Zach Galifianakis On Tech, Gardening, 'The Hangover', 'Between Two Ferns', Stand-Up, and Not Getting Invited to Netflix Parties

Summary

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Good One – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Zach Galifianakis On Tech, Gardening, 'The Hangover', 'Between Two Ferns', Stand-Up, and Not Getting Invited to Netflix Parties
Host: Jesse David Fox
Guest: Zach Galifianakis
Release Date: April 23, 2026

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Overview

This episode of Good One features Jesse David Fox in an in-depth, candid, and often deeply funny conversation with Zach Galifianakis. The discussion covers Zach’s relationship to fame, the tech industry, his new TV projects (“The Audacity” on AMC and a new gardening show), the legacy of “Between Two Ferns” and “The Hangover,” and his ongoing love-hate relationship with show business—all delivered in Galifianakis’s signature self-effacing, philosophical, and occasionally absurdist style.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Public Encounters & Celebrity Ambivalence

• Zach on public recognition:
  • Recalls awkward fan encounters, such as a woman who said, “You have an uncanny resemblance to the fat guy from the Hangover… I don't like his stuff.” (02:06)
  • On interacting with fans: “My interactions in public are never rewarding. I never walk away from them feeling good about them.”
• Fame as a burden:
  • Zach feels celebrity is “asymmetrical” and sometimes would rather be unrecognized so he can interact as “just a human.” (03:36)
  • Comments on never being invited to industry parties: “I don't think I've ever been invited to a party. So it's not like I'm refusing to go.” (04:48)

2. Creative & Work-Life Balance

• Prioritizing family:
  • Zach describes how fatherhood changed his approach: “When you’re younger…your priority is kind of you.” (04:48)
  • Now works sporadically: “For me, personally, what works better is just to work in show business and then get away from it.”
• Motivations for projects:
  • Chooses projects based on timing and meaningfulness, notably “The Audacity.” (06:23)

3. Tech Skepticism & “The Audacity”

• Portrays a conflicted tech billionaire in “The Audacity.”
• On tech leaders:
  • “I think it started earnestly and in good faith... Greed took over. Power takes over.” (07:57)
  • “The wisdom I see coming out of it is there's none.” (08:45)
• References books such as Stolen Focus and Amusing Ourselves to Death as core influences.
  • “The Internet people had ping pong tables in their offices, and it was fun—watch out for that stuff.” (08:54)
• On social media:
  • “Our children and us, too, are the new oil.” (09:46)
  • “It was built on shaky ground to me. The anonymous stuff.” (10:51)

4. Political & Social Commentary

• Family roots influence his perspective—uncle Nick Galifianakis lost a Senate race to Jesse Helms due to xenophobic tactics (15:11).
• Discusses how division and mistrust, especially in rural America and Appalachia, are reinforced by media and history, including the opioid crisis (16:46).
• On anger and the American ego:
  • “Usually I play really stupid people. This one…he’s not a dumb angry guy. He’s just an ego angry guy. And the American ego...is embarrassing.” (18:11)

5. Gardening, Food, and New Projects

• Gardening show origin:
  • Inspired by amateur DIY gardening videos during COVID (“I wanted to trick the audience…turns into this beautiful garden and Paul Simon was singing.” (22:36))
  • Show’s purpose: “I wanted it to be informative instead of just focusing on like, jokes.” (23:41)
• Philosophy:
  • “If you have kids and it doesn’t change you, then...you haven't matured.” (21:18)
  • “We need to green up the earth. We've dust-bowled the earth through farming practices.” (20:13)

6. Comedy Craft & The Nature of Humor

• Between Two Ferns:
  • Clarifies that the show was always consensual for guests, never a prank (30:50).
  • “I never wanted to prank anyone. It was not important to me to, I did not want to do…I hated (prank shows).” (30:50)
  • “I work with them…but they are caught in that moment.” (31:20)
  • Confirms Sean Penn’s interview was the most tense, but “he’s that good an actor.” (32:49)
  • Favorite jokes:
    • On Natalie Portman: “In this movie, you don't. You play someone that doesn't know how to ride a horse. How difficult…” (34:06)
    • “My whole career is a bloop. When your bloopers are better than your actual thing, then you're in trouble.” (33:22)
• Changing response to fat jokes:
  • “I'm very happy with my body… It's a lazy go-to that I've done for years that I don't even agree with.” (34:59)
• On technology and “PC culture”:
  • “People say, well, comedy got so PC. No, it did not. No, it didn’t. The technology changed.” (35:36)

7. Reflections on Celebrity & The Hangover

• Fame’s impact:
  • “Now there’s people out in front of your house with long lens photos taking pictures of you and your child. That’s…unmooring.” (38:00)
  • “Some of that reaction…I was just trying to be honest. I was just trying to tell you. But I tried to tell people back then, like, oh, it's weird.” (38:00)
  • Recounts talking paparazzi out of their jobs (39:14).
• Fondness for “The Hangover” experience:
  • “All of them were pure enjoyment...It was such joy. And comedically, we were hitting rhythms.” (40:11)
  • “Sometimes you hit with a cast...It clicks, and all of it's pretty great.” (41:02)

8. Stand-Up, Craft & Theories of Comedy

• Continued need for live stand-up:
  • “I cannot quit stand-up.” (52:34)
  • “The sound of laughter, as corny as it is, is my high.” (53:40)
• Unique approach to specials:
  • Describes the making of Live at the Purple Onion: “I wanted it to walk like you would walk into a club and see me…who knows what happens?” (47:54)
  • “Those very polished specials are not what you see in clubs.”
• Comedy theory:
  • Curious about universality of laughter: “I would set up hidden cameras in a village, remote village. And I would have someone do a pratfall...I think that might be the base.” (44:14)
  • Accepts the “play theory” of comedy: “We laugh in the same way that monkeys laugh when they play.” (46:29)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On tech culture and regulation:

  • “There's no law, right? Like who voted on all this?” (08:25)
  • “I'm not against technology. It's just…I’m against the way we're going towards it with no regard for the citizens, it's just regard for the powerful.” (10:02)

• On gardening and the fate of the earth:

  • “We have dust-bowled the earth through farming practices…when I get real conservative, right? So my philosophy...do you trust man-made or nature-made? Nature-made always.” (20:13)

• On comedy and clowning:

  • “My whole thing is just…I just want an emotional reaction out of you. That’s it. Hopefully, it's in the form of laughter, but sometimes it's not.” (43:10)

• On “Between Two Ferns” guests:

  • “Every guest has been really cordial and nice...I never wanted to prank anyone.” (32:14)
  • “There are some questions that are just so stupid and so mean that it makes me laugh.” (33:37)

• On the enduring appeal of live performance:

  • “It can be instant gratification...it also can be instant rethinking your life.” (52:40)
  • “You have to work on it. Go bomb and figure it out. You can’t do it from the comfort of your house.” (55:36)

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Important Timestamps

• Public Encounters & Celebrity (03:00–06:30)
• Work-Life Balance & Hollywood (04:48–06:23)
• Tech, Social Media & The Audacity (07:18–13:41)
• Political & Family Background (14:50–17:45)
• Gardening Show, Food & Philosophy (19:14–24:41)
• Between Two Ferns – Guest Dynamics & Fat Jokes (30:28–35:36)
• Hangover Reflections & Paparazzi Stories (38:00–41:39)
• Comedy Theories, Stand-up, & “Live at the Purple Onion” (44:14–47:54)
• Lightning Round: Bombing, Legendary Comics, Career Pride (58:09–67:56)

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Memorable Lightning Round Answers

• Legendary encounters:
  • Opening for Jerry Lewis (“never met him, just heard him backstage”) (58:09)
  • Interviewed by Don Rickles, who reversed roles and asked Galifianakis the questions (58:56)
• Greatest comedian alive:
  • “Jim Carrey. The physical, the absurdity that he does…such like, free, whatever he was doing back then was just so ridiculously entertaining.” (60:23)
• Best bombing story:
  • Maysville, KY, silent audience, rescued by a local who placed a skeleton with a cigarette in the audience (62:03)
• Being funny at the wrong time:
  • Earnest wedding toast for his sister mistaken as a joke, prompting laughter at unintended moments (64:30)
• Unused bits:
  • Albino polar bear joke never worked, but he “snuck” it into “The Hangover” as a bit of dialogue (65:36)

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Final Thoughts

The episode is a nuanced look at Zach Galifianakis’s singular career and worldview: a comic who resists the trappings of fame, questions the motives of tech and media, finds joy and grounding in gardening, and continues to chase the purity of live laughter. Whether reflecting on public encounters, explaining his creative decisions, or telling stories about the awkwardness of show business, Zach is thoughtful, gently self-mocking, and deeply principled—always returning to the idea that, above all, “we're just storytellers.”

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Transcript

[Stephanie Wu]

If you're tired of endless scrolling to figure out where to eat, same. I'm Stephanie Wu, editor in chief of Eater. We've just launched the newish and way better Eater app. It has all the restaurants we love, gives you personalized picks wherever you are, and serves up smarter search results just for you. You can find my list of the best places for martinis and fries in New York City, and save your favorite spots, share lists, follow editors and book right in the app. Download the eater app@eaterapp. It's free for iOS users.

[Jesse David Fox]

Love don't cost a thing, but weddings sure do. I would say every single person I

[Zach Galifianakis]

go to, and I'm like, so how much over budget are you right now? And I've. I've never heard someone say they were under budget. Matrimony's rising price tag. That's this week on Explain It To Me. Find new episodes Sundays. Wherever you get your podcasts. This is my problem. Also with comedians. They became experts and podcasters. No offense, but Jesus Christ, you're just a comedian.

[Jesse David Fox]

This is good one. I am Jesse David Fox, senior writer, Vulture, and author of Comedy Book. My guest this week is Zach Galifianakis, easily one of the most influential comedians of the 21st century and 1 of my favorites. So it is nice that he's on the show. Zach has scaled back his output over the last decade, but he's in two shows this spring. The AMC tech satire the Audacity, and this is a gardening show, Zach's new gardening show. We also talk about Between Two Ferns, the Hangover movies, and the fact that Zach never gets invited to Netflix parties. So here is Zach Galifianakis. I'm here with Zach Galifianakis. Thank you for joining me.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Thank you, Jesse.

[Jesse David Fox]

So the first question we ask is, what is the funniest, strangest, or most fascinating thing that happened to you this week?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, hopefully this. This week, okay. It was on the beach by myself. There was three people on the beach. I was getting stuff for my garden of the ocean that I. And this woman, I'm talking to her child because I'm trying to tell the child, there's so many minerals in the seaweed. Every mineral on earth is in this. And I'm telling her, she looks at me, she goes, you have an uncanny resemblance to the fat guy for the Hangover. And I just said, as I do, I get that a lot, hoping it goes away. And she just stared at me, and she goes, I don't like his stuff. And that was basically the conversation.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you get it a lot. Specifically, you look like that guy.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I do. And my. My answer is, I get that a lot.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And hope, hopefully, just that's. That's enough. And. But if I say, yeah, that's me, they don't believe me.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

They go, yeah, right. It's always weird. My interactions in public are never rewarding. They're never. I never walk away from them feeling good about them.

[Jesse David Fox]

It's unclear what they want in that moment. And you. And seem like you want not to have had the situation at all.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I don't mind the situation as long as they don't recognize me. I want to interact with humans, but on a basic level. Right. It's an asymmetrical relationship.

[Jesse David Fox]

Otherwise, what if she said, I do like his stuff? Would you then talk about it?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I would have said no. I would have said, I don't. I almost said to her after she said that, oh, yeah, I don't get it. But I just wanted to end.

[Jesse David Fox]

I'd be curious. It'd be like, I liked him at Birdman, but that's about it.

[Zach Galifianakis]

By the way, the fact that she said you have an uncannily resemblance to the fat guy in the Hangover. I know who you're talking about. No one's going to confuse me with. What's that guy's name? Bradley.

[Jesse David Fox]

Bradley something. Bradley something. The skinny guy from the Hangover room. That's what he gets. He's like. You have an uncanny resemblance to the skinny. So it's not just you. So 2019, when Baskets ended and you put out the Between Two Ferns movie, you've worked pretty sporadically, I would say maybe like one or so projects a year. And you had been talking about scaling back before even the Hangover movies came out at this point. What is the work life balance you're striving for? And what motivates you to say yes to a project or. And what doesn't motivate you?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, you know, when you're younger and you don't have a family, your priority is kind of you. I think when I was doing Baskets, I had two young kids, and then they. They were ultimately. I mean, they've always been my priority. So, you know, show business is tough on families. It's tough. The hours are weird. It's a younger person's game a lot of times. So it's hard to try to balance that. For me, personally, what works better is just to work in show business and then get away from it. I don't live the showbiz Lifestyle. I'm not. I don't go to parties. I don't think I've ever been invited to a party. So it's not like I'm refusing to go. So I, you know, I don't socialize in it. I have friends that are actors for sure, but are comedians. But for me, for my own sanity, I have never wanted to live that way, which I think is the stereotype. And I've always had a chip on my shoulder in Hollywood. I think in small town, kid from Appalachia. That may be a little undereducated. Not because I'm from Appalachia. I don't mean to suggest that. I'm just saying that, you know, I just felt that way.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

For whatever reason.

[Jesse David Fox]

So then what makes you say yes to a given project?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Timing of it, you know, I have to balance that with my other life, my life. Life. I'm fortunate enough to kind of be that way early on. I wasn't. You know, you work when you, whenever you get a job thrown at you. So it's the timing. I live rurally and it's hard to get away from where I live. It's a two day process to even leave to get somewhere. Then, you know, you get a script or two that makes it. That really is at least with the Audacity. I read that, I talked to the show, Jonathan, the guy that created it, and I was convinced that seemed like a really good project to try to sink my teeth into. I don't get a lot of requests to come work, Jesse. Not like people are knocking on my door, but I, I do appreciate my life outside of work a lot.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. I spoke to Jonathan the other day. He's. He wrote the part for you and I think it's because you, you've been pretty public about your feelings about tech. You know, on the Audacity, you play a sort of tech billionaire of a previous generation who seemingly came in with certain ideals to help you help people. And then money got in the way and now he has billions of dollars and any. At any point in this season, you have no idea where he's at, like how much he does want to help people, how much he just wants to do for money. How do you see these people, the sort of tech billionaire set. Do you think they want to help people? Do you think they're deluding themselves? Do you think they're good people? How do you think they see people?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I think it started earnestly and in good faith and I think the Internet was supposed to do that. And I think when it first started it was that. I think greed took over. Power takes over. My thing about it all is we never really stopped to talk about it in 2012. Everybody has a cell phone in their hand and suicides go up. Shouldn't we talk about that? Shouldn't we? There's no law, right?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Like who, who voted on all this? The other thing that is interesting to me is that the people running it, the engineers, they all have math minds. There's nothing wrong with a math mind, but the wisdom I see coming out of it is there's none.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And that, that's worrisome. Break. What's their slogan? Break every. Whatever that is.

[Jesse David Fox]

Move fast, break things. Something said.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I guess that's a good slogan. You know, in the Internet people had ping pong tables in their offices and it was fun, you know, watch out for that stuff.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah, work shouldn't be fun.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I think, I think people, you know, I've read books, I've read the Facebook whistleblowers book, which is fascinating to me. I read it twice. I read. There's a great book called Stolen Focus that I read about the engine, like the design of it all.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. You've been skeptical of social media since MySpace. You've had jokes and material. Being skeptical. Considering where it is now, how do you see it? Especially like at this point, Instagram is almost barely social media. It's just like a version of television designed to have you just stay on your phones non stop.

[Zach Galifianakis]

But that is exactly what they want. Right. Your children and us too are the new oil. Right. Yeah. This machine we keep feeding Amazon, what is this ultimately going to do? If you know about the data mining. Right.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I'm not against technology. It's just it, you know, I'm against the way we're going towards it with no regard for the citizens, it's just regard for the powerful.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And that, you know, when I, when I first, I got on MySpace, when we first got out, and then I realized, oh, you can do this anonymously, that's a bad start to anything. And I, oh, I should say I got on MySpace because there was someone on MySpace stealing my identity to. He was a kid in Alaska and I've tracked him down and I said, can you please. And if you're trying to meet girls this way with my profile, you might

[Jesse David Fox]

have better luck with another profile.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So I, I thought that was very odd. It was, it was built on shaky ground to me.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

The anonymous stuff.

[Jesse David Fox]

I know you're a fan of the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. And I feel like though that book was written 40, whatever years ago, it

[Zach Galifianakis]

does feel like 82, 83. Yeah. Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

It now feels like that is sort of where we're going towards. It is sort of a constant speeding up of, like, how much can we stay amused and not necessarily be paying attention to what's happening.

[Zach Galifianakis]

The guy I play in the Audacity carries around the book in a scene or two because I just wanted to hint that he might be interested in that stuff.

[Jesse David Fox]

But so in what way? As a way of like, I want to.

[Zach Galifianakis]

You know, I think at the time there was a. I don't know why I chose, because it doesn't necessarily fit, but I did. I do want this guy to be a vast reader of a lot of not. I wanted him to have this overall perspective of things, not just the Palo Alto perspective. And I think he does. That character, Neil Postman is just. Just the couple of things that he said which was. One of them was the one that sticks with me. We will stop hearing the term Big Brother because we will do it to each other. And what do people expect? Everybody has a camera, right?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

When I was in my 30s, that didn't happen. Yeah, right. And for good or bad, but we just never paused to go, what does this do to us? And it's done a lot to us.

[Jesse David Fox]

How do you feel about AI? Is there something specific that scares you about it?

[Zach Galifianakis]

100%. Love it all.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. Yeah. What's your favorite part about it again?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I think AI has some really great tools. Just the people that are guarding and I don't trust because there's no ruling. I don't know. There's no. There doesn't seem to be any rules.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

You know, I'm not anti technology. It has a wonderful, you know, in many, many, many ways with communication, though. I don't like it. I don't. It's confusing. It's confusing. But I don't even like when Wolf Blitzer goes on a Hollywood movie, plays himself as a news guy. Like, that's confusing to me too. Like, that's where Trump gets fake news from. Like, it's like he's right. You know what I mean? When it comes to messages, I have always been like that. Just the. I don't know. Communication's important.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you feel at all implicated by having Obama on between two ferns, implicated in so much as. Like, that to some people might be like, is this a real interview? What is this doing? Is this comedy? Or is this mess in so much as it is a sort of abstract space of not clear lines of. Is this entertainment or is this a political message?

[Zach Galifianakis]

It's tough now because the podcasters have become just ass kissers for the politicians. Right. They don't challenge them. They just like, yeah, that's cool. Right. And that I don't want to do. Like, we challenged Obama. We made it uncomfortable for him in a way that was done for comedic effect. Yes. So he could get his message off for. For healthcare. Yes. That was a, A thing that he was doing. But I first need to entertain people. That's my whole thing. And to see a goofy comedian with a very well respected gentleman. That's our president. I mean, it kind of writes itself already. So do I, Reg. No, I, I don't. I mean it. I don't know if it was an endorsement or I just was more interested in just. I mean, I was. I definitely believed in healthcare for sure.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

You know, that was, that was something that I was so excited about because if you have a healthy house, you have a better house. Right. If you have a healthy country, you have a better. That's just simple math of it to me. Then the politics get in the way.

[Jesse David Fox]

I want to ask you briefly about politics. Can you tell the story. Your uncle, Nick Galifianakis was a congressman and then he ran for senator.

[Zach Galifianakis]

That's right.

[Jesse David Fox]

Can you tell the story of what happened when he ran against Jesse Helm? And then talk about how that has influenced your perspective in terms of the people in power and what people and this country, this country being America, since you live in Canada.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, I think America's shifts in this. And there's always. We don't want these in our group. We don't want this group in our group. There's always been like that, you know, with immigration, there's always been, you know, Catholics were looked at that way, you know, in 1972, my uncle was running against Jesse Helms. He was winning. And in the last weeks of the election, Jesse Helms comes out with a slogan that says, vote for Jesse. He's one of us. Meaning he ain't got that long last name. You know what I mean? Wink, wink. When my dad would campaign with his brother, my uncle, the KKK would be in the back of the room just to intimidate them. Not with hoods on, but they knew they were there.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So I knew that early on that stuff. Right. That them versus us type thing. And I grew up in a rural not, but in a small town.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Where there were no Greeks. My mom was not Greek. She's of that town. So I saw these two cultures growing up that were very different from each other. My dad's culture, my mom's culture.

[Jesse David Fox]

And has that influenced how you see this country now?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Or still being from the south and being from the town where. Where people probably politically don't align with me, I still love those people. I. It's a real shame what I think even the media has done to us too. Right. Like there's money to be made in this.

[Jesse David Fox]

There just is. Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I don't. When I walk around, I don't feel that this as much as I read about it. But I don't know, it's sad to me that we've let this happen to us. My brother made a really good point about when Covid came out in the Appalachia area. He said, listen, some of these. How do you say it? These pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical are offering the. By the way, I don't know. This is not my thought, but they are also the same people that dropped in Oxy into the Appalachian region.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So that mistrust, if people look at it from that perspective. I do understand that more. I do. Listen, you can. People get red in the face and argue with me about educate. But whatever. If I'm looking for something there. That one I do understand.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. I want to ask you about the idea of anger or rage. There's always been a sort of ironic anger or rage when you're doing the comedies that you'd often be making fun of angry people.

[Zach Galifianakis]

That's right.

[Jesse David Fox]

The character you play on the Audacity is a very rageful person. I was curious how's it different playing it in this context? How do you think about the anger of this character versus how you played anger in the past?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, usually I play really stupid people. Right. I'm always. I can either do dumb or angry. Those are really my two go tos. This one, though, because of, you know, his past, he's not a dumb angry guy. He's just an ego angry guy. And the American ego, I see it in this, in Hollywood, I see it in the tech world, is embarrassing. It's usually just a lack of a dad. Let's be honest. I hate to say it, I just do, but that's really what it is.

[Jesse David Fox]

It's literally just one thing.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I think so if I was to put the blame on it, you know. But anger is funny to me when it comes from. Especially from the ego part. It's just so comical because I always think of Big egos like, who do you think you are? You know? Yeah, I, I, you know, it's just interesting to me. It's funny people to lo for to lose control of yourself is funny.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. In the Audacity, your, your character has a law he's famous for, which is for a society driven by technology, growth will continue endlessly. What's funny is that saying almost feels like indirect contrast to the refrain of your new gardening show, which is the future is agrarian, which is almost the exact thing, which if you think about it, is pretty radical because it's hypothetically suggesting societal collapse. What, what is the future that you see?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, I don't mean it really necessarily about collapse. I think the future should be no matter what happens. I do think to cultivate, farm, listen, we need to green up the earth. We, we have dust bowled the earth through farming practices. We have, there's a documentary that's floating around that says we have 64 harvests left. When you hear that, whether it's true or not, let's assume maybe it's true. Well, that's when I get real conservative. Right?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So my philosophy for there is, okay, do you trust man made or nature made? Nature made always. In the preview to the gardening show, it says gardening's the only way. Or acid. I've never done acid. It's just a joke. But societies that lean on this stuff, food around their culture, they're stronger societies, they're healthier. So we're humans, we're animals, we act like we are not in all this AI and tech world. It's, it's, it's a little suffocating to me that that's, that's where we're headed. And what are the kids supposed to do?

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, I was going to ask both the audacity and the guarding show do feel a little bit in conversation with the what is the future we're going to leave future generations. How did having kids shape how you wanted to treat this world for what you'd be giving them?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, I mean, if you have kids and it doesn't change you, then you haven't matured or you haven't. You don't get the point. I think without kids, I would probably hopefully be concerned about this. But having children and just watching young humans eat the way they're supposed to and then they get a little older and then there's this temptation from the packaging and this and that. It's like technology itself. You can't, it's everywhere. How do you fight it? You know? It's everywhere. So I just wanted to get a con as far as the gardening show. I just kind of wanted to get a conversation going. I wanted to include children, so. Because they are the. And listen, I don't know if there's going to be societal, like, who am I? I don't know, like, I'm a dumb stand up comic that used to tell diarrhea jokes. So I, I don't, this is my problem. Also with comedians, they became experts and podcasters. No offense, but Jesus Christ, you're just a comedian. And by the way, that's my defense of them. You're just a comedian, they're just comedians.

[Jesse David Fox]

What makes you go? I want to. Obviously you garden. You like garden. Why, why not just, why make a show and not just garden? Like, what is the part?

[Zach Galifianakis]

That's a great question. That's right, exactly. Why don't I just garden? Well, I have for years just garden. But during COVID I was in my greenhouse and I was thinking, oh man, at the time I was looking up like, do it yourself videos on how to fix like a saw or something, and all these do it yourself videos, it's just be a guy with his camera set up, poorly talking bad audio. And I was like, oh, I want to do a do it yourself video. But I wouldn't be recognizable. It's just a dude you turned on to. You see how you grow tomatoes from a guy that is not recognizable. I was like, okay, I could do that. I could get a prosthetic, I'll get bald or whatever, make me look different. And it's a really crappy video. And it has very little to do with actually the tomato growing. And then I wanted to take the camera and then you walk outside the greenhouse and you walk into the camera changes and it turns into this beautiful garden. And Paul Simon was singing. There's. I wanted to trick the audience, like, oh, I'm gonna watch this one thing. What?

[Jesse David Fox]

Whoa.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So then out of nowhere, these producers called me and they were, they said, would you be interested in hosting? And I said, well, you know, I'm actually been thinking of one. But as we kept talking about it, my comedy, the show I was dreaming of was more of a comedy piece. And then what I realized is I wanted to be, I wanted it to be informative instead of just focusing on like, jokes. So I, I, we dreamed up this show of like, how do we do that? And I was interested in the history of food, the history of vegetables and what, you know, I'm just fascinated by it. So I wanted it to be kind of an entry level show for people that might be interested in gardens, to get a conversation going.

[Jesse David Fox]

The, the part of the show that really captures the. How much gardening means to you is you tell a story about visiting Crete. Can you talk about that trip and why it resonated you so much?

[Zach Galifianakis]

So I was in Crete, where my family is from, in the middle of the island. And I'm scooting around, I'm in my 20s and by myself. And I see this older man and he's in his potato field in his. And I get off. I asked him if I could take a picture of him. Film, camera, you know, the nose bones.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And he said yes. And then I printed the photo. I still have it. But I remember in that moment when I, if I'm lucky enough to make that age, that's. That's where I want to be. Well, it turns out I'm okay being that at 56, like I love the man was in his mid-80s. I, you know, I could spend the rest of my life in a garden. I just, I do love it that much. And by the way, Jesse, I'm not good. I'm not a pro. I don't know what I'm talking about. But I want to learn more and more and more and more. So I think that was the other, that was another reason that I was interested. When the producers asked me, by the way, I think they asked me because they saw me gardening. In Los Angeles, I used to have this. There's a. In LA, in the streets, there's this like 8 by 4 square patch. You can garden. Now, legally it's not yours, but you can garden it. And I, when I lived in Venice, I, I dug out the crack infested dirt and I put in manure and seaweed, whatever I could find. And then I started to garden there. But it wasn't, it was a garden for the pot. I wanted people just to pick from it. Yeah. I think if we can get to that type of thinking, if we can get to like, let's garden everything up. Let's. I really do think there's real potential in showing people it doesn't have to be all concrete, it doesn't have to be all urban. Yeah. And even if it is, you can garden in these spaces. My kid went to Venice Public school when we were living there. And when I went to go look at the school, good school. But I'm touring the school and I remember thinking, me and this other father, he looks at me and he goes God, there's a lot of concrete here. And he was right. He's like, why put it this way? In Vancouver, the city of Vancouver, 100 years ago, there were a hundred creeks flowing through that city. A hundred. Now you don't see any of that. Without getting too big on my. On what I'm talking about. I think man's human's biggest problem is that we wanted to conquer nature and not work with it. And that's been our biggest mistake. I, I think this. We're the rulers is going to be a. We're going to have a. Learn a. A horrible lesson from that mentality.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. What. What's so fun about watching the show is you're often talking with kids very sweetly. Very silly. You're being very silly. Quiz. Very earnest. And it's such a sharp contrast to the last time most of us seen you interview people, which is these celebrities, and you're being quite rude to them. What do you. Where does the sort of comedic instinct of this type of different thing come from? What do you like about.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Oh, you.

[Jesse David Fox]

You can just be like, childlike with them.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, the approach to interviewing known people that are, you know, are known is definitely different than interviewing a child. Right. Yeah. My personality in Between Two Friends is not who I am like, in real life. I think it's a funny character because I was watching celebrity interviews for years and my God, these are so bizarre. All of them are so bizarre. This one is not. Again, I'm not a celebrity, but whatever.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. This is a not bizarre actor interview.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So I. The amount of, like, worship and all that stuff, I just, I thought it was so bizarre. So I thought, oh, there's. There's an opportunity to. To do something rude here. I. That's not my approach in this garden show. I mean, we even thought, should we call it Between Two Farms? You know, I'm like, no, I don't want it connected to that. I want it to live on, on its own and to show like, a more earnest, real version. Love me.

[Jesse David Fox]

I can't imagine you do, as you're not on the Internet as much, but are you aware that a lot of people on the Internet now think Between Two Ferns was 100 real? That you were fully blindsiding the celebrities and they were all really mad at you?

[Zach Galifianakis]

All of them? All of them.

[Jesse David Fox]

I believe they think, like, whatever the dynamic that you see, they thought that was the dynamic. So the.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, I think, I think that's always been the case. I think that. That people don't. Certain people just don't understand things. And that's fine, especially when it comes to humor. Yeah, I don't know what to say to that. I mean, it seems like I, Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to say. Like, sorry, that they don't, that they don't understand it. I guess today also, things get manipulated. Like when we release those videos. We just got to release them. And they weren't editorialized by somebody introducing them. Right. And now they probably are. So I don't know. I, I, I, I didn't even know. Like, I, we were talking about bringing some, doing them again, but I don't even know. Like, do people even, you know, I was asking, is it even a thing? Like, I don't know. Like, it's hard to know these days, but do. I don't even know. And also, we're leaving living in meaner times, and I don't know if it works is, you know what I mean? That's my other thing, because people have asked me, are you going to do them anymore? I just, I don't know.

[Jesse David Fox]

Partly is that the show is tremendously influential, and there's lots of shows that I feel like are doing similar things, but are not as clear, at least to me. Like, this is a joke that the guest is in on. Like, there are more podcasts that are extremely awkward and the person is saying mean things to people's faces, but not like the person's in on a joke.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I never wanted to prank anyone. Yeah, it was not important to me to, I did not want to do. I've worked on a prank show and I couldn't do. I hated it. So my whole thing was never to prank anyone. But I don't give them the questions. Yeah, Obama. We did. Because of time constraints. We, we just did, to be honest. And I always say to them, look, if, if there's, if this is too offensive, then I've had people tell me, yes, that one do not. So again, like, I work with them, but again, they are caught in that moment.

[Jesse David Fox]

So, like, the, the dynamic is that, like, I think of, like, how Charlize Theron or whatever was, like, flirting with you. Is that dynamic planned or is she just sort of how she decided to play it?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I think what happens is we see what they're kind of do, and then we'll, we'll run with it in the moment. It's, there's not a lot of premeditation that goes on. I have a list of questions, but off of those questions, we kind of see what The. The person we're interview, how they react to it and kind of go from there. But it's not a big plan thing at all. I mean, when we shot the one with her that was in the garage.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And she. There was no. She didn't bring anybody because we always tell it, please do not bring. I remember when I did interview Justin Bieber, he had like 14 of his posse, and I had to like, hey, can you. Those guys have to leave. Which is a hard thing to say to a teenager. He was a teenager at the time, so. But, yeah, I mean, every guest has been really cordial and nice.

[Jesse David Fox]

And what is something you have cut as an example of a guest being like, please don't say that.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And you go, okay, I'm not going to tell you because that. That goes against my. The whole thing. Like, I have one. Right. My head, that I could tell you that someone asked me not to put in there, but it would reveal the whole. No, I can't. I will say this. I interviewed one person before, and I thought they were legitimately, legitimately angry at me. And I told the director, we're done. I'm not confrontational that way. I'm like, we're doing. And they were like, well, you don't have anything. Like, well, I. We have enough. I'm. I thought someone was going to hit me.

[Jesse David Fox]

And that one aired.

[Zach Galifianakis]

It aired, and it was. Well, I think I probably. It was Sean Penn. I think I've discussed. Yeah, I was gonna say he's that good actor.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. Turns out.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Turns out I could. I can confirm

[Jesse David Fox]

the between two ferns joke. I think about most is from the Jon Hamm from the movie. But I believe it's only in the bloopers, which is. You say the Don Draper suit is hanging in the Smithsonian right next to the Cosby sweater.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Is that. I don't know if it's in the movie. I don't know.

[Jesse David Fox]

It's in the bloopers.

[Zach Galifianakis]

It ends in the bloopers. The bloopers. I've made a career. My whole career is a bloop. When your bloopers are better than your actual thing, then you're in trouble.

[Jesse David Fox]

I think with that one, I liked imagining that you tried it a couple times. You just couldn't get through it. That's sort of the narrative that I had.

[Zach Galifianakis]

You know, I never remember how we. I mean, there are many times where I break and from the convenience of editing. You never see that, obviously. But there are some questions that are just so stupid and so mean that it makes me laugh.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you have either favorites or just ones that you're proud of asking or ones that you think about when you think about the time?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I think there was one. I asked Natalie Portman. She was playing a movie. She was in the Go. You're an equestrian in real life, right? Or something like that.

[Jesse David Fox]

She.

[Zach Galifianakis]

She's usually asked a girl, but in this movie, you don't. You play someone that doesn't know how to ride a horse. How difficult. It's so stupid. It's just like stupidity always. And I'm not even. I'm like, I'm one of the dumbest. But I always love dumb questions, dumb answers. I love miscommunication. It's my favorite thing comedically. So, yeah, I remember that question. Really? And I didn't write. A guy named Tom Sharp wrote that question. I want him to know that I'm giving him credit for that question.

[Jesse David Fox]

A lot of the between two ferns have a lot of fat jokes. Jokes where you're being called fat. And I heard an interview from a while back where you talk about watching Hannah Gatsby's Nanette and, like, thinking about if self deprecation is okay. Have you examined that tendency to have jokes about yourself to make fun of specifically your weight?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, if you're making fun of yourself, you're still making fun of the idea of it, right? So I don't know if it works as much anymore. Most of my. I mean, my jokes about myself, listen, I. I'm very happy with my body. I'm 50. I don't. I'm 56. I don't have any problems. You know what I mean? Like, it's. It's a. It's a lazy go to that I've done for years that I don't even agree with. And even in my real life, like, I don't really make fun of people's appearance. It's not really my thing. But in the comedy world, there is a tendency to go that way. I mean, that's an old way of, like, humor, right? We don't really do that as much because for whatever reason, now the audience talks back to us. People say, well, comedy got so PC. No, it did not. No, it's. No, it didn't. The technology changed. That's what changed. So people that talk about cancel. Nobody. I don't know any comedians canceled.

[Jesse David Fox]

Good. I mean, I guess the question is then, as we talk about technology, that's one of the themes of this interview. Is it good that the audience can talk back in that way.

[Zach Galifianakis]

As long as you're prepared for it. As long as you're okay with it and your material is prepared to take that. Yes. Or if you're like me, just ignore it and don't get online with it. And not that I'm doing that kind of material necessarily at all. I'm not doing any material with that, like standup stuff. But just be prepared to know the differences. Not that things have gotten more PC, it's just that the audience members get to tell you what they think.

[Jesse David Fox]

Now you would say that celebrity is a poison. Fifteen years ago you'd say something like that. And if anything, celebrity has become more central to our culture. How do you think about celebrity now?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I stopped thinking about. I was giving up. I used to talk about this stuff years ago. People would look at me like, you're. Before I was known, I was like, what is this called? Like, you go act in England, you're a dumb actor. And that's the way it should be. You're, you're. It's just not this thing, right?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So I've always questioned Jesse. Nobody asked me a question before I was in the Hangover. No one cared because I play a dumb fat guy in a movie. Now I'm of having. It's ridiculous.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So. And I don't think most entertainers even agree with me there.

[Jesse David Fox]

So the thing about the Hangover is it's a very specific way of a person becoming famous, which is it was so instant this thing becomes a sensation. You become a. Where, you know, the week before end, for the most part, no one cared that much about you. I was a big fan before the movies, but nonetheless. But then the movie comes out and you're a huge thing, but you are the same person you were two weeks before the movie came out. Does that mess you up to understand who you are in this?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah. Especially I was older, so I was able to handle it. I. I see young people that go through that and they buy into the hype. Right. It's not a lasting hype, that's for sure. You know, they're going to the next person. So you gotta be healthy about it. I think. Cause I was older, my attitude was a little bit. I was more grounded and I was. I thought this seems odd, but you know, some of that reaction. Jesse, that I had to. And I'm embarrassed by it because it seemed like I was complaining and I was just trying to be honest. I was just trying to tell you. But I tried to tell people back then, like, oh, it's Weird. It's a weird thing. I find that actors are. They don't. They're not honest about it. Of course, it changes your life. Now there's people out in front of your house with long lens photos taking pictures of you and your child. That's. That's. That's unmooring. If you want it, good for you. Good for you and your shallowness, I don't want it. Yeah, but if it comes with the territory, that's an American thing, and it doesn't have to be that way. I've actually talked two paparazzi guys out of doing what they do for a living.

[Jesse David Fox]

Really?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I walked on. I go, take. Put your camera down. Can I talk to you one on one? I go, do you have children? He goes, yes. I said, if. If a stranger was taking pictures of you and your children, what would you. That would be weird, he said. I go, well, why are you doing it? He goes, to feed my children. Why do my children have to pay for your children to eat? I run into the guy two weeks later and he said, I thought about what you said, and I quit. So listen, it's free. It's freedom of whatever. Whatever that. Whatever. Freedom that. Oh, yeah, the press.

[Jesse David Fox]

That's.

[Zach Galifianakis]

That's what I mean. That. That seems like a freedom I don't think you guys should be granted.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. If you take away all of the. The BS that surrounded what happened with the movies, can you think of a sort of pure memory from filming the movies that you just think of as purely a nice experience of shooting one of those movies?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Oh, my God. All of them were pure enjoyment. I think they were so fun to make. I mean, especially the first one, obviously, because some of us didn't want to do two or three.

[Jesse David Fox]

Some of us.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And so I think there was. It was such joy. It was such joy. And comedically, we were hitting rhythms that you felt. And I remember being at dinner with the cast, hey, you guys think this is good? Because I'd never really been in anything good. And I was like, this is real. And there was a feeling, right. There was just this feeling I had. So, no, all of that was the memories of all that have been really positive for me.

[Jesse David Fox]

Was there a specific scene that in the first one that you're, like, proud that you felt like, oh, I'm doing something on camera that I'm proud of to be doing.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Ooh, pride's a tricky, worst. Jesse. Which would I do for a living? Pride, I gotta tell you, I just. I felt that way the whole movie. Every Scene felt that we were gelling, that we were hitting these jokes. We were improving really well together. I mean, I knew Ken already. Ken and I were doing Stand up in Culver City already on stage together, and I knew Ed and Ed and I had. Were living in each other's houses at the time. So I think they're just. Sometimes you hit with a cast that you just. It clicks, and all of it's pretty great.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you still wish you just did one at this point? I never said that.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I never really. I haven't thought about it much, but beforehand, I. I did want to leave well enough alone.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. Because I asked Ed and he understood where you're coming from. But he's like, ultimately, it's nice that we got to have the experiences.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I agree with Ed. I agree with that on that. That's nice. Good man at Ed Helms.

[Jesse David Fox]

He is a good man.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah. What.

[Jesse David Fox]

What are you most proud of when you look at the projects you've been

[Zach Galifianakis]

a part of in show business or life?

[Jesse David Fox]

Show business.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Nothing. No. You know, not to get too corny about it, and. My father would have to remind me that I'm making people laugh, because when I got known, I was really like, I'm done. I've tried it, dad. I'm. Your perspective's wrong. I just feel so lucky and fortunate to still be doing it, to be honest with you. Really, I. I just. I feel very, very lucky. There's some. I'm proud of the Between Two Ferns, President Obama, because it. It. We were trying to do something that we thought was going to be good. There's a couple of Birdman, the Hangover. I mean, I'm lucky. I've been part of good things. Sometimes you get involved in things that no one ever sees for whatever reason, you know, but sometimes if things hit, they hit. And it's. It's nice. It's really nice.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

We're just storytellers. Right. And for me, as a comic, my whole thing is just. I just want an emotional reaction out of you. That's it.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Hopefully it's in the form of laughter, but sometimes it's not.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you know that clowning is the sort of French clowning that you alluded to in the TV show Baskets is now sort of in vogue. Are you aware of this?

[Zach Galifianakis]

No.

[Jesse David Fox]

I think you. You put a seed in that has been really.

[Zach Galifianakis]

No, I didn't know. A couple of actors I worked with. Worked with told me about that school early on, and that's when I really started looking into it. And I thought, oh, that's. That's a really perfect place for this guy to have gone to a pretentious French clown college, because he thinks that's the route, too.

[Jesse David Fox]

Art, you once said in an interview that you have clowning theories or comedy theories, but you feel like it'd be too boring. And I feel like I created this podcast to allow a person to voice such theories. Can you share a. A clown theory, a clown theory, or a comedy theory that you would otherwise almost be embarrassed?

[Zach Galifianakis]

I've always dreamt of doing a documentary on laughter on, like, what makes people laugh? Like, what's the base of it? And I was. I would start this documentary by doing. I'd set up hidden cameras in a village, remote village. And I would have someone do a pratfall.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Because I think that might be the base. That may be, like, I will laugh at that still, that The. The anthropology, if that's the right word of laughter and all that. That's really interesting to me now. I think there have been a couple of documentaries. I want to say Albert Brooks did one.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah, I know. I know the doc. Yeah. He did a documentary, and I think Larry Charles kind of did a documentary.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Like, I just want to know, like, what is. Like to find the theory that you're. That you're talking about. I. I think, put it this way. Sarcasm isn't big in Thailand. Yeah. It's also not that big in parts of Texas. It's interesting to me.

[Jesse David Fox]

I just.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I know this because I. It's always been interesting to me. Certain humor in the south does not translate to Canada. Does not work in Canada. It won't work. We have different histories. I think. I think it's just an interesting thing to try to explore comedy that way, and I hope to get around to doing that documentary. So I basically would do a pratfall all around the world in different cultures to see. All right, now we're in Switzerland. They ain't gonna laugh at this. Maybe they, you know, who knows? So I don't know.

[Jesse David Fox]

I don't. We don't have time for me to explain the history of this thing called play theory, which is the theory of comedy that I subscribe to. But I. Which essentially is. We laugh in the same way that monkeys laugh when they play with each other or different animals laugh. It's a communication of people being in a state where they're willing to laugh. And then why I think pratfalls probably work is we're friends. We know that ultimately we're all okay, even if that Person falls. And this is the most, like, scary way where we still, you know, it's the juxtaposition of how scary a fall is with. We're all okay playing with each other.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I agree with that.

[Jesse David Fox]

That's my theory.

[Zach Galifianakis]

That's a good theory. That's a good. That's a good theory. And also, people communicate through humor. And that's where I. When humor became under the microscope a while back, I did go like this a bit because I, I don't know. I will defend humor because it's really important now. People can get offended all they want if your joke's good enough, they won't.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. It is the 20th anniversary of Live at the Purple Onion, which.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Oh, my God, is it. Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

Which is a tremendously influential stand up special. It also is like, you watch it now, you see almost the entirety of, like, where comedy would go in this thing. Partly. Like, it was made for Netflix pre streaming. It was made for Netflix dvd. Put it out. But you. Even though there was no real. Though the special at the time was very much like the one way stand up specials were filmed. You do. For those who haven't seen it, you do documentary footage. You do a parody of documentary footage where you play your brother.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Right.

[Jesse David Fox]

Then you do a set. But then you also, like, are just extremely loose in the set. Like, you'll mess up certain jokes and you'll come back to it.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

What made you be like, if I'm gonna do a special, I'm not gonna throw out anything. That is what we think of a stand up special.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I did not want the special to be. This is my hour. I wanted it to walk. Like you would walk into a club and see. See me. Yeah. Who knows what happens? I mean, obviously I know I'm gonna get a choral group. I know that's planned. These, these very polished specials are not what you see in clubs. You just don't. It's different. And that's fine. It's. It's good because it's special. Right. Like, it's a special thing. My special. I wanted to be as grounded and, and, and honest as I could make it because sometimes, a lot of times I struggle on stage still. My wife is not really allowed to see me come do stand up because I don't want to embarrass. I can take the embarrassment. But I've had some really lonely shows, really lonely drives back to Venice. I'm okay with it, but I can't have my family see that. That's an interesting point. I never thought About I can't believe it's the 20th anniversary. But I just wanted to be like, you walked into a club and you saw this guy trying to make people laugh.

[Jesse David Fox]

But then why.

[Zach Galifianakis]

At that time I didn't even have that much material, so.

[Jesse David Fox]

And then how did you come to like, well, shoot documentary. Do you just shoot a bunch of things and you're like, okay, we'll just cobble together. Because like the Seth stuff is like completely. So should you play your brother Seth, who's talking about how you had a sort of estrangement and the theme mainly becomes. There was one moment where you liked one Fuji song and that was sort of the thing that tied it.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah. I don't know if I'm not sure there was a. There was a planned. No. Yeah, I think. I don't know. There was probably maybe a lack of material on stage. But I also wanted to show the lead up to like performing, you know, driving to a gig or having a friend. Sometimes my friends would tag along with me and I think on that show they do. I don't know, it was just. I happened to do a gig in San Francisco and let's film it. But you're right, I mean it was Netflix's first or second thing they had ever produced. Yeah, I've never been invited to that Ted guy's house.

[Jesse David Fox]

He's a producer on the special. Yeah, I know he's credited.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Ted would be in the back rooms of like we'd be in Athens, Georgia, me and Patton and there would be Ted and we're like, who's that nerd? He's here again. And then he became this thing. It was like, oh yeah, I got this, this thing. You can order things through the mail. Good luck with that weirdo. You know. And then years go by and what's his last name? He's Greek.

[Jesse David Fox]

Sarandos.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah. This doesn't sound Greek to me.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, this at least you all. You're reunited with the gardening show. I bet you'll get invited. Yes.

[Zach Galifianakis]

And I've never. Is the garden shows on Netflix. Yes. The. Still no invites to any parties.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, I think one's coming up.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Check. A party.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, there's a new festival coming up in few weeks and I think he does the party at the festival.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah, I've heard about these parties. Yeah, I've heard from people that shouldn't be going to them, who shouldn't go. No, I just hear of them and they're like, oh God, every comedian in the world is there. It's funny. I'VE never been extended an invite.

[Jesse David Fox]

I think, Theodore, this is gonna do it. I'll tell.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Oh, yeah. Not forget this thing might air.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Oh, yeah. Well, listen, I'm not gonna show up anymore.

[Jesse David Fox]

I know he's gonna call you directly and be like, no, I don't actually want to go.

[Zach Galifianakis]

He's a nice man, I have to say. He is nice. Really nice. It's good to know comedy.

[Jesse David Fox]

In the special, you say you talk about being claustrophobic. Then when you became celebrity, did it trigger your claustrophobia? Didn't make it feel like you were closed in?

[Zach Galifianakis]

No, that claustrophobia is just from having an older brother that sits on you between you and a pillow. Like, like, you know, that's all that is. But, But I don't do everything to avoid being known. I mean, when, especially when they hang. Like, I would go to diners where I knew only old people were eight, go, yeah, Frohman's on. Frohman's in Santa Monica was my, was my haunt. But that movie everybody saw, so I couldn't even get away from that.

[Jesse David Fox]

Are you now a little bit more at peace with it because it's like

[Zach Galifianakis]

you're not in the. Yeah, because it's. I should be appreciative. I, I, I, I do. You mature. You mature in ways to try to help it. I, I don't give it much thought at all. And like I said earlier, I, I am embarrassed with some of the. What seemed whiny at the time. I am, I'm embarrassed of it.

[Jesse David Fox]

So you still do stand up. It is the thing that you said you'd. Even if you quit everything else, you cannot quit stand up.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

Why? What does the live laughter aspect do for you that you're. That. That is the thing you can't give up.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, it's instant gratification. Right. When it goes well, it's really, really great. It also can be instant rethinking your life. I think just the sound of laughter, as corny as it is, is my high. It's always been. And I think I get that from chasing my dad's laugh to make him and my mom. To be honest, my mother was my favorite person to make laugh because she was a prude Southern lady who was really, you know, on the exterior. But you could say things to her and she would die, and then she would reprimand me. I would say, mom, you have to, you have to make a decision.

[Jesse David Fox]

You can't do.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So my, you know, I. Laughter, the purity of it. I think that's probably what it is, to be honest with you. I think a lot of comics, that's what it is. It's just that attraction to that sound.

[Jesse David Fox]

Would you film it? Would you film another special?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Aren't they supposed to be filmed? I don't know.

[Jesse David Fox]

Some people like to not film a special.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I would, but I have said this, and pardon me if I'm repeating myself, but stand up's not like riding a bike. You have to be in a. I went and saw John Mulaney and Nick Kroll and Fred Armisen and Mike Bigley up in Canada in front of 10,000 people, do a show like you want to go on. Wow. You guys, like, you're in the top of your game. You work on it for me to go on. And like, it's. I respect them too much, right?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

So if I did it, I'd have to be. I'd have to go do a bunch of live shows for a while, a few months to get my feet. Feet wet. No, to get grounded and to. To. To get on in my rhythm again. But there's no way I could do it now. I mean, I have material for maybe 30 minutes, but I haven't practiced it. It's just sitting, you know, on napkins.

[Jesse David Fox]

But do you have a desire to. I want to. I want to do the months of getting my feet wet or grounded.

[Zach Galifianakis]

That desire is there. Not necessarily the special, but the desire to go perform live is always there. I mean, I don't sit around in rural Canada going, God, I really like to get on stage tonight. But when I'm in a city, I'll look up like, is there an open mic or is there somewhere I can go do this? My friend Tig asked me to go do open for her in Vancouver. I did. And it was like I had not done stand up. So, you know, it's. And I mean this as a compliment to stand ups. Like, it is a real craft that you have to work on. Go bomb and figure it out. You can't do it from your comforts of your house. Yeah.

[Megan Rapinoe]

So now I'm Mitch, first two time NWSL champion, championship MVP and forward for the US Women's National Team. Before I went pro, I graduated from Harvard with a degree in psychology, which comes in handy more than you think. Any athlete pursuing greatness knows there's a certain mentality you have to have. What people don't know is what that costs. In my podcast, Confessions of an Elite Athlete, I sit down with the best athletes in the world and explore the psychology mindset and unseen battles on the path to greatness. So take a seat and learn from the Confessions of an elite athlete on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Maria Sharapova]

I'm Maria Sharapova and I'm hosting a new podcast called Pretty Tough. Every week I'm sitting down with trailblazing women at the top of their game to discuss ambition, work ethic, and the ups and downs that come on the path to achieving greatness. We'll dive into their stories and get valuable insights from top executives, actors, entrepreneurs, and other individuals who have inspired me so much in my own journey. Follow Pretty Tough wherever you get your podcasts.

[Matt Buchel]

Hey, I'm Matt Buchel, comedian, writer, and floating head you may or may not have seen on your for your page, and I'm starting a brand new podcast. Wait, wait, don't swipe away. It's called that Sounds Like A Lot. As in that feeling when you check your phone in the morning, you read three headlines and you immediately think, oh, that sounds like a lot. I can't deal with all this, but guess what? I can deal with it. And I'm going to get into it. Every Friday, I'll break down whatever chaos is happening in the world. Then I'll sit down with a comedian. You can be progressive and not be like, annoying. Maybe an actor.

[Zach Galifianakis]

They go, feminism has gone too far. You go, why? Because the Sadie Hawkins dance happened?

[Matt Buchel]

Maybe a filmmaker. Since leaving that show, I'm challenged sparingly.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I just kind of hang out and try to do, you're the one with a charmed life.

[Matt Buchel]

Could be a politician. Basically anyone who responds to my cold DMs. We're recording the whole thing in a beautiful studio. So yes, you can watch it on YouTube or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. This is not the place to get the news news, but it is the place to feel a little better about it. That sounds like a lot. Part of the Vox Media Podcast network.

[Jesse David Fox]

Now. Time for the final segment. It's it's like a lightning round, but you don't have to enter quickly. It's just questions we asked every time. So it's at the end. Do you have a short story of an interaction with a legendary comedian actor, living or dead, you're willing to share with us?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yes, Jim Gaffigate and I are open for Jerry Lewis in London. I don't know what year it was, and there was the theater probably held a thousand people, but I think there were maybe 48 people there. It was a very low attendant. You don't say, and I never met Jerry Lewis. I just heard him backstage and he never went on stage. That's all I remember. He's legendary, right? Oh, I got to interview Don Rickles. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty legendary. No, he interviewed me. I didn't interview him. He interviewed me.

[Jesse David Fox]

I definitely remember seeing you two together, but I could not remember what the context was.

[Zach Galifianakis]

He was interviewing comedians at the end of his life, I think. Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

What was he like? Do you remember? Did he get it to get. Get what you were doing?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Well, I just remember all I was. I was just trying to. Not trying. I just have. I just was, you know, there's somebody, you know, that I grew up watching with my dad. Right. And to sit there, I was in awe. And I don't really get in, but I was. I wanted to be as respectful as possible. I wanted him to tell me things about comedy. Actually, I think I entered. Ended up asking him questions. I've always had this theory with comedians. If you're. If you avoid the drugs and the alcohol and all that stuff, comedy is really good for you. It's really. It does make people live long lives. Laughter is incredibly. I mean, you look at the Carl Wright, you look at the. You look at the. The guys that stay clean, they live long, happy lives, a lot of them. And that is a theory of comedy. That is not maybe what you were talking about. But I do, I do subscribe to that.

[Jesse David Fox]

In your opinion, who's the greatest comedian alive?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Condoleezza Rice. No. Alive or ever, Ever alive, currently. God, man. Are you talking. Okay. Are you talking stand up acting?

[Jesse David Fox]

You get to answer however you'd like to answer it.

[Zach Galifianakis]

All right?

[Jesse David Fox]

This.

[Zach Galifianakis]

This guy comes to mind because I just love him. I just. He makes Jim Carrey. The physical, the absurdity that he does. There's such, like, free. Whatever he was doing back then was just so ridiculously entertaining. So, I mean, he, He. I mean, Letterman has been a huge influence, I think, for my generation, for sure. I would say he. He was quite big. But I grew up, like, watching Red Fox and the even older comedians because of my. What was on tv. Eddie Murphy has always been. But I don't think he's interested in doing it. You know, I get it.

[Jesse David Fox]

I think it's hard for him to come back. I think, ultimately, how do you do a first show when you're Eddie Murphy?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Because he's done it. Yeah, he's done it. Like, what do you want me to do? Improve on that?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

You know what I mean? So I get that That's a tough question. I would have to really. There was a great comedian in England that died a few years back. She played the piano. Wood was her last name. She was somebody I got turned on later in life. I was like, whoa, this woman is fantastic. So it's always interesting to stumble on these international comedians that we don't necessarily get over here. But yeah, Jim Carrey, I just love him.

[Jesse David Fox]

What is the best time you ever bombed? And it could be stand up or it can be performance. A time you bombed and you look back upon it and that was. Is transcended all other times you bombed.

[Zach Galifianakis]

There's so many bombings. I've had such a bad show. Oh, God. I mean, I remember performing many times in cafes and this in Los Angeles where the only response I was getting was a blender, you know. My first road gig was in Maysville, Kentucky and I got paid a hundred bucks for the weekend and I drive to Maysville. I bombed. But it wasn't that I bombed. I just remember it was so bad. Not any response, not booing, but quiet. Yeah, yeah, quiet's the worst. Like I'll boo me, please handle me, please. I need something. But quiet. And as I'm realizing, oh, this is a ship that is sinking, you know, Hotshot from New York City comes down to Maysville, make us laugh. And I just remember looking down in this silence and a guy had brought a life size skeleton and put him in a chair and put a lit cigarette in his mouth and that saved me. Finally, finally there's something to comment on. So, yeah, I mean, I, I mean that's not even the worst. Oh, I know one time in San Francisco, I remember this guy was heckling me and I call him on stage and I. But instead of doing the regular, I sit him down and I do it like a therapy session and I start talking about his dad. And after the show, the manager comes up to me and goes, you need to go out the back, there's a bunch of dudes waiting for you. Because I really went at a level, it wasn't just a quip back. It's. You go in for the men, you go in for what's wrong with them at a level, you know, that they're not prepared for. That was a, that was a really, that was a bad situation too. I mean, I've had, I've had 20 to 30 really bad situations. Those are the ones that pop in my head.

[Jesse David Fox]

That's not. Those are good.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah. Bad ones I've had, I've had. Oh, I Can't even tell you that story. Oh, God, yeah. One day, if we ever meet, Jesse without the mics, remind me to tell you.

[Jesse David Fox]

It's the first thing I'll remind you.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

Can you think of a time you were funny at the wrong time?

[Zach Galifianakis]

Yeah. Not purposely. I always tell this story. My sister, when she got married, I'm close to my family, and I guess at the time my sister got married, I guess people knew I was trying to be a comedian. I don't. I wasn't. I was in New York trying to be a comedian, I think. So I give a toast at my sister's wedding that was incredibly sincere. People think I'm joking, they start laughing. To have people laughing at you while you're trying to be is a weird feeling, like the communication was off. So that's a lonely spot to be in. Because I think when people think you're a comic, they expect you to be on. You know, sometimes you are, and oftentimes you're not. It's not my job to entertain the room. A lot of comics do, and they want that, and that's their thing. They have these egos that they come into a room and they control it. I've always been a wallflower that way. A bit.

[Jesse David Fox]

Can you think of a joke or a bit that you did that you thought was great but never got a laugh, or people thought wouldn't work, or, you know, something you might have done in a movie but you'll go to your grave being like, I was right there wrong.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Okay. For years, I was trying to figure out a joke about an albino polar bear. Okay. On stage, it would never work. I could not get people to. To. I just. It just. I. I thought it was clever, whatever. But in the Hangover, there's a conversation between me and Ed, and I was like, oh, I can sneak that joke in. In conversation, it works as a standalone joke. It doesn't work. So, yes, you. You. You retool things. Sometimes for stage, it doesn't. And then you can sneak it in somewhere else, but, yeah, that's an example. Does that answer that?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yes, that works.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Good enough, Zach. Good enough. Good enough.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, you have a hard out, but no, I think that's great.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I don't have a hard out.

[Jesse David Fox]

They're like, it has to be out.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Could you imagine if I were like, I don't have a hard out. We're here for four more hours. Yeah. What's your next one, Jesse?

[Jesse David Fox]

This is a new one. We'll see. Do you have a cold take A take that is not. Either it's a hot take about something that happened a long time ago, or it is a extremely non controversial opinion. Your least controversial opinion.

[Zach Galifianakis]

You mean like an opinion, I might say, out there and people. Yeah, that's. Yeah, Zach, good point.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach Galifianakis]

By the way, can I just tell you off not to answer your question. I'm listening to the CBC in Canada the other day. I'm listening to. I'm driving and I hear this guy on his. And I'm immediately like, this guy's an annoying voice. But I like what he's. It was me. I was listening to of me on the scene. I didn't even recognize my voice at first. Like this guy's voice is. But you know what he's saying? Oh, my God, that is me being interviewed for the garden show. So anyway, that doesn't answer your question at all, but your question stinks.

[Jesse David Fox]

There you go.

[Zach Galifianakis]

By the way, isn't it a better question? What's your most controversial?

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, everyone asked. Everyone asked most controversial. That's a very common question people ask on podcasts. So it's like, oh, let's see what happens if we subvert it. But I think it doesn't work.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I just like, yeah, I don't even know. Like, none of my opinions are looked at. Like, that's good, Zach. You know, good idea, Zach.

[Jesse David Fox]

Thank you so much.

[Zach Galifianakis]

Thank you very much. And I must say, you're very good at your job. Very good.

[Jesse David Fox]

Thank you. It means a lot. This is a very important interview for me.

[Zach Galifianakis]

I appreciate you having me. Thanks, Jesse.