Ramy Youssef Returns

Summary

Episode Title: Ramy Youssef Returns
Podcast: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Release Date: August 4, 2025
Guests: Ramy Youssef
Co-host: Monica Padman

---

1. Introduction to Ramy Youssef

[00:00] Dax Shepard:
Welcomes listeners and introduces Ramy Youssef, highlighting his multifaceted career as an award-winning actor, comedian, producer, director, and creator. Dax also mentions Ramy's notable works, including "Mountainhead" on Max (formerly HBO Max) and the animated series "Number One Happy Family USA" available on Prime.

Notable Quotes:

• Dax Shepard: "Rami Youssef is an award-winning actor, a very good friend of David Zaslav, a comedian, a producer, a director, and a creator." [00:37]

2. Personal Struggles: Ramy's Eczema

The conversation shifts to Ramy's personal health, specifically his battle with eczema, which has become more severe over the past year.

Notable Quotes:

• Ramy Youssef: "I think it's a stress response." [04:29]
• Monica Padman: "I think it could be a stress response." [04:31]

3. Exploring Themes of Integrity and Polarization in America

Ramy and the hosts delve into the current state of American society, discussing the deepening polarization and the integrity crisis within the nation's leadership and institutions.

Notable Quotes:

• Dax Shepard: "We have an integrity issue at the core. We have a hypocrisy issue at the core." [06:10]
• Ramy Youssef: "America is a passive producer. We're not in the room. That's why I care." [21:14]

4. Ramy’s Latest Projects: "Mountainhead" and "Number One Happy Family USA"

Ramy discusses his recent projects, providing insights into the development and themes of "Mountainhead," a feature-length film, and his animated series "Number One Happy Family USA."

"Mountainhead":
Ramy describes "Mountainhead" as a surreal yet thought-provoking film that blends elements of science fiction and humor. The film explores themes like AI, fake news, and moral conscience within a high-stakes narrative involving tech moguls.

Notable Quotes:

• Ramy Youssef: "It's a rom-com at its core, but dressed up with all this weird stuff on top of it." [42:02]
• Dax Shepard: "Mountainhead is on HBO currently." [63:49]

"Number One Happy Family USA":
The animated series tackles issues of surveillance, identity, and the immigrant experience in America. It uses humor and satire to address serious topics like prejudice and the pressure to assimilate.

Notable Quotes:

• Ramy Youssef: "I wanted to make it a cartoon five years ago about the surveillance state and about how immigrants were basically put in this position to have to prove their patriotism in order to stay." [65:20]

5. The Role of AI and Media Integrity

The hosts and Ramy discuss the increasing role of AI in media, the challenges of discerning real from fake information, and the potential consequences of a society overwhelmed by misinformation.

Notable Quotes:

• Dax Shepard: "Are people going to be able to discern the difference? Is that going to happen? Terrifying." [56:38]
• Ramy Youssef: "Everything they say is great, everything they do is the opposite of what they said. And it feels good to hear, and it feels good to be like, oh, cool." [32:18]

6. Personal Anecdotes: Dax’s Flight Experience

Dax shares a harrowing experience from a recent flight into LaGuardia Airport, where he feared the plane malfunctioned, only to realize it was a near miss with another aircraft. This story underscores the theme of fear and loss of control discussed earlier.

Notable Quotes:

• Dax Shepard: "I was convinced I'm going to die... and then we almost hit an airplane that was crossing the tarmac." [90:00]
• Monica Padman: "Glad you made it." [97:59]

7. Reflections on Immigrant Experiences and Internalized Prejudices

Ramy shares his childhood experiences post-9/11, highlighting the internal struggles and self-doubt faced by immigrants in America, which influenced his work on "Number One Happy Family USA."

Notable Quotes:

• Ramy Youssef: "When you're the in-group, the division between your government and the military and the citizens is quite clear to you." [77:34]
• Monica Padman: "I'm protected of my parents, especially my dad, who was walking around very obviously Egyptian." [78:20]

8. Closing Thoughts and Future Projects

As the episode wraps up, Ramy expresses his excitement for future projects and collaborations, emphasizing the therapeutic and creative fulfillment he finds in his work.

Notable Quotes:

• Ramy Youssef: "It's such a fun feeling when people connect with it." [81:38]
• Dax Shepard: "Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare." [91:56]

---

Key Takeaways

• Personal Struggles Enhance Creativity: Ramy's battle with eczema and his immigrant background deeply influence his creative projects, allowing him to infuse authenticity and vulnerability into his work.

• Integrity and Polarization: The conversation highlights the growing integrity crisis in American leadership and the societal polarization that hampers unity and progress.

• AI and Media Responsibility: There's a pressing need for discernment in the age of AI-driven media to combat misinformation and uphold truth.

• Therapeutic Power of Storytelling: Both Dax and Ramy emphasize how storytelling and creative expression serve as therapeutic outlets for personal and societal issues.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Dax Shepard: "Rami Youssef is an award-winning actor, a very good friend of David Zaslav, a comedian, a producer, a director, and a creator." [00:37]

• Ramy Youssef: "I think it's a stress response." [04:29]

• Dax Shepard: "We have an integrity issue at the core. We have a hypocrisy issue at the core." [06:10]

• Ramy Youssef: "America is a passive producer. We're not in the room. That's why I care." [21:14]

• Dax Shepard: "Are people going to be able to discern the difference? Is that going to happen? Terrifying." [56:38]

• Ramy Youssef: "Everything they say is great, everything they do is the opposite of what they said." [32:18]

• Dax Shepard: "Mountainhead is on HBO currently." [63:49]

• Ramy Youssef: "I wanted to make it a cartoon five years ago about the surveillance state and about how immigrants were basically put in this position to have to prove their patriotism in order to stay." [65:20]

• Dax Shepard: "I was convinced I'm going to die... and then we almost hit an airplane that was crossing the tarmac." [90:00]

---

Conclusion

This episode of Armchair Expert offers a profound exploration of Ramy Youssef's personal and professional journey, set against the backdrop of America's societal challenges. Through candid discussions, the trio delves into themes of identity, integrity, and the evolving landscape of media and technology. Ramy's insights, combined with the hosts' reflections, provide listeners with a rich tapestry of thoughts that resonate on both personal and societal levels.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondri 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 Dax Shepard. I'm joined by Monica Padman and today we have Rami Youssef.

[Monica Padman]

We love Rami.

[Dax Shepard]

Boy, oh boy. Wise beyond his ears.

[Monica Padman]

Very.

[Dax Shepard]

If ever there was an opportunity to.

[Monica Padman]

Say that again, he. This is a second time. His first go round was a banger.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Worth checking out the first one. Very spiritual, that one.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He is an award winning actor. A very. He's a very good friend of David Zaslav. A comedian, a producer, a director and a creator. Rami Mo Poor things. Rami Yousef. Feelings. Rami Yousef. More Feelings and his new movie that is out right now on Max or hbo. Or hbo. Max Mountainhead. Yeah. Tasty, juicy. Also he has a great animated series that is out on prime now called Number One Happy Family usa. So please enjoy our friend Rami Yousef. We are supported by Wild Planet. Love canned seafood, but having a hard time finding a high quality and sustainable option. Wild Planet has wild caught responsibly harvested tuna, sardines and more. It's seafood the way nature provided it with less processing and more delicious nutrients. If you're a trend chaser, tinned fish is having a moment this summer. Sea cootery boards and tinned fish date nights are blowing up on social media and haven't you heard it's sardine girl summer. What's Wild tastes better? Not only does Wild Planet taste good, it's good for you and the planet. You haven't had canned tuna like their albacore tuna. A solid tuna steak without any fillers, just cooked once in its own juices. It's an amazing source of clean protein with 33 grams in each can. It's time to bring tuna salad back into your lunch rotation. Wild Planet is offering armchairs 25% off and free shipping through August 15th. Go to wildplanetfoods.com and redeem coupon code DAX. That's wildplanetfoods.com, promo code DAX. We are supported by JCPenney. You know that moment when someone compliments your outfit and asks where you got it?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, man. One of the best. Best feelings.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And then you get to say, guess what? It's JCPenney. Yeah, JCPenney. It's so good, right?

[Monica Padman]

You just look so great that people assume you shelled out, but then you hit Them with the fact that your fit is from JCPenney. And they're like, wait.

[Dax Shepard]

Actually, JCPenney has got hidden gems for every age, everybody, and every budget. We actually just got some stuff from jcpenney.com. i am wearing right now a pair of Levi's 501s. And, you know, that's my favorite pants. And they had the color I've been searching for. And I got a really kickass Levi's jacket too.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I got some Adidas white sneakers. They're solid white. And everyone needs a pair of classic white sneakers. So I'm really excited to wear those. If you're already shopping at JCPenney, you know what's up. It's genuinely such an underrated spot for style savings and a solid reward system.

[Dax Shepard]

And if you're not shopping there yet, it's time you change that. Shopjcpenney.com yes. JCPenney. I'm really sorry I'm late.

[Rami Youssef]

Are you kidding?

[Monica Padman]

That was cute.

[Rami Youssef]

I did not expect this.

[Monica Padman]

I know. That's Dax's product.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a good cream. I told Monica that's a million dollars a tube.

[Rami Youssef]

This is really prime shit.

[Monica Padman]

It's not pharmaceutical, even though it does look it.

[Rami Youssef]

It looks very pharmaceutical. I've been struggling with eczema, so this is really helpful.

[Dax Shepard]

Congratulations.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's gonna fix it right off.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. It's actually what I'm here to talk about today.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, great.

[Rami Youssef]

No one wants to be open about it.

[Dax Shepard]

How new are you to eczema? Is it something you had as a kid and returned?

[Rami Youssef]

So I've always had it on my back. And then a year ago, it wants to do my whole body. Now out of nowhere, I wanna come.

[Dax Shepard]

Out loud and be in front.

[Monica Padman]

It could be a stress response.

[Rami Youssef]

I think it might be.

[Dax Shepard]

What's your theory?

[Monica Padman]

I think it's a stress response.

[Rami Youssef]

I think it's a stress response.

[Dax Shepard]

Does it make you feel impure and like your spirituality is suffering? And this is the physical.

[Rami Youssef]

Dirty boy.

[Dax Shepard]

Ooh, a naughty bad boy.

[Monica Padman]

Did you be bad since we last saw you?

[Dax Shepard]

No. It was inevitable. He was too good.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you watch Bruhl? Steve Brule?

[Rami Youssef]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Check it out with Steve Brule. Did you ever watch Tim and Eric that come.

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Yes, yes.

[Dax Shepard]

With John C. Reilly.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

And he's obsessed with bad boys. He's all bad, but he's a bad guy. Is potty cherry red. This is my you.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

And I've only done it twice.

[Monica Padman]

My.

[Dax Shepard]

You. You're already done with it. And I've only done it twice. And you've done you like 20 times.

[Monica Padman]

You do. You.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you. You rewatch.

[Rami Youssef]

You.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. No. I watched it for the first time and I loved it. I watched it so fast and so hard. So hard. And I was very torn because it was kind of sexy. But he was a serial killer.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you watch you.

[Rami Youssef]

I watched a bit. I mean, Penn. He pulls it off. I mean, you're a little bit just like.

[Dax Shepard]

You're like. This guy's twisted. Yeah. It's hard.

[Monica Padman]

He's doing it for love. He's killing for love. And we can all relate. Just kidding. Just kidding. Don't.

[Rami Youssef]

I remember last time Dax was trying to get you set up. Have you met anyone or.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Rami Youssef]

Okay. That's interesting.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Do you think it makes sense now that you heard my. So where are we at?

[Rami Youssef]

Still searching. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, a very interesting. Huh? The net she's throwing is not even a net. It's just one string connected to a string.

[Rami Youssef]

There's just not an app that's open enough to really.

[Monica Padman]

That other guy's in prison. You know?

[Dax Shepard]

Do you think next stop might be dating an incarcerated man? Okay.

[Monica Padman]

I'm kidding. I am not for. What's his name?

[Dax Shepard]

Pen? Badge?

[Monica Padman]

Manioni.

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, Luigi.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not for vigilante justice.

[Rami Youssef]

Have you seen the Luigi fanfic?

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. It's crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

It's fanfic. Short for fan fiction.

[Rami Youssef]

Fan fiction.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Okay. And people write imaginary tales about their life.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. It's like cartoons. I mean, I get it.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me.

[Monica Padman]

Tell me more elaborate. Go on.

[Rami Youssef]

Which part? The fan fiction or just the whole.

[Monica Padman]

All of it. Like, you get why people are obsessed with it?

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, of course. It's class. He became like a Robin Hood type figure.

[Dax Shepard]

A very dark Robin Hood. But he didn't get any of the money back. And that's Robin Hood's signature move. We only justify the theft in the killing. Because he's gotten the money back.

[Monica Padman]

He didn't give to the poor.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

He just killed.

[Dax Shepard]

So he's like an incompetent Robin Hood. I understand the angst and ire towards.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, of course.

[Dax Shepard]

The medical field. For sure. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And corporations.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But I don't think you can kill people. No. Yeah. We agree on so little in this country. I feel like we must minimally, seemingly.

[Monica Padman]

We can't agree. That's what's crazy is I think some people really are like, yeah, that was the right move.

[Dax Shepard]

And I got to be honest, there was probably a moment in my life where I would have been much more supportive of what he did. I can acknowledge that.

[Rami Youssef]

Right, when you had less money.

[Dax Shepard]

When I was dead, bro. And disenfranchised.

[Rami Youssef]

It's just weird. Like, I don't know when it changed. I don't know. All of a sudden, I don't quite relate to what Luigi did.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I think it's twofold. Yes, I have money. And also, when I was younger, I just was up for more gnarly resolutions.

[Rami Youssef]

Right, right, right, right, right.

[Monica Padman]

I am obsessed with justice. We are obsessed with justice. Yeah, sure, there is a line.

[Rami Youssef]

Of course there is.

[Dax Shepard]

What if we leave this interview as huge losers?

[Monica Padman]

What if we hear that Rami's for killing? That's the takeaway.

[Rami Youssef]

Wait, did we start?

[Dax Shepard]

He would confirmed a lot of suspicion.

[Rami Youssef]

Are we rolling?

[Dax Shepard]

We're always rolling. Where are you coming from now? You've been really busy.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, I'm touring a new hour. But, yeah, the year's been crazy because we did this movie really quickly this year, Mountainhead.

[Dax Shepard]

Why was it so quickly?

[Rami Youssef]

So Jesse Armstrong pitched this thing in December.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my goodness. And it's on television right now.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, it was really wild.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, he pitched it in December of 2024? Yeah. And it was a spec. He had already written it, I presume. No, he pitched it. Wrote it.

[Rami Youssef]

He was doing a book review that was in the tech world, and he started to the tech world and listening to these guys and also seeing, like, the AI moment that we're barreling towards. And then he got obsessed with the story in writing succession. He built out this legacy media family for a really long time. But then I think he started looking at these characters and saying, oh, the landscape is moving so fast that if you were, you know, to do it in a series, it would change.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, even if he waits for it to be released until December of 2025, it's probably outdated. Outdated.

[Rami Youssef]

And I thought it was such a brilliant, fearless way of. Everyone's so precious, and especially a guy like him, too, who, you know, one of the top television shows of all time could be very precious about. All right, what's my next thing? And I thought it was so fearless to just be like, you know what? I'm obsessed with these characters. I have this relationship with hbo.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

Why not use the streaming moment to put something out? I really relate to it as a standup. Not that I, like, put a lot of standup online or anything. It's not what I do. But the idea of, oh, this is so pressing. I want to get it to the people right away. And so I thought it was so cool that he said, you know what, this is such a pressing moment. I want to do it right now.

[Dax Shepard]

How long was the production of it? It's a feature length film and generally on the very light side we would get 24 days and on the nice side we'd get 45 days. Yeah. So what were you guys at?

[Rami Youssef]

That's where it was interesting. I think the burden wasn't so much on the shoot itself. All the burden was before and after. A lot of movies happen in 24 days. This was 21 and it was a one location film too.

[Dax Shepard]

It's very much a play.

[Rami Youssef]

It is like a play that made it all really achievable. I don't think on set we felt that way. The other piece was the dialogue is so dense.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh my God. Yes, yes, yes. Not easy to learn. And very, very long talkies. I'm presuming there was like five and six page scenes in there.

[Rami Youssef]

That was the shortest scene. The scenes were averaging clocking out at like 13 pages.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. So I got the script on a Thursday and he said, could you be in Utah on Tuesday to rehearse? For me it was such a fascination too of the succession crew and all the producers, writers, and a lot of them were part of the show. Were part of the movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

And so I was like, yeah, I gotta go friggin hang out with these guys. This is unbelievable.

[Dax Shepard]

Our man Steve Carell, he was burdened with all the tech genius level dialogue.

[Rami Youssef]

He plays that Peter Tealey kind of. Jesse did such a good job of not actually assigning. Everyone's an amalgamation of many people.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

But he kind of plays this tech grandfather type who knows so much of that jargon. And I do think Steve was probably the first person cast. So he did have it the longest.

[Monica Padman]

This is the project, by the way. We had Nick Kroll on and he was talking about how he auditioned for a project he want so bad and he didn't get it.

[Rami Youssef]

And this was it.

[Monica Padman]

This is it. This is a big reveal.

[Rami Youssef]

And I didn't know that it would.

[Dax Shepard]

Have been your role.

[Rami Youssef]

Now I gotta call Crawl just to be like, sucker. I love Kroll so much.

[Monica Padman]

Fantastic. Who doesn't?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he's hard to hate. It's like I've tried.

[Rami Youssef]

You said it like I had a couple of months. I was trying to hate him and I really couldn't do it.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't hate anyone. I hate one Person you do who.

[Rami Youssef]

It'S cuz they did something to you.

[Dax Shepard]

Not at all.

[Rami Youssef]

From a distance.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, from a distance. Tucker Carlson.

[Monica Padman]

Oh yeah, he's.

[Dax Shepard]

He's a guy that I want to punch. I don't want to try to hash it out verbally. I just want to walk up to him and just drop him and then keep walking. And I asked my wife, which she never condones violence and she said I could. That's the only person we know that she said I could.

[Rami Youssef]

That's who you would have your Luigi esque.

[Dax Shepard]

Such a fucking bully.

[Rami Youssef]

It's interesting actually, lately seeing him, he's kind of running out of some of his own talking points. And then you see him kind of make a circle and kind of go, wait, I might have been wrong about a couple of things.

[Dax Shepard]

He's in a self reflective phase.

[Rami Youssef]

I wouldn't take it so far. It's just I almost think sometimes he's just talks so much that he ends up in a circle.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I aspire to changing this whole plan to a hug. Yeah, I prefer to hug him.

[Rami Youssef]

So it starts off fists up and then it becomes a hug.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I don't know if you watch this doc about this trans woman who invented this car. I think it was on hbo.

[Rami Youssef]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

She had this car company and it was in the 80s and there was this one Orange county journalist who was fucking obsessed with her and he wanted to out her as being a man. And he dedicated hours and hours of his stupid Orange county news show to it. And you're watching this and you're like, God, this guy's such a dick. He's so obsessed. Just let this woman do her thing. It's Tucker Carlson's dad. This is who he grew up with, dude.

[Rami Youssef]

And that's the thing.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

And you want to make your dad proud.

[Rami Youssef]

That almost makes me think that thing that you're planted with just in your lineage, there is a point in your adulthood where you kind of start to shake it and go, you know, is that really me?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Rami Youssef]

And so now I'm seeing you having this moment with him where you kind of go, dude, what if that's not you?

[Dax Shepard]

I know what you inherited. Yeah, but come on, come on, we gotta do a little bit better.

[Rami Youssef]

We could do better. We could up it.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you hate anyone? Can you even admit that?

[Monica Padman]

No one to ask.

[Rami Youssef]

I don't think I can ever go that far is the reality of it.

[Dax Shepard]

I feel a little dishonest even saying I hate Tucker Carlson.

[Rami Youssef]

I don't think you do. I think he raises your testosterone to want to be like. Like, there are people who create anger. Yes, it was really funny. I did one of those, like, Subway Takes thing where I basically said that I think that everyone is just inherently good and people just have viruses, got a lot of hate for it. You know, people kind of messaging, being like, no, there are people who are purely evil. I've tripled down on this. It's really important to know who you can't be around. And I think about it just like a contagious virus. There are people I really loved who had Covid. We cannot be in the same room if you have Covid. It's that simple. So it's like if you are plagued with these things, whether they're through your lineage or whether you got into a cycle of greed, violence, pain, infliction, whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

It is, let's be honest, fear that led to one of those things.

[Rami Youssef]

Fear that led to one of those things, then it's like, I can't. So it's really clear to know who you can't be in the room with. You could even call them an enemy if the way that they're letting their various spiritual diseases or whatever they have overtake them. That it's so against what you do and what you believe. But to say that they themselves are evil. I just don't believe that. Yeah, some people are so sick and many die without ever getting healed. But I don't think that their core is evil.

[Dax Shepard]

Nor do I. Yeah, because I think once you start acknowledging the level of self aggrandizement and self indulgence it takes to say that person's bad and that I'm good. The inverse of that is I'm good. So I was born good and they were born bad.

[Rami Youssef]

Weird.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a weird place to be coming from. Or that if I were in their exact same position, I would be superior to them and I would have a different outcome. Is really quite dismissive.

[Rami Youssef]

It feels like this Marvel fication. But even if you watch a Marvel movie, you always kind of see that part of the bad guy. Like, why he's the bad guy.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Rami Youssef]

Like, it's never.

[Monica Padman]

That's the interesting part.

[Rami Youssef]

There's always a danger that you could go that way.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Rami Youssef]

And I think that's the whole nature of it. But then, yeah, look, you have these obvious people who've killed people en masse. They are the sickest individuals that we've encountered in our society.

[Dax Shepard]

You gotta carve out psycho and sociopaths.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, yeah. Diseases.

[Monica Padman]

But those are literal diseases.

[Rami Youssef]

They are diseases.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. People are the product of their context for the most part.

[Rami Youssef]

This is where I feel incredibly fortunate and a lot of gratitude that I can't pinpoint my pain or my suffering to somebody. But I think there are plenty of people who might have a really good case for hating somebody, especially people who have been abused.

[Dax Shepard]

I do think some things come easier to us than other things just through our genetics. And one of the things that I think I've not been plagued with a ton is I don't get consumed too much with people I'm mad at. And this is a great segue because one of my questions, completely on show business related, because you have such a fun philosophical and spiritual mind, I was thinking, could we do your assessment like a health check in with America? Because I think there's a very, very interesting thing happening right now. And I'm curious if you agree or disagree at all with my observation. What do you think's happening right now, health assessment wise?

[Rami Youssef]

The Trump thing is like, I used to have cystic acne.

[Dax Shepard]

Again, congrats. You have eczema. Cystic acne. You're one working on from a trifecta of blood.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, it's kind of like an egot of skin things. The cystic acne is so interesting because it's always just right underneath. And so I really did view the Biden run as okay. You tamed it for a second, but, man, it's still really under there. And so we just have stuff we have to deal with. I don't like that this is how we have to deal with it. I didn't want him to be in, but how surprised were any of us that it happened again? And the shock of the sequel was not the same shock as when it first initially occurred.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. That's what I'm really honed in on. Also, Monica had cystic acne. I think she would want you to know.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, you look stunning.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you so much.

[Rami Youssef]

It really worked out.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Rami Youssef]

This podcast money.

[Monica Padman]

That's what did it. That's what did it. No, Jen at Corrective Skincare got to give her a huge shout out.

[Dax Shepard]

Shout out and watch you and watch the.

[Monica Padman]

That's right. Yeah, I did say I do too, but it was quiet.

[Dax Shepard]

What I think I'm observing and I hope I'm observing is like, yeah, this go around hasn't been met with the same all encompassing obsession with everyone, which is nice. And my explanation for that is, I think, hopeful, which is I think people are all both sides in this kind of collective hangover of having hated half of the country for 10 years, resenting half of the country, feeling superior to half the country. I think carrying that hate and resentment and superiority and self righteous indignation is really fueling for a while. And then I think it just runs out of steam and I think everyone's just fatigued, which I find oddly encouraging.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. Because pinpointing that exhaustion, you kind of hope that people just emerge from that.

[Dax Shepard]

We did that. It's not very fun. I don't like hating half the country. I don't like judging half the country.

[Rami Youssef]

It doesn't work. And there is just this massive diversity of thought in how people are. But we have an integrity issue at the cor. We have a hypocrisy issue at the core. Okay, the Luigi thing, right. It's really interesting because it's ultimately, and this is just to really follow the logical train of thinking here. It can be viewed as an act of war. And I think that's how people are viewing it. And so on one end people go, well, no, no, the act of war is just for the people who are in our military. And then you go, all right, well what are they doing? And then you tie that to what's happening in la. I don't know when this airs, but you see what's happening with these ICE raids and you go, well, that's illegal. So the people who even trusted to do things are violating, they're doing a ton of war crimes. Whether those crimes are happening in Americ America itself, or we're seeing them happen overseas, we're seeing them happen in Palestine, we're seeing them happen everywhere. So you kind of go, all right, well then who's allowed to do an act of war? It's top down. So when you have an integrity crisis, that comes from every single party. Because I actually think the Constitution is dope, I think it's sick. And I think checks and balances are pretty good. It is a pretty good doc.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a dynamite doc.

[Rami Youssef]

It's pretty good. It's not being fulfilled with its integrity. So everything's a symptom of that. For me, I'm always more focused with the top down issue because just as a symptom of that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I guess this go round of protests again, seems to have the energy I would be hoping for, which is if you see something you disagree with, you should go actively oppose it. Now, should you then go, the forces behind this theory are evil. And then I extend to anyone who supported that person, then Is by proxy evil. If you're using it to fuel this conclusion, you have the half the country's evil, but go oppose the thing. And then also I'm endless entertained by the flip flopping of what side of an argument we're on. So right now California doesn't mind immigrants. Yeah, we like it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, let us keep them.

[Dax Shepard]

We don't have an issue with it. And so we are currently in a situation where we believe greatly in states rights. We are now cemented in our state right to design the world we want to live in in this state. And we're in favor of that. But if your state, the majority doesn't want abortion, we're like, well no, no, no. But that's not a state right that you should have. And I'm not in favor of outlawing, but I am aware of the fact that we all borrow and trade these concepts we believe in as they suit us.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I just think there's an interesting states rights things that we're not normally on the left super states. Right. Because that usually represents slavery and outlawed abortion. But in fact in this case I think states should decide if they don't mind immigrants. You don't want them in Alabama. That's up to y' all to decide. It's a democracy here. We don't care. Get out of our business. We're not bothered by this.

[Rami Youssef]

It's such a massive leadership issue. And I think I view this from, you know, how many parts of TV shows, films, whatever you've been part of when like the director knows what they want, it's so much smoother than when they don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You could even go even further because what's really going on and what would mirror a director is when you get an actual sense through proof they don't know.

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, then people start doing crazy stuff. Then people are like, I don't need to show up on time, I don't need this, I don't need to do that. The only thing I'm qualified probably to talk about is making tv.

[Dax Shepard]

No. And spirituality.

[Rami Youssef]

But if I put that lens on, that's where everything starts to be crazy. Where you go, yeah, okay, you have the people who are directing and showrunning and then you have the network and you have all these competing interests. But you look at this country, there's just a massive leadership issue. No one's doing what the script is. No one has a unified view. There's no script supervisor, there's no script.

[Monica Padman]

Supervisor, but there's no Respect for anyone.

[Rami Youssef]

So this would, on a micro level, crumble. So of course it's crumbling.

[Dax Shepard]

The terrorist thing would be like if your director said, Italian accent today. And the next thing, we're not doing Italian. Those are over. Next day, Italian accent's back. Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

Well, then the frustrating thing for me is when you look at something like Gaza and then people go, why do we care about that? And I go, we are executive producers on that project. We actively are funneling money into it. We're not passive producers. I would say America's a passive producer. On Fan of the World. Yeah, yeah. It's not a. No, no, no, no. We're in the room. That's why I care. And there's other things going on. We have our hands in so many things as Americans, but this one, we're almost co creators. I mean, we are hands on. That's why I care. Because then you go, that actually threatens my identity as an American. And I feel that it goes against the thesis of why I want to be here. And then it ties into the same type of aggression that you see with ICE agents in la. They're just pulling in people because they look brown. And you go, what is that? And then you got to kind of think, well, unfortunately, like, I've been condoning that kind of rampant thing where there's a thread of something that can be legitimate, but then it gets turned into whatever the hell that somebody wants.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the other terrible sense you get that this is all very theatrical. I was saying to Monica yesterday, it's upsetting and it's completely ineffective. Obama deported more people just to poke a hole there.

[Monica Padman]

I think it's the way it's happening is what's causing so much outrage.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's my point. It's theatrical and that's without due process. And then what we do is respond in our theatrical way and one of us has to stop the pattern.

[Rami Youssef]

But this is your earlier point when you're talking about that exhaustion. Can we be tired and exhausted of the theatrics? Can we lose the performance? Can we lose this idea that we actually give a shit about decorum?

[Dax Shepard]

That's why I like these protests. I've been watching some of them and they have a different vibe to. And it's a ton of Latinos, which I love. It's not a bunch of white young girls. I hate to say that.

[Monica Padman]

Which is also fine, because to your point, Rami, they want to live in a country that they believe is doing the right thing.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. But they can Have a righteous indignation as opposed to the authentic. This is my survival.

[Rami Youssef]

Monica and I are like, we are not taking the anti young white girl stance. I need those women.

[Monica Padman]

That's also true.

[Rami Youssef]

They hold half my fan base down.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Rami Youssef]

I need those young white women and white women who are listening. I love you.

[Monica Padman]

If I'm saying I want to be you.

[Dax Shepard]

If I'm seeing someone throw a Molotov cocktail in a crowd, I want it to be the person that's oppressed and not the entitled person who's helping. That's just my preference.

[Rami Youssef]

But okay, here's the thing. I love this interview. The Molotov cocktail being thrown by the white woman is actually her being like, you know what? I know that I'm not going to be the ire of the class storyline, of the immigrant storyline. Therefore I will throw a Molotov cocktail. Because they're never going to say white women are throwing Molotov cocktails. But the second they get a whiff of someone who's Latino or Muslim or black doing something, they're going to paint the whole community. So the white girls are like, I'm going to sacrifice. I know that's their whole, you know, that's their whole thing.

[Monica Padman]

That to an extent, these people actually can't throw the Molotov cocktail. So I'm going to step up and do it.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. I lost two to one. All right. I don't mind.

[Monica Padman]

I can see as an owner of two young white women, white girls, I'll.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell them they're only allowed to protest abortion issues.

[Monica Padman]

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I'm going to be wrangling them into all kinds of minority causes.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to be parading them up and down the protest line.

[Monica Padman]

I sure am.

[Rami Youssef]

The other thing too is I just keep thinking about the reality collapse that we're in. No one knows what's real and what's not. And no one knows what to trust and what information is actually legit. And I think that's the thing that just feels like it's getting even more amplified.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you think that personally? Because I think I know the difference. And I have a hunch you think you know the difference. And I think Monica knows the difference. And I think this is part of the self righteousness. I think we think our opponents don't.

[Monica Padman]

Know the difference of what's fact and.

[Dax Shepard]

Not what's real and what's not real in the news.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you think you really can't delineate?

[Rami Youssef]

I think that my point of how I filter what I see, I would hope is elevated beyond my own self interests.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

My hope is how I filter the information and how I look at what the facts are would be outside of my realm of comfort. That's where I'm able to look at things I would hope and say. Someone wants to say this thing about Muslims, and I can actually put together why you want to put that together, But I can then step it back also and understand, well, this is why a Muslim might be in a certain position, whatever it is. That's my goal. But people tend to ruminate and tend to be stuck in a certain thing, and I really understand why they're stuck, and I really understand why they're hung up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And so we all have our pet things that really, really bother us. And you just nailed mine, which is I believe you. And I think it's incumbent upon you to extend that same belief in everyone else. You have to. You really can't say. I can delineate the difference. And I think what you're doing perfectly. And what I think I'm good at is you can see incentives when you hear people talk.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You assess the incentive. Okay, well, they have this incentive because they have this worldview and they want this to be true. And you correct for that, like you're a scientist. And I think a lot of us think we are able to do that, and we're not extending that to other people. And that, to me, is really dismissive. And that's where you get into the elite problem we have.

[Monica Padman]

You're looking at it from one side, but I think it could be the other, that I have incentives and you do, too. So I don't think you're capable more than those other people. I think we're all in the water. We can do our best, but we're all subject to confirmation bias, and we're all looking for the thing that we want to get validation.

[Dax Shepard]

I agree. But do you think you're able to delineate between what's fake and real?

[Monica Padman]

But sometimes me and you have talked about this and you've agreed with me that we're not the same.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. We don't have a standard intelligence.

[Monica Padman]

It's not just intelligence. We're not the same across the board on anything. As far as discernment, I agree with.

[Dax Shepard]

You 1000%, but my fear is that you think you can isolate one group that suffers from that more than another group, and I don't think you can. That's what I'm trying to extend to Everyone, it's like it's equal across the spectrum. We're all equally good, we're all equally trying, we're all equally flawed, we're all equally not discerning when it comes to news. No one has a monopoly on this. No one is superior.

[Monica Padman]

We're all, all of those things, but individually we all have different levels.

[Dax Shepard]

A thousand percent. But do you think the individuals who are savvier have all made their way to one side and the ones that are not savvy?

[Rami Youssef]

I just think that I act differently on a rainy day and a sunny day. And I can be aware that someone who I'm dealing with is in the middle of like a rainstorm that's been going on for months. That's kind of how I look at it. Given that you weren't in that, we would be at the same level of discernment. I am not questioning anyone's ability to have a wide universal discernment. What I am aware of is the particular weather and the particular thing that's happening that I know. If I was there, I don't know that I, I would be where I am because I'm different. Today I'm having a good day, but another day I'm really not.

[Dax Shepard]

I just think that the thing that people really need to police themselves about is that when you disagree with somebody and they have an opposite point of view, if you are forced to make a character assessment about them to justify why you have a difference of opinion, basically, if you knew what I knew, you would have my opinion. That kind of thought process, I think is dangerous.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. Where are you seeing that play out?

[Dax Shepard]

On both sides, Entirely on the left. If they really understood the real timeline of our geology and not a biblical timeline, they would think this way. Just name it. If they understood science, they would understand global warming. On the right, they're like, if they just understood that 250,000 people are coming in a month and that's untenable. If they accepted that, acknowledged it, they would think like us. So I just think when you have to come up with an excuse, that's a character flaw. As opposed to, hey, guess what? People have different opinions. People aren't morally superior or inferior because they have different opinions. They just think there's different ways to get to do it. Outcome.

[Rami Youssef]

I agree with that. I think that there are people who are just like, I have the same data as you, and as I see it all kind of come in. This is what I believe to be true.

[Dax Shepard]

I was at a conference and then lo and Behold. Jared Kushner did like a 45 minute fireside chat. And I was like, wow, what's this gonna be like? And I listened to the guy, and at the end of it, I had to say, he's extremely intelligent, of course, and he has a very cohesive worldview. He has very honorable goals for the world. And I disagree with the approach, but.

[Monica Padman]

Not everyone has honorable goals. Can't we say that or we don't want to say that?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, all I'll say is, yes, some people don't have honorable goals, but you can't actually put those people in one group or the other.

[Monica Padman]

That's fine. No one's saying that.

[Rami Youssef]

Jared in particular, the way that he operates, it's really interesting because I've heard him talk, he's super smart. I've heard him on podcasts. No one's where they are by accident.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly.

[Rami Youssef]

You know what I mean?

[Dax Shepard]

There was a moment I thought he was there by accident, like, oh, his girlfriend became president. Now he's the ambassador to the Middle East. Good luck, my friend.

[Rami Youssef]

It's true.

[Dax Shepard]

I kind of thought it was nepotism.

[Rami Youssef]

No, no, no. He's super sharp. But I also think that he has cultural, racial racism, blindness. I think that these guys do look at certain swaths of the world and just. It's very convenient. There is a lot to what they're saying that is honorable, but when you strip it back, you realize it is honorable for a certain group of people. And it tends to be that they can kind of be like, no, we're not racist. We sit with the Saudis and the Qataris.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Rami Youssef]

You're only going to see sit with those in that class system who are going to support what you want to do financially. There's a caveat. So it's like, hey, I'm for every man in Ohio, regardless of where they're at financially, and I'm for anyone in the Middle east who can bankroll whatever the hell I want to do. That's not exactly honorable.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'll tell you, he truly wants peace in the Middle east, and he truly believes that that peace will be brokered on economic incentives from the countries. That is his worldview, on how to get everyone to play.

[Rami Youssef]

But I think when your worldview is based on economic goals and economic growth, that is racist.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, hold on, though. Not just growth, interdependence. We would acknowledge that there's a huge force in keeping peace, which is when your economies are interdependent. You can't go nuclear option.

[Rami Youssef]

Of course. But I think there's what people say and what people do. So there's nothing policy wise about what's being done that supports that. And this goes back to what we keep talking about, which is Constitution's dope. That Fireside Chat is dope. What he says is dope. What actually happens is none of that. That is why we're living in the era of the con man. Everything they say is great, everything they do is the opposite of what they said. And it feels good to hear, and it feels good to be like, oh, cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Just don't check in with the results.

[Rami Youssef]

But don't check in with the next action. Don't check in with the call he makes when he gets in the car after that. That's the thing that is, like, mind boggling to me. And now the integrity crisis is so deep that you can call someone out on the lie and nothing sticks. And that's because we're so distracted. It's kind of like, oh, man, he lied about that thing. Yo, look at this kid, like, back flipping in Malaysia. This is a sick, like, TikTok. Check that out. And that's the reality collapse. Right. We're so detached from all of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I just believe you might be right and I believe you might be right, and I believe I might be right, but I'm really not sure.

[Monica Padman]

I'm not sure about anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

I don't even know that we're necessarily disagreeing on anything, but people are facing consequences in the world for our pontification. They're facing the brunt of it in this way that is really wild. And back to your original question. How we got here, what's going on in America? Well, a lot of America is starting to feel those consequences. This country, geographically, is surrounded by so much water that we don't bump up with things in the way that people do in Europe and the Middle east and other places. But that stuff is starting to happen.

[Dax Shepard]

We're almost like a guy in a car road raging like, we're safe in our car. We could just antagonize safely from a distance.

[Monica Padman]

Immigration is one of our biggest issues, and that is as a result of being connected to them. So that goes to show. Yeah, if we had more of that, we would be in more fights and we'd have more issues.

[Rami Youssef]

We have plenty. I mean, and there's people in this country, too, who are really suffering 20 minutes from here. But yeah. So look, man, I think that right now, I hope it's a moment of trying to integrate genuine integrity between what people say and what people do and I'm curious how that nets out.

[Dax Shepard]

There's so much happening so fast that we will see shockingly shortly. All these theoreticals are about to happen in front of our eyes. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by smallwood home. Smallwood home.com turns your favorite photos into gallery quality framed products, prints or wrapped canvases. All handcrafted in the usa, shipped in days and priced to make your whole home smile. Rob just got me the most gorgeous small wood framed photo of my Papa Bob which is now hanging in the Nashville studio and it turned out absolutely gorgeous. How many amazing pictures do you have just sitting on your phone wasting away into the cloud? Take those memories and put them on display in the realm world. Having something on the wall that's personal and not just a designy print you picked up at the store can make a space feel truly yours and we love that. Small wood Home is a small business that takes their time to craft every single piece right here in the US. No assembly lines or robots involved. Join the over 3 million happy customers who have made their house into a home with Smallwood Home right now. Get 30% off when you use code DAX@smallwood home.com that's promo code DAX to get 30% off your first order at SmallW. Give your memories the showcase they deserve. We are supported by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like you know to check your tent for holes first before discovering you're sharing it with every mosquito in the campground. Like you know to check your hiking boots still fit first before getting blisters halfway up the mountain. Like you know to check your picnic basket for utensils first before having to eat potato salad with your hand hands. 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 Firing Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, IL this message is brought to you by Apple Card. Did you know Apple Card is designed to help you pay off your balance faster with smart payment suggestions? And because fees don't help you, Apple Card doesn't have have any. So if your credit card isn't Apple Card, maybe it should be subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Variable APRs range from 18.24% to 28.49% based on creditworthiness rates as of July 1, 2025 Terms and [e-mail] we are supported by quints. Oh, we love quints.

[Monica Padman]

We do love quints.

[Dax Shepard]

The quality is unparalleled. Let's face it, keeping up with fashion trends can be exhausting and expensive.

[Monica Padman]

Tell me about it.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

I got a friend a bunch of the flit polos. Yeah, they are so nice. And he was busting around Hawaii and he looked so cool. And then he sent me all these pictures.

[Dax Shepard]

He was just strutting.

[Monica Padman]

He was strutting.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, Quince can make you strut. The best part, Quint gives you this premium quality at half the price of similar brands. Stick to the staples that last with elevated essentials from quints. Go to quint.comdax for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.comdax to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comdax stacks. Well, I just want to say we both put your interview at the top of our list of wonderful times. And I repeat a lot of different things you taught me in that interview. Most frequently you had said, and I could get it a little wrong, but you said the word for human in Arabic is forgetfulness. Basically.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. In that root Arabic word. Yeah. Insan is nasian, and it's not like the perfect translation, but that word of being forgetful.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. As a theme for humans. Oh, my goodness.

[Rami Youssef]

God. So baked.

[Dax Shepard]

And I always repeat that, and it's such an astute observation. So I was reading that you think there are a few words that we should know, and you give the example. You don't have to be Jewish to know mazel tov. We all know what mazel tov makes. And your words are haram, halal. Inshallah. Yeah. Okay, tell me what these three words mean and why you're making a case for these to be the three words. Oh, my God.

[Rami Youssef]

I'm trying to remember when I.

[Dax Shepard]

Because if you want this to happen, we must get.

[Rami Youssef]

We got to do it here.

[Dax Shepard]

Definitions.

[Rami Youssef]

Well, inshallah is just like, God willing, I think we're fully in inshallah mode right now. We are fully in this. Like, man, if there's something beautiful about this moment, it Is the realization that we all have to let go of control and just be present.

[Dax Shepard]

You could say fingers crossed. It's also kind of like saying fingers crossed.

[Monica Padman]

Or like, it is what it is.

[Rami Youssef]

Sure. It's a cosmic fingers crossed. The thing is, even when you cross your fingers, it is a level of control. You are physically trying to create control in your hands. This transcends fingers crossed. This is, I'm going to accept God's will. But it's also really important because that's not a passive thing.

[Monica Padman]

Is there hope in it?

[Rami Youssef]

Totally. There's a ton of hope.

[Dax Shepard]

Because God does rad sometimes very much.

[Rami Youssef]

Think about, you know, if you were fully in charge of your life, how many good things that happened to you were because you played a perfect play. No, you up, you were too tired, and you regret that thing you said to that person and instill something great happened because it was bigger than you in spite of you. And the opposite happens where sometimes you did do it all right, and then it went wrong in spite of you, and there's nothing you can do. And then the hope is enough time passes or enough different things shifts where you go. That actually was a blessing. But this idea of giving in and saying, you know what? God willing is an incredibly active thing that takes a lot of action. It's not passive. It's not just chilling back and being like, well, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. To actually be in that state. State is very freeing because you kind of go, you know what? I can really just kind of focus on my own little plot of how I act.

[Dax Shepard]

I want this, but I will trust that if it happens, it'll be for the right reason. If it doesn't, I'll accept that for the right reason.

[Rami Youssef]

How hard is that kind of aa?

[Dax Shepard]

We're in the show up and work business, not the results business.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean, AA is.

[Dax Shepard]

It's virtually the Quran.

[Rami Youssef]

The amount of people who I feel this, like, deep brothership with are either people at the mosque or people who go to aa. I haven't been to aa, but I. Sometimes I'm talking with someone, I'm connecting so much with them. Or I go, you're an aa and they go, how did you know?

[Dax Shepard]

You were a junkie.

[Rami Youssef]

You saw the way that our actions can take us into this place that is so unlike who we actually are.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I'm not pointing out anything revelatory at all, but I was just reading a lot about the Stoics, and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's an AA thing. That's a Buddhist thing. But obviously the Stoics and the Buddhists were doing it independently. There are some truths to be discovered and there's a lot of overlap. We're really hung up on the tiny non overlap parts of it all.

[Rami Youssef]

I always talk about. Sometimes it feels like we're talking about the rims and the paint trim on a car that doesn't have an engine in it. Yeah. Like imagine just fighting, being like, I think it's gotta be this color and this trim and it's like, guys, there's no engine. It's technically not a car. We are fighting over essentially like a hunk of metal. How about we all just focus on getting the car to work and then we can get into all that? Because the basis of your conversations would be completely different if it was a genuinely operational society.

[Monica Padman]

How do we make this work? Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

If it actually was serving everybody more pragmatic.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so the last time you were here, I guess you were maybe. Well, you had to be. Cause I looked at my old notes from the last trip and you were promoting poor things. But I don't think I had seen it yet.

[Monica Padman]

No, we hadn't seen it.

[Rami Youssef]

Oh yeah, you hadn't seen it.

[Dax Shepard]

No. And that was by far my favorite movie of the year.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And we had already then interviewed you, so I was already like, now I love you and root for you. And I was so delighted you popped up.

[Monica Padman]

I don't think it was for poor things, but you told us in it that you were shooting this movie.

[Rami Youssef]

It was coming out.

[Dax Shepard]

It was coming out. It was in my.

[Rami Youssef]

Like, what projects are in the movie?

[Monica Padman]

It was in there.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like we haven't seen it yet.

[Monica Padman]

What a movie.

[Dax Shepard]

What a fucking movie.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, dude, what a gift.

[Dax Shepard]

Now it's so surreal. I've never been in a movie that was surreal like that. I've been in a science fiction movie that had space and stuff. But does it feel differently to be in something surreal? If that makes sense. Like does the world and the sets feel warped in a way?

[Rami Youssef]

Some of it you can't see until you see the thing. It wasn't like we were at monitors or something. I mean, they're shooting this on film. And it was one of those things where as actors we would just show up and be in this immersive set. That set was not facade. Everything was built. It was really impressive. It was really gorgeous. And Yorgos is such a visionary. And so you kind of just show up. And so I had two experiences. One when I Read it. The writer brain in me was like, this is a. This is just funny. But it is going to be dressed up with all this weird stuff on top of it. But at its core, it's a rom com. And I get to play this character that is this wholesome but also kind of has his own horniness he's dealing with. He's kind of navigating this dynamic.

[Dax Shepard]

He has a naivete that we, like, matched with her naivete. They're safe for each other.

[Rami Youssef]

They're meant to be together, but she's gonna go around and experience the world before she accepts. And so that's a rom com. The guy waiting for the girl to figure out what she needs to figure out so that they can be together. Core simple. But then it's like, all right, late 1800s, learn a British accent, crazy costumes, surreal way of shooting it and stepping into, like a performance that is different than anything I had done. So I had so much fun. Now just coming off playing this dipshit billionaire in Mountainhead, it's like the opposite. And so that's where I'm like, man, it's so much fun being an actor.

[Dax Shepard]

What about being opposite Willem Dafoe? And especially in that insane prosthetic that.

[Rami Youssef]

Was really fun and wild and surreal as well. And that was one of those things where I got to know him. We had three weeks of rehearsal, which was really beautiful. We had three weeks. That was me and Emily and Willem and Mark.

[Dax Shepard]

Does Emma go by Emily?

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, yeah, she does. Yes. That's her real name.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, I don't know. And I claim to be in love.

[Rami Youssef]

The Oscar speech.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wait. But also, no. She was doing press and this journalist said emily. And then somebody said, emma and she said, no, my name is Emily. And then recently, I think at Kim can, that guy was back in the press room and he said, I'm the guy who said that. And you changed my whole life. And I don't remember where he's from, but he's from some country and he's like, my job opportunities skyrocketing. Wow.

[Rami Youssef]

And he's making a documentary now, actually. It's called her name is Emily. And it's about this Hungarian journalist.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought it was called don't call her Emma.

[Rami Youssef]

I think that's the tagline. They're figuring it out.

[Dax Shepard]

Her name is Emily. Tagline. Don't call her. Don't call her Emma or I'll kill you. Another tagline or I'll kill you.

[Rami Youssef]

The story of a truth seeking journalist, vigilante and it's less going through war zones, more kind of going through tabloid zones, kind of dealing with all that.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not as good of a love from afar as you.

[Monica Padman]

What do you mean?

[Dax Shepard]

If we found out Matt Damon's real name was Kent Damon. Oh, like you would have been first to know.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe his dad's name, Kent or Kenneth.

[Rami Youssef]

Even know you're plugged into the Damon verse.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

And I think if I love any actor, I think it's her. As far as, like, who I think I could marry. I never even met her, but I'm like. From what I see, I feel like I could also marry her.

[Rami Youssef]

Maybe everybody wants to marry.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, she's very marryable.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean, she's actually just like the best person. And also I can say that. And then my wife loves her. My wife's also like, we should marry all of us, the best person.

[Dax Shepard]

I got to pitch that to Kristen.

[Rami Youssef]

I would kind of get it prepped before even going to Emily with the offer. Get the package together. Don't bring her in on the brainstorm.

[Monica Padman]

She's dealing with a lot to tell her. You just learned her name.

[Rami Youssef]

She's dealing with a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I knew.

[Monica Padman]

I am going.

[Rami Youssef]

That's jealousy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, you're right.

[Rami Youssef]

That's an illness. That is an illness. I saw that come up right there.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, because I put more effort into facilitating the love connection with her and Matt Damon.

[Monica Padman]

Excuse you.

[Dax Shepard]

What are you saying?

[Rami Youssef]

I was trying to say that was a. So, like, you put in all the way.

[Dax Shepard]

I encouraged him to hug you and to kiss your head, and I made standees posters when it happened.

[Monica Padman]

Kristen did that. Kristen did that. Let's not take what she's done as yours. You've also hung out with him and excluded me.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean, I want to, but. But in fairness, part of a larger strategy. Because he knows Daemon and he knows if he's pushing you on every hang, Damon gets suspicious. But he's got to do two non Monica hangs, then do the integration. And any wingman would know how to do that.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, the exact.

[Rami Youssef]

It's not masculine. This is called winging. And this is like a non situation.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, but.

[Rami Youssef]

Okay, so we had three weeks where we're hanging out, learning the lines.

[Dax Shepard]

Where are you? What country are you in?

[Rami Youssef]

Budapest.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it so special?

[Rami Youssef]

Well, it's very clean. It's also kind of weird. I enjoyed my time there. They just have amazing public parks. It's just that Europe thing where not everything has to be a target.

[Dax Shepard]

Am I wrong in that? Budapest is one of the original crossroads, though, to the east and the West. I thought that would interest you.

[Rami Youssef]

No, it is. The history is unbelievable. I think also at the time, though, I was reading a lot of Gabor Mate. And so he talked about being separated from his family during the Holocaust. And so I was a little bit walking around being like, oh, you guys fucked with Gabor Mate. But then also kind of like, but thank God for his trauma, because he's really helping me.

[Dax Shepard]

His mom had left him for the those six weeks.

[Rami Youssef]

Dude.

[Dax Shepard]

We have nothing, dude.

[Rami Youssef]

So we're there, then he puts on the prosthetics, Willem. And I'm in these scenes with him, and it's really surreal because this is not the guy I was just hanging out with for a month.

[Dax Shepard]

Who's a sweetheart, right?

[Rami Youssef]

The sweetest guy. Have you guys had him on yet?

[Dax Shepard]

We had him on a. He's so hot, dude.

[Rami Youssef]

He's so cool, sexy. He's very fit.

[Dax Shepard]

I got some pictures of his early work, and I'm like, dude was a smart, handsome show.

[Rami Youssef]

Very handsome. And a yogi.

[Dax Shepard]

He's up right now on another level.

[Rami Youssef]

I think 4:00am, wake up, do yoga, get in the bathtub. He's got his non negotiables. He was really inspiring, actually. I had some really good conversations with him. And this was at the time, too. I hadn't proposed to my wife yet. And I was, like, even talking to him about marriage. And he was very much like, you gotta be disciplined. You gotta live your life this way as a man. And then you're gonna pick someone, and when you pick, you choose, you choose, you make it work, and that's it.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. I love it.

[Rami Youssef]

It was pretty cool.

[Dax Shepard]

No frills. This is what it is. How long had you been with your wife before you got married?

[Rami Youssef]

Well, we had known each other for a few years.

[Monica Padman]

How'd you meet?

[Rami Youssef]

It had been a few years through a friend, Maykal Ma, who plays my sister on my show.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Rami Youssef]

And so they had known each other, and then we were getting to know each other, and then I immediately. It was one of those.

[Dax Shepard]

Where's she from?

[Rami Youssef]

She's from Saudi Arabia. So she grew up in Saudi.

[Dax Shepard]

And did she come here for school?

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. Yeah. So she studied the fine arts in the Bay. She's amazing artist, art director kind of thing. Well, this was the thing. Part of it for me was in the back of my head, and I was kind of being coy. I'm like, okay, obviously, oil money. This would be great.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a great background yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

And I just. I just kind of want to be like a boy artist who's supported and all that kind of thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Exactly.

[Rami Youssef]

Parents are teachers, so it was really like a background. Bad gamble, and here we are still having to work.

[Dax Shepard]

Why wasn't she at the Golden Globes?

[Rami Youssef]

She's not trying to do all that.

[Monica Padman]

Good for her.

[Dax Shepard]

I like that.

[Monica Padman]

Good for her.

[Dax Shepard]

That's preferred.

[Monica Padman]

She doesn't give a. Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

She go to after party, but she's like, ah. The whole thing with the carpet. And that was kind of one of the things too. When we first were like, okay, we're gonna be together. She was like, just keep me out of all that.

[Monica Padman]

Did you like it or were you.

[Rami Youssef]

Like, oh, my God, I loved it. Are you kidding? And it's also helps just getting in the car quicker.

[Dax Shepard]

You take about nine minutes to get ready when we're planning our day for one of these things. She's got a hotel room somewhere. She got me in the mirror. I'm like, yeah, all right. Yeah, all right, let's go.

[Rami Youssef]

Get out of here.

[Dax Shepard]

10 minutes before with my vans on.

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Ready?

[Rami Youssef]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, Now. I watched Mountain Head last night with my best friend Aaron, who's in town, and we loved it. I love it. It has an insane plot, and it's scarily plausible, it seems. So you and three other gentlemen arrive at this mountain retreat. Yeah. So one of the dudes owns a social media company. One of the dudes is, like, you say, a Peter Thiel. He's been first one in on a lot of these, and he's an extremely rich man, $60 billion or something. They write their net worth on their chest at one point, which is incredible. I almost believe it might be possible that that happens. So social media company owner, kind of legendary tech investor, and then you, who owns an AI technology that is being used by the social network.

[Rami Youssef]

They want to use it. He's trying to get my AI. Basically, my character took some of his employees and made the AI that I'm using. And he's kind of like, dude, those are my guys, anyway. But my guy is pretty dead set that the reason they built this good AI is due to his leadership and due to his guiding principles. And so he has this relative to the rest, a moral conscience about how the technology is affecting people. But at the same time, it kind of seems like that consciousness. Consciousness is also tied to his own net worth and tied to his own aspirations. And it's almost like, wait, do you have a conscience? Because you have a conscience or do you have a conscience? Because that's a really good brand to have a conscience.

[Dax Shepard]

But what seems plausible is this is a trip you guys have taken many times. You've got a club name, you're the Root. What are you, the Brewsters and your cockadoodle brew and all this terrible guy stuff. But as you're arriving for this weekend, which you guys apparently do once a year or something, they have released a new bit of technology on the social media platform, and it is incorporating AI, and the AI is making fake news segments. War is breaking out in places. People are killing. It's a simmer at the beginning, and everyone's just like, well, how will this all play out? And it just keeps escalating the entire time you're there at the weekend, and you're kind of the only person that's going, hold on here. I think this is bad. I think we have to intervene. Do we really not care about this? But the compelling part that is the most scary is two of the dudes, Carell and. What's the other gentleman's name?

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, Jason Schwartzman or. Oh, Corey Michael Smith.

[Dax Shepard]

Corey Michael Smith, yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

Who plays Venice.

[Dax Shepard]

He's incredible, by the way.

[Rami Youssef]

He's phenomenal. Movie so good.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he's scary and believable. But there is a point where some obvious thoughts come their way, which is like, okay, well, who's really killing each other? Pretty much idiots inspired by crazy fundamentalist religious views and people who are gullible to this thing. Is this terrible that these people kind of just take care of themselves and then we've got a nice hard reset? I mean, it's eugenics, it's genocide. It's the operating principle of Mao, of a lot of people who are like, if we have an excuse and they do it themselves, we're not going to stand in the way of that.

[Rami Youssef]

It's interesting, too, because in the film, you see them first start to really get concerned when it happens in France. Then they go, wait, what? Then they go, okay, that's getting awfully white. And then all the. A sudden they're like, krell's got a.

[Dax Shepard]

Thing that he's like, not to worry. There's never been a country that exports cheese that has what that has, like.

[Rami Youssef]

Any sort of problem. Yeah, as long as you have an exportable cheese, you've got a way out.

[Dax Shepard]

His character is great because they say he's got a 200 IQ. He's insanely smart. He's quoting Greek scholars. And again, being really smart, I think is more dangerous than people who are smart. Give it credit. You have been right so many times that it's much easier to mislead yourself.

[Rami Youssef]

And you have so much information that you can kind of weaponize it to justify whatever you're thinking.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. If you make a plau sound argument in your mind, it's hard not to buy into it.

[Rami Youssef]

And if you have a track record of I invested well, the ego says I actually have a bit of a godlike view of what's going on.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Again, it's that thing where it's like, I'm better than everyone. I can think clearer than everyone. It's the thing I brought up earlier in this conversation. It's like this danger of thinking you think clearly and other people don't. Leads always to a genocide, virtually.

[Rami Youssef]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

But it escalates in this most plausible, intriguing, and terrifying way where they have to start considering, well, fuck, should we just run the whole show? When they put the pieces together in reality, a lot of these people have tons of different products that are running the government. They have products that are running the military. They have products that are running satellites. Whether they've been given a role or not, they're so intermeshed now that they could make some very serious attacks.

[Rami Youssef]

One of Carrel Randall's lines is they have this whole thing where they talk to the president, and then afterwards, they don't like what the president says. And then he basically just goes, you know, the president's a good guy, but. But he's a simpleton. And it's really interesting because I don't think we could have gotten better press for the movie than the week right after it came out, the Elon Trump war on Twitter. And literally everyone just being like, this is Mountainhead 2. Because essentially Elon is at that moment openly tweeting, this budget sucks. I saw the way that everything is going in there, and essentially he's seeing the same thing in the film is like, why aren't we running the show? Since then, he's walked that back. By the time this podcast comes out, I'm sure 400 other things will happen.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Rami Youssef]

Those dynamics really exist.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, and his satellite network was brought online when he was in support of Ukraine and it was employed effectively. He can turn on and shut off Internet for a lot of places, which is wild. We're there.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And when he got elected, remember, everyone was like, including me. I was like, why are all these people coming out and saying congratulations to him? And then I was like, oh, because they need in with him. So that they can actually control things, which is so crazy. But. But true. And works well.

[Dax Shepard]

That's interesting. My conclusion on that was, oh, this person can destroy trillions of dollars of saved money of what we've done. Something I've been working on for 20 years. That half of America's IRA is involved in this value of this company and this person could ruin it. I've got no choice but to protect this thing.

[Monica Padman]

Well, I think that was my complaint.

[Rami Youssef]

I think it's both. Yeah, there's kids in the ring and there's. I want the contract. It's just cozying up. This is how it works in dictatorships and all sorts of places.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

There's a few wonderfully scary things in the MOV movie. I can't wait to re watch it, actually. Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It has real stakes and real stress. And you're juggling that with comedy. And the comedy is brilliant, but also your stress. It's almost like the studio, which you're also in.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Congratulations. What a show to have a fitness.

[Rami Youssef]

It was so fun. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What an accomplishment, that show.

[Rami Youssef]

It's so, so impressive. It's the man. Yeah, he really is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But that show has stakes and stress. It's a stressful show. Show the studio. It's almost like I want to rewatch that as well. Well, I already did some episodes I rewatched because I wanted people to see it. The oner episode, I'm like, yeah, that's so fun. And I. Yes, I could enjoy it the next go around. So I'm like, everyone lived the stress of it, you know?

[Monica Padman]

You know how it ends.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. This movie is fucking thought provoking. But the two things that I think are brought to the forefront are one, AI, are people going to be able to discern the difference? Is that going to happen? Terrifying. I'm optimistic. I don't think people are as vulnerable as we think.

[Monica Padman]

In what way?

[Dax Shepard]

Can we elaborate that if they're viewing a news clip on the Internet and it's proclaiming that this group killed this person, I have some faith that they're gonna need to at least see it on a trusted news source before they take action.

[Monica Padman]

You do?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I do.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean, it's interesting. We'll find out, but this is the integrity crisis, and the president has run on a platform of fake news. So I think there's this level of verification that we still kind of look for where you kind of want to see it. The question is almost what happens in the gaps between something being verified and not which I think is part of what the film expl. But I say this with the humility of knowing and hoping that one day I get old enough to have my own gaps between what's happening with tech and where I am. Maybe that inevitably happens, but the amount of things that my parents and people in that generation are like, man, can you believe this thing happened? And I go, where'd you hear about that? And it's like, 1, 2, 3. Hindustantimes.com org whatever. And then you look at this janky link. This is not a real thing. But that goes over their head, right? And again, with the humility of. I'll probably be at some point in that situation where my kids know something about hologram technology that I'm unaware of, how the light refracts in order to know whether a hologram is a true hologram or a false hologram. But you kind of have this whole section of people that are already falling for it, and now they're going to get realistic video. And I actually see these clips go viral now of Trump saying something, and I'm looking at the mouth because I'm like, did he actually say that? And it's already really good. I think Trump and LeBron, they're like, I think the most AIed.

[Monica Padman]

Really?

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. Trump and LeBron, because there's so much footage on them that you can do it pretty seamlessly.

[Dax Shepard]

You can make a very good data set from them.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. Trump and LeBron. Yeah, our two leaders.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's your obsession, LeBron.

[Rami Youssef]

Right?

[Dax Shepard]

I've heard you say that. That's your main reason you're on Instagram, dude.

[Rami Youssef]

This is my guy. That's so interesting, actually, since I saw you, I got to do a commercial campaign for LeBron.

[Dax Shepard]

You did?

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. I'll send it to you. It's pretty cool. I got to work with him for a day. I directed him. It was for this mobile video game thing, and it was pretty cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me me what you love about him.

[Rami Youssef]

I love that he 16, 15 years old, cover Sports Illustrated, the King, the.

[Dax Shepard]

Next thing, the real Vonderkin, and he.

[Rami Youssef]

Did it to live up to that level of expectation to live a public life. You can go in and try to devalue something he's done or take away a championship and go, oh, that person was injured. No, no, no. To have that much pressure on you from 15 years old to be still playing at an elite level where you're a top 15 player player at age 40. Get the hell out of here. No one's ever done It. He is, to me, the personification of discipline. And I am so attracted to that mastery of self. Yeah. It really feels like something worth aspiring to. He is really locked in. You can't make any excuse for how consistent and how high the quality of what he does is. He's an incredible human.

[Monica Padman]

I loved that was a great answer.

[Rami Youssef]

And he's really funny, actually. You know, one of the things we did was knocking on that. He claims to have read all these books. He was being self aware about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Had he done that? I didn't even hear that.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, he has this whole thing where he's like, yeah, I'm reading this great book. But he would always be at these press conferences. And it's so clear. He's just on page three. Like, he's always just passed the forward.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, me and Monica could start a book club.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Rami Youssef]

And he gets caught in these really funny lies where he's just. They'll be like, what's your favorite Godfather? And he's like, how can you choose? They're godfathering all over it. And you're like, all right, dude, it doesn't matter. Like, we don't care.

[Dax Shepard]

So long as you don't say three.

[Rami Youssef]

As long as you don't say three.

[Dax Shepard]

You got a 66% chance.

[Rami Youssef]

What is your favorite godfather?

[Dax Shepard]

I think two.

[Rami Youssef]

So interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like also choosing between my favorite hamburger, my favorite pizza. They're both so incredible. Yours is number one.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, I'm such a one.

[Dax Shepard]

But two, we get Dairo. That's really fun. I like going really far back in time to find out where the Corleone started. The whole weird sequence in Italy falls in love with that woman with those unique nipples. That's wonderful.

[Rami Youssef]

No, it's true.

[Dax Shepard]

They're very memorable.

[Rami Youssef]

If you're a boy, the nipples are.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, really?

[Rami Youssef]

You remember them when you said it? I knew Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Every boy remembers that.

[Monica Padman]

Well, why?

[Rami Youssef]

It's like a guy thing. I'm sure you saw something on Damon that we don't see.

[Monica Padman]

Of course. No, but I mean, what about the nipples?

[Rami Youssef]

No, no, they're not weird, by the way. They're just distinct from what you would usually see on screen. There's always this, like, kind of tailored vision of all of that. And this is just like a. It just feels like an old country.

[Dax Shepard]

Nipples, beautiful breasts. And they were kind of unique in their own way. And I think to get into the nitty gritty of it, then I would feel like this woman could somehow hear me.

[Rami Youssef]

We're obviously gentlemen still So I don't want to.

[Dax Shepard]

Like we're addressing the aerials, but we're keeping it vague enough.

[Rami Youssef]

If you describe an Ariel too much, it just starts to veer into, you.

[Dax Shepard]

Know, you just stumble upon these realities in life where you slowly realize almost every guy who has seen Godfather remembers those nipples.

[Monica Padman]

You just.

[Dax Shepard]

You inadvertently discover that and you go like, oh, wow, good. They're as memorable for you as they were for me. That's. That's neat.

[Monica Padman]

I do find it fascinating. That's why I wonder what they look like. I'm going to look it up obviously, as soon as we're done with this.

[Dax Shepard]

Her nipples.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, have you ever seen the whole movie?

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Let's schedule that.

[Rami Youssef]

I will come.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. Are you living in la?

[Rami Youssef]

No, I'm in Brooklyn, but I will come.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. You'll fly out.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Rami Youssef]

Or I'll host you guys. I mean, it's one of the other spewing party.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, we'll sit in the back row.

[Rami Youssef]

I'm a one guy though, fully, because I think two is amazing, but lives in one's playground because one was able to one, two was able to two. That's the origin. There are story breaks in two that work because they worked in one. Even the way two ends. Hilarious. Don't want to spoil it for you.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great. I should cover my 70s right here.

[Rami Youssef]

Film that is like part of the modern basis of cinema. I would hate to spoil for you.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, the Rosebud is the sled.

[Monica Padman]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

I know, I've always wondered. Okay, so that's a really good argument for one, but I'll add this as a counter, which is just simply the probability of the sequel being as good as the first one is zero. And agreed, that needs to be acknowledged. It's almost impossible to make a sequel that's as good or potentially better. And that's kind of the triumph of that movie.

[Rami Youssef]

And it's kind of of.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh my God, we're in Barbie.

[Monica Padman]

I literally. I was.

[Dax Shepard]

We're in Barbie. Did you see Barbie?

[Rami Youssef]

And the guys are just talking about.

[Dax Shepard]

We did it.

[Rami Youssef]

We Barbied.

[Monica Padman]

And you even taught me about nipples.

[Dax Shepard]

We can.

[Rami Youssef]

By the way, refuse to get too into the nipple thing, but your Godfather argument is kind of like a Jordan LeBron argument in a way.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Rami Youssef]

Cuz it's kind of like Jordan's this OG. But then you go, well, but LeBron lived up to the hype that Jordan. Jordan never had. Because that's Godfather too, right?

[Monica Padman]

Jordan broke the mold.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, Jordan broke the mold. And then LeBron lived up to the mold, which is almost impossible.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's almost not even worth getting into basketball because all you'll ever hear is, like, let's not.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

We already did.

[Rami Youssef]

It's almost not worth getting into it. You go. Agree.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. The other thing we got to talk about, just. I love Mountain Head. I hope everyone watches it. So good. You're fantastic in it. It's such a fun role for you to have. It's kind of like, in keeping with you being the most spiritual present in the room.

[Monica Padman]

I feel like being a part of a Jesse Armstrong thing is.

[Rami Youssef]

Dude, I really love that man. Like, he is so conscientious and smart and generous.

[Dax Shepard]

How old is he? I don't know anything about him.

[Rami Youssef]

He's 54. But he comes off as, like, a 42.

[Monica Padman]

Solid early 40s.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. Like, he does. Not even just in his youthful spirit, but he's a brilliant dialogue writer. It was his first thing directing, and he was so great and so generous. And I would say he's very spiritually enlightened in this sense, because a lot of people, I think going to direct their first thing would almost need to feel a sense of control of. Well, if I'm the director, then it needs to feel like it's all coming from me and it all has my stamp. You know, something will come up. And you go, that's a really good question. Not exactly my department. Let me think. You see him taking all the info, and then you see him make the decision that is in line with what he's trying to philosophically do. And. Well, that's directing. Directing is not. I'm a genius that knows everything the whole time. And this goes back to this leadership thing. When you see it done well, it's very attractive because. Cause it's so exciting because then you get to be in something that knows what it is. That's my favorite thing as an actor. Any sort of artist. This thing knows what it is, and then you get to contribute to that. It's very fun. So that was sick.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Number one, Happy Family usa. This is your cartoon.

[Rami Youssef]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And I think it's relevant to say you set it up and pitched it during. Trump won.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

45. And then it's now out. This is interesting.

[Rami Youssef]

In 47.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean, the timing of it is wild. The title of the show is this thing that basically the family says. So in the pilot, 911 happens.

[Dax Shepard]

The show starts on 9 10.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there's this moment which is Something that I think happened to a lot of immigrants in this country. So so many Arab Muslim immigrants came, I would say around mid to late 80s and it kind of took them a decade to get their feet under them. And then this thing happened and it shook and rocked everything. And I remember it kind of set up the basis of instability for a lot of our lives because you're just on the defensive. You know, you were already trying to figure out what was going on.

[Dax Shepard]

I was in Detroit where we have a humongous population and it was like all these party store owners, like all of a sudden there's just American flags plastered everywhere.

[Rami Youssef]

And that's literally what happens right in our first couple of episodes. He goes, we're going to show everyone that we are number one, happy family usa. And so he drapes the house in Christmas and Easter decorations and American flags. He's a Muslim, but he says Jesus Christ every other sentence. He's just trying to do every and the whole show. The reason I wanted to make an animated show was cuz I was really into this idea of code switching. And I think it's pretty universal in the sense that the family, when they're in the house, look a certain way and then when they the house, they look different. You watch his beard disappear, you watch the daughter's curly hair become straight. You kind of see all these appearance things that people feel like they got to hide, which we all do to a degree, but they're doing it under the fear because then this FBI agent moves in across the street and they're being surveilled. And so I wanted to make this cartoon five years ago about the surveillance state and about how immigrants were basically put in this position to have to prove their patriotism in order to stay. And I thought it was a time capsule of the early 2000s and the week it came out was when you start seeing everyone at the airport being thrown into these facilities in Louisiana. Now we're having this conversation of, I mean, in la, they're just picking up people who just look Hispanic and they figure out the facts later and then they go away. Are you here legally? Are you not? We'll figure it out later. So that's been really eerie because I feel like, no, no, we're a happy family usa is something someone might be saying at the airport right now. And it's worse now than it was then. The people who reach out after watching the show because people don't know how long it takes to make things, especially animation. So some people think like January, you know, And I was like, oh, yeah, like, let's do this thing. Cuz they go, oh, it's so cool that you really packed it up quick and timed it. And I go, no, man, we've been working on this for four. This is like a weird.

[Monica Padman]

It's not a new phenomenon.

[Rami Youssef]

No, it's really, really wild.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Rami Youssef]

Oh, hey.

[Monica Padman]

Hey. Thanks for meeting me here on such short notice. This place isn't bugged, is it?

[Dax Shepard]

Bugged? Wait, Jamie, what's going on?

[Monica Padman]

It's just you're my only lawyer friend and I need your professional opinion. Do you see that brand new Hyundai Tucson out there? Yeah, that's all I paid for it.

[Rami Youssef]

Ah, I think I need to get back to you on that.

[Monica Padman]

Do you know what you want?

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, I do now. Deal.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

Listen, I don't want to get in your business, but if that's all she paid for it. I'll have what she's having.

[Rami Youssef]

It's a great day for a new Hyundai at the Hyundai getaway sales event going on now. Get 0% APR for 60 months plus 0 payments for 90 days on all Hyundai Palisade, Santa Fe and Santa Fe hybrid models. And check out our other great deals at your Hyundai dealer today. Offer end September 2nd. Call 562-314- call 4603 for details.

[Monica Padman]

Hi, I'm Monica Lewinsky. Welcome to Reclaiming. I would define reclaiming as to take.

[Rami Youssef]

Back what was yours.

[Monica Padman]

Something you possess is lost or stolen.

[Rami Youssef]

And ultimately you triumph in finding it again.

[Monica Padman]

Miley Cyrus, welcome to reclaiming. My 2013 is your 1998. I lost everything during that time in my personal life because of the choices I was making professionally. Chelsea Handler, welcome to Reclaiming. I did have a teacher who instilled in me that I was gonna do something special. And she was like, you're gonna have an impact. Sophia Bush, welcome to Reclaiming. You went all the way. You committed, and if it wasn't for you, you have the courage to tell the truth and get out. And I had to say that to women in my life, and I had to learn how to say it in the mirror to myself. This last decade for me has really been what I consider my own reclaiming, my own journey. My own reclaiming story is in the bones of this show. Please listen to Reclaiming on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dax Shepard]

In real life, you were 10 or 11 living in New Jersey. Nine, 11 when nine, 11 happened.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And what was the shift in real life?

[Rami Youssef]

I remember that feeling of this is really sensitive. Right. Because we're in Jersey. First off. You just watch this horrific thing happen.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. It's quite scary whether you felt safer or happier.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. You're devastated. Human beings died.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

Jumping out right near you. We could sense the smoke in our town. That's how close we were to New York. So immediately, it's just horrifying. And you're just sad and you're just as sad as everybody else. But then in that sadness, you go, oh, shit. We are now a target. Number one, we're suspect. And so this lasted. I saw it affect my parents, friendships. I. I really love the town I grew up in. I wouldn't change where I grew up. It's just everything becomes more complicated. And I think that the thing that I started to really feel was we were in, I would say, the brunt of the 24 hour news cycle finding its voice of being able to just pump out fear. The birth of CNN being a thing you always have on in the background. That's 9, 11. The beginning of that modern war machine being pushed by color news images 24 7. It's then what I always talked about when we were making the show was there is the outward kinds of racism and prejudice and fear that gets directed at you. But what we really wanted to do with the show was focus on something that I felt way more of which is the internal fear. Where you kind of go, is all this shit they're saying about us true? Is all this stuff actually where I come from? And then you go down this spiral of self doubt. I'm watching all this stuff and all these people look like me have these views.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to know a lot about that because to me that sounds a little bit parallel to internalized racism. Yeah. You grew up where all the media you've seen the people of your kind are committing crimes. You take on your own racism even though you're the group.

[Rami Youssef]

Oh yeah, and you're a kid and you go, wait, is this why my parents left over there? Because it's so bad and everyone's so bad over there. And then it took so many years to go through all that and then kind of reconnect and not that I was necessarily disconnected, but by just where we live, we're not over there. And then you kind of really get into it and you go, oh, this is like really beautiful people, really beautiful countries, beautiful places. But it gets isolated in this way to fit a really specific kind of narrative.

[Dax Shepard]

When you're the in group, the division between your government and your military and the citizens is quite clear to you. Everyone's having the same feeling like, why are we going to Iraq? We don't like that. And hopefully everyone else will recognize that none of the citizens want us to go there. We don't think there's weapons of mass destruction. This is happening, but that's them. But when you're evaluating the out group, you don't draw those lines between the military apparatus and then just the humans that live there. It's happening currently with there's a difference between Hamas and Palestinians. There's a difference between Netanyahu and your average citizen living there.

[Rami Youssef]

And Russians, imagine you're someone who has never been to America goes, oh my God, it's terrible over there, huh? It's just like the men are raping the women who don't even get paid. And then you guys are terrible to all the Immigrants. All your schools have shootings in them, because that's essentially what happens. Right. It's like you kind of look at the Middle east and go, oh, they. The women do this and they rape them. Here, as an American, you go, factually, the palate of what you just said has occurred. Is that really what's occurring every single day?

[Monica Padman]

Yes, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

And also, we're raping, but it's not potentially with the religious excuse. So that rape is fine.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Because we've determined that one rape is much worse as a motivator.

[Rami Youssef]

And then you realize how all that gets conflated about a group of people and about what's going on. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I remember at the time, it stunk to me most. And look, I'm not a Rah Rah Russia supporter by any stretch, but when they were hosting so Sochi, the Olympics, and I remember reading these articles about they've rounded up dogs and killed them. There was like, every headline was about them rounding up dogs and killing them. And then out of just curiosity, I typed in, how many dogs are put down a day in the U.S. yeah, we kill, like a million dogs a day or something crazy. It always flares up in the Olympics. There was also when China was hosting. It's like the Chinese are making their athletes perform through injuries. I'm like, y' all look at Carrie's car's drug. Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Every American athlete is competing through.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean, you could flatten America in that kind of thinking so easily. You could say, America hates women so much that they twice elected an open liar rapist just to avoid having a woman.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Rami Youssef]

And then they banned abortion, which is not even a thing in the Muslim world. You can get an abortion in Saudi Arabia.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you can, right away?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean, it is like, you know, Muslims believe that the sole encasement is not till. I think it's something like around 100 days. Don't quote me. But abortion is more strict here than it is in so many parts of the Middle East. You can flatten whatever you want to flatten. You can talk about it however you want.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you can ignore everything that doesn't jive with your worldview and focus on.

[Monica Padman]

The five things that do right now about la. Everyone's texting. They're like, are you okay? Is it chaos? And I'm like, no, it's fine. But the narrative that's getting spun about what's happening here, we're in a state of civil unrest.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's not like, fine but they make it look like it's like an active civil war where everyone's walking around with.

[Monica Padman]

Guns, we're in a state of war, there's a peaceful protest that was happening.

[Rami Youssef]

And then we got ambushed by the Marines over a protest. So as a kid, you take in all this information and for me the experience was always, what of this is real or not? And that was the perspective that we went into making the show, which is how do you talk about all this complex shit from a 12 year old brain? When you're 11 or 12, a girl being dismissive of you feels like a national security issue in your brain. It is just as loud as we're going to Iraq.

[Dax Shepard]

If you go wipe out a whole continent to have the girl like you back, you would do it.

[Rami Youssef]

You kind of go, yeah, that's far. You have no problem. That's far. She's here. So I was really interested in this, what could this look like as a world? Because cartoons have always been so cutting politically in a really great way. Whether it's like south park and so to get to do it from this perspective but also add a bunch of different elements like that was really so exciting for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you aware when you were a kid, my assumption would be even within your family, you're dealing with varying degrees of pressure because your parents are from Egypt.

[Rami Youssef]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

So they have. Have accents.

[Rami Youssef]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

They have a lot of indicators that they're other. You have less of those.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know, maybe kids are worse than adults or they're better adults. But there had to have been different levels of how you were all having to deal with the fallout of 9, 11, even within the house.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, my dad was in the world of hotels. He was at the Plaza for a while with 47.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Rami Youssef]

But it was always a tough fit for him. And my dad really became known for his hard work ethic and he's just so good with people and so he would never really let anything get him down. This particular thing though, ended up being so big. I just saw how it affected him. But what's interesting is talking to him about today and he goes, this is worse than what I remember, especially in the last year and a half to get it.

[Monica Padman]

Like with the Muslim ban.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, with that. But also with this immigrant focus, the way people are kind of zoning in. Because he was like, it hasn't happened like this. It's such a wild way to treat people. Especially now. A lot of Arab immigrants came in the 80s, so my dad's like a lot of us been here now we're going on 40 years.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Rami Youssef]

We've been here fully longer than we were ever in the countries we came from. My dad's like, I'm an American. It's like, what are you talking?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, your father had to have had this added stress as a dad, whether they've asked you or not. Your job's to protect everyone in this family. And now I have these three variables out in the world in a very hostile world. So whatever his own personal struggles were, I'd imagine he was also. And your mother too, I don't want to discount. I just. Speaking as a dad, that had to be so stressful. If I had to think about my little girls going off to school, knowing that a huge chance that most of the students in there that don't look like them are going to be treating them terribly. This is very stressful.

[Rami Youssef]

It's stressful. Part of why I focus on the internal stuff for the characters is I didn't go to school in this place. That was super racist. But it was just this thing where you go, I already am, like, too short to be good at basketball. And now I gotta deal with this shit where I'm like debating. People are asking me, like, do you know those people? And this is one of my first standup jokes. But one of the first World Trade center bombers, his name was Ramsey Yousef. Right? And so when I was a kid, it was literally like, me, I am walking around with the same fucking name. It was just nuts. Took me also in my 20s to get off the no Fly list. It's like the same fucking thing. And then you got to clear that up and do all that.

[Dax Shepard]

Why is this guy on the no Fly? Listen, he already died flying into the world.

[Monica Padman]

Did you, though, feel. Because you didn't have an act. Although maybe it's a little different because like you said and your name and stuff. But I felt so protective of my parents. And especially my dad, who, yeah, had this accent, was walking around very obviously Indian. I grew up with such a massive sense of protection for them and feeling like I needed to order at the restaurant.

[Rami Youssef]

You're like an interpreter almost for your parents in a way.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. And like, you're always on the lookout for who's gonna hurt them or be mean to them. Did you have that?

[Rami Youssef]

My dad. It's interesting cause I think just being New York hotel business, it's somewhat Hollywood adjacent. Like he wasn't feeling by famous people. He kind of dealt with all these big figures in dealing just in the Heart of New York. He's a producer. Anything I know about showrunning or directing, I learned from my dad in how he dealt with hotels. Because he deal with like 500 people.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah.

[Rami Youssef]

And it's like departments, so you kind of focus on how to move through that. But to your point, what I could feel on him was, man, to have to deal with this stuff when you already have the dad stress, you already have the immigrant stress. You're just trying to get used to a new place and then this shit. That perspective as we were making this thing, I just felt has been unexplored, especially of that era. You know, there's not actually a lot of art about that era. And the art that exists is pretty dramatic. Rightfully so, because it's a very dramatic thing. But we kind of started to say, can we step this out? It's a sensitive button, but is there a way to be hilarious but also have it be tender and have it be aware? That felt like a worthy challenge. And then that's where it felt like, yeah, this would be cool as a cartoon because you give people the ability to have a little bit of distance of the quote unquote reality of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. But it's doing what Rami did and what Mo does, it's very adjacent and in keeping with what you guys are exploring heavy shit with comedy, which is delicious.

[Rami Youssef]

It's so fun. If I were just to be selfish, at least it's therapeutic for me.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what I mean?

[Rami Youssef]

I'm like, I get to work on this thing and work with, like, a bunch of writers who are super talented in such a great room. And Pam Brady, who worked on south park, was on it with us. It's just fun to explore these things in that way that I personally never had. I hadn't seen and I hadn't put it through this kind of creative process. And so then when people connect with it, it's. It's such a fun feeling.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's great. Number one, Happy Family USA is on prime currently. And of course, Mountainhead is on HBO currently.

[Rami Youssef]

Is it HBO again?

[Monica Padman]

No, it's hbo.

[Dax Shepard]

Max Fudge, everyone. I know this would be like, Ferrari buys Dodge and then they rename Ferrari Dodge. That's not the order of event. Like, one has enormous cachet. And Max has always been like, I don't know, Max is the stepsister to Cinemax is like HBO Light.

[Monica Padman]

That's why they're bringing HBO back into the mix. But I guess Max is like, we still want to.

[Rami Youssef]

Then they were like, we're gonna actually split. The Warner Brothers discovery thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Rami Youssef]

I'm just like, just get rid of the Max, then.

[Monica Padman]

I don't like it.

[Dax Shepard]

Listen. HBO has the most trusted brand loyalty of anybody in the space. So it's on hbo, guys.

[Rami Youssef]

And I don't want anyone to take this, like, David Zaslav is a good friend. So I'm not trying to, like, super close out of. I haven't met him, but I'm trying to say that to kind of, like, will it into existence. I would like to be a close friend of his. And I also have so many things with it. I have both my specials with them and Mountainhead. And so I feel a kinship to the ZSAs.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Rami Youssef]

So I kind of am like, he is a good friend. I'm just putting that out there.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Rami Youssef]

You know, whenever you guys do the description for this episode, you could, for my credit, just put Ram Youssef, good friend of Zaslav.

[Monica Padman]

I'm happy to do that.

[Dax Shepard]

Best friend.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Also known as.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah. That's a good friend of the Zaz.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, once again, it was delightful. We'll do it three times. I feel confident you're young and ambitious.

[Rami Youssef]

Anything to come. Hang with you guys. Are you kidding?

[Dax Shepard]

All right, and then Godfather 2.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Rami Youssef]

I mean. Wait, so you haven't even seen one?

[Monica Padman]

No, I haven't seen.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah, you're really behind.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you ever watched it in order, the way they do it? Yeah, I'm trying to think if I have or not.

[Rami Youssef]

By the way. Three. Not that bad.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not as bad as I remember.

[Rami Youssef]

It is not.

[Dax Shepard]

Dude, let's pull our guitars out and sing Onica now.

[Monica Padman]

Can't wait.

[Rami Youssef]

We keep Barbieing.

[Dax Shepard]

And I. And I. I wanna push you all up. What's up?

[Monica Padman]

They nailed that.

[Dax Shepard]

That was the funniest movie of the last decade.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Rami Youssef]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

All right, Rami, I love you. Love you guys. You guys are the best.

[Rami Youssef]

So fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for the fashion so you can hear all the facts that were wrong. This is fun.

[Monica Padman]

We're in a new environment.

[Dax Shepard]

We're in a fresh environment.

[Monica Padman]

We stole a location.

[Dax Shepard]

We did. All blessings and thanks and gratitude to the great Dr. Mike, friend of the pod. If you've not listened to that episode, it's phenomenal.

[Monica Padman]

It is.

[Dax Shepard]

Watch it on YouTube because he's so gorgeous.

[Monica Padman]

He is a beautiful doctor.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, he's a beautiful doctor. And we became friends. And he was so generous of kind because we had to come to New York to interview somebody. We don't have A space here?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

We looked into renting a space that was very. I don't know, seemed complicated. It should have been easier.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. It was complicated.

[Dax Shepard]

And then old Dr. Mike was like, you can film as much as you want.

[Monica Padman]

So nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What a sweetheart.

[Monica Padman]

So in an upcoming episode, you'll see us in this space.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. We have come here for a bit. Big guess. Figuratively and literally.

[Monica Padman]

I told an armchair yet I've never done this. I've been tempted to do it before.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

But I told an armchair who we were interviewing today.

[Dax Shepard]

You did?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And she was excited.

[Dax Shepard]

She was. Okay, good.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, she was very excited. She was such a nice arm. Cherry.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's redundant.

[Monica Padman]

That's fine. They all are. But I'm just saying, this was a very nice girl.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I wanted to give her some insight.

[Dax Shepard]

She 13?

[Monica Padman]

I don't know. She was okay. She was working at the Ralph Lauren coffee shop.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's where you get coffee while you're in New York.

[Monica Padman]

I got a copy there yesterday on my walk, on my. In my shopping time.

[Dax Shepard]

Are they like. Do they have signature items that are based on their product line? Like, was there a polo?

[Monica Padman]

I just got a cappuccino.

[Dax Shepard]

There wasn't a polo cappuccino or.

[Monica Padman]

No. But I did get a mug with the polo bear on it.

[Dax Shepard]

Of course.

[Monica Padman]

Of course I did.

[Dax Shepard]

How many mugs do you think you have at this current moment?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I just got rid of some.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. You did a cleansing?

[Monica Padman]

I did a cleanse. I would guess I have 3040. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I got to. I got to give props to Kristen, so I think because I publicly shamed her for throwing away all my. Or I doubt she threw them away, but got rid of my early Starbucks mugs. I was collecting ones. She replaced them all for Nashville. That was a big surprise. I got to my Keurig machine and then all of the ones I used to have virtually were there. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Those are great mugs. They're enormous.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You can put 20, 30 ounces of.

[Monica Padman]

Coffee, good size mug.

[Dax Shepard]

Although I've switched to the amber, as you know. So mostly I'm just drinking water out of those Starbies now because Emma keeps it warm and I try to pace myself and drink slowly to curb my consumption, which is always an issue in my life. Consumption.

[Monica Padman]

But it's nostalgic. It's just good for decor.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Even if you don't drink it makes.

[Dax Shepard]

Me feel really good when I look at them all. They're very aesthetically pleasing.

[Monica Padman]

They are. They are Very pretty. Okay. So you said you had a story for me?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yes, yes. So we have come to New York to. Because his guests became available. And I was of course on, I was on vacation. I was driving around my pontoon boat.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And of course I was a little bit like, I don't wanna go. But then I was like, get real. This is a great opportunity. Get over it.

[Monica Padman]

And a great job.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a great, great job. I should be grateful for and always happy to do. Alas, I said yes. So yesterday morning I had taken a 9am flight out of Nashville, which meant I had to wake up at 5:15 so that I could do my meditation and my writing and all that crap, drive to the airport, blah, blah, blah. So I had had the goal for the last three weeks there to wake up for the sunrise. Because the sun rise comes up over the lake. I'm generally getting up around 7 or 8 and it's already kind of up. Still looks pretty, but I'm like, I gotta do that. But making yourself wake up at 5:30 on your vacation, Hard to do. Hard to do. But I did it also. I was then able to meditate on the porch. Cause everyone's still asleep. And then I was journaling and it was absolutely spectacular. It was so, I mean it was really transcendent. It looks so beautiful. It was just pink and then red and it was just so gorgeous. And I had meditated. It was really, really a nice morning. Flying out was a delight. And I was doing research the entire flight here and this person has a doc about them. So I was watching the doc. I had like saved it to my iPad. We're coming into LaGuardia and we're lowering, lowering, lowering. If you've flown into LaGuardia, you're coming in over the water and then the Runway starts, right? So I'm just, I'm kind, I'm not paying a ton of attention. But from muscle memory, the moment we're supposed to like, I can feel we're about to touch the wheel, heels on the ground. It's the most radical and violent pull up I've ever felt. It's like, it's like. And then all of a sudden we're.

[Monica Padman]

Like, oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Heading back up into the sky. And I was like, oh, I don't like this. Oh no. And I have my noise canceling headphones on and I, and I immediately start telling myself, and I'm still watching thing. I, I was like, you have no control over this. There's really no point in you Even thinking about what's going on, you're not going to be asked to handle this. You're out of this equation.

[Monica Padman]

Even though if it was a terrorist.

[Dax Shepard]

Organization, well, I would have seen someone come to the. Then, of course, I can't wait to get.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But because that wasn't happening, that's the only way I could help. I have nothing to do with this. I'm just actively trying to not think about it because I recognize it's a waste of my time. Time I can't. You know what?

[Monica Padman]

That's good. That's.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm successful at that for a while. But then we're now circling now, of course, after the fact I'm clearly alive. Yeah, we're probably circling just because we got to get back into the holding pattern.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

But I'm like, is the landing gear broken? Like, what is the mechanical issue that prevented us from landing? Why are we up here for so long? Long now. And now I'm a little off to the races.

[Monica Padman]

You are. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And I start making sense out of stuff that really shouldn't make sense, which is. Oh, that's crazy. I just had, like, the greatest three weeks at this dream, dream place. My kids are so happy. I got to see the sun rise. Like I wanted to do it. Started getting. I started feeling really suspicious, like, this is the end. I guess if there were a perfect time to go. It feels like this.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, Dr. Mike has no wood.

[Dax Shepard]

Suspicious. It started feeling really suspicious then, and you'll hate this. I was like, you wouldn't be dead if you hadn't left this trip to go work.

[Monica Padman]

Okay?

[Dax Shepard]

Like, you're about to die because you left the sanctioned time to go work.

[Monica Padman]

Okay?

[Dax Shepard]

That's in the mix.

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Dax Shepard]

So now. Now I make myself responsible for this calamity that's about. About to happen. There's an announcement, but I don't even want to hear it. I know it won't do me any good to hear it. Although it turns out, might have done me right. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert, if you dare.

[Rami Youssef]

How hard is it to kill a planet? Maybe all it takes is a little drilling, some mining, and a whole lot of carbon pumped into the atmosphere. When you see what's left, it starts to look like a crime scene.

[Monica Padman]

Are we really safe? Is our water safe? You destroyed our tap.

[Rami Youssef]

And crimes like that, they don't just happen.

[Monica Padman]

We call things accidents. There is no accident. This was 100% preventable.

[Rami Youssef]

They're the result of choices by people. Ruthless oil tycoons, corrupt politicians, even Organized crime. These are the stories we to need to be telling about our changing planet. Stories of scams, murders and coverups that are about us and the things we're doing to either protect the earth or destroy it. Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of Lawless Planet early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts or Spot.

[Dax Shepard]

We come back around, we come down, we land.

[Monica Padman]

Great.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm like, oh my God. Oh my God. And then I take my headphones off and then I turn to her and I say, what was the announcement? And she said, we almost hit an airplane that was crossing the tarmac.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

So we were touching down and one came out onto the Runway and we had to pull up to avoid it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

So I almost center punched. I don't know how close it was. I wasn't flying the airplane. But now here's the funny part. So then I'm last night I'm eating by myself at Quality Meats. Great restaurant. Like to hit it every time I'm in Manhattan. And anytime I'm eating alone, I'm. I'm bored because I'm by myself. So now I'm on Instagram and I go into my DMs and I see a DM from Evan Rachel Wood.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm like, oh, this is interesting. I haven't heard from her in a long time. I open up and goes, I, I was on your flight. Holy shit. Blah, blah, blah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. And I'm like, weird.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm like, first of all, why didn't you say hi? Yeah, secondly, yeah, holy shit. I thought for sure the landing gear was broken or something. And da, da, da, da, da. Then she sends back a voice that says, yeah, I didn't, I didn't come say hi. Cause I would have to cut in line to come say hi to you. Whatever. She goes, additionally, the second we pulled up and went back into the sky and I'm convinced I'm going to die. And I'm thinking I could. The person next to me starts yakking in one of those air, oh, wow. Oh, you really went through it. Also, she says, you know, I'm thinking about my kids too. I. She was doing the opposite. She's like, I didn't need to take this vacation. Ah, everyone's guilty now, making themselves responsible.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

But there was a guy just yakking next to her also.

[Monica Padman]

Yuck. Yeah, that's brutal. Oh, that's, that's, that's my story. That, that's a good. That's.

[Dax Shepard]

It was so funny. I was like, I got out of the, I, I got out of the airplane. Then I got in a cab and I was just like, I'm so glad to be in this cab and not in that airplane. Which of course the cab is probably statistically 25,000 times more dangerous. I'm going to die in the cab than that airplane.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly, exactly. This is a ding, ding, ding because. So after I left Nashville, I went home to visit my parents. Not sorry, I went to Atlanta to visit at my parents.

[Dax Shepard]

Although I'm confused because didn't over Christmas you said that was home.

[Monica Padman]

I'm confused too. But I imagine if people hear me say I went home from Nashville, I went to la.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a good distinction.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. So I went to visit my parents and my dad has been following the Air India crash a lot. So he was very up to date on what's been going on. And you know, kind of currently the theory is that he, the pilot did it on purpose and committed suicide and then also then killed all those people. And because they can hear, I guess on the black box on the recording, they can hear the co pilot ask the pilot why did you move this or switch this or whatever. And. And he said I did not. And then 10 seconds later it got switched back but it was too late. So that's the theory.

[Dax Shepard]

But they're doing nothing to his seahorses did it. Well in his lack of understanding of what a seahorse.

[Monica Padman]

We'll never know. Boy, that's is so dark.

[Dax Shepard]

That is really rough.

[Monica Padman]

They're doing an investigation. A lot of people in India. I don't think he did it. So it's, you know, it's, it's a thing.

[Dax Shepard]

The amount of thoughts I had in that time, like I had that whole scenario I just talked about. But then I also had this whole other debate where I was like, you have to honor your life and be grateful right now. It was so good. And your daughters are so beautiful. I just, I was. The only thing that was preventing me from having like total gratitude for my life is the thought of my girls growing up without me was just like so heartbreaking. I was a man imagining like how well positioned they are currently.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And how disruptive that would be. And then I'm thinking, I hope I did enough while I was here.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And just I'm picturing my little Delta with no one to snuggle. I just, it was rough Yeah, I hated that part. And then also had the thought, I wonder if we'll land in the Hudson. Like if there's no landing gear and all this other stuff, like, will we land? Landing the Hudson. I'm a good swimmer.

[Monica Padman]

I was gonna say good thing you know how to swim.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, don't panic.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

People do survive landing in the HUDs. I mean. Yeah. The amount of thoughts I had in that 20 minutes or whatever it was.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's scary.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Very scary. Well, I'm glad you made it.

[Dax Shepard]

Me too. Me too.

[Monica Padman]

Glad you. I'm really glad you made it.

[Dax Shepard]

And I literally. I'm never flying again, which is so stupid because I'm gonna. I'm still going places.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, we gotta.

[Dax Shepard]

You gotta.

[Monica Padman]

You can't. Like, I mean, that's your whole motto.

[Dax Shepard]

I know.

[Monica Padman]

It's like.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. Just know what's going to get. Because what's. I'm going to, you know, I get hit by lightning one day or something. You just don't know.

[Monica Padman]

You don't know. You got to live your life.

[Dax Shepard]

You're almost guaranteed to not die. The thing you're worrying about dying of.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Did you. Okay. Once you landed and stuff, have you thought. Because you're thinking about the girl. Girls. And it's like, God, they're just so. They're so lucky. And they are. Right? They're so lucky. Did you ever have the thought, like, I mean, I didn't die on this, but, like, what are the chances it's gonna be at a hundred for them for the rest of their life. Like, that's scary. That starts getting scary. It's like for. For me, it would start prompting. Yeah. So this bad thing didn't happen. But like, how something bad.

[Dax Shepard]

I immediate so mad that I've never sat down and written them two letters to be opened if anything ever happens to me. Like, I. I got so mad because I just would want to write them a letter that would say, you're going to be fine.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

You're so strong.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And lesser people have survived this and you're going to. Because you're both bad motherfuckers.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I want. I would. I was really mad. I hadn't ever taken the time to do that. I guess it's kind of morbid to do it, but I think I'm going to.

[Monica Padman]

It's so. It's not very like you to like, plan for disaster.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But they have a knack for making me do all kinds of things that are not consistent with who I am.

[Monica Padman]

That's the same thing, I think. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's the gift that they give you is you have to become patient. You have to not care if all your shit's fucked up. You have to care, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, one more thing. Ding, ding, ding. My dad. I told you this, but he has decided. He has declared his retirement plan, which is. He's going to master or understand quantum physics.

[Dax Shepard]

Physics.

[Monica Padman]

Quantum mechanics. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

That's his goal.

[Dax Shepard]

And I, I was like, how long before he retires?

[Monica Padman]

He retires in January.

[Dax Shepard]

He does. Are you nervous for him?

[Monica Padman]

I am, but happy. So he is. He's nervous for him, you know, which is. But I think that's a good thing. He's hyper aware and like, like, he's like making plans.

[Dax Shepard]

He's not naive that it's going to be a hard adjustment.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. He's like, I want to learn. I'm going to learn about this. I'm going to start. I'm going to join a pickleball league. Oh, great. Yeah. He has plans, which made me feel relieved.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Good.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

My Papa Bob, who I've told you was the longest simple employee ever at Wonder Bread.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Wonder Bread. It's.

[Monica Padman]

There's an R. Wonder Bread Bakery.

[Dax Shepard]

Wonder Bed breakery.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's hard.

[Dax Shepard]

He was forced to retire because he had an ulcer. He didn't know about that. Got so bad it blew out of his stomach while he was carrying a 50 pound bag of flour. There's a lot to that story. I went and visited him in the hospital and I saw them putting a catheter in his penis. And I was like, oh my God. Papa Bob said penis is the size of a baseball bat. That's a side note.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Is that because it was swollen?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. He just had a huge hog, I guess.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, you never saw it till then?

[Dax Shepard]

I had never seen it. I seen him in his tighty woodies all the time. They were saggy, you know, papa style, grandpa style, shepherd. No butt, big barrel belly and zero butt cheeks of the. The tighty ways hung on. Yeah. And I never really noticed how much action was in the front. Anywho.

[Monica Padman]

Anywho.

[Dax Shepard]

He was forced to retire because of that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And he was depressed.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He had like two years of. For real depression.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then he got a job just like delivering, I think hearts and kidneys, like medical things on ice and that kind of problem.

[Monica Padman]

Something to do. Yeah. You gotta have something to do.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Wow. Well, I guess maybe we should do some facts now that we talked about the penis.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a fact. Bubba Bob had a hole.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, so some facts for Rami. We love Rami.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, we do. Sweetest boy. Sweetest boy. Almost impossible. He's in show business.

[Monica Padman]

I feel like he maybe came out around the same time as Jarrod last time. I feel like I remember those two being sort of out around the same time, and then it's happening again, which is wild.

[Dax Shepard]

And they were both in poor things.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe they're linked celestially.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, let's do some. Okay, so we talked about how Obama deported more people than Trump, which is definitely true. Let's see here. This is an article on Vox. Says how Obama deported so many people. Obama's immigration enforcement strategy was two pronged. Increasing penalties for unauthorized cross at the southern border and deputizing local law enforcement to target immigrants with criminal records inside the U.S. the former increased the number of people who faced official removal proceedings and deterred repeat border crossers. And the latter allowed ICE to have its ear to the ground in cities throughout the country. Before Obama, unauthorized border crossers were typically allowed to voluntarily return to Mexico without undergoing an official process or being subjected to any penalties. That meant that many attempted to recross the border knowing that they would not face repercussions. Repercussions. For doing so. The Obama administration started subjecting a greater proportion of them to formal deportation proceedings. Yeah. Utilizing an expanded federal immigration enforcement workforce that had grown from 12,700 in 2003 to 22,000 in 2008.

[Dax Shepard]

I remember this period. There was a 60 Minutes on it, and, yeah, they were sometimes catching the same person and returning them to the border twice in one day. Like, while they were filming. They watched it happen within a single day.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Donald Trump promised his supporters the largest deportation program in American history, but he's nowhere close. That distinction belongs to an early 20th century program that likely saw 2 million people deported. When looking at more recent times, it's President Barack Obama who holds the 21st century deportation record. His administration kicked out 438,421 people in 2013. No president since has come close to equaling that record, including Trump during his first term.

[Dax Shepard]

Half a mil.

[Monica Padman]

It's a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a lot of people. Yeah, that's. You know, that's six super bowl stadiums.

[Monica Padman]

I mean, obviously, people have different opinions on immigration and stuff, but I think actually most people would agree that you. A lot of people would agree with that. You can't just have, like, an open border and have People coming through, you know, and it's just the way to do it. Like, there are ways to do it that don't feel cruel and inhumane.

[Dax Shepard]

I think. I mean, my real, real belief is that the majority of people wanted the flow of people to stop coming in, and I think the majority of people aren't dying to deport a ton of the people that are here. I'm hearing that on the left and the right. I think that's. That's kind of. You have Schultz saying those people should stay. You have Theo Vaughn saying. You know, you have people that were calling for tougher immigration saying, like, no, no, let the people that are here stay, but you got to stop this crazy flow.

[Monica Padman]

A lot of people think, though, that a bunch of them are criminals and that they all need to leave. So that's.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, I've never. I haven't met those folks, but. But I'm sure they exist.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I mean, that's. He sort of ran on immigrants are criminals. Okay. The reporter who said Emma Stone's name was Emily, he's from Kazakhstan.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. That's where Borat was from.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know. I didn't ever. You know, I never saw any of the Borats.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I think he was from Kazakhstan.

[Monica Padman]

Well, it changed his whole life, he said that moment.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it did, Yeah. I was completely unaware. Were you aware of that? Was that a big viral moment I missed?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I think I was the one who brought it up on this episode.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. And what happened?

[Monica Padman]

So at a press conference or something a couple years ago, he said, emily, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And someone said, emma, and, like, correcting him, and she said, no, my name is Emily. And, you know, so then I guess that moment for him where he knew her name changed his whole life.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. So he was right.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he was right.

[Dax Shepard]

And then at Cannes, that's their country motto, Kazakhstan. We always get it right.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And they do. And then, yeah, at this year's Cannes Film Festival, he was there again, and he was also interviewing her, I think, for. I don't know what. But he told her I was that guy, and. And my career has skyrocketed, and my personal life is better. Okay, this was wild. This was wild. So we were talking about Emily Stone. You said that you were not very good at, like, if you are obsessed with someone, you wouldn't be as good as me at, like, knowing all the details about them, right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And then you said, like, if I knew Matt Damon's name was Kent, middle name Was Kent, or real name was Kent or something like that. You said something like that. And I was like, I think that's his dad's name. And it is.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Yes, Kent Damon.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. Yeah. And he was very close with his dad.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Very good son, I'm sure.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And when he died, did SNL some years ago, a lot of the monologue was about his dad because they would watch it together, and it was sweet. Anyway, isn't that weird? You just pulled that name out of your ass and it was his dad's.

[Dax Shepard]

Name out of my arse. Someone wrote in the comments about Alexander Skorzgourd, and I'm inclined to think they were either in England or Ireland because they tend to use the word arse.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And it was a normal lady and it said, I would suck a fart out of his arse.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's still live in my comments, if you don't believe me. And I thought, wow, go get it, girl. What a. That's a huge swing. Wow. But it really does. It does tell you the level of which she is obsessed with him.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. There's no questions left on the table.

[Dax Shepard]

After you hear that you're not ambivalent about someone, that you would suck the fart out of their arm.

[Monica Padman]

I wonder. Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Would you? Yeah. You would?

[Monica Padman]

Matt, I don't want to answer this.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Yeah, that's a little too much the reason. It's. I mean, I shone a light on it because it's extreme.

[Monica Padman]

It's extreme.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe privately at a dinner party, you might admit to that, but maybe in public you'll keep a lid on it.

[Monica Padman]

I'm just imagining doing it, like.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. Really? Yeah. I don't. I should follow up with her and ask, is there a straw involved, too, or. It's not.

[Monica Padman]

It's direct.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a kiss.

[Monica Padman]

It's.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a kiss to the anus.

[Monica Padman]

You know what's funny is, like, I don't think just putting your mouth on someone's butthole is gross. Really?

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, if it's clean.

[Monica Padman]

If it's clean.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, sure. And if they brushed. Oh, you. I thought you meant the mouth.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, the mouth. As long as the mouth is clean. As long as I had brushed, I feel fine about it.

[Rami Youssef]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, what if someone said, like, how do you feel about ass eating? And you said, well, if you brush your teeth, you thought they were asking you, and then you. You insisted that they brush their teeth.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But anyway, I don't think that is Gross. Really? But. But there's something about the idea of, like, death ass. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

In your mouth. It's not even. It's not even like there's something like you're. I don't know. It sounds great, but. No, it's. It's really. On the surface, it's not terribly appealing.

[Monica Padman]

Well, good for that lady and whoever she's with.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Good for her lover.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. That's lucky.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I should develop a relationship with her and find out more details. Like, does she have a lover?

[Monica Padman]

Right. Has she ever actually done. We need to know.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Or is it just a. It could. Honestly, it could be a total figure of speech. Like, break a leg on a play. And if someone England's like, I don't know, this person was America, they wanted the actor to break their leg while they were doing the performance. That seems sadistic.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And they could really be trying to figure out what's behind that. But there's nothing behind it. It's just a saying.

[Monica Padman]

It's just a regular old saying.

[Dax Shepard]

So that's a really common saying in the uk. In the comments, just. Just respond with. Yes, we say that a lot.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Is Budapest one of the original crossroads from the east to west? Yes. Budapest is often considered a crossroads from east to west due to its geographic location, historical influences, and the blending of cultural elements. It sits at the intersection of various geographical regions and civilizations, particularly between Western and Eastern Europe. It's been a meeting point for different cultural and political spheres.

[Dax Shepard]

Great.

[Monica Padman]

That's it. Now, he said Trump and LeBron are the most aied people. I didn't really find that. There's, like, a bunch of people that often that have, like, a fair amount of deep fakes. I couldn't get, like, topsies. Like, Taylor Swift is on all the lists. She's popular for that. Scarlett Johansson, I think.

[Dax Shepard]

Cause people do sexual things with it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't want to say it, but that is probably what it was. Okay. Now, how many dogs are put down a day in the U.S. approximately 568 dogs are euthanized in U.S. shelters every day. This equates to roughly one dog every two and a half minutes.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. So the criticism of the Sochi Olympics might have been a little hypocritical.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I think so. Okay. He said he thought that. And not to quote him, so I'm not. But in the Muslim religion, the soul encasement, he said he thought was around 100 days. So in Islam, the general belief is that soul encasement occurs around 120 days, four months after conception. This is the time when the fetus is believed to receive its soul, marking a significant stage in its development. I looked up whether abortion was legal in Saudi Arabia. It is in limited circumstances. Specifically abortions are permitted when there's a risk to the pregnant woman's life or to protect her physical and mental health. Mental health is interesting. Pregnancies result.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it's a. Yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Pregnancies resulting from incest or rape also qualify for legal abortion under the mental health health exemption.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, here's where you get into some tricky. You can have a very liberal abortion policy if it's illegal to have sex out of wedlock.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Like if there's Sharia law and you can't have sex out of wedlock, that. That's already a crime to have become pregnant in a sense.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Then it kind of renders abortion moot. I'm not saying that's the scenario, but there are lots of countries that are under Sharia law.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that is true. Should I look it up? What countries are under is it a.

[Dax Shepard]

Crime to have sex out of wedlock? Sharia law, but I'm not sure if Sharia law includes that, but I should find out too.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan have Sharia as the supreme law of the land. While others like Egypt, Nigeria and Malaysia incorporate Sharia into specific areas like family law or personal status law. The extent and interpretation of Sharia also differ significantly across these countries.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I'm looking at the list where it's illegal to have sex out of wedlock. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Qatar or Qatar, uae, Sudan, Indonesia, Malaysia. So yeah, I mean it's kind of a. It's not a fair abortion claim there, in my opinion.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's true. But the abortion laws, the like six week abortion ban and stuff here has nothing to do with marriage. Like you could be married and doesn't matter.

[Dax Shepard]

My point is if it's illegal to become pregnant out of marriage.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're saying that decreases the chances that people would even be wanting to get one.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So you're pregnant and you're going to go to jail for, you know, or be criminally charged for having sex. What is the difference between that and then the abortion doesn't fall. The ones you just listed, it doesn't meet that criteria. So in practice they might as well have a no abortion law because you're not even legally allowed to have sex out of marriage. And if you're married, the only way you can have abortion is if somehow your wife got Raped or somehow there was incest or mental health.

[Monica Padman]

I guess that's what I'm. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So it's like saying there's no speed limit in Saudi Arabia, but it's illegal to drive a car. And if someone's like, well, no, other countries don't care about speeding. There's no speed limit in Saudi Arabia. And you're like, yeah, and it's also illegal to drive in Saudi Arabia. You can't even get to the part where you have an abortion. That's what I'm saying.

[Monica Padman]

Right. But I guess because we're talking about out of wedlock versus in wedlock. So here though, with the abortion laws, the. That are six weeks, it's even if you're married, you can't get one after that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So. And the point is there you could. If you're married. Like it's saying, all things considered, that.

[Dax Shepard]

You'Re married and you meet all the criteria that you just listed.

[Monica Padman]

Right. I mean, it seems like theirs is more of a four month thing as opposed to this six week thing. Okay, well, that might be it for Ramy Facts.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I love him. I can't wait till he comes back.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

Me too. All right, love you.

[Monica Padman]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

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

[Rami Youssef]

It's your man, Nick Cannon and I'm here to bring you my new podcast, Nick Cannon at Night. I've heard y' all been needing some.

[Dax Shepard]

Advice in the love department, so who.

[Rami Youssef]

Better to help than you, yours truly. Nah, I'm serious. Every week I'm bringing out some of my celebrity friends and the best experts in the business to answer your most intimate relationship questions. Having problems with your man? We got you catching feelings for your sneaky link. Let's make sure it's the real deal first. Ready to bring toys into the bedroom? Let's talk about it. Consider this a non judgment zone to ask your questions when it comes to sex and modern dating in relationships, friendship, situationships and everything in between. It's gonna be sexy, freaky, messy. And you know what? You'll just have to watch the show. So don't be shy, join the conversation and head over to YouTube to watch Nick Cannon at night or subscribe on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. Wanna watch episodes early and ad free? Join Wondery right now.