"Pete Buttigieg"

Summary

SmartLess Podcast Episode Summary: "Pete Buttigieg"

Release Date: May 12, 2025
Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guest: Pete Buttigieg, United States Secretary of Transportation

---

1. Introduction and Setting the Scene

The episode kicks off with the hosts engaging in their characteristic light-hearted banter, setting an informal and engaging tone for the conversation. Shortly after, they introduce the episode's guest, Pete Buttigieg, highlighting his impressive credentials and multifaceted career.

---

2. Introducing Pete Buttigieg

Jason Bateman provides a comprehensive introduction to Pete Buttigieg, outlining his academic achievements and military service:

“This guy was named valedictorian in high school, voted most likely to become president. He went on to graduate college, magna cum laude from Harvard. Then he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford. He graduated first class honors in philosophy, politics, economics, and he came home and split his time between serving in Afghanistan and mayor at 29.”
[08:24]

Pete Buttigieg shares insights into his military experience, emphasizing the camaraderie and trust built during his service:

“The people I served with were totally different from each other and from me in every way... we all just really trusted each other and looked out for each other.”
[17:02]

---

3. Military Service and Driving in Afghanistan

Pete recounts a harrowing experience while driving in Afghanistan, illustrating the high-stress situations he encountered:

“I was in the center lane on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, and the car goes dead... It says, 'Is your key in the car? If so, hold it up to the designated area.'”
[03:43]

He details how he managed the crisis by consulting a YouTube video, ultimately resolving the issue and making it to his massage appointment:

“I found a YouTube video of a guy who went through the same thing... I put the key in the cup holder and I hit it again. Thank God it started.”
[05:01]

---

4. Transition to Public Service

Pete discusses his motivations for entering public service, influenced by his family's military background and the economic struggles of South Bend, Indiana:

“I found that there were enough people who felt the same way that we could build this campaign. We had a lot, by the way, it was super bipartisan. I ran as a Democrat, but we had a lot of independents, Republicans who supported it. And then they put me in charge of the city and then it was put up or shut up.”
[32:01]

He elaborates on his vision for South Bend and his commitment to revitalizing the community:

“I started to realize the further away I got, the more I realized that I was actually from somewhere and started to feel this almost militant pride in where I was from and what it could be.”
[32:01]

---

5. Role as Secretary of Transportation

Transitioning to his current role, Pete highlights the substantial responsibilities and challenges as Secretary of Transportation:

“As Secretary of Transportation, you got 55,000 employees. You oversee everything from commercial space travel safety to the Great Lakes Seaway to the Maritime Administration... The budget is the size of a mid-sized country, about $150 billion.”
[36:08]

He shares his unique introduction to the role amid the COVID-19 pandemic:

“The first time I participated in an Oval Office meeting, they wheeled a television into the Oval Office so that I could participate by Zoom from this apartment where I was locked up.”
[36:08]

---

6. Infrastructure Projects and Innovations

Pete delves into various infrastructure initiatives, showcasing his enthusiasm for transformative projects:

High-Speed Rail: Las Vegas to Southern California

He expresses excitement about a high-speed rail project connecting Las Vegas to Southern California, emphasizing its efficiency and strategic planning:

“They took advantage of the right of way that's already there on the interstate. That's one that I'm excited about... He's shooting for 2 hours and 10 minutes.”
[52:34]

Autonomous Vehicles and Safety

Discussing the future of transportation, Pete highlights advancements in autonomous vehicles and their potential to enhance safety:

“We worked on policies to make sure it was safe and to support some of the pilot programs that were going on... It's possible to envision a future where people are shocked that we drove our own cars.”
[53:25]

---

7. Political Philosophy and Bipartisanship

The conversation shifts to Pete's perspectives on political cooperation and the importance of bridging divides:

“People think about it. You stop and think about it... I'm trying to cut through some of those categories.”
[21:39]

He emphasizes that despite political differences, the majority of Americans share common goals:

“There are a lot of big things that people want... like clean air and roads that don't have a hole in them, and an economy where you can afford stuff and enough housing. Like, these are things that everybody wants.”
[27:36]

---

8. Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Workforce

Pete addresses his concerns and hopes regarding the rise of artificial intelligence and its implications for the job market:

“I'm concerned about how many jobs are at risk... AI systems that could cause huge disruption could also help us cure cancer and solve climate change.”
[58:26]

He advocates for ensuring that the wealth generated by AI benefits the broader population:

“Do we have a political system that makes sure that the enormous wealth that's being created by this technology flows through to the people or does it get concentrated?”
[60:14]

---

9. Balancing Public and Private Life

Pete shares his experiences in managing his public responsibilities while maintaining a private family life:

“People understand that we have a family, but you think about this differently. They’re three, so they're not old enough to really notice or care about stuff.”
[56:30]

He discusses strategies for interacting with the public while protecting his family's privacy:

“I usually pretty oblivious to this. We have to think about our kids differently.”
[56:18]

---

10. Reflections and Advice

In a reflective segment, Pete discusses what he would seek advice on if he could sit down with historical figures, specifically Abraham Lincoln:

“I can picture, like, if I get to have a coffee with Abraham Lincoln... I think he would be a really good person to talk to.”
[65:30]

He highlights Lincoln's leadership qualities and their relevance to today's political climate.

---

11. Closing Thoughts

The episode concludes with the hosts appreciating Pete's insights and expressing admiration for his balanced approach to politics and public service. They encourage listeners to engage in meaningful dialogues and embrace bipartisan cooperation to foster a better society.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Pete Buttigieg on Trust in the Military:

  "We all just really trusted each other and looked out for each other."
  [17:02]

• Pete Buttigieg on Political Cooperation:

  "There are a lot of big things that people want... like clean air and roads that don't have a hole in them, and an economy where you can afford stuff and enough housing. Like, these are things that everybody wants."
  [27:36]

• Pete Buttigieg on AI and Workforce:

  "I'm concerned about how many jobs are at risk... AI systems that could cause huge disruption could also help us cure cancer and solve climate change."
  [58:26]

• Pete Buttigieg on Balancing Public and Private Life:

  "People understand that we have a family, but you think about this differently. They’re three, so they're not old enough to really notice or care about stuff."
  [56:30]

• Pete Buttigieg on Historical Advice:

  "I think Lincoln would be a really good person to talk to... to get some tips on how to address this [division] situation."
  [65:30]

---

Conclusion

This episode of "SmartLess" offers an in-depth look into Pete Buttigieg's multifaceted career, his approach to leadership, and his vision for the future of transportation and society. Through candid conversations, the hosts and Pete explore critical issues like infrastructure, AI's impact on jobs, and the importance of bipartisan cooperation, providing listeners with valuable insights and thoughtful reflections.

Transcript

[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]

Paramount is the home of the UEFA Champions League final. It all comes down to this. After an incredible knockout stage, the UEFA Champions League final is here and history is on the line. If you've never watched UEFA Champions League, I implore you to watch it. It's got all the action, all the drama. It is the most incredible soccer tournament in the world. Watch all the coverage of the UEFA Champions League final, the biggest annual sporting event in the world, live on Paramount. Plus, don't miss the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday, May 31, live on Paramount. Plus, visit paramountplus.com live sports to get started. And just know when you're watching. I'm going to be watching, too. Shopping for a new home can be super exciting. It generally is. You know, you're thinking about and dreaming about what that's going to be, what that experience is going to be. But also, you know, when you start to get into it, it can be a little bit overwhelming if you don't have the right resources, if you're not set up the right way. Homes.com is home shopping the way it should be. It's more than a website. It's your partner in finding the perfect home. Get to know potential neighborhoods with Homes.com's comprehensive neighborhood details. Homes.com features the listing agent on each listing so you can easily connect. Plus, agent directory and profiles offer a detailed look at each agent's experience so you can find, you know, your perfect match. It's just so helpful. Go to homes.com to learn more. Homes.com we've done your homework, Sean. Good morning.

[Sean Hayes]

Good morning.

[Will Arnett]

Good morning. It's a weekend morning. I know it doesn't line up with, you know, the episode people about to listen to, but it's an actual Saturday when we're recording this.

[Sean Hayes]

That's correct.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Be honest. Your plan for the day. Go be ruthless with yourself right now.

[Sean Hayes]

Totally. I'm going to have. I'm not even kidding. I'm going to have a chili cornbread casserole right when this is over.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, no, no, no. But tell us something unusual that you. Welcome to Smart, Smart, Smart Smart. Less. Oh, Shawn. Get a good stretch in. You look A little kitty cat stretching.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, listen, I have a story to share with you all.

[Jason Bateman]

Here we come.

[Will Arnett]

Is that why you had to stretch for your story?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Is that what just happened?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Did you write notes or are you just gonna kind of free it?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, no, this is serious. Look at the look on his face.

[Sean Hayes]

I know, because I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but two days ago, I'm in my car, I'm on Wilshire Boulevard in between appointments, because if I drive home, by the time I get there, I have to come back. So I'm driving around like 20 minutes, trying to kill time.

[Jason Bateman]

So I'm driving. You don't pull in somewhere.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. You're just burning fossil fuel because.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, it's an electric car. It's an electric car.

[Jason Bateman]

It doesn't charge for free. You know, go ahead.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Will Arnett]

So it does mitigate it somewhat. Okay, go ahead.

[Sean Hayes]

So I'm in the center lane on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, and the car goes dead. And I have plenty of battery, and I'm freaking out. And the display on my dashboard says.

[Jason Bateman]

Neutral.

[Will Arnett]

Is your key in the car?

[Jason Bateman]

That's what it said. And you're wondering what neutral means? Stupid ass.

[Will Arnett]

I was like, it says, you're going nowhere.

[Sean Hayes]

First of all, by the way, first of all, has your car ever broken down in the middle lane and, like, a busy. Like, the stress is crazy.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Did you get out and try to start pushing your car?

[Sean Hayes]

No, but I freaked out. I put on my hazards. Everybody's driving by like, fuck you. And I'm like, what am I supposed to do? My car died. Then it says the key. The thing on the display on the dashboard.

[Will Arnett]

Sure.

[Sean Hayes]

Said, is your key in the car? If so, hold it up to the designated area. And I'm like, what's the designated area? Anyway, I freaked out. So I take the. I take the. This is the longest story in the world. I took the manual out, and while people are driving past me, like, oh.

[Will Arnett]

So you weren't alone. Manual was with you. Can you see? In the backseat.

[Jason Bateman]

But you took him out, Right? So he was. It must have been in the trunk.

[Will Arnett]

So you let manual out. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And I asked him what was wrong.

[Jason Bateman]

So you're reading the manual, and meanwhile you're screaming, guys, stop honking. I know it's not my fault.

[Sean Hayes]

Have you ever had that happen? Like, I was so stressed out, and so I have my head down. I'm looking at the manual, looking for, like, keys or whatever, like, key fob. And they say, anyway, so Anyway, I panic and I call Scotty. Scotty's like, what do you want me to do about it? And so I, With a tone, I'm freaking out. And I find a YouTube video of a guy who went through the same thing in the same kind of car. And he's like, you gotta put it in the cup holder. I'm like, the cup holder. So I put the key in the cup holder and I hit it again. Thank God it started. But that was like 20 minutes sitting there with my hazards on. And then I finally. Because I'll be down if I didn't make my massage. So I got to my massage.

[Will Arnett]

That was your appointment?

[Sean Hayes]

That was my appointment. Because I hadn't had one in like a year.

[Will Arnett]

Sounds like a real busy day. Middle of the day massage.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Middle of.

[Will Arnett]

Middle of a workday massage. Okay, so. And you give me JB for not going to the office. This guy's doing minimalist weekday massages.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, this is the end of the story.

[Will Arnett]

He's fucking living like a fucking Saudi prince over here.

[Sean Hayes]

So wait, the end of the story is I get out of my massage. I just passed the front desk. Cause I already paid. And she goes, oh, wait. And she could tell. She was too embarrassed to say the word husband. So she goes, your friend dropped off a spare key. And so I used my spare key he dropped. Scotty drove all the way to the thing to drop off a spare key that I didn't even know I had.

[Jason Bateman]

While you were getting him a spare, your roommate.

[Will Arnett]

Your roommate came. Your roommate. I know that you're a confirmed bachelor.

[Jason Bateman]

And your roommate, the guy in the other room. Oh, poor Sean.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, God, that was the worst. Has anything ever happened like that? I mean.

[Will Arnett]

Well, I, I, I have had that issue.

[Jason Bateman]

It's called a car breakdown.

[Will Arnett]

No, but I have had that key where, like, it has to be. It's not being recognized, but usually I just. Usually just move it around to different points of the car. And who, but who.

[Sean Hayes]

They don't tell you that. Like how you're supposed to know that?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, there's a picture. Usually it shows, like a little picture somewhere on your, on your, your, your screen. Well, where to stick it?

[Sean Hayes]

But anyway, yeah, anyway, yeah, great story.

[Will Arnett]

Did anybody stop for a selfie with you?

[Sean Hayes]

No, I had my head down so far. Look at the book.

[Jason Bateman]

Did you think that maybe you should pop the trunk or the hood so that no one rear ends you or honks at you and just.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, I had my hazards on.

[Will Arnett]

You have one of those, like, little like, like triangular orange reflective things in.

[Jason Bateman]

The trunk of your car, set on.

[Will Arnett]

The road, snap a flare off. Hey, where. Whereabouts in Wilshire, by the way?

[Sean Hayes]

I was, I was in the thick of it. I was like, Wilshire, like just off of Santa Monica and like, you know, Rodale, like in the middle of that section.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, in Beverly Hills.

[Sean Hayes]

Yes, on in the middle lane.

[Jason Bateman]

Like you didn't get much.

[Will Arnett]

So your. So your fancy car breaks down on Wilshire in Beverly Hills on your way to your.

[Jason Bateman]

You played well in the war theater.

[Will Arnett]

Hey, listen, man, the price of eggs must be crushing you right now. You're just going nuts over this, right, guys?

[Jason Bateman]

It's a great segue. I've got a guest that can answer a lot of high stress driving questions for you.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, good.

[Jason Bateman]

Today we've got a guest that's going to prove to you too, that hard work can bring great results. Fellas, if you just show a little discipline and focus, read a book, for God's sakes, and apply yourself, you can reach great heights. Will. Sean.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, I'm working on it.

[Jason Bateman]

This guy was named valedictorian in high school, voted most likely to become president. He went on to graduate college, magna cum laude. And that would be from, btw, Harvard. Then he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford. So he did that. Graduated first class honors in philosophy, politics, economics, and he came home and split his time between serving in Afghanistan and mayor at 29.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, I know this fella.

[Jason Bateman]

He's since served four years as United States Secretary of Transportation and hopefully his high school class is right and he'll be our president one of these days.

[Sean Hayes]

I missed it.

[Jason Bateman]

It's an honor to have on smart list, Mr. Pete Buttigieg. Hi there. Now. So can you explain to Sean, because in Afghanistan you were, you were, you were, you were driving, were you not?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, yeah, it was a big part of my job over there.

[Jason Bateman]

High stress driving. And so what would you suggest to him there on Wilshire and Rodeo, should he pop his trunk so he doesn't get rear ended? Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Well, in Afghanistan, you definitely would not want to open any part of the vehicle. This happened one time. Sure. Pop a flare, perhaps actually knocked a mirror off the first time I was driving.

[Jason Bateman]

Come on, Pete.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, got. Got big trouble because you couldn't like just, you know, stop and pick it back up.

[Sean Hayes]

Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And you know, Wilshire Boulevard, much like central Kabul, I imagine.

[Sean Hayes]

That's right.

[Will Arnett]

Very simple.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Watch your back.

[Sean Hayes]

Dangerous.

[Will Arnett]

But jb but, but as, but as. As Secretary of Transportation, you might have some advice for, for people like Sean, who's.

[Sean Hayes]

That's right. It's amazing how many people just don't want to stop and help.

[Jason Bateman]

No, exactly. I just want to. Maybe they gotta look at you now. Do the up armored Humvees even have hazard lights?

[Pete Buttigieg]

I didn't even get a Humvee. It was a slightly up armored Toyota truck. It was a Highlander. I think that's kind of cool.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Well, that's all they drive there, right? Pickups.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, they love their Hiluxes. That's kind of the go to vehicle out there. At least it was in my day.

[Will Arnett]

I don't know that I'm not familiar with that term. Hilux.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, I think they only sell those abroad. But it's really big over there.

[Will Arnett]

I mean, there's nothing like seeing a pickup Hilux storming your way with like 12 guys in the back and a 50 cal mounted roughly on the. In the.

[Jason Bateman]

But dangerous.

[Will Arnett]

It's dangerous. Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

It gets your blood flowing.

[Will Arnett]

Sure, sure.

[Jason Bateman]

And now. And so you were driving top speed, looking out for, for the, for the road mines on your way to reconnaissance and things like that, and that sounds very stressful.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, yeah, it was pretty stressful. But you know, the folks I was with were really good at their jobs. I was well trained in. So we called it military Uber, basically making sure people and gear could get to where they need to go.

[Jason Bateman]

Would you ask your passengers to rate you favorably?

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know, I should have.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

So, you know, I'm getting reacquainted with Uber now because I, you know, for the last four years I would still drive like if I was dropping off the kids at school or something like that. But the most time, most of the time I was, you know, being picked up. That's how it works when you're in the cabinet. So I had to get Uber back on my phone and get used to all that. It's changed a little bit since I remember. You got more options. Options now.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. But nobody can accuse you of being. Of being highfalutin, considering we mentioned your service in, in the, in the armed forces like you. What an incredible career you've had. I'm. I'm really impressed. Unbelievable that you went to Harvard, you're.

[Jason Bateman]

A Rhodes scholar, and are you impressed by it, Will?

[Will Arnett]

I mean, very. It's unbelievable. Of course he was in. He wasn't in. Something.

[Jason Bateman]

Tell me.

[Will Arnett]

He would never get assigned to. He was an intelligence officer. Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. What does that mean?

[Will Arnett]

So you. He's going to tell us right now?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Well, I could Tell you. But then I'd have to, you know.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, then you'd have to. Oh, please, kill him. On the podcast, the ratings would be phenomenal. But what, what an unbelievable. When you were sort of 15 in high school, you couldn't have imagined the, the, the sort of, the, the trajectory your life was going to take, could you?

[Pete Buttigieg]

No, there's no way. When I, when I was 15 in high school, all I wanted airline pilot, which, which I still think is an amazing job. I respect pilots so much, by the way. It's a great job. It, it pays very well and, and it's very in demand. But I just, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. My dad would go on business trips sometimes and they, they would have, on the, on the, like, wide body planes that would, that would fly over the Atlantic. They used to have this custom where they'd pin up a carbon copy of the flight plan. I don't know if you ever saw this. It'd be about the size of a small poster. And they would stick it to the wall in the back of the plane. I think this was before they had monitors where you could see where the plane was so it would show the track of where the plane was supposed to go in this kind of carbon line on this map. And anyway, if you asked, they would give it to you. And so he would bring them back for me when he came back from a trip. And I just wallpapered my room with him. I was, I was so.

[Will Arnett]

That's right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I knew the names of the pilots that had signed, signed the things like, you know, they were like celebrities to me.

[Jason Bateman]

And did you ever consider getting your pilot's license and, and joining the Air Force instead of the Navy.

[Pete Buttigieg]

So I discovered some things about my eyesight that meant that I was not going to be a candidate for, for military aviation. Same, same.

[Sean Hayes]

Colorblind.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, that was the reason.

[Jason Bateman]

Hang on a second. Sorry, sorry. Mayor Pete.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Your kind of fuzzy vision derailed a long career as an aviator.

[Sean Hayes]

No, I thought you were going to. You're colorblind. Because you can't be a pilot if you're colorblind. And I'm colorblind.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

No, it just had to do with how nearsight. I think now it's not such a big deal. But I was so nearsighted. That and astigmatism. You like, at least in the 90s.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, sure, fine.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Look forward to a career. No, colorblind. That's a thing.

[Will Arnett]

You've got headphones, I've got headphones. Too.

[Pete Buttigieg]

That's so crazy. That's a whole subplot in. What's the Little Miss Sunshine, right? There's a whole subplot.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. That's very good. Very good.

[Jason Bateman]

So then. All right, so then your vision kept you. All right, so then it was. But what, what about now? There wasn't. Both of your parents are. Are academics and educators, but there's no. Is there military in your family at all? What, what got you to. To lean that?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, there is. Yeah. Not. Not at my. Not my parents generation, but before that, there were a lot in my family were career military. Matter of fact, when I was growing up, we had a. We had a portrait painting in the living room of this army officer. And we were, you know, I mean, my parents were professors, middle class neighborhood, Indiana. We were not like portraits of ancestors on the wall kind of family. So it always stood out to me. And I asked about it and the story, it turns out it was my. It was my great uncle who died in a plane crash in 1941. But he was an Army Air Corps officer, which was the predecessor to the Air Force. And the reason that painting exists is because his brother, my grandfather, was also an officer. He was a doctor, actually, he was an army doc. And at a. I guess there was a prisoner of war camp in I think New Mexico where World War II prisoners would interact with American officers. And he got to know an officer who could, who could paint and asked him if he would paint from a photograph this portrait of his brother who had been killed. And he did. Wow. And so I grew up with this. He's kind of sitting in a classic World War II style army uniform, kind of staring right at you. And I felt like it was kind of my family's version of the Uncle Sam poster, you know, saying, why not you? Why aren't you serving your country? I want you. And I think that was in the back of my mind. It was a big part of why I wanted to serve, you know, and then like a lot of people my age, 9, 11, had a big impact on me.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And then when I got to Oxford, often some of the Rhodes scholars are graduates of the military academies. West Point Naval Academy. And my class had quite a few. And I respected those guys so much. It was one more reason I wanted to serve. And so I entered the reserve. Once I got back and kind of started my professional life, I joined a reserve unit. And we, you know, it was one weekend a month, two weeks a year. But then part of the deal is if they call you up you go. And I got called up while I was mayor, actually, so I put my mayoral service on hold. I took a leave, had a deputy mayor who stepped in for me for the time I had to go, and went off to Afghanistan.

[Sean Hayes]

Is there any part of it you missed, Like.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, actually. Yeah. I mean, the people most of all, like, the people I served with, and they were totally different from each other and from me in every way. Different, you know, politics, different upbringings. But, you know, we all just really trusted each other and looked out for each other, and it's something. Yeah, I wish. You know, obviously, the military is not for everybody, but I think a moment like this is one where it would be great if more people had some experience of doing something hard together with other people that just builds that kind of trust that we don't seem to have enough of right now.

[Jason Bateman]

Can you talk about that moment to the extent you're comfortable when you got that call that you actually were going to go overseas and serve? Because I'd imagine a lot of folks join the service and it's not during wartime, and they never get in combat. And you are going over. That's got to be somewhat frightening. What. Can you talk about that?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. Your first day, like, or that you're.

[Jason Bateman]

Gonna go, time to pack your bags.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I mean, you. You know, you take a deep breath, and it's. It's sobering, but it's also, you know, it's a big part of why you serve. I mean, of course, if you're agreeing to put on the uniform, you're putting your right hand up and taking that oath. That means you're. The whole idea is you're going to be there if. If your country needs you. And, you know, I had. I had one tour in Afghanistan. I spent a little time also in Afghanistan and Iraq as a. As a civilian economic advisor. But, you know, I was with people who served four, five, six tours.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow.

[Pete Buttigieg]

It's incredible how many, you know, my generation, how many tours. Some of them did. And so I was really humbled to see how much other people had served. And, yeah, you know, that's one of the other things that made me want to do in the first place, was seeing a lot of other people in my generation rogering up to go and thinking at a certain point, like, when's my turn?

[Will Arnett]

But is there. Does fear enter into it?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Oh, of course. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

The first night I was there. You know, they train you for what a rocket alarm sounds like. Obviously, you know what to do if you hear the Alarm that says incoming. I started out at Bagram Airfield, and then later on was. Was reassigned to Kabul, the. The capital. But that first night at Bagram, there was a. There was a rocket attack. And I just remember just my blood running cold when I heard that sound. It's the same sound, by the way, as I think it's called. There's an iPhone alarm that's the exact same.

[Sean Hayes]

That kind of thing. Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

It would be a great idea to just never use that.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Pete Buttigieg]

On your iPhone. At least if you're around somebody who might have memories around that. But. Yeah. My first day there was a rocket attack. My last day, there was a rocket attack.

[Sean Hayes]

Wow. It's probably a different sound than when my massage is over.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's more of a.

[Sean Hayes]

Gone. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. And it's probably more fear than like jb, when you got the call to. That you were going to be in Heart to Heart, Secrets of the Heart, the TV movie. Like that must have been.

[Jason Bateman]

When I'm asked to force my call tomorrow, you know, it's going to need. Yeah, yeah. But well, listen, yeah. Mayor Pete, thank you. Thank you for your service. Yeah, indeed.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, it's pretty. It's really, really impressive now.

[Jason Bateman]

With your father being a professor of literature. Did that. I mean, were you. Stupid question, but, I mean, I'm just. I love listening to you talk, by the way.

[Sean Hayes]

I do, too.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Sean Hayes]

And I love. Anytime you're on any news channel, anything, anywhere, I'm like, you're the smartest person in the room.

[Will Arnett]

I love watching you debate. I love watching you debate. I mean, because you make debating not seem like debating. You just boil it down and you. And you take the comments, you take the contention out, which is.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Well, a lot of debating now isn't actually debating.

[Will Arnett]

It's.

[Pete Buttigieg]

It's like a media opportunity. Right. It's just people kind of saying they're like canned things and.

[Jason Bateman]

But your ability to shape a thought, your opinion, to just to make it kind of tangible for folks, I appreciate. Because me not smart. But I love that you. I love that you spend time on. On Fox too. And you know that, that, that there's an ability to, you know, because we all need to kind of stop talking across one another and talk together. And. And so it's. I love that that you spend some time over there. Is there a reason why. Why more Democrats aren't talking over there? Are they not invited or do they not want to go? I just wish they'd do it more.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, I think I'm Both. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Look, there's a lot of reasons to hesitate, right? If you're going into a place that you know is not ideologically friendly or not aligned with you, like, there's reasons to think twice about it. And I think a lot of. A lot of people in my party do. But my take on it is you can't. You can't blame somebody for not embracing your message if they've literally never heard it. And a lot of people will never hear what we have to say if we're only talking to people who are friendly to us. And it's not just tv. I mean, it's also. I'm doing more podcasts, more digital stuff, just because I know that's where a lot of people get their. Their information. I've been teaching one day a week at the Institute of Politics in Chicago at the University of Chicago there. And one of the things I do is I'm always asking my students, whenever we sit down, a lot of times I'll do a show of hands. Where do you get your news? The number of students who raise their hands when I asked how many of them get their news from television was zero. Literally zero. They might see a clip from TV if it goes into their TikTok feeds or Instagram or something like that. But, you know, I don't think of myself as that much older than them, but I grew up in a world where, like, you, you watched a TV story about some controversy, you heard the conservative opinion, you heard the liberal opinion, and maybe hearing the other side made you feel the way you feel even more strongly, or maybe it made you change your mind a little bit or ask another question. But, like, the point is, you think about it. You, like, stop and think about it, right? And it's very hard for that to happen now, the way our media works. So I'm trying to. I'm trying to cut through some of those categories.

[Jason Bateman]

Glad you're doing it.

[Sean Hayes]

We'll be right back. You know how people say sleep is the cousin of death? What interesting family dinners they must have had then, right? Can anyone really say something bad about sleep? No. All anyone wants is rejuvenating, deep sleep. And for that, there's Helix Mattress. You'll find what you're looking for with Helix's variety of mattresses that are engineered to fit your needs. Whether you struggle with night sweats, back pain, motion transfer, you name it. Helix has a mattress to help you get the kind of sleep that you've always dreamt of. I got a dusk luxe. It's amazing. Go to helixsleep.com smartless for 20% off sitewide that's helixsleep.com smartless For 20% off site wide helixsleep.com smartless.

[Will Arnett]

You know what I want in life more than anything? I want to be able to eat toast wraps without stressing about carbs. Tell you something, does somebody lets me do that? You know what it's called? It's called Herobred. Okay? So listen up. With Herobred you can focus on your health goals and still introduce Indulge in your favorite bready meals guilt free. You're going to get the soft, fluffy experience that you know and love. Whether you're grilling seasonal favorites like burgers or packing fresh wraps for everyday lunches, all your favorite recipes are covered with Herobred sliced bread loaves, tortillas, bagels and dinner rolls. And not only are their baked goods mouth watering, they also have ultra low net carbs, zero grams of sugar and are high in fat fiber. You'd never know it's low net carb and high in fiber bread from the texture. No compromises, just flavor. I like sliced bread for sandwiches and I like tortillas for quick wraps. What do you what do you want from me? I like a quick wrap. It's a great addition to my party, especially when I'm trying to eat cleaner without giving up the stuff that I actually enjoy eating. Okay, Herobread is offering 10% off of your your order. Go to Hero Co and use code Smartless at checkout. That's Smartless. H E R O Co.

[Sean Hayes]

Hey guys. Viori H Do you love it? I love it. It's versatile, it's comfortable. It's perfect for whatever your day brings. Like anything you're doing. Some days are non stop, you know. Others are low key. It's all vori, all the time. It's designed to look great beyond the gym. Whether you're running errands or heading to the office or just hanging out with friends after work or whenever. The Core Short is the short that started it all for Vuori. It defines fitness versatility. One short every sport. Ideal for fitness, running and training, but also stylish and comfortable enough to wear all day. It moves without restriction. It's soft, it's lightweight and has a four way piece performance stretch. It has built in comfort and support with a breathable boxer brief liner. There's a perfect fit for every preference. It's available in three inseam options. I love Vuori by the way. I have the core short And I have the Ponto short. They're breathable. It's, you know, some shorts feel too tight, others too loose. The core short is just. It's perfect. It's like the Goldilocks short. It's an everyday essential. Get it? If you love to do what I do, which is wake up, go to the store, go to the gym, come back, maybe you'll sleep in it, maybe you won't, but you can just wear it all day long. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Go to viori.com smartless and discover the versatility of Vuori. Clothing exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.

[Jason Bateman]

And now back to the show.

[Will Arnett]

I think one of the tricks that they've done on both sides, and this is what has sort of made me, I think a lot of other people check out from the entire process, is that the truth is we all want a better system. We all want a better country, we all want a better America. Everybody wants everybody to have. Be better fed and all, et cetera. Just go. Whatever the issue is, everybody wants that. And somehow we've been convinced by a few people that we are at odds with each other. Everybody is actually a lot more aligned. I think so, too, than we think.

[Sean Hayes]

I think so.

[Will Arnett]

And that's. I truly believe that.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Look, obviously there's some serious disagreements and differences in values, but there's also, yeah, you look at a lot of the biggest issues. There's like 60, 70% of Americans who agree on what to do about it. And if you look at the overlap, you know, that might not be the same 70% from this issue to that issue. But, like, the big things that people want out of everyday life and the big things people want their government to do for them to have stuff, work, you know, clean, safe drinking water and clean air and roads that don't have a hole in them, and transit that gets you where you need to go and an economy where you can afford stuff and enough housing. Like, these are things that everybody wants. And we've gotten into this mode where politics is treated like basically like a wrestling, like death match. It does, I think, turn a lot of people off. But, you know, my experience, and maybe it's because I came up locally, and local politics, by the way, is, as everybody knows, can be very, very rough and tumble. But, yeah, there's this sense, you know, in a community, you're a little more. It's a little clear to everybody. That everybody wants the community to do well.

[Will Arnett]

Well. And you also have to answer to each other face to face, day to day.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, yeah. You see each other at the grocery, walking the dog and. And, yeah, I think we really miss that at the national level. You know, Washington has its version of that because you, like, run into other, you know, political figures, but it's not. It's not like being part of the same.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, but it's. But it seems to me. And again, this is. Forgive me for sort of boiling it down like this, but it does seem to me that Washington politics are a lot like the wwe. It's like everybody goes and puts on their. On their. Their game Persona, and then back in the locker room, they're like, hey, that was a pretty good one. Yeah, that was a good one by you, too. They all know. Everybody knows each other.

[Sean Hayes]

Right.

[Will Arnett]

You know what I mean?

[Pete Buttigieg]

I think it was like that. I think that's changed a lot in the last few years. If you talk to people who just some of the things that are really dark. January 6th, that kind of stuff, where people were really fearing for their lives, I think. I think has shifted that a little bit. But, yeah, you could definitely feel. We spent almost four years. I wasn't living in Washington the whole time, but most of the time I was serving, we lived there.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, there's a headline. Pete Buttigieg admits he wasn't living in Washington the whole time.

[Pete Buttigieg]

No. You know what it was. I was traveling so much. I was traveling a day or two a week minimum for work. And then. Cause my job was partly to go around the country and look at the projects we were working on. You're in charge of transportation, obviously. You're traveling a lot. I went to every single state at least once.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And then I. You know, there were times when I was traveling a lot for campaign stuff, too, and began to realize that. That it was for our family. It was more economical for me to stay in a hotel the days I was in Washington than to pay rent there and mortgage here in Michigan, where we live.

[Sean Hayes]

Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And it was important to us for the kids to be around their. Their grandparents. So my grandmother or my mother. Their grandmother lives here in Traverse City now. We moved here largely because Chasten's parents. My husband's parents are here. That's where he grew up. And it's made all the difference in the world to have the kids close to their parents.

[Jason Bateman]

What made you think that you could become a mayor and get into politics at that early age? You became mayor at 29, I think.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

So coming back from Afghanistan. Well, no, this is before you went to Afghanistan. But coming back from Oxford, you'd go. You work for the consultant firm. At what point did you think I might want to go into politics?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

So I finished up at Oxford, got a job in Chicago at a consulting firm. But the first.

[Will Arnett]

Is that. Right. Is that where you were?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, McKinsey. Yeah. And I learned a lot there. But I also figured out pretty quickly that client service wasn't for me. I just didn't care enough about it. I wanted to work on something I cared about, about, not just because I was being paid to care about, but because it was really important to me. And meanwhile, a lot of people know that South Bend, Indiana is where Notre Dame is. What a lot of people don't realize is Notre Dame is actually across the street from South Bend, Indiana. It's not. It's not a college town that way. And the city was completely built around the auto industry. It was the company town for Studebaker. Studebaker was headquartered in South Bend.

[Sean Hayes]

Wow.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And even though that company went out of business in the 60s, when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, the city was still trying to recover from that. Lost a bunch of its population. Vacant, abandoned houses, collapsing factories everywhere. And so I grew up kind of inhaling this idea that success meant getting out. I mean, a lot of kids in the so called Rust Belt and in rural America grow up with this message.

[Will Arnett]

Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

If you want to make something yourself, get out. Which is pretty much what I did. I went to the east coast, then I got even further away, going to the UK to study when I got the scholarship, and. But then I started to realize the further away I got, the more I realized that I was actually from somewhere and started to feel this almost militant pride in where I was from and what it could be. And I found that a lot of people I grew up with felt the same way. Our city could be more than it was and could have a different future. And right around the time I got in the race for mayor, there was a national write up of our city. They called it one of America's 10 dying cities. And we hated that so much and didn't believe it. And so I found that there were enough people who felt the same way that we could build this campaign. We had a lot, by the way, it was super bipartisan. I ran as a Democrat, but we had a lot of independents, Republicans who supported it. And then they put me in charge of the city and then it was put up or shut up.

[Jason Bateman]

Was that as frightening as get the call up to go overseas? I mean, you know, all that response, responsibility.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know, I took office on New Year's Day and it was snowing. And one thing I knew a lot.

[Jason Bateman]

About was you're hungover.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know, one thing you definitely need to be on top of as a mayor is snow plowing.

[Will Arnett]

Sure.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Maybe not. Not as much an issue, obviously not out here where you are. But, you know, right in the lake effect zone, a lot of snow. And it's kind of the test of. The classic test of a mayor. So, you know, right away there's this trial by fire, just making sure that we were okay dealing with this snow. And yeah, it's everything from. Yeah, I worked on everything from police and fire to streets and, you know, to the zoo. Like, we were in charge of the zoo.

[Jason Bateman]

Anything surprising about a mayor job, that would surprise people. Something you didn't expect.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know, I was surprised to be in charge of the zoo. It just wasn't something I thought about when I was campaigning. I didn't know I'd be dealing with golf courses as much. We had city golf courses that I was managing and we didn't, like, I don't even golf. And then things that you hear about. But I didn't really think much of it until I did it. You get to marry people, right? You are.

[Will Arnett]

Justice.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And I remember one time I came in, I was really early, I was the first person in, so my staff weren't around, and. And I stepped out of the elevator in the hallway that leads to the mayor's office. And this other couple, these two other people stepped out of another elevator and said, oh, Mayor, we were hoping we'd find you here. Like, just who we were hoping to see. And I thought, okay, I hope I'm ready for whatever they're going to ask because I'm all alone up here. And then they explained she was super pregnant. And they said, well, we're on our way to the hospital. We're going to have a C section. And by the time we tell her parents that their grandparents, I want to make sure we're actually married. So could you marry us?

[Sean Hayes]

Wow.

[Jason Bateman]

And it's time sensitive.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Like now? Yeah, yeah, like right now. So, yeah, I don't know everything about their story.

[Will Arnett]

And you're like, yeah, I could, but I've assigned all marriages to the zoo. So we got to get to the zoo real quick.

[Pete Buttigieg]

So we did it. Like, I went through my drawers and I found, like, Somewhere in there from the last time I did this, I had, you know, kind of copy of the protocol, the things I was supposed to say. And my staff trickled in while we were putting that together, and I found a piece of pipe cleaner we were able to use just as a makeshift ring. And they ran down and got the certificates and I signed off and yeah, by the time they got them married and squared away and then they went.

[Sean Hayes]

Off, I mean, was she in labor while you were giving. I'm like, was she like breathing, whatever that is, like, was she about to go into it?

[Pete Buttigieg]

I'm not sure I would have been able to handle that.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah, that would have been crazy.

[Jason Bateman]

Now, how does that, how does that differ from your first day as Transportation Secretary? What was that like? What is day one like when you're handling that large department?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Well, I mean, it's a huge leap. So as mayor at about 1,000 employees and about a $300 million organization. So not small. But as Secretary of transportation, you got 55,000 employees. You oversee everything from commercial space travel safety to the great Lawrence Seaway to the Maritime Administration to just so many things. And the budget is the size of a mid sized country. It's about $150 billion, or at least it was once we got the infrastructure package through. Wow. It's pretty daunting. The really daunting thing was it was deep Covid and I couldn't be in a room with most of my staff. And then that was the time when the protocols were extremely intense. I got exposed to. I was in a room with somebody who, who had had Covid and it was decided that I needed to be confined for 14 days just in case. So the first time I participated in an Oval Office meeting, they wheeled a television into the Oval Office so that I could participate by zoom from this apartment where I was locked up and join remotely. So it's a very strange introduction to the job. It's a very strange introduction to my own team. But gradually we built a really good chemistry with a really good team full.

[Will Arnett]

Of public irony that you're, you're now the Secretary of Transportation, but you can't go anywhere.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

You know, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And, and, and Pete, instead of asking you what we would never know, like what we could never guess about the transportation, like, safety, like, I don't think I could handle that answer. I don't want to know what I don't know. So I'll just say, what is the most interesting thing that you learned that you could share with Us about how it all works, because it is kind of fascinating. Yeah. I don't want to know about safety stuff. I think I wouldn't be able to sleep.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Oh, the safety stuff should be reassuring, though.

[Sean Hayes]

All right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I mean, one thing that people don't think about is how incredible of a civilizational achievement our overall aviation safety record as a country is. There was a terrible crash this year. There was 15 years with no fatal crashes.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And. And that doesn't just happen. Right. I mean, think about what that takes.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I wish we had that on auto safety. We don't, like on the ground, like in cars. We lose more than 100 people a day in those countries. One of the big things I worked on, we finally got the numbers starting to go down again on my watch.

[Will Arnett]

Are those numbers. Are a lot of those numbers still the result of people being intoxicated? Is that. That's still there, or is it a lot of texting?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Both. Yeah. Distracted driving is a huge deal. I mean, I cannot. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to just put down the phone.

[Will Arnett]

Just.

[Pete Buttigieg]

It can wait. But anyway, the work that goes into making sure people are safe and stuff, I never thought about in shipping, like making sure that things that go into packages are safe. We learned things like there was a cottage industry of custom kind of homemade nail polish, which sometimes is using compounds that were unsafe to put in the mail. Mail, again, not on my bingo card for things I would be dealing with. But.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Sean Hayes]

Right?

[Pete Buttigieg]

It was a thing. But yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Because can't you mail anything? I mean, how do they find out not.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Not hazardous material.

[Jason Bateman]

Asking for a French.

[Sean Hayes]

But people.

[Pete Buttigieg]

That's the thing. People don't know. Like, if you're, like, on Etsy, you know, selling custom nail polish, you don't think of yourself as a person who ships hazardous materials. Right. You think of yourself as a small business. And so.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know, trying to do that without, you know, over regulating everybody to where nobody could do anything.

[Will Arnett]

Jason, quick, do you know what Etsy is?

[Sean Hayes]

She.

[Jason Bateman]

She. Sean's cat.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you so much.

[Sean Hayes]

All right, cat, Come here, Etsy.

[Jason Bateman]

So, Sean, did you get enough of an answer there for a friend about how to properly mule something?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

What to look for, how they can. Right.

[Sean Hayes]

No, I always thought that because, you know, like, gummies are legal, but you can't mail them.

[Will Arnett]

Here we go.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know what else? I learned a lot about Fish.

[Jason Bateman]

Fish.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I wound up having to learn more than I thought I would about fish.

[Sean Hayes]

Why? Why?

[Jason Bateman]

Why?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Because a lot of fish, you know, famously swim upstream. And if a road is built through a stream or a river and you don't put the right kind of culvert so the water can go under it, it blocks the fish passage. And it turns out a lot of roads were built in the 60s and 70s. The culverts either weren't built the right way or they failed over the years. And it was screwing up fisheries, especially in the Pacific Northwest. But this is happening all over the country. And so we started working on fixing it with some of the funds in the infrastructure, infrastructure package. Huge deal for the Pacific Northwest, especially for tribal communities, but also just, just in general. So I wound up having, you know, I was in PowerPoint briefings on the difference between anadromous fish which swim upstream and I mean, catadromous I think is the word for the ones that fish go downstream. And, and it's not just salmon. I mean there's, there's a lot of.

[Will Arnett]

A lot of fish related things that.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Turn out to be at stake.

[Sean Hayes]

But Pete, you know, the, like you look at, I've never been to Japan, but everybody I know that's been to Japan is like, every street is flawless. Everything is clean, every, like road. And it's.

[Will Arnett]

Sean, you would love Japan for real.

[Sean Hayes]

I know, I really want to go. But you go, God, there's Hunt and Luke. You just said the budget, like, how is it? And I can only speak to Los Angeles. Every road I drive on has massive potholes all the time. Like, what's going on?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, so some of it is you get what you pay for. And that's a country that just really invests in its, in its transportation. But they also have a culture of taking care of things that I think we could, we could learn from. I went there because they hosted the G7. All the transport ministers from the G7 countries get together and it was their turn to host and with this, this, this great meeting and. But yes, it kind of saw that up close. Got to ride the bullet train and, and the bullet train, which is an incredible experience and, but there's a culture like, it's like you don't eat while you're walking. In Japan, a couple of us made this mistake and, and learned very quickly you're not supposed to do that. Like, you don't just walk down the street with an ice cream cone or something because why. Which is, it's just, you're supposed to stop and eat at a table and then they give you, if you get something to go, they give you a little bag to put your Trash in that you take with you.

[Will Arnett]

Wow, it's incredible.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You're supposed to look after your own trash. So it's just this like culture of cleanliness and taking care of things.

[Will Arnett]

Well, first of all, I think that it might go beyond. I don't want to go too deep on this, but as a Canadian, it goes beyond a little bit, just a culture of cleanliness. And it is a culture. There is a thing that is lacking, this idea that we have to lift each other up and be responsible to the greater good. I once said to my dad, and I don't know if I've shared this, this on the, on the show before, I said, why didn't you move to the States when I was younger? I said he was a lawyer for many years and he went into business. I said, you could have made way more money. He said, because I have an obligation to the system that brought me up. And he came from nothing. And that. I don't think that that exists as much in this country. There's much more of a fuck you, I'm getting mine. Which, fine, you know, it is the land of opportunity. But, but there is. To answer Sean, your question, I think that there is a little bit of that, that kind of bleeds into everything. And you look at, at. You've seen those videos, Pete, I'm sure of when they decide to rebuild a bridge, a small bridge in the Netherlands on a highway, and they do it in 48 hours because they don't want.

[Sean Hayes]

To disrupt the whole system, really.

[Will Arnett]

So everybody, they, they prep, prep, prep, prep, prep. They shut it down and they quite literally build the bridge in 48 hours.

[Jason Bateman]

That's all hands on deck.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Amazing. No, that's, it's, it's incredible. We worked on ways to emulate that, but I think I half agree with you. But I think there's a deeply American tradition around that too. It's always kind of in a bit of a push pull with the individualistic tradition, but a lot of the great infrastructure we count on the aviation system, the highways are built on that spirit. And so is the idea of preparing. It was Lincoln who said, give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening my ax. And I think about that a lot because if we apply that to infrastructure, we'd be. Be better off. Hey, I gotta ask. Speaking of, speaking of fathers, there's something I've always wanted Jason to ask you.

[Jason Bateman]

About, which is that once Rick, a shot at Sean.

[Pete Buttigieg]

No, I once read that you are a. Maybe the Most prominent Maltese American figure in Hollywood.

[Jason Bateman]

And I wanted to know.

[Pete Buttigieg]

That's the country my dad immigrated from. I'm just kidding. Have you ever been there? Like, do you have a connection to Maltese culture?

[Jason Bateman]

I went there when I was a little kid. Yeah. My. Actually, my. It's my mother's mother that was. That was from Malta and. And that's where she met her husband, my grandfather, because he was in the British Air Force.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Ah, classic. Yeah. Classic thing that happened a lot in that. In that generation.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. It's a. What an. What an interesting little island out there. Incredibly strategic and. And rich in history and. And a great filming location. Right. The great Popeye was shot there.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, yeah. In fact, I was there. I was with a friend and we stumbled on of the set of World War Z. Oh, wow. It's a tiny Mediterranean country, which means it can be made to look like lots of places, especially lots of places in the Middle east or North Africa. I think they used it for gladiator, but they just changed the signs and they could make, like, I think a lot of the scenes in Munich, whether it was in Lebanon or Greece or Israel, Palestine. Like, a lot of that was shot in Malta. But, yeah, World War Z was going on. I didn't know what that was, but I was walking with a friend and we just. Suddenly, the signs on the businesses switched to Hebrew and there was this overturned tank, and we had maybe wandered past a stanchion and didn't notice because they were taking a break. And then this bus pulled up and a bunch of zombies got out. And it's really unnerving.

[Jason Bateman]

You looked at your drink.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know what was really unnerving was not to see zombies, but to see zombies acting not like zombies. Right. Extras. I think they were Maltese extras.

[Jason Bateman]

They were waiting for, you know, they're talking cat.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah. There's like, a zombie smoking a cigarette, like, checking his phone. There's a zombie with a bottle of water. That was almost more unsettling than seeing.

[Will Arnett]

A bunch of people.

[Jason Bateman]

Then you saw Brad Pitt walk by and you just passed out completely.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

He sadly was not present.

[Jason Bateman]

Have you been there recently?

[Pete Buttigieg]

It's been a few years, but I'm hoping soon to be able to take our kids there because I want to. To introduce them to. I want them to know, like, the one place in the world where their last name is a common name. I want them to, like, you know, meet their cousins.

[Will Arnett]

Is that true? Is that. Is that quite a company?

[Pete Buttigieg]

That's like Smith over there. I mean, you. There was a statue to Anton Buttigieg, who was the president of Malta and a great poet. And like, we're not even related. They were like, he was like neighbors with my great grandparents or something like that. I mean, but it's an incredible, it's a fascinating place place. It's just beautiful.

[Sean Hayes]

How old are your kids, by the way?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Now they're three. They're turning four this summer.

[Sean Hayes]

That's great.

[Pete Buttigieg]

That's so cool. Boy and a girl, twins, fun age.

[Sean Hayes]

That's great.

[Jason Bateman]

And we will be right back.

[Sean Hayes]

One of the hardest parts about B2B marketing is reaching the right audience. You put so much effort into a campaign only for it to get wasted on the wrong people. I don't know. It's like reaching pro gamers instead of programmers. That's where LinkedIn ads come in. Fortunately, LinkedIn is a network of over 1 billion business Y people who might actually be interested in your business. You can even target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority skills, company revenue, and did I say job title yet? So stop wasting budget on the wrong audience and start targeting the right professionals with LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. So you can try it yourself. Just go to LinkedIn.com smartless that's LinkedIn.com smartless Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads. You've booked your flights. You've booked your place to stay. Now what adventure doesn't need to begin when you arrive. With GetYourGuide, planning is as much of an experience as the trip itself. Get your guide is an online platform where you can discover and book a range of activities in the US and around the world. Choose from over 150,000 experiences, including guided tours, sightseeing, excursions, adventure activities, museum tickets, and so much more. GetYourGuide brings the thrill of discovery to every moment leading up to your trip. No matter where you're headed, get your guide is the best way to connect with your destination with locally vetted and expertly curated experiences. There's something for everyone, whether whether it's must see iconic attractions or unexpected under the radar gems, it's awesome. With flexible booking options, mobile tickets, and millions of verified reviews, you'll find everything you need to simplify trip planning and book the best things to do in thousands of destinations. Discover and book experiences for your next [e-mail] that's getyourguide.com guys. It's getting to be Summer, the days are getting longer and they're a little warmer. It's the perfect time to be outside in your backyard and hang out with friends and cook and have a little drink and frolic and tell jokes. It's the best time of year for those of us in cold weather states. Summer is almost on its way. And there's no better place to go for outdoor furniture than Wayfair. Wayfair's huge selection of outdoor updates makes it easy to make your outdoor space more comfortable, functional, and most importantly, more you shop. Patio sets and lounge chairs, outdoor tables and umbrellas, grills, sheds, gazebos, and even hot tubs. There's something for every style in every home, no matter your space or budget. Plus get free and easy delivery, even on the big stuff. So, you know, I found the perfect thing on Wayfair. It just totally fit my vibe. My outdoor space is a very chill, summery like barbecue feel. So I got these little lanterns, I put little fake candles in the lanterns and you just put a battery in them and it looks, it makes outdoor look so beautiful at night and inviting and cozy and it's awesome. So we have some friends over, we cook outside. It's super fun. Shop a huge selection of outdoor furniture online this summer. Get outside with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com Wayfair Every style, every home. And now back to the show.

[Jason Bateman]

Hey, I want to get back to infrastructure for one second. You guys got that huge bill passed and got a lot of great stuff started. I'm assuming a lot of that stuff is still happening and marching forward. And if the answer to that is yes, is there anything you can talk about that maybe we might not know about that you're super excited about that is still a couple of years away from being completed because a lot of these things are obviously long, long term builds. But like, you know, you said like bullet train in, in Tokyo, like, like stuff like that. Is that what, what's coming down? What's coming down?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, there's a bunch. So we funded about 70,000 projects. Roughly 20,000 of them are done. But, but yeah, most of them, you know, by their very nature, they take years and years to do. Matter of fact, I drive past one almost every day here in Michigan that, that I remember signing off on. That's now actually now everybody's grumbling about it because it's, you know, it's in construction and blocking traffic. But eventually it's going to be great redesigning the road there to make it safer. But yeah, there's, you know, there is a high speed. There are a few high speed rail things going on. One I'm excited about is a high speed rail connection from Las Vegas to Southern California. And it was a public private partnership. We funded it with federal dollars. But there's also a private company bringing a lot of the dollars to the table and partnering with the state of Nevada to get it done. That if they hit their marks, it'll be going before the end of this decade. And wow, just zip down. A lot of it is actually straight down the median of i15. That's how they solved the puzzle of getting the. Yeah, because one of the hardest things when you're building a railroad is to put together the. The right of way.

[Will Arnett]

Right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

To get the land lined up.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, right, of course.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And so there was a big portion where they were able to take advantage of the right of way that's already there there on the interstate. So that's one that I'm excited about.

[Jason Bateman]

How long would that take, do you think, to get from Vegas to. To la?

[Pete Buttigieg]

I know it's dramatically quicker than driving. I think I got to look it up. But definitely under the. Because it's hours and hours.

[Will Arnett]

I like the idea of the train of like the one like going to Vegas. That train is filled with happy, excited people and coming back it's all somber and hungover.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. You'd rather walk home.

[Will Arnett]

Everybody's broke, you know.

[Sean Hayes]

Totally.

[Pete Buttigieg]

No, what excites me is the idea that, that like instead of going to Japan and coming back and talking about how amazing it would be, you know, to have something like that. Like we'd see that somewhere in the US Because I think if people experience that somewhere in the US then people are going to want it everywhere. And it's, you know, it's. Yeah, I'm looking it up now. It's 2 hours and 10 minutes is what they're shooting for.

[Jason Bateman]

Gotcha.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, wow. That's pretty good.

[Jason Bateman]

Did you push forward stuff that we can expect to see a bunch of cars driving around without drivers behind it or trucks without drivers. Is that stuff coming as well?

[Pete Buttigieg]

So, yeah, we worked on that. You know, we don't. The industry is creating that. That's the private sector. But our job was to kind of work on the policies to make sure it was safe and to try to support some of the pilot programs that were going on. I actually really believe in the potential of this technology. I know it's spooky for people. You see a car, there's nobody behind the wheel. It's definitely.

[Jason Bateman]

But as you mentioned earlier about distracted drivers and stuff, that takes the main cause of danger out of it.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Exactly. No, it's definitely possible to envision a future where people are shocked that we drove our own cars.

[Sean Hayes]

Right. But I have to say though, because I just actually I was just talking to you Jane Will, at the other day. Yeah. I was talking about Waymo, which is a self driving car and I've been in one before. But I'm like, of course I'm a catastrophic thinker. So I think of all the bad parts and all the bad things that could happen. So I'm like, well, this is a terrorist's dream to have. I mean there's so many scenarios I could come up with. I could tell you right now, now about how to use self driving cars in a horrible way.

[Will Arnett]

Well, just one. Give us one.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, maybe you'd be late for a daytime massage.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, start there.

[Will Arnett]

Imagine that. It wouldn't have. It wouldn't. It didn't need to know. To put the key in the cup holder.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, no.

[Will Arnett]

Pete, how many billions did you guys put towards.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, no, that's the kill switch. You take, you take the key out of the cup holder and then you don't have a problem.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah. No, you.

[Will Arnett]

But my thing is, Sean, it's. I said too, he's like, I'm worried about cars showing up at restaurants with people who have reservations and it shows up at valet is just like a dead person in the back. You know what I mean?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, that's.

[Will Arnett]

They had a heart attack on their way to. Yeah. Or.

[Sean Hayes]

Or that. Yeah. Or that.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I will admit I. I never thought of that.

[Will Arnett]

You know what I mean? And all of a sudden so.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, Pete, you've got, you've got such a. You know, you, you seem to very treasure like we all do our private life. And I would assume that you're incredibly, you know, accomplished career in public life has made that difficult to maintain. Was that a part as we all try to battle with it? Is that a part that you are comfortable maintaining? Do you guys, do you find the ability to be private or are you guys. Cause you must get stopped all the time on the street and is that tough for the kids?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, I definitely think about it different. Like it's one thing to like you know, take a selfie with somebody at the airport or at a restaurant when I'm just doing my thing. It's another if I Feel like somebody might be, like, taking pictures of our kids or, you know, we're, you know.

[Jason Bateman]

Pretending to be reading an email.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah. I mean, I'm sure you've had this experience where, like, people go through all kinds of links to look like they're not taking a picture. When they're taking a picture, I'm usually pretty oblivious to this. Chastain detects it and then usually takes a picture back at them or teases them about it. But it's like, you know, just like.

[Jason Bateman]

I do real loud. Did you get it?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Ask for a picture. It's fine. But, yeah, obviously you think about those things differently with your kids, but I'll say, like, the community we're in, in Michigan is really great. Really warm, welcoming, supportive, and they know you're there.

[Jason Bateman]

So. Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

And generally when we're out and about, I mean, people understand that we have a family, but, yeah, you think about this differently. You know, they're three, so they're not. Not old enough to really notice or care about stuff. That goes with being high profile right now. But it definitely changes the stakes, I think, for anyone who's in public life who's thinking about what to do next.

[Will Arnett]

Go ahead, John.

[Sean Hayes]

I was just saying, have you ever heard of a place called Galen, Michigan?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

It's a really small town.

[Pete Buttigieg]

It's far from South Bend, I think.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, so you got a timeshare you.

[Jason Bateman]

Want to offer him?

[Sean Hayes]

No. Raina Reina lives there. Raina lives. She has a restaurant there called Ray and Al's, and it's one of the greatest restaurants, so you check it out.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Good to know. All right.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Thank you, caller.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you. Good. Plug for Reynolds, for Ray and Al.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, no, I didn't know if you.

[Jason Bateman]

Their website. You want to.

[Sean Hayes]

Galeen, Galeen, Galeen.

[Will Arnett]

If you're in Galeen, Michigan, go Ray and Al's and say Rayna and say hi. Say you. Sean sent you 10 off your appetizers.

[Sean Hayes]

Exactly, exactly. So, listen, you don't have to answer this, but I would love if you ran for president. Yes, please. And then second, is there something. Because Jason kind of asked what you're. Well, what are you worried about the most in the future? In the near future? And what are you most hopeful about?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Well, obviously, politically, I think my worries about the political scene here are, I imagine, pretty obvious. I'm concerned about the things that are happening to freedom in this country, and I've been very outspoken about that. I'm also very concerned about what could happen with AI, and I don't Just mean the extinction scenarios and all the crazy stuff. I'm talking about something a little closer to home and I think quicker than people realize, which is how many jobs are at risk. Stuff that we thought would happen in 100 years and it could happen by the end of this decade and just really, really profound, changing everything.

[Will Arnett]

Pete, we were having a discussion about this the other day because we were talking about the idea of bringing manufacturing back to the US which we all could agree would be fantastic. Right. If we could, if we could create more jobs. Jobs that were lost over decades and decades. And a lot by, and by the way, a lot of those jobs were farmed out and sent over there by the very same people who were saying, hey, what the hell? How did we do this? Well, we didn't do it. You guys did it because it was saving you a lot of money. However, however, we can all agree it would be fantastic to bring more jobs. There's no argument there. But one of the things we were talking about the other night is this idea that now, and you brought it up, AI, when you combine that with advancement in robotics, we have the potential to really decimate the workforce here in this country on a pretty massive scale. And as you pointed out quite quickly.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Yeah, and not just manufacturing workers or warehouse workers. We're talking about doctors, lawyers, investors. Like it's, you know.

[Will Arnett]

Yes, all of it.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I mean, Hollywood was ground zero for some of this, right. With the writers strike. And that shows just how big a range of people are impacted. But that brings me to maybe the hope side, which is, I think if we get it right, there's also enormous potential here. But like our politics has to be lined up the right way and we have to line up our economy the right way. And what I mean by that, I'm take the example of self driving cars, right? There's all kinds of nightmares, scenarios, scenarios. There's also a chance to eliminate one of the leading causes of death in this country, which is a kind of murderous track record of human drivers. We lose 40,000 people a year. And more generally, the same AI systems that could cause huge disruption could also help us cure cancer and solve climate change and all these other things. I think the biggest question is, do we have a political system that makes sure that the enormous wealth that's being created by this technology flows through to the people or does it get concentrated?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, for sure we do, Pete. I'm not worried about that at all.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Okay, well, I'm glad you're not worried.

[Will Arnett]

No, no, no, no. I'm I'm really excited about. Are you guys excited about the new robotic AI version of Will and Grace? How good would that be? Hey, everybody, it's just Jack. It's me. It's just Jack.

[Sean Hayes]

We already saw it.

[Jason Bateman]

But. But Pete, when you say flowing back through the people, would that be in the shape of perhaps training the workforce that would be without a job to better transition into a job that is available maybe through the advancements?

[Pete Buttigieg]

I just mean money actually like a dividend because, remember, the taxpayer created a lot of this value. The Internet was literally a federal research project in the 60s funded by the American taxpayer. So to me, it's only fair that Americans see more of the income generated by it. But also, the thing with training is this isn't just about getting people their income back. I've seen this where I come from in the industrial Midwest. Somebody's been working in a machine shop for 18 years and then that machine shop is closing down and they come along and say, well, do this retraining program, same education, you'll get the same income. You just gotta be a nurse's aide. And that's a perfectly worthy job. But this guy does not. That job wasn't just his income, that was his identity. And if you're not speaking to that, then we're going to have all kinds of social upheaval, as we already are. But it's going to get worse.

[Jason Bateman]

So then what would be the answer then? Getting back to your point about maybe training for transitioning into another available occupation, if that occupation is not aligned with somebody's passion or dreams or identity, what would the answer then be to how to use the newfound funds?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Well, I think. And again, I think some of the funds should just directly. We should have a tax structure where those funds are directly flowing to people more. But in terms of what we do, I think we, we as a society don't know what to do with ourselves sometimes if we're not. If we're not putting it all into our jobs. And I'm somebody, you know, I'm guilty of that. Like I'm. I have meaningful work and I've. I've thrown myself into my jobs and, and that can be a very good thing. But there's so many other sources of meaning that can be connected to service. They can be connected to a lot of things that used to be considered maybe more conservative coded. But I think, I think my party should pay more attention to them, like family and faith. That can bring meaning to a lot of people. Local involvement, like shaping your community. Like things where uniquely human skills are absolutely needed that we could show more regard for. Like, as an economy in a society, we don't show a lot of regard for the work that goes into parenting. We definitely don't compensate that kind of work properly. Same thing with service. I mean, right now they're cutting AmeriCorps as we record this, they're cutting all kinds of service. Things that actually in a world where AI generates more of the value and productivity, like we could, you know, a lot of people could have a shorter work week, more money in their pockets, and a chance to do things in their community. That would absolutely be a source of pride and meaning. And I want to live in that kind of society.

[Will Arnett]

Well, Pete, I made that and I was quite flippant about it when I made the comparison to Canada and the U.S. in terms of a sense of social consciousness. But because I do agree with you, I do agree that there is a long history of it in this country and that there is still a vein of that. I think that we've been maybe potentially distracted is the word that I'll use. And maybe in certain areas gotten off the path and focused more on our differences and also focused more on ourselves. But I think you're right. I think that if potentially we can all start, and I mean all of us, I mean, me too. If we can all start thinking about somebody, we're so hung up on our own condition and if we could start thinking about other people. It's a really simple concept that if you think about somebody else and you think about helping somebody else, you actually, your own situation improves immediately. Well, it does. Your own situation does improve because it changes your vibration to sound too.

[Sean Hayes]

Woo woo. I totally agree with all that.

[Will Arnett]

And being of service is super, super important. And if everybody did it a little bit, the shift would be absolutely.

[Sean Hayes]

I know, but how do you get people to do it?

[Jason Bateman]

It.

[Sean Hayes]

I don't know.

[Jason Bateman]

Put a little incentive there.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I mean, it's really. If you boil it down, if you're feeling bad just on a day to day, if, if you're, if you wake up today, if I feel bad today, if I go out and do something for somebody else, I will immediately alleviate that and raise my own vibration. Again, it sounds very woo woo. I'm not.

[Jason Bateman]

Is this something that you're tracking on your aura ring on the app itself?

[Will Arnett]

Jason, this concept is tough. Doing something for somebody else. How would I. Let me look at it.

[Jason Bateman]

Talk slower.

[Sean Hayes]

Do pictures. Pictures are better. Pictures are better.

[Jason Bateman]

Pete, before we let you go I would love to hear from you. Who, if you could travel back in time, who would you love to sit down, have a coffee with to get. To get some tips from on how to address this. I guess I shouldn't say uniquely challenging situation we find ourselves in because we seem to cycle through moments like this. But who would you love to talk to right now?

[Pete Buttigieg]

Well, I can definitely imagine, and I was maybe a little obvious to the point of cliche, but I can picture, like, if I get to have a coffee with Abraham Lincoln, and I'm saying, like, look, our country's divided. It's Polish. He says, oh, you think your country's divided? Wow.

[Jason Bateman]

Exactly.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Okay.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Pete Buttigieg]

You know, I mean, he was in charge when half of the country broke off and declared war against the other half, mainly for the purpose of being able to continue enslaving people. Right. So for a little perspective around our problems, I think he would be a really good person to talk to and also some. Somebody who was unflappable in so many ways. And for somebody who has the ambition to become a president and a wartime president, surprisingly low ego. There's a famous anecdote where one of his generals was getting out of hand, and his advisor said, you got to cut this guy down to size. And he said, I would hold his horse if he could win this battle for me. And just attributes that I would like to see a little more of. So. I know. I know it's a little obvious, but, like, in the political space, I can't think of somebody you'd more want to consult than Lincoln.

[Will Arnett]

That was a good answer. And I had asked Sean about a week ago that same question. And get. You know, he said he'd like to sit down. Chef Boyardee.

[Jason Bateman]

What?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Really? Just to see you. Just said a nice meal.

[Will Arnett]

How did it come along? How did. Yeah, number two, the colonel.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, number two, the colonel.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

So how do you make it?

[Will Arnett]

And then Ronald McDonald. So listen.

[Jason Bateman]

Pete, thank you so, so much for coming on.

[Sean Hayes]

And don't ever stop talking and going on these shows. I mean, it's just. You're just amazing. And thank you. Very impressive for all that you do.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Hey, thanks for having me. I really enjoyed it.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

All right. Looking forward to seeing more of you in the very near future. If, you know, I'll be around.

[Pete Buttigieg]

I'll be.

[Jason Bateman]

Thank you.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, good.

[Will Arnett]

Good.

[Jason Bateman]

See you later. Thank you very much.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you so much.

[Sean Hayes]

Love to you and Chasten and the kids, too.

[Jason Bateman]

Yes.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Thanks so much.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay. Bye.

[Will Arnett]

Bye.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Take care.

[Jason Bateman]

There. Yeah, I felt Weird calling him Pete.

[Will Arnett]

I know. Me too. Did you start calling Pete?

[Jason Bateman]

It kind of. It came out by accident and I felt like that was maybe disrespectful, but.

[Will Arnett]

No. Was it?

[Sean Hayes]

I don't think he would have minded. I have had a dinner with him a couple times.

[Will Arnett]

Secretary Buttigieg. Is that what we should have said?

[Jason Bateman]

Mr. Secretary?

[Will Arnett]

Mr. Secretary?

[Sean Hayes]

Well, but he's not that anymore. He's.

[Jason Bateman]

No, but I think you get to carry that for.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, you do? Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

I don't know.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, it's a coach.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, will you write him something nice and apologize for us? Just say that you had started it and you feel bad that the other.

[Will Arnett]

Guys could you mail it with some hazardous materials just to test his theory out.

[Sean Hayes]

Just to test his theory. By the way, I didn't want to say anything, but I put my hand in my pocket during that interview and I still have two peanut M& Ms.

[Pete Buttigieg]

In it.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh my.

[Will Arnett]

What?

[Jason Bateman]

From last night's rave?

[Sean Hayes]

No, tonight. This morning. I put him in there because you.

[Will Arnett]

Wait, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. It's 10:30 in the morning. You put two peanut M M's in before 9:30?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, just in case you're thinking, well, maybe I can earn these at some point. Today?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. No, I had a bunch of them and I ate them all, but I thought I ate them all and there's two left in there.

[Will Arnett]

What time did you have your first M M today?

[Sean Hayes]

Nine. Nine. Nine. A little. Afternoon.

[Jason Bateman]

What's the matter with you? Did that come out of the candy bowl there in the living room?

[Will Arnett]

Yes.

[Sean Hayes]

You know it very well.

[Will Arnett]

You know you won't eat them if you don't have a candy bowl.

[Jason Bateman]

Uh huh.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, can you write that down?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

How often do you go to the dentist?

[Sean Hayes]

I just went yesterday and everything's great. It's not like I don't brush. I don't. I don't eat candy and then close my mouth.

[Jason Bateman]

Do you floss?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. Every day? Truly I do. Every single day. Why wouldn't that.

[Jason Bateman]

And that's morning or night?

[Sean Hayes]

I do morning. And if I ate something like a steak or something that gets between your teeth? I do like, I'll do another floss. I'll do a second floss and you.

[Jason Bateman]

Do the little swords. Or do you do the swords?

[Sean Hayes]

No, I can't do the swords because they make your gums bleed because you put them down so hard. You know what I mean?

[Jason Bateman]

Well, why don't you be nicer to yourself and you won't bleed. You know, go.

[Sean Hayes]

But you don't have a choice because you got to get it.

[Will Arnett]

They're not as good. They're not as good as a, as actual floss, either.

[Sean Hayes]

That's right.

[Will Arnett]

They're good.

[Sean Hayes]

In a pinch, you can control the floss, you know?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. But they're a cheat, and they're not as good, and it makes you a lesser person.

[Jason Bateman]

Weren't we just talking about the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg? And now I brought us into floss. I apologize.

[Sean Hayes]

How great is he, by the way? You both asked all the questions I would have wanted to ask, and he didn't answer. The thing about the president. I mean, do you think he'll run?

[Jason Bateman]

Well, we, I, I.

[Will Arnett]

You didn't ask him. You said I wanted to.

[Sean Hayes]

I know.

[Jason Bateman]

We didn't want to ambush him with.

[Sean Hayes]

That's right.

[Pete Buttigieg]

Early.

[Sean Hayes]

That's right. I just kind of glazed over it. But I, I wonder.

[Jason Bateman]

You didn't ask him for any theater stories.

[Sean Hayes]

I did.

[Will Arnett]

I know.

[Sean Hayes]

I didn't ask him for anything.

[Will Arnett]

You know what I liked about him? He's, he's a, he's, he, he speaks very soberly. And I do like the idea. I like the idea that he goes on and he goes on to other shows. He goes on to shows across the political spectrum. And I think that's really important because, as you both know, we have a lot of people in our lives, friends and family, who live across that same political spectrum, and we all find ways to meet in the middle and talk about stuff, and we all want the best for each other. And I like the idea that he goes and he does that very same thing. I don't feel as divided as a lot of people do from the people on other ends of the spectrum. I think it's important that we all continue to talk because we're all in this together.

[Jason Bateman]

That's right. Yes, I agree. And he checks a lot of boxes that you'd think would please both sides.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, Yeah, I agree.

[Will Arnett]

And there are a lot of things that, that make sense that, that a lot of people say, you know, and there's some. Sometimes the message is harder for people to digest. And I get. Or not the message, the delivery and the approach, but, you know, we do have a lot of stuff that's, that's common ground. And, jb, I know you're looking.

[Jason Bateman]

He has a nice way about, he.

[Will Arnett]

Does have a really nice way about, about him. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Very nice speaking voice on him.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, he does. And I meant it when he says he takes the contention out of it. Right. He's like, I'm not here to argue. I'm just here to talk. And, you know, let's all feel like we're getting. Sean's thinking of one of you.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, yeah. He's doing a massive Google search right now.

[Will Arnett]

I mean, this is.

[Jason Bateman]

You know what? I think a lot. I think up a lot of them in between, like, during the week, and then I forget them.

[Sean Hayes]

That's a good story.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, a bison, I heard, you know, would be a good work in.

[Sean Hayes]

We did that a million times.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

It's such a stupid thing that we're doing.

[Will Arnett]

What? You've been saying it's stupid since day.

[Jason Bateman]

One, but every single time we get to it, it's. It's insane to me. And it's. Now, it's just ironic, you know, that we're. That we're doing, like. It's so dumb that we're. That. That we just decided it's so dumb. Let's just still do it, you know.

[Sean Hayes]

And should we not say, you want to do it, by the way? We don't have to think of a word. We could just say goodbye.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, how would. How would you. How would you wrap this thing up without.

[Sean Hayes]

I have one. That would work.

[Will Arnett]

Make your situation listen. We're in a situation that you don't like and you feel you. You don't like that we're in this situation. And. Jason, I'm going to. I'm going to put in golf terms.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, that's great.

[Will Arnett]

So sometimes you hit. You hit a good drive and you go down the middle of thing, but, you know, it's a little bit. And you know what you can always do? You can always improve your. No, not cutting it. Okay.

[Sean Hayes]

I was gonna say. I was gonna say. Wait, it's right there. It's right there. He's Pete Buttigieg. He was in. He was in office. He was. He reached across the aisle. He. He was very. He was very, very bipartisan.

[Will Arnett]

Bye.

[Jason Bateman]

See you next week.

[Will Arnett]

Smart less. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant, Terry, Rob Armjarv and Bennett Barbico. 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 announce 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 Sirius XM podcasts plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcasts plus to start your free trial today.

[Sean Hayes]

You know that feeling when someone shows up for you just when you need it most? Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

I mean, we all need that. That's what Uber's all about, not just a ride or dinner at your door. It's how Uber helps you show up for the moments that matter. Because showing up can turn a tough day around or make a good one even better. Whatever it is, big or small, Uber is on the way. So you can be on yours.

[Sean Hayes]

Uber on our way.

[Will Arnett]

Hey everybody, Conan o' Brien here with.

[Pete Buttigieg]

An ad about my podcast.

[Will Arnett]

Conan o' Brien needs a friend. END I've had so many fantastic conversations with people I truly admire. People like Michelle Obama, Bruce Springsteen, Maya Rudolph, Tom Hanks. New episodes are out every Monday and we have a really good time. So subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts.