
Pull out your ham glazing kit, it’s Paul Rudd. Forensics, a death in the audience, and the best WiFi in town. Are they hocks? They can be. It’s an all-new SmartLess.
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Jason Bateman
Hello, friends. Jason here. We are so excited that Smartless has officially joined the SiriusXM family. We can't wait to announce new surprise guests who we know that you'll love. And if you want to be the first to hear new episodes ad free and a whole week early, subscribe to SiriusXM podcasts plus on Apple Podcasts to start your free trial today.
Will Arnett
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Jason Bateman
So listen, this is, this is I know Sean's favorite part of the show.
Will Arnett
The, the cold open, super fun.
Jason Bateman
Well, but no, that is. Is his really favorite part of the show is what follows here. After the fun music, he gets to do his. His coffee chat. But right now he sort of welcomes the. The listener in.
Sean Hayes
Right.
Will Arnett
How you doing?
Paul Rudd
How's everybody?
Jason Bateman
Gets a sense of everything.
Sean Hayes
Asks everybody how like a little funny quip, like what's the bit gonna be, you know?
Paul Rudd
Yeah.
Will Arnett
Or I could do a dad joke. You know, I could do like something like, I could do something like.
Sean Hayes
Or I know you could do that.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
Or you could just say to our audience, you could just say hi.
Will Arnett
Hi.
Sean Hayes
Welcome to Smartless.
Will Arnett
Welcome to Smartless.
Sean Hayes
Smart.
Paul Rudd
Smart, smart. Less.
Will Arnett
I have to say something. Okay. This year, you guys, both of two of my best friends in the whole world, you, both of you are doing some of the best work I've ever seen you do. I'm hanging out with Will on the set of his movie and I've seen some footage and Will, the work is truly, truly incredible.
Jason Bateman
This is what I'm hearing.
Will Arnett
Truly incredible. Mind blowing. I've never seen. People are gonna be blown away.
Jason Bateman
Not surprised.
Will Arnett
Jay, when I And Jay, when I sat down and watched Black Rabbit, I've already spoken about it. It's so. This year is so exciting. I'm so excited for people to see both of you in these two incredible pieces. And I know you cringe when I say this pieces of art because I do believe that there's two. Thank you.
Jason Bateman
Coming from the reigning Tony Award winning.
Will Arnett
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's not why I said it. It's not what I said.
Sean Hayes
No, but you set the tone for us. You kind of let out and you know what a perform spicy from the Tabasco Tia.
Will Arnett
And now it was unexpected.
Jason Bateman
Nobody thought.
Sean Hayes
Watch him go back.
Jason Bateman
That's as he's getting yanked out.
Paul Rudd
Nobody.
Will Arnett
I have a good. Wait. I have.
Jason Bateman
When do we start recording this episode? You guys got a heart out.
Sean Hayes
Wait, Sean, your guess is going crazy.
Will Arnett
Do you want me. I know I'm going to get there, but you want me to ask you guys a like, thoughtful question that we can riff on or I have a joke. Or we can just get to the.
Jason Bateman
Guest choice of patter today.
Will Arnett
Huh? Yeah.
Sean Hayes
What do you want? What's up?
Jason Bateman
You've had some time. We haven't done one of these in a couple of weeks. I guess you've got some.
Will Arnett
That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
Jason Bateman
I'd love a dad joke.
Will Arnett
I'd like a dad joke. Okay, well, this is a. I have. Okay, I can do a dad joke. I can also do it. This is a great joke.
Sean Hayes
I just heard yesterday you have genres of jokes too. Like you have subsections.
Will Arnett
All right, so this guy, this patient is in New York. That patient is in an a urologist office. And the doctor says, well, the result is that you got to stop masturbating. And the patient says, why? And the doctor actor says, because I'm talking to you.
Sean Hayes
I love it.
Will Arnett
Oh, really? I thought that was funny.
Sean Hayes
I love it. I love it.
Will Arnett
Wait, and then I got.
Jason Bateman
Wait, I like that. But I. I don't have it.
Sean Hayes
You know what?
Jason Bateman
It's old.
Will Arnett
How about this?
Sean Hayes
Yeah, go ahead.
Will Arnett
Why did the Mexican. Why did the Mexican take anti anxiety medication? Careful for Hispanic attacks.
Jason Bateman
Oh, that's all right. That's okay.
Sean Hayes
I feel like that's okay.
Will Arnett
I feel like that's great. Yeah.
Sean Hayes
But also, also. But also, also for the record, no reaction.
Will Arnett
Absolute zero reaction. Story of my life. Ready? Here we go.
Jason Bateman
America. Gafan.
Will Arnett
Guys, my guest today, who's far funnier than I am, grew up in the Kansas City area and he's a die hard Jason Sedeikis, die hard Kansas City Chiefs fan. He's the co owner of a candy store in Rhinebeck, New York. Paul Rudd once said his staying youthful, eight hours of sleep. You got to bury the tell people mistaken for Ben Affleck. He met his wife when looking for a publicist after filming Clueless. It's the hilarious, delightful, and widely talented Paul Rudd. Paul, Wait, did you guys reveal.
Sean Hayes
Oh, he's doing his mouth. Slight reveal.
Jason Bateman
This is long.
Will Arnett
Wait, how did you know he was.
Jason Bateman
Let me tell you something because there's only a few. There's Claire McCaskill, there's Rob Riggle, there's Jason Sudeikis. And how do you.
Sean Hayes
Well, do you get mistaken for Claire McCaskill a lot?
Paul Rudd
I get a lot of her emails and it's usually when they talk about the three from KC the big three. It's Sudeikis, me and McCaskill.
Sean Hayes
How has it taken this long for Sean? I feel like this is Sean's fault.
Jason Bateman
Didn't make your deal any earlier than now. And now, finally, you've given us a manageable price.
Sean Hayes
Aline Kashishian was rough. Yeah.
Will Arnett
Are you with Elaine too, Paul?
Jason Bateman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a package.
Will Arnett
That's your manager. That's great.
Paul Rudd
Always.
Will Arnett
She's great.
Jason Bateman
Great.
Paul Rudd
Back when she was. She was my agent when she was an assistant. That's. That's how far back we go. Yeah.
Will Arnett
No way. Oh, wow. How about that?
Jason Bateman
Wait a second. So. So she was working the phones for the. For the real agent, and that real agent kind of siphoned you off on the junior/receptionist ICM.
Paul Rudd
It was right around, right since. Kind of clueless. Yeah.
Will Arnett
Wow. Wow. And wait, I want to go back because I didn't know you own a candy store. Can you talk to me about the candy store, please?
Paul Rudd
Sure.
Will Arnett
Like, where is it?
Sean Hayes
Where's the dress on it?
Paul Rudd
Well, it's called Samuel's Sweet Shop and it's in Rhinebeck, New York. And it was. It was. It was started by a guy named Ira, and he was just this sweet guy and he passed away sadly when he was very young. And we didn't want the candy store to kind of go away because it's. It's not a big place, not a big town, and. And all the high school kids would work there and everyone needs a candy store. And so Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hillary Burton, who are neighbors of mine. Yeah, let's.
Jason Bateman
Yeah, I know me some Jeffrey Dean.
Paul Rudd
You do?
Sean Hayes
I like all his performances. Sorry.
Paul Rudd
Anyway, we all we went in and another guy named Andy Ostrooy. We went in and bought the candy store and now we run it.
Jason Bateman
Now Rhinebeck is. You can't walk there from the city. Right. That's a trip.
Paul Rudd
You can. It'll take you a while.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
Yeah.
Jason Bateman
You'd need a lot of candy to fuel it. Yeah, it's like a two hour drive.
Paul Rudd
It's about a two hour drive. Yeah, about an hour depending on if you're leaving from the Upper west side. It's about an hour and 45 leave.
Will Arnett
I'll get a head start. The Jenny Slate also owns a small store like upstate New York, Massachusetts. Oh, never mind. Moving on a general storage. She has a general store.
Sean Hayes
Are we going to start going down? Sean, you want to start listing people who also own business, come on down.
Jason Bateman
The ET5 and let us know.
Sean Hayes
Paul's got a candy store in Rhinebach. Okay. Started by Ireland.
Will Arnett
And that's it. Wait, so go back. So you met Aline that way and then you met your wife because you were looking for a publicist, Is that right?
Paul Rudd
Yes. Well, I was the director of Clueless.
Will Arnett
You were the director?
Jason Bateman
Oh, Amy.
Paul Rudd
So the Amy Heckling said after we filmed Clueless, I knew nothing about anything. I still don't that much, really.
Jason Bateman
Were you clueless?
Paul Rudd
Yeah, I was Clueless. Well done, you.
Jason Bateman
Welcome to Smartless. Guys, we got it. We're cooking with gas.
Sean Hayes
I mean.
Will Arnett
Yeah. By the way, I love your Julie. Your wife Julie, she's awesome.
Paul Rudd
Oh, thank you.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
And she loves Julie.
Jason Bateman
That's what it is.
Paul Rudd
Thank you. She loves you guys. And she said to say hi and she also said say nice things about her. So I love my wife and. And she's an avid listener.
Will Arnett
And then we just hear the page flip and then you.
Paul Rudd
And now it's enough of her. And so. Yeah. So what were you talking about?
Will Arnett
I was talking about meeting Julie. Looking for a publicist on Clueless. Amy Hecker.
Sean Hayes
Paul, you're upstate. So. So you meet your wife Julie. You meet her through. She's your publicist. We've been through that. I mean, let's just get down to here in the brass.
Paul Rudd
Nobody really cares.
Sean Hayes
You are a guy who is.
Will Arnett
I do.
Sean Hayes
You've been working at the highest level for over 30 years. And I mean that in a way. You have been consistently doing stuff. Comedy, drama, all this, like, right. Always. No missteps.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
Not a few.
Will Arnett
No. Not even. Not even hollow? No. Halloween 6. Not even that. I saw that. You were fucking great in that. That was 75 years ago.
Paul Rudd
That was the first thing I ever did. The first movie.
Will Arnett
No. Was it really true?
Paul Rudd
Yeah. Now, had you seen the first five parts?
Will Arnett
Were you kidding me?
Paul Rudd
I'm in the storyline.
Will Arnett
I've seen all of them. I saw all of them.
Paul Rudd
You saw them all?
Jason Bateman
Yeah, I saw the first and loved it. There was five more.
Paul Rudd
He was even more than that. Yeah. The first is a classic when you get to six plot holes.
Will Arnett
What are you talking about? I love that.
Jason Bateman
There's some shark jumping.
Paul Rudd
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Jason Bateman
Do you end up getting killed in that one? Spoiler.
Paul Rudd
No, I survived.
Sean Hayes
Do you.
Jason Bateman
Do you. Do you get a good shot in on him?
Paul Rudd
I remember. Yeah. We have a. We get into it. We had some scrapes.
Will Arnett
Yeah. No, now, because you've done so many movies. Do you really, truly remember. Sorry, What Jason's asking.
Jason Bateman
I want to wrap. What was the weapon that you guys were tossing with you and Mike Myers?
Paul Rudd
I think I hit him with a pipe.
Jason Bateman
Okay.
Paul Rudd
I think I maybe hit him with.
Sean Hayes
That's a good choice.
Jason Bateman
So you stun him for a second, but then he continues.
Paul Rudd
By the way, it didn't kill him.
Will Arnett
No.
Jason Bateman
That's what's horrifying about Mike Myers is that he never runs. He just walks. Because he's going to get his walks. He's going to take his time.
Sean Hayes
Do you ever do a tie in around. Around Halloween at the candy store with, like, photos of yourself from the steel movie? That would be good.
Paul Rudd
Great. Thank you. Well, that's a great.
Sean Hayes
I don't know.
Paul Rudd
I haven't done it. Yeah, I haven't really done that yet, but maybe this year write this stuff.
Jason Bateman
Down so you end up surviving six. But was not you. Not in seven. Did you.
Paul Rudd
No, I, I didn't. I. They didn't ask me about seven.
Jason Bateman
They did like a cast change like Fargo or.
Paul Rudd
I think they kind of got. I want to say in seven, it might have been Josh Hartnett.
Jason Bateman
They did a white lotus swap.
Paul Rudd
That might have been H2.
Will Arnett
Oh, I remember that.
Paul Rudd
Came back strong in seven.
Sean Hayes
If I. If I. If I had been a reviewer of seven and knowing you weren't in it, my headline for my review would have been all trick and no treat.
Will Arnett
Oh, geez.
Sean Hayes
You know.
Paul Rudd
Oh, man.
Sean Hayes
Yeah.
Jason Bateman
You know, Paul, you're in a pretty special episode of Smart so far. We're only 31 minutes in and we're.
Paul Rudd
Not even the first 29, of which my microphone went down.
Will Arnett
But I know I did want. I did want. I know.
Paul Rudd
Can I just say also how fun it is just to you Know when to listen to you guys. Keep your knees bent.
Jason Bateman
We're only halfway through.
Paul Rudd
To listen to you guys before I come on and to hear the jokes which I really, really liked.
Will Arnett
Did you like my urologist joke?
Paul Rudd
I did like the urologist.
Will Arnett
You're the one.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, I'm a fan of the dad jokes. I heard one not that long ago that I really liked, which was.
Will Arnett
Where.
Paul Rudd
Do McKidd melons go for the summer?
Will Arnett
Where?
Sean Hayes
Where?
Paul Rudd
To John Cougar's Melon Camp.
Will Arnett
Nice. That's a good one.
Jason Bateman
I remembered my urologist joke. God goes in for a prostate exam.
Will Arnett
No. Jesus, no.
Sean Hayes
Watch this, Paul.
Will Arnett
Watch this.
Jason Bateman
We don't have any.
Paul Rudd
I like a good prostate exam joke.
Sean Hayes
No, Paul, watch. Watch how you bludgeon a joke. Keep going, Jason. Watch. Go, Jason.
Jason Bateman
Right. No, try right before I chest the tape. I will fall.
Sean Hayes
Here we go.
Jason Bateman
So guy walks into urologist.
Paul Rudd
Hey.
Jason Bateman
He's got to get his prostate exam. And so he's got to lean over the table. He's got to get the. The old. And so the doctor says, okey doke, here we go this time. Jimmy, no hard on. And the guy turns around, he says, my name's Bill. He goes, yeah, no, I'm Jimmy.
Will Arnett
Yeah, that's not even.
Sean Hayes
I've heard Jason try to tell that joke 50 times, by the way.
Paul Rudd
It's a great joke.
Sean Hayes
Sometimes he's like. And the guy, Paul says. And then Paul says, jimmy. And he goes, bill. I'm not Bill, I'm Jim. And I'm like, what are you. And I looked at him like, what are you doing?
Jason Bateman
Listen, I don't write. I speak.
Will Arnett
Wait, we're gonna get. We're gonna get to.
Sean Hayes
Okay, here's Sean. Sean, I'm gonna grab the reins here.
Will Arnett
So, Paul, what are you talking about?
Sean Hayes
I've been driving because you've been. You're all gussied up on Pop Tarts, Paul. So I was saying that you've been at the top of level. So you. You. You. You start out of the gate. You sure you do Halloween 6. It's amazing. But then you do, like, Clue. You just do so many movies. So how was it that you came? What was the thing? First of all, what was your first professional job? Not necessarily movie, but how did you know? Like, it seems like you. The highest level from moment one. But what was moment one for you? Like, how did you. How did you leave Kansas City? What was that thing? Did you.
Will Arnett
Oh, yeah. I didn't have any of those questions prepared. Go ahead.
Sean Hayes
Well, we're 25 minutes in man Paul's microphone.
Paul Rudd
It is totally. It's this weak connection that I have. Thank you for saying that, Will. It's not.
Jason Bateman
It's thank you call.
Paul Rudd
I don't think it's totally true. I've made many missteps, and I've. I've been very fortunate in many instances. But when I was a kid, I just loved comedians. I loved watching SNL and all of that stuff and listening to Steve Martin albums. And I think that, you know, when I was kind of in school, we had speech class. We had a radio and TV class. I loved watching the David Letterman show. And I used to start making little videos like he used to do.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
And I used to perform in speech competitions. And when I was, I want to say, about 16 years old, my neighbor in Kansas City said, what do you think you want to study? What do you think you want to, you know, pursue? And I said, I don't know, I like the arts and I like drawing and all of that. And he said, what about an actor? It seems like that's something that you would maybe like to do. And I think it was some kind of lightning bolt moment where I thought, yeah, maybe that is what I'd like to do, because I certainly always liked funny stuff and movies and. And everything else. And it feels like from that moment on, I decided, oh, this is exactly what I'm going to try and pursue. And I then went to school for it and I studied it and I.
Will Arnett
And what were these. What was this humorous interpretation thing? Because we had something similar in high school, but it was called forensics. I don't know why.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, forensics, exactly. This is. It was called forensics in Kansas City, too. And sometimes I would tell people I've. I study forensics, and they think it's like what Quincy did.
Will Arnett
Yeah, right, Quincy. Yeah, Quincy. Medicine for all the young listeners. Quincy.
Paul Rudd
Do we know why it's called forensics, Sean?
Will Arnett
I don't. I don't. And in high school, people would be standing against a wall and talking to it, like. And I didn't know what they were doing, but they were rehearsing, like, but really close to a wall and talking to a wall. I thought that was the weirdest thing, but now I get it. They were just rehearsing their monologue or their forensics or whatever it was.
Sean Hayes
You sure you weren't institutionalized? You weren't in an institution at that point?
Paul Rudd
It looks like an institution.
Jason Bateman
You may have still been at the hospital, Sean. It wasn't even comedic Forensics.
Paul Rudd
Well, there were different categories. There was dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, prose and poetry, improvised duet, acting and.
Jason Bateman
Yeah, and we will be right back.
Will Arnett
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Jason Bateman
And now back to the show.
Will Arnett
So, Paul, I heard you were a DJ for a while, right?
Paul Rudd
Well, I, I mean barely, you know.
Will Arnett
I thought it was like a long, I thought it was a year long thing.
Paul Rudd
I really did dj. But when you say to people that, you know, oh, I used to dj, that sounds like it was kind of a cool thing. But the way I djed was not cool in any.
Jason Bateman
It was like weddings and bar mitzvahs and stuff.
Will Arnett
Yeah, bar mitzvah.
Paul Rudd
And by the way, eventually it was that the first time I djed was I was in high school, just an ice cream truck. And I went, nobody. They're like, we don't even have equipment in this thing. We. I was trying to get a job as a waiter. I was in high school and I went to different restaurants and I had really long hair and I didn't want to cut my hair because I, I was a g. I was a, I was a cheese ball. And I'm like, I gotta keep this.
Jason Bateman
Yeah, sure, you're crushing it.
Paul Rudd
And so, and so I was getting rejected at every waiting, you know, application I'd fill out. Like, there's no way I couldn't get a job. And I went to this bar called Studebakers, which was like a 50s bar in Kansas City. Had to be 23 to get in. They didn't want any of the younger crowd.
Sean Hayes
Wow.
Jason Bateman
Sure, yeah, they didn't even want, they didn't even want new drinkers. You had to have at least under your belt.
Paul Rudd
They want some certified 23 year olds who, like, who's gonna go to a 50s bar anyway?
Will Arnett
Right?
Sean Hayes
You have to be born in the 50s to get here to even want.
Paul Rudd
To go to this place.
Will Arnett
That's funny.
Paul Rudd
And, and so I went to try and get a job and they said, we're not hiring. And I saw that they had a DJ booth and I said, do you need a dj? Because I also dj, which is not true. I didn't. But they said, actually we do. But here's the thing. At Studebaker's, every hour on the hour, we do these things called showtimes where all the waiters hop on the bar and they do like born a hand jive or some dumb dance thing.
Jason Bateman
Sean, we don't need to. The next sentence out of your mouth doesn't need to be. You mean like this?
Sean Hayes
Like this, yeah. Or are they still in business?
Jason Bateman
Or what are their hours, address? Any of those sentences are. No.
Sean Hayes
So. So you lied. So you lied, but you knew you had a stack of wax in the car.
Paul Rudd
So I lied and they said, well, here's the thing. You got to audition because we do these showtimes. So I, I, I had to audition with a lip sync of a 50s song.
Jason Bateman
Which one? I know you still.
Paul Rudd
I chose. So I chose Volare. Yeah, and which was. I just thought it'd be funny because it's in, you know, Italian and. But I put on a tuxedo and a pompadour to cover my long hair.
Will Arnett
Oh, my God.
Paul Rudd
Like an Elvis wig. Right. And so anyway, I got the job and then they saw that I had really long hair, and they said, you got to cut your hair. We're a 50s bar, not a 60s bar. And I said, well, I won't do it. So they made me wear the Elvis wig every time I worked.
Will Arnett
Oh, right.
Jason Bateman
Did you wear the pompadour every time?
Paul Rudd
Yeah. And it was also a really bad pompadour, so it was really cheap wig. And so it started to lose its pompadour shape and it just turned into like a big, weird black tuft of something. And when I was working, people didn't realize that I had long hair and had to cover it up, so they just thought I was some young kid with this weird wig. I don't know what they thought. But anyway, that started, that started my DJing career.
Sean Hayes
You know what it reminds me? You make me think, you know, you hear about, you know, famously, Michael Jordan when he had his hall of fame speech, and then he, you know, he's being celebrated for Being the greatest basketball player. And then he harp. He. He really harped on like his high school coach who cut him from the basketball team and all the people who didn't like. Right. Like that. He still hung on to that. And I think we should get stickers made up and go around these Kansas City establishments that rejected you. Stick it on the front window. This place rejected Paul Rudd. Right. Really let that stink linger on him. You know what I mean?
Jason Bateman
Your hiring practices are ridiculous.
Will Arnett
Are ridiculous. Yeah. That's great. Speaking of your. Your original last name was Rud. Rudsky. Rudnisky Rudnicky. What is it?
Paul Rudd
Rud Rudnitsky. Down like way back. Not while I was born or my grandparents. Way back. Great, great grandparents. Yeah.
Will Arnett
Wow.
Paul Rudd
Polish, like Russian. Belarus. That Eastern European. Yeah.
Jason Bateman
Have you done the thing where you do the whole look back and like, do you know, do you know, do you know your people, what they did, where they were, the wars they fought?
Paul Rudd
And I found that it was mainly kind of like in an area of Belarus. Yeah. Something called a town called Holmeck.
Sean Hayes
Oh, well, imagine anybody's listening from Holmeck Hollow. Your boy, you know.
Will Arnett
But now wait. So Paul, let me tell you if I got this right. You were born in Jersey, moved to Kansas City, had a bar mitzvah in Canada. Your parents were from England.
Paul Rudd
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
So you're in Canada. This is. Now I'm interested.
Will Arnett
Yeah. I mean, why. Why so many different places?
Paul Rudd
Well, I being, you know, everyone in my family was kind of was British. Both my parents, everyone was kind of around London. My grandparents were in London, but they. We moved to the States and then. Or my. My parents did. Anyway, most of the family went to Canada and so I had grandparents and aunts and uncle in. In Toronto and, and in the gta.
Sean Hayes
No, he really knows it.
Paul Rudd
I know it.
Sean Hayes
And the way he said Toronto too, he. This is real. Yeah.
Paul Rudd
I'd walk to the byway, get my Empire Strikes Back cards in French.
Will Arnett
Yes.
Jason Bateman
Are you still a Maple Leafs fan?
Paul Rudd
Pass the Mr. Submarine. This is all for you, Will.
Sean Hayes
This is such good stuff. Pizza. Pizza.
Jason Bateman
967 Mr. Sub though, isn't it?
Sean Hayes
M. Now wait, did you live in Canada?
Paul Rudd
No, but I been going there my whole life.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
And so most of my relatives were in Canada. So when I had to get a bar mitzvah, my parents said, well just do it in Canada. Cuz that's where most of the family is.
Sean Hayes
Where was it in Canada? In Toronto.
Paul Rudd
In Toronto? Yeah.
Will Arnett
No way.
Sean Hayes
Paul, come home.
Will Arnett
Come home. Wait, and so you're sure. Yeah.
Sean Hayes
By the way.
Will Arnett
Great.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, I will.
Will Arnett
What, so your parents, so your parents are in England. Your dad was a, a tour guide or something and you're. And, and was the vice president of twa and your mom.
Paul Rudd
Oh, no, he wasn't the vice president. That would have been nice. No, he did work for twa. TWA was the, the, the airline twa, their hub was in Kansas City, which is why we wound up in Kansas City.
Will Arnett
Oh, I see. Got it, got it, got it.
Paul Rudd
When, when my dad left London when he was a kid. He's about nine years old. And then they moved to New Jersey, his family, and they were in Patterson, New Jersey. But he eventually started working with TWA before I was born and, and he kept getting job transfers. So we moved around a lot. When I was a kid. I was born in New Jersey and I lived in New Jersey and then I moved to Kansas for about a year and then I moved to California for a few years and then I moved back to Kansas. So we moved around quite a bit. As.
Jason Bateman
What about all the moving around and stuff was there like that? It's giving me anxiety. All the schools and then la, all the kids. Oh, look at this.
Paul Rudd
Did you guys, when you grew, when you. Did you grow up in one spot? Yes, always. I mean, Jason, you were always la.
Jason Bateman
Since I was seven, I've been in Los Angeles. Yeah.
Paul Rudd
Where were you before that?
Jason Bateman
I was in Salt Lake City from 4 to 7, I was in Boston from 2 to 4 and I was in New York from 0 to 2. Just, just outside in Rock.
Paul Rudd
Oh, beautiful.
Jason Bateman
But what about, what about you adapting into all those different environments? Did you have a sibling to sort of protect you or did you do the protecting?
Paul Rudd
I have a younger sister, she's two and a half years younger than me and I think, yeah, we always were just kind of the new kids in school. We got very used to it. We didn't really know any different.
Jason Bateman
But like, did that shape your. At an age where you're kind of learning your personality and kind of what your strong suit is and what isn't, you know, are you funny? Are you like. Did you find that you were perhaps made you nicer earlier because you had to be accepted by these new groups all the time?
Will Arnett
Uh huh. Yeah.
Paul Rudd
Possibly. Yeah. I sometimes think that, you know, a good way to kind of ingratiate yourself or just not, not get your ass kicked is to just be kind of pleasant and if you can make somebody laugh, then you can be accepted a little bit easier. Yeah, I certainly Was drawn and always have been drawn to people who are funny. I mean, my dad was hilarious. And I think that, you know, when I'd be.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
Probably in some new school or something, I was. I'd go home and I'd listen to those Steve Martin records or.
Will Arnett
You had that album Get Small. Did you ever listen to that? Yeah.
Jason Bateman
What about British humor? Because my mom's British as well, and she really shaped my taste in dry, kind of no winking, you know, humor. Did your dad do that for you?
Paul Rudd
Well, I think that, you know, some of the earliest things I could really remember laughing at was they used to show Monty Python's Flying Circus on pbs.
Will Arnett
Yeah. Love that.
Paul Rudd
My parents loved it, and we'd watch it and I thought it was hilarious. I never really understood or thought in terms of, like, British comedy or a British sensibility, but I did always respond to that. And then. And then when Fawlty Towers was on, it was just one of my favorite.
Sean Hayes
But it's like, you know, you guys like that?
Jason Bateman
Monty Python's a great example, because.
Sean Hayes
Holy shit. There's no way you guys like Fawlty Towers. Sean. Oh, shot. You really like that? Fucking let the world know, man. Yeah.
Jason Bateman
You guys discover this. But, like, Monty Python, there's like, there's the broad half of the troupe, and then there's, like, the dry half of the troupe. Like, there's Michael Palin, you know, being crazy and goofy. And then you cut to John Cleese, and he's just blinking at him like, you fool. Which were you drawn to? Was it the John Cleese side since you went to Fawlty Towers?
Paul Rudd
Well, Cleese is always. Yeah, hilarious. I think that. I think I just. There was, like, an absurdity to it. And there was also something. It might have been the first time maybe why I was drawn to Steve Martin as well, but it was like, oh, my God, there are grownups that are being completely silly. I remember that Twit of the Year competition as a kid and crying. I couldn't believe how funny it was to see these grownups acting this way.
Will Arnett
Yeah. Yeah.
Paul Rudd
And I mean, there was still so much with. Same with Steve Martin, where it was this kind of ridiculous, I'm getting happy feet kind of thing.
Jason Bateman
Right?
Sean Hayes
Yeah.
Will Arnett
I want to know about glazing hams, because that was one of your odd jobs out of school. What do you mean? Glazing hams? What does that even mean?
Paul Rudd
It means. Exactly. It means glazing hams. Yeah.
Will Arnett
Like, what does that, though? What do you mean?
Jason Bateman
Did you work at Honey Baked Ham?
Paul Rudd
No, that was our competitor.
Jason Bateman
Sorry, sorry.
Paul Rudd
No, no.
Will Arnett
What do you mean glazing them though?
Sean Hayes
Like, still touchy.
Will Arnett
Yeah, the hot spot.
Paul Rudd
Look, it. Just please don't bring that up to anyone at Holiday Ham Company because they had a real issue with Honey Bay.
Will Arnett
Wait, but how do you glaze a ham? Like, what do you do?
Paul Rudd
It's a whole process, Sean.
Jason Bateman
Let's keep it clean here.
Sean Hayes
Sounds like a YouTube how to video. How do you glaze it?
Will Arnett
Is it like in a factory?
Paul Rudd
No, no, it was in a. Like a mini mall and.
Will Arnett
Oh, I see. Like personalized.
Paul Rudd
It was like a. It was a standalone store.
Will Arnett
Oh, God.
Paul Rudd
Bait, I believe, is a chain, isn't it?
Will Arnett
Okay, right, got it. I just wanted. Really curious.
Paul Rudd
No, I don't mean to besmirch Honey Baked.
Will Arnett
No, no, no.
Sean Hayes
Nobody took it that way. No, no, no.
Jason Bateman
Thanks public company.
Paul Rudd
But there's one thing I don't want to do. It's piss off the people at Honey Baked Hair.
Sean Hayes
No, you don't have a target on your back now. Don't worry. From the gang over at Honey Glazed.
Paul Rudd
Okay, I love.
Will Arnett
Yeah, good.
Paul Rudd
Oh, no, no. What do you love?
Will Arnett
No, you go, you go. What are you gonna say?
Jason Bateman
Guys don't play.
Paul Rudd
All right, I was gonna.
Will Arnett
You go.
Paul Rudd
Jesus. No, you go.
Jason Bateman
This is a great bit.
Sean Hayes
It is a great bit.
Will Arnett
It almost seems. I wanna know where you worked. I wanna know where you worked.
Paul Rudd
Oh, I worked at Holiday Ham Company.
Will Arnett
No, you're gonna say something else about working.
Paul Rudd
So I worked at this place and it was a whole, when I say it was a whole process. I would get there very early in the morning and I would unloaded truck filled with ham.
Jason Bateman
Naked ham. These aren't glazed yet, right?
Paul Rudd
These are unglazed.
Sean Hayes
Oh, you're talking unglazed hams.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, yeah. By the way, this isn't. This isn't like, you know, pigs hanging in a truck. These, these were ham hocks. Are they hocks?
Sean Hayes
They can be. Sure.
Paul Rudd
And they were cryovac, vacuum sealed.
Will Arnett
Oh, wow.
Paul Rudd
And what I would have to do is unload a truck at like 5 in the morning and then I would have to cut open.
Jason Bateman
Release them from their sheaths.
Paul Rudd
Yes, exactly. Cut open the plastic and then I would have to put them. These entire ham hocks.
Will Arnett
So far I haven't heard one thing that we're going to keep in the episode, but go ahead.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, no, no, this is absolutely. It's boring myself as I even listened to myself.
Sean Hayes
So there you are, you're Unloading. You got a truck full of unloaded.
Paul Rudd
So I got a truck. So I gotta put it on a thing, I slice it, I dice out a whole thing. I gotta cut it in half with a saw, I put it on a spit, and then I take a propane torch and a sugar sifter and I have to wear protective gear on my wrists.
Will Arnett
Same approach to acting. Same approach to your acting.
Paul Rudd
That's exactly right.
Will Arnett
Right.
Paul Rudd
That is how I approach all of my roles. And how long were you.
Jason Bateman
Were you longer in this job than you were at the. At the Bevik's place?
Will Arnett
The.
Jason Bateman
The 50s joint?
Paul Rudd
Oh, at the. At the Studebakers? Yeah, Studebakers. I went from Studebakers to holiday ham company. So, you know.
Sean Hayes
Did you cut your hair before you were handling those hams? Sorry, can I ask, did you have the long hair when you were handling the hams or did you have.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, they didn't care, you know, but.
Jason Bateman
You had to put that in a net though, didn't you?
Paul Rudd
I. By the way, I think I had it in our net.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
And. Yeah, yeah, it was in a netter. I was in the back. So if I was up front dealing with customers, sure. There's no way.
Jason Bateman
Yeah, there's no way they comb it out.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
Now, I can only imagine, though, you know, at least one or two of those long hairs were getting glazed into the ham.
Sean Hayes
But you just. I just thought it'd be a good Italian place called. I. I can only imagine. It's just canoli. Okay, so it's terrible. It's terrible stuff. It's Saturday. It's Saturday and it's free. And it's free. So go ahead, Sean, get to your laundry list of questions and forget trying to have a conversation with Paul Rudd. Let me help you check off your. Have you done a fucking Rudd here of fucking. He's one of the most handsome, by the way. Paul and I've seen it in stuff before. You look. You always look so good.
Will Arnett
So handsome.
Sean Hayes
You're so handsome. You're so good. We're around the same age. What are you doing? Just. Honestly, just an email with a couple tips.
Will Arnett
Olive oil bag, eight hours a day. You say the most important thing is eight hours a day. That's what you say.
Paul Rudd
It isn't what I said. I think I said something about sleep once where it was like, oh, yeah, this is this. You try and get enough sleep.
Jason Bateman
But I sleep a lot. I don't look anything like you.
Paul Rudd
Can I, Can I. You know what the secret is?
Will Arnett
What love?
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
Oh, my God.
Will Arnett
That's our time.
Paul Rudd
That's our love and love and laughter.
Jason Bateman
You saved it. And then Julie will have you back.
Sean Hayes
Who knew?
Paul Rudd
This is.
Jason Bateman
We'll be right back.
Will Arnett
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Jason Bateman
No, seriously, Paul, anything weird ever happen on stage? Real quick before we're out of time?
Will Arnett
Well, yeah. You did a lot of theater. I don't know if you listen to the podcast, but I love good theater stories.
Paul Rudd
Were something I know, of course. Yeah, I do get anything ready or.
Jason Bateman
You can sub it out for a Star wars story if you ever audition.
Will Arnett
I have other. I have lots of other questions.
Paul Rudd
Great theater. Theater stories.
Sean Hayes
Yeah. Yeah. Something bad happened in the theater. Something.
Paul Rudd
Oh, something really bad. Yeah. No, no, I've had. I actually, I. Well, I've done a show where somebody.
Will Arnett
Died in the audience on stage.
Paul Rudd
There was a death. There was a death in the audience. There was. Somebody went to the. To the bathroom in like the fourth row. That was an interesting thing to get a whiff of that during the scene.
Will Arnett
No way.
Paul Rudd
Somebody lost control of their balance.
Jason Bateman
So not only did you kill, but you acted the shit out of that part.
Will Arnett
Nice. Bravo.
Jason Bateman
Thanks, guys.
Paul Rudd
Well, it wasn't me that did it. Oh, yeah, no, that would be. Actually. That would be. That would be horrifying.
Will Arnett
Wait, what was the show? And somebody really died.
Paul Rudd
Somebody died last night Of Ballyhoo was the show. These were two separate occasions.
Sean Hayes
Okay.
Paul Rudd
Unless I'm conflating them and they shit themselves and they die because that often.
Sean Hayes
Happens by the way it's often.
Paul Rudd
I think it even happens in the other order, where it's like, you die, and then you wind up just shitting yourself. That's a shake that happens.
Sean Hayes
So, wait, so the person dies?
Paul Rudd
I've had somebody, by the way, I've also done a show where somebody in the middle of a scene, I heard a bunch of commotion in the audience and then didn't realize it didn't subside. So it's like, what is happening? Only later came to realize that somebody in the front row of the balcony leaned over and puked on all of the people below.
Will Arnett
Oh, my God.
Paul Rudd
Swear to God.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
It was a show. It was a show called Grace. And there was a scene, and I was doing it with Michael Shannon. Michael Shannon had this long monologue. We're doing the scene. It's just the two of us. We hear this noise. We're both aware that, like, there's a commotion, but usually it dies down and it's getting louder and louder. And Michael is pissed off and starts screaming his lines toward the direction of the noise to make a point. Which, of course, when Michael Shannon is yelling at you, like, it's the most terrifying thing. It's the thing that did make everybody kind of quiet down. And then after this scene, I have to rush over to the wings to do a costume change. And I asked the stage manager, I said, what the hell's. What happened out there? And he's the one that said, somebody threw up. Somebody was drunk.
Will Arnett
Wow.
Paul Rudd
Threw up over the balcony, and it puked onto about 10 different people.
Sean Hayes
I'm covered in barf.
Jason Bateman
This show's not for you, huh?
Sean Hayes
That's amazing.
Paul Rudd
Should have seen the Lion King. Yeah.
Jason Bateman
So, yeah, that was a great button.
Sean Hayes
Wait, Sean, this is, like, your dream come true.
Will Arnett
I know.
Sean Hayes
Finally, theater story. Talk about the person who died.
Paul Rudd
I mean, learn that after the fact. Like, oh, my God. They had to close down, and then eventually they had to bring somebody, like a stretcher. They get somebody out of there. It's like, oh, wow, that's. It's weird. I mean, you know, you hear of people dying on stage.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
But you don't hear as much about people dying near the stage.
Will Arnett
Yeah. Yeah. But did you. So you stopped the show. Yeah. You stopped and they. Right. We did not keep going. You kept going.
Paul Rudd
I don't think. Dude, are you kidding?
Sean Hayes
Are you kidding? He killed, by the way.
Paul Rudd
Died.
Sean Hayes
The guy.
Paul Rudd
We slayed him. Yeah. Died nearing the end of the show.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Will Arnett
And so you finished?
Paul Rudd
I'm not so sure.
Will Arnett
And anyone realized, oh, wow.
Paul Rudd
Until. Until it was over, until people were shuffling out of the theater. That one guy stays.
Jason Bateman
Like a nice, peaceful passing.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, it was a. Definitely a courteous way to go for us, for the actors.
Will Arnett
That's a great.
Paul Rudd
Now, Sean, you have. I know. You have plenty.
Will Arnett
I've told. I think I've told every single good one I know on here.
Paul Rudd
Is there one you haven't told yet?
Will Arnett
I mean, I'd have to think about it.
Sean Hayes
Me and Reina are at the dinner.
Will Arnett
Yeah. Yeah, right.
Paul Rudd
I've had there, by the way. I. I had one. Now they're all kind of coming. They're flooding back. I did a scene. I was lying on top of a bed. I was doing a scene. I was lying on top of a bed and with this woman. Rachel Weisz was in the show. And I was wearing boxer shorts and a T shirt. And all of a sudden, this had never happened before. I heard the audience laughing, and I'm like, what is going on? I realized it's because I was lying on the bed. I had my leg up and kind of like. And I realized my balls were hanging out. No. Which is worse than actually, like, even your schwann's penis.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
It's like if. When it's just your balls, or just one ball, by the way. It might have been just one ball, but it was. It was loose.
Sean Hayes
You know what's crazy about that?
Paul Rudd
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
You know what's crazy about that? Your balls were showing in that show, and the show was the Shape of Things.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
Yep. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. That was the show. The Shape of Things.
Sean Hayes
Yeah.
Will Arnett
That's nice.
Paul Rudd
They were pendulous.
Will Arnett
I have one that's not as racist.
Sean Hayes
The Shape of Things should have been. And the poster should have been your.
Paul Rudd
Balls hanging out of shorts. I think we've all seen the shape.
Sean Hayes
Of those things with the great Fred Weller. With our mutual friend Fred Weller, whom we adore.
Paul Rudd
Yes.
Sean Hayes
Great Fred Weller.
Paul Rudd
You guys go back, do you?
Will Arnett
Yeah. What's another one in my mind is we were doing west side Story. This isn't as funny, but we were doing west side Story. And you know the jets and the Sharks, and when they negotiate the rumble, they say, you know, knives, guns, pipes, fists, whatever. And this one guy, Darren. Yeah, well, you just blew the joke. But. But no, it's like that. So Darren. Darren, my friend Darren, who's the most gayest man on the face of the planet and wears it with a badge of honor. He's Very, very, very funny. But he was a jet and he's trying to act tough. And you know, during performance 250, they go guns, knives, you know, pipes, fists. And he just jumps out and he goes, purses. Same joke. Same joke as dance, I guess it's funny. You had to be there. He had to be there. All right, so listen when you're scrolling through because you've been in. I want to go through before you leave. I just want. I mean, my God, I had all this.
Jason Bateman
You're in an hour 10. Let this guy get back into his weekend.
Will Arnett
I know. Sorry. Wild Oats.
Sean Hayes
Nobody's credits.
Will Arnett
Your credits are Wet Hot American Summer and Friends. You run on Friends was an anchorman, by the way. And then 40 year old virgin and Knocked up and working with Judd Apatow and Role Models and Ant man that you wrote. I didn't know you wrote Ant Man. That's crazy.
Sean Hayes
No, I didn't know that.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, well, one of them. One of the. Right. One of the rights. It was originally written by Edgar Wright.
Will Arnett
Who I just worked with. Who's the best?
Paul Rudd
The best.
Will Arnett
I love.
Sean Hayes
We love Edgar. He's a. He's a friend of the show.
Will Arnett
Yeah. He should come on.
Paul Rudd
Will he adore him?
Sean Hayes
Yeah.
Will Arnett
So wait, what do you might need.
Jason Bateman
To be a two parter.
Will Arnett
Yeah, I know. There's so many things.
Sean Hayes
I know. But wait, get into the credits or crazy.
Will Arnett
I know, but. But anyway, so friendship to go. No, but it's incredible.
Jason Bateman
The people they launch, they want to know Paul.
Sean Hayes
I know. You know, they want to know about the moments and the movies. I can't believe they didn't even ask him about how years. I mean, you and Judd. You and Judd collaborated on so many of those movies that were huge, seminal comedies.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
That really defines.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
You think about at that time when you guys did 40 year old virgin, that really changed the trajectory of. Of comedy films. Like it kind of went into a start. Created a whole new lane.
Jason Bateman
A great Judd Apatow. He launched all kinds of folks.
Paul Rudd
Yeah. My. He's great. There was the first time I ever met Judd was. It was. It really is a weird thing. I don't know if you guys feel this way about those Steve Martin records. I know we've talked about them a lot, but it seems as if a lot of people in our generation. Those albums had a big effect on them.
Sean Hayes
Sure.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Paul Rudd
And as did Steve Martin in general. And one time I was at a dinner and I was talking about fake names and how it's so Difficult to come up with a perfect, funny, fake name. And I said, a great example is Gern Blanston, which was from an early Steve Martin routine. And someone at the dinner said, gern Blanston. Oh, that explains Judd Apatow's email address.
Jason Bateman
Oh, wow.
Paul Rudd
And I think at this time, there was only aol. I'm like, oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. He's like, gern Blanston. I don't think he has this anymore in case anybody wants to email him. But anyway, I went home and emailed Judd. I'd never met him.
Jason Bateman
No way.
Paul Rudd
And I said, hey, man, nice reference on your email address. That's amazing. And he emailed me back, and that's how you guys started, and that's how we met. And then.
Will Arnett
That's amazing.
Paul Rudd
He emailed me back and said, oh, I'm glad you've emailed me. It's nice to connect with you. Now I know who to hit up if I ever need tickets to a new Neil Abute play, because I've just done a bunch of Neil Abute plays. Anyway, we kept emailing each other for about a year. We became kind of pen pals. Never met each other. And it wasn't until Anchorman that I actually met him in. In person.
Will Arnett
Wow. That's crazy.
Sean Hayes
Wow.
Paul Rudd
And when I went in to audition, he was there, and it was a little bit like, you know, meeting your. Your pen pal. That it's like, oh, my God.
Will Arnett
Wow.
Paul Rudd
I can't believe. There you are. I can touch you.
Jason Bateman
Been catfishing.
Paul Rudd
I didn't want to touch him, but being real.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Will Arnett
Now that your character in Anchorman looks very similar to the character in Friendship. Was that on purpose?
Paul Rudd
No, it wasn't on purpose. Although in Friendship, in the script, the character that I was playing was originally called Brian, which was the name of my character in Anchorman. And I thought maybe we should change that name just because I also have another mustache. The mustache was just something it seemed like, oh, this is the kind of thing that this guy was. Would probably.
Will Arnett
Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's a weatherman. He's a weatherman. And so it's really funny. You're so good in it, and the movie is so great.
Paul Rudd
Well, I. I got to say, you know, Tim. It's really Tim, and it's. Tim is so funny. And I don't know if you've ever watched. I think you should leave. Which, I mean, he's.
Sean Hayes
He's a. He's a brilliant. Brilliant.
Paul Rudd
He's incredible. I mean, he really has his own take on all of this stuff. And that was just such a blast to kind of get to work with him and see what he was.
Sean Hayes
Have you ever. Have you ever seen his show? What is it, Detroit? Is it just called Detroiters? Yeah, it's Tim. What Detroiters? Is Robinson incredible?
Paul Rudd
It's incredible.
Will Arnett
Yeah. You would love him, Jason.
Paul Rudd
I remember I met him when he was a writer on snl. And, you know, everyone even at that time at SNL said, oh, well, I mean, this guy Tim Robinson's the funniest. Yeah.
Jason Bateman
And he directed and wrote and is an actor in this film, French hit.
Paul Rudd
He is starring in it. He didn't write it. It might be the only thing I think he's ever done that he didn't write. However, the guy who directed it is a guy named Andrew DeYoung.
Will Arnett
Yeah, he's.
Paul Rudd
He is. He also wrote it and he's friends with Tim and completely captures Tim's voice. I mean, when I read it, I would have sworn that Tim wrote it.
Will Arnett
Was there a lot of improv on the movie?
Paul Rudd
I mean, there was some, but, you know, it's funny. When we kind of started Tim, we were talking about it, and Tim said, let's take out all of the jokes. He wanted no jokes. And so it was very. It wasn't really like this perceived as this silly comedy. I mean, I know that Andy, the director, said that he envisioned the master, you know, the Paul Thomas Anderson movie. Seems like we could do like a weird comedy version, but very strange of. Of that. And. And so it wasn't really. There was certainly some improvisation, but. But it. You know what? Neither one of us was trying to really hit anything too funny.
Jason Bateman
And I apologize. Is this. Can we see this now?
Paul Rudd
It's coming out. Can't see it now. I think it's coming out in, I don't know, April or May or the.
Sean Hayes
Did Sean see it?
Will Arnett
I got a little screen.
Jason Bateman
It's a link. So depending on when this. When this airs. Connection, perhaps. Yeah. So April, May, some spring release on this, huh?
Paul Rudd
Yeah, spring release.
Jason Bateman
Like all the beautiful things that come out in spring, huh?
Will Arnett
Well, we're really excited about it. We're really excited about you, Paul. We love you. You're tremendous talent.
Jason Bateman
Excited, bullish about your career. I think you're going to do great.
Paul Rudd
Thank you.
Will Arnett
I'm so happy to be doing this.
Paul Rudd
And, like, it's such a. You guys are so awesome. Show is so funny. I'm so happy to. To be on.
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
I mean, we broke a lean down.
Jason Bateman
And we Got you here.
Paul Rudd
No, this is. Look, Ev.
Will Arnett
You.
Paul Rudd
You. You guys have. You got a lot of people to talk to.
Will Arnett
I'm.
Paul Rudd
I'm honored to be one of them.
Jason Bateman
Wow. We're very, very happy that you came.
Will Arnett
Honored that you came.
Jason Bateman
Spending some Saturday.
Paul Rudd
Sure wish my connection was better, cuz.
Sean Hayes
No, no, no. Don't think twice about that.
Paul Rudd
Don't worry more about it.
Sean Hayes
I'm not say anything at Honey Hams or your WI FI connection. None of it. Don't. Don't think I'm not gonna.
Paul Rudd
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Bateman
We didn't talk about. We didn't talk about the Royals. We didn't talk about the Chiefs. We didn't talk.
Sean Hayes
Talk about that. By the way, you want to lose the. You really want to lose the audience? Shut up.
Jason Bateman
You get two U's. You get two.
Paul Rudd
I tell you who would. I. I tell you who would turn the volume up. Jason sedis and Claire McCaskill.
Will Arnett
That's who.
Sean Hayes
You're right.
Will Arnett
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Paul Rudd
Tell what's. What's Bobby Wit gonna do this year?
Sean Hayes
And. And the great. And the great Dand is also of Kansas City fame. The great Dand's friend of the show. The great DAND of ours, Paul Rudd. Paulie, you're. Just.
Will Arnett
Good to see you, my friend. All the love to you and Julia and the kids.
Sean Hayes
You're world class tip top.
Paul Rudd
Thank you. You guys are the best. And I can't wait to see you in person. It can't come here soon enough.
Jason Bateman
We'll be able to do a candy shop soon.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
Yeah. We're gonna make. We're gonna do a smartless outing. Let's do a live show from the candy shop.
Jason Bateman
Oh, there we go.
Paul Rudd
Look, anytime you want. Clodhoppers for all of you free.
Will Arnett
That's a good fake name.
Jason Bateman
I know something. We're sweet on you, Paul.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
Oh, there it is.
Jason Bateman
All right.
Sean Hayes
Beautiful button. What a button.
Paul Rudd
A candy button. I'm on my way to.
Jason Bateman
I can only believe it.
Will Arnett
All right, Polly, have a great day. We love you. Goodbye.
Paul Rudd
Love you guys. Thanks so much.
Will Arnett
Yes, thanks.
Paul Rudd
Take care. Bye.
Jason Bateman
Bye, pal. Paul Rudd. Paul.
Will Arnett
All right.
Jason Bateman
What can you say?
Sean Hayes
I mean, we've said this before about people, but that isn't. That is an overdue of overdues.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
It's almost embarrassing how overdue.
Will Arnett
I feel bad. I didn't get into his stuff, you know, like all the.
Sean Hayes
You didn't get anything. Sean, this is one of the least prepared episodes I've ever seen you host. And. And I can't believe a Former. A former member. Jason, a former host of the year nominee. Remember yo.
Jason Bateman
For sure. Well, you know, but if he gets into the sugar like any little three.
Will Arnett
Year old you can't count on guys. I failed you again.
Sean Hayes
I bet they are regretting that nomination a couple years ago in that gang when they.
Will Arnett
Well, aren't you on that board too?
Jason Bateman
Yeah, the iheartradio.
Will Arnett
Yeah.
Sean Hayes
No, these days I'm only bored when you're hosting, you know.
Jason Bateman
Yeah, but I, I do think if, if, if we ever soften on the repeat guest policy you guys are enforcing. Like live show.
Sean Hayes
He'd be a live show.
Will Arnett
Oh, that Good life.
Sean Hayes
Be a good life.
Will Arnett
We could just go through all its credits and talk about funny stories.
Sean Hayes
Funny stories.
Will Arnett
I love that.
Jason Bateman
Yeah, I do like that man.
Will Arnett
A lot. But Willie, remember when he was talking about walking in Canada and he was walking on the.
Jason Bateman
What was it By Here comes a by.
Will Arnett
He was walking on the.
Sean Hayes
He went to the by way.
Paul Rudd
Smart Nice. Smart less.
Sean Hayes
Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarv, Bennett Barbico and Michael Grand. Terri Smart Less.
Jason Bateman
Hey, friends. Jason here. We're so excited. The smartless has officially joined the SiriusXM family. We can't wait to announ new surprise guests who we know that you'll love. If you want to be the first to hear new episodes ad free and a whole week early, subscribe to SiriusXM podcasts plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastsplus to start your free trial today.
Will Arnett
This is an ad for Roundup for lawns.
Paul Rudd
It kills weeds down to the root.
Will Arnett
Without harming your lawn.
Paul Rudd
It works on crabgrass, dandelions, clover.
Sean Hayes
It works on weeds with names you can't even pronounce. Roundup for Lawns.
Will Arnett
When used as directed, always read and.
Paul Rudd
Follow pesticide label directions.
Will Arnett
You know that feeling when someone shows up for you just when you need it most? Yeah, I mean, we all need that.
Jason Bateman
That's what Uber is all about.
Will Arnett
Not just a ride or dinner at your door.
Jason Bateman
It's how Uber helps you show up.
Will Arnett
For the moments that matter.
Jason Bateman
Because showing up can turn a tough day around or make a good one even better.
Will Arnett
Whatever it is, big or small, Uber.
Jason Bateman
Is on the way, so you can be on yours.
Will Arnett
Uber on our way.
SmartLess Episode Summary: "Paul Rudd" Release Date: April 28, 2025
1. Introduction and Welcome
The episode kicks off with Will Arnett enthusiastically introducing the guest, Paul Rudd, highlighting his multifaceted career and personal ventures.
Notable Quote:
2. Paul Rudd's Involvement with Samuel's Sweet Shop
Paul delves into his role as a co-owner of Samuel's Sweet Shop in Rhinebeck, NY, a beloved local candy store that he and his partners acquired to preserve its legacy after the original owner passed away.
Notable Quote:
3. Meeting His Wife and Industry Connections
The conversation shifts to Paul’s personal life, particularly how he met his wife, Julie, while seeking a publicist post his work on "Clueless." Their mutual connections and long-standing relationships in the industry are also discussed.
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4. Paul Rudd's Early Life and Career Beginnings
Paul shares insights into his upbringing, moving frequently due to his father's job with TWA, and how these experiences shaped his adaptability and social skills.
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5. Experiences Working at Studebaker's and Holiday Ham Company
Paul recounts his unconventional early jobs, including DJing at a 50s-themed bar and handling ham at the Holiday Ham Company, infusing humor into these stories.
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6. Paul's Education and Path to Acting
Reflecting on his educational background, Paul discusses his involvement in high school forensics (speech competitions) and how a pivotal suggestion led him to pursue acting seriously.
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7. Influences: British Comedy and Early Inspirations
Paul highlights the impact of British comedy on his humor style, particularly influencing his appreciation for shows like "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "Fawlty Towers."
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8. Theater Stories and On-stage Incidents
Paul shares intriguing and humorous anecdotes from his theater days, including handling unexpected incidents like audience deaths or disruptions during performances.
Notable Quotes:
9. Relationship with Judd Apatow and Career Highlights
The discussion moves to Paul's collaboration with legendary producer Judd Apatow, detailing how their email correspondence blossomed into a fruitful professional relationship that launched numerous successful comedies.
Notable Quotes:
10. Closing Remarks and Future Plans
As the episode wraps up, the hosts express their admiration for Paul, discuss upcoming projects like the "samuel's sweet shop" live show idea, and share heartfelt goodbyes.
Notable Quotes:
Selected Noteworthy Quotes with Timestamps
Conclusion
This episode of SmartLess offers an intimate glimpse into Paul Rudd's life, blending his professional journey with personal anecdotes. From his early struggles and unconventional jobs to his influential collaborations and humorous theater stories, Paul provides a multifaceted portrait of his enduring career and cherished personal ventures. The hosts' engaging dialogue and shared laughter encapsulate the essence of SmartLess—thoughtful conversation intertwined with organic hilarity.