Glen Hansard (Re-Release)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes - Glen Hansard (Re-Release)"

Introduction

In this special summer re-release episode of "You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes," host Pete Holmes sits down with acclaimed musician and actor Glen Hansard. Renowned for his roles in the Oscar-winning film Once, Glen shares deep insights into his artistic journey, the essence of live performance, and the intricate dance between personal life and creativity. Recorded several years ago, this heartfelt conversation delves into themes of authenticity, presence, and the human experience, enriched with moving anecdotes and philosophical reflections.

Presence and Authenticity in Performance

The conversation kicks off with a discussion about the importance of eliminating barriers between performers and their audience. Glen emphasizes the value of being "side on" during performances to foster a genuine connection. At [03:34], Glen remarks, "You have to connect. It has to be real." This philosophy underscores his approach to music, where authenticity reigns supreme over scripted performances. Both Glen and Pete agree that the magic of live performances lies in their unpredictability and the raw, unfiltered interaction between artist and audience.

Embracing Failure and the Creative Process

Glen shares his perspective on handling failure in performances, highlighting how mistakes can lead to profound learning experiences. At [05:49], he states, "If you're willing to fail for real, and it's tough, man, because failing is really hard on your ego." This vulnerability is contrasted with the staging of comedy, where improvisation without an audience can limit a comedian's ability to gauge their material's effectiveness. Glen likens this to songwriting, where the process is more introspective and less dependent on immediate external feedback.

Life on Tour and Its Routines

Delving into the life of touring, Glen paints a picture of a "moving monastery," describing the structured yet liberating routine that comes with being constantly on the road. At [19:37], he compares touring to meditating, where "my whole day is about two hours... [I] just process the last night and build up for tonight." This disciplined lifestyle allows him moments of solitude and reflection, essential for his creative process. Pete adds humorously at [18:44], "It's the Zen of the road," highlighting the balance between daily routines and the spontaneity that touring brings.

Connecting with Others: Personal Stories

One of the most poignant segments features Glen recounting his interaction with a homeless man, illustrating the profound connections that can occur when genuine empathy is present. At [41:27], Glen narrates, "He walked in here being himself, and I got to connect with him on my own merits." This story underscores the episode's recurring theme of authentic human connection, free from societal labels and expectations. Pete mirrors this sentiment, sharing his own experiences of connecting with diverse individuals, reinforcing the importance of empathy and openness.

The Nature of Love and Creativity

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around love, both its complexities and its influence on creativity. Glen reflects on his own tumultuous experiences with love, admitting at [80:47], "I feel super unqualified to even touch it. Because it's something I actually know the least about on the planet." This candid admission highlights the interplay between personal pain and artistic expression, a common thread in Glen's music. Pete resonates deeply, relating his own journey of love and personal growth, emphasizing that true artistry often stems from unresolved emotions and personal struggles.

Balancing Personal Life and Artistic Pursuits

Glen and Pete explore the delicate balance between maintaining personal relationships and dedicating oneself to artistic endeavors. Glen shares insights on how touring affects his relationships, describing the "gypsy privilege" of fleeting yet intense connections. At [86:30], he states, "I've got the privilege of posing in brief, intense friendships... but that can lead to trouble." This honesty about the challenges of balancing work and personal life offers listeners a glimpse into the sacrifices artists often make for their craft. Pete echoes this sentiment, discussing his own efforts to reconcile his comedic career with meaningful personal relationships.

Conclusion

As the episode draws to a close, Glen and Pete reflect on their shared experiences and the importance of staying true to oneself amidst the chaos of life and art. Glen's unfinished song about his father serves as a metaphor for the ongoing journey of understanding and acceptance. At [97:25], Glen poignantly notes, "There is no mastery when it comes to love. There's only humility." This humility, paired with a relentless pursuit of authenticity, encapsulates the essence of both their artistic and personal lives.

Notable Quotes

• Glen Hansard [03:34]: "You have to connect. It has to be real."
• Glen Hansard [05:49]: "If you're willing to fail for real, and it's tough, man, because failing is really hard on your ego."
• Glen Hansard [19:37]: "So you just get to do what you want for that."
• Glen Hansard [41:27]: "He walked in here being himself, and I got to connect with him on my own merits."
• Glen Hansard [80:47]: "I feel super unqualified to even touch it. Because it's something I actually know the least about on the planet."
• Glen Hansard [86:30]: "I've got the privilege of posing in brief, intense friendships... but that can lead to trouble."
• Glen Hansard [97:25]: "There is no mastery when it comes to love. There's only humility."

Final Thoughts

This re-release episode is a treasure trove of deep reflections and candid storytelling, offering listeners an intimate look into Glen Hansard's philosophy on life, art, and everything in between. Pete Holmes masterfully guides the conversation, allowing genuine insights to emerge organically. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to their work, this episode provides valuable lessons on authenticity, the creative process, and the enduring quest for meaningful connections.

Transcript

[Pete Holmes]

You made it with. You made it with.

[Glenn Hansard]

You made it with. Oh, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You made it weird. Yes, you made it weird.

[Glenn Hansard]

You made it weird with Pete Holmes.

[Pete Holmes]

What's happening, weirdos? We are doing a Friday re release. We re released and re released. We re released an episode on Wednesday and now we are doing another re release for this summer series of some special re releases. Another favorite episode which is Glenn Hansard. You may know Glenn from the movie Once. You may know him from his wonderful solo work. You may know him from the swell season. You may know him from the frames. This is one of the greatest people and musicians in the world and I absolutely adore him. And this was one of my dream come true guests. He even plays a song in this episode which is incredible. And you're about to hear, obviously. I'm just really, really excited. This is. We recorded this many years ago. So please forgive us for not knowing the goings on of 2025, but enjoy the throwback of my old conversation with my old friend Glenn Hansard. So glad you're here. Just a couple things to plug up top. I have my tour dates. If you go to peteholmes.com, you will see all of them on there. San Jose is this weekend, Houston, followed by Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. boston, New Hampshire, Washington state, St. Louis, Cleveland, Chicago, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City. And as I always say, we're going to be adding New York very, very soon. And if you like the show, try a Pete's Pick. We do ads for things that we actually use and actually love. Katie roll this week's Pete's Picks. This episode, like so many others, is brought to us by our friends at Modern Mammals, the shampoo that absolutely changed my life. I saw an ad for it. I thought it was too good to be true. I tried it and it turns out it is legit. It is shampoo that cleans your hair, but does not make it all fluffy and dry and unruly, which is what literally every shampoo I've ever used has done. What Modern Mammals does is it leaves just enough natural oil in your hair to make it look perfect. I'm not just saying that it's perfect. It doesn't need any product. Your hair just feels like you want it to feel almost like how it feels after a day at the beach, like you've been swimming in the ocean and it just kind of has that hold and it looks right and it's got that full flow. So I absolutely, absolutely love Modern Mammals. You gotta give it a try. Over 40,000 guys have made the swap. And this stuff is legit. I love it. Go to modernmammals.com weird and you can try both forms of modern mammals, the bar and the bottle, for 44 bucks. And that lasts a really, really, really long time. Modern mammals.com weird. Try the bar and the bottle. All right, everybody, we're so glad you're here to re listen and revisit this wonderful enchanted chat with my friend, the incredible Glenn Hansard. Get into it. Hello, Glenn.

[Glenn Hansard]

How's it going?

[Pete Holmes]

Good, man. You've been in a sound booth before. This is the guest here. If you don't mind, you can rewrite it.

[Glenn Hansard]

I'll do it.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't like the.

[Glenn Hansard]

I hear you.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what I mean?

[Glenn Hansard]

Let's be side on.

[Pete Holmes]

I've never used the term side on, but that's exactly right. I think you're one of those guys. I feel like when you do a show, it seems to me like I saw you the other night and you were wonderful. And there's so little between you and the audience. I have to imagine that's kind of nice. You know what I mean?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You wouldn't want a table between you and the audience or a deep pit.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, you're right. The first thing you try to get.

[Pete Holmes]

Rid of is some sort of divide.

[Glenn Hansard]

Is the barrier.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Because literally, there's literally a barrier at a lot of shows. And if you can get rid of that and have. Because I've always been into the, you know, the kind of Leonard Cohen in the. In the 70s. Like all the chicks are sitting around the stage and everybody just kind of hanging out and, you know, candles. Like, you can't light a candle on a stage anymore. You can't.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, fire health and safety have ruined no more. Well, they've ruined rock and roll for sure.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that.

[Glenn Hansard]

They've kind of ruined. Even growing up, you know, nobody plays football anymore. Because I remember when I was a kid playing football and breaking the woman's window. And of course, you know, you're. Of course, you're terrified and you're scared and you're a little bit happy that you did it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and then of course, your mother's called and loads of shit goes down and you're kept in for a week and, you know, and you end up having to pay for the window. But it's part of being part in a community. And nowadays kids don't even play. They don't even go out.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, that's how you met your weird neighbor was you broke her window.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That's how you bonded.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then, like, her name was Mrs. Cod. My mother was like, card, I'll bleed and batter you.

[Pete Holmes]

And then she comes to your wedding and she tells the story or whatever it is.

[Glenn Hansard]

Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Or if we want to be sad at your funeral, she could be like, he broke my window. Really? Well, he had a strong left kick. I'm assuming we're talking about what we would call soccer.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Kicking kick. Just kicking a ball, really.

[Pete Holmes]

Although there's kicking in the American football, I suppose, as well. But. Yeah. So, yeah, no divide. I think there's. You know, as a comedian, I appreciate that as well, that. Do you feel. Is this an obvious question? Sometimes I worry. Do you feel the energy? Because you guys play, you can. You can rehearse without an audience. A comedian can't rehearse without an audience.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what I mean? I was just watching the Elliott Smith documentary, and he was like, I called. Heaven adores you. And he was like, I love writing music and I love recording music. I was like, man, I get that. I love exactly what he's talking about. But he's like, the touring I do to get to keep doing the first two.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what I mean?

[Glenn Hansard]

So that's a difficult part for him.

[Pete Holmes]

Right?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But then there's the part where you go up and you get to kind of like, I have to assume you're getting something from it that you don't get from a sterile carpeted sound booth.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, yeah, because you're entering. Well, you're entering the present. It's in comedy, you must know it. You know, you walk on stage and everything from that moment on is out of your control.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You're, you know, you're in it. And. And when I think about comedians, you know, because I think about what I do and what I. My job is to go upstairs, go up on the stage and access something. To access something in myself. And if I do it correctly, then something begins to stir. Yeah. I don't know if that's the right way of putting it, but you go on stage and you. You play your song and you play it with as much. I won't say, like, you know, won't use words like integrity or authenticity or anything, but like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, but we know when it's fake. Everybody knows when it's fake.

[Glenn Hansard]

You have to connect. It has to be real. And when it's real, then a conversation begins. And that conversation is a silent one, of course. And it's got something to do with. I Know what you mean.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then that. I know what you mean. Turns into me going, oh, great, it's landing.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and it's very different to comedy, I'd imagine, because with comedy, every time you go do a new show, you have to write. Not only do you have to write a new set list, you have to write. Every single word of your set has to be different.

[Pete Holmes]

So for us, you mean when you do a new hours.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Whereas everybody wants you to play.

[Glenn Hansard]

They want you to play an old song. Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Actually, that's been one of the things in my career is I've tried to have bits that people want to hear again because I envy the rock star thing. I'm like, isn't it great that when you played your mind's made up the other night, people were like, oh, it's like that special treat at the end instead of, like, fucking heard it. You know what I mean? Like, heard it.

[Glenn Hansard]

New material.

[Pete Holmes]

When did ones come out?

[Glenn Hansard]

God, eight years ago.

[Pete Holmes]

So it was 2007.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

If someone yelled 2007, like a comedian is in danger of someone yelling 2007. I saw. That's one of the finest heckles I've ever seen. Actually, a guy was on stage, this was in 2001 or 2, and he was talking about Starbucks, how it's like, it's not a small, it's a tall, it's not a medium, it's a grande. And someone yelled 1994. And it was like the most brutal heckle I've ever seen. Because he wasn't even saying, you're. I know you did this bit. Everyone made this observation in 1994, which is, like, so much worse. But you are feeling and connecting that energy, and you feel it coming back to you in some sort of ethereal way, I imagine.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, it becomes a kind of a. Like I say, it becomes a conversation. And the clown is a fascinating character. The idea that you go on stage and you. And you. And you're present.

[Pete Holmes]

Mm.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then something occurs now with a. With. With songs and with music, you know, you're breaking the fourth wall the whole time because you're checking in with people in your. You know, it's not theater. But then for someone like Elliot, I'm sure it probably was, where he had to go into character in order to sustain his own privacy and, you know, and his own connection with his own song. For a lot of performers, it's very, very difficult to engage with an audience. They realize that the audience. They realize that it's part of The. One of the evils of having to do what they do, that an audience is going to be there and the audience is going to want to sort of every so often poke its head in and say, hey. You know. But for a lot of performers, they're so nervous, they just have to. They learn their show, they rehearse it, and they go on stage and they do it. And I definitely come from the. From the other. From the opposite aspect of that is. Whereas sometimes, like, you know, I'm probably at my most comfortable when there isn't a set list and there isn't actually even a band.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

Because if there's. If there's not a band, then I can go any direction.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. You know, I saw that happening at the show. It was really fun to see you not know what to do the encore with and then to figure that out. And you almost, like, just started improvising a song, which I thought was really fun too. You did it just for a moment, but that needed a moment. To me, I'm not saying I wish you had followed it now. Sure, it still was a moment for me. But you, like. You, like, kind of going by, you're trying to do something outside of your brain.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

In your heart.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Not to be too sentimental, but you're trying to operate from your heart.

[Glenn Hansard]

I'm trying to show up as much as they're showing up. And then. And then let's see if we can. If we can. You know, for me, when I was. When I was. When I was a kid and I'd go see a gig, the best moments were when something went wrong.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes, exactly.

[Glenn Hansard]

Because suddenly then everyone was off script.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes. You know, that's all we remember. I talk about this all the time. If you watch the Best of Johnny Carson, all you see are the bloopers.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That's why when I go to a taping now and I see them do a reshoot because something fucked up, I'm like, what are you doing? Like, obviously, I have a personal preference to the things that force you into the moment as well. It's a presence issue for me as well. And when you fuck up and you. It's not about the save line or how graceful or how amazingly you navigated yourself back to the script. It's about just being like, well, here we are. And everybody starts to tingle and buzz that something's happening. Otherwise, we just watch it on our phone.

[Glenn Hansard]

Exactly. Right. That's the.

[Pete Holmes]

Who gives a. Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, That's. That's awful. But you gotta. You gotta be Willing to fail.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And if you're willing to fail for real, and it's tough, man, because failing is really hard on your ego. It's, like, awful. You wanna. You always want to win. You want to go on stage and you want to win. That's your job, you know? But inevitably, you will fail, and there'll be nights when you just. It's just not in you.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then if you're present enough, something really interesting happens and you learn. You're learning as you're in the moment. Yeah. In the moment you're in, you're learning like, I'll never. Because you never unlearn, so you're always there. Even the shittiest nights are teaching you so much about what it is.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, there's this great saint whose name I'm forgetting. I believe she was a Franciscan nun. She said, nobody comes to God but by suffering. And that. And I. Or you could just replace God with truth or beauty or any of these things that I think you're in the business of where you're like, no, this is it. Like, fucking deal with it. Like, it's not that pretty to. But there is something very valuable. The really amazing sets that you have where you knocked it out, I'm sure you didn't necessarily learn. Seinfeld says the bad ones teach you how to edit, and the good ones teach you how to pace. You know what I mean? Isn't that good?

[Glenn Hansard]

And, you know, oftentimes you'll come off stage and you just think, man, I hit it. I got it. You know, just quietly, you're saying to yourself, I did it. Everything about tonight was spot on. And you're just. You're in your mind. You're just like. That felt like I. I pushed myself. I got there.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then you'll meet a friend, you know, who's been at the show, and like, yeah, it was all right.

[Pete Holmes]

That's right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then you have nights where you're like, this isn't connecting. I'm not getting there. I'm digging deeper, not finding it. It's not there. Let me go over here. It's. No, it's not there. And you're throwing the kitchen sink at the gate and you're coming off and you're feeling like you're, like, dirty and you want to have a shower, and you've given it everything. And people are like, that was amazing.

[Pete Holmes]

Right? This is the liberation of. No one notices.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

This is something that. I did a talk show for a small time in Conan, one of the pieces of advice he produced, it, he gave me was, we think we rewrote. We broke the mold, and we think we ate shit. Either way, the same thing happens the next day. Some people liked it, some people didn't like it. Like, there's absolutely no control. And you could find despair in that and be like, so what's the point? I really thought I bled on the stage. Or you can just be like, it doesn't matter. It's a. It's kind of about what you got out of it. Exactly.

[Glenn Hansard]

Right, Exactly. Did you go deep? Because if you didn't go deep, then don't expect anyone else to be. Because people might say to you, you know, if you. If you kind of went on and just sort of plowed, as Bill Hicks said, sort of plowed through the old shit, you know, paste on the fakes.

[Pete Holmes]

I did the album. That's what Mike Birbiglia says. He has a rough crowd or a rowdy crowd. He'll come off stage, he goes, I did the album.

[Glenn Hansard]

I did the album.

[Pete Holmes]

Meaning you just, like, completely opposite of what you were saying, where a comedian's supposed to do something novel. Yeah, no, I'm opening with track one, and I'm closing with track ten, and I'll encore with the bonus track, you know.

[Glenn Hansard]

But no matter how much you try to control that, the life and the present will step in. Yeah, no matter how much you try to control your environment, try to set up the lights to happen just at that time, right? We're gonna go on. We're gonna hit. You're gonna go, two, three, four. We're gonna go in, and it's gonna be track one, track ten, we're out.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

It never goes according to plan, right? And so once you accept chaos as part of any endeavor, you are your gold.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that the job of the artist? To fly the kite into the black hole and kind of pull it back a little bit, to let go of the illusion of control. We all walk around acting like we're not gonna die and we're not gonna be hurt. We're not gonna get sick, and we're not gonna get heartbroke. And the artist, it's not just because he's Irish that it's coming to mind. But this guy named Pete Rollins came on and he quoted this poem that I can't remember that maybe you've heard. But it's about, like, asking the poet for another song, is asking him to, like, bleed again and get broken again. But it's all the mess of It. Including the live performance, which is what we're talking about.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, yeah, it is. You. You. You walk. You know, you walk on stage and you take a deep breath and then you're in. And from there on, you're just being. You're being you, but you're being a kind of a heightened version of you. You kind of enter a different. You know, and your empathy, which I think is everything on a stage, is feeling the situation feeling. And it's not necessarily feeling, do people like me, or am I getting approval? Because that can destroy an artist, never mind a gig. You can destroy your whole. Your whole thing. But just like, am I. It's this moment, you know, am I. This. Feels everything, is this flowing? Are we having a. Is there something happening here? If there's nothing happening here, then if it's. You know. And that's why I go see music. So, I mean, I don't. Like most of the shows I go see because you just see people and they're not. They're just not in it. They're not in it.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like getting fucked by somebody with dead eyes. You know what I mean? Like, married couples that split up, they're like, oh, we had our thing. Like, he started on top of me. I would come, and then. I don't mean to be so crass. We don't know each other that well. And then he'd turn me over and he'd come. You know what I mean? Like. And that's the thing that. That kills us. We know that we.

[Glenn Hansard]

I was very generous of him, at least.

[Pete Holmes]

Or he gave it a go, you know what I mean? He tried to make her come, and then he. And then he. But we hate to see the routine introduced into something that was the expression of passion and novelty and spontaneity. And we keep coming back to this presence at your.

[Glenn Hansard]

When you're having a. When you're having a bad night, you do your gig.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

When you're having a really good night, you don't know what's going on.

[Pete Holmes]

That's right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And you're just. You're out there and you're as surprised as they are.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. You know, and the bad gig, I have to think you'd agree, would be like, kind of like running. I'm not athletic, obviously, but like sprints or something, like running suicides on a basketball court. That's like a bad gig. It's just kind of like the training, going through the motions. It's why you rehearse.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

For a comedian, it would Be like, I have one heckler line or something. Not that that happens that often. Or I know what to do when the mic cuts out or honestly, if they're not listening, that's the biggest problem you run into. But then like the good ones, you're just like, I, I never know how to start. Like the bad shows, I'm looking at my set list and I go, how do I start? How do you begin? And you're a big beginner. I've seen you play many times and the beginning is always very important to you, I think. But like, you realize I have to tell myself it's not about the words. It has. No, it doesn't matter which song or which joke you open with. It matters almost your intention. There's almost something animal going on where dogs can tell. Somebody just told me, like, if you, if you kick a dog with malice, it reacts differently. I don't know how they tested this than if you just trip over your dog. You know what I mean? Same, same impact. So there's something animal going on with them. They're, he's here, he's not us. With dead eyes. He joined us in the mess.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, exactly. You walk among the people. You walk among the people and you, you, you, you, you show up and your own quiet or the organization of your own quiet presence is enough. And after that you, you sing your song.

[Pete Holmes]

It's almost like the song is the vehicle for the real article that you're delivering. Wouldn't you? I mean, like, that's just, that's just the bowl you're pouring. The experience.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, yeah. Otherwise people are just listening to your record at home and they wouldn't need to come see it, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And, and there are, there are people who are probably better on record than they are on stage and there are people who are better on stage than they are on record. And, and you know, and having a live following and nowadays is probably the only real way to, to make, to make a living from, from this, from, from making music is to, is to travel and play gigs. But for a lot of people, touring is just really, really, it's, it's heart wrenching. They just can't do it. And I, and I absolutely empathize with that. For me, you know, the only difficult part of touring is the travel and being away from, you know, your mates and your family. That's the only part that's, that's tough. I love the rest of it. I love doing it. I love playing.

[Pete Holmes]

Was it always that way? Because for me, you Pretend like you like it. You're like, ah, hotels. Like, I really remember being like 23 and being like, ah, I love a hotel. No, I don't. Yeah. Like I miss, I was married at the time. I was like, I miss my wife. Like, I miss my being home. I miss knowing where the crackers are.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But now I go into a hotel and I really do go. Like, everything's clean and nice and oh, look, I wonder what the shower is like. What a mystery new room. I trained myself into loving the road. Yeah. It's almost like at the beginning where you're bad. You tell yourself that maybe you'll be good one day and tell yourself that maybe you like the road. But you do like it.

[Glenn Hansard]

I do like. I mean, it's not that I like the road. I find that I live better on the road. I find that I wake, I sleep more regularly, I eat better. I find that my interactions with myself as in I take real space when I'm on the road. I go, I have my few hours every day where it's just hanging out with me. And it's just. And because. And what happens on the road very quickly, even after a few days, is your whole body, your whole rhythm is about two hours. Your whole day is about two hours.

[Pete Holmes]

You're stealing a thought from my brain. That's the, that's the Zen of the road.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

I go, as long as I'm there at 7:30.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Everything else is just fine.

[Glenn Hansard]

So you can be a mess for the whole rest of the day. You can sleep till two in the afternoon and then you can wander around and look in like antique stores and just kind of goof, you're kind of goofing off. But what you're, what you're doing is you're slowly processing. Last night, you're building up for tonight. You're in, you're in this very. It's like great. It's like that amazing moment when you're hungover, you know, when you're really badly hungover, which I am actually a little bit today. And where I had a great night, a total random walk and met a load of very interesting people. It was a great night.

[Pete Holmes]

And anyway, was it unexpected?

[Glenn Hansard]

Totally unexpected.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you know David o' Doherty? Not just because he's Irish, but I know David, we talked about it. He has a line in his act where he goes, life can be brilliant. Getting drunk unexpectedly is his first example.

[Glenn Hansard]

That's a lovely one.

[Pete Holmes]

Because I hate getting drunk because it's your birthday or because it's St. Patrick's Day or whatever the fuck. Give me a Tuesday at 6 o' clock. You know what I mean? Like, what the fuck? How did we get here? Please keep going with yours. I'm sorry to interrupt.

[Glenn Hansard]

Where was I?

[Pete Holmes]

You were saying that you had a lovely night last night and you're hungover today.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, just that moment in the hangover, you know, where you're. Where we were, you know, talking about this the other night where you realize. Well, first of all, you realize I'm not going to die now. Like, because all day you've just been thinking like, this is it. Never again. You know?

[Pete Holmes]

But that's precious. That's like a death meditation. You taste pain. Yeah. And it wakes you up to the pleasure of normal.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And you're completely out of focus. Your head is wrecked. You've got no fight with the world. Your arms open and you accept everything.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And you're just in this moment of bliss.

[Pete Holmes]

You don't. You don't have the strength. You don't have the will to resist. You realize how much you're resisting, how much of your. Like, the reason I think I'm so tired at the end of the day is because my brain has spent the entire day labeling, comparing, contrasting and resisting formulating opinions. This is what we've learned, I think, in the West. This is what we've learned. Existing is. Is going. And the music would be like, oh, look, it's old stuff. Or, or, you know what I mean, comparing. We think that's an identity.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Hobbit was too long. There I am. You know what I mean? Like, you just talked about spending a couple hours alone. Preposterous. You know, I also also try and do that.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But that's a preposterous notion because people disappear when they're alone if they have to stop. And that's exhausting. And that. And the hangover says, let's take the rational mind and fuck it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Over here. Put it over there.

[Glenn Hansard]

And that's the wonder of being on tour. You kind of enter that space.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Where your whole day is about two hours. So you just get to do what you want for that. Now, of course, your day is slight. Some more organized. You know that there is. You've got to eat.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

So, you know, you're gonna get up and you're gonna eat. You know, you're gonna. You're gonna find coffee. You know, you gotta find a bathroom. You gotta. You're gonna go for a walk. You're gonna, you know, it's like your day becomes incredibly simple. It's a bit like there's a walk in Spain. I did the Camino. It's called the Camino de Santiago.

[Pete Holmes]

The really long one that. Martin Sheen did.

[Glenn Hansard]

That one.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

So I've done that a couple of times. You have? Yeah, in the past.

[Pete Holmes]

Get out of my. That's amazing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Loved it. Because your whole day just becomes getting up at like 6 in the morning and walking. And so everything you've got, you're carrying everything on your back. You. You're. You're completely present with the. With the. With your. All you're thinking about is your feet, your stomach and your bed. That's all you. So your whole brain tunes out and you become only focused on these very, very, very basic concerns. Which is blisters.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and eating and getting to bed.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And so your whole day, it's a fascinating thing. And on tour, it's kind of somewhere similar.

[Pete Holmes]

It's a moving monastery. That's what it sounds like. It's so simple. It's like we get up and we eat our soup. I don't know what monks eat. And then we. We meditate or whatever.

[Glenn Hansard]

I remember years. I remember years ago seeing. Seeing the Pixies play in Ireland and at a festival. I remember. And I got chatting with Charles afterwards and he was talking. He was very interesting. He was very chilled, you know, and he was talking about. He's like, folk singers, you know, it's like folk singers, the most. They're most intense. They're like. They go on stage and they're all like, yeah. And they come off, they're like, where's my soup? You know, and he. And then he says, punk rockers, man. He says, punks go on stage. They. Yeah, they get it all out of their system. And they come off and they put on their sandals and they go eat vegan food and they're chill.

[Pete Holmes]

Absolutely. And there was a vegan band that wrote that song called Lentil Soup Is a Mighty Meal or something. They just had like a really rockin song about lentil soup because they were all vegan. You're absolutely right. It's weirdos like me, and I have to address this in myself that have some sort of unresolved grind, some rough edges.

[Glenn Hansard]

Right.

[Pete Holmes]

That's why I'm meditating. That's why I'm like, reading touchy books or listening to soft music and such. Like, I would be better off. I've met. They haven't done the podcast, but I've met some Punk guys, they're always just like, hello, how's it going? Because he screamed. But if I met James Taylor and he called me a motherfucker, I'd be like, that's about right. That feels right.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And it wouldn't even surprise us. I don't think we know that. If something's this way, there's. There's a shadow to it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, it's like that Altman film, Nashville. That was a great film.

[Pete Holmes]

Which one?

[Glenn Hansard]

Nashville.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, it's called Nashville.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You're like. It was in Nashville.

[Glenn Hansard]

No, no, that Altman film, actually. But they're all, like, super intense, and they go on stage like the.

[Pete Holmes]

So where were we? I keep interrupting because you keep making me think things. That's what the show should be called. But you're hungover. No, filter. The Zen of the tour.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

We were talking about the road.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you've done that tour now the Walk. And now I want to do the Walk more than anything. That sounds amazing.

[Glenn Hansard]

It really is, you know, because getting out of your own head is probably the best thing you can do for any kind of creative, you know, process or. I find. I find I'm. I find people are at their most powerful when they're at their least aware and. And as an artist, you're at your most powerful when you're. When you're just. When you're just doing something. When you're not trying to be smart or trying to connect or be cool or fit into a genre, or when you're. When you're actually just digging in to the truth of what it. Is it. To be alive, then you might just hit on something truly universal.

[Pete Holmes]

You said this. This is so fascinating to me. I. I watched. I rewatched the Swell Season documentary, which I understand is old, but, you know, I wanted to remember who you are and a little bit about what you're about, so. I've already had a good cry this morning.

[Glenn Hansard]

You watched this morning?

[Pete Holmes]

I did, yeah. I didn't get all the way through, but I. It was beautiful. It's lovely film. But you talk about prophetic songs. Right. Getting so. Writing a song about a breakup while you're in a good relationship.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And that's how you end up breaking up.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And then I was like. It really hit. Hit me hard because I was like. I was. I've already alluded I was married. I got married when I was 22, and my wife cheated on me and left. The reason I tell you that it's very common knowledge. Everybody knows that that listens to this is. I had a startling number of jokes for a guy that didn't believe it. Like, couldn't, you know, like, give me 15 guesses what's wrong with my marriage. Number 29 might have been, maybe she's seeing somebody else, you know, I mean, I never saw it coming. Had two or three jokes, some of which I've done on tv. You can find them where the joke was. My wife told me if she ever gets sick and is in the hospital, it's okay if I want to move on and see other people. She meant it to be nice, but now I'm worried. Next time she has the flu. Next time I have the flu, I fucked up my own joke. Next time I have the flu, she'll be like, this is Julio. You know what I mean? Like, that's a joke about infidelity. And then I had this other joke where I'm like, you can't say, how dare you. In small situations. You need to save that one for things like when your wife cheats on you. Like, why was that my example? And then my wife was cheating on me around that time. I didn't know. But when you quiet yourself, I suppose I think there's something subconscious. Your subconscious is coming onto the page in a song, coming into your. What do you think?

[Glenn Hansard]

I think you're absolutely spot on. I think we know. I think we are. Well, empathy, again, I come back to that word because it's a huge part of being a creative.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You actually are tuned into your own life on levels. And you know what's going on. You know what's going on around you, yet you know, your relationships with all your friends, you kind of, you know them on a deep level. And then there's the conscious level and the. And it's. I really. I just. Yeah, I just really believe that you.

[Pete Holmes]

That's. But I think that's. Oh, sorry.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, you just know. I just. No, you go ahead. My brain just stopped. You know, it's.

[Pete Holmes]

Part of what I'm doing is I'm trying to. This is all about empathy. I'm like, is he waiting for me?

[Glenn Hansard]

No, I just walked down a corridor and there was no door.

[Pete Holmes]

That is the feeling. I thought there was something down here. No, no, it's just me. That's what I think is happening in a show. And I really think that's one of the reasons why I say this to a lot of my musical guests. And I'm a big fan, and I don't like a lot of music. I Know, a lot of people say that, and they think it qualifies and means. Makes it mean more. I'm not saying it for those reasons. It's just like, what is it that struck such a chord once people were introduced?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And empathy is the sound. When I hear a violin playing Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, like, I'll just cry, just instantly. And when I hear you sing Leave or something like that, you realize, oh, it's one of those things, you know, that you don't know. You go, oh, there's a screaming man inside of me. And this guy manifested him. There's a screaming. I've gotten glimpse at the toddler inside of me that wants to be picked up, that wants his mommy so badly. I've seen the screaming divorce guy. That's so hurt. But, like, I got divorced, and then I saw once, like, that was. That was your gift to me. And I'm sure you get this sort of stuff all the time, so forgive me, but that was, what a perfect thing. I went and saw it alone in Utah. I was the only one in the theater in Utah. Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You're from.

[Pete Holmes]

I was on the. No, I was on the road.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I just had a good cry because I was like, oh, that's in me. And that's one of those things we don't know. And then these people come along, if it's a painting or a photograph or a song or a performance.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And we go, ah, that's how I feel. I didn't even know it. But you did know it. And then when you see it, it's like coming home a little bit. Wouldn't you agree?

[Glenn Hansard]

I agree. I mean, the music that I loved when I was growing up, it was always. It was always stuff that. That I could. That just, you know, I'm back down that corridor.

[Pete Holmes]

Songs that I have to think stirred you in a way that you didn't even know you were capable of being stirred. Like, punk rock's a better example.

[Glenn Hansard]

Right.

[Pete Holmes]

So here I am. I'm a kid.

[Glenn Hansard]

Help me out here.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. No, man, I know exactly how you feel. I had parents who argued a lot. And the. The Holmes in me, we always go, it wasn't that bad. You know, like, we always have to tell you it could have been worse. And it absolutely could have been worse. And it wasn't that bad, I suppose. But they argued a lot. And then all of a sudden, I found myself listening to really hardcore punk music all the time, because I didn't even Know that that's how I felt.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Until I saw someone else doing it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Then I was like, I bet that feels good to scream. You know what I mean?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Well, I'm in acdc. That was my band when I was a kid.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And Angus was about the closest thing that I had to a God, you know, of course my room was filled with posters of Angus and I used to draw him and I used to, you know, dry CDC in my bag and on the back of my denim jacket and do the Australian flag with Angus, you know. And my confirmation name is Angus.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that right?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And I remember my mother going, we went up to the, to the bishop and you know, when you make your confirmation, you walk up and the bishop says, so what did you choose? And I said, Angus. And he says, that's a very interesting name. Where did that come from? My mother said, it's the guy with the horns on the COVID of highway to Hell. Totally innocently. And the Visha was like, oh, okay, okay, next. But that music, whatever it was about my childhood. That music, that rage, that guy just fucking banging his head up and down.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Flying up and down the stage. And I remember like in my room with the, with the sweeping brush, like looking in the mirror and doing, doing Angus, you know, and so you're right. Whatever emotion was going on in my house or whatever, it's an avatar.

[Pete Holmes]

I was, yeah, yeah, that's the guy that represents me. And I didn't even know it, but I would argue that like we're all heartbroken in a certain extent. Just being alive. There's something about. You could get real New Agey and say if we were in some sort of place of oneness before we were born. Or you could just say when you were in the womb, you knew the feeling of being suspended and having all your needs taken care of and then you came out of it. There's a heartbreak built in to. And there's love built in. You're born and then you, you breastfeed. The Dalai Lama talks about. That's where we learn. Unconditional love is where, like you kind of know in somewhere in your baby brain, oh, I'm being fed by other things other than me. So you learn what that feels like. And then I think you see a lot of 45 year old guys, you know, going for the bowling trophy in their like, accounting league or whatever it is, and they're, they're really fucking pissed off. I think it's because they know what it felt like to be God. You know, they knew what they felt like to be, like, the center of somebody's universe.

[Glenn Hansard]

Wow. I just want to interview you now.

[Pete Holmes]

No, I'm only trying to put quarters in your jukebox. But that's. That's like. Like, so even I was. I was cuckolded. And that's why your music meant so much to me. And I'm including the frames, and I'm including all of it. Swell season. Your solo work is all wonderful.

[Glenn Hansard]

Thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

But it's not because of. Necessary. The lyrics or something.

[Glenn Hansard]

It's not because I'm like, yeah, no.

[Pete Holmes]

I busked in Ireland or whatever you're singing about.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, no, you're right. There is. It's. It's. It is. It's a mo. It's an emotion, and it's. It's. It's a position of. I will be. I am lost.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I'm all right with that. Right? I mean, I'm not all right. It's terrifying.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

But I am either way, whether I'm okay with it or not. And in the work that you make, you are. It's okay to be lost. It's okay to be upset and to be in this, you know? And for me, the songs are. They keep me sane. I mean, I don't know what kind of human being I would be if I didn't have.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that funny, that outlet.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And. And. And the. And the greatest irony is that people pay in to see me deal with that shit.

[Pete Holmes]

It's mutually beneficial.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and it's. It's a. It's a powerful thing. And when I see it in other people and I go see a musician, I sort of see them figuring shit out, and I'm just like. I'm so captive. I mean, I remember seeing Will Oldham, and I just went along to the gig. I can't even remember why or what the circumstances was, but I remember just being so captivated by his version of working shit out, his songs, whatever. That. Whatever way he was presenting. And then I realized pretty quickly, after becoming quite obsessed with him, really quickly, that he's. He was acting. Now. He was also being true. But there was a huge amount of acting going on on the stage and manipulating.

[Pete Holmes]

Acting like he had just thought of something or.

[Glenn Hansard]

No, just, like pure, like being on stage and actually acting the song or acting being an act. Like, almost like. Like, tonight I'm gonna sing this song as Puck. Tonight I'm gonna sing the song, you know, as a Southern racist. Tonight I'm gonna Sing. And so you'd see him come on stage and sing the song with all these different energies. And I was like, that's amazing. Yeah, it really knocked me out. And again, it made me realize what I'm really interested in in music. Like, why am I such a Bowie fan? Why am I such a huge Bowie fan? And actually, why am I such a huge Bowie fan who doesn't know Bowie's records that well? It's because I'm a huge fan of whatever the hell is going on.

[Pete Holmes]

What is that? Yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

In his energy, just something going. There's something very ethereal, of course, and very androgynous and quite almost in the fairy realm about Bowie. Yeah, he doesn't quite. And so the man who Fell to Earth was a perfect film for him to be part of because he just doesn't quite fit anything. Bowie is connected to some other dimension.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And so that's so attractive.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And that's the thing that I'm drawn to in music and I'm drawn to in art is the ones who are just pushing out at an edge of something. And it's just a little perverse. It's just a little. I don't get it.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

It's. It's just. I need to really look. I'm never gonna understand it, right. I just need. I really just want to look at it.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, it's Captain. I can't. I can't take my eyes away from it. And for me, Will has that. You know, it's a. It's a kind of a. It's a strange androgyny of person that I find utterly captivating. And Bowie has it in spades.

[Pete Holmes]

I think that that's something I've said before, but you made me think of it is the idea that, like, so many comedians that I talk to, young comedians, are trying to emulate someone else's process.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That's often a big part of this, is it would be fun to talk about your process. But the funny thing that we always end up on is that, like, you need to love your own process. Like, you need to be the one that goes like, well, it turns out that I write jokes like this. Certainly you get there by mimicking. You know what I mean? So you were probably trying to find vaping and.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And then eventually you. I think there comes this absurd. Certainly what we do is vulnerable. But then also there's this arrogance that fuels. Where you go like, no, this is how I do it. You talked about writing a song, a Song showing up at baggage claim in New Zealand.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what I mean? So that to me, when I hear that as I go, this guy gets that. Writing is all the time.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I've said this many times. A nap is writing. Eating spaghetti is writing. Watching a movie is writing. Listening to a record. Or as you said, being alone for two hours is motherfucking writing. The idea of staring at a piece of paper, that. That looks like if the Pictionary clue, you know. Pictionary.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Sorry. I don't want to condescend, but I also don't want to lose you.

[Glenn Hansard]

No, no.

[Pete Holmes]

If the Pictionary clue was. Was a writer, you'd draw a guy with a piece of paper and he's literally writing. But really a more accurate drawing would be a guy taking a shit or something, you know?

[Glenn Hansard]

Sure.

[Pete Holmes]

Or taking a bath.

[Glenn Hansard]

John Lennon talks about that, doesn't he, in that documentary?

[Pete Holmes]

Does he? Writing on the toilet.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Some guy shows up at his house and he talks about writing. I think it was. What was it? Imagine? No, no, it was some very famous Beatles song. I can't remember.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

But John just dismisses it.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. We had. Noel Gallagher did the show and he talks about writing. Don't. Don't Turn Back in Anger. Coming home drunk and writing it down and putting it in a drawer and not. Not looking at it for three years. I'm. You know, I'm paraphrasing. I don't remember the details, but you seem to be. You talked about. If I can get you to talk about again, the idea that you're trying to lure something natural indoors. That's what. That's what you said.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Songs are like, you know, I guess it was an answer to a question, which was something like. You spent. You did many sessions on this record. Why did you. Why did you. Why did it take so many sessions to get this record finished? And I was trying to explain that. That when you walk into a studio, I generally speak and walk in unprepared. I don't. I don't sit at home and do my homework and then show up at the studio to record what my homework. I get a song to a place where it's about half or three quarter, maybe, actually maybe even only a third. It's a bit of a verse and a couple of chords and then maybe there's a kind of a chorus. And that's the best time to bring into the studio because it's still wondrous. It still has this. It still is moving, actually.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

It still has tentacles, and it's still like, I don't know what I am yet. And it's a peach.

[Pete Holmes]

It's not a dried peach.

[Glenn Hansard]

Exactly. Yeah. The butterfly doesn't have the pin through it yet. You're about to put the pin through it in the studio, but it's still kind of.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and that's how it gets.

[Pete Holmes]

Away from some people. Like, they're like, well, that's why next time I'll come with pinned butterflies.

[Glenn Hansard]

Exactly. And so you consciously. You don't tell the band what they're doing. You don't. You really. I mean, I heard about this when I was a kid. I heard about Van Morrison going in or Dylan going in and saying. And not telling the band the chords and not. And then just playing the song and sort of going, yeah, that's the take. And the band like. But we're just. We're just learning it. And like, no, that's the take.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And that takes incredible courage. But actually, I've realized now that. That that's actually the way to do it, right, Is get great musicians who just know how to play and know how to feel, and then don't give them the song till record has been pressed.

[Pete Holmes]

Because you're trying. It's like a seance. Wouldn't you say you're trying to do. I keep pushing the spiritual thing. That's just. That's how. That's how I think. But just look at it as a metaphor. It's like a seance in that you're trying to. You're trying to. Again, I go to sex, but it's like, you could talk about blood going to your penis and what an erection is and what a vagina is and all the stuff, but, like, making love is just this other thing. And, like, you could write a song and really give everybody their parts. And certainly there have been genius musician Brian Wilson of mine that work that way.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But then I think there are guys like you and me and a lot of comedians.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That just go up and they're like. They write from stage. We get to do that even more. So imagine I have to think that that freedom is appealing to you to be like, I think I have an opinion.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You kind of go up and you do that in your. In your. I think you're very funny and entertaining in between, obviously. And that as. Maybe it takes one to know. And I'm like, that's not scripted. You know what I mean? Like when you told the story about taking the homeless guy to Lunch. I'm like, glenn knows.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You open with a bit that doesn't necessarily flourish.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

To prove to them that you're not here to sell the McDonald's.

[Glenn Hansard]

Right, right.

[Pete Holmes]

You're like, that's how that one ends.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And there wasn't really an end to that story. And I was actually up there going, why am I telling this story? Am I trying to make myself look like a good guy here? Fuck this. You know? Do you know what I mean? And then I suddenly panicked, and I was like, okay, this story's over. Because there wasn't really an end to it.

[Pete Holmes]

No, I love the story.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I sort of hated breaking his confidence because he was a genuinely kind of, you know, crazy dude.

[Pete Holmes]

I've had. Well, tell us. If you don't mind telling the story, then we can talk about it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, I went down to. Is it. Is it called Pete's Coffee?

[Pete Holmes]

Pete's Coffee, Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

There's a Pete's Coffee down. Down in Santa Monica, down near the.

[Pete Holmes]

On stage. You said Coffee Bean.

[Glenn Hansard]

Coffee Bean. That's where.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that weird that I remember that?

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, it was Pete's or Coffee Bean. It was one of them.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, no, being a Pete, I would remember if you said the cups do.

[Glenn Hansard]

Look exactly like this. But we went in and I sat down and had a cup of tea, and I was. I was just sitting there. I was reading this book, Michel de Montaigne on Solitude. He's a guy who wrote in the 1500s and amazing writer. And. And I was reading this book and really enjoying it and just again, having a really spacey morning where I was rambling off on my own. And I'd been writing a bit in my journal and reading this book, and the book is just full of. So I was just underlining amazing quotes all the way. All the. All the time.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And there was this guy next to me. He was kind of mumbling and, you know, he was kind of going through his bags and, you know, and I could. I couldn't figure out if he was. He was definitely homeless. He was definitely homeless. But I. But he. But he looked. Well, right. Actually, he didn't look.

[Pete Holmes]

When you told the story at night, you just said he had a lot of bags.

[Glenn Hansard]

He had a lot of bags. Yeah. He looked a bit like Neil Young. So imagine, you know, like, it looked a bit like Neil Young does every day, except he had a load of bags.

[Pete Holmes]

If he doesn't have a guitar, that's a crazy person. If he's with the band, it's okay. Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

But we got chatting, and it was very nice. I actually had bought a pack of digestives like macvitty's. And it was like, it's an English store. There's a store right beside it that sells tea bags. And, you know, and I bought. I bought some tea bags, and I bought these biscuits. And I thought, I don't want these biscuits. They're actually too heavy, and I've got to carry them all over the country. So I said to the guy, do you want some biscuits? And then we got chatting.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And he started telling me about tour. He said, me and my wife drove all over England looking at castles, and she was looking at cathedrals. And I kind of thought to myself, okay, this guy's, you know, some kind of academic and, you know, kind of interesting character.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then, you know, we chatted way about that for a while, and he says, no, my wife. I haven't. You know, we split up, and I moved from Texas out here. And I thought to myself, okay, you know, but I was still kind of going out here for what reason? And he was like, it's just warmer, you know. And I was like, okay, cool. And so we chatted away for a minute. He said, thanks a lot for the biscuits. They remind me of my trip, Whatever. I left the place. And I thought to myself, right, I'm gonna go get some food. Where'll I go? You know? And then I thought, you know what? I've had a really good morning. I've had a really good chat with him. I'll go back in and ask him, does he want to join me?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then I became a little conscious of coming off as kind of a gay guy on his own, you know, trying to pick up this older. And I said, cruising. Yeah. And I said, dude, you want. Like, I'm gonna go for lunch. Do you feel like joining me? And he was like, well, I'm in the middle of reading. I was like, yeah, cool. I just, you know, just sort of taught you my. Oh, okay. Well, yeah, okay. Come on. So he got up and he joined me. And up to that, he seemed really normal.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then.

[Pete Holmes]

And then I just want to interject, by the way, that's what you would do. I'm always pressed with what you would do in a dream, like, if you realize you were dreaming.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you'd go, like, of course I asked that guy to lunch. Like, you. You. You own the moment. And you're like, why wouldn't I do the most interesting or not just to be interested.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like avant garde.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But, like, of course he has him. But so many times at that crossroads, I think 99% of humanity go, imagine if I have no right. It's too embarrassing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But really, what are you. You're going to have an embarrassing moment that you'll forget.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But so anyway.

[Glenn Hansard]

Good. Yeah. I was just like. I mean, come on, let's go hang out. You know, I. I can afford to take you for lunch. Let's go and eat something.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And so he came along with me and we sort of. We sort of talked for a minute about here or there. And then I just had the funny idea. I'd been brought to this place, the Ivy, by Bobby Shriver, a guy I've met out here. Lovely man, a few years ago. I said, let's go there. So we went down. And what was great was I kind of knew that this was gonna be a kind of a weird scene. Arriving at that door with this guy holding all these bags, you know, in one of the bags of the big American flag. But on the way, he started talking about when I picked up this bag with the American flag on it. I start getting contacted by the CIA. And I kind of thought to myself, okay, sounds a bit weird, but that's. You know. And then. And it just got weirder. And when we sat down for lunch and we got to the door, I said, table for two, please. And I could see the girl looked at us, and she looked at him. She looked at me and she says, okay. And we went in and they seated us, and he gave us menus. And I was just like, what? And he was like, what do you think? He said, man, I only eat McDonald's and Subway. This is really exciting. And I said, well, get what you want, man. You know, we're gonna have lunch.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

He's like, oh, my God. And I said. And he says, well, what could I. You know, I'd love some spaghetti. And I was like, I'm sure they've got spaghetti. And they had linguine and clams or something like that. And so he said, do you think I could get that? I was like, yeah, man. Come on. And so I ordered a bunch of starters. I knew he was being very nervous about. He didn't want to overstep his.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

His welcome. And we just ended up having a great chat. But then, of course, the chat descended into, you know, I was talking to the seagulls this morning and they were telling me, you know, that their language is so different to the crows and the. You know, and that there's a crow that visits me every day. And, you know, he started talking about some psychic. He had all these terms, which I actually don't remember, about what he. What. What his. You know, he said he could read into my mind. He says, no, he says, I actually read into your mind the moment you walked in, and you're okay.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And then he start going on about Obama owing him $7 million, and Obama owes him this money because Obama's vetting him for this job as an ambassador.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Did this take the wind out of your sails, or was it heartbreaking?

[Glenn Hansard]

I was actually loving it because I was like, this is proper. This is actually what I live for. This is a real connection, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Because he wasn't elsewhere.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

He was really being him.

[Glenn Hansard]

And you know what? He wasn't interested in me.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I love that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

He was just talking about himself, and I wasn't. But he wasn't talking about himself to the point where he was annoying.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

He was just talking about life. And, you know, he was. He was kind of making regular observations through this filter of complete insanity.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

But he wasn't insane. He just had a bunch of very skewed, you know, other stuff going on in his brain, you know, But a very normal guy, you could tell, you know, he was practical, and he knew where he was sleeping. And, you know, he had a regular day today.

[Pete Holmes]

It's funny, because you're challenging me because there's a guy in my neighborhood named Bob, and there's a lot of homeless people in my neighborhood. And I went out and talked to Bob one day. I talked to Bob somewhat regularly, but I went out to talk to Bob. I was bored. Yeah, I'm gonna talk to Bob. And I started talking to Bob. And Bob. It's weird, because he really looks like everyone else in the neighborhood, just a tad dirtier, you know, like. And he's always outdoors, so these are the clues. And you're like, hey, Bob. And you start talking to him, and I bought him some cigarettes, and there's something very communal. I don't smoke, but I'll smoke a cigarette with a. With a homeless guy. I love it. I don't know why. I think there's something really lovely about doing the same thing in that moment, and we enjoyed that. And I realized that. Why was it heartbreaking when he started telling me that he talked to the trees, and he started telling me, you can trust this tree, but don't. Don't trust that. And like, you. I'm really learning something. I'm like, you just were like, I'm gonna love it for what it is. And I was like, you're crazy. I wanted you to be my. My buddy. Like, it was all about me. I was like, I have this fantasy that I'm like, we'll be pals and, like. And I'll rehabilitate, like, My Fair Lady. Like, it'll be great. That's all about me and making myself feel better. And you actually. It sounds like, achieved just being with a guy and not labeling. I have a very.

[Glenn Hansard]

One. This guy was in his 70s. You know, I'm 45. This guy's lived.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

This guy's lived a long life. He's got a lot to teach me. And I was just sitting there with this guy and just his presence, which was very calm, by the way. This guy wasn't in any way paranoid or, you know, he was talking about his hip giving him some trouble. But then he started talking about my eggs. My legs grow 2 inches every year. You know, so he was definitely. There was. There was a little bit of delusion along with, you know, a hip complaint.

[Pete Holmes]

You know, a completely legitimate hip complaint.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. But it just. He. But he. It was almost like he is. He has lived with his own thoughts for. And maybe he hasn't been sharing them, that his own thoughts have. He's begun to believe these extra thoughts that have kind of come in.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and so. But I really. I really. For me being out here, to be honest, I'm on a press trip, so I'm out here talking about myself and talking about my record and talking about the process of songwriting. So actually, it was really refreshing, Right. To sit with a guy.

[Pete Holmes]

It was a break.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And listen to. Listen to. Listen to the actual language of crows and what that means to him. And in all honesty, Pete, keeping one eye on the fact that he might be right. You know, that he might actually talk to crows. And he might actually talk.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what, man? When you told the story, this just might be a type of person. I was like, you talked more about the seagulls. He was like, they seagulls were talking, and they couldn't stop talking about how crazy it was that I could understand them.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. They were laughing to each other.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And I told one of them to go pick up a bag, and he did. And I'm just. For better or worse, the kind of guy that goes like, maybe. You know what I mean? Like, I can't. I don't ever want to take everything for granted. Up until this point in history, we've never had a documented, reproduced clinical study of talking to seagulls. But I'm like, maybe this is the guy that figured out the frequency and that, that's. That's the fantasy of talking to Obab.

[Glenn Hansard]

Absolutely.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

It really is. And you know, there is a. You know what? The one thing that man had in spades was wonder.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

He still had wonder. And they're the people I want to hang out with. There are so many people, and I don't mean to sound cynical, but there are so many people you'll go and do interviews with or you'll go and talk. And they're actually, you realize pretty quickly they're not interested in music. They're not actually interested in art.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

They've got a job and they're doing their job and no harm to them. But I'm not interested in them. They don't stimulate me.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, it's not that I'm trying to avoid them. They're part of the world we live in.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

But I. But if I had a choice, put me with the. Put me with the guy who, who still really believes in stuff.

[Pete Holmes]

Who's childlike.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Not childish.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

The guy. It reminds me of a quote there. He says, people are always worried with what they're gonna do. He was like, you should do what makes you come alive, because the world needs people that are come alive, that have come alive. And that's, that's. That goes back to Bowie, is you're just like, we know it when we feel it. The current is either going through these. And I've done those radio interviews as well, where they're looking at my Google. And I'm sure for you it's an Academy Award winning song. And. And once for me, it's being the E Trade, baby. You know what I mean? Like, people. That's just a commercial. People just being like, top thing. Yeah. And then you're just like, oh, God. But I'd love to hear what you think about saying yes to the moment, about realizing the wonder that we're surrounded by. Realizing the novelty that we're surrounded by when we. When we live in a world where I think everybody is without them even knowing it. Discouraging what I would call basic wonder. Wonder that when you look at the sky and you remember you're on a planet, wonder that there's guys like the guy you had lunch with. We just want safety, we want food, we want a reliable TV show. We Want some sex and sleep? But you're trying to, it seems to me like you're trying to find some juice.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. I mean, in your day. Yeah. In your day to day life, you're looking to connect with people who are real.

[Pete Holmes]

But does that exhaust people or scare people? Does it exhaust you or you seem to be okay in your wonder tank?

[Glenn Hansard]

I'm all right, you know, I've got good friends. I've been very lucky. I've surrounded myself and my life with people who are, who, who are willing to have a conversation. You know, I don't. Yeah, I, I, you know, I realized recently that I don't have a normal life. As in normal, whatever that means. I mean, as in my life is somewhat gypsy. I do have the. What, what is that? What was the. I have gypsy privilege, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

I get to travel and I get to, I get to be in different situations. My friendships with people aren't so connected or ever really that deep. I can unplug at any moment now. There's a lot of, There's a lot of wonder and really good in that, in that I get to just kind of move around and have really nice, brief, intense friendships with people for a few hours. And then I just get to say, hey, I'm gonna get on the bus and I'm out.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and that's wonderful. It's also a little lonely because you end up having wondrous connections with people. And then, and then, of course, people then think that you're their best friend and, and that, you know, and then that can lead to trouble because sometimes in all innocence and in all sincerity, you give someone your number and you say, yeah, man, of course, call me. And then you realize that you're dealing, you're dealing with someone who you spoke to three nights ago in a town that you've already forgotten. And they're contacting you going, man, you know, and they're tell, they're telling you about something that happened in their day and you're like, I really don't have time.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and that's, that's the down, that's the downside of it.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And because that's the, that's the downside of leaving yourself open.

[Pete Holmes]

And the gypsy privilege allows you to have lunch with this guy. If he lived in your neighborhood, maybe this. Just spitballing, maybe he'd expect you to take him to the Ivy again. It doesn't sound like he was that kind of guy.

[Glenn Hansard]

Ironically, I did go looking for him last night. I went Back to the coffee shop. And I thought to myself, if he's there, I'm taking him for sushi.

[Pete Holmes]

Ah, that's great.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And he wasn't there, so I, and, and I ended up going for sushi on my own and ended up getting blind drunk with an Italian hairdress.

[Pete Holmes]

How did you meet that person?

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, we just, we sat at a bar and this guy was at the sushi bar. At the sushi bar. Yeah. And, and I got talking because, you know, I, I take my journal everywhere I have a journal.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I take it and I open it wherever I'm sitting and I write in it. Now what I'm writing in it is, is to, is talking myself off the ledge. It isn't poetry or song lyrics. Sometimes it is, but oftentimes it's like, you're okay. It's gonna be okay. You're get through this day. You know, it's like, it's, it's, you're encouraging yourself sometimes. Other times it's just like, you know. Walked through Santa Monica this evening. Saw some real freaks. You know, I might be just writing down it's diary.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

So sometimes your diary is you talking yourself off the ledge. Sometimes your diary is just talking and, you know, rambling. So my diary is full of words, you know, and I write quite small, so it's, it's quite, it's a bit like you're thinking. So it's, yeah, the writing's quite small. So there's pages and pages of just like nonsense to anyone else who reads it, but to me, gold, that's the.

[Pete Holmes]

Best way to protect your diary is to make it very dull. Santa Monica. I'm not reading this.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. It's just stuff. It's not actually, it's just thoughts. And I, I find it that it keeps a certain aspect of my, of my channel open. Yeah, the more I write, the more that channel stays alert.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

So, so I'm writing a view and then the bar girl in the sushi place. It was very beautiful. But I, I, I'm just not, I've just never been the guy who kind of goes in and just tries to hit on a bird. I just not, I, I always, I, I always like to try to sort of take that position of like, I let me be the only guy that she's met today that isn't doing that, you know, and just kind of isn't.

[Pete Holmes]

That in its own way? This is my therapist talking. Isn't that in its own way your way of hitting Absolutely.

[Glenn Hansard]

It totally is. I'm trying to be different. I'm trying to be the one guy who's kind of cool.

[Pete Holmes]

That was something that I was like. I would never just go up to a woman and say, like, I like your pants or whatever on the floor. But that's our way of. That's what we have to offer.

[Glenn Hansard]

You're absolutely right.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. But no, I'm not trying to call you out. I'm trying to title.

[Glenn Hansard]

No, you have called me out. And you're absolutely right.

[Pete Holmes]

For fun, I called you out. So you're not hitting on her.

[Glenn Hansard]

So I'm sitting there and I'm writing in my journal. And then you took out your Oscar.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, wow. Oh, that's good.

[Pete Holmes]

Sorry. We opened the ball breaking door. Now it's after.

[Glenn Hansard]

I like it.

[Pete Holmes]

All right, so you weren't. And you're sitting and writing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, just writing Oscar over and over in my journal. And in bigger and bigger, you start humming Falling Slowly. Did you.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you know that song? Oh, that's a good song. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. I love that. I love that.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, my gosh. Where did you first hear it?

[Pete Holmes]

What fun. So then what. Then what really happened?

[Glenn Hansard]

But anyway, this guy next to me, he was there working, but there was a guy who was drunk and he was really hitting on this girl really badly, like, really intensely. And he kept on talking about the size of his penis. And he was like, I've definitely got above average. Like, I'm definitely. I'm definitely proud of my.

[Pete Holmes]

What time was this?

[Glenn Hansard]

This was like at 9:30.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, boy.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, it wasn't late.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And his, His. What was particularly rough about him was the. The frequency of his voice. You could hear it all. He was talking at a normal level.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

But you could hear him all over the bar.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

He didn't have that kind of, you know, whatever that voice is that just went. And so I end up connecting with the bar girl who's saying, oh, my God, he's been here since 6:00. You know, and she's looking at me going, a lot of Jesus. Yeah. And then the guy next to me is like, I come in here to work. You obviously did too, looking at your journal. I was like, yeah, I was doing a little work. And he's like, man, I don't know if I can do. I don't know. And I couldn't. I actually. I stopped writing because I literally couldn't get the guy. He couldn't tune him out.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, he was the Loudest. He was right. Right beside us in the loudest. Yeah. And he was hitting on the bar girl the whole night, too, as long as. As well as the girl he was with. And he kept telling the girl he was with what he was about to do to her when he got her home. And we're listening, listening to the whole conversation.

[Pete Holmes]

He's hitting on the bar girl. Yeah, with a girl.

[Glenn Hansard]

This guy's. He's just. His. His. His sexual energy is all over the room.

[Pete Holmes]

Wow. He's just pollinating.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, he's just, like, octopusing the whole situation, seeing what would work. And then. And then myself and the. The Italian lad start chatting. And. And for some reason, he just opened. I mean, and this happens to me. He just opened up about his wife and his divorce, and next thing we're chatting away about his breakup. And. And. And of course, I just immediately turn into that guy who's, like, listening because I'm like, this guy needs someone to, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

He tells me he lives upstairs. And. And I was like, wow, what's it like? And he says, well, I'm from New York and been living out here for a bunch of years, and I don't wanna. You know, I don't wanna talk about the guy's business.

[Pete Holmes]

Sure, sure.

[Glenn Hansard]

This is not the place for it. But we ended up having a really good connection, you know. And then I bought him a drink, and he bought me a drink, and then the bar girl bought us a drink, and then she started reading some of her lyrics. She wrote these lyrics? Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

At any point, I don't mean to ruin the story or contaminate it, but were they like, hey, you're Glen Hansard?

[Glenn Hansard]

Not at all.

[Pete Holmes]

It wasn't that.

[Glenn Hansard]

Not at all.

[Pete Holmes]

That's it. I wanna read you some lyrics.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you were like.

[Glenn Hansard]

She saw me writing in the journal. And she was like, well, you're obviously someone who writes. And I was like, she's, what? What are you writing? I said, well, mostly just.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And she was like, oh, oh, okay. And because I write. And I was like, okay, what do you write? All right, songs. I was like, great read as a song.

[Pete Holmes]

Get out.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, absolutely. And so she rang these lyrics.

[Pete Holmes]

I have to say, you're like, that perfect level of fame. You have to like that level of fame. Right. Like Bono. This isn't happening.

[Glenn Hansard]

Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, no, it's not. Of course not.

[Pete Holmes]

They're going to go like, would you look at my songs? Like, you're, you know, undercover. Like, they don't know you're a musician at this point?

[Glenn Hansard]

Not at all.

[Pete Holmes]

Which is great.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I absolutely loved it.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. That's what. Then again, the guy did say to me, like, what are you doing here? Well, I'm a musician.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And what are you doing in town? Well, I've, you know, I'm in town doing some interviews.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

So the guy was like, oh, okay. And it never. And what I liked about the evening was he never said, who are you?

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, should I look you up? He was just like, cool. What do you do? I'm a hairdresser.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And how's that? He says, well, it's actually really interesting. It's a really interesting job. And we don't. And I, of course, always, you know, I do that reverse taxi driver thing where I start asking him about his job because I don't want to answer. I don't want to talk about my job. You know, you can't talk about music. You just gotta experience it, you know? And I've, you know, I've kind of gotten to the place where I take. I don't take myself so seriously in that I don't need to prove anything to. Especially not to a strange person.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know?

[Pete Holmes]

How long did that take? God, I. I've just started the laying down of arms, the insisting.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, yeah, listen to me.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm legitimate. I'm talking about deep down, like.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

The coward inside of me.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Wants to scream at my dad. I was on VH1, you know what I mean? Like, I can't stop. You know what I mean? But that's a. I'm not. I don't want to interrupt, but that's that moment in the film where you're talking with your dad and you have the Oscar and stuff. It's like.

[Glenn Hansard]

Sure.

[Pete Holmes]

It never really stopped. Like, it never. It's.

[Glenn Hansard]

It doesn't stop. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Nothing gets through.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

To anybody. It goes back to what we said about music. You need to feel it yourself. Can you feel legitimate? Can you?

[Glenn Hansard]

Those nights. Those nights are really important. It's really important to go out and have a night where you bump into someone and you meet them and you talk to them and you make a connection. Me and that guy ended up back in his flat at 5 o' clock this morning.

[Pete Holmes]

No way.

[Glenn Hansard]

Eating, like, marijuana, chocolate or. He had some, you know, we had an amazing night, me and him. We ended up going to some strange cabaret. We went, and there's all these naked dancing girls and this black guy singing. He was amazing. It's strange he was wearing a top hat and singing these really strange songs, and we were kind of in the middle of the show. Well, it was all happening around us last night. Last night?

[Pete Holmes]

This morning.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, it was this morning. Yeah. Yeah. But they kept us back in the bar, and we ended up hanging out with the guy and all the dancers and, you know, and I'm just like, this is great. I'm really in the moment. You know, I'm just. I'm following this truth. But at some point, you know, one of the guys was singing in the bar, said, are you? Glenn answered. And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah. You know, at that point, I'm quite mashed, you know, And. And then he says to the guy that's with me, oh, wow. You know, he's. Don't you know that he's. Blah, blah, blah, you know, and then the guys. The guy next to me, fair play to him, the Italian's, like, yeah, cool. I loved the fact that he did. It didn't matter to him.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, because he's just not really interested in music. And I was like, cha ching. I met someone who I don't have to in any way, you know, disappoint.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. That's right. You're not gonna break his heart.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

We're just having a good hang.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And. And we ended up having this really very, just wonderful night. And then I got lost. I tried to find the hotel. I was drunk, and I knew my hotel was like four or five blocks in one direction, but I went the wrong direction. Ended up walking for an extra couple of hours this morning and eventually found the hotel, and I. And when I got there, I was like, you know what, Glenn? You just had a night with yourself and you hung out and. And I remember hearing a story years ago about. About Bob Dylan arriving. We did some gigs with Bob years ago, and I remember on one of the tours, there was a he. Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics is a. Is a. Is a pal of Bob's. And Bob decided, and it was quite common for him to. To take a bicycle and head off, you know, out of the venue and just go. Go wandering. He read stories of it. You know, there was a story a couple of years ago about him going to Bruce Springsteen's old house and the police busting him. Did you hear about this?

[Pete Holmes]

No.

[Glenn Hansard]

Some woman cop busted Bob Dylan because he was in the garden of Bruce Springsteen's old house and. And ended up bringing to the cop station. And he had a gig that night, and the tour Manager had to come and, you know, and she was like, do you have a rd? And he's like, no. She says, who are you? I'm Bob Dylan. And, you know, they ended up busting him. Oh, my God. But this was another one of those nights where he went off wandering in true London and nobody had a guitar.

[Pete Holmes]

If they didn't have an id, they could give him a guitar, you know, a mandolin.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Prove it.

[Pete Holmes]

A piano. Nobody had an app on their phone that was a little keyboard.

[Glenn Hansard]

But, yeah, don't think twice.

[Pete Holmes]

It's all right. Yeah, yeah, he's good.

[Glenn Hansard]

But I just love the fact that this woman, whatever, this woman, this cop, was of a generation that didn't really know, who didn't really care.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And. And. And so there was a night where he went in London. He went to Dave Stewart's address, knocked on the door, said, woman, answer to this Dave here? No, he's at work, but he'll be back in half an hour. And Dylan ended up hanging out with this woman and this guy Dave. And he's the American guy who's here to meet Dave. And it's the wrong Dave. And he ends up hanging out with his family all evening and having an amazing time.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Because for once in his long life of being a very, very famous, iconic songwriter, he gets to hang out with two normal people and just shoot the shit right now. Which I'm sure he does a lot here in LA with his friends and all the rest, but he's still Bob Dylan to them.

[Pete Holmes]

Right, right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

Whereas. Whereas this was. This is probably one of those opportunities where he gets to be. And, you know, not to. Not to compare my night last night, but I liked that night because I just got to hang out and just bang.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And connect on my own merits.

[Pete Holmes]

Right, right, right. Instead of, you know, just.

[Glenn Hansard]

Instead of qualifying you. Instead of being constantly someone walking ahead of you, qualifying your. Your entrance any moment, or someone behind you apologizing, qualifying your exit.

[Pete Holmes]

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[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Doing your truth, doing your art. But traditionally people would be like, and then they blew up after seven. The good story is it was 17 years. I mean, do you look back on that fondly? Was it painful? Can you remember it being painful that nobody gave a shit?

[Glenn Hansard]

Frustrating, yeah. Painful, yeah, absolutely. You know, and it wasn't that people didn't give A shit. The one thing we always had, and I'm very happy to report, Touchwood, is that we always had an audience. It might have been really small, but it was there and it was real. So it kind of occurred to me because when I was a busker, myself and me mates, busking people used to come every week and regulars, you know, and for. For a busking band to have regulars, I was interested.

[Pete Holmes]

That's great. Yep.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then that actually just translated back into going on stage in clubs. Those same regulars came along, some fell off, new ones came on the frames, started their career. Old people fell off, new people came on, but there was always a consistent audience. And this. The record companies came, the record companies went. We were on seven different labels, you know, in our career. Record companies came and went. The one thing that never left was the audience. They were always part of our story. So we were. We were in a very good position. We would always. Because we did well in Ireland. When I say well, I mean we get, you know, 500 people in a room, you know, but that afforded us tickets to England to go tour and play to known, or that afforded us tickets to the States to go play for no. 1. But every time we went to play for no 1, a couple more knowns would show up and it would. It would like. And we basically did the math. One day it would take about 60 years, at the rate we were. We were touring, to fill, you know, Shubas or the Empty Bottle. We were kind of building at that rate, but. But it was always forward.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about even before the frames when, you know, you told that story wonderfully in the swell season about leaving school and busking, obviously. I'm sure people love hearing about busking. Do you look for. Do you look back on that fondly? Are those your war stories? Like, are you grateful that you kind of hit your head on the wall a little bit? Ah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

I mean, that was. That was it. I mean that. I mean, it was all. You know what I'll tell you to give you an example, it was. It was a pure. It was a whole new education. It was like stepping out of. It was like stepping. Stepping out of school proper and stepping into school real, you know, for real. Because it. So it's okay. So you want to be a musician, right? And then boom, boom, boom. My headmaster goes, go be a musician. Go drop your bag, drop your books. They're no good to you anymore. Go do it. And I did. And I stepped 14 years old, I went home, I put my school bag in the hall. I never saw it again. I never noticed it again. It must have just been thrown out. And I took my guitar.

[Pete Holmes]

Your mom. Your mom was wise. She was like, I know where this is going. Clunk.

[Glenn Hansard]

I took my. My. I suppose my second school bag, which was my guitar case, and I went into the city and I started playing, you know, and it just seemed ironic to me that only months previous, I was studying Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet, in school and not enjoying it because, you know, school is designed really not to enjoy.

[Pete Holmes]

It's not to be enjoyed.

[Glenn Hansard]

And. And then a few months later, I'm in Seamus Heaney study with a guitar on my back, hanging out.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and getting to meet the man and getting to be in his study and. And getting to see where the poetry was actually made. And for me, that metaphor sort of sums up the whole experience of busking versus school.

[Pete Holmes]

Get out of here.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, this is great. Yes. I mean, it's. It's. It's huge. You know, and then. And then cut to 14. Cut to, like, six, seven years later. Meeting Bob Dylan. Not just having him on my wall on a poster, you know, not just having the records and obsessing over them and. And writing every lyric and rewriting every lyric in my notebooks. And, you know, then getting to meet the man and go on tour with.

[Pete Holmes]

Him and arresting him. Were you that cop? And you went on, and you got to go. This is. This is why. I think you have the neural pathways in your brain that reward acts of novelty, acts of strangeness. Like, obviously, you're gonna live the. Enjoy the gypsy privilege and, you know, have, like, the meal you had the other day and have the night that you had last night, because you've gotten in your mind what. What most people need to take a lot of psychedelics to realize.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Which is that there's no rules that you can. You can go in any direction.

[Glenn Hansard]

There's no rules. And you can set your flat. You can set your. Your sail. You know, you can set your sail in any direction in your life. And if you're. You know, I don't want to sound too serious, but you know that.

[Pete Holmes]

Please. You're in the safest place for this sort of stuff.

[Glenn Hansard]

Okay. But if you like. So for me, as a kid, right, Bob Dylan, I mean, literally, I like. He was God. I mean, you know, there was a. Though I remember someone saying, you know, God, in whatever way you see him or whatever way you understand it. I like, for me, it was. It was Bob Dylan.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and I was serious. I mean, that was. He was God.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And he spilt his blood on the tracks for you. Thank you very much. I'll be here just. Just another half hour and then I'll go home.

[Glenn Hansard]

But, but I. I set every sail I could in my being. In the direction of. Of doing what he did. It wasn't necessarily meeting him, because I really wanted to meet him. Of course I would love to, but I didn't have, you know, meeting Bob Dylan was not even on my radar, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

You wouldn't dare. Dare to drink.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

That's preposterous.

[Glenn Hansard]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And, but, but, but living that life, living the life of Leonard Cohen.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, now. Now as a man, I realize living the life of Leonard Cohen would be a very difficult life.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Or living the life of Bob Dylan would be very. Is a very difficult life.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And it's also a very rewarding life and a very rich life. And. But I realize now as a grown up that, you know, this wasn't fairy tale stuff. These guys worked, right? They worked and they suffered and they fell in and out of marriage. Marriages. Or in Leonard's case, never got married. And. And constantly went back to the music instead of going for.

[Pete Holmes]

It was almost like an altar. Like I. My divorce. One of the ways I spun it, my art increased, if you'll allow me to call it an art. I believe it's an art increased tenfold after. And I used to think I was like. I almost sacrificed my marriage on the altar of comedy. You start thinking of it as this God that you're in service to. And every time you get your ass kicked, you're like, this too. Let's send this through the mill as well. It sounds like that's. Well, that's what Dylan are doing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Absolutely. And if you look at Dylan's career, arrives in New York in like 61, in search of Woody Guthrie, right? So he arrives in search of a hero, finds him in a hospital, sits by his hospital bed, you know, and is in the presence of his God, in the presence of the one that he admires the most. And then sets out to mimic that God, like openly mimic that God. Makes a record that's utterly mimicking Woody Guthrie. Somewhere in the middle of that, finds his own voice, Right. Becomes Bob Dylan. The voice of a generation, but only true idolatry.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. You know, didn't you call it aping earlier? Well, I thought I heard you say.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, or yeah, absolutely.

[Pete Holmes]

Trying On a Persona.

[Glenn Hansard]

Trying on a Persona. Bob Dylan. Absolutely. So. So what I'd say is that.

[Pete Holmes]

Is aping derogatory, like, bad?

[Glenn Hansard]

Not at all. Not at all.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay.

[Glenn Hansard]

I don't think so.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't want to. On your. God.

[Glenn Hansard]

No. Oh, my God. So. So a lot of people give credence, like, a lot of credence to talent. And of course, talent is huge. But Will.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

In that case. In the case of Dylan in those early days, his sense of Will. He willed himself into that role. He willed himself into being Dylan. In my imagination, the same was that I willed myself into being, you know, Glenn Hansford, a guy with a guitar singing song. Like, I willed it as much as I had the talent to do it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and so Will and talent are like. If they're not in equal measure.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

Then, you know, then you end up being the guy who's really good, who just doesn't really care.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And just doesn't, you know, doesn't really do at. And. Because they're not. They're not driven to that place. And, you know, this idea of ambition or, you know, people kind of look at it as a negative aspect, but that it's everything.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, we.

[Pete Holmes]

I often make the distinction between certainty and cockiness. Nobody likes anybody cocky. But people love somebody, that's certain. Yeah. Abraham Lincoln has a wonderful quote about. What am I quote Guy. He has a great quote about. He says, you can do anything you want to if you have singularity of purpose.

[Glenn Hansard]

Wow.

[Pete Holmes]

And then similarly, I was working on this project. I am working on this project. And then other projects would flutter around like little butterflies. And my friend Mike Birbiglia was like, you need to tell everyone else. No, if this other thing is what you want to do. There's something infectious, there's something appealing about someone going, no, I'm going to go meet Woody Guthrie, or I'm going to go meet Bob Dylan, or I'm going to go, stan, I want to find him. Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And we love those stories, you know, we. We hear them.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But there's something blocking all of us.

[Glenn Hansard]

There's also something slightly psycho about it, of course, you know, because, I mean, when someone. If someone comes to me or waits. Waits eight hours outside a venue, you know, in Cincinnati, and I get outside and the guy's freezing to death and he's holding a guitar going, glenn, I just want to sing you a song.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

I have to honor that guy's. Have to.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

I can't just blow that guy off Right. He's willed himself to that moment, you know? So it's our duty to pass on whatever. Whatever gifts we were given as well.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, I'd like to play this one. Just ruin everything. And it's the worst thing you've ever heard. Unicorns, like, oh, God, kill me. That's. I. Well, you know, we have an epidemic. We have an epidemic of confidence in America.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

With the YouTube generation and with everything. So it's really hard. I think. I know. I'm gonna give myself a compliment. I think I know what you're talking about. A lot of people hear it and go, like, I'm just gonna believe. I'm gonna believe. And, like, they don't have the gritty part of it. They don't have the disbelief, the dis. But yes.

[Glenn Hansard]

Which is. Which is just as important.

[Pete Holmes]

Jesus, that is absolutely. It's so essential, what you just said.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

For every part of you that's like, I'm gonna go meet Woody Guthrie. There's the guy writing in the journal going, like, you're going to get through today.

[Glenn Hansard]

Don't worry.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. No one. Like. Like, that's why we love Louis CK More than. More than. I'm not going to say somebody else, but, like, we love seeing somebody showcasing their flaws as opposed to the perfect guy.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think of, like, a Nazi propaganda poster. Nobody wants to see Captain America do stand up. It's like, look at those packs. Like, yeah, who fucking cares? We want to see somebody bleed. Let me ask you a couple these. This is a new idea because I've been reading. It's actually from the book of quotes. I was getting a lot of those quotes.

[Glenn Hansard]

What's it called?

[Pete Holmes]

Doesn't matter. But anyway, they have these great questions in it, and I love the questions, and I was gonna ask you the questions, and they're not about music. You enjoy it, and you can pass. What's the greatest lesson you've learned about? And then we can have the different topics.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think this is. I'm trying to ask you a question I would like to be asked.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Right.

[Pete Holmes]

So it's not just putting you on.

[Glenn Hansard]

There you go.

[Pete Holmes]

What is the greatest lesson you've learned about love? Let's say love to start. I know you have a lot of thoughts on love.

[Glenn Hansard]

The greatest lesson I've learned about love. I feel super unqualified to. To even. Well, to even touch it. Yeah. Because it's. I. I don't know if I've learned that much.

[Pete Holmes]

You feel like you're on a pattern.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Well, it's not even on a pattern. I just don't know if I've ever. I think that's one of the big questions.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

I think that's why it appears in my music so much. It's because I don't actually know.

[Pete Holmes]

I think that's what makes you kind of fun, is that you. You don't have it figured out.

[Glenn Hansard]

I really don't.

[Pete Holmes]

And you're not pretending to have it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You're not a motivational speaker. Go like. No, just show them your heart.

[Glenn Hansard]

No, Listen to your phone. I don't. No, it's. It's actually the thing I think I know the least about on the planet.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm thinking of a Frames lyric where you say, I was cursed with a jealous heart. I don't know if people point that one out. I was cursed with a jealousy.

[Glenn Hansard]

I was cursed with a jealousy. That's killed every.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, sorry. I added the word heart.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. No, no, it's. It's a good lyrics. Even better.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, I'll change it, hopefully. I'd be honored.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that something that you still feel? That's an old lyric.

[Glenn Hansard]

No, that's an old lyric. And it's an old feeling. There was that. That refers to a period without wanting to get too much into my own love history. But there was definitely. I, in my early 20s, loved to the point where it was so dangerous it might have killed me. You know, I was. It was really obsessed. It was really obsessed. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And codependent, too.

[Glenn Hansard]

Absolutely codependent. And the love that I speak of in that song was. And the love I speak of in most of my songs actually refers to that relationship still.

[Pete Holmes]

No. Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, it does.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like the. It's the pure cocaine of the love world. Is. Is in fact, infatuation.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, I was. Yeah, I was. Yeah, absolutely. I don't think I was actually in love. I think I was just. So I invested every bit of my self and every, every, every. Every bit of my self image and self worth into this girl who absolutely couldn't handle it. Of course she couldn't, you know, And. And she let me down because she was. There was no other thing to do.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, I'd set everything up so, so strong. And so I ended up. Well, I just got complete, utterly consumed by it. I was.

[Pete Holmes]

You fell into it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Like, there was no. It was. I was. Every day was pure torture to breathe. And I remember praying and. Because, you know, we always turn to God in moments of utter pain, you know, And I Remember praying, saying, please turn off this muscle. Just kill it. Just my heart, just kill it. Just turn it off. And I. And I. And I. I promise, you know. You know, I'll do anything but just turn this off. Just turn it up. Kill it. Because it's so painful.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like a dark night of the soul.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. It's so painful to wake up every day and to just. To. To sort of breathe. I couldn't breathe. And so. And so. And amazingly, I woke up one morning and I was numb.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, I got it. I got. I got what I asked for. I was comfortably numb. And then, of course. And then, of course, the classic irony. The classic irony is that then she fell fucking head over heels for me.

[Pete Holmes]

No, of course. Oh, it was unrequited that whole time?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. No, no, as a No. I was in love with her, but she was kind of. She wasn't sure about me. You know, we were together.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

But she was kind of like, you know. Yeah. And then suddenly I wake up one day. How's it going?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And we're still in the relationship.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

But now I'm. Because. And the thing is, I was right.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

She was cheating on me.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

There was several other people in the background. I was right. Like, you say, the pathetics.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

I knew, like. And she's eventually said to me, well, actually, you know, I gotta tell you that you were right all of that time and you were paranoid and jealous. You're right.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and I'm. And I. You know, I thanked her for it because I. I thought I was going insane.

[Pete Holmes]

And then. I'm not trying to be cute, quoting your lyrics. Then she's like, I'll see you down in history. And here you are. That's. That's how I interpret those lyrics. I'm like. Because my wife, when she left me, said, I think you're one of the greats. That's one of the craziest moments. I was shit when we were together. But she was like, I actually. I think this will soften the blow. And of course, I'm projecting myself into your side.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But. And then when you say, I will eclipse you, I'm like, oh, we have to get over these people. And.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Kind of outshine them. I've had their presence.

[Glenn Hansard]

You kind of. Yeah. That's the, you know, the best revenge is a life well lived.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. You know, it's funny. I am deeply in love with my girlfriend.

[Glenn Hansard]

Nice.

[Pete Holmes]

But I. Unexpected empathy hit back. I didn't Think you were gonna hit that ball back, but you did.

[Glenn Hansard]

I'm happy for you.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, that's kind of you. I love her so much, but I'm very clear with her that it's not. I've been infatuated with people. I've had the type of thing where I can't. When I was on the road or whatever, I would be unable to sleep or eat because I was so honestly worried that they were somebody else or just like, really on, off and that. The stuff of albums. But I'm. That's what I. That's what. I think we're getting at a point about love is maybe. Maybe we don't need one. But now I'm like, no, what I. What I have with my girlfriend now is. Is love. It's not crazy, possessive, screaming. It's not gonna write a Frames album. It's not.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, and even when it does, and even when it writes records and writes many records, and even when it writes hit. Hit records and it write. We'll never understand it. It's beyond us.

[Pete Holmes]

It's.

[Glenn Hansard]

It is the great. It is the great mystery. It's. It's. It's. God, it's. We are not. We're not. We don't understand. Like, love is something I'll never understand. Same way I'll never really understand poetry or. Or songs.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

We can sit here and talk about them and talk about the process that we. We. We use to get to them. But they're. They're. They're. They're. I. You know, there is no mastery when it comes to love.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

There's only humility.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. And I. God, man, you're really speaking to me and. And writing it down and going, there it is. Is like, never stop. Never fucking stop. You shouldn't stop.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. My friend. My friend says. My friend has an interesting one where he talks about the head and the heart. You know, that the head doesn't talk to the heart. The heart has its own intelligence. It's its own way that they. They're like distant cousins. They stop talking at some point, you know. But then he said, but the heart talks to the cock.

[Pete Holmes]

I felt for sure you're gonna say, but the heart talks to the head. I'm like, that's okay. Oh, it talks to the.

[Glenn Hansard]

Go.

[Pete Holmes]

That's fantastic.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, I mean, it gets back. The rational mind is just only so much. As I get older, I'm having an easier time stepping outside the rational mind that I alluded to earlier. Comparing and contrasting and labeling and thinking that's your identity. When really it is lower. It's more here. And most cultures of the world have an understanding of. They're not their brains, really. We're behind in that way. I'm talking about America. I can't speak for you.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Although we've kind of. What's that called when you steal somebody from another place? Sub. We've apostated you.

[Glenn Hansard]

Subjugated or sub.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes. Supplanted.

[Glenn Hansard]

Supplanted.

[Pete Holmes]

We've taken you. You're one of us now.

[Glenn Hansard]

I'm just kidding. Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

No culture subsumed or more than America wants their Irish people to remain Irish. Like, we're. I'm sure you run into that. We're like, he's Irish. That's a type of celebrity in itself.

[Glenn Hansard]

Isn't that funny?

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that weird?

[Glenn Hansard]

Isn't that funny? All those. Kiss me. I'm Irish teacher.

[Pete Holmes]

I know it is.

[Glenn Hansard]

You never ever see one of them in Ireland. Like, never. I don't think I've ever seen one.

[Pete Holmes]

You guys didn't know. It's like Sugar Man South. That we're South Africa to Sugar Man. Like, we love you guys. In. In the interest of time. I'm gonna jump to something. We've been dancing around a little bit, and you feel. I'm always trying to force it. Going back to Noel Gallagher or dancing.

[Glenn Hansard]

With tears in my eyes.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that.

[Glenn Hansard]

Is it just another minute? Well, who sang that one?

[Pete Holmes]

Is the God thing? So you're talking about prayer. And I've heard you in between songs on one of the live albums spin anecdotes about our ancestors listening or spirits potentially listening. You're certainly not saying with the authority of, like, maybe a TV psychic, but. Yeah, you're open to it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I know it's kind of personal, but you seem like an open fella. What. What is the greatest lesson you've learned about God or. And by the way, the book is called Living. Living in Wonder, I think. And it's all right. That's the book that I got this question from. The greatest lesson you've lived. Learned about. And I'll say God, but really the way I normally frame it is, what is this? Like, what's going on? Like, we do a good job in our world of dissecting and recreating and reproducing and testing and explaining. Yeah, but, like, what is going on? What are we doing here? Why am. Why are you in my consciousness right now? And why am I in yours? And why can't you hear my voice? And why could you. You're that weird guy. My dick is big. Why was he there? And what's going on? And why do you cry when you, when you, when you play a song and. Yeah, what, what is this? What is the point? What are we doing here? Not an answer. But what, what is your take on.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, patience.

[Pete Holmes]

You just break all our hearts and give the most fundamentalist, literal answer we've ever heard and we're like, oh, no, no fun.

[Glenn Hansard]

No. I mean, you know, when it comes to. I've always been attracted to people who are found. I've always been attracted to people who, who have a position and that's why I'm attracted to people who are either religious and really into it or people who are atheist and really into it. I'm actually really interested in both those people.

[Pete Holmes]

Yep.

[Glenn Hansard]

I think both of those people really like, excite a part of my intellect.

[Pete Holmes]

I completely agree.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I, and they're the people I like hanging out with most. I can't quite get with either of them in terms of my own system of belief and maybe that's why I'm so attracted to either side. Atheism, you know, it. There's no God, everything's chaos, fuck it all, you know, like. And as in, like, that's what I've heard quoted from a friend in the last week. I'm not saying that that's the atheist dogma, but you know, it's like, you know what, though? I can't get with that. It just seems cold and flat. There's no mystery in that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and it's the same with, with people who are really, really into God. There's no mystery in that either. You know, it's just, it's two, it's two answers. You've, you've just, you've, you've connected, you've. You've identified too strongly with the, with this, with the poem. And the poem is interesting. You know, the. What is out there? What, what, what Those exist. I mean, you know, I was a Hare Krishna when I was a kid.

[Pete Holmes]

You were now.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, I got into it, man. I was. And because, And I think it's be. And I think it's because I was a searcher, you know, I was searching for something and I loved the idea when I was a kid, of, of. I was an altar boy when I was a young lad and got away scot free. Never had any trouble with priests. You know, isn't it unfortunate that that's.

[Pete Holmes]

The question you have to address in that moment?

[Glenn Hansard]

It kind of is, it is sad. It is sad because, you know, the doctrine is probably what's more important. Okay. So, I mean, you take a, you take a man, you take a man, a young man out of an Irish family and you say to him, okay, come. You bring them to a seminary and you teach him not to touch himself and not to, you know, and then you put him in society and you put him in charge of children. You put them in charge of schools.

[Pete Holmes]

It's James Taylor calling me. It's just, it's the wind up.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, I'm not, I don't, it's just, it's complicated, right? It is complicated.

[Pete Holmes]

I hear what you're saying. It's a dangerous empathy to have. But you're attempting to. We try and. Empathy for everybody.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And it's difficult. But I hear what you're saying and we're not condoning it and you're not.

[Glenn Hansard]

Condoning it, and the whole thing is awful. But I'm just, you know, but, but that, you know, the religious person who really, like, I mean, when you look at what's going on in the name of religion right now in the world, it's disgusting. Yeah, it's disgusting. It's like, it's, it's, it's as wild as this whole Donald Trump being taken seriously is running for. It's like, it's just, it makes no.

[Pete Holmes]

Sense in the religious world. Trump, like one long ago, like it's been President Trump of the May. And I'm speaking as somebody who used to be in that group. The, the, I feel like the evangelical market's been run by the spiritual equivalent of a Trump for a while, but.

[Glenn Hansard]

I, I don't have an issue with. I don't, I just really, I really don't. I, I, My own position moves. It's as uncertain. And this is not me trying to get out of the. From under the question, but my religious position is as uncertain as everything in my life.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, there are times when I feel quite connected to a greater, to a greater energy that I, and ultimately, when it comes down to it, I like to think that I serve in my life. I'd like to think that I'll do more good than I will bad. That's essentially what I'd like to leave the planet, you know, and eventually, you know, whether I'm hit by a truck or, or a plane crash or I'm lying on my deathbed as an old man, I'd like to know that I kind of imparted a little Bit of positivity to my children, to my friends and that. You did more good than that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, because we do take up space and we do consume. We are, you know, we sin against the earth by it being alive, you know, in terms of how we gather energy into our bodies.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, and. Or we're living in a society that is just chewing up and chewing. And that's anti. To me. That's anti God or it's anti natural.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, we live off death. Everybody lives off death.

[Glenn Hansard]

Right.

[Pete Holmes]

Even if you don't even.

[Glenn Hansard]

And that and nature. And that's nature. And that's all fair enough. But you know, when it comes to God and what my connection with God, you know. Yes, I pray. I do pray. I don't have a. I don't have. I don't have. I don't have an image of who I pray to, but I prayed because I know. I feel. I feel a presence sometimes. And sometimes I feel no presence, you.

[Pete Holmes]

Know, Isn't that it, man? That's it. I think the story is screaming at us. It's a virgin and a mother. It's the void. It's the complete meaningless. And it's you feeling something channeling through you. We're supposed to be grappling with this. And that's what creates the electricity that turns the lights on.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You know what I'm saying? But we, We've reduced it into. Into now this is it. Like, I couldn't tell you if I like French fries from one moment to the next. You know what I mean? Like, I could have picked a better example. But like, sometimes I really want. And sometimes I'm just like, it's greasy shit. But like we go around with such certainty going like, no, God. God doesn't want you to put your pee pee in that guy's bum. You know what I mean? At the same time, like, like, what are you talking about? This is the guy that didn't want French fries. And I just saw you eat three large French fries. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, we don't even know any. We don't know ourselves. And. And when we try and have authority on the unknown.

[Glenn Hansard]

Absolutely.

[Pete Holmes]

I think we're really.

[Glenn Hansard]

And whenever we sit down and do an interview or do a report on where we are right now in our lives, it's anyway. Because in three minutes I might think differently.

[Pete Holmes]

That's right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And you, one must reserve the right to be to. To. To think whatever way you feel like.

[Pete Holmes]

That'S not pinning down your own butterfly. Right. To use your analogy.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's going like it's a butterfly.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I feel. Yeah. And I feel okay about that.

[Pete Holmes]

I got a glimpse of it just then. I think. I think Jesus might be real. And then two minutes later, you're like, we're all alone. Who cares? Who cares?

[Glenn Hansard]

On a rock spinning in the. In the distance. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I guess you're just inspiring me to feel like, what are we if not to wrestle? What are we if not to experience this? To take the curriculum of life and see if you see something here or not see something.

[Glenn Hansard]

It is a struggle, man. Life's a struggle. People got it. People, you have to wrench. Every single person has to wrench themselves out of bed in the morning and get up and fucking get active and get busy. Everyone. No one gets off the hook. And when you realize that, you know, maybe there's some vision of Bono that he doesn't have to rise in the morning, that he somehow just sort of elevates it a bit, or the Pope or Leonard Cohen or Dylan. Everyone's gotta get up and get into gear.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And get their jeans on or get their clothes and put their shirt on and get it, you know, and. And get into life. And so that's. That's all of our struggle. And I. I'm just into. I'm into what that does to us.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

I'm into how that humbles us and how that challenges us. And, you know. You know, the priv. The privilege of my position is that I get to ponder it out loud.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, same as you. You know, that's.

[Pete Holmes]

That's the liberation that I want to. If there's any sort of salvation to be had. Because I know that coming from a fundamentalist kind of place.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

The pain that. That caused in me, I can only speak for myself, but it gave me more fear, it gave me more hate, it gave me more judgment.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And that's. If there's any sort of salvation to call people to. I think it's their personal experience, and I think it's lightening up on themselves. It's embracing the mystery, being okay with not having answers. That's why I like to. If I'm preaching anything, preach that, because I know it's causing pain. And as you said, nobody's killing anybody in the name of a metaphorical God. You know what I mean? Nobody's ever stoned a person or killed a poor gay kid in the Middle East.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, I mean, I. I sing about God a lot. It's a huge subject in my, in my work.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

I'm fascinated by this concept of salvation and forgiveness and mercy. These ideas of an outside force granting you the strength to take care of yourself and to, you know, and to kind of get yourself off the cross. I love it. And I would never, Honestly, I would never. If there was a, you know, if there's a Muslim kid who's. Who kind of finds it, listens to one of my tunes and thinks it's like, I, I love that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, as much as if there's an atheist guy going, why do you have to sing? Why did they put the word God in your song? You know, because I find, I find that. I find anyone's. I find too strong a position just not, not attractive. But absolutely. I'm not criticizing it.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. Well, it goes back to. Because I, I'm agreeing with everything you're saying now, and I'm agreeing. I am so turned on by atheists. I'm so turned on by like, I had a Franciscan friar on the show, love it into it, you know, so he happened to be a very progressive, interesting guy, kind of talking the way we are now, I suppose. But I'm drawn to both of those things. And then I find myself ping ponging between them.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. I mean, you know, you can sit and have a conversation with a wonderful artist and then when they start talking about God, which I've had recently where I was talking to a, A guy that I really respect him, you know, when you start talking about God as a real thing in his life. And then of course, my other friend, his immediate reaction was to try to dispel God out of the conversation. Like, why would you, you know, to. Every man is just, you know, his, his island, his, his salve, his.

[Pete Holmes]

Everybody's the star of their own movie and that's working for him.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, very well.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Well, that's, that's the thing that I keep coming back to is the atheist and the, and the, and the believer, if for lack of a better term, are both just beautiful pieces of this mosaic.

[Glenn Hansard]

Absolutely. They need each other.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. They need each other. Yeah. We only know one without the other. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's a lovely God talk. Look at all these things we didn't get to. It's okay. Do you get tired of playing songs from Once? This is the speed round?

[Glenn Hansard]

No, no, I don't actually.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Glenn Hansard]

No, I don't. I, I sometimes if I let my head get in the way, I get a little conscious of the fact that people may not want to hear them.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, no, I was in the audience when you played the Bull and you did Falling Slowly and. Yeah, I could hear people getting boners. That rubbery sort of yours doesn't make a.

[Glenn Hansard]

Mine's usually bound up in leather, and spice makes that leathery thing.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, that's good. You don't have to get into that at all. You know, I. I particularly enjoy doing old bits. If people.

[Glenn Hansard]

I don't. I don't. Because. Because my job is to serve. I serve music.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And it's not just, I serve Glen Hansford music, I serve music. I'm a musician. And so when I play a song, I. I do my best to get as into it as I can do, and if I feel like I can't get into it, I don't do a song.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, but the.

[Glenn Hansard]

The decision to get into it or not get into it isn't based on some bias in myself.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

It's just like. Can I feel that right now? No, I can't. Can I? No, I can't. So I can't feel it. Then I'm just gonna. I'm gonna end up just singing it and kind of throwing it out, and it's not gonna.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

I'm not gonna be in it. If I can get in it, I'll sing it.

[Pete Holmes]

You know, it's funny, we kind of were teasing Bono for getting up without by levitating, but he has that great quote where he says if I. If I'm not in the song, I can't hit the note, which I think is.

[Glenn Hansard]

That's exactly it.

[Pete Holmes]

My bits aren't funny unless I'm feeling it. Yeah, like you can transcribe it. It's not funny. I'll be the first to tell you. You can read my act. It's not funny.

[Glenn Hansard]

That's fascinating.

[Pete Holmes]

What do you do for your voice? It can't just be. Honey, get out of here. Tell me that. George Harrison formula, vinegar, honey, hot water. Make with the secret.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well again to come back to Bono. Great quote. The meaning. Yeah, that's it.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, meaning it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Get out of. Awesome. That's great.

[Glenn Hansard]

I swear to God, if my voice works when I'm. When I'm. When I. When I. When I. When I'm in good form. When I'm. When I've. You know. Of course, there are things like when I've slept or when I. Yeah, sure.

[Pete Holmes]

You know, drink the night, but I'm not.

[Glenn Hansard]

Been out drinking. Yeah. Like, I was out drinking last night and I was out drinking last night because I didn't have to sing today. And I had a really good night. And my voice is a bit trash today.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

But if you asked me to sing, I could sing.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

I remember getting off stage after a frame, after this, that my band opened up for Springsteen last summer or two summers ago, and my voice was literally gone. I had managed to squeeze my way through the set, you know, and because there's 30,000 people there, I got through the set and it was fine, you got the ghost. But my voice was like. It was, you know, Gandhi's flip flop, as they call it, you know, just like it was gone. And Bruce said, you want to do a tune? And my voice just came right back. Do you know what I mean? So it just. It shows up. Yeah, it just shows up.

[Pete Holmes]

That makes me feel like you're with your wife of many years and you lose your erection, but then like Carmen Electra or somebody comes in, is like, let's have a three way, suddenly have a boner all of a sudden.

[Glenn Hansard]

Or. Or you sit down with your wife and you have a very honest conversation. Nothing will do the boner more service than an honest conversation with your wife.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Isn't that funny? You know, Glenn, I don't think I've ever admitted that, but the, the. The. I did a, of all things, a Batman video where I said sometimes the sexiest thing is to forgive. It was just a joke. But it's completely like every joke I make, it's based on truth.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I can't tell you how many times I've lost my nerve. Meaning erection. Having sex with somebody that I love, and then their compassion in that moment is the biggest turn on in the world. And then we have wonderful sex.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So take that, people who don't get anything from this podcast. Well, there's so many things we could talk about, but that's all. I feel satisfied. Do you feel satisfied?

[Glenn Hansard]

I've had a really good chat. I'm enjoying it.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm glad. Well, do you want more questions?

[Glenn Hansard]

Sure. Well, I don't think there's any questions.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, there are no questions. There haven't been a good question. I'm trying to think of a really good one for the end here. Try not. You said this without me having you say it. What is it trying not to be. Trying to be cool where smart isn't serving anybody. That's something you said last night that I wrote down.

[Glenn Hansard]

I said that last night?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. You said no a couple nights ago at the show. Yeah. What's the greatest lesson you've learned about your Choice, family or music? We've been talking a lot about music, but family's tricky, man. Those scenes in the movie.

[Glenn Hansard]

Family is so tricky with your family.

[Pete Holmes]

And my dad. My dad's Irish. And I know, I know you must get that a lot. It's like we have an instant bond. Do you know him? But like, there's that way that when your dad is like, you won that Oscar for me, you know, sort of thing that I'm like. It's like, there's no way. My. This is hard to talk about, and I want you to talk about it, but it's.

[Glenn Hansard]

I don't know if I want to talk about it.

[Pete Holmes]

It's hard. Well, let's just bask in the fact that, like, I don't even have the balls to say that. That reminds me of my dad.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

The way that he'll be like, when I see you up there, I see myself, and I'm like, couldn't it just be me? You know what I mean?

[Glenn Hansard]

That's great.

[Pete Holmes]

That's great. Well, it's good. Well, what do you think about family? How do you manage it? I mean, here you are. Do you have survivor's guilt you've catapulted into this other atmosphere, this rare air?

[Glenn Hansard]

No, I don't have survivor's guilt because I put that away.

[Pete Holmes]

How do you do that?

[Glenn Hansard]

By realizing you're not your family? You know, I think, you know, at. At 45, you know, whatever your star sign says about what kind of person you are, you know, your. Your natal chart or, you know what. Whatever this stuff is at this age, all that doesn't matter. You've built your own person at the. If you haven't built your own person at this point, then you're always going to be subject to whatever your parents, what they've called you when you were a kid or what you, you know, your star sign says, your personality, you know, I'm a Taurus. That means I'm like this or this. All these attributes, in a way, they should. They shouldn't even matter.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Anymore.

[Pete Holmes]

Because you've done the work.

[Glenn Hansard]

You've done the work. You've built yourself.

[Pete Holmes]

You've been building the big.

[Glenn Hansard]

So when you build yourself, then sometimes that means you have to divorce a certain amount of the stuff you grew up with and the attitude you grew up with, you know?

[Pete Holmes]

It's hard, though, right? It's painful.

[Glenn Hansard]

Very painful.

[Pete Holmes]

I think that's the biggest thing. Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

It's as tough as any marriage. It's tougher in a way, because Your family. You don't get to. You don't get to just divorce them. They're always going to be there. And it's. It is the greatest challenge. You know, all. The whole thing. You choose your parents. I don't know, maybe you do. You know, I think it's interesting. My parents have taught me so much about what, you know, about being a parent when that time comes. I'm not a parent right now.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And that's probably the best. That's probably the politest way I can answer that question.

[Pete Holmes]

It's funny. I feel the same.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I want to say, like, vibration, so hippie. But you're emitting the same frequency I do.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. I mean, I do love them. And it is genuine love.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, sure, of course.

[Glenn Hansard]

And it is genuine. It is genuine bewilderment also.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, my mother is not going to change. My father was not going to change.

[Pete Holmes]

You know, I'm gonna tell you something. I want to have a funeral. Not just for my family, but, you know, a lot of my family. I bought a little coffin on Etsy and I want to put all my irrational thoughts on how people might change in the coffin. And then we're gonna set it on fire. That's a good idea, because I don't know what else to do. I keep. I'm the crazy person that's expecting people in my life to behave differently. I'm the insane. Like, you think they're crazy. It's like, whatever it may be, whoever it may be, because, see, I'm afraid of somehow that's getting back to somebody, but I want to let go. And I'm so desperate to let go. And it's so hard for me to do it that I literally think a ceremony might help.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, that's what ceremonies are for.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, you're invited to play. I mean, a nice sweet moment.

[Glenn Hansard]

Just.

[Pete Holmes]

Would you play?

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, God.

[Pete Holmes]

Just asked me to do stand up at your wedding.

[Glenn Hansard]

Jesus.

[Pete Holmes]

Terrible. Well, we're in a. We're in a place where we have your guitar. I'd love to hear a song, but. Yeah, we certainly don't have it. We'll literally edit this part out.

[Glenn Hansard]

Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

Because it's not required. But if you want it. Here's the thing.

[Glenn Hansard]

I gotta pee really bad.

[Pete Holmes]

I'll go pee.

[Glenn Hansard]

Go pee. Will I do that?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, go pee and think about it.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then if we. And then if a song happens, I'll move for that.

[Pete Holmes]

But. Or I'll ask you another fun question. Yeah, there you go. Oh, please.

[Glenn Hansard]

I couldn't Do I have a song that will?

[Pete Holmes]

I couldn't be. I'd like to pride myself as somebody that's like, it's really up to you, but I mean, come on. How good does that sound?

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, I'll sing it a song. It's not finished.

[Pete Holmes]

Great.

[Glenn Hansard]

And it's the song I named my record after which it. So the song is called didn't you ramble? But I never finished it. So it's not a, you know, just.

[Pete Holmes]

Pretend you got overcome with emotion and start crying. It's a Once joke. That's a deep. That's a. Somebody watched the director's commentary on once. Remember, Marrochetta plays that song and she starts crying.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

And it was because she didn't have the ending of the song. That's right. You didn't even realize how good my riff was.

[Glenn Hansard]

I didn't. I didn't.

[Pete Holmes]

It was a while ago.

[Glenn Hansard]

It was.

[Pete Holmes]

But what a. What a. What a great film. One of my faves.

[Glenn Hansard]

All right, I'll sing this. Yeah. So this is. This is a song I wrote for me Da by way of trying to understand him.

[Pete Holmes]

Great.

[Glenn Hansard]

And there's no blame in it. And there was. I was really conscious of. Leave blame out of it. Leave anger out of it. Leave everything out of it except the facts. So the song doesn't touch in any way, get at him emotionally. It's just a report. It's a little bit like raising a glass at his wake and saying, wasn't he? And, you know, so. So. And again, it's not a finished song, so I'll just play what I got.

[Pete Holmes]

That's great.

[Glenn Hansard]

Okay. Didn't he ramble? Didn't he wrong and didn't he wander so far from his own and it'll go down in the dark for so long and though we look good now Singing his song Song didn't he reach out and didn't we learn and then he. Teachers don't do what he done.

[Pete Holmes]

And.

[Glenn Hansard]

Then he go down take it all to the grave and oh, we farewell now with the choice that he made yet didn't he ramble didn't he wrong didn't he wander so far from home didn't he ramble and didn't he stray and deadly Wander so far away and did he come back but not like before and oh, we look good now in the clothes that he wore yet didn't he ramble didn't he roam? Didn't he wander so far from his home and didn't he reach out and didn't we Learn didn't he teach us don't do what he done? Didn't he ramble and didn't he stray? Didn't he wander so far way.

[Pete Holmes]

Wow. I feel silly. Just me clapping for everybody listening. That was amazing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Did it sound okay? Yeah, you could hear the guitar.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, it sounded great.

[Glenn Hansard]

So, you know, it's an unfinished. It's an unfinished thing. And what's missing? You know, I kind of.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't think anything's missing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, yeah. Singing that time, I didn't feel like anything was missing either.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then sometimes I sing it and I just go, it could be better. It could be. There's something I'm not saying.

[Pete Holmes]

Just play this two hour podcast on the track and then that song, everyone will be like, I get it. They were both tense, talking about their dads.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Oh, man. It's almost like you want to. You want. I want it to be. I want it to be a fitting tribute.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

And I kind of feel like, is it there? And I think it might be there.

[Pete Holmes]

What an undertaking. What an adventure. You know what I mean? Like, people are. I think we hear stories about going out and slaying dragons or finding gold and stuff. And we're like, ah, if only we could have that type of adventure in our life. But you could, you could set yourself to the task of writing a song that wraps up your dad.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. That kind of gets him. And the funny thing is it's maybe it's him who keeps stopping me from finish it because I kind of keep on going. Is it? And. And somehow I think he's a bit like, there's something you're not saying that I want you to say, you know, funny. Maybe I need to get him out of the picture I made to him to off and just finish my song.

[Pete Holmes]

That's the final lesson that he teaches you. Have at it.

[Glenn Hansard]

What does he know? He's not a songwriter.

[Pete Holmes]

That's great. The last question that we always like to ask is the hardest time you've laughed. And people correct me all the time. It's the time you've laughed the hardest. But I like saying the hardest time.

[Glenn Hansard]

The hardest time I laughed.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And it doesn't have to be. I'm not asking for a good story. It's just like what comes to mind.

[Glenn Hansard]

Ah, God, I feel my brain's going, you're. You're man, you're so serious. Because I'm trying to remember a time when I was just like out of it. Would laugh. Because I know that feeling.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

It's happened only a couple of times in life.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Where you're like really on the floor. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I wonder if it's just a place. Was it a time in your life? Were you a kid? Was it on tour? I'm guessing it wasn't on stage.

[Glenn Hansard]

No, it wasn't on stage. It wouldn't be on stage because you never, you never. You can't even. No matter how loose you get, you can't get that loose on stage and let it be cold. It'd be amazing.

[Pete Holmes]

Right? What about you ate weed chocolate last night. That didn't get you?

[Glenn Hansard]

No, it didn't. Man. Weed just gets me in my head.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that right?

[Glenn Hansard]

It does. It puts me in an odd spot. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You seem like I'm similar in that way and. Yeah, I could see that going up.

[Glenn Hansard]

It doesn't. It doesn't work well with me, but.

[Pete Holmes]

It was okay with the black guy and the singers and the dancers, rather.

[Glenn Hansard]

I was great. That was great.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, we could. I could also say, you have to go. I'm looking at the clock for you. Have you ever been in a fight? What kind of soap do you use? Or when you go to sleep at night, do you tell yourself a story to help yourself fall asleep? Those are. Those are the last question or the last time you cried. These are all good ones.

[Glenn Hansard]

Okay. Well, fighting, yes. I've been in many fights.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that right?

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, I grew up in a. I guess. I guess a high rise. I grew up in a place called Ballymune, which is on the outskirts of Dublin. And it was short term housing. And I got into a lot of fights when I was a kid.

[Pete Holmes]

So short term housing that people lived in.

[Glenn Hansard]

Long term, yes, we lived in it long term. But most of my friends would come and go, you know, a few months, you know, people who were kind of being housed. Emergency housing, you know. We lived there for. Until I was 16. Got into some fights there. I was. We used to collect wood. I had a gang called the Bear Bellies. And we were kind of based on some kind of notion of Native American, you know, we were like the. We were the Indians. So we'd go around, you know, you know, late September into early October with no tops on. And we draw black crosses on our chest in soot, you know, from a fire. And Jason Molina would have loved, actually. And we go around and our job was to collect firewoods. That was our thing. But being the kind of leader of the gang. And I was quite good at finding firewood and quite good at hiding it because you had to rob all the wood out of people's gardens. And sometimes you'd ask them for it. You know, it wasn't always robbing.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

But you'd collect wood and you'd hide it in these sheds. But. But it was a big. That was a. It wasn't a tense month because there was a lot of competition and a lot of wood robbing going on. So you'd have your stash of wood, and then you'd come in one afternoon and your stash of wood had been robbed by the next.

[Pete Holmes]

And capture the wood.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, by the next block of flats. So the next block of flats had their leader, and so you'd end up having to get to a fight with him. And then the fight would determine who gets the wood. No, and the biggest thing was Halloween was whoever had the biggest bonfire was. Because, you know, we have a bonfire at Halloween.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, okay.

[Glenn Hansard]

Do you guys not do that?

[Pete Holmes]

No.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, Halloween's an Irish festival. You know that. It's actually, originally, it's an Irish festival. It's called Samhain. It's where the veils between the. Between the two worlds are at their thinnest. Huh. It's a bit like the Mexican Day of the Dead.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You set a place for the. For the. For the. For the dead at your table. Because the veils between the two worlds are at their thinnest and the ghosts can come through. So. And there's a lot of fairy lore to do with Halloween as well. Samhain is a very. It's a very important day. But we have a bonfire and the bonfires are all over the country now. Health and safety have killed a lot of that. We still have. We still have one.

[Pete Holmes]

We're ending how we began talking about health and safety.

[Glenn Hansard]

Exactly. And how it's ruined the world, actually.

[Pete Holmes]

A bunch of safe, dull people.

[Glenn Hansard]

Exactly. Yeah. And it's killed plaster companies. So getting into fights, that was always a tricky time of year, you know, because.

[Pete Holmes]

So you were the leader.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, my little troop. Yeah. And you'd fight, you'd have to fight.

[Pete Holmes]

Bare chested, bare bellied. You. Bare bellies and with a cross on your chest. Yeah, Punch it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Now. Luckily, luckily, what I learned about fighting quite early on was that so much of what fighting is is about how you look. It's got nothing to do how you punch or how you. But it's got to do with how you approach the. Your opponent. If you approach your opponent with wild eyes, generally speaking, the fight either doesn't happen or it happens very quickly.

[Pete Holmes]

You know, because your first time you're down, you're like, that's enough. This guy's got.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, no, you. Well, you realize. You realize that so much of what fighting is is about the front.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

You know, it's about the chest out and like, I'm in. Okay, you want to fight? Let's go.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Glenn Hansard]

And that usually ends the fight right there. You know? Fear. Fear is the fear. Fear is the thing that gets you into trouble.

[Pete Holmes]

That's amazing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And so that was. That was an interesting period of time. And then. So what was the other question?

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, what kind of soap do you use? And when's the last time you cried? Oh, and when you go to sleep, do you tell yourself a story?

[Glenn Hansard]

Don't tell myself a story. When I go to sleep.

[Pete Holmes]

We get no to that a lot. I'm the only one I know.

[Glenn Hansard]

Don't use soap. Really?

[Pete Holmes]

Is that right? Yeah, just water.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, I like to take bats.

[Pete Holmes]

All right.

[Glenn Hansard]

Long bats. Don't wash. Just kind of soak.

[Pete Holmes]

Let it happen.

[Glenn Hansard]

Let it happen. Yeah. And in showers, I don't usually use soap either. Just kind of rub myself down.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Okay.

[Glenn Hansard]

And then.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that deliberate? Is that like. I don't want all these goddamn chemicals.

[Glenn Hansard]

Not at all. No, it's more false. It's no sense. It's not really. It's more just. It's more just. I. I kind of don't like how my skin feels after I use soap. It's all tight, you know, So I.

[Pete Holmes]

Kind of just prefer moisturizing body wash. This whole thing's just been. So I can sell you some Pantene.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, I sometimes use soap. I don't. It's not. I don't definitely not use. You know, it's a bit like my God thing. I don't definitely not use soap. Sometimes I use it.

[Pete Holmes]

Father, Son, and the holy soap wasn't as good as Blood on the Tracks shed for you, but I'm doing my best. We're at the end of two hours here, and Howard's gonna drive you to the airport now. So he wants to leave at 4:15.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So I'm afraid. Unless you want to. Well, no, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna wrap it up. Cause I feel like he'll keep going. Would you say, or sing, Keep it crispy. That's how it ends. The guest says, keep it crispy.

[Glenn Hansard]

Keep it crispy. Keep it hard. Let it break like a biscuit in your backyard. But keep it crispy. Keep it true.

[Pete Holmes]

I was gonna say keep it true the song is hanging in the room.

[Glenn Hansard]

Drink more whiskey Smoke Play as blue no Johnny Walker. Yeah. Yeah. Had a dream last night and Bob Dylan was singing, Treat me mean and cruel Treat me like a fool but love me. I was like. And Dylan would never sing that. Yeah, definitely. I was gonna. I did a bit of a. So that's what I write my journal. Why does Bob Dylan sing that in my dream? What does that mean?

[Pete Holmes]

That's great. Did you hear the Mumford and Song song that they did that Dylan wrote but didn't put music to? It wasn't Mumford and Sons, but it was Marcus Mumford. Yeah, it was great. It was interesting. Imagine taking Dylan's lyrics and.

[Glenn Hansard]

What an opportunity.

[Pete Holmes]

I know.

[Glenn Hansard]

Huge. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think it's called Going Back to Kansas City. It was good.

[Glenn Hansard]

That was from his basement tapes, period. I don't know.

[Pete Holmes]

They just had the. They just had the lyrics somewhere.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, I think it was from that time out. I remember he. Because he was. He was typing into his typewriter a lot at the time. Apparently. It's just like throwing off reels and reels. So he'd write the songs without ever playing them. Just write these songs and then just. And then maybe he'd come back to them and pick up a page and go, right, let's put some music to this.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So it's like somebody broke the genius faucet.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. Have you ever tried to read Tarantula, though?

[Pete Holmes]

Do what now?

[Glenn Hansard]

Tarantula. Bob Dylan's book.

[Pete Holmes]

No. No. Good.

[Glenn Hansard]

Well, it's just really tough.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah, it's really tough. It just shows that you definitely. You smell amphetamines. It's just. It's just, you know, that's the. You know.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, Glenn, the song was amazing. The album is amazing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Thanks, Pete.

[Pete Holmes]

I hate to end with a plug, but I think people are gonna go out and get it.

[Glenn Hansard]

Thanks for the chat. That was you. You know, you should be. You. You should just have people interview you.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, that's kind of what it is. I think that's one of the reasons why it's fun, is like, you'll tell a story, and then I'll just tell a story. And I hope that made you feel like it'll happen either way.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

There's some episodes where I'm. 70% of the time it's obnoxious.

[Glenn Hansard]

But you are like, you. You just have. You have all this natural preacher in you. It's great.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, I'm trying to reconcile with how I was raised.

[Glenn Hansard]

Wonderful man. We are raised in a religious.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. And now I'm trying to use that framework to understand how we feel. Very similarly, how I feel now, but save some of the baby from the bath water, I suppose. But, I mean, music is that. It's these transcendent experiences. You know what I mean? We all know it, and we don't have a language for it. And unfortunately, the metaphor got reduced into this.

[Glenn Hansard]

Yeah. And we tried to talk about it, and we fail. And it's okay.

[Pete Holmes]

And it's okay to fail. People don't admit that. That they're failing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Right.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, anything that I want to tell you about God or the meaning of life, I'd be like, no one knows. Yeah, no one knows. It's so important to. Hold on.

[Glenn Hansard]

There was a lovely Becca. Becca quote where in Not I. He's one of his famous actresses. I can't remember her name right now, but she says to him, sam. Sam. In the. In this. In this line here, you. When you say. He says, oh, show me. And basically just a line where she doesn't understand. And Sam has a look at it and says, I have absolutely no idea what that means. Does that help you? That's great.

[Pete Holmes]

Does that help you? That's fantastic. Oh, man. I'm not gonna make you stop playing.

[Glenn Hansard]

Oh, no. What are we doing? Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Glenn Hansard]

Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

Let's get you to the airport. Thank you, Glenn. Thank you very much.