Rerelease: Adam Scott Returns

Summary

Podcast Summary: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Episode: Rerelease – Adam Scott Returns

Release Date: December 29, 2025
Guest: Adam Scott
Hosts: Dax Shepard & Monica Padman

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Episode Overview

This Armchair Expert episode brings back Adam Scott, acclaimed actor and familiar friend of the show, for a return visit. Dax and Monica dive into nostalgia, the experience of aging, processing grief, and Adam’s journey both personally and in his standout performance on "Severance." The conversation is full of humor, nostalgia, and mutual admiration—offering rich insight into Adam’s worldview, the creative process, and the human messiness at the core of Armchair Expert.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening and Nostalgic Reflections

• Dax and Monica reminisce about Adam’s last appearance (he was their seventh guest ever!) and their false memories about Adam having a “hip hop phase”—which was actually an obsession with "Do the Right Thing" and Spike Lee in adolescence.
  Quote:

  • “You were obsessed with Do the Right Thing and Spike Lee and started wearing African gear and he's like, 100%. So that's what it was. I knew he went through a phase.” — Dax (01:09)

• The trio joke about Adam’s great hair, self-deprecating style, and the aesthetic risks that are sometimes “swings and misses.”

  • "You can take big swings with your hair. Would you acknowledge that?" — Dax (05:43)
  • "And I would say that's a big swing. And I think it might be a bit of a miss." — Adam (05:53)

2. Language Triggers and Pop Culture Nomenclature

• Commenting on overused or pretentious words in culture and entertainment (“storyteller,” “hold space,” “artisanal,” “atelier,” "bespoke"), Dax discusses how language trends both amuse and annoy him:

  • “I'm a storyteller at heart. […] We are story animals. Stop it. Just cut it out.” — Adam (07:36)
  • “I started hearing atelier a little too much and I was like, Monica, you watch, the Gap's gonna have an Attila.” — Dax (09:04)

• Cultural language as a political wedge:

  • "This is where the left is losing people, by the way. […] Of the two parties, there's one that actually helps out the working class… it's the one that rhetorically and culturally don't know how to talk to them." — Adam (09:50)

3. Aging, Appearance, and Social Media Influence

• They discuss cosmetic trends, teens and Botox, the idea of freezing faces and bodies, and the homogeneity of beauty standards in a sci-fi future.

  • “My sci fi fantasy is… a future in which you take [a drug] and then that's it. You're arrested exactly where you're at. From now on, your cells will just duplicate as they should.” — Dax (20:09)
  • “If everyone was the same age, what would that do?” — Dax (21:03)

• Speculation on how technology might close generational gaps, leading to “cultural translators” where everyone hears cultural references relevant to them.

  • “You say you like Raiders of the Lost Ark, and I hear Tron 3D.” — Dax (24:04)
  • “So all cultural references become the same too. Everything evens out.” — Adam (23:48)

4. Friendship and Annual Dinners

• Dax and Adam describe their annual group trip hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
  • “If you and I get seated next to each other, I'm like, this is going to be the greatest three hour dinner. You're the funnest person to talk to." — Dax (26:19)
  • "My immediate reaction when finding a seat at that dinner is if I'm sitting across from you or next to you, I'm like, I really don't want Dax to feel like he has to talk to me." — Adam (27:02)

5. Nostalgia and Childhood's Lasting Power

• Adam and Dax bond over obsessive love for 80s and 90s pop culture ("Temple of Doom," "Goonies," "Back to the Future"), exploring why nostalgia is so powerful.

  • “Movies in that era in particular were geared for us. […] That window for us happened to be during this Spielberg era." — Adam (29:06)
  • "Nostalgia, I think, exists because it's the things you consumed before everything got complicated." — Monica (36:08)

• Movies reflected their lives as children, especially on broken families and young protagonists.

  • “Divorce was making its way into these movies, which I like. ET Is a very divorce driven movie.” — Dax (36:45)

6. Adam’s Career, Early Struggles, and “Severance”

• Adam discusses his trajectory from bit parts ("Fan at Bar" in "Too Smooth"/"Hairshirt") to major roles, including almost landing a key role in "Six Feet Under."

  • “Thank God [Michael C. Hall] got it because he was incredible and I was not ready to do that.” — Adam (39:39)

• The group expresses love for “Severance,” Adam’s flagship show on Apple TV+, and how Dax and Kristen harassed him for spoilers via voicemail.

  • “You can't imagine how much pleasure it gives me to have the both of you over a barrel like this. I may as well tell you now that the entire season was created just to frustrate and destroy the both of you.” — Adam (43:21)

6.1. The Pandemic & Grief During Filming

• Adam shares that his mother died right before filming “Severance”; processing this grief in the isolation of COVID quarantine and while playing a grieving character deeply influenced the role.

  • “I'm insulated, which is, I guess, one of the things love is for is to make you feel better. […] I really did it through the show. […] The show is about grief.” — Adam (46:17)
  • “I realized that part of the reason I was doing this in the first place was for her to see it.” — Adam (50:09)
  • "A parent dying, it's like part of the sky going away or something." — Adam (50:37)

• Dax and Adam discuss the unique bond with mothers, and how losing them untethers one's identity.

  • "They're who you were able to be scared in front of. Vulnerable." — Dax (52:37)

6.2. Severance Season Two & Adam’s Experience

• Adam details the challenge and creative process of season two; how showrunner Dan Erickson came from an unusual background, having previously written for "Lip Sync Battle" and worked in a door factory. The Ben Stiller connection, tone, and cast additions (Alia Shawkat, Merritt Wever, Gwendoline Christie) are all celebrated.
  • "There is no one who can really crack it. […] and write it like he can. It's a really particular thing that he invented." — Adam (61:28)
  • “So much of the comedy and the weirdness… this, to me, just feels like the total synergy of all the previous work.” — Dax (65:01)

6.3. On Acting with Legends

• Adam talks about working with John Turturro and Christopher Walken, his anxiety over first impressions, and their friendship:
  • "I woke up not because of my alarm, but because of pounding on my door. […] My assistant was pounding on the door… The first day with John Turturro and Christopher Walken." — Adam (69:33)
  • "They're both beautiful. The way they play it is just impossibly perfect. They're really close friends and have been for a long time." — Adam (73:20)

7. Friendship, Identity, and Public Recognition

• Dax compares Adam to Nicolas Cage (“He’s not the high school quarterback, he’s one of us. And he did it.”), describing how accessible stars can inspire.

  • “I think you are for people what Nicolas Cage was for me, which is, this guy isn't the high school quarterback. He's one of us. And he did it.” — Dax (74:22)

• Adam and Monica reflect on the difficulty of receiving praise or seeing oneself in that light:

  • “I'll accept it just as much as I did this summer when you said it to me, which is not really at all.” — Adam (76:36)

8. Creative Actualization

• Adam lauds Dax’s growth as a podcaster and for modeling healthy behavior (“journaling every morning”).
  • “You're sharing yourself in a more direct way than you would have been able to by acting… and that's really hard to do.” — Adam (77:47)

9. Fact Check & Closing Bits

• Monica and Dax run through corrections, talk about butter sculptures, the production facts of chewing tobacco (and Dax’s odd weight-loss anecdote), and the physics of aging and physical fitness.
  • Memorable and gross moment: Dax shares pride in a 4-pound difference after a bathroom break (113:00).
  • The joys of birds outside Dax’s window, and a recurring theme—interest in the small wonders of life.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On language fads:
  • “I'm a storyteller at heart. … We are story animals. Stop it. Just cut it out.” — Adam (07:36)
• On childhood idols:
  • “That window for us happened to be during this Spielberg era where Elliot in ET, Indiana Jones, the kids in Goonies, Michael J. Fox … these were heroes.” — Adam (36:21)
• On public recognition:
  • “He’s not the high school quarterback, he’s one of us. And he did it.” — Dax (74:22)
• On processing grief:
  • "A parent dying, it's like part of the sky going away or something." — Adam (50:37)
• On artistic ambition:
  • "[Turturro and Walken] are still dying to express themselves. I don't have that as much, sadly, but I see that you have that a ton." — Dax (74:16)
• On self-actualization:
  • “You're sharing yourself in a more direct way than you would have been able to by acting… and that's really hard to do.” — Adam (77:47)

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Additional Memorable Moments

• Dinner Party Antics: The warmth and mutual admiration of their annual trip is repeated throughout; highlights their deep connection outside of Hollywood context.
• Severance Voicemails: Dax and Kristen harass Adam with hilarious, impatient voicemails about "Severance" cliffhangers (41:49).
• Pandemic-Filming Tales: Stories from the odd, isolated conditions of filming season one of "Severance."

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Major Timestamps for Key Topics

• Introductions and Hip Hop Phase Faux Pas: 00:00–02:28
• Language Triggers (Artisanal, Atelier, Storyteller): 07:00–09:59
• Aging, Appearance, Sci-Fi Speculation: 11:00–24:11
• Kimmel’s Annual Dinner Party: 26:00–28:00
• 80s/90s Nostalgia: 29:00–37:00
• Adam's Career & Early Struggles: 39:00–40:30
• "Severance," the Pandemic & Grief: 44:00–54:00
• Creativity & Working with Ben Stiller, Turturro, Walken: 56:00–74:00
• Friendship & Recognition: 74:17–77:51

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Tone & Style

The episode is warm, candid, and packed with humorous, self-reflective dialogue. Dax’s signature blend of honest vulnerability and cheeky teasing pairs perfectly with Adam’s openness and dry wit. Monica’s thoughtful interjections round out the interplay, anchoring the episode’s more philosophical and emotional turns.

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Takeaways

• Nostalgia as Comfort: Revisiting childhood pop culture provides comfort, context, and memory for adults, especially tied to eras perceived as more innocent.
• Grief and Growth: Major personal losses inform creative work and self-identity, and sharing these stories opens paths for empathy.
• Language Shapes Perception: The language we use—in entertainment, politics, and even product marketing—matters and often reveals underlying cultural anxieties.
• Creative Evolution: Both Dax and Adam reflect on how creative careers and self-actualization can be nonlinear journeys, persistently influenced by family, mentors, and peers.

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Recommended for:
Anyone who loves pop culture, candid talk about growing up and growing older, behind-the-scenes entertainment industry anecdotes, or a deep dive into grief, nostalgia, and the transformative power of storytelling.

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Next Steps:

• Watch "Severance" on Apple TV+ (Season 2 Premieres Jan 17, 2026)
• Listen to the new "Severance" podcast hosted by Adam Scott and Ben Stiller (Premieres Jan 7, 2026)
• Revisit classic 80s/90s films for a hit of nostalgia—and maybe weigh in on your own favorite overused buzzword.

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Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts, or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dan Shepard and I'm joined by the Duchess of Duluth. Hi. Hi. Our sweetest friend Adam Scott is here today. Yeah, we discovered. Which I would have not guessed. Yeah, I forget now. But in seven. Yeah. In the interview, we realize he was his seventh guest.

[Monica Padman]

It does feel like it's been a long time since he's come on, but not that long.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I just didn't think he was that early. I felt like we were up and running for a while and I reached out.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

But yeah, so this is his second trip. Oh, this will be good. Because I remembered this. There's a point in the interview where I go, weren't you super into hip hop?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You did.

[Dax Shepard]

And he's like, no.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was so discombobulated by that because I'm like, I know. I remember this.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And it hit me after this interview and I text him and I was like, oh, my God. You know what I think I'm confusing is, were you obsessed with do the Right Thing and Spike Lee and started wearing African gear and he's like, 100%. So that's what it was. I knew he went through a phase.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And he was wearing like the tricolor color Africa shirts, and it was do the right Thing. Oh. So I'm not. I wasn't totally insane. There's some connective tissue.

[Monica Padman]

Got it. That makes sense.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And also lends itself to him being a cinephile.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Big Time. Parks and Recreation, Step Brothers, Big Little Lies, Party down the Good Place. And alas, arguably the greatest show on television, which returns to Apple TV plus on the 17th. Severance.

[Monica Padman]

I can't wait. So excited.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so good. It's so, so good. And I got to do the severance podcast that they're doing, which is really, really fun.

[Monica Padman]

That's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I do recommend. It's been three years. I have a pretty good memory. I don't remember anything. It is so worth starting it from the get go. It's so enjoyable. I had forgotten so many great things about it.

[Monica Padman]

I rewatched it as well.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you did?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, it's just. What a show.

[Monica Padman]

It's fantastic.

[Dax Shepard]

Please enjoy Adam Scott. We are supported by Addie.

[Monica Padman]

I know about Addie. The Little Pink Pill, right?

[Dax Shepard]

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[Monica Padman]

I love this. It's really nice that there's an option out there for women who are dealing with low desire and I like that. Addie's non hormonal and created by a woman for women. Addie is helping women feel like themselves again and that's really important.

[Dax Shepard]

It really is. So arm cherries if your libido could use a little jump start, Addy's got you covered. Learn more at addy.com that's a D-Y-I.com use code DAX for a ten dollar telemed appointment at addie.com addi or flibanserin is for premenopausal women with acquired Generalized Hypoactive Sexual Desire disorder HSDD who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past who have low sexual desire. No matter the type of sex activity, the situation or the sexual partner, this low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship or medicine or other drug use. ADDI is not for use in children, men, or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcohol drinks close in time to your ADDI dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking ADDI at bedtime. This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC or herbal medications, or have liver problems and can happen when you take ADDI without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you are allergic to any of Addi's ingredients. Allergic reactions may include hives, itching or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur. Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, and dry mouth. See full P I am medication guide including box [e-mail] PI Addie use code DAX for a ten dollar telemed [e-mail] that's a D-Y I.com we are supported by Hill's Pet Nutrition. Something we celebrate here on Armchair Expert is that we all have juggles, struggles, faults and flaws because we're human. Those of us with pets know this all too well. We are their whole world and that can be a lot of pressure. Things are just going to go wrong sometimes and we can only plan for so much. Pet Parent guilt is unavoidable.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, like when you left one of your dogs when you Went traveling. You probably had guilt.

[Dax Shepard]

I did. Whiskey wasn't fit to make the trip. But I was relieved that he's having such a great time with Peggy at home. But yeah, because you're only human. There's Hills. Science does more. Find the right [e-mail]. dax. Steal yourself. Is that the expression?

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Steady. Steal yourself.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank God there's no buttons on your slacks. Like Camilo Anthony.

[Adam Scott]

I wonder what it is I'm. I'm supposed to be looking at.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, this is very nice.

[Dax Shepard]

You're fucking hot as hell. Hold on.

[Adam Scott]

Adam.

[Dax Shepard]

You're 1000% sexy as fuck.

[Monica Padman]

What is this from?

[Dax Shepard]

I've always known you've had good hair, like enviable hair. But this photo. I can't do things like. Like you can take big swings with your hair. Would you acknowledge that?

[Adam Scott]

And I would say that's a big swing. And I think it might be a bit of a miss.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Oh my God.

[Adam Scott]

The whole thing just feels a little stupid.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Adam, listen to me. You can own this. Can I hold up? Can you see that, Rob? But look at this. This is great.

[Monica Padman]

You do have great hair.

[Adam Scott]

You have good hair.

[Monica Padman]

You're welcome.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm stealing this from Arnett. He would call it the 40 yard stare. Like that Vietnam.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. The like middle distance stare.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, like am I seeing a sniper in the background? That you're not.

[Adam Scott]

Right. Me and Pratt used to do it on parks. It would be saying something stupid to each other and then just kind of breaking into. And it's like, what are you? Exactly. There is this middle distance where it's so clear. I wasn't looking at anything. It was just. Look over there.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

That's maybe part of why it's embarrassing.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no.

[Monica Padman]

You're so self deprecating. It's a gorgeous picture.

[Dax Shepard]

It is. I don't think I'm just gorgeous.

[Monica Padman]

Absolutely gorgeous.

[Adam Scott]

By the way, it's so different in here than where we are.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, sure. You know, let's take a second to process.

[Adam Scott]

How long have you been in here?

[Dax Shepard]

Three months.

[Adam Scott]

I listen to the show. I don't watch it. So I would. I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Take. First of all, Rob did all of it.

[Adam Scott]

It's really nice. Can you believe Homey.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Adam Scott]

And well designed. I know you have impeccable taste, Rob.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you. But this wasn't me. This was all Rob.

[Adam Scott]

It's really lovely.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You can almost forget, right? That's the dream.

[Adam Scott]

It's nice. And you got the camera sort of hidden it's really nice.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we have overs in this podcast which people don't have over. They line up in a line.

[Adam Scott]

Overs. It's so good. You're a director. You know these things.

[Dax Shepard]

What if I said I'm a director at heart?

[Adam Scott]

E, that's gross. I'm a storyteller at heart.

[Monica Padman]

That's worse.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm even scared to admit out loud how much I hate that because so many people I love, I've heard use that term.

[Adam Scott]

I know, and it's true.

[Dax Shepard]

We are story animals.

[Adam Scott]

Stop it. Just cut it out. Since the dawn of man, we gathered around the fire. We tell stories. We can stop saying that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I would like to stop.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You've seen people you love say it, right?

[Adam Scott]

Of course. Yeah, I'm sure I've said it. I mean, Jesus, you just run it.

[Monica Padman]

I'm gonna pull it for the fact.

[Adam Scott]

Ch of you saying a thousand times a stream. Is there any other current words that piss me off? Yeah, nomenclature. That's rubbing you the wrong way.

[Dax Shepard]

I have too much of it. To the degree that I'm not proud of myself.

[Adam Scott]

Too much of what?

[Dax Shepard]

I am hypersensitive to words people are using in pop culture. To the degree that I have to be a little self reflective and go like, this is the kid in high school. Like I'm still looking for reasons that all the popular kids have their code.

[Monica Padman]

You feel left out.

[Adam Scott]

I got that.

[Dax Shepard]

I think that's why it's such an acute. Because Monica will tell you I called out words like artisanal. The second artisanal. I said, you watch, that's going to be on a fucking Arby's sign. It wasn't on Arby's, but it was on Subway. My current one I'm tracking is atelier. This is the new word.

[Adam Scott]

Wait, I don't know this one.

[Dax Shepard]

Great, you're getting in on the ground floor.

[Monica Padman]

Do know it. It's just means like a shop.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't know.

[Adam Scott]

It just means a nice apothecary bubbled up a few years ago in the wrong places.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, atelier, which I learned this from Monica. This is like a small bespok, handcrafted luxury item and it's the studio for it, which I'm fine with. Those Italians having their ateliers. Or French, whatever it is, it's where.

[Monica Padman]

The designer actually makes the items. It's a real word.

[Adam Scott]

Sure, but we don't use it to describe the sandwich shop in Beverly Hills, which is coming.

[Dax Shepard]

I just started hearing atelier a little too much and I was like, monica, you watch the Gap's gonna have an Attila. Yeah. Okay, so we have storytellers. That's rough for me.

[Adam Scott]

It's rough.

[Dax Shepard]

And again, so many people. I love it. I see it. Sure. I don't think get through an interview without saying it these days. Holding space. Can't you just do that without talking about, does that trigger you at all?

[Monica Padman]

I never said it. I do think it's rough.

[Dax Shepard]

This is where the left is losing people, by the way. Yeah, stuff like that.

[Adam Scott]

100. Because it's cultural and rhetorical. That's it. Of the two parties, there's one that actually helps out the working class. And it's not the one that won. It's the one that rhetorically and culturally don't know how to talk to them. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

So it's like that 100%. But wait, holding space means I'm just creating space for myself?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I think it's more often used in, like, I just want my husband to be able to hold space for me to have my emotions or hold space for a coworker or a friend.

[Adam Scott]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

It sounds a little too sanctimonious.

[Adam Scott]

I think I tuned that one out.

[Dax Shepard]

So I use one that probably people hate. I will say often my story. My story about you and I is this or my story about losing that job. That to me feels a little more honest, which is, I know. I'm a storyteller.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's just.

[Adam Scott]

It all comes back to storytelling story. Monica's visibly uncomfortable.

[Dax Shepard]

We thought her pants were going to explode, but they've retracted more belts. Were you wearing three belts when you walked in? I didn't notice.

[Adam Scott]

Isn't it funny in movies where they flash to the future and you see them taking stabs at what will happen fashion wise in the future? I think in Back to the Future, people have two ties in the future.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. In 2015. Which, by the way, you would have known that already.

[Adam Scott]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

You know what no one's playing with, which they should be, is that as we see drugs like Ozempic become ubiquitous and people will more and more have the same body shape, it's almost interesting that no one's projected that in the future. Everyone just virtually, there'll be like three.

[Monica Padman]

Versions of people also with Botox and fillers and all of those things. Yeah. People's faces are starting to just look like one thing. I mean, young teens are doing Botox and filler.

[Adam Scott]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

I wish I was alive when they were 90 so I could See how perfect they look? I bet it's really gonna work.

[Monica Padman]

I'm a lady to say I'm against it. I am.

[Dax Shepard]

You are. Even though you're for kids.

[Monica Padman]

Honestly, for like an 18 year old, you don't even know what your face is yet.

[Adam Scott]

But also, you're not done forming.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Adam Scott]

Growing. I have two teenagers, so they're always on TikTok and Instagram stuff. And yeah, there's a lot of perfection and redefining perfection. It's all really crazy.

[Dax Shepard]

It's very sci fi. It does make me think. Did you ever have these days when you are in elementary school, I'm plagued with a lot of colleagues. I don't have the. The head of hair. You do. Back to your hair cowlicks, you know, where your hair juts this way and then that way, it's all scandiwampus and back.

[Adam Scott]

I have a swirl.

[Dax Shepard]

So the middle part with a feather when you and I were kids was king.

[Adam Scott]

Totally.

[Dax Shepard]

You had to have that hairdo bow. And Luke Duke had it, and I just couldn't get it down the middle. It was always off to one. It was like a 60, 40 split. And so occasionally I would have a morning like in fourth grade where I would feather it, it would look great, and I would make this weird promise to the deities. I would say, like, I commit to this hair for the rest of my life. If you can it looking sweet.

[Adam Scott]

If it can remain this perfect, I will keep this parted down the middle feathered construction for the rest of my days.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Now, did you ever do any dumb thing like that in front of the mirror?

[Adam Scott]

I remember my brother had the little lead figurines for Dungeons and Dragons. They were made out of lead. Yeah. And as a kid I heard lead is poison, so you need to be careful. I used to just steal all his shit and look at it. He's older than me. So I remember one day taking one of these little lead figures and just sticking my tongue out and just touching it and then just being like, what am I doing? And I remember looking into the mirror in our living room. There was a mirror hanging there and just going, I don't want to die thinking that it was imminent.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. What you stumbled upon right there is called the Call of the Void. Do you know this term? So the Call of the Void is very, very common for people to experience this. You're on an extremely tall building. You're looking over the edge, and the voice is going jump you. For some reason, it's taunting you.

[Adam Scott]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's what licking that lead was. And I would have done the exact same thing.

[Adam Scott]

Like, whoa. It's pretty powerful.

[Monica Padman]

Powerful. That's what it is.

[Dax Shepard]

But you got to be on the other side of answering the call, the void, which is. You laughed, and it sounds like you had immediate regret.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. It was a stupid thing to do.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you think in your mind at that time, you thought you'd be dead before the day's end?

[Adam Scott]

I thought I would drop dead any second. Were you, like, getting under the faucet it on Instagram? I'm constantly shown, you know those kids that are now climbing skyscrapers all over the world without any equipment?

[Monica Padman]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

Yo. They're just free balling it and they're running and jumping. They're not, like, being careful.

[Adam Scott]

Oh. They're getting up to the top of literally, the Empire State Building and balancing on one leg and taking some pics.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

They have their drone up there, and they're just like, what's up?

[Dax Shepard]

Some toss them a beard.

[Adam Scott]

Crazy. And there's a documentary on a couple that do this in Eastern Europe on Netflix. Their whole group of friends are traveling the world doing this. And they die often, of course, because they fall.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes.

[Adam Scott]

But I'm on that algorithm on Instagram, and I'm constantly being shown these was because there's nothing that I enjoy more than watching these people on the edge of a fucking skyscraper.

[Dax Shepard]

And I love it. Yeah. It makes my hands sweat so profusely.

[Adam Scott]

I get butterflies and I get an adrenal rush, I think, watching them, and then I have to just put it down and not look anymore.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, sure. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

It's weird.

[Dax Shepard]

Look in front of the mirror and.

[Adam Scott]

Say, I don't want to die. It's like, well, it's just a video. You're fine.

[Monica Padman]

Were you a really good kid? It sounds like you were a really good kid. That's the extent of mischief. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. I must have been a good kid.

[Dax Shepard]

I can really relate to being the younger brother who. He'd leave the house to go do something fun, and I would run to his bedroom like a chimp. Just, like, hold his objects 100%. Covet them.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, yeah. Shim your little possessions.

[Dax Shepard]

His idols. I felt like I was holding special idols.

[Adam Scott]

I remember once he came home when I was in the midst of one of my archeological digs, and I hid behind a chimney that came through the middle of his room, and I just hid there for 15, 20 minutes while he just sat on his bed reading a comic book or something.

[Dax Shepard]

I was staying at my grandparents Roadside motel in the summertime. And I had an uncle Rob who was five years older than my brother. So this guy was on top of the world. He had a 68 Camaro, he played the guitar very well. He had a dirt bike. And I got into his room when he was out and I found just a treasure trove of firecrackers. Oh shit. And I was like this motherfucker's got major power merment in here.

[Adam Scott]

Firepower.

[Dax Shepard]

I was like, oh, there's 60 of these. I'm gonna steal one. Black cats. And then later I was out in a field next to motel and I lit him off. And I was like very scared and excited. And then I just hear they're loud, aren't they? Oh fuck. And I turned around, it was Uncle Rob. And he fucking call me red handed. Just like the cool uncle. You'd guess he didn't mind too much. Yeah, he understood what was going on.

[Monica Padman]

The other day you told me you've never stolen.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't say that.

[Monica Padman]

Yes you did.

[Adam Scott]

Yes you did.

[Monica Padman]

Cuz then I said yeah, you tried to steal a parking meter. Parking meter.

[Dax Shepard]

I did steal. And then I said no, I did steal a parking meter.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah you said.

[Dax Shepard]

Then I tried to rob 711 different.

[Monica Padman]

Compartment cuz I was drunk. But now here we go.

[Adam Scott]

It sounds like. Sounds like he was in his right mind when he stole these fireworks.

[Monica Padman]

It does.

[Dax Shepard]

I was pretty handsome hammered.

[Adam Scott]

What is that?

[Dax Shepard]

That's a nicotine spray. You've certainly seen me use this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. On our yearly vacation.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, I've got. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What are you rocking zins?

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

[Dax Shepard]

You're a zen man.

[Adam Scott]

So stupid.

[Monica Padman]

What's a Zen?

[Dax Shepard]

A zin is like a little pouch of chemicals. It's kind of like a skull bandit.

[Adam Scott]

Except it's non tobacco. Or maybe skull bandits are non tobacco.

[Dax Shepard]

No, they're tobacco.

[Adam Scott]

Okay. These are non tobacco. It's just nicotine.

[Dax Shepard]

Bandits are made in an atelier in Raleigh, Durham.

[Adam Scott]

They're made.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

One by gorgeous atelier in Terre Haute, Indiana.

[Dax Shepard]

Very bespoke, very artisanal. And they fold each packet bespoke.

[Adam Scott]

That's another one.

[Dax Shepard]

That one doesn't bother me.

[Adam Scott]

Agents started using it describing different kinds of movies and shows.

[Dax Shepard]

By the way, that's a great source for trigger words is agents. Because agents kind of like Silicon Valley bros. There's a lexicon and you gotta stay abreast.

[Adam Scott]

And political talking heads. There's always a new word kind of cycling through. A few years ago it was crossing the Rubicon. So. And so is going to cross the Rubicon into.

[Dax Shepard]

You're so right.

[Adam Scott]

This cycle, it was something else. But yeah, it's annoying.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, now I gotta go all the way back because when I talked about your hair. So basically we're getting into this era where the Faustian promise could be. We're nearing a technology that at 8, I could have injected myself with something and my hair would have looked like that for the rest of my life. That's where I was going with that entire story. Like, the notion of freezing your face at 16 is kind of interesting. I don't have a moral judgment on it.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe I'm a little bit.

[Monica Padman]

This has gotten better over time, so that would have been a big mistake.

[Dax Shepard]

Mine too. Is yours improved?

[Adam Scott]

I think so. I look at photos of me when I was 30 and I'm like, what's going on? And it might just be the way you perceive yourself. It's hard to gain perspective on that. I just saw the substance, which was super interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

So good. But remember when the kid in the doctor's office introduces her to the idea and that kid's perfect face?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But creepy.

[Adam Scott]

Very creepy. That's what I immediately think of when you say there'll be like three different kinds of faces. Or if you have the power to just freeze your face, everyone starts kind of morphing into a face like that. To me, that looks like a YouTube tutorial face. Like, it's just weird. And it's become this standard that people are looking at on social media.

[Dax Shepard]

It's hard to say what's better or worse. Is that better or worse than you and I thinking you gotta look like Brad Pitt and there's no chemicals or I can't freeze my.

[Adam Scott]

There's nothing you can do?

[Dax Shepard]

No. I'm not sure if it's getting better or worse. Yeah, okay. But my sci fi fantasy is this. So if we just think really quickly that your cells divide and they make perfect copies of themselves. Yeah. So there's this great mystery. How then does your body evolve and look differently? If it's making perfect mirror copies of each cell, what is this aging process? How are the cells changing? And there's a lot of science that's getting close to figuring out that out. So let's just say there is a future in which you take it and then that's it. You're arrested. Exactly where you're at. From now on, your cells will just duplicate as they should. That's an interesting sci fi movie where everyone is 28. The wise elders are 28 and everyone is immortal probably. Unless they get hit by a car. Unless some kind of accident happens, their cells are just going to make perfect copies of themselves. So that would be an interesting sci fi movie where everyone's 30, one guy's.

[Adam Scott]

130 and one guy's 30.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

But they look exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

And it just makes me wonder like status wise and how you treat people at a grocery store and all this weird stuff. If everyone was the same age, what would that do?

[Adam Scott]

That would be really weird.

[Monica Padman]

Also it would make the first 30 years of your life, or 28, whatever number everyone shut it down. Yeah, you'd like be living in a bubble because you have to protect yourself until you get to 28 so you don't get messed up or.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I did think of that as. Once you get the procedure, it'll heighten your fear of accidental death because you're not gonna die of any diseases.

[Adam Scott]

People would be so much more accident phobic. There would probably be some sort of celebration when you hit 30 or 28 or whatever it is.

[Dax Shepard]

I bet 27. That's when they always say you just start going downhill from there.

[Adam Scott]

Is that right? Is that like the peak?

[Dax Shepard]

That's when you like kind of peak.

[Adam Scott]

Remember Looper? One of the great sci fi movies of the last 20 years or so. Rian Johnson.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

They have that party when you close your loop and you know your death date. Is that what it was? They throw a party and it's a really dark, weird thing. But. But that's the great thing about really good sci fi is when you drop in and you see kind of the customs of this new altered environment. And when it's pulled off well, like in Looper, it's really kind of mind bendy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's the fun stuff to think about is not the actual big juicy tech.

[Adam Scott]

Cultural reverberations of these.

[Dax Shepard]

Like if a guy that's 130 is dating an actual 30 year old woman, but they look the same, do we throw out that whole thing we care about?

[Adam Scott]

And what are the apps that would be created to catch you up on what a 30 year old is into? You're fucking 430.

[Dax Shepard]

What if. Okay, we got to get back to reality. But after this. No, but listen.

[Adam Scott]

Dating a 430-year-old, although then it's like they're mature, right?

[Monica Padman]

That's cool.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know what if. Okay, so these new meta glasses, they have a speaker right behind whatever the arms. I'm told that you could be in China. And you can have the AI be translating what someone's telling you in Mandarin and you'll hear it in English. I think we're really close to the Star Trek. Like we're wearing glasses, a Chinese guy's wearing glasses, and we're just communicating. So knowing that, that's close. Now, what if. Back to the 300-year-old, let's call it a woman dating a 30 year old man.

[Monica Padman]

That's safer.

[Dax Shepard]

That's safer. We like that. And then the 30 year old man goes, I loved this new show to Bikawi Crossing.

[Adam Scott]

It's a great show, but it is a good one.

[Dax Shepard]

And then the woman in her ear hears, I'm watching this new show, Dawson's Creek. The AI knows where this reference is.

[Adam Scott]

Going, so they can communicate, can have the conversation.

[Dax Shepard]

Different references. Do you understand what I'm saying?

[Monica Padman]

Sort of. But they're still living in same world.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, you'd be talking about Taylor Swift. Like, let's say you and I were on a date. You'd be talking about Taylor Swim and how great she is. But I'd be hearing Madonna so that I understood it's a cultural equivalent, translator culture.

[Adam Scott]

You can have the same emotional interaction and just be on the same level at all times. So all cultural references become the same too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

Everything evens out. So there are no obstacles anywhere.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's just emotion. I'm conveying an emotion.

[Adam Scott]

That's right. You say you like Raiders of the Lost Ark, and I hear hear Tron. Tron 3D.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

I mean, that just made me sound so much older than I intended.

[Monica Padman]

These aren't real relationships. You're just hearing what you want to hear. Because what if you didn't like Taylor Swift objectively? And I'm talking about Taylor Swift and you're hearing Madonna. Something you do, it's just translating into what you like.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no. See, I mean, my version of this cultural translator, you're saying Taylor Swift, and my equivalent of that was Madonna. Now I actually feel about Madonna however I felt then. Right. So maybe I thought she was. I don't think this. Well, I just think she was a stage show. She wasn't really an artist. Let's just say that's what I thought.

[Monica Padman]

We don't. We're not.

[Dax Shepard]

That's not what I think.

[Adam Scott]

None of us think.

[Monica Padman]

We also just. We don't say that.

[Dax Shepard]

So I'm hearing you talk about someone who's a perfect comp. And then I feel the way about. And then I go on she's not for me. I don't like.

[Adam Scott]

But your AI would be so attuned to you that it would know if you say Taylor Swift to perfectly translate that to someone. I love Madonna, maybe it's Emmylou Harris. It's attuned to you and your taste. If the objective is to get along with this person you're talking to and create an emotional connection and get rid of any snags along the way, it'll just provide equilibrium for everything.

[Dax Shepard]

So in your version, like a liberal and Democrat are wearing the glasses, and the liberal goes, I'm so afraid the earth's gonna catch on fire. And the person hears, I'm so afraid of immigration.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And everyone's like, I know, I know, I know.

[Adam Scott]

I totally agree.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I'm scared, too.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, that's wild.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, this actually brings me to a real question. First of all, and I told you this privately, so I'm not just fluffing your pillows now that we're in public.

[Adam Scott]

Fluffing your pillows. I like that.

[Dax Shepard]

Not a really common colloquial. We go on this trip every year. It's the funnest trip of the year for us.

[Adam Scott]

So fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Our friend Jimmy Kimmel hosts all of us in the most generous possible capacity.

[Adam Scott]

The loveliest.

[Dax Shepard]

And there's a lot of things you could say were the bells and whistles of it. The location, the accommodations, the activities. But for me, it's dinner every night.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, it's a general giant table. How long would you say this table is?

[Dax Shepard]

40Ft?

[Adam Scott]

Probably 50 people. 40 people, would you say?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that feels right.

[Adam Scott]

Everyone is terrific. And every year there's additions and people can't make it and someone else arrives, and it's always just fascinating group.

[Dax Shepard]

So you can't miss no matter who you're seated next to. But. And I don't want to rank. It's not polite to rank. But if you and I get seated next to each other, I'm like, this is going to be the greatest three hour dinner. You're the funnest person to talk to. I love talking to you.

[Adam Scott]

That is so, so flattering. And when you texted that to me, I immediately went and got Naomi and told her. Because my immediate reaction when finding a seat at that dinner is if I'm sitting across from you or next to you, I'm like, I really don't want Dax to feel like he has to talk to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. And I'm trying to engineer getting seated across from you.

[Adam Scott]

And I love sitting with you too, because you're an inherently interested person and you're so fun to talk to. And I've always felt that way about talking to you, even when we didn't really know each other that much. You can just drop in with you and talk about stuff and you always have something to say. And you telling me that was a huge deal because I also feel comfortable sitting across from you or sitting next to you. Like, I'm immediately at ease.

[Dax Shepard]

Same. So, so much of our conversations, and this is where one of my questions comes in. We have a lot of nostalgic conversations. We have a lot of the same favorites from the 80s and 90s. We did, I don't know, 90 minutes on against All Odds.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, you had Jeff Bridges. I did.

[Dax Shepard]

And I brought up the car chase scene and I asked how much of the drive he needed. Questions only you and I would want answered.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. If I'm wearing the glasses. I just heard now and then.

[Adam Scott]

Maybe that's a pretty good comp.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He talked about that being the first movie he started physically training for.

[Adam Scott]

Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

And how it created a lifetime interest in exercise.

[Adam Scott]

That's so interesting. I was watching a behind the scenes thing on Temple of Doom. They're like, Harrison really had to bulk up for this one. And it shows him at, like, a shitty gym. Just like doing bench presses with those.

[Dax Shepard]

Plastic weights filled with sand.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. Like, nothing.

[Dax Shepard]

He did some bench press.

[Adam Scott]

Nothing. He's definitely exercising, but gyms have changed a lot. There's no trainer there. He's just by himself.

[Dax Shepard]

No squats, no deadlifts. Just a bench and some curls.

[Adam Scott]

And then a couple of beers.

[Dax Shepard]

A couple of beers and a doobie and let's get to set. Yeah. But I guess what I was wondering is you have this deep nostalgia. I want an explanation for it. And I'm wondering, do you think we're just that way or is there something about childhood that was so comforting you would recognize you're more encyclopedic about that whole era than most people you talk to.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You always blow me way out once we start talking. Yeah. You've watched the behind the Scenes of Temple of Doom. I have.

[Adam Scott]

Right. In the last three months, I've gone and looked at that. It's so comforting to think about that era. And I think movies in that era in particular were geared for us.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

When I referenced Temple of Doom, that is my favorite movie. I was 11 when that came out. That and Goonies and E.T. i know it's kind of tired now because our generation has beat the nostalgia to death. A little bit Back to the future. Those movies, at least for me, they meant everything. Yeah, I ask myself, myself that a lot. Why did this stuff mean so much to me? At least for me, that whole period of time, from 82 to 88, when I started getting interested in beer and just a social life, hip hop, for me, it was like the dead.

[Dax Shepard]

Why do I think you had a crazy hip hop phase in high school?

[Adam Scott]

I didn't.

[Monica Padman]

I think you're thinking of Macklemore.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I don't know if I am.

[Adam Scott]

If I could count the amount of.

[Monica Padman]

Time you get that all the time. I know.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

That's why we wanted to do this on video, to be honest with you.

[Adam Scott]

To see if Mac Macklemore and I. Because he's not here. So you don't.

[Dax Shepard]

But I think people would think it was Macklemore posing as Adam. Probably.

[Adam Scott]

You're right. It's a particularly potent period of time.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by Apple Watch. All right, so here's a truth that made me feel way better about myself. Most people quit their New Year's fitness resolutions by the second Friday of January. They even call it Quitters Day. January 9th. Which is wild. We all start the year with these big goals, and then life happens, motivation fades, and we just quit. But here's the thing. This year, we're quitting. Quitting An Apple Watch is basically designed to not let you bail. It tracks your activities, sends you those little nudges when you haven't stood in a while, celebrates when you close your activity rings, and keeps you accountable with streaks and reminders. It's like having a workout partner on your risk that won't let you off the hook. So if you've been thinking about getting serious about your fitness goals or honestly just making it past January 9 this time, Apple Watch is the move. Let's do this. This is the year we all quit. Quitting iPhone 11 or later required. We are supported by Allstate. You know what's smart? Checking Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds on car insurance. You know what's not smart? Not checking your phone's volume before blasting your morning pump up playlist in the office of break room. Or not checking that your laptop camera's off before joining the meeting in your robe or something I'm a little too familiar with not checking your grocery list before heading to the store and realizing you bought everything except what you needed. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary subject to terms, condition and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates Northbrook and Illinois. We are supported by quints. Winter in LA is weird. It'll be 75 degrees one day, then suddenly you need an actual coat. I've been rotating through the same three jackets for years and honestly, they're looking rough. So I finally upgraded my winter wardrobe with quince. And the difference is wild. Their Mongolian cashmere sweaters are ridiculously soft. Like, I didn't know cashmere could feel this good without costing a mortgage payment. And their wool coats and Italian leather outerwear, they're the kind of pieces that last.

[Monica Padman]

They also have amazing homeware. Do not sleep on the homeware. And if someone's moving and you want to get them, like a little housewarming gift, it's the perfect place. I got a friend some curtains.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you did? Quince curtains. QCs.

[Monica Padman]

Quince curtains do it.

[Dax Shepard]

What I love about Quint is they cut out the middleman. Bye. Bye. They work directly with factories and have ethical production standards. So you're getting luxury quality without the luxury markup. We're talking premium materials, thoughtful design stuff that'll last you multiple winners, not just one one. Refresh your winter wardrobe with Quince. Go to quince.comdax for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.comdax free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comdax this podcast is brought to you by Squarespace, the all in one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed in online. When we were building the Armchair Expert website, Rob actually used Squarespace to get it up and running, which was a smart choice because they've got everything you need in one place to create something that actually looks professional. What really stands out is their blueprint AI feature. It's like having a design assistant that helps you build a site that doesn't look like every other cookie cutter template out there. Answer a few questions about what you're trying to do, and it creates something that actually fits your your vision. If you're someone who offers services, whether that's coaching, consulting, creative work, whatever, Squarespace handles all the business stuff too. Payment processing, scheduling, client management. No more juggling five different platforms just to get paid for what you do. The whole thing is designed so you can focus on your Actual work instead of wrestling with website tech, which, let's be honest, most of us would rather avoid. So head to squarespace.comdax for a free trial. And when you're ready to Launch, use code DAX to save 10% off your first purchase of website or domain. Okay, last thing I will say about this. Then I started watching this Brat Pack documentary. Yes.

[Adam Scott]

That's another chapter of that same period of time. Those movies hit me so hard. Pretty in Pink. Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God. Pretty in Pink and the Psychedelic Furs and how that was making me feel. But I was watching the Brat Pack doc and I was having the realization like, oh, we also lived in a very peculiar time. Time where five of the biggest movie stars alive were 21 years old. I think of that now. And of course that would seem crazy that there would be this cadre of enormous stars. But that was a unique thing that was happening when we were kids that we didn't know was unique. They were green lighting like 12, 15.

[Adam Scott]

Teen movies a year right from that period. They still don't look that young to me. And I think it's because they were six years older than me or something.

[Dax Shepard]

They looked sophisticated and adult. Like, of course, they were driving a Porsche and dressed nice and had a.

[Adam Scott]

Big apartment and they were 21. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you have that? Monica, Am I wrong about that? That's a young, unique aspect. You didn't have that when you were 12.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, the 21 year olds.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it was like a whole crop of movies every week. Then Zack Efron a little bit before. I'm sorry.

[Monica Padman]

Laughter.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not calling you a baby.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I'm a big girl.

[Adam Scott]

Harry Potter stars.

[Monica Padman]

No, I was like the Friends era. They were young. I guess they were young too, but yes, older than me. But I was going to say nostalgia, I think exists because it's the thing, things that you consumed before everything got complicated.

[Adam Scott]

That's right.

[Monica Padman]

And also before you started wanting things for real, chasing things and deciding, I want to do this with my life. It was just pure. And there's only a very small amount of time you get in life of purity.

[Adam Scott]

Totally. And that window for us happened to be during this Spielberg era where Elliot in ET Indiana Jones, the kids in Goonies, Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. These were heroes. Luke Skywalker changing the world. Yeah. And they were all scrappy nobodies.

[Dax Shepard]

And divorce was making its way into these movies, which I like.

[Adam Scott]

ET Is a very divorce driven movie.

[Dax Shepard]

I was in a divorced family on my maybe second stepdad feeling like I want to just be in the world on my own a bit. And all these kids, these protagonists in these movies were just kind of on their own.

[Adam Scott]

The parents weren't figuring prominently into any of these things.

[Dax Shepard]

No. And I think that was really appealing.

[Adam Scott]

It sure was.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Get them out of here and let me run the show a little bit. Let's see what we can do.

[Adam Scott]

Because those kids in ET Were just like, yeah, okay, Mom. And they were just working on their own. This alien on our own. Dude, we're going to outrun the cops.

[Dax Shepard]

So when I went back to consult your previous episode, I would have not guessed this. What number do you think Adam was?

[Monica Padman]

Early. I think really early. Maybe 32.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. I would have gone 40s. What would you say first? Five, seven.

[Adam Scott]

Stop. Seventh guest that you had.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

I remember it being early, but I was kind of taking a flyer by saying, five, seven.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, seven. Not only seven, but Monica. As I listen to it, the episode starts with housekeeping and it's me explaining, Monica's a part of the show. She's going to talk and she's not interrupting. Like I read in comments that she's a integral part of the show. Like, it's me explaining, oh boy.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, I just got like sweaty.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I got sweaty listening to the whole thing.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, how long ago was that?

[Dax Shepard]

Seven years ago in February.

[Adam Scott]

Wow. Congratulations, you guys.

[Dax Shepard]

But obviously so much has happened since then.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, seven years.

[Dax Shepard]

What I learned in a bunch of interviews I listened to of you today, one was I heard you on Fresh Air saying, which I thought was really funny, that you were just obsessed singularly on TVs and movies. And that's all you thought about.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I was thinking if you go into acting, that was a great use of time. But if you're just an average person then says no. All I've ever thought about and obsessed about was TV and movies. Somehow that sounds like a losery endeavor.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, right.

[Dax Shepard]

I was thinking, like, just by the fact that you landed in, it means that it was totally justified. And what a great thing to be focused on your whole life.

[Adam Scott]

I think in the low points of trying to do this, that certainly crossed my mind. Like, what have I done with my life? Because it's all I thought about and talked about.

[Monica Padman]

99% screen time.

[Adam Scott]

Right. And here I am with nothing to show for it and no practical skills of any kind. There was a real low Point in 2000 when I had not gotten six feet under. I tested for that with Michael C. Hall. Thank God he got it because he was incredible and I was not ready to do that.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's heartbreaking. And then you're watching it.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yes, that was a hefty role.

[Adam Scott]

A hefty role and a hefty show.

[Dax Shepard]

But you played his lover ultimately, didn't you?

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, I did play his boyfriend for a couple episodes.

[Monica Padman]

So they brought you back. That's the yeah thing.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, they did, but before it was even on tv. And when I did not get the role, it was after a series of blows. Work wise. Just not having worked in six months or, you know, one of those. We all went through it and I was nowhere. I had been at it at that point for like seven years or something and was at square one. Because when you're living like guest spot to guest spot and indie movie, you never hear from those people again.

[Dax Shepard]

To remind people, you and I were in one of those together. Hair shirt slash. Too smooth.

[Adam Scott]

Too smooth.

[Monica Padman]

This is when you were Vomiter.

[Dax Shepard]

I was Vomiter. But do you know what his role was? I don't know if you knew your role the last time.

[Adam Scott]

Guy in bar.

[Dax Shepard]

Fan at bar.

[Adam Scott]

Fan.

[Dax Shepard]

Almost worse than guy at bar. Because it's way worse.

[Adam Scott]

It's far more humiliating. And who were you?

[Dax Shepard]

Vomiter at party.

[Adam Scott]

What does vomiter mean?

[Dax Shepard]

Someone who vomits at a party.

[Adam Scott]

Are you on camera vomiting?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I think so.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, man, I hope so.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what was promised.

[Adam Scott]

Never seen Too smooth. You haven't seen it? Hair shirt. Have you seen it?

[Dax Shepard]

I've seen it. I don't want to get bogged out in that. But you want to know who else was in that movie that I doubt, you know? Was it Rebecca Gayheart? Rebecca Gayheart. Nev Campbell, of course. And then our two leads, which I looked at the poster this morning. Our poor two leads are in the deep, deep background. And Nev and Rebecca are front and center. And they maybe had like, I don't know, three scenes.

[Adam Scott]

Nev was playing like a big star.

[Dax Shepard]

Hence you being a fan.

[Adam Scott]

Fan at bar. At bar, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's me being moment here at party.

[Adam Scott]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

Alfonso Cuaron was in that movie.

[Monica Padman]

What?

[Adam Scott]

I remember. He and Dean were good buddies.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he played a director in the movie.

[Adam Scott]

That is so wild.

[Dax Shepard]

So you and I have been in a film with Alfonso Cuaron.

[Adam Scott]

Absolutely. We are colleagues of Alfonso Cuaron. We are peers with Alfonso Cuaron. That's really, really funny.

[Dax Shepard]

So obviously since then you have done a ton of stuff, but severance is the most spectacular thing. And as you know, Because Chris and I sent you voicemails almost after every episod episode. I'd like to play a couple of these.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, hey.

[Dax Shepard]

So we're in bed and we just had a quick question.

[Monica Padman]

Hi, we just had a quick question.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you guys drawing this new season? Is that what's taking so long?

[Monica Padman]

What in the God damn hell is taking so long?

[Dax Shepard]

These are the kind of messages you would receive after. You son of a. You wanted the compliments or here comes the complaints? Belle and I just sat here on the edge of our seat waiting to find out what happens when you guys come to.

[Monica Padman]

You prick.

[Dax Shepard]

You piece of prick. And that goes for Ben, too.

[Monica Padman]

Losers.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, buddy, are we pissed that this episode just ended when the switches were thrown. So you wanted the cake and now you gotta take the rat poison tooth, you piece of. Okay, so that's kind of an.

[Adam Scott]

Was that for the finale?

[Dax Shepard]

It was, I think, one before.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, the one right before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

This ended up being three. Oh, another thing. It's gonna be a long fucking week for us and for you. Next. We're waiting. So either block my number or get used to this, you piece of. And then the last one big update you'd probably find funny. My wife just ran through a plate glass window off the second story of our home and was rushed to the hospital. You probably want to know if she's still alive. I will tell you next week.

[Adam Scott]

I have all those on my phone as well.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to play one of your responses, which is so good, you can't.

[Adam Scott]

Imagine how much pleasure it gives me to have the both of you over a barrel like this. I may as well tell you now that the entire season was created just to frustrate and destroy the both of you.

[Dax Shepard]

Eat shit.

[Monica Padman]

You're so fucked.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

They only popped in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cute. But you went into severance, and I learned this from you. I don't know if this is a secret or not, but you were involved, and then maybe you weren't involved for a minute and then you were involved. So doesn't start on the firmest footing? Maybe, or I don't know what you go through before you end up there. Yeah, but you go right at really what point in the pandemic?

[Adam Scott]

Well, we were scheduled to start the end of March 2020 or beginning of April, something like that, and actually went and did a table read March 7th or something. And then I was going to go home, get all my shit and come out. And at the table read, they passed Purell around. We were like, this pandemic thing is, this is Weir. And then as I was there, just for, like, two days, shit was contracting in New York, and I was like, maybe I should go get Lysol wipes for my room. Like, what's going on? Then I flew home, and then everything happened. So we didn't start shooting till October. But even that.

[Dax Shepard]

But that was early.

[Adam Scott]

We were one of the only shows actually shooting. So a lot of shows were doing this where you have a mask, a plastic thing in front of your face and all that shit for the actors. The only time we saw people's entire faces was when camera was rolling. We would rehearse with all that stuff. And there was a special person with your own box to put your mask and all your equipment in.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Oh, my God.

[Adam Scott]

All that to say, the isolation from each other and in general. Because I would wake up in my apartment, go down to the van that took me to set that had a plastic sheet between me and the driver.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my God.

[Adam Scott]

And go to my room. Where you weren't allowed to have anyone in your room. Suffice it to say, the only real human contact was after action. Right. So it kind of fed into the show.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't know this. That your mom had died as well right before. I guess it would have been that.

[Adam Scott]

Table read two days before the table read.

[Dax Shepard]

I think the most interesting part of this is. So then the memorial gets kicked all the way to December or something.

[Adam Scott]

December of 21.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So very far away. But what immediately happens after she dies is you go into quarantine with your family, and it's like, groovy, right? You're with your family. I think in particularly a time like that where there's the loss of this person. But at least you're connected to the fact that the whole thing just carries on. And that's comforting and maybe misleading. And then you get completely by yourself in an apartment in New York in this very lonely situation already, and I'm imagining everything kind of must hit the fan at that point.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, it really did. And it really was sort of from the moment I walked into the apartment and closed the door and it was dead silent. And I was like, oh, okay. I need to come to terms with. At that point. She had died six months before. But like you said, I was cocooned with my family, with the people who love me the most, and was insulated, which is, I guess, one of the things love is for is to make you feel better. And they suffered a loss as well. But Obviously, I was the one who was going to be grappling with it in sort of a unique way from my kids in the Emmy. So I'm in that apartment and I needed to find a way towards grieving and defining what this is and what happened. And I really did it through the show. I mean, I sort of just decided I'm going to figure this out, but the show is about grief.

[Dax Shepard]

I hate to say it was a good coin, but by God, if you have to go through this, the fact that you got to play someone who's grieving the loss of somebody and you're lonely as fuck in real life.

[Adam Scott]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You don't have to act, really.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. Just gliding right into it and very directly letting it out and processing it in the show. There's a scene in the show, actually where we were on the side of the road at the site of my wife's car accident in the seventh episode. And just by sheer coincidence, because we shot the whole season at once, it was on the one year anniversary of my mom dying.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Adam Scott]

And I didn't realize it till that day. And so there were things like that where I could pretty directly process.

[Dax Shepard]

When you shut the door to the apartment and you go, we got some dealing to do, are you overcome with fear for that process? What's your reaction to knowing that, oh, we're going to go through some stuff now and we're going to be by ourselves and we're going to get it into this.

[Adam Scott]

I'm a person who tries to compartmentalize and push things to a later date. And so I busied myself with getting ready for the show and the election was about to happen. And so I was preoccupied with that. And so I closed that door and was like, oh, shit. And really felt the loss right there. Like there is a giant elephant in this room, room with me. But it'll be there. I'm here for eight months or whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

We'll get to that.

[Adam Scott]

I'll be fine. And eventually, after a few weeks and just hours of alone time because no one was socializing really, and restaurants, you know, it was so weird that I really did have to figure it out there. And I didn't talk to a therapist while I was there. And I really should have, I did, in a way, sort of come to terms with it and come to terms with the fact that grief is something that is a flat circle in one way or the other, it stays with you. And sometimes it feels like it happened 10 minutes ago, and sometimes it feels like it happened 50 years ago.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

And sometimes it's surreal that that person is no longer in your life. It's just, like, unbelievable.

[Dax Shepard]

It's really hard to imagine someone exists and they don't. As dumb and stupid. Simple as that is to say. It is so weird that you can exist and then not exist.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. And someone that is so instrumental in who you are. You know, this thing that I'm doing for a living. When she was gone, I realized that part of the reason I was doing this in the first place was for her to see it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

You know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, of course. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

And so when that was gone, I was sort of like, who am I going to impress? Yeah. So I had to straighten that out and sort of come to terms with the fact that these feelings and this love that you have for a person and their love for you doesn't go anywhere. It's still here.

[Dax Shepard]

Is kind of what you're made of.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

The structure of you is that.

[Adam Scott]

That's right. And a parent dying, it's like part of the sky going away or something. It's sort of a big thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, it's the thing you're most tethered to.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So when my dad died, I had these conflicting feelings of like, a. He had become a dependent of mine.

[Adam Scott]

You were taking care of him, supporting him.

[Dax Shepard]

So unfortunately, a lot of our conversations over those last few years were like, I need this. It's just not a great dynamic.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then, you know, I lived with my mom primarily my whole life when he was dying. It was a lot of work for me. So I. I had this conflicting. I felt a sense of relief when he died, and I was like, okay, this battle's over. We got him through it without too much carnage. That's a win. I had a misleading sense of relief for a few months and then opened up the door to like, oh, I'm never going to chat with him again, or he's not going to see anything I do. But through all of that, I was like, also, thank God it's not my mom, because my mom, for me, is the thing you're talking about. Dax wants to live in the woods and fucking be a annihilated drunk all day. And anything I've ever done positive was because my mom believed enough that I was a good boy and I needed to make her happy. And so I've often thought, if she's not around for me to even think, what would she think? That feels like a very scary place for me to be in. I really rely on her to Almost be my super ego.

[Adam Scott]

Just like in the back of your head, your mom is this very unique station.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so fucking thankless. Do you watch Naomi and I watch Kristen. I go, my God, what's going on?

[Adam Scott]

Jesus Christ. And meanwhile I'm walking around like.

[Monica Padman]

And they're like, dad.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You know that Nick Kroll special where he's just like, moms are annoying. Yes, they are. Why it's so unfair.

[Adam Scott]

Because they know you so well.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Adam Scott]

In a way that no one else does. Not your dad, no one. They just know they were in your.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, they're who you were able to be scared in front of. Vulnerable.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. Even as an adult. Something would happen. I would call her. No matter how embarrassing. You know that that call is there.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. You know, to your point, guaranteed I'm feeling better when I get off the phone with my mom.

[Adam Scott]

100%.

[Dax Shepard]

She'd somehow find the silver lining in.

[Adam Scott]

This horrific and give you the kernel of whatever it is, at least for me. Part of a son's journey. And I'm sure it's the same for no matter what gender you are, there is a period of time where you need to peel away and show that you don't need your mom. You've got this. You're good.

[Dax Shepard]

You're a big boy now.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, that's right. And I already know anything you're gonna say anyway. Cause I'm a grown up now. But thinking back on that stuff is painful. But I think also just being a parent now, you just know. You don't care.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Adam Scott]

Anytime. My kids are shitty to me. Ultimately, I don't really give a shit.

[Dax Shepard]

I almost think good for you.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Sometimes, like when they tell me off, I'm like, for you, you got some backbone. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Not bad.

[Dax Shepard]

You're supp. Hate me from time to time.

[Adam Scott]

That's right. It would be weird if you didn't roll your eyes and slam the door right now.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

If you're lucky, you get two sources of unconditional love. And then when that starts going away, it's so scary. What's left.

[Adam Scott]

It is scary.

[Dax Shepard]

We have the great luxury and gift of. I think what you do with that is you just turn it on your kids. It's like, I don't have that thing. I miss that thing. I'm never going to have that thing. But I have this thing. Yeah. Imagine when you don't have kids and you go through the loss of a parent. It's got to be really distinct stabilizing because you're kind of now not tethered to really anything.

[Adam Scott]

I can't imagine. Monica, are both of your parents with us?

[Monica Padman]

Yes, they are. I live with so much fear of something happening to them. And I think part of it is that I don't really have a place to channel it. But in some ways, I think. Not that it's a cop out, but like you said in the Pandemic, you could sort of channel it with your family. We're all ultimately by ourselves, really. And so when you really sit with it, you are gonna have to process it anyway at some point. Ye and the kids aren't really going to be the answer to that. They probably don't deserve to be the answer to that.

[Dax Shepard]

They're going to bail like every other kid does.

[Adam Scott]

My son's in his senior year in high school and that's going to happen in less than a year.

[Monica Padman]

That's awful.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, my God, it's so awful. Why?

[Monica Padman]

Why is life structured like this? It's crazy.

[Adam Scott]

It's so wild. And you were so kind to. He came over and interviewed you for his film class. And boy, oh, boy, was that a feather in his cap. Doing a little mini doc on cars. And Dax Shepard's in his.

[Monica Padman]

That's pretty cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Cars.

[Adam Scott]

He's so smart and such a kind, lovely person and into really cool stuff. It's the best. But it's going to be incredibly sad when he fucking leaves.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, God. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Jesus.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, yeah. You shut the door to an apartment in New York and that had some justification, but the notion that you'll be shutting your door to your home. Frankie leaves and you'll go, we're going to have to deal with this. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Now we just have each other.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

Jesus.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe they'll come back. My brother went back home for a while.

[Adam Scott]

Really? Like after college or. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

He just recently left.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

So you never know. You know, for him, I was panicking for my mom, because that's even worse. It's like, then you have a really long time. I think you probably trick yourself into this is forever. Great. He'll live here. This is just the way it's going to go. She gets to make sandwiches for him every day and now he's really gone.

[Adam Scott]

Did she have to go through the grieving all over?

[Dax Shepard]

She went to YouTube instead.

[Monica Padman]

She likes YouTube.

[Adam Scott]

I think she's just watching YouTube.

[Monica Padman]

She's dealt with a ton of shit and she's figured it out.

[Adam Scott]

Where do they live?

[Monica Padman]

Georgia. So anyway, I was like, oh, no. And also, she just lost her dad and I Was like, oh my God, my brother's leaving and that's happening and this is a disaster. But she's.

[Adam Scott]

Well, you know what? When that happens sometimes the second time.

[Monica Padman]

They leave instead of this middle ground.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Maybe it's like, okay.

[Adam Scott]

I remember when I came back in between, between years at school, I had only been gone for eight months and I remember moving back into my mom's house and she was a little like, huh, okay, yeah, you're here now.

[Dax Shepard]

She had processed.

[Adam Scott]

She had already moved on. And so there was some adjusting to happen.

[Dax Shepard]

The baby Booners did it quicker. They knew how to get through something really fast.

[Adam Scott]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, now back to severance. So those are kind of unique circumstance in which you were filming the first. And so here's what happened. As you know, it's my favorite show. Told you non stop. We got six screams for the upcoming season.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, you did.

[Dax Shepard]

Which we were ecstatic about. I came in and I lured these few things I get over because Kristen has access to everything in the world. I'm never offering something cool. And I'm like, guess who's got six episodes of next season? So, so excited. Sign in to watch them. And I go, let's watch the recap. I wonder if you've done the same thing.

[Monica Padman]

I had the same crisis of morality where I was like, I want to to so bad, but I don't think I should. And mainly actually because I want to be watching it while the world is watching it. There's something about you being like, we have to wait a week. That makes fun. Really fun.

[Dax Shepard]

But that's not why I didn't watch the new ones. I watched the recap and I was like, hun, are you remembering this?

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And she's like, not as much as normal. And Kristen can really remember a TV show. Monica will tell you, come back from Game of Thrones. She's still remember.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I was like, I'm inclined to start over. Which I've done. I can't recommend this enough to people. You should start right now. In anticipation.

[Adam Scott]

I'm doing the same thing because Ben and I are hosting a podcast which.

[Dax Shepard]

I hope to be on.

[Adam Scott]

Yes. Where we go through every episode of the first season. Then we'll be doing a weekly thing for season two.

[Monica Padman]

I love that.

[Adam Scott]

And rewatching the show. I hadn't seen it in a long time and it's been three years, so we're encouraging people to rewatch the whole season.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't believe how much I forgot about it. And I. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying rewatching. I think more than I've ever enjoyed rewatching it. There's a lot of it that feels like I'm watching it for the first time.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, that's great.

[Dax Shepard]

I think because of the gap between seasons. Long time, but then also the density of it and the subtlety of it. And it's interesting watching it, knowing more about it. I think you get more from it. But anyways, all that to say I didn't watch any of the new season because now I'm on episode four. Kristen went out of town. I already decided, fuck her. I'm going on without her. Which is another rare. I don't do that.

[Adam Scott]

That's a tough decision to make, whether or not you're going to be honest about or rewatch those episodes. Pretending it's the first time. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Three viewings before we.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, that's right. That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess my fear because I love the show so much is what do you do with the second season? Right. How long did that take for them to crack that? Also, Dan, Is that the writer creator's name? Yeah. The only thing he had ever written for before this was Lip Sync Battle.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you know this story he wrote for Lip Sync Battle? He sent the pilot for severance as a writing sample to redhour.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. And Nikki Weinstock and Jackie Con at Red Hour read the script and thought it was great and brought it to Ben. And so, yeah, it was more of a sample, like, hey, I'm a writer. But they were like, what about this as a actual thing? And Dan was working at a door factory when that sample was sent to Red Album. Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. In what state? In California.

[Adam Scott]

Here somewhere.

[Dax Shepard]

Good for us. We're manufacturing doors. I thought that was more of a door.

[Adam Scott]

Listen, without doors, this way collapse. He's just the coolest guy and brilliant, obviously. And he and Ben just started working on this and developing it and Jackie and Nikki. I'm sure Dan was kind of scooped up from nowhere, having no real credits. It's fun talking to him about the show and where it can go and stuff. And he has it all in his head. And also when he's thinking of something new, it's really fun to hear him sort of go, oh, yeah, that's cool. And then little cul de sacs and roads he goes down. He always takes an unexpected, strange direction. But also, as far as the kind of language of Lumen, there is no one who can really crack it. And write it like he can't. It's a really particular thing that he invented and has a real direct line to is the strange phrasing and nomenclature of yer omen and kir and this whole world.

[Dax Shepard]

It's really fun how much of Ben's fingerprint is on it directorially because, and I'll admit this, I had not seen Escape from Dannemore or I saw the first one. I don't know why I didn't continue. But we just watched it, I don't know, three weeks ago and fucking loved it.

[Adam Scott]

It's amazing. I just rewatched it too, last week.

[Dax Shepard]

And did you see the parallels? Yes, it's a similar thing. You're, like, trapped in a world. You don't have your autonomy. You're trying to escape. I don't know. It's interesting.

[Adam Scott]

Yes. I really zeroed in on this time watching Dannemora, how art figures into their lives, because John Turturro and Christopher Walken's characters, particularly John Irv, his life is really connected to art and the paintings and the rules and all of the sort of culture of the world is really important to him. And the guys in Dannemora, Benicio Del Toro and Paul Dano's characters, you know, when you have very little, your sort of stimuli is really cut off, These things become really important.

[Dax Shepard]

And in severance, it almost seems dangerous. You're looking at all those hallways. They're stark white. They're meaningless. And then the painting that he hangs up, it's like the most exciting. It's like the fucking sphere in Vegas in that world.

[Adam Scott]

Totally. And when Christopher Walken's delivering the new tote bags for the manual, that's a huge deal. Yeah, it's an event.

[Dax Shepard]

Could you see all this stuff when you read the script?

[Adam Scott]

Not like this. The tone of it was really found during the first season. And I think, do you know, usually when you go back and watch the first season of any show that you know and love of the first few episodes, it's like, okay, they're figuring it out. Since we shot the season all at once, we were still shooting the first episode ten months in, so something that worked in our favor is us finding our sea legs was spread out over the season.

[Dax Shepard]

There's no moment you can detect that.

[Adam Scott]

And that's to Ben and Dan's credit.

[Monica Padman]

Were you guys worried? Were you, like, maybe we should put masks on and maybe we should redo the COVID experience while we shoot season two to keep it calm.

[Adam Scott]

Right. To keep our isolation because that was magic.

[Monica Padman]

And that's scary.

[Adam Scott]

It's scary going back to anything that worked or works.

[Dax Shepard]

As much love I have for the show as I have anxiety about how we perpetuate this world in a way that ends up being satisfying, logically, it's a big endeavor.

[Adam Scott]

You know, when we started season two, it was like, there is this steep mountain in front of us. Holy shit. Okay, let's go.

[Dax Shepard]

Jake doing Pulp Fiction, too, dude.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah. And just the enormous of it. It's so much to do, and I love that. I love getting in and chipping away, and I love working with Ben. Something we have in common is we don't want to stop until we get it right. I completely trust his taste and his eye, and that's something that you have to have in a director is complete trust. And how often is that? But I do with him.

[Dax Shepard]

I have no business saying this, evaluating his career in this way, but going to. So it's like he did Tropic Thunder. He made that movie so big and glossy and actiony, which is cool. He showed he could do that. I was watching Dannemore. I was like, okay, so this is him saying, like, I don't have to fuck with comedy. I know exactly how to do drama. And I feel like severance is the beneficiary of him having proved he can do everything and now letting in some of the comedy and the weirdness. This, to me, just feels like the total synergy of all this, the previous work.

[Adam Scott]

That's really interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

There's just, like, a confidence. It can be anything because the show's often hysterical, I think, and it's just all things now. Yeah. Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by skims. You know what, Monica? I have to talk to you about these skims pajamas they sent us.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. I was literally just thinking about how much I love mine. I think I've worn them every night since we got them.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. I barely was able to get out of mine to come in today. So I've always been that guy who just sleeps in whatever random T shirt. You know, old shorts, these skims jammies. First of all, they're in the pattern I love. They're in the checkered red and black.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And then the fabric is just snuggling me all night long.

[Monica Padman]

It's such a good product. And also for the women's ones, the one I have is so cute. I like, after my shower, my routine to get into a cute pair of pajamas. And I feel like my. My sleep is important. Improved when I'm wearing cute pajamas, you eventize it. That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

And honestly, I feel more put together wearing matching pajamas instead of my usual mismatch situation.

[Monica Padman]

The timing couldn't be better either because it's holiday season and honestly, these would make incredible gifts. They have options for women, men, kids and even pets. That's so cute. Who doesn't want to feel this comfortable.

[Dax Shepard]

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[Adam Scott]

Come to Mathis Home today and save during the Holiday Savings event.

[Monica Padman]

They have all the latest styles with hundreds of sofas starting at just $2.99. Get your home ready for the holidays with the latest dining sets at the.

[Adam Scott]

Lowest prices ever and we're the only place with top name recliners starting at just 199 plus the Mathis Home gift department is now open with something for everyone on your list at including incredible savings for the best style, selection and value. Come to the Holiday Savings event at your furniture superstore. Mathis Home mom and dad, mom and mom, dad and dad. Whatever parents are you about to spend five hours in the car with your beloved kids this holiday season? Driving to Old Granny's house, I'm setting the scene. I'm picturing screaming, fighting back to back hours of the K Pop Demon Hunter soundtrack on repeat. Well, when your ears start to bleed, I have the perfect thing to keep you from rolling out of that moving vehicle. Something for the whole family. He's filled with laughs. He's filled with rage. The OG Green Grunk. Give it up for me. James Austin Johnson as the Grinch. And like any insufferable influencer these days, I'm bringing my crew of lesser talented friends along for the ride. With a list guests like Gronk, Bart Hamill and and the Jonas Brothers, whoever they are. There's a little bit of something for everyone. Listen to Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, walken and Turturro. Doesn't sound like you got to bond with them in season one too much because you guys were in lockdown with Turturro.

[Adam Scott]

I did, because we had so many scenes together with Walken in season one. Didn't really have all that much time with him. I had a couple, and it was incredible to just be anywhere near Christopher Walk, and I couldn't fucking believe it. Actually, on my first day shooting with both of them, it was like six weeks into the shoot, and they both were starting on the same day. And I was so excited and actually took a picture of the call sheet and sent it to my friend. Stu was like, guess who I'm working with tomorrow, bro.

[Monica Padman]

It's so fun to still be that excited.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, my God. I was so excited, but couldn't get to sleep because I was so excited. Stayed up to like four.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, boy.

[Adam Scott]

Woke up not because of my alarm, but because of pounding on my door. I was supposed to get in the car at probably 6:00am and it was 8:30.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no. Oh, my God. Two and a half hours sleep.

[Adam Scott]

Set was an hour away.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no. Now it's rush hour.

[Adam Scott]

My assistant was pounding on the door, which means he had time to drive from set all the way down to set the Tribeca and pound on my door. This was the first day with John Turturro and Christopher Walker.

[Dax Shepard]

After you'd brag to your buddy the night before.

[Adam Scott]

Yes. Which is the kiss of death.

[Dax Shepard]

Right? You're showing up feeling great about, oh.

[Adam Scott]

My God, I let him in and was running around the apartment crying, trying to get all my shit together. Because usually I wake up with at least least an hour of just time to drink coffee and read the fucking whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you finally show up on set. Presumably, you know these two legends who you can't wait to work with. They've been told our lead actor. Yes. We can't find him.

[Adam Scott]

I just had to go apologize.

[Dax Shepard]

And what did you say?

[Adam Scott]

I said, I am so sorry.

[Dax Shepard]

I just flew in from China.

[Adam Scott]

The thing that really sucked about it is that I knew no matter what I say, it's going to sound like bullshit. No matter what I say.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, You're a guy who just slept in two and a half hours.

[Adam Scott]

I now have put myself in a position where I have to earn it back with these two guys who I don't know. And I've been working on this first impression now for a while, and I am starting at a serious deficit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you're in a hole.

[Adam Scott]

No matter what I say, no matter how gracious they are, they're going to be like, fucking dick. The number one on the call sheet ends up being an asshole.

[Dax Shepard]

I might have been tempted. I don't know if this is manipulative. Also, just dead honest. I probably said to them, them, and you're to blame. I was so excited to work with both of you that I couldn't go to sleep till 4am that would have been a good move, maybe bury it in some flattery. But also, that might have sounded like, God, this guy's a pathological liar on top of being these guys. A drug addict, probably. That's what it is.

[Adam Scott]

Just immediately went, Is that what you immediately think everyone is thinking about you.

[Dax Shepard]

Is this guy's drug addict guy relapsed.

[Adam Scott]

Turo was just like, oh, happens to everybody.

[Dax Shepard]

Happened to me in the 70s. Yeah. Right. I have so much curiosity about both those gentlemen. They're innocent. Similar category for me where there's this group of actors where I'm like, they're so intrinsically interesting and unique and different that I almost can't believe they can also act. They're so genuinely authentic.

[Adam Scott]

I can't believe that Christopher Walken finishes work and then goes home and makes himself something to eat and watches television and goes to sleep.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

Like what?

[Dax Shepard]

Or he's behind a guy at the parking garage arm who can't get his credit card to work, but he's just there for 12, 15 minutes. Should I get out and try to help him? Yeah, he's dealing with that.

[Adam Scott]

Christopher Walken.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Adam Scott]

So to see him in the makeup chair looking at his phone, I'm like, oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Turturro is similar for me. I went to see his directorial debut, opening night in 92 Mac. Anyway, I held all that back till I got to know him a little bit and then eventually kind of unleashed it all on him.

[Dax Shepard]

And did he like it?

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, he's the coolest in such a. Sweet, sweet.

[Dax Shepard]

Who is he?

[Adam Scott]

He would be such a great person to have on. Oh, I would love a fascinating guy and one of the great actors that we have. I mean, he is a beautiful actor. Yeah, that's another word I feel is overused. More so like 10 years ago. But beautiful. Everything's beautiful.

[Dax Shepard]

I like you describing him as beautiful. And I have often described that. That whole storyline on Severance, it's hard to imagine that show without it.

[Adam Scott]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

It's part of the show.

[Adam Scott]

Really, really is. It's beautiful.

[Dax Shepard]

It is beautiful. They're both beautiful. The way they play it is just impossibly perfect.

[Adam Scott]

They're really close friends and have been for a long time. And it was John's idea to have Christopher Walken play that part. You can just see the love there that they have for each other.

[Monica Padman]

It's very special.

[Adam Scott]

He was really taking care of Chris on set. Not that he needs to be taken care of, but he would come in for. For a scene every few weeks. It was just so sweet and lovely. And that's a rare thing to have someone who is that kind of embedded in our consciousness.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm gonna put you in that category, which is, I think, the most impressive thing about those two from the outside, not knowing them at all is just going, yeah, man. These two are still fucking starving to make art. Like, they're still dying to express themselves. I don't have that as much, sadly, but I see that you have that a ton. I think that'll be you as long as you want it to.

[Adam Scott]

Very kind of.

[Dax Shepard]

I'll close on this.

[Adam Scott]

But you're doing that here.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm doing a different version, I guess. Yes, yes.

[Monica Padman]

Well, we're all storytellers.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, we're just.

[Adam Scott]

There's three. Should be a fire right here, you guys.

[Dax Shepard]

The last thing I'll close with is just an interesting conversation that we had this summer. And I've played it back in my head a few times to double check. It didn't at all offend you, but we were talking about the people that recognize you. I don't know if you remember this conversation. And there is an enthusiasm people have towards you that you have a hard time accepting, I think, as we all do. But I was trying to explain to you why I understand it very much so in regards to you, which is, I think you are for people what Nicolas Cage was for me, which is, this guy isn't the high school quarterback. He's one of us. And he did it. He got invited to the big party, and he's the star of the big show. And I see myself in him, and I think that's a rad space to occupy. And I don't know how you took that, but I know that's how people feel about you. That's how I feel about you. I'm like, oh, yeah. The dude I was making jokes with in the classroom about the popular people, he somehow is there.

[Adam Scott]

I keep thinking about Nicholas Cage walking out on that talk show and doing those kicks.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Scott]

That's on Instagram all the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you gone to the full YouTube rabbit hole of his compilations of talk show appearances.

[Adam Scott]

No, I should.

[Dax Shepard]

He's number one of all time.

[Adam Scott]

The best.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm just going to tell you, he's talking to Letterman about, you know, Dave. You know, I have this king cobra, it's Daryl or whatever his name is. You know, I just love getting home from work and I go over to see how Daryl is and I, I put up the sheet and Daryl just kind of like he looks at me and he's saying hi, and then all of a sudden he just says, you.

[Adam Scott]

N Cage.

[Dax Shepard]

Just starts screaming at Letterman. He's doing attacking the cage.

[Monica Padman]

The fact that you thought he was attainable is.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, that's amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought I could get that wild on dude.

[Adam Scott]

I could see the direct line from Dax to Nicolas Cage and I'm sure Letterman loved that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

Well, I'll say that that is so kind of you to say. And I'll accept it just as much as I did this summer when you said it to me, which is not really at all.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Adam Scott]

But appreciate it. And you're kind and lovely to say so. And I think that this show, as a fan, is so great. And it is where you're able to funnel and express yourself in a really direct, important way. And I think you being so actualized and you journaling every morning is a really important thing. And the fact that there are as many people listening to this as there are hearing that healthy behavior from you, because listening to you talk about that makes me want to do it. I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. And without being preachy or self helpy about it, you're just talking about yourself and how you're living your life. And I think that that is incredibly important. And you're doing a lot of good just by sharing yourself in a more direct way than you would have been able to by acting, you're really kind of sharing your inner insides here. And that's really hard to do. So I'm grateful that you're doing this.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, thank you, Adam.

[Adam Scott]

And I'm grateful that you're doing this, Monica.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

From episode 7 to episode 807. What a gap.

[Monica Padman]

807.

[Adam Scott]

807.

[Dax Shepard]

That would be incredible, Rob. What would it be?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, damn.

[Adam Scott]

Oh my God. That's a lot of episodes.

[Dax Shepard]

So I just don't want you to let 832 episodes go by between for sure. Next visit.

[Adam Scott]

Wow, that's a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

All right, everybody see Severance. It comes out on Apple TV on January 17th and the podcast comes out on January 7th. Two episodes initially, and then weekly as the show unveils.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, two episodes initially, and then one episode per day until season two premieres on the 17th. And then season two will have one episode per week.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, wonderful.

[Adam Scott]

That's a complicated schedule.

[Dax Shepard]

I just gotta say, this new season, we also add Alia Shaw because Cat, who we were obsessed with, Love Her Merit Weaver, who I loved on Nurse Jackie. Gwendolyn Christie Brienne of Tarth.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow. Oh, this is so exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

These casting choices are as good as it gets.

[Adam Scott]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. That's all. I love you. Can't wait for our next chitchat. Thank you, everyone. Watch Severance.

[Adam Scott]

Thank you, Monica.

[Dax Shepard]

He is an ARP expert, but he makes mistakes all the time. Thank God. My, she's got to let him have the facts.

[Monica Padman]

New shirt.

[Dax Shepard]

Old shirt. New attitude. Oh, boy.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

I got a new who's rockin Motocross racer. Oh, was that you, Rob? Me. Oh, okay. Did you take a little fall? Almost in the split?

[Monica Padman]

Even though you haven't done them before, apparently you can still do them. It's your New Year's resolution.

[Dax Shepard]

Great segue to talk about. Don't die that doc. Because he was working so tirelessly on his splits, which I guess he had identified as something that was youthful.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, well, limber. You want to be limber and flexible. That is. That's important. That's why people stretch and stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's just so such a specific goal, the splits. I can see myself making one like that because a lot of my goals aren't totally logical.

[Monica Padman]

Well, remember, it's Max's New Year's resolution.

[Dax Shepard]

To do this flit.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, and you said scary. I don't think he can. Because if you don't learn by a certain time.

[Dax Shepard]

I think there's an anatomic reality to all this.

[Monica Padman]

But maybe according to don't die guy. Brian Johnson.

[Dax Shepard]

That's nice. You remembered his name.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't think I had it, but I do.

[Dax Shepard]

For people who don't know, it's a doc about a guy who has sold an Internet company and has some $400 million or something.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And is spending two and a half million dollars a year to reverse his aging and try to live as long as possible.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. He. He's doing it with this company where they have steps and it's all in like. It's wild. His diet, the exercise, it's. It's his whole life. It's just devoted to that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I didn't finish.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you didn't finish.

[Monica Padman]

No, I got Okay. I got to a part that was a critical part of the story where I think it explains a lot of his backstory and perhaps what led him here. But then I stopped and then I forgot to pick it back up. And then I remembered we were probably gonna talk about it, so I thought, oh, I should finish it. But then I watched Conclave instead.

[Dax Shepard]

I did too. Not in that order, but I did see Conclave last weekend, which is not the type of movie I'm gonna run towards. Cause it's the Catholic Church. Sure, but I'm gonna get derailed by that. I'm a little bummed you didn't finish because again, there's so many knee jerk immediate things you wanna say about this. And I was just kind of waiting through those and trying to resist that urge. And you're watching all these pundits who just. They have vitriol for this man, like hatred. They're so mad at this man for doing it, which I.

[Adam Scott]

Who.

[Dax Shepard]

Who cares? Ultimately, if someone.

[Monica Padman]

Life.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. He made this money, he can spend it any way he wants. If anything, he's dumping it right back into the economy. So maybe they should be delighted about that. But there's some obvious things. First and foremost, you're right. It appears, at least from the doc, that is. It's his entire day.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then so, yeah, the first question begged for me is like, well, what's the point of being alive if the only thing you do while you're alive is try to stay alive? Which I think is semi relevant. But then also, no, that implies there's some qualitative way to measure how one's spending their time. I'm choosing to spend my time one way that would not be pleasurable for me to do it for his way. So, yeah, for me that would be a bad cost benefit. But for him, I. I think he, like, he's very, very lonely.

[Monica Padman]

The doc is kind of sad.

[Dax Shepard]

And his sweet.

[Monica Padman]

And sweet. And his house looks like so nice. But it looks empty and cold. And cold.

[Dax Shepard]

It's very modern.

[Monica Padman]

It's probably supposed to be cold because I think you're supposed to keep your body kind of cold.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Monica Padman]

I. You probably shouldn't have too much color because maybe that's bad for your eyes or something.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought about him this morning. I was like, I am incredibly envious of his 30 days in a row of a 100 sleep score.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's.

[Dax Shepard]

That is dialed.

[Monica Padman]

It is. But then for what I know then you don't. The energy you're saving is used to Just like, do the rep. Get a better therapy and. Yeah. However anyone wants to live their life if it's not causing harm to somebody else is fine. But I did think. Spoiler, this is sort of where I stopped, but I got some information that he was Mormon.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. You weren't really, towards the end. I think you're about halfway through.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's probably right. He was raised Mormon and had a Mormon family before he left the church.

[Adam Scott]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And his mom and dad got divorced and the dad was. Had his own struggles.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Love coke. Which made me like, the dad right away.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

And was in jail. It was a drinker.

[Monica Padman]

You know, he's set up on all of these fronts to need a lot of control in his life.

[Dax Shepard]

This overlaps nicely with the Aaron Rodgers, which I keep bringing up because he was raised in, by his account, a very, very constrictive, dogmatic version of Christianity that he found very, very cumbersome. And you weren't allowed to question things and all the normal pushback. But there does seem to be a little bit of a pattern where people who are raised in that and escape it find their way back into another version of it. Just missing the deity.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Of course. It's a discipline. You don't shed your personality that much. I mean, that. This is, like, such a dumb anecdote, but when I was home, my brother is, like, always sick at the holidays, and he was staying at the house, and he, like, came downstairs and he was like, I feel that thing in my throat where I'm definitely about to be sick.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And we were like. And I was like, maybe not, you know, maybe it's just a little scratch. You're probably fine. And then he was like, well, I know. I know what this feeling is. And then he went, but whatever. The next morning, I came downstairs and I asked my mom, I was like, is he sick? And she was like, you know, if he was sick. And I was like, what? What do you mean? And he was. She was just saying, like, he's just very vocal when he's sick. He talks a lot about it. He needs a lot. He needs. And you have never been like that. You just went to sleep. Always, since you were little, if you were sick, you just went away and just went to sleep.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

And I was like, huh, I guess I still kind of do that when I'm sick. And she was like, yeah, people don't change that much.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, right, right, right.

[Monica Padman]

And like a mom can see from day one till whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

You could do fast math 365 times 36. That's a biggie.

[Monica Padman]

37.

[Dax Shepard]

37. 13,505.

[Monica Padman]

Thank you. That's good.

[Dax Shepard]

No, it's more than that. 365 times 37 is only what, 13. 505.

[Monica Padman]

That seems like it's not that many.

[Dax Shepard]

I did it in my head, so I might be wrong. Did it my head. That's some. Aaron Rodgers can do insane amounts of math in his head.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, whoa.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Like his one kink is he can square anything real time. You can throw any number. Number, and he can square it, which is cool. But in any rate, he has a very militant and somewhat applaud and I have no actual opinion on it, but he is. He's in a five day silent room with no light. He's on an ayahuasca trip every few months. He's. If he's not playing football, he is pursuing the spiritual path he's on. Oh. But with a veracity that just feels very. Still religious.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I, of course, am like, yeah, I don't believe there's a guy in the sky. I understand why you're rejecting that. But then there's also a lot of angles of this ayahuasca thing because you get to see him practice it a lot where it's, you know, to me, it's just as, you know, you got to play drums and do the whole thing and the incense and. And I'm like. Or you're just out in another. On another ledge.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And it has similar things, rituals and all of the same things that religion has.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess you really just communities. The. The religion community is the superpower, the magic power, the deity, anything. When people get together and they agree on something and practice in a way, it's whatever. Yeah. So he's back to the dude.

[Monica Padman]

So.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. He was raised Mormon. And so in some ways that he brings that same diligence and work ethic to this pursuit.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But what gets really sweet and sad about it is he's very, very lonely. He, you know, he had this really. With this one woman after he had been divorced, who he broke up with when she had cancer.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And she sued him and said he should support her forever because he's rich. And, you know, I'm like, you don't get a severance package when you date someone. It's just not even the person's rich. That's how dating works. You're not. You don't get a severance you're not owed. Yeah. So the guy very Publicly got sued by this one woman. And of course, people, just because he's rich, he's the oppressor and she's the oppressed. Forget the other stuff.

[Monica Padman]

But also because she had cancer. That's a tricky. That's tricky for I think for anyone to hear that is a little like, you left her during that.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, again, you assume they left because the person had cancer.

[Monica Padman]

Well, no, but the problem is when you leave someone in their time of need, regardless of how bad they are, personality, I mean, this get. Just gets. It gets complicated.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a bad look.

[Monica Padman]

It's a bad look.

[Dax Shepard]

But you imagine you've been with someone for a year, you. You're already on the verge of breaking up. And then they get a cancer diagnosis. You're like, I was already out. There's no way I have the capacity to now care for you for two years when I was already not wanting to be with you. I don't know. Anyways, let's not get him. He's lonely and he has this boy and his son and him are so, so close. And his son also had left the religion, so he's dealing with the same. They can relate on that. And the kid's going to go to college and you can tell he's really, really, really scared about losing his buddy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And all that's really touching. And by the end, I liked the guy, I guess, is what I'm saying.

[Monica Padman]

That's nice. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So he does have a company that's helping him, but he also, he's going down to this little, you know, there's a smidgen. It's called like Opportunity Land or something. Down in Honduras, they've carved out this little Prosperia, I think it's called.

[Monica Padman]

Geez.

[Dax Shepard]

The government granted this, this little area on a peninsula and basically total free market. Everything you don't have. There's no fda, there's. So there's a lot of experimental medicine happening down there. There's a lot of like crypto, weird financial stuff happening.

[Adam Scott]

It's just free for all.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a free for all.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

And he goes down there and he gets this gene therapy which is just not allowed anywhere but Prosperia. So it's like he is got a company and a protocol, but he also.

[Monica Padman]

He'S going rogue a little.

[Dax Shepard]

He goes rogue. And when you enter a path like this, I don't know if you can help but go rogue because yeah, I'm on the ladder somewhere. Like I'm doing things with the goal of living A long time to see my grandkids and I'm doing a lot more things than other people do. Y and they likely think I'm spending too much time doing that or whatever.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, maybe.

[Dax Shepard]

And for me it feels completely normal and it's not taking over my life.

[Monica Padman]

And yeah, again, I think whatever people are doing for themselves to get through life, if it's not, and they're not hurting anyone, I think people, maybe rightly so, maybe not. I don't know. It's a scale of luxury. Right? Like this guy gets to because of his work. Like, you know, he created this thing.

[Dax Shepard]

And he made this money, got divorced over worked nonstop.

[Monica Padman]

Because of that, he has the luxury to devote his life to living forever. And I think for a lot of people who watch that, they might say like, oh, that's crazy, but they're so probably an element of, well, why does he get to devote his time to living forever? And I don't. I have grandkids or, you know, I want to live to see my grandkids and I have to work a 9 to 5. I could never do that. And so there's just. It just gets hard.

[Dax Shepard]

I would like to do something very self serving, but I don't really know how else to get the message out. I desperately need a tattoo artist in la. I don't want to fly anywhere. I don't want anyone to have to fly here. I want a good tattoo artist who is open to. This is a total transaction. Going in and altering all of my tattoos enough that it is now an original piece of work. And then sign me over the rights to that and I will pay for that so that I own my art and can go short sleeve in commercials again.

[Monica Padman]

Got it.

[Dax Shepard]

Is someone experiencing coverups? Okay, that's a good way of saying coverups.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

If you could hit me in the comments of this episode and I'll. I'll find you. But I, I definitely sit down and have someone go through and, and alter every single thing so I can have my arm back. That was self serving, but I've been meaning to. I don't know how else to solve that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, great. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Anything else you. Any appeals to the audience you want to put out there? You looking for any specialists in any categories? No, no, not Conclave. What a movie.

[Monica Padman]

Conclave was great.

[Dax Shepard]

Please see it.

[Monica Padman]

I think it's like, yeah, a hard sell just based on the job genre. It's. It's a pope movie kind of. It's really not. It's about the process of electing A pope?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And it's so much more complicated and human. It's so human.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

At the end of the day, even though it's supposed to be godly and, you know, above us, it's not. It's people making these decisions. There's ambition and power.

[Dax Shepard]

The things I liked right away is they are encased in traditions, down to the tiniest things. Like the way it starts in the way you went. You take the ring off the pope and there's a device that already exists. You put the ring in this thing, you chisel off this one piece and like that instrument exists and then the wax press and every single thing has a way of doing it and an order to it and all these little devices that go along with it. I think to add validity and credence to the whole thing. I mean, I think it's very calculated, but I, I. There's something I loved about watching all these little weird customs that go along with this whole process.

[Monica Padman]

It's really good.

[Dax Shepard]

Shout out to Tucci. He was phenomenal.

[Monica Padman]

Stanley Tucci was in it. Love him so much. Double rose Prada. Friend of the pod.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Ray finds is good too.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God, he's so good.

[Dax Shepard]

Can you explain to me why Ralph Fiennes is Ralph Fiennes? That still is a big mystery to me.

[Monica Padman]

I'm just not sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, but his name is R A, L, P, H. Fiennes.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And you pronounce that Ray Fines.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's a huge mystery to me.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I guess maybe his parents made that up. I don't know. Because, you know, his brother Joseph.

[Dax Shepard]

His brother, I think, is. Is Ralph Finds spelled R A, Y? It's apparently a. A UK tradition.

[Monica Padman]

Is it?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's easy to pronounce Ralph as rap. Rafe. Rafe. Strange English quirk where something is pronounced entirely different than how it's spelled.

[Monica Padman]

Well, his brother, the other, the actor, Joseph. Joseph Finds. He doesn't have a fun one like that. He doesn't get to go by, like, Zoe.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

People do sacrifice a lot for what they believe to be bigger than them. Not everyone does, but a lot of people do.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm a little more cynical. I think a lot of people try to do it and then there's just cracks everywhere, everywhere in pursuit of that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's probably true. I mean, again, it's back to the don't die. Like, I think that's fine. Like that's their decision.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I actually think it's a fairly noble one. Whether it's possible or not. I think the person.

[Dax Shepard]

I just was noble about it. Why is it good to not have had sex with a woman?

[Monica Padman]

That's not it. It's giving up your life to the service of something else.

[Dax Shepard]

Got it.

[Monica Padman]

Not having sex part is a piece of that. That they've decided. Yeah. That I didn't grow up in that. So I can't speak to it, you know, but they, Whatever. Have their own reasons for it.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's a weird one to pick.

[Monica Padman]

Speaking of giving up your life for your sacrifice, you know, sacrificing. I remembered during the fight, you know, the fires are still happening, but they're getting contained. More and more contained, which is really good. My hot professor.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

He was a firefighter before he was a professor. Yes. And I just. It just like occurred to me when I was walking and I was like, oh, yeah, of course.

[Dax Shepard]

Scotty had it all.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

He had the brains, he had the brawn and the firefighting skills.

[Monica Padman]

He had it all.

[Dax Shepard]

By the time this airs, I'll have gone to see the Lions play. Oh, fun. Which I'm so excited about.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's great.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Is it a playoff game?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Nice.

[Dax Shepard]

They had a bye week, so they got to sit out the first round to the playoffs. And now we commence.

[Monica Padman]

That's very exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

They're going to play the Washington Commanders. Commanders. Yeah. Okay. Were they not. So they were the Washington Redskins. Correct. Which is a no. No. For obvious reasons. So they. They got rid of that name. But weren't they for several years, Rob just called, like, Washington Football Team. Yeah, yeah. A lot of sports. There's like a hockey team like that right now, too.

[Adam Scott]

That's just the hockey team.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, that's kind of cool.

[Adam Scott]

They take a little while to name.

[Dax Shepard]

And brand everything, so there's like two or three seasons occasionally where they're not a real team yet. It's just so funny. Are you going to go to the wash? The Washington football team game doesn't have.

[Adam Scott]

A great Utah hockey club right now.

[Dax Shepard]

The Utah Hockey Club. That sounds so Triple A or. It does sounds really far down. It doesn't sound like NHL out.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, that's true.

[Dax Shepard]

Hockey club. Hockey friends. Detroit Hockey friends.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's very exciting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I mean, I'm taking my boyfriend, Aaron.

[Monica Padman]

Fun. Oh, that'll be great.

[Dax Shepard]

We also get to be on the field during warmup and stuff.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that's very fun. Oh, I'm very excited.

[Monica Padman]

You're going to be like the McConaughey.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, I. I don't deserve to be the McConaughey. Nobody can be the MA. But of course I would love to be the McConaughey. And I haven't earned being McConaughey. McConaughey has not missed Longhorn's game, I think in 30 years. He has left vacations. You know that incredible story I told that Kutcher told me that he heard him partying very late at night in the Bahamas at 4 in the morning. Then when he woke up at 9 and turned on the football game, Makan was magically standing on the field.

[Monica Padman]

He knows how to teleport. He's the only one.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I just. I don't even deserve that. But. And I'm also wondering if I'll bump into other Detroiters, like, will I see Sam Richardson? Know I see any of these folks.

[Monica Padman]

That's very funny.

[Dax Shepard]

I see Eminem, who I've never met.

[Monica Padman]

If they go to the super bowl, are you going to go?

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Monica Padman]

Where is the Super Bowl?

[Dax Shepard]

New Orleans. New Orleans. New Orleans at the Caesar Superdome.

[Monica Padman]

You've been to the Super Bowl?

[Dax Shepard]

I've been twice for work. I went once for Ellen and once to promote chips.

[Monica Padman]

Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

And as I said, it's the only two times in my life I've been nervous somewhere.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I just don't like. Like what kind of target it. I don't know. I just start ruminating and then I enjoy the super bowl so much. Being at home and eating the snacks and being able to actually follow the game. This was even a decision when I was like, do I go to one of the early playoff games or, you know, God willing, they'll go all the way. Do I go to a later one? And I was like, no. As it's getting more and more intense, I actually need to be at my house watching play by play with a closeup and hearing the calls and all this stuff because I can't follow things all that well in person.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not great at that. A little distracted.

[Monica Padman]

I feel like football's a newer interest and that's fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's not my sport. I'll watch two or three games throughout the year, tops.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I do generally watch the playoffs because I want to be very excited about the Super Bowl.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I love the super bowl just as a holiday.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I feel like I can amplify it if I actually know the stakes and who went through what to get there.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I generally will start watching and maybe the second round of the playoffs. But the Detroit thing adds a whole New thing. I watched a ton of Detroit games. I put it as a season pass and I actually watched all the games.

[Monica Padman]

I know. I think it's fun to have a new, new interest as we get older.

[Dax Shepard]

For sure. Yeah. I think you got to fight the inclination to stop being interested in anything. I think that's the natural arc of life. Get interested in less and less things. Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. Hey, basketball fans, Steve Nash here. Ready to elevate your basketball IQ? I'm teaming up with LeBron James to bring you the latest season of Mind the Game. And we're about to take you deeper into basketball than you've ever gone before. We're breaking down the real game, the X's and O's that actually matter in every episode. We'll share elite level strategy, dive into career defining moments, and explain the why behind plays that changed a game, a team or a championship. LeBron and I have lived this game at the highest level for decades. We've been in those pressure moments and made those game changing decisions and learned from the greatest basketball minds in history. Now we're pulling back the curtain and sharing that knowledge with you. Time to go beyond the highlights and get into the real heart of basketball. Watch Mind the game now on YouTube Prime Video or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Have you seen the coach, Dan Campbell? Dan Campbell's bigger than all of the players. He is an enormous. He's an ex player.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, cool.

[Dax Shepard]

And he just has an enormous head and neck and shoulders. And it's really encouraging for your leader to look bigger than the players.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like yet at any moment he might pad up.

[Monica Padman]

I like a coach that knows the game, walks the personally. Like at Waffle House when they have to work at a Waffle House in order to be the CEO.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, they do?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

They have to serve some time.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Do the.

[Dax Shepard]

Do all the jobs, break up a couple thousand fights at 2:00am Exactly.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. J.J. redick, the Lakers coach, isn't he.

[Dax Shepard]

Robbed at the test? You know, the funny thing is Rob knows fantasy football. Is that fair to say? Rob? Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like he doesn't have any coach on his roster in fantasy, so there's no reason for.

[Monica Padman]

I still expect you to know all of it.

[Dax Shepard]

I did win Charlie's league this season. You had. You had Gibbs though, right? Yeah, I had Gibbs and a lot of Bengals players. So the running back right now for the Detroit Lions is absolutely insanely talented. And he got four touchdowns in the Viking games, which was a Lions record. I mean, he Is young, very tiny, and unstoppable.

[Monica Padman]

Awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I'm right about J.J. redick. He's the head coach of the Lakers. And this is a sad thing, but I. I didn't know that. And I saw he popped up on my Instagram because he lost his home.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

But I was looking at him, and I was like, this is the coach. He looks so young.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. This is now the age bracket you've entered. Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Now. Now I'm at this point where I'm like, what is going on? But he is 40. He. Which is better.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought.

[Monica Padman]

I thought he was younger than me when I saw. And I got very.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you're unnerved. I think you can measure your age in this very predictable way where it's like, for a long, long time, all the players are older than you. Then you have a moment in your early 30s where you go, oh, geez, I'm older than all the professional athletes. And that's startling.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But then you still have the coaches.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And now I am at the age. Monica. Where I am older. Quite a few of the NFL coaches, which seems impossible. Those growing up, those were all old, old men.

[Monica Padman]

And is part of it also that they are hiring younger?

[Dax Shepard]

I think they are. They are.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of age, because we were really trying to figure it out while we were watching it. Nate and I had an impromptu dinner last night at Morton's, our home base. He was saying how much he liked watching the clips of Brolin and just how masculine Brolin is. We just kept talking about, how could there be anyone more masculine? Then we were talking about no country for Old Men. And then I was like, we gotta watch that shit. We still haven't watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood together. And then I just had this moment of recklessness, and I go, should we go right now and watch no country on a school night? Wow. And we did. We came back here and we watched no country for Old Men last night.

[Monica Padman]

Sleepover.

[Dax Shepard]

Damn near. He left at, like, 11:30 at night on a week night. But Brolin is 38 in that movie.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

But he carries himself like he's a little over 40. We concluded, okay, you know, he looks like a man that's been around for a while. And then Javier Bardem.

[Monica Padman]

Love him.

[Dax Shepard]

What a performance. I mean, he won the Academy Award for it.

[Monica Padman]

That was in 2007.

[Dax Shepard]

2007.

[Monica Padman]

That's so long ago.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so long ago. Woody Harrelson's very young in it. Brolin's 38. Great movie. Very unique. Satisfying ending, but great movie.

[Monica Padman]

I am accumulating a list of rewatches I would like to rewatch Minority Report.

[Dax Shepard]

Interesting. Okay. Tom Cruise and Spielberg.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I'm gonna watch it tonight. Need to remember to watch it tonight. Well, this is, though, we're talking about movies because Adam Scott loves movies.

[Dax Shepard]

He's a movie file.

[Monica Padman]

A cinephile.

[Dax Shepard]

A cinephile, yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, also, we talked about words that have entered the zeitgeist, that people atelier. You know, things people are saying too much. Really? There's a new one.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, there is.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I learned. I learned that elevated is out. People say elevated a lot. Like, yes, it's this, but elevated. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It means high end.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But no one says that now.

[Monica Padman]

No, we're not. People say it too much.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. Oh. I was thinking you were saying it was canceled. And I couldn't wait to hear the connective tissue between elephant.

[Monica Padman]

It's like a tilly. Yay. It's like everyone's just saying it, but.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't think so. Elevated is already a little pedestrian, though. What do you mean it's not foreign? Elevator. Elevated. Atelier and artisanal. Those have the, you know, appeal of being foreign and very exclusive.

[Monica Padman]

We were just talking in general about words that are just overused. He even said beautiful when people are like, oh, like, it's so beautiful. Like, using beautiful a ton.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And elevate. I learned it's. Somebody said they were so annoyed by that word, and I was like, I do hear it a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

My trigger. Isn't that what you say about glimmer?

[Monica Padman]

Glimmer?

[Dax Shepard]

That was the thing that came up in comments a while back. We were saying there should be a positive version of triggered. Oh. And a lot of people wrote, oh, There is a term for it, and it's glimmer.

[Monica Padman]

Huh?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's when you're activated. Like, if you're triggered, you're activated.

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Dax Shepard]

By a word.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

A negative way, generally. But a glimmer is something that activates you, but in a very positive way. Oh. Because some fact checks ago, I was talking about being triggered in a really good way. Oh, right. But I was like, the word feels wrong. And then I learned there is a term, and it's glimmer. Glimmer. And I like that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But my specific trigger about atelier and artisanal. Artisanal is it feels elite. Ist. It feels like it's someone trying really hard to sound super sophisticated. And so that's my trigger. It reeks to me. Of being a snob. Whereas Elevated doesn't do that for me.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. You know, I get it.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I get that. But they're ironically, they're not trying to be a snob. They're trying to be elevated.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. Which is a little bit of snobbery.

[Monica Padman]

All right, where are. Where Skoal manufactured Raleigh Durham. Its corporate headquarters are located in Richmond, Virginia, and it maintains factories in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee, Franklin Park, Illinois and Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Copenhagen and Skull are the company's best selling brands. And each represents more than $1 billion dollars per year in retail sales.

[Dax Shepard]

This is a little bit tempting for me to get back on chewing tobacco. The notion that I could be getting it fresh off the line in Nashville is very tempting. Fresh.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Minutes old.

[Monica Padman]

You could get it minutes old.

[Dax Shepard]

Brings me back to the time we put the roof on the hot dog and hamburger bun factory in Detroit, and we got to have hot dog buns that came right out of the conveyor belt. And they were one of the most delicious things I've ever had in my life. You can't imagine how good they are a second after they're made.

[Monica Padman]

Are they or apart. But is it. It's so hard to know what's mental. It's really hard to know.

[Dax Shepard]

I guess. But then you're kind of getting into placebo effect.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is real.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Remember when. When we went to the Hawaiian sweet roll? Hawaiian sweet roll.

[Dax Shepard]

Fast food King's Hawaiian sweet. That.

[Monica Padman]

And we got them straight off the bell.

[Dax Shepard]

And what do you think? How did those taste?

[Monica Padman]

Of course they taste amazing. But I. I also know. I. I don't. I know what I don't know. And I can. Can't know if that's placebo or not. I mean, hot one is just that.

[Dax Shepard]

It'S hot, but it's like it's not even set yet. Like the molecules haven't even totally formed. The thing that also made that King's Hawaiian sweet bread factory tour so awesome is that at this tasting station where we were eating them right off the conveyor belt, there was a block of butter the size of that refrigerator. I've never seen a block of butter that big in my life. Life. It must be what they dump into the mix. And we just had these spades that we were just carving off huge chunks of butter and slathering it all over.

[Monica Padman]

You know, butter sculptures are a thing now.

[Adam Scott]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

People are getting into butter sculptures. Oh. And so they should use that big butter and make it into some sort of.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Chisel branded every Part that's not David.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, now. Okay. Is 27 the age you start going downhill between 25 and 30. Physically physical? Physically physical peak between 25 and 30. That's not to say you shouldn't keep working on your exercise and your physique. As you said, you've never been in better shape.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, I'm. I think I'm Superior to my 27 year old.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

4, 7, 11 chili dogs a day, and 12 pack of beer at night and pack and a half of Camel Lights.

[Monica Padman]

But I guess in some ways you were at your physical peak because now if you did all that, you die.

[Dax Shepard]

I. This morning, when journaling, I'm like, I. What is going on? Like, I couldn't sleep for longer than an hour last night.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I woke up with a headache and my body's so sore, like, what happened to me. Sprinting's not helping for sure.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And the air is bad. I mean, we all have headaches.

[Dax Shepard]

I'll leave this to you to decide if this is too gross for the fact check. It is, but I. At the same time, I am proud as a peacock about this. As you know. And maybe I've shared in the past a weird hobby of mine is, is I do like to weigh myself in the morning right before I go evac.

[Monica Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I'm curious.

[Monica Padman]

You want to see?

[Dax Shepard]

I want to know how much that weighs.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And I have been doing that for a year or two.

[Monica Padman]

What's the biggest?

[Dax Shepard]

It's never above a pound and a half.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

There are times I look and I go, well, buckle up. We're gonna. This is. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Never been a more than a pound and a half. I swear to God. This was four mornings ago. Three mornings ago. I couldn't even finish journaling. I had to go evac. And it had been. I didn't have a couple good days prior to that.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

The first round was robust. Then I was doing some posting, then. Round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round, round.

[Monica Padman]

Are you going back and forth or you just.

[Dax Shepard]

I just stay.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm in there for probably 30.

[Monica Padman]

I just read. I just read. That's really.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. They're convinced I'm going to get hemorrhoids.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But.

[Monica Padman]

Which you've had.

[Dax Shepard]

And they can have a good laugh if I get them, but I haven't yet.

[Monica Padman]

I thought you've had them.

[Dax Shepard]

No, never had a hemorrhoid. Thank goodness. Anal fish.

[Monica Padman]

Anal fissure. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I wouldn't believe this if I told. If someone Told it to me. I got on the scale. I was 197.8. I was on there for a half hour. Is like an experience I never had in my Life. Got on 193.8.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

It's part of it.

[Dax Shepard]

Water though, because I'd already peed a bunch. But did you have Very little pee came out.

[Monica Padman]

Was there diarrhea?

[Dax Shepard]

What do we call diarrhea? It was like water. That wasn't water, but. But it was mud.

[Monica Padman]

Then there's water in there.

[Dax Shepard]

Whatever the case, okay. I3x my previous. I thought about that every 20 minutes the whole rest of the day.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like hard to compute four pounds. Like at your body weight, that's almost 5% than your total mass in 30 minutes. I've never had an experience like that.

[Monica Padman]

That is a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

It was wild.

[Monica Padman]

Did you feel much lighter after?

[Dax Shepard]

I felt so much better. I'd woke up that morning cranky, headachy, body achy, got all the poison out and. Yeah, yeah, I felt good. I. Then I did my sprints that day.

[Monica Padman]

Were you much faster?

[Dax Shepard]

There's no way for me to know. I just run as fast as I can. I'm just clicking my clicker. My clicker.

[Monica Padman]

So John Turturro, he said, Mac, first movie, 1992. Now in the Wonder Plus. I said he was wrong and he's not wrong.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, interesting.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

This is really.

[Monica Padman]

I actually think speaks to the.

[Dax Shepard]

How hard it is to get facts.

[Monica Padman]

No, I actually think if we go back. So I said, he's right. Mac, 1992. Oh, wait, he's wrong. Like I read the same thing. I'm reading. But I think my brain. Well, definitely wasn't working that day. But I was like, no, it's Illuminata, 1998. So I think in my head, 1998 was before 1992.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. But six years after.

[Monica Padman]

But actually after, upon reflection. Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So he's right.

[Monica Padman]

He's right. Mac, 1992, first film he directed.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm not surprised he's right. Not. Cause I think you're prone to be wrong, but. But just. He is such a steel trap with these.

[Monica Padman]

I agree. I was surprised that he was wrong and turns out we didn't need to be surprised because he was right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

What's the name of Nicholas Cage's king cobra? He has two Sheba and Moby.

[Dax Shepard]

Great names.

[Monica Padman]

They're really good names for a king cobra.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I already can't compute. Let's get some of the animals that live outside to Live inside our house. Although I caveat to that. There are three birds that going on now, four months. It used to drive me a little crazy because I'll be in bed journaling. I hear whapping on the window.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, sure.

[Dax Shepard]

They fly out of the tree and then they try to sit on a little piece of the window. There's a little green guy. He's a little guy. He's about this big, and he's green. And he sits there and he, like, pecks at the window and he flaps his wings. Then he goes back in the bush and he comes back up. Then we have these two larger birds with a big red crest and long tail feathers. They are also on this one. There's something about this window into the bathroom, and I can't decide if they want to come in or they're just curious or they're confused. I don't know what's going on, but we have a veritable aviary just outside the window.

[Monica Padman]

That's exciting. Yeah. Are you putting out food and stuff?

[Dax Shepard]

No, I was kind of laughing at that. Like, the amount of effort I put into getting crows to woo crows to no avail. And I'm doing nothing for these three birds. And they want to get involved.

[Monica Padman]

It's a life lesson. Hard to get.

[Dax Shepard]

Hard to get. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

No one wants availability.

[Dax Shepard]

They don't. No.

[Monica Padman]

Jesus. All right. That's it.

[Dax Shepard]

That's everything.

[Monica Padman]

Yep. That's it for Adam.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I sure do love that boy.

[Monica Padman]

What a lovely man he is.

[Dax Shepard]

He is the loveliest man. I'm just delighted I got to meet him.

[Monica Padman]

And we're sorry that the crickets came in the middle of his sweet moment.

[Dax Shepard]

Was it audible? Wanting.

[Monica Padman]

I didn't hear it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

But if you heard it, we apologize. All right.

[Dax Shepard]

All right. Love you.

[Monica Padman]

Love you.

[Dax Shepard]

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