Edward Norton

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

Guest: Edward Norton

Hosts: Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson (not present in this episode)

Release Date: June 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Ted Danson reconnects with esteemed actor, director, activist, and environmental entrepreneur Edward Norton. Their conversation moves fluidly from personal memories and creative processes to sharp insights on environmental activism and the psychological toll of living in turbulent times. They discuss the making of Norton's new film The Invite, the influence of Norton's conservationist father, the burden and privilege of advocacy, and the value of focusing on meaningful local impact. The conversation is rich, honest, and filled with warmth, humor, and hope even in the face of daunting global challenges.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reconnecting and Shared History (01:00–08:25)

• Surfing Stories & the Bonding Power of Surf Culture
  • Edward Norton recalls surfing adventures with Woody Harrelson and Charlie McDowell, including a surreal solo session at the famed Chopu wave in Tahiti, normally crowded and dangerous but, for once, gentle and empty due to a local football match.
    • "It was one of those things where you kind of look left and look right and say, how did you...how did that happen?" — Edward Norton [05:35]
  • Reflections on how meeting people surfing often brings out the best in everyone and forges authentic, egalitarian bonds.
  • Ted shares how he became a stepfather figure to Charlie McDowell and integrated him into the legendary surf community.

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2. The Creative Experience: Making The Invite (09:27–23:36)

• A Collaborative, Creative High

  • Ted Danson and his wife Mary are effusive in their praise of Norton's new film The Invite, calling it one of the best they've ever seen.
    • "It is one of the best movies we've ever seen. Ever. Period." — Ted Danson [09:58]
  • Norton describes working with Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, and Seth Rogen, emphasizing the "presence" and creative risk fostered on set.
    • "One of the most creatively satisfying and just delightful experiences that I've had." — Edward Norton [10:05]
  • Special attention given to Olivia Wilde's role as director and lead actress, comparing her performance to iconic women in film.
    • "To me, like in the category of Jenna Rollins, Diane Keaton." — Edward Norton [14:34]

• Discovery in Filmmaking

  • The cast was allowed to shape their characters and the story dynamically, sometimes changing the script mid-shoot to reflect authentic moment-to-moment discoveries.
  • Norton links the experience to acting fundamentals: presence, risk, and discovery.

• Ensemble Praise

  • Set and Penelope Cruz are praised for their nimbleness and vulnerability on screen.
    • "There are moments in the film that you see Seth drop into...real vulnerability and kind of exposure. That's just fantastic." — Edward Norton [16:28]

• Origins of the Project

  • Discusses the Spanish origins of The Invite and the serendipitous way Norton became involved in its English-language adaptation.
  • The film's unique dynamic led to Ted suggesting it as the ultimate "double date" movie.
    • "It's not the date movie of the summer. It's the double date movie of the summer." — Edward Norton [23:22]

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3. Family, Conservation, and Legacy (27:06–33:29)

• Norton's Father and the Grand Canyon Trust
  • Ted and Edward bond over their personal connection to the Grand Canyon Trust, with the organization's headquarters located in Ted’s childhood home.
  • Norton offers an affectionate portrait of his father as a pioneering conservationist whose passion was to instill joy and connection with nature — not just activism — in his children.
    • Quotes Edward Abbey: "Fight for it all, but save the other half of yourself for the pleasure of it. Bag the peaks, run the rivers, muck around in the dirt with your friends, get out under the stars and if nothing else, outlive the bastards." — Edward Norton [29:30]
  • Both Ted and Edward reflect on how their family and personal histories led them into environmental work.

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4. Environmental Challenges and Frustrations (33:29–39:48)

• The Pain of Regression Amid Progress

  • While there's vast awareness and innovation, Norton is deeply frustrated by political and economic regression, especially regarding America's failure to fully embrace clean energy.
    • "It's really painful to see regression at the exact moment we can't afford it." — Edward Norton [33:25]
    • "You're selling America's health and future down the river for spite." — Edward Norton [36:14]
  • Discussion of the anti-clean energy policies driven by both financial interests ("stupid greed") and political spite.

• Comparing Global Efforts

  • Northern compares the aggressive clean energy rollout in China to the missed opportunities in the U.S., including regressive policies in California.
    • "Texas and Florida under Abbott and DeSantis with more progressive policy towards solar than California…then you're in the upside down world." — Edward Norton [38:13]

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5. Navigating Turbulent Times: Balance, Hopelessness, and Local Action (40:21–66:31)

• The Psychological Burden of Awareness

  • Norton describes the toll of living in the “age of total information,” acknowledging the need to witness global suffering, but lamenting the overload and the limits of personal capacity.
    • "How can any one person do anything about all of that? What are you supposed to do with all of it?" — Edward Norton [40:27]
  • Cites conversations with Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem, and references Ed Abbey’s advice: remain present, find daily balance, and focus effort where you’re most effective.

• Limits of Individual Impact and the Value of Collective Action

  • Norton shares his own meditative process for finding where he can make a tangible difference, accepting that everyone plays a distinct part in wider movements.
    • "The world needs Mark doing what he's doing and Javier doing what he's doing...It needs all sorts of men and women to rise to the place that life has put them to be the best at what they're doing." — Edward Norton [43:40]

• On Hope, Courage, and Surviving Dark Times

  • Ted shares wisdom from Hillary Clinton: "No one's perfect. You get knocked down, but get up and be courageous." [54:03 approx]
  • The two recall previous generations’ struggles — civil rights, Vietnam, the turmoil of the 1960s — and draw comfort from historical resilience.

• Technology, Youth, and the Need for Policy Change

  • Deep concern over social media and technology’s corrosive effect on young people’s mental health.
    • "There's a special circle in hell for what those apps are doing to young people's minds." — Edward Norton [50:41]
  • Hopeful that legal action against tech firms could mirror the reckoning faced by the tobacco industry.

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6. Localism & Community in a Global Crisis (57:28–66:31)

• The Pull Toward Community
  • Norton feels a growing gravitational pull toward focusing on local impact:
    • "More than I ever have, I feel this gravitational pull toward local...just being really attuned to what can I do in my own near orbit, more in my own community." — Edward Norton [58:02]
• Lessons in Empathy from Wildfire Catastrophes
  • Explains how recent California wildfires made him realize the limits of outside empathy and the urgent necessity of local activism and solidarity:
    • "When the fires went down...we have friends all over the world...but it's atomic. It's all gone. It's like you don't understand the scale of what's going on here." — Edward Norton [65:21]
  • Observes the duality of crisis: that while wider empathy is limited, local communities must look after their own during disasters.

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7. Closing Reflections: Art, Advocacy, and Influence (67:53–69:52)

• Value of Artistic and Activist Purpose
  • Both hosts reflect on the power of film and advocacy, invoking Marlon Brando and Sean Penn as models for balancing craft, courage, and activism.
    • "When the Invite comes along, I want to relish it. And I know it's not the most important thing in the world, but I think people will see themselves in it." — Edward Norton [61:24]
  • Norton shares appreciation for the threads of connection and influence over his life and career, concluding with gratitude for Danson’s environmental leadership and the opportunities to find joy and meaning through purpose and storytelling.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Surfing as Life Philosophy:
  "If you meet someone surfing, you've generally met them at their best...It's like jazz — if you have to ask, you'll never know. We're sort of bonded in a thing..." — Edward Norton [07:04]
• On Environmental Regression:
  "It's really painful to see regression at the exact moment we can't afford it." — Edward Norton [33:25]
• On Technology & Youth:
  "There's a special circle in hell for what those apps are doing to young people's minds." — Edward Norton [50:41]
• On Courage:
  "...be courageous. Keep moving forward, but be courageous is kind of the word that I took away." — Ted Danson [54:03]
• On Community:
  "Communities end up having to take care of themselves." — Edward Norton [67:08]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Surfing adventures with Woody and Charlie: [02:12–08:25]
• The making of The Invite: [09:27–23:36]
• Praise for Olivia Wilde's dual performance/directing: [14:34–15:09]
• Influence of Edward's conservationist father: [27:06–33:29]
• Discussion of clean energy frustration and policy regression: [33:29–39:48]
• Navigating information overload, despair, and activism: [40:21–45:56]
• Reflections on youth tech addiction and policy solutions: [50:11–54:03]
• Pulling focus toward local impact and community after CA wildfires: [57:28–67:53]
• Film and activism as parallel legacies: [67:53–69:52]

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Closing Tone & Takeaway

The episode balances nostalgia, admiration, philosophical inquiry, frustration, hope, and humility. It's a conversation between two friends who are also high achievers grappling with the limits of their influence and the imperative to keep working for the common good — one meaningful action at a time. Listeners walk away energized, reflective, and encouraged to find their own "local orbit" of positive impact.

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Highly recommended: See Edward Norton in The Invite for a powerful film experience that mirrors many of the episode’s themes.

Transcript

[Edward Norton]

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[Ted Danson]

You want to make a monster movie? And what are you going to use for your monster on July 1st?

[Edward Norton]

I know the perfect monsters for your movie. Just try not to look too delicious. Quick question. I want to eat one of these funny looking yellow guys. Is that okay? Minions and Monsters rated vg. Parental guidance suggested some material may not be suitable for children only.

[Ted Danson]

In theaters July 1st.

[Edward Norton]

Like, I think if you think about when you got activated into these ideas compared to now, there's an entire generation of kids who have come up with that value system.

[Ted Danson]

Right? Welcome back to Everybody Knows yous Name. Edward Norton isn't only one of the great actors of our time, he is truly a renaissance man. He writes, directs and produces. He also has this amazing parallel career as a serial entrepreneur, investor and activist, and one of my environmental heroes. Edward recently starred in the A24 feature film the Invite alongside Penelope Cruz, Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen. I absolutely love it. I cannot encourage you enough to go out and see it. Mary and I, after we watched it, sat there going, this is truly one of the best films we've ever seen. So couldn't be happier and more excited to talk to my friend, Edward Norton.

[Edward Norton]

You know, I'm really old friends with Woody.

[Ted Danson]

You're a surfer too, right?

[Edward Norton]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Were you in our home in with Woody and Charlie Dowell? Yeah, yeah. When he came through, you guys were. I think we had a house. We had a house in the colony for a while and we. Woody tells the story of going, just this guy he met Charlie, he doesn't know anything about him or whatever. Let's go surfing.

[Edward Norton]

And Woody did come surfing with me and Charlie one time. I remember that really well. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And you walk through the house to get to the beach and he's looking at photos going, wait, who the fuck lives here? What is this?

[Edward Norton]

That's really cool.

[Ted Danson]

I have no idea. Yeah. So you met. How'd you meet Charlie? Charlie McDowell, Mary's surfing son. Surfing. Met surfing in the water surfing?

[Edward Norton]

Yeah, I think so.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Edward Norton]

And. And we've had. We've had really great surfing adventures and

[Ted Danson]

hanging out and like flying to somewhere in Tahiti.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah, we we surfed in Tahiti once.

[Ted Danson]

Cloud break.

[Edward Norton]

No, that. That's. That's.

[Ted Danson]

That's fi.

[Edward Norton]

Fiji. We surf. Charlie and I surfed at Chopu. The. The famous murderously big hard wave, which I'm already gonna. I can hear people screaming, you know, and catching flack for it. But we had this remarkable experience where we were surfing elsewhere. We were surfing elsewhere along kind of the passes in Tahiti. And the people we were with said, you know, let's go over to Chopu. And we thought just to watch it, because it's an amazing thing to watch. And they said, no, no, you guys can go on. And we were like, there's no way, number one, we would never surf that wave. Huge. It's a death wave. I mean, it's so. I'm not even remotely, you know, capable of surfing that. Charlie. Maybe. But also, it's crowded. You know, it's a pro wave. It's like you don't even go in the water. And this Tahitian guy we knew said, no, it's empty. And we said, what are you talking about? And he said, there's a French. You know, there's a French football match. And everybody just went in to watch it. And we were thinking, like, everybody didn't go in off Chopu. And we go over there on these jets. And there was nobody there. Not a single person was in the water at this most famous waves. But still in our minds, we thought, we're still not going on. It doesn't matter. We're not going on it. And lo and behold, the direction of the swell was out of the east, which on that particular wave and reef means that doesn't bowl. It doesn't wrap around in this savage way onto the reef. It's sort of. It didn't even look like itself. It looked long and open and almost like safely going into the channel. And I always remember I was sitting there looking at it, like, it actually does look like a wave Charlie and I could surf. It doesn't look like the terrifying thing that I've seen. And we watched it very trepidatiously for a while and then nervously kind of went out and started sort of, you know, carefully experimenting on the shoulder. And after a while, we were. We. We surfed it. And for about 40 minutes, Charlie and I were basically by ourselves on this thing. And it's in front of the far peninsula of the island of Tahiti. And it. It's. It's this gorgeous, Jurassic looking undeveloped end of the island. And the reef is beautiful. And the wave Is beautiful. And a whale came into the channel. And I remember Charlie and I sat there. We were looking each other like, did this. Is this happening? You know, is this. Is this. Are we in a simulation? Like, what. What is going on? It. It was. It was one of those things where you kind of look left and look right and say, how did you. How did that happen? Like that There's. And when I say to people, like, yeah, I surfed on Chopu once, you sound like an idiot. You're like, people like, you didn't surf on Chopu. But we had this kind of magical day where it became the gentle version of itself.

[Ted Danson]

How did you get out into it? Is it a tow out situation?

[Edward Norton]

We went out on jet skis. No, on jet skis, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Amazing.

[Edward Norton]

But you know how people are like, you know, say, we'll always have Paris, Charlie and I. Charlie and I have this thing. Like. I mean, I love Charlie, and he's like, really good filmmaker and a great guy, but I sometimes look at him like we do. You know, it was like two guys who went to the moon. It's like, we have that forever.

[Ted Danson]

You didn't tell me the story.

[Edward Norton]

And he hurt himself. That was the other thing. On the coral? No, on one of the ones he just. I have a picture of it, weirdly. But he fell in a funny way and hurt like, his rib muscles.

[Ted Danson]

Recently?

[Edward Norton]

No, no, that time.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Edward Norton]

It's funny the way surfing. You do meet. If you meet someone surfing like you, you've generally. I think you've met them at the. You've met them at their best, and you've. And they've met you at your best because you're in kind of this Zen state. You're out in a place, you know, you're happy. They're happy, everybody. There's this kind of equanimity to the whole thing. There's nothing about, you know, I. I find, like, it's the great equalizer. No, I don't think anybody gives a. What anybody else does.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Edward Norton]

When you're in a lineup, like, they really just don't care. They're the.

[Ted Danson]

You.

[Edward Norton]

You've. You've already bonded. If you're there, you're sort of bonded in a thing that. It's like jazz. If you have to ask, you'll never know. You know what I mean? It's like. Like, you either. You either are you. You're either an addict or. And it's like part of your. Your. The Zen of your life, or you don't get it. And. And so if you're out there with people, you're with people who you have a kind of a mental, even spiritual alignment with and everybody, you know, for all that people talk about localism and people that can happen, but I generally find. I generally find that I've gotten to know all kinds of people. Surfing in the best way. It's like the best. It's a great. It's a great way to meet people.

[Ted Danson]

I got to know Charlie through, obviously, when I met Mary, this was like in 95, he was like 12 or something. And later when he was a young teenager, it was kind of the height of me doing. Well, I'm still doing it. Oceana, but back then it was American Ocean's campaign and we would go support Surf Riders or this or whatever Healed the bay. And Surf Riders has the most brilliant fundraiser because it's all the old surfers and they're unbelievable good looking surfer girls and the whole thing. And I met Malloy.

[Edward Norton]

The Malloy brothers. Yeah, one of them. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

So I got to introduce Charlie to these amazing surfers who he ended up being friends with over a long time. But I scored big. Stepfather.

[Edward Norton]

Oh, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Big points.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah. That wins. That wins. Yeah. Yeah. And now Charlie's dad.

[Ted Danson]

Yep, he is.

[Edward Norton]

That's pretty good.

[Ted Danson]

Have you met?

[Edward Norton]

No.

[Ted Danson]

No. Okay, I want to jump into. Well, surfing was not a bad way to jump in, but we got the link, Mary and I, to the invite and we watched it. Devoured it two nights ago. Three nights ago. I know hyperbole. And I want to say nice things about you because you're on my podcast. It is one of the best movies we've ever seen, ever, Period. It is brilliant. It truly is.

[Edward Norton]

You all are. Loved it. Loved it.

[Ted Danson]

You are spectacular. Just tell me the process of it.

[Edward Norton]

There's a lot to say. It was full stop, one of the most. One of the most creatively satisfying and just delightful experiences that I've had. I mean, I'd put it up there with the pure creative enjoyment of doing things like Birdman or Fight Club or things I've done where I felt that the collective group was in a zone together. But within the context of feeling like you're sort of operating without a net, you know, you're, you're not. You're. You're in, you're in a. You're in a terrain of uncertainty and joy at the same time. And the uncertainty, you know, moving through the uncertainty into discovery, actual discovery, you know, which.

[Ted Danson]

On camera.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah, on camera. Which we, which you. We all talk about. We know when we all took acting classes, in some sense, that's what we were taught to seek.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Edward Norton]

When they have you do exercises and be available and listen and all the things that are almost like the fundamentals. There's so much about the process of making, you know, narrative films that's so technical, it's so intense monetarily. There's such a machinery of people and equipment, and all of it works against that feeling of presence. And some things avail themselves a little more, some things a little less. I've been lucky and have had more of these things than anybody. Working with Spike Lee, working with Milos Forman, working with David Fincher, with Wes Anderson. I have gotten the privilege of getting into almost troops that are getting close to that sensation again. And I had it really profoundly with Alejandro and Uridu on Birdman, which was a wildly present and creative collective experience. Olivia Wilde created that environment and flow state for us. And it's so hard to do. And it's so hard to do. To direct a thing and be in it, to be the cultivator of the. Of. Of the environment and then to operate in it in the way she did was like, you know, at my level of admiration for her. Her. I don't even know what the right word is. Stewardship, leadership. Creatively, she married a lot of her own conscientious craft. The way that film is shot on film and compositionally is so beautiful. And that's her and Adam. That's a lot of conscientious craft and real thought ahead of time. And yet she allowed this group to essentially not only bring themselves, bring ourselves into our characters, write our characters in some sense and create them, but to discover the story as it unfolded by shooting it in sequence in this single set, this single apartment. By going from page one to page end, she allowed a thing to happen that never happens, which is that you could actually decide to change what was going to happen in the next beat on the basis of what actually occurred. And it unfolded underneath us, like to be the captain of a thing where there's hundreds of people all around and to kind of say to all of the nattering on the edges that, like, they're changing it while we're making it, what's going on, you know, and to just go, I know what we're doing, and I know that the four of us know what we're doing, that what we're discovering these real.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Edward Norton]

And. But it's risky to do that. It's very, very risky.

[Ted Danson]

Same time, by the way, she's delivering a brilliant performance.

[Edward Norton]

Performance of her career.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Edward Norton]

To me, like in the category of like Jenna Rollins, Diane Keaton. Woody was at the premiere in. At Sundance and he kind of turned around to me and he. He said something like, it's like Mike Nichols came back from the grave and made one more really great.

[Ted Danson]

I said the same thing to Mary. I don't want to just horn in on a great comment, but it felt that way. It felt like it was the most beautifully written play. Perhaps this play had been done many times and then you shot it. Feeling. Yeah, it was just brilliant.

[Edward Norton]

And Mike was a friend and mentor of mine in New York in my 20s. And I do think his first film, who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Is one of the all time great, obviously great Edward Albee play. But Mike's treatment of that film, I don't wanna say changed my life, but it was one of those things. You saw it and you were like. You remembered that a great film can take place in one room. It was one of the most intimate and pleasurable experiences of discovery through language and stuff. It was just like all talk about

[Ted Danson]

Seth for a moment. Cause Seth was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He got to be Seth. But then you always wonder what's underneath Seth. You got to see that side of Seth that you know.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah. My wife Shauna produced 40 year old virgin and Knocked up and Superbad and Elf. And Elf. Yeah, Elf. And that's how Shauna and Mary know each other right from. She produced Elf and Meet the Parents and she's the anchorman. She's her. Yeah. Her run of movies is unparalleled. But she. But Seth, you know, Seth came up in Shauna's films, I mean, literally. And is a very dear friend of hers. And I've known him through her a lot of that time and. And I've done things with him. I've done sausage part. You know, I've done films, I've done TV series and stuff like that. There are moments in the film that you see. You see Seth drop into an adult, you know, a place of vulnerability, like a real vulnerability and kind of exposure. That's just fantastic. You know, it's like. I don't know who he reminds me of in that film. Like Richard Dreyfuss at his very best. You know, goodbye Girl. Or. I don't know. He's wonderful in it. And Penelope. And Penelope's woof. I mean, she's forced.

[Ted Danson]

So good. And the together. I mean, it. Theoretically, it could be an unbelievable situation. And you make it the two of you make it so believable. And she's so good, you guys, who are also. My favorite word for actors is nimble. I love actors who can be nimble and take wherever the writing or director wants you to go. You're quite capable of doing it. Can I say something about it from an audience point of view? Because like Virginia Woolf, if it's a play and you're going to be in one area, mostly I can get. My fear is I'm going to get claustrophobic, man. And that's hard to do to keep. You keep the audience on the edge of your seat from what's going on within the room is such a task and so well done. I don't want people to think, listening to this, that this is anything other than the most. The funniest, scariest, dangerous, exciting ride you'll ever go on. I really mean, it's one of the best films I've ever seen.

[Edward Norton]

Thanks. I also, you know, there's times you have to be really careful, like, Can't Bury the Lead, which is like. This is based on a Spanish film in English. They called it the People Upstairs. I think its title was sentimental. I loved it so much that when I saw it, I thought. I had the thought, I'd love to make this. I'd love to remake this. And I even thought I'd love to play the guy upstairs, right? The guy from the couple upstairs. Sean and I were laughing about it. I went and I checked and someone had picked up the rights of producer named David, who is the producer of the film. And I thought, ah, that's too bad. And then I thought, well, I kind of called in and I said, hey, look, you know, I would be in this, direct it, you know, adapt it, direct it and everything. And. And I. And he. He had already. He had started to work on. On other ideas, directors and cast of his own. And I. And. And kind of with a sigh, I went, ah, you know, oh, well, you know, I. I was like, you know, he. I said, okay, well, you know, it's great. Yeah, go with God. And I kind of turned around. I did one of those. I went, oh, I would have loved to have done that one. Like, that was. That was. That's a good one. And I. And you know, things like that happen. But then time went by and I didn't hear about it happening. You know, I heard, oh, they might do it with so and so. And I was like, well, they'd be good. I can't say that's not a Good idea. That'd be good. But inside, I was going, God, I can't stop thinking about that one. And then lo and behold, someone says, hey, have you heard that? You know, the people upstairs, it's kind of coming together, and I think Olivia's gonna direct it. And Seth pinged me and said, olivia dropped me a line about this thing. And she said, what about you and me? And I rang Olivia up and said, are you kidding me? I said, are you gonna do this? She said, yeah. And she said, would you? Would you? I said, I'm obsessed with this one. It's been years. I said, I thought it went away. And she goes, let's do it. And I had one of those moments where I went, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. It's come back around, you know, and with Seth and with her, and then Penelope, who I was already friends with, too. And I just thought, it's too good to be true, you know? And it's kind of why you kind of sometimes just have to go,

[Ted Danson]

if

[Edward Norton]

it's meant to be. Yeah, if it's meant to be, it'll happen. And if it's not. And in this case, I think it was. And we went through a funny thing where Olivia. I think Olivia. Seth and I knew Olivia should do the film. We both adore her, and we both think sometimes she's underutilized as an actress. And we were like. She was saying, well, what about so and so? And what about so and so? And Seth and I kept saying, what are you talking about? Like, play the part. And she had some people whispering in her ear, some stuff that I. You know, it's like nobody would ever say to Bradley Cooper on Maestro or me doing Mudless Brooklyn or Ben Affleck doing Argo, or nobody ever says to a guy, don't act and direct in the thing. But Olivia had some people saying, like, sweetie, I don't know if you should do both.

[Ted Danson]

She won't be called sweetie.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah, exactly. And Seth and I were saying, that's the stupidest thing we've ever heard. Like, who are you talking to? You're talking to, like, you do it. You do it. You're the one. And she said, yes, you're right. You're right. What am I. You know? And there was this nice. There was this. And so even in the setting up of it, I felt like this alliance congealed, you know, around us. And I think. I can't explain it. I think Olivia knew we had her back on it in some sense. But she, the trust and faith she put in us, in herself. It was remarkable.

[Ted Danson]

I can't wait for people to see it. I'm going to go backwards for a second, but this film comes out this Friday. It'll be out by the time this is. So go see it. It is brilliant. It is.

[Edward Norton]

I've been saying. I think it's. It. It's a double date movie.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, yes.

[Edward Norton]

Yes. I think it's a really good movie to go on a double date. I don't think. It's not the date movie of the summer. It's the double date double summer.

[Ted Danson]

That's great.

[Edward Norton]

And you should, you should, you should pick a couple you find attractive and go with them.

[Ted Danson]

That's a great marketing, marketing tool, right? Yeah, 100%. 100%.

[Edward Norton]

I think if you go as a foursome and have dinner after, the conversations will get very interesting.

[Ted Danson]

What a great marketing tool. Take two people you find sexual, a couple you find sexually attractive, and go take them to dinner and go see the movie. Foreign. You may have heard the best voice in show business, Morgan Freeman, talking about a serious and underdiagnosed heart condition that's often missed. ATTR Cardiac amyloidosis, or attrcm. It's a condition that can greatly disrupt your life with symptoms like severe fatigue, shortness of breath and carpal tunnel. If left untreated, ATTRCM may become serious, leading to a shorter lifespan. A truby helps adults with ATTRCM live longer and have fewer hospitalizations due to heart issues, so you can focus more on living for what you love. Tell your doctor if you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant. There are breastfeeding and about the medications you take. The most common side effects were mild and included diarrhea and abdominal pain. If you have ATTR CM, talk to your cardiologist about a Truby and visit attruby.com podcast. That's a T T R U B-Y.com podcast to learn more. It's time to get busy living. Brought to you by BridgeBio.

[Edward Norton]

What's landing on Pluto TV this month? Your all time favorite summer blockbusters and

[Ted Danson]

they're all streaming for free.

[Edward Norton]

Iconic movies like Mean Girls, Men in

[Ted Danson]

Black, School of Rock, 21 Jump St. Both Anchorman movies, a ton of Transformers

[Edward Norton]

hits and so much more. The sunshine is streaming and so are the movies and neither costs you anything. Summer is just better on Pluto tv. Stream now.

[Ted Danson]

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[Edward Norton]

That's true.

[Ted Danson]

That is my kind of comfort zone. Because your father started created the Grand Canyon Trust. Grand Canyon Trust, Northern Arizona and lived or. No, it's the headquarters. It's housed in the house that I grew up with.

[Edward Norton]

I was thinking about that when I drew over and it was, was it called the Homestead?

[Ted Danson]

The Homestead.

[Edward Norton]

The Homestead, right.

[Ted Danson]

It was a 19, I mean 18, late 60s, two story log cabin that this guy from the east came out with his. Built it stay home to his bride until I get it done. And then she comes out by the train and she looks at this two story log cabin and says no, I'm not living in a log cabin. And gets back on the train. So he clapboards it like a New England like it is now with green shutters and white clapboard and everything. When we got there, we stripped off on the interior all the kind of plaster to reveal these hand hewn logs that were like this, this. Anyway, I love that. Is your dad still there doing that as well?

[Edward Norton]

My dad, my dad is a, a legend in the American conservation. Yes, he is movement organization. He, he, he was a, a US attorney when I was growing up in the 70s. And he, you know, he, he, he litigated and was head of public policy at the Wilderness Society. Then founded the Grand Canyon Trust with People like Bruce Babbitt and, and the Udall brothers and a number of others to be this great regional advocacy organization for the Colorado Plateau, the whole Colorado Plateau. He started the Nature Conservancy's China country program and ran their Asia Pacific programs out of Indonesia. And yeah, he founded the Conservation Lands foundation, was one of the original Rails to Trails gang. And yeah, we've all grown up in his shadow and in his wake as conservationists by default and demand. But, but, but actually I say a lot of times, like the reason I'm involved in all of that is not because it was the family business or my, but because my dad got us out on the trails and you know, running running rivers and, and climbing peaks and you know, I don't know if you've ever heard, you know, Edward Abbey, who wrote the Desert Solitaire and the Monkey Wrench Gang, there's Ed Abbey gave this speech once that I think about a lot and it fits my dad really well where he says I'm gonna butcher it. But he says, be as I am, a half hearted advocate, a part time militant. He says, fight for it all, but save the other half of yourself for the pleasure of it. Bag the peaks, run the rivers, muck around in the dirt with your friends, get out under the stars and if nothing else, like, outlive the bastards. You know, that's his thing. And that's how my dad, that's how my dad, my dad too was. He, he fought, you know, he was a litigator, he was a, an org builder. He, he has fought for the American, the American conservation movement, for the conservation of landscapes, places, biodiversity, all of it. But you know, he scuba dives, he hikes, he, you know, it's hard to keep up with him. And that's how you really engage people in the, the joy, the joy of the places, the joy of living and not being down in your frigging screen is what makes people wanna fight for the thing. And that's, that's other great line. I, you know, I, what is, he said I, I stand for what I stand on, you know, and I think. So connecting it back, I, I remember really well when my dad kind of boldly broke out into a new chapter to start the Grand Canyon trust and starting anything, you know, feels half.

[Ted Danson]

What year was that?

[Edward Norton]

I'm going to say it was around 1987 or 1988. And they needed a, you know, he was based in D.C. but they needed a regional headquarters in the Colorado Plateau. And I literally remember him coming home and saying, man, we found the coolest thing. It's this old house called the Homestead. And he goes, guess whose house it was? And we were a Cheers family. Yeah, my mom's level of obsession with Cheers and Taxi, you know, like, if there were three people in my entire career, my mom would have been the most delighted about it, would have been you, woody and Danny DeVito. That was like her holy trinity of comedy. My entire young life and our television watching schedule was based on those nights.

[Ted Danson]

And.

[Edward Norton]

And when my dad came home and goes, this is Ted Danson's family's old house. And he goes, and guess what? He's like a legit environmental guy. He's the thing. So we had kind of like Robert Redford, obviously. Robert Redford, you, You know, like, you know, there were people, as I pursued this trade, there was these people in our family's life who were like, yeah, you can be in that and you can still really stand for and fight for this stuff. So it came full circle to them being there and then getting to meet you and getting to know Woody and getting to know Danny, it's wonderful. It's really wonderful. It's wonderful connections. And I think, you know, it's such a weird time because we have so much. There's so much good going on in terms of global consciousness of the oceans and biodiversity and the climate and carbon. And we know more. More people are attuned to what's going on and what we need to do,

[Ted Danson]

and more answers available.

[Edward Norton]

There are more answers available. There's technological innovation and breakthrough and genius, and we're making an energy transition. If we were leaning into it, we'd remediate these problems, we would save these places, we would do these things. And in 2026, to see the kind of regression that's going on, to see the resources we have thrown into the desert sands, literally and figuratively, instead of. I find it, you know, I look at my dad, he's 83, and wonderfully, I mean, he doesn't despair. It's his life's work, right? But I find that he sort of sometimes says, hey, you guys got the baton? You know, I'm. I'm going diving off Cuba. You know what I mean? I find it to be dire, disheartening, hard to know what to do. It's really painful to see. It's really painful to see regression at the exact moment we can't afford it. But also when, in truth, I think if you think about when you got activated into these ideas compared to now, there's an entire generation of kids who have come up with that value system. There are more young people bought in to sustainability and the idea of protecting the planet than by a factor of 10,000 than when you were growing up. Than when I'm growing up. And yet we've got this short term attainment and financial maximization, you know, as dry in our culture is, is making it a run. It shouldn't be such a fight. You know that. That's what I feel like is it shouldn't, it shouldn't be such a fight.

[Ted Danson]

You know, greed is probably not going to go away in human nature and everything, but there's greed and then there's stupid greed. You know, this is about a few people making a crapload of money and in doing so, you know, are eradicating all of these businesses that could end up making huge sums of money for more people. You know, the whole spending a billion dollars of tax. How many billions I can't remember of taxpayers money to stop a wind farm. And, and that's 70%.

[Edward Norton]

That's already underwritten. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah. That's just spite. It's like I think of like Willy Loman and like you're selling America's health and future down the river for spite.

[Ted Danson]

Slash your own greed. Money from oil.

[Edward Norton]

Yes, yes.

[Ted Danson]

Two go hand in hand. Which is just a shame.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah. To serve your masters.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Edward Norton]

And in many ways, I hate to say it but to own the libs, you know, to like.

[Ted Danson]

Sure, sure. No. And we're easy. We're easy. We're so easily offended.

[Edward Norton]

I know. But as though, as though in some sense it's not a self injury, you know, I mean and I think you look at China is, China is on its way to being the first, you know, petro negative petro zero economy. I mean they are, they are going to be the first electro superpower which

[Ted Danson]

we could have been.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And now we're going to have to buy it from them. When this goes away and we come to our senses, we won't have that industry like China does.

[Edward Norton]

No. And, and, and by the way, it's not, it's both sides of the aisle. We have in the state of California, we have now the most regressive policy toward residential solar, you know, distributed solar collection and, and storage.

[Ted Danson]

You're good for a minute.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah. But, but, but even under Gavin Newsom, the, the, the CPUC, the, the has allowed PG&E and SoCal Edison to, to, to push California into the most regressive policy toward distributed solar and, and energy. They do not want People off the crack pipe of their product. They do not want people collecting energy behind the meter. And, and, you know, this is a state that should be energy independent. I mean, this, this, you know, this is a state that could, should have. Should have gigawatts of, of residential distributed solar. But we are shackled to these utility cartels and we allow them to write our state policy. And I mean, you know, I hate to say it, but, like, you know, when you see Texas and Florida under Abbott and DeSantis with more progressive policy towards solar than state of California, then you're in the upside down world. You know what I mean? And I think we just keep, we keep doing, you know, and I, I don't want to use like, a harsh word, but I think if you're lucky and you get to travel, you see, what I don't think a lot of Americans in our. We have this enduring narrative of American exceptionalism, you know, like, of America's alpha, of America's, you know, cultural superiority or, and the, And I don't think people fully grasp the degree to which we're going to ghettoize ourselves as an energy state in terms of education, in terms of health. You know, we're not anywhere near the top of what other people are experiencing. And if we keep just sort of, you know, it's almost like if we embrace this idea of pride in regression, you know, where is that gonna take us? It's not gonna take us. It's not gonna take us into a place that we're happy about for our kids. You know,

[Ted Danson]

just talking to you, I get sad again. And. Which is right next. Sad's okay. Rage is right around the corner because it is so unnecessary. So unnecessary. How do you. What do you do? How do you. You have kids? Do you just bury yourself in the work of making things better? Because you can't be hopeless. You can't let them take your raid, your joy and your hope and happiness.

[Edward Norton]

I get a lot of. I mean, the painful thing and the really psychologically difficult thing about the age that we live in is just total information awareness. Right? And I've mentioned this before, but I think on the one hand, it's good to know. We need to know when 100,000 people are being killed in Gaza. We need to know what's happening in the Sudan. We need to know what the people of Ukraine are going through. You don't want to not know about the profound humanitarian catastrophes, the injustices, the genocides, the, the war crimes. You don't not want to know that we dropped a bomb on a school full of Iranian schoolgirls. You have to live in truth, as Vasav Havel said. But how can any one person do anything about all of that? What are you supposed to do with all of it? And I was talking about this with Mark Ruffalo recently, who's a passionate advocate for things. Javier Bardem, people I really align with and admire for the ferocity of their. Not just their advocacy, but their determination to name what's happening and to protest it. Sometimes it's like that Ed Abbey thing. It's not to indulge in, like, living in your bubble, but you have to live right and within living and balancing. You got to be present for your kids. You got to allow yourself to jump in the ocean and restore yourself. You gotta find daily balance. Not like, well, I'm gonna fight and fight and fight, and when we finally flip the Congress, then I'm gonna relax. That's not balance. You can get cancer on the way to that, you know, so daily balance, even when other people are suffering, and it may. Even when you see American citizens and immigrants who have done nothing, abused and brutalized by these, you know, fascist. There's no other word for it. Masked, you know, paramilitaries. Somehow you still gotta be able to move through the revulsion, the nausea, the rage and function and allow yourself a measure of healthful balance, of presence, you know, and pleasure and joy, and then go. For me, what I go is, this is what I talked about with Mark is like, you can sign on to everything. You can put your name on everything. But at a certain point, like, my meditation has been, where can I actually be effective? I'm just one person. Where can I actually be effective? And I have the things that I'm working on quietly, ranging from building an emission capture company that I've been building. Does the company I've been building that's, you know, eliminating emissions off ships in our urban centers, contribute to awareness and protest about Gaza and. And the west bank and all? No. Does it. Does it do something for the people in Ukraine who I feel so much empathy and. And appreciation for, you know, who I grieve for, mentally? No, it doesn't. But it's a place that I'm effective just because the currents in my life have put me in a place where certain actions I'm taking are things. And I have to allow myself to believe in collective action and diverse collective action. The world needs Mark doing what he's doing and Javier doing what he's doing, and it needs you know, Gabor, mate, speaking out. And it needs, you know, the Holocaust survivors who, who are standing for Palestine. It needs it. It needs all sorts and conditions of men and women to rise to the place that life has put them to be the best at what they're doing. But I do actually think the world kind of, in my small way, I'm kind of convinced that the place I've got leverage, capacity and alpha is more along in the category of the things we started talking about with my dad. That's my inheritance. That's my training, actually. And so I'm leaning in as hard as I can on things to do with environmental defense and sustainability. And I sort, you know, by the way, I go back and forth. I feel much worse some days and I, I feel okay with my rationale some days and other days I don't.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Edward Norton]

You know what I mean? But, but that's what everybody's going through. But I try, I try to allow for myself that, that if I'm doing something, I'm. I'm.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Edward Norton]

That I, that I'm doing enough. You know what I mean? But, but, but, man, I do not think it's, it is not easy right now. It is, right. This, this is a very, very. And I don't know, you're. I sometimes, you know, my, my dad was a Kennedy Democrat, right. He went, he, he went to, he joined Marine Corps ROTC when he was in college in the early 60s, literally, because Kennedy said, that's not what your country can do for you. You know what I mean? And my dad, he was a Woodrow Wilson history scholar. He was getting his master's in Russian Studies at Columbia when he went to Vietnam in 1967 for two. You know what I mean? He went to Vietnam as a Marine on the DMZ at the absolute worst possible time. He was at Kantian in 1967. And if you watch Ken Burns Vietnam documentary, there's an entire episode about 1967 in Kantian and to know what that means. And he came back and he went to Harvard Law School. And. When I think about the 60s and the tumult of the time when we made a complete unknown. One of the things I thought Jim Mangle captured really, really well in that when he dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis was just the level of terror that that actually created. And I think we move on and we look back. Well, the civil rights, we say the civil rights was effective. Change got made. The Vietnam War ended. People protested it. But in the middle of all that, I think people felt Just about as intensely as we feel right now. I mean, and I could say, I think Trump is worse. Worse than Nixon and McNamara, by far. TRUMP and Hegseth are. They are. You can actually credit Nixon and McNamara with some dimension of competency. Terrible things were going on, and they were corrupt in some ways, and there were lies. We're in a level of incompetency and grift and corruption that is unprecedented in the history of this country. But as a psychological. As an examination of psychological state, I have to say probably one has to remember how horrible people felt during the marches, the Selma march and the riots and the war. And I mean, it was a cataclysm. I think people thought the whole country was coming unglued. And in many ways it was. So it is kind of like Steve Colbert and I have talked about this on the show the other day. We're talking about Walt Whitman and the idea of. And the way that Whitman talks about how, like, I'm looking forward to you 100 years hence, 200 years hence. And the dark days fell on me, too. The horrors of fratricidal war, that those were known to me too, you know, And I think. I don't know if I don't know why there's comfort in that. Like, to me that, you know, he lived through the. Walt Whitman was a nurse in the Civil War, you know, I didn't know that he literally cut people's. You know, he carried people from the battlefield and while they were being amputated without things, he literally lived the Civil War and saw it rip apart the country and all of it. And. And it is the only thing, the reason I think this is what Stephen and I were talking about on his show. It's like you say, well, why is there comfort in acknowledging that in Walt Whitman's time in the 60s and now, there might have been an equivalence that it's not worse than it was then or was then. Maybe it's because you can acknowledge that it was survived, that people got through it, that there was still. People were still able to rise back into the better angels of their nature

[Ted Danson]

or

[Edward Norton]

recover and some sort of progress was achieved. But I don't think any generation, I mean, when I look at kids, when I look at my own kids, who we relentlessly do not put them on phones and certainly not on fucking Snapchat, which there's a special circle in hell for what those apps are doing to young people's minds. And I think that. I think what technology is doing to turbocharge the psychology of anxiety, of legitimate anxiety that's taking place in the times, the mainline. It's almost like freebasing the negativity now because of the algorithms. And that is a little bit unprecedented. And I think it's, it's. That's very dark, huh?

[Ted Danson]

Very dark.

[Edward Norton]

Very dark. It's also, you know, I don't think it's just delete chatgpt. I like, I think we need a real collective somehow, a collective determination to at least get our kids liberated from that.

[Ted Danson]

I feel like there's, we're sniffing around that, that parents are beginning to go, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, you're more wired into that.

[Edward Norton]

I wish it's out there, but I wish I saw more. I wish I saw in, around me what I would characterize as more determination to hold the line. Obviously, culture. I mean, in Spain and Australia we're starting to see actual, you know, policy against, like, things. And I do think that this is fascinating, these first rulings, these first rulings against meta and, you know, and YouTube and I don't know if it's Snapchat, but I'm, you know, I don't have shade in Freud. Like, that's not, you know, an elevated way. But I, I think it's going to be a very healthy thing for American society if we start seeing the, the, the, the tech oligarchs who have fomented these, these negative addiction platforms and who. We know, as much as cigarette companies are fully aware of what they're doing and their business model does not allow them to protect children from their own product. Every bit as much as a narco cartel. They, they absolutely need young people on it. You could argue that Facebook could do age controls and filters and Instagram could still survive. Snapchat cannot survive if it filters out children. And so they're, That's a company that's brokering a damaging product to young people every bit as much as the cigarette companies were. And I, you know, I look forward to seeing those guys in court over and over and over again. And I hope the American tort lawyer industry puts a target on their back and sees them as the next big opportunity to pull their docs out of discovery and say, you guys knew what you were doing, you were doing it conscientiously, you were creating harm, and you did it anyway, and we'll see you in court. And that, that, in. That could be a glimmer of, of, of hope maybe, I mean, for all that.

[Ted Danson]

But I had the, I had the opportunity to interview former President Clinton and Secretary Clinton in Philadelphia a month ago. And one of the things at the end that I was asking them, well, you know, with all this going on, you have grandchildren. What do you say to your grandchildren? And it was very eloquent from both of them. But one of the last things that Hillary Clinton said was, no one's perfect. You get knocked down, but get up and be courageous. Keep moving forward, but be courageous is the kind of the word that I took away from me. It does take courage to this you were talking about Mark Ruffalo. It does take courage to name names and speak out and to to get up every it takes courage to get up every day and try to be a little bit better, try to make those around you a little more either comfortable or nurtured in some way. And I think that's kind of what I hold on to. Just try to be a little bit better every day. You may have heard the best voice in show business, Morgan Freeman, talking about a serious and underdiagnosed heart condition that's often missed. ATTR Cardiac amyloidosis, or attrcm. It's a condition that can greatly disrupt your life, with symptoms like severe fatigue, shortness of breath and carpal tunnel. If left untreated, ATTRCM may become serious, leading to a shorter lifespan. A truby helps adults with ATTRCM and live longer and have fewer hospitalizations due to heart issues, so you can focus more on living for what you love. Tell your doctor if you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding, and about the medications you take. The most common side effects were mild and included diarrhea and abdominal pain. If you have ATTR CM, talk to your cardiologist about atruby and visit attruby.com podcast that's a T T R U B Y.com podcast to learn more. It's time to get busy living. Brought to you by bridgebio have you ever put off ordering new glasses for way too long? Maybe it's just me. You've got to schedule an appointment, pay a fortune, then wait. Zenni Optical is an online shop that fixes all of that with affordable frames and lenses. You can switch it up whenever you feel like it. Choose a new style with Zenni's virtual Try on, upload your prescription, then get them shipped straight to your door. I had my eye on the Zenni Featherlights in the rectangle shape, which should complement my rectangle face, so stay tuned. If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now is the time. Go to Zenni Dot com podcast and use code podcast15 for 15% off your first order. The styles sell out, so don't sit on it. That's C-E-N-N-I.com podcast promo code PODCAST15.

[Edward Norton]

I've gone through a funny thing where I've worked in Kenya on environmental things for many years. I've built whole company program there, all kinds of stuff. And I love it. I love the. I love the adventure. I love getting out of American life and marinating in another place. I've just grown to have a relationship with and friends, people and allies and all of it. But I will confess that maybe it's getting to a certain age, and maybe it's having kids at a certain age, and maybe it's also just a fearful sense sometimes of futility, the. You know, the futility of tilting windmills against these macro equations. Everything. But I definitely, more. More than I ever have, I feel this. This, like, gravitational pull toward local. To. Toward localism, to. To. To people close to me that, like, having a positive impact on, you know, not just in sense of kindness or generosity, but just being really attuned to, like, what can I do? What can I do? Just in my own near orbit, you know, more in my own community. And I think it's funny. I was with Sean Penn the other day. Sean. I love the way Sean lives his life and conducts himself in the world because he's a great artist. And like Shawn and I both knew Marlon Brando, I was. We were friends with Marlon in the later for his life. And Marlon, one of the things that was really. One of the things I found really sad about Marlon, if you looked at the course of his life and career, is that Marlon was a real activist. Marlon, he was very. He was one of the earliest white artists, like, along with Pete Seeger, by the way, to really show up and stand up for, not just in the civil rights movement, but for the Native American movement. And he spoke out. He did things that people thought were shameful at the time. He had Sasheen Littlefeather, except his Oscar for the thing. But when you look back at Marlon, he had an enormous amount of courage. He was very blunt about the injustices that he saw, and so I really admire that about him. But in a weird way, Marlon. Marlon really suffered from fame in a way that made him break faith with his art. He disparaged. He was made very uncomfortable by the fame. And it's not just that he felt the fraudulence of too much attention relative to the people he admired, which were Miles Davis and Bob Dylan and artists and as he said, ditch diggers. He was like, I admire a ditch digger more than I admire an actor. But that was. I feel like his defensive response to feeling, you know, insecure about himself in some ways. But that. What's a shame is I think he lost faith in. He lost faith in his own craft, talent, and in the value, the power of film to. To do anything positive in the world or communicate. He thought it was. He kind of thought it was foppery, you know, and embarrassing. And I'm saying all that only to say Sean, like, Sean is someone. What I love about Sean that actually kind of renews me sometimes is like, who's. Who's more out in the world as an artist, you know, like we talked about Mark, or like people. I really admire Sean. Sean's an absolute, you know, he builds whole. He's built a whole relief organization core. That is an incredible organization, the things they do for people in desperation. Amazing, this thing he's built, right? And he gets out after stuff, but Sean will turn around, and then when he feels it, he does his work and he never takes it for granted. I was talking to him the other day about doing one battle after another, and he. He just said the whole thing put him on cloud nine. He felt so privileged. He was laughing. And to me, I look at him and I kind of go, that's where I want to be. I don't have to do it all the time, but I don't want to break faith with it either. When the invite comes along, I want to relish it. And I know it's not the most important thing in the world, but I think people will see themselves in it. I think people will see themselves in that film, you know what I mean? And get something out of it. It's pretty provocative. It's gonna make some people laugh a lot and then have a little bit of a tear and a tear in their heart about where they might see themselves reflected in that and what are they gonna do about it, you know, But. But Sean. Sean and I were kind of talking about the same. He. He also. He's done very far flung stuff. And he was like, man, I. I just want to. I just want to deal with, you know, I want to. I want to focus on eight people instead of like 80,000, you know, and I relate to that kind of. I. I think. I think sometimes you can get tactile evidence that you can positively affect someone else when it's like.

[Ted Danson]

And there's a difference between charity writing checks, which is necessary, and organizations that are doing amazing things depend on it and all of that. But there's a difference between that and working with eight people, living with eight people, going fishing with eight people.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah. Also, I don't know what your experience was. I mean, I've been in. I. I've, like, based my life in New York for, like, over 30 years. But we were. I. We have a life now out here, too. And we were here during the fires, you know, and it was funny, I remember at the Golden Globes that year, of all things, like, we were sitting next to Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, because Selena had that great Emilio Perez film or whatever. And we were all kind of. We just happened to be sitting next to each other. So we were talking, and they had a place in Malibu, and we had come from Malibu and stuff like that. And, you know, and 48 hours later, they were living on a beach we used to live on. And 48 hours later, that whole beach was gone. Like Los Flores Beach. Most of it was burned. And. And I think. I think the fires. The fires were a really interesting psychological experience out here too, because, man, I mean, you talk about just needing to just go, what do you do for your community? What do you do for your community when it literally gets immolated? And when thing. And you realize in that moment, you're like, the big stuff, the far flung stuff, it doesn't matter. It's like, how are you gonna get. How are you gonna get people what they need? You know, right on the street you drive your kid to school on, like, every day? I mean, and I think. I think. I think a lot of people went through that experience. And in a weird way, too, it also makes you realize, like, when it's happening, like, the people. People in Ukraine are going through what they're going through, and I can only imagine. I know. I know enough people to know that in some sense, it's like, is the world aware of what the hell is going on here? Do they understand what we're going through? And imagine people in Gaza, you know, just literally saying, like, how can this be happening? Like, what is anyone gonna. Is anyone gonna do anything? When the fires went down, one of the things that made me realize is we have friends all over the world. And people were saying, oh, it looks really bad. Is it bad? And you kind of almost touch yourself as like, it's not really bad. It's atomic. It's all gone. It's like you don't understand the scale of what's going on here.

[Ted Danson]

You have to go around the world to find that there was different parts of town. True, rightfully so. Went on with their lives. But then you'd look over your shoulder and go, oh my God.

[Edward Norton]

Yeah, but. And in a weird way, there's both. There's a real yin and yang in it. Right? Because you sort of realize, whoa, people's. It's not that people aren't empathetic, but their capacity in their own daily life to absorb your disruption is really limited.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Edward Norton]

And like you said, it's not like. Like we can. We empathize with what we see going on in these places, but we, but we still get up and take a shower and brush our teeth and we move on. You know, we're doing our thing and we're just. We're kind of thanking God that the dark angel has not touched us. Right. But then the fires hit here and it's your turn in the barrel. Right. Or it's your turn in the cataclysm. And you sort of. You realize, oh, I can't. I can't really rely. We have to rely on each other. It's only the people who are actually going through it who can ever really. Can ever really articulate how bad it is or how again is in you. And it's kind of funny, isn't it? Because it does two separate things. On the one hand, you become aware that, wow, other people, the people who I sort of observe from a distance and I sympathize. And you do what you can. You write a check in to go fund me for the people in the Texas floods. Or you do what you can, but you can't. Ultimately, you can't actually fully absorb the crisis. And in a way, communities end up having to take care of themselves. You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

You mentioned some of your heroes. You're right up there for me. You really are. I love. You're really good actor. And then you turn around and you have this other side of your brain that we won't go into. But all those things you just barely touched on, all the businesses you've started that all seem to be trying to make the world a better place, the environment a better place and all of that. I have loved talking to you. We should probably wrap up. But I'm so happy to sit down and not just have a hit and run with you, which I usually do. And I cannot tell you how everybody has to run. Go see this movie. It is brilliant.

[Edward Norton]

Thank you. Thanks. And I touched on it, but I really, I do want to say to you, like, there are these funny touch points. All my life with you, not just because of we were fans and things like that, but the house. And then, you know, you as someone a lot of us look to as like, hey, there's someone who's back in the environmental movement in our trade. So we can, you know, we can draft off that. And I think, you know, watching my kids get obsessed with the good place and kind of watching it and going, no, no. And watching it and kind of going, man, life is wild. Like I'm watching them at an age, their relationship with you is down this other corridor. But there's something kind of wonderful to me in these threads. They unspool over a long period of time. And my mom died when she was 54. And I sit here, I'm talking to you, I'm like, God, I wish my mom could see this conversation. Like it's a total privilege and a joy, like, and I, I, I appreciate all that you've stood for also for, for our, in our, in our trade and just for the world.

[Ted Danson]

You're very kind to say that to me and I appreciate it. Thanks, man. That was the great Edward Norton. Highly recommend watching his feature film the Invite. That's it for this week. Special thanks to Team Coco. If you've enjoyed this episode, please send it to a loved one rate and review on Apple Podcasts. If you're in a good mood once again, you can watch our full length video [e-mail] teamcoco see you next time. Where everybody knows your name.

[Edward Norton]

You've been listening to where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson. Sometimes the show is produced by me, Nick Leow. Our executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and myself. Sarah Fedorovich is our supervising producer. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grall. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Antony Gend, Mary Steenbergen and John Osborne. Royal Caribbean takes next level to another level. Go all in on the world's boldest ships. Filled with mind blowing entertainment, world class dining and the largest water parks at sea. And just when you think it couldn't get any better, you'll stop at our award winning private island. Perfect day. Coco Cay. It's an unreal adventure for everyone in the family book [e-mail] Big time, best time, all the time. Come seek the Royal Caribbean ship's registry.

[Ted Danson]

Bahamas.

[Edward Norton]

Hey everyone, it's Kelly Ripa and season four of let's Talk Off Camera is here. No glam, no script. Just real conversations, honest stories and plenty of laughs. Every week we're bringing you candid conversations, behind the scenes stories, and the kind of unfiltered talk you only get off camera with guests like Oprah, Kate Hudson, Nikki Glaser, and more. You never know where the conversation will go. Catch new episodes of let's Talk Off Camera. Wherever you get your podcasts.