Sterling K. Brown

Summary

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Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Episode: Sterling K. Brown (February 23, 2026)

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Overview

This episode of Armchair Expert features Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Sterling K. Brown, best known for his roles in This Is Us, Paradise, American Fiction, and Black Panther. Dax Shepard, co-host Monica "Lily" Padman, and Sterling engage in an honest, humorous, and deeply insightful conversation on family, upbringing, navigating race and identity, professional perseverance, creative fulfillment, and the pressure and privilege of representation. The episode is warm, candid, and peppered with the trademark Armchair mix of seriousness and light-hearted banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sterling’s Upbringing and Family

• Early Life and Education
  • Grew up in a tight-knit St. Louis neighborhood; attended St. Louis Country Day School — a unique environment encouraging both academics and athletics.
    “It was a school full of nerds who were also jocks, who were also art geeks. There was no stigma put on one thing because everybody was encouraged to do everything.” — Sterling (04:22)
  • Mother Arlene was a schoolteacher who pulled Sterling out of public school to invest in his potential, even though friends questioned the move.
    "My mom saw that with young Black men, they were being tracked towards the lowest common denominator." — Sterling (04:56)
• Family Dynamics
  • Complicated family tree: siblings from mother's first marriage, then Sterling as the only child with his father, plus two adopted siblings.
  • The importance of extended family stepping in during times of need.
  • Personal losses: Father died when Sterling was 10 years old; mother now living with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).

2. Masculinity, Vulnerability, and Loss

• Sterling discusses how his father's affection shaped his own parenting and emotional openness.
  “He refused to have me not be affectionate.” — Sterling (16:14)
• Grieving as a child and the unique complexities:
  “It took a lot of processing...More than anything was sort of figuring out if he is in a better place, how much of a right do I have to miss him?” — Sterling (23:20)
• His relationship with his mother after his dad’s passing, her faith, and how speaking in tongues became both spiritual practice and accidental acting training.

3. Navigating Race, Identity, and Representation

• Dax and Sterling Contrast Parenting in the Spotlight
  • Dax and Kristen Bell keep their daughters' faces hidden for safety and anonymity.
  • Sterling feels that visibility on social media offers Black boys a degree of protection and leverage.
    “I feel like the more I put them on social, the safer they are.” — Sterling (19:44)
  • Open discussion about how race fundamentally alters the privilege and burden of public attention for a family.
• Medical & Cultural Realities
  • Sterling reflects on health patterns for Black men and the impact of generational trauma and social neglect:
    “Black men have the lowest life expectancy in these United States...I’m determined not to be a statistic.” (14:41)

4. Higher Education, Early Career, and Professional Resilience

• Sterling attended Stanford, originally intending to pursue business/economics. Internships at Federal Reserve and Ralston Purina felt hollow—acting started calling.
• Financial pressures: Grew up with less financial security than his wife, Ryan Michelle. Both experienced Stanford differently due to background, but connected over striving for more.
• The first big break was theater: became a "reader" for a star-studded Al Pacino/Brecht production, eventually joining the cast.
  • On Al Pacino:
    “We played like five times. I beat him 4 to 1.” — Sterling (44:05)

5. Acting Process & Lessons

• Key lesson:
  “When you are confident and secure in what you bring to the table, you have no desire to make other people feel small.” — Sterling (45:47)
• Resilience through 14 years as a working actor, including Army Wives (six years of stability). Success initially defined by paying bills and doing what he loved.

6. Breakout Moments: ‘People vs. O.J. Simpson’ and ‘This Is Us’

• People vs. O.J. Simpson Stories
  • Auditioned for and landed the role of Chris Darden; empathized with the burden Darden carried:
    “It was about seeing the criminal justice system work for someone who looked like us.”— Sterling on the OJ verdict (51:16)
  • Reflected on the complexity and loneliness of representation in high-profile cases.
  • Imposter syndrome and transition from “fan” to peer with Hollywood legends.
• ‘This Is Us’ Turning Point
  • Direct link between O.J. series buzz and casting in This Is Us.
  • Praises Dan Fogelman’s storytelling and creative partnership:
    “He’s a plot machine…dialogue as well as him, are not plot machines. He somehow is both.” — Dax (59:25)

7. Privilege, Pressure, and Being ‘The First’

• Navigating public success as a Black actor: “You have to embrace it. And then you have to remember, you just have to be yourself. But in being yourself, you're trying to, like, bring the best part of yourselves in such a way that you don't set anybody back.” — Sterling (69:01)
• The psychological and social pressure to “not set anyone back” for his community.
• Comparison with Dax’s own awareness of white privilege and how fame operates differently for Black actors.

8. Range, Growth, and New Creative Partnerships

• Discussed new projects (American Fiction, Paradise), the thrill of “zagging when people think you’ll zig,” and love for continuous challenge.
• On diverse Black casts in Hollywood:
  “For a long time...there could be only one...Now it seems like there can always be more.” — Sterling (66:12)
• Collaborative energy with creative partner Dan Fogelman.

9. ‘Paradise’ (Season 2 on Hulu)

• Season 2 just dropped; some plot teases, focus on how people outside the bunker survived, introduction of new characters (e.g., Shailene Woodley).
• Candid, fun discussion of Sterling’s physique and body double moments.
• Personal anecdotes about injury (Achilles tear), adapting with aging:
  “To not be able to attack life for a period of time is tough...to feel vulnerable, to have to ask for help.” — Sterling (76:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On His School Experience:
  “It was a school full of nerds who were also jocks, who were also art geeks.” — Sterling (04:22)
• On Grief:
  “I'd never seen my mom cry until then. That's the first time I saw Arlene lose it. And I was like, well, everybody can't lose it.” — Sterling (23:12)
• On Representation & Safety:
  “I feel like the more I put them on social, the safer they are.” — Sterling (19:44)
• On Creative Process:
  “You can't be a fan and in the game at the same time.” — Sterling (54:27)
• On Handling Success and Identity:
  “You have to, to a certain extent, embrace it. And then you have to remember you just have to be yourself.” — Sterling (69:05)
• On Black Representation in Hollywood:
  “There could be only one...Now it seems like there can always be more.” — Sterling (66:12)
• On Life Perspective:
  “I've gone through enough shitty things that I think that, like. No, I'm okay with this.” — Sterling (72:13)
• On Physical Fitness and Aging:
  “To not be able to attack life for a period of time is tough to feel vulnerable, to have to ask for help.” — Sterling (76:36)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:28: Sterling K. Brown introduction, background, and childhood roots.
• 10:23: Family stories—adoption, hardship, and resilience.
• 14:41: Addressing Black men’s life expectancy and health culture.
• 15:15: The impact and responsibility of having an emotionally expressive father.
• 19:27: Race and safety—the difference in parenting Black boys vs. white girls in the public eye.
• 23:12: Processing grief and his father's passing at age 10.
• 29:18: Higher education, financial realities at Stanford, and choosing his own path.
• 41:10: The big break—joining star-studded theater (Pacino, Goodman).
• 45:47: Life lesson: true security means helping others.
• 50:29: Surviving the "working actor" years and redefining professional success.
• 53:06: Playing Chris Darden and the O.J. Simpson trial—a personal and cultural reckoning.
• 58:15: The "Randall" name, parenting, and Dax's confession on not watching This Is Us.
• 59:25: Praise for Dan Fogelman’s writing and creative partnership.
• 66:49: Discussing “only one” phenomenon in Black Hollywood; celebrating current Black talent.
• 69:01: The pressure and psychology of being a role model and “not setting anyone back.”
• 76:14: Coping with injury and vulnerability as an aging athlete/actor.
• 80:03: Talking Paradise Season 2: themes, new characters, and plot teases.
• 82:42: Creative collaboration with Dan Fogelman and plans for a final season of Paradise.

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Tone & Atmosphere

• The conversation was both vulnerable and celebratory, full of mutual respect, admiration, and genuine curiosity. Sterling’s openness about family, grief, and professional struggles was met by Dax and Lily with empathy, humor, and relatability.
• The episode embodies the spirit of Armchair Expert: honoring the messiness of being human, seeking connection, and extracting wisdom from both triumphs and setbacks.

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For Listeners

Anyone interested in personal growth, navigating race/gender/fame dynamics, the unpredictability of a creative career, and the importance of empathy and tenacity will find this episode especially rich and engaging. Sterling K. Brown’s story is one of resilience, grace, and unflagging self-awareness.

Highly recommended for fans of acting, social commentary, and stories of overcoming adversity.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard and I'm joined by Lily Padman.

[Lily Padman]

Hi.

[Dax Shepard]

Hello. Warning to the listeners and the viewers. Today puts bring some extra slacks.

[Lily Padman]

It's getting smoky.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh my God. Sterling K. Brown. My goodness. He is an award winning actor. This is us. Paradise, American fiction, Waves Washington Black and thank goodness we have season two of paradise are out today. First three episodes are out today on Hulu.

[Lily Padman]

What a show.

[Dax Shepard]

I have watched several. It's phenomenal. Again, what a great show.

[Lily Padman]

It is. He is fantastic.

[Dax Shepard]

He is fantastic. Please enjoy Sterling K. Brown. We are supported by Quints. There's something to be said for clothes that just work. Not trendy, not flashy, just well made pieces that hold up day after day. That's what Quint gets, right? They make everyday essentials with premium materials. Organic cotton sweaters, polos, lighter jackets. The kind of stuff that looks good season after season. And here's the thing, they cut out the middlemen by working directly with top factories. So you're not paying brand markup, you're just paying for quality.

[Lily Padman]

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[Dax Shepard]

Sure, sure.

[Lily Padman]

You got to put yourself out there. And nine times out of 10 these days, it's from Quint.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I just got asked by the fashionist herself, Nicole, what size I work. She's getting her husband something from Quince.

[Lily Padman]

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[Dax Shepard]

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[Sterling K. Brown]

Nice to meet you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

[Lily Padman]

Welcome.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you self drive?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Of course.

[Dax Shepard]

How long have you been this gorgeous because you played football in high school?

[Sterling K. Brown]

First of all, I love the research you guys do and I love how seemingly it like sort of just like because, you know, you played high school football and I was like, yeah, yeah, I know.

[Dax Shepard]

At St. Louis Country Day Marion Institute in St. Louis Country Day.

[Lily Padman]

That's right.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Let's go. Bring in the chair, baby. I played football from sixth grade through high school.

[Dax Shepard]

What position?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Fullback and inside linebacker. I like to hit people.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so, yeah, so you needed some size and you needed. You've been in a weight room since you were a kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I've been in a weight room since I was a kid, but it was also born out of. I remember one time playing basketball when I was in like sixth or seventh grade and we had to go shirts or skins, and I wasn't comfortable being skins. And I said to myself, I'm never gonna put myself in that position again.

[Lily Padman]

And how. How old were you?

[Sterling K. Brown]

12, 13.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, young.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Everybody at school wanted to be ripped like it was an all due, testosterone filled environment in the weight room. It said the same dedication that builds a strong mind is the same dedication that builds a strong body. So it was a school full of nerds who were also jocks, who are also art geeks. There was no stigma put on one thing because everybody was encouraged to do everything.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, this sounds like a dreamy school.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It was awesome. It changed my life because my mom was actually a schoolteacher at the school in my school district.

[Dax Shepard]

Arlene. How do I say her name?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Arlene, spelled by Lurleen Banks, who had a third grade education. And she's like, I'm going to spell it the way it sounds in my head. So she's like, I know there's an R in there. So it's going to be Ara, Lean, K, R, A, L, E. That's grandma. Yeah, yeah, that's my grandma. So she taught at Ledoux school district, and everybody in my neighborhood went to Ledoux school. And then my mom pulled me out of the public school system that put me in country day in my cds. And a lot of my friends from my neighborhood was like, what, you think you're better than us? You think you're something like that? I'm like, no, no, no, bruh. My mom saw that with young black men, they were being tracked towards the lowest common denominator. They weren't being encouraged to make the most of whatever potential they had at their disposal. And she's like, I want you to maximize whatever is that God has given you. So she put me in this environment, and I resisted it at first, but after a year of resistance, it was like, joy. I was student council president. I was a geek for acting. I did football, basketball, track. I did community service. I got to be every facet of myself.

[Dax Shepard]

That's rap. People ask me like, oh, did you do theater in your school? I'm like, no, you were killed if you did theater. It was too dangerous.

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's what my friends would say. So, what, you gonna walk around in tights or something? I was like, there's more than just tights, hom. All kinds of things. Turn on the tv. Nobody's in touch.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

They were still friends with you. They just, like, ribbed you, or were they like, we can't be around you?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Some friendships melted because you're like, oh, these people who I cared about and grew up with or whatnot, have something that they're dealing with that they're placing on me.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep, yep.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So I'm like, I'm not gonna carry too much. My next door neighbor and I both wound up going to Stanford. She was a basketball player, and now I think she coaches at Berkeley. Sharman Smith and the guy on the other wound up playing Division 1 basketball. And so when other people in the neighborhood will be like, sterling Kelby think he better than people. They're like, leave Kelby alone. Yeah, like, Kelby's doing his thing. You know what I'm saying? Like, don't sweat it. So I think people were both sides. Like, some people were crabs in a barrel, want to pull you down, but other people were like, yo, this young man is trying to make something of himself and is maximizing opportunities. So there was encouragement as well. Parents were always like, how you doing, young man? Yeah, you doing good? It's good to see you out here. You want to come by the house and hang out for A little bit. Parents love you. Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Talk to my son.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

All of that. Is that how I say it?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Okay. Tone of 8,000.

[Lily Padman]

So there's a teleprompter.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I'm trying see if there's a teleprompter around here. So look at this.

[Dax Shepard]

I got an earwig in.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I love this.

[Dax Shepard]

But all of that, it's small. It's 8,000 people. It's a suburb of St. Louis. What is the vibe in all of that? What's the demography like?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Black and Jewish. I'd say it was a golf course. My high school football coach told me this about my neighborhood. He's like, you know, your neighborhood was a golf course? And then they cleared the golf course. They made residential neighborhood. And it was a lot of Jewish families that moved in because it was lower income housing in a great school district. Ledoux school district was very good.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And then as a lot of the Jewish families aged up, the older people, the parents stayed, the kids moved out. But then a lot of black families moved in.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So you had a lot of older Jewish people and a lot of young black families in this neighborhood together. I remember A substitute teacher, Mrs. Wiebleman, lived right down the street from me. My first crush was Elizabeth Sherwitz.

[Dax Shepard]

Ah, mine was Elizabeth too. Betsy. My first crush.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, Elizabeth Sherwitz. Not black Sherwitz.

[Dax Shepard]

The Sherwitz gave it away.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But then it was the Browns and the Scotts and the Smiths and the Herds. And it was this wonderful place to grow up where you rode your bikes everywhere. It felt like stranger things. We'd have these full neighborhood water gun fights where you have the super Soakers just like blasting people. It was awesome.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I loved it. You're one of five. I don't know your order, but if you got Sterling. Were you the first? Are you the oldest?

[Sterling K. Brown]

I am my dad's only child.

[Dax Shepard]

Interesting.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So moms was married before to Arthur Slaughter. And she had three kids.

[Dax Shepard]

Fierce last name.

[Lily Padman]

Slaughter.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Slaughter's good. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

For real.

[Sterling K. Brown]

My brother and sister are Armin Slaughter and Angela Slaughter.

[Lily Padman]

Nice.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Their oldest brother who passed away cause he had a childborne illness. His name was Anthony. So Arlene, Arthur, Anthony, Armin and Angela.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Then moms got divorced From Arthur was five years single, married. Sterling Brown Jr. And I am Sterling Brown Jr. S only son. Then my mom adopted two more kids.

[Lily Padman]

Wow.

[Sterling K. Brown]

When I started grad school, So I was 22 when my little brother Robert, and then two years later, my little sister Ariel came into our Office.

[Dax Shepard]

And she gets them through the church. How did she come upon.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Wow, this is interesting. My Aunt Vera is the collector of things in our family. She brings home pets. She was a foster parent, and she brings home kids. But my aunt also was battling her own substance abuse things at that time. So she would bring home pets or whatnot to take care of and then be like, here, Billy, that's her sister. Why don't you hold onto this? And now that becomes Billy's pet, right?

[Lily Padman]

This is true.

[Dax Shepard]

She was a conduit.

[Sterling K. Brown]

A conduit. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Robert became Arlene. I gotta go do something real quick. I'll be back two weeks later. And then you call the social worker and let them know that the child is here. And so she just became the foster parent. The birth mother had another child. The birth mother actually had twins, but the birth mother was a substance abuser. My other twin sister, Avery, suffered crib death right when she was within the first couple of months. And then Ariel survived. So Ariel and Robert. Wow. Little brother in law.

[Dax Shepard]

Arlene's been through it.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Arlene Brown currently lives with als.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, my goodness.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Has been living with it for about eight years, since 2018. And she is an exercise in grace under the most extraordinary circumstances. We can't talk anymore because she can't verbalize, but she can react and smile. I say, mom, look at the clock if you like this or look this way if you want that or whatnot. But, like, it reminds me as I go through, I just tore my Achilles. Oh, sucks balls.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's the worst.

[Sterling K. Brown]

No, ALS is the worst. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. This is the worst. This is about your leg injuries. 100% that.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But it is.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It is one of those times when I'm ready to throw myself a bit of a pity party. I think about how my mom has moved through this extraordinary set of circumstances and still has a level of calm and peace and acceptance of what's happening in her life.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow. Do you find. Though I will say so. I've got a friend right now that's going down really fast and hard with als. I'm sorry, but I'm kind of built for this. I go over there and it's like I can fudgeing monologue. I can let it rip. Tell about 25 stories.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'll see some smiling and some laugh, and I live for it. Yeah, I'm kind of built for this.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I live for it. Like, any time I get my mom when she laughs, her musculature has a tough time Stopping the laugh or if she starts crying, it's a hard time because, like, you don't have the muscle to, like, slow control. So sometimes I said, mama, don't laugh too hard.

[Dax Shepard]

Mama, calm down.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's not that funny on me. She's still going. And I was like, brown, be quiet. But I still got it. I still get it.

[Dax Shepard]

But Sterling II was in the army in Germany during Vietnam.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Fuck is going on?

[Dax Shepard]

What did he do for a living when he got home? You're 10 years with him.

[Sterling K. Brown]

What did he do? He is so good. This makes me happy. Nobody asked me about my daddy. In New York, Sterling Brown Jr. Worked for Kroger stores.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Sterling K. Brown]

If you're from the south, you don't know where Kroger is. So he was a grocery clerk. He was the head of his union. And then ultimately it got bought out by a local grocery store chain, and he lost his job and within months lost his life.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, my goodness.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And it's one of those things where it reminds me often to not equate what I do with who I am, because we have such cyclical employment. Not you anymore. Because you got this podcast. There is this cyclical nature to what we do so that your level of worth can go like this. If you allow your employment status to dictate who you are, which you have

[Dax Shepard]

virtually no control over. So you've anchored your identity to me.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You know, what I'm saying is up to other people completely and totally. It was a good lesson for me to see because you saw his life spirit sort of go away.

[Lily Padman]

Wow.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And just sort of stop trying. And he was only 45 when it all happened.

[Dax Shepard]

When did he die?

[Sterling K. Brown]

He had a heart attack with complications from sugar diabetes.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But didn't know he had diabetes.

[Dax Shepard]

I love that black folks always say sugar diabetes. They never say diabetes. Always sugar diabetes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Or just the sugar.

[Dax Shepard]

If I had another table.

[Sterling K. Brown]

If you were a different kid.

[Dax Shepard]

The sugar. They're code switching for us.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And I'm here. Listen, Brown serves. Everybody had the sugar diabetes to, like,

[Lily Padman]

designate between type 1 and type 2. Or is that just. No, that's.

[Dax Shepard]

There's only sugar diabetes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

There's only sugar diabetes.

[Dax Shepard]

There's no one. There's no salt diabetes. No savory diabetes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Cinnamon diabetes. I knew he was young when he passed, and then When I hit 45, I was like, oh, man, I'm just getting started. I feel like life has so much more in front of me. Here's the other interesting thing. My brother likes to tell me this all the time because my brother's 14 years older than me, which makes Armin 63 now he'll turn 64. Brown's got 50 in a couple of months. Right? He said, you know, no men in our family on my mother's side or my dad's side have lived past 65. Black men have the lowest life expectancy in these United States, et cetera. Notorious for not going to the doctor, taking care of themselves. So I'm thankful to have a woman in my life by the name of Ryan Michelle, who refuses to let me be dumb. Yep, you need to get that checked out. Something hurts. Going back to high school football, I look at my white friends. I was like, man, why are you all black and blue, dude? What's that bruise? He's like, yeah, I don't know. And they'd be like, are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. Like, something feels weird. I'm chilling. You know what I'm saying?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So I go to the doctor. I try to take care of myself. You check out the prostate? You know, prostate exams and all these sorts of things. Because I'm determined not to be a statistic or. Just because something has been the case for everybody else doesn't mean that it has to be the case.

[Dax Shepard]

You have a good stubbornness. I do have a good stubbornness, yeah. It can be helpful sometimes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Absolutely.

[Lily Padman]

That sounds like the story of your whole life. Just don't place me in this box. I'm doing something else.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Thank you, Lily. Pat.

[Dax Shepard]

Someone else did a little research. How close were you with your dad before he died?

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's my dude.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You guys had a great relationship.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Dude. The best. A lot of folks, our generation. That's not always the case. There can be some sort of distance or whatnot. Men function as providers primarily and not necessarily as nurturers. Not Sterling Brown, man, this dude loved me unequivocally.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, look how fucking lovable you are right there.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Well, I appreciate that, but, like, he was that lovable, too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

We would sit up Friday night and watch Cinemax.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Like, Friday After Dark. Like, don't tell your mama we watched.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you're gonna see some titties, but we're not gonna Lot of titties.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But between you and me also, say, I appreciate your appreciation for the word titties. I feel like it's gone by the wayside. Thank you for bringing it back.

[Dax Shepard]

It's sweet.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It is sweet. It's soft. There's something soft about it.

[Dax Shepard]

My father, too. On my weekends with him, you could watch whatever the hell you wanted and he would cry.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Like, we would watch Pritzi's Honor and he'd be freaked out because he thought Pritzy just got shot and all this type of stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

And was he affectionate?

[Sterling K. Brown]

He refused to have me not be affectionate. I remember one time, he's like, all right, man, give your daddy a kiss. We would kiss and I go, okay, Dad. I hit him with the cheek. Are you too old to kiss your dad?

[Dax Shepard]

You know, no.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I'm like, no. And so now I got a 10 and a 14 year old and I do the same thing.

[Lily Padman]

Aren't you so glad he made you? Especially now, having lost him.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I have a friend of mine whose dad passed away a couple years ago, lived into his 80s, and he said to me, he goes, dude, I had my dad my whole life. I have no idea what he thought about me. That would be tough.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I think the interesting thing is everybody's doing the best they know how to until they know how to do better. And it often takes us having kids sometimes in order to realize, like, oh, he's just trying to figure this shit out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You know what I'm saying? Like, here's a question for you, and I wanted to ask you and Bel this at one point in time. I find it to be the most interesting thing and I want to give the flip to it. The way that you guys have your children and share your family on social media, I have the utmost of respect for it. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

In that we don't.

[Sterling K. Brown]

In that you don't.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I was talking to Belle one time and she was watching season one of paradise and she FaceTimed me. And then I saw your daughters and I was like, oh, my God, they're real.

[Dax Shepard]

They're real.

[Sterling K. Brown]

They got real faces and everything.

[Dax Shepard]

It's amazing.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But my question to you is, talk to me about the thought process in terms of their safety, their anonymity, and how you reach that place. Because I have a very specific take on it as well.

[Dax Shepard]

First and foremost, I don't care what anyone does. I literally, when I see other people, that's awesome. That's what they feel comfortable with. My thing is, number one, is like, safety. I don't want you to know what my daughters look like. You can see them on the sidewalk. You know a lot about me and them. You could act as if you know us. Hey, Delta, I just was with your dad. That could be tricky for an eight year old to navigate. Someone who knows a lot about me easily or mom 2. I've already put him in this crazy position where when they go out to eat with their family, they're gonna watch their mom and dad take pictures with people. That's unfair in my opinion. But it came with a lot of great stuff, so I think it's a wash. But I don't want them to be famous. I want them to be anonymous and make mistakes and not be in tabloids because they were at a nightclub and everyone knows them. Like, I want them to be able to fuck up and be completely anonymous. Yeah, man, that's my go. I must tell you this right now.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Go ahead.

[Dax Shepard]

I just left. I raced here from having talked to my daughter's fifth grade classroom. The teacher asked me, Ms. Brown, to come in and talk about Malala. Cause they're studying her. And we interviewed her and I said, okay. And she said, you know, you have an hour and a half. I said, Ms. Brown, I gotta get out, dude. I name dropped you intentionally, manipulatively. I said, okay, but I gotta get out at 12. Cause I'm interviewing Sterling, full name, Sterling k. Brown, at 12:30. And she went, oh, okay. Oh, you're interviewing. I said, go ahead, let it rip. Let it rip. I was on the phone with her. She said, well, I'm married. I'm married. I said, but did you see Paradise? She said, I watched Paradise. And I said, and did you see the buns? And she said, I saw the buns. So I completely used you as my easiest excuse to get out of class. But at any rate, one of the questions was, do you let Delta be on the podcast? And I'm like, yes. When it was audio only, she would. She would pop in. And it was so fun. And the listeners loved it. We loved it. I said, but once we went to video, I don't. And I had weirdly just explained this to her whole class.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, man.

[Dax Shepard]

Anyways. But yeah, tell me how you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So this is interesting because I agree and understand exactly what you're saying. And it's interesting because you have two girls, I have two boys. Your children are obviously white. My children are black. I feel like the more I put them on social, the safer they are.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, that's interesting. 100% sure, sure.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You know what I'm saying?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I was like, any proximity that black boys can have to some sort of celebrity or access or whatnot.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Status, leverage.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I'm like, I'm trying to make sure that they make it hard. That's really.

[Dax Shepard]

It isn't that incredibly intriguing?

[Sterling K. Brown]

It Fascinating. And I remember I was gonna ask Kristen about this one time. I was like, oh, no, I'm coming to the cast. I can just talk to you about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

It's so different.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That makes a ton of sense.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But anonymity is one of those things too, because here's another one. You just mentioned something. If I am out with Ryan and the boys, we have a policy of no pictures. And the policy is because they deserve to have a regular night. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It's their time.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And because Rya and I have a certain amount of spotlight or whatnot doesn't mean that they should receive less of us.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So if we go to an event where you specifically know you're taking pictures and everything, that's a whole nother thing. If I'm at a soccer game, which I'll be going to right after this.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, I thought that was so cute.

[Sterling K. Brown]

If I met anything, I'd be like, hey, guys, right now, I'm just a dad, but I appreciate the love.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You know what I'm saying? And most people are so sweet and so cool, and every once in a while, one out of a thousand, you'll be like, so you're not gonna take the picture? And you'd be like, not right now. I'm not even trying to be mean about it.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, my God. I'm gonna be thinking about that for so long. That just subtle difference between two people

[Dax Shepard]

who are very in the same situation in many ways.

[Lily Padman]

Exact same situation in so many ways, except one very specific way. And how that manifests is so wild.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, and heartbreaking, actually.

[Lily Padman]

So illuminating.

[Dax Shepard]

So when dad died at 10. Yes, sir. How fucked up did you get over that?

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's a good question. It took a lot of processing because raised Christian and really with the belief that the hereafter is a better thing, there's something better waiting for him. He had a minute of suffering, and I remember the day he passed away. This is February 5th, 1987. I wake up that morning, and my mom is in the kitchen, and she's on the phone with paramedics, 911. And she says, go to the bedroom and put some clothes on your dad. And I was like, put some clothes on your dad. I'm 10. Like, what are we doing?

[Dax Shepard]

That's his job.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I don't need to see, like, the monster out by the side. Right. So he's laid up buck naked, and he's wearing, like, bikini draws that I'm trying to, like, raise up over teeth.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And he could tell how Uncomfortable.

[Dax Shepard]

I was.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And he was probably just as uncomfortable. He's like, go get your mom. And he's stiff. He can't move. So I go back to the kitchen. I said, he asked for you. And she's like, boy, did not tell you to. You know what I'm saying? She's fraught, trying to get stuff done. So she goes, puts clothes on him. And the last time I saw him, I got a split level house. So you come in the front door. You can go upstairs or downstairs. The paramedics come in, they got the gurney. They get my dad out of the bedroom, and they're taking him down the steps. And as they're taking him down the steps, my man just winks at me real quick.

[Lily Padman]

Aw.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Like, one wink. And that was the last time I ever saw him. Because they didn't want me to go to the hospital. They thought it might be too much for the next few weeks. People are bringing food and, you know, I'm so sorry. And I think when you're 10, what you want is to get back to some sense of normalcy as quickly as possible. It's weird to have people cry over you or extend too much because I think also being a boy, slash, now you have to be a man. There's this idea that I gotta keep it together. I'd never seen my mom cry until then. That's the first time I saw Arlene lose it. And I was like, well, everybody can't lose it. That was one of the predominant thoughts in my head, was like, no, everybody can't lose it. More than anything was sort of figuring out if he is in a better place. How much of a right do I have to miss him?

[Lily Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's confusing.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Does that make sense?

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's complicated.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I think I've just said that for the first time.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, if this is real, why are we all.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, but he's in heaven. Like, everybody should be good about it.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'll be rejoined. We'll all be rejoined.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And I don't. I don't negate that. I believe in life after life, et cetera. And I don't know if it's pearly gates and everything, but I do believe that energy isn't created or destroyed. It just sort of transmutes and become something else. At age 15, almost 16, I think. Sophomore year of high school, I had this weird feeling of just man. I haven't heard my dad's name in the longest time. I one time had, like, a lucid dream where I dreamt he had lived this whole life like an episode of Star Trek where I went, what's the place in Star Trek where you can like live out on Next Generation?

[Dax Shepard]

Anyway, you really did go to Stanford? Yeah, I just thought of we're not nerdy enough.

[Sterling K. Brown]

The holodeck. I had this whole lucid dream about my dad. Lived this whole life and like got a chance to see his grandchildren and he like passed away in his 80s and everything like that. And I woke up and I was astonished that it was a dream.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And that was close to when I was like, man, I haven't heard Sterling Brown's name in a long time. I was like, wait a minute, that's my name too.

[Lily Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Cause you had been going by Kelby, Kelby, kelby.

[Sterling K. Brown]

The first 16 years.

[Dax Shepard]

Certainly was too many letters.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Sterling was too many letters.

[Dax Shepard]

According to mom, that is what she said.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's like, Sterling is eight letters, Kelby is five letters. Hey, man, I'm a shake. You really do the damn thing.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to point something out.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

My dream in life would be if I can be dying and look at my girls. Yeah, that'll be the Hail Mary touchdown. The fact that your dad was dying and his 10 year old little boy was trying to put clothes on him because he loved him. What a fucking gift you gave him. I mean, that is the dream departure.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, man.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's fucking mega.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Thank you, man. Yeah, I appreciate that.

[Lily Padman]

He did a good job. He made a son that was able to try in that moment.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, he did his work. He's good.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's fucking rap.

[Lily Padman]

Very special.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

How did Arlene support you all once he was out of the picture?

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's a great question because mom shortly retired afterwards. You have to understand her thinking. It contributes a lot to my thinking, although I think I've sort of shifted it a little bit. Mom was a born again Christian at age 40. I was born when she was 34. So from the time that I was 6 on, she would sort of make me speak in tongues with her for like 15 minutes a day.

[Dax Shepard]

That's wild.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah. And I'd be like. And I'm like, I'm not sure what I'm saying. No, I'm talking to God.

[Dax Shepard]

It's great acting training actually. They make you do shit like that.

[Lily Padman]

Can you believe it? When you were doing.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So this is the thing, right? I think about this and I remember I was doing Hamlet one time and playing Claudius and he says, he has this line, he goes, my words fly up my thoughts Remain below Words without thoughts never to heaven go. And so what it made me think is, whatever these utterances that are coming out of my mouth, what is in my heart is what is really most important. So I would sort of pick a point of focus. And it's basically just meditation with utterance. And once you pick that point of focus and what it is that you wish to put out into the world, how you wish to show up so that you're responsive and not reactive, like, it just sort of became my meditation practice.

[Lily Padman]

Interesting.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And then it did feel very connected. At first when I thought it was about the words. Then it was just like, I don't know what's happening. But then it was about what's happening here and what's happening here.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, that is very acting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it is. Think of all those insane things they make you do. Even also just getting over self consciousness, like committing to speaking in tongues is a big bleep of face.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You're like, here we go.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going start talking gibberish. Let's see.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She would bring other boys from the neighborhood, like, try to make them speak in tongues with me. And I was like, this is my favorite because I know what's happening and I know what's going on inside these Negroes minds as well. And Arlene is just like, don't you feel good? They're like, yes, ma', am. Whatever you say.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's great.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Wow. So she retired shortly after because she believed the Holy Spirit, God would find her needs. So there's Social Security from Dad's passing. There's Social Security for her. Mine cuts off at 18 or something like that. But we just really lived beneath our means. My brother came back and helped for a little bit. My sister came back and helped. Cause she's 12 years older. The Slaughters, they showed up.

[Dax Shepard]

The Slaughters show up.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Everybody did their part. This is how tight things were. My mom's senior year of high school, she didn't want me to have senioritis. She wanted me to, like, finish strong. Because, you know, second semester I was like, I got into school, we doing right now. She's like, if you get straight A's second semester, I give you $1,000. I was like, say less, homie.

[Dax Shepard]

I got you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I bust out these A's or whatnot. Arlene Brown is a woman of her word. Lays that thousand dollars on your boy, right? About a week later or so, she goes, listen to me, it's going to

[Dax Shepard]

last you four days in the Bay Area.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You got you got this cash and you totally earned it. But mommy has some bills that I have to take care of. Could I borrow some money from you? I said, you know, I'm. I just take. And she said, that's not. I said, no, no, no, no, no, take it. It's all good. That moment when I went to school. Cause Stanford was wild. Was awesome. My wife and I have this conversation. We thought everybody was going to be like us, meaning the black people at Stanford. And by us, I mean, okay, I filled out this fafsa. I ain't got a whole lot of income to report. Help a brother out. Mr. Clinton, right?

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

My wife, her dad was like a chief informations officer for different Fortune 500 companies. They wound up retiring to North Carolina and building a 14,000 square foot home.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh my goodness.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Okay, so we're from the opposite side of the tracks. So she thought everybody was gonna be bougie and I thought everybody was gonna be like hustlers. And then we wound up hooking up with each other. It was a moment of like, I don't have the same thing to fall back on that other people do. So whatever it is I'm going to do, know, Brown, that you're gonna have to figure out it out.

[Lily Padman]

Nothing's getting handed to me.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Nothing's getting handed.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, but before we commit to Stanford, you also got recruited a little bit

[Sterling K. Brown]

to play college football. I recruited to a couple of D3 schools, Claremont McKenna out here. I wanted some place that was academically challenging and I liked the Claremont College's Pomona and all that type of stuff. But then it felt like a little bit too much like my high school. And I think I wanted something a little bit different.

[Dax Shepard]

So it wasn't that tempting to try to pursue that.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Not enough for another four years of being a raisin in the sky.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you know what I'm saying?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Like I told my college counselor, I said, I either want sunshine because I'm from St. Louis and it gets cold, or I want black people.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And I wound up getting both of them. But the thing about Stanford is they show up spring quarter and it's like gorgeous. But the bay, it get cold, it gets real chilly. But they bring you like in May, June, you're like, oh, this is.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just damp, right? For half the year. It's just, you're.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I thought it was supposed to be like sunny all the time.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so Stanford, you go for business and economics and then you do an internship at the Fed. I'm fascinated way more than the acting. You interning at the Federal Reserve. Where did you go for this internship?

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's the thing. I was hoping to work with the economists and everything, but I was really in the Human resources department, and it was not at all what I wanted to be doing. I had worked at Ralston Purina before that. I was in an internship program called Inroads, for minority students who wanted to do business in industry. So it was that sort of track. And then anytime I did anything with any of these companies, I was like, this is so boring. Yeah, there's no room for real creativity. And I was a math nerd. I did BC Calculus, AP Econ, et cetera. And I wasn't really even getting a chance to really use those skills. They didn't have a perfect internship for me. It felt like Arlene Brown deserved an ROI on her investment. And so the easiest way is to do something that is safe. But then as you get a little bit older, you realize you can be unhappy doing something that you don't want to do. So why not try and do something that actually excites you?

[Lily Padman]

Sure.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And if you fail at that, then you can at least say, like, well, at least I tried to do something that, like, lights me up on the inside instead of what people think you should do.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair expert, if you dare. We are supported by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's smart. Not checking the pockets of your jeans before doing laundry. Classic oversight. That mystery clunking in the dryer. Yeah, that was your lip balm's final moments. And somehow there's always one random receipt in there to dissolve into confetti. 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, conditions and availability. Allstate North America Insurance Company Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We are supported by HubSpot. Did you know that most businesses, Monica, only use 20% of their data?

[Lily Padman]

That's like reading a book with most of the pages torn out.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, or paying for a coffee that's 1/5 full.

[Lily Padman]

Yuck.

[Dax Shepard]

Point is, you miss a lot unless you use HubSpot. Their customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs and transcripts. All that unstructured data, that makes all the difference. Because when you know more, you grow more. And when you get a full cup of coffee, you can do more, too. But I digress visit HubSpot.com today. Okay. Now, when I'm researching people, generally what I get fascinated in is a. All the things that overlap that I can relate to, and then the things that I can't relate to become fascinations for me. So you meet Ryan freshman year.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You've now been with her for 31 years.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Well, we've known each other for 31 years. As Shakespeare says, the course of true love did never run smooth. So there was together, apart, together, apart, together.

[Dax Shepard]

Because I don't know about you, I've not met a lot of kids, males from divorce and in your case through death, that don't have this where when your dad's not there, you do become by proxy partner. And you feel the sense of that responsibility.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You do.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's a little bit burdensome to your mother. To your mother. You kind of grow up in a relationship that is a little more complex. You know, you're a little more responsible for her emotional state than otherwise than the dad would be normally handling. So for me, it was like I would fall in love and I really loved a lot of people, but I just was like, I can't take on another one of these. I'm afraid. I just got out of this. I just got out of an 18 year relationship is a little bit what I felt like. So I'm kind of shocked by that commitment wise.

[Lily Padman]

You're like, I don't want to commit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I'm just a little afraid. In fact, the second I realized, like, I love the shit out of this girl, like I could probably be with her forever, I'm like, oh, fuck, man. I already had that. And I just got out of that.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Our relationship was. Is great. So my brother is sort of like the dude who takes on man of the house type stuff. But like, my mom and I have this sort of of deep friendship where we could talk about anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Same, same, same, Right.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She's like, you know, when I was out on the road with different bands, the way I kept myself safe, I kept my pistol in my purse. I was like, okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Way before the Lord editors.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, yeah. Just way before the Lord.

[Dax Shepard]

No tongues yet.

[Sterling K. Brown]

My mom was the born again Christian who before that was like, what's your sign? And like, we'll give you like your horoscope sort of thing. So she had both things. But I didn't date a lot. I think I. I was very shy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Began drinking going into freshman year of high school specifically for liquid courage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could talk to anybody for anything. But as soon as I'm attracted to you, it's like high. It's terrible.

[Dax Shepard]

It's unimaginable, isn't it? I know. You're so goddamn charismatic.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I would sweat like. It was awful.

[Lily Padman]

Wow.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Right? Sex 21.

[Dax Shepard]

My goodness. So why?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Well, because Ryan Michelle. I mean, no, not Ryan Michelle. Arlene. That's Freudian. Arlene would often tell me, as a born Christian, she'd be walking around and she'd tell me, like, all the joys of sex and how you don't be just that man that just does little pumps and everything. You gotta do this and everything, worship your lady. Then she'd go, but you know, fornication's a sin. And I'd be like, yes, ma', am. I know. And I remember one time, one of her best friends had daughters and one daughter had body. And I remember thinking to myself, and she would flirt with me and I'd hear in my mom's head, fornication is a sin. And it kind of saved me because old girl wound up having, like, three kids before high school was done. It wasn't my trajectory. Yeah, yeah. Her trajectory wasn't my trajectory. But as I look back on it, I wish so much of my decision making wasn't based in fear.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I don't mind holding out for someone that I have real feelings for because I do think that sex is as emotional or should be in its best form. Emotional and physically gratifying. Right. There should be some sort of soul connection. I've had sex where it's just enjoyable for enjoyed sake.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like pizza. It's all good, right? But there's spectacular pizza.

[Sterling K. Brown]

There's levels to this game, you know what I'm saying? And so as I raised these boys, I say, I want you to have life experience. I want you to enjoy yourself. I'm not hanging the same thing that was hung over my head. In terms of fornication being a sin, I want you to be respectful. I want to make sure that you looking out for your partner the same way that you hope that she's looking out for you and that hopefully you have genuine feelings for this person, especially the first time. I hope that the first time is something you look back on and is positive feelings.

[Dax Shepard]

But the commitment, did you suffer at all in the beginning?

[Sterling K. Brown]

So once Ryan, Michelle and I sort of really got in there. There is a strange tug of war, bro. I don't know if Belle and your mom experienced this or if they were just like peas in a pot.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to hear a lot more. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Go ahead. You were young.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah. You're her little boy. And now you're somebody else's man.

[Dax Shepard]

And nobody can be good enough for you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Nobody. I think my mom fought the good fight.

[Dax Shepard]

I think she smelled this is going to be the woman that takes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She kept a relationship with Ryan. Even once we broke, they would talk to each other on the phone. I'd be like, mama, why you talking to her? We done moved over here. Now we're on to this one. We sizzling bacon is over there. We done moved up. But like, they kept the relationship going. And then when we got back together, my mom was like, I knew.

[Dax Shepard]

And she probably did immediately.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She rooted for me.

[Dax Shepard]

What's the saying? It's like a son is a son until he takes a wife. A daughter's a daughter for life. This is an old fashioned saying.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It is, but my wife feels that because you have daughters and you know you're going to be taken care of. These dudes are gone. I'm figuring out how to take care of myself.

[Dax Shepard]

My best friend in la, I always fuck with him because he's got two boys. I'm like, dude, you better stay healthy. Like, I can get as sick as I want. These girls, I'm telling you, their dad,

[Sterling K. Brown]

this is why we drink the water.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Your dudes are going to fucking drop by a couple times and wave.

[Sterling K. Brown]

They're going to stick around. My wife, like, she grieves it a little bit. She says, like when the boys have kids, she's not going to be invited into the room. Her mom is going to be invited into the room.

[Dax Shepard]

Although you might raise the boys that break all this and I might raise the girls that ditch their father maybe.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Again, see to what you said earlier, I don't believe in trying to go along with what's been. It doesn't necessarily have to apply to me.

[Lily Padman]

You can create your own situation.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You can create your own situation. My daughters in law, if I wind up having daughters in law, they may not marry. They may do something completely different if I have them. They're gonna love me.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You're gonna make sure Brown is gonna get an invitation.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

My parents dealing with this right now too, because my brother's girlfriend is pregnant.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

And culturally, Indian parents are in there.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Totally.

[Lily Padman]

They're there for months once the baby's born. My brother's girlfriend is not Indian. And so I can tell for my mom, she's not Indian. And it's her son. It's not me.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Totally.

[Lily Padman]

And I did not provide that for them. So I can see she wants so bad and they're letting her. But it's a tricky situation for her because she's like, yeah, can I be in there? Like, I want to be in there.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

That's my expectation. But it's different when it's your son.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Very different.

[Lily Padman]

It's weird. It shouldn't be, though.

[Dax Shepard]

No, shouldn't.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It shouldn't be, but it is. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

That doesn't work out. It's boring. We commit to acting, then we go to nyu, to Tisch for graduate school for acting. Now, my curiosity there is you and Bel are there at the exact same time. Of course. Her undergrad.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She's an undergrad. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

But I think the same year, maybe 98.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, 98 to 01. Did she graduate 02 or.

[Dax Shepard]

She didn't graduate. She didn't graduate.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She was on Broadway before she graduated.

[Lily Padman]

She's like, can't stick around.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She's a wunderken. She's ridiculous. She sure is.

[Dax Shepard]

We have much different trajectories, which is why we're a good team. Why do you graduate school? Were you a little bit afraid to jump right in and thought, you know what? Let me get to the place and have a little bit of a structure? Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It felt raw.

[Dax Shepard]

And your pattern had been when I tell you you gotta do X, Y and Z, you do X, Y and Z, and you're on sports teams.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Somebody said you should think about grad school, because I think that you have a lot of talent. There's more potential that can be honed and have, like, a bag of skills that you can take into the world and sort of make yourself as hireable as possible because it's such a transient occupation to begin with. But if you can go on stage, if you can do voiceover, if you can sing a little bit, then it gives you that many more tools that are marketable and can gift you a job.

[Dax Shepard]

I love that you're still playing it safe as you can within this thing that is basically Hail Mary box.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, totally.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you graduate from there and I guess 2000 with your MFA.

[Sterling K. Brown]

2001.

[Dax Shepard]

2001, yep. And the first big thing is this play. In 2002, I wound up doing this

[Sterling K. Brown]

play by Bertolt Brecht called the Resistible rise of Arturo Ui. It was directed by this dude, Simon McBurney. He's a Brit. He has a theater company called Theater Complicite, and he Gets Al Pacino to play the main role in this. It's like a gangster story that Brecht wrote. And the cast, it's Chaz Palminteri, Al Pacino, Charles Durning, Steve Buscemi, Paul Giamatti, Billy Crudup, Linda Eamon and Sterling K. Brown. So I was the reader.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I love this already.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Reader for the production, which means tell

[Dax Shepard]

people what the reader does.

[Sterling K. Brown]

The talent comes in and they audition. And you're the person that reads with the people who are auditioning to be a part of the show. Right. John Goodman was in this thing. And so I had just torn my ACL and I was doing Shakespeare in the Park. I was doing Twelfth Night in the Park. It was Zach Braff, it was Oliver Platt. It was a whole bunch of people, right? And I had to lose my part because I tore my acl. I got replaced by David Harbour.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my goodness. Who you then do a play with in 06 or something.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I haven't done a play with Harbor.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you haven't?

[Sterling K. Brown]

No. But his career did just fine after he finished Being in the Park. So I had to leave the play. And then the casting director's like, come be a reader for me. And so I'm a reader and I'm listening to all these wonderful people come in and talk about the show. And at the end of it, the director, why don't you be a part of this thing?

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I was like, are you serious? And he's like, yeah, I've seen you read. I see how you interact with the talent. I think you'd be a perfect fit. So get this. We had eight weeks of rehearsal for a four week run. This is unheard of, right? Like, it was like theater camp. I was just out of school and I got a chance to watch all these people do improv.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Your heroes are just like on the same playing field doing shit that nobody

[Lily Padman]

else gets to see.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And you get a front row seat. I'm just like popping popcorn and just going nuts. It was amazing.

[Dax Shepard]

Who was the most kind of mind blowing that you would find yourself telling other people, like, okay, fucking so and so was doing.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I have an answer. And this is not downgrading anybody else, because everybody else.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I know what you're going to say.

[Sterling K. Brown]

No, you don't.

[Lily Padman]

Crude up.

[Sterling K. Brown]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But Billy is the shit.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What a monster.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's Goodman.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, I could see that.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Goodman's different.

[Dax Shepard]

Goodman will fuck you up.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Fuck your whole shit up. Like, because he can do impersonations. His commitment and just level of depth. It can be serious and it can be fucking laugh out loud hysterical.

[Lily Padman]

The range.

[Sterling K. Brown]

He was special.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I like that. How did Al Pacino and you interact?

[Sterling K. Brown]

He was great.

[Dax Shepard]

I've never met him. I only know the Persona. It seems wild.

[Sterling K. Brown]

He loves to play chess, right? And he's like, come on, you want to play? And we're sitting around, we're playing chess, and the whole time he's talking shit. He's like, I wouldn't do that. You do your game, Al. I'll do mine. We played like five times. I beat him 4 to 1. I beat him 4 to 1.

[Lily Padman]

9.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yes. Brown, don't back up to nobody.

[Dax Shepard]

This was pointed out about you in an LA Times article where it's like, you're very, very positive and glass half full. And yet you're very competitive.

[Lily Padman]

Very competitive.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, almost anything that you get challenged, whatever. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I love that.

[Dax Shepard]

You remember what the total of that was 24 years ago.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Four to one.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

He would also learn from watching him and everybody else in the space as well is as a young actor, sometimes you fool yourself into thinking that you have to have your shit figured out from jump and you sort of deny yourself a process of sort of being messy before you find something. Al was so messy. You got a chance to see it just layer and build and become this beautiful thing.

[Dax Shepard]

That is so encouraging. You think all these guys are just born. Like, Brando came out and he can do that?

[Sterling K. Brown]

No. They put in work.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Did you have imposter syndrome syndrome?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But if any dude had been confronting that his entire life, he's at the country day school where he could have imposter syndrome. He's at Stanford where he could have, like, you've had some practice.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I didn't audition.

[Lily Padman]

He just offered you this thing. You're kiss this kid out of school. I'd be like, oh, my.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So what I looked at is I didn't have much to do in the show, but I was part of the ensemble and I got a chance to move around. What I looked at it more as. As just an instructional sort of intention. I'm gonna absorb as much as I can from this possible experience and see how I can use it moving forward.

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And beyond just the talent part. And this is where Crudup comes in, specifically. And Giamatti and Buscemi and pretty much the whole cast. I would say when you are confident and secure in what you bring to the table, you have no desire to make other people feel small.

[Lily Padman]

Yes, that's so true.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And that was massive because you'll come across egos, and you really recognize that the egos are also sort of masquerading their own insecurity big because they feel like there's something that they're not having that has to make them act out in a particular way. And when you're around people that are like, oh, no, my shit is tight, they just say, hey, Brown, what you doing? Come on, let's play. And that was probably the biggest lesson out of anything.

[Lily Padman]

That's a life lesson. That's everyone. Massive how we're walking around life.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You know where I saw that to the nth degree is I did two different USO tours in Afghanistan, and I would be around the normal enlisted dudes moving up to the Rangers, who are more specialized. But there is a ton of machismo among the normal ranks. Every time I got to go to the Special Forces range or hang with the Special Forces, all those dudes are so low key.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

There's not one brag.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I get it.

[Dax Shepard]

The difference between knowing you're the baddest motherfucker in the world and hoping everyone thinks you are.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It hits different. It's quiet, it's calm. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Now I only have it to look at. I know how I would have felt in this situation, but I am so curious.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You're a genuinely curious person. This is why you guys are so successful. You have genuine curiosity and you put yourself in the position of trying to have profound empathy. And I have to say, it is a wonderful Model D for a white man to do that, because not a lot of.

[Dax Shepard]

Not a lot of.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And I'm just saying I'm witnessing and feeling it and I respect it and I appreciate it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, well, thank you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You're welcome.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you so much. So between 02 and 16, you work, but you're guest starring. Dude, you did every fucking show. You were on er, you were on the nypd. You were on anything that was in New York. It's hard to find a show probably between 02 and 16 that you weren't in.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you a regular on Army Wives? Because that was six years I was

[Sterling K. Brown]

a regular on Army Wives.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Six years.

[Dax Shepard]

In that 14 years. You did get six years of stability.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I did.

[Dax Shepard]

But was it maddening to be so fucking close to safety and stability and just being like, why aren't I? Did you ever get frustrated during that? Were the plays keeping you? Like, how are you navigating that zone of being almost at the party?

[Sterling K. Brown]

I don't even know if I considered the party to be the end game. I think the end game for me was paying bills, doing the thing that I loved. That was the agreement that I had with God when I graduated from nyu. I was like, look, we spent a lot of money on this degree. I know there's no guarantees on anything, but if I could just pay the bills doing this thing that gives me so much joy, I would be completely happy. And God met me in that place. Army wife, specifically. I just gotten married. My wife made us buy this condo with an adjustable rate mortgage. And I was like, this shit don't feel right in New York. No, it was in la. Oh, okay, okay. And she's like, well, you don't have to put money down to get a house. I was like, that's not what my mama told me.

[Dax Shepard]

This is just before the 08 explosion.

[Sterling K. Brown]

This is just when we bought an old signal.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, God.

[Dax Shepard]

They would give a guy with a parrot on his shoulder a $2 million loan.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Anything. I would tell Ryan. I was like, look, Rye, I think we can afford this. And she come in like 100,150 over that. And I'm like, woman, you ain't listening to me.

[Lily Padman]

But she came from money.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Lily Padman]

The background is so different.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You guys understand that? See, I love that when Army Watch came around, it was like, okay, here's an opportunity to work. And I have a wife and I have a condo. I remember her saying to me before I tested for five pilots, right? Before Army Wives. And I hadn't booked any of them. And she goes, well, maybe you should move back to New York, right? Cause things aren't working out for you. I was like, what? I just tested for five pilots. Like, what are you talking about? But she felt bad about asking me to live in LA and not have the same level of work. Cause I was working in theater all the time. But that's when the show came around and I was like, it's a good part. It's lifetime. I know it's like, not the big deal, but I will have stability.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I'll be able to provide. And that was big. And paid off student loans. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, there's nothing like the security of a TV show. Show. Dude, it is so com.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Come on. Yeah. South.

[Lily Padman]

South Carolina.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Charleston, South Carolina. This was an interesting time in marriage. Cuz we had like the six week rule because she couldn't audition from Charleston. Because you're still going into the room. Like it wasn't on tape. Six weeks is too Long. I want to say that to all marriages.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Don't do that. Two, three.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And then get. Somebody needs to get on a plane to go see each other.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. We've had the two week rule since we met. It's a really solid rule. It's a good rule. Yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But so what I thought was, I'm winning. Like, this is what I wanted. I wanted to be able to work at this thing. I wanted to be able to do different characters. Somebody will see it. There was never a matter in my mind of will I not be successful. But successful just meant going from job to job.

[Dax Shepard]

Safety, I think, is success.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So you talking about 2016. You talk about people versus OJ that pilot season, I tested for a few pilots. I tested for the OJ Pilot. I remember getting the script, and then I remember going to the bathroom and shaving my head. I didn't even think about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, can we back up?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Go ahead.

[Dax Shepard]

We both watched the O.J. trial real time.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, we did.

[Dax Shepard]

I loved Darden. Like, what were your feelings about Darden?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Did not love him.

[Dax Shepard]

You didn't love him.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Knew.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me more.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I was on the other side. The thing about the trial. And I was at school at the time, I lived in this black dorm on campus, ujima House. It was half black and half. And at the verdict in the TV lounge, you saw the black people erupt with a fusion. You saw everybody else be like, what are y' all talking about?

[Dax Shepard]

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Because you have to understand, for us, it wasn't necessarily about his innocence or guilt. It was about seeing the criminal justice system work for someone who looked like us. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And the doc did an incredible job. The doc is so good on this. And the two points I love from that document was people need to remember how quickly that trial followed Rodney King. So you saw the guiltiest motherfuckers in the world walk. You were like, oh, yeah, Guess what? How's that feel? This is what it feels like. There was a great lawyer in that doc who said it was the fifth quarter. That a lot of times he played football and sometimes your team lost. But sometimes there was a fifth quarter in the parking lot, and sometimes you could win the fifth quarter in the parking lot. And he said, this is the fifth quarter.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good.

[Dax Shepard]

I love all that. But I just thought Darden was, like, a cool dude. I was like, this guy has been put in the worst position. They've clearly said, who do we have that's black? Totally that we can put in front of this jury.

[Lily Padman]

Well, let's remind people who that character is for people who did not follow the trial.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Chris Darden was on the side of the prosecution against O.J. simpson fighting for Nicole Brown and Goldman. So it was Marcia Clark and Chris Darden fighting against the dream team with Johnnie Cochran and all the high powered lords. And it was like somebody was ready for camera. Somebody was not. I mean, Darden looked fine. Marsh's perm was rough. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

[Dax Shepard]

Like, poor Marsh.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Not ready for prime time players. Right. Against these guys. It's interesting. So now in getting a chance to do the show, it was a matter of seeing things from a very different perspective, Having a profound level of empathy for someone that I did not have

[Dax Shepard]

necessarily for before they put this black dude in the worst situation, he has to turn against his community for this.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Our position is, why would you sign up for this? Why are you going to be on the wrong side, bro? Going back to the test and reading it. And then I jumped on YouTube and started looking at different clips of interviews and court footage and then just shaved my head. I didn't even think about it. I was like, my hair will grow back. I shave my head all the time. And I looked in the mirror and I was like, yeah, this works. Going for the audition. And I remember the casting director telling me, you go into these auditions, there's times when you know you're in the pocket and there's times in which you know that you're not. I was like, brown's in the pocket. And she said, I think you're a better actor than he is a lawyer. Can you muddy it up a little bit?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, interesting.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I said, watch me work. Say less. You know? And I knew exactly what she meant and did it. And like, you can see people sort of lean forward, you got a little

[Dax Shepard]

clumsier, do like the little thing.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And then didn't hear anything for about four months.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, God, that's horrible.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I thought it had gone away, bro. I was on my IMDb Pro and I was doing this thing where I was looking at all the things I had tested for and who had booked them.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, boy.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I was like, oh, Bo Keem got Fargo season two. That's cool. And as I'm doing that, I got a phone call saying, they want you to screen test for OJ And I get the show. Now there's a minute of imposter syndrome. Cause I was like, one of these things is not like the others. I know who all you motherfuckers are. Y' all don't know who Brown is, But I did have to audition for it, and I did have to show that I was worthy of it.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

You earned it.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I had a friend of mine who always tells me, you can't be a fan and in the game at the same time. So you have a moment of being like, oh, man, I really enjoy your work. I appreciate what you bring to the table. Okay, let's play Dartmouth.

[Lily Padman]

Exactly. Yes. I love that.

[Dax Shepard]

Again, I think you've been doing this your whole life, maybe. I loved that show. Thank you. Like crazy. I didn't have any baggage with Darden, so I was like, this guy's crushing Darden. Did you ever meet him or hang with him? You look nervous. This is a mischievous question.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So I had one moment as I was preparing for it where I was trying to reach out and make comments. I found a number, like, on Yelp, and I called the number, and it was clear to me when I called it that it was a cell phone. I thought it was just an office number, but it was a cell phone, so I hung up. And then he texted back, almost like a who dis? Type of thing. I was like, hello, sir. My name is Sterling K. Brown. I've been tasked with portraying you in the upcoming limited series, which I'm sure

[Dax Shepard]

you want nothing to do, you know what I'm saying?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Like, would you be interested in meeting for coffee or something like that? Nothing.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And you know what? As I watch him after the trial, I feel like there's still a level of shell shock I'm sure that exists in his life that he may have never sort of fully been back.

[Dax Shepard]

You want to talk about a traumatic experience massively again, now that you've played him. What that dude was shouldering, and then he doesn't win at the end of it all.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's often not in a case that

[Dax Shepard]

seemed to everybody to be the easiest case ever to prosecute this poor dude.

[Lily Padman]

They got famous. They're lawyers. That's not their plan. That's not what they want. I feel like the Dream Team liked that they were ready. They wanted to be superstars. The fact that they were the Dream team in itself was that. But for the prosecution, they were not ready for what was coming.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But it's interesting because, like, I did get a chance to meet Marsha because her and Paulson got pretty chummy with each other. This is so Hollywood. We were at a birthday party party for Princess Leia Carrie Fisher at that

[Dax Shepard]

crazy house of hers on Laurel at

[Sterling K. Brown]

the crazy house of hers. And Marsh is there, and we're shooting, and I was like, I feel like I know you. She looks at me and she goes, I feel like I know you too.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that's right.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And we hugged each other right as we left, she kissed me on the lips like this. And that's all I needed.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You know what I'm saying?

[Dax Shepard]

Like, it was like.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Okay. Told me everything I needed to know. Interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I was saying this, too, because she was able to show up in a way that she no longer carried the trial with her.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Whereas for Chris, I think it's different.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't help but feel very bad for that dude.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know his backstory, but I'm imagining he wasn't one of 20 black lawyers, and he probably wasn't one of 20 black lawyers in college.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's a lonely road to hope for.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Lonely. Okay. So that's incredible. You win an Emmy for that?

[Sterling K. Brown]

That. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Did the bump of that have any role in this Is Us, or was that happening simultaneous, simultaneously?

[Sterling K. Brown]

20th Century Fox Television was the studio behind this Is Us and People versus OJ I got a chance to walk into an audition with what?

[Dax Shepard]

Buzz? Yes. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah. You're always trying to figure out, like, what is buzz? Like, how do people know that people are about to do something or whatnot? Like, it hasn't come out yet, but the people have been watching the dailies and seeing something come together, and they'd be like, you should make sure he auditions for this.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. The system starts working for you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

The system starts working for you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it feels good, doesn't it?

[Lily Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's scary because the system will stop working for you. You feel that even more than you felt the heat arrive. You feel the cold coming hard and fast.

[Sterling K. Brown]

No. No.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not for me. You'll never lose the heat. But I have had the heat. The not heat. The heat. Okay, so quickly, I just want to say you're already immediately debunking the claim I made with Marcelo Hernandez just two weeks ago. Only white folks are named Randall. My middle name's Randall. You played Randall. But then again, you were raised by white folks, so that kind of makes sense.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Kind of fits, doesn't it?

[Dax Shepard]

Kind of makes sense.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Randall Cunningham.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's the only other one I can come. Randy Jackson. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

He ain't going by Randall. Yeah. Yeah. And now I want to own my shame and guilt, which is.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Give it to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Parenthood went off the air the same year they picked up this is Us. I may have even told you this when I run it. I think.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I think I've heard you, like, I can't watch.

[Dax Shepard]

Felt similar to me. And I was like, wait, y' all just told us you don't want to do a Dr. And then now you got this show? And then even bigger dagger in the heart. It's an enormous hit.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It was huge.

[Lily Padman]

So I'm like, it was huge.

[Dax Shepard]

They just greenlit Parenthood 2.0, but now it's a hit. And so I never watched it. I never watched it. Even though I love Dan Fogman, I love his writing, and I should have watched it, but I just didn't because I was too hurt by NBC.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I get that Dan is able to come up with a hook that still makes it a family drama, but has like this sort of time jumping element and this connective tissue that, like, oh, you're gonna figure out at the end of these episodes that these people are connected in ways that you didn't anticipate. So he's good at giving you the thing that we grew up on and the thing that Parenthood did so well. And then also this sort of extra element that brings people in.

[Dax Shepard]

I think he's a plot machine. Most people that write dialogue as well as him are not plot machines. He somehow is both.

[Sterling K. Brown]

He's both. As we would read the episodes, we'd be like, this dude is a fucking mad genius. Like, he just keeps coming up with crazy shit. And now I get a chance to do a second show with him. I was like, oh, it's not just in this arena, wherever you are, he can come up with some dope shit.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. My few questions about this show that I haven't seen, embarrassingly, did you and Dan immediately. Vodka immediately.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I remember going in for the audition or the meeting. So the directors of our pilot, John Requer, Glenn Ficara, directed me in a movie called Whiskey Tango Foxtrot that stars Tina Fey.

[Dax Shepard]

They also wrote Bad Santa. I want to add, they also wrote Bad Santa Santa, one of the best Christmas movies of all time.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's fantastic. They had me in that family and they knew my work from there. I had heat from these directors that I had just worked with the studio, which is doing the show. 20th century was like, oh, we're seeing this guy, what he's doing in oj and so I go into this meeting with Dan and I'm carrying a football. It's like, My Linus security blanket. I almost brought it today, but I was like, all right, brown, you're almost 50. You should carry the football everywhere. He always talks about. He's like, who is this guy with this fucking football? And he's like, coming in here, I have never felt more comfortable because this is the first time with buzz and more clarity. On the set of People versus OJ Producers would come up to me and they would say, hey, man, you're cutting together really well. I say, thanks, man. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the work. They come up to Sarah, you guys are like, the heart of the show. And I'm like, oh, really? That's cool. Like, I'm happy you're happy with the work. It took a moment for somebody to actually, like, grab me by the shoulders and be like, no, dude, shit is popping.

[Lily Padman]

This is a big deal.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't miss it.

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's what I'm saying. Because for a long time, my career, like, what you're talking about from 02 to 16, is showing up, doing a serviceable job and going home. But, like, people are, like, looking at you now and being like, no, bro, I don't think you get it.

[Lily Padman]

There's no going home.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It was different. And even, like, going in to Dan, and then I remember doing the audio. I would work on the lines at OJ while they were covering, like, the defense table, and I'd be sitting next to Paulson. Like, Paulson, I'm reading the script. I think it's the next job. And she's like, go get that shit. And so I would be working on the lines or whatnot. I go into the audition like it was butter. And then I had people come up to me and be like, you sure you don't want to, like, hold out for movies? And my whole thing right now? And I think you're going to vibe on this. I love watching these young people grow up. Like these kids that I have at my house that have my DNA in them. The opportunity to get a chance to work, to be creatively fulfilled, to be compensated well and go home at night and see them. I'm winning.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I'm winning.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So my questions, I guess on the show again, you get nominated, Won an

[Sterling K. Brown]

Emmy, won a Golden Globe, won a few things.

[Dax Shepard]

When it was ending, what kind of feelings were you having?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Dan always said it was going to be six seasons. I have six seasons of story. He had a beginning, middle of end. He knew where he wanted the show to end. And I was like, if that's the end of your video vision. Let's not force it beyond that. Right. So I was very happy, and then I'm always excited to do the next thing. Especially, like, the next thing that's a little scary. Wind up getting an opportunity to do American Fiction. This is different for Brown. I haven't done this, and I love to zig when people think you're going to zag. I get a lot of offers for the only black dude in the family, in a white family, and I'm like, I did it.

[Dax Shepard]

I did it.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I had fun with it. Let's see if we can do something different now. I live for the variety. I live for the challenge. And the scary thing that's like, can I figure this out? And then just sort of getting in there and figuring it out.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that was gonna be. The next thing I brought up was gonna be American Fiction. I saw that, and I just thought you were fucking so awesome in it and in such a wonderful geometry between you and Jeffrey Wright. His energy versus your energy, your Personas was so different and complimentary. And then you guys are dealing with a dad die.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What did you find in that movie that you were like, oh, cool. Yeah, I can do this thing now.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Jeffrey was awesome. I've been a fan his whole career. Peoples Hernandez, Basquiat, whatnot. I got a chance to see him do Top Dog Underdog at the Public Theater with him and Don Cheadle, and I was like, oh, man, this is the kind of shit that I want to do. You know what I'm saying? So to be on set, to be with one of your idols again, you have a moment of fanning out, and then you're like, all right, we can't be a fan and in the game at the same time. Let's play. Play ball. I knew my character functioned as a foil to his. He's trying to juggle all these things. He's trying to get a foothold with his writing career. He's trying to take care of mom. And my character is sort of, like, on a different path. I've been married for 20 years. Things have fallen apart. I'm gay. I'm finally coming out of the closet and trying to live my truth. And sometimes what I need out of life right now is not exactly what he needs from me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So it's fun. I often play the guy that has to hold it together.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's fun to be the dude that messes with the dude who has to hold it together.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Sterling K. Brown]

That was a Lot of fun. But I think what I found out for me, like, I have a lot of gay people in my family and friends and people who had chosen for a period of time to live in the closet and then ultimately come out of the closet. There is no real fulfillment in life if you're not allowed to live your truth. And I think what I was most curious about was or most interested about is like, okay, how will I show up in this space? Because I've had other characters before that have been offered me who are lgbtq, and I didn't know if I would be able to do it, so I passed. What I refuse to do is half ass something. The community that I represent needs to be able to see something on screen that they should be proud of and feels fully inhabited and not sort of cool. Commented on.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Do you know what I'm saying? And so, like, it took me probably till I was 47, whenever I wound up doing the role, to be like, the humanity is what's most important to me.

[Dax Shepard]

And what about, again, I would be guessing because it's not happened other than when I get to work with occasionally some white trash folks, which they don't come around Hollywood all that much. But you got to do two movies with Chadwick. You're in Black Panther, then you're doing American fiction. What about working with black folks? Is that extra rewarding in a way?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah. You know, how can I say it? This is interesting. It's fun. Like on Black Panther, like, you go into the hair and makeup trailer and all hair and makeup is black.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

If you have to get a haircut, you know shit's gonna be right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's gonna be a good fade.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's gonna be good other experiences. You walk in, there's not a black person in there, and they pull out a set of clippers that nobody has ever put towards your head before.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And you're like, I guess we gonna wear a hat on this with you. What I sort of rejoice in, too, is I think I grew up in an era, like, there were a few ensemble things that would take place. And I remember having this conversation with Chad specifically, where for a long time, it seemed for black folks in Hollywood that there could be only one. That only one person was allowed to sort of pop at a time. And I've heard Eddie Murphy talk about this in his documentary, and you've heard other people talk about it. There's this thing, number one on the call sheet, and it now seems like, there can always be. Be more. Don't get me wrong. Where we're allowed to play and you don't have to see, like, if you get something that you took it away from me.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yours is more.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not finite resources the way it has.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's not a zero sum game.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

And I think they tried to set it up like that to make us sort of fight each other instead of support and champion each other.

[Dax Shepard]

Women too.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Agreed to be in a space Right now. I don't want to mistake my own fortune and goodwill for, like, everything is okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, sure.

[Lily Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yep.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Because I'm good. But, like, things can be better for everybody. Right. But I go into rooms and I see people, whether it was Chad before or Michael B. Or Brian Kenry or Mahershala Ali who was a year above me at nyu. And I get a chance to see Bruhs. And I was like, oh, man, we're here.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, it feels good.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's cool to be here.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. I was saying this the other day. I wonder if you connect to this. I feel like I grew up needing to be the acceptance. Needing to be like, oh, well, we don't like that group, but we like her. We'll let her in because we like her specifically. It was like a game of survival to just be the one that got through.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

And now I'm at an age where I'm like, that's up. I have some guilt around that. Why didn't I embrace those other Indian people, Other. Other people to let in? Because I was so like, I'm in. So I don't care about the rest of you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

It's a mind fuck a little bit.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I think I knew that when it was happening even then because you get things like you're so eloquent and you're so articulate. What a joy. And they're saying it like, you haven't had that experience before, have you? You know what I'm saying? I was like, I have this experience quite frequently. So there's that. And then even my school M I C D s. Like, I remember I won this award called the Headmaster for the student that best exemplifies the spirit of the school. But I also get that it's a good PR move for the school. I was like, so you guys get something, I get something. We'll call it a wash. Yeah, we'll call it a win in that sort of way. The feeling that I have more than anything right now, which I think is unique to Being a person of color in a predominantly white space, which Hollywood is, is that, you know, how many people are watching and counting on you and, like, it's just different.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, what's he gonna say about this?

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's just different.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You have to, to a certain extent, embrace it. And then you have to remember you just have to be yourself. But in being yourself, you're trying to, like, bring the best part of yourselves in such a way that you don't set anybody back.

[Lily Padman]

That pressure.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Please don't send us back brown. You know, please allow us to continue to move forward and champion you and be proud. And I. I tell folks sometimes, I was like, I might mess up from time to time.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, it'll bore. Everyone listens because I've already said this a million times. But when I first heard white privilege, I was like, okay, I was brought home to a trailer, had 80 stepdads. There was abuse everywhere. I'm not feeling the privilege then. I had the wherewithal to go like, oh, I was an addict for a decade in this town. I rolled around with coke in my pocket. I drove drunk. I talked to cops. In a way, I 100% would have been in prison if I was black. The variety of addict I was, I was. My income crack downtown. Right? So, okay, I see that.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then the other privilege, this one I was always aware of because I had black friends who popped. And I was like, it's so unfair. The fucking cards are stacked against you. You finally get to enjoy this elusive American dream, but immediately you're saddled with the political responsibility of representing the whole group. It's like, it just never ends. It's like, can't you just be fucking a famous actor who's having fun? And that part I have always seen. You are also asked to kind of represent. I'm not asked to represent anymore.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

And that just feels like insult to injury. It was gonna be impossible for you to get here, and now you're here, you have to take on also all this other stuff that you might not have been politically minded. You might not have been anything, but that is now also on your plate.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's all that shit. How do I explain it? It kind of snuck up on me because I don't know if I was outwardly looking for things. People will talk about my wife and I as, like, Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee, which was, like, this wonderful historical couple that went through the arts, but they were also very much activists, too, because I was the first person to do to win a Golden Globe in this category to win the SAG Award in this category. And so when you're the first, sometimes it's like, oh, so you must be in this lineage of other firsts.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You know what I mean? The Sidneys and Paul Robesons and all that.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you're a hero. Whether you wanted to be a hero,

[Sterling K. Brown]

whether you want it or not, you

[Dax Shepard]

might just want to be an actor, but now you're kind of a hero.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I suppose so. I suppose so.

[Lily Padman]

An inspiration.

[Sterling K. Brown]

What do you call the handcuffs that feel good?

[Lily Padman]

Golden handcuffs.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Something like.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I am honored to be a representative and also.

[Dax Shepard]

Want some days off. Yeah, Yeah. I would want some off.

[Lily Padman]

The pressure's extra.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It just is. It's just different.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But it's cool. I still have fun. Would I change anything? I don't think so. Even the amount of time that it took for me to get to this place, because if it had happened too young, I probably wouldn't have been able to handle it in the same way that I'm able to handle it now.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Have a little bit of perspective on things and appreciation for where you are in this current moment. Yeah, I dig it. Life is good, bro.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. It's okay if it's good. That's the other thing. You feel a little guilty if it's good, right?

[Sterling K. Brown]

No, I don't.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you don't. Good, good.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I do.

[Dax Shepard]

I have some weird, from where I'm from guilt about. It's not supposed to be this good.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I've gone through enough shitty things that I think that, like. No, I'm okay with this.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Let's talk paradise. So we had Marsden on last season.

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's my man.

[Dax Shepard]

And I told him this. And I'll be straight up. I'm like, I'm always going to watch people's shit before I interview. Interview him.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know that I'm looking forward to this.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm gonna watch two episodes. I watch all six they gave me. I get Kristen in the mix. I'm now texting them like, you got to give me the rest of these. There's no way I can wait. Now to the season came out. We're calling every time.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Me with the girls.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, right, right. We told you directly.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yes. You're like, brown, give me this. I was like, I can't do this. Do we know why?

[Dax Shepard]

Love that.

[Lily Padman]

It's so good.

[Dax Shepard]

We love Paradise. It's so good.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Thank you so much.

[Dax Shepard]

And you're such a badass. Oh, my God. I Appreciate it. You get to do all the things. You're thoughtful and sweet, and you're a good dad, and you're tough as a motherfucker. I mean, you get to do all the good stuff.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I get to do a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm gonna tell you something right now. As an appreciator of the mal physique, I'd say a connoisseur, okay? Grew up in the 80s watching Schwarzenegger. How else could I be? The upper body. Body's outstanding. I'm like, but I can obtain that.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But we're about to talk about the posterior chain right now. I feel you,

[Dax Shepard]

Chris. I watched the buns.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She goes, whoa.

[Dax Shepard]

And I go, oh, my God. Now, listen, listen. I'm caucasoidally challenged. All of my workout is my buns. It's almost all I work out, and I've just now gotten them convex instead of concave. Oh, my Lord. Buns. The suns rise and set. This is what.

[Sterling K. Brown]

What it is. My wife has a delightful posterior chain. And my whole thing is I want to keep up.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I want to keep up with the misses. Sometimes I just walk around, was like, what is that like? Like, does your lower back feel more relaxed because you have so much girth?

[Dax Shepard]

If you were to fall out of a tall building, would you prefer to land on that axe?

[Sterling K. Brown]

You know what I'm saying? Just sort of like that, right? We got the peloton tread. You crank that joint up to 15 or what? A couple. You do sort of do the. We're just trying to. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, congrats.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

Congrats.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Namaste.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Thank you very much. So being on the brink of 50, having this thing. I finished shooting, season two. Go to play basketball with my son's basketball coach, Lighten up. These high school kids, et cetera. Go to make a move to go left. And then it felt like somebody stomped on the back of my foot with a cleat. Boom. And I said, who stepped on my foot? And they're like, what are you talking about? I was like, no, don't play games. Just tell me who stepped on my foot and apologize. And we. And they're like, black man, nobody stepped on your foot. And that's when I knew. I was like, ah, Kobe. And I tried to stand up, and I couldn't. And I just scooched myself off the court. Finished watching the game because I wanted my team to win, and they did. And I said, does anybody have any crutches? And then just crutched my way to the car and drove to the emergency room.

[Lily Padman]

Oof.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you have surgery or didn't have to have surgery. Yeah, I forget Charlie did this one

[Sterling K. Brown]

because it went like that. So if it goes like that, you have to have surgery. You have to get the thing. But mine just went like that.

[Dax Shepard]

Hyper separation.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But it is.

[Lily Padman]

Ow. Gosh.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Humbling.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's depressing. No. Clearly you work out like I do, right?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

It is the last thing that would go from my routine for my mental health. I would ditch everything, even AA before I would ditch this.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Lily Padman]

Let's not do that. Well, just gonna throw that out there. I think that one's more important. But just wanted to say that.

[Dax Shepard]

Did it mess with you?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Oh, bro, it's terrible.

[Dax Shepard]

You're approaching 50. So we know, like, it's a limited period where we're gonna be able to do what we're.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Does feel different in terms of like, oh, does this mean I have to give things up that have given me joy throughout my life? And I think the short answer is yes. Not in totality, but you have to amend. You have to shift. You don't see 90 year old people dunking. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

So there's the atrophy of not using the leg. Going around on this knee scooter. Trying to have the most fun I can, but still just being like, oh, man, in my. In my mind, I am a beast. I go after everything 179%. To not be able to attack life for a period of time is tough to feel vulnerable, to have to ask for help.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Lily Padman]

Right now maybe that's a gift.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's part of the lesson.

[Lily Padman]

Yep, part of the lesson.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But I'm telling you, when you put the geriatric bench in the shower that has the suction cup bottom so you don't slip and you're like, oh, we're in a different place in life now.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, Ryan's not like catching a glimpse of that and being like, oh, baby, I gotta make time for you. No, it's nothing sexy about it.

[Lily Padman]

We don't know what her kink.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we just did do a kink episode, so anything's possible.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I will say this. She'll hate me say this, but this is true. We have different drives, but even the bird who is Ryan? Michelle bathe. I told her, I said, you don't have to worry about knocking boots for the foreseeable future.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm taking a break.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, I'm tapping out. But once a month. She's like, no, you not. And I Say good for her too, because I didn't even think it was gonna happen. I was like, that was fun.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. That's that level of intimacy you were talking about earlier.

[Dax Shepard]

There you go.

[Lily Padman]

It's important.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Once a month. She's like, no, we gonna do this.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so season two. So just to remind people. So season one, you are a Secret Service agent.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Correct.

[Dax Shepard]

Marzin is a very flawed president. Yep. You guys are in this paradise bunker. There has been an enormous tsunami, followed by maybe some nuclear fallout. Your wife. Now, the only part that Dr. He might have sent you hate messages during this possibly.

[Sterling K. Brown]

What is it?

[Dax Shepard]

The fact that your wife was like, no, I'm still going to Atlanta. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is the only part of this show. I'm like, absolutely not. Kristen tells me I'm going to Atlanta, and I know the world's well. I'm like, guess what? You're going. Not by choice now. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Even my wife says, I think you could have been a bit stronger.

[Dax Shepard]

I was improving dialogue for you that I thought might have gotten the wife on the plane with you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But if you made some. You don't tell them nothing. My wife doesn't listen to me anyway, so it seemed like art imitating life. I was like, look, I'm trying to tell you something. She's like, no, no, no, I'll be fine. I'm like, okay, that sounds right.

[Dax Shepard]

Hence your podcast. We don't always agree.

[Sterling K. Brown]

There you go.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

There's an episode in season one. I mean, we all know it. The Big World. Well, I don't. In case it's a spoiler.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Episode 107.

[Dax Shepard]

Correct.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's the penultimate. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

I think about that episode at random. And that's one of the scariest episodes of television that I've ever seen.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, it was a good one.

[Lily Padman]

So good. And a little too potentially real.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

So much about it is hair.

[Sterling K. Brown]

There are things like after the show came out, do you remember, like, seeing all these articles about people having bunkers in their home and stuff? And, like, people who are actually doing.

[Lily Padman]

Planning on this stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Your wife is in this camp a little bit.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Your house had a basement originally, but it was shut down because the boys weren't to be down there. But then wifey wanted to open that motherfucker back up and stock it. Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

We have a bunker. We have a mid century modern house. So a lot of houses that are built in Ladare right after, you know, World War II. I think a lot of folks are thinking, like, you know what, Just in case we have a little bunker, 40 people comfortably or what have you. But we've had it closed up because we don't want little boys running down there and getting trapped. But I think we're about to open that joint back up.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, not a bad time. Just restock things.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Feel a little tenuous right now.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So season two. I watched the first episode of season two last night. Yeah?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I was about to ruin my whole sleep schedule and binge more, but I was like, no bells. Then I'm going to be watching all these all over again.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I got you.

[Dax Shepard]

But, boy, what he does so well. He's got a lot of gifts, but one of his gifts is he can introduce you to a character and get you to care about that character in record time. It's insane, the math of what he does.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But we meet Shailene Woodley. When? You want to tell me. I don't want to.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Annie. So we meet her in Graceland and we see, like, the events from season one where the President is giving his speech to the world, to America at large, and letting them know that you have a limited amount of time, so you may want to spend time with people that you love. And you start to see, like, the fallout of things encroaching on Graceland. And so it's like, how did the people who didn't have time and planning and resources, how did they deal with this situation?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, it's a very cool way to catch us up to what has been happening outside of that bunker. And she's got a very fascinating storyline in that she was a doctor, but she couldn't have. And she ends up being, like, a tour director at Graceland.

[Sterling K. Brown]

That's correct.

[Dax Shepard]

And she's waiting out this crazy natural disaster at Graceland with a security guard. It's just incredibly touching.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Oh, yeah, it is. How do I go to.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah. There's some really beautiful scenes between her and the security guard.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then the marauders show up and you're panicked.

[Sterling K. Brown]

That is correct.

[Dax Shepard]

Some marauders.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Do we have good people that we're encountering? Do we have benign people that we're encountering? Like, are the most selfish parts of humanity being augmented or the most selfless parts of humanity? Like, you don't know. And I think that's part of the mystery of the world at large. Are people gonna show up as their best selves or as the people that just wanna take.

[Dax Shepard]

And they address that. And I love the explanation of it. And then I'll add that you're getting to see what it causes. This like insane winter there in Memphis in summer and it's snowing and frigid and cold. You're kind of getting your cake and eating it too in this show. Cause now it's kind of like these posts. Post apocalyptic shows we're kind of used to and some of the tropes we're used to, but then they're getting kind of spun on in their head. It's groovy.

[Lily Padman]

Are there twists?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Oh, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Okay, good. That first season has so many twists.

[Sterling K. Brown]

The biggest twist of this season I can only hint at. But like, if you've seen the trailer, Sinatra played marvelously by Julianne Nicholson.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, so good.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I love Julianne Nicholson. She's the shit. She says in the trailer, she says it was never just about. And she means that in a quite literal way. What we find out about the bunker is probably the most intriguing part of season two in addendum to whether or not Xavier finds his wife. Yeah, right. Because I actually just had season three pitched to me, which will be our final season. It's always been conceived of of three seasons. Right.

[Dax Shepard]

He's always doing this, keep him wanting more.

[Sterling K. Brown]

But like in everything else in a movie or play, you kind of already know the begin, middle and end. And so you get a chance to drive the plot towards something.

[Lily Padman]

Yes. I respect it.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I respect it a great deal. My crew, I wanna say this just like, maybe we can get 10 episodes instead of eight in future shows that I do. Because crews are suffering. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

The amount of time that they get to spend at work is different. When you go from 22 to 18 to 8 to 10. You know what I'm saying? So I want my people to eat.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You gotta get on three shows to make up for what it was to be on one show.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I was watching on whatever stre I was watching like a season of Soap. It was like 32 episodes in a season. You know what I'm saying? I was like, I didn't know that was legal.

[Lily Padman]

Exactly.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

They started production on January 1st and they ended.

[Sterling K. Brown]

There's no December 24th.

[Lily Padman]

Exactly.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Let's go back to work.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you sense that you have this creative partnership with him that'll just go on and on?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah. He's so incredibly imaginative. And Fogelman turns 50 in February. I turned 50 in April. We're the same age, you know, he's got a kid, I got kids. And we're in interesting places in our lives and we Gotta just get each other. We laugh at the same sorts of things. And like, I'll have him introduce me at stuff and he'll have me do stuff, and it just fits in an incredibly lovely way. And I think he has a desire to keep recreating himself and what people expect from him as well. And that's what also makes for such a delightful creative partnership.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. You both want to try something new every time?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Absolutely.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's the dream. Well, Sterling, this has been delightful. Long time coming. I've been pestering you. You're one of the few people when I bump into you, I'm always like, let's go, dude.

[Sterling K. Brown]

It's been a long time coming.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah. I'm happy that we finally made it happen. You guys are awesome. I see why you got the nomination at the Globes. I'm sorry it didn't go your way, but it's always next year. You know what I'm saying? I told Rob, I said that was us. We're gonna come for you if we possibly can. But like, I love giving flowers in real time because I've done enough things and I see people who do their research and et cetera, but you do a deep dive, Randall. You do a deep dive, don't you?

[Dax Shepard]

Wipe me up here at the end. Last question. Go ahead. Do you and Ryan play spades? Come on, bro, because you want to get competitive.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I'm a caring African American. You want to play some spades? You play spades? Oh, you play spades?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, no, no, no, no.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah. Listen, does your wife.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to warn you.

[Sterling K. Brown]

You guys play as a couple.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And I'm to going to warn you. Had met a world peace on. Yeah, he plays in Wade spades the tournament. He said, you think you can play? I said, yeah, I think we can play. And we had he and his wife over and we destroyed them. Did you? So you better come sharp.

[Sterling K. Brown]

I'll come. My wife is terrible.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the best part is playing with wives is the greatest.

[Sterling K. Brown]

She's terrible. But I, I, I think bell is probably better. But there's also a game I want you to look up. It's called bid whist.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, that's the next.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, we've heard about that. Can you teach us?

[Sterling K. Brown]

I can teach you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah, I'll teach you.

[Dax Shepard]

Big wiz like. Yeah, I know, I know.

[Sterling K. Brown]

We'll come over. We'll play.

[Dax Shepard]

Can't wait. Can't wait. All right. Be well.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Right on, man.

[Dax Shepard]

I sure hope there weren't Any mistakes in that episode. But we'll find out when my mom, Mrs. Monica, comes in and tells us what was wrong.

[Lily Padman]

Happy Lunar New Year.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I was waiting for you to.

[Lily Padman]

I knew you were waiting for me

[Dax Shepard]

to wish me well on this Lunar New Year.

[Lily Padman]

It's a big day for a astrologist. It's the Year of the horse. Starts today. So this is really.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. Oh, I almost did it. This episode's about horse. Feel good. You're giggling this time. You were really nervous last time I did it.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You thought I was having some kind of a neurological.

[Lily Padman]

Well, it really came out of nowhere.

[Dax Shepard]

It did.

[Lily Padman]

If you remember. It is. It is the Lunar New Year, which is the beginning, the real beginning of the year. So scratch what's been happening.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So reset all your resolutions.

[Lily Padman]

Yes. And there's a lot to do today.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, tell me there's homework that comes along with the Year of the Horse.

[Lily Padman]

Yes. You're supposed to wear red.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

I forgot to text you.

[Dax Shepard]

Back of my shoes.

[Lily Padman]

Got a. Yeah, that counts.

[Dax Shepard]

Just a touch of red.

[Lily Padman]

As long as. Is there any red?

[Dax Shepard]

Panties are red.

[Lily Padman]

That's a lot that counts.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know if that's true, but I do have red panties in my collection.

[Lily Padman]

I'm wearing red panties, red socks, and a red sweater.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. That's not orangish.

[Lily Padman]

No, it's red.

[Dax Shepard]

It's just red.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

It's like a tomato.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

[Lily Padman]

No, you're not going crazy, but it's red. I'm also going to start my period. I hope it comes today, because then it's like red from the inside.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Wait, red is always associated with the horse or just this year? We don't know.

[Lily Padman]

So I don't know too much about the origin, the backstory, the background, but I do have the rules.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, hit me with the rules.

[Lily Padman]

Okay, so wear red. You blow salt in the front door. That's supposed to clean last year away.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

And then you blow cinnamon in.

[Dax Shepard]

What if you loved last year and you don't want to dust it away?

[Lily Padman]

No, you. You still need.

[Dax Shepard]

You need refresh.

[Lily Padman]

Refresh. Spring cleaning, growth, renewal. Last year, you're the snake was about shedding.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you done something with your hair?

[Lily Padman]

No, but that reminds me of a huge rule. You're not allowed to wash your hair today or cut it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Did you already cut your hair today?

[Dax Shepard]

No, I think last night I did a little snip.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. Don't cut it today.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. It's good you said something because although I did cut my 12 of my toenails. Is that.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, we're really not supposed to do any cutting today, but it's okay. You don't have to count.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Blow this all.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. I'm going to from two different sources. One is my friend Rachel.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

She knows about all this stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. So, yeah, you blow salt in the entryway and say, thank you for the lessons of the past year. They helped me grow and expand and I release what no longer aligns. I make space for what is meant for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, great then. Have you done the salt blowing yet?

[Lily Padman]

Not yet. I'm gonna do it tonight.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Blow cinnamon in and say, I welcome in this blessed new year with abundance.

[Dax Shepard]

Your brand new house, which you've been waiting six years to move into, is gonna be covered with spit, spilled boiled milk and salt, the ground and cinnamon. Cinnamon.

[Lily Padman]

I did say. I was like, oh, no. And then it gets on the floor. And she was like, I mean, I guess you could do it kind of outside. I was like, no, no. I am going to do this one properly.

[Dax Shepard]

Lay a towel down. This is what I do when I cut my hair in the bathroom. Just lay a big towel out over the. In the foyer.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then blow salt everywhere and then pick this towel up and shake it out outside.

[Lily Padman]

I wonder if I could undo it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, we got to live with it.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my gosh.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. Okay. And then. Then don't use scissors or knives. I mean, I guess you can use knives.

[Dax Shepard]

I use scissors already today. What'd you use on my toenail? I was in the gym and I didn't have any nail clippers, so I had to use my hair cutting shears that I keep in my gym, which is unique.

[Lily Padman]

It's okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

I think we're going to say that one's okay. Just try not to do any more.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. Don't sweep or take out the trash. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

The. I mean, blessings to everyone. Do they not feel insanely arbitrary?

[Lily Padman]

No, there's. There's reasons. It's like the milk. We just don't know. Okay. Don't wash your hair. This is a big one. Okay. Don't wash your hair or cut your hair. It's because there's, like, luck and stuff in hair. That's what Rachel said. And I was like, that kind of makes sense because I'm so.

[Dax Shepard]

That makes a lot of sense. There's lucky.

[Lily Padman]

I'm very luck. I'm lucky.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

And I have a lot of hair.

[Dax Shepard]

You do you do.

[Lily Padman]

Who knew those were connected? But now I know. Oh. Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

I have very little hair, which must mean I'm out of luck. And it's. And it's getting diminished.

[Lily Padman]

You have. You are a very lucky person.

[Dax Shepard]

I am. I am.

[Lily Padman]

Don't eat porridge or congee. We're not going to count oatmeal forages.

[Dax Shepard]

Oatmeal. I blew it. My lunar year is not good.

[Lily Padman]

No, don't. Don't say that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, But I've done virtually all the things wrong, so I didn't blow salt. Okay. I did cut my toenails. I used scissors. I took out the trash this morning. I ate porridge.

[Lily Padman]

You took out the trash. Okay, just don't wash your hair.

[Dax Shepard]

That's the.

[Lily Padman]

That's gonna be the.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. I washed it yesterday, so I'm sure I'll make it through today without.

[Lily Padman]

It says, don't wear all black. It's okay. You're not wearing all black or all white.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't be over 6 foot 2.

[Lily Padman]

I know. I sent this morning to the group. Happy Lunar New Year of the horse. Here we go. And then Erica sent this. This list. And, yeah, Laura and Amy were like, I've already done all those things. Okay. Don't wake up early. How early did you wake up?

[Dax Shepard]

Early, because we're back to school today. 6:15.

[Lily Padman]

But is that. Is that earlier than normal or Normal?

[Dax Shepard]

It's on the early side. Yeah. Boy.

[Lily Padman]

Don't.

[Dax Shepard]

At this point, I should just list everything I've done today, and it'll virtually be the null hypothesis of this list.

[Lily Padman]

Don't now. Nap during the day.

[Dax Shepard]

Haven't yet.

[Lily Padman]

Okay, so don't do that. Don't break anything. Oh, you broke something.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I didn't. But now I know as soon as you tell someone not to break something, they're gonna break something too.

[Lily Padman]

I'm worried about this one as well. I'm also worried about this one. Don't cry.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I already teared up this morning watching the pilot of that show.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, no, but you didn't. Did you have spillage? You said it didn't spill over.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I had some tears.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. Don't eat, quote bitter foods.

[Dax Shepard]

I haven't done that. But I am taking Dely to lunch after this.

[Lily Padman]

Just don't order anything bitter.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

And don't wash your clothes.

[Dax Shepard]

I can handle that.

[Lily Padman]

Now don't wash your clothes is interesting because that one crosses over with my. My parents. You know, superstition about on New Year's Day, you can't do laundry. So that's interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

What are the ones from New Year's Day?

[Lily Padman]

Don't eat meat on New Year's on New Year's Day.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. New Year's Day.

[Lily Padman]

Don't wash clothes. Don't spend money. Eat collard greens and black eyed pea. Well, mainly black eyed peas. That's like, if you don't. My mom was just like forcing it into our mouths.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I had a thought about your mom just yesterday.

[Lily Padman]

What did you think?

[Dax Shepard]

I was thinking she too was a brown girl that grew up in Savannah, Georgia.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Did she have a white boy? Did she love white boys? No, she didn't.

[Lily Padman]

Well, that I know of.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you ever asked her?

[Lily Padman]

No, she doesn't like talking about that kind of thing.

[Dax Shepard]

I'd like to talk to her about that.

[Lily Padman]

No, I'm kidding.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you like white boys?

[Sterling K. Brown]

Nervous?

[Lily Padman]

No, no. She, she, she probably knew that that wasn't an option for her.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm sure there's a lot of white boys that have loved it.

[Lily Padman]

No, no, not, not because of her. Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

She probably knew that she was going to need to marry an Indian. Indian man.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I got real curious. I think when I walk through your house, there's a picture of her when she's young.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, she's 17. It's a beautiful picture of her.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I think, I was just thinking, yeah, she was in high school with a bunch of white dudes. Did she have crushes on white dudes or did she like. I didn't even think about it because I know I gotta marry an Indian. I don't know. There's. There's a lot there. Did she ever have a boyfriend before your dad?

[Lily Padman]

I don't think so.

[Dax Shepard]

You don't know?

[Lily Padman]

I don't know. But I think I would. Would know. I would know if she had.

[Dax Shepard]

Cuz she would have told you.

[Lily Padman]

I think it would have come up. It would have come up. They don't like talking about their past, their love life. They def.

[Dax Shepard]

Did your dad have a girlfriend?

[Lily Padman]

I've never heard about anyone's love life before. My.

[Dax Shepard]

Are you not curious if your dad had a girlfriend ever before your mom or your mom had a boyfriend?

[Lily Padman]

I just think it was a different time and a different type of thing. Like I don't think they did it. Well, my mom a little different because she was here, but I think in India, no. At that time they weren't having girlfriends and stuff. They were like in school, playing cricket and then trying to get to America. They lived in a village.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. One of the screensavers now on Apple tv.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Is of Carola. And it's unbelievable. It was. It's a tea plantations on the side of mountains.

[Lily Padman]

And I'm like, I know. I don't think I'll ever know. I just don't think you're never gonna ask. I don't. They don't want to talk about that tax.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to. Can I ask them independently, not in front of each other. That might be awkward.

[Lily Padman]

Comes up very naturally. Don't put either of them on the spot. If you're gonna put someone on the spot, it better be my dad.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I could. I'll get a beer in him.

[Lily Padman]

He's.

[Dax Shepard]

Let's go for a walk. A show. Can. I'll get a couple beers. Beers in them and I'll. I'll be drinking an N A. Oh,

[Lily Padman]

you're gonna trick him.

[Dax Shepard]

I gotta trick him. I'm gonna put it in a real beer bottle. Oh, no, that'd be a full trick for the year of the horse. Oh, also, I think I know the other reason I was thinking about it.

[Lily Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Because of our really wonderful guests. And if people didn't listen to this episode, I think they should. I think it's one of these very special episodes. But the head of the Kinsey Institute and he was talking about the success for rate of arranged marriages. And not just the success rate because I think that could be misleading. Like they stay together, but it's also like sexual fulfillment, attraction. All those track as high as any other marriage on average. So. Yeah. Maybe that also got me real curious about your parents.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. I think they just both knew they were gonna marry something semi arranged, probably. My dad definitely thought he would have an arranged marriage.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But young men, you know, young men find ways. I hate to say they find ways.

[Lily Padman]

I don't need to know about that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. But I. I'll.

[Lily Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

So don't tell you when I find out.

[Lily Padman]

Now tell me.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you want to know if your dad had a. A sweetheart?

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

I want to know if any of them did, I guess.

[Dax Shepard]

But if I like to know the whole story.

[Lily Padman]

My mom is a really, really nice. Good.

[Dax Shepard]

Not such a good girl. She's sitting at home right now watching naughty YouTube videos of divorce trials where people poop on beds. She's got a freak side.

[Lily Padman]

These are over time. But when she was young, she did exactly what she was supposed to do. She did everything my grandparents wanted her to do. She did. She checked off all. So no, I don't think she was okay. I Don't think she had her light on for that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Vacancy.

[Lily Padman]

Summer open for business.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah. No vacancy.

[Lily Padman]

So. Yeah, I mean, when my. My mom and dad met, she was probably 22, 21.

[Dax Shepard]

That's young.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, but your dad was like 26 or 7. Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

He's seven years older than her.

[Dax Shepard]

28.

[Lily Padman]

Maybe they were. Let me. I will ask her that.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, say.

[Lily Padman]

Stop talking about me.

[Dax Shepard]

Say Dax is going to hit you separately. Don't answer questions.

[Lily Padman]

Don't. If he calls you, don't pick up any. Who. So what were we? Oh, yeah, you're the horse.

[Dax Shepard]

We have such opposite moms is what it is. I mean, it's crazy because my mom's here right now.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. She's been here for a week. And like, I know ever. I think I know every single thing.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Well, each one has its pros and cons. Everything is trade offs.

[Lily Padman]

Sure.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

It's just cult. Part of its. I. I think part of it for me is double whammy culture. It's like Indian culture and Southern culture. There's both things don't lend itself to that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And we were definitely asymmetric in what my mom told us. I didn't have any other friends. Whose mom.

[Lily Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Like your mom is probably on one end of the spectrum and my mom is probably on the very opposite.

[Dax Shepard]

Honestly. Yeah, I think it's. That's what I was saying. Like, I think we had like, literally opposite.

[Lily Padman]

That's.

[Dax Shepard]

In that regard. Yeah. Did we finish all the Year of the Horse stuff? I kind of do you read stuff on Instagram and it alleviates stuff. And granted, I recognize it probably figured me out and it's giving me stuff that helps alleviate. But one thing that was very viral for the last few months is that men who disobey traffic rules make better husbands. Have you seen this?

[Lily Padman]

Oh, my God. All of these are so dumb.

[Dax Shepard]

But it's citing a study.

[Lily Padman]

What did it say?

[Dax Shepard]

That they're more creative by nature and they keep things more novel and interesting and fun. So of course, every guy who drives like an idiot has been forwarding this very, very. So that one, of course I loved. And. And then when I saw that was. This made me feel so good. It's. It was like. Researchers say couples who don't celebrate Valentine's Day are happier.

[Lily Padman]

And I was like, oh, I think I saw that.

[Dax Shepard]

You see that? And I was like, oh, thank God.

[Lily Padman]

I mean, who is doing these studies? This is not. These aren't true.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, we don't know if it's not true, well, there could easily be a study.

[Lily Padman]

We're poking holes in like huge studies. We're not to poke holes in this Instagram quote study.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm only saying we had the head of the Kinsey Institute and it's tons of studies like that exist.

[Lily Padman]

I know. I just, I. It's just so individual. It doesn't make sense. Like, if you guys celebrated Valentine's Day, it's not going to make it worse.

[Dax Shepard]

No. But it's just comforting to know that people who don't celebrate report higher.

[Lily Padman]

They asking the man, like, who doesn't want to be going, going to the restaurant or whatever.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, that's the thing that keeps me from, quote, celebrating. It's like it's the worst day in the year to try to go out to a restaurant or flowers or anything. It's like it just makes anything that would be normally enjoyable really unenjoyable.

[Lily Padman]

It is. But then you. But you don't have to go out. You can just celebrate by saying happy Valentine's Day or giving a card.

[Dax Shepard]

What happens, for better or worse is my. My girls are my valentines.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And so I went all out.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, what you guys did for my girls.

[Dax Shepard]

All I'll say is that someone had a. A less than exciting Valentine's Day versus their anticipation. So I know that my daughter loves floaties for the pool. So I got heart shaped floaties and inflated them and put them in the pool. I made each of them handmade cards where I really drew pictures. And then I wrote, really?

[Lily Padman]

That's so cute.

[Dax Shepard]

You know how I felt about them. So I put, I put several hours into my Valentine's on Saturday.

[Lily Padman]

That's beautiful.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And then my mom's in town.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

She's been my Valentine for 51 years. So it just, it really becomes a bandwidth. All my resources went to the little ones and I definitely neglected my mom and Kristen. But I think from Kristen and my mom's point view of. Of view, they saw that, I saw that. I. I was spending a lot of my energy on my other two Valentine.

[Lily Padman]

Kristen, that is the Valentine's gift.

[Dax Shepard]

I. I hope so. I think so.

[Lily Padman]

I think so too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Jess and I celebrated Valentine's Day together.

[Dax Shepard]

Tell me, what'd you do? Did you dare go to a restaurant?

[Lily Padman]

We did. And because Houston's on Saturday had has chili only on Saturday and it's really good and his pig wanted it. And at first he was like, oh God, like it's Valentine's Day. I mean. Yeah. And he said, we're going to get it. Happy wife, happy life.

[Dax Shepard]

So we went, so my mom is in town. And I said, yesterday I took her. Well, I took her to breakfast the day before, and then last night took her to dinner at Capital Grill. And she said, you know what I really haven't had in a while is Houston's. And I go, yeah. I said, oh, God. I said, yeah, Mom, I'm. I. I don't go to Houston's anymore. I can't wait an hour.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean, good for them, and they deserve it. The food is so good. Did you have the chili? Was it good?

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, it's so good.

[Dax Shepard]

Is it?

[Lily Padman]

It's so good.

[Dax Shepard]

I know that you were going there on Sundays in the past because they had grilled cheese and soup.

[Lily Padman]

That's right. That's their special. But on Saturday is chili.

[Dax Shepard]

Do they have a special every day or.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Or just the weekends?

[Lily Padman]

It's this. They have a special soup every day.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Lily Padman]

So the chili is the soup on Saturday. Tomato soup is the. Now, I had gone the weekend before to get the chili.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

And I got there at like 6, or was seated at like 6. And it had. It was sold out.

[Dax Shepard]

Out. Oh.

[Lily Padman]

So I waited the whole week. And then we went. We went at like 1:32.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Good time.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

And it wasn't sold out, so I got to have it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Lily Padman]

And then we went to Highland Park.

[Dax Shepard]

All right.

[Lily Padman]

It was in search of a plant. I'm looking for a plant. Plants for my house. And. Yeah. And this place was recommended. We go there. It was closed, but we went to some other cute. We bopped around. And it's just so fun to bop around places you're not normally bopping.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. It slows time down.

[Lily Padman]

It does. And it feels like you're on vacation in your own city. And so we did that. And then he said he saw a billboard with Jamie Lee Curtis on it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Reminder. Jess is gay. And he said, oh, Jamie Lee Curtis, she's so. He said, she's so hot. And I was like, oh. And he was like. Like in True Lies. And I said, oh, I've never seen that. And he was like, oh, yes. She's like so. She's so hot in it. And I was like, oh, okay. Well, I want to watch that.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

So when our night was over, I started True Lies.

[Dax Shepard]

Great movie.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, I was loving it. I didn't finish it yet.

[Dax Shepard]

James Cameron.

[Lily Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

I can't lose.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. And I was really enjoying it. And I will say for A lot of it. I was like, what is Jess?

[Dax Shepard]

She plays a nerdy housewife until she finds out her husband is a spy. And then she locks into spy vibes.

[Lily Padman]

Exactly. And there's one scene, you see her

[Dax Shepard]

boobs, you see her, she gets her boobs involved.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. That's what he said. He was like, I just liked her boobs and, and her hair. And I said, oh, when she put water in her hair.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I slicked it back, got her boobs up.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, there it is.

[Dax Shepard]

She's lifting them up.

[Lily Padman]

We all remember we have a picture

[Dax Shepard]

up, a nice picture up of her tugging, tugging them up.

[Lily Padman]

Maybe we could get a picture up of her before she turns. Because I'm watching and I'm like, this boy is so gay.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Uhuh.

[Dax Shepard]

He doesn't know. Yes. She's got like a guy's haircut.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And Sally Jesse Raphael's glasses on.

[Lily Padman]

And she's in like a lot of clothes. I mean, she's still pretty. Like her face is still pretty, but

[Dax Shepard]

she's not doing herself a ton of favors with her style.

[Lily Padman]

And it's meant, it's clearly meant to be that way because there's supposed to

[Dax Shepard]

be virtually the trope of the girl who's not pretty till she takes her glasses off. And then the question is, does she ever see that? Remember, that was my riddle.

[Lily Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

How does she know? Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare.

[Lily Padman]

Anyway, so that was interesting because I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Dax Shepard]

You put your glasses on when you watch tv? No, never.

[Lily Padman]

And actually we were watching. I was watching a show with Jess and Anna where there were. There was a big part of the show. Heated rivalry. Very popular show. A lot of that show is via text.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Lily Padman]

And I. They had to play roles and read them out loud.

[Dax Shepard]

Nice of them.

[Lily Padman]

It was nice of them because I couldn't read them. I guess that is all the things for Year of the Horse.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great. Well, you're doing. Sounds like you're acing it.

[Lily Padman]

So far, so good. I haven't cried yet.

[Dax Shepard]

I just want to point out now that the lunar calendar.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Is 360 days long. You know this.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Dax Shepard]

That's how many times it takes the moon to go through its full cycle. 12 times. Times. And that is how original calendars were made. But as we now know, it takes us 365 and a quarter days to go around the sun. So every year the lunar calendar falls 5.25 days behind the real.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. That Makes sense why we're into February right now.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. And it must change next year. It must be again, five days earlier. We're going backwards, I'm sure, because it's going to come up in 360. 60 days again.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So it'll be five days earlier next year. And that makes me wonder if it's gonna overlap.

[Lily Padman]

It will one day. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And that's generally one of my criticisms of the astrology is that we're using a birthday that's based on the real time it takes to go around there.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. Well, I think one thing you're probably not supposed to do today is criticize astrology. Lunar New Year.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

All right. And they said like, well, according to Rachel, you're supposed to like, like you're setting the tone so you can like buy. Buy a treat for yourself or for somebody else. She was like, you can spend money.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good. Yeah. Okay. So get a treat for yourself.

[Lily Padman]

So the opposite of what my parents superstition was for New Year's.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Abundance versus scarcity.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. And Eileen, I like abundance.

[Dax Shepard]

While we're talking about TV shows, I do want to say. And I make up a strong. I. I pretty much begged you yesterday.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Which I don't do. I do. I save that card for probably once every couple years while I say. I'm not just saying this is a good show. I'm saying I'm really need you to watch this show.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So a Night in the Seven Kingdoms.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Which is in the Game of Thrones world. I was reluctant to try. I don't know why.

[Lily Padman]

Me too. I. Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

So I started as reluctant to try, and then I watched it the first episode. I was like, I don't know. This is a comedy.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

There's very, very disorienting.

[Lily Padman]

Within five minutes you see someone shitting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Well, you like, see it. See it squirting.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

The grocery store. I sent you the video of exactly that. Real Hershey squirts. And I'm like, whoa. And then it's smaller. And now these. What's funny is now these are all things I actually love about it. It's one character you're following. It's a. A character story. Unlike all the other worlds where there's so many characters.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

But I will say so. I'm strongly urging everyone to watch it. And mostly I want you to go to episode three, because in my opinion, it gets better and better. I guess I probably settle into the tone. And then there is some plot. There's such good plot. In this show.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, it's really good.

[Dax Shepard]

And wait till you see episode five.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, good.

[Dax Shepard]

Because we've all seen these battle scenes on Game of Thrones, and they're done a certain way, and they're human, huge spectacles. But the way they do this, you are so inside the one character's experience of one of these things, and it's just an entirely different look at it. And it's so good. I can't believe how good that show is.

[Lily Padman]

I'm really enjoying it. You told me yesterday, and I watched four episodes.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm very grateful and proud of you.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And there's a little boy on it that is so cute. His name is Dex. Dex Soul is his middle name.

[Lily Padman]

He's so cute and good, and I love him. And, like, sometimes he gets sad and it makes me want to cry. Oh, I don't think I should watch it tonight.

[Dax Shepard]

Why?

[Lily Padman]

Because I'm not supposed to cry today.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Well, our. Our lead character as well, the more the show goes on, I think he looks so much like Robert Redford it drives me crazy. I can't even stand it. That's not the angle where he looks a ton like Robert. But if you're dead on him.

[Lily Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

He is an enormous Robert Redford.

[Lily Padman]

You are right.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's crazy. Back to our original theory. There's only, like, so many copies of humans.

[Lily Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

And then you start seeing the repeats.

[Lily Padman]

Well, ding, ding, ding. To our guest today. We had a guest on.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Are recording.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Okay, let's do some facts.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I'm going to start with the fact that I. I must have told a hundred people since we interviewed him. I find him to be impossibly charming. The soup to nuts attractiveness of him is crazy physically. The face, the body, the spirit.

[Lily Padman]

I agree.

[Dax Shepard]

God, is he a catch.

[Lily Padman]

Okay, so it was a weird ding, ding, ding, because he talked about water fights, water gun fights and water fights. And I had just brought this up in your neighbor. He said in his neighborhood they would have water fights. Remember? I just.

[Dax Shepard]

Water pistols.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. I was like, did you guys ever do, like, water fights in your neighborhood like I did? And you said, no, it was too girl. Oh, yeah, baby.

[Dax Shepard]

I've learned to not say girly and say baby.

[Lily Padman]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

I appreciate that.

[Lily Padman]

Because those are different.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, they are. I mean, to boys, they mean the same thing. That's why. Why not just say, well, that's what

[Lily Padman]

I like boys to change because they aren't the same thing. And to think that all girls What

[Dax Shepard]

I mean by that is both things are meant to emasculate the boy.

[Lily Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

And that. That is very bad for women to call to use girl as a pejorative to a boy.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How do you should we care about

[Lily Padman]

babies because babies literally go way. Like they are what they are. They poop their pants. They haven't. Their brains are small. That's not their fault. Okay. Black men have lowest life expectancy in the U.S. yes. Of any major demographic group living an average of approximately 69 to 72 years, which is about four to five years less than white men. Oh, this was so cute. He mentioned his kids soccer game. Super cute. But I just wanted to give the backstory that he. He asked if he could change the recording time so he could go to his kids soccer game. And I thought that was so cute. And we said, no, no, fuck that.

[Dax Shepard]

Pick your career.

[Lily Padman]

No, we said, okay, what's the place in Star Trek where you go to live out the next Generation? The Nexus.

[Dax Shepard]

That was the only side of him we saw that was kind of a lady bone kill.

[Lily Padman]

No, no, no, it's okay.

[Dax Shepard]

No, if you're on a dating app profile and the guy is like, Star Trek number one, you're like, oh, no, listen, be honest.

[Lily Padman]

I'm being. Let me talk. Okay. Now if you are across from Sterling and he is hot, smart, funny, interesting, and he likes grape buns and he likes Star Trek, I'm like, oh, yes, that's cool.

[Dax Shepard]

That's 100% true. Now full honesty. You're looking at. There's a picture of two white guys. They're the same looks. One says, I love Star Trek in his bio and the other one says, says, I love challengers.

[Lily Padman]

Are they hot?

[Dax Shepard]

They're the same. That's my whole point.

[Lily Padman]

They're the same. But are they hot? That matters.

[Dax Shepard]

They're right on the border. You wouldn't describe them as hot and you certainly wouldn't say they're not attractive. They're just. They're neutral.

[Lily Padman]

I don't think it would be a deterrent. I really don't.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Because I actually like when someone has a niche. So Max C's. Max loves sci fi and it's unexpected.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

And I think it's so cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Do we agree that there's a trope about Trekkies or.

[Lily Padman]

Yes, but there is.

[Dax Shepard]

But I don't see the movie with Sam Rockwell and Tim Allen.

[Lily Padman]

No, I didn't.

[Dax Shepard]

You didn't. It's very famous. They play like versions of Star Trek and they go to a convention, and then they really get taken by aliens and they really are. They have to be Star Trek.

[Lily Padman]

I just think it's. Oh, no, I haven't seen. Seen that.

[Dax Shepard]

Galaxy Quest. Galaxy Quest. Okay, great movie.

[Lily Padman]

I just think that's a stereotype from movies.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

And no, I think when someone has a niche or something they really like, it's cool. Like, you have cars.

[Dax Shepard]

I know, I know, but I don't think those are comparable niches.

[Lily Padman]

Well, to me they are, because I have no interest in cars and I have no interest in Star Trek.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Lily Padman]

And I actually don't think. Think I. I like that you know a lot about a subject. I think that's cool.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure, that part is cool. But I will say cars is a physical endeavor that takes you out of your house and you're either working on them or enhancing them, and then you're out driving them in the world. Like, it's a very active hobby.

[Lily Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Versus, I like to sit in my room and watch Star Trek. That's different.

[Lily Padman]

Well, I don't know if they sit in the room and watch it. They might. My. They probably, like, read. I think they, like, read a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm scared to say this one because I have a lot of. I have some close friends that this is their religion. But what have you seen, like, Big D, it says in the profile, live for dnd.

[Lily Padman]

So I. I actually, again, it just is so dependent on the rest of them because it could. We could sound like that. It's like we played catan every day for like a year and a half.

[Dax Shepard]

That's true.

[Lily Padman]

And that's a good counter. Different.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, probably not.

[Lily Padman]

I.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I mean, is a little. It's way more in depth. Dungeons and Dragons. I know that for a fact.

[Lily Padman]

Well, here's the other thing. I feel like there's a world in which I would probably love Dungeons and Dragons.

[Dax Shepard]

You think so?

[Lily Padman]

Well, because it's like, it's a game and you have characters and it's a whole world. And like.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I just think some of these interests do signal a personality type that they want to be in another world. And I think they want to be in a world where they will be. This fantasy version of themselves will be really celebrated. And I think it's okay to say there's a personality type that's attracted to that fantasy.

[Lily Padman]

I know. But I just don't know if that comes. Wanting to escape, I think is universal.

[Dax Shepard]

True.

[Lily Padman]

And everyone just finds their own way to do that. And I don't know.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm probably being old and unfair.

[Lily Padman]

Well, I just think it's personal. Look, I mean, I Probably not going to. I mean, maybe I am, but I'm probably not going to date the most stereotypical. What you're. What you're thinking about Trekkies at the convention dressed up.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. Like they greet you at the thing.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, that thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

It's also just like, they don't want

[Dax Shepard]

to speak in a lot of like, Trekkie. I'm not being fair.

[Lily Padman]

They don't want to date me because I don't even understand their world.

[Dax Shepard]

I apologize to everyone.

[Lily Padman]

I also think. I really do. I think community is beautiful.

[Dax Shepard]

Is there any hobby someone have that would be off putting to you? Yeah. Okay, tell me.

[Lily Padman]

Like UFC participating.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Like, they love watching it.

[Lily Padman]

I'm let on the thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure.

[Lily Padman]

I'm picking Trekkie.

[Dax Shepard]

That makes sense. I. I'm not.

[Lily Padman]

But also, like, I just want to

[Dax Shepard]

know, do you not filter, like, do. Is there anything that's not. Yeah. Red flag or filters.

[Lily Padman]

Things that, like, I want to. This is going to be tricky because I have a lot of friends who love this and people. People I love. So I shouldn't do this. But, like, I think if what's listed in their bio is that they love to hunt.

[Dax Shepard]

Huh.

[Lily Padman]

I'm probably like, you're. You're probably not for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Huh.

[Lily Padman]

Which isn't necessarily fair because I have friends who love to hunt who I would be happy to be married to.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

So, you know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, was Kristen at NYU in 98? Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, she was a freshie.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. She entered 98, left 2001. Which according to her.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Lily Padman]

Not the most reliable source.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't say it. A friend, you know him too. His boyfriend's mother is Indian.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Huh.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And is trying to arrange something for one of the sons. And there's apparently some chat you can be on. Like this, this. This group chat. And it's all parents who have children from Ivy League schools that are now doctors that they're trying to imagine. And someone was kicked out because they got their MD from ucla.

[Sterling K. Brown]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And I'm like, you guys kicked out? Kicked out of the chat. How did you get into the chat?

[Lily Padman]

That's so embarrassing. Like, for the people who care.

[Dax Shepard]

I just like, man, what I think is you really bought into this thing. Thing. This Ivy League.

[Lily Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Lily Padman]

Okay. You said he was on er. That was.

[Dax Shepard]

That's hot.

[Lily Padman]

Really hot and exciting. And so I looked up that episode. I hadn't gotten there yet in my re. Watch.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh.

[Lily Padman]

Season 10 episode 13 titled Get Carter, which definitely has to do with Noah Wiley because he was Carter and that was a movie.

[Dax Shepard]

Get Carter. Oh, so it's a nod to that.

[Lily Padman]

It was called Get Carter.

[Dax Shepard]

I believe so. 1971 film.

[Lily Padman]

What's it about?

[Dax Shepard]

And then maybe remade with 2000 with Sylvester Stone. Yeah. Sly.

[Lily Padman]

Oh, wow. Is it a basketball movie?

[Dax Shepard]

Vegas mobster.

[Lily Padman]

Isn't there a mo. A basket? Coach Carter. Yep.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, there's a Coach Carter. Yeah, I missed that one.

[Lily Padman]

Okay, let's see if there was anything else. I don't think there was. Oh, Army Wives. So when I graduated college and was living at home for a year and I had an agent, I was trying to work in Atlanta because that was like all the rage. Like, everything's moving to all.

[Dax Shepard]

Don't waste your time.

[Lily Padman]

Don't even go to L. A. All production films here now. So all the acting jobs are coming here. I would say nine out of 10 auditions were for Army Wives. I auditioned so many times for I'm as. I never booked it. Not a once.

[Dax Shepard]

But they kept seeing you.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, they had to. I mean, they're going for like. That's why that whole thing was a ruse is it was like five and unders, which means five lines are under is the type of role they were casting out. Georgia. Yeah, always so. And they wanted local hires for that. But I did book Drop Dead Diva. That's my first acting role out of Georgia. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I didn't see Drop Dead Diva. That was a narrative show.

[Lily Padman]

Was a show it was on.

[Dax Shepard]

Sounds like a reality show.

[Lily Padman]

No, it was a real show and it was on, I think, Lifetime.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

That was exciting for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Not bad. Yeah. Under five.

[Lily Padman]

I was under five also, you remember, notoriously, during that time, I auditioned for a fast food commercial and it had to do with chicken. I forget what it was, but they said like, oh, you can bring a friend for this. And then I brought Cali just as like to come. And then she booked it.

[Dax Shepard]

This is the age old. There's a lot of these stories that

[Lily Padman]

bounce around, but I was so. It was so early for me.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what. What happened with Tyree, I believe. I think he joined his sibling for some other audition and ended up getting Parenthood.

[Lily Padman]

Wow. Well, and also Kiki Kwan. Notorious.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. He was coaching his brother.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And got cast.

[Lily Padman]

But it was. That was the time where I thought every audition was going to make or break my entire career.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How can you not?

[Lily Padman]

So for me, it's. And like. Cause also they weren't very frequent the auditions.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, once every couple months maybe.

[Lily Padman]

Yeah. And so oh man, was there a down the toilet blow and I had to, you know, can you connect us with her? Like oh my gosh. But guess what? We're still friends. That's it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Were there any facts?

[Lily Padman]

Yeah, so many.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, great.

[Lily Padman]

Mainly the one about auditioned for.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Hey.

[Dax Shepard]

Mainly my own edification.

[Lily Padman]

Mainly the low, the life expectancy.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Nexus, Star Trek Generation. Kristen's nyu.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

Er, you're right.

[Dax Shepard]

That was the thing was chock fuller fight.

[Lily Padman]

Water fights.

[Dax Shepard]

I apologize. I apologize. It was chockful. My bad. It's. I'm not doing well with the lunar new year.

[Lily Padman]

You got to get some red on fast.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going to put some red on for my lunch date with Delty.

[Sterling K. Brown]

Okay.

[Lily Padman]

All right.

[Dax Shepard]

Love you.