South Beach Sessions - Rob Corddry

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

South Beach Sessions – Rob Corddry

Release Date: April 9, 2026
Setting: The Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami
Hosts: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz
Guest: Rob Corddry

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Main Theme & Overview

This “South Beach Session” dives deep into the life and creative journey of comedian and actor Rob Corddry. The episode balances laughter, candid storytelling, and industry wisdom, examining how Corddry’s path from aspiring Shakespearean actor to comedic television and film mainstay was influenced by confidence, luck, and relentless work ethic. They explore the nature of comedic craft, the harsh realities of show business, and what drives Corddry’s eclectic career choices—including his current enthusiasm for the new AMC series, The Audacity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Interview Approach & Episode Tone

• Dan Le Batard opens by asking Corddry for help in keeping the episode light, acknowledging his own tendency to delve straight into pain and biography (02:01).
• Corddry jokes about his past, noting he’s “pretty much over” his parents’ 1995 divorce and his mother’s coming out (02:48).
• Le Batard runs through Corddry’s resume, mistakenly crediting him with Holiday Inn commercials. Corddry:

  “That might be on my IMDb but I never did a Holiday Inn... I love money, though.” (03:17)

2. Early Creative Roots

• Corddry originally pursued a serious Shakespearean acting career, envisioning himself as a Patrick Stewart type (04:42).
• Reflects humorously on performing Shakespeare for $200/show, satisfied doing “the important work that no one gives a shit about” (04:40–05:09).
• Noted early creative confidence:

  “I was going to be a thespian. I graduated from theater school... started doing Shakespeare... this is it.” (04:42)

• Corddry admits his Shakespeare roles were consistently comedic or foolish, hinting that comedy was always in the cards (05:32).

3. From Drama to Comedy & The Necessity of Hustle

• Corddry recounts auditioning for anything and everything in New York, including unlikely roles, just to improve (06:25).
• Breakthrough came when he joined a sketch group, sparking the leap to comedy (06:51).
• On writing ambitions—admits as a young writer he blatantly plagiarized Stephen King, much to his mother’s amusement (07:06).
• Learns that “success is getting to do it”—whatever the scale—and that definition evolves with career stages (11:44).

4. The Daily Show Breakthrough

• The pivot to The Daily Show came serendipitously: a casting director saw his sketch work and called him in (13:00–13:50).
• Corddry’s preparation for the audition was intense:

  “I worked my ass off on it. Like, I loved the Daily Show... I really, really worked my ass off on it.” (16:29)

• Candid about his (lack of) voice work skills, despite his earlier self-confidence:

  “My wife... said, ‘Yeah, you’re not good at accents.’ And it blew my mind.” (13:08)

• Earnest look at how hard preparation and timing are both essential (“make your own luck”) (20:44).

5. Ambition, “Making It,” and Industry Realities

• Corddry reflects on how the definition of “making it” keeps shifting, and one’s dream role or platform may not have been planned (23:02).
• The Daily Show was a watershed:

  “That was the first time I was really on TV...” (11:48)

• Describes The Daily Show's unique challenge, the shift in news-comedy, and Colbert’s advice:

  “You’re gonna have to hang your soul up at the door. And then, when you’re done, spend your per diem, have a couple of cocktails.” — advice from Stephen Colbert on doing field pieces (27:41)

6. Inside the Comedy/TV Industry

• On the economics of acting today: fewer jobs, less pay, and production models that “market corrected everything,” making creative life more precarious (19:26).
• Corddry and Dan riff on the “algorithm-ification” of Hollywood and the value of just being in the right place, recognizing “you make your own luck” by positioning and preparation (20:44).

7. The New Series: The Audacity

• Corddry describes his rare creative alignment with the upcoming AMC series, comparing the experience to his early days at The Daily Show:

  “When you get a script that fits in your mouth... you don’t have to do any fancy footwork to make it your own.” (23:53)

  • This recurring, awkward phrase becomes a running in-joke throughout the episode, much to Le Batard’s discomfort.
• Show premise: fictional billionaires, data privacy, and how predictive tech shapes our lives (34:10).

8. On Set, Typecasting, and Creative Choices

• Discusses his experiences on shows like Ballers and how real industry insight often comes from fiction (26:34):

  “I, like, read sports articles a lot differently after doing that show... a whole family is affected by a torn ACL.” (26:34)

• Shares lessons from being typecast (“different shades of douchebag”) and the difference between formula work and true creative inspiration (37:19).

9. Handling Disappointment, Saying No, and Mental Resilience

• Importance of learning to say “no” and recognizing roles that don’t “fit right,” even when popular (49:05–53:09).
• Examples include declining roles that became iconic (Modern Family, Parks and Rec) but feeling at peace with his decisions (53:31).

  “I said no because it just didn’t feel right... and then I got Ballers. Everything sort of, if you trust, saying no... something else will present itself.” (51:44)

• On dealing with rejection and reviews:

  “I can read reviews that are poor... I don’t believe it when they’re complimenting me either.” (56:44)

10. Lessons on Work Ethic and Environment

• Once Corddry commits to a project, he’s obsessive and exhaustive in preparation—citing a 27-page character biography for The Audacity (43:02).
• Emphasizes the importance of “not being precious” about your own contributions, being ready for rewrites/changes from showrunners (45:13).
• Surrounding yourself with likable, team-oriented people as the secret for longevity and happiness in the industry:

  “The only goal that’s worth having... is to surround yourself by people you love or expect to love... and just try to write an original joke.” (59:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On confidence and self-delusion:

  “Arrogance and delusion are one and the same to a lot of us.” — Rob Corddry (13:34)

• On shaping success:

  “You make your own luck in a way. I’m just putting myself in a position where luck can happen to me.” — Rob Corddry (20:44)

• On creative fit:

  “When you get a script that fits in your mouth, you don’t have to do any fancy improv to make it your own.” — Rob Corddry (23:53)

• On industry realities:

  “Actors don’t really get paid as much as they used to... It’s all an algorithm.” — Rob Corddry (19:59)

• On handling disappointment:

  “I can read reviews that are poor. I don’t believe them. And I don’t believe them when they’re complimenting me either.” — Rob Corddry (56:44)

• On workplace culture:

  “Do good shit with people who aren’t dicks.” — Rob Corddry (60:35)

• On learning to say no:

  “There’s a great power in no. Really, there’s no power as an actor. Your only power is to be able to say no.” — Rob Corddry (49:05)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:01 | Dan asks Rob for a lighter, more energetic interview | | 03:17 | Corddry's improv/comedy résumé and misconstrued credits | | 05:32 | Realizing early comedic tendency in Shakespeare | | 07:06 | Rob's childhood writing & mother’s reaction | | 11:44 | Defining “making it”; early success with Shakespeare tour | | 13:00 | How Corddry landed The Daily Show | | 16:29 | Preparing intensively for a career milestone | | 19:26 | Industry “corrections” & algorithm-driven Hollywood | | 23:53 | The “fits in your mouth” phrase and creative alignment | | 27:41 | Stephen Colbert’s field-piece advice | | 34:10 | The Audacity’s themes: privacy, data, and the future | | 49:05 | Learning the power of saying no | | 51:44 | Saying no and trusting something better will come | | 56:44 | Rob’s approach to criticism & reviews | | 60:35 | Corddry’s maxim: “Do good shit with people who aren’t dicks.” |

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Concluding Vibe & Episode Tone

The conversation is brisk, playful, and self-aware—Corddry repeatedly undercuts his own anecdotes with humility and wit. Le Batard is both probing and game for humor. Running gags (like “fits in your mouth”) and irreverent lines provide levity even when discussing rejection, insecurity, and the strange economics of show business. Both men land on the importance of adaptability, surrounding yourself with good people, and keeping a healthy distance from outside validation.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Rob Corddry's career is a testament to preparation, adaptability, and embracing every turn, even those that don’t follow the original plan.
• Comedy is a gauntlet of perception—both of yourself and others—and resilience is key to longevity.
• In the modern entertainment landscape, humility, teamwork, and readiness to say “no” can be as important as raw talent.
• The industry is ever-evolving, and so are the personal definitions of creative “success.”
• And, as always: Don’t be a dick. (59:59)

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For further laughs and insights, listen to the full episode, and catch Rob Corddry in AMC’s The Audacity (premiering April 12, 2026).

Transcript

[Rob Corddry]

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[Interviewer]

breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.

[Rob Corddry]

It is an honor to share. It is our honor. It is our larger honor.

[Interviewer]

No, really stop.

[Rob Corddry]

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[Interviewer]

Rob I need the help of a comedic professional hero.

[Rob Corddry]

Okay.

[Interviewer]

I keep having comedians come in here and do this and I go dive right into the deep end. I go into craft or I go into their past and their pain. And I just need this one to be lighter. I need this to have more range because I can ask about your past and we can make it biographical, but I just need your help making the feel of this energetically lighter.

[Rob Corddry]

You just don't want a downer show today. You're feeling like an up show.

[Interviewer]

Well, I want to grow. I want to grow this show. Like, this show. This show is a platform. It's been a good platform for comedians for people to get to know them. But I also want them to have range because I have an interview style that just goes straight in for the deep end. Like, I'll go, you know, I'll go with you. With you. I'd go. Like, I'd start, what was it like in 1995 to find out that your parents divorced and your mom was a lesbian? I'll go right there.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah. That's fun. I'm pretty much over that by now, so it's good. We could do that.

[Interviewer]

But I'm just saying I go. I dive into the deep ends, and instead of, like, just doing what I should do now, which is saying, you know him play hopscotch with me. You know him from old school. You know him from Blades of Glory. You know him from Semi. You know him from Semi Pro. You know him from Community. You know him from the Daily Show Ballers. The bookie. It's not the bookie. It's just bookie. The Holiday Inn commercials.

[Rob Corddry]

The Holiday. The Holiday Inn commercials? Yeah. You know, you. That might be on my IMDb but I never did a Holiday Inn.

[Interviewer]

Oh, you never did it?

[Rob Corddry]

Oh, no. I would love to. I would jump at the chance to sell Holiday Inn to people because just, I love money.

[Interviewer]

But you've been in a lot of stuff, and you've been in a lot of stuff that people remember. I don't know what it is that they come and talk to you about. I don't know which are the ones that they most often come to you

[Rob Corddry]

and say, this is probably Hot Tub Time Machine.

[Interviewer]

I didn't even mention that.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah, probably Hot tub time machine. You know, I'll get, like, Lugal across the street. Somebody will say lugal, and. Or they'll be very serious. This is the. They're really trying to be fun and funny, but they'll go, hey, I looked up the weather today on Lugal, and I was like, that's. Yeah, right. The fictional Google from the movie Hot Tub Time Machine. Right?

[Interviewer]

That's your legacy.

[Rob Corddry]

It's. It.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, it's fine.

[Rob Corddry]

That's it. I got a Dodge. Shit like that.

[Interviewer]

That do you. Did you imagine, like, your wildest dreams didn't look anything like this? Right?

[Rob Corddry]

I don't even know what my wildest dreams were like. I considered myself a pretty serious Shakespearean actor when I first started out, you know, like.

[Interviewer]

And so you were going to be a thespian?

[Rob Corddry]

I was going to be. Yeah, man. I graduated from theater school and, like, I went to New York the next day, started doing Shakespeare, and I was like, this is it. All I need to be making is this $200, maybe for a show. And I'm good. I can feed myself and just do the important work that no one gives a shit about. I can say that, right?

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Rob Corddry]

All right, good.

[Interviewer]

Let it fly. Let go. Let go.

[Rob Corddry]

Good. Because.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, so you were gonna be a. So the dreams looked like dramatic actor in the mold of Whom, like, who are we?

[Rob Corddry]

Oh, like the Brits, you know, like Patrick Stewart before Star Trek.

[Interviewer]

So you were gonna do it stuffy, and then you end up on the set of Semi Pro.

[Rob Corddry]

But then again, exactly, right. I was like, whenever I would do Shakespeare, I didn't notice this until later on that I was just always playing jackasses, you know, I was always playing the clowns or the fools or douche people. Douches? Yeah, people that would trip over stuff, you know, so it was kind of in the cards for me. I would just like. I realized the one thing I wasn't good at was auditioning, right? Was one thing we weren't taught. And so I just went out on every single audition I could to get better at it. And this was, you know, 30 years ago in New York, and I auditioned for a sketch group and got it. And that was sort of the, that was sort of my first foray into comedy. And then.

[Interviewer]

But when you're auditioning, you're doing so as a thespian, right? You're not, you, do you not find yourself doing the funny?

[Rob Corddry]

You don't. I went and I did everything. I, I, I, I would audition for things that, like, were asking for black disabled women, you know, I, I absolutely anything, right? Like, just for the practice of it. And I would get some crappy things. I started booking stuff and the sketch group was one of them. And it wasn't a good sketch group by any means, but then I found the UCB and blah, blah, blah all went from there.

[Interviewer]

So one of the things that I like to do with this is ask creative people sort of how it is the roots of how they became creative. So when you go back into your childhood on the things that you were going to do and how it is you gravitated toward the arts. How did that happen?

[Rob Corddry]

Well, I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn't really know how to do that because growing up, you're taught how to do certain things. I fancied myself a pretty good writer, right? So I would write these stories and I was really into Stephen King at the time, and I would show them to my mother, and she was like, yeah, this is a great example of plagiarizing Stephen King. So keep going. You know, so you were writing horror

[Interviewer]

and you were trying, you were just discovering that you liked to write and you were emulating the person you were.

[Rob Corddry]

I'm really good at writing in the voice of whatever I'm reading, so I know that if I'm actually writing something for you, Know, a TV show or something. Never to be reading anything at the time or to be watching anything that is remotely close to what I'm writing, because I will probably accidentally. Plagiarism.

[Interviewer]

So your mom's accusing you instead of support. It looks like plagiarism.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. She was very good at that.

[Interviewer]

But you discover that you like doing this, and how is it that you end up wandering over to a stage

[Rob Corddry]

and, you know, I always thought I was really. I was arrogant. You know, I thought, like, I would watch something as a kid, and I would say, I could do that. I could do that. Like, there's these that. I don't really believe this person, you know, in my rudimentary life, I didn't have the language for it, but I was like, I don't quite believe this actor. I could do that. But again, there was nowhere. I'm from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Right. There's no sort of. It is not realistic to want to be anything but, you know, a pipe fitter or a mailman or something, which is, you know, I would have happily done that. But somehow I stumbled into, like, a theater program at my college. And because my friend was like, you can do that? And I. And I. And I did it.

[Interviewer]

Were you charismatic? Were you a big personality? Were you theatrical?

[Rob Corddry]

Maybe a little too much, you know, like, a little. My. I had this very good friend that I met through the theater, and then we became friends again a couple years later, and she was like, you know, I was really surprised because you seem to have really chilled out a little, you know. Cause I was, you know, just throwing balls up all the time, just trying to land jokes.

[Interviewer]

Were you looking for attention? What was the need? You just, like the laughter. You just.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I still do. I still do. I was a class clown, but I was respectful, you know, for the most part. I didn't want to get in trouble. I wasn't like a bad kid, but I was. I would at my most comfortable when I was trying to make people laugh.

[Interviewer]

But the root is an insecurity. You were arrogant. You felt like you could do it.

[Rob Corddry]

I felt like I could do it.

[Interviewer]

You felt like you could do it.

[Rob Corddry]

So, yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't about insecurity. I felt insecure when I wasn't getting the reaction I wanted, you know, And I felt like I could read a room pretty well. Much to my deficit, actually. Like, I would sort of take on the feeling in the room, you know, and be like, everybody in here is very uncomfortable. And so I'D start to get uncomfortable, and I'd have to, like, scramble to make the room feel better so I could feel better.

[Interviewer]

Well, what was happening there? Like, what do you. What do you. Why are you the one responsible for that, you know?

[Rob Corddry]

Well, here's what was happening there. Nothing. Like, I. Who's to. I was a kid or in my 20s, even, and how do I know what the fuck people are thinking or feeling? I was probably feeling a little uncomfortable, and then I just read that into everybody else for whatever reason.

[Interviewer]

So what represents your big break?

[Rob Corddry]

The big break? I mean, it depends because I've always thought of success as, you know. I got a tour once, a Shakespeare tour, and I traveled across the country, and I was making fairly good money, like 350 a week. And I was teaching classes on the side to these colleges we were performing for. And it was terrible Shakespeare we were doing. But, like, I didn't know that at the time. I thought it was amazing and that I considered, like, making it. You know, I thought, well, I made it.

[Interviewer]

Well, there's something to be said for. The idea is success is getting to do it.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, success is getting to do it. And, like, it keeps changing, you know, professionally speaking, I guess the Daily show would be my first big break. That was the first time I was really on tv, you know. Well, I'd done commercials, but other than that.

[Interviewer]

Like Holiday in commercials?

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, Holiday in commercials. You look at my IMDb, half the shit on there I did not do. I was like, apparently the bald guy and the nanny never did that.

[Interviewer]

Well, that's just because you're a bald guy, right? Like funeral. God. You did James Carfield and something, right?

[Rob Corddry]

It was probably Stanley Tucci, a young Stanley Tucci.

[Interviewer]

How does this happen, though, that you get what needs to happen for you to get to the Daily Show?

[Rob Corddry]

So I was in that sketch group I was talking about, and I did this sketch that I had written where I got to do a bunch of voices. And I fancied myself at the time being like, a real voice guy. I'm not. I'm not at all. I'm not.

[Interviewer]

Like, it sounds like arrogance is a consistent theme when you think that you fancied yourself a real voice guy, even though you're not a voice guy. I do voices.

[Rob Corddry]

My wife was a. She did. She was a speech pathologist. She did dialect coaching for a long time because everything in LA is pretty much funneled through the entertainment industry. So she was doing that and she was like, yeah, you're not. You're not good at accents. And it blew my mind.

[Interviewer]

You thought you were great.

[Rob Corddry]

I thought. I thought I was. Yeah. I thought you just give me an accent I can do it sounds like you're delusional.

[Interviewer]

Like, it's not quite arrogant.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, well, yeah, I think so. I think you're absolutely right. I mean, arrogance and delusion are one and the same to a lot of.

[Interviewer]

So. But you're doing voices and you're doing them well.

[Rob Corddry]

I'm doing. I was doing well, or you think

[Interviewer]

you're doing them well enough to be noticed?

[Rob Corddry]

The ones I had written for myself, I could do. Like, I was doing, like, Woody Allen, the imitations that everybody was doing. Right. And then. So this voiceover agent casting director, rather saw me and she called me in for voiceovers and stuff, which I never really got. I wasn't very good at that, as we've established. Yes. It's not my thing, man. It's not my thing. And I did that. And she just. They happened to be doing Daily show auditions at their office. Liz Lewis, casting. And she said, come on in and just do this audition. I think you could do it. And I worked my ass off on it. Like, I loved the Daily Show. I used to watch it when I was working at Jekyll and Hyde. You know, this thing in New York. Have you ever seen those restaurants? They're like theme restaurants.

[Interviewer]

They have. Their costumes are.

[Rob Corddry]

That's right. I was one of the costumes. I was like Dreadworthy, the wisecracking butler.

[Interviewer]

I mean, I imagine all of the waiters were aspiring actors of some sort.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, sure. And. But my job was just walking around insulting people. I didn't have to bring them any food or anything. But anyway. You were good at that.

[Interviewer]

You were good at that.

[Rob Corddry]

I was great at that. I was great at that. You want to hear one of my best jokes?

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Rob Corddry]

I would go up to a table of six and I would go, oh, look at you. You look like a million dollars. Six zeros.

[Interviewer]

You really brought him back to life. You really saw him. The real spirit.

[Rob Corddry]

Right. Dreadworthy will always be a part of me. I was walking. I was in New York the other day, like, a couple months ago, and I was walking past Jekyll and Hyde, and there was a butler outside getting a smoke or something, and he. I saw his nickname and it said Dreadworthy on it.

[Interviewer]

Nice.

[Rob Corddry]

And I said. I just walked past and I went, dreadworthy. And he goes, Mr. Cordry.

[Interviewer]

Oh, wow.

[Rob Corddry]

That was pretty cool.

[Interviewer]

That is pretty good.

[Rob Corddry]

Pretty cool. But anyway, no, I don't think I

[Interviewer]

want to leave there. I think I want to. I think I want to interview him about some of his other lines. You have a few of them I don't remember.

[Rob Corddry]

That was the only one I remember because it's like. That's like a Don Rickles joke, right?

[Interviewer]

Terrible.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

It's really bad.

[Rob Corddry]

It's really bad. And. And that was all they asked of me. They didn't say, like, bring your A game. They were just like. Just insult people.

[Interviewer]

And so you take that character into the Daily Show?

[Rob Corddry]

No, I watched the Daily show on my lunch break there. That was my ultimate point. And so I was really into it. And these were the Craig Kilborn days, you know. And then John took over, and I got the audition, and I was like, I can do this. Cause I know I can do the news guy. And. And so I really, really worked my ass off on it. I would put my script up against the wall in my bedroom and pretend I was talking to John in my bedroom and, you know, working out a couple of bits.

[Interviewer]

Because you were this close to something you knew you wanted, right?

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, that's right. And this is one that I was just like, I'm gonna get this. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna. This is. Will not be through any fault of my own if I don't get it, you know? Wow.

[Interviewer]

That's real confidence, though. That's.

[Rob Corddry]

Well, it is work. I mean, I just like putting that much work into it. I know it's. At least I did everything I could to get it, you know, it wasn't so much confidence as I kind of. I was aware that anything could happen. They just might not be looking for a guy or a white guy.

[Interviewer]

Are you aware, though, that anything also could happen after that, once you get that opportunity? Or are you looking at that as a destination? Are you saying, oh, if I can get this, this is something I can do forever?

[Rob Corddry]

No, no, I just thought. This is. I had no thought about that, really.

[Interviewer]

So what's your plan, though? Like, if you were going to be a thespian before and now at this point?

[Rob Corddry]

So once the Shakespeare thing, once it became obvious that this is not really my jam, that I should probably be doing comedy for a while, I decided I'm just gonna let the wind blow me. You know what I mean? And that's sort of what I've been doing ever since.

[Interviewer]

Well, how do you come about that, though? That's a good way to interact with the cosmos if you're a spiritual person.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, I guess I'M just more like, like I know, I trust that it will happen and there will come a day when it stops happening. I also am aware of that. You know, that's the sort of trick if you don't work for a while, you can start convincing yourself that like that's happened and it's over for you.

[Interviewer]

So that can happen in this city. Like especially if you have any undercurrent of insecurity.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, sure. I mean it can really. Anything can be your last job ever. Or at least you know, until you have your comeback when you're.

[Interviewer]

Well, I always assume that's how the agents controlled this entire city is because they were preying upon that insecurity.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

That the whole system of it can keep you feeling always far away from the next job because there are only so many jobs and there are so many people who want them.

[Rob Corddry]

For sure. For sure. And then when you do finally get a job, the thing nowadays that you hear almost all of the time is now, okay, this is gonna be a four month gig. No one's getting rich off this because they're just not. There's been a big correction where they're not. Actors don't really get paid as much as they used to. So it's more like the industry has

[Interviewer]

collapsed and is being run by about five companies and they can pay whatever they want because everybody wants the job.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah. And they're coming up with mod different models. Like the Pit, that wonderful show. Right. They pay people one of two salaries. You know, you're either getting 35 grand an episode or you're getting 65 or 75 an episode or you're Noah Wylie.

[Interviewer]

They've totally market corrected everything using all the hedge fund knowledge of where it is. The inefficiencies were. So they can run you right out of Hollywood.

[Rob Corddry]

They're all quants now they've got it. It's all an algorithm. Yeah. Essentially.

[Interviewer]

So you feel though very fortunate because none of this has yet happened to you. But it sounds like you sort of not bumble into. But it wasn't part. You weren't chasing that. It came to you.

[Rob Corddry]

It came to me, yeah. I was very. This is like you make your own luck in a way. Like I'm just putting myself in a position where luck can happen to me. And so far it has. In sports championships aren't one alone the one with the right people around you. That's exactly what Intuit TurboTax brings to taxes with Toboltax Expert Full Service match with a dedicated tax expert. Who handles your taxes from start to finish. The experience is seamless. Start in person, finish online. Move between both whenever needed. The dedicated tax expert keeps things updated every step of the way so nothing falls between the cracks. Think of it like having a great head coach with a solid game plan. The plays are called, adjustments are made, and the work gets done while everyone stays focused on what actually matters. And just like game film doesn't wait for business hours, neither DO taxes. With TurboTax Expert full service, you can get any tax question answered at no extra cost, even on nights and weekends during tax season. This is having someone in your corner running the whole operation and helping put points on the board. Get [e-mail] only available with Intuit TurboTax full service experts real time updates only in iOS mobile app this episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips? That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs so you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go [e-mail] like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[Interviewer]

And so what did the dreams look like walking into there?

[Rob Corddry]

Into the Daily Show?

[Interviewer]

Yes. Like when you're out looking at your future, you don't see movies in it?

[Rob Corddry]

No, no, not necessarily. I mean, I was just gonna do this show the best I could and I didn't go out for.

[Interviewer]

For.

[Rob Corddry]

I got hired. I wasn't on the show for about two weeks and so I just sat there and I watched raw footage for two weeks. I just watched hours and hours of raw footage just to see what these like, you know, those field pieces looked like in real life, you know, rather than with all the.

[Interviewer]

Have you ever wanted anything like that before? Because you're talking about such like a clarity of vision where you're seeing where you can. I'm going to be so prepared for this because I want this more than I've ever wanted anything.

[Rob Corddry]

No, I have not. Since or before that. No.

[Interviewer]

I mean, what a watershed feeling though, right? Like to have sweep over you. This is right for me.

[Rob Corddry]

It's pretty awesome. I mean, I kind of long for it, you know, now. I mean, this last show I did that I'm promoting sort of the audacity. I had a very similar feeling. Like I. When I read the script. I mean the very basic way I like to say it is that it just sort of fit in my mouth. You know, that's like when you get a script that fits in your mouth,

[Interviewer]

it's a graphic way. It's also pornographic.

[Rob Corddry]

It's kind of gross. I could chug this down, but I just don't. You know, if it fits in your mouth, you don't have to do any fancy, like, footwork to make it sort of your own.

[Interviewer]

I think we could leave it now.

[Rob Corddry]

No, no, I want to really think about this. Like when your tongue and lips can really wrap around. Okay, okay.

[Interviewer]

You're making me deep.

[Rob Corddry]

You wanted to get real, man.

[Interviewer]

Disgusting. No, disgusting me. I should have mentioned to the people before this. The Audacity premieres April 12th on AMC and AMC Plus. And you're not just promoting it. You're really. You're coming on here and saying to me with a straight face, not as an actor, not as a comedian. Well, you're saying, the only time I've ever felt as good as I felt, the one time I knew exactly what I wanted, is with this thing I happen to be promoting here today.

[Rob Corddry]

Well, no, it wasn't exactly the same. I definitely have had that feeling before that sort of like. Well, I don't have to do any sort of. Any fancy, you know, improv or anything to make this my own. Like in Ballers. Ballers was different because, I mean, frankly, the writing wasn't really that great, so we all sort of had to rewrite it on the fly a little bit just to make it sort of sound like something people actually say.

[Interviewer]

I didn't. I was on Ballers. I'm your fellow co star.

[Rob Corddry]

Oh, nice. Of course you were.

[Interviewer]

No, I got a sentence of dialogue. What's the end game, Spence? Is what I got is dialogue. I was a cigar store Native American, you know, stiff. I didn't know how to do any of what it is that we're talking about. And I didn't like it very much because it was like nine hours to deliver that one.

[Rob Corddry]

Sure, sure. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

It didn't seem like it's not a

[Rob Corddry]

lot of fun, right? No, no, it's not a lot of fun.

[Interviewer]

I mean, it looks nice. I guess the best. The best parts of it are pay, being on it, and getting to exercise creative muscles. But in this particular case, I wasn't exercising one. I was just saying the same thing

[Rob Corddry]

over that one thing while smoking a cigar. Yeah, there's not a lot you can do with it too, that one. What's the end game, Spence?

[Interviewer]

That's all I had. Well, I was asking him. I Was asking Dwayne Johnson y out.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

All of his dreams.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Going forward in the series. But I couldn't summon anything other than what's the end.

[Rob Corddry]

I can't think of anything for you either. Like, that's actually a pretty well written line, you know, for ballers.

[Interviewer]

But, I mean, it was very. It was very popular show because it sort of sports it up and HBO Entourage, it sort of. And threw Miami at it and Dwayne Johnson.

[Rob Corddry]

And it was definitely, like, realistic. I, like, read sports articles a lot differently after doing that show. You know that when somebody says, you know, he's got a acl. Torn acl. Like, I realized, like, oh, that's just not this one thing. This. This. A whole family is affected by this or a whole entourage of.

[Interviewer]

Oh, so you learned something about the underbelly of sports.

[Rob Corddry]

I sure did, man. I sure did.

[Interviewer]

It's a dirty game. It's a wildly dirty game. Dirty world. They give their bodies. They give their entire bodies to it. They earn it. It's more of a meritocracy than this place is.

[Rob Corddry]

And of course. No, of course. But, like, also, like, the managers and the agents, like, I was playing a manager, you know, and it was.

[Interviewer]

It's a greasy, despicable. Yes, man.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah. Horrible. Horrible. I mean, luckily, my character was kind of a horrible guy, but, you know, lovable horrible, I hope.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, well, that's. I mean, there was a lot of that on there. That's what you were going for. But forgive me, I've wandered off into your later work, and you knew you wanted this one thing, and it became what you thought it was.

[Rob Corddry]

The Daily show or. Yes. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Not only did you get it, but it looked like what you imagined. It met your expectations.

[Rob Corddry]

Yes, absolutely. 100%. It was very challenging. And a lot of actors say that, like, I'm looking to be challenged. And I didn't really know what that meant until the Daily show, but, you know, going. Stephen Colbert was sort of my mentor there, and he would. He would. I don't know if he knows that, but, like, he. He would give me little pieces of advice. You know, when you're going out to do those field pieces, he's like, let me tell you, when I was doing my first one, he said, you're gonna have to hang your soul up at the door. And then when you're done, spend your per diem, have a couple of cocktails. Meaning, like, you're gonna need to get a little drunk after these, you know, because they were brutal. Often depending on who you were interviewing, but that I liked being in the studio more than I liked doing those, because they were really kind of taxing, especially when we were doing them. We only had one camera.

[Interviewer]

What is it? Is it because of the expectation of funny? Because people don't actually know how hard it is to just be gorilla on the road doing something and interacting with your environment.

[Rob Corddry]

You go in prepared for sure. You definitely, you and the producer are writing out your ideal story that you want to come back with. It never really happens that way, which is kind of the magic of it. You come back with whatever you got. But I mean, the hard part, the challenging part about it was we only had one camera at the time. That was all they could afford. So I would be interviewing you and the camera would be on you and I'd be asking you these very real questions. And then I'd be asking you some of the Daily show ish questions. And everybody likes the Daily Show. Nobody thinks they're gonna be the bad guy. Right. And. And then the camera would turn around on me and I would re. Ask all those questions.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Rob Corddry]

Just so we have them. But I would do them in a more pointed way, like, you knew exactly what you were doing when the blah, blah, blah, you know, and they, they would go pale.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Rob Corddry]

You know, and they would sometimes stop the interview and be like, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm. This is. Did you ask me that before? And I'm like, yeah, I asked you that. Technically asked, yet maybe not that way.

[Interviewer]

But you're tricking people. You're out here. You were at the center of gotcha journalism that ends up becoming fake news and bringing down the entirety of this country. But at the time, or roughly around that, Jon Stewart was regarded as America's greatest newsman because of what that show was doing.

[Rob Corddry]

I mean, to his chagrin, I mean, he was really just wanted to do a comedy show that had some relevance. But like, yeah, I mean, people just started. And I remember news guys would come up to us, you know, Jake Tapper for one, because he's a great example, because he actually ended up doing a lot of what the Daily show was doing. You know, he's a great journalist and he would say, he said to me once, like, I wish we could do what you guys do. I'm like, what exactly do you mean? Like, why can't you do what? Why can't you, like, say, here's what somebody said and then show a bunch of video, you know, that contradicts them. And that is exactly what journalists, good ones, are doing now.

[Interviewer]

Oh, yeah. But it was just both sides and objectivity and fairness. And it's why comedians were allowed to run amok with your format because you were able to make fun of everyone, including the Jake Tappers being beholden to not being allowed to have an opinion.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, well, we were, like, making fun of the. We were more making fun of the way news is delivered than we were.

[Interviewer]

But that was the. I mean, that's the genius of the show, is that you guys, through comedy, did real journalism that was more impactful than the starch stuff that was happening on television.

[Rob Corddry]

Looking back on it, I can admit that, yeah, it was very close to what journalism is looking like today.

[Interviewer]

But you're right when you say, why couldn't you. It's just. That's why it was groundbreaking. That's why the show ended up being the cultural icon that it was.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah. FOX guys used to come up to us too, like, at the conventions and be like, hey, man, I love your show. I'm not really a Republican. I'm like, oh, man, I don't care what you are. Leave me alone. Leave me alone.

[Interviewer]

That's the most sinister version of it, though, right? I'm wearing a costume while doing the talking points that are actually divisive with no sense of humor.

[Rob Corddry]

Doing the news.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Well, but I mean, that's. That. That. That. That grift has gotten over on the entirety of America as newspapers and journalism dies at the feet of the billionaires.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Which you are celebrating in the audacity, because. So I'm assuming.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, sort of.

[Interviewer]

That everyone in here is awful because it's about the billionaires because we're all.

[Rob Corddry]

They're all billionaires. Yeah. I'm probably like the. The. The one with the least money on the show, my character, you know? But, yeah, it's just a bunch of billionaires doing awful things in the name of good. You know, but they're really not. They're just.

[Interviewer]

Is that why you love the project so much? Because it's of our times? Like, when you say it fits in your mouth, which I wish you hadn't said and I haven't been able to shake since you said.

[Rob Corddry]

I'm glad. I'm glad that's gonna stick with you.

[Interviewer]

I'm glad that's the mark you leave

[Rob Corddry]

that you never probably forget that. Yeah. My hot, wet mouth and the words, you gotta stop fitting inside of them, like, oh, I will.

[Interviewer]

I will never forget this.

[Rob Corddry]

Oh, the script.

[Interviewer]

But. But the billionaires are awful. And they're awful in real life, and they're awful on the show as well.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah. And it was kind of like what they were doing on the show. The. The audacity is. It's a story about the very, very near future, what we will be capable of, what they will be capable of, which is basically knowing everything about where you are and what you're doing, and be able to cater advertisements, to curate advertisements for you in the moment.

[Interviewer]

I'm surprised more people aren't weirded out by the fact I have now my devices are clearly listening to me. It seems obvious that they're.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, I think it's worse than that. I don't know if your devices are listening to you, actually. I heard this podcast once, and they were like, I wish it were as easy as your devices listening to you. It's actually all these, like, Facebook and Amazon algorithms about you and who you follow and who follows you. So they know you so well that they know that you want this swing set or whatever it is that you just talked about yesterday, and now you're finding ads for it. You know, it's predictive. You know, it's really insidious.

[Interviewer]

It's science. And what you're saying is that this show is teaching you about things like that, the way that ballers taught you about the underbelly of sports, like things you probably hadn't considered before.

[Rob Corddry]

I mean, it was stuff that, you know. You know that there's really no such thing as privacy, but you know that in sort of intellectual terms, but practically speaking, like, I don't know what to do about that. You know, I use a VPN when I have to or whatever, but, like, I don't. There's no. What I learned is that there's no real protecting yourself from any of this stuff. If you're living in the modern world and buying stuff on Amazon and, you know, you have some kind of a footprint, social media footprint. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

One of the things that I imagine you enjoy about your work is the escapism and being able to hide in laughter from all of America's ills. Yeah.

[Rob Corddry]

But then again, then again, I find myself just confronted by all these ills when I'm doing these shows I really love. You know, Boy, on the Daily Show, I had, like, there was a time, and I've never been, like, a news junkie or anything. I was, like, watching two C spans at once. Two different C spans, which are just, like, the security camera of news.

[Interviewer]

It sounds like you were a beast, though, about ambition. Like, what you're presently describing in terms of the obsessive, compulsory compulsiveness. Because I don't know that you're necessarily type A. But no, for sure. Like that. That you are zoning in on something that has so cosmically aligned with your brain, who you are and who you think you want to be, that you're like, there is no circumstance under which I'm not going to Serial killer obsess over getting this.

[Rob Corddry]

That's exactly right. And then when I do get it, I go just. I go deeper into it.

[Interviewer]

Well, because you got it now. You're hungry and you're grateful and the world opens up to you because all the things you thought were there are actually there.

[Rob Corddry]

Right. If, again, if the show happens to motivate me in that way, like the Daily show or the Audacity or even Ballers, you know, there's some shows I do that I'm just like, well, I know this. I know how to. This is just. I'm just the. I'm the weird neighbor or I'm the like.

[Interviewer]

Well, but especially when you get type cast as a douchebag. But in these.

[Rob Corddry]

I've played different. Different shades of douchebag.

[Interviewer]

But you're talking about real inspiration. What you're describing is real artistic inspiration. So you didn't find it in Shakespeare. It wasn't. It. It's.

[Rob Corddry]

I. Well, it's. No, no, not this kind of inspiration. No.

[Interviewer]

Well, it wasn't for you. When you're saying it wasn't because you weren't good at it. There wasn't something in there that was stirring this.

[Rob Corddry]

I was stirring this. For sure. It was stirring. Like, I was an English major, too, at the time, and that's what it was stirring, you know, and it was stirring all the wrong things for an actor. Like, you don't want to tackle a script like an English major tackles a, you know, piece of writing, you know.

[Interviewer]

No, it's stiff.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah. So. But that's often what I did.

[Interviewer]

But plays, the act of Broadway play, all of it. Like, there's artistry in it. But that a script memorized to do every night, that. That way there's a ritual in it.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

That's architecture, not art.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah. And that. That doesn't really interest me at all, you know, doing that. It's so funny to say that, because I thought that's what I wanted to do, you know, And I really, like, can't imagine that schedule and just doing the same thing over and over and trying to make it new every night.

[Interviewer]

You Know, I had a moment in my collegiate career that sort of crystallized the. What I wanted to me, because my father was an engineer, because there was safety in the meticulousness of. Choose one of these things that seems safe. Doctor, lawyer, architect, just. And I'm writing for the newspaper and he doesn't want me to be. He doesn't approve of this as a choice. And. And I. I'm not going to say I'm wavering in my conviction because I know now this is what I want. But as I'm walking past the architecture school and at one o' clock in the morning, they're always up there doing. Doing this. This.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah. Making triangles.

[Interviewer]

And I'm like, I don't want that. I don't ever want to do that. But it sounds like it could have been very easy if you're doing Shakespeare, for you to get trapped forever trapped inside of a profession that's not actually you.

[Rob Corddry]

It's very funny you say that especially in terms of your father, because my father was very supportive, like, whatever I wanted to do. But I was a very artsy kid and he was an engineer. Like, he was good at math and building bridges. So he was like. He always tried to sort of steer me in a way that would be a lot safer if I wanted to be a writer. Well, why don't you be a technical writer? You could write manuals. You know, like, I appreciated it, you know, the reason that he said that, of course I didn't want to write manuals. I do like reading them. I love an instruction.

[Interviewer]

But all he's looking at there is what my father was looking at, which is, how are you going to make money doing that? Who's going to pay you for your thoughts? Who's gonna pay you for your talents?

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, I definitely think he was very surprised when, you know, my brother and I both found some success in this business. Like, not surprised. Like, wow, you guys, I thought you were bozos and you couldn't do anything but, like, more like, oh, people can do this. Like, there are people that. I guess it has to be somebody, right? You know, because, like, again, growing up where I grew up, there was no frame of reference for that.

[Interviewer]

Well, wow, that's funny.

[Rob Corddry]

These people may as well have been, you know, robots.

[Interviewer]

Well, now you've just pointed out to me, though, what my dad couldn't have possibly understood. He didn't come from freedom. Like, he didn't. It's a communist island. Like, he lived in Cuba, so why would he have any understanding of the Idea that anyone could make a living doing anything as impractical as writing.

[Rob Corddry]

Exactly. Like anything that the government doesn't just say, hey, you can do one of these three things. Yeah, wild. That's wild.

[Interviewer]

Writing manuals would have been a way for me to get money writing, because everyone needs manuals, but not everyone needs to read a sports section.

[Rob Corddry]

I was a journalism major for like a decade.

[Interviewer]

You failed. You failed?

[Rob Corddry]

Well, I didn't even start. I failed before I even started classes. I got to college and I was like, wait, what is journalism? Like, what am I doing? I wrote for my school paper, but that was like a school paper. I did like the poetry.

[Interviewer]

Did you really last one day in journalism where you've been starting?

[Rob Corddry]

No, no, I didn't even start it. I changed my major to English because I realized, like, I don't want to write, research real things and write about them. I didn't. It's funny, I didn't even realize what I was doing when I chose the journalism major.

[Interviewer]

What a funny crossroads, though, to reach where you end up on the Daily show of all things. Of. Oh, no, that's not. I don't want to do that. I want to do it with all my skills. Being a fake journalist with a voice. I'm going to trick people into thinking I do good voice work. I'm going to do an assortment of things to scan my way into journalism.

[Rob Corddry]

This happens all the time, man. It happens all the time. Like, I was on Top Gear America for two seasons and. And somebody told me, like after our first day shooting, like, oh, you're a car journalist now? And I was like, oh, okay, I'm a car journalist. Like, I didn't just. It's. What a weird world.

[Interviewer]

Well, but it sounds like you're having a lot of opportunities, but the place that weird cosmic opportunities presented to you.

[Rob Corddry]

Yes, that's how it seems.

[Interviewer]

But the starting point, like, I imagine the maniacal work ethic of the Daily show goes with you. Right.

[Rob Corddry]

For sure. Well, it was on the shows, like, where I really sunk my teeth into it. Like the audacity I wrote. We had a long. I was cast and then there was two months before we shot. So all I did all day long for like eight hours a day was research this character in this world. And like by the end of the. I had a 27 page biography for my character which, with one word could be completely wiped away by a producer with an idea. Right. But like, you sort of. I knew that, but like, I just couldn't stop myself, you know? I had to know everything about this guy and what led him to this moment where he was in Silicon Valley.

[Interviewer]

So you make it sound. Some of what your success is. You're making sound like it has some bumbling in it. But. No, well, but wait. No.

[Rob Corddry]

Okay, go ahead.

[Interviewer]

But what you're presently describing is once you've chosen something, no one will have a larger appetite for work ethic about it than you. Once it speaks to you, you're not doing lazy things at this point in your life.

[Rob Corddry]

The bumbling is over when I get something. Yeah, for sure.

[Interviewer]

But it sounds like you're a maniac about it. Like, unreasonable. Where your family would be like, well, they would understand you and love you. But also, he's away. He's thinking about this thing. He's got one of his obsessions now.

[Rob Corddry]

Well, it was more like the producers. Yes, that. That for sure. But, you know, they love. My. My wife is just so supportive of it. She's like, all right, yeah, you're doing your thing, and now all you're talking about is the army, you know, because it consumes you. Because it consumes me. And so. And then all I'm doing is watching shows about the army and movies about the army, and. And. And then I get on set, and they're like, no, you weren't. You weren't in the infantry. You were an engineer. And I'm like, okay, okay, cool, cool. That's an easy fix. Like, you can't. You can't be too precious about this 27.

[Interviewer]

That you haven't had something like that happen to you, where you were obsessed for six months over something, and then Adam McNeil says, that's not how we're doing this.

[Rob Corddry]

Yes, absolutely have. And, you know, it's so funny because at. At first it messes you up, right? You're like, well, then I have no idea what I'm doing. And then you'll fight for something that doesn't need to be fought for. When I can just say, this guy who wrote the show knows way more about my character or what he needs to get my character to point B. So I'm gonna listen to him and make the adjustments in my. You know, just what is the greatest

[Interviewer]

example you can give me of pouring your soul into five months of something? And then you get on set and it is altered with a word. Because you.

[Rob Corddry]

You said it. Yeah, it was really that. I mean, it was. Oh, I said, okay, so I have. The character has ptsd, and I had. And an injury on his leg that is in the script. So I knew, all right, I had to get there, you know, So I wrote this whole thing about how he was shot at, shot in the leg, helped save somebody, and then just ran, you know, essentially ran back to. And got lost in the desert. And this whole story, haze of shock about. Yeah, right. And then they were like, you were a prisoner of war. I found out like episode four or five. I was like, oh, oh, well, that changes absolutely everything. I thought at first, but then I got back to my bio and I was like, oh, no, no. I jumped in this earth mover and just. We drove out in the desert and of course I'm gonna get captured out there if we got lost, you know, which is actually what happened to a lot of people. During the first Gulf War, there were like six people taken prisoner. And in my imaginings now it was seven, including my character. But they were only captured for like a week. And so I just went off. He told me I was a prisoner of war and I was like, all right. I just adjusted my biography. I've learned over the years to like not be too precious about it, to like have it all sort of like a piece of clay. Like you can. It's malleable. You're here, but are you here here you go to Hawaii in your head all the time during meetings in the car. Hawaii is on the mind. But when you're ready to go, there's Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Flights, hotels, vacation homes, cars. You can save when you bundle or book as you go and still save. So what are you waiting for? Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Members only. Savings vary. Spring Black Friday is on at the Home Depot. Save on grills and patio sets that will be sure to bring your hosting game up a notch. Up your feast with help from the Home Depot and save on grills like the next grill. 4 burner propane gas grill was $249. Now in special buy for $199 or give everyone the best seat in the yard with the Hampton bay Mayfield park four piece conversation set for only $399. Save on grills and patio sets with low prices guaranteed during spring Black Friday only at the Home Depot now through April 22nd while supplies last exclusion supplies. See homedepot.com Pricematch for details.

[Interviewer]

Is there a place among all others that you would point to? And that's where I learned that that and that there is the spot where I learned.

[Rob Corddry]

That's a really good question.

[Interviewer]

So precious about how I think things should go.

[Rob Corddry]

Trying to think of where I.

[Interviewer]

It may have been over time. It might not like just shine light on something and change your life like that. But it's an. I've read you say that it was only five or 10 years ago that you got good at saying no. Right. That's fairly deep into adulthood that you're learning how to do that. But you're learning it somewhere something's happening to finally say, okay, that's not the right way to be.

[Rob Corddry]

Right. Right. I wish I knew. I wish I knew what that thing was because the. There's a great power in no. You know, and really there's no power as an actor. And it's your only power is to be able to say no. But we're just brought up to like always be saying yes and always just do whatever they give you and whatever they want you, which is what you've dreamt of, people wanting you to do their thing and to pay you. And so it is a hard adjustment when you realize that, like some things I just shouldn't do, you know, and some things, it's better off for everybody if I don't do it, you know, because I will watch the movie, say afterwards like it was 40 year old Virginia. I had a great audition for that, right. And I was like, I'm not gonna. Which was for Jane Lynch's part, Steve Carell's boss, like the best buy, right?

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Rob Corddry]

And I was like, I thought I had a good audition and I was like, I'm not gonna get this. And I couldn't really put my finger on why. But sure enough, I did not get it and Jane lynch got it. And so this is not really about being able to say no. This is having somebody say no to you, but also being able to watch that and go, well, I am not Jane Lynch.

[Interviewer]

Right. They had a better idea for what they wanted there.

[Rob Corddry]

They had a great idea. And I would never have been able to do that as much justice as she did. So I guess it's kind of like that's like a backdoor way of.

[Interviewer]

I imagine you have a few stories like that, right? I would imagine maybe not quite like that. Right. But just this thing is so flimsy that can go in any way. There are a million things that makes a movie successful or not successful at largely not gonna be you. Right. Like it's not gonna be solely you that makes it either way.

[Rob Corddry]

There was a show, a very, very popular show out that I read the script of and I Didn't really. It didn't really. I hesitate to say fit in my mouth again, because I know that makes you very visibly uncomfortable. Your eyes do this weird thing where, like, one closes, and then now I'm

[Interviewer]

scared of it every time I look.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, it's almost like you get dizzy when I say it.

[Interviewer]

I can't stop looking at your mouth. It's bothering me. It's bothering me.

[Rob Corddry]

I have a very pretty mouth, though.

[Interviewer]

Don't do that.

[Rob Corddry]

Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. It's your show. Your show.

[Interviewer]

I feel violated.

[Rob Corddry]

And I said no because it just didn't feel right. Even though this was going. Looked like it was probably gonna go and be a very popular show.

[Interviewer]

You knew it was going to be?

[Rob Corddry]

No, I didn't know. I just assumed this showed. Bill Lawrence was the producer, and he has a pretty good record. And I think I had another show in the works that wasn't as good that I was, like, wondering whether I should do that, too. And then. So then I said no to this show, and then this other guy got the part, and I made me feel. Immediately feel like, okay, I made the right decision because this guy's awesome, and there's no reason I should have been doing that show. And also, I got ballers. You know, it just so happened that I have a casting friend. I have a. I went to college with this woman who's a casting director, and she said, hey, we're looking at you for ballers. And I was like, okay, what's ballers? You know, and then I just got it. So everything sort of. If you trust that sort of being able to say no to things that, you know, as a younger, you probably would have said yes to that. That it's still. You're saying no for a reason. Something else will present itself.

[Interviewer]

Why were you so careful with all of those names? I feel like the story and then the story you were telling, probably.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I felt weird saying, like, I was offered something before the guy that made it famous.

[Interviewer]

Okay, but you're not saying. But I'd like.

[Rob Corddry]

I want to know. You want to know?

[Interviewer]

Well, I want. It's not just nosiness. I want to know because I want to see the visual difference between how, like Jane lynch and you, for example.

[Rob Corddry]

I'll tell you. I'll tell you, because I think I've even talked to Ty Burrell about this, who actually got the role, and it was Modern Family, you know, and so it's like they asked me to do it. And I said no. And they got Ty Burrell. Thank God, because he's perfect for that part. You know, I went out for the Office, the American version of the Office, and I really. That's one I really wanted. Right. Because I was a big fan of the British version. And I was. I was. Oh, no, it was Parks and Rec. Sorry. It was Parks and Rec.

[Interviewer]

Another Mike Schur show.

[Rob Corddry]

Same idea. Right? Mike Schur. And it was for Ron. What's his face, the boss. The. You know, the one that.

[Interviewer]

I'm not gonna get his last name right.

[Rob Corddry]

You know, fucking. He's a good friend of mine. I just. Now I'm, like, blanking on.

[Interviewer]

I'm gonna insult Mike Shore by not knowing what it is you're doing here. And now we're both gonna drown. Because Mike Shure took great pride in naming the characters, ridiculously giving them. Ridiculous.

[Rob Corddry]

I can't remember the last name of the character.

[Interviewer]

I don't. But we're gonna get stuck here.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, we're gonna get stuck. No, forget it. Let's move on.

[Interviewer]

The Modern Family one is great. The Modern Family told the story okay, the way that you told the story.

[Rob Corddry]

Very carefully.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. But leaves out the details that you are now not on one of the great television comedies of all time. Like, you're leaving that detail out. Like it is a legitimately exceptional show played flawlessly by him, by Ty Burrell.

[Rob Corddry]

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You ruined the story by not giving the right details.

[Rob Corddry]

Well, I felt like, could I get away with not giving the details? Because maybe the details might offend some. Well, I don't know.

[Interviewer]

It ends up with you as the punchline. You miss out on that.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. You're making a great point. I probably should have just told the story like it happened.

[Interviewer]

Have you had your heart broken more by pouring yourself into one of these and missing by this much?

[Rob Corddry]

I don't know. Because I don't know if I'm pretty good at doing the mental gymnastics I need to do afterwards to sort of justify it, because I can't remember a time when I'm like, oh, that could have been me.

[Interviewer]

Well, but it just sounds like you've got a great. I don't know if you're this way in the rest of your life, but to have life come at you at work in a way that you're just sort of accepting you want things, but if you don't get them, you're not judging yourself. You're not personalizing it. You're not saying I was inferior or insecure. It feels like this entire place is run through the insecurities of the vanities that these agents prey on.

[Rob Corddry]

I've been very like, no, it doesn't really affect me. Like, I can read reviews too. And I can read reviews that are poor.

[Interviewer]

Like, coldly, like a robot, unemotionally. You could read it and be like, I know more about what I just put into this than this person does.

[Rob Corddry]

I don't believe them. I don't believe them. And listen, listen. I don't know. This is not delusion. I don't believe it when they're complimenting me either.

[Interviewer]

That's a great attitude, you know?

[Rob Corddry]

So I don't believe any of it.

[Interviewer]

But do you realize how good that is for your mental health? That right now there's a whole couple of generations coming up on their reading everything that's being said about their every performance?

[Rob Corddry]

You know, there are some people that are so disciplined about that. Like, they don't read anything. They don't read the reviews and because they're so afraid of how it's gonna make them feel. Rightly so, I guess. But. But I mean, yeah, I just don't. I don't believe.

[Interviewer]

I'd like to do a segment with you in the future where I don't have it in front of me. I'm not prepared for this. But where I read you the coolest things said about your performances.

[Rob Corddry]

It'd be great. It'd be great.

[Interviewer]

And you would just eat it.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, I love it, like, too. On Twitter. Like when I used to be really active on Twitter, people would insult the hell out of you, and it would just kind of make me laugh. Like, there was one guy who would insult me, and it was. It was. He was good. And I kind of. Like, there were times when. When I believed him. And so then it becomes not an insult, it becomes a note. Like, yeah, no, he's right about that. That's something I could do better. You know, you're the only person in

[Interviewer]

the history of the Internet to go there for constructing.

[Rob Corddry]

I'm very good. I'm very good at taking notes. I am. I'm very good at taking notes. And also, like, you know, if somebody compliments me too, and I'm like, yeah, but that doesn't ring true to me. Or if it rings true, that's a nice compliment. I'll take it. But it has to. Something has to, like, ring true.

[Interviewer]

But it also feels like this is what you're articulating right now that I don't think is normal in a place that has this much vanity in it is some form of. I don't care what you think about.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah, I don't. I want to be cast. I want. I want people. You know what I think? I want people to like me just so I can get jobs. Because I think that's ultimately what it's about. You see all these people who. Who aren't necessarily that talented, who work consistently. And I think to myself, that person must be a great guy. You know, people just want to work with him. Cause he's fine, but he's not like tearing it up or this guy must be a jerk because he worked consistently and then you don't see him anymore.

[Interviewer]

Well, there's great value in that though. There's great value in having someone in the environment that everyone just likes. Especially if you think you can get 40 actors to do something reasonably similarly.

[Rob Corddry]

I don't know if I follow that. Say that again.

[Interviewer]

If you're all other things being equal. And I feel like for this seventh part, if I don't give it to you, I give it to somebody with a similar skill set who will bring something good to it as well. Might as well have that guy not be an asshole. Might as well have that guy. I want the guy. He might be less good at it, but if people are gonna be pleasant to be around him and they like that, he's gonna be a professional, that would have value. It'd be like a locker room guy in sports.

[Rob Corddry]

I think this happened when I was doing Children's Hospital, when I was putting together Children's Hospital, which is this like tiny, barely a show on barely a network. It was on Adult Swim, which is half a network. And this was a 11 minute show on Adult Swim live action. And we did it for seven years. And I realized then that the only goal that's worth having in this business is to surround yourself by people you love or expect to love and just try to write an original joke, which is near impossible to do the original joke part. But to surround yourself with people that you like or will like or want to like or know are likable. That's the only. That's really one of my only critical criteria. Really do good shit with people who aren't dicks.

[Interviewer]

So was the Daily show the start of that in terms of an environment? Because these are all dysfunctional environments, these people.

[Rob Corddry]

I'm also not a very good judge of character. So maybe these guys are dicks. I don't know. I liked everybody on the Daily show and I think everybody was really good at their jobs and I didn't have a problem with anybody there.

[Interviewer]

But like you might have been so happy to be there that you wouldn't have known.

[Rob Corddry]

I couldn't see Mike.

[Interviewer]

So as you get later in your career, I'm not. I just imagine some of these places can be furnaces that if you're not surrounded by a bunch of people that everybody likes each other. That or if it's a competitive. In fact, Bill Lawrence explained that to me one time about, he was talking about the difference between writers rooms and the ones that can be loving versus the ones that can be competitive. He often gets, gets better out of the competitive ones. But who wants to live there, right? That's not going to feel loving.

[Rob Corddry]

No, I don't, I, that sounds, that sounds terrible to me. Like all the writers rooms. I've, I led a writer's room for Children's Hospital for a couple years and really tried to foster a like team environment and you know, not. I didn't want any sort of competition. I'm not, I don't feel comfortable with competition. I don't really feel it all that much.

[Interviewer]

So some of the people that we're talking about here in terms of creative. So imagine that Mike Shore, Parks and Rec in the office, gets to Saturday Night live as a 23 year old writer because he's that good and he thinks he's good and he's obviously good. And the head writer of the show is the 26 year old Adam McKay.

[Rob Corddry]

Right.

[Interviewer]

And so like, and these are two different people and I happen to think that both of them are lovely people. But as with all the ego in the early 20s and insecurity of the early 20s, I imagine that could have been wild. Competitive in a way that was unfair. 5% of the jokes are getting on air. And you've always been the best because both of you are prodigies. But you don't know that he's Adam McKay. You don't know that he's better than you at writing. He's just the guy who's in charge because he's three years older than you.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah. Boy, that's funny. You say Saturday Night Live because it's one of those things that everybody sort of of aspires to be on Saturday Night Live when they're doing comedy. And you know, being at the UCB theater, we would do auditions for SNL or like Lauren came to a show once and we were all nervous and like, we gotta get on Saturday Night Live. But looking back, I really never had any, like, any stronger aspirations than that. Like, well, that'd be a job. That'd be good. That's the place. Right. But I don't think I would have succeeded in that environment. I think that the competitiveness and the, you know, that show is sort of built around, you know, they haven't changed the format of it since the 70s, and it's been like. So it's just like cocaine writing schedule, you know, And I don't. I couldn't. I don't know if I would have been able to. I would have been one of those guys that would have been off in

[Interviewer]

a year, you know, because you don't think you could have just handled an environment that wasn't warm, wasn't loving, I think. So you couldn't perform your craft in a place where people were being Wall street ambitious.

[Rob Corddry]

I don't think I could match the level of competition that everyone, I suspect, is.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, it's the best in comedy. All the people from Upright Citizens Brigade, they were all trying to get to that one place.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

It was the only place like it that existed.

[Rob Corddry]

Right, Exactly. Exactly right. And it's also a ticket, Right. If you get on Saturday Night Live. And that's sort of. I guess what, if anything interested me was that.

[Interviewer]

Well, I would think, though, that you would have seen the possibility in that getting to the Daily Show.

[Rob Corddry]

So it was the. It was the 2000 elections, right. That sort of catapulted the Daily show into that level of, you know, being a ticket for. For actors. And so when I joined it, it was right at the beginning of that. So it was a big show and popular, but it wasn't what it.

[Interviewer]

Okay, so you helped make it that right? Like, you.

[Rob Corddry]

Oh, I don't know about that. Maybe. Well, but all of it.

[Interviewer]

All the things. All the things you guys were doing, look, whether it's Rogan now or Johnny Carson or Saturday Night Live, there are only a handful of places where once in this time, you're talking about where comedians could break out or they could be seen by everybody. It's not like.

[Rob Corddry]

And the Daily show definitely became that. It definitely became that when I was on it. And I just chalked that up to luck. I mean, that was. Thank God that happened because, I mean, it was an adjustment to leave the Daily show and try and do other things because a lot of casting directors were like, well, you're Rob Cordry.

[Interviewer]

Well, how did this happen? So explain this jump to me. Do you insist on growth here? Like, how long are you at the Daily show before you sang? And it's a furnace the entire time. You're working like crazy, right?

[Rob Corddry]

Working like crazy.

[Interviewer]

Total lunatic. Like, are you balanced or.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, yeah, I think so. I had also just gotten married, so. So I was really more into my wife than I was into anything, you know, and starting a. Planning on starting a family. And so we were like this. I just luckily had this great job and I was working, you know, it was like nine to five. I mean, there's really no other job like that. And, you know, and every once in a while you'd have to go out for a night or two to interview people, which kind of sucked. But other than that, it was a great place to be. And then there is a burnout on that show because my last year I didn't do any. I renegotiated my contract and I was like, I don't want to do any of those field pieces anymore. Stephen Colbert is gone. All the big studio guys are gone. I want to be the guy in the studio. So I was the guy in the studio for my last year and I had a blast. Because that is just fun, you know, because you get to improvise with John and he's such a good laugher, you know, like, he will laugh at your improvs right there on tv, which is really satisfying. And so that was fun. And then I got a job, somebody. It was Seth MacFarlane's first live action show on Fox. It was called the Winner, which in retrospect is a terrible name for a show because you can guess what our first review said. Yeah, the Winner's a loser. The Winner is a loser. Right. And it was really like, it was a good show, but it's Seth MacFarlane

[Interviewer]

having to learn some of the things

[Rob Corddry]

he would have to learn. Exactly. And we were, you know, Ricky Blitt was our showrunner and he was one of the funniest guys I've ever met. Still is to this day. And he. And it was a show about a guy who was sort of. He was an agoraphobic for most of his life and never left the house. And then he finally decides to leave the house for the love of this girl that he's gonna pursue and then becomes friends, best friends with her 14 year old son. So it was like three episodes into the show when the producers finally realized that they wrote a show about a potential pedophile, you know, and so we were gone after six episodes. Yeah, it was a big blind spot. Nobody saw that before yeah, of course. My character was fucking the hell out of him. What? You get really uncomfortable at the weirdest things. You get very squirmy at the. All I said was, no, no, he was a very good. It's all he knew. He was a 14 year old, you know, he was himself. So he, I did that and then I had, didn't have a job for years and I was poor and living in LA with a one year old child. And that was. And then. Oh, there was a strike too at that point. So what's the matter? You haven't recovered yet? I was trying to go on and like kind of push you. I was hoping I was pushing you through this moment.

[Interviewer]

I was hoping, I was desperately hoping, okay, that I could sit here silently and just be quietly appalled and amused by a successful pedophilia joke and that you would have kept going. Like we began the episode and would have just told me of all of the traumas that you had during this time of your life. And I was hoping that's how the episode.

[Rob Corddry]

I wouldn't, I wouldn't have told that joke if I hadn't been workshopping it for years and knew it was a pretty good one, you know? Cause you could joke about anything, but it's gotta be good. So I, you know, in these times.

[Interviewer]

In these times, of all the times, in these times. That's the joke you pulled off. There's a degree of difficulty of that. The audacity.

[Rob Corddry]

The audacity.

[Interviewer]

AMC and AMC plus this was a delight, sir. Thank you.

[Rob Corddry]

Thank you, man.

[Interviewer]

Thank you for taking us on the journey of your life.

[Rob Corddry]

This was great. This was a lot of fun. I did, I did I pass?

[Interviewer]

I mean, you, you, you nailed the dismount. You nailed the dismount. Nailed.

[Rob Corddry]

We're going out on a pedophilia joke.

[Interviewer]

I mean, aspirationally.

[Rob Corddry]

Yeah, Tires matter. They're the only part of your vehicle that touches the road.

[Interviewer]

Road.

[Rob Corddry]

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