NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU Totaled A Parked Car in Iceland

Summary

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Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers

Episode Title: NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU Totaled A Parked Car in Iceland
Date: February 10, 2026
Hosts: Seth Meyers, Josh Meyers
Guest: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

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Overview

In this uproarious and heartfelt episode, Seth and Josh Meyers welcome actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (best known as Jaime Lannister from "Game of Thrones") to reminisce about family trips, childhood holidays, embarrassing travel mishaps, and the deep connections between Denmark and Greenland. The trio explores what makes family travel meaningful—and just how quickly chaos can ensue when you total a Russian ambassador’s car in Reykjavik. Coster-Waldau shares stories about his tight-knit upbringing, romantic origins, and the enduring power of adventure.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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Life Updates & Family Traditions

[00:00–07:02]

• Seth and Josh banter about past weekends, sarcastically crediting their parents for grandparent duties.
• Seth describes a cold, early-morning struggle to get his kids to "forest school," followed by the “Ponk Olympics”: inventive home competitions for the kids including Nerf can shooting, Connect 4, attic football, and more.
• An anecdote emerges about a clumsy child and a new family catchphrase: “That’s gonna leave a mark.”

Quote:

“Ash just pointed out that when you hurt yourself, you don’t want to hear somebody say, ‘That’s gonna leave a mark.’...[Later] Addie banged into something on accident and just goes, ‘Dad’s gonna leave a mark.’ Everybody laughed so hard.”
— Seth Meyers (06:32)

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Introducing Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

[07:09–08:28]

• Nikolaj is spotlighted for his new season of "The Last Thing He Told Me" and his travel docuseries "The Optimist's Guide to the Planet," as well as a project specifically about Greenland.

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Nikolaj’s Roots: Denmark & Greenland

[08:47–12:17]

• Currently based in Denmark, with a home in Greenland where his wife is from.
• Nikolaj candidly discusses heightened geopolitical focus on Greenland, describing feelings of unease within the small Greenlandic population (approx. 57,000 people).
• Shares that Christmas in Greenland is “cozy, relaxed, and family-oriented,” with traditions like singing and dancing around the tree.

Quote:

“The Greenlanders...are petrified because it’s a strange thing to have the big military power in the world saying, ‘We’re going to come get you.’”
— Coster-Waldau (09:49)

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Love at First Sight, and Vacation Disasters

[12:24–16:45]

• Met his Greenlandic wife during a Danish radio play, fell in love immediately.
• Their early romance blossomed while filming in Iceland—culminating in an epic and disastrous Iceland road trip.
• Nikolaj totaled a parked car in Reykjavik (belonging to the Russian ambassador), didn’t have a full driver’s license, and offered two bottles of wine in apology—none of which improved the situation.

Quote:

“I reversed into it...I just reversed full...into this parked, beautiful car. The guy comes out, he’s the Russian ambassador and he wants to kill me. And then the police comes and I hand over this provisional driver’s license...Turns out the cops in Iceland didn’t know the difference between a provisional and a real license. So I got off.”
— Coster-Waldau (14:25–15:10)

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Family Road Trips and Childhood Memories

[28:49–32:53]

• Grew up in a tiny Danish village (Cupi[a?]), just 50 people.
• Annual holidays as a child involved all piling into a Fiat 600—bikes on the roof—and driving for days, often to Spain, despite extreme fear of heights in his mom and sister.
• Reflects on only later appreciating his mother’s efforts to give her kids adventurous memories, even with few resources.
• Marvels at simpler times: “You don’t need much. There was water. I had a football.”

Quote:

"It’s funny, the things your parents do—you appreciate it like thirty years later."
— Coster-Waldau (31:47)

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Comic Books, Simpler Entertainment, and Generational Gaps

[33:26–34:46, 37:12–38:33]

• Bonding over childhood car rides full of comics and “jumbo books” instead of digital entertainment.
• Comments on modern phone addictions, the challenge of guardrails, and shifting social norms both for kids and adults.

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Copenhagen and Scandinavian Culture

[39:05–44:51]

• Reminisces about his first trip to Copenhagen as a rural kid—amazed at seeing a Burger King.
• Describes Tivoli Gardens as “the best place”—and marvels at the generational difference where parents would let kids roam freely while they relaxed.
• Discusses friendly competition and mild snobbery among Scandinavian countries.

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Travel Shows: The Reality Behind the Scenes

[50:37–54:58]

• Nikolaj confirms that hosting a travel docuseries ("The Optimist’s Guide to the Planet") is grueling—“the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” especially with global locations.
• Loves the job for its authentic encounters, but admits: “No, it is hard. There’s no—people think you go to bars at night, but I just go to bed.”
• The Meyers brothers recount shooting a single episode of a travel show and finding it unexpectedly exhausting.

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Surreal Places and Memorable Journeys

[62:40–65:40]

• Family vacations: ski trips, long visits to Greenland in summer, and giant multi-family gatherings in Spain/France with competitions (“28 people, everything became a competition!”).
• For his TV show, top travel memories include a sacred tree ceremony with indigenous people in the Amazon and a sunrise in the high Andes after a harrowing drive and coca gum to combat altitude sickness.

Quote:

“This guy...says, ‘Oh, it’s cocoa gum, keep you awake!’ I’m so hyper...I had a feeling I hadn’t felt for like 25 years.”
— Coster-Waldau (64:03–65:40)

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Family, Parenting, and Passing It On

[58:03–61:45]

• Daughters, now 22 and 25, are venturing into acting.
• Family strives for “the two week rule” when traveling for work, prioritizing togetherness; recounts six-week stints with his daughters in Australia.
• Ensures his children feel equally connected to their Danish and Greenlandic heritage.

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Lightning Round: Fast Family Favorites

[66:50–68:53]

• Ideal vacation? “Adventurous.”
• Favorite transport? “Bicycle.”
• Dream family trip? “Deer Valley, skiing with my family in Yukon.”
• Sell your hometown? “It’s done in five minutes—by the time you get there, it’s already over.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On apologizing after totaling the Russian ambassador’s car:
  “He took the wine and smashed this wine bottle. I don’t blame him.”
  [15:22, Coster-Waldau]

• On how maps warp perceptions:
  “The way the maps are, it looks bigger than it is… It’s a classic, in Western Europe and the US, we made sure to make the map so we look the biggest, and now you’re really paying for it!”
  [22:52–23:17, Coster-Waldau & Meyers]

• On lessons from family road trips:
  “You never really appreciate the things your parents do when they do it. You appreciate it thirty years later.”
  [31:47, Coster-Waldau]

• On passing on acting to his kids:
  “Whatever you do in life, just love it, because…life’s short.”
  [59:47, Coster-Waldau]

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Memorable, Funny, or Sweet Highlights

• The “Ponk Olympics”—unconventional family games—brought the Meyers family together and started the episode on a warm, comedic note.
• “That’s gonna leave a mark” became the family running gag and then a punchline delivered brilliantly by the youngest.
• Nikolaj’s romantic proposal atop a volcano in Iceland after a disastrous road trip: “Why she went with you? True love!”
• The full-cast nostalgia about comic books, pre-internet road entertainment, and childhood freedom.
• Nikolaj’s honest, sometimes self-deprecating takes on travel mishaps (“I shouldn’t be driving. Clearly!”), parenting, and Scandinavian quirks.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:13] – Ponk Olympics at home recap
• [09:36] – Life in Denmark and Greenland; Christmas and current affairs
• [13:35] – The road trip in Iceland that ended with a totaled car
• [31:02] – Childhood family holidays, realization of mother's sacrifices
• [39:05] – First Burger King, Tivoli Gardens & generational child-rearing
• [51:02] – Nikolaj’s experience hosting a travel series
• [62:48] – Amazon and Andes: most breathtaking travel experiences
• [66:50] – Lightning-round travel questions

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Conclusion

This episode is a delightful blend of embarrassing stories, cultural insight, and family sentiment—from winning (and losing) the “Ponk Olympics,” to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s infamous Icelandic blunder and tales of his globe-trotting docuseries. Whether you’re a fan of behind-the-scenes celebrity travel stories, reflections on parenting, or just good old-fashioned European road trip disasters, this episode delivers laughs, warmth, and a reminder to cherish the small adventures.

“Whatever you do in life, just love it, because…life’s short.”
— Nikolaj Coster-Waldau [59:47]

Transcript

[A]

Hey, Paji.

[B]

Hey Sufi.

[A]

How's it going?

[B]

Great. How are you?

[A]

Great. I had a great weekend with the kids in the Ponkas.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

Alexi was out of town and so I was very lucky to have our parents come and lend a few helping hands.

[B]

Are they, do they, do they take over full duties on the grandkids?

[A]

Not at all. And everything I said was meant to be said sarcastically. But no, they were helpful because they, they showed up first. And my brother in law, Tolia was with my daughter Addie. And she's your niece Addie. You remember her?

[B]

Yeah, no, I remember her. I love her.

[A]

And they had to play I think like two hours of hide and seek with Addie.

[B]

Huh.

[A]

Addie only likes to hide with Ponka Yeri. So basically then Hurry has to go looking for him. And Hurry's not a great looker, it turns out. But yeah, she's not good at that sort of thing. Ponchieri got in a bathtub with Addie and said it was way harder to get out of than he thought.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So we almost, we almost. He almost just lived there.

[B]

I mean he throw a pillow in there and some black just like.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Where's Pagiari? He lives in a clawfoot antique bathtub that he was a little overconfident about when he got in. Then, you know, we had a really, you know, me and the boys got there and you know, got him to bed on Friday. On Saturday, you know, our kids, it was freezing cold on the east coast this weekend. And our kids go to this forest school every Saturday from 9 till 1. And I will say, first of all, they woke me up at like 5 in the morning because when Alexi is gone, the kids rotate who gets to sleep with me. And if it's Axel or Addie, that means I'm up at like 5 in the morning.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that it was. And by the way, the hardest thing about it was they just did not want to go because it was so cold. And you remember me as a kid, like that would have been my line. 100%. Yeah. And one of the hardest things about being a parent is like knowing I used to be exactly in their shoes. Yeah, quitter. And you're like, no, a quitter.

[C]

A cold.

[A]

A quitter with bad. What's it called when. Circulation. Circulation. Yeah, like a little white tipped fingered quitter. And so. And I just like held the line. But it was a four hour fight because as soon as they knew it was Saturday and what that meant, it was just a four hour Fight. And then I got him out the door and Axel screaming that the snow was too deep and he was gonna get stuck in the snow. And then we drop him off at forest school and I just, you know, they're sort of a teacher was like, where's Axel? And he had already, like, for fun, gone and like, buried himself in a snow drift, like, immediately got him there and he was doing all the things he was so afraid of.

[B]

When they got home, did they say it was very cold out or. That wasn't the story anymore.

[A]

It was not the story. They also, I mean, again, you know, they're with professionals. We don't just like, send them off with like, woods people.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know, and so they have like, they have a couple like little yurts. They will stop in if it's too cold. So it seemed like it was maybe less of an outdoor day and, you know, they were fine.

[B]

More of a yurt day.

[A]

It was a year day. But then we had the Punk Olympics, which was one of the selling points of like, just go. And then when you get. Come home, there'll be the Punk Olympics. I was like, we're going to do the Punk Olympics. We're going to watch a movie and then we're going to go get dinner at a place they like. And. And so we got them home. And it was. The momentum of the day was just exceptional. The. The Ponk Olympics were like a little skeeball game maybe you bought for us.

[B]

Can't recall. I don't think so.

[A]

Little skee ball game. They have a little Nerf gun. We set up empty cans and they had to, like, knock over, you know, stacks of cans. Connect 4 was in the Punk Olympics. We put a basket at the bottom of the stairs and put seven different balls at the top of the stairs and they had to throw the balls in.

[B]

Yeah. Fun game.

[A]

And that was a. That was a real highlight. Football in the attic. Which is kind of crazy because it's not very. It's not very big, but neither are the kids.

[B]

It's a sizable house.

[A]

It's big enough for that.

[B]

If you're going to play football in that house. Going to play in the attic.

[A]

Yep. And. And that was. Yeah, it was great. It was. It was a home run. The Punk Olympics. And then they watched. We've talked about it. They watched that Heath Ledger movie First night, which is a big hit. And then we went and had a great dinner and yeah, it was awesome.

[B]

Was there a winner of the Punk Olympics?

[A]

You know what? It was really nice because Ash technically won the Punk Olympics.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And then we. Oh, we also played Hungry Hungry Hippos, which is Addie's worst game. Sorry, Addie's favorite game and also the worst game ever created. But we. I set, like, it's really good because, like, Addy's still young enough that you can make eye contact with the other kids and be like, we're gonna let Addy win. And so Addy won Hungry Hungry Hippos. And then the boys were like, addy won. And then she was like over the moon. And you know, but football kind of in the end was the, the tiebreaker. And you know, Ash, again, nine and seven, it's very hard for a nine year old to lose to a seven year old. But he won and everybody was in a great mood.

[B]

Great. Well, well organized on that. I feel like. Yeah, I feel like your kids kind of go. They have. They have a pretty structured life.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And they do well with structure. And so to. To have told them ahead of Forest School that upon return they would have a Punk Olympics, which also keeps mom and dad very involved, which I think is also fun for them.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

It was a great time all around and. Yeah.

[B]

Did mom compete in the Punk Olympics?

[C]

Was she.

[A]

She did not complete. She did not. Oh. The other thing that happened in the Punk Olympics was Ash is very clumsy. And at one point Ash was just like running and he was like, I'm just like, stop running in the house. You're just like, all you ever do is fall and you're never in a rush. But he ran to reset up the cans and he clipped his side on like the coffee table and he was like, ow. And dad said, oh, that's gonna leave a mark. And then Ash looked at me, he goes, well, that doesn't make me feel better. And it really made me laugh. And then instead of it being a secret, I said, panchayeri. Ash just pointed out that when you hurt yourself, you don't want to hear somebody say, that's gonna leave a mark. And Ponky was like, oh, I'm sorry, Ash, I shouldn't have said that. And then Ash just. The rest of the day kept going like, that's gonna leave a mark, remember? And it was like got like progressively less funny. And then three hours later, Addie banged into something on accident and then just goes, dad's going to leave a mark. And everybody was like, oh my God, laugh so hard. And you could tell Ash was like, I've been saying that all day.

[B]

Yeah, it's delivery. It's how it's.

[A]

It's callbacks. I'm like, for her, it was a callback. For you, it was just like saying it.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

But it's great. That's awesome. And now we have a Nikolaj Coster. Waldo.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, at the forefront of a lot of current news as a Danish gentleman whose wife is from Greenland.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Has a house in Greenland.

[A]

I think we were both surprised. We were both surprised to find out exactly how tied in he was to geopolitical events. Yeah.

[B]

But, yeah, I mean, we all know him as Jaime Lannister, but he's got season two coming out of the Last thing he told Me. And he's got a great travel series called the Optimist's Guide to the Planet.

[A]

Highly recommend.

[B]

Yeah. And also we learn in this that he has a little doc travel series all about Greenland. So if you want to actually learn about a place that our current government is threatening to just take.

[A]

Yeah. If you wanted, it might be his fault because his doc made it so. So alluring. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's the thing. Because now we know, of course, about the. The Current family in charge of this country. They're real documentary people.

[B]

They are.

[A]

They probably watched a lot of docs to get ready for their doc, just based on the way they prepare. Can't imagine they went in blind.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's probably on him. You know what? Probably on him. All right. Enjoy the conversation. Thanks, everybody.

[D]

Family trips with the M. Brothers. Family trips with the mother.

[A]

Brothers. Here we go.

[B]

Hello. Hey.

[C]

Hello, gentlemen.

[A]

Nice to see you.

[B]

We didn't know if we didn't have any audio for a moment.

[A]

It was nice. You really made us wait there.

[C]

Hey. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Well, I'm all the way in London. That's why you're in London. I'm in London, yes. I'm just here for two days. So that's why. So just. That's not mine. That's a hotel.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Very helpful to let people know that's not yours.

[B]

Are you.

[A]

Where's home now? Where do you live full time?

[C]

Oh, miss. Denmark. Just north of Copenhagen. And. And. And. And we also have a place in Greenland. My wife's from Greenland.

[B]

Oh, fantastic.

[A]

You do for now.

[B]

You do for now.

[A]

Really awkward.

[B]

What a. What a weird time this must be for someone like you.

[C]

Yeah, no, it's. It's very strange.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's.

[C]

I think it's strange. Not just for me. Of everyone I know in the US and in Europe.

[A]

It's.

[C]

It's it's, it's a, it's a. Yeah. Strange is one word. To, to. I was just in Greenland over Christmas and New Year's and, and you know, it's a small people green. The Greenlanders, it's only 57,000 but like to be honest, they are petrified because it's a strange thing to have like the big military power in the world saying we're going to come get you.

[A]

But yeah, there's not much you can do to plan. So how do we, you know what I mean?

[C]

What are we stuck up with here?

[A]

But can I ask. So what is talk us through though? Like I would imagine not your first holiday season you spent in Greenland. What is a holiday in Greenland like? Because I feel like one of the crazy things about it being in the news is how little any of us know about Greenland or its people or its customs or what it's like at all.

[C]

Well, it's, it's for us. We have a big family up there. It's, it's very cozy. You know, we, we. It all happens. You know, Christmas Eve is, is on the 24th is when you get together, you have a big dinner, you dance around the Christmas tree, you sing some songs, you, you, you hand out presents. It's all very, very relaxed, very family oriented.

[B]

They have.

[C]

Every house in Greenland will have these orange stars like lanterns everywhere. I mean, it's also because it's a very dark time of the year. Of course in, in.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Or north. We had a white Christmas. Usually you do nice. But it's, yeah, it's, it's beautiful.

[A]

And I only know because we, we just looked it up really for a joke because when somebody was like, like I realized like I did not know the capital of Greenland. You know what I mean?

[C]

Like, I don't think most, most people wouldn't know it's called Nuke. And I think that most Americans. Why would you know that? It's not, it's, it's just now it's become such a. So the focus, of course because of President Trump's desire for you to take over.

[A]

Well, you're making it sound very nice. He loves orange lanterns.

[C]

Exactly. That's the thing. By the way, I looked up your. When you look for your podcast, the description and I was so happy to see that you are lifelong brothers. Pointed that out. But it's a funny thing to have to.

[A]

It is actually you might be the first one to point it up. Yeah, we wanted people to know that like agents didn't like put us Together later in life.

[B]

We're not a boy band.

[A]

Yeah, we're not a boy band. How do you. Where did you meet a Greenlander? Is that how. How your wife?

[C]

My, my. My wife. We actually met, which before podcasts were podcasts. I guess back in the day. We just did a radio play at the D radio and she played. It was set in Greenland. She played the love interest of my character and she walked through the door and I was. That was it. That was it.

[A]

That's fantastic.

[C]

I fell in love there. And then, and then, then. And. And I told. I was. I went to rehearsal at a play and I told everyone there that I was getting married. And they say, with whom? And I was like, I have no idea. I don't know her name. But you don't understand. It's. It's crazy. But. And then we did a movie in Iceland that summer. I was. I suggested to the director, I was writing the script with him, and I said, listen, we haven't found this, this, this woman to play this character. I just met this actor. I think she would be amazing. You should test her. And he did. And. And she got the part. So we got to spend a summer in Iceland, which was incredible. And then, and then actually we. We talking about road trips. We did a road trip in Iceland.

[A]

I mean, that's a great place to take a road trip. Was it. Was it a winter Iceland movie or a summer?

[C]

Summer? It was summer.

[A]

It was beautiful.

[C]

But it, It. It was. Well, actually it was. It was. It was a horrible. It ended basically with me crashing a car into a parked car in Reykjavik, which turned out to be. The car belonged to the Russian ambassador and I totaled his car.

[B]

And.

[C]

It was not a good look. But apart from that, then after that, and also as a car I bought from someone in production, so I had to take that. It was terrible. And also I didn't have a driver's license, so there was a lot of things that were lined up that did not play out well.

[B]

I hesitate to ask almost, but how do you total a parked car?

[C]

Well, that's, that's.

[A]

You got to hit it.

[C]

I went. I reversed into it. I went up a one way street. As I said, I. I didn't have my driver's license. I was. I was getting a driver's license. I was living in London. I was. I was 25. And in London you get like a provision provisional license. And I managed to persuade people in Iceland that this was a real license. And you was kind. You just folded it up and, And Then I borrowed this car from production and this movie we're doing, I was going up the one way street, but actually also on top of this, I came from. We were shooting that day and I was still in makeup while driving myself. And in. In my. My character was wearing an all red velvet suit. I had tattooed toothpicks on the side of my. My face. I had bloody hands. Anyway, going down this. This one way road, I'm like, oh no, it's. It's the wrong way. And I look, I thought I looked back and then I just reverse full. I wanted to go way too hard. And I just reversed into this parked, beautiful car. And I look over and there it's a big house and there's a guy standing over there and he's. It sounds like a bad mood, but that's the way he was smoking a cigarette like this. And then he looks and then he runs in. And then like 10 seconds, I'm standing on the train. Oh God, this is bad. I have to. I have to face the music now. And then this guy comes running out and he's. He's big and he's all. He's beat red in his face and angry because he'd waited six months for this car. And he's the Russian ambassador and he wants to kill me. He wants to send me to the gulag. And then the police comes and I hand over this provisional driver's license and I'm going. I'm going to jail for this. But turns out the police. I can say this now, it's 30 years ago. I hope I. But the cops in Iceland didn't know the difference between a provisional and a real license. So I got off. And then after. And he was still so angry. And I understand, listen, today I would be. Oh my God. I understand. He was so angry. But I had two bottles of wine that I bought in the back of the car. I ran after the guy. Hey, Mr. Ambassador, I'm so sorry. I hope insurance. And he took these and he smashed this wine bottle. And I, you know, I don't blame. And then two weeks later, we did another road trip. I don't know why I shouldn't be driving. Clearly.

[A]

I don't know why she went with you. I mean, she obviously. True love.

[C]

True love. But then we went to a place called Snefjilcircule, which is like this volcano, this old glacier on a volcano. And then that's when I proposed to her.

[A]

Wow. So how long after you met her did you propose?

[C]

That was five months. Five Months.

[A]

Wow. So there you go. You knew. I will. I. In the ambassador's defense, I feel like if somebody totaled my car and then the way they apologized was. Ran after me with alcohol defense. It's.

[C]

I'm the. There is no. I can also imagine you come out, you hear that thing and someone says, oh my God, someone crashed your car. And you come out and there's a guy, a 26 year old happy dude standing there in a red velvet with, with snake tattoos on his face going, hey, I'm an actor. I'm sorry, this is not how I look. It's. Yeah.

[B]

No.

[A]

And then he takes a tiny little piece of paper out of his wallet. Look, I know how to drive.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And it was like provisional. Here, this is my license. See? Yeah.

[A]

I feel like I'm trying to work backwards. Did you, you had scenes that shot in Iceland during Game of Thrones? Did you go back there to shoot?

[C]

No. No.

[A]

You never did, huh?

[C]

But I went. I was been back. I love that country.

[A]

It's amazing.

[C]

I've been there quite a lot. I shot a movie that I also co wrote called against the Ice a few years ago and then I did this, this whole series called King and Conqueror a couple years ago also. Nicely. It's been, it's been I think overall a couple of years up there.

[A]

They have great crews in Iceland.

[C]

Amazing. They have the studio in the world called RVK Studios. It's just like. It's an amazing place.

[A]

And how, how long is the flight from Copenhagen to Nuke to Nuke?

[C]

It's four hours, four and a half hours.

[A]

Okay, Gotcha.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's further than I would have thought.

[C]

4 hours and 15 to New York from Nuke. So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's going to be. I literally. It could just open the flight in the summer. You can fly now from, from with United to Nuke and I took that flight to New York. It's. Yeah, it's. It's.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

No, I mean we can talk a lot about Greenland. I have a lot to say, but maybe it's.

[A]

Maybe it's not right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so I have a question then. Would you have. Do you think if you had not met a Greenlander you would have ever gone to Greenland?

[C]

Well, my, my dad worked when I was a kid. He worked at the US base at the north. Okay. There's an air force base at the very top.

[A]

Yeah. There's quite a few. I believe one. There were now.

[C]

There were now there's just one. And he worked there for years. I mean, you weren't allowed to go visit, but I was so curious. And he would always bring home stuff back like, you know, baseball glove and stuff like that. And actually a couple years ago I did a documentary where I traveled around Greenland and I started. I was allowed to go and shoot at the base. So we started there. It was 20, 18, 19. And because inside this baseball glove that my dad gave me, it actually says that it belonged to the base gym. So I thought, okay, I'll bring it back. You know, bring the gift. My dad forgot to bring this back. So I did. And then they did a little frame. They. They framed it and put it up outside the. The base gym. So one of the one.

[A]

It's just.

[C]

It's. It was a very interesting in place. And it's also that the history of course with. With the. With the US In Greenland is. Goes back to the. To the Second World War. And it's. It's. It's fascinating. I traveled around. I saw a lot of the. The old bases that now have been either converted into something else or have just, you know, ceased to exist. But it's. It's. It's. It's. It's a. It's a long history. It's a very, very interesting.

[A]

Which documentary was this that when you went back and did.

[C]

It's called Through Greenland with. With. With Nikolai Costa Waldo. And It's a. It's five parts where way around. It's on YouTube. You can find it. It's good.

[A]

That's fantastic.

[C]

And if you want to know anything about Greenland, you can. You can you actually see.

[A]

I mean, I. I really genuinely think this is perfect timing for this to have a second life.

[C]

No, no, I agree.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

For all the wrong reasons, unfortunately. But yeah.

[A]

Yes, unfortunately.

[C]

I mean the thing is Greenland is so. I've been so excited because they've been moving towards real full independence over the last few years and that's kind of was the next steps. You know, probably still be part of the Commonwealth, the world, the kingdom, but. But have complete self governance. And then this thing happens where they go like what We've been colonized and now we're finally about to get to the. The.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And now this guy wants to colonize us. But do you think now. Because now that I am so lucky to have you here because I haven't. Do you really think that this is something that anyone outside of the Oval Office thing is a priority for American to. To conquer another people.

[A]

I didn't but I find him very convincing. And no, no, I don't, I don't think anybody thinks this and I don't think that anybody even when you hear now certain politicians trying to bend over backwards to make sense of it, like none of that is the reasoning.

[C]

No, I remember because I, because we've been. Obviously, you know, there's a, there's a panic and like the whole thing. Okay, well, he's worried about the SEC security. Let's. And he talks about all these Chinese and, and, and Russian boats around Greenland and, and obviously people live there and they go there. There are no Chinese ships. They're not here. What, what is he talking about? And there's a reason why, you know, the U.S. they used to have 15, 000 troops, now they have 150. That, you know, that's anyway, but, but, but I read this thing that it, that there was a, a journalist, a writer went to see him in, in, in 21. Yeah, in 21 to do a book and asked him about this thing with Greenland. He said, well, I love maps. Look at this, how big it is.

[A]

Also somebody pointed out that it look the way the maps are.

[C]

Well, that's the.

[A]

It looks bigger than it is.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's, that's the, that's the thing. It's a classic US In Western Europe and the US we made sure to make the map so we look the.

[A]

Biggest and now you're really paying for it.

[C]

This is bad.

[A]

You should make new maps where it's just real tiny.

[C]

Just put them out. That's true.

[A]

Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. This episode of Family Trips is brought to you by Wild Grain Posse. I didn't even know what wild grain was and then I was delighted and I really enjoyed using it.

[B]

Yeah, you and me both.

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You know, the only other person who bakes one cookie a night. The queen of England.

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Have your stuff.

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Yeah, please.

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[A]

Yeah, we played football on the front lawn. Little Wiffle ball on the front lawn. When was the last time you played a wiffle ball in front of a place you stayed that wasn't booked on Airbnb?

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I could not tell you.

[A]

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[A]

Here we go. What about. So what town in Denmark did you grow up?

[C]

I grew up in a place called Cupia, which was a city. No, it was, it was more like. I don't know what you call village of 50 people. Where, where I, where I grew up, it was. There was, there was a church, there was a farm, and then there was a school and that was about it. And you know, it. It's one of those. I mean you find them in a lot of European countries where you have like one back in the day, one big farm. And then the houses there were basically for the workers. And then there was one. There was sometimes in 68 or something, a guy had this idea that this place was gonna, he was gonna build a whole new suburb to this place. So he, he started and he only got to. He built three houses basically and that was it. And we lived in one of them. Main Street. Main street, number 18. That was us. Yeah, that was me and my, my two older sisters and my mom. And. And I was thinking about this before, you know, because I was talking to you and. And we had our family holidays were, were usually my mom didn't have much money, but she had, we had a Fiat 600, if you know what that is. The tiniest amount.

[A]

Yes, of course, like tiny.

[C]

And then she would put our bicycles on the roof which like so the, the car was higher than. It's like ridiculous. And then we would go either. Usually would be to Sweden for a week. But she also once took us all the way. She was very ambitious. She drove to Spain, which is a long, long drive in a Fiat 600 that goes max maximum speed of 50 miles an hour. And she decided to do the. She wanted to go across the Pyrenees when she had to go through the Pyrenees, but she went the. She said I want to go the picturesque route route which of course is like these tiny little, you know, serpentine, whatever you call it. And turns out my mom and my sister have extreme fear of heights. So she had a panic attack on the way up. But luckily enough my mom at that, you know, she was 40, 30. I mean that's the funny thing, you know, when you get older, you think back.

[A]

Yeah, no, you can't believe.

[C]

My parents were like nothing. But she was 38 or something like late 30s. She was hot. So I remember. No, but like I remember like this blonde skinned even going, I don't know what to do. And then there was Always so many really friendly Spanish guys that would fix the car, would make sure that we got up there, and we would always have a place to stay on the way. And. And for years I didn't understand because there was a guy who even came to Denmark to visit us. And I thought that was so sweet. And then, then now, of course I realized, oh, she had a. She found someone. But. Yeah, but it was just. Yeah. And it's you.

[A]

Really.

[C]

The funny thing is you don't really appreciate the, the things that your parents do when they do it. You do it like you appreciate it like 30 years later when it's kind of.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Late, you know, I mean, like not too late, but it's like, wow, my God, my mama, she didn't have any money and she put all us kids in a tiny car. She drove all the way just so, I mean, driving.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, how long does it take from Denmark to Spain?

[C]

That's like days, three, four days. And we. Oh, we had a tent, like a two person tent. The tiniest tent that we would stop.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I don't know how she did it.

[A]

But do you remember, like, when you think back to it is. Was that trip. Did it seem like a fun adventure?

[C]

An amazing adventure. And that was another thing. Obviously we, you know, I packed my, my, my back with my comic books and some real books and then that would be the entertainment. Then of course, you would do that thing. Would just be talking and singing and having fun in the way, you know. Well, that. Well, you know, I mean, obviously older than you guys, but we didn't have, you know, these things. Yeah, it was only the entertainment that we came up with and.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Such an adventure just to sit and also to see Europe and see that. I mean, incredible.

[B]

Would you stop in little towns along the way or were you sort of like at Spain or.

[C]

But I also remember, I remember seeing my first computer game at like some gas station somewhere. They had one of those. You wanted the biggest one ones, you know. But it was the. What was it called? This one? Yes. And I was playing. That was like. It was. I mean, my God already. Then you go, oh, my God, I want more of this, please.

[B]

I know.

[C]

And now I can't even fucking go. I can't take a shit. I can't take a shit without a phone now.

[A]

It's.

[C]

It's crazy.

[A]

We were, it was interesting. We were just talking about, you know, again, like how we're in this weird era where like our kids and the adults are getting addicted to phones at the Same time, right? Like, I didn't grow up with Instagram, but, like, it has the same effect on my brain that it does on kids. And then. But then we were remembering. My wife and I were like, also, we would, like, play, like, Brick Breaker on our, you know, blackberries. It's not like we were like, we never looked at our phone for dumb shit, you know? And again, it's like you said, like, you saw Pong and you're like that.

[C]

The thing is, that's why it's so. I mean, I mean, clearly, it's the brightest people that come up with these things, they are very smart and making sure that we get addicted to this. I think it's just. It's come to this point now where you. Where I do think we need. I believe that we need to have. We have to accept that we cannot control this. We can't. We need to put some kind of guardrails in because it's kind of like tobacco, right? You go, yeah, in a free world. Why? If people want to smoke? Well, like, whatever. Like, they should do whatever they want, but actually it's really harmful. And I think that's what we're seeing now.

[A]

Did your. So how were Danish schools good about it? Do you feel like. Or is it. Is it all happening at the same time? Well, it's all.

[C]

I kind of missed that because obviously you know, I was. You know, it didn't. It wasn't an issue for me. And with my kids, they didn't have phones. Well, I mean, obviously, when they got into their teens, then they. It started. But they're 20, 25 now. I. I think they. I think they missed out on the worst thing. And I think. But I know that. That, I mean, you can't. I think they've. That you're no longer allowed to have your. Your phones at school, which I think is a good idea. I mean. But also, there is something about how do we. Because. Because I also hate this idea that we have to ban everything. Like, and obviously, I think we should ban phones from schools. But. But this idea that. That we. That. I mean, I just. I don't know. There has to be a smarter way of doing this. Like, because. Because we. Why can't. Why is it. I mean, because we know that these things, when they do the. The. So it's all for profit. It's all about the algorithms. We know that. Couldn't we just go in and say, listen, it's all good. You want. We want you to make money, but you. You can't you can't do it like that. Yeah.

[A]

It would be nice, I think, if.

[B]

Everyone'S lock screen showed how many Their daily hours of screen time and you couldn't hide it. So anywhere you were, that was your lock screen and people would see that you spent nine hours a day on your phone, and that. That became a point of shame. I'm sure some people would be like. Would take it as a point of pride.

[C]

Yeah, no, I. Yeah. And it's. But, but then. Yeah, but do you think that. That the reason that you don't see people smoking so much more is because you have those. Those beautiful photos on the cigarette? I don't think that's what it is. I think it's. It's more like it's a. Is a thing that we all. We basically said it's not allowed.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I mean, it was. It was crazy when they just stopped. You know, I remember in New York where it's like, you can't smoke inside anymore. And like, so many people stop smoking. I know. Because, you know, then there was the shame of having to go stand outside. And then they were like, yeah, it's too cold.

[B]

I. I've been at a couple restaurants recently where people will be like, just watching things on their phones without earphones in.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

And I can't believe that if you own that restaurant or that bar that you don't say, I'm sorry, you can do this, but you need to have headphones in because it's just like you've put a television on your sort of table at a cafe and turned it on and start just watching tv. Oh, my God.

[A]

Yeah. I will say that I had a flashback when you said comic books in the back of the car, because I remember when we were on road trips, it was that era where you would just go to any gas station, would have that sort of spin rack of comics. And how fun it was to just buy three comic books and. And just sort of quietly sit in the car reading them.

[C]

We have something called.

[B]

I don't.

[C]

I'm sure you had it as well, but it was like. It was the jumbo books. Did you have that?

[A]

Yeah. Huh.

[C]

And you know when you had, like.

[A]

Sort of bigger comics.

[C]

Well, no, no, it's like. It's basically.

[A]

It's the.

[C]

The Donald Dog. All that whole world.

[A]

Yes, yes, yes.

[C]

And it's just like little books. But it's still the comics. But yeah, I could. I mean, I knew them inside and out. It was just the best. It's funny.

[B]

What do you remember where you went in Spain and like, what the. What you would do when you got there? Were you guys going to the beach or were you going.

[C]

We go to. I remember we went to one. I mean, yeah, it was a camping site, but it was right next to one of those. It was a fair, like, what do you call it? Those fairs with. With the. Where you can go and shoe stuff. Like a county fair. It was next to that. And then there was a beach and then there was a. It was not a very picturesque place at the time. I loved it, though. There was water. I had a football. Hey, what else can you.

[A]

That.

[C]

That was just happen. I mean, the thing is, you don't need much.

[A]

Were you. Were you. Were you close with your sisters?

[C]

I was. I mean.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

And. I mean, there were my sisters, but they were like a little older, four and eight and. And so. So there was. Yeah, I was the annoying little. Little brother. So I. I was always out looking for someone to play with and I usually would find someone. Right. Especially, you know, camping sites. There's always kids and. Yeah.

[A]

Did you. How far from Copenhagen were you?

[C]

Well, as a kid, it was like. That felt like a whole. That was a different world. It was. It was, but it's just an hour away, but.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I remember the first time I went to Company, I was with school. Of course, you had to go look at museums, but I remember seeing my first Burger King and I was like, holy moly. That's incredible. It's so sad, isn't it? And then many years later, not many years, like 10 years later, I was going. It was National Theater school in Copenhagen and we had an exchange program because there was the fall of the Soviet Union, so Russia was suddenly becoming accessible. And we did this exchange with Russia. And I remember going to. And there was just. This was when the McDonald's had just opened in Moscow. And I remember going there and just seeing the lines around the streets in Moscow. I was like, oh, my God. They must have felt just like. When I saw my first working. I feel so sad. But it was.

[A]

That's Tivoli Gardens as Copenhagen, right? Was that a. Oh, my God. A destination?

[C]

Oh, my God, yes. Have you been?

[A]

No.

[B]

Yeah, we were there together.

[C]

That's the best place. I mean, I. That was my. Yeah, I. I've been to Civil Gardens a lot. My. I mean, my, My. I grew up in the countryside. My. But my family, My parents were from Copenhagen, so I had my grandparents in Copenhagen and they. They were very much working class. So there was one spot at Tivoli Gardens, where you would go to and you will, and, and, and, you know, it's funny, like the different times. Right, but back then, it's so different from how we deal with our kids. Right, but back then, I'm, I don't know if it was saying for you guys, you would go in there, you would go to this place where the grown ups would sit down, they would order food and drinks, and then you. A little bit of money or something and off you went. And they would still, they would sit there for the, for all the hours at Tivoli Gardens until you came back and then you would leave. Because that, why would you go to. I mean, it's a funny thing how it's such a strange generational difference. At least, you know, back then my family, I'm like, you know, but, but, but, but the lives between kids and grownups was, was a very separate one. Like you were, you were that classic thing you, you know, seen but not heard. Right, Right.

[A]

And then it feels like everybody, everybody wins because of course, kids love freedom and parents love when their kids are gone and.

[C]

No, exactly. And now, of course, I mean, I, I've been, I've like always been so childish. I mean, like, I, I don't want to miss out and I want to, I want to go do all that, which is, is sometimes they go, am I just. Should I just. Did I get in the way of the kids just, you know, having fun with it? It's not like, oh, no, let's go up. I want to be. Oh, this is what all that stuff.

[B]

Why? Yeah, there was a game in Tivoli Gardens, like a midway game where you'd pay, you know, whatever it was, and you'd get three wooden balls and they had plates, some like nice blue and white plates that were held on by these tough metal clips, and you'd throw these wooden balls and try to smash the plates. And I remember like, we smashed one and we were like, what do you win? And they were like, no, no, you don't win any.

[A]

You get to smash.

[B]

You just get, throw it for the, for the pleasure of smashing the plate. And we were like, oh, even better.

[A]

Like, let's keep doing this.

[B]

And it was so fun.

[C]

I think it's called, if I translate, the fun kitchen. It's basically a lot of plates. You just get to smash plates.

[A]

Oh, it's great. Yeah. The fun kitchen. You're right. What would make a kitchen more fun? If you could just destroy it. Yeah.

[B]

Rather than do the dishes.

[C]

How old were you? Then when you.

[A]

Oh, I mean, late 30s, we went. I. So I Actually, we went on a trip that was the. The Helsinki. Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I ran the Helsinki Marathon in 2007.

[C]

Okay. The question has to be, what was the time?

[A]

Not great. 401.

[C]

I've never done a marathon. I'm just.

[A]

I.

[C]

That's.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, me either.

[A]

The funny. I will tell you. My goal was sub four. And so to be 401 tells you how hard a marathon is that you. Like, at no point could I be like, just kick it out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know what I mean? Like, it's just. There was literally nothing left. We had a. So our interesting thing was we went to. We started in Copenhagen and then our next stop was Stockholm. Am I getting this right? Posh.

[B]

I think we went Stockholm, Copenhagen.

[A]

But everywhere we went, they couldn't believe we were. They were like, what? Like, when we were in Stockholm, they're like, why are you going to Copenhagen? And when we were in Copenhagen, they're like, why are you going to Helsinki? And then, like, we were gonna go. And then we bailed on Tallinn, Estonia. And in Helsinki, they were like, tallinn. But it was really funny. Do you feel like all the Scandinavian countries have a little bit of snobbery about the other one?

[C]

Oh, well, it's competition. It's friendly competition. But it's funny you said. Because I went. This is embarrassing. To Helsinki for the first time this last year.

[A]

And.

[C]

What.

[A]

Get out.

[C]

You know? I know. What a great place. Yeah. What a great place. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, it's great. I mean, and.

[C]

And I've been doing this. This other docu series where I travel around the world, and we made it to Finland and. And just incredible country. I mean, so cool.

[B]

Yeah. That's the optimist guy to the planet.

[C]

Exactly. But it.

[A]

It.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

The funny thing, you say that, yeah, there is definitely a competition between the, like, the Swedes, especially the Swedes and Danes, I think. And then the Norwegians, they're just. They're kind of their own thing because they. They're so rich and wealthy. Like, you can't really. That is just annoying because they're like. They used to be.

[B]

But even I went to Norway. I was in Norway with my wife, and we were hiking in the national parks and staying in those huts. And everyone we'd meet, they would say, why are you here? You should be in this other part of the country. And I would say, I'm exactly where you are.

[C]

I know.

[B]

Like, why are you here?

[C]

Why are you.

[B]

Don't tell me to be somewhere. I'm in a national park in Norway. I think I'm doing pretty well for myself.

[C]

Like, any place in Norway is beautiful. It's like, it's. What are you talking about? This is amazing. I mean. Yeah, I know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors.

[A]

Support comes from fitbod. Hey, Bashi. Hey, Sufi. You know, look, we're now in February, but that means those of us who stuck with our New Year's resolution, we're just picking up momentum at this point, you know.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you're feeling the gains, you're feeling the lifestyle changes that you've made and you're feeling better.

[A]

Yeah. But you pick up your children again for the purposes of throwing them out the door. So I've been using fitbod and fitbod customizes every workout and adapts as you improve to avoid boredom, to avoid plateaus, you know, and it's really great because it's helping me achieve my fitness goals and my strengths improved, my endurance has improved. And with fitbot and the achievements they set for you, it's keeping me motivated, which I really appreciate.

[B]

Yeah. And workouts will adapt to your growth. So each workout is challenging enough to push you to make progress.

[A]

FitBot is fine tuned by experienced, certified personal trainers to bring best practices and exercise science to you. Level up your workout in the new year. Join FitBot today to get your personalized workout plan. Get 25% off your subscription or try the app free for seven days at fitbot. Me trips. That's fitbod.me tripp. Support comes from Shipt. Hey, Bashi.

[B]

Hey, Sufi.

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

Hey Sufi.

[A]

You know, cooking dinner is a thing you have to do when you have children because legal reasons. Yeah, yeah. You know, as an adult you might be like, I'll let it roll till breakfast. Can't do it when you have kids.

[B]

Oh, right.

[A]

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[B]

Yeah, because dad famously would point out to you anytime we were at a restaurant, if they had chicken. Cuz you're a big, big chicken head.

[A]

But you know what I learned as I got older?

[B]

What's that?

[A]

Every restaurant has chicken.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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[B]

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[E]

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[C]

You.

[E]

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[C]

We heard you. Nine years of bring back the snack wrap and you've won. But maybe you should have asked for more. Say hello to the hot honey snack wrap. Now you've really won. Go to McDonald's and get it while you can.

[A]

Here we go. I want to ask because you do do this show where you're traveling around. Josh and I did one episode of a travel show.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[A]

And it was the most exhausting thing I've ever done because when you do one of these docu travel series, people think it looks like, you know, a life hack. Cause you got a free trip to all these amazing places. They work you so hard. And I'm assuming that's the case for you as well.

[C]

Yes, I think the first season, that was like, that was the hardest thing I'd ever done and we learned a lot from that. Because it is a global show. That is the ambition. It has to be. But of course that means you spent so much time traveling and it is. The travel are the hardest. But so this season two, we, we wrapped this, we did this this year and that was that. We got that down to three months, it's six episodes and that was, that was manageable. But, but, but at this. Yeah, no, it is, it is hard. There's no, there's no the people. And so you went to like when we're building, did you go to that bar? Did you go. I said no now I went to bed.

[A]

I. Yeah, no, it's the worst.

[C]

Don't do anything at all. But, but I also, I do love it because I meet, you know, it's one of those things where I meet so many just incredible people where you just go, holy shit. Did that just happen? Did I just see this? Did I just. I'm in India. There's a guy, you know, just catching like grabbing a 14 foot king cobra out of a little hut and I'm standing right next to it and he says, don't move, it might kill you. And I'm like, okay. It, it's just incredible. Like that's, that's like that doesn't normally happen or you know, but there's. Yeah, I'm the top of a mountain in. I mean there's so many things that happen in that show that makes it worthwhile. That. Yeah, I'm Just very grateful for.

[A]

How do you. How did it come about that you are the host of this show? I mean, they obviously had to find somebody who would be down to do this sort of travel and be amazed by the sort of things.

[C]

Yeah, no, I. I think it was a combination of. Of things. I. I know that I'd done that little, like a. The little show in Greenland and I really enjoyed that. I really enjoyed that thing of just having my crew and just meeting people and trying to just. Just because also optimist guy. We meet people, have incredible solutions, ideas, but it really is about the people. It's about getting to know them more than anything. And I do enjoy that. So I think they'd seen that show and then they reached out with this idea and then I said, okay. It was quite different then I said, okay. Well, I'm interesting, but it has to be. We have to shoot in a completely. It has to be as free as we possibly can. Meaning you have to do. You do all the research, you get all this stuff lined up. But I want to be in control of how we tell the story. I mean, how I engage with people. And we have to be willing to. To follow the story where wherever it takes it. That means that if suddenly we hear someone talking about a snake in another village, well, let's just go and get that instead of finishing our, you know, what's scripted and they agree. And that. And that makes. That makes it so much fun to do. It's also, as you say, exhausting.

[A]

But.

[C]

But yeah, it's obviously, I love doing it, so. So, I mean, I feel very lucky. What was the show, you guys. What did you guys do? What was it you did? For one episode, it was called the.

[B]

Getaway, and it was. Anthony Bourdain had produced it. I don't think he ever did an episode. But we lived in Amsterdam for three and a half years for myself, close to two years for Seth. After college, we worked for a theater, and so we know that city very well. And they just pitched it to us, like, would you guys want to do the Amsterdam episode? And it was really fun. We sort of. We turned it into a trip. Seth was on Saturday Night Live at the time and so sort of brought a bunch of the cast and a few of the writers and was like, hey, my brother and I are going to shoot this thing, but as soon as we're done, why don't you guys, like spend five days or so on.

[A]

But it was so tiring. And it was. At least you're doing a Show about, like, the environment. Like, when you do one of those, like, Bourdain shows, there's so much eating and drinking. And so like, it's like four in the afternoon and they're like, I remember dinner's coming up. You're like, I can't mean, like, I'm. All we've been doing is eating and drinking. Like, it really spoke to the kind of guy Bourdain was that he could just do those things. Like, just grind him out. Yeah. I will say we. We used to do this thing. We lived in Amsterdam where there was this. What was it called? All Night Horror.

[B]

Yeah, the All Night Horror Show. Yeah.

[A]

Where you'd buy. It was a movie theater and you'd buy tickets and they were. They would show horror movies all night long. And I realized one of the. The first time we did it, we saw the remake of Night Watch because It was like 1997, but it wasn't your Night Watch.

[C]

It was the year McGregor one.

[A]

Yeah, but that was. Was that your first. That's a horror movie. That was your first movie, right?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, that was the very first one I did. Yeah. It's funny.

[A]

That's fantastic.

[B]

It's so good.

[C]

I met you and you. And we did a movie called Blackhawk Down a couple years later. And of course he said, don't watch it. You promised me you don't watch it. It's fine. But I mean, you know, it was. It was. Yeah, no, I was very lucky. That was my. We actually did a sequel to that movie a couple years ago, which was the most bizarre thing where you. I mean, I enjoyed it with great people. But, you know that thing about don't go back to. Better to leave those things where they were beautiful. Also that thing. I'm sure you guys, sometimes you go back and you look because, you know, we've. I've been doing this for 30 years. And you see, like, when you start out and you remember the work you did as being like, this was like, cutting edge. Like, we're. So you and your friends were. And then you watch it and you go, God, it's old. It's really. Yeah, it's not. It's no longer, like, snappy. It's a. There's not that many shows that that last. You know, I mean, like, it's. It's. It's a rare thing.

[A]

It is. I also think, you know, also, if you make something good, then it inspires stuff. And. And so then when you go back and watch it, it feels weirdly even though it's the original. It feels derivative because you've seen so many people inspired by it, which is, that'll be interesting. I mean, my kids aren't old enough, but I certainly, my plan will be to watch Game of Thrones with them and I'm very hopeful that will, that will hold up.

[C]

Yeah, maybe it will.

[A]

Can I just say, I just want to shout out because if any, if there are any listeners who are like, I'm always looking a good foreign film, if you're down for that kind of thing. Headhunters is a movie I just adore.

[C]

Yeah, that was, that was, I know that I think it was Mark Wahlberg was going to try and remake it for like years and years and years. But I think it's also sometimes, you know, if a movie turns out really well in a foreign maybe just let it, let it be. You know, it's.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

It's because we all know how difficult it is for these things to actually turn out well, that when it's. Yeah, it's.

[A]

You have, you have two daughters yourself?

[C]

I have two, 22 and 25.

[B]

Now.

[A]

Has your, has your career, which has had obviously a lot of travel built into it due to your profession, did they come with you a lot on things or was it more that it was work so it wasn't, it wasn't worth bringing them along?

[C]

Well, I mean, we always try to, especially when they were younger, we would always try to, to, you know, you try that classic thing of a two week rule, which is really good because you want to stay connected until then suddenly you go, oh my God. Something always comes, something starts coming up. But we did that. But then they would come out for. I was in Australia a couple of times when the kids would come out, I had them, only my wife had another job. She was touring with theater one year. And then I had the two kids with me for six weeks in Australia, which was amazing. And that happened a couple of times. But, but no, it is, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's always, I mean, I always tell this story when, when, when I, when the, my youngest was, was only two or three, my wife called me, said, we have to change this. We have to do something. She had, she had, she knocked on the computer screen. Yeah, that.

[A]

That'S pretty good enough face.

[C]

Time, then it's time.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, that's good. I mean, it seems.

[B]

And then.

[A]

Do they, do both your kids still live in Denmark?

[C]

They still live in Denmark. Both of them. And they also, they're Both of them are. Have already started acting. They want to go down that path.

[A]

And I get it. I mean, if. I mean, if both their parents do and love it, like, I. I mean, it makes sense, right? Yeah.

[C]

You know, I mean. I mean, I'm. I, you know, I think, yeah, it's like whatever they want to do. It's like, as I keep saying, if. If you're passionate about it, if this is what you want, if just whatever you do in life, just love it because, you know. Yeah, life's short.

[A]

Yeah, that's great.

[B]

Where would you. Would you guys take vacations, just the four of you, when you weren't working and when your wife wasn't working? Would you.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, we would do, like. I would go skiing. Like, skiing. We love that. I would have done that a couple of times. We would always. Because we have. We are this. This mixed family of Greenland and Denmark, so we would always try to get up to Greenland in the summer. We. The south of Greenland. We. We have a place there, a small little cabin where we would go, so. Because it's always. It's obviously important for us that. That. That, you know, that, you know, they are as Greenlandic as they are Danish architects. So that was important that they. So we would spend a lot of time up there. And then we have this thing every. Every two years because we have, like, our family is, you know, is kind of Denmark and Greenland, and then we also have some in England. So we would gather everyone every two years and rent a big place somewhere in the south where it was warm in Spain or France. And then everyone would come down for a week. And that week would be. So we would be like 28 people. And. And then we would have. It would be a lot of competition all week, and so. And then it would always end with the day of the finals, which would. I mean, so we're talking everything from table tennis to badminton, backgammon. I mean, everything you can think of became a competition. We love it. And then, you know, would be. So. It would be an isolated place, so we would, you know, go shop, and then we'd all do the cooking together and. Yeah, it's really, really cool.

[A]

That's fantastic. What about you?

[C]

Do you both have kids?

[A]

I have three.

[B]

I do not.

[C]

You don't have kids. But do you ever travel together now as grownups or is that.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, we'll end up in the same places a lot. We do a trip with our parents every year. We go to Pittsburgh, where our father's from. So we go to a Steeler game every year. We might convene out, like on Martha's Vineyard. Seth and his family will be out there for part of the summer. So we try to get together.

[A]

It's great. And my. My kids really enjoyed their uncle and. And like, being around him. They. I will say, like, I mean, the biggest thing we all did together was Josh got married a couple years ago and the kids were very, very excited to be a part of that.

[C]

Of course.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No kids at that wedding. Unless you were a cousin or a niece or a nephew.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Of the bridegroom. That was it. So. Yeah, so that was really fun.

[A]

What is the. In the making of your show? Where is. What is the most stunning place you went to that you probably would not have gone to otherwise?

[C]

Oh, my God. There's a few. But I mean, we were just in the last. The season that. Season two, I was in Ecuadorian, the Amazon forest there. We went out with a. And stayed with the. With indigenous people. And that was just. And they took us into this with this tree which was. I mean, this massive, beautiful tree which had this, you know, for them was a very special place. And then they performed a little ceremony which was. I mean, just. It just blew my mind. It was. It was so. Yeah, it was just incredible. So that would be one. The other would be also on that trip in South America, went to the high Andes to. We went up to 15,000ft for this. The sunrise over the valley. That was also. I mean, that was spectacular.

[A]

How do you get up there?

[C]

We drove and then we walked the last bit with the headlights. And they kept telling us, like, if you faint, we will carry you down, so don't worry. And when it was the time, I.

[A]

Would be like, well, guess what? I am still gonna worry.

[C]

Because I once did a movie in Bolivia called Blackthorn, and it was kind of a. It was a story about Butch Cassidy that he actually survived. Sam Shepard played him as an old guy. Anyway, that's a different story. We were shooting at very high altitude and we had. We had a horse faint. We had a stunt guy collapse and have to be carried out. And one day I'm shooting and I look over and the focus pulley sitting with oxygen was insane. But. But I learned the trick because the trick was just coca leaves. Just a lot of coca leaves. And so I'm chewing coca leaves all the time. And I asked him, so this is not. It's not going to affect me. Like cocaine said, no, no, no. It's just the leaves it's fine. It's fine. Then one day we have to drive from La Paz to Potosi, which is even higher. And this guy, I forget his name, he was from Cuba. He's driving and I'm sitting next to him. And there's two other actors at the back and they're sleeping. And he says, and he's chewing this kind of gummy thing. And I said, what's that? He said, oh, it's a cocoa gum. It's great. It'll keep you awake. So we got a six, eight hour drive. And I say, can I have some? He said, yeah, yeah. So I start chewing this thing and. And we are talking, playing music, and we just have a fantastic time. We stopped and we're going and it's like six, eight hours, and I'm like, I'm not. I'm so hyper. But then we drive into Potosi and I'm like, this is just been an amazing. And I can feel like everything. I remember I had a feeling I hadn't felt for like 25 years. Like.

[A]

Like.

[C]

I didn't sleep when I was wet. But.

[D]

Yeah, that's really.

[B]

So the leaves are okay. The gum?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. If you've heard this story, based on this story, if you get offered the gum, take it. Take it. I'm at the age now. It's the only way I'm going to get away with it. The driver gave me gum. Honey, I don't know what to tell you. It's not my fault.

[C]

It's not my fault.

[A]

This has been great talking to you. It's always such a pleasure. It's been too long since I've seen you, man.

[C]

I know. Well, we know you stay busy.

[A]

Yeah, we all. We're all. We're all staying busy. Thank you.

[C]

And thank you for still doing a fantastic show, by the way.

[A]

I should thank you. And I'm sorry. We are going to. We are going to start taking the administration's side on Greenland. And I know that's going to be hard for you.

[C]

Oh, no, no, I get it. Listen, you got to take care of your family. I mean, that's.

[A]

You got. Oh, I have. I'm. I'm. I'm terrified. No, I'm just kidding. And the last thing you told me, come back for another season. Congratulations.

[C]

Yes. Thank you so much. Y Coming out now.

[A]

All right, Josh has a speed round questions for you and he's going to hit you up. All right, Here we go.

[B]

Nikolai, you can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous, or educational?

[C]

Adventurous.

[B]

What is your favorite means of transportation?

[C]

A bicycle.

[B]

If you could take a vacation with any family, alive or dead, real or fictional, other than your own family, what family would you like to take a vacation with?

[A]

The.

[C]

Kermit.

[A]

Like, Kermit the Frog?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm just so happy that his last name is. All these years, I didn't realize Kermit was his last name.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I'm from a part of the world where that's normal. Like Anderson.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Kermit, if you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be?

[C]

Well, I can always say my wife, clearly.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

Smart.

[B]

What is your dream destination for a family vacation?

[A]

Oh.

[C]

And I. You know what? I once, Yes. I would go to Deer Valley skiing with my family in Yukon.

[B]

Great.

[A]

Oh, that's good.

[B]

And again, the name of your hometown?

[A]

I'm sorry.

[C]

Chupia.

[B]

Chupia. If you had to get families to come visit Chupia, how would you sell the town, the village?

[C]

You know how sometimes you go on a trip and you're exhausted? The good thing about it's done in five minutes.

[A]

So check it out. By the time you get there, it's already over.

[C]

You're like, oh, that was it.

[B]

And then Seth has our final questions.

[A]

Nikolai, have you been to the Grand Canyon?

[C]

I have not. No.

[A]

Would you want to go? Yes. Yeah, I believe it. You seem like a guy that would love it. Yeah.

[C]

What's. What's with the Grand Canyon?

[A]

Just Josh wants to go and I don't.

[C]

Why not?

[B]

Yeah. Also, we have been.

[A]

I know, but I just. We haven't. We. We kind of, like, looked at it and walked around it, but I'm just like. For people who are like, oh, you got to do the whole Grand Canyon. I'm kind of like, I think I got it.

[C]

It's pretty big, right?

[A]

Yeah. You look at.

[C]

You sound like it happened. I look at it. It's fine. Like it was.

[A]

It's totally fine. They're doing a great job over there. Congratulations to all parties, but it's not for me.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

All right, well, thank you for on a two day trip in London for carving out an hour.

[A]

Thanks. I really appreciate it.

[C]

Thank you so much. It was fun.

[A]

Great to see you again.

[B]

Yeah. And we stand with Greenland. I'll say that.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Actually, that means a lot. Thank you.

[A]

All jokes aside, we stand with Greenland. Yeah. I love. To everybody in Nuke. I'm so glad I know what it is and how to say it now. All right.

[B]

Thank you, brother. Bye, buddy. Bye.

[D]

His car into a park car. The park car belonged to the Russian ambassador. He didn't even have a proper driver's license. Just a temporary permit. Why, Nikolai?

[A]

Why?

[D]

Ambassador Zharkov didn't find any of this very amusing. Wore a red belt that suit. And had some red wine. He offered two bottles of red wine, thinking that would make everything better. And neck tattoos that also didn't help. As a boy with his family drove across the Pyrenees. But the roads were a struggle when they.

[B]

They were fine.

[D]

Cause mom was locked. Nikolai has met a Greenlander. He is proposing. What do you mean he's proposing? He's only known her five and a half months. It was love at first sight. It can't be stopped. Look, say words. He has two travel series. No steward. It's the capital of Greenland. In Copenhagen he saw the King.

[B]

Not the.

[D]

Not the King of Denmark, but the King. Nikolai. Nikolai. If you chew that cocoa gum, you'll be watching wired for hours.