Nick Kroll Returns

Summary

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard Episode: Nick Kroll Returns
Release Date: May 26, 2025

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Introduction

In this special episode of Armchair Expert, host Dax Shepard welcomes back the beloved comedian, actor, and writer Nick Kroll after a seven-year hiatus. Joined by co-host Monica Padman, the trio dives deep into Nick's multifaceted career, personal journeys, and the evolving dynamics of friendship and creativity.

---

Nick Kroll's Flourishing Career

Dax Shepard opens the conversation by highlighting Nick Kroll's impressive array of projects:

Dax Shepard [00:24]: "Nick Kroll, an actor, a writer, a comedian, a producer. He does it all."

Nick discusses the culmination of his work on the hit animated series Big Mouth, which recently concluded its eighth and final season:

Nick Kroll [26:41]: "Nobody Wants This Now has been on for 10 seasons."

He expresses pride in the show's longevity and its evolution over the years, emphasizing how the characters' physical and emotional growth kept the series fresh and engaging.

---

Diverse Projects and Upcoming Endeavors

Beyond Big Mouth, Nick is actively involved in several other projects:

• Adults: An FX show premiering on Hulu and FX on May 28, 2025.
• New Movie: Nobody Wants It, set to release on June 6, 2025.

Nick shares insights into his new movie, detailing its blend of romantic comedy and thriller elements, inspired by real-life experiences and collaborative storytelling with his longtime friend Andrew Rannells.

Nick Kroll [57:00]: "Making the movie was not a mistake at all. I'm really proud of the movie. I love it."

He also teases future projects, including a new animated series titled Mating Season, which promises to explore themes of dating and relationships with the same comedic flair as his previous works.

---

Personal Reflections: Time, Growth, and Sobriety

The conversation shifts to more personal territory as Nick reflects on the perception of time:

Nick Kroll [09:06]: "Time is moving at a rapid pace. Every day is shorter, fractionally less."

Both Dax and Nick discuss how aging and life changes—such as starting a family—alter their relationship with time and decision-making processes.

A significant portion of the episode delves into Nick's battle with addiction and the heartbreaking intervention orchestrated by him and Dax to help a close friend, Aaron. This candid discussion highlights the complexities of supporting loved ones through addiction while managing personal responsibilities.

Nick Kroll [39:38]: "It was incredibly stressful to be in the midst of the pandemic, trying to coordinate and produce an intervention."

Monica shares her experiences and the emotional toll of witnessing loved ones struggle, adding depth to the conversation about mental health and sobriety.

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The Enduring Friendship Between Dax and Nick

A heartfelt segment explores the longevity and strength of Dax and Nick's friendship, which has withstood the test of time, professional challenges, and personal growth.

Nick Kroll [32:43]: "It's been both gratifying comedically and artistically, but on a human level. So, so unbelievably gratifying to reunite with your best friend from childhood."

They reminisce about their early collaborations, mutual support, and the joy of working together creatively after decades apart.

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Creative Processes and Collaborative Dynamics

Nick and Dax delve into the nuances of creative collaboration, particularly in writing and producing content. Nick highlights the importance of perseverance in the creative process:

Nick Kroll [25:19]: "You have to keep sculpting it and polishing it and editing it over and over for it to actually work."

They discuss the balance between individual creativity and collaborative synergy, emphasizing how their partnership enhances their respective projects.

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Reflections on Health and Parenthood

The trio touches upon the challenges of maintaining health amidst busy careers and parenting responsibilities. Nick candidly talks about dealing with chronic health issues while balancing professional obligations.

Nick Kroll [21:37]: "I try to avoid antibiotics because I'm RFK till I die, which I think will be sooner than I think."

Monica and Dax share their experiences navigating parenthood, the emotional complexities of family dynamics, and the relentless passage of time.

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Future Outlook and Closing Thoughts

As the episode winds down, Nick expresses excitement for his upcoming projects and the continued growth of his creative ventures. The friends offer each other encouragement and reflections on the journey they've shared.

Nick Kroll [48:24]: "It's incredibly gratifying to reunite and create something spectacular together."

Dax and Monica reinforce the themes of resilience, creativity, and the enduring power of friendship that underpin the episode.

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Notable Quotes

• Nick Kroll [09:06]: "Time is moving at a rapid pace. Every day is shorter, fractionally less."
• Nick Kroll [25:19]: "You have to keep sculpting it and polishing it and editing it over and over for it to actually work."
• Nick Kroll [32:43]: "It's been both gratifying comedically and artistically, but on a human level. So, so unbelievably gratifying to reunite with your best friend from childhood."
• Nick Kroll [39:38]: "It was incredibly stressful to be in the midst of the pandemic, trying to coordinate and produce an intervention."
• Nick Kroll [57:00]: "Making the movie was not a mistake at all. I'm really proud of the movie. I love it."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Armchair Expert provides an intimate glimpse into Nick Kroll's dynamic career and personal life. From concluding a successful animated series to embarking on new creative projects and navigating personal challenges, Nick's journey is both inspiring and relatable. The heartfelt discussions with Dax and Monica underscore the significance of friendship, resilience, and continuous growth in both professional and personal realms.

Listeners are left with a deeper appreciation for Nick Kroll's contributions to comedy and entertainment, as well as the profound connections that sustain individuals through life's myriad challenges.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondri 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 Buck Rogers and I'm joined by Gene Lightyear.

[Monica Padman]

Hi.

[Dax Shepard]

Hello. Returning guest. But long, long time.

[Monica Padman]

Long, long time.

[Dax Shepard]

Seven years, long time. Nick Kroll, an actor, a writer, a comedian, a producer.

[Monica Padman]

He does it all.

[Dax Shepard]

Big Mouth Kroll show the league Sazij party. 8th and final season of big mouth out on the 23rd. Yes, and it's spectacular. I watched it. It's spectacular. It is a laugh riot.

[Monica Padman]

He's one of those guys in the comedy space that just has so many things going on at all times and it's awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

Busy couple weeks for him because also on the 28th he the FX show adults. It's on Hulu and on FX and then he has a new movie out on June 6th. I don't understand you. Those are the many projects and offerings of Nick Kroll. Please enjoy Nick Kroll. We are supported by Claude, the AI assistant. That just feels different, you know. We're curious about the old artificial intelligence here on the pod. We are curious and we always want to give our arm cherries. The inner if you know, you know, tips.

[Monica Padman]

We sure do.

[Dax Shepard]

So they need to meet our new pal, Claude. While other AIs sound like robots, Claude just gets it with the emotional intelligence. Whether I'm researching guests or refining my latest meal plan to get Brad Pitt's abs or looking for the best dating advice to give Monica, Claude is the fact checker in your pocket while you're in the armchair.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's exciting for us. I like having an extra companion.

[Dax Shepard]

Welcome to the team, Claude. You can try Claude for free [e-mail]. that's C L-A U D E.com. we are supported by M&M's. What a fun sponsor. M&M's. I love M&M's.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

It's graduation season and if you're looking for a unique, delicious and fun gift for your favorite grad, we've got an idea for you.

[Monica Padman]

Personalized M and M. I love a personalized treat.

[Dax Shepard]

And if it's M&M's, oh, they're so fun. And it's fun to design these. On the M&M's website. You can choose up to three colors. So maybe their favorite colors or their school colors.

[Monica Padman]

Cute.

[Dax Shepard]

Then you can add text clip art and even photos to The M&M's put their face on there. Or hey, why not your own face? I would make You M&M's with the Hermes logo. Wow. That'd be a copyright infringement. But I do it anyways.

[Monica Padman]

I do it and I would for you, do a crowd.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's good. Once you have your design ready, you then have a bunch of different packaging options to match the occasion. Like the class of 2025 candy dispenser, which arrives with your custom M and Ms. Already inside. It's a totally different cheeky special gift that they're going to remember. Order your custom M and Ms. Today. Head to mms.com and use code DAX for 15% off your first order. That's mms.com code DAX to receive 15% off your first order.

[Nick Kroll]

He's an armchair expert. He's an option expert.

[Dax Shepard]

He's an obsesser. Let me warn Monica that I'm early because I'm always late.

[Monica Padman]

Good to see you.

[Dax Shepard]

Good to see you too.

[Monica Padman]

Welcome back.

[Dax Shepard]

Thanks. Fun pants have arrived.

[Nick Kroll]

We got a couple pairs of fun pants.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. Different versions of fun pants here. And then we've got a really understated guy. A guy who's realized that piece comes from inside and not out little denim.

[Monica Padman]

You're not into the presentation of it all.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, this has an explanation. And I'm curious. Do you ever buy stuff off Instagram, the ads that are curtailed to you?

[Nick Kroll]

Because I've decided it's time to enter my aging Japanese sculptor age and I would almost put those pants in that space.

[Monica Padman]

I agree.

[Nick Kroll]

Versus, you know, go ahead.

[Dax Shepard]

Cause I haven't wrapped my head around what they are yet.

[Nick Kroll]

Like a well to do caron vacation.

[Dax Shepard]

But can we also just throw in Gogins as like a hint of maybe go what we're going for unintentional. But I can tell you what really happened was I see an ad, they weren't these. And I was like, those look fun. Maybe I would wear those in the summertime. A light pant ordered them. And then it was like when funding gets complete. And I was like, I didn't know this was a business model. You know about it.

[Nick Kroll]

No, wait. I thought this was a scam. You're saying, like, once we raise enough capital, we might actually be able to produce the that we're selling you.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a business model now. Wow. That I didn't know about. And they're selling them and it appears they've already made them. But I don't know if it was Maybe just a digital. Whatever. I took a fucking gamble. And then like months later, they raised funding, they arrived.

[Monica Padman]

Can I feel them?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And then I went on and I just said, I'm gonna only wear these all summer. So I ordered every version they make and I'm waiting for funding, but these.

[Nick Kroll]

Ones just came, so they're like, we're still raising for a second round. You don't know how many different patchworks we need. So many old lad blankets to make these pants.

[Monica Padman]

They do look quilted.

[Dax Shepard]

They're not pricey.

[Nick Kroll]

Guys, I ordered once off Instagram, they were like short, little cool pants. Then I realized they were coming from a bizarre Chinese address. And then they came and they were truly the worst material and like a tiny pant. But I do want to talk about the sponsors here tonight.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Please, please.

[Nick Kroll]

Instagram. Is Instagram a sponsor?

[Dax Shepard]

They're a huge. They're our only sponsor.

[Nick Kroll]

Congrats.

[Dax Shepard]

But, yes, I feel guilty. And the way I've talked myself out of the guilt is like, yeah, who knows what the sizing is whenever you order online? But I'm not going to go to a store. I get so sleepy when I shop.

[Nick Kroll]

You shut down.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Do you ever go with your wife somewhere and she wants to shop on your own?

[Monica Padman]

You might be into shopping on your own, we don't know.

[Nick Kroll]

Or you dress up like your wife and go shopping on your own.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I walk into a store with either my daughters or my wife and the very first thing I do is look for a chair.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is.

[Monica Padman]

There's so many dads on chairs in stores.

[Nick Kroll]

True.

[Dax Shepard]

That would be a thing. Dads on chairs. Like Instagram.

[Nick Kroll]

That would. A talk show I would watch if it was just like dads on chairs. You'd come in, you'd be like, what's going on? How you find out of the family.

[Dax Shepard]

What female in your life is shopping for what?

[Nick Kroll]

I definitely shut down. I will go in very occasionally and then I will pull the rip cord.

[Dax Shepard]

And I don't know that's any better, cuz you put it on there and you're like, this is a bingo. You bring it home. And then still somehow something went wrong.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So my thing is, it's like I just order stuff and then I try it on. I go, great, someone in LA is going to get a great pair of pants. It goes straight to Goodwill.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, really? You just.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So there's just like a stream of stuff going to Goodwill that still has the tags on it.

[Nick Kroll]

I would like to Find better. This is terrible. I want better than Goodwill.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, real, real.

[Nick Kroll]

What I worry is that some guy's going to go in, pull Dax Shepard's very nice unworn pants, then sell them at a high end resale. I feel like they're good charities that are people who are looking for work, and so they need nicer interview clothing, stuff like that.

[Dax Shepard]

I like that.

[Nick Kroll]

But I need to find those names.

[Dax Shepard]

So call just to push back a little bit. Hard to hate on a hustler. Like if there's someone. Coleman, absolutely. And they profit off my thing he's.

[Monica Padman]

Putting in the work. And it is a he.

[Nick Kroll]

It is a he.

[Dax Shepard]

We know it's a he.

[Nick Kroll]

Unfortunately, it's hard to hate a hustler he. My pronouns are hustler, him.

[Dax Shepard]

So, yeah. It's been seven years since you were here. Wow. And if I had bumped into you on the street last month and said randomly, how long do you think it's been since you were on? What would you have said?

[Nick Kroll]

What? I remember originally from that conversation because I went back and listened a little bit today because I was like, where was I? Where were we? What was happening and what year was it? What I remember was I was talking about getting a car and what car I should get because I had like a little Audi A3A, nice enough, but slightly understated, and you were like, go for it, man. Fucking get the car you want. So I got a Tesla.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

[Nick Kroll]

I got a Tesla.

[Dax Shepard]

Congrats.

[Nick Kroll]

And this is before any salutes happened. I was like, yes, I deserve a big, beautiful, luxurious, fast car. And I had it for, like two years. I liked how it drove, but then I started to not like how the service was. There were elements to it that ultimately felt like a reflection in a way of musk. There's a certain obstinance to how it operated as a company that I began to be like, I don't like how this is making me feel. And then I also started having kids and I didn't want a sedan with car seats. So anyway, it made me think about when was I thinking about a Tesla. I was like, oh, this is before the pandemic. And I realized it's been seven years. So I knew it was in that 2019, 2018 region.

[Dax Shepard]

If we bumped into each other, my guess would have been, I think, three and a half. I guess I'm wondering, is your time now warped as you age, like mine is?

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. Well, I think time is hurtling past. Time is moving at a Rapid pace. And I think about this a lot. It's partly due to us getting older. And every day is shorter, fractionally less. Yes, I now have family. Every window of time is now taken up more than it used to be. And I think also the phones and screens are just such that now there's no downtime any way. Every moment is filled with something like a great podcast, like armchair.

[Dax Shepard]

Great way to spend three and a half hours while you're right. That's a new element. I haven't incorporated into my overarching theory on it accelerating. There was so much more boredom, and boredom takes longer.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes. I can't go to the bathroom without pulling out my phone, taking a picture of my body.

[Dax Shepard]

My body, my physical body, my physicality and my body. And I send it to you for.

[Nick Kroll]

Your leisure, for your entertainment, for your critique.

[Dax Shepard]

I think it's only been three years. I do have seven years of photos of you, and I love mapping the progress.

[Nick Kroll]

And it's been a roller coaster. And I appreciate you letting me know that that's fair. But I do think time seems to be moving at a pace that feels unparalleled in my life and untenable. Untenable. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, it's all culminating to something.

[Monica Padman]

I think Covid fucked with it, too. Those couple years.

[Nick Kroll]

Those years are kind of gone.

[Monica Padman]

They're a blur.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a smear.

[Nick Kroll]

It is seven years. So Covid falls in the pocket of that time.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, last interview, I don't remember that I hit you with anything.

[Nick Kroll]

Really.

[Dax Shepard]

Got you. But I do have a single. Got you. This one. I'm going to go a little harder. Okay.

[Nick Kroll]

So I immediately start sweating. Start taking up your. It comes. I've been waiting. Here it is. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

You turn down. Nobody wants this pause. And so my question is, this is huge. Why didn't you want to kiss my wife? Slash, how long have you been closeted?

[Monica Padman]

These are great questions.

[Nick Kroll]

I have been in the closet about not wanting to kiss your wife for years. For years, I've pretended to be charmed and delighted by her.

[Dax Shepard]

That makes sense.

[Nick Kroll]

So this is a great gotcha, by the way.

[Dax Shepard]

I wouldn't have even known I was FaceTiming with Kristin right before this. I go. I have Nick. And she goes, oh, yeah. You know, he turned down. Nobody wants this. And I was like, oh, my God, thank you so much. Thank you for giving me.

[Nick Kroll]

I did my research. Thank you. All these years in. I'm still doing my research. I didn't know that.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you didn't know what that she knew.

[Nick Kroll]

Okay, here's what happened.

[Dax Shepard]

You want to take your jacket off? Yeah. This is like Matt Damon turning down Avatar and missing out on $250 million. Do you know that story? No. He tells it openly. It's wonderful. He was offered 10% of Avatar on the phone with James.

[Nick Kroll]

Ignore Weaver and I. Everything right here.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, absolutely. To be signoring Weaver. You cannot ignore signoring Weaver.

[Nick Kroll]

Wait, for real?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Before the first movie.

[Nick Kroll]

Okay, so I'm in bed with my wife making. Because I'm a straight man.

[Dax Shepard]

You'Re temporarily.

[Monica Padman]

Out of the closet, evidenced by your child.

[Nick Kroll]

Both of my children who we conceived. And you're holding them like a strong marital bed as heterosexual husband and wife lovers. My wife is like, I started watching the best show. And I was like, oh, cool. What's it called? She's like, nobody wants this. And I was like, oh. And then I was like, oh. She's like, I love it. And I was watching it. I was like, oh, my God. It's like you.

[Monica Padman]

It's so weird. It could be you.

[Nick Kroll]

It's like hot rabbi. It's like you.

[Dax Shepard]

This is the kind of role hunt I'm always telling you you should do.

[Nick Kroll]

And I was like, I honestly do love Kristen. I couldn't wanna kiss this fucking woman less.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, of course. Yeah. You're like, is there any kissing? Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Ew.

[Dax Shepard]

Well.

[Nick Kroll]

And that's like a cootie St thing. And that's a long time. That's a life.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're married now and you refuse to do. Right. Romantic.

[Nick Kroll]

Well, because my wife wants to kiss your wife. And so she would have been jealous of me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, Correct.

[Nick Kroll]

And I can't have that.

[Monica Padman]

Break up the marriage.

[Nick Kroll]

It's like a movie by that guy who does those kinds of movies. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

The Carol. Todd Haynes.

[Dax Shepard]

Todd Haynes. Good. Is that it? And when Monica edits, you're going to go like that guy, Todd Haynes. It'll be a br.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, Hanes. You got it.

[Dax Shepard]

You got it.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, I meant Todd Hayes. This is a guy who's making movies in the Valley. I'm involved with investing and stuff. So I was like, I think they maybe offered this show to me. And then I went back and I wasn't sure if they had offered it to me or if they just wanted to talk to me about it. And I still don't quite know whether it was this is yours or you're one of people. Because when I read it, I was like, this is good. Christian's amazing. But they should cast Adam Brody to be this guy.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, hold on a second.

[Nick Kroll]

I swear to God.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. By the way, I didn't know till today they offered it to you, but when I read it, I was like, you gotta get Brody. He's the only option.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes. Cause he's the only symmetrical Jew.

[Dax Shepard]

He is heartthrob Jew.

[Nick Kroll]

Can I have a tissue?

[Monica Padman]

Absolutely.

[Nick Kroll]

Give me a whole box.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God, Dax. That was so aggressive.

[Dax Shepard]

That was meant to be aggressive. This was not. Oh, can I have that over here? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm gonna take one from me. Mind if I just spit loogies out while we test? I'm just a disgust mask.

[Monica Padman]

Constantly knows.

[Nick Kroll]

So you have children and you're just.

[Dax Shepard]

Sick for six years.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, that's on camera. Oh, but so good.

[Dax Shepard]

But let's leave the floor. Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

I'm sorry to do this. Kleenex is a personal sponsor and I travel with my sponsors show to show. So if this is okay, we could just do this.

[Dax Shepard]

We should do a celebrity line of Kleenex. Nobody has touched that space.

[Nick Kroll]

Nobody's touched it. They think Kleenex is because they got the branding on it.

[Monica Padman]

I could see your faces on that.

[Nick Kroll]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Kleenex box. How cute.

[Dax Shepard]

And we're both blowing our nose in a very cute and appealing way.

[Nick Kroll]

Sick little cutie. Why did I turn that down? I'm a sick little kid.

[Dax Shepard]

I have no sniffles. Sick little kid.

[Nick Kroll]

Nobody wants this. Nobody wants this cold. Wow. But Brody, I remember checking him, but I think he's half Jewish, which explains the square. The Jews are all kind of angles and circles and he's got enough of it. It's in the eyes. You feel the sweet kindness of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Nick Kroll]

But then there's like, still the square shape of it all. I keep doing this. Does that make sense?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it does. It does.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, did you go so is to go back through your emails to see you did it was an offer.

[Nick Kroll]

I don't. Don't remember. I don't know if I fully went back through. Have I regretted it? Watching Adam? Absolutely. Just fucking one of the biggest shows on Netflix ever. And people fall in love with him all over again.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Do you care or not care?

[Nick Kroll]

There's so many elements that go into these things, especially as you have a family and just choices change slightly where you're like, how does this work? Life just becomes a much more complicated puzzle of, can I go and make this. Literally, it was dead in the middle of when we were having our baby. There were a lot of elements that went into it. And yeah. If you've asked me if I've watched it, I have not. I cannot watch it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's fantastic.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you had anyone where you really wanted it? Someone else got it.

[Nick Kroll]

It still smarts when I go out for things. But as a producer and maker of things, you really take the heat off of yourself and others when you don't get something. For various reasons, you can still be very, very not write for this based on the particular part or the equation that they are putting out. So major reason I became a writer and producer was to avoid the powerlessness of being cast. I cannot recede this much control. I cannot handle that. So I need to start making things so that I can start to be the one who controls pulling the strings. Svengali, the Jewish monster controlling the media property. That was my take on Nobody Wants the. And they didn't want that. They didn't want my take.

[Dax Shepard]

She was a monster. Those two words are never together.

[Nick Kroll]

I think they're heard together quite a bit these days. The one that I'm dealing with right now, Jesse Armstrong's HBO movie, the guy who made Succession.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes.

[Nick Kroll]

There is a part in there. I got set and they were like, jesse Armstrong's doing this thing. Carell Rami, Jason Schwartzman. Succession, to me is just the best thing made perfect. It's perfect. This one is about billionaires on a mountaintop over, like, a weekend.

[Monica Padman]

Ooh.

[Nick Kroll]

And they're all tech billionaires. And I was. It's rare that a part or a group of people feels like I feel real for that. Let me be a shitty little tech billionaire in that thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Overcoming a lot of childhood trauma of being overlooked and then trying to rule the world because no one wanted to kiss you.

[Nick Kroll]

Exactly. Then coming down to this big, massive story about where we are as a culture and humanity then boiled down to, like, a beautiful, personal story. I auditioned, my family put me on tape.

[Dax Shepard]

Self tape. Sel tape.

[Nick Kroll]

Self tape. On like, a Sunday after a brunch. It was the only time to get it done.

[Monica Padman]

You're so.

[Dax Shepard]

That's relevant where you do Vol.

[Nick Kroll]

It was like a family brunch. We had to do the family brunch. And then I was like, I don't know when I'm gonna do this tape. My wife's like, let's do it right now. And so I fucking did it. You can hear my son screaming in the background of the tape. And I send it in. You're waiting and waiting and waiting. And then.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you get it?

[Nick Kroll]

No. No.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no.

[Nick Kroll]

Not fucking here.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't know that was the end.

[Nick Kroll]

You seen the fucking trailer? I'm not in it. I know all those guys a little bit, except Corey Michael Smith, who I adore.

[Dax Shepard]

We love him.

[Nick Kroll]

I love his height. I love his three first names.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

So I watched that trailer and I'm like, oh, those guys are all great. This is gonna be great. But boy, oh, boy, did I want to fucking be in that so badly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

I have no beef towards any of them.

[Monica Padman]

Except your son. You resent your son, I assume.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, I blame my family.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You should watch it with him.

[Nick Kroll]

This is what Daddy should have been doing if he hadn't done what he did.

[Dax Shepard]

You couldn't control your emotions for four minutes while I self taped. But, you know, I do just want to put a fine point on that. I too have been liberated by casting people. I just wish every actor could start casting.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Because, man, it takes all the fucking onus off your shoulders.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. You're just like, you're great, but you're not right for this.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

So be it. However, the other part of casting, I will say is that certain people are undeniable.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

And every once in a while you're like, they're not exactly right, but they are undeniable. And so we are going to cast them.

[Dax Shepard]

They force you to rewrite your original idea.

[Nick Kroll]

And in my worst moments, I'm like, but if I were undeniable.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we all just want to be undeniable.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Well, that was great. You turned on. Nobody wants it. I think that'll be a hot story. Headlines flying.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

People. That's going to be so thrilled by what the final outcome is. How much do you guys consult each other about the stuff you do?

[Dax Shepard]

Quite a bit.

[Monica Padman]

She has to get permission, obviously.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I only let her work.

[Nick Kroll]

That's a given.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess that's stupid. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Because the modern times. I was trying to be polite.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So if I've decided. Decided it's in the window. I want her to work.

[Nick Kroll]

If I've decided she's done having children.

[Dax Shepard]

We have such opposite personalities. I know what she'll get in love with and she'll get blinded by this one element. And then I'll just be the little voice going, well, you also need a really good director. Or you also need blank. And then conversely, she'll be monitoring my ego and my low self esteem and reminding me, you know, we help each other in that way. Do you have that?

[Nick Kroll]

I do have that with my wife right now. There's the creative stuff of like, I'm excited by this. She'll be like, great. For example, the Jesse Armstrong.

[Dax Shepard]

You also have indigestion, which is like the triple Crowns coming if you break a bone.

[Nick Kroll]

So this cough that you're going to hear, I've had for three weeks. I have two children under five. I believe I've had walking pneumonia like three times in the last year. And I'm coughing up. I mean, this is just the reality. You're in month. Your kids are older than mine, but you're still carrying.

[Dax Shepard]

We just got healthy last year.

[Nick Kroll]

After 12 years, I seem to be coughing up. And it's all color based. Where I'm like, it's not this green, so everything's okay. I can be in public. I just call the doctor and I'm like, it's this. It's sort of between armchair yellow.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just banana yellow.

[Nick Kroll]

It's kind of banana yellow. Can you see this paisley in here? Can you see the color? Sometimes it's this. So I'm not that worried.

[Dax Shepard]

Call me when it's kiwi inside of.

[Nick Kroll]

A kiwi and tell me when the seeds start coming out.

[Dax Shepard]

And you have your Z packs.

[Nick Kroll]

I did start and I try to avoid antibiotics because I'm RFK till I die, which I think will be sooner than I think.

[Dax Shepard]

He's a great role model. Germ theory is a joke.

[Nick Kroll]

But I did finally, finally lock into the antibiotics. I was like, I gotta do a bunch of press stuff. I gotta get clean, gotta do things. Now here I am on day three of the Z pack, just like. And the indigestion. Why didn't I play the rabbi? Anyway, My wife, I trust her opinion on things. What she's really good at is also being like, whether the piece of material is whatever it is. And sometimes that's just for me to figure out. She will monitor. Does this seem like there's something that feels exciting to you or something that.

[Dax Shepard]

You want to do versus intellectually a good decision?

[Nick Kroll]

Yes. Does this spark joy and excitement?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Now, you know, since I interviewed you, I don't know if this is a fair assessment, but I had this. And maybe I told you then I don't think I was brave enough to. But I have admired your choices from the get go, truly. And I guess my conclusion was maybe it was just to mitigate my judgment of myself. But do you think, think knowing your dad has money has helped?

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, we did. I actually went back and we did do that. Yeah. It was interesting because I went Back and was listening to our podcast on the way here. They do my research like you do.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

I was FaceTime with Kristen.

[Dax Shepard]

You should have. Yeah. Did she tell you I was not offered any roles and nobody wants this.

[Nick Kroll]

They offered you to play her sister? Yeah, we covered that a little and it was interesting. And I think it was sort of a realization in that interview where I was like, oh, this is so interesting to go back and hear yourself for a conversation you had seven years later, how your mind works where you still will pop up with a similar thought. Or I'll record my stand up and I'll improvise in a moment and I'll be listening back and my mind will have a very similar idea again. Makes you like, boy, I'm not fucking that interesting. Boy, I'm not a multidimensional.

[Monica Padman]

You believe what you're doing.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. Your mind goes to a similar place. So I was listening to it and I was like, oh, wow. I hadn't talked about that much and it was very kind of you to say. And I do think the major advantage of my parents growing up very comfortable and very privileged was the luxury of choice. And so as I had my career, I could make choices based on. Based on the fact that I had a backstop. If it didn't work, I was going to be okay. That has been. The great freedom of that has allowed me to make decisions based on that. What has changed is now that I have a family and now that I have responsibilities beyond myself, I feel a greater pressure and decisions that are weighed by more than just pure. Does this spark joy?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, my immediate thought was not to try to reshame you from being privileged.

[Nick Kroll]

No, I do that to myself constantly. And if you want to go to the Internet, they've been doing a great job of it as well for years.

[Dax Shepard]

I wondered more because you do produce things now, and there is an element of your now growing business. By the way, my favorite production company name I've ever seen, you know his production company's named Good at Business, right? Is that what it is?

[Nick Kroll]

Yes, yes. Good at Business. It was Bobby Bottle Service, my old character, be like, I'm good at business.

[Dax Shepard]

Those guys all want to be good at business.

[Nick Kroll]

And I wanted to change it at some point. And then I was like, no, I.

[Dax Shepard]

Think that's just never change it. It's so, so good. As a performer, you just want to be ignited and have fun and be engaged and keep that momentum going. As a producer, it's a different endeavor. You must consider the marketplace that also.

[Nick Kroll]

Is another advantage, is my dad built a business and I got to watch him have a business. That was a major benefit to me in innumerable ways, but particularly in understanding the literal economics. But less the economics, more just the managing of something. And particularly, my dad was an entrepreneur and built stuff in building a business. I just saw it growing up. Whereas it sounds like you talked about how you grew up that wasn't around. So you learning how to build a business had to come innately from yourself.

[Dax Shepard]

What I did see, I want to give my dad credit. My dad was an entrepreneur. He started many businesses and they would work out for a while and he would buy a bunch of stuff and then he would go bankrupt and just over and over again.

[Nick Kroll]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[Dax Shepard]

He was a passionate guy at starting things and not a great manager of things.

[Nick Kroll]

And that is a distinction, probably. Your healing has been like, build something and then maintain it, protect it, be.

[Dax Shepard]

A good steward of it.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes. And I would say that as I continue to make things and watch other people make things, and the difference between people who really successfully make things and the people who struggle to make things that really blossom is the ability to start something, have an idea that's great, but then continue to fucking grind it until it's right. Because we know a lot of people in our business who have great ideas, write a great version of a script.

[Dax Shepard]

A great first draft that needs work.

[Nick Kroll]

They don't want to keep working it. And you got to keep sculpting it and polishing it and. And editing it over and over and over for it to actually work.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. The endurance aspect of the business isn't something that people really talk about or think about quite often.

[Nick Kroll]

It's not the fun part. And that's my problem with your fucking dad.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me. Yeah, please let it rip. This is season eight of Big Mouth, by the way. I watched three episodes last night. It's as good now or better than it has ever been.

[Nick Kroll]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

I just was dying last night. It's so fucking good. That's the longest running show on Netflix. Adult, actually.

[Nick Kroll]

Nobody Wants this Now. Has been on for 10 seasons.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, they somehow.

[Nick Kroll]

No, it'll be the longest running scripted series on Netflix, which is crazy. We did eight seasons on Big Mouth and then Human Resources, which we did a spinoff of for two seasons. So it's about a hundred episodes of this universe that we built. I really think this season's as funny as any of the seasons we made.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's incredible. So we're year eight Right. No.

[Nick Kroll]

And can I announce it?

[Dax Shepard]

We've done seven.

[Nick Kroll]

I'm sorry, but can I announce that this is the final season?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. This is the last interview.

[Monica Padman]

This is the end.

[Dax Shepard]

We all died from Kroll's children's illness. They picked up at preschool. Not cause we wanted to end the show. But with your show eight seasons in, do you have these psychotic moments where you're like, I think this show sucks and nothing new's happening. I gotta change it? And then I'm like, no, you don't. Do you have that battle?

[Nick Kroll]

This particular show, because it's a show about kids going through puberty and adolescence, we made a decision pretty early on that the kids would continue to change, literally. The song is called Changes. The theme song, Charles Bradley based off an Ice Ozzy Black Sabbath song originally. And it's about. We're going through changes. Like, the show is about change and evolution. And so we were decided early on these kids are gonna change emotionally, but they're also gonna physically change. Season eight, the final season, my character Nick, who's been tiny the whole run of the show, how I was through puberty, hits a growth spurt. He's in high school now, and he grows, and like, the character grew. Guy hit puberty, and all of a sudden, in 10th grade, I grew like six inches.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

And all of a sudden, I was taller than Andrew. So because the show and the characters continued to change and evolve in a real tangible way, it never felt old or stale. That has made the show always interesting and always new and always exciting, as opposed to whether it's like a podcast or a sitcom or a show where people kind of want things to stay the same or people like what they like.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a sweet spot. Howard evolved. If you chart Stern from 95 till now, it is a different show, but it was just this perfect level of incremental change. As he acknowledged his own changing, he's.

[Nick Kroll]

Very smartly kept it evolving in that way. And I think on our show, in a way, you start with Nick and Andrew. It's based on me and my friend Andrew Goldberg's life. And we start to grow out. It's like, oh, this girl Jesse, and she got her period. And then it's like, oh, she needs a hormone monster. And then it's like, oh, there's this girl Missy, and then there's Jay, and let's start to explore his house and family. And then by season eight, you just keep broadening out who your focus is, is, and what stories you can tell. And then Always knowing you can come back to your core kids. But there was always new stuff to tackle and look at and try to understand.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to frame this whole thing. The theme of this one, I want to be best friends. This interview.

[Nick Kroll]

Great.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I'm still best friends with my best friend from 11, Aaron Weekley.

[Nick Kroll]

You talk to him daily?

[Dax Shepard]

Almost.

[Nick Kroll]

You talk to Andrew weekly?

[Dax Shepard]

Daily.

[Monica Padman]

What a joke.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Aaron Weekley. But you know why I didn't work? Sadly, it's W E a K. Like, he's a weakling, but he's very strong.

[Nick Kroll]

I bet he is.

[Dax Shepard]

Please don't challenge.

[Nick Kroll]

But that must have affected him. Is he a muscular fella?

[Dax Shepard]

No, he's way cooler. He loves who he is more than I do.

[Nick Kroll]

And that's why you guys are good friends.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

You're a star who hates himself and he's a regular guy who's totally at peace.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm watching last night, the show, and it's still, shockingly. Goes hard.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

The whole time you're kind of like, I really can't believe it's on tv. Which is a fun feeling to constantly have.

[Nick Kroll]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

And I wonder, could you have done that show solo or do you think you and Andrew have a bubble where you're like, as long as you and I think this is okay. It's okay.

[Nick Kroll]

Andrew, who I've known Since I was 6 and we were best friends in middle school. We stayed friends in high school. He went to college with, actually, a couple friends of mine. But then he came out to LA and he started working in animation. Worked his way up through Family Guy, McFarlane's assistant, and then became a writer and then producer there for eight seasons. Yeah, somebody does do his research.

[Dax Shepard]

I watched you and MacFarlane talk. It was really interesting. Even the thing you just said that your characters age, it didn't even occur to me. Like, oh, yeah, cartoons. The characters don't ever age. No, that's unique.

[Nick Kroll]

I actually met McFarlane through Andrew. It was crazy when I met Seth. And then we haven't seen each other very much because I stopped crooning. So we don't see each other on the circuit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Having that conversation with him, I was like, oh, this is very weird. There are not many people I could have this conversation with besides a couple of people like Seth MacFarlane, who created a show, Trey and Matt Won't Talk. I think with Andrew and I, we had the same thing where it was like around 6th, 7th grade. We started hanging out constantly and we just made each other laugh. And then we went to camp together and we were doing campfire skits and we were like, if this is funny to us, then who cares? But then we went our own ways and then we came back together with this show where he came to me with Mark Levin and Jen Flackett, who he had been their assistant when he first moved to LA 25 years ago. And then they worked in film and television. They made a bunch of stuff. And then they came to me with this idea. They're like, it's you and Andrew going through puberty. It's animated. That was an idea where it's like, yes, let's go. We all just bring different skills to this thing. The creative bubble of being like, I have whatever I do, my voices, the people I know that I can call in to do stuff. They have an unbelievable knowledge of storytelling and animation and creating a structure and family that makes for a show. So I could do what I do, they could do what they do. You know, we started this show 25 years after we were those boys. We created a show together that we've now done for eight seasons, but we hadn't worked together in 25 years.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

And then we come back together, work together, fucking doing Wayne's World sketches.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Doing literal word for word, Wayne's World.

[Dax Shepard]

We didn't work together since, since we ripped off every Saturday Night Live sketch and became heroes.

[Nick Kroll]

But it's been both gratifying comedically and artistically, but on a human level. So, so unbelievably gratifying to reunite with your best friend from childhood. To make this thing that then worked in a way that you could never have imagined. If 13 year old Nick and Andrew were like, you're gonna get to go make an animated show on Netflix, no less. A thing that they will understand entirely.

[Dax Shepard]

Streaming service and the computer.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Nick Kroll]

It's crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apply for Apple Card today and start earning up to 3% daily cash back on everyday purchases. And that daily cash can even grow automatically when you open a high Yield savings account through Apple Card. What are you waiting for? Visit Apple Co CardCalculator today to see how much daily cash you can can earn. Subject to credit approval Savings available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility Savings and Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Member FDIC terms and [e-mail] we are supported by Vital Proteins. Vital Proteins is the most popular brand of collagen peptides in the US for a reason. They're the experts. It's simple to add to your routine and it has four benefits all in one helping to support hair, skin, nails, bones and joints. These are all things that I really am in a battle to keep healthy meats too.

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[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, you love it.

[Monica Padman]

And it's tasty.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

You'Re good in partnership because you have it with Mulaney too. Do you prefer working with a person?

[Nick Kroll]

I do. I love a person. I mean, I love a sex doll, let's be honest, to write with. And nothing sexy.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Store your pens in their fleshlight.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, they're great at breaking, they're great at story.

[Dax Shepard]

They're great at holding the pens.

[Nick Kroll]

But I do like partnership. It's like watching you guys. There's just something intangible about the conversation that, for me, personally, I'm much more generative that way.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. We've other shows with other people, and if we sit down, we have to stop ourselves on the fact check. We literally have to stop ourselves. Like, oh, it's been too long, but, you know it.

[Nick Kroll]

Also, she's about to tell you that she loves working with other people.

[Monica Padman]

Go ahead.

[Dax Shepard]

And that she would like to permanently work with other people.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not. I'm going to say that I think sometimes in a 3 environment, it can be hard. And I can imagine sometimes, probably. I'm not putting words in your mouth, but I assume that sometimes you're like, it might be easier if it was just me, me. Not all the time, but in a real way. Like, well, this person has their own thoughts, and I'm coming in with the structure. So I think some people do prefer a solo creative endeavor, and that's understandable, too.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's your standup. You get that as well?

[Nick Kroll]

Yes, I get that in stand up. I do love to do that in stand up, but I always feel a little insecure. Insecure is probably the wrong word. Like, I want to kill myself.

[Monica Padman]

Suicide.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. Like ideations. No. But I do feel oftentimes like I'm better in conversation. And when I do stand up, I, like, love it. But I'm like, oh, am I lacking that spark that creatively things can come out of me when I'm in conversation that don't come out of me alone?

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, Mulaney, I was gonna bring that up too. I gotta say, I was embarrassingly Kind of ill informed on Mulaney.

[Nick Kroll]

Turns out, so was I.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, yeah, then I was on a trip that he was on and I was like, oh, I really like him. I'm gonna watch his standup special. I watch it.

[Monica Padman]

I think I was like, you gotta watch.

[Dax Shepard]

You had been pushing hard for Mulaney. You're a first in Mulaney fan.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I think he's great.

[Dax Shepard]

And so I watched his standup special and I'm an addict. Anything addict I like. It's so fucking great. But then I was wondering, were you at that intervention?

[Nick Kroll]

I produced that intervention, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not surprised.

[Dax Shepard]

Good for business. Good at business.

[Nick Kroll]

Good at business. Not good for business. Not good at business.

[Dax Shepard]

Not good for business. Losing your mind.

[Nick Kroll]

It was. I mean, you've been on probably both sides of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Just to tell you really quick. So Aaron, the reason we're back in business is he went another 19 years years after I got sober. He got sober five years ago. And so we too had a restart, basically five years ago. And it's like, oh, good. Back in business.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, it was. So, I mean, you can tell me.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't want to talk about it.

[Nick Kroll]

No, because, I mean, I do, because.

[Dax Shepard]

I had a relapse and Monica had to deal with it.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And she had to be detecting things. And we've explored that a lot. And I think a lot of addicts get to go on TV and talk about the experience and I think they get to do standup about it. And I don't really think you. You hear enough from the people who are fucking terrified and thinking you're losing your mind. Maybe.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, maybe you and I could do a separate podcast about this for real.

[Monica Padman]

It's so hard.

[Nick Kroll]

It was so scary and brutal to go through because he was in New York, I was in la. It was the height of the pandemic. So it was incredibly stressful to be in the midst of the pandemic, trying to literally coordinate and produce a intervention, bringing a bunch of different people together, friends from college. And my wife was very proud, pregnant. And I was shooting Don't Worry Darling, which there was no stress there. There wasn't for me personally in that, except it was at the height of COVID pre vaccine. I had a very pregnant wife and we had Covid scares and that was happening. And then John was running around New York City like a true madman. And I was so deeply scared that he was gonna die. And I was trying to orchestrate all this, of combining all the elements that go into these things, like the intervention person, where he was gonna go, go, who was going to be.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you need all that lined up.

[Nick Kroll]

It was so stressful. And then all of a sudden, I don't know how long your relapse was, but you're all of a sudden going back, being like, oh, that's why I've had an inconsistent friend for the last X amount of time.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, this explains that. And so it gives you both empathy for them and also tremendous amount of anger because they've been lying.

[Dax Shepard]

The deception.

[Nick Kroll]

The deception.

[Monica Padman]

Was there a lead up of like, hey, man, are you all right? Was there a lot of that pre intervention?

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. I have a very clear memory of. Of being outside at my house. There was someone working inside of my house. This was again, Covid. We had just moved into our new house. We were about to have our kid. It was just so intense. And I was trying to have these conversations with all these people while this was happening. It was the same week. I have a very clear memory of being outside, like, sitting on the ground on the phone with him, both of us crying, me just being like, I'm so scared you're gonna die. And so I felt him feeling the same way, way, but also like, just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, I'm in this new Airbnb. I gotta go.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

I have really not talked about this at all, but watching how it evolved, because also when he came out of rehab and started doing standup all about it, he was still pretty fucking pissed about the intervention because he was having a good time. I don't know how you felt when you got clean.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a lot to unpack.

[Nick Kroll]

For years, he was pretty angry. It was also like, oh, I don't know if I like having jokes about me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Especially when you went out on a huge limb.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. Being like, I don't know if that feels so great, if that's the reward.

[Dax Shepard]

For getting put through the emotional ringer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

But then we talked about it and I was like, I don't love how you're representing this. And he was like, I totally hear you. And everyone's process and art is different. So what he's willing to share, I mean, it's what makes him so fucking funny and dynamic and intoxicating as a performer, is that he's giving you a written version of his life, but he is giving you access to elements of himself. And I myself am very, very guarded in certain ways like that. But it's what makes him such an amazing Standup.

[Dax Shepard]

But I wonder. So for Aaron. We had 16 years of him still at it, and I never said a word. I knew what was going on. He knew what was going on. I'd go back to Detroit, we'd spend time together. I knew he was doing his best in those times to not be as fucked up as he was. And the very first time I ever said anything was he was growing weed at the time. There was a house next door he wanted to buy.

[Nick Kroll]

Nothing wrong with that. Keep going.

[Monica Padman]

Yep, everything's great on the up and up.

[Dax Shepard]

Bought him this house. I bought, like, a house in Detroit for $65,000. And I called him on a Monday to say, like, hey, the house is closed. You can start growing weed in there. And he didn't call me back for, like, five days, which is just not him. Even in the height of his addiction, he's very responsive. By day four, I'm wondering, is he dead?

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then when I finally get on the phone with him on day five, and he goes, oh, hey, sorry, Dad. I had the worst flu. And I go, aaron, dude, who do you think you're talking to? I had a lot of those flu.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I go, I think you're gonna die really soon, and I don't want you to. And I have a fucking treatment center in the Caribbean if you want to go. It's handled in my mind. I'm like, 98% sure he's gonna say, fuck you. And he goes, yeah, I'll go. And I was like, oh, my God.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I just gotta add one thing for the comedy. He doesn't have a passport. So now he knows he's going to treatment, but we have to wait five days. That was the most stressful five days of my life. Is he gonna make it?

[Nick Kroll]

It's exactly that feeling. I knew for a little while what stuff was going on, but not for however long he had been using. It was only near the end. The fear is, you're gonna lie to me or you're gonna be obfuscating.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a point where there's nothing to lose. Right.

[Nick Kroll]

My main concern, and now I will approach you about this, is I think you're gonna die.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

And that's all I do can. Can tell you. He talks about. I was the first one to speak. And also he's like, nick didn't get the memo that we were all going to be nice to John. And I was like, nobody got the memo. I just was like, I'm a good student. If the Job is to tell you a letter of how you've been a bad friend. Then I'm going to tell you how you've been a bad friend. Because this is no more joking around. No more nice shit. Like, it's fucking done.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, it's serious.

[Nick Kroll]

This is serious.

[Monica Padman]

That's the tightrope, I think, with addicts. I didn't know any before I knew Dex, but it is a tightrope to walk where you're not alienating them so that they just completely go off the deep end. Don't talk to you anymore. But you have to also say that you see some things wrong. I was just at such a loss, and I was just like, I know you're doing this. And then there was just like, I'm not doing it.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oops.

[Monica Padman]

Also, you're in survival mode, too.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. If I tell you I'm doing it, then the next thing is I have to stop. And I can't at that moment, I'm not there yet.

[Nick Kroll]

It ultimately, thank God, because where he's landed and how well he's doing and always is amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And then I'll put an end to this because I don't want you to feel like in any way it's exploitative. But I will add, I just told a story recently. I worked with a comedian who was supposed to be sober. Got fucked up in the movie, did so many things. I was about to say innumerable. You already said it a while ago. And I didn't want to repeat innumerable. It's so good. He did so many things. We almost got in a fistfight on sex. He tried to put glasses on my face and poked me in the eye. And he was so disruptive, and it was a mess. And then two weeks after I hate his guts, he has to have an actual cop on set with him. That's how bad it got. And there was a point where he's running through this store in the cops chasing him, like Barney Fife is a heavyset cop. And he's going, chase me, officer.

[Monica Padman]

Chase me.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm on my fucking chair waiting. I just start laughing so hard, and I'm like, oh, my God, he's so fucking funny. It broke my hatred and I started laughing. And it's hard to have compassion for people who are charismatic, but it can be harder for people who are really funny and charismatic because they can win people back over.

[Nick Kroll]

That's the problem with addiction, is the rascal. There's something so charming about the rascal. And the person who Kind of can't stop themselves for going for it. And it's intoxicating.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

And they're worried also, if they lose that element, then does the whole thing unravel? So I totally get that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I wanted to say a few more things about Big Mouth. One is, did I write it? You're at 67 characters you've done on the show. I believe it's 79 more than. It was fun to watch you and McFarland talk. I encourage people, if they're animation nerds, to find you guys chatting. And I was also thinking, what an accomplishment for you to have done eight seasons there. But you're also talking to dude who's done 20, really minimizes.

[Nick Kroll]

He's like, actually, I've done 138 seasons American Dad. He has 25,000 seasons of family Guy. Boy. There's a difference between early 2000s 90s TV money.

[Dax Shepard]

I asked Mike Scher this at one point when I was interviewing him. I'm like, does it make you a little bit mad that if you had the same career in the 80s and 90s, you would own the Red Sox. You'd be Tom Warner.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, totally.

[Dax Shepard]

And you, eight seasons of a fucking show, you'd have a couple hundred million dollars.

[Nick Kroll]

I would.

[Monica Padman]

Does it upset you, Nick?

[Nick Kroll]

No. Because Daddy's got so much money.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Nick Kroll]

But what I will say is we've done fine on the show. It would have been a different thing years ago, but also, we could not have made Big mouth in the 90s or early 2000s when we came in. We are the 33rd produced show by Netflix now in the fucking hundred millions of shows. But at that point, they were so early, they were letting us do literally whatever we wanted and letting us take incredibly big risks. And we have been grandfathered into continuing to be able to take those risks. We could not make that shift show there now. Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And by the way, this is so in keeping with the thing I admire about you, which is you might not have gotten $100 million, but you made something that could almost not be made. And of course, on your deathbed, you'll have so much more pride in that, Right?

[Nick Kroll]

In my deathbed, as I'm dying, I'm like, I got so many animated kids to jerk off. We just announced that we're making this new show called Mating Season that will come out a year from now, as if it were not another season of Big Mouth, but on a similar schedule as Big Mouth called Mating Season, about animals, dating and in the woods.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wonderful.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

I Knew a great grizzly bear, boys.

[Nick Kroll]

I'm like, okay, I'm chafed.

[Dax Shepard]

Can we revisit this in an hour?

[Monica Padman]

It sounds like you're Wilford Brimley. Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

America is going to be a record gold winner. When your little ones come in cold from building a snowman, make them an extra thick bowl of Quaker old.

[Nick Kroll]

Can you say that? Diabetes.

[Dax Shepard]

Diabetes. Get your blood sugar checked regularly.

[Nick Kroll]

It's so funny to think about. Now he's promoting Quaker oats. That glucose spike from that oatmeal. What a hypocrite Wilford Brimley was. That will be a different kind of show where it won't be kids going through puberty. It's a show about dating and relationships, so it'll be interesting to start that. So I'm excited that we're continuing this.

[Dax Shepard]

Team the machine you built.

[Nick Kroll]

And it makes sense for a viewer to be like, oh, I liked Big Mouth. Now it's about dating and fucking as adults.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

The other thing I wanted to say about Big Mouth, similar to when I was watching the studio. Have you watched the studio?

[Nick Kroll]

I watched most of it, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

There's so many accomplishments in the studio. Technically, it's so impressive. It's so fucking funny. It's so well acted. But when we met with Seth about it, I was like, can you zoom out and take a little bit of pride about the people that are willing to come be with you? And when I look at the amount of people you've had on Big Mouth over the last eight years, are you able to take what a testament it is to your character and just that people would want to work with you like that, to me, I would hope would be one of the nicest things about the show.

[Nick Kroll]

Thank you. That's a very nicely observed thing. And it's true. I have a tremendous amount of pride in the core group who was on that show. It's Mulaney. It's Maya Rudolph. It's Fred Armisen. It's Jordan Peele's literally last acting job. Literally. My friend Jesse Klein, a genius writer, perform. And now IO Debery and Jason Mantzoukas. That's the core cast. Andrew Rannells. Then the people that we've had on the show. It's insane. A few years ago, Cynthia Erivo came to me and was like, I'd love to do something on the show. And I was like, great. We first went to her with a song to do, and we were like, hey, we have this amazing thing. She was like, amazing. Let me hear the demo. And she heard it and she was like, this is a great song, but I am a. A diva. She doesn't mean it like I'm a diva, but like I'm a diva. And so for me to sing this song, this song has to change.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

To make sense for me to sing it.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. You don't invite Jordan to play.

[Nick Kroll]

Well, maybe invite him to play golf.

[Dax Shepard]

You could hock.

[Nick Kroll]

You could probably win a couple hundred thousand dollars off him. As good as basketball players. He's fine.

[Dax Shepard]

He's fine. He's fine.

[Nick Kroll]

Not with the way I've been fucking.

[Monica Padman]

He's going to come for you. You know, he has vendettas.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh. And that's when it became personal. That whole last dance. Every think it's just like that's when it became personal.

[Dax Shepard]

Most of his energy was figuring out how he could hate his opponent.

[Nick Kroll]

Go back and watch his hall of fame speech.

[Dax Shepard]

He aaron him.

[Nick Kroll]

He's nitpicking like the guy who made the team in high school over him. It's like, bro, you did it. You can't become Michael Jordan without making an enemy. You have to be a killer.

[Dax Shepard]

And it proves more importantly. You think a trophy and successful. Heal those ones. No, you actually just got to go heal those.

[Nick Kroll]

But I think that that's what the great mystery of life. And however you're competitive, whether you're an athlete or if you're making stuff, you have to figure out whatever those wounds created that generates your ambition, your drive, your desire to make things or to be great. How can you heal that thing and maintain that drive?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Harness it and then put it away when you need to put it away.

[Nick Kroll]

And that's a really hard thing to do because that inner critic is what drives you and it's also what destroys you. Coming back to what you're saying. Cynthia Rivo doesn't do that part. Then we come back to her like, would you like to play Missy's vagina? And she's like, I would love to.

[Dax Shepard]

She's great.

[Nick Kroll]

There's a scene with. It's Cynthia Erivo IO Adebri as Missy, Quinta Brunson as the doctor, and Tandooay Newton as Missy's hormone monster. I look at that scene, I'm just like, this is fucking heavy hitters across the board. Lupita Nyong' O. We have multiple Oscar winners, cast of.

[Dax Shepard]

An Alexander Payne movie or something so funny.

[Nick Kroll]

We're gonna make some video that'll come. There's like 34 Oscar nominations, 18 Oscars in the show.

[Dax Shepard]

Shall we talk for a second about. I don't understand you.

[Nick Kroll]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell us what happens in this.

[Nick Kroll]

So this movie is me and Andrew Rannells. We are married, going on our 10 year anniversary, trying to hold onto our marriage a little bit. We've been trying to adopt a baby unsuccessfully and we go to Italy. We end up in this little nonna's house in the middle of nowhere, Orvieto. And shit goes wrong one after another. It's a crazy night. Basically what feels like you're watching at the beginning is, oh, it's kind of a sweet little rom com couple struggling on vacation and then it all unfurls into like a farce thriller. Very bloody, bloody funny. I'm a bit neurotic, a bit controlling and he's the loose, fun, flighty. This couple, David Craig and Brian Crano. It's based in part on their personal stories of trying to adopt and then a vacation in Italy that went off the rails that they combined and they wrote and directed it together. And Andrew and I have known each other for now a long time.

[Dax Shepard]

You guys bonded over not wanting to kiss Kristen Bell. Yes, exactly.

[Nick Kroll]

I have to say it, watching Andrew Randalls and Kristen Bell kiss would be a delight.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Beautiful white people.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's right.

[Dax Shepard]

So white and so beautiful. They could sing together.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh my God, I'm rooting for them.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

That is the Todd Haynes movie that.

[Dax Shepard]

I really want to see.

[Nick Kroll]

But he's been a big part of Big Mouth. We've been friends and he's just the funniest, most talented guy and he's got that Broadway. He can sing like an angel, but he's deeply funny and a great actor. Amanda Seyfried plays the woman who we're trying to adopt a baby from who we're FaceTiming with us. She's like, I'm going to give you my baby. And we're in the middle of an Italian village cover covered in blood. Have you gone on location with your family to shoot a lot?

[Dax Shepard]

I went with Kristen to Italy when we were newly dating, but not with kids. That was outrageously fun. I've taken the kids to London where she was working and that was not outrageously fun.

[Monica Padman]

And on a cruise ship and a.

[Dax Shepard]

Fucking active cruise ship. I've got a one and three year old.

[Nick Kroll]

Was that Rogan? Was that Lauren Miller, Rogan's movie?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Nick Kroll]

Which is a really fun movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Absolutely. If you're in it with Kelsey Greer.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, dear Lord.

[Dax Shepard]

What were you gonna say? Do you love it?

[Nick Kroll]

You have this dream Of I'm gonna make this movie in Italy. My wife was like, let's go to Rome and make this movie. And we had a son at that point who was gonna be nearly two. And so he was starting to be. Not like a tiny little baby. As we get there, we realize that my wife is pregnant.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, what do you do about doctor visits?

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Mamma mia. Papa P. A diarrhea.

[Nick Kroll]

Baby got a diarrhea.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you want to hear really quick? Aaron and I, my best friend, we figured out where that saying comes from. It is from the early 1900s, and a woman brought her baby to the Italian doctor. Mamma mia, papilla, Baby's got a diarrhea. It's not a big deal. We weaponized it, but it was just good news. They were so worried the baby was.

[Nick Kroll]

Something wrong or is the baby dying of dysentery?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Or rotavirus pre vaccine.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what the rfk.

[Monica Padman]

It all circles back to rfk.

[Nick Kroll]

It always does. So you have this idea of what the movie's gonna be. Me and Andrew Reynolds working together. Dream. Me and my wife in Italy. Our son no longer a little baby, making memories, Making movies, making love.

[Dax Shepard]

Hey. Now we all of a sudden, it's.

[Nick Kroll]

Like, oh, it's a month of night. Shoots 45 minutes outside of Rome. So much of the movie takes place at night. And making of the movie was a blast. But I would get home at like 5 in the morning.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no.

[Nick Kroll]

And my son at 7am wants to party and has revolted against. We brought our nanny with us. And my son wants no part of that.

[Dax Shepard]

He's done with that.

[Nick Kroll]

He is scraping at the door. I've just washed mud and rain off and I've glided into bed.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's just like.

[Nick Kroll]

And like a busker playing an electric violin outside. So at 7:30 in the morning, my son's like, I want to go to the park. And I'm just hearing like, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Cold plow.

[Dax Shepard]

It was madness.

[Nick Kroll]

That's what's interesting about early days of family and life and marriage is you're learning on the fly how to do these things. So you have to make these choices. Mistakes.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Making the movie was not a mistake at all. I'm really proud of the movie. I love it. But it was a very hard physical thing to figure out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Nick Kroll]

I showed my wife the movie. I was so relieved that she like, oh, this is great.

[Dax Shepard]

Right? It was all worth it.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes. And we also had unbelievable times. I Would go with my son up to Villa Borghese, that park above the Spanish chefs. And I would take him on a little merry go round and walk him around and go to the zoo and just laugh at these animals. You dumb idiots. You guys stuck here. Look at us. Free. Free. Excuse me. I actually have a pickup in 13 minutes and I gotta go. I have real thoughts on a time.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God. Are they controversial.

[Nick Kroll]

Go see me on the road to see the material.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh yeah. So how many dates do you do a year?

[Nick Kroll]

I don't do many dates. Stand up. I did a special 22 or 23.

[Monica Padman]

So good.

[Nick Kroll]

Thank you very much. Called Little Big Boy.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Nick Kroll]

On Netflix. And then I always have 20, 30 minutes in the pocket that I'm working on or playing with. I'm gonna go do some dates this summer. I'm doing a couple dates with Mulaney Birbiglia, Fred Armisen at some big festivals in Canada. I'm doing another festival in Canada with Kumail Jezelnick and Michael Che. And then I'm doing some mess around stuff here and there. I'm always at Largo in LA when I'm here.

[Dax Shepard]

We recently read the top 10 earners of standup and we were just a gas.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. I was going to say I got to buy diapers, but I got to say I didn't always have to buy diapers because I got your guys products. Was really grateful for.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh good. It went bankrupt and we no longer have anything to do with it.

[Nick Kroll]

I had a feeling.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Thought I'd be hearing more about it. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You thought maybe those diapers were going.

[Dax Shepard]

To come good at business.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, good at business.

[Dax Shepard]

Business. Really good at business. Especially the diaper business.

[Nick Kroll]

Medium at diapers.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And even less so with my beer company.

[Monica Padman]

No, that one you're enjoying.

[Dax Shepard]

Aaron and I have an NA beer.

[Nick Kroll]

Can I try it?

[Dax Shepard]

Absolutely.

[Nick Kroll]

Please send it.

[Monica Padman]

They're good.

[Dax Shepard]

It's outrageous.

[Nick Kroll]

I still drink much less than I used to, but my skin is so crazy that when I drink alcohol sometimes my face will become wildly flushed.

[Dax Shepard]

The Asian in you comes out.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. Well, I'm married to an Asian woman, but it makes the Asian flesh look very cool compared to what happens to my face, which looks like a storm.

[Dax Shepard]

Angry hot dog Doppler.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, there's a tornado. Because it's not clean. It's not like an Archie comic. It's like.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's moving. Yeah, it's gaining strength.

[Nick Kroll]

So that's what I do is I do a couple na beers. I do five to 10 mushroom chocolates. I crush up some gummies. Pop those right up the Nazaro. You gotta really crush em up folks, because I want to be responsible on this podcast. If you're going to snorkel, sort your edibles, you gotta pulverize them.

[Dax Shepard]

Use a mortar and a pestle. A lot of people aren't.

[Nick Kroll]

They don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Bring that with you everywhere you go. Everywhere you go, your mortar and pestle. Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by all state. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like you know to double check the hamper first before turning your white laundry into a lovely shower shade of pink. Like you know to check that your headphones are plugged in first before blasting your guilty pleasure playlist in the quiet section of the library. Like you know to check that you're texting the right person first before sending that spicy gossip about your cousin. Checking first is smart, so check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary, subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, North American Brook, IL we are supported by Liquid IV. If you're feeling rundown, have lower energy than usual or getting headaches, did you know dehydration could be contributing to that? Get this 20 to 30% of older adults are chronically dehydrated and 75% of US adults don't meet their daily water requirements. If you might be in that statistic, you gotta try Liquid iv. There's small convenient packs that you mix into water to provide you with long lasting hydration that's going to help you feel your best whether you're crushing a workout or just just going about your day to day.

[Monica Padman]

You know all I do is talk about electrolytes.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. Well, I just love the convenience. So I'm about to go to New York and I just pop in five little packages and I barely notice they're in there and then I add them to my water and I'm straight. Break the mold and own your ritual. Just one stick of Liquid IV gives you three times the electrolytes than the leading sports drink. And with tons of delicious flavors. You're not only going to love how you feel, you're going to love how it tastes too. Give yourself the power of extraordinary hydration from Liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid IV when you go to Liquid I.com and use code DAX at checkout that's 20% off your first order with code DAX@liquid I.com We are supported by Edible Arrangements. There's just something special about getting a delivery, isn't there? Getting a gift from Edible Arrangements is a surefire way to put a smile on someone's face. I love when people send us this.

[Monica Padman]

It is really fun.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm really keen on the pineapple when.

[Monica Padman]

They come with the chocolate.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I can't get enough of that yummy goodness. You probably know Edible Arrangements has delicious fresh fruit bouquets and those are great. But Edible Arrangements has so much more than that. They've got chocolate dipped fruit, new dessert boards with cakes, cookies and brownies, balloons and even fresh flowers. And free gift wrapping is included so your gift recipient will feel extra special. So no matter what your occasion, hosting, thank yous, birthdays, celebrations, hey, even a good apology. Edible Arrangements is your one stop shop for gifting and if you happen to forget a special occasion, no worries. Edible Arrangements has fast and flexible delivery with next day, same day and even one hour delivery options. Go to ediblearrangements.com and use promo code ARMCHAIR10 to save $10 on your order. Over $59. Offer ends at midnight Eastern Standard Time on December 31st. Additional terms and conditions apply. See site for details.

[Monica Padman]

Sorry, real quick about the you do a bit about moms being annoying. That is so spot on and good. And I think about it every time.

[Dax Shepard]

It was a mom.

[Monica Padman]

Definitely every time I talk to my mother. We are on the heels of Mother's Day and yeah, I think about it all the time. They are so annoying but we love them.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it's the most thankless job in the world.

[Monica Padman]

It's such a wild job and upsetting.

[Nick Kroll]

It's brutal.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you watched Love on the Spectrum?

[Nick Kroll]

I've watched a little bit of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Watch a little bit more just to get this. And I think this was Kristen observation. The thing that unites all kids on the spectrum is they are relentlessly mean to their mothers. Every time their mom starts talking they're like, oh, like these poor mothers. They have this kid that they have to give so much time.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes, yes. Which is in essence of what it is, I think to have to be a mother, which is the emotional connection that we feel to mothers, fathers. It's not like we're nothing but they can take or leave us a little bit. Moms, there's such an importance to that emotional connection that it also forms flares up and it's tough because I think that joke is about my Shortness. I do say that moms are annoying. What I believe the joke is about is my impatience, my inability to see through what she's trying to do, which is just love me.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, of course.

[Nick Kroll]

I don't know if my mother sees it that way exactly. She's like. A lot of people have talked to me about your joke. I'm sure they. I don't always talk about my personal life and family in standup. When I do, in that case, it resonates with people because I think it's something people really, really do connect with and can relate.

[Monica Padman]

It is the most relatable. And for this reason you're saying everyone is just so impatient and mean to their mom and they are calling to say like, hey, I just re upped your aaa. And it's like, why'd you do that?

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You didn't even ask.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Nick Kroll]

They can't do anything right. So crazy. So thank you for that.

[Monica Padman]

Poor moms.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So lastly, this is a very busy couple months for you.

[Nick Kroll]

Big mouth comes out May 23rd, adult comes out on FX20 on May 28th, and then drops on Hulu that night, May 29th, all eight episodes.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I don't understand you. June six.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So every few days you have a big project coming out.

[Nick Kroll]

Three projects come out in three weeks. That culminates about 15 years of my work life over a three week period.

[Dax Shepard]

They're all dramatically different as well, which is helpful. It's not like you have three superhero movies coming out in a week and you got to somehow explain how that's next year.

[Nick Kroll]

I can't believe I'm the bridge between DC and Marvel again. So adults is.

[Dax Shepard]

I watched it last night.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, you did?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Nick Kroll]

Awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

You can immediately sense when something's generated by the people in the show and that they have some rapport and that they're real comedians and they weren't just cobbled together with whoever had an agent.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Like you watch Broad Scene, you're me. And they're like, yep.

[Nick Kroll]

It was created by Rebecca Shaw and Ben Cronengold, who are super young. When I met them, they were 24. It's been almost four and a half years since we first met to when the show is now being made. It's about young 20somethings in New York and that great tradition of shows. The pitch was always like, if friends they were in the West Village and then girls and Broad City. Now those kids are living in Brooklyn. Now that kid is living in Deep Queens.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right.

[Nick Kroll]

They're living in Like Flushing because that's where one of them's parents have a house where they can all live.

[Dax Shepard]

They're all freeloading. And one of the gals wants to now incorporate her new boyfriend.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

A young mom, Monica Padman. She's fantastic.

[Nick Kroll]

She's fucking funny. They're all. And so we cast all those kids. None of them knew each other. It's 5, 20 somethings, some stand up, some actors, some TikTok based people. All incredibly funny performers. My hope is you watch that and you're like, oh, this group of people seem like friends. There's a vibe. I wish my friends were like this. Or this is what my friends are like. Or this is what I remember my friends being like in my early 20s.

[Monica Padman]

And you produced it.

[Nick Kroll]

I produced it and then directed a little of it.

[Monica Padman]

Nice.

[Dax Shepard]

When I was watching it. I don't know why I get so comforted by this. I've said this before, but when I watched English Teacher, I don't know if you've seen that show.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Not to get on a soapbox, but I think early when I was adjusting to the transition in comedy which was totally righteous, you should let the folks make the jokes who the jokes are about.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I watched English Teacher and I was like, yes, this dude's gay and he's going so fucking hard on this topic. And that was the solution. What I didn't want was for these topics to go away. Everyone needs to get, get made fun of.

[Nick Kroll]

Let them do it themselves.

[Dax Shepard]

I think we all have this maybe knee jerk concern that the younger generation, so fragile and precious. And so the thing that was so comforting about seeing this is like, oh, they're going fudgeing hard. Like the kid they know comes out about being molested and they're just going so hard about him being molested. And I was like, oh, wonderful. Comedy's still very much alive and the younger kids are going to push just as fucking hard and just let them do it. That's the part I really liked about the show.

[Nick Kroll]

The creator's been. And Rebecca again, super young. They are fully Gen Z, so they love their friends and they love their generation. But they also see what is inherently silly about it. And so the show is kind of. That they're making fun of everything that we steal about Gen Z, but it's also with real love.

[Dax Shepard]

It's coming from the inside.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And not the outside.

[Nick Kroll]

Yes. And so it's not like these fucking Gen Z kids are the sensitive. My hope is that it's a little post identity Politics.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Nick Kroll]

So they're just sort of existing inside of it. And it's not like as this person, I feel this way is part of the hope.

[Dax Shepard]

I was just enormously relieved watching it. Oh, good. Comedy's gonna win.

[Nick Kroll]

Is it too late to put on the poster Dax Shepard? I was enormously relieved.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I go into everything thinking, oh, these precious. They can't even take a joke about each other. I hope I'm owning it.

[Monica Padman]

You are.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, thank you.

[Nick Kroll]

Monica, Ben and Rebecca, when they first came to me speaking, how long these things take? My first email correspondence with them is November 2020. About like, let's do this. They were like, we love big mouth. We want to make live action. Big mouth for our 20s. It has become its own thing entirely. But there is a natural feeling of, oh, what we're trying to do with puberty. They're doing with their early twenties. This moment in life that you are in this space and what's funny about it and how can we heighten that out and do some sort of surrealist things about it that speak to the emotional truths that lie underneath it?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. If you have a tone, it's that it goes hard.

[Nick Kroll]

It goes fucking hard.

[Monica Padman]

Fine.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh. Oh. I was going to say you're talking about me and I would never say that about myself. It's so funny where I'm like, yeah, I go hard.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, of course you wouldn't say that. Billy Bobble bottles. What's his name?

[Nick Kroll]

Billy Bottles. Billy Bottles. It's my Billy Bob Thorton doing bottle service.

[Dax Shepard]

Me, Your brother that shows up as Billy bottles.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah. I do want to bring Bobby bottle service. Cuz I think he'd be like way into crypto, you know what I mean? I bought DOA Cat coin.

[Dax Shepard]

Eight. Dude.

[Nick Kroll]

No. Now it's down to four. But I fucking. I'm using positivity and maximizing my potential to move to Puerto Rico so that I should be able to make all my money back and then some.

[Dax Shepard]

Never sell. That's the thing. Never, never sell.

[Nick Kroll]

Never settle. Here's the other option. Go entirely on emotion.

[Dax Shepard]

Buy, sell. Go with the market.

[Nick Kroll]

Keep going with the market. Chase, change course.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't leave. You want to chase in finance, never trust your instincts. I want to have a quick conversation with Coach Steve.

[Nick Kroll]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

As Hermion Permian. Oh, okay. Because I feel like they share an essence and I just want to see how it goes.

[Monica Padman]

I'm excited to see this.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm just going to introduce you to Hermion Permian. He lives by himself in an Apartment. And it goes pretty well where you.

[Nick Kroll]

Live, Steve, I'm not living anywhere particularly, so. I'm just wondering if you got extra. You know, you got extra space in that place. Maybe we could crash together for a while.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I love to have some visitors over. My mom, Mrs. Monica. She's in and out sometimes, and she'll bring snacks.

[Nick Kroll]

Well, you know, if Monica wants to hang out. If your mom, who it's not clear if she's alive or not. Or if this is kind of a base motel situation. Any way you want to play it, I'll hang out with her. I'll hang out with the dead corpse. I'll do whatever you need to do. I'm here to hang forever. For long term. For whatever you need.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you have any allergies?

[Nick Kroll]

I've got a couple allergies I'm allergic to. I've been living on a diaper barge.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Nick Kroll]

Turns out I'm allergic to all the diapers that are on there. The used diapers.

[Dax Shepard]

I have bee stings.

[Nick Kroll]

Are you allergic to the bees?

[Dax Shepard]

The thing I think.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, wait, you. I should mention. I'm also dying. I got classic tb.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no. I had an uncle who passed.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, I'm so sorry. Does he need company? Should I go hang out with him?

[Dax Shepard]

This has been great. Okay. And then the last one. I want to do Frito talking to hormone monster.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, God.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I feel like we could go somewhere that might make Monica throw up. She hates Frito.

[Nick Kroll]

Does she hate the hormone monster?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, the hormone monster's scary too.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, this guy's awesome. If you met my hormone monster. He's so horny.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, that's right. Frito Lay is better than just about anyone I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell her everything.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, he puts it in. He gets it out. He puts it back in.

[Dax Shepard]

I can do it forever, Monica.

[Nick Kroll]

He can't come.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't do it. Because it slows sexy.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah, because he likes the edge. He brings it right to the edge.

[Dax Shepard]

I live on the edge, Monica. Yeah, that's right.

[Nick Kroll]

He lives on the edge in New York. If you ever go to the Hudson Yards, that weird tower that they built. It's called the Edge.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it likes to hang out there. Have you ever eaten Steak Monster?

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, I love to eat steak. I go to Morton's.

[Dax Shepard]

Bobby Bottle service. You ever have a ribeye steak?

[Nick Kroll]

Rib eye is the best steak you could ever eat. Nothing like power that.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't even afford a ribeye, but they're delicious.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, buddy, I'll take. You get ribeye and then we'll make some extra butter for that mashed potatoes, if you.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you know what butter is code for? Monica sauce. Oh, thank you. That was disgusting. People are throwing up. Your vocal cords are done.

[Monica Padman]

I know. We have killed you.

[Dax Shepard]

You're going to have to double up on the Z.

[Nick Kroll]

Can you double a Z?

[Dax Shepard]

I always double my Z. Nick, you're a blast. I wish you came more frequently than every seven years, but I'll take you. Got a de.

[Nick Kroll]

And by the way, it's so crazy. The show was already working seven years ago, but to watch your show absolutely explode over these seven years has been amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, well, thank you. You're part of that success story, everyone. The first year when there was no reason to trust us. I have deep gratitude. Next time you have three projects coming out in a week, please come back. And congrats on getting married and having two children since we saw you last.

[Nick Kroll]

I wish you could have been congratulating me for being a part of making.

[Dax Shepard]

Out with my wife. Yeah, you just wouldn't do it.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, no, we're still making out. Just now we're doing on tv.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, then I'm relieved by that. I don't mind that you're not in the show, but the fact that you're disgusted by my bride is unacceptable. All right. Be well.

[Nick Kroll]

Thank you for having me.

[Dax Shepard]

He is an ARPU expert, but he makes mistakes all the time. Thank God Monica's here. She's gotta let him have the facts.

[Monica Padman]

I got my hair cut today. Barb did my hair.

[Dax Shepard]

Where'd you find Barb? Barb Chopstick. What'd you say?

[Monica Padman]

Don't ever say that.

[Dax Shepard]

No, what did you say?

[Monica Padman]

Barb Thompson.

[Dax Shepard]

Thompson. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

She's awesome. And she's done my hair before. She did it for a gala. One of the only galas I've ever been to. And she's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Always a bridesmaid, never a gala.

[Monica Padman]

I know. And she said you did a great job.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you growing your hair out on your legs, too?

[Monica Padman]

Don't look. I just haven't shaved.

[Dax Shepard]

Fuck. Oh. But I didn't know if you were making a decision like everyone's making. That was a fair question. What happened?

[Monica Padman]

I can't believe you did that. I was.

[Dax Shepard]

I wanted to celebrate you if you were embracing me. Fuck that.

[Monica Padman]

No. Okay, I. I take care of my hair.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay?

[Monica Padman]

I just haven't. And it's hot out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that's great. I. You. Can you understand there's a movement where. Where women aren't shaving anymore, and I thought maybe you Joined that movement.

[Monica Padman]

I was really actually self conscious.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I would get noticed.

[Monica Padman]

And I was like, there's no way. No anyone will notice. And you noticed immediately.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm very observant. You know this about me. I know I don't miss a thing.

[Monica Padman]

It just takes a long time to shave.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I'm in the same boat. I shave my arms now. I have all this money tied up in these tattoos, and I want them to be visible.

[Monica Padman]

That makes sense. Well, you know, I also, I. I have to groom my arms, my legs, my armpits, my vagina parts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And I feel terrible for you. I've said that. Now that I'm. Now that I'm grooming a lot.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it sucks. Speaking of, how's the cashmere? We haven't even seen it in a while.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you know who's a real producer is Delta.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But are you collecting?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, it's growing. Although I may have a big. I might have a. I'm now thinking I might have a nice deposit in the drawer in my bathroom. I think maybe I haven't transferred some to the.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

The main store storage.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I had been wanting to tell you a story.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So we all went to Monster Jam on Saturday.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Who's describe we all?

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so we all is Charlie and the boys, Ace and Wilder, the two handsomest men in Los Angeles. And then my girls, Lincoln and Delta. And then Delta's friend.

[Monica Padman]

Fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And then Eric. Eric. Yeah. That's all. So we went. It was immediately fun. It's so fun. Monster Jam's so fun. We got to ride in the like, 12 passenger monster truck. That's great. I was kind of not clocking any of this, but apparently Delta and her friend had brought their two most important stuffies in a red bag. I didn't know that. I probably would have been like, maybe we don't bring them into the event.

[Monica Padman]

Can you describe the stuff you use?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. It's imperative that people understand. Understand the stakes here. So anyone that knows Delta would know her son, Groot.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. I don't even count Groot as a stuffy. When you said that, I wasn't thinking of him. He's a real boy.

[Dax Shepard]

He really is the robot I don't know that I've ever seen. And I had very deep relationships with my stuffies. I had three bears that I loved. And I thought about them, and if I was gone too long, I felt guilty. Like I was very in touch and close with.

[Monica Padman]

What were their names?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't. I didn't name them. Just one was a polar bear, one was a brown bear, and one was, like, a panda koala bear. They were different breeds, so I didn't Breeds the species.

[Monica Padman]

So you just said koala polar.

[Dax Shepard]

I just never was, like, you never called dressing them. I was just squeezing them and feeling guilty.

[Monica Padman]

But what if, like, it was downstairs and you had to tell your mom, like, oh, my God, polar is missing.

[Dax Shepard]

That would never.

[Monica Padman]

Like, it would never happen.

[Dax Shepard]

I would. Would never lose track. Never.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And they didn't travel out of my room either, because I was too afraid something would happen to them in the wild. Okay. But to put like this in perspective, Groot goes everywhere with us. Groot has truly a bigger wardrobe than Delta. He has many different jammies. He has swimwear.

[Monica Padman]

He has, like, it's Delta's birthday. She'll often ask for clothes for Groot.

[Dax Shepard]

That mostly, that's all she asks for, is things for Groot. And he has books, he reads, and he's an artist, and she makes him dinner, and he, like, it's so. It's such a huge part of her life.

[Monica Padman]

Groot.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I didn't know this. I learned this recently about Groot. She was kind of explaining what was going on with him athletically. And then I said, is Groot disabled? And she said, yeah, Groot is disabled. And I said, oh, what's his disability? And she said, well, he's half tree and half boy, so he needs to breathe carbon dioxide as a tree, but he needs to breathe oxygen as a boy, so his lungs are, like, half dedicated to breathing, and so that's kind of an impairment for his cardiovascular additionally.

[Monica Padman]

Stop.

[Dax Shepard]

This is all real. Like, I didn't even know Groot was disabled.

[Monica Padman]

Well, obvious.

[Dax Shepard]

But I just had a hunch there was some way she was talking about his athleticism and his outfit.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. I asked. And he. And he is. And then she went on to tell me another challenge. He has is. Is he's got both veins. And then he also has to have plumbing for the water. So it's like his body's sharing a lot of. Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Double duty.

[Dax Shepard]

Double duty. Also, his bark hasn't come in, and that's going to make him more stable.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

A lot going on.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm going to be honest. I love Groot. Like, he's also my grandson. And when we snuggle at night, I go, I want a little time with Groot. So he has to be in my.

[Monica Padman]

Does everyone have to leave.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no, no. Just. I will want Groot in my left nook and Delta my right nook if we're all laying together. But she's got to give me some grandpa visit.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, never mind.

[Dax Shepard]

Anyone. Oh, never mind.

[Monica Padman]

I don't want to.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, good.

[Monica Padman]

I'm afraid I know you like him in your nothing. Like. Like a kid. Like a kid.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Like a little baby boy. So. Okay, so great time. We're having the best time. Now we're up in this huge suite. There's like 50 people in there. It's a blast. It's hectic. And Delta comes up, like, mid show again. I'm going to say it. I've said it before. There's no better show on Earth than Monster Jam. It starts and it doesn't let up. Race, race, race, race, race. Stunts. Stun stunts. So it's a party. We're eating food. And then Delta comes up to me. She is. She's passed. Like, she's. I don't want to say. She's hyperventilating. She is so scared and panicked. And she said, we don't. We lost Groot. And I'm like, what do you mean? I didn't even know Groot was in here. We lost the bag. So her friend was in charge of carrying the bag. She brought it in here. Someone maybe stole it or whatever. And I'm like, okay, no one stole it. Everyone that came is still here. No left mid time, you know? So now we start scouring all the bathrooms in there. And then we go through systematically, and we look under every single chair. This takes 35, 40 minutes. I'm missing the Monster Jam.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. But you can hear it still.

[Dax Shepard]

I can hear it. That is helpful. And I say at some point, okay, it's not in here. Which means it didn't. It didn't come up here. Oh, now, we arrived and we went right out onto the. To the arena floor to take. Take that ride. So it's like we're seven stories up. That was pre show. I don't.

[Monica Padman]

So now take him into the monster truck.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. So, well, here becomes the investigation. So then Charlie and I are. I'm like, oh, I made a video of them. Get. I'm like, did they even bring the bag out of the car?

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

I took pictures.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I take some. Oh, yeah, there's the red bag. Then I have footage of them getting on to the monster truck. And she's killing. Carrying the bag. We don't have footage of them getting off. But I'm like, but this is. She would have never set it down in the elevator or on the walk. It definitely had to get left in the truck. So now. Exactly. And we're now mid show. This is hours later. And I see.

[Monica Padman]

And is that truck, like, out on the thing?

[Dax Shepard]

No, that truck has now been already put in a trailer to go to the next Monster Jam. So I, like, this is like a movie. This is my friend Sally, who I've been, you know, going to Monster Jam with Sally as our host for, I don't know, eight years now. She's an incredible lady.

[Monica Padman]

Nice.

[Dax Shepard]

She's an armchair. Aw.

[Monica Padman]

Shout out.

[Dax Shepard]

She's so sweet. And I'm like, I don't know what else to do. But, like, here's the situation. She's a mom. She put out a full court press.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh, look.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, I'll try to get into that truck. Like, I'll try to find the truck in the parking lot and try to get into the semi to get into this monster, you know? So, like an hour goes by and Delta's really, like, she lost her son.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm. I'm very pessimistic. I'm like, who knows? They set that bag down anyway. There was so many bags and so many things and so much equipment, and it's in an arena. So I was really, really pessimistic. And then the show ends. And then we just sit there for another 45 minutes while the whole place clears out. We're kind of like waiting to see if they. They're going to find group. And then she says, well, you guys are free to if you want to just wait in the car. So anyways, we go sit in the car now, and then I get a text from Sally and it's a picture of her, and she's elated and she's holding the bag. She found the bag in a random golf cart somewhere.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It was on its way to the.

[Dax Shepard]

Trash, on its way to a sex trafficking saved. Don't say that.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What a tale.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. It was the amount of relief I felt so obsessed. Scary when that bag returned, you know, I was starting to think about what our next two weeks to a month. Like, I was like, imagine what it's.

[Monica Padman]

Like to lose your son. You never get over it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's going to be devastating in a way that I'm not sure how we're all going to deal with. We lost group forever.

[Monica Padman]

That is.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I said to her, I was like, once we had Group. I was like, you know, I started thinking, like, what do I do? Would. Would you have wanted me to find the same group? And she's like, no. Yeah, because it's real and he's real and there's no replacing them.

[Monica Padman]

Well. And so she answered our long lasting question about would you clone.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you clone your dog or your kid?

[Monica Padman]

She want it?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I guess she's like.

[Monica Padman]

She's like me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, she is. I guess she has ethics. I. I don't know.

[Monica Padman]

We don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

We don't know what that means ethically.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, gosh. That's why. But okay, if he had gone in the monster truck and then got sent to the next monster truck show. That's a kid's book. That's a children's book.

[Dax Shepard]

And, like, they love him. And he becomes kind of a mascot for Monster Jam.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. But then he returns back home.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But he's like, now he chews tobacco and he's grown up a little bit.

[Monica Padman]

We have different.

[Dax Shepard]

He's been in a couple tussles. Well, well, he's on the Monster Jam tour.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he is. He's on the.

[Dax Shepard]

He's not going to, like, symposiums on physics, but he's very.

[Monica Padman]

It's very Toy Story.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes. He could have been on a real adventure.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think all the dust from the monster truck would be good for his lungs.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, not given what I've learned about this. Yeah. Now, what if, like, the driver of Gravedigger found him and started keeping him on the dash and we could, like, then we were watching and he was riding on the dash proudly.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. That's terrifying.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it was really an event. Yeah. So I missed a good half of Monster Jam, both looking for and then panicking over Sally.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. The hero of all heroes.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I mean, if you were to ask me at some point what I would pay for his safe return, it would have been embarrassing.

[Monica Padman]

I know, but that's. That's life. It's like you can't. You can't put. Buy health. Well, actually, I mean, to an extent you can, which is a problem. But. Yeah, you know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

That's why health is the most important thing we have.

[Dax Shepard]

And just being there, I guess, being alive.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, Being there, being present. Well, I'm also grateful because I immediately got codependent for the girl, the friend. Can you imagine?

[Dax Shepard]

No, I know. So that was all happening. She now feels so guilty and she's crying. Delta's crying and crying inconsolably.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

Her friend's crying.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And this is the worst. I'm like, the dad watching. And so I kept going. Oh, sweetie, it's totally okay. Delta should have been carrying her own bag. It's not.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. I was, like, trying to comfort her and trying to comfort Delta. Her. Groot is in there, too.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, it is.

[Dax Shepard]

She's got the double whammy. She's lost her stuffy, and she lost Delta's stuffy.

[Monica Padman]

Who was her stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't get a good gander at it. Once they were all reunited, I didn't even know we were bringing Stuffies to Monster.

[Monica Padman]

Not anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

I hope not. And then. Okay, now, this is the thing that we go back to. We've been talking about this the last few episodes. I'm like. And I'm talking to Charlie and Eric. I'm like, you know, all I gotta do is keep trying to find Groot and not say, this is why we don't. What you want to say as a parent is this is why. Why we don't bring Stuffies to sporting events.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was like, she has learned that lesson. She. I don't need to tell her that she is in major discomfort. And so I let it go. But then I. On the way home, I was just saying how grateful I was that he's back.

[Monica Padman]

Slipping it in a little bit.

[Dax Shepard]

A little bit. And then. And then I said, he's just so valuable. We got to make sure that we're safe when we're. We bring him places. She goes. But he can't just be a. A boy that lives at home and doesn't go and do things. He can't. I can't just be protecting him from. And I'm like that. I know. That's a great point, but there's a ton of things we can take him to so he's not stuck in the house, but that are also maybe not so distracting as Monster Jam.

[Monica Padman]

This is complex because this is how you feel about your kids. This is how you parent them. You're like, you know, they're. I'm gonna let them go explore the world. And another person could say, look, they're a little too val valuable for that. Don't let them just go down the street to Ralph's.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

Where there's crazies.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So looks like she's.

[Dax Shepard]

She's inherited my parents.

[Monica Padman]

Looks like it's nurtured.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. In this case.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I'm grateful. I'm so grateful. I would have been you understand? Yeah. It would have been so sad if group. I mean, I would have been happy for him if he was on an adventure, but we. We know that really, he would have gone in the trash.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, he's. I. He's so cute.

[Monica Padman]

Dax, missing persons after, like, 48 hours, they're dead.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you think he might. Someone murder him.

[Monica Padman]

Trash.

[Nick Kroll]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I just can't imagine holding that little guy. He's so sweet looking.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

I told her. That's why I didn't know he had a disability, because he's so. He's so smiley. I have no idea he's suffering from anything. He's in a perpetually great mood.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's the thing is the best attitude.

[Dax Shepard]

It sounded like there's some pain accomplished accompanying these.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, the whole carbon dioxide trick her.

[Monica Padman]

Into getting, like, pain meds for them.

[Dax Shepard]

I might see if we can get.

[Monica Padman]

No, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Some nerve blockers.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Wow. That isn't quite an adventure. I'm. Yeah, I'm really glad that had a happy ending.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, me too. Anything fun happen to you?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Okay, so you've been gone a couple days. In the meantime, I've watched two full seasons of you. The show you. Which reminds me, I want to play.

[Dax Shepard]

The thing about me.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. It's about time that we revisit that, because I'm watching it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's such a great exchange.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, let's.

[Dax Shepard]

Laura Ingram.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You want me to put on the tv?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah, you can. This is my favorite clip of all time. And now it has extra meaning because I'm watching the show.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it a great show?

[Nick Kroll]

I love it.

[Monica Padman]

It has real Veronica Mars vibes.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, fun.

[Monica Padman]

But it's like Dexter meets Veronica Mars. But I've never seen Dexter. Okay, let's watch this real quick.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, I was watching an episode of you where measles came up. Wait, wait, wait. When did I mention measles? I don't know. It was on you.

[Monica Padman]

What was on me?

[Dax Shepard]

What are you talking about? Right? I never have the measles. What's on you? We never did a. We never did a measles and vaccine episode. Is this a joke? I know what you're talking about. It was on you. It was on you. I've never had Raymond. I've never had measles. What are you talking about, Stupid? It was an episode of a show, Laura. What's it called? You. You never done a show on me. I just completely give up.

[Nick Kroll]

We got called you on Netflix.

[Monica Padman]

It's a show Called.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm moving on to Adele.

[Nick Kroll]

I can't explain this.

[Dax Shepard]

What are they talking about? So stupid.

[Monica Padman]

So funny.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a real life. Who's on.

[Monica Padman]

It really is.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God. Anyway, so I. Yeah, I started. You random. It, like, popped up as the next. This never works out.

[Dax Shepard]

You're right. Right. Auto.

[Monica Padman]

Auto Play or whatever. And I was like, sure, why not watch the whole thing? And then last night, stayed up so late, I couldn't even look at the time. I was too afraid to look.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Monica Padman]

And watched all of season two.

[Dax Shepard]

How many episodes in each? 10.

[Monica Padman]

10.

[Dax Shepard]

So you watched 20 episodes?

[Monica Padman]

They were like 45ish minutes.

[Dax Shepard]

Whoa.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Oh, my God. Okay, so it is Penn Badgley from Gossip Girl, who I loved back then. Dan Humphrey.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Monica Padman]

And he recently he has a podcast. But also I saw there's like an Instagram kind of viral video of him, like, dancing on one of these talk shows. And I was like, well. Or well, in my opinion.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And so I was like, oh, yeah, I love him.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then he also.

[Dax Shepard]

Dancing is attractive.

[Monica Padman]

I guess it. You know what?

[Dax Shepard]

It is.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna circle back. I didn't say it wasn't.

[Dax Shepard]

Right, right, right. You just didn't put it list.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But turns out it's really high.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So anyway, then it pops up and he is a. He's a stalker. Like, he's obsessed with this woman. There's like murder.

[Dax Shepard]

O.

[Monica Padman]

He's a psychopath, but there. It's a love story. And he's hot. And it's. It's conf. It's confusing. It's sexy, but scary.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's very thin line for when women there.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I know. And I. I hated myself. Of course.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

I heard him say on an interview, something like that, like. Or someone asked, like, what do you think of when people say he's hot?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And he was like, he's a killer.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

So I saw that clip before I watched the show, and I was like, yeah, he's right. This is. People are crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And then of course, I'm like, he's hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

He's also tricky because he's like, kind of a good boyfriend if he wasn't a murderer. And putting people. People in cages.

[Dax Shepard]

Right?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Who just was everyone obsessed with that salsa was a murderer. Wasn't there recently someone thought was hot? Is it the United Health Assassin? Were people really horny for him?

[Nick Kroll]

Luigi.

[Dax Shepard]

Luigi.

[Monica Padman]

That one. I find that's real life. So I find that Much more complicated. I do not think he's hot.

[Dax Shepard]

And you don't think he's hot?

[Monica Padman]

No, I don't think there's anything good in the world.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you think he was hot without the murder?

[Monica Padman]

There's no way for me to know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You can't go back in time. You have very powerful eyebrows.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think murder is hot in real life. And I don't think vigilantes are hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I'm gonna say that.

[Dax Shepard]

Good to know.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not. There's a lot of people that are, like, good for him.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I disagree.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I disagree. Holy.

[Dax Shepard]

I think that industry is evil. And I don't think you're allowed to kill people.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Except in the show, sometimes he does kill some people I really don't like. And it is vigilant and, like, it's for kids. He's protect sometimes. He protects kids. He's weird. He's like, kind of this, like, good.

[Dax Shepard]

Friend and hard to pin down. Mixed messages, really.

[Monica Padman]

Of course.

[Dax Shepard]

You're horny.

[Monica Padman]

For real. Mixed messages. Anyway, I am loving it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow, that's great.

[Monica Padman]

Five seasons.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, there's five seasons. Oh, so you're fucked for the whole week.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you go to bed? Do you know?

[Monica Padman]

I really don't know. But I was so tired when my alarm went off at nine.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Nick Kroll]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And so I had to go back probably three.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow, you're nasty.

[Monica Padman]

I can't help myself.

[Dax Shepard]

I know you're indulgent.

[Monica Padman]

And because I'm scared a little. Like, it's very cliffhangery. It's very good at keeping you on the hook. So I'm a little too scared in those scenarios to go to bed. Like, I need to. To know how it's completed. But they do a good job at the end of each season. Too soon.

[Dax Shepard]

You never know.

[Monica Padman]

I did start episode three, but then I was like, monica, no.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you got to stop.

[Monica Padman]

I got to stop. So I turned it off about halfway through that. When I woke up this morning, after so much murder, I was like, I think I need to take a break today. Cause it really gets infiltrated. And then it made me think, this is what's happening with boy toys and video games. Oh, they're just. It's like a constant. They're living in this world that's dark and bleak and they're shooting people and stuff. And then, like, reality starts to disappear.

[Dax Shepard]

You're feeling that happen to you.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I just could see it.

[Dax Shepard]

This is your ocd.

[Nick Kroll]

Like, this is.

[Dax Shepard]

You think you're a per. You're a killer or you think you're a pervert.

[Monica Padman]

I don't. Okay. In this show, it's a lot of, of voiceover because you're, you're hearing his thoughts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And so then today I was kind of hearing my thoughts like that.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And I thought, I need to take a break.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Take a little break.

[Monica Padman]

No. But I also really want to know what happened. All right, let's see if there's anything else I want to talk about you. You know, I get really tunnel vision. It is easy. I get why, I get how it happens.

[Dax Shepard]

He's only so culpable. It was. Was very confusing, but it was just. And he didn't do a good job. Like, he should have recognized what was going on much sooner and said, it's a television show on Netflix and the title is you.

[Monica Padman]

And the title is you. Y O, U.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And not.

[Monica Padman]

Laura Ingram did end up saying it's a show on Netflix called you and she.

[Dax Shepard]

But he did, he did say, I was watching you about seven times before. It's a show on Netflix.

[Monica Padman]

It's so good. I almost feel like it's fake. And I don't want to like, look too.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think so.

[Monica Padman]

I don't need that.

[Dax Shepard]

It is such a genuine reaction from her.

[Monica Padman]

All right, well, that's it. Let's move into facts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah, facts. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Squarespace and boy do we have a gorgeous website. I implore everyone to check out we made it on Squarespace. And when I say we, I mean Rob. He did a beautiful job and it was very easy you for. For him to do so. No matter what kind of website you want to build, Squarespace is the perfect partner to get it launched quickly and easily. And their design templates are going to make your site look incredible too. If you're trying to do some good this year, you can use Squarespace to set up a fundraising site. Let's say you wanted to raise money for first responders or families impacted by the recent fires here in la. You can fundraise directly on your Squarespace website and grow your impact with built in donation tools. Create a professional on brand site that makes it easy to accept one time or recurring contributions and engagement supporters. With built in email campaigns and marketing tools, you can connect with your community and inspire more people to support your cause. They're making it easier for you to make a difference. Another reason Squarespace is a company we're proud to be partnered with. Check out squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code DAX to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com and promo code DAX to get started today.

[Monica Padman]

So, facts for Nick Kroll.

[Dax Shepard]

When he said daddy's money, when he brought that, I keep thinking how funny that was when he said that. Do you remember that?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't care because I have daddy's money.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that was so funny. Also, I wrote down specifically when he said sick little cutie. I laughed so hard at sick little cutie. I thought that was the funniest. Oh, he's just a sick little cutie.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he was a mess. He was coughing and snorting a little indigestion there for a minute. I loved it.

[Monica Padman]

It was great. And then I was kind of like, oh, sick little cutie is kind of like my kink.

[Dax Shepard]

That is your king. Sick little cutie. That could be your clothing line.

[Monica Padman]

Sick little cuties.

[Dax Shepard]

Sick little cuties.

[Monica Padman]

Anyway, that was just. Just really made me laugh. He's so funny.

[Dax Shepard]

But it's more than that. He's got that thing some people have where he is just like infinitely comfortable in his own skin, which is so appealing.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's such a comforting personality type.

[Monica Padman]

It is.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. The women came after me. Just should. Should I tell you that?

[Monica Padman]

What do you mean?

[Dax Shepard]

The wi on my. What I thought was an incredibly obvious joke about period. Period underwear and Tampax. Such a joke some women really came at.

[Monica Padman]

I think they also might. I don't know if they really think that or if they're, like, playing along.

[Dax Shepard]

They're playing your role, maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We really did uncover, though, something with.

[Monica Padman]

The X. Yeah, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Maxi pad.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Tam Pax.

[Monica Padman]

Maxi pad would have been the first, probably. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then Nick's and then.

[Monica Padman]

Thanks.

[Dax Shepard]

What is it?

[Monica Padman]

Thanks. That's another brand.

[Dax Shepard]

Spanx may go on your. They cover your.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, yeah. Women. X. Because X.

[Dax Shepard]

Someone said that. Someone suggested that in the comments. And I think that's brilliant. And I don't think that's what it is, but that's a brilliant.

[Monica Padman]

How could you possibly know?

[Dax Shepard]

I'm just trying to imagine the Tampex people going like, okay, let's call it. It's. It's a tampon. But let's. Let's build on that and let's add X because of the chromosome. I just. I've.

[Monica Padman]

What's your. What's your. Your you know, idea that they wanted.

[Dax Shepard]

To imbue a sense of Max, like Max comfort, max absorption, max freshness. Max. What was the word?

[Monica Padman]

Huh?

[Dax Shepard]

They had the word attached to Tampax in the ad we showed.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, radiant.

[Dax Shepard]

Max radiance.

[Monica Padman]

But it's not. It's Tampax.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Not Tam. Max.

[Dax Shepard]

Tampaximum.

[Monica Padman]

I think it's X chromosome.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's good. It's good. We'd have to track down whoever named Maxi Pad.

[Monica Padman]

That's the original. I bet. I bet you can. You can do that and come back to us.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you. Do you think they're alive?

[Monica Padman]

Probably. They're kids or kids of kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, well while you read a fact, I'm going to ask AI if the inventor of maxi pads is still alive.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

Is the inventor of maxi pads still alive?

[Monica Padman]

If people listen to the CTE episode with Chris Nowinski. And then also it came up in another episode, the Pee Baby.

[Dax Shepard]

Uh huh.

[Monica Padman]

We had I make a video of us originally talking about the pee baby, the original story of Pee Baby.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh really?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, and I'm going to post it tomorrow. But so by the time you listen to this, it will be posted and I really, really recommend people going to watch this, it'll be on our Instagram because for one the story is just. You need a good reminder of the pee baby. But the AI is hilarious.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I can't wait to see it.

[Monica Padman]

And it's like a version of you and me, like the AI made versions of us. It's so.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't wait to see.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you holding this as a surprise for me?

[Monica Padman]

No, I was just forgot. I'm doing stuff. You got things to do anyway, so check that out. Check out the P baby and the A.I. it just reminded me A.I.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Monica Padman]

Did it respond?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it had to have. Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, an African American inventor, is renowned for her development of the adjustable sanitary belt, a precursor to the modern maxi pad. Okay, so they rarely went back. That was 1912.

[Monica Padman]

Oh wow.

[Dax Shepard]

She passed away in 06. So that's off the table. Kenner's invention patented and featured a moisture proof pocket designed to hold menstrual pads securely in place. The innovation. Okay. Wearing Krenner face racial discrimination. That's a bummer. And of course was awarded five patents. In summary, Mary be just Davis and Kenner passed away in oh six. Okay. So I don't know if we're giving her credit for Maxi Pat or. She did the belt.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

All right. So we didn't learn anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

[Monica Padman]

Great. Now, what are the most watched shows on Netflix? This is on Wikipedia. And notoriously, Netflix doesn't really release this information, so.

[Dax Shepard]

Or they do it weird. They do it. I'll do like a minute.

[Nick Kroll]

Like.

[Dax Shepard]

So I just saw this, and congrats to Dumal and Minka Kelly, friends of.

[Monica Padman]

The pod, Ransom Canyon.

[Dax Shepard]

Ransom Canyon has 2.6 billion minutes viewed. And to put it in perspective, Mobland, which I love and is seemingly a hit. Everyone I know is watching it at like 580 million, so a 4 1/2x of second place. But they do minutes. Right. So that's an interesting way to. To. To quantify it.

[Monica Padman]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

As opposed to, like, households who watch.

[Monica Padman]

Minutes or hours minutes. Interesting. Okay, well, this is just Wikipedia. Oh. And it's most popular television series by hours watch in their first 28 days. Number one is squid game season one.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Stranger Things.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Is number two. Three is Wednesday.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Four is squid game season two. Five is Dahmer Monster, the Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow. I wouldn't have picked that up just from walking around and people telling me to watch stuff. Yeah, that one's a surprise for me.

[Monica Padman]

Six is Money Heist. That was a big European show. Yes. I think maybe it was in Spanish, I think.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Anna turned us on to.

[Monica Padman]

She loved it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wait, no, sorry, that's. So Six is Money Heist, part five.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, interesting.

[Monica Padman]

Seven, eight, and nine are Bridgerton season one, two and three, and then ten. Money Heist Part four.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Eleven Stranger Things.

[Dax Shepard]

I need to give Money Heist another shot. It was. It was subtitled.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I think so. I know. I would. I would. Would watch that. I'm still in er.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I know when I started, which is so good. The Pit Deli Boys. Oh, I want. You try. You got to try it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I want to.

[Dax Shepard]

It's such a unique tone that they are pulling off beautifully. It's fantastic.

[Monica Padman]

Cool. I love that.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, I like discovering these hiccups in my thinking.

[Monica Padman]

Uhhuh.

[Dax Shepard]

And. And so there's a joke in Deli Boys. They have to deal with this Italian mob boss quite often, and they're Pakistani. And the. The. The patriarch of. Not even the patriarch. One of the partners in the criminal organization. An older guy. He hates Indians. Right. He's constantly talking about how he hates Indians. And so he's sitting across from this Italian mobster and he. He says, pakistani, But I'm telling the truth. Indians are terrible. And the Italian goes, oh, I thought you were Indian. And he goes, no, I'm Not. They are our mortal enemy. And then the mob, the Italian mobster goes, so you guys look identical to each other and you hate one another. And he goes, oh, cookie just got canceled. He's like a. Then they all laugh. The notion of a mobster could get canceled. Oh.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's funny.

[Dax Shepard]

But then I was like, I think people do go, how do these two people hate each other so much? They're clearly related. And then I was like, yeah, I would never think that about the Irish and the English.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

The French and the English.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I wondered if people in India are looking at those people going, like, wait, you guys are the same people. Why are you fighting? Well, I wonder if it's like, whatever. In group, you're in the out. It seems crazy.

[Monica Padman]

On the outside, it's always about land and religion, often religion. But, yeah, who owns what? And it's. I mean, that's. That's very timely because India and Pakistan were.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, this was obviously made before they now launched missiles at each other.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. But they're in a ceasefire.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But Anyway, okay, Seth McFarland and Nick, that conversation, that's the SAG on the SAG. AFTRA Foundation. YouTube.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So you can watch that there if you're interested in animation.

[Dax Shepard]

Pretty unique conversation.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. The seasons of Seth McFarland shows. How many? Family Guy 20. 23 seasons. American Dad, 19 seasons. Cleveland show, four seasons.

[Dax Shepard]

46. Wow. 46. Television. 46 seasons of television.

[Monica Padman]

That's really it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's all the facts.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, Nick Kroll, we love you.

[Monica Padman]

Well, there was one more.

[Dax Shepard]

Not really a fat, speedy recovery.

[Monica Padman]

He's going to be sick for another 10 years or so.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, like six. Six more years he's got. Of being sick. We're not sick anymore.

[Monica Padman]

Well, you kind of are. You're still kind of sick.

[Dax Shepard]

Probably more sick than I was pre. Kids in general, but, like, they just stop putting their fingers in each other's mouths and butts and like, like, they just. They get a little more separated as they get older.

[Monica Padman]

Speaking of kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I wasn't sure if I was going to bring this up, but. Why not?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, why not? I said I was wrong. Racist, you know.

[Monica Padman]

Well, no, this isn't negative towards kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, right. I'm just saying I revealed a lot that I had some vestigial racial thinking that I caught myself.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. Yeah. Okay. Mother's Day. We just had Mother's Day, Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's getting increasingly harder for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And I think from. For like, so many reasons that feel overwhelming and I'm just tracking that. That it's starting to feel really tough. I'm glad I go home. I go home. I've gone home the last couple years and it's nice to be with my mom and I know it makes them very happy. So I like doing that. But there is something about being there that's hard when I'm there. Especially. Especially for moments, events, yearly events. The passage, like time starts to feel very oppressive. The passage of time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You know, we go to the same places and you know, I'm going to this like mall that I went to when I was in high school. And to see it be so much the same and also so different, it's just. It feels, it feels sad, it feels melancholic.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And. And then seeing my parents age.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Is so hard.

[Dax Shepard]

The lack of permanence to everything.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I can kind of Buddhism. I know. And I. When I'm not there, I can detach from it when I'm here.

[Dax Shepard]

And you can keep it time locked in your mind and memory.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. And I, I think I can just compartmentalize in a way. Like they're there and that's how happening. But I'm not seeing day to day like the little things that are changing. So it's kind, it's kind of hard to be there. Even though I'm. I'm glad I make that decision. That's a little hard. And then I also know being here would be hard because all of my friends have kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And that is painful in its own way. And like it just feels sort of like this.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it painful because you feel like you're missing out on the mothering experience or it painful because you feel excluded from your friends in a way?

[Monica Padman]

I.

[Dax Shepard]

Which pain is it?

[Monica Padman]

I think it's both. I think it's. It's so tricky because it's not like on a day to day I think of the pain of not having children, but on that day.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

I am aware. I'm just very aware that I don't.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And that it's not. Not. It wasn't really a choice. It's just the way my life went. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Folded.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It unfolded in this way. I made decisions that took me in certain places. I, you know, I'm not married to my high school sweetheart. I didn't have one, you know. And yeah. I'm just like aware, like, oh, my life hasn't gone. Didn't go that way.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And yes. I can still make decisions. Decisions that might lead to that but it's different. It's like really different now. The me having a kid now is a real choice. It is not like, oh, I fell in love with this person and then maybe we'll have kids. That's the next step. It's. I have.

[Dax Shepard]

Oops, I'm pregnant. What do we do it?

[Monica Padman]

Let's do it. It's real, real hard decision making. Yeah, it kind of, I don't. Yeah. And that's, that's an annoying thing to have to think about.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So, yeah, I guess did it.

[Dax Shepard]

Sharing.

[Monica Padman]

It was a hard day.

[Dax Shepard]

Closer or further.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know, like, makes me feel, feel like, oh, I wish I had that. But does it make me feel like I'm gonna take those steps to do it?

[Dax Shepard]

If I were you, I would just want to be crystal clear. If it is a desire to have the experience versus the A student in you. I know that's hard to know which is driving it, but I think one is worth chasing and one is worth overcoming.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I know. I don't know. Again, that's a question that I, I have to ask that I'm kind of resentful that I have to ask. Resentful towards my, you know, towards life, I guess. Because I know that if I was married, married and in a partnership, I would, I would have kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

I would want that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So what does a guy in your situation do? Like, what does this 37 year old guy who can't go get a donor? Well, they could, I mean, yeah, they could. And then they got to get a surrogate and it's definitely more complicated. You're like, you're a stop at a sperm bank away from having a kid.

[Monica Padman]

Well, maybe, I mean, well, maybe because.

[Dax Shepard]

Of fertility, but you know, like a, a, a, a dude who's not loaded and can't pay for a surrogate and, and egg and all that stuff. I wonder what, how they wrestle with it, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I mean I, I assume it's the same feeling and the same thing. Like, I guess I have to figure out if I'm gonna like just be with a person I don't want to be with or.

[Nick Kroll]

Oh.

[Monica Padman]

Or take those steps in some ways. I mean, it's, it's all hard. But I think for a man, if they have the means. I mean a lot of women don't have the means to do any of this either.

[Nick Kroll]

So.

[Dax Shepard]

How much is a sperm donor? That's not terribly expensive.

[Monica Padman]

But to your egg, like, you know, do retrievals and it's expensive.

[Dax Shepard]

But let's just say you.

[Monica Padman]

You have to remove the eggs in order to make the embryo.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, they can't put a baster in you and do it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, they can try. Yeah. Some people. That works for some people. It's pretty hard.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

For it to take, but it works for some people. But then if that doesn't work, you spent money doing that, and then you have to. You know, it's a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

But for a man, they can make the embryo. You know, they'll take the egg, the sperm, they'll make the embryo, and then they'll implant it into a surrogate.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I imagine that's a pricey endeavor.

[Monica Padman]

I'm sure. Fertility is so expensive. Another thing that's like, that's a cost that it wouldn't be a cost. I mean, having kids is an insane cost.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

In general.

[Dax Shepard]

But mental health and.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Diapers. Diapers. Ding, ding, ding. That came up in Nick Kroll's Fat Types. Your diapers. And they went bankrupt.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, my diapers went bankrupt.

[Monica Padman]

Bad for business. Anyway, I just thought I would share it because I'm sure it's complicated for a lot of people, surely. Mother's Day, for so many reasons.

[Dax Shepard]

Carrie sent me this incredible post that a girl at our high school had put on on Facebook, and she was a grade younger than us, I believe. I didn't like. Of course, I didn't recognize her right away, but it was this really heartfelt, beautiful post about the complicated nature of Mother's Day and how she basically had to say goodbye to her mom at 16 because the mom moved to Arizona and the mom was not healthy mom. And so this girl was living. Going to my school.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Living on her own.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Paying for an apartment. She sent it to me because she goes, side note, that's fun. I was once in detention and Dax Shepard said to me, what they put you in for?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's funny.

[Dax Shepard]

And then went on to say, don't worry about all this. Your life's really going to start in two minutes. And I know mine's not ending here in this det.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Whether I said that or not, who knows? Maybe in her mind I said that. But I'm delighted that on that detention we had, you know, like a fun.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. An interaction.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But it was just a really sweet post and a reminder of, like, man, some kids like, the experience can be so rad. Carrie sent to me going, I'm such a. For bitching about my two loving parents who, you know, whatever.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But, like, yeah, there's kids in your high school that are like they're supporting themselves and living in an apartment.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And they don't have any parents.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Anyway, well, that's it.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. Love you.

[Monica Padman]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus Us in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey at 24 I lost my narrative, or rather it was stolen from me, and the Monica Lewinsky that my friends and family.

[Monica Padman]

Knew was usurped by false narratives, callous jokes, and politics.

[Dax Shepard]

I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours.

[Monica Padman]

Something you possess is lost or stolen.

[Dax Shepard]

And ultimately you triumph in finding it again.

[Monica Padman]

So I think listeners can expect me to be chatting with folks both recognizable.

[Nick Kroll]

And unrecognizable names about the way that.

[Monica Padman]

People have navigated roads to triumph.

[Dax Shepard]

My hope is that people will finish an episode of Reclaiming and feel like they filled their tank up, they connected.

[Monica Padman]

With the people that I'm talking to and leaving leave with maybe some nuggets that help them feel a little more hopeful. Follow Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky on the.

[Dax Shepard]

Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Monica Padman]

You can listen to Reclaiming early and ad free right now by joining Wondery.

[Nick Kroll]

Plus in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.