Talking "A Man on the Inside” w/ Mike Schur, Mary Steenburgen, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Lilah Richcreek Estrada

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (Sometimes)

Episode: Talking "A Man on the Inside” with Mike Schur, Mary Steenburgen, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Lilah Richcreek Estrada

Date: December 24, 2025

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Overview

In this heartfelt and humorous episode, the cast and creator of A Man on the Inside join a town hall-style conversation to explore the show's themes of aging, second chances, community, and creativity. Hosted by Ron Bennington, the roundtable includes Mike Schur (creator), Mary Steenburgen, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Lilah Richcreek Estrada, with Ted Danson and Conan O'Brien making recurring appearances. They dive deep into character complexities, the realities of getting older, the power of comedy, the creative process, and hopes for the show's future. The discussion is warm, vulnerable, and full of laughter, with memorable anecdotes and behind-the-scenes insights.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Premise & Casting of "A Man on the Inside"

• Mike Schur describes the series as "a story of a guy whose life is...getting very small" after losing his wife, following an instinct to answer a quirky want ad for an elderly man tech-savvy enough to go undercover ([00:15], [27:31]).
• Casting Chemistry:
  • Ted Danson came first, described as setting a professional, passionate tone on set (Mike Schur: [03:15]).
  • Mary Elizabeth Ellis was cast for her real father-daughter chemistry with Ted ([04:14]).
  • Joke about needing to remember each other's names in the ensemble (Mary Elizabeth Ellis: [04:03]).
  • Lilah Richcreek Estrada brought authentic PI cred to her role ([05:12]).
  • Mary Steenburgen joined as a love interest, with her and Ted tackling the challenge of "unlearning 32 years" of marriage to play new lovers ([06:40], [07:02], [07:38]).

Notable Quote:
"When the person at the top of the call sheet cares deeply about the project...everyone else falls in line and it's invaluable." — Mike Schur [03:15]

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2. Romance, Age, and Second Chances

• The show purposefully explores late-in-life romance without condescension, a rarity in TV ([09:17]).
• Ted reflects that real love offscreen made it easier to act falling in love onscreen, and highlights the importance of showing that life, love, and purpose continue at any age ([07:38], [09:47]).
• The cast discusses the evolution of how society perceives aging and maintains humor and hopefulness surrounding the topic ([09:47], [10:19]).

Notable Quote:
"You don't have a shelf life as far as contributing to the world...There are second chances in life, so keep your eyes open." — Ted Danson [09:47]

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3. Generations, Family, and Grief

• Mary Elizabeth Ellis discusses playing the 'sandwich generation'—caring for both kids and aging parents while working through her own grief and dreams ([12:34]).
• Lilah Richcreek Estrada notes the joy and challenge of her character being both mysterious and exposed, especially after becoming a parent herself ([11:22]).
• The wider impact of grief, second chances, and intergenerational dynamics is explored through character arcs and personal reflection.

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4. Music, Creativity, and Unexpected Inspiration

• Mary Steenburgen recounts her real-life experience with music stemming from a neurological event, which inspired her character’s backstory as a one-hit-wonder songwriter ([14:17]).
• Discussion of writing and recording an authentic song for the show, drawing on 60s/70s influences, and how the process mirrors the unpredictable, sometimes mystical, nature of creativity ([15:28], [18:13]).
• The group reflects humorously and earnestly on creative "flow," acting, and the muse—highlighting how good writing breathes life into performances (Mike Schur & Ted Danson, [19:48], [20:25]).

Notable Quotes:
"It's always telling stories...maybe somehow my brain, that little channel to [my grandmother], opened up." — Mary Steenburgen [18:13]

"Every time I step in front of a camera...you don't know what you're going to do or what's going to happen. You get lost in it. And that's joy." — Ted Danson [19:48]

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5. Comedy’s Comfort: Kindness, Grief, and Community

• Ted Danson shares gratitude for being part of shows that help people through hardship, noting that A Man on the Inside brings grace and humor to aging ([26:07]).
• The power of communal comedy and the importance of “kindness” as a recurring audience response ([26:40]).

Notable Quote:
"To do it with such grace and humor—there was a lot of gratitude. It touched a real nerve, you know?" — Ted Danson [26:07]

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6. Life, Memory, & Our Relationship with Technology

• Both aging and modern society are depicted as assaults on our attention and memory, blurring generational lines ([31:00] onward).
• The cast jokes about "the nouns" leaving as they age (names, details) ([30:08], [30:57]), and share relatable frustrations with information overload and digital distractions ([31:58], [34:21]).
• Bo Burnham's ideas on the "colonization" of attention are invoked, and the panel encourages putting down the phone and watching something meaningful ([35:37]).

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7. Detective Stories as Antidote to Modern Life

• Mike Schur delights in writing a methodical detective series that moves "deliberately"—a contrast to today's hyper-speed culture ([37:07]).
• The importance of physical setting—Charles’s house becomes a character; cast marvels at the care recreating it brings ([38:00]).

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8. Long-Term Relationships: On- & Off-Screen

• Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen share loving, funny anecdotes about knowing each other's past work and meeting at an audition ([39:09], [39:18]).
• Mary says "Cheers" was her comfort show during a tough period—a show giving "solace," echoing what so many experience with great TV ([39:40]).
• The value of creative partnerships and respect on set is discussed; great writing and happy, kind environments create better shows ([50:50], [52:09]).

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9. Season Two: Tone, New Characters, and Story Evolution

• Shift from season one’s focus on grief to season two’s on romance, bringing in comedic “murderer’s row” guest stars like Max Greenfield, Jason Mantzoukas, Lisa Gilroy, and more ([41:25]).
• Return of beloved secondary characters for continuity and community roots ([42:39], [42:58]).

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10. Easter Eggs, In-Jokes, and Showrunner Joys

• Mike Schur is unapologetic about loading sets with Easter eggs from his past shows (The Good Place, Parks & Rec, Celtics fandom) for attentive viewers ([46:07], [47:37]).
• Cast members enjoy discovering these nuggets during scenes ([47:37]).

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11. Career Longevity, Resilience, and Re-invention

• Mary Elizabeth Ellis reflects on simultaneously starring in two hit shows, and the rarity of that kind of longevity ([48:30]).
• Ted Danson opens up about personal struggles after "Cheers," using that period to grow as a person rather than focusing on career ([49:57]).
• Discussion of the absolute necessity of great writing—no amount of acting can substitute for bad scripts ([51:56]-[52:09]).

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12. Behind-the-Scenes Banter & Finale

• Running joke about Ted being a "lactation expert" to the cast's delight ([53:32]-[54:11]).
• The joy of being able to "take a joke" on set is lauded as a crucial life skill ([53:32]).

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13. Hopes for Season Three and Show Legacy

• Mike Schur expresses a wish for season three to highlight the beauty and community of San Francisco, countering negative tropes about American cities ([54:51]).
• Affection for cities as sites of culture, resilience, and unique local flavor ([56:19], [57:05]).

Notable Quote:
"Cities...are places where enormous numbers of people go and live and commune and interact...I feel like they should be celebrated more than they're celebrated." — Mike Schur [57:05]

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Memorable Moments & Quotes with Timestamps

• On Aging and Second Chances:
  "You don't have a shelf life as far as contributing to the world...There are second chances in life, so keep your eyes open." — Ted Danson [09:47]

• On On-Screen Romance:
  "We had to unlearn 32 years of knowing each other. And that was a fun challenge..." — Mary Steenburgen [07:02]

• On the Creative Process:
  "You keep chasing that mindless, joyful...You don't know what you're going to do or what's going to happen. You get lost in it. And that's, that's joy, right?" — Ted Danson [19:48]

• On Comedy’s Power:
  "To do it with such grace and humor—there was a lot of gratitude. It touched a real nerve, you know?" — Ted Danson [26:07]

• On Memory Loss and Information Overload:
  "There’s a line...‘And then the nouns start to leave’. Charles goes, ‘The goddamn nouns!’...You open up the file cabinet where the name has always been and the file’s empty. And it just drives you crazy." — Mike Schur [30:08]

• On Easter Eggs:
  "In my mind, you’ve got to put something up there, you might as well make it something that someone might get some pleasure out of if they happen to notice it." — Mike Schur [46:07]

• On Cities:
  "I love cities. I think they're the lifeblood of this country...I would love to just show off the city and make an argument on its behalf." — Mike Schur [54:51]

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Episode Structure & Key Segments

• 00:15–03:57: Show origin, ensemble cast, what each actor brings
• 06:25–10:24: Depicting romantic relationships later in life; the process for Ted & Mary playing lovers
• 12:13–13:26: Intergenerational relationships and personal journeys
• 14:17–19:04: Mary Steenburgen’s musical awakening; songwriting for the series
• 19:48–21:29: Creativity, muse, and the unpredictability of acting/writing
• 26:07–29:49: Comedy as solace; aging, memory, kindness, community
• 30:08–35:37: The nature of memory, digital distraction, generational struggles
• 37:07–38:42: Investigative storytelling as a slow antidote to fast culture; set design
• 39:09–41:40: Ted/Mary's early impressions of each other; show's tonal shift in season two
• 46:07–48:15: Easter eggs and the fun of subtle references
• 49:35–54:33: Ted’s personal growth post-Cheers; the necessity of great writing; taking a joke on set
• 54:51–57:42: Future hopes for the show, focus on the celebration of cities

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode blends warmth, humor, and poignant observations about the joys and challenges of aging, art, and family. There is infectious chemistry among the panelists, genuine affection, and a shared belief in the redemptive power of creativity and kindness. While full of laughter and inside jokes, it offers universal insights into what it means to age, love, and keep reinventing yourself.

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For New Listeners

You’ll walk away understanding why A Man on the Inside is more than a comedy—it’s a celebration of renewal, community, and the sustaining bonds of art and friendship. And you may want to rewatch for Easter eggs!

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Transcript

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[Mike Schur]

It's a story of a guy whose life is. His wife passed away and his life is getting very small. And for some reason, he just follows this instinct. He answers an ad in the paper. It says, wanted, like man 75 to 85, good with technology.

[Conan O'Brien]

Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. Something that gets brought up on this show a lot is my work with Mike Schur on A Man on the Inside. It's been one of my greatest joys, especially getting to act with my wife, Mary Steenburgen, in season two, which is streaming now on Netflix. Recently, we did a town hall event about the show with castmates and colleagues at the SiriusXM building in New York City. They include Mike Schur, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Lila Rich Creek Estrada, and, of course, Mary. It was hosted by Ron Bennington, who is fantastic at his job. And I am so glad to share with you here.

[Ted Danson]

The two in the back should be fired. They didn't really clap that.

[Interviewer]

Okay, just point them out immediately. 10, we'll get. This is the real tip, by the way. This is who Fire that person.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

I thought he meant us.

[Interviewer]

Those two. Yeah, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Did I cover up my.

[Interviewer]

Mary Elizabeth, you always feel like you're walking on eggshells around.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Oh, yeah. He's a monster.

[Interviewer]

He's a monster. We've always. Mike Shore, what a team you've put together. Again, how's it feel to have. Yes, yes.

[Mike Schur]

It's a great group of people. Mary Steenburgen joined us for season two, which was a really big deal.

[Commercial Voice]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

But in addition, we also have Max Greenfield and Jason Mantzoukas and Lisa Gilroy and Gary Cole and the Jill Talley. Like a huge, huge number of new people in the second season that really made the show super fun. David Strathearn, he's unbelievable, right?

[Interviewer]

To just move in and be a different kind of the same character.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, well, he specifically David. Yeah. I mean, it was very funny that. To have him on the set because, you know, he showed up and he did his first scene and everyone was like, oh, that's a real actor. Yes, that's a. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You just crashed that.

[Mike Schur]

We all have to actually try hard now because a real actor has joined the cast.

[Interviewer]

Well, is there always somebody in Always. All the shows that you've done? Do you look like one Actor will go, okay, everybody, this is the way we treat this show. Because all your shows are comedies, but very different from each other.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. I mean, in this case, all joking aside, it's Ted. Like, Ted. Ted being when the number one on the call sheet is. Takes the show and the project seriously and is so, like, is on time every day and works hard and knows their lines and cares deeply about what they're doing. It sets the tone for everybody else. I mean, my first job was the Office, and Steve Carell was like that, and then it was Parks and Recreation. Amy Poehler was like that, and Andy Samberg on Brooklyn and Andre Braugher on Brooklyn, like, there. When the. When the person who's at the top of the call sheet takes the show, like, seriously and really cares about it, just means everyone else falls in line and that there's. It's invaluable. Like, there's nothing beats it.

[Interviewer]

Well, why don't we have you take you through this cast here and tell us what each person brings to the table.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

We have to remember our names. I'm Mary Elizabeth.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, if I'll actually just say your.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Name and what you do.

[Mike Schur]

Well. Okay. When we were making the show, it started with Ted. Ted was. We went to him, said we wanted him to play the part, and he signed on. Then we quickly needed his daughter because a big part of the show was about this man trying to sort of reconcile with his daughter. They had sort of a strained relationship, and Mary Elizabeth just came in and auditioned, and it was unanimous. I think it was just a. They seemed like a father and a daughter, which is maybe a silly thing to say, but it was really true. They just had, like, a lovely rapport. And they. They did. Then we had. We needed the private investigator who. Who, you know, hires Charles to work in her firm. And Lila. It was the perfect combination of, like, her comedic timing is impeccable. But also, she just seemed like a. She seemed like that could really be her job, you know? Like, she seemed like she.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, it was. She just seemed like a. Like a serious person who cared about, like, cracking cases. And I had this image in my head. We actually went back and shot this. Remember, we. It was not in the script originally, but I was like, oh, what this needs at the beginning of the first season was a shot where Lila, in a long, dark overcoat is just looking around to make sure no one's looking, and then brings a camera up and just goes. And I was like, if we just. If it's a five second Shot like that of her with her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders and a long black coat. Just takes clandestine photos or something. You'd be like, yeah, I get it. That's a private investigator. And then this year, we needed a love for Charles, for Ted's character, and we, you know, immediately, obviously thought of Mary. We. I think we. I. I can't remember. I wish I could remember exactly where it was. But I believe we talked to her about doing this before the first season was even over. I think before we had finished shooting. She was on the set and I was like, do you. Would you want to play. Would you want to, like, really stretch yourself as an actor and play someone who. Who likes Ted dancing? Yeah.

[Interviewer]

But it is interesting that of course you have a long relationship, but now you have to meet and be flirtatious with each other. Are you guys playing. Are you thinking as the character but also knowing your own backstory?

[Mary Steenburgen]

Well, it's the opposite of what I just did last week or a couple of weeks ago. And I'm not going to say anything about kissing, so. Which is act. Act romantically with an actor I didn't know at all.

[Mike Schur]

Right.

[Mary Steenburgen]

So that's normal. Actually, though, it's a weird thing about my life, but it's a normal thing about this job. But what we had to do was unlearn 32 years of, you know, of knowing each other. And that was a fun challenge to like. And also part of it is made easy by the fact that the writing is brilliant, but also that he made our characters really different, you know, so you just. You can describe how it was actually the opposite.

[Ted Danson]

No, no, really. Reaction. It was much easier because I'm madly in love with her. She knows I'm in love with her. We're married. Da, da, da, da. We're bonded at the hip that it was easier for me to do the pretending to falling in love because normally that situation of how do you do? Hi. And now we're going to pretend to be intimate or whatever horrifies me, you know, and it's confusing and weird and wrong. So I was able, You see on my face, oh, my darling, is guilt.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Ted Danson]

Guilt.

[Mary Steenburgen]

That is your problem.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

So it was great to answer your question.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Well, you know, Mary's still glowing from Vancouver. She hasn't let go of that yet.

[Ted Danson]

You notice the adjectives?

[Interviewer]

Glowing, hair, tumbling.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I can't doubt it's that I'm calling jj.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, Ted, you even bring a little slapstick in this year. It's really been fun, actually.

[Ted Danson]

I Was thinking about that my slapstick is really Ted trying to run as best he can at age 78. So that means I scurry close to the ground, so I'm closer to the ground if I trip and fall. But, yes, it was much fun to do that. I love that.

[Interviewer]

Well, what I also think is great about the romance in this. If this show was done 25, 30 years ago, it wouldn't be. Look, isn't this funny? These two people think they're falling in love like kids. But now I think the way the world has moved, this is a natural thing. We don't expect at age 65 or 70 to turn off our lives. And in the old days, that was like, okay, you did a great race. Go sit over there for a while.

[Ted Danson]

I love that about everything Mike does, basically, is. It's purposeful, at least, talking about this man on the inside. It's purposeful that we're talking about age. And, you know, you don't give up. You don't have a shelf life as far as contributing to the world and being nurturing and caring and loving and hopeful and curious and all those things. Keep going, you know? Yeah, Keep going until you can't go. And you do. There are second chances in life, so keep your eyes open.

[Interviewer]

Sure.

[Ted Danson]

Kind of thing. So I love that message.

[Interviewer]

Well, I also think that all of us can remember that our grandparents got older earlier. I mean, I remember Sunday dinners and looking at people 40 or 50, and their leg's not working. There's no way to fix it. And they've kept us healthier longer. So now, you know, so now what do we do? And also, I want to bring this up with Lila, too. It was like, you're talking about the way she was last season, but this season, we see she's just as vulnerable with these generational things as everybody else. And I think that's one of the most interesting parts of. Of the show, is that it is one day at a time to keep these relationships together. Lila, was this more fun for you to have some of that extra backstory?

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

Yes, for sure. I mean, I love Julie, period. She was so fun to play last season when intentionally nobody knew anything about her because that's how she wants to be seen.

[Mary Steenburgen]

But.

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

But, yeah, to show that she's actually human and is messy and does not have it all together, Knowing how much she hates that was really, really fun to play. And. Yeah. And getting to do a whole storyline with my mom. They all know, but I. And I started shooting season two right after becoming A mom I was five and a half weeks. So that added just like a whole other layer to think about and made it, I think, a lot deeper and richer and complex. And, yeah, I think it's fun. Julie's very human.

[Interviewer]

And Mary Elizabeth, the same with you. Your character is stuck with trying to connect to the kids at a certain age and your dad at a certain age. And it's really hard, and it's really more heartbreaking than any of us understand with each other because things aren't said or finished, and all of us deal with it.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Yeah. I mean, one of the things we talked about in season one that continues through season two and will, you know, keep continuing is that idea of being like the sandwich generation, right. Where you're taking care of your kids and you're also taking care of your parents, and then you get put on the back burner. And in season two, my character Emily, gets to look a little bit more at her own grief of losing her mother. Season one, she was taking care of her father's grief. And also, wait a second. I'm doing this thing that I didn't actually intend to do. I just sort of found myself here, and Mona comes in and just, like, starts throwing firecrackers at everybody, and she jumps up, Emily. And is like, wait, I do have dreams that I'm still interested in achieving. And so it was exciting to get to explore that.

[Interviewer]

And also, as far as looking at your dad that way is because there's something weirdly more sad about a widower than a widow. It feels like women are raised to be the survivors, but when a man loses his wife, it's just like, now what? Now what? And that's where the show started last year, and it's been amazing to see that move along. Mary, your character, having that thing of it's time to go write the song, no matter what else is happening, which is such a unique character that we've never seen before in a show. But you do have some of that with music, right?

[Mary Steenburgen]

I do. I have a weird. It's less weird now because it's become a part of my life, because I'm getting. I think it's 18 years of having what at the time felt like a brain disorder. But I had a little surgery on my arm. They let my blood pressure get too low, and I had some kind of a little brain event that resulted in me hearing the world differently. You don't think about the sound of your brain. You think about your thoughts until your brain doesn't sound like itself. Anymore. It sounds like an overscored movie. And so it's hard to describe, but I eventually kind of found a way to make it work for me. And now I write music and I collaborated with Mike and several other people and we write a song. I won't spoil what this song does or is, but. Well, no, we could say. We could say we wrote this song that Mona was quite famous for when she was young.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Which would have been early 70s type of timeline.

[Mike Schur]

Very late 60s, early 70s. Yeah. It's. We have. We play a little bit fast and loose. That was the funniest thing was that we had to. The backstory was that Mona wrote a song that was like a one hit wonder. And she played at Woodstock when she was 18. And the math of that meant that we had to make her character older than Mary really is in real life. And so she has a line where she says, come on.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenburgen]

By the way, it's my two years. But they made him younger. So then I'm like, how come he's younger and I'm older?

[Mike Schur]

When she asked me that on the set, I knew that there was an answer, but I went blank. And I was like. And then a couple minutes later I was like, no, no, no. There's a reason. There's a reason. But it's a sort of like one of those, like, sort of groovy late 60s, early 70s, like Mamas and the Papas songs. And we. So David Schwartz, who is the composer for the show, and his daughter. And then Troy Burgess. Troy Burgess. And. And we all collaborated and like actually wrote and recorded the song. And I gotta say, it's a good song.

[Mary Steenburgen]

It really is.

[Mike Schur]

I'm like super into it.

[Mary Steenburgen]

I wish you had to cut a little. I wish they heard the whole one.

[Mike Schur]

I know, it's a very. It's like. I think we played in the credits at the very end.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Oh, good.

[Mike Schur]

But. Oh, yeah, it's like a very fun poppy song.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Listen for it on Sirius.

[Ted Danson]

It makes. It makes. Even though you hear it later totally believable.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

That her story was that she, you know.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. It sounds like one of those. One of those like one hit wonder songs that you like on the. In the old days would have been like the Time Life, you know.

[Interviewer]

Sure.

[Mike Schur]

20 set kind of thing.

[Interviewer]

K12K.

[Mike Schur]

But yeah, exactly. Yeah. So. And Mary gets to perform at a certain point in the season.

[Ted Danson]

The name of the group, though, the.

[Mike Schur]

Name of the band was Lavender Highway.

[Interviewer]

Lavender Highway, Yeah. Very much canyon music. But you were not very musical before that.

[Mary Steenburgen]

No.

[Interviewer]

Not at all, no. Now, I have interviewed so many, literally the greatest songwriters of all time. You know, Brian Wilson, Robertson. It goes on and on, and I've never heard any one of them take credit for the song. They'll always say, it came in. You know, I'm out there every day. But sometimes it comes in, it drips in. It's like I have an antenna. We can't really explain it, but all of them try. And then it doesn't become this national thing where we all believe it or not, but it's about as close as we can come to spirituality. Right.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Divinity. So I don't think of it. First of all, it wasn't so much a talent that came to me. I got an obsession. And so the obsession led to just working. Like, I studied music and songwriting, and I still have trouble reading music. It's easier for me to just hear and sing what it is I'm hearing, so. And also, the story of this song is really important to me because I feel like that's so connected to acting. It's like always telling stories. But I sort of feel like I had a grandmother that was extremely musical. She could play any instrument. And I just feel like maybe somehow my brain, that little channel to her, opened up. I don't know. I've talked to brain people about it.

[Conan O'Brien]

And there's a book.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah, there's a book called musicophilia that Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote, that as soon as it happened, people started sending me this book. But. But it's like, it's just never going to be fully described to me, I don't think.

[Interviewer]

And maybe we're not supposed to 100% understand that, but we should at least believe that creativity itself. And, Mike, I'm sure you've had this. When writing, you're, like, suddenly in a zone, and then that zone goes away for a while, and then you're like, well, I guess. And it'll come back again. And is acting the same way that you just kind of push yourself along until you find that spark? For any of you guys, I. I.

[Ted Danson]

Think it's 50, 50 every time I step in front of a camera. I mean, if you have good words, the odds are better that you will, you know, get on that creative, kind of mindless flow. But it's. It's. Which is why I think I want to keep acting for the rest of my life is you keep chasing that, you know, that mindless, joyful. You have no idea, literally, even though you know the script backwards and forwards most of the time. You, you don't know what you're going to do or what's going to happen. You get lost in it. And that's, that's joy, right? But it's always, you know, 50, 50.

[Mike Schur]

I mean, there's a reason that, like in ancient times they invented something called muses that were magical creatures that came to artists and told them what to do. And they got angry at them when they weren't around and they made offerings to them to try to get them to come back. Like, this is, this is. The creative process is maddening. And there is a. I think it's a combination of like. Some of it is just practice, right? Some of it is like, you just do it enough that your brain knows how to, like, sort of try to find a creative mode. But I have had the experience at times of being like, I don't even really know what I am writing, but I am writing things. And that doesn't mean it's gonna be good, but it just, it. I think what it means is that there's some. You're just like in a. You're in a lazy river and you're letting the process kind of like take you on whatever journey you're gonna go on. And that's really fun. Like, it's great when that happens. It's better than the alternative, which is like banging your head against a wall over and over again trying to write one joke that you think is mildly funny just half the time.

[Interviewer]

A surfer really has to practice to be good, but he's not the wave. You know what I mean? You have to be prepared to catch the right wave, but if you go out there and there isn't any wave, there's not much you can do with it.

[Mike Schur]

You're gonna sit on the surfboard.

[Commercial Voice]

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[Conan O'Brien]

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[Commercial Voice]

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[Conan O'Brien]

To help make it a reality.

[Commercial Voice]

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[Interviewer]

What's also interesting to me in the stuff that happens is that you can create something for whatever reason that any of you have to want to do this work. But it can mean something so different to so many people in the audience. And when you make comedy, a lot of times people will be going through something very hard in their life. A breakup, the loss of somebody. And you just have that one show that you're waiting for that can make you just exhale A little bit. And I'm sure you've heard this, Ted, throughout your career, you've been involved with some amazing shows, and most of them are still in reruns. And there's so many things that you have done. I think that has brought real joy to people.

[Ted Danson]

Very blessed in that way. Yeah, definitely. I get to walk around with people smiling at me because they remember a moment that I was part of. And this is really special because I don't think we talk about the scary part of aging, you know. You know that there is memory loss or can be. You know, that there is grief, there's finality, there's all that stuff. And to do it with such grace and humor. There was a lot of gratitude. It touched a real nerve, you know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And it's kind. That was another nerve that was touched that people kind of crave a certain kindness.

[Interviewer]

There is a certain kindness, and you're right, there is an acceptance as we grow older. And the worst part of it is losing family and friends through natural, just life things and learning to accept that.

[Ted Danson]

I'm still in the mode of tell me exactly what happened. Okay, so they died, but I won't. Yeah, this is something I can.

[Interviewer]

This is it.

[Ted Danson]

Skate around.

[Interviewer]

And that's how we all have to live it, you know, with these things that are happening. But you guys have found a way to make it. I think the word is communal because it's all about connections.

[Mike Schur]

Well, part of the show's based on a documentary called the Mole Agent that came out a few years ago. A woman named Maite Alberti did it. It's from Chile, and it's great. And I recommend everybody watch it. Part of what really touched me about it was it's a story of a guy whose life is. His wife passed away and his life is getting very small. And for some reason, he just follows this instinct. He answers an ad in the paper. It's one of the greatest want ads of all time. It says, wanted, like man, 75 to 85, good with technology. So funny, so unintentionally funny. And he just. Something compels him to break out of his small little world and do this. And it ends up being really. It kind of saves his life because he goes out and he meets people and he becomes friends with people, and he has these experiences he wouldn't have had. And the people he meets, their lives are made better by meeting him. And it's just such a lovely little story. And the thing that I kept thinking about when I watched it, which is what we try to do in the show is to make the point that, like, there are things that are sad about aging. Certainly you lose friends and family, you perhaps go through some health problems. This is the best case scenario. Right. This is what, this is what we're all hoping we get to do. So while it's scary and there's grief and there's sadness, this is the best alternative of all of the alternatives. And so to do a movie about that and then to do a show about that, I thought was a good way to just discuss something that it's hard to see sometimes.

[Conan O'Brien]

It's hard.

[Mike Schur]

It's hard to see when you're. When your parent or grandparent or someone you know or love is suffering health ailments or having memory loss. It's hard to feel gratitude for that. But you should in some way because it's like, wow, you, you've won the race. You lived long enough to get to the point where this is how your life goes. So, you know, it's a, it's a double edged sword for sure. And that doesn't mean it's not sad, but it's a, it's a kind of. It's a sadness that can. Is only possible when you've had a lot of joy and success.

[Interviewer]

Sure.

[Mike Schur]

In terms of just making it through the rat race that we're all running, you know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah. It really is the strangest thing. And I was saying to a friend the other day, you know, the guy was so great with the 49ers and he goes, joe Montana. Yeah. Yeah. I should have known that.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

But that's where it goes. Just those little things. It's not like you can't find your way home, you know?

[Mike Schur]

No, but it's. There's the line in the first season when Charles is talking to his friend Calbert and he's talking. Calbert's like running through what happens to you as you age. And then he says, and then the nouns start to leave. Charles goes the God damn. Now that is a direct conversation that I just turned 50 and I had that conversation with my wife, that exact conversation where we were driving home from dinner and I couldn't remember someone's name like a person I've known all my life. And she did the same thing your friend did and went like, Bill. And I was like, God damn it. Like, what is happening to the nouns, the people, places and things? They just like, you go to that file cabinet where the name has always been and you open it up and the file's Empty. And it just drives you crazy. And so, again, count your blessings. Like, if you get to the point where the nouns start to go.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

That means, you know, you've had a lot of luck in your life.

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

To be fair, though, I'm 36, and the nouns are dicey for me.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

But you just had a baby.

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

Check in with me in six months.

[Mike Schur]

My wife. My wife, when she gave birth to our son William, which is now, you know, 17 years ago, she. After, like, three months or four months later, she was like, I'm gonna go get my hair done for the first time in forever. So she went to her salon, and they said, like, oh, my God, you had the baby? And she said, yeah. And they said, what's his name? And she forgot his name. And so she said, his name is William. And she said, like, it's Ryan. His name is Ryan. I love that. And she went back for a while. Every time she went back, they'd be like, how's Ryan? She'd be like, he's great.

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

She had to find a new hair place.

[Mike Schur]

Well, you can't admit that you got the name of your K wrong. So she like, yeah. There's a weird part of Los Angeles where our child has a different name.

[Interviewer]

But Lila's right about one thing, that your generation gets hit with such constant information so quickly that most people I know now, no matter what age, struggle with reading a novel. And I used to have a novel a week going my whole life. And now when I'm reading, I'm like, two chapters before I touch the phone. You know what I mean? I'll make up little rules for myself, but everybody's brains gets attacked.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Now, they should put more dancing kittens in novels, and then we'd pay attention to them. It's the novel's fault.

[Interviewer]

Here's the thing. I don't even know if those are real kittens. That's the other. The other. Can I trust these kittens actually exist?

[Mary Steenburgen]

Evidently. The chicken on the back of the pig that gets on the trampoline. I was heartbroken when my son goes, mom, that's AI.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Hearing also goes. And Alex Elderman, you know, he has this great comedic bit where he says, there's a phrase that will save you. It doesn't matter what is being said. And in my case, I take, it doesn't matter what I heard or didn't hear. It's. Can you believe it?

[Mike Schur]

Steve said that to me.

[Ted Danson]

So many.

[Interviewer]

Crazy times we live in, I feel.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Like I just go wild, wild, wild, wild.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, but Is it we are in this thing where you're supposed to know somebody yelling something out at Iowa and another. What do you think of that? I'm like, I don't. You know, it's happening all so fast and none of it stays. None of it stays.

[Mike Schur]

Well, we're not supposed to, to experience this many things. That's not like, there's that old. There's the thing about like, you can't keep more than. It's like 200 names in your head really. Because when humans were evolving, like the little clusters that we were in were like, they wouldn't be more than like 150 or 200 people big. That's just how like the, you know, primitive, primitive man evolved. And I think that we're not supposed to have more than like, you know, whatever, 500 pieces of information hit us every year.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

Now we have a thousand a day. Like, and it's wild when you, when you see something online and you say to everyone, like in our writers room or wherever, like, did you see the thing that so and so tweeted about? Whatever. And everyone has seen it and it's like, how is this possible? How are we taking in this much information?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

And the nouns, the poor nouns that we used to know are just like being crushed. They're being pushed to the side. Because now we have to reserve some brain power for the chicken that's on the back of the pig, that's trampoline that we all saw. And then the follow up discussion of like, no, that was AI. And then the follow up to the follow up of like, what's open AI doing this week and why are they doing whatever. So I think it's. Some of it is not our fault, but it like you're saying unless you create rules for yourself of like, I am not going to engage with this. I am going to sit down and calm myself and read a book or like sit and talk to someone. It is, I mean, you know, it's a. The Bo Burnham interview now I'm doing it. The Bo Burnham interview he did recently where he was like, these companies are coming for your attention. Like, that's what they're. That's what's happening is like they're colonizing your attention span. And there, there are. If there are chunks of your life that are where your attention is elsewhere, they're trying to grab it and, and refocus it on whatever they're offering.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

So it's like, put down your phone and watch a man on the inside.

[Mike Schur]

You know what I Mean, I do.

[Interviewer]

Think, yeah, that's good. I am.

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

Oh, she's gone.

[Mary Steenburgen]

She dropped it.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Go watch it.

[Interviewer]

She dropped Mike.

[Mike Schur]

I am happy. I have. My kids are 17 and 15. I am happy when they are watching a television show. So funny, because when we were kids, our parents would be like, that TV is going to rot your brain. And now it's like, oh, thank God they're watching TV. It's 23 minutes long instead of. Instead of 18 seconds.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

You know, structured.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Commercial Voice]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

My. My grandparents were shocked that I could just keep watching show after show. They understood you had a show, you know, and you. And I, like, Mike Douglas is on right now. I think he's bringing al Carlin in 15 minutes. But they.

[Ted Danson]

Can you imagine your grandmother watching a commercial for a butt deodorant?

[Interviewer]

That's really. I. I can't even imagine my dad doing that. My. My father struggled with hbo. He would get up and walk out as we were all watching. But, you know, that is another thing about this show is no matter what age you're also supposed to keep up, you know what I mean? Where it's somehow funny that somebody doesn't know how to use TikTok or know what Grindr is.

[Mike Schur]

Well, the. One of the.

[Interviewer]

Don't worry about it. I just said, don't worry about it.

[Mike Schur]

One of the best things about detective stories, to me, the reason that I really like writing this show, is detective stories are methodical. They are about slowly observing and taking in clues and piecing things together and moving really deliberately through the world. It's a perfect job for Charles Nieuwendyk, former engineering professor and intellectual. It's why it works well that he's gotten this new gig because it requires just. You have to move slowly and deliberately. And that is an antidote, I think, to what a lot of modern life is like, where it's like, you know, go, go, go, go, more, more, more. And that's been really fun to write a story about a guy who has to just move very deliberately and slowly through his world.

[Interviewer]

Also, Charles lives in maybe my favorite house in any movie.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

How did you guys come across that house? Was just luck or.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, it was scouting. We found it. It's in. It's in the eastern part of la. It's.

[Interviewer]

Where.

[Mike Schur]

Where is it? Like, it's Eagle Rock. Eagle Rock. Yeah. And we. It's at the end of a. A dead end street. And it's just like a beautiful. We actually recreated it this year. We built. We re perfect.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

So trippy.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

Wow.

[Mary Steenburgen]

When you watch the Thanksgiving episode, it's shocking that it's a set. Yeah, it looks exactly like that.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Yeah, we'd be like, let's go outside. But you're still on the hangar and there's wind blowing through the trees, you know. Yeah, they've done their great.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, it's a beautiful house, but it was. It's at the end of a cul de sac and it's up of steep hill and it's a little hard to get to. So we just. We had. We do an entire episode where Charles has a Thanksgiving at his house. And so we just recreated it on a soundstage, you know, with Ted.

[Interviewer]

Mary, I imagine both of you saw each other's work before you met, right? Do you remember Ted, the first thing that you saw her in or.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I think it was Time after time with Malcolm McDowell.

[Interviewer]

What a movie. What a movie.

[Ted Danson]

Fantastic.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenburgen]

For me, well, we met at an audition that I had been cast in Cross Creek by Marty Ritt. And he had a lot of guys come in and read for to play opposite me in that. And that's where I first met him. And I remember looking at him and going, ah, too handsome.

[Interviewer]

Too handsome.

[Mary Steenburgen]

And then he said something very funny and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's because funny's my thing. Like, you know, that's what I look for. So anyway, then cut to, you know, we're both married many years, lots of water under the bridge and, well, I'm going through a divorce and Cheers is on now at 10 o' clock at night. So I'd put my kids to bed and then go in there. And it was. You asked about shows that give one solace. Mine was Cheers, you know, and it was just like there was something so comforting and beautiful and brilliant and the writing and the. Every single person on it was just brilliant. And little did I know I'm going to be asleep, I'm a sick.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

And that person was Rhea Perlman.

[Interviewer]

It was a different time. It was a different time. First thing I remember seeing Ted was Body Heat. And you play so good as such a character. And I remember that you danced, you know, just in front of your friend on the boardwalk. And I'm like, no one gets it, but this man is really charming. And I think you could do a lot of things, but it was. It's always that amazing thing that we go back with, with people who we kind of feel like in the back of our heads, you know, we. We got before everybody else did. But you have an entire show even Your guest stars come in like that now. You have such great guest stars this year.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, it was a real murderer's row. I mean, season one was so much about loss and grief, and season two, we wanted to be about romance, and that meant that it needed to be a little brighter and a little sunnier, a little more fun.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Mike Schur]

And so we just brought in all the funny people we could think of. Max Greenfield plays a big role. Gary Cole, Lisa Gilroy, Jason Mantzoukas. Like, we just called all these funny people that we knew and said, can you come be a part of this? And I think the show, it still feels like the same show, but it's definitely more comedic, more overtly comedic, because Charles isn't going through this really deeply sad thing in his life. He worked through that with his daughter and through the process of making new friends and stuff. And now he has room in his life to start a new romance and that, you know, romance and comedy go together and always have. And so when we wanted the show to be about this new love in his life, we just wanted the whole show to feel a little sunnier, and that led to the stars.

[Ted Danson]

I also love that you conscientiously. Sorry, I stopped.

[Interviewer]

No, please.

[Ted Danson]

Brought season people from Pacific View Retirement home into this year as well, because I think people fell in love with the group at Pacific View, and I think it will be comforting to know that they're still part of Charles's community.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah. You use them as your crew at certain points and bring them in. But also when you're saying he's not going through as much, which is really sweet, is he notices when other people are in those places and he reaches out and pulls them into that community. I don't want to give it away because there's one that takes place in, like, the last episode, but you could choke up watching that scene, you know, because you see somebody who would have just went away, you know? And Charles said, here's a spot, and he gets no credit for it, which is also hilarious.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Conan O'Brien]

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[Interviewer]

Mike a lot of people online seem to be talking about Easter eggs with the show all the time. Is that done on purpose or.

[Mike Schur]

Oh yeah, very much so. Yeah. I think it's very fun to just bury things in the background of shows. I always love it when I'm watching something and there's like a little tiny reference to another show. And so, you know, this season takes place on a college campus and there's kiosks everywhere that have, you know, flyers on them and stuff. And so every single flyer on the kiosk is like a little reference to some other show. A lot of them are good place references. There's a flyer for a dance dance Resolution, which was Jason Mendoza's 40 person dance crew in Jacksonville, Florida. Like they're apparently performing at the college where Charles Charles is working. There's, there's a poster for Death Canoe 4, which is a movie, a showing of a movie, and that was from Parks and Recreation. Retta's character would live tweet movies and they screened a movie called Death Canoe 4, where she was just live tweeting the whole time. It's tiny little nothings in the background. But in my mind, it's like, you've got to put something up there. You might as well make it something that someone might get some pleasure out of if they happen to notice it, you know? So we try with every, like, sign, you know, on the campus, every street sign, or, like, you know, every name of every building. I'm a Celtics fan, and every single building on the campus is named after a member of the 2024 world champion Boston Celtics.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

It is funny. You'll be working in a scene and look up at a sign and be like, wait, wait a second.

[Mike Schur]

I just love that stuff. I think it's. It's. It's completely harmless, right? If you don't get the reference, if you see that something is called Horford hall, you're like, okay, that seems like a normal building. But if you then think about the fact that Al Horford was the backup center for the Celtics and that's in your brain, and then you see another building called the Pritchard center for Research or whatever, and you're like, wait, Peyton Pritchard was also on the 21st, and you started to put it together that it just becomes this little weird bonus fun thing that's going on in the background. I love that stuff.

[Interviewer]

We were talking about shows that, the way Mary put it, that give you solace, which I just love. But, Mary Elizabeth, you're on a show like that, and you're basically on two hit shows at the same time.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Seems like you need to cast me in your show, is what you're saying. Yeah, I am. I'm so, so. I'm so, so lucky and grateful.

[Interviewer]

And.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Yeah, my husband, Charlie Day, who is one of the creators of Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is home right now with our teenage kid and in the writers room for season 18 of It's Always Sunny Philadelphia.

[Interviewer]

Season 18?

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Yeah. I was 25 when we shot the first. The first season. It was 20 years ago.

[Mike Schur]

It broke the record. Right. Isn't it the longest running show?

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

Longest running live action comedy? Yeah. Keeps getting qualified, but we'll take it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, but you know, Ted, you know, this. This is something that didn't happen when you started. You weren't going to be able to work a couple different shows. And I imagine when she. When Cheers ended, there must have been a party of you, like, well, I'll never be able to, you know, have that same kind of relationship.

[Ted Danson]

I bypassed all that worry because I blew my life up. Just. I was such a hot mess that I wasn't even thinking about career, and I recommend it highly.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Yeah. So what was it about that. That took that thinking out of it for you?

[Ted Danson]

About my life.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, about your life. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Different podcast. No, I was just working on myself.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

It was time for me to grow up and. Which, thank God, because the universe wouldn't have even put me in the same hallway as Mary Steenburgen if I hadn't grown up. So that's what I was doing. I was preparing to meet Mary.

[Interviewer]

So. Yeah. So it wasn't so much about career for you. It was more about just life itself.

[Ted Danson]

Can you believe it?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

But then you keep coming back with great show after great.

[Ted Danson]

I don't. I. You know, first off, I'm. I'm a nice guy. I'm a nice guy on a set.

[Conan O'Brien]

I'm pleasant to be around.

[Ted Danson]

This counts for a lot. And then I've.

[Conan O'Brien]

I've been blessed by writers.

[Ted Danson]

You know, I've been blessed by being around good writing. And truthfully, I am not sitting there looking at a bunch of scripts and making these wise decisions. I am, at heart, a contract player out of the 50s. You know, I'm happiest when somebody says, take your fireman hat off and put this cowboy hat and go over to stage 13. And I have been blessed by meeting, you know, and being around great writers and great writing, and I like to go to work. I really love acting, and I think that combination has allowed me. And now I hooked up with Mike, who said, I'll take you into the twilight years. Follow me, Follow me.

[Interviewer]

But I guess you've all done things that you're like, well, there's no way this can work. You know what I mean? Whatever. Show or project, movie. But then you go and do it anyway because you act right. But is there any chance to get over a bad script and make something through good acting work if the script stinks? No, no.

[Ted Danson]

You'll be. You'll be called one of those actors who's good in everything. Yeah, that's not best you can get. You'll never make bad script a good movie.

[Mary Steenburgen]

And it's not fun.

[Interviewer]

It's not fun at all.

[Mary Steenburgen]

No, I mean, the difference is the writing. The difference in the joy you feel when you rehearse a scene at home. When we run lines together, we're laughing at what we get to say and do, you know, we're delighting in it or moved by it or whatever it is. But I Don't think any amount of good acting can make up for bad writing.

[Ted Danson]

Or somebody came up to you or told you the other day, or you steal every scene and you go, oh.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Like, that's not a good thing to hear, you know, because it just. What you want is this, which is all these brilliant actors or everybody's doing at the height of what they're doing and with great writing. And you walk on the set of Mike's shows, and, I mean, even the ones where I haven't been there, I know so much about it because of 32 years with him. And it's like, people are happy to go to work and they're happy with each other. And the makeup trailer of our of man on the Inside is hilarious and fun. And yes, Ted is the butt of every joke. And yes, yes, it's mainly women in there giving it to him, but, like, he knows how to take it. So it's fun, isn't it?

[Interviewer]

An important thing in life is to know how to take the joke is.

[Conan O'Brien]

Just as I made one mistake.

[Ted Danson]

I mentioned that I was a lactation expert.

[Interviewer]

A lactation expert.

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

And we will never stop here.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Oh, my God.

[Ted Danson]

My daughter. My daughter was a doula. And I was being supportive, and I was hearing everything. And I didn't say I was a lactation, but I did. No, somebody said. I claimed that was the butt of the joke.

[Lila Rich Creek Estrada]

It's been going on for so long. Like, so Ted's a lactation expert.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

I was taking interest in my daughter's.

[Conan O'Brien]

Work.

[Ted Danson]

And I didn't. Now that I hear me say it, I didn't really. I looked up and saw three women's faces go.

[Interviewer]

It's so funny. We have to wrap this up because you guys have to go around and explain.

[Mary Steenburgen]

We'll end on that.

[Interviewer]

Yes, we'll end on that.

[Mary Steenburgen]

Is that the best?

[Interviewer]

But here we are. You have a great season one. You have an even better season two. What are you guys hoping happens in season three? Where do we take this?

[Mike Schur]

Well, should we be so lucky? The writers are working now to plan ideas, and I don't want to even make predictions because it's very early, but I do. The show takes place in San Francisco, and I love that city. I always have. I loved it the first time I went there 20 years ago and continue to love it. And I think one of the things we would like to do is shoot there more and really kind of show off the city, because I think it's a very weird place and it's a very beautiful place. And also, like, cities are, like, being attacked right now in. In very weird ways. And the way that cities in America are described does not resemble, in any way my experience of living in them or visiting them. And so I kind of just want to make that season two is a little bit of an argument in favor of liberal arts education. And I think season three, I would love to make a little bit more of an argument for just what cities are and can be and how they function. So that's a very vague thing to say, but I love. I just love the. I love cities. I think they're the lifeblood of this country. I think that they're places where enormous numbers of people go and live and commune and interact with each other in ways that are very important. They are not horrible hellscapes that need, you know, a federal intervention, in my opinion. So I would love to just show off the city and. And. And make an argument on its behalf.

[Interviewer]

First of all, I love that. I'm crazy about that. And when each city is unique, and I feel like that happened more when I was younger, that if you would go to Miami or Chicago until you're like, these people are completely different. They eat different food. I was just in New Orleans. That food and culture does not play 50 minutes outside of there. No, but you get there, and you're biting the head off crayfish, and you're listening to a guy play tube and trombone. You're like, this is great.

[Mike Schur]

Amazing.

[Interviewer]

And then when you leave, you're like, I don't even know what I was doing. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's not me. I mean, there's.

[Mike Schur]

There's a donut and coffee that you can only get in that city.

[Interviewer]

And it's amazing.

[Mike Schur]

Like, it. That's what I mean. It's like, these places are vital and interesting. Cities have been the centers of culture in every nation on Earth since the beginning of Earth. And I just. I feel like they should be celebrated more than they're celebrated.

[Interviewer]

And they get down and they get up.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Philly was scary when I was a kid. Then people went and, you know, turned the city around. It seemed like at the same time that New York turned around. I don't know if we even know why all these things happen.

[Mike Schur]

They have. They. They go in waves. They. They have up times and down times. They have problems and solutions, and I think they're just fascinating places.

[Interviewer]

Here's what I love about everything that you guys are doing. It's a great cast, it's great writing, but the themes of every year that you're all able to attach and bring through. It makes A Man on the Inside a really unique and great show. Thanks so much everybody. Thank you. Thanks. Keep doing this.

[Ted Danson]

You're a son.

[Interviewer]

Thank you so much.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, really fun talking to you. Really nice.

[Conan O'Brien]

Thank you so much to my man on the Inside colleagues, Mike Schur, our creator, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Lila Rich Creek Estrada and Mary Steenburgen and Jaron Bennington for leading that wonderful conversation. Season two of A Man on the Inside is streaming now on Netflix. That's it for this week. Happy holidays from me and all my friends at Team Coco. As always, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and maybe give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you're in the mood. If you like watching your podcasts, all our full length episodes are on YouTube. Visit YouTube.comteamcoco See you next time. Where Everybody knows.

[Nick Liao]

You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows yous 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 Fedorovich 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 Yen, Mary Steenbergen and John Osborne.

[Starbucks Announcer]

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[Mike Schur]

Make memories that last a lifetime during the 70th celebration. From Paint the Night parade returning January.

[Mary Elizabeth Ellis]

30Th to World of Color Happiness.

[Starbucks Announcer]

And with Bluey and Bingo coming soon.

[Mike Schur]

Happiness is everywhere at the Disneyland Resort.

[Ted Danson]

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[Mike Schur]

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