"RE-RELEASE: Adam Sandler"

Summary

SmartLess Podcast — "RE-RELEASE: Adam Sandler"

Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guest: Adam Sandler
Release Date: December 11, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this vibrant, humorous, and candid episode, comedy icon Adam Sandler joins Jason, Sean, and Will for a wide-ranging conversation about career, family, creative process, and the anxieties that come with show business. The group shares laughs about fatherhood, fame, and their mutual histories, while Sandler opens up about both the highs and lows of his life in comedy and film. The episode radiates warmth, authenticity, and plenty of behind-the-scenes stories from SNL, Hollywood, and home.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. On Nerves, Anxiety, and Staying Humble

• Letterman & Stage Fright: Sandler describes the anxiety he’s always felt about live performances and auditions, from his early days on Letterman to SNL, and even today.
  • “That was the one guy that got you nervous. So yeah, I get blackout.” (09:13 — Adam Sandler)
• Managing Pressure Over the Years: Sandler credits his evolution from being “aggressive” in his early twenties to becoming more relaxed.
  • “In my early 20s... I was a little more aggressive back then because I guess I wanted this so bad... By the time I was like, 28, 30, I started calming down and being able to just relax a little more.” (12:07 — Adam Sandler)

2. Early Career, SNL, and Hollywood Breakthroughs

• From NYU to SNL: Sandler recalls being brought in originally as a writer and slowly earning on-camera roles at SNL.
  • "I was ambitious in a weird way... I wrote Billy Madison with Tim Hurlihy when we were on SNL." (33:17 — Adam Sandler)
• First Film Opportunities: After SNL, he and Tim Hurlihy wrote “Billy Madison,” which became Sandler's launch pad in movies despite initial rejections.
  • “I wrote Billy Madison with Tim Hurlihy... Lauren said, we're doing Tommy Boy. We can't do Billy Madison.” (34:07 — Adam Sandler)

3. Being Fired from SNL and Coping with Rejection

• The Reality of Show Business: Sandler and the hosts reflect on the constant cycle of job loss and job hunting in acting.
  • “Doing what we do, you're effectively getting fired. At the end of every single job... It's job interview after job interview.” (28:58 — Sean Hayes)
• Leaving SNL: Sandler describes the nuanced, awkward process of being let go and how it ended up being the catalyst for his movie career.
  • “It was kind of like a fake quit fake. Try to get up, beat them right to firing me.” (23:54 — Adam Sandler)

4. Evolving Creative Choices: Comedy, Drama, and Luck

• Opportunities in Drama: The group discusses Sandler’s transition to dramatic roles (e.g., “Punch Drunk Love” and “Uncut Gems”), which came through surprising opportunities and collaborations.
  • “That was all luck... Paul Thomas Anderson goes, is it okay if I write you a movie? I said, you can do whatever you want, man.” (38:29 — Adam Sandler)
• How “Punch Drunk Love” Happened: Sandler shares how Tom Cruise connected him with Paul Thomas Anderson, leading to one of his most acclaimed performances.
  • “Tom Cruise... goes, hey, my friend would... He's a great director and... he's interested in doing a movie with you. Can I put him on the phone?” (37:54 — Adam Sandler)

5. Work-Life Balance and Family

• Prioritizing Family: The conversation turns to how Sandler’s success has allowed him to prioritize family, shape his schedule around his personal life, and keep work from defining him.
  • “When shit's going good at home, everything is good. When the kids and your wife or your partner are happy... you're just free to be who you were as a kid." (53:15 — Adam Sandler)
• Parenting Styles: The hosts compare their approaches to disciplining their kids, with Sandler admitting he swings between being the fun dad and the stern dad.
  • “I like keeping them fucking happy. I. I like when they're happy and laughing and. But I put some pressure on them.” (52:01 — Adam Sandler)

6. Authenticity, Friendship, and Legacy

• Being Real and Accessible: The hosts praise Sandler’s authenticity both on screen and in life, noting his generosity and warmth toward collaborators and friends.
  • "You're not trying to put on. You're not a different character as you are who you are. You're very authentic in that way, which is great." (11:04 — Chris Lauterbach)
• Lasting Partnerships: The group reflects on how relationships formed early — at SNL, in college, and beyond — have led to decades of creative and personal fulfillment.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I did stand up when I was 17 and stuff. And I had that same weird thing where I wish I never took the gig right before I start panicking and spinning. I forget all my lines…” (09:55 — Adam Sandler)
• “The only thing that can happen is it can go bad, you know?” (11:33 — Adam Sandler)
• “As a kid, I was in Oliver… I had two lines, and they said, you’re Charlie Bates, and I was like, yeah, I’m Charlie Bates. I kind of wanted to be the Dodger, right? And they were like, well, you’re not him.” (14:22 — Adam Sandler)
• “When I first said that every thing that they talked to me about doing after that was doing my goofy voice and being very, you know, the same Billy Madison again. And then I had that Happy Gilmore thing... I had to make a stand and say, no, no, no. We got to do this Happy Gilmore movie.” (35:08 — Adam Sandler)
• “Not a lot of people can make, you know, an eight year old laugh and make a 70 year old cry.” (43:29 — Sean Hayes)
• “I don't know when I'm gonna stop… This pandemic man with not working. Holy. Was I losing my mind? And every day becomes the same jumpy. And my family certainly wanted me to work. They were like, ‘Jesus Christ, he's insane. Get him out of here.’” (44:08 & 44:51— Adam Sandler)

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Highlighted Segments & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |---------------|------------------------------------------------| | 03:35 | Adam Sandler's entrance and greeting | | 09:00–11:30 | Discussing nerves, stage fright, authenticity | | 13:40 | Early career advice from Colin Quinn | | 17:54 | Landing SNL after NYU and Cosby Show | | 23:55 | Getting “fired” from SNL and handling rejection| | 28:25–29:50 | Transition from SNL to films, Hollywood's uncertainty| | 34:07–36:19 | Origin stories: Writing Billy Madison, creative autonomy| | 37:00–41:30 | The unexpected road to "Punch Drunk Love" | | 43:08 | "Hubie Halloween" and doing films for kids | | 44:08–44:51 | On working through the pandemic and addiction to work| | 49:41 | On golf obsession and comic relief at home | | 52:11–53:59 | Parenting style, discipline, and family values | | 53:15 | What makes Adam happiest: family and harmony | | 56:00 | Memorizing lines, SNL cue cards, panic moments |

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Tone & Chemistry

The episode is filled with organic laughter, inside jokes, and supportive banter. Sandler is warmly self-deprecating yet candid, while the hosts oscillate between playful ribbing and genuine admiration. The atmosphere is down-to-earth and relatable, with many nods to the anxieties, joys, and quirks of both Hollywood and everyday family life.

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Conclusion

This episode stands out for its raw honesty, generous spirit, and hilarious moments. Adam Sandler, as open and unguarded as he’s ever been publicly, provides a rare look at the vulnerability behind the comedic genius. The hosts’ authentic rapport brings out the best in him, making this essential listening for any fan of comedy, creativity, or simply being human.

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End of summary.

Transcript

[Will Arnett]

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[Sean Hayes]

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[Will Arnett]

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[Jason Bateman]

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[Sean Hayes]

It was planned or not.

[Jason Bateman]

Now, me, I'm a PJ guy. I love a flannel top and a flannel bottom. And if you get me a pair of flannel socks, I'll say thank you very much. I mean, it's perfect to wear and it's perfect to gift. It's the flannel of the holidays, actually. It's the uniform of the season. And like all things L.L.

[Sean Hayes]

Bean, it's cozy, it's effortless, and darn.

[Jason Bateman]

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Smart.

[Sean Hayes]

Hello, listener. This is Jason Bateman along with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes for the podcast called Smartless. If that's a place you're looking for, you found it. Congratulations. It's not a real high concept podcast. One person invites a guest, the other two don't know who that guest is, and then we chat.

[Jason Bateman]

Here we go.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Smart.

Smart. Less.

[Will Arnett]

Smart, less Jason. You missed this last time. Look what I got.

[Sean Hayes]

That's a baby Yoda.

[Will Arnett]

This is a Baby Yoda. And there's a message on here.

[Sean Hayes]

Is that from the Mandalorian show?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, Mandalorian. This is from my friend Michael Cohen in the Cohen family. Not that Michael Cohen, but look. And he recorded this.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Welcome to Smartless, the best podcast in.

[Sean Hayes]

The world, with my dear friends Sean.

[Jason Bateman]

Hayes, Jason Bateman, and William Arnett.

[Chris Lauterbach]

He went William. I like that.

[Sean Hayes]

He went William.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. And Baby Yoda said that.

[Sean Hayes]

So he's the voice of Baby Yoda.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Adam Sandler]

Could you not tell?

[Sean Hayes]

Sounds Latin. I didn't know Baby Yoda.

[Will Arnett]

Actually, he is.

[Sean Hayes]

Baby Yoda is Latin.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Huh?

[Sean Hayes]

I gotta watch that show.

[Chris Lauterbach]

I'm developing a new show. It's Baby Yoda Nanny. And it's a nanny who works. Who looks after.

[Will Arnett]

No, it's just the doll that you leave with your kids and tell them they're watching them.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah, it should be noted. Jason's haircut. Have you commented on it?

[Will Arnett]

That looks good. Finally.

[Chris Lauterbach]

It looks good, right?

[Sean Hayes]

Well, this is. Guys, listen. This is just rolled right out of bed.

[Will Arnett]

Such a thick head of hair.

[Chris Lauterbach]

I know. It's so thick. But it's a very boyish look he's got going right now, isn't it? Very boyish. I know.

[Sean Hayes]

I'm trying to get respect as an adult, but that's why sometimes I try to grow up my facial hair. But that takes.

[Will Arnett]

You push.

[Sean Hayes]

It cost me a year, actually, to grow that.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Because you're just saying to the world, hey, I'm a man.

[Sean Hayes]

I'm a man. Deal with it. All right, so speaking of men.

[Will Arnett]

Sure.

[Sean Hayes]

We have a man today.

[Adam Sandler]

Uhhuh.

[Sean Hayes]

This is Funny Man, Family man. And for the next hour, he's a smartless man. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Sandler.

[Will Arnett]

Adam Sandler, the one and only.

[Adam Sandler]

I did this beard. I'm sorry about this.

[Jason Bateman]

Look at.

[Sean Hayes]

Now that's a man. Look at the beard.

[Adam Sandler]

It's gross. It's gross. Good to see you all.

[Sean Hayes]

You're moving dime bags or something with a beard like that?

[Jason Bateman]

Wow.

[Adam Sandler]

It started off early in the pandemic, and I just kept going because I gained a lot, so I was covering my neck.

[Sean Hayes]

You gained a lot of weight.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Of knowledge. Of knowledge.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah. Yeah, A lot of weight.

[Will Arnett]

But wait, I just read a report yesterday that said belly fat is now officially medically proven to lessen your life if you have a lot of belly fat, no matter how much other fat you have.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Let's see it, Sean.

[Sean Hayes]

Let's see it, Sean. And scream. You guys don't like cookies?

[Chris Lauterbach]

Once a week, he brings it up.

[Sean Hayes]

There it Is the bagel.

[Chris Lauterbach]

I don't know who ate the cookies.

[Will Arnett]

What'd you call it? The bagel.

[Sean Hayes]

The bagel, yeah. Squeeze the belly button together, make a circle.

[Will Arnett]

And you know, Adam, sometimes I say to my husband, I'll switch. I'll pucker this up. I'll go that belly.

[Adam Sandler]

That makes sense. It looks good.

[Sean Hayes]

All right. So, Adam.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Do you have a plan aside from pushing, like a bench press or something like that? What's your plan? Is it going to be diet? Is it going to be exercise?

[Adam Sandler]

Well, this is what I'm doing, and I just kind of started this. So at the beginning of the pandemic, my buddy was doing the eight hours a day you eat thing. The intermittent fasting.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I do that too.

[Adam Sandler]

So. So I was doing that during a pandemic, but I was starting eating at like 5 in the afternoon, so I was going deep into the night, and then I'd wake up kind of thick. So then.

[Sean Hayes]

Then I got some bad information.

[Adam Sandler]

I thought I said to him, anytime.

[Chris Lauterbach]

And.

[Adam Sandler]

And he said, yeah, and you picked the hour. So I did it.

[Sean Hayes]

He responded while chewing.

[Adam Sandler]

I think he looks great. But I. So anyways, I started again. I just. I'm trying to calm down, and I'm doing one in the afternoon till around 7, 7:30. I quit.

[Sean Hayes]

And then you're. Then you're done chewing until the next morning or afternoon?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, until the next one o' clock rolls around.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, buddy, that's so good.

[Adam Sandler]

That's a good one. But I eat a lot during the six and a half hours.

[Chris Lauterbach]

It doesn't work for. Work for my body. It doesn't work for me. I tried doing that. I was on a strictly ice cream diet.

[Sean Hayes]

But, yeah.

You got to try it longer than a couple of days. Will, you know, what do you do?

[Adam Sandler]

Well, you look good.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Well, thank you. I. Because like I said, I've been doing the walk and I've been working out, and I've got this real kind of what I refer to as my jailhouse gym in my garage. Now, Jason's seen it. It's a disaster. But.

[Adam Sandler]

But there's weights and, like, homemade stuff.

[Will Arnett]

You did.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Oh, there's weights and then there's like, baby carriages and stuff. Just crap everywhere. It really looks like a. I have a question, Adam.

[Will Arnett]

How long have you been flying a spacecraft?

[Adam Sandler]

Does that look like.

[Chris Lauterbach]

That looks like a control center.

[Adam Sandler]

This is in my house, fellas. I just got to Philadelphia.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, wow.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, what are those? Why do you have. He's got some Nikes in a plastic box.

[Adam Sandler]

Those are LeBron James shoes. The man who owns his house knows LeBron.

[Will Arnett]

Do you know the man in the house?

[Adam Sandler]

I know I haven't met him yet. He's pandemic. So you rent it. He leaves.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, you're renting. I see.

[Adam Sandler]

Don't know. I just got here two days ago.

[Sean Hayes]

But he' those shoes there for people to admire that are renters.

[Adam Sandler]

I think he was just letting me know that I'm not the only shoe guy.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Famous person that he.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Wait a second. Wait a second. I. Adam, I have to ask you this because I've never brought it up. I've only met you a handful of times over the years. We don't know each other that well. I. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, and I think that you're awesome and hilarious.

[Adam Sandler]

Same thing.

[Sean Hayes]

And I. I sounds like something really insulting is about to happen.

[Chris Lauterbach]

No, no, no, no. One of the. One of the funniest things I've ever. And I've quoted this a thousand times, maybe more, is years ago, you were on Letterman and he said to you. Tell me if you remember this. He said to you, you came on Letterman and you said, you know, Dave. He said, how you doing? You said, you know, I'm doing okay. But last year I said something, and you said to me, what are you, an idiot? And you really burned me. And I was thinking about it all year, just, I wish I'd had a better comeback. So I've been thinking, I finally have a good comeback. And he said, okay. And he said, so ask me again. So Letterman says to you, what are you an idiot? And you said, no, are you?

Do you remember that?

[Adam Sandler]

I kind of do. Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

It was one of my favorite. I just thought it was such a. It really got me. I'm not kidding. I've repeated it 1500 times.

[Adam Sandler]

That's amazing. I used to get so nervous on Letterman. You guys all did Letterman blackout.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, Blackout nerves.

[Adam Sandler]

That was the one guy that got you nervous. So, yeah, I get blackout.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, for sure.

[Adam Sandler]

Every talk show, Letterman, just from growing up in high school and thinking he was the best of them all.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, for sure.

[Adam Sandler]

I used to be on the side of that stage and Biff would, like, go, okay, okay, it's coming. And I'd start going, holy shit. Like, my whole head would spin, and I'd feel like I was gonna faint the whole time, walking out. And then you'd see Dave in person. You're like, oh, my God, there he is.

[Chris Lauterbach]

It was so overwhelming.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Now, does that exist for you at all anymore? I mean, you put yourself in the wings right now, about to go on for a talk show, like, tomorrow.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Do you. Like, you can't shake that. It's always gonna be a part of you.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Sean Hayes]

Have you just learned how to manage it?

[Adam Sandler]

Not that great. My whole career, from starting. I did stand up when I was 17 and stuff. And I had that same weird thing where I wish I never took the gig right before I start panicking and spinning. I forget all my lines. Aaron. Notice everyone else was, like, laughing and having a good time. I'm like, oh, my God, everyone else is ready. And. And then rare occasions, I'll go to myself in the daytime. I'll go, don't do that. Don't do that thing where you panic. Just overcome that now. Get over that.

[Will Arnett]

And then don't you question yourself. Like, why? Because I go through the exact same thing. And I'm like, why are we.

[Adam Sandler]

Why did I choose this?

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah, we all wonder. We're always like, why did you choose this? Believe me, it comes up a lot.

[Adam Sandler]

That's a good one. Yeah. Stick around.

[Will Arnett]

Will's got, like, three of them.

[Chris Lauterbach]

No, but, but, but it's a good point. Like, Adam, I think what's cool is you actually kind of. Sometimes you use your nerves. You can see it even in an instance like that. You use it to your advantage, and it makes you very accessible because you're not trying to put on. You're not a different character as you are who you are. You're very authentic in that way, which is great. Like.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

You're nervous because you're on Letterman. You. You should be. I'm nervous.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah, but you are. You weren't nervous for this today.

[Adam Sandler]

I was nervous. Sure I was. I mean, I. I liked it, though. I listened to the episodes. They're all great.

[Sean Hayes]

Come on. It's excellent.

[Adam Sandler]

And now I was psyched to be here. And I don't know, I'm the same way as you guys. I'm the same way of every move you make, you go, didn't I already prove myself? Why the hell am I trying to prove myself here? What the fuck am I doing?

[Will Arnett]

Here we go again. Yeah, exactly.

[Adam Sandler]

The only thing that can happen is it can go bad, you know?

[Sean Hayes]

But that quality that Will's talking about that you have, that's so personable and it's so kind and so authentic and so honest and so human. Has it always been like that, or do you think that it's gotten Even better now that you are incredibly successful and some of the ease has come into your life because you've basically won. Have you gotten even nicer or, you know, like some people I'm sure you've worked with, as I have, people actually get mean and entitled when they get successful. You've actually seem to have gone the other way.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, you guys all seem the same also. It's like I had a. I think when I was young, I didn't know what I was doing as a comedian. I didn't know what I was doing as an actor. I was a little all over the place. I think I was a little more aggressive back then because I guess I wanted this so bad. You know, I wanted to work or I wanted whatever the hell I wanted. And I probably was mad at myself for not being great. I was a little more aggressive in my early 20s. And then I started going. By the time I was like, 28, 30, I started calming down and being able to just relax a little more. But it took a while. You guys know Colin Quinn, right? Comedian, hilarious. I think he's one of the greatest comedians. And he kind of. When I went to nyu, used to emcee the shows, and he would talk to me after my shows. I think the reason they used to hire me is I used to bring a crowd. So even though I wasn't that good, there was this place called the Paper Moon, and I used to bring a crowd. So they used to. From nyu. And Colin used to say, it's so much funnier hanging out when we're talking in the daytime. You just. You're doing something weird up to you, you're not really being yourself. And I used to try to go, okay, I gotta be more myself. And then I would just panic right away and start doing something else. I just didn't. I guess I wasn't comfortable with being myself. And then took a while to get to sit in it and just be okay with not getting a laugh, but plowing through and that kind of stuff.

[Will Arnett]

Did you go to NYU for drama or for acting or.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, I went to Strasbourg.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Same. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Okay. So I have a godson who's also going to New York right now to Tisch, and he not only has to go through drama classes and comedy and all that stuff, but he has to go through musical theater classes. And so when I saw you do Opera man for the first time, which is one of the funniest characters I've ever seen, I was like, holy shit, Adam Sandler can really sing. And then you would bring out the guitar and sing like. It was always hilarious. So please tell me you did musical theater in college, because in my mind, that would be one of the funniest things in the world.

[Adam Sandler]

Man. I auditioned for everything at nyu. I didn't get anything.

[Will Arnett]

You didn't?

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, I want to see you do Technicolor Dreamcoat or something.

[Adam Sandler]

I did as a kid, though. I was in Oliver. I was in Oliver. I did. I played. They named a guy. I didn't really. There wasn't really. I had two lines, and they said, you're. I think, Charlie Bates. They said, you're Charlie Bates? And I was like, yeah, I'm Charlie Bates. I kind of wanted to be the Dodger, right? And they were like, well, you're not him. You're Charlie Bates.

[Sean Hayes]

Dodger.

[Adam Sandler]

I thought so, too.

[Chris Lauterbach]

You got a pick a pocket or two, right?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

How about Smitty on the Cosby Show?

[Jason Bateman]

Was that your first.

[Sean Hayes]

That's not your first role?

[Adam Sandler]

My first thing I ever did was Showtime at the Apollo. I did stand up. I did five minutes. Yeah. And I.

[Sean Hayes]

And I wasn't.

[Adam Sandler]

Wasn't that great. But I. I got.

[Will Arnett]

I. Tell me, like, the first. First joke you ever told or. And if you'd like, I could tell you mine.

[Adam Sandler]

Okay. Well, the one that worked for me back then was. It was something I heard my father say to my mother. But I. And I used it. I pretended it happened to me. I said I was driving up here in a cab, and the driver killed a dog on the way. Said he didn't hit the dog with a car. He got out and stabbed it. That was my big. That was my guaranteed laugh. And that happened because my mother. My mother was. They were in the car, and my mother goes, the man. My father said, this guy killed the dog driving the other day. My mother goes, what happened?

[Will Arnett]

He hit it.

[Adam Sandler]

And he goes, no, he stabbed at you. And so I went, oh, God. That's a pretty good one. What's yours, Sean?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, I was terrible. I was nowhere near as talented or funny as you are. Horrible. These guys know the one that I won't repeat, but the other one was. And it's long, so you can't. It's like 20 seconds long. Okay, so. Which is long for a joke. So I would go, you know, they say on Mars the atmosphere is like 95% carbon dioxide and 5% oxygen. So I imagine one day when we live there, we'll breathe something like this.

[Sean Hayes]

And they didn't laugh at that.

[Will Arnett]

I left Crying.

[Adam Sandler]

That's solid.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Did you hold your finger up when you did it? I like this.

[Adam Sandler]

That's a good one.

[Sean Hayes]

Adam, what about this discovered by comedian Dennis Miller thing? Did that happen at the Apollo? I can't imagine.

[Adam Sandler]

You know what it was. So I did stand up when I went to nyu, and then Dennis didn't really discover me. He just told Lorne Michaels about me. He said, there's a young kid who's funny. But when I was young, I went to school with Anthony Quinn's son, Lorenzo. He was in my acting class, and he told Bill Cosby about me. And I got an introduction to the casting agent over there, whose name was Barry Moss. Do you guys remember Barry Moss? I feel like used to cast a lot of stuff back in the day, right? So he got me an audition, and I played Smitty on four episodes while I was going to nyu. That was my first.

[Sean Hayes]

And that was big. I mean, Cosby show was enormous.

[Chris Lauterbach]

It was the biggest show on the planet.

[Adam Sandler]

It was incredible. And that's where I developed the whole spinning thing. Right before going on, I was spinning like, oh, my God, I got six lines. I'm gonna choke so badly. And I don't know. I became friends with Malcolm, though. He used to calm me down. He'd be like, you got this, man.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, he's such a good guy.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Wow. So then, how long after that did SNL happen? How old were you when that happened?

[Adam Sandler]

SNL happened when I was 23. I moved out to. I graduated NYU, and then I moved to LA, and. And I was living out in Van Nuys, and then.

[Will Arnett]

Beautiful.

[Sean Hayes]

Gorgeous.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah.

[Adam Sandler]

Yes.

[Sean Hayes]

Right on the water.

[Adam Sandler]

Beautiful. And I. I live with 4gu.

From NYU also. And then somehow I got Saturday Night Live and moved back.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Well, did you go and audition in la? Did Lauren come?

[Adam Sandler]

Chicago. Chicago. When I auditioned, it was me and Chris Rock and Dana Gould and a couple other guys at Second City or at the Chicago Improv.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, at Chicago Improv. Okay.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah. And then I remember Lorne was there. And Smigel. Robert Smigel was there.

[Will Arnett]

Hilarious.

[Adam Sandler]

Marcy Klein and a couple of others. And Chris Rock got it immediately after. After the show. And me and Rock know each other since we're, like, 17 also. And so I saw Lauren run over to Rock, and I was like, oh, man. Okay, he's got it. I'm out.

[Will Arnett]

And.

[Adam Sandler]

And then I. I was flying home, and no one talked to me, and I was flying home. And remember on the planes, you used to put a credit card in it was like 25 bucks a minute and stuff. Yeah, right. So I was scared to use that because I knew my father would kill me for wasting money. But I was just flying and flying, and I was like, I gotta call my agent, man. So I put the credit card in, and he called, and I said, did they say anything? They liked you. They thought some of your writing was good. I said, oh, okay. And what's that mean? They were like, well, they maybe want you as a writer. And I said, what do you mean? I think I was, like, insane. And I was like, I want to be a. But I want to be a star.

[Sean Hayes]

And they were like, I love the guy next to you on the plane.

[Adam Sandler]

Probably.

[Sean Hayes]

It's just like, oh, boy.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, this guy wants to be a.

[Will Arnett]

Star because you can't talk quietly on a plane. But I want to be a star.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Get in line, buddy. Get in line. We all knew.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, man, I don't know. So eventually I got. Got. Got hired as a writer.

[Sean Hayes]

A writer for what, like a year? And then. And then on camera.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, I did. It was thing called Writer, Feature Player, And.

[Chris Lauterbach]

And.

[Adam Sandler]

And me and Spade and Schneider had that. And. And you would do the. I'm sure you. You guys all know this stuff, but you would write, right. For everyone else and then give yourself a line like as the delivery guy and try to get on and score. And, you know, and you'd score. After 10 shows, they started going, all right, that guy's okay. Let's.

[Jason Bateman]

Let's.

[Adam Sandler]

Let's give him a couple.

[Sean Hayes]

Right? Gotcha.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Used to see that a lot with JB Smooth. He would always put himself into sketches.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Always see JB on there. And you'd be like, oh, yeah, but how cool.

[Jason Bateman]

You.

[Chris Lauterbach]

You go for your. Your audition, and it's there with Lauren and Marcy, of course, and Smigel. And you couldn't have known, of course, that that would become this, like, lifelong partnership. Yeah. I mean, how incredible. How wild. Right when you look back at that moment.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, sure, man. I mean, Smigel was. In fact, I heard later that Smigel was kind of in my court, that he was going. That one kid was funny. I think we need that on the show. Somebody young. And they were like, well, we already have David and Rob. We don't need any more of that, you know? And so Smigel and Jim Downey, I heard, would stand up for me a little bit. And Lorne liked me. He thought I was good. He just didn't know what to do with me. I wasn't Easy to digest. I was mumbling up there, and I was a nervous wreck. And I'm hostile like I used to be. When somebody heckled me, I used to, like, yell at them and not say anything funny.

[Sean Hayes]

No one is funnier getting pissed off than you.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh, well, I turned it into something good. But in the beginning, I used to just be psychotic and get, like, challenge people to something like him. Curse at him.

[Sean Hayes]

And see the way he just dropped his face right then. It just got, like, deadly fucking. Seriously, I love. Like, there's just. There's no middle with you. Like, he's had. They're super sweet and, like, I can't get out of my way. And then just drop the gloves and I'm gonna kill you. Yeah, I love those swings. You.

[Adam Sandler]

I don't even know how that happened. I just. Because I. I don't want to fight anybody. I'd get. I probably get killed, but I was always ready to go.

[Will Arnett]

Have you been in a lot of fights as a kid or.

[Adam Sandler]

When I was a kid. When I was a kid now, I would literally just run so fast, anytime I feel it coming, I start. My heart's pounding through my chest, and I'm like, oh, shit, I gotta get out of here. But back then, back as a kid, yeah, I'm sure you guys did the same.

[Sean Hayes]

It doesn't hurt as much to get hit when you're little.

[Chris Lauterbach]

I like the idea that Lauren's going, like, I guess we could use a nervous mumbler.

[Jason Bateman]

Now. What about.

[Sean Hayes]

Is it true that they fired you and Farley in 95, or is that overstated?

[Adam Sandler]

No, no. I mean, what happened was it was kind of the end of it, people. We were repeating ourselves. I'm sure there was a new guy running NBC. He didn't like the young guys that much. He didn't like us. I think he didn't like Norm MacDonald. And he kept saying we got to get rid of them, that nobody likes them. And Lorne was standing up for us and trying to defend us and kept us on a while. And then I got a call from my manager. You know, everyone at Brillstein Gray kind of represented every guy on the show and woman on the show. So I got, hey, maybe it's time to move on to me kind of call. And I was like, I don't know, man. I think maybe I'll do another year or something. They were like, yeah, but maybe you should move on. I was like, nah, I want to stay. I think I'll stay. And they kept going. I think it's time to move on. I was like, do I have to move on? They were like, it's good if you move on. I was like, oh, okay. Okay, now I got you. All right, I'll move on. Moving on, then. So it was kind of like a fake quit fake. Try to get up, beat them right to firing me.

[Chris Lauterbach]

That was like, me in every high school I went to. I swear to God.

[Adam Sandler]

Really?

[Chris Lauterbach]

You got kicked out? I'm like, no, I didn't get kicked out. We just. They just asked me not to return.

[Adam Sandler]

What did you do to get in trouble growing up?

[Chris Lauterbach]

I did all this stupid stuff. I was, you know, smoking cigarettes, and I grew up in Canada, so there were a lot of woods to escape to.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

So I was always out there, like, you know, drinking airplane bottles and. And smoking. But.

I. But also, I was a wise ass. I was like, I said to my dad, actually, once, I was such a wise ass. And of course, the worse the infraction or the bigger the joke that you can make, and especially at the teacher's expense, the bigger the laugh you'd get from the audience or as I'd call my classmates. And so I would fuck around and they'd get really mad. And years later, I remember my dad was out here, and I just built this house, and it was like, everything. And my dad was like, wow, this house is beautiful. And I said, yeah, who knew that fucking around could pay off, huh? And he finally had to admit, like, man, you're kind of right. Cause that was a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? Like, my poor dad.

[Adam Sandler]

Ah, sure, sure, man.

[Sean Hayes]

You figure out how to channel it?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

When time is running out and your.

[Jason Bateman]

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[Will Arnett]

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[Sean Hayes]

All right, so then were things sort of set up in a way where transitioning out of that show and into other possible sources of employment were kind of set up? Like, were you feeling confident? Did you go right into was it Happy Gilmore was first out of there?

[Adam Sandler]

I think I did Billy Madison when I was on the show. By the way, when I got fired, I was confident until I got fired and then I was like, oh no, yeah, that's the way that works, right? I kept while I was there going, these guys don't get it what I got, man. They don't understand it. Then right when they were like yeah, Go do it on your own. Then I was like, holy shit. First of all, you humiliated that people don't want you. And you got to tell people, like, yeah, I'm not on the show. And they're looking you in the eyes going, you got fired. And you're like, no. You know, you make an up shit.

[Sean Hayes]

But it's like, doing what we do, you're effectively getting fired. At the end of every single job. You have to go find another job. And if you're having a really good year as an actor, you get fired, like, six or seven times. You know, like, you've got six or seven, and you have, like. There's no guarantee. There's no diploma that you can kind of.

[Adam Sandler]

That's true, man.

[Sean Hayes]

It's job interview after job interview, and it's. It's. I remember buying the attitude that I realized I should have been renting when, you know, things kind of dried up and I was really confident until they just didn't want me anymore. And it's like, well, now you got to build up a whole ego and coping mechanism to get yourself confident. That's not reliant on employment. That's really hard to do.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh, God, yes. Sitting a bench and being shook up, I'll tell you. No kidding. I loved you when I was a kid. I thought you were incredible. I swear to God, I thought you were cool as shit. You guys, too.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Sandler]

I wanted to look like you. I wanted to fucking be, like, cool and calm and funny like that. And. And I always thought you were awesome. I'm not lying to you. And I loved your sister, too.

[Sean Hayes]

Thank you.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Do you remember Jason's show? He had that show, it's yous Move. Did you ever see that? It was like a spin off of Silver Spoons.

[Adam Sandler]

I think so. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think so. But I think I. I knew more. More as Val Vaughn.

[Sean Hayes]

The Hogan family was after that. Or Valerie.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

When Jason. When Jason got his star on the. On the Walk of Fame out here in Hollywood because he's a big Hollywood guy. And so when he was in Hollywood, we're wearing. Because he's a liberal elite. And so anyway, so I get up and they asked me. He asked me to say a couple words, and I said, you know, when I was growing up, I remember watching Family Ties and seeing Justine Bateman and thinking, man, I wonder if she's got a brother.

[Adam Sandler]

That's a good one, man.

[Chris Lauterbach]

But I loved him. We felt the same way. This comes up all the time. We used to Always look at Jason, be like, oh, man, that guy. Because he was a smart ass. He was confident. He had great hair.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, I was so confident. I thought I was such hot shit. And then the phone stopped ringing and I did not know what to do. My 20s was a whole regroup. I just had to build it back up from zero.

[Will Arnett]

Jason and I had lunch like decades ago at the Chateau Marmont, which houses the liberal elite.

[Sean Hayes]

That's right.

[Will Arnett]

And Jason said to me, I don't know if you remember this, Jason, you said to me, we were just talking about careers and whatever and the ups and downs and. And you said, none of it is up to you. None of this is up to you.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

To try and control things that are out of your control.

[Sean Hayes]

It's not a meritocracy, you know, like in sports, like, if you're a.300 hitter, you're guaranteed employment in acting or any form of, pardon the term art. It's so subjective. You can't, you can't rely on, well, I'm the best at singing or the best at painting or. It doesn't matter. The best in whose eye, you know?

[Chris Lauterbach]

And then. So Adam, so kind of taking that like, like one of the things that I think is really awesome about what you've. You've done, you've had incredible success. But is. Is, you know, I, I've tried to, especially in the last couple of years. I don't want my work to define who I am as a person or how happy I am. It's about family. I know you're a really big family guy.

[Adam Sandler]

Sure.

[Chris Lauterbach]

You got a lot of really close friends, and even in your work, you do stuff that you want to do and you do stuff because, you know it's going to take time. And then, you know that it's, you know, it cuts into school and all that kind of stuff. And it feels like you gear everything towards making it fit your life and making sure that you're happy, your happiness. You're truly not a Hollywood guy. I can say that. And, and yeah, you don't define yourself by it. Right.

[Adam Sandler]

I kind of, you know, I lucked into having the, the career of getting the right stuff and get to do it. And not everybody has that luxury. I'm sure more people would do what I'm doing if they could just, you know, just say to the head of a company, hey, let me do it in October. Because it's, you know, I got a lot of luck on my side.

[Sean Hayes]

Right. But you earned that position. You really have.

[Adam Sandler]

I Got that after a while. After a while.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Let me, let me really quick ask you something about that. And then back to what Will was saying. Because when you were younger and you broke into film for the first time and how much of that success was like, you know, agent business driven and you were just along for the ride and how much of it was self generated and kind of ambitiously coming directly from you?

[Adam Sandler]

I was ambitious in a weird way. I just, I always kind of got in the beginning. Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe, maybe next time they would hire somebody else. When I would do auditions and stuff, I, I, I remember auditioning for a few movies as a kid when I was like 21, 22, and they'd always pick somebody else. And I was like, God damn, these guys don't get it, man. And I was such an asshole, you know? And whoever they picked, I would be like, oh yeah, okay, man. Like I was hot. Yeah. What a mistake. And then I, I wrote Billy Madison with Tim Hurlihy and when we were on Saturday Night Live and I gave it to, to Lauren and Lauren was already doing Tommy Boy with Chris and so.

[Will Arnett]

Funny movie.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh yeah, that's awesome. And he's, he was, it was the first time me and Chris had an either or kind of thing. And Lawrence said, we're doing Tommy Boy. We can't do Billy Madison. Actually, Tommy Boy used to be called Billy the Third. It was two Billy movies. Yeah, they were like the two Billy movies. And we would look at each other like, who's he gonna pick? And they, and they picked, you know, Tommy Boy. And I was going, oh, man, oh man. I guess that's done. We'll write another one. Hurley, he, and then like, like I was in this movie called Airheads and the producer of that one called me like five months later, he's like, I read this script, you and Hurley, hero called Billy Madison. Do you want to do that? And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Why?

[Adam Sandler]

What do you mean? He's like, I could get that done for you for like $6 million budget. I was like, I was like, I get $6 million. He goes, no, not, not you. I didn't know what any of that shit meant, but, but he got it.

He did Problem Child at Universal, which was a low budget movie and made a lot of money. So they said, get some more of those kind of things. So somehow Bob Simons got this movie. I, I asked Lauren, I said, no, that movie you said I, you didn't want to do, is it okay if I do it with this other guy, he's like, do anything you want. So I. I did Billy Madison, and then that kind of got me going. I mean, I remember when I first said that every thing that they talked to me about doing after that was doing my goofy voice and. And being very, you know, the same Billy Madison again. And then I had that Happy Gilmore thing that me and her Lahey wrote, and they were trying to talk me out of that. They were saying there was a movie called Ed with Woody Harrelson, the Monkey, you know. No, no, that's ED TV. It's the one with Matt. Matt. Matt LeBlanc. And. And they won.

[Will Arnett]

With the monkey?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, with the monkey. And they were like, do that. That's more like Billy Madison. I said, I think, let me do. I'll do that one after I do the golf one. Is that okay? They were like, no. And so that I had to make a stand and say, no, no, no. We got to do this Happy Gilmore movie.

[Will Arnett]

And by the way, two of the funniest movies ever.

[Chris Lauterbach]

No kidding.

[Sean Hayes]

A hugely successful.

[Adam Sandler]

Thanks. I mean, they're good. I'm psyched. That's in my.

[Will Arnett]

They go down in history. As with all the other great comedy movies. Kind of cool.

[Sean Hayes]

But then the success was so one after the other after the other.

Was there a strategic consideration when Punch Drunk Love came about, or was that more of a reaction? Did Paul Thomas Anderson come to you? And only in hindsight do you see it as a great strategic sort of balancing thing, offsetting the goofiness? Or did you think ahead and kind of seek out something that might counterbalance all that?

[Adam Sandler]

That was all luck. I mean, in my head, Will, you did Strasberg, right? So I thought I was good at acting. I was like, wow, I'm gonna surprise somebody someday and really act. But it wasn't on my mind. I kind of liked Eddie Murphy, and I wanted that kind of career, and I just wanted to be a comedian. And then I was doing, I think, Little Nicky or something like that, or. Yeah, something like that. And. And Paul was friends with Tom Cruise. They did Magnolia together. And I. I met Tom Cruise when Nicole Kidman hosted snl. You know how you get to meet everybody? Cus snl. So I met Cruz, and I'm like, God. And Cruz had a Yankee hat on. Like, dipped down low. And he looked up and he goes, hey, man. I was like, like, in love with him. Like, oh, my God, I'm in love with Tom Cruise.

That makes two of us.

Of course. Anyways, Tom called me up. I'm on my set. He goes, hey, my friend would. I'm doing a movie with my friend Paul. He's a great director and he. He's interested in doing a movie with you. Can I put him on the phone?

[Sean Hayes]

Wow.

[Adam Sandler]

And I said, yeah, yeah, sure, man. And he gets on and Paul was very nice, and he was going, hey, I loved Billy Madison. And I go, okay, man, thanks. I didn't know who he was. And he's like, and I just love your movies and your albums. And I said, okay, cool, man.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay. Creep.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah. I didn't know what he was talking about. He's like, is that. He goes, is it okay if I write you a movie? I said, you can do whatever you want, man.

[Will Arnett]

That's.

[Adam Sandler]

That's great.

[Sean Hayes]

Just stay away from my house.

[Adam Sandler]

But he was. He was sweet. I could tell he was funny.

[Chris Lauterbach]

But that's like Picasso saying, is it okay if I paint you a painting?

[Will Arnett]

I know, right?

[Adam Sandler]

I know. It was the luckiest thing. And then. And honest to God, fellas, I. I was. It was like 11 o' clock in the morning and I had nothing to do. And Magnolia just came out and I said, I think that's that kid's movie. Wow, Paul, I'm gonna go see that. And I went alone. And I was in the front row, sold out with all real film kind of people. And I was looking up at it and I was going. I was terrified. I was like, right, oh, this guy's better than me, man. I don't want to fucking be in this. I'm gonna ruin his movie, whatever the fuck, you know. I was like, holy shit. And I called him up and on the way home, and I was like, holy. I just saw your movies. Like, yeah, yeah. I was like, the Frogs and the. Holy shit. I was so excited about everybody, and it's like, like, oh, man, so you're writing that movie, man? He goes, yeah, yeah, I'm almost done. I'm going to get it over to you. I was like, well, when the is that, you know, I started getting very excited. And then he, he. He did it. So cool, man. I lived in this. This. I rented a house on the top of Bel Air Road with my buddies. And he came up and he knocked on the door and he's like, I got the script. And I said, here's my present to you. And I go, okay. He goes, go ahead and read it and tell me what you think. I go, you going to stay here? He goes, no, I'm going to go for a drive or something like that. And I just sat in the other room and I read it, and I was like, oh, my God, man. I don't know if I can do this.

[Sean Hayes]

This.

[Chris Lauterbach]

No way.

[Sean Hayes]

And so he comes back after his drive, and you what, you got a bunch of notes, right?

[Adam Sandler]

You're like, great.

[Sean Hayes]

Couple things, Paul.

[Adam Sandler]

Exactly.

[Chris Lauterbach]

So marked up. It's a move. This.

[Adam Sandler]

That's true. No, I was scared. Like. Like, you know when you get something and you just go, oh, she's. Man, I always said I can do this ship and this is too much, man. And he talked me through and got me comfortable.

[Sean Hayes]

He's incredible, though. I mean, he's. Yeah, his taste is just unreal.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Everything.

[Sean Hayes]

I love that he's a huge comedy nerd, too, apparently.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh, man. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And that he can see the amount of acting it takes for you to pull off believably. What you do is, you know, right in line with his. With his taste and his abilities. And I just. I'm such a big fan of his. And then the Safdie brothers, you know, I mean, uncut gems is just absolutely stunning. I don't mean jump you too, but they had fun.

[Adam Sandler]

And talking Betty and you talking at Aniston's was a great night.

[Sean Hayes]

I just. I'm crazy about those guys as well. And I love the two of my favorite filmmakers. Well, that would be three. Put you as a lead in their films, and I hope that you take as much pride in that as you deserve.

[Adam Sandler]

Absolutely.

[Chris Lauterbach]

That was an incredible performance. Performance, man. It really was. It was. It was. Oh, it was so nuanced and deep and this guy, like, it was you.

[Adam Sandler]

Guys, you know, honestly, you could do it. You guys could do it, too. I know you're all great. All three of you guys are great actors and funny as.

[Will Arnett]

And who's better? Yeah, Is there one that's better?

[Adam Sandler]

Number one.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Okay.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Okay.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Definitely.

[Sean Hayes]

We're fighting for the silver over here.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, you don't need. You're both solid, but. But Sean's number one.

[Jason Bateman]

So the.

[Sean Hayes]

I would imagine that you. You. You love the creative process of doing a drama and also the process of doing a comedy. I'm not going to ask you which is your favorite, but what would be your ideal ratio between comedy and drama and fun films with your friends versus working for a director?

[Adam Sandler]

I'm starting to get a lot of serious kind of offers, and I love reading that stuff, but it is more of a decision in my brain. I'm like, shit, once I say yes to that, that then it's. It's A whole other thing in your trailer and you're rocked and you gotta think into that makes you uncomfortable and.

[Sean Hayes]

Right.

[Adam Sandler]

Slightly humiliating out there in front of people doing some of the they want you to do and. Right, right. And, and so it's a decision, but I like it. I, I want, I want to do that stuff. But I also love doing the comedies and the fact that, you know, I just did it. The probably the goofiest movie I've done in a long time that, you know, shit I would have done when I was 23 and. But I still, I'm still happy doing Hubie.

[Will Arnett]

Hubie Halloween.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

What is it? What is it? I don't know anything about it.

[Will Arnett]

It's on Netflix. Right?

[Adam Sandler]

It's coming out on Netflix and it's a Halloween movie and it's all comedians and all, it's like.

[Sean Hayes]

And our kids will love it. Yeah.

[Adam Sandler]

And my, and the kids, I do that because I get excited for kids to laugh and, and stuff like that. And I've been doing my whole career and I still love that stuff.

[Sean Hayes]

But being able to do both. I mean, good God, that you can make, you know, an eight year old laugh and you can make, you know, a 70 year old cry. I mean it. Like, come on. Like, not a lot of people can do that.

[Will Arnett]

That's right.

[Jason Bateman]

At all.

[Adam Sandler]

Thank you. I'm lucky. Yeah. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Adam, you said, I read somewhere a long time ago you said, I'll do this for as long as they let me.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

And they, I love that. And they keep letting you because you're incredible and talented and likable and winning and, and is there time when you actually tell them that you're done? Are you still having the time of your life? Like what, what else? Because you work more than anybody. Like you never stop working.

[Adam Sandler]

I don't know when I'm gonna stop. I look at like, you know, I know Dustin and I know Nicholson and Pacino and those guys and those guys, they're addicted to work too. I mean, I had lunch with Pacino and he still gets excited about shit. And he said this. I read this amazing script and he still wants to kick ass. And, and I, I, I kind of think I could stop. And then I, I, when I'm starting like this pandemic man with not working. Holy. Was I losing my mind? And every day becomes the same jumpy. And my family certainly wanted me to work. They were like, Jesus Christ, he's insane. Get him out of here.

[Sean Hayes]

I heard you were out on the golf course a little bit.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah, we, we heard from a friend.

[Adam Sandler]

That oh, I hit it to you, buddy. Yeah, who's your buddy that I almost hit, by the way?

[Chris Lauterbach]

Tom Warner.

[Adam Sandler]

Tell Tommy I'm sorry.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, when time is running out and.

[Jason Bateman]

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[Will Arnett]

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[Adam Sandler]

More.

[Will Arnett]

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[Sean Hayes]

Are you a big golfer? Because I'm finding that that is keeping me off the streets a little bit during this pandemic.

[Adam Sandler]

You've been playing a lot? Yeah, well, you know, I, I, I met you a long time ago, like 20 years ago. And you, you were friends with Brill. Yeah, I think back then. And I was at a party and I saw some thing that they interviewed you on, like a show, and you had a, you golfed on it. And I saw you at the thing. I said, dude, I just saw you today. You got a great swing. And you kind of like, okay, okay. And that was it. But I remember going, oh, that fucking guy knows how to golf.

[Chris Lauterbach]

He's got a great swing.

[Adam Sandler]

He does have a great swing.

[Sean Hayes]

I didn't have a career at that point.

[Chris Lauterbach]

He's got a, he's got a great swing. We, we've both taken it up in the last couple weeks. We've been a little irrit hitting to our significant others.

[Adam Sandler]

It's a long day, golf day.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Right.

[Sean Hayes]

Are you addicted to it? Or is it just something that you just kind of slap around?

[Adam Sandler]

No. Tell your buddy. What happened was I'm a member of Riviera and I fucking live right down the street. So I haven't golfed since I've had kids. I don't golf that much. Just like you're saying, Will, because of the whole five hours away and the stare you get when you get home of like, are you fucking kidding me?

[Sean Hayes]

While they're in school, we get a pass.

[Jason Bateman]

While they're in school.

[Sean Hayes]

Right?

[Adam Sandler]

That's right. That's supposed to be it, but I still get nervous leaving the house and coming back to a fucking whole other mood. So I know what you guys are.

[Will Arnett]

Talking about, because when I make banana bread, I'm like, do I pull it out at the right. Like, when is the, Do I leave it in another five minutes? Do I not.

[Chris Lauterbach]

It's crazy.

[Sean Hayes]

It's just like, it. Well, listen, I know you must feel guilty about paying all those dues over there at Riviera and not using the course, so Will and I want to help you out.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Just kind of getting a little bit more active out there there. So you just let us know.

[Adam Sandler]

You guys are playing real well, though, like in the 80s, 70s.

[Will Arnett]

No.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Well, he is. I'm playing like. But Jason's game is getting together. But what we've been doing is we've been calling guys that we know who we know belong places, because we don't. And we go.

[Sean Hayes]

That's where you come in hey, you playing these days?

[Chris Lauterbach]

And then they go, yeah. And we go, well, Jason, we're available on Wednesday.

[Sean Hayes]

Willing to keep you company.

[Adam Sandler]

Wow, man.

[Will Arnett]

Adam, I'm always like, I. I always ask funny parents this. Like, Will and Jason are two of the funniest people I know. They always make me laugh so hard. And we've always talked about, do their kids find them funny? Do your kids. And you're obviously fucking hilarious. Your kids find you funny or not at all, or, like, do they get your sense of comedy?

[Sean Hayes]

Do they watch your funny movies, you know?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm pretty good at home. I'm happy when I make them laugh because when I'm asking them to practice something or that kind of guy, they like, they don't like him, but they like the funny me. They get. They. I do pretty good.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, good.

[Adam Sandler]

I make. I make them comfortable. And then I. I definitely try to be funny a lot and try to get laughs. I don't always, always score. Like, I try to take them out of their moves. I think growing up that that was my move too. When I felt my father about to fucking go nuts on me, of course I said a few jokes to lighten him up. I think I do that with the kids, too. When I seem upset about something, I go to the jokes. Do you guys do that 100%.

[Sean Hayes]

Adam, who's the disciplinarian then? If you, if you make them laugh every once? I mean, is Jackie the one that's laying down the law or do you do both?

[Adam Sandler]

I heard you guys talking about this. You're lighter than Amanda, right?

[Jason Bateman]

I'm lighter, but it's.

[Sean Hayes]

I would imagine you might be similar to me where you're super.

[Jason Bateman]

You're.

[Sean Hayes]

You're the. You're the class clown, you're the joker. But then you can swing all the way to the other side and really get serious if you need to. And there's really nothing in between.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh, I. Yeah, I think I get really fucking nuts where they just like scared eyes at me when I'm like, no, you have to know this because right when I start raising my voice.

[Sean Hayes]

That Jackie would not do, like Amanda would not do that. She covers the whole middle ground. And I'm like, the bookends.

[Adam Sandler]

Jackie cuts me off in the middle of that too, and starts going.

[Sean Hayes]

She takes a weapon out of your hand, right?

[Adam Sandler]

You gotta. Yeah. She's like, they can't understand. The weapon, I guess, is my fucking loud.

[Will Arnett]

Right?

[Adam Sandler]

You know, semi angry tone all of a sudden. And she's Just like, stop, stop. You can't. They. They don't understand when you're doing that. I'm just like, they have to know this, all right?

[Sean Hayes]

Listen to how loud I am.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, exactly. And then it goes away. And then I'm gonna kiss ass. Most of the time. I like keeping them fucking happy. I. I like when they're happy and laughing and. But I put some pressure on them.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Not.

[Adam Sandler]

Not about. I don't know if you guys have this, but everything I did, I. I would just go outside and practice and. Fucking basketball, baseball, even bike riding. I would just, like, be in my own fucking world, just driving in circles, trying to hop off a curb, trying to pop a wheelie, whatever the fuck that was. And I don't see my kids want to do that as much as me. So I'm like, there's nothing you want to get good at, right? I do that. That shit. And they're just like, not. Just not what you want us to get good at. We want to get good at what we like, you know?

[Sean Hayes]

All right, well, in closure, I have one last question for you. What makes you happiest in all of these. All of these areas of your life? There's. It seems like there's so much harmony and everything's kind of cruising, and there's so many things to bring you happiness. I'll bet you'll say family or some garbage like that.

[Chris Lauterbach]

And by the way, this is. Jason's looking. This is going to be informative. He's looking for something to make him happy. So he's looking for clues, whatever. Kind of.

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

If you had to put. Usually, where do you find yourself the most sort of. Of just serene, and this is a great day.

[Adam Sandler]

Well, I would have to say, when shit's going good at home, everything is good.

[Sean Hayes]

That's.

[Adam Sandler]

You know what I mean? When the kids and your wife or your partner are happy and there's nothing else to be concerned about, you're just free to be who you were as a kid, you know? Like, that's when I feel like, shit. I'm making a movie. This is great. When I'm making a movie and I get a call from home and something's off, I'm like. And I'm fucking lost. Totally lost. Until that shit gets resolved, right? And you gotta act good and the other actors are joking around and you're kind of like, what? Like you're beat behind and you're looking.

[Chris Lauterbach]

At your phone because you're like, fuck, is this thing gonna resolve itself?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You Fucking heartache. Heartache for no reason. And then all of a sudden I.

[Chris Lauterbach]

I doubled mine because I now have like an ex wife. So I want to make sure that Amy's happy and also my partner and every. I've got like way too many people I'm worried about are happy now. Sure, sure, yeah, it sounds like a complaint. Listen, I'm a very lucky guy, but still.

[Adam Sandler]

Yes, absolutely. No, we all are. But the definite ups and downs in my own brain, I can't. I never have a fucking 24 hour happy day. I don't see that ever, ever coming my way. But I have. When I'm working, I'm pretty like, all right, let's. How about you guys? When you're working, are you like, this is great, or are you kind of like.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah, when the phone is off because you're working and it's. And you're on set and you're in that thing. That is a great space when you're really in it. I remember for me, one of my happiest times was when, when Jason and I were first doing Arrested Development. And so people. You didn't text as much back then. It was because everybody still had the flip phones. I remember got a new flip phone. I was so psyched. And a two way pager, Two way pager thing. Remember we had those and we had those. And I just remember like you'd go to, you'd go to work, you leave your trailer or whatever you're dressing, you go on the set and you're on there for like four hours and you're not contacting the outside world and you're in this thing working and you're in it, that is a happy memory for me.

[Sean Hayes]

But if you know that there's. That there's something a little sideways back home. You still can't a hundred percent enjoy it. So staying a little bit ahead at home and making sure that that's all running smoothly and it will be smooth again tomorrow too, because I'm not just, you know, you know, I'm doing something proactive to keep it going forward and staying ahead of it. I've been trying to do lately.

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, my wife's. When I know I go on Tuesday, I got a pretty. That big scene, blah, blah, blah. She'll go, oh, okay. And then she'll kind of block she should not bring up to me on a big day.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Oh, that's nice.

[Adam Sandler]

That's pretty nice. And. And then.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, that's nice.

[Adam Sandler]

Anyways. And then. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Do you run lines with her?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah. Oh, my God. All the time. And she, she's good at finding that I wasn't gonna do in the scene and going like, well, don't you know what that line means?

[Chris Lauterbach]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Adam Sandler]

She does that for me. Yeah. Scott.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. I do it all the time here.

[Chris Lauterbach]

You do that with Scotty?

[Will Arnett]

Constantly.

[Adam Sandler]

That's nice.

[Sean Hayes]

Are you good at memorizing your lines out him?

[Adam Sandler]

Not too good. How about you?

[Chris Lauterbach]

Jason's the best in the biz. The best of all.

[Sean Hayes]

Will's really good at it too.

[Adam Sandler]

That's that tv.

[Sean Hayes]

That's that TV shit.

[Chris Lauterbach]

He's fucking unbelievable.

[Sean Hayes]

I'm surprised that Saturday Night Live didn't kind of grind that in on you. Or were you just looking at the cards the whole time?

[Adam Sandler]

Both.

[Sean Hayes]

They tell you to, right?

[Adam Sandler]

I would do the panic thing like before Letterman. Well, I remember I did this shit on Weekend Update where I did costumes. Crazy. I'm crazy pickle arm and all this shit. And I had to do this thing where I was, was I'm crazy under the desk guy. So I remember in my head, I went, when you're crazy, the under the desk guy, there's no cue cards because you're going under the desk and you got to remember your. And I remember, I live. I went under my desk and it was like, my head's going, holy. There's no cue cards. You're in trouble, man. And I, I, I think I remembered most of them and got it done. But no, I, I like knowing the, the cue cards were around.

[Chris Lauterbach]

You were tight with Wally, right? Was Wally doing cue cards back then?

[Adam Sandler]

Of course I know Wally.

[Chris Lauterbach]

He just texted me out of the blue the other day.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh, yeah, he, he's doing well. He's got some other business he's doing right now.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah, I don't know. He's. Yeah, I haven't heard from him years, but Wally was the, the guy, the Cuban.

[Sean Hayes]

He's got an amusement park now. I think he just started an amusement park.

[Jason Bateman]

Right?

[Adam Sandler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Old John Candy's working there. It's nice.

[Sean Hayes]

Adam, you're incredibly generous to give us all this time. Thank you for saying yes to doing the show.

[Adam Sandler]

Thank you for asking me, guys, on your show. It's a great thing you're doing and getting to hang out all the time together, and you're great guys.

[Will Arnett]

We're pretty lucky.

[Sean Hayes]

We're. We're very appreciative. So looking forward to seeing on the golf course tomorrow. We'll be there probably about 8:30.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah, we'll wait. We're going to warm up first. I know you don't like to warm up, but we will warm up.

[Adam Sandler]

Right? Right on, man.

[Jason Bateman]

All right.

[Sean Hayes]

We love you. Say hi to your family.

[Will Arnett]

Love you, pal.

[Adam Sandler]

You too.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Thanks, buddy.

[Adam Sandler]

See you guys. Okay. All right. Later, guys.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, he's fantastic.

[Sean Hayes]

What a good, decent guy.

[Will Arnett]

So engaging. Like, I could listen to him talk for hours. And by the way, how he's talking about all that anxiety that he has, I'm like, yeah, I totally get that. I relate.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, he stayed, he stayed so human when he's had many opportunities, probably not to. He's able to stay very loyal to his friends. He's also putting up a great product. He's got his family with him. Like, he's just been so smart. The way he's kind of put all these pieces that are available to him into a certain direction that, that I would imagine perpetuates so much happiness for him and so many people that are close to him and obviously his audience as well.

[Will Arnett]

He's a good human being.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Lauterbach]

He's a well rounded guy and he's got a sort of happy life. And for me anyway, I like looking at the people who are having a happy life because it's not defined by what they do, but it's defined by so many other things, starting with family.

[Sean Hayes]

And what they do with the things that are available to them in their life, whether it be, you know, really expensive, nice things or not. What you do with what you've got, I think is a good test.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Thank you to Adam for joining us. That was. Yeah, that was so good. I like that. He better take us golfing.

[Jason Bateman]

He better take us golfing.

[Sean Hayes]

And thank you listener for joining us for another hour of smartless.

[Adam Sandler]

Oh.

[Chris Lauterbach]

Smart, wise.

Smart.

[Will Arnett]

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