"RE-RELEASE: Kerry Washington"

Summary

SmartLess Podcast: “RE-RELEASE: Kerry Washington”

Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guest: Kerry Washington
Release Date: September 11, 2025

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Episode Overview

This high-spirited SmartLess episode brings acclaimed actress and producer Kerry Washington as the mystery guest. Through fast-paced, often hilarious banter, the hosts dig into Kerry’s eclectic early acting days, her rise to stardom in “Scandal”, her creative ambitions, producing adventures, stories of awkward celebrity encounters, and how she balances authenticity, honesty, and humor both personally and professionally.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Casual Catch-Up & Lead-in (03:46–09:10)

• Hosts check in after recording back-to-back episodes, riffing on food choices, family plans, Will's beach reading and his dad's novel.
• Will shares beach reads: Praises “Bean Fate” by his father and “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

  “I'm so proud of my dad, Jim Arnett, who wrote a book during the pandemic…” –Will Arnett [06:23]

• Comedic riffs about reading struggles, snack habits, and sweating on the beach.

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Kerry Washington: Early Acting, Sex-Ed Sketch Comedy & Formative Experiences (09:10–14:36)

• Kerry's unconventional acting start:
  She began in a sex education sketch group for the Adolescent Health Center at Mount Sinai Hospital as a teen, writing and performing skits on safer sex, LGBTQ rights, and more during the AIDS crisis.

  “We used to teach kids how to put condoms on by using bananas. So that always got a laugh.” –Kerry Washington [11:50]

  • Would engage audiences in improv, letting young people solve unresolved scenarios.
  • Credits this experience for her development in character work and spontaneity.

• On parental involvement:
  Mom, an educator, encouraged participation—even if startled by topics like “gonorrhea” pamphlets.

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Sean Hayes’ Email Mishap & Mutual Embarrassment (14:07–18:17)

• Sean tells the infamous story:
  He emailed Kerry a heartfelt note for a project, received a warm response and phone number back. Later, confused by a new text from Kerry, Sean mistook her for a TV producer, Aaron, and was curt. Kerry, deeply hurt and thinking she was being “punked,” only for Sean to realize the mix-up 15 minutes later.

  “I was shaking…I thought I was being pranked.” –Kerry Washington [17:04]

• Both recall the relief and laughter when the misunderstanding was clarified.

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Professional Connections & Producing Live TV (18:18–20:09)

• Reminiscence on previous collaborations (e.g., “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” with Norman Lear), where Kerry was a producer and the hosts participated as cast.
• They joke about producer Justin Theroux's aversion to sleeves and stereotypes about work ethic.

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Academic Pursuits & Perceptions of Acting (23:19–26:43)

• Academic background:
  Kerry designed her own major: Performance Studies, blending anthropology and sociology, focusing on how performance shapes societies and identity.

  “I’m super interested in how we perform professionally, but also in our everyday lives.” –Kerry Washington [23:39]

  • Explains anthropology versus sociology; jokes about “ant studies.”
• Hosts reveal their own lack of completed degrees (Jason: none, Sean: four years but didn’t graduate, Will: half a year), leading to jokes about nontraditional pathways.

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Navigating Hollywood Relationships & Obligations (29:38–33:31)

• On not seeing friends’ projects:
  Kerry admits faking familiarity, citing social pressures to support friends in the industry.

  “I have to be more generous in my attitude…I have to remember you don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives.” –Kerry Washington [33:11]

  • Discusses feeling slighted when acquaintances don’t come backstage after shows, and the vulnerability of stage performance.

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On Honesty, Gaslighting, and Professional Integrity (33:31–35:23)

• What gets Kerry mad:
  Dishonesty evokes the strongest reaction, especially people withholding information or gaslighting. She connects this to being an effective producer and communicator.

  “If you came backstage and you said ‘I’m not crazy about this one,’ it would make me feel closer to you… I appreciate the transparency.” –Kerry Washington [34:56]

• The group riffs about fake praise (“Looks like you’re having a lot of fun up there”) being the worst backstage compliment.

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“Scandal”, Not-Knowing Plot Twists & Black Leadership on TV (36:01–41:14)

• Scandal’s behind-the-scenes:
  Discusses not knowing major plot points ahead of time, including discovering Joe Morton played her father at a table read—while Joe knew all along.

  “He knew from the beginning… I didn’t know until our table read.” –Kerry Washington [37:58]

• Cultural significance & pressure:
  She was the first black woman to star in a network drama in nearly 40 years, feeling intense pressure to succeed not just for herself, but for representation.

  “My fear was, if I screw this up, they’re not gonna let another woman of color be the lead of a network drama for another 40 years…” –Kerry Washington [40:26]

  • Cites Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker as role models for #1 leads.

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“Django Unchained”, Quentin, and Remembering/Forgetting (41:38–43:34)

• On “Django Unchained”:
  Recounts the surprise when Quentin Tarantino decided to appear as an actor mid-shoot, with Kerry learning via a late-night call from Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio.
  • Both Kerry and Jason joke about forgetting films they’ve been in—chalked up to total immersion and moving on.

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Memorization, Candy Crush, and Airplane Zen (43:10–56:39)

• Memorizing lines:
  Jason is praised for uncanny memorization skills, but says he forgets them instantly once done.
• Sean’s inability to read on the beach is discussed, contrasted with his willingness to play Candy Crush for 14 hours on a flight.

  “Calling that a game is like calling a pamphlet a book…” –Will Arnett [55:30]

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Kerry’s New Projects: YouTube Series & Podcast (49:24–58:33)

• YouTube series: "The Street You Grew Up On"

  • Inspired by her mother's childhood on Simpson Street in the Bronx, guests discuss the formative power of place and “porn names.”

  "My mother’s porn name is Big Boy Simpson." –Kerry Washington [53:15]

• Prophecy (Audible Podcast):

  • Sci-fi narrative where Bible stories are re-imagined as future prophecies—stars Laurence Fishburne, Daniel Dae Kim, and David Oyelowo.

  “What if the Bible wasn’t a document about the past, but a prophetic document about things that were gonna happen in the future?” –Kerry Washington [57:44]

  • Kerry plays a scientist named Virginia Maryland, an analog to “Virgin Mary.”
  • Potential for a trilogy of films based on podcast success.

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Notable & Memorable Quotes

On Kerry's sex ed troupe:

“All the research was… people have the information, but the behavior change is not there. So we used to write these things.” –Kerry Washington [11:09]

On honesty backstage:

“I will always be honest with you…Not just about your performance, but in your life.” –Will Arnett [35:13]

On leading ‘Scandal’:

“In my lifetime, I had never seen a black woman as the lead of a network drama. So my fear was…if I screw this up, they’re not gonna let another woman of color be the lead for another 40 years.” –Kerry Washington [40:26]

On industry friendships:

“Do you feel bad about that? Do you lie about it? … I’m just terrible about it.” –Jason Bateman [29:43]

On producing:

“I love producing… the first film I produced was a film called Confirmation for HBO, where I played Anita Hill, and then I fell in love with it.” –Kerry Washington [48:02]

On performance vulnerability:

“There’s no edit room. There’s no score to hide the moment that wasn’t fully honest. You’re just so vulnerable up there…” –Kerry Washington [35:45]

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Fun & Lighthearted Highlights

• Porn names:
  Each shares their “porn name” based on first pet and street:
  • Jason: Cinny Emerson
  • Will: Minu Edgar
  • Sean: Josh Valley
  • Kerry’s mother: Big Boy Simpson
• Rapid-fire best acting partners:

  “Meryl Streep… Jamie [Foxx]. I love him.” –Kerry Washington [46:18]

• Jason’s joke:

  “Cindy Emerson receives a lot in these horns. Not a lot of giving. Mostly catching.” [51:55]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Intro and Banter: 02:40–09:10
• Kerry’s Sex Education Troupe: 10:05–14:36
• Sean’s Email Mishap: 14:16–18:17
• On Producing Live TV: 18:22–20:09
• Academic Background: 23:21–26:43
• Friends’ Projects & Backstage Protocol: 29:38–33:31
• On Honesty and Being Gaslit: 33:31–35:23
• Scandal, Secrets, and Representation: 36:01–41:14
• Django Unchained/Forgetting Roles: 41:38–43:34
• Memorization and Flights: 43:10–56:39
• YouTube & Podcast, ‘Prophecy’: 49:24–58:33

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Final Thoughts & Tone

The episode’s tone is warm, improvisational, and deeply funny—a weaving of candid Hollywood anecdotes, serious questions about representation, producing, and creative fulfillment, with the hosts’ signature lighthearted teasing and offhand jokes. Kerry’s openness about emotions and industry pressures, her innovative projects, and love for honest communication shine throughout, making this a particularly entertaining and insightful SmartLess episode.

Memorable Moment:
The hosts’ mock “porn names” bit and Sean’s wildly embarrassing email story highlight the camaraderie and willingness to poke fun at themselves that set the tone for this fan-favorite conversation.

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“I can tell every time I listen…people don’t want to get off with you. They love these interviews. It’s a good time.” –Kerry Washington [59:26]

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A must-listen for fans of SmartLess, Kerry Washington, and anyone interested in the real stories behind Hollywood’s brightest personalities.

Transcript

[Sean Hayes]

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[Will Arnett]

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[Jason Bateman]

Hello listener. My name is Jason. I will be one of three hosts. I'm an on time host. You're gonna have a couple of tardy hosts joining us soon. If not, you're just gonna get me. Just a solo episode with me. I hope that's. But until then, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm a Capricorn Sag moon. I love things sweetened with anything other than sugar. I've had addiction issues. I've got a handle on that, I think. Unless you put something sweetened with sugar in front of me, it's a real trigger situation for me. I just go right down a hillside full of sin. Oh, just in time. Here are the idiots. Guys, welcome to Smartless.

[Will Arnett]

Smart, smart, smart.

[Sean Hayes]

The listener does not know this, but this is our second episode today that we're recording. So what did you guys do in between shows?

[Jason Bateman]

I had a little egg sandwich. I had pasta that I made myself. Not an egg salad sandwich like Sean would have made.

[Will Arnett]

You had an egg sandwich? Now, what was the bread? Was it actual bread?

[Jason Bateman]

Not really.

[Will Arnett]

What was it?

[Jason Bateman]

It was gluten free bread that, you know, I had to toast to within an inch of its life so it tasted decent. And then I put a little fake butter on it and then the eggs on top of it.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, hang on a second.

[Jason Bateman]

I'm pretty sure the eggs were real.

[Will Arnett]

We had a conversation with our friend on a different episode about enjoying ourselves.

[Jason Bateman]

And stuff, you know, But I feel it. But it isn't. But that I enjoy. It tastes great. I enjoy it. I enjoy. Now, last night, we went out for a family dinner to this yummy little restaurant down the street that specializes in Italian food. So I ordered a nice big fat cheese pizza and I woofed. Done more of that than probably I should have. And we had some pasta and I had in.

[Will Arnett]

In ba.

[Jason Bateman]

In bh or in the valley down in Laurel Canyon.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, little potch.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, you went. You went. Pache, not patch.

[Will Arnett]

No, I know, but I say pot. You leave it off. That's how you know that you're legit. You leave it all. Hey, there's map. And she can't hear us.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, wait, that was. Hi, Maple.

[Jason Bateman]

That was Maple. Yeah, she's over here.

[Will Arnett]

Are you guys going for dinner tonight together?

[Jason Bateman]

We're gonna go. No, we're gonna go over to our friend's house and we're gonna celebrate our friend Sean because he's.

[Sean Hayes]

He had a birthday a while ago.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, he had a birthday a while ago and we. I wish I could be there with you guys.

[Sean Hayes]

I know, I know. I'm gonna miss you.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, you know, we'll FaceTime you. You FaceTimed. In last week.

[Will Arnett]

I'll FaceTime. I will. FaceTime again.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. FaceTime in again. I will.

[Will Arnett]

I want this face.

[Sean Hayes]

You got to get time for that.

[Jason Bateman]

Does the rest of your body. Is the rest of your body as dark as your face, Will?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Yeah, of course.

[Jason Bateman]

No, I didn't ask to see it. Put your top back on.

[Sean Hayes]

I know. That is a tan like nobody's ever seen.

[Will Arnett]

It's really good.

[Jason Bateman]

So do you read, though? You said you read three books while you were there. Was it just for the bounce effect of the paper to. Or do you enjoy reading?

[Sean Hayes]

He just opens it up and lets the sun take over.

[Jason Bateman]

What were the three books? Do you remember them? Were they all nonfiction? Were they all World War II books?

[Sean Hayes]

The Giving Tree?

[Will Arnett]

No, again, I haven't finished my third, to be honest.

[Jason Bateman]

What were the first two? Were they just airport fiction?

[Will Arnett]

Well, one of them is my dad's book, Being Fate, which I finally read, which is amazing. I'm so proud of my dad, Jim Arnett, who wrote a book during the pandemic. And he wrote this sort of fictionalized this novel and got it published on history and got it published. That's cool. Yeah, it's really cool. And honestly, I was reading it, I was just thinking the whole time, I'm like, I'm so. My dad did this. I'm so proud of my dad.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

So it's called Bean Fate, and it was. And it's really, really good. And this is about the.

[Jason Bateman]

The Bean Farmers of Calamongas?

[Will Arnett]

No, no, I think.

[Jason Bateman]

It'S a remake of the. The Bean War or something. Right. Calamago.

[Will Arnett]

The Milagro.

[Jason Bateman]

Beanfield War. Good for him, because I don't think they really got it on the last one, so. Okay.

[Will Arnett]

No, it's about booze runners back, you know, Prohibition style, back in the day up in Saskatchewan in the Bronfman family, et cetera. So I did that, and then I read the Sympathizer. Have you guys read that?

[Jason Bateman]

No.

[Sean Hayes]

What is that? I feel like I wrote it.

[Will Arnett]

It's written by Vietnamese American author Viet Thanh Nguyen.

[Jason Bateman]

It's about the Vietnam War, and it's.

[Will Arnett]

About the Vietnam War. And he himself is of Vietnamese origin, descent, descent and origin. And he came here when he was young. And so it just talks about the experience of God. Honestly, I couldn't have loved it more. But it's not just about that. It's just about such a unbelievable story of, I don't know, just a guy who led a complex life. And there were so many.

[Sean Hayes]

Are There colored pictures in it for me.

[Jason Bateman]

Any pictures of him sympathizing with folks.

[Will Arnett]

So many incredible, incredible passages in the book that just blew me away that I would have to read out loud.

[Sean Hayes]

I'll check that out.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, I'll bet you $1,000 that you don't.

[Sean Hayes]

You won?

[Will Arnett]

Yep.

[Jason Bateman]

Why now? How do you decide what you're gonna read when you're on the beach there?

[Sean Hayes]

Like reading in the sun makes you wanna.

[Will Arnett]

What I do is. Sorry. Then I just started. I'm now reading this Splendid in the Vial, which a lot of people have read. These are big books. The sympathizers are. Won the Pulitzer prize.

[Jason Bateman]

Reading in the Sun. To me it's like being trapped in a hot car with the windows rolled up, stuck, broken. I don't know when the driver's coming back and I have a three year old scre screaming in my ear. Yeah, that, that, that's. That's what reading on the. On a hot beach sounds like.

[Will Arnett]

Really?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, because I'm already sweating and I'm.

[Sean Hayes]

Now and I concentrate on like words.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And I got the hard bounce off the paper and I can't do it. I got sweat. I got sunglasses on and now the sweat's dripping on the glasses. I got to keep wiping the glass and I hear all the people having fun in the water and I. Yeah, it's.

[Sean Hayes]

I can't.

[Jason Bateman]

You know what though, Snacky? I get real hungry on the beach.

[Sean Hayes]

You know what's amazing is our guest today.

[Jason Bateman]

Great segue.

[Sean Hayes]

Our guest today is so fun. I love her. She's like a big megastar. No big deal. Whatever.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, I've got it. It's a woman. I've got it. I've got it.

[Sean Hayes]

She's been on one of the hottest primetime dramas in the last few decades. She's born and raised in the Bronx. She's a New Yorker through and through. This might give it away. At a young age, she performed with the award winning Ta Da youth theater teen group. She graduated college with a double major in anthropology and sociology. Clearly not the right podcast for her to do. Before winning an Emmy, one of her earliest acting gigs was. I gotta ask her about this. A traveling sex education sketch group. Her last name is not only a US State, but also an apple. Please welcome the beautiful and extremely talented Kerry Washington.

[Jason Bateman]

Kerry. Hello, Carrie.

[Will Arnett]

Hi.

[Jason Bateman]

Let's get right into it. A traveling. What is it? Yes, a sex education sketch group. What is that?

[Kerry Washington]

It was not sketchy. Although we did sketches. We were. Oh my God. That's where we're starting. Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

I'm so. We are not journalists.

[Kerry Washington]

I'm such a. I'm such a mega fan of the show, so I'm really excited and a little nervous.

[Sean Hayes]

No, Mike, listen. We're just hanging out.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, you can already hear what idiots we are, right?

[Kerry Washington]

Well, every episode. But that's why we love you.

[Sean Hayes]

So.

[Kerry Washington]

Okay, so bring us up. When I was a high schooler, when I was a teenager, I worked for the Adolescent Health center in New York City at Mount Sinai Hospital. And it was, like, the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, like, late 80s, early 90s. And we used to. We wrote these sketches, these skits about safer sex issues and losing your virginity and drug abuse and LGBTQ rights.

[Sean Hayes]

And so it was like, I. Like, I find you attractive. I find you attractive. Hold on, let me get a condom.

[Kerry Washington]

What was like, how do you ask your boyfriend to put a condom on? Or how do you put a condom on? Or how do you make that conversation sexy? Because all the research was, like, people have the information, but the behavior change is not there. So we used to write these things.

[Jason Bateman]

I'd love to hear the first few.

[Will Arnett]

Pictures I went to, by the way. I've had. God, Carrie, it's like you gave me a bat, and you put me at the plate, and I've just been standing here, and you just been throwing softballs up, and I'm doing all my best because I want to. Because I don't want to be just a total dirtbag.

[Kerry Washington]

And I'm just like, man, be yourself, Will.

[Jason Bateman]

Be yourself. This is true space.

[Kerry Washington]

I'm a guest in your house.

[Jason Bateman]

Do you, sir, what was the draft that made it to the stage on how to put on a condom in a funny, funny way?

[Kerry Washington]

Well, we used to teach kids how to put condoms on by using bananas. So that always got a laugh. But it was really more like. I mean, the first sketch I was allowed to do was actually a scene about whether or Not I was 13 when I started doing the show. So the only. The only sketch they would let me do in the beginning was, should I lose my virginity or not? And it was a whole sketch about, like, my really cute boyfriend who's kind of pressuring me, and I don't know if I should or shouldn't. And then the cool part, and this was actually incredible acting training, was that we would. The problems of the show were unresolved, and we would stay in character after the show, and the audience would, like, solve our problems. We would ask the audience for advice so they would be in conversation. Yeah, we Stayed in character.

[Jason Bateman]

And then doesn't that mean the show's still going?

[Kerry Washington]

No. Like, the show would end, and then we'd do a Q and A, but our Q and A would be in character. And sometimes I would be playing, like, more than one character. So I'd have, like, a baseball hat for the girl who wasn't sure she should lose her virginity. And then, like, a red scarf for the girl who was, like, needed to tell her brother, stop selling drugs. So we had all these different, you know, conflict issues. And I got to develop character backstory and learn to be spontaneous. And I found my. Yes. And while doing sex education, what was this group?

[Jason Bateman]

That sounds somewhat charitable and, you know, altruistic. No, no, no. But it sounds like you're, like, doing great things. I wish I was doing stuff at 13 that was going around and doing, you know, doing shows, but doing shows for, like, hospitals. And you said this was, like.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah, we performed it, like. And community centers.

[Jason Bateman]

How did you get involved in that? That sounds like you were walking around with a bunch of very nice people.

[Kerry Washington]

I have great parents. I was really into acting. And my mom had read that there were auditions for this. I had done children's theater with that company. Ta da. That was mentioned, which is a company in midtown. And this was, like, for teenagers. And my mom had seen an ad about it. And my mother's an educator, so she was like, educational theater is a great thing. And then I came home with all these pamphlets about, like, gonorrhe. And she was like, what is this? But I. I'd love to see the.

[Jason Bateman]

One act on Gonriel.

[Will Arnett]

Don't worry about it. We're gonna put a condom over a banana. It'll be all good.

[Kerry Washington]

We're gonna fix the world's problems.

[Sean Hayes]

One banana happened on the way to the theater. Exactly. Wait, Carrie, let's. I wanna get this out of the. Okay, guys, I have kind of a long story to tell.

[Kerry Washington]

I was wondering if we were gonna do this.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it, and we're just gonna get past it, because how could we not do it?

[Jason Bateman]

Should Will and I lay down, or.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. No.

[Kerry Washington]

So, you guys, I was shocked that you asked me to be your guest. Cause I was like, there's no way. We're not telling this story.

[Sean Hayes]

Of course we're talking about it.

[Kerry Washington]

This is me being punked by Sean Hayes.

[Sean Hayes]

So these guys have no idea what I'm gonna say. So it's like, if you can hang in there for, like, two minutes, which is a long time, but it's a long story. Here we go. It's one of the most embarrassing things that's ever happened to me. I was shooting a pilot last year and sent a long email to Carrie asking her to help me out. And she emailed me.

[Kerry Washington]

Let me jump in. Let me jump in.

[Sean Hayes]

Yes.

[Kerry Washington]

Nicest email I've ever gotten in my life. You know the email. You know the notes you get from a fan where you're like, I should maybe call security. Cause this person is, like, really loves me. It was that, but it was, like, from another famous person, so it was okay. And it was like somebody that I respect and admire. So I was like, oh, my God. I was so moved.

[Sean Hayes]

I was deeply moved. I meant every word.

[Jason Bateman]

And then there was the ask at the bottom of it.

[Sean Hayes]

Always, Always. Right? So. But she emailed Cara, emailed me back, asked me for my number, said, I'll call. I'd love to call you to chat more about it. Great. Fantastic. Wonderful response. At the same time, I was guest hosting a few episodes of Jimmy Kimmel show. And while there, had befriended a producer named Aaron. Aaron Irwin, who's now her friend. So one night, on my way home from the shows, I got a text from on my phone saying, I'm watching you on Kimmel right now, and you're doing great. And I was pleased by the message, but I was, like, perplexed. Cause I didn't recognize the number. And then I decided, and I deduced that it was Erin from Kimmel who was maybe watching, like, a rough cut of the show because we just exchanged phone numbers as I left the studio. But it hadn't put her contact on my phone. So I pulled over and saved the number in my contacts as Aaron from Kimmel.

[Kerry Washington]

Now I'm at home. Cut to. I'm at home eagerly awaiting the call from Sean.

[Sean Hayes]

Right.

[Kerry Washington]

Because this is my number one fan. I mean, my dad doesn't love me this much. And now I think I'm gonna get a healing because somebody who loves me is gonna get on the phone with me, and it's gonna change my life. And even though I'm gonna say no to the ask, we're gonna be friends forever.

[Sean Hayes]

Right? Right. Perfect. Right.

[Jason Bateman]

Big load of junk food just to prop you up.

[Sean Hayes]

Perfect. All right. So the phone rings. I pick it up. I say, hey, and I see it's Aaron from Kimmel. What's going on? Aaron says, hi. How are you? Your email is so sweet. I couldn't wait to talk to you. And I said, Email? What email? And Aaron says, the email I sent you. And I was like, I don't remember sending you an email. Are you sure? And that's when the tone shifted between us. And I said. Aaron said, is this Sean? And I said, yeah, who's this? And Aaron says, you didn't send me an email with your number. And then I turned into a total asshole. And I go, I think you have the wrong number. Why don't you check. Check that email address and your contact, Then why don't you get back to me? And that's when Aaron was like, that's probably a good idea. So I go sit down, I hang.

[Kerry Washington]

Up the phone, and I turn to my husband, and I'm like, I'm being fucking punked because Sean Hayes sent me the nicest email I've ever gotten in my life. I just got off the phone with him, and he was such a jerk to me, and he's acting like I made up the email. I was, like, shaking. I was so. I was like, why would somebody do that? Does he think I'm untalented? What?

[Sean Hayes]

I was so upset, I go sit down and talk to my husband. And I'm chatting. I'm telling you, I just got the craziest phone call. And 15 minutes in the conversation with Scotty, I did all the math and, like, a shot in a movie came zooming towards my face. I go. I jumped up and I screamed, holy shit, that was Kerry Washington.

[Jason Bateman]

And credits.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, I took credits.

[Jason Bateman]

Opening credits.

[Will Arnett]

Yes.

[Sean Hayes]

I texted you back, immediately explained everything, and begged for you to call me back. And I answered the phone and you were laughing.

[Kerry Washington]

I was. I couldn't stop laughing because I was really, like. I thought I was being pranked. And I was so relieved. It was so, so lovely.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, God. That was funny.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah. My feelings were so hurt. And I was like, I'm being gaslit. Like, he's gaslighting me.

[Will Arnett]

You guys have this great now, this great, like, shared history.

[Jason Bateman]

Beautiful.

[Kerry Washington]

Are you jelly? You're jealous?

[Will Arnett]

A little bit. Jelly. Because we only had our dinner.

[Kerry Washington]

We had our dinner.

[Will Arnett]

We sat next to each other. We didn't know each other.

[Kerry Washington]

You were. Don't say, whoa.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. You were across the table.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah, but I mean, when you guys worked for me, you know, you guys have all worked for me as a producer.

[Will Arnett]

When we worked for you, when we did the Facts of Life live in.

[Kerry Washington]

Front of a studio.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, who was at this dinner? What are you talking about? Jason and Will were at a dinner.

[Kerry Washington]

You know how we. When we did It. We had a cast dinner to kick off for our episode, which I wasn't a producer then, so I have.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, that's right. You were a producer on the set. That's right.

[Kerry Washington]

But I produced then the next two, and so these two.

[Sean Hayes]

Joy, Sorry. Tell the listener what we're talking about.

[Kerry Washington]

We're talking about your sister. For your sister.

[Sean Hayes]

This makes me so happy.

[Kerry Washington]

I'm in the family for Norman Lears live in front of a studio audience, which all three of you have graced us and blessed us with your.

[Sean Hayes]

And likewise, as you have specials.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And if it weren't for really active producers like you and Justin Theroux, that show would not be moving at all.

[Kerry Washington]

I do a lot more than Justin Theroux.

[Will Arnett]

Let me tell you something.

[Kerry Washington]

I want to put that out there.

[Will Arnett]

Justin threw it. And he must be nominated for, you know, Producers Guild Award this year because, I mean, this guy, he got.

[Jason Bateman]

He rolls up his sleeves.

[Will Arnett]

He would have. He would have rolled them up if he'd had any sleeves. He would roll them up for sure.

[Kerry Washington]

What's the same with your thing with people not having sleeves?

[Jason Bateman]

No, just Justin. Everybody wears them except him.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. Every day of his life. He has a cut off.

[Will Arnett]

Sometimes people wear them, don't have them when they're the gym and stuff, but not everybody just doesn't wear them ever.

[Jason Bateman]

Even basketball players now wear sort of like under sort of long sleeve thing over their.

[Will Arnett]

You know what usually deters people from going sleeveless? Winter. That usually. That usually gets people to pop into a sleeve or two.

[Sean Hayes]

Not him.

[Will Arnett]

Not this guy. Not this guy.

[Jason Bateman]

Or mosquito infestations. It doesn't matter to him.

[Kerry Washington]

He's fearless that way. He's fearless that way.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

We'll be right back. This episode is supported by FX's the Lowdown, starring Ethan Hawke. Allow us to introduce you to Lee Raybon, a quirky journalist slash rare bookstore owner slash unofficial truth seeker who is always on the tail of his latest conspiracy. This time, his most recent expose puts him head to head with a powerful family that rules Tulsa. Meaning only one thing. He must be on to something big. FX's the Lowdown premieres September 23rd on FX stream on Hulu.

[Will Arnett]

This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. Summer's coming to an end, and I'm looking for different ways that I can soak up the last remaining rays of this beautiful summer. And whether you're soaking up the last bits of summer like me or gearing up for those, you know, back to routine vibes, you got to capture sun Drenched memories with the Orange Vanilla Dream hydration multiplier from Liquid iv. This nostalgic vanilla flavor with notes of candied orange. Yeah, it can help you keep hydrated better than water alone. It's powered by LIV Hydro Science, an optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins, and clinically tested nutrients that turn ordinary water into extraordinary hydration. I like stuff that's easy to do. And guess what? Liquid IV is super easy and convenient to just tear, pour, and enjoy. And also knowing that I'm boosting my hydration when I do it makes me feel good even before the effects of it kind of kick in for me. I love that they're doing this Orange Vanilla Dream because it reminds me of. It just gives me that sort of like, summer vibes. Like, reminds me of being a kid again. Savor the last bits of summer with Liquid IV. Tear poor. Live more. Go to Liquid IV.com and get 20% off your first order with code Smartless at checkout. That's 20% off your first order with Code [e-mail].

[Sean Hayes]

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[Jason Bateman]

And now back to the show.

[Sean Hayes]

Kara, one thing I didn't know about you was, by the way, what a story we'll have for the rest of our life.

[Kerry Washington]

For the rest of our lives.

[Sean Hayes]

But double major anthropology and sociology. Why, if you knew at such a young age, you Wanted to act. And have you utilized that degree?

[Jason Bateman]

This is a great question.

[Kerry Washington]

So it's actually a little more complicated than that, but that's the easy answer that I give people. I designed an interdisciplinary major called Performance Studies and it was inspired by. It was based on the graduate programs at NYU and Northwestern. So it was like the study that performance plays in different societies and cultures. And that's what interested me. But you have to. To design your own major, you have to write this whole thesis and defend it because they want to just make sure you're not trying to get out of things, taking statistics. So I had to kind of really work with all these academic mentors and come up with this program and design a curriculum for myself. And yeah, I'm just. I'm super interested in how we perform, like professionally, all of us, but also how we perform just in our everyday lives. And yeah, I think I have used a lot of it. I mean, I think, you know what we. For me, I tend to think about characters in the kind of social science context. Like when I'm playing a character, I like to think about how she's become who she is and how she thinks and how she lives in the world and how society impacts who she is. So I do feel like I use some of my. I feel like such a nerd. I've been talking too long about this. I use some of my social media.

[Will Arnett]

I was about to talk about my character room that I have here and I go into my character room and I've kept all the costumes of my great characters. All my costumes.

[Kerry Washington]

Yes, through the years.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait now, Kerry, I'm the dumbest of the four of us. Will you define anthropology for me?

[Will Arnett]

Pause. He is. Go ahead.

[Jason Bateman]

Anthropology is the study of society. Yes.

[Kerry Washington]

Sociology is more the study of society.

[Jason Bateman]

Ergo the name culture.

[Kerry Washington]

Yes, but what about anthropology is more about ants.

[Jason Bateman]

Is this just about ants and the ant culture? Right.

[Kerry Washington]

I mean, no, it's more. Anthropology is more indigenous cultures and historical culture. So not present day society, but more the role of kind of how societies have evolved through time.

[Jason Bateman]

Sociology would be the modern day version of anthropology. That's enough, Will. That's enough, Will.

[Kerry Washington]

And anthropology has a little more ritual.

[Sean Hayes]

Like study of ritual, but it's also a fabulous story.

[Jason Bateman]

See, there's my fellow dum dum right there. Hi.

[Kerry Washington]

I like an anthropology. I like their style.

[Will Arnett]

Well, you'd like the Sympathizer. It's a great book. Hey, actually all kidding. You said won the Pulitzer. Wait, did you go? It did. Did you go to nyu? Is that what you were saying?

[Kerry Washington]

No, no, no. I looked. They. Those. NYU and Northwestern were the schools that had graduate degrees in performance studies that I admired and was interested in, but I didn't actually want to go to graduate school, so I tried to just skip ahead and do it. In undergrad, I went to GW G Dub.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay, G Dub, G Dub, G Dub. Now, did you finish with a degree in anthropology and sociology?

[Kerry Washington]

I finished in a degree in performance studies. I got to actually, like, I wrote my own situation. Got it, and created my reality.

[Sean Hayes]

Wow. Does anybody call you K Dub?

[Kerry Washington]

Yes, especially because I went to G Dub. Yeah, People call me K D. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

I thought of that.

[Jason Bateman]

Now, wait, are you the only one with a college degree on this chat?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, what's your excuse? How far did you go?

[Sean Hayes]

I went four years, and then I got an honorary doctorate, but I never graduated.

[Kerry Washington]

I got one of those, too.

[Sean Hayes]

You just show up, they'll give.

[Kerry Washington]

I got one of those. Yeah. If you give a speech, they give you one. You can get one of those guys.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, I don't understand. You went for four years. How did you not? Isn't that how long it takes?

[Kerry Washington]

That's a great question.

[Sean Hayes]

I was two or three courses shy, and I just did not have any more gas in me to go.

[Kerry Washington]

I'm fascinated because you seem like a completer.

[Will Arnett]

I spent a lot of time with you, and you seem to have a tremendous amount of gas, plenty of gas, especially with the amount of tuna salad you eat. Are you getting with plain chips?

[Jason Bateman]

And he likes the fuse with that glass of milk. And off he goes.

[Will Arnett]

Nobody kills a bag of plain chips and a glass of 2% milk like.

[Kerry Washington]

Sean, drink a glass of milk. Is it real milk? Like, just like cow's milk?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. Every day he's going to get in.

[Jason Bateman]

His Plymouth and drive off in a minute. But wait, Sean. So you ran out of gas? Two credits short, Will. How. How. How far did you get?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, I made it half a year.

[Jason Bateman]

Half of the first year, half of the year.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, that's right.

[Sean Hayes]

Because college, to me wasn't all just about the studies. It's about the social. It's about growing up, being on your own and, like, figuring stuff out.

[Will Arnett]

I had already been out of the house, you know, I went away to school first when I was 12.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Kerry Washington]

Now, I heard this story on the show about your clothes being taken to across town. That was. I was like, that's kind of child abuse. No.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah, it was difficult.

[Jason Bateman]

And then they made them plant trees and fix sewer Pipes, too.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, we did a lot of stuff. I mean, look, I didn't have it. It's not that bad, believe me. And I. But I was 12 when I left, so.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, you got a bogey running around in your house.

[Kerry Washington]

That's Emily.

[Jason Bateman]

Locations go to two guys.

[Kerry Washington]

Emily's. Actually. She was. She has listened to your show longer than I have.

[Jason Bateman]

Hi, Emily.

[Sean Hayes]

Hi, Emily.

[Kerry Washington]

I don't know what we're saying. Hi.

[Will Arnett]

Hi, Emily.

[Kerry Washington]

She's saying hi. I'm geeking out. She's geeking out. When I was at dinner with you guys, when I was at dinner for the cast, for live in front of a studio audience, I actually had not listened to a single episode yet, and I was embarrassed, and so I faked having listened to a few episodes, and I was able to effectively.

[Jason Bateman]

She's got skills. She's a professional liar.

[Kerry Washington]

I'm an actor. But I knew just from hearing Emily talk about it and also hearing my husband, Nnamdi talk about it, I had enough context clues and, like, reference points to pretend that I had seen, but I hadn't. I hadn't watched any. I'd listened. And so then I went home and felt bad, so I started listening, and then I was like, this is the best ever.

[Sean Hayes]

That's okay. Jason, tell Carrie how much you love Scandal. Every other.

[Jason Bateman]

I've seen as many episodes of Scandal as you have seen of Arrested Development, Sean.

[Kerry Washington]

Ooh. I watched Ozark now.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, thank you. Now, what do you guys do about that? Cause we all know a lot of people and are friends with a lot of people that do a lot of stuff, and you can't put. Possibly see it. Also can't watch it all. Yeah. Do you feel bad about that? Do you lie about it? Do you make an effort? I'm just. I'm terrible about it.

[Kerry Washington]

Well, I've just admitted that I lie sometimes, but I try to.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. I mean, Carrie lies.

[Jason Bateman]

I don't think you really lie.

[Will Arnett]

Now, all her friends, it's out there. They know that she just lies, and that's fine. What I do is. You know, what's hard is, Sean, you know, this one is, like, when you go. When somebody says, I'm doing. I'm. You know, I'm in a show on Broadway or I'm doing a play or whatever. I'm always reluctant to go because you have to go and say hi to the master.

[Sean Hayes]

Now, Carrie, talk about that. I've changed Will since we talked about that. I know somebody. I won't say her name. Very, extremely, gigantically globally Famous who came to one of my shows and she didn't come back. And I was like, I get it. We don't really know each other. Why would she come back?

[Kerry Washington]

It makes me spiral when somebody doesn't come back. And maybe that just means I'm an insecure person. It freaks me out.

[Jason Bateman]

No, but how do you know that they're there? Cause that's the part that is telling you so.

[Kerry Washington]

Listener for the house manager tells you so.

[Jason Bateman]

Tracy, when you're doing a show in New York, I think specifically in New York. Or is it in Chicago, too? Shaunie. Anywhere you end up finding out if there's anybody who has a SAG card that's sitting in the audience and whether you've invited them or not.

[Will Arnett]

SAG card. Tracy. Sidebar. Tracy. That's the screen actress Gilgart.

[Jason Bateman]

Double Tracy. Sidebar. So if they don't come back, you have to go back and say that you love the show, even if you don't know the people in the cast. I just found that. That ritual to be weird.

[Will Arnett]

Well, that's what I mean. So I don't want to lie. So I just. I'm like. I just end up not going to stuff because I want to.

[Kerry Washington]

Because you don't want to go and not like what you see and then have to lie about it. Oh, aren't you a person of integrity? No, I'm not.

[Jason Bateman]

Can't you. But can't you go to a. To a.

[Will Arnett]

To a show? I don't want to get busted for lying.

[Jason Bateman]

Can't you go to a show without anybody knowing that you're there? I mean, like.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, which is why I go into my character room.

[Kerry Washington]

It depends on the show and the audience. Like, for me, I could never in my life go to a show that has a black cast and not go backstage because they will know that I'm there.

[Sean Hayes]

But wait a minute. You're saying if you are in a show and somebody in the audience has a SAG card and doesn't come back, you take that personally?

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah. There's an actor who I knew had come to see a play I was in called American Son, and he did not come backstage. And unbeknownst to him, I held it against him for like a year and a half. I was like. I just thought, how? Like, why? You know, why.

[Jason Bateman]

Why did you ever run into that actor and ask him?

[Kerry Washington]

Well, I then found out, because I'm friends with his wife, that she was the only one who had come and that she was running straight to the airport afterward. And that's why she. She texted me. And so I was like, oh, my God.

[Jason Bateman]

I've been like, he's been dead to.

[Kerry Washington]

Me inside my heart. Snubbing him at parties. Yeah. He's been dead to me for a year and a half for no reason.

[Will Arnett]

You know what I'm gonna start doing? I'm gonna start going and taking in a lot of theater and making a point of not going backstage, hanging around outside a lot for a long time, and then leaving and then going, like, not only did he not come back, but he fucking. He didn't even run off.

[Kerry Washington]

He was here.

[Will Arnett]

He was here for a while, milling around.

[Kerry Washington]

What I learned in that is that I have to be more generous. Right? Like, and I try to be more generous in my attitude toward people, but that was a really good reminder of, like, you don't know what's going on in people's lives. Like, even if somebody really snubs you to your face, you don't know if they just had a car accident or, like, it just was a reminder. Like, be generous, Carrie. The world does not revolve around you and your Broadway performance.

[Jason Bateman]

But you seem constantly happy, Sunny. You don't seem like a dark person. What would get the. What would get the real ire up in you? When are you the nastiest?

[Will Arnett]

Finally we're gonna meet the real Kerry Washington. Finally, we're gonna meet you.

[Jason Bateman]

Is it traffic? Is it people that cut you off in traffic?

[Kerry Washington]

No. No.

[Jason Bateman]

Is it.

[Kerry Washington]

I'm not a traffic. Cause I'm not a very good driver, so I have to be generous when I'm driving.

[Jason Bateman]

What really pisses you off?

[Kerry Washington]

You know what dishonesty? Like, to circle back. Like, if I feel like I'm being gaslit or people are keeping information from me in that way. You know how, like, people really like to infantilize actors. Like, they don't want to talk to the talent. They don't want to tell talent things. Or, like, just in my life, throughout my life, whether it's through because of my acting, if I feel like people aren't being honest with me, it really upsets me.

[Jason Bateman]

This is. This is what makes you a good producer, right?

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Maybe somebody who's, like, holding the information and then sort of disseminates it throughout the production, you understand what a value that is and how bad it is when you're on the other side of that not getting it.

[Will Arnett]

Carrie. Ike, by the way, I can relate to that. I'm like, tell it to me straight.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah, just let me know.

[Will Arnett]

Tell it to me fucking straight. And let me. I'll decide how I react.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Kerry Washington]

By the way, honestly, Will, if you come to see me in something like, let's say, accidentally, you stumble Upon a play that I'm in on Broadway, you don't know I'm in it.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Yeah, sure.

[Kerry Washington]

If you came backstage and you said, I'm not crazy about this one, it would make me feel closer to you than you were saying. And I appreciate the transparency.

[Will Arnett]

I'm making this pledge to you today.

[Kerry Washington]

You're gonna tell me when I suck.

[Will Arnett]

I will always be honest with you. I will always be straight up with you about what I think about where you're at, and I want you to know and forget it. On performance, on stage, and in your life. Okay.

[Kerry Washington]

That's amazing, Carrie.

[Sean Hayes]

The worst thing. Wait, really quick. The worst thing anybody could ever say when they come backstage, boy, it looks like you're having a lot of fun up there.

[Kerry Washington]

That's the kiss of death.

[Sean Hayes]

That is the worst.

[Kerry Washington]

Or like. Or they're like. You guys did that. That was. You did. Wow. You did that.

[Jason Bateman]

You do this how many times a week?

[Will Arnett]

Yes. Wow.

[Kerry Washington]

Well, that's the thing, too, is it's so. You're so vulnerable when you're on stage. You're so. There's no edit room. There's no score to hide the moment that wasn't fully honest. Like, you're just so vulnerable up there. So I think that's probably why it was also, like, a little more raw than usual.

[Sean Hayes]

Yes. Yes.

[Jason Bateman]

Now, in the world of not being told everything that maybe they should be told in the world of series television, Tracy, oftentimes actors will not be told how that particular season is going to end. Now, you're a producer on that show, so you probably have more access to storylines. But have you had that instance with the head writer about, you know, let me know what my finish line is as an actor so I can calibrate what the arc is to get there instead of waiting to read each episode, you know, piecemeal.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah. I was not a producer in the beginning of Scandal. I became a producer later on in the life of the show.

[Sean Hayes]

And director.

[Kerry Washington]

Yes, and director. And. But my favorite example of not knowing was we had a guest star named Joe Morton, and Joe Morton is an actor I'm a huge fan of. He did an incredible John Sayles film called Brother from Another Planet.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, I love Joe Morton. He's so good.

[Kerry Washington]

He's a stellar. And he came on. He was like the one guest star that came on our show that I called home to mom and dad and was like, oh, my God, Joe Morton's on the show. And he was. I was never in scenes with him. He was always in scenes with these other characters on the show. And every table read, I'd be like, God, I really hope that we can do a scene together. And he'd be like, me, too. Me too. And I knew that he had been in talks to do Romeo and Juliet on Broadway, and he had dropped out of that to come do Scandal. And I was like, he doesn't even get any scenes with number one. Like, why did he drop out of this play on Broadway? He's got no scenes with me. Like, why'd he do that? And I just was super, like, what's going on at the end of the scene? The very final line of that season was, I get in a car. Joe Morton is sitting across from me, and he says, hi. And I say with a question mark at the end, dad. Cause he was my father on the show. And he knew from the beginning, from his first phone call with Shonda Rhimes, he knew that he was gonna be my dad. And I never revealed. I didn't know until our very. Until our table read of that episode, like, live.

[Jason Bateman]

So that was on purpose.

[Kerry Washington]

It was incredible. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

So wonderful. It would have been cool if they pulled, like, a Star wars and didn't tell you till you were actually filming the scene. Right?

[Kerry Washington]

That would have been really cool.

[Jason Bateman]

Is that how it happened in the.

[Will Arnett]

Scene in Star Wars?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, Empire Strikes Back, they had.

[Kerry Washington]

Well, you mean in the movie, but not on set, right?

[Sean Hayes]

No, on the set, Darth Vader just blurbed something else. And then in post, they put, you are Luke. I am your father. So that the crew didn't know. Nobody knew until the movie came out. Right. And I think. I think Mark Hamill knew. Yeah.

[Kerry Washington]

Wow.

[Sean Hayes]

Isn't that wild?

[Jason Bateman]

They were trying to protect the. The crew from leaking that to the fan base.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, I don't. I think that's what I said, but I don't know.

[Will Arnett]

Hey, Sean, any more great tidbits from.

[Sean Hayes]

The winner so many years ago?

[Jason Bateman]

Also, what about Chris Pine's audition process for Star Trek? Let's bring Scotty in to give us some light on that.

[Will Arnett]

And do you know that the bridge on the Enterprise actually wasn't a bridge at all?

[Sean Hayes]

Was Scandal the first thing that kind of changed your trajectory, or was it something else that made people really take notice? Or do you think that that's the thing that really launched you?

[Kerry Washington]

That was the Thing. I mean, I had a really great film career before that because I had been in these Oscar nominated films. I had a joke that if you hired me to play your wife, you would win an Oscar because I was with Jamie Foxx and Ray and in Last King of Scotland with Forest Whitaker. And so I had done. But nobody connected that the girl from Save the Last Dance was the girl from Rey was the girl. Like, I was kind of a character actor and it was like sort of disappearing into these really fun, very different films with accents from all over the world. But TV's just different. Especially before streaming. Right. Like, TV was a different beast where all of a sudden I was in people's living rooms every single week. How many people do you have in your life that you actually spend an hour with every week? Other than your shrink? Not a lot. So it's a very intimate relationship.

[Will Arnett]

She's talking to you, Shawn.

[Jason Bateman]

Obviously.

[Sean Hayes]

Sorry.

[Kerry Washington]

Talking to myself and myself. So it did. It did. It definitely changed my, like, it changed, you know, sort of the level of how I walked in the world, maybe, or like level of fame or whatever.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. And were you scared to step in a role of leadership like that? Or was it finally, like. Was it like, finally, ah, my God, this is like what I've been waiting for to be like the number one on the call sheet kind of thing.

[Kerry Washington]

No, really. There was all this pressure because at the time, there was all this talk, every interview was about the fact that in almost 40 years there had not been a black woman as the lead of a network drama. Every article in the beginning, that's what. And so. And I was like 37 or something at the time. So in my lifetime, I had never seen a black woman as the lead of a network drama. And so that's all my pressure was. My fear of, like, if I screw this up, they're not gonna let another woman of color be the lead of a network drama for another 40 years. Like, I knew that we had to get it right and I just had to work as hard as I'd ever worked on anything in my life. But luckily I've worked with amazing number ones. Like, Jamie Foxx is the best number one in the business. No offense to you other number ones on here, but he's just the king.

[Jason Bateman]

The world is better than Jamie Foxx.

[Kerry Washington]

Django Ray, like, having worked with him in those. He's. He's just a fun. He's a. He's so generous. He's a team leader, he's a coach, he's a cheerleader he's everybody.

[Sean Hayes]

And so you picked. You picked up stuff from him and, like.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah, I tried to collect, like, Forest Whitaker is a beautiful number one. Julia Stiles was an incredible number one. Like, I just tried to remember the things that I admired about the leaders, the good leaders. Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

She's so great. So sweet.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, my God. Django and Chain is one of my favorite movies of all time. You are unbelievable in that. And I've seen it so many times. It's always Quentin has. Quentin Tarantino has. Is great at the theme of revenge, right?

[Kerry Washington]

Yes.

[Sean Hayes]

And that theme, I watch. Whenever I watch that movie, it's disturbing to see you. That character. It's so disturbing. Any kind of fun Quentin stories. I mean, I love that he inserted himself in there in that one scene. It was so fantastic.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, which one? I forget.

[Sean Hayes]

Django and Chan.

[Kerry Washington]

I got a call. I was asleep in my apartment in New Orleans. We were like, halfway through filming, and I got a call at, like, 2 or 3 in the morning. And I pick up the phone. It's like, I was like, hello? And I hear Leo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx being like, yo, we need to talk. And I was like, what's happening? And they were like, quinn wants to be in the movie. And I was like, what? So that, like, unfolded in the middle of shooting.

[Jason Bateman]

Really?

[Kerry Washington]

We were all shocked, but it was great. He was great.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. So, Jay, just to remind you, in the movie, he intercepts, like, the transfer of the. Of the. Of the collected slaves, right?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And freeze them or something. I can't remember.

[Jason Bateman]

I'm so bad about remembering movies.

[Kerry Washington]

I swear, I don't remember a movie.

[Jason Bateman]

Last week and forget the entire thing.

[Kerry Washington]

Same, same. Even movies I've been in, I don't remember. Movies I've been in, I don't remember.

[Jason Bateman]

Because I like to think it's for a positive reason. That, like, maybe we're so good about getting completely inside that world that once you leave that world, it stays over there. I don't know.

[Kerry Washington]

It's a glass half.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

It's kind of like in memento, like, how he forget, like, the neck. You know what I mean?

[Kerry Washington]

Do you have an easy time memorizing lines, though?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, Jason does.

[Will Arnett]

Jason's unbelievable.

[Kerry Washington]

And do they stay with you or do you forget that?

[Jason Bateman]

No, I can drop them just as easily as I. As I learn them. But, like, it seems like all my memory skills have just been channeled into that one very narrow lane. It's. It's not. It's not great.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

And now A word from our sponsor.

[Sean Hayes]

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[Will Arnett]

Now back to the show car.

[Sean Hayes]

What if you if I had. If I answered you. I mean, if I asked you this question and you had to think of Something really, really fast. Okay, who's one or two of your favorite actors of all time that you worked with?

[Kerry Washington]

Meryl Streep and controversial. Yeah. Well, I. I'm being honest.

[Jason Bateman]

Not a lot of people agree with you on that whole talent assessment thing.

[Will Arnett]

What tiktoks is she at?

[Jason Bateman]

Have I seen her on a TikTok?

[Will Arnett]

What tiktoks has she been on?

[Kerry Washington]

And, I mean, it's hard. There's so many. You can't come to me.

[Sean Hayes]

I love that. That was the first one. And Jamie.

[Kerry Washington]

I love Jamie. Yeah, Yeah. I just love him. I love him.

[Sean Hayes]

What was your first paid acting gig?

[Kerry Washington]

My first paid acting gig, I played a cheerleader. I don't think I had a name. I think I was, like, cheerleader number two in an ABC after school special.

[Jason Bateman]

Yes.

[Kerry Washington]

Called My Special Angel.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, wow.

[Kerry Washington]

I think.

[Jason Bateman]

Who was the angel?

[Kerry Washington]

I don't know. I don't remember. I may have done a PSA or something before that.

[Jason Bateman]

God. After School specials. Remember those?

[Will Arnett]

Jason, did you ever do one? An After School Special?

[Jason Bateman]

I don't know if I did an After School Special. I did a few movies of the week. Those. Those were good. Remember, there used to be cbs, NBC, abc. They all used to make their own movies and they'd run Sunday night. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Now it's like Hallmark Channel does those in Lifetime. Wait, so Carrie, the other thing that I went on and on about before, but I'm gonna do it again because you're so amazing, was American Son on Broadway, which I didn't get to see because I was doing something, but elated to see it on Netflix. So, first of all, it was such an ingenious idea to film the play like that. It was like a hybrid of stage and film. I'd never seen anything like it. Your performance was off the chart. Like, it was amazing.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, you're allowed to do that? You can film a play on Broadway?

[Sean Hayes]

No, it was.

[Kerry Washington]

No, we like. So really, the reason I came up with that idea was because I loved it.

[Sean Hayes]

Never seen anything like it.

[Kerry Washington]

I love producing. I fell in love with producing at Scandal, and the first film I produced was a film called Confirmation for hbo, where I played Anita Hill. And then I fell in love with it. And so they came to me to do this play on Broadway, the producers. And I said, sure, I'll be in it if I can help produce. But on Broadway, producing really just means finding money. Like, you get to be a creative producer as well. But I was like, oh, I don't do the financing thing. I haven't done that, but I was like, okay, I'll jump in and I'll try. And one of the ideas I had for how I could make the money to help produce the play was like, what if we film it? What if we can sell it to a streamer? Sell the rights.

[Sean Hayes]

Such a great idea.

[Kerry Washington]

Netflix. Ted read it and loved it.

[Sean Hayes]

But, Jay, it was filmed. Not in a proscenium. It was filmed.

[Kerry Washington]

We built us on stages. We built on stages. We kind of, like built a fourth wall to complete the room because the play all takes place in one room. And. And so we just completed the room and shot it on a stage in the one room.

[Sean Hayes]

Your performance was just mind blowing.

[Kerry Washington]

So much coming from you. Thank you.

[Sean Hayes]

Thank you.

[Will Arnett]

Not that much, but I really want to see it. I really, really. By the way, it's on Netflix. I'm going to watch it.

[Kerry Washington]

You have an account?

[Will Arnett]

Well, I share it with, like, 20 people, but. But I. But I'm gonna. I'm gonna watch it and then I'm gonna get your number from Sean and I'm gonna. I'm gonna text Aaron from Kimmel.

[Kerry Washington]

What I was gonna say. You might be texting Aaron.

[Will Arnett]

And I'm gonna be honest now.

[Jason Bateman]

Carrie, where are you right now? Are you home? Are you traveling? Are you on location?

[Kerry Washington]

I'm not home. I'm on location because I'm doing. We're doing a new YouTube series at my company, really, called the street yout Grew Up On. And it's something I started in Pandemic, because my production company is named after the street that my mother grew up on in the Bronx, Simpson Street. And when we were kids, we used to hear all these stories about, like, all the shenanigans that went on in Simpson Street. So I feel like that's my. Once upon a time, like, my grandparents came to the States through Ellis Island. They immigrated from the Caribbean, and. And they lived in the Bronx. And Simpson street was like, you know, where it all started, where the dreams began. So I interview people that I really like and respect and admire, other than the three of you, and about the street that they grew up on.

[Will Arnett]

How do you have room after the three of us? You know what I mean?

[Kerry Washington]

So, yeah. And I asked them questions about the street they grew up on and what their childhoods were like.

[Sean Hayes]

Great idea.

[Will Arnett]

It's really cool.

[Kerry Washington]

It's fun. So we're doing a bunch of them today.

[Sean Hayes]

You know, I always wanted to do. But you can. By the way, you can have this idea if you want.

[Will Arnett]

Eat an entire carton of ice cream by yourself and then do it again right after.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Kerry Washington]

And yes. And.

[Sean Hayes]

It'S, like, similar to that idea, which is go visit with a celebrity the places they lived before they made it, right?

[Kerry Washington]

Yes.

[Sean Hayes]

So, like, go back to their apartment and knock on the door and interview the family that lives. Lived there, that lives there now, and kind of swap stories about how you lived when you were there. And I think that'd be really cool, all the apartments and whatever.

[Kerry Washington]

I have a dream about maybe next season going to some of the locations with our guests. The stories are incredible, but think about.

[Sean Hayes]

The stories you'd get from the people that live there.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah, the people that live there now.

[Will Arnett]

You're like our next Barbara Walters.

[Kerry Washington]

Wait, so the first.

[Sean Hayes]

What do you mean?

[Kerry Washington]

The first question. Question that I ask everybody is to learn the name of the street that they grew up on. I asked their porn name. So I want to know the name of your first pet and the street you grew up on. So I want to ask you three. Your porn names, not your actual porn names that you have used in the past, because I know you have those.

[Sean Hayes]

So it's Pat's first name and the street you lived on.

[Kerry Washington]

Your first pet.

[Jason Bateman]

First pet for me was a little bird that was a cinnamon color, and so he was called Cinny, or she was Cinny. And then the first street was Emerson. Cinny Emerson.

[Sean Hayes]

There you go.

[Jason Bateman]

That's kind of cute. Cute little Cinny Emerson.

[Will Arnett]

That's my middle name. Emerson's my middle name.

[Jason Bateman]

Cindy Emerson receives a lot in these horns. Not a lot of giving. Mostly catching.

[Kerry Washington]

She's good at it.

[Jason Bateman]

Yep.

[Sean Hayes]

Catches bird food.

[Jason Bateman]

Real passive.

[Sean Hayes]

Will, what about you?

[Will Arnett]

We had a cat.

[Sean Hayes]

You don't have to explain the story.

[Jason Bateman]

Just what's the name of the person.

[Will Arnett]

He got to talk about? The stupid fucking bird.

[Jason Bateman]

And receiving and catching up.

[Kerry Washington]

You guys are like my kids. He got to do it.

[Will Arnett]

It's. It would be Minu Edgar.

[Jason Bateman]

Minu Edgar. Now, Minu Edgar is giving a lot of pain on these porns.

[Will Arnett]

Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

Cindy sees Mino coming and just starts running.

[Will Arnett]

What about you?

[Sean Hayes]

Mine's Josh. Valley.

[Will Arnett]

Josh Valley.

[Jason Bateman]

What kind of animals name? Josh.

[Will Arnett]

Wait, your pet's name was Josh?

[Sean Hayes]

My dog's name was Josh, and I lived on Valley Avenue.

[Will Arnett]

Your dog's name? Jo.

[Kerry Washington]

Why did you name your dog Josh?

[Sean Hayes]

I didn't name it. I think my dad did.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, this guy.

[Jason Bateman]

Now, Sherry, what was yours?

[Kerry Washington]

Mine, the best was that I interviewed my mom for the series, and I was like, you didn't have any pets, mom. Did you? And she said, no, no, we did. We did. We had a cat named Big Boy. So my mom's. My mother's porn name is Big Boy Simpson.

[Will Arnett]

Just the best.

[Sean Hayes]

That's fantastic.

[Jason Bateman]

Cindy just exploded.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah. I had hamsters named Trick and Treat, and I grew up on Pugsley Avenue, so Trick and Treat. Pugsley.

[Jason Bateman]

Also very active.

[Sean Hayes]

Trick or Treat.

[Jason Bateman]

Pugs is.

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Wow, that's so cool. I love that. And that's how you launch into.

[Kerry Washington]

That's how we start each episode. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

That's great. I love that.

[Jason Bateman]

So in a perfect balance, then, how often are you working? How often are you home? Like, how often do you like to be bored throughout the year? Cause I think boredom is the route to relaxation. If you can trust.

[Kerry Washington]

You're right. But. So I'm not very relaxed these days because I haven't been very bored. This is the main theme of my therapy these days, is figuring out how to schedule more open creative time. Because I am a doer. I really like to be busy, and I like to accomplish things and feel like I'm being productive and useful in the world. But I also really, really love my family and spending time with them and being able to read a book on the beach. I'm with the reading. The on the beach team.

[Sean Hayes]

Do it.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you.

[Kerry Washington]

I do. I'm with that. Or even listen. An audiobook.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, what if you were in, like, in a nice cabana, right? So we've got nice breathable fabric around three sides of you. We've got a nice roof over the top. We've got some sort of a frosty drink. You're in Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.

[Sean Hayes]

I'm gonna be. Think I know what you're asking. Could I read a book then?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. And you got a nice fan on you. Maybe there's even a little portfolio fan.

[Kerry Washington]

That has the mist.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, believe me, Sean's never met a fan he didn't like. Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, that would work, right?

[Sean Hayes]

I. Well, let me. I'm going to ask you the same question. You know that. But it probably wouldn't, because I'd be distracted, right? By the beauty and the breeze, and I'd want to, like, go do something not.

[Will Arnett]

You can't sit still. But here's the other thing.

[Kerry Washington]

But it's not the whole day. It's just, like a section of the day where you get to disappear.

[Will Arnett]

Carrie, what you need to understand is Sean can't sit still and not fidget. Like, and do that and read a book. And country. However, I have been with him On a return 14 hours each way flight to LA to Istanbul, where he played Candy Crush the entire fucking time. So he.

[Sean Hayes]

I mean, visit a game.

[Will Arnett]

It's like, so he can just do. And by the way, calling that a game is like fucking. You know, like calling a pamphlet a book. It's just like, why don't you just.

[Jason Bateman]

Rip the door open and jump out somewhere over the Atlantic and just like, how could I? I still be engaged with this eight hours in.

[Sean Hayes]

I'll never forget that flight too, because they fed us £80,000 of food. Like, just did not stop serving.

[Jason Bateman]

Where are you guys sitting? Up front.

[Will Arnett]

I remember. I remember eating. Sorry. I remember sleeping, like, for like six hours at one point and then waking up and being like, oh, man. I really. And looking in Sean, Scotty, same position.

[Kerry Washington]

Is that your meditation is Kate.

[Sean Hayes]

You get to check out and like. Like, I love that. Yeah. That's what I'm addicted to. Is like the solace of that.

[Kerry Washington]

Well, they work hard on that. They work hard. All those games to control your brain.

[Sean Hayes]

I know. By the way, they can have it. Right?

[Will Arnett]

Don't worry. Turns out they claim there wasn't much to grab.

[Kerry Washington]

They took what they could.

[Sean Hayes]

They really. Candy crushed my brain. All right, so listen, we're going to let you go soon, I promise. But I want you to talk about the prophecy podcast. What is it? Cause it sounds amazing. You're starring in it. Your EP on it. And it stars Laurence Fishburne, Daniel Dae Kim and David Oyelowo.

[Kerry Washington]

Oh, yeah. I wanna. Yes. So I also. I wanna thank so many. A lot of the folks that I work with wanted me to do this podcast even more than I. I mean, I really. I'm such an uber fan. But my. There's a guy on my team named Will who was like, we have a podcast coming out, Prophecy. So you. Yeah, it's a bad name, but sounds cool. Will was like, because we're doing a podcast, we have to be on the best podcast. So that is part of why I'm so happy to be talking to you guys. So prophecy is. It's a narrative podcast on Audible. It's a really cool concept. The concept is like, what if the Bible wasn't a document about things that people thought happened in the past, but what if it was a prophetic document about things that were gonna happen in the future? And so I play this woman, this scientist, who winds up being pregnant, and I don't know how, because my husband can't impregnate.

[Sean Hayes]

Me.

[Kerry Washington]

We know that. And my name is Virginia, Maryland. So, like Virgin Mary. And there's a scientist named Jonah who gets in a situation with a whale and stays alive for three days. And there's a guy named Daniel who's a zoologist who ends up in a lion's den and they don't kill him. And it's kind of like these biblical happenings are popping up and what does it mean and how do we deal with it? It's very cool.

[Sean Hayes]

That was a great idea.

[Kerry Washington]

It's like sci fi.

[Jason Bateman]

And has that yet been optioned?

[Kerry Washington]

Well, a part of why I wanted to. I'm in this deal with Audible to create podcasts in the narrative space. And I feel like it's a really good way to test out story and figure out is this limited. Is it a film? I think this one is a film.

[Jason Bateman]

Great show. Are you kidding?

[Sean Hayes]

That's cool. And is the idea then to like, maybe if it goes well, make an actual series?

[Kerry Washington]

Yeah, yeah. Or a film. I think it might be a trilogy of films.

[Jason Bateman]

That's really cool. I would watch that.

[Will Arnett]

That.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Let me look at my schedule. What do you. How long is the shoot?

[Kerry Washington]

Start. Start. Oh, oh. Do you want to be in it?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. How do you feel about Will?

[Will Arnett]

I want to be number Carrie. You were talking about number ones. And I'm like, what is she working towards here? What is she trying? And I'm like, oh, here it comes. Here comes the pitch. So the number one, then she pitches this show and it could be a movie, actually. And then she looks right at me and I'm like, here we go. All right, so tell me. I tell you what, you know, I'm at caa. Launch some numbers our way and fucking let me look at the sketch, something.

[Jason Bateman]

To react to and let me see.

[Kerry Washington]

If fit it around your golf. Shoot around your golf.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, that's true. That's a good point.

[Sean Hayes]

Kerry Washington, you know how much I love you. You got the email. I love you so much. I think you are incredible. And I'm a massive, massive fan as you are.

[Kerry Washington]

Can I just say, I want to say as somebody who, like, this is what we do all the time. We have to talk to people. We do these interviews. It's so real. I can tell every time I listen that people are. They don't want to get off with you. They're like, they love these interviews. It's a good time.

[Will Arnett]

People have not wanted to get off with Jason for a long time. Oh, no.

[Sean Hayes]

She did it.

[Will Arnett]

That was.

[Sean Hayes]

She self Buy.

[Jason Bateman]

So good. No one has ever self buy before.

[Sean Hayes]

That was great.

[Jason Bateman]

Kerry Washington East.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, she had the full district in Columbia.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

So it's Kerry Washington district.

[Jason Bateman]

Not a lot of people know that. So she's a dream.

[Will Arnett]

Kerry Washington would actually be the great name for a. Like, just like a detective series.

[Sean Hayes]

Kerry Washington. Like, that's.

[Will Arnett]

That's the name of her character.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, no, no, no, no. But you'd spell it C A R R Y. Because trying to, like, keep.

[Sean Hayes]

Like she's carrying shoulders.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, she's got to carry one. Oh, my gosh. By the way, let's pitch her, get her back on.

[Jason Bateman]

Can you call her back?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, we'll call. Well, Sean doesn't have her number, but email or.

[Sean Hayes]

Sean, isn't that the dumbest story?

[Will Arnett]

Sean, that story is so. It's so good. I mean, it's so embarrassing for you, by the way, you just made the link.

[Jason Bateman]

I love that Aaron was on the other end of that.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. And then Aaron. Aaron's the other person. Did you. And obviously Aaron knows the story.

[Sean Hayes]

I think I told her. Yeah. Yeah. Aaron Irwin. Who's the best?

[Will Arnett]

So good.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait a minute. What about how great she is? And she's so delightful and so smart and so gorgeous and so talented and so real and normal.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

I always say that about every guest of ours, but, like, I can't stop. That's the thing when you're surprised to me. Cause we know there's a lot of people in this business in Washington, a lot of other businesses, whatever, that you never get like, the real them, and that's the real heart.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. You know, I sat with. So at that dinner. We talked about that cast dinner. Jay, when you're like, what dinner did you have when you were. You literally sat across. You literally sat across from Came.

[Jason Bateman]

That came back to me eventually. We were at Jimmy's, but we.

[Will Arnett]

So we're at Kimmel's. And she. And I didn't know her at all, but she was producing that thing that we've all done. And I had the same. I had the same reaction. I was like, man, she is so cool and comfortable with who she is and in her own skin and so real. And you're getting. You. You just had the sense that you were getting this genuine person. And she was a delight. We laughed a ton. She was great.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, she's.

[Will Arnett]

Except she lied about watching this.

[Sean Hayes]

The.

[Jason Bateman]

Listen, she's a dirty liar. She admitted it. You know, She's a dirty liar.

[Will Arnett]

She should. Maybe she should do an arc. She's also all right.

[Sean Hayes]

She's also really funny. Like she should do more comics.

[Will Arnett]

She's so funny.

[Jason Bateman]

Why are we so surprised every time we meet somebody nice and normal in this?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, because they're. We know too many of the others.

[Jason Bateman]

But maybe, maybe that's just a vestige of what this business was and now we ought to just embrace the fact that there are actually a lot of really nice, normal people in this business now.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I. I don't know if it's a, it's a thing. It's not necessarily.

[Sean Hayes]

I never mean the business, I just.

[Will Arnett]

Mean the result of it. But it's maybe, maybe it is. We get there are bad people because maybe it's just a buy product.

[Jason Bateman]

I didn't see it coming. Well, I didn't even see it coming.

[Will Arnett]

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