Matt Friend (impressionist)

Summary

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Guest: Matt Friend (Impressionist)
Date: October 1, 2025
Summary by Podcast Summarizer (AI)

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Overview

This episode spotlights Matt Friend, a rising star impressionist known for his viral celebrity imitations and trajectory from social media skits during lockdown to performing at major events like the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Dax, Monica, and Matt dive deep into the art and psychology of mimicry, the evolving world of comedy, therapy, family, and vulnerability. The discussion brims with humor, candid moments, live impressions, and advice for creatives in the digital age.

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Main Themes and Purpose

• Behind-the-scenes of mastering impressions and building a comedic career
• Complexities of identity and acceptance outside a public persona
• Navigating fame and creative fulfillment in the social media era
• Interpersonal vulnerability, therapy, and family dynamics
• The ongoing evolution of comedy, from SNL to Instagram and podcasting

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Manifestation and the Power of Social Media (03:51–06:30)

• Matt recounts tweeting Dax years ago, asking how many retweets to be on Armchair Expert—receiving a tongue-in-cheek reply of 900,000. Now, he’s “hallucinating” being on the show, having gotten here by manifesting and hustling on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

  • Quote: "This is crazy, because you have to manifest things in life. I have a tweet… I tweeted at you, 'How many retweets to be on Armchair Expert?' And you responded, a modest 900k. So that's real. I am a legit fan." – Matt Friend (03:53)

• He outlines starting his comedy career in college, transitioning from Zoom graduation (deemed “highly depressing”) to building an online presence with skits—especially his “celebrities using face masks” series.

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2. Comedy During COVID & Viral Breakout (07:29–09:00)

• Matt’s celebrity impressions (Jeff Goldblum, Sebastian Maniscalco, Obama) during lockdown earn recognition from Kimmel and the Today Show.
• COVID’s forced isolation acts as a catalyst for Matt’s creative break, as he uploads short-form content that bridges the gap between generations.

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3. Performing at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (09:00–11:19)

• Matt details performing—mid-floor, spotlit—for 4,000 people before Colin Jost, doing Trump, Obama, McConnell, and Bernie Sanders.

  • Quote: "It cut to Scarlett Johansson when I was doing a Mitch McConnell impression... She was laughing and Lorne Michaels went like this." – Matt Friend (11:05)

• Discusses how fame stratification warps in political/celebrity events: “Pretty good on a sitcom is somehow outshining the Secretary of State.”

• Stresses comedy’s role in keeping power in check, lamenting the absence of a comedian at the most recent dinner.

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4. The Mechanics and Psychology of Mimicry (12:55–15:57)

• Dax and Matt dissect the “nasal” quality in Dax’s own voice, bracketing celebrity voices into categories akin to music theory.

• Matt calls it “Trump Tourette’s,” explaining persona alter-egos let him explore edgy material safely.

• Matt discusses “mimic Tourette’s” syndrome, echoing Kristen Bell’s involuntary mimicking while watching TV.

  • Quote: “My sister Nina called me a glorified parrot. I’ve been doing it since I was 4 years old.” – Matt Friend (14:28)
  • Quote: “Do I do voices in bed? …A girl didn't want to have sex with me—she wanted to be with Trump.” – Matt Friend (20:11)

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5. Voices and Neurodiversity (22:02–22:54)

• Dax broaches whether mimicry at Matt’s extraordinary level correlates with neurodivergence.
• Matt isn’t sure, Monica compares it to singing—some inborn, some learned; Matt reveals he can sing and hopes to do an album featuring celebrity-voiced duets.

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6. Navigating Fame, Family, Imposter Syndrome (26:50–28:29)

• Matt opens up about anxiety after big moments, constantly replaying what he could’ve done differently.
• Dax offers a Bill Murray mantra:
  • Quote: “If I can just relax, I know it’ll come.” – Bill Murray via Dax Shepard (26:27)

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7. Expanding Creative Identity Beyond Impressions (50:24–54:44)

• Matt discusses shifting toward stand-up that’s both impression-based and personal, wrestling with “am I enough without the impression?”—mirroring Jim Carrey’s and Hank Azaria’s personal journeys.

  • Quote: "My stand up, the thesis is: Is my voice enough? Am I enough without the impression—will people like me for me?" – Matt Friend (16:12, 51:38)

• Explores the algorithmic pressure to deliver content audiences expect versus seeking vulnerability and relatability.

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8. Family, Therapy, and Breaking Patterns (52:55–54:23)

• Matt admits starting therapy due to venting frustrations in family group chats; ongoing tension between public success and private stress.
• The trio swap stories on family expressions of love, boundaries, and struggles with sharing vulnerability.

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9. Impressions: Technique, Reception, and Ethics (34:25–42:52, 44:09–45:33)

• Live imitations of Dax, Monica (attempted), Jennifer Coolidge, Goldblum, Howard Stern, Obama, Trump, Nicolas Cage, Sylvester Stallone, Bill Maher, Stanley Tucci, Kieran Culkin, and Sebastian Maniscalco.
  • Standout moments: Obama’s “three modes,” Howard Stern’s fixation on “right,” Bill Maher’s complaints.
• Ethical considerations of imitating “Black famous people” and why Matt avoids group-based parody, focusing solely on individuals.

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10. The New Comedy Landscape: SNL and New “Holy Grails” (58:19–60:22)

• Matt contends SNL, while iconic, isn’t the singular goal for younger comics—platforms like podcasts, social media, and live streaming offer greater control and reach.
  • Quote: "I think this (podcasting) is the Holy Grail. I really do." – Matt Friend (60:08)
• Describes his own possible SNL journey, how he met Lorne Michaels, and how his present opportunities sometimes dwarf the old model.

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11. Health and Personal Growth (55:02–57:19)

• Shares about overcoming a severe gluten allergy through a Stanford trial—giving hope for others and showing adaptability as a major life theme.

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12. Closing Reflections and Dax’s Advice (65:40–65:55)

• Dax’s parting advice centers on savoring the present:
  • Quote: "It's really easy to miss the ride... You're already in an awesome spot. Don't miss it." – Dax Shepard (65:55)
• Matt gets emotional, calling the experience “a dream come true.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On voice as persona:
  “My thesis in my hour is: Is my voice enough? Am I enough without the impression—will people like me for me?”
  – Matt Friend (16:12)

• On the Correspondents’ Dinner:
  “The room froze until Scarlett Johansson laughed—and then everyone felt they had permission.”
  – Matt Friend (11:05)

• On matching voices to context:
  “He had Bill Murray’s confidence: 'If I can just relax, I know it'll come.’”
  – Bill Murray quoted by Dax (26:27)

• On alter egos and boundaries:
  “I have Trump Tourette’s: you can say anything you want with him.”
  – Matt Friend (13:57)

• On new comedic goals:
  “I think this (podcasting) is the Holy Grail. I really do… The medium evolves, the need for topical humor stays.”
  – Matt Friend (60:08)

• On Dax’s advice:
  “It’s easy to miss the ride… Don’t miss it.”
  – Dax Shepard (65:55)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------------|-----------------| | Manifesting the Armchair Invite | 03:50–04:28 | | White House Correspondents Dinner Story | 09:00–11:19 | | Mechanics of Mimicry & ‘Trump Tourette’s’ | 12:55–15:57 | | Voices in Romantic Encounters | 20:11–21:04 | | Imposter Syndrome & Murray Quote | 26:00–26:45 | | Obama Impressions, Modes Explained | 28:39–29:49 | | Neurodivergence & Skill | 22:02–22:54 | | Impressionist’s Anxiety and Therapy | 52:55–54:23 | | Discussion of SNL & Evolving Comedy | 58:19–60:32 | | Health: Gluten Allergy Story | 56:25–57:19 | | Dax’s Final Advice — “Don’t Miss It” | 65:40–65:55 |

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The Episode’s Tone and Language

The episode is playful, candid, and fast-paced, mirroring its subject’s improvisational energy. There’s abundant riffing, meta-commentary on the process of being interviewed, and encouragement for transparency and creativity. Live impressions keep the mood light, while sincere exchanges about anxiety, ambition, and family ground the conversation in vulnerability.

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For Listeners New to Matt Friend

You’ll come away understanding:

• How impressionists dissect voice, mannerism, and psyche
• The shifting parameters of “making it” in comedy
• How creative types wrestle with vulnerability and personal identity
• The fine line between satire, honor, and offense in comedic mimicry
• Practical wisdom: breathe, enjoy your path, and connect beyond performance

Matt Friend emerges as a sharp, multi-layered comic balancing viral success, evolving ambitions, and relatable human struggles.

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For more: See MattFriend.com and @TheMattFriend on Instagram.

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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.

[Matt Friend]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Milton Berle here with Barbara Walters.

[Monica Padman]

Hello.

[Matt Friend]

I'm just kidding. I'm Dax Shepard. Outrageously in shame.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you're looking good today.

[Matt Friend]

I've been reading and researching this kid Matt Friend who he's a funny guy on Instagram. Been seeing him all over. Red carpets, stand up taurine. Cool as I'm on my fitness wellness journey, getting jacked and taking creatine.

[Monica Padman]

Dax, why are you bringing up your creatine?

[Matt Friend]

Well, because I can. Well, because I can feel the creatine in my system.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Do you think you might have an unexpected evac?

[Matt Friend]

Well, we are presented by ZipRecruiter.

[Monica Padman]

Let's get into the episode.

[Dax Shepard]

Please enjoy.

[Matt Friend]

Please enjoy, Matt.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

M Sounds delicious.

[Dax Shepard]

So next time you're looking for a vibe shift, take a break and set your watch for tropic time at Tropical smoothie Cafe. Visit tropicalsmoothi.com to find a cafe near you. This episode is brought to you by Anthropic. So I've been genuinely obsessed with this AI called Claude. And I have to tell you about it because it's completely different from what you'd expect. You know how our conversations with guests always end up in fascinating and kind of raw places? Exploring why people make the choices they do or diving into those complicated human moments that don't have easy answers. Well, I started using Claude to help me think through some of these deeper questions between episodes. And what's wild is that it doesn't rush to answers. It actually thinks through problems with you. When I'm preparing for interviews, I can upload research papers or articles and Claude helps me explore different angles, like search the web for current perspectives, even build interactive research tools using something called artifacts to map out complex topics. Basically, it's like having this thinking partner that matches your curiosity about the complicated stuff. When I'm trying to understand a guest's work or explore connections between different ideas, Claude helps me see blind spots I might miss. Try Claude for free at Claude AI armchairexpert and see why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner.

[Matt Friend]

He's an upchurch. Hey, how are you? This is crazy. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And he just worked with Seth Green.

[Matt Friend]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Seth Green keeps finding himself in these situations where he's with people that are way too tall.

[Matt Friend]

I mean, including his wife.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Clarence tall. He's the original short king. I mean, he's a fucking stud.

[Matt Friend]

Total.

[Monica Padman]

That's so true.

[Matt Friend]

This is so crazy. This is. This is crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me why.

[Matt Friend]

Well, are we starting?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we're always.

[Matt Friend]

Well, the reason. This is crazy. Am I being blocked on camera? They have to see my face, right? Can you see me? Can you see? Oh, we have a camera over there. This is crazy, because you got to manifest things in life. I have a tweet. I think we can pull it up. No, I tweeted at you. How many retweets to be on an episode of Armchair Expert Pod? And you responded a modest 900k. So that's real. I am a legit fan.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, hold on.

[Matt Friend]

You can fact check that, because that is a real tweet.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, Matt, that's March of 2018. So we had been at it for a month. Is that first through the door?

[Matt Friend]

I mean, come on.

[Monica Padman]

Day one listener.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, this is back when I was on Twitter. This is a blast from the past.

[Matt Friend]

And before we get into it, welcome, welcome, welcome. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you do a meme?

[Matt Friend]

Well, you do this thing with words that end in ing. You go. Been reading and researching and writing.

[Monica Padman]

I need to close my eyes or it's not great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, just close your eyes.

[Matt Friend]

Reading.

[Monica Padman]

That was you.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Matt Friend]

Okay, you go. We are presented by Tropical Smoothie. Get your trop. Tropical Smoothie. You know who else does it? One of your frequent guests, Bill Gates does that. He'll be like, well, great to be reading and researching with Cox and Monica.

[Monica Padman]

That was really fun.

[Dax Shepard]

He sounds like Kermit the Frog.

[Matt Friend]

He does. So he's got a Kermit theme going.

[Dax Shepard]

I do him as Kermit, too. And then I feel like, is that justified?

[Matt Friend]

No, it is.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I've got a few. Go to sayings of his.

[Matt Friend]

This is great. I can't believe I'm here right now. This is unpleasant. I feel like I'm hallucinating.

[Monica Padman]

I can't believe you.

[Matt Friend]

This is a make a wish.

[Monica Padman]

No, no, no, no.

[Matt Friend]

Let's not.

[Dax Shepard]

And health.

[Monica Padman]

A make a wish now, since you've been here since the beginning. Are you sad we're not upstairs?

[Matt Friend]

A little bit. But this is cool. This is the newer wondery deal experience. You know, clearly we're making a lot of money here. And this is so cool. And before we get started, too, I'm Walter Cronkite here with Barbara. Walter. I'm sorry, I don't know.

[Monica Padman]

You can do the whole show by yourself.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, I would love it.

[Dax Shepard]

Probably. Like a lot of people, I'm just suggested reels. I'm wasting some time on Instagram and I start seeing you over and over again. And I reached out to the team and I was like, we gotta find this guy and get him in. But we're very late to the party. You've been on everything.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, I'm getting there.

[Dax Shepard]

Was Kimmel the first person?

[Matt Friend]

Basically, I was doing standup in College at NYU and then graduated in Covid in 2020. Finished my last semester of NYU at home. Graduated on Zoom, which was a lot of fun.

[Dax Shepard]

What is a Zoom graduation?

[Matt Friend]

It was highly depressing.

[Dax Shepard]

Is everyone in a grid?

[Matt Friend]

It was in a grid. We had classes online.

[Monica Padman]

Did you have to wear a cap and gown?

[Matt Friend]

I think I did. And I walked up and down my street that I grew up on in Chicago. And, like, did you like a fake graduation walk? It was so depressing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

But then we got to make it up at NYU Yankee Stadium two years later. Oh, wow. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Who is your commencement speech?

[Matt Friend]

So we had this poet who died. And then the year before got Taylor Swift. So we got a little double screw.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, wait. Monica can't stop reading that speech.

[Matt Friend]

Bill Cosby canceled.

[Monica Padman]

That's too bad. He's notoriously very funny and good at commencement speech. Yeah, but I've read that commencement speech. I think only one time. You act like I've. Yeah, I've read it on the fact check and I'd like to read it.

[Dax Shepard]

She cues it up a lot. Can we agree on the fact that you queue it up a lot?

[Monica Padman]

I would like to read it more. And it gets shut down.

[Dax Shepard]

We decided she'd like to do it quietly, quarterly.

[Matt Friend]

That would feel good. That's cool.

[Dax Shepard]

You had a poet who passed?

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, she died, I think, like a year. You can fact check this. This is a good fact check.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Matt Friend]

I don't really remember exactly the graduation speech, but anyways, graduated in Covid. And during that time I was posting on TikTok and on Instagram and building a platform, just uploading videos. Me and my phone doing impressions of Sebastian Maniscalco and Barack Obama, political and actors Jeff Goldblum. And I would do celebrities putting on face masks. And that was like. That was your prime series I did. So I do like Rami Malek. Like, oh, my God, this mask, it's so delectable. Like, just getting really weird with it.

[Dax Shepard]

Like a moisturizing face mask. Oh, that's a good premise.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Who is your favorite of that series?

[Matt Friend]

Probably Goldblum, because he's so animated and I feel like I'm kind of having a mild orgasm whenever I do him.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. Very good to be here.

[Matt Friend]

Armchair expert Monica Padman, Dax Shepard, of course, Christian Bell. Very wonderful woman. Plays a shiksa. And a little show, of course, Dating a hot rabbi. Yes, Yes. I don't know. What is this little. He's like moving his fingers.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How long could you stretch out a face mask?

[Matt Friend]

I could do that for an hour. There were 30 second videos, but they started to blow up. And then different shows started to have me on over Covid. Like Kimmel showed my stuff in the Today show. Then I moved back to New York, started to do more stand up. I did my first hour attempt. And then last year, just a lot of things started to happen. Performed at the White House correspondence dinner. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Voices on Simpsons and Family Guy. It's a great movie with Seth Green.

[Matt Friend]

Wild stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

When did you do the correspondence?

[Matt Friend]

That was last year. Colin Jost headlined and then they had me get up in the middle of the room and do like three minutes.

[Monica Padman]

Who'd you do?

[Matt Friend]

I did Trump McConnell, Obama and Bernie Sanders.

[Monica Padman]

Boy, were you scared.

[Matt Friend]

Well, it was weird because they never had another comedian in addition to the headliner before.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

So there's correspondence dinner that has a headlining comedian roast the president in the room. Then they had me before Colin Joseph. I don't think you've ever really talked about this. Great to be doing it on Armchair Experts. See it on Truth Social. After the show, I was at the Correspondent's Dinner and the premise was I get up, not on the podium, standing in the middle of the room, like 4,000 people.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Matt Friend]

Light comes on me. And then I do four impressions. And the hook was, I'm Trump reacting to a viral moment of when Obama roasted Him years ago at the correspondence dinner, which many say was the starting point of the Trump campaign. I know you had Seth Meyers on recently and Seth was roasting Trump too. So then I was supposed to react to that moment and be like, great to be at this failing dinner with so many losers on the left, on the right, terrible people. And by the way, I have to say, I love this podcast. We love the Indians, we love the whites, the great people. JD Vance will love you too, probably. And then I would do Obama McConnell.

[Dax Shepard]

He loved the whites.

[Matt Friend]

Ed Bernie. But it was a strange thing because a. My level of fame is at a certain point where I'm very aware of it. I'm not Jimmy Fallon. So a lot of people were like, who is this person?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Matt Friend]

So it's one thing when you're Seth Meyers and you go into a room like that and people are more ready for it, but a lot of people were thinking, what is happening right now? It was so crazy because everyone from the most conservative Republican to the most liberal person, they're all there, they're all afraid to laug. And then I got lucky because it cut to Scarlett Johansson when I was doing a Mitch McConnell impression.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, great.

[Dax Shepard]

And she was letting it.

[Matt Friend]

I was like, it's great to be at the dinner. And I actually brought these. Wherever I go, I travel with these. And I just said, it's great to be here.

[Monica Padman]

You do look like him.

[Matt Friend]

Then it cut to her and she was laughing and Lorne Michaels went like this.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that must. Yet when she was laughing, you gave permission to everyone else to let her rip.

[Matt Friend]

I think so. I mean, the clip, it looked great and it was a surreal experience. Biden was 40ft away from me.

[Monica Padman]

It's so cool.

[Dax Shepard]

I think what's interesting about that dinner and you've been and experienced it is it's like the homecoming dance. The reporters are the stars that night and they're bringing famous people and then also these famous politicians. It's like this weird cross pollination of every type of fame.

[Matt Friend]

It's bizarre.

[Dax Shepard]

And then in any room you're trying to figure out like just as a monkey you do this, who has the status. Here is Jake Tapper a bu. You know.

[Matt Friend]

Right. It is weird because unlike the Oscars or an award show, it's the people running the world. It's not necessarily just an actor, it's the Secretary of State is sitting there. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what's so fascinating about it is one has objectively more sway over the world and true Power. Yet this shiny, flashy thing can trump that. I think that's what's so interesting is you've got someone who's like, pretty good on a sitcom is somehow outshining the secretary of state, which is just funny.

[Matt Friend]

It is. It's an important tradition. I think they didn't have a comedian this year, which I thought was a mistake.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

So I feel like if we lose our ability to start poking. Poking fun at those in power, why.

[Dax Shepard]

Didn'T they have a comedian? What did they have?

[Matt Friend]

I think their argument was that it's such a serious time that we have to really focus on journalism and what really matters. But isn't any time super serious?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. In fact, if it's a silly time, maybe we get in this some serious.

[Matt Friend]

The poet. Yeah. You always gotta have comedy. I want a headline. That's my dream to do that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Really quick. Just because.

[Matt Friend]

What is this? The dillfire. I mean, this guy. It's unbelievable. You are an outrageous shape. I see it online and you look fantastic, too.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you. I feel this is unfair.

[Matt Friend]

You do. You look amazing.

[Monica Padman]

I should have worn tighter.

[Matt Friend]

The arms. The Armchair Expert. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you say with impersonations, could you bracket it into. Okay. The base of this is like. It's this kind of a thing. Because when I hear you do me. What I'm hearing is. This is in the nasal category.

[Matt Friend]

When you hearing. Yeah, you have a nasal. What's a deeper. Welcome, welcome. Welcome to Armchair Expert. Monty was talking to me about it, and when Brad was on the show, I was saying I couldn't believe that story.

[Monica Padman]

I gotta close my eyes again.

[Dax Shepard]

You just can't look at me when I do anything. And of course he can't look at you.

[Matt Friend]

You are presented by Trojan. We are.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I need to hear them back to back.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Matt Friend]

You say a sentence and then that's it. We are supporting. Supported by zip Recruiter.

[Dax Shepard]

Get recruit in.

[Matt Friend]

Get recruit in.

[Monica Padman]

That was good.

[Matt Friend]

Of course, the difference is one of us gets 60 million to do that. The other one is just here for free, which is great. I would say that's your problem. That's an example of my Trump Tourette's, by the way.

[Dax Shepard]

Lean into your Trump Tourette's as much.

[Matt Friend]

As you want because you can say anything you want in his voice. So I do it to say things that I could not say as myself.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly. It's a great smokescreen.

[Monica Padman]

Rogan had Trump on and got apparently 100 million views. So we could use those. So bring in touch.

[Matt Friend]

Well, isn't Kristen a beauty. She's a beauty, right? We love Kristen. We love a skinny blonde. That's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Back to the mechanics of it. Are you hearing something and you realize, like, oh, that's in this pocket. Or that's in this pocket.

[Matt Friend]

I don't even really think about it. Like, my sister Nina called me a glorified parrot. I've been doing it since I was 4 years old. Like, I watched Austin Powers. Speaking of Seth Green, that's the movie that got me, like, obsessed with comedy. And then I just started to mimic people. And I love actors and just to replicate movie scenes, sometimes I'll just hear a voice. I'll just start to work on it and then it'll kind of come out.

[Dax Shepard]

You just said Tourette's and I literally wrote that down.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm wondering, do you have mimic Tourette's? My wife has it. Because my wife is a mimic. And when we're watching tv, we're watching like the Crown.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, yes, I do.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. So we're watching it and I just hear her. She's trying not to let me hear. And she'll go, she has to do it.

[Matt Friend]

If she can't, I'm glad you brought that up because with the crown, their voices are so weird. Charles in the show, none of their words have any spaces. They're all one word. I was doing a bit in Covid of King Charles singing Wet Ass Puss by Cardi B. Okay, let's hear it from the top. You could make a drop. That's a nice moist and tight Wittest pussy.

[Dax Shepard]

It sounds so classy.

[Matt Friend]

Wittest pussy indeed is. Of course you. I think they say the word yes. E A R S like ears is. Oh, it's strange. I met Dominic west at the Golden Globes and he did Charles. Yeah, we did like a Charles off and he was. The words go together.

[Dax Shepard]

Strange. It is weird, but when you're in bed with a man or a woman. A woman.

[Matt Friend]

Well, whatever you want. Yeah. Woman.

[Dax Shepard]

Any safe port in a storm, are you?

[Matt Friend]

Well, in my stand up hour.

[Monica Padman]

Check it out.

[Matt Friend]

I talk a lot about that.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me a little bit in the hour.

[Matt Friend]

There is that question of do I do voices when I'm having a sexual experience? Oh, oh, oh.

[Monica Padman]

And.

[Matt Friend]

And, well, I guess you got to come to the show to find out or match with me on riot. But the thesis of my hour that I'm working on now and my stand up is, Is my voice enough? Am I enough without the impression will people like me for me? And we explore that in the hour. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You interviewed Hank Azaria on your show?

[Matt Friend]

Yes. He was my dad's college roommate.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is wild. At Tufts. Yeah, Tufts.

[Monica Padman]

And your dad is also Matthew Perry's dad.

[Matt Friend]

No, no. What? That would be very confusing.

[Monica Padman]

Say that on Wikipedia.

[Matt Friend]

That would be wild. Sadly, I'm not a Nepo baby. Damn it.

[Dax Shepard]

Hold on, hold on.

[Monica Padman]

I literally read this.

[Dax Shepard]

You read? I think you're on a janky wiki, because I read his wiki and I did not see that much on my Wikipedia yet.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. It wasn't on Wikipedia. It was just when I googled you.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

One of the questions that came up is, who is your father? And it said, oh, I know how this happened. How did this happen?

[Dax Shepard]

Because Hank Azaria is one of his best friends was Matthew Perry. Y other best friend is his dad.

[Matt Friend]

They were close. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So the AI was like, oh, I can put these together. Interesting, right?

[Matt Friend]

That's why we shouldn't be trusting AI.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Matt Friend]

That has to be how it happened. But no, they were friends in college. And then Hank, that was a huge inspiration. Growing up, I didn't know what acting was and comedy. I grew up in Chicago. I didn't have a show business family.

[Dax Shepard]

What did your dad do?

[Matt Friend]

He did finance. Can't you tell by looking at me?

[Dax Shepard]

Kinda.

[Monica Padman]

You have a finance guy.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

You also have the vibe of the super cute actor you love.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, Zach.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You do.

[Matt Friend]

Zach who?

[Monica Padman]

Zach.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, God. You're not gonna date now.

[Monica Padman]

Yesterday. And my brain doesn't work today. I couldn't get in the gate earlier.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you Clinton?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. This is.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you have a fiery.

[Monica Padman]

I don't want to talk about it.

[Matt Friend]

Okay. I did.

[Monica Padman]

We did Hot ones versus.

[Matt Friend]

This is amazing.

[Monica Padman]

Zach Woods.

[Matt Friend]

Jesus Christ. Oh, we did. I'm like Zach Woods.

[Monica Padman]

You're like Zach Woods? You have a vibe?

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, he's kind of like. Kind of talks like.

[Dax Shepard]

Like that, Right?

[Matt Friend]

He's a little more. He was in Silicon Valley.

[Monica Padman]

He was in Silicon Valley. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He has a great Instagram account.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, he does.

[Dax Shepard]

Really funny.

[Monica Padman]

So funny.

[Matt Friend]

But it's a vibe.

[Dax Shepard]

It's an archetype now.

[Matt Friend]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And girls love it, so congrats.

[Matt Friend]

Thank you. Well, I'm trying to get jacked. I mean, I have a trainer now, this guy Don Saladino, who does Ryan Reynolds.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't believe that you have a trainer named John.

[Matt Friend]

John Saladino. He's a fitness trainer.

[Dax Shepard]

That sounds like a builder of speed.

[Matt Friend]

He does like Sebastian Stan. I think you would like him, actually. But you don't need a trainer.

[Monica Padman]

Why do you want to look like this?

[Matt Friend]

Because he looks great.

[Monica Padman]

Define great.

[Matt Friend]

Well, I mean, he looks in shape. It's also feeling a certain way. And you want to be strong.

[Monica Padman]

That's what I want to get to.

[Dax Shepard]

I love how I feel.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So you want to feel constant.

[Matt Friend]

So my guy Don's got me on this program, and I'm going to get ripped.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me about the program.

[Matt Friend]

I mean, I'm lifting. He's got this deadpool program, as he calls it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Matt Friend]

Trying to get little Dax Shepard shredded.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Matt Friend]

A lot of protein, creatine, whey.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great, great, great.

[Matt Friend]

I'll keep you posted.

[Dax Shepard]

Here's my hunch. I bet you and I have the same motivation, which is I bet you are super tall and skinny as was.

[Matt Friend]

I. I think I am.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, no, you look completely proportional. But I bet when you were 15, you looked insane. Did you look insane?

[Matt Friend]

Scrawny? Yeah, I did.

[Dax Shepard]

So I think if you grew up tall.

[Monica Padman]

That's what I'm getting at.

[Dax Shepard]

You. Good job.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because not everyone seeks to look like Schwarzenegger.

[Matt Friend]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

So there's a reason.

[Matt Friend]

True.

[Monica Padman]

And that is probably the reason.

[Matt Friend]

But back to voices.

[Dax Shepard]

Hold on. This is good.

[Monica Padman]

You know what the show is about, and it's about this. And you're doing great.

[Matt Friend]

Six three and a half, roughly.

[Dax Shepard]

If you're six three and a half, then I'm six one and a half.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because you look tall, taller.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, yeah. You're so modest.

[Monica Padman]

The muscles are shrinking my spine. They might be. This is a cautionary tale comparison.

[Dax Shepard]

So would you put my voice in the Owen Wilson umbrella?

[Matt Friend]

Wow. You've got a little bit of that almost jank tampering right here. Sienna and Jake tamper. Like, you do have kind of a nasal, but a deep nasal. Deep nasal. Like Howard Stern is all the way down here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I want to.

[Matt Friend]

Howard.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to do a fun thing, which is you could fulfill a lot of wishes.

[Matt Friend]

We didn't talk about the sex in bed, though. Okay, let's talk about the sex in bed.

[Dax Shepard]

Sorry.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Matt Friend]

Do I do voices in bed?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Matt Friend]

That's. I explore that. Yeah. I do have a bit in my hour that a girl didn't want to have sex with me. She wanted to be with Trump. Oh. Oh.

[Monica Padman]

You can fulfill kinks.

[Matt Friend]

And she's like, I want you to talk dirty to me. And I'm like, excuse me? She goes, I want you to call me nasty. Like, what? And then she goes, I want you to call Me, a dog. I'm like, what? And then she goes, I want you to grab me by my. And I'm like, oh, my God. She doesn't want to be with me. She wants to be with Donald Trump. And then I started freaking out and crying and hyperventilating. And I go into my bathroom. I splash cold water on my face. I'm like, this must violate hipaa. I'm not Daniel Day Lewis. I'm not a method actor. Go back into my bedroom, and I look at her and say, you know what? You really hurt my feelings. And let me just tell you, I am gonna build a wall around this pussy so big. Gonna eat that ass like a burrito bowl at Trump Tower and bang your Gina like China.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you very much.

[Matt Friend]

That's a little comedy twist. Not really necessarily true.

[Dax Shepard]

So we have the same thing. Mine is Frito. So when I want to say the most toxic things in my head, I let Frito from Idiocracy do the talking. Like, I can talk to you. Oh, look at this guy.

[Matt Friend]

So top. He's got a lot solid. But it's fun. Like, that's amazing. But it's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, instead of.

[Matt Friend]

To explore all of these other, like, hypothetical and funny. Because my voice, people think I'm telling a joke all the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Friend]

No one knows that. I'm not telling a joke. I was on a date with a girl, and she's like, are you trying to be funny? I'm like, I just ordered a gazpacho. I was like, gazpacho. Right after commercial. I always sound like I'm delivering major breaking news.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, gazpacho is a funny food, though.

[Dax Shepard]

It is.

[Monica Padman]

It's hard to say, but, yeah, your voice on its own is so distinct that it's interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Does your dad have this voice?

[Matt Friend]

No. I don't really know where this came from.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Okay, back to Tourette's. Do you have to silence yourself when you're watching a movie with a friend? No. It's not like a tip.

[Matt Friend]

I could control it.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, the other dicey thing I want to ask you is, do you think it's such a unique gift? We just don't see it on this level very often. Do you think it's associated with any neurodivergence or anything?

[Matt Friend]

I have absolutely no idea. That's an Eric Topol question.

[Dax Shepard]

And I don't mean to offend.

[Matt Friend]

I'm just.

[Dax Shepard]

It's, like, so unique. I can't help but wonder if it's tied to anything.

[Matt Friend]

It's interesting. I just met Seth MacFarlane at the premiere of his new movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, we love it.

[Matt Friend]

I said, like, you're my idol. I love you. He goes with that voice. How is Peter Jennings not your idol? And like, we were going back and forth and it was kind of crazy because he is a similar thing. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

I watched you guys. It was really eerie and uncanny.

[Matt Friend]

But I don't know if there's a neuro divergence component to it.

[Monica Padman]

It's definitely a talent, though. Like, it's not something that everyone if practiced could do. It's like singing. Can you sing?

[Matt Friend]

I can sing.

[Monica Padman]

I wonder if there's a connection there.

[Dax Shepard]

You sang with Ye sounded beautiful. What song we did.

[Matt Friend]

I'm not surprised. Not everything last. What was the song I did with him like Heart of the tree of Life. I just picked me a plum.

[Monica Padman]

Do.

[Matt Friend]

You came along and everything has started to hum. Baby birds flying high. You know how I feel. Sun in the sky, you know how Armchair Expert feels. Breath drifting on Monica. I was doing him next to him. One thing I really want to do this coming year is a musical album and get celebs to make a cameo. I want you on there.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, well, I won't be asked to sing, will I?

[Matt Friend]

We'll figure it out.

[Monica Padman]

You've been polite so far. You've only done Dax. But I want to hear me.

[Matt Friend]

If I could adjust my vocal cords to do you can't get me. It would be incredible. I'm gonna study you too.

[Monica Padman]

High.

[Matt Friend]

It'd be tough.

[Monica Padman]

Is it high?

[Matt Friend]

I do Jennifer Coolidge. That's like, the only woman that I can. Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Let's hear Coolidge.

[Matt Friend]

I did this at the Golden Globes. On the red carpet, I did Jennifer Coolidge after sipping on a cold drink.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Matt Friend]

I just go, oh. Oh, God. Oh, it tastes so good. That, like, broke the Internet because people didn't know that she had a regular speaking voice. And she was responding to me like, oh, it's good to see you. And like, she sounded kind of normal.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matt Friend]

So, yeah, a Monica will be tough. I gotta work on it.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Fallon did your laugh.

[Monica Padman]

He said, I have a few laughs and he did a few of them.

[Dax Shepard]

But he was more mastering. Again, if you break down all the elements to an impersonation, what Fallon could do perfectly was the cadence and rhythm of the thing. He does syncopation of it, not necessarily the tone.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, he does.

[Dax Shepard]

I interned for him while at nyu. Did you interact with him at all?

[Matt Friend]

I wasn't allowed to. He was amazing. But, like, there was such stress as an intern, like, to not look at.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, don't bother anyone.

[Matt Friend]

Like, if Dax Shepard is coming on the show, don't look at him. You could look at him. But, like, just keep a distance.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't stare me.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. And I kind of get it, though. It's like, you're about to go on national tv. It's a big deal. You can't have some kids fanning out.

[Dax Shepard]

What was your fantasy of that experience versus what it was when you did it?

[Matt Friend]

My fantasy of the experience was that someone would find out that I could do it.

[Monica Padman]

Of course.

[Matt Friend]

Gotta get this guy on the show, bud. This is crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

This is exactly what I was saying.

[Matt Friend]

I said I was getting salad.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then you never really got to interface.

[Matt Friend]

No, but I did just see him at the premiere of Happy Gilmore, and he was like, you gotta come on the show, bud.

[Dax Shepard]

Come on the show, bud.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, yeah, but I'm here. This is the dream. This is Armchair Expert.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Yeah. Let's stop talking about other shows.

[Matt Friend]

Seriously.

[Monica Padman]

This is the show.

[Matt Friend]

Seriously. I hope I'm delivering. I want to deliver on here. You ever think about that? Like, you're in a moment like this? Whenever I do anything like this, I will be in the car after this thinking, oh, my God, I should have said this. I could have done this.

[Dax Shepard]

And you know, what's the worst? It is the worst. And you can't avoid that. That is the beginning.

[Matt Friend]

I always have it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just the beginning. No, it'll pass. And it seems unimaginable.

[Matt Friend]

You think it'll pass? It will pass. But it's almost good to have that mindset, because then you might not deliver in the moment.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm gonna give you the Bill Murray quote I watched on Letterman, which I thought, God, I wish I had heard that younger. And even maybe I would have heard it and I wouldn't be able to accept it. But Letterman said to him, how have you been so consistently great for 30 years? Like, you started a comedic genre that everyone's still doing? And he said, if I can just relax, I know it'll come.

[Matt Friend]

Bill said that. Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was like, oh, could I work from that level of confidence? I don't have to force anything to happen. If I can chill and relax and breathe. Breathe. I can do the thing. I can counter punch.

[Matt Friend]

That's the thing. I can be relaxed. Like, I feel relaxed right now.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

But I will still be thinking, what else could I.

[Monica Padman]

After.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Friend]

That's why I started Therapy recently. Dex did you good job.

[Monica Padman]

You did better health.

[Dax Shepard]

What?

[Monica Padman]

Welcome.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, welcome to better hell.

[Monica Padman]

Wait. But I think you will, over time not feel that every time you leave a place. But there will always be a place where you'll leave and have that. Like, the stakes will just get higher and higher. Well, you're already doing a White House.

[Dax Shepard]

It's kind of a crappy part.

[Matt Friend]

I wanted to come on this podcast for so long. And then they'll be like, oh, what did I miss?

[Dax Shepard]

Over time, it's like you're just returning to places it doesn't have the stakes of it. And then you've also earned a bit of a reputation. It's like, yeah, I could go on Kimmel next week and not be that good. I've been good on it many times. Even more importantly is self. Self realization. Actualization is like, and I'm still lovable if I'm fine. I'm presenting at something on Saturday and I read the script. He's like, please punch it up if you want. And I did have the thought. I was like, or not maybe just go and I say what was written and then I go home and I have a great night.

[Matt Friend]

This is post one breedal.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you're thousand percent right. I've been given some blessings, but I do think you can get to that mental space without that. And I think you're more attractive when you're in that space.

[Matt Friend]

I think that's true. There is a neuroticism that comes with comedy. You have to be a little bit on edge in a certain capacity to get, whether it's a funny viral moment at an awards show or to do an hour of stand up comedy in the middle of the. To make different audiences laugh.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Friend]

You have to maintain a little bit of it, but I do think you can be relaxed. But even so, like, I made notes on this before the show. Like, these are some things that I.

[Dax Shepard]

Want to hit, of course.

[Matt Friend]

Like, let's not forget you had Obama on here. We got to talk about that. Oh, wow, that's an interesting take.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I go more Kermit with my Obama.

[Monica Padman]

Well, most of yours are Kermit, if we're going to be honest.

[Dax Shepard]

Can I do my Obama for you?

[Matt Friend]

Go ahead.

[Dax Shepard]

Max, Sasha, Malia, Michelle, we'll love the good place. It's not that good with Obama.

[Matt Friend]

There are really three modes to his voice.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, tell me.

[Matt Friend]

There's Obama. When he would make a speech, he'd be very stern. He would look to a crowd and he Would say tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward. It moves forward because of you. It moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over our nation through war and depression. The belief that each. Okay. And then there's Obama. When he would be with kids and his voice would get higher pitched at the White House. Halloween. What are you dressed up as? You are a fairy. That is so cute. Come on now. That is really good. And then there's the Broy Obama.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

With an NBA team. Yeah. He would be like, lebron James is here. Lebron. He is the second best player to wear the number 23. Come on now. So that's great. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what? Can I tell you something?

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Great.

[Dax Shepard]

The look on Monica's face, she reserves it for when she's seen Great match.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's how it feels.

[Matt Friend]

You guys had him on. I got to meet him last year before the DNC in Chicago. That turned out well.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

I was invited. Say it again. Yeah, Seriously. I was invited to meet Obama in Chicago. So I almost missed it because my flight was delayed. I was freaking out. His team invited me and a couple other creators to do a video with him in an effort to get out the vote.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Matt Friend]

So I go to this hotel in Chicago. You would never know he was there. There was some security. But then I go up to the 15th floor. Suddenly I'm brought to this waiting room. There's secret service casually all over the place. And then I'm brought to this waiting room. 40 minutes pass, brought to this other room. I guess Michelle walked by and I missed her. Then I go into this hotel room and it's very well lit. The light is pouring in and Obama is just standing there. And there is probably his assistant and one guard and that's the only people in the room. It felt like I was hallucinating. Like he's standing there. Hearing his voice, it felt like it was coming through a TV screen.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

And then he looks at me and he goes, matt, what are we gonna do today? Michelle, we've seen some of your videos. It's good. That's funny.

[Dax Shepard]

He always brings Michelle into it. Yes, anything. He told me.

[Matt Friend]

Which is smart, by the way.

[Monica Padman]

Kettle, My God.

[Matt Friend]

Smart as he should. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Every other sentence involves Kristen, which is very, very sweet. But we cannot probably stones. Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm more suspicious of his cuz his is like, you know, Michelle, Malia, Michelle, Sasha, Mal, Malia. We love the good Place. And I'm like, does he or did he hear his daughters and his wife love? Is she his source of all pop culture?

[Matt Friend]

I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Or is it just he adores, like.

[Matt Friend]

Saying, but it was crazy. I did him next to him and then I just did like his three greatest hits. Like when he made a jump shot, he was, that's what I do. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

When I interviewed him, I challenged him on that.

[Matt Friend]

Did you?

[Dax Shepard]

I said that was a dick move. You're there to try to support Biden. Biden can't fucking make a jump shot. You drop it from the three. You can't do that.

[Monica Padman]

No, but it was a great video.

[Matt Friend]

It was.

[Dax Shepard]

It was a great video for Obama. Yeah, it was.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it was a great.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

Okay, what's funny though, when you just did him, I was like, you look like him.

[Matt Friend]

Thank you. Well, this time I didn't bring the makeup, so thank God. That could get me in trouble.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm learning as I work on my Obama. You talk out the side of your.

[Matt Friend]

Mouth because I Like, the side of my neck. I don't know why that is, but.

[Monica Padman]

Your face contorts becomes him.

[Matt Friend]

When I was with him, I had my McConnell glasses, and I pitched him at one last idea. I was like, barack, it's good to be with you again. It really is. And then he backs away. He goes, you got to put those away. That is giving me ptsd.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Matt Friend]

It was insane. And I debated him as Trump.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, now here's an interesting question. I did write it down.

[Matt Friend]

Go ahead.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it dicey to do Black Famous.

[Matt Friend]

People if you're doing some racist parody? That's a different situation. If I'm trying to do one person instead of, like, a whole race of people, yeah, that's a separate conversation. But if I can do a vocally accurate Denzel impression, I can't really do it. Denzel. But then that's a separate conversation. Whereas if you're parodying, like, a stereotypical Indian or black voice, I think that's a different.

[Dax Shepard]

That's where you get into hot water.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

[Dax Shepard]

That's correct. Can you do God, Morgan Freeman?

[Matt Friend]

Morgan Freeman. Not really, but I can try.

[Dax Shepard]

John Doe has the upper hand.

[Matt Friend]

It's not great.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so the wish fulfillment you can give us is that we have a list of guests that we still can't get.

[Monica Padman]

They elude us.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was curious if we could talk to some of those people.

[Matt Friend]

Let's see, who you.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, Stern, of course. I would love to have Stern on.

[Matt Friend]

Well, here's why. Here's here. Let me tell you something about this, right? So they told me people thought my show was getting canceled and that I was going to go away.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought that. I read that and I canceled. Serious?

[Matt Friend]

I'm interviewing you now.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, even better.

[Matt Friend]

So, Monica, you're a beautiful woman. You got great skin.

[Monica Padman]

Thanks.

[Matt Friend]

I've always had a thing for Indian babes.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Matt Friend]

Baby. Let me ask. Let me ask you this, right?

[Monica Padman]

Flattering.

[Matt Friend]

Is there any sexual chemistry? I mean, obviously you have Kristen. She's a great wife. Yeah, yeah. Was there ever a moment where you guys looked at each other? You said, we got a thing going on here. Never cross your mind.

[Monica Padman]

Just slur.

[Matt Friend]

Never cross your mind once.

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Matt Friend]

Not even a kiss?

[Dax Shepard]

No, not yet. But we have a couple more years.

[Matt Friend]

By the way, not me. That was a Howard question.

[Monica Padman]

Just saying was a Howard question.

[Matt Friend]

You got to tap it in the mind of the person.

[Dax Shepard]

You have 1,000%.

[Matt Friend]

When you do the fact check, does it ever drive you crazy? Right. When. When some of these guests, they say so much. You're like, brad, I don't give a. You don't know what you're talking about. Right. Robin, do you want to bang Dax? You want to bang him, right? Robin wants to bang you. Sorry, go ahead.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow, you've been right.

[Matt Friend]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And did you chat with him as Howard?

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. It's like a recurring bit where the hook word with Howard is the word. Right. So I go, great to see you. Right? Right. Left to right. Right. Right. Robin. Right. House of cards. Right? Right. Frank Lloyd Wright. Right?

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Matt Friend]

Right versus wrong. Right. Right. Right. What's right? Right. Right. Alt? Right. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Matt Friend]

Left or right? Right, Right. Right. Howard Stern is just Alan Alda for mash, but a little deeper.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

Alan Alde's up here. He's a little bit like a square. Then Howard, you pull it back, you get Howard. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

It's phenomenal.

[Monica Padman]

It's phenomenal.

[Dax Shepard]

It's world class.

[Matt Friend]

Did you see Howard interviewing Trump recently? It was just not.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, they used to.

[Dax Shepard]

I've seen many of his friends. Yeah, he was on all the time.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. Howard goes, you're in the prime of your life. Anybody you wouldn't bang, how low are you gonna go? You have an age limit, Donald. Well, I probably wouldn't go down to 14.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Matt Friend]

And then he just stops talking. And I'm thinking, does that mean like.

[Dax Shepard]

15 is feelings on the table?

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, Straight.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Matt Friend]

If you just learn what Mesopotamia is, I'm probably fine with it. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I think he also had some really long descriptions of how beautiful his daughter was when he would be on Stern. I think a lot of those clips from Trump.

[Matt Friend]

What's the next guest?

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, Keeping it moving.

[Matt Friend]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So someone I've written like three love letters to begging him to do the show is my all time acting hero, Nicolas Cage.

[Matt Friend]

I wanted to come on Armchair to be with you. Monica. Excites me to a level I've never experienced before. Dax Shepard. Dax Shepard, Armchair. What a platform. Stop staring at me, you sexy dill. So I did Nic Cage, also on the carpet of the Golden Globes. And then people are like, who is this young woman that he's with? It was his ad Asian wife. Okay. His ad Asian wife life. He's with this 19 year old Asian woman who is his girlfriend. Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

So let me. So you stay in the.

[Matt Friend]

I didn't say it. Trump said it.

[Monica Padman]

You guys, are you just.

[Matt Friend]

You.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're tricky.

[Dax Shepard]

You're telling the truth.

[Matt Friend]

It's Trump.

[Monica Padman]

This is the thing. It's unfair.

[Dax Shepard]

We all should be able to develop an alter ego. Nick Kroll has several on his show.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, it's a great.

[Monica Padman]

But it's unfair to us who can't manipulate our voices.

[Dax Shepard]

So stay in Nick Cage because I just have some questions.

[Matt Friend]

It's not great, but could be better.

[Dax Shepard]

You famously bought a bunch of castles.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, Yeah, I love a castle. I put the ass in castle.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, what about your snakes? Are they still with us?

[Matt Friend]

I have a big snake right here. Sign a declaration of independence with this snake. Anaconda snake. Armchair expert. Yeah. Not great. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's nice.

[Matt Friend]

I like it. I like it. Not great.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, now I want to be really thoughtful and careful.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, I know where this one's going.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you guess?

[Matt Friend]

Is it Bill?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he produced or does produce.

[Matt Friend]

I did a podcast. We've kind of stopped it. Go ahead, Bill.

[Monica Padman]

Who? Mark.

[Dax Shepard]

Bill Mark?

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. I was doing a show and doing a different thing now, but he's a nice guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I would like to ask Bill some questions.

[Matt Friend]

Okay, go. Let me just say, you know what the problem is with Armchair Experts? Nothing. Oh, thank you. It's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Thanks, Bill.

[Matt Friend]

Whether you're on the left, whether you're on the right, we're all wrong, and it's great. Go ahead. What's the question?

[Monica Padman]

That was nice. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

You seem to get pretty angry at the audience when your joke doesn't go exactly as planned. I guess my main question is, why so angry at them?

[Matt Friend]

Okay, new rule, right? If you're gonna have a guest on your own show, maybe don't be a dick. Okay. This is what really pisses. Oh, this really pisses me off. Let's hear it about the left. The left isn't the right and the right isn't the left. And that's what drives me crazy. Right?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's smart.

[Matt Friend]

With Donald, I had dinner with him. They were so mad at me. Larry David op ed, dinner with Hitler. You know what? Not true. But I would have dined with Hitler if there was an option. He would have liked me. We would have had fun. You know why? Because I'm a Jew who can make him laugh. Okay? It's all in the lip smack with Bill now.

[Monica Padman]

He goes.

[Matt Friend]

He goes. Thank you. Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Matt Friend]

Great.

[Monica Padman]

I've never noticed a lip smack until you just did it. He does do.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, great. New rule. Wrong. So right. Oh, my God. But what's interesting is Expert, he did.

[Dax Shepard]

Produce a show with you, but he didn't like your impersonation. No, I think he did.

[Matt Friend]

He goes like you make me too flamboyant. Right. I think heteromia up. Okay. Butch me up. Right. Some guys are like that with it. But he was a great sport about it. I think he liked it.

[Dax Shepard]

I've only heard a couple people do me.

[Matt Friend]

Do me. Yeah, me, me.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. You're very talented.

[Matt Friend]

Thank you.

[Monica Padman]

I think you could fine tune this.

[Matt Friend]

No, there's no. There's no question. I can.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

Like, it's.

[Monica Padman]

It's not exactly right. No, no, it's not exactly right.

[Matt Friend]

It's not.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to tell you.

[Matt Friend]

But we have a fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Kinski does a version of me and he did it in front of a group of people and they laughed uncontrollably and I was not offended. I just like, I don.

[Matt Friend]

You know who's eluded me? Who is John Krasinski's brother in law?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, oh, Emily Blunt's brother.

[Matt Friend]

Felicity's husband.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, Stanley, too.

[Matt Friend]

Stanley.

[Dax Shepard]

He was another guy who didn't love. Did he not love?

[Matt Friend]

Well, he hasn't really commented on the impression. Stan hasn't really commented on the impression. But that. The Golden Globes. I've done it three years in a row. Red carpet. I interview. It's a crazy atmosphere. Yes. All the celebrities, they're coming. I'm not a red carpet host. Interviewer. I'm a comedian. They place on the carpet. Unbelievable experience. My friend Jeremy works at Dick Clark. Put me on the carpet, took a chance on me, and now here we are. The exposure's unbelievable. I talked to Nick Cage. Do you.

[Dax Shepard]

Paul Giamani. That was the one that.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, that was very fun indeed. Oh, yes, very fun. Giamatti had just won the Golden Globe. So I get him 30 seconds after he wins the award and I go, paul, I'm doing you next to Paul. He goes, oh, that's very good, Giamatti. Oh, I am signing the Declaration of motherfucking Independence in the morning. So very good. Very good. Oh, yes, indeed. Oh, God. Fun. So. And he was matching me perfectly. And then I did Tom Wamsgams next to Kieran Culkin. I go, hey, buddy, buckle up, fucklehead. And then he slapped me in the face. And then I did Coolidge.

[Dax Shepard]

I wonder, because I've watched so many of these clips. Are the people warned ahead of time? What I'm seeing sometimes is it takes them a few beats to realize you're doing things them.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, occasionally.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't watch Formula One by chance?

[Matt Friend]

I'm starting to.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, there's this most incredible clip. Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson has perfected this commentator in Formula One, Martin Brundle. And they're on the grid. Martin Brundle's interviewing, and Mr. Bean is doing him the most flawless impersonation I've ever seen. And the entire interview goes on, and it never occurs to me.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, that hasn't happened to me.

[Dax Shepard]

And then Goldblum really loves it, too.

[Matt Friend]

Right? He's the greatest. I've voiced him on, like, a bunch of shows. He's the coolest. But Tucci, I'm like Stanley. And he just kind of very funny. And he just, like, walked by. I'm dying to do a video with him. I get why people can be a little uptight, but my goal, I want to make them relax and comfortable. I have a very funny moment.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

I do Tucci when he's cooking.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Matt Friend]

So he does these hugely viral videos in his kitchen. He asks if we're rolling, and he makes some comment that feels a little sexual to his wife, Felicity. So he'll be in the kitchen and he'll go. And we wrote. Are we filming today? I'm going to prepare a chicken cacciatore. I'm going to finger this spaghetti sauce and lick it so hard and delicately. I'm placing this olive oil from Bologna, a specific region in Italy. I'm Italian on both sides. Thank you for tuning in.

[Dax Shepard]

I know what it triggers in everyone, which is the last time someone did an impersonation of you was in elementary school, and they were making fun of you, trying to. So you have to really be confident to enjoy.

[Matt Friend]

It's different from acting, but there's an element of it. If you're an actor, I think you should be able to handle it.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, here's what I think the hidden compliment in it is. You're unique enough to replicate me doing you would be obvious to everyone. And what I think is the compliment is like, wow, you're a really unique human on planet Earth.

[Matt Friend]

Yes, absolutely.

[Monica Padman]

It's kind of embarrassing to be seen like that.

[Matt Friend]

Interesting.

[Monica Padman]

Really seen. You are picking up on the sexual.

[Matt Friend]

But he's putting the videos out there.

[Dax Shepard]

On Instagram in his sexy apron and his sexy. We interviewed him and had dinner with him.

[Matt Friend]

Did you. Was that fun, Dax?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, it was really fun. He's an incredible host, as you might guess.

[Matt Friend]

I would totally assume. Absolutely. Like, you're.

[Monica Padman]

It's more than just repeating words. You're. You're picking up on their essence and their personality and things that maybe they don't even want to know about themselves.

[Matt Friend]

That is interesting because I was at the premiere of his new show, not Geo show. You're welcome for the promo. And he said, I don't like to watch it because unlike acting, I'm being myself in this. It's a nightmare. But Goldblum is so playful with it. He just totally leans in.

[Dax Shepard]

He knows what he does.

[Matt Friend]

He knows what he does.

[Monica Padman]

He's been impersonated for so long, too.

[Matt Friend]

But Tucci's amazing. What a guy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we love him.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, we love him. We love him. Okay. I wanted to talk to Sylvester Stallone. He's not well. Yeah, I want to talk to Sylvester Stallone.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. Great to be, you know, great to be an armchair expert, you know, really, really great. Just finished up my meeting with President Trump. You know, I'm on the Hollywood new commission to bring back Hollywood and make it a better connection between Hollywood and D.C. you know, really, really great. Really, really great. Monica and Dax, you know, really.

[Dax Shepard]

You can do the voices very well. But also, you're obviously hyper intelligent because you have the speech from Obama memorized.

[Matt Friend]

You got to get the word. Because there were people that did impressions in, like the 50s, 60s, even now. But for me, like, I'm a comedian in the comedy context, the words matter, the writing matters. You have to have a really solid bit. I mean, it's one thing to go up there and say, hello, I'm Stewie Griffin. Great to be with all of you. I started out on stage doing that. My first show was at Second City in a classroom in Chicago, and I did impressions and voices. But that was cute for like a couple minutes. But now, like, I'm a headlining touring comedian, and it's not just impressions in the hours. I have to have real substance behind the words I'm saying. And in the context of an impression, I certainly want to be inside the mind of the person I love. Like old show business and like a lot of it is just devouring the news and what's happening in the world.

[Dax Shepard]

But you have an incredible memory, your ability to hold on to all these little specificities that. That are information based more than sound based.

[Matt Friend]

I know the entire you got trouble song from the music man. Should I do it? Yeah. What do you want me to do? No, I don't think you do. I don't think you guys can. I think this might be a little too much of a segue. I can do it.

[Monica Padman]

I think you can take it.

[Dax Shepard]

It's about five minutes, but is there a 90 second mark?

[Matt Friend]

Are you, Mr. Dunlop? Say yes. Yes. Well, either you're closing your eyes to A situation you do not wish to acknowledge or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community. Well, you got trouble, my friend right here. Say trouble right here in River City. Why sure, my bearded players certainly mighty part of the same always mighty part of sand I that the hours I spend with a cue in my hand are gold. It helps cultivate horseheads and a cool head and a keen eye. Do you ever take a try to give an ironclad leave yourself from a three round billiard chop just I say it takes judgment, brains and maturity to score in a balk line game. I say that any boob can take a shove a ball in a pocket and they call that sloth. The first big step on the road to the depths of dagger is say first medicine. No wine from a teaspoon, then beer from a bottle. The next thing you know, your son is playing for money in a pitch bag suit and listen to him talk about some horse race. Listen to. How about some horse race. Not a wholesome trot and race Stove, but a race where they sit down right on the horse. Like to see something stuck up jockey boys sitting on Dan patch making blood boy. Well, I should say now friends, let me tell you what I mean. You got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 pockets at a table. Pockets I gotta stop. But anyways, I didn't get that part. It was in eighth grade. I'm out of my mind.

[Monica Padman]

It's a very specific type of brain because I'm seeing a lot of parallels. The mimicry, the singing.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, thanks.

[Monica Padman]

That type of recall Kristen has.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. This is all very Kristen.

[Monica Padman]

She has a horrible, horrible, horrible memory for life.

[Dax Shepard]

She know what vacations we've been on.

[Monica Padman]

But she can recite things like that. She does a nail thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Press on nails. She does the commercial from when she was 8. She's got a great hyper speed. So my current crush, I had the pleasure of telling him at the SAG Awards that I'm so horny for him is Timothy Shalom.

[Matt Friend]

Yep. Well, who it's such an honor to be here with Monica, with, with Dax. Two pioneers in the, in the field of podcasting with the changing media landscape such as it is with, you know, with talk shows and you know, the evolution of our, of our modern media today. I think you guys are really at the forefront of something special. And you're so great.

[Dax Shepard]

No, but just saying, like I'm just.

[Matt Friend]

As an artist, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm super grateful to be Here for the platform with Dene Villeneuve and, you know, with all these different Marty Scorsese and all these. Yeah, so that was.

[Dax Shepard]

It's incredible. I'm gonna have you do one last one. We already had him. He's a friend of Pop. But, man, is it. A spectacular impersonation. And that's the great Sebastian Maniscalco.

[Matt Friend]

So I did this podcast with Monica Padman. Dude, Dax Shepard manspreading for 90 minutes. Got his cock staring at my face, trying to ask me questions. Dude, popping whey protein every 15 seconds. What? Do me a favor. Why don't you separate the podcast from the gym, okay? This guy is asking questions, slurping down a protein shake. This isn't the time, okay, boy, not the time. I'm an Italian. I eat pasta, not fucking zine. Whatever the hell that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, Now I want to talk to you about some serious stuff.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, please. I'm ready.

[Dax Shepard]

You've already alluded to.

[Matt Friend]

This is why I'm here. I wanted to get into this. Let's make some headlines.

[Dax Shepard]

And Hank, I was saying it earlier, but I didn't finish, but Hank talked about his mimicry was very much a way to hide from himself. Like, he wasn't terribly confident being himself, but this was this great way to be everything but himself. And he was saying as he started learning to act that his big hurdle was figuring out how to. To have some confidence in himself. And also, there's the famous Jim Carrey, right? The lore of Jim Carrey is he had this incredibly successful standup routine where he did tons of impersonations. And at one point he decided, I'm no longer doing impersonations. I have to do my own thing. So is this something that you are also wrestling with?

[Matt Friend]

So I never got into comedy or impressions as a form of escape or even as I'm starting to act now. I do love to get into the mindset of another person, to, like, not be myself, I guess. But it wasn't because I was trying to run away. I'm lucky. I had a great fan family growing up, great support system. I know that's funny material, but for me now, stand up is about embracing who you are. And I've done the impressions and I've gotten so known for it. And now I'm at a place in my career where I'll always want to be doing them. It's just fun. And I think it brings out another side of people, too, in the context that I'm choosing to do them, like red carpet interviews or whatever it is. And Also, I think most people enjoy impressions.

[Dax Shepard]

Everyone loves them.

[Matt Friend]

I am thinking about and I'm glad I'm talking about this. As an armchair expert, I do grapple with the question of, like, am I enough without it? I think I am. And my stand up, like, I feel really good about how it's all building. And the stand up in terms of an impression context is me telling stories and meeting celebrities. And then I reenact that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Matt Friend]

But then the rest of it is me dating in my 20s, crowd work and political observations and other stories unrelated to it. But there is a question of, like, will the audience? Because, you know, there's an algorithm. They've gotten to know me in one context. But I feel like I'm 27. I'm at a place where, where I've gotten started. I want to show people more. It's funny. Thankfully, I do more than the Trump. Like there was a guy Von meer in the 50s who did a JFK impression. JFK was shot in the head, died. Spoiler alert. Lenny Bruce goes on stage three days after that and says, vaughn meter's fucked. But this guy looked exactly like jfk. It was his whole shtick. He did an album as jfk. Obviously that's a unique situation and I actually kind of want to do a movie about that. That would be amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Friend]

I'm thinking about. I want my stand up myself to resonate more with. With people.

[Dax Shepard]

You just said that you've recently started therapy. So people don't generally seek out therapy because everything's going perfectly. What was it to help manage.

[Matt Friend]

It's such a weird business. There's no path.

[Dax Shepard]

Terrifying.

[Matt Friend]

Now that I look at it, it is happening quickly. Like I said, I'm 27. There was no space between finishing school and like needing to get a job because I graduated in Covid, found a way to support myself through social media and then stand up. So like from 22 years old, I was able to figure it, which doesn't really happen. I shouldn't be taking out frustrations in my career, in my life, on the ones that I love the most.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right, right.

[Matt Friend]

We have a family group chat. If something is pissing me off or annoying me, I'll like text my family. 20 irrational texts. This fucking sucks. I'm so pissed. Like, crazy behavior. Just venting into the chat. The ones that have been telling me to see a therapist is my family.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Matt Friend]

So Because I'm taking a lot of the frustration and stress.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, we have a lot of anxiety.

[Matt Friend]

There's anxiety, there's constant comparison. Spending too much time on my phone because a lot of the career is built. I look at this clip, I want to see how things are performing. I'm tapped into the news. I'm never going to be one of those actor people that can be away from their phone.

[Monica Padman]

It's part of your business.

[Matt Friend]

I don't think that is feasible anymore to not be in touch with your fans.

[Dax Shepard]

I agree.

[Matt Friend]

The DiCaprio Chalamet is even going on podcasts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there's like a last guard that will enjoy all of that, be able to do it that way. But yeah, I think when Leonardo done, he'll have been the last one probably.

[Matt Friend]

Yes. But I want to like improve my mindset, my mentality. Also like comments.

[Monica Padman]

You look at them.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, they're irresistible.

[Matt Friend]

They are irresistible. But also like I'm on stage. It's like a weird thing because sometimes people are paying to see me to do an impression, whatever. And now I want them to see my stand up. So now I'm at this point in my career where I'm doing impressions and stuff, but I'm pivoting to. There's a lot more that I'm offering as myself.

[Monica Padman]

Just scary.

[Matt Friend]

And I want them to see that. That's what Jim Carrey did, which I'm very inspired by. I'm glad you brought that up. And that's what I want to do. No, but I'm thinking about that in my say, like, am I enough? I want the audiences to see me for me. And also I want these clips to do well because things do well in the context of an impression. I want them to see my stand up doing well or a conversation like this doing well.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Do you want them to see your vulnerability or do you want them. You do?

[Matt Friend]

I do. But also, I didn't have an upbringing where I was traumatized. My mother and father, they're different. My dad is stoic. My mother, the energy level, it's like she just snorted coke in the morning. She's very energetic, but she's hilarious.

[Dax Shepard]

You're the young of the baby.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, like she's so funny.

[Dax Shepard]

Two older boy or girls?

[Matt Friend]

Brother and sister.

[Dax Shepard]

Brother and sister. Are they really tall as well?

[Matt Friend]

Not really. Like, they're kind of like 61, I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

And what do they do?

[Matt Friend]

My sister is a writer. She's working on her first novel, Nina. She's amazing writer, great. And my brother works at a company, Thrive with Ariana Huffington. He's the CFO or COO of It.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so he's thriving.

[Matt Friend]

He's thriving.

[Dax Shepard]

Thrive.

[Matt Friend]

My mom has a cookie company called Big Fat Cookie.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, she does.

[Matt Friend]

I was. I should have brought them, and I regret doing that. The best cookies ever. And I need to plug them. Huge cookies.

[Dax Shepard]

Like a can of Campbell's soup.

[Matt Friend]

Like four. I Can we pull them up? Like, they are so good. They are huge. Let's pull them. Chocolate chip. Chocolate chip. There's like, pretzel ones. It's insane. They are amazing. That's it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yum.

[Dax Shepard]

I gotta send these.

[Matt Friend]

They're insane.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, they look gooey. I want this.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I see Fruity Pebbles based in Chicago. Are there any gluten free offerings?

[Matt Friend]

Are you gluten free? Yeah, I. A deathly allergic gluten allergy as a kid.

[Dax Shepard]

You did.

[Monica Padman]

And you grew out of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Then your mom went into the cookie.

[Matt Friend]

That's your trouble. We got to talk about this.

[Dax Shepard]

Mom tried to kill you.

[Matt Friend]

Are you gluten free?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Matt Friend]

We got to talk about. But I don't. I think there are gluten free ones, but we'll send you something.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay?

[Matt Friend]

Okay. I had a deathly allergic gluten allergy as a kid, and I was one of the first people in the world to be effectively cured of food allergies. How? Tell me you didn't find that on Google, did you?

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Matt Friend]

I was in a study at Stanford, my freshman year of high school. I flew out to Stanford every two weeks from Chicago. Chicago for six months.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Matt Friend]

In a process called oral immunotherapy, you increase your tolerance level to whatever you're allergic to by eating a tiny amount of your allergen every couple of weeks.

[Monica Padman]

Whoa.

[Matt Friend]

And then I started to eat it in a powdery form, like gluten, straight gluten in, like, a milkshake type form. But I did this at the same time as taking this drug. Coke? No, Zolaire Zolair. It was like an FDA approved asthma medication that this brilliant Dr. King Doe, who's now at Harvard, figured out. It can, like, alter your immune system to detect when an allergen enters. And I did this study, and basically, like, one crumb could have literally killed me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And now you can eat pasta.

[Matt Friend]

And, yeah, that was a challenge in my upbringing. Like, literally felt very different as a kid. As a result of that, my mother would bring a separate, like, little cupcake to a friend's birthday right before my first kiss. This girl had to, like, avoid gluten for 24 hours. Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We have a friend, Jason man allergy.

[Matt Friend]

Unbelievable.

[Monica Padman]

And he kissed someone and went into, like, anaphylactic. It was like an egg in the martini.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. I was, like, deathly allergic. Literally every time we go to a restaurant, we would have to, like, interrogate the chef.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. You're the person that's everything up because.

[Matt Friend]

I was the person that's everything up.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I go, do you have gluten free pasta? And they immediately go, is it an allergy or is it a preference? I mean, that's a preference. Don't panic. There's gluten back there. But for you in the allergy community.

[Matt Friend]

There'S like a hierarchy. It's like the peanut supremacist is what I call them.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Matt Friend]

It's the mothers of kids with peanut allergies.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Matt Friend]

Because they think their kids. Allergies more important.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Matt Friend]

Like, there's always a sign in a classroom. There's no nuts in the classroom. There's never. There's no focaccia in the classroom.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Okay. So here's something that I'm so curious about for someone your age. So if I were you, and when I was you, all I wanted to do is be on Saturday Night Live, and I'm thinking, like, in some crazy way, and I can't even believe I'm going to say this, it's kind of obsolete for young people. A little bit.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think so. Lincoln loves it.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I don't mean as viewers.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, if you're aspiring. If I'm him, like, I was waiting for them to call and give me an audition as opposed to. I can just make the. I want to be doing on Saturday Night Live and I can put it out. So why on earth would I be waiting my whole life? And then by the time you kind of hit and they would want you financially, you're probably going to be taking a pay cut to go do certain. So anyways, where's Saturday Night Live in the mix for you?

[Matt Friend]

My Instagram handle used to be Matterday Night Live. That was a name of it.

[Dax Shepard]

You grew up, like, a couple blocks from Second City.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. I mean, I grew up obsessed with the show. So much has happened in the past year and a half.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

Where, like, you used to have to be on SNL to do the things that I'm doing now. Like, even to get on a show like this.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly.

[Matt Friend]

Or like White House Correspondence Dinner. I hosted the NHL Awards. Like, all these opportunities, there was no other path beyond that. And now a product of my generation, my political stuff will get More views than their political stuff. Not that it's a competition, necessarily. I met Lauren at the correspondence dinner, and he was like, have you showcased for us before?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah, right.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah. And we had a brief chat. I don't know if you would remember that, but I don't know. It's a weird thing because I want to be in movies now, like, hosting, but obviously it would be cool to do it. My mentality is I can't be chasing things that I don't know what the result might be. I have to be so focused on what I can control.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

And also, it's a different world.

[Dax Shepard]

It is. That's what I'm so curious about. Like, if I were 27, would I even.

[Monica Padman]

Is it still the Holy Grail? I guess.

[Matt Friend]

I do not think.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's interesting.

[Matt Friend]

I think this is the Holy Grail. I really do. I think these podcast, like, look at. With late night. It's a different world now. There's always gonna be politics. There'll always be celebrities. There'll always be a need to promote things. The medium is the message. Marshall McLuhan, have you read that book?

[Dax Shepard]

I haven't read it. I'm aware of it.

[Matt Friend]

It's like this. The medium will evolve. We don't necessarily reinvent the wheel. I think there will always be an interest in political, topical humor. What I've now learned in this business is, like, I can put these big goals and dreams out there, but I just got to keep clawing.

[Monica Padman]

Doing your thing. Like, when we started this or when I moved here to be an actor, there weren't podcasts.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So the idea of coming out for this wasn't a thing yet. So maybe there'll be a new thing.

[Matt Friend]

Well, that's the thing. Like you asked about snl, I'm just this weird product of timing and, like, a generational thing. It's all these tools and discoverability. You could argue this has as much impact, if not more, than going on Weekend Update. It'd be interesting if I had come up in entertainment when you came up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Do you wish you had?

[Matt Friend]

I think it would have been cool, but I don't know that I would have been at the place I'm in now at this stage.

[Dax Shepard]

I wasn't at 27. I still haven't booked a fucking thing. And I'm just, like, panicking.

[Matt Friend]

Acting is such a tough nut to crack. But my thinking is always been, like, acting will come through my comedy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right, right, right.

[Matt Friend]

And now it's starting to. I did A movie last week with Seth Green. With Seth Green and Ashley Green. Grace Period.

[Dax Shepard]

Directed by Peter F. David Gordon Green.

[Matt Friend]

I played Justin, young man who is the sous chef to Seth Green's chef who meets Willa, played by Ashley Green.

[Dax Shepard]

Seth Green is a chef in it.

[Matt Friend]

Yes. And Ashley Green is a woman who freezes her eggs and meets Seth. I'm starting to fall in love. And I'm the young guy who has a of lot, lot of sex and cook.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, fun. I want.

[Matt Friend]

It was an amazing experience. It was crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I want that role.

[Monica Padman]

It filmed here in Canada.

[Matt Friend]

It was unbelievable. It was so crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

And then your tour. Tell me about your tour. Where can people get tickets? How many shows are you doing?

[Matt Friend]

I'm touring right now, building up my hour to be a special doing the Wilbur theater will be my biggest headlining show in Boston, I think on September 27th. I have Fort Worth, Texas. All [e-mail] Matt Friend.com and the Mat Friend is my Instagram.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so glad I got.

[Matt Friend]

Are we done? Yeah, we.

[Monica Padman]

What would you want to. Yeah, we've been here a while.

[Matt Friend]

I want to do that armchair. You know, you open up.

[Dax Shepard]

You want to cry a little bit.

[Matt Friend]

I want to open up. What's making you cry these days? What if we. What's making.

[Dax Shepard]

We start making fun of you in hopes of.

[Monica Padman]

What's making you cry? These. What's the last time you cried?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think you cry. I think you get angry.

[Matt Friend]

You think I get angry? You don't think I cry?

[Dax Shepard]

I do.

[Matt Friend]

What is it about?

[Dax Shepard]

I think what's easy for you to express is like anger.

[Matt Friend]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

Is that really what you think of me?

[Dax Shepard]

I do.

[Monica Padman]

Well, maybe. Cuz you said you yelled at your parents.

[Matt Friend]

Well, no. Did I say that?

[Monica Padman]

Well, no. Sorry. You got out your aggression through anger with your family.

[Dax Shepard]

Like what you were feeling was anxiety about the future and it expresses itself.

[Matt Friend]

When I have anxiety, I'd be like texting the ones that I love the most about that anxiety. I'm like, why am I doing that?

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Well also, of course that's who you're going to go to, I guess.

[Matt Friend]

But also it's like, why bother them?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, if that's the only ones that.

[Monica Padman]

Have to care first.

[Dax Shepard]

Stop emotion.

[Matt Friend]

What is it depends on what's happening. But there can be anger and then sadness and then frustration. Frustration.

[Monica Padman]

So when's the last time you cried?

[Matt Friend]

The last time I cried.

[Dax Shepard]

99.

[Matt Friend]

When's the last time I cried?

[Dax Shepard]

First birthday party.

[Matt Friend]

Do you remember the Last time you cried.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I cried.

[Matt Friend]

See, I just flipped it on you.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. See, you can think while I answer. I cried on Saturday.

[Matt Friend]

I liked your answer. You didn't say why I cried out two weeks ago.

[Monica Padman]

I had therapy.

[Matt Friend]

You cried two weeks ago? Two weeks ago, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I accept that. I don't know why she cried, but I'm very concerned.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We need to know, were you watching or you just.

[Matt Friend]

I think I was, like, watching. Watching a YouTube video or something.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, those make me cry, but only if they're really uplifting, I think. Oh, it's so hard to be a human. And when people express.

[Matt Friend]

You ever, like, have, like, a fear that you're not while the ones that you love are alive? You want them to know how much you love mom and dad, my brother, my sister. I love them the most.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Does it stress you out that they might not know it?

[Matt Friend]

They definitely know it. I'm so focused on what I'm doing now. I want them to know it. I don't know if I really just answered that question.

[Dax Shepard]

You're afraid a little bit that they might feel you're way too focused on this?

[Matt Friend]

No, definitely not. Like, we're all very close, but I think I. I need to do a better job of telling them how much I appreciate them consistently. Right.

[Monica Padman]

It's hard to do. It's vulnerable to do that. I don't really do it.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't do it?

[Matt Friend]

You don't.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, she's Indian, though. They have a different thing. Like, they literally do. Like I was saying to her, no, your dad wants to come see the thing. He wants to tell you he's proud of you. He wants to give you a hug. And all of a sudden, she's like, my dad loves me as much as your dad loved you. But that's not how he gets down. And I have now seen it in action. I'm like, yeah, that's not how they get down.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I have no question. Question about the amount of love.

[Dax Shepard]

He would jump in front of a million trains for you.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But he's not gonna do the thing.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

He's not gonna do this. Very American way of showing love, and that's okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And then. So she's not. Then making them feel awkward.

[Monica Padman]

That's how it started. You were like, you need to tell him that you.

[Matt Friend]

How important he is, what a good dad he was.

[Monica Padman]

He doesn't want to hear that. I know, but that's just gonna make him feel. Feel like I'm anxious or dying or stressed. Out, like, it's gonna have this weird boomerang effect. And I have to make him feel better about the fact that he feels like none of us need any of this.

[Dax Shepard]

It's pretty funny. Pretty funny from.

[Matt Friend]

Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed Smartless. Shut up.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's our net. That's good. Thank you. No, I have adored meeting you.

[Matt Friend]

I've adored meeting you.

[Dax Shepard]

You're so sweet.

[Matt Friend]

Thank you for having me.

[Monica Padman]

Thanks for listening for so long, hair expert.

[Dax Shepard]

I want you to just have some peace. This is my unsolicited advice.

[Matt Friend]

Please.

[Dax Shepard]

It's really easy to miss the ride because I'm unpunct. I'm like, I gotta get off the show and get in movies. And I'm always like, I gotta be the lead of a movie. You're already in an awesome spot.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And don't miss it. That's it. That's my unsolicited advice.

[Monica Padman]

Are you gonna well up?

[Matt Friend]

I'm welling up. Thank you for the advice. This was a dream come true, honestly. Thank you for having me. And by the way, before we go, come by a show. I'm doing shows with built room rewards. Not to plug them too much, but tell me. It's great. I met the CEO of this company, Bilt. They're a rent rewards company based in New York. You can earn points on your rent. Oh, and I met the CEO of this company at the US Open. We created this comedy series together. If you're a member of Bilt, you can come to our shows. We've taken over, like, iconic restaurants throughout the country, and we put comedy shows in those spaces. Oh, cool. We did it at the Comedy Store. But also, like Lucali, this restaurant in Brooklyn. All these places, so they're fun. You would never expect to see a comedy show in these spots. You should come.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I would love to. I would love to see you when you're in LA doing your full hour. I would love to see.

[Matt Friend]

Please come as I manifest my special.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, absolutely.

[Matt Friend]

We work on this.

[Dax Shepard]

You're delightful.

[Matt Friend]

I love you.

[Dax Shepard]

We will be talking again. I'm certain of it. Yeah, you must come back and go to matt friend.com.com.

[Matt Friend]

The mat friend on Instagram.

[Dax Shepard]

He's an inspect. All right, take care. Stay tuned for more Armchair Extra Expert if you dare.

[Monica Padman]

Stay tuned for the fact check.

[Matt Friend]

It's where the party's at.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to be honest. This is an Easter egg. We just had the greatest interview.

[Monica Padman]

We had a great interview, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Does that make me feel good.

[Monica Padman]

We've had a couple great guests this week.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Been a big week.

[Dax Shepard]

Fun, fun week.

[Monica Padman]

You're wearing really red pants.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Let's talk about it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, let's.

[Dax Shepard]

You know the goofy pants I've fallen in love with?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

I noticed they had solid colors and I thought, I'll try that.

[Monica Padman]

How do you like it?

[Dax Shepard]

I like it.

[Monica Padman]

They look. They're a thicker material than your other ones.

[Dax Shepard]

They are. I do. I probably prefer them to be a little thinner.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

But I do like them. And I'm not sure what. Where this trajectory takes me, but here we are.

[Monica Padman]

I do wonder where this is going to go.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I'm curious because I. I got three of these in different colors and I put them on this morning and Delta said, oh, wow, those are really red. And I said, too red. And she's like, no, that you're making them work.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was like, okay, great.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, they work. I love red.

[Matt Friend]

You got to consider.

[Dax Shepard]

You tell yourself you don't have to consider it, but you do. Which is like, I drive her to school and then I walk her in.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I may be totally comfortable being myself, but I have to consider, you know, would I want my dad walking me in with Ronald McDonald pants on?

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, I got to treat that somewhat seriously. So far she's. She really supports.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

My stuff.

[Monica Padman]

So far, she, I don't think is the type to care to snuff out my shine. Yeah. Cuz she's so shiny and she's just nice.

[Dax Shepard]

And Kristen's out of town.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

And I absolutely love and cherish all the contributions that Kristen makes. They got the best mom in the world. She's so helpful.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And I love having them by myself.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. What have you guys done?

[Dax Shepard]

Last night we went out to eat at Cafe 101.

[Monica Padman]

Nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, I'm like a. Let's get out of the house. Let's go adventure. Tomorrow morning we're gonna wake up at six in the morning and go early before breakfast. And we've invited other people to join us.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So, you know, once I'm in charge, it's definitely the extroverts go wild kind of let's adventure. Let's get a lot of people and let's. Let's party. And then even more importantly, I'm the only person to snuggle at night. I'm the only person that can give the hugs and the kisses. And so I get all of it, whereas I would normally get probably 30% of it. I go up to 100% of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

In the last two nights in a row. And I don't think there's anything more euphoric on planet Earth. And that includes all the drugs, bugs I've done when I'm laying in bed with them. Like last night, I read the Giving Tree. Terrible choice. Terrible choice. I love that book. And it's just the meanest book ever.

[Monica Padman]

What do you mean?

[Dax Shepard]

That boy is so mean to that.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

He is just so sad.

[Monica Padman]

I was gonna bring up the Giving Tree when you told us about your tree, and I decided not to.

[Dax Shepard]

And. Yeah, that had just happened, and I didn't connect those dots. I'm like, I just cut down a tree.

[Monica Padman]

I should have brought. Brought it up, but I didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

That was a. The. The book already makes you sad. Of course she's heartbroken for that poor tree.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Anything to make him happy.

[Monica Padman]

It just gave so much.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I'm old now, and I want to. I want a boat so I can get out of here, cut my tree trunk down, and make a boat. And you will be happy.

[Monica Padman]

It's a. It's a good book about codependence.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, it is. But I did see a part of it that I had never seen prior to. Okay. I mean, first was like, I was. It was getting sad, and I was like, oh, my God. And I just. I'm kind of retriggering the fact that I just murdered this.

[Monica Padman]

And the stump. Still there.

[Dax Shepard]

It is still there. But one part of it that I don't think I had ever figured out that maybe is part of the message is at the end. He's sitting on the stump. That's all that's left of her.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And she's.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, it's a her to you.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a her.

[Monica Padman]

Is it a her?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I don't remember.

[Dax Shepard]

Boy, I guess. I don't know if I can say that, but it feels so nurturing. Take my apples. Let me provide for you. I don't know. Yeah. Is the treatment a boy to you?

[Monica Padman]

I think.

[Matt Friend]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

Rob. Yeah. I think I consider it a boy, too. Whoa.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Matt Friend]

Google says it's a woman, though.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I wonder.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, she. It uses she to use the tree throughout. So maybe.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I guess that's why I know that, because I just read it.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

But I thought there was. There might be another message happening, which is at the very end of the book. He's an old man and he's dying, and he's out of energy, and he Just wants to sit.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And she's dead. He's taken everything from her. And the two of them are pretty much finishing their life cycle together. And a little bit of it is like, oh yeah, this is the life cycle. You're born, you play. There's a period of growing and then they're dying. So it's almost. Yeah, the tree was gonna die too. Trees die. Ultimately he accelerated that process greatly.

[Monica Padman]

They shouldn't die by the hands of.

[Dax Shepard]

Timeline of a human. Yeah, they should live more than 90 years. But they're both sitting there at the end of their life cycle together. And that's kind of interesting. I thought, oh, maybe that's part of what this is. This is more like just confronting. Like yeah, this is. Is life.

[Monica Padman]

I mean it is.

[Dax Shepard]

You grow old and you die and sure, yeah. And. And they were together when they.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, they were together, but one was abused. This is not a good.

[Dax Shepard]

I was trying to find the silver lining and I guess maybe I'm reaching too far. But there is something about that last image of them there together. Dying together.

[Monica Padman]

I think, I hope. I mean, the tree's dead.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, no, it's cuz the tree's happy.

[Monica Padman]

The tree still has dead.

[Dax Shepard]

No, yes, unfortunately. She's happy. Happy cuz he's sitting on her.

[Monica Padman]

I know. This is so upsetting.

[Dax Shepard]

It's the worst book ever written.

[Monica Padman]

It is the worst upsetting that she is on her deathbed. She's been.

[Dax Shepard]

God, I wish we could interview Shel Silverstein. I. I need to know like what was happening in your life.

[Monica Padman]

His mom was probably abused. Now that we know it's a mom.

[Dax Shepard]

He probably. But, but, but again, because I didn't know it was the mom in the book. Yeah. And I know. And I was like, oh yeah, this is this great metaphor for being a mom. It's like I give my body to you to be born and then I feed you at the expense of my body. And I just give and I give and I give because I love you and it makes me happy to give to you. And so it's also this kind of metaphor of parenting and nurturing and you do it, you do it. You don't want anything back. Like if I'm the tree and my kids use every bit of of me.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not mad and it wasn't codependent. Cuz that's my purpose now on planet Earth.

[Monica Padman]

Not, not for them. The purpose shouldn't be for them to take advantage of you. Like maybe they will. Like we all do. But there There should be respect.

[Matt Friend]

There should be.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know if she's. Is she a mom or is she the wife?

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, she. I think she's a nurturing. That's at least how I'm interpreting it. She's there before him. She's a full grown tree when he arrives, right. And she's hugging him and she's playing hide and seek with him and she's feeding him her apples. And then when he needs a house, she helps him get a house. You know, when he needs money, she helps. So it's very, very maternal. And I don't think it's wrong. It's like what happens is someone does that for you. You're just a needy kid and you don't really consider your parents feelings ever. You just want stuff. Stuff. And, and, and that sucks. But. But you then give that to another creature and that right. Sizes what you took. It's like I now am here.

[Monica Padman]

All things go perfectly. I mean, it doesn't always.

[Dax Shepard]

It doesn't always. The experience I'm living right now is like, oh, yeah, I don't mind at all, all the inconvenience. And like I'm just here to support them and help get them across the field, the finish line.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And. And my mom did that for me. And it doesn't feel lopsided because like, I got to receive that as well. And that's just the nature. You're just ungrateful. And you take and take.

[Monica Padman]

You weren't. That's like, like, that's my point. Like you weren't. And your kids aren't like, they do a lot of things for you. They give you like a lot of grace and they are, they are not the boy.

[Dax Shepard]

No, they're not the boy.

[Monica Padman]

And you aren't the boy either. So like, I think the boy is a piece of.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair Expert if you dare. He should have known better. At least when he was a man. When he was coming to her as a man.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. He killed his mom to make a boat.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh God. Yeah, it's. It's a hard one. It's a hard one.

[Monica Padman]

I think it's even whether it's a mom or a wife or a really just anyone. It's. For me, the book is about the cost of, of taking.

[Dax Shepard]

Uhhuh.

[Monica Padman]

And. And the cost of giving when it's not reciprocated.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Like it's. But really the cost of taking. Like, want. Want. Want. I want this. I want this one. This. And what do you have at the end of the day, your mom's dead.

[Matt Friend]

Great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes. But, but the point that feels so parent. Child is that when she gives him the stuff it says in the book, there's only one time says, but she wasn't.

[Monica Padman]

I don't even remember.

[Dax Shepard]

He cuts her down and then she says, but she was happy. And then next page it says, but she wasn't, or something like that. But up until then, it's giving her joy to provide for this, this little person that she.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Because she probably thinks that that is going to earn her something. And really, it didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

It didn't. But again, this is the, that this, this is what I'm driving home is that the quintessential part of parenting, which is so unique, is that you don't expect anything back. You don't need anything back.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think you expect to be killed.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no. That's taking it to a very extreme level.

[Monica Padman]

It's there for a reason. The reason it's an extreme level is because of that, like you're taking advantage of someone's kindness.

[Dax Shepard]

Absolutely. It's just, it is unique in that if I had a friendship that worked that way, I would hate it and I would be taken advantage of and I would be resentful and I would, I would have great judgment over the person that just took, took, took, took, took. I will never have that towards my kids.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

That's just the weird magic of it.

[Monica Padman]

I understand. I, I believe you. I, I think you're right. I asked.

[Dax Shepard]

And your parents, like, they just love you blindly. They want to provide for you and they don't ever want to want anything back.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. But they also don't want cruelty.

[Dax Shepard]

Right? Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And again, like, you don't. You're not in the experience where your kids are just take, take, take, taking and not, not giving anything. Like, they don't.

[Dax Shepard]

They're very thoughtful.

[Monica Padman]

Does he even, like, is even nice to her?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, he's a little boy. Yeah. They play non stop and he carves into the thing. Me and the tree.

[Monica Padman]

Like, that's why I thought it was a wife.

[Dax Shepard]

I think that's just a little boy. Like your first girlfriend, your mom.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow. You carved in ll.

[Dax Shepard]

No, but my mom was my Valentine and I wrote her a Valentine's card and she wrote me one.

[Monica Padman]

Well, your mom's still going to be your valentine.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Which is kind of like a girlfriend role.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Yeah. I guess that heart thing is what confused me. I definitely felt like it was a wife.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, what Was disrespectful. Is he then carved the name of his girlfriend into it as well. So there became two carved servings. But again, that. That's like a mom too goes through that.

[Monica Padman]

Your son takes a wife and did he scratch out.

[Dax Shepard]

No, he didn't scratch it out. He was too lazy to scratch it.

[Matt Friend]

I might have wanted to.

[Dax Shepard]

Such a prick.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not making any.

[Monica Padman]

No, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Defense of him.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

But I am. I am attempting to imagine that she didn't feel taken advantage of weirdly, even though objectively she was right. And that's relevant.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah. You can't tell people this.

[Dax Shepard]

Charlie Sheen, doc. Like, the amount that Martin Sheen.

[Monica Padman]

I was gonna ask.

[Dax Shepard]

Gave of himself to help his son endlessly.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And impatiently and lovingly.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

There's no way Martin could do that for a friend or colleague, you know.

[Monica Padman]

Right. Well, it would be codependent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess that's true. But we've talked about this because. Cause I feel like when we talk about addiction and stuff, I've said, like, how could a parent possibly. Because, you know, you've said, like, you kind of have to let them just do it. And I'm always like, how that is truly impossible. How could a parent ever let their kid just go off the deep end? And you're like, well, that's how people get better. But, I mean, do you still feel that way? That was a long time ago. I do.

[Dax Shepard]

But I cannot imagine someone but Martin an addict. Martin Sheen's a recovering addict, so in some sense, I do think he understands it better than your average parent who just ends up with an addict. They can't comprehend what's going on. Like, how could this person be choosing this thing and ruining their lives? I saw my dad do it. You know, like, my dad did it perfectly by my account. And so I guess that was a.

[Monica Padman]

Modeled for me, which it was to you. What, like letting you do your thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Letting me be me. Not even shaming. Having this weird faith that he had introduced me to this program, and if I needed it at some point, I knew where to go. It's not like I didn't know what the solution was. I had witnessed it in him. And I have a similar mild confidence that's like, if my kids get in trouble in that way, they certainly know what the solution is, and they certainly have had an example of it. And I'm a good person to talk to another addict because I've done it a lot.

[Monica Padman]

Right. But I think you what would be.

[Dax Shepard]

Heartbreaking would just be watching the suffering.

[Monica Padman]

Well, exactly. I mean, not to like you. You did do it for Aaron. You stepped in. And I think that's what I'm saying. Like, you can have these ideas and you can be like, this is right. This is. And I understand. It makes total sense to me what you're saying. But I think when push comes to shove, if your child or your best friend is, like, gonna die, I think.

[Dax Shepard]

You'Re like, no, see, that's where my expertise came in. I knew he won't do it until he wanted to do it. And I was quite astute at seeing the exact moment. Oh, even he wants this because he wants to die otherwise.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And so a year before, if I had said it, he wasn't there, it wouldn't have worked.

[Monica Padman]

Right. That makes sense.

[Dax Shepard]

But he went off the map for five days, and I know him so well, and he couldn't leave his room.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I knew, okay, next. And I mean, soon he'll be dead.

[Monica Padman]

Right, Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

And so now's the time to offer the lifeline.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Okay. So you still do it. You just are going to.

[Dax Shepard]

You got to know. I think a lot of people who are not very well versed in it try. Many, they try after a dui. They try. After they get kicked out of their apartment. They try, you know, like, they, they. They try prematurely.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And they're just not there. And. And I, I. I'm so sympathetic to those people because how do they know.

[Monica Padman]

If they've not also, like, people die, you know, Like, I mean, I think if your kid is at risk of dying, they die.

[Dax Shepard]

But the great illusion is that you could have stopped that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's what I refuse to succumb to. Well, yeah, people do die of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And there's no force on planet Earth that can prevent that. And I accept that.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

To be a very harsh reality.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's so hard as a parent, other.

[Dax Shepard]

Than kidnapping them and taking them to an island where they don't have anything, you know, anything short of assuming their autonomy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You can't do it.

[Monica Padman]

No, I know, but it's so hard to, like, wrap your head. It's so heartbreaking. Did you see that movie Beautiful Boy?

[Matt Friend]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Just a Heartbreaking.

[Monica Padman]

That's the worst movie I've ever seen.

[Dax Shepard]

It's the Giving Tree. It's the Giving Tree.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Want to do some facts?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, let's do facts. Okay. Matt, friend. Facts.

[Dax Shepard]

Matt Frax.

[Monica Padman]

You know what he opened the door for?

[Matt Friend]

What?

[Monica Padman]

A full read of The Taylor Swift command. Oh no.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, maybe we are in my sim literally just died. I thought we were in your sim, but now I think we.

[Monica Padman]

No, we are in my dad's sim. Yeah, but he's trying to give me some heart hardship.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, which she's doing a good job of.

[Dax Shepard]

What is your other hardship? The clouds.

[Monica Padman]

Oh yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Clouds in a dead computer.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And like I'm not having a good hair day.

[Dax Shepard]

I disagree.

[Monica Padman]

I had to put it up. I do need to plug it in.

[Dax Shepard]

Your bad hair day is better than 99 of people's great hair day.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you. Back to this very important Taylor Swift commencement speech.

[Matt Friend]

Each.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, let me just say, welcome to New York. It's been waiting for you.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, we've entered the speech. You weren't saying let me just say.

[Monica Padman]

No, but you believed me. Okay, last time I was in a stadium this. Fine, I won't do it.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't do it.

[Monica Padman]

No, it's 23 minutes.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh wow. It was 23 minutes.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I could do it fast, but.

[Dax Shepard]

But even at triple speed, we're still looking at nine minutes. Eight minutes.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, now we did clear the this up real time, but I. I guess his dad is not Matthew Perry's dad.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You thought that that was a shock. Yeah, cuz the Internet told me otherwise.

[Dax Shepard]

And what was it? We knew it real time on the day. The confusion.

[Monica Padman]

Well, you said because Hank Azaria was friends with Matthew Perry and Matt's dad is friends with Hank Azaria.

[Dax Shepard]

He's best friends.

[Monica Padman]

But like that is not why it said straigh that his dad was Matthew Perry's dad.

[Dax Shepard]

No, but it was. Your dad's best friend was Matthew Perry. It was never that. He's the son of Matthew Perry. Matthew Perry doesn't have any children.

[Monica Padman]

No, no, no, it's that basically him and Matthew Perry are brothers.

[Dax Shepard]

Brothers that they share a dad. They have the same dad.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's what I read.

[Dax Shepard]

That would be a for that man's window of fecundity would be broad. Yeah, but Matt is a good 35.

[Monica Padman]

Years younger than he's 27. And Matthew Perry was 62. That old?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know.

[Monica Padman]

We can find out.

[Matt Friend]

He was 54.

[Monica Padman]

And that was a couple years ago.

[Matt Friend]

20. 23.

[Monica Padman]

It was 54 two years ago.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so he'd be 56.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so that can happen.

[Dax Shepard]

Could happen, yeah. Well, yeah, you could be. You could be 70 years younger than your brother.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

If you're the child of that Italian actor who was having kids up to his in his life.

[Monica Padman]

90S men do this.

[Dax Shepard]

I know they do it.

[Monica Padman]

I know it's crazy. It could happen. And I thought it happened, but it didn't. Are people who are good at impressions neurodivergent? No. Being good at impressions does not mean someone is neurodivergent. But there are connections, especially with autism, where pattern recognition skills and detailed observation can lead to strong impression making ability, Particularly particularly through learned analysis rather than purely intuitive social understanding. Some neurodivergent individuals use these detailed observational skills to analyze and replicate behaviors, including voices and mannerisms, as a form of pattern recognition or learned social strategy. His brother is the COO of Thrive, Chief Operating officer.

[Dax Shepard]

Impressive.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. The Chicago Place case that works on food allergies is University of Chicago Medicine. It's called Food Allergy Research and Education. Bear Organization. So they cured him.

[Dax Shepard]

That's crazy.

[Monica Padman]

That is crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

Didn't know that was an option.

[Monica Padman]

I know. I kind of want that.99 success rate.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

That's really cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow. Although I also feel like it's a blessing I can't eat gluten.

[Monica Padman]

But garlic.

[Dax Shepard]

Garlic.

[Monica Padman]

You should try.

[Dax Shepard]

I should do it with garlic. I miss garlic so much.

[Monica Padman]

Garlic's so good.

[Dax Shepard]

It pops up everywhere, too, and irritates me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you should do it.

[Dax Shepard]

It was on the potatoes last night at Cara.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, you went to Cara?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Surprised I didn't see you. I mean, I didn't go to Cara.

[Dax Shepard]

I looked in the bar for you.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I wasn't there.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, we brought four little girls. They sat at their own table, or three of them did. That was very cute. Yeah, super cute.

[Monica Padman]

Sophia.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Delta's like, head bent in there.

[Matt Friend]

Oh, you.

[Dax Shepard]

We gotta try the broccolini.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. So cute. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And she came over the table. Like, the broccoli is so good tonight.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Also, whoa. I completely forgot to mention. So you were a car where I am a lot. I wasn't there. Guess where I was.

[Dax Shepard]

Mess hall.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

I almost went to mess hall. I was talking them into mess hall when Delta said, can we go to college?

[Monica Padman]

Guess who else went to mess hall?

[Matt Friend]

Who?

[Monica Padman]

Wobby Wob.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's the least shocking thing, to be honest. No, but because 100% of the time that I go to Mustard Seed, I see Rob out the window. Rob lives on Hillhurst. Rob. Oh, another thing, Rob. People in the comments are really demanding that you have a camera back there. Don't you have one?

[Matt Friend]

Yeah, just. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

They want to see you when you talk.

[Matt Friend]

They'd see Me, when I talk in.

[Dax Shepard]

The fact check, they claim they don't.

[Monica Padman]

Then maybe they need to watch YouTube.

[Dax Shepard]

No, they're watching YouTube and they want him to have a camera.

[Matt Friend]

I think it's during interviews. I don't. I don't record it during interviews when I.

[Dax Shepard]

But it does cut to you in the fact check.

[Matt Friend]

Fact checks. Yeah. Well, it pops up a little corner.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Well, they're mad. They've spoken.

[Monica Padman]

People watch the YouTube, watch the fact check.

[Dax Shepard]

They demand satisfaction, and I appreciate it.

[Monica Padman]

So you could have been there and I could have been there and Wobby Wob could have all.

[Dax Shepard]

That would have been wild.

[Monica Padman]

It would have been fun.

[Dax Shepard]

I tried.

[Matt Friend]

The weirder thing is we had a Juilliard guest on yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Matt Friend]

The family we went to dinner with, both parents went to Juilliard.

[Monica Padman]

We're.

[Dax Shepard]

They're two of 16. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

That's wild.

[Matt Friend]

One. One was dance, one was acting.

[Monica Padman]

Got it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. Cool. The poet that spoke at his commencement speech is named Judy Heumann. H E U M A N N Judith Human.

[Dax Shepard]

And she's probably someone's favorite. And I was being cavalier and I apologize. I was going for laughs.

[Monica Padman]

We were just kidding.

[Dax Shepard]

And I didn't really know who he's talking about.

[Monica Padman]

God. It's a ding, ding, ding.

[Dax Shepard]

Cuz she passed a year ago.

[Monica Padman]

Well, she passed, but also she was an American disability rights activist.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that is an incredible Ding, ding, ding.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Known as the mother of the disability rights movement. Wow. She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Human was a lifelong civil rights activate for people with disabilities. Wow. All right. She was 75. That's a little young for my liking.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I even thought Redford seemed young at 89. Do we know what he passed of?

[Monica Padman]

I think just old age. That's old.

[Dax Shepard]

Fights over natural causes. Yeah, Natural causes. That's a victory.

[Monica Padman]

That's a huge victory.

[Dax Shepard]

Although, can it be natural? Cause we say natural causes, but some organ failed or some cancer got somebody.

[Monica Padman]

Well, yeah, you're, you know, just like.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not like your body. It's like, okay, everything's great, but we're turning off peacefully.

[Matt Friend]

And in his sleep.

[Monica Padman]

It is kind of like that. I think it. I think it is like your organs.

[Dax Shepard]

Are just done all on the same day, though. That's.

[Monica Padman]

Well, some coordination over time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I would just expect, like one of the organs stops working very well.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it leads the charge to your demise.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's probably right.

[Dax Shepard]

Just all of them, though, like, dissipating beautifully. Like when I hear natural causes. It does sound like nothing was wrong. But something has to be wrong.

[Monica Padman]

Age. I mean haven't you seen that someone over 80, like they are slowly diminishing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, we'll fix that though. We're going to fix that.

[Monica Padman]

We'll try our best with these peptides.

[Dax Shepard]

I was with my best friend on Monday and I was thinking they got to, they got to get all this stuff figured out.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Cuz I don't ever want to lose them.

[Monica Padman]

It won't. He won't.

[Dax Shepard]

He'll always be here. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Everyone will always be.

[Dax Shepard]

Everyone will always, always.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. Love you. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcast. Podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey.