Once We Had Bad Haircuts | Episode 25

Summary

Once We Were Spacemen — Episode 25: "Once We Had Bad Haircuts"

Hosts: Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk
Release Date: April 29, 2026

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Brief Overview

In this lively, deeply humorous episode, Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk reflect on the concept of change—from moving cities, celebrity encounters, outrageous haircuts, and personal rituals to philosophical musings on immortality and past lives. Through storytelling and rapid-fire personal questions, the duo showcases their camaraderie, wit, and genuine friendship. Listeners are treated to behind-the-scenes anecdotes from their Hollywood experiences, tales of youthful misadventure, and nostalgic dives into music, personal grooming, and family.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Alan's Chaotic Move & Nostalgia

[02:07–04:55]

• Alan discusses the current upheaval in his life due to moving, packing, and saying goodbye to his house and beloved city.
• Shares process of self-packing: “People have told me … do not get a moving company to pack your things for you because they will … break your shit. … We can say, this goes to this room and this goes to that room...” (Alan, 02:36)
• Notes the urgency from buyers and nostalgia for LA, referencing the iconic Angelyne billboard: “Everything’s nostalgic, everything’s like … has been cast in this awe.” (Alan, 03:49)

2. Podcasting Convenience & Technical Woes

[05:14–06:22]

• Nathan recounts a series of misadventures and delays due to Alan’s move and unreliable internet.
• Alan jokes about the “doozy of a day,” adding to the sense of comic chaos.

3. Color Preferences & Red Carpet Musings

[06:53–08:10]

• Alan would wear navy blue forever; Nathan prefers green, referencing recently matching ensembles at a Superman premiere.
• Musings on life choices, fate, and friendship:
  “So much about every choice you had to have made in your life to end up exactly where you are right now ... and then we end up on the same red carpet…” (Nathan, 07:35–08:05)

4. Hollywood & Red Carpet Mishaps

[08:08–12:18]

• Alan tells of being unprepared and “stoned” at the Slither premiere, thanks to Nathan downplaying the event:
  “…I smoked some marijuana ... and then we walked a block ... oh my God, there’s a red carpet. I don’t want to go on a red carpet ... I was just wearing, like, a leather jacket. … I look like I’m a little uncomfortable because I feel like I’ve just done something illegal.” (Alan, 09:20–10:43)
• Both reflect on the unpredictability of Hollywood events and on James Gunn’s humor.

5. Weirdest Celebrity Encounters

[13:06–22:17]

• Alan’s surreal Midsummer Night’s Dream reading with Tom Hanks, Martin Short, William Shatner, and others.
  • Memorable Martin Short moment:
    “He had a full bodysuit that was nude colored, and it’s got nipples painted on it and a penis and balls … That’s what he has in his closet.” (Alan, 16:13–17:15)
  • Martin Short, after losing his dog:
    “He was so sick, the worms in his shit had type 2 diabetes.” (Martin Short via Alan, 17:40)
  • Alan describes being “dry humping a national treasure” (Tom Hanks) on stage. (17:59)
• Nathan recounts an odd, intimidating early-career moment with Christopher Walken:
  “I looked up and there was Chris Walken ... just stared. I was caught off guard ... he opens his hand towards me ... but doesn’t say anything … I said, I’m Nathan. He said, Chris, nice to meet you.” (Nathan, 20:07–21:49)

6. Worst Haircut Memories

[22:28–29:44]

• Alan describes his “spike” haircut from middle school, acquired at Super Cuts—includes tales of painful ear nicks.
• Nathan reminisces about his “majestic” high school mullet with “a bit of a curl to it … like a lion’s mane,” and other haircut experiments including shaving the sides/topknot look for “One Life to Live.”
• Alan’s worst haircut: cutting off all but his bangs—earned the cruel nickname “Quail.”
  “I ended up cutting it off soon after the name arrived.” (Alan, 29:01)
• Self-grooming mishaps galore; new wave and 80s style mishaps.

7. Music Tastes, Karaoke & Concert Stories

[29:48–40:18]

• Nathan and Alan discuss what draws them to music: catchy tunes, clever lyrics, moods, and memorable hooks.
• Nathan admits, due to partial deafness, he struggles to “pull the words out of the music.”
• Alan discusses his affection for “white rappers” with some self-deprecating humor.
• Favorite karaoke choices revealed:
  • Alan: “Are You Lonesome Tonight” (Elvis, improvising during the talk break)
  • Nathan: “Beyond the Sea” (Bobby Darin) and crowd favorite “Sweet Caroline” (Neil Diamond):
    “There’s really only one choice. Incredible crowd pleaser … By the time you get to that chorus, everybody’s with you.” (Nathan, 35:00)
• Best concerts:
  • Alan: Pearl Jam (“Eddie Vedder ... throwing carrots ... climbing up the proscenium ... sounded exactly like the album.”) (36:41–37:36)
  • Nathan: Martin Sexton at the Troubadour, an intimate, communal concert experience.

8. Favorite Scents

[40:19–44:10]

• Alan: the smell of the woods, earth, and moments timestamped by old perfume/cologne scents.
• Nathan: sunscreen (“reminds me of being on vacation”), gas and lake water scent (“probably going to be water skiing or wakeboarding”), and even the hot tar smell of NYC streets (“reminds me of some of my best times in New York City”). (Nathan, 42:25–43:43)

9. Random Life Questions

[45:03–48:36]

• Do you wash your legs in the shower? Both say yes, discuss personal hygiene oddities.
• Do you sing (or talk) in the shower? Alan “natters” and pep-talks himself out loud during stressful times; Nathan listens to comedy monologues or the news.

10. Immortality, Reincarnation, and Life Wisdom

[49:01–53:41]

• Would you want to be immortal? Alan declines; Nathan is tempted out of curiosity for the future.
• Alan discusses belief in reincarnation:
  “You reincarnate with the people … stay in the same group … we would have hung out before in a different lifetime, but we would have been sisters. Or I was your father that you shot after you cheated in a card game. …”
• Nathan shares the observation: “Whenever I hear someone say we’re like sisters, I start a little countdown … until they’re mortal enemies.” (Nathan, 52:43)

11. Friendship Dynamics & Family Anecdotes

[54:01–71:43]

• Reflections on how the podcast has helped them reconnect:
  “I see you more now than I have in a couple of years.” (Nathan, 57:10)
• Alan tells a wild college discipline story involving mud, dancing on cafeteria tables, and narrowly avoiding expulsion through a mock-legal performance—all secretly recorded for posterity. (57:55–64:49)
• Nathan’s lean years: extracting leftover gas from hoses at closed stations to fuel his scooter.
• Nathan shares a saga of family integrity and delayed revenge: his father’s righteous payback over a sand-related scam—“that’s for the sand.”

12. Moving On & End of the LA Era

[54:50–56:51]

• Alan, prepping for his move to New York, reflects on the “Hotel California” pull of LA and the unpredictability, e.g., broken cars and the city’s “beast.”
• Nathan appreciates Alan’s home and growth in his dog Raisin:
  • “What a beautiful home you have. … Your first dog, Raisin, … has come a very long way.”

13. Animal Antics

• Alan discusses his dog Maximus and Aunt Clara’s dominance games—with surprising frankness and comedy.

14. Getting To Know You — Host Exchanges

[57:25–71:43]

• Alan’s “almost-expelled” college story (above).
• Nathan’s creative problem-solving securing gas as a broke teen.
• A story about Nathan’s dad teaching a lesson about accountability and revenge.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On humping Tom Hanks:
  “So I was dry humping America's sweetheart, Tom Hanks. ... I was humping a national treasure.” (Alan, 00:00; 17:59)
• On fate and friendship:
  “I think so much about every choice you had to have made in your life to end up exactly where you are right now ... and all the experiences ... and then we end up on the same red carpet for the Superman movie.” (Nathan, 07:35–08:05)
• On haircuts:
  “My mullet was majestic, like a lion’s mane ... I could tie it in a knot under my chin ... it went part way down my back.” (Nathan, 25:00–26:03)
• On music as time-travel:
  “There’s … a smell that just launches me back … to that time where it’s all possibility and promise and hope and fear and joy.” (Alan, 41:03–41:38)
• On past lives:
  “You reincarnate with the people … stay in the same group … we would have hung out before in a different lifetime, but we would have been sisters. Or I was your father that you shot after you cheated in a card game.” (Alan, 51:29–51:39)
• On being “like sisters”:
  “Whenever I hear someone say ‘we’re like sisters’, I start a little countdown … until they’re mortal enemies.” (Nathan, 52:43)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:07] – Alan’s moving woes and LA nostalgia
• [06:53] – Favorite colors and fashion at the Superman premiere
• [08:40] – Red carpet panic: Alan’s “stoned” Slither premiere story
• [13:06] – Surreal celebrity moments: Tom Hanks, Martin Short, and dry humping a national treasure
• [22:28] – Worst haircuts and 80s hair horror stories
• [29:48] – Music talk: tastes, karaoke, best concerts
• [40:24] – Favorite smells—nature, sunscreen, city tar
• [45:11] – Shower debates: washing legs and singing
• [49:01] – Immortality, reincarnation, and soul groups
• [54:50] – Alan’s reflections on leaving LA
• [57:25 & 63:41] – Alan’s college prank & covert tape recording
• [67:13] – Nathan’s gas hose trick and family stories
• [71:43] – Podcast wrap-up and friendship cemented: “You got brothered!”

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, witty, improvisational
• Full of in-jokes, vulnerable admissions, and affectionate ribbing
• Deeply anecdotal—much of the episode is told through funny, revealing stories
• A sense of two old friends catching up and letting the audience listen in

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Useful for Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This episode is both a love letter to old friendships and a celebration of personal growth and change. Whether it’s Alan narrowly escaping college expulsion, Nathan reliving his mullet days, or their shared awe at meeting icons like Hanks or Walken, the episode is packed with laughs, nostalgia, and warmth. For Firefly fans, Hollywood hopefuls, or anyone who’s survived a bad haircut or awkward moment, this one’s a classic.

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End of summary.

Transcript

[Alan Tudyk]

Tom Hanks was very nice, and I had to hump him on stage. It was very strange, like he was dead. And I was. I was playing Thisbe in that moment, and he was bottom and he was face down. The director told me, you need to ride him as you're killing yourself and, like you're humping him and get. Get the humping going. Get the audience laughing. So I was dry humping America's sweetheart, Tom Hank. Is he sweetheart? That's wrong. He's a. He's a. He's.

[Nathan Fillion]

He's.

[Alan Tudyk]

He's one of our national treasures. I was humping a national treasure.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. We were both wearing jeans Once We Were spacemen. Spacemen. I tend to play weird people, usually aliens and robots and things that don't have romance.

[Nathan Fillion]

I once didn't get a job where they were looking for a Nathan Fillion type. Once we were spared spacemen.

[Alan Tudyk]

Once we were spacemen.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, is it time?

[Nathan Fillion]

We're waiting on you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Once We Were Spacemen. Because there was a time where we were not spacemen, and then we were spacemen, and now we are forever spacemen. We could have just called it With Spacemen, but that would not have been as good as Once We Were Space with name filling. Thank you. Wow.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, that ended big.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. It was a little mini stroke at the end, so I sort of garbled. I don't know if I was enunciating as much as I usually do.

[Nathan Fillion]

That sounded like the last breath.

[Alan Tudyk]

I've got more. Thank goodness.

[Nathan Fillion]

I've got a death rattle of sorts.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. Oh, my death rattle. It's gonna. It's really gonna. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be like a. A cha cha. Is that a cha cha. I have to check with my wife. I'm gonna guess. No.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan, I, I.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

I feel safe to say that you have had a doozy of a day.

[Alan Tudyk]

Mother of God. Well, I'm. I'm, as you know, Nathan, and as I've mentioned here to all of. To anyone who's listened to more of these than the one that they found here. I've been in the process of moving, and now that Runway is. Is coming to an end, and this little birdie's got to take off. And now do you have airspeed at

[Nathan Fillion]

this point, or are you throwing out everything that isn't bolted down so you can get into the air?

[Alan Tudyk]

It's more of that right now. It's that. And, and I still have stuff to put on the plane and I'm like throwing things out but I still have to pack. I'm. People have told me who have moved recently, oh, whatever you do, do not get a moving company to pack your things for you because they will do a terrible job and they'll break your shit. So I Cor and I were like, oh, this is smart. Let's pack our things so that we know where everything is. And she's very good at organizing and has every box labeled. And we, since we know where we're moving to, we can say this goes to this room and this goes to that room so that when it arrives they can. There's stairs involved. We won't. They'll take them straight to that room. We don't have to move the things ourselves. So it's, it's a very labor intensive process. And the people who bought our house were like, listen, we like it, we want it. Get out. And we said, whoa, whoa, we gotta live in here for a while. We gotta. It's gonna take us a little minute. And they said, how about now? And we said we're leaving whenever you want. And so they set a that time. We got to get out fast. And so pack your own stuff. And then I've got other things. Leaving a city that I moved here with Firefly. So I mean I'll be back, but I have that. Everything's nostalgic is everything's like has a. Has a. Has been cast in like this awe. I, I saw, I saw a poster of Angeline. You know, I hadn't seen one in a while. I was. Had been running errands to get stuff done and there was a poster right there on the side of a building and there was Angeline and a huge sort of side of the building billboard. Pink bikini, massive augmented breasts, blonde wig, black eyeliner. Probably nothing close to her actual, you know, it's just sort of the classic Angeline look. And I just said I've had a little pang. Ah, I had to give her goodbye, you crazy confused lady. Whatever. She might be not unconfused. That might be the best version of her life. It seems strange from the outside, but you know, she's been here since I've been in Hollywood.

[Nathan Fillion]

Now we were going to record one of these, two of these, one of these yesterday, but there was a little confusion with your scheduling so then we pushed it to later in the afternoon. And then we. You were still not ready, but you sent us a photo of where you were. And then we said, we will, we're Pushed to tomorrow morning.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

And then you text in the morning and Internet's out in your neighborhood.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

And so we said, well, come to my place, so. Not right now. You're down the hall from me.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes. Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

Might be one of the last times we have this kind of a convenience where we can do this when your Internet's out.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, man, but.

[Nathan Fillion]

But you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Internet's never out in New York, Nathan. It's never.

[Nathan Fillion]

You were looking at the wrong clock. You were looking at the clock in your car, which hasn't automatically updated with daylight savings.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, because it's a rental. Because I. Because your car, I cannot drive. Yeah. I'm just. It's not. Things are just not working in my favor. They're just. It's just. I mean, although I have a feeling like when things don't feel like they're working your favor, it's best, I find, to think, you know what. Because you don't know, maybe they are working in the best favor. Like you, you didn't die. Like, had you been on time, there would have been a accident. You. You don't know. So I'm still here. I'm alive. But, yeah, things have not been going. And the Internet's still out. They woke up this morning, they're like, hey, I got a text that says, Internet's up till two, Alan.

[Nathan Fillion]

Like I said, a doozy of a day.

[Alan Tudyk]

A doozy of a day, man. I got damn college kids. Hot damn college kids.

[Nathan Fillion]

Let's take a. Let's take a. Take a minute. Take a nice deep breath. Shake off that day. We have you here now. And, and there was something. Are you crying?

[Alan Tudyk]

No, that was just. There it is. That was a good. It was just grabbing my breath. My exhale was grabbing.

[Nathan Fillion]

Well, now that I have you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

Now that we, as an audience, have you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

There was something I was wondering, Alan, if you could only wear one color for the rest of your life, what color would it be?

[Alan Tudyk]

Blue. Really? It would be a, Like a navy blue. Yeah, I, I tend to wear navy blue most all. Most like when most of my suits are blues. I, I, I borrow from blue as a Pisces Nathan. I like the water colors and sometimes a nice green lake or, you know. Yeah. I have a green tux. It's very nice.

[Nathan Fillion]

I have a. I have a green suit. I wore it to the Superman premiere. I wore all green. My whole team wore green at the Superman premiere. You were there.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, I was there. I saw it. Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

We took photos on the red carpet. That was a treat. Buddy, let me tell you something.

[Alan Tudyk]

I wore blue just. Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

A treat. This is a side thing here to. You know, I think so much about every choice you have made in your life. I think about every choice you had to have made in your life to end up exactly where you are right now. And then every choice I made in my life and all the experiences, I. And to. To have this conflux and go, boop. And then we meet, we're hanging out, and then we end up on the same red carpet for the Superman movie.

[Alan Tudyk]

It's really crazy.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's crazy when I think about that.

[Alan Tudyk]

I.

[Nathan Fillion]

And I'm overjoyed.

[Alan Tudyk]

It is. And it is. I mean, it is. It's kind of how family works. It's kind of like community works. Because I met James Gunn through you over at your house. Yeah. And so I was in his orbit of people that he knew that was around.

[Nathan Fillion]

You've worked with him a number of times.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes. Yeah. You've worked them a lot. And so. And I went to you. You invited me to your not premiere for Slither, which was such a. You're like, it's not a premiere. It's just a showing. It's just. It's just a little showing. Just.

[Nathan Fillion]

Come on.

[Alan Tudyk]

It's just a little showing and I'm going to share a little something. This is a personal thing. I was. This is. This is an overshare, but I'm going to do it anyway.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alley effects.

[Alan Tudyk]

My overshare is I showed up with a friend of yours. And this is a long time ago. So this is back. Back when I was crazy. And we parked down the street. It was at that cool, like the Vista Theater, I think over off of where Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset kind of become one. So I show up with our other friend and it's just. We're just coming to see this showing, which there are those in Hollywood.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's how I presented. I told you it was just.

[Alan Tudyk]

Just a screening. Which there are those in Hollywood. You can go to these screenings and you're like, it's a small movie. It's a screening. And. And sometimes they're in studios and they're just in rooms and they're like these nice little movie. You know, like what. People have these media rooms in their house. They're like basically glorified those that you'll see a screening in those. And so I'm thinking sort of like that it's gonna be friends and I smoke marijuana. That's right. Back then it was illegal to do. We parked the Car. I smoked some marijuana and then we walked a block and I turned as I could as the theater came into view. I was like, oh, my God, there's a red carpet. I don't want to go on a red carpet. You think they're going to take my picture? I can't talk to anybody. I'm not talking to anybody. And I got to the red carpet and the press person said, helen, do you mind having your picture taken? I was like, okay, I'll do that much, but I won't talk to anybody. And I'm just wearing, like, a leather jacket. I wasn't dressed like I would to a premiere. I was not. I was. So there are they. This photo does exist for people to see me on a red carpet at Slither. I'm wearing a black leather jacket, and I look like I'm a little uncomfortable because I feel like I've just done something illegal.

[Nathan Fillion]

I. I have no recollection of telling you or re. The reason why I would tell you. It was just a screening rather than a premiere. Why would I. Why would I do that?

[Alan Tudyk]

You were just underplaying it. It was a different you, Nathan, back then. You were just.

[Nathan Fillion]

I feel like I'd want you to be prepared to at least, you know, wear a suit.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. No, no, no, I wore. I. No, I mean, I don't know what you told me. I. I wasn't. I wasn't wearing, you know, a T shirt and shorts, but I was. I was just wearing just a leather jacket. And it was. It took me a while. I. I had to. I saw the theater and walked away and did like a couple of blocks, you know, just to breathe a little bit because we had just gotten high and I don't. Not a good idea. I can't imagine to, like, be under the influence on a carpet.

[Nathan Fillion]

I have no idea why I would have done that. I have no clue.

[Alan Tudyk]

Some people do that. Some people, that is their mode of operation. They're very good at. They. They have marijuana and sort of like their. Their co pilot in life and especially in stressful situations, like maybe a premiere or things like that or interviews. I was never that guy. I. It was a. A purely a recreational situation for me. I could not have attempted anything that required any higher functioning, even answering simple questions like why are you here? Or what do you think about the movie?

[Nathan Fillion]

Or why didn't you wear a suit?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, why are you drooling on yourself, sir?

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, I. Well, I'm going to. I'm going to retroactively apologize.

[Alan Tudyk]

I have no idea why I would do that. It ended up being a hell of a night, and I loved the movie. I don't think it had to do with me being hive since seen it again and again. It was so. It so caught me off guard. The humor was just. It's. It's James Gunn humor. It just. It was hysterical. And you were perfect in that role.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, man.

[Alan Tudyk]

Thanks. Moment where you flip the. You flip the. The board over and it's got, like, an octopus for the. For the guy, for the monster. Like, this is going to be him. It was. It was all very, very funny. There was so much humor in it and Elizabeth Banks and.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. So, Alan, you are, for me, a celebrity encounter, one that's lasted quite, quite a long time through a lovely friendship.

[Alan Tudyk]

So, like, if this was an alien encounter, you've been on my ship for a while.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, exactly.

[Alan Tudyk]

I've had. I've.

[Nathan Fillion]

I've been probing.

[Alan Tudyk]

I've mapped it like the ocean floor.

[Nathan Fillion]

But as. As far as celebrity encounters go, what has been your most bizarre or weird celebrity encounter?

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, I had a weird. I feel like I may have talked about this on the. Talked about this with somebody. This is. This thing, man. I'm turning 55 next week. Stop me if. When I talk about that Shakespeare. That Shakespeare thing I did. Did we have somebody on here who. I was talking to somebody who also did it.

[Nathan Fillion]

I think you spoke about the Shakespeare thing when we did Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner's podcast.

[Alan Tudyk]

Okay.

[Nathan Fillion]

Dropping names.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right? Dropping names. So if you didn't.

[Nathan Fillion]

If.

[Alan Tudyk]

So I can say that here, right?

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. Okay.

[Alan Tudyk]

Because this was a bizarre celebrity encounter. It just felt. It just felt. I was. It was. Again, I was caught off guard. I did a. I was to do a stage reading. Another thing that you do mainly in New York, they tend to be small things. They can be big, big things. But I got the call from my manager at the time saying, hey, remember, you've got that thing coming up this weekend or tomorrow. I was like, what is it? What do I have? It's like you're doing Midsummer Night's Dream for the Los Angeles Shakespeare Company. I think, why would I do this? I was so busy at the time, and I was like, ah, okay. And she said, tom Hanks produces it. I was like, oh. That's why I said, yes, okay.

[Nathan Fillion]

Name drop.

[Alan Tudyk]

And that's all the information she gave me. And I showed up, and Tom Hanks didn't just produce it. He was there and his wife was there, and she was in it, and it was Billy Crystal and it was Martin Short and it was Bill Shatner. Bill Shatner was there.

[Nathan Fillion]

It was.

[Alan Tudyk]

So Cedric the Entertainer, Gillian Jacobs was there. Oh, oh, what's his name from. He may have won an Oscar for. Anyway, lots of people. And I was in a dressing room with Tom Hanks, Martin Short, myself and William Shatner. And it's like a long. Yeah, it's like a long counter with a mirror. And we're all there, like, getting ready before the thing, looking in the mirror, looking around, like, oh, my God. It was.

[Nathan Fillion]

That must have been just surreal.

[Alan Tudyk]

It was surreal. I didn't know. I was beside myself. I wasn't myself. I was, you know, like, where you can't bring yourself to the room because you just. You sort of then become the polite version of you, and you're just being more nice to everybody. And although I stepped on, you know, like, William Shatner, I was like. He said, my back is. I have a little problem with my back. And I said, oh, oh. He said, because when I'm not acting, I'm. And he took his hands. It looked like he had two joysticks in his hands, and he put them right in front of him, sort of parallel to one another, and then shook him. I'm doing this. And I went, you're a fighter pilot. He said, I'm riding horses. Like, oh, sorry. Oh, those are the reins. The horse. No, that's. This.

[Nathan Fillion]

You want this, Bill, that. You want this.

[Alan Tudyk]

You gotta. You gotta do this, you know, Sorry, Shatner, you got your. Your mime. Work needs work. But the funniest part about it, it was very odd to be in that room. I guess that. That is, for me, a weird one. I don't. The best part about it was they were all very nice and that Martin Short had brought a trunk of costumes from his home that he was just pulling from. He's played Puck and he was pulling all these things out, like, oh, I could wear this or I could wear this. And it was stuff like Jackie. Remember that one character he did the. The Albino, who's the Jackie Something Junior. And he. He would. He did it on snl and he had this weird laugh. Anyway, there were costumes I recognized from snl. Then he had a full bodysuit that was nude colored. This man's in his 60s at the time. Nude color bodysuit. And it's got nipples painted on it and a penis and balls. He's like, I'm gonna wear this. And they came from his closet. That's what he has in his closet. And I have a bunch of navy stuff, and he has nude bodysuits. And on my phone, he saw my dog, Aunt Clara, who's a. A cockapoo. He's. Oh, my God, is that a cockapoo? And I said, yeah, yeah, it is. And he said, I just lost my cockapoo. He. He died. And I was like, God, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Uh, he said, thank you. I said, was he sick? And he said, he was so sick, the worms in his shit had type 2 diabetes. And I was so blown away. He just had that right there. It's such a. Yeah. That he just has that joke ready to go. He. His dog really did die, but he still has a joke about how sick his dog was. That's one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. I still. That was like, wow. Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

That had to be surreal.

[Alan Tudyk]

It was. Tom Hanks was very nice, and I had to hump him on stage. It was very strange. He was dead. And I was playing Thisbe in that moment, and he was bottom and he was face down. The director told me, you need to ride him as you're killing yourself and, like you're humping him and get. Get the humping going. Get the audience laughing. So I was dry humping America's sweetheart, Tom Hank. Is he. Sweetheart. That's wrong. He's a. He's a. He's. He's one of our national treasures. I was humping a national treasure. Wow. Yeah. We were both wearing jeans. How I saw that going, but that's how it went down when I left that morning. I didn't see that happening. How about you, Nathan? You've met some. A lot of people.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes. Okay. I love entertainment. I love popular culture. I. I love that I can not only be a fan and. But I can participate and I can. So now I'm a fan from up close. I've got to meet right wonderful people that I've been a huge fan of since I was a wee lad or just. Or even the young folks coming up who are so fantastic. And I'm so impressed, so wildly impressed. But when I was a younger man, I first moved out to Los Angeles. I got a small part in a film called Blast from the Past. And one of we. We. We were just going to do a table read. I went to a building down in Santa Monica somewhere and found the. The room. And I think I was one of the first people there. I didn't want to be late. I was one of the first people there, the. The tables were arranged in a bit of a horseshoe. And then off to the. The end of the horseshoe was a table of coffee and donuts and croissants and muffins. And I remember I had a thing for crosswords at the time. I. So I was just biding my time, waiting for things to start by doing a crossword. And somebody put their stuff down right next to me, and I finished the word I was writing, and I looked up, and there was Chris Walken, name drop, looking down at me. And there was a role he played in a movie called the Prophecy, where he played, like, an evil angel.

[Alan Tudyk]

And he played David, I think.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

Christopher Walken portrayed the archangel Gabriel in the 1995 supernatural thriller the Prophecy.

[Nathan Fillion]

He says, look into my eyes, and has this close up of his eyes. He's got a little bit of a wisp of eyeshadow, but it's super creepy, spooky. This just this look he gives gave me chills. When I watched the film, those were the eyes looking down at me. And I was frozen, and he was frozen. He didn't move. He just stared. And I was caught off guard. I didn't know what to do. And I think it was a long moment. And then a woman on the other side of the table said, oh, Chris Walken. We have a mutual friend. Her name is Susan. She did makeup for you on such and such a project. And as she's speaking to him, he starts to walk around the tables, and he. Eventually he's face to face with her, and she wraps up her story and says, that's. And that's how we know each other, through our mutual friend Susan. And he looks at her, doesn't say anything. He looks back over at me again across the tables, and I'm locked still and doesn't say anything. And then he opens his hand towards me and opens his mouth as if to say something, but doesn't say anything. So I said, I'm Nathan. He said, chris, nice to meet you. Looked back at the woman and then walked away toward the croissants and said, so, how's Susan? And it was just a very strange. I. I felt like time slowed down for this whole thing. I was like, this is. I don't understand what's happening. It's very unusual. Now, Chris Walken turned out to be incredibly charming, and every line out of his mouth got a laugh. And he was always surprised.

[Alan Tudyk]

Wow.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, well, I guess that's funny. He does look around. Oh, guess I'm hilarious.

[Alan Tudyk]

Very Trust an alien. Do you think he's an alien? Maybe.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't know. I think he's some kind of savant because I just. I am always riveted by his performance, but he's never a caricature of himself. Anyway, we can talk about acting, but what a weird encounter.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, man.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's what I. I really enjoyed the fact that I was able to have it.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, that's a. He's. He's. He is. He's. What was it? What is the. He's legit. He's. There's a thing everybody says now he's an icon. He's an icon.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

He's iconic. He's iconic. Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

What's the worst haircut you've ever had?

[Alan Tudyk]

I was going to ask you that question.

[Nathan Fillion]

Really?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes. Isn't that weird? I was like, would he. I mean, I was. I was going to word it differently. I was going to say, who gave you that haircut? But this is not the worst haircut I've ever had.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, like this one.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, sorry, sorry. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. Because we're in the same place. There's a delay.

[Nathan Fillion]

I've been wearing this for almost a decade. I'm sorry.

[Alan Tudyk]

I. I had a haircut when I was in middle school. I don't know if this got up to edmonton, so like 12. 12 or 13. I got the spike. Did you guys get the spike? Did you do the spike?

[Nathan Fillion]

I did spiky hair.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

My hair is naturally spiky. My hair stands up when I cut it short. So I put a little. Remember gel. I put a little gel in there. The old. The old Corey Hart hair. But his was more messy. He had a messy. Mine was like a. Like, Like a. Like a porcupine. It was like a. A hedgehog. It was all even rows of spikes and.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, he was tousled. He had a towel.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

The spike was. That was. There was stuff sticking up, but it was kind of like wings. So you had the sort of butt cut, wings going down the middle and then right down the split top where they put the butter in the split top. Then there's like little, like porcupine hairs. They cut it so that the hair naturally won't sit down somehow. Yeah, we would go weak. I got that. At Super Cuts. That was not. That was not a salon. We would always go. My mom would always take us to Super Cuts and those. They would cut our ears, man. They would. Yeah, they would. It was Ears bleed too. Yeah, it was. Throw that one in the Butcher's bin. It was like there's pieces of our ear left behind, but I got that. But I, you know, I was bloodied, but I had that haircut and I think it did not look good on me, but that's, you know, so I would say that.

[Nathan Fillion]

How long, how long was the back at this point? This.

[Alan Tudyk]

It was, you know, just, it was a, it was, it was a, it was respectable, you know, just a little off the collar.

[Nathan Fillion]

Did you ever have a mullet?

[Alan Tudyk]

No, no, no. Once people started getting the mullets, I went new wave.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes. That was about the time. Yeah. Yeah. Alan, mullets were a big deal in

[Alan Tudyk]

Canada and I think they still are.

[Nathan Fillion]

I've always had a lot of hair night.

[Alan Tudyk]

You still do, man.

[Nathan Fillion]

And this at this point also, the body wave was in and my mom would give me a. Permission, right. And that would make your hair kind of, sort of, kind of wavy, right? This kind of loose body wave perm. Boy, it stunk though. I had a real stink to it. And the first like week those curls were pretty tight. They had to loosen up a little bit. But I had, I, I worked on it and I grew out a mullet when I was in high school. And so when I graduated I had like a full on mullet. It's probably the only photos of my hair was pretty much graduation because my dad wasn't fond of that haircut and said, I'm not taking any pictures of that. And I'm sort of kind of happy too because there's not that much blackmail material. But I'll tell you something, my mullet was majestic like a lion's mane because it had a little bit of a curl to it, had a little bit of a bounce to it like a shampoo commercial. But I could take it and I could tie it in a knot under my chin like it was. And heaven forbid if I went swimming. It went part way down my back. What the hell.

[Alan Tudyk]

Straight.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, I had a lot of hair back there.

[Alan Tudyk]

I wish you had lots of pictures of that.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't think that was my worst haircut though. I still wanted to kind of experiment, I think, with long hair. I went to university, so a couple, couple years of college with that hair. And then I went to university and I decided I'm gonna let it all rock long on top. And I just went in with clippers and I shaved the sides in the back like a samurai. Ah, like a, like someone would wear a top knot, I guess, like a little.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

And, and worked out really well for me. Because I could change my hair in a couple different ways. And. And that. Actually, that hair, there's. I guess there's a little bit of record of it, too, because I had pretty long hair like that when I went on One Life To Live. I had some pretty long locks.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

And there were some other guys on the show hat who had very similar haircuts, though. So it started to get a little

[Alan Tudyk]

like someone's got a shift and Rochambeau for the hairdos.

[Nathan Fillion]

And I volunteered and I said. I. I said I didn't have a lot of confidence in this one in the first place, so I let him cut it all off. And I was quite happy after that. But I think that was pretty much my worst haircut. Was that when I had the idea to shave it all underneath?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, I had a shaving mishap haircut. I got clippers for Christmas one year.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, no.

[Alan Tudyk]

And so I was allowed to cut my own hair. So I would always just shave the back and the sides and keep them high and tight. And then I would let the top. So the one that was your worst haircut was sort of how I would rock it all the time because I was new wave and fade it at all.

[Nathan Fillion]

Or you, like. Did you, like, go hard, have like a level?

[Alan Tudyk]

Like a. I. I had levels. I had levels.

[Nathan Fillion]

That was very 80s. That was very 80s.

[Alan Tudyk]

It was. What's her name, man? It was the. He said, shut up. He said, shut up. That's what I would sing while I was carrying.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, Till Tuesday.

[Alan Tudyk]

Isn't that Until Tuesday? But yeah, her name is. What do you say, Computer Voices?

[Nathan Fillion]

Carry is a song by the American

[Alan Tudyk]

rock band Till Tuesday, featuring lead vocalist, Amy Mann. Thank you. She's here in la. I see her around. She's out listening to my house. Obviously we don't know each other because I don't know her name. Anyway, I was with these clippers one time, went a little too high and then it buzzed and then I was like, you know what? Oh, I'm into now the top of my head. So I just went, I'm going to cut off all of my hair except my bangs.

[Nathan Fillion]

Whoa.

[Alan Tudyk]

Terrible idea. Yes. So I cut off. It was all shaved except my bangs. And I thought that would be really new wave and cool and good for skating. What it ended up doing was the hair. The bangs of my bangs would just sort of curl up and. And my friends started calling me quail. It wasn't good because that's good hunting bird right there. Quail. But they've got that One little thing that comes down. So I look like that.

[Nathan Fillion]

That bird, but that's the back end of the bird. So you're saying that your. Your. Your head and face was the back end of a quail?

[Alan Tudyk]

That's where the eggs come from. That's where the magic takes place. No, I. I ended up cutting it off soon after the name arrived. Quail. I was like, I'm not doing that. I cut it off and then I just looked terrible. I looked so young, and I had a problem looking super young. Yeah, I looked terrible. I just looked. It was a tough. It was a tough time for me.

[Nathan Fillion]

How long did that haircut last?

[Alan Tudyk]

Until it could grow out.

[Nathan Fillion]

No, I mean the. The quail one. How long did you suffer through the quail?

[Alan Tudyk]

Probably only lasted a couple of weeks before I got rid of it.

[Nathan Fillion]

All right. Give it a good go.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

You know, give the old college try.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, well, that was good. But I was going to ask you that question. I did think I was like, I need to start asking Nathan questions. And that was all right.

[Nathan Fillion]

Okay, well, here's your chat. Do you have another one? Do you want. Do you have another one?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, I did have another one, but. Yeah, I wonder. I wonder about this. Nathan, when you. The music you like.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

What is it about the music you like? Is it that. I feel like we like music differently? What. So how. What is it about music that you like? Is it the I. Lowman. Yeah, Go.

[Nathan Fillion]

I love catchy tunes. I love clever lyrics that are rhythmic, like when people play with the rhythm of words.

[Alan Tudyk]

So rap gone.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm going to tell you. And I don't. It might be because I only have. You know, I only have the hearing in the one year. I don't benefit from stereo the way other people do. I have a hard time understanding the words.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

In a song. Pulling the words out of the music. Pulling that.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right.

[Nathan Fillion]

Filtered that. Having that lyric versus. I never know what they're singing about.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. You know, they've got. It's really easy now when you play if you're playing it off of, like, you know, you can just follow it along. One of the. One of the streamers. Follow along to lyrics. I benefit from that a lot because some of the. Some of the ones I don't. I never. I've never known the lyrics. There's, like, always a part that I'm like, what am I saying here? This isn't it. What are they saying? So catchy. Just sort of right, good sound and music.

[Nathan Fillion]

Sometimes I like rhythms. I like. I Like, songs that energize me. I like songs I can sing along to in the car. I have a driving list.

[Alan Tudyk]

Like, I have a.

[Nathan Fillion]

A driving list. I have a list of songs because I want to try to learn how to sing harmony. I always end up singing the melody, but I want to try to learn. So I got some songs in there with some melodies in there.

[Alan Tudyk]

All right, that's cool.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan.

[Alan Tudyk]

Huh?

[Nathan Fillion]

Why should you never get into a relationship with a tennis player?

[Alan Tudyk]

I have a feeling has something doing balls. This feels like the setup for a joke.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's because love means nothing to them.

[Alan Tudyk]

Thank you for that piece of advice. Now I know. Now I know. Do you like rap music?

[Nathan Fillion]

There is some rap I really enjoy. Like Eminem. He is a craftsman. He is an artist. He is a wordsmith. The way he plays with, like, we were talking about the rhythm of language. Like a brain scratch. Like, if you have an itch in your brain that scratches it, you go, yeah, right there, right there. But some of that's. And here's the dichotomy, though. Some of that music, I feel like an old man's. Like, it all sounds the same to me.

[Alan Tudyk]

It's a lot of beats. It's a lot about the beats, the rhythm, and.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, and there's this new style where it's not much about melody, it's kind of more monotone, and it's like, okay, in which case, I would love to be about the poetry of it. But again, I have trouble pulling out the lyrics.

[Alan Tudyk]

I. I recently realized I. And I became a little concerned. I. I tend to like white rappers, and I'm. I'm bothered by it. I don't know what it means. I don't know. You like Eminem. I'm glad, you know, you're on the same page. But it just doesn't seem right. It's like three. I can name three white rappers, and I think that's at least one too many that I'm into. And there's a guy. Prof. Like Professor. And he's a goofy and he's very good and he's funny. But I was listening to him and I was really enjoying. I'm like, oh, no, this isn't. Because there's Eminem and there's him, and then there's the Streets from England. This was their early stuff. Only their early stuff. But anyway, yeah, I got. I got a little. I got a little. I got a little concerned. So I've got them.

[Nathan Fillion]

You want to branch out?

[Alan Tudyk]

I'm. God, you know, I mean, yes. Yeah. You know, I like Tyler the creator, but then I bet there's somebody out there listening, right? Here goes. Tyler creator isn't even a rapper, but I think he is. I think he is.

[Nathan Fillion]

On the topic of music, if you were with trusted friends in a safe environment and people started singing karaoke, what would be your karaoke song? Do you have a go to song that you, you would love to sing?

[Alan Tudyk]

I do. I mean, I, I don't. I do. I. I used to always sing are you lonesome tonight by Elvis because it has that section in it where he has a speech. Somebody. Everybody says the world's a stage and we each must play a part. Fate had me playing love with you as my sweetheart. You acted your line so cleverly. You never missed a cue, blah, blah, blah. Then came back to you seem to change. Acted strange. Okay. Sing along with me anyway. I can, though. When you do karaoke, nothing is there. So you can say whatever you want.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's your chance to improvise.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, my chance to improvise. But you can, because it's always been so long. Song tonight. Sweet Jesus, I have been drinking far too much or I ate a big lunch or something physical. Or I can talk about the audience members or whoever's there with me, that type of thing. What's going on in the world. It's. It's just an opportunity to do something other than sing because I'm not going to really impress anybody with my singing.

[Nathan Fillion]

Okay.

[Alan Tudyk]

How about you?

[Nathan Fillion]

That's fair.

[Alan Tudyk]

How about you? You worked at. In a karaoke that. You know, you're absolutely right.

[Nathan Fillion]

One of my, one of my part time jobs when I was working my way through college was I was a karaoke host. And at the time my, my song, my big number was Bobby Darren's beyond the sea. But if I am going to be like among friends and I want everybody to have fun and sing along.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

There's really only one choice. Incredible crowd pleaser.

[Alan Tudyk]

I want your sex by George Michael.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's the one.

[Alan Tudyk]

Is it? Come on, Irene.

[Nathan Fillion]

By what it is, Sweet Caroline.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, wow. Neil diamond never ever fails.

[Nathan Fillion]

It starts really low and people go, oh, here we come. Okay. And then by the time you get to that course, it is the big build. And a big build. Yeah. By the time you get to that course, everybody's with you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Is that the one that starts with money talks?

[Nathan Fillion]

That's.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it is.

[Nathan Fillion]

No, that's forever in blue jean and that's forever. It's got a good real bounce to it, but no this with Caroline is. It's even slower.

[Alan Tudyk]

I love. I love Neil Diamond's. Some of his music. He's very cheesy. I love. He's. Man, he's in the cheese. He cuts deep. There's a. Was that song. This is a song for me right now, man. The one about somebody said that there was a frog. There's a story. What is it about a frog who dreamed of being a king and it became one. It's all about LA is fine, but it ain't home. New York's home, but it ain't mine no more. I am. I said. But he has a thing about talking about the wings of a flea, and fleas don't even have wings. He. He doesn't care, man. He doesn't need to. He's Neil Diamond. He goes beyond. He does. Like, I saw him in concert. He did, like, six costume changes. A lot of men are afraid to do that many costume changes in a. In a performance. Not him.

[Nathan Fillion]

That leads me to another question. What is the best concert you've ever seen?

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, wow. I don't know. I. I like them all for different reasons, and I haven't seen enough of them. But I saw Pearl Jam right when they hit and. And his. And I was so blown away. And they came to a small theater in Dallas, and I was right on the floor, and they were right there, and he was young, throwing carrots out into the audience and climbing up the proscenium and going nuts. And he sounded exactly like his music, exactly like the album.

[Nathan Fillion]

He climbed up your. What?

[Alan Tudyk]

Put the proscenium. The, like, climb up the wall.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, gotcha.

[Alan Tudyk]

He was. He was. He was out there, man. Eddie Vedder. Yeah. It was great. So that was. That was a great concert. I was breaking. I was breaking up with a girl, and it was. It was like a messy breakup. She wasn't into me breaking up. I'm like, I don't know. Is this just not working? It's just not working. She's like, I got two tickets to go see Pearl Jam. And I said, maybe we could make it work. I was. I was. I was 19. Listen, I was 19.

[Nathan Fillion]

Let's give this one more shot.

[Alan Tudyk]

Let's. I think I love you. And we went. I remember. She.

[Nathan Fillion]

I think I love you, Eddie Vedder.

[Alan Tudyk]

I mean, sweetie, thank you, Jenny, whatever your name. The rest of your name is. We know. I know, but I'm not saying you remember.

[Nathan Fillion]

I told you a story.

[Alan Tudyk]

Who was yours? We gotta tell me.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm getting into it right now.

[Alan Tudyk]

Okay. Yes. Okay.

[Nathan Fillion]

This is a story. This story's cooking. Remember I told you about that friend of mine, Amy, in New York, who, I want to say Tennessee is where she's from, but they made fake raffle tickets and sold them in the rich neighborhood. I remember I told you that story.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

Made a ton of money out of the church office. They made.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. Criminals going to hell.

[Nathan Fillion]

Amy also introduced me to an artist by the name of Martin Sexton. And I had just moved to la, and I don't know how I got wind of it, but Martin Sexton was playing at the Troubadour. Troubadour is a Los Angeles staple. It is an iconic music venue, and if you are fortunate enough to see a really cool band there. It's so small. It's so small. It's a very intimate affair. Yeah. And I grabbed a ticket. It was just me. I just went by myself and I went. And at the time, I think I was getting a little disillusioned with Los Angeles. I just moved out here, and I felt like people aren't. Aren't really like that. We are. They are on the east coast. They're not.

[Alan Tudyk]

LA's fine, but it ain't home. New York's home, but it ain't mine. I'm gone. Sorry, Nick.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's that song you liked. I just remember how he got the entire audience to participate in a very meaningful, soulful, heartfelt way with my absolute favorite song of his, which is Black Sheep. He had the whole crowd singing and it. And he encouraged them. And the more he encouraged them, the louder they got.

[Alan Tudyk]

See, like, sing my angels. Sing my angels. Yes. I saw him in concert, too.

[Nathan Fillion]

I've seen him a couple times since. Yeah, I've seen a couple times since. And it's always magical and sometimes moved to tears.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, I wept.

[Nathan Fillion]

Nothing can match that. First time I saw him at the troop door, I was beside myself. It was incredible.

[Alan Tudyk]

And if you at all identify with a Black Sheep kind of Persona at. You know, and. And I think maybe some of us do in different times of our lives. Whether we are. We aren't. Anyway, that song Black Sheep is pretty great because it's like, I got to do my thing. I'm going to go out, do my break out of my own.

[Nathan Fillion]

I have a question.

[Alan Tudyk]

He looks like you've got one right at the tip of your mustache.

[Nathan Fillion]

What's your favorite smell?

[Alan Tudyk]

My favorite smell?

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. What's something. It doesn't have to be. I kind of hate the. What's your Favorite question. Because then you have to, you have

[Alan Tudyk]

to eliminate everything else I can think like that. My enemy's tears is my favorite taste

[Nathan Fillion]

amongst your favorite smells. Like what's a smell that you go, that's so good.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, the woods, you know, like the ground and the woods and the water and that. Man, I, I, I, I, I got a lot of that when I was living up in Vancouver.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, some clean nature smell.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it, it just grounds me. I love that. But like all nature smells that just, I'm very, I love scents and I love how sometimes you can be walking and you'll catch a scent. It doesn't happen as much now because scents have changed over time. But there was a time when I could pass like, you know, there was some, I remember passing by some like 13, 14 year old girls one time and they, and I caught the smell of perfume and it's like launched me back to my 13s and I'm like looking at this girl Cara, like that's what she smelled like, you know that it's like time capsules are caught in scents. There's a, there's a smell that I get. It's an east coast smell, but I'll still catch it in different. Like an outdoor smell. I went up my, between my third, second, third year at school, I went up to New York, stage and film up in Poughkeepsie, New York. And I would run every morning and it was such a big, big time for me. I was meeting all of these playwrights and I, I could tell I was, it was the beginning of something. It was actually the beginning of what became my theater career in New York. And I was meeting the right people and the smell on my run in the morning to just like de stress I'll smell that. And it just launches me back there to that time where it's like all possibility and promise and hope and fear and joy. Like, ah, can y' all be caught up in a smell that. Or like a hamburger. Love a good burger, you know.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm gonna give you three of my favorite smells. Okay. One is I like the smell of sunscreen. It could be Hawaiian, Tropic, it could be like a copper tone. There's some sunscreens I like if when I smell them because they remind me of being on vacation, being somewhere tropical. I'm probably on a beach. If I'm wearing sunscreen, I'm probably over doing something outside. I'm probably gonna, I'm sure. So when I smell sunscreen, it reminds you of vacation and it makes Me feel good. I also like the smell. Kind of like yours, nature. It's a lake, but with a little bit of gasoline. When you're on a motorboat on a lake, you're probably going to be water skiing, you're probably going to be wakeboarding, you're probably just going to be fishing or just chilling out in a lake. So there's like, oh, yeah, it's all nature, it's all this, it's all that. Did I smell gastros now? I love it. Put that cigarette out and then the last one. And this one might surprise you. You know, in New York City, when it's real hot and you're walking down the sidewalk and then you step on what is some like, clearly more tar than asphalt, and it's kind of soft under your feet because from the heat of the day and. And there's that kind of a tar smell that comes out of that particular type of roadway. Yeah, that smell reminds me of some of my best times in New York City.

[Alan Tudyk]

Wow. You. I think you might be able to pick up a little bit of that over at the La Brea Tar Pits. Man, it's just coming out of the street.

[Nathan Fillion]

That stuff's.

[Alan Tudyk]

I'm not gonna lie.

[Nathan Fillion]

That stuff.

[Alan Tudyk]

Those are some old dino farts.

[Nathan Fillion]

I was there just recently. They're closing that down. You know that.

[Alan Tudyk]

No.

[Nathan Fillion]

How do you close down the Brea Tar Pits Museum? You guys, if you're in the Los Angeles area and you have a chance. I really like this museum. It's really beautiful. But they haven't had a renovation in decades, so they're going to shut it down for a couple years and they're going to renovate it and then they're

[Alan Tudyk]

going to open it.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm going to miss it. It's. It's a neat little spot.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it's. It's wild. Around the, around the museum. So you got. Right, there's Wilshire Boulevard. There's a big street thoroughfare here in Los Angeles. And there's little, like, construction, a frame thing set up because there's still like tar heat and steam and stuff coming out of the road. Because it's a doubling. It's still prehistoric. You know, the tarpits are over there, but under the road is like.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yep. They wanted to dig it up and fill it in and develop it. And someone said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It is a treasure trove. Fossils in there, guys. Like extremely well preserved bones. Like, we can't. We can't just fill that in. And somehow science won and now they out of there.

[Alan Tudyk]

Go science. Oh, great. They rarely win. It's nice they got one.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't know if you can believe this, but I have another question for you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes? What are you, what's, what's your question?

[Nathan Fillion]

Do you wash your legs in the shower?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, I do. That's an easy one.

[Nathan Fillion]

Do people neglect their legs? They kind of figure like the water takes care of it.

[Alan Tudyk]

What. I don't think that you don't know this. There's so many things attached to the legs. I mean the feet and the, they're in the whole top part of the body. They right on top there and there's the growing area. There's a butt right there. Yeah, but then, I mean, why not? You're in the vicinity. You can just kind of, I mean, huh. Interesting.

[Nathan Fillion]

A shower stall and it's really small. I guess you could be excused for, I don't know, maybe, maybe rub them together though. Maybe just rub your links together.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. Like a cricket. Make a song.

[Nathan Fillion]

Make a cricket wash.

[Alan Tudyk]

I did not know people didn't wash their legs.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's I, and, and when I found that out, like I often think when we get to a certain point in the relationship, like I want to know and maybe I can help you with that. Like not help you wash your legs, but maybe just help you with some knowledge. Drop some leg washing knowledge on you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it's a, seems like it's not a bad idea to do to wash your whole body when you get a chance when you're washing it. Do that. I mean, I guess I could, I don't know. I don't know. I guess guys, but definitely women. I don't know. That's weird. I, I, to all the people who agree with me, we're the same because that's, it seems strange.

[Nathan Fillion]

Do you sing in the shower?

[Alan Tudyk]

I make lots of. I've, I've, I, I've had my wife come in and go, you're so loud. Because I'm, it depends on what's going on. Like right now there's so much going on in the whole. Did I bring it back to me Moving? Yes. There's so much going on that I have to talk to myself to tell myself what's going on and that it's going to be okay and oh, you

[Nathan Fillion]

got to do that.

[Alan Tudyk]

Got. Oh no, no, wait, wait, wait. Oh, right, right, right. And so I, I, I don't sing so much as just, just mumble and natter. I think it's called nattering or just sort of diarrhea of the mouth, and that's another term for it.

[Nathan Fillion]

And you're talking to yourself?

[Alan Tudyk]

I think so.

[Nathan Fillion]

Does it help to. Do you listen?

[Alan Tudyk]

I think so. I think so. Sometimes it's really. It's when it gets like this, it's just best to wash. Just focus on my legs, get them washed, get out, get on with the day. It's really. It's my main focus. Do you not.

[Nathan Fillion]

What? Oh, Dwight, listen, I'm washed.

[Alan Tudyk]

Do you not talk to yourself?

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, talk to myself or wash my legs.

[Alan Tudyk]

Do you sing while you wash your legs? No, I don't.

[Nathan Fillion]

You know what? I think I. I listen. I. I listen to the news when I'm in the shower. Usually I'm showering in the morning, and I'll listen to the news while I'm. While I'm in there.

[Alan Tudyk]

I'll set up what kind of news?

[Nathan Fillion]

You know what? I'll tell you what. I. Often, before I hit news, I will listen to Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right.

[Nathan Fillion]

Seth Meyers. I'll listen to their. Their monologues and. And get a taste of what is going to. I'm going to be reading about that. I. But with a humorous take so that it's just a little easier to digest.

[Alan Tudyk]

Can I just. To throw into the mix there maybe a white rapper. But go on. Just. Why.

[Nathan Fillion]

Just, you know, listen to.

[Alan Tudyk]

Listen to Prof.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'll do that.

[Alan Tudyk]

Okay.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. But then, yeah, I wash my legs. Just so you know. I want you to know this, Alan. Wash my legs. I kind of. I'm kind of. I start at the top. I kind of make my way down.

[Alan Tudyk]

Are we talking about your head or your legs? Top of your head.

[Nathan Fillion]

I start at the top of my head.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

And I make my way down the hole of Nathan. Yep.

[Alan Tudyk]

All across this great Nathan. He scrubs.

[Nathan Fillion]

And once I'm all clean and rinsed off, I say, good job, Nate.

[Alan Tudyk]

To north to south, he covers it all. The deepest crevices, the highest peaks. Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan, if you were given a chance to be immortal, would you take it?

[Alan Tudyk]

H. Tempting. I'd have to know a lot about it. I need to. I need. There's got to be. You got to know, like, am I immortal?

[Nathan Fillion]

Frozen in time. The exact age you are right now?

[Alan Tudyk]

I can't back it up. Okay, all right. You.

[Nathan Fillion]

Would you want to back it up a little bit? Would you want a little more youth?

[Alan Tudyk]

Sure. Let's go back to. Let's go back to Firefly days. I was like, we're at 30.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow. Okay, so. So you get to be 30 forever. Say 30. 34. Let's put you at 34.

[Alan Tudyk]

Okay. Okay.

[Nathan Fillion]

You're not newly 30. You have a little respect.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, right, Right. Well, I mean, gonna have a brain

[Nathan Fillion]

that's older, so, no, it's not like vampire immortal. So you don't need blood to survive. You don't have to kill anybody in order to stay.

[Alan Tudyk]

Can I though?

[Nathan Fillion]

I.

[Alan Tudyk]

Can I. Because that's. That was the point.

[Nathan Fillion]

I mean, I guess after enough time, you'd figure out how to commit the perfect crime, right?

[Alan Tudyk]

Right. I don't think so, man. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I. I'm gonna pass.

[Nathan Fillion]

You're gonna pass?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. How about you? I feel like I would. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of opportunity.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm just so interested about the future and where things are going, and according

[Alan Tudyk]

to scientists, we don't have much time. I do, I've noticed. They, they keep saying that. I think that it's, you know, I, you know, we're just. It's a brief. It's a brief encounter here on the earth and then we're gone until we are reincarnated. And a child that then talks about it to their parents, and they don't

[Nathan Fillion]

know how to handle them. You read those stories?

[Alan Tudyk]

I watch it on the YouTube.

[Nathan Fillion]

You watch stuff about, like, kids speaking languages they never learned and.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, and they're like, my name's Marilyn. Or like, when I. I used to be Marilyn, but now I'm Jimmy, and

[Nathan Fillion]

I've got four sisters and three brothers, and we used to run a company.

[Alan Tudyk]

Huh. And I jumped off a building when it was on fire, and I saw you from way up high, and I decided to come down and be a mommy's tummy. Can I have some graham crackers? Look, what the hell is up with this kid? But they're able to, like, they know too much. They know way too much. So I, I think we all. I mean, I think that's definitely one way I, I believe in that stuff. I don't know. I don't know much about it, but that's. I read a book called Many Lives, Many Masters once, and after I put it down, I was like, well, turns out we reincarnate. I guess it just happens.

[Nathan Fillion]

Do you figure you've been reincarnated? You figure maybe you're the first or.

[Alan Tudyk]

No, no, no, I, I hope not. I, I feel like I've. They say you reincarnate with the people that you've. You sort of stay in the same groups Same posse. So, like, we would have hung out before in a different lifetime, but we would have been sisters. Or I was your father that you shot after you cheated in a card game. You son of a. And then you shot me. How did that happen? But that, you know, that's how. Or like Karissa and I, you know, I, I have such a connection to Carissa, and it's just always been that way from the first time I saw. Right. Which was so long ago that I was like. Oh, her. Like, just. She just was. She was alike. A, Like a person that I knew was like me.

[Nathan Fillion]

You know, just.

[Alan Tudyk]

I could trust her quickly from, From, from, from the jump. Yeah. So. And I think that's. I, I believe. You know, if there is. That would be a good, A good indication of. That's probably somebody maybe from before. I don't want to make this all about a religion or anything, guys. You believe it or you don't. I just recommend Everybody go to YouTube and put creepy kids who have past lives and check them out. Make up your own minds. I'm not here to preach to you.

[Nathan Fillion]

This is, this is a little side note. You said something that reminded me of a wisdom that I, I've kind of gleaned over my lifetime. Whenever I hear someone say we're like sisters, I start a little countdown, a little stopwatch in my head until they're

[Alan Tudyk]

mortal enemies, even when they're real sisters. That could also be the case anytime

[Nathan Fillion]

I have heard a couple of ladies say we're like sisters. They are the span of time away from saying, I'll never speak to her.

[Alan Tudyk]

Do you think that, do you think that's a female. Like the complexity of the female relationships that they have. I don't know, guys.

[Nathan Fillion]

We're like brothers. I don't, I don't know. Men who seek that status, we just say, bro.

[Alan Tudyk]

We just, we just. Yeah, we. You got a brother. But that's like, that's something that I don't, I don't give that one out now. You gotta be. It takes. There's a tier of brother.

[Nathan Fillion]

You know, I'm still waiting.

[Alan Tudyk]

We're at cousin right now.

[Nathan Fillion]

You.

[Alan Tudyk]

We talked about this.

[Nathan Fillion]

You said twice removed last time. So if we're a cousin.

[Alan Tudyk]

No, no. We are at first cousin, so it's cool, cuz. Be cool, cuz. Be cool.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. Alan, I, I, I, I dropped by your house the other day.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

To pick up the, the, the, the key. The key to the, to the car.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

That I lent you. It broke down.

[Alan Tudyk]

That I broke Your construction.

[Nathan Fillion]

We got it back to you. The construction guy destroyed it. No, he just gave. Put a little in the. In the front fender.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it ran and then it broke down again. Yep. Did that and now it's back to

[Nathan Fillion]

me, and there's no dent in it anymore. There's no dent.

[Alan Tudyk]

It seems almost like I'm cursed. What is that? I mean, it's like you used up

[Nathan Fillion]

all the bad luck in that car for me.

[Alan Tudyk]

You know, Nathan, there's a thing they say. They sing about this town. It is the Hotel California. You're not allowed to leave that. You could. You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. There is.

[Nathan Fillion]

You're leaving to New York, though.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, I am. I'm leaving. But it keeps. Like, breaking down the car. The thing is trying to keep me here. It's like, oh, you could stab him with your steely knife, but you just can't kill the beast. Whatever that means. I can't. I can't. I can't kill the beast. This is the LA Beast. But I'm. We're headed. We're. We're checking out. I'm moving out. It's another song I've been listening to. Little Billy Joel.

[Nathan Fillion]

The point I was gonna make was that's the first time I'd been to your house in a little while.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

And you're in the middle of a move. What a beautiful home. What a beautiful home you have. You're in the middle of a move.

[Alan Tudyk]

Thank you.

[Nathan Fillion]

A lot of boxes everywhere, but a couple things I noticed was what a home you've made there. Another thing I noticed, your first dog, Raisin, used to be very jumpy, jittery, fearful. That dog has come a very long way.

[Alan Tudyk]

Well, she's 16 now, so she's like a hundred and something. So she's just like, huh. She's a little.

[Nathan Fillion]

She just wouldn't. Never used to kind of volunteer Snuggles. She came right over and kind of laid right up against my leg for a bit and her usual joyful self. And then. Your new little one. What's your new one's name?

[Alan Tudyk]

His name is Maximus.

[Nathan Fillion]

Maximus?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. You.

[Nathan Fillion]

You said he humps that little elephant toy and he delivered. He did not.

[Alan Tudyk]

He. Yeah, he. He's. Yeah. I wish that. Yeah. We almost called him Maybelline, even though he's a boy, because that lipstick just comes right out. It's. It's like a cosmetics counter over there. He's offering up samples. But I think he learned that from Aunt Clara because she humps him, which. It's a dominance thing. I know it's about dominance, but I think only the first three thrusts are dominance, and then the, like, next 300 are all mama getting hers. She just like.

[Nathan Fillion]

Is that Clara? Is she a female? Is that a female dog? Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. And Clara is female.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

[Alan Tudyk]

She's named after the beloved character on Bewitched because she's a little scrambled eggs. She's a little nuts.

[Nathan Fillion]

It made me, it made me realize that even though you are, you are. When we started this, you were in Vancouver and now you are moving away to New York. I see you more now than I have in a couple of years.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, man. Because of this.

[Nathan Fillion]

Because of this.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. We get like the getting to know you thing that we do. I'm getting to know. I mean, we're getting to know each other better, even after all this time.

[Nathan Fillion]

Speaking of Alan, let's, let's do that. We got to wrap this show up. So let's, let's get to know you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Okay. I know you and you know me. Let us get to know you better.

[Nathan Fillion]

Okay. You go first.

[Alan Tudyk]

You want me to go first? Sure. I've got a couple. I've got one that's one that's a. It's more of a grievance that you don't know about me. And then one is, of course, sort of a story from before. You don't know about me. And then one is just sort of just some. Which one do you want? A, B or C?

[Nathan Fillion]

Which, which will entertain me the most,

[Alan Tudyk]

I think probably the story. So I, I, I don't know if you know this, Nathan, but I, I was damn near thrown out of my first college. I, I was very close to being thrown out. By week two of my freshman year, I was 18 years old. The entire drama department, we, we had. When we first got to school, there was a play already on stage. They had already rehearsed it over the summer or something. It was like, for the, it was a very small cast. So we got there. The play happened very fast. And then our job was to strike the set. And as students in the drama room, we had to strike the set. It takes a very long time and you get done around three in the morning. And then after that everybody goes out to the lake and gets wasted and didn't drinks college beer like college people. And then we come back to the college in the morning because we're on a meal plan. And it was a very strict, weird little school called Lawnmowers, which is now defunct thank the goodness, because it was a weird little school and you'd get breakfast in the cafeteria. So when we all came back, we had been. It had rained and we were all covered in mud, and we all went in all muddy, and we were dancing on the tables and people were just acting crazy and we all got in trouble and we were given. You have 15 points. You get thrown out of school. And we were all given 14 points immediately for mud. For, yes, it was a very strict school and for dancing on tables. We were acting like crazy. So they just immediately gave us the most you could give with just one to spare so that we would be on our P's and Q's for the rest time. We were in. In the school so that, you know, they wanted us to be on our best behavior from week one. Well, I was through semester one and then semester two. I went to. It was the first, like this one of the first days of spring. And my buddy Davey and I went out to the lake and we were going to swim the lake. We got out there and got in the water like, I'm not swimming. This is freezing. But we had jumped in the water and then we went, oh, no, it's Sunday. We got to go back to the cafeteria again. Scene of the crime. Cafeteria. Went to the cafeteria. And we didn't have. Our shirts were wet, so we took towels, wrapped them around our chests like the ladies do as they get out of the shower. Didn't have shoes or socks on. And we walked into the cafeteria, sat down with our food, very well behaved, and we're eating. And then the president of the college sat down next to us with a bunch of people that he was trying to get him to give money. And we're like, oh, my God, this is awful. Finished our food real fast, got out of there. And then we got a call from Mr. Hart, who was the. He was sort of the cop on campus, and called us to his office late at night and said that we had. We're possibly gonna be kicked out of school for that. I was in this school. This is how crazy the school was. Boys and girls couldn't be in the same foot. This is not a school for me, man. And so they. We needed to go before this panel, this judicial panel to plead our case because we could get as much as 15 anyway. We could get kicked out. I went in there dressed in a polyester suit like my. It was my Dad's from the 70s that I had stolen from him. It was like wide and big, big lapels. It was Checkered. It was crazy. And Converse. Davey wore tux tails. David was a big dude or tux tails, and he had a basketball shirt under him. I came in with a briefcase. And we come into our. Our court appointed time. And it's just all teachers that we kind of knew sitting behind this table. Some of them did not like me. And I set it. I set the briefcase down. I'm like, ladies and gentlemen, just like, step right up.

[Nathan Fillion]

Kind of.

[Alan Tudyk]

I'm putting on a show going. We were. We were told that we were dressed inappropriately. But I want to point your attention to the panel of rules and regulations that this school has. There is nothing in here that says that there is a requirements for the dining hall. So there's nothing. There's nothing to follow. There's. There's no way to break a law if it doesn't exist. And then I was like, also, what were we wearing? Let's review. I pull out a towel from the briefcase. Pull out a towel, Davey, if you would. He takes off his jacket. I hand him a towel. He puts it on over like we had. I'm like, this is how we were wearing our towels. If you could please spin for me, Davey. He turns around. I'm like. As you can see, only the shoulders would be. Would be visible. Nothing here. Nothing here. It goes all the way to the waist. And then, of course, we were wearing shorts. Thank you, Davey. Now could you please remove the towel for everyone? He takes of a ton. Tell off. Now this, as you can see, is a basketball jersey, something you will see in the cafeteria every day. Now, Davey, could you please spin again for me? I'm seeing his nipple. I'm seeing his arm. I'm seeing his side. Back. Okay, just the nape of his neck. And now again, the other nipple. The other arm. As you can see, this is much more revealing than the towel that we were. Used. That we used to cover ourselves up, because that's all we had at the time. We didn't cause a problem. We just came in at 8 and we left. Thank you very much. That's our. That's our case. And they said, okay, get out. We're going to talk, we're going to discuss. We get out. Mr. Hart's there. Dumbass. Mr. Hart. God, that guy, he was such a creep. And he comes out, he puts his. He comes on. Boys, that was great. I'll tell y' all what. That was hilarious. All right, let me just go check with them. I'll see. Right there. Back. Be right back out here. And he goes Back inside. Now. What they didn't know is I had a little tape recorder that I put in my, in my briefcase. And I left my briefcase in the room because I wanted to hear what they had to say about our little presentation.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's diabolical.

[Alan Tudyk]

I feel like that's something you would do, man. I so what we heard on the tape player after we got done was Mr. Hart comes in, he's like, well, I think you can all see that's the type of hijinks that these bozos have got themselves up to at all times. They're not, they can't learn. They're smart asses and just like slagged us off and was basically saying, they're done cook them. And the teachers are like, we have more important things than this. I. There's no rule that they broke. How can we break rule? Even a teacher? I'm like, oh, God, she's going to grill me. She was like, I thought it was entertaining. I don't know what to tell you. This is, this seems like not something that we should be dealing with. And they gave us, they, they gave us work requirements. We had like hours that we had to work off where we had to pick up trash around the campus and we had to put signs up. We had to put signs up where the teachers could park and stuff. Anyway, I learned a little bit about Mr. Hart that day. And, and I was very happy to hear my other teachers that I had just assumed didn't like me were, you know, sticking up for me. It was nice. And we, and we got off and I got to stay in college.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, that was, that was me at 18, man.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Alan Tudyk]

Did you know that? You didn't know that I was. No, the scary. I mean, the thing for me as a kid, like there was the first week of school, I had to call my parents and go, hey, I might be kicked out of school until they let me stay. And then again, I had to call in second session, go, I might be kicked out of school again. That was, that was the hard part of that lesson for my parents were just like, Jesus Christ, this kid. That's where maybe the black sheep idea came from. From me.

[Nathan Fillion]

You were a handful. I, I was, I was such a handful.

[Alan Tudyk]

I was. Yet I didn't know when to stop. I think this was the, was the thing people kept saying, that's so much

[Nathan Fillion]

better than my get to know you. I really didn't.

[Alan Tudyk]

There's not this, there's no winner. This isn't a contest.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's just so cool. I just. The whole thing about being up in front of a panel

[Alan Tudyk]

with Davey, man, David was. God dang man. I got lots of stories about David.

[Nathan Fillion]

Didn't end there. Like he comes out and he's giving you all this face, all this support. Oh, guys, that was great. It was so wonderful. Just give me a second here. Get these bozos out. Yeah. You were recording him. You exposed him. Oh my God. That just. That kills me. That's a movie. That's. It's. If it happened in a movie, I would think this strange credulity, but this is your life.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. He drove around an old, what was it? An old, some old 50s car with a cube beam that he put on it so it looked like a cop. He was such a jackass.

[Nathan Fillion]

Illegal.

[Alan Tudyk]

Couldn't be trusted, huh?

[Nathan Fillion]

That's illegal.

[Alan Tudyk]

If not in a small town of Jacksonville, everybody knows less Hart, come on. He's a good old boy. We know that.

[Nathan Fillion]

Here's. Here's something for you. I. I told you when I was a younger man, I told you I had the, the Yamaha Townie. The little, the little scooter, my little two speed scooter. My conveyance was my vehicle. And in the summertime, you know, I'm in high school in summertime, it was meant freedom to me. But I, I also wasn't rolling in dough. I didn't have like a bunch of spending money. And as cheap as that little thing was on gas, I think it costs like A$40 to fill it, right?

[Alan Tudyk]

And that's in Canadian money.

[Nathan Fillion]

And that's Canadian money. That's like monopoly money to you folks. But sometimes I would be like, oh, I'm out of gas. And there was like a little reserve tank. So if you ran out of gas, you could flip this switch and you knew you had a few miles left. Well, I would switch it to reserve when I ran out of gas. And I would go around to gas stations that were closed and I would just manipulate the hose so that from where it came out of the pump, I would hold it up high so if there was any gas left in the hose, it would drain out. I would like be holding it with one hand and like manipulating it with the other. And I would go around to every hose and try to get as much gas as I possibly could.

[Alan Tudyk]

I still hope people saw you do that.

[Nathan Fillion]

I mean, if they were closed.

[Alan Tudyk]

Here he comes. Here he comes. He's gonna do it again. God damn, that's sad.

[Nathan Fillion]

From gas station to gas station to gas station, I do it like Three or four gas stations. Like, quite a workout. It was. Those hoses are heavy and you're trying to, you know, manage the nozzle on one side and the hose on the other. And. But that's how I would put. It's kind of like gas, animal husbandry.

[Alan Tudyk]

But it's. It's. Yeah, that's. Yeah, you gotta get the last drops out.

[Nathan Fillion]

But that would. That would. That was miles. It was miles and miles on the little Yamaha Townie.

[Alan Tudyk]

It's nice that you didn't. Like, you were an honest kid. That's an honest. That's an honest kid. Just trying to find, you know, get. Get by. Like somebody, like a troublemaker would go, maybe just go siphon some gas out of somebody's car.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's a troublemaker. My dad told me stories. He. He had. My dad had a friend whose parents would buy him gas and they would sneak over to his house and siphon gas out of there, this guy's tank, and, you know, for his car. And they would. He'd be like, oh, my God, my car's so bad on gas.

[Alan Tudyk]

Because they deemed it okay to steal for him because he was getting it for free anyway. And it's really.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'll tell you. I'm gonna tell you a little story about my dad that'll tell you kind of what kind of guy. He. He was. He was a younger man. He was working on a road crew in Edmonton. And he would kind of training to be like a manager or a foreman of this road crew. And while he was in training, some contractor from some other place came. And my dad's marking down on a clipboard, you know, what they're buying from these guys as far as product and whatnot goes. And he goes, oh, listen, we brought, you know, three truckloads of sand. And even though you only used one truckload, you still have to pay for those other two. My dad goes, oh, okay. And he wrote that down. He was just starting, you know, they didn't know. And then his foreman who's training him goes, what are you doing? We don't pay for truckloads of sand. We don't use. What are you doing? And my dad was, you know, looked like a jerk. And he looked over at that fella who told him to mark it down.

[Alan Tudyk]

And he.

[Nathan Fillion]

That guy was going, like, laughing like he got one over on my dad. Now, my dad doesn't forget easily. Cut to. I don't know how much time later, but now my dad is, you know, the manager, the foreman of this construction site. And if they were digging out a part of the road and fixing pipes underneath and doing their thing, if it would rain, it was my dad's job to say, it's not that much water. Just drain it off and finish the job. Or he'd say, it's too much water, dig it all up and start again. So my dad takes a look at this pit after a rain, and it's the other fella. It was the guy with the truckloads of sand. It was his construction site taking care of this thing. And he goes, it's too much water. Dig it up and start again. And the guy goes, but come on. It's not very. What. What are you talking about? It's just so table. We just ran that off. We could finish this up. He goes, hey, either you do it, or I get another crew in here to do it.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, God.

[Nathan Fillion]

You know, so this is back in the 60s. There's no cell phones or anything. Now this guy has to go to a phone booth and call someone from his office to go and get other guys and other equipment from other jobs. Like, it's not an easy feat to come, you know, to coordinate something like this. And all these trucks and all these guys and all the equipment come, and they dig it all up again, and they have to start all over.

[Alan Tudyk]

And they're doing.

[Nathan Fillion]

They put down the asphalt and some kind of. They. They're just steamrolling it over, and they're just finishing it off. And my dad comes up to that same fella, and he goes, that's for the sand, right? That's. And the guy goes, oh, God. Like, he just. You could just see him saying this. I am a victim of my own making. This. This. This guy got me.

[Alan Tudyk]

Your father's still alive. He didn't plot his demise or anything like that.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, no, but that's. That's. That's my dad's. That's my dad's idea of do not mess with me.

[Alan Tudyk]

Wow. He bides his time. He has patience. So that was a getting to know you father edition?

[Nathan Fillion]

That was. That was.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

Get to know me. This is, you know, my stock. That's where I come from, my lineage. We're like sisters. Sorry to stop watching my mind. Let's see how long this takes. Alan, always a pleasure, my friend.

[Alan Tudyk]

Always a pleasure, brother. Hey, you too. Hey, you, brother. You got brothered. Look at that. It just was natural this happened.

[Nathan Fillion]

You got promoted just now.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, man. Really nice. Thank you for having me to your home.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, yeah. I'll see you in a second. Okay.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. I'll see you in the hallway.

[Nathan Fillion]

Start the music. Well, you may it all the way to the end credits. Thank you for listening to Once We Were Spaceman. Remember, you can always head over to our Patreon for bonus content, longer episodes, and a chance to take home some incredible crap.

[Alan Tudyk]

If you love the show, please leave

[Nathan Fillion]

us a review and tell your friends. If you didn't love the show, keep it to yourself. This podcast is a collision 33 production. Specifically, we are produced by Michelle Chapman, Siobhan Homan, and Josh Levy. All the records, recording and post services

[Alan Tudyk]

are handled by Rabid Grin Productions.

[Nathan Fillion]

And our theme music is by the brilliant Carl Sosa and Joshua Moore. And as always, our artwork was created by Louis Jensen. We'll see you next time.