Zach Braff

Summary

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Where Everybody Knows Your Name — Zach Braff

Hosts: Ted Danson (Woody Harrelson absent)
Guest: Zach Braff
Release Date: March 11, 2026

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Episode Overview

Ted Danson sits down with Zach Braff—actor, director, writer, and creator of the cultural touchstone Garden State and star of Scrubs—to discuss creativity, the evolution of their careers, mentorship, their personal lives, and the much-anticipated Scrubs revival. This conversation dives into the formative experiences that shaped Braff’s artistic voice, stories from behind the scenes, the joys and pressures of creative work, and both men’s approaches to kindness and meaning amid a turbulent world.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Early Influences and Finding a Creative Path

[02:25–08:09]

• Braff’s childhood and early love for theater: Zach recounts getting his start in community theater as a kid, first captivated by lighting and tech, then transitioning into acting and film.
  • “I wasn’t so interested in the acting part. … I was fascinated by the tech theater, the lighting board. … The curtain would close and when it opened again, there was a new set and there were trap doors. I was really taken with all of that.” (Zach Braff, 06:10)
• Supportive family: Braff credits his parents for embracing his passion for the arts rather than pushing him into sports, nurturing his unique interests.
• First big break: Landed a CBS pilot at 14 (with a young Gwyneth Paltrow), learned early about the uncertainties of show business, and valued finishing school before Hollywood took over.
  • “I got a gift basket saying welcome to the CBS family. ... My father always said it was the best thing that could have happened to you.” (Zach Braff, 09:16)

2. Garden State — Creation, Obstacles, and Breakout Success

[04:52–23:18]

• Genesis of the film: Garden State was written during Braff’s early years on Scrubs, powered by the momentum of his newfound “yes” as an actor.
  • “All I could think of was, oh my gosh, this is going to help me get my movie made.” (Zach Braff, 12:08)
• Casting and approaching stars (Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm):
  • “My archetypes were literally Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm. … When I got them all, Pam Abdy said to me, I just want you to know that this never happens and will probably never happen to you again.” (Zach Braff, 22:28)
• Rejection and indie resourcefulness:
  • Faced with universal rejection from studios, Braff found financing from Gary Gilbert—a mortgage company founder—who bankrolled the film if they could make it on a shoestring budget.
  • Creative restrictions fueled more imaginative filmmaking.
    • “The audience’s imagination for what that car crash is, has an infinite budget.” (Zach Braff, 21:55)
• Visual Style and Personal Touches:
  • Dedicated to authenticity and infusing the film with highly personal, specific moments from his life.
    • “The things that are most specific to you are what will make your film unique.” (Zach Braff, 25:53)
  • Assembled a companion CD of his planned soundtrack to communicate the film’s tone to investors and cast.
    • “When I gave prospective producers or financiers the script, they also got a CD… and it would say, like, play track six.” (Zach Braff, 27:11)
• Soundtrack’s unexpected legacy and Grammy win:
  • His “mixtape” approach to the soundtrack became iconic and even won a Grammy, beating Tarantino:
    • “The only thing [Tarantino’s] ever said to me in my whole life was, ‘You stole my Grammy, man.’” (Zach Braff, 28:11)

3. Creative Confidence and Lessons in Growth

[14:34–16:58, 33:43–36:50]

• Braff reflects on his boldness as a young creator:
  • “When you're young, you just don’t know what you don’t know. Now I’m way more intimidated by it because I’m 50 years old and I’ve had so many ups and downs in my career.” (Zach Braff, 14:57)
• Both Danson and Braff discuss the whirlwind of sudden fame and the challenges of navigating success while staying grounded.
  • “I wish I’d instead of going out and partying I wish I’d sat down and written more screenplays, but... I was exhausted.” (Zach Braff, 34:15)

4. Revival of Scrubs — Friendship, Nostalgia, and Reboot Decisions

[37:39–44:20]

• The dynamics of returning to a beloved series: Braff shares the logistics and emotional charge of reuniting the Scrubs cast, building a new set, and how a podcast and viral T-Mobile ads revived network interest.
  • “We have a chain, and we talk and we joke and we meet up now and then… truly my best friend.” (Zach Braff, 40:09)
• Showrunner Bill Lawrence’s role: Ongoing mentorship, constant collaboration, and the moves behind Scrubs, Shrinking, Bad Monkey, and Ted Lasso.

5. Mentorship, Craft, and Set Dynamics

[45:37–48:46, 51:00–53:02]

• Ted and Zach bond over formative mentorships (Jimmy Burrows for Ted, Bill Lawrence for Zach) and discuss the importance of fostering others’ artistic growth.
• On delivering line readings and dealing with actors: Braff shares “tricks” learned from Bill Lawrence, like the table read misdirection for a subtle line reading.

6. Flying, Hobbies, and Mental Health

[55:51–60:51]

• Braff recounts learning to pilot an airplane, how detail-oriented hobbies can bring presence and calm, and why he stepped back as work increased.
  • “You have so much you need to be focusing on… There’s no room for you to be off in your head.” (Zach Braff, 56:47)
• Danson remembers his own experiences with small planes, sparking laughter over failed attempts at flight simulators.

7. Meaning, Morality, and Hope Amidst Difficult Times

[61:31–71:59]

• Both share how they try to maintain hope, perspective, and compassion amid troubling world events.
  • “I can feel that sort of resigned sadness that’s in the air. One of the things that’s fun about doing a silly comedy is that not only are you laughing with your friends all day, but you think, okay, maybe this is actually useful.” (Zach Braff, 62:34)
• On kindness as a guiding principle:
  • “I think very much… you get what you put out… I’m not, I’ve never been a spiritual or religious person.” (Zach Braff, 69:25)
  • Danson recounts his mother’s passing and how, at life’s end, simple kindness proved to be the most valuable guide.

8. Looking Forward: Aspirations, Drama, and Love

[63:44–67:52]

• Braff wants to do more dramatic work and to find a life partner, but is content with his life as is.
• Danson expresses admiration and how relationships—especially with his wife, Mary Steenburgen—are his main source of growth.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Zach Braff on specificity:
  • “The things that are most specific to you are what will make your film unique.” (25:53)
• Ted Danson on multicam energy:
  • “The energy you get from the audience is something you can’t duplicate when they’re gone.” (50:05)
• Zach Braff on kindness:
  • “Try to be a little better every day. Try to be kind. … What you just said is almost enough for me to wake up every morning and have that be enough of a guide.” (70:49)

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Key Timestamps

• 02:25 — Braff recounts watching Cheers as a comfort show growing up
• 06:23–08:25 — Early fascination with theater tech and filmmaking
• 12:08–14:05 — Scrubs’ breakout aiding Garden State’s creation
• 17:03–21:05 — Financing and creative constraints producing Garden State
• 25:53–27:11 — On making a unique film and sharing a “soundtrack” script
• 28:11 — Tarantino’s Grammy joke
• 34:15–36:50 — How sudden fame impacted Braff and Danson
• 39:47–44:20 — Scrubs revival: Building a set, podcast origins, viral ads
• 45:44 — Braff on learning from Bill Lawrence
• 50:01–52:23 — Multicam filming, live audience energy, punch-up writing
• 55:51–60:13 — Braff on piloting planes as mindfulness
• 61:31–64:39 — The role of comedy during heavy times
• 67:05–68:25 — Aspirations for the future: drama, love, contentment
• 70:49–71:59 — Kindness and gratitude as daily guideposts
• 72:13 — Danson’s heartfelt appreciation for Braff, plug for “A Good Person”

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Tone & Dynamics

• Warm, confessional, playful rapport—Danson’s sincere curiosity and humility complements Braff’s openness.
• A blend of nostalgia, self-deprecation, and gratitude permeates their reflections.
• Humor arises naturally from shared actor-writer frustrations and showbiz tales.

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Takeaways & Summary Value

Listeners come away with a vivid sense of Braff’s journey from ambitious kid to multi-hyphenate creator; insight into the challenges and secret sauce of iconic TV and indie films; the role of mentorship, collaboration, and kindness in thriving creatively and personally; and a meaningful meditation on creativity as service during difficult times. The episode is nostalgic, generous, and quietly profound—full of practical wisdom and Hollywood lore.

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END

Transcript

[Ted Danson]

I'm not an astronaut.

[Zach Braff]

I don't need an astronaut.

[Ted Danson]

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[Zach Braff]

So I met an alien. If you've fallen out of love with

[Ted Danson]

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[Zach Braff]

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[Ted Danson]

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[Zach Braff]

Jesus, if this guy has one more diploma, it's going to have to go on the ceiling. And I just kind of giggled to myself and wrote that down. Diploma on the ceiling because he's out of space.

[Ted Danson]

Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. I am thrilled to welcome Zach Brath today. He is so creative as a director, writer, actor. I really can't wait to talk to him. You know him from his many projects, from his hit sitcom Scrubs to his directorial efforts like Garden State Scrubs is back on ABC now and is available to stream on Hulu. So here we go. Let's talk to Zach Graffiti. I do find it weird that we haven't met.

[Zach Braff]

We've never met. And the first story I have to tell you right off the bat because I was thinking about you so much on the way over here and I said when I was probably 13 or so, my parents wouldn't let me have a TV in my room. Not that I would have an elaborate tv, but I thought I could get like a little color. And they were like, no, no, no, no. And I eventually found my. Found one of these, like black and white portable TVs that, you know, I imagine people who watch baseball on if they're, you know, out in the park or Something. And I showed it to my mom. I said, this isn't a real tv. It's portable. Like, it's like, I can put it on my bedside table. It doesn't count. And she rolled her eyes and she said, fine, as long as you go to bed at like 10 or something. Well, I knew that Cheers was on reruns in Jersey on, I think it was pix channel 11. And it was on, I think, think 11, 11, 30, maybe both. And every single night I would go to sleep watching Cheers. It was my comfort. You know, people always talk about their comfort shows. And so I grew up. That was my Go to Comfort show, was one of the. My favorite sitcoms. Definitely instrumental in me wanting to do this, to be funny and to do what you were doing. And I just had to have that be the first thing I say to you.

[Ted Danson]

Thank you so much. That's so cool. It's a joke around here how well I respond to people complimenting me. Almost like I finally settled down. It is strange that. And here's the confession on my part, but it's a happy one. The ending is happy. I've done the same thing to John Krasinski, my dear friend. I heard that the Office from my wife Mary was fantastic, funny. You will not believe how funny it is. And I stayed away from it. And I didn't watch it until way later. And we became great friends. And I did the exact same thing to Scrubs. I heard how amazing it was. It was a game changer. And I went, anna, is it jealousy? Probably something horrible like that. But I have been binging you. Oh, thank you, Garden State. Can we start there?

[Zach Braff]

Yeah, anything you want.

[Ted Danson]

Astounding.

[Zach Braff]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Astounding. And this is me watching it this morning, like at 5 in the morning. Wow.

[Zach Braff]

That's a hard way to start your day.

[Ted Danson]

No, no, it was fucking brilliant. And Mary watched it with me and she had seen it, but just astounding on all levels. Why I want to start there is because of the director stuff. You're an amazing actor. We can go back and talk about that later.

[Zach Braff]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

But I do not have a director's bone in my body or a riding bone. I am an actor. I'm a daydreamer. And I still daydream. And I show up like the groom at a wedding going, wow, look at this. That's me. Yeah. You're the exact opposite.

[Zach Braff]

Yes. I'm the guy. I'm the wedding planner.

[Ted Danson]

You are. You are the wedding planner. Every detail.

[Zach Braff]

Yes. I really love that. I Always did. As a kid, I. My father did community theater. He was a lawyer, as a trial attorney, but he would, he enjoyed doing community theater and going. We lived in Jersey, 45 minutes outside of the city. He loved in South Orange, right outside

[Ted Danson]

Newark, Plainfield, New Jersey.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, really?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

Anyway, it's a bizarre. How many actors are from New Jersey.

[Ted Danson]

I'm not my first wife.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, your first wife was. So anyway, theater was in my life and right off the bat, I wasn't so interested in the acting part. I was a little bit of a nerdy kid and I was fascinated by the tech theater, the lighting board.

[Ted Danson]

How old are you at this point?

[Zach Braff]

Like eight.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, wow.

[Zach Braff]

And if you recall, like in the old lighting boards in high schools and in theaters, there were huge crank things. And I just, as an eight year old just thought that's the coolest thing in our world. You push that lever and the lights come on. And I loved magic. And the set would, the curtain would. Even at a low budget community theater, this curtain would close. And when it opened again, there was a new set and there were trap doors. And I was really taken with all of that. And so I would kind of. I was kind of like the tech behind the scenes cruise mascot and I would just hang around the. The community theater. And little by little that. That began to morph into. He got me a Super 8 camera and we would, I would make movies with my brothers and then it became a VHS camera. And so I was kind of interested in all aspects of it. I was, I was auditioning. I went to a theater camp where I could do both tech theater stuff. And.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, this is.

[Zach Braff]

I went to two different ones. I think the first time was 10.

[Ted Danson]

God, this is really early.

[Zach Braff]

Really young. I just knew I was like, I can't believe I had no interest in sports. Absolutely no interest in sports. And my parents, thank goodness, were. Were so supportive. They. Thank God they, they loved it too. So they were, they never had any judgment about it. They were, they were the dream parents in a sense of. My brother loved baseball. Okay, you do baseball. Zach loves theater. We're gonna, we're gonna find a theater camp. And so that's really how, that's how it developed. Very early was it wasn't just loving making people laugh, which I got the, of course got the addiction to, but just a fascination with cameras and the technical stuff. Lighting and tech theater, all of it interested me. And then as I grew up, that became. Morphed into filmmaking.

[Ted Danson]

Right. First acting though, right? Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

I got a pilot for CBS when I was 14 and I didn't know that pilots didn't get picked up. So I didn't really. I got a gift basket saying welcome to the CBS family. And I was like, what do you mean it didn't get picked up? I have a gift basket. I've been welcomed to the CBS family. Here's the card.

[Ted Danson]

Those gift baskets in the beginning. Oh Lord.

[Zach Braff]

Well, back in the day, now I think they've cut budgets. But back in the day when CBS sent you a gift basket, it was a thing. No. And it was amazing. It was Gwyneth Paltrow's. Do you remember Bruce Paltrow?

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Zach Braff]

So St. Elsewhere.

[Ted Danson]

I say yes. Cause I know of him. I never met him, but yes.

[Zach Braff]

So St. Elsewhere was one of the biggest shows of the time.

[Ted Danson]

Huge.

[Zach Braff]

And Bruce Paltrow was the showrunner and a very, very respected writer. His 17 year old daughter got her first part in the same pilot that he created as the pretty cheerleader. And that was Gwyneth's first part. And I was 14 and I could barely even talk around her because I was just like.

[Ted Danson]

And your characters were connected by.

[Zach Braff]

I was good method acting because I was sort of the nerdy freshman and she was the very beautiful cheerleader.

[Ted Danson]

And you were smitten.

[Zach Braff]

I was absolutely smitten in real life and in the show. And you know, so we shot it and it was great and it was a wonderful experience. Craig Ferguson was in it. He played the cool teacher and then it didn't get picked up and I was. I think it was a good thing. My father always said it was the best thing that could have happened to you because it didn't pull me out of school and make me too soon

[Ted Danson]

or this is how life is.

[Zach Braff]

Right. I think it was great that I went and got my education and went to school instead of.

[Ted Danson]

Education in what, sorry?

[Zach Braff]

Just high school. Going to normal public high school and not. And not becoming a. I think starting that early is. It can be really detrimental to people's lives. And of course I would have done it if it happened. But I think it was a blessing in disguise that that show didn't become a huge problem. It was the same year 90210 came out. 9020 was sort of the posh Beverly Hills version. This was about a high school and Bruce Paltrow show was trying to be the antithesis. It was an urban Jersey high school. Very risque for cbs. Even now I don't even think it would get picked up. He was really trying to Push the envelope of what you could do being on broadcast at the time. So then I wanted to make movies. I wanted to learn how to make movies. I applied to film schools, several different film schools. And I got in Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois. And then right before I was supposed to leave, I got cast in Manhattan Murder Mystery. This was my first feature film. And my scene partners in my very first feature film were Woody Allen, Diane Keaton and Angelica Huston in the scene you were in. Yeah, that's my scene partners playing Woody Allen and Diane Keaton's son. And so that was sort of life changing. It was, you know, with a thing like that, you're like, well, what do we do? I, you know, ride this momentum. I mean, it was very good credit to try and try stay in Manhattan. Should I not go off to school? And I just made the decision that I wanted to go to school. So I went off to Northwestern for four years to study film.

[Ted Danson]

I guess I kept going back and wanted to hear the progression a little bit because the self confidence of everything about Garden State, the directing, obviously, but the casting, I mean, I assume you literally went after and got the people you wanted, which were magnificent. Natalie Portman, Peter.

[Zach Braff]

Absolutely. I was my first hiatus from when I got Scrubs. All I could think of was like, oh, my gosh, this is going to help me get my movie made. That was my first thought.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Zach Braff]

I was waiting tables and I got cast in Scrubs. And I can fill in the intermediate for you, but in this story, I was waiting tables. I cast in Scrubs. So thrilled. I only again, I had the experience. I know not all pilots get picked up, so. But I knew that because I was living so frugally as a, as a waiter. There was a Ralph's at LA BREA and third, I believe. And I would buy the $5 foot long sub and I would have lunch and dinner from that sub. I had, I had it dialed how to live frugally. So then when I got the pilot, I knew, okay, I can live off this for a long time. I need to focus and really lock in on this screenplay idea I have because this could be my ticket to get it made. Then Scrubs popped and was really popular.

[Ted Danson]

And

[Zach Braff]

my first hiatus. My first hiatus. Another dream of mine had always been to do Shakespeare in the park at the Delacorte in Central Park. So my first hiatus, I cast in a production of Twelfth Night there. And I knew this is just me being clever producer. I knew that Natalie Portman had done the Seagull there. I Think with Meryl Streep. And I said, oh, this is a good angle. I'll write it from the dressing room in the Delacorte. You know, that's a good way in because I never met her. I just loved her as an actress. And so I wrote her this impassioned letter from the dressing rooms of the Delacorte Theater. You often get rained out when you're there. And so we had been rained out. And it's just something if you've been there, you know, the experience. And I thought that's just a really good angle. And Natalie loved the script and loved my letter and met me and then

[Ted Danson]

said yes, script had been. When did you. You wrote the script? During the hiatus.

[Zach Braff]

I added in lots of pieces. But when I got scrubs and then could quit waiting tables and we weren't shooting, you know, we were waiting for a pickup, I had no. I. I really gave myself a pep talk saying you have out of excuses to not sit at your dining room table and really put this all together. I had it. You know, the way I kind of write is there's like little thoughts and pieces and they don't all connect like a puzzle until I sit down and actually put the work in and then I kind of weave them together. And how did you have.

[Ted Danson]

See, this is just boggles my mind because my brain is not like yours, total respect. And I'm fine with my brain.

[Zach Braff]

Your brain's pretty good, kind of.

[Ted Danson]

But how did you have the confidence to sit down the blank page and start writing and think that you could write a screenplay?

[Zach Braff]

I don't know.

[Ted Danson]

Or not. Challenge yourself or doubt yourself.

[Zach Braff]

I know the best answer I could say is I. When you're young, you just don't know what you don't know. Now I'm way more intimidated by it because I'm 50 years old and I've had so many ups and downs in my career and I've seen. I've had things I was so impassioned about, not do as well as I hoped they would. Things that I was about to do that fall apart at the last second. So now I see all the pitfalls and all the mishegos. I think at 24 years old, I was just really wide eyed. I was really driven. And I also thought I had a good story in me. I had no idea. This is not false humility. I had no idea that it would resonate, especially because everybody passed on it. I mean, when I went around, when I made the rounds with the script, nobody was willing to Finance it. So it's amazing that I had the confidence that I had, but then I certainly never imagined it would go on to live the life that it's led.

[Ted Danson]

Did you have somebody you handed your little pages to or the entire script to before trying to market it that gave you feedback? Bill Lawrence was.

[Zach Braff]

Bill Lawrence didn't really give me feedback until Bill Lawrence, the creator of Scrubs.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Zach Braff]

I think he was. I don't know what his deal was in the beginning. I think he was probably skeptical. I just had so much chutzpah. I gave him a spec script of Scrubs early on and I think he was like, oh, my God, this is like a showrunner's nightmare. But that's the kind of huevos I had. I was just like literally at home not having any problems saying, I'm going to give the showrunner a spec script of Scrubs because I want to write on Scrubs. So I think he was a little like, oh, I hope I don't have a monster on my hands. But then when I finally had a cuddle, Garden State, he was the first person to come over my house and gave me really, really helpful notes.

[Ted Danson]

Great. Okay, backing up a little bit. Who did. How did you get the funding?

[Zach Braff]

So everybody passed. There's not a person in town.

[Ted Danson]

All the big studios back then, studios,

[Zach Braff]

they used to call them mini majors. They used to. I mean, this was a different era. This was 2002. Ish. There were a lot of places you could go.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Zach Braff]

There's fewer now. But everybody said no. You know, the script was a little. It was different. It didn't follow a traditional three act structure.

[Ted Danson]

It.

[Zach Braff]

It told a love story, but it was about depression. But it was funny where the third act should go. All of a sudden they go on a quest for a piece of jewelry that we haven't even ever heard about. I mean, I didn't. I didn't. I did the opposite of those people who read a book and say, this should happen on this page.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Zach Braff]

And if you're someone who reads scripts and goes, why isn't this happening on page 30? This, I'm sure, just got tossed in the pile. What happened was Pam Abdy, who was a young executive who's now the president of Warner Brothers, she had a good eye back in the day. She was a Jersey girl. She was working at Jersey Films, which was Danny DeVito company and a very powerful agent at CAA did believe in Me. His name is Kevin Uvain and he. Yeah, you know, also done well in life. Yeah. He's one of the most powerful agents in the world. He did like it and he did believe me. And I think he, I believe he represented Natalie or maybe his partner did. I forgot that part. But anyway, he said, you know who should produce this is Pam Abdy. And she was a young executive at Danny's company. He was right that she loved it. But even with Jersey Films attached, we went all around, everybody said no, Everybody said no. And then a funny thing happened. I was introduced to a guy named Gary Gilbert, who with his brother Dan Gilbert had created a mortgage company

[Ted Danson]

and

[Zach Braff]

they had done very, very well. And they sold it to Quicken Loans. And Dan Gilbert has gone on, he's one of the richest men in the world and he owns basketball team that. I forgot which one, somebody should tell me. The Cleveland Cavalier Cavaliers and the stadium and everything. He's a very nice man. His brother though, wanted to get out of the business and he wanted to produce Hollywood films. He was, was interested in Hollywood and producing. Someone made an introduction and he came to a meeting with one of these many major people's people and they were sort of saying, hey, maybe we'll make it for five or six million dollars. I will split it. So in this scenario, they would put up half of it and he would put up, they call it equity, you know, put up equity. But it was really interesting because he was coming at it from, I don't know anything about Hollywood, but let me just go to this meeting. And we went in the parking lot after and he goes, look, I don't know anything about this business at all, but I really like your script. That deal sounds horrible to me. Like I split it with them, but they recoup their money first and they have final cut. And he goes, I just don't understand. Is there any way you can make this movie for like half of that? I'll just pay for the whole thing myself. So Pam and I and the other producers went back to the drawing board and rethought it as a two and a half million dollar movie.

[Ted Danson]

Which meant taking out locations, everything like storylines or cutting.

[Zach Braff]

How do you shoot it in 25 days? Pa literally slept on her parents couch. Remove rental cars, remove anyone. You know, everyone's staying at motels. You remove, remove some set pieces. Just like how can you, you know, obviously just the most scrappy way. Well, not the most scrappy way, but a, a much scrappier way to make

[Ted Danson]

the movie, which does lead many times, I think to way more creativity out of how do we make this work? Where we can't pour money into it. We have to pour creativity.

[Zach Braff]

Right. You can't rely on a. On a set piece or something. You know, I made another movie called A Good Person. And I really wanted the movie revolved around a car crash. And I really wanted to show. I thought it would be powerful to show how devastating the car crash was. And the producer said, we're going to put it at the end of the schedule and if we happen to have money, we're going to leftover, we'll shoot it, and if not, we won't. And we didn't have money. And I just said to myself, you know what? The audience, the audience's imagination for what that car crash is, has an infinite budget.

[Ted Danson]

That's great.

[Zach Braff]

And it worked. We didn't need to show it. They filled in, in their minds how bad it must have been to have yielded what happened.

[Ted Danson]

Okay, so that's.

[Zach Braff]

Sorry, I'm jumping all over the place.

[Ted Danson]

No, this is good because I. You. You're making your movie now, and I'm beginning to understand your self confidence or huge desire to do it, whether it was self confidence or not. But just.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah, drive.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, drive. You have your cast. Yeah. Was Peter.

[Zach Braff]

Peter. He loved the script and he said yes, and he was just incredible. And Ian Holme said yes.

[Ted Danson]

And I got to work with him once. One of my highlights.

[Zach Braff]

Lovely man.

[Ted Danson]

How did you get it to him? Was he in this country or through the agents?

[Zach Braff]

I, you know, we, you know, you make a list when you're directing a movie and you say, it's usually like the way I do it is like you draw the actor that's sort of the archetype. And then you draw a line and you go, who are other people that you think are in the spirit of this person that might be right? And my archetypes were literally Nally Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm. And when this happened, when I got them all, Pam Abdy said to me, I just want you to know that this never happens and will probably never happen to you again. And she's right. It never happened like that again.

[Ted Danson]

It's funny how when you are in a movie that is totally purposeful and intentional and well thought out and usually coming from one person's brain, all the accidents make it better. There's just everything funnels into. Nope. This is the way it was supposed to be.

[Zach Braff]

Absolutely. And sometimes you find gold where you never would have been if you hadn't had whatever reason.

[Ted Danson]

Okay, so now the shots. I have this one where you're talking to Natalie in the sidecar. Motorcycle. Sidecar thing, and these kids walk by and this scene continues. I just thought that was a brilliant shot.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

So how your sense of camera, your sense of setting up the visuals, where did that come from?

[Zach Braff]

I loved cameras my whole life. I had a great photography teacher in high school who I learned to shoot and develop and process film. That was one of the best classes I ever took in in my childhood. I just loved gadgets. I loved cameras, and I really loved movies. So I was very interested in cinematography. In the case of the children, it was just kind of the way I write is I'll write little snippets on pieces of paper. Like that's something you would see in suburban Jersey. Would be a train of children holding hands. And so that might. I mean, I'm guessing. I don't remember, but it may have been like something I jotted down in a journal or I actually went to a neurologist because I was having these really horrible headaches. The same kind that the. And I looked at his wall when I was waiting for him and I said, jesus, if this guy has one more diploma, it's going to have to go on the ceiling. And I just kind of giggled to myself and wrote that down. Diploma on the ceiling, because he's out of space. So stuff like that were just sort of collections of ideas that I would. That I then folded and. Because one thing I tell younger filmmakers who ask me for advice occasionally, as I say, the things that are most specific to you are what will make your film unique. The universal things, love and loss and heartbreak that everyone will relate to that every human being can hold their heart and relate to that. But what makes your storytelling different is your specific experience. So the little details of the diploma on the ceiling, or my mother had. Had a necklace like that that had a little game in it where you tried to put the balls in the indentations. All those little specific things will be what makes your story unique.

[Ted Danson]

And audiences relate to. What is the noun for being genuine. You know, if you are genuine.

[Zach Braff]

Authenticity.

[Ted Danson]

Authenticity. As opposed to, oh, this will be funny. And it's a manufactured slightly out of left field to be funny.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Is way different than somebody going. That has. That is. That has to be. It feels so real. Which gives you a much better laugh. A much gentler.

[Zach Braff]

Almost all. Almost all the anecdotes and little pieces in the script were either things that I had seen in my life or exaggerations of things I'd seen in my Life. But that's how it came to be.

[Ted Danson]

So that was pretty much. If you took your script, your shooting script and sat in front of the movie, could you pretty much direct it from the page? What you had on the page was. There was that scene written down about the kids.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah. Everything I'd even written down, I would copied. A filmmaker at the time, he was doing something I can't take credit for, but I instantly stole it in that. When he gave out his script, it came with a CD with all the tracks that were in the movie.

[Ted Danson]

That's brilliant. And you had that?

[Zach Braff]

I did that. So when I gave prospective producers or financiers the script, they also got a cd. And if you were playing along, it would say, like, play track six. And then right now.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, Zach.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah, Again, I saw someone else do it, and I copied them. So. Good, good.

[Ted Danson]

And how wonderful for the actors, too.

[Zach Braff]

Absolutely. Because it really. Music really gives you tone. And when you read a script as you. As, you know, as an actor, sometimes you're like, okay, but I don't really get what the tone is. That music all set the tone for what the tone of the movie is going to be.

[Ted Danson]

And is that soundtrack you gave him as you gave them?

[Zach Braff]

No, no. I mean. No, I mean, the. The. The same genre of music, the same vibe, but by the time we, you know, you cut it together and you go, okay, that song's great, but it doesn't work. And let's try for this song.

[Ted Danson]

But that was huge.

[Zach Braff]

That went. That was insane. What happened with the soundtrack? I. I didn't.

[Ted Danson]

You got a Grammy?

[Zach Braff]

I won a Grammy. Yeah. It's pretty funny. I won a Grammy for a mixtape, but that's amazing. I didn't know they gave out Grammys for. I know I did. I beat out Quentin Tarantino, which is. Which is even more hilarious. And the only thing he's ever said to me in my whole life was, you stole my Grammy, man. I was hoping one day he'd say, you're hired, but instead, all he has said thus far is, you stole my Grammy, man.

[Ted Danson]

That's funny. I did a film with Isabella Rossellini called Cousins, and it was the French film Cousin Cuisine. And we had our theme song written by the time we started shooting. And my character actually kind of hammered it out on the piano. But it was so wonderful to set the mood.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, yeah. I do it on set sometimes. I'll play if I have a. Not necessarily the song, but if I have something that's in the spirit of. I'll play it. I did that on Garden State, too. I would play music, you know, when there wasn't dialogue, I would just play the music of the scene. So let's say we're doing. At the end of the movie, there's a big dolly pullback at the airport. I would. I'd play. I played even for. Just for the Dolly group. Who's pulling the dolly so he can feel the energy of what I want it to be.

[Ted Danson]

That's spectacular.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

The only other person that. Larry Kasdan on Body Heat. You could take that script and conduct it. Maybe not the music, but everything. The dancing on the pier or the this or the that. Every little moment that was written in the script is on the screen.

[Zach Braff]

There were things I had to cut out, of course, because the assembly was very long and I had to cut some storylines. And I changed the ending a bit with. With Bill's help, who gave me some helpful thoughts on that and things that added like, you know, in rehearsals, Natalie at one point did like a cute tap dance. And I was like, that is so adorable. Let's put that in the movie. She's like, I'm not tap dancing in the movie. I'm like, yes, you are. You shouldn't have shown me that. And so I rewrote that fireplace moments that she tapped in.

[Ted Danson]

That's great.

[Zach Braff]

That's a great thing to do. Is just. And be really nimble with your.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

When your actors show you something. Oh, you know, I just did that on Scrubs. Right. Was hanging out with one of the young kids playing one of the interns. He's not young kid, he's 35, but he was playing. I saw him dance, and all of a sudden I saw he was really good dancer. So I told the writers and they wrote in a moment where he could dance. That's fun to like, you know, mine that stuff.

[Ted Danson]

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[Zach Braff]

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[Ted Danson]

Wow. Okay, so it came out. It was huge.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Cultural kind of moment. Did it come out after two years

[Zach Braff]

of scrubs or it came out in 04. So that sounds like probably three, three or four years of scrubs. I forgot.

[Ted Danson]

Okay. And by then the Scrubs is.

[Zach Braff]

Scrubs is doing really well.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, doing really well. How are you doing with the impact of that on you? Because that's a lot of energy coming your way.

[Zach Braff]

I don't know. Probably drinking too much. Enjoying. I enjoyed it but I think I didn't really know what to do with all the attention and I. I don't know. I. I wish I'd instead of going out and partying I wish I'd sat down and written more screenplays, but I was really, I, I was exhausted. I was doing Scrubs. And then, because you know, you know what it's like as an actor when you have momentum. You've been waiting for this momentum your whole life. So I, I just kept saying yes to doing more films, acting in them, and, and they were okay, but they, they, and, and one or two of them I like. But I, I, I think I, if I could go back and give myself advice, it would be okay. Slow down, take a breath, make. I was just so geeked that anyone was hiring me.

[Ted Danson]

But that impossible not to be exactly what you were.

[Zach Braff]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

Impossible.

[Zach Braff]

I did the best I could as a 26 year old.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, yeah. There's not a, I mean, all of the traps, all of the ego traps, all of the acting traps, all of the bad actors.

[Zach Braff]

Did you find that when, when Cheers blew up and, and you were so popular? Yeah, Sorry, did not know, Sorry to not know this, but was Cheers your big break?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Okay, so I've done a couple of movies that were respected, that I was part of an ensemble, but yes, Cheers. And then, you know, the difference between being in a hit movie and being in a hit TV show is unless it's Star wars or something, the TV show will outdo the number of people who see you just.

[Zach Braff]

Well, in the era of Cheers, I mean, the amount of people watching a live broadcast.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. One thing saved me, although not completely saved me. I was still, you know, smoking joints with joints. That's how old I am. Smoking. Smoking dope with Woody, you know, after everything. Drinking, carrying on, not too much drinking, but smoking dope a lot. Getting pulled over by police because Woody and I were talking in separate cars on a car phone with each other, having this unbelievable stoner conversation. And we got pulled over for going 12 miles an hour on Sunset, you know, so, yeah, no, total asshole. Total rock and roll.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah. I mean, the amount of people that would watch a popular show in that era is so insane compared to now. It's interesting going back to broadcast television with this revival of Scrubs, I just been looking at the numbers of how many people watch a live broadcast of a show. I mean, the first broad airing of a show. And obviously, as we all know, ABC's partnered with the Hulu, so most people will stream it over the course of the next week. But when Cheers was on and when Scrubs was on, there was none of that.

[Ted Danson]

So you watched it, you made dates to watch. Yeah, yeah. Which brought you in the short term, more people watched that night than I think they do now.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And streaming is huge in the long run. What is it called? Scrubs or just Scrubs?

[Zach Braff]

It's just Scrubs. It's a revival. I mean, we are starting with the same original cast, but now we're older and whereas we were the young interns, now we're the teachers of. Of a new crop of young interns. And there's a storyline. You may not know this bit of trivia, but. So we did eight seasons of Scrubs, and then Bill Lawrence created a ninth season, but he has said many times he wished he'd called it a spin off because it was a whole new writing staff, it was a whole new location. Half the cast was staying, half was leaving. I was handing off the voiceover to a young woman. And.

[Ted Danson]

And this was the consecutive years that ninth was.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah, this was the ninth. The hospital that we were. We. We shot Scrubs in a real abandoned hospital for eight years and then it got torn and then it was sold to be condos. So in attempting to do a ninth season spin off, basically he had to rethink, okay, it doesn't take place there anymore. It takes place here. And I really wanted to sort of segue off and do other things. So I kind of helped launch it and doing a few episodes and then I left handed off the voiceover to a young person. And some people and do really love the ninth season. Some people don't. It's in the Scrubs fandom. It's a. It's a thing people debate about, but our intention was to go back and say, okay, we're going to treat that like it was a spinoff and we're going to pick up the story of scrubs after season eight, 17 years later from. From where that thing was ending. And then in doing so, we decided that to do what we wanted to do, we would have to fully recreate this hospital that didn't exist anymore on stage. So we built 30,000 square feet. It's a no where. It's in Vancouver. And it's. You get lost in it.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Zach Braff]

You cannot believe. It's. It's. It's unbelievable. That was something that was part of the challenge.

[Ted Danson]

Who. Who came up with this? Let's do it. And everybody showed up, right?

[Zach Braff]

Yeah. Well, we always talked about it. We're all friends. I don't know. It seems like you're all. You're still friends with all your Cheers

[Ted Danson]

castmates, I assume a little more spread out because of. I don't know, kids, family, amount of years.

[Zach Braff]

But you stay in touch.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Zach Braff]

We're the same way. We're all. We're spread out, too, but we. We have a chain, and we talk and we joke and we meet up now and then get dinners together. And Donald is. Faison is one. Is truly my best friend, and I'm godfather to his kids.

[Ted Danson]

You guys are great.

[Zach Braff]

We really just clicked.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

We met at the table read, and we're just inseparable ever since.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. No, you. You're really great together.

[Zach Braff]

Thank you. So actually, what happened was, you know, the. We've always talked about it. Bill has always. You know, every time Bill's on a panel, he says, oh, one day we're going to get everyone back together. Because he's had such an insane. You know, Bill started with Spin City, then he created Scrubs. He created Spin City when He was, like, 26 years old.

[Ted Danson]

Michael J. Fox?

[Zach Braff]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

Or pre Michael.

[Zach Braff]

No, it was Gary Goldberg. Gary Goldberg. And Bill created it together. And then Gary left, and Bill took over, and he was 26 years old running Spin City in Manhattan. Talk about a guy who. Talk about letting a kid loose in the city. He was 26 years old running a hit show in Manhattan. And so then he created Scrubs, and then he created a bunch of other shows,

[Ted Danson]

including Ted Lasso.

[Zach Braff]

Well, my point is, a bunch of other shows that did okay but weren't global phenomena. And then he, with Jason Sutakis, creates Ted Lasso. He asked me to come direct the second episode. So I go over there. I don't follow sports, but I was like, okay, it's funny. It's Bill. Jason's hilarious. Yeah, I'd be honored. It'd be fun. I was dating an English gal at the time, and it all worked out perfectly. I remember shooting it, being like, this is really cute. I bet people that love soccer are gonna love this. And then left and went on about my life.

[Ted Danson]

Won an award, but gone.

[Zach Braff]

No, but my point is that it

[Ted Danson]

then

[Zach Braff]

during COVID became this global phenomenon. And that was not something that was expected even by Bill, you know, because again, another story of. I think if I don't have the wrong. Almost everybody passing except Apple. And so then huge, huge, huge hit. And then Bill, since then, just took off like a rocket and created shrinking and created this new show with Steve Carell that's coming on HBO called Rooster.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Zach Braff]

And Bad Monkey, which is Carl Hiason.

[Ted Danson]

We're gonna come back.

[Zach Braff]

I'm just jumping.

[Ted Danson]

No, no, no, no.

[Zach Braff]

But my point is that so every. So he does. He always does a lot of press because he's got so much going on. He's, you know, the biggest comedy writer in town. And he always has said, yeah, we're going to get the whole Scrubs team back together. He's got to figure out how to do it. He's got to figure out how to do it. It's a little tricky because he has a big deal with Warner Brothers and the show is a Disney property, so there was some contractual stuff to work out. But eventually Donald and I started doing a Rewatch podcast. That's when I was joking you about the lighting of how beautiful the state is. We would do it over zoom. We started during COVID We wouldn't watch the shows live. We'd watch an episode and we'd sit around and joke about it after. And we just thought, you know, some hardcore fans will listen, maybe our parents. But we didn't think it would do. We didn't know. And then it really did well, all over the world, it became a very popular thing. And then that led eventually to us doing these T Mobile ads, which again, became very, very popular. And I think this sort of snowballing effect of the podcast and then the T Mobile ads made someone at ABC Disney be like, wait, we should really do this. So that's kind of how that was the genesis of Brain.

[Ted Danson]

And no hesitancy on your part.

[Zach Braff]

No way.

[Ted Danson]

I mean, that's so cool.

[Zach Braff]

Bill and Donald and Johnny C. McGinley and Sarah Chalk and Judy Reyes, all these people I love so much. Krista Miller. It was, you know, get the gang back together and laugh. I didn't hesitate for a second.

[Ted Danson]

There was talk a long time ago about, is there going to be a Cheers reboot or can you work? Frasier went off and maybe you could put the two back together and somehow.

[Zach Braff]

Did you ever consider it?

[Ted Danson]

I did. I played Sam Malone on a Frasier about three years afterwards, after Cheers. And to be honest, there's that part of me that, as Cheers ended, part of me went, oh, I'm gonna make some movies now. So I did not come back on my shining white horse and, you know, galloping the movie star. So part of me was off balance about being on playing Sam Malone in a different set, different writers, mostly.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And no Jimmy Burroughs.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah. And he was the magic, huh?

[Ted Danson]

For me.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Just for me on shoot nights. I was always. I mean, the writing was astounding, obviously, but I was performing for Jimmy, literally. And when he wasn't there because he couldn't and he did all but about 10 or 15 episodes. I would be semi lost. It's so strange.

[Zach Braff]

I love that, by the way, that he must have, in a way, that Bill was for me. He must have been quite a mentor for you.

[Ted Danson]

No, he's my show business daddy.

[Zach Braff]

I say because of our age. Bill's my big brother. He taught me everything I know. And it's so valuable that has inspired me now to mentor people because I want to pass down what I've Learned in the 25 years of doing this because he taught me so much.

[Ted Danson]

Has all of the writer, director, acting. Are you mentoring anything?

[Zach Braff]

I met with young woman who's a comedic actress who I thought was talented. And I just said, ask me anything you want to ask me. And when you have a script, I. I said a. Write for yourself first and foremost. And when you have a script, that's that you're confident. I'll read it and give you thoughts. But just like, here's my number. If you. Any questions you want navigate it, I'll weigh in. Which is. Which is what I did with Bill. I would go to him and be like, what do I do about this? This executive gave me the most insane note. How do I handle this? I don't want to do that note my end.

[Ted Danson]

Say yes and then don't.

[Zach Braff]

He used to do so many funny tricks that I learned. We laugh about him now, but he had these tricks with actors where he would go, and the actor's just not saying the line right. And he was like, you know, for those of you listening who don't know, you're not supposed to tell the actor to say it like this. It's called giving them a line reading. And it's. It's very hard, especially if you're an actor, director, or if you're a performing, to be like, oh, my God, just say it like this. But you want to do that so badly. But it's very frowned upon and a lot of actors don't like it. I personally am like, I don't understand just saying how you want me to

[Ted Danson]

say I'm an understudy at heart. Just tell me.

[Zach Braff]

But Bill does this very funny thing. I'm going to. I'm going to out him now. So he's not going to do it anymore. Well, he'll go, there was a way you did it at the table. And. And the actor was like, really? And he'd be like, yeah, at the table read. You were like, we gotta get out of here right now. And could you do one like you did at the table read just for me, because I love that. Meanwhile, they had never fucking done it like that at the table read. Another thing he does that's so funny in the same spirit is he's just rationalized in his head that if he doesn't make sensible words, it doesn't count. So he'd be like, could you do one? That's like, My learning didn't say any words. But whether it's something small like that or something huge like, here's the best way to handle a note that you feel is very wrong. And, you know, it's been. And all the time. I mean, now more than ever, because we're, you know, I direct all his shows. Lasso, Shrinking and Rooster, the new one, and. And Scrubs directed the. The pilot episode of the New Scrubs. So now more than ever, we're. We're in constant collaboration.

[Ted Danson]

God, that's lovely. I think Jimmy Burroughs is retired. I'm not sure.

[Zach Braff]

He came to visit Scrubs one once.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

I think. I think the context was his kids were fans and he came and gave them a tour of the set. But I had never, you know, I never got a chance to work with them because I never did a multicam.

[Ted Danson]

God, I'm just sorry. Flash, too. I didn't watch Friends right away. Your show Scrubs. I didn't watch the Office. I'm a petty, petty actor.

[Zach Braff]

You think it was pettiness or just like, you didn't like. I didn't watch the Office when it was live. I recently, in the last couple years, watched it straight through. I knew I was gonna work with Steve and I again. I knew I would love it, and I just really, really, really enjoyed it.

[Ted Danson]

I think I didn't want to go, oh, I wish it wasn't jealousy or envy, but, oh, I wish I had something like that for myself, whatever the time was. Then maybe I didn't, you know. I don't know.

[Zach Braff]

Do you.

[Ted Danson]

It's weird.

[Zach Braff]

Do you miss the high of doing the. In front of a live audience that. The laughter and the.

[Ted Danson]

I should. I don't really, because I loved it. Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

You knew it was your time.

[Ted Danson]

No, I loved it. It was. There's. They would sometimes shoot because the energy you get from the audience is something you can't duplicate when they're gone. Because sometimes they would have to reshoot something because they needed a camera in where they couldn't put it right. And they rarely used it because the energy drops was different. It was just, you know, so. Yes, I do miss. I. I understand that I should miss that at this point, my adrenal system is quite happy not to step.

[Zach Braff]

I've never done a multicam. I've guessed it on a multicam. But I've. I've. I've gone to see them and to me, it just looks like so much fun. Like, what a high. Especially with the writing's good. I mean, we've all seen ones where the writing's not good, but the cheers writing was so incredible. And would it be like that at the table read and then only get better?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Crazy. They had this. I'm sure they're not the only ones who did this, but you would have a guy who, for the table read, had not read it. Who was it for? Us.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, we have that too, still.

[Ted Danson]

And it's just so that they can go hear the story for the first time.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, ours is just actors that are lazy and don't.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, no, these. No, that was later on.

[Zach Braff]

Reading it for the first time. We can tell you're reading it for the first time. That's not how you say that sentence.

[Ted Danson]

We would have so many ads and, you know, production assistants reading during rehearsals because the actor, Woody Harrelson.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Would have called from. Yeah, the sometimes really is really appropriate.

[Zach Braff]

That's funny.

[Ted Danson]

He would be in Berlin because the wall was coming down and he didn't want to miss it. And he let people know the morning of.

[Zach Braff]

Wow.

[Ted Danson]

You know, anyway, we would have writers who would, you know, you have a room full of writers and working on the scripts. Then they would have a writer come who hadn't read it, didn't know it. So they could go. This story point didn't. I don't quite understand that. And so it was a story rewrite.

[Zach Braff]

That's amazing.

[Ted Danson]

Then the second day of rehearsal, they would have somebody who was just killer at jokes. Every joke ever written, he knew. So it would get punched up with humor and then it would settle down and just got rewritten.

[Zach Braff]

I love that. I love that. That's so fun. We have that, in a sense, on Scrubs, in that there's always a. A particularly funny writer on set with us.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. So single camera.

[Zach Braff]

Obviously, we're single camera. And we. We can do lots of alts. So we'll just tee up the person for their punchline and you can do five alts and see which one's funniest in the edit room.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

Which we. Which we do a lot of.

[Ted Danson]

Okay. And this happens on a week or two.

[Zach Braff]

Right. The 25th airs on the 25th of February on ABC at 8:00 clock and then Hulu the next day.

[Ted Danson]

That's pretty cool.

[Zach Braff]

It's exciting.

[Ted Danson]

Good for you.

[Zach Braff]

Will you come up and be on it, please?

[Ted Danson]

I think I would. Oh, this is interesting, but maybe it's a body.

[Zach Braff]

You're not going to play a corpse. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? We tell ABC we got Ted Danson and his only caveat is that he wants to be a corpse.

[Ted Danson]

I did CSI for years. Corpses get a lot of play.

[Zach Braff]

What did you think about?

[Ted Danson]

The hardest thing I've ever done.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah. Because you don't have the adrenaline or the. Or the humor.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

I'm saying you don't get this, the spike, the endorphin spike of the laugh.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. You're not.

[Zach Braff]

I'm trying to make the dolly. We don't have an audience. I'm trying to make the grip floss.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

I'm trying to make the cameraman, when I see the operator look away from the eyepiece and go, yes, that's what I want.

[Ted Danson]

Yes. Which is why I can never understand actors who are dicks and are rude to crew members. It's your lifeline.

[Zach Braff]

We don't allow that. We don't allow that.

[Ted Danson]

No, no. Yes. Please ask me. We could negotiate right now, actually, on the price, we.

[Zach Braff]

It's sag. Whatever the sag.

[Ted Danson]

SAG minimum.

[Zach Braff]

SAG minimum is all we have. It's the first season.

[Ted Danson]

Is there a SAG maximum?

[Zach Braff]

It's the first. Yeah. I think there's a sag. Like, standard rate.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

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[Ted Danson]

Are you piloting planes?

[Zach Braff]

I still, I'd like to. I got my pilot's license. I got very into it. I loved it.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

And, and of course, if you're not doing it every weekend, you become unsafe. And in my opinion. Yeah. So I, my life became busy and I, I, I, I owned a small single engine four seater and my life was getting busy and I wasn't flying it enough. And it was obviously a very expensive hobby. And so I sold the plane and kind of got for now. But I'm very interested in aviation and I aspire to fly again when time allows.

[Ted Danson]

You talk about being OCD or whatever in the past or whatever it is that must be great for being a pilot.

[Zach Braff]

Well, one thing that's.

[Ted Danson]

Eye for detail.

[Zach Braff]

Yes. And also bizarrely, I know this might sound crazy to some people, but it quiets your mind. You have, you have so much you need to be focusing on between flying the airplane, communicating on the radios, navigating. There's no room for you to be off in your head. You have to be present and, and it's beautiful. You know, you see the country in a way you've never, whatever. You know, when you fly commercially, they zip right up to the 30,000ft and above. When you're flying general aviation, you're seeing the country. You know, you could be between, you know, three and 18,000ft. And it's magical. It's something that most people never get to experience. And I really just got intoxicated with that.

[Ted Danson]

How. Well, how far would you fly on a day?

[Zach Braff]

I would fly well, I instrument rating. I didn't get my instrument rating. I was on the, on, I would, that's what I would do next. But I did a lot of, so what I did was I would do long cross country trips with my teacher and it would be, I would fly a lot of instrument level flying, you know, with my teacher by my side. So I got a lot of experience. And we would, you know, sometimes they would have to be in New York, so I would, we would fly from Van Nuys to the Morristown airport in New Jersey.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Zach Braff]

You know, my plane would take a couple days, but it was.

[Ted Danson]

God, that must have been fantastic.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, are you kidding me? You have the security and safety of a pro next to you who's teaching you, and you're just taking in the whole country at an altitude that you've never seen the country before. Most people never get to see the country because you're all the way so high up. I had this little dog. I'd bring. And the only problem was the plane's not pressurized. So at a certain altitude, you have to put on a nasal cannula. If you fly really high, you have to put on a mask. But I had the dog, and I couldn't put a nasal cannula on the dog. So we had to fly pretty low sometimes. And we'd be in just the worst turbulence. It's turbulence you would definitely want to try and climb over. But we had the dog. Because maybe someone invented a mask for dogs. Since, I don't know, I should look into it. But we would just be like. And the instructor's looking at me like, this fucking dog is the reason.

[Ted Danson]

We used to fly Piper. My father's an archeologist, and there'd be lots of times we were out in the middle of someplace and a Piper Cub would come in to land in some muddy field and then take off again. But Arizona, the heat, if you don't. If you're flying in the, you know, the worst heat of the day, you're just bumping all over the place. I don't know.

[Zach Braff]

I watch a lot now. I'm at the point where, you know, on YouTube, there's these guys who just. They fly the plane that I flew. And this is how I know I'm gearing up to get back into it. Because, you know, it was my hobby. I'm not into, you know, golf, for example. You know, golf. People are sitting there watching people play golf on the. Or watching some guy, you know, give a golf lesson. I'm watching these guys who, you know, their shtick is that they fly and sort of teach you and they take trips and they bring their family. And I'm definitely the audience for that. Which makes me realize that I'm sort of longing to get back into it.

[Ted Danson]

I was always fascinated, knew I would never. I mean, people don't let me. I've never been able to ride a motorcycle because everyone knew, all my friends, that I would just daydream myself into a tree. Bicycles, almost the same, but I loved the idea of flying. So I got on my iPad this. Pretty close to a simulator. Not really, but it was close to flying. And we're going from LA to New York, and I just played the thing the whole time. And the guy behind me got up saying, I have been a nervous fucking wreck watching you crash all the way across the United States over and over again.

[Zach Braff]

It's so fun, you know, you could take a lesson just. Even if you're not going to go into it. Just for the life experience. You'll be flying the plane. You know, the teacher will bring you up nice and high and then he'll give you the yoke. And just to have the experience, it's really a cool thing to experience. It's magical. And then what happens? You know, you'll again things you never experienced on a commercial airplane, but you'll fly up, up through a cloud layer, and then you'll be between cloud layers. So you're surfing just above this cloud layer and you're kind of like sandwiched between these two clouds. And it's just really good. I mean, it's something you'll never forget.

[Ted Danson]

Or dodging the Thunderheads because you have to, but because you can, too. I've learned to say, we can cut this. We don't have to talk about it. Doesn't have to be political, but how's your heart doing nowadays with all the anger, sadness, violence going on in this country? How do you.

[Zach Braff]

I think I feel. Definitely feel the melancholia of the people around me. And both people I know and be like, I feel like there's a melancholia in the air. I think I'm aware of that. I'm a very, very sensitive person. Overly sensitive. So I can feel that sort of resigned. I feel sort of a resigned sadness that's in the air. One of the things that's fun about doing a silly comedy is that not only are you laughing with your friends all day, but you think, okay, maybe this is actually useful. Maybe.

[Ted Danson]

I agree.

[Zach Braff]

Maybe some funny, silly nostalgia could be helpful to people. I think I'd feel differently if I was working. You know, when I make my films, they're often very sad. My last one was. Was quite sad. I don't know that that's Be the right thing to be putting into the ether right now. So I do feel in making the Scrubs revival that there were a few times and people have said this overtly. Gosh, we need. You know, if you look at the comment, we released the trailer the other day, and there's so many lovely comments and support, but. But a theme in the comments was, oh, gosh, we need.

[Ted Danson]

Thank you.

[Zach Braff]

Thank you. We need this. Right? Oh, this was my childhood. Man, I could use a hug. This reminds me. And I. I'm very aware of that. I'm very. I'm aware that that's.

[Ted Danson]

It is 100% a service.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, my God. If there was a Cheers reboot, I would be kveling. I would just be like, oh, thank you, universe.

[Ted Danson]

And here's what it would look like. What, what did he say? A horse walked into a car. What is funny about that?

[Zach Braff]

Yeah, I would be seated. I would be seated, as the kids

[Ted Danson]

say, for The Cheers reboot 10 years from now. Magic wand. Anything you would like to be doing that you're not necessarily doing right now.

[Zach Braff]

I would like to work with more, I like to do more dramatic roles with, with really talented filmmakers. That's not something I get a chance to do a lot. I did it indie. I'm really proud of that. Where that was dramatic.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm gonna interrupt you right now.

[Zach Braff]

It's your podcast.

[Ted Danson]

Bad Monkey. Bad Monkey.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, would you like Bad Monkey?

[Ted Danson]

But you, I mean, I've loved. I love you being funny. I love you being sweet, sensitive. I love you. Everything. That was, that was Zach. Full on Zach, who made this one wrong turn and is now living out this nightmare. Still Zach. But it was amazing work.

[Zach Braff]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Really good.

[Zach Braff]

I gotta tell you, it's a bizarre thing, the bad monkey thing. Again, Bill, my biggest champion, said, hey, I'm going to make this show. Vince Floyd.

[Ted Danson]

Wait, Sorry, that was Bill 2.

[Zach Braff]

That's Bill 2.

[Ted Danson]

Fuck. Give me my name. Just mention my name.

[Zach Braff]

I shouldn't be giving my agents 10%. I should be giving Bill 10%.

[Ted Danson]

No, forget that. Just give him my name. I'll tell him, Float my name.

[Zach Braff]

Listen, that works with him. Flattery works with him. Oh, I will say Ted Danson loves you and you'll be in. Yeah, you know, it's funny. Well, that's a side story. I, I, he said, come down. I love Vince Vaughn. And he said, do you want to come do us small thing on the show? And before I even read it, I said, of course I love you. I love Vince Vaughn. I'm in Miami for a couple weeks. That'll be fun. We'll do it. And then I read it and I was like, oh, my gosh, he's finally giving me a part. No one cast me as, you know, because I'm sure you can relate. You're known as a comic actor. People want you to come be funny. It's not complaining. That's a very blessed place to be. But you don't often get sent the, the dramatic turn. And I did it and it was cool and had a great experience. And the response I had to doing that part from doing two episodes from actors I really respect, including you now, was so wonderful. It really actually inspired me and gave me the confidence to want to pursue more dramatic roles. And in Fact, the indie I went and did in Atlanta for a month was that it was a part I probably wouldn't have had the. The courage to play, but with my peers saying, hey, that was really good on Bad Monkey. It made me go, okay, I'm gonna go for it.

[Ted Danson]

Because like all nice people, there's a dick in there somewhere. There's some dark in you somewhere. And it's fun to utilize that.

[Zach Braff]

Oh, yeah. And it's fun to. I think comedians make wonderful dramatic actors.

[Ted Danson]

Sad, angry people sometimes.

[Zach Braff]

Yes. And it's in there. And it's also very interesting. I remember Albert Brooks being. Was it Drive, where he was the villain? Yeah, that was just like. To me, that was like the ultimate example, was like, Albert Brooks playing, like a mob villain. It was brilliant. It was like. Yeah, that's interesting to me.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, me too. So back to the magic wand. So it's work. Work oriented.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah, I'd love to. I'm not married. I think it would be. I would love to meet my special person and. And be married to somebody.

[Ted Danson]

Do you think. Is that easy for you or the thought, or does it look like, oh, that. Do you have confidence that that's in you?

[Zach Braff]

Yeah, I. My life's pretty great, so it has to. It has to be a good mesh. I mean, I'm very happy with my life. I have a. A rescue pit bull that I'm obsessed with, and I love my work, and I have great friends and. And, you know, I think there's something when you make it to 50 and you've sort of gotten used to your life, and I feel very blessed. I have to find someone that would dovetail with that.

[Ted Danson]

Of course. And I. Sorry, it sounded like, well, there's this hole in you or something. I don't mean that at all. I am the. A little bit, as we've established, kind of the opposite of you in many ways. But one of my ways is I see life. My eyes see life when I'm next to. And, you know, Mary has opened up so many doors for me, and I think relationship is how I grow.

[Zach Braff]

Well, I would love to.

[Ted Danson]

Not everybody does that.

[Zach Braff]

No, I would love to find that. I just. I've had some wonderful romances in my life, and I. I felt so lucky, but I would. I haven't met my. My. My Mary yet. Does she have a sister?

[Ted Danson]

She does. Who's got her guy? Sorry. So that's out. But you do understand that I didn't mean, like, you need to or should.

[Zach Braff]

No, you're asking. I'm Answering honestly, you said, magic wand. Next 10 years. It would be great to, to find my, my person. It would be great to do some more dramatic acting with some filmmakers that I look up to.

[Ted Danson]

How about your moral compass? Where do you get that? Where's your kind of. Who do you. Or what do you check in with? Is it a spirituality? Is it a. I just try and

[Zach Braff]

be kind, I guess. I'm not religious. I think it's just the golden rule of doing to others.

[Ted Danson]

Yes,

[Zach Braff]

I, I think very much what you, you get, you get what you put out, how you be is how people are back to you. Yeah, I'm very, I see that over and over again. And so I think that's, that's. I'm not, I've never been a spiritual or religious person.

[Ted Danson]

I just, I remember when my mother passed away and I was the last two or three days when she wasn't really present anymore, but her body was still going. I had the night shift. My sister who lived next door would come over during the day and I'd sleep and vice versa. And I remember looking at her and going, wow. I had all these philosophical religious teachings or thoughts or, you know, and they all went flying out the window though. And I realize, I don't know, I have no idea. She may be. Knows or is about to. I have no idea. And kind of from that moment on, I realized it's pretty simple. And it was the same thing. Try to be a little better every day. Try to be kind. I do believe in kindness. It's huge. Yeah. Treat people literally. What you just said is almost enough for me to wake up every morning and have that be enough of a guide.

[Zach Braff]

Yeah. And also just be aware of how hard it is for people right now. I'm very aware of every night when I go to bed, as I'm falling asleep, someone taught me this. I focus on two things. What are the good things that happened today and what am I grateful for just in my life? And I'm very aware of how many people are struggling at all levels. You know, LA has the housing crisis and you drive around the city and it's very, very sad how many people are living on the street and on drugs or experiencing mental health crises. And it isn't hard to look around and go, oh my gosh, I'm so grateful for having a roof over my head and, and being able to work and being able to do what I love to do. And you know, a lot of people are in industry, are not working. This town is having a huge Cruise crew crisis.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Zach Braff]

So I'm just feel very, very aware about being kind because people are. Are having a hard time.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Well, we have to end on a.

[Zach Braff]

On a more hilarious note than that.

[Ted Danson]

No, no, no. But I, no, I want to end on how much I respect you and how glad I am that I got to sit down and talk to you and how glad I am that I've binged your work that for some reason.

[Zach Braff]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

I haven't seen for a while. And what you put out into the world is so beautiful and loving and kind and funny and thoughtful that, you

[Zach Braff]

know, I'd like you to check out this movie I made called A Good Person. It's with Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh and Molly Shannon and I will. It has some humor in it, but it's also about grief. But I, I love you to see it.

[Ted Danson]

I will, I will. And I will let you know.

[Zach Braff]

All right, well, now we have to stay in touch and be best friends because. What?

[Ted Danson]

I want to be the corpse.

[Zach Braff]

Listen, if I'm going to be plugging you to Bill Lawrence, we're going to have. You're going to have. Give me your number, Ted Danson.

[Ted Danson]

Thank you.

[Zach Braff]

Then I'm going to watch Cheers and be like, remember in episode three when you.

[Ted Danson]

Well, that was great. Thank you, Zach. Scrubs is back now on ABC and Hulu. That's it for this week. Special thanks to Team Coco. If you've enjoyed this episode, please send it to a loved one. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and maybe give us a great rating and a review on Apple Podcasts if you're in a good 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 your name.

[Zach Braff]

You've been listening to where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson. Sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Leow. Our executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and myself. Sarah Fedorovich is our supervising producer. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grohl. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Genn, Mary Steenbergen and John Osborne. Does your day move faster than you can keep up with new Gatorade Lower sugar? My family and I can stay at

[Ted Danson]

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[Zach Braff]

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[Zach Braff]

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[Zach Braff]

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