Once We Were Low Huggers with Seth Green | Episode 11

Summary

Once We Were Spacemen – Episode 11: “Once We Were Low Huggers” with Seth Green

Release Date: January 21, 2026
Hosts: Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk
Guest: Seth Green

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Episode Overview

In this lively, heartfelt episode, Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk are joined by actor, voice artist, and creator Seth Green (“Robot Chicken,” “Austin Powers,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). The conversation centers on the unlikely journey from outsider to icon, creative collaboration, and the significance of connection—in both personal friendships and creative projects. The hosts and Seth riff about the evolution of entertainment, memorable nerd moments (including working with George Lucas), the making of “Robot Chicken,” balancing artistic risk with parental responsibility, and the realities of sustaining relationships and career in Hollywood.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Entertainment for Short Attention Spans & the Rise of “Robot Chicken”

• Seth acknowledges the influence of “Robot Chicken” on a generation’s attention span, owning both the pride and concern.
  • “We saw it happen... we're really abbreviating the attention span of an entire generation of people. This is maybe a bad idea.” (Seth, 00:06)
• Nathan draws a line to TikTok and modern “scroll culture.”
  • “That became the future of entertainment.” (Nathan, 00:24)
  • “Look at TikTok.” (Seth, 00:25)
• The trio jokes about “Ow, my balls!” and reality TV’s lowest common denominators.
  • “There’s always going to be an audience for ‘Ow, my balls.’” (Seth, 00:29)

2. 'Spacemen' & Low Huggers: On Friendship & First Impressions

• The hosts lavish poetic praise on Seth’s ability to “low hug”—to be sincerely affectionate and present.
  • “He will hug you, and he will make a connection with you... He'll put his head on your chest and listen to your heart.” (Alan/Nathan, 02:51–03:19)
• Alan reflects: “He’s a peaceful person… He has a very big idea of the world and humanity, a connection.” (Alan, 03:27)

3. Iconic Encounters & Nerd Heaven

• Seth shares a cherished story about meeting Matt Groening at a Comic-Con panel:
  • “So we come back in and Kevin... goes, ‘What's in these?’ And Matt opens it up and it's all these portraits... I go, can I have the Homer? And he goes, yeah, yeah. And then he looked at us and he goes, anytime, guys. Anytime.” (Seth, 04:23–06:16)
• The group reminisces on “The Simpsons” cultural dominance and presidential commentary.
• Nostalgic TV moments and mutual awe for each other's accomplishments.

4. Paths Crossing: The Unlikeliness (and Inevitability) of Friendship

• Nathan details his earliest impression of Seth at a party, seeing him “holding court”—amazement at his relaxed confidence.
  • “This guy's ultra cool and he's totally confident and chill and he's just, he's so cool… here we are.” (Nathan, 10:19)
• Seth flips the perspective, seeing their meeting as inevitable:
  • “Every time I met anybody else who needed it the same way, I was like, I'm in the right place... that's the thing. Nathan, you look at our connection and say how unlikely. And I say, how inevitable.” (Seth, 11:11–12:24)

5. Early Ambition & the Perils of Success

• Seth delves into his journey from Philadelphia to LA, starting young, dealing with self-doubt, and the constant need for creative risk and reinvention.
  • “You see such little reassurance that any of that is replicatable… It's easy to get full of your own disbelief.” (Seth, 12:49)
  • “There have always been little bits of reassurance of like, oh, it’s working.” (Seth, 13:10)
• Transition into “Buffy” and sudden “big break” moments; the perils of early fame.
  • “I like to think that I was kind and respectful... but I know that there were plenty where I failed. And I've only gotten to learn from those experiences on other people's time.” (Seth, 14:16)

6. Moments of Validation and 'Making It'

• Seth shuns the idea of having ever “made it.”
  • “There's never an I made it. Nathan, I'm from New York, dude.” (Seth, 17:44)
• He references Dax Shepard on the feeling of being “invited”—the perpetual sense of imposter syndrome and gratitude.
  • “I never feel like, oh, I made it. But every time I get invited, I'm like, oh, they invited me.” (Seth, 18:07)
• Alan agrees: “I think from the outside looking towards somebody, it looks differently than as you experience it.” (Alan, 19:06)

7. Creative Collaboration, “Robot Chicken,” and Working with George Lucas

• The stars align behind “Robot Chicken’s” success, the pressure of running a writers’ room, and the shifting nature of humor and audience.
  • “Time spent with you, I feel like I'm in a writer's room. People are pitching bits the whole time...” (Nathan, 20:52)
• Seth recalls the genesis of collaborating with Lucasfilm, and his surreal, hard-won rapport with George Lucas:
  • “We got to spend a lot of time with George [Lucas]… Not just the volume of time, but the type of time we got to spend with him, because we were writing with him over like a four year period.” (Seth, 26:16)
  • On midichlorians: “If the force is a thing that you can tap into, like any kind of energy, like Tesla, you need to test the coil. And some people’s coils are better than others.” (Seth, 27:18)
• The iconic “Emperor phone call” sketch and its aftermath:
  • “Matt and I got a phone call and it said like Lucasfilm on the caller id. And we were just like, oh my God. Oh, no.” (Seth, 36:13)
  • “They wanted us to fly up to the Presidio and take a meeting with all their brass because they were trying to figure out what they were doing with Star Wars…” (Seth, 36:52)
  • “Matt said, what if we did a half hour of Robot Chicken that was all Star Wars? And they were like, oh, interesting. Interesting.” (Seth, 37:49)

8. Workplace Joy & Keeping the Creative Spirit

• Nathan shares an inside peek at the “Robot Chicken” studio culture—full of Nerf gun wars and childlike joy.
  • “Building like a tree house fort in the middle… There was a bazooka you had.” (Nathan, 40:06–40:53)
  • “I warn anybody that engages in those battles. I'm exclusively headshots.” (Seth, 41:22)

9. Parenthood, Youth, and Artistic Evolution

• Alan asks how becoming a parent has shifted Seth’s artistic priorities.
  • “I'm definitely conscious of what I put in front of the kid, you know, and I remember the rate at which I learned some of these ideas.” (Seth, 43:37)
• They discuss the impact of age and self-knowledge on marriage, family, and work.
  • “Because we're older now, it makes us feel like we're more capable of being the kind of parents that we want to be.” (Seth, 46:04)
• They all agree on the value of marrying well and mutual respect in relationships.
  • “What is, what's key to a good marriage?” (Nathan, 47:19)
  • “Respect.” (Alan, 47:24)
  • “Yeah, it really is like mutual respect.” (Seth, 47:25)

10. On Conventions, Curtain Calls, and Connection with Fans

• Warm reflections on the comic con world as a “troop” or a traveling show, and reframing cons as a curtain call—a moment for performers and fans alike.
  • “It's a fun thing for the performers, for anybody that's there signing whatever... it has the opportunity to feel like a troop, like a troupe that is rolling into town and putting on a show.” (Seth, 52:36)
  • “So that's when somebody said that the cons are like a curtain call. It really hit me that you get to have an individual experience with some of these people in a way that they're willing to… pay for that. They need to make an appointment for that. They want that. They have to tell you. And so, like, I'm there for it.” (Seth, 55:04)
  • “You give a lot.” (Nathan, 56:35)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the attention span of a generation:
  “We saw it happen... we're really abbreviating the attention span of an entire generation of people. This is maybe a bad idea.” — Seth Green (00:06)

• On friendship and creative life:
  “Nathan, you look at our connection and say how unlikely. And I say, how inevitable.” — Seth Green (12:24)

• On long careers in entertainment:
  “There's never an I made it... every time I get invited, I'm like, oh, they invited me.” — Seth Green (17:44, 18:07)

• On meeting George Lucas and Star Wars nerdom:
  “So, I was like, okay, first one. First one. First one... And then I didn't even, like, say anything to him until after the movie, after the reception...” — Seth Green recounting the cautious approach to Lucas (30:03–32:20)

• On “Robot Chicken” and the joy of creation:
  “It’s like putting on a play in your parents' basement then winning the Tony for talking.” — Seth Green (39:08)

• On cons as “curtain calls”:
  “He said, that's not for you. That's for them... The least you can do is stand there and take it.” — Seth Green, quoting Dan Florek (55:04)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:06 – The “Robot Chicken” effect on attention spans
• 02:46 – The ‘Low Hugger’ introduction of Seth Green
• 04:23–06:16 – Seth’s Comic Con / Matt Groening story
• 10:19–12:24 – Early LA days and “inevitable” friendships
• 17:44–18:07 – Insights about “making it” in showbiz
• 20:51 – On being a “Yes, and” guy and creative energy
• 26:16–34:30 – Nerd moments: The George Lucas connection and archive stories
• 36:13–37:49 – The “Emperor phone call” sketch and Lucasfilm partnership
• 40:06–41:22 – Robot Chicken studio Nerf wars
• 43:37 – Parenthood and artistic growth
• 47:19–49:27 – Advice (and humility) about marriage and relationships
• 52:36–55:04 – Comic cons, gratitude, and the art of the curtain call

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Final Thoughts

• The episode is a tapestry of comedy, nostalgia, vulnerability, and Hollywood war stories—a celebration of creative kinship, the unpredictability of the entertainment world, and the enduring friendships that grow along the way.
• Seth’s humility, wisdom, and “inevitable” optimism radiate throughout, lending playful gravitas to the conversation.
• The chemistry between all three is palpable; they punctuate deep subjects with jokes, impersonations, and plenty of mutual admiration.

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For anyone who has ever been awed by “Robot Chicken,” wondered what it’s like to befriend George Lucas, or tried (and failed) to articulate “making it” in Hollywood—this episode is for you.

Transcript

[Nathan Fillion]

Robot Chicken. You have sketches that are six seconds long in Robot Chicken.

[Seth Green]

I was sad about it for a while. Cause we saw it happen. Like we saw kids, this whole generation and then like the dads that were our age like handing it down to their kids and like, oh, we're really abbreviating the attention span of an entire generation of people. This is maybe a bad idea.

[Nathan Fillion]

And that became the future of Entertainment.

[Seth Green]

Look at TikTok.

[Nathan Fillion]

People are scrolling scrolling scrolling there's always.

[Seth Green]

Going to be an audience for Ow, my balls.

[Alan Tudyk]

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 spacemen Once we were.

[Alan Tudyk]

Spacemen Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and thank you for joining Nathan Fillion and myself, Alan Tudyk. For once we were spacemen. For once we were spacemen. And now we're just men. Actually, Nathan, would you say when you're a spaceman you're always a spaceman? I think so. You can't say like Neil Armstrong isn't a spaceman. Am I comparing myself to the man who walked on the moon first?

[Seth Green]

Yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

Even though my trip to space was a pretend one. That's pretty badass. I bet my story was a little bit.

[Nathan Fillion]

Hey, I just got here. What did I miss?

[Alan Tudyk]

Buddy, I thought you were here with me this whole time. Today we're being joined by someone who I guess was also a spaceman once. I mean, he has touched space. He has carved out his own place in the universe. He's created whole galaxies.

[Nathan Fillion]

He's also done that thing where you go up in the airplane, you come down and you're waitlist for a minute.

[Alan Tudyk]

Really?

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, he did it.

[Alan Tudyk]

I did that on a little flight in Fiji once. I don't think it's the same thing. The guy, he was the pilot was. He seemed stoned and he didn't wear shoes and he was like, watch this.

[Seth Green]

Oh boy.

[Alan Tudyk]

Ever say man, watch this. And then he put us going the nose up and then dove us. And then he let my wife fly. Yeah, he let Chris.

[Nathan Fillion]

Well, Jesus. Yeah. This doesn't sound like a professional.

[Alan Tudyk]

I was scared.

[Seth Green]

I was so scared.

[Nathan Fillion]

I can't make it today. I'm gonna send my cousin to. Alan, one thing about our guest today, I keep, I keep talking like it's gonna be a surprise. I'm sure it's gonna be right on the podcast title. Who the guest is today. Who do we have. Today, Alan.

[Alan Tudyk]

We have Seth Green, ladies and gentlemen.

[Nathan Fillion]

One thing about Seth Green that amazes.

[Alan Tudyk]

You, he's not afraid to low hug. You know, a lot of people don't go for a low hug because they're too concerned with status. He will hug you. He will hug you, and he will make a connection with you in a hug. He's not just there to just kind of slap your back. He's there to hug you, man. He's. Yeah, something about him. He's kind of a.

[Nathan Fillion]

He'll put his head on your chest and listen to your heart.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, he'll. He'll rest in there.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, he'll. And. And. And stay there for a little while.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's an embrace.

[Alan Tudyk]

He's a peaceful person. He's like, I'm not. He's not a hippie, but I think he sees the. The universe as a, you know, like, we're all stardust. He's one of those. It's not. He doesn't wear it on his sleeve or on his dashiki he wears, but it is who he is. He has a very big idea of the world and humanity, a connection.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'll agree. Let's bust right into it. All right.

[Alan Tudyk]

Let's kick this kid's ass. No, I want a hug. Ladies and gentlemen, Seth Green.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm seeing an original Matt groaning in the back of your picture. I'm just so jelly right now.

[Seth Green]

It's pronounced graining. I.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's what I said. We'll fix that in the mix.

[Seth Green]

We did not fix it in the mix. I got to do a Simpsons panel at Comic Con that Kevin Smith moderated. Cause we got to do. We've got to do a bunch of collabs with. Of the greatest honors of my life because I. I finally got to tell Matt this, but, you know, I was into comics really young, and so I saw life in hell when I was still in New York and just thought this was the funniest, most revolutionary panel comic I'd seen, as I had the art style of it. The. The. Where it's coming from is just so fucking funny. And then I made a movie with Julie Kavner the year that she started Tracy Ullman. And so I got to see the Simpsons, like, right out of the gate and just thought, holy genius, and got become a Fox primetime animated show. The first time that it happened since the Flintstones. And it. It took off so much because it was as severe as Married With Children was for that current culture where your son saying eat my shorts was so Offensive that the president had to comment on it, you know, so. Of course, of course. So I love Matt Groening, like in a way that is. Is befitting of an icon of stature. And so we're coming off this panel and Matt had just brought a big sketch pad and he said he drew a bunch of portraits on the train. And so he had everybody, like Lenny, Carl, everybody, everybody. He was giving them to people that ask questions on the panel. Anybody that asks a question, he'd rip it off. It's amazing, right? So we come back in and Kevin, CC still got two sketchbooks under his arm. He goes, what's in these? And Matt opens it up and it's all these portraits. Kevin goes, can I have the Maggie? And Matt's like, yeah, sure. And I. He rips it out. I go, can I have the homer? And he goes, yeah, yeah. And then he looked at us and he goes, anytime, guys. Anytime.

[Alan Tudyk]

Wow.

[Seth Green]

I get like. I get like choked like thinking about it even now. Cuz it's.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, it's just so cool.

[Seth Green]

I don't know. Love it. That's so.

[Alan Tudyk]

That is so part of the fabric of the American culture now. Simpsons. The Simpsons, especially when you think about the president had to comment on Eat My Shorts.

[Seth Green]

Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

Was it Clinton?

[Seth Green]

It was Reagan. Had to be, right. No, that can't be right. No, no. Who is. Who was after, right? Is that when it was.

[Nathan Fillion]

He seems like the typo.

[Seth Green]

Do you remember who was president when the. The challenger.

[Alan Tudyk]

We can find that out right now. We have a crack team of people here at once. We were spacemen and they check this stuff for us and they'll tell us.

[Seth Green]

The president who commented on Eat My shorts was George H.W. bush. I bet it was Reagan. It was probably Nancy, if we're being honest.

[Alan Tudyk]

She was into shorts.

[Seth Green]

There's a great picture of her on Mr. T's lap in like a Christmas scenario. And it's one of the greatest photos I've ever seen in my life. They both look real happy about it.

[Nathan Fillion]

Thank you, Seth. Thank you for coming. This is a personal favorite to us. And I know you're doing this out of the love of your heart because you've got so much that you can't even contain it. Alan, do you remember the first time you met Seth Green?

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, it must have been at a Con. It must have been at. At Comic Con or at your house.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't know. I don't know when you. I remember when I first met Seth Green when it was a little. What's that little street when you're coming up, Laurel Canyon, goes from Crescent Heights to Laurel Canyon. There's that little side street that kind of comes to the country store. The same one that goes to the country store.

[Seth Green]

Oh, that's Lookout.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't know what it's called. There was a house there. I don't know how I got invited. I got invited to a party. And it was a middle of the afternoon kind of party. It was a daytime thing. And about 70% of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer were there. And it was this brand new show. And I had auditioned for angel. The role of Angel. I didn't get it. Now, did you watch it for Angel? I did.

[Seth Green]

You didn't get it?

[Nathan Fillion]

No, no, I didn't get it.

[Seth Green]

Who got it?

[Alan Tudyk]

There's a guy named Day.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm gonna look it up. I'm gonna look it up. The fact I hope he's doing well, though. I just hope that kid's doing well. I walked into a room and there was a whole bunch of people. There was. There's some chairs and whatnot. Most people were sitting on the floor. Seth was sitting on the corner of. I don't know if it was like a footstool or the corner of, like a day bed or something. And he was holding court to about nine people minimum. And I remember thinking, oh, my God, this guy's like a huge TV star.

[Seth Green]

Why is he so insecure that he's performing from this room of 10?

[Nathan Fillion]

I just thought you were so relaxed. I thought, shouldn't he be, like, a little bit. I don't know.

[Alan Tudyk]

I don't know.

[Nathan Fillion]

I didn't know what TV stars were supposed to act like or anything like that. I was brand new to Los Angeles. I had just moved out here.

[Alan Tudyk]

Probably only good you first moved out and you went right up for angel, and then you're hanging out with this guy at a party in Laurel Canyon.

[Nathan Fillion]

I had done a couple of things. I had done a couple of things. Not much. Not much, but.

[Seth Green]

Did you already do Waitress by then?

[Nathan Fillion]

No. Much later, I feel like I.

[Seth Green]

Much later, I just come off so early.

[Nathan Fillion]

I moved out to Los Angeles. I did.

[Seth Green]

Oh, it was like two girls and a guy. Two. Not even two guys and go.

[Nathan Fillion]

Not even that. At that point. I had done, oh, Saving Private Ryan. I did Saving Private Ryan and Blast from the Past. And then a guest shot on an ABC cop show.

[Seth Green]

It might have been. It might have been Blast from the Past. I'm trying to figure out where I saw you because I Knew you. And it's maybe just because I'm so into all the, like, I wouldn't even say character actors. I'm super into character actors. But there's you. You know when you see somebody you like and you're like, ah, this guy. Bet we could do it together. Well, you know what I mean.

[Nathan Fillion]

I, I, I just remember my impressions of you. Thinking, this guy's ultra cool and he's totally confident and chill and he's just, he's so cool. But he gives it all away. He's not going, look at me cool. He's saying cool. And I was always so charmed by you. And then every time I would see you, you were always so extremely kind. And I thought it is so unlike. I always think about this, both of you, I think about this. All the choices in life that you had to make. Everything that happened to you, every, every, every divergent say, oh, I'm going to go left instead of right. Every time you made a choice, every time you nurtured a relationship and brought you forward, or you kick back and failure, everything that you did to bring you to the point in life where I met you is unlikely. It's unlikely that our paths would ever cross. So I look at you guys and I say, these are extremely unlikely friends that I would ever meet these guys. And here we are.

[Seth Green]

I have such a different perspective about it. See, I grew up in a place where I was like, I do not fit here. And I looked around at all the people that I was going to school with and their Philadelphia. Yeah, I grew up in Philadelphia in a school that was like, how cool. I don't know, 80% black kids and then the other like 17% was white Italian Catholics.

[Nathan Fillion]

What percent was ginger?

[Seth Green]

None. I was one.

[Nathan Fillion]

Just you?

[Seth Green]

The school was K through 12 and I was one of like five Jewish kids at the school. I was the only one in the school named Seth. And I was one of the few people that post the removal of the arts entertainment, some funding for our school, still wanted to like sing a dance and put on a show. And so I knew I was like, I gotta get the fuck outta here. There's nothing for me here. And I started going to New York by the time I was 7 years old. And by the time I was 16, I had moved far away to Los Angeles to pursue this dream. So every time I met anybody else who needed it the same way, I was like, I'm in the right place. I'm in the right place. And that's the thing, Nathan, you Look at our connection and say how unlikely. And I say, how inevitable.

[Alan Tudyk]

I agree.

[Nathan Fillion]

Seth, you started so young because I remember one time you and I were. I was. You were talking about some stuff and I said, whoa, whoa, whoa. And we got onto YouTube and did a deep dive. And I was watching you and I was thinking, I remember this commercial. I remember this. Well, how old were you when you started? All of a sudden you were a thing. Like, you were. You started, oh, my God, I'm doing.

[Seth Green]

Something I don't know.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow, that's that long ago?

[Seth Green]

Well, it's more. That's like you get different points of encouragement and then you spend, you know, the next, like three to five years second guessing that any of that was real. And you. You see such little reassurance that any of that is replicatable.

[Alan Tudyk]

Wow.

[Seth Green]

That it's easy to get full of your own disbelief. And that's usually a point in my life where I have to, like, take a good hard look and say, are we doing this? Or are you stay on or get off? Stay on or get off? Because it's never been easier for me, even at those inflection points where suddenly it's like you get a boost. If you can't take enough advantage of that moment, then it will pass and you have to create another one. So for me, there's always been little bits of reassurance of like, oh, it's working. You know what I mean? The audience shows up, something makes a lot of money. You get a meeting you never had before. You get to go to a party you never been to before. You, like, have that real chill social with somebody who you thought you'd never talk to. And then it all just expands the next couple years just like, was any of that real? Did that happen?

[Nathan Fillion]

Now, this is wisdom you acquire over years, though. At the time, you weren't going, you know, here's the thing. At the time, you were.

[Seth Green]

Nathan, I really enjoyed. Well, I really enjoyed my 20s and the early part of my 30s, because when. When Buffy happened. And even though it happened in a very small way, like we were on the wb, so the hit that Buffy was, was a hit with, like, my peer group, my age group, in a way it had never been. And also I'm playing a character that, like, kisses a girl. So all of a sudden I'm getting an entire different caliber of female looking at me in a way they've never looked at me. And I like to think that I was kind and respectful and direct and straightforward in each of those incidents. But I Know that there were plenty where I failed. And I've only gotten to learn from those experiences on other people's time. All I'm saying is that. Yeah, there's. That was a point. There was a point. 98 is exactly when Austin Powers came to DVD.

[Alan Tudyk]

You see, I've turned the moon into.

[Seth Green]

What I like to call a Death Star.

[Nathan Fillion]

What?

[Seth Green]

Nothing, Darth. What did you call me? No, nothing. Rip off. Which. Which had failed at the box office, by the way, made less in its. The first Austin Powers made less in its total run than the second one made in its opening weekend.

[Nathan Fillion]

Really? Or I should tell that my friends were throwing Austin Powers parties, right?

[Seth Green]

Only because it came out on DVD and became a thing. Nobody saw it in the theaters. Everybody ran from the theaters. So I became a series regular on Buffy. So I had already done nine episodes of Buffy come in for the second season. In every episode, Austin Powers on dvd and Can't Hardly wait comes out. So all of those things at the same time. And everybody knows my name in a way that they never did. And so at that point, I was like, oh, shit, this really shifted. This all shifted. And I'm so grateful that it happened before cameras were on cell phones. Cause I gotta tell you guys, I've had some really bad moments. I've had some really bad mom. Where somebody's filming me and I'm not able to be rational about it. And I'm usually humiliated by the end of that experience. So I've gotten better and better about keeping my cool. But I wouldn't have been able to go through, like. I look at a kid like Bieber, and I feel for him.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, boy.

[Alan Tudyk]

Is that what you mean by filming you? Like, people like, paparazzi type?

[Seth Green]

Not just, like, strangers, guys. I became a guy that. That only goes into stalls at bathrooms because I had too many people want to talk to me at the urinal. And I gotta tell you, dude, everybody thinks they're so subtle and new, but like this. Yo, what's up, dude? My immediate response is, hey, man, I'm not gonna talk to you with your dick in your hand. Yeah, I'm not.

[Alan Tudyk]

So let me get a hand on that. Is that.

[Seth Green]

I'm not gonna. I'm not. Yeah, so let me get a hand on that.

[Alan Tudyk]

So hand that thing to me.

[Seth Green]

Yo, you want to turn this all the way up? Come on, Alan. Alan. You know, I'm just like, y.

[Nathan Fillion]

So.

[Seth Green]

We're so dangerous together. No, don't apologize.

[Nathan Fillion]

When do you think I asked this of. Of everybody? When did you say to yourself, I've made it. Is that the moment when those things were happening for you?

[Seth Green]

There's never an I made it. Yeah, there's never an I made it. Nathan, I'm from.

[Nathan Fillion]

I disagree.

[Seth Green]

I'm from New York, dude. Here. Here's the thing. I heard. I heard Dax say something that I really liked. He said it to Darcy. You know Darcy Carden from the Good Place?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't think. I don't know.

[Alan Tudyk]

I mean, I know of her. I don't. Her and I never met, like, brilliant.

[Seth Green]

Anyway, so Dax had her on his podcast, and they were talking about, like, the feeling of you made it, or, like, when do you ever feel safe? And he said something about, like, it is a bit like a party. And he assured her, you're always gonna be invited, so you're never gonna feel. I never feel like, oh, I made it. But every time I get invited, I'm like, oh, they invited me. You know what I mean? It's like the Emmys. The best way you can think about the Emmys is, like, it's your business prom, you know, and if you're lucky, you're getting a superlative. Maybe you got the best this or that, but everybody gets to go. Everybody comes to the dinner, and you sort of celebrate the year of your peers achievements. You know, you put each other over in a way that makes you feel like, oh, I'm still in this club, Whatever this sick collection of psychopaths is like, what's wrong with us? Why do we do this? Why are we doing this, guys?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it's true, though. You don't. There isn't. I don't think. Nathan, of all the people we've talked to so far, we have not had anyone that says the time I felt like I made it was when this happened. I think it's a very common thing not to feel like you cannot. It's not imposter syndrome, but it's. I think from the outside looking towards somebody, it looks differently than as you experience it.

[Seth Green]

I'm not trying to retire, Seth.

[Alan Tudyk]

I. I was uncomfortable around you because you were. You were too famous.

[Seth Green]

Me? Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

Like, because you beat me up for a role a long time ago in the 90s.

[Seth Green]

Oh, here we go. I lost a Knight's Tale to you, so.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, really?

[Nathan Fillion]

Whoa.

[Seth Green]

I never even got close to that. You could have. It was. Nobody could do that the way you did.

[Alan Tudyk]

God, I just.

[Seth Green]

I love you so much as an actor. I don't even think, really, like, it. It almost outdoes My love for you as a performer.

[Alan Tudyk]

I'm trying to find. I can't remember the name of the. It was a big movie. Pump up the vault. No, no, no, no, no.

[Seth Green]

Stop it. Were you up for my part? And Pump up the volume.

[Alan Tudyk]

I was in New York. It was in the 90s. It was with Jennifer Love Hewitt. I remember.

[Seth Green]

Can't hardly wait. Oh, can't hardly wait. No fucking hardly wait. And I saw that character.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. And I saw it and I was like, oh, that's how you do.

[Seth Green]

Was. It was one of those. One of those.

[Alan Tudyk]

Like, oh, I knew you. I knew of you as an actor, and you nailed it. It was like something I was reaching for that I couldn't do. I always thought of you as somebody who'd made it.

[Seth Green]

I love that.

[Alan Tudyk]

From the 90s on. Like, you're there.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. That can't be denied, the success. Here's another thing I want to say. Clearly. Seth, you mentioned this.

[Seth Green]

You are a.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes. And guy. Time spent with you. I feel like I'm in a writer's room. People are pitching bits the whole time, and then they're kind of creating scenes, and everything is moving forward. It's incredibly entertaining.

[Seth Green]

Do you know, Ask my wife. She'll tell you a different story.

[Nathan Fillion]

Then there was a moment when. And this is. This is long after you've done Robot Chicken, and you're clearly a businessman. And there was a Star wars project. I was doing Castle at the time, and it was a Star wars project that you wanted me to come in on. And it didn't work out. And I was. I was furious. I was. I was livid. I.

[Seth Green]

We got deep into it, too. And Nathan, the. The most upsetting thing is that fucking Disney owns abc, right? So there's so many ways. Anyway, but here's the thing I remember.

[Nathan Fillion]

Here's what really did. My takeaway from that whole experience, which I think if this is the only takeaway, that was fantastic. You from your normal joke, joke, and everything's a bit. And having fun. And you dropped your voice an octave and you said, well, here's the thing. And you got very gentle in your speech, and it was a lot of. A lot of wind in your voice. It was very soft. And you started talking business. And business as it pertains to relationships. And it's about people and it's about the dynamics. And here's what you have to understand. And here's what you don't. You don't want to take offense to this. Just take. Take a lesson. It was such an education for me, first of all, I learned a thing or two about a thing or two. And then second, I learned so much about you in that moment. And I realized, oh my God, this guy's been running a business at that point over a decade. I think you'd been doing Robot Chicken at least. When did that start? Robot Chicken?

[Seth Green]

We started in 2005.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Seth Green]

Put it on the air in five.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, so that sounds about right. Robot Chicken. You have sketches that are six seconds long in Robot Chicken, right?

[Seth Green]

Yeah. I was sad about it for a while because we saw it happen. Like we saw kids this whole generation and then like the dads that were our age, like handing it to their kids are like, oh, we're really abbreviating the attention span of an entire generation of people. This is maybe a bad idea. Like, ah, let's make a half hour narrative just to balance it out. Just to show like you could tell a story. It's.

[Nathan Fillion]

You know what though, to me was always like channel surfing. But you only catch like the funny bit of each surf you do. Each time you click that channel surf, you just get the best little bit, best little bit, best little bit. And now you look.

[Seth Green]

This is that.

[Nathan Fillion]

And that became the future of Entertainment.

[Seth Green]

Look at TikTok.

[Nathan Fillion]

People are scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.

[Seth Green]

There's always going to be an audience for Al My balls. Always.

[Nathan Fillion]

Demolition Man, I think predicted the future in a couple of years.

[Seth Green]

Idiocracy. Like all of the channels, the Alart, the, the like Soda on the street. There's like so many things. Just a 24 hour channel dedicated to watching people hurt themselves. Yeah, I mean we're, we're so close. And then, and then just like a pro wrestler as the president.

[Alan Tudyk]

President, exactly.

[Seth Green]

You know what I mean? It's bananas. The whole thing is bananas. Well, all the same, I definitely noted like as much as I want to pretend that we had nothing to do with it, I definitely noted the things that people credit us with in the aftermath. Because I meet 20 year olds now who tell me that they grew up watching robots again. And I think about the shit that I watched when I was 12 and 13. All of the dirty, like crazy. Whether it was Monty Python or Benny Hill or even straight Saturday Night Live. Like I watched everybody stand up. I watched the, the real Muppet show when I was young. And so I remember what that kind of subversive influence felt like. I read National Lampoon, I read Heavy Metal. And so the idea that you could mix all these things together to really get a point across, to really tell a story that you could mix comedy and dramatic style. I was already in love with Spinal Tap, right? So a mockumentary that's played dead straight, that all these tropes, these ideas, these comedic, like, devices and archetypes, I am honored to think that we pass these down, right? Yeah. Everything that we've learned, all the cool shit, we were like, yeah, yeah, you can do it like this. And I think about every time someone before me was generous enough to be like, oh, what's up, kid? You wanna. You wanna know a secret? And then they tell you, right? So that's because I started so young, I really noted the difference between people that wanted to talk to you like a peer and people that didn't even know how their gift worked and they just needed to, like, do their fucking thing. I'm a. I like. You know what I mean, Alan? Like, I'm gonna support a supporting actor first. I feel that first. So whenever I see any other actor and that's their process, I'm like, do your process. I'm here to. I'll do my thing. Yeah, yeah. So with that, I like, anytime any of these kids or parents say, hey, I learned. I learned this. Oh, my favorite. This was the greatest thing that happened, right? So we've done. Because of all that Star wars shit we did, we got to spend a lot of time with George.

[Alan Tudyk]

George Lucas.

[Seth Green]

Yeah, George Lucas. And I know it's crazy. I know it's crazy the kind of time we spent with him. Not just the volume of time, but the type of time we got to spend with him, because we were writing with him over like a four year period, so the types of conversations that we had. And of course we would just like hit him up as you get comfortable enough to be like, george, what did you mean with the midichlorians? Really? You got to ask that? We did, we did. And you know when you hear him talk about it and he talks about biology and he talks about prodigies and what mitochondria is. And you would think in a future science world you would have a way to evaluate whose blood does what, right? And he said, and you know, if the force is a thing that you can tap into, like any kind of energy, like Tesla, you need to test the coil. And some people's coils are better than others. So Qui Gon had a machine for that.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Seth Green]

I know. We all sat at that table, we're like, fuck, dude, that's. I gotta. Why is that in the. Why isn't that in the movie? Why isn't that. And he's like. He's like, do you need me to hold your hand? Like, can't you just see the device?

[Alan Tudyk]

And then I was distracted by Jar Jar.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh. So the whole point of that was that George is hilarious. George is a very funny man, and he's got a wicked sense of humor that's incredibly sophisticated.

[Nathan Fillion]

What does he see in you?

[Seth Green]

How did you.

[Nathan Fillion]

When you first conceived of, hey, let's do some Star Wars? How did you get that meeting? How do you call him up? How do you present that? And what does he see in you that he says, yeah, let's do this.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. That's a long. It's a long story, Nathan, because I met him six or eight times before he ever remembered that it was me.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's fair. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah.

[Seth Green]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

But I made. I meet a lot of ginger superstars.

[Seth Green]

It's more. It's more. He's like, you gotta. You gotta really get into his orbit for him to even notice. You either have to accomplish something that he is excited about, or you gotta be fucking cool when he meets you. And so that's what it came down to. I got invited by mtv. I had been doing enough stuff. So MTV hosted the, like, premieres for Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, in Revenge of the Sith up at Skywalker Mansion. They invited everybody. Like, the first time we went in sync, and everybody from the WB was there. It was hilarious. It's so funny. Yeah, me and a lot. Me and Elijah woods saw Episode one together. Jason Schwartzman was there. Like, it was such a. We're all looking at each other like, what the fuck? We all love Star Wars. This is clearly what this is. So I got to go to two of those, and George is there, and he's just hanging about, you know, two times in a row, he's not gonna remember. I'm like, you sign my laminate, you know? And so the third one I get invited. MTV is like, hey, we want to do a BTS George walking around the archives. And at this time, I'd already been in the archives twice. Got to look at all the shit. Like, really get to think about it. Think about all of this. They said, we would you walk George around the archives and, like, ask him questions? And I said, yes, yes, I will. Yes, I will. And I thought about it. I'm like, here's your fucking chance, dude. Talk to this guy like a peer. We're going to walk around the archives. You take the time to just talk to him as a peer, and he will see you as a peer. And I had to do it. I had to, because that was the job I'd been tasked with. And I had just made such an idiot of myself too long in front of this guy. I wanted to make a connection. So I went to. Right when I got to that screening. God, was I by myself? I can't remember. But I went to the back of the place where I knew I could smoke joint.

[Alan Tudyk]

Are you. Wait a second. Are you saying you smoked a joint at Skywalker Ranch? No. You're not saying that?

[Seth Green]

No. Why would I say that? No. Thank you. But there is a patio towards the back near where the vineyard is that has a brick path. The front of this building. That would be the perfect place to not get any kind of attention. Anyway, so he's. I see long, long after the day, I see him walking up and he's by himself, and he's coming in, and right away he sees a person and he's like, you know, I don't want to talk to anybody. And I go. I go, hey, George, you finished with the press yet? And he said, not yet. Not yet. I go, you come in? Was that. It was. You have a press it? And he goes, yeah, yeah. And I go, what's the question? And he looks at me and I go, every time I do a junket, no matter who I'm talking to, they ask the same question. I'm curious what your question is. And he said, oh, it's about the tech. Like, what about this or the tech? And I go, that's cool. Well, listen, I'm the guy that's going to be walking you around the archive later and asking you questions about the stuff, and I'll try to avoid that question. And he was like, okay. And I go, yeah, I'm going to hang out here for a second. You got to get in there. And he said, I do. I go, you need. You need backup? He said. He said, no, no, I got it. And then this, like, goes in there. And so I was like, okay, first one. First one. First one. And then I didn't even, like, say anything to him until after the movie, after the reception. I might have, like, caught his eye at one point, like, after we saw the movie and just been like. Like. And then just kept walking. So when we got into the archives, I got there first, and we had, like, friends and stuff, and we're just, like, checking out props laid out for us. They got the Vader armor that's been resized for Hayden they got a bunch of lightsabers. The tests, the ones that you can actually, like, fight with, that have green on them. Huge Chewbacca, like, stuffed in mannequin, and.

[Alan Tudyk]

He'S got taxidermied Wookies.

[Seth Green]

It's.

[Alan Tudyk]

It's actually, it's. It seems wrong, you know, it's so uncomfortable.

[Seth Green]

Alan, you've walked into these situations. There's, like, three people with cameras. There's at least two cameras. Two cameras. And then all of the press people are there. There's the MTV reps. There's a bunch of, like, Lucasfilm reps.

[Nathan Fillion]

There's a.

[Seth Green]

It feels. And they are in a natural. You around the table where all of the stuff is set up. So as you enter the room, they're like, we're waiting for you to do something. And so I. I was like, all right, all right. So I just go. I just go. Don't hesitate. Just get out on stage and, like, start looking at the props. And. And then George comes in, and he walks into this room. He sees that big U of people, and he sees me. And I go, hey, buddy. Comes straight at me. Come straight at me first. He goes. He goes, hey, here, come over here. And he takes me, and I go, this is it. I'm your prop. And he goes and puts me into Chewbacca's arms. So now I'm under Chewbacca's arms, getting a hug, and I go, this is great. It's a prom picture. I always wanted to go to prom with the wookie. Ma. Get a shot, Ma. You know what I mean? He like a little bit of. A. Little bit of a chuckle. I get him, and then I step out of that. He grabs the dome of Hayden's helmet. Not the face mask. He just puts the dome on me. And with this, we're this close. And I go, you're making me look like Rick Moranis.

[Alan Tudyk]

Great.

[Nathan Fillion]

Great.

[Seth Green]

And I was like, here we go. I got it. I got it. So then we just spent the next 45 minutes walking around the archives. And I know the. That's in there. And I know what they pushed forward technologically, and I know the story of how they figured this out. So I wanted to know about that. I was like, hey, talk to me about shooting these miniatures and how many. This is a Ken doll. Like, how did you do that to do this? And then I said, I've heard. Now, I've heard, like, anecdotally that all the stuff in the Death Star is GRE that the builders, like, took out of other models. You know, and he's like, oh, yeah, this is this thing. Right? So I just got. I just got into it like that and it was. It was a really good meeting. Yeah. And that was it. We just didn't even. There was nothing after that for quite a while. And then sort of out of nowhere, when Robot was happening. Second season, that emperor phone call sketch.

[Alan Tudyk]

Go for Papa Palpatine.

[Seth Green]

You have a collect call from Darth Vader. Ugh, I. I gotta take this. Hold on.

[Alan Tudyk]

Vader. How's my favorite Sith?

[Seth Green]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Alan Tudyk]

Just slow down.

[Seth Green]

Huh? What do you mean they blew up the Death Star? Oh, right.

[Alan Tudyk]

That was.

[Nathan Fillion]

Until we watched that three times a month.

[Seth Green]

Really?

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, we watched it several times together. I remember when it came out, we just kept playing it again and again and again. It was so funny.

[Seth Green]

It is really funny because it took so many shapes. Right. Like when that got pitched, it was Doug Goldstein that pitched it. And something about it just wasn't quite hitting right. Like the idea, we all love this idea of Vader, of Vader trying to make that call and how pathetic he could look. And I pitched the. The like collect call be. So that Darth Vader. Yeah. And then, I don't know, the sheer.

[Nathan Fillion]

Brilliance of it being a one sided cult.

[Seth Green]

Yeah, well, let's, you know, you get the. It's. It's so funny. It's so funny to think about the emperor in that context. And so we were, you know, by second season, we had had most of the, like, water cooler conversations on camera. Right. So you're already. We're nowhere near the Internet besting you for telling these ideas first. So we are just part of like Family Guy saying this stuff out loud. I don't know, in a. In a bigger microphone than before.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Seth Green]

So that sketch got to George, Matt and I got a phone call and it said like Lucasfilm on the caller id. And we were just like, oh, my God. Oh, no. Oh, no.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, no.

[Seth Green]

We're gonna get sued for something. Are we, Are we getting sued? Is this what happens now?

[Alan Tudyk]

You picked it up, Go for Palpatine?

[Seth Green]

That kind. Well, kind of. Matt actually answered the phone. Matt and Seth's office. And we thought this was a fucking joke because the woman who was the head of publicity is named Tracy Canobio. And we're like, come on now what? Help me, Obi Wan Kenobio.

[Nathan Fillion]

Okay.

[Seth Green]

Yeah, yeah, okay. She was for real. And they wanted us to fly up to the Presidio and take a meeting with all of their brass because they were trying to figure out what they were doing, what they were doing with Star wars in 2006. They were just trying to figure it out. What are we going to do?

[Nathan Fillion]

They're saying they called you and it was their idea to work together.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. Wow. But it wasn't.

[Nathan Fillion]

Well, that makes it easy.

[Seth Green]

Well, it wasn't like, make a show. You know, this thing had to get loud enough that George was like, how do you see this thing?

[Alan Tudyk]

Right.

[Seth Green]

You know what I'm saying?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Seth Green]

And we were. We're just lucky. George has kids that were into the Internet. You know, that's. You hear about stuff. How you hear about stuff. So that was it. That was the first thing. Matt. They tried to pitch us on all this stuff, and Matt said, what if we did a half hour of Robot Chicken that was all Star Wars? And they were like, oh, interesting. Interesting.

[Nathan Fillion (closing credits)]

Hollywood secrets.

[Nathan Fillion]

I love hearing this stuff, man.

[Seth Green]

Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

I had that DVD. I had my chicken DVDs of that.

[Seth Green]

I loved it. I loved it. And we. The crazy thing about it is that we got the approval to do ours, and we're writing it the same time that Family Guy got the approval to do theirs, and we're writing it. So I'm calling Seth MacFarlane. We're on the stage at Comic Con announcing it, and we're like, what is happening?

[Nathan Fillion]

That's fantastic.

[Seth Green]

What is happening?

[Alan Tudyk]

So he's a big nerd, too. He's a big sci fi guy.

[Seth Green]

He definitely loves sci fi. His pockets are much more. Are much smaller. I've got like a wide net. I love pop and the stuff that really collects people. That's kind of my favorite passion.

[Alan Tudyk]

But he.

[Seth Green]

He goes a little more exclusive into the. Some of the stuff. But I. I get him every once in a while. That's where we really connect.

[Nathan Fillion]

Robot Chicken, hugely successful. Really long running. What's your takeaway when you go, okay, finally. All right, that was. Great job, everybody. Wrap it up. And what's the takeaway? What do you walk away with from a project like that?

[Seth Green]

That's.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's yours from the get go. That's yours from the bottom up.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. I think it's just a validation that you can pursue those kinds of ideas and that they could be successful. Like, there was a moment where we were winning our first Emmy and I was like, on stage with Sen Rice and the. All the people that made this. It was just like, this is absurd, guys. This is absurd. And I. I think I said something along the lines of, this seems amazing to get an award like this. For making something with a bunch of friends that we truly enjoy and truly enjoy making for anybody. They're like, what is this like? What's it like to. For this show to be a thing? And I can only say it's like putting on a play in your parents basement then winning the Tony for talking. What are you even talking about when.

[Nathan Fillion]

You say and you enjoy making it? I'm going to remind you of a time my brother was visiting Los Angeles. You offered us. This was when your studio was in Hollywood. Your stupid monkey.

[Seth Green]

Oh my God. Yeah, when we were making it with.

[Nathan Fillion]

Shadow Machine and it was a bit of a. It was like a massive warehouse and parts were sectioned off.

[Seth Green]

It's all propaganda.

[Nathan Fillion]

Building like a tree house fort in the middle of the story. That kind of architecture looked over the. And we're having a great time. Alan. It was, it's. It's just a creative universes happening.

[Seth Green]

It's the same place where. Where Michael Bay and Antoine Fuqua cut their teeth were making commercials. That, that was the old propaganda studios that shattered history.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, but on everybody's desk or in the corner of everybody's room, like leaning up and every. And everybody's. There's like a Nerf gun of some sort. Some are little pistols, some are bigger, like shotguns. There was a bazooka you had.

[Seth Green]

There's like a long range rocket.

[Nathan Fillion]

Finally we're going to what's going on with all this stuff? And. And someone goes, oh yeah. Sometimes, you know, a couple shots get fired and then sometimes there's an all out Nerf war. And my brother and I are kind of experimenting with these guns and kind of shooting at each other. And then someone comes around the corner goes, oh. And they go get a gun and someone comes and all of a sudden Seth's head pops out and goes. And a dart hits me dead center in the forehead. Yeah. I drop down and fall down all the stairs.

[Seth Green]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I warn anybody that engages in those battles. I'm exclusively headshots. So if you.

[Nathan Fillion]

It was no lie.

[Seth Green]

If you shoot at me, I'm coming.

[Nathan Fillion]

For your face right between my eyes. Wow. But it was clear.

[Seth Green]

It was clear that those were somebody's glasses. There's a video of me hitting Tom Root right in the glasses on one of our DVDs.

[Nathan Fillion]

It was clear you guys, you guys were having fun, that you fostered that kind of joy.

[Seth Green]

You got to make me love your.

[Nathan Fillion]

Show even more knowing that that's where it came from, that that's where it was born.

[Seth Green]

Thanks, man.

[Alan Tudyk]

I have a question that might take it in a different direction.

[Nathan Fillion]

Let's do it.

[Seth Green]

Yeah, I've heard that about you.

[Alan Tudyk]

It just. Maybe just a subtle direct. Who knows? You know, I love Robot Chicken. A lot of the. It wasn't a highbrow affair. The humor. No, not at all. But it does. I mean, it does draw on hard R. It's a hard R. There's a lot of. A lot of erections and. And ejaculations and really, really funny.

[Seth Green]

But there is a majority voting process, so there's plenty of things that I was like, guys, we don't need this. But. But admittedly, I did vote. I voted for the Michael bay with the 18 inch prehensile penis sketch. And you know what, guys? I stand behind it.

[Alan Tudyk]

I would not stand behind a 18 inch prehensile penis. You're gonna want to keep that in front of you.

[Nathan Fillion]

But I want to know what the caller ID said after that sketch.

[Seth Green]

We've never talked about.

[Alan Tudyk]

Maybe that explains the urinal.

[Seth Green]

I'm getting so off topic. Alan, hit me with the question. I'm sorry.

[Alan Tudyk]

Well, now you are a father, you have a child, which is for some reason, because so much. You're very youthful. I know time works in a way that we all get older, but you have so much youth. I've always seen you as youthful. The humor, it's playful and I don't want to say immature, but on a maturity level, you can access, I think, that audience. So now that you're an adult with a child.

[Nathan Fillion]

Right.

[Alan Tudyk]

Have your interests changed? You feel a growth in that way?

[Seth Green]

I'm definitely conscious of what I put in front of the kid, you know, and I remember the rate at which I learned some of these ideas. So I'm sort of taking it as it comes and not trying to put anything in front of the kid that they're not ready for.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right. But as an artist. As an artist, I don't have any.

[Seth Green]

Children like what I want to make.

[Alan Tudyk]

They may know this. I have no children. And the only time I ever wanted children, I realized it was a very selfish reason, was because I was like, God, if I get a role as a father, I need to have a child so that I can know how to act right.

[Seth Green]

Like a father.

[Alan Tudyk]

And I went, that's the worst reason to ever have a child. And I didn't have one.

[Seth Green]

Also difference, though.

[Alan Tudyk]

What's that?

[Seth Green]

Well, I do think you can tell the difference in actors playing parents before and after they've had a kid.

[Alan Tudyk]

I Just when you. I remember finding out that you had a kid and it was like, I. For some reason, you more than most people. For me it was like, wow, you guys, you and your wife, you're so youthful in. And just your spirit in spirit that to be a parent, to feel like it could be a lot of fun, I guess, maybe. Is it? Yeah.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. I like, especially at this age where I'm far more relaxed, far more confident in my own identity. I don't. Neither one of us, we've both spent our 20s and 30s, like really living our lives. And then by the time we met each other, we just like got together so soundly and neither one of us were trying to have kids. We weren't even talking about it. But then we lived 10 years of really great life together, did a bunch of stuff, traveled everywhere, got to know each other, like really got sure that it's this person. Right? For better, for worse, it's this person richer, poorer, you know, fucking sickness and in health. I guess it's this person most all that shit. Nathan. It's really tough. It's really tough. And it's also. It like requires so much effort on both of your part. It just requires so much effort all the time and it blows up plenty of times. And then you got to put it back together.

[Alan Tudyk]

Is this the marriage or the child thing?

[Seth Green]

That's the marriage. That's the marriage just getting to a point where we were like, what if we had a family? What if it was our family? You know what I mean? Because we're older now, it makes us feel like we're more capable of being the kind of parents that we want to be.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, I get that.

[Nathan Fillion]

You feel you're mature enough.

[Alan Tudyk]

You're the grand. Your grandparents raising a child instead of parents. The kids always love grandparents more that they're a little bit more down to earth.

[Seth Green]

Spoil them a little bit too. But yes, I love them.

[Alan Tudyk]

You let them have cigarettes at a nice early age. Just my grandparents.

[Nathan Fillion]

Okay.

[Seth Green]

Sorry.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah.

[Seth Green]

I wound up smoking weed with my like 60, 70 year old uncle. And that was an amazing experience. He was always the coolest.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'll say this about both of you. You have a friend who has a significant other. You. You hope that you can find common ground and enjoy this person at least half as much as you enjoy your friend. If you can stand having them around, it'. Win. But I'll say both of you married people that I endeavor to spend time with even when you're not around.

[Seth Green]

Yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, that's. I've Been wanting to talk to you about that.

[Seth Green]

Up high, buddy.

[Alan Tudyk]

Because you're always around when I'm not here.

[Seth Green]

It's. So what's up with these unscheduled lunches?

[Nathan Fillion]

Honestly, you both did some great picking out there.

[Alan Tudyk]

You did some.

[Nathan Fillion]

You both did some great picking out there. And the rest of us, we really appreciate it.

[Seth Green]

Oh, you're sweet, buddy.

[Nathan Fillion]

What do you. This is for both of you. What is, what's key to a good marriage?

[Alan Tudyk]

Respect.

[Seth Green]

Yeah, it really is like mutual respect.

[Alan Tudyk]

Just respect and communication.

[Nathan Fillion]

You make it sound easy.

[Alan Tudyk]

Well, with my wife, I. I have the ability when we are not in good moods, which has been lately because we've been looking to move. And that is just a stressful, stressful, stressful thing. And so it seems like we keep forgetting to eat. And so we find ourselves towards the end of the day, exhausted and hungry. And it's like, are you gonna put that there? Well, we gotta, we just gotta stop. Let's get something to eat. We gotta eat something. And we both were connected in a way. And I'm like, let's stop moving in this direction. Stop, stop, stop. Let's eat something. And then the minute we're halfway through our meal, we're laughing again.

[Seth Green]

So.

[Alan Tudyk]

But we also got married older. You know, I'm 54 and we've only been married eight years. So I had a lot of relationships. And I'm sorry to those women that I made a lot of mistakes and I think I've apologized to most of them. But yeah, we're both adult, so that's helpful. I don't know about you. You youthful too. You and Claire over there.

[Seth Green]

I feel the same way. By the time Claire and I had met, we had both gone through a lot of the shit that people need to go through for them to feel comfortable in their own skin. Far enough along your own journey of self discovery or recovery or whatever journey you're on to be able to love yourself enough, know how to love yourself enough that you could allow someone else to love you and you could give them a kind of love that you reserve exclusively for them and also be capable of reserving it.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right?

[Seth Green]

Like, that's the challenge. So that was it. We both had been like, through a lot of that. So by the time we met each other, we were like, ah. What if it was you, though? What if it was you? Is that even a thing? Could it be you?

[Alan Tudyk]

Wow.

[Nathan Fillion]

A friend of mine said, he said two things are critical for successful people that he admires. One is they have to be in on the joke. And they have to be fundamentally grateful. And I think, Seth, I think you have those both in spades.

[Seth Green]

I can only say to you. Namaste.

[Nathan Fillion]

No, it's Nathan.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. See that? You just proved my point. Yeah. Love you, buddy. You're the best. Like, who's coming, buddy?

[Nathan Fillion]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming down and talking to us today. I can't.

[Seth Green]

We're running out of time.

[Nathan Fillion]

You can't. All the years.

[Seth Green]

I don't know. You're good with words, Nathan. I believe you could.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'll write it down. I'll send you a text.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. And you know what? I love you both so extensively. It's amazing to see you both doing a show together. I'm sure this thing, if it hasn't already, like, catch fire just because you're so fun. You're both such awesome people.

[Alan Tudyk]

Dude, so are you.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's true. Think about it.

[Alan Tudyk]

You're amazing.

[Seth Green]

You're amazing.

[Alan Tudyk]

Seth's a lover. Whenever anybody sees Seth Green. No, he's a lover.

[Seth Green]

He's a lover. Look, I'll fight if I have to. I've done it before. I just.

[Nathan Fillion]

Really?

[Seth Green]

Really. Yeah, of course. I want to hear about Philadelphia in New York. Yes. You think I haven't fought before?

[Alan Tudyk]

I've got such a big mouth and I've never had to really fight.

[Seth Green]

Well, that's. I figured. I figured that out. That was how you figure it out. You get your ass thrown downstairs a lot. You're like, I gotta figure out how to talk my way out of this. Once I get your hand on you, it's kind of over. You're like, I'm back here. I gotta get my line in quicker to the punchline right away. Get to the fucking punchline. Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

And that's how you developed your short form that ended up becoming Robot Chicken.

[Seth Green]

You know what that's. That is. There's the button. Thanks, Nathan. I could see you patiently waiting.

[Nathan Fillion]

No, I'm just thinking, let's do a con together, guys, again. And then let's go on vacation.

[Seth Green]

I'm so into that. I'm so into that. I'd love you. I'm doing, like, three before the end of the year.

[Alan Tudyk]

Me, too.

[Seth Green]

You're good at those.

[Nathan Fillion]

You're good at those.

[Seth Green]

You are, too. Oh, my God. Nathan. Allen. We got. Nathan and I got to do a panel together. Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah.

[Seth Green]

Just a solo panel together. It was amazing.

[Alan Tudyk]

I remember early on in my Congoing days, I was talking to you, Seth, and I said, and you You. I. I've been at one and. And I mentioned it, and you're like, oh, how'd you.

[Nathan Fillion]

How was it?

[Alan Tudyk]

Did you enjoy yourself? And I was like, no, no, it was tough. And I. I found it stressful because the. I was having this existential crisis of too much appreciation was screwing me up. Like, people were too nice to me or something. And. And you go, I think you're hanging out with the wrong people. Cons are a blast. And it was like a true thing. When you hear it, it just goes dong. And it rang in my head. It was like, yeah, yeah. And it was almost like an immediate attitude adjustment that I really built on from there because I've gone to them for decades since.

[Seth Green]

So. Thank you. It's a fun thing for the performers, like, for anybody that's there signing whatever version of it you're doing for the behind the scenes, it has the opportunity to feel like a troop, like a troupe that is rolling into town and putting on a show. And I love that we're all in some version of the same business. It is show business. If you watch the Fabelmans, we're all determined to put our head in the lion's mouth, and there's no fucking stopping us. So when I see my fellow people, I don't care to denote accomplishment or who's made the most money. I just feel like, oh, these are the people that I had to search out because I was not growing up around them. Oh, how great.

[Alan Tudyk]

That is a great way to see it, because I love the idea of being a traveling showman in that way that sort of like, they come to town and put on a show, and it really is that there is that. Especially some of those kooky. Some of the kooky concert, the old. The old school, kooky conscious. They aren't as many. There aren't as many of them as there used to be.

[Seth Green]

Well, they've all. They've all sort of taken a nod from San Diego, and that format has spread all over the world because people see how efficiently you can make money on all of these passions of ours. And it's. It's tough, right? It's. It's tough to. I balance that in the. In the one to one exchanges. Right. Like when. When I.

[Nathan Fillion]

The connections.

[Seth Green]

Yeah, there's a. There's. Nobody goes and stands in your line by accident. They have to want to be there. And what I find, I'm sure, is the same as you. Like, the people that come to me, they want a picture sign. They want A pop sign, whatever it is that they want. There's a real reason that they want that. It's very rarely I'm gonna resell this for more money.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right.

[Seth Green]

It's almost always like, hey, man, me and my mom or. Or it's like, you know, me and my brother, or like, you know, my dad and my sick man, we. Or it's like, you know, my friend died and we always like, whatever the fuck it is, they need to tell me and I am there to validate that experience.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, man.

[Seth Green]

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, just to. It's. I had it described to me as a curtain call. And. And you know, I was very uncomfortable with curtain call. The only time I've done like A. Like a 42 performance stage play, I was very uncomfortable with the curtain call. When we started, an actor named Dan Florek was my co star in it. Great, great actor. We're coming off stage after the previews. Like, we've just started hitting the show and I'm like, I'm bound, like, all right. I'm just like, thanks, everybody. And we were barely off the stage. He grabbed, like, shoves me into the dressing room. He goes, what the was that? The was the was that? And I go, what are you talking about? He goes, this like, no, I don't know. I'm sorry. And I go, it's just embarrassing. I'm very uncomfortable with that kind of accolade. And he go. He grabs me. He goes, that's not for you. That's for them. They've just gone. They've just gone through this experience with you, and they don't know how to express their gratitude except to do this. The least you can do is stand there and take it. Wow. And it changed me, changed the way I thought about the curtain call as the opportunity to validate the audience's experience. And so that's when somebody said that the cons are like a curtain call. It really hit me that you get to have an individual experience with some of these people in a way that they're willing to, like, pay for that. They need to make an appointment for that. They want that. They have to tell you. And so, like, I'm there for it. You know, it's why I can't do a lot. It's why I can't do a lot because it is a lot of energy and it is a lot. You take a lot. And I'm like, deeply empathic and it is.

[Nathan Fillion]

And you give a lot.

[Seth Green]

Yeah. So I gotta get my head in the game, and I gotta be able to get my head in the game, so I can't really do it all the time. But there's. There's an opportunity to do a couple, so I'm doing them this year.

[Nathan Fillion]

Me too.

[Seth Green]

Yeah, maybe I'll see you out there.

[Nathan Fillion]

All right.

[Alan Tudyk]

I hope so.

[Nathan Fillion]

Nice job. I'm gonna put this at about a 4 out of 10. This is really great.

[Seth Green]

Oh, thanks.

[Nathan Fillion]

Better than I expected.

[Seth Green]

Well, at least I beat the estimates. Right.

[Nathan Fillion]

Again, Seth. Thank you very much for doing this. I know we're neighbors, for Christ's sake.

[Seth Green]

Anytime, guys. I love you both.

[Nathan Fillion (closing credits)]

Hello, and thank you for listening. This is Nathan Fillion. Now is the part where I read aloud the credits for our show in my best telephone voice. So put on some headphones, lay back and relax because this is our time. If you haven't yet, you can always head over to our Patreon to get bonus content, longer episodes, and a chance to get your hands on some incredible crap. If you love the show, please leave us a review and feel free to tell all your friends. If you didn't love the show, now is the time for quiet contemplation. Once We Were Spacemen is a collision 33 production. Some of the names I will mention are my favorite people in the world. And some of them have room for improvement. You know who you are. If you hear your name being read, please stand up. This show is produced by Siobhan Homan, Michelle Chapman, and Josh lebbey of color illusion 33. We are edited, mixed and produced by Resonate Recordings with special thanks to Courtney Blomquist and Adam Townsell. Our theme music is done by Carlos Sosa and Joshua Moore. Artwork by the incredible and incomparable Louis Jensen. But going to tell you right now, I think he fakes his accent. Until next time.

[Seth Green]

If you shoot at me, I'm coming for your face.