Morgan Freeman

Summary

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard: Morgan Freeman Episode Summary

Release Date: December 2, 2024

In this compelling episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, host Dax Shepard and co-host Monica Padman engage in an in-depth conversation with the legendary actor Morgan Freeman. The episode delves into Freeman's early life, his journey through adversity, his illustrious acting career, personal challenges, and his perspectives on aging and success.

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1. Introduction

The episode opens with a warm welcome from Dax and Monica, expressing their excitement about hosting Morgan Freeman—a voice synonymous with wisdom and gravitas in cinema. They highlight Freeman's notable works, including The Shawshank Redemption, Bruce Almighty, Million Dollar Baby, and his recent role in the second season of Taylor Sheridan's Lioness.

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2. Early Life and Upbringing ([05:24])

Morgan Freeman shares insights into his childhood, detailing a tumultuous upbringing marked by frequent relocations between Alabama and Mississippi. Freeman reflects on the challenges of being a middle child in a large family and the absence of his grandparents and father, who succumbed to alcoholism at a young age.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([08:04]): "That's just water I was swimming in."

Freeman recounts being bullied in Chicago, emphasizing his resilience and determination to persevere despite the hardships.

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3. Pursuit of Acting and Early Career ([10:00])

Freeman discusses his passion for movies from a young age, inspired by Westerns and science fiction shows. His initial foray into acting began at eight years old, performing in local theater productions. Despite winning a statewide drama competition at twelve, Freeman faced significant obstacles breaking into the acting industry.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([09:48]): "I always wanted to be in the movies. I didn't see stage plays."

Freeman's move to Los Angeles in 1959 with minimal funds is highlighted, showcasing his early struggles, including living in a garage apartment and surviving months on rice due to financial constraints.

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4. Time in the Air Force and Building Connections ([13:30])

Freeman explains his stint in the United States Air Force as a radar mechanic, a period that further shaped his discipline and work ethic. It was during this time that he formed lasting friendships, notably with Sergeant John Wester Spalding, who would later assist him in his acting endeavors.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([14:27]): "Oh, yeah. So I've got terrific experiences with both of them."

Freeman's ability to navigate challenging environments and build meaningful relationships becomes a recurring theme in his narrative.

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5. Breakthrough in Theater and Transition to Television ([24:03])

After years of struggling, Freeman finds solace and opportunity in Off-Broadway productions, eventually making his Broadway debut in 1968 with Hello, Dolly!. His dedication to honing his craft leads to roles in experimental television series like The Electric Company, where his distinct voice gains wider recognition.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([25:22]): "We do Broadway shows and musicals. So I was in West Side Story and was upon a Mattress and Cancan and the Threepenny Opera."

Freeman's transition to television marks a pivotal point in his career, allowing him to reach a broader audience and establish himself as a versatile actor.

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6. Cinematic Achievements and Iconic Roles ([45:24])

The conversation shifts to Freeman's monumental achievements in cinema, particularly the release of Driving Miss Daisy and Street Smart in 1989. These roles not only garnered critical acclaim but also positioned Freeman as a household name, culminating in his first Academy Award nomination.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([43:58]): "No, it doesn't. It started 20 years before."

Freeman reflects on his collaboration with Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (1992), highlighting the seamless chemistry and the profound impact of working with Eastwood.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([49:53]): "I love the way Clint directs."

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7. Personal Challenges and Health Struggles ([64:03])

Freeman opens up about a traumatic car accident in 2008, resulting in significant health issues, including a broken arm and nerve damage. This incident forced him to abandon his passion for sailing, illustrating the intersection of personal adversity and professional life.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([65:40]): "But I have no tissue."

Freeman's resilience shines through as he discusses adapting to his new limitations and the profound impact of the accident on his life.

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8. Reflections on Aging and Sustaining Success ([84:14])

In the latter part of the episode, Freeman and Dax explore the theme of aging in the entertainment industry. Freeman shares his thoughts on maintaining relevance, the inevitability of change, and the importance of evolving with one's craft.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([44:37]): "Sometimes you just can't get up by yourself. But that doesn't mean you live air saying, okay, this is it."

Freeman emphasizes the significance of perseverance and the courage to continue despite the diminishing returns that often accompany aging.

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9. Collaboration with Renowned Directors and Peers ([52:17])

Freeman discusses his collaborative experiences with directors like Taylor Sheridan and actors such as Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt. He underscores the mutual respect and understanding that make these collaborations successful and fulfilling.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([52:17]): "That's why we like."

Freeman attributes much of his sustained success to these positive working relationships and the creative synergy they foster.

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10. Voice as a Signature and Legacy ([69:03])

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around Freeman's iconic voice—the very trait that has become his signature in narration and acting. He reflects on how his voice was developed and its role in shaping his career.

Notable Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([68:52]): "Once it's in place, you know how to help it out."

Freeman’s acknowledgment of his voice as both a tool and a legacy underscores its impact on his enduring presence in Hollywood.

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Conclusion

The episode culminates with Freeman expressing gratitude for his journey, the lessons learned, and the relationships forged along the way. His humility and reflective nature offer listeners profound insights into the making of a cinematic legend.

Final Quote:

Morgan Freeman ([70:12]): "Thank you."

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This episode of Armchair Expert not only celebrates Morgan Freeman's monumental contributions to film and television but also provides a candid exploration of the man behind the voice. Through shared anecdotes and thoughtful dialogue, Freeman offers a window into his resilience, passion, and the unwavering pursuit of excellence.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Shepard. I'm joined by Lily Padman. And today we have the greatest voice of all time. Perhaps. I mean, Kim and Edward James, almost Darth Vader, sure, but that's classic.

[Monica Padman]

I'm picking Morgy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Morgan's my guy too. Morgan Freeman, Academy Award winning actor, producer and narrator. The Shawshank Redemption 7. Our very favorite. Ding ding dingles. God, Bruce Almighty. The Bucket List, Million Dollar Baby. And new season of Lioness, the Taylor Sheridan show, hugely popular season two out right now on Paramount. Plus what a delight. Morgan Freeman.

[Monica Padman]

I feel really, really, really lucky we got to talk to him. Yeah, such a legend. Like a true the one of one. We're not gonna get another one like him. Yeah, very, very special.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So basically this is a, this is almost an ASMR gift. You're gonna get to hear Morgan Freeman, that beautiful velvety voice for the next hour and change. So please enjoy Morgan Freeman. We are supported by Audible. Audible's best of 2024 picks are here. Audible's curated list in every CA is the best way to hear 2024's best in audio entertainment. Like a stunning new full cast production of George Orwell's 1984. This is the one I am most excited to indulge myself with.

[Monica Padman]

I'm so excited to listen to James, which is a new title by Percival effort that is very, very hot right now.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, there's so many good ones on the list.

[Monica Padman]

We love Audible. This is how you go to bed.

[Dax Shepard]

I love Audible. I swear by Audible. I can't wait to listen to the Orwell 1984 off this list. I'm also doing fleas by autobiography right now, which I'm obsessed with. I can't get enough Audible in my life every night. Go to audible.comdax and discover all the year's bests waiting for you. That's audible.com Dax we are supported by Amazon Prime. You might think of prime as your gateway to incredibly fast free shipping on all your Amazon orders, which it definitely is. But prime is so much more than that. Being a Prime member gives you access to prime video, Amazon music, prime gaming, ultra fast grocery delivery and tons of other benefits.

[Monica Padman]

It's a game changer, especially during the holiday season. Want to get in the holiday spirit while relaxing at home? Press play on A holiday playlist on Amazon music or stream a festive movie on Prime Video, you've got an instant ticket to holiday. Cheers.

[Dax Shepard]

Sounds like a great night. Another way prime saves the holidays. Let's say a coworker got you a holiday present and you somehow forgot to get them something. Seamlessly shop for their gift on Amazon.com and then use prime to get free one day or same day delivery. So it's like they were on your gift list all along. So what are you waiting for? Become a Prime member today and get more out of whatever passions you're pursuing. Whatever you're into, it's on Prime. He's an object. He's an object. Hello, sir.

[Morgan Freeman]

Hello, sir.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm Dax.

[Morgan Freeman]

How you do, Dax?

[Dax Shepard]

Good. Nice to meet you.

[Monica Padman]

Thanks for coming.

[Dax Shepard]

Where are you guys coming from? I live here in la. You do? Okay.

[Morgan Freeman]

And Morgan lives in Alabama. Mississippi.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Which one? That's the question. Which one what, Mississippi?

[Morgan Freeman]

Both.

[Dax Shepard]

You can't have both.

[Morgan Freeman]

Why not?

[Dax Shepard]

I guess maybe you can have both.

[Morgan Freeman]

I do have both, but I spend most of my time in Alabama. Do I have to put these on?

[Dax Shepard]

You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

[Monica Padman]

If you like them, you like.

[Dax Shepard]

If you like them, you like them. If you don't, you don't. Let's go, you guys, out of here.

[Monica Padman]

It's time to leave.

[Dax Shepard]

That was the final straw. First was where you stay in none of your fucking business. Two was, do you really live in Alabama? Mississippi. That was strike two.

[Morgan Freeman]

Now you were the one that says.

[Monica Padman]

You can't live in boats.

[Dax Shepard]

I did say that.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it does feel like a riddle. Like how could you possibly live in both?

[Dax Shepard]

Like, where did they bury the survivors? That old riddle. Yeah. I guess you could conceivably build a house right on the state line and put your bedroom dead in the middle of it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that'd be fun.

[Dax Shepard]

And go to sleep on one side and wake up on the other side of the bed. Well, Morgan, welcome to the show. Are you doing a bunch of press right now for Lioness?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And what's your overall feelings about press? You can be very honest because I have varying views myself.

[Morgan Freeman]

It's a have to. You have to do it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right.

[Morgan Freeman]

I was given a choice of not. I would not.

[Monica Padman]

That's fair.

[Morgan Freeman]

Well, it's the only part of the business that let's call it an imposition. You have to do it and get old.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So there's many reasons why it can be uncomfortable. One of them Is starting to just kind of feel fraudulent because you're repeating yourself so much.

[Morgan Freeman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Turn the air on for us, if that's okay.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Oh.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, shit. We just turned it off.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, then I'm turning it off. I'm turning it right back off.

[Morgan Freeman]

I don't react well to air conditioning.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, tell me. Well, it makes you sniffly.

[Morgan Freeman]

It steps up my head. I'm allergic. Specifically if I get air blowing on me, cool air. And that's it. First of all, my head stops and I sneeze. I do all the things that you do if you're allergic to something.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Morgan Freeman]

And I know why you were allergic to things. You don't like it.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, you were brought home as a baby to Memphis from Memphis. Dad was a barber.

[Morgan Freeman]

Well, at the time they were both nurses aides.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. And then your mom was also a.

[Morgan Freeman]

Teacher at some point a little later. Yeah, she started to teach music because she played the pine.

[Dax Shepard]

The pine tickled the ivory.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Did you ever play? Did she teach you?

[Morgan Freeman]

She didn't have the patience to teach me. Either I. That or I didn't have the patience to learn. I wanted to play the piano. I didn't want to learn how same.

[Monica Padman]

That's the big hurdle, the learning part. Yeah, unfortunately, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You go down to Mississippi and you live with your dad's mom there. Or does the whole family.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm 87 years old. They're all dead.

[Dax Shepard]

When you were in love.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, when I was a child.

[Dax Shepard]

When you got seven.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm sorry.

[Dax Shepard]

This is what I want to do. Let's introduce CRS condition, which you've recently diagnosed yourself as. Cuz I think that's a good primer for the interview.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

What is that?

[Morgan Freeman]

Crs?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Think he can't remember a lot of things.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And he said on camel that he does have CRS as a condition which is can't remember.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

So that medical condition we should state up front, that's important for us to. We get a little blurry on the.

[Morgan Freeman]

My long term memory slack. Most, I think is pretty much intact. It's like five minutes ago.

[Dax Shepard]

And does that start extending also going back months? I do wonder, can short term get bigger? Short term memory?

[Morgan Freeman]

I don't know. Mine gets smaller and smaller.

[Dax Shepard]

But those core memories, they seem very intact.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, that's a good term to use, core.

[Dax Shepard]

I remember my childhood as well, perfectly. Two years ago. I'm not sure what happened and I kind of marvel at what an impact it makes. Do you think about that?

[Morgan Freeman]

There are moments in your childhood that are just clear. I have moments when I remember something. When I was 4 or 5, 6 years old.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you remember a context at all? Do you remember World War II was ending? Is that a memorable event or was that just the water you were swimming in?

[Morgan Freeman]

That's just water I was swimming in. Good way to put it. I little bored during the war. How old was I when it ended?

[Dax Shepard]

I think 8, maybe 37. You were born ended in 45.

[Morgan Freeman]

Good math.

[Monica Padman]

Dax does a lot of math here.

[Dax Shepard]

It's one of my few skills, Morgan.

[Morgan Freeman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. If you want to hit me with anything you like tax items. You want me to add up quickly.

[Morgan Freeman]

Right on. Because mine sucks. Always has.

[Dax Shepard]

How were you as a student?

[Morgan Freeman]

I was very good as a student. I just wasn't good in math. I read a lot that set me up with English teachers. Everybody else except math instructor. But he was kind to me because I was a star already.

[Dax Shepard]

An acting star.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You start really, really young. Yeah. Your first role is nine years old.

[Morgan Freeman]

Eight.

[Dax Shepard]

Eight.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're living with grandma or mom?

[Morgan Freeman]

Mom by now.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Morgan Freeman]

That grandma was my paternal grandma. Died at age six and a half.

[Dax Shepard]

While you were there.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, yeah, I remember. I'm a junior, so my name was Junior. There were two or three ladies sitting with her while she was dying. And then finally say, you think she's dead? Well, call Junior and have him call her. If she doesn't answer, she's gone.

[Dax Shepard]

You were the test.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Shook her, called her name and she wasn't there anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you enjoy living with her?

[Morgan Freeman]

I was a little boy. Yeah. I was the apple of her eye. Both grandmothers were worthy.

[Monica Padman]

Big influences.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Now this gets serious. I'm assuming because at 12 years old, you win a statewide. You're like in a drama competition. You win best actor at 12 years old. Are you feeling yourself? Are you like, next stop is Broadway. What does that do to a 12 year old?

[Morgan Freeman]

I always wanted to be in the movies. I didn't see stage plays.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, Right.

[Morgan Freeman]

I was living in the movies, so that was where my passions lay and lie.

[Monica Padman]

What were the movies at the time that were huge for you?

[Morgan Freeman]

Those Saturday Westerns. Lash LaRue and Buck Rogers.

[Dax Shepard]

That was a Western in space, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Ken Maynard, later on. John Wayne was coming along.

[Dax Shepard]

Was Eastwood. You were too similar in age. Right. How old were you when you started seeing Eastwood in movies?

[Morgan Freeman]

He was on Rawhide, Rowdy Yates. That's when I first noticed him. And then, you know, he disappeared for a while and then he was the man with no name. Could shoot five guys just like that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I was only curious if you had been a fan of his before you worked with him.

[Morgan Freeman]

Big fan. My favorite movie was the Outlawry, Josie Wales.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. Now, you were also moving a ton, right? Because you did Memphis, you did a couple places in Mississippi, you did Gary, Indiana. How were you doing when you were dropping into these new schools nonstop?

[Morgan Freeman]

Getting beat up.

[Dax Shepard]

You were getting beat up?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. You know, skinny, bookish. The only thing I had going for me was I wouldn't give up. I wouldn't not show up.

[Dax Shepard]

What was the roughest stop?

[Morgan Freeman]

Chicago. Southside.

[Dax Shepard]

What ages were you in Chicago?

[Morgan Freeman]

I got there at age 6. First time I was ever slapped real hard. Oh. Oh. Cause it was a December in Chicago and that cold. I'd never experienced that before. And at the time, the Illinois Central Railroad was the connection. So I got off the train with my biological father because he came down after my grandmother died, his mother. He had to come and get me and my sister. You have two older sisters, two older brothers, a younger sister and a younger brother.

[Dax Shepard]

So you're a middle, middle, middle.

[Morgan Freeman]

I am the middle child.

[Dax Shepard]

Quintessential middle.

[Morgan Freeman]

Quintessential easy target. Yeah. Every time I change schools, which seems to me all the time. You had to be initiated into some other little gang.

[Dax Shepard]

You gotta prove where you sit on this ladder every time you arrive, it doesn't come with you.

[Morgan Freeman]

No. And I wasn't a fighter. You get jumped by four or five boys. All right, all right, all right. Jesus, quit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yes. You're just praying for someone to have some kindness in them. Yeah. Mercy. God, I hope one of these four boys has the bravery to say we should stop kicking. I think we might be hurting him very badly.

[Monica Padman]

Did your brothers get picked on, too?

[Morgan Freeman]

We didn't grow up together, not until I was 11 years old, because two kids were with my mother, ultimately, and two were with her mother, my maternal grandmother.

[Dax Shepard]

Dad, I'm just gonna guess he died very young. 49, 50. How old was dad when he died? Very young. Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Like 47. Something like that.

[Dax Shepard]

Says cirrhosis. Was he a drinker?

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, heavens, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, again, same dad was a raging alcoholic. Stepdads were in the mix that were much worse.

[Morgan Freeman]

My stepdad was it. He was my dad.

[Dax Shepard]

You got a good one?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's great. That rarely happens.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, well, it wasn't early. It was late. He had his own issues.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, who doesn't?

[Morgan Freeman]

But it was good to me and my mom.

[Dax Shepard]

So what things did you pick up from that for me? I lived in the Same house for 16 years, never wanted to leave. I hate moving because of that childhood. I hate authority. And from enough interviews I've listened to you in the last couple of days. I feel like you might have a little of authority issue as well. Do you?

[Morgan Freeman]

Just a little.

[Dax Shepard]

Just. Just a tiny bit.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. It was three years, eight months and 10 days in the United States Air Force. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

So shocking to me you went into the Air Force. Because that sounds to me terrible. A lot of dumb people are going to tell me what to do all the time and I'm going to have to list.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, I got into trouble there. Want to hear one of my stories?

[Dax Shepard]

I would love to. Yes.

[Morgan Freeman]

I've come out of high school, been able to just murder an Underwood typewriter.

[Dax Shepard]

You were a quick typist.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. And the Air Force made me a radar mechanic. And I hit my stick, you know? Really?

[Dax Shepard]

You were a thespian?

[Morgan Freeman]

Well, closer, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And you hated math.

[Morgan Freeman]

The kid who was the clerk in the maintenance office was arrested for child molestation. In other words, he had a little girlfriend. He was 19 and she was 13.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, boy.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, God, no. Bueno.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. So I volunteered to take his place in there because dexterous with typewriter, I could even compose a reasonable letter and all that kind of stuff. Now I'm working there for a few months and a new sergeant comes to take over the maintenance department. Tech sergeant. Black guy, tall, had an eyebrow that could reach his hairline. My captain, who thought I was a.

[Dax Shepard]

Gift from heaven because of the typing speed and the composition.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. I want you to meet one of my best men. He says to the sergeant. I go in, he says, sergeant Spalding, Airman Freeman. One of my best. I said, sergeant, it's nice to meet you. Keep your nose clean. I'm sure we're going to get along.

[Monica Padman]

You said that. Oh, my God. Oopsies.

[Dax Shepard]

You'll fare well in my written coverage of this. How'd that go down?

[Morgan Freeman]

That eyebrow shot up. He looked down. There was a big box next to him. You want to take this box up to the sixth tower? No, he's black, I'm black. Captain is fighting Captain sitting down with his head down. I let him stew for half a minute, I guess, and I said, sergeant, if you want me to take this box up to the sixth tower, just tell me to do it and it's gone. But you asked me if I wanted to.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. And I don't.

[Morgan Freeman]

But, you know, the guy became My best friend.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, he did?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, absolutely. He'd stand around and wait for me to pull that shit.

[Dax Shepard]

How did you end up in the Air Force?

[Morgan Freeman]

I needed to get out of Mississippi. I'm never gonna be in the movies in Mississippi. Well, I gotta leave. I wanted to fly jets. I wanted to be a pilot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You loved airplanes, right, at the time?

[Morgan Freeman]

I did. I still do. I'm a pilot now at 65.

[Dax Shepard]

You got your license. That's incredible.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. You know a lot about me.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm trying. You deserve that.

[Morgan Freeman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

And then some.

[Morgan Freeman]

Where were we? Graduating and getting into the Air Force. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It just seems like such an interesting detour for you, who seems like, you know. But I get it. You need to get out.

[Morgan Freeman]

I needed to move. There's a sad part of that, because my grandmother, who was life savior for me, died alone. All of us, we left home and she said to me, if you stay here and go to school, I had two partial scholarships for drama.

[Dax Shepard]

Right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. And. No, I gotta go.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Live your life.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. I'll buy you a car if you stay home. Oh, my. I gotta go.

[Dax Shepard]

So that's a heartbreaker because those grandmas, boy, they were available, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

These are the things that you sit with for the rest of your life when you make these decisions.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I was thinking about what was your expectation? Because dad died so young, grandma died young.

[Morgan Freeman]

57 when my paternal grandmother died.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. All of it's all too young. Your mom made it to her 80s.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, she was in her late 80s, actually.

[Dax Shepard]

When the adults around you growing up die so prematurely, I would imagine it's impossible to not start thinking, I'm not going to count on seeing 90 or seeing 80. Did that impact you, or did you never have that view?

[Morgan Freeman]

No, I didn't. I just never thought about it. And when I think about dying, I think about just not being here. I do things and fly planes, sail boats and stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

You work out. You play golf.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. And we get into some situations when you think, well, I guess this is it.

[Dax Shepard]

Especially if flying's your hobby. You get to have that thought. Probably more than most people tailing, more that I race stuff. I'm all about flying. The ocean. No, thank you.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, man.

[Dax Shepard]

The ocean will tell you in one second. Guess what? I'm in charge. There's no game plan that's gonna get you out of this.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. But if you're on the ocean, you got a good sailboat. It's very survivable.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I just watched this doc about this young Woman, this South African who sailed around the world. Yeah. All by herself for months. No wind for like two weeks. Sitting in the middle of the ocean, no wind.

[Morgan Freeman]

That's the worst part of sailing right there. No wind. The ocean flat calm and you're pretty much in the doldrums. And the doldrums is that area between the equator and say, the next 10 degrees north or south. Nothing happens there.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. When that happens, I wonder if you feel like, has the world stopped?

[Morgan Freeman]

People have gone insane.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

To see the glass like surface of the ocean, I would think, oh, motion has stopped on me. Planet Earth.

[Morgan Freeman]

No swell.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's terrifying.

[Morgan Freeman]

However, there is a current. The current is only going to be about a knot and a half, two knots, but you're moving okay. It just doesn't.

[Monica Padman]

You just can't tell going 10 degrees.

[Dax Shepard]

Of latitude at 1 1/2 knots. It's very nice.

[Morgan Freeman]

So if you headed for the Southern Ocean, you're going to go through them.

[Monica Padman]

It's a lot of trust.

[Morgan Freeman]

Or if you got a good engine and enough fuel, you put on your.

[Dax Shepard]

Motor, get the fuck out of the dolphins.

[Monica Padman]

See you later, dude. Came from the doldrums. Yeah. I didn't know that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I sailed through it one time on that Asia trip and it was calmer, but it wasn't glass. Like that would have really freaked me out.

[Morgan Freeman]

It's freaky. You've been on the ocean of waves and wind and then here you are with nothing. You think, you know, I could very well die here.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't want that. I don't want that at all.

[Morgan Freeman]

And rot.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. No one's coming out here to get right.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you be opposed to me keeping you here as an attraction? Like when you came to my house, you could get a picture with Morgan Freeman, the taxidermied version. Could I have your oral permission for that?

[Morgan Freeman]

If that happens, I'm gonna stuff your ass, stand your ass. You know, when I die, I want to be, he's gone. I don't wanna be lying down with tubes everywhere, somebody sitting and waiting, and I'll jump out a window. I ain't going to do that shit. Well, and I'm not.

[Monica Padman]

If you're that sick, I know it's miserable.

[Morgan Freeman]

You're not going to do it. You can't do it.

[Dax Shepard]

We're onto something here, though. When my wife will hear about, like, so and so, just told his family has had cancer for two years, I'm like, yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Let Me warn you now, I don't want anyone knowing I have something because I don't want to be pitied. I don't like that.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, I'm so sorry.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm maybe projecting on you, but I think that's one of your things as well.

[Morgan Freeman]

I don't need it. I've always been, because of these backgrounds, it's kind of self motivated. You have to do for yourself, get a job when you're 13, 14 years old. That starts you off on, yeah, I can do this.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So after the Air Force, you have a pretty long period. When I'm looking at your life and your career, there's obviously a lot of unique aspects to it. But one of them is I think I underestimated this because in my lifetime, the most time I've been loving movies. You've certainly been a part of them, but you had a really kind of later start of stardom. And I'm curious. So I left Detroit, took 10 years to get an acting job. And that to me felt like 150 years. My pessimism and the weight of that for a decade was rough. I think I'd be an addict anyways. But certainly the addiction was fueled a lot by that. Like, oh my God, is this ever going to happen? Have I chosen wrong? Am I going to end up penniless? How were you during that long period of working a bit here and a bit there, having some success, then having some stagnation. How was that weighing on you mentally during all that?

[Morgan Freeman]

When I first got to LA was February of 59. I had $175. I got a little garage apartment for $45 a month. But the first months rent.45 and then you have to put in that deposit, that's another 45. That was February and that money ran out in April. I mean completely out. I remember eating rice. That was it.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you living around here?

[Morgan Freeman]

I was living in 4905 Second Avenue, I think. 4509 and a half. I made a friend who was a friend of the sergeant. His name was Sergeant John Wester Spalding. And he told me, when you get to la, look up this guy is a friend of mine from way back. So I did and the guy befriended me and his wife was another one of those. Every time I have been in really dire straits, this is a woman who got me out of it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Reached in and pulled. Anyway, we hooked up, his wife and I. By that I mean she liked to do stuff that he just didn't care for going to swimming pools, going bowling.

[Dax Shepard]

Going roller skating, being social and out there.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Why'd you just enjoy doing that stuff? And I enjoyed doing it. So she was happy to have somebody to do it with. There was no hanky panky. Although she was gorgeous.

[Dax Shepard]

Although it was killing me.

[Morgan Freeman]

One day he said, God damn, man, you eat here more often than I do.

[Dax Shepard]

That was his subtle way of saying rides over.

[Monica Padman]

He didn't like that.

[Morgan Freeman]

So the next time I saw her was on a weekend. And she said, when did you eat last? Tuesday, Wednesday. I ran out of rice.

[Dax Shepard]

Ran out of rice. What a fucking different life you ended up having.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. And she worked in the Board of Education and she was instrumental in getting me a job. So I went to work as a transcript clerk at lacc. I was thinking, okay, so I'm going to try to get into the Beth Dinner Playhouse. Somebody that said, no, you don't want to do that, man. We got a better theater department here at lacc. And you go take classes for free because you're working. That's what I did.

[Dax Shepard]

How do you deal with the many times where it looks like, okay, it's going to happen? Finally got my foot in the door. I'm in this play. I'm on Broadway. There's a lot of those, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. I was on stage in New York. Go back to dungeon theater and then work your way into off off Broadway and Off Broadway and then Broadway. That started at around age 30.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you feeling. When you were with your acting peers, were you feeling behind the eight ball? Were you having that sense that you were getting older? How do you explain that? That's just your temperament, I guess.

[Morgan Freeman]

That's what it is.

[Dax Shepard]

And you were getting to perform. So you're like, okay, I'm performing. That's what I wanted.

[Morgan Freeman]

In San Francisco. Did I mention San Francisco?

[Dax Shepard]

I know that you were a part of a troupe there, the Royals.

[Morgan Freeman]

This was the Opera Ring.

[Dax Shepard]

The Opera Ring.

[Morgan Freeman]

We did Broadway shows and musicals. So I was in west side Story and was upon the Mattress and Cancan and the Threepenny Opera.

[Dax Shepard]

So you were at the 1964 World's Fair in New York performing. And, you know, there was an actress that was doing her very first performance professionally at the World's Fair as a dancer. Do you know who that is? Goldie Hawn.

[Monica Padman]

Really? No way.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you guys were both there. That was her first kind of paid dancing performance.

[Morgan Freeman]

That was mine, too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I thought that was interesting.

[Morgan Freeman]

I was working in the. What do you call it? Garment district. New York. And a friend of mine who worked there got me a job as a skip tracer.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's a guy looking for people out on bail.

[Morgan Freeman]

That's different. I'd call it skip tracer. It's not. I'm tracing clothing.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

[Morgan Freeman]

Can I try to ship my tracer?

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Morgan Freeman]

And it was good at that. If you send a truckload of clothes somewhere and it didn't arrive, where is it?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's with the mafia down the street. You're in New York, am I right? Is that where a lot of it was?

[Morgan Freeman]

Not the mafia, but, boy, you're in the mix.

[Dax Shepard]

Stuff went missing in New York pretty regularly, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. So they were moving me up in the hierarchy. And guy who was the audit clerk took off. He got his license as a cpa and they said, do you want to take that desk? You get a five dollar a week raise. If I'm making from 55, I'm going to go to 60. So I get the job. I'm good at it. Now people are bringing me stuff to do. This was part of your job, actually. Really? Yeah. And this and this. Well, he didn't ever have time to do it. And you do. Okay. How much was he making a week?

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Well, he was making $105 a week. Well, come on, it's like a $35 a week raise just like that. We can't do that. These people who've been here 20 years are just up and leave now. Here's ph from a woman I knew from San Francisco. She was in New York. We were taking dance lessons in San Francisco. I did jazz and tap and ballet.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you were very into dancing.

[Morgan Freeman]

An actor who can move and sing. You've got that much wider possibilities.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

And she called me and she said, did you know that Michael Kitt was holding auditions for. For dances for the World Fair? The next day, my lunch hour, I went to the audition. My kids says, how soon can you start? How soon do you want me said, today. Today I'm not coming back.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And did all of a sudden they have $105 a week to pay you?

[Morgan Freeman]

No, they didn't. I mean, I was gone, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay? I was expecting them to go, hey.

[Morgan Freeman]

My supervisor, he said, how much does this pay? I said, I'm not coming back. I got a job. He said, how much is the passage? $92 a week. He says, okay, how long is that going to last? I don't care how long it lasts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

And so that was it. It Was my New York job.

[Dax Shepard]

There's something about giving away security for the dream. There's something magic that happens. I had a job that was perfect. Gold cage. It's like I only worked on the weekends. I worked enough hours I could pay to be an actor. At some point I had to go. Like, I'm quitting that. And I don't really have a plan, but I feel like I need to quit that before this other stuff's gonna open up. Your Broadway Debut is in 68 and hello Dolly. Pearl Bailey won a Tony for that. It was a all black cast of hello Dolly.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you a Cab Calloway fan? Was exciting for you?

[Morgan Freeman]

I was more excited just about being on Broadway. I had done an off Broadway play.

[Dax Shepard]

That I'm not allowed to say the name of. But you can.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. The Nigga Lovers with Vivica Lanfords and Stacy Keach. We had a short run show closed. I auditioned as a replacement for the part of Rudolph the head waiter. And I got it. So just moved from off Broadway to Broadway. I was in that show for 11 months and a guy came to me and he said, I would like for you to come with me. I'm going to do a little show. We call it the dmz. Some singing and some skits and stuff. Primarily we're going to be anti war. I don't have the kind of money that you're making here, but you'll get press.

[Dax Shepard]

You joined that.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Now again, you're in a Broadway play and people are getting nominated and winning Tonys. For me, I'm like, okay, buckle up, here we go. Was it a rocket ship after that? I know we go to 1971. The electric company.

[Morgan Freeman]

That was some empty times between The World's Fair 64. The World's Fair job didn't last but a few months count rehearsal and the show itself closed in a couple of months. So I was on the street for the most part. But I went to work at Nedix. Nedix is like early, early, early, early McDonald's. It's another one of those places where you go and you can get these little hot dogs, you can get donuts, cup of coffee. You can get scrambled eggs and bacon.

[Dax Shepard]

Fast food.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. And it paid $49 a week. And you worked 44 hours a week.

[Dax Shepard]

So a dollar an hour, basically.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. And it was a sign shop that says no tipping.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, geez.

[Dax Shepard]

Heaven forbid.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. So I say to the guy in my orientation, I said, no tipping. People are going to sometimes tip you. You give them good service. What do you do? Give it back?

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Morgan Freeman]

I said, well, no, what if they put it under a napkin and just walk away? He said, you ring it up as a sale.

[Monica Padman]

Why?

[Dax Shepard]

And so they can keep it.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. So I'm working and I'm looking around at the other guys working in this place. Hoodlum to the core.

[Dax Shepard]

Everyone's on the grip.

[Morgan Freeman]

These guys are not working for no $49 a week. So the manager was a black guy and I cornered him in the dressing room and said, okay, how does this work?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, give me the real.

[Dax Shepard]

Show me the ropes.

[Morgan Freeman]

So he showed me the ropes.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Sonos. Sonos is the world's leading sound experience company. They invented the smart sound system that makes it easy to play anything in any room, which we love. Sonos was the star of our Halloween party. I had it playing outside by the guest house. I had it playing in the garden. I had it playing in the kitchen. Kept the party rocking no matter where you moved.

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It makes a big difference.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, the sound is so good. You really got to take your favorite holiday movies and holiday songs to the next level and experience them with Sonos. And with holiday gift season upon us, Sonos products are a perfect solution for that hard to buy for person on your gift list.

[Monica Padman]

They've got amazing Ace headphones and since you know we are podcasters, if you know any armchairs in your life, really smart, it's a great gift for them so that they can really get us in their ears properly.

[Dax Shepard]

Whether you gift a sleek soundbar, a sturdy portable speaker, or our favorite headphones, your lucky gift recipient is sure to be impressed. Sonos has great gifts for everyone on your list. Visit sonos.comdax to save 20% on select products. That's sonos.com Apple Card is the perfect card for your holiday shopping. When you use Apple Card on your iPhone, you'll earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, including products at Apple like a new iPhone 16 or Apple Watch Ultra. Apply now in the Wallet app on your iPhone. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and [e-mail] we are supported by Quince Tis the Season of holiday gifting, but finding the perfect gift can be pretty overwhelming. For timeless gifts made from premium materials at an affordable price, Quince has your back. Quince lets you treat your loved ones and yourself to quality essentials like their Mongolian cashmere sweaters, which start at just $50. That's an elevated gift at a price that won't break the bank. Or for more winter coziness, try their super soft fleece SWE sweatpants or their packable puffer jackets. Both perfect for anyone who's traveling for the holidays.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Okay. They also have they're called ultra stretch point P O N T E straight leg pants. And they are really really great. They're great for travel.

[Dax Shepard]

They're very cozy gift luxury this holiday season without the luxury price tag. Go to quince.comdax for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q U I n c ce.comdax to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comdax we are supported by Macy's. Macy's is your one stop shop for all things gifting this holiday season. If you have trouble knowing what to give or ask for, Macy's Gift guide is here to help. I love a gift guide, Monica. I need them so much. I'm so bad at this.

[Monica Padman]

Gift guides are important. I mean Macy's is classic trusted brand. Yes. I was on their online store the other day buying something for a family member. I won't say because I don't want to give it away.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Smart.

[Monica Padman]

It was a gift and you know it is. It's just like classic and homey and everything's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You can shop a curated list and editor's picks for under $25, under $50 and even luxe gift ideas. The Macy's gift guide is also a great way to figure out what you want for the holidays. This is my problem. I can never think of what I want. But they've got gifts for her, gifts for him, gifts for home. Spend a little time looking through their handpicked selection and you're sure find something that catches your eye. Let Macy's be your guide to gifting this holiday season. Check out the Macy's gift guide@macy's.com for all the gifts you'd like to give and get curated for stress free shopping. Shop now@macy's.com and at a Macy's store near you.

[Monica Padman]

So what was the trick?

[Morgan Freeman]

A guy comes in, he orders a cup of coffee and a hamburger. So you give them a cup of coffee, the hamburger, you ring up the cup of coffee.

[Dax Shepard]

Now we're talking slashing prices and then.

[Morgan Freeman]

You keep count of how much you've got in a cash register. And when it gets to be like a five or ten dollars, all you have to do Is take that ten dollars. Never put your hand in your pocket. Just fold it up. And then get the coffee holder. Coffee pot.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, coffee pot.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, get the coffee pot.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Because big earn is in the bank.

[Monica Padman]

Pocket. Okay.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And if you're doing that five shifts a week, you've doubled your salary right there.

[Morgan Freeman]

I was bringing home about 100 a week. But they were getting on to this whole thing at some point.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Because the guy would come by periodically and just check the cash register. And if there were more money in there than the receipt shows, that's suspicious. Somebody would have to pay for it. I didn't like any part of that. Here I am stealing, and this isn't going to last very long, so I quit. I didn't quit because I had something else to do. I quit because I didn't want to get caught stealing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And you didn't want to work there for 49 bucks with no tips.

[Morgan Freeman]

I didn't. So that was it. Here I am back on the street again. Now it's desperation time. Friend of mine calls, says we're going to go up to stow playhouse and do a taste of honey. She's going to direct, and I'm going to star. Would you like to come along and do that? Yeah. Summer stock. Now, I got a little job in just over a month, so I'm excited.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You're tall and striking and black.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

A guy gives me a boat. Guy comes along and says you're Morgan Freeman. That's all I've heard since I hit town. Yeah. Yeah. So that's when I started sailing with that little. On our little reservoir in stovermont. I was hooked like you wouldn't believe immediately.

[Dax Shepard]

What do you suppose it is? It's just your will, Right. There's no engine to rely on. Is that the appeal? Like I'm making this happen or it's not happening? The ownership of the experience, I suppose.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. But just taking advantage of what life offers me when there's nothing to do, when I don't have any way of managing. You get depressed. I've had long periods of depression, not knowing when the next anything is going to come along. But in my dotage, I realized that something always did something, always does something, always will. You just keep marching. You just don't go jumping out of windows or doing something that's going to get you in the slammer just to eat. So now I am now hooked on this boat. I go into New York for some reason, and while I'm there, I go to a bookstore and I get a book on sailing, knot tying. And while I'm there, I go to an audition for an Off Broadway play. This is the one you don't want to say. Yeah, yeah. And I audition. And the guy says, well, thank you very much. And I go back to Stow a couple of weeks. They call, would you come and audition again? So I get on Trailways and I go an hour edition again. I said, well, thank you very much. I really appreciate you coming back. And back in Stow a week or so later. So would you mind auditioning again?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Morgan Freeman]

The director of Slow Playhouse, guy named Jim Leahy. See that? Remember?

[Dax Shepard]

It's incredible.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's good.

[Dax Shepard]

You've already listed more names than I currently hold in my head.

[Morgan Freeman]

He says, what? They want you to kind of know. No, listen, I want you to be here for my fall season. Tell them no. So I told him no. They said, you got the job.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. Right. You learn these lessons, Right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Right. So here I am now in an off Broadway play, and we do the play. On the opening night, I meet Jeff Hunter. He says, you're pretty good. Would be all right with you if I recommended you for certain things? For some jobs or something? Something? Shit, yeah. Never had an agent. Then one of the producers of that play said I was one of the ones who wouldn't hire you. And you're better than I thought. I'm going to put you on Broadway.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Morgan Freeman]

And he did. Now, this is the way it happened. I got another job, Off Broadway, Manhattan Theater Club. Nice little play. We got pretty good response. I got great response. So that guy who was producer of that play was going to take this little play to Broadway, which they did, for which I got kudos. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Playing a wino. A drunk. The play might have lasted a week. Oh, that's it. Oh, geez. Yeah, well, they just produced it right out of existence. It wasn't there on the stage like it was when we had it off Broadway. The only cast member that was the same was. That lasted about a week, but I got good press. Now I'm on a New York scene. New York Magazine had a little section they used Always on the Town. And there I was in there on the town.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, baby.

[Monica Padman]

That's cool.

[Morgan Freeman]

Great.

[Dax Shepard]

Almost doesn't get better, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

It gets better. It gets better.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's good. I like that answer.

[Morgan Freeman]

So now, here comes the Electric Company.

[Dax Shepard]

Imani, you're too young to remember the Electric Company, right? It was 71 to 75. PBS Kids show. But it was a really fun and funky, very 70s kids show.

[Morgan Freeman]

It was Sesame street first.

[Dax Shepard]

One of those. Really?

[Morgan Freeman]

Sesame street was way before.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. So it's been going forever.

[Morgan Freeman]

Ever Electric Company was the government would fund experimental television. It succeeded.

[Dax Shepard]

You didn't love that though, right? Because of the subject matter or the pace of it.

[Morgan Freeman]

Terrified that I would become Captain Kangaroo.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, of course. And you'd just been on Broadway and around town. That would have been really hard for me. I would be very nervous that it wasn't going to end.

[Morgan Freeman]

Well, what if it didn't end? If it didn't end, you would not go any place. It's like actors who are know, really good actors, but they became spokesman for a commercial. That's it. That's as far as you're gonna go. I know.

[Dax Shepard]

It's such a different time. It was so regimented and compartmentalized, and you couldn't do a commercial and movie people couldn't be in tv, and TV people couldn't be in soap operas and soap opera. It just never ended.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. And I did it all in that.

[Dax Shepard]

Period from 71 until really 87. You have 16 years of doing his part in a movie, being on a show for a minute, doing the soap for two years. Okay, 87. Now, I just want to point out at this point, you're 50.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. About.

[Dax Shepard]

You do Street Smart with Christopher Reeve and Kathy Baker, and you get nominated for your first Academy Award.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I think you might have had this experience that a handful of people have, which is it took forever and then there is whiplash. Was that a kind of whiplash? Like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I've just been cobbling together Rent now for all these years. Now I'm in this thing. And now we're going to the Academy Awards. It feels a little abrupt.

[Morgan Freeman]

No, it doesn't. It started 20 years before.

[Monica Padman]

It just felt like baby steps.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you can have these different columns of luck in life, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You can be, like, very unlucky in some quadrant of your life and then be pretty lucky in some quadrant. I picked that one over baseline. Luck level. Level. I'd rather have some spikes.

[Morgan Freeman]

I think if we keep moving, that's what happens. You step into a hole somewhere and you sink. But instead of giving up right then, you keep pushing. And I always tell youngsters and my kids, if you fall and you just lay there, people will go right past you. But if you fall and you struggle, somebody's going to give you a hand.

[Monica Padman]

That's really true.

[Dax Shepard]

That's an interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

If you're trying, someone will come help you.

[Dax Shepard]

That's really powerful. We don't hear that part of it's just to get back up. But you're right, struggling is another option and it does elicit kindness and help.

[Morgan Freeman]

Sometimes you just can't get up by yourself. But that doesn't mean live air saying, okay, this is it. It's not it. Unless you say it's it. Keep pushing, keep trying, you'll always get a hand. Somebody will something.

[Monica Padman]

Probably a woman in my case exclusively.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so then this isn't a stutter step. This is really the beginning of the very wild ride. The handful of people ride. 89's a crazy year. Glory comes out.

[Morgan Freeman]

Driving Miss Daisy and Lean On Me. Yeah, all of that interesting thing for me in this wild ride was Driving Miss Daisy and Street Smart came out same week.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. So in the movies I'm this pimp and on stage I'm this old man.

[Dax Shepard]

What a range there on display. That's lucky timing.

[Morgan Freeman]

There you go. Something will come along.

[Dax Shepard]

You and I won't call it God, but something.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, it's always you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I like your take on God. Well, do I believe in God? Well, I believe man invented God. So yeah, I believe in me.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I like that.

[Morgan Freeman]

You heard that somewhere.

[Dax Shepard]

I know you. I've been paying attention.

[Morgan Freeman]

Why am I sitting here talking?

[Dax Shepard]

I could do this whole thing if you want to take a nap. Just what a fucking year though. Gloria story. Obviously. Five Oscar noms, Driving Miss Daisy, nine Oscar noms including best actor nomination for you. Lean On Me is a huge. That's a crazy year.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

How do you adjust to the notion of maybe having money going forward? Because that's now on the table in 1989. You're starting to probably reassess like, oh, I might actually have money now at 52 years old. You hadn't bought a house yet at 52, had you?

[Morgan Freeman]

No, I hadn't bought a house yet.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you remember buying your first house apartment in New York?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, I had a friend who was in real estate, doing pretty good. Now co oping becomes possible in my building. So as a tenant I could buy my six room apartment for $78,000. Oh my God, I don't have $78,000. But I am working. I go to a friend and say, I just need a quarter of that ticket loan. He said in essence, no, it won't be worth it. So eventually I bought the apartment instead of 78,000 I paid 230,000.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, bummer. Oh, 3X.

[Morgan Freeman]

But I had the money.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you were able to.

[Dax Shepard]

And now it's worth 20x of that.

[Monica Padman]

Now it's worth $20 million.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so it really takes off in 89. I just want to ask you about a couple projects. One of them is Monica and I's top five movie of all time. So we got a geek out for a second on that, do we? But I do just want to talk about 92. That feels very special to me. Unforgiven.

[Morgan Freeman]

I didn't audition for that. C.L. eastwood called.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh boy.

[Monica Padman]

That's a big moment.

[Dax Shepard]

What's that feeling?

[Morgan Freeman]

G.L. eastwood. He wants me to do a western with him. You're kidding me.

[Dax Shepard]

I think people can have performances, they change something permanently. Where no matter what happens. I give D'Onofrio as a great example of this in Full Metal Jackets. Like if you do that scene one time sitting on the toilet with your gun, it cannot be taken for the rest of your life. People know. Well, he can do anything. That's not to say we're going to give him anything to do, but we know he can do anything. And for me, Unforgiven for you is that. Well, that's done on Morgan Freeman. That guy is a legend. That's like a legendary performance. The chemistry between you two is just. That's the part of magic I like about movies. You just don't know. You could be best friends with somebody, have no sparkle on screen, right? And then you guys are strangers and you have this deep familiarity and understanding of who one another are. And this acceptance in this non judgmental friendship which is so pure and interesting. Could you feel when you were making the movie, this is a special thing or they feel like all the movies special to me.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm on screen with Clint Eastwood. Fucking wood.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

It's impossible.

[Morgan Freeman]

It doesn't yet. Better. When I was a little boy, if you wanted to give me something for Christmas, give me a cat pistol and a rig. I was so good I could shoot five guys.

[Dax Shepard]

I practiced nonstop. I would be twirling.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Putting it in the holster, sideways.

[Morgan Freeman]

I was bad.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, me too. No one was looking, but I thought I was a bad customer.

[Morgan Freeman]

You know, you're just practicing.

[Dax Shepard]

You grew up and you got to play that with the ultimate guy who does that. And you got to be a bad motherfucker yourself. Which is fun to play, especially if you got beat up a lot in these schools.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's full circle directors.

[Dax Shepard]

It sounds like you've been hit or miss with directors.

[Morgan Freeman]

Mostly hit, miss. Only been a couple of times.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess what I'm going for here is. I'm guessing you must have liked how Clint directed.

[Morgan Freeman]

I love the way Clint directs.

[Dax Shepard]

He knows when he has what he needs and he moves on.

[Morgan Freeman]

And he knows it soon. He does not direct actors. He directs the movie. You come knowing your lines and where all the cables are on the floor.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, right.

[Morgan Freeman]

As opposed to somebody like David Fincher.

[Monica Padman]

I had a feeling. He's the opposite of that.

[Morgan Freeman]

He has a concept, and they want you to be privy to that concept. So if you're privy to that concept and you will do your best to give him whatever it is he wants. That was what I got and my relationship developed with David. I know why you're asking me to do this. It's not like. Okay, say it like this. He never said that. But I want light situations, so turn your head just as much.

[Monica Padman]

It's very technical.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's how I would feel if I knew the game plan and I understood it and agreed that that was worthwhile of an endeavor. I could play along. It's the. I'm not sure what I want. Why don't you keep doing things until you show me what I want?

[Morgan Freeman]

No, no.

[Dax Shepard]

For the listener, Morgan. Just physically. Yeah. That's the zone, right? That we hate.

[Morgan Freeman]

I can't stand it. They say, that was great. Let's do another. You know, just to see what happens. You know, the same thing is going to happen, dude.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the truth of that moment for me. And then it'll come out again. So that can be tough.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Younger directors, they'll get into that situation.

[Monica Padman]

Well, because there's an insecurity for them. It's like, if I don't have enough, what if I didn't do it right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Or what if the attitude's going to put you on the mat?

[Dax Shepard]

That version, Monica, I'm almost mildly sympathetic to. It's more the entitled. Well, I have you. We got it. Let's see if you can come up with something on your own. I hadn't thought of. That's going to be brilliant. That's just more like. I'm just going to use you now into the ground because to rewrite my script. Yeah. That's the version I don't really like.

[Morgan Freeman]

Two people I really am nervous about trying to work with. And that people who write and direct. And I just worked with one who writes and directs that I would jump off a cliff for is Taylor Sheridan in Lioness. Yeah. He's just like, it's yours. If you can think of anything you want to do, give it to me.

[Dax Shepard]

I trust you, and I'm open to the Morgan magic. If you want to give it to.

[Morgan Freeman]

Me, I ring the Morgan Magic.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right.

[Morgan Freeman]

That's his attitude. You know, it's like, right on, brother. Right on. I'm here, and then I'm up there with these ladies.

[Dax Shepard]

Some badasses.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Such a terrific cast. Michael Kelly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Nicole Kidman.

[Morgan Freeman]

I've always been in love with that woman since I first seen.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you remember the role? For me, it was Days of Thunder. I was like, okay, I want her as a doctor for the rest of my life. Okay. When you saw Unforgiven, you grew up watching these movies on Saturday. I hope you had that moment where you thought like, oh, God damn. I got in one of those.

[Morgan Freeman]

I gloried in the whole experience. I was always on set. Days when I didn't have to work, I hung out with the Wranglers.

[Monica Padman]

Just wanted to be there.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Shawshank, 30th anniversary again. In the life story, the lessons you learn, that just happened to you. This one's interesting. I pointed out on the show all the time, Shawshank, for your average. If you ask them was that a hit, they go, oh, it's got to be an enormous hit because every single person has seen this movie and it's great. And it wasn't a box office smash. It underperformed or probably scared some people initially.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'll tell you what happened with Shaw. Check. I saw this terrific movie. It was called Shim Shunk.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He has the same explanation as I have about Zura. Oh, oh, oh. I was in this great movie Favreau directed called Zura. That's a great movie. Not one person was going to step up to the ticket counter and go, can I get a. They. They don't want to try to say it out loud.

[Morgan Freeman]

Right. Kind of a middle aged lady on the elevator. Oh, I just saw you in the Hudsucker production. No, the Hudsucker production. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

The hot sucker reduction.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Morgan Freeman]

Gee, how did you enjoy it?

[Dax Shepard]

I want to see that. Where did you see it? I want to check that out.

[Monica Padman]

That's very funny.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, did that one feel. How about this? You had just done Unforgiveness. Such a special movie, and it was received and rewarded as such. Shawshank. Was it a little heartbreaking because again, of your performances that to me, still in top Three.

[Morgan Freeman]

And not really heartbreaking for me. They're heartbreaking for the studio. They put up all of that money.

[Dax Shepard]

But Darbon was a million takes director too. You weren't loving that vibe.

[Morgan Freeman]

That was a kind of tense set. Sure.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Well, also subject matter. I mean, I'm sure all of it added up.

[Dax Shepard]

You're in a prison. I shot a movie in a prison. You underestimate what it's like to be just even shooting in a prison. After a few weeks, you're like, okay, novelty's worn off. I hate it here. I want to get out of here.

[Monica Padman]

This is.

[Morgan Freeman]

I did a lot of prison movies. I was in Attica and I did the one with Robert Redford Brubaker.

[Dax Shepard]

Ah, Brubaker. Yeah. Okay. The last movie I'm gonna make you talk about. We could do this all day. You're in so many great movies. It's wild. You've been nominated a bazillion times. Won several times. Monica and I love Seven. I watch seven once a year.

[Monica Padman]

And it holds up. It's still so smart and so good.

[Dax Shepard]

I would hate acting with that technicality. Like it wouldn't be for me. I don't have the right disposition. So I applaud everyone that does it in the spirit of it because it's worth it. But I'll tell you the magic of that is the way they all hold up. They are masterpieces of composition and pacing and timing. The work is evident. It's such a great movie. How did you enjoy making that movie? What was it like working with this young, gorgeous Brad Pitt? Young, gorgeous Gwyneth Paltrow?

[Morgan Freeman]

I really enjoyed working with David because I so tuned to what he was after. It gave me a lot of leeway.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you learn about your powers a little bit in that movie?

[Morgan Freeman]

Just a little bit. I also twisted my ankle so bad running across the field there at the end.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah. John Doe has the upper hand.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, you twisted your ankle doing that?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. It was not like running on level ground. I sprained my ankle. And then I think we did this shot seven or eight times.

[Monica Padman]

Of course. Oh, gosh.

[Morgan Freeman]

I stretched my tendon so badly. Not back again. So my foot tends to roll over.

[Dax Shepard]

I wonder if there's a tall guy thing too, though. That's my Achilles, is my. It's rare. It's literal, but it's not because. But yeah, when you roll. And I remember my dad used to roll his all the time. He said, basically, with a rolled ankle, you got to go a year without rolling it. And It'll tighten back up, but until then, you can roll it so easy.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I would say what you did in that movie, and I asked, did it help you understand your own powers, is if I'm you as an actor, the confidence I need to commit to that performance and go, I'm never going to be showy, going to be loud and exciting. I'm going to force you to lean closer to hear what I'm saying. That takes a ton of confidence. Did you have any anxiety while you're doing it? Like, I hope this works?

[Morgan Freeman]

No. When did I feel anxious about work on stage? The only time I had a part that I knew I couldn't do. I tried to do Othello. And I've asked actor that few actors. Did you ever manage to get that?

[Dax Shepard]

No, that's the one that.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Morgan Freeman]

I've seen one actor play Othello and get it, nail it. And that was Lawrence Olivier.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow. Yep, Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

That tells you a lot about how hard it is. Yeah. Only Laurence Olivier nailed it.

[Morgan Freeman]

I walk out on stage, opening evening. This is outside in Texas, in Dallas, at the Dallas Civic Light Opera. I walk out on stage in this costume and somebody yells, sit. Sing purple haze.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, jeez.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Jesus.

[Monica Padman]

My God. Oh, no.

[Morgan Freeman]

That was it.

[Monica Padman]

What is it about that role? You think that just makes it impossible?

[Morgan Freeman]

I don't know what it is that makes it impossible. I'm not sat and discussed it with any other actors. Ask Jimmy Jones. Cause he. He's done everything. I've done it five times and I still haven't pulled it off.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like Moby did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I almost wonder if in a boxing way, if you're, like defeated by it, you want to give it another shot.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, I know I can beat this guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I know I have it in me.

[Morgan Freeman]

I know I can.

[Dax Shepard]

But something. You were smart and you're like, I don't have it in me to beat Othello. I'm going to let it be the one experience. Okay, last movie. Just because I'm curious how you got on. Did you have fun doing Bucket List? How'd you get on with Jack Nicholson? Let me tell you, for my money, more Morgan, present company excluded. But for my money, when you watch Departed, you go, wow, this is about everyone. That's great. Doing it all in one movie. I go like, who am I most going to want to look at in a two shot? In a wide? Nicholson is as great as. I mean, what an attractive human being. Did he deliver oh, wonderful. You're smiling. Smile.

[Morgan Freeman]

He's Jack. I met him prior and told him I had to give him my left testicle.

[Dax Shepard]

I might give the whole package up.

[Morgan Freeman]

He was asked if he'd do it, and he said, send me the script and send him the script. And he said, yeah, let's do it. So there we were, me and Jack Nicholson.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, man.

[Monica Padman]

It's also so funny to me that the bucket list was invented from the movie and now it's just a ubiquitous phrase that everyone uses. Yeah, it's crazy.

[Morgan Freeman]

Works, I'll tell you. Other than Clint, I had another icon, another idol. That was Gregory Peck.

[Dax Shepard]

Interesting. Why?

[Morgan Freeman]

Well, all the things I'd seen him in, nothing ever came up to Moby Dick. I read Moby Dick some time ago, and that movie was every step in the book. They got it right. And he was awesome. First I saw him with. We were at one of those award things in Hollywood. I had a seat kind of on the aisle, and he was coming up the aisle from the stage and jumped out and knelt down and he said.

[Monica Padman]

Get up, get up.

[Morgan Freeman]

And then later on, I got a call from. I'm doing this library reader. I get, you know, actors to come and read short stories. Would you do that for you? Hell, jump out of an airplane.

[Dax Shepard]

I'll read a phone book out loud for you.

[Morgan Freeman]

Whatever. So we got conversational.

[Dax Shepard]

But was Jack in your list as well?

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

When you were acting with him, did it fuck you up ever? Did you sometimes go like, oh, wow, I'm in a scene with Jack Nicholson. Would you get self aware of what you were experiencing?

[Morgan Freeman]

No, when we were working, we were working. I work, but then I go home. I go, jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, Jack Nicholson.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But he was probably saying the same thing. It's a similar situation for him, I'm sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I don't know if Jack has that.

[Morgan Freeman]

That's why we like.

[Monica Padman]

So I think. I don't know.

[Morgan Freeman]

I like that attitude you got there.

[Dax Shepard]

It's nice. It's generous.

[Monica Padman]

I think it could be definitely true. I mean, maybe not him, but everyone else then on Earth.

[Morgan Freeman]

A lot of people. Well, I get that kind of response from that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

If I'm working with somebody that I hold that high up, to me, it's a ride along. We ride together. You take your run. I'm in it. I get it. So here comes mine. I just want to compliment what you're doing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How have you done in the past with other, like, strong male. Is it easy for you to coexist?

[Morgan Freeman]

Easy. Strong males aren't doing anything but acting.

[Monica Padman]

That's the pull quote. That's the truth.

[Dax Shepard]

Strong males aren't doing anything. Anything but acting.

[Monica Padman]

That's so true.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, boy. Yeah. Once in a while, we lift something heavy, though. That's right.

[Morgan Freeman]

Well, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then we're not needed for a very long time.

[Morgan Freeman]

Every now and then, you have to lift something heavy.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. Or you got to be tall. Once in a blue moon, I need to be tall for somebody. I justify my existence for a couple weeks. Can you reach that for me? Yes, I can. Okay, let's talk about lioness. Season two is upon us. This is Taylor, Sherry Sheridan, and as we said, Nicole Kidman, Michael Kelly, Zoe Saldana. And now you're playing Secretary of State. So you've pretty much now played almost every member of government. I think at this point, you're getting close.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Presidents. Notice I used a plural there.

[Dax Shepard]

Not many folks can say that. Yeah. Which time was it that I was playing the president? That was the third time I played the president.

[Morgan Freeman]

And here, Secretary Stanley, I've been head of the CIA. Interesting story there. Tom Clancy heard that I was going to do part as a deputy assistant, the CIA, and he said, oh, if it's that guy, make him the head.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, right.

[Dax Shepard]

You're so close.

[Morgan Freeman]

Thank you very much.

[Monica Padman]

You got promoted.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, just like that.

[Dax Shepard]

So Taylor's got a good thing going, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

I can't imagine. I'm almost certain he has a lot of stuff on the shelf, stuff that he has written, because he's one of those guys who writes. That's what he does. I don't care if he was washing dishes to make a living. He was writing. And this stuff is on his shelf. A lot of it. He is so prolific.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So he had Yellowstone, then he had two spinoffs, 1823 and 1914.

[Morgan Freeman]

1921, I think, or something.

[Monica Padman]

1883 and 1923.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. And then you've got mayor of. Mayor of Kingstown, the King of Tulsa, Lioness.

[Monica Padman]

Geez.

[Dax Shepard]

It's, like, impossible, the amount of writing this human does in one year. So did it start with a meeting with you and Taylor?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, we zoomed. Taylor Sheridan wants to talk to you. Oh, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm free.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm free. Right. So he said the right thing, he wooed you, and off to Mallorca to work.

[Dax Shepard]

Is that where you shot?

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Morgan Freeman]

That's when you shot the first season.

[Dax Shepard]

No way.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, come on.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm telling you.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. And were you sailing down There in New York.

[Morgan Freeman]

No, no, no, no. I quit sailing. I got hurt in 2008.

[Dax Shepard]

That's one of my questions for you. There's a very weird riddle within you. Getting hurt in 2008. You were driving a 1997, a Nissan Maxima.

[Morgan Freeman]

Was it?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Morgan, what in the is going on? This is 2008 and you're driving a 97 Nissan Maxima. This nine year old Nissan Maxima.

[Morgan Freeman]

Wrong place, wrong time.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm more struck by the notion that you're driving a nine year old Nissan and you've won Academy awards and you're rich.

[Morgan Freeman]

Wasn't my car.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it wasn't. Well, there is the X explanation. You can understand why I was like, why is Morgan in this car? That was my main takeaway. Other than you were hurt, I really.

[Morgan Freeman]

Could not tell you why. Okay. And when they did my blood work up, they said, well, we didn't have a lot of alcohol, so it wasn't that. What happened was I think I just passed out. They put a pacemaker in me after that.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, interesting.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So maybe you had some heart fibrillation or something.

[Morgan Freeman]

Something afib and just went and scary. Tore that car up.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean relatively unscathed with how bad the accident was.

[Morgan Freeman]

Very bad.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Rolled the car over.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah, I think it tumbled.

[Monica Padman]

Oof.

[Dax Shepard]

And you ended up hurting your hand pretty bad. I broke my arm, the humerus, the big bone up there.

[Morgan Freeman]

Up here? Yeah. And so there's a plate in it and there's a pin in my elbow. It's nerve damage. I have no tissue.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Morgan Freeman]

No nerve. Nerves.

[Dax Shepard]

And you have fibromyalgia now.

[Morgan Freeman]

It isn't fibromyalgia. I looked that up. It's more neuro, like neuralgia.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. So you had to quit sailing.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. The last time I was on my boat, I couldn't park it. Had a 43 foot catch, went out with friends one day and I couldn't get my boat back into the slip.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a humbling experience.

[Morgan Freeman]

It is very humbling. Heartbreaking. I walked away.

[Dax Shepard]

What about bringing a 16 year old kid on board? Who you get him out when it's time to park.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Can't we do that? $49 a week like you're back at the.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm so much a solo guy.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't like that.

[Monica Padman]

That's sad.

[Morgan Freeman]

Happens as we say.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Okay. So you meet with Taylor, it goes well. Season one goes well. You're back. Was it hard for you to commit to doing tv?

[Morgan Freeman]

No, it's not Much different. There's a camera, their lights, their script. And actors.

[Dax Shepard]

I think so.

[Monica Padman]

And TV's awesome now.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What are you watching more of? Are you watching TV or going out to the movies? You're probably like the rest of us watching tv.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm watching tv, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's phenomenal, right?

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. It's hard to go to the movies for someone with a high profile.

[Monica Padman]

Can you go anywhere without getting.

[Morgan Freeman]

I stay home.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

There are restaurants around where I live. They'll just make way for me to make room. They'll put me in a special place.

[Dax Shepard]

You did go back to Mississippi when you had the option. And I did wonder, is it overwhelming being famous in an area where it's more exciting to see famous people?

[Morgan Freeman]

No. Very quickly get used to the fact that you're back home.

[Dax Shepard]

And they're respectful of that.

[Morgan Freeman]

Very respectful of that. You can't go into Charleston and say, where does Morgan Freeman live?

[Dax Shepard]

And be told, oh, that's nice. So what's happening in season two?

[Morgan Freeman]

You've got the emotional thing that the lioness has to go through. I think that's the heart of these episodes. These women who. They go into a situation where they've befriended somebody, some other. Some woman, a wife, girlfriend, sister or something. Get to be close enough that she's in on what's going on, and then they have to betray that for your country. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, when you decide to work a, the appetite is impressive. How are you deciding when and why you'll work? Do you, like, make decisions. I'm done. And then you make another decision. I'm back.

[Morgan Freeman]

I'm not made that decision. I'm done. I haven't even decided. I'm thinking about it. You know, it's like, holy cow, do I want to keep going? And the answer, of course, is yeah. Can you get out of bed? Yeah, I can get out of bed. Then go to work.

[Dax Shepard]

All right.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I have one last obsession with your voice. When that first started, were you like, what's going on here? Or were you like, yeah, I get it.

[Morgan Freeman]

I think I sort of got it because when I was doing the Electric Company, it got more developed. I'm listening to myself now in earphones, and you can do stuff with it now. When I was in school, lacc, that's how my voice got put in place.

[Monica Padman]

Ah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Once it's in place, you know how to help it out.

[Monica Padman]

Play with it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's a gift.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Well, this has been such an honor to talk to you again. Seven's Our religion. We'll be watching it tonight, now that.

[Monica Padman]

We'Re talking about it.

[Morgan Freeman]

All right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What a performance. You're such an anchor of that whole experience. You're great on Lioness. Of course. Lioness is super exciting. Great cast. That's out October 27th. Season two starts on Paramount. Plus, this has just been a delight. I know that promoting is a thankless and boring and never ending job, so I feel very lucky that we got so much of your time.

[Morgan Freeman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you so much. It's such an honor to meet you.

[Morgan Freeman]

Good to talk to you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you too.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh, should I say listen?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you can say whatever you want.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, all of it.

[Dax Shepard]

All right, well, be well and good luck.

[Morgan Freeman]

You too, man. Be well, both of you. Monica.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

And what is that over there? That's a Rob. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

They grow those in Chicago. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by BetterHelp. There are so many things to love about December. It's holiday season. There are breaks from work and school on the calendar to spend time with loved ones, not to mention delicious seasonal treats. Staying cozy in the winter months is essential. And therapy can be a great way to bring yourself some comfort that never goes away away even when the seasons change.

[Monica Padman]

Therapy is essential to me during the holidays, especially because I generally am going home.

[Dax Shepard]

Right? Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And I need sort of some stability and guidance. And guidance to stay nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, if you've ever been considering starting therapy, give better help a try. It's completely online, so it's easy to integrate into your skin schedule. BetterHelp is flexible too. It's easy to book or move appointments on their platform. And if the therapist your match with isn't the right fit, you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Find comfort this December with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.comdax today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H L p.comdax we are supported by Squarespace. If you've been to the armchair expert website, you've seen Squarespace in action. Wabi Wab made our website using Squarespace, the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. What I love about Squarespace is aside from the functionality, it's just so visually pleasing. And Rob was able to whip this up in no time with all the incredible templates that were available to him.

[Monica Padman]

And it looks very profesh.

[Dax Shepard]

Squarespace just looks good. And Squarespace optimizes your website for every device, so it looks incredible whether users are on their computer, phone, or tablet. No matter what type of site you want to build, Squarespace can help you make it. Want to make an online store? Squarespace makes checkout seamless for your customers with simple but powerful payment tools. Want to sell exclusive content on your site? Squarespace has the option to add a paywall so you can sell memberships and courses or files that your customers can download, like music or ebooks. Check out squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to get started, go to squarespace.comdax to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com dax to get started. Today. We are supported by Skims. If you're in the market for holiday presents, Skims has got you covered.

[Monica Padman]

Boy, do they. They just launched their holiday shop with some incredible gift ideas. You know I like giving gifts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, you're a gift expert and you approve?

[Monica Padman]

I do. And when I gave for a white elephant, I gave a skims robe once before I was a hu. Huge hit.

[Dax Shepard]

It was stolen immediately. Immediately.

[Monica Padman]

And they do. They have this amazing soft lounge sleep set from the Skims holiday shop. Really cute seasonal colors. It's so nice to get festive and get in your skims and bop around.

[Dax Shepard]

You gotta eventize.

[Monica Padman]

You gotta.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so fun. And who doesn't love a gift list? It makes holiday shopping that much easier. Shop skimsholiday. [e-mail] available in styles for women, men, kids, and even pets. If you haven't yet, be sure to let them know we sent you. After you place your orders, select podcast in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows. I sure hope there weren't any mistakes in that episode, but we'll find out when my mom, Mrs. Monica, comes in and tells us what was wrong.

[Monica Padman]

Do I have a booger on my face?

[Dax Shepard]

No, unfortunately not.

[Monica Padman]

Thank God.

[Dax Shepard]

Where did you think this booger was resided?

[Monica Padman]

Like, right here.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I felt like I felt it mid.

[Dax Shepard]

Gap between lip and nose.

[Monica Padman]

Cupid's bow.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, is that called cupid's bow?

[Morgan Freeman]

Right here?

[Monica Padman]

This is your cupid's bow.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I don't really have one. I see people with a really pronounced cupid's bow and I'm really envious. Everyone has one, but of varying intensities.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I had a dream last night that I had a booger on my face.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

And so now I feel like it was a premonition.

[Dax Shepard]

What setting were you in? Was it high stakes?

[Monica Padman]

I think it Was a date or a few. Okay, okay. I wasn't going to talk about this.

[Dax Shepard]

But now you are.

[Monica Padman]

I feel bad because it involves a previous guest. But it was a dream.

[Dax Shepard]

It was a dream. Okay, let's just be very clear. It's a dream.

[Monica Padman]

This didn't happen in the interview.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

It did not happen in real life. But I've been. I guess I've been having a lot of dreams where I'm embarrassed by my body, I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

So I had a.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you think this was a seed set by learning people have OCD about smelling? Do you think this is where this all jumped off?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my. I mean, it's possible because the dream is about that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

But the booger, not so much. But maybe. Maybe it's a snowball effect.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a smelly booger too.

[Monica Padman]

It is the winter.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so I had a dream a while ago that I saw Jake Gyllenhaal somewhere.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, sure. How fun. This is great.

[Monica Padman]

And I feel like there was multiple.

[Dax Shepard]

People there, but really, most importantly, Jake G. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Jg, jgs and Jers. We were flirting, of course.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what you do.

[Monica Padman]

And it was going really well.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Leading in a good direction.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It was like. It was frisky and it was bantering, simmering. It was electric.

[Dax Shepard]

Uh huh. About to be turned onto a full boil once you got that bedroom door closed.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And I. Even my non. Dream Monica was like there somewhere and she was excited about the rest of the dream.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Right, right, right.

[Monica Padman]

It's like where it was leading. And so we got to the bedroom.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh my God.

[Morgan Freeman]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

And it was so hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow. You got all the way to the bedroom in your dream.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And we were making out. We were undressing.

[Dax Shepard]

Heavy petting.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Very heavy.

[Monica Padman]

Extremely heavy.

[Morgan Freeman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Extra heavy petting.

[Monica Padman]

Too heavy, actually.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And then he. This is like really. This is a dream. Really bad. But it is a dream.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just a dream. Don't take this out of context.

[Monica Padman]

It's a dream. It's if. If anyone's listening with kids in the car. This is not appropriate.

[Dax Shepard]

Ear muff moment.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's not appropriate for kids. He was going down on me.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

He went down there and he made a horrible face. Oh, yeah.

[Morgan Freeman]

Whoa. Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

And.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow. And he's so nice. If his face betrayed him, it was really because he has a lot of manners.

[Monica Padman]

He does. And he was being. And it was. He was so nice the whole day. The whole day, he was so, so cute and sweet and lovely. And then he, like, made this face, and I.

[Dax Shepard]

Can you make the face that he made?

[Monica Padman]

It was like.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, yeah, it was more like hit him or slip. No, it was more like boo. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

More of a. Yeah. And I said something like, is everything good? Everything okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Everything.

[Monica Padman]

Or maybe I ignored it. And then, like, he kind of tried to get. And then he. And then he was, like, started, like, getting angry. Oh, he's switched about the smell.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, hold on a second, though. Is this post scene no one's ever gonna Anna Kendrick's movie.

[Monica Padman]

That's a good question.

[Dax Shepard]

Because Pete Holmes turns. He's like, so nice. So nice. So nice turns. Well, do you want to leave? That's what he says. Would that look on his face.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe. I don't remember the timing of.

[Morgan Freeman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

The timeline is a little hazy.

[Monica Padman]

It's possible.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

So, yeah, he turns and he becomes angry and mean. And I said, you're being mean.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you said that. That's very vulnerable.

[Monica Padman]

Because I. Look, I don't feel that I have a smell.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And Sue, I mean, I guess people have smells, but I, you know, I was like, maybe I. Maybe I do. And I've just not known this. And obviously no one is telling me and I can't smell myself, so. Oh, my God. And then that was the dream. Like, he was March, horrible.

[Dax Shepard]

March out. Did he call you any names?

[Monica Padman]

I don't think he called me. I do think he said, like, disgusting. He didn't. He didn't give any action items.

[Morgan Freeman]

Action item.

[Monica Padman]

But he did. It was horrible. And then I've been scared ever since.

[Dax Shepard]

Sharp is a very scarring dream. Traumatic. I'm having a new. It's not like this hasn't occurred to me, but right now I'm having a real moment where I'm wrecking. Recognizing. What I feel bad for men about is they have this constant anxiety about their erection. You talk to men. And it's. I have had so many friends over the years where, like, the mental battle going on is like, I couldn't. We were kissing and it didn't get hard. And then. And then in their mind that they can't get hard with this person. And now it's just this, like, mental battle they're dealing with nonstop.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

In your. The equivalent of your hardness is that the fear that it might smell. It must be really stressful in the way that in a erection is stressful. And let's just say. Well, how do I say this politely?

[Monica Padman]

Like, smell.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, Just the nature of the apparatus. Like, if it's gonna. If to be intimate with me and involves spreading my butt cheeks and going into my. You know, I would live in deep, deep. I think it would take me out of dating altogether, to be honest. Oh, my God. Unless it was like, every single time we were intimate, I went into the shower and I scrub, scrub, scrub my bottom hole. If that was, like, part of the repertoire of services I offered. Yeah, I would be. I would have a lot of stress about it.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, listen, the butthole.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not comparing that to that, but I am comparing that.

[Monica Padman]

I'm about to compare it. The butthole slash anus is actually a good equivalent because even if you washed it right, let's say the outside. You wash the outside. But what can you do?

[Dax Shepard]

Let's even say you were extra exploratory and just even finger in a little. Yeah, got your finger in there a little bit and clean, like, the next inch out.

[Monica Padman]

Don't do that with your vagina.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I have no advice on the vagina. I think your butthole's fine to do that.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know when I'm in the.

[Dax Shepard]

Shower washing, I'm not your finger up there. I don't want to say that out loud, but I'm just. Let's just say I don't just stop at, like, the packaging, the wrapping.

[Monica Padman]

You don't just go like this.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I attempt to, like, really clean.

[Monica Padman]

Does it ever make you poop?

[Dax Shepard]

No, not. Well, fingers crossed. Knock on wood.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Anyway. But so even if you get a little bit, though, you're not really, like.

[Dax Shepard]

You need to go about 6 inches up into your colon to ensure that there's nothing going to.

[Monica Padman]

If you have feces in your butt.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Fecal matter, it's still not time to lift your head, your earmuffs off your child if you're in the car.

[Monica Padman]

Let's just say if you have fecal mattering in your anus.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

In your bottom.

[Monica Padman]

In your bottom.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Let's keep it clean. It'll probably still smell. So it is a good comp because you can clean the outside of your vagina. Although I have heard you're really not supposed to clean it with soap.

[Dax Shepard]

And I've heard, like, all growing up, they were pitching very hard all day long on summer on daytime television. Summer's Eve Douche. It's got a better name than that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Hemin. Hemin and wash. Henna wash. Feminine wash. Yeah. Summer's Eve. It was on all the time. This is it. Felt like this was a product that was mandatory. If you were.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

And a woman in the 80s.

[Monica Padman]

That's been. Not to disparage any brands, but that's been debunked.

[Dax Shepard]

I've heard that that is. Can be. Not a good mix for your Flora.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. So really, you're making it worse.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, God. My heart goes out. It truly does. You're like, fuck. I put pause. Summer's Eve. I think I do it. I mean, how stressful.

[Monica Padman]

I know. So now I'm like, stressed and I think I'm gonna take your approach and I'm just not ever gonna date.

[Dax Shepard]

That's gonna.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think again.

[Dax Shepard]

I think you need to get a.

[Monica Padman]

Friend to smell it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Because I think it's in your head. I'm married, so I can't offer. But. And so is Rob. But maybe a close friend. You know, Jess, that would be a great.

[Morgan Freeman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Starting point. Because he's not going to get mixed feelings after he does it.

[Monica Padman]

That's fair.

[Dax Shepard]

And you look at him as a. Well, I don't want to say brother because you don't want that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Ew. Ew.

[Dax Shepard]

I just don't know what else to recommend. My hunch is this is in your head. And so I think you need an extra set of eyes on this. I. E. Nose on this.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, but who? Most people are probably not going to pull a J.

[Dax Shepard]

Can I say something?

[Monica Padman]

Dream. JG and like, make a bad face. Are going to lie because. Of course you're going to lie because what to do.

[Dax Shepard]

Listen, I was in that situation when I was younger. It would. It would burble up. And of course I never. I never was like, whoo. I shouldn't even done that. Just the thought of doing. Wait, let's try this. Okay. I'm coming up. And I go, oh. And I just do that really quick stop.

[Monica Padman]

Also. What? Like this does anything. This is such a dumb move.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I like that. When people signal something stinks, they double. They double. They double down. They go.

[Morgan Freeman]

They'll pinch their nose, like, oh. And then they go, like.

[Dax Shepard]

If they really want you to know it smells for some reason, this isn't sufficient. And this wouldn't be sufficient. You gotta go. Oh, don't. Don't go by that porta Pot body. Oh. I'm really heartbroken for anyone out there that's just panicked about it because I'm sure. I'm sure in your mind it's something that's not. I want to say this from the outside.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I Want to note, I've never smelt BO on you. That sounds like a. Seems like a good starter. And I don't. I've never smelt bad breath on you.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

So I, I'm. I'm inclined to think this is all in your.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know if it's the same.

[Dax Shepard]

Here's a new item. Shark tank.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like a stick. Like a chemical stick. And you wave it and then it impartially and objectively just says whether there's. It can detect whether there's a smell on some. On some scale.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Now what if it's just it smells bad?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, then I think we go to the G. The GYN you never say G. Y, N, OB GYN I wanted to drop the OB you don't need an obstetrician in this situation.

[Monica Padman]

Correct.

[Dax Shepard]

So you go to the gyn The GY Then I think you go to the gyno and you go. I think I need help down there. What can. What can be done? What does science really have to offer us? Would that be too. That shouldn't be too embarrassing with a gynecologist. That's got to be what they're.

[Monica Padman]

It's not too embarrassing. But I just don't think there's much to do. There's some like. There's like foods you can eat that help. I think like temporarily, but I don't know. And I'm just of the opinion that you. You get the smells. You get like. Like you said, BO you get what we get. And you do get upset because as you said, some people have stronger B.O. than. And of course that has. You know, there's deodorant and there's stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

I have no business guessing this, but I just don't think you ha. You're having this issue. I think this is all from a dream. But you've had some lovers. Have you detected any of them?

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

But I. But they're not. Not dream. J. Like this was.

[Dax Shepard]

This was high stakes.

[Monica Padman]

High stakes. And the world. Well, not that it was high stakes. It was. It was my. I think it was my brain telling me.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's your brain. Well, telling you. You're scared of that.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

That's just one more thing you think of that could be a disaster.

[Monica Padman]

I have a follow up question.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And sorry if this puts you in. Gets you in trouble.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. I might elect to not answer.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

With that setup.

[Monica Padman]

But go ahead. I'm going to ask you to speak on behalf of most. Most men.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I really love doing that.

[Monica Padman]

I rarely do this. I rarely give you permission for this. Do you think it's a deterrent for real? Or do you think people like, look, think about all the people in this world who are married.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Or just in relationships.

[Monica Padman]

In relationships, but I'm saying married, like you're in it, you're not getting out.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And I do a mad that there's a varying degree of odor.

[Dax Shepard]

Absolutely.

[Monica Padman]

Among all the people.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So some people are with odorous vulvas and vaginas.

[Morgan Freeman]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

And uteruses.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. I think the fallopians are odorless. Were you gonna go as far as fallopians?

[Monica Padman]

No, everyone knows those don't have a smell.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So I mean, people are obviously either fine with it or they don't smell it, or they're just like, fuck it, I don't care. You get used to it. Like, what is it?

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so let's start with something that's very interesting, I think is we know people with terrible breath.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And they have partners that don't seem to care at all. So I think there can be like. I don't think it's as objective as you smell across the board to everybody.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I think I see people that are in partnerships and the people smell and they don't seem to care or know. And I don't think they smell it cuz they would address it. Like if Chris Tristan reeked like bo, Everywhere we went I go, babe, when people hug you, they their shirts smell like your armpits afterwards.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, but what about when you enter the relationship? Forget now you're married. So yeah. You're like, baby, we gotta do this. But what about when you enter? Is it a deterrent? Like if she stunk? Not just her vagina. Let's just say she stunk.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I mean, how far down the road would you get? I don't know.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

That's hard to say. Like you're asking me the moment we got married. Well, I'm. I'm in pretty deep at that point already. I love her and we own a home together.

[Monica Padman]

You get married, but would we have.

[Dax Shepard]

Gotten to that point if she stank?

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

I would love to say I'm a good enough person, but I don't think so. I would way rather I'm more sensitive to snow, to snows, to smells than I'm visual.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, me too.

[Dax Shepard]

Like I would be way better off with someone that you would think is unattractive. But smell great.

[Monica Padman]

Same.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's why It's a legit fear because it's powerful. Smells are very powerful. But again, some people don't care about smells. I'll be somewhere and it stinks. And I'm like, is everyone. And a lot of people are like, no, I don't smell. It smells like a sewer main broke. No. So I don't know. Whatever your. Your DNA is.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's pheromone. It's also pheromones.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

So I guess it's. Wow. It's really. To each. To each his own. I guess they're just. Wasn't the right. It wasn't the right match with dream jg.

[Morgan Freeman]

I. I think men are appreciative enough.

[Dax Shepard]

To be down there too, that they'll overlook.

[Monica Padman]

That's what I was sort of wondering.

[Dax Shepard]

I think pretty bad for it to be an issue. Great distinction.

[Monica Padman]

That's what I was asking.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I think a lot of people might think, oh, just smell of like, sweat and I don't know what we'd even call it is bad. No, there's smells down there that are very appealing to us. So there's a whole suite of smells that are still positive.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what I'm saying?

[Monica Padman]

They're still pungent.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, no, like you've even said this, like when you've smelled a hot guy's just slight bo.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I like it.

[Dax Shepard]

You like it?

[Monica Padman]

Well, it. It's very specific.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, there's just like. There's a. There's a spectrum of it that you f. You notice. Oh, that's got a smell. But also, you don't mind it. You like it. And the association with. You're about to get vagina. I think that's a great point, Rob. So thank you, Rob.

[Monica Padman]

That is what I was asking.

[Dax Shepard]

And I also think some guys are. They want it bad enough that they could definitely deal with it because they want the ultimate thing bad enough.

[Monica Padman]

And that's where I'm asking you to speak on most.

[Dax Shepard]

But if someone has all the options in the world, like J, like Jers, probably the bar goes up a little bit.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

If I'm just being totally honest and guessing.

[Monica Padman]

Should we call. Should we.

[Dax Shepard]

Should we call. Should we call him and ask J's hypothetical.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Well, in the non spirit realm, in the non dream world, I went motorcycle riding on Friday with Danny Rick, Danny Ricardo and this radical dude, Adam, who is a motocross racer. Like, you know, a real. I don't know. I want you to understand.

[Monica Padman]

I'm never gonna understand.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's like me playing pickup basketball with Michael Jordan.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's cool, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Like this guy is.

[Monica Padman]

But is it cool? Because that's like fun, but very not.

[Dax Shepard]

For him or me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So it was, it was Adam, it was Ricardo. The, you know, I think the standard age was 30, 33. And then a couple great blokes from Australia that Danny had in town. And you know, Aussies are nuts. They're young and wild and we met at Rauer Flats in the mountains and I was on a brand new motorcycle, KX KLX 300. I love it. So comfy.

[Morgan Freeman]

Dual sport.

[Dax Shepard]

And I know I'm losing you and we rode for five straight hours up and up a mountain trail, down up a mountain trail rail and I gotta tell you, I, I succeeded. I wasn't ever vocally complaining, but I, it did cross my mind.

[Monica Padman]

When are we gonna be done?

[Dax Shepard]

Not done, just. We've made. We've probably reached a point where we probably can't ride for five hours with 30 year olds.

[Monica Padman]

Oh wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, oh wow. Okay. We're really here. Where I did it right. I didn't crash.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, good.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, you should know, dirt bikes is my worst domain.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Out of all things, you put gas in. It's the thing I'm the least good at. So I was working my ass off out there and it is the. There was a moment where there was this huge, huge super duper steep hill climb, which I will add, there were seven of us riding, five of us didn't make it. So it's not. Wasn't me per se. Almost to the top and I'm like, I'm. Now I'm in first gear and it's Fish Channel and I'm losing traction and I'm trying to keep it going to get to the top of the hill and all of a sudden I just catch the front wheel. I go over this, this berm. So now I'm off to the side of the mountain and now I'm off the bike so I don't tumble and the bike's now kind of laying sideways and I'm still on this crazy steep hill and I've got to now, now this berms in between the front tire and the back. So I've got to get it off of the berm, back out onto the super duper steep trail, then let the clutch out and start walking next to it and ride it up from the side. All that decided say that was like a four minute battle with the motorcycle to as. To not lose my Footing, fall backwards down this hill, not drop the bike, all this stuff. I finally got up to the top of the hill. I got on my motorcycle and thank God I was first. So I had a while while the rest of them tried to climb this hill and I just leaned over my handlebars and I think my heart rate was like, it had to be 185. What I realized is this is the highest my heart rate has been in a decade. And then we had another three hours of riding to do.

[Monica Padman]

What is a berm?

[Dax Shepard]

It's like, there's dirt, but then the dirt, because everyone's riding, it's kicking the dirt to the side. So it just naturally gets dish shaped. So it's dish shaped and then. So that's a berm. It's like raised like 12 inches of dirt from where the trail is. And then there's a bunch of tall grass growing on top of that. So whatever the. That adds to it.

[Monica Padman]

It's a little baby hill.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a little baby hill on the side of the very steep hill.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so.

[Dax Shepard]

So why is that the question?

[Monica Padman]

No, yeah. I mean, I, the people. Look, this is great, great, great details.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

But I really. I think the. The question is, how do you feel about the fact that you are done writing with 30 year olds?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. Then I'm done.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Well, okay. But you're. It made you think it was a mix. Your age.

[Dax Shepard]

It was a mixed bag. Here's what it was. I was like, wow, I pulled that off, but kind of by the skin of my teeth.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

When am I gonna. What? Here's what the thought was. I'm gonna be out here soon and I'm not gonna be able to pull it off. That was what it was. It wasn't like, I'm not going to or I don't think I could next time. It was just like, oh, wow, We. We hit the limit of our endurance.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

On something that we're just okay at.

[Monica Padman]

You might be on the other side of the berm.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, really? Nice metaphor. But Danny, Rick, update on him as a human being.

[Monica Padman]

Wait, how do you feel? Oh, what part about aging? Oh, that's the question. Like, that's a kind of existential thought.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't feel good or bad about it. I just feel like I knew I needed to do some analysis and recognize that we're probably nearing the end of me being able to do that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And.

[Dax Shepard]

And that might be fine.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Because what happens nicely that parallels it perfectly is. Is like it gets Less enjoyable because it's so hard.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

So it's not like I feel like I'll be giving something up now and again. I'm talking about I'm giving up potentially a five hour ride in the mountains. I still could go ride for a few hours or. It's not that I have to give it up. There's just a zone where it's probably going to get less enjoyable as I get older at a certain level. And I'm recognizing I've. I might have crescendo. This whole thing.

[Monica Padman]

That's a good way of looking at it like not just you camp but that you don't really want to.

[Dax Shepard]

Not that. Not the version where we're out all.

[Monica Padman]

Day long and this is a ding ding ding. Cuz this is for Morgan and he had to stop sailing.

[Dax Shepard]

That I hate.

[Monica Padman]

That was heartbreaking.

[Dax Shepard]

But also I was very grateful because if I go past my limit out there, it sucks. I have to ride really slowly back to camp and take a long time. If you meet the end of your talents out in a city sailboat, I don't know what happens then. Like if you're midstorm and you gotta fight and you no longer have the capacity, that to me sounds very deadly.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I was heartbroken because you can tell how much he loves sailing. Sailing. Ding, ding ding. I love the Ted Turner dock. A lot of sailing in that. These people are. They're different from me.

[Monica Padman]

From me too.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair experts if you dare. We are supported by Acorns. Acorns makes it easy to start automatically saving and investing for you, your kids and your retirement. You know, the thing with investing is you got to be preparing for your future and when you might want to retire. You know, so much of my thought at this point is how I do secure my future. And it's such an amazing important step. We talked to a lot of experts on the show and we've had great conversations with some financial experts. But when you invest with Acorns, you don't need to be an expert. Acorns will recommend a diversified portfolio that matches you and you don't need to be rich. Acorns lets you get started with the spare money you've got right now. That could be just $5 a day or even your spare change. Sign up now and Acorns will boost your new account with a $20 bonus investment offers only available at Acorns. That's a C o r n s.comdax to get your $20 bonus investment today paid Non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns Investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important [e-mail] DAX.

[Monica Padman]

Couple Quick Updates for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I had Mom's giving and it was a real success.

[Monica Padman]

It was a great success.

[Dax Shepard]

You almost gave up. On making the squash?

[Monica Padman]

No, on the green beans.

[Dax Shepard]

The green beans. The squash was a hit. Sorry.

[Monica Padman]

The squash was hit. Really. Everything was a hit. I was going to make. You know, it's a, it's a big undertaking. It really is. And it starts the day before the night. Be the day before you have to make the stock and that takes three to four hours. And then you also make. I made the cranberry sauce the night before. You. I made you brine the turkey.

[Morgan Freeman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

This is an extraordinary amount of work.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's for one little mouse in her little tiny kitchen.

[Monica Padman]

I know the kitchen. Oh, boy. We talked earlier. That Allison Roman. I was worried she wasn't going to do Thanksgiving this, this year cuz she's pregnant. But she did do it, which was very exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, God.

[Monica Padman]

And she shows in the video, her turkey has a bag of giblets on one side and a bag on the other.

[Dax Shepard]

Double giblets. I don't like.

[Monica Padman]

No, no, it's in a bag. But I know it's disgusting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know why. Why you need a double dose of the.

[Monica Padman]

Well, exactly. So, okay, so she was like, make sure you got to go get them. Because she said one year she accidentally cooked with them and ew, that's disgusting. Okay, so I, I. One was very easy. Half already kind of sticking out. Pulled that out. Then I am looking for the other bag and I can't find it.

[Dax Shepard]

You're saying there's two bags of giblets in a turkey? I thought there was only one bag.

[Monica Padman]

Well, exactly. So on her video there were two bags. Have you been listening? Are you doing the thing that I.

[Dax Shepard]

Do with the motorcycles? I thought she got an auxiliary bag of giblets from the butcher.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, gross.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought one. There was one bag of giblets per turkey. Why would there be two? Why don't they put it in one bag?

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

You see all the reasons why it didn't make sense to me. There's two bags of giblets and a turkey.

[Monica Padman]

That's what my whole thought process was, is, oh my God, there's two. There's one on both ends. Weird. And they have to be removed. So I took the one out that Was, like, very obvious. And then I'm looking in the other side, and I can't find it. But it's also, like. Feels like it's a little frozen, so. So I'm just, like, shoving my hand up this turkey. All the way up.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

And I'm moving my little fingers around looking for this bag, and I'm convinced that it's frozen up in there.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

Can't find it anywhere. All right, so I'm panicking.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you Google, at any point, do turkeys have two bags of giblets?

[Monica Padman]

No. Okay, So I am doing that. And also, you have to, like, pull out this plastic thing in there that's really hard. It's a whole.

[Dax Shepard]

They're packing this turkey full of plastics.

[Monica Padman]

There's a plastic thing inside that you pull out it with the legs. Anyway, so I was like, okay, I can't get this bag out now, probably because it's frozen. So by tomorrow, it will be unth. And I, like, it'll be completely unthought, and I'll be able to get out. So I brine the turkey. Well, it was unthawed already, but I was thinking maybe. Maybe?

[Dax Shepard]

Doesn't unthawed mean frozen?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, sorry. It was thaw. You're right.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

It was thawed already, but I thought maybe there was still some parts that were un thawed inside and that was causing the issue. So whatever. I brine it, put it in the.

[Dax Shepard]

Refrigerator, give it another round of fisting.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I did.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Did a full fist. Then the next day when I took it out, I did it again. Hand all the way in. Squish, squish, squish, pull, pull, pull. Nothing.

[Dax Shepard]

Huh? No giblets.

[Monica Padman]

I panic. So then I do text Allison, and I. And I asked, do. Does every turkey have two bags, or is it just one? I'm panicking that it's in there, and I can't find it. She said, no, not all of them do. Phew.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know why any of them do.

[Monica Padman]

Well, hers did.

[Dax Shepard]

So this is like tsc, tcs, bts. Ts.

[Monica Padman]

Tss it is. TSS is toxic shock syndrome.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't want to say out loud.

[Morgan Freeman]

But, yeah, it is.

[Monica Padman]

It's so scary.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. You got to get those giblets out. Why are they in there? I need a turkey grower. Explain why you need to include that.

[Monica Padman]

I agree. Maybe some.

[Dax Shepard]

If you have to pull it out.

[Morgan Freeman]

Why?

[Monica Padman]

Some people probably use them for stuff.

[Morgan Freeman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, there's some good dish people make with the giblets.

[Monica Padman]

So anyway, that next day, you know, I have to make the turkey. I make the stuffing, I make the squash gratin.

[Dax Shepard]

What are we doing for brown and serve biscuits. Any brown and serve rolls.

[Monica Padman]

No rolls. That's the part you're going to hang.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I think it's my favorite. Now, I can't even eat them because they're gluten, but I think that was always my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is those brown and serve rolls.

[Monica Padman]

What's brown? And I've never had this.

[Dax Shepard]

I think they're already maybe a bit baked. And then you.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Then they brown. And then you serve them.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And you serve them hot. And then when you put the butter on, it just melts.

[Monica Padman]

So I didn't make that. That's not bad.

[Dax Shepard]

They're kind of like a Hawaiian sweet roll.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I see. Oh, I think I know what you mean.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. So the squash gratin, the stuffing, the. There was a kale salad with this. These honeyed walnuts. I had to make the gravy. My God, I think I'm forgetting something. Thing. Oh, potatoes. Mashed potatoes with, like, sour cream and chives. And there. It's Okay. I start cooking at 11 and people come at 6.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And I'm. I. It's the whole time.

[Dax Shepard]

Never stopped. Seven hours.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. But as we're heading towards the end, I think, I cannot make these green beans. It was the last thing I had to do. And I was like, I'm not doing it. But then I looked in the mirror and I hated my face.

[Morgan Freeman]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

It was the face of a failure.

[Dax Shepard]

A quitter.

[Monica Padman]

A quitter. Someone who cuts corners.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And someone only looks for one bag of giblets.

[Monica Padman]

I said, that's not me. That's not going to be me. So I made it. And it was basically a homemade green bean casserole. You make it with green beans, mushrooms, you make your own r. And it was everyone's favorite.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank goodness.

[Monica Padman]

Thank God.

[Dax Shepard]

You almost cut that corner. It saved the whole meal.

[Monica Padman]

And I think the less is you gotta burn out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You gotta push yourself until you wanna die.

[Dax Shepard]

Kind of like my motorcycle ride. And then you have the pride of having sought through.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a funny endeavor. Right. Because for seven hours you're probably pretty miserable. I know also that someone can eat it and say, you did a good job. And you go, okay, it was worth it. I did a good job. By the way, I'm the same way. I'm not throwing stones in a glass house. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it was so hot in My. I was sweating for seven hours because it was so hot in my kitchen. Because the oven.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Ooh, baby.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Anyway, but it w. It went great. It was super fun. Loved it.

[Dax Shepard]

Marymount Fellowship.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you guys give thanks?

[Monica Padman]

We gave thanks.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good.

[Monica Padman]

It was. It was a great night.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

I want to make this clear. This is important for. To, like, eight people who are listening are friends. I think it might seem to the pod, like I'm neglecting the pod, that I'm rude because I'm not including them.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think that's what anyone.

[Monica Padman]

Well, in case they're worried about that, the reason it's done like this one is I can only host maximum eight people in that kitchen next year. Who knows? But I can only. I have a limit. And we already do Thanksgiving together.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. It would be two Thanksgiving.

[Monica Padman]

It would be two of the exact same thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

So I do it with even worse.

[Dax Shepard]

One would be homemade, one would be catered, and then people would inevitably vocally vote who did it better. And then someone's a loser.

[Monica Padman]

Want to.

[Dax Shepard]

I bet you do you a little competitive.

[Monica Padman]

Mouse.

[Dax Shepard]

Rat. That's your rat side. You fucking rat.

[Monica Padman]

Next year, we're going to do it.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I don't think that's a good no situation where one of the two teams is losing when both people have been very generous.

[Monica Padman]

No, the other team, the cater team, is.

[Dax Shepard]

That would be our loss.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But not really sure why.

[Dax Shepard]

If everyone voted in the Shepherd's Thanksgiving dinner wasn't as good as the Padmans.

[Monica Padman]

Well, if it's not as good. Because no one made it. No one made it.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

It's not like.

[Dax Shepard]

But in my defense, we have 22 guests.

[Monica Padman]

Now. You're taking it as an insult, but I'm telling you, the.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I think. Yeah, it would be if the version verdict was, we liked Monica's better and we had just fed 22 people.

[Monica Padman]

Well, in this case, I would be feeding the same amount of people.

[Dax Shepard]

Great.

[Monica Padman]

It would be the same group.

[Dax Shepard]

Great. So if we fed 22 people and then they said, hey, we liked Monica's better, I would feel like, well, then, fuck you, you don't eat it next year.

[Monica Padman]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

You had to declare that you liked Monica's better.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's weird, because if I ordered sushi forever, everyone.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then, like, the next week, we went to someone like a sushi chef.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I go, I can cook it better, and I'm going to cook sushi. And then I want everyone to vote whether they liked Monica's sushi restaurant for sure.

[Monica Padman]

You made it about voting no. Yeah, you did.

[Dax Shepard]

We both did.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I said I.

[Dax Shepard]

You said you want to do that?

[Monica Padman]

I will be competitive if that happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I said it's not a good idea because someone loses. Someone will be voted as the worst meal. And I feel like that's a weird. Thank you for hosting 22 people to be declared the worst of the two meals.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's true. That is. I mean, I, I hear you. I just can't ever, like anytime I order anything, ever, I don't expect it to be as good as someone who made something.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I do. When I order spicy tuna crispy rice from Katsuya, I damn well think it's better than any version I'm going to make in my kitchen.

[Monica Padman]

You. Someone who is a, A sushi chef. Someone who has the full recipe that's not like someone who doesn't Sushi chefs doesn't really know what to do or is like I. It's a little different. It's not like I'm making a pizza and we're ordering from Lucifer's. Like, yeah, I don't know how to make that. But I'm like following a really fancy real recipe that's like, I've also now been making for a couple years.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I can understand why you would want to be told your homemade meal was better than the store. Store bought one. I understand that fully. Do you understand that? I. How I would feel If I hosted 22 people and paid for and catered a meal and then they told me it wasn't as good as this other one they had?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Can you imagine how that I would.

[Monica Padman]

Feel in that situation to say anything? I just. Okay, let's say that I order. I order for 22 people. I throw a big dinner party and.

[Dax Shepard]

I order and then I make spaghetti.

[Monica Padman]

One night later I order spaghetti for literally.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't want anyone at the table to say I like this better than the meal Monica bought us.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. We don't have to. No one has to say it. But don't even think in your heart that people should and would like your homemade spaghetti more than my purchased spaghetti from Little Dom's. A great spaghetti.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. I think if you brought in the Bolognese from Chateau Mar Formal, I think it would probably be split and I would expect that.

[Monica Padman]

That's weird. I would never expect anyone to that.

[Dax Shepard]

Chateau is a good. That's a nice p. It's a good. And I Make a nice.

[Monica Padman]

But it's not the same as when someone makes something.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, but I think your flavor, like, whatever your flavor profiles are, one might taste better. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

To me, the. It would be re. The. The way it's really bad is if I made Thanksgiving and then you made Thanksgiving, then 100%, no one could ever. That's really horrible to say one is better than the other because that's like, your effort and work. It's like saying someone's writing is better than someone else's.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, look, we'll see if next year you are able to prepare a meal for 22 people. Maybe you will. But I think at a certain point, if we were inviting 10 people. Sure. Make it at the point where we're at 22 people.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not asking you to make anything.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think.

[Monica Padman]

I feel like you're making it bad. Like you're, like, defensive that you're catering it.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I'm not defensive. I'm saying I don't think we could make a Thanksgiving meal for 22 people.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it seems.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what I'm saying. Very hard so. Because I don't think we can make enough food for 22 people. Unless it's all we did this week.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is not what we're going to.

[Monica Padman]

It would have to be potluck.

[Dax Shepard]

Great. If it was potluck, then that's a whole different thing. But if. If we're making. I don't think we can make food for 22 people.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's too much.

[Dax Shepard]

So. Yeah. I would just. I would not need to know if they thought it was worse than another meal they had.

[Monica Padman]

That's. That makes. That makes sense. Anyway.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it was hypothetical and almost it was real.

[Monica Padman]

Right. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just hypothetical. Hypothetical.

[Monica Padman]

I know. But anyway, the reason the POD is not invited is because. So. Yeah. Is because we already do Thanksgiving together. And it's a beautiful, wonderful thing. And I don't need to. We don't need to have Thanksgiving and then the next week have Thanksgiving again.

[Morgan Freeman]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And so I have it with friends who I don't have Thanksgiving with.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. No, I don't think anybody's hurt.

[Monica Padman]

Just in case.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Were you mad, Rob? No. Okay.

[Morgan Freeman]

No.

[Monica Padman]

So would you have liked to have tried it? Yeah, I would like to try food. I appreciate that.

[Dax Shepard]

The Sweetest point America. So weird. One part's Rascal. One part Sweetest point America.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Another real. Just super, super quick gift guides went up. So this will come out Monday.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Three days after. Four days After Thanksgiving.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so they were up last week on my Instagram. If people want to go look at my gift guides, they're on my Instagram also. They're on. I made a substack for it so that I could write a little more. So what's on my Instagram is an abridged version.

[Dax Shepard]

Go to a link tree.

[Monica Padman]

You can go to the link tree in my bio, and you'll, you can go click on it. And if you, if, if you feel like you want to read a little more, you can do that. And there are links to the I items there.

[Dax Shepard]

Wonderful.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, now a couple facts really quick for Morgan. So the old. The riddle about where did they bury the survivors? So the brain teaser is, if a plane crashed on the border of country A and country B, where would you bury the survivors?

[Dax Shepard]

The answer is, you don't bury survivors. But I was the one who referenced this riddle, right?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you were.

[Dax Shepard]

So I, I, I knew this old one.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah, you knew it. Okay. The South African woman who sailed around the world in the documentary CBS documentary called the Loneliest Race. It features Kristen New Schaefer, a South African sailor who became the first woman to win the Golden Globe race. And you said it was harrowing.

[Dax Shepard]

It was harrowing. And there was another competitor that got stranded in the middle of the Indian Ocean or something. She had to turn her boat around and sail for days to go rescue this person. And then when she came into the harbor a year later or something like that, not 10 months a year, the second place was, like, some hours behind her. That seems impossible.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. The doldrums, he said, are 10 degrees north and south of the equator.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And they're five. Sesame street started November 10, 1969.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. For six years before I was born. And, and, and on my brother's birthday. Wait, what month?

[Monica Padman]

November.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Three days before baby David Robert Shephard Jr. Arrived.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. And then Sesame street was October 25th, 1971.

[Dax Shepard]

It's very weird to think that it existed before I did because it was so in my childhood.

[Monica Padman]

Wait, sorry, wait. Sesame street started in 1969. The electric company started in 1979.

[Dax Shepard]

Electric company, which he was on. Which was much funkier.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Why is Othello so hard to perform? According to AI it's considered a challenging play to perform, primarily because of its complex characters, particularly the nuanced portrayal of Iago's manipulative nature, the delicate balance of Othello's trusting nature that quickly turns to destructive jealousy, and the sensitive issue of race that can Be difficult to navigate on stage, requiring careful interpretation to avoid star stereotypes.

[Dax Shepard]

Avoid stereotypes.

[Monica Padman]

That's new. That's a new.

[Dax Shepard]

That's new answer.

[Monica Padman]

Weird. That's weird. What? What? That's weird.

[Dax Shepard]

I am so grateful.

[Monica Padman]

Real time. It's learning.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm so grateful and lucky to spend so much time with someone who's so different than me. It's so fun. What it is. It'd be so boring if you and I were the same.

[Monica Padman]

I agree, but why is that funny?

[Dax Shepard]

Because you're like, really suspicious. What the heck's going on? This is a different answer. Now, my guess is you could ask AI and you'll always get a slightly different answer.

[Monica Padman]

That's crazy to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

That's not weird to you, that it's like updating that quickly?

[Dax Shepard]

No, I think if on the same day you did it, it would be a different thing.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's bad. Bad then.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, but it just added more. Had a little less.

[Monica Padman]

No, the other one used to talked about Des Demona. Oh, this doesn't even reference her.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, cuz Trump like Rob, will you right now type in the same exact question into the what's the exact question? Google AI.

[Monica Padman]

Why is Othello so hard to perform?

[Dax Shepard]

Let's see if Rob reads the exact same one you have or if it's completely different.

[Morgan Freeman]

It's complex themes around race, jealousy and.

[Dax Shepard]

Manipulation, which require nuanced acting and careful direction. And navigate without perpetuating harmful stereotypes alongside the demanding role of Othello himself. Is that word for word? No, it's not.

[Monica Padman]

But it's similar. Similar.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Weird.

[Dax Shepard]

Uhhuh.

[Morgan Freeman]

Is it taking in the searcher?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it thinks each time, like each time it performs the task of scouring the Internet and coming up with a thing, and so it's somewhat random.

[Monica Padman]

And then there's. There's no real correct answer.

[Dax Shepard]

But nor is. Yes, agreed.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, this isn't a factual question.

[Dax Shepard]

But nor is there in on straight Google search, which is like you might come up with one article that has an opinion on it, and then there's another article that's got another reason why it's so there's no unified theory in all the results and things written about it.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, but then you can look through a but you. You do have a lot of options. This is just like deciding.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, it is, but I'm just saying it's not less consistent. It's probably more consistent in a way because you're. If you just get search results, you're going to get 10 different explanations on YFL is hard to perform through these different links. The AI version gave you guys pretty darn close to the same answer today.

[Monica Padman]

But last time it talked about Des Demona.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, and added that they got rid.

[Monica Padman]

Of her because Handmaid's Tale.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, we're scrubbing people from history?

[Morgan Freeman]

Is that it?

[Monica Padman]

We're moving like women are getting erased. Erased.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Fibromyalgia, neuralgia. He has neuralgia. It's a sharp, shocking pain that occurs when a nerve is damaged or irritated. It can feel like burning or sensitivity to touch and can cause muscle spasms. Neuralgia can be acute, short term, or chronic, ongoing.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't want neuralgia. Although maybe that's what I have right here. I can touch it immediately. Now I know exactly where the nerve is.

[Morgan Freeman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

That sounds yucky.

[Morgan Freeman]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Are you going to get it checked out?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. Maybe.

[Monica Padman]

Don't complain about until you get it checked out. Okay, I'd like you to get it checked out. All right. That's it. From Morge.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't complain about till you get checked. I don't even know if I was complaining. I just.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I'm just telling you that that's off the table.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I'm never allowed to complain about any until after I've had it checked out.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, actually, that's a good rule. No, you can.

[Dax Shepard]

You haven't had your vagina checked out from your nightmare, but I'm willing to walk down that road with you.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not complaining. I'm expressing a fear.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

That's different. Also, you can complain twice.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the new house rule.

[Monica Padman]

But if it's like a body thing, you can complain a couple times, but then you gotta get it checked out.

[Dax Shepard]

If it's still hurt, I. I abide by that. That makes sense. Like, either fix it or shut up about it. Yeah, earmark that for. I want to earmark for the next fact check.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Walking down the hill, hiking from the Turkey Trot and Delta, calling me, being one step ahead of me, emotionally calling me out and forcing me to walk through what really happened. And I was like, oh, my God, we're here. She's nine, and she's now doing for me what I have been doing for her and her old child.

[Monica Padman]

Now you have to kind of say it quickly. Can you say it really quick?

[Morgan Freeman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Top of the hill, coming down. She's cold. She's complaining about being cold. She's complaining about being really hungry. And then, like, 40 minutes later, I. She's saying I had now ordered macaroni and cheese, told Kristen to start making it by the time we got home. Home. So there'd be macaroni cheese. And then I say, like. She says, are you gonna eat? What are you gonna eat when we get home? And I go, oh, my God, anything. I'm starving. And she goes, you're starving, too? And I go, yeah. And she goes, why didn't you say anything about it? And I go, well, I didn't want to complain about it. And she immediately goes, are you saying that to let me know that you don't like that I complained about it? And I go, oh, am I doing that? Maybe to some. On some degree, yeah. I didn't feel like I was doing it, but, yeah, maybe. And she goes, well, I don't. I don't understand why I should feel bad sharing how I feel. And I go, yeah, that's totally true. I said, but I guess I'm always thinking in life, what I want to be next to someone that's complaining the whole time. I just try to act in a way that is what I would want other people to act. So I think about, do I want to take a hike with someone and listen them complain for an hour and a half? I don't want to. So I just don't do that, because I'm assuming no one else would want that. And she goes, well, I would want to always be my full self around everybody. And if someone doesn't want to be around me because I'm being my full self, that's fine, but I don't think I should not be my full self. And I go, that's right. Yeah. That's a really legitimate point of view. I think there's a lot of merit to that. And then we're walking, and I'm just not feeling great about it. And I go, I know what's going on, Delta. What really happens is when you complain about being hungry, I want to fix it. I can't. Or on top of a hill, and I can't make it go away for you. And now I'm uncomfortable because I can't solve a problem for someone I love.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And so really, it's just my problem. I want to be able to fix it. And she goes, daddy, I'm not saying any of this so you can fix it. I'm just saying it so you know what I'm going through.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, jeez, Jesus Christ. But she had to unravel that whole thing for me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I just said I didn't complain about it and without any real awareness, I was being passive aggressive.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

She's just like, she's not taking that. She's like, what was that? Is that, does that mean what I think it might mean?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I love her so much.

[Dax Shepard]

And I just realized like, oh, wow. My mom talks about this. She's like, you know, I knew at this given age you were smarter than me, which is a weird position for a parent child to be in.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I've heard her say that to me and I'm thought that, that in my own arrogance, I'm not like, well, I don't think they're gonna fly by me and a. Yeah, I think she flew by me at 9 years old on this hike.

[Monica Padman]

She's indomitable. God, I love her.

[Dax Shepard]

Me too. All right. That was my I don't need market now. All right.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Love you. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey they say Hollywood is where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Raiden was found dead in a Canyon near LA in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood in Crime, the Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and crime the Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of the Cotton Club Murder early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.