"RE-RELEASE: Charlie Day"

Summary

SmartLess: "RE-RELEASE: Charlie Day"

April 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this re-released episode, the SmartLess crew—Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett—welcome actor, writer, and musician Charlie Day. The conversation is classic SmartLess: a blend of playful banter, sincere insight, and offbeat career tales. Charlie shares his journey from aspiring musician in a family of music scholars to helming one of television's most successful and longest-running comedies, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The group dives deep into the origin story of “Sunny,” the grind of showbusiness, friendship with Rob McElhenney, and the relentless hustle of Hollywood. They also riff on golf addictions, the awkwardness of on-screen intimacy, and the reality of sustaining creativity and career longevity.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Charlie Day’s Introduction and SmartLess Banter

• Will reveals Charlie as the surprise guest, bragging about poaching him before Jason could ([06:27]).
• Charlie jokes about being “bottom of the barrel” and waiting for the hosts to “make money so I could start making money” ([07:10–07:54]).
• Running joke about Jason’s aversion to mock turtlenecks and Bateman’s “turkey goblet” chin ([03:23–04:55]).

2. The Genesis of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"

• Charlie recounts filming the earliest “Sunny” pilots in his $600/month LA apartment ([09:29]).
• Studios and agents initially showed little interest; the pilot tapes waited weeks for Jon Favreau to watch ([10:10–10:54]).
• They only broke through after threatening to take the project elsewhere ([12:33]).
• Rob McElhenney served as lead “closer” in securing the FX deal; Charlie admits he’s better in the room ([12:54–13:00]).
• “[Rob’s] better in the meeting. He’s a better salesman.” – Charlie ([12:56])
• Reflects on the change in dynamic, now having leverage decades into a hit series ([14:42–15:19]).

3. On Pitching, Selling, and Surviving the Entertainment Industry

• The hosts riff on the unreliable timing of Hollywood agents ([11:25–12:16]).
• Charlie’s approach: Prefers to develop projects independently, with a script and team before shopping it ([16:02–16:20]).
• Jason notes the industry’s expectation for creators to “sell” themselves over and over, unlike many other fields ([14:00]).

4. Charlie’s Writing Process and Speed

• Jason credits Charlie with rewriting “Horrible Bosses 2” on a single five-hour plane ride (“He did a complete rewrite… and we used most of it.” [17:01]).
• Charlie: “I’m fast with writing. I’m real slow with names.” ([17:39])

5. Charlie and Rob McElhenney: Origin Story & Collaborations

• They met testing for the same pilot after being flown from New York; initial professional rivalry turned into lifelong collaboration ([20:18–21:45]).
• Have created multiple projects together, including “Mythic Quest” and the “Always Sunny” podcast ([22:08–22:35]).
• “I can’t get rid of this guy… every year ‘come on, one more [season]’” – Charlie ([21:43])

6. Golf Obsession & Cast Friendships

• Charlie is depicted as a “golf nut” and the most consistent golfer the group knows, “a single digit handicap… doesn’t shoot over 80” ([23:06–24:08]).
• Banter about Jason’s own “golf addiction” and how he relapsed into playing during the pandemic thanks to Will ([23:14–23:35]).
• “He put it right in my [vein] arm.” – Jason on Will reintroducing him to golf ([23:35])

7. Charlie’s Musical Upbringing and Talent

• Parents and sister are all musicologists with PhDs; Charlie grew up resisting their influence but eventually found his way back to music ([26:24–27:27]).
• Took piano and trombone as a child and earned the nickname “Charlie Trombone” ([25:24]).
• “I don’t excel at any of [the instruments], but I can write a goofy song that we put on Sunny.” – Charlie ([25:09])

8. Humble Career Start & Breaking into Acting

• Early days: looking up auditions in The Village Voice, interning at Williamstown Theatre Festival where agents would scout for new talent ([31:13–32:03]).
• Emphasizes Williamstown’s ferociously competitive environment and how it taught him to always “show up and shine”—work hard and don’t waste people’s time ([36:16]).

9. Changing Industry: Advice for Aspiring Actors

• The group laments the evolution of the business away from agents and mailed headshots to a “do-it-yourself” approach: create, film, edit, upload ([34:18]).
• Will: “You guys were kinda the first people to do that in a way that’s been… not just successful but with longevity.” ([34:34])
• Charlie: “We just took [indie film’s] model to television…” ([35:27])
• Advises aspiring actors to seek bootcamp-like experiences (Williamstown, grad school) to develop resilience and skills.

10. Family and Real Life

• Discussion about Charlie’s wife, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, her acclaimed role in “Licorice Pizza,” and their son ([37:54–38:37]).
• Charlie’s awe at watching Licorice Pizza at Paul Thomas Anderson’s personal screening barn ([38:23]).

11. Podcasting & Media Crossovers

• Charlie details their decision to launch the “Always Sunny” podcast—initial skepticism from Rob, but with Rob executing logistics ([42:44–43:20]).
• “It caught us off guard… when he said it, he already had the mics and producer lined up.” – Charlie ([43:07])

12. Rom Coms, Sex Scenes, and On-set Awkwardness

• Charlie’s recent starring role in the Amazon romcom I Want You Back with Jenny Slate ([44:11–49:48]).
• The group shares embarrassing and funny stories about sex scenes and nudity on set, including Bateman’s on-set anxieties ([46:36–47:18]) and Charlie’s awkwardness in “Horrible Bosses” (“I only found it humiliating… I was like, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m really pasty and doughy.’” – Charlie [47:31]).

13. Projects Past & Future

• I Want You Back is on Amazon; Charlie speaks highly of the movie’s character and spirit ([49:19–50:16]).
• Discusses an upcoming directorial project, which he reshot 20% of after input from Guillermo del Toro—Jason asks, “am I still in it?” ([51:29–52:08])
• Jokes about the feasibility (or lack thereof) of Horrible Bosses 3 ([52:23–53:30]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On getting the “Sunny” pilot made:
  “We were doing it so cheaply. We were holding the cameras, we had a little boom… real low rent.” – Charlie ([10:10])
• On agents:
  “Every agent takes lunch at one o’ clock no matter what… next week is Thanksgiving. Not this week. The fuck are you doing?” – Will ([11:46])
• On pitching:
  "The buyers usually look at you with absolutely no expression because they can… The sellers, us, have to go in there like circus clowns…" – Jason ([14:00])
• On lasting success:
  “I was 27 when we shot that pilot. Now I’m 46. I put in my time with this one.” – Charlie ([15:07])
• On indie creation:
  “There was a lot of that in independent film… We just took that model to television.” – Charlie ([35:27])
• On industry stamina:
  “You put all this work into this, years go by, you develop whatever fame… you kind of think, okay, now I can coast, but the phone doesn’t really ring. Maybe for DiCaprio, but for nobody else.” – Charlie ([37:22])
• On on-screen intimacy:
  “I always feel bad for the other person… Sorry, it’s me and I’m pasty…” – Charlie ([45:31]) “If you’re into it and you’re being passionate convincingly things… things start to move guys. And if they don’t move…” – Jason ([46:41])

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Important Timestamps

| Time | Segment | |------|---------| | 06:27 | Will introduces Charlie Day as guest | | 09:29 | Charlie describes early “Sunny” pilot shoots | | 10:54 | Discussion of agents’ delays and frustrations | | 13:00 | Rob as the 'closer' in pitching meetings | | 14:42 | Table-turning after 15+ years of “Sunny” success | | 17:01 | Charlie’s speed-writing on “Horrible Bosses 2” | | 21:09 | Charlie & Rob’s first meeting, failed pilots | | 23:06 | Discussion of golf as shared obsession | | 25:24 | “Charlie Trombone” and musical upbringing | | 31:13 | Breaking into acting; Williamstown Theatre Festival | | 36:16 | Williamstown as boot camp—work ethic advice | | 43:07 | On launching the “Sunny” podcast | | 44:11 | Starring in a romantic comedy (‘I Want You Back’) | | 46:41 | On the awkward realities of sex scenes | | 51:29 | Directorial debut and working with Guillermo del Toro | | 53:30 | Jokes about Horrible Bosses 3 | | 55:05 | Running jokes about golf, Tesla charging and tipping | | 58:15 | Hosts reminisce about meeting Charlie and voice work |

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Tone and Language

• The episode is playful, breezy, and filled with the hosts’ signature teasing.
• Charlie’s self-effacing humor shines: “I don’t excel at any [instrument]…” and “I should have taken more out of his [Jason’s] pocket. Son of a bitch.”
• Banter bounces seamlessly between inside-Hollywood jokes and relatable vulnerability about creative insecurity, career uncertainty, and taking risks.

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Final Impression

For fans, industry hopefuls, and comedy geeks alike, this episode offers both deep laughs and honest reflection on what it takes to build a lasting, collaborative, and authentic creative career. Charlie Day emerges not just as a comedic talent but as a model for perseverance, humility, and self-starting hustle.

Transcript

[Sean Hayes]

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[Jason Bateman]

Pop right on there.

[Sean Hayes]

Deliciously popped, perfectly salted Skinny Pop. Popular for a reason.

[Will Arnett]

Hi there. This is Will Arnett, host of the Will Arnett Fun Zone podcast. Hang on, hang on, Will. This week. What? We've talked about this, man. We've been over this, like so many times, okay? But we are doing it Though, right? We are going to do that. No, we're not. This is Smart List. Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

Fun zone.

[Sean Hayes]

I know.

[Will Arnett]

Well, what are we doing today?

[Jason Bateman]

All we need is a super simple welcome to Smart List.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, right. Dig deep for this. Welcome to Smartless. Smart, Smart, Smart. Nice. Now, listen, Jason, before we get too deep into the show, we need to talk about the crew. The crew caller. And now you've tell us what. Walk us through what happened this morning.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, I. I went ahead and I got showered and changed prior to our record for my golf engagement. Following this recording.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, you go.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. I'm not proud to say, but chuckles over there does it too. So. Yeah, so I put on. I put on my collared shirt as you're required to do, and then it's a little chilly here in Los Angeles, so I put on a nice wrap over the top of it, nice cashmere wrap. And the collar on that crew neck was a little tight, so it took the collar of my undershirt there and pushed it up. And then Will was hurting me calling it a mockturnel neck. So that sweater's gone. I'm going to go to a V neck.

[Sean Hayes]

And Will said we were talking about money for the producing the podcast, and

[Will Arnett]

Will said, what's the budget for mock turtlenecks for Jason? For the coming out of the budget? Jason, it's a fair question. First of all, you're allowed to mock a mock turtleneck. It's built into the name. Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

But by the way, I will never. You'll never see me in a mock turtleneck. You'll never see me in a turtleneck for sure. Because I've got probably, you know, they, they ask you sometimes, you know, what's the one thing you change about your body? It's probably my non superhero jawline. I've got sort of like a sort of a diagonal diagonal from the end of my chin to my Adam's apple, as opposed to a 90 degree. So if I wear a turtleneck, I then have the turkey goblet hangover over the edge that cascades. That cascades over the edge of the turtle. I can't have it.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, no, I get it. I disagree. You both have nice silhouettes.

[Sean Hayes]

Go back to the thing, though, about being cold. It's cold in la. I came down the stairs today. I'm not making this up. I came downstairs and Scotty had the heat on on the first floor of Los Angeles, and the heat and I was sweating by the time I got to the bottom of it.

[Will Arnett]

You come down the stairs, your Hollywood house every day. Like Gloria Swanson, right?

[Sean Hayes]

That's right. In a flowing house coat.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Ready for my close up.

[Jason Bateman]

It's so great to see you guys.

[Will Arnett]

It's so great to see you guys, too. This is. This is really exciting. I'm excited for you guys to talk to our guest today. Oh, I am excited to listen because our guest is somebody. This is a mega talent. This person is a person who's been doing it for a long time. This person is not just an actor. This person is a writer. This person is a skilled musician who started playing violin at the age of three. They can play the piano, accordion, trombone, guitar, harmonica, and has written and improvised music a lot in a show that they've done now for many, many years. This person received an honorary doctorate in performing arts from Merrimack College. This person was active at Williamstown Theater Festival back in the day. This person has gone on to a huge career in telev in, I guess the longest running TV comedy of all time.

[Jason Bateman]

This person has to slow down here. I want to do some.

[Will Arnett]

Well, this is my guess, and it makes sense because this is my friend, and I'm so happy to have my friend. And I want you guys to start trying to guess. This person has done lots of movies. This person was in the Lego Movie with me.

[Sean Hayes]

This is Charlie Day.

[Will Arnett]

The Lego Movie 2.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Pacific Rim. Longest Running Horrible Bosses and its sequel.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, it's gotta be Chuck.

[Will Arnett]

Known for as Chuck.

[Jason Bateman]

Thank God.

[Charlie Day]

All right, you're scraping the bottom of the barrel now, boys. Time to wrap the show up.

[Jason Bateman]

So, Chuck, what about this is now. I think the reason you've taken so long to book on this is your spin.

[Charlie Day]

It took a real long time for someone to ask me. I think I'm.

[Jason Bateman]

I can't believe Rob McElhenney beat you onto this show.

[Charlie Day]

That's.

[Jason Bateman]

What does that say about us?

[Will Arnett]

Here's my favorite part, is that Bateman and Chuck Day been friends for many years. They've done a few movies together. And I was so happy to steal Charlie as my guest from under Bateman. Just. Just a really.

[Sean Hayes]

I would have had him on, too.

[Will Arnett]

I know.

[Charlie Day]

I think maybe you did ask me.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, definitely. And then you were saying, yeah, gosh, you know, I don't know. We're starting a podcast and I. I think he gave me a little bit of a runaround and I don't. I don't like to pressure people. I. I know you were looking to get paid quite a bit of money for today's.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, I was waiting for you guys, to make money so I could start making money. Which is cool because Will cut me a great check for this.

[Will Arnett]

Send him over. Cash. A guy with a ruck sack full of cash.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah. And that's a pay up for me, guys.

[Jason Bateman]

So I think you're not doing that well. Right. You know, that show is not paying you.

[Charlie Day]

I've made a lot of bad decisions, though. You know what I mean? I made a lot of sketchy calls.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, we, we had Charlie, we had McElhaney on. And, and, and what is it really the longest running sitcom in history?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah. Well, years, if you don't count episodes. I think you, you did more episodes of Will and Grace in like two seasons.

[Jason Bateman]

But how. Now this is something we don't want to gloss over because this, this, this is. You should be. And I, I'm sure you are so proud of how long this show has been on the air. It doesn't just make.

[Will Arnett]

We're talking, of course, about Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

[Charlie Day]

It's 15 years.

[Jason Bateman]

We just, we just. 15 years and you're about to do another one or two.

[Charlie Day]

I don't know, at least another one. And we'll see after that.

[Jason Bateman]

But look at, look at the way he's positioning right there. Not. He knows Fox is listening or whatever the hell it is, and he's going to jam him again. He's going to get.

[Charlie Day]

You know what it is? We', lot, we've done a lot of these. I don't know how long we can keep them.

[Will Arnett]

Nothing adds more zeros than a foot out the door. Right? I mean, that's just them.

[Charlie Day]

That's true. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

So, Charlie, let's talk a little bit about. Because we're talking about Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is a huge long running show. Longest by years. Could you have imagined. Take us back to the day when you actually, when it actually became a TV show. Because we had Rob on here. We talked about it. You guys made some videos and stuff and you shot some stuff. Am I remembering that correctly? And you took it to fx.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, that's basically it. I mean, we were shooting in my apartment, which was on the corner of Western and Franklin. There I lived and I think I paid 600 bucks a month for rent.

[Will Arnett]

You got Rob quick aside. Quick aside. Jason, last time you were east of KA 5 4, 3.

[Jason Bateman]

Back in the drug days for sure.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, I think I might have seen you scoring on the corner.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, there was a pay phone I'd like to hang out at.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, I might have had to run you down. A dime bag or something once.

[Will Arnett]

I'm not sure what it was.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh my God.

[Will Arnett]

Well, so you're in your apartment, right?

[Jason Bateman]

And was there a phone call from the, from your agent or, or manager or something that said they bought it?

[Charlie Day]

You know what it was? So we had shot this thing and, and it was like, pretty good. But we knew we'd sort of not hit the nail on the head and we had nothing really going on, so we redid the whole thing. I mean, we were doing it so cheaply. We were holding the cameras, we had a little boom that was. It was real low rent. And our second go around was pretty funny. We thought, there's something here. And we were all at Three Arts Management at the time. So, like Nick Frankel and Michael Rotenberg took it to WME and they, they kind of sat on it for a while. They're like, yeah, maybe we'll. We'll hook you up with a big producer. And God, we waited forever for Jon Favreau to watch it. And he just, I guess he never got around to it.

[Jason Bateman]

The one that got away.

[Charlie Day]

I know. Well, I mean, I'm so glad I'm not cutting half a check to John. You know, like, I mean, I'm sure he would have helped a lot, but you, you know, it's nice not to have to be paying him anything. But eventually we got kind of bored and we shot a third episode.

[Will Arnett]

And literally you, you, you shot it because you were just in this waiting. Because the age the agencies are. So you're just. You guys are on their timetable.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, that. And the only thing to do on Western is either move the dime bags or shoot another episode.

[Will Arnett]

And it should be, it should be noted. Can I just take this? Am I right in saying this? And you guys can agree or disagree with me, the agenting in show business is hilarious because like, you can't get in touch with your agent first thing in the morning because they're in a staff meeting. Every agent takes lunch at one o' clock no matter what. So they're out of the office for two hours.

[Jason Bateman]

They need an hour or so to say.

[Will Arnett]

They need an hour to get there. So they leave at 12. Sorry, we lost him. He's on his way to a lunch and then he's back at three. Then they do the thing is like, well, he's not in the office. Why not? Well, because next week is Thanksgiving. Yeah, next week is Thanksgiving. Not this week. The fuck are you doing?

[Sean Hayes]

And then the month of December and

[Will Arnett]

then month of December. Sorry, it's the holidays. Sure. Got it. And then they go. And then, you know, obviously Sundance is at the end of January, so Nobody's back till February 1st. It's the most ridiculous racket of all time.

[Charlie Day]

We were getting a lot of that.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. The end of the day goes like this. Well, the end of the day goes, sorry, we're closed. He's gonna start rolling calls. And then they call, knowing you're not gonna pick up.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Or they call you at 7:00 and you're having dinner with the kid and you're like, why are you calling me now?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, right.

[Will Arnett]

Sorry. Sorry, Charlie. I just had to.

[Charlie Day]

No.

[Will Arnett]

That's it, though.

[Charlie Day]

We lost sort of patience with that kind of thing. And we said, we're going to leave you guys and we're going to go to a different agency with this. And that sort of prompted them setting a bunch of meetings. And Rob went around because we thought maybe it'd be too much to have all three of us in the meeting. So Rob went and we had an offer from FX to shoot a real pilot with a real budget.

[Jason Bateman]

Rob's the closer.

[Charlie Day]

He's a closer. He's better in the meeting. He's a better salesman.

[Jason Bateman]

Now, how are you in meetings? Because I don't think I'm great in meetings. I don't enjoy them. I feel like I'm trapped in an office. I feel like I'm 45 minutes from getting out of these walls. So it better not go bad in the next minute or two because I'm stuck. Like, all those things I start to feel. I start to think about. And then it just. The walls start getting closer and closer. Like Star Wars. How are you? Do you look at it as like an arena? Like, I'm on stage or this is fun, like, let's win. Or are you looking to get out of there? It's tough. It's a tough part of this business.

[Charlie Day]

You know, it depends. They're all very different. You go into a meeting and you just. Sometimes you just get cold stares and.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, well, often I do have that

[Charlie Day]

vibe sometimes of like, well, here's the idea, guys. Do you want to buy it or not? Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. If you have that indifference, what's it called, Will?

[Will Arnett]

Sexy. It's called sexy.

[Jason Bateman]

Sexy indifference. Sexy indifference.

[Will Arnett]

Charlie, you know about his sexy indifference, right? Yeah, it's one of.

[Jason Bateman]

I'm still working on it.

[Charlie Day]

Major terms. Yeah, you.

[Jason Bateman]

But yeah, it's, you know, it's. It's. You're either selling or you're buying. The buyers usually look at you with absolutely no expression because they can. The sellers, us have to go in there like, you know, circus clowns because we're selling and that's really what we do in this business. And in a good year, you're selling, you know, you're selling yourself six, seven, eight times and winning. Like, in other words, you get fired, you know, half a dozen times and rehired half a dozen times if you're killing it. So I mean, how many people in other industries have to sell themselves or get fired or rehired maybe three, four times over their whole life? I mean, we gotta do that all the time. It's tough. It was hard.

[Will Arnett]

It is crazy. But then you look at the flip of it, Charlie. So you guys, you guys go through this process. You make this thing you wait. You make this thing you wait. You're waiting. You have to threaten to leave the agency. Finally FX buys it. You guys are kind of a little bit hat in hand. And now all these years later, you're at the position we asked. You were like, are you going to do more? You're like, maybe I'll do one more. Whatever. Like, you have the, the tables have turned a little bit. Yeah, well, not a little bit, a lot.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, I mean, I think the thing is though, when we were shooting that pilot, I was 27 years old, right? And I'm 46. And so I feel like, you know, I put in my time with this one.

[Jason Bateman]

23 though. I know it's incredible since be a real stress free set there.

[Sean Hayes]

But we all make stuff, we all produce or write or direct or act, whatever. And Charlie, kind of what Jason was talking about, is there a point where you like, are you getting to a point where it's bothersome that the grind is getting to you about getting all these no's? Because it seems now to put together a package to sell something, you have to really stack the deck high before anybody will even consider. You hear about Meryl Streep getting passed or whoever. These big go out to pitch these shows and they get passed. Well, if they get passed and I'm stacking these deck and we're getting no's, what does it take to keep a production company going?

[Charlie Day]

I like to get everything done independently of, of a partner. So, you know, like, I'd rather, if I'm gonna be pitching a movie, I'd rather have the whole thing written, right? And say, you know, and, and a

[Jason Bateman]

director in place and an actor in place and like, here's we're going.

[Charlie Day]

This is what it is so all

[Sean Hayes]

they do is write the check. Check.

[Charlie Day]

Basically. Yeah. Yeah. You know, as it should be. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

But then that means you got to do a bunch of work for free ahead of time, which is cool if you've got the time and the, and the funds to bank on yourself and, and work for free for a little while.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, look, at some point you're going to have to do that work anyway. So I'm, I'm usually. It depends. Right. There's other things I'll pitch and I'll know. Okay, I want to get a writer on this and I want to get that person paid. So I'll pitch, but even then I'll work with that writer. I'll develop a whole outline so that movie is basically ready to go. And I'll attach a few people to the movie and then I'll go in and be like, here it is. This is what it is. Here's who's acting in it. Here's the director. Now please pay this.

[Jason Bateman]

And Will and Sean, you gotta understand, this guy is. He's so fast and he's so good. He wrote Horrible Bosses 2 on a five hour plane ride from New York to Los Angeles. I'm not exaggerating. He did a complete rewrite, page one rewrite on it, and we used most of it. And out of deference to our writers that wrote the draft before, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but Charlie deserves a great deal of credit for that.

[Charlie Day]

Well, I appreciate that. I don't want to take credit away from the guys who don't even remember names.

[Jason Bateman]

What an asshole. It's just. He's fast, but he is a prick.

[Charlie Day]

I'm fast with writing. I'm real slow with names.

[Jason Bateman]

And we will be right back. We know parents want to feel confident as their teens are navigating social media with Instagram teen accounts. Teens get automatic protections by default.

[Sean Hayes]

Teens between the ages of 13 and 17 are automatically put into a protective experience.

[Jason Bateman]

That means they get built in content settings for what they see, contact limits on who can contact them and and time management tools like daily time limit reminders, as well as sleep mode which mutes notifications from 10pm to 7am plus,

[Sean Hayes]

teens under 16 need a parent's permission to change any of these settings to be less strict. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to help protect teens [e-mail] teenaccounts.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Sean Hayes]

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[Will Arnett]

Wait, so speaking of names, so you, and obviously you have a long time relationship with Rob McLane. How did you guys first meet? What was that?

[Charlie Day]

I met Rob on a plane. So we were both being flown out. We're both being flown out to test for a pilot for the same role. It was one of those things where, you know, you're in the airport and you're like, oh, this guy's got to be an actor. You know, he's got that look. And the show is called Mather Houses about college kids or something like that. And you know, I think, I don't know when I said hello, but maybe after the plane landed.

[Will Arnett]

And where were you coming from? From New York.

[Charlie Day]

From New York. Yeah, we both lived in New York and we were flying out that, you know, they put you up on like at the Hilton or something. Right on. Right off the 101 there by universal many times. So we're both staying there and then.

[Sean Hayes]

And then used to find Jason on the side.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I used to remember pilot season. I used to come out there and stay there. Or the Sheraton or the Intercontinental over by Fox, which is where Tony Hale and I stayed for the arrested test. Anyway, keep going.

[Charlie Day]

It was my second time that happened. It happened to me. I tested for something called Weird Henry, and they liked me for Weird Henry, and they flew me out. And then they did one sort of, you know, round of notes with the producers, and then the studio was like, this show's not gonna work, and they canned the whole thing. And then the same thing happened with Rob. Rob and I both went and tested, and I remember thinking, like, ah, I got this guy. He doesn't have the charisma. I'm not worried about him.

[Jason Bateman]

Look at his stupid face.

[Charlie Day]

Look at his dumb face, man. He's never gonna make it in show business.

[Will Arnett]

He'll never own a football team with Ryan Reynolds.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, he was too handsome. I was like, he's too modely. You know, you need some. Someone real. And then the same thing happened. They canned the whole show while we were out there, and we just kind of bonded and stayed buddies. And, you know, now I can't get rid of him. You know, every year I'm like, well, maybe. Maybe we've done it with the show. He's like, come on, one more. Let's go.

[Will Arnett]

And then. So not only can you not get rid of him always Sonny, then you guys create myths quest with. It wasn't just the two of you. It was somebody else, too.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, with Megan Gans.

[Will Arnett]

Megan Gans, yes, of course.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah. No, I can't get rid of this guy.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

I.

[Charlie Day]

You know, I go on podcasts of just talking about him. I'm like, I. I hear him. He barely talks about me. I'm talking about this guy constantly.

[Jason Bateman]

No, no, he talks about you quite a bit. We just can't repeat it.

[Charlie Day]

Oh, okay.

[Will Arnett]

And you guys started a podcast together, too. Now you've got this Always Sunny podcast.

[Charlie Day]

And now we're talking about the show and people are listening and.

[Will Arnett]

But we're not here to plug that. We're not going to talk about.

[Jason Bateman]

Let's. Let's plug all. Everything you got.

[Charlie Day]

I. We should really. If we really want to get this cooking, we should just talk about golf.

[Jason Bateman]

I mean, let's go.

[Charlie Day]

First of all, when we were doing Horrible Bosses.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Charlie Day]

And I'm a bit of a golf nut. I would. I would say, oh, Jason, you know, I heard you used to golf. And you said, yeah, I don't do it anymore. I was like, well, you should come out with me, you know, maybe sometime and just, you know, dust off the old sticks and hit a few. You are the most golfing man I Know now.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, it's incredible.

[Charlie Day]

Non stop.

[Jason Bateman]

Back then. Back then, I was very disciplined. I didn't want to dance with the dragon again, you know, I've got addiction issues.

[Charlie Day]

You are fully addicted to golf.

[Will Arnett]

Dance with the dragon.

[Jason Bateman]

No, no, that's a saying. And then during COVID you know, Will just threw me a lifeline. He said, listen, buddy, you gotta step away from Rachel Maddow. Take your PJs off and let's get out there, do something socially distant. Let's. Let's play golf.

[Will Arnett]

And two weeks later, we were in Pebble Beach.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, he put.

[Will Arnett]

No joke.

[Jason Bateman]

He put it right in my arm. Yeah.

[Charlie Day]

I love it. Well, I love that you do it. I hope you don't give it up.

[Jason Bateman]

No, no, I don't. Look at me, I'm dressed. Look at my fit, for Christ's sake. I'm a half hour from the tea.

[Charlie Day]

I'll keep it snappy because I know you got a tee time.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Let's go, Charlie.

[Sean Hayes]

I have.

[Will Arnett]

Sean. I know, I know. Your question is going to be, hey, Charlie, how long and straight are you off the tee? Very. He's very consistent off the tee. It's unbelievable.

[Jason Bateman]

This guy's a single digit handicap listeners. Anybody who's into golf, this guy. This guy doesn't shoot over 80. It's gross. It's. He's a natural athlete. Played a lot of baseball when he was coming.

[Charlie Day]

This is the most you know about me. This is surprising.

[Will Arnett]

Wait, so. So, Charlie, speaking of growing up. So. So I mentioned in the thing that you play piano and you play all these inst. What's up with that?

[Charlie Day]

I don't know.

[Jason Bateman]

Look at Sean perk up. Sha doesn't want to talk about a long off the tee, but. Oh, let's get that harmonica in his mouth, huh?

[Charlie Day]

Let's do it. Let's. I probably have one lying around. I don't know where the violin thing came. Like, I. I was

[Jason Bateman]

like, you have

[Charlie Day]

that ready to go?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, anytime there's a bad joke.

[Jason Bateman]

Hey, where's that keyboard we were going to introduce here, Sean?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, we're gonna. I know I'm too lazy to lift this up and go in there because it's to hook it all up.

[Jason Bateman]

But wait, Charlie, slide thing.

[Sean Hayes]

Do you still. Do you still play violin? Do you still play these instruments?

[Charlie Day]

No, I never play. I never played the violin. That's one of those.

[Will Arnett]

So that was not true.

[Charlie Day]

No, I think I played the violin from like three to three in one month. You know where my parents were, like,

[Jason Bateman]

well, this is too very accurate.

[Sean Hayes]

Is there an instrument that you excel at or that you stick with?

[Jason Bateman]

Keep it clean.

[Charlie Day]

I don't, I don't excel at any of them, but I, I, I can play a little piano and a little guitar and that's, you know, I can, I can write like a goo song that we put on Sonny.

[Will Arnett]

But, but was that something that your parents, like, incurred? Like, were you, did you take piano lessons? Guitar lessons?

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, I took piano lessons maybe till I was 10. And then I switched to the trombone. I used to have a little sweatshirt because I was in the school band that said Charlie Trombone. So that, like, became my nickname.

[Will Arnett]

You know, the problem with the trombone is if you leave it in the rain, it gets rusty. You know, it's true. It's true. If you leave it in the rain.

[Charlie Day]

Clean it up now.

[Will Arnett]

Well, you keep it clean. You get some kind of breath. Ass cleaner or something like that.

[Sean Hayes]

Charlie, when you, when you write and produce or direct or whatever you do, do you think about music when you're doing it, or is it an afterthought?

[Charlie Day]

It's a big part of how I write something. I'll be just listening to, you know, a style of music and I'll have an idea. Yeah, I'll be listening to Depeche Mode. I'll be thinking, I gotta do a movie with Bateman where he, you know, wears eyeshadow and trench coats.

[Jason Bateman]

You should see me. I got great goth skills.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

I do love, I do love Depeche Mode. Wait, Charlie, I know so little about. So it says that you were born in, in New York, in the city. Yeah, True story.

[Charlie Day]

True story. Cause my parents, My parents both met at Columbia where they were both music getting their doctorates in musicology. And then.

[Will Arnett]

Wait a second, wait a second. Pump the brakes. So your parents. So you kind of blew brush through the whole music thing and your own involvement with music. Your parents have degrees in music from Columb.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, yeah, my parents are very smart. Smart as is my sister. She also has her PhD in musicology. And what happened here was that, you know, I'm an idiot. And, and I was like, I gotta get away from this music thing. So, you know, I'm taking trombone lessons and all my buddies are outside playing baseball. And I eventually, you know, walked away from it all and gave it up. But then when I got to, like, maybe a senior in high school or college, I picked up the guitar and I was like, like, oh, this is maybe could be cool. Or a way to meet a girl. And then I, I got back into it, but I, I, I didn't want to be. They, they had no money and I didn't want to, I didn't want to be a music.

[Sean Hayes]

You became an actor.

[Will Arnett]

So they're at Columbia. They're both taking, they're both in programs, music programs at Columbia. They meet. You're born in the city, and then what happens? How long did you live there?

[Charlie Day]

Not long. And then my dad got a, a job at a college in Rhode island, and my mother's family was from Rhode Island. Way back, way, way back. And they went and never left. They're still there.

[Will Arnett]

And so you grew up in Rhode Island?

[Charlie Day]

I grew up in Rhode island, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

How did the acting thing hit you? Was it like a high school drama thing?

[Charlie Day]

That's a good question. I mean, I did plays like, like in third and fourth grade and, and always enjoyed it. And then I wanted to do the school plays in high school, but I was kind of too nervous to join the group. I thought, ah, I don't, I don't.

[Will Arnett]

But with the musical background, wouldn't you think that you could combine the plays and the music and do what, Sean? What do we call that? The theater. That's.

[Charlie Day]

But that's got, There's a music based theater out there. I'm not quite sure. I don't think there's a term for it.

[Will Arnett]

Sean, is there a.

[Jason Bateman]

What would be an example of something that you might.

[Will Arnett]

5, 6, 7, 8.

[Charlie Day]

Guys are gonna have to take that slide whistle away from them.

[Jason Bateman]

I mean, so then, Charlie. So then you finish high school and you say, I'm gonna go to New York City and I'm gonna try to become a professional guitar player or actor.

[Charlie Day]

Yes, I did have that thought. I was like, well, do it.

[Jason Bateman]

Which one?

[Charlie Day]

I didn't know. I was like, maybe I want to write music or maybe I want to do.

[Jason Bateman]

But you knew your future. It wasn't in Rhode Island. It was probably in Manhattan.

[Charlie Day]

Manhattan, yeah. Well, first I went to college.

[Jason Bateman]

Jason, where was that? Wait, hang on. What's college?

[Charlie Day]

It's a school after, after the studio school.

[Jason Bateman]

Voluntary additional school. I don't understand it. Yeah, that's the part I couldn't compute when I was.

[Will Arnett]

What trailer was that in? On the border lot?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, one with a flat tire.

[Charlie Day]

Here's what happened. I went to the voluntary additional school, and they had a theater program, but they also had a baseball team, and I didn't make baseball team. And I thought, oh, well, I'll go join the theater club. And then I Just got hooked. I was like, I like doing the plays.

[Jason Bateman]

And it seems to was this school in New York.

[Charlie Day]

This school was in northern Massachusetts called Merrimack College. And you could get in if you had a pulse. And they let me in.

[Sean Hayes]

And my favorite thing in the world is swapping horrible theater stories. Did I tell you guys about the wheelchair stories?

[Charlie Day]

You gotta go, let's go.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, let's go.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay, so just pull the interview over to the side. Hang on.

[Sean Hayes]

Go show really quick. This was horrific. I was a sophomore in high school, and I was in charge of changing the scenery, right? The battens that would lift the scenery. So in between we had like, we were doing one act. So in between each act, we had like, you know, 15, 30 seconds to change the big huge scenery and pull them up. And I was in charge of all those hydraulics. So the stage manager points to me, she's like, go. And I didn't realize there was a rope hanging on the side that somehow hooked onto the wheelchair that the guy needed in the next scene. This isn't a cartoon.

[Jason Bateman]

I saw.

[Sean Hayes]

No, I swear to God. This happened. And I raised it and the hook pulled the wheelchair up. So the curtain goes up and the wheelchair's just swinging, hanging in midair.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, shit.

[Sean Hayes]

And the guy's first line was, you know, something like, I don't know if I'll ever walk again. But he had to. It was awful.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, golly. Back to smart list. Hey, Charlie. So you up there. So you come down out of the junior college and you come to New York City and you don't just knock on a door and say, I'm here. I'd like to be an actor. Do you look in the paper for auditions or an agent or. What was your first step?

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, I did all that crap. You know, you get the Village Voice and you're looking through all those things. I had a really lucky break when I was in college was there was a guy named there named John Fooseman. And he was like one of those guys who was like 35 and in

[Jason Bateman]

college and just hanging out just outside the school grounds. The fence.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah. And he had tipped me off to a place called the Williamstown Theater Festival.

[Jason Bateman]

Sure.

[Charlie Day]

And I. I went there to sort of, you know, empty garbage cans and. And maybe say, one line in a play and just intern. And they had like a program where you could audition and. And be part of a non equity group. And after my first summer there, I was still in college. I. The next year I auditioned and I got to be part of that group

[Jason Bateman]

and a bunch of agents go up there, right? Yeah, yeah.

[Charlie Day]

After my third year there, I. I got an agent.

[Jason Bateman]

But Sean, did you ever do that? I'd love to do Williamstown. Did you ever do that?

[Sean Hayes]

I would love to. No, I'm. But I would love to. But, you know, Charlie was going to ask you, like, there's. When we were all young, all four of us, and other people like us that are actors, there was a definite path to what you wanted, right? You got your headshots and then you had your resume on the back and then you would submit them to agents and then agents. But now it seems so different. Do you have friends? Like, does your sister have friends? And be like, hey, Charlie, can you help my friend out? They want to get into the biz and they need advice. I mean, do you ever get people coming to you? And what would that advice be? Be now for kids rather than when we were growing up.

[Charlie Day]

Weirdly, I don't get too much of that. I don't know if I don't give off a vibe of that'll help or I'm not sure why.

[Will Arnett]

But do you feel. No, but let me rephrase that. Do you feel shitty about yourself that nobody wants acting tips from you

[Jason Bateman]

or career advice?

[Will Arnett]

I had that, Sean, you know, when I was a kid, this is a true story. When I was living in New York, York, and I was at my. I didn't know anybody in New York and somehow my mom knew, through somebody from like Winnipeg, knew the actor Len Cariou. Do you know that guy?

[Jason Bateman]

Sure.

[Will Arnett]

Len Cariou. And so somehow she's like, you should call him. And I was like, okay. So I called him, poor guy. Because now I sort of 30 years later, I get that flip, which is like, he's like, hey, what can I do for you? I'm like, well, I'm just in New York and I'm going to theater school

[Jason Bateman]

and like, okay, I'm ready to be successful.

[Will Arnett]

Yes. So. And like I get now that position. I even felt it at the time where he's like, I don't know what you want me to do for you, buddy, but you know, I've already. I'm worried about my own day to day over here. And so you do get those calls sometimes from friends of friends and they go, hey, our kid is 18 and he's moving to New York and can you call him and give him some advice? And there's really nothing you can say to anyone.

[Sean Hayes]

I actually like it. I actually don't mind It. Yeah, it's all about timing. But, yeah, I actually, like, what do you tell people?

[Jason Bateman]

You know, because getting an agent, like, you do have to get into kind of a showcase situation.

[Will Arnett]

It's just really tough for everybody, I think.

[Sean Hayes]

You have to create your own path. You know, gone are the days of relying and waiting on phone calls and agents and all that. To do it for you, you have to pick up a camera, you have to write the thing, direct the thing, act the thing, put it on YouTube, all that kind of stuff. And Instagram. And so that's how. Because every Instagram star wants to be an actor and every actor wants to be, like, have the most.

[Will Arnett]

Well, Charlie, you guys were kind of like the first people to really do that in a way that has been. Been not just successful, but also had longevity. You guys created your own stuff. That was not the norm before you guys did that.

[Charlie Day]

No, that's true. Yeah. Although, you know, in some ways, doesn't everybody do that? Like somebody.

[Will Arnett]

I guess the Lonely island guys did that too.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, like.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, but they were already part of an infrastructure there at Saturday Night Live.

[Will Arnett]

No, no, no, no. Before those guys made videos and stuff. When they did Amber Andy in. In Akiva and Yorm did.

[Jason Bateman]

Really?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, they made some videos on Lonely Island. Then they made a. They made a pilot called awesome Town that Phil and Chris. Phil Lord and Chris Miller produced. Have you ever seen that? It's really. It's really rad. And. But they did the same thing, which was. But again, that was around the same time that Sonny started. It was back in that.

[Charlie Day]

What was unique about what we did is we did it for television, where, you know, like, you. There was a lot of that in independent film. If you're the Coen Brothers, you know, you raise money, you do Blood simple, and then you, you know, you go do Raising Arizona or whatever it is. And we, I guess we just took that model to television and we said, well, we'll, you know, we'll do the first one real cheap and down and dirty, and then hopefully someone gives us money to do this more legitimately. But going back to your question before, I often do promote Williamstown, which for me was like a showcase situation. Or if you're really serious about acting, go to grad school, which I wish I'd done, but because that place was not only boot camp for acting, it was boot camp for you better show up and shine. Because in that group, in that non equity group, it was myself and Katherine Hahn and Sterling Brown.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Charlie Day]

And I mean, the competition was so fierce and Jimmy Simpson. And these people were going to outshine you. They weren't trying to outshine you, but they were going to do their work and they were going to. To be. You know, they were going to come to rehearsal, not set, and just blow it out of the water. So you had to learn how to. I feel like my first summer there, I. I did well in some plays, and I thought the next year, I thought everyone would be like, well, he's the man. Let's give him everything. And it wasn't that way. You know, it was a rude awakening of, like, well, you did that. What are you going to do now? So that was such a good boot camp in terms of, like, do your work. Work hard. Make sure you. You make sure you're not wasting anybody's time.

[Will Arnett]

It's funny you say that. I remember having one of my acting teachers years ago, he was saying, like, look, all the process you do, all the work you do, whatever, when you show up on set, they don't give a shit. You gotta deliver in the moment. And that's it. And that was the only sort of piece of advice that I've ever given young people, which is just like, you gotta be on top of your shit. You gotta know your shit. Like you said, you gotta be ready to deliver in the moment, because that's what matters.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah. It's a bit exhausting, right? You do, like, you put all this work into this. Years go by, you develop whatever, fame, success, and you kind of think, okay, well, now I can coast, but, you know, the phone doesn't really ring. Maybe it does for DiCaprio, but for nobody else, like, you have to, like, you gotta put something together, and you have to. And then when you are in it, you can't stink. Right. You gotta. Yeah, you gotta shine.

[Sean Hayes]

Your son, is he too young to know that he wants to do what dad does or.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Or mom does too? Both of you guys are actors?

[Charlie Day]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Mary Elizabeth has this great part in Paul Thomas Anderson's film right now.

[Charlie Day]

Oh, she's great in it. That movie is amazing.

[Jason Bateman]

That guy, Paul Thomas Anderson.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, talk about a guy.

[Jason Bateman]

I think things are gonna work out for him. I think he's gonna make it. Great debut.

[Charlie Day]

He's gonna make it.

[Will Arnett]

Paul Thomas Anderson is the greatest director of all time. And Go and Ignite.

[Jason Bateman]

How about. He's my favorite. For sure.

[Will Arnett]

I know, Me too.

[Jason Bateman]

He's the greatest.

[Charlie Day]

I. I got to go see a screening of. Of that movie at his house.

[Jason Bateman]

Which way?

[Charlie Day]

You know, he has these maybe he doesn't want. But he has like these film projectors. He's got like this barn that he's converted into like a screening room.

[Sean Hayes]

And for Tracy, the name of the movie is Licorice Pizza.

[Charlie Day]

Licorice Pizza.

[Sean Hayes]

Licorice Pizza.

[Jason Bateman]

Which is a name of a record store that was all over the Valley when I was growing up. Anyway, so he's got this cool.

[Will Arnett]

Well, that's why you're crying. So. So. And your wife, me, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, whom I know, she and I did a pilot together years ago, as you know.

[Charlie Day]

Yes, yes.

[Will Arnett]

And she's a tremendously talented actor and she's in Paul Thomas Anderson's movie Licorice Pizza. So you went to a screening at his house. At his house screening barn.

[Charlie Day]

Just to kind of. And then to get to hang out with Maya Rudolph. So that was a.

[Will Arnett]

Who's our pal?

[Charlie Day]

I just didn't want to blow it for my wife. I'm like, just keep cool, man. And don't, don't, don't get drunk and don't act dumb.

[Jason Bateman]

Did you stand up with a bunch of notes at the end of it?

[Charlie Day]

I had a couple notes, but he wasn't listening. You know, that's the problem with these artists.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, we were, we were locked, Pop

[Charlie Day]

Charlie Day in for a couple scenes. That's really going to make this movie.

[Sean Hayes]

Pop. We'll be right back.

[Jason Bateman]

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[Sean Hayes]

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[Jason Bateman]

Really?

[Sean Hayes]

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[Jason Bateman]

All right, back to the sh.

[Sean Hayes]

Now listen, Charlie, do for. For your new podcast, which is, I think it's becoming really popular, isn't it? You guys have. Have guests on or is it just you three chatting right now?

[Charlie Day]

It's just us chatting. I mean, that, that kind of caught us off guard, you know. This was my gripe with McElhenny about two years ago. I was like, we should do a Sonny podcast. We should just talk about the show. The fans would probably want to hear that. And he's like, ah, everybody's doing podcasts. You know, like, you know, we're two late. Then this year he shows up, he goes, you know what? We should do a Sony podcast.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh boy.

[Will Arnett]

I'm like this, I'm like, yeah, I know this guy.

[Charlie Day]

But here's the difference and here's why I've benefited so greatly from a partnership with Rob. When I said it, it was just gobbledygook talk. And when he said it, he already had the mics and the producer lined up and ready to go.

[Will Arnett]

He's an action. He's an action.

[Charlie Day]

He's an action guy. So it's been good for me to unite with an action guy, being on

[Sean Hayes]

that side of it. Do you. And we all know this as actors promoting and marketing and all that stuff, having to do talk shows and whatever, podcasts or whatever. The thing is, do you have a preference of being a guest or a host?

[Charlie Day]

Well, I guess we're not really hosting anyone, so. I don't know. I don't know.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, I mean, you're kind of hosting a podcast, but.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, we're really just kind of shooting the shit.

[Will Arnett]

Okay.

[Charlie Day]

People seem to want to listen to it, but you're.

[Will Arnett]

I think that one of the things we're all talking about the same thing. We obviously have. There are a lot of similarities, which is you talk about we create our own weather, we do our own thing, and we do a lot of different things. You've got a. You're doing the podcast. You do your show. You've got this new movie on Amazon, which was. That was a sexy segue.

[Charlie Day]

That was a good segue. Yeah. I did a rom com, finally.

[Will Arnett]

You did a rom com?

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, saw me as rom.

[Will Arnett]

So talk a little bit about. Because I want to get into. You do do a lot of different stuff, and you've got a lot of different gear, which is commendable. And you're obviously, you know, you're a talented guy, so you go and you do a rom com. What was the. Were you just like, yeah, fuck it, I could do a rom com.

[Charlie Day]

I was always dying to do a rom com because I actually really enjoy them, and I sort of wanted to have my, you know, Tom Hanks moment or Billy Crystal or whatever. And.

[Jason Bateman]

Was there a sex scene?

[Charlie Day]

No, there's. There's, you know.

[Jason Bateman]

Is there a kiss?

[Will Arnett]

Hey, Coolidge.

[Charlie Day]

Hey.

[Jason Bateman]

Take it.

[Will Arnett]

What are you imagining, Jason? What are you imagining? Talk to what you're imagining.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, because some people can go their whole careers or large portion of it without ever doing a sex scene. And then all of a sudden, the day shows up. It's like, oh, my God, I've been in this business 30 years, and I've never had to, like, fake lovemaking. Did you have to do that?

[Charlie Day]

No. That's a good question. No, I've.

[Jason Bateman]

Have you ever had to do that?

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, I have a. I have a very graphic one on It's Always Sunny, where we. We did a ski episode and we were making sort of fun of like 80s ski movies and over the top sex scenes. So, you know.

[Jason Bateman]

How'd that go?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, how it go?

[Charlie Day]

It was fine.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, you don't have to. You don't have to ask him in a whisper, Will.

[Will Arnett]

I'm just saying, walk us through it.

[Charlie Day]

I mean, you know, it's always the case with me with the sex scenes. I'm always. I always feel bad for the other person, you know, where I'm like, hey, look, I'm sorry. It's. It's just me and this, you know, I'm pasty and.

[Will Arnett]

Sean, you had to do one.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, there's this cult show which is Fantastic, called Campus Ladies 80s with Kerry Aisley and Kristen Sussen and Will Forte was on it and a bunch of funny people were on it. And Jonah Hill. That was Jonah Hill's first show. And I played somebody who wasn't the brightest, who always wore a backpack.

[Will Arnett]

How'd you get into that character?

[Sean Hayes]

So I just put a backpack on and then I had to wear no clothes except the backpack and have sex and literally have intercourse with Kristen Sussen.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, okay.

[Jason Bateman]

How did that go, Jason?

[Will Arnett]

Fine. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Sean, finish.

[Sean Hayes]

That was it.

[Will Arnett]

That was it. And Jason, what about your sex stuff?

[Jason Bateman]

I've got a loose connection. Can you guys hear me okay?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Is that what you said in the sex scene? I'm not.

[Jason Bateman]

My wire keeps coming out and.

[Sean Hayes]

Can you hear me?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Is it in? I guess that's the big.

[Jason Bateman]

Hey, Charlie, wait, you didn't answer.

[Will Arnett]

Jason, if you've done a sex seen.

[Jason Bateman]

I have, and I don't like them and they're not good. It's. It's, it's just, you know, all the, all the cliches are true. You know, you have a. Is a very. There's a very difficult line one has to ride, which is, you know, if you're into it and you're being passionate convincingly things. Things start to move guys. And. And if they don't move. What? There's that classic saying that one of the actors said, I apologize if I get aroused and I apologize if I don't get aroused or something like that. It's like. It's a. It's, it's a. It's a concern. It's a concern.

[Charlie Day]

Bman. We did this movie called Horrible Bosses. It was a massive global hit, Will. And.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, you had a little sex scene with Aniston. Right? That was the first mounted. You.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, that was the first thing we shot.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, wow.

[Charlie Day]

And that was basically my second time meeting her. I met her at the, at the read through. It was like, okay, well, now take all your clothes off and we'll take these provocative photos. But I only found it humiliating, you know, because I was like, ah, man, I should like go to the gym or like, sure. I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm really pasty and doughy over here. And, you know, you're probably not used to an image like this in your sexual scenarios.

[Will Arnett]

I had to do a scene in brother Solomon with Forte where he comes to where we make up at the end of the movie. And I'm in the shower and I come out. So I've just got the little sock on. On and then nothing else. And then I got to turn and he and I have to hug while I'm basically.

[Jason Bateman]

Now let's. For Tracy, let's explain what the sock is. Go ahead, Will.

[Will Arnett]

It's. It's basically that like, it's a sock that you put over. It's a thing you put over your junk. All your meats and cheeses get covered.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, it's like, it's a little coin purse that's got a couple of pieces of fishing wire on both sides that go around you in a. As a thong.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay. But it's a nude. It's a nude colored and it's made out of like pantyhose and, and with fishing string on it. So you can imagine. It's just, it's not, it's not comfortable, it's not a good looking thing and it's, it's difficult at times to fill out, Will.

[Will Arnett]

And it's. Well, that was not an issue. It was more of an issue that like, it was kind of the. Like you said, like, I'm sorry if I get aroused and I'm sorry if I don't. And I just thought, boy, this could go either way with Forte. I have no idea.

[Jason Bateman]

Which way did I it go?

[Will Arnett]

I. I don't want to. I don't want to say, but I just. I love the guy.

[Jason Bateman]

Watch a movie.

[Will Arnett]

Let me just say this. I love the guy. And you can tell.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, you've said plenty.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, you wear that to the beach sometime.

[Will Arnett]

So. Charlie, when. So talk. So you're doing this romantic comedy. You. You decide you want to do it. What is the movie?

[Charlie Day]

Well, the movie's called I want you back and it's with Jenny Slate and myself. Pretty good. She's pretty good. Our. Our producing buddy, John Ricard produced this movie.

[Jason Bateman]

Another mega talent yeah.

[Charlie Day]

And we work together and horrible bosses and fist fight. And I was talking to John and I was saying, you know, we should find something to do. And he says. He said, I got these two scripts, and you should look at them. And he said, but one's a rom com, so you probably don't want to do that. I said, why would I not want to do that? Send me the rom com.

[Jason Bateman]

Nasty. Nasty thing to say.

[Charlie Day]

Nasty thing to say. And I loved it. We put it together. It's a really sweet and funny movie, by the way. I did have to take my shirt off in it, and I had this sort of conundrum where the character and then he starts working out in the story. And I thought, well, which body do I go with? Do I go with the guy who looks like he's not been working out or the guy that looks like he has been working out? And I went with the guy who has not been working out. Yeah, it was.

[Jason Bateman]

Did you look at the shooting schedule to sort of plan out what kind of shape you'd be in? Cause I do that. I mean, for Tracy, these projects, they take at least six weeks to shoot, sometimes 12 or more. And if, you know, you got a topless scene on, as Will likes to call it, you know, you want to make sure that you're not having a whole lot of soy sauce a few days out, you know?

[Charlie Day]

No, I let that go. I was like, no, that's not what the audience wants from me. They don't want me to pop that shirt off and have rippling abs. They'll be disturbed if they see it.

[Jason Bateman]

There's nothing funny about a six pack.

[Charlie Day]

There's nothing funny about it. And this is accommodate.

[Will Arnett]

So, Charlie, any recent vacays, as we call it in the biz? Any vacays with the finish?

[Charlie Day]

I went to Hawaii.

[Will Arnett]

Okay. I knew that. I knew that because I was.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, yeah, you sent us a shot of that. Beautiful.

[Will Arnett]

You sent that pic in our little chain.

[Charlie Day]

Oh, yeah, I did. I did. That's right.

[Jason Bateman]

So you went to Hawaii. Did you go by yourself, or did you bring your wife and child?

[Charlie Day]

No, of course I brought my wife and child. And. And I played a bunch of golf, and we hung out and relaxed and went to the beach and. And I reset. It was good. I was coming right off a bunch of things, and it was nice to take a break.

[Sean Hayes]

Charlie, 2022, what are you most excited about?

[Charlie Day]

Oh, man, I don't know. I'm. I'm always pretty. Just excited to be doing this. I mean, I don't know. I'm still grateful doing it. Yeah. I've been polishing up a movie for a good four years that I directed that Bateman was kind enough to be in.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. When do we get to see that, Charlie?

[Will Arnett]

Any minute.

[Charlie Day]

I'm right around the corner. But I was going to sell it. I was in the process of selling it to a studio, and. And I was having some conversations with a very talented man, Mr. Guillermo del Toro. And I had a change of heart, and I took the movie and I reshot about 20% of it.

[Jason Bateman]

Am I still in it?

[Charlie Day]

You're still in it. You made the cut. That's been a maddening long experience, but I'm really happy with the movie, so hopefully I'll get it out to the world this year. I'm excited about that. I'm excited about this rom com. I'm excited about maybe getting some golfing with the boys here. You know.

[Sean Hayes]

That's good.

[Jason Bateman]

And Horrible Bosses 3, I think we can announce.

[Charlie Day]

Well, now, why didn't we do it, you know?

[Jason Bateman]

Well, because no one wanted it. Yeah, because horrible buses, too. Just basically, you know, cratered.

[Will Arnett]

Did it? Did it? Should the bed.

[Charlie Day]

By today's standards, it's a huge hit.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, that's true. Yeah. It didn't do as well as.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, you mean by pandemic standards.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, that's right.

[Will Arnett]

But the standards of. By the standards of everybody staying home and not going into theater is addictive.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, I would like the third one because I really, really like to collect those sets.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Things do happen in three. Maybe we just make it for a price, you know? But it did turn out people just didn't give a shit about. About a second one, so they're really not going to want a third.

[Charlie Day]

It's not really a story that needed a.

[Will Arnett]

Hear me out. Horrible Bosses 3. But there are two new. Sean, right? Two new guys who. Look, they're kind of.

[Sean Hayes]

They just go.

[Will Arnett]

They're having that.

[Sean Hayes]

My boss is terrible.

[Will Arnett]

Hey, my boss is bad, too.

[Charlie Day]

Are you a boss or you're. You're an employee.

[Will Arnett]

Exactly.

[Sean Hayes]

But the catchphrase is, my boss is bad three.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, same here.

[Jason Bateman]

I get it, Sean. I get it.

[Will Arnett]

So, Charlie, listen, you're just. You're such a talent. You're such a good guy. You're a theater. You're a theater major. You're a musician, golfer.

[Jason Bateman]

Great marriage, charming little kids.

[Will Arnett]

Your new movie, I want you back. Your rom com is out.

[Sean Hayes]

Can't wait to see.

[Will Arnett]

And it's on Amazon now.

[Charlie Day]

It's really good. I actually love this movie a lot.

[Will Arnett]

Charlie.

[Jason Bateman]

Charlie. I love you, Charlie.

[Sean Hayes]

Thank you for being here.

[Jason Bateman]

We see you on the golf course probably in the next few days.

[Charlie Day]

Well, you're teeing off in about what, 10 minutes? Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

This is already six minutes into my heart out. Yeah, okay.

[Sean Hayes]

He's got a heart out.

[Will Arnett]

That shows how much he loves you. He never does this if he's got a heart out for golf.

[Charlie Day]

I appreciate the six minutes over. That's good.

[Will Arnett]

And you know how persnickety Jason is about every. Everything.

[Jason Bateman]

My range time. So I need my range time.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah. Well, we can come back. I can come back. We'll finish this off at a private,

[Will Arnett]

and next time you're on the podcast, we'll talk about that time when we were coming down 18 and the guy hadn't charged Jason's Tesla and I had

[Jason Bateman]

a two hour drive ahead of me. You made him give him his my 20 back.

[Charlie Day]

I gave him 20 just because I felt bad he got yelled at so much.

[Will Arnett]

Jason, you don't know this, but Charlie and I both tipped the guy after you took the tip.

[Jason Bateman]

Are you kidding me?

[Will Arnett]

No.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Well, we felt bad. Well, we didn't want them to write a story like, fucking Jesus.

[Jason Bateman]

Fuck me.

[Charlie Day]

You were his hero.

[Jason Bateman]

He fucked me good. At least 20. I should have taken more out of his pocket. Son of a bitch.

[Will Arnett]

I will say to your credit, you did preemptively tip the guy and say, hey, do you mind taking care of this? He said, great, and then he didn't do it right.

[Jason Bateman]

So it's like, well, I'm going to pay you for the valet parking, but the extra juice for doing me a solid. Which you didn't do.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

That then means that you no longer need the money for that.

[Charlie Day]

Let me ask you this. If you had shot like even par that day, like your best round, never, do you think you wouldn't have cared? Do you think you would.

[Jason Bateman]

I would have given him a ride wherever he wanted to go and all the money in my pocket.

[Will Arnett]

And that is Jason Baben. Guys, we'll be right back with an all new episode of Smart. He loves his golf. He loves his golf.

[Jason Bateman]

Charlie. Enjoy the rest of your day.

[Charlie Day]

Great to see your faces, fellas. Sean, let's hang out sometime. I don't.

[Sean Hayes]

I'm right here. Just for you.

[Jason Bateman]

Not worth it, Charlie.

[Charlie Day]

No, no, it's got to be better. Bring the slide whistle.

[Will Arnett]

Next two weeks, Texas. Let's get out.

[Charlie Day]

Okay. I'm busy, but, you know, we'll see.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, okay.

[Will Arnett]

All right, all right, all right, all right.

[Jason Bateman]

He's about to laptop. He's gonna do the. He's gonna do the good out.

[Charlie Day]

But you know why? Cuz. Cuz you know, I'll tell you why I wasn't gonna do it. Because Sean Penn did it. And then I remember I was listening to that, I was like, wow, Sean Penn did it. That's how I'm.

[Jason Bateman]

That's the way I think I've done

[Charlie Day]

it every, ever since then.

[Jason Bateman]

I was like, slam it.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, that's how you do it.

[Charlie Day]

So I'm going to slam him down. Bye.

[Jason Bateman]

Bye.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, look, he really did that.

[Will Arnett]

Charlie Day is. He's a. It's always a breath of fresh air, isn't it? Every time you see him, you feel better.

[Jason Bateman]

He's like, we could change his middle name to Sunny, right? So just Charlie. Sunny Day. Always a sunny day.

[Sean Hayes]

And Charlie.

[Will Arnett]

So Sean, you don't know Charlie. You've never met him personally?

[Sean Hayes]

I never met him. I did that one voice over Monsters University with him. But of course, you know, as you know, when you do animated films, you don't really see the other actor, cuz you're doing it.

[Will Arnett]

What?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, so I never really met him before and. But I'm a huge fan and. And I don't know if you've seen Monsters University, but he steals. He steals the movie.

[Will Arnett]

He's hilarious. Yeah, of course. First of all, if you've got, if you're a fan of comedy or you're a fan of animation or you. Or you've got kids, you've seen Monsters University, it's a great movie and he is great in it. And, and you are, but he is, but no, it's a great movie and such a. I met him the first time was through his wife, through Emmy Mary Elizabeth Ellis, who's such a talent and so cool and he's a super nice guy. Super real. And he joked about being down to earth. He legitimately is. And then you go. And then. He's incredibly talented.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, I love him.

[Will Arnett]

And prolific writer in just everything. And he's so funny. He's so naturally funny.

[Sean Hayes]

You guys both have very unique voices.

[Will Arnett]

Yes. Yeah, he's got a very unique voice. I don't know if I consider myself to. But he does.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, nobody ever bites for my theater stories because I.

[Jason Bateman]

Number one, why don't we save it for a podcast no one wants to listen to?

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Will Arnett]

What's funny is that you don't take from that. Like, maybe I should stop asking you. I'm Telling you what the takeaway is. Nobody buys.

[Sean Hayes]

No, I'm telling you, somebody's going to come with a really funny theater store. I think they're always so funny.

[Will Arnett]

I like that. Usually your question about funny theater stories ends up with you telling a funny theater story.

[Sean Hayes]

I know, it's just. It's a self setup.

[Will Arnett]

Jason, you missed Sean the other day. Robert and I kept pimping him out to tell funny stories for everybody at dinner. Funny theater stories. So he funny theater story. And he kept getting up and telling these hilarious. They were legitimately hilarious. And he got so worked up, he had to go to the hospital.

[Sean Hayes]

Hospital. I did.

[Will Arnett]

That's a true story.

[Sean Hayes]

It's a TR story.

[Will Arnett]

So all of a sudden, Jen comes. Sean just went to the hospital. I'm like, what?

[Sean Hayes]

You know, next time I bring up a theater story, maybe someone will bite.

[Charlie Day]

Bite.

[Will Arnett]

Bite.

[Jason Bateman]

Bite. Oh, bite. Yes.

[Will Arnett]

Got it.

[Jason Bateman]

Got it.

[Charlie Day]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Not that works. That qualifies. Love you guys. Bye.

[Sean Hayes]

Love you.

[Will Arnett]

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