Ed Helms

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)"
Episode: Ed Helms
Release Date: July 9, 2025

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of Where Everybody Knows Your Name, hosts Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson reconnect with comedian and actor Ed Helms. Known for his charismatic roles in The Office, The Hangover, and his own podcast Snafu, Ed brings a blend of humor and intellectual curiosity to the conversation. The episode delves deep into Ed's career, his passion for history’s greatest screw-ups, and his personal journey balancing fame, creativity, and family life.

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Episode Overview

The episode serves as a heartfelt reunion between Ted Danson and Ed Helms, exploring Ed's multifaceted career and his new venture into podcasting with Snafu. The discussion navigates through Ed's inspirations, his experiences on acclaimed TV shows and movies, and his reflections on personal growth and morality.

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Key Discussions

1. Origins and Concept of Snafu

Ed Helms introduces his podcast Snafu, which stands for "Situation Normal All Up," a military acronym reflecting everyday chaos and mishaps. The podcast explores historical screw-ups, particularly those with significant American ties.

• Ed Helms ([03:29]): "The podcast is like each season is a deep dive into one crazy snafu. Eight episodes, like immersive, almost like a cinematic listening experience."

Ed elaborates on the structure, highlighting the blend of humor and serious exploration, enhanced by sound design and interviews with historians and experts.

2. The Allure of Historical Screw-Ups

The conversation shifts to specific examples from Ed's book, such as the 1950s chemistry sets containing uranium, reflecting the era's naivety about radioactive materials.

• Ed Helms ([04:08]): "It had uranium in it, and it was definitely radioactive. And a toy that children shouldn't play with basically."

Ted Danson appreciates how these snafus often start with good intentions but spiral due to human error and poor judgment.

• Ted Danson ([05:19]): "That must be kind of a nice ingredient or prerequisite for a snafu. It starts off, this is a good idea. Sure. We need to solve this problem, and this might be a really good idea."

3. The Creative Process and Challenges

Ed discusses the rigorous research and production involved in creating Snafu, contrasting it with the perceived ease of other podcast formats.

• Ed Helms ([05:59]): "I wanted to do a podcast like you. I didn't really want to do an interview show. I suck."

He acknowledges the unexpected depth and emotional weight that comes with uncovering historical truths.

• Ed Helms ([08:53]): "Season two of the podcast became actually incredibly poignant in ways that I didn't expect because we were talking with so many of the people involved."

4. Personal Reflections on Fame and Creativity

The hosts reflect on their own journeys through fame, comparing Ed's experiences during The Hangover with Ted's time on Cheers.

• Ed Helms ([35:19]): "People will follow you or be curious about your reaction to something or just want to talk to you and keep following you and keep looking at you and giving that energy."

Ed shares his challenges in maintaining personal privacy and mental well-being amidst fame, highlighting the importance of personal boundaries.

5. Musical Pursuits and Personal Growth

Ed delves into his passion for music, particularly the banjo, and his collaborations with renowned musicians like Steve Martin.

• Ed Helms ([52:09]): "I finally bought a banjo when I moved to New York City after college and took a few lessons."

Ted complements Ed's musical talents, creating a warm and appreciative dynamic between the hosts.

6. Evolving Goals and Family Influence

As a parent, Ed discusses how fatherhood has reshaped his career aspirations and personal priorities.

• Ed Helms ([62:21]): "My most intense North Star for me now is being the best dad and husband that I can be."

He emphasizes the profound impact of his family on his sense of morality and life goals, steering his professional endeavors towards fulfilling and balanced objectives.

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Notable Quotes

• Ted Danson ([05:19]): "That must be kind of a nice ingredient or prerequisite for a snafu. It starts off, this is a good idea. Sure. We need to solve this problem, and this might be a really good idea."

• Ed Helms ([08:53]): "Season two of the podcast became actually incredibly poignant in ways that I didn't expect because we were talking with so many of the people involved."

• Ted Danson ([16:19]): "It's not designed to make you feel guilty. No. Shameful."

• Ed Helms ([25:21]): "You just. I will never direct, I'll never write, I'll never produce. I'm an actor. Pure, pure actor."

• Ted Danson ([30:37]): "How did she fit in that?"

• Ed Helms ([64:02]): "I'm a deeply involved parent. It's very hard for me to picture projects that take me away for long stretches."

• Ed Helms ([68:50]): "My North Star has evolved a lot over my life. The most intense North Star for me now is being the best dad and husband that I can be."

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Conclusions

This episode offers a profound look into Ed Helms' intellectual pursuits and personal philosophies. From dissecting historical missteps on Snafu to navigating the complexities of fame and embracing fatherhood, Ed embodies a harmonious blend of humor, curiosity, and heartfelt introspection. Ted Danson not only celebrates Ed's achievements but also explores the deeper motivations that drive his friend's multifaceted career. The conversation underscores the importance of continuous growth, honest self-reflection, and the enduring value of personal relationships in shaping one's path.

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Final Thoughts

Where Everybody Knows Your Name successfully bridges the gap between entertainment and meaningful discourse, providing listeners with both laughter and insightful reflections. Ed Helms' openness about his journey enriches the narrative, making this episode a compelling listen for fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Ted Danson]

Where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson sometimes is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law, not available in all states.

[Ed Helms]

And we would just go get cocktails after work and just pitch ideas and make each other laugh about what a crazy character Andy Bernard was.

[Ted Danson]

Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. Very excited to be talking to Ed Helms. You know him from the office, the Hangover, the Daily Show, Rutherford Falls, and much more. Like me, he's also a podcaster, and his show snafu is all about history's greatest screw ups. I really delight in him. Here's Ed Helms. But here we are, two podcasters. We're going to talk about yours a lot. Snafu, which means it's a military term. Situation normal all up.

[Ed Helms]

Ted.

[Ted Danson]

It's my.

[Ed Helms]

Dare you. This is a. This is a family show, just so you know. Yeah, no, that's. That's World War II. I guess some soldiers were just kind of getting exasperated and you know, the army loves an acronym, and so that's where SNAFU and fubar, which is arguably a better acronym.

[Ted Danson]

Wait, so messed up. F you. What is bar fubar? Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

FUBAR is up beyond all recognition.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Which is just. It's just so glorious.

[Ted Danson]

And it's. It's one worse than snafu.

[Ed Helms]

It's a. Yeah, yeah. Situation normal all up is kind of like. Yeah, like this is like. Yeah, it's always like that. It's always just kind of fucked up. FUBAR is like, oh, oh, no, this is bad. This is bad.

[Ted Danson]

And this is what your podcast is. You take us through decades of most, mostly are all American snafus.

[Ed Helms]

So the, the podcast, there's three seasons of the podcast and they're all. Well, one season one is kind of a. A global snafu, but it's really about the American side of it. It's. It's American, I would say. Yeah, the first three seasons. The second season is a very American. And. And yeah, season three is about prohibition, so that's. There's nothing more American than that. The book is. Well, I should say clarify a little bit. The, The. The. The podcast is like each season is a deep dive into one crazy snafu. Eight episodes, like immersive, almost like cinematic listening experience. I'm narrating, but there's lots of sound design and production effects, and it's. It's like a long, deep exploration of one thing. Also funny, but it's.

[Ted Danson]

And you do interviews. You do. You do everything that will bring it to life for the listener.

[Ed Helms]

It's highly produced. It's not. It's not like a guest show. It's.

[Ted Danson]

But.

[Ed Helms]

But we've interviewed historians, experts, people involved in the snafus. Sometimes the book is just a much lighter sort of survey of snafus. There. There's like 31. Each chapter is a new. Is almost like a short story.

[Ted Danson]

Just looking at the book, one of the snafus was that children actually got a chemistry set in the 50s that had two little bottles of uranium.

[Ed Helms]

Uranium, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Which is. At higher doses, is real deadly. Yeah, terminally so. And perhaps in the doses they got. Not good.

[Ed Helms]

I mean, not ideal. They were in little glass vials with the label.

[Ted Danson]

Don't know.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, don't open these. But, like, what do you do if you're a kid with a new. It actually wasn't a chemistry set. It was like a. It was like your home nuclear lab or something. I forget the actual generate power, but. Well, like nuke. Like just. Just sort of. Yeah, it had uranium in it, and it was definitely radioactive. And a toy that children shouldn't play with. Basically. This was the 50s. Like, we didn't know. We just didn't know. We didn't know any better. There were so many toxic substances in the industrial world, But. But the only reason they took this toy off the shelves is because it was too expensive. It was too expensive to produce. Only later did they realize that, yeah, this. This was probably also too much radiation for children.

[Ted Danson]

That must be kind of a nice ingredient or prerequisite for a snafu. It starts off, this is a good idea. Sure. We need to solve this problem, and this might be a really good idea.

[Ed Helms]

That's a great observation, because that is most. Most snafus in this book are things that started out as. As like, a really good idea or like an effort to fix a problem. And. And just terrible judgment, human error, all of. All of the above.

[Ted Danson]

First off, how did you come up with the idea of doing a podcast about snafus?

[Ed Helms]

Well, Ted, I wanted to do a podcast like you. Right. I. I just was kind of. I was a big consumer of podcasts. I really enjoyed them, and I'd been guests on tons of podcasts, and I was just kind of wondering, like, where do I fit into this landscape. Or do I. Because I didn't really want to do an interview show. I suck.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, they're the worst.

[Ed Helms]

They're the worst. They're so annoying to go on and to sit through and oh, I haven't read the book. There's such a burden. Yeah, there's. So no one's prepared. It's just. What a joke. But no, but I, I honestly, I love, I love these show, these interview shows. I listen to them all the time and they're really, they're. They're so enlightening. You get, get to know people in different ways and. But I didn't want to do that, so I was like, is there some subject? And, and history's just always been a fun area for me that's kind of like effortlessly interesting. Like, I've, I'm always curious. I go down these weird little rabbit holes all the time of like, oh, like medical history. I, I just kind of like get into some weird thing or like, you know, when did we start to understand what, how. What cancer is and how that works or, or when. Who invented the bulldozer and why? I, I just, I. My brain is very curious. Frenetic and kind of curious that way. And, and so I was like, okay, a history podcast, but it still has to be funny. I want it to be, like, really fun and engaging. So, so then it was like, well, okay, screw ups like this, like, like the screw ups of history are inherently funny. They're inherently captivating because they're, they're literally like car crashes on a freeway. You drive by, you have to turn and look right? And so it just felt like a, the perfect mashup of my interests and, and something that it would be fun to do. And it has been, it's actually been so much more rewarding than I even thought. Like, I thought it would just be sort of a fun, light engagement. Turns out it's a hell of a lot of work. It's. Honestly, it's too much work, Ted. I'm, I'm overwhelmed and I am ready to truth time.

[Ted Danson]

Do you have help? Researchers?

[Ed Helms]

Yes. No, we have a great team. And there were. I had a lot of research help on this book too. And yeah, we have a great team and. But what I was saying is I wanted it to be sort of fun and light going in, but the more you dig into these subjects, the more rich they get and the more human they get and tragic and at times very tragic.

[Ted Danson]

Sad history.

[Ed Helms]

Sure. And then season two of the podcast became actually incredibly poignant in ways that I didn't expect because we were talking with so many of the people involved. And so in all these kind of beautiful, surprising ways, the whole experience of working on the SNAFU podcast and then and subsequently the book has been very enriching and kind of uplifting. And as much work as it is like, I just can't wait to keep going and keep doing more. It's. It is, it is way more work than I expected. It's not quite as much fun necessarily as like being on a movie set or a TV set. You know, those are.

[Ted Danson]

You're not the bridegroom. You are.

[Ed Helms]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

You are working very hard beforehand.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, you're in the trenches.

[Ted Danson]

You know, it's also, it's kind of this perfect combination of history and conspiracy that happens to be true. So it's not.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, we're not making anything up.

[Ted Danson]

News, you're not making anything up. This really happened. But it feels as unbelievable as some conspiracy theories are, except it's real.

[Ed Helms]

Some of these stories are so outlandish that you're spot on. They feel like conspiracies and a lot of them live in the space of, of, of spycraft or intelligence. You know, the CIA. There's one that, there's. There's one story from the book that that's just almost impossible to believe, which is, it's the 1950s. The Cold War is, you know, just full force, and the United States and the Soviet Union are just looking for ways to one up each other and intimidate each other with their nuclear strength and power. And someone hatches a plan, someone in the US Government hatches a plan to shoot the moon with a nuclear warhead.

[Ted Danson]

That explodes on the moon.

[Ed Helms]

That would explode on the moon. Now why would this be a good idea? Well, the thinking was that the Soviets will see us hit the moon with a nuclear warhead and they'll just be like, oh my God, we're doomed. The Americans are so badass. Look at that. They can shoot, literally shoot the moon with a nuclear warhead. And this is like how, how a 10 year old thinks, right? Like we're just going to blow up this thing over there to scare these people. But also like the moon is like, who, what did the moon do? Why does the moon need to get, get shot?

[Ted Danson]

How far down the line did this man go?

[Ed Helms]

This got very far down the line and they start to realize this is actually a terrible idea. And thank God they came around on this. But basically they realized that any minor miscalculation or malfunction could very easily result in this nuclear warhead missing the moon, slingshotting around the gravitational field of the moon and just coming right back at us.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

Which.

[Ted Danson]

Or Moscow. And go.

[Ed Helms]

Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. And any. Just hitting the Earth somewhere. That was. That was not obviously a very bad outcome. The other thing they realized is that even if they hit the moon, the best they could hope for is like, a little, like, it wouldn't be this giant explosion that, that, that the Soviets would see and be like, terrified by. It might just be this little dust ball, a little poof. And if you could see it at all. And I love that because that detail is fully Wile E. Coyote. Right? Like, that's. That. That is. That is Every time Wile E. Coyote plummets off a cliff, he lands in like, a poof, a little dust cloud.

[Ted Danson]

After the sound disappears.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, exactly. Poof. And. And. And you can imagine, like, ACME consulting on this project. It's. It's that. It's. It's that Looney Tunes like this, that whole idea. And here's another crazy thing about that whole story is that one of the researchers was Carl Sagan. Oh, wow. A young Carl Sagan right out of grad school. And the only reason that we know about this is because a. One of Carl Sagan's biographers, you know, decades later, is going through all of his old papers and finds a fellowship application where he had listed this project as on basically on his resume. And, and this biographer is like, I'm gonna put. Put a hold on the Carl Sagan research. What the hell is this?

[Ted Danson]

Oh, my God.

[Ed Helms]

I'm gonna go down this rabbit hol. But that's it. That's like, to your earlier point, like the. About conspiracy. The only reason we know about so many of these things is because of either, you know, accidents like that or the dogged work of authors, historians, and journalists. And to me, that's like kind of the. The. The hero story underneath a lot of these things. We just wouldn't know if it wasn't for. For journalists.

[Ted Danson]

It's kind of interesting too, that we're in a period of, you know, history belongs to the. The victor, you know, and you're going, no, no, it's here. If you dig deep enough, it's all there. Here's the truth. This is what really happened.

[Ed Helms]

Well, we're also in this weird moment where it feels like. Like history needs to be manipulated to fit a narrative. Yeah, right. It feels like we're. And that's very heartbreaking to me because history, when it's looked at responsibly is a sort of, is a. Ideally, you're trying to build as factual a record as you can and you're, you're, you're, in doing so, you're sort of taking responsibility for the, the human error or, or, or in the case of like, like the United States, like if we look back at United States history, it is so important to be open and transparent about our mistakes, about our flaws. Not in a way that, that denigrates us, but in a way that we can keep growing and, and also make any amends or make any adjustments. Amends is a, is a probably a controversial word, but, but I just mean making adjustments that we need to as a culture, as a society, as, as people.

[Ted Danson]

And it's not designed to make you feel guilty. No. Shameful.

[Ed Helms]

Right. And it, and how weak is it to feel that guilt? Like, exactly. It's not a, it's not an exercise in guilt. It's an exercise in knowledge. It's an exercise in, in growth and curiosity and exploration. It's like, you know, it's like digging in to yourself in therapy or something. Like, hey, let's look. We gotta, we gotta look at the whole package here. There's good parts and bad parts. There's things we're proud of, there's things we're not proud of. How do we move forward in the most honest and productive way?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Ed Helms]

We just got real, Ted.

[Ted Danson]

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[Ed Helms]

Oh, thanks.

[Ted Danson]

Your level of intellectual curiosity mixed with humor. I mean, where did that come from? When you look back, did you grow up around people who were intellectually curious and encouraged? That or yeah.

[Ed Helms]

I would say I can kind of point to a a couple of things. I grew up in a home that I think my my mom and dad were both just very curious people and we had tons of books and tons of, like, reference books. My dad was a. Well, a history nerd. He was kind of. He. He was into Civil War history, so he had all these old musty, like, you know, history books about that. And. And we had shelves of National Geographics. And that was like, I think my entry point.

[Ted Danson]

Or.

[Ed Helms]

No, no, just.

[Ted Danson]

Just the.

[Ed Helms]

Just the magazine.

[Ted Danson]

So did we.

[Ed Helms]

Right? It's like a. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

It was my first naked woman.

[Ed Helms]

Oh, I think for a lot of.

[Ted Danson]

Us was National Geographic.

[Ed Helms]

First. First boobies was National Geographic. This is.

[Ted Danson]

You're sitting there doing these incredible historical references, and I'm. That is where I saw my first breast. Really.

[Ed Helms]

It's. I think, for. For. Yeah, those of us of a certain age that's. National Geographic has that role also. But. But I. I loved it. I just loved all of the, like, the places around the world that. That it. That it took me, right, Just. I could pull any issue off of the shelf. And we had hundreds, like, you know, just going back, like 10 or 15 years. They. My parents saved everyone. And then we also had. The other thing that I loved was our World Book Encyclopedia on the bookshelf, which I. Which you.

[Ted Danson]

Which was your Google.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, it was Google. That's right. And anything you were curious about, you know, someone would. Would say, you know, something about St. Petersburg, Russia, and you're like, what is. What's that? You could just look it up. Yeah. And. And it was such a more sort of like Google now as a. As a research tool is so overwhelming. It's like this flood of. Of sources and information, and you really. It's like such a. Like, I. I just almost panic trying to sort through things if I'm really trying to learn about something. Like, all right, well, who wrote this? Is it really legitimate? Is this a thing? Like, what is this place? Is it. You just. There's so many websites with so much crap, but the World Book. The World Book was so simple, right? You just turn to the page. It's all alphabetical, and you turn to the page, you read about it. It's like, you know, maybe a few short paragraphs if you're lucky. It's a couple of pages on this thing. And it was just. It was a contained, you know, packet of information exactly what you wanted.

[Ted Danson]

See, that's. To me, that's the beginning of the Ed Helms that I find fascinating. We both share the joy of the giggle. That's very similar.

[Ed Helms]

The joy of the giggle.

[Ted Danson]

I see that in you, and I have that. But then some similarities vanish because I Was the son of an archeologist. The scientist. And my sister soaked up everything. Every adult scientists from all over the world would have dinner in our house.

[Ed Helms]

Wow.

[Ted Danson]

Nothing landed.

[Ed Helms]

Nothing took it all for granted.

[Ted Danson]

Thank God I got to be an actor because nothing else fit. I could read for pleasure if I had to read to retain something. Oh, nope, my brain just didn't do that. So I am pure actor. Pure, pure actor. I will never direct, I'll never write, I'll never produce. I'm an actor. You, on the other hand, are amazing. You write and produce and act and play six different instruments.

[Ed Helms]

You just.

[Ted Danson]

I just. And what? To me, I bring that up not because you're like, oh, how amazing. But it also. You are. But it also, I think, impacts your acting. There's something about you when I watch you that you can be as wild and funny as the script demands, but there's something so grounded in you that is more important than everything else that's going around you. You have that air that I just find fascinating when I watch you act. I loved Hangover. I loved the. Everyone feels empathy and all the humanity in you, even though you're sitting there without a tooth, being as silly as whatever the script needs. You really are a wonderful actor. And there's so many layers to you that I think come out of that curiosity.

[Ed Helms]

Wow. Yeah, that. Go on then.

[Ted Danson]

There looks. You are astoundingly handsome.

[Ed Helms]

That is. I am so, so moved by that, dad. It means the world.

[Ted Danson]

So tell me how you. Good. I'm glad because it's true. Tell me how you started the funny part, how you started into acting, theater, improvisation, whatever.

[Ed Helms]

So the short version is that I saw Saturday Night Live when I was 8 years old and I just thought Eddie Murphy was having the most fun of anybody I'd ever seen. And I didn't even understand it, but I was just like, I want to have the fun that he's having. I can tell he's having fun.

[Ted Danson]

And the outrageous confidence.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, exactly. That. That's what I, that's what I wanted. And I think I was maybe like a nervous, anxious kid in a lot of ways and maybe still am, but it was that confidence that Eddie Murphy had as an 18 year old on that show.

[Ted Danson]

God, he was 18. Wow.

[Ed Helms]

The, the, the self possession, it was intoxicating to watch and, and the, the command. And it just seemed like such a thrill. And so, of course, like so many comedians, Saturday Night Live became kind of my. I don't know. Obsession's a strong word, but it was, it just was sort of a. Always there. It was a, it was a constant of my focus in my. In growing up and something I always. I just sort of like early on was like, this is. I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of that. Now that's the kind of like, that's the, the part you can, That I can tell or that I can sort of like look back on and say, oh yeah, that's. That's what sort of got me started. But when I think a little deeper and I've only started to think more about this recently, like, what is the. Where, where. Where does the sort of like, desire? Why did that grab me so much? What is the thing that like, actually draws me to comedy in the first place? And, And I think that has a much more complicated origin in, in, in growing up in a. In a very sort of repressed Southern home with some, Some toxic elements to it and comedy being a, you know, a kind of way out of tough situations or a way to handle tough people or a way to fix things. And, and my dad was a very complicated guy with, who was brilliant and, and had some demons, but he was also insanely funny. And, and I, I could just tell that was my favorite part of him. And so he just had a wicked wit that, that was honestly, in, I think a little like, too mean spirited from, from my taste, but I could always appreciate his sense of irony was so strong and he could, you know, he just was. He was a bootstrap story. He'd grown up in Montgomery, Alabama, and, And gotten himself through college on an ROTC scholarship and then got himself through Harvard Law School and became a lawyer. And, and he, so he, he had this perspective on sort of class issues that few people have and also had a just incredible ability to kind of cut like with a, With a satirical mind. And, and so that I think that mixed with again, how about your mom?

[Ted Danson]

How did she fit in that.

[Ed Helms]

Mom. Mom is a great laugher.

[Ted Danson]

Appreciate it.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, great. And, and, and so I've so, so she would, she would. She. She was there to kind of reward a good, A good joke or a good performance or a good kind of moment. So if I did something silly at the dinner table, dad might get mad, but Mom, Mom's gonna laugh. And, and that, that's been a, a huge, I think safety net for me was like, mom's laughter. Boy, I might get misty talking about that. But I remember the, the, the premiere for the Hangover. So like I said, kind of. I grew up in kind of a repressed Southern home. Pretty, like, politically very progressive, but still a very socially conservative kind of environment. And so the Hangover is nuts. Like, that's not what they raised me to do, is to be in a movie like the Hangover. And so my parents. I mean, at that point, they'd seen me do crazy stuff on. On the Daily show, in the Office, so. So there was, you know, there was some sort of acceptance already, but. But still, I was nervous for my parents to see the Hangover. And as a. Well, I was like, 35 when that. That movie came out, and I'm still, like, nervous about my parents. And so they came to the premiere, and I'm sitting next to my mom, and, you know, there's just so much insanity. And the movie ends, and there's huge applause, and I'm looking at my mom. The lights come up, and she's crying. She's like, tears streaming down her face. And for a second, I'm like, did I just break my poor mom's heart? And she just is. She's saying. She said to me that that was so funny, you know, and just a big hug, and I'll just never forget. That was such a kind of, like, special moment. The Hangover was such a pivotal moment in my career and my life, and for mom to just sort of be all in on it, it meant so much.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Oh, that's a great story.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Bradley and Zach, terrible humans you've worked with Zach, you know, and I live near Bradley. They're both horrible human beings.

[Ed Helms]

We really went through so much together making those movies and promoting those movies.

[Ted Danson]

All over the world.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Did things change kind of for you from that, the impact of how huge they became?

[Ed Helms]

Oh, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Was walking around different? Was fame fun or not so fun as a result of those movies?

[Ed Helms]

Things definitely changed. I. You know, I had. I'd had. I had the benefit of kind of ramping into fame through. Through the Daily show and then the Office, for. I was on the Office a few years before the first Hangover, I think a couple of years. And so it wasn't completely out of the blue, but I will say it was a level of fame that I just knew nothing about. It was. Nothing can really prepare you for that. Do you remember that transition for yourself?

[Ted Danson]

But I did the same thing you did. I think. God knew I couldn't take a big cannon shot of fame that I had to go and here be in the background. I'd do a commercial now, maybe it'd be a soap opera. You know, it built up to Cheers. But I do remember when Cheers syndicated the first week of syndication, so you weren't just on Thursday night at 9 or 9:30, whatever it was you were on every night.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And the amount of. I remember walking out and going, whoa, what's wrong? What's going on? Because so much energy was coming my way, and people fanning out on you or looking at you, just looking at you, whether you know they're looking at you or not. Is energy physics slamming into you?

[Ed Helms]

Oh, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And for me, my safety valve, because it was a lot. And somehow from my parents or my sister, I was able to go, oh, I need to deal with this. Coincidentally, that's when environmental activism, ocean activism started for me. And that's kind of what saved me. Oh, that's fame.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. That's a great.

[Ted Danson]

You turned to alcohol. No.

[Ed Helms]

I turned to violence.

[Ted Danson]

That's.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. That's so interesting. I. I think I'm curious. Your take on the. What. What I found and what I. What I didn't even have the awareness to understand at the time.

[Ted Danson]

Or.

[Ed Helms]

Or the tools to deal with was the. What I found kind of crazy was the loss of control over your environment as a. As a famous person, you. We, you know, you take for granted for so long that if. If, you know, if you're in a weird situation in a restaurant, a fight breaks out or something, you can just leave. Or if you're at baggage claim and somebody's being weird or there's a, you know, people yelling at each other, you can just walk away. Right. But when you're famous, you're suddenly not able to, like, just walk away.

[Ted Danson]

You could people look at you.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Well, people, please handle this.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Or. Or they'll just. People will follow you or ex. Or be curious about your reaction to something or just want to talk to you and keep following you and keep looking at you and giving that energy. You're talking about.

[Ted Danson]

The.

[Ed Helms]

The. It's like those moments when you do just want to sit down at an airport gate and, like, read a book and. And people are just coming up, asking for pictures or want to chat or whatever it is. And generally that's very positive energy. And I'm. I. I'm like. I welcome it, but. But sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's. It's like it can be dark or weird energy, you know, drunk guys thrilled about wanting to do shots with you because of the hangover or whatever. And. And. And I think it was that sense of, like, well, what do I do? What am I supposed to do in this situation? And not having a sort of set of tools or even a kind of maturity to sort of, like, deal with. And I suddenly understood how a lot of celebrities become agoraphobic. But I. I sort of made myself a promise that I would.

[Ted Danson]

That I wouldn't keep doing everyday things.

[Ed Helms]

Yes. And I won't be. I won't. I won't hide.

[Ted Danson]

No, you can kind of hide in plain sight.

[Ed Helms]

Sure.

[Ted Danson]

You can bore the hell out of people.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

If you put on dark glasses and walk someplace with the bodyguard, you will attract a crapload of attention for sure. As opposed to, you know. Yeah. Down the street. Huh. I. I'll give you a gift. Here's. Except it's probably too late. This is my response to hey, Ted. Da, da, da, da. Or do you remember I have this generic hey. It's a hey, which means. Oh, I hear you. Yep, I remember. Yep. Gotcha. Can't stop. Hey.

[Ed Helms]

Is that like a horse?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, whatever. With a big grin and a. Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

Oh, I love that. I love that. Somebody I'll never forget. I was doing a press junket with a wonderful actor who I will not name, but they kept asking him if he was attached to this new big superhero role, and he couldn't answer because it wasn't official or the. Whatever. It wasn't. He just. Well, he wasn't able to actually answer the question yet. And so he kept saying. The reporters kept asking the question. And he would go. He would just mumble. He would just mumble. And. And at one point, I was like, hey, you should just come up with, like, a stock answer. And he's like, no, no, I think this is working pretty well. And it was like the reporters were just like, what is he talking? They just move on.

[Ted Danson]

Say, you've always wanted to take a spontaneous trip to the Caribbean. Here's the thing. If you get smart with your money, you can do things like that within power. You can start making the most out of your money so you can go out and live a little. I mean, isn't that why we work so hard to have some fun with our money? Like treating yourself to something special or spontaneously doing something extra for a loved one. So use Empower and get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 19 million customers [e-mail]. not an Empower client, paid or sponsor. Nature's Bounty is the life hack we've all been needing. And being rather lazy myself, I enjoy a good shortcut. And I just said that because I want you to know that I know what hack actually means in this case. So Nature's Bounty has a bounty of solutions to supplement your health and wellness. New superfoods plus energy packs. Nutrients from a powdered blend of 23 fruits and veggies in just one capsule per day. I love that. I take a lot of pills, and I love adding just one and not a fistful. Help reduce the appearance of wrinkles. You just got my attention. And improve skin elasticity in just 12 weeks with new ultra collagen booster. All right, I'm 77. I'm going to make this a test. I'm loving the thought of it. And new probiotic gummies contain prebiotic and postbiotics for gut health, regularity and immune health in just one gummy per day. Nature's Bounty. It's in your nature. Learn [e-mail] these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Back up, back up. I see you getting hired to be in the Office, but by the end of your time, you were producing it, you were writing parts of it, and you directed a couple episodes. What was that progression that you wormed your way into the front office? Sorry, I'm after the writer in you.

[Ed Helms]

I think what you're actually getting at is sort of the benevolence of Greg Daniels, who is. Do you know. You know Greg?

[Ted Danson]

I, I, you know, I don't really, but I know of him through Mike Shore. I know the legendariness of him, Sure. I don't. We haven't hung out well.

[Ed Helms]

He is both a genius and a lovely man. And he. He was the showrunner for listeners. He. He was the. The. The creator of the American version of the Office and. And. And ran it for most of its run. And he just had an incredibly collaborative spirit and welcomed this sort of. He fostered the ambitions of both his writers and his cast. And so when cast expressed interest in doing different things or sort of adding creatively, he was. He was there to help and. And kind of facilitate and make things happen. So. So I saw, you know, some of my castmates directing.

[Ted Danson]

John did.

[Ed Helms]

John. Yeah, sure, John. John did a few. And, boy, what a director that he was. He was, like, super special and all the. The great. The best thing about John was when he directed episodes, there was a sort of culture in the Office where we just went long, like, every day went long, and we just took our time and moved through scenes slowly. And that was great, but it also meant that like, everyone was tired a lot and sometimes we weren't getting enough sleep because we were, you know, we'd have to be in early the next morning. But John, every time he directed, we were done at like, whoa, you know, 6:30 every day. And he just ran that set in such. Was such like a steady hand.

[Ted Danson]

He's one of my favorite human beings. He and Emily.

[Ed Helms]

Yep. Incredible.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, but he got so you. They. What did you ask for? Not ask for. Where did you go first? Writing or directing?

[Ed Helms]

Well, I didn't write Office episodes, but I did.

[Ted Danson]

But you.

[Ed Helms]

I contr. I pitched a lot and I sort of.

[Ted Danson]

You have a producer credit, right?

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, towards, yeah, towards the end we were, we were. Yeah, a few of us were. Became producers on it. And so I was involved in that creative process and, and pitching things and sort of reflecting with writers and at different times on different story lines, etc. But, but, and, and honestly, I think of improvising as a sort of form of writing and that was always happening as well. So. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And you met Mike Schur.

[Ed Helms]

Oh, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Which became a collaboration.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Mike. What. What a. The worst.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, he is. He is so bad that when I called him a few minutes. Texted him a few minutes ago, he said make sure to ask him to do his Shelby Foote Ken Burns docs impersonation. So you're on. I'm sorry, you have no choice. We will sit here until you do it.

[Ed Helms]

Oh my God. He totally threw me under the bus. That's so funny.

[Ted Danson]

Your friend.

[Ed Helms]

Well, first let me just give you a little background on Mike Scher and me, which is that he. So he was a writer. When I joined the cast of the Office, he was a writer. And for some reason he and I just took. We found each other early and kind of glued onto each other because we both thought that Andy Bernard was the funniest, dumbest, craziest character. And we would just like, like go get cocktails after work and just pitch ideas and make each other laugh about what a crazy character Andy Bernard was. And so in so many ways.

[Ted Danson]

Great character on the Office. Correct listeners?

[Ed Helms]

Yes. And so in so many ways Mike was, was like integral to the creation and genesis and, and ultimate evolution of Andy Bernard in those early years. And, and purely out of joy. It was such a fun, joyful process to kind of like just pitch and make each other laugh and I, I would, you know, perform some dumb thing and, and he was on set a lot and, and we were just constantly finding things and he's good buddies with, with John Krasinski too. So that those first couple of seasons, it just was like such a fun, fun little collaborative cocoon that we were in. But.

[Ted Danson]

And that's Mike Shore.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Now Mike's request is still on the table.

[Ed Helms]

Okay, so you've seen Ken Burns Civil War documentary. One of the most prominent voices in that documentary is a historian named Shelby Foote, who's this sort of Southern aristocrat, sort of Southern academic, and he's obsessed with the Civil War. And, and they just like, Ken goes to him constantly and I. And like, of course he's a, he's a well regarded academic. But. But I would always complain to Mike that, like, why, why does he go to Shelby Foote so much? And one of the things that bugged me about Shelby footage is that he would. So much of what he would say was so clearly apocryphal. Like it was not factual. It was not something that could be verified in any way. So he'd say something like, you know, when Stonewall Jackson's men took the crest of the hill and looked down into the valley, and Stonewall said to them, boys, this will be the moment of your life. And the soldiers looked at him and they saw the glint in his eye and they, and they were filled with courage and charged down the hill. It's like, no, they didn't. How do you know that? Come on. How do you know they saw the glint of his eye? Like, what? And so it's such rich storytelling, which is why I both love it. But then also, like, the historian in me is like, come on. You can't verify that they saw a glint in his eye and he does.

[Ted Danson]

Is he still alive? Because you should get him on SNAFU as an expert.

[Ed Helms]

I don't know, but I have deep affection for Shelby Foote and just that little bone to pick. And of course, yeah, you and Mike.

[Ted Danson]

Are both incredibly curious people. Yeah, you both have that.

[Ed Helms]

He's a blast.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

And we, we made Rutherford Falls together with another. Our, our, our third partner in that was Sierra Teller Ornellis. And that, that was a, that was a very history oriented show and it was sort of born out of historical curiosity. And that's something that.

[Ted Danson]

And amends. Making amends in a way.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. And by talking about it and confronting, you know, difficult things in the past. And so, yeah, that was a part of. I think that was a really cool thing that, that I think I discovered later in my friendship with Mike was that shared just that specific sort of lane of Curiosity into history and what makes us who we are and so forth. Yeah, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Very cool. Okay. I also hear that in between takes, you're in your dressing room composing, creating, playing on the banjo, guitar, sitar. You know that you are a man of many stringed instruments.

[Ed Helms]

I. I mainly am just a guitar and banjo player, which is a. Yeah. Which. Which I don't think is that crazy, but I. I did play the sitar on. On the Office in a Christmas episode. I think I played Deck the Halls on a sitar, which is a very complicated instrument. Well, it. It is, and it isn't like it. It is. It is overwhelming instrument. But to do something rudimentary, like play a. A melody on it. If you're someone familiar with fretted instruments, as I. As I am, you can very crudely pick out kind of a melody. I. I should be. I. I should just be fully transparent. I did not. I was not playing the sitar in the sense that I understood what I was doing. I was plinking out a melody. I am not a sitar student of any sort. And it is an incredibly elegant and complex instrument when done. When played properly. I didn't do that.

[Ted Danson]

Are you banjo efficient enough or good enough to play with Steve Martin?

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, we've actually played a few times. Yeah. And we're playing together. We're on the same show coming up. Rhiannon Giddens is a great musician and banjo player who has a show at the Hollywood bowl in mid June, and Steve and I will both be on that show.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, my gosh. That's amazing.

[Ed Helms]

And. But, yeah, he's inspiring to me in a hundred different ways.

[Ted Danson]

Me, too.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

When did you do that? When did you pick up the banjo?

[Ed Helms]

So my guitar teacher. Early on, I had this kind of. I liked old music. I don't know what it was, but I. Oh, no, I do. I kind of know what it was like. Sometime around junior high, all my friends were listening to the cool bands and pop music of various kinds. And I had this little. This chip on my shoulder about a very sort of Catcher in the Rye attitude of. That's all phony. What's the real stuff? Where does this stuff come from? So I was, like, digging into, like, old blues records and old. And that took me into, you know, folk music and all kinds of different things. And then being in the south, and I spent a lot of time, summers up in western North Carolina and sort of being up in Appalachia, getting interested in those music traditions and so. But it kind of came from a Place of like, I'm getting into the real stuff. And so I started learning guitar with a kind of focus on bluegrass guitar and had this wonderful teacher named Sam Worley in Atlanta. And he. What a formative figure for me. He was. I really adored him. And he taught me a lot of wonderful guitar. And then he always had banjos sitting around in his music studio. And. And I kind of would always like, I wanted to play one, but I. They're. They're extremely expensive. I couldn't afford one. I didn't know how I could sort of get to play a banjo. But then my school, my high school decided to put on a production of a bluegrass musical. And there's only one that I know of, and it's called the cotton patch gospel. And it's kind of a. A religious gospel play, but it's a musical. And the music is all written by Harry Chapin. Yeah. And it's all this. This, this fun bluegrass music. And the. The. The music. I mean, the theater director was like, well, can anybody play banjo? And I was like, I'll learn. I will learn for this. And so I went to my banjo teacher and I was like, can I borrow a banjo? And will you teach me these songs? And. And he said, yeah, sure. And so that was my first. That was around probably 16 or so.

[Ted Danson]

Having gotten nimble on guitar.

[Ed Helms]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

So.

[Ed Helms]

So that's exactly right. Having been, you know, very into finger picking guitar, you know, blues styles, it was a fairly fluid transition to the banjo finger picking and. And I learned kind of rudimentary versions of. Of the songs. I wasn't playing at a very high level, but I could play. I could just. I could play these songs and sound okay. And it was enough for a high school musical.

[Ted Danson]

And you kept going.

[Ed Helms]

And then I.

[Ted Danson]

Studying and all of the above.

[Ed Helms]

And then I. I kept going. I had a. A really good buddy in college. I still didn't own a banjo and I. And that still was frustrating and it felt prohibitive just because they. They were so expensive, you know. Now you can get these wonderful during good time banjos for a few hundred bucks. And they're really well made because they're mostly machine crafted. But back then, to get like a serviceable banjo, it just was, you know, six, seven hundred bucks at least, if not more. And I just didn't. I. It was not something I could do. So I got to college. A really good friend of mine was a great banjo player and I just hung out with him a lot, learned a lot from him, played his banjo all the time he was like, yeah, yeah, you can borrow it for whatever. I finally bought a banjo when I moved to New York City after college and, and I took some, took some. A few lessons. I was thrilled to find out that one of my banjo heroes, a guy named Tony Trischka, was giving banjo lessons in New York City. Like, he was just a banjo. I was like, really? It's like I, I. Someone. I forget how I got his number, but I called him and I went to a banjo lesson. The whole time I'm like, you're Tony Trishka. You're just like, giving banjo lessons to idiots like me. And sure enough. And he, he was. And to this day, like, he's a dear friend and, and, and an incredible inspiration. And that's actually the last time I played with Steve Martin was at. Was at Tony Trishka's 75th birthday show in New York City.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

Which was just last year.

[Ted Danson]

Do you guys have you performed many times together? Steve. You and Steve?

[Ed Helms]

No, we haven't. Not. No.

[Ted Danson]

I think we've only patter in between.

[Ed Helms]

No, no, we. That was a, that was a show with a. With way too many banjo players, and we all kind of like came out and did little bits and so forth, but, But I've played a couple of times with Steve in, In just a casual setting, you know, with other, Other musicians.

[Ted Danson]

Are you writing scripts?

[Ed Helms]

I'm in. So I have a production company and I'm mostly in sort of development mode.

[Ted Danson]

Or stuff for you to do.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah, on film for stuff for me, but also stuff. Maybe not for me.

[Ted Danson]

TV or film or both or whatever.

[Ed Helms]

Very much both. Yeah. And a couple of the snafu seasons were trying to turn into.

[Ted Danson]

That's great. That's a good idea.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Because they're just such incredible stories and they're true with incredible characters.

[Ted Danson]

So hopefully. Or the snafu that takes you in the wrong direction and all of a sudden you're running down streets in Berlin being chased by. No, sorry.

[Ed Helms]

You know what?

[Ted Danson]

There it is.

[Ed Helms]

I love it. I love it. You know what's funny is I do think about stories in terms of the moments that I want to have in a movie. Do you think that way?

[Ted Danson]

No, but I know writers that do that. Jonathan Ames will come up, who I just love. He did Bored to Death. He will come up with the most ridiculous image and then figure out how to realistically be able to get there by kind of turning the story back. Is that what you're talking about?

[Ed Helms]

Yes, exactly. I mean, you just said running down back streets of Berlin. And to me that conjures like some of the great film noirs and like you know, the clacking of wingtip shoes through the cobblestone streets and with great like you know, that stark black and white lighting and Orson Welles peeking around a corner. It's all like to me that those, those feel like the feelings you get from those moments is what it. Like I'll think of something and then want to write to it in that way and like, like Jonathan like build to something just because the moment feels so cool or exciting or it's like how do I get, you know, how do I get a guy dangling from a helicopter for whatever reason and then you just write right to it or.

[Ted Danson]

Call Tom Cruise and yeah. Give you a shortcut.

[Ed Helms]

It's weirdly, the Hangover was such a dream come true just making that movie. Before of course it became this juggernaut. But even before that making the movie felt like such a dream come true because I had had this image in my head of I just wanted to do a comedy where like me and some friends were in a car chase and we're scared out of our minds and we're all screaming hysterically and for some reason that image was like, had been playing in my head for years. Like the action comedy but like from not, not the, not the macho like cool guy, like owning a moment, but the guys that are terrified in a moment like that just feeling so funny. This is pre script, pre the script. And so, so I became that I think was part of how I read material was like, oh, does it like almost subconsciously, like is it meeting these, these sort of my, my fantasy moments like that? And of course the hangover has like 10 scenes like that. So I was, yes. Oh, I can't wait to do this movie.

[Ted Danson]

You're a bit of a manifester, you'll have to say.

[Ed Helms]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

Look what you did.

[Ed Helms]

I mean I'm not, I, I'm not a. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not quite woo woo in that way, but, but I'll take it. I'll take it. Yeah, yeah. Energy matters. Yeah, I do believe that.

[Ted Danson]

Do you, how do, how do you lead your life? You don't have to do the personal life, but the career life. Do you have goals that you want or do you just delight in what's coming your way? If you had a magic wand and you could say this is where I want to be five years from now, do you think that way or do you just delight in what's coming. Does that make any sense?

[Ed Helms]

Yes, that's a great question. And I think that I'm much more the person that is chasing goals and chasing.

[Ted Danson]

The dream of the guys in.

[Ed Helms]

The car, laughing and screaming, chasing lots of aspirations that. Some of which are very, very sort of specific and some of which are very vague, like that idea of just being in a car chase scene. But I will say I think I'm that to a fault because I'm. I think I could benefit from a little bit more of the joy of like, especially now at this point in my career where there's not as much a need or a sense of like, hard hustle that. That was so much which. Which just defined the first. First 20 years of my. Of my career. I've. I've been so fortunate to have the various successes that I've had. And I think I'm now like fantasizing about the other version more of a role with it. Kind of like a more, I guess, patient. And I don't know, there's that. That. That's feeling like it could be a more gratifying.

[Ted Danson]

You're a parent now. Yeah, that probably has.

[Ed Helms]

Maybe. Maybe I'm just exhausted.

[Ted Danson]

No, but you know, you do kind of reach that. Oh, I could mentor something or I could parent something. You know, that kind of role all of a sudden becomes available or interesting.

[Ed Helms]

Well, I certainly, I'm certainly parenthood has changed how I evaluate opportunities. Right. I. I'm. I'm like a deeply in involved parent. And I like. It's very hard for me to picture.

[Ted Danson]

Going to St. Petersburg.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah. Projects that take me away for. For long stretches and. Yeah. So I'm. That's something I'm still kind of trying to figure out.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. I have to say Mike sure. I mean, Mike sure did the good place. So I worked with him four years on that. And this is the second year of A Man on the Inside, which is his. So that it's not a collaboration. It's him hiring me working.

[Ed Helms]

It's a collaboration.

[Ted Danson]

Getting.

[Ed Helms]

Yes, you bring a lot to the table.

[Ted Danson]

No, I do, but I was trained to go here, let me do your words for you. Is that what you meant? This is what it makes me feel like when I do your words. Is that. Am I on the same page as you? That is a collaboration, but I'm not the writer. Let me suggest an idea to you, guy. But anyway, he has offered something that now for me as an actor at 77, it's like I realized that I've always wanted to know what it was like to be funny or try to be funny at every age that I am. You know, it's like, do you want to do Sam Maloney parts when you're in your mid to late 40s? No, no. That's an adolescent thing. And it was perfect. And that's great. And Now I'm a 77 year old who's hired to play a 77 year old. Talking about age and being real about age and funny, you know, or talking about second chances and being funny, you know, it's like he's given me this amazing. Everything I could dream for really is happening right now in front of me. So it's kind of my goals are now. Can I keep going, please?

[Ed Helms]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

Let me keep showing up for work because this is delicious.

[Ed Helms]

That's beautiful.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I'm in the kind of dessert.

[Ed Helms]

Oh, that's great.

[Ted Danson]

Part of my life. Acting wise. Life was.

[Ed Helms]

That is great. I'm curious. Do you feel like the. Like a show, like man on the Inside where you're playing someone like not too dissimilar from yourself?

[Ted Danson]

Totally myself. Yeah.

[Ed Helms]

But you're reading, you're getting scripts written by people very dissimilar to you. Younger writers, do they feel true to the experience of someone like you?

[Ted Danson]

I think so, yeah. I mean, because they're not oblivious to their pains.

[Ed Helms]

Of course.

[Ted Danson]

They're incredibly bright. And Mike sure is writing this for me. It's like, it feels like.

[Ed Helms]

And he knows you so well.

[Ted Danson]

He knows what I can do well and not so well. And he writes to the well. And that's an amazing gift. Yeah, you know, it really is. It's like I'm so lucky. So I'm just warm. I have to give him a little speech. He's getting a Hollywood star, you know, in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

[Ed Helms]

So I'll be there.

[Ted Danson]

Are you?

[Ed Helms]

Yep, I'm going to be there.

[Ted Danson]

Give me some material. I'm too Reverend.

[Ed Helms]

No, I'm going to heckle you during your speech.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, that's good. Good.

[Ed Helms]

I feel like Mike, I feel like someone needs to take my down a peg.

[Ted Danson]

I've hired some his writers to give me some sleazy things to say about it.

[Ed Helms]

That's a great way to do it.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. All right, what's next? Anything for you. This is a lame question, but I got to ask it anyway. If you have a North Star in your life, big picture cosmic. No. Your sense of morality, your sense of what's right and wrong, where does that North Star view come from, do you think? From Your parents, from life, from your wife, from. What is your North Star as far as your morality and humanity?

[Ed Helms]

That's the biggest question I've ever heard on a podcast. Let me try to answer that. So what is my North Star and where did it come from? Right. That's what I heard.

[Ted Danson]

I think on. On the most basic human level. Yes.

[Ed Helms]

So I. I do think that my North Star has evolved a lot over my life. It's changed at different kind of levels of maturity and experience. And early on, I think my North Star was like just being in. On a great TV show or being in a great movie and. But also, I've always had a. This weird kind of almost like a preoccupation with justice and fairness. And so, like, moving through the world in that way always, or speaking out in that way always felt important to me. Now, as I've gotten older and I've had kids, I. I would say my most. The most intense North Star for me now is being the best dad and husband that I can be. That's like. That's it. Like, that's everything. And I still have lots of things I want to do professionally, and I still have lots of aspirations, but it now all feels in service of this other thing, like just being a dad and growing as a husband, which, you know, has been a whole. The learning curve on that has been. Has been incredible. So. Yeah. And then. And that's also a reflection of, like, who I was learning from at different times in my life. So early on, you know, I was learning from my TV heroes like Eddie Murphy. And you, candidly, you were someone I watched so much, and it's been like.

[Ted Danson]

65 minutes into this podcast. Yes.

[Ed Helms]

About. I knew I had to get it in there, honestly. I just got a text from Mike. He's like, did you. Did you compliment him yet? He needs it. He. It's like it's his water. It's his oxygen.

[Ted Danson]

We laugh, but. Oh, so true.

[Ed Helms]

But. But, yeah, and then I'm. I was sort of learning from, like, my childhood experiences, which I feel like were my. A lot of my career was a sort of, like, response to or sort of like trying to fix insecurities from childhood or whatever. Now I am learning from my partner and from my kids, and. And they're like. They're sort of these sources of incredible wisdom. I mean, children are so wise, like, their emotional vulnerability. And sometimes I feel like at a very young age, there's this window when kids learn how to talk, but they haven't yet learned how to filter or socialize or, or sort of fit social norms. There's this window of just a couple of years where they have this incredible ability to articulate truths that they are experiencing and, or observing. And in those years, like, they are shaman. They are like these incredible teachers of, oh, this is what we lose when, when we become socialized and when we, when we start to become insecure and we start to sort of build a personality for ourselves or a Persona for the world. And, and you know, you. You can see as a child gets older, you can see that start. Those things start to happen and certain doors in their brain start closing sadly. But that window, I mean, and that's just human. That's just how we grow as people. Of course, other doors open and, and people flourish in all kinds of ways. But there is that beautiful window. And I. I've been tried to, to just stay as tuned as possible to that.

[Ted Danson]

Cool.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I have that. I'm blessed with a relationship that earlier on in my life, I think my image was. If I got hit by a bus right now, I'd go, well, shoot, I didn't do it. I didn't experience what it was to fully love and to be fully loved. And to me, that's kind of. And that can be your description of love, but that is the most human basic for me truth. You know, when Mary and I are. And we're not always in that, but when we're zinging in that circular thing, it's like, it is divine. It is heaven. It is like, wow.

[Ed Helms]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Aren't I lucky?

[Ed Helms]

Amen.

[Ted Danson]

I'm really chuffed that I got to talk to you, really, because I admire what you do a lot and you're really good at it. And I have not immerse myself in snafu, but I'm totally fascinated.

[Ed Helms]

Get in there. I will listen to the podcast.

[Ted Danson]

I think I will listen to the podcast first.

[Ed Helms]

And I'll see you at Mike's. Mike at Mike Schur's Hollywood Walk of Fame.

[Ted Danson]

I am gonna heckle you now that I know you're gonna heckle me. So anyway, what a pleasure. Have a lovely day. Thanks.

[Ed Helms]

The pleasure was all mine, Ted. Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, take care. Thank you. Ed Helms. Check out season three of his podcast Snafu. The new season looks at how Prohibition's war on alcohol went so far off the rails, the government actually poisoned its own people. It has also spawned a book called Snafu, the Definitive Guide to History's Greatest Screw Ups. I wonder if Woody's in that. No, I miss you buddy. That's it for our show this week. Special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, please send it to someone you love. Be sure to catch us on YouTube where you can watch full length episodes. As always, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts. If you have a mind means a lot. We'll have more for you next week. Where everybody knows your name.

[Ed Helms]

You've been listening to where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Liao. Our executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and myself. Sarah Festival is our supervising producer. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grohl Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Genn, Mary Steenbergen and John Osborne.

[C]

Hey there, it's Kelly Ripa. And if you've been listening to my podcast, we are knee deep in season three. And if you haven't heard it, it's time to get on board. After years of interviewing celebs on camera, I finally get to bring you the real conversations that take place when the cameras aren't rolling. Where else are you going to hear Michelle Obama talk about keeping her girls out of Page Six? Hilaria Baldwin's hilarious reaction to Alec running for office? Or Jeremy Renner's lucid hallucinations about Jamie Foxx? Nowhere else. It's raw, it's honest, and best of all, it's off camera. And believe me, that's where you get the good stuff. So download. Let's talk off camera with Kelly Ripa now. Wherever you get your podcasts, Parents of.

[Ed Helms]

Twins, if you're familiar with far off drop offs. Dad, stop.

[Ted Danson]

Stop.

[C]

Stop right here or get DMS about what's for dinner. You may be experiencing tween milestones for your son or daughter. These can start at age 9. HPV vaccination, a type of cancer prevention against certain HPV related cancers, can start then too.

[Ed Helms]

For most, HPV clears on its own. But for those who don't clear the virus, it can cause certain cancers later in life.

[C]

Embrace this phase. Help protect them in the next. Ask their doctor today about HPV vaccination brought to you by Merck.