God. Yeah. Turo is similar for me. I went to see his directorial debut opening night in 92 Mac. Anyway, I held all that back till I got to know him a little bit and then eventually kind of unleashed it all on him.
Dax Shepard
And did he like it?
Adam Scott
Yeah, he's the coolest and such a sweet.
Dax Shepard
Who is he?
Adam Scott
He would be such a great person to have on.
Monica Padman
We're trying.
Adam Scott
Oh, I love a fascinating guy and one of the great actors that we have. I mean, he is a beautiful actor. Yeah, that's another word I feel is overused. More so, like 10 years ago. But beautiful. Everything's beautiful.
Dax Shepard
I like you describing him as beautiful. And I have often described that. That whole storyline on Severance, it's hard to imagine that show without it.
Adam Scott
I know.
Dax Shepard
It's really the heart of the show.
Adam Scott
It really, really is. It's beautiful.
Dax Shepard
It is fucking beautiful. They're both beautiful. The way they play it is just impossibly perfect.
Adam Scott
They're really close friends and have been for a long time. And it was John's idea to have Christopher walk that part. You can just see the love there that they have for each other. And he was really taking care of Chris on set. Not that he needs to be taken care of. But he would come in for a scene every few weeks. It was just so sweet and lovely. And that's a rare thing to have someone who is that kind of embedded in our consciousness.
Dax Shepard
I'm gonna put you in that category, which is, I think, the most impressive thing about those two from the outside. Not knowing them at all is just going, yeah, man, these two are still starving to make art. Like, they're still dying to express themselves. I don't have that as much, sadly, but I see that you have that a ton. I think that'll be you as long as you want it to be you.
Adam Scott
That's very kind of.
Dax Shepard
I'll close on this.
Adam Scott
But you're doing that here.
Dax Shepard
I'm doing a different version, I guess. Yes, yes.
Monica Padman
Well, we're all storytellers.
Dax Shepard
I mean, we're just three.
Adam Scott
Should be a fire right here, you guys.
Dax Shepard
The last thing I'll close with is just an interesting conversation that we had this summer. And I've played it back in my head a few times to double check. It didn't at all offend you, but we were talking about the people that recognize you. I don't know if you remember this conversation. And there is an enthusiasm people have towards you that you have a hard time accepting, I think, as we all do. But I was trying to explain to you why I understand it very much so, in regards to you, which is, I think you are for people what Nicholas Cage was for me, which is, this guy isn't the high school quarterback. He's one of us. And he did it. He got invited to the big party and he's the star of the big show. And I see myself in him. And I think that's a rad space to occupy. And I don't know how you took that, but I know that's how people feel about you. That's how I feel about you. I'm like, oh, yeah. The dude I was making jokes with in the classroom about the popular people, he somehow is there.
Adam Scott
I keep thinking about Nicholas Cage walking out on that talk show and doing those kicks. Oh, yeah, that's on Instagram all the time.
Dax Shepard
Have you gone down the full YouTube rabbit hole of his compilations of talk show appearances?
Adam Scott
No, I should.
Dax Shepard
He's number one of time, the best. I'm just going to tell you. He's talking to Letterman about. He goes, you know, Dave, you know, I have this king cobra. It's Daryl or whatever his name is. You know, I just love getting home from work and I Go over to see how Daryl is. And I, I put up the sheet and Daryl just kind of like, he looks at me and he's saying hi, and then all of a sudden he just says, you n Cage screaming at Letterman. He's doing attacking the Cage.
Monica Padman
The fact that you thought he was attainable is.
Adam Scott
Yeah, that's amazing.
Dax Shepard
I thought I could get that wild on dude.
Adam Scott
I could see the direct line from Dax to Nicholas Cage. And I'm sure Letterman loved that. Yes, well, I'll say that that is so kind of you to say, and I'll accept it just as much as I did this summer when you said it to me, which is not really at all, but I appreciate it and you're kind and lovely to say so. And I think that this show, as a fan, is so great and it is where you're able to funnel and express yourself in a really direct, important way. And I think you being so actualized and you journaling every morning is a really important thing. And the fact that there are as many people listening to this as there are hearing, hearing that healthy behavior from you, because listening to you talk about that makes me want to do it. I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. And without being preachy or self helpy about it, you're just talking about yourself and how you're living your life. And I think that that is incredibly important. And you're doing a lot of good just by sharing yourself in a more direct way than you would have been able to by acting. You're really kind of sharing your insides here, and that's really hard to do. So I'm grateful that you're doing this.
Dax Shepard
Well, thank you, Adam.
Adam Scott
And I'm grateful that you're doing this, Monica.
Monica Padman
Thank you.
Dax Shepard
From episode 7 to episode 807. What a gap.
Monica Padman
807.
Adam Scott
807.
Dax Shepard
That would be incredible, Rob, what would it be?
Monica Padman
Oh, damn.
Adam Scott
Oh, my God. That's a lot of episodes.
Dax Shepard
So I just don't want you to let 832 episodes go by between.
Adam Scott
For sure. Wow, that's a lot.
Dax Shepard
All right, everybody. See Severance. It comes out on Apple TV on January 17th and the podcast comes out on January 7th. Two episodes initially and then weekly as the show unveils.
Adam Scott
Yeah, two episodes initially and then one episode per day until season two premieres on the 17th, and then season two, we'll have one episode per week.
Dax Shepard
Okay, wonderful.
Adam Scott
That's a complicated schedule.
Dax Shepard
I just gotta say, this new season we also add Alya Shawkat, who we were obsessed with. Love her Merritt Weaver, who I loved on Nurse Jackie. Gwendolyn Christie Brienne of Tarth.
Adam Scott
Oh, wow.
Monica Padman
Oh, this is so exciting.
Dax Shepard
These casting choices are as good as it gets.
Adam Scott
Yep.
Dax Shepard
All right, that's all. I love you. Can't wait for our next chit chat.
Adam Scott
Thank you, everyone.
Dax Shepard
Watch Severance.
Adam Scott
Thank you, Monica.
Dax Shepard
He is an armchair expert, but he makes mistakes all the time. Thank God, Monica. Cuz here, she's got to let him have the facts.
Monica Padman
New shirt.
Dax Shepard
Old shirt. New attitude.
Monica Padman
Oh, boy.
Dax Shepard
Oh, wow.
Monica Padman
I got a new who's rockin motocross racer.
Dax Shepard
Oh, was that you, Rob? Oh, okay. Did you take a little fall? Almost.
Adam Scott
In the split.
Monica Padman
Even though you haven't done them before, apparently you can still do them. It's your New Year's resolution.
Dax Shepard
Great segue to talk about. Don't die that doc. Because he was working so tirelessly on his splits, which I guess he had identified as something that was youthful.
Monica Padman
Yeah, well, limber.
Dax Shepard
Limber.
Monica Padman
You want to be limber and flexible. That is. That's important. That's why people stretch and stuff.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. It's just so such a specific goal, the split. I can see myself making one like that because like, lot of my goals aren't totally logical.
Monica Padman
Well, remember, it's Max's New Year's resolution.
Dax Shepard
To do this flit.
Monica Padman
Yeah. And you said scary. I don't think he can. Because if you don't learn by a certain time.
Dax Shepard
I think there's an anatomic reality to all this.
Monica Padman
But maybe I'm according to Don't Die guy. Ryan Johnson.
Dax Shepard
That's nice. You remembered his name.
Monica Padman
I didn't think I had it, but I do.
Dax Shepard
For people who don't know, it's a doc about a guy who has sold an Internet company and has some $400 million or something and is spending two and a half million million dollars a year to reverse his aging and try to live as long as possible.
Monica Padman
Yeah, he's doing it with this company where they have steps and it's all in like. It's wild. His diet, the exercise, it's. It's his whole life. It's just devoted to that. Yeah. And I didn't finish.
Dax Shepard
Oh, you didn't finish?
Monica Padman
No, I got. Okay. I got to a part that was a critical part of the story where I think it explains a lot of his backstory and perhaps what led him here. But then I stopped and then I forgot to pick it back up and then I remembered we were probably going to talk about it, so I thought, oh, I should finish it. But then I watched Conclave instead.
Dax Shepard
I did too. Not in that order, but I did see Conclave last weekend, which is not the type of movie I'm going to run towards because it's. It's the Catholic Church.
Monica Padman
Sure.
Dax Shepard
But I'm going to get derailed by that. I'm a little bummed you didn't finish because again, there's so many knee jerk immediate things you want to say about this. And I was just kind of wading through those and trying to resist that urge. And you're watching all these pundits who just, they have vitriol for this man, like hatred. They're so mad at this man for doing it, which I. Who, who cares ultimately, if someone, yeah, he made this money, he can spend it any way he wants. If any, he's dumping it right back into the economy. So maybe they should be delighted about that. But there's some obvious things. First and foremost, you're right. It. It appears, at least from the doc, that is, it's his entire day.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And then so, yeah, the first question begged for me is like, well, what's the point of being alive if the only thing you do while you're alive is try to stay alive? Which I think is semi relevant. But then also, no, that implies there's some qualitative way to measure how one's spending their time. I'm choosing to spend my time one way that would not be pleasurable for me to do it his way. So yeah, for me that would be a bad cost benefit. But for him, I. I think he, like, he's very, very lonely.
Monica Padman
That doc is kind of sad and sweet. It's sweet. And his house looks like it's so nice, but it looks empty and cold and cold.
Dax Shepard
It's very modern.
Monica Padman
It's probably supposed to be cold because I think you're supposed to keep your body kind of cold.
Dax Shepard
Sure.
Monica Padman
And you probably shouldn't have too much color because maybe that's bad for your eyes or something.
Dax Shepard
I thought about him this morning. I was like, I am incredibly envious of his 30 days in a row of a 100 sleep score.
Monica Padman
Yeah, that's that he's dialed it is. But then for what I know. Then you don't. The energy you're saving is used to just like do the rep. Get a better therapy. And yeah. However anyone wants to live their life if it's not causing harm to somebody else is fine. But I did think spoiler. This is sort of where I stopped. But I got some information that he was Mormon.
Dax Shepard
Oh, yeah. Yeah. You weren't really, towards the end. I think you're about halfway through.
Monica Padman
Yeah, that's probably right. He was raised Mormon and had a Mormon family before he left the church.
Dax Shepard
Yes. And his mom and dad got divorced, and the dad was. Had his own struggles.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Coke, which made me like, the dad right away.
Monica Padman
Sure.
Dax Shepard
And was in jail. He was a drinker.
Monica Padman
Yeah. You know, he's set up on all of these fronts to need a lot of control in his life.
Dax Shepard
This overlaps nicely with the Aaron Rodgers doc, which I keep bringing up because he was raised in, by his account, a very, very constrictive, dogmatic version of Christianity that he found very, very cumbersome. And you weren't allowed to question things and all. All the normal pushback. But there does seem to be a little bit of a pattern where people who are raised in that and escape it find their way back into another version of it. Just missing the deity.
Monica Padman
Yeah, of course.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Discipline. You don't shed your personality that much. I mean, that. This is, like, such a dumb anecdote, but when I was home, my brother is, like, always sick at the holidays, and he was staying at the house, and he, like, came downstairs and he was like, I feel that thing in my throat where I'm definitely about to be sick.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And we were like. And I was like, maybe not, you know, maybe it's just a little scratch. You're probably fine. And then he was like, well, I know. I know what this feeling is. And then he went, but whatever. The next morning, I came downstairs and I asked my mom about. I was like, is he sick? And she was like, you know, if he was sick. And I was like, what? What do you mean? And he was. She was just saying, like. He's just very vocal when he's sick. He talks a lot about it. He needs a lot.
Adam Scott
He needs.
Monica Padman
And she said, you have never been like that. You just went to sleep. Always since you were little, if you were sick, you just went away and just went to sleep.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Monica Padman
And I was like, huh, I guess I still kind of do that when I'm sick. And she was like, yeah, people don't change that much.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, right, right, right.
Monica Padman
And like a mom can see from day one till whatever. You could do fast math if you.
Dax Shepard
365, 36. That's a biggie.
Monica Padman
37.
Dax Shepard
37. 13,505.
Monica Padman
Thank you. That's.
Dax Shepard
No, it's more than that. 365. 37 is only. What, 13,505.
Monica Padman
That seems like it's not that many.
Dax Shepard
I did it in my head, so I might be wrong. Did it my head. That's some. Aaron Rodgers can do insane amounts of math in his head.
Monica Padman
Oh, whoa.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Like, his one kink is he can square anything real time. You can throw any number and he can square it, which is cool. But at any rate, he has a very militant. And some would applaud, and I have no actual opinion on it, but he is. He's in a five day silent room with no light. He's on ayahuasca, a trip every few months. He's.
Monica Padman
I didn't know that.
Dax Shepard
If he's not playing football, he is pursuing this spiritual path he's on, but with a veracity that just feels very. Still religious.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And then I, of course, I'm like, yeah, I don't believe there's a guy in the sky. I understand why you're rejecting that. But then there's also a lot of angles of this ayahuasca thing because you get to see him practice it a lot where it's, you know, to me, it's just as, you know, you got to play drums and do the whole thing and the incense and. And I'm like, you're just out in another. On another ledge. Yeah.
Monica Padman
And it has similar things, rituals and all the same things that religion has.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. I guess you really just. Communities. The. The religion community is the superpower, the magic power, the deity, anything. When people get together and they agree on something and practice, in a way, it's whatever.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
So he's back to the dude. So, yes, he was raised Mormon. And so in some ways that he brings that same dil and work ethic to this pursuit.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
But what gets really sweet and sad about it is he's very, very lonely. He, you know, he had this really bad experience with this one woman after he had been divorced, who he broke up with when she had cancer.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Dax Shepard
And she sued him and said he should support her forever because he's rich. And you know, I'm like, you don't get a severance package when you date someone. It's just not even the person's rich. That's how dating works.
Monica Padman
You're not.
Dax Shepard
You don't get a severance.
Monica Padman
You're not. Ow.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. So the guy. But very publicly got sued by this woman. And of course, people, just because he's rich, he's the oppressor and she's the oppressed. Forget the other stuff.
Monica Padman
But also because she had cancer, that's a Tricky. That's tricky for I think for anyone to hear that is a little like, you left her during that.
Dax Shepard
Well, again, you assume they left because the person had cancer.
Monica Padman
Well, no, but the problem is when you leave someone in their time, Time of need, regardless of how bad they are, personality, I mean, this get. Just gets. It gets complicated.
Dax Shepard
It's a bad look.
Monica Padman
It's a bad look, but you can't.
Dax Shepard
Imagine you've been with someone for a year, you're already on the verge of breaking up, and then they get a cancer diagnosis. You're like, I was already out. There's no way I have the capacity to now care for you for two years when I was already not wanting to be with you. I don't know. Anyways, let's not get. Hang on. But he's Longlean. He has this boy and his son and him are so, so close. And his son also had left the religion, so he's dealing with the same. They can relate on that. And the kid's gonna go to college and you can tell he's really, really scared about losing his buddy.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And all that's really touching. And by the end, I liked the guy, I guess, is what I'm saying.
Monica Padman
That's nice. Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. So he does have a company that's helping him, but he also. He's going down to this little. You know, there's a smidgen. It's called like Opportunity Land or something. Down in Honduras, they've carved out this little Prosperia, I think it's called.
Monica Padman
Geez.
Dax Shepard
The government granted this little area on a peninsula and basically total free market. Everything you don't have. There's no fda, there's. So there's a lot of experimental medicine happening down there. There's a lot of, like, crypto, weird financial stuff happening. It's just free for all. It's a free for all.
Monica Padman
Wow.
Dax Shepard
And he goes down there and he gets this gene therapy which is just not allowed anywhere but Prosperia. So it's like he has got a company and a protocol, but he also.
Monica Padman
He's going rogue a little.
Dax Shepard
He goes, rog. And when you enter a path like this, I don't know if you can help but go rogue. Because, yeah, I'm on the ladder somewhere. Like, I'm doing things with the goal of living a long time to see my grandkids. And I'm doing a lot more things than other people do.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And they likely think I'm spending too much time doing that or whatever.
Monica Padman
Yeah, maybe.
Dax Shepard
And for Me, it feels completely normal and it's not taking over my life.
Monica Padman
And yeah, again, I think whatever people are doing for themselves to get through life, if it's not.
Adam Scott
Not.
Monica Padman
And they're not hurting anyone, I think people, maybe rightly so, maybe not. I don't know. It's a scale of luxury. Right. Like this guy gets to because of his work. Like, you know, he created this thing and he made this money, got divorced.
Dax Shepard
Over worked non stop.
Monica Padman
Because of that, he has the luxury to devote his life to living forever. And I think for a lot of people who watch that, they might say like, oh, that's crazy. But there's probably an element of, well, why does he get to devote his time to living forever? And I don't. I have grandkids or, you know, I want to live to see my grandkids and I have to work a 9 to 5. I could never do that. And so there's just. It just gets hard.
Dax Shepard
I would like to do something very self serving, but I don't really know how else to get the message out. I desperately need a tattoo artist in la. Oh, I don't want to fly anywhere. I don't want anyone to have to fly here. I want a, a good tattoo artist who is open to. This is a total transaction. Going in and altering all of my tattoos enough that it is now an original piece of work. And then sign me over the rights to that and I will pay for that so that I own my art and can go short sleeve and commercials again.
Monica Padman
Got it.
Adam Scott
Someone experiencing coverups?
Dax Shepard
Okay, that's a good way. Instant cover ups.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
If you could hit me in the comments of this episode and I'll, I'll find you. But I, I definitely need sit down and have someone go through and alter every single thing so I can have my arm back. That was self serving, but I've been meaning to. I don't know how else to solve that.
Monica Padman
Yeah, great. Okay.
Adam Scott
Anything else?
Dax Shepard
You. Any appeals to the audience you want to put out there? You looking for any specialists in any categories? No, no, not Conclave. What a movie.
Monica Padman
Conclave was great.
Dax Shepard
Please see it.
Monica Padman
I think it's like, yeah, a hard sell. Just based on the genre. Genre. It's. It's a pope movie kind of. It's really not. It's about the process of electing a pope.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And it's so much more complicated and human. It's so human.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
At the end of the day, even though it's supposed to be godly and you know, above us, it's not. It's people making these decisions. There's ambition, power.
Dax Shepard
The things I liked right away is they are encased in traditions. Down to the tiniest things. Like the way it starts in the way you went. You take the ring off the Pope and there's a device that already exists. You put the ring in this thing, you chisel off this one piece and like that instrument exists, and then the wax press and every single thing has a way of doing it and an order to it and all these little devices that go along with. With it. I think to add validity and credence to the whole thing. I mean, I think it's very calculated, but I. There's something I loved about watching all these little weird customs that go along with this whole process.
Monica Padman
It's really good.
Dax Shepard
Shout out to Tucci. He was phenomenal.
Monica Padman
Stanley Tucci was in it. Love him so much. Double Rose product. Friend of the Pod.
Dax Shepard
Yes. Ray Finds is good, too.
Monica Padman
Oh, my God, he's so good.
Dax Shepard
Can you explain to me why Ralph Finds is Ralph Fiennes? That still is a big mystery to me.
Monica Padman
I'm just not sure.
Dax Shepard
Okay, but his name is R A L, P, H. Fines.
Monica Padman
Yes.
Dax Shepard
And you pronounce that Ray Fines?
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
That's a huge mystery to me.
Monica Padman
Yeah, I guess maybe his parents made that up. I don't know. Because, you know, his brother Joseph.
Dax Shepard
His brother, I think, is. Is Ralph Fine spelled R A Y. It's apparently a UK tradition.
Monica Padman
Is it?
Dax Shepard
Oh. Pronounce Ralph as Rap.
Adam Scott
Ra Ra.
Dax Shepard
Strange English quirk where something is pronounced entirely different than how it's spelled.
Monica Padman
Well, his brother, the other, the actor, Joseph. Joseph Finds. He doesn't have a fun one like that. He doesn't get to go by like, Zoe.
Dax Shepard
Right.
Monica Padman
People do sacrifice a lot for what they believe to be bigger than them. Not everyone does, but a lot of people do.
Dax Shepard
I'm a little more cynical. I think a lot of people try to do it and then there's just cracks everywhere. Anywhere in pursuit of that.
Monica Padman
Yeah, that's probably true. I mean, again, it's back to the don't die. Like, I think that's fine. Like, that's their decision.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
I actually think it's a fairly noble one. Whether it's possible or not, I think the person.
Dax Shepard
Can I ask what's noble about it? Why is it good to not have had sex with a woman?
Monica Padman
That's not it. It's giving up your life to the service of something else.
Dax Shepard
Got it.
Monica Padman
Not having sex part is a piece of that. That They've decided.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
That I didn't grow up in that. So I can't speak to it, you know, but they, whatever, have their own reasons for it.
Dax Shepard
And it's a weird one to pick.
Monica Padman
Speaking of giving up your life for your sacrifice, you know, sacrificing, I remembered during the fight, you know, the fires are still happening, but they're getting contained. More and more contained, which is really good. My hot professor.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
He was a firefighter before he was a professor. Yes. And I just. It just like a occurred to me when I was walking and I was like, oh, yeah, of course.
Dax Shepard
Scotty had it all.
Monica Padman
I know.
Dax Shepard
He had the brains, he had the brawn and the firefighting skills.
Monica Padman
He had it all.
Dax Shepard
By the time this airs, I'll have gone to see the Lions play. Oh, fun. Which I'm so excited about.
Monica Padman
Oh, that's great.
Dax Shepard
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Monica Padman
Is it a playoff game?
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Nice.
Dax Shepard
They had a bye week, so they got to sit out the first round of playoffs. And now we commence.
Monica Padman
That's very exciting.
Dax Shepard
They're going to play the Washington Commanders. Commanders.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Okay. Were they not. So they were the Washington Redskins.
Adam Scott
Correct.
Dax Shepard
Which is a no. No. For obvious reasons. So they. They got rid of that name. But weren't they for several years, Rob just called like Washington football team. Yeah, yeah.
Adam Scott
A lot of sports.
Dax Shepard
There's like a hockey team like that right now to. That's just the hockey team.
Monica Padman
Oh, that's kind of cool.
Adam Scott
They take a little while to name.
Dax Shepard
And brand everything, so there's like two or three seasons occasionally where they're not a real team yet. It's just so funny. Are you going to go to the wash? The Washington football team game doesn't have.
Adam Scott
A great Utah Hockey club right now.
Dax Shepard
The Utah Hockey Club. That sounds so triple A or it does sounds really far down. It doesn't sound like NHL.
Monica Padman
Yeah, that's true.
Dax Shepard
Hockey club Hockey friends. Detroit Hockey friends.
Monica Padman
Well, that's very exciting.
Dax Shepard
Yes. I mean, I'm taking my boyfriend, Aaron.
Monica Padman
Fun. Oh, that'll be great.
Dax Shepard
We also get to be on the field during warm up and stuff.
Monica Padman
Oh, cool. Yeah, that's very.
Dax Shepard
Oh, I'm very excited.
Monica Padman
You're gonna be like the McConaughey.
Dax Shepard
I mean, I don't deserve to be the McConaughey. Nobody can be the McConaughey. But of course I would love to be be the McConaughey. And I haven't earned being the McConaughey. McConaughey has not missed Longhorn's game. I think in 30 years, he has left vacations. You know that incredible story I told that Kutcher told me that he heard him partying very late at night in the Bahamas at 4 in the morning. Then when he woke up at 9 and turned on the football game, Makan was magically standing on the field.
Monica Padman
He knows how to teleport. He's the only one.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. So I just. I don't even do deserve that, but. And I'm also wondering if I'll bump into other Detroiters. Like, will I see Sam Richardson? You know, I see any of these folks.
Monica Padman
That's very fun.
Dax Shepard
Well, I see Eminem, who I've never met.
Monica Padman
If they go to the super bowl, are you gonna go?
Dax Shepard
No.
Monica Padman
Where is the Super Bowl?
Adam Scott
New Orleans.
Dax Shepard
New Orleans? New Orleans at the Caesar Superdome.
Monica Padman
You've been to the Super Bowl?
Dax Shepard
I've been twice for work. I went once for Ellen and once wants to promote chips. And as I said, it's the only two times in my life I've been nervous somewhere.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I just don't like what kind of target it.
Adam Scott
I don't know.
Dax Shepard
I just start ruminating and then I enjoy the super bowl so much. Being at home and eating the snacks and being able to actually follow the game. This was even a decision when I was like, do I go to one of the early playoff games or, you know, God willing, they'll go all the way. Do I go to a later one? And I was like, no. As it's getting more and more intense, I actually need to be at my house watching play by play with a closeup and hearing the calls and all this stuff because I can't follow things all that well in person.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I'm not great at that. A little distracted.
Monica Padman
I feel like football is a newer interest and that's fun.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. That's not my sport. I watched two or three games throughout the year, tops.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
But I do generally watch the playoffs because I want to be very excited about the Super Bowl.
Monica Padman
Sure, sure.
Dax Shepard
Because I love the super bowl just as a holiday.
Monica Padman
Yeah. And.
Dax Shepard
And I feel like I can amplify it if I actually know the stakes and who went through what to get there.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
So I generally will start watching and maybe the second round of the playoffs. But the Detroit thing adds a whole new thing. I watched a ton of Detroit games. I put it as a season pass. And I actually watched all the games.
Monica Padman
I know. I think it's fun to have a new, new interest as we get older.
Dax Shepard
For sure.
Adam Scott
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I think you got to fight the inclination to stop being interested in anything. I think that's a natural arc of life. We get interested in less and less things. Stay tuned for more Armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by skims. We love skims here on the pod. Monica, you just got some goodies from skims, right?
Monica Padman
I did. And in fact, I was just talking about this last night at a girls dinner. We were talking about bras and. And I was really pushing skims bras. Everyone who has them loves them.
Dax Shepard
Yeah, you're always raving about them.
Monica Padman
They're comfy.
Dax Shepard
They couldn't be more comfortable.
Monica Padman
I'm told skims has incredible bras. Pretty much. I'm wearing one every day. Specifically, the Fits Everybody T shirt bra is my absolute favorite. So if you are in need for a new bra, go for the Fits.
Dax Shepard
Everybody T shirt Bra Shop, Skims Best intimates, including the Fits Everybody collection and more@skims.com and skim stores. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you. Select podcast in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows. Have you seen the coach, Dan Campbell? Dan Campbell's bigger than all of the players. He is an enormous. He's an ex player.
Monica Padman
Oh, cool.
Dax Shepard
And he just has an enormous head and neck and shoulders. And it's really encouraging for your leader to look bigger than the players.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Like, yet at any moment he might pad up.
Monica Padman
I like a coach that knows the game, walks the wall personally. Like at Waffle House, when they have to work at a Waffle House in order to be the CEO.
Dax Shepard
Oh, they do.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
They have to serve some time.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Walk through the. Do all the jobs, break up a.
Dax Shepard
Couple thousand fights at 2:00am Exactly.
Monica Padman
Okay. J.J. redick, the Lakers coach, isn't he?
Dax Shepard
We're putting Rob to the test. You know, the funny thing is Rob knows fantasy football. Is that fair to say? Rob? Yeah. Yeah. Like, he doesn't have any coach on his roster.
Monica Padman
I know in fantasy. So there's no reason I still expect you to know all of it.
Dax Shepard
I did win Charlie's league this season. You had. You had Gibbs though, right? Yeah, I had Gibbs and a lot of Bengals players. So the running back right now for the Detroit Lions is absolutely, absolutely insanely talented. And he got four touchdowns in the Viking games, which was a Lions record. I mean, he is young, very tiny, and unstoppable.
Monica Padman
That's awesome.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Okay, I'm right about J.J. redick. He's the head coach of the Lakers. And this is a sad thing. But I. I didn't know that. And I saw he popped up on my Instagram because he lost his home.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
But I was looking at him, and I was like, this is the coach. He looks so young.
Dax Shepard
Oh, okay. This is now the age Brack you've entered.
Monica Padman
Yes. Now I'm at this point where I'm like, what is going on? But he is 40. He. Which is better.
Dax Shepard
I thought.
Monica Padman
I thought he was younger than me when I saw. And I got very.
Dax Shepard
Well, you're unnerved. I think you can measure your age in this very predictable way where it's like, for a long, long time, all the players are older than you. Then you have a moment in your early 30s where you go, oh, geez, I'm older than all the professional athletes. And that's startling.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
But then you still have the coaches.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And now I am at the age Monica. Where I am older than quite a few of the NFL coaches, which seems impossible. Those growing up, those were all old, old men.
Monica Padman
Is part of it also that they are hiring younger?
Dax Shepard
I think they are. They are.
Monica Padman
Okay. Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. Speaking of age. Because we were really trying to figure it out while we were watching it. Nate and I had an impromptu dinner last night. Fun at Morton's, our home base. He was saying how much he liked watching the clips of Brolin.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Dax Shepard
And just how masculine Brolin is. He just kept talking about, how could there be anyone more masculine? Then we were talking about no country for Old Men. And then I was like, we got to watch that shit. We still watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood together. And then I just had this moment of. Of recklessness. And I go, should we go right now and watch no country on a school night?
Monica Padman
Wow.
Dax Shepard
And we did. We came back here and we watched no country for Old Men.
Monica Padman
Sleepover.
Dax Shepard
Damn near. He left it, like, 11:30 at night on a week night. But Brolin is 38 in that movie.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Dax Shepard
But he carries himself like he's a little over 40. We concluded, okay, you know, he looks like a man that's been around for a while, and then Javier Bardem.
Monica Padman
Love him.
Dax Shepard
What a performance. I mean, he won the Academy Award for it.
Monica Padman
That was in 2007.
Dax Shepard
2007.
Monica Padman
That's so long ago.
Dax Shepard
It's so long ago. Woody Harrelson's very young in it. Brolin's 38. Great movie. Very unsatisfying ending, but great movie.
Monica Padman
I am accumulating a list of rewatches I would like to rewatch Minority Report.
Dax Shepard
Interesting. Okay. Tom Cruise and Spielberg yeah, I'm going.
Monica Padman
To watch it tonight. Remember to watch it tonight. Well, this is. We're talking about movies because Adam Scott loves movies.
Dax Shepard
He's a movie file.
Monica Padman
A cinephile.
Dax Shepard
A cinephile.
Monica Padman
Oh, also, we did talked about words that have entered the zeitgeist, that people atelier, you know, things people are saying too much. Really. There's a new one.
Dax Shepard
Oh, there is.
Monica Padman
Yeah. I learned. I learned that elevated is out. People say elevated a lot. Like, yeah, it's this, but elevated.
Dax Shepard
High end.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
It means high end.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
But no one says that now.
Monica Padman
No, we're not. People say it too much.
Dax Shepard
Oh, oh, oh. I was thinking you were saying it was canceled. And I couldn't wait to hear the connective tissue between elevated.
Monica Padman
It's like atelier. It's like everyone's just saying it, but.
Dax Shepard
I don't think so. Elevated's already a little pedestrian, though.
Monica Padman
What do you mean?
Dax Shepard
It's not foreign? Elevator, Elevated, atelier, and artisanal. Those have the, you know, appeal of being foreign and very exclusive.
Monica Padman
We were just talking in general about words that are just overused. He even you said beautiful. When people are like, ugh. Like, it's so beautiful. Like using beautiful. Beautiful a ton.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
And elevate. I learned it's. Somebody said they were so annoyed by that word, and I was like, I do hear it a lot.
Dax Shepard
My trigger isn't there. You say about glimmer.
Monica Padman
Glimmer.
Dax Shepard
That was the thing that came up in comments a while back when we were saying there should be a positive version of triggered.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Dax Shepard
And a lot of people wrote, oh, There is a term for it, and it's glimmer.
Monica Padman
Huh?
Dax Shepard
Yeah. It's when you're activated. Like, if you're triggered, you're activated by a word.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And it's negative way, generally. But a glimmer is something that activates you, but in a very positive way.
Monica Padman
Oh.
Dax Shepard
Because some fact checks ago, I was talking about being triggered in a really good way. Oh, right. But I was like, the word feels wrong. And then I learned there is a term, and it's glimmer or glimmered. And I like that. Yeah. But my specific trigger about atelier and artisanal. Artisanal is it feels elite. Ist. It feels like it's someone trying really hard to sound super sophisticated. And so that's my trigger. It. It reeks to me of. Of being a snob. Whereas elevated doesn't do that for me.
Monica Padman
Sure. You know, I get it. Yeah, I get that. But they're ironically, they're not trying to be a snob. They're trying to be elevated.
Dax Shepard
Sure. Which is a little bit of snobbery.
Monica Padman
All right, where are. Where Skull manufactured Raleigh, Durham. Its corporate headquarters are located in Richmond, Virginia, and it maintains factories in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee, Franklin Park, Illinois, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Copenhagen and Skull are the company's bestselling brands, and each represents more than $1 billion per year on retail sales.
Dax Shepard
This is a little bit tempting for me to get back on chewing tobacco. The notion that I could be getting it fresh off the line in Nashville is very tempting. Fresh.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
Minutes old.
Monica Padman
You could get it minutes old.
Dax Shepard
Brings me back to the time we put the roof on the hot dog and hamburger bun factory in Detroit, and we got to have hot dog buns that came right out of the conveyor belt. And they were one of the most delicious things I've ever had in my life. You can't imagine how good they are a second after they're made.
Monica Padman
Are they or. But is it. It's so hard to know what's mental. It's really hard to know.
Dax Shepard
I guess. But then you're kind of getting into placebo effect.
Monica Padman
Sure.
Dax Shepard
Which is real.
Monica Padman
Yeah. Remember when. When we went to the Hawaiian sweet roll? Hawaiian sweet roll factory.
Dax Shepard
King's Hawaiian Sweet. That.
Monica Padman
And we got them straight off the bell.
Dax Shepard
And what do you think? How did those taste?
Monica Padman
Of course they taste amazing. But I also know. I don't. I know what I don't know. And I can't. Can't know if that's placebo or not. I mean, hot one is just that.
Dax Shepard
It'S hot, but it's like it's not even set yet. Like, the molecules haven't even totally formed. The thing that also made that King's Hawaiian Sweet Bread Factory tour so awesome is that at this tasting station where we're eating them right off the conveyor belt, there was a block of butter the size of that refrigerator. I've never seen a block of butter that big in my life. It must be what they dump into the mix. And we just had these spades that we were just carving off huge chunks of butter and slathering it all over.
Monica Padman
You know, butter sculptures are a thing now.
Dax Shepard
No.
Monica Padman
Yeah. People are getting into butter sculptures.
Dax Shepard
Oh.
Monica Padman
And so they should use that big butter and make it into some sort of.
Adam Scott
Yes.
Monica Padman
Chisel branded.
Dax Shepard
Every part. That's not David.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
Now.
Monica Padman
Okay. Is 27 the age you start going downhill between 25 and 30. Physically physical. Physically physical peak between 25 and 30. That's not to say you shouldn't keep working on your exercise and your physique. As you said, you've never been in better shape.
Dax Shepard
Yes, I'm. I think I'm Superior to my 27 year old.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
4, 7. 11 chili dogs a day and 12 pack of beer at night and pack and a half of Camel Lights.
Monica Padman
But I guess in some ways you were at your physical peak because now if you did all that, you die.
Adam Scott
I.
Dax Shepard
This morning, when journaling, I'm like, I. What is going on? Like, I couldn't sleep for longer an hour last night.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I woke up with a headache and my body's so sore. Like, what happened?
Monica Padman
Nothing happened to me.
Dax Shepard
Sprinting's not helping for sure.
Monica Padman
Yeah. And the air is bad. I mean, we all have headaches.
Dax Shepard
I'll leave this to you to decide if this is too gross for the fact check. It is, but I. At the same time, I am proud as a peacock about this. As you know, and maybe I've shared in the past. A weird hobby of mine is, is I do like to weigh myself in the morning right before I go evac.
Monica Padman
Sure.
Dax Shepard
Because I'm curious.
Monica Padman
You want to see?
Dax Shepard
I want to know how much that weighs.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And I have been doing that for a year or two.
Monica Padman
What's the biggest?
Dax Shepard
It's never above a pound and a half.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
There are times I look and I go, well, buckle up, we're going to. This is. Okay.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
Never been a more than a pound and a half. I swear to God. This was four mornings ago. Three mornings ago. I couldn't even finish journaling. I had to go evac. And it had been. I didn't have a couple good days prior to that.
Monica Padman
Oh, okay.
Dax Shepard
The first round was robust. Then I was doing some posting, then round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round.
Monica Padman
Are you going back and forth or you just stay.
Dax Shepard
I'm in there for probably 30.
Monica Padman
I just read. I just read. That's really, really bad.
Dax Shepard
People hate that. They're convinced I'm going to get hemorrhoids.
Monica Padman
Yeah, but. Which you've had.
Dax Shepard
And they can have a good laugh if I get them, but I haven't yet.
Monica Padman
I thought you've had them.
Dax Shepard
No, never had a hemorrhoid, thank goodness. Anal fissure.
Monica Padman
Anal fissure. Yeah.
Dax Shepard
I wouldn't believe this if I told. If someone told it to me. I got on the scale, I was 197.8. I was on there for a half hour. It's not an experience I never had in my Life. Got on one 193.8.
Monica Padman
No. Yes, it's part of it. Water, though.
Dax Shepard
No, because I'd already peed a bunch.
Monica Padman
But did you have.
Dax Shepard
Very little pee came out.
Monica Padman
Was there diarrhea?
Dax Shepard
What do we call diarrhea? It was like water. It wasn't water, but. But it was mud.
Monica Padman
Then there's water in there.
Dax Shepard
Whatever the case.
Monica Padman
Okay.
Dax Shepard
I3x my previous. I thought about that every 20 minutes the whole rest of the day.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
It's like, hard to compute four pounds. Like at your body weight, that's almost 5% of your total mass in 30 minutes. I've never had an experience like that.
Monica Padman
That is a lot.
Dax Shepard
It was wild.
Monica Padman
Did you feel much lighter after?
Dax Shepard
I felt so much better. I'd woke up that morning, cranky, headache, body achy. Got all the poison out.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
And I felt good. I Then I did my sprints that day.
Monica Padman
Were you much faster?
Dax Shepard
There's no way for me to know. Run as fast as I can. I'm just clicking my clicker. My clicker.
Monica Padman
So John Turo, he said ma first movie, 1992. Now in the wonder plus, I said he was wrong and he's not wrong.
Dax Shepard
Oh, interesting.
Monica Padman
Yeah.
Dax Shepard
This is really.
Monica Padman
I actually think speaks to the.
Dax Shepard
How hard it is to get facts right.
Monica Padman
No, I actually think if we go back. So I said, he's right. Mac 19:1992. Oh, wait, he's wrong. Like, I read the same thing. I'm reading.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
But I think my brain will. Definitely wasn't working that day, but I was like, no, it's Illuminata, 1998. So I think in my head, 1998 was before 1992.
Dax Shepard
Okay. But six years after.
Monica Padman
But actually, upon reflection. Yeah, yeah. So.
Dax Shepard
So he's right.
Monica Padman
He's right. Mac 1992, first film he directed.
Dax Shepard
I'm not surprised he's right. Not because I think you're prone to be wrong, but just he is such a steel trap with these.
Monica Padman
I agree. I was surprised that he was wrong. And turns out we didn't need to be surprised because he was right.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
What's the name of Nicholas Cage's king cobra? He has two Sheba and Moby.
Dax Shepard
Great names.
Monica Padman
They're really good names for a king cobra.
Dax Shepard
Yeah. I already can't compute. Let's get some of the animals that live outside to live inside our house. Although I caveat to that. There are three birds that going on now four months. It used to drive me a Little crazy because I'll be in bed journaling. I hear whapping on the window.
Monica Padman
Yeah, sure.
Dax Shepard
They fly out of the tree and then they try to sit on a little piece of the window. There's a little green guy. He's a little guy. He's about this big and he's green. And he sits there and he, like, pecks at the window and he flaps his wings. Then he goes back in the bush and he comes back up. Then we have these two larger birds with a big red crest and long tail feathers. They are also on this one, there's something about this window into the bathroom, and I can't decide if they want to come in or they're just curious or they're confused. I don't know what's going on. But we have a veritable aviary just outside the window now.
Monica Padman
That's exciting.
Dax Shepard
Yeah.
Monica Padman
Are you putting out food and stuff?
Dax Shepard
No, I was kind of laughing at that. Like, the amount of effort I put into getting. Getting crows to woo crows and to no avail. And I'm doing nothing for these three birds. And they want to get involved.
Monica Padman
It's a life lesson. Hard to get.
Dax Shepard
Play hard to get. Yeah.
Monica Padman
No one wants availability.
Dax Shepard
They don't. No.
Monica Padman
Jesus. All right. That's it.
Dax Shepard
That's everything.
Monica Padman
Yep. That's it for Adam.
Dax Shepard
Well, I sure do love that boy.
Monica Padman
What a lovely man he is.
Dax Shepard
He is the loveliest man. I'm just delighted I got to meet him.
Monica Padman
And we're sorry that the crickets came in the middle of his sweet moment.
Dax Shepard
Was it audible in.
Monica Padman
I didn't hear it.
Dax Shepard
Okay.
Monica Padman
But if you heard it, we apologize. All right.
Dax Shepard
All right. Love you.
Monica Padman
Love you.
Dax Shepard
Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey@wondry.com survey.
Adam Scott
New year, new resolutions. And this year on the Best Idea yet podcast, we're revealing the untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. And we promise you have never heard these before. Ever wonder how the iconic Reese's peanut butter cup was invented? Because it was by accident. HB Reese, a former frog salesman.
Dax Shepard
True story.
Adam Scott
Stumbled upon the idea after accidentally burning a batch of peanuts. Classic. Proving that sometimes our best ideas arise from what seem like our biggest mistakes. And Jack, did you know there's a scientific explanation why humans crave that surprising combo of peanut butter and chocolate. I didn't, but it sounds delicious. It is delicious. So if you're looking to get inspired and creative this year, tune in into the best idea yet. You can find us on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're looking for more podcasts to help you start this year off right, check out New Year, New Mindset on the Wondery App. Who knows? Your next great idea could be an accident that you burned. This is Nick and this is Jack, and we'll see you on the best idea yet.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard Episode: Adam Scott Returns Release Date: January 20, 2025
In the latest episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, host Dax Shepard welcomes his longtime friend and esteemed actor, Adam Scott. Joined by Monica Padman, Dax delves deep into Adam's experiences, career milestones, and personal reflections, offering listeners an intimate glimpse into the actor's journey both on and off the screen.
The episode kicks off with Dax expressing excitement over Adam's return to the podcast, marking his seventh appearance. They reminisce about Adam's past roles and his impact on various hit shows and movies.
Adam highlights Severance as his most spectacular project to date, praising its depth and the collaborative process with creators Dan and Ben.
A significant portion of the conversation revolves around Adam's role in Severance and the unique circumstances during its production.
Adam shares how his personal loss, the passing of his mother, intertwined with his character's journey in Severance, allowing him to process his grief through his work.
The discussion highlights the show's exploration of isolation, grief, and the quest for understanding oneself amidst personal turmoil.
Adam opens up about his struggles with grief, detailing how the pandemic and his mother's death influenced his portrayal of his character in Severance.
Dax relates by sharing his own experiences with loss, emphasizing the profound impact parental relationships have on one's identity.
Transitioning to lighter topics, Dax and Adam discuss their cherished annual trip hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
This gathering is depicted as a highlight of their year, filled with fascinating conversations and the camaraderie of a diverse group of friends.
Monica introduces a segment on the overuse of certain trendy words in today's vernacular, sparking a spirited debate among the trio.
They critique terms like "artisanal" and "atelier," arguing that their excessive use can come across as pretentious or snobbish.
The conversation shifts to the challenges faced while filming Severance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adam recounts the stringent safety protocols on set, including mask mandates and isolation measures, which inadvertently fed into the show's themes of separation and introspection.
As the episode nears its conclusion, Dax and Adam express their admiration for Adam's dedication to his craft and discuss potential future collaborations.
They reflect on the synergy between Adam's past projects and his current work, underscoring the actor's versatility and commitment to storytelling.
In their final moments together, the trio shares heartfelt acknowledgments and anticipates the release of Severance's new season.
Adam expresses gratitude for the platform Armchair Expert provides, allowing him to share personal narratives and connect with listeners on a deeper level.
Adam Scott [07:00]: "Atelier, which I learned this from Monica. This is like a small, bespoke, handcrafted luxury item."
Dax Shepard [44:01]: "I needed to find a way towards grieving and defining what this is and what happened. And I really did it through the show."
Adam Scott [42:08]: "Then we flew home and then everything happened. So we didn't start shooting till October..."
Dax Shepard [76:30]: "Watch Severance. It comes out on Apple TV on January 17th and the podcast comes out on January 7th."
Conclusion
The episode masterfully balances professional insights with personal vulnerabilities, offering a comprehensive look into Adam Scott's life and career. Through candid discussions and shared experiences, Dax, Monica, and Adam create an engaging narrative that resonates with both fans of the actor and listeners seeking authentic storytelling.