Josh Gad Returns

Summary

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard: Episode Summary – "Josh Gad Returns"

In the January 27, 2025 episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, host Dax Shepard welcomes back the multifaceted actor, comedian, and author Josh Gad. Joined by co-host Monica Padman, the conversation delves deep into Josh's personal journey, professional challenges, and profound insights on growth amidst adversity.

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1. Welcoming Josh Gad Back

The episode kicks off with Dax and Monica expressing their enthusiasm for Josh Gad's return, highlighting his previous appearances during the Christmas season and praising his performances in productions like Book of Mormon and Gutenberg the Musical. Dax introduces Josh's memoir, In Gad We Trust, setting the stage for an intimate and candid discussion.

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2. Navigating Personal Turmoil Amidst LA Fires

As the conversation unfolds, Dax and Monica address the ongoing Los Angeles fires, a backdrop that adds urgency and emotional weight to the episode. Josh Gad shares his heartfelt response to the disaster, emphasizing the community's resilience and the heroic efforts of firefighters.

Josh Gad ([06:19]): "My heart breaks for every single person who has lost their home right now. It is unthinkable what's happening. Entire zip codes are gone."

He further applauds the bravery and camaraderie displayed by the SoCal community, describing firefighters as "real-life superheroes."

Josh Gad ([07:56]): "I've never seen such fucking superheroes in real life as these guys who are risking it all without giving a flying fuck about fires two inches away from them."

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3. A Glimpse into Josh Gad's Childhood and Relationship with His Father

Josh opens up about his strained relationship with his father, detailing his father's nomadic lifestyle, struggles in the emerald business, and eventual absence from his life. He recounts a poignant moment when his father attended one of his performances after two decades of separation.

Josh Gad ([42:22]): "And I could tell he understood none of the jokes in the show and just saw everyone laughing and started laughing with him."

This emotional reunion serves as a catalyst for Josh's reflections on forgiveness, love, and the complexities of familial bonds.

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4. Overcoming Professional Challenges in Acting

Josh narrates his tumultuous journey in the acting world, from his auditions at Juilliard and Carnegie Mellon to his breakthrough role in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He candidly discusses the setbacks, including harsh criticisms and feelings of inadequacy, which he overcame through resilience and unwavering dedication to his craft.

Josh Gad ([73:21]): "And I figured I had two options. I could either break the ice or projectile vomit on you and your colleagues."

His story underscores the importance of perseverance and self-belief in the face of adversity.

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5. Embracing Mental Health and Coping Mechanisms

The dialogue shifts to mental health, where Josh shares his struggles with anxiety, depression, and body image issues. He emphasizes the therapeutic role of comedy in his healing process, inspired by his grandparents' experiences during the Holocaust.

Josh Gad ([20:00]): "That's how I process grief, too. It's therapeutic, and it's not appropriate for everyone, but it is how I'm wired."

Dax and Monica explore the nuances of coping mechanisms, societal pressures, and the stigma surrounding mental health, advocating for open conversations and self-compassion.

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6. Reflections on Identity and Personal Growth

Both hosts reflect on their personal growth, discussing how past traumas and challenges have shaped their identities. Josh highlights the impact of early experiences on his career choices and relationships, while Dax shares his journey toward authenticity beyond toxic masculinity.

Dax Shepard ([11:43]): "I think my soul and heart always wanted to be NPR, but I grew up in an area where toxic masculinity was the currency. I didn't have a dad, and I was doing all the things."

Their honest exchange fosters a deeper understanding of the human experience, aligning with the podcast's mission to explore vulnerability and growth.

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7. Discussing Josh Gad's Literary Ventures

Josh talks about his recent foray into children's literature with his book Picture Face Lizzie. He describes it as a narrative addressing the pressures children face in the age of social media, promoting self-identity and healthy relationships with technology.

Josh Gad ([65:11]): "She becomes absolutely consumed. But over the course of the book, she starts to miss the little things she used to do... she starts to balance having this thing and doing these analog things."

The hosts commend Josh's ability to intertwine personal experiences with creative storytelling, offering valuable lessons for both children and parents.

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8. Concluding Thoughts and Mutual Appreciation

As the episode nears its end, Dax and Monica express their admiration for Josh's honesty and resilience. They engage in light-hearted banter, reminiscing about their shared moments and appreciating the deepened friendship forged through such candid conversations.

Dax Shepard ([95:21]): "But Josh, really quick. This is why I'm saying it's a blessing that happened to you then, because I've brought this up many times on here."

Josh reciprocates the sentiment, acknowledging the therapeutic nature of the interview amidst ongoing personal and societal challenges.

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Conclusion

This episode of Armchair Expert masterfully balances humor with profound introspection, offering listeners an authentic glimpse into Josh Gad's life. Through discussions on personal trauma, professional struggles, and mental health, the episode embodies the podcast's celebration of human vulnerability and growth.

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Notable Quotes

• Josh Gad ([06:19]): "My heart breaks for every single person who has lost their home right now..."
• Josh Gad ([07:56]): "I've never seen such fucking superheroes in real life as these guys..."
• Josh Gad ([20:00]): "That's how I process grief, too..."
• Dax Shepard ([11:43]): "I think my soul and heart always wanted to be NPR..."
• Josh Gad ([73:21]): "I could either break the ice or projectile vomit on you..."
• Josh Gad ([65:11]): "She becomes absolutely consumed. But over the course of the book, she starts to miss the little things..."
• Dax Shepard ([95:21]): "But Josh, really quick. This is why I'm saying it's a blessing that happened to you then..."

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Note: This summary focuses solely on the content of the conversation, omitting advertisements, intros, outros, and unrelated segments to provide a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the episode.

Transcript

[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 Monica Mouse.

[Monica Padman]

Hi.

[Dax Shepard]

Hello. Returning guest. He was phenomenal the first time he was here.

[Monica Padman]

He joined us for Christmas as well.

[Dax Shepard]

He came by for Christmas.

[Monica Padman]

He's been around a few times.

[Dax Shepard]

Josh Gad. What a party. Josh is. Josh is a Tony Award nominated actor. He was in the Book of Mormon, which I got to see him in. Just lucky. I feel very lucky.

[Monica Padman]

So lucky.

[Dax Shepard]

He was in the Putnam county spelling bee.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

We get some backstory on that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then Frozen Pixels, the Wedding Ringer, Beauty and the Beast. Oh, Gutenberg the musical too. That was recently. I saw that too.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He has a book out right now. It's very, very well done. A beautiful memoir called In Gad we trust. This is a really fun interview. It was at the apex of our terror. Keep that in mind.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And we talk about it.

[Dax Shepard]

We process it at the top.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, there's some fire talk, but it's a really armchair episode because it's funny. Josh is so funny. But also it's pretty deep. We talk about his dad and a lot of. And. And his insecurities and. I don't know, I thought it was a really beautiful encapsulation of what we try to do here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So it's great.

[Dax Shepard]

I also. We have February armchair anonymous prompts for folks who have great stories and want to chat with us on Zoom. Here are the February prompts. Live sporting event disasters. I hope to not be reporting one of those.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Proposals gone wrong. Yeah, I guess that could be a wider net than first meets the eye because you would think just wedding proposals, but there's like business proposals. There's. Yeah, there's proposals. So proposals gone wrong. Crazy 23andMe. DNA testing stories. This is by popular demand.

[Monica Padman]

They all were. I want to thank the armchairies. I put out a post and said, what do you want to hear on Armchair Anonymous? And people really gave amazing prompts, so I appreciate that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Love to our own devices. We would do wild card nurses and poop your pants stories exclusively. Okay. And the fourth is at home DIY project gone wrong.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. There's gotta be a lot of those. So please enjoy Josh Gad. If you love iPhone, you'll love Apple card. It comes with the privacy and security you expect from Apple. Plus you earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, which can automatically earn interest when you open a High Yield Savings account through Apple Card. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Apple Card and Savings by Goldman Sachs bank usa, Salt Lake City Branch member, FBI, FDIC Terms and [e-mail] we are supported by All State Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking all state firsts. Like, you know, check that you have all the ingredients for a recipe before you start cooking dinner, or checking if you need to use the bathroom before you start recording so you don't need to take a break mid show. Checking first is smart, so check All State first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. This content is intended for audiences in the US Only. Savings vary terms apply Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois he's an object. He's an you want a coffee, right?

[Josh Gad]

I always want a coffee. Do remember what I like.

[Dax Shepard]

You like cold brews.

[Josh Gad]

Oh yes, you remember.

[Dax Shepard]

You mean something to me.

[Josh Gad]

You mean something to me even though you don't have me over unless it's for work.

[Dax Shepard]

But isn't that true across the board for all of us?

[Josh Gad]

Yeah, it's kind of fair because I don't invite you over to my place.

[Dax Shepard]

You've never invited me over. I've invited you over to. Albeit for work. Still, it's in.

[Josh Gad]

I don't have a podcast.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, didn't fucking invite me over for a chat.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Josh Gad]

I can't.

[Monica Padman]

That's a no.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh yes. It's been done and you could. No back to work. Ideally you get enough leverage at some point that really you just get to work with all your friends. Right? That's the apex goal.

[Josh Gad]

My goal is get enough leverage to just work with my friends and do it across the street from where I live.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe ideally in the backyard.

[Josh Gad]

Now that is sort of like next level thinking.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so let's address the obvious context in which we record this. We had a guest who canceled. Well, we had two guests that canceled for reasons they could not avoid the LA fires. And so I called you as one of my friends.

[Josh Gad]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And conveniently you have a book out, so you do need to do some promotion.

[Josh Gad]

That's convenient. Have we started, by the way?

[Monica Padman]

Oh yeah, don't you remember abr?

[Josh Gad]

Oh God.

[Monica Padman]

Always be recording. Have you had the Titanic conversation? Like who are you on the Titanic?

[Josh Gad]

I'M Kathy Bates. Are we talking about the movie or are we talking about the real.

[Monica Padman]

The movie.

[Dax Shepard]

The film.

[Josh Gad]

Well.

[Monica Padman]

Which is based on 100% reality.

[Josh Gad]

I'm the Unsinkable Molly Brown.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm clearly playing a cello on the deck of the show ship as it goes down.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Josh Gad]

I think you're the Billy Zane character.

[Dax Shepard]

Wasn't he naughty?

[Monica Padman]

He was a bad guy.

[Dax Shepard]

He was a bad guy. Right.

[Josh Gad]

You seem like you could go either way as you spray whatever that is into your mouth.

[Dax Shepard]

Nicotine spray. You saw I had the lozenges.

[Josh Gad]

I like to think of myself as the little old lady who's looking for a necklace towards the end of her life. She survived and then is just like, if I have to die, so does the worth and value of this necklace.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I'm going to take it with me.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Throw that back in the ocean.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But yes, we're in a situation where a good part of the city is on fire. Continues to be. I will say it's not at the peak of scariness.

[Monica Padman]

They're starting to contain a little more.

[Dax Shepard]

A lot of help has arrived. There's a lot of airplanes on the scene now.

[Josh Gad]

Can I say three things really quickly?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Josh Gad]

One, my heart breaks for every single person who has lost their home right now. We know personally 15 people who have lost everything. It is unthinkable what's happening. Entire zip codes are gone.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

Our friends from the Pacific Palisades, their communities are wiped out.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like Dresden.

[Monica Padman]

It is great.

[Josh Gad]

Absolutely. A war zone. Secondly, I have never seen on such a personal level the kind of bravery, the kind of camaraderie and the kind of, we are not taking this sitting down attitude as the SoCal community has shown hosing down each other's homes. We've been dropping items off at various shelters around town. They are rejecting what we're dropping off because it is so full. And on top of that, we continue to donate. And I would encourage everyone who's listening right now, can we make a list available of the various places that people can make donations?

[Dax Shepard]

You're looking at me as if I'm going to make a list, but I bet I can get the list made. I don't want to personally lie to you and commit that I'm going to make the list.

[Josh Gad]

I don't want her to have anything.

[Monica Padman]

To do with it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's why I refuse to lie to you even in these pressing times.

[Josh Gad]

As long as you delegate.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Josh Gad]

And then check it off. Because if there's Any fake numbers on there, I'm going to blame you. If there's any bank routing numbers that go directly to your account, right. I'm going to be pissed to Primate and I'll do this a fourth time, so. And I want to say that whatever happens next is on Dax. How we rebound as a city. The final thing I want to say is the firefighters.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. What? Bad motherfucker.

[Josh Gad]

No. That I've ever seen such fucking superheroes in real life as these guys who are risking it all without giving a flying fuck about fires two inches away from them. Yeah, I'm watching it like it's Sunday Night Football. These guys are so badass.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, they really are.

[Dax Shepard]

The aerial stuff is what I'm blowing my mind at night in a mountain range, zero visibility, chinooks, everything right on top of each other. Flying in complete blindness and dropping it bullseye every time. It's blowing away the Top Gun flight sequence.

[Josh Gad]

It really is. And I think that was their objective. They all watched Maverick before.

[Monica Padman]

Thank God for Tom Cruise.

[Josh Gad]

They flew out there and they said, let's make it look as cool as possible. All things are true.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a tragedy of really unimaginable proportion until we saw it. Also, the folks that have trained to fight fires in the craziest situation, they're enthralled. They're doing the job they've been training to do in the craziest circumstance. So I'm just imagining what it's. To be in the helicopter the whole time. It must be incredible to be able to put your skills to the test like that.

[Josh Gad]

I don't know if you've had this sensation watching them when they drop the fire retardant and the red, the precision with which they do it. It is exhilarating because you're like, fucking save that whole community, please. And they're doing it. And it seems unthinkable because you see these massive flames heading towards these communities. It looks unstoppable. And they are stopping it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a war. And I have to admit, when I'm watching those harrowing drops, many times I'm saying out loud, by myself, watching downstairs, fuck, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Gad]

And then at the same time, you think about the too little, too late communities like the Palisades and like Pasadena. And it is heartbreaking and devastating for those people who aren't on the ground in SoCal. Let me tell you now, it's going to be years and we're going to need all the help we can get.

[Monica Padman]

That's my Sort of plea is, we're in it right now and we're in triage mode and we're dropping stuff off and we're X, Y and Z, which is all great. We need to be doing it, but we need to be doing it in a month, in two months, in a year. This is going to be easy to forget, just like all natural disasters are. But this is a long haul, and it's going to take a long time. I encourage people to keep an eye on us and keep donating and keep helping if you can.

[Josh Gad]

Of course, if you can, in whatever way you can. Even the amount of people who have lost clothes. We were speaking to a family who lost their home, and we said, do you need anything? And they said, we don't have any clothes. And it's just little things that you don't even think about. You think about all the possessions.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

It's actually, in a way, really nice to be here. I needed a little bit of a distraction from the chaos.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, and I wanted to ask you because I sense just a hint of, like, there's some ethical dilemma about doing something like this.

[Josh Gad]

When you asked me to come today, I definitely hesitated.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

And I posted about this the other day. I am doing everything I can, and none of it feels like enough. The reason I came on today was I was like, oh, we can start by talking about this. That is actually making me feel better about sitting across from such a piece of shit like you, who continues to do podcasts in these kinds of situations.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I think a knee jerk would be, all these people are suffering, and I'm going to go do this thing that has really no value outside of just entertainment, and that feels like I shouldn't be having fun while my friends are suffering and dealing with loss. I think that's an obvious thing to contend with right out of the gates. But my thing is me joining people in misery isn't a solution. A. It doesn't help them, it doesn't help me. I have a job, and when I can do my job, I should do my job.

[Josh Gad]

Amen.

[Dax Shepard]

All the other people are at their jobs. That's my takeaway. No1@7:11 right now is going, do I feel guilty that I'm selling hot dogs right now when people are suffering? Like, no, I'm at my job because I have a job, and that's my commitment. So that's my own personal takeaway on it.

[Josh Gad]

It's a great point. This morning we actually had this conversation where I said to my wife, I'm Going to make a pot of coffee. And she said, why don't you go to Starbucks? Get it? And I said, why go to Starbucks? I don't want to go outside with the air. She goes, because the community needs that right now. Restaurants need the support. There are so many people who are fleeing right now. And these places that aren't even in the line of fire are going to feel the effects of it. It is going to hurt everybody.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it's catastrophic. I'm also just coming off watching the Churchill four part documentary on Netflix and you're watching what the folks in London did 57 nights in a row of this.

[Josh Gad]

Have you ever read the Splendid and the Vile?

[Monica Padman]

That's Eric Larson.

[Josh Gad]

Eric Larson, Unbelievable.

[Monica Padman]

We've had him on the show. Not to brag.

[Josh Gad]

Churchill.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep, him too.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he was great.

[Dax Shepard]

Posthumously. But we have.

[Josh Gad]

But yeah, you guys did like through. We do. How did you do, AI?

[Dax Shepard]

We talked to the estate.

[Josh Gad]

See, that's the promise. There's a downside, but that's the problem.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I can chat with Churchill, but you know, those people were waking up in a subway platform next to six kids. There was no bathrooms and they went straight to work.

[Josh Gad]

Unbelievable.

[Dax Shepard]

They stayed calm and they carried on. So people will have complaints about me working, but that's my own ethic, which is. No, stay calm, carry on.

[Josh Gad]

It's a great point. A stiff upper lip is exactly what I think of when I think of the British people going through that period. And it is true, we're unfortunately living through a period of post apocalyptic situations. The reason I started writing my book that was inspired by telling the story of parenting in what feels like it's the end of the world. I have had two children and most of their lives have been defined by pandemics, by disaster, by sociopolitic, political upheaval. You never stop and think about it. But we lived and we grew up in a period in which we had great ease. The world was a very peaceful place in the context of history. But Josh, think about sapiens. Have you guys read the book?

[Monica Padman]

First of all, we've had him on Not Tomorrow.

[Josh Gad]

I know you've had him on through AI.

[Dax Shepard]

I wrote half.

[Josh Gad]

But you think about what you've all said. We are living in the greatest time of prosperity and peace in the history.

[Dax Shepard]

Of mankind and lack of starvation and our handle on disease, diseases. And really, by all metrics, what you're saying, which I also feel is objectively wrong. So, yes, our tranquil 80s, our parents were freaked out by something much larger, which was you had Bay of Pigs. Nuclear holocaust was on the table in a real way before we were born. No, 81. You were born in 81.

[Josh Gad]

He's not even looking at any cards right now.

[Dax Shepard]

February 23rd.

[Josh Gad]

Whoa.

[Dax Shepard]

1981.

[Josh Gad]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

The show the Day after was on NBC when you were five years old. That was a show about what do we do the day after the nuclear annihilation. The greatest existential crisis of all time on planet Earth was crescendoing when you were a little boy.

[Josh Gad]

I didn't remember it.

[Dax Shepard]

You weren't really aware of it. And then prior to that, our parents, Vietnam and Kent State and shooting students.

[Josh Gad]

Again before we were born.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm just saying our parents.

[Josh Gad]

Our parents definitely lived through a period of upheaval the likes of which resonates with what we're going through today. Political leaders being assassinated one after another, the world on the precipice of nuclear war, my parents hiding under their desks. That was not my experience in the peaceful and prosperity bubble that I playing with GI Joe in the 1980s and 1990s. Right now. That is not to say that everything was perfect, but it is certainly not to say that it wasn't better than what I'm raising my kids through right now, which is climate change is an existential crisis. The world seems like it's on the brink of chaos on a daily basis. We had a first of its kind pandemic. The first time in a century we're doing this as half our cities on fire. So it's that proximity to chaos. And that is not to say that areas of the world haven't experienced this.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, they're interviewing last night. I'm watching on kcal. You've got a family that just came here from Ukraine escaping the war, and their apartment building burns down. Oh, those people are going from war zone to war zone.

[Monica Padman]

Israel, I mean, all Israel, Palestine.

[Josh Gad]

It's happening on a global level. And it's not to say that there hasn't been places that have been directly affected by genocide, by starvation, by all sorts of crises during the past 40 years. But this period feels particularly dark.

[Dax Shepard]

I just want to push back and say it feels unique, but I actually think it's completely consistent with what happens on planet Earth. So when you are Carnegie Mellon, you had the Serbian, Croatia genocide with like a million and a half people and the kind of things they were doing to the people as they killed them, they really surpass anything that's happening, happening about Rwanda. Rwanda. So it's been ever present, and I Think the real thing to remember is it's a challenging place. There's 7 billion of us. A lot of shit goes wrong. A ton of stuff goes right. We're not unique, and we gotta carry on and we gotta continue to make it a little bit better because this is status quo on planet Earth. It just feels. Because we're raising kids now, so we have a different lens than we would have had if even we went through the pandemic without kids. Like, okay, this is kind of cool. You drink all day and you hang out with friends and blah, blah, blah. But now that we have kids, you're like, wow, they haven't seen other children for a year. That feels scary. So I just think our lens obviously changes because we have these little people we care about so much, and we're turning this world over to them, and we're a little scared. Like, what are we turning over to?

[Josh Gad]

That's a hundred percent true. And it's also, I think, frustrating that we don't learn from history that when it comes to, for instance, geopolitical conflict, there are certain things outside of our control. The pandemic, for the most part, was outside. Outside of anyone's control.

[Dax Shepard]

This virus, this.

[Josh Gad]

Outside of anyone's control.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, there's all these people want to be mad at the mayor. They want to be mad at the governor. They want to be mad. Like so many people that are trying to line up and blame this horrific thing on a single individual. It's like gang blame, Santa Ana winds.

[Josh Gad]

It is really, really hard for me to think about at a time like this, criticizing anyone.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you see the video that Karen ambushing nuisance I saw?

[Josh Gad]

But by the way, in the same way, I never hold DeSantis responsible for the destruction of hurricanes. I grew up in South Florida. I know the pain and the chaos of those events. I lived through Hurricane Andrew. Only so much you can do preventatively, and there's only so much you can do during the crisis. Really, your job as a leader is what you do after, what you do to speak calm to people during. And then how you rebuild. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you were gonna say, see, you lived through.

[Monica Padman]

You lived through a hurricane. We just forgot. And also 9, 11, 11 terrorism. Like, our memories are so short. We do forget that we go through these horrible periods and we recover from those periods, and then they come back, you know, it is all temporary. It's what you guys are right now.

[Dax Shepard]

Dare say that he's one of our most treasured guests.

[Monica Padman]

Sacrilegious.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's funny. I was thinking. I was reading your book this morning, and you have the line in there, which is, comedy is tragedy plus time. And I was like, well, we're going to engage without the benefit of time.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We've had Polaron. We've had a lot of different people who. It's like some people's friends. First week on Saturday Night Live was 9:15. People have had to decide whether or not they're gonna carry on.

[Josh Gad]

I remember that episode. That was Giuliani coming out, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But them having the ethical dilemma. Is it appropriate to be funny right now? And everyone gets to choose how they handle the stress. And so I have a way of handling the stress, and mine is through laughing. And all I would ask is, like, if that's not your way of handling stress, that's.

[Josh Gad]

That's cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Do it however you want. But I don't think anyone can tell someone else what they're allowed to do to handle it.

[Josh Gad]

Amen.

[Dax Shepard]

I promise you, if my house was engulfed in flames, I would be making a joke because I've done it. I'm making a joke. When my dad's dying, this is how I process it for.

[Josh Gad]

That's how I process grief, too. It's therapeutic, and it's not appropriate for everyone, but it is how I'm wired. And I've always been unapologetic about that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

My grandparents told me themselves that when they were in the Holocaust, a lot of how they got through their daily lives and being on the brink of death on a daily basis was by laughing.

[Dax Shepard]

If you can give yourself that little burst of happiness, it's a reminder that it's still possible on the other side. It's a great reminder. Like, oh, yes. And I will laugh and I will experience fun and levity. For me, everyone gets to do it their own way.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah. This has been great, guys. Thank you so much.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm glad you processed it all for the nation because I couldn't get my.

[Josh Gad]

Therapist on the phone today, so this ended up being a good.

[Monica Padman]

Because their houses.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah. Because you no longer have a phone, a landline. I'm glad that you guys were here for me. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

Where you got. You're leaving, though, right? You're deserting this town in its time of need with all that stuff.

[Josh Gad]

Having said that, I think it's best to get out of here while we're going. It's good. No, we're sticking close right now. We have discussed leaving because of air quality. Yeah. We live on the west side. Very close to the fires right now. We're talking about it. We're talking about Dewey. Maybe go like an hour south or north just to get the kids to be able to go outside. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow for my book tour.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, that's what I meant.

[Josh Gad]

And I was gonna cancel it. And to your point, my wife said, absolutely not.

[Dax Shepard]

How's that helping anybody if you.

[Josh Gad]

Well, that's what she said. She said you are actually more of a burden if I'm evacuating than you are a help. And so I think it's best for our family if you leave.

[Monica Padman]

There you go.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah. Go to New York where you're useful.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

Leave LA where you're a burden to this, you piece of shit.

[Dax Shepard]

But also, I just want to touch on one other thing. Yesterday I was like, I need to stay on my bike riding schedule. I have a New Year's resolution that I ride to the observatory twice a week. So yesterday I get out there and I start riding up the hill and the gates are closed to go up into Griffith park, but I'm presuming for cars. And so I go around the gate and I get halfway up the thing, and then some rangers roll down on a loudspeaker and they let me have it a little bit, and they're like, it's closed. And I go, oh, yeah, to cars. And they're like, no, it's closed. There's no hiking and all that to say. I'm like, why can't I ride my bike, get home? And I realize, oh, all these. There are arsonists out.

[Josh Gad]

Exactly. Force.

[Dax Shepard]

So they have no clue who is up in the hills to start a fire.

[Josh Gad]

They've arrested two already.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

And by the way, you were probably like a prime suspect to them because.

[Dax Shepard]

You look like a piece of.

[Josh Gad]

You look like a real piece of. You look like the guy from the Titanic who took all the Z again, but with beautiful hair. I do think it is tough because to go back to what I said at the beginning, I've seen such greatness and I've seen such beauty in this city. And I've also seen such ugliness.

[Dax Shepard]

We're all here.

[Josh Gad]

The looting, the people fucking flying their drones and affecting planes from dropping water. Fuck you.

[Monica Padman]

That's so fucking.

[Josh Gad]

And then the arsonist people fucking going.

[Dax Shepard]

Around and lighting warfares, people setting their houses on fire.

[Josh Gad]

Yep. And so that part of it, it remains really heartbreaking, really frustrating.

[Dax Shepard]

And this is where we file into our, like, our natural state. So yesterday, Kristen is out.

[Josh Gad]

This is Kristen Bell, for those who.

[Dax Shepard]

Don'T know, your co star from the films.

[Josh Gad]

Yes, I've seen Frozen 1 and 2.

[Dax Shepard]

And hopefully 3 at some point.

[Josh Gad]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

She's out doing the Lord's work with the children, and I'm selfishly taking a bike ride. But I'm also non stop with my buddy Brandon from the lapd. She's thinking about helping, and I'm thinking, yeah, I can feel the energy. I was at the gas station late at night, and a lot of the boys were out on dirt bikes, and it felt like Detroit on Devil's Night. I was like, yeah, the young men are gonna get into some shit. I get it. She's out helping, but I'm like, okay, we got some chance. I will have to defend the family at some point. And that's where my focus ends up being. We all just kind of funnel into wherever.

[Josh Gad]

I don't have friends at the lapd, and now I feel like I should.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you like me to put you on a group text with Brandon?

[Josh Gad]

Yeah. If I see anything suspicious, I'd like someone official to reach out to.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's also status right now. Like, it's really cool to be friends with a firefighter right now.

[Josh Gad]

You have a direct number? I've got just 3, 9, 1, 1. That's all I know. I just have the three numbers everyone has.

[Dax Shepard]

It sounds like you're not gonna play it super cool if I do give you as a number, though.

[Josh Gad]

I'm telling you now, I won't.

[Monica Padman]

Do you want to role play?

[Josh Gad]

I'm telling you now, it would be like putting me on a text chain with Harrison Ford.

[Dax Shepard]

Hey, bro, what kind of gun do you carry, Brandon?

[Josh Gad]

Did you report these potential hooligans?

[Dax Shepard]

No, I just hit him up and I said, I was just at the gas station. Boys are out. He's also from Detroit. I'm like, it feels like Devil's Night Detroit. And he goes, yeah, isn't it wild? You can feel it in the air. I'm like, yeah, it's like palpable. If you used to be a scumbag, I'm on that wavelength. I said, if I'm 21 and I'm broke, which I was, and I'm drunk, and I think, oh, yeah, all these rich people's house burnt down. They took a bunch of stuff, but probably there's a bunch of jewelry and stuff just sitting on the ground. Your mind starts wandering. And I don't have anything. And they have everything. Everything. Even someone who's on the spectrum of dirt Baggery. They could be midway through and convince themselves. You can just see people making the argument, or at least I can see that happening.

[Josh Gad]

I think that there's a lot of people taking advantage of a horrible situation right now.

[Dax Shepard]

They'll feel bad for it.

[Josh Gad]

At 50, you will either eventually pay a price or you will eventually regret it. And it's horrible to take advantage of people in any situation who have already lost so much.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. To prey on people who are victims is a rough look. But again, if you're penniless in the middle of nowhere and you're looking at.

[Josh Gad]

Multi millionaires, are you planning on doing this tonight?

[Monica Padman]

It sounds like you're talking it through.

[Josh Gad]

And you're really like starting to strategize.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm saying I'd be lying if I couldn't understand the rationale.

[Josh Gad]

Am I at risk from eating?

[Monica Padman]

Are you not keeping an eye on.

[Josh Gad]

My house right now?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I did notice you upgraded last time you were here in a Lexus 300 four door sedan.

[Josh Gad]

Right. You're clocking.

[Dax Shepard]

And now you're in an upgraded Lexus suv. That's a nice car.

[Josh Gad]

What are you doing right now? I'm just very uncomfortable. I couldn't even tell you what my last car was.

[Dax Shepard]

It was black.

[Josh Gad]

Oh, geez.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. You parked it right over here and we took a long look at it because I said this is the car I'd put you in. It's so South Florida. I was like, this is your car.

[Josh Gad]

Do you feel like when you look at my new car, do you understand why I'm driving in that one? Or are you sort of like this doesn't fit as well?

[Dax Shepard]

I do understand it. First of all, I don't own any of them, but they're great cars. You can drive them for a million miles.

[Josh Gad]

I love them. They get the job done.

[Dax Shepard]

They're not flashy, but.

[Josh Gad]

They're not flashy. But I'm going to tell you this now. I've never been a car guy.

[Dax Shepard]

I know.

[Josh Gad]

I'm jealous of all of my friends who know every model and make of every car. And I can't do that. I've never operated like that. I look for a nice interior.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. In a quiet, soft ride.

[Josh Gad]

Great stereo.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Josh Gad]

And it can get me from point A to point C. Exterior colors immaterial.

[Dax Shepard]

You probably don't care about that.

[Josh Gad]

No. I'm jealous that you have such a knowledge of cool cars.

[Dax Shepard]

I'd imagine what he's jealous of. I don't want to speak for you. You're jealous of my enthusiasm because I get this.

[Josh Gad]

I'm jealous of hobbyists in general.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Josh Gad]

So if you have a knowledge of something niche or something specific, I am jealous because I love knowledge. I love to collect knowledge. I love people who know something so well. That is very attractive to me. I'm like, that's really cool to have great expertise. It's why I love your show. You collect knowledge for a living. This particular episode is making people stupider. But in general.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no, no.

[Josh Gad]

When you have.

[Monica Padman]

No, we have that list of numbers. Remember?

[Dax Shepard]

We got that list of numbers that I'm gonna delegate.

[Josh Gad]

But what I love is that. That. That's what you do. You invite people on this show who are experts in different areas.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's so great.

[Josh Gad]

It's the coolest thing. Are you going to add my book to your bookshelf behind you?

[Dax Shepard]

Absolutely. I wanted to start this episode. It's too late. But we've never started with a hard like this, and I wanted it to go. Hi, if you're joining us, we're here with Josh Gad, author of Engad. That just felt like something I never got to do.

[Josh Gad]

That's such a. PBS 1979.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. As if the interview would be just finishing.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, what a book. If you're just joining us, we're with Josh Gad, author of In Gad We.

[Josh Gad]

Do you think there was another world in which you were born maybe like 20 years earlier that you ended up on NPR, or do you think your career would have gone Stern like before podcasts?

[Dax Shepard]

I could answer, but I don't trust what the answer would be. I think my soul and heart always wanted to be npr, but I grew up in an area where toxic masculinity was the currency. I didn't have a dad, and I was doing all the things. So I would like to believe, yes, I would have become Ira Glass, but the truth is, I probably would have tried to be a knockoff Howard Stern. Yeah. Not as good as Howard Stern. So I've just, through many years, been able to finally pursue and embrace the person the little boy wanted to be and not necessarily the aggro dude that was sending a message to everyone not to try to hurt me.

[Monica Padman]

It's still there.

[Josh Gad]

Oh, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

As someone who edits, I think it's more Stern than it is NPR in a great way. Who doesn't love Stern?

[Josh Gad]

But you know what's great about Stern 2? I think, like, Dax Stern could have ended up easily on npr. I think Stern has the capacity and the skill set to be equally riveting on NPR as he is.

[Monica Padman]

He's choosing his authentic honesty over I love npr. I don't want to be disparaging, but that's more curated.

[Josh Gad]

And NPR has very wet mouths.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, ew.

[Josh Gad]

When you listen to npr, it's a very moist. Don't be upset about it. It's an observation, but you know I'm right.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

There's like a quality that's very intimate and very wet.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I admire. They're like great comedians who. They're pacing so slow and they're not scared. They talk so slow and monotone and they're not worried at all. They're losing people. In fact, the more boring is, the more into it I am. Yes, but what I think you're highlighting, which is worth highlighting, is our heroes. They were Trojan horses. Letterman came with the promise of irreverent, provocative comedy. But what you stayed for and fell in love with is you were like, I think he's always smarter than the person he's talking to.

[Josh Gad]

Did you ever do Letterman? Yeah. He was the one host who always intimidated me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yo.

[Josh Gad]

It's so scary because, you know, he's smarter. This was the same thing being on the Daily show with John Stewart when I had to sit and pitch something to Jon. I have never been more intimidated in my life.

[Monica Padman]

That's so scary.

[Dax Shepard]

He scares me.

[Josh Gad]

He's the smartest man in every room and he just knows better than, you know, what's funny and what's gonna work and what is not gonna work.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And how to articulate it all.

[Dax Shepard]

And the delivery. Somehow he's confrontational without ever feeling like a bully. He's magic. But Stern's the same thing. You come for him making fun of Ronnie, but really it's the intelligence that keeps you there for a long time. And Conan. Conan's so insanely smart, it's crazy. So he's making dumb, dumb jokes, but, you know, there's this intelligence behind it. And I think for me, that's the appeal of all those guys.

[Josh Gad]

Yes, I agree. Agree.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Mint Mobile. It's time to leave your overpriced wireless plans. Jaw dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages. Get huge savings with Mint Mobile. They're offering any three month plan for only 15 bucks a month. Even their unlimited plan. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can even bring your current phone and number. Ditch Overpriced wireless With Mint Mobile, it's so easy. Sign up online and get three months of premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. Switch to Mint and new customers can get half off an unlimited plan until February 2nd. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month and to get the plan shipped to your door for free, go to mintmobile.com Dax that's mintmobile.com Dax $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. We are supported by Squarespace. Maybe you've got dreams of turning your hobby into a side hustle this year or finally opening an online store. Maybe you want to share your knowledge with the world and make an online course. Course Squarespace is the perfect partner to take your website to the next level and help you accomplish your 2025 goals. No matter what type of site you want to build, Squarespace can help you make it. If you're starting an online store, Squarespace makes checkout seamless. Their flexible payment options, including credit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay make it easy for your customers to check out and Squarespace has all the tools you need to create and sell your own online course. Start with a layout that fits your brand, upload videos and custom customize everything with next generation editing technology. Create engaging lessons your audience will love. Then add a paywall and set the price. Take what you know and turn it into income. We use Squarespace to make our lovely website. It's incredible and it functions, it's pretty.

[Monica Padman]

It'S effective, it's efficient and highly functional.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to get started, go to squarespace.comdax to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's Squarespace Dot Slacks to get started Today we are supported by Quints. When it comes to winter, cozy is king. For the ultimate cold weather necessities made from premium materials, you've got to check out quints. With Quince, you can treat yourself to true quality at an affordable price like something everyone needs in their closet. Quince's Mongolian cashmere sweaters which start at just $50. For real cashmere, that's a great deal. Or their super soft fleece sweatpants, which are major upgrade to those old sweats you've had forever. No matter what you're looking for, all Quint's items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. And they use premium fabrics and finishes for that high quality feel in every piece.

[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 cozy 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 so I went back. We're almost exactly at five years since you were here last time.

[Josh Gad]

Is that right?

[Dax Shepard]

Would you have thought about that?

[Josh Gad]

No, I don't think about the show very much.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, of course. I mean, I don't remember your family's life. If I said, how long ago were you here? What answer would you have given?

[Josh Gad]

Oh, man. I don't want to say goodbye to my family. You better get this right. I better get this right.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I think it's a perfect.

[Josh Gad]

This has become very ominous, this episode. Yeah. Five years. That feels right. But I remember doing a guest spot or another appearance.

[Monica Padman]

You've done Christmas with us.

[Josh Gad]

That's what I did then. That was after. So that's why I feel like it hasn't been five years. Because you invited me like today as a last minute sort of. We need filler. Gad is good for filler episodes.

[Monica Padman]

No, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Can I be honest with you? Just to alleviate any shadow talk you're having, I said to my wife, I'm fucked. I don't really know what to do. We had two episodes that were going to easily come out. Cause I was going to record them on Thursday and I don't know what to do. I'm like, who's in town? And who would even be willing? So we start thinking. And then I walk by on our kitchen table, your book is sitting. And I go, well, Gad's gotta be promoting this book. Call him. It wasn't. Let's go to the end of the list. It was like, God, Gad set this book on my dining room table. I was like, oh, duh, he's got a book to promote. He should be in. Anyways.

[Monica Padman]

So was it Pre pandemic?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. February 20th. Yeah, it was right before your birthday.

[Josh Gad]

Oh my God.

[Monica Padman]

Right before the pandemic hit. And right in the middle of a fire.

[Dax Shepard]

Can't wait to see you when the dinosaurs come out of the ocean and pulling up people.

[Josh Gad]

I'm really concerned about my third appearance on this show. I don't know. Live from the set of hell, here's Josh G. From the bowels of hell.

[Dax Shepard]

Can I tell you what I love about you? You are so fast and witty and fun. And I am. I don't want to label it competitive, but I'm not going to let someone operate at 120 miles an hour while I'm next to them going 60. It's just not in my nature.

[Josh Gad]

That's why you case their cars. That's why you know everything you need to know about them so you can hurt them if they try.

[Dax Shepard]

You think so fast and you're so funny that it brings out the best side.

[Josh Gad]

But I'm not an expert in anything that's not true.

[Dax Shepard]

This whole forensic NFL I was learning about nerdy. Like I'm reading words I've never read before.

[Josh Gad]

Like I talk about in my book. I thought it was the chopping up of dead bodies for investigative purposes. And instead it's actually a thing that high schoolers do, which is another word for speech and debate. And so I'll get stopped today. Not today, because today we're in the middle of.

[Dax Shepard]

There's bigger fish to fry today.

[Josh Gad]

But maybe next month again people will feel willing to come up to me and say, I know you from high school. But people watch my high school videos from speech and debate and forensics.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you're a three time national champ.

[Josh Gad]

National champ. You have more respect for me than you've ever had.

[Dax Shepard]

Because she's a two time national champ.

[Monica Padman]

State. I'm a two time state champ. Cheerleading.

[Josh Gad]

I never did that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, Competition. Cheers.

[Dax Shepard]

But it's in your listing how hard.

[Josh Gad]

It is to do cheerleading.

[Monica Padman]

No, just winning anything at that level when you're in high school.

[Josh Gad]

So I didn't make the cheer team. But you tried Multiple times.

[Dax Shepard]

In his book he lays out the options for a high schooler and he's like, okay, the jocks are the athletes. Not going to happen.

[Josh Gad]

Pretty accurate.

[Dax Shepard]

Cheerleading. I just don't fit in the outfits. You said.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then model un, insufferable. And then you get to forensics and.

[Josh Gad]

So like I fit that group because it's got a performative element to it. Never learned how to play chess. Still to this day don't know how to play chess. I would have been the kind of guy that played chess, but nobody taught me how. This is what not having a father around does is you don't learn things like love of cars, how to play chess. I missed all of that. So I was like, oh, speech and debate. That feels like something I can do. A lot of how I fell into this was through that world.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's another thing that not having a father around will do. It will make you a performer and a comedian 100. It really will.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so glad that you start the book in the. You do. First of all, it's very, very well written. Did you write it?

[Josh Gad]

No. Chatgpt.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Josh Gad]

Everything.

[Dax Shepard]

God, they got your voice.

[Josh Gad]

They really do. They have it down.

[Dax Shepard]

It's really, really well written. But you start with your personal story, which of course starts with your parents. And we touched on it last time. But your dad's almost out of a movie. Tell people about where your dad came from.

[Josh Gad]

We've had this conversation, but every time it surprises you.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, the Columbia part was new to me.

[Josh Gad]

The Emerald trait, it is out of a movie. My dad was a Jew, born in.

[Dax Shepard]

Afghanistan, which was maybe their third or fourth stop.

[Josh Gad]

Correct. They were nomads. You can actually trace my lineage back to one of the original tribes of Israel, the Gad tribe. They were just going from place to place and being told, no, you are not welcome here. And surprisingly, Afghanistan, which seems like a great place for Jews, turned out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I always think Jewish.

[Josh Gad]

My father got injured two precious jewels along with his in Israel.

[Dax Shepard]

They then moved to Israel when he's 12 and he learns to cut diamonds.

[Josh Gad]

There when you're 12 years old. That's a great, great way to make a living.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

And so by day he was doing that, and by night he was a bodybuilder.

[Dax Shepard]

Not what I'm expecting.

[Josh Gad]

No. And I have a picture in there. I think of my dad just ripped. I mean, he looked like Venice Beach, Schwarzenegger, Rumail.

[Dax Shepard]

That's who we talked about last time.

[Josh Gad]

He looks like Kumail.

[Dax Shepard]

His body had just been unveiled five years ago, right.

[Josh Gad]

From Marvel. He looked like Marvel era Kumail. Does Kumail still look like my head?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. I've been texting with him non stop about our bodies.

[Josh Gad]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

He's my only outlet to send shirtless photos of myself anywhere. I can't send them to.

[Josh Gad]

Do you think Kum would welcome me sending him shirtless myself?

[Dax Shepard]

We love the mail form.

[Josh Gad]

All right, I'm gonna send him.

[Dax Shepard]

You should.

[Josh Gad]

With no comment.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm giving you Brandon's number from the lapd and then Kum's all in a chair.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Buddy would be like, get me the fuck off this chain.

[Josh Gad]

So anyway, my dad and his brothers end up moving to the United States and they decide to start an emerald business. My father moves to Colombia. They own emerald mines.

[Dax Shepard]

In the 80s, at the peak of.

[Josh Gad]

Pablo Escobar, I remember traveling to Colombia at the age of four and I just remember seeing armed people all around my father and just Uzis, like automatic weapons, not even semis. And just thinking to myself, wait, is this what everyone's dad does? I was so confused. All my friends fathers were doctors or lawyers in South Florida. And my dad was literally in the middle of the jungles of Columbia surrounded by dangerous people. He was always a larger than life guy when I was growing up. My parents got divorced when I was 6. And I talk about my relationship after that. But what I also talk about in the book, which we've never spoken about, was I haven't seen my dad in about 20 years. And I get a call one day while I'm doing Gutenberg, which you were so gracious enough to come to, so much fun. And my dad is in New Jersey and he says, I'd love to come see your show.

[Monica Padman]

This is like a couple years ago.

[Josh Gad]

This is last year.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Josh Gad]

And I said, okay, I think he's on his third or fourth family now. And I said, come alone, I'll send a car for and why don't you stay the night?

[Dax Shepard]

Wow, that's nice.

[Josh Gad]

And I was very anxious about it. And he comes to the theater. I'm looking for him in the audience. I don't see him.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you like 8 years old?

[Josh Gad]

100%. It's Halloween night. Andrew and I, after the show, decide to dress up as the Mommie Dearest characters. He's the Faye Dunaway character, I'm the daughter.

[Dax Shepard]

Is he holding a coat hanger?

[Josh Gad]

Uh huh, yeah. And I look at Andrew after the show night. I said, I need you to come with me. I'm very nervous about this. So we go out both dressed as women. My father's never seen me on stage in my life.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Josh Gad]

Even as a kid, he was not the dad who came to my shows.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Josh Gad]

So this is the first time my father's ever seen me on stage. I come out and I see a man that I know immediately and yet don't recognize at all. It was both exhilarating and really painful. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to interact. He looked frailer than I remember.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, he's pretty old, right?

[Josh Gad]

He's in his late 70s. But the gregarious person that I am, that's from my father.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

I think about my dad as this invincible figure, a force of nature, and he's not that. So Andrew is amazing. Sort of helping me navigate. I get in the car with my dad, he's hard of hearing. English is his, like, third language. So he's repeating to me that he was telling everybody that he was sitting next to that I'm his son. And he was so proud. But also, I could tell he understood none of the jokes in the show and just saw everyone laughing and so started laughing with him.

[Dax Shepard]

Great show for him. It's almost Cirque du Soleil. You could not speak English and very much understand what is happening.

[Josh Gad]

Just unbridled chaos.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

We go back to my place and I order us some sandwiches and I realize that, like, I'm the father.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, of course.

[Josh Gad]

In this situation.

[Monica Padman]

Well, you've always been really.

[Josh Gad]

We start talking, he starts telling me about his life. It's incredibly awkward at first and then incredibly easy. And then I start to fall back into, like being a kid again. I don't know how to describe. I start to feel like I'm in my 8 year old body and I'm talking to this man who approximates my father. And I can also tell that there's extreme memory loss going on from him.

[Dax Shepard]

Could you sense this was a mission of repair or just curiosity?

[Josh Gad]

I think it was neither of those things. I think it was my sons. And he, york, I'm here, I'd like to see him. And we'll go from there. As simple as that. There's no question in my mind that my father loves me dearly. What he did to me and my family doesn't support that, but he has never not expressed his own form and his own idea of love. So we're sitting there, we're talking, and it starts to become very apparent to me that he's lost everything. He's living on welfare. Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Because he was a kind of high roller.

[Josh Gad]

He owned, I think, think the largest producing mine in Colombia. Had he held onto that, we would have been billionaires.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Josh Gad]

And lost it all, as there always is. He and his partner fucked each other and all paid the price. So I'm sitting there and this guy who I always was like, oh, my God, he's invincible. Is now like Al Pacino and Godfather three.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

The next morning, I hug him, I get him a car and I give him his jacket. And he goes, what's that? And I said, it's your Jacket. And he goes, it's not my jacket. And I go, that's your jacket, dad. He goes, it's not my jacket. And then I put it on him, and I say, this is the jacket you came in. And it occurs to me, perhaps this is the last time a my father recognizes me. He's not the kind of guy who will go to a doctor. And it seems to me like there's something debilitating going on. And I love him, and so I wish he would. But I'm also having this moment of going, is this where this journey ends for us? And if it does, I'm so grateful I had this. I lied to my mom. I didn't tell her that I saw him.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a pattern, because I think one of the meanest things he did to you, without probably any awareness that it was mean, he's left. When Josh is a kid, Josh has no idea why they got divorced. Mom throws him out. And then when he's eight, two years later, he invites him to the Sheridan. By the way, that was the place when we were kids. Oh, it was. Do you remember the Sheridan?

[Josh Gad]

Of course.

[Dax Shepard]

My mom took us there to tell us she was divorcing my third dad.

[Josh Gad]

Why is that?

[Dax Shepard]

That was like the four Seasons for us. So you get invited to the Sheridan.

[Josh Gad]

And he says, surprise, and introduces me to his mistress and their son from Columbia.

[Dax Shepard]

The dad had another family.

[Josh Gad]

I didn't know what to do with that. I made. I start spiraling.

[Dax Shepard]

And he swears you to secrecy. This is the cruelty that he probably wasn't even aware of.

[Josh Gad]

He was oblivious. My dad doesn't operate in familiar ways that understand responsible parents. And I'm grateful for that because, man, did it fucking teach me how to be a great parent.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

I'm sure you have the same sort of experience of learning from mistakes and vowing to never repeat those mistakes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Just kind of share one part of my story because I happened to be writing about it just recently. Even at a young age, I was a little skeptical. So I would go to his house on the weekends. And he was so loving. That's a gift I had. He was so affectionate for a dad in the 80s. He hugged us and kissed us and snuggled us and showered us us in love. And then he wasn't around. So there's this, like, huge disconnect from, like, what I would feel in that moment, but then the actions afterwards never matched it. And it just created this huge dissonance where I'm like, what is this? I appear to Be the most important thing in the world. And then I don't see him for three weeks and he doesn't show up for my brother's field hockey games. We all know is very important to my brother. And also how's he living this kind of rich lifestyle and we're fucking dead broke. How's that happening? So there's all this really just confusing. How do I compute the messages versus the actions?

[Josh Gad]

The exact same story, except. Except my dad would go months at a time and would live in another country.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Josh Gad]

With one of his many other, you know, fuck buddies.

[Monica Padman]

It makes love so confusing for the rest of your life, I assume a hundred percent. Who's to say what's real and what's not real? But then that's the question you live with forever. What is real?

[Josh Gad]

I vividly remember sitting at the window in my home in Hollywood, Florida, waiting for my father to show on countless nights where he never came. And my mom knew he wasn't gonna come. And he would tell me he was coming and I believed he was coming and then he wouldn't show up. And I talk about this in my book too, which is the sort of the kismet of my Disney journey is the one place my father would always take me when I was growing up was Disney World.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Josh Gad]

And so Disney World became a symbol of my relationship with my father. And Disney escapism became the salve was healing any sort of absence that I felt in my life.

[Dax Shepard]

I also think it sets you up for this pattern you then replicate in life where it's just like highs, lows, highs, lows. Right. Because the dads are always winning you back over. They feel bad now, whether they are consciously aware of it or subconsciously. But yeah, when they have you, they're put on this incredible show and they're going to make up for all this time. So it's like you get pretty used to these insane spikes of love bombing and then nothing disappearance. For me, it can kind of fuck up all relationships going forward because it's like this is the pattern of love.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah, it can. It had the opposite effect on me and my brothers. I have such an incredible mother. My mom was so badass. And despite the emotional shrapnel that I felt as a result of her divorce and I've had to heal and talk to her about that and forgive that because I didn't understand at the time time that her mood swings and her anger and my brothers having moved to college, I was the only one in the house who was absorbing that and that was scary, and that was lonely. And the birth of comedy, big time. And it was a birth of comedy because as a result of her pain and her depression, I somehow found this weapon where I was able to make her laugh. And I was like, that's something.

[Monica Padman]

And.

[Josh Gad]

And tapping into that and then making that a career came from the seeds of that despair, as it often does, I would imagine. But that was hard.

[Dax Shepard]

When you were choosing to honor your dad's request to keep the other family secret, was that out of loyalty to him or were you afraid of how that would make your mom feel? To know 100%?

[Josh Gad]

The latter.

[Dax Shepard]

The latter. Right. You're responsible for mom's mood as a little boy. You're protecting her feelings from finding out about the other family. There's a lot of adulting going on.

[Josh Gad]

I grew up too fast, and I didn't grow up enough. I'm jealous of my friends who had both parents Till they were 18 at least. And then a later divorce, I think is sometimes maybe better, sometimes maybe worse. For me, it was very different experience than it was for my brothers. My brothers were 10 and eight years older, and they got the family journey. Mine was ripped away at 6. You don't have the skills to process that. And so I became very destructive. I would lie constantly to my mom. I was doing horribly in school. It is almost impossible to flunk. First grade. I was getting Fs and Ds.

[Dax Shepard]

Of course, you were regulating with food. Enters the picture.

[Josh Gad]

That's when I started to balloon. And I was also actually physically destructive. I remember a day where I took something in the back of my mom's car. The little cigarette things that you would push down. And I started burning holes in the back of her car. And my mom could not figure out what the was going on with me. And it was this absolute burden on my shoulders of having to keep this secret and lashing out because I didn't know what else to do. And my mom finally sat down and said, something's got to change. Got me to speak to a therapist. I was able to finally unburden this secret. Was able to finally find some sort of path for myself to navigate my own very difficult emotions. And then was able to overcome all of the chaos.

[Monica Padman]

And did the therapist tell you it was okay for you to tell your mom?

[Josh Gad]

The therapist did. This was a period where I only wanted to sleep in my mom's room. I was afraid to sleep by myself. There was so much shit going on. So I had one therapist who told my mom to lock me in. In my room.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, boy.

[Josh Gad]

And my mom, God bless her, is like, you're out of your mind. Yeah, let's which. And then I found this incredible woman who was able to talk to me as a child and was able to get to. Why was I feeling so scared? I had this enormous fear of death. I was constantly afraid of dying, was constantly afraid of loss. And once I had a grasp, I was then able to take all of that and start to focus my energies on performance. And so my mom found this local children's theater called the Hollywood Playhouse for the Performing Arts, signed me up, and that changed my life. Especially being overweight. I found that the greatest superpower I had was making fun of myself and using that self deprecation to win people over. So I also parlayed it into popularity. I became class president.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Gad]

I became sort of a king in high school. And I didn't fit the sort of physical bill of what that usually looks.

[Dax Shepard]

Makes it even that much better.

[Josh Gad]

Funny is funny and it attracts people. And I suddenly was like, okay, this is my high. This is what I'm going to lean into. Cut to me going to Carnegie Mellon drama for some reason.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, but really quick, you're crushing. You're in AP classes. You're the class. You're a three time champion. You apply to Northwestern. In fact, eight of you from your school apply, and then you're going to go to Juilliard. Or you apply to Juilliard and then you get rejected from Northwestern and you're like, I can't wait to go commiserate with these other seven dipshits who certainly didn't get in. All of them got in.

[Josh Gad]

Class of 99 all got in except for me.

[Dax Shepard]

I love these reality checks. Every now and then, just when you're. You're certain you're the king. I'm confused though, because in the book you go and you audition for Juilliard and it seems you got in, but then you went to Carnegie Mellon.

[Josh Gad]

I did not get into Juilliard.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you didn't?

[Josh Gad]

I had the worst audition of my life.

[Dax Shepard]

But you said I Trojan horsed my.

[Josh Gad]

Way into Carnegie Mellon.

[Dax Shepard]

Sorry. Tell me about Juilliard.

[Josh Gad]

Juliard. I go in there and I am bullish. I'm like, I got this after you.

[Monica Padman]

Didn'T get into Northwestern.

[Josh Gad]

Well, Northwestern is all about grades and SAT. At the time, I had gotten like a 1350 on my SAT. It's not bad. So I was thinking like, oh, I'm sh. But like all my friends had got 1400 or above. So Northwestern was at of the picture, and I'm like, well, it doesn't matter. My backup Juilliard is all about, like, the audition. So I go in there and I do Marty by Patty Chayefsky. That was the piece that I had gotten third place in my sophomore year of high school.

[Dax Shepard]

This is also a beautiful story. Someone forces you to do drama, basically. Correct. Do it. And you fall in love with that as well.

[Josh Gad]

So I do it. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm killing this. I describe the three people auditioning me as like the ring wraiths of Lord Sauron. It is really, truly these hooded kind of like, figures who are not willing to express at all.

[Dax Shepard]

I admire the lack of people pleasing.

[Josh Gad]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Can you imagine just watching something and saying nothing?

[Josh Gad]

And you have to think about this. These are also the same people at that time who had Kevin Klein and Robin Williams and all of the greats come through. So they don't fucking care about, like, who I am.

[Monica Padman]

They also get a high off of being so stoic.

[Josh Gad]

So they're stoic. Stoicism absolutely gets to me. And then Michael Kahn, who's running it, goes, do you have anything else you want to do for us today? And I said, you have a classical piece. And I do something from Henry viii, and I forgot all of the words and start improv in iambic pentameter to a man who literally is responsible for not only Juilliard, but. But a Shakespeare Festival in Washington, D.C. oh. And so I look at them after I finish, and I go, I will see myself out. Good luck with Juilliard. And I go outside and I start crying, and I look at my mom, and I go, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And I'll never forget we were walking through Central park, and as we crossed the threshold into the park, it started snowing. And for some reason, I was like, I think it's gonna be okay. And then I applied to Carnegie Mellon and was feeling the weight of all the rejections. I saw that I could apply as a director. And when you apply as a director, you have to do an audition for some reason to sort of communicate that you understand an actor's journey as a director. So I come and I do this audition, and the guy who runs Greg Lehane goes, huh? Are you sure you want to be a director? And I said, why? What are you thinking?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, good answer.

[Josh Gad]

And he's like, well, I'd like to share this with my acting colleague. Tony McKay. So Tony comes in and watches and he goes, you want to direct? And I said, I guess I could be convinced to act.

[Monica Padman]

I love directing, but I don't know.

[Josh Gad]

So I completely Trojan horse my way to see it.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Josh Gad]

And then tried to Trojan Horse my way into musical theater. That's where they drew the line. And my class was crazy. It was LESLIE oh. Odom Jr. Josh Groban.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Josh Gad]

Rory O'Malley. So that is how I ended up there.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, what's a conservatory?

[Josh Gad]

So conservatory is basically like Hogwarts for drama kids.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't have to do shit other than act.

[Josh Gad]

You just act. In fact, I was desperate. Here's again. My absolute jealousy of expertise was I wanted more academia and I didn't get more academia. I got movement class 1, 2, 3 and 4. I got voice class 1, 2, 3, 4. You basically had to take 7 to 10 classes that were academic in nature during the duration of your studies. And that wasn't enough for me. I'm more jealous of the liberal arts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Mind expanding understanding.

[Josh Gad]

I definitely would never trade in my experience, but I did miss out on a fuller body of learning.

[Dax Shepard]

But I think the group that went sounds so fun because you describe a night, it was a three story dormitory and there's a party and you drink a half a fifth of tequila and then you piss your jeans and then you take a 20 minute nap, have.

[Josh Gad]

A threesome, regroup, go to the first.

[Dax Shepard]

Floor, hook up with someone, go to the third floor, hook up with someone, and then make love to someone on the second floor. It was all on the same night. And you say it's not because of.

[Josh Gad]

Your prowess, it's not because of my prowess. It's because I was the only straight person in my class.

[Dax Shepard]

What a blessing.

[Josh Gad]

And so it was just a fuck fest. And you know, I lost 100 pounds in college. I substituted my food. Food addiction for sex and alcohol.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

And so that just became the chaos of that period for me.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm imagining from your high school experience to this experience, I don't know how on earth one would resist that.

[Josh Gad]

It was a complete body transformation.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

I dyed my hair blonde.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

We're gonna need a pic.

[Josh Gad]

I will show you a pic. I lost myself a little bit. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So by the way, I think you should.

[Monica Padman]

That's what college is about.

[Josh Gad]

No, no, in a bad way.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. But I think you should lose your. Yourself in the back.

[Josh Gad]

So I started to get extreme anxiety. I was being looked at in a different way and I didn't know how to handle that attention. And I also didn't know this was me as a blonde.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. We got to show the camera.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. This guy lives for three.

[Josh Gad]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so for the listeners, you still have the dark eyebrow eyebrows, but the hair is quite blonde.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah, hair's platinum blonde. So. So I felt like a stranger in my body. I was not used to being attractive. I was not used to being sought after. I didn't know how to operate in that body, and I also didn't know how to play the roles in that body.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, Josh, really quick. This is why I'm saying it's a blessing that happened to you then, because I've brought this up many times on here. It's a trope in Hollywood. A lot of people end up getting enormous amounts of status, and that wasn't their experience all growing up, and they don't really know how to handle it. And I've seen it most often lead to this bizarre version of massage misogyny. It's like these dudes have all these women that like them, and they don't really trust it, and they kind of hate them for it. Why don't you like me when I'm younger? I mean, I've seen that pattern materialize a bunch of times for people who got that attention and status late in life. Like Yuval. I don't even know. I didn't say him by name. We're all thinking it. Yuval's husband is gorgeous. So, yeah, he joins him when he.

[Monica Padman]

Comes, but Yuval's always been.

[Dax Shepard]

But I think, like, had you not had that thing, then you would have had an opportunity to do it later. Why does that result in anxiety? Just because you're very disconnected. Your identity is kind of fractured.

[Josh Gad]

Felt like a visitor in my body. I felt like an alien taking over another person's body. I don't know how to describe it. I had my eyes, I had my ears, I had my voice, but it was not me. I was playing a character.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. Cool guy character.

[Josh Gad]

And by the way, I think it's why I continue to struggle with weight at this point in my life, because I really didn't know how to be that guy. Now for health, I want to lose weight, and desperately trying to, but that was. Was really, really strange.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. This is something I also want to bring up, and I don't know how to tiptoe around it, but I'm just going to be dead honest. I was just thinking of you on my trip to Mexico City. So I'm with somebody who's On a version of a GLP one who's loving it. He more often is telling me, like, it's so weird to see this stuff and not have that pull I normally have. If you listen to our first episode, we do 20 minutes on what the perfect day of eating would be from your point of view, what you would start the day with. We got General Chow's chickens in there. We had everything bagel. We went through the whole thing. You're going to finish the night with sushi, but it'll be a lot of tempura. And hearing the amount of joy you get from that, I literally thought in my head, I wonder if there'll be people when GLP ones are virtually over the counter, if they'll choose not to do that because so much of the joy in their life is that they don't want that relationship where it's not appealing.

[Josh Gad]

I'm on a GLP1.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it limited your joy at all?

[Josh Gad]

It has suppressed in a great way that noise. When I wake up, I feel hunger pains. And so much of that is psychological.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Josh Gad]

And what this does is it takes away that signal.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's even working on addicts.

[Josh Gad]

It is a miracle drug.

[Dax Shepard]

It truly is. Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

I was on a different drug that caused me diverticulitis.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. No good.

[Josh Gad]

And I had lost 40 pounds. I was really bummed out because it was working incredibly for me and I had to switch. I'm figuring out this new one and it is life changing, but it also doesn't negate the fact that it can't be in the place of having a healthy relationship with food, and it can't be in the place of having a healthy relationship with exercise.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, would it be fair to say it's treating the symptom?

[Josh Gad]

It is treating this. And by the way, this is the first time I've opened up about this.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. And I didn't mean to put you on that spot.

[Josh Gad]

I'm actually really happy that I'm opening about this because I'm having my own journey with it.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Josh Gad]

Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating myself by doing this.

[Dax Shepard]

You shun out.

[Josh Gad]

And I know a lot of people who aren't overweight like I am who are taking it. And then I feel like, okay, I should be able to do this because I need it for health.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Someone's shaving off the last three pounds.

[Josh Gad]

Which is, I think, becoming ubiquitous now.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. How do you feel about that?

[Josh Gad]

I'm not one to pass judgment. To each their own. I think that the problem becomes when it prevents others who need it medically, like myself, from getting it, that that's where I get upset.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Prime Video. You know that feeling when you go to log into a streaming service and you forgot your password? Or when you have to switch from app to app trying to find the movie you want to watch? Stop wasting time toggling between the apps and start watching the content you want to watch right away. With Prime Video on Prime Video, you can add over a hundred subscriptions like Max, Apple TV plus and Paramount plus all in one app. That means more time watching and more time relaxing. I've got the perfect example. Armchairy favorite Matthew McConaughey is in so many of our favorite titles. You could have a Matthew McConaughey marathon day. Start with True Detective on Max, then check out the Lincoln Lawyer on mgm and top it off with Rom com classic how to Lose a guy in 10 days on Paramount Mount. Plus, that's a good way to spend a day. You can watch all of those titles and more without ever leaving the Prime Video app. I think I may take a little Nicholas Cage binge on Amazon Prime.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my goodness, that sounds nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, sign me up. Streamline your streaming today. Check out subscriptions on Prime Video. We are supported by Ollie. Gosh, I love Ollie.

[Monica Padman]

Me too. It's like a treat. It's so nice to have a treat.

[Dax Shepard]

To resist eating too many nighttimes because they're so delicious.

[Monica Padman]

I know. Don't eat too many.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's a good one. I'm starting to journal more.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

I love electrolytes. We all know this. This is tried truth.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Josh Gad]

Would you judge someone for taking suppressants? For nicotine? Would you judge someone for taking antidepressants? For anxiety? This is medication. It's treating a disease.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not saying everyone should be on it, but for the people I know who are on it, it's making their life a lot better.

[Josh Gad]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Why would I not want that for them?

[Josh Gad]

My wife is not thrilled that I.

[Dax Shepard]

Take it because she's worried you're not going to confront the core thing that's driving.

[Josh Gad]

Correct.

[Dax Shepard]

Correct. But again, this position is binary. It's either or. It's like either you choose this route or you choose to confront. Obviously you can do both.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah. Or a divorce her.

[Dax Shepard]

Right? Well, we'll see.

[Monica Padman]

Seems like you'd meet her if she gets out of the fire.

[Josh Gad]

That's the thing right now.

[Monica Padman]

I need her this week, unfortunately.

[Josh Gad]

And then we'll go from there.

[Dax Shepard]

This is not your wife. But I can easily see a hypothetical where someone fell in love with someone that was larger and there is perhaps some shadow in their mind that says, well, I wonder if they had all the options, if they would have still picked me. And now they're going to be thin and they're going to have all the options. And there's fear behind that.

[Josh Gad]

I mean, I think that that's fair.

[Dax Shepard]

Some people hate that when their partner becomes a gym rat and they're in great shape. They're, like, scared all of a sudden. They won't be enough.

[Josh Gad]

I think that that's very fair. At the end of the day, my wife is so much hotter than me. Like, I should be more concerned about, like, her.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. There's no version of you that still wouldn't be dying to be with her.

[Josh Gad]

No.

[Monica Padman]

Another generous take on that is that they're worried that their identity will shift completely. Yours did.

[Josh Gad]

As you're saying, I've always been the funny fat guy. Can I be the funny skinny guy?

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Josh Gad]

Can I be the hot leading man? I know I could be those things. I don't know that people would accept me as those things. And that's always really hard. We get typecast, we do a thing, and people see us as that thing. And I've been very blessed that I continue to challenge myself to not be typecast, to do things that nobody expects.

[Dax Shepard]

Listen, Josh, I would honor this fear if I thought you were a one trick pony who fell through tables as their main deal. You're like a crazy good dramatic actor. You're an improv genius. You sing like a motherfucker. Olaf is you. All blessings to all the writing. But that creation is Josh. Gad like that. Fear for you should be nowhere in sight.

[Josh Gad]

Thank you. I also think I have a healthier relationship with my brain than I did back then. And so now I think, you know, as I go on this journey of weight loss, boss, I'm not as worried about that because my primary goal is I want to be there for my kids.

[Monica Padman]

Everything else is you also make your own. That's part of your genius. You do your own thing so no one can take that from you. You'll keep doing your own thing.

[Josh Gad]

I appreciate that. At the very least, I'll do more of this.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Josh Gad]

Your podcast.

[Monica Padman]

You can come on, but I don't.

[Josh Gad]

Get paid for this.

[Monica Padman]

Once every five.

[Dax Shepard]

I actually am going to give you 100 for coming in last minute. Yeah, I already planned on it. I put my bill hold in my pocket.

[Josh Gad]

Is it in cash?

[Dax Shepard]

It's in cash, so I don't need.

[Josh Gad]

To write it off. But now I do because it's on record.

[Dax Shepard]

But then you'll say you gave it back to me after and it was just a bit, oh, smart. But really, you'll be blowing a hole in that hundo on your way home. You're going to come up with so many trinkets to your life.

[Josh Gad]

How the IRS takes me down because of this $100 that was promised to me on this.

[Dax Shepard]

No, but I can gift you up to $18,000 tax free.

[Josh Gad]

I'll take it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So tell me about the gap between graduating from CMU and then I guess it would be Putnam.

[Josh Gad]

I was singularly focused on one thing. I wanted to be on Saturday Night Live. That's all I wanted in my fucking fragile little brain. I somehow thought going to Carnegie Mellon drama was enough to audition, be accepted. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I started immediately I of college, putting together a reel for snl. I got Ron Howard to open the video. He's live from Josh's vcr.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

How'd you get that done?

[Josh Gad]

Bryce? Alice Howard is my best friend.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Gad]

Because she married my actual best friend, Seth Gable, from when I was 4. And so she let me borrow her father, who was very willing to help me out. And it was incredible. It did not open the door.

[Dax Shepard]

She thought it might.

[Josh Gad]

So I kept sending in tapes for. For like three years. Didn't get on. Signed up for the Groundlings. Did that for two years.

[Dax Shepard]

You did that for two years?

[Josh Gad]

I did the first two classes. They didn't accept me into the third level. And then I start to get little jobs here and there. I'm sort of at the breaking point. And I talked about this on my last time, so I'm not going to revisit all of this, but I basically am like, I'm quitting acting. I'm not making money. I had met my then girlfriend, now wife, Eda, and I was like, I need to become a lawyer. So I started applying to law schools. My mom, as you know, already, basically is like, you're a fucking coward if you do that. I audition for this show called 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And I get it, but I got the San Francisco version. And I don't know what I'm thinking because I have no work, but I turn it down.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Josh Gad]

They are done with me. They are fudgeing furious. And somehow I find out that they're replacing Dan Flogler, the Tony Award winner for the show. And I get them to give me another chance, but they're like, not having. I go in, I do my audition goes fine. And then do the music audition goes fine. I do the dance audition. It's an unmitigated Disaster. I look like a fucking beached whale learning to swim again. And then I somehow get a phone call that I'm supposed to go to the theater that night. I go to this callback. It's me and this other guy Jordan, who's on Broadway doing Avenue Q. I have nothing on my resume. I have one episode of er and I have.

[Dax Shepard]

You were just summarily released from the ground and you were a stud in college.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah, and I fucked a lot of teens out of necessity.

[Monica Padman]

First floor, second floor, third floor, every elevator, basement.

[Josh Gad]

We didn't even have a fucking basement.

[Dax Shepard]

Coming out of the pulleys.

[Josh Gad]

So this guy goes first. He's out there for like 10 minutes. I come out, I see 30 people who are all sitting in the Circle in the Square Theater. They're all directors, producers, investors. I crack a joke. I start my scene. I get a minute and a half in, and the director, James Lepine, and I talk about this in the book, says, josh, can I see you up here for a second?

[Dax Shepard]

All of your teachers sound like Phil Hoffman.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, Philip Seymour.

[Dax Shepard]

Seymour Hoffman.

[Josh Gad]

We've established this. I do one impression, it's Phil Hoffman. Everything. Everything else derived from that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

Josh, can I. I want to talk to you. Come here. James calls me up, dismisses everybody, and he says, I don't think you take this seriously. And I said, excuse me? He goes, I don't think you take this seriously. And I said, well, what makes you think that? And he goes, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Everybody wants to do a Broadway show, and your first instinct is to come out and crack a joke. And I said, well, forgive me, but there are 30 people sitting in front of me who are about to decide my fate. And I figured I had two options. I could either break the ice or projectile vomit on you and your colleagues. So forgive me for choosing the former. And I'm not even saying it jokingly. I'm like, super fucking pissed. And then he starts to lecture me about the fact that I don't have the discipline in craft to take this job.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Gad]

And I look at him and I say, all due respect, you can tell me I'm outright for the role. You can tell me that I am not your favorite actor. You can fucking tell me I'm not funny. For you to sit there and tell me and judge my discipline after I literally spent four years in conservatory, spent every last penny that I had to learn my craft, to study my craft, to stick with my craft through thick and thin, that is not something you get to take away from me. And I said, good luck with your show. I appreciate this. Thank you for the opportunity. I walk out, I congratulate Jordan on getting the role. I go back to my hotel, the Sheridan. No, actually it was a Hilton. That was a Hilton.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, they kind of.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah, it's either Sheridan or Hilton.

[Dax Shepard]

Modern day Sheridan.

[Josh Gad]

And I called my mom up. She said, how'd it go? I said, didn't happen.

[Dax Shepard]

As bad as it could.

[Josh Gad]

As bad as it could. I'm coming home. And I got a call from my then agent, Hannah Ross, and she says, hey. And I said, hey, I'm not really in the mood to talk right now. And she goes, well, you have two tickets to go see spelling bee tonight. And I said, why the fuck would I want to go see that show? And at this point, I had never seen the show. I didn't have enough money to get a ticket to see the show. I was just approximating what I thought it should be. And I said, why the fuck would I want to go see that? And she goes, well, the director feels that you should probably see it before you start rehearsals in two weeks.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow. Unreal.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Josh Gad]

So it was a mind fuck.

[Dax Shepard]

What, what was your all's post conversation of that initial?

[Josh Gad]

My relationship with James is now wonderful. Recently we had a dinner where we talked through everything, and he was incredible about it. But he was horrible to me during that process.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, he was the whole show.

[Josh Gad]

The whole show. I was a punching bag. It was bruised.

[Dax Shepard]

He was so upset. He was losing Dan.

[Josh Gad]

I think that was a big part of it. When we sat down and we discussed it and we had it out. And he was so gracious and has since apologized to me for what that experience was. He said I needed to get my ass kicked. I agree with that. I don't think the psychological warfare was necessary, but I agree with it. But I would come back and I would smoke every night. A full bong of, like, hashish because I was so fucking scared. I was just fucked. I was always in a state of fear, panic, and it just didn't get better. I couldn't wait to leave. And the cat cast was awesome, but also they missed Dan.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's a hard position.

[Josh Gad]

It sucks being a replacement sometimes. I'm not sure if that's everyone's experience. I go out of my way to be kind to my replacements because of what that experience was, but it sucked. And I would do it all again if I could because it taught me resilience.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, if you can get through that.

[Josh Gad]

I think we coddle a lot now. And I think actors who are breaking in, you need to get your ass kicked, man. Man. Because it's a fucking brutal business. I learned from every minute of that. Even though it wasn't all roses and candy, it was everything I needed at the time to prepare me for a career that is filled with so many more lows than highs. And once you have that, you can handle the rest.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Josh Gad]

And there were times when I didn't think I could get through it. There were times when I would literally have anxiety attacks because James would call a rehearsal that I knew was was just about putting me in my place and keeping me in a box. And I didn't feel safe. I didn't feel comfortable improving. I didn't feel comfortable being my funniest.

[Dax Shepard]

In fact, with your confidence.

[Josh Gad]

I had real problems with my confidence. That happened again on Book of Mormon.

[Monica Padman]

It did.

[Dax Shepard]

How? Because I saw that.

[Josh Gad]

I talk about this in my book as well. So my director there, Casey, who's brilliant and amazing, he came in after Jason Moore. Moore, who we had workshopped the show with for three years, left the project. He was coming into a situation that was like, hey, we're going to Broadway. It's your turn to get it all going in a couple of months. He wanted to put his stamp on it. And based on my experience with spelling bee, I think I had my guard up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you had a chip on your shoulder, maybe a little bit.

[Josh Gad]

Don't with me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

I am not to be with here. And I think he felt that. And I think he is, in turn, sometimes did not love that. I was basically doing whatever the fuck I wanted on that stage, and he wanted to control that. And right or wrong, it was his job, and I respect that. But we definitely butted heads and it was sometimes very unpleasant. And Andrew and I sometimes got into it because.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Josh Gad]

A lot of what was going on during that time was Rannells and I. Suddenly we went from zero to 60 and we had this on our backs. We were not prepared for what it became. Yeah, I was not ready for that kind of pressure, and I think Andrew wasn't. And so we felt sometimes like we were being pitted against each other and you're in the midst of, like, Tony season and you're both vying for that award.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you guys nominated for the.

[Josh Gad]

We were both nominated for the same thing.

[Dax Shepard]

What the hell do you do with that?

[Josh Gad]

And we both lost. It was a fucking roller coaster.

[Dax Shepard]

How old were you at that time?

[Josh Gad]

I had just turned 30. And Andrew and I now talk about it, laughing about how stupid and petty all of the little bullshit. But it was a pressure cooker. And it was so funny because going back and then doing Gutenberg, we had the complete opposite experience because we're in our 40s and don't give a shit about anything anymore because we've had so many life experiences.

[Dax Shepard]

The bucket's been filled up.

[Josh Gad]

All of that stuff feels so insignificant. And it's beautiful because our relationship has never been stronger. We came through the other side of it. We had the most amazing experience doing that show and being a part of a pop cultural phenomenon the likes of which musical comedy theater hadn't seen since the Producers and I think hasn't seen.

[Dax Shepard]

Since it's just Hamilton and that.

[Josh Gad]

But in terms of comics, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

In terms of comedies, we're a rarity. That was hard. I have since been able to look back at all of it and own my part in all of it.

[Dax Shepard]

What's your part?

[Josh Gad]

I was a cocky guy and part of the cockiness was a defense mechanism.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you're scared.

[Josh Gad]

I'm scared and I'm not good enough. I'm scared I'm not funny enough. I'm scared I'm not worthy of the attention, tension. I'm scared that I am going to let people down. I'm scared I'm going to let myself down.

[Dax Shepard]

You'll be revealed at some point.

[Josh Gad]

I'll be revealed. And so I really peacocked and puffed up.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what's weird? I've never till this moment considered, although I experienced it being on stage at the Groundlings. But where theater is so different than doing a movie is you don't really know while filming the movie who's popping and stealing it. But on a stage, boy, the fucking verse every 30 seconds. And it's very obvious what the response to the crowd is. So if you're someone that's still doing a great job, but you're third in the crushing it. You know it.

[Josh Gad]

Do you know how petty I was? And hungry and starving for love and adoration. I'll never forget being so mad. This is so ridiculous. But I was so mad that Andrew got the last bow and I did.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Josh Gad]

And that is such a joke.

[Dax Shepard]

I love that you're admitting that.

[Josh Gad]

That I would even think that way.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

Because he clearly was the one who should get the last battle. But at the time I was like, I've been doing the show for four years. I've been here from the beginning. I'm the funnier role. I wasn't. I wasn't any of those things. I was involved longer. That's it.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, if I can make an excuse for you a little bit, or not even. Excuse me. No, I'm gonna. No, no.

[Josh Gad]

And I deserve what's happening to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Yes. Yeah. Isn't it true you're at fault for these high winds that just set L. A ablaze? This is the same thing with black folks, with women in your mind, if you're not the best, they're going to kick you out.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But also, you said it earlier, you grew up with a huge fear of loss. That does not go away. I have the exact same thing.

[Josh Gad]

It doesn't go away. And also, I have always felt like a fraud. I have. Have an absolute case of imposter syndrome. And when I go and I put myself out there, I am so scared I'm gonna fail. And I am so scared that what I think is funny, other people won't find funny. And if I fail, even one person, I don't think about the thousand people who enjoyed it. I think about the one person who hated it also.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you give it the power that, like, when I fail publicly, it's actually gonna be so powerful to failure that it'll make you go back and reevaluate everything you thought thus far?

[Josh Gad]

I. All the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Like, it has the power to not only fail in that moment, but erase everything that happened before.

[Josh Gad]

It is to the point now that I can't even watch anything. I'm in because I judge it so harshly and so critically that I feel like a fraud. Actually. The beauty and the reason that I went back to Broadway and did a show with Andrew was I needed that again. I needed to put myself out there in the most vulnerable way at the age of 40 and have this guy who is the single funniest fucking human being I've ever worked alongside, other than the two of you.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Josh Gad]

We've never worked together.

[Monica Padman]

Is it a lie because you haven't worked with us?

[Josh Gad]

Well, no, it's honest. And so I needed that. I needed my ass kicked. And the difference between when we did Book of Mormon and we did Gutenberg was being on the other side of that and no longer focused about any of the little shit, any of the dumb shit, I would say able to just enjoy and do a trust exercise every night. And it was incredible.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the thing. The ultimate victim ends up being you because you are robbed of the experience. So that whole experience you had, which is among 10 experiences on Broadway, like, that you didn't get to experience.

[Josh Gad]

I didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

Because you were so in the future and so behind and all these places other than this bizarre gift that doesn't really come around for people ever in this business. And, yeah, you can run the risk of missing the whole thing.

[Josh Gad]

It's funny. I think in a certain way, you need to go through that. I'm at an age now where none of that is a factor anymore because I've learned these lessons. Every job that I do, every day, I take in and I give gratitude and I am savoring it. And you read about stories like Mandy Potemkin talking about, he was so miserable to others and to himself for so long. And like, my experience of working with Mandy was the complete opposite. I've never met a more giving person. And I think that we all, in a weird way, have to go through that. Not just in this industry, in our lives.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Gad]

You have to experience that.

[Dax Shepard]

Everyone with coworkers knows this.

[Josh Gad]

It's okay to go through all of that as long as you come out the other side acknowledging it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

I'm finally at a place. Maybe too late, but I'm finally at a place of acknowledgment to say I was my own worst enemy. In many of these situations, I was not present. I was afraid to be told no because that meant that I had to concede I was doing something wrong.

[Dax Shepard]

Proving you didn't belong there.

[Josh Gad]

It was a waste of one of the greatest years of my life. I wanted to get the fuck out of that show by the end because I was miserable. And I am so bitter about that because if I could go back and do Book of Mormon right now, I would fucking leave this room and put that outfit on and get on stage. Because it was the greatest joy ever. What Trey Matt did is for the ages. And I didn't appreciate it enough at the.

[Dax Shepard]

I have two stupid questions unrelated to your book.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

In my research, I discovered something that is an Alexander Payne movie waiting to happen. So your mother and stepfather were involved in a legal battle over a burial plot that was double booked. When I read that sentence, I was like, it's insane. If I was pitched that as a student executive, I go, no.

[Josh Gad]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

In this day and age, people could be fighting over a burial plot.

[Josh Gad]

My grandparents parents were buried in this South Florida cemetery, and my parents bought a plot next to them. My mother is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. There are books about this generation.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

It is really difficult. The guilt is unthinkable.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Josh Gad]

For me, I'd be like, just put me wherever for her. It was such a loss. It was such a betrayal. And the way she found out, which was accidentally from a friend who was told they gave that plot accidentally away, was so fucked. So it was a thing.

[Dax Shepard]

What is the solution to a problem like that? Do you exhume Grandma and Grandma?

[Josh Gad]

Well, going through it now, we are literally in the process of figuring out what to do. Because there is no good solution.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Bury mom on top.

[Josh Gad]

But you sort of anticipate that the fucking place will do its job. It has one job, which is put the boxes where they're meant to go. That's your only job?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Josh Gad]

I don't know how they fucking mix and match that, but this is like.

[Dax Shepard]

The backside of babies.

[Monica Padman]

I was about to say get swapped at the hospital.

[Josh Gad]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

You can imagine you going and paying your respects at the wrong grave for years.

[Josh Gad]

Should write this.

[Dax Shepard]

It's actually incredible. It is, it is.

[Josh Gad]

There's no good solution. There's solutions. All of them suck.

[Dax Shepard]

But that's a good device for a film. There's really no solution that's going to make anyone in this.

[Josh Gad]

Now I'm worried about what the second question is.

[Dax Shepard]

I would urge you to tell people about Picture Face Lizzie because it's another book you have out. You're so prolific.

[Josh Gad]

This has been a year of writing for me. I really wanted to challenge myself as a writer, so I wrote Picture Face Lizzie, a kid's book which is basically about. My girls are obsessed with what their friends have and what they don't have. And that a lot of times comes in the form of social media apps. So they are constantly asking us why their friends are allowed to have TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and we put such random restrictions on them. This is a conversation so many of my friends are having. So many of my friends kids are having. It inspired me to write a book from the perspective of both the parents and the kids talking about this new doll called a Picture Face Lizzie that is a mixture of an American Girl doll with the technological advances of having a social media application to it so that it's all encompassing. And this little kid, Eve, finds herself in a situation where all her friends do is talk about their Picture Face Lizzies and she gets left behind. And so she goes to her parents and she says, I want one. How can I get one? And they finally cave and they give it to her. And basically they say, just don't lose who you are in the process of playing with this. Have a healthy relationship with it. She becomes absolutely consumed. But over the course of the book, she starts to miss the little things she used to do. The imaginative play, the sort of experiential things. As she starts to sort of balance having this thing and doing these analog things, her friends become really attracted to what she's doing and put their dolls down and start doing that as well. And it's been really amazing to watch families read this book together, experience this journey together and start a conversation from it.

[Dax Shepard]

Why did you get such a hack to narrate it?

[Josh Gad]

Kristen Bell was the only option I had at the time because similarly, I was canceled on by most of my previous guests. And that was without an apocalyptic event. I am doing what I can to give them a healthy relationship with technology, but also giving them the skills to be able to be without that technology. Because my concern is I know I'm addicted to it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Parents are giving their kids advice that they themselves are incapable of following, which is hysterical.

[Josh Gad]

That's it. We at least come from a background in which we didn't have any of these.

[Dax Shepard]

We can remember the halcyon days.

[Josh Gad]

And I think part of the reason my kids love Stranger Things, your listeners are like, what kind of dick shows their little kids Stranger Things but doesn't give them Snapchat?

[Dax Shepard]

You knew the shit I've shown my children. Yeah. In fact, when the fires were this again, I was making jokes. So the fires were getting closer and closer. They were half mile from here and they were starting to evacuate. And I said to the 10 year old Delta, if it looks like we're going down tonight, I'm gonna let you drink wine. And we're watching Pulp Fiction.

[Monica Padman]

There you go.

[Josh Gad]

This is such a. I'm not letting.

[Dax Shepard]

You leave this planet without seeing Pulp fiction.

[Josh Gad]

I was 6 when I watched Nightmare on Elm Street. Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

My grandpa took me on opening day to Scarface in 1981 and I was 6 and I watched a chainsaw.

[Josh Gad]

The worst thing that's ever happened to me is I was in college and I took my mother to go see Unfaithful. The Diane Lane, like, sex film.

[Monica Padman]

Sex tape.

[Josh Gad]

This is like fucking snuff film. And I sat next to my mother as like, she's getting rammed by this really hot young man. And I was like, God damn, I should have just read the reviews.

[Dax Shepard]

I gotta tell you one more. My memory of the Thomas Crown Affair. I'm like, that is the funnest movie I can't wait to show my. At that time, Lincoln was probably nine. I'm like I remember the sailboat scene and the cool this, this and the caper with the bowler hats and the Magritte paintings. Cut to Brosman's making love on the staircase. And he's sitting there and it's going on for a long time.

[Josh Gad]

You fast forward.

[Dax Shepard]

No, we go for it. Sex isn't bad.

[Josh Gad]

Same we showed Ava Rain man. And I forgot that there's a scene in Rain Man.

[Dax Shepard]

Hot one with like.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah, he's just away. And same with Jerry Maguire. There's a period of Tom Cruise movies.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, he's gonna sprint in every movie.

[Josh Gad]

He was sprinting or yeah, cuz he's a great kisser.

[Dax Shepard]

On screen. He's a great kisser. Got to give him that. He knows that's worth some of the money. Yeah, he's an incredible runner and a great kisser. So anyways, we're watching this scene that's now, you know, as I remember, maybe 30 seconds, which now feels like it's 11 minutes long. And Lincoln just goes, do people do that? Have sex? And she goes, no, on the stairs. Cuz the absurdity is very clear to a nine year old.

[Josh Gad]

Like why way that is very good question.

[Monica Padman]

Is that real?

[Dax Shepard]

And I go, actually no. Only in movies do people have sex on the stairs.

[Josh Gad]

God.

[Dax Shepard]

That's for.

[Josh Gad]

That is so your child. That is so your child.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh well Joshi, thanks so much.

[Josh Gad]

Thanks. This was nice. This was a good distraction and your book is phenomenal. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

It's really, really, really good. It's very honest and it's very well written and it's quite funny. You're never more than three sentences away from a Josh Gad zinger.

[Josh Gad]

Why didn't you write a blurb on I was. It's not too late. I could just send out a flyer.

[Dax Shepard]

Why might I just write something in pen? And I wanted these book promotional things. You find a single arm jury. You can go like, do you want this one that Dax on in pencil.

[Monica Padman]

Did you consider calling it the book of Gad?

[Josh Gad]

I did at one point actually.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. That got taken off.

[Josh Gad]

There were so many puns.

[Monica Padman]

So many.

[Dax Shepard]

How does one pick and is that you?

[Josh Gad]

That is truly me.

[Dax Shepard]

What is that from? What photo is that?

[Josh Gad]

I did it exclusively for the book. They take photos now for they don't you think that they like pull it off of the Internet?

[Monica Padman]

Take it from your gram.

[Josh Gad]

Where do you assume pictures on books come from?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. I just. You know who it kind of looks like.

[Josh Gad]

Tell me.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm embarrassed that I'm forgetting his name, but did you watch the second iteration of Wet Hot American Summer?

[Josh Gad]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Remember the guy? He always wore three collars. What's that actor's name? I know he went to school at Jada. Pinket. Jordan Joseph Gordon. Josh Gordon.

[Josh Gad]

Joseph Gordon Levitt.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Josh Gordon. I think that doesn't matter. Everybody reading Gad We Trust.

[Josh Gad]

And please go to Dax's curated list of places where you can support.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Please do that as well. And if you're struggling, I hope this two hours was a reprieve.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah. Amen.

[Dax Shepard]

All right.

[Josh Gad]

This was, by the way, reprieve for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you.

[Monica Padman]

You too.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. Be well. Josh Charles.

[Josh Gad]

That's a little late for that. Thanks, Rob.

[Monica Padman]

Josh.

[Dax Shepard]

I sure hope there weren't any mistakes in that episode. But we'll find out when my mom, Mrs. Monica comes in and tells us what was wrong. Bury.

[Monica Padman]

That's correct.

[Dax Shepard]

That's correct. Only wear Burberry. Burberry to swim. That's the JC line. That's when you know you've made it. When you only wear Burberry to swim.

[Monica Padman]

I don't. I wear it for fact checks.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. Looks stunning.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you noticing anything about you?

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're growing your beard out.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. Sure. Or maybe back out. I just blue dried my hair. Blow dried.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

What do you think?

[Monica Padman]

It looks nice.

[Dax Shepard]

A lot of volume.

[Monica Padman]

It looks fluffy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I got out of the shower and I was like, what if we put a little mousse in our hair and then hair dry it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

And here we are.

[Monica Padman]

Cause 50.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I think New Year.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. That's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Stagnation.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. You want to mix it up?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Do you think a little bit of this potentially has to do with we had a guest in who has like really fluffy hair?

[Dax Shepard]

No. But it is slightly impacted by the guest we're going to have after this fact chat.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Which he is such an eclectic very. This won't sound like a compliment, but it is.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. One of my classic compliments that has you feeling terrible afterwards. Whatever the most exotic lizard is. Right. That's rough. But that's bad with the colorful. When they.

[Monica Padman]

He's just cool. Maybe you go with some original words like cool.

[Dax Shepard]

And he knows this. He's also dangerous. He's like snake in the Garden of Eden. He. Or already in that. So much Easter eggs happening right now. But what we're going to talk about that he's dangerous.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I'm excited for that. I like a little Danger.

[Dax Shepard]

And he's. But he's dangerous and colorful. So if you can think of another. I don't want to use unicorn because.

[Monica Padman]

Unicorns are for babies and you don't like unicorns.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Except you do.

[Dax Shepard]

I love them. I love to call everyone a unicorn.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But that's another thing. I got to stop. I start blow drying my hair and I got to stop using your contradictions. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Dangerous, but colorful is like a flamingo. Cuz I think they.

[Dax Shepard]

You think they're dangerous?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I do think they're actually hidden, dangerous.

[Dax Shepard]

You can just snap any part of them in half. They're. They're structured.

[Monica Padman]

Very tall.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly. They're so tall and not robust.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's your privilege because you're tall. So you could snap, but I'm too short. I wouldn't be able to reach.

[Dax Shepard]

Totally disagree. I would put you in the running back category. Ding, ding, ding. Thank you, Detroit Lions. We'll get there.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

No, you were low and powerful. So you would smash into those flamingos, little dainty toothpick, slash chopstick legs.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And it'd be. No one wants to know this, but it would be.

[Monica Padman]

No, this is like two fact checks in a row. We've been like animal cruelty.

[Dax Shepard]

True. But no, I need something more. A little more dangerous, but also radiant in beautiful and colorful. So I'm thinking with some of those lizards, they get pissed and they start walking on their back legs and they got their arms out and they're funny, their mantles out. They flare out their big parachute around their neck and it's full of colors.

[Monica Padman]

What about peacocks? Are they mean.

[Dax Shepard]

No. These. Are you sure? You know, if you're going to use a bird, will you use a predator bird?

[Monica Padman]

Those aren't colorful on purpose because they're trying to blend in.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

I feel that I'm drawn to birds. Not in life, but in pictures.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. I have a big photograph in my apartment of a woman. She has a cage on her head, but the bird is free.

[Dax Shepard]

What does that metaphor mean?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, it's deep.

[Dax Shepard]

It is locked in the cage of your own mind.

[Monica Padman]

It's like golden cage a little bit, but the bird is red.

[Dax Shepard]

Golden handcuffs.

[Monica Padman]

Also, I almost bought this other piece of art. Not Anne Mansour, new lady.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And it was also a woman with a bird. And I like immediately DM'd and was trying to get it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then I thought, how many things with birds can I have?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Because now it's probably about to pass the many, many self images you have that My children have generated and that Kristen's generated. Right. Because you have a lot of, as we know, photos of yourself, Art of yourself.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I'm not.

[Dax Shepard]

We talked about that, though. Is it, like, would it freak someone out who came over?

[Monica Padman]

Okay. There's a picture that Lincoln painted of me when she was, like, five or six. She was really young.

[Dax Shepard]

And Kristen made.

[Monica Padman]

Painted a picture of me for secret Turkey.

[Dax Shepard]

And she made a figurine of you.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

And big boobs with big. And then Lincoln also made a big boob figurine, as I recall.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, okay. I only have one.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I think I have the one Lincoln made.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And it's in a drawer, so no.

[Dax Shepard]

One would see that unless they were.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, I want people to see it, but it invites a lot of questions. The.

[Dax Shepard]

Which could be helpful in the right context.

[Monica Padman]

Circumstance.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Perhaps maybe if I get on the apps, which I probably won't, but if I do, maybe that could be my little picture.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that would be great.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And so I have a little mystery, too, but it's also being very obvious. Obvious. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You're also leaning over. Leaning the witness a little bit, but.

[Monica Padman]

Those other ones are hung up. I am going to display definitely Lincoln's. Yeah. That's about me. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, they're all not about you.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

In your defense.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I didn't ask for them.

[Dax Shepard]

But we did ask the question, what would be critical mass, where even if they're not about you, someone might go, my Lord, this person has, like, 30 or 40 pieces of art depicting her.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not doing that.

[Dax Shepard]

Even these famous artists, they tend to only do one or two self portraits, as I recall. Right.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Also the mount. I mean, that's why I also have this space. I've put some of my art of me here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's right. So there's all that art, too. And then there's the armchairy art, which we have a lot of.

[Monica Padman]

We do. But that lives in our workspace. That feels fine.

[Dax Shepard]

Right?

[Monica Padman]

That feels fine.

[Dax Shepard]

Real quick question. If you were a great artist, do you think you would do self portraits? And how many would you do? Like, I guess I'm. I'm delighted Van Gogh did a self portrait because there were no cameras around.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

So my only idea of what he looks like is. Is what he drew of himself.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But it's probably so inaccurate. Like, if I did a self portrait.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that would be great if you were a really, really talented artist and you could actually show us exactly what you. You see. Yeah, that Would be incredible.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I guarantee it would be super off. Crickets are out.

[Monica Padman]

Yay. I mean, you're a good artist. So you could do a self portrait.

[Dax Shepard]

Aren't they all those. All those monsters I draw? I think those are all secretly self portraits.

[Monica Padman]

It's also a little like, that's how you're gonna spend your time drawing yourself.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But you're always there, Right. If you need a model for something, it's like all you need is a mirror, and you're.

[Monica Padman]

That's true.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're sketchy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I'm probably not gonna do that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Should we dive into the heartbreak?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, let's hear about it.

[Dax Shepard]

So went to the game.

[Monica Padman]

The Lions game.

[Dax Shepard]

The Lions playoff game against the Commanders.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And if I'm listing a top 10 experiences with my best friend Aaron Weekley, this is making the list. We were so beside ourselves that we were down. Down on the field at the Lions. I had the singular goal of standing next to Dan Campbell, the coach, in hopes I could get a sense of just how big he is, because I see him on TV. I also looked him up, and it says 6, 5.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

But these football players are infamously. They're all a little bit embellished because they were coming out of college and they're entering the draft, and they want to seem as big and as enormous. So it's always like, if you see six, five, probably six, three and a half.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, I'm.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm just gonna guess. There's a standard 1 1/2 inch flub. Flub. Fluff.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I was just hoping to stand next to him. So. Keegan Michael Keys there.

[Monica Padman]

Oh. Friend of the pot, front of the.

[Dax Shepard]

Pod in the Ultimate Detroiter. And. And I. I don't even pretend to be as authentic and committed to the Lions as he is. It's his life.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm a bit of a poser, but I'm. I'm as excited as anyone, so that counts.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So he starts. He knows everybody, as you might expect. So he introduces me to Martha Ford. Do you know who Martha Ford is?

[Monica Padman]

Martha.

[Dax Shepard]

Martha Ford. Martha Ford.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, no, Rob, will you look up.

[Dax Shepard]

Her age while I'm chatting?

[Josh Gad]

She's 99.

[Dax Shepard]

99. Monica, I have to tell you, of all the thing. I mean, she's tied with T. With Dan Campbell, so she. If I am to believe Aaron, was the daughter of the Firestone Tire dynasty.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Married Henry Ford's son. Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Is she hot.

[Dax Shepard]

I'll get there.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

They own the Lions Which I wasn't even positive I knew for. The Ford family owns the Lions. They own the Ford Field, the arena. Martha rolls in on a golf cart, and she gets out. Next thing you know, I'm meeting her. She's so tiny.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I bet.

[Dax Shepard]

I loved her immediately because she's so tiny. She has a walker.

[Monica Padman]

What color hair does she have?

[Dax Shepard]

White.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, just checking.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't. I think once you're 99, your standard hair is white.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but you might dye it.

[Dax Shepard]

Not Martha.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, good for her.

[Dax Shepard]

She is such a spitfire. So they get us to line up. The, like, team photographer is going to take a picture of us. And Martha has a Walker. She's 99. And we're about to take the. And she goes, get this out of here. She chucked her walker. She didn't want that walker anywhere near this photo. And I was like, I love her. Yeah, I'll be standing for this, and I don't want any evidence of this walker.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I love that.

[Dax Shepard]

Fun. When I was shaking, I shook her hand for a very long time because I loved holding it. It was like shaking hands with Delta. It was the tiniest little hand. And she was so sweet. And I felt like I was in history.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Married Henry Ford's son.

[Monica Padman]

That is.

[Dax Shepard]

That feels like from another eon.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it does.

[Dax Shepard]

Then I start talking to Dan Campbell's wife. By chance.

[Monica Padman]

What color hair?

[Dax Shepard]

Brownish.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

From Dallas. Super fun. And before I know it, she's turning her attention away from me because Dan Campbell has walked out of the locker room. He walks directly, directly up to her and gives her the longest kiss.

[Monica Padman]

That's nice.

[Dax Shepard]

It was so nice. I was like, oh, my God. I just love this whole thing. Then she introduces me to him. I'm shaking his hand. I'm very excited to be shaking his hand and saying things. I'm not even sure what I was saying, you know? Oh, sure.

[Monica Padman]

And did you hope he would kiss you?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I'll get to that.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dax Shepard]

So it's some chit chat. Chit chat. And then he gets distracted, and then he's talking to Keegan, and then he's gonna carry on, and. And he gives Keegan a huge hug. And I'm like, I'm gonna. Well, even worse, I'm like, I'm gonna hug him goodbye.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm really afraid to say this because I'm afraid some Lions fans are gonna blame me that this hug jinx everything. And by the way, I did. I did think it in my head for a couple hours. I started feeling really guilty, like I shouldn't have.

[Monica Padman]

Did you?

[Dax Shepard]

But I was like, all right, yeah, great meeting you. And I just kind of make it very obvious. I want to hug. And he. And he hugs me.

[Monica Padman]

He obliges.

[Dax Shepard]

And Monica. It was like hugging a water buffalo.

[Monica Padman]

What do you mean? I need more.

[Dax Shepard]

He is so big.

[Monica Padman]

Like squishy.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no. His lats are like this wide. His neck is like, you know, this wide.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

For the listener. I'm holding my hands very far apart. Yeah, he is. I don't think he's 6 5. It's a little bit like Toto. He's taller than me.

[Monica Padman]

Toto is.

[Dax Shepard]

He's six nine In. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

In my heart.

[Dax Shepard]

Same. But he's definitely taller than me. Let's just say that. And he is just like hugging a redwood.

[Monica Padman]

Were you. Were you like this? Like you couldn't get your arms?

[Dax Shepard]

That's what I thought I was. But then I saw a video of it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. I just loved it. I hugged him. I felt his lats. They were. Were so big.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I wanted him to throw me on the ground kind of. Which is interesting.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I just kind of wanted to feel his power a little bit.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I get it.

[Dax Shepard]

But he was so nice. He's such a nice man.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He got emotional in the post game thing. I don't know if you saw that. Very sweet.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't watch.

[Dax Shepard]

I think he's a vulnerable. Oh, I am beaming like I'm 8 years old. Aaron is so excited.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He took a couple pictures. He goes, I took a couple pictures. And I'm like, oh, my God, I'm so glad you took. Took some pictures.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I go, they look like a little baby next to him. And Aaron goes, you guys look like twins.

[Monica Padman]

Twins. So he's not. Wait, I'm confused now.

[Dax Shepard]

You should be. I'm not nearly as big as him, but my son is such a sweet boy.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, he was making.

[Dax Shepard]

He was. Yeah. He was basically saying, you guys were I almost identical twins.

[Monica Padman]

Let me look at this person. Hold on.

[Dax Shepard]

You just want to. A picture of me hugging him?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So you can get a sense of.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

What I'm talking about.

[Josh Gad]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. Okay. For the listener who doesn't know Dan.

[Dax Shepard]

Campbell, it's everything I'm saying, right?

[Monica Padman]

No, I'm about to say the actual opposite. The way you describe him is not accurate. Okay. I'm imagining who. God. How do I. Okay. I can't do this.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, so you were picturing, like, a monster from. From Game of Thrones. Like the Hound or something.

[Monica Padman]

But not muscular. Really.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no. He was a. This guy's a safety.

[Monica Padman]

Extremely muscular.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, he's the most muscular.

[Monica Padman]

When you say water buffalo, you have to understand what people imagine.

[Dax Shepard]

Water buffaloes are pure muscle. That's why it's a great comp.

[Monica Padman]

It's not. Anyway, he's hot for the listener. This man is very attractive, and he's not what Dax explained. And he's. He does look really tall and insanely muscular and fit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And a very handsome face.

[Dax Shepard]

He looks like he could just run right through a cinder block wall. I don't want to know because I think he's younger than me, which would be a bummer, but I think probably true.

[Josh Gad]

Not much.

[Dax Shepard]

Not much.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Not much.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, that helps. How old is he?

[Monica Padman]

48.

[Dax Shepard]

48. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

April birthday.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, here we go. Go. Here we go. Rob's kind of got it.

[Monica Padman]

Look, I'm not. I'm not here to make you feel.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, first of all, there we are together.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, look, I see what Aaron's saying, and Aaron.

[Dax Shepard]

I have the advantage that Aaron's behind me, so I'm closer to Aaron than. Than. Look at this. A. Oh, look at his back, Monica. Look at the width of his back and how tiny my hand looks on it. Oh, well, actually, that's not my hand. That's. That's Keegan's.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Gad]

You.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a lot of beef right there.

[Monica Padman]

This is so stupid.

[Dax Shepard]

I know anyone who watches football has a crush on Dan Campbell.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I get it. Yeah, I get it.

[Dax Shepard]

He's like the rock of NFL. Okay. Ben Johnson. Oh, that's a heartbreaker. I don't want to talk about that.

[Monica Padman]

Why?

[Dax Shepard]

We lost our offensive coordinator. Right. Offensive coordinator.

[Monica Padman]

I thought, you know, he died or something.

[Dax Shepard]

No, the Lions. The coordinators now coaching the Bears took him.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, this guy is attractive. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Dan Campbell.

[Monica Padman]

No, we already established he was. Now, this new guy is also very attractive, and he is 38.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, that is just a few months older than you.

[Monica Padman]

Correct.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. What if you were dating him and I was dating Dan Campbell?

[Monica Padman]

We could go to the Drive Rivals.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, now. Because of Rob. Because he's with the Bears.

[Monica Padman]

Well, if I'm dating him.

[Dax Shepard]

But if he was still at the Lions, we'd both be rooting for the Lions.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, this guy was at the Lion?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, he was the offensive coordinator.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So it'd work out perfectly. We could go to the games together and sit in the box and cheer for our boyfriends.

[Monica Padman]

That'd be fun. That would be really fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Just like Taylor, your best friend.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. How fun. Okay, wait, real quick. You're not letting me get a compliment out. I agree with Aaron in that picture. You guys do look similar.

[Dax Shepard]

God bless you. God bless you. If you hugged him, you would know we're not terribly similar, but I am. I'm delighted that that's your verdict. Thank you.

[Monica Padman]

Now you know what it's like to be me. Like, when I hug big men.

[Dax Shepard]

Charlie.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It. It has a very specific feel.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you like it or. I like it. Do you like the feeling of being small and safe?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what I'm getting at. Like, I'm hugging this guy and I'm like, oh, wow, I'm good. If whatever runs up behind us, a rhinoceros or whatever, like, it's. It's. It's on him. It's his job.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. And that's very unlike you.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly. It's a unique feeling for me to be being held by a man that is so much more powerful and big than me that I know he should handle the grizzly bear when it comes to the door.

[Monica Padman]

And do you not feel that with Aaron?

[Dax Shepard]

Aaron. I feel this perfect equanimity. Like, I'm a wrestler, he's a puncher. Together, we're great. We're a duo. I totally feel safe around Aaron. I know that, like, I don't need to worry about what's behind me. I know that Aaron's always looking out for me. I know Aaron would jump through fire for me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I think he feels that way about me. So. Yeah. When I'm with him, and this has been since seventh grade, I feel so safe all the time.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He'll do anything to protect me and vice versa. But if a rhino comes through the door, Aaron and I gotta team up on it. I'm not like, ryan, Aaron, go handle this. But if Dan Campbell was there, I'd be like, dan, you're up.

[Monica Padman]

You would?

[Dax Shepard]

I think so, yeah.

[Josh Gad]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

That's a first. I've not heard you say, say that about anyone.

[Dax Shepard]

Hence my giddiness.

[Monica Padman]

Like, getting in. Into it.

[Dax Shepard]

I like being the guy that confronts the rhino. But also, it feels very nice.

[Monica Padman]

That's great.

[Dax Shepard]

To feel very safe that Campbell would be the one that would handle it.

[Monica Padman]

Pin in this. I want to circle back to something, but okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

Pin in the safety.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I'm sorry. So fast forwarding. Got to be on the field when they ran out. That was incredible. Met Will Ford, son. It was just very Fun to meet the Ford family. Chatted with a lot of different people. People. And then we were in the box with Roger Goodell. Roger Goodell is the NFL commissioner.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And has been for a long time. And just to put. I know it's terrible to quantify it this way, but it made me recognize how esteemed the job is. His previous contract is 70 million a year and he just signed another three year contract. No one even knows what it is. But when you're paying someone more than Lewis Hamilton, I feel like you've got a pretty important job. All this info is coming from Aaron because he knows way more about football than I do. So, Roger, people don't like him. Oh, I think it's the nature of the job.

[Josh Gad]

Yeah. No one ever likes the commissioner.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no one ever likes the commissioner.

[Monica Padman]

That's why they have to pay you a lot, probably.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'm not entering with that kind of baggage. I don't dislike him or like him. I just am flattered. He wanted his us in his suite, I think largely because of that Golden Globes thing. Oh, I left one thing out before I went up to the suite. They played a video on the big screen of me watching the Golden Globe, watching the Lions game at the Golden Globes, and then cut to, you know, and I had to wave and all that.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, cute. That is like McConaughey, big time.

[Dax Shepard]

And I've been in that situation several times at Lakers games. In these different games. They'll put me on the jumbotron.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's at best, I would say it's in the past. It's like, like a c. Like, I feel like generally maybe 30% of the Lakers crowd will know it's me and be excited.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Because of that Golden Globes thing. It was legit. You know how I've always said I never got. I'm always envious of that experience, The American Idol people get where they go to their hometown and they're in a convertible. I didn't think that would ever happen to me. And I'm like, when does that happen? That it happened. Oh, they showed that thing. They cut to me and the place legitimately went bananas.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's wild.

[Dax Shepard]

It was almost hard to accept, but it was sweet. It was unbelievably lovely. I felt so, like, loved by my people. Then back. Okay, Goodell, Roger, he was immediately most engaging with Aaron, who would have been asking Aaron a ton of questions. Really engaging, him talking to me. But, like, he's not there. He's not playing the status game. There's a lot of people in the love that fucking Barry Sanders is in the box. He's the most famous Lions player of all time and the best player of all time and the best running back in history. He's in the thing. Roger could be chatting him up. He's talking to Aaron.

[Monica Padman]

I love him.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. He is the. And Aaron's like. I was anticipating that I would have to see my way out of conversations while we. You did your thing with the person who got us the tickets. And I was like, oh, this guy wants to chat with me. Which he did. He's so down to earth. And he was so lovely and hyper intelligent. And you can see why he's.

[Monica Padman]

How old is he?

[Dax Shepard]

65. Because.

[Monica Padman]

Good.

[Dax Shepard]

I did make one joke that got him. We were talking about the thing I talked about on the previous fact check where it's like, you used to be younger than the players. Now you're older than them, but you're younger than the coaches.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

Then you're. Now I'm older than the coaches, and I hope to be younger than the owners. Thank God Martha's with us. 99. Thank God I have a W. Yeah. And he and I were talking about that, and I said, well, how old are you? Then he goes, 65. And I go, well, you look great. Which is true. He's very fit. Looks great. Yeah, look up.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, he looks great. Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

And I go, you look great. You're definitely gonna make it to 70.

[Josh Gad]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And that. That really tickled him.

[Monica Padman]

That's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so as you can see, we were on fire. We were screaming. We were meeting people. We idolize it. It was. The two of us were from down the road in a dirt road, and it was really, really fulfilling and beautiful. And I was sharing it with Aaron and it was so special.

[Monica Padman]

Yay.

[Dax Shepard]

Fighting back the tears the whole time. And the game starts. It's rough right from the get go. We cannot get a stop. They score every time they got it. Luckily, we score every time we get it. Our offense is great, and it just goes downhill and it gets worse and worse and worse. And the crowd gets quiet, quieter and quieter and quieter. And I start thinking it's completely my fault because I haven't been to a game.

[Monica Padman]

And you hugged.

[Dax Shepard]

And I hugged Dan. I'm sincerely regretting hugging Dan Campbell.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, yes. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I think all fans do this. Carly thinks that the two games they lost this season was because Lola, her dog, didn't have her Detroit Lions bandana on. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

People do this. Now you understand my knocking on wood.

[Dax Shepard]

I do. I was taking a lot of the blame for it.

[Monica Padman]

Sorry, it's not your fault.

[Dax Shepard]

But I was also refusing to let the outcome take away what a fun season it's been. And then this crazy experience with Aaron that was as good as it could possibly get.

[Monica Padman]

Good. Remember when I thought that Trump won because my ring was off my finger?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And you said, you're not that powerful. I kept telling myself a nicer way. But you did say that.

[Dax Shepard]

I was saying to myself to try to get myself out of the dumps. You don't have any control over the defense. Be great if you did.

[Monica Padman]

Not that powerful.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not that powerful. But I was afraid other people would think I was sure.

[Monica Padman]

We'll tell them now. Here, you're not.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not sure if it's not my. I'm. I'm only like 70%. It's not my fault.

[Monica Padman]

That's how I feel about Trump. I still feel it. I still feel like potentially it was the ring and the be.

[Dax Shepard]

I feel like that's very universal. Rob, do you blame yourself when your team loses? Yeah, I've got lots of super when I'm watching. Yeah. Oh, remember Rob Reiner was on. He said he went to the bathroom. They scored. And then. So he had to keep going to the bathroom.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It'll happen.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by 23andMe plus total health. As the year winds down, we often spend time reflecting on what's important. Well, taking proactive steps to take care of your own health is one of the most loving things we can do for the people who love us. And with 23andMe, you can do just that. With 23andMe plus total health, you'll receive advanced genetic screening, giving you a lifetime of insight into your potential future disease risks. It can help lead to early detection and even prevention. It's a longevity platform that helps you be proactive. Proactive about your health. With cutting edge genetic testing and biomarker analysis, you can create a health plan that is tailored just for you. As you know, I've been. We're both in this study and I've been going back to 23andMe and ordering different results, which is so cool. It's all sitting there for me to do.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's so cool because we've done it before and we really loved what we learned. Also, do it as a family or, like, as a friendship. It's really fun to read. Get your results and you can read them together. It's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

It is. Advocate for your health today. Go to 23andMe.comDax for your limited time offer. That's 23andMe.comDax okay. You on to earmark safety?

[Monica Padman]

Yes, I did. So this is a big pivot. But it did remind that while you were at the game I had therapy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

I had two big epiphanies.

[Dax Shepard]

You did? Would you call them breakthroughs?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Guided by my incredible.

[Dax Shepard]

Your spiritual advisor.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. She's. She really is worth her money.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. Especially cause you were a little bit on the fence on the New Year's about whether you're gonna continue on.

[Monica Padman]

Well, yeah, I was like, maybe I just go to once a month and now I'm like, I gotta to go back to two times a week. So the fires, you know, was the first time I'd seen her since then.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And first of all, January sucks. I'm going to say that just. Just like as a fact.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

January is the worst month of the year. It's horrible. Bad things happen.

[Dax Shepard]

Jan1 is when I had norovirus yaki for eight hours. I'm kind of on board. The lions lost. Go.

[Monica Padman]

Three out of the five have been horrendous.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh yeah, I got it. You're saying in across the board, January blows.

[Monica Padman]

January's are bad.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I'm kind of.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I'm sorry that your birthday's in there, but like it's a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad month.

[Dax Shepard]

Weather generally sucks.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, weather sucks. People die. Like things go up in flames. Literally, it's bad. But I do think they've all like taught me something. I've come out of the. I walked into February with new information. It's. It's been a gloomy January for a lot of reasons.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I was talking to her about that. Obviously for the fires, we were fine. Right. We didn't have to evacuate. Our houses are okay.

[Dax Shepard]

We have the best version of it.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. So lucky. But still it's just been like, oh my God, there's so much loss everywhere. Every day you're hearing about somebody else, you know, who lost everything and you're trying to figure out how to help. And it's just like overwhelming. So I kind of figured it was just that I was like, I think I'm just overwhelmed by everything going on. Then we kind of got to that. It was, I think more than that and more personal. And I think people who are sort of struggling through this here, who didn't. Who didn't have like, massive loss but are still down.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Because I know a couple people who are, like, depressed, who aren't normally, like, I'm surprised. Surprised.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

And I realized that, like, in the moment, especially in the moment when you're packing your bag up and it's. I mean, you're panicked because you're like, I might have to be out of here in like 10 minutes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You're standing in your house or apartment or whatever, and you are faced with the two most, like, deepest, most existential questions that we have.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Which are who do you really have and what do you really need?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it's both at the exact same time in a moment of panic, like, you have to know the answer. And I think we walk around with so much false security about those questions. Like, we think we know or it's fine, but this is like, push comes to shove, what's your reaction?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. And the rubber meets the road in a evacuation.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

If you're forced to ask those questions and the answer is. I don't know. It's very heavy.

[Dax Shepard]

Unsettling.

[Monica Padman]

It's very unsettling and destabilizing and like, you feel untethered.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I think that's potentially what. That's definitely what I am feeling and what I think other people might be feeling too. It just going to take some time to process.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But I found that helpful to. To know, like. Oh, that's what I'm sort of struggling with.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

It's a deeper well, because you can't.

[Dax Shepard]

Work on future natural disasters as a cure. Right. You can only work on the things that actually emerged in that situation.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That are personal.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Also, she told me, and this was also fascinating, is in times of true crisis, and this also happens, like in death, people become their truest, like, most base version of themselves.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And like, not the person they've worked on becoming or are most lead, but who they are at their core.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it's so true. I was thinking about who I was and who other people were in my life. And what was happening is what I.

[Dax Shepard]

Was bringing up about. Like, we do have this genetic wiring to fulfill a role that when it happens, that thing really goes to the front and center.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it related to that or no?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I think so. I think.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I think you're. You're almost. Your genetics take over.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Not the artifice of your identity, but.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know if it's genetics so much as. Yeah. Yes. But also what you did when you were a kid, how you coped, how you. Like a lot of, like, your biggest fears, your insecurities, those things come to the forefront and they're leading the charge. Like, they are the thing that comes out. It's. It's wild.

[Dax Shepard]

And this is one of the times where having a high A score is, like, really nice because you've already. You've done a bunch of these, you know, I've done a bunch of police are at the house and fire departments at the house.

[Monica Padman]

But you're still a person. You're still a person in there. You still have a personality.

[Dax Shepard]

But I have a lot of practice, like, submersion therapy, which is like, yeah, we're going to dads in the middle of the night. You live there now. That's disruptive. And then sixth grade's fun, you know, Like, I. I have a ton of personal experience where it's like I lived on the other side of those.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Does that make sense?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I think for a lot of people that have been terrified a bunch of different times, one of the only benefits is like, you're like, oh, yeah, here's another thing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it'll be all right.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. I think there's like, two things happening. One is, like, what you're doing. Right. And then the other is what you're thinking, who you are in those moments. Like, it is. It's different. Right. Like, I. We talked about this before, where it was sort of the first time I had to be like, I have to do everything. I have to figure out what I'm taking. I have to load it in the car. I have to make sure I have this, this, and this. Things I don't Norm things. I normally just say, like, whoever I'm with is going to do half of that stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And so I'm. I'm doing it, but what's coming up and who I am in it. And what I'm thinking is like, I'm alone. I have nobody. I am abandoned. I am really all I have is myself. I'm scared.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

First and foremost, like, that's. I'm scared. I'm a. I'm a fearful person. And I have overcome a lot of. Of that in life, but not in this circumstance. I can't. So it's like it's at a 10.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you've probably just been ratcheting up what level for you is manageable over time as you've grown, Right?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like panic attacks and soul cycle versus now. There is a threshold that you've kept moving Up. You can handle it in such and such. And then, yeah, some things exceed that. That threshold.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. And it also was, I think, important for me to have understanding for how everyone's behaving. Like, everyone is gonna behave quite differently because we are all different and had much different life experiences and deal with trauma in very, very, very different ways.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep.

[Monica Padman]

Because, like, until Tuesday, Tuesday night, the first night when it was starting, I was like, you know, texting with every. A lot of people. And. And. And I was like, I don't. Like, I don't even know. I don't know what to do. I don't know how. How do we. What? Callie and I were both like, well, yeah, we don't know what to do here. Like, what do. Where do we go? What do we do? We were also, like, kind of joking, of course. And then I. And I was also texting with Jess, and in my head, I was like, well, Jess is down the street, so, like, that's easy. We'll go. And then at like, nine, the other. We start. I start looking at the other fire, the Eaton fire, and it is getting, like, bigger and bigger. And I called him and he was asleep. And I was like, oh, my God, how can you possibly go to sleep right now? Like, this is crazy. And then I was like, yeah, I think that's who he is. In including crisis. He, like, really calm, but to almost like, whatever. Dissociated, disassociated. Whatever happens is going to happen. I can't really control it. So I'm just going to go to bed.

[Dax Shepard]

I have a question.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah?

[Dax Shepard]

Potentially dangerous, but this just happened, right? It happened with Tom Hansen. I was, to be vague, intentionally. I was very much on the verge of blowing. Blowing everything up in a very public way because of my anger towards something. And I ended up sharing about it in a meeting that he was at. And in that chair, he learns of the timeline. So then he calls me the next day because he's my dad and he wants to help me. And I don't call him back. And I don't call him back for three days. And finally in the third day, he's like, what the fuck's going on? Why won't you call me back? And I finally FaceTime him, and I go, I didn't want to talk to you because I didn't want to hear the right answer. I didn't want the right answer. And I know you have the right answer.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And so I was avoiding you because I wasn't there. I still wanted to torch everything yeah. And I didn't want to be talked down, and. And I apologize. But I just. So, in that way, I think we all often call people that we want to confirm the answer we're looking for. Right. I. I do it. I know people call me. Someone wants to buy a motorcycle, they don't call their doctor. They call me, well, of course.

[Monica Padman]

But that's my expertise. Well.

[Dax Shepard]

And they know, like, I'm pro motorcycle. Right.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm curious, in that same construct, when you start texting people, do you feel that you. You start texting other people that you know will also be really nervous and not texting people that you know are going to tell you it's not bad?

[Monica Padman]

H. That's a good question.

[Dax Shepard]

The dangerous part is, like, what didn't happen was you didn't text me.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, I didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

And you knew it wasn't going to go well if you did, which is fair.

[Monica Padman]

Correct.

[Dax Shepard]

And we invited you over and you didn't want to be around my energy, which would have been probably.

[Monica Padman]

Well, there were multiple things hap. There was so much happening then that. That is more complicated.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. But back to. To. Do you think. Do you think that's happening at all? Are you calling the people that are going to most reassure you, are they going to call the people that are going to confirm it's as scary and dangerous as you feel like it is?

[Monica Padman]

That's a good question. I mean, I guess I'm probably. I'm probably reaching out to people that will confirm. But. But more I'm. I'm. Especially in this case, I. I know, like, I. I know for certain that you aren't panicked about this.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Me reaching out to you all.

[Dax Shepard]

I would have been frustrating.

[Monica Padman]

Probably all I would have said is, like, I'm really scared.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then I think my fear then is if you respond without compassion.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

That will upset me.

[Dax Shepard]

Y.

[Monica Padman]

So what's the point? Right. Like, I know where you stand on it, and I'm.

[Dax Shepard]

I know what I would done. I've been like, first of all, you will not die because you can get in your car and drive away from this fire. Right. Like, I'd start going through the reasons that. Let's just start with, you're not gonna die tonight, not gonna die tomorrow.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And if your car doesn't start, you call me, I'll pick you up.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not gonna die.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That would be like, my first goal is just go. Like, there's a lot of things on the table. Here. Yeah. You might lose your shit. You might lose this beautiful house you've been building forever. Like, we might get to that. But let's just. I would have just wanted to start with, like, this isn't a tsunami and we live on the.

[Monica Padman]

No, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, like, we can escape this.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Which would have been helpful, I'm, I'm sure. But I don't know. In that moment, what is out of 10 is I'm alone.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

So I don't think, like, all I was really trying to do subconsciously is confirm that I'm not right or that I am right. Some validation or confirmation.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And so I don't, I don't know. I mean, I was text. The range of people that I was texting was not, they were not, Wasn't all panic again. Just slept. So I was like, okay, yeah, well.

[Dax Shepard]

There'S probably two things going on. There's like a logistical call list.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then there's a comfort call list.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And yeah, I, I, I probably would have been bad at it. I would have gone straight into do what I do often and try to avoid, but still keep doing, which is like, not observe you, but try to fix the anxiety.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

I would be trying to point out we are not going to die tonight. You know, I, I wouldn't, I would be bad at going, yeah, we're here. You know, like, I, I wouldn't be good at.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I want to be. You don't need to be good at meeting me at anxious. Like, I, I don't think that's good.

[Dax Shepard]

I saw some people. I'll just leave it at that. And when I saw them, this was on Thursday morning, the look on both of their faces was. And I registered, oh, their house burnt down.

[Monica Padman]

But it didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

It didn't.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But maybe they were sitting with some of these things.

[Dax Shepard]

I not, I'm not at all shaming anyone for how they dealt with it, but I went, oh, my God, clearly their house is gone. And it wasn't. So then I think the primal, primitive side of me goes, we can't have this. It's not productive. We are actually in a situation and there is not room for that. So snap into survival mode.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And so, yeah, I think I can tend to get frustrated in that situation that I think certain people are making things worse.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

In an already bad situation.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. I do think.

[Dax Shepard]

And that, that was definitely the vibe of my household, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So, yeah, that's.

[Monica Padman]

And I think I know that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. About you and and sometimes that is where we butt head heads. Because I feel like I. I can. Should. It's okay for me to care. To be scared and scared and whatever. All. Yeah. And.

[Dax Shepard]

And you have no more control over your reaction than I have over mine.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

I think all of those things would have been true if. If we were heavily interacting during all that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I accept it all. And I. And I cause a lot of that.

[Monica Padman]

Well, we.

[Dax Shepard]

But the only thing I want it. The thing I need to say out loud that I hope you didn't feel is I would not be judging you or thinking you're stupid.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think you're.

[Dax Shepard]

Like if there was any part of you that's afraid to tell me how you feel because I'm going to be judgmental of it. That wouldn't happen. That wouldn't have happened. And I have. And I don't feel that way. I do get pragmatic about if everyone's bawling before we've got in the car. That's going to be a really hard. Right.

[Monica Padman]

Totally. But do you.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'm not angry at anyone for having their emotions or judgmental of it. I recognize and accept it and I'm not. I don't feel above it.

[Monica Padman]

But do you think. And whatever. Answers. Right. My guess is you think I overreact a lot in general. Just in general as a person.

[Dax Shepard]

See that it's the. It's the over that makes it a judgment.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Can I observe that you and I like I break four ribs, break my clavicle into five pieces, break my hand, break my humerus. Drive home six hours. We'll ride two more sessions on the track. Drive home five, six hours. Go to sleep, don't go to the doctor. Don't go to the following day. So that's how I react to things. And then when you cut your hand, you were very scared and you reached out to a lot of people. So do I recognize the humongous delta between how you and I react to things? I absolutely do. But it's not over and I'm not under. It is this is how Dax reacts for a myriad of reasons. And this is how Monica reacts for a myriad of reasons.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And so that's what. That's the thing I wanted to bring up and make sure you're crystal clear on. I'm not saying overreact. I'm saying I see how you react to things. I can observe it. It's much different. Different than how I react to things.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But that does not make Me conclude I'm better.

[Monica Padman]

I feel that you think that I get up upset over things. Well, I do. I get upset over things that you don't get upset over.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

To me, that's fine. The things I get upset over, I believe are upsetting. Like, I, and I think it's okay to be upset about those things. And I understand that you don't. Like, I'm not. I, I do think at one point in our long friendship, I was like, why aren't you upset about this? I used to be like that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Towards you. Like, I don't understand why you're not upset about this. This is upsetting. Yeah. I don't think that anymore at all. And I respect that you don't, but I, I, I wonder if.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we can go right at it. We can go right at it. There's a lot of things on the table here.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Do I accept that about you? Yes. Do. Does it make me love you less? No. Does it make me not want to be friends with you? Absolutely not. Now, you and I also do a job together.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We sit down in here to do a fact check, and I sit down on a couch and I look across to see you, and often you're upset about things like the election and you, you can't shake it when you're in here. So now do I think inside of this box, we have to be entertaining and we have to kind of manage how much of a downer we are. I do. Professionally.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

I think we have an obligation. Like the newscaster's got to come on and they can't start crying during the thing now. They can feel however they want throughout the whole day. Go ahead.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it's just very subjective. Like, you cry and people come in here and they cry and they're allowed. And it's actually some, it's, to me, it's an asset, not crying, but what we've built here, and I do think it's. We have built here a place of honesty and to come in and to plaster a smile when I'm scared or there's fires or there's an election that I think is deeply disturbing to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, I'm not saying we need to, like, wallow in it, but I think it would be such a disservice. Not just to me, to this show, to our audience, to what we've built here, to pretend like those things aren't upsetting.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, it's fine if we have a bit of a difference of opinion on that. I do think this show has to be entertaining, and I don't think either of us can be in a shit mood for four weeks. I think we have an obligation to. To rise above that. I do. And we differ in that. And I understand what you're saying, like, well, this is honestly me. And of course, I'm not trying to make someone not be honestly them, but I know if I'm listening to Howard Stern and Robin and one of them is just in a dark hole for three weeks, I have compassion for them, but I'm gonna go listen to something else at some point. I can't join someone on my hour drive where I'm trying to feel. Where I'm trying to distract myself from the things I'm worrying about. I'm looking for a reprieve. So I think it's. I think it's okay. We do have different opinions on what this. What obligation we have here, to a degree. And I think there's only some. I think there is room for us to be our real selves.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I also think it needs to be monitored, and we have to be respectful, responsible to do these people that rely on us for an escape.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Deserve something fun and funny a lot of the time.

[Monica Padman]

I get that.

[Dax Shepard]

We did a really good job with that, I think.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Anyway.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you think we did a good job at that?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. But we are. We're running low on time.

[Dax Shepard]

Facts.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we have facts. Okay, so this is for. Oh, and I guess it's timely that we talked about the fires and stuff, because this is for Josh Gad.

[Dax Shepard]

Wonderful.

[Monica Padman]

We deep dived.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. He's a perfect guest.

[Monica Padman]

He is.

[Dax Shepard]

He's a perfect guest.

[Monica Padman]

He really is. I DM'd him and said so.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good. Yeah. He's funny, he's smart, he's emotional. He's truthful.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What a soup to nuts. Same with Adam Scott. I was really delighted with Adam Scott Scott episode. Really, really delighted, sweetheart.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, Josh Gad, you can gift up to $18,000 tax free, but now it's 19,000.

[Dax Shepard]

Great news.

[Monica Padman]

Great news for everyone. You said your grandparents took you to Scarface in 1981 on opening day, and you were six and it was 83.

[Dax Shepard]

Not as good of a story.

[Monica Padman]

Well, eight is still young.

[Dax Shepard]

It's still young, but it's not a great story.

[Monica Padman]

But you know what? We already know that you wouldn't remember number it if it was six, so it actually makes more sense that you were eight.

[Dax Shepard]

It does. It does. Well, here comes the great thing. And this is on topic because he's written a memoir.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I have tons of memories. I have tons of memories. And I know my kids don't remember shit so of course I'm quite skeptical of them. But I could take a polygraph.

[Monica Padman]

Well yeah, because you believe it. So you'll pass it. I know every time someone says now and I feel bad but when people say like oh yeah, I was three and I remember I'm like, you don't.

[Josh Gad]

But okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm reading Bill Gates book right now.

[Monica Padman]

Oh he might. Because he does.

[Dax Shepard]

I believe it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But his brain's different than most people's. So. Speaking of.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Easter egg. I guess we can talk about this later maybe. If you want.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Have you started telepathy tapes?

[Dax Shepard]

No. What is that? I saw that in the comments.

[Monica Padman]

It's a podcast. Podcast.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

About neurodivergent. Mainly non verbal autism.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Kristen listened to it.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, she did. Most of the girl. The girls are listening to it in our group and it non verbal autism. A lot of people have stories about.

[Dax Shepard]

Their children communicating telepathically over a distance of miles. Like in a town meeting at a place called called like Mind Mountain or something where they haven't got there yet.

[Monica Padman]

But also they mainly with their like parents. It's often, I mean I'm only, I'm only one episode. And I do think the human brain.

[Dax Shepard]

Has more potential than we're aware of.

[Monica Padman]

Than we'll ever know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep.

[Monica Padman]

And I think, I kind of do think anything is possible.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

For the brain.

[Dax Shepard]

I overheard a lot of it. I was debating not whether or not to listen to it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I asked a friend that we very much, much trust you and I. An incredibly smart friend.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. He says there's little science to back any of that up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And that'll be so hurtful to the people who have experienced this. And maybe they've experienced it, whatever. But I, I, I would need a pretty robust bit of science behind it to believe that people are tell tell telepathically communicating over miles. It's a tough one for me.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know about the over miles because I'm not there. Well someone said something really interesting. Right. They were like we've all in some ways communicated telepathically like non verbally to people we are very hyper connected to.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

And just in a room, you know, you can feel, we can feel energy shifting. There's real.

[Josh Gad]

But would you agree?

[Dax Shepard]

I think that's way more pattern recognition. So like I know you so well. I've Observed now so many contexts where things happen and then I see the result of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So. So often we're at a dinner and I hear someone say something and I know in a second what you're going to of thing and I look over at your face and then you look at me and we. I confirm. Oh yeah, I do know. Exactly. And vice versa.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but.

[Dax Shepard]

But that to me is more pattern recognition. Like. Oh, stimulus A generally results in output B.

[Monica Padman]

But don't you think even when we're sitting here, I'm sitting there next to you, you can't see my face?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, but I can feel the out of your energy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. And vice versa. I do too.

[Dax Shepard]

But I can't actually, actually hear your thoughts.

[Monica Padman]

I know, but it's. I think it's. That's a little like. That's a little rigid, I think. Okay. All I'm trying to say is I think people do communicate non verbally a lot and we don't even really recognize it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And I do think people are on a scale of how attuned they are to other people's energies. And it depends on the person. Definitely.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep.

[Monica Padman]

And so I don't know. I'm open to that being the truth.

[Dax Shepard]

Let me just say I want that to be the truth.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I would love the notion that these nonverbal kids are communicating telepathically. I actually want that.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

But I have such a neat jerk about getting duped.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, I know there's an emotional thread to this that makes it a little bit. And that is a red flag to me. It's like. Yes. I think when you get me emotionally involved and I am very sympathetic already to the subject. Subjects.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not really in my most subjective mind anymore, you know.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Remember the woman we had on about.

[Dax Shepard]

Hiring more neurodivergent people? Yes.

[Monica Padman]

She herself was. Ner. Is neurodivergent.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And remember, like she has seen, she had the opposite. She could just pull the meaning from a book from basically staring at the pages. Like she. She does have skills that just boggle the mind.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, absolutely.

[Josh Gad]

Marine Dune.

[Monica Padman]

Marine Dune. Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Marine Dune.

[Monica Padman]

That's all very interesting. Yes. And I don't know why I brought that up. There was a. Oh, memories. Maybe memories. Wrote about memories. Okay, real quick. He said the funniest person he ever worked with was Andrew Reynolds.

[Dax Shepard]

Minus us, present company excluded.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. But we have not worked with him. So then it brought up this interest.

[Dax Shepard]

Although you could count us doing an episode with Him.

[Monica Padman]

I don't count that.

[Josh Gad]

That's our work.

[Dax Shepard]

And his work is promoting.

[Monica Padman]

I don't count it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a stretch.

[Monica Padman]

Then that brought up this interesting philosophical question that's in my book Intermezzo. There's a really interesting question that comes up in this book I'm reading that's sort of similar to this of what's truth and what's a lie? And I'm gonna. We'll talk about it next week. I'll bring it up.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. Yeah. Read it.

[Monica Padman]

Set up a riddle.

[Dax Shepard]

Do the thing from the book. Book. Exact.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, well, that's kind of. That's it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

All right.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, GLP1s, that wasn't really interesting topic and conversation, I thought. I was happy he talked about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, me too.

[Monica Padman]

But also. Yeah, they're just doing so. They're finding so much interesting stuff about GLP1s, and I'm interested.

[Dax Shepard]

I'd say 10 of Eric and I's conversations are about GLP1s.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's really wild.

[Dax Shepard]

Very fascinating.

[Monica Padman]

I kind of want to try it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Monica Padman]

Not for wine loss. No. Not for what? Yeah, not. Not even for. I just want to see, like, what does it do on my psyche.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Eric's the exact same, but there's no shift other than he doesn't eat as much.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what I'm saying? And he doesn't crave sugar, which. So he's not in a shitty mood because he hasn't eaten 10 pounds of sugar. So it's like. It does impact his mood, but not because it's changing his mood, but because he's not actually dealing with. With all the fallout from.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Again, it sounds all great, but beneficial to me.

[Monica Padman]

It might highlight what your addictions are, because if you stop wanting something, it might tell you, like, actually, you crave that a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Anyway. All right. So that's it.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. I rode my bike by your house today.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, you did?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Did you wave?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. 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 [e-mail] slash survey.

[Josh Gad]

On January 5, 2024, an Alaska Airlines door plug tore away mid flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of a plane that carried 171passengers. This heart stopping incident was just the latest in a string of crises surrounding the aviation manufacturing giant Boeing. In the past decade, Boeing has been involved in a series of damning scandals and deadly crashes that have chipped away at its once sterling reputation. At the center of it all, the 737 Max. The latest season of Business wars explores how Boeing, once the gold standard of aviation engineering, descended into a nightmare of safety concerns and public mistrust. The decisions, denials and devastating consequences bringing the titan to its knees. And what, if anything, can save the company's reputation now? Follow Business wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge Business wars, the Unraveling of Boeing early and ad free right now on Wondery plus.