Timothy Simons

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson & Woody Harrelson (sometimes)

Guest: Timothy Simons

Release Date: June 10, 2026
Main Hosts: Ted Danson (Woody Harrelson not present)

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Episode Overview

This episode features an engaging, heartfelt, and often hilarious conversation between Ted Danson and actor Timothy Simons (“Veep”, “Nobody Wants This”), exploring the craft of acting, parents, fame, the importance of the arts, values, and balancing both humility and ambition. With Woody Harrelson absent, the dynamic is intimate—Ted throws genuine praise and curiosity at Timothy, drawing out revealing stories and thoughtful self-reflection. The discussion oscillates between comedic asides and meaningful insights about work, family, and growing up.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ted’s Admiration for Timothy’s Acting (03:31–06:10)

• Ted launches into genuine praise, describing Timothy as “my favorite kind of actor,” one who mixes “funny” with “a layer of sadness and underneath that is anger… I just fucking love that danger that you bring.”

• Timothy reflects on moving from supporting or “odious” roles to a more nuanced, romantic lead on “Nobody Wants This,” saying, “It’s a cool thing…there could be a scene in which I kiss someone and that would be looked on as not disgusting.”

  “I’ve played a lot of very public, odious people…and it is… a great opportunity…that there could be a scene in which I kiss someone and that would be looked on as not disgusting.”
  — Tim Simons (06:10)

2. On Profession, Versatility, and Vulnerability (06:24–07:37, 09:15–10:57, 37:02–39:29)

• Timothy is grateful for a career that has let him do both “big or small or dramatic or funny.”
• He shares a moment of vulnerability—having a panic attack at the Critics Choice Awards, turning to Ted for comfort. Ted's openness is mirrored in Timothy’s candor.
• Both appreciate actors who can channel darkness and depth for comedy and drama:

  “People who have been through some shit…you have so many layers underneath it, which is my favorite kind of comedy. I love comedy that comes out of sadness and pain…”
  — Ted Danson (38:18)

3. The Importance of Arts, Empathy, & Spouses (08:10–13:18)

• Timothy’s wife Annie is an acting program administrator in LA public schools, working primarily with Title 1 students. Ted lauds the societal value of Annie’s work and the impact of the arts on learning and teaching empathy.

• Anecdotes include the story of Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum providing free access to inspire empathy in Arkansas students.

  “How do you teach empathy?…and what is so lacking and needed in the world, it’s just so cool.”
  — Ted Danson (12:34)

4. Fame, Validation, and Family (13:18–23:39)

• Ted and Timothy share stories about realizing fame, contrasting public recognition with their formative, small-town upbringings.

• Timothy describes protecting his children from negative fame experiences, emphasizing internal validation over external adulation:

  “With my kids, I am…not in a finger wagging way, but…remind them that’s a cool part of my job, but that shouldn’t be what we chase.”
  — Timothy (16:08)

• Both touch on the oddities and “perks” of fame (e.g., using award screeners in school), and the need to help their children discern genuine friendships.

5. Acting Success, Humility, and Career Philosophy (20:04–23:17, 21:48–22:51, 57:22–58:02)

• Ted recalls how both he and Timothy found success relatively later and by steady increments. Timothy credits Chicago’s ensemble mentality for his work ethic and ability to appreciate “making it out the other side.”

• They agree no one “graduates” from effort in this career:

  “You get to a certain point and then it’s just off to the races—but then you look around, and it’s like, everyone just has to keep grinding.”
  — Timothy (22:34)

• Ted’s pep talk:

  “You will [keep working] because you love being an actor, you love going to work, you love ensemble, you love good material. You’ve proven yourself and you will. You just will.”
  — Ted Danson (57:48)

6. ADHD & Mental Health as Creative Tools (32:55–39:29)

• Timothy discusses his ADHD and hyperfocus as assets:

  “ADHD has been nothing but a help…hyperfocus is a comorbidity…when things get chaotic, I’m like, ‘yeah, alright…’”
  — Timothy (35:04)

• He discusses how depression and experience with chaos add honest layers to his performances—he’s attracted to “comedies of sadness.”

7. Values, Upbringing, and Raising Children (40:08–44:40)

• Ted and Timothy dive into the values instilled by small-town New England/Midwest upbringing, from “being nice to strangers,” “don’t throw trash in the street,” to “your own freedom comes from earning your way.”
• Timothy and his wife both grew up in “community,” and strive to balance stewardship for others with emotional health.

8. Awards, Speeches, and The Realities of Showbiz (45:12–53:45)

• Both detest the ego-driven swirl of awards shows, despite recognizing their value to careers and shows.
• Commencement speeches are discussed with anxiety and humor (“Ten of you under your seats have AirPods…”), and the need to get a laugh at the start for confidence.

9. The Ensemble on ‘Veep’ & Process (61:14–67:57)

• Veep set: intense, chaotic, collaborative, with a week of script workshop rehearsals before each season, regular line changes, and a “luxury of time,” thanks to Julia Louis-Dreyfus and HBO’s faith in Armando Iannucci’s process.

• Timothy describes the seamless interplay between cast, camera, crew, and writing:

  “We all got a lot of kudos for our comedy timing, but [so much] was camera timing…they would always say: you never want to land on the joke, you want to land a beat behind it.”
  — Timothy (61:23)

• He points out how “bad habits” from Veep’s ever-changing scripts turned out to be “good habits for the job I have.”

10. Aging, Anxiety, and the Joy of Work (68:38–72:03)

• Ted shares pre-project anxiety and nightmares about being unprepared (the “Hamlet” nightmare is classic).
• Timothy finds solace in knowing even seasoned veterans like Ted still feel impostor syndrome.
• Both agree:

  “It’s really hard. It’s really hard to be a white man. Actor…”
  — Ted Danson (71:27) (said tongue-in-cheek, with self-awareness)

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Memorable Quotes

• Ted Danson [03:31]: “You are incredibly funny. And underneath the funny is a layer of sadness and underneath that is anger. And I just fucking love that danger that you bring.”
• Timothy Simons [07:37]: “If there’s one person in the room that I can be honest with, it’s gonna be my wife, and then it’s gonna be Ted Danson.”
• Timothy Simons [13:02]: "If there’s anything I think people should take away, it’s that fame is the most important thing. And then beyond that, you have love or family. Chase fame first."
• Timothy Simons [35:04]: “ADHD has been nothing but a help. The things that are the best parts of it—hyperfocus, feeling at home in chaos—are real boons to actors.”
• Ted Danson [38:18]: “I love comedy that comes out of sadness and pain. And I love writing that comes out of that same place. And I love drama that is funny.”
• Timothy Simons [39:29]: “I’ve always been more attracted to the comedies of sadness and dark comedies. …having gone through those things, you can touch them, and see, hey, I was down bad there for a minute—but what was funny about that?”
• Ted Danson [57:48]: “You will [keep working] because you love being an actor, you love going to work, you love ensemble, you love good material. You’ve proven yourself and you will. You just will.”
• Ted Danson [71:26]: “What we’re trying to say, everybody: It’s really hard to be a white man. Actor.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:31 – Ted’s effusive praise for Timothy’s comic-dramatic acting style
• 06:24 – Evolution from “odious” roles to more complex, romantic characters
• 07:37 – On vulnerability at awards shows and being honest
• 10:22 – The transformative value of arts and empathy (Crystal Bridges story)
• 13:18 – First brushes with fame, family adjustments, and staying grounded
• 20:04 – Slower career trajectories, humility, “grinding” in Hollywood
• 32:55 – ADHD, emotional chaos, and creativity in acting
• 38:18 – Layers in comedic acting; loving “comedies of sadness”
• 45:12 – Awards, speeches, and the ego-trap of show business
• 61:23 – “Veep” rehearsal and the unsung genius of camera timing
• 68:38 – Aging as actors, impostor syndrome, anxiety, and why they still love the work

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Tone and Style

The tone is warm, candid, self-deprecating, and filled with mutual respect. Ted and Timothy blend personal vulnerability, sharp wit, honest confession, and industry insight in a conversation that’s as layered as their best performances.

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Final Thought

This episode is a masterclass in not just the life of an actor, but the value of honesty, humility, and compassion—on set, with family, and within oneself. It’s rich with advice and laughter for actors, artists, and anyone valuing authenticity and lifelong learning.

Transcript

[Ted Danson]

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[Ted Danson]

Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. I am so excited to talk with Timothy Simons today. He almost runs every time he sees me because I tackle him with my affection for him as an actor. I just think he's amazing. Timothy is absolutely hilarious in his role as Sasha and nobody wants this on Netflix. I had the best time talking about Veep too. I love that show. So here he is. Timothy Simons, you worked on a commercial that now called the incest Folgers commercial. Yes, sorry, we'll scratch the Folgers part. I just watched it. It was like.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, did you watch the actual commercial?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Just now before you walked in?

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. No, I was running camera for commercial casting, like a commercial casting company. When I first moved out here, I got a job doing that and I just like, I ran the auditions, like all the first calls and then I ran the callbacks when the director was there. And then it has just had this weird now 15 year life of being like the incest commercial. And then like GQ or Vanity Fair did like an oral history where they interviewed the director, they interviewed me, they interviewed the ad agency. Yeah. Like they went, they even interviewed people who were like erotic fan fiction writers who had written some stuff based off that commercial. And one of the people I was like, that person just has to be a real writer. Not a real writer. But they brought up this idea of like, well, why do you think the brother went to the Peace Corps? He was trying to get as far away from his sister as he possibly could. He knew that this was untenable. Like, the idea that this person was writing that history into it is incredible.

[Ted Danson]

God, I hope they got work afterwards. They were good, you know, off. Little off base.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just, you know, go more mainstream.

[Ted Danson]

Okay. I'm going to start with a conversation killer.

[Timothy Simons]

Okay.

[Ted Danson]

You're my favorite kind of actor. And you know this because I stalk you at every event we've ever been to at the same time. Usually some award thingy. And I tell you this, but you are incredibly funny. And underneath the funny is a layer of sadness and underneath that is anger. And I just fucking love that danger that you bring. And watching you in this second season of Nobody Wants this, you were so leading man in your kind of relationship with your sister in law is that.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Who would be. Yeah. Justine. And you're just a really wonderful actor and I admire you hugely.

[Timothy Simons]

This immensely. Immensely. Flattering.

[Ted Danson]

Flattering implies not true. It was a good compliment because it's true.

[Timothy Simons]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

It's something that, like, very specifically to like last season. And then I think into this season is the opportunity to, I mean, like, I'm sure we all feel like this, like, you know, like there's always that part of an actor who's like, I can do anything. You know what I mean? Like, I want to be versatile. I want to be able to be through, thrown into things. And sometimes you get thrown into things and it's like, oh, actually, like, you know, you know, maybe that wasn't the thing that maybe we found the one thing you can't do. And it is, I will say, nice that I'm very happy that I've been able to do a lot of different things, sort of big or small or dramatic or, or funny. I've been very happy with the career that, that I've been able to have to this point. And one thing that I really do like about, just to your point about this second season and then even going into the third, that I played a lot of like, very public, odious people. And I think it's, it's. It's a cool thing and an opportunity that I value that there could be a scene in which I kiss someone and that would be looked on as not disgusting. And I, you know what I mean? I feel like a lot of parts that I played before, like, if that happened, the, the intended audience response would be like, oh, God, you know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Intended.

[Timothy Simons]

Yes. Intended.

[Ted Danson]

Yes, yes, of course.

[Timothy Simons]

And this is. I like that the creative team behind this show is like, well, what if he did that? And it wasn't gross. You know, it's a great opportunity, I think, for an actor.

[Ted Danson]

And it's. It's so smart, by the way. I mean, look at. Look at Humphrey Bogart kind of thing. There's so much that's not leading man about him, except what he exudes that confidence that, you know. And he played villains forever.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

No, you're a very cool actor.

[Timothy Simons]

Thanks, Timothy.

[Ted Danson]

And I can't. I'm just. I didn't even really prepare for you that much because all I wanted to do was hang out.

[Timothy Simons]

Can I say yes? Kai had the same idea coming into this. Like, this is going to be really cool to get this much of your time, because most of the times that we've been hung out have been in circumstances that no human being should ever hang out in. We're all in such a weird headspace in those things. But I have absolutely valued every moment that I've been able to speak to you at those, including this last one. We were at the Critics Choice Awards.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Mr. Nominated.

[Timothy Simons]

Ah, yeah. I brought that up just for that, actually.

[Ted Danson]

You won?

[Timothy Simons]

I didn't win.

[Ted Danson]

No. It's my podcast, and I get to do whatever I fucking want. You won. Congratulations.

[Timothy Simons]

Thank you very much. I left the trophy in the car. I'll bring it in next time. Or if we have a break, I'll go grab it. I remember you have a level of. Of openness and comfort about you that I was able to come up to you and be like, I'm gonna run outside for a minute. Ted, it's very great to see you. I'm having a panic attack. That's that level of, like, if there's one person in the room that I can be honest with, it's gonna be like my wife, and then it's gonna be Ted Danson. I feel like he's gonna know what to do. And you were very comforting in that moment, and I appreciate it.

[Ted Danson]

So funny. Your wife, Annie.

[Timothy Simons]

Annie, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. She's got to be cool.

[Timothy Simons]

She is. She is. She's a. Well, you have. You have an actress.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

You have an actress wife. I. I think it's very. It can be hard, I'm assuming, to have, like, also have a working actress wife in trying to get those two schedules to match up.

[Ted Danson]

Yes. You go out of your way to do that, but that, I would say is the only hard thing.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. My wife grew up an actress. When she got into the world, like, out, like, when she was in college or, you know, when she got into the actual life of It. She was like, oh, the life is not for me. So she went back to school. But, like, theater was a big part of her life growing up, so she now, like, runs theater departments and acting programs for the public school system in la. She did that. She was doing that in Chicago when we met, and she does it here.

[Ted Danson]

Meaning our contribution to the world, you and me, is in the shadows of

[Timothy Simons]

what your wife is doing very much. And it is. It is wild to see, like, the public affirmation difference between, you know, we make people laugh, and that's a great thing. She's working in, like, the public school system of Los Angeles. Like, mostly Title 1 kids. Like, mostly kids that are under the poverty line, using theater as a teaching tool for everything. And, like, the imbalance in public affirmation for those two jobs is pretty wild. But, like, it's cool, like, to. She knows, I think, inherently why someone would choose to do this even if she's not doing it now. You know what I mean? There's a good balance there.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Wow. And she must see firsthand what arts do to people's ability to soak in education, that they're more willing, they're more apt to be better students because they're excited by something creative.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. And I think to see, like, the school that you worked for for a long time, like, they would integrate theater into everything, so they would use it as a. As a way in. In history, and I think even sometimes in math, they would use it as a way in. But I think that thing of, like, especially. She teaches high school, especially to kids that age, to connect the emotion of something.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Like, if you can connect the emotion of history to history.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Timothy Simons]

It becomes less about dates and facts. You can put yourself there a little bit.

[Ted Danson]

Skip Gates, finding your roots.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

That's literally what he's doing. Putting you in history with emotion because it's your relative or your maybe whatever ancestor. It is so smart.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

So cool.

[Timothy Simons]

It's pretty rad.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Alice Walton, who has the Walton family, and usually I'm. She's so cool. I want to be careful how I talk about it, so I don't misrepresent anything but a very large sum of money the family Walton family has. And she started a museum called Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas. And it is astounding. It is one of the top three considered one of the top three for whatever handful of museums, art museums in the world. And at first when I heard that, I thought, oh, it's Arkansas very sweetly, with its inferiority. Complex. Building it up. No, it is, it is astounding museum. But her mission, besides, you know, being an astounding layout of a museum and the art. It's free to any, any school kid. She buses them in from all over. And there was this one unintended kind of experiment where one group, maybe the bus broke down, I don't know. But one group of kids from this high school was able to come and spend the day in the museum and the other group wasn't. When they came back the next week, all the teachers noticed a couple things. They were excited about learning and empathy. They had empathy for everything and everything around them. How do you teach empathy? You know, that's just. And what is so lacking and needed in, in the world, it's just so cool. The arts.

[Timothy Simons]

It is. And like, it's better to be famous.

[Ted Danson]

Like we are. But I mean.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, no, no, no, we can. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like that even that's going to be in the show notes.

[Ted Danson]

This is. No, bless. Oblige.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, yeah. If there's anything I think that people should take away with from this is that fame is the most important thing. And then beyond that, you have love or family. You know what I mean? But, like, chase fame first.

[Ted Danson]

When did you first experience fame? Fame meaning people stopping you on the street. Fame meaning you also know you're doing something really cool. When was that?

[Timothy Simons]

I mean, I, like, if we're gonna go with like a sliding scale. I remember, like, when I was in college, I was in a play that got written up in, like, the student newspaper. And there was a part of me was like, I'm the most famous mother that's ever lived. You know what I mean? Like, you know, I, I, I think like, after Veep came out, after the first ep, after the first season of Veep came out, you know, I'm, I am noticeable. Like, I am very tall. I remember being outside of my house. I was like, putting the garbage cans out or something and somebody like, drove by my house and then turned around and drove back up and then, and then said, like, jonad out the window and then kept driving. And like, that was the moment where I was like, oh, oh, shit. Okay. Like, do I, do I need to have, like, a different time of day that I take the, you know, we had, like, just had kids. So there's like that sort of immediate protective thing.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

What I would say, largely, I'd be interested to hear your take on this too. Largely, my experience with fame or being recognizable has been pretty fine.

[Ted Danson]

I love it.

[Timothy Simons]

You know what doesn't really get in the way.

[Ted Danson]

No, we're not, we're not, we're not doing. Playing tough guys.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And I was never a sex symbol ever. I was never that guy. So I. People, I'm. You were both associated with a moment that made people laugh.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And you get that reflected back.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Like it never gets in the way. The only like the one moments.

[Ted Danson]

There can be moments.

[Timothy Simons]

There can be moments, you know, if it goes on like a little too long.

[Ted Danson]

Wait, what?

[Timothy Simons]

But there are like, I think I grew up in a really small town in Maine.

[Ted Danson]

Maine. And like 2,000, I heard or something.

[Timothy Simons]

Say again?

[Ted Danson]

2,000 people.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, 2,000 people. Like my heist, my high school like drew from like four towns or graduating classes were like 100 people. It's a very small place. And knowing that like my kids hometown is Los Angeles is very odd to me. And I love Los Angeles. But different. Different. I would say broadly a different value system or at least comparatively to where I grew up. And there are times where of course, like being recognized is cool. You know what I mean? That's all.

[Ted Danson]

It's a nice pick me up.

[Timothy Simons]

It's a nice little pick me up. Hey, all right, cool. Yeah, I did something that somebody liked. All right. You know, but I think with my kids, I am. I try to be vocal about it with them. Like not in like a finger wagging way, but like, I think especially when you're a teenager, that idea of like external validation being very important in that age, you know, because your brain is mush and it's all getting reformed. I do try to remind them that like. Yeah, that is like a cool part of my job. But that shouldn't be the thing that we chase. Like, I try to be gentle about getting that in there of like, it's like a. It's like an after effect. But like the good thing is this other thing. You know what I mean? Because it can be attractive and I'm sure like a teenager, it is attractive to like random people are coming up to you on the street saying you did a great job and they want to take a picture like that sort of external validation, I think. I don't know, there's like a little bit of an intoxicant to that.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

You know, and I'm trying to like, you know, plant the seeds of. Yeah, this is cool.

[Ted Danson]

But like anything that's mood altering has. Comes with its problems. Yeah. Yeah. Our kids. How old are your kids?

[Timothy Simons]

They're 14. We have twins. They're 14.

[Ted Danson]

Wow. So they're really smack dab in the middle of. So your dad's cool. Hey, you know, and I, our kids had varying degrees of how they dealt with our fame. The healthiest was Charlie McDowell who's now a director. So why I say his name. And he's really good writer, director. But he. This was back before you got sent links to watch movies as the Academy Award. You know, you were sent, you know, DVDs and he, you know, very quickly realized that DVD could mean a lot to some young teacher teaching me math who can't see these films quite yet. And he would parlay maybe not the actual grades, but he would parlay favor from teachers by bringing in our academy nominated films.

[Timothy Simons]

Like your screeners.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, our screeners. Nice. See that I respect.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, I respect that.

[Ted Danson]

But then some of the other ones would get. My sister was the best. Sorry, I'm rambling. Best example of this, she moved to a different church and no one paid any attention to her. This is a small community too. And then found out someone found out that her brother was Sam Malone on Cheers. And then all of a sudden she was just flocked with new friends and it hurt her feelings. It hurt, you know. Oh, you know, you have to discern. Your kids will have to discern who's my friend and who's just wants to rub up next to fame.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. That's like a thing that I think.

[Ted Danson]

But it's real.

[Timothy Simons]

But it's real and I don't know, I'm trying. We're trying to keep their heads on straight. You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Hopefully. Hopefully we're doing a good job.

[Ted Danson]

I like to tell I. I would give all of my like stay humble whenever we were sharing a limo to some place because that, that you know.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. And like.

[Ted Danson]

Or a private jet.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, of course.

[Ted Danson]

Limo after private jet.

[Timothy Simons]

Of course.

[Ted Danson]

Yes. That's where Melody and they go. Oh, I get it.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Of course you can fly the plane. Of course the pilot. Of course you can. But just don't, don't get used to this.

[Ted Danson]

How did fame you up? Come on. There must be some fuck ups for you or had you dealt with, had you dealt with your stuff to the point?

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, well, the dealing with stuff is ongoing.

[Ted Danson]

Sure.

[Timothy Simons]

I don't, I mean like, I don't know. I don't. I, I didn't, it didn't really hit till I was. Because I moved out here when I was 30 so it didn't really hit till I was like 32.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, your brain Was not much.

[Timothy Simons]

Your brain was not mush. It's a little bit more formed. I.

[Ted Danson]

And you. You didn't go shooting up through the roof. You did small steps.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Including behind the camera.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. And I think, you know, in, like, being, like, coming up in. Coming up in, like, theater and like, with some teachers and then both moving to Chicago, which has, like, my first teacher in college was like, very big on the idea of ensemble and not holding yourself above the ensemble. Like, there was always a little bit of that underneath there. And like, Chicago is a very, you know, a very, like, workman city of, you know, the work that matters. And.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And so that I. I provided like, a really good base. And I think I had also been, like, in various ways, kicked around enough of, like, I've been through bad and I've made it out the other side, whatever that might have been, that I was able to appreciate it when it came.

[Ted Danson]

Wow, you know, that's cool.

[Timothy Simons]

So that was good, you know, but also, you know, came into it and like, my very first experience was very different from most others in that, like, you know, it was artistically satisfying, made a living and did well critically. Like, sometimes you don't get all three of those things. Was veep.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, well, through the roof. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And. And I. I do remember, like, I think there can be moments, and I don't know if you've ever had one of those where it's just like, oh, well, all right, everybody sees so I can stop working. You know what I mean? And I every.

[Ted Danson]

Do that.

[Timothy Simons]

Everybody. Oh, everybody can just see that I'm great now, so I can just stop working and it's all going to be fine. I just. It's going to be a cakewalk from here. And there are certain moments where I look back and I'm like, oh, you should a little, like, worked a little bit harder in XYZ moments to. To get further ahead or have had more opportunities or you should have just.

[Ted Danson]

You're talking about career or not, not the acting within the episode. You're talking more career.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, more career stuff. Thinking that, like, you get to a certain point and then it's just like, off to the races. But then you just look around, it's like, oh, no, everybody just has to keep grinding no matter how big they are, or there's always like another. Another goal that you can make up for yourself. You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

I think my angels know that I'm totally incompetent to become a megastar, that I need to be very slow. You know, I am. I am very slow. Once I understand it, I'm solid. But it takes me a while and I don't. You know, Mary went from my wife Mary, who you were in a film with, maybe not acted with with Vince just recently.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh yes, that's right.

[Ted Danson]

Have you seen it?

[Timothy Simons]

No, I haven't. Have you?

[Ted Danson]

Neither she. No. I'm dying to see it because I heard she had this one killer scene in it.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, I remember the director Nick even talked about it. Just like one continuous take, really hard scene and killed it. Evil. Like evil person.

[Ted Danson]

The person I know came out anyway

[Timothy Simons]

that she snowed everybody else.

[Ted Danson]

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[Timothy Simons]

Did you study theater at Stanford?

[Ted Danson]

No. Fell in love with it.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Stumbled into a play and then was so serious about it that people kept saying, well, you should go back east. And so I went to Carnegie Mellon, then New York.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And then out here. Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Did the job bring you out here?

[Ted Danson]

No. A Pampers commercial that gave me $2,000 brought me out here.

[Timothy Simons]

Hell yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Hey. Commercials, huh?

[Timothy Simons]

It was how I kept the lights on. Yeah, it really was.

[Ted Danson]

And I. I think I read because it is still a commercial. And your performance playing Lincoln.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

In Geico was. Geico. Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Was just truly brilliant.

[Timothy Simons]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

And you're not even in the foreground. You're in the background. And it's just so, so funny.

[Timothy Simons]

I've told this story before, but that was ultimately how I got introduced to Allison Jones, which is why I ended up on Veep. Was that commercial.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Can I tell you, I went back and watched the Cheers pilot pretty recently and there are two things that I try to remember of like, I don't know, maybe it's just my own brain or maybe it's an actor brain of wanting to like, over explain things. Or like, if it's not spoken, then it. Then people won't get it.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

But there's like an unbelievable moment of economy when Diane asks why you don't play baseball anymore. And you say, I had a problem with my elbow. And she said, oh, did you get hurt? And you're like, no, I lifted it too much. And like in those four. And it was in those four lines.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, you got it, you got it. Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And like. And also there Was, like, really something amazing about that, that this is, like, a hugely successful comedy that is also willing pretty early on to deal with a pretty dark setup that I just loved that swing.

[Ted Danson]

And a huge amount of respect for the audience.

[Timothy Simons]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

To the point where the network would say, no one's going to understand that literary joke you just said, it doesn't matter. There'll be a handful of do.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

You know, and it was that kind of attitude of always playing up, which

[Timothy Simons]

is something that I do mourn every once in a while. We still get it. We still get things that have more respect for audiences. But I feel like, I don't know, maybe everybody goes through this where every once in a while I am just like, treat them with more respect and they'll live up to it. You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Fear.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Yeah, the fear.

[Ted Danson]

Fear. And you. And everybody goes, all right, you have. You have two chances. By episode three, you're either on or off.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

You know, it's crazy.

[Timothy Simons]

The other. The other bit that I loved was Coach when he answers the phone, and then I can't. I can't remember his real name, but then he, like, asks everybody, ernie.

[Ted Danson]

Ernie Pentuso.

[Timothy Simons]

That's you, Coach. Hello. And then he's speaking, and again, you've got him, and you've got him. And again, like, the economy of that is like, I watch that, and I'm like, man, I would have put too much sauce on that joke. I know I would have. And he just, like. He just, like, speaking is the, like, the most dead on, dead on delivery of that joke. That is unbelievable. Funny.

[Ted Danson]

He was such a sweet soul.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, I.

[Ted Danson]

There. There's not a bad acting tra. There's not a human trap that I don't fall into, and it's certainly not a bad actor trap that I don't fall into. Every time I start something new, I'm going, couldn't this character have a scar and. And maybe a eye patch? Because then I. Then I could play the out. You know,

[Timothy Simons]

sometimes, though, there's. It's like I'm trying to think of, like, what the analogous thing would be, but every once in a while, I think it's okay. Or at least I like to think it's okay to keep the scar and the eye patch in your head, because there's bound to be one where it's like, scar and eye patch might really work. This might be the one. And then you get to do a scar and an eye patch. You know what? Like, we can't, like, shove them Away forever.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

It's going to happen one day.

[Ted Danson]

I like to sometimes play scenes as if I were stoned and that somehow loosens me up completely. It's like, oh, Not actually stone. That would be a nightmare. I once got excused from a film. I was doing something with Glenn Close. It's called Something about Amelia. Very serious piece. And we. They wrapped me. I go back to my trailer and go, oh, what the fuck? And light up and have a talk. And then, knock, knock, knock, knock. They need you on the set. It was just a drive by. I didn't have to say anything. I had to drive by the camera and I was so paranoid. Yeah, I could barely, barely move. I don't. Yeah, that's.

[Timothy Simons]

Did it work out?

[Ted Danson]

No. They had to cut it. No. I don't know. I have no idea. But hey, let me bounce around.

[Timothy Simons]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

I listened to Dax Shepard because he's so good at what he does. You and Dax were on this particular one I was listening to. That way I can steal it. Just slightly reword the question that he asks you. And then I seem like I'm almost as good as he is at podcasting.

[Timothy Simons]

It's great. And it'll give me another crack at being better at the answer.

[Ted Danson]

Very good. All right, let's talk just for a second about adhd. And we don't have to talk about. Other than you have it or experience it or deal with it or whatever. My question was, when I was listening to you both talk about it, would you credit any of that as. Let me just set this up a little better.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

I'm in acting class. My wife just says she wants a divorce. I'm heartbroken, but part of me goes, this is going to be great for acting. This is going to be really good. I can use this divorce thing. Has ADHD ever served you as an actor? Because there is a dangerous part, listening to you talk about having adhd. A compulsive or out of control feeling. Your acting has that sometimes I don't know where you're going to go. Which is wonderful,

[Timothy Simons]

I think, to your very. God, if you had not said that specific thing, I would never admit to this. There was one time I was going through a breakup. Not with my wife. We are still together. I was going through a breakup. And I do remember. And this is like the most fucking self serious act or bullshit ever. It's awful and I'm a terrible person. But I remember going through that, being like, remember what this feels like. And now I look back on Myself, I'm like, what a dickhead. And this person had every right to be, like, whether or not they knew, whether or not she knew she made the right choice, because in that moment, I don't know.

[Ted Danson]

I don't know.

[Timothy Simons]

We'll see.

[Ted Danson]

Some people would call it self absorbed. I think it's just being a caring actor.

[Timothy Simons]

We're trying to soak up all the stuff and try to remember and lock it in there so it can come out later.

[Ted Danson]

So is my ADHD question kind of stupid or naive and how fine if it is?

[Timothy Simons]

No, I think it's been nothing but a help because I think, like, the. The things that are great about it are that hyperfocus is a. Hyperfocus is like a comorbidity of it, which means that it. I think I can find it pretty easily to hyper focus on something, which then also means, like, feel like I. Generally, when things get chaotic, I'm like, yeah, all right. This all seems normal to me. Everything is all chaos, and that's fine. That's what it normally is like. And then when you have, like, the sort of chaos of set, and then it's all like. Then everything has to get quiet and everything has to all of a sudden stop, and then they, like, actually now have to shoot something. Like, to be able to, like, sort of hyper focus on that moment and block out all the other stuff is actually something that I'm, I think, pretty good at just because it is something that goes along with it. I just. I also think that there is, like, all of those things that go along with it of, like, your propensity to daydream and, like, an underlying creativity or your brain just working.

[Ted Danson]

I didn't know about the daydream part.

[Timothy Simons]

Oh, just like, like, your mind wandering and, like. One of the reasons I was not a great student is I was like, make this more interesting and. Or if not, I'm gonna make up my own thing. I think that, like, all of the things that don't make you a great student or a great accountant are. Are beneficial to this specific job. You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. I'm trying to think of, like, more specific examples. I think maybe it's just, like, a willingness to. A willingness to be.

[Ted Danson]

Or

[Timothy Simons]

more open to things that come your way in a lot of. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yes. I also. I don't know if this is true, but I always. People who are dealt with something that is tough and could be a roadblock, and they overcome that, but they have to kind of deal with it and overcome it to Some degree daily or whatever. There's an aristocratic thing about that in my mind. There's a thing that, you know, it's like I. Like I once saw an actor who was hanging on to sobriety. He was a 65 year old man or something hanging on to sobriety. To get in front of a camera was so agonizingly vulnerable and terrifying to him. And I'm not suggesting this is a good thing at all, but to see how that informed his performance was so amazing. And I think that people. Part of the thing that I see in you is layers. A lot of times when you do comedy, people just meet the joke, the funny moment at that level. But you have so many layers underneath it, which is my favorite kind of comedy. You know, I love comedy that comes out of sadness and pain and I love the writing that comes out of that same place. And I love drama that is funny.

[Timothy Simons]

I've all. I have always personally been more attracted to the comedies of sadness and dark comedies. And you know, like when I was growing up, I remember like seeing my parents took me to see like Waiting for Godot. And I think I was like seventh or eighth grade and I was. And for whatever reason, I don't know that I could tell you even now what the play means, but I know that when I was sitting in front of it, I was like, oh, this all makes sense to me. Whatever these guys are doing, this makes sense to me. And so I've always really been. And again, like, like adhd, like there's, you know, I've said it before, I've been recently open about it, like long history with depression and all of those things. So I think it's like the being open to chaos, having gone through those things, you have sort of touched them and to be able to be like, oh, hey, I was, I was down bad there for a minute. What was funny about, you know, what was funny about that though? You know what I mean? Like, and to be able to try to.

[Ted Danson]

All of life is available to you. I respect that in Dax too. Dax has that, you know, sobriety and a personality and ADHD and all that stuff. But he has the level of you being able to be truthful and not just skipping along the good stuff gives you so much depth. Also, I imagine some people come to you because they can see that you've experienced and can hold both. Yeah, the fun and the scary at the same time. And that's really cool.

[Timothy Simons]

And those are the best people that can hold both of those things.

[Ted Danson]

Yes, I agree. All right. You said a minute ago, which just caught my ear in today's climate. You said values. How you grew up in Maine, small town. When you said the values, those were the values you would like to have for your children and, you know, worried about coming to LA and all of that. And it is values. It's not a cultural war statement. It is, you know, what's being real.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And what's, you know, what's the other stuff feels like. And what you face here in LA is so much distraction. It is so entertaining.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

You know, there's so much to take your mind off of. Real.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. I think one of the big things is like my dad, like, you know, for where I grew up had, Was able to like, like he built like a little studio under our house and we had like a middle class, very comfortable upbringing. But like, I also was like going to school. Like, I'm very much anti gun, but I'm not anti hunting.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Because there were like a lot, there were families in our community that like hunting was a big thing because deer

[Ted Danson]

got them through the winter.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, deer got them through the winter. And that was, that was a very real thing. And just like, just like that idea of like, I guess maybe Los Angeles, specifically. Los Angeles, the way that Los Angeles displays wealth specifically, there is that part of me that I've just like, it's, it's not for me.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And, and I'm, and I don't, again, I don't think it's real. And to like put those up as the, as the thing of like, oh, well, that's where I have to get to, like, I don't want, I don't want to do that. And so trying to like keep in, like trying to teach them, like, if you want to earn money, earning it is part of it. Like actually putting in work is a part of it. It doesn't just come to you. Trying to teach them the value of like, us. Like, as a person who like started working when they were 15 or you know, had my first job when I was 15, being like, that does mean like your own freedom, your own, like putting in the work actually then does, I don't know, trying to put that stuff out there too. But just like, I don't know, being nice to strangers, assuming best intentions, which

[Ted Danson]

is very Midwest, which is very rural.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. You know, like, don't throw trash onto the street. You know, like, you know, if my kids would throw, like if my kids, sometimes they would pick up something that they found and maybe this was too harsh. They Would like pick up a piece of trash and then they would throw it down. I'd be like, pick that up. And they were like, but I didn't throw it down. It's like, well, you picked it up and then it became your trash.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

You know, I mean, pick that up and throw it away like that. That sort of thing of like that, like. Like I grew up in a. In like a real small community. Like, I was as much raised by my parents. Friends as I was by my.

[Ted Danson]

If you were bad, they knew. The whole town knew.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

And I was bad a lot. So I got. I was charming, though, so I got away with a little bit of it. So. But that idea of. That idea of what you do affects the people around you, and that doesn't mean that you can't do anything for the risk of you. It affecting anybody else. But it's just being mindful of how much that might affect somebody else. Be mindful of if you throw that down, somebody's going to have to pick it up.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. You know, turns out we are our brother's keepers.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. Turns out.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

That wasn't just some.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

That your dad decided to say.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Did your wife grow up the same way she did?

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, she grew up in the burbs of Chicago. Again, like, very Midwest. My parent. My parents are from Michigan and St. Louis, so like, very Midwestern ideals, even though I grew up in New England. But yeah, she grew up the same way. And in fact, like, there are some times where I am like, hon, you gotta stop thinking about other people so much. Like, you gotta, like. All right, this one, like, you just need to, like, take a minute for yourself here.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

You know, I think she can. She can tend to like, take on too much of that.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. So it's like finding the balance of, like, emotionally healthy, but also stewardship.

[Ted Danson]

Tell me you didn't introduce me to your wife and I forgot, did we. Did I meet your wife at the.

[Timothy Simons]

You, I mean, you may have met in passing on one of those nights.

[Ted Danson]

You're being very kind, but I mean that. No, I'm so self absorbed with those things. It's all a facade with me.

[Timothy Simons]

It is a headspace that nobody should ever be in.

[Ted Danson]

And it pummels you right into your ego.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, it's horrible. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

I mean, really, it's lovely. It's lovely to be honored. Yada, yada, yada. True. Absolutely true. But it throws you into the worst part of yourself and has nothing to do with acting in your job that you Love. Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

I know it's a part of it. I know it's a part of. I mean, like, especially for. Especially for Veep, and, like, I know it's a part of it, and I know that, like, being able to, like, we got nominated, the show, got nominated for Emmys. Julia won, I think six of them. Like, Tony won, Tony got nominated. Matt got nominated, Anna, like, that all is a great thing for the show. It brings more people to it. I'm not. I would love to be, like, one of those recluses that, you know, that never speaks about the worker. You know what I mean? That would be really cool. I don't think I'm going to ever have the ability to be that person.

[Ted Danson]

No.

[Timothy Simons]

Because I think you also have to decide to be that person the day you start.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

You can't pivot to being the recluse.

[Ted Danson]

Okay. I've been nominated and lost 12 times. I'm out.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm out.

[Ted Danson]

I'm above this.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. I, I never cared. I, I. So I understand why it's there and the importance of it, of, like, getting people to the work, but, yeah, it is not. It has nothing to do with the actual job. And it's like, one that I'm very uncomfortable with. Like, the. I was the only bummer I didn't win. Ike Barinholtz won. Awesome. Very.

[Ted Danson]

Although he is coming next week.

[Timothy Simons]

Love him, love him, love him. Yeah, but you can him a couple times here today.

[Ted Danson]

We'll cut that out later. The.

[Timothy Simons]

I was like, a very deserving honor to be nominated. Was both so relieved I didn't have to give a speech. And also I felt I had come up with a pretty good bit for the speech. And I was a little bummed out because I liked the bit. I really liked the bit. And I was like. And just also, in that performer way, I was like, man, if I could make this room laugh, that would be pretty cool.

[Ted Danson]

Because no one, all they hear is the roar of their ego in their ears. All of us. Because you can't hear a fucking thing. It's the toughest room to make a joke.

[Timothy Simons]

Yes. And if I could have sold somehow.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Timothy Simons]

Gotten a bit out there, that worked. That would have been. That would have been really happy.

[Ted Danson]

I, I, Whenever I've been, I have to write a speech or introduce or something. I spend 99% of my time looking for a joke for the beginning. I have to have a joke for the beginning. And if there's laughter, everything else is fine.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm actually dealing with that right now because I. Oh, you are.

[Ted Danson]

You're about to.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm about to go give the commencement address at U Main, which is something that I agreed to do. Thinking, oh, that's cool. Yeah, yeah. What a great idea. That's flattering. Wow. And then I actually sat down to start writing this thing and I was like, I should have never agreed to this. This is a nightmare.

[Ted Danson]

They're gonna kill me.

[Timothy Simons]

They are going to.

[Ted Danson]

Those punk no good kids don't. Yeah, I'm old.

[Timothy Simons]

I'm old. And then, then again, like, there is also that part of me that's like, I don't know, like, what advice I can really impart in the way that, like, the world that I, when I was their age world is massively different. Whatever. Like, even if it's not their interest in getting into the acting world, I'm like, I don't know what the path is now. I don't know what the path to like making a living is. So I don't know how I can help. But then you also don't want to be like the middle aged guy that comes back and wags his finger and tries to tell them how to live.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

This is all to say, I think I'm recycling the bit from the speech as the opener so that hopefully I can hit them with a laugh early.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Timothy Simons]

And then just sail from there.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah. And that's my hope.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. No, you'll do it.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah, I'm going to try.

[Ted Danson]

I got an honorary degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

[Timothy Simons]

Did you not graduate?

[Ted Danson]

I left early because I was a transfer student, so I didn't graduate with them even though I graduated. Oh. I only had to be there two, two and a half years instead of three or instead of four, something, whatever it was. And the, the guy who was the big whoopty do speaker, I don't know who it is who gives the commencement speech he had just given, like, I'm making this up, but hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new business building on campus. And he paid for every graduating student's debt. He was very, very wealthy. And I just thought that was not fair. I mean, how do I compete with that? In my speech paid off the entire graduating class. You know, school debt, tuition debt, whatever

[Timothy Simons]

you call it, they're not expecting. They're not expecting that from me, are they?

[Ted Danson]

No. But something, something.

[Timothy Simons]

Guys, I have great news. Ten of you under your seats have AirPods.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Timothy Simons]

My business manager even didn't want me to do that. But 10 of you have AirPods or you know.

[Ted Danson]

Or a compilation of my work as an actor.

[Timothy Simons]

You have Blu Ray copies of individual seasons of some of the shows that I've done.

[Ted Danson]

I saw that you were going to do that, and I wanted to ask you about it because the idea terrifies me. I can do Q and A.

[Timothy Simons]

Love Q and A.

[Ted Danson]

You love Q and A. And we can get pithy and all that stuff. Really pithy.

[Timothy Simons]

Really? Yes.

[Ted Danson]

But the speech. I'm dead in the water. I bore myself halfway through delivering a speech.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Which is not good.

[Timothy Simons]

No. I. We're really sad. In the back of my mind, I was like, I actually saw. I saw you give a speech this past year at the Emmys, you and your wife.

[Ted Danson]

Yes, Mary. And it was beautiful. It's a great speech. We worked on it together. But Mary is the poet.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Mary's actually writes songs. She's a songwriter professionally. And so she has that poetry in her.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

So she can take my. Oh, yeah. And turn it into something really lovely and beautiful. But I will take credit for. The sentiment was mine. The poetry.

[Timothy Simons]

The poetry was hers, always hers. I will say one nice thing about this is. And this is also. It helped for the critics choice speech that I was not able to give is that having access to, like, to Dave Mandel, who show ran the last three seasons of Veep, and to Lou Morton, who was one of the eps. And I'm sure for you in these situations of, like, just being able to throw this to Mike Scher, you know what I mean? Like, I have access to, like, legendary writers. And so I'm definitely going to be like, hey, guys, this is what I have. If you have punch ups, let me know. If you have punch ups, let me know. But I also understand that because they're comedy writers, I will tell you, I was in, like, the bathroom line at the Critics Choice Awards writing it in. In pencil. Because, of course, they left it till the very last moment. And I don't know if Mike is like this, but definitely Dave. And he always said, like, he needs the ships. The ship burning behind him in order to actually write. And it was very much true in this case of, like, I had been through the red carpet and was like, just hanging out with, like, whatever it was.

[Ted Danson]

Saturday Night Live. Yeah, it was exactly that same.

[Timothy Simons]

Just right up to the last moment, handwritten notes. Because he definitely threw me a couple things. I was like, oh, this, this. This makes this a lot better. So I'm just writing them in the margins.

[Ted Danson]

Mike shares the exact opposite.

[Timothy Simons]

Really?

[Ted Danson]

Before you even buy your tickets for the boat ride that he's providing. You know exactly when, what puff of wind will come from, what direction. I mean, he's. It's amazing. It's lovely. Say you've always wanted to take a spontaneous trip to the Caribbean. Here's the thing. If you get smart with your money, you can do things like that. With Empower, you can start making the most out of your money so you can go out and live a little. I mean, isn't that why we work so hard to have some fun with our money, like treating yourself to something special or spontaneously doing something extra for a loved one? So use Empower and get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 19 million customers [e-mail] not an Empower client, paid or sponsor. Summer always changes how you get dressed. You want pieces that feel lighter and more breathable. Things that are easy but still put together. That's where Quince comes in. They focus on high quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Think breathable linen and soft organic cotton. It's the kind of brand you end up recommending to everyone for everything. I actually was getting a fitting for a new show that I was about to do and the costume designer brought Quince to me to wear for this new character. Anyway, the article of clothing was a pair of linen pants. Very cool. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com Ted and Woody for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I N-C E.com TedandWoody for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Ted and Woody. Magic Wand ten years from now. Magic Wand. Nothing is off the table. Where are you? What are you doing? Do I sound like Barbara Walters? I hope not. I feel like some days I'm turning into Barbara Walters.

[Timothy Simons]

You know what? That maybe isn't a bad thing.

[Ted Danson]

Maybe not. I'm hoping you'll cry. But anyway, go on.

[Timothy Simons]

Magic Wand.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, for real.

[Timothy Simons]

I'd like to be splitting time between Maine and Los Angeles to be able to like, see my family out there a little bit more and like, doing like, you know, most of the summer, spring, summer out there. Because I do miss it. And I also, I miss, like, that the speed, like, and this was honestly very much like, related to adhd. Like, I was always very attracted to the speed of cities of Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. That was sort of always like where I wanted to be. And I did not appreciate what I had There until I have now as an adult, gone back. And I'm just like, you're at. You, like your chest actually like releases a little bit of tension. And I don't want to do it forever. I wouldn't want to like move back full time because the sun goes down at like 3 o' clock in February and you're in the middle of the woods and it's, it's depressing. So. So I'd like to split time and

[Ted Danson]

have a career that would allow you

[Timothy Simons]

and would have to have a career that would allow that. And, And I'm like. And when it comes to like, career. Magic wand, you're doing it. I mean, like, I've been really lucky. Been really lucky. If I can like keep the train on the tracks and keep doing stuff that I, like, agree with artistically, that lets me keep the lights on with people that I like. You will, I hope.

[Ted Danson]

No, you will because you, you love being an actor. You love going to work, you love ensemble, you love good material. You've proven yourself and you will. You just will.

[Timothy Simons]

And I was thinking about this recently. Like, I like the idea of still chasing, doing something when then when it's done, big or small, somebody's like, oh, shit, I didn't know you could do that. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, that's still pretty cool to change.

[Ted Danson]

78. Haven't done that yet. I feel it's part of what makes me want to keep going out is. No, no, no, no, no. I haven't really done it yet. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Timothy Simons]

Can I tell you, I worked. We had to film a scene because we're in production right now on nobody wants this with your good friend. And we had to film a scene that was sunrise for sunset. So call time was like 4:30am because we had to be rehearsed and all set up for like when the sun was in the right spot. And I was telling. And I, you know, we were. I was, I was done with work at like 8:45. I took the best nap of my life in a trailer waiting for a, waiting for a. A table read. Like the last two table reads were going to be at like lunchtime at like 11, 11:15. And I got home last night and I was telling Annie, she was like, how'd it go? And I was like, man, I had the best day because I love like going into work that early because it feels like free work. You're not actually there. Nobody. If it's 4:30 in the morning, you're not at work. So everybody just weirdly has a great time. Because everybody's in the headspace of being like, we're not now. The sun isn't up. What are you talking about? That was great to have a morning where I actually went in and did my job and walked away. Being like, that didn't feel like work at all. That's cool. Keep that feeling going.

[Ted Danson]

I love Cruise, too.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Love the whole going through studio gates. Everything about it is delicious. Which is why you'll keep working.

[Timothy Simons]

I. I will say, like, the one thing that I've really gotten more comfortable with is, I think, like. And I don't know if you feel this way of, like. And I think it's definitely like a. A younger actor thing of feeling like, well, the emotion is the only thing. And this realization that this. That this industry is a combination of all of those things. It is a combination of the emotion and editing and framing and lighting and all of those things working together. And so even if you aren't feeling it in this perfect, pure way, it can still be communicated.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. And that's great thing for me to hear over and over again, too, because,

[Timothy Simons]

I mean, there are times where I'm just like, man, didn't hit it. Didn't hit it today. Just didn't have it. And then you watch it later and you're like, holy, that works. Like, thank you to all the other people who helped make that work. But it's nice to have done this enough to realize that I can not only enjoy Cruise, but trust them and, like. Like, talk to cameramen.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Like, hey, are you going to see this? Like, yes. Like, do I need to bring this

[Ted Danson]

up on the same page?

[Timothy Simons]

Like, are we on the same page? Like, yeah, we. We talked about it a lot during Veep that. Like, we all got a lot of kudos for our comedy timing.

[Ted Danson]

But camera.

[Timothy Simons]

But the camera time.

[Ted Danson]

Well, were you handheld?

[Timothy Simons]

We were handheld.

[Ted Danson]

And all of them.

[Timothy Simons]

All of them.

[Ted Danson]

That's. That's amazing.

[Timothy Simons]

And they, like, the. The camera ops had to have good camera timing. And sometimes it was like. It was just. They would always talk about, like, you never want to land on the joke. You want to land a beat behind it. So they just had to have an inherent understanding. And sometimes it got to the point where. Because we were a very written show, but there was. There was improvisation, intention, intentionally in it sometimes. And then they would get to a point where it was almost like they would know there might be an opening. Like, Matt's gonna say something here. Even if it's like six of us in the room. They're just like. One of them would just be like, Matt's saying something and they would just turn and Matt would say something. Timing was there even with them, you know what I mean? Like, that's the beautiful thing about it. Of like ensembles of actors, but like ensembles of the entire creative community that do it. It's cool.

[Ted Danson]

And then throw in a great hair and makeup trailer who takes you from your everyday life, which may be a little. Maybe you're grumpy that day or a little, I don't feel like make believe. And you walk out the door full blown actor in character. Yeah, that's a good hair and makeup trailer.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, it's amazing. Can I ask you how you guys rehearsed? Because a lot of those are very. All of them are very fast paced, on your toes, fast line run throughs, almost. How did you rehearse? Because it's not like a three camera show where you rehearse and get it up on its feet and da da da. Live audience. Did you get to rehearse lines and sit around and uh, we.

[Timothy Simons]

We definitely did. We, we actually had like a. And again, this like sort of. I'll say two things about it. Number one, it really spoiled me because this was my like, Veep was my first big job and I got very spoiled by what we were able to do in process. But like, we would have. When we went, when we went out to Baltimore to shoot the pilot, we went out a full week early and we had five days of rehearsal, which was more like script workshopping. And that felt very comfortable to me. Like coming out of theater, like that felt like something I could contribute in. So we would have like script workshops. The writers would be there, they'd take notes, they'd go away, they'd write them in, and then we would get new pages. And then on Saturdays when we were shooting, we would, we, we would go on stage to be like, well, let's work this out. Let's work these big scenes out in the space before we're going.

[Ted Danson]

Who called that rehearsal? Production or actors?

[Timothy Simons]

Armino. Like production. And, and so what? Like from a very, like from. From day one, in a great collaborative way, actors and writers had a dialogue between them and some stuff didn't work and they wouldn't put it in. But we would play, we would play reporters. We would play, like to throw stuff off Julia. It was basically just like Julia's situation. So Matt's playing the joint chief of staff. I'm playing a Reporter. Somebody's playing a janitor. And we're just trying to fuck up Julia's day to see if anything comes out of that. And then it was a chaotic show. We would sometimes get. We would get 12 pages of rewrites in the morning.

[Ted Danson]

On your way to the set.

[Timothy Simons]

On your way to set. And then. And then at that point, it was, all right, well, we're just gonna. This is, like, where you get spoiled. Because we had the luxury of time and on set time because of Julia

[Ted Danson]

or because of the success of the show.

[Timothy Simons]

Because of the success of it. And I think HBO's belief in it and their willingness to be like this is Armando's process. And he's proven that it works before and it costs more money to do it.

[Ted Danson]

Was Morgan second?

[Timothy Simons]

He came in with Dave. So Morgan, he did seasons five, six, and seven.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, Love him, Love him.

[Timothy Simons]

He's incredible. And that way of, like, we are here to support the creative. Whatever the creative means. We'll find a way to make it.

[Ted Danson]

What is he, a line producer? Production direct, whatever. He makes everything run.

[Timothy Simons]

He makes everything run. And also, like, a really fun director, an actual director in his own right,

[Ted Danson]

which is so bizarre because you. When you meet him, he's Mr. Serious. Don't fuck with him. Even though he's a pussycat, he looks like, you better not fuck with me.

[Timothy Simons]

So intimidating.

[Ted Danson]

So intimidating.

[Timothy Simons]

So intimidating.

[Ted Danson]

And then he turns around and can direct and find the funny and is really good. Yeah, yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

In a very, like, gentle, like, in his very, like, you know, a man of few words way. He can come in and give you an adjustment that, like, fuck, man. That's the. How come I didn't see that? That is. You know what I mean? Like, he's incredible.

[Ted Danson]

We love to punk him because he gets so embarrassed by the limelight. And so wherever. Whenever we're in public, we always wish him publicly happy birthday and get. Get whole crowds of people to sing to him. It just kills them.

[Timothy Simons]

So. So we had this, like, insane rehearsal process that then again goes back to 12 pages of rewrites. Like, we gotta get that up and on its feet. And, like, a lot of times we were shooting, like, 18 pages in a day. So, like, that's not the only thing we're doing. We gotta deal with that other scene later.

[Ted Danson]

So your hours were fungible.

[Timothy Simons]

Were fungible. They were long and chaotic, and we were up and down a lot. But, like, that. Then again, that comes back to ensemble of, like, we all knew that. Like, if I dropped a line, Tony was Gonna figure out a way to feed it or keep the scene moving.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. You know Tony Hill.

[Timothy Simons]

Tony Hill, like, and in. Incredible person, incredible performer. Like, that was just kind of, like, at the heart of it. I will say that, like, somebody reframed something for me a couple years ago that I really liked, because I've. I would say that, like, I would go on other sets and I would be like, veep taught me some bad habits of preparation, which was. I had mostly only been on the Veep set, and it was changing all the time. And then I would go on to other sets, and I wouldn't really prepare because I would think, oh, I'm gonna.

[Ted Danson]

Well, we'll work it out.

[Timothy Simons]

We'll work it out. And then you go there and they're like, no, that's what it is. Like, we might alter a couple lines, but, like, no, that's what it is. And so then I'm, like, furiously learning it, because I just assume that everything changed all the time. And some. And I. I kept saying that it taught me bad habits or. But they. They reframed it. They were like, you have learned good habits for the job. You have. And I loved that because I think I do have a tendency to be more negative about stuff like that. It was my. It was my inability. It was my failing or whatever. And then that reframing, I really liked that.

[Ted Danson]

Sitting here, I have just an ounce of anxiety, for real actor anxiety going through my body because I'm about to start something, a new show on Apple with Elizabeth Banks and great cast shaping up and all that. But here I keep talking to actors about acting, and I'm going, fuck. I have no idea if I can still do this. I. I don't know what about. Am I just. Am I at that brittle age in my brain where knowing the lines becomes the only important thing? Oh, please don't let that be the case. You know, all these kind of aging fears, and the material is so much fun that my next thought is, don't die, Ted.

[Timothy Simons]

Don't die.

[Ted Danson]

Please stay alive so you can do this.

[Timothy Simons]

Stay alive. You have good scenes in episode five. Not to continue. Leave. No, just let me hit that one scene, and then you can take me.

[Ted Danson]

That's right up there with, this is going to be great. This divorce is going to be good for my actor.

[Timothy Simons]

This divorce is going to be so good.

[Ted Danson]

God, wait. God, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I've got a killer.

[Timothy Simons]

I have a killer. I have a killer button for this one. Wait till you hear it.

[Ted Danson]

Even the fact That I just said that is making me go, oh, this would be a great little quote from the podcast when I keel over. Yeah. Oh, actors.

[Timothy Simons]

I, I. It's actually kind of buoying to hear you say this, only because booing. Is that a word?

[Ted Danson]

Not booing.

[Timothy Simons]

Not bad. Booing.

[Ted Danson]

No, sorry. You were right. Buoying, Buoying.

[Timothy Simons]

Because it's taken. I, I haven't gotten better at it, but I've gotten better at doing. Dealing.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

With that feeling of showing up to a set on the first day when you're like, yeah, no, I'm bad at this.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Like, oh, I'm bad at this. And today is going to be the day they find out. You know what I mean?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Like, I've gotten better. I has come up every single first day on any set and I've gotten better at dealing with it. But it's just nice. It's, it's buoying to know that it never goes away.

[Ted Danson]

My dream, my nightmare almost always involves Shakespeare. And it's like I'm walking to this place, these places, and I'm walking to the set and I say, can I. Somebody? Can you? Does anyone have a script? Yeah. And then they hand me the play of Hamlet and I'm going, what the fuck? I'm playing Hamlet and I haven't looked at the script.

[Timothy Simons]

You still have them. Yeah, I do too.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. And when I wake up from the nightmare, I will burst into gales of happy laughter that it was a nightmare and unreal.

[Timothy Simons]

It still hits.

[Ted Danson]

What we're trying to say, everybody. It's really hard. It's really hard to be a white man. Actor.

[Timothy Simons]

Actor. And I think if you go back, historically, we can say it's been pretty hard.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Love talking to you. I love the. I've now earned my hug. When I see you in public, I can come up, hug you, man.

[Timothy Simons]

I truly thank you for having me.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Timothy Simons]

Very flattered to be asked. And I. And like, selfishly was like, I get to steal a solid hour. Me too. This is great.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Crazy. That was too high pitched. We'll cut the. Me too. Me too.

[Timothy Simons]

Leave it. Just listen to it back one time before you cut it because I liked it. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Thank you.

[Timothy Simons]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Thank you. Timothy Simons. Both seasons of his show Nobody Wants this are streaming now on Netflix with a third on the way. And I can't wait to see it. I love it. That's it for this week. Special thanks to Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, send it to a loved one. Rate and review on Apple Podcasts. If you have a mind once again, you can watch our full length video [e-mail] teamcoco see you next time. Everybody knows. You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows

[Timothy Simons]

yous Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Sometimes times. 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 Grohl, talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Batista.

[Ted Danson]

Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Yen, Mary Steenbergen and John Osborne.

[Timothy Simons]

It's the Smuckers Uncrustables Radio Hour with round, soft pillowy bread filled with delicious PB&J. Here's your host Uncrustables caller on line three. What's eating you? No one crust?

[Ted Danson]

Is that you? Uncrustables are the best part of the sandwich.

[Timothy Simons]

Sorry, crust. Arby's Pecan Chicken Salad Sandwich is done the hard way. It's made with diced all white meat grilled chicken, then combined with hand sliced apples, hand sliced grapes and hand sliced celery. It's a sandwich crafted by hand and once you taste that first bite, you can't help but give it jazz hands. You can't see it, but I'm doing jazz hands right now.

[Ted Danson]

Arby's.

[Timothy Simons]

We have the meats at participating Arby's for a limited time.