The Doctor is In…voking the Fifth

Summary

Lovett or Leave It: The Doctor Is In…voking the Fifth

Date: July 31, 2026
Host: Jon Lovett
Notable Guests: Daveed Diggs, Anthony Michael Hall

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Episode Overview

This episode features Jon Lovett’s signature comedic and incisive breakdown of the week’s biggest (and dumbest) political stories, with a keen focus on Republican attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci and attempts to rewrite pandemic history. The live show blends current events with sharp satire, lively interviews with Tony and Grammy-winning actor/rapper Daveed Diggs and actor Anthony Michael Hall, and audience banter. The episode spotlights American political absurdity, pop culture, and creative process with humor and honesty.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. The Republican Fauci Hearings & COVID Conspiracies

00:50–12:00

• Fauci Invokes the Fifth: Dr. Anthony Fauci, at a contentious congressional hearing about COVID-19’s origins, invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times.
  • Lovett delivers pointed satire:

    "Damn Fauci. 85 years old and still administering jabs." — Jon Lovett (01:25)

• GOP Grandstanding: Lovett highlights performative, conspiratorial rhetoric from Senators Josh Hawley, Bernie Moreno, and Tommy Tuberville.
  • Moreno’s mock speech:

    "Who the fuck do you think you were for doing that? ... Fuck you, bitch. I yield my time." — Lovett as Moreno (04:14)

  • Tuberville’s wild accusations:

    "We're going to go after him with everything we've got because the guy killed or had something to do with killing 9 million people." — Lovett as Tuberville (05:10)

• Dissecting the 'Lab Leak' Theory: Lovett succinctly (and humorously) summarizes the facts and conspiracy theories about NIH grants, gain-of-function research, and genetic evidence.
  • Critiques both right-wing media for "smearing" Fauci and the liberal tendency toward condescension and over-simplifying during crises.
  • Notable reflection:

    "That is to me the most important lesson of all of this, that the Republican grandstanding prevents us from actually learning." — Jon Lovett (06:40) "Not every day can be Lindsey Graham’s funeral." — Jon Lovett (07:20)

2. Political Walkabouts – Biden, Trump, and McConnell

12:00–13:00

• Absentee Mitch McConnell: Jokes about McConnell’s recovery and proof-of-life statements.

  > "Even Dianne Feinstein was still physically at work. She didn't know she was there, but she was there." — Jon Lovett (09:40)
  

• Biden’s 'Classified Info' Tape: Commentary on tapes of Biden allegedly sharing classified information, but pivots to humor:

  > "From here on out, as long as Biden’s problems are with a ghostwriter and not a Ghostbuster, I think he's in pretty good shape." — Jon Lovett (10:11)
  

• Trump's Dulles Airport Mega-Garage: Satirical take on Trump's fixation with airport parking garages amid more pressing concerns.

  > "Oh boy. You could hold a lot of classified documents in there, said Joe Biden." — Jon Lovett (12:06)
  

  -
  > "I'd guess Trump has gone his entire life without going down underneath." — Jon Lovett (12:23)

3. Interview: Daveed Diggs – Creative Prowess & Pop Satire

16:24–28:11

• On ‘The Boys’ and Parodying Reality: Diggs discusses playing a televangelist-esque supervillain and studying religious performers.

  > "It's cool when a silly song...about turning a superhero into God instead of God ends up being a bop, you know?" — Daveed Diggs (16:41)
  

  • On the show:

    "I was talking to some of the writers… and they were saying that it was progressively getting harder as real life got more and more through the looking glass." — Daveed Diggs (18:27)

• Generational Attitudes about Sex and Fun: In discussion about Greg Araki's film "I Want You 2 Sex," Diggs reflects on generational divides and making films focused on enjoyment and openness.

  > "[Greg] wanted people to leave this film having had a great time and maybe horny." — Daveed Diggs (20:47)
  

• Clipping & Tiny Desk Concert:

  • Explains the technical and creative challenge of making their NPR Tiny Desk performance about using “as much desk as possible.”

    > "We would always joke about this idea of trying to program little MIDI controlled robots to play junk… so we were always like, if they ever invite us on, we're gonna use as much desk as possible." — Daveed Diggs (21:58)
    

  • They discuss artistic process, creative disagreements, and the idea of music as a time capsule.

    > "All music is. This is what we were thinking right now." — Daveed Diggs (27:10)
    

• Creative Integrity:
  • "There's only really two songs that we, like, argue about… two of us are like: 'This is done,' and one of us is like: 'Absolutely not.'" — Daveed Diggs (24:50)
  • On timing and relevance in music:

    "Did we miss the boat on that? And does that matter?... In some ways it does." — Daveed Diggs (28:11)

4. Interview: Anthony Michael Hall – From Teen Star to Reality TV

31:09–43:00

• Transitioning in Hollywood: Hall opens up about aging out of teen roles, enduring career uncertainty, and the importance of tenacity.

  > "You have to decide to become unstoppable." — Anthony Michael Hall (33:08)
  

• Embracing Reality TV: Discusses participating in "Nation's Dumbest" and the oddness of unscripted TV.
  • On the experience:

    "I just kind of reframed my thinking and went up to Toronto… I had a great experience with all these people. It was really fun and goofy and Fox paid me a boatload of money." — Anthony Michael Hall (36:15)

• On Parenting Late-in-Life: Humor and warmth about being an older dad.

  > "My kid is great… then he just comes over and promptly like swift kicks me in the nuts." — Anthony Michael Hall (39:16)
  

  • Lovett adds:

    "You can sit like you're in your 20s, but I get up in my 40s." — Jon Lovett (38:52)

• Rapid-Fire LA Best-of:
  • Best sandwich: New York Pizzeria in the Marina
  • Best director: Christopher Nolan ("He's pretty good, that Nolan.")
  • Best hang: Robert Downey Jr.
  • Best theater: Cinerama Dome
  • Best snack: Popcorn (with Reese’s Pieces thrown in!)
  • Power lunch: The Grill in Beverly Hills

5. Egg of Truth – Slack Banter & Existential Questions

43:19–48:21

• Philosophical & Personal Q&A: (See: "Egg of Truth" segment)
  • Where is pain? “Society.” (Daveed Diggs, 44:38)
  • Lose smell or super smell? “Lose my sense of smell.” (Anthony Michael Hall, 44:48)

  • Getting back to sleep: Podcasts, ocean sounds, alphabet word games

    > "That's just how I write my next song. Probably I'm up forever once I start that game." — Daveed Diggs (47:33)
    

  • Eating off the ground?

    "Of course. I have a toddler. What do you mean, three foot off the ground?" — Daveed Diggs (47:46)

6. Second Thoughts & Regrets

49:30–End

• Lovett apologizes for forcing the audience to imagine Trump providing oral sex and rehashes a regrettable Pretty in Pink joke.

  > "Fauci isn’t Jewish, but to be clear, we’d be happy to have him." — Jon Lovett (49:33)
  

• Hall opts to invoke the Fifth on regrets:
  > "I'll take the 5th and leave it there. I'm good." — Anthony Michael Hall (50:44)
• Episode closes with gratitude and political urgency (Countdown to 2026 midterms).

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• "Damn Fauci. 85 years old and still administering jabs."
  — Jon Lovett (01:25)
• "Who the fuck do you think you were for doing that?... Fuck you, bitch. I yield my time."
  — Jon Lovett as Bernie Moreno (04:14)
• "Not every day can be Lindsey Graham’s funeral."
  — Jon Lovett (07:20)
• "It's cool when a silly song... ends up being a bop, you know?"
  — Daveed Diggs (16:41)
• "You have to decide to become unstoppable."
  — Anthony Michael Hall (33:08)
• "All music is... This is what we were thinking right now."
  — Daveed Diggs (27:10)
• "You can sit like you're in your 20s, but I get up in my 40s."
  — Jon Lovett (38:52)
• "I'll take the 5th and leave it there. I'm good."
  — Anthony Michael Hall (50:44)
• "Fauci isn’t Jewish, but to be clear, we’d be happy to have him."
  — Jon Lovett (49:33)

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Segment Timestamps

• Opening Monologue / Fauci Hearing Satire: 00:50–12:00
• Political Roundup: McConnell, Biden, Trump: 12:00–13:00
• Daveed Diggs Interview: 16:24–28:11
• Anthony Michael Hall Interview: 31:09–43:00
• Egg of Truth Q&A: 43:19–48:21
• Second Thoughts & Wrap-Up: 49:30–End

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Tone & Style

Lovett’s blend of biting satire, earnest cultural insight, and welcoming, irreverent banter pervades the episode. Both interviews veer from thoughtful (discussing creative integrity and generational change) to playful (parenting mishaps, favorite LA snacks).

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For Newcomers

If you missed this week’s episode, you’ll get a rollicking mix of political comedy, cutting social commentary, and revealing conversations with two icons—Daveed Diggs and Anthony Michael Hall—about art, music, Hollywood survival, and parenting. You’ll also witness Lovett’s unique tone: sharp, self-deprecating, and habitually ready to cross the line for a joke…and then regret it (sometimes).

Skip the adverts, stay for the absurdity, insight, and laughs.

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Transcript

[Jon Lovett]

We just had stand up comedian, documentary filmmaker, and professional truth teller W. Kamau Bell join the show where my own writers helped him destroy me. Why does this keep happening? Kamau has a new show too, who's With Me? Where he breaks down the current cultural and political dumpster fire and sits down with someone he genuinely admires to give them their flowers, ask the questions he actually wants answered, and land on something real we can all do to make this hellscape a little more livable. He's recently had conversations with Leslie Jones on turning pain into comedy, Robert Reich on the fight for democracy, and Daveed Diggs on chasing creative projects. It's funny, it's got heart, and it's a reassuring pat on the shoulder for anyone who needs it right now. Watch new episodes of who's with me on YouTube or listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Tommy from Pot Save America and Pot Save the world. Last year, 2,500 people joined us at CrookedCon for conversations with some of the smartest organizers, least annoying politicians, and most interesting voices in politics to talk about how to fix this mess. Even President Obama made a surprise appearance. We're doing it all again November 5th to 7th in Washington, D.C. with even more podcasts, panels and workshops. Plus there'll be drinks, which we'll need after the midterms. No matter which way they go, get [e-mail] if you're a friend of the pod, you get a discount too. See you there. What's up, Los Angeles? Welcome to Love it or Leave It Live from Hollywood, I'm Jon Lovett, and tonight I'm Pretty in Pink. That's on me. I think I put the emphasis in the wrong place, and tonight I'm Pretty in Pink. All right, we've got a great show for you tonight, but first, let's get into it. What a week. In a contentious hearing on the origins of COVID 19 and the government's handling of the pandemic, former national health official Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment of 111 times. I'll just let this guy do the talking, said Fauci as he opened his bag and released a coughing Chinese bat into the hearing room. But first, Fauci explained why he wouldn't be answering questions, saying this of committee chair Rand Paul. The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his Words, quote behind bars, unquote. Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion. Damn Fauci. 85 years old and still administering jabs. Fauci's silence gave the Republicans an opportunity to do what they basically wanted to do anyway, which is yell at him for a while. Here's Josh Hawley. You were so focused on getting every award and every drop of cash that you could, all because you wanted to be on tv. You wanted to be the sun God of science. You wanted to be the guy who was in charge of it all. You wanted to blam Trump. You wanted to make sure that nobody else stole your spotlight.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

You to wanted.

[Jon Lovett]

You wanted to be the guy. You had time to sit for InStyle magazine. Somewhere along the line, it became all about you. You became a narcissist and a megalomaniac and a liar. And you know what? Holly's right. Having a lying, narcissistic megalomaniac obsessed with the spotlight in charge during a pandemic was a disaster. Also, there's something about his tone that's like. Like it's a mix of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. That's like you're only obsessed if you could. You never stop to think if you should. Plus, he does a little bit of a, like, theater kid version of Tom Cruise being like, Fauci, did you order the code red? You know, here's Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno. It was about six years ago today

[Anthony Michael Hall]

that I decided I'm going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run

[Jon Lovett]

for office, run for the United States Senate. Here I am sitting in front of you six years later, saying, who the

[Anthony Michael Hall]

fuck do you think you were for doing that?

[Jon Lovett]

For six long years, I've sacrificed and campaigned and fought to finally have the chance to sit in this chair across from you, to say to your face what I've wanted to say since the dark days of the pandemic. Fuck you, bitch. I yield my time. Moreno recounted a specific story about a mother who was arrested at her son's football game for not wearing a mask. If you're curious, it made the news. At the time. It was from. From September of 2020. Of course, at the time, Ohio's mask mandate was issued by the state's Republican governor, Mike DeWine. And the guidance wasn't Fauci's alone. It came from the White House under Donald Trump. All of this is an effort to rewrite the past in order to turn Fauci into some sort of supervillain even suggesting Fauci was responsible for the virus itself. Here's Tommy Tuberville and we're going to go after him with everything we've got because the guy killed or had something

[Anthony Michael Hall]

to do with killing 9 million people.

[Jon Lovett]

Is it a.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

It's an.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. We can't prove it. Right.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

So.

[Jon Lovett]

But that's yet to be determined. How many people are due to that? We can determine it now. We can determine it because he was in on the gain of function. He was saying, you can determine if we understand that. Yes. You can always tell when the reporters over at Fox News attended that mandatory defamation training after the, after the Dominion lawsuit, she's like, I'm not going down for this. Now, if you're not a consumer of right wing media, you might be confused. You might think, I know they don't like Fauci, but I didn't realize they have decided he's a mass murderer. But maybe I ran out of free New Yorker articles. What gives? Great question. The answer is a little long, but I've promised the producers of this program that I can whip through it in about two minutes. Start the timer. The claim is that when Fauci was at nih, its agency funded a research grant at an organization that in turn issued a grant to the Wuhan Lab, where some believe the virus emerged. And that grant funded a project in, in which scientists created a version of a coronavirus that was more infectious in mice, which could be considered the kind of gain of function research that Fauci denied was taking place. So far, not a great set of facts for Anthony Fauci, who, and this is neither here nor there, is not Jewish. But scientists believe this research cannot be the source of the pandemic because genetically the virus in this study is just not closely related enough to COVID 19, which is certainly a relief for Fauci, as is the evidence that points to the virus emerging from the nearby market and spilling over to humans from animals at least twice at the same time. There is no question that the Chinese government had engaged in a massive cover up. The only question is what they were trying to hide. Did Covid escape from a lab or from a nearby market? We may never know. But the experts who called it a conspiracy theory were wrong, as were the efforts to protect us from uncertainty and bad facts throughout the pandemic. And that is to me, the most important lesson of all of this, that the Republican grandstanding prevents us from actually learning. And I'm sorry there aren't more jokes in this part, not every Day can be Lindsey Graham's funeral. Fauci and public health officials were in an unprecedented emergency, terrified that the health care system would come apart, trying their best to communicate with a scared country with rapidly evolving evidence about a novel disease at a time when the President of the United States was spreading misinformation from the White House podium on a daily basis, lying about case numbers about hydroxychloroquine and bleach, lying about mask about the severity of the pandemic. Even so, many officials acted like pundits, gauging how much truth and nuance we could handle in order to elicit the best behavior from the public. That was because anti vaxxers and right wing trolls undermined faith in public health officials and acted like basic steps to protect each other was the second coming of Mao. But it was also because of a lack of faith in the rest of us. It was true of public health officials and a lot of journalists who from a place of better safe than sorry, downplayed their own uncertainty and preferred simple directives to ones that more clearly reflected the actual complicated evidence. It may have come from genuine concern, but there was a cost. This hearing is obviously part of a fucked up Republican agenda to smear an 85 year old doctor who devoted his life to public health so that they can perform for an audience that wants to be told that the pandemic and all that pain and trauma was really the fault of liberals. But that doesn't mean Democrats with all of our respect for experts and institutions aren't susceptible to a kind of condescension that is not only counterproductive but politically toxic. And if we fail to learn that lesson at our peril in the next pandemic and every election in between, stop the timer. Okay, now, thank you for bearing with me. Here's a joke about Lindsey Graham that I thought of after the show on Tuesday. Lindsey Graham is a lot like a Trojan horse. He loved to be filled by a bunch of Greeks before killing a bunch of civilians. Speaking of dead guys, Mitch McConnell has now been absent from Congress for over a month as he recovers from what he claims was a fall for comparison. Lindsey Graham, who is dead dead, has missed fewer than three weeks. McConnell's office released this new proof of life photo once again showing the Kentucky senator smiling next to his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. This proves nothing. Any AI image generator could produce a comparable image with the prompt quote, elaine Chao pretending her husband is alive. The photo was accompanied by a statement, supposedly by the senator, which said, I'm still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate, though, a bad sign that the statement began with, as the late Mitch McConnell once said. His office also released a statement from his physician saying that McConnell continues his recovery from a fall at home in June and that he is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office. Here's the problem. This statement might make sense if Mitch McConnell was a baseball player with a torn ACL or an astronaut with a bad case of 8 lettuce. But he's a senator. The job of the senator has literally zero physical requirements. You just need to be conscious and able to communicate a yes or a no. You don't even need to be able to raise your hand. In the Senate, being able to raise your hand is considered showing off. Even Dianne Feinstein was still physically at work. She didn't know she was there, but she was there. And speaking of elder abuse, newly released audio tapes appeared to show then Vice President Joe Biden sharing classified information with his ghostwriter in 2016. I would say, though, from here on out, as long as Biden's problems are with a ghostwriter and not a ghostbuster, I think he's in pretty good shape. The tapes were released by a conservative group connected to the Heritage foundation after Biden lost a legal battle to keep them private. You can see why, said Biden in the tapes to the ghostwriter, who did not have a security clearance. And this is real, quote, the next thing I have here is classified. You can hear Jill Biden yelling, joe, no. And then what sounds like her squirting him with a spray bottle, but it was too late. Speaking of abuse by an elder, President Trump on Wednesday announced a $22 billion renovation of Virginia's Washington Dulles International Airport at an Oval Office event alongside Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Thank you for being here. As we unveil exciting plans for a major and long overdue renovation and reconstruction of Washington's really horribly thought of Dulles International Airport. We are announcing plans to add more than 5 million square feet of new or renovated space will replace the current C and D concourses, which are basic disasters, all the while preserving the iconic original terminal.

[Jon Lovett]

By Thursday, Dulles was completely covered in algae. This guy. This guy moves fast. Here is the President of the United States, in the midst of an ongoing war, getting deep in the weeds of the planned airport parking garage.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

So we're going to have a magnificent garage. What would you say, Sean? How many, how many cars?

[Jon Lovett]

32,000 parking spaces?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

32,000. It'll be actually the largest garage in the world. 32,000 big.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh, boy. You could hold a lot of classified documents in there, said Joe Biden. The President, believe it or not, went into even further detail about the garage.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Mostly above ground. We don't like down. People don't like going down underneath.

[Jon Lovett]

I'd guess Trump has gone his entire life without going down underneath. Usually the kind of crass stuff kills, but not today. A sophisticated crowd here, the president continued.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

It's an impossible airport. You get off a bus, you go into a train, you get from a train, you get onto another bus. It's a worse airport.

[Jon Lovett]

He says this like he personally experiences airports. The last time Trump went through an airport, you could smoke in there with a gun in your carry on and a full size shampoo bottle in each hand. And look, we've had a lot of fun tonight, but here's the thing. Trump is getting rid of the Dulles Airport People Movers. And I don't know if you're familiar with the Dulles Airport People Movers, but they are terrible. And so I guess what I'm ending on is make America great again. All right, we've got a great show for you tonight, and we'll be right back with Daveed Diggs. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love it or Leave it coming up. Love it or Leave it is brought to you by Zazzle. Gift giving can be tough For a lot of us, there's nothing worse than showing up with something generic that you're not even sure your giftee will like. That's where Zazzle comes in to save the day. Zazzle is a custom marketplace where you can basically take any product, a mug, a tote bag, a card, a phone case, and personalize it for yourself or someone you love. Browse millions of designs or create your own from scratch and customize the product to your taste. Either way, you're the designer. Everything is made to order, so you never have to worry about an item being out of stock. You can pick it, customize it, and you're done. Over 30 million customers have trusted Zazzle with their most important gifts. Yours is next. You really can find a gift for anyone on Zazzle. Just filter by product or occasion to find the perfect gift. Then just select your personalization options directly on the website. It even allows you to preview what it will look like before you order. Zazzle makes it so simple to create a unique gift for any occasion. Right now, save 25% on your first order at zazzle. Com that's 25% savings on your first [e-mail] go make something zamaic amazing zazzle.com love it or Leave it is brought to you by Select Quote Life Insurance we all know we need it, but we keep putting it off because we think it's complicated or expensive or that will live forever. Stop telling yourself you'll handle it later and take care of it today. With SELECT quote In 15 minutes you can have coverage that fits your lifestyle and budget. Here's what makes Select Quote different. Their licensed insurance agents work for you, not for the insurance company. They compare options across multiple carriers to find you the right coverage at the lowest price. They've been doing this for nearly 40 years and have helped over 2 million people find coverage. Even if you have health issues, they can help high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease. Their agents know which carriers will give you the best rate for your specific situation. If you're healthy, they can get you same day coverage with no medical exam. Other brokers push policies that pay them the most. Selectquote's agents actually shop for you. Selectquote they shop, you save get the right life insurance for you for [e-mail] LoveIt Go to SelectQuote.com Lovett today to get started. And we're back. We'll be joined by the great Daveed Diggs in a moment. But first, if you haven't gotten tickets for Crooked Con, here's another reason why you should. We believe the answer to right wing authoritarianism is a big, welcoming, fun pro democracy movement. So we've invited some exciting new people to join us at CricketCon. A bunch of creators, a bunch of folks you probably know from YouTube who make sense of the news with humor and just sort of piping hot takes. You'll be able to spot them at crookedcon and meet them at happy hours and Q&As and workshops. Check out a few of the many joining [e-mail] and you can grab your tickets there too. We will see you in dc and if you're in la, you can still get tickets to Love it or leave [e-mail] events where we're always adding new guests. Check out our lineup including comedians Elliott Glaser, Liza Traeger and California Congressman Ted Lieu. All right, please welcome to the stage. He's a Tony and Grammy winning actor, rapper, singer and object. A man who does not have time to be here, but we're glad he is. It's Daveed Diggs. Hi. Good to See you. Thanks for being here.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Thank you.

[Jon Lovett]

So.

[Daveed Diggs]

Hi.

[Jon Lovett]

So I want to start by talking about the Boys.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

On the final season, your, oh father, you're nominated for the song. You sing as the character. And the song is so fucking good.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah, it's a great song. It's cool when a silly song that you get to help create about turning a superhero into God instead of God ends up being a bop, you know?

[Jon Lovett]

Were there any villains that you were inspired by? Were there any villains you loved growing up that you brought to this? How fun to get to play a. Like a godlike supervillain.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know what was interesting, and I was sort of aware that he was gonna be one of the villains on the show, but you can't think about your characters like that. Right. So I really, like, actually just studied a whole bunch of televangelists, which was a wild rabbit hole for a Jew to go down. It was super fun. I ended up, like, really appreciating the performance aspect of that. It is like, I spent a lot of time, but, yeah, my YouTube algorithms got all fucked, man.

[Jon Lovett]

Can I tell you something I used to watch? I used to be fascinated by Joel Osteen.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

He's genius. He is good.

[Daveed Diggs]

God damn.

[Jon Lovett]

Link's a lot.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

But captivating, yo.

[Daveed Diggs]

That's what I'm saying. And yeah, I mean, the performance, look, it's not an easy sell. God.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, yeah. You gotta get em. You gotta get em.

[Daveed Diggs]

You gotta really get people hype. It's a lot of smoke and mirrors, a lot of pomp and circumstance. All the good stuff.

[Jon Lovett]

But what's funny about the Boys is it's like this. It's very, like, it's very silly. But the Boys is an amazing show because it figured out a way to parody what's happening, even though it often feels like what's happening can't be parodied.

[Daveed Diggs]

I know, I know. And I imagine that's one of the reasons. I mean, I was talking to some of the writers before the season started, and they were saying that it was progressively getting harder as real life got more and more through the looking glass. That, like, you know, you don't want it to feel like a documentary, but it's pretty close.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. Without the kind of being able to explode people's heads.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Which I think is good. I think it's good that you can't do that. I think we couldn't handle it. If there's one lesson from the Boys, it's good that we don't have these powers. Among other lessons.

[Daveed Diggs]

Right, right.

[Jon Lovett]

And there are other lessons.

[Daveed Diggs]

Some, but, yeah, that's the main one. The main takeaway.

[Jon Lovett]

So you're also in I Want yout Sex, which is directed by Greg Araki, who's on the show. Yeah. Now you are kind of in. You are in between the. Greg has strong feelings as a Gen Xer about Gen Z, and, like, what. What has happened because of them living online and being afraid of kind of discomfort. What was it like for you, kind of navigating what he was doing as like, a millennial?

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah, I mean, I think I'm like the first millennial also. I was class of 2000. Right. So, like, I sort of skew closer to Greg's views anyway, I think.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh, you think of your. Oh, see. Cause I.

[Daveed Diggs]

Okay.

[Jon Lovett]

You feel like you're first wave millennial, but you think you have a Gen X energy.

[Daveed Diggs]

Well, I just think I'm. I think if we're gonna compare us to Gen Z, I'm closer to that side of it. And so, yeah, so I definitely. When I read, I was like, yeah, you're right. Why aren't kids having more sex? Why are we so hung up about this? Yeah, so I. No, I think Greg, what's so wonderful about him is just that he, as a filmmaker, he is awfully concerned with the experience of the audience as opposed to the film. Right. I feel like sometimes you work with filmmakers and they're very fussy about the film itself. He is a genius and brilliant at structuring the film and all of that. But what he's super concerned about is, like, I wanted to make this film really fun, and I want to talk about sex in a really fun way. I wanted people to leave this film, like, having had a great time and maybe horny.

[Jon Lovett]

Not so horny. Horny enough to get home, you know? You know, I guess maybe not. Who cares? Look, let people have a good time.

[Daveed Diggs]

I don't know. Yeah, this is all part of the problem. Why aren't we doing it in the. The.

[Jon Lovett]

That's part of the problem. Hey, you. You. Do.

[Daveed Diggs]

You.

[Jon Lovett]

You people might not know this, but you have a hip hop group called Clipping.

[Daveed Diggs]

I do.

[Jon Lovett]

And that you've been part of basically longer than anything else.

[Daveed Diggs]

Forever. Anybody here know this?

[Jon Lovett]

You know, Clipping.

[Daveed Diggs]

That's always. That always makes me very happy. That's it. So you have to be kind of a weirdo to be in that band.

[Jon Lovett]

So I think it's cool. I am a weirdo.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah, you check. You'd be part of.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, it makes sense. Let's check out a clip, brother, and explain. I want to show people a clip from the Tiny Desk concert you did.

[Daveed Diggs]

Gotta admit, that looked like fun. That looked like fun. The fuck is fun? When a war ain't done, if the war ain't done, then the war ain't one.

[Jon Lovett]

You swore to uphold all the pillars

[Daveed Diggs]

of the federated something some.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Ah.

[Daveed Diggs]

That's all you do.

[Jon Lovett]

So for people listening, that is the Tiny Desk concert. And you've taken a bunch of objects like a mug or ball bearings or other things, and there are these mechanisms that are basically turning them into drums and backing instruments. Why'd you do that?

[Daveed Diggs]

We've been fans of the Tiny Desk series since it came out and it's gotten so big, right? They used to happen maybe like once every couple of months and now there's four a week or something. They've gotten huge and as they've expanded, we were like, this is great, I love all of these. But there's not enough desk for something called Tiny Desk. So we were always like, if they ever invite us on, we're gonna use as much desk as possible. And we start like the actual desk in. We would always joke about this idea of trying to program little MIDI controlled robots to play junk like their own, their coffee mugs and their little awards, whatever, statues, whatever was on their messy ass desk. We were gonna try to convert our beats to be played by that stuff. And then they invited us on and we were like, oh shit, all right, we got a chance to do this. And it was way too much work. It was really, really hard to do for a one off for everyone involved. I mean, we had to sort of. Bill and Jonathan, my bandmates, really had to spend like a lot, a lot of time trying to figure out how to program those things. And then the whole staff of Tiny Desk, they usually don't. You come in for a few minutes before the show and they do a sound check. We had to. We forced them to all come to work the night before and stay there until like midnight. Like build all these. Build them. And then they have to mic all of that crap individually, you know, so it was a much more technical undertaking than they were ready for. But they asked us to do the fucking show. So you knew what kind of band this was.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, there's something about like, I feel like what part of the reason Tiny Desk is appealing? I think part of the reason it's so fun to see. Part of the reason it's so fun to see you kind of just manipulate these real objects and make something cool and imperfect is we're all like, the. Like, what do humans do? What are humans up to these days? And, like, kind of proving. Kind of proving our. Like, hey, you can't do this with us. You can't do this yet. You're robot freaks, you know? But also just like, the kind of. The ingenuity and kind of diy, like, creative process as, like, what. That adds to it.

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah. Yeah, I love. One of the things I love so much about this band is we're always trying to do something new, and it is experimental music in the sense that, like, we don't ever know if it's gonna work or not when we start doing it. And so every single idea is like, let's see what happens. And we're gonna. What we've gotten really good at is we know when a thing is done, when we've completed the idea. We don't always know if it's good or not, but we know we've completed the idea, and usually we'll put that out. So, yeah, I like that.

[Jon Lovett]

What doesn't. What have you been like? You know what? This didn't work. We tried something interesting, and actually, we learned a lot. And if you don't ever miss a flight, you're getting to the airport too early. But nevertheless, that's not going out.

[Daveed Diggs]

There's only maybe. So the rule is all three of us have to agree to put it out. And there's only really two songs that we, like, argue about that. Two of us are like, this is done. And one of us is like, absolutely not. We can't put this out. And so. So what that means is there's not a ton of back catalog, which for our fans is sometimes upsetting because it takes us a long time between albums to put. Yeah. And it's just. This process is slow. But, yeah, there's not. Like, we have a ton of songs we're sitting on. Most of them are already out.

[Jon Lovett]

What's like a disagree. What are you disagreeing about on a current song where two of you want it to go out and one of you is like, no, it's not ready. You don't have to get that. What is something that is. What are you disagreeing about?

[Daveed Diggs]

That one is. It is lyrically and sonically referencing, like, a really specific and very, very brief trend in, like, Chicago gangster rap music. And if it's not a. If you're not from that scene and also. Which none of us are, and if you're not now, you know, nine years ago. It sounds silly. It does sound like goofy. But it was a real thing at the time. And we, I think, mimicked it pretty well. But I think it's mostly. One of us is like, you waited. We waited to. This had to come out then. And even then we shouldn't have been the ones doing it. And he's not wrong. But I still think it's a really good song. So I'm not the one who doesn't want it to come out.

[Jon Lovett]

Isn't it? There's something interesting though about, like, I think about it with movies and whether they get a release in the theaters because I'll. I obviously will never see the Godfather in theaters or. Or any of the movies that most movies spend. Every, Every. Every day after a movie is out of the theaters is another day it will live in the world and never be in the theaters again. But there's something that matters about when it happened and what happened when it happened. Right? Because if that song, if you had released that song when it was at the time, it would still be now and as relevant now as it would be now were it released today. And yet it feels wrong to not release it today because it didn't exist then. But if it was now, it wouldn't matter what happened then because there's only now.

[Daveed Diggs]

Fuck.

[Jon Lovett]

You know, Isn't that an interesting thing?

[Daveed Diggs]

It is. Or is it If I were a little more high. No, it is. And I actually think music is. Is one of these things that they are. It's very particular to music because everything is a time capsule of the. All music is. This is what we were thinking right now. They are like. And I think in a way that even movies aren't because just because we're watching people and we still have relationships with those people. But something about having this captured audio. Your voice was only this way this time when you recorded it on this take and this person mixed it. And all of these things only happened that one time. And I do find albums. People don't care about albums anymore. But in particular, like, albums tend to be these time capsules that I find really fascinating. And. Yeah. Yeah. So it is this constant battle of like, did we miss the boat on that? And does that matter? But I think in some ways it does. I think because it's no longer what we're thinking about.

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Daveed Diggs]

So we should have. It wouldn't be part of the same time capsule. I don't know.

[Jon Lovett]

I'll tell you who's not thinking about this. Claude. Thank you to Daveed Diggs. Go see I Want yout Sex in theaters today, July 31st. Then maybe have sex if you want, do it, but only if you want. Daveed will be joining us again at the end of the show, and we'll be right back. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love it or Leave it coming up. Love it or Leave it is brought to you by Bombas Outdoor season is in full swing. Whether you're heading to the park, lounging at the beach or firing up the grill, Bombas makes your Go to Summer Essentials for All Day Comfort Tackle every activity with high performance activity specific socks engineered for golf, yoga, gym training and running. Made with breathable sweat wicking fabrics to deliver all day comfort from start to finish. Compression socks usually scream hospital, but Bombas completely change the game. Their options are ultra soft, super supportive and genuinely stylish. A total must have for all of your summer trips. Bomba sandals and slides are made with plush EVA foam for maximum marshmallow like comfort all summer long. I have them. They're fantastic, lightweight, waterproof and ridiculously cushy. And for every item you purchase, an essential clothing item is donated to someone facing housing insecurity. One purchase equals one donated with over 200 million donations and counting. Love Bombus. I wear them every day. They're the best socks. Head over to bombas.com love it and use the code love it for 20% off your first purchase. That's B O M B A S.com love it code love it at checkout. Love it or Leave it is brought to you by AG1. Everyone loves a good summer vacation, but getting out of your regular routine can leave your body feeling a little run down. But it doesn't have to be this way. Head out for your summer adventures. Worry free with AG1 every morning. Just mix one scoop with 8 ounces of water and you're good to go. AG1 is a daily health drink with a multivitamin, pre and probiotic, superfoods and antioxidants. The easy delivery system means you'll get high quality nutritional support every day no matter when or where you start your morning. AG1 helps to maintain energy, support gut health, and to support immune health. The next gen formula delivers 75 plus ingredients clinically shown to support gut health, fill common nutrient gaps and improve key nutrient levels within three months. Love AG1. It's great to have just part of your routine in the morning. You start the day you have AG1. Make sure you get your nutrition and then you don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. Like, you know, like you would take a vitamin or like, make sure you get, you know, some good stuff, even if you're gonna have like an Egg McMuffin or something. Visit drinkag1.comloveit to get a free AG1 travel case with seven free AG1 travel packs in your welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription order while supplies last. That's drinkag1.comloveit and we'. You know my next guest from coming of age movies, but you're about to know him from coming to the stage right now. Please welcome Anthony Michael Hall. Good to see you. Thanks for being here. Yeah, that's great. Nice to meet you.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Thank you as well.

[Jon Lovett]

You know, we were talking about. About you. That's what you have to do to get ready for a show. It wasn't weird or anything, but that you managed to transition from nerd to jock. Any tips?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Just eat good. Eat good and, I don't know, no tips. It just took a while, you know, I went from being too young in the industry to now I'm a guy in his 50s, you know, so it's interesting. It's been a long run. No tips, really? No, I don't really have any tips.

[Jon Lovett]

What was that period like when you were like. No, like, you're no longer young, but they're not seeing you as an adult. You know, there's. There's a kind of a trope of like, for, like Disney stars. They do something super sexy to prove that they're. That they're like. That's like the Hollywood thing. Like, they, like, have to do their sexy. Or they could be that, but like something that's like. Like I'm no longer Disney.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Prior trope.

[Jon Lovett]

Prior trope. Like, it's. I'm no longer Disney. All right. I'm an adult now. I've made the switch. But what was it like for you?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Honestly, just decade by decade, it's always been a challenge, you know, I chose a business that gives you no guarantees, of course, as we know. Right. So I've just had to scrap at it decade by decade, you know, so in the 80s, I was a teenager, you know, my 20s. It was more challenging, I think, to get work and then you just keep going. You know, you have to have a thick skin in the industry for sure. So I'm just grateful for the journey. You know, I've had a long career and I enjoy the work that I do, but yet, truly, it comes with no guarantees. So you got to really want it and just kind of keep scraping away at it.

[Jon Lovett]

Was there ever a moment? Because a lot of people don't, don't keep at it. They say, they, they give, they, they say, I've had enough.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Did you ever have a moment where you're like, you know what, I'm gonna become a lawyer, or you know what, I'm going into market, whatever.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Not where I made that decision. But certainly that self doubt can creep in for any of us in any industry. Absolutely. So that's part of what you battle, I think, you know, but I think at a certain point you just have to decide to become unstoppable. So that's how I felt for myself, because again, with no guarantees, there's no company to fall back on. There's no team, there's no, you know, so showbiz is interesting in that regard, but I'm just grateful and I thank God I've had a creative life and have been able to, you know, persist and keep going. So I think it really requires a

[Jon Lovett]

certain tenacity, though, for sure, but to consider yourself unstoppable. It was such a nice sort of like, kind of.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Well, because you deal with so much rejection, I think, in a lot of different aspects of the industry that are tough to deal with. And a lot of that, you know, sends people packing. I think a lot of times, you know, to deal with that sort of. To outlast uncertainty to some degree, I think is important.

[Jon Lovett]

Did anybody ever tell you to stop? Did anyone ever say, like, that's enough. Anthony Michael hall, you gave it a good run.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Like your work, give it up.

[Jon Lovett]

You gave it a good run, but it's over for you.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no. Maybe they could have helped me. No, no, no. I just, you know, I just, I love what I do and I've learned to, you know, I appreciate the work and at the same time, it doesn't define me who I am. I'm still, I'm a person outside of all the work that I've done.

[Jon Lovett]

I don't agree.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah, it's okay.

[Jon Lovett]

So you're on nature.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

How did you start writing speeches in Washington? That's what I want to know.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh, boy.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Is that a long story?

[Jon Lovett]

No. Well, I was trying to be a comedian. Were you? And that's something where, boy, a lot of people have told me to stop and yet I won't. But. No, but I was right. I was doing standup. I was thinking about being a lawyer. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I ended up interning on the Kerry campaign in 2004. And there had been several hurricanes that year, and they needed somebody to write statements about the hurricanes, like, our thoughts go to the people of Louisiana. And so I did those, and that led to a job. And then I ended up writing some jokes for Hillary Clinton when I was in D.C. for a roast of Barbara Walters.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Interesting.

[Jon Lovett]

And that was the thing that kind of got me in the door to start writing speeches. I ended up becoming hired as a very junior speechwriter. And then I was off to the races. I was off to the races.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Very cool.

[Jon Lovett]

Now you're on. I'm trying to think of a transition, but Speaking of Washington, D.C. you're on Nation's Dumbest on Fox, in which celebrities compete in a series of challenges and try to be eliminated first.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Like I said, show business can be rough at times. You know what, to be honest with you, John, this really took me by surprise. I'm a happily married guy. I've been married for five years. And as we know, at home, you gotta have more than one tv. So I'm not someone who loves reality shows. My wife loves a lot of the dating shows and a lot of reality space stuff. So this was really kind of funny for me when I first heard about it. I was. I was like, wait a minute. I don't know if this is me. But I started hearing about the people that are involved, and I just really embraced it. I just kind of reframed my thinking and went up to Toronto and shot this a couple months ago. And I had a great experience with all these people. I really did. You know, it was really fun. It was an interesting cross section of people. We all got along great, and it was really fun and goofy and Fox paid me a boatload of money.

[Jon Lovett]

But anyway, nice. Yeah, I didn't get that much for being on Survivor, to be honest, so. But I wasn't there very long, so, yeah, the day rate was not great given how much time I spent getting ready to go and then being stuck there because I got out so soon. We can call Seg.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

They're nearby. Somewhere at home.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Okay.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I don't. I think that they wouldn't help me now. Did you have a mindset like it has to be strange to all of a sudden find yourself on a reality show? You're very comfortable in front of cameras, but you're traditionally a character and it gets edited after is a little bit more. No, it was.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

It was awkward because typically have to prepare something and Have a role, you know, and I have work to be done before I get to the set. And this was just like, come as you are, you know, and it was really kind of funny getting to the set. And there was about, literally an army of cameramen. There was about 25 to 30 people and the cameras in the hallway and the whole thing. But honestly, it was very well produced and thought out. It was a show that was, I guess, a hit in Norway and some other countries in Europe. So it's sort of a proven model and we had a great time with it. You know, there were about four challenges per day. Everything from, you know, trivia to math, science, all kinds of stuff, some physical stuff. It was really a lot of fun. So I really enjoyed all the people and that. That was a real nice surprise for me. I didn't expect to.

[Jon Lovett]

And you were saying as much fun as I did. And you were saying backstage that you were bullied by Jojo Siwa, but that Ice Tea and Carmen Electra and Andrew Yang came to your defense.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Very funny. No, you know, it's like the things that you learn about someone. Like Ice T, for example. Right. You know, at some point he shared some stuff with us, which is amazing. You know, he's like, you know, I never did a drink or a drug in my life, but I was robbing jewelry stores since the 80s, you know, so. And then he was also an army Ranger, you know, interesting things you could learn about someone. So. And you know, Dr. Drew, I'd been on one of his shows in years past. Steve O. Is a great guy. Had a lot of fun with Steve O. All these people were great. And there were surprises from everyone. You know, everybody surprised me with their sense of humor and knowledge. You know, it was a lot of fun. It was really cool.

[Jon Lovett]

What's the dumbest thing you did this week?

[Daveed Diggs]

Week?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Agreeing to the show. No, I'm kidding. No, the dumbest thing I did this week. What was it? Let me see.

[Jon Lovett]

I put my Swiffer pads in the fridge.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Really? Well, I have a three year old, so we're just kind of exiting the. The potty training thing. We're just trying to get into potty training now. It's tough. It's tough. I've been changing diapers for three years straight. I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted.

[Jon Lovett]

What's it like having a three year old right now?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Oh, he's kicking my ass. It's a lot. It's a lot of work.

[Jon Lovett]

It's incredible because, I mean, you're, you know, look, you're in your 50s, you're a little old. You're an older dad. I mean, if I become a dad, I'll be an older dad. I know that. I'm thinking about that life cardio is

[Anthony Michael Hall]

what I'm, is what I'm getting out of it.

[Jon Lovett]

Because like when we were getting ready for the show, I like bent down in front of the desk to talk to, to Sarah and Ramen about a joke and then I realized I was just stuck down there.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Very nice.

[Jon Lovett]

Because I, because I, because I occasionally get my body into the position of someone in their 20s. But getting up, I'm in my 40s. You can sit like you're in your 20s, but I get up in my 40s.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I agree.

[Jon Lovett]

So what's it like getting down to pick up a 3 year old? How's that back doing a lot of work. You got to do. Gotta get core, Gotta get some core going. Definitely part of the fitness thing we were talking about, about being a jock. Good thing you're not a nerd anymore. You might have some problems. You're a jock dad. A jock dad in his 50s. That's it.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

That's it. But it's a lot of fun. I mean, my kid is great, you know, he's all goo goo and gaga over mom and then he just comes over and promptly like swift kicks me in the, in the nuts or you know, drop kicks me in the shins. It's a lot, it's fun. It's a great time. Honestly, I'm loving being a parent.

[Jon Lovett]

Speaking of Combat, you're on SWAT transitions for 800 now on SWAT, you play a badass on Nation's Dumbest. You ever thought about, you know, throwing Jack Whitehall, the host into a paddy wagon or something? Really kind of like make, you know, you know, really kind of like be a crossover up or something.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Hey, you know, I had a lot of fun with Jack. I, you know, there was a lot of people that I didn't know much about them. Like JoJo for example. I'd heard about her for years. I knew she kind of grew up in the reality space. Jack turns out as an actor on top of being a stand up comic. I had seen his series that he did on Netflix with his father, which is a lot of fun. But he was really cool too. He was really invested in the show too. You know, he was really kind of going through the motions with us and he was really in there in the trenches. It was a fun shoot. It was. Honestly, we did it in 12 days and each day represented like one episode and there were like four challenges each episode. It was a lot of fun.

[Jon Lovett]

Now, Anthony Michael hall, you've been in this industry a very long time. You've been bopping around LA since you were butta boy. We have to imagine, you know, a lot, all the ins and outs of this town. And so we wanna know them too. Which is why we're gonna pick your brain for a best of the Best, Best in a rapid Fire segment we're calling Anthony Michael hall of Fame.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

All right,

[Jon Lovett]

first up, where do I get the best sandwich in Los Angeles?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I go to a place called New York Pizzeria in the Marina. Pizza place. And I. I get a nice sub over there. It's not so healthy, but I don't

[Jon Lovett]

know, whatever to the advice. Oh, man, there's a lot of great sandwiches in LA. LA's a great sandwich town.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Is.

[Jon Lovett]

It's becoming a great sandwich town.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

What's your favorite?

[Jon Lovett]

Is great. I love that. I love the sandwiches there. Uncle Paulie's Deli. Those are great. A lot of great sandwich options. Who is the best director you've ever worked with?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I've worked with some good ones. Christopher Nolan. I had a small part, the Dark Knight, years ago. He's pretty good. He's pretty good, that Nolan.

[Jon Lovett]

He's pretty good. Christopher Nolan.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

He is. He's pretty good.

[Jon Lovett]

Boy, he's good.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

When I worked with David Gordon Green, I did a film, Halloween Kills, a couple years back. He was great. He was a lot of fun.

[Jon Lovett]

That was Jamie Lee Curtis.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah. She was great to work with, but David Gordon Green reminded me actually a lot of John Hughes. Very loose and very easygoing, very collaborative. Fun guy to work with. Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Who's the best actor to be stuck with for a long day in which you don't have much to do? Who'd you have a good hang with over the years?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Well, down years ago, we worked on a bunch of stuff together, but it's been a long time since I worked with Robert. He's a lot of fun. Yeah, that's it.

[Jon Lovett]

He went through. He went through a phase where he was too much fun and now he's the right. And then the right amount of fun.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Right.

[Jon Lovett]

You know?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Right, right, right.

[Jon Lovett]

That's part of it too.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

What's your favorite back is Dr. Doom, I guess. Yeah, yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Dr. Doom. Dr. Doom. What's the best movie theater in Los Angeles?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I'd say the Cinerama Dome. I think it's coming back.

[Jon Lovett]

Coming back, Coming back. How exciting is that? Yes. What's your favorite movie theater snack.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I'm a popcorn guy. Even if I've eaten lunch, gotta have some popcorn.

[Jon Lovett]

Gotta have some popcorn. I'm not gonna run it. Popcorn. I'm getting popcorn every goddamn time.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

You know what I'm doing? I'm buying a Reese's Pieces. I'm throwing them on top.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Not you go there.

[Jon Lovett]

Just put them in.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Nice.

[Jon Lovett]

Shake it up.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

There it is.

[Jon Lovett]

Shake it up. What's the best restaurant for a power lunch? An old school power lunch.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Power lunch.

[Jon Lovett]

I never have power lunch. I ate a. I ate a slop bowl at my desk.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah. Nice. I don't have too many power lunches, but I've had some interesting, you know, sort of business lunches. The grill Classic.

[Jon Lovett]

The classic Beverly Hills.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Wow. You at the grill. And a power lunch.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

That's so cool. See Anthony Michael Holland, Nation's Dumbest on Fox, Hulu, or Disney. You can also watch. Watch Swat Exiles this September on Starz.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

When we come back, we have a golden egg.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Okay, let's do it.

[Jon Lovett]

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love it or Leave it coming up. And we're back. Please welcome back to the stage Daveed Diggs. Come on back to the side. We already saw.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

We're back.

[Daveed Diggs]

We're back.

[Jon Lovett]

Come on through. All right, great. All right, thank you for joining us. Once again, it's time for the egg of truth.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

The egg of Truth.

[Jon Lovett]

It's too long. Too long. A sting still going. Fuck. Here's how it works. We have a collection of conversation starters, dinner party, cocktail conversation starters that we've made up. And we're just gonna ask them. And we have to answer them honestly because it is the egg of truth. First up, when you feel a pain in your elbow, where is that pain? Is the pain in your elbow in your brain or does it not have a location?

[Daveed Diggs]

I actually, I was at the doctor today. Cause I'm a hypochondriac and the. And I was complaining about elbow pain. Yeah, mine was like on the inside, but it would sometimes rotate to the outside. Anyway, my doctor definitely told me it was in my brain. Like most of us.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

That would have been my guess, too.

[Jon Lovett]

You think the brain. You think the brain, but it's not. Because it's in our elbows. Yeah. But then it's also in our brains. So maybe it's nowhere.

[Daveed Diggs]

The shit hurts.

[Jon Lovett]

Right. But where is the hurt? Where is the hurt?

[Daveed Diggs]

It's society.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. Next question. Would you rather lose your sense of smell or have a Sense of smell so powerful that you're basically in a perpetual smell prison.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I'd rather lose my sense of smell, I think.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, I think that's probably right. I think. Agree with that. It would be bad. It would be bad, but it's. It's the absence of something versus the presence of something.

[Daveed Diggs]

I know, but do you. When you do, you also lose taste, right? You lose a whole bunch of taste when you can't smell things.

[Jon Lovett]

That's.

[Daveed Diggs]

I don't know. Maybe I'm taking smell prisoners and.

[Jon Lovett]

Wow.

[Daveed Diggs]

I don't know. I should ask my dog about it, right? That's how they live, isn't it?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Yeah.

[Daveed Diggs]

He seems all right with it.

[Jon Lovett]

Right, right. But they are a bit confused sometimes. Cause they're like, I smell a neighbor, you know?

[Daveed Diggs]

Right. He also eats poop, so.

[Jon Lovett]

Right, right. That's an important part of it as well. I was once on an airplane, and it smelled really bad. And so I put. Put earplugs in my nose, and then I sucked up one of the earplugs into my sinus cavity. And then I thought I was gonna have to tell them to land the plane, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. And so I went into the bathroom of the plane, and I, with every fiber of my being, did a kind of like a. Like holding one side, like, jumping up in the air and falling and screaming out of my nose as hard as I possibly could. And it flew out of my nose and hit the mirror and fell down. And if you could bottle the relief, you could be a billionaire. Because that was the greatest fucking feeling in my life. Because I went from I need to tell the pilots to land to nothing's happening. It was terrible. I knew people on the plane, too. It would have been horrible. I was in agony. We were still taxiing. That's something that happened to me once. Anthony Michael hall, that I did to myself. What do you do to go back to sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night?

[Daveed Diggs]

I've started. I've started listening to podcasts.

[Jon Lovett]

Really?

[Daveed Diggs]

Yeah. Not this one.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. Well, this is too exciting. That's a compliment. Because you're not trying to fall asleep when you listen to.

[Daveed Diggs]

You're being entertained.

[Jon Lovett]

You're laughing too hard. Getting adrenaline from all the jokes.

[Daveed Diggs]

I listen to podcasts that I do really like, but that are, like. I listen to, like, sports podcasts that tend to use a lot of numbers, you know, that seems to do it for me. Yeah, I like it. I'm paying. But it also puts Me right out.

[Jon Lovett]

I used to do C span for that. I would put on C span and just have the droning of the floor noise. And that helped me fall asleep just to quiet the demons. Anthony Michael Hall.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I actually turn on like ocean wave sounds from my son and my wife and my son is sleeping with us for the last few months. So that helps when I'm up.

[Jon Lovett]

Put it back on. That's good. One thing I saw on TikTok that I've been stealing and doing is is trying to get my brain in asleep mode by saying random words, by using the first letter and the last letter. So you'd be like abacus September, Rhododendron. November, two months. I fucked it up already.

[Daveed Diggs]

That works for you, though.

[Jon Lovett]

I think so.

[Daveed Diggs]

I feel like that's just how I write my next song. Probably I'm up forever once I start that game.

[Jon Lovett]

Final question. Do you eat food off the ground? Of course.

[Daveed Diggs]

I have a toddler. What do you mean, three foot off the ground?

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I think I'm in my own kitchen occasionally. Yeah, if something falls, we'll see. Yeah, I think in my own kitchen.

[Daveed Diggs]

I just don't know how. I would know.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Just make it better.

[Jon Lovett]

That's a good rule.

[Daveed Diggs]

He is constantly giving me the end of something, the crust of something that he doesn't want. And I'm just at the point where I'm just eating it, whatever it is, because there's so much just want waste. But how would I know? He drops shit all the time and picks it back up and starts eating like. I don't know. I didn't even think about it until you asked that question.

[Jon Lovett]

A kid will pick a penny up off the ground and put in their mouths. Yeah, I eat off the ground. Not a bit, but not outside. And not if either the ground or the food is wet. Oh, and we'll be right back. And we're back. And we've now arrived at the end of the show, which means it's time for second thoughts. Here's how it works. We've all been laughing it up, but my producers have been keeping a meticulous list of everything they wish I hadn't said or done during tonight's recording. Occasionally, and it clearly hasn't happened today, I can also receive a rare kudos. None today, none today. So that's sad for me. And I welcome anything that you might regret from tonight's show that you want to express. Fauci isn't Jewish, but to be clear, we'd be happy to have him. I got Mad at the audience for not laughing at a joke about Trump not going down on women, which does force you to picture Trump going down on a woman. Which means you guys were right.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

Right.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh. One regret that they think I should have about my conversation with you, David, is my question was about your Tiny Desk concert. Why'd you do that?

[Daveed Diggs]

That seems appropriate.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

No.

[Jon Lovett]

And so I probably could have come up with a better question.

[Daveed Diggs]

No, no, no. I liked it.

[Jon Lovett]

I didn't ask Anthony Michael hall if he liked my Pretty in Pink joke.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I wasn't in that film, but I didn't take offense either. It's Sixteen Candles. It was kind of like the second

[Jon Lovett]

coming of I'll tell you what happened.

[Anthony Michael Hall]

But you do look pretty in pink.

[Jon Lovett]

Thank you for saying that. I have a new regret. Here's what happened five minutes before the show. We deleted the joke there. Cause it wasn't working. And we were like. We just. It was like an off the cuff, like, Pretty in Pink. John Hughes. Get it in there. I did also admit to inhaling an airplane earplug through my nose into my sinus cavity and then having to force it out in the airplane restroom.

[Daveed Diggs]

I'm gonna be laughing about that story for a long time. So I think.

[Jon Lovett]

Any regrets? Anthony Michael Hall. Other than not asking more questions about what this was,

[Anthony Michael Hall]

I'll take the 5th and leave it there. I'm good.

[Jon Lovett]

And that's our show. Thank you so much to David Diggs and Anthony Michael hall. They are 95 days until the midterms. Have a great night and have a great weekend. Love it or leave it is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Kendra James, Bill McGrath, Kelsey Gante, and me, John Lovett. Our production team includes Hallie Kiefer, Sarah Lazarus, Rahman Borsalino, Peter Miller, David Toles, Claudia Shang, Jay Banks, Gavin Purcell, and Matt De Gro. And our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.